DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kim Possible. This story is just for fun. The characters of Firefly/Rebecca Shaw, Isabella Shaw, and Robert Gibbs are OCs I created for this story.
A/N: Also, the real names of Team Go I created for this story, too. It came to me one night and I decided to go with it. Many thanks to my brother Talon and my friend Cyendrea for the help with developing this story, and for their future help in developing it.
Kim Possible
Red Flame
Chapter 3 – Getting to Know You
Pacific Ocean, Global Justice Headquarters
It was a day later, and Betty was alone in her office, which was the usual for when she was 'on the clock' unless she had a meeting or chose to partake in a field operation. However, what made this day different than the others that had come before was that the one-eyed leader of GJ hadn't left her office in twenty-four hours – which included the time she'd came in the day before. The reason, though, wasn't due to the fact that Shego had broken Electronique out of her prison in Go City, nor the myriad of other emergencies Global Justice had had to deal with since the absence of Kim Possible from the world-saving scene. No, the reason for her never having left her office had to do with her wife. For the first time in a long time, Betty felt that she was in danger of losing the most important part of her life.
Isabella hadn't forbidden her from their shared quarters, but after what Betty had revealed she had said that she needed time alone. In all the time they'd been together, in the twelve years they'd been married, Betty had never seen her wife like this. It made her feel as though there was a cold vise-like grip around her heart, squeezing tighter and tighter with each passing hour. Rebecca, though, had stayed behind. It was obvious she was just as hurt as her mom, but most of her pain seemed to be more from the fact that Betty had kept such a thing secret from the woman she loved than from the knowledge itself. The conversation they'd hadn't been easy for Betty.
"How could you hurt mom like that?" the young woman had asked.
"I didn't want to hurt her at all," Betty had replied in a whisper. "I love your mom, Rebecca."
"If I didn't already know that I was at first created to counter Shego, and then became intended to serve as a 'template' for an anti-super villain special task force," Rebecca had said next, "then this is where I would wonder if I had been created as a way for Mom to have one of her children back." Those words had hurt Betty, even though she knew that her daughter didn't mean them to.
"Rebecca," she had said, "that may have been the reason for your birth, but it doesn't matter now."
"What do you mean, Mother?" the teen had asked.
"You're here now, and that's all that matters. Your mom and I love you for you, though I'll admit I had to work myself through my whole 'Global Justice first' issues." That statement had made her daughter chuckle, which had lightened Betty's heart a bit.
"You'll work things out with Mom, right?"
"Firefly, I'll do whatever has to be done to make this up to your mom."
But in spite of spending the whole night avoiding sleep to thinking, she hadn't come up with any ideas for how to make up for keeping secret what she had. Just then, she heard a knock on her office door.
"Enter," she said, brushing her disheveled hair with a hand and trying not to look as though she'd spent the entire night in her office. She was expecting Will Du, her top agent, and so was floored beyond disbelief when her wife entered.
"You didn't come home last night, love," Isabella said as she came in and shut the door.
"I, uh, well, um, you see, uh . . ." Betty stammered, her thoughts racing around and bumping into each other. The raven-haired woman's chuckle brightened her up a lot.
"Even after twelve years of marriage, you are still cute when you get flustered." She took a chuckling breath, and let it out. "I know what you probably thought, Betts. And I won't lie to you; learning that you'd kept something like that from me hurt a lot. More than I thought it would, although I didn't know what it was until you said it. But," she said, holding up a finger to silence her wife, "it doesn't matter. Because I did a lot of thinking between yesterday and today, and also talked to Rebecca a good deal. And I was reminded of something."
"W-What was that?" Betty asked nervously.
"That when I married you, I promised I'd be with you forever and always, no matter how much of a bitch you were." That made both women chuckle and like a dam breaking, the bad feelings that had seemed to be between them were swept away. "So," Isabella said, wiping a tear of mirth away from her eyes, "what as this plan you had to give our daughter what she truly needs without coming up against any of the Global Justice regulations?"
"I'm going to have her stay with Kim Possible," Betty said, simply and to the point.
"The teen hero? But she hasn't been active in nearly a week," her wife pointed out. "Not since that Li'l Diablo incident with Drew Lipsky."
"So you do pay attention to my reports."
"Stuff a sock in it, Cyclops."
