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: The Cradle Falls

By LJ58

4

Shego gasped as Kim reappeared on the command deck of the Claw beside her, and almost fell again.

"What did you do now," she demanded as she caught the redhead, and pulled her to her feet.

"Had to use….a lot of energy," she said. "Status of the enemy fleet," she turned to Warstone as Shego just held out an energy bar to her.

"Survivors are signaling retreat, and begging leave to go, Great Blue," the big warrior said with a smirk. "We have blockaded the remains of their meager fleet, and are awaiting your command."

"Let them go," she finally said. "This time. Send four ships to escort them out of the system. Do any so much as hesitate, destroy them all," she ordered.

"Your will be done," a warrior from Lorwardia saluted and transmitted the orders.

Kim was pleased that none of the reptiles even pretended to hesitate. They flew off without the slightest reluctance and kept going.

"Great Blue," WarBlud turned to speak. "I have notification from General Zar-Ku. The Losian fleet is inbound and will arrive in three sectarns. They ask your orders."

"Fall into formation on arrival, and await my commands," she told them. "Once we ensure the Zarg'nn are truly purged from my system, we will then inform the planet they are now under the banner of the Great Blue, and will learn to serve in our new empire," she declared.

"Getting scary again, Princess," Shego murmured.

"Things are calming down," she smiled at the green woman who remained at her side, handing her a second energy bar though she knew Kim carried her own. "Hopefully, after this scare, those morons in charge down there will finally listen."

"And if they don't," Shego asked.

"Then I'll make them listen," Kim said coolly.

Shego didn't doubt her for an instant.

"So, otherwise, it's done? Over? The big….? It's over," Shego asked, pantomiming an explosion again.

Kim sighed and closed her eyes. She stood there a moment, still chewing a bit of her energy bar, and then slowly opened her eyes again.

"Almost," she told her. "First, you need to do something."

"Me," she frowned.

"Take Wego, and go see Hego and Mego. You all have healing to do, Shego. It's time you faced your own demons. And after Wallace…. You need this time."

Shego looked beyond grim, scowled, and then dropped her head.

"He really died?"

"Dementor," she nodded.

"I'll kill him….."

Kim put a hand on her chest, over her heart.

"He's done. Ron fulfilled his vow to cut out his heart. We won't be hearing from that menace ever again."

"Damn," Shego rasped. "So, Stoppable is seriously hardcore now, huh?"

"He has already learned what I had to learn," Kim said cryptically.

"All right. All right. I'll grab Walter, and go down…."

"I'll send you, to save time. Just call when you're ready to come back," she smiled, and gently kissed her dark lips. "I still need my battle-mate at my side," she told her.

"I'll always be here, Kimberly," she called her now. "Always."

Kim smiled, and Shego just vanished.

Then she turned, eyed the Lorwardians put under her command after the emperor proved surprisingly clever, and put his entire empire under her greater banner. Now, she was moving to consolidate her own empire, and hopefully start an era of peace that would spread with that banner.

Or that was the plan. If she could get rid of a few old-fashioned war hawks first.

~KP~

"Wow. Just wow," Mego said, and then gasped as Wego and Shego just appeared where Kim had been standing.

"Shego," Hego stared as Shego turned to look down at the body of Dementor. A very bloody body as GJ now captured and prepped a lot of Henches for arrest who didn't even try to resist. She could very well imagine why.

"Stand back," Shego said quietly as she stared down at that hateful visage that filled her eyes just then.

Even as they did, Walter spat at the bearded face.

Just before Shego raised both hands, and all but vaporized the squat body that left only a few ashes before she lowered her hands.

"Now," she said quietly, looking at Walter, "There's no doubt."

She turned, and looked up at Hego, and just shrugged.

"You only did what we all wanted to do," he finally said in a choked tone, his voice thick with emotion.

"Kim said…. We need to talk, Hego. No. Henry," she called him. "It's time we really talked."

"Hey," Mego murmured, standing close to Walter. "You okay?"

"Are you?"

"I will be. You?"

"I don't know," his younger brother said quietly. "I just….don't know. We were half a galaxy away, and I still felt… I felt him….."

