Caught in an Abyss – Chapter 11
Fic Info and Update:
Finally! After over a year I have finally found the time and the opportunity to write the eleventh chapter of Caught in an Abyss! I know that you all have been waiting a long time for this one, and for that I apologize. Since I have uploaded the last chapter, I have moved to a new state, finally gotten a job, worked myself closer to my photography degree and started breeding reptiles, so they require constant care… Anyway, as for the fic, I hope to get to it more often, but I won't make any promises. I guess all it takes to get me to write is a little vacation away from home. As for the fic, I'm thinking that there will be 2-3 more chapters and an epilogue. Shorter than I original anticipated, but I think I moved a little faster in some of the chapters than I originally wanted. Needless to say, that's what I plan. Without further ado, please enjoy the chapter you've been waiting for! Sorry if it's not what you were hoping for…
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(January 11, Month Three Day Ten)
It was a quiet and cold day in January. Kim was sitting in classroom on her college campus and instead of listening to the lecture about the syllabus, she was staring out the window to the deep clouds that were coating the sky. In little patches, snow began to fall and frost the glass.
The only thing she could think of was Shego.
It had been over a month since she had last seen Shego. It had been over a month since she had been racked with guilt for their last conversation. It had been over a month since Kim had a decent night's sleep. But for some reason it didn't seem to matter. The only thing that mattered was waiting day by day until some other sign of Drakken appeared on the criminal network.
But she didn't know how she would act when she was able to see her love again. She thought about it, ignoring the teacher's lecture even further. She was unsure if she would be elated, fear stricken, or even consumed by guilt.
What scared her the most was the thought of seeing the heartbreak in Shego's eyes again.
She didn't know if Shego had thought about what Kim had said the last time they met. She doubted her statement would make the other woman forgive her. But over the last month Kim's spirit had been oddly uplifted. Not enough to allow her true smiles, but enough to possibly let her know that she did the right thing in saying what she had. But the more she thought on everything, the more paranoid she became.
Kim didn't even realize that the class had been dismissed until the professor came up to her and coughed to get her attention.
"Miss Possible, you are free to go now." The older gentleman said pleasantly.
"Oh! Sorry Sir!" The hero quickly gathered her books and her papers unceremoniously tossing everything into her book-bag before darting out of the room. Once out of the room though, she walked through the halls lost in thought once more. She walked through the doors, almost ignoring the boys and girls that held them open for her. She would nod her head to them and smile graciously as anyone would, but nothing more. Eventually the young woman found herself by her car. She looked up at the clouds and shivered before pulling up the collar on her jacket.
"I wonder what she is doing right now..."
XxXxX
(January 11, Month Three Day Ten, nighttime)
"NO! No no nonononono!" Shego cussed and threw things about the lair as she began to panic. Drakken was scared and hiding behind his massive computer chair. "What in your pea-sized brain makes you think an ocean lair is a good idea?!"
"I just thought-"
"NO!" Shego turned to face him and stomped her feet towards the chair, throwing it to the side. "If you do, I quit!"
"OK! Ok! I won't make another under water lair... I swear..." The man cowered sheepishly. "How about we go back to the one in the desert? You liked that one, right?"
"Thank God..." At the mention of a waterless climate, Shego sighed and eased herself dawn. That was the most emotion that she had shown in a month and it terrified Drakken. He watched as his assistant went to go sit on and armchair that had been positioned in front of a window. He had been puzzled as to why Shego had been simply sitting in front of the window every day for a month since they had gone back to the timeshare lair. Shego suddenly turned around and looked at him blankly.
"Well...?" She said. "Aren't you going to get back to work on your plans?" Her voice was gruff and distant.
"Oh! Yes!" Drakken turned around to his computer and started sifting through his files. Much to the dismay of the UNSC, he had managed to download a copy of the files for the Spartan-II MJOLNR armor. Something that Kim Possible had yet to discover.
Shego smiled wryly at the thought.
Just because Kim Possible hadn't yet discovered it didn't mean that she wouldn't. It was only a matter of time before something slipped, before something got out, and Drakken was exposed again.
It was only a matter of time.
"And so with the alterations to the mechanics of the cerebral connections and by adjusting the responsiveness of the algorithms in the armors internal artificial intelligences, I can easily make it usable for the henchmens' unaltered, weak bodies, turning them into unstoppable super soldiers!" Drakken laughed his own evil genius laugh before settling back down and chuckling to himself as he continued to type incessantly.
