Fuel, Fire and Desire

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a KiGo for petrolheads. If you're not that into cars and bikes, you'll more than likely end up bored, especially with the beginning. I'm using it purely to give some background on my 'version' of Kim and a bit of a basis for the story. And I tend to ramble on like an old man.

I am also an Englander and, as such, I spell like one. I'm not about to try and spell like a Yank just so it 'fits' the story.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION-PLEASE READ BEFORE CONTINUING!!!

You will notice the characters are very much OOC from the TV series. The main changes being to Kim.

I've made Kim out to be a bit of a bad girl with a short fuse and a bitchy, nonchalant temperament and she's into rock instead of the usual girly crap. You won't find her wearing anything pink, either.

Shego's pretty much what you'd expect without the censorship of kid's TV, but with a hint of shyness when it comes to emotional stuff.

Ron's not quite as dopey or blatantly blonde as he is on TV either.

Chapter 1: Fuel for the Fire

Kim led a busy life, obviously juggling school, saving the world and lately, her absolute passion of all things motorised that had been growing steadily after her parents had bought her a car for her 17th. As it was a classic, there was usually something going wrong with it that she needed her dad's help to fix. Something he was always willing to give, but not always had the time to do so, and several times, the faded BRG mk3 ford Cortina had sat forlornly on the drive waiting for someone to lavish some attention on it.

"Dad! My car's not starting again! Do you think you could help me fix it?" She called from the front door, leaning on the frame and peering into the house. She was wearing a black long-sleeved AC/DC t-shirt to hide a tattoo she had gotten recently on her left shoulder, a pair of cut-off jeans shorts and a pair of Doc Marten workboots. She preferred wearing boots to trainers lately because she noticed they gave her more ankle support on missions and they had the added advantage of being more resistant to Shego's plasma and landing a heavier kick.

"Sure thing Kimmie-cub. Just let me finish up what I'm doing here and I'll be with you." He said, not looking up from the paperwork he was going over on the dining room table.

"Any idea how long you're gonna be, cuz I said I'd meet Ron at Bueno Nacho in an hour?" She asked, hoping he was nearly done.

"Sorry Kim, but I'm gonna be here for at least that. I'm afraid you're gonna have to walk this time." He looked up, straight into a full-blown PDP. "Gah! I should have seen that coming! I'm sorry Kim, but the answer's still the same. I can't leave this unfinished." He sighed.

"Humph. Fine. Can I borrow yours instead then?" She asked, a little annoyed that she wasn't going to get her way.

"Hahaha! After having seen the way you drive your car, not a chance!" He laughed, earning a scowl from Kim.

"And just what is wrong with my driving?" She demanded, annoyance turning to upset at the dig.

"Well put it this way Kimmie-cub, it wouldn't look too out of place on a racetrack. I'm actually surprised your license is still clean and you haven't managed to blow the poor thing up yet." He chuckled, and Kim's scowl deepened.

"Bollocks then." She grunted, spinning round and storming off, slamming the door behind her. She kicked her car as she passed it, cursing under her breath. She decided to call Ron on the Kimmunicator and see if he wanted to meet early as her planned journey taking the long, long way to Bueno Nacho had been well and truly pissed on.

"Hey Ron, my car's not starting again, so do ya fancy meeting early for lunch?" She asked hopefully, knowing that Ron had more than likely made plans to fill the time before their arranged lunch date.

"Hey KP. Sorry, no can do. I'm in the middle of cleaning Rufus' cage at the mo. I can give ya a call if I finish early though?"

She sighed. So far, she was not having an especially good day. "Yeah Ron, that sounds cool. See you later."

"Catch you later KP!"

She closed the call and decided to head back home and see if she could figure out the mystery car trouble herself to pass the time. That, too, only ended up darkening her mood.

