Author's note:
Right, chapter 3 of 5. This one was originally part of the previous chapter, which, for a time made it the new longest chapter I've ever written. However, I felt it would be better as a chapter in its own right. It would also have been the point that I might have decided to end this update, had I not managed to finish the next two chapters. This time, we're heading out into outer space with space-rock band Hawkwind for the chapter title. The flames burn higher and higher is a lyric from Farneheight 451, a track from their Choose your masques album (a reference to the book of the same name).
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Chapter Thirty-three: The flames burn higher and higher
It had been a long trip back to the volcano lair, during which Shego had started teaching Ru-Ru some other card games, along with playing another round of poker. All in the name of delaying the inevitable. On getting back, she'd given Drakken the final piece of the puzzle, then sat down to eat a late dinner. Now back in her room, with the door securely locked and the naked-mole-shark passed out amidst a sea of cheese puffs on the sofa in front of the new TV, she lay butt naked under the covers.
Slowly Shego ran her hands over her midriff and up towards her voluptuous breasts. It had been far too long since she had actually done this and not being at home meant she was limited to doing things the old-fashioned way; with hands and brain only. However, before her fingers even managed to touch the soft skin of her boobs, she heard the unmistakable voice of Miss Go in the back of her head.
"So, you decided to go for it and push Kim close to the edge," the woman said playfully. "Admittedly, I wasn't sure you would actually do it."
Seriously, when I'm about to get myself off? Shego retorted incredulously.
Miss Go laughed, "remember, Pumpkin, it's your brain. Clearly, you want to think about this before playtime."
She sighed, knowing full well that is was indeed her brain and that, as infuriating as it may be, she would have to deal with the issue before being able to concentrate on something fun. Fine, let's get this over with. What the hell do you want to dissect this time?
"Doy, Cupcake, that little stunt you pulled with Kim."
What about it? I pecked her on the cheek to remind her of how she felt when I did the same thing to her back in Spritzers… On mentioning the second night she had spent with Kimmie, Shego couldn't help but think to herself, Spritzers… I can't believe that was almost a month ago. It feels like it was both yesterday and a lifetime ago…
The thought was then interrupted by Miss Go, "so, was that supposed to be the catalyst to send Kim spiralling into fear? If so, it felt rather half-assed, to be honest."
She slowly exhaled, no. Like I said, that was simply something to remind Kimmie of how she felt back in Spritzers… how she felt about me.
"Don't you mean, how you assume she felt," Miss Go interjected.
Fair point, however, you agreed with me afterwards that Kimmie was definitely flirting with me that night. And we both saw how she reacted when I kissed her. I just made the mistake of leaving her alone… Shego felt an uncharacteristic twinge of guilt upon recalling how she had played the situation in Spritzers. Granted, at the time, it seemed exactly the thing to do. Leave Princess to stew for five minutes, allowing her newfound feelings to bubble inside, like a balloon filling with air, until she had been about to burst. Then swoop back in and pop it with one well-placed pin and shower the hero with desire and lust. Unfortunately, for both of them, Kimmie had somehow managed to suppress all her feelings. If only I hadn't left her… I might have been able to fast track her through the process… fragments of memory from her own long and arduous journey to acceptance flashed through her mind …saved her a lot of torment.
"There's no point in thinking about what you could or should have done," Miss Go said softly. "You need to focus on what you're going to do with the situation as it is."
Yeah, she sighed with a hint of regret, I can't change how things went down that night.
"So, what's the plan, if that wasn't supposed to be the catalyst?"
Well, assuming Nerdlinger doesn't figure out where we are before morning and Kimmie then decides to drop in on us while we're asleep, her minds going to be fixated on that little kiss and the one from Spritzers all night.
"Then come tomorrow…" Miss Go encouraged.
Our little pent up ball of anger and confusion pops over for a visit, we duke it out, I prod her over the whole thing and we see what happens, Shego replied. While we're at it, Drakken's lightning ray might even get destroyed.
"Seriously, that's the extent of your plan?" Miss Go admonished. "That sounds about as reliable as one of Drakken's."
For once, she did not rise to the bait, as she actually agreed. The plan sucked; however, I can't concoct something more concrete until I see how Kimmie reacts tomorrow. We both know there's a chance, even if it's only a small one, that she shows up hell-bent on killing me. In which case, I'll be fighting for my life, not trying to elicit a gay moment from her. I need her angry, not murderous.
"Good, it sounds like you've actually thought things through for once. What if she is murderous?"
I'm not sure, Shego replied truthfully. I probably stop her from killing me while also skewing her towards stopping Drakken. This place goes boom, he and I escape and hopefully next time we meet, she less inclined to kill me.
