-Ghosts & Aliens-
Her lungs burned, her legs ached, and she was fairly certain she'd twisted her ankle about half a mile back when she'd jumped from the five story building to the three story one, but somehow the only thing that was really bothering her was how much she had enjoyed her vacation from the world saving gig and how annoyed she was that the pause appeared to be over. Really, things were just getting back to normal- she had started college, her home was rebuilt, most of Middleton looked better than it had in her younger years, and the world economy had finally stabilized enough for her to splurge on a new, stylish fall jacket from Club Banana- and then some thief had to go steal some gadget from some lab in the middle of the night!
Why did she even bother with this?
The man ahead of her jumped from roof to roof with ease, never stumbling in his flight. Kim was less graceful- maybe she'd eaten one too many of those MREs that the Army handed out shortly after the invasion- but still managed to keep her prey within sight. That is, until the fit thief decided to simply jump off a three story building to the street below.
What was this guy? A cyborg? Given the curious- but refreshing- silence from the mad science community, she really didn't doubt it. Without hesitating, Kim vaulted off the roof and grabbed the street lamp to ease her descent, taking off after the thief again once her feet touched the ground. The distance between them had grown thanks to her safer trip from roof to street level but she tried not to think about it.
It didn't work, of course; the more she tried not to think about how poorly she was performing, the more she wondered if a certain ex-villainess would be disappointed in her.
Crud, she just had to open that door. While she'd kept in contact with Dr. Drakken- who had returned to his less evil but still goofy name of Lipsky- no one had heard from his former assistant for a while now. A few months ago, her wish to see her old arch enemy manifested in a late night call to Wade- who still had the world wired.
Except- for some reason- he had no clue who she was talking about. Add to that, he couldn't find her. Anywhere. All footage of her was gone, her charges gone, her prison records, medical records, birth certificate- the woman somehow ceased to exist. Wade couldn't even tell her when Shego's records had been wiped because he couldn't find any trace of them existing in the first place. A call to Global Justice just made things more confusing for Kim; Dr. Director refused to acknowledge a super-powered, green skinned woman ever existed. Same story from her brothers. Not even Dr. Lipsky seemed aware he'd ever employed a snarky, plasma wielding woman. Wade tried convincing her she was probably mixing up Warmonga and some other villain she'd faced over the years, just a misfire in the brain.
It pissed her off. Finally, she stood a chance at having a normal relationship with the previously wanted criminal, and Shego goes off, disappears, and gets everyone on board with pretending she never existed. Somehow, she wasn't surprised. Worried, confused, angry, but not surprised.
Ron hadn't been any help. Once they broke up- which was a bit late in coming considering how many arguments they had without missions to distract them- her best friend returned to being as aloof as ever. He didn't want to understand Kim's sudden drive to find her former nemisis and offered no help in the process. Not that he could do much- she wouldn't have held it against him- but that he didn't even try to help her was annoying. Almost as annoying as her failure to find the woman.
Most days, she tried to push the whole matter aside.
She didn't need to be thinking about Shego anyway, not right now. She had a thief to catch. Though, the reminder of how ticked she was did help spur her a little faster, vaulting a railing with ease as the two entered a large park. At least the open ground might give her a chance at catch up. Or use her grappling hook to trip him up if she couldn't. She was about to reach for the hairdryer when the thief suddenly stopped, throwing his hands up in the universal gesture of surrender.
Odd. He was still a good thirty yards ahead of her. It wasn't until she'd closed the distance a little more than she noticed two women in sharp black suits pointing dangerous looking weapons at the man... and one of the women looked very familiar.
"Johnny, Johnny, Johnny," Shego sighed, her trademark smirk in place as she resituated the chrome colored rifle against her shoulder. "Didn't we just have a little chat about your area restrictions?"
"Pretty sure we did," the other woman snorted, holding what appeared to be a chrome pistol. "In fact, I'm pretty sure you aren't allowed off Manhattan island."
