Kim Potential…
Summary: A desperate Dr. Drakken has sensibly reviewed his Files of Past Plots to find the most effective weapon yet used on KP and improve it with unexpected results. Ron and company find they have a new partner.
Disclaimer: No infringement intended.
Part LV…
"So?...How is he?" Shego, to Potential, recuffed, a henchthug following in the hallway with tray.
"I guess he'll be ok…" Potential, shrugging.
"Oh…Him, right…" Shego, slight biting of lip at Potential's glare.
"Sorry…Was the kid hurt bad?"
"Skull fracture…But nothing compared to that punch in the heart…" sigh. "And yeah, Dad was a little freaked when I killed you…Happy?"
Actually…Yeah…Kinda estatic…Even though I know he knew it was 535. But what was that?
"Kimberly? 'Punch to the…?'"
I'm gonna assume we're talkin' emotional crisis and not a need to find a good cardiac surgeon and replacement heart stat for my girl's intended. Moms sense this sort of thing…Oh…
Mom…
She called me Mom…She couldn't help it. Oh…
Even if she still kills me…Oh…
"He thinks I killed Original." Downcast look. "And I can't even tell him she's still around, if not exactly kicking."
"Maybe we can still get him to believe he's made a mistake…You're awfully convincing…"
"But not quite good enough…And now he knows, everything I do he compares to her…I'm losing ground every minute."
"Well, if things…" Shego, catching herself…The Dementor henchthug, the same Wendy, quietly following…
"…Go as planned…You might have a lot to offer. And if Dad manages to brainwash/electrozap Possible into a new lifestyle…We might still work this out in your favor. Or, we just keep her frozen and on your offhours you can play 'Escaped Original Kim, rebel against the Drakken empire'…He'll come round, long as he sees you're sincere...About loving him."
"I dunno… 'Evil clone princess by day, rebel Kim by night'?…He'd catch on, he's actually smarter than he looks."
"I know…" shrug. "Just tryin' to come up with something."
Hmmn…? Potential stared.
"Eh, I've watched him for years. It was easy to see, under the slacker there's a pretty capable kid in there…I wasn't really surprised how good he was at Evil…Megalomania breeds confidence and that's all he lacked. Like your Dad, really…" wry smile.
"So, why do you always…With Daddy?" frown.
"Too much confidence and he'd get himself blown up. Gotta keep those blue feet planted somewhere near the ground…One sec, lady…You can go in, we'll be right along." Shego noted to the waiting henchthug as the three now stopped at Ron's cabin door. The henchthug entering, after knocking…Closing door behind her.
Shego glancing to indicate need for some continued caution…
"We'll do our best to convince him, Kim…But, in the end, you may just have to put your cards on the table and see."
"He'll never choose me over Original, are you kidding?" glare.
"Maybe she won't choose him…She is very ambitious, in her way…And young…"
"She won't change. I won't, why should she? Are you saying we're fickle?"
"Kim…"
"I'm not fickle…I may only be a little over a week old and attuned to Evil, but I'm not fickle. Neither of us are…Why else would we still be frettin' over this little nobody when we could have anybody."
Megalomania…One Drakken family trait that sure crossed over…
"Kim…I mean…She could 'move on' over time…She's only a teenager, after all…And then there is always the allure of Redemption…" raised eyebrows, wicked leer.
Hmmn…?
"Guys love thinking they've saved a girl from the Dark Side…You'd have that, Original wouldn't…"
"Really…?" beam…
"'Oh, Ron…Save me from my Evil nature…Only you can…'" Shego, hand to head…Grin, eye roll. "You wouldn't believe how they go for it…"
"Does it work with Dad?" shrewd look.
"In a variation… 'Nothing warms my dark soul…But you…'" blinking Shego grinned.
And oddly, quite true…
Wait…She does love him…She has tried for him…
This could be it. The escape clause…The thing that saves our little girl.
Ummn…
"Of course, you'd have to do reformed Kim forever…" innocent look… "And a little sincerity is vital…"
"Eehew…I'd have to live the straight and narrow?...No Princess of the World? No bling?"
