I do not own the Disney characters named herein, and am only using them for a nonprofit tale meant to entertain only.
Kim Possible: The Stoppable Factor
By LJ58
4
"I know you're wondering why you're here," a very somber Dr. Director said as she sat behind the desk as Kim walked into the borrowed principal's office where she had been summoned just before school.
"You could say that," Kim remarked dryly. "Since the last time we met, I half expected you to arrest me," she spat.
"Kimberly, I'll admit, Global Justice does try to use primarily non-lethal modes of capture. We like to think there is always hope for anyone. Even someone like Lipski."
Kim said nothing to that.
"That said, something has come up that requires a….delicate touch. A very delicate touch."
"And you called me," she grumbled. "Sure my mom knows, because last I heard….helping anyone was strictly taboo. I can't even baby-sit any more, since everyone freaked on me."
"I have, in fact, already cleared this with your mother. Frankly, Kimberly, we need you to help hide someone. To do so, we need the most unlikely place to hide them that is possible. No pun intended."
"And you thought of me," Kim snorted.
"Let me fill you in, after you meet her."
"Her?"
"Will," Dr. Director buzzed her senior agent who must have been hiding somewhere, because Kim had not seen him on her way into the office when she had first been summoned. "Send her in."
She glanced toward a panel that slid open that wasn't the usual way out, and noted how it fit perfectly into the wall so you couldn't even tell it was there until it began to open. Even as the panel opened, she saw a distinctive visage, and leapt to her feet even as she dropped back into a defensive posture.
"You," the redhead hissed as she raised her fists.
"Uhm…. I come in peace," Shego smiled a very harmless smile that just did not fit on that usually sardonic face.
"What is this," Kim spat at Dr. Director, who remained utterly impassive at the green-skinned woman's presence.
"Recall the Reverse Polarizer?"
Kim grumbled over that one as Betty Director nodded at her scowl.
"I thought you guys got rid of that thing," Kim accused.
"Unfortunately, Hench had the plans to build more. Equally unfortunate, one of Team GO's old villains broke out, got their hands on one of the new devices, and altered it to their own liking. Right before they turned Team GO evil."
"But….Shego was already evil," Kim frowned, eyeing the green-skinned woman currently not in costume. In fact, she was wearing a dark skirt, and pale green blouse that actually flattered her voluptuous frame.
Aside from her skin color just then, she looked almost….ordinary.
"Exactly," the apparently neutralized Shego smiled at Kim again. "But, seriously, you just cannot tell Electronique anything. She zapped me anyway, and I kind of bolted after that. Only now she's looking for me. For nefarious ends, I've little doubt, considering the dreadful things she has my poor brothers doing."
"Nefarious ends? Poor brothers? Well, you're definitely not the Shego I know," Kim frowned at the almost teary-eyed woman.
"Actually, she is. Just…..changed back to the good side of her," Dr. Director pointed out.
"And this concerns me how?"
"Let's face it, Kimberly. Overall, Shego is the most powerful, and potentially dangerous member of Team Go. She always was," Dr. Director told her. "That means we need to keep her out of sight, and out of Electronique's grasp until we can neutralize her."
"I certainly don't want to be used to hurt anyone," Shego assured Kim, affecting a genuine shudder.
Kim couldn't help but gape at the woman.
"Okay, this one is so far over the weird limit it's bizarre," Kim shook her head. "You're saying you want me…..? To hide her," she demanded, pointing from herself, to Shego.
"Your house would be the last place anyone would think to look for her," Dr. Director nodded.
"That's a given," Kim grumbled.
"So, do we have your cooperation? Global Justice will, of course, cover any expenses for her stay. Your family will not have to support her. Just hide her."
"I do have money of my own," Shego pointed out. "Uhm, honest money that I've made from investments, and stuff before I….turned bad. So, no one has to pay for me, or my stay. Honestly, it wouldn't be right to expect someone to support me when I can pay for my own way."
Kim gaped anew.
"If I didn't know her, I'd never believe….."
"You see our dilemma, Kimberly? We can't let anyone find her, or risk Electronique turning her back toward evil where she might become even more of a threat under that madwoman's guidance."
"So, where has she been all this time," Kim asked suspiciously.
"Laying low," Shego sighed. "After what you did to poor Doc, I didn't want to risk you coming after me with blood still in your eye. To be honest, I was thinking of retiring anyway when I blundered into Electronique's trap. Which kind of says how distracted I've been lately," she grimaced guilelessly.
"Can we count on you, Agent Possible?"
