Chapter 10: Blue Tears From Green Eyes
Time: 3 days after the third attack
Shego watched the news. She heard what happened. So many emotions rushed through her that she sat frozen on the couch of her Middleton safe house, stunned. Shocked. Feeling a pain in her chest she had never felt before. Thinking thoughts she had never thought before.
It was some time before she could move again.
When she did, it was to quickly change from her comfortable jeans and T-shirt into her green-and-black catsuit. Then she grabbed her car keys and stalked out the door.
Twenty minutes later she parked a block away from Kim Possible's house. It was a Saturday afternoon and the family car was gone, but she sensed that Possible was inside. Stalking up the front yard path, her stride hard and fast, her fists balled, her jaws clenched, Shego reached the door and blasted it down with her glow.
"POSSIBLE!" she bellowed, her anger getting the best of her. "Get your butt over here before I blast your entire house down!"
Shego heard the sound of scrambling footsteps on wooden stairs, and then Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable ran into the living room from the hallway. "Shego!" Kim cried. She immediately crouched into a defensive posture. "I can guess why you're here."
Instead of talking, Shego leaped at the girl, her fury giving her extra power. Her foot met Kim's stomach in a powerful kick, and Kim staggered back in pain, banging up against the wall. Shego crouched low, ready to attack again. "You could have done something!" she snapped. "You're with GJ, they have a prison! This didn't have to happen! It's your fault, Princess! This is all your fault!"
"It's not her fault," said Ron warily. "Drakken chose to move in a dangerous crowd. He knew the risks. So did you."
"But he's DEAD!" Shego shrieked, her plasma flaming bright green. "Drakken is DEAD! You knew he was in danger in the prison system! GJ knew! They could have saved him instead of letting..." She faltered. "...instead of..." Her fighting stance slipped, her plasma sputtered out, and her body relaxed. "Oh, Dr. D," she whispered, a single tear slipping down her cheek.
She turned her face away, not wanting the Princess and the buffoon to see her like this. For the first time since she'd become a villain, Shego lost control of her finer emotions. All she could see in her mind's eye was Drakken lying dead in a dingy cell, battered and broken. The news reporter said that's where the prison officials had found him, right in his cell, sprawled halfway across his cot, bloody and naked. She didn't want to think about what he must have endured, how he must have felt, what his last thought might have been. "What they did to him..." she whispered. Her voice hitched as she murmured, "Oh god, Dr. D..."
--
"Shego." Kim chanced a step toward the grieving villainess, thankful that her parents and the tweebs were out for the day. She and Ron had been upstairs sharing some...private time. Both had known that Shego would show up somewhere, but they hadn't expected this. "Shego, I'm sorry it happened. I truly am."
"Me, too," Ron added somberly.
Rufus popped up out of Ron's pocket. "Mm-mmm," he said softly.
Shego looked at Kim with a snarl. "Then why didn't you help him? Why didn't you suggest he be taken to GJ facilities? Nobody could have gotten to him there!"
Kim chose her words carefully. "Shego, GJ has a jail, but it's not designed for long term. It's really just a holding facility. Drakken was lawfully put where he belonged. Even you know that the prisons tried to keep one step ahead of the problem, but whoever's behind this managed to stay one step ahead of them."
"You know we've been working all this time trying to figure out who it is," Ron added. "We're stumped." He paused. "And uh...we've been watching you blast your way into prisons all over the country. Do you have any ideas?"
"No!" Shego spat angrily. "But I paid personal visits to all the villains—Fiske, Dementor, Killigan, the Señors, all of them. They had nothing to do with it and don't know anybody who did."
"How can you be so sure?" Kim asked.
Shego lit one hand. "Believe me, Cupcake, I'm sure," she said, and extinguished the flame.
"Look..." Kim exchanged a glance with Ron, then faced Shego again. "I know how you feel—"
"Oh please, Princess, don't even go there," Shego said. "You don't know anything except your clean little part of the world, all the happy bunny-rabbit sunny-day shit. You don't understand the people you battle. You never will. Save your condolences, I don't want them. Just find the sick bastard who did this. I'll be looking, too."
"So you're finally willing to exchange information?"
"Kimmie, I'll put on a GJ uniform and march in line for a day if it means gettin' the guy who k...who ki..."
Kim watched the villainess struggle once more to speak. She had never once suspected that Shego had feelings for Dr. Drakken, but this display was so extreme! Shego never stuttered. She never cried. She never showed the world her emotions, except for blazing anger and sarcastic disdain. Did Shego actually...love Drakken? Kim's heart went out to the villainess, and she even felt a twinge of guilt.
Shego's lip was quivering, but she finally managed to finish her sentence. "...who k-killed Dr. D..." With that, she turned and left.
"Uh, Kim...shouldn't we have arrested her?" Ron asked after Shego was gone. "I mean, she's been blowing up prisons, and she's still wanted for the Diablo plot."
Kim frowned at him. "Ron, I can't believe you. Shego's just lost someone more important to her than we ever realized."
Ron did a double-take. "Dr. Director won't care. She told us—"
"I know what she told us, Ron." Kim sighed. "But I just can't do it. Someone very bad is still out there, and we have to find him, her, whoever it is. Left free, Shego's going to keep looking, and she might find out something we can't."
Ron shook his head. "Dr. Director won't like it."
"No, she won't," Kim agreed uneasily. "But that's my position." She glanced at Ron. "...Are you with me on this?"
After a brief moment, Ron took her hand. "You bet, KP. Always and forever."
Kim kissed him. "I love you, Ron."
"Booyah," Ron said softly before kissing her back.
Then Kim slumped. "I just wish we could have told Shego the truth..."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, at this point you all think I'm some sicko who's going to escalate the violence beyond all reason. Nope, the violence is over. It was necessary for the rest of the story to happen the way it's going to happen. Honest!! It's just like the lyrics of an old rock song (sorry, forgot the group), "You have to go to Hell before you get to Heaven." That's pretty much what's happening here. But don't think the drama and surprises are over! As I've said earlier, I don't think any of you will guess who's behind this, why Drakken was targeted, etc. And there's plenty of action to come...action in many interesting forms, I might add. I'll update again soon. Heh heh heh.