"Sounds a bit shaky if you ask me, but I can see the problem and why playing it by ear is the only option. However, have you decided what you actually want to happen? What your ideal outcome would be?"
Without realising it, Shego's eyes had closed and her hands began to lightly massage her breasts when an image of Kimmie filled her head. Her mind then gave her a full sensory memory of the light kiss she had planted on the girl's cheek that evening. She could smell the hints of cherry and almond from the hero's flaming red tresses; mixed with subtle traces of rose that must have come from her moisturiser. Feel the warmth of Princess' soft skin against her lips and taste its slight saltiness. Then she saw the girl's cheeks turn red… Shego pinched her nipples and sent a jolt through her body that caused her to shudder.
"Well, that answers that question," Miss Go said playfully.
"Dammit," Shego cursed out loud upon realising what the memory had just done. Her nipples were now solid and she could feel a warmth between her legs; along with a deep-seated lust rise up inside her.
"You're still trying to fight it," Miss Go said in amusement, "I can help with that…"
Shego could only watch in horror as the woman then transformed into a perfect replica of Princess, dressed as she had been today in her red mission outfit; complete with the leather jacket and aviators.
"How do I look?" Kimmie said, the voice too exactly on point.
No, not doing this… not going to happen… while she formed the thought her hands had already started to massage her breasts and her fingers lightly pinch at her nipples. "Urgh," she grunted when she felt another jolt of pleasure course through her body.
Inside her mind, Kimmie flashed her a grin and sensually strutted over to stand right in front of her. "I'll take that to mean that you think I'm hot."
Yes… Shego replied, her voice unsteady… mind struggling to reconcile how wrong this was with how right it felt. She squeezed her breasts together and twisted her nipples to the point that she yelped in pain, "argh!" It was a good thing she always ensured the walls to her bedrooms within Drakken's lairs were soundproofed.
Kimmie's aviators vanished as she slipped off her jacket and Shego found herself staring into those big, perfect olive-green eyes. "Want to see more," the hero teased as she tossed her flaming red mane.
Yes… Shego replied, feeling the dampness in her crotch and the overwhelming desire to begin fingering herself.
The girl wiggled her lithe frame as she pulled her red t-shirt over her head to reveal her taut midriff and her perky breasts; hidden behind a classy blue and black satin bra. "If you want more, it's going to cost you…"
Without hesitation, she slid one hand down and began to lightly massage her whole vaginal area with the flat of her fingers. "Urgh," she grunted as a jolt of pleasure shot through her and doused the fire building inside her with petrol… ok, now show me the goods.
Kimmie laughed as she turned around, bent over and wiggled her ass at her. However, as the girl straightened up, Shego could see her hands seductively reach behind her back and unhook her bra. The hero gave her a sassy smile and a wink over her shoulder, tossed the garment aside and then proceeded to twist her lithe frame from side to side in the most teasing and provocative way imaginable.
I can't like Kimmie, Shego thought, as she slowed her hand motions; holding her level of pleasure and desire steady. She's a hero and I'm a villain. This is so wrong…
"…but so right," Kimmie replied seductively as she turned around to show off her perky breasts and erect nipples. "You know you want me, Shego. Just accept it and you can have me all to yourself."
"Ahhh," Shego moaned as her index finger zeroed in on her clit and sent a wave of pleasure rushing through her. …so… wrong… "urgh!"
"You know you can't resist me," Kimmie whispered as she pressed her breasts together and then began to rub her erect nipples.
Urgh… more… Shego panted, as she began to rub and squeeze at her clit with her thumb and forefinger.
"Ok, but I want to see some fingering," the hero commanded.
This was an unusual position for Shego to find herself in while masturbating. Normally, she was in control of her fantasies. She dominated whatever make-believe woman her brain conjured up or whatever bitch she was watching being fucked in a porno. However, for some reason, be it her struggle to accept that she liked Kimmie or her mutual respect for her as a dominant woman, she found herself at the hero's mercy and did as instructed. Sucking a finger until it was coated in saliva, she gently slipped it inside her soaking pussy, "UHHH!"
Kimmie responded by slipping down her trousers and panties; that matched her bra and sat down with her legs spread. Even though it was all in her own head, the sight of the red-haired vixen sitting naked before her; pussy on full display, almost made Shego pop there and then. With one hand furiously working at her clit, she began to thrust in and out with two fingers. She watched as the hero began to do the same and their short sharp moans began to synch every time a clit was pinched or a g-spot rubbed.
At great speed, Shego felt her orgasm begin to build. Her emerald gaze met with the hero's olive greens and she found herself captivated by those perfect eyes. Nevertheless, she moaned, "so… wrong…"
Only for Kimmie to once more reply, "but so right."
