I do not own Kim Possible, or any other Disney character. I'm just borrowing them for my own view of alternative tales.
Kim Possible - Force of Justice
By LJ58
Part 3:
Ron held the energy screen in place for a full minute before he finally lowered it, certain that the danger had passed as the green plasma so much like Shego's had faded, and didn't seem to be returning. But, it had been Shego's, he realized, still trying to wrap his head around all he had just seen.
He turned slowly, and stared at Betty, then locked his eyes on Drew Lipski, AKA Dr. Drakken.
"You. You're supposed to be dead."
"There's actually a funny story behind that," the man smiled wanly.
Ron's eyes narrowed. "I saw you die."
"And I did die. Very liberating, I can assure you," the blue-skinned man smiled slightly weaker than before.
"It turns out his skin isn't the only mutation his earlier experiments caused," Betty told Ron, putting a restraining hand on him. "Apparently, his body has the ability to absorb and channel energy that would be lethal to anyone else."
"Which explains how I survived Shego's temper all these years," Drew smiled.
"For the record, we call him Ian Janus now, too. It's better if the world thinks he's still dead."
"So, you just happen to let him and DNAmy work on Kim," Ron asked curtly, glancing down the hall that had been scoured back down to the bedrock. Everything metal. The ducts. The furniture. The cameras. Everything was just….gone.
"As I said, Dr. Hall is legitimate now. And oddly enough, the burst of electricity that temporarily killed 'Dr. Janus,' also seemed to have removed most of his…..unstable personality quirks. Frankly, they were the only two talented enough to have pulled this off."
"Speaking of which," Amy smiled hopefully at Ron, "Shouldn't we be going to check on the patient? I mean, the fact she began to react almost the instant we finished her sutures was nothing short of….."
"Ahem. Everyone. Maybe you should turn around," Drew/Ian asked.
They did.
Standing at the end of the tunnel, leaning against the wall, was a willowy, green woman with vibrant red hair flowing over her shoulders, and masking part of her features. Still, Ron couldn't help but stare at the naked woman. And recognize her, to a degree.
"That's…..not Shego?"
"No, of course not," Betty exclaimed. "Do you think we'd honestly risk using that woman's body after she almost went critical at the prison?"
"What's going on, Drakken," Ron asked coldly. "Without the melodrama."
"Actually, it's quite simple," Amy cut in. "We created a hybrid clone of Kim's and Shego's body, and then transplanted Kimmie's brain into the waiting body."
"Exactly. Tab A into Slot B," the cerulean-skinned scientist beamed.
"The only question now is….how much of the Kim Possible we know is still conscious inside her at this point," Betty asked, starting to walk toward the staggering woman taking small steps toward them now.
"Dr. Janus," Betty asked, stressing that new name.
"EMR is within tolerable range. No radiation at all. I think she's safe for now. Of course, she could conceivably vent again if she doesn't learn to control the comet powers now inherent in her new genetic matrix."
"Kim," Ron called as he walked toward her, studying her features carefully. And the hooded green eyes that seemed filled with pain and confusion. "Kim, are you okay?"
The woman looked up, and blinked. Then blinked again.
Her lips moved soundlessly.
"Did we miss a nerve ganglion, do you think," Amy asked.
Drew/Ian shook his head vehemently. "No, I'm sure we connected….."
"I……k-know….." Kim trailed off, her lips working silently again.
"It's me, Kim. It's Ron."
"R-R-Ron. I know….R-Ron," the redhead asked more than she stated as she staggered toward him, one small, green hand held out toward him.
She began to glow a light green again.
"Everyone back," Dr. Janus shouted. "EMR just spiked, and she could be about to vent again!"
"Already," Betty hissed, backpedaling behind Ron as he frowned at her.
"R-Ron? H-Help. I…..n-not…..c-c-control….."
Ron barely managed to get the battle suit's shield up before another green flare filled the corridor.
"Get out of here," Ron told everyone behind him. "My batteries are already at half power after that one. I can't hold more than another two blasts. If that."
The security guards, and agents panicked as Betty herded them to the lift, opened the secured doors, and got them into the lift before telling the last agent, "Send it back down for us the moment you're off.
"And don't dawdle," the aging brunette barked.
The apparently revitalized Kim Possible was on her knees now, crying as she leaned against the rock walls newly scored by the energies she was emitting uncontrollably.
