Disclaimers: I don't own Kim Possible. Also, please keep in mind that there is (M)ature content herein. This includes violence, explicit language and sexual content.
THE MATCHMAKER
Animatus's robot sat at a computer console, looking intently at the many screens in front of it. If Kim didn't know any better, she would have sworn that the robot was studying the data available on the screens drawing its own independent conclusions from the tests that had been conducted, but Kim did know better. Animatus's robots weren't sentient in any way. They were controlled and maneuvered to act as Animatus's voice and body since he refused to show his own.
No one within the community was aware if Animatus even had a body at all, or if he was just an intelligent entity that existed in voice only. If he did exist in corporeal form, no one within his control could say where it is he resided. Most of the community had only their faith in his existence as proof that Animatus was real. Many hadn't even had the privilege of talking to him.
Kim and Shego had been given the unique opportunity to hear his voice and his meager explanations when they had awoken in his world. He had taken time out to welcome them as subjects in his experiments. That's why everyone had reasoned that Kim and Shego were more important than the rest of them. They meant something to Animatus, while the rest of them didn't seem to mean much at all. Their only function was to act as a supporting cast in what was essentially Kim's and Shego's torture.
Each one of them had died before they had come to be part of Animatus's studies. They could remember dying and just as clearly remember waking up from the final sleep no one was ever supposed to wake up from. No one understood why Animatus had chosen them for his research. That is, no one except Kim and Shego.
Both of them had a pretty good idea why Animatus had taken their bodies. They were high-profile. They were special in the world where everyone seemed to get more and more ordinary by the day. They had defied death and simple laws such as gravity for years. They were ideal candidates for Animatus to gain his knowledge from.
"You have made impressive progress," The robot turned away from the screens to face Kim. "I have not been able to replicate it in your other forms."
"Do you mean the clones?" Kim sat up on the examination table she had been resting on during Animatus's tests. She pulled the gray sheet covering the lower half of her body up with her so that her breasts would not be exposed.
"Yes," the robot moved across the room and picked up a syringe full of an orange liquid Kim couldn't readily identify. "They are not as resilient as you are. They are inefficient."
"So, being able to kill people is a sign of efficiency to you?" Kim asked unable to hold back the bitterness she felt towards Animatus and his pride in her ability to adapt through the trials she'd managed to survive through.
"No," Animtaus's voice replied evenly through the robot. "Your ability to maintain your humanity through the killing is a sign of your proficiency." The robot moved back to Kim's side. "Your clones have been unable to maintain their sanity."
"Are they..." Kim cleared her throat trying to clear away the lump of disgust that lodged itself there. "Are they alone?"
"If you are inquiring as to whether or not they have companionship like the one you and Shego share, then I do not have a precise answer for you. There are many scenarios which I have designed, none of which have been as resilient as the partnership you have shared with Shego."
The robot reached out and grabbed onto one of Kim's arms. She let the sheet fall out of her grasp, leaving her left breast exposed to the emotionless piece of metal that was beside her. Without warning, the robot plunged the syringe into Kim's arm forcing a short hiss to escape from her. It only took a few moments for the nerves throughout her body to start sending blinding flashes of torment to her brain.
Her body collapsed back onto the table and she forced her eyes shut so she didn't stare at the vacant gaze of the robot as it dispassionately observed her pain.
THREE YEARS AGO
Kim had been more than reluctant to take action on the second trial Animatus had assigned her. She had been stubborn and refused to do anything Animatus demanded of her. It had been a little over a month since she woke up in Animatus's control, and she was through with listening to a voice that acted as if it were a god.
She and Shego had already died, Kim reasoned, and it was obviously their fate to be dead. She rebelled with her own self-assurance that it didn't matter what Animatus did to them because they were already dead. It didn't matter any more what became of her. No one she loved and cared for would be witness to anything that happened to her now.
Kim had conveniently forgotten that she wasn't alone only surrounded by complete strangers that ran the gambit of personal morality and ethics. It was easier for her to forget time and again that Shego's life was tied to her own. For a young woman who took on responsibility like it was covered in chocolate, Kim ran away from accepting responsibility for Shego's life. Her youth had never been more apparent than it had been during her first month in Animatus's research.
