Demons of the Night
Disclaimer – I don't own Kim Possible.
A/N – Thanks to all my readers and reviewers. Note that ~O~O~O~ indicates major shift in time and place, while ~o~o~ indicates small shifts in time or place.
Sorry this chapter took so long, but it was a real bear to write in addition to being my longest chapter so far. This chapter is complex, with flashbacks within flashbacks. It also contains dreams and fantasies that blend into reality. Hope it is not too confusing.
This story is an AU and diverges from canon early in the fourth season before Mad Dogs and Aliens or Big Brother, so there are no Lowardians in this universe and no Hana.
Special thanks to my beta reader Halo17442.
***Voting for the Fannies is open. Please vote for your favorite stories and authors.***
Chapter – 10 – Demons of the Night
When they had first returned to the Aerie, Kim had been all bubbly and happy, constantly checking the news for updates about the Global Justice scandal but her mood had soon dimmed as it became evident that the scandals were fading instead of growing. Shego had simply ignored her for the first few days, expecting her to snap out of her funk soon enough.
When that didn't happen, she decided she needed to do something. The next day, after her favorite comedy, Unlawful Brains, was finished, she went down to the computer room where she found Kim brooding over the latest news reports.
"OK, princess, you need to stop staring at those reports and start doing something. Sitting here in the dark isn't good for you." She kept her voice light, disguising her concern.
"Why? Betty will just make everything go away no matter what we do. Maybe we should just give up. It looks like we can't win." Kim's voice was dull and listless.
"Look here, pumpkin, I don't know what you expected but so far we have hurt old Betts more than anyone ever has. I think she is hanging on by the skin of her teeth. One or two more blows and she should fall and take GJ with her." Shego sounded more confident than she felt, desperate to cheer Kim up.
Kim looked at her with tired dead eyes. "No it won't. Betty will just weasel out of trouble like she has so far. Nothing that we have done had affected her in the slightest."
Shego grabbed Kim's shoulders and shook her. "Look here cupcake, I don't know what has gotten into you but you need to stop spouting defeatist crap and look at reality."
Kim's expression didn't change. "I am looking at reality. They covered up the prison break without problem, they blamed the satellite on the old government of Plantain, all the hearings about the listening post came to nothing and the illegal prison, arms depot and mission files were all blamed on other agencies. We haven't hurt Betty or Global Justice at all."
Shego's frown deepened, she hadn't realized Kim was so depressed. All those years on probation must have affected her more than she let on. "Kim, you aren't looking at the situation from the right perspective." Kim opened her mouth to speak but Shego didn't give her a chance to speak. "Sure, Betty covered up my prison break, what did you expect? But it got her a lot of unwelcome publicity."
She released Kim and started to tick items off on her fingers. "She had to use some of her influence to cover up the prison break. She got lucky there was a coup in Plantain so she could blame the old government for the problem but again she got a lot of bad publicity and had to use favors to cover it up."
Shego started to pace, gesturing to emphasis her points. "When we exposed the listening post, we caused a worldwide scandal. Pumpkin, they held hearings in the UN, there was almost a shooting incident when seven nations showed up and Turkey withdrew from the treaty authorizing Global Justice. Even Communist China hasn't done that."
Kim started to speak. "But that all went away -."
Shego glared at her. "Don't start with that, Kimmie. Sure Betty managed to keep the UN and governments from shutting her down but she still has news crews asking questions of every GJ agent in the world. She managed to blame the prison, the fake famine relief project and the leaked archives on other agencies but that pretty much destroyed any support she had from other intelligence and law enforcement agencies."
Shego took a deep breath and looked Kim directly in the eyes. "Believe me, Princess, Betty is about to fall. She has no support from other groups and has probably used up every favor she ever had. If we hit her one or two more times, she won't have the ability to cover-up or make it go away. Then she will have to face the music for her actions."
Kim looked searchingly into Shego's eyes for a minute before letting out a long sigh. "I guess you're right, sweetie, but it just seems that every time we do something it has no effect. I guess I was hoping for thinks to move faster."
Shego held Kim's eyes. "Don't give me that defeatist crap, Kimmie. Where is the girl who endured three years of isolation and harassment before setting her plan for revenge into motion? Where is the girl who survived everything that happened in Plantain?" She smiled softly at Kim. "Where is the girl who can do anything?"
Kim searched Shego's face for a moment, then returned her smile. "I guess you are right. I need to get off my butt and back into action."
Shego laughed and clapped her on the shoulder. "I have the perfect thing. You haven't worked out in over a week, so how about we see if you can finally beat me."
Kim returned her laughed as she followed her up the stairs. "Don't you mean we can see if you can finally beat me?"
~O~O~O~
Wade was jarred awake by the door to his cell being slammed open. Before he was fully awake, four men had grabbed him and fitted him with body shackles. Once he was secured, they escorted him from the room and down the corridor towards the research area. Entering the area they made their way to a door labeled Computer-Human Augmentation and entered. Several technicians in masks and gowns worked at items in the room, while a tall, thin man with thick eyeglasses greeted them.
'Good, good. Place the subject on the table and help the nurses secure him." The man's voice was high and nasally, his tone almost gleeful.
The guards placed him on the table and helped the nursed to secure him with straps across his arms, legs and body. They then held his head motionless as it was clamped into place. After checking that Wade was secure, the man dismissed the guards.
"Do you know what we do here?" the man peered owlishly at Wade, a twisted smile playing across his thin lips.
