Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord" (Romans 12:19)
The procedure would be very simple. She would inject the drug into the major artery, where it would move through Shego's body, stopping the heart, lungs and other systems that kept her alive. Death, in terms of reaching a state where no possible medical care could revive her, would probably take a few minutes.
Of course, there was every likelihood that she would go to jail. Any autopsy would quickly show the cause of death… and Dr. Possible was not a fool. The police were professionals at finding out who had committed crimes and so they very likely would discover her role in "Shelly's" death.
"But that's ok." She murmured to herself. A mother's duty was to protect her child. It was, in fact, her first duty…and one Margaret had failed at far too often. But at least in this one small way, she would shield her daughter.
Even if Kim never spoke to her again.
A sudden beeping startled her, and Margaret fumbled for her PDA pad that was noisily announcing something. It'd just be her luck to get someone coming in wondering what the sound was.
Reminder, Margaret, you have to finish the draft for the medical ethics assembly at St. Ignacius. Her old medical school. She blinked at that. With everything that had happened, she'd forgotten about the assembly. She would have to finish it after…
Remember. Doctors, do not kill. We may withhold some forms of treatment, with the full and knowledgeable consent of the patient, but we do not kill. A doctor, who has taken that step for whatever reason, be it good or ill, is no longer a doctor. She shook her head a the memory of last years assembly.
OK, she was wrong. Sometimes doctors had to kill. Sometimes there were things that were no more than rabid animals, that had to be put down. She put the end of syringe up to Shelly-no, Shego's neck… And pushed the plunger down.
Or tried to. For some reason her hand wouldn't function like her brain was willing it to. Her fingers remained stubbornly motionless. Margaret took a breath, a deep breath, and tried again. Nothing.
Damn you! Do this! She screamed at herself. She'd turn herself in, if that was what her hindbrain was worried about. She killed cancer all the time, cut it out, and this was no different.
The room remained stubbornly silent. Her hand remained still. Her mind refused to be still, lashing her with memories of what Shego had done to Kim. How her baby had tried to kill herself, her confident daughter now so terrified that she needed a night light to ward off the nightmares.
It could all be over. All Kimmie's reasons for fear gone, in a single motion.
So why couldn't she?
Kim doesn't want Shego dead. Margaret closed her eyes.
Kim doesn't know. She doesn't understand.
She doesn't? All that you hate Shego for was done to her. Not you. Her. If any have the right to vengeance—or to withhold it, it is her and Ron. Now Margaret was shaking her head, wildly, trying to shut up the voice in her head.
"Damnit, she won't suffer anymore!" She said, her voice weak, thready.
She won't? Is that your place to decide?
"Shut up!" She finally shouted.
"I haven't spoken." Another voice said, and Margaret whirled around. There was Cindy, standing in the open doorway.
"Are you going to stop me?"
"I don't know as I have to." Cindy said. "You've had more than enough time… and I don't know if I should stop you…" She sat down, in a chair. "Because this isn't anything I was ever taught about." She paused. "But I have a question for you."
"What." Margaret said, voice icy.
"What are the neurological traits of aging." Margaret blinked at that.
"You know them." The brain surgeon said.
"But maybe you aren't thinking of them." Cindy shrugged, "It's a natural oversight, I suppose—because you're more concerned with things going wrong, rather than natural processes—I suppose you would automatically think about tumors, strokes, viral infections—malfunctions."
"And you're thinking of?"
"The very natural process of aging—the accumulation of memories. Memories which are not simply psychological, but physical changes to the structure of the brain." Cindy shrugged, "And Shelly—or Shego, has drastically reduced her age." She paused, "I don't know about Shego's early life—but if the juvinator reduced all aspects of age…"
"Then why did she remember she was Shego to begin with?" Margaret said. Despite her anger, the syringe wavered in her hand, as her brain started working on the problem.
"Brain tissue is very resistant to regeneration—maybe it works the other way around—hell, given that a juvinator breaks at least a half dozen natural laws, I'm not about to assume it doesn't do other weird things."
"And that means?"
"Unless Shelly was as nasty as Shego was from a very young age…. That may not be Shego."
"And you expect me to believe that—to trust my daughter's life and sanity to that?" Margaret said. "You know what Shego did to her."
