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 5: Nightmare

(Somewhere, Nowhere)

Rain fell in sheets from below the ash-gray clouds and hard onto the busy city. At that late hour, and under those harsh conditions most who were sensible were either asleep within the comfort of their homes or among the company of others within those dark corners of the city that knew no rest. Thunder echoed throughout the heavens, and lightning illuminated the streets to reveal a young figure in clashing black and green as she ran oblivious to the hazardous weather towards an over arching dark and monolithic piece of architecture. When confronted with the barrier the locked entryway provided she didn't even break her stride as she decimated the obstructive object with a flash of emerald power.

The only sound echoing throughout the unfinished skyscraper to be heard beyond the heavy sound of rainfall was the light footfalls of the spry eighteen-year-old as she ran for her life. Like a bullet she moved up and around the stone steps, through the gaping holes in the unfinished brick walls and underneath the ceiling of unfixed girders. No matter how cluttered her path, she never slowed down once. All the while she consciously jumped over and avoided every twisting and writhing shadow along the ground. Any and all darkened corners of the building seemed to be stretching and reaching out thin inky black claws, all with malevolent intent. From this active darkness a quiet hiss of a voice echoed out from the living night that was trying to swallow the teenage hero.

HUUUUURRRRRYYYY, MMMSSS. SSSSSHHHHHEEEEEGGGGOOOOO… The voice was soothing and smooth like silk and honey, but drawn out unnaturally like a snake's hiss. I'MMM LOOOOSSSSIIIINNNGGG MYYY PAAAATTTIIIEEEENNNCCCEEE…

Shego hissed through her teeth and picked up her already astonishing pace. Her goal was clear as she ran up and up and up towards the still darkness of the unfinished overarching roof. Even within the confined space, rain continued to fall within from every exposed opening intermingling and mixing with the sweat on the young woman's brow. Sweat formed out of fear born not from self-preservation but of great concern for another.

IIII"MMMM GLLLLLAAAAADDD YYYOOOUUUU CAAAAMMME ALLOOOOONNE LLIIIKKKEEE III ASSSSKED, MSSS. SSSSSHHHHHEEEEEGGGGGOOOOO… A rough and sickening snort of a laugh resounded off the walls. YYYYOOOUUUURRR BBBRRROOOTTTHHHEEERRRSSS WEEERRRNNN'TTT IINNNVVVIIITTTEEEDDD AAAFFFTTTEEERRR AAALLL…

Shego growled and lit up both of her hands as she jumped between a gap separating two sections of floor. The bright green light forced all the closest shadows to back away with an almost audible screech. She shouted at the surrounding darkness as she made her way upward.

"If I see even a scratch on her, I'll make you wish you killed yourself long before I get up there! Do you hear me, Bogeyman, you freak?"

Suddenly the voice lost all its jubilation and settled into a more vicious hiss, promising violence. IIIII'MMMM GOOOOOIIIINNNGGGG TOOOOO KKIIIIILLLLLLL HHHEEERRRRR, IIIFFF YYYOOOUUU DOOOONNNN'TTT HUUURRRYYY…

Shego bit her lip and continued her rush upwards, ignoring the mocking hiss bouncing off the walls around her, and the metal underneath her. Thin nightmarish tendrils of inky blackness followed just behind her every footstep held at bay only by her burning green power. When she finally reached the roof, she lunged forward and was faced with her enemy and her goal.

The villainous thing named Bogeyman stood on the end of an exposed girder sticking upward from the unfinished rooftop; it was currently the highest point in the building. Tall twisting and arching shadows like sable flame rose up from the floor twisting around him. What had the teen's undivided attention, however, was that the dark thing's hand was wrapped securely around a tiny green throat. Gleaming black claws orbited mere inches above a head of short black hair. Bogeyman looked up at Shego with his expression hidden behind a featureless ivory-white mask which stood in stark contrast to his jet-black attire. When he spoke, gone was the soothing and calm hiss, replaced by a synthetic rasp.

"I'm glad you could make it Ms. Shego because I'm about to kill your daughter. A mother should always be present for all the big events in her child's life, don't you agree?"

"Give her to me. Now." Her voice was quiet, barely loud enough to hear above the din of the storm, but it spoke volumes of a rage she was physically incapable of expressing due to its sheer magnitude.

In response the grip around the tiny throat tightened just enough for the teen to pale and take a step back. The soft voice spoke out.

"I don't like your tone." He looked down at the tiny unconscious figure in his dark arms. "She looks so much like her mother… You must be so proud. I wonder who the father is…" He shook his head, "Actually I could care less." He cast the girl one last look and sighed with an orgasmic glee which caused Shego to tense up involuntarily.