"You are working on creating a direct mind-machine interface. The goal is to augment the human brain with computers. What's the matter, haven't had any success so they sent you me to experiment on, now that I'm expendable?" Wade tried to keep the fear from his voice. The thought of having his brain modified, and probably destroyed, had him trembling in dread.
Shaking his head, the man admonished him. "Such arrogance, to think we would settle for something as trivial as directly controlling a computer with the human mind. What would it get you? A way to save typing? You would still need programs to convert the computer data into readable form. You would still have to create programs the old-fashioned way, one line at a time. We solved that problem years ago and it was not worth the effort.
"No, what we do here us much more useful. We use a human mind to augment a computer. The human brain is one of the finest computing devices ever created. It can recognize a face it hasn't seen in years in under a second while the fastest supercomputers take minutes or hours to do the same task and they don't do it as well. By linking the brain to a computer, we can allow the computer to use the brains unique abilities."
Wade stared at the man for a moment. "So, I get to be the latest guinea pig for your experiments. I suppose this is their way of sentencing me to death without really sentencing me, so they can claim they were innocent. Go ahead, I'm not afraid."
The man chuckled as he leaned forward. "Still such arrogance, to think that we would have failed for so long. The process has been perfected for several years now. In fact, our devices power some of the equipment you have been using. Your life is in no danger from our procedure. In fact, we saved your life by having you used in our program."
He chuckled again at Wade's skeptical expression. "It is true. They were going to kill you out of hand, but, when I learned of your fate, I argued strenuously for your transfer to our program instead. A brain like yours should not just be thrown out; it should be utilized where it can do the most good. Most of the brains we use are adequate but lack the special training that would make them truly effective. Your brain, on the other hand, is one of the best in the world and has been trained by a lifetime of hacking in just the special qualities and skills we require."
The man gestured to one of his assistants, who placed a mask over Wade's face. "You will be the crowning achievement of this program."
Those were the last words Wade heard as the anesthesia started to take affect and he slipped into unconsciousness.
~O~O~O~
Shego and Kim dropped soundlessly from the ventilation duct to the floor of the hallway. They quickly and quietly made their way along the darkened corridors of the half abandoned Global Justice base, growing ever nearer their target. Soon, they had reached their destination and were confronted by the Du brothers standing guard. The brothers gave them looks of feral hate and leapt to the attack. The fight was short, Ken sinking to the ground choking from Shego's knife hand to the throat as Will slid down the wall his head had just impacted with a sickening crunch from Kim's roundhouse kick.
A moments work on the keypad next to the door and they were in the room, grabbing Dr. Director and lashing her to the chair. Betty stared at them, wide-eyed with fear, her eyes shifting from one to the other without pause. Kim bent over to put her face at Dr. Director's level.
"Now, Betty, you have something I want. I hope you will be a good girl and give it to me." Kim's voice was low, menacing and sexy.
Betty stared her straight in the eye, her face a mask of determination. "I will never give in to you no matter what you do to me."
Kim chuckled. "Oh, you will, Betty, you will. And don't think you flunkies will come save you. They won't be waking up for a long time, if ever."
Dr. Director stared at her with defiance written on her face. "It doesn't matter. I will never break."
Kim gave her a sweet, evil little smile. "Now, Betty, we decided to eliminate all the running around to find and expose your secrets. We want your passwords to the Global Justice master archive. We are going to download the whole thing and post it on the internet. Once that is done, you will be finished."
Dr. Director gave a short humorless laugh. "There are no passwords. The system uses biometric security. Without my fingerprints, retinal patterns and genetic code, no one can get access."
Kim's hair hide half her face but still allowed the broad demonic smile to be seen. "Good, that means a finger and an eye are all we need." Kim pulled a knife from her belt and raised it to Betty's eye level as she moved towards her.
"NO!" Shego shot bolt upright in bed, her eyes wide with fear and her body soaked with sweat. Taking a deep breath, Shego muttered 'It was only a dream' to herself over and over, as she waited for her racing heart to slow. Climbing to her feet she started to pace concern etched on her face. This was the second day in a row and the fourth in the last two weeks she had woken up screaming from a nightmare about Kim becoming evil. She might have been able to dismiss the first few as a reaction to everything that was happening and pretend things were all right but now, with the second in as many nights, she had to admit things were serious.
Once her heart had stopped racing and her hands had stopped shaking, she made her way down to the main level of the Aerie and sat on one of the couches, looking out into the darkness. Much as she hated to admit it, especially to herself, she was worried about Kim. Ever since her pep talk, Kim had spent almost all of her time working on finding a weakness in GJ to exploit. The first few days hadn't been too bad, Kim had limited her time in the computer room to five or six hours and spent the rest with Shego, sparing or watching TV, but that had soon changed and now Kim was spending ten to twelve hours a day in working on plans to attack GJ.
What bothered Shego the most was the look on Kim's face, a look she had first seen in Plantain. She had seen it again during her prison break but had let it slip her mind in all the excitement since then. A shiver ran through Shego and she hugged herself tight as the memory returned to her unbidden.
It had been their third day on the run after the assault on them at the beach house. They had spent the three days running and hiding from the troops that flooded the jungle in search of them. They had removed the tracker almost immediately after escaping the beach but still the searchers seemed to know exactly where to find them. At first, they had used Shego's Ducati motorcycle for transportation but had ditched it when they realized there would be no quick escape from the troops. Since then they had traveled on foot or hitched a ride on a passing truck.