Kim turned to eye Will, who had just addressed her as he now stood behind the one-eyed senior agent.
"Agent," she echoed, shooting a potent glare his way.
"You will, for this particular mission, be under our authority, and operating as a provisional agent in our employ," Kim was told by Dr. Director. "You'll even be paid for it, since you will be our agent in regard to this matter. Naturally, you'll be expected to keep Miss Go both hidden, and safe. No one…. I stress no one…. Can know she is in your care."
Kim frowned again.
"You honestly expect my folks to be okay with this?"
"I've already cleared it with them," the one-eyed woman told her blandly. "We just needed your cooperation to put the operation into play. So, do we have your cooperation?"
"Consider it a chance to redeem your tarnished image in a lot of eyes," Will told her as priggishly as ever.
The cool look she shot him didn't make him so much as bat an eye.
Of late, a lot of favors had dried up after that Lil' Diablo fiasco, and it didn't help that a newly revamped 'hero' team, Team Impossible, was trying to redefine itself in the wake of her apparent fall from grace, taking away even more of her usual followers, and friends from her side. It left her unable to do anything, or go anywhere these days, even if her folks had allowed it.
These days, her missions were restricted to cats in trees, and babysitting, if her mother allowed that. Or if anyone would trust her with their children.
Which left her a lot of free time at home, since she was fast growing disillusioned with those missions that weren't.
"Okay. I'm in," she finally declared after a careful look at the obviously uneasy Shego.
"Good," Dr. Director told her. "I won't bother to issue you any equipment, since I'm sure Wade still keeps you better equipped than anything we could offer. Just remember, her brothers are also dangerous just now, so don't draw their attention either."
"You will help them," Shego asked Dr. Director.
"You have my word," the lead agent for GJ nodded at Shego. "Just keep your head down, and don't let anyone know where you're hiding."
"Yes, ma'am," Shego told her quite respectfully.
"I understand you do have a car now. I suggest you take Shego out the back," he gestured to the open panel. "And that you drive straight home, and don't draw any attention," Will told Kim.
"I know what I'm doing," she retorted at the man not much older than herself. "I'm not that rusty."
Dr. Director, who knew Kim had been sparing in several area dojos in her much increased free time, those that had not banned her of late, knew Kim was far from rusty. Betty said nothing as she handed a small, leather billfold to Kim, and nodded.
"As I said. You're now a provisional agent. Good luck, Agent Possible."
"I suggest you also familiarize yourself with the regulations, too," Will quipped.
Kim's expression suggested he do something anatomically impossible to himself.
"Let's go," she huffed, nodding her head at Shego. "Wouldn't want to lose my temper again, and ruin my second chance," she added pointedly with a glare at Will.
Shego just stared at her, but followed her out of the office through the hidden passage, to the school's less crowded parking area in the back of the school where Kim had parked of late to avoid attention.
"You heard her all but threaten me," Will exclaimed as the pair vanished. "Are you sure we should rely on that girl? She's obviously still too hotheaded…."
"What she is, Agent Du, is a hair's breadth from becoming another Shego. If we don't channel her, and give her a second chance, we'll be facing someone that might be far more trouble that Shego has ever been."
"Surely you're exaggerating. It's not as if Possible has been exposed to any comets, or…."
"You're not paying attention, then. Consider her record, short as it is, Du. She has overcome some of the worst out there. Rogues and felons that have held off trained agents from agencies all too willing to kill when necessary. And that was before she snapped. If she decides to cross over, she won't be an indolent lackey, occasionally following some employer's insane commands. She would be too driven, too committed to success. She could well become our world's greatest threat. If we don't channel that drive now, and in our favor," Dr. Director told him bluntly.
"But….Shego? You don't think she might….exploit the woman's current vulnerability?"
"Actually, I'm hoping for the opposite."
"I don't understand."
"Of course you don't," Betty Director smirked secretly. "And that is why you're not yet ready to lead. When you do, you'll know what I do. Then you'll be capable of making the decisions I do."
Will Du, who did not understand, just shook his head.
Sometimes, his employer, and mentor, could be beyond confusing. This, to him, was just another one of those times.
KP
"Want to come over and see the nursery," Bonnie asked Kim two days later at the end of class, and the last day of school for the term. "We just finished getting it ready, and I think it's finally perfect now."
"Thanks, but…. I have something I need to do. Another time," Kim told her, and headed for her car after tossing her old notebooks in a trash can on her way out the door.
"She still ditching you?"
