Kim Possible: The Darkness Without
Redux
Pt 2
By Eoraptor
Boring but important legal stuff: Kim Possible and all related characters are property of the Walt Disney Company ©2002-2007. Full disclaimers at the top of Chapter 1.
Now, on with the Story...
-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-
"KP!" and "kim!" were the twin calls that greeted her at the airport as she stepped off the plane and smiled broadly. The first came from a handsome blonde man with the beginnings of a goatee and a healthy tan for someone who spent his winters in Chicago. The second greeting came from what looked like a hotdog wearing an overcoat and watch cap. The hotdog leapt from the man's shoulder and bounded past several startled passengers before scurrying up Kim's leg and torso, and nuzzling her cheek.
Late October in Chicago had all of three of them bundled up four weeks after she'd gotten the call from Dr. Director, but it didn't block the warmth of the hug and kiss that Ron gave Kim when he caught up to Rufus. After a long moment of hugging that wasn't quite friendship, but wasn't quite more any longer either, he let go and took her bags from her. Not that the former cheerleader needed any help carrying luggage when she could lay low ten henchmen at a time, but it was the right thing for him to do.
"Looking good Ron… I like the goatee, doesn't make you look diabolical at all." She grinned a little and elbowed him as they walked to the car. Rufus, still perched on her shoulder , made stroking motions of his little chin as Kim giggled.
"You look amazing as always," Ron replied, letting the jibe slide as he smiled at her in return.
It was true, at least in his eyes. In the two years since high school Kim had blossomed into a young woman who could easily be making her living in Milan and Paris, instead of juggling classes and the occasional global-domination plot. Her red hair was now held in a long tight pony braid down to mid back; and it only helped draw attention, from Ron's and every other set of male eyes on the tarmac, down her slender back to the swell of a backside that could do far more than merely have quarters bounced off of it. The rest of the Possible physique was just as stunningly firm, but not overly muscular despite her night-time pursuits and the teeth she bashed in on the rugby field. Womanhood had graced his best friend with hips and breasts that only made her even more stunning than she'd been as a head cheerleader and secret agent in short skirts and tight clothes.
Ron admired her openly, but not lewdly, and Kim smiled in return in one of those not-entirely-awkward moments former romantic interests sometimes shared.
Ron, of course, had grown up too, aided by his semi-pro position with the Arena league, and the good food he was able to eat at the Culinary Institute. He'd become fairly well muscled, and their occasional forays to tropical climes had bronzed his once pale freckled skin. Still, his wasn't the frame most of the people in the terminal and parking-lot had been eyeing.
He blushed finally, and moved on to loading her things into the back of a third-hand SUV that ran about as well as it looked, which was to say that it probably did everything it needed to, as long as you had your tetanus shots up to date.
"God how things change huh? You're flying in coach on a little short ranger, and I'm picking you up in this POS… not exactly night flights on the Concorde and rappelling from Army helicopters is it?"
Kim chuckled a little self-consciously and had to nod in agreement. Things had changed a lot more than she liked to admit. While Team Possible still took the occasional assignment, it was more like once every three months than once every three days. This meant that a lot of her 'favors' had been used up and they were reduced to scrounging together the money for public transportation. "Well, Army Helicopters don't give you honey roast peanuts, do they?"
She smiled as Rufus's eyes lit up and he dove bodily into her purse, emerging a moment later triumphantly with a little bag of Planters. As he tore into the packet, she hopped into the passenger seat and buckled up. After a moment, she looked over at her best friend and partner of almost two decades.
"Hey KP, don't they make you pay for those things now?" Ron smiled lightly nonetheless as his little partner attacked the roasted treats.
"Do you miss it Ron? The really busy times chasing Drakken and DNAmy and the rest?" she asked after a moment.
"I don't miss the monkeys!" He grinned. He was more or less passed his simiaphobia, but it still brought back the warm memories of fighting alongside KP. Well, mostly running and screaming, but still being useful.
"Well, we still do it don't we? We're going after the gruesome twosome for the first time I n a while after all." He shrugged a bit as they pulled out of O'Hare and into traffic. He looked over at her with no small amount of concern while they were stopped at a light. "Why, is something going on KP?"
"Oh, it's nothing, Just feeling nostalgic I guess." Kim smiled a bit more wearily as they drove. "Did you know Dr. Director retired? A month ago, when she gave us this mission."