"You used Shego's DNA," Ron turned on Betty as the four of them waited for the others to send the lift back down for them. "Why?" "Admit it. She's powerful in her own right. That power in the right hands….our hands….would make GJ a force……"
"Your hands," Ron growled, his hazel eyes glittering cold blue.
"You know what I mean. It was always intended for Kimberly to join Global Justice. I even hoped…..hope to groom her to take over for me someday.
"With Shego's DNA and abilities incorporated into her new body, she would be an unstoppable agent of unparalleled ability. Even your newer, high-tech enemies wouldn't have a chance against you."
"Watching what Shego went through all these years wasn't enough for you," Ron snapped as he eyed Kim struggling back to her feet. "You had to do that to Kim?
"I thought you were one of the good guys," he hissed as the two scientists backed away from him, as if fully expecting he might turn on them.
"I am, Ronald. But it's time you grew up. Past time.
"I've watched you mature, and grow up in more ways than one. I never stopped you, or Kimberly, in spite of the things you encountered, because I knew you could handle it.
"Watching you develop into a full mystical monkey master was a real treat, too. Now, it's Kimberly's turn. We just have to teach her to….."
"Ron….."
They turned to stare at the trembling redhead who remained where she had been standing down the rocky tunnel, looking at him with shimmering, green eyes.
"Make it….stop, Ron. Please….."
She was starting to glow again.
"Make it stop," she wailed, and the naked redhead began to radiate emerald energies again.
"As I long theorized," Ian exclaimed as he studied the instrument in his hand as Ron glared at Betty, and again put himself between Kim and the others. "Her plasma release must be tied to her emotional state.
"No wonder Shego was always so irritable," he murmured thoughtfully.
The shimmer brightened, and began to pulse anew even as the lift doors behind them opened.
"Kim. KP! We're going to get help. Just….hold on. All right," Ron shouted as they backed into the now empty lift car. "Just hold on a little longer. I'll be back."
"P-Promise," the woman asked, shuddering as her glow seemed to fade just a little as she smiled wanly toward him. "You won't….leave me?"
"Always, KP. I'll always be here. You know I've got your back."
"This may be more difficult than I first assumed," Betty said as the doors closed and the car began to rise even as they heard a soft whose, and the lighting turned emerald for a moment before they rose out of danger.
"There's only one thing to do," Ron told her bluntly.
"What are you thinking," Drew/Ian asked as Betty only stared at him with her one good eye, her expression dark.
"We need the only woman on the planet that knows how to control this kind of power."
"I was thinking we could conscript Team Go. They have experience……"
"No," Ron cut Betty off, making her scowl. "One, I've met them. They're morons.
"Two, their powers and mutations are physical. Shego is the only one that would understand, and be able to teach Kim how to control what she's become."
"By now, that woman is buried deep underground in a top secret holding facility where we won't have to risk……
"I'm just saying. Even I don't have the authority to let her go. Not even for this."
"Then we'll just have to break her out," Ron told her flatly. "You in, Doc," he asked Drew/Ian.
"Meh. Well…..Why not. Frankly, I'm at a loss. My neuro-dampers should have at least controlled her venting long enough for her to control her power. Obviously, they didn't work."
"Your…..what?"
"You know, Ronald," Amy smiled. "Like the NC chips he stole and perfected once? Only these are tailored just to channel comet power."
"Did you put them in right," Ron snorted.
"Of course I…..! Well, I think…..? Heh. Maybe not," he smiled weakly. "Of course, her uncontrolled venting might have just fried them, too. That was always one of the problems with putting anything inside Shego. Her powers just burned out anything electronic."
"Ronald, you simply cannot just break Shego out. For one, what makes you think you can trust her?"
Ronald turned and eyed Betty. "Just now, I'm not sure I can trust you.
"Now, you can tell me where she is, or I can go find her myself. After I tip the world to what GJ has really been up to while we were all mourning Kim's death. I wonder what that would do for your popularity, and recruiting."
"Not to mention the allocated budget," Drew/Ian pointed out.
Betty slapped a palm over her face. "All right. All right. I can't authorize her release, but I can get you in to see her. If, and I stress if she agrees to aid us, I'll see about having Kim brought to her.
"It's all I can do right now."
"Well, ah, actually, moving Kimmie as she is right now might be….rather dangerous," Amy smiled wanly. "Or do you want her venting plasma in the heart of a city, or on a public highway?"