"I'd rather stuff something in you, Kitten."
"Sexist."
"Nympho."
"Never denied that," Isabella said, laughing.
"Kim's inactivity is one of the reasons for my decision," Betty continued, still chuckling. "Another reason is that Kim Possible is one of the most honest and moralistic people I've ever seen. The Li'l Diablo incident, specifically her actions with Shego, have shown that she has a dark side. However, I would say that would take something extreme – or perhaps a few extreme things – to push her over that edge. The fact of the matter, and the point that swayed the United Nations Security Council, is that Kim Possible is the only person in the world who has stood toe-to-toe against super-powered criminals and other 'super villains.' Monty Fiske, going by the nom de guer Moneky Fist, is a master of Tai Shing Pek Kwar, or Moneky Kung Fu. Kim Possible, who has had no formalized martial arts training and is – or, rather, was – the best cheerleader at Middleton High, has fought him to a standstill on a few occasions; and has thoroughly kicked his ass on several others. When she was just twelve years old, she managed to make it through and neutralize a security system that is still one of the most advanced in the world today."
"Nice pedigree," the other woman commented.
"So she is more than capable of furthering both Rebecca's combat skills as well as her social skills."
"You have another reason, though."
"Yes. I believe that Rebecca would be good for Kimberly. Right now she's lost and adrift. The discovery of just what she's capable of if pushed well beyond her limits has, I imagine, depressed and despaired her."
"Not to mention the guilt, if what we know of her is accurate."
"Yes. Then of course there's Ron Stoppable's trip to and disappearance in Japan. He was the one of constants in Kimberly's life, and one of her main supports in her world-saving efforts. His departure and disappearance have undoubtedly contributed further to her negative spiral."
"And the reason behind Stoppable's actions?"
"Unknown at this time. But I imagine his reason – or reasons – were and are valid to him. But he does have a prediliction for overreaction and misunderstanding. The naked mole rat he always carries with him, Rufus, is more perceptive than he is."
"What a buffoon."
"Not the first time he's been referred to as that."
"It would be a surprise if it was," Isabella said. Then she leaned forward and looked intently at her wife. "So your intention is to use Kim Possible as a way to prepare Rebecca for the world itself as well as the purpose we hope she'll choose for herself, and to use Rebecca to help Kim get through this dark period within her life."
"That's my plan to the letter."
"I hope you considered the one obvious possibility."
"I've considered several possibilities, Kitten. To which do you refer?" Isabella merely raised an eyebrow.
"Ah. That one."
"Yes."
"We'll . . . cross that bridge when we come to it."
"Whatever you say, Cyclops."
"Watch it, Kitten."
"You only call me that because I purr when you rub me the right way."
Betty was about to retort when she looked beyond her wife and turned as red as a lobster. Isabella turned her head and saw Will Du standing there, reports fluttering from his hands and his face even redder than Betty's. Isabella just burst out laughing.
Colorado Rockies, Shego's Lair
"I have to say, Samantha," Electronique said as she slipped into her tech suit, "I would never have thought you'd go evil. Considering that you chose your goody-goody hero work over your own girlfriend."
"I suppose I had that coming," Shego admitted bitterly, "but at least you're not killing me or anything."
"What I was going to do was make all of Team Go evil and turn them on Go City. When the city had turned against them, I'd've turned all of you back and would've had some of my revenge." The gray-skinned villainess shrugged. "Kind of a moot point now, since you went evil all on your own."
"What happened to you, and between us, contributed to that. And the fact that, even though I stood by him for his whole hero thing, he used me as a scapegoat whenever things got excessively violent."
"So who's this Drakken fellow you're working for?" she asked, turning around and motioning to the zipper on her suit's back. Shego came over and zipped her up.
"Used to work for," the green-skinned woman corrected. "I've been thrown in jail too many times because his dumbass schemes either failed or took so long to implement that they were stopped before they were completed."
"Sounds like an idiot."
"He's a genius when it comes to making devices and chemical cocktails, but in everything else he's dumber than a sack of shit."
"So why work for someone as perceptive as Hego?"
"The money," Shego said simply. Electronique looked at her. "What? He paid me good money to contract my services – especially since I'd written up my contract myself and threatened him with a plasma enema if he didn't take it as is."
