Shego's POV
Life is sometimes rather boring.
You wouldn't think that of a thief on the run, now would you? That life would be normal or boring by anyone's perspective, or almost. Especially when said thief was a world class criminal with capture on sight in many countries, and kill on sight in a few, but it was. Some days it was so mind-numbingly boring that she could only barely hold unnecessary sleep at bay.
Thankfully, she had some hobbies she could indulge in from time to time. Small-time robbery, music, high-speed chases, maintenance of her gear.
Spying on Kimberly Anne Possible's life for better barbs and to keep unofficial watch over her...
Also, the Possible household was amusing as all hell some days. Comes from having a family of insane genii with a normal child. Poor girl barely understands them some days.
Today promises to be especially interesting. A grandfather she doesn't know about is coming around, and given how things went with that ol' granma of hers, this oughtta be good.
And then the surprise is ruined when she sees a particularly fancy car with a white body and red highlights appearing armored and absolutely covered in gold filigree. That, with the interesting (read: creepy) hood ornament of a manly bald face and the lack of wheels to her secondary sight makes her snarl.
Irenic. That's not a car, that's an Angel, and they can get right nasty in the wrong situation.
Any situation where an Angel is anywhere near Kimmy is a "Wrong Situation", and thus needs to be dealt with quickly.
After a moment's internal struggle, she quashes her instinct to kill, deciding to wait instead. Kimmy's had a few minor dealings with Angels and those aligned with them before, and she never really came off it any worse than she went in, so she will withhold judgement until they make overtures that she will not tolerate.
The man who steps out of the Irenic is tall, stately, grey-haired with pride, and with an air of superiority big enough to make her blood boil from a distance, her snarl pulling at her face once more.
His attire was remarkably simple for his kind. Just a white overcoat with gold lettering as a border, easy enough to pass for just another piece of stitching rather than the disgusting monstrosity that it is, covering a sky blue long-sleeve button-up, which was incredibly eye-catching when compared to the rest of his attire, also a pristine white with very few golden accents.
There was a Jubileus-bedamned Lumen Sage here!
Okay, okay, don't panic. First rule of dealing with Sages is don't panic, otherwise they'll sense you and rip out your bones. And besides, maybe he's here for something normal.
Like, like a social affair, or a meeting between a benefactor and his errant Rocket Scientist, or...
A rock begins to form in her stomach as the panic-induced adrenaline-high began to wear off and rationality began to kick in.
Or a great-by-who-even-knows-how-many-times Grandfather meeting the newest of the bunch.
Yeah, that rock is now a boulder sinking somewhere below the Marianas Trench and trying to reach Inferno just by digging.
The struggle to stay still is truly real now, as she tried to keep from killing the Irenic so close to Kim, not to run away from the Sage, and to stop herself from tackling an enemy likely so far above her as she is above the average criminal and then some.
When she manages to force herself to look into the house once more, Anne is paying attention but her usual serenity isn't quite as perfect as normal, James is more distracted then usual, and Kimmy is shifting, looking vaguely disturbed by something. The Sage hasn't taken a seat yet, and seems to be talking, but about what she can't tell past the distance and the blood rushing through her ears.
And then the Twins, James and Timothy (or as Kim calls them, the Tweebs, Jim and Tim) come flying down the steps to share their latest things, and freeze at the sight of the Sage, going pale, which puts Kimberly even further on edge.
...Fuckit. Kimmy uncomfortable is one thing, scaring her and the Tweebs in their own home is not acceptable!
She flung a piece of fire at the Irenic, causing it to explode as she dashed towards the house, not even bothering with a door as she busted down a wall in her haste to save the three precious children. Her fighting them is one thing, as she would never kill them. Someone else? Not happening.
"Move away from the girl." She states threateningly. Her name is called, but she ignores it.
"So, you're the little gnat who's been pestering my grandson?" He gives her a seriously unimpressed glance. Almost bored even. "I must say, that you are rather singularly unimpressive."
"Well, I guess that's just my fault then." She snarled back. Even though 5'10" wasn't exactly seven feet tall, it was still sizable for a woman, and her muscles weren't the product of steroids (which always gave her a secret thrill). "Just like it's your fault you no longer have a car, murderer." Okay, not the smoothest reparte, but then witty comebacks are not a big priority right now.
Nothing is important right now. Nothing but the safety of the Possible household.
