It might have been enough to knock Drakken out if he hadn't already been throwing himself backwards. As it was, it left him spinning in place, putting equal effort both to keep from falling down and to keep from releasing his hold on the cybernetic hand he had just detached from Gemini. He shook his head as he recovered his wits.
It was always a toss-up with Drakken whether pain would make him afraid or make him angry. This time, anger won out. "You'll pay for that!" shouted Drakken. He charged Gemini shoulder first, using his entire body as a weapon. Gemini failed to get out of the way in time, partially in surprise at Drakken's sudden aggressiveness and partially because lacking the weight of his hand was putting him a bit off-balance. Drakken hit Gemini in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and forcing him back a few steps.
"Now you're getting me angry," said Gemini menacingly. The effectiveness of the threat was somewhat diminished when an electrical blast passed within inches of his face.
"Hah!" crowed Drakken, shaking the detached cybernetic hand in Gemini's direction. "A little taste of your own medicine." He tapped furiously at the hand, obviously trying to get it to fire again, but nothing happened.
"Drakken," said Gemini. He began slowly walking towards Drakken, his left hand held out in a martial arts posture.
"Why won't this thing do what I want it to?" said Drakken in frustration. Missiles appeared from the fingertips of the hand and fired, but sine Drakken hadn't had the hand aimed very well, they passed well clear of Gemini. They did, however, put some impressive-looking craters in the ceiling.
"One, it's designed to be worn. Two, it's designed for me, not you," answered Gemini. He stopped advancing towards Drakken. "I still feel fairly sure I can defeat you, Doctor Drakken, but you are proving quite troublesome."
"Is it really so hard to admit I'm dangerous? Come now, we're the only two around. Just admit it. Say it. Drakken is dangerous," said Drakken.
Gemini pressed his left hand against the eyepatch over his left eye socket. "Yes, fine. You're a dangerous man, Doctor Drakken."
Drakken pulled a miniature tape recorder out of his pants pocket. "Hah! No takebacks. I have it right here on tape. You can't- Where are you going?"
Gemini had retreated to a door on the other side of the room, opposite where Drakken and Shego had originally entered. It slid open for him, revealing a corridor beyond. "As I was trying to say, though I could probably still defeat you, there's no sense in taking foolish chances. I'm going to go get some more weapons and… 'rearm'. You stay here until I get back… not that you have much choice."
With that, Gemini tapped a few buttons on the keypad beside the door. He then hurried through the doorway into the corridor beyond. The door slid closed behind him with a resounding thud.
"You can't run out on me!" yelled Drakken. He flung himself at the door and slammed it with his right fist, but only succeeded in hurting his hand. It was made of metal and very solidly constructed. While waving his right hand in pain, Drakken typed at the keypad with his left. The door failed to respond.
"Owie, owie," said Drakken, his hand still aching. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to go find Shego, he thought to himself.
An unpleasant surprise awaited Drakken when he looked back to where he had entered the room. Even though Shego had blown the original doors off their hinges, a set of very tough-looking security walls had dropped out of the ceiling, blocking the room's other exit. Drakken was trapped. He was trapped, and Gemini would undoubtedly be back soon, better armed and perhaps with more troops.
"Trapped in the lair of a master villain… now let me see, how does Kim Possible always get out of these things? I don't know, I never stick around to watch," said Drakken, talking to himself in his nervousness. He ran his fingers through his long dark hair and squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to think.
After a few seconds, he opened them again. He realized he was looking directly at the glowing sphere of Project Firebreak.
As she started to fall, a single thought bounced around Shego's head. That was probably the stupidest thing I've ever done.
Now that she was in freefall, a half-dozen other ways she could have handled the situation occurred to her. Like maybe blasting the ceiling above Agent Alpha. Or only destroying the floor below him. Or maybe trying to negotiate with him or bribe him, ninja-to-ninja. Or… or…. Of course, while these possibilities all offered a chance of her own survival, none of them gave much certainty to beating Masuyo Ichikawa.
That was what it had all been about, wasn't it? Beating Gemini's big, bad Agent Alpha, beating Yamanuchi's 'bad seed', that was the goal. When Shego decided she couldn't bear to lose, it had been easy to fall back into that old heroic mindset. Do whatever it takes to beat the bad guy and don't think about the cost to yourself. Don't worry, because something will come along and save you, or at the very least let you save yourself. It was the superhero version of karma. Or blind optimism. Take your pick.
Shego spent a half-second taking stock of her situation. It was a dark night, it having been past sundown when she rode the load of crates up to the flying fortress. A strange blue glowing haze filled the air outside the airship, though it wasn't helping her see any better. Shego had no idea what the haze was all about, but it didn't seem to be harming her as she fell through it, so she immediately dismissed it as a concern.
