CIAA -- Ch 13

Caught in an Abyss -- Chapter 13

Fic Info and Update:
I do not own Kim Possible or anything associated with the show.
Well this has been long in the making. We are almost to the end and I have to say that the next chapter and epilogue should be shortly behind this chapter. you have all been so patient with me and I wouldn't be surprised if a number of people have stopped reading simply for the fact that its been almost four years. But how about I make it up to ya? I'll get the last chapter up by Christmas and the epilogue up by New Years if not Christmas.  
So I reread this Fic so I would know where I was and I have to say, I hate it. lol Maybe when I come back to it in a few years it won't be so bad, but I did definitely try to make this chapter seem a little more believable... Please let me know what you think.

XxXxX

(January 18 -- Month Three Day Seventeen)

A cold smoke overtook normally indifferent and stoic but graceful features. Drakken peered into the eyes of his oppressor, the distant and ferocious jade orbs told him all he needed to know about his fate. He was paralyzed with fear, his mind blank and his body quaking. As each second ticked by, his beloved sidekick pressed her thumb and fingers harder and harder into the back of his neck and shoulders. He cried out in pain as an audible crack resounded around the large room.

"Shego--!" He choked out as he opened his eyes to look up at his captor. The woman lowered her weapon, specially outfitted and designed for her and her alone, pointing it at his face. He began to hyperventilate. His eyes moved from Shego's to the modified weapon she held; the metal protrusion on the back of the device, shaped almost like a gauntlet, concealed her hand from view but did not eliminate the green light that emanated from it. She was charging the weapon and preparing for what she was about to do. He could see the beads of sweat beginning to form on her brow as she smiled down on him.

"You will not hurt my Princess, you sick son-of-a-bitch..." Her regular smirk contorted into a wicked snarl as the barrel of the gun was placed against his temple. He panicked, not knowing what to do or what she would do. He looked from the gun, to her hand to the sweat on her brow.
 
He had an idea; quickly, much faster than Shego could have ever comprehended, her boss could move, he pushed himself forward with his knees, pushing her out of the way and forcing her to release him from her grip.
 
"What the hell!?" she cursed and quickly brought her weapon around to bare him down. There was a loud charging electrical pulse that came from the gun and she began to fire rounds towards the fleeing mans position. He ran for cover behind one of the many computer consoles. When some of the smoke cleared Shego looked around the room and the many scorch marks that covered it, each roughly four inches in diameter. She growled in the back of her throat. "Where did he go!?" She thought to herself. She then grinned again.
 
"You know what Drak?" She started as she took steps closer towards the machinery, her foot fall the only other audible sound aside from her voice. "Once in a while you have a good plan..." She stepped a little closer to one machine in particular, beginning to pant. "Coming up with a device that can accelerate and cause uniformity in my plasma blasts happened to be one of them." She stopped her pace and stood quiet for a moment. "Good job!" She spat.
 
"You're damn right it's a good job!" Drakken stood up from his hiding place behind the console to the far right of the room. He stood proud for no more than a second as Shego began to rush over to him. In another panic, Drakken quickly and unwittingly jumped over the machinery and towards his assaulter, slamming his fist down upon a large red button in the middle of the computer. An alarm immediately began sounding, sealing off all windows, including large on in the room, with metal walls and closing off many wings to the facility. The computer's voice began to speak over the sirens, saying "Intruder alert, Intruder alert," every few minutes.
 
Shego fired her weapon in earnest, raining high velocity plasma bullets towards her employer before he had a chance to roll away. A few landed and splashed over his shoulders, mid section and leg. He cried out in agony as he fell over in pain, screaming at the searing sensation and looking at the inch deep holes the plasma had left.
 
"Are you happy with yourself now?" Shego muttered as she walked up to him, lazily holding the gun over her shoulder. She was breathing heavily as she sneered looking down upon him. She shouldered the gun again, taking aim for his head. "Nobody hurts my Kimmie!"
 
"Your 'Kimmie!?'" He seemed shocked. "What do you mean your 'Kimmie!?'" He tried his hardest to stand but found that he was stuck on the floor on his knees, clutching his hurt arm and side. "That can't be true!" Tears began to well up in his eyes.
 