Currently they were hidden in the jungle canopy observing a small village. The village sat on the crossroads of three main roads and was the obvious place for command post. Kim and Shego were hoping to find a group of officers and eavesdrop on them in the hopes of learning their plans. Until they showed up there was nothing to do but stay hidden and wait.
They had spent a lot of the time hiding in the jungle waiting for a patrol to pass or resting, some of the time was spent in trying to reach the nearest border but the main thing they did was argue. Shego didn't know what was more annoying, the fact that Kim would argue with her about everything or the fact that Kim was right so often. When Shego had wanted to head for the nearest city, Kim had pointed out that neither of them looked like a local and would stick out like a sore thumb. When she had wanted to use the Ducati to try to outrun the troops, Kim had pointed out that they could outrun the troops but not the radio. When Shego got mad and wanted to take out a bunch of the troops, to teach them a lesson, Kim had pointed out that most of the troops seemed to be going through the motions but if a bunch of them got hurt, their comrades would be highly motivated to try to find them.
She looked over at Kim, who was curled up in the fork of a tree, apparently dead to the world. She knew Kim would be instantly awake and alert if there was any change in the situation. She envied Kim's ability to sleep anywhere but in spite of her own fatigue, she refused to sleep herself. She counted on her comet-spawned metabolism to allow her to get by with the few dreamless catnaps she would allow herself, particularly with Kim around. There was no way she would let Kim know about her nightmares, Kim would pry and ask questions until she got the truth and then she would offer sympathy and pity. Shego had had enough pity to last a lifetime; she didn't need any more, especially from her arch-nemesis.
Shego sighed silently, in all her wildest dreams she had never imagined she would be on the run from the authorities with Kim Possible at her side. She had known Kim was a good fighter and great at stopping super-villains but she hadn't thought she would be tough enough to for what they were going through. She glanced at the thin, wiry body resting next to her and remembered the scars that marked it.
Immediately after the assault on her beach house, they had mounted her ATV and sped off into the jungle. Shego had taken a twisting maze of turns down jungle trails before she doubled back on herself and drove the ATV off the trail and through a veil of hanging vines. Shego had wheeled the ATV into the small cave behind the vines and down a short passage. Shego had leapt from the ATV and gone to a set of lockers on the far wall. She had started pulling a variety of clothes from a locker.
"OK, Kimmie, strip."
Kim had looked at her stunned. "What are you talking about? Why –."
Shego threw a plastic bag to her. "We don't have time, princess. They must have some kind of tracker on you. Put everything you have in the bag. Everything. I should have some clothes that fit."
She threw a pile of clothes on the ground near Kim and started to pull off her swimsuit. She threw the swimsuit into the plastic bag and snuck a look at Kim to see if she was following orders. Kim had removed her shirt and bra and was pulling down her pants but what caught Shego's eye was the network of scars that covered Kim's body. She knew Kim had scars from near misses on her hands and arms but she never realized that her entire body was covered with them. She wondered what could motivate someone to keep doing what Kim did, if it resulted in such injuries.
Shego abruptly turned and started to get dressed in her new clothes after she found herself admiring the play off muscles in Kim's back and legs as she bent to place her clothes in the bag. It was bad enough to be stuck with the do-gooder for now; she didn't need to start crushing on her too. No lusting after the underage hero she admonished herself. A perverse part of her replied, 'She's seventeen and definitely a woman –.' She cut the thought off before it could continue; 'Even so, she's still a hero, my arch-nemesis. So, no naughty thoughts, got it.' She must be going crazy, talking to herself.
Once they were both dressed, Kim had held out her Kimmunicator. "What about this? I don't want to leave it behind, it's my one means of contact with the outside world."
Shego thought for a moment then opened another locker and handed her a small pouch. "Here, use this Faraday bag. It should block any tracking signal. If not, that thing will have to go." Kim nodded as she stuffed the Kimmunicator in the pouch and sealed it. Shego grabbed the plastic bag and tied it closed, then led the way to her Ducati.
Since then Shego had been impressed with how Kim had handled the situation. Once she got her bearings, she had tackled it with the same annoying, 'Anything is Possible for a Possible', spirit that she always had. Shego turned her head to look down one of the roads as Kim's eyes snapped open. From the sounds, a convoy of trucks was approaching.
Soon the trucks had entered the village along with a large, expensive car with an officer in a full dress uniform covered in gold braid. The troop had piled out of the trucks and drawn up in formation near the car. Once they were assembled, the man rose and exhorted his men to find and eliminate the menace to their glorious country before they reached the rebels. Once he was finished, he sat down again and the troops returned to their trucks.
One it was evident that the troops already had their assignments Shego had leaned over to whisper to Kim. "We should grab him once the troops are gone and question him."
Kim shook her head. "No, he will never talk."
Shego gave and evil grin and held up one plasma wreathed hand. "Don't worry, Kimmie, he'll talk."
Kim frowned at her. "No, we are not going to torture him."
Their fight was interrupted by the officer who, once the troops had left the village, started yelling to one of his men to round up some of the young girls from the village for his entertainment. Kim and Shego had shared a single hard look before leaping to the ground. In under a minute the soldiers were lying in scattered heaps and the officer was bound and gagged. Shego slung him over her shoulder and she and Kim set off into the jungle.
Once they were well out of earshot of the village and any nearby road, they stopped and untied the man before binding him between two trees. As soon as his gag was removed, he started to bluster and threaten.
