I apologize for the unacceptably long wait.
Kim's reaction to what happened was a drastic deviation from my original plotline.
The task of figuring out a plausible series of events to get this detour back on track led to some procrastination and admitted distraction.
That aside, I've gotten a portion of the new plot written. I'll see how far it'll stretch...
Mandatory Disclaimer: The only character I own is MD. I do not own any name brands/movies/TV shows that may be mentioned.
...Monique's House...
MD walks into his living room to find his daughter watching the early morning newscast on a popular single digit television station.
"What's going on that has you watching the news?" he asks, eyeing his child quizzically.
"Just the usual officer involved shootings, celebrity arrests, and redundant weather reports" Monique replies flatly "You'd think there would be more important things to address than a twenty percent chance of rain and which has-been got a DUI."
MD blinks twice and says in a way only he can. "Girl, what's wrong with you?"
"What is wrong with me? That would depend on your point of view."
The concerned father grabs his daughter by the shoulders and stares hard into her eyes. He asks carefully "...Who are you?"
"Monique."
He raises an eyebrow. "You sure about that? Cuz my daughter doesn't watch that, doesn't talk like that, and doesn't look at me like...that, which is creepy BTW."
"What are you implying?"
His expression darkens, a hard edge replacing the smooth quality of his voice. "I'm 'implying' that you're not my baby girl."
The evil teenager pauses at her father's uncharacteristic display. She cannot explain the feeling welling up inside of her. The way her father is speaking to her, the way he is looking at her, is...unsettling. "Fath-...daddy, I'm right here."
His eyes widen, grip falters. "Monique, what happened to you?"
"My last mission with Kim was not completely successful."
The evil sidekick goes on to tell him what happened in the Himalayas, how she was changed, most likely permanently, and the effects it had on her brain, her state of mind.
The words on her tongue feel heavy, grave in the telling.
She dismisses it.
MD breaks his gaze and takes a step back. "So you're you, but not you, and you might never be you again."
"An excellent summary." the evil teen says in a sarcastic monotone.
His face reveals a pain she does not recognize. He pulls her close. "I'm sorry, Baby Girl, this must be hard for you."
"No, not really."
MD shakes his head. "Go ahead and keep telling yourself that, BG." [baby girl]
Monique pushes him away. "I don't need to delude myself. I'm fine."
The contrary is obvious, but her father knows it is best not to insist.
He walks out of the room in an aimless haze paying no attention to where he is going, falling victim to a sudden onset of shock.
MD ends up in his bedroom.
He lies down and squeezes his eyes shut, hoping, praying, that he hasn't lost the one person he has left to love.
Monique furrows her brow, thinking it odd that her father would just walk away like that without saying something stupid or suggestive.
An annoying vibrating sensation interrupts the thought. She pulls her phone out of her back pocket and answers the incoming call. "Hello?"
"Monique!" slips through Ann Possible's composure. She takes a quick breath to steady her frayed nerves. "Is Kim with you? She...she didn't come home last night."
The evil teen has no idea where Kim ran off to after she forced her to have sex. "Yes," Monique lies "she didn't call you?" Knowing the answer she adds in the best imitation of her former self she can manage "I'm sorry. Kim and I were working on a project and lost track of time. She ended up sleeping over and forgot to let you know."
That doesn't sound like Kim, but the neurosurgeon trusts Monique enough to take her word for it. "Can I speak with her? She isn't answering her phone."
Monique continues her effortless lie "Kim is in the shower right now, although I haven't heard any calls coming through. Her phone has been acting up lately. Sometimes I can't get a hold of her either."
Her daughter hasn't mentioned anything like that, but that is the reassuring answer she is desperately looking for, too enticing to doubt.
The worried mother breathes a sigh of relief, although there is still an underlying trace of anxiety evident in her voice. "Please remind her to get permission next time, she gave James and I quite a scare. Does she plan on staying for the weekend?"
"Yes, if that's okay. We haven't made much progress on the project and it's due on Monday."
