Your standard legal disclaimer thing: I don't own Kim Possible. I will remove this story off the net if they give me shit. Blah blah blah, yada yada yada. You all know the drill by now.

Small Surprises, Big Consequences

Chapter 4: Reflection

I can't believe that I was caught so easily by that redheaded ditz! Agni fumed, her mood even hotter then the steaming water poured down over her. When they returned to the older woman's home Kim had insisted that Agni take a shower while she wash her well worn clothes and Agni gratefully accepted, at least she was grateful on the inside, on the outside she just sneered and headed off to the bathroom. She said she would try to help me, but somehow… she seems ill equipped to the task. There is only one thing I want, to be away from that stupid school and that f'ed up family! Ideally, that would have meant living with her mother, but to Agni, anywhere else was acceptable to, anywhere that wasn't Go City at least.

The green girl leaned back and sighed as she scoured her self clean with the roughest sponge she could find. Whenever possible Agni preferred to be cleanly, and took the time to keep up appearances, however, she always tried to be out of the shower as quickly as possible. Ever since she could remember she never was able to relax under water and as far as she was concerned it was simply not her element. Agni usually chalked it up to some inborn instinct resulting from her powers. To compensate, Agni always made sure to turn the shower nozzle on its highest setting, the hotter it was, the more bearable. To anyone else the water would have been scalding, dangerously so, but thanks to that meteor, Agni had a heat coursing throughout her insides that made anything a showerhead could spit out laughable in comparison. She did her best thinking in the heat.

Kim Possible, the teenage cheerleader hero, and the one my mom's been butting heads with for at least three years now… I hate her! Why does she have to act so damn confident? What the hell does she know anyway, about my problems, about my mom, or about anything? She's just arrogant because she's been lucky so far and she has a nice home and a nice family. And she goes to a public school! Does she have any idea what I'd give to get out of that hellhole?

A thin aura of green energy had begun to form around the girl's hands as she thought about it but she quickly noticed and suppressed the light before anything regrettable happened. Agni bit her lip before she lost her bearings and blew up all over the shower. The term "fiery temper" had totally different meanings when one could actually accompany their temper with fire. She took several deep breaths until she managed to calm down. She certainly didn't want to explain to Kim why her shower had been reduced to charred slag, that would have been somewhat embarrassing to say the least and she would probably have to have apologized (god forbid).

Anytime the thief's daughter thought about her school it put her in a raging foul mood. Agni knew that had it not been for her mother's sizable donation she could bet that that elitist spoiled-brat institution would have turned her away at the front gate. The teachers and the students all seemed to know from day one that she didn't belong with them and they made it clear from day one that she wasn't welcome among them. The attitudes of the faculty and students were made doubly worse when they realized that the girl in their care was simply not the type to sit there and take such abuse without gross repercussions. On top of that, every time she did lash out in her own defense the teachers would cause her no end of grief by getting her home involved as well.

Being pinched between her family and her school was, as far as the young girl was concerned, the ninth circle of hell. People who didn't seem to even try to understand what she was dealing with left her with no escape and crushed their values down upon her. She hissed and shook her head.

Just like before I left…

(Go Academy for Gifted Women: Seven Days Ago)

Agni slammed her locker shut with a barely suppressed screech. She then whipped around and turned her burning emerald eyes on the entire crowd in the hallway accusingly. Most students backed away in well-established fear, but some were stupid or arrogant and returned the expression in kind or the best equivalent expression they could manage. Matching one of Agni's glares was usually a feat in itself. She began to rifle through her backpack and her pockets desperately in search of something, but always coming up empty.

Where is it? Where the hell could it be? I checked three friggin times to see that I had it in my locker after three different periods and it was always there, so where is it now? Her eyes darted from face to face as different girls and faculty passed her by.

The "it" in question was a very large and very important midterm history assignment. On it's own, the project would be the deciding factor of Agni's semester grade, and it was in her weakest subject by far, history. On top of that, the teacher in that class, a one Mrs. Turler, had it in for Agni the moment she laid eyes on the girl months ago and it showed as an obvious bias in her grading. If Agni turned in B-level work she was sure to get a low C at best for her troubles and that was on a good day. These factors on top of Agni's poor grasp on the subject in general have caused her grades in that class to plummet. By herself, Mrs. Turler would have been more bearable if she was one of a kind, but it seemed that with the exception of maybe two other faculty members (one being the janitor) Agni was never looked on very well.