Ron blinked, but he had never been as up on the espionage stuff as KP and Wade. "Really, why?"
"She didn't say… but she didn't seem like her old self. I guess it's true, you really can't do this forever…" Kim looked down at her lap and sighed, twirling her fingers as Rufus patted the back of her hand supportively and handed her the last peanut.
"Oh Kim… We do- You do important work that helps people everywhere… Just because someone else retires, doesn't mean we don't have decades of fighting the good fight left in us… Booh yah!"
"mmhmm mmhmm.. good fight!" came the parroted response from her purse as Rufus held up a little fist defiantly.
Kim smiled warmly in that way only Kim Possible could, even though she still felt a little down. Then she grinned. She decided to shock Ron, and see if it would cheer herself up as well. "Hey Ron, is there a Bueno Nacho round here somewhere? I've got this mondo craving for Naco."
Ron blinked and looked at her like a third arm had just grown out of her forehead. Then a huge grin spread across his face. "Booh Yah! Hey little buddy, KP finally got some taste buds!"
"cheese!!" came Rufus' cry as he scurried up and held Kim's neck, looking over her shoulder and out the windows for the infamous Mexican chain restaurants.
Kim smiled more easily and giggled a bit as they headed on into the blustery afternoon.
-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-
Later that evening at the top of Sears Tower, right in the heart of downtown, all was not as quiet as it could have been. The usual dramatic lighting shown up the twin television masts atop the glass and steel building, but there was also an unearthly blue glow rolling back and forth near the base.
"Remind me what this trans-cultural whosit does again anyways?" Shego was lounging on the fence around the observation deck; her long lean body clung to dangerously by a green and black unitard that showed off every dangerous curve like a second skin. For once she was not filing down the talons on her green and black gloves, she was just… waiting. Waiting for the cops to show, or GJ, or the FBI, or anyone…
"I've told you before Shego… the Trans-partical Vortex Recommbinator… It opens a rift in space time and allows us to view any point in history, or the future for that matter…"
Shego rolled her eyes languidly. Sure, it sounded good, but so had many of Dr. D's plans in the beginning. "What good is viewing? Why can't we like… fuck with the moon landing, or steal Tutankhamen's treasure or something?"
Drakken blinked. He was certain he'd never heard Shego use foul language before; snarky and insulting yes, but crude, no. After a moment considering her, he continued, frowning with mild confusion. "Time Travel doesn't work that way Shego, if you change anything in the past, you don't have a future to return too… Heisenberg's Uncertainty…"
"Ahbububububu…" She held up one viciously clawed hand, making a very dangerous 'shushing' gesture. "I don't need the Nobel Prize committee thesis Dr. Dill Weed. Why do we have to be here then? Wouldn't this have worked just fine in our much safer… and warmer hideout?"
"Because," he began again, slowly and more irritably, "We have to be on the highest structure around, at precisely midnight in order to avoid any kind of harmful interference."
"You mean like us?" If heroic entrance music could have played at that precise moment, it would have. "Prepare to be interfered with."
Drakken paled… well that is to say he became a lighter shade of blue. Shego looked over in surprised silence for a moment, a strange giddy feeling in her rising in her chest. There stood Kim Possible, her sidekick Ron Stoppable, and presumably the lump rolling about in one of his cargo pockets was the third member of the team, Rufus the naked mole rat. They were framed by the light of the elevator that had just deposited them on the observation deck, and looking pretty impressive.
The scene was straight out of an action comic book as Shego and Drakken took it in; the two heroes, now decidedly more muscular looking and purposeful then the last time either had seen them in San Fransisco, crouched in fighting stances as the door closed behind them and they became front-lit by the observation deck lights. Kim's formerly flowing red hair was tied back in a long braid, a heavy ring weighting it down at the end. Shego noted she filled out her purple tunic and tight black pants more suggestively than she had a few years ago. Obviously she'd been hitting the gym and not the college commissary.
The Doofus was looking pretty impressive too, she saw as she sized the pair up. She'd seen him on the TV a few weeks ago, but then he'd been hidden behind thick pads, not a form-fitting black turtleneck and cargo pants. He was pretty yoked up, and his hair was brushcut. She couldn't say much for the facial hair he was trying valiantly to grow, though. He could even prove to be a minor hindrance this time, if looks counted for anything.