Suddenly a loud banging rang from the door to the room. "Open up!" said one of the henchmen. "Let him go!" screamed another. Shego paid no mind. She simply stared down her boss and growled low in the back of her throat.
 
"Oh its true... And if you think you're going to lay a single finger on her precious body, then you-" Shego was stopped by the doors being slammed in and flying off their rails into the room, nearly taking Shego out. She jumped back before the doors had a chance to get her and she skidded backwards to a halt. She held her weapon with both hands, snarling like a frenzied dog. Henchmen, one by one, filed into the room, all holding their own weapon, whether they were energized double-ended batons, or guns of their own. About half of them froze in their tracks when they noticed it was their trainer and supervisor that was assaulting their boss, but the other half didn't seem to care. They filed in and stood to attention. "Shego, you are in violation of-"
 
"Oh cut the crap!" And in an instant, she charged and fired the weapon again, aiming for as many of the Henchmen as she could. She rushed them all, many of them moving out of the way because of fear and others falling to the floor screaming in agony. When Shego reached the elevator, she stood still for a moment and looked at the gun. The elevator would have been deactivated by now. She looked at the oncoming men that were flanking her and then back to the gun. "Here goes nothing!" She muttered. She took a deep breath and held it as she concentrated all of her energy on her plasma. A green light flared from the barrel of the gun and whirred and clicked, charging the electrical impulses in the guns computerized system. The men slowed in their attack but did not stop. With a sudden blast, Shego fired at the floor to the elevator and blasted forty-eight inch diameter hole that continued to melt away at the edges. She turned to the henchmen who had finally stopped in their tracks, now understanding the full force of the weapon she held.
 
"See ya boys." She huffed as she took off running and jumped down the hole into the elevator shaft. The men that remained standing pulled out radios or placed their hands to their ears, activating communication units. They spoke quickly, giving orders and warnings to the other henchmen in the building.
 
"She is armed, she is dangerous, use the utmost caution and stop her at all costs!"
 
XxXxX
 
Kim was roused from her sleep as all of the noise went on around her. She sat up and looked at the ceiling in a bit of a panic, then looked around for Shego who was nowhere to be seen. She moved to stand and felt her arms and legs had finally regained some strength. She looked at the chains, finally taking a good look at them.
 
"They're made of electrical conduit metal..." She said with some surprise. "Like the kind the twins had used on their last project... I can't believe that Drakken had finally stooped so low as to use electrocution..." She stood from her place on the floor and tried to pull the chains from the wall unsuccessfully. More explosions resounded from one of the upper decks and she looked up in concern. Pulling against the chains again, she sighed.
 
"I must have finally pushed him over the edge..." Her voice almost resembled one of regret. "Wait..." She stopped and looked around the room for any sign of Shego, hoping that her tired eyes had deceived her before. She looked to the door to the cell block and saw the word "Locked" scrolled in red LED lights above the door. "That must mean- Oh No!" At that moment, red lights began to flash on and off in the cell. From outside of the door, Kim could hear the muffled sound of a computerized voice speaking of intruders.
 
"Shego!" She called in desperation. She pulled against the chains again and again, hoping that they would give. But nothing happened. She went to reach into the pocket of her pants but found that not even her Kimmunicator was there. She pulled once more, attempting to walk away from the wall as if it would help, until she could take no more and she fell to the ground on her knees. She coughed and wheezed, her lungs still weak from Shego's assault the other day. She looked at the floor sadly as red lights flashed on and off every few seconds, coating her in a soft red glow. She took a few ragged breaths before looking up to the ceiling again.
 
"Please be careful..." She cooed in sadness.
 
XxXxX
 
In the bowels of the elevator shaft, Shego reached her free arm out to grab a protrusion on the wall with plasma drenched fingers as she fell. She cut the plasma right as she reached the wall and just barely melted into the metal so she could grip the surface. She hissed in pain as her shoulder nearly dislocated and cursed herself for using the same arm she had used some years ago to save herself and Kim from an exploding lair. The memory made her chest ache, as it had been forgotten for so long. She breathed a sigh of relief when her hand stuck. Looking around the long, vertical tunnel, Shego was nearly shrouded in darkness, accept for the faint red glow that was coming from the hole she had made thirty feet above her head. She could see a few silhouettes looking down the hold. They didn't dare to jump down after her, knowing full well what her weapon was capable of. She sighed as she panted, removing the gun from her hand, but leaving the wires stuck into her neck and wrist in place. With one arm, she slung the weapons shoulder strap around her so she could carry the weapon on her back as she moved.
 
