Angel, Part 2

Warning: strong language and sexual themes

He hadn't seen Kim Possible in a decade. Why would his ex arch nemesis look for him now, so late at night and in a thunderstorm? Duff knew it was something serious.

He led her inside his castle without hesitation. He still hated her for interrupting his moment with Abby, but it would have to wait. Duff tried to think of the last time he saw Kim. It was during the invasion. He figured after Drakken helped her save the world and clean up the aftermath of the invasion, she went off to college, married her sidekick, and lived a happy life. Apparently, some part of her perfect life plan went wrong, and for some reason she had come to Duff Killigan, a villain she hadn't bothered with too often in the past.

"Who is that?" Abby asked. She got up from the couch and came over to Kim. She grabbed the woolen blanket that draped over a chair and wrapped it around her.

"Err…its Kim Possible." Duff said. Abby knew exactly who she was from all the stories from his past.

"…oh." Abby didn't know what to say, but she knew what it meant for her to be here, now.

Duff looked down at the shivering young woman. She was drenched in rain and was also crying.

"Would ye like some tea or sometin, lass?" Duff asked.

"Y-yes…" Kim mumbled. Duff went into the kitchen to brew her some tea. Once Abby helped dry Kim off and change into some clean clothes, she met Duff in the kitchen as he was pouring hot water into a mug.

"Duff…"

"Eh know." He interrupted. "Eh dunno why she's here, but it cannae be fer eh 'hello, haven't seen ye in a while, how've ye been'?"

Duff and Abigail brought Kim her tea and sat down with her by the fireplace. They sat in silence while Kim drank, and tried to relax. They waited for her to start talking.

The first thing she said was, "Killigan…you've changed so much." She was still shaking. She looked up from her mug with doe-eyes.

Duff was taken aback by what she said. "In whut way?"

"I can just tell, you don't seem…troublesome anymore. You look…clean, if that makes sense."

Duff thought of how Abby changed all of that. She brought him to the "clean" and sober man he was today. "Well, thank ye. An' ye look…err, different, too."

Kim looked down. She wiped a tear before it fell into her tea. "Well, how are you? How have you been since you stopped crime after the invasion?"

Duff raised an eyebrow. "Better than ye, by te looks o' it…an' eh didn't stop crime tha' soon…" he mumbled that last part. Kim heard it, but she didn't seem to mind.

Kim looked at Duff, then at Abby. "Is this your wife?"

Duff turned beet red. He stammered. Before he could get a sentence out, Abby corrected the woman.

"No, my name is Abigail. I'm Duff's…housekeeper, nanny, and friend, I guess, if you want a title."

Kim blinked. "Nanny?"

Duff cleared his throat. "Aye, eh have eh daughter."

Kim widened her eyes. This was surprising news to her. "Oh? Since when? How old is she?"

"She's eleven." Duff said.

"Oh, I…I didn't know. That's wonderful." Kim glanced at Abby again. She knew what she was thinking.

"And no, I'm not the mother either." Abby stated.

Duff looked at her. Through his eyes, Abby knew what he was thinking as well. Bessie thought of her as a mother more than any of those 'titles' she mentioned. She sighed. "Well, not the biological mother anyway."

"Whut about ye? Ye marry te daft fair-haired lad? Ronald?" Duff asked.

Kim looked down and her eyes teared up again. "That's why I'm here. He was kidnapped."

"Err…alrigh'…why come te meh?"

"Because he was taken by these strange people. When I asked my old friend Wade to look them up, he couldn't get any information on them, but he could find a connection from them to you."

"Whut kind of connection?" Duff looked grave and expressionless. He was afraid.

"He said he didn't know. It was like your name was imprinted all over anything he found on them. There were no files or identification or history on any of the kidnappers, but your files came up instead. At least that's how he explained it…I'm sure it's a lot more complicated in geek language."

Duff didn't laugh at her joke. "Whut did these kidnappers look like?"

