I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only.
Kim Possible: Empires
By LJ58
2
"Are you still worrying," Shego demanded as they flew west in a private jet with six of the lupine guards already on the planet now with her.
Kim looked grim.
"You heard what Dr. Director said."
"Yeah, and how many people have been after me for how long," she huffed as Gyrzza sat silently in her own seat across the aisle. "Besides, with all our buddies of late, knocking me off won't exactly be that easy. Not that it would be even without them."
"Shego, you heard Gyrzza. He's like us. Or me, at the least. He's…..dangerous."
"Kim," Shego smiled, sliding an arm around her now. "No one is like you. Besides, whatever he is, he couldn't ever compare to you. Or me. Think about it, he got the same deal you and foxy did, right?"
"Yes," she murmured, still looking uneasy.
"Then look at it this way. You came through with flying colors. You're still the same Kim Possible you were from the start."
"But, Shego….."
"He couldn't handle what you did," Shego bulled on. "That says something there. He's not all that. You are. He freaked, or whatever, and it pushed him over a cliff into nutsville. A guy like that, if he fell once, he'll fall again. Especially if he has help."
"Help," Kim frowned.
"Face it, Kimmie," she smiled at the fretting redhead. "You have always specialized in driving nutty people nuttier."
"I so do not!"
"You do. How else do you explain Dr. D?"
"I….."
Kim glared at her as Shego sniggered.
"I am so not touching that one."
"Smart girl. Look, if he was all that, where was he all this time? You ask me, he's another loopy wannabe tossing his henches around. Now, they blew the job, so he's got to come out, and put on a show, or he loses all his credibility, and his followers. Am I right?"
"If he fails to show himself more powerful than his enemies, he will lose many of those that dared the Great Lady's wrath in following him," Gyrzza agreed at Shego's telling glance her way.
"Besides, the more I hear about this guy, the more I'm thinking he is a lot like Gemini."
"Gemini? I don't get you."
"I mean…. Completely out of his gourd."
Kim gave a faint smile.
"Well, he is supposed to be insane."
"Yeah. Just what I said," Shego agreed, then eyed Gyrzza.
"We need to talk," she said without words, slamming that virtual command right into the silver dragoness' mind.
"Anytime," came the reply, though weaker, and not quite so authoritative. She was still getting used to this more assertive Lady as she matured. Still, she was her charge now, and her duty. And the Ladies had given her a new home without any cause. She would do what she could, and more, to ensure she properly expressed her appreciation for those honors.
"Now, you're looking a little peaked," Shego said, giving Kim a squeeze. "Why don't you go in the back, and rest a bit. I'll stay up here, and make sure Siggy stays out of trouble."
"Siggy hates trouble," the D'qlomite agreed from his own seat behind them. "Hates trouble."
Kim smiled. Of late, the insectoid had adopted Shego's nickname for him as his own, and seemed to take delight in using it since it had come from her. Shego was certain that only proved the bug was an idiot. Kim wasn't so sure it was that simple.
"Fine," she smiled as she rose from her seat. "Stay up here, and hatch your own plots. I could use a nap," she admitted, and didn't have to fake a yawn.
"Go rest. And stop worrying. We'll be fine. After all, you're a goddess, and I'm….me," she smirked.
Kim shook her head, but went to the rear of the jet where one of the lupines opened the door for her, and she entered the spacious bedroom in the back of the very well appointed jet that had been given them by a certain politico obviously looking for favors.
Since even Betty decided it might be best if they weren't around a mega-populated center of commerce if the big bad came looking, no one argued when Shego decided it was time to leave.
"Okay, Wings," Shego said after the door closed behind Kim. "Time to get serious. We both know Kim isn't going to be one hundred percent just now. So I need to know everything about this Fallen freak that keeps popping up. Everything."
"I think, Lady Shego, the easiest way to learn what you desire is to simply ask the Great Lady."
"You have her number?"
"Actually, you do. Recall when you summoned your guardian with trans-dimensional psionic interfacing? You can communicate in the same way with the Great Lady. Only she can directly answer you, as she is not a mere male, limited by his own inferiority."
"Yeah, I get it. I'd love to hear you tell Hego that one, though."