"Refresh my mind, T; isn't Upperton, Colorado a long ways from Manhattan island?" Shego slowly advanced towards the man.
"It is, S."
"Look, I can explain-" the man started but was cut off when Shego hit something on her weapon, causing it to hum to life.
"Oh, you'll explain yourself alright, right before we hand you over to the Citidel guards who came looking for your sorry ass," Shego started to circle around, drawing the thief's eyes.
From where Kim stood, she could see the other woman- she presumed 'T'- holster her weapon and produce ridiculously oversized hand restraints, creeping forward with the obvious intent of grabbing 'Johnny' while he was distracted.
'Johnny', however, wasn't too keen on being handed over to whoever was waiting for him back in Manhattan. In the blink of an eye, the formerly slender built man turned into an eight foot tall monstrosity, complete with six tenticles and enormous eyes that twitched in two different directions, keeping one on each of the suited women.
"Well... shit," Shego sighed before diving aside as one tenticle lashed out, slapping the ground where she'd stood a few moments before.
Another tenticle managed to wrap around T, lifting her into the air as Johnny focused on Shego, who was trying hard to bring her weapon up but couldn't due to constant dodging.
Kim tucked an errant lock of hair behind her ear before searching the area for something to distract the monster or alien. She was somehow leaning towards alien; there was a fuzzy recolection in the back of her mind from her brief visit to Area 51. After a moment of searching, she found a few rocks twice the size of her fist and decided they would do for the time being. Baseball never was one of her sports but, as she wound back, she figured that just about anything would help Shego and her friend about now.
Letting one of the rocks sail through the air, Kim found her aim to be pretty decent; she'd aimed for the stalks that attached the eyes to the grotesque body and managed to hit the eye instead. The three turned their attentions to the redhead, though T was still trying to free herself.
"Didn't anyone teach you some manners?" Kim grinned, idly tossing one rock up and catching it again while her other held the last of her impromptu projectiles. "That's no way to treat a lady."
The alien let loose a roar- from where, exactly, Kim wasn't sure and didn't particularly want to find out- as two of the tenticles lashed out towards her. Despite how much her muscles protested, the redhead managed to dodge the limbs with ease while tossing another rock, which hit her original target and enraged the creature even further.
Without only one of his eyes open, Shego was able to jump into a blind spot and fire her weapon, blowing off the tenticle that held T. The woman hit the ground with a solid thud but managed to gain her feet before Johnny could make another grab for her. Shego fired again, blowing off yet another limb as it reached for Kim, who was in the middle of a backflip. The alien screamed in pain, flailing as the three humans retreated to a safe distance and waited for his next move. Before he could make it, however, a blue light illuminated the park, several figures floating down from what appeared to be some sort of space ship.
Kim shielded her eyes against the light, taking in bulky, humanoid forms and long tridents as they landed in the park and proceeded to stab at Johnny. From the sound of things, the tridents were electrically charged, like very dangerous looking stun rods.
"We thank you, Men in Black," one of the new aliens spoke in a curiously slurred voice, addressing Shego and the other suited woman. "We shall take things from here."
"Be our guest," Shego smirked, hefting her weapon onto her shoulder. "We'll let Zed know once we're back at HQ. After this, though, you guys are serving your own arrest warrants."
"And keep him locked up this time," T growled, brushing dirt from her suit and grumbling incoherently.
After a few more minutes of securing Johnny to some sort of floating bed, the blue light receeded. Kim had to blink hard a few times before her vision cleared, revealing only the humans left in the park.
"Good to see you still haven't lost it, Princess." Shego's voice drew the redhead's attention to the two women. T was reaching into her jacket when Shego stopped her. "Let me handle this. I know her."
"You knew her," T corrected, snorting as she glanced at Kim. "Fine. You know the rules."
Shego handed off her weapon before approaching Kim, the other woman leaving presumably to secure the weapons somewhere. As the green skinned woman approached, Kim's mind began spinning with questions she wanted to ask before settling on the one she needed answered.
