Chapter Two: Awakened

Kim bounced from foot to foot as the armor pieces gently slid into the flames. With conscious effort, Kim calmed herself and stripped bare. Then, her mother looked up for a moment from the forging and smiled before she spoke, "Kappa, iota, mu, one, one, seven, Pandaroo…"

Kim blushed for a split second before a panel behind the younger redhead slid open to reveal a black body glove. Once Kim touched the undersuit, she only grinned wider. "Wade made this."

Without further preamble, Kim slipped into the suit and walked over to her mother, marveling as her feet barely made a whisper. (What is this?!)

The wonder must have shown on Kim's face because the elder redhead and forge master laughed, "(I may be skilled with smithing and gathering material, but I'm horrible with clothing design, so I asked Wade to help.)" Ann frowned, "(I didn't know that he was already working on a battlesuit based around The Centurion Project…)" She scowled deeply at the thought of the tech because she had a feeling it attempted to copy and improve Beskar'gam with materials on-hand. "(…merged with Possible Family Cybertronics.)" Ann trembled slightly at the thought because she knew trying to marry the two technologies would lead to unnecessary hazards for Kim. "(We settled on a compromise.)" Ann genuinely smiled. Then, she looked up from her work. "(A technique called Critosis Weave, made from scavenged remnants of the battlefield that came with me when I landed here,)" Ann's face grew melancholy for the smallest amount of time with memories of that day. Then, Ann returned to a slightly dimmer version of the previous smile. "(Wade found it's highly piezoelectric when not in contact with plasma.)"

Kim laughed, "(You knew that already,)" Kim said knowingly as she moved to the computer that would paint the armor after it cooled and began to put in her desired colors and designs.

Ann shrugged, "(I wouldn't be much of a Mado'ad Master Smith if I didn't know what the rest of the smiths of our people have known for millennia,)" Ann quenched the first piece, a shoulder plate, and raised an eyebrow at her daughter. "(What?)" Ann asked with a smile. "(Did you think Mando'ade carried batteries everywhere with them to run the helmet electronics suite?)"

Kim shook her head. The thought was so ridiculous; it made her laugh. "(No,)" Kim cocked her head in consideration. "(So the weave not only protects but also acts as power-pack for the suit's electronics?)" Kim reaffirmed, "(Good to know…)"

Dinner that night was interesting to say the least. For once, Jim and Tim couldn't even look at Kim. Even without her helmet, Kim's Beskar'gam gave her an extremely intimidating presence. Primarily white with core patterns of cobalt blue near the center of each piece of armor, the armor kissed Kim's skin and almost felt as if her skin was comfortably melting into it and becoming one with her under the bodysuit. Kim blushed noticeably before she sat down. "(Does Beskar'gam normally feel so comforting?)"

Ann nodded, "(The sensation of armor is generally comfort, but the exact feel is always unique to the wearer.)"

Kim smiled at her mom before she began to eat. Kim ate because Ann always had impressive cooking skill and nearly every meal made Kim nostalgic for a place she never knew. (Is this Mando'ade cooking?) Something in Kim felt nearly complete as she ate with the alien nostalgia filling her with more than just food. A nagging piece had yet to fall into place for the young warrior, however. As Kim reached, it withdrew. Paradoxically, when she withdrew, it reached for her.

Kim's mood soured as she chased this part of herself while eating. Finally, as Kim finished her plate and asked to get up, she felt the drain of the day come over her. Then, she put her plate and fork in the sink and wished her parents and The Tweebs a good night.

James and Ann looked at each other in confusion as they watched Kim move robotically to her room. Once the twins got up and washed dishes, Ann and James retreated to the living room.

"Is it a Mandalorian thing?"

Ann shook her head. "No," she said firmly. "It's a teenager thing."

James raised an eyebrow. Then, realization flashed onto the man's face. "It's finally settling in that she is indeed different from everyone." Silence was enough of an affirmative. The man sighed and continued, "I remember what it was like in high school." He shivered, "My brainpower made me a target to almost everyone."

Ann raised a brow. "That's hard to believe. Where I'm from, intelligence is prized and nurtured just as much as combat skill."

James nodded, "I know, but this isn't Mandalore, my warrior." He sighed, "Kim's strong, but her devotion to The Creed will get her ridicule from her peers and likely faculty, too, especially if she decides to show up to school decked in Beskar'gam."

Ann frowned, "Do you remember how long it took through your coaching and encouragement for me to completely shed my armor?"

