I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only.
Kim Possible: Super-Girl
By LJ58
5
"I'm sorry I never got to know her better," Kim told Clark as they stood over the simple grave in Smallville Cemetery.
She was currently wearing a black wig, and plain, black business attire very atypical of her usual style to better hide herself in plain sight. Just then, Clark currently had very silver temples, and just enough makeup to feign wrinkles in his still youthful visage so his mother's longtime neighbors didn't eye him too suspiciously.
"I'm just glad she got to meet you," Clark told her. "I think it helped her knowing that I wasn't alone. She always worried about that after Lois died."
"Lois?"
"My wife. My human wife," he murmured. "Obviously, she didn't have my virtual immortality. Or my invulnerability. She finally got in over her head once too often, and unfortunately, even I can't be everywhere," he said quietly.
"Oh. So, am I going to have to…..consider that one, too?"
"Honestly," he told her, looking away from the grave now where his mother now rested next to his father. "I don't know. I never expected to have any children, to be honest. And as to how Kryptonian DNA will interact with Maxima's is…. Well, anyone's guess."
"Point taken."
"I did notice you seemed to have cut off all ties from everyone of late. That wasn't what I wanted you to do, Kimberly. You still have a life, and…."
"Actually, what I was doing was cutting the strings to Global Justice. Dr. Director is a good woman. I like her. I even trust her to a degree. Her superiors, not so much," she murmured quietly, mindful of some of the closer mourners that had shown up for Martha Kent's funeral.
"Yes, we've had issues with the U.N. in the past," Clark told her honestly. "Listen, I want to show you something else. I considered it, and I think you could benefit from it as much as I have. Oh, and mother left you a gift, too."
"Okay," Kim murmured.
"After the reception," he told her, already having introduced her as a cousin. "I'll take you there myself. Needless to say, it's going to be one of those things you can never share. This time, not even with your friend Wade."
"I understand," she told him, already having guessed that for a public hero, he had a lot of secrets.
She supposed with all his enemies that he had cause.
Her own enemies now seemed almost juvenile compared to some of the ones she had heard he had faced down. The kind, she knew, that likely wouldn't have hesitated to go after friends or family, if they had known their identities.
Something, she realized, to consider as she planned her own renewed future.
Because Kal-El was right.
What was left of her human DNA was shredding like paper of late, and the alien DNA in her body was making her more and more powerful every day. Every hour.
She looked down at Martha Kent's grave, and knelt to lay a single, white rose on the casket.
"I do wish I could have known her better," she told Clark after a moment as the minister stood silently at a respectful distance away. "She seemed like a really great woman," she murmured, unable to help thinking of her own late Nana who had finally passed on not long ago.
"She was," Clark told her. "The very best."
"Clark, son," an elderly man still in coveralls walked up just then. "Sorry you had to come back like this, son. But, I have to ask, what do you intend to do with the farm now? You know Martha has had a lot of offers…."
"I'll consider all that later, Mr. Jenkins," he told him quietly. "Just now….."
He gestured to the grave, and the old man looked sympathetic.
"I understand, son. Even Jonathan would have told you that you can't let moss grow under your feet, though. Call me. I'd like to think I can make a better offer than the bank."
"I'll sure keep you in mind, sir," he told him.
"Wow," Kim stared after the old man. "I cannot believe him…."
"Jerry is all right," Clark said quietly. "Farming is all he knows, and he pretty much feels it's the only thing in life worth doing."
"Still….."
"And Ma would have laughed at him had she been here to see him. He pulled the same thing at Pa's funeral, and she did laugh, then," he murmured thoughtfully.
Kim looked after the old man climbing into an older model truck loaded with hay, and frowned.
"Clark….."
"What is it?"
"I'm still getting used to this, but…..something about that truck doesn't feel right to me," she told him.
Clark glanced surreptitiously after the old farmer, and frowned.
"Time to go," he said, and added, "Meet you at the house."
He was gone in an instant, and yet no one seemed to notice him leaving.
She glanced down the road, and while Jerry Jenkins was out of side by then, she still overheard the screech of brakes, and something smashing hard into something else as everyone looked around.
"What was that," someone gasped, looking back toward town.
"Say, where'd Clark go?"
"He….left already," Kim told the old woman leaning on a carved wooden cane. "He was really broken up. You understand," she said, eyeing the casket now being lowered into the ground.
"Well, he was always close to his folks," the old woman told her. "Some might not think so, what with the way he was always running off to the city, and hopping around the globe doing that story writing of his, but he was always close to his folks."
Kim only nodded.
"Funny, I never heard of you, though," she went on in almost the same breath.