"That's fine, have fun."
Monique hangs up on her and frowns.
Where is Kim, she wonders.
Dishonesty bought her some time. She has two days to find her before the situation is out of her hands and impossible to control.
...A Remote Construction Site...
The door to Shego's room forcefully swings open in a loud indignant outburst. "Shego!" Drakken shouts "Why are you still in bed? You were supposed to meet me for the briefing hours ago! Wake u-!"
The mad scientist briefly falls silent at the sight of a swath of orange hair leading underneath the sheets, beneath the sheets right next to his most trusted henchman.
The screaming yell that ensues reaches decibels rivaled only by Dementor. "I come in here and find you sleeping with the enemy?!"
Shego jumps up swiftly uncovering herself, throwing the blankets over the confused groggy teenager. "What? Is that what you think this is?"
Drakken violently stabs the air with an accusing finger. "How long has Kim Possible been in your pants Shego? How long?!"
With both hands the henchman gestures below her navel. "Kim has never been in here!"
Drakken continues as if her words fail to reach him. "All this time, my failures. It's all your fault! You've been working with that, that teenage whore!"
Shego steps forward and grabs Drakken by the collar, the heat radiating from her hands nearly setting the fabric aflame. Her words and the threat they carry are clear and unmistakable. "Kimmie is not a whore. I am not sleeping with her. And I don't have to explain anything to you."
Moisture collects on the mad scientist's forehead, the heat of anger replaced with the cold sweat of fear. He smiles nervously "Y-yes, of course. This was just a...a misunderstanding."
Shego's glare does not soften. Her grip tightens and begins to encroach on his throat. The rest of his apology quickly spills out as though his life depends on it. "I'm sorry I accused you of betrayal, Shego! You're the most skilled and loyal henchman money can buy!"
Drakken cringes, expecting to be seared beyond recognition, but to his surprise, the sweltering heat of his henchman's grip dissipates.
His employee lets go of him and remarks "This is why I tell you to knock before barging in my room. It's to keep crap like this from happening." She waves him off "Get out."
The villain takes his leave, head spinning. He can't think of any other reason why Kim Possible and his favored henchman would be in bed together.
He can hardly believe what he saw to begin with.
Perhaps, he contemplates, Kim and Shego's relationship is not as one dimensional as it seems.
It is a difficult concept for him to imagine, but as long as it does not interfere with his plans for world domination, he sees no reason to waste time trying to understand it.
He pushes it back into a corner of his mind where it will not distract him and goes back to the much more important task at hand, getting his lair prepped for his next deranged scheme.
Shego closes the door to her room and grumbles under her breath. "It's too early for that crap."
The villain turns and notices that Kim hasn't emerged from the pile of bedding. She pulls on the sheets, uncovering the hero, and is met with a blank stare.
After a few seconds, Kim stirs. "...Did Drakken just call me a what I think he did?"
"You should hear what he calls you when you blow up lair after lair." Shego replies in her usual manner of sarcastic insolence. Kim gazes up at her with a wounded, pathetic look. It bothers the henchman enough to add "It was a joke, Princess."
The redhead doesn't appreciate it, but it doesn't irk her for long before another question presses for an answer. "Why does everyone always assume we're together?"
Monique and Drakken were not the only ones to have that misunderstanding. Kim even had to talk Ron out of it at one point, not long before the situation with Monique began some months ago.
The green tinted woman shrugs "I don't see it. Believe me, If I knew would have done something about it." Her face wrinkles in disgust "The last thing I need is people thinking I'm some kind of pedophile. Hurry up and turn eighteen already."
The hero's demeanor darkens weakening her posture.
She wishes she was.
If Kim was of age, she wouldn't be in Shego's bedroom. The devastating event that drove her there would not have had the same crushing impact on her life.
Kim stands and gets dressed, desperately wishing. No amount of fantasy will change what happened, but the redhead is reluctant to acknowledge her stark reality.
She looks over to her nemesis and says softly. "I'm going to...walk around for a while."
