Kim Possible is property of Disney. Original characters are property of author.

A Fan fiction by Six-string Samurai.

Loudness Between Shadow & Light

Chapter 9 - A House Half the Way (part one)

By the time the teen agent returned to the lair, the blue skinned villain had fashioned himself a robotic leg brace. He was in the midst of putting it through its paces when the redhead strode through into his lab.

"Hah, you see Shego, not only functional, but quite deadly as well," he retracted his leg carefully from the hole he'd kicked in one of the nearby walls as a demonstration of the brace's effectiveness as a bludgeoning weapon. The contraption was actually fairly bulky and he had trouble extracting himself and still maintaining balance on his good leg. "Gah," the evil scientist pulled harder than he probably should have and ended up flat on his ass.

"I still think the cane was a nice touch," his pale partner in crime commented from the chair she was lounging in. Shego arched a brow as her employer struggled to right himself, and was distracted from further verbal admonishment by Kim's arrival. "Dr. D, our favorite guest is back," she trailed off noting the dour expression Kimmie was sporting, "and doesn't appear too stoked."

Drakken managed to right himself as Kim approached. As Shego had mentioned, she didn't seem the least bit happy, although it was hard to recall a time when he'd seen her in an ecstatic state. Usually, she was angry when they met, and this was no exception to that. However, this time in particular, even he could surmise the problem, or the root of it. His knee began to throb of its own accord, "Ah, I didn't expect you back quite so soon, Miss Possible."

"Stow the pleasantries, Drakken," the girl who could do anything stopped short of completely invading the scientist's personal space. "We have a problem, and by 'we,' I mean you."

"I take it the transfer didn't go as planned," Lipsky shied back from the glare he was being fixed with.

"No, it didn't go at all, because she decided that wasn't an option. We're apparently going with plan B, as in you need to dig up your original plans for the BeeBee's. If you have an actual body left laying around, that would be even better."

The concept struck Drakken immediately, and he understood what the young woman was implying. "The Shego Construct wants a bo-," he was interrupted when a gloved hand slapped across his jaw. He narrowed his eyes, affronted, "W-What was that for?"

Kim looked from the purpling print on his face to her hand that was still extended in the air between them. "Your guess is as good as mine, she didn't say anything, although I'm betting she doesn't want to be confused with Shego. To be specific, I didn't hit you this time, she did."

That had the pale thief sitting up in her chair, "Back up a second there, your uh, roommate, just popped Dr. D with your hand?"

"That's the sitch," the redhead shrugged, still bothered by the body-hijacking, but there was little to nothing she could do about it, at least under the present circumstances. "Also why I couldn't upload her back into these," she indicated the glasses looped into her belt. "Not without her say so."

Shego stood up and stretched before heading over, "Well, that's rich. Can't say I'm not surprised though."

"Well, I'm less than keen on being continually body-jacked, so if we could get this moving that would be great," Kim dead-panned.

Meanwhile, as Drakken massaged his cheek, his mind was working furiously at this new development. There were so many possibilities, to excuse the pun. The teenage crime-fighter had in fact already destroyed the later generation Bee-Bee's. While he had one or two of the originals in storage, they simply wouldn't do as a functional body, especially for the expanded consciousness that was the construct. There simply wasn't enough room to contain something so advanced. But, that got him thinking about the available alternatives.

There was an alternative, a side-project he'd been dabbling with over the last few years in his off-hours as it had nothing to do with world domination or being particularly evil for that matter. It was also not stored anywhere near Middleton due to certain personal reasons. It might even suit his plans on another level in the process. "Ah, I do have something that might be suitable, but we must go to…the Island," he shouted for dramatic effect.

Kim turned to Shego, questioningly, "Do you know what that's about?"

The thief rolled her eyes at Drakken's inappropriate flair, "He does that every time, even when it's just the two of us. He's probably talking about the lair out in the Caribbean," she elaborated. "Just don't wear that god dammed hat this time," she said to her boss in fair warning.

"But, it's part of the theme, Shego," the blue scientist attempted to point out, as he had a number of times before. At least she didn't complain about the rest of his chosen Island attire. His linen shirt and shorts were much more comfortable in the heat, and breathed better than his cumbersome lab coat.

