Comet impact T minus 11 days, 14 hours, 42 minutes:
Shego stood at the railing of the Space Centre’s lookout platform and distracted herself by watching the frenzied activity out on the landing field. Just two days ago Kimmie and her had quite thoroughly wrecked the place, but reconstruction was going well, not least because of her stupid brothers.
Just like hers and Kimmie’s, their powers were increasing as well. She could make out several dozen Wego dupes working all over the field. Originally her little brothers hadn’t been able to make more than six dupes each and the copies had to stay within a hundred meters or so of the originals, or they’d fade. Those limits had all but faded, it seemed.
She could also see the blue glow of Hego, where the lunkhead was using his titanic strength to haul aside rubble and deliver heavy equipment. From what she could see he was lifting at least several dozen tons and didn’t seem strained at all.
The most impressive sight of them all, though, was Mego. Professor Kruger had been right about him, it turned out. As his powers increased, her brother found that his ability to change his size worked in both directions. Currently he was nearly twenty feet tall and heaved materials up the side of a building, easily doing the work of two cranes. The smirk on his face spoke volumes about how he felt about this newfound ability.
She almost smiled. Her brothers still weren’t quite over the fact that their powers were useless in battling the comet itself, but being able to help out around here had done a lot to soothe their wounded egos.
Looking down at her own hands, Shego willed up her plasma fire and it easily spilled across her palm. Too easily, in fact. Just two days ago she had utterly spent herself during that fireworks display with Kim. She shouldn’t be anywhere near full power after so short a time, but here she was, all charged up again. The comet at work, she mused. She cursed it quite thoroughly.
Kimmie’s father and his college buddies had worked themselves silly analyzing their latest power output. It was easily ten times as powerful as their first one, if not more so. The energy beam had reached high orbit, more than 20,000 kilometres. They still couldn’t find any trace of the hovering platform they had used for target practice. It had been utterly vaporized.
Shego would never admit it to another living soul, but holding this much power in her hands, unleashing it the way they had two days ago… it was scary and seductive at the same time. The only good thing was that, eleven days from now, her powers would either be back to their normal level (or so the nerd crowd figured) or they’d all be dead. She snickered. Omnipotence wouldn’t have that long to tempt her, one way or the other.
The thought of temptation inevitably led her to another issue at hand.
Pushing away from the railing, she left the observation platform and slowly walked towards the improvised living quarters that had been set up for the super-powered crowd here at the Space Centre. Things being as they were, none of them felt particularly safe walking around outside with their powers growing with every passing second. She knew that Global Justice was still looking for the three other known super-powered beings out there, but with little luck so far.
Being here, staying with people she didn’t particularly like, more or less coerced into being a good guy again, should have felt like a prison. Strangely enough, it didn’t. Come to think of it, she hadn’t even made good on her intent to call Dr. D and have him built a rocket ship, just in case. She hadn’t even thought of the blue-skinned scientists for quite some time. Her thoughts had always been busy with other things.
Walking down a corridor, she approached the door of one of the quarters. Voices hailing from inside made her pause, though. Seeing that the door was slightly ajar, she softly moved closer to listen in. Being sneaky came naturally to her, after all. Old habits died hard.
“I really don’t get it, KP,” the annoying voice of the sidekick rang out. “I’m trying to wrap my mind around it, really, but…”
“That’s okay, Ron,” Kimmie answered. “I don’t really get it myself, honestly. It’s just something I’ve come to realize as of late.”
There was silence for a long minute and Shego almost decided to make her presence known, but then the conversation continued.
“How long?” Ron asked, his voice sounding conflicted.
“I’m not sure. A while? I’m not sure you can put a timeline on something like this, Ron. It just… happened over time. Bit by bit.”
There was a pause again.
“And now?” Ron asked. “What are you planning to do?”
“I wish I knew,” she answered. “I mean, eleven days from now we might all be dead, right?”
“No talking like that, KP,” Ron’s said, his voice growing louder. “Quitter talk is my thing, not yours. Besides, you’re the girl who can do anything. One lousy comet ain’t gonna change that.”
Shego could almost hear Kim smile at the utter confidence in the boy’s voice. Shego wondered how that would feel, to have someone with such loyalty by your side. She had never had anyone like that.
“Thanks, Ron. Still, I guess… there is too much going on right now. If… when we destroy the comet and save the world, then I’ll deal with that. Not before.”
“And what if it’s too late by then?” Ron asked. There was another pause before we continued. “Hey, I’m not saying I’m cool with it, but… I want to see you happy, KP. So… are you sure you want to take the risk of her taking off right after the world is saved?”
Her? Who were they talking about? The only significant ‘her’ who was here at the moment was Shego herself and she certainly did plan to take off the moment the world was saved, but… what did that have to do with Kimmie being happy?