Kim needs to be alone and Shego recognizes that. She lets the teenager be without further harassment.
Kim spends the morning wandering the compound, doing everything she can to avoid thinking about what evil Monique did to her.
Every time it comes up she struggles to force it down, each resurgence more agonizing and debilitating than the last.
Confronting it leaves her completely immobilized, helpless as reality closes in on her, threatens to strangle her.
She can't do it.
She forces down another wave, refusing to deal with what was done to her, refusing the thought of how her mother and father might feel once they are made aware.
...Sunday...
Kim is startled by something warm smacking her across the face. The sound of crinkling plastic wrapping gives it away.
The hero picks up the microwavable burrito and quickly dodges an incoming water bottle.
"Stop throwing food at me!" Kim exclaims, the little patience she has left worn through in an instant.
Shego's smirk curls down into a frown "You haven't eaten since you came here and I'm not about to play nurse when you pass out. I've done that once already and it's not going to happen again."
Kim scowls and rips open the wrapper. She takes a large bite. "There, happy?"
The villain's gaze hardens "Look, Kimmie, you can't stay here. Unless you plan on dropping out of high school and working for Drakken, you have to go home."
The redhead's grip around the burrito tightens squeezing some of the bean and cheese filling out of the tortilla. "You don't understand."
"I do. You're running away like a child." She crouches down to the teenager's eye level. "It's not going to go away, no matter how badly you want it to."
Kim looks away, body trembling, her expression intensely pained "I know that. I just...I don't know what to do." She looks back at Shego and her concerns pour out "What do you say to someone after they, they rape you? We go to school together, we have classes together. When I think about seeing her I-" a painful lump in her throat abruptly cuts her off.
Shego slowly shakes her head. "You don't know how you're going to face her after what she did to you." Her voice lowers into an icy tone "The next time I see her, I'm going to kill her."
Kim's head snaps up. She raises her voice without thinking. "No!"
The outburst surprises the villain. "No? What do you mean 'no'?"
"I don't want her dead. I...I just..."
"What do you want?"
Kim grinds her teeth straining her jaw. She is unable to find an answer.
Shego takes it down a notch from murder. "Don't you think she at least deserves a thorough beating?" Her eyes narrow. "I think a near death experience would be good for her."
"Good for you maybe."
"You don't want payback? Revenge?" She huffs. "Of course not. That would be the wrong thing to do, right? God you make me sick."
"I'm sorry I'm not some heartless witch that only cares if her paycheck is signed every month." Kim retorts bitterly.
Shego leans in very close to the young woman "I'm going to let one that go, Kimmie." Her voice drops to a cold undertone. "You're obviously not thinking straight."
Kim turns away from her. "Just leave me alone."
The henchman stands. "Go ahead and mope." She takes a few steps and stops for a moment. Without facing the teenager she says "You know Kim, I didn't think you'd be this pathetic."
Her words stab the young woman. The hero clenches her teeth, frustrated with herself, disappointed.
She swallows hard and forces herself to eat what is left of her microwavable meal.
Shego reaches the edge of the towering platform, the stretch of scaffolding Kim has made her home for the past day and a half.
The villain steps off into the air, landing gracefully below.
She barely has time to blink before several of her fellow henchmen run past scrambling to get away from something, someone, blabbering about an intruder.
The alarm system has yet to be installed, the compound still in the early stages of construction.
Shego sighs. One "guest" is more than enough, she believes, two is just excessive.
The fact that her coworkers are running away isn't a good sign, however, they aren't known for their stalwart courage in braving the hazards of their occupation.
The foremost henchman doesn't have to wonder for long. The intruder comes walking down the open corridor, dragging something that was picked up along the way.
Shego narrows her eyes into a heated glare "What are you doing here?"
"Where is she?" Monique asks, ignoring the question directed at her first.
"Who?"
"You know who."
"I don't know what you're talking about." the villain insolently responds.
The evil teen tires of the act "Stop playing dumb. It doesn't suit you."