"I don't really want to know," Kim decided as she massaged the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming on. It wasn't a welcome addition to the presence already taking up too much space in the back of her mind. "Island, or whatever…as long as you have a plan that is better than the one you suckered me into.

Drakken winced despite himself, though he was immediately thankful that neither of the women present too notice. Apparently they were busy thinking of his glorious hat. Or not, given the expression on the redhead's face, and how closely the apparent disgust was being mirrored by his assistant. "Ahem," he coughed to bring things back on track, "We could be there by morning if we leave now. I just need to power things down here, and," he cut himself off as he noticed Shego's raised palm. "Yes?"

"Dr. D, just get the skiff ready to go. I'll handle the rest and we'll meet you in the hangar. I think I can get us there by dawn if we really punch it," Shego suggested rather insistently. She shot him a look that knew by now to mean time was of the essence here. The teen hero wasn't exactly in a magnanimous mood, and Shego didn't blame her one bit in this instance. Not when the plan had been a shot in the dark from the get go.

That, and the pale woman was still irate about the whole clone-ish angle Drakken had pulled. She should have been more active in dissuading that part, though Dr. D hadn't exactly been clear on the specifics. Shego certainly hadn't been aware of a digital copy being made of her mind. Had he done it when she was sleeping? Did he use some weirdo memory-eraser? The whole concept was frustrating, but answers would wait until the redhead's brain was unscrambled. Then she could freely dig the answers out of her boss. She headed off to take care of shutting down the lair into a standby mode. It took forever to get things working up to speed if she turned the generators completely off.

"Fine, fine," Drakken slumped, putting his weight on his good leg despite the aid of the cybernetic brace. "He didn't want to aggravate his injury in any way, though the new additional support was practically perfect, and exceeded his expectations by a great deal. "I'll get it warmed up. We've made that mistake once too often in the past, if I recall."

Getaways had always been a risky business, especially given how tenacious Global Justice, and present company, could be. It paid to be prepared in advance. Though sometimes the perfection of his plans tended to overshadow the potential need to flee. This had been one such plan, and oh how he was regretting it, more so than usual.

At this point, Kim found herself at odds, whether to keep an eye on the blue dolt, or Shego. My bet is on Lipsky. His word has been dragged through more shit than I care to think about. You should hear what the other super villains say behind his back. Not that they flatter miss snark over there. It's a tough crowd to pretend to please. Sam's voice echoed in the corridors of her mind, a none too subtle prodding in the preferred direction accompanied the soundless words, tugging her feet toward the hangar bay. "I'm surprised they even bothered," the redhead replied under her breath. Let's just say there are perks to getting along with the criminal element, especially ones with worldwide designs.

"It can't be that great, or Drakken would be doing a hell of a lot better," the redhead replied quietly as she followed after of her own accord once her unwanted tenant relinquished control of her lower limbs. "Is it funding? Because I always did wonder where he got the money for all this crap…I mean, how many lairs does he have? This has to cost a small fortune, just keeping the lights on. Seriously."

Two words, Kimmie, time share. Much like our current, albeit temporary, arrangement. Though there are specific differences. You'd be surprised at who split's the bill with ol' Drew in the more remote lairs. Though, as much as he pisses me off, I don't see a reason to narc just yet. You'll have to, convince me, sometime.

Kim shuddered involuntarily, feeling the wink and the nudge that the disembodied voice was implying, a bit too vigorously. It bordered on creepy, but there was something behind it that she couldn't place, and the faintest hint of a memory from when she'd been under the influence of the device. A fragile thing that turned to smoke as soon as she grasped for it.

By the time Shego finished powering down the lab and lair non-essentials, Drakken and Kim were waiting for her in the hangar. The redhead was leaning against the top rail of the hovercraft while Drakken sat at the helm, having finished the pre-flight checks. His assistant hopped up onto the craft, taking the evil scientist's place at the flight controls. "Everything's all set, Dr. D. We ready to go here?"

Drakken took a remote out of his coat pocket and pressed a large green button, "Yes, yes. Just this left." The hangar roof scissored open, revealing a cloudless night above. "All clear, Shego. Now, to-the Island!"

"Ugh, whatever you say, Dr. D," Shego released the automatic mooring cable, and the craft began drifting upward under its own power as she applied pressure to the thrusters. Soon they were completely airborne, leaving the lair below as the hangar shut behind the hovercraft.