I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only.
Kim Possible: Empires
By LJ58
9
The Fallen glowered as he absorbed the Terran transmissions, and heard that witless female babbling about war.
As she could understood such things.
He had sent thousands upon thousands to the battlefield in his time. All to die for his glory.
What was she but a petty pretender to a throne she could never sit?
The cat was quiet now, sitting in her cage, and glowering at the shadows around them. He mused darkly on his plans, but had to consider that the female in question might yet show up. When she did, he needed to distract her. To divert her long enough for his plans to have a chance to not only succeed, but undermine that willful primate who never should have been survived.
Let alone Ascended.
He had not felt power like hers since the last time he had faced the Great Lady herself!
Yet, if as he feared, that willful creature wasn't even using half her potential?
How? How could it be that the unworthy spawn of a fractured seed should manifest so powerfully?
Even he did not share such power. Even he, who had taken direct Blood Communion with the Great Lady herself had never evidenced such raw might.
He was powerful.
He was clever.
Yet never once had he managed to develop such raw might.
It was…..unnatural.
The Matriarch eyed the silent shadow looming over her, and stared hard at the other shadows moving around them.
She knew what they were doing.
She knew what they planned.
The same plans, she had already learned, that waited for her own world after the Fallen declared her species had failed him.
She had already noticed that in the end, he declared all were failures in his eyes. She suspected this mad beast would not be content until every planet in the Cosmos was a dead husk. How, she wondered, he hoped to rule a lifeless universe was beyond her. Her only true concern was her own world. And her own people.
She was ready to bargain with the Great Lady herself if she could manage that.
If only she could reach her.
KP
Shego broke into the Korean embassy, ignoring the guards she batted away like children, and glowering at the men that actually tried to shoot her.
A few plasma balls sent the morons running, and she kept smashing through doors, not even trying to open them, as she headed for the private offices where Kim Dun Whatever was currently hiding at last report.
The bomb was Korean. As in North Korean. The Premier had apparently been replaced by a Pylsian imposter who had ordered the attack under cover of the diplomatic visit. He had to be pretty dim if he thought a simple bomb was going to take her out.
Shego didn't care, though. What she cared about was Kim. And she had been terrified she had been too late to protect her this time when she first wrapped her arms around her pale, seemingly vulnerable body as that car had gone up in explosive fury.
Kim and Gyrzza walked behind in her wake, not doing anything, just eyeing the chaos that was created by a very angry Shego who literally bulled through anything, and anyone in her way. It had taken all of ten minutes to figure out the bomb was homegrown. Wade took less than a minute to analyze it, and trace the components.
Traffic cams in the area easily spotted the Korean agent who crept up behind the waiting limo, and slid something up under the frame as everyone else simply stared at Shego and Kim as they emerged from the studio.
The same traffic cam was also used to view the man watching from a discreet distance, remotely triggering the explosive only after Shego was inside the car, and driving away.
That was enough for Shego.
She stormed the embassy.
It spoke to her own state-of-mind that Dr. Director didn't even try to complain as she left the scene to find the idiot who had carried out such an idiotic order.
Smashing through one last door, she stared at the very small man cowering behind a huge, marble desk, flanked by two burly guards. The guards took one look at her almost literally smoldering eyes, and flung down their weapons, bolting from the room.
"Smart guys," she said with so chilling a tone, the man behind the desk whimpered.
"I guess you think you're clever?"
The man gaping at her with hugely rounded eyes behind thick glasses said nothing.
"I suppose you think you're a hero of some kind?"
He started babbling something Shego didn't understand, and didn't care about as she simply grabbed the corner of the desk between them, and flung it aside. The desk went flying, smashing into the wall with enough force to crack the paneling, and almost penetrate the wall.
The diplomat stared in horror at her as she walked up to him, and grabbed him by the collar.
"You really think you can blow me up, and get away with it? I didn't tolerate that kind of nonsense before. I sure won't do it now."
She lifted the man up in her hands, then jumped right out through the nearby window.
Even as she smashed through the pane, taking half the wall with her, and not too careful about shielding his body, she was already swelling into dragon form. Even as her thirty foot form manifested, the diplomat now a toy in her hands, she simply blinked out of existence.
"I do believe your Lady's subjects are about to understand her ire," Gyrzza predicted.
Even Kim wasn't sure of Shego's plans, but she found it hard to sympathize just then with dozens killed on the crowded streets, and well over that many injured, or traumatized after that powerful bomb had gone off. Kim was still stunned she had managed to shrug off that blast as easily as she had, too, but even she knew if she had been anyone else, she would have been dead, too.
Her, and her baby.
And Shego had to know that.
"Well," Shego demanded, standing back in human form below them now, having just appeared once more outside the embassy. "Are you coming, Princess?"
