Chapter 16

"I had the strangest dream, KP," said Ron from the back seat of Kim's car.

"Later, Ron," Kim said as she pulled into the school parking lot. She was surprised to see Barkin at the parking lot as she got out of the car, but she thought that perhaps he had just beaten them there.

"Good morning, Miss Go," Barkin said as Shego got up from the passenger side, with a pleasant smile he didn't show his students. "Possible, Stoppable."

"Good morning, Stevie."

"Good morning, Mr. Barkin." As much as Shego's nickname for him always freaked Kim out, it paid to be civil, especially to the person who could stick you in detention.

"Since I'm here, I thought I'd volunteer to walk you in, Miss Go."

"That's very nice of you, Stevie. I'll see you later, Kimmie."

"Yeah, bye."

"Man, it's so weird seeing him put the moves on Shego," Ron said as the teachers were out of earshot. "I mean, it's weird to see him do that already, but Shego makes it extra weird, you know?"

"You think he's hitting on her?"

"Yeah, duh, why else would he be trying to be all chivalrous?"

"I don't even want to think about it." Kim shivered. "That's just sick and wrong."

"It's what I've been saying all along."

"Well, never mind. We should have time to catch up with Wade before class. Let's go."

"I would be delighted to escort you, m'lady."

Kim gave Ron an unimpressed look and headed for the doors. Ron scrambled after her.

Kim was not surprised to find that Wade was already seated in front of his computer when she turned on the communication equipment built into her locker.

"Morning, Kim. What's up?"

"The usual. I assume there's been no developments on the deprogramming front?"

"No, we've pretty much exhausted all the options. We need that device."

"Right, and for that we need to find the bad guys. Has there been any activity?"

"Too much of it, Kim. With Team Go out of the picture, a number of Go City villains are starting to make moves. It makes it harder to locate Electronique. Assuming she is even in Go City in the first place."

"I'm pretty sure she is. Her beef is with Team Go, and she always tried to take over Go City. Has there been any sightings of Team Go?"

"A couple of scattered ones, and I'm not sure they're legit. They've kept a pretty low profile."

"Keep tracking them, please and thank you. We can't really do anything until we find out where Electronique is hiding."

"Will do, Kim." Wade's eyes shifted to her right and his attitude suddenly became a lot more hesitant. "Oh, uh, hi, Monique."

Kim turned around to see her friend approach them. "Morning, Monique."

"Hi, Kim. Hi, Ron." Monique briefly glanced at the screen. "Wade."

Kim cringed. Things were clearly still a little tense between the two. His transgression had been forgiven, but not, it seemed, forgotten. It probably didn't help that it was unfortunately topical again. Emotion manipulation might not be quite as heinous as Adrena Lynn's mind control or Electronique's personality reversal, but it definitely had a similar shade about it.

"When we get that thing, can we turn Shego back, too? Her being all nice is getting too freaky for me."

"Uh, you want to turn her back into a villain? What's wrong with you, Ron? Did you forget about the FHD?"

"Shego being all buddy-buddy with KP is what's wrong, Monique. And don't get me started with her hanging with Mr. Barkin. That's sick and wrong."

"Kim, tell your boy he's being... Kim, what's with that look?"

"Nothing, it's just... should we maybe think about it?"

"Thank you!"

"Kim, what is with you? Don't let Ron's crazy affect you."

"It's just that her personality also got reversed against her will. That's wrong, right? I mean, if we get the device, we aren't just going to go around turning villains good, are we?"

"That actually could do a lot of good..." Wade blanched at the looks Kim and Monique gave her. "I mean, no, we won't, doing that against someone's will is obviously wrong."

"Yeah, so should we turn Shego back?"

"Has she volunteered?"

"No, she wants to stay as she is."

"Then we can't. If it's wrong to turn evil Shego good then it's certainly wrong to turn good Shego evil."

"So we shouldn't undo Electronique's crime?"

"We can't undo it, Kim. All you could do is add another crime to the first. Two wrongs don't make a right."

"This is so the drama, guys. I mean, doesn't that mean we shouldn't turn Team Go back, either?"

"No, we definitely should... right?"

"Yeah, I mean, they would want to be changed back, right? Who'd want to be evil?" Ron said, apparently oblivious to the irony.

"Of course they would. They are heroes, they wouldn't want to be bad guys."

"Yeah, that's right. I'm sorry, guys, this sitch is just a little hard for me to wrap my mind around. We can pick this up later, but now I think I need to head for class."

"Right you are. Later, Kim. I'll keep monitoring the situation."

"Oh, man, I need to get to my locker. Bye, KP!"

Kim retrieved the books for her next class from the locker. When she turned around, she found Monique looking at her with a searching expression.

"Kim, are you really thinking about turning Shego back?"

"I just thought it might be the right thing to do."

"Did you? Or do you just miss your bad girl and want her back?"

"Monique! It isn't like that. I just started thinking that if this thing turned her into a completely different person, then, in a way, the Shego I knew is dead. And that if we could bring her back, maybe we should."

"By killing Miss Go? Because if you think that what that machine does is some sort of death of personality, then that is what you are suggesting."

"I didn't really think about... no, I couldn't do that."

"I think you are reading too much into it, Kim. I mean, she's still Shego, right? Even if she is nicer now."