As she lit her plasma to a low intensity heat allowing her to see in the darkness, she thought about that first time she had ever saved Kim. At the time, Drakken has instructed Shego to steal, once again, from the U.N.S.C. She had only stolen basic blueprints for various energy weapons and the like, but it was something Drakken had really wanted. She sneered to herself as she slowly climbed down the wall with her plasma drenched hands, digging her fingers into the concrete.
 
As always, the lair has been set ablaze thanks to another one of Drakken's stupid remote detonators and the blond kid and her boss had left Kim and Shego to their own devices. Like a stupid hero, Kim had gone back for the plans. Shego watched and fought with herself as Kim ran for the box of papers near the massive window that looked out into the Grand Canyon. Without much thought she had taken off like a shot, running after Kim, grabbing her around the waist and smashing through the glass, before pushing off of the floor hard enough to propel her and Kim to the nearest wall of the canyon. She had utilized the same method to save them then as she had used to save herself now.
 
Once again, she took a deep breath and removed her hand from the wall of the shaft and smashed it into the metal surface a few feet lower. She could see a small maintenance platform below her and she took a deep breath as she readied herself for a drop once she managed to manually lower herself a few more feet.
 
But thinking on the memory, Shego realized that was the first time that she had actually really taken a close look at Kim. Her face was still young then, she was still lithe and petite as a teenager would be. She remembered a heat in her cheeks that she had originally passed off as the heat from her hand. She had blushed. She had looked at the hero and asked if she was ok. It was the first time Shego had thought of Kim as more than just an enemy to battle for fun. She thought of her as Kim Possible; the girl that could do anything... Even win over the heart of a heartless mercenary.
 
Just a few feet above the platform, Shego released her hand from the wall and landed with an audible and resounding thud on her feet, but she quickly fell to her knees. She panted and huffed, trying to catch her breath.
 
"This gun... absorbs too much... of my energy..." She said between breaths. "Come to think of it-" She thought to herself, "It was those stolen weapon blue prints that Drakken had used to make this stupid thing..." The thief rotated her shoulder and grunted in pain before standing. With a little hesitation, she grabbed the weapons grip inside the gauntlet and pulled the shoulder strap over her head to bring the weapon forward. Looking down at the device, she grunted and panted between her teeth as she lit the plasma on her hand once more, powering the device and preparing it to fire. She looked at the maintenance door and attempted to open it, but just like the elevator, it was seized up and locked from the other side. Taking a deep breath, she charged the gun as she had before, bracing herself against the railing behind her and fired a massive plasma blast, melting through the door.
 
Once again, she was shrouded in a flashing red light, alarms no longer blaring in her ear as they had before. The computer was still talking of intruders and giving the warning to all employees that the intruder was indeed armed and dangerous. She laughed to herself quietly and started a brisk down the hall of the tenth floor.
 
XxXxX
 
Ron watched as the scenery beneath the Pelican class drop-ship as it went by. He was sitting in one of the ten seats that were bolted to the side of the vehicle and strapped in tight enough to restrict his breathing if he were to turn the wrong way. They had just started to enter the deserts of southern Nevada and he was beginning to lose interest in what was below. He saw sand, and dirt, and various colors and shades of rock that seemed to blur all together. There was the occasional cactus or Joshua tree, but they didn't interest the blond man in the slightest.

He found himself amongst the six soldiers of the U.N.S.C. group known as S. II Foxtrot Troop. They were all talking amongst themselves laughing about things to which he had no relation, or rehashing old battles or even just monopolizing time with random story telling. He envied them at that moment. With a sigh he looked back out of the open bay hatch door.

How he had come to find himself in the company of these soldiers was a story in itself. He was wracked with guilt as he remembered the battle that had lead to his best friend being captured.
 