A slow, dangerous grin spread across Shego's lips as she leapt from the fence and crouched on the deck, in front of Drakken and his pan-coital whoesit. She flexed her fingers slowly, a faint clicking heard as the metal talons moved. A second later, a green miasma roiled up over the mismatched pair of green and black gloves. It wasn't exactly a flame, but it wasn't exactly like boiling liquid either. Whatever it was, it was deadly dangerous, and lit her already faintly green skin to a much more vibrant shade.
"Kim Possible! I thought you retired…" Drakken sputtered for a moment as he took in the visage from the past before him. He obviously was at a loss for any further masterful villainy quips, since he stood there in the light from his device and stared at the trio.
"Not retired Drakken, just too busy for washed up death-ray jockeys like you two…" Kim's emerald eyes glinted as she grinned and watched him sputter even more at that, and listened to the way he made his thick black rubber gloves squeal as he ground and clenched his fists.
Finally, "Shego! Do your job and get them for once!"
"Hey there Princess, long time no see!" Shego's opening volley in their historic tet'a'tet was pretty bland, but she was still a little bit in shock at seeing these two looking much more like real crime-fighters than as the teens she remembered. She was also feeling a little bit excited at the thought of an actual challenge after so long. The excitement showed in her voice and her keen eyes as she crouched and flexed her fingers again.
"Ron, stop Drakken from activating that thing, Director Du said it generates some pretty harsh radiation. Shego and I need a lil time for girl talk." Kim's eyes never left Shego's as she gave instructions, and her own grin matched her rival's. Shego saw the dweeb vault off to one side in a surprisingly adept display, but her focus never left the foe before her.
"Oooh, is he still your cute, dorky little lover? High-school sweethearts are so sweet!" She laid it on saccharinely as she circled Kim. Without another moments notice a roiling green blast shot from one hand as she charged in, "But so two years ago!"
"What about you? Still working for Doctor Drakken? How nineties can you get?" Kim easily dodged the blast and charged as well, suddenly clasping her hands inside her taller foe's wrists and stopping her up cold. "Heck, you even jumped a full pardon to go back to him... who's lovers again?"
"Gah! Don't even joke! You're not still wearing that god-awful white suit under there are you?" Shego scowled at her redheaded nemesis as she was brought up short, surprisingly short in fact. Her eyes were still glinting with the excitement of fighting her only true equal once more, but they were hard now too, concentrating on the win.
"Nope, put that away a while ago, this is all me." Kim grinned as she struggled for dominance in the shoving match. Suddenly, she'd moved, and Shego's own pressing was rolling her forward at an alarming rate. Kim felt the sole of her boot in her opponent's gut satisfyingly as she catapulted Shego up and over her and towards the elevator door, away from Ron and Drakken.
"Gee Dr. D, you got old!" Ron blinked as he crouched in front of the device that was generating a spiraling blue vortex, just as its name implied. He wasn't in his old overly exaggerated monkey-fu pose, but was looking much more serious, shoulders rolling and clenching his own fingers as he easily backed the blue-skinned scientist up with intimidation.
It was true, at least to Ron's eyes. Drakken was a little more hunched than usual, and the white streak in his hair was far more pronounced than it had been in San Francisco. His blue and black lab coat also seemed just a bit dingier than usual. The scar tugged at the edge of his face again as he scowled at Ron.
"Old! Why you little…!" Drakken hissed and yanked a blaster out of one pocket. He fired off a blast that went harmlessly, almost comically wide of the mark and scorched a guard rail. Ron darted in and grabbed the blaster, forcing it down and right out of Drakken's hand. He heard it clatter over the edge of the building, and winced slightly as he remembered that they were 1,353 feet above the street, according to the brochure in his pocket anyways.
"Careful Doctor… watch that first step now." Ron turned his own uneasiness on his opponent and inclined his head to where the blaster had just gone careening. Drakken though, made a mad dash right at Ron, and promptly began slapping at him with his gloved hands.
Sure, the heavy black latex stung a little, but come on! Ron gave the blue man one shot to the nose and he dropped like a sack of potatoes, more out of shock at being punched than in actual pain.
Drakken looked up at Stoppable with wide eyes, clutching his face as a trickle of dark red wet the black of his gloves. "You hit me!"
"Well yeah… Duh, you were slapping me… AND you were like, totally going to nuke Chicago. What's with that anyway?"