Instead she went straight to trying to save herself. As she pointed her hands straight down and concentrated, brilliant emerald jets of plasma jetted out below her, lighting up the night sky. Her hope was that maybe she could use her glow as a kind of rocket jet, blasting against the pull of gravity enough to slow her fall. She had seen and used rocket packs before, so this couldn't be all that much different, right? It was a good effort, but it fell short in practice. Shego was getting a little thrust as she adjusted the output of her power, but it wasn't nearly enough. The only real outcome was the heretofore mentioned lightshow.
About two and a half seconds had passed since Shego started to fall. She was already approaching the edge of the glowing blue zone around the WWEE flying fortress, and her eyes were fixed downwards, trying to make out what lay below. Maybe if she could manage to hit water and use her powers to break the surface tension before impact, she could survive.
Wait.
Shego cut off her plasma fire in the nick of time and stretched her body out, trying to take the oncoming impact with as much surface area as possible. With a muffled "Ooof," she landed spread-eagled, fabric stretching beneath her as she bounced. As she started to slide down the side, Shego got an extremely close look at the vehicle that had broken her fall.
It was a hot air balloon emblazoned with some sort of design that Shego couldn't make out in the darkness.
Gaining a grip on the balloon was difficult, as Shego didn't dare risk digging the fingers of her clawed gloves in and puncturing the balloon. Instead she had to try and exert pressure with her forearms and legs, scrambling to gain enough traction to stop the slide. It wasn't enough to maintain a stable hold on the balloon, but it did swing her around so that she passed directly by the balloon's basket as she started to fall again. With desperate accuracy, she snagged a loop of rope hanging from the basket. This left Shego dangling by the rope from the balloon's basket.
A figure peered out over the edge of the basket at Shego. For a moment the basket's occupant was in shadow, then a light flashed on, revealing the face of Dr. Betty Director. She moved the light, which proved to be a chemical light tube, down to illuminate Shego's face. "Shego! What are you doing here?" asked Dr. Director.
"Oh, you know, just hanging around," replied Shego dryly.
Dr. Director did not reply for a moment, seemingly considering something.
"So… could I get some help here?" said Shego, getting a two handed grip on the rope.
"I don't need any interference in this mission," said Dr. Director, sounding faintly menacing.
"Oh, hey, no interference here. I'm pretty sure we're on the same side for this one. Now how about pulling me up? Pretty-please!" said Shego
Dr. Director reached down and helped pull Shego into the balloon's basket. Shego breathed a sigh of relief that she hoped Director didn't see, then took a look around. "So a hot air balloon? Kind of low tech for you, isn't it? I thought Global Justice was all about the spy gadgets," said Shego with faint disdain.
"Gemini has put up some sort of energy dampening field around his flying fortress that disables our motorized air transport. I decided to attempt an infiltration of the fortress under cover of night to find the device and disable it. This balloon was the only thing we had on hand that could make it through the dampening field," said Dr. Director. As she talked, she looked out of the basket and up at the fortress.
"So that's what that blue glow is! Oh, and it must be Dr. Drakken's Project Firebreak machine creating it," said Shego, pleased that at having correctly put the pieces together.
"You're saying that Drakken and Gemini have allied themselves?" asked Dr. Director. She started to reach for something hidden behind her back, watching Shego carefully all the while.
"What? Nooo. No, no, Gemini swiped the machine from Dr. Drakken. We came here to get it back, but I got into a fight with Gemini's lead henchman, and we both ended up going over the side," said Shego. She thought for a second. "That leaves Drakken trying to fight Gemini on his own, and last time I saw him he was getting an acid bath. I'd better get back there soon."
"That could be a problem," noted Dr. Director.
"Why?" said Shego.
The head of Global Justice silently pointed up at the flying fortress. Shego looked up and was startled to realize it was now farther away than when she had first gotten into the basket. "We're sinking!" said Shego.
"I didn't account for a second person. We have to lose some weight," said Dr. Director.
Shego shook her head and gave a mock-regretful sigh. "Thanks for the ride, Director, but if one of us is going over the side it's going to be you," she said, the plasma fire around her hands flaring to life.
Dr. Director tugged on a rope, undoing a knot. She released the rope, allowing a sandbag to drop from the side of the balloon. She repeated the process with a second sandbag. "Or we could just drop some ballast," she said.
"Wait, if you could do that, why did you say getting up there would be a problem?" asked Shego.
"I'm afraid the sandbags won't be enough on their own. Luckily, you seem to have the solution in hand," said Dr. Director. In a sudden motion, she grabbed Shego's wrists and shoved Shego's still-flaming hands up the air intake hole of the balloon. "High on the heat, but keep the fire low if you please," added Director.
