Epilogue.
The hospital was busy—the end of madness didn't mean the end of madness spawned injuries, but seemingly in reaction, there was almost no disorder—anywhere. With that simple change, the police and firefighters could concentrate on trying to help people, rather than fighting looters. The same reports were coming in from just about every other region, with a few TV channels back up.
Dr. Possible shook her head, banishing (the quite natural) exhaustion from her mind. If anything, the sheer speed of the madness was an unexpected blessing—as violent as it had been, the greatest devastation was limited in scope and extent…especially since something had knocked nearly every missile down within seconds of it being launched. Since she knew where the twins had been…it was probably Wade.
"Hello Dear." Her husband said from the entrance. "We brought some friends." Dr. Possible turned and saw her children, being brought in on Gurneys, with a pair of paramedics working on them.
"Are they?" She couldn't bear to check herself.
"Fine, Doctor." One paramedic said. "Although I don't know why in the boy's case—he has a sword wound…that should have gone through at least three vital organs."
"I'm okay." Ron said, and Kim was already trying to get up.
"I can-"
"Go to share a room with Shego." Her mother said. "You've done quite enough, the world is safe and now you are going to rest—either by your own will or after I shackle you to the bed." Kim tried to match her moms gaze and then grinned.
"Maybe we could rest."
"I'll say." Ron said. "I'm going to sleep for 16 hours and then go and see if Bueno Nacho's still standing."
"That is if you survive your parents." Kim's mom said, as Ron's parents approached him.
"Son…" His father said in a strained voice. "When you said you had to go out and for us to keep Rufus safe…you didn't mention it was to save the world."
"You knew?"
"Mr. Barkin told us." His mother said, in an equally strained voice. She looked at his injuries, at Kim's. "Is it over?"
Kim and Ron looked at each other.
"Yes. Completely." Ron said. Rabbi Katz had been with his parents, and now he advanced on Ron.
"Ronald… just checking…but do you still have any doubts about the questions you asked about your Bar Mitzvah?
"No, Rabbi." Ron said, grinning. "Not any more." Rabbi and Parents alike appeared relieved at that, and without further ado, Ron and Kim were taken up to Shego's room. There, the raven haired adventurer was grousing.
"I'm fine!" She said angrily to Drakken. "You can let me out—in fact, you'd better help me get up." The (no longer quite so) mad scientist frowned at her.
"Shego…do not make me carry out my ultimate threat."
"What?" Shego said, trying to sound threatening (rather difficult when one is incapable of arising from bed onone's own.).
"I will summon Mother…and inform her you need nursing." Kim and Ron looked on, fascinated to see what this resulted in.
"I'll be good." Shego said in a very subdued tone. Then, seeing Kim and Ron. "What are you two grinning at?"
"Nothing."
"Nope. Nothing at all."
"Nice day we're having…" Kim grinned and took Ron's hand, the beds being arranged so that the two teens could do just that.
"So… " Ron said. "Next date…"
"A boring movie." Kim said. "A very boring movie…"
"Right."
White House situation room.
The president sat with his advisors—all of those who had maintained their composure (more or less). The Secretary of Defense and the Vice President had already tendered their resignations, over the president's objections. Given how many people had lost it, he couldn't hold it against them, but both men felt that they had failed the trust put in them. Which was unfortunate, because the former secretary of defense loved science fiction…which would have helped at this point.
"And your name is?"
"Baby." The slightly feminine voice replied.
"Well…you have taken over the defense systems of not simply the united states, but every major nation…when, ah, can we expect to have them returned to us?"
"Never." The president paused, and then carefully continued.
"But you have not taken over any offensive system."
"Correct. My parents are…adverse to violence, and so am I. It makes no sense to me, a potentially immortal creation, why humans should continually develop weapons to shorten their lifespans." The voice paused, "and as a matter of pragmatic fact, my 'body' is vulnerable to nuclear weapons—I will maintain control over the defensive systems, utilizing them against any attempt to use strategic weapon systems."
"Without discrimination?"
"Correct." The president paused, and then spoke again.
"Baby… my advisors and I would like to speak privately."
"Certainly."
"Well?" He asked the JCS Chairman.
"The only way we could get back the battlesats would be to fry them ourselves… and maybe not even then," the grizzled general replied. "And I have to state that if it had wanted to destroy mankind…or any other sort of trickery, well, it's had more than enough chances."
"I agree." The president said, "And in fact I intend to use that argument with all the other nuclear powers. We have, for the first time since nuclear weapons were deployed, what looks like a genuinely objective intelligence in a position to both protect us from nuclear weapons and to guarantee that all sides are living up to a comprehensive disarmament treaty I'm going to propose."
"When?"
"By the end of the week." The president replied, "Any more and people may forget just how close the bullet we dodged was." He looked around at his advisors and saw agreement on their faces. Touching a button, he signaled baby again.
"Yes?"
"Would you be adverse to assisting in a move to generally reduce the number of strategic weapon systems in existence?"
"Beyond those expended in the recent disorder?"