It took Kim a minute to collect herself. She was trying to hold back a painful memory. "We were walking through the park one night, and a man grabbed Ron. He was tall, very large and muscular, and his head was covered with bandages so I couldn't see his face, and he wore these dark red goggles to cover his eyes, and a hat. He was strong. Ron struggled, and tried to channel his Tai Shing Pek Kwar, but it had no effect on him. I attacked him with all the martial arts moves I could, but he wouldn't budge. It felt like his body was made of stone. I couldn't stop…Ron was so scared, I could see it on his face. I'd never seen his so scared before in his life. It wasn't something petty like monkeys or bugs, I think Ron felt like he was going to die…" Kim paused to sob into her hands. Abby got up and sat down next to her, and put an arm around her. She shushed her crying away with her soothing and healing voice, and it had a calming effect on Kim. She was able to compose herself after a couple of minutes. She took time to drink her tea. Then, she continued.

"Then the man took out this…dart gun thing. He shot something into Ron's neck and he went unconscious. I've never…I've never…" Kim was gasping for air and hyperventilating. Duff had never seen this heroic young woman he knew all his life so undone. Abby helped her finish. "I've never been so afraid for Ron's safety in my life…he's never been taken from me, in so much danger."

Duff didn't say anything. He closed his eyes, his brow knit together in frustration. His hands clasped together and he hunched over, like he wanted to hide from the issue Kim faced.

"And there's more…"

Duff looked up.

"There was another kidnapper. As the man walked away with Ron, I ran after him and kept trying to make him let go, a woman stepped in front of me. She was tall and elegant, dressed in a fitting black dress and heels. Her hair was blonde and in waves, and she had blue eyes. I didn't know she was working with the man, so I told her to get out of the way and tried to run past, but she grabbed me and attacked me. I fought her back but she was just as strong as the man. She…"

"Stop." Duff interrupted. Kim and Abby looked up at him. "Ye don' need te say any more abou' them."

Kim's eyes lit up. "You know who they are?"

"Unfortunately."

Abby raised an eyebrow. She didn't hear any of this before. She thought these people were something she should have been told about.

"Well…w-who are they?" Kim asked. She put her mug down and stared at Duff.

"Yeah…who are they, Duff?" Abby asked. She sounded peeved, and she crossed her arms. Duff was ashamed from keeping this secret from her.

"When eh wus younger, when meh sister wus still alive, before eh started golfin', eh wunted te be in te field o' robotics. Eh experimented on prototypes, an' eh came up with whut eh thought te be te greatest invention yet. Eh designed an artificial human. Indestructibly strong, no nerves fer pain, human design on te outside but simple yet intelligent design on te inside, eh thought it would be eh fun project ah first, then eh made Drone Number One…Griffin. He's te one wit te bandages…eh couldn't design te right face, it kept goin' wrong, an eh had problems wit te fake skin eh wus usin'…so fer te time eh covered his face up, an' it just stuck as his trademark. At first Griffin wus just eh robot, able te do simple tasks, but then eh stole off te black market eh special program tha' eh could download actual thoughts, almost eh human mind inte Griffin's microchip-brain."

Kim cringed a little in discomfort hearing of Duff's thievery. She knew she was too young, though, to have known about it and stopped him.

"Eh kept improving Griffin over te months, an' he became almost like eh real man, without eh face. He became meh lab partner…and meh friend. Eh became obsessed wit creatin' more…te be honest eh liked te company. Then te drones were able te learn, an' they learned te produce more an' more of their kind…eh even got meh sister involved in helpin' meh. Eh wus caught in meh own bubble. Eh never had friends growin' up, so eh liked te group eh friends eh created, even if tey weren't humans, tey acted exactly like it. We formed our own language, like eh secret club would, an' dreamed of our own island, our own wee country te live in peace. Each drone had different personalities…Number Four wus te woman drone ye met, Kim. Eh couldn't think of eh name fer her, but she wus te fourth made, so 'Four' became her name. Now tha' eh think abou' it, all te first drones seemed to 'ave missed somethin' humanly important. Ace wus te third drone made…she lacked humanity itself. She had eh glitch in her programming, an' she became corrupted. Once te island wus formed, she led te drones te eh special way of life, eh utopia, but deep inte their way of life, it wus heartless. Well…eh couldn't blame tem, fer tey didn't 'ave hearts, physically or mentally."