Shego's mouth twisted in anger at being ordered about, but she complied, using her plasma flame to increase the heat of the air inside the balloon. This effort, plus the loss of the sandbags, proved to be enough to take the balloon upwards and even with an extended wing of the flying fortress. Lines of giant propellers providing lift power extended all up and down the wing.
Shouldering a pack of equipment, Dr. Director leapt from the balloon's basket and onto a flat surface. Shego yanked her hands out of the air intake hole and swiftly followed, leaving the balloon to drift away. The two women looked at each other warily.
"Take me to this Project Firebreak machine," ordered Dr. Director.
"Hold on now. Let's get something straight. I do not take orders from you, and I could care less about why you're here," said Shego.
"As long as we're getting things straight, you're a wanted fugitive and ordinarily I would never work with you," said Dr. Director. She looked Shego straight in the eye, posture stiff, not backing down an inch.
"And you're not going to be working with me now. I'm going to get Dr. Drakken. You do what you want," said Shego.
"Very well. What I 'want' is to shut down the machine generating the energy dampening field."
"Go do that then."
"At least tell me where it is," said Dr. Director.
"It's in the same place that I left Dr. Drakken. And… I'm going there now," said Shego. As she trailed off, she couldn't help but feel slightly foolish.
Dr. Director just looked at her, eyebrow above her good eye rising slightly.
"Fine, you can come along. But I am not protecting you. If you get into trouble, you're on your own," said Shego.
"I'll try to manage," said Director, not sounding too worried.
Shego turned and walked down the wing to the nearest exterior wall. Not bothering to look for an entrance, she made her own with a few swipes of her flaming claws. Revealed on the other side was one of the endless empty corridors that seemed to fill so much of the fortress. She looked back over her shoulder at Dr. Director. "Do I rock or what?"
"Quite," said Dr. Director. She pulled her sidearm from its holster and fired it at Shego.
Shego ducked down and was just about to spring at Director when something fell on her head. She reached up and grabbed it. It was a piece of electrical cable cut at both ends. One end was melted, obviously from her plasma. The other looked like a much cleaner cut, though. Looking up, Shego saw a very short piece of electrical cable dangling just above her head, spitting sparks. "You shot the cable?" said Shego.
"I'm afraid you were careless when you opened up that hole. You cut open a live cable. It was about to drop on you and give you a serious shock, so I fired at it to cut it short," said Dr. Director, replacing her sidearm in its holster.
"Good shot," said Shego grudgingly, not quite able to bring herself to thank the other woman. That out of the way, she climbed inside.
Dr. Director gave a little shrug and followed.
Da-da-doo-doo.
Kim used her free hand to pull the Kimmunicator from its pouch on her belt. "What's the- Yeoow! What's the sitch, Wade?"
"Are you okay, Kim?" asked Wade, concerned. The camera in the Kimmunicator was showing him a rapidly changing scene as Kim swung about, doing acrobatics while holding it.
"It's no big, but you know that literacy drive that I was supposed to be making an emergency book delivery for?" said Kim. She punctuated her question by punching a robed cultist in the face, then using him as a springboard to reach a balcony that looked out into the stone walls of the room.
"I take it that's not going as planned," said Wade.
Having found a relatively safe place for the moment, Kim finally looked directly into the Kimmunicator. "It turns out that the 'literacy drive' was just a cover for these mystic-type cultists to get a bunch of people to reading their spells at the same time."
Ron appeared on Wade's screen, pressed in close to Kim so that he could talk into the Kimmunicator as well. "While Kim's been kicking cultist bootie, Rufus and I have been reading their leader's notes. They're trying to summon something called the Promethean Giants out of the ocean, and believe me those pictures are not very pretty."
"Sounds like you guys have your hands full. I'll get started researching these Giants. But in the meantime, the reason I called is that we have a break in the whole Gemini-Drakken situation. A giant Worldwide Evil Empire flying fortress just appeared over Chicago. Global Justice is launching an attack, but they aren't having much luck," said Wade.
"Does GJ need our help?" asked Kim. Behind her, Ron turned and seemed to be looking at something.
"No request in so far, Kim. I was thinking you might want to fly in just in case, but it seems like you kind of have your hands full where you are."
Ron's voice floated in from off-screen. "Zombies, KP! They're bringing in zombies. That's just not right."
Kim looked off-screen and shuddered. She returned her attention to Wade. "Can't argue with you on that one. Listen, I'm sure that Dr. Director can handle Gemini, and I'm pretty busy here trying to keep ancient monsters from arising. Call me if anything major happens, okay?"
"You got it Kim," replied Wade just before the Kimmunicator screen went dark.
Back in his room, Wade devoted one monitor to a continuous feed of information on the WWEE situation, just in case. Then he began to search his databases for cross-references of cultists and giants.
