I do not own the characters named herein from Disney, and am only using them for a tale meant for entertainment purposes only.
Kim Possible: Dark Moon Rising
By LJ58
12
"Home, sweet home," Shego sighed, carrying a blanket wrapped around her bare shoulders as she let Kim open the door after they landed near the house, pulled into the drive, and Kim shut off the Roth.
"I have to admit," Kim smiled. "You do know how to show a girl a good time," she beamed.
"A good time? You almost died," Shego complained now as she eyed Kim. "And your dress is ruined, too."
"Well, the salt water didn't do it much good," she admitted.
"Salt….water," Shego grit out, and followed Kim into the house. "Sometime, Princess, you can be a real…"
Shego stopped, almost running into Kim who had stopped in the middle of the living room herself.
"What….? Okay, how did you get here," Shego growled at the image of Betty Director setting on their couch, sipping black coffee as she idly regarded them.
"We need to talk, ladies. Why don't you calm down, sit down, and listen for a change."
"I know that voice," Kim grimaced.
"Really?"
"Yeah, mom uses it all the time right before she….. Uh, grounds me," she amended whatever she was about to say.
"I'd say you're way past grounding Kimberly. Way past. You don't even realize what's happened tonight."
"Well, how could we, when you're obviously the queen of secrecy, and….. And how the hell did you even get here before us? Or inside? I thought this place was secure," she turned to complain at Kim.
"It is. It was," Kim frowned.
"I have my own ways," Betty smiled.
"Oh, no. None of Yoda crap, Cyclops," she growled. "You want us to listen, then you have to tell us what the hell is going on. Like what the hell was that thing that attacked my Kimmie?"
Betty set her cup down, leaned back, and looked right at them as Kim turned back from locking the door by then. She didn't miss the fact the redhead had put the house on alert status.
"It was a leech. A host for a very nasty, and very virulent alien plague we've been trying to contain."
"Alien….plague?"
"Do you know your history, Kimberly? If so, you know that it doesn't take much to upset an ecosystem," Betty told them as Kim walked forward, sit on a divan near the couch, but stayed on the edge as if ready to jump up at any time.
"You mean, like the Europeans settlers that spread smallpox to the Natives here in the 1700s?"
"Something like that. Only imagine the colonists being an occasional alien visitor, or even a meteorite. It doesn't take much. Just a pathogen, or organism that survives the vacuum to land on Earth, and comes in contact with a suitable host that allows it to thrive. We call that one leech because it invariably creates an insatiable bloodlust in the host before it self-destructs, victim of the very hunger that it requires to survive."
"That makes no sense."
"Consider it a paradox. Human hosts cannot live on blood, but the parasite requires it. The host gluts, but without its own nourishment slowly dies. Not, however, before it infects anything that survives its often lethal attacks."
"Well, I don't feel thirsty. I mean, not for blood," Kim huffed. "So, no big."
"Actually, very big. The world is bigger, and stranger, than even you know, Kimberly," Betty told her. "Our ecosphere is constantly in danger. Constantly in flux. Constantly facing…..crossroads. We call them a Crux."
"We," Shego asked. "You're telling me GJ is now chasing alien viruses?"
"I just work for Global Justice. My true mandate comes from somewhere else. You did want truth here," she asked as Kim and Shego both frowned as Shego finally walked over, and sit beside Kim.
"Go on," Kim said. "You're saying we're one of these….cruxes?"
"No. Just you."
"Me?"
"The leech always infects its victims, Kimberly. Always. Yet you, already a wolf thanks to the lupine virus….."
"The….what," Shego frowned.
Betty sighed.
"Perhaps a little more history. A lot of things have come to Earth before Warmonga. One of them was a virus that came down during a meteor shower thousands of years ago. It became what we call the lupine virus. It created the first wolves."
"You knew all along," Kim murmured.
"And you weren't ready for the full truth. You still aren't, but this…..matter before us forces my hand. Because I'm in the unenviable position of trusting you, or killing you."