"Bingo..."
Shego stood from her chair, leaving the room and leaving Drakken to his murmuring and cackling. She shuffled to her room and quietly shut the door. Another tired smile worked its way to her features and she laughed quietly.
"I must be crazy..." She muttered tiredly to herself.
She sat at her desk looking at her computer and the blank word document that sat before her. She hacked through the networking system in the lair, making sure there was no way that Drakken could peer into her system and stop her from what she was about to do. Letter by letter, word by word, Shego quickly wrote what was necessary and printed it onto a sheet of clean, almost pristine paper. Pristine, as she thought, might be too strong, but that is how the crisp lines appeared to her considering the context of the letter.
She stood from the desk and started for the window. Sneaking out of Drakken's lair was never something she thought she would have to do. Not for this.
But that didn't matter.
The cold breeze blew through the window, moving the curtains with it and bringing in light snowflakes as the only evidence that she was no longer there.
XxXxX
From building to building, Shego leapt, back and forth, not thinking of the path she was taking. She was lost in her own mind once again as she found herself in a familiar part of Uppterton. She found herself thinking of the last time she crouched upon these buildings as she took another jump towards the center of the city, to the apartment of her nemesis.
However when she reached the window of the building she was searching for, she could feel her heart race once again. She stared through the window, cupping her hand next to her face to better view the interior of the room. She saw the room still in shambles as it had been before. It made no sense to her, but she decided to press on with her mission. Quietly she pulled the window open, thankful that it wasn't latched.
Both sides of the window opened as she slipped into the room and crouched on the floor. Carefully, the thief shuffled around the bed to the other side to reach the night stand. The girl on the bed suddenly stirred, her breathing becoming heavy. Shego froze where she was, but Kim simply turned over, now facing the night stand, eyes still closed and breathing normally once again. The dark-haired woman watched the girl for what must have been ten minutes, not moving, barely breathing, and thinking nothing.
Kim shivered as the breeze touched her skin.
Almost automatically, Shego stood quietly and placed the paper she clutched in her hand on the night stand, weighing it down with a book on the corner before turning to Kim. She reached for the edge of the sheets and stopped. That tired smile she wore before seemed to gain a little luster as she pulled the covers over the young woman before her.
XxXxX
Kim's eyes shot open and she sat up growling, hands in a defensive position yelling, "Whose there!?" But when she looked around, no one was there. She looked at the wide open window inquisitively and then shook her head. "Must have been a weird dream..."
The redhead stood and slid off the bed to close the window. As she walked back to the other side of the bed to lie back down, she noticed a piece of paper trapped under the school book she had been reading. She picked it up and examined the sheet. It looked like a typed letter, but it was too dark to see. Sitting on the bed, Kim turned on the lamp and furthered her interest in the note.
What she found shocked her.
"Kim, We have a lead that Drakken may still have been able to obtain a copy of the data for the MJOLNR project armor from the Spartans. The U.N.S.C. is still in trouble. It is possible that Drakken may actually be able to pull off the alterations to the armor in order to make it usable for his henchmen without compromising the armors structural integrity and strength. His next lair is to be located near the salt flats in Clark County, Nevada in approximately three days. It will be dangerous so be sure to bring your sidekick with you. From what can be surmised, the structure will be a tall tower comprising of no internal structure until you reach level nine. Be prepared and you won't fail. Regards."
Kim's mind was reeling. Who had written this letter? More important, how did it get into her apartment? Without her noticing? She had an idea, but the letter was so vague that there was no way to be sure. Was it Global Justice, was it the UNSC, was it one of the Spartans, or was it-
There was no way it could be her...
Kim looked at the time displayed on her digital alarm clock. It was eleven-thirty-eight at night. There was nothing she could do now... But come morning time there would be plans and preparations.
XxXxX
(January 13, Month Three Day Twelve)
"Are you sure you are going to be alright, Kimmie-cub?" Kim's mother, Anne, was sitting at the kitchen table as she watched Kim pace about the room, unsettled and anxious.
"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked quickly, looking at her mother almost offended.
"I know how distraught you were last month..." Anne trailed off, trying not to bring up anything or any name that may be a touchy subject for her poor daughter.