Having got more than a little narked with the Cortina, which she had nicknamed the Almighty, purely out of spite as it was far from almighty, breaking down seemingly every other day, she had enrolled on an evening class learning mechanics, welding, fabricating, machining, spraying and coachworking [bodywork in normal lingo. She had a flare for it and had been taken under the tutor's wing, being given extra help and shown various 'insider' techniques which she mastered with little help.

It was the final lesson in her evening mechanic course and she was actually sad that it had come to an end. It had been great fun working with Kevin, the tutor, and she was going to miss the playful bickering and sarcastic remarks. She'd hung back after everyone else had left to say a proper goodbye.

"Thanks for all your help Mr. Beam. I'm actually gonna miss you." She sighed. They had got on better than she had expected as men with beards and long hair, even braided like his was, usually gave her the creeps.

He laughed. "Yeah, I'm actually gonna miss having to kick your arse every time you make a noobie fuck-up too." He grinned, giving her a slight wink and she started to blush.

"Yeah, like you could ever really kick my ass!" She chided, grinning.

"Heh. Yeah, I spose you're right, Miss 'Anything's Possible'." He smiled good-naturedly, then an idea struck him, "Hey, I'm gonna be heading down to that old industrial estate just on the Middleton/Upperton border, Saturday around 8pm to hook up with some mates. We get together to show off our rides and talk crap. You fancy coming along?" He looked hopeful. Hey, Kim was cool, funny, talented and had a cool car, even if it was tatty and constantly breaking down.

"Hmmm... I dunno... I'll think about it." She said warily. Was he trying to hit on her or just be friendly? Either way, meeting in an abandoned industrial estate at night sounded a bit risky to her...

"You're more than welcome to bring a friend if you like. There's gonna be quite a few of us, so its not like I'm trying to put you in harm's way." He reassured her, seeing the slight worry in her eyes.

"Ok, cool. I'll see if I can make it. Is this like a weekly thing? Cuz with the reliability of the Almighty I'm not sure if it'll get me there." She warned, also hoping it wasn't just a one-off thing.

"Yeah, pretty much every Saturday. Just pull up by the old Toys R Us warehouse and flash your lights twice. Someone'll meet you and take you there." He said, offhandedly.

"Sweet!" She squeaked. "Thanks Mr. Beam! I'll see you later!" She turned and headed to the door.

"Oh and Kim? Keep it under your hat. I'd appreciate this being kept between us." He asked, a hint of mischief in his eyes.

"O...k. I can do that." She said, the mischievous smirk that was working its way onto his face not lost on her. "See you later Mr. Beam."

"See you later, Kim. And call me Kev!" He called after her as she walked through the door.

After the parting words from her tutor, she was a little confused. The honest part of her was screaming that something wasn't right and she should notify the authorities, but the bad girl in her was screaming even louder telling her she had been let in on a big secret and should keep shtum and be happy that Kevin thought enough of her to let her in on it.

Obviously, the bad girl won out and she went home with a grin on her face.

Saturday came and went, and Kim had completely forgotten about the offer, partly due to spending every waking moment in the garage working on her car sorting out every minor problem and getting it running again.

After finally getting the Almighty running reliably, she became bored with the somewhat lethargic performance and questionable handling, brought into sharp relief by Bonnie prancing about in a flashy convertible her father had bought her for Christmas and her best girlfriend Monique turning up on her doorstep in a brand new BMW M3 and throwing her the keys.

She wanted the speed! It was like a drug and she had to have more!

It was then that she remembered Mr. Beam's offer of the meetings that took place every Saturday in the old industrial estate. She decided to call up Monique and see if she wanted to join her.

"Hey Monique, what you up to this Saturday around 8?" She asked, trying to make it sound like offhand curiosity, and only partly succeeding.

"Nothing so far girl, whatcha plannin'? And don't tell me you ain't cuz I know when you lyin'." She teased, grinning.