"She's so young, so untainted." He looked back up at the hero. "Watching her die… it would be such art."

Shego's face contorted in fiery demonic rage at his words. Her powers flared up momentarily and lit the darkened sky like a flare. "If you don't put her down right now, I swear to god, I'll-"Her words were cut off when she saw him drag his right thumbs claw across the girl's right cheek, leaving a line of dripping green in its wake. Shego's breath caught in her throat

"Did I get your full and undivided attention? Good. I have the hostage, I have the power, and I am the one who says what happens from here." He smirked when she swallowed nervously and took a step back.

She lowered her head, her bangs hiding her expression. "W-what do you want then?"

The thing "tsked" and shook his head. "You know what this is all about, Ms. Shego. You and your brothers insulted me, ruined my reputation, and injured my career. Repercussions must be exacted." He looked up at her. "You in particular fouled it all up. That's why I must make an example of you."

"You're sick."

"And pissed, very bad combination, don't you agree?"

He added a new cut to the girl's forehead leading down across the previous cut on her cheek forming a misshapen neon-green 'X'. Shego roared out and ran forward with the green aura around her hands erupting like small magma founts. The metal around them began to warp and drip from the shear heat, and the living shadows surrounding them screamed out and retreated. When the green hero was mere moments away from tearing the monstrous freak in twain he gave an exaggerated sigh and held up the child so she was in the path of her mother's irate assault. At the last second before he burning claws were about to rip into the thing's face she saw the girl directly in front of her attack and quickly stopped herself and remembered the position she was in.

It was a horrible hopeless feeling, seeing the one person she loved in the hands of a monster, and there was nothing she could do about it. It was Shego's first true taste of despair. All she could do was watch him hurt the child, and hurt Shego by proxy. What was the worst thing though was as psychotic as he was, Bogeyman was not stupid. He'd leave her no openings to exploit, no chance to save her four-year-old.

"Such impressive restraint," Bogeyman exclaimed proudly. "For a moment I thought you cared more about hurting me than saving her." He shrugged, "Let's see if that's the case, shall we?" In a single motion, Bogeyman shifted the position of the child in his arms, and held her by the throat over the edge of the fifty story building. The hero felt her heart turn to stone in her chest.

"DON'T!"

"Make your choice, Ms. Shego, her or me?" He laughed. "I'll make it an easy one." Without hesitation he loosened his grip, and the pale girl fell just as Shego began to scream out in protest. Without pause, she ran forward and vaulted over the edge of the roof, completely ignorant of her own wellbeing. All she was capable of thinking of or perceiving was the small figure rushing quickly towards the hard and unyielding street.

Shego stretched her arms forward as she fell, reaching as hard as she could for the falling girl. Second after second she began to close the gap between them. Her clawed finger tips were soon less than an inch away. For a moment she felt hope, as her fingers glanced against the falling body. However, just as suddenly that hope was dashed into pure despair as a thin limb shot from the shadows next to her descending form and wrapped tightly around her ankle. The tiny body fell well beyond her grip and rushed downward towards the streets below.

"Choke on your hubris as you WATCH HER DIE!"

(Now: Shego's apartment)

"Agni!"

Suddenly Shego shot up in her bed with sweat pouring down her face only to remember that she was back within the safe confines of her apartment. The pale woman couldn't stop hyperventilating at the crystal clear memory left over from her nightmare. Her heart was smashing hard within her chest like a church bell, and she could feel goose bumps rise all over her skin.

It's okay! Everything's okay! Agni's fine and he's gone for good. Believe it, Shego!

After five minutes her panic attack calmed down to acceptable levels and her fear drunk mind cleared. She took a final deep breath and slowly lay back down against her pillows. She reached over for the bottled water next to her on the nightstand and took a deep drink, before wiping her mouth and shaking her head.

God damn nightmares.

She noticed thin wisps of smoke wafted past her nose and she looked around trying to find their source. Her brow furrowed as she saw the two deep black burn marks on either side of her bed. The stress the nightmare brought on must have triggered her powers as she slept, as per usual.

Dammit, I gotta buy more sheets again. This always happens!

It was a nightmare that seemed to visit her at least once a year, usually around her birthday, but that wasn't for another month. It was unusual to say the least to experience it so early in the year, but considering the very recent sequence of events, it wasn't entirely too hard to believe. That by far had been the worst night of her life and she had the entire event in its entirety burned into her psyche whether she liked it or not.