"Over my dead body," Shego snarled, half rising before Kim put a hand on her shoulder.
"Let her talk," Shego was told. "I get the feeling we'd already be dead if that was her decision."
"Smart," Betty nodded. "And you're right. You have the most incredible luck in overcoming the most fantastical odds, Kimberly. Even now, you should be a slavering beast hungering for blood, and tearing your way through the populace. Yet you aren't."
"Doy," Shego muttered.
"In all this time, we have never had a recorded case of a wolf infected with a leech virus. That's not to say it didn't, or hasn't happened. We just never knew of any case. Until now. Ironically enough, I have a gift that came with my mandate. I can…..sense where and when a crux may be rising, so as to be able to deal with it before it can destroy our world."
"Let me guess….."
Betty nodded at Kim.
"I knew you were about to become the source of a major crux. And I do mean major. I felt the overwhelming threat all but shake me from halfway across the globe. Yet here you sit, calm, and unshakeable as ever."
"I guess the wolf healed me," Kim shrugged. "But tell me, does Jacob know the truth? I mean, about you?"
"We have a truce. So long as he deals with the rogues in his packs, we leave him, and your kindred, alone. We even ridicule, and muddle any reports of strange creatures in the wild."
"Bigfoot," Shego guessed.
"Someone saw a few wolves once," Betty nodded. "Naturally, we had to work on that one, or the truth would have had demon-hunters out shooting anything that moved."
Kim frowned.
"You're telling me someone is really still out there hunting….?"
"I know of at least five major organizations beyond Global Justice that were equipped just to deal with preternatural threats to our world. The Roman Catholics are but one. Naturally, they don't make the mainstream news. People in general are not yet ready to hear just what is truly out there in the shadow, Kimberly. Frankly, I doubt they ever will be," Betty quipped.
"So, how do you fit in? Just what is your….gift? And who the hell put you in charge of anything?"
Betty smiled.
"I could tell you, but you wouldn't believe me. I still have to go settle Wade back down. He saw a few things he shouldn't back when I had to…..leave suddenly."
Kim frowned, but fixed her own green gaze on the woman.
"Just tell us the truth."
"In exchange, I really do need to test you."
Betty held up her hands even as Kim and Shego both began to glower.
"Not in our labs. An….independent lab. One that deals with….the other side. Completely objective, and completely unconnected to anyone, or anything even semi-official. The kind that want to keep all our secrets," Betty pointed out.
"So, just what are you asking," Shego demanded.
"Just some blood and tissue, so we can understand what happened when the leech infected her. Because it obviously did, even if she doesn't yet realize it. Anything organic that it touches is always infected. We have to make sure it didn't leave some kind of…..biological time bomb this time."
"All right. But I stay for the tests, and all smaples are destroyed before I leave this….lab."
"Agreed."
"Right after you tell us the truth," Kim told Betty with an even stare. "Starting with why Wade is even working for you."
"He's working for GJ. We need to contain him. He was starting to get into things that were not only over his head, but could have cost lives," she told the pair. "Starting with yours. While the wolf is a virus, at the start, which he already surmised, his blundering could have created a genuine fiasco if he tried tampering with it. I hired him for his own good, and to channel his admittedly gifted mind along lines we could use."
"I can see that," Shego murmured.
"Shego," Kim frowned. "But what if Wade doesn't want to….."
"That kid blogs half of what he finds, or discovers. Did you really want to risk being the subject of his next bio-tech speculation online," Betty asked Kim bluntly. "Too many read him, and take him seriously as it is."
Kim grimaced.
"When you put it that way, I guess he can get…..carried away."
"Love rays," Betty all but sneered. "Need I say more?"
"No. Just tell me….the rest. Who are you? Who are you really," Kim demanded.
"Dr. Elizabeth Director. Head of Global Justice. And, one of five surviving Druids in the world."
"Druids," both girls shook their heads.