"Dammit, you figured me out already!" She cursed. She really wasn't any good at lying, especially to Monique. "My old mechanics tutor invited me to a car meet up at the old industrial estate on the Upperton border. Fancy tagging along?" She asked hopefully. She really didn't want to turn up by herself, still being a little apprehensive about the whole sitch.

"I dunno Kim. I heard from a few people there's some shady stuff goes on up there." She warned, a little apprehensive about going herself.

"Shady stuff like what?" Kim inquired, her interest piqued. She just HAD to go now to find out what it was all about!

"I wish I knew, girl. I didn't hang about to find out any more cuz I never thought I'd end up going." She answered honestly.

"Well I'm going anyway, so you in or out?" She asked, a little more forcefully than she'd meant to.

"Whoa, girl! Calm down! Sure I'll come with. You wanna go in my car?" She asked, a bit flustered at Kim's sudden determination.

"Sorry Monique. Didn't mean it to come out like that." She apologised sheepishly. "I was thinking go in separate cars actually. I was planning to show off my handiwork to Kev when I got there. Shall I drop by yours at, say, 7:30 and we head out from there?"

"Since when did you get on first-name terms with this guy?" Monique asked mockingly, and Kim flushed, hiding her face, even though Monique couldn't see it, being on the other end of a phone.

"Never you mind!" Kim yelled back, shocked. Monique burst out laughing on the other end of the phone. "Yeah, 7:30 sounds cool. See you then, girlfriend." She managed to get out, still giggling, and hung up the phone.

Saturday, 7:30 on the dot, Monique heard the familiar noise of Kim's car pull up outside her house and she got up, grabbing her keys and called to her parents she was going out. She stepped out the door into the already fading light and took a moment to look at the sunset over Middleton before walking over to her car.

She got in her car and fired it up, switched on the lights and motioned for Kim to lead the way.

Due to Kim's manic driving, they got to the warehouse early, so parked up and waited the few minutes until 8pm, Monique deciding to bring up Kim's driving. "Girl, you ever thought of becoming a racecar driver? You were throwing that thing around like a woman possessed!" She raved.

Kim laughed nervously. "Eheh... Er... Yeah." She stammered, fidgeting on the spot and looking around, not quite sure whether to take it as a compliment or an insult. "My dad noticed it too, so I guess it's not just him being paranoid."

Monique scoffed. "Ha! No way, girl! I was having trouble keeping up with you, and mine's not exactly slow!"

More embarrassed laughter. "Heheh. Oh. My bad..." She trailed off, glancing at her watch before reaching in through her window and flicking her lights on and off twice, waving Monique back to her car as she got back in her own.

Just as she'd got strapped in and fired the old beast up, a second set of lights somewhere down the road flashed and a black Supra pulled out of an almost unseen alleyway and stopped beside Kim's window, rolling down its own. "And you are...?" The slightly oriental-looking man behind the wheel asked her.

"Kim Possible, and my friend in the BMW's name is Monique. Kevin Beam invited me along." She answered, hoping she'd said the right thing.

"Finally! Kevin has been waiting for you to turn up for over a month!" he burst out, grinning. "Pleased to meet you. My name is Hiroshitu. Follow me."

He pulled away and waited at a junction for the 2 girls to turn round, Kim doing a 180-degree burnout and Monique opting for the more sensible 3-point turn.

After both pulling up behind Hiroshitu, he led the way through the estate to a large, but very tired-looking warehouse, flashing the doors in a specific manner and waiting until they were opened.

The doors were pulled open and they drove inside, the noise of their engines mingling with the clanging of tools on the concrete floor and in toolboxes, the voices of the other drivers and mechanics, car stereos all tuned into Planet Rock and the occasional engine spluttering and backfiring while the mechanics worked to rectify the fuelling problems. They were directed to the back of the warehouse where there were still some empty parking spaces.