Normally, Shego made a point to never sleep in as late as she had, however she considered it acceptable this one time considering she hadn't gotten to sleep until 6am that very morning. Tracking her stray daughter had taken that long.

(Middleton: Four Hours Ago)

Shego was honestly not surprised when she entered her room to check on Agni and found her daughter nowhere in sight. Most mothers probably would have panicked, or grabbed for the phone to call the local police. However, most would agree that Shego never did anything the ordinary way. At seeing her window open she merely leaned against her wall and sighed.

Dammit Agni, Can't you understand that I'm way too tired to deal with this right now?

She stuck her head out the window and looked around to get some indication of what direction the troublesome girl must have run off in. Tiny holes were melted into the wall leading down, indicating Agni had used her power to melt handholds for her to ease herself down rather then just jump and get her mothers attention with the noise. Shego smirked despite herself. Her daughter was very good, that was true without a doubt, certainly better than Shego had been at her age. Although to be perfectly honest Shego had spent most of her time trying to learn not the set fire to everything around her than to perfect her sneaking habits. Agni on the other hand had her entire life to get used to her powers.

Shego stepped out from the window and landed gracefully and soundlessly on the street below.

Now where did you run off to…?

The thief could have taken the traditional route and looked over the area to pick up the clues needed to find the girl as was her usual method, but in this case there was a far easier technique at her disposal and this was one of the only scenarios where it was useful for anything. She'd be damned if she would waste this opportunity. Shego closed her eyes and concentrated hard, her focus deeply inward.

Considering the eight years it had been since they had last saw one another, and how young Agni had been at the time, Shego wasn't surprised that the girl didn't know the trick Shego was implementing. In theory it was a simple technique; since the power that flowed throughout them both was the same, just as Shego could feel and manipulate the mysterious energy within her, if she simply put her mind to it she could feel it within Agni too, she had been its source after all. However, that didn't mean that it wasn't taxing or exhausting. It did require a great deal of discipline just to learn it. After a moments thought she felt the tug of her consciousness indicate a direction. Opening her eyes, Shego could she a faint glowing green trail heading off in the northeastern direction.

She regretted that she couldn't use that trick on anyone but Agni, since if it also worked on her brothers she would always know when to leave the area.

If I could only visit her I could teach her about all the things she's capable of. The power they both possessed was by far the most versatile of what that blasted meteor had granted (or cursed) her siblings and her with. There were so many uses from subtle to big things that could never be learned from a letter. There is so much that I'd like to teach her about but… She halted that train of thought before it had a chance to go anywhere foolish. There in nothing I can do about that now. Get over it.

Shifting her focus, Shego made her way to her car and drove off after her rebellious daughter, focusing more on her instincts than the road itself.

As she drove her mind strayed back towards the conversation she had had with her mother about an hour ago. The woman was as much a vile and scary bitch as she was when Shego had been Agni's age. Her father was the one that did most of the actual raising of Shego and her siblings but when it came to matters of discipline and punishment, he always stepped aside like the inherent cowards Shego knew him to be and allowed her mother to take center stage. Roza never liked to be bothered with her family unless circumstances made it necessary, and Shego's early rebellious streak made it more then necessary very early on. Sometimes Shego got herself into trouble just to upset the woman, which never worked out like she would have liked. Instead of getting her mother to notice her for once, she usually just cast Shego that same hardened expressionless stare, like she was deciding if it was worth her time to even come up with a punishment, before retreating to her office.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that it had probably been her father, Dmitri's idea to have children. He was the over affectionate softy in the family after all. Her mother probably just did it so he would have something to do with his time.

And now Agni has to deal with that same thorny mess. No wonder she ran off. Honestly I can't even blame her; I'd have done the exact same thing in this situation.

The only reason Shego didn't run away herself was out of spite. She simply didn't want to make her mother's life that easy. Part of the pale thief wished she could shed her desperately stubborn streak for all the trouble it put her through but another part of her mentioned that had it not been for the vicious spiteful side of her, Agni would never have existed more then a week beyond her conception. Even that choice to keep the only person she currently gave a damn about was born from stubborn spite.

God was that a day, Shego reminisced as she drove down the darkened streets. The day she told her mother she was pregnant had been nothing short of a catastrophe. Her entire family ended up nearly coming to blows over that mess and she made a point not to think about that day or any of the days that closely followed. The last thing she needed was to be put in a worse mood then she was already in.

After roughly twenty minutes of following the dull trail, Shego's brow furrowed as she noticed the direction in which she was headed. It honestly didn't seem possible. For a moment, she began to think that she was following some roundabout wild goose chase that her twelve-year-old must have thought up. As unlikely as that seemed it was still easier to believe then what seemed far more obvious. As far as she could tell, she was heading straight towards Kimmie's home.