Betty's hand had lowered, but now it went back up, rubbing at her temples she took between thumb and fingers. "Why is this never easy?"
"Just take us to her," Ron told her. "Kim doesn't have any other choice. Because I am not leaving her in that hole."
The lift paused, and the gates open, and Ron stared out an army of men with guns and lasers. His eyes narrowed, and he glanced at Betty. "Do I need to hurt them?"
"Stand down," Betty barked, stepping forward. "Stoppable is with us now. Stand down, Colonel Hardgrave," she echoed when one burly soldier in regular uniform didn't back away. "That's a direct order."
"I only take orders from the President, lady. Your pantywaist organization means squat to me. All I know is that this…..kid attacked a military installation, and did a lot of damage. He's going to answer for now. He's going to answer…..to me…..?"
Eugene Hardgrave hadn't even blinked, but his weapon was gone.
Not gone. In the kid's hands.
"You really shouldn't make him upset," Dr. Janus smiled blandly. "He is the same 'kid' that took out those Lorwardians, if you recall."
The soldier glared at Ron, and Ron glared back as General Hardgrave spat, "If you're on our side, why are you attacking…..?"
"I came for my friend. So get out of the way, or next time you and your men wake up in the hospital," he told him flatly. "Or has it occurred to any of your geniuses that if Kim doesn't get her power under control, she might just go nuclear the way she stopped Shego from going in the first place?"
Betty frowned. "Dr. Janus, you assured me that her power levels weren't that critical. Didn't you?" "Well, yes. Or, they weren't. But….nothing about her has been normal from the start. And according to my EMR readings, every venting has been showing a marked increase in power and energy levels, which….well…..shouldn't be happening."
"And people think I'm dense," Ron sighed, and lifted a wrist. "Wade, tell me you've been monitoring all this?"
"You bet, Ron," came the husky teen that came on the small, digital device he wore much like Kim's own Kimmunicator. "And something the surprisingly lively doctor apparently overlooked is that Kim's DNA has been tweaked, and remolded so many times over the years that even I couldn't say just what might be in it any longer." "Oh, dear. She might be genetically unstable on a subatomic level," Amy exclaimed.
"Exactly," Wade replied. "And I think you're right. If you don't get an expert on comet power like Shego to help, Kim's venting might continue to increase until she blows that entire section of the Rockies off the map," Wade told them somberly.
"Oh…..hell," Betty moaned.
"You actually believe that….child," Hardgrave demanded as Betty shouted to her men to prep a jet.
"This child is a genius with more PhDs than you'll ever see," Wade drawled, and then turned to Ron. "Ron. If my calculations are right, you have just over two hours until an exponential burst gets hot enough to start to melt stone, and then from there….things really get bad."
"Let's move it," Ron hissed at Betty.
Which was when a VTOL appeared as if on cue with Will Du in the hatch, looking down as the aircraft began to descend nearby.
"Dr. Director," the man exclaimed, staring around him, "What happened here? Did someone attack….?"
"Never mind. Get us to Alpha Containment now."
"Alpha….? But the only one even there is….."
"Just do it," Betty cut him off as she jumped aboard with Ron right behind her.
"Let's go, Dr. D," Ron called to him. "Or J. Or….whatever. We may need you to help convince Shego to help since we are on a timetable here."
"Of course. Of course," he murmured, shuffling forward. "But aren't I supposed to be keeping a low profile?" "Just get in," Betty snapped. "Dr. Hall, maintain remote observation with the speci…..
"Ah, patient, and keep us advised," Betty corrected herself as Ron glared bleakly at her.
"Yes, ma'am," the husky women beamed.
"General," Betty told the still fuming soldier. "You might want to pull your men back, and set up a quarantine zone. Just in case."
"I knew this was a bad idea," the man swore as the dark blue jet rose into the sky. "Civilians always screw things up."
KP
"Okay, this is your new jail for super criminals," Ron frowned as they landed near the heart of the desert in southern Arizona, and went to a hidden elevator shaft masked by an odd rock formation.
"Actually, it's something special we've been working on just for threats like Shego. Especially after that disaster on death row," Betty said as they passed through level after level of high security, federal agents rather than traditional guards, and the air continued to get colder, and colder until they reached a huge, underground chamber.
One lined with empty, glass cylinders.