"You had better release me or you will suffer as you never dreamed possible. Surrender to me and I will spare your lives." A lecherous grin spread across his face as he looked at them. "As a matter of fact, if you two are particularly cooperative, I will reward –."
His speech was cut off by Shego's fist burying itself in his stomach. For the next hour, Shego had alternated physical punishment with questions. Unlike those whose only experience with interrogation was the movies, Shego knew what she was doing. She knew that it was the promise of pain to come that broke the subject and that too much pain all at once would overload the nervous system. Despite her skill, the man had given them nothing but grunts and curses.
Shego stepped back. "I guess you were right, princess. It doesn't look like we will get any information from him."
She was shocked when Kim stepped up to the man and grabbed his hand in a variation of a come along. "Don't worry; I can get him to talk." Kim told her as the man screamed.
"I will tell you nothing. You may have caught me by surprise this time but not the next. Besides, you are a hero; you don't have the stomach to do what needs to be done." The man spat at Kim.
Kim had simply smiled at him and shifted her hand to his torso where she dug her fingers into and under his ribs. Another scream had been forced past the man's tightly clenched jaw. For the next ten minutes, Shego had watched in stunned fascination as Kim applied a wide variety of joint locks and pressure points until he had finally broken. Soon he was telling them, between gasps, all of the details of the search being mounted for them. Once she was satisfied they had learned everything that man had to tell, Kim had dusted her hands on her pants and walked over to her.
"I guess that's all he knows. With this information, we should be able to avoid the searchers without problem. Let's go." Kim had walked past a stunned Shego and headed into the jungle. After a moment, Shego had followed lost in her thoughts. She was haunted by the look in Kim's eyes, a look she knew all too well. She had seen that look in the mirror too many times when she had stopped being a hero. It was the look of someone who had been betrayed and vowed vengeance, a vengeance that would eat at her soul until it was fulfilled.
Now Shego was seeing that same look on Kim's face whenever the subject of taking down Global Justice came up. Kim seemed obsessed with hurting them personally and not just in exposing their misdeeds. She knew the dangers of that path and wasn't willing to let Kim walk it. Taking a breath and squaring her shoulders, she headed to the computer room to confront Kim.
~O~O~O~
Mask watched the Patterson house from a small wood across the street, taking care to remain unseen. Patterson was a connection between the CIA and his master's organization that he had come to eliminate, but once he drew near the house, he sensed something was wrong and hung back to observe. So far, all he had seen was a few lights in the house but no sign of any people. After waiting fifteen minutes, the lights in the house went off and two figures left the house and made their way to the backyard. He pulled his cell phone out as he watched a cloaked hovercraft leave the house and head north.
"Master, we have a problem." He kept his voice level as his call was answered.
"What is it?" His master's voice was low and calm.
"The Possibles have managed to get information that someone else was involved in what happened in Plantain."
"That is troubling. What have they found out and why was that link not removed?"
Mask was pleased at his master's calm response. "They have questioned Simon Patterson of the CIA. He was station chief in Plantain and approved the plan to eliminate Possible and Shego. I was on my way to deal with him when I sensed something wrong. I observed his house and just watched the Possibles leave."
After a moments though his master asked. "What could they have learned from him and why was he not eliminated earlier?"
Mask gave a slight grin; glad he could easily answer these questions. "The only information about us that Patterson could give them was the names of several of our agents in Plantain. Those agents were all eliminated during the recent coup. Since the only links between him and our organization had been eliminated, he was one of the last on my list to be eliminated."
"Good. Have you finished removing the links between me and the CIA?" Mask felt a slight thrill of pleasure at his master's unaccustomed praise.
"Yes master, Patterson was the last person on the list."
"Good. Return to me, you have much to do if I am to salvage my plan."
"Yes master." Mask put his cell phone away as he made his way to his car with a worried look on his face. Things must be serious if his Master was calling him home.
~O~O~O~
Kim sat at the main table in the computer room surrounded by piles of paper. For the last week, she had been working tirelessly to find the perfect target for them to hit to help take down GJ. Betty had cut their ties to every other intelligence and law enforcement agency and shifted any questionable joint activities to the other agency. She had also increased internal security until almost everything GJ did, including many routine activities, was classified and therefore no longer available using Condor's old AUNT system.
Kim knew she was obsessing over this but she had to do it for Shego's sake. When they had first returned to the Aerie she had been so excited over what they had done to GJ she could barely contain herself. Once it became evident that Global Justice would weather the storm, she had fallen into a deep depression, believing that their efforts had been in vain. Lucky for her, Shego had known what was wrong and had kicked her in the butt to get her moving again.
Kim had dived into the job with a vengeance, determined to find some weakness in global Justice to exploit. Her drive was partly for herself, to satisfy her need for justice, but most of it was for Shego's sake. When Shego had confronted her about giving up, she had seen the look of concern and worry in her eyes. It was a look she had seen before, in Plantain, and seeing it again, here, worried her.
They had been on the run from the Plantainian army for three days and were growing tired of always having to look over their shoulder for pursuers and never able to get more than a few hours of sleep at a time. At Shego's suggestion, they had hidden near a village in the hopes of catching an officer or two to question. They had been shocked when an entire column had appeared. They stayed hidden while the lead officer harangued his troops. Once the troops had deployed, she had argued with Shego about whether or not to question the officer when they heard him order his aide to round up the young woman in the village for his 'entertainment'.