The reason was simple enough, Agni's less than impressive family credentials aside; most of the teachers had a way of culling and killing the spirits of the students for even the slightest infractions. A girl once arrived to class a minute late, and her teacher at the time didn't stop reprimanding her in front of the entire class until she burst into tears. The teachers would be remarkably personal while doing so. They called it "negative reinforcement", Agni called it bullying and she refused to be subject to it. Most teachers had learned a long time ago that the quickest way to a kicked in kneecap was insulting the young girl's upbringing.

However, compared to her other problem, the staff was the least of Agni's worries. The students were far more vicious and in far greater number. The stuck-up rich brats were quite simply unbearable. They all came from prestigious families with millions to burn and they thought that because of their money they were above the common masses. Agni's mere presence seemed to show up in their predatory vision like she was a piece of choice meat. If it wasn't her family's complete lack of social status above middle-class then it was the fact that she had such pasty white skin from that gross makeup she needed to slather on every exposed surface of her body. Ever since she was four, her Grandmother would make her wear the awful stuff even though it choked her pores and made her itch terribly. Sometimes she entertained the fantasy of simply not wearing it one day to see if the students would manage to treat her even worse. She honestly doubted it.

Looking back on it, what really pissed the green girl off was all the time she had wasted trying to win some of them over, to avoid feeling so damn alone all the time. For the first couple of years she had done her best, being as polite as possible, giving what she felt she had too, asking if she could join in with other groups at lunch, and so forth. The sick thing was that the evil little debutants always pretended to be so accepting and polite, getting little Agni to lower her guard and then once things seemed to be going the emerald-eyed girl's way, they would crush her down in some humiliating scenario, always with as many witnesses as physically manageable.

It was by forth grade that Agni decided that enough was enough, and then declared open war on any and all of them. She didn't care much for their way of doing things though. If Agni wanted to she could have planned something out that would have put their humiliating little schemes to shame, but she lacked the patience for such a thing. No, all she cared to do was the oldest, simplest, most direct form of retaliation in known history, violence. The prim and proper rich girls quickly learned to back off for the most part when they realized that a smart comment earned them a black eye. It was very much in Agni's favor that they had a very low pain tolerance.

Most learned early that the thief's daughter was by no means and easy target anymore, but for others however, it simply fed a flame of hate that was already there. There were certain girls in the school that felt personally insulted by Agni's very presence and decided that it was there duty to crush her down despite the new inherent risks. Those girls played mean and didn't pull their punches when it came to ruining Agni's life and the teachers always seemed to act in those girl' favor. Finding her report missing from her locker practically screamed of that crowd's dirty work.

Was it Angela? She had as good a reason as any; I did break her nose, not that she won't have her daddy buy her a new one… Rebecca? Hmm… naw, she's a coward and so is Angela for that matter. How the hell did they even get my combo? If she didn't find where her paper was soon, Agni was loath thinking what may occur. She began to retrace her steps but something on the tile floor suddenly caught her attention. The object in question was a torn up slip of paper roughly the size of a credit card. She reached down to pick it up and get a closer look and to banish the cold chill running up her spine. It was frayed around the edges to show it had been ripped off a larger sheet; the typeface words formed her name and bits and pieces of her written work. Several more pieces dangled from the sides of a wastepaper bin.

Agni's eyes widened in horror, and for a moment she felt faint. Whoever had taken her paper had torn it to shreds. The paper was due in five minutes and she needed, absolutely needed to turn it in to Mrs. Turler by the beginning of the period. The nasty old bitch would never accept anything late from her, even with a good excuse. She doubted it, but she would need to go up to Mrs. Turler to beg and humble herself and maybe, in a one in a billion chance, the gorgon might concede to wait a while longer for Agni to reprint it.

Agni bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. She knew that something like this would happen, this always happened. No one at this god forsaken retched place would ever give her a break and just leave her alone. She understood after awhile that she would make no friends there, so she learned to keep to herself, however that didn't stop them from doing their level best to break her regardless, even now. Reflexively her fist flew out and put a dent in her locker door. Dammit! She then turned like a man being led to the gallows and marched forth towards the classroom.

It was early before the bell as Agni made her way into Turler's office. All the other students were probably situated throughout the canteen so she'd have some blessed privacy as she prostrated herself before this harpy. As usual, Mrs. Turler was focused on some trashy paperback romance. Probably to escape from her crappy marriage I hope. Agni cleared her throat to alert the woman that she was no longer alone in the room. Turler quickly turned her age worn face in the young girl's direction. The older woman's thin eyes narrowed behind her tacky horn-rimmed reading glasses.

"Miss. Drago, you need something?" Her voice dripped acid. This wasn't going to go well.