"Well…"
Hmmn…Ponder…Dark look, shake of head…
"There'd still always be her between us…Even if I convinced him I needed him more…He'll always…" pause.
Hmmn…
"Of course, if she wasn't around…Not even on ice…" pensive look.
"Kim…" Shego, worried tone.
Lets discourage this train of Evil thought…
"I know, he'd hate me forever…Unless…" Potential eyed Shego…Appealing look…
"If someone else…Who loved me…Really loved me…Had done it, supposedly out of sheer malice and thirst for revenge? Not Dad of course…He'd be all guilt-ridden if he could ever do it, even to save me from her."
"Kimberly…Enough…We'll find another way."
"Mom?...I know we haven't always gotten along…" winsome look. "But if you could do this for me…?"
Hmmn? Blink…
"Could I kill Kim Possible…For you?"
"Haven't you always wanted to finish her off? And it wouldn't be hard, her in the tank and all…A little tank accident, oops, fuse blew…Stuff happens in Science, right? And reformed by Love, I do my best to live up to my poor twinie's noble memory…More or less…"
Shego blinking…
Well, here's a first…
Still, who can you speak truth to if not your Evil daughter driven by love to contemplate murder…
"Kimberly, I can't kill Kim Possible. Much as I may have claimed to have wished to, at times. I never really could, to tell the real truth. And now…" shudder… "It would be like killing you. I don't even like keeping her frozen. Honey…I didn't wanna mention it but I'm already terrified we'll be punished for that in the end and you wanna top that off with murder? Talk about tempting Fate and whatever else runs things."
"Eh, Drakkens make their own Fate…Mommie…If you love me…" winsome stare. Blink…
No need to mention offering your fiendish, murderous head on a platter to my grieving lover would be my wedding present…Maintaining appealing stare…
Mommie…Dearest mommie…
"Kid, you're not bad but…Knock it off…" sigh to Potential's pout… "Kimberly, you know only too well I do love you…Way too much." Shego frowned. "I'm about ready to die for you as is your Dad…That's why we're risking our lives here." dropping to whisper… "But I'm not bumping off Possible, not even for you."
"You'll let her take everything from me, then kill me." grimly. "She will, you know…Soon as she's free, she'll want me dead and she won't stop till I am…Good or no, I know her. And she may not stop there…" careful look.
"I don't believe she'd kill you, Kimberly..."
Not intentionally…Just that initial fit of frenzied rage on learning you've been involuntarily cloned and frozen can be difficult to contain…
"And we can restrain her if I'm wrong…"
The way we always have in the past…Yeah, right…Oh, my baby is doomed…
Unless…Yeah…It's the only way…After we deal with the maniac.
"Ok, enough…" firm wave. "No, Kim…I won't do that. I love you, I'll fight her any day of the week to protect you…But I won't kill her . And neither will your Dad…"
"Or you…" hard stare…
"Then you don't love me. You love her and I'm just the doll you settled for to play Mommie with." Potential glared.
"I love you more than my own life and almost as much as I love your father." Shego shook her head. "And it's for your sake I won't let you kill her."
And for your sake…I'll take the one course that could save you, even if it kills me…Spiritually as well as physically.
"There's no proof harming her will hurt me…Dad just wanted an excuse not to hurt her."
"I'm not concerned about hurting you…Physically."
Mocking smile…"What, I'll go all…Evil…From guilt? News flask, EStM…I am Evil…You and Dad made me that way. I can love and I can do some good and be sweet as pie if it suits me and gets me what I want…And maybe I'll even keep trying the Kim game and see if it still works with Ron, but…In the end…I'm Kimberly's dark side, and I can do bad like nobody's business, when it suits me." Offhand wave… "Not that you and Dad are completely to blame…You simply pulled me out of her…In this I am Kim Possible, too. Her Possible Evil…" Cold stare…
"I know that, Kimberly…" Shego, tearing up… "And I am so sorry…In ways, I never thought I could be."