The young superhero had been removed from her comfort zones and was denied access to her over-abundant support systems. Ron wasn't with her this time and she couldn't conveniently call on Wade for a transport to safety. Her parents weren't there to tell her that things would turn out okay. Without the masses of people that always stood behind her with their support ready and willing, Kim found herself falling apart at the seams, and Shego was woefully unequipped to provide the emotional support Kim sought.
"This isn't just about you!" Shego had yelled at Kim. Her biting honesty the only thing she knew how to call on to get Kim to follow Animatus's demands.
"We're already dead, Shego," Kim replied, her mental and physical exhaustion infusing her words. "What does anything matter anymore?"
Shego invaded Kim's personal space and then raised her hand and slapped Kim across the face. "Did you feel that?" She grabbed onto Kim's shirtfront, intent on not letting Kim step away from her. "Did that hurt you?"
Kim grabbed at her reddened cheek. She was unable to give voice to any of the many words her brain fed her as a reply to Shego's actions. She helplessly tried to pull away from Shego, but Shego's grip on her was too strong.
"Did it hurt?" Shego asked again, intent on getting some response from her former rival.
"Yes," Kim mumbled her reply.
Shego released her grip on Kim's shirt, resulting in Kim falling back onto the ground. "That means you're alive just like all these other people stuck in here are alive." She turned away from the teary Kim. "It's about time you got over yourself, Kim Possible. This show isn't just about you anymore."
Kim picked herself up off the ground. She brushed off the non-existent dirt on her pants. She wanted nothing more than to attack Shego, but she knew better than to try. Animatus had made them both stronger and a fight between them now would only result in real injury that Kim didn't want to be responsible for inflicting since she still hadn't mastered control of her body.
"He wants me to lead a team of people on a mission I already know they won't survive," Kim called out to Shego. "Everyone will die except for me, and he said he's not reanimating any of them."
Shego turned around. "I'll be here when it's over."
Kim wanted to repeat what she had just said, hoping that Shego hadn't completely understood her, but she knew better than that. Shego had understood the actions Kim had been told to take, and Kim suspected that Shego even understood the consequences better than Kim was currently capable of understanding. Kim knew that she wasn't going to win this argument, so she nodded her acceptance and then turned around and prepared to enter Animatus's battlefield.
PRESENT DAY
"Your upgrade is complete," Animatus's robot moved away from Kim's weary body. "You may return to the community."
Kim weakly nodded, happy that she had been able to hold back her bodies urge to scream out her pain. She no longer wished Animatus to see the effects he had on her. She no longer wished for Animatus to experience emotion vicariously through her. He had witnessed enough already, and she didn't want to give him the privilege of witnessing anymore.
It was illogical, she knew, since Animatus's cameras were everywhere and he could hear and see everything she did, but while in his labs Kim wanted to attain at least some control no matter how meager and pathetic. She didn't have a say as to what he did to her body. She couldn't choose what trials she was put through. All she was was Animatus's rat in a human sized cage but she always did her best to fight back where she could whether it made any difference or not.
Kim forced her legs to swing over the edge of the table. They barely held her weight when she stood up, but she willed herself to remain standing. She had given up on showing weakness to anyone but Shego not long after she had been through her first few trials. She refused to appear vulnerable to anyone who might take advantage of her.
"You hate me," Animatus's unexpectedly said, his voice no longer coming from the robot but from a speaker near the lab's exit.
"You can't hate inanimate objects," Kim replied.
"I have often debated whether I am alive or not," Animatus's cold voice responded. "The definition of what is life seems to not answer for my existence."
"And you think this research will answer it?" Kim laughed humorlessly. "You must be a machine."
"That is accurate, Kim Possible. I am a machine; my existence not defined accurately by science, much like you, Kim Possible. You are no longer alive. You no longer can be defined as life."
"I know," Kim sighed. "You created me."
If she had been able to escape Animatus's world and entered into the one she had formerly been a part of, she was sure that no one would be able to recognize her. Animatus had changed so many things about her that she looked almost like an entirely different person. He had molded her into someone else so that he could study the changes and obtain data about humanity.
He had made her taller. He had darkened the shade of her eyes and changed the shape of them. Her muscles were more pronounced. Her hair shorter, the color more brunette now than red, and that was only the external differences. Internally, he had taken out unnecessary organs and added on more important ones. Kim was silently thankful that he hadn't ever quite figured out how to successfully integrate gills on her body; she never considered them to be very attractive.