"I believe I have already instructed your sibling several times in the lack of his gender, and character."
"And I missed that? Never mind. So, I just….think real hard, and I get her attention?"
"You always had it, daughter," rang in her mind as clearly as she was speaking to Gyrzza just then.
"Whoa," Shego murmured, and felt not unlike someone had just caught her stepping right out of the shower.
"While that is an interesting image," the Great Lady's voice echoed in her mind. "I rather doubt that is why you contacted me."
"No," Shego thought back, getting serious as she considered what might be ahead of them. "I need to know everything about this….Fallen. We think he's coming after us now that his flunkies blew it."
"That is possible. Aburaak was ever an impulsive creature. One tainted by ambition."
"Yet you gave him that Communion dealie?"
"A mistake on my part. Proof, my daughter, that even I can make a mistake. Let that give you pause in your own cause, if nothing else. We are not infallible."
"Never doubted it. So, what is the story on this guy? Does he have some secret origin story that tells me how to stop him, or….?"
"Open your mind, daughter. And heed me."
Shego felt the images pour into her mind now, and she gaped, her head reeling, as she lived a life she knew was never hers, but was strikingly real all the same.
KP
She met him not long after she rose to eminence.
Together with a handful of allies, she had reached out across the galaxies, and had created the start of what would become the Coalition she envisioned bringing peace and prosperity to all races. From the start, she had chosen to leave the decision of inclusion to each race they approached.
She would not be a tyrant.
She would not dictate.
That was a road that led only to abuse and devastation in the end. She had seen far too much misery created by even well-meaning souls who chose to use power as a hammer, and enforce their wills on others even in cases where it seemed well-intentioned.
Vakaui, her Hand and consort, approved. He was ever the cautious type. Even when she had first transcended, and realized the only way to ensure a lasting legacy was create and send out seedlings to create daughters after her own kind. Even then, she chose to be discreet. To let Fate itself guide each seedling. She might choose a region, but Fate would choose the daughter.
In surprisingly little time, her daughters began to rise, and they turned instinctively to her, seeking guidance, and instruction in their lives. In their roles.
She considered all that came after, and then, Vakaui suggested even he might need some help as he took a more active role in putting down the growing unrest of those that saw her rising as a major political power as a threat to the chaos and anarchy in which they thrived. After some time, she chose to accept a new conscript for direct Communion. To share her gifts with one that might help Vakaui in his own work.
From the start, Aburaak was simply different.
At the start, he said all the right things. Followed her lead without complaint. Then, when he accepted Communion, he suggested allowing him to stand before her as an emperor. A being that required obeisance, and thus forcing any that denied him to stand out, and thus be targeted for punishment.
That was his solution to the growing undercurrent of unrest in the fledgling Coalition.
She refused.
He took the refusal poorly.
He tried to assassinate her, intending to forcibly take over her position, and raise his own office over the united galaxies with a conqueror's fist.
To her shame, there was a time of great unrest. Bloody battle spread across no less than five galactic fronts before she finally drove back the Fallen, and his surprisingly numerous followers. By then, it was obvious that power had driven the once placid Aburaak quite mad. Power to him had become a club that had to be used at every chance. Defiance was something he felt should be excised, violently.
In the end, he was thrown down, many of his own followers left to turn to her, and the Coalition's membership thrived as her own dream was actually consolidated when her own stance was starkly contrasted to that of the would-be tyrant that would have squeezed the galaxies like overripe fruit in his mad quest to control them all.
In the end, though, it was Vakaui who had saved her life, and driven off the madman.
She never forgot that she owed her life to her longtime consort. Just as she had never forgotten that it was her own Gift that had driven Aburaak to insanity. Which was why in all those long years since, she never dared allow another to take direct Blood Communion with her. She even made it a policy that none of her daughters should allow their own consorts such Communion either, for fear of another madman.
And then the fledgling Lady Shego's p'n'ch'ssa strode boldly into her throne room, defended her mistress, and even struck down one of her more powerful, and accomplished warriors.
When she peered into the small primate's heart and mind, she saw a personality that was peerless. And focused. There was no doubt in her. No confusions. She lived to aid others, and her affection for her Lady was unquestionable.