"Hiyah!" screamed Shego and Dr. Director in unison. With twin kicks, they knocked out the two WWEE henchmen occupying the control room.
Shego looked around. "No other exits. Doy, I told you this wasn't the right door."
"The map on that viewscreen was confusing. The symbols were so large they obscured the layout, and the colors didn't match the map key," said Dr. Director. She was more matter-of-fact than defensive.
Shego looked away and bit her lip, somewhat torn. On the one hand this was an opportunity to rip on Drakken by explaining that he had messed with the maps, but on the other hand she hated to give that know-it-all Director an excuse for her mistake. The head of Global Justice was really beginning to grate on Shego, though oddly it was more a matter of what Dr. Director didn't do than what she did do.
She didn't seem affected by Shego's insults and put-downs. She didn't seem frightened, or even angry, at Shego's threats. She didn't back down when Shego tried to bully her, but she didn't particularly try to push back either. In other words, Dr. Director gave every appearance of not being very impressed with Shego. Fear, hatred, and/or a struggle for control were things Shego could handle. If asked, she would have said they were the basis for most of her personal relationships. Indifference, though, that was just plain insulting!
It didn't help that (other than an error reading Drakken's 'improved' maps) Dr. Director was proving to be irritatingly competent. Though Global Justice was a fairly secretive organization, Shego had been around the block enough times to recognize Dr. Director as its head. She had never given much thought to Betty Director, assuming she was just another administrator type, dangerous only for the GJ troops she commanded. It seemed vaguely unfair to Shego that Dr. Director was not only the head of Global Justice, but also personally fearless, a skilled fighter, and (judging by what Shego had seen of GJ troops) probably their single most dangerous secret agent. Why did the leader of Global Justice have to be so good at field work?
"So why is the head honcho of GJ going out on the big important mission? Don't you have people to do this sort of thing for you, or are they all just garbage?" asked Shego, who was not a woman to hide what was on her mind.
"If you were not aware, Gemini is my twin brother. I try to handle cases involving him personally," replied Dr. Director, leading the way down a different corridor.
"Looking after family, huh?" sneered Shego.
"Sheldon is a very twisted and dangerous individual. I have great confidence in my agents, but it requires a special touch to handle him properly… as you and your employer have found out," said Dr. Director.
Stung by the implied idea that she couldn't handle Gemini, Shego shot back. "We're doing fine. But I understand. You must be getting pretty rusty, stuck behind a desk all the time, letting everyone else do the real work. Then your brother comes along, you have to handle it yourself or you look bad, but you're worried you don't have what it takes. You're just lucky I'm in such a helpful mood today.
Dr. Director glanced back at Shego. "I've very aware of my own abilities," she said. She started to turn away, but then she added another comment. "You though Shego, you don't quite match up with your file and the tapes I've seen."
"You've read up on me?" said Shego. She immediately winced at the eagerness in her own voice.
"Of course. You're wanted in over thirteen countries."
Shego straightened up, nodding her head in satisfaction. A little acknowledgement, that was all she had wanted.
"That's how I know you're not operating at one hundred percent tonight. Your moves are slow and sloppy, and your reaction time seems sub par," said Dr. Director.
"What! You're nuts," responded Shego angrily.
"An excellent example. Normally your come-back would be seventy-five percent wittier," said Dr. Director.
Shego gritted her teeth. "It's been a long day. I haven't gotten much sleep," she said.
"I see. Well, if you were 'worried you don't have what it takes', then you're lucky to have me here," said Dr. Director.
At that moment, Shego realized that perhaps Dr. Director had noticed her insults after all. Strangely, this fact didn't improve Shego's mood. "Less blabbing, more running," said Shego, increasing her pace to move out ahead of Dr. Director. Her hands were clenched at her sides, plasma surrounding them.
And sliding into number one spot of, 'people I really hate'… Dr. Betty Director, thought Shego.
Drakken softly whistled to himself as he studied the open panel on the side of his Firebreak machine. He reached towards the exposed wires and carefully began to tug at one. A spark shot out, catching him in the chest. Drakken's usual blue lab coat having been eaten up by acid, there was nothing protecting his chest but a thin white undershirt. He collapsed backwards, hissing in pain.
Sweatdrops beaded on his brow. The butterflies in his stomach seemed to have been transmuted to lead as a terrible weight settled in his gut. Most of all, Drakken felt terribly alone. There was no Shego around to act confident in front, no rival to insult, no heroine prisoner to taunt. He was all alone, with nothing but the knowledge that time was ticking away second by second. It couldn't be much longer until Gemini came back.
There had been other times when Drakken had been afraid, of course. He'd dealt with his share of sticky situations. It was even exhilarating, in a way. The rapid beat of his heart was certainly getting the old blood flowing. It was just that it would have been a lot easier to take with an ally standing over his shoulder. Maybe that was the reason Kim Possible dragged the buffoon along everywhere. It gave her someone to talk to.
