"'Quickly, bring out a robe--the best one--and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' And they began to celebrate."
Luke 15. Parable of the Prodigal Son.
Ron had expected to go after Shelly right then… but there were statements to be taken, and people to be reassured, even a few news people, although at least for now, Kim was able to plead fatigue, so she wasn't badgered.
That last wasn't a lie. Kim was trembling, pale, and she'd needed Ron's help to get on a bench Brick hadn't destroyed. She looked so bad, in fact, that the paramedics had refused to just "let her rest" and had lain down an ultimatum—call her mother, or they'd transport her to the hospital themselves. Kim didn't blow up at them… either because she understood why they were doing it, or because she really was that tired. In fact, he thought, only the fact that they had a large number of people going to the hospital had prevented them from just transporting her.
Evidently her mother had been at the hospital, or someone had her on speed dial, because she showed up less than ten minutes later, with Cindy. Kim got a look on her face at that. More irritation than anger, Ron thought. Then another guy got out of the van. A BIG guy… Ron Blinked.
Hego.
Even with everything that had changed, Ron felt a bit of anger. Shego had, after all, been part of Team Go, and if they hadn't dropped the ball, maybe none of this would have happened…. To Kim or Shelly.
"What happened?" Margaret said.
"The bus driver had a heart attack." Kim said. "We were the only ones here." Margaret looked at her legs, and Kim frowned. "Mom… Ron and Shelly had to get the kids—nobody else could get the driver, so I did…it's.." She almost started on her trade mark phrase, but her legs twitched and Kim hissed in pain. "What I had to do." She finished.
"I know." Her mother said, face softening.
"Where's Shelly?" Cindy asked, as Hego leaned forward. Ron frowned, looking around at the crowd. "Right." Cindy said, "Let's get into the van." She paused, "After we give our statements to the police."
That went quickly, fortunately. Kim and Ron both had had long experience of accurately relating what had happened, and in any case, the cause of the accident was fairly obvious. The oddly damaged interior of the bus fortunately didn't come up, as the bus had been completely engulfed by flame not long after everyone had gotten out.
Quickly, Dr. Possible drove the group back to Sarah's house—Kim had to get her legs worked on quickly, or she'd likely be all but crippled for the next several days.
Once inside the house, Margaret had Kim's legs stretched out and started rubbing an ointment into them with firm motions, as Kim sat, only the occasional twitch or grunt betraying her pain. Ron frowned, but didn't say anything. It had to be done after all. Sarah had waited until the immediate needs were met, and then:
"What happened?" Sarah asked, and listened while Ron told her. "Damn" She said softly.
"I…I don't understand." Hank said, sounding far more diffident than Ron or Kim had ever heard him. "She helped save them."
"Using Shego's powers." Cindy said, looking at Sarah. Kim started to talk, but then hissed and clenched her hands as her mother hit a knot of tense muscles.
"I'm sorry, Kimmie."
"It's OK, mom." Kim said, voice tense against the pain. "It's… getting better."
"Good." Her mother said.
"But…she saved the kids." Kim said, echoing Hank's statement. Sarah sighed.
"But not herself." She shrugged, "Shelly talks to me…and she also…" She paused, and thought about it. She was bound by no oaths of service, yet in truth, that didn't make any difference. Shelly was owed her privacy….
"Hasn't forgiven herself?" Ron asked, lopsided grin and eyepatch giving him the look of some bad Hollywood pirate. "We all know that." He shrugged. "I'm sorry I had to make her do that, but well, it was that or end up a charcoal briquette."
"But she used them for good." Hank said.
"She used the only thing left of Shego, Hank." Cindy said quietly. "Think of that. The only thing that she still has in common with the bitch who tortured her friends, who enjoyed doing it… who tried to use her to get to them." She paused, "Who evidently wasn't too nice to Shelly when they were sharing the same brain."
"Kinda…" Felix looked embarrassed, but forged gamely ahead. "Like those movies when you think the bad guy is dead but he was hiding in your house all the time?"
"She thinks Shego might be coming back?" Hank paused, "could she?"
"No." Margaret said. "And you can trust me, Hank, of all the people in this room I'm the least likely to trust her." Kim frowned, but her mother ignored her, even while she continued working on her legs. "Those memory patterns were gone. The power still infuses her, but that's a different matter."
"But it…" Sarah thought about it, then nodded. "I know where she went."
"Let's go." Kim said, tried to get up and gasped. "Maybe I should go in the wheelchair."
"You're not going at all." Sarah said. "I am. Alone."
"But she's my sis-"
"Mom!"
"Sarah-" Sarah waited until the room had fallen silent.
"If she's there, she doesn't need a whole flotilla of people swarming in—especially relatives who she's not even prepared to meet yet. If she's not there…well, you'll have to find her somewhere else. I'll give a call if I'm wrong…and nobody follow me." With that, Felix's mother swept out of the room.