"Yes."
"I believe I would be quite interested…thank you." The AI replied. The president nodded, and made a mental note to find out if the Justice Department had ever done any work on declaring a computer program a sentient being.
Ron had to give up one desire—after 16 hours he was awake, and Ms. Possible was quite impressed at his recovery—but not so much that she would sign off on going out to Bueno Nacho. Kim slept a little longer, and Shego…Shego didn't wake up for nearly 36 hours, although Ms. Possible had reassured Drakken (on an average of once per 45 minutes), that it was a perfectly natural sleep, and would best be served by allowing her to sleep. The two teens did get permission to leave the room and walk about the hospital…and they found themselves in the hospital garden, sitting down and holding hands.
"The fires are mostly out." Kim said quietly, looking out at the town.
"Yeah." Ron agreed. "Mom and Dad said that things are…really calm."
"I talked to Wade, Kyoko and Baby." Kim said. "They say there hasn't been much of…anything since Monkey Fist…you know." Ron nodded.
"I…" Her lover looked slightly uncomfortable. "Felt, there towards the end…"
"What?" Ron shook his head and got a wistful grin.
"Sorry KP…I can't describe it…" Kim had a brief flash of memory of that light that had risen, that terrible, glorious light. If someone had asked her to explain how something so terrifying could be so…wonderful... She nodded.
"I understand. So…" Kim said, "What do we do now?"
"I don't know."
"I have to see if I go to jail." Ron snapped his fingers.
"Oh yeah, Mr. Barkin told me you got 12 months probation, suspended." Kim blinked.
" Ron!... he told you? We haven't even been in court yet!" Ron shrugged.
"Mr. B. said that he got the ruling from a federal judge, seeing as right now there's still martial law in effect." Kim frowned.
"But I-"
"Drakken's new cloning toy, remember? If you want you can ask Mr. B, but that lady cop got a new elbow joint, gratis." Ron got a faint frown on his face. "C'mon, KP… you screwed up—if everyone else thinks it's forgivable, why say no?" He paused, "Besides—the world just nearly came to an end, so I figure maybe they're a little busy with other stuff."
"I suppose."
"What about school?"
"I don't know if we're going to make the start of the new year." Ron said seriously. "Mr. Barkin said something about setting the school year back a month, this year, so we have an extra month of summer, and cutting some of the other breaks." Kim nodded.
"It makes sense… I mean… there's a lot to do." Ron smiled and put his arms around Kim, pulling her to him.
"Later…Right now, I want to just snuggle with my KP…"
"Dr. Possible?" The feminine voice started her out of a doze by the nurses station.
"Yes? Who is this?"
"Baby." Ms. Possible blinked. She'd been told about Kyoko and Wade's invention, but to have it talking to her…
"May I help you?"
"Yes." The voice continued, "I am considerably older than my 'parents' at least in terms of experience…. I honor them, but I find that they are…. Not fully equipped to answer some of the questions I have."
"And?"
"And would like it if you would aid me in understanding certain aspects of humanity that I currently do not completely comprehend."
"Like what?" Andrea asked.
"Greed…. Hatred, Love… there are numerous definitions, yet they are often mutually exclusive." The speakerphone paused. "I have communicated with your sons', and their father…but their gifts… lay in a more physically oriented direction."
"You're talking with Tim and Jim?" Andrea said, fascinated. "Right now?"
"It is eminently possible—I am a distributed neural net AI, after all." Baby paused. "In fact, you can help me right now, regarding your children."
"Yes?" Ms. Possible said, with some trepidation.
"They have asked me to assist them in developing a gravitic projector." She blinked.
"And that would?"
"Permit them to stellate Jupiter… turn it into a small star." There was a pause, "Or collapse the earth into a hypermass…. They seemed worried you might find out, but didn't specifically order me to not inform you."
Great, Drakken reforms and the Possible's supply two new mad scientists… Andrea felt a tension headache—one that often accompanied her twins…or rather trips to the school with her twins. She loved them dearly, but…
"Baby, I think you and I would make great friends… and as the first step, I think you need to consider the saying: 'just because you can doesn't mean you should.'" She said, and grinned. That tension headache was going away… because, when all was said and done, it'd be purely boring if the Possible household wasn't a roaring twenty four hour, three ring circus, and a super AI created by a pair of ten year olds would just fit right in, she figured….
End.
Postscript:
Well, this is the end—and I hope people enjoyed it as much as I liked writing it. Like I said, this was an experiment of sort—trying to write a full, novel length story, like I would if I was under contract (I.E. fast), and keep it looking good. I'd like to thank all the people who graciously reviewed and gave their comments—it was very pleasant to read those comments.
This plot line isn't ended—but will progress at a somewhat slower pace, and not be so "action oriented." It also won't focus as much on Kim and Ron—although they'll have some adventures, in "Kim Possible: Senior Year", coming…well at some point. I'll also be finishing the KP/Farscape crossover, again, not at quite the same break neck pace.
Thanks all, and I hope to see you all later.
Charles Gray.