"I'm going to be fine..." Kim stopped walking and looked out the window.
It had indeed been a month since Kim's last run-in with Drakken and.. Shego... But since then, Kim's head had been much clearer than it had been. Whether that was due to her knowing that she would at least be able to see Shego again or if it was due to her knowing she had at least attempted to make amends, no one would really know for certain. It was in this last month that Kim had been having constant dreams about Shego, about things that she wished were different now, about things she wished she could do which made her often weep the next morning, about things she feared regarding the mercenary, and about things she was uncertain. But there was one definite thing which was a constant in her dreams... the words she had spoken to Shego right before they were forced to part again:
"I saved your life." "And the reason I did that that will never change."
"There's probably nothing I can do to fix what I've done, mom..." Kim finally moved and sat down at the table next to her mother and sighed. "But I have to at least see if she still hates me... Honestly I wouldn't blame her..."
Mrs. Possible wrapped an arm over her daughters shoulders she rubbed her arms with that hand for a moment. "I don't think that she hates you, Kimmie." Anne paused, still mildly uncomfortable with the idea of Shego being Kim's lover. Eventually she said, "If what you have told me about her is true, than I don't see how she could."
Kim looked at her mother for a moment and then back at the table. Perhaps her mother was right. There was so much that seemed so genuine about Shego, things that the women would never have told to anyone or shown to anyone else. The two of them did seem to share a special bond with one another and whether that was forged by respect, love, or hate, it was rather difficult to tell.
Anne noticed her daughter lost in thought, her expression seeming to become more listless as the seconds ticked by. For the last month, she had been asking Kim about Shego, trying to find out more about the villai\. The only moments where she saw a genuine smile on Kim's face was when she thought back on happy moments, encounters, and conversations with the thief. She hoped that would still help now.
"So... You never did really told me how you started for fall for her." Anne smiled as she playfully shook Kim's shoulders. The girl looked up at her mother again with a smile and her eyes seemed to look through the older woman, into thought.
"I think you'd never guess it was because of her biting attitude huh?"
And Kimmie finally laughed.
XxXxX
(January 15, Month Three Day Fifteen)
"How is it so c-c-c-cold!?" Ron yelled from the outside left seat of the U.N.S.C. Hornet fighter aircraft. They were sitting on the seats positioned on either side of the small craft, gripping onto the supports which allowed marines to fire on their enemies from above. "We're in the desert!"
"Because it's still the middle of winter!" Kim was sitting on the other side of the aircraft. She wanted to laugh at Ron's childishness but couldn't bring herself to do so. She was simply too wrapped up in her thoughts.
Kim had taken the time in the last few days to think on why exactly Shego would have been so upset with her. Kim knew that Shego was mostly concerned with how Kim had treated her when they parted. Or how she didn't treat her... But there seemed to be more to the fire in Shego's eyes. Most people may not even be able to catch onto something as miniscule as the signals Shego was giving, but it was almost as though Shego thought Kim was using her for something; using her for the only thing that she took while they were stuck in the ocean.
Sex.
However, everyone knows Kim as a miss-goody-two-shoes; she wouldn't be able to use anyone let alone for sex. But it was still something that seemed most prominent in Kim's mind as to why Shego would have been that terribly upset. But she couldn't think of how to handle the subject.
"KP!" Ron shouted, snapping Kim from her thoughts and forcing her to look through the main compartment of the air craft to see him.
"What?" Kim shouted back.
"Did you hear anything I just said?"
"No, why?"
"I said, No matter what time of the year it is, we are still in the desert! It shouldn't be cold!" Ron began rambling again as Kim trailed off in thought.
What if it was true that Shego thought all Kim wanted was sex? How was Kim supposed to take that? Was she supposed to be mad that Shego would dare to think such a thing about her? Kim began to grow furious at the thought but she suddenly stopped. It would have been her fault in the first place; she had let Shego leave the Pelican dropship without so much as a second glance to let her lover know that she would be missed. She had made it look as though what happened in the Abyss didn't matter. How was she supposed to be able to rectify everything that she-
"KP!" Ron had to shout again. This time he noticed his friend look off into the distance and ignore him.
"What!?" She was rather perturbed. She was attempting to solve the issues between her and Shego in her mind and Ron's constant yelling wasn't helping.
"About five minutes ago I was trying to tell you that I can see the base!" He huffed.