"Maybe I should have Wade…"
"Do you really think a cyberrobotic specialist can't think of that, Kimmie?" Her mother asked.
"Good point." Kim said.
"Besides, I think we should trust Sarah." Cindy said, looking at the various teens. "She and Shelly have spent a good deal of time together, after all."
St. Michael's was quiet—the main cathedral was always open, although it was nearly empty at this time of day. Sarah let herself in, quietly, and looked up towards the front. There was a black haired, familiar form in the pew, her head cast down, hand's on the edge of the pew, the rosary Shego had bought to complete her masquerade twined around her burned fingers. Sarah walked over to the pew, and moved into it, kneeling by Shelly. She looked at the girls hands, and nodded.
"Do they hurt?" Sarah asked, seeing the burns on them.
"A little." Shelly said softly.
"Scared?"
"I… I don't know." Shelly said. "I thought I could be free of her. Completely… but now I used those powers…"
"To save lives."
"So did She at first." Shelly said.
"They're not evil." Sarah quietly said.
"How do you know?" Shelly replied looking up at her, than down at her hands, already healing faster than anyone could have expected. "I…She wasted her entire life, all these powers…for nothing. Do you know that Feli-" She dipped her head, cheeks turning red.
"That Felix would be walking if he had those powers? Of course, Shelly." Sarah quietly replied. "But for good or ill…they are yours, not his." She smiled.
"It's not who or what you are." Sarah continued, "It's what you do with those abilities…" She smiled slightly. "Do you know I could be rich?" Shelly blinked, looking over at Sarah at the odd shift in the conversation.
"Rich?"
"Oh yes. I've received quite the number of offers and veiled comments…in fact, when I didn't take those offers, I found some of my other job opportunities vanishing. When I came to the Space Center, I was down to 100 dollars in my bank account, and Dr. Possible had to cosign on the loan I used to put the down payment on the house." Shelly blinked at that.
"But…but why?"
"It's like I said—what you do with those abilities." She looked up at the front of the Church, where Christ looked down, eternally crucified and risen. "I'm a cybertronic and robotics specialist. I won't be modest—I'm probably one of the three or four best in the world." Shelly didn't blink. Dr. Renton was the best, according to what Kim's father had said to Kim. Sarah sighed. "And so, if you can make an autonomous space probe that can adapt to conditions, make decisions on the fly… well, you can also make a combat robot that is great at killing people." Shelly blinked at that. Dr. Renton? Felix's mother practically walked out of her way to avoid stepping on a bug!
"It was hard, the first time I was offered. David had just been killed, Felix crippled." She didn't say anything for a moment, but then continued, "David had always been the fellow who took the pressure… he'd worked to put me through college, and suddenly… he was gone." Another pause, "Sometimes when I wake up at night, I still put my hand out, to touch him in bed beside me… to tell him something exciting that happened that day… but he's not there." Shelly closed her eyes at the pain in Sarah's voice.
"But I was barely holding on, and that's when I got the first offer—I was already a little well known, you see, and they were looking for someone to help iron out the problems."
"The Pentagon?"
"They didn't say who. I don't know." Sarah said, "But I had a decision to make. I needed money. Badly. All I had to do was…give up every moral qualm I had. Turn every ability I had towards making better killing machines."
"You didn't."
"I didn't." She softly continued, "Because it was wrong. Shelly. We're all given abilities, but what we do with them is up to us, and I could not do that." She laughed softly, "I admit I got a little hot. When one of the recruiters decided to push and ask what David would think about me refusing to do something that could help get the money Felix needed, I told him he would be happy that I was refusing to make more dead fathers." She looked at Shelly. "The gift was granted to me, to develop or not, but what I did with it…That was my choice. My responsibility." She took Shelly's burned hands in hers, gently.
"This, is a gift, Shelly. Not a curse, not an affliction. Not the greatest gift you have, by any means—Your mind and courage are greater than this magic trick ever will be, but still a gift. But it doesn't brand you. It simply requires that you decide what to do with it."
"I…. I almost let us get killed. Ron was shouting at me…but I didn't want to…to become Shego again. To do anything to survive."
"You're not Shego. Shego is dead, Shelly. The role she can play in her life is the one you let her play."" Sarah said, "The living kids can attest to that."
"They all…"
"All of them." She paused, "And Ron, who I think wants to apologize to you."
"He doesn't need to." Shelly said. Sarah nodded, and looked at her hands.
"We need to have those looked at." She shrugged, "Even if you don't use them often, it might be wise to learn as much as we can about how it works to insure you're not always burning your hands. Even if they heal quickly, that can't be pleasant."