Drakken picked himself back up and attacked the wiring again, being more careful this time. He had no tools, no plans, and he wasn't sure that what he was trying to do would even work. It was the only hope he had, though. Well, this or hope that Shego can defeat her clones and the ninja and get back here to save me, he thought. Which decent odds she could, but he couldn't count on that.
HmmmmKKKKMMMM
There was a subtle change in the background noise of the machine. I'm almost there! Just need a little more time, thought Drakken.
The door at the rear of the room slid open. "You're out of time, Drakken," said Gemini.
Drat! Why is it my enemies always show up in the nick of time? Is it me? Do I have some sort of probability field that keeps them from ever being a few minutes late? I should investigate that somehow, thought Drakken. He looked up at the ceiling and bit his lip, momentarily distracted as he tried to figure out what sorts of tests he might run.
Gemini cleared his throat. "Dr. Drakken? Time, you're out of it. Not looking won't make me go away, you know."
Drakken finally looked back at Gemini to see how bad the situation was. It was, in his judgment, pretty bad.
Gemini was wearing some sort of high-tech battle exo-skeleton. Its armor covered most of his body in metal, leaving only his face visible through a tinted faceplate. He was accompanied by four large robots, each about seven feet tall. The robots were roughly humanoid in shape. At the end of one arm, each robot had a spinning buzz-saw. At the end of the other arm, each robot had shield made of some sort of tough-looking alloy that could be deployed to protect themselves from attack.
Drakken looked at the robots, then down at his own empty hands, then back at the robots again. He straightened himself up and looked Gemini directly in the eye. "Mr. Director. Tell me, have you heard the word 'overkill'?"
Behind the faceplate, Gemini smiled. "Dr. Lipsky. Surely you've heard the old villain saying. There's no kill like overkill."
Drakken cocked his head to the side and twiddled his fingers. "Eh… point," he conceded.
Then the security walls blocking the room's other exit exploded inwards in a blast green fire. "Knock, knock!" shouted Shego in a cheery voice.
"Hello Sheldon," added Dr. Director, standing beside her.
"Hello, Betty. Hiring supervillains these days, are you?" said Gemini.
"I don't work for her; we just happened to be going in the same direction. Oh, and you're going to need a new Agent Alpha. The old one's broken," said Shego. She ran towards the center of the room, then let loose with three blasts of plasma. Two of them were blocked by the raised shields of the robots. The third washed over Gemini's exoskeleton without apparent effect.
"Good help is so hard to find. That's why I decided to have some built," said Gemini. He commanded for his robots to attack Shego and Drakken, then lumbered towards his sister, intending to deal with her himself.
Flame covered Shego's claws as she swiped at the lead robot. It moved to block with its shield, proving much faster than most mechanical constructs she had fought in the past. The shield was resistant to Shego's claws, which left only a small scratch in its surface. Shego bent over backwards to avoid the robot's follow-up with its buzz-saw arm. She turned the bend into a reverse-somersault, passing between the legs of a second robot coming up behind her.
Meanwhile, Gemini and Dr. Director began their duel. The exoskeleton made Gemini nearly invulnerable, but Dr. Director was too fast and maneuverable to be easily cornered. She jumped and spun about, pausing to take the occasional spot at what appeared to be weak places in the exoskeleton's construction.
Drakken dove to the side as the combat began. One of the robots went after him rather than Shego, and he played hide-and-seek with it around a console, staying well clear of its buzz-saw arm. After a few moments, he risked taking a glance at how things were progressing.
It wasn't good. None of Dr. Director's shots had done any real damage to Gemini. Meanwhile, Shego was avoiding the robot's attacks by only a slim margin. Sooner or later it was likely she would make a mistake. Drakken realized their only chance was for him to finish putting into effect what he had planned.
That decided, Drakken made a dash back to the Firebreak machine in the center of the room. He called out, "Shego, keep them off me!"
"Keep out of the way, Doc! I am not going to get myself killed over one of your idiot ideas," said Shego.
Drakken stood straight, arms at his side, and a very serious expression on his face. "Shego! I am the brains of this operation, and I am telling you I have a plan. Now do your job and give me the time to win this fight!" That said, he very deliberately bent down at the open access panel on the Firebreak machine, ignoring the robot with extended buzz-saw arm that was moving rapidly towards him.
Shego ground her teeth in frustration. For an instant she seriously considered allowing Drakken to be cut down. It was only for an instant, though. With a scream of frustration, she broke away from her attackers and launched at kick at the robot pursuing Drakken. It raised its shield to defend itself, which was exactly what Shego had been counting on. The force of her kick was still enough to knock the robot backwards. At the same time, Shego used it as a springboard to push herself through the air, landing in front of Drakken.