"Where have you been, Shego?" It took effort not to rush over and hug the woman.
"Here, there, everywhere," she replied with her usual smirk, which faltered briefly as she continued. "Nowhere. I work for the Men in Black now."
"Men in Black?" Kim raised a brow, her eyes scanning the woman in front of her. Damn, Shego looked sexy in a suit.
"It's just the agency's name, Pumpkin. I swear I'm just as anatomically awesome as I was a year ago."
"Speaking of that," Kim shook her head, looking into her former rival's clear emerald eyes. "You... you disappeared! Wade couldn't even find you! He can find anyone!"
"Yeah, these guys are pretty serious about keeping everything secret now," Shego chuckled with a shrug. "From what I understand, they were all ready to shut down Area 51 and let the world know about their extreme foreigners before the Lowardians. Now, though, humankind won't be able to accept that there are aliens living among them who do come in peace." She glanced around, noting the faint traces of the fight. "Not good ol' Johnny, obviously, but most of them are pretty peaceful."
"And that's why you disappeared? To join some agency that polices aliens?" Kim's brows furrowed. The role sounded surprisingly law-abiding for Shego to assume.
"Yeah. Figured it was... a better alternative to anything else I had going. It's not what I wanted but, since I can't have what I want, it's good enough," Shego shrugged again. "All of us are ghosts. We don't exist. I got a real chance to start over and do something with my life. It's a demanding job."
"Does this mean I can't see you again?" Kim blurted out before she could stop herself. As a blush colored her cheeks, Kim averted her eyes, unwilling to meet the other's surprised expression. "I've missed you, Shego."
Kim noticed the slight hesitation before the expected chuckle and sarcastic comment. "Gee, Princess, didn't know you cared."
"Well... I do," Kim admitted even as she questioned herself as to how much she cared. Her former rival had been on her mind a lot as of late, especially when Wade couldn't find even a shred of information on the woman. Some part of her knew exactly how much she cared but it wasn't being very loud in its answer.
An awkward silence settled between them before Shego threw her hands in the air, as if surrendering to some unknown assailant. "Ah, to Hell with it."
Before Kim could ask for clarification, Shego had stepped intimately close, one hand finding her cheek and guiding her lips to meet Shego's. It was abrupt but soft; the redhead was shocked by the contact. More like, she was shocked by how much she enjoyed it. That part of her that hadn't been very loud before suddenly seemed very smug. All too soon, Shego was pulling away, their lips separating and that delicious feeling leaving.
Right, her mind scoffed, over my dead body.
Kim's arms encircled the other woman, keeping their bodies pressed together as Kim leaned forward and recaptured Shego's lips. She felt the other woman stiffen in her arms- surprised- before relaxing into the embrace. Lips parted- she wasn't sure who initiated it- but soon they were thoroughly exploring the other's mouth, moaning as the sudden make-out session continued.
When they finally parted, Shego was the first to speak, a goofy grin gracing her lips. "Damn, Kimmie... what was-?"
"Doy, Shego, I like you..." Kim answered before her mind could process the turn of events. Really, all her mind was thinking concerned listening to her body, which appeared to be baffled as to why they had stopped kissing. "I tried looking for you when I realized... I thought... maybe we could..."
"What? Date?" Shego winced instantly; apparently, she hadn't meant for her tone to sound so hopeful.
Kim just flashed her brightest smile. "Well, yeah... The more time I spent with Ron, the more I realized that there was a lot missing. We'll always be friends but nothing beyond that. I want more from my..." her mind stuttered as it searched for a word that wouldn't instantly label her "ah, significant other."
"And how did you stumble onto that being me, of all people?" Shego had retreated from Kim's arms, sadness begin to mix into the surprise and wonder evident on her features.
"Don't give me that, Shego," Kim rolled her eyes. It sounded too much like what Ron had said. "There's more to you and I know it. The more I thought about our relationship as it changed over the years-"
"Relationship?"
