I do not own any Disney characters named herein and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only.
Kim Possible: Vamped
By LJ58
25
Monique knocked at the door just after six that evening, and Shego opened the door to see the smiling woman standing there with a small sack.
"I brought wine. I hope you like it," she smiled. "Where's Kim?"
"Mission," Shego muttered. "Since you know about her, I guess you know what I mean if I say she had a special mission?"
"Oh. How long ago…?"
"She left not quite a few hours ago. She hasn't gotten back yet. I'm not sure when she's going to make it, so it's your choice. Want to wait, or…."
"Well, I guess I can give her a few," Monique said, her disappointment visible as the woman walked inside the house. "Did Dana go…?"
"The runt is off missions after Kim's meltdown with Gemini," Shego informed her. "Guess they didn't tell you that one."
"Oh….right," Monique nodded, still having trouble believing the Kim she knew had done something like that after she had heard the story.
"Anyway, just now she's in her room reading something. She's determined not to look ignorant in front of Kimmie or her girlfriend. Knowing her, though, she dozed off again. They've had her on irregular shifts lately trying to test her adaptation to Wade's new serum."
"I get that. I've had some long hours in classes myself at times, and they can wear you out."
"So," Shego murmured, eyeing her. "You really don't mind Kimmie got turned into an uber vamp?"
"Honestly, it freaks me out," Monique told her after a moment. "Only everything about her has always freaked me out. I mean, how she could be so daring and face the things she did… Does… It astonished me from the start. Only I know how she is, and I respect her willingness to do what she does. I'm just glad she found a way to come back. I…. Well, I really…."
"Yeah, when she vapored last year I think it shook a lot of people," Shego admitted when Monique choked up. "Even I was starting to think the little loon was invincible."
"Well, she is now, isn't she? I mean, I can't see how she'd get any tougher," Monique admitted as they walked into the living room, and sat down.
"Don't kid yourself, woman. There is always someone tougher. Always. The question isn't who is tougher, though. It's how far you're willing to go."
"Huh?"
"Let me give you an example. Do you know about my brothers? Team Go?"
"Well, sure. I saw you guys on TV when Kim helped save them…."
"Yeah," Shego muttered. "That really helped our reputations," she complained. "Anyway, Hego is unbelievably strong. Seriously strong. Yet he won't use even a tenth of that strength when he fights. No matter how bad the jerks we faced were, he always held back. Always."
"Um, okay," Monique murmured.
"Right. Well, all too often, back in the days before I left the team, Hego would tap some loser, and he would get up and run off before he could be stopped. Of course, that only left them free to come back again and again. Which I felt was stupid."
"Sure. Kim complained about that, too. You know, how the people she caught, uh, no offense," she told Shego, "Always seemed to get away the moment they were arrested."
"Heh. I'm hard to hold at the best of times, girl," Shego smirked, holding up a hand that shimmered with plasma. "Hard to hold someone that channels the stuff of the cosmos at will. Anyway, there was one day Hego taps this real loon that isn't about the usual schemes. He's about the body count. He got off on killing. We interrupted a robbery, this guy's current excuse to play killer, and Hego taps him like usual."
"Let me guess," Monique grimaced.
"The guy gets up and shoots a woman in the back just to prove he could. Said woman was the mother of one of my best friends. She could have been anyone, though, but that hit home. Henry, he just wants to tap him again, and deliver him to a jail that can't or won't hold guys like him. Me, I barbequed him, and then barbequed his ashes," she said ominously. "I left nothing. Absolutely nothing."
"Whoa. I…. I guess I can see why…."
"Missing the point. Hego? Super-strength? He could have stopped the guy before he hurt anyone. He just wasn't willing to go that far. Me, I don't see lines. Never did. I see what needs doing, and I do it. Period. Only that day, I realized some heroes aren't. How do you call yourself a hero when you let people get hurt or die when you could have stopped the loon from the start….and didn't? See what I mean?"
"Even Kim….doesn't kill," Monique said quietly. "I mean, she didn't…."