Seeing her daughter through the young redhead's eyes made her make the most unlikely of all decisions. Especially when she learned that the M'Kandii world was threatened. For she saw in the threat something that few others did at the time.
The Fallen was still out there. Still moving. And he was now moving against the M'Kandii worlds. Against Lady Shego.
She saw her daughter would need help. Much as she had once needed help.
So she gave Shego Kimberly.
Because she had little doubt that Aburaak had finished hiding. He was coming back. And soon.
KP
"You okay," Kim asked Shego later that day, her lover having been unusually silent for some time.
"Just….mulling over some bad news I got earlier."
"More bad news," Kim asked. "What now?"
"I'm not sure you want to know," Shego admitted somberly.
"Hey, I'm pregnant, but I'm still in this with you. Besides, nothing is going to get past us, or our friends," Kim assured her. "So, spill. What is now? Not those squids again?"
"No. Worse," she finally admitted as they strolled through the forest near where Kim wanted to build their house. She was out walking because people were already swarming the area, and laying out foundations as if trying to build the entire place at once.
From what Kim had seen, too, it was going to be a house that Gyrzza was rapidly turning into a mansion, or even a genuine palace with all the changes she was 'suggesting' to ensure that Lady Shego was not humiliated by a substandard dwelling. Too bad the tweebs and Wade were all still busy, though, but they promised to look over the planned security as soon as they could.
Shego paused, and looked into the green eyes that focused on her so earnestly, and smiled.
"I just heard…. The big guy? The Fallen? He's definitely targeting Earth. Even the Lady thinks he's coming here in person after the way the flunkies blew it so spectacularly when they came after us. In fact, she is betting he's already on his way."
Kim said nothing to that.
"Does she know when," she finally asked, not doubting Shego's word.
"Nothing is certain, but from all I got from her, he strikes me as the type to slink around in shadows, and stab you in the back. Literally."
Kim shrugged.
"No big. We've faced worse."
"Worse than someone with our kind of power, and an utter disdain for all life, or even the lowest of morals?"
"Okay, so it's close, but…. I trust you. And our friends."
"Our friends," Shego echoed.
"They are yours now, too."
"Well, maybe," she frowned. "Still, I can't help but think he picked a lousy time."
"Why?"
"Princess," she fumed. "You're….."
"I swear, if you say you think this baby is slowing me down, I will slap you. Besides, it's not like I'm already nine months, or something. I'm only a few weeks….."
"Eleven weeks. And on you it looks more. You're still too thin."
"You didn't think so before."
"That was before you got pregnant. You're eating for two now," she reminded her.
Kim sighed.
"Sometimes I already do feel….fat."
"I swear…. You know, I'm really glad I'm not doing the hormone thing," she said, grabbing Kim by her shoulders, and turning her back to face her. "But I'm telling you this one time. Only this one time. You are not fat. You are not ugly. You are not anything that is bad. You are pregnant, with our baby, and you are very, very beautiful. You are more than beautiful."
Kim's eyes sparkled.
"Really," she rasped.
"Very beautiful," Shego told her. "But this is probably the only time I'm going to say it, so you had better believe me now."
"The only time," she smiled faintly.
"Probably. I'm not going to cater to your suffering self-esteem, which is usually set far too high anyway."
"What do you mean, too high," she sputtered now.
"Listen, Miss 'I can do anything,'" Shego huffed. "Even you have to slow down now. At least, a bit. Sure, you're only three months now, but that's going to increase, and I don't want you, or our baby hurt. Not by anyone, or anything. Especially by you trying something…..dangerous."
"Like what? I wouldn't….."
"Who tried to jump out of that shuttle last week?"
"We were going to be flying in holding patterns for hours," she huffed. "That was just a quick skydive. No big."
"Yes, big. The air was full of birds, and you had people all over the place that could have been in the way, and hurt you. Even if by accident. And we have already proven that not all the assassins have given up."
Shego grumbled at the more than familiar expression in those eyes as Kim set her jaw.
"I'm not doubting what you can do. Not even now. I am trying to say it is time to slow down, and take it easy. For now."
"The Great Lady made me worthy of standing beside you," Kim huffed. "Not behind you."