"Then help me, Mother…" Potential eyed her coolly. "Save me. Let me have her life, it's the only thing that will save me, in the end…You know that. I'm yanking your emotional cord hard as I can, you know that but you know that's just what I do and that it's true…This is my only hope. Ron, the life we could live, that's my only hope." Long pause as they stared at each other.
Wave of hand…Sigh…"Well, lets leave this for now…Ron's waiting and we have a show to put on. Get your bad ass together, mortal foe Mom…" grin.
"Sure…" Shego…Trying to repress a trembling…
And I thought all I had to worry about was her killing me physically…
Who'd've thought she'd find a far better way…
"The key of course was modifying the Attitudinator for repression and to avoid developmental retardation…" Drakken, expansively. Seated with an attentive if somewhat irritated Dementor (I coulda done that, vhy didn't I think of that), an enthused Throwback in reinforced chair, and Avairius, trying to look interested despite growing boredom.
And a realization that Drakken while ranting on was fundamently giving away nothing…
Interesting that Lindendon didn't seem to be getting that…While Cyrus was too far ahead to need the guidance and too irritated with himself for not coming up with this to point it out.
So the Colonel remains just a good tech guy…No great enhancement of the intellect at least not in terms of scientific ability. And from what I've read he always chased after real scientific ability but couldn't quite cut it.
So he really does admire Cyrus and Drakken…Just as he did his old Fascist mentors in Science…And really needs them.
Well, one bit of safety for the rest of us for now…Until he doesn't need them…Or they decide they don't need any of us.
And the oddest thing of all…Overbearing as he is…Unavoidable, in his condition and mindset, I suppose…He really does seem to like me. The others'd no doubt have me fetching and carrying but he's got me at the big boys' table, and patronizing as his tone is, he actually does talk to me as an equal…Equal to the others, anyway.
But I am, in a manner of sorts, the only other 'aviator' on the team…The only one who understands what it's like to soar alone in the clouds…Everything else human in him is dead but that one thing that made him a hero once, that wonder…
Poor fellow one might say…If one wasn't familiar with his record…And didn't know he'd chosen this path…
As did I…
"It's marvelous, Doctor. I'm so eager to see the equipment…" Lindendon noted during a brief pause in Drakken's happy panegyric to his own genius. "Eh, Professor?"
"Ja…" Dementor, slight frown.
"I believe I…Er, we…Easily could make de slight adaptations for improvement toward mass production." He noted, a bit smugly.
Drakken, slight frown now in turn…
"Excellent…" Lindendon nodded. "Now the only questions are, can we travel in safety, without detection…And how quickly can we be there?"
"If we took my flying submersible…" Drakken noted… "We four can be there in a few hours while your vessel proceeds to your base. And it's virtually undetectable."
Ok…My girls and the buffoon "son-in-law" secured…
"It might be good to have Miss Drakken along…" Dementor noted… "See if ve can copy from her…Since our intent is to clone a vast army. There might be copying problems you haven't foreseen, Drakken."
As usual…
"A wise thought, Professor…If you have no objections, Doctor…" Lindendon, pleasantly.
"Well…A bit crowded…"
"We can take two of my craft from our base…It's on the way anyway." Dementor pointed out. "We may want to be sure the UN or its minions don't locate your place first in any case. And we'll want to transport the equipment to my location…More secure." He noted to Drakken's stare.
"I think in this case, Professor Dementor is right…We don't want to risk losing this precious asset to our enemies…" Lindendon nodded. "And a concentration of our forces is probably best given the manhunt for us all."
Hmmn…
Well, best not to argue and arouse suspicion…Just hafta find some way to keep Kimberly and Sheila here when we go…
"That sounds fine, Colonel…" he nodded.
Well, may as well go on enjoying myself…When do I get such an audience? Not even my henchthugs show such attention…
"As I was saying…I then faced the problem of imparting knowledge to the clone in a compressed format…So…"
"Stoppable…" Shego leered…Indicating the handcuffed Potential as Ron sat up, tray over his bed…
"As you can see, this time…" she began.