Once they had parked up, they got out and Hiroshitu walked over to the two girls who had decided to lean on Kim's bonnet. Kim was wearing something a bit more 'her' for once; a pair of flame pattern New Rocks that stopped just shy of her knees, black bondage shorts with barbed wire-style chains, a spent-shell belt and a sleeveless Iron Maiden t-shirt that showed off the 'Death of Glory' tattoo her parents still didn't know about. Monique had dressed casually, but not too casually. A white t-shirt with the line 'My eyes are up there ' in black, with 3/4 length black cargo trousers, a pair of khaki Etnies finished the look.

"May I show you around, ladies?" He offered. Kim smiled. "Yeah, that sounds great!" He returned the smile and motioned for the two girls to follow him. "As you may be able to tell," He started, "This is where we do most of the mechanics on our vehicles. Many of us have our own mechanics and toolkits on-site. If you look above the cars on the walls, you will notice the nameplates designating the various racer's individual spaces."

Kim raised an eyebrow when he used the term 'racers' instead of 'drivers', and looked over at Monique, who shrugged, but they decided not to interrupt.

They moved through the warehouse, which was larger than they had first thought, into a smaller area with a ramp and a dyno. "This is where we measure the power output of our cars and carry out any under-chassis work that we cannot do with the cars on axle-stands. We also have a wheel alignment computer as you may have noticed." He pointed to a large computer setup that sat in front of the ramp. "It works using lasers reflected off, basically, mirrors attached to the wheel hubs." He explained. The jargon was completely lost on Monique, but Kim was lapping it up.

Moving on again, they came to yet another area that was largely fitted out with racking and stocked with all sorts of different sized boxes. There was what could only be described as a counter that stretched the entire length of the room and separated them from the racking. At the far end, the racking stopped to make way for a large open area that was crowded with all sorts of heavy machinery. Lathes, mills, pillar drills, surface grinders, welders, balancing machines, laser cutters, gas axes and all other manner of tooling were crammed into it. "This is the toolroom and parts store." Explained Hiroshitu. "This is where all the custom fabrication goes on and where we store tuning accessories, and Kim, if you look over there, you will see Kevin currently working on a turbo manifold."

Kim followed Hiroshitu's finger and, indeed, saw Kev hunched over a bench with a die grinder in his hand working on what looked like a tangle of shiny tubes. Kim's face lit up at seeing her old tutor again and she bounded over and leant on the counter close to where he was working leaving Monique and Hiroshitu to make small talk.

"Hey Kev!" She called, trying to get his attention through the noise of the airtool he was using. He looked around trying to spot where the voice was coming from before spotting Kim leaning on the counter smiling at him. "Kim! How the hell are you? It's been ages! Nice outfit by the way." He said with a wink, partially masked by the safety goggles he was wearing. The suggestive smirk, however, didn't go unnoticed, and Kim began to blush despite herself. 'Ok,' She thought, 'He must be hitting on me.' "Thanks. Yeah, I'm good. Sorry I didn't come sooner, I was busy working on my car trying to get all the problems sorted." She responded.

"Yeah? How'd that go?" Asked Kev, genuinely interested. Most of his students didn't end up making much use of what he taught them, so it was refreshing to know that Kim hadn't let her obvious talent go to waste.

"It went pretty well actually. The old beast's running better than she ever has before. Had a few problems getting a new camshaft though, but other than that, it's all sorted and running like a dream." She said, barely hiding the fact she was proud of herself for doing it on her own.

"Excellent. Did you drive it down here tonight? I'll have to come and check it out." He asked.

"Well duh. I wasn't about to miss a chance to show off my handiwork." She teased.

He chuckled. "Nice one. Gimme a minute to pack this up and I'll be with you." "Ok. I'll be over there." She said, indicating to Monique and Hiroshitu, who seemed to be getting along quite well.