"You'd think she was afraid of catching something from me," Bonnie sighed as she looked back to see Ron coming up behind her. "I know we never have been…..close, but I hoped I was showing her I was ready to change things between us," she told her husband as they headed for the car with handfuls of books they would be needing for their summer sessions they needed to better improve their chances of their mutual success in the coming year.
Ron grinned.
"Well, KP has always done her own thing, in her own time. Maybe she just has to find it in this case, too, and then she'll be easier to deal with," he suggested.
"You say that now, but I thought she was going to take Mr. Barkin's head off yesterday when he suggested she stop playing video games, and pay attention in class."
Ron, who had been there for the incident, had been stunned himself at Kim's reaction when Mr. Barkin tried to grab her Kimmunicator. A new one that was now on a watch band, and apparently somehow bonded to her arm so the stern educator couldn't pull it off no matter how hard he tugged.
If he had not known better, Ron would have thought Kim was doing some kind of mission dealie, and conferring with Wade, she was so focused. That is, she was seriously fixed on the device when Barkin had come after her she had apparently not noticed him coming. Even then, the big man backed off, though, when he tried suggesting she take off the 'video game,' or face suspension.
Kim had not said a word.
Didn't even try to pull her arm back.
She just stared.
Whatever Mr. Barkin saw in her eyes made even him back off even as the bell rang.
"You're saved, this time," he had growled. "But I better not see that toy in my class again," he had bellowed.
Kim had not even looked back as she left his class.
"That was weird," Ron agreed. Maybe he should try talking to Wade again.
Just to make sure Kim wasn't getting into something over her head again.
"Say, want Italian tonight," he suddenly asked his wife as they left the school for their summer vacation.
"Actually, I think we want Mexican tonight," she grinned at him, glancing down as she rubbed at her increased girth.
"We do, do we," Ron teased. "Well, far be it that I disagree with a democracy," he grinned.
Bonnie only giggled, and let him drive.
KP
"Everything okay," Kim asked as she came into the house, and noted she was the first one home.
Again.
Shego looked up from the television, and looked as if she had been crying.
"You okay?"
"We have to do something to help those poor boys," Shego told her. "Things are getting worse, and while they're trying, the authorities are just no match for my brothers' powers."
Kim frowned as she saw the newscast that was still showing footage of Team GO's more recent rampages.
"What about Electronique?"
"She's staying hidden, and letting my brothers take the blame for everything," Shego mourned. "She's destroying their reputation. I can't let her do that. Not to them."
Kim eyed her.
"You really have changed."
"This…. This whole sitch, like you say, it's just made me face a lot of things I've tried to deny over the years. My brothers….. They're all I've got left in this world, Kimberly," she told her. "Please, help me help them. I…. I know you're better than those silly cops. I know you can stop that loopy woman."
Kim said nothing to that.
"I'm only supposed to keep you….."
"Since when did you ever let anyone tell you what to do? Besides, you're GJ now, too. Right? Doesn't that mean you have to help people? Look," she waved at the TV screen. "A crime…. Lots of crimes are being conducted right in front of you," she exclaimed. "We have to stop them."
"We," Kim asked.
"I…. I want to help. Please. We have to help them," she begged, sniffing again, looking ready to burst into fresh tears.
Kim sifted the distraught woman's words, and considered the past few days hiding her in her house, and pretending she was just an ordinary guest. She couldn't even let the woman sun in the backyard, she was so cautious. Meanwhile, Shego tiptoed around all of them, trying to be considerate. Trying to help around the house. Apologizing over every misstep.
Which was very unlike both of them.
"Actually, GJ has been blundering a lot of late," Kim remarked, eyeing the reporter on the station now that was comparing the rest of Team GO to their former heroic sibling, and speculating on whether the comet that empowered them, had just now eventually, and inevitably turned them all evil. Should, the man had asked as he reasoned out his own fallacious theory, the world not therefore be cautiously suspicious of anyone that acquired unnatural powers?
"What an ass," Kim snorted.
"Kimmie," Shego gasped. "Your language!"
Kim stared at her, unable to believe Shego was now lecturing her. Still, for the first time in days, that long familiar nickname had slipped out, and she eyed Shego again, seeing something that was still there in those bright, expressive eyes.
"Okay. Okay, you're right. This is just getting…..ridiculous. You'd better put on something durable. Because I get the feeling we're going to be fighting. I know I am," Kim said, and dropped her backpack only then on her way to her room to change.
Shego smiled.
"I have just the thing," she grinned, and ran for the guest room where she was staying.
To Be Continued…