"Damn it, Kim….."
"My Lady," Gyrzza appeared just then, bowing to them. "We have had word."
"Word," Shego asked.
"The Fallen has appeared."
"Where," Shego demanded.
"We don't know where he went, but he was recently on Toivvaku. He appeared out of nowhere to destroy the temple raised to the Moon Goddess in honor of your visit. More than five thousand were slain in his rampage."
"My God," Kim rasped.
"We have sent aid, but we don't know where he went after the attack. Your liaison believes he is likely coming here, though. I must accept her conclusions."
Shego looked around, and grimaced.
"When can we get more lupines here?"
"Not for another four solar days," she admitted. "I suggest calling Warwuff back to aid in our security," Gyrzza told them.
"Do it," she nodded. "And we need a secure location to hold off any attack until we can get our own place up, and ready…"
"But, Lady Shego. Your palace is ready."
"Already," Shego frowned.
"Of course. Once I was assured the programming was sufficient, I allowed your servants to download the guide into a modular construction unit. Your palace is now awaiting your arrival. Of course, you may want more….personal touches, but the walls, rooms, and amenities are all ready for your arrival," she assured her.
"Already," Kim said, looking slightly pleased. "Wow. I was thinking we'd be waiting….longer….."
"Come. Best we get inside anyway. Your meteorologists, incompetent as they seem, all believe that inclement weather is coming. It's possible they might even be correct this time."
"Stranger things have happened," Shego agreed, and took Kim's arm. "Beside me, Princess," she winked, and turned her back up the hill.
They were only halfway up the slope when they saw the three spires rising over the nearby horizon. As they climbed the hill, they paused to gape at the veritable palace right out of a fairy tale. One that had the look of being carved out of gold and ivory.
"It's…..beautiful," Kim murmured, staring at the huge manor built to giant proportions.
"Does it please you, too, Lady Shego," Gyrzza asked.
"Wings, as long as Kim's happy, I'm happy," Shego said, smiling at Kim's expression. "C'mon, let's go get the nickel tour."
"Of course. I shall have Warwuff summoned to oversee your security at once," she added.
"And Wade. And my brothers," Kim added as she walked up the hillock toward the great doors where two of the lupines already with them stood armed, and ready. "Call them in, too. They're almost diabolical when it comes to building domestic security systems."
Gyrzza, who had visited the Possible home, didn't argue.
"I shall make the calls at once, Lady Kimberly."
"Please, call me Kim."
"Only in private, Lady Kimberly," she said, and nodded slightly to where two shuttles had already landed, and Betty led several obvious VIPs toward them.
"Sorry for the gate-crashing, Lady Shego," Betty drawled, hating the title almost as much as Shego. "But we have some visitors who have some very important news for us."
Shego and Kim both stared at the Huqaan felines,
"We've met these guys before," Shego murmured archly. "Back on Toivvaku."
"We come in peace, Lady Shego," the leader of the tall, lanky felines bowed to her. "We have seen the error of following the Fallen, and seek your protection."
"Do you," she murmured.
"Yes. As proof, we bring a token of that peace. We know where the Fallen is currently being hosted."
"Oh, yeah," Kim asked, eyeing the furballs as they walked into the huge manor, and past the two guards that eyed the cats with cool eyes.
"Yes. He is on a small moon orbiting a planet in what you call the Andorran system. We have the coordinates, and while we cannot know his exact defenses, they have been much weakened since the warrior race has turned to you, and the Elsarqian have been so….potently undermined."
"Still a lot of jerks left out there," Shego muttered as they walked into a large, well decorated room that would have been called a sitting room in another country.
In fact, it was a screening room, with lots of defense just in case someone wanted to sound out visitors before letting them in any deeper into the house.
"The coordinates," the feline said, and reached out to offer a computer disk that was familiar to them since Shego and Kim had seen similar devices on the Ty'n'qura.
"We'd be remiss not to check this out," Betty told her blandly.
"I must agree," Gyrzza agreed.
"As do I," Kim nodded. "We should…."
"Oh, no," Shego cut in. "We'll go to New York, confab, and figure out a plan. You, Princess, will stay here, and stay safe. For all we know, this is a ploy to get you off planet, so someone can make another try at grabbing you."