"Forget the pagan myths. Druids, from the start, were charged with protecting the balance, and harmony of life on this planet. We keep wars from going too far. Hunger from decimating entire nations. Or even disease, or otherworldly threats from growing too dangerous for life to continue here."
"Sounds like you're slipping up," Shego huffed. "Even I watch television."
Betty stared at her. Stared hard.
"When I say life, Shego, I mean Life. The big L. What are a few thousand compared to billions? What are those billions, when the planet itself has become overpopulated, and stressed to the point we need true solutions soon, or everyone loses. And by everyone, I do not mean just the human beings that think themselves somehow above the natural world."
"I get it," Kim murmured. "The whales, fish, wildlife. Everything. Right? That's what you mean?"
"And trees, and flowers, and grasses. Even our crops are being mutated, and strained to the breaking point," Betty told them. "That is a long-term crux others are working on. My primary mandate is otherworldly threats. Ironically, when I ended up leading GJ, it put me in the perfect position to manage them."
"So, where were you when we were fighting big, green, and dimwitted," Shego huffed.
Betty smiled thinly.
"I sent you, didn't I?"
"You sent…..?"
"You just happened to be the only people on the entire planet those beings fixated on," Betty asked her slyly.
"Oh, that was low," Shego growled. "You…. You…"
"It's done, Shego," Kim said. "You said threats. You're saying others than the Lorwardians have been here?"
"Many times. Sometimes as invaders. Sometimes as tourists, if you can believe that. Sometimes as merely curious scientists. We even get some that are just lost. Or crash by some quirk of fate. That doesn't discount the threat they represent."
"Because of the tech someone might want, or the alien organisms they carry," Kim intuited.
"Exactly. We were lucky with the Lorwardians. They were just humanoid, and hardy enough that they carried nothing that was a threat to our species."
"Okay, I'm getting the big picture here," Kim said. "But…..who gave you the mandate?"
"This is where you have to trust me. A goddess did. Yes, a real goddess. You'd call her Gaea."
"You're talking Mother Earth, or something?"
"Or something," Betty nodded at Kim. "Gaea is the manifestation of all life on our world. Together, we form her, as she gives us a habitat that supports us. It's a very delicate harmony. One we are charged with maintaining. It's been difficult. Especially after Druids were marked with anyone else deemed suspicious by those witch-hunters I mentioned. Since the patriarchal religions rose, it is harder than ever to carry out operations in some parts of the world. Still, at least it's not as bad as it used to be in the medieval world."
"What, were you there," Shego sniffed.
"My grandmother was. Druids live a very long time, Shego," she told her. "And we have very good memories. Now, I've told you all you need to know, all of which, obviously, is way above classified. Now I need you to come in, and….."
"Hold on. How did you get inside my house," Kim demanded. "Did Wade let you in?"
"I'm more interested in how she got to Italy, and back so fast," Shego murmured.
"I did say I have gifts. Obviously, the both of you do, too."
"Huh," Kim frowned.
"I've known wolves for a long time, Kimberly. I have never seen one like Shego manifested this evening. It might be her comet power. Or, it might be the goddess herself at work here, again. She does sometimes pick unknowing agents to aid her."
"Really," Kim frowned.
"I've long felt you might be one," Betty told the redhead. "Now, let's go have you checked out before something…..bad happens. I have an independent expert we can trust waiting on site now."
"Where?"
"Where else," Betty smiled. "Middleton Science Center."
"But….. What about dad? If he sees….?"
"We're not going to the upper levels," Betty told her. "We'll be going to the secret underground level where only our operatives work."
"Of course," Shego huffed as Betty rose to her feet.
"So, ladies. Ready to go?"
"You want me, too," Shego asked suspiciously.
"I would have already guessed you're not going to let Kimberly out of your sight," Betty smiled thinly.
"You got that right, Cyclops."
"Don't call me that," Betty sighed.
"So, how do we get…?"
Fifteen minutes later, after quickly pulling on a pair of sweats for time and convenience, Shego was glaring at Kim, and hissing, "Don't ever do that again," in a low, ominous tone.