When Kim started walking back over to the pair, they suddenly cut the conversation short and looked at each other trying to think of anything else to talk about, and fast. "So, Hiro, how long did you say you'd been driving?" Asked Monique, a little too quickly, as Kim got within earshot. "Ah, yes, er, must be about 5 years now. I, er, started out in my mother's old car and went from there." He said hurriedly.

While Kim had been busy talking with Kevin, Monique and Hiroshitu had been talking about how obvious it was that they were flirting with each other, finding it quite amusing that Kim was probably completely oblivious to it all. The both wondered when the penny would drop and one of them would ask the other out.

"How old is Kevin? He looks a bit young to be a tutor." Monique pointed out. "Not really. He's only 25. Young, yes, but very talented as a mechanic, among other things." Hiroshitu replied.

It was about then that Kim had started walking back over and they had cut the conversation short. "O...kay... Weird much." She commented as they both shifted nervously under her gaze. "So what were you two nattering about behind my back that's got you fidgeting like prisoners waiting for interrogation?" She asked in a playful manner, not thinking it was really anything about her.

"Oh, nothing, really. Just cars and stuff." Replied Monique, Hiroshitu nodded in agreement.

Kim shrugged, not really too bothered. "Fair enough. Kev's gonna be over in a minute." She said simply.

When Kevin finally turned up, Monique piped up, "So you're the guy that had Kim chippin' off her best buddies to work on that heap of rust she calls a car." Kim gave her a death glare for that insult to her precious car and Monique merely stuck her tongue out and folded her arms. "Er, yeah. I spose I am." Replied Kev, not sure quite what to make of the statement. He held out a hand to introduce himself. "I'm Kev, obviously, and who are you?" He asked pleasantly. "Monique. Pleased to meet you. Diggin' the hair, by the way, but it so ain't working with that top, dude." Replied Monique in her usual 'I'mo speak ma mind and screw the consequences!' manner.

"Monique! Hush your mouth, woman!" Kim burst out, shocked. "Don't mind her. She's studying to be a fashion designer and likes to think she can tell the whole world what to wear." The statement earned Kim a death glare of her own. Kim silently mouthed "Now we're even, biatch." at Monique, which caused the outspoken girl to roll her eyes.

"Heh. No worries. I'm sort of used to people telling me my fashion sense is crap. To coin a phrase, 'No big'." Kim grinned at Kev using one of her lines. Monique and Hiroshitu exchanged knowing glances. "So, shall we go and see what you've done to the Almighty since you finished that course?" He suggested. "Sounds good to me!" Kim squealed. More knowing glances.

They wandered over to where Kim had parked, Kim walking slightly ahead, an obvious bounce to her step. She got to the car and reached into the cab and popped the bonnet. Kev taking the opportunity to admire her arse until he got a sharp dig in the ribs from Monique. "Ow! Wossat for?" He asked, playing dumb. "You know exactly what, mister." Teased Monique. "Ok, ok, you got me." He conceded.

After Kim had shown Kevin every single thing she'd repaired on her car, a task that Monique and, to a point, Hiroshitu wished they could slip away from and do something... anything... else to pass the time, Kev checked his watch and announced to the garage it was 15 minutes to the main event of the night. "What do you mean, main event?" Kim inquired, feeling that she was about to find out exactly what the 'shady stuff' Monique had mentioned were. "Every week we hold events to test out our cars. Tonight, it's drag racing." Hiroshitu explained. Kim and Monique both figured it out at about the same time and their mouths just hung open as they stood there, shocked.

Kim, being who she was, managed to recover first. "Y-you mean this is an illegal street racing syndicate or something?" She whispered, forgetting she was standing in the middle of a noisy garage and nobody cared anyway. Kev laughed. "I was wondering when you were gonna figure it out. I thought you'd be a bit quicker than this though." Kim just glared at him. "What? It's not like anyone gets hurt... too often." He smirked.