Only one cylinder, Ron realized, wasn't empty.
"You froze her," he exclaimed, staring at the naked green woman behind a frosted sheet of glass that looked as if she had been immobilized in the act of raising a defiant fist.
"After that close call, we didn't have many choices. Prison can't contain her. We can't execute her, and even your friend's plasma resistant shackles are getting to be useless as her power continues to grow as she gets older.
Ron stared at her, and shook his head. "And to think I used to admire you. Kim admired you.
"I have to make hard choices, Stoppable. Sue me. But it's one life, or a dozen, against billions. Deal with it. I didn't see you hesitating when you tossed those two aliens headlong into their exploding ship."
Ron's expression turned bleak. "If you don't see the difference, then you aren't the woman I thought," the man growled at her.
"Jeez. A few years of ninja training and you think you understand the world. Live my life. My world. Then you can judge me. Until then, this is reality. Now do you see why we can't just take her out of here? To be honest, this whole procedure is so experimental that I'm not even sure we can thaw her out. She might as well be dead in there, if she isn't already."
"Hmmmm. Actually, Dr. Director," Drew smiled as he studied another gadget he had pulled out of his lab coat to tap keys, and study shifting formula. "According to this, she should be thawing out in…..five weeks. Give or take."
Betty turned and gaped at him. "Five weeks," she exclaimed.
"Give or take. Her body is slowly melting from the core outward, and the liquid nitrogen base you used to place her in hibernation is already failing. The fact is, knowing her, I'd wager she's already conscious, and quite upset right about now.
"And trust me, that's a bad thing. I know my henchman. Woman. She can be really cranky when you try using unauthorized experiments on her," Drew smiled ruefully at memories only he could recall.
"We don't have five weeks," Ron said as a very confused Will stood back, trying to understand what was happening. He had been briefed on the flight, but still couldn't understand how they expected Shego to anything except make things worse.
"Well, we could accelerate the thawing process by disconnecting the feed, and bleeding off the refrigerated gasses from the tube," Drew told him.
"Do it," Ron told him.
"Now, hold on," a square-jawed man in a lab coat with them cut in. "That is not authorized…."
"Do it," Ron echoed, not even looking at the man now slumped against the far wall, a dark bruise already rising on his jaw. Ron felt he wasn't much of an agent if he couldn't even block a simply backhand. He didn't even have to go monkey on him.
"All right. Shutting off nitrogen feed. Switching off cycling fans, and opening the external valves. Ah, you might want to step back," he told Betty who was standing close to the foot of the tube. "The gasses released will be very cold."
"Ambient temperature is rising," Drew grinned. "Vitals are starting to climb, and……"
Everyone jumped back when a glowing, green fist smashed through the reinforced glass, and a furious brunette surged out after it.
"You one-eyed bitch," she swore, and landed on her feet in a crouch, heedless of the fact she was naked as she raised her hands in vicious claws, both appendages still glowing green. "I'll rip out that other eye……!"
"Uhm, sweetheart," Drew smiled from behind her. "Not that I mind, but don't you think you should get dressed before you try anything more…..boisterous?"
Shego tensed, slowly turned her head, and stared at him. She made a suspicious, strangled gurgle, and then flung herself at the blue-skinned scientist, hugging him fiercely. "Drew! I thought you were dead!"
Then she stepped back as he groaned, gasping for air after her powerful embrace as she frowned down at him.
"Wait. You were dead. How….? Is this a clone," she turned on Betty with another growl.
"No clone," Ron cut in. "And time is short here, Shego. We need your help."
"My help? With what?"
"To save Kim," he told her bluntly.
"Kimmie? Needs my help," Shego sniggered, taking the lab coat Drew held out, and pulled it around her naked body. "Pull the other one, monkey boy."
"He's right, dear," he smiled at the woman he been developing a relationship with since the entire alien fiasco that had brought them together, and forced them to deal with the very real feelings between them. "I'm afraid Amy and I tried to bring her back, and we might have….made a few mistakes."
"You….and Amy? That loopy geneticist? That Amy?"
The very one," Drew nodded.
Shego groaned, her temper gone, her irritation, however, rising. "What now?"
"We can explain on the way. We need your help, or a sizeable piece of the country is going to be vaporized before she's finished."
Shego turned to glare heatedly at Betty. "This just has to be your fault," she derided her. "I still remember your earlier attempts at playing God. Just can't get over yourself, can you, Cyclops?"