She had shared a cold, rage filled look with Shego, before they has leapt into action without a word. Once the officer's aides were subdued they had grab him and headed deep into the jungle, searching for an isolated clearing where they could question him. Once there, they had strung him up and Shego had started to interrogate him. For the next hour, she watched as Shego used every trick that she knew in an attempt to get the officer to talk. When the man refused to talk, Kim had realized that he expected the worst from Shego and would never break, no matter what she did. Kim also realized that if she, a known hero, did the questioning he would be likely to break.
She had told Shego to let her try and had started to use pressure points and joint locks to interrogate the man. From the man's first scream, she had known by the look on his face that he hadn't expected her to be so cruel and she knew that sooner or later he would crack. Once he had broken, he had told them everything they needed to know about the troop movements in order to avoid capture. As they left the officer tied up in the clearing, she had seen that look of concern and worry on Shego's face.
It had only been several hours later that she realized what that look meant, that Shego was worried about being a failure. That had set Kim to thinking about what she knew of Shego. Before coming to Plantain, she would have said that Shego had no real weaknesses other than the occasional bout of overconfidence. Now, though, Kim had seen Shego display weakness several times. The first had been less than an hour after the ambush on the beach.
Kim had jumped on the back of the ATV along with Shego as they fled the beach, what was left of the ambushing force in hot pursuit. Shego had driven at top speed along a maze of roads and trails, until she had suddenly doubled back and driven through a curtain on vines into a concealed cavern. Shego leapt from the ATV and motioned for Kim to follow.
Once they were on the far side of the room Shego had pulled out a plastic bag and set it on the ground between them. "Strip, Kimmie."
She had started to protest when Shego cut her off. "No time for argument, princess. They must have planted a tracer on you and used that to find me. We don't have time to search for it so we need to ditch everything. Don't worry I have some clothes that should fit you."
Kim had merely nodded as started to undress as Shego tossed a small pile of clothes on the ground near her. Kim had glanced at Shego as she was changing, making certain she would not try to take advantage of her, when she caught Shego quickly turning away from her. She had realized with a start that Shego must be embarrassed by her green skin. It had never occurred to Kim that Shego might want to be normal or that her green skin might be a source of concern to her. Kim had always thought of Shego as a sexy, exotic beauty and had been more concerned with how she could never measure up to such a standard.
Kim shook her head to as she started to get dressed in Shego's borrowed clothes, trying to clear her head of the picture of Shego changing. No thinking about the enemy like that, she thought to herself, you have a boyfriend now. Once they were dressed, she showed Shego her Kimmunicator.
"I don't want to leave this behind. It is my last link to Wade and the outside world." Shego had reached into a locker, pulled out a Faraday bag, and handed it to her.
"Use this. If they can still track us, we will have to ditch the Kimmunicator, too." Kim had nodded as she put the Kimmunicator in the bag and sealed it.
Shego sealed the bag with their old clothes and led Kim over to her Ducati motorcycle. Kim watched with appreciation as Shego climbed on the bike, her tight pants highlighting her legs and rear. After she motioned for her to join her, Kim climbed on the bike behind Shego and pressed her body against the green-skinned woman's body, wrapping her arms around the trim waist of her archenemy and rested her head against her back, giving a small sigh of contentment. I could hold her forever she thought.
With a jerk of her head, Kim snapped awake, her eyes darting around the room as though looking for a hidden enemy. Great, she thought to herself, now you are fantasizing about Shego again. She got up and started to pace the computer room, her feelings in turmoil. It would seem she still had feelings for Shego, feelings she was only now admitting exist. Damn, this isn't how things are supposed to go, this is supposed to be strictly about making GJ pay not about hooking up with an old girlfriend.
Kim dropped into her chair with a sigh and rubbed her face in exhaustion. Maybe I'm just tired, she though. That could explain the dream I had, I dozed off and the memory I was reliving led to my thinking of Shego like that. I was thinking about the events that led up to us getting involved so naturally my dreams would follow that track. That explains everything; I don't feelings for Shego anymore, at least not romantic feelings.
With a determined look on her, Kim returned to her self-appointed task of find a weakness in GJ for her and Shego to exploit. She wouldn't let Shego down again. Although Shego had never said anything about it, she knew in her heart, that she had been disappointed when Kim had accepted the deal with GJ and let Betty put her in prison. While on probation and planning her revenge on GJ, she had vowed to not let Shego down again.
Kim set back to work with determination. Since Betty had shut down or classified so much of GJ's activities, she was going through old records. Looking for leads to covert bases and operations. Once she found a lead, she had to check to see if it had been transferred to another agency or shut down. It was painstaking and tedious work and so far it had only led her to dead ends but she knew that eventually it would give her a lead to one of GJ's hidden secrets. Once they had a target, she and Shego could get back in action again.
For the next several hours, Kim worked at the problem, sorting and tabulating obscure clues in her hunt for a target. Gradually her initial impetus slowed and her work pace slowed until she took a short break. Standing, she gave a mighty yawn as she stretched to relieve tired and cramped muscles. She felt Shego's hands start to massage her shoulder and make their way down her back. She leaned back into the magic hands as she purred over her shoulder.
"That feels great, sweetie, don't stop." she turned her head to look back at Shego and found her lips caught by the green-skinned woman's black ones. Soon their tongues were battling –.