Both of them moaned again and Shego could feel herself getting close. Indeed, all it took was for the hero to seductively say, "are you going to cum for me?" For her to yell…
"YES!" The floodgates opened and a torrent of pleasure swept over her as all her muscles tensed and her mind was hurtled through a corridor of multi-coloured lights at breakneck speed. It took several seconds for her to come back down from the amazing high, but even when she did, several aftershocks rocked her body.
Shego lay in a sweaty heap under her sheets, cheeks a slightly darker shade of green and a glassy look in her eyes. It took several moments before her brain was able to even form the sound, "urgh," let alone for her mouth to actually utter it. A full thirty seconds passed, after which she finally had the capacity to slide her fingers out of her vagina; which had tensed around them like an electric shock had passed through it. She took in a ragged breath and blinked a couple of times before sitting up. The duvet slid off of her shoulders as she took stock of herself. That had felt good… really good. And with this realisation, a single thought passed through her mind, which she immediately vocalised, "dammit!"
##
Kim was in a foul mood. No, scratch that, she'd been in a foul mood for the past three weeks and it did not compare with how she currently felt. After Shego had escaped from her clutches for the second time that day, she had immediately called Wade, only to find out that the bitch's nifty new cloaking device meant he had been unable to track her hovercraft. She had, of course, supplied him with the scant information the green-skinned woman had given to her, but been told that it was not enough for him to give her a location yet. However, he had added it to the simulation he had been running, based on all the tech that had recently been stolen, with the hopes of figuring out what Drakken was currently building and where. For once, she couldn't have cared less about what the mad scientist had been creating, even if it would be a genuine threat to the world. No, this was about one thing and one thing only, Shego.
In the end, Kim had been forced to find a hotel in Chicago at which to spend the night. It had been that, or hitch a ride back to Middleton, something she had not relished the thought of. While she'd done this virtually once a week minimum since turning pro, the whole process from finding a hotel, making a reservation, driving to it through the late rush hour traffic and then checking in, had frayed upon her last nerve to the point that she had stormed up to her room, slammed the door shut and ordered room service. However, even a large pepperoni pizza and bottles of apple sours and lemonade, yeah her mood was that bad she'd resorted to drinking alone in her room, did nothing to help abate her anger or stop the thoughts that had been eating at her brain since she had hung up on Wade. Eventually, she'd climbed into bed, slightly drunk and willed sleep to take her.
Kim lay amidst the foreign sheets of the hotel bedroom but was still very much awake. In hindsight, she probably should have gone home. At least that way she'd be in her own bed and have Pandaroo with whom she could cuddle. Although she doubted it would have helped. Once more, like someone had hit repeat on the CD player, the two tracks featuring the kisses that Shego had planted on her right cheek, played over and over and over.
The first, back in Spritzers a month ago, had come at a time when the green-skinned woman had already driven her into a state of embarrassment so great that she could have put the embarrassment ninjas out of business had she the mind. Everything, from having looked at the waitress and thinking that she had been hot, through Shego asking her who she would rather have kissed, had caused her cheeks to burn brighter than her own hair. And they had been on full display for the woman opposite her to both notice and take advantage of. The woman had then ratcheted things up several notches by flirting with her and highlighting the fact that the waitress, while hot, could not hold a candle to herself. The fact that Kim had agreed with that assessment had been enough to sear a brand on her soul that she had desperately tried and until today managed, to burry.
"I like boys!" Kim yelled angrily as she pummelled the mattress with her fist. Shego simply caught me at a point when I was desperately searching for a friend and used it to mess with my head!
Unfortunately, the memory did not end there. Shego had then slipped out of her booth, reached over and whispered in her ear, causing the hairs on the back of Kim's neck to stand on end and then planted a light kiss on her burning cheek. She could still recall with unwanted detail, the softness of the green-skinned woman's lips touching her skin and the electric shock that had shot through her body. The memory of that happening just once was bad enough, except now it had a companion.
The scene changed and now she stood atop the roof of C.I.S.T; Shego only a few meters across from her. They had traded several blows, although none serious. Like during their previous engagement earlier that day, the green-skinned woman had continued to annoy her with stupid questions regarding her sexuality. Then and Kim still could not figure out why the bitch had managed to root her to the spot with a non-revelation about the fact that she herself was gay. Her moment of shock and stupidity had given Shego all the impetus she'd needed and like a rerun of Spritzers, the woman had flashed her a smile and a wink and then planted a kiss in exactly the same spot as before. Unfortunately, the result, like someone had shoved a metal pole up her backside and then hooked it up to the mains, had been exactly the same as when Shego had kissed her in the bar. Worse yet, Kim knew those two instances were the only time she had ever felt like that. No boy had ever elicited that kind of response from her.