"Well, I am a cousin…..on Lois' side," she bluffed, not giving her name. "Distant family. After Lois died, we got to know each other a little better. I was thinking about journalism, too, you see, and thought he might…..have some advice."
"I got some advice," a gruff, old man spat. "Stay home, and make babies like women should," he informed her. "His wife wouldn't be dead if she had listened to me," he concluded as he stalked off.
"So, the dinosaurs haven't all died out," Kim remarked as the woman standing next to her only smiled.
"You can ignore Roger. We all do. He's just upset his daughters all ran off to the big city, and never came back. All nine of them."
"Nine," Kim croaked.
"Well, he might have had ten, but poor Sara passed on after the last was born."
Kim didn't even bother to comment on that one.
"I'd better go back to the house, too. To check on Clark. Martha wanted me to help keep an eye on him," she told her.
"I don't wonder. That woman always did fret over the boy. Treated him like fine china growing up. You couldn't tell he was just as strong as his father the way she acted."
"Well, mother's worry. I know mine does, and I'm grown, too."
The old woman smiled now.
"Sweetie, you never grow up a mother's eyes. You'll figure that one out yourself in time," she assured her as Kim turned to go.
Only that was something else she should ask Clark.
If she was a real alien, did that mean she wasn't likely to have children either?
As if she didn't have enough to worry about.
KP
"Good thing you spotted that bad drum," Clark told her when the cab dropped her off at Martha's house again where he was already waiting after stopping the truck that almost crashed when its brakes unexpectedly failed at an intersection near a bridge.
"So, I guess I'm getting, ah, some kind of x-ray vision?"
"Apparently," he told her, ushering her into the house.
Kim walked into the house with him, and looked around.
"You do move fast," she realized, noting the house was almost completely packed up already.
"I only took a few things I intend to keep. The rest, I'll leave here for….."
Kim didn't comment on the fact he trailed off, and looked away.
"I have to ask. Will I have the same trouble as you do with having children?"
"Well, Kimberly, I do know Kryptonian and human DNA are completely incompatible. How your hybrid status will affect that mix, though, I can't honestly say. We could do some tests at…..my place, though."
"I thought I had already had every test possible," she grumbled.
"Not quite," Clark smiled blandly now. "And my medical facilities are naturally tailored toward Kryptonians. We can find out anything you need to know once we….get there."
Suddenly some of the stories she had revisited occurred to her, and she exclaimed, "Your Fortress? It's real?"
"Quite real. I may yet have to move it, though, but it's quite real. Now I need to move some of these things out now before I decide what to do with Clark Kent," he told her. "Mind carrying a few things out to the truck?"
"No big," she nodded, and lifted a stack of boxes with ease that would have strained a bigger, stronger man.
"You're adapting to your changes pretty easily," he remarked, carrying his own load behind her.
"I've had….issues with mad science in the past. It's amazing what you can get used to after a time," Kim told him with a faint smile.
"I won't deny it," he told her, not admitting he had kept a close eye on her over the years.
"So, ah, seriously," she asked when they closed up the rental truck a few moments later. "Why did you never go after anyone like Dementor, or Drakken?"
"Usually, because you had already taken care of them," Clark told her with a smile. "I did keep an eye on things when I could spare the time, but I noticed you were doing pretty well on your own."
"Not always," she grimaced, thinking of more than a few missteps in her past.
"We all make mistakes, Kim," he told her. "Even I do. The important thing is, we learn from them, and keep going forward. It's when you give up, and let the villain win by default that you truly fail."
"Yeah. Yeah, I can see that one," she murmured.
"So, ready to go?"
"Sure," she nodded, and started to climb into the truck.
"I'll drive out to the old quarry, and fly us on from there," he told her. "Wouldn't want anyone wondering how we just disappeared if we don't drive by certain busybodies," he added as he climbed behind the wheel.
"So, uh, Kal-El, what will you do when you…..lose Clark?"
"I hadn't really decided as yet. You have to know it's harder than ever to just create new identities of late in this world," he smiled blandly. "Frankly, with all the extra duties the League has created, too, I don't always have time to live two lives any longer. I may just….let that one go for now. After all, I'm not exactly overflowing with family after Ma died," he said quietly.
"Well, you have me. And, isn't the League kind of like your family?"
He chuckled.
"Bru…. Batman would love you," Kal grinned at her.
"He would?"
"Let's just say, he's not the warm and fuzzy sort," he told her, starting the truck, and putting it in gear. "He'd likely mock you for having any kind of sentiment at all."
"That sentiment is part of what makes me strong. Or I like to think so," Kim told him.
"So do I," he told her somberly as he drove away from his Smallville home. Likely for the last time.
She nodded.
"So, is he really the same Batman? I mean, from all those years ago?"