She grinned, and simply jumped down the three stories to land in a low crouch in front of her as Gyrzza chose to fly down.
"Don't do that again," Shego hissed. "What if you…..?"
"C'mon. We both know I'm getting stronger, and tougher. That was nothing," Kim smiled. "So, what did you do with the moron?"
"I'll tell you at the U.N., when I brief the rest of the morons. Meanwhile, my little temper-tantrum should make the rest of these clowns take notice, and start cooperating. I hope," she muttered sourly.
"Well, you are talking about politicians," Kim reminded her.
"Doy," was the green-skinned woman's only reply.
KP
Five Minutes Earlier…
The diplomat screamed as they appeared on the bridge of General Bludstone's command ship.
The Lordwardian gaped at the dragoness before him, but he had seen her stand before the emperor, and had seen her fight in the arena. He wasn't too startled. He was, however, confused when the Lady dropped a tiny primate in front of him.
"New orders, general. This…..slug is to be delivered to the Coalition's prison planet at your earliest convenience. I'll consider his sentence later."
"His charge, Lady Shego," Bludstone asked, eyeing the tiny male, and wondering what he could have possibly done to annoy one such as the Grat Ba'auu.
"Attempted assassination of my person, and my Princess," she growled.
"Ah, so a fool," the warrior declared, sneering down at the cowering primate.
"Oh, yeah," Shego growled as the man just stared up at them, not understanding a single word. "Meanwhile, I want you to relay orders to your emperor, and the rest of the fleet. Unless they are surrendering, all Nonaligned worlds are now deemed enemies of the M'Kandii Galaxy, and are to be treated accordingly. If they will not yield, or surrender….."
Shego stared as the big warrior eyed her.
"Do whatever you have to do," she growled.
The warrior smiled. "That, I can do, Lady," he promised, pounding a big fist to his chest in salute.
"Good. Tell whatever warden gets that thing I'll be in touch. I expect him to live to suffer, though. A lot," she added, and disappeared without a trace.
"The emperor was wise to join our cause to the Lady Shego," one of his warriors said, his tone filled with awe. "Surely, she is the Grat Ba'auu."
"That," Bludstone nodded, "Was obvious from the start."
KP
"So, where now?"
"After yelling at those morons," Shego growled as the left the U.N., "I really need to calm down, and blow off some steam before I do anything else," she spat.
Kim eyed her as the five GJ agents, and four lupines with them simply stood waiting as they paused on the sidewalk outside the Plaza. The U.N. had been very argumentative, until they heard that the Prison Planet Mongo awaited anyone that dared defy the Lady Shego's rule, or authority. Lady Gyrzza had then informed them she knew the warden. A very merciless man who was given to following the letter of intergalactic law to the last period.
"Okay, Lady Gyrzza," Kim said, turning to her. "Take two of our friends," she nodded at their current honor guard, "And go find where they quarantined the Huqaan. You know what we need to know, so question them, and remind them it is in their best interests to cooperate."
"As you wish, Lady Kimberly."
"Shego, let's go home. As you said. You need to calm down, and we need to talk. I need to work out my idea about taking down Abbie. We can do that at home just as well as anywhere. And I know exactly what you need to let off some steam," she smiled.
Shego eyed her.
"What are you thinking now, Kimmie," Shego asked, some of her teasing manner back in evidence as she eyed the earnest face looking up at her.
"Take us home, Lady," Kim smiled. "And you'll find out."
Shego transformed, scooped up Kim, and her remaining guards, and then vanished before the gaping eyes of those watching. No one doubted the casual display of power wasn't a message in itself.
KP
"We have a new player," Will Du said as he shoved into the office, pushing a burly, most humanoid slug-like creature forward who looked as he/she/or it would rather be anywhere else. "He was replacing the American Secretary of Defense, and trying to authorize a strike on all our new spaceports. With nukes."
"So, not one of the very bright types, then," Dr. Director said as she eyed the creature that seemed bulky in its containment suit, but hardly muscular.
Two large, gaping eyes at the end of short stalks blinked slowly, then fixed on her.
"Better….the favor of Fallen….than the dubious…..favor…..of planet-killing….monsters," the alien gurgled.
"Looks like Lady Shego's ploy worked in reverse," Will commented wryly.
"No, I don't think so. I think this guy wasn't here for the Fallen. Or Shego. Are you," Betty asked, playing to her instincts on this one.
"We are….not knowing….what you meaning," the creature gurgled.
"I have very good ears. Very good ears. You have the same basic dialect, and syntax patterns of your neighbors. The Elsarqian. They still haven't truly given up, have they?"
The slug shuddered violently.