Kim was surprised. She looked off into the distance to see if what Ron was talking about was true. Indeed, the base was mere kilometers away, growing closer still. Kim's face hardened and she stilled. It was time for her to brace herself on the heart break she was sure would come.
XxXxX
"Shego!"
"WHAT!?" Shego shouted from her seat by the window. Drakken shrunk back and scooted a little closer towards his computer. He had been directly next to Shego's ear when he had yelled for her, since it had been the fourth time he had called.
"I had called for you four times..." He whined. Shego sighed and looked back outside.
"What did you need...?" She muttered. Drakken stood straight and beamed brightly as he rushed to his computer. He began pointing vigorously before he turned around and began tying once again. The thief begrudgingly turned around to see what the mad scientist required.
"I finally figured out the algorithm adjustments I need in order to make my henchmen unstoppable!"
"Did somebody say 'Ron Stoppable!?'" Standing at the doorway of the room, Ron stood there with Rufus on his shoulder, both standing proudly. Shego immediately flipped over the back of her arm-chair, falling into a defensive position.
"And where's Kim?" She practically growled the name.
From behind Ron, over the teens head, as he ducked, flew a henchman that landed unceremoniously on the ground. He was soon followed by another that landed a little closer to Drakken. And without warning, just as the scientist was wiping his furrowed brow in relief, another flew into the room and landed on his now crippled form.
One last being entered the room from over Ron's head. Flipping through the air, Kim came in and landed in front of Shego in her own defensive stance, crouched and arms in front of her for protection.
"Oh look its little-miss-perfect." Shego spat but grinned towards the end of her statement. Unfortunately, the smle went unnoticed by the hero before her.
"Far from..." Kim muttered in return. Ron ran towards the computer that the fallen henchman and Drakken were in front of. The blue man was struggling to get up from his position from under the large, muscle and fat filled person on top of him. "Ron, see what you can do to erase those files from the super computer!" She yelled to him. "I'll have to take care of Shego..." Growling at the tone in Kim's voice, Shego leaped at the hero and forced her to the ground.
"And just what do you mean by that?" She whispered in Kim's ear. The hero huffed and turned her head away from Shego. "You can't do anything to stop me."
"Watch me..." Kim pushed the thief away from her with her legs and rushed towards her. Her eyes were beginning to blur as she watched Shego back flip in the air, land on her hand and flip once more, landing in a crouch and lighting her hands. She rushed at the red head, moving towards one of two small room-like sections of the lair where it appeared Draken was eventually planning to hold Kim and Ron. The blonde and the scientist were slowly pushing themselves out of viewing range of this room.
Kim's black slammed against the hard concrete wall and all she could do was shake her head. She looked to where Ron was struggling with Drakken and then to her captor. Kim struggled to free her arms from the slowly growing warmth of Shego's blazing hands. She struggled to look beyond the other woman in order to see what Ron's progress was.
"And here I was under the impression that you weren't interested in him anymore..." Shego snarled under her breath. Turning back to Shego with a growl, Kim stopped and was forced to look away from the pain in the other woman's eyes.
"You know that I never meant to hurt you..." The hero muttered.
"And how do I know that?" Shego purposefully began to gradually intensify the heat emanating from her hands around Kim's biceps. Pushing the hero's arms above her head, Shego slowly began to move her hands up towards Kim's. "How do I know that you weren't just in it-"
"To use you?" Kim looked up at the raven-haired woman with an anger Shego had never seen. "How dare you think I would do that to you..." Just as Shego's hands reach Kim's and her fingers locking with hers, Kim spat, "You know I'm no liar!"
The hero twisted her arms down to force Shego's upside-down and her shoulders to pop. The thief hissed at the pain but looked back up at Kim, making no attempt to free herself. Kim then pushed the other woman backwards and tossed her back towards the wall. She hit the cold concrete surface and another growl of pain and rubbed the back of her neck. She didn't open her eyes, couldn't open her eyes, until she heard the soft click of metal on metal. She looked to her wrists that she now felt suspended by something cold, only to find Kimmie chaining her to the wall.
"So that really was what it all was-" Shego was cut off.
"No!" Kim forced her love to look her in the eyes. "That was never my intention! I promise... I just need you to listen..."