Ultimately, Animatus believed that he had made her better than she was before. He believed he had given Shego and Kim great gifts towards being more self-sufficient beings. He had invested his time and intelligence in making them more than the weak beings that had surrounded them. For him, this was payment to Kim and Shego for their participation in his research. For him, it was enough to make amends for their anguish.
"You will be given time to recuperate before the next trials are begun."
Kim leaned her body against the doorframe, having already wasted her energy reserves during her short conversation with Animatus. "What are the trials going to be this time?"
"Have you ever thought of having a family of your own, Kim Possible?"
"When I was younger," Kim answered honestly, briefly allowing herself to fall into her memories of when she used to daydream about becoming Ron Stoppable's wife. She had imagined that they would get married when they had graduated from college, and then they would have their first child. Kim was positively certain that it would have been a girl and in true Possible tradition, they would name the baby girl Kimberly. Kim had never quite figured out whether or not she would take Ron's last name. She had never really thought that Kim Stoppable had the same eloquence to it as Kim Possible did.
"I've since given up on those thoughts," Kim smiled self-deprecatingly. She would never become Ron's wife and she even suspected that she wouldn't have fully enjoyed that life if she had been given an opportunity to pursue it. She was at peace with Shego and she was unsure if she could have ever attained that with Ron.
"Shego is unable to carry children," Animatus needlessly informed Kim. "So, by default you shall carry the child. I have read that motherhood is a great experience of humanity."
Kim took several deep breaths and clenched her jaw. Her right hand shakily reached out for her stomach. "Am I pregnant?"
"I believe the proper term for a situation such as this is: congratulations." Animatus didn't smile, didn't laugh, and didn't ever get angry. He never showed emotion at all, still incapable of comprehending that which even a newborn baby understood. Kim would have sworn in that moment, however despite Animatus's lack of ability, that he sounded smug with his empty congratulatory offerings.
"Is it mine?" Kim asked through gritted teeth.
"Genetically, it is yours and Shego's. I have developed a revolutionary design for reproduction. You are my first human candidate for testing this method. I will warn you, however, that my research has yet to yield a high probability of success. You have a fifty percent chance of carrying the child to term."
Kim pushed herself off of the doorframe and let her hand fall from her stomach. She didn't wish to exchange any more words with Animatus. She didn't know what else she could say to him, and more importantly she had no idea how she was going to inform Shego that Animatus wanted to see how they would do as parents to a hybrid child that they might never actually see grow.
THREE YEARS AGO
As Kim exited the battlefield, she had never quite felt as alive as she did in that moment. She had minor cuts and bruises covering her body and she could feel her blood pulsing just under her skin's surface. Adrenaline ran through her like she had never felt before. It took her under its control and drowned out the subtle sense of dread she felt at successfully completing the trial Animatus had set up for her.
She had no words to describe the odd sense of superiority and power that overwhelmed her. She felt the urge to re-enter the battlefield to find another fight to enter into. She wanted to inhale the sweet smell of blood again knowing that she was the cause for it being spilt.
As she had promised, Shego was waiting for Kim as she completed her mission. She easily identified the state of mind Kim had entered. She could even smell the pheromones coming from Kim and was unknowingly drawn to them.
"We should take care of your injuries," Shego brusquely commented, intent on ignoring the confusing responses her body was having to Kim's presence.
In a move quicker than Shego had ever seen Kim make before, Kim reached out and grabbed onto Shego's right shoulder. She pushed the taller woman up against the nearest wall and then started sniffing at Shego's neck. Shego tried to push Kim away but found that she wasn't strong enough to compete against the adrenaline running through Kim's body.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Kimmie?" Shego asked when she realized that Kim only seemed to be getting more worked up from her struggles.
"You're supposed to be mine," Kim whispered into Shego's ear.
"What the fuck happened in that room?" Shego yelled, barely able to keep her instinct to light up her hands with plasma at bay.
Kim fought for control of her own body. She knew what she was doing was completely outside of her normal behavior. She pushed herself away from Shego and then dropped down onto the floor. She curled up into herself, willing her brain to once again gain the control she had lost.
Tentatively, Shego approached Kim. She sat down next to her ex-rival and took Kim into her arms. "It's going to be okay, Kimmie."