“And what if I tell her and she runs off before the world is saved?” Kim asked. “We can’t afford to lose her right now. The world depends on us working together. My personal feelings don’t matter when measured up against that.”
Shego could hear Ron draw breath, preparing to argue the point, but he didn’t. It was hard to argue that point, after all. Still, she was confused. What could Kim tell her that would make her run off and abandon the world to fiery death? Sure, she was evil, but not that evil.
Unwillingly her thoughts returned to the end of their experiment two days ago. How the unleashing of such glorious power had sent her body into a state of total euphoria, overwhelmed her so completely that she found herself laughing her guts out in the arms of her enemy.
She knew it had been the same for little Kimmie. The teenager hadn’t even gotten any coherent words out at the end there. Shego was briefly distracted by the very, very funny memory of Stoppable fainting on them, but forced her thoughts back on track.
The way Kim had been talking… was it possible her little princess was making more out of what had happened? Was she confusing euphoria and exhilaration for… something else? The thought was ridiculous. This was Kimmie Possible after all, goody two-shoe supreme, the number one good girl in the world and friend of puppy dogs everywhere. The very thought that she might entertain… feelings for a criminal, a criminal that was nearly ten years older than her, a criminal of the same sex… ridiculous.
“Maybe so,” she heard Stoppable say, interrupting her thoughts. “But… KP, this conversation is so weirding me out and I’d really like to bolt for the door now, but… I think you should tell her.”
“I told you…,” Kim began.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. But… sometimes people… and I’m not talking about anyone I know or have personally met or anything, but sometimes people… well, put off telling other people how they feel. For whatever reasons, like, not wanting to risk a friendship or something like that. Bad example. Anyway, and then, someday, when they finally get around to halfway admitting that they should say something… usually that’s when they learn that it’s too late. That the other has met someone else or… or has feelings for someone else or… stuff. You know what I’m saying?”
Shego couldn’t see into the room, but if little Kimmie was even half as smart as she usually was, she’d know what Ron had just said - and not said, for that matter - and would be giving him a very long look right now.
“Ron, I…,” Kim said, then her voice trailed off in such a way that told Shego that she had, in fact, understood.
“And besides,” Ron continued, Shego surprised at how mature he sounded at this moment, “if the world does end eleven days from now, then… I don’t know, but… I don’t think I’d want the world to end without the person I… without that person knowing how I feel about her. No matter whether the feelings are returned or not.”
“Ron, I’m so sorry,” Kimmie said, sounding heartbroken.
“Not your fault, KP,” Ron replied nonchalantly. “Like I said, sometimes people wait too long. And maybe things wouldn’t have worked out even if they hadn’t. You never know. In that case all you can do is be a good friend and take it like a man. Or man-like boy-sidekick or whatever.”
Shego heard footsteps as Kim walked closer to her best friend.
“You’re one hell of a man, Ron Stoppable,” Kim said.
Quietly making her exit, Shego walked without aim while her thoughts were churning.
Just five minutes ago, when she had decided to pay a visit to little Kimmie, she had been thinking about these strange feelings she’d had as of late. The feeling of power as her abilities increased. The feeling of doom as she learned about the approaching threat to planet Earth. The feeling of… heroism, for lack of a better word, as she felt her determination to do whatever it took to save her home world grow. And finally, the changing feelings regarding her nemesis, the little cheerleader princess.
She briefly went through the range of emotions she had come to associate with Kim Possible over the years. At first, annoyance at the little girl for thinking she’d ever be able to keep up with her. Then, grudging respect as the teenager kept improving until she could do just that. Recently, something almost like admiration. The love-hate feeling one had for one’s nemesis, the recognition that no one else in the world could ever quite understand what it meant to be on their level.
And now, after everything that happened these last two weeks… what was she feeling in regards to Kim Possible? And how was she feeling about the fact that little Kimmie seemed to be feeling… that way… about her?
Maybe running off wasn’t that bad an idea after all.
“Hey, Shego!”
Startled, she turned around to see Stoppable walking down the corridor towards her.
“Hey, sidekick;” she said, forcing nonchalance into her tone. “Done anymore fainting lately?”
“No, not recently. Listen, would you mind dropping in on Kim? I think she wants to talk with you about something.
“Eh, sure. I’ll go by her quarters later.”
“Thanks.”
Shego watched him walk off and, what with everything she’d just learned, could see him walk like a man who had just had his heart shattered, but refused to be bowed by it. Her respect for Stoppable, which had grown quite a bit when he first came to acquire her help, had increased once again these last few minutes. Not that she’d ever tell him, but still…
Looking the other way, she judged the distance to Kim’s quarters. No more than a minute’s walk, if that. And then… what then?
What then?
TO BE CONTINUED