"Shego, we don't have time for this. Will you help us, or do we put you back in another hibernation tube."
"Wanna try," she smiled coldly.
"Shego. They gave her your power. And she can't control it," Ron cut in. "Now, will you help us, or did I waste my time, and Kim's coming here?"
Shego stared at the former buffoon who had really matured by leaps and bounds since that day when he became far more than just another common graduate. She studied his somber expression, the tautness in every muscle in his body, and knew he was ready to face her then and there. Even with her full power, after seeing some of what he could do since that first day he stepped up, she wouldn't bet on her chances if the monkey master came unglued.
"I'll try, Stoppable," she nodded. "But then I am so out of here."
"We'll see about that," Will told her as he stepped in front of her holding out a pair of shackles.
"Is he kidding," Shego exclaimed, and sucker punched him before he could blink.
"You really gotta get a better class of agent, Bets," she smirked as she walked toward the only exist out of the chilled holding chamber. "Because, trust me, these guys suck."
KP
"I'm going with you," Ron told her as they reached the elevator back at the Montana facility where Amy was looking grim as she monitored the underground seismic activity that was not looking natural at that point.
"It's your funeral," the former heroine told him as the thick doors opened, and a rush of superheated air filled the corridor, making most of the men behind them backpedal. She was back in her own trademark costume designed to her liking, and looked as if she had never been frozen, or almost executed just a few weeks ago.
"I'll….just stay up here," Drew suggested as the pair of them walked into the lift car, and pressed the button.
"Last chance to bail before your fur gets singed, monkey boy," the woman grinned crookedly as she watched the doors start to close.
Ron pressed a stud on his suit's gauntlet. "I'm good. My personal defense shield is fully recharged, and will protect me as long as necessary."
"We'll have to test that sometime," she told him with a sardonic gleam in her emerald eyes.
"Don't you ever just…..?" He sighed as she crossed her arms under her ample curse, looking smug. "Never mind."
"So, she's really got my genes?"
"Apparently," he nodded.
"So, what's to stop this clone from just falling apart like all the others Dr. D created in the past."
"From what I understand," Ron sighed, still finding it hard to accept half of what he learned. "They created Kim's…..new body using Amy's own methods that Dr. Drakken perfected for her. It's not one of his usual cheap, force-grown sludge-bags. It's a relatively stable, human body that blended her genetics with yours."
"I can just bet whose idea that was," she drawled as the lift settled, and the doors began to open only to stick halfway, the metal tracks looking melted.
"You'd probably win," Ron agreed, and stepped forward. "Allow me," he added, and his energy field was lost in a brighter blue glow as he slammed curved palms into one side of the metal panel to his right. The door bowed, and buckled, and then burst off the track to fall before him, leaving them with a view of a half collapsed tunnel.
"KP," he shouted, looking at the rubble all around him, and fearing the worst.
"They try to freeze her, too," Shego frowned as she followed him as they picked their way through the rubble.
"No," Ron told her. "This was a heavily shielded lab where they were operating on her until she went ballistic, and started melting or vaporizing everything around her."
"Oh. Yeah. I remember when I did that," she nodded.
"Ron," a weak voice cried as they reached the turn in the now unstable corridor, and saw a huddled green body start to rise to greet him. "I still can't stop it," she wailed. "It just won't stop," she said as she continued to glow bright green as the pair approached her.
"I brought help, Kim," he told her as Shego stepped out of the darkness around them now lit only by his energy shield, and Kim's aura.
"Shego," Kim stared at her as she leaned against the wall, staring at the woman. "You made it? You're okay?"
"I'm better than you, Pumpkin," she grinned crookedly. "Looks like you need a timeout."
"I….I can't control this," she gasped. "Still…..keeps……! My head hurts, and I can't stop……! Ron, you have to go. I can feel it. It's getting stronger," she gasped as her aura intensified, and Ron looked to Shego.
Shego raised a single hand, curling it into a fist even as Kim began to glow brighter.
The light went out abruptly as her hard right connected to the pale green Kim Possible, and drove her skull into the wall, knocking her unconscious in the same instant. Ron stared down at the pale, limp body that slumped at their feet as Shego dusted off her hands.
"End of lesson one," she drawled sardonically.
Ron just stared.
To Be Continued……..