"You're such a bitch."
"You would know."
"I used to know, anyway."
"Let's leave the past where it is, Ellen. I broke you out of prison because you've had plenty of time in there to work up a revenge scheme, so you know what kind of planning is needed for that. And . . . you always were better at long-term, in-depth planning than I was."
"You used to be so prideful and unwilling to admit any weaknesses," Ellen said softly, staring at her ex-girlfriend. "What happened?
"Nearly getting electrocuted to death changes a person," Shego replied bitterly. "I got my ass kicked by Kim Possible."
Electronique had heard that name, but only because of the prison grape-vine.
"And . . . you want revenge because of that?"
"The fucking bitch did it on purpose!"
"Well, that's usually how asses get kicked."
"I meant the electrocution thing, you fucktard!"
"You're so easy," Electronique said with a chuckle.
"The fuck I am! It took you two years to get into my pants!"
"Only because I had to drop a few pounds."
Shego let out a screech and plasma-punched the nearby wall as the other woman chuckled softly. I haven't had this much fun in years, she thought. This is better than any revenge scheme I could've come up with. When she cleared her throat, she got a withering glare in reply. "Truce, Samantha," she said, holding up her hands. "Truce."
"You always did know how to push my buttons," Samantha replied grudgingly.
"It cames from having known you so well," Ellen said. Her expression darkened, though. "Or that's what I used to think."
"Let's settle that later, okay?"
"That's right. I'm supposed to help you plan your own revenge," was the sardonic reply. "Now that's irony; help the target of my own vengeance plan her vengeance."
"We shook on it, Ellie. And you always keep your promises when you do that."
"Actually, I want to take my revenge now."
"What?!"
"Oh don't get me wrong. I will keep my promise to help you out, Sam."
"Don't call me that."
"But I want to start getting my revenge in the process." With a sly smirk on her face, Ellen sauntered up to the other woman until they but a step apart.
"And just how are you going to do that?"
"I think I'll start . . . with this," she said, before taking that last step, wrapping her arms around the taller woman's neck, and planting a passionate kiss on her stunned lips.
Middleton, Possible Residence (Friday)
When Kim got home from school that day, she found that her mom was home. The elder Possible woman looked up as her daughter came in the house.
"Hey, there, Kimmie," she said, setting down the book she'd been reading. "Are you doing alright? How was school?"
"About the same as always," was her noncommital reply. "I've got homework to do."
"It's Friday, sweetheart."
"It's extra work. I'll be down for supper," Kim said as she went up to her room. As she watched her go, Ann sighed. For the past week, her usually vibrant and happy daughter had been withdrawn and unsocial. She did whatever she could to avoid being around people as often as possible, and said only what absolutely needed to be said in other circumstances. Ann knew that whatever was going on had to do with the Li'l Diablo attack last week, as well as Ron's disappearance the next day. According to his mom, he'd been accepted into an exchange program and was now in Japan. She hadn't told Kim that, since she doubted her daughter would even listen to the information. Bonnie's visit on Monday had actually altered Kim's mood a bit, though it wasn't a noticeably positive effect. Just then, Ann heard the doorbell ring.
"Coming," she called out.
It hadn't taken Kim long to finish the 'make work' she'd requested; the only reason she went through it so quick was that she actually had no interest in it and just wanted to get it done. But now that it was done, she had nothing to distract her from her thoughts. And they always swirled around one thing, and one thing in particular: that was capable of willingly killing someone. Ron's absence didn't really register on her mind anymore, nor did his reaction to her homosexuality. She tried to get her thoughts off of the dark path they were taking, but she didn't really care enough to make a real effort. Her mind kept circling around the thought that she had deliberately kicked Shego into that tower, with the hope that she'd die; and the satisfaction that she'd kicked the older woman's ass hard. And right when her memories started flashing, she heard her mom calling her.
"Kimmie! You have visitors!"
Resigning herself to being around yet more people when she just wanted to be alone (in spite of the deep ache within her that craved companionship), Kim got up and went downstairs.
The first thing she noticed was Betty Director, the head of Global Justice, sitting across from her mom. The second thing she noticed as the two other women next to Betty. A surge of adrenaline, as surprising as it was welcome, shot through Kim's body as she recognized Shego. Then her mind caught up with what her eyes had already noticed; the girl wasn't exactly Shego. For one thing, she definitely was a girl (about the same age as Kim herself).