"Yes, Shego." Why was she being so difficult? "Maybe it wasn't what most people would consider a healthy relationship, but we had something. Beyond our fighting skills, we had banter, we had jokes and teases, we had chemistry. I know you and you know me. We can read each other." She frowned. "Like how the smirk you're wearing right now means things are getting too heavy and you want to bail."
No sarcastic or witty reply answered her.
"Well?"
"Spot on," Shego grumbled, her hand reluctantly reaching inside her jacket. "Princess..."
She could hear the rejection coming and tried her best to prevent it. She'd already heard all the excuses from her friends, though never quite so directly- Shego used to be a villain, she used to be a thief, Kim was just confused- and she wasn't about to let those excuses stop her. "When we were fighting, my whole world felt one hundred percent sharper, brighter, just... better. And on those rare occassions we just talked? Same thing. I didn't want to admit it at first but... even when you're being your snarky, sarcastic self... you bring my crazy world some balance without weighing me down. You're the only person who can keep up with me and still deal with all the craziness that I face on a weekly basis. And I know there's more to you, there's a softer side you don't show the world. I want to see it, Shego. I even miss your snarky, sarcastic, aggravating self. I miss you and I want you. Can't you give me a chance?"
"Damnit, Kimmie... you're making this a lot harder on me..." From her jacket, Shego produced a pair of impenetrable black sunglasses and put them on. It was well past midnight; why on Earth was she putting on sunglasses?
"Harder?" Kim's brows furrowed, first at the sunglasses then at the words. Confusion played across her face; she didn't understand what Shego was doing. "You're just going to leave, aren't you? Was that your plan? Kiss me and run off? Just screw with my head?" No, her mind answered. That kiss wasn't about teasing the redhead- well, not in the usual sense of teasing, anyway. "You feel the same don't you?"
"Princess-" Her hand went into her jacket again. The sunglasses did nothing to hide the pain in her voice.
Kim was right. She could see it in Shego's body language but, for whatever reason, the woman was acting like nothing could come of it. "What about me, Shego? What, you expect me to just walk away, to just let you walk away? I just poured my heart out to you! Don't you even care?"
"Of course I do!" Shego finally cracked, pulling a thin, metal cylinder from her jacket and clenching it tightly. "Damnit, I've dreamed about you... being happy, feeling the same for me as I do for you! That's what I wanted." Kim's brows raised, remembering the woman's earlier comment. Shego seemed to deflate almost instantly. "But now... now, things have... changed..." Shego held up the metal cylinder. "I'll live with the knowledge that we had a shot at happiness for the rest of my life..." a tear passed the barrier of her sunglasses and slid down her cheek but her voice didn't waiver "but you won't."
FLASH
Kim blinked a few times and shook her head. For a moment, everything was foggy, and then she remembered: she'd chased the thief into this park and tackled him. He was surprisingly good and, though she'd managed to wrestle the doohickey away from him, he'd landed a solid blow to the back of her head. It must've caused her to black out; a quick look around gave no signs of which way he'd fled though it did reveal the doohickey lying inconspicuously on the ground and evidence of a scuffle.
"I guess I should go return it," she mumbled, picking the thing up and feeling a little sour that she'd lost the mystery thief. Oh well; if her line of work had taught her anything, it was that the serious villains were repeat offenders while the misguided souls often stopped after being thwarted by her once. Chances were high she'd never see the man again.
As Kim walked back towards the lab, Shego watched her go from the safety of a tree, hidden by the leaves and branches. Not that Kim knew to look for her anyway... she'd chosen the quick hiding spot after seeing T already hidden, obviously watching the whole scene unfold. As the redhead moved out of earshot, Shego braced herself for the lecture she knew was coming from her partner.