"She's come close," Shego said quietly. "Even before she turned, she came close. See, the thing is Kimmie sees that line. She sees it clearly every time she goes out there, but she drives herself crazy with it. Does she stop someone she knows will hurt thousands or even millions, or does she play nice and give them a second chance."
"I think you know."
"I knew. You know she once almost killed me?"
"What?"
"Drakken drove her absolutely nuts a while back during that Lil' Diablo thing, and Kimmie came unwound. When she faced us, she wasn't being a hero. She was avenging herself. And she came at us with both barrels. There was a reason Drewbie wouldn't face her for a while after that. She scared him."
"And you?"
"That's when I realized I was starting to really respect her," Shego admitted. "Sure, she was still an annoying little Pollyanna, and she still couldn't make herself do what needed doing every time. Only she proved that when she had to step up, she could. Same with the aliens. That girl didn't really have a chance on her own, but she still jumped head-on and wouldn't back down."
"Right," Monique nodded.
"Now? Even after she turned into one of the baddest creatures on the planet, she's still trying to save people. Dana. Even other preternaturals if she can. Only don't kid yourself. Lady Kimbera is in there, too, and she is more than ready to put anyone down if they try to confront her. I guess what I'm saying is, be careful, woman. Kimmie may still be Kimmie at heart, but she's something more now, too. Something that comes out at times and might not be the woman you think."
"Are you trying to warn me off?"
"I'm trying to warn you in case you find yourself caught between the two of them. See, I've met Elders, too, and one thing you need to know is that they are a law unto themselves. And no Elder I have ever met will back up when they decide to do something. No matter how bad you might think it is in your eyes, they won't care. Think you can live with that if your hero tarnishes the image you have of her?"
"I think, what you're saying, is that you respect Kim because she's proven she is not only tough but willing to do things others won't no matter the risk."
"Oy. Another Pollyanna."
"I don't think so. I like to think I'm more practical. Still, I do think you're trying to protect Kim, too by making me face the fact that the Kim I knew isn't quite….the same now. Right?"
"That's a nice way of saying she's a blood-drinking creature of the night," Shego muttered.
"Yet she didn't go all Drac on everyone, and still tried to help others even after she changed. Didn't she?"
Shego glared.
"So, at heart, Kimberly really has not changed," Monique nodded.
"Oy. Pollyanna," Shego moaned.
"Hey," Dana suddenly cut in as she walked into the room from the back. "Oh, hey, Monique. I guess mom isn't back yet?"
"Not yet. I don't think she had to go far," Shego admitted more for Monique than not, "But you know how tricky those missions can be at times."
"Don't I know it," the young blonde sighed. "Honestly, some of them were exciting. And it was a thrill working with Kim. Only, in the end, I think I realized I wasn't quite cut out for that kind of life."
"Not many are, kid," Shego said and eyed Monique as she spoke.
"Well," Monique sighed. "What do you think of me and Kim, Dana? I get the feeling Shego is worried I might not realize what I'm doing here."
"I know mom cares a lot about you. I mean, just as I said, she never mentioned your name, but she still talked a lot about the girl she really cared about when we were together. I think she missed you as much as she missed her family."
"So, you're not too worried about me hanging around?"
"Nah. As long as mom is happy, I don't really care," Dana told her. "Now, Shego, I think she's just naturally grumpy, so you learn to…."
"Learn what," Shego growled at her.
"Accept she's really sweet under all that crabbiness," Dana smiled at her.
"Oy," Shego grumbled. "You really are like Princess."
Which only made Dana grin all the more.
"Look," Shego finally sighed as she glanced at a decorative clock on one wall. "Do we eat, or do we keep waiting?"
Dana glanced at Shego, the clock, and then back at Shego.
"Better eat. I'd hate for it to get cold…."
"And it will get cold," Monique sighed. "Well, we know she still can't tell time," the ebony-skinned young woman declared.
"Oy," Shego muttered again.