Drakken was about to retort haughtily, when he blinked again, still clutching his nose. This gave his nose a comical, whining quality, "What do you mean, nuke Chicago?"
-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-
"Carrier to Pigeon Coop, fire in the roost… shall we proceed?" The taller of a pair of figures suited in dark blue were watching, from a nearby stealth helicopter, through some serious spotting scopes as they watched the flashes of blue and green blossoming on Sears Tower.
"Negative Carrier, The eggs aren't mature yet… hold position, and for god sakes, don't push that button."
The shorter man grunted as the radio clicked off. There was enough turbulence up here to cause them to simply bump the button. And why didn't they just blow it anyways, take out the two primaries, the secondary, and Drakken and that rat all at once? Leave no one the wiser?
The unmarked and nearly silent chopper hovered on, then; watching and waiting for the word.
-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-
Shego, of course, landed on her feet and launched another bolt of roiling, bubbling plasma at Kim. "Not bad Kimmie, and I love the hair-ring…"
She grinned and started circling Kim again, aiming to get between her and Drakken. She wasn't sure she wanted to take her on directly again without a better plan; that damned kick had hurt! Still, she had to close the distance and keep Kim occupied while Drakken did… whatever.
"Thanks, have you ever seen this before?" Kim's own grin was playful. She enjoyed the compliment, even as she whipped her head and sent the heavy metal ring attached to the end of her long braided hair right at Shego.
"Cheese and rice! How much does that thing weigh?" Shego just had time to duck her own head, glistening iridescent black hair flying as the silver ring sailed past her face in an arc that would otherwise have slammed her right in the temple.
"'Bout five pounds." Kim's head came back up, and the braid, with its apparently useful ring swung back to her, settling with a few pendulous sways behind her back.
Shego grinned, she had to respect anyone who would use their own hair as a weapon. She also knew that Kim wouldn't be swinging it around that much, for fear of ripping her own hair out along with a good chunk of her scalp.
"Kinky… bet the Doofus just loves it!" Her grin once again went from playful to intense as she launched a volley of blasts right at her foe's feet, wondering if she could still engage in her legendary acrobatics with that kind of weight swinging around her head.
"That's the second time tonight you've mentioned him. Jealous, Shego?" Kim winked an emerald eye as she flipped backwards artfully, keeping perfect poise as she dodged every bolt. Shego scowled at how well Possible was moving tonight, and decided to change tactics again.
"Jealous? Of the Buffoon? Oh please… he looks better than when you were in school, Pumpkin, but he's still just a boy." She grinned as she stayed back this time, out of range of boot and ring. Normally banter like this was just to throw off the opponent, get them off balance; but with Kim it was different. She enjoyed trading barbs with the feisty redhead. Hell, the kid was cool, and had even helped Shego get rid of an interloper a few years ago. And now Possible was all grown up… It just made the game that much more interesting.
Still, there was a job to do, and she was being paid, after all, to stop Team Possible from stopping Drakken. Shego slashed her talons at the ground and watched the concrete and asphalt ripple like a silk ribbon towards Kim.
"Oh that's right, you're turning thirty this year huh? Still, least you can fill out your jumper, more than I can say for old Drakken over there." Kim vaulted up and over the rolling wave of rock and steel, and came down on her feet once more closer to Shego, breathing just a little harder now. This was fun... More workout than she'd gotten catching Killigan last month anyway.
"Oh, checking me out for more than my moves are we? I guess college really did open up your horizons!" and there it was! Kim's prudish little blush appeared as Shego finally hit a button.
She used the momentary fluster in Kim's concentration and swung a hard kick at her. Purple clad arms rose up to meet a slender black clad leg, but there was a lot of force there, and Kim stumbled to one side before regaining her footing.
"Goodness Princess, can't admit your feelings for me, even after all these years together?" Shego's kicks continued, spin after spin drove Kim back and at the same time away from Drakken's device. Her eyes gleamed. She had thought Kim might beat her outright after the first two exchanges, but she was back now and just above Kim Possible in combat, right where she was supposed to be.
Kim's grin had faded a bit when she lost her footing and she was gritting her teeth, trying to find an opening. There was no time to chide herself right now, so she decided to try to push a few buttons right back.