"Oh, I am so getting a raise out this," she declared.
"A raise?" said Drakken doubtfully. "A small bonus, perhaps." Even as he spoke, he never stopped working.
"You are such a cheapskate," complained Shego. Not able to dodge out of the way lest she leave Drakken vulnerable, Shego had to stand her ground against the on-coming robots. With a series of slams and kicks, she knocked the robots back as they crowded ever more closely around her.
Finally came the moment she had known was inevitable. Caught in mid-air, Shego saw a buzz-saw arm aimed straight at her chest. Unable to change her course to dodge, Shego could only concentrate an intense burst of flame at the hand. She managed to melt it in the split-second before impact, causing the blade to sag and spend its momentum against the frame holding it. Even though this prevented her from being cut in half, Shego still caught a fast-moving lump of molten metal directly to the chest. It slammed her to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. Unable to move for a second, she watched as the remaining robots towered above her and began lowering their spinning saws to cut her in half.
"I've got it!" shouted Drakken. There was an ominous hum from the Firebreak machine, and a field of glowing blue light began expanding outwards from it. It quickly engulfed the robots clustered around Shego. The moment the field touched them, the robots froze, motionless. Their buzz-saw hands halted themselves inches from Shego's face, the momentum keeping the blades spinning.
Breathing rapidly, Shego scrambled to her feet. With the robots now helpless to raise their shields, she destroyed them with a few quick swipes of her flaming claws. "That's what we call cutting it close, Doc," she said, relief and irritation intermixed in her voice.
Across the room, Gemini was too involved in his battle with his sister to notice what the destruction of his robots. He looked towards the Firebreak machine just in time to see the blue energy field overtaking him. As he was registering what had happened, the field swept over him, rendering both the exoskeleton and Gemini himself helpless.
Drakken strolled over to the now-helpless supervillain. "I think this is the power supply. Shego, if you would care to do the honors?" said Drakken, wearing a toothy grin.
Shego walked up and destroyed the indicated part of the suit. "Well look who's helpless and at our mercy," she said.
"Yes, the worm has turned, hasn't it Gemini?" said Drakken. He rapped on Gemini's faceplate. "Who's the idiot now?"
"Drakken, you idiot!" shouted Dr. Director.
"What!" said Drakken, confused.
"The engines keeping this airship aloft. What do you think is going to happen when the energy-field from your machine reaches them?" said Director, who had walked over to the Firebreak machine.
"The ship will… crash?" offered Drakken after a moment's thought. An alarmed look immediately appeared on his face. "Uh-oh."
Director drew her gun and fired it at the machine. Nothing happened when she pulled the trigger. "My weapon won't work in this field. Drakken, you have to shut it down."
"That might be difficult. Alternate plan. Shego and I start running now, and we get off the ship before it crashes," said Drakken.
"Now that's a plan I can get behind," said Shego.
"Wait!" called Dr. Director. "There are hundreds of people aboard this airship, not to mention all the damage this ship will do if it falls on the city. Stop the machine, and my Global Justice troops can come aboard and take control."
"That would be a good argument… except that I'm a very bad man and I don't care," replied Drakken. He had intended to speak smugly, but when it came out, he realized he just sounded tired.
"Doctor Drakken, please. This isn't part of any plan of yours. You don't gain anything by it. Just for once, can't you do the right thing?" pleaded Director.
"You don't know him very well, do you?" said Shego.
Just as Shego got out the word 'you', Drakken interrupted. "All right," he said.
"What?" said Shego, head snapping around to look at Drakken.
"I said all right," said Drakken. He walked over to the machine. "Shego, if you please? Give me a narrow stream of plasma right here."
"This is so unlike you," said Shego, but she nevertheless walked obediently over to the machine.
Concentrating for a moment, Shego directed her plasma at the spot Drakken had indicated. It burned through the semi-transparent surface of the dome, melting a piece of equipment inside. Immediately the twinkling lights inside the dome dimmed and disappeared, and the blue glow surrounding the machine dissipated.
"Whew," said Drakken.
"Wait, why 'whew'? Why did you just go 'whew'?" asked Shego suspiciously.
"There was a small chance that could have caused the machine to explode," said Drakken.
Shego gritted her teeth and glared.
"Just a small chance," said Drakken. He held up his forefinger and thumb close together to demonstrate just how small the chance really was.
Shego grabbed him by the arms. "Why you-" she began.
"Sheldon!" shouted Dr. Director.
All eyes turned to the door, where Gemini had taken advantage of their distraction to unclamp himself from the exoskeleton. Still missing his cybernetic right hand, he waved at them with his left. "Farewell! We'll finish this another time," he said. Then he turned and began to run.