"So why did they take Ron?" Kim asked, frantically. Duff's story didn't help her nerves one bit.

"Tha' eh don' know. Eh'll have te go te the island an' find ou'."

"When was the last time you went to their island?" Abby asked.

"A couple o' years ago…wit'…eh….Sheila." Duff looked down, embarrassed. Abby crossed her arms again, and looked slightly annoyed.

"Oh."

Kim looked up at the two of them with curiosity. Duff saw her confusion. "Known te ye by Shego."

Kim was surprised. "Why did you and Shego go there last time?"

Abby kept her glare. Duff scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Err…te details are fuzzy." They were memories he didn't want to revisit.

"The two of them were dating at the time, too." Abby mentioned. She met Shego, and she didn't like her, especially after how she hurt Duff.

Kim widened her eyes. "You two, dating? If anything I thought she was in love with Drakken. What happened to him?"

Duff shrugged. "Dunno. She never talked of him." Duff looked up and saw that Abby was annoyed. He closed the subject on Shego.

"How dangerous, exactly, are these drones, Duff?" Abby asked.

"Physically, tey are made from eh special alloy eh created, stronger than any metal. Tey 'ave eh microchip in ther head, which acts as eh brain, an' it's surrounded by eh cube of solid diamond. Getting onto te island is hard enough, because it's surrounded by eh force field. So it's harder te bring any special weapons. Te island doesn't carry many weapons; there are humans tha' live on te island an' tey like te live in peace. So basically, tha' doesn't give us many options fer defense. Mentally, te drones are programmed in certain ways, so we'll have te play around tha'."

"So essentially they are indestructible? What if this Ace character tries to kill you? How can you defend yourself?" Abby asked.

"None of them will kill meh. Tey can't, eh programmed tha' inte them."

"But what if they learned how to override your original programming?"

"Then…well, tey couldn't 'ave."

"So there's no way to kill them? What is your plan, exactly, go there, try to save this kid, hope they don't try to stop you, and if so, you die trying?" Abby fumed so much, Duff expected her body to go on fire.

"Can eh talk te ye in te kitchen fer eh second, Abby?"

Kim sat on the floor, drowning her sorrow in her almost-empty mug of tea. Duff's speech of indestructible drones didn't help her hopes of saving Ron. She thought of Eric, the last 'drone' she had to deal with. But, unlike Duff, Drakken made the fake-boyfriend easy to destroy.

Abby walked into the kitchen, and Duff followed close behind her.

"Whats te matter, Abigail?" he spoke softly, wanting her to calm down. He tried to have the same soothing effect that she had when he was upset, but he wasn't as good at it as she was.

"Oh, don't give me that! First of all, you never told me about this island, and your little trip with Sheila. Second, how are going to manage saving this kid who used to be your enemy; I don't even know why you would offer to help this girl, when you just said yourself the drones are indestructible and it's almost impossible to get onto the island? Why did you go there last time, and how did you get out?"

"Eh went there because eh wus te one who was kidnapped."

Abby looked at him. "You never mentioned this to me."

"Eh never got around te it…an' eh didn't want te revisit those memories of…ye know who."

"What did they want with you?"

Duff was silent. He looked down, off to the side, anywhere but her eyes.

"Duff…" Abby put a hand to his cheek. He looked up at her. He wanted her to hold him. He wanted to feel her warmth. "What did they do?"

Duff remained silent for a few moments. The details were fuzzy, but he did remember the bright room covered with chrome, and filled with pain.

"What did they do to you?" Abby was yelling. "Why have you been keeping things from me, what are you afraid of?"

"They just…tortured me." He put his hand on her lower back. "Tha's all. Listen, eh know yer afraid of me gettin' killed, but tey cannae kill me, ok? Don' worry."

"Don't worry?!" she moved away from his touch. "Think of Bessie! What do you think she would say?"

Duff couldn't come up with an answer. He knew his daughter would want him to be safe, no matter what.

