Updates are going to be a little slow, since I've got to start job-searching again, but I'll get as much done as I can.
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"The answer to your question is no, Ron." The apparition his room informed sternly.
"I don't understand." Ron replied, slightly confused. When he learned of what Kim was going through, he had contacted Yamanouchi for an answer. If anyone was capable of helping his best friend, it was them. They were supposed to stand for justice and helping others, so why were they refusing?
"It should be obvious even to someone as young as you." The woman warned. She was about ninety, although she looked over thirty years younger, due to MMP slowing the aging process. "Master Sensei is dead and we are not about to repeat his mistake. Your proposal is completely unacceptable."
"KP needs help, and you're the best ones to provide it." Ron argued. "She's struggling to deal with everything she's gone through, she's pushing everyone she cares about away, and she needs help. Why won't you do anything?" His voice rose a bit at those words.
"I've heard this same argument before." The woman cut him off before he could go on a rant. "Except it was about the one who now calls himself Shadow. I was against his training from the very beginning and my concerns turned out to be well-founded, Stoppable-san. We are not about to make a similar mistake again."
"Please help her!" Ron knew he was begging but didn't care at this point in time. "She says she's constantly angry, that she keeps having urges to attack. This can't be natural; I thought your job was to help people in need."
"Which is precisely what I am doing," The woman stated. "This is only more reason why Possible-san should not be allowed to train at our school, especially since she shows every indication of following her brother's path."
"I'm not asking you to train her, just help her, damn it!" Ron screamed.
"You should treat your elders with more respect." The woman admonished. "This discussion is over. If Possible shows up anywhere near our school, if you try and sneak her in there, we will take appropriate action. " The spirit disappeared before Ron could try to argue his case further.
So what do I do now? Ron wondered, at a loss. He thought for sure that Yamanouchi would assist, especially in light of everything both KP and himself had done to protect the school. He knew some people were judging Kim based on who her half-brother was, but he previously believed that Yamanouchi prided themselves above that. Apparently he was mistaken, or he had underestimated the impact Sensei's death had on them.
He wanted to send Kim yet another message, but knew that there was little point to it. She wouldn't reply, that much was clear. Ron just hoped the message he gave her during their brief visit actually got through to her. In order to calm his nerves, he used his abilities to levitate a glass ball, which was becoming easier by the day. "Wonder what I could really do with more formal training..." Ron tried to cheer himself up with, but it didn't last very long.
Felix had left a message a couple of days ago, telling him to simply be patient and that Kim would come to his senses. Now more than ever, he wished he had somebody to talk to. Ron was feeling very alone, a sensation that he previously did not believe would happen. KP wouldn't speak to him, Monique was furious with him, and while Felix attempted to keep in contact, he had a life of his own that was keeping him quite busy.
"Shouldn't make it so easy for someone to sneak up on you," He heard a voice say behind him. Ron jumped about a foot and before he knew it, blue energy ignited in his hands.
"Shego!" Ron exclaimed once he realized who it was. "How did you get in here?"
"You left the door unlocked; not real smart of you." Shego teased. "Not that it would have stopped me, or even slowed me down, but you ought to have put in the effort."
"Maybe I should ask: why are you here?" Ron wondered. "You could have called ahead, you know."
"And ruin the chance to make you jump out of your skin? I think not!" Shego laughed. "Seriously, though... look, if you don't want me here, I'll go."
"No, no, I didn't say that!" Ron hastened to reassure, painting a smile on his face. "To be honest, it's actually good to see you." He stared at her, unsure of what he should do. Neither of them had ever really dealt with their feelings toward one another. Should he just greet her? Kiss her? Hug her? He wasn't sure and it truly bothered him.
"Thanks; I don't hear that too often." Shego admitted. That was an understatement. She was quite flattered that someone actually wanted her around. She had the urge to do more, to push him up against the wall and kiss him senseless. As much as she desired to do so, however, she refrained. She didn't know how he would react to such boldness.
"I'd say come in, but I think you've managed that just fine on your own." Ron joked. "So how have things been with you?"
"I really needed to get out of that place." Shego groaned. "If I heard Drakken wondering where I was, how I was one more time, I was going to kill him."
"Huh, never would have believed Drakken was capable of caring about anyone." Ron mused. It made him see his enemy in a slightly different light. "Anyway, it looks like you haven't... committed any new crimes since all of this. That's good, right?"