"I wager you know Lady Shego just dealt with a few of our own. You likely hoped to exploit the raw emotions being expressed over that, too. Maybe blind us to what was happening until it was too late? Too bad for you that we're better than you thought. So, here's what we're going to do," Betty Director said, back in her element as she leaned back in her chair, hands steepling before her as she narrowed her good eye on the creature.
"This one….can make no accords….with….."
"You'll listen, or I'll throw you in my Pylsian captives I am currently holding. My very angry, very hungry, Pylsians who have not been fed for days on Lady Shego's orders."
Will blinked at that one, but the slug reacted predictably.
The creature shuddered bodily, and seemed to sag all the more in Will's grip.
"What are you….wishing of this one?"
Betty's smile was not pleasant.
"I'm sure you know how this goes? Smart slug like you? Information. I want everything you have. Everything you know. Start talking. Now."
The slug talked.
KP
"We may have a lead. And I think Lady Gyrzza found out who our spy was, too."
"Is that right," Kim smiled at Hego as Shego wiped sweat from her brow after she and Kim left the gym to join the pair who had just returned from the military prison now holding alien captives until another solution could be managed for them.
Gyrzza nodded as she eyed the pair, finding it strange that they would deem sparring as relaxation. There were many things about the pair of peculiar females that simply did not make sense to her. Then again, both of them had been defying expectations from the beginning. Even before the beginning if even half of what Elizabeth Director had once told her about the two were accurate.
"The Fallen is currently hiding in a cavern beneath what you call the Sahara near what is called….Ahaggar Mountains. That is, however, not the only information we extracted from the Huqaan, who saw your second broadcast, and are more eager than ever to assure you of their defection," Gyzza replied smugly.
"So, Wade was right. Have you told him about this yet," Kim asked Hego.
"We were about to, Kimberly," he told her. "We wanted to make sure we didn't use an outside frequency that might be compromised after everything else that's been happening. I understand that Global Justice is still unmasking infiltrators, and quite a few nations are trying to just shut down all operations until they are certain that their own leadership is….. Well, their leadership."
"Smart," Shego agreed. "No one can pass laws, or make major decisions until they're absolutely certain they aren't being duped. And led to disaster. That's as good as any way to shut those morons up in the U.N."
"Indeed," Gyrzza agreed, still confused over a multinational conglomerate that didn't seem to actually care for its citizens. "I wonder if that outmoded government model is even of any value under your reign, Lady Shego. It seems to only offer you grief, at the best."
"For now, I can use them. You are right, though. If we're really going to unite, and join the rest of the…..Cosmos, something needs to be done about the politics on this rock," she muttered, and eyed Kim.
"What?"
"You sure that last punch didn't hurt you?"
"I'm fine. I just had a brief twinge. It's not morning sickness any more," Kim grumbled. "Thank God, but I still get…..nauseated now and then. I guess it hit me in the middle of our workout. Which was no big," she stressed at the end.
"After everything else…. I don't want you too stressed, Kim. It won't be good for either of you, and you know it."
"Shego, I can take care of….."
"Don't make me call your mother," Shego growled.
"Now, that was low," Kim muttered. "Look, let's just focus on the planning. We have a bead on Abbie now. Let's see if the tweebs have managed to pull off what I hope they have, and then we can put together all the pieces of what I hope will be our trap."
"We had better hurry. Part of what we heard from the….cats," Hego told them as they headed for the labs in the back of the great mansion, "Is that he has the Pylsians running interference for something else that he hopes will destroy the planet. That part they didn't know, as they only knew this Fallen had a failsafe plan, but they weren't part of it."
"All right, let's get Wade looking. Those mountains are pretty widespread, and Abbie could be anywhere knowing him. Then we need to figure out just how to lure Abbie out, and get the Matriarch safely away without his noticing."
"While we bring the Big Bad down for good," Shego nodded. "I take it you think your idea will work?"
"I'm hoping. It all relies a lot on you, and the tweebs. But if I'm right, we can shut him down for good. I hope."
"Good. I'm really getting tired of this guy. Really tired."
"You aren't the only one. And I certainly don't want him lurking around like Drakken when our baby is born."
"Oh, he's going to be history long before that," Shego said. "One way, or another."
Gyrzza said nothing to that.
"And our spy," Kim asked. "You know who it is?"
"So do you," the Kwaa-quu said cryptically.
KP
"What do you have," Betty demanded, now in the middle of a very large command center that had grown out of her office.
Only now, ninja in black were mingled among her Global Justice agents, all of whom had been personally cleared by Ron and Bonnie as they continued to vet the U.N. on random sweeps even as they coordinated with global authorities in shutting down any potential hostilities by any group. Domestic, or foreign. That latter now including what many simply called 'out-of-towners.'
"Shego said she's getting ready to move, and wants your people pulled back from three of the six locations they're patrolling."
"Three? Aren't they sure yet….?"
