Chapter 13

Kim Possible faced Shego over a table at the mall's food court. The tension from earlier was gone, and she enjoyed just spending time with her. Kim replayed the events at the cinema in her mind as she idly played with her food, and the plot of the movie did not feature prominently.

Kim looked up and was shocked to find Shego looking intently into her eyes, resting her face in her hands almost half-way across the table. Her eyes widened in surprise and she could feel her face heat up. Shego's eyes were pretty, and they were so close. Kim tried to speak up, but her mouth was dry.

"There are golden flecks in your eyes."

"What?" Kim knew she sounded like an idiot.

"I thought I spotted them earlier, but I wasn't sure. The Glow, it causes physical changes. I didn't have green eyes, before. Or skin, for that matter."

Kim tried to get her thoughts back on track. Having her crush look straight into her eyes from a foot away with a smile on her lips had left her flustered.

"Uh, you all got changed by your powers? I mean, there's your skin, obviously, and Mego, too, but the others looked normal. Well, I suppose Wego had red eyes."

"Yeah, all of us were change to some degree or other. Wego probably have more red-tinted skin these days, but how could you tell?"

"I guess there's that. What about Hego? He looked normal."

"With Hego it's more than skin deep. He was changed more than any of us. He looks kinda normal, apart from the hair, but he's really dense."

"Isn't that a little harsh? I mean, I guess he didn't seem like the sharpest guy around, but..."

"No, I mean all his tissues and bones are tougher and denser than normal. He weighs like quarter of a ton. And he's not dense; he's actually really smart."

"Uh, I don't know about that. I mean, he's a manager at a fast food joint." Not to mention he had seemed rather oblivious to certain practical facets of hero game.

"Exactly. That's pretty clever. As a superhero, he needs a job where he can take off at a moment's notice. It's just a fast food place, so it's not like anything terrible will happen if he skips out for a while. And it gives him easy access to cheap calories. He needs to eat a lot, and I mean a lot. You wouldn't believe how much energy he burns just by moving around."

"He didn't really seem all that heavy. He moved like a pretty athletic guy."

"Mm-hm. He's really strong. Well, duh, obviously, but it's not just his Glow anymore. I think he could lift a car without even activating it. Well, a really small car." Shego indicated size with her thumb and forefinger, which presumably wasn't to scale. Kim could lift a car the size of a matchbox without superpowers.

"That's a pretty drastic change. I never even suspected. Nothing like that happened to me when I had his glow. At least I don't think so."

"Well, you only had it for a couple of days. These aren't things that happen overnight."

"I guess that makes sense." Kim thought about her new glow changing her body over time. It was a pretty unreal concept. She tried to picture what the changes might look like, apart from golden eyes. "Ohmygod, am I going to have yellow skin?"

"Maybe. Would that be a problem?"

"It's really not the healthiest of skin tones. That's so not a good look for me." Kim looked at Shego, and her green-tinted skin. "Not that there's anything wrong with the way you look. You don't look... I mean, you look good."

"Maybe it won't be that bad. It could look like a healthy tan." When Kim looked skeptical, Shego continued. "Or maybe your skin won't change at all. We were younger than you when we got the powers, and still in puberty—well, Wego were barely that old. You are, what, seventeen?"

"Almost eighteen." She couldn't emphasize that fact enough.

"So maybe it won't have as big an effect if your body isn't changing anymore."

"Well, I kind of hope I'm not quite done growing yet."

"You're pretty much as tall as me, and I'm not short for a woman. You'll be fine."

"My height isn't the only thing I'm hoping would increase a little more." Kim looked down and pushed out her chest.

"Uh, well, athletic girls tend not to have big, ah, boobs. They suit you just fine. Would you really want to do your acrobatics with extra weight on top, anyway?"

"You're pretty active and you have such beautiful, large breasts." Kim was quite fond of Shego's breasts, and had made most of her opportunities to study them.

"Just, uh, just luck of the genes, I guess." The way Shego blushed suggested she, too, remembered those occasions.

Kim thought maybe she should be blushing, too. She had just complimented Shego's breasts, in public, and her intention had most certainly been flirtatious. She wasn't feeling the least bit embarrassed, though. All her earlier nervousness and doubts had vanished somewhere. She was, perhaps for the first time in her dating history, feeling like an adult rather than a teen girl.

It had to be Shego's behavior that was making her feel so bold. She was bashful and hesitant, but she didn't seem to mind Kim's overtures too much. It made Kim feel like she could push a little. Really, now that she reflected on it, Shego had said that they couldn't date because she was her teacher, not that she wasn't interested. It sounded like an excuse. She certainly seemed keen to spend time with Kim, and was clearly enjoying it.