"I'm not gay!" Kim shouted as she hammered her fists into the mattress again. The thought from earlier in the day floated through her mind once more, I can't be gay. This forced her to reiterate her recent mantra, "I like boys!" While still absolutely livid at even having to reaffirm it to herself, at Shego for messing with her head and more so at herself for allowing it to happen in the first place, she could not ignore the desperation that now laced her voice when she said those words. Once I've dealt with that bitch and sent her off to jail, I need to go out and find a nice boy to kiss. Only this time I'll do it myself and find someone more interesting. Matt was such a wet blanket.
Rolling over, her mind seemingly made up and the issue dealt with, Kim closed her eyes and tried to get to sleep. Except her brain it seemed was not done, for after a few minutes of lying in the blackness of her own mind, did she hear the monstrous roar of the Barkin-dragon, quickly followed by the unmistakable laugh of Shego. She glanced around, but could not see either.
Go away! Kim yelled internally, now very much fed up of both anthropomorphic personifications.
"Sorry, Possible," the Barkin-dragon boomed, "but this is for your own good. Someone has to put that villain back in her box."
You're not doing a very good job of keeping her there! Kim spat. While the creature was supposedly on her side, she'd had just about enough of its increasing ineptitude.
"That's all your doing, Princess," Shego said slyly. "If you just admitted that you liked girls, you could give old Stevie-boy the boot and you and I could have some fun."
I LIKE BOYS! She yelled viciously, but again the desperation in her voice was apparent… I can't be gay.
"She likes boys!" the Barkin-dragon roared in agreement.
"But what if…" the small voice in the back of her head whispered.
This was enough for Shego to leap upon. "She likes girls!"
Like an explosion had just gone off inside her head, the two entities burst into view and began to fight once more. It was fast, furious and defied all logic. One moment Shego and the Barkin-dragon would be in front of her; trading blows, only for them to blink out of existence the next and then reappear somewhere else and continue their vicious battle. Kim fell to her knees once more, the same thought from earlier in the day passing through her mind, why is this happening to me?
And like when she had been sitting inside the Sloth, the voice from earlier replied, "because you deserve it."
Kim turned her head and saw the girl from before standing before her; again clad in a Middleton High cheerleaders' outfit. Lisa… she whispered, the same sense of dread that she had experienced earlier in the day starting to fill her… please… not you.
"I'm surprised you even remember me, Kim," the girl spat with venom. "Or am I that one dirty little secret that your brain just won't let you forget, no matter how deep you bury me?"
Lisa… she stammered… why are you…
"Why have I suddenly decided to put in an appearance, after you thought you'd managed to permanently bury me?" the girl replied in a mocking tone. "Why don't I remind you."
Suddenly the ground beneath Kim exploded into sharp fragments and she helplessly began to fall backwards down a dark chasm. She screamed but could do nothing to halt her descent, as the continued battle between Shego and the Barkin-dragon quickly became a faint speck in the distance. Somehow, most likely due to the fact that this was all happening inside her own head, Kim hit the ground face-first. She felt the pain shoot through her body and she cried out, but received no answer. Opening her eyes, she struggled to bring herself up onto her knees. Like a curtain was lifting all around her as she rose, the Middleton High gymnasium slowly came into view. And when she looked at herself, she found that she was wearing her old cheerleading outfit. Her eyes darted around, eventually catching sight of Lisa lounging on the bleachers.
Why have you brought me here? she demanded, but deep down already knew the answer.
"Don't you remember," Lisa mocked.
As much as she wished she didn't, Kim did remember. This was the location of her singular worst high school memory. One she had tried to bury deep inside her mind. One she had desperately tried to hide from the guilt of… from the shame. Lisa… she began, but words failed her.
"You know it's actually kind of ironic, isn't it, Kim," Lisa said mockingly. "That you're now suffering like this. Your own mind at war with itself. Isn't it?"
Lisa… Kim whispered, her voice close to cracking, I'm…
The girl completely ignored her and continued, "actually, it's more than ironic. It's fitting. A fitting punishment for a wretched excuse for a human being."
Lisa… I never wanted to do it…
"But you did anyway. Now you're paying for it. And from what I saw up there," the girl pointed through the roof, where the faint outline of Shego and the Barkin-dragon could still be seen; locked in combat, "you're going to be stuck like this for a long time. I hope it's hell, Kim. Because you deserve nothing less."
Lisa… Kim said, tears breaking through the corners of her eyes. She lowered her head, knowing that nothing she could say would change anything... change what she had done all those years ago. And that the girl had been spot on; she deserved this. However, the words she'd been desperately trying to say did finally tumble out of her mouth, …I'm sorry.
Kim did not sleep a wink that night.