"Yeah, at first I just saw her as the same person, it's only now that I've started to really think about the differences."

"I think what that machine did is just what you've said it does: it changed her personality. It happens to everybody. You aren't the same person you were ten years ago, but the younger Kim isn't dead; she just grew up to be you. With Shego, that change just happened in seconds rather than years."

"Do you really think so?"

"Yes, I do. You always told me Shego isn't as evil as people think she is. Can't you of all people see how that Shego could have become this Shego, even without some mad science doohickey?"

"I guess. I mean, I always hoped that I could be a good influence on her."

"Redeem her with your love, right? Well, I guess that is kinda romantic."

"You don't think it would have worked, do you?"

"I'm sure we've all dreamed about that hot jerk who secretly has a heart of gold only we can see."

"So, no."

"No. Everyone's better off with her good. Even her. She seems happy, now."

"She doesn't want to date me."

"Then that's her loss. It's not the end of the world, Kim. You will find somebody who wants to be with you."

"Monique..." Kim's question was cut short by the bell.

"Sorry, Kim, gotta hurry for class. See you later."

"Yeah, later." Kim gave retreating Monique one last speculative look and then headed for her own class.

The school day dragged on as only school days can, with one uninterested teacher after another trying to halfheartedly educate a bored class on an uninspiring subject. Kim had plenty of time to worry about Shego's brothers and fantasize about the woman herself. More often than not she found herself recalling her first fling with Shego weeks ago. As nice as hanging out with Shego had been, a day spent on a not-date with a respectable teacher couldn't compare to the sinful thrill of a secret night-time rendezvous with a wanted—oh, so wanted—woman.

But that was only lust, surely. It might make for a memorable encounter, but it was not something you could really build a relationship on. With the good Shego she could have a deeper, more meaningful connection. If that was what she really wanted. Much as she cherished the notion of finding that special someone to share her life with, she knew that most people had dating histories a little longer than hers. Chances were that she wasn't going to find the one in high school. Shego had had plenty of partners before her, though she didn't know if any of them had been serious.

The classes ended eventually, and Kim sighed in relief. She only had cheer practice left and that, at least, was mostly fun, as long as she and Bonnie kept to their unspoken agreement to pretend their times together had never happened, and would never happen again. That, certainly, was strictly teenage lust. Kim didn't even like her. Their brief affair would have been long buried, if fate didn't insist on throwing them in such compromising situations. Kim would like to see anyone resist the temptation for one last dalliance when literally stuck to their hot ex for a couple of days.

Kim was on her way to the lockers to change for the practice when Shego overtook her in the hall, looking troubled.

"Shego," Kim said, happy that there was no one within earshot to hear her slip. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, Kimmie, I'm glad I found you. I... I need your help."

"Of course! Anything."

"Stevie asked me out."

"Eh? You mean Mr. Barkin?"

"Mm-hmm. What do I do?"

"You can tell him to back off. I know you're only a substitute and maybe you feel you can't cross the assistant principal, but he's way out of line harassing you like that."

"What? No, no, Kimmie, it's not unwanted, I've been hoping he'd ask. I said yes! But it's been so long since I last dated I'm not... I'm not sure what I should do."

"You said yes?" Kim had a sudden experience of looking at the two of them from outside her body.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I? He's so sweet."

"Barkin? Sweet?" She heard the words, but she couldn't really resolve them. She felt a stinging sensation along her thighs and there was a high-pitched hum in her ears.

"Yeah, he's always doing little things like leaving me gifts and holding open doors. And he's so nice to children! Did you know he volunteers for Pixie Scouts?"

Kim was sure she couldn't be hearing this right. This wasn't happening. She had fallen asleep in class, and she was going to wake up to Barking yelling at her any second now. Her chest constricted. It was difficult to breathe.

"Kimmie?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you all right?"

"Yes." Kim looked at Shego with wild eyes. "Why wouldn't I be?"

There was concern in Shego's eyes. "It's just you look a little out of it."

"Why him and not me?" Kim didn't shout at Shego as she tried to get herself under control. "This was just a little unexpected, that's all. I didn't have any idea you were even interested in him."

"Yes, well, I guess I haven't really talked about it."

Kim wasn't surprised. Shego had to know how she felt about her. She'd told her. Maybe the new Shego had been too nice to hurt her feelings by bringing it up. It would explain her efforts to gently push her away. Of course, that evasiveness had let her build her hopes up only to have them dashed so brutally, and that was neither nice nor fair. Could she actually have been been just stringing her on until she was sure of Barkin?

With a shock that filled her stomach with ice Kim realized that she had been doing the same thing to Ron. She was preparing to walk out of their relationship without giving Ron the smallest hint it was even on the cards. She had been telling herself she didn't want to hurt him, but now she wondered if she'd just been avoiding the painful necessity for her own sake. Had she been waiting until she was sure of having Shego before ending things with Ron? She didn't want to think she could be that unfair.

"No," Kim said. "I guess you haven't." She still felt numb, but her mind was slowly clearing, and her resolve was building. "Well, I'm no love guru, but maybe I can get you started."

"You'll really help me?" The look in Shego's eyes was a sweet mixture of concern and happy relief. It made Kim want to cry.

"Sure. I already promised I would." Even if she broke her heart. Again.