"Yes. I do." Cindy paused, "And I know that if that's Shelly, not Shego, killing her, going to jail for it, leaving Kim alone with her guilt—again!-- will be a dandy epilogue to Shego's vengeance." Margaret looked down again, and suddenly realized that the girl's eyes had opened sometime during their conversation. They were looking up at her, neither afraid nor unaware…just accepting.
Shelly had heard some of the conversation, but it wasn't important. She was Shelly… but Kim's mother was right—she didn't deserve to live. Not if those she had hurt demanded her life she didn't. She wouldn't fight. If Kim's mother decided to kill her… well, that would make certain Shego never came out again…and it was her decision, not Shego's. He was right. Even if her story ended in the next ten minutes, at least she had written the last chapters, not Shego.
In the emergency room, the kids had been checked out and were in a cluster by one of the doors, out of everyone's earshot. Bonnie held the floor.
"Look, if she isn't Shego, none of us can ever tell anyone about tonight."
"None-why?" Felix asked. Bonnie looked at him like he was an idiot.
"Come on, Felix—how do you think people will treat her then?"
"But what if she does flip out again?" Zita said, bruises on her neck.
"That's why we have to decide now." Bonnie answered, "Either tell now, or stay quiet."
"Speak now, or forever hold your peace." Monique said. "didn't expect you to come up with that, Bonnie."
"You haven't had sisters throwing stuff in your face all your life." Bonnie said. "If it can screw up someone as naturally with it as me, imagine what it would do to Shelly?" Kim smothered a laugh at that, but suddenly found herself, and Ron, the center of attention.
"But…" Bonnie paused, "It's your choice, you two—Shego was the one who hurt you and you two are the only ones who have the right to say yes or no." Kim's hand found Ron's, both teens trembling a little. Ron gave a lopsided grin.
"Telling everyone would be the sensible thing." He said, "But I don't do sensible stuff…so why start now. I say keep quiet." He paused, "Kim?" Kim closed her eyes for a moment.
"I trust… I trust what Shelly did." Kim said, "And I'm not going to let the shadow of Shego keep chasing me for the rest of my life. Keep quiet." The others looked, and nodded.
"Good. Now lets call Rabbi Katz over here and tell him what he's going to do." Bonnie finished.
"I could kill you right now." Margaret said, looking down. "One thrust, and a few minutes later you would be dead—and your comet powers wouldn't do a thing about it." The eyes simply looked back up. No fear. No anger.
Dammit, curse, yell, do something! She wanted to scream at the girl.
"There is, of course, a way to find out." Cindy said. "A brain scan…an in depth brain scan." She paused, "Which I believe you are one of the only people who could perform one, at least to the depth required." Margaret nodded.
And nobody could gainsay me if I said that Shego was still there.
But if she wasn't… is that protection, or vengeance? She put the syringe away, part of her hating herself.
"I'll…schedule a scanner."
Meanwhile, the emergency room had seen the teens inform Rabbi Katz what the story was going to be. The Rabbi looked at them for a moment and quirked his eyebrows at them.
"I'm not the one you should be ordering—I only have what you said, and if you refuse to back me up…. But it's your mother, Kimberly, who can give hard proof that Shelly is Shego, at least on a DNA level." He paused, "But I do see a flaw in your plan."
"Oh? What?" Bonnie said, she didn't like people telling her that her plans were flawed.
"What are people going to think when Shelly's comet power starts to manifest? There's no reason it will go away now." The teens all blinked at each other, and then looked to Bonnie.
"What, I have to think of everything?" Bonnie said in exasperation. "OK, Shego had come back from the dead and was fighting Shelly, and when they fell into the water, her comet power conducted into Shelly, which is why nobody can find Shego because she vaporized."
"That was fast." Monique said.
"And depressing that the younger generation should so easily lie." Katz said.
"It's not a lie." Bonnie said. "It's completely true—we just leave out the part about Shego and Shelly being in the same body."
"Ms. Rockwaller…. I can foresee a career in politics, organized crime, or the law in front of you…" Katz finished with a sigh.
"Well…now comes the difficult part." Kim said. "I'll have to do this alone."
"What?"
"Convince mom."
TBC.