A snort preceded the conversation. "I'm surprised you let her go. She just chased down-"
"Shove it, T," Shego growled, her grip on the branch tightening. While the majority of her was saddened by the redhead's departure, the rest of her was angry. She just let Kim walk away. But... it was for the best, she told herself. A heavy sigh escaped her lips; she was tired of keeping things bottled in and T would just needle her until she spilled the beans anyway, just like after they finished neuralyzing her brothers. "I know she'd be perfect for this line of work but... she's Kim-freakin'-Possible! She has a loving family, supportive friends, a bright future... she has a life. She'd give it up- she's so damn selfless- but... it would eat at her until she broke."
T said nothing for a long while, either mulling over the information or seeking a way to rebut Shego's argument. Meanwhile, she stared at Kimmie's retreating figure, trying her damnedest not to let fantasies of what could've been flood her mind.
Shego tried distracting herself by turning to her partner. "How's your back? Landing looked pretty hard."
"I've had worse," the other agent shrugged and the silence returned. T looked over Shego's shoulder in the direction Kim left. "How long?" The vague question could only have one meaning.
"Three years. Started realizing it when she was a junior in high school. Brushed it off as that whole forbidden fruit thing but... she's everything. Sweet. Smart. Funny. Athletic." Shego felt a sad smile tugging at her lips. While she was at it, she should've challenged Kimmie to a fight before erasing her memory. It would've just hurt worse when the redhead walked away, oblivious to what they shared, what they could share, but at least she'd have the memory.
"Gorgeous too." Shego instantly threw a heated glare at her fellow black suited agent. T merely brushed off the murderous intent barely veiled by her sunglasses while crossing her arms. "Don't look at me like that unless you're going to prove me wrong."
Shego was able to hold her glare a few second longer before deflating, admitting in a defeated tone: "No, she's... perfect to me."
"And she loves you," T pointed out unnecessarily.
"Just drive the knife in deeper," she grumbled, turning her head back to stare off into the distance. "She'll move on. This is my world now... one I won't let her be a part of... one she'll never even know about..." Without warning, Shego felt two arms encircle her, wrapping her into a fierce embrace. "What the-?"
"It's called a hug. Just shut up and accept it," T gruffly informed her before softening her tone. "You're my partner, you're in pain, and this is my way of showing I give a damn."
And here Shego thought her partner was more of a stone cold bitch than she was. "I'll be fine," she lied.
"You know, the badass bitch routine is getting really old, really quick," the other woman loosened her embrace as Shego prepared to call her out on the double standard. T beat her to it. "I used to be like her. Nicer. Kinder. Now, I'm the way I am because I've got nothing left to lose or gain. I'm more of a ghost than you'll ever be, S. You're the way you are because you're afriad of being hurt. You wouldn't even be right here, right now, if you'd dropped the act a little sooner."
Damn but T could be blunt and cutting when she wanted to be. It took a moment for Shego to respond, her shoulders slumping slightly. "... You're right, about me at least. But what's done is done..." She gave one last glance in the direction the redhead had left and whispered her final farewell, twin tears sliding down her cheeks. "Goodbye, Kimmie. You'll always be in my heart."
They sat there a few minutes longer, disturbed only by the wind. T had released Shego from her hug during the farewell, giving her partner the time she needed to collect herself. Finally, she broke the silence with her remaining concern. "The hug, the fact you missed someone on your burn list, and this whole damn conversation never leaves this tree."
Shego had to smirk. "You read my mind, T."
"Good," she nodded, jumping to the ground with all the grace of a panther, looking up into the tree after she landed. "Come on, S. Let's go before you do something that'll get you in trouble."
Shego followed suit, allowing a chuckle to escape her lips. "Don't you mean 'something stupid' or 'something you'll regret'?"
T snorted. "Honestly? ...no."
-end-
Author's Note: Wrote this two years ago while half asleep, a repost for any Havenites with very little changed. Eoraptor pointed out a few plot holes back then so I did a little work to try and fill them in; either way, it's just a silly one shot for fun. Don't take it too seriously. :) Also, didn't consider this a true crossover because, with the exception of the equipment, the name, the look, and Zed, nothing about the MIB in this universe matches up to the source material.