"I could have sworn she was right behind me..." He muttered to himself. He sighed as he remembered the events:
 
He had managed to get Drakken out of the way long enough by landing a single punch to the side of his head, causing the mad scientists to stop, scream profanities, and cradle his jaw briefly as Ron made his way to the main computer. He searched and searched until he found what could have been the file that he needed. He placed the spare hard drive he pulled from his pocket into the appropriate slot and quickly began moving the information and deleting it from the computer. By that time, however, Drakken had regained enough composure to scream "NO!" and rush towards the blond man with renewed vigor.
 
Ron watched at the loading bar on the screen indicated how much time remained in deleting the accursed files from the computer. "C'mon...C'mon!" He chided the machine. Drakken body slammed him in the side, pushing him over, and disconnecting the drive he held in his hands in the process. The scientists typed away at the keyboard trying to halt the process but he was too late.
 
"NO!! You buffoon!" He looked at Ron angrily. "This is the last time that you will foil my plans! I swear it! You and that Kim Possible!!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a remote device, but Ron was already making his way towards and exit, paying the crazed man no mind.
 
"KP! I think I got it! Wade's got a ride waiting for us outside!" And with that he continued to run. He heard footsteps behind his and thought for sure that it was Kim. He started laughing a little to himself in pride as he was in the home stretch. He saw one of the doors beginning to close and slide to lock itself from the top to the bottom. Just as he had seen in the movies, he immediately fell to the ground and slid under the hatch, making it not moments before it shut. He was outside, cheering and hugging his beloved mole rat as a as a Hornet Class battle ship came into view.
 
"We did it KP! We did it! A-Booya-" He looked behind him, going to give his friend a high five, but she was nowhere to be seen. He felt a pit in his stomach. "Oh God no..." From what Drakken had said inside, Ron could only guess what the crazed man had in sotre for his friend. This time there would be no plan, so there would be no monologue to save her. His only hope was that Drakken was waiting for something, anything, so Ron had the time to come back.
 
So there he sat, in the rear of the Pelican drop-ship. He sighed and decided he needed someone to talk to, someone that he had a little more in common with than these jar-heads, despite the fact that three of said "jar-heads" were female. He unstrapped himself and carefully, almost crawled to the front of the ship to take a seat in the co-pilot's chair.
 
"What's our E-T-A, Kris..?" He asked almost silently, too stuck in his own mind
 
"Probably another hour." She was wearing her full armor, helmet and all. Ron attempted to look through the opaque, metallic-orange visor to get a better look at her face, but he could see nothing but his own reflection and he hated it. The Spartan Soldier was looking straight ahead but out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the young man look away and slump forward in his seat. "What's wrong?" she prodded, sounding nothing like what she should when wearing that armor: almost motherly. It took Ron a few moments to answer.
 
"I'm just worrie... Drakken said that this would be the last time that Kim or I ever intervened with his plans... What if he plans to torture her? Or... abuse her in some way... I know all of those henchmen hold every single failure against her." He looked out of the front window back to the scenery. He was starting to see a dot in the distance that could be the base.
 
"Kim's a big girl, Ron. I'm sure she is doing just fine. I mean, you were telling me about what her mother had said." Ron thought for a moment, and then breathed a sigh of relief.
 
"Ron," Anne started. "I'm sure Kimmie will be okay."
 
"What in the world would make you think that!?" He nearly cursed, pacing the kitchen.
 
"Well... She has Shego..."
 
"That makes it even worse! Who knows what that woman wants to do to her for revenge!"
 
"Wait she didn't tell you?" Anne seemed surprised.
 
"Tell me what?" Ron finally stopped his pacing. Anne motioned for him to sit down and began to retell all of the things Kim had told her in the last three months about the pale-skinned villaness.
 
"Yeah..." Ron muttered."I can only imagine that if it's true, Shego would be throwing one hell of a fit right now..."
 
XxXxX
 
"Watch out!" Screamed a Henchman. "Stop her!!" Yelled another. Shego was barreling her way through the masses of red-jumpsuit clad men that blocked her path. She was standing against a wall, panting and hunched over, holding the gun close to her body.
 