"Um, yes Mrs. Turler. It's about the midterm assignment-"

"The one due in fifteen minutes with no exceptions, that midterm?" Turler asked cutting Agni off. The girl winced internally.

"Yeah, that one," She looked down at her feet, "Something happened and it's been, um…"

The teacher interlaced her fingers together in her lap and looked down at Agni with obvious bemusement. "It's been what?" This bitch knows what I'm trying to say, she just wants me to say it. She's actually enjoying this! Agni unconsciously reopened the wound on her inner lip.

"I just… lost it. Um, but listen I've got it all saved, I swear! So if you just let me reprint it I can…" She stopped when she saw the look she was receiving.

"Miss. Drago, you know my policy on late assignments. I have a zero tolerance for tardiness." Agni could swear that she heard Turler think the words, And I have an even lower tolerance for you, but she chalked it up to healthy paranoia. She resisted the urge to slap her cheeks to clear her thoughts.

"I-I mean my assignment was destroyed after I brought it here ma'am! I promise it won't take me more than an hour to get you a new copy!"

The older woman didn't quite smirk but her eyes certainly did. "But Miss. Drago, you don't have an hour, as I said earlier. You have fifteen-"she looked up at the clock and shook her head, "I'm sorry I mean thirteen minutes before class begins."

Agni tried to keep from grimacing. "But ma'am I-"

"I suppose you'll simply have to accept a zero." For a moment Agni thought the old woman was about to laugh. She doubted she would be able to resist setting the bitch's desk on fire if she did. Turler however was not finished. "There is a lesson here for you to learn from. Be more careful with your things." She settled back in and turned to her abandoned novel.

BITCH! I-I could just- ARGH!!! Agni couldn't even think straight she was so angry. Someone needed to pay, and pay dearly or so help her she would lose her mind. It took all of her strength to keep from flaring up her hands and throwing her teacher through the window. However, a stray thought cut her anger out from under her.

Oh my god, Grandma's gonna kill me!

When Agni thought about what her report card was going to look like she thought she might throw up. She honestly did not want to know what her Grandmother might think when she laid eyes on it. As far as Agni was concerned, that woman was easily the most terrifying person she ever met. Something about her eyes was simply less then human, more like something that escaped from a nightmare. Now, Gram Roza had never laid a hand on her to be sure, but something told the pale-green girl that if she ever did her head would land somewhere separate from her body. Anyone that commanded as much fear as Roza Drago was not someone to be trifled with.

As bad as this school could be, her home was even worse. It was almost like being grounded for her entire life. Agni was almost never allowed to leave, and her Uncle Hego was always forced to baby-sit her like she couldn't take care of herself. The big blue idiot acted like she was a Molotov cocktail just waiting to burst all over his face. It seemed like it was all one big calculated attempt to make sure the young girl didn't end up like "that black stain on their family" as Gram Roza liked to put it.

Agni's internal reverie was cut off when she heard muffled laughter from the hallway. She looked out and slowly eased her way out the door. While she was never allowed to leave in her house in theory, that didn't stop the girl from constantly sneaking out whenever the mood struck. It took her years of trial and error, always getting caught and punished but by the age of twelve Agni could out sneak a ninja. To the group laughing outside she may as well have teleported over.

"Care to share what's so funny?"

The group was mostly several peons of minor note, but the girl standing in their center was the one she spoke directly to. Her name was Cassandra, and somewhere in there five years of knowing one another, the brown haired debutant had made it her sworn duty to drag Agni through every humiliating, painful, and often debilitating scheme she could imagine in that warped mind of hers. It didn't help matters that she was as brilliant as she was sadistic and always treated Agni like she was her personal plaything. Despite the numerous black eyes and broken noses the brunette put her through.

Cassandra turned suddenly when she saw Agni standing over her but quickly resumed her cool. "What's funny? Nothing, Agni dear, nothing comes to mind." Agni hated that, that sickeningly sweet and friendly voice the girl always used. It worked to win over everyone but her. Well that wasn't exactly true, it had worked on her at first but after the milk-carton incident she had learned better.

Cassandra looked over at the flunkies surrounding her. "We were just discussing what we thought we would get on midterms…" Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "I'll be getting an A of course, what about you, Agni dear? I'm sure you'll be doing very well."

Agni's lips pulled into a strained grin, and she uncrossed her arms. "Well, since you asked so nicely Cassi, I think I'll be getting a big fat F. You see, someone got into my locker by probably bribing some teacher, and then they took my completed assignment and tore it to bits so that the Turler could flunk me like she's always wanted to. You know, your favorite teacher?"