What the hell is she doing running this way? She's not actually heading over to Pumpkin's home, is she? That couldn't be, she barely stand to be in the same room as Kimmie. After a moment's consideration, she shook her head in exasperation. She probably figured this would throw me off. It would have too had this been a normal search. Heh, she's even more stubborn than I am.

When she reached Kim's neighborhood, she parked a few blocks away, to avoid alerting anyone in the house. It was still pretty early but there was small chance that Kimmie's family might be awake. Things would have been much easier if her family wasn't familiar with her face. She would have to approach thief-style in order to avoid anything troublesome.

Silently she snuck over to the Possible residence and around to the back where the wall connected to Pumpkin's window. All her senses told her that this was where Agni had run off to, and she was up there currently. That much became obvious as she inspected the wall. Similar melted claw marks made there way up to the window that were outside Shego's apartment. The girl certainly didn't care for subtlety

Using the handholds her daughter had thoughtfully provided, Shego crawled up and peered into the window, only to suddenly lose her balance and fall to the ground. That rare show of clumsiness was the result of seeing something impossible, and reflexively pushing away from the wall.

It couldn't be. I'm just really REALLY tired.

Taking a deep breath, Shego slowly made her way back up the wall, this time making sure to steady her self before looking in. She peered inside the room and was greeted with that same impossible sight. She cautiously shifted her weight to her right side, so that she could rub her eyes with the side of her left hand. She blinked, but she still saw it.

Her surly troublesome daughter and the girl she maintained a bitter rivalry with were both sleeping… in the same bed… in one another's arms… and looked like they were both very comfortable in that position. It simply didn't add up no matter how the pale woman wrapped her mind around it.

She fully expected to find Agni in there, however she thought the girl would be hiding in the closet until the coast was clear, not in her enemy's bed. Despite herself, she began to feel a deep boiling anger begin to push it's was up through her consciousness. What the hell is Agni doing! Is she that desperate that she would run to the same woman who is constantly trying to beat down on my career? I bet this is some way of getting back at me!

After a moment of giving into those feelings, other thoughts soon pushed themselves to the surface. Agni wouldn't have run from me if she felt she had a choice. Not from me. Maybe… maybe I should try to find some other way. I certainly can't take care of her, not after what happened. But I'm a real loser if I think I can just forget about her happiness too… I'm not like my mother, I won't just forget about her because it's easier.

Shego quickly realized that she had been watching the two sleeping girls for over ten minutes. Agni's calm expression didn't hide the dark lines under her eyes, evidence of her exhausting trip to run to her mother's arms, a trip that seemed to be ending in utter failure. I feel so pathetic right now; I bet I'd throw up if I looked in a mirror. She doesn't deserve the crap she's put through, that I put her through. She suppressed a sigh and leapt from where she hung outside the window to the soft grass.

I'll come back later, when they're awake. She thought. I'd be such a bitch if I woke her up like that out of nowhere only to drag her back to her grandparents. I need time to think about things… Maybe I'll bust Drakken out to clear my head. He's probably plenty pissed by now too considering how I bailed on him. Shego considered as she made her way back to her car.

Above all other things though, she intended to finally get some rest. Working on only three hours sleep was probably one of the reasons she was so unable to handle things right now. She briefly considered that her parents were probably expecting Agni back some time soon. She shrugged those thoughts away with a tired grin.

Screw em.

(Shego's Apartment: Present Time)

Shego felt drained and heavy as she eased herself down at her kitchen table, balancing two slices of toast and a glass of orange juice in both hands. She generally felt pretty out of it for the entire day whenever she had that nightmare. However, unlike usually she didn't have the option of merely lying back for the day and calming her nerves. Above all things, she needed to figure out what to do to help her daughter.

She idly chewed on a piece of toast as she glanced over her shoulder at the small digital clock. The small red numbers read that it was 1pm in the afternoon. Kim should be up and about by now. Shego thought idly. However despite that, it didn't make her want to get up and perform her motherly duties any more then she already did.

What am I gonna say to Agni?" I'm sorry things are tough, deal with it?" or maybe, "Eighteen isn't that far away." Good Shego, really good. You sure are a benefit to your daughter's life. She sighed and reclined back in her seat, completely oblivious to what her best solution was.

And too stubborn to ask the one person who might be able to help her…

Chapter 5: End

Authors Notes: If any one has any ideas they'd like to submit to help beef up this story, please don't hesitate to PM me.