Kim remembered her original attempt at seducing Shego; she had failed to work out the nerve to really go for it, and if Shego hadn't met her more than half-way, it would have been a total bust. This time things were going to be different, because both of them were different. Kim very deliberately ran her eyes up and down Shego's upper body.

"Well, you definitely won the lottery when it comes to good genes. You are the most beautiful woman I've ever known."

"I, uh, thank you." Shego's blush intensified. "Oh! But we are getting sidetracked. I wanted to ask you about your power."

"It's not as interesting as you. I've known you for years, now, but I don't really know much about you as a person."

Shego just barreled over her comment. "I always thought that the powers me and my brothers got was all there was, you know? It's just fascinating to me that there's more. And I find it interesting that my brothers all got full-body Glows and we both have Glows that only affect our hands. Or can you extend it further? I know Hego can light up only parts of his body."

"I think it's only my hands. I haven't really tried to do more, but it feels like it's just my hands, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about."

"Now that you mention it, Adrena has glowing hands, too. Is the full-body glow like a guy thing?"

"I don't see why it would be. I mean, how or why would a magic space rock even discriminate like that? It's probably just chance."

"Yeah, I suppose." Kim reached out to touch Shego's hand. She again felt the familiar tingle before Shego pulled her hand away. Maybe Shego was right and it was caused by their powers. "Does your power react with those of your brothers', too?"

"Not that I've noticed, really. But it definitely reacted to Lynn's Glow." Shego put her face in her hands and sighed. "How are we going to help my brothers?"

"I don't know. Yet. But we will figure out a way."

"Were my brain scans of any help?"

"I'm not sure, but we can find out." Kim pulled out her Kimmunicator to contact Wade. The new model was awkward to use when not worn, so she put it on her wrist and placed her arm on the table so Shego would be included.

"Kim. She... Miss Go."

"Hi, Wade. Have you guys found out anything about the brain scans?"

"Well, yes and no, Kim. I mean, it's obvious that something's been done to her brain, but I wouldn't know where to start to reverse it, and neither does your mother or her colleagues."

"I don't want it reversed!"

"No, no, of course not. We mean your brothers. You do want them turned back, right?"

"Of course I do, Kimmie. I'm sorry I overreacted. I just... I just don't want to go back to what I was. Not when I have... so much more to look forward to." Shego laid her hand on Kim's.

Kim didn't know what to think. Between what Shego had said and her hand sending sparks through her body, she felt sure Shego wanted more than friendship from her. She tried to speak, but words failed her.

"Shego... I..."

"Hey, there you are." Ron sat himself down next to Kim.

Kim yanked her hand away from Shego's—accidentally ending the call to Wade—and sat bolt upright, startled. She turned to look at Ron, her sudden panic soon giving way to annoyance at her friend's poor timing. She noticed Ron was accompanied by Felix, who maneuvered his wheelchair to take a place at the end of the table. His friendly smile betrayed no evidence of noticing they were interrupting anything.

"Oh, hi, Felix. I didn't know you were about."

"I just ran into Ron and decided to keep him company since you were at a movie. How was it, by the way?"

"I enjoyed it. You just spent the entire time at the arcade, didn't you?"

"Guilty as charged." Kim notice that Felix was looking from Shego, to her, to Ron, his smile a little unsure.

"This is Miss Go, the new substitute teacher." Kim gave him a significant look. "You might recognize her from when we fought Adrena Lynn. I don't know if Ron filled you in, but it's a bit of a long story."

"Uh, yeah, I recognized her. We were wondering what she was doing at our school. Ron explained it to me, but, uh, maybe it would be good to hear it from you, too?"

Felix and Ron were good friends, but Kim knew Felix was smart enough to know Ron's take on some things wasn't necessarily the most objective.

"She got hit with a personality reversing device, and she's now as good as she used to be bad." It was a little simplistic, but Kim had explained the matter enough times that she was getting tired of it. Then the other thing Felix had said hit her. "Wait, you recognized who she was at school?"

"Well, yeah, obviously. We've met before, and she has a pretty distinctive look."

"You didn't worry or call the police or anything?"

"Nah, we all figured you had it handled. Mostly we were just curious." Now Kim wondered how many people at school knew who the new teacher was.

"Uh, yeah, I do. We were just trying to figure out how to help her brothers, who were turned evil." Kim saw Felix's eyes flick towards Ron for a second. It wasn't entirely surprising Felix had heard of the incident. "Yeah, it was the same device, or at least one based on it."