James nodded with a shiver. "Two years and the first time you gave me permission to help you out of your armor, you didn't cry out or shed tears, but your face held terror as if I was trying to flay you alive."

Ann nodded and squeezed James' hand as echoes of those memories ran through her mind. "She will grow attached to the armor, but she shouldn't be as bad as I was." Ann shivered at memories of the war. "At the point of time when I came to Earth, I had stayed in my armor for nearly a decade with only brief breaks to the refresher for showers and nature's call."

James nodded in understanding, "I don't imagine Beskar'gam will be useful for her paid missions where stealth takes priority, but it will be extremely effective with the likes of Drew and other villains she faces." James rubbed his wife's cheek. "She won't lose herself to the armor."

In Kim's room, she tossed and turned, "Shego!"

Thunder cracked. Lightning stabbed the sky, and as rain began to fall, Kim found herself feeling an alien rage."Shego!"

Shego smirked and walked up to Kim with her hands lit. "Oh, look!" The green villain said with a sneer. "I finally got under Kimmie's skin!"

Off in the distance, Kim could hear Drakken yelling about "Diablo" something. Kim tried to force her mouth open to ask if Shego or Drakken knew about her job with the United States Military as "burner" bounty hunter, one the US would disavow if she was ever caught. However, Instead, Kim charged at Shego and began to fight in a strange suit. It reminded the girl of her undersuit with her plaiting colors.

After a little while, Shego began to tire. Then, Kim capitalized on a slip and struck hard. "You know what I really hate?"

Kim would have gasped in horror had she the ability when the green woman spat blood in response. "Kimmie…" Shego chuckled brokenly. "That…your *cough* date melted?"

Kim shook her head in the confines of another Kim's mind, shock almost tearing her from the dream. This was so petty and juvenile! Where was the honor and respect Kim knew she and Shego shared? (Shego would NEVER go along with a plan to play with my emotions. He learned that after the Moodulators.)

"You!"

With a glare to end all glares, Kim watched, trapped in a doppelgänger's body. as she kicked Shego to her death by electrocution through a radio tower.

With a start Kim was worried for a moment was a scream, Kim sat up and looked around her room. She could see the vague outline of her helmet on the nightstand. (It was just a dream.) Kim's face grew with concern the more she thought, though. (Was it?) Kim put a hand on her head and moved to sit on the side of her bed with her legs off the bed. (I usually dream in Mando'a.) Kim thought, (This was almost entirely in English with one word of Spanish!) Kim growled and shook her head before she stepped out of her armor and jumped in the shower. After Kim died off, she felt a bit more chill than normal and quickly redressed in her armor. After that, Kim got ready for her training sessions and went though them as she normally did every other morning.

"KP," Ron said with a smile and wave before he noticed her armor. His face turned to shock and a bit of fear in an instant. "What are you wearing?" He asked, "You know Barkin is going to lose his mind when he sees you in that!"

Kim rolled her eyes. "It's part of my and Mom's religion from her people." Kim explained, "If Barkin wants to throw a fit, I can slap him and the school district with a discrimination lawsuit so fast, it will make his head spin."

Ron nodded, but he still looked a bit nervous. "So, what's the deal with your armor, anyway?"

Kim gave her friend a long-suffering expression, knowing it was her own fault for being too excited the day before to explain her armor's importance the previous day. "It marks me as a Mando'ad, Ron." Kim explained, "If other Mando'ade came to Earth, they would likely talk to Mom or me before they would seek out someone like the Secretary General of the United Nations."

Ron nodded, "Instead of citizenship papers, those considered adults inherit or make their own armor?"

Kim did a so-so motion with her gauntleted left hand. "Yes but it's also…more…"

Kim trailed off as the bus arrived. Everyone stared at her, but Kim just let it roll off of her without much thought. The ride to school filled Kim's ears with whispered rumors. Kim sighed at most of them, but there were a few rumors oddly close to the truth. Ironically, rumors closest to the truth seemed to be batted down as fanciful thinking more often than the truly outlandish ones. Kim only smirked and shook her head as she listened to the honestly intriguing tales her classmates spun.

Once in school, Kim relaxed only slightly, still tweaked about the dream. As the newly consecrated Mandalorian warrior walked to her locker to try and busy herself in preparation for class to distract from said dream, Barkin walked up. Kim knew she would get an earful from the retired Army Ranger if she didn't cut him down before he began. "Mr. Barkin, before you start to tear into me about the dress code, please be aware that I'm wearing my 'iron skin' as it would translate in B-" Kim took a deep breath and forced herself to relax. "…English." Kim met him glare for glare. "The armor marks a rite of passage for me, Mom, and our people. You want to argue the point so badly?" Kim hissed, "Take it up with Mom."