"You're red," she said blankly, staring at the girl.
"Kimberly," her mom said disapprovingly.
"No, no, Doctor Possible," the girl said shyly. "It's . . . it's okay. That's usually the first thing people notice about me. Well, that is, you know, if they haven't already met me. Which she, um, now has, I guess."
"Rebecca, you're rambling," the other woman, who looked like an older version of Shego, said with a loving smile.
"Sorry, Mom."
"Kimberly, it's rude to stare," Ann said. Shaking herself out of her shock, she came around and sat down next to her mom.
"Kim," Betty said, leaning forward, "I'd like to introduce you to my wife, Isabella Shaw, and our daughter, Rebecca?"
"Well, there goes my lesbian fantasy," Kim muttered. She turned beet red in embarrasment when everyone stared at her. "Well, it's true," she mumbled.
"Kimberly!" her mom asked. "That's not something you just come right out an say!"
"It's not exactly how I was planning on coming out, but I guess the cat's out of the bag now."
"Don't you say a word, Isabella," Betty warned. The two Possible women looked at her and she shrugged. "Private matter," she explained, then reddened a bit when her wife giggled. "Anyway," she went on, "we're here because we need you, Kimberly."
"Doctor Director," Kim said, "I'm no good to anyone right now."
"I'm fully aware of what happened on top of the Bueno Nacho headquarters building. And I am also aware that your longtime friend Ron Stoppable has left the country. I'm afraid, though, in spite of the fact that I want to give you the time you need to come to terms with everything that's happened, I can't."
"What's going on, Betty?" Ann asked, concerned.
"The day after the Li'l Diablo attack, Shego broke out of Global Justice's most secure prison complex. She utilized a previously unknown skill with her plasma powers; two, actually, since she melted off the power-suppression bracers we'd outfitted her with. Last night, she infiltrated Go City's 'most secure' prison and broke out Electronique."
"Who?" Kim asked, her instincts ignoring her desire to just be ignored.
"She was a villain that had been imprisoned by Team Go shortly before Shego's departure from the team." Then she looked over at her daughter.
"Rebecca is . . . special," Isabella picked up. "To put it bluntly, she's a full clone of Shego."
"You cloned Shego," Kim said.
"We really didn't have a choice, Miss Possible," the raven-haired woman replied. "Shego is highly dangerous, as I'm sure you are aware of. Back then, we didn't have you. Rebecca is the outcome of a project called Project Firefly. It was my personal project, and I named it after the nickname I'd given my daughter Samantha. Rebecca came to mean so much more to me than a project. Chronologically she's younger than sixteen, but we accelerated the aging of her DNA matrix many times, and used electro-imprinting techniques to teach her more quickly."
"Why would you do something like that?" Kim asked. "Um, no offense, Rebecca."
"None taken, Kim," the red/black-haired girl said with a smile. "When Project Firefly was first thought of, it was meant to be a way to counter Shego. But when you came on the scene and proved that you had the skills to fight Shego, I became a . . . prototype, if you will, to test out the feasibility of creating a special task unit within Global Justice for the express purpose of battling super-powered individuals, as well as those villains who cannot be handled by conventional means."
"You speak so casaully about all of that," Ann said.
"I've had a few years to come to terms with everything."
"There's actually something else you should know, Kimberly," Betty said. When the teen was looking at her, she went on. "Isabella was once married to a man named Robert Gibbs. About fourteen years ago she was unwillingly divorced and lost all chances to see the children they'd had. I tell you that because a year after the divorce, a meteor struck her house and gave all five of her children super powers. Including her daughter, Samantha."
"Are you saying that Shego is her daughter?" Kim asked incredulously. It was the most emotion Ann had seen in her daughter all week.
"My first daughter, yes," Isabella corrected. "Rebecca may be a clone of Shego, but she is still my daughter. And she is a clone, not a carbon-copy."
"I'm only asking a favor, Kim," Betty said, the informality surprising the teen hero. "I can't order you to do this."
"Do what?"
"We need Rebecca to stay with you," Isabella explained. "She isn't in any danger or anything, though she'll probably be going into danger with you. She has extensive training, and is pretty smart, but it's all knowledge and no experience. No . . . real world application, as it were."