"Skip it." He frowned. "I don't need The Speech, condensed sidekick version…"
"Hey…I am not a 'sidekick'." Annoyed tone.
"Is she dead?" he asked, eyeing her. "If she is, there's nothing to say to me except where you want the ashes sent and who Drakken's next of kin are." Coldly. "I already know who hers are…" eyeing Potential… "And yours…"
"Oooh…" she cood…Waving for Wendy to take Potential by the cuffs…Wendy leading Potential to a seat, securing the cuffs to a chain.
"Tough talk from the real sidekick…" grin…
"If Kim is dead…I'll find a way, Shego…To you and Drakken and your Polaroid Possible."
"Excuse me? Polaroid?..." Shego blinked.
"Clone, copy, whatever…Excellent job but I'm on to her…And you."
"Flatterer…" Potential eyed him.
"Well, it's true we are looking into cloning technology to create a new army…" Shego, calmly. "But, why would we waste time trying to build a better Kim…And why only one?"
"It's your plan…Or the doc's, rather…You tell me…"
"No, by all means…You tell me…I'm fascinated…" Shego grinned. "It sounds like a brilliant plan, better than ours even…Is your Evil side back in the game?"
"It's not a game this time, Shego…You harmed her. I won't let this one go with a little prison term. Not this time."
"I'd never harm Kim Possible, Ron…Whether you believe it or not. I could've killed her a zillion times but I like her in my twisted way…I'd be bored and so would Drew, without her to challenge me."
"Really?" Potential, perking… "Then hows about letting me go and we can have a swell time duking it out…"
"Wouldn't be a good idea, lambkin…You're in mucho danger…You two shouldn't have come here…" nervous tone. "Sweetie? You can go." She addressed Wendy who gave them a careful look but left.
"Ron, I'm serious." She eyed Stoppable…
Rufus emerging from under the bedsheet to give her a careful once-over…Hmmn…
Potential hurriedly looking away…
"Yeah, hi, you lil' freak…How's it hangin'?" Shego grinned at the molerat.
Frowning again at Ron's stare… "I mean it, kid. You aren't dealing with lovable Drew and Shego, your favorite playmates, here. Or even slightly tougher and more practical Cyrus. This Nazi will kill you for fun when he feels like it. He doesn't play by the rules…"
"You mean like the rules you and Drakken followed in cloning this thing…" he eyed Potential… "And what about real Kim? I'm asking again, for the last time…Is she dead?"
"Ron…" Potential, exasperated air…
"I don't want to hear it, whatever you are…" he shook his head.
"Whatever nonsense you think, Stoppable…" Shego cut in… "You two are in great danger. And Drew and I, whatever we are, don't want to see you both dead."
"Thanks." Curt tone.
"Goddamn you kid…Do you know the risk I'm taking just talking to you like this?!"
"Fine…Blast us loose, lets kill your crazy friend, and then you can take me to the real Kim, if you can…"
"Suppose I did…But only if you promise to run for it…Both of you…" she eyed them in turn.
"I think I'd rather have a chat with Colonel Lindendon…Maybe in exchange for telling him you and Drakken plan to betray him, he'll tell me the truth about Kim." Hard stare.
Oh, I am in love…Potential, staring… He may not be in Evil mode but that streak is bulging…
"It's a trick anyway." Potential shook her head. "Let us out and let the Throwback deal with us….Afternoon sports for him? Don't fall for her line, Ron."
"She's good…Congrats." Ron to Shego, calmly…
Rufus, grim stare at Potential…
"Well, fine…I have to separate you two…Think it over, both of you…I won't say we're friends but I don't want to see you both dead." Shego went to the door, opening… "Ok, take Possible to her room…"
Wendy re-entering a moment later with two support thugs…Unchaining Potential and pulling her along.
"Ron? Please, don't do anything stupid. We'll get out of this and I'll prove who I am to you…" the door closing…
"Ok, we don't have any time…I have to go or she'll suspect something." Shego hissed to Ron. "Everything you said is true and Possible can still be saved…If you promise to make her spare my little girl."
Ron blinking…