Barkin stared at Kim in shock for a moment before he smiled, "When I'm through, your mom will tear that armor off of you in pieces!"

Kim didn't let it show until Barkin turned and made it a few paces away. Then, she shivered and collapsed into a round of sobs in front of her locker at the thought of having her armor forcibly stripped away. "(Fine Mando'ad I am.)" The girl muttered to herself. After a moment more, Kim growled, got her books, and went to class.

"Well, isn't this a surprise?" Mr. Veres, Kim's World History teacher, said with a smile as he studied Kim in armor for a moment while she entered the room. "Interesting armor set, Miss Possible…I do not believe I've seen it's like before."

Kim nodded, "I don't expect you would," the warrior replied without pause. "It was my mother's until she reforged it for me." Kim smiled at the teacher's shock. (For all I know, he probably thinks this is Amazon armor.)

Before Kim could entertain the teacher's natural curiosity further, Kim heard her Kimmunicator go off, (Shego and Drakken…) Kim stepped out and felt a momentary shock when Wade confirmed her unconscious guess.

"Kim, Drakken has stolen a device called the Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer."

"Again?" Kim groaned, "Last time, it was professor Dementor. Now, it's Drakken?'

Ron walked up while Kim talked to Wade. "Man, you'd think these guys could get a little more original."

Kim nodded before she picked up her helmet from a shelf in her locker and donned the final piece. Blue rectangles on the sides and white face cut in half unequally by the T visor of Mando'ade helmets, Kim's also sported a red painted plumage with orange feather tips around the visor to give the illusion of a Firebird's face.

"Alright, Kim," Wade said calmly as he tested a software patch for the comms in her helmet. "Can you hear me?"

Kim nodded unconsciously, "Loud and clear, Wade."

The helmeted redhead then turned to Ron as the pair headed out to meet their ride to Drakken's lair. "Ron, are you sure you're ok with this?" Kim gestured to the helmet to make her intent clear. "It's got to be a lot to take."

Ron smiled, "I'll handle Drakken like always," Ron's grin turned mischievous. "Besides, I wouldn't want to be a disappointment to your girlfriend."

"Ron!" Kim spluttered; thankful her helmet hid the blush while Ron continued to quietly chuckle to himself.

Shego couldn't help the waves of discomfort as they rolled over her while Drakken fiddled with the PDVI. This is wrong! The green woman mentally yelled. I've been feeling all out of sorts since I got up this morning after that strange dream of receiving a beat down from Kimmie. In spite of it not being real, Shego still felt random jolts of electricity as she walked. A shiver crawled on the thief's spine after a few more moments, She's here. Shego glared at Drakken. Knowing him, it will be-

"Hey…" Drakken's voice cut into the thief's thoughts like a blowtorch. "W-Who are you?"

Shego looked up and hid her surprise with a grin. "So, what's the occasion, Cupcake?" The thief asked with a raised eyebrow. Did Drakken interrupt some 'Space Passage' Roleplay between you and the sidekick?"

"He's like my brother, Shego!" Kim growled as the pair began their usual Tango. "That's just…" Kim turned green under her helmet. "…wrong/sick!" Kim shook her head and failed to notice Shego lit up at this time but held her arm in a shielding position out of instinct before guard met plasma. The only evidence the armor received a blow sounded off in a metallic ding! Kim smirked under her helmet as the fight halted. "You like?" Kim asked. "Mom forged the armor for me."

Shego held up her hands. "Your mom, the brain surgeon, can forge…" The green thief gestured wildly at Kim's armor. "…this?!"

Kim shrugged, "Dad had to help her to 'forge' me, but yeah, Mom was a master smith before she became a medical doctor."

Shego raised a brow at Kim. It's like the armor gives her confidence to drop her mask, the thief thought with a pleased smile. Good fore you, Princess.

Kim walked over and looked at Ron and Drakken. Then, Kim nodded with pride when she saw Ron dragging an apprehended Drakken towards the pair. Before Kim could properly congratulate Ron, a portal spun to life. Everyone looked at Drakken expectantly, but Kim and Shego only spared a moment to look at the man. Instead, their attention remained fixed on the portal.