Kim shook her head to break out of the fantasy as she finished her stretch. Damn and double damn, I must really be out of it if I'm fantasizing about Shego while I'm awake. Looking at the clock, Kim realized she had been awake for almost twenty hours straight and, since she had only had four hours of sleep the night before, must be exhausted. No wonder she couldn't think straight and was hallucinating, she was practically asleep on her feet. Not even bothering to stifle a huge yawn, she made her way to the couch nestled in the corner and lay down to get a few hours sleep.
A quick nap and I'll be able to get back to work. I won't let Shego down again; I won't let her get hurt again. With promises of protection dancing through her head, Kim fell into a troubled sleep.
~O~O~O~
James Possible sat silently in his den at home, the house quiet with his wife out of town and his sons in bed. He knew many people considered him the prototypical absentminded genius but he was far from that. He was a trained scientist and keen observer as well as having an eidetic memory, even though many forgot the fact, including his mother and his wife. His absentmindedness was the result of his choosing to not pay attention to things he thought trivial. He found that this kept him from being worried or concerned with the petty concerns of so-called normal life.
Unfortunately, recent strange events were forcing him to consider spending more time on 'normal' life. The visit from Ron tonight was merely the last in a string of odd happenings that had been occurring lately. He had not seen Ron in over three years and had been startled when he opened the front door and found him standing there, wanting to talk. Ron had seemed his old goofy self but something about his manner was off. James closed his eyes as he sat back in his chair and reviewed the meeting with Ron in his mind's eye.
It was Ron's manner that first drew James attention. Although Ron had seemed his normal old self, that in its self was strange. After Kim was placed on probation, Ron had become moody and sullen and once Kim had to move out Ron had seemed heartbroken. Just before he disappeared, he had been acting so depressed that Anne was afraid he might try to kill himself. For him to reappear three years later, acting as though nothing had happened, was not very plausible.
Ron had asked about Kim and the recent trouble at the Space Center. He hadn't been able to tell him much, not wanting to risk breaking any secrecy laws. Looking back on Ron's reaction, he could now see the brief look of disappointment on his face that was swiftly hidden. He also saw that Ron's behavior had been too much like his old self, like an actor returning to well known role. He realized that Ron had been playing a role designed to set him at ease and make him more cooperative.
Obviously, Ron was looking for Kim for some reason and thought he might have some idea of where she was. Briefly, he wondered if Ron was working for Global Justice and his visit had been a ploy to find out if Kim's family had any contact with her. He dismissed the idea immediately once he considered how Global Justice had treated Ron and Ron's feelings about them. That left some unknown, to him, organization that was looking for Kim and using Ron to find her. He wondered if this mystery group was connected to his mother and his wife.
He had always known that there was something between Anne and his mother, something related to his mother's work. He had assumed that his mother had encountered Anne on one of her missions and they simply couldn't talk about how they had met. Now he wondered if that was all there was to their relationship. Ever since the events at the Space Center both Anne and his mother had been acting strange, exchanging covert glances and arranging to talk where no one could overhear what they said.
He considered the trip Anne was currently on. It was supposedly a medical conference on new treatment options for traumatic cranial injuries but he knew there was no such conference being held. He routinely looked over all of the medical conferences seeking ones his wife would like in order to find any potential conflicts with conferences he wanted to attend. The fact that his mother was supposed to be traveling right now and couldn't be reached just added to his suspicions.
In retrospect, it was obvious that there was more going on with Kim than he knew and that both his wife and his mother were involved. He was coming to regret his decision to ignore the more mundane aspects of life in order to focus on science and his job. He contemplated trying to find out more from either his wife or his mother but swiftly gave up the idea. His mother had been keeping secrets from her family since before he was born and was unlikely to change that now. If Anne wanted him to know what she and his mom were up to she would have told him. He knew from experience that she would not tell him anything no matter how much he asked or begged.
Once Anne had made up her mind on something, she would not allow anyone or anything to change it. A smile grew on his face as he remembered the first time he saw her defend her ideas, it had also been the first time he had seen her and he had fallen hopelessly in love from the first moment.
It had been in a class on Neural Anatomy and Artificial Intelligence that MIST was offering in conjunction with the University of Upperton Medical School. The seminar was taught by a visiting professor from Japan who had worked on their Fifth-Generation Computer project. Unfortunately, the professor was a terrible lecturer who simply stood behind his lectern and read from his notes. Any questions would be answered by sarcasm and scorn, followed by a failing grade on the next assignment. Luckily for James, the assignments only called for him to repeat what the professor had said so his eidetic memory made the class easy to pass even if he didn't learn anything.
One day the professor was lecturing about the unsuitability of perceptrons in artificial intelligence and citing Minsky's study showing that perceptrons could only handle linear problem when a voice from the back of the room said he was wrong. The entire class looked to see who had spoken up and saw a red headed female medical student standing in the back row and staring at the professor. The professor told her she was wrong and ordered her to sit down. She refused and cited studies showing that Minsky's study only applied to single layer perceptrons and that by using multi-layer perceptrons one could handle any type of problem, even non-linear ones. She also pointed out that Minsky's study had been released just before funding decisions between perceptrons and his own competing architecture was to be made.
The professor's face had grown red in anger and he had started shouting as the argument continued until a voice from the door cut them off. Everyone in the room turned to see the Dean of the College of Computer Science standing there with several other professors. He told everyone in a loud voice that the professor was wrong and the medical student was right, that multi-layer perceptrons could handle any type of problem and that Minsky's study had been discredited for over a decade. He congratulated the student and assured her she had a bright future. After the Dean left the professor had packed up his notes and stormed out in a huff telling them ask the girl for answers if they had any questions.