Mego hugged his brother as Walter began to cry, and told him, "We made them pay, little brother. We made them all pay," he assured him.

Ron said nothing as he turned, and slipped away.

Will noted he vanished but said nothing.

"Situation contained," he only then radioed Dr. Director. "Repeat, situation contained."

"We've noticed," came her ironic reply.

Hego walked to one side of the chamber with Shego at his side as she spoke softly to him. The big man just stood beside her, nodding occasionally as a single tear traced his cheek before falling. Shego didn't comment as she continued to talk in that low, careful tone.

~KP~

Dr. Director almost wept with relief when the news the newcomers were attacking the invaders was declared. They switched monitors and saw the reptiles' ships being blown out of the sky all over the planet, and more ships coming in to block their efforts to escape.

Then Dr. Possible's still-familiar rocket that had left the planet years ago appeared in the very heart of the battle, destroying every enemy before it as it raced toward the planet. She almost shouted with glee when she realized what it meant. Kimberly had finally returned, just as she had promised, and she had brought help.

Only, even as the relief swept over her, she remembered that bit of prophecy the Lorwardians had first brought to their world, and had to wonder if they had not traded one threat for another. Even Will's dry tone assuring him Dementor was contained didn't relieve her as she watched Possible's ship landing in Middleton, and an elated populace surrounded it, cheering, and howling with a joy of their own.

Dr. Director sat watching it all happen as those alien ships that remained moved to surround the planet, and her own satellites, finally back in their control, spotted another small fleet of obvious Lorwardians this time coming out of deep space to approach the planet.

What, the head of Global Justice, was going on now? What did it mean? For Earth, and for their future?

It had been almost eight years, and even she had no idea what that time had done to Kimberly, or how she had been likely influenced by whatever she had found. She didn't like it, but all she could do was wait.

Even as she pondered her grim thoughts there was a blink of light, and Kim Possible in her familiar battle-suit stood there eyeing her with a somber expression of her own.

"Kimberly," she said as she just stared at the woman had grown back into a young teen. Familiar, and yet strangely different to her, she waited for her to speak.

"Dr. Director. Obviously, I have news," Kim told her as she eyed the woman.

"Go on," she nodded at the redhead.

"You don't even realize how close to destruction you were this time," the redhead sighed and turned to face the rows of agents and monitors that were now keeping eyes on all going on around the planet, on and off the ground.

"You brought a lot of friends."

"I'm not even talking about the Zarg'nn. The reptiles," she said when Betty frowned. "Even now, even without them, I can foresee over two dozen threats that threaten the planet's future. And our people's survival."

Dr. Director grimaced.

"We've been managing," she quipped as she sat in her chair in the center of the command center, and just studied the redhead

Kim turned back to her, giving a vacuous nod, and said, "You've been lucky. Without direct intervention, you'll be facing extinction inside three weeks. Three weeks," Kim told her. "I'm here to stop that."

"How. By taking over…."

"Exactly," Kim cut her off. "We bring Earth into our empire and give all those too creative minds something greater to ponder. We give them….the universe," she declared.

"We… Wait, our empire? What are you talking about?"

"The world needs time to catch its breath. To celebrate, and understand the reality of what almost happened to it. What could still happen. I give them two days. On the third day, I want a full session of the United Nations waiting to hear me, with global coverage. It's time to let humanity know they are not alone. And not on their own. Not anymore."

"That's sounding more than a little….villainish, Kimberly," Betty told her.

Kim actually laughed, and finally showed a more human face to her.

"Betty, you have no idea what I've seen. You will, though. You will. I'm here to save the world one last time. By giving humanity the stars. I'm asking you trust me because the alternative really is extinction. I've seen it, and it's ugly. Believe me, you don't want to see it. You don't want to even glimpse it."

"But…taking over the world?"

"Consider it a merger," the young redhead smirked now. "A cooperative effort that makes Earth part of a very large and growing concern. One that keeps invaders from our doors, and gives mankind a chance to finally realize their own promise. Can you accept that?"