"Do you think you'll need access to the device?"

"It's starting to look that way. That's a problem."

"You can't just take it from the bad guys? Isn't this pretty much what you do for a hobby?"

"I wish it was that simple." Kim wondered if she wanted to burden Felix with the details. Then again, Felix was a pretty smart cookie, and might be able to help figure things out. "First of all, this version of the Attitudinator is point and shoot, apparently. We can't really risk having it used on us. Having it used on Shego probably wouldn't be that bad..."

"How can you even say that?"

Kim saw the hurt and shock on Shego's expressive face, the way her eyes threatened tears, and hurried to explain herself. "I meant tactically. I don't think you'd help them even if you were turned into your old self. This is the kind of situation where we've collaborated before. They probably wouldn't even want to use it on you. Me, though... I really don't know what I would do."

Shego was different enough, and she shuddered when she remembered what Ron had been like when he was turned evil. She didn't even want to imagine what she might turn into.

"Another problem is that the villain behind this, Electronique, has some heavy duty help. There's Shego's brothers, obviously, Team Go. They have superpowers, and we don't really want to hurt them. Fighting them won't be easy."

"A villain turning your friends and family against you. Sounds familiar."

"Yeah, I guess it does. Which brings us to the third problem: she also recruited Adrena Lynn."

"Oh."

"And that pretty much means it's got to be just Shego and me, because we are the only people I know her mind-control power doesn't work on."

"Oh, come on, KP. You don't think I'm going to let you face them without me, do you?"

"I really don't want to have to fight you again, Ron." Not least because he was really very difficult to fight when he wasn't himself, and she wasn't sure she could defeat him without seriously harming him.

"Well, then I'll just have to make sure to not get hit. Dodging bad guys and running away is what I do best."

"The stakes are much too high, Ron."

"All the more reason to have all the help you can, KP."

"No, he's right, Ron. Providing targets for Lynn is just a bad move. I don't think you want to be her puppet again any more than I do."

"Speaking of which, I've been meaning to ask, and I understand if you'd rather not talk about it..."

"You're wondering what it was like."

"Yes. You don't have to..."

"No, it's all right, Kim. It was... it was strange." Felix ran his hand through his short brown hair. "I was still me, or I thought I was still myself, and I recognized you and everything, but it just seemed to make sense to do what Lynn wanted me to. I knew what she wanted, somehow, and helping her just seemed so reasonable to me."

Shego broke in from across Kim, and she turned to look at her. "I felt something like that, when she first used her power on me. For a moment, it seemed like helping her rather than Kimmie was the more sensible thing to do. But I managed to snap out of it. I think my power helped."

"Well, that didn't happen to me. I wasn't struggling against her control or anything. I didn't even feel like I was being controlled. I was just the same old me, doing the thing that seemed to make the most sense. Of course, none of it makes any kind of sense anymore. I remember what I did, but not why I did it, how I justified it to myself at the time. It's kind of like being in a dream. All the crazy, illogical things seem to make sense, until you wake up."

Kim was struck by how similar Felix's description of being mind controlled was to the way Shego had described her life before Electronique had turned her good. In a way, the Attitudinator was also a mind-control device; it had made Team Go serve Electronique like Ron and Felix had served Adrena. Was it just that serving her seemed like the sensible thing to do to the former heroes with their new perspective? Kim looked at Shego. Setting up as a school teacher probably wouldn't have occurred to the old Shego, even if she had a relevant degree.

"Uh, yeah. So, really, we can't risk taking anyone with us. It's going to have to be a two woman job."

"Don't be too hasty, though. You have lots of friends, and we all want to help, if we can. Maybe we can find some way around her powers."

"What he said, KP."

"We... we can probably take a while to get ready. Electronique likes to be prepared. That last attack was so out of the blue that I'm not sure it was part of her plan, and given it failed, I think she is going to take her time preparing for the next one."

"Well, I suppose you know her better than me. Are you sure you want to risk leaving your brothers in her hands for any longer?"

"My brothers seemed to be fine when we tussled. I'd rather we do things right than mess it up rushing it. Given her device, we might not get another chance if we fail."

"There is that. We can't wait for too long, though. If she really likes to make careful plans, we should probably strike before she's ready."

"True, but we don't even know where she is. I'd suspect Go City, but we are going to need to narrow it down."

"I'll call Wade again, maybe together we can find some way to track her down. We will stop Electronique and Adrena Lynn, and we will get your brothers back."

Kim just hoped they'd manage to do it before something worse happened.