They both sat there in silence for a moment and listened to the noises of Ron and Drakken actually beginning to fight and possibly hurt each other. Shego looked into Kim's eyes, trying to discern if she should really listen. To her everything that she had experienced since they returned from their abyss was nothing but agony; all accept the last time they saw one another. Hearing that Kim's reasoning for saving her life hadn't changed touched her. However, her heart still ached from the belief that Kim had left her apartment in avoidance and hadn't said a word to Shego when she was dropped off was because of disinterest. How was she supposed to feel?
"I know what you're thinking..." Kim muttered as she sat on her knees in front of Shego.
"No you don't..." the Thief snapped at Kim because of her own thoughts aggravating her.
"You're probably thinking I'm avoiding you or I was just using you when we were trapped and that I probably never cared..." she said softly.
"Stop that..." The raven-haired woman said quickly.
"Stop what?"
"Getting in my head. Its creepy..." At this Kim actually chuckled and then stopped. She looked at Shego and then sighed. Leaning forward, Kim pressed her lips to her love's ear, speaking very softly.
"I never wanted to use you for anything... And everything I ever told you was true." Despite her better judgment, Kim's eyes began to water and she could feel tears run over her cheeks. This only caused her to tighten her grip on one of Shego's shackles as she continued. "I have no excuse for just leaving you like that... for just letting you go." Kim looked down and closed her eyes. "And the more I think about it the more I want to strangle myself for giving you any thought that I don't care or that I didn't want you anymore because I'm 'little-miss-perfect' or that you're a villain or- I don't know! I'm sorry! That's all I can say is I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm-"
"Princess..." Shego murmured softly.
Kim looked up at Shego, tears still pouring down her shocked expression. That was the first time the other woman had used one of her pet names for her since they were trapped. It wasn't a tone of mocking, it wasn't a tone of malice and it wasn't a word meant to sting.
"It's okay..." The mercenaries eyes were soft and glittery. The fire had died and was replaced with something else. She wanted to say something else to get rid of the guilt she saw in Kim, to make her stop hurting, to make everything better, but she couldn't think of anything else.
Kim on the other hand was dumbstruck. She starred at Shego for another few moments, her red tresses falling delicately in front of her features. She looked for any sign in those emerald eyes to tell her that Shego was making it up, like it was too good to be true that her love had forgiven her so easily. Slowly she could feel herself lean forward to feel the heat of the other woman's body. Her hand slid up towards Shego's as she began to intertwine their fingers.
Kim knew then that it wasn't too good to be true. After nearly three months of torture, she could be free of guilt and she knew that her love understood. And Shego was the same; she knew from the beginning that Kim never meant to hurt her, that she was simply caught up in excitement and distractions.
They could feel their hearts beating in sync with one another as Kim began to lean a little closer towards Shego.
"Shego... I'm really so-"
"Don't. You don't have to be..."
Just as Kim was about to close the distance between the two of them, just as she was about to finally feel the heat between them on her skin and feel what she did down in the depths of the ocean, Shego's warmth and her love, and her true self, the hero was forced to turn around at the sound of Ron's voice.
"KP! I think I got it! Wade's got the ride waiting for us outside!" His voice was growing more distant as he began to run towards the exit. Alarms and sirens throughout the lair began to sound signaling that all of the emergency exits were about to shut. Kim leaped to her feet to make a break for it before all of the doors shut.
Shego's eyes grew wide and in the back of her mind she began to watched as her Kimmie got up to leave, the conversation all but forgotten. She watched as Kim began to make a break for it and her heart hammered in her chest.
"No... No! Not again!"
Shego lit her hands and wrists, blasting the shackles off. She pushed off of the wall with her feet and tackled Kim to the ground. Without time to react, as Kim fell to the ground, her head impacted with a piece of machinery and she passed out. Shego stood from the floor and held her head as she had almost hit hers.
"Good work Shego!" Drakken cackled as the alarms began to die down. "You have captured Kim Possible! Now we can keep her for interrogation!" Drakken laughed as he wandered to the other holding room, blathering about how he was victorious despite losing the files for his henchmen. Shego looked down at Kimmie, at her Princess with worry gracing her features.
But she managed to smile as she knelt down next to the girl.
"Stupid hero..." She said softly.
XxXxX
To be continued in ch. 12
Next Time: Kim is trapped in the lair with Drakken and Shego. How will she get out?