Kim rolled her eyes, keeping a calm exterior on the outside. Inside, she was a little confused. The do-gooder in her was, once again, yelling that this was all a very bad idea and she should get Wade to call the police, but the car-mad bad girl, a voice that had been growing increasingly louder over the past weeks, merely bellowed at the good side to shut the fuck up and enjoy the show. Which it did.

"So, before everyone heads out to race, you wanna see some of the cars?" He asked, as if nothing was out of the ordinary. At the mention of cars, Kim snapped back to reality: "Oh fuck yes!" She gushed. "Here we go..." Sighed Monique. Kim paid her no mind and followed Kev off to perv over fast cars.

After a while, they came to a very unassuming car that had been badly painted matt black. It was an old Chevy Nova looking like it had seen far better days. There were dents in pretty much every panel, the front grill and the bumpers were missing and there were rust patches showing through the paint. Most of the interior had been stripped out and replaced with a single bucket seat and a custom dashboard with only a few gauges: speedo, rev counter, oil pressure and water temperature.

"Jeez, this makes my car look positively new!" Kim commented. Monique agreed. "Looks like another worthless POS to me." Kevin merely smiled. This, ladies, is my baby." They both gawped at him like he was crazy. Hiroshitu just stood there looking smug. "What would you want with this heap?!" Asked Kim in astonishment. She expected Kev's car to be absolutely immaculate and shiny. "This 'heap', as you call it, is the quickest car out there on the track. With a few more mods, it'll be the quickest on the strip as well. You saw me working on that turbo manifold? I'm planning on a twin turbo setup for it." He reached inside and popped the bonnet. "Go ahead and have a look." He encouraged. Kim did as he suggested and lifted the bonnet. She was stunned. Again. 'Twice in 5 minutes!' She thought. 'He's just full of surprises...'

Under the bonnet was where the money had been spent. Nestled in the engine bay sat a bigblock Chevy V8 on quad Webber downdraughts bolted to a custom manifold, all the pulleys were made of billet aluminium, the headers had been ceramic-chrome plated, an electronic ignition ECU was bolted to the bulkhead and the whole engine bay was spotless. "Wow." The two girls said in unison.

Kev walked round to Kim's side and looked with them for a moment or two before asking, "Impressed then?" They both jumped, not expecting Kev to be standing there, and nodded. "I thought you might be. It's got gas flowed heads with oversized valves, a high lift cam, titanium push- and con-rods, ally rockers, billet steel short-stroke crank, forged high-compression pistons and high flow headers. It'll rev to 9,000 and puts out around 600 brake and 800 ft-lbs torque. I got a 5-speed close ratio stick shift with a skeleton flywheel and triple plate racing clutch bolted to the back of it so I can get the power to the ground without the leech-like power loss associated with crappy auto 'boxes. Oh, I almost forgot, I got a 4.1:1 ratio limited-slip diff in the back end as well."

He finished his little narrative and looked round, half-expecting the two girls to be bored stiff and standing there looking at the ceiling. Only Monique filled that vision, not being that into cars and not seeming to have the hots for him like Kim appeared to have. Kim had been drinking it like water. She loved it! It was perfect! The plans were already starting to form in her head of what she could do to the Almighty, starting with what engine she should use...

"So is there a name for what you've built then, Kev?" Inquired Kim, intrigued. "Yeah. It's called a street sleeper. There's loads out there. They look standard, or even old and beat up like mine, but underneath, they're dripping with all the latest in suspension, braking and performance upgrades. Lots of them don't even use the standard engine or drivetrain setups. I've seen some truly awesome engines shoehorned into the strangest of cars. V8 rear-drive Civic, anyone?" He chuckled.

Shortly, all the drivers began gearing up and starting their cars. The noise in the warehouse rose to an almost deafening roar as the drivers revved their cars to warm them up. Immediately, Kim was drawn to one noise in particular. It sounded like an automatic rifle on short burst and rose to a high-pitched scream when it was revved, almost instantly dropping back down to it's uneven 'wrrap wrrap wrrap wrrap' idle. She looked around to see if she could spot which car it was coming from, but the noise of the other cars made it impossible to tell.