"My, what a drastic jump." He says airily, as if he's actually surprised. Jerkface. "So, a murderer, am I?" He chuckled, and that made her want to punch him in the face, to strike first even though being the first to move against such a superior opponent would spell death. "Then what are you, childling? A curlish, dishonest thief?" Don't let him get to you, don't let him get to you, don't let that smugness get to you
A snarl once again lifts her lips and shows her fangs and fire begins to spread along her fingers past her control. Nothing serious, but still a breach in the secrecy. "Get out." She growls out. At this point, she's only barely keeping herself in check. Anything more serious could endanger the Possibles because normals are not fit to survive the presence of a Lumen Sage's non-physical attacks.
"What, before you wet the couch, little dog?" He asks in his most patronizing manner.
...Fuck. This.
She lunges.
And he does the most insulting thing, grabbing her by the firey fist and throwing her through the front door to tumble through the streets. asshole.
"So." He calls out into the street as she tries to reorient herself. "An Umbran Witch truly did survive the Purge. Pity." With an air of resignation, he sighs as she tries her best to stand again without vomiting (yeah, probably got a concussion in there somewhere). "I guess it falls to me then to take out the trash."
"Fuck you!" She calls out and then scrambles away from the energy ball suddenly hurtling towards her.
As it hits the rubble she'd just been next to, it surprises her that time begins to slow, the near-miss activating "Witch Time", an ability she'd heard of but never quite managed to activate herself. She tries to hold onto this slowing of time, but time slips away from her even as she struggles with this impossibility while gathering as much fire as she can without making her more traditional fires. They probably wouldn't do anything here but put Kimmy in danger anyway.
She throws. Naturally, the fires do absolutely nothing to him. Whatever he used completely put the fires out on impact, and the bastard didn't even have the decency to look slightly singed, instead of mockingly dignified.
And then he was right fucking there, and she wasn't, due to a punch to the face she never saw coming. She barely felt the impacts past the dizzy, and she was certainly seeing stars and spots, but she'd estimate she'd probably been sent through a good few houses. She wasn't lucky. This was either a frackin' miracle, or he wanted her awake enough to scream.
She struggled to her feet, leaning against a crumbling wall as she tried not to fall. Further sounds of crumbling masonry reaching her as the Sage came closer.
"Now, shall we begin your reeducation?" The sage asked simply. He didn't deign to wait for a reply, as he proceeded to send an energy ball her way, which she only narrowly avoided by throwing herself out of its path, flaring the arcane energies within her in a desperate attempt to wake them up as they once had been so long ago. Time began to slow again, and she used the slight respite to regain her balance before refocusing on the Sage, who was already coming her direction fast enough that she knew she wouldn't be able to dodge. So she did something foolish instead and stood her ground to try and punch his face.
To her everlasting surprise, her punch actually connected, and he recoiled in shock and pain. She dodged to the right as she saw his next attack coming, beginning to feel more like it was a proper fight again, like against Kimmy. Like she had a chance at survival.
Even with getting clocked hard enough to go through a concrete wall. Again.
As he threw another energy ball, she began to see patterns, the calm and analytical side finally pushing through the wall of straight-out panic. The balls were basically really slow-flying but powerful energy projections, which at this speed were far easier to avoid in any capacity than a lot of things that some of Drakken's rejects had caused, and far more predictable. Done that loads of times. His punches (the few times he charged in to attack) were almost laughably easy to deal with, even after accounting for their speed because, as it seemed, he only really knew how to throw those balls of his (which he threw them a lot) and not fight in-person, except for the sword, an energy sword made from golden light that made her instantly afraid for her life, but even that was incredibly well-telegraphed. Heck, even the Buffoon was harder to predict, avoid, and fight in general.
(Ron. a voice in her head sounding remarkably similar to Kimmy piped up. Ronald Stoppable, and he's such a sweet guy, when he's not having an unfortunate moment, and actually skilled when he puts forth the effort to be so!)
The Sage wasn't a fighter, it was becoming clear to see. Though those balls were still coming entirely too close with almost embarrassing regularity, it was still manageable, and even almost fun, like fighting off another villain. Throwing bricks wasn't exactly the most amazing thing, but it worked to show his reflexes, or lack thereof, and there were plenty of them lying around, after her blind flight from him and through houses. In truth, he barely had any reflexes to protect him against the smaller ones, but those he shrugged off and anything big enough to actually do damage he avoided handily with what she assumed to be the Lumen version of Witch Time.