"I suggest you don't share, but it is him. He had an...accident of his own, and it regenerated him."
"Right. I get that. I couldn't help but wonder."
"I understand. Batman isn't one for explaining himself at the best of times. He is a good man, though," he added.
They drove on in silence for a few minutes before Kim finally spoke again.
"So, you knew my parents?"
"I met them a few times. And I did keep tabs on all of you over the years at the start. The last few years, of course, we were all busier than usual, and I didn't get by as often as I once did. But I do recall a boisterous little girl that used to demand stories whenever I stopped by."
"I don't really remember you," she said quietly.
"I usually masqueraded as a visiting guest at the Science Center. Something like that. After all, it wouldn't have done either of us any good for Superman to start hanging around a small town with a certain young girl. It would have made the wrong people wonder."
"I have to know. Do you know why my birth mother never came back?"
"That's….complicated," he told her. "To be honest, even I'm not sure if she survived, or not. Things were…..really bad out there for a while. Very bad. It's part of why Maxima agreed to let you live here at all."
"From what I've heard, she wasn't all that great a person," Kim finally remarked, eyeing him with a sidelong glance as she made that statement.
Kal-El smiled now.
"Maxima was loud, boastful, and had more pride than a dozen people. Maybe two dozen," he added.
"I know someone like that," she admitted.
"Yes, well, she also had a good heart. Deep down, of course, and she would never admit it. Almerac had a purely warrior culture, and to them, such compassion would have been deemed a weakness."
"Sounds like those Lorwardians," she muttered.
"Hardly. They are a minor empire, trying to carve out a larger niche in a very large galaxy," Kal-El told her. "Frankly, I was surprised they ever showed up here. I did note they chose to wait till I, and the major heroes were off on a deep space mission to show up."
"Yeah," Kim grimaced. "We noticed, too."
"Still, you and your friends did a good job in our stead."
"Thanks. But that was mostly Drew, and Ron," she admitted.
"You were in there fighting, too, as I recall. And at the time, you had no way of knowing you had a chance. Yet you still made a stand. Sometimes, that's all that matters in the end, Kimberly," he told her, stopping the truck near an abandoned quarry, and climbing out. "Why don't you just sit there, and hang on. This will be a long flight since I can't reach my top speed without loosing the truck," he grinned.
"Okay," she said, feeling him lift the truck, and then feeling it lift into the air as it leveled off almost at once.
Ron would never believe this one. Even if she could tell him.
"Knew it," Jerry Jenkins said from far below as he watched the unassuming farm boy fly off with the moving truck held in powerful hands. "Martha, I always knew you was hiding something. Always knew it. Well, you were right. That boy is special. Just like you always said. Just like you said."
Then he turned around, and drove back to town in his wife's car, wondering if he had time to get to the store before it closed. He needed more seed, and some parts for his tractor. Not to mention new brakes for his old truck that he now guessed just how it had miraculously stopped when he almost lost control.
KP
"Can we talk?"
"Wha," the sleepy-eyed woman blinked, and shook her head as Kim stood in the door of her isolated villa deep in the South Pacific. "Damn it, Princess, how did you even find me here? Did that nosy Nerdlinger of yours…..?"
"No. No one knows I'm here except you, and me. I just needed to talk to someone that…. Someone that would understand."
"Understand? Listen, Kimmie," the green-skinned woman yawned as she rubbed one eye. "You have three seconds to start making sense before….."
"You know what they told me," Kim told her.
"Yeah. Yeah. The big guy is your real daddy, and you might be getting some of his super mojo," Shego yawned. "And?"
"I was talking to Kal again," she said, standing on her porch, and looking back at the stars. "The odds are, I'll never have children."
Shego frowned.
"Sure you will. You're young….."
"I'm an alien, Shego. My DNA; my real DNA; isn't compatible with humans. That was Kal's problem, too. Until some space-girl showed up, and, you know, did whatever. What are the odds of that happening with me?"
"With your luck," Shego snorted.
Kim sighed, and shook her head.
"Anyway, I just…. I don't know….. I…wanted to talk to someone that might...understand."
"Come in," Shego finally sighed when Kim started looking lost, and started to turn away. "What's really on your mind? Because I'm pretty sure that's not all that's bugging you?"
"Everything. I bailed on GJ, by the way. About two steps ahead of a quarantine order for public safety. Sound familiar?"
"Yeah, they tried using that one on me back in the day. Tried," Shego stressed.
"Well, I took off. I guess I should call mom pretty soon, too. She might be worrying about now. Even though she apparently knows…..what I am."
"Don't you mean who, Kimmie," Shego asked, steering her toward a couch, and sitting with her.