Dr. Director set off in immediate pursuit, not sparing a second thought for Drakken and Shego.
"She could have at least thanked me," said Drakken, disappointed.
"I suppose now we have to help her chase down Gemini," said Shego, menace in her voice.
Drakken shook his head. "Do you feel like chasing down Gemini? I don't."
"Yeah, he's lost his ship and his latest plan. I say we call it even and go home," said Shego.
"For once, Shego, we're thinking along the same lines," replied Drakken. He gave Shego a much saner smile than his usual maniacal grins.
Shego abruptly realized she was still holding onto Drakken. Without his coat, her gloved hands were clutching his bare arms. She let him, go, giving him a little push as she did it to put some distance between them. "Come on," she said and led the way to the door.
Drakken followed her. "It's a strange feeling," he said.
"What?" replied Shego.
"Feels like… victory," said Drakken.
Soon the two of them were winging their way back to the lair, courtesy of an aircraft stolen from Gemini's hanger bay. There had been some difficulty getting past the incoming Global Justice ships, but Shego's piloting skills had managed to slip them through and away without too much delay. Finally out of danger, she put the ship on autopilot and leaned back in her seat.
Drakken sat in the co-pilot's seat beside her and handed her a glass. "There's no champagne on board, but I did find some soda pop. For now, we can toast with that," he said.
"Toast?" asked Shego, arching an eyebrow. She stretched as she lay back in her seat, popping a few joints.
"We have to celebrate my triumph," said Drakken.
"Your triumph," said Shego, putting just the smallest amount of sarcasm in her words.
"Oh, all right, our triumph," said Drakken, still in a supremely good mood.
"I suppose in this case, 'not dying' counts as a win," said Shego. She clinked her glass with Drakken's and they both drank. Then she looked at Drakken suspiciously. That doesn't mean you want to keep doing this kind of thing, does it?"
"What kind of thing?" said Drakken.
"You know. Fighting villains, stopping somebody else's evil plans, acting like… heroes?" Shego's voice cracked involuntarily on the last word.
"Heroes, Shego?" said Drakken, sounding mildly intrigued.
"Maybe… not quite heroes. But you know what I mean," said Shego.
Drakken tilted his glass back and forth in his hand. "What if I did want to keep doing 'this kind of thing'. Would you keep working for me?"
Shego's eyes flicked back and forth nervously. "Well, I… I…" she began, trailing off as she couldn't finish her sentences.
Drakken leaned in. "Yes, Shego?"
"I'd have to think about it…" said Shego.
Suddenly Drakken jumped to his feet, laughing. "Oh, psyche! Psyche! I totally got you. You were about to go for it, weren't you? You were completely on board to go play hero."
Shego stood up. "Shut up! I was not. I was just- Shut up!"
Drakken shook his hands dismissively. "Oh, don't even try. You know you were so going to say yes."
Shego clenched and unclenched her fists. Finally she said, "How would you like to spend the rest of the trip home on the outside of this airplane?"
Knowing she was serious, Drakken made a show of closing his mouth and making a zipping motion across it. After a moment of glaring, Shego settled back down in her seat. Drakken sat down beside her.
Drakken spoke again. "I did want to say, Shego. I was… very happy to see you when you broke back into the room at the end there."
Shego snorted. "I just bet you were."
"No, I'm serious. I really don't know what I'd do without you," said Drakken, no humor in his voice.
"Is this another psyche out?" asked Shego.
"I swear it's not," said Drakken.
There was a long moment of silence from Shego. Finally she spoke. "If there's one thing I learned from all this, it's that I don't know what I'd do without you either. I'm glad you're all right, you blue baboon." Then, shockingly, she leaned over and gave Drakken a quick hug.
"S-Shego," was all Drakken could say.
"If you ever tell anyone I did that, I'll kill you. And I am not kidding," said Shego.
Drakken nodded. There was uncomfortable silence for a while, and then he finally spoke. "I have a new plan to take over the world."
"Uh-huh," said Shego.
"This one is solid. I'm going to avoid the mistakes of past plans. I've finally figured out where I've been going wrong," said Drakken.
"And where have you been going wrong?"
"I don't want to jinx it by saying. In the meantime, I have a couple of assignments for you," said Drakken.
Shego glared.
"After you take some vacation time, I mean," said Drakken, quickly correcting himself.
"All right, I'll bite. What have you got for me?"
Drakken tapped his fingertips against each other. "First, we need to find out where I can secure an expert in cybertronic technology. Second, I want to know the name of the world's leading toy designer. Third…."
Even as Drakken spoke to Shego, his thoughts drifted back to the real secret behind his new plan. It was all so obvious now. Why had he always failed before? It was because he had never given one hundred percent. He had always slipped up, always slacked off at a crucial moment and things had come unraveled. The reason was that there were never any real consequences to failure. He had always known, in the back of his mind, that if he failed he could just go back and try again.