"And it isn't only that," Betty started to say, but then Rebecca interrupted her.
"I want to have a chance at a normal life," she said. "Or at least experience one."
"You've come to the wrong girl for that, then," Kim replied. "I am – or was, rather – the 'girl who can do anything.' But I'm can't do that anymore."
"I think you can," the other teen said, her expression honest and earnest. "I've seen videos of what you've done before. You're amazing!"
"Well, uh, I-I wouldn't say that," she said, blushing in embarrasment. But even as she said that, Kim was feeling the stirring of something within her that been missing for the past week. Or, to be more accurate, it had merely lain dormant.
"Kimmie, I am willing to do this," Ann told her, "but only if you agree to it, since Rebecca would be your responsibility."
"Spankin'," Kim said, a smile finally appearing on her face. It was a small, vulnerable smile, but it was a smile nevertheless. And something about it caused Rebecca's heart to flutter strangely in a way that was as thrilling as it was puzzling.
Pacific Ocean, Global Justice Headquarters (later that night)
"Do you think we made the right decision, dear?" Betty asked, looking over at her wife. The nude woman turned and regarded her.
"A little late for second thoughts, Cyclops," Isabella said. "We've placed our bets, and now we've gotta see where the dice land." The raven-haired woman sensuously walked over and crawled onto the bed, her feline-like grace making Betty's nipples harden and her sex moist. "And right now, I think we need a little . . . wife time."
"Isabella, we need to-oomph," Betty began, before her wife's lips on her own not only cut off any further words, but also any further thoughts. The one-eyed brunette reached up and drew her lover closer, moaning as their breasts brushed together. Breaking off the kiss, Isabella stared into her wife's eye and said, "Make me purr, Cyclops."
Betty responded by rolling the two of them over until she was straddling the other woman's hips. Without hesitation, she reached behind her and between Isabella's legs. Her wife groaned and arched her back as she felt those nimble fingers caress her aroused sex. The beauty beneath her sat up and latched her mouth onto one of Betty's nipples, eliciting a moan from her. And as their lovemaking intensified, Betty did, indeed, make her life literally purr.
Four hours and numerous orgasms later, the two of them lay in each other's arms, basking in the afterglow of their intimacy. The feeling of contentment and peace, as well as the love and safety she felt, cause Isabella to start crying.
"Kitten?" Betty asked, pulling her closer. "What's wrong, love?"
"How did I ever deserve this?" she whispered in reply, still sobbing. "I lose everything, and get a second chance with the only person I ever really gave my heart to."
"I should be asking that question, Kitten."
"What do you mean, Betts?"
"Ever since we graduated, I've only ever been married to my work. You, at least, had a chance to have a family. When I encountered you in Upperton, I was actually there on a job. I saw you, and told Will to take over the operation. He asked me if there was anything wrong."
"What did you tell him?"
"I told him that something far more important had come up, and I wasn't going to deal with anything else." Betty turned her gaze back to her wife. "I lost you once because I fucked up, no question about that. When I saw you for the first time there, I realized that I'd actually been given a second chance. That, just maybe, I could make things work this time. And for the first time in my entire career with Global Justice, I put aside everything for the chance to spend even just one moment with the woman who'd stolen my heart."
"Betty . . ." Isabella whispered, before pulling her close and kissing her. It started out as just a wordless way of expressing her love, but soon the passion between the two of them bubbled up again and they expressed their love and gratitude to the other in far more pleasurable ways.
E/N: Wow. Just . . . wow. This chapter was an amazing write for me. Isabella was absolutely understanding of Betty's situation, and knew her heart was in the right place. Electronique is definitely hitting on Shego after teasing her tremendously. And now Rebecca Shaw – aka Firefly – is staying with Kim Possible, who just blurted out to the girl's parents that she's a lesbian – and had fantasized at some point about Betty. And the chapter ended on a rathe tender note.
Are Shego and Electronique going to hook back up, in spite of their antagonistic past? Is Kim coming out of her despair for good, or is this just a break in the clouds? What kind of revenge will Electronique help her ex(?)-girlfriend plan? Whatever the future holds, the next step on that journey can be found in "Things Begin," the fourth chapter of Red Flame!