"What if you did die, how do you think that would affect her? You were all she had her entire life! It would destroy her! I am nothing compared to what you are to her! And what about me? You're okay with leaving me, too?"

"Whut? No! Abby, eh'll come back, eh promise! Ehm nae leavin' ye, or Bessie!"

"Really! Because it seems to me that my opinion apparently doesn't count." Their arms were flailing about in furious gestures, like they were trying to create sign language with their argument, or their arms would help them get their point across, or win.

"Of course yer opinion matters! Yer everything te meh!"

In the living room, Kim listened easily, for they were yelling loud enough for the whole castle to hear. Bessie heard them from her room upstairs, and came down to see a wet redhead shivering from a cold, and a glimpse of her father and Abigail moving about in the kitchen. Kim looked up at the girl.

"Listen, Abby…" Duff took her hands. She tried to take them away, but he wouldn't let her. "Ye made meh a better man. Look ah how eh used te beh, before ye came inte my life. Eh would 'ave laughed in Kim's face when she asked fer meh help. But eh feel responsible now. Tese drones were meh mistake. Tis lad got kidnapped an' it wus meh fault. Tey 'ave te be stopped somehow, or ther jus' goin' te keep hurtin' people like tey hurt meh."

"I understand that, but you're going to get killed in the process. You don't have a plan, do you?"

"Nae yet."

"That's because there is no plan that will save the boy or kill these drones! You created them. If there was a way to kill them, you would know about it, wouldn't you?"

"Well, they do 'ave sort of an 'off' switch, but they'll defend themselves before eh could even get close."

"Where is this switch?"

"Below te stomach area."

"Can't you distract one of them?"

"Tey see meh, an' tey know whut eh want te do."

"Then have Kim do it."

"Te drones saw her when tey kidnapped Ron. They'll know wit her too."

"Then I'll do it."

Duff's eyes almost fell out of their sockets. It was his turn to fume. "Whut? No….no…NO! Ye are nae goin' te tha' island, o'er meh dead body."

"Well who's going to watch over you?" Abby crossed her arms.

"Eh can watch o'er mehself!"

"I'm coming with you! I'm not going to sit back and watch you commit suicide!"

"Ehm nae goin' te get killed!"

"No, I'm—"

"Naw, eh hired ye te take care o' Bessie, so tha's whut eh want ye te do! Te drones know where eh live, an' ehm nae goin' te leave Bess here by herself fer her te get killed! Yer goin' te stay 'ere te protect meh daughter, an' tha's FINAL! End o' discussion!"

"You are not letting me—"

"Eh said end o' te fucking discussion, Abigail!" Duff's face was red. His eyes were on fire, burning with fury. She was not going to that island. He would rather die than put her in that kind of danger. Duff walked out of the kitchen. He was finished, and Abby was not going. Abigail, however, wasn't done with the argument. She wasn't going to give up.

Abby took a step outside the kitchen to see Duff go to his lab to pack things that they could use to help stop the drones. She called out to him. She had tears in her eyes.

"What, you don't think I'm able to defend myself or something? You think I can't help?"

Duff heard the sadness in her voice. Suddenly he felt bad for screaming at her, even if it was in good intentions. He turned around. He saw the expression on her face and it broke his heart. Kim still sat in between them, soaking in all of this.

"Abby, no, eh didn't mean it like tha'. Eh don' want ye in any danger. Or Bess."

"You think I'm useless, right? I'd just be a distraction for you, at best."

"No, Abby, yer nae useless…" Duff took a step closer towards her, even though they were still a room apart. His heart sank deeper with each word she accused.

"Sure, you'll bring along your arch nemesis, because she can at least try to punch and kick your stupid fucking 'indestructible' robots!"

Duff took another step closer to her. "Abby…"

"I know practically everything about your life, except for this of course, but you know what? You don't know anything about me! I've always been the one to listen to your life. You don't know if I can fight, or defend myself, you just assume I'm some sweet, innocent woman to stay at home to care for your daughter while you're off getting tortured!"