"That is all too possible," Betty agreed. "No pun intended. I have to agree," she stated as the floor vibrated, and Warwuff walked into the room, barely needing to duck down since the doors and ceilings were built with a mind for a Lady's full stature.
All of the felines looked uneasy at the sight of the big Lorwardian, but he merely stared.
"The shuttle is clean, as you say here," the big warrior informed them. "No tracking devices. No homing beacon. They do not even have any hidden weapons."
"Of course not. We give you our word…."
"The word of a Huqaan is as twisted as its tail," the alien prince snorted in disdain.
"Says the backstabbing spawn of a….."
"People," Betty cut in. "We are here to make friends. Not rehash old wounds. Agreed?"
All eyes swept one another in the room, going back and forth, and then again.
"Agreed," Betty demanded.
"Agreed," Kim nodded firmly at Warwuff.
"As Princess Kimberly declares, so will Warwuff do," he said, and banged his big fist to his armored chest.
Kim didn't even smirk at the showing.
And Ron wondered why so many of his foes just fled, or gave up without a fight these days. Between his monkey power, and a nine foot alien warrior, even Dementor was laying low these days. It took a diehard lunatic to ignore the obvious writing on the wall, and still try to dare Shego's growing authority.
"We'll go check this out through our contacts in Orion," Betty said, nodding to Shego. "Meanwhile, Gyrzza and Warwuff will stay and guard Kim….."
"My primary duty is to the Lady Shego herself. Meaning no disrespect," she nodded to the redhead.
Kim only smiled.
"I get it. Don't worry. I'd rather be going myself, but…."
Shego glowered at her.
"I said I get it," she sputtered.
"Siggy will be happy to stay with Lady Kimberly," the insect informed them.
"Sorry, but I'll probably need you, too," Shego admitted. "You seem to have a….well, nose for figuring out what kind of…..trouble certain visitors might bring. So I want you with Betty to help sift any of the newcomers still coming in through the United Nations."
"Siggy hears, and obeys," he nodded to her. "Sorry, Lady Kimberly. Siggy tried."
"I know," she smiled at the D'qlomite. "Maybe next time."
Shego only rolled her eyes.
"For now, I'd like to keep the felines here," Betty suggested. "You have adequate security to keep them confined, and that way no one in New York will spot them, or guess what we're up to here," she pointed out.
"Good thinking. Warwuff can help me keep an eye on them, too. Not that I expect too much trouble out of them," she said as she studied the small group.
"We are truly here to serve, too," the feline leader again nodded to Kim.
Shego paused as they stared to leave, and looked up at the big warrior.
"I expect you to keep an eye on my girl, and keep her out of trouble, big guy. Understand?"
"Warwuff understands, and will obey, Lady Shego," he nodded curtly to her. "The vile Huqaan will not be allowed to make their mischief here."
The felines just hissed, but said nothing as they left the room, leaving the felines inside the room even as the doors closed, and locked them in the large room.
"You just be careful, too," Shego was told as Kim went with her to the door, the lupine guards studiously paying no attention to them as the pair at the door stared straight ahead, and the pair that remained with Shego stayed at her side, obviously intending to go with her.
"You know me," she grinned, leaning down to lightly kiss her.
"Exactly. Be careful. I won't be there to bail you out if there is a trap out there."
"Please," Shego huffed. "Were you not paying attention the last time?"
Kim just stared at her. Then threw her arms around her.
"Seriously, Emmie. Be careful."
Shego blushed as Betty eyed her at hearing that particular nickname, but neither woman said a word.
"We'll be fine," Shego finally huffed, and nodded to the nearby shuttle. "C'mon, guys. Looks like the tour has to wait. You can explore, and then show me around next time," Shego grinned.
"I look forward to it," she told her lover, waving as Shego led the way to Betty's shuttle.
Kim sighed, and watched them all go, leaving her alone with Warwuff.
"Does Princess Kimberly wish refreshment," Warwuff asked. "I happen to know the kitchens in these modular constructs have very good stores."
"Sure. Bring me some hot tea," she told him.
"And where would you like to be served?"