"This is Shego. Not to mention Wade, Kim, and her own brain trust all planning whatever it is they're up to now. All I know is what she said," Bonnie told her as she continued to study a topographical map of the area they were now studying based on what little they had been told.
"It stands to reason they won't give us an exact agenda," Ron cut in. "Not without knowing for certain that we're completely secure here."
"Those two Pylsians we caught trying to tunnel through the basement proves we're not. Yet," Will grimaced. "They're actually smart to keep their own plans to themselves just now with so many likely still listening in at the moment."
"Maybe, but shouldn't be we focusing our efforts on helping support them," Betty asked with a scowl.
The few lupines assigned her and Ronald to keep Shego's 'liaison' safe said nothing as they simply stood, and watched. They had already proven they could act, and act fast, when they stopped a three-pronged assassination attempt by the lizards earlier that day when Betty had gone out to meet the city council to relay a few new safety protocols she wanted to impart in person.
Just to be sure that the officials weren't also imposters.
They weren't. But the assassins tried to exploit her movement. Only the lupines moved even before the ninja could react, and proved they were not just for show. Not one of the assassins survived the attempt.
Betty would have liked to question them, but she had already learned that the hungers were different from that spaceship crew they had incarcerated. The hunters would rather die that speak a word, or even surrender. The lupines, naturally, obliged them.
"What's your best guess," Betty asked, eyeing the overhead projection of the huge mountain range in the heart of the Sahara where few lived, and fewer managed to survive.
Ron eyed the area, the coordinates indicated, and frowned.
"It's a feint," he told her.
"Indeed," one of the ninja, a young woman with cold, dark eyes that only softened when she eyed Ron. "By drawing attention to the areas where you order men out, they must hope they will not notice where Possible-San intends to actually move."
"Unless, they know this guy will guess that plan, and actually intend to…."
"Ron," Bonnie growled. "Let's not overcomplicate it. I do suggest we have people in the region ready to move for rescue, or backup. Just in case," Bonnie told the still current head of Global Justice.
Betty was wondering if she was going to need to step down soon, though. She was getting more and more preoccupied with her new duties, and even she knew it was distracting from her usual attention to detail at her official post.
"Agreed. Commander Du. Very loudly declare those three teams should pull back to the extreme perimeter, and hold station. Then, more discretely, send a signal for all teams to armor up, and be ready for…..anything."
"Yes, ma'am," he nodded, and headed to send his messages on a secure channel he knew couldn't be hacked.
In short, he was going to conscript Wade.
"One last thing," Ron was told as Betty continued to go through the endless streams of files and information coming through her offices just then.
"Ma'am," Ron asked, looking away from one of his own that had just brought an updated report of their last sweep.
"If I'm right, and I think I am, the way Shego is…..doing things…. I believe she may be on the verge of taking personal control of the planet, and the system. Maybe…. Maybe more. I need to know. Do you think Kim will back us if we try to prevent that?"
"Prevent it," Yori turned to study her. "Forgive me, Director-San, but isn't that the very fate that has been revealed for Shego-San? To bring our world into a greater unity with the new worlds beyond?"
"So we've been told. So far, all I'm seeing is a lot of chaos, and worse. If she is serious about going to war with multiple planted, I'm not sure we can rely on her to safeguard us….."
"When they first came back," Ron cut her off, looking grim again. "I had my own doubts. I doubted Kim. I doubted Shego. I doubted myself."
Bonnie frowned at that, but said nothing as Ron was obviously not finished.
"Since they came back, though, I've seen those two stand together to save not only this planet, but a lot of innocent people every time….. Every time this Fallen, or his Henches moved. I say we trust them, Dr. Director. I say we trust them, because….whatever we think we know about Shego, or Kim, they aren't that much different. Not really. Do you think that Kim, our Kim, would be standing next to Shego if she was really about to screw things up that badly?"
Betty said nothing to that.
"One other thing you should consider. All this," Bonnie gestured around, not just at the lupines, or the equipment, but far ore. "You might not be seeing it, but the planet is starting to come together. It's slow, and its messy, and there is still a lot of arguing…. When isn't there? But, Dr. Director, Shego is bringing everyone together. Even the Koreans backed down, and opened their borders for the first time in….how long?"
"You're saying we ought to trust her?"
"I'm saying we trust her," Ron added.
Betty scowled, but shook her head.
"Maybe you're right. I hope you are."
"When it all comes down to it, I trust Kim," Ron said bluntly.
"Besides," Bonnie grinned. "Think about it? Do you really think Shego wants to run anything if she can keep giving you all her work so she can go play house with Kimberly," the brunette smirked.
The expression on Betty Director's face would have had her more familiar agents seeking cover.
Bonnie and Ron only sniggered at her.
To Be Continued…