Cassandra laughed lightly with her hand over her mouth. "My you spin such interesting tales, Agni dear." She smirked. "So tell me, who pray tell perpetrated such a dastardly plot?"

Agni stepped back and shrugged. "No idea, but when I figure it out I intend to do something like-" She rushed forward and slammed Cassandra against one of the lockers as hard as she could with her fingers crunching down on the other girls shoulders, "-this!" Her accomplices took that as their cue to run. They learned long ago not to act against the pale girl while she was in a violent mood.

Cassandra gritted her teeth in pain but wouldn't allow Agni the benefit of a scream. "T-tell me, Agni dear," she asked grimacing in pain, "I heard that your parents were serial killers and that's why you live with relatives-" She was cut off as Agni's grip tightened but then continued despite. "It made too much sense for me not to ask, you see?"

Agni got right in Cassandra's face so there was barely three inches between their faces. Her voice was barely above a whisper but the prone girl heard her loud and clear. "My parents are off limits, Cassi dear. I've been pulling my punches since you're as fragile as a tissue but get in my face ever again," Her voice lowered to barely above a faint hiss," and I. Will. Hurt. You." The brown haired girl only smiled.

Agni looked over when she saw Cassandra's flunkies and a teacher running towards them. Being in no mood to deal with schools idea of discipline she let go of Cassandra's shoulders, before bolting down the hallway like a rocket and disappeared from sight around the corner. When the teacher finally arrived around the bend to retrieve the girl, she was nowhere in sight.

(Outside a moment later)

Agni landed hard on the ground, having used the ivy coating the side of the building to scale down from the window to a safe distance before landing on her feet. It was not the first time she decided to simply cut and run when things got too overwhelming. Agni couldn't think of a single reason to stay any longer considering she only showed up in the first place to turn in her paper and that turned out to be a useless gesture.

She decided it was a good time to end her school day and walked over to the rock where she hid her spare clothes for just such an occasion. Her uniform stuck out like a sore thumb when worn in the middle of the street. When she reached over to grab her sweatshirt she noticed something red on her fingertips. The pale girl angled her hand up to look and she saw what looked like tiny blood stains on most of her claws. Agni frowned, and tongued the cut in her lip. She hadn't meant to grab on to Cassandra that hard, knowing that she drew blood troubled her. It wasn't that she hurt Cassandra, but that she lost control that bothered her. A shiner was one thing but Agni never used her powers in front of people and she included her claws among them. It was easy to forget how hard and sharp her nails were.

Why does she keep trying to crush me, when she knows what that will entail? She always acts like it doesn't matter that I'll hurt her. Sometimes I think she enjoys it.

Every now and then Agni acknowledged her tendency to lose her temper and go overboard. She made an honest attempt to keep from doing that, but it was so hard at times. When things were at their worst she could feel the energy coursing through her veins just begging to be released. Sometimes it almost ached. If Agni wasn't careful she knew that she could easily kill someone by accident. Frankly, she wondered how her mother managed to attack with her power on full and at the same time avoid fatalities.

Shaking her head, Agni wiped her hands off on her uniform and pulled on her favorite black sweatshirt. She had no intention of going home until at least eight since her Grandparents had undoubtedly received a call from the school by now. She would wait until the last minute to deal with them. Until then she would probably waste her time in the mall arcade. It was her usual relaxation spot and the usual patrons knew not to trouble her. She stood and quickly bolted off as she heard the grounds security approach.

(Present)

Agni frowned and leaned her forehead against the wall beneath the showerhead letting the scalding fluid pour over her head and wash away the shampoo in her hair. And that was just one day. They're all pretty much like that, not that it matters anymore. I wont be going back there! She made a fist as she steeled her resolve on the matter. Her claws dug into her palms. For all of her assuredness however she couldn't think of what to do about the problem at hand.

Agni doubted Kim Possible had any intention of actually helping her, she probably just said that to calm the pale girl down. If anything, she would probably nod her head sympathetically, give her some empty pep talk and then send her home to the wolves. Well screw that, the moment I get a chance I am so gone. She reached over and turned the nozzle until the water pouring from the showerhead tapered off.

I'll see what Kim's selling but I don't intend to buy.

Chapter 4: End

Authors Notes: I'm very sorry this chapter was so long in coming. I've had computer troubles and writing this story is very difficult. It's taking a lot of time to map out where to get it to where I want to go, which is why this chapter was basically one giant intermission. Next time will focus on Shego and Kim's problems (of which there will be many).