"Back off!" She screamed. "Unless you want more holes in your bodies, I suggest you just get out of the way!" She brought the gun up to bare and began slowly charging the machinery with her plasma once again. Many of the men just stood back, not wanting to endure the woman's wrath again. There were already bodies scattered about the floor, not dead, but unconscious. This was something that many of the men had noticed; Shego wasn't taking any of the kill shots that she should have been for a woman in her position.
 
"What are you going to do? Kill us?" One of them laughed heartily. Shego growled through her ragged breaths.
 
"What makes you think I won't!?" She hollered. She brought the gun up nose to nose with the man's face and he whimpered, but held his ground. "Now get out of my way, or you won't get to go home to that pretty wife of yours, Michael..." Some of the men stopped again. This was the woman that had been training them for years. For some, the training had paid off quite well and for a little while they were starting to build a relationship with their supervisor. Shego knew each henchman by name and knew something about their personal lives. "Don't want to have her raise the kiddo by herself, do ya!?" She screamed at him and he backed up. She made a sweep with the gun and pointed it to another man. "And what about you Ben...? I thought you wanted to make your father proud... How are you going to do that if you're dead!?" He backed up as well. A silence washed over all of the men as they stood there, watching the thief and waiting for any sign that she might back down.
 
'She's just trying to get under our skin! She's bluffing! Get her!!" Someone in the back yelled. At once they all began to rush her. She growled and took a deep breath, releasing the charge in the weapon and reabsorbing the energy so she could move. She bent down at the knees before springing up and over the men, landing on one and then jumping to another. This continued until her foot was finally caught by one of the men in the back line and she fell forward to the metal floor with a thud, scraping her face on the diamond plate steel. She landed with her left arm under the gun, fracturing her forearm in several places. She opened her eyes after trying to brush off the pain and swiftly kicked the man in the face with her free foot. He released her and she continued down the corridor, making a left turn into another elevator shaft.
 
The men were all charging behind her, many firing their basic weapons. Bullets whizzed by her as she ran, her keen sense kicking in and telling her how to move. But with her energy drained, she miscalculated and took a shot to her left shoulder. She cursed, screaming in agony, but used this new found adrenaline to charge up her weapon again. She pointed it behind her at the henchmen and fired a barrage of bullet-sized plasma spheres. Many of them connected with the broad chests of her pursuers, the material splashing as it did so. There were screams and cries of terror as Shego looked down the elevator shaft.
 
There was a maintenance platform about twenty feet below and across from her. She looked behind her and then back to the shaft. With another deep breath, she tossed the weapons strap over her shoulder to free up her good arm, braced her legs and jumped down into the shaft. Bullets continued to chase after her as she fell and collided with the metal grate that passed for a floor on the platform. She hugged the wall tightly and tried to avoid the bullets rocketing by. She pulled out her weapon once more. Charging heavily and releasing the trigger, Shego blew a hole into the door, and crawled through, narrowly avoiding another barrage of bullets as she came through and entered the ninth floor.
 
"Hold you fire..." said an eerily maniacal voice. Shego stopped. She pulled up her weapon and growled between gasping breaths. Many of the henchmen moved out of the way to reveal bloody and bruised Drakken. His lab coat was torn and stained with his own blood and Shego could not help but feel prideful as she watched the man's now gimp form walk towards her. He walked up to her and stood mere inches from her face. She looked up at him from her hunched position, snarling while she tried to catch her breath. Her boss was silent for a while, angrily examining her; her cat suit had been singed and was burning away at her wrists and had done so up to her bicep. The fabric on the back of her neck had done the same, revealing the festering skin that was shadowed by her hair. The obviously broken limb that was shaking, trying to hold up the gun and the scratches on her face told him everything he needed to know:
 
She was beginning to lose.
 
"This weapon wasn't designed for this much immediate use... It was only a prototype..." He said, his voice low. Shego growled and spat in his face. The taller man very simply took his ungloved had and wiped it away. "So that's how it is..." He muttered, tears and heartbreak in his eyes. "And all for her!?" Drakken pointed back into the crowd of bulky men who once again parted ways, as one of them brought forth a bound and thrashing Kim Possible. Her mouth was covered with duct-tape and her hands and feet were shackled with chains. The image pained Shego more than her broken bones, more than her broken pride, and more than her broken heart had months ago.
 