"What, it was fun," Kim beamed exuberantly, having spent the past five minutes screeching in glee as they rode the vacuum tube that led from a certain sidewalk outside Kim's house to the secret labs under MSC.
Betty walked out of the vacuum tube chamber herself, one finger still probing an ear.
"I think you shattered an eardrum," she complained at Kimberly.
"My bad," Kim sighed, but didn't look too sorry as Betty stepped forward to punch in a code on a keypad, and it opened to a very brightly lit corridor beyond.
"Just come with me. And try to behave," Betty asked Kim.
The redhead huffed, but Shego did smile again.
"Kimmie got in trouble," she said in a singsong whisper in her ear as she leaned close.
"Wanna sleep on the couch," Kim grumbled.
Shego only sniggered.
Then they both froze as they walked into the huge, very modern lab, and saw a team of men in white coats. One of them was a burly, bearded man with one eye.
"Gemini," they both exclaimed.
"Ah, my patients have arrived," the man turned to regard them.
"You call him an independent expert," Kim sputtered, staring between the pair.
"Calm down, Kimberly. Sheldon is, in fact, my opposite. He just happens to work for the other side of the law to keep an eye on who is doing what there, since obviously, we can't always be in place to vet those madmen."
"Indeed," Sheldon said in a surprisingly sane tone now as he gestured for them to approach. "And who better to waylay any suspicions of his peers than a spiteful, manic psychopath with a penchant for 'offing' his own men."
"But…. But….."
"Calm yourself, Miss Possible," the man smiled pleasantly. "The men I….send away are usually double agents who are picked up later to report to our true employers. It's a very clever system, since Henchco employees are masked, and few know who is truly under them," he smiled.
"Jack did shoot himself in the foot there," Betty agreed. "You received the initial data scans?"
"Yes. From what I can tell at first glance, the leech virus has been completely assimilated, and yet subsumed. We need more direct samples to ascertain how, or why, of course," he went on. "Dr. Stein and I are looking forward to seeing what we may find. Perhaps," he suggested, eyeing Kim, "Even an entirely new hybrid life-form."
"That's what worries me," Betty drawled.
"Ah, my sister. The traditionalist," Sheldon smiled. "Life is change, my dear sibling. Stagnation is the truest enemy of life and progress. Even you must admit that."
"And Shego," Betty quipped.
"As you surmised earlier. Her comet powers have been assimilated into the wolf genes she now possesses, and her alter is literally learning to channel, and use those powers herself. It must have been quite a vision," he smiled at Shego. "I wish I could have seen it."
"So, you two are…..really…..allies," Kim frowned. "Friends? Uh…..?"
"We are charged with the goddess' work here, Miss Possible. I assume my sibling did confess that much?"
"Uh, yeah," Kim agreed, staring between them, more confused than ever.
"Of course. Liz always had a penchant for secrecy. Little wonder she rose so high in her field. I daresay she would keep secrets from herself if she could. But that is just her nature. Now, come, Miss Possible. Time remains fleeting, whatever our cause, and we all have work to do."
"Seriously," Kim turned to ask Betty.
"Go. I wasn't joking about the dangers here. We have to know what is now inside you, Kimberly," the agent told her. "My gifts still tell me you are the seat of a major crux."
"But…..Sheldon?"
"I trust you can keep his secret, too? We don't want the wrong people knowing he's really trying to save the world."
"Well, I never would have believed it," Shego huffed, and followed a reluctant Kim into the heart of the lab.
When one scientist tried to step in her way, her expression alone was enough to keep him from trying.
"I'll be in touch, Sheldon. Just don't forget, you have to be back in your cell by 0600. It's not time for you to escape yet."
"Nag, nag, nag," Sheldon gave a jovial chortle. "Sometimes, you're worse than mother."
"I'll tell her you said so."
Sheldon sighed, and shook his head.
"Siblings," he complained, and then eyed Kim as he paused before a chair. "Have a seat, Miss Possible. This shouldn't take long."
To Be Continued…