"I still haven't decided whether or not I'm going to keep doing this." Shego admitted, subtlety moving closer to him. She wanted to see his reaction, how acceptable this was to him. Already she could feel Ron's eyes scanning her. "I've been bored out of my mind. Normally, I'm off doing something, going on vacation or breaking into a bank."
"Sounds like you could use a vacation," Ron attempted to soothe.
"I know, but Doctor D won't let me go anywhere." Shego sighed. "He doesn't know... about anything that's gone on between us. Of course, knowing him, he could catch the two of us in bed together, and still wouldn't have a clue." She had to laugh at his rapidly growing blush.
"Okay, you have a point." Ron admitted, still trying to get the image out of his head without much success. "I've been kind of cooped up myself. What do you want to do?" He put his arm around her.
"Honestly... I came here to see if there was more." Shego confessed to him. "I wanted to know if you were still interested in any kind of relationship, or if you were still waiting for Princess."
"Yeah, you're real good at romantic proposals." Ron laughed in an effort to diffuse the situation. He didn't know what to say in response. A large part of him would like to try a relationship with her, but his feelings for Kim were far from gone, even if it was unlikely their relationship would ever be the same again. Ron just hoped that whatever he decided, he didn't end up breaking Shego's heart.
"I haven't gone on many dates for a long time." Shego reminded him. "So... what do you say?" Hope and fear warred within war as she awaited his response.
"What I say..." Ron thought to himself. "Kind of hard to put it into words."
"Then I'll save you the trouble..." Shego groaned, getting tired of him delaying and wanting a definite answer. She moved forward and smashed her lips on his, giving into her desires, wrapping her arms tightly around him. Ron responded eagerly, one hand wrapped up in her black hair, the other on her back, pushing her to him. She lost herself in his kiss, forgetting everything else.
"You're going to have to be a little patient with me." Ron reminded her. "I'm having everything hit me at once, here."
"So is that a yes?" Shego pressed.
"Yes... yes, it is." Ron smiled, kissing her on the cheek. Shego rolled her eyes at the romantic gesture, even though part of her thought it was sweet.
"So... what now?" Shego asked him. Normally, she knew what to do in these situations, but this was different. Ron was different than most of the men that she had gone out with.
"I'm kind of in the dark here, too." Ron was forced to admit. "This might be guesswork, but I'm guessing you don't go for the classic romantic gestures."
"You?! Shego?! Ick!" Rufus stuck his tongue out in disgust.
"None of your business, rodent." Shego snapped. "And yeah, that's never appealed to me. We are never, ever going to Bueno Nacho as a date, got it?"
"Haven't been there in over a week, anyway." Ron shrugged.
"Wait, who are you and what have you done with the real buffoon?" Shego's eyes widened. "You're not one of Doctor D's synthrodrones, right? I know he was thinking of making one of you, but after Princess' reaction, I talked him out of it."
"Nope, it's truly me." Ron opened his hands. "So what is your idea of fun?"
"Usually, the rush I get committing crimes, whether for myself or something that Drakken wanted." Shego informed. "I don't think that would be your idea of a pleasant date."
"We could just see where this goes." Ron suggested. "There's a lot that we don't know about one another, and I'm quite interested in learning more about you." He hugged her from behind, kissing her neck.
"I like the way you think." Shego grinned. "I'll have to show you my favorite pastime." She broke the embrace and moved into a fighting position.
"So you're that kind of woman?" Ron raised an eyebrow. "I'm not as easy to beat as I used to be." Both of them knew, though, that this was a cover for all of the emotional wounds that the pair were still dealing with, even if neither of them could admit it to themselves.
He's right; he has gotten better. Shego smirked. For a short period of time, she was able to forget. Forget her fear, forget the sensation of being helpless when it looked like Kim was going to kill her. She could forget that pardon or not, relationship or not, it did not fundamentally change the person she was. Ron refused to deal with it, but Shego was aware, even if subconsciously, that eventually, it would catch up to them.
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"So have you found anything?" Kim asked, impatient. Her brain had been scanned four times, but her mother had yet to even give a hint as to whether or not something was actually wrong with her mind, or if this was an entirely natural thing. She wasn't sure which of the possibilities frightened her more.
Ann didn't even seem to notice her question. She continued looking at the brain scan, rubbing her chin and muttering to herself. Each second dragged on and on until her mother finally turned around and began to speak. "Yes, I'm afraid I have." She forced the words out of her mouth. There had been too many lies; her daughter deserved to know the truth. "It appears as if your amygdala system is showing abnormal activity."