"I don't…" Kim stuttered. "I don't remember what I've done." Tears were falling from her eyes down onto Shego's exposed shoulder. "I don't remember what happened."
"It's probably better that way," Shego weakly replied. She had already figured out that the genetic changes Animatus had been making to them were probably to blame for Kim's behavior. He had done something to Kim that made the nineteen-year-old much more aggressive than she had been before. She also reluctantly admitted to herself that he had probably also had done something to her that made her physically respond to Kim's current state.
Shego had accepted the situation they had been forced into. She had come to terms with her lack of control, but she was uncertain if she could as readily accept the plans Animatus had made for her relationship with Kim. She had coped with her inferior status in life by maintaining strict control of her physical, mental and emotional state. That was one of the reasons why she had gotten so irate when Drakken had taken control of her body. He had pierced the control that she always held stringently onto, and now it seemed that Animatus was intent on doing the same.
He had altered her physical chemistry which in turn now effected her emotional and mental functioning. Shego didn't want to feel the amount of affection she felt towards Kim in that moment, but she was powerless to deny her emotion. She found it ironic that she had managed to maintain a strict cordial rivalry with Kim for so many years to only have it broken down in a month by an entity with no emotional capacity whatsoever.
Kim's tears began to dry up and the former heroine finally gained some control of herself, casting away the emotional wreck that had acted as an imposter in her body. She pulled away from Shego's comforting embrace and then brushed herself off ready to pretend like nothing had ever happened, which would be easy since she didn't really understand anything that had transpired. She couldn't even clearly recall just why it was she was wrapped up in Shego's embrace being held like a small helpless child.
The only thing which she plainly understood was that her relationship with Shego was now altered. She could feel the change within her blood and on a subconscious level acknowledged that Shego now meant more to her than any other being ever had before. It was in her DNA and it could not be removed.
PRESENT DAY
As always, Shego patiently waited for Kim to exit from Animatus's labs. She readily offered her support to her weakened companion and refrained from asking any questions. Shego knew that when Kim was ready to share the experience of what she went through with Animatus she would. For now, Kim needed the comfort and easy familiarity that Shego had offered the very first time the young heroine had returned from her first solitary visit with Animatus.
For some reason, Animatus had chosen to speak to Kim about his experiments and the direction of his research. He never broached the subject matter with Shego and never explained his reasoning for choosing Kim as a confidant. Shego suspected that this choice of his, like all the others, was in some way connected to his experiments. He was using Kim for something, and just hadn't admitted to it yet.
Shego carefully picked Kim up off of the ground and cradled the smaller body to her own. This would not be the first time Shego carried an exhausted Kim back to their room, and she suspected that it wouldn't be the last. Every time Animatus did a genetic modification, it seemed to take more energy away from them than it gave.
Shego considered herself lucky since her body seemed more adept at adjusting to the genetic changes than Kim. She suspected her body was just more used to the trauma that accompanied the changes since she had adapted to traumatic physical changes since she was a small child. Kim had not had the same experiences in youth, so suffered more now.
Once in their shared home, Shego carefully placed Kim's body on their bed. She ran her hand down Kim's face wishing there was something more she could do to help. She always felt so utterly useless when faced with Kim's pain. It echoed off of Kim onto her, and Shego hadn't yet figured out how to help heal Kim through the physical bond Animatus had manufactured between them.
Kim's eyes slowly opened and she took in her surroundings, thankful to not have woken up once again in Animatus's labs. Her mind ran through the recent information she had acquired and quickly filtered out the unnecessary details she had absorbed. She looked up at Shego and then reached out and took Shego's hand in her own. She brought their clasped hands to her heart and then let out a heavy sigh.
"I'm pregnant," she whispered uncertain of how else she could broach the subject, thinking it would be easier now to reveal Animatus's new experiment while she was still weak enough to garner Shego's sympathy.
Shego's eyes closed for a brief moment. When they reopened, they held the same air of acceptance that always came with the changes Animatus chose to make. "It's okay."
Kim nodded once, and then curled her body up once again ready to use sleep as a way to briefly be released from her pain. She kept Shego's hand in her own, unwilling to lose the solitary connection she had to the peaceful comfort Shego offered. When she awoke, they could do their best to discuss what would happen next, but for now it didn't matter.