It was only as the doors were opened and the cars began to file out that she found out which one it was. They had left Kev to get his car ready and were walking outside with the mechanics and a few others when the car drew level with her and Monique and the driver gave the throttle a prod, causing a foot-long flame to shoot out of the side-exit exhaust, making the girls jump back. "Sorry! My bad!" He yelled over the noise. Kim was in awe. She HAD to find out what that engine was!

When they got outside, all the cars had lined up along one side of the road, like they were waiting for something to happen. "Well ah dunno what they're waitin' for." Commented Monique, who had been quiet all through Kev's rambling. "Nor do I." Replied Kim. Hiroshitu came up beside them with the answer. "They are waiting for tonight's opposition. A rival crew from the outskirts of Lowerton. We hold events in each other's territory. This week, it is our turn to host the event. Although they are late, which is not uncommon for them. Some of their drivers get a little... Spirited on the way over and they have to scatter to avoid being caught by the police. A habit which all of the car crews we race against have expressed a dislike to, and have told them as much. Alas, they do not appear to be listening." He sighed, obviously a little irritated.

Taking the opportunity, Kim made a beeline for the car with the odd-sounding engine. As far as she could tell, it looked like any other Mazda RX-7 with a bodykit, but there was obviously something pretty special under the bonnet. She stood by the driver's window waiting for him to finish whatever it was he was doing in the cab before she made her presence known.

"Oh, hey. Sorry about the pyrotechnics in the warehouse earlier. Didn't expect it to do that." He apologised. "No big. Just made us jump. No harm done." Kim waved it off and smiled. "What engine are you running? I've never heard a car idle or pick up like that before!" She burst out, her subtle approach going straight out the window. The driver grinned. "This is something a bit special. I don't make a point of showing it off cuz it's the only one in Middle, Upper and Lowerton that runs reliably. It's basically the same engine they used in the Mazda 787B Le Mans car. I got the plans off the internet and built it myself. It's a 4-rotor Wankel engine running 4 ITBs and a pretty much straight-through exhaust. I've done a few other bits and pieces to it, but I'm keeping that to myself." He winked smiling. "Man, that is so cool! Building an engine yourself! Major respect dude!" Kim gushed, not being able to hide the fact she was seriously impressed with this dude's skills.

The driver smiled widely, loving the praise. "Thanks. It's not really that hard once you get into it." He said, playing it down. "Hey, if you want, I could take you up the strip when I do a practice run, show you what she can do." He suggested. Kim's mouth hung open. "Are you serious? That would be so fuckin' cool!" "Yeah, no worries. Hop in. The other crew should be here soon if they've managed to lose the fuzz."

As she was getting strapped in, the other crew started turning up, their cars all painted shades of red with blue tribal vinyls compared to the fleet of dark greens and blacks of the crew she was with.

Kim saw Kevin walking over to the lead car and overheard the conversation. "About fucking time you got here!" Kevin said, the irritation obvious in his voice. "What was the hang-up this time? One of your drivers try racing an old lady and lost?" The other driver bristled at this. "For once, it wasn't our fault, asshole. We had a break-in and one of our girl's car got fucked over. We had to get everyone helping out to get it running again for tonight. And evidence points to YOUR crew being responsible! One of my boys saw a green and black Monaro leave the area at high speed about an hour before we got there, so explain your way out of that one!" He spat. Kevin looked very confused. "Man, none of my drivers own a Monaro, you know that, and you know damn well we don't steal!"

Kim stopped listening. 'It couldn't be! She thought. 'Why would Shego break into a street racing gang's lockup just to cause damage and nothing else?' She frowned and bit her lip before deciding she'd work it out later. Right now, she had a practice run to enjoy!