"So what does that mean?" Kim asked, growing increasingly impatient.
"The emotional center of your brain is hyperactive, to put it in layman's terms." Ann explained. "I'm not 100 percent sure, but I've got enough evidence to suggest that your innate abilities may be responsible for it, although I haven't the faintest idea why."
"So this power of mine is making me want to slaughter everyone in sight?" Kim groaned, the anger already beginning to resurface. "Great, I wish Dad had just let me suffer whatever it was going to be."
"You shouldn't talk like that, sweetheart." Ann defended her husband, as unhappy as she still was for keeping this secret for so long. "I know you're angry that he didn't tell you, and I understand that, but that procedure still saved your life, unethical as it was."
"Okay, it's my power, whatever it is, that's making my amy... brain go through fits." Kim pondered, wondering what to do about it. "Do you have any possible solutions for this?"
"Not offhand, but perhaps it would be useful if you told me the exact circumstances of how this power was activated." Ann interjected.
"Mom, I really don't want to talk about this." Kim sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you?"
"I know it's difficult, but it can help me understand what's going on inside your head." Ann insisted. "If I know that, we'll be able to help you."
"All right, but it's going to be difficult, so bear with me." Kim gulped, her voice choking. Even though each word that came out of her mouth was painful, the thought of being able to repair what she had broken kept her talking. "I... I attempted to escape a couple days after I was kidnapped. I don't know exact how long it was; there was no way to keep track. He was smart, always keeping watch, but I timed it and... I was getting desperate." She sat down in the nearest chair to catch her breath.
"Keep going, honey, you're doing great." Ann encouraged.
"Just as I got to the exit, though, he showed up." Kim trembled. "It turned out... it was nothing more than a trick." It took several moments for her to be able to speak again. "He had let me attempt an escape, let me out of my room. I tried fighting him, used every trick I knew, but it didn't work. I... I'd never felt so helpless in my life!"
"That must have been terrible for you." Ann remarked, trying to comfort her daughter.
"He showed me an image of Ron and Shego together, kissing." Kim continued, bracing herself for what was about to come next. "It turns out that Ron had mistaken Shego for me, but I was so upset and confused and angry that I didn't realize it at the time. It enraged me and I began to fight back, feeling stronger than I ever had before. Once... once I realized what I was doing, I stopped until..." Kim was unable to continue after that.
"What did he do?" Ann approached her daughter and hugged. She was beginning to get a real picture of just what she had gone through now that she was speaking about the experience.
"He decided to intervene and destroy my self control." Kim whispered, her head against her mother's shoulder, her body shaking as she tried to hold back tears. "His exact words were: 'Don't suppress your emotions, Kimberly; use them! Channel your power! Unlock your full potential, and you will be invincible! Strike now! Stop holding back, Kimberly! Show me everything you can do!' Once he mentioned the possibility of Ron dying, I completely lost it and tried to kill him, truly tried."
"My god, Kim..." Ann whispered in horror, lost for words. Ambrose had done a number on her mind, completely twisted her worldview; small wonder she was falling apart.
"And the worst part of it was... I enjoyed it." Kim confessed, hoping that she wouldn't think of her as a monster when she uttered those words. "I enjoyed the feeling, enjoyed the power it gave me, even if it wasn't enough to win. When I woke up, I expected him to be furious and... braced myself for whatever torture he had planned. Instead, he was... proud of what I'd done."
"I think that's why your amydgala is hyperactive." Ann concluded. "It's because what you were feeling at the moment this power of yours was fully activated was the desire to kill. And honey, I don't blame you at all. You were in an impossible situation; any of us would have reacted the same. You have nothing to be ashamed of."
"But what can I do?" Kim wondered. "I can't feel like this forever, and I don't feel any freer than before. Sad as it is, I felt freer with Ambrose than I do now with the world hating me." However, she felt calmer just getting some of what she had gone through off of her chest. It was extremely difficult to tell the story, which barely scratched the surface, but she felt better afterwards.
"They're idiots if they judge you based on that." Ann promised. "As for what we can do... I'll look into it. I've got access to the finest minds of our time; they'll come up with something, I promise."
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Took me long enough to get here, The figure thought as he walked into the room. His target had been given a new identity and a new life, which made it tricky to track him down, but nothing was impossible for him.
It was a one-bedroom apartment and could barely occupy the two people currently snoring inside it, unaware of what was currently hunting them. The figure smiled to himself; it would be so easy to finish them now, but no. That was not part of the plan.