The class had clustered around the now blushing red head and started peppering her with questions. She had easily handled the questions put to her and had arranged for the students to meet in the student center twice a week to exchange ideas and answer each others questions. James had hardly said a word the whole time, simply staring at the red head with adoring eyes. From that first moment, he had fallen in hopelessly head over heels in love with her. Since then he had known that she would never back down in defending something she believed in, no matter what the consequences.
~O~O~O~
Kim and Shego had left the Aerie after Kim found the location of Global Justice research facility that specialized in 'studying' meta-humans. From what records they could find, it seemed that not only captured villains and criminals were being studied but also a number of innocent people who GJ had gotten custody of via a variety of underhanded means. They had decided to break into the lab, download all of their records to the internet and free everyone being held there.
The lab was located in a wooded area about ten miles outside of Go City. Once they reached the outside perimeter, Shego worked to remove the alarms on the fence protecting the compound while Kim looked for any guards patrolling the area. Once Shego had bypassed the alarm, she looked at Kim and, seeing her nod to indicate the lack of guards, cut a hole in the fence. They quickly entered the compound and made their way to the main lab building. Kim disabled the alarms on the door while Shego picked the lock.
They silently slipped into the building and made their way toward the main computer center. Just outside the center Ken and Will Du, who stepped from the shadows of an adjacent corridor and blocked their path, stopped them. The Du brothers had standard issue Colt .45s in their hand, both pointed at Kim.
"Surrender now, Possible, and you won't get hurt. This is your only chance." Will sneered at her.
Shego exchanged a look with Kim, before replying. "There is no way you will shoot us in cold blood. We aren't wanted criminals; you would never get away with it." With a smirk on her face, she advanced along with Kim.
Will got an evil grin on his face. "Wrong. Betty has declared you global enemies and ordered your termination on sight. Your bodies will be cremated and the ashes scattered around the world. No one will know what happened to you. As far as anyone knows, you will simply disappear." His finger started to tighten on the trigger of his gun.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion for Kim as Shego leapt into the path of the bullet with an inarticulate cry on her lips, just as Will's gun went off. In an instant, Kim's mind flashed back to Plantain, where Shego had, once before, taken a bullet for her.
They had just joined the local rebels and were making their way back to the rebel's camp when a group of soldiers ambushed them. The rebels had scattered into the jungle, but two small children they had rescued from a burned out village stood frozen in the open. Kim had immediately swung into action, sprinting to the children and scooping them up in her arms. As she dove for the cover of the jungle, Shego stood at the jungles edge, hands blazing with green fire, as she threw a barrage of plasma balls at the soldiers. Kim had rolled into the heavy jungle foliage and stopped to hand the children to some waiting rebels who immediately moved farther into the jungle.
Shego stepped into the jungle near Kim. "Everyone is under cover, princ –." Kim's head snapped around as a shot rang out from directly behind Shego, cutting her off. Kim starred with horror as Shego tumbled to the ground with a rapidly growing bloodstain on the back of her shirt. Without thinking, Kim pulled the knife from her boot and threw it at the man with the AK-47 standing behind Shego. Kim didn't even look to see it strike the man in the eye socket, sending him tumbling to the ground dead as she gathered Shego in her arms and headed deeper into the jungle.
"Shh, sweetie, everything will be alright. As soon as we're safe I'll stop and tend your wounds." Kim whispered as she ran through the underbrush. She stopped in her tracks when Shego coughed and struggled to speak.
"I'm sorry sweetie, it's my fault you got hurt. I should have spotted that guy with the gun. Please don't die."
Kim's memories were cut off by the sight of Shego's body jerking as the bullets from Will's gun hit her. Shego fell bonelessly to the ground with Will grinning evilly at her, his now empty pistol still pointed at her. Ken was bringing his gun to bear on Kim as she sprang into motion. She skipped around Shego's body, headed for Will, her hand a blur as she drew and threw a knife from her belt, hitting Ken in the throat. Ken fell to the ground in a spray of blood as Kim reached Will.
Will attacked Kim, an angry scowl on his face. Kim effortlessly dodged Will's first few attacks, before parrying a punch by grabbing his wrist. Instead of pulling Will's wrist across her body, as he expected, she pulled in the other direction and down. As Will's momentum and the force of Kim's parry pulled Will forward and down, Kim launched a kick at Will's head with the full force of body behind the blow. When Kim's foot met Will's jaw, all of the force of both their bodies was focused on Will's neck, which gave a loud crack as it broke.
Will hit the floor at the same moment Kim knelt at Shego's side, cradling her head in her arms. Shego's lifeless eyes stared up at her as she gently brushed the hair from her face. "I'm so sorry, sweetie, I didn't mean to fail you again. I wish I could take everything back. I would do anything to save you." Tears started to stream down her face as sobs racked her body.
~o~o~
Shego was making her way down the stairs to the computer room, when she heard Kim's voice. Once she reached the room, she saw Kim tossing and turning on the couch, mumbling in her sleep. Shego leaned close and strained to hear what Kim was saying.
"Shh, sweetie, everything will be alright. As soon as we're safe I'll stop and tend your wounds." She heard Kim mutter. "I'm sorry sweetie, it's my fault you got hurt. I should have spotted that guy with the gun. Please don't die."