"How did you know where to find me?" Shelly asked as they left the building.
"You're religious, Shelly, and I spent time in places like this, after… David." Shelly blinked.
"But you don't go to chur—I mean I never saw, I mean." She stopped, flustered.
"No." Sarah quietly said, "I don't." She paused, "I believe in God, Shelly. That's not the problem." Shelly didn't say anything, and Sarah continued.
"It's just that I'm still very angry at Him, and I've never forgiven Him. For David…for Felix. And because of that, I try to avoid His house."
Shelly opened her mouth, and closed it. What could she say? She got up and started walking out of the church, slowly. Sarah followed her.
"Is… Kim OK?"
"Her legs are giving her hell, but yes." Sarah said once they were on the street.
"Did she have to go to the hospital?"
"Her mother's helping her."
"Oh."
"And there's someone you need to meet." Shelly blinked.
"The police?"
"No—they got all the statements they needed." Sarah said quietly. "I think… well, I don't think you'll be unpleasantly surprised." Shelly looked puzzled at her vagueness, but didn't say anything. Sarah noticed that the burns on her hands had almost vanished, only a faint reddish tinge to the skin showing anything had happened.
And she's not turned the same green as Shego… Not that I'm complaining, but I wonder why. Maybe… Shego had used her powers, continuously, with joy…Shelly had used them…once, and to say she'd been reluctant, was putting it mildly. Maybe that was it? Sarah shook her head slightly. Regardless of the cause it did make things easier right now.
By the time they got back to her house, Shelly's burns were completely gone. Sarah shook her head at that. Maybe at some point she should suggest Shelly let Dr. Possible examine her to see if her healing ability might be transferable. If they could figure out how she regenerated…
On the other hand, Margaret still had issues about Shelly. Maybe it would be wiser to wait a while.
As they got closer to home, Sarah considered telling Shelly who was waiting for her. Then she decided against it. Shelly might bolt again.
"Well, home again." Sarah said as the pulled up and Shelly looked out at the Renton home. There were a number of cars out there. But Sarah didn't give her a chance to say anything as she ushered her into the house. Sarah hesitated briefly at the door, realizing she should have called ahead, but Cindy and Margaret had evidently realized what might happen and when she entered, the living room was empty of everyone save one large form.
Hego.
Shelly stopped dead, and Hego looked equally frozen. Sarah didn't say anything, moving to the other door. Something's had to be done alone.
My God. Hego thought, stunned. It looks like her. It looks like her. It is her…not Shego, Shelly. There was her face, confused, and slightly confusing—he hadn't seen that look in years. Her eyes and mouth didn't have the frown lines that even the best cosmetics couldn't always disguise in Shego, and her eyes…
Her eyes had the same look in them he remembered from the orphanage, and the first days away from it. Open, kind…not like how they'd been, as Shego had progressively closed herself off from the world.
She looked like his little sister.
Oh No. Shelly thought. It was him… It was Hank. He looked… big. No…old. He was looking at her with a look very much like disbelief, or maybe fear, and she could see the age lines in his face. Not many…but so many more than when she'd last remembered seeing him. Before she'd destroyed everything he'd tried to do. Even if it had been…dumb…
He'd been the one who had been sent to his room and not allowed any desserts for a whole month because he'd waded in and sent a half dozen boys who had decided to surround a frightened Shelly, spitting on her and screaming "GOOK!" into her face. The one who had spun so many dreams of what would happen when they were out and together…
So they had been impossible dreams, at least until the comet hit. He had still dreamed, and she remembered that even when she'd been irritated at them, they'd also drawn her in, given her, like the others, something to think of beyond the grim reality of their situation.
And how much better had his dreams been than the reality she'd created for herself.
He… She had to apologize. Hank was probably here to let her know that the others didn't want to see her…that he didn't want to see her.
It was alright. She could understand it.
"Shelly…" Hank said. "Oh God… I've missed you. We all have." His face had a different expression on it, like a man in a fever dream, fearful he'd soon awakened.
He words pierced her as no angry shouts could have. She deserved the anger. She didn't…she didn't have the right to even dream of deserving anything else.
"I'm…" She said, her throat constricting. "I'm..so… I…couldn't talk to you because I didn't deserve-"
"Yes…" Hank said, "Yes you do. You're family."
"No…I…" Shelly moaned, "I don't…" She felt the tears falling from her eyes and couldn't say anything more, as Hank swept her up in a bear hug, holding her fiercely, and then she lost control.
"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" Shelly could only say, over and over again as Hank held her.
"Shhh…It's OK, Little Sis…" Shelly was only held up by Henry's arms as she sobbed into his chest, her only words incoherent apologies.
Sarah quietly closed the door. They would come out when they were ready…but she figured they both had some talking to do.
Families always did.
TBC.