"You might as well bring enough for all of us. I want to talk to those cats again. See if they can tell me a few more things."
"As you wish. Were I you, howver, I would not offer my back to them. Huqaan are not known to be trustworthy."
Kim thought of the feline back on the tourist planet that had tried to shoot Shego in the back, and nodded. "I got that feeling myself already," she admitted, and headed for the room where the felines had been left.
Even as she walked through the door, she realized something was going on as the cats stood around a table, poking at a device she didn't recognize.
"So, then, the Great Lady's daughter has truly departed," the leader said as he turned to eye her.
"Shego just left…."
"Good," the feline smiled, and nodded.
One of the others pressed a button, and even as he did, she heard Warwuff shout, and something smashed into a wall, shaking the very walls even as Kim frowned as she felt something electrical surge around her, and even her Kimmunicator shorted out.
"Take her," the Huqaan growled, and all five cats leapt at her.
Kim jumped back, blocked a clawed fist, and barely managed to duck a blow that might have taken her head off. Or made it spin for a few days. She regained her own composure, realized Warwuff was right all along, and jumped forward this time to drive a combination kick into a cat's knees that sent it sprawling, before her fists sent it reeling to the floor.
Just as another grabbed her from behind.
Something hit the walls again, shook them violently, and then she glanced back to see something tall and dark fall over her even as the cats suddenly fell back.
She never truly felt the blow that knocked her completely unconscious with a seemingly light tap.
KP
"We have an incoming signal from the house," the pilot told them as they flew over the Heartland of the nation, already well on their way to the coast.
Shego smiled.
"That girl just can't…."
She trailed off, frowning as the monitor came on showing them not Kim, but Warwuff's pale, and bloody face as he sagged against the communications panel. Even through the blurry image, they could all see the point of a large, metal spear protruding from his chest.
"We…..were…..betrayed," he rasped, and fell on his face to slide down the panel, and out of the camera's view.
"Turn this thing around," Shego screamed, and all but lunged toward the cockpit as plasma fluttered around her entire body.
"Calm down. Zeke, get us back there as fast as this thing can move," Betty snapped. "You," she told the lupines who looked horrified, "Call your friends. Find out if they're all right, and what happened."
Shego stared as one of them raised a gauntlet, tapped a few buttons, but nothing happened.
"Forgive us, Lady Shego," he finally said, lowering his arm. "If our brothers do not reply, then…."
"Get us there now," Shego hissed.
Less than ten minutes later, they were back on the ground, and Shego ran toward the house to see a huge hole in one side of the wall. Near the hole, both lupine guards lay obviously dead. Missing their heads.
"They were…..bitten off," one of the lupines hissed, and pulled out his own weapon as they rushed inside the house to find Warwuff down, a spear in his broad back.
"He still lives. You should summon a healer."
Shego, meanwhile, was running for the room where the felines had been. She kicked open the warped door, and stared.
Betty walked up behind her, and gasped.
"Good….God," she rasped, staring at the broken, obviously dead felines around a device that had apparently shut down any defenses left active. To the last, the felines had had their own heads torn off, too, though a few of them were left behind.
There was no sign of Kim.
Even a quick search proved what they already feared. The redhead had been taken.
"No. No, no, no," Shego shuddered, her fists clenched so tightly that blood began to flow from her palms pierced by her own claws. "Kimberly," she screamed, and the sound of her anguish all but echoed in the air as it carried a surprising distance.
Or not so surprising to Gyrzza, who knew what that pain felt like, since her own mate had died waiting on her return when their planet was devastated. For she had faced the same decision that Shego had, but felt it best to delay her return until she was better able to meet her obligations after her training.
Too late did she realize that some things did not wait for schedules, or training. Too late did she realize just what it cost if you tried.
"We will find her, Lady," she said grimly as she stepped up beside her, fearlessly putting a hand on her trembling shoulder.
Shego's gaze jerked down to eye her, and never had Gyrzza seen such raw, primal hate.
"Oh, we're going to find her. We will. Then I'm going to show this poser just how far he can still fall. Get me the Nerdlinger. We have work to do," she snarled so viciously that even Gyrzza was taken back, and felt her blood run cold.
To Be Continued…..