Shego's face blanched as she realized what Kim must be dreaming about. She remembered the ambush by the soldier's in Plantain when they had first hooked up with the rebels. She remembered Kim risking her life to save the kids as she stood at the jungle's edge, fling plasma to cover her. She remembered stepping back into the jungle when she was shot in the back. She winced in remembered pain as she recalled falling to the ground.
Shego came out of her daze as Kim carried her through the jungle, muttering to herself. "Shh, sweetie, everything will be alright. As soon as we're safe I'll stop and tend your wounds." Shego struggled to speak, to tell Kim she would be all right. "I'm sorry sweetie, it's my fault you got hurt. I should have spotted that guy with the gun. Please don't die."
Shego reached a shaking hand up to touch Kim's cheek in reassurance and gave her a weak smile when she glanced at her questioningly. Soon they had reached a clearing where Kim stopped running and gently set Shego on the ground. Kim brushed Shego's hair from her face as she pulled out her first aid kit.
Shego motioned for her to lean closer. "Kimmie, don't worry about me. My powers let me heal quickly. If I haven't died by now I should be OK. You just need to bandage me up and I will be fine." Kim had stared searchingly into her eyes, looking for any hint of deception. When she found none she had hugged Shego tight.
"I'm so glad, sweetie. I was so worried you would die. It's my fault you got shot I should have been more careful –."
Shego silenced her with a finger across her lips. "It's not your fault, princess, these things happen. I'll be alright." She gave Kim a weak smirk. "And sweetie? What's up with that, cupcake?"
Shego had only smirked again as Kim blushed at her and ducked her head. "What's the matter, Kimmie? Embarrassed that you like me like I like you."
Kim had starred at her with a startled look on her face before smirking back at her. "I thought I needed a nickname for you to go with all the ones you gave me. Would you rather I called you green bean or emerald?"
Shego had stifled a laugh as she smiled back up at Kim. "That's OK, sweetie is fine."
Kim's smile had grown larger as she pulled Shego closer to her and planted a kiss on her check. "Good."
Shego was pulled from her memories when she heard Kim mutter. "I'm so sorry, sweetie, I didn't mean to fail you again. I wish I could take everything back. I would do anything to save you." She realized Kim must be having nightmares about her being hurt and moved to hold her close.
Kim had snuggled closer to her and quieted down without waking up. Shego stroked Kim's forehead to keep her calm as she sat deep in thought. Kimmie was obviously worried about Shego if she was having nightmares about her getting hurt. She wondered if Kim still had feeling for her like she had feelings for her. She had tried to convince herself and Kim that she no longer loved Kim but she had to admit, at least to herself, that she loved the red headed crusader. If Kim had only been after Global Justice for revenge she would probably just stayed friends with her. But Kim was still the same hero on a quest for justice that she had fallen in love with during that week in Plantain.
She didn't want Kim to go through what she had gone through. The obsessive search for vengeance that leads nowhere, while everyday your morals become weaker and weaker as your rage grows stronger and stronger. Kim needed to be spared that hurt of losing her ideals and the empty feeling inside that could only be filled with rage. Shego would save Kim just as Kim had saved her.
~o~o~
Kim slowly rose to consciousness, her mind fuzzy and confused. Normally she only slept in short burst, two or three hours at a time. For once, though, Kim felt fully rested and refreshed, as though she had a full night's sleep. With a start, Kim realized that the soft surface she was resting on was not a pillow but Shego. She looked around in confusion, relieved when she found herself still on the couch in the computer room.
She wondered why Shego had joined her on the couch, maybe Shego had another nightmare? Although Shego had tried to keep it a secret, Kim was aware of her recent nightmares and had been keeping an eye on Shego to insure she was all right. The thought of nightmares brought a dim memory of her own nightmares to Kim's mind. Kim frowned to herself as she dragged the memory to light and realized that Shego was not the only one with problems.
Careful not to wake Shego, Kim slipped from her arm and started to pace the room, her mind in a whirl. Evidently, both Shego and her were having nightmare about the other, nightmares that were keeping both of them from sleeping. If they were going to take down Global Justice, they needed to be at the top of their game, not half-dead of fatigue. She went over dozens ways to solve the problem in her mind, rejecting most of them as too impractical or time consuming, when her eyes lit on Shego sleeping peacefully on the couch.
Glancing at the clock Kim realized she had been asleep for over nine hour, the longest sleep she had had in over a year. She was willing to bet it was also the longest sleep Shego had had in years. It seemed the easiest and most practical solution to their problem was to sleep holding each other. Kim realized with a start that she had carefully avoided using the phrase 'sleep together' even in her mind, for fear of what it would bring up. Kim hadn't lied when she told Shego she wasn't in love with her anymore when she had first broken her out of prison.
But, she now realized, in the months since then, she had once again fallen in love with the green-skinned, sarcastic mouthed beauty. Shego could have left Kim to get her vengeance on her own or returned to a life of crime but she hadn't. She had stayed at Kim's side through thick and thin, never arguing with Kim's decisions or trying to convince her to take the easy way if it meant innocents could be harmed. Kim could see, now, how she had been fooling herself for the last several weeks, telling herself that she was only concerned for Shego and anything else was due to her being tired and overworked.
Kim stopped her pacing and looked at Shego sleeping on the couch for several minutes before making up her mind. Kim smiled slightly to herself as she gently settled into her green goddess's arms again. I guess I'll just have to keep my feelings a secret for now and take what I can get. With a contented sigh, she drifted back to sleep as Shego held her close.