She didn't allow Duff to say anything, though he really didn't have anything to say anyway. She was right on that fact—her life had always been a mystery. He hardly knew anything about her. She always said her life was too 'boring' and 'simple' to talk about. Any questions he had about her were elusive. He couldn't even get a background check on her, because he couldn't find anything. It made him suspicious at first, but didn't find anything that would prove her to be harmful to him or his daughter.

"Is this what you've been keeping from me all this time? These drones of yours? The torture? Why keep this from me? What good will that do you?"

"No, it's nae whut eh've been keepin' fro' ye." He mumbled.

"Then what the fuck is it?" she screamed. Duff was too afraid to answer. Frustrated, Abby stormed upstairs to her room. When she was on the second floor, she called out over the balcony:

"Fine, go ahead! Risk your life and come home uninjured like you say. Just don't expect me to welcome you back!" she slammed the door so hard, it could have shaken the whole castle. Then the door locked.

"Ughh…" Duff covered his face with the palm of his hand, and sighed into it. He let his hand melt down his face, stretching his features. Kim cleared her throat.

"Sorry abou' tha', lass, eh…"

Duff trailed off when he saw Kim point to his young daughter who still stood in the corner of the room. She heard the whole argument. Her eyes were red and Duff could see shiny streaks of tears striped against her skin.

"Oh, Bess, ye heard all o' tha'?" he walked over to her, wanting to give her a big hug, but instead she ran upstairs, sobbing, and escaped into her room like Abby did.

Duff looked at Kim. Her eyes were dried already from the tears that filled them a short time ago. She was more interested in Duff's life outside of villainy. She never knew about his daughter, and she never pictured him to have a girlfriend. Even though Abby wasn't, Kim considered her Duff's girlfriend, because she saw the way they acted, and looked at each other. If it didn't happen now, it would in the future.

"Are you…okay?" Kim asked. She really didn't know what to say. She needed Duff's help if she wanted to save Ron's life, but she didn't want to risk his life either.

"Ehm fine. Come wit meh te my lab, eh'll start packin' some things we'll need an' eh can answer any questions ye 'ave about te drones."

Kim got up, put the blanket back on the couch, and put her empty mug down on the table. "Thanks for the tea, by the way. What kind was it?" the two of them walked down a murky hallway lit by candles.

"An herbal blend Abigail made, ehm nae too sure whuts in it, but she said it's calming. She knows plants."

"Soo…are you two…" Kim raised an eyebrow.

"Och, lass, can ye ever mind ye own business?" he gave her an annoyed look.

"Sorry, geez. Well can I ask one thing?"

Duff sighed. They got to the lab door. Duff waved his hand to the side, and a panel popped out of the wall. He put his hand on a scanner, and the computer confirmed identity match. The door opened.

"Whut?" he responded. They walked in, and the door closed behind them.

"Does she know you're in love with her?" Kim put her hands on her hips.

Duff sighed again. "No."

"Then why haven't you told her?"

"Because eh don' think she feels te same."

"Oh, I think so. She wouldn't care so much about you going to this island if she didn't." Kim sat down in a chair. She felt sympathetic towards her old ex-foe. She saw him for what he really was, for a human being, and she felt like being a friend to him.

"Och, eh dunno…" Duff turned his back to her. He felt embarrassed. "Whuts te like?"

"Well…I can't say I know you too well personally, you know…besides what I knew of you as a villain, but from what I saw just now, you are a very caring man that wants to protect the people he loves, and I think that says a lot."

"Eh wusn't always tha' way. Eh used te be eh terrible father." Duff mumbled. His back was still to Kim.

"Well what matters is that you've changed. Do any of the other villains have kids I don't know about?"

Duff chuckled. He turned around to face her. "Let's just talk abou' te drones fer now, aye?"

"Well what does that mean?" Kim pouted and crossed her arms. "Who else has kids?"

"Lass, eh moment more ye waste gossiping, is eh moment less we 'ave te save yer friend."

Kim fell silent again. Then, she mumbled, "He's more than a friend."

"Eh know." Duff got out a scroll of paper from a cabinet, opened it up, and stretched it out on a desk. Kim came over to look at the map of the island.

"So let's come up wit eh plan te save yer lad, an' get rid o' t'ese fuckers."