He walked into the bedroom, looking at the young man who was current snoring loud enough to be heard throughout the entire apartment complex. The boy was eighteen years old, on the verge of becoming a man. Let's see how much of a man he is. He thought, grabbing the boy's arm and shoving him to his feet. Much to his surprise, though, the boy refused to wake, so he decided to slap him across the face in order to get his attention.
"Huh, what?" the boy groaned, still not fully conscious. "Hey, Fred, it's the middle of the night. Work doesn't start until eight."
"I'm not your brother, you stupid boy." The figure hissed shoving him back onto the bed. He could see perfectly fine in the dark, but his target could barely make him out at all; perfect. "Jaime Winbolt A.K.A Gil Moss. I've been looking for you for a long time."
"What... what could you possibly want with me?" He asked, scared out of his mind.
"I'm here to give you an offer." The figure smiled, although Gil couldn't see it in the dark. "Do you recall the power you once had at your fingertips, thanks to your mutation? We have a common interest."
"Look, I don't want that power anymore!" Gil insisted. "I saw what it turned me into. I was a freak, a monster, and no matter how strong I was, I'm not going back to it!"
"You don't have to sacrifice anything." The figure attempted to persuade. "I know a way to let you have both your power and your humanity. All you have to do is agree."
"Yeah, like it's really going to be that simple." Gil rolled his eyes. "I know the deal, I've heard it before. Why do you think we went into hiding? I'm smart enough to know this comes with a price tag."
"Not a big one, merely the death of Ron Stoppable." The figure laughed. "Remember what he did to you: turned you into a monster, and turned you back when you found you enjoyed the power. I'd think killing him would be quite easy for you."
"I was a messed up kid back then!" Gil insisted definitely. "I don't have a grudge against Ron anymore. I'm just trying to live a life on my own; get out!"
"Then I guess we'll have to do this the hard way," he grinned, extending his hand and watching as red bolts came shooting out of his fingertips, hitting Gil in the chest. He collapsed to the ground, screaming in agony, rolling around on the floor. "You will do as I ask you; it's up to you how painful you want to make it."
"Fu... fuck you, whoever you are." Gil gasped out, trying to sound braver than he was. That was more painful than anything he had left in his life, even the broken collarbone he suffered in grade school.
"That was stupid of you." He laughed, shocking him again, increasing the intensity. While this ability was capable of killing, it was primarily used as a method of torture, as Gil's screams indicated.
His older brother came charging in with a baseball bat once he heard his brother's screams. He was all that was left of their family, and he was not going to let anything happen to his little brother. The intruder, however, laughed, and extended his other arm, lifting him up into the air, using his power to cut off his air supply. "This makes things much more entertaining." The figure laughed, turning on the light; it made no difference at this point, anyway.
Gil looked at him, trying to memorize everything about him for the future. He was wearing a black robe and his face was concealed with some kind of mask that he couldn't recognize. "Let him go!" He demanded.
"As you wish," the figure laughed, dropping him to the ground, hitting him with lightning bolts the instant his body hit the floor. "Now I have the serum with me: you have about... five minutes before this kills your older brother to decide what you want to do with it."
"No... no, don't." Fred begged through the pain.
"Yes, how very typical." He sneered, steadily increasing the intensity of his attack. The police had doubtless been alerted and were on their way, but by the time they arrived, he'd be long gone. As if they could do anything against such a superior being, He sneered. "You have four minutes left."
Gil looked at the serum on the chestnut drawers, frantically looking between it and his older brother. He didn't want to become that monster again, but he had yet to find a way out of this. Mike was going to die if he didn't do something, and time was rapidly running out. "Okay, let him go; I'll do it!" Gil conceded, collapsing onto his knees. "I'll do as you ask!"
"Then you might want to hurry and drink that serum; your brother only has three minutes left." The figure warned. Gil drank the serum, bracing himself for the changes that were to come.
"Okay, now let him go." Gil glared. The figure pondered killing his brother anyway, just because he had the power to do so but refrained.
"He's coming with us, just to make sure you don't get any ideas about betraying me." The figure declared, gagging Fred. "I have an excellent place for you to train for Stoppable's death.
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That was a scene I was originally going to add in the last chapter, but I decided to focus more on internal conflict during the beginning. Things are definitely heating up now. Yes, Ron and Shego are in a relationship now, but it's going to be far from a smooth ride.
Next chapter: wanting to apologize for her actions, Kim meets up with Ron... and runs into Shego.