"Shego, I just found out I'm not really human. Not….a human. I am developing powers that most people out there can only dream of, and most people on both sides of the law are afraid of, and I just…. I'm not sure what to do any more."
Shego sagged back on her own couch, and glanced back at her.
"When the comet hit us," she said after a moment. "Things were not exactly put out in black and white for us, either. It mangled our DNA like you wouldn't believe. You think human DNA can do the things Team Go does? You think I'm still technically human?"
"I….guessed. That's why I came. I thought….you'd understand better than anyone else. I thought….you….."
"Might have answers?"
"Yeah," Kim nodded.
Shego snorted.
"Kimberly," she actually used her name now, "I spent most of my adult life pulling crimes to support a blue moron's dreams of conquest. Does that sound like I had any answers of my own? But I will tell you this. Unlike me, you still have family. Real family. My parents died when that comet hit. That's the part not in the official bio. We were state wards for years. Until they realized they not only didn't have cause to hold us, they literally couldn't hold us anyway once we decided it was time to go. Get it?"
"That's…..not the story Hego told."
"It wouldn't be, would it. He's still all about the heroic image. America, Truth, and Justice, and all that comic book bit he still pushes. He tries not to think of the labs, the experiments, and the fact our folks died while we got to live. In fact, the whole Team Go dealie was the government's bid to control us a little longer back when they were still afraid of us. Go City financed Hego's heroic fantasies, and deputized us so they not only had a ready line of defense against super villains, but also kept us from….stepping out of line."
"Only you didn't stay," Kim nodded.
"I didn't stay," Shego nodded. "Right now, if anyone really has any clue, you must really terrify them. Because I know they were always scared of me," Shego admitted.
"Yeah. They were pretty upset I took off. GJ is still out in force looking for me," she sighed.
"Then you bet someone knows the truth. Or suspects. Which means they'll be looking to bring you in, one way, or another. Expect leashes. And soon," the green-skinned woman remarked.
"You know what? I flew into space yesterday. Do you know that?"
"So? We've both been…."
Kim shook her head.
"No. I wondered just how much like Kal I was, so I took a deep breath, and flew straight up. Yeah, I can fly now, too," she nodded at Shego's expression. "I'm getting stronger every day. Stronger than even my battle-suit ever made me."
"I'll bet. The big guy is kind of in a class all his own," Shego nodded somberly as she studied Kim. "Makes me really glad I retired now."
"That's just it. I don't know if I want to stay in the same business either. Somehow, running around punching silly Henches just doesn't seem that important anymore."
"Weren't you doing that just a week ago," Shego pointed out.
"And I was questioning it even then. I honestly thought my internship in GJ would be a step up from just facing wannabes. That I'd be in place to…. I don't know, do more. Make a real difference in the world."
Shego sighed, and eyed the redhead.
"Princess, I really don't know what to tell you. But I can tell you one thing I learned the hard way."
"What's that," she asked.
Shego turned, and looked into her green eyes with an earnest expression.
"Be true to yourself. No matter what else, if you don't follow your own heart, you'll only end up hurting yourself in the end. Trust me on that one."
"Is that….what you were doing? I mean when you left Hego...?"
"No. I was running away. In the end, walking away from Drew, and the biz? That was me being honest with myself. Because in the end, I really didn't want anything to do with either side of that life. Now, you? You have to decide what you want to do. Because like me, you are someone that they literally cannot force to bend. Not any longer. And that's going to piss off a lot of people with brass on their shoulders. I can tell you that."
"Yeah," Kim murmured. "Kal said he still gets that, too. And he's a hero."
"So are you, Kimmie," Shego told her.
Kim didn't say anything to that.
"I guess I should go. I didn't realize how late it was when I…found you," she said, noting the stylish clock on a nearby table only then.
"You could stay, if you need to rest," Shego told her. "I've got plenty of room."
Kim stared hard at her, then nodded.
"I wouldn't mind, if you don't."
"C'mon. I'll show you the guest room."
"Shego. Thanks," Kim said, standing up to follow her after scooping up her backpack again.
"Hey, I do still owe you a few."
"No. You're a friend. You don't owe me anything," Kim told her.
"So. You flew into space? Is Ronald jealous yet?"
"He…..doesn't know," she admitted.
"Any of it?"
Kim shook her head.
"Don't you trust him?"
"I….. I'm not sure. I'm not sure how I want any of this to come out. If at all."
"He's still your friend, Kimmie," Shego told her. "And that's all I'm saying."
Kim said nothing to that as Shego left her in the door to a guest room after pointing out the usual amenities.
"My friend," Kim murmured, and walked over to the window, and looked up at the sky.
To Be Continued…