"Let her go!" She hollered. Kim looked at Shego, pleading for her to just run, to leave her there, but Shego would have none of it. Drakken grabbed Kim by the back of her hair, causing her to grunt in pain. He placed the hero's face mere inches from Shego's.
 
"All for her?" He asked again, his voice a more manageable tone. Shego didn't break eye contact with the crazed lunatic as she reached her left hand up and grabbed the edge of the duct-tape and gently, slowly pealed it from Kim's lips. The young girl took a deep breath through her mouth and ignored the burning from the removed adhesive.
 
"Shego, I-" Kim started but Drakken pulled the hero up to look into her eyes.
 
"Shut up! I've endured enough from you!" He threw Kim by her hair to the ground. She landed face first and grunted in pain before being knocked unconscious. Her body lay still and Drakken looked down on her with pride. When he looked back at Shego, that expression changed to one of fear as the barrel of the gun was shoved into his mouth.
 
"How dare you lay a finger on my Kimmie..." Her voice was hoarse and her arms were shaking. The henchmen all took steps forward to try and rescue the man that paid their salary, but stopped when he placed a hand up as a signal. Drakken looked from the gun to Shego, his eyes discerning. Her pushed the weapon from his mouth but Shego jammed it into his chest instead. Slowly she moved closer to Kim, kneeling down but never taking her eyes from the mad scientist before her. Carefully she pulled Kim into her arms with her broken limb, ignoring the pain, though she hissed at each movement. She stood tall, taking in the eyes of the now shorter man. They were filled with shock and anger. Shego felt an overwhelming desire to break this man, have him experience all of the pain she had been going through for the last few months, all of the pain he had made Kim feel. She placed the barrel of the gun under his chin and he stood there frozen.
 
"Goodbye Dra-"
 
"Shego, don't..." Said the firm voice of the woman in her arms. Kim opened her eyes for a moment, looking with disgust at Drakken but then pleading up at Shego. "Don't..." She muttered again. Shego looked down at her lover's sad and tired eyes as the girl fought for consciousness. In another second, the young woman was out again. Shego growled, looking at Drakken in disdain.
 
Then she stopped. She stopped and genuinely smiled, not smirked, not grinned, but actually smiled at the man. And that terrified him more than anything.
 
"You know," She said tiredly. "If it wasn't for you, I never would have met Kim." She leaned in closer to Drakken's face. "Thanks."
 
In a swift motion, Shego aimed the gun behind her charging the device to its full capacity, all of the henchmen quickly dove out of the way, knowing Shego was not bluffing this time. She took her eyes from Drakken and looked to the far wall of the corridor.
 
In that moment everything seemed to slow down. She could see the sparks from her plasma coming from the main chamber of the device in her hand, the green glow that slowly began to pulse and emit from the barrel. She could feel it draining her energy, taking all she had in strength and vigor to hold the firearm steady. She could even feel the burning sensation rippling across her skin as the arm of suit continued to become embers. She looked to the wall and watched as the men all fell slowly to the ground. Something told her to run, to just run as fast as she could towards the wall, once it was gone. To just run, jump and just... Go.
 
So she pulled the trigger.
 
Bringing herself back into reality, the fireball took off, four feet in diameter, rushing towards the wall. Shego pulled Kim up over her bleeding shoulder and started to dash directly behind the blast. Henchmen that were clear of danger all tried to grab at her limbs, as Drakken screamed at them to stop her. All of them missed as Shego tailed the plasma ball. It splashed against the wall and coated her body in fire. The edges of her suit began to char and burn, her already festering skin, searing at the heat.
 
And then she fell. As she looked around her, the feeling of the air passing by seeking to stop, she watched as heavy boots and guns flew past her vision. She looked over at the young redhead who was still asleep and smiled, knowing that though they were safe despite wherever they ended up.

And she was unconscious.

XxXxX

To be continued in Chapter 14

Next Time: Shego has risked everything to save Kim, even put her own life on the line and ruined her reputation in the villain community. How will she cope? And what will become of Drakken and his newly found dark side?