Not this time. This time Drakken would give it everything he had. If he did that, he knew he couldn't fail. He was Doctor Drakken, how could fail if he really gave it his all? To make sure he was fully committed, all he had to do was make one simple promise to himself. One simple promise that he would never have to keep.
Never.
Weeks Later
Shortly after the events of 'So the Drama'
Drakken sat in the back of the police wagon, shaking. He had been so close, so close! He had almost won. He had done everything right, and somehow Kim Possible had beaten him. Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable. They had beaten him. He had failed. This one time, he had given it his all, no games or distractions, and he had failed.
What that meant… he didn't want to think about.
Beside him, Shego tried to shake the frizz out of her hair. It was still standing on end from the electric shock she had gotten after Kim Possible had booted her into the control tower. She couldn't use her hands to smooth it down, as they were still cuffed behind her.
"You think we should wait a few days before breaking out, Dr. D? I could use a little recovery time, and after the way the Diablos trashed every city on the planet, I think we're going to be higher on the most-wanted list than usual," said Shego.
She paused to wait for Drakken's response. He wasn't even looking at her. His eyes were fixed on the floor of the vehicle. "Drakken?" she asked after a moment.
Drakken grunted an unintelligible response.
Shego shrugged and settled back in her seat. Drakken obviously needed some time before he was ready to talk. She understood. They had come so close this time, even Shego had actually started to have some hope before being disappointed.
Drakken couldn't look at Shego. She didn't know. He hadn't told her about the promise he had made to himself.
The promise.
One more try. I promised myself to give it one more try, giving it everything I have, and if didn't work, I'd quit. I'd take myself out of the world conquest business, thought Drakken. That had been his deal. It was his secret promise to himself.
Of course, no one knew he had made the promise. He could break it, and no one would know. No one but Drakken himself. Drakken knew he was a bad man, but if you can't trust yourself, who can you trust? Besides….
Besides, if that was genuinely the best he could do, his best try at it, then what was the point of trying again? Kim Possible had beaten him fair and square. He now knew, once and for all, that he could never win.
I refuse to spend my life in failure, thought Drakken.
So that only left one question.
What do I do now? And how do I convince Shego to go along with it?
The End.
We've come to the end of our story, but something yet remains to be told. Return to Not Quite Heroes one final time, as your gentle author parts the veil of time to show you what lies ten years in the future for Drakken and Shego.
Next update, a little coda we just had to call… Epilogue
Author's Notes:
So, slightly over four weeks since my last update. Yeah, sorry about that. You know how it is. Hopefully the epilogue will come slightly faster. And I think I have a fic or two more in me after that.
So Shego falls out of the airship and on to a balloon. Things like that just seem to happen in the KP universe, don't they? Like Shego says, you could call it a sort of heroic karma. I also shamelessly played the clichés. 'Just hanging around'? Heh.
But I had to give Dr. Director a gun. C'mon, the Global Justice guys are all wearing holsters! They can't pull guns cause it's Disney, but we all know what's supposed to be in those holsters.
And speaking of Dr. Director, doesn't she rock? I think that she's going to have to hold on to the 'toughest person in the world' title a few years before passing it on to Kim. She certainly got on Shego's nerves.
Why did Drakken agree to have Shego to stop his Firebreak machine? I thought about giving a peek into his thoughts, but it didn't seem to fit with the flow of the story and… Well, I think I'll just leave it to you readers to decide what was going through his head.
Anyway, I hope I got the interaction between Drakken and Shego right in this last chapter, even with the delays. They've been both changed by the experiences of this little adventure and not changed at all. Eh, I can only hope it's all in the story.
Not quite as many surprises and misdirections this chapter, but I really hope we coasted into a satisfying conclusion for the story. And make no mistake, despite the epilogue that is coming, this was the conclusion. So please, write in, comment, let me know what you think of the story as a whole.
I'd like to know.
And speaking of comments, it's time for my usual round of thanks for everybody who has dropped one.
Thanks to: Jezrianna2.0, campy, Zoko, heavensong, Happy-Raven, Gundum M, and MaggieLimerick for your comments.
Jez, I don't think Gemini had any particular plans for the Twin Squad, other than that he thought they would be a useful think to have around. As for Project Firebreak, it had magic mad science effects that only Drakken, and probably not even him, really understood. You notice even gunpowder didn't work inside it! Yet it didn't affect Shego's powers…. Strange, eh?
Oh, and thanks to Caren H for your comment on 'High School Evil' and surforst for your recent comment on '81 Percent of Her Heat'. Much appreciated. I should really do more one-shots.
Till next time!