"Yeah… I've got feelings for you Shego… Respect most of all." she said through clenched teeth as another kick tried to penetrate her defenses. Shego's expression was priceless, or would have been, had Kim had the time to stop and admire it.
Glowing green eyes were wide in mild shock even as Kim ducked lower and grabbed her ankle, spinning her around like a discus. Shego barely righted herself as her back hit the wall of the elevator. She got to her feet quickly though, and shook it off, also trying to shake off the surprise that had replaced the previous excitement in her core.
"Good one kiddo. You had me going." She dove in again, claws bared and shimmering, but definitely not giving off the maximum power she could. She didn't want Possible maimed, after all, just stopped.
Meanwhile nearer the machine.
"Will Du told KP that you were going to irradiate Chicago." Ron watched Drakken carefully as the older man rose to his feet again, but made no move to grab the controls or reach for another pocket.
"Why would I want to do that, I want to rule the world, not destroy it! Otherwise I would have kept Warmonga on instead of Shego!"
"Dude, why would you want to rule it? I have a hard enough time cleaning my apartment, let alone getting the Israelis and the Palestinians to stop killing each other!" Ron gave him an incredulous look. He just didn't get the world domination thing. But Drakken didn't usually try to outright kill people either, or make threats… it was always more mundane stuff like turning Wisconsin to cheese. Something didn't add up here.
"Well, the machine's already on, so I guess I should be dead, huh?"
"You see, buffoon! It's not a radiation bomb!"
Ron's teeth clenched. He knew Drakken had known his name long before now, but that always ticked him off. He popped him again in the face with his fist. He and KP could sort out what to do about the machine themselves.
This time the blue mad scientist did drop out for good, and Ron grabbed his ankles, tugging him towards the elevator. When he had Draken there, he grabbed his own kimmunicator and headed back to the machine, briefly watching Kim apparently besting Shego.
"Wade, need your help buddy. Draken said his machine isn't a radiation bomb, so what in the name of all that's Diablo is it?" Even when he was speaking though, Ron's attention was drawn to the very center of the vortex, where there seemed to be a dark shape forming.
Claws slashed through air just inches from purple lycra as Kim ducked again. She grinned eagerly still, swiping back with her own fists, and decided to try to push the button again since she hadn't heard any explosions or heard Drakken screaming for mercy yet. "What's the matter Shego, can't profess your feelings for me?"
Once again, this caught Shego off guard. Was it more than just respect for someone who could fight her to a stand still? She and Kim had been adversaries for years, but had they really been enemies in any of that time?
The fist in her gut didn't help clear Shego's mind any. The elbow to the back of her neck shut off the argument and most others a second later as she went down and couldn't get up past her hands and knees.
Ron held his kimmunicator to the terminal as Wade tried to decipher Drakken's handiwork. Rufus scurried out of Ron's pocket and down his arm, standing on the machine's controls and scratching his chin, trying to decipher them. He pointed at one he thought important. Ron flipped it after considering for a moment, and the swirling brightened. Even as it did so, his eyes were drawn to the vortex's heart, and he saw a definite person-shaped blob there now, moving about. Then there was a second, shorter shape alongside the first, they seemed to be… struggling? Its left arm was lighter than the rest of it and it was swinging both arms violently at the first, taller shape. Then a different human-shaped blob caught his eye, away from the Vortex.
"KP! Drakken!" he pointed with his free hand. Neither of them was less than forty feet from the scientist now, as Ron had dragged him out of the way. He had scurried over to his hover-car and climbed in by the time Ron pointed to him. How did that man manage to always wake up so quickly and escape?
Within a second, the hover car had floated over and Shego had drunkenly jumped into it. It then quickly began to rise out of reach of Kim's grasping fingers.
-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-
"Pigeon Coop, Pigeon Coop, Two hatchlings learning to fly!" Once again the tall man had the radio in his hand.
"Fuck it!" The shorter man reached over and flipped the safety cover off of an angry red switch. He mashed his thumb down on it even as the confirmation to do so was coming back over the radio.
"Smash the nest, repeat, smash the nest…"
-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-KP-
Author's Additional notes
Again, far fewer notes The Sears Tower info is accurate in this chapter, look it up on Wiki if you want or at its official website. Again virtually no changes made to this chapter, just some grammatical cleanup and interjecting a few bits from the second half of Season 4. I'm going to try to release these updated chapters once a week, but that may change later, as the alterations I need to make get more complicated.