Which was then used and promptly sent her flying through the air once more. Crying out in pain as she tumbled against the concrete once more (after some time in the air), she did her best to figure out what her surroundings were like before they became the center of their fight once more. She didn't have much time to do so before a large ball of energy came straight for her, but her dodge and subsequent activation of Witch Time gave her three precious seconds in which to examine her surroundings and ready for the next fight. It was an intersection somewhere in the middle of Middleton-
And of course the Lumen was flying. WHY NOT! IT'S NOT AS IF SHE WERE TRYING TO KILL SOME LITTLE MOOK, OH NO! NO, SHE WAS JUST TRYING TO WARD OFF WHAT IS TO THE NORMAL POPULATION BASICALLY AN ANGEL IN HUMAN FORM! WAS THAT SO HARD?
Another energy blast moved her from her musings, and she dodged, activating Witch Time once more and deciding it was time to start striking back before she lost her nerve completely, or civilians started getting caught in the crossfire.
Amazingly enough, it caught him right across the jaw, sending him backwards once more. She took a moment to luxuriate in how ruffled the man was now appearing.
And then could not react fast enough when he was suddenly right there and then she was flying.
While trying to control her movement through the air again, as she'd suddenly "remembered" that she was actually a highly-trained, highly-skilled, highly-experienced fighter and knew how to control a fall, she slapped herself upside the mental image of her head for being an idiot. Remembering the Beebees, highly skilled experimental hunter-killer robots capable of high levels of dexterity and agility needed for martial arts, and able to go incredibly fast as well.
Of course, she'd never actually fought the final product, but she'd fought some of the basic versions back when the Doc hadn't yet perfected the "superspeed" portions. Just treat it like that.
After a few tumbles, she righted herself and raced back towards him. She had his measure now, and she'd managed to, if not vanquish it then at least put her fear out of her mind for the moment, and had at least some skill now in going into Witch Time (they said that actual use of it can only come from experience. Guess they were right), she should be able to put this Sage in his place. Away from Middleton.
There was a helicopter in the air, but she ignored it to focus wholly on the sage. He was getting frustrated, and his attacks were doing more and more damage to the surrounding areas. But she was getting better, getting closer. She hears her name, but it is once again ignored in favor of punching the Sage in the face, which almost predictably now, whiffs it as his strike comes from below and sends her flying. Unexpectedly, it was his sword that struck, and she only went so far as one of the buildings nearby.
"It would appear that our little charade has come to an end." He said, arrogantly superior tone to his voice still as blood-boiling as it was before. From the volume, he was standing right next to her, and from the sheer amount of damage she's withstood throughout the fight, she doesn't think she'll get in a good enough hit before he can. She can barely even get to hands and knees even. "Oh, but I would hate for you to stick around and untidy some loose ends for me, so I'm afraid that this is where we will part ways."
A snap from the Sage's fingers and a demonic circle appeared on the floor right beneath her as ghostly demonic arms began to reach up and grab her, legs and feet first. She cries out in pain and rage as she feels her feet begin to disintegrate or worse, but before he can do anything else to her or the innocent bystanders she snarls out, "Well, if I'm going to go to hell, then I'M TAKING YOU WITH ME!" She reaches out and grabs the Lumen Sage's leg and doesn't let go, even pulling him down with her. As she is dragged down to Inferno by the various demons (or whatever they truly are) grabbing onto her, he tries to shake her off, but she still has enough energy and adrenaline to keep a grip until the arms have a grip on him too and are they are not going to let go.
Grimly satisfied with her torso half in the ground and his legs starting to follow, she begins to pass out. The last thing she sees is Kim, grabbing the Sage and trying to save his life, and all three, Sage Witch and Teenaged Hero are dragged down to Inferno.
The whole thing, or at least what happened upon reaching Middleton, had been all recorded, and the world mourned the loss of Kimberly Anne Possible, while Global Justice made public claims to be doing their best efforts to finding a way of reaching the teenaged hero in the "Pocket Dimension she was no doubt trapped inside".
And unbeknownst to everyone on the surface of the Human World and Paradiso, the sun rose in Inferno, visible through the smog and sulfur for many long hours. Many creatures marveled at the sudden source of light, particularly when they discovered the lack of Angels that would have accompanied such a bright, pure light. Even the most reclusive have come out to see what the fuss is all about, and that is the beginning of a much larger tale.