The racers began lining up for their practice runs and one by one, they took off down the road. The closer they got to the front, the more Kim's excitement grew. She couldn't believe how nervous she felt and she wasn't even the one driving!

Eventually they were at the front of the queue and the driver, like all previous, flicked on his line lock and pulled a rather impressive burnout to get his tyres up to temperature. Kim was almost deafened by the screaming rotary and the whine of the straight-cut gearbox but had a big grin on her face the whole time. They rolled up to the start line and waited for the signal to go, the driver building the revs slowly. The signal came and he slammed his foot to the floor, dumped the clutch and the car took off like a scalded cat. Kim was thrown back in her seat, the wind knocked out of her and her vision going slightly blurry, then it was all over, they were driving back to the start.

When she got out, she was wearing the biggest shit-eating grin anyone had ever seen her sporting. She ran back over to Monique who'd been wondering where she'd been. "Jeez, girl, where you been? I thought you'd ditched me! And what is with that cheesy grin, missy? Did Kev go slippin' you a length out the back or somethin'?" She joked.

"Ew! No! But now you mention it..." She grinned as Monique just rolled her eyes at her friend's dirty mind. "No, I got taken up the road in that car that nearly torched us. It was so fucking fast I nearly wet myself, Mo! It was like being in a bullet with wheels!"

"Wow. Sounds like you had fun." Monique replied in a slightly bored voice.

Kim didn't pick up on it due to her state of excitement. "Oh hell yes! It was brilliant!"

"Well good for you, but I'm getting a bit bored. Do you mind if we get outta here soon?" Asked Monique.

Kim pouted slightly at this, but realised none of her friends were into cars as much as she had become. "Yeah, I spose so. Lemme go find Kev to tell him we're going."

"Kay, but don't take too long. I'll see you back at the cars." Monique sighed. What was she gonna do with her adrenaline junkie friend?

Kim wandered through the cars until she spotted the familiar matt black paintjob of Kev's Nova and trotted over to it. Kev was strapped in waiting for the racing to start. He'd already had his practice run and was lined up next to a car from the opposing crew looking rather tense.

She knocked on his window to get his attention. As he wound it down, Kim said, "Me and Monique are gonna head off. She's getting bored."

"Okay Kim. It was good to see you. You gonna come down next week?" He asked hopefully.

"Yeah, it was great seeing you, too. I dunno if I'll be back next week. Seeing your car, I got some plans for the Almighty to get it handling well enough and going fast enough to be competitive." She winked, smirking.

"Heh. Fair enough. Well, you know where we are now, so don't stay a stranger." He warned playfully.

"Not a chance." She promised, and leant in the window to give him a quick kiss on the cheek before running off back to the warehouse and her car, which she now had big plans for. She'd finally be able to wipe that self-satisfied smirk off Bonnie's face at having the sportier car. 'Oh yes. This'll be fun!' She silently decided.

She spent the remainder of the school year doing odd jobs for anyone that would pay to gather the funds needed to turn her car from tatty classic to supersleeper, and come the holidays, the Almighty was hidden away in the garage for the great transformation. Almost on a daily basis, boxes and crates were delivered to the Possible residence containing all sorts of exotic performance goodies for the Almighty. Ohlins suspension kits, Brembo brake setups, various RX7 engines and gearboxes and a Ford 9" axle out of an old Mustang were some of the things the teen hero had been after.

FOOTNOTE: First chapter of my first ever big story. Reviews welcome, good, bad or ugly. Can't get better if I dunno what I'm doing wrong. I know there's no school scenes or missions in this chapter. Reason being, it woulda been monumentally fucking colossal and a story in itself. That and I didn't have any decent ideas for 'em. So ner. P

This chapter was gonna be absolutely fecking huge as it was before I decided to cut it in half. Still working on the other half, which is now gonna be chapter 2, obviously. Might be a while though cuz I got a lot of new ideas to work into it. Big thanks to immortal7 for suggesting them. D