"I'm more interested in what suits a rapist like you." Shego says, the lines in her expression deepening into a malevolent scowl.
The sidekick's eyes widen slightly. "Rapist?" It passes quickly. "Before we start calling each other names, I believe this belongs to you." She drops what she dragged over, an unconscious Dr. Drakken.
Shego doesn't care what happens to her boss at the moment. The only thing she can think about is a beating the girl in front of her into a bloody remnant of a human being.
Her jaw sets, straining to retain a measure of composure. "You look like crap. Let me guess, you came to see Kim to make yourself feel better."
The young woman doesn't respond and Shego didn't expect her to.
She continues "I don't think seeing how screwed up she is is going to help you sleep at night." Her concluding words spit out in a seething hiss "You did that to her and you're going to have to live with it."
To Monique, Shego isn't making any sense. Her altered mind cannot identify the persistent emotion that is driving her to see her girlfriend, what has been plaguing her since that Friday night she was with Kim.
The evil young woman gives the villain a strange look. "What I gave Kim was something she had wanted for a long time." A biting smirk spreads across her face. "If I remember correctly, she really enjoyed herself."
After a comment like that, Shego is done talking. She cries out as she violently lunges at Monique.
Kim recognizes that sound, a sound she only hears when her nemesis gets serious. She turns to where the sound came from and leans over the edge of the scaffold.
Shock and horror flash over her face.
A breathless whisper barely makes it past her lips "Monique."
Kim is frozen, paralyzed with indecisive fear. She watches as they exchange blows, Shego steadily gaining control with every move she makes.
The villain dominates.
Metal claws rip through fabric and flesh, plasma singes hair and threatens to burn whatever skin is left exposed.
Shego's vengeance on behalf of Kim is relentless, merciless, cruel.
The darker skinned girl is faltering, the fight quickly becoming a one-sided slaughter.
Kim doesn't have time to think about what to say.
At this rate Monique will die!
The hero jumps down and skilfully lands between them, immediately putting a stop to it.
"Shego, that's enough." Kim says firmly.
She looks back to Monique. Her sidekick's legs are shaking, her eyes wavering in and out of focus. Droplets of blood fall from multiple places spotting the ground red.
Powerful conflicting reactions pull the hero, threatening to rip her in two.
A part of her believes that Evil Monique deserves every bit of that, but another part remembers the way she used to be, the young woman she fell in love with, someone who would never deserve this.
Kim's throat tightens, her mouth a dry paste.
Standing there between her nemesis and the woman who raped her, she cannot reconcile the next action to take.
Shego's eyes narrow in scrutiny, her tone barely credulous. "You still love her, don't you." Kim's eyes widen. She doesn't know. Fed up with her lack of insight, the villain elaborates impatiently. "Why else would you come down here to save her?"
The redhead clenches her fists. She doesn't want this love anymore. "I...I don't."
"You do." Shego slips past Kim and slams her shin into the side of Monique's head before she has time to react, dropping her. "Fine, do what you want with her."
She steps over the limp body and picks up the other unconscious form, Dr. Drakken, and carries him down the corridor where the evil teenager came slung over her shoulder.
Kim kneels down over Monique.
Tears come without warning, dampening her sidekick's bloody vest.
The teenager chokes through a sob and presses her forehead into the unconscious young woman's chest.
To be continued...
I've been forgetting to capitalize Shego's pet names, sorry about the shameful neglect of proper grammar.
jim89 mentioned in a review that Shego might kill Monique for what she did. Whether or not she would actually go through with it, I thought it likely she would at least suggest it.
Remember how I said in my comments at the end chapter nine that it wouldn't take another eight/nine chapters for K&M to sleep with each other? (It doesn't seem right to count the rape)
I lied...not initially, but those words may not ring as true as I intended.
I have no idea if I'm going in the right direction with this story. What little confidence I had to begin with is deteriorating.
Please review and let me know. I could use some helpful advice right about now. I consider valid criticism to be helpful as well.