"I still have a lot of reservations," Dr. Director said in a grim manner. "But I've had them before, and even Will has said sometimes I do look too far on the bleak side of late. I'll give you your meeting, Kimberly, but that is all I can promise."

"That is all I need, Dr. Director. I'll manage the details," she told her quietly.

"So, that prophecy? It was real," the head of Global Justice asked as Kim started to turn away from her.

Kim gave a wistful smile.

"It was, but it wasn't quite what you might think," Kim grinned now. "Don't worry, Betty. If things go well, I wager you're going to be very busy, and very popular in the days ahead."

"What," the one-eyed senior agent asked, but Kim had just vanished. Betty couldn't help but feel uneasy about the unnatural way the woman came and went, but just then, there wasn't much she could do about it. Then she eyed the many monitors around the world, many still showing the remaining chaos and disaster, and yet showing simultaneous celebrations as the news rapidly spread that the invading aliens had been repelled.

She couldn't help but wonder how long they were going to celebrate when whatever Kim declared was set before the world.

She turned to Dash, who was standing by after listening very closely and nodded. "Get me the Prime Minister, and the Security Council," she told him.

"Which….?"

"All of them. For this, we need the whole council."

Dash DaMont, who was still gaping after Possible's coming and going, didn't try to argue.

~KP~

"I'd better get back to Kimberly," Shego finally said, sitting beside Hego now as her brothers had joined them, and simply listened to her.

"Will you be back?"

"I'll be back for Wally's funeral," she told him. "But…. Kimmie… She needs me, Henry. I have to be with her. That, and I really do love her," she smiled.

"I don't think I've ever heard you say that before," the big man replied as he just eyed her.

"It's never been true before now. I'll admit, I have used a lot of excuses over the years, and I've been one selfish, self-centered bitch," she told him. "But…. I am changing. Am changed in a lot of ways. If you had been with us," she said. "Seen the things we've seen. Life is precious, Hego. We found other worlds, but we found a lot of dead ones, too. Too many that used to be alive. I think…. I think that's what real heroes do. Protect their worlds from being killed."

"So, you are a hero again?"

"Well, Kimmie is," she smiled. "Although I have no doubt a lot of people are going to misunderstand her when she tries to explain just how we're going to save this world."

"But….isn't is over," Mego asked. "Aren't we safe now?"

Shego eyed her brother and sighed as she rose to her feet.

"Marty, it's never over. And Kim has told me there are four direct threats coming in the next week that could destroy the entire planet. Not a city. Not a nation. The planet. Get it?"

"She….knows that for certain?"

"She….sees things now. She just knows, and trust me, it's scary as hell. If we don't stop them, our planet is burnt toast. That's why the friends she brought haven't left. To make sure we all survive, she's about to change things in a very big way. I'm asking you, trust her? Stand with her? It would help in the end."

"And you?"

"I'll be right there beside her, just like I said. She's my heart, Henry," she said, using words their father used to use when speaking of their mother.

Hego stood up and nodded.

"You tell Kim Possible, Team Go is always ready to stand up for what's right. All she has to do is call."

"I'm staying for now," Walter told her when she looked at him as she pulled out her communicator.

"Okay. Let me know when you arrange the burial," she told them. "I think we should all be there for that," she smiled. "It would only be right," she told them.

"I'm glad you found your way back, sis," Hego told her.

"So am I, Henry. So am I," she said, and lifted the communicator. "Princess? I'm ready. Walt is staying."

Then she just vanished.

Hego just stared at where she had been, and then looked back at Walter.

"So. Shego and Kim Possible?"

"Yeah," the young man smiled somberly. "Who knew? It was kind of silly watching them on board our ship, though. Even when Kim took over that Lorwardian battle cruiser, they spent more time necking in their quarters than anything else."

"She took over a battle cruiser," Mego exclaimed. "Okay, you have to talk, bro. Just what was going on out there?"

"First, tell me how Wallace died," he asked.

"He died fighting, Walter," Hego told him. "He died a hero. Let's go home," he said and headed for the exit as GJ continued to empty the lair. "We still have a city to calm down."

Ron, they only then noted, was already gone.

To Be Continued…..