~KP~
Shego sat up in bed as she heard the distinctive rumble of the old Roth's engine, and stood up to reach for a robe.
She couldn't help but glance at the clock on her bedside table and groan.
"I don't even want to know," she muttered as she heard the woman fumbling with the door.
Then she padded down the hall, watched Kim all but stagger in the door and almost land on her face.
"Are you smashed," Shego exploded.
"We had a party," Kim giggled.
"A party? You had a damn party," the green-skinned woman sputtered. "I thought you were on a mission?"
"Yep, that, too. It ended pretty quickly when I snapped a neck, or two, and then threatened the lives of the rest of the morons out there. I think they believed me because I had to show off a little. I had fun," she beamed and staggered over to the couch.
"And while you were having fun your girlfriend was sitting here mooning at the damn door while pretending to eat the special meal you had me made," Shego complained.
"Not so loud. You'll wake Dana," Kim scowled now.
"She's at work. Some loser got the flu or something, and Dana got called in unexpectedly. Lucky for her she doesn't get to see you come in hammered like some braindead frat girl," Shego accused.
Kim's eyes flared with crimson now, and if she didn't manifest, much of her other side did start to show.
"Watch your tongue," Kim grumbled. "I was on official business," she said, standing straighter as if just that degree of change was enough to clear her head completely.
"Oh, right. An official party…."
"It was a diplomatic matter. Wolves don't like it when you slap someone and run."
"Slap? You just said…."
"Yeah, I broke the rogue leader's neck. Had to be done. And it was kind of fun."
"Fun? Breaking necks is fun now?"
"It is when the jerk insults you, won't listen to you, and has the audacity to insult us," Kim shouted back.
"So, already losing your humanity again?"
"I am not losing my humanity. You may know Elders, Shego, but you don't know the rules that come with living on the other side."
"I might just surprise you."
"Then tell me, you do a favor for a major pack, and they invite you to feast with them. What do you do?"
"Tell them I can't make it…."
"And insult them, lose their respect, and likely end up fighting them," Kim spat.
Shego glowered.
"Okay, so I didn't know that," she muttered.
"Right. If I could have made it, I would. I'll have to go apologize to Monique… Tomorrow," she said as she glanced at the clock on the wall.
"Still. Snapping some guy's neck was fun to you?"
"Well, he wasn't exactly a regular guy. A fully transformed wolf that was trying to get in my face, and in my throat. So he annoyed me, and I had to give the rest of the idiots there evidence I was not going to be easy to put down. Do you get that?"
Shego just stared at her a moment, and then shook her head.
"Look, Princess, I get that you have to play hardball with some of those guys. I get it. Only you need to be careful before you end up snapping necks of people who aren't wolves, or….whatever. Okay?"
"I know the difference," Kim told her curtly, her visage going back to more normal than before her outburst.
"Well, when I signed on to spring you guys and help you out, I didn't expect to have to run interference for your personal life. Next time call. You had that girl moping before she finally left, and she tried to wait a lot longer than I would have," Shego declared curtly.
"I said I'd apologize," Kim muttered now.
"I know you, Princess. You'll go over and gloss over everything, and then offer her some fast food, or casual walk downtown. Forget it," Shego told her. "After last night, you owe that girl. If you're anywhere near really serious, you owe her big. So you pull out the stops, take her somewhere special, and knock her literal socks off. Understand?"
"I know how to…."
"Or you might just lose her. And how many people do you know are likely to accept your other side the way she does?"
Kim shook her head. Then headed for her room, saying only, "I'll think about it."
Which was when her Kimmunicator chirped.
"Not going to answer it?"
"I already know it's only Bets."
"You actually call her…?"
"Right now, she's Bets. Or harpy. Or even bitch. She just wants another debrief, and I already told the agents I'd be in the morning. You think she'd know I'm okay."
"I doubt that is what she's worried about."
Kim just glanced at Shego again, saw her expression, and said, "I'm going to bed."
"You do that," Shego muttered herself and headed for her own room.
To Be Continued….