Shego!" Drakken said, unheard by his intended addressee. "I promise. This isn't me!" He stopped when the blue madman noticed Kim seemed transfixed as well as Shego. "What's up with them?"

Meanwhile, Kim and Shego were there, but the pair also was somewhere else for the moment.

Kimmie, Shego said as she "looked" around them and saw blackness with light, criss-crossing in paths too and from innumerable portals. Do you know where we are?

Yggdrasil, Kim answered, taking note at that moment she no longer wore her armor but her usual mission clothes, though she had no idea how she knew where "here" was or why the redhead no longer wore her armor. The Jedi call it The World Between Worlds.

A new voice joined the duo, making them jump into combat stances after years of instinct. A rumble of good-natured laughter echoed through the expanse. I will not harm either of you, the female voice said. I'm just here to awaken a dormant side in you… The voice paused and grumbled, …Shego.

The green-skinned thief tried to light up but couldn't. What do you want from me?!

Come, the voice seemed to shimmer into the form of a white, humanoid, smooth-scaled dragon with golden markings on her face to match intense eyes. The dragon beckoned with a clawed finger. You must see.

As they walked toward where the biped dragon stood, Kim head the dragon mutter, Is this what it's like for my wife dealing with me?

Kim shook head with a smile and turned her attention to the different doors in the darkness. She noticed different labels over the gates. They seemed to be written in Mando'a. Poisoned Blood, Emerald and Kitsune, a strange one where Kim appeared to be Kriptonian, another where Ron became evil and stayed that way, and the one at which Shego was currently stuck. It didn't take long for Kim to figure out why.

Valkyrie Drive? Kim elbowed her companion with a smile. You make a damn powerful Extar. Shego.

The thief grinned at the praise and maybe some ammunition for later. I'm not so shocked at that as I am that KiGo got my brothers to actually work as a team. Then, something occurred to Shego when she realized KIM recognized the Valkyrie Drive Universe Then, the woman looked down at Kim knowingly with a grin that would make The Joker nervous. I knew you were all pervy!

Yeah, Kim growled. So, I prefer women. That doesn't make me a pervert!

Shego raised her hands. I never said it did, but it does explain some things…

Before Kim could ask Shego to elaborate, the window changed to an unmarked one. The portal seemed to cut in and out in static, but Kim and Shego could both make out a giant green woman and man who were angry and frankly a bit brutish. Part of Kim marveled that a people so bloodthirsty even came close to achieving FTL travel much less used it effectively. Through static, Kim could just make out herself in Beskar'gam standing with Shego before the duo charged the giants. "(I will teach you mindless brawlers honor or die trying!)" Kim heard herself yell in Mando'a before the window cut out completely.

You must become more than you are individually if you hope to survive, the female white and gold dragon smiled for a moment before it turned into a grimace. I cannot hold this artificial weakness in Yggdrasil for much longer, she warned, suddenly sounding very tired. Remember your charge, hatchlings. Do not fail, or Earon and Mandolore shall never be!

Electrical discharge unexpectedly ran through Kim and Shego. Then, with a hard thud, the duo landed on their backs.

Shouts and feet running barged into Kim's ears. Blinking away the disorientation, Kim became aware of steam as it hissed off her armor. "W-What happened?" Kim managed as she sat up slowly. "Weird dragon lady…"

Ron looked at her in confusion for a moment before he shook his head, "Never mind…" Ron pushed the question away. "I'm just glad you're ok, KP." Ron then noticed something peaking out of the bodysuit mesh. It looked to the blonde like an outline in green ink of the top of a flame, but he couldn't be completely sure. "What's that?"

Kim moved to put her hand where Ron directed and shivered in an odd sense of overwhelming contentment as it made contact. "I don't know."

"THE PORTAL SUDDENLY COLLAPSED WITH BOTH OF YOU INSIDE!" Drakken screamed. "HOW ARE YOU BOTH ALIVE?!"

"(Shut. Up, Doctor D!)" Shego growled…literally before she sat up and looked at Kim.

It was then Kim unconsciously looked over Shego and noticed the outline of a Mithosaur skull on the green thief's neck. "Shego, I hate to say it, but we need to tell Doctor Director."

"Ugh…" Shego groaned as she moved to get to her feet, followed closely by Kim. "Fuck me."

Kim blushed, not because of what Shego said but because of how her brain reacted to the demand. (Later. Now, we have business with Bets.) Kim shook her head for a moment, reminding herself that a day ago, she wouldn't have responded in such a way. (I guess I cannot deny myself any longer.)