“MURDER?” Mrs. Possible shook in her shoes. My Kimmie? A murderer? It can’t be…
“Mom, look - after the assembly at school tomorrow, I’m handing myself over.”
“What?” Mrs. Possible gasped. “Why?”
“Mom, please! I’m suspected in the murder of one of my enemies. The police know where we live. I’d rather not have them breaking down the front door and raiding the house. Also…I’m a hero. Heroes are expected to do the right thing. And the right thing to do, when suspected of murder, is to turn myself in.”
“She’s got a point,” said Shego.
“But, Kimmie-cub-” protested Mr. Possible – who had just arrived home.
“Dad, there’s no “but” about it! Besides, it’s not like I haven’t been held in a cell before!” She looked down. “It’s just I’ve never been held in a prison cell before.”
Shego turned away to hide her amused grin at the many times Drakken had captured Kim and put her in a holding cell, only to have Kim escape – the last time having been the silly hat debacle in Montana…
“Shennen!”
Shego looked around. “Whahuh? Oh.”
Kim was staring right at her. “You gonna eat dinner or what, daydreamer?” the redhead asked.
“Huh? Oh – yeah. Sorry…” Shego silently cursed herself as she followed Kim to the dinner table.
“What did you-”
“I DIDN’T MEAN TO! THEY – THEY…”
“What? They what?”
“They – they –”
“What? Tell us! They what?”
“They attack - oh god… I didn’t…They’re not… Oh god…”
“THEY ATTACK-? WHAT?”“They - they…I – I-”
“WHAT? THEY ATTACK WHAT? TELL US ALREADY!”
“I DIDN’T DO IT!”
Dinner had been eaten in full silence. Nobody asked anybody to pass the anything. Nobody asked how somebody’s day went. Just…silence. Glances were all that were exchanged, and even then, not many of them were – that, or the ones that were weren’t seen – or were ignored…
Kim sighed; looked at her clock.
9:30.
She looked around her room, wanting to cry because she knew she wasn’t going to see it for the longest time. But the tears wouldn’t come. She looked at her window, which she’d already covered with a way thick blanket. But still, the tears wouldn’t come. Kim sighed again, stood up, turned off her light, and walked out down the stairs to her room There was still something she had to do before tomorrow…
--
She wanted to laugh. She knew that’s what she should be doing; laughing up a storm.
So why wasn’t she?
I t was over. She’d slipped behind enemy lines. And now Kim Possible was wanted for murder, and would be behind bars by the same time tomorrow. It was a moment of triumph.
So why does it all make me feel like complete sack of shit?
Oh. That’s right – she’d been set up, too. Set up in the same murder case Kim was turning herself in for.
Drakken.
That blue-skinned slubberdegullion… No wonder he hadn’t given her any specific orders when he’d sent her undercover: He wanted her out of his hair. Make her younger. Wipe all post-Diablo incident trial traces of her off the face of the Earth, and force her to live with her archenemy.
What a pink slip.
A soft rapping at the guest room door broke the raven-haired woman out of her ruminations. “Who is it?”
“Shego?” If not for a thief’s hearing, Kim’s mouse whisper would’ve never been heard. Shego walked over and opened the door, keeping her head down; her voice quiet. “So now you know.”
“I always knew. May I come in so no one else will?”
Shego nodded, and let Kim in, shutting the door behind them. “Look - before we start arguing anything, I’ll just say that this is not what I was thinking would happen when I agreed to this.”
Kim looked up, keeping her back to Shego. “…I figured as much.”
Shego was stunned. “You did?”
Kim looked over her shoulder with a sly grin. “Please – that was a look of genuine what-the-fuck when you heard your name as one of the suspects. Clearly you had no idea that would happen.”
“So, how come you didn’t jump on me when I walked into Barkin’s class?” Shego asked.
“I – good question. I don’t know for sure why I didn’t just jump on you. I think it was something in your eyes – they looked kinda hollow, lost…sorta like you were missing something… I don’t know. You just… you just really looked like you didn’t want to be back in high school, is all.”
“Uh, who would?”
“Hmm…good point. But that’s beside the point. I gave you a chance because – well, you weren’t acting like the Shego I knew. The Shego I knew jumped me and fought me upon just making eye contact with me. You sat there and went off on an angry tangent about Foster Homes in front of the class; you exploded at the Tweebs when they asked you about the comet-”
Shego flinched.
“Like that,” Kim said, having noted the flinch. “I thought maybe you’d disguised yourself and were trying to ditch Drakken once and for all.”
“Pfft! He wanted to ditch me… Made me younger with a de-ageing ray. Did something, I still don’t know exactly what, to wipe everyone’s post-mistrial ruling memories of me forever, and sent me here “undercover,” forcing me to live with my archenemy…then somehow he framed you and me both.”
“Wait – Drakken killed Dementor?” asked Kim.
“Uh, duh, Kimmie – he freakin’ hated the guy! Why? Don’t know. Don’t care.”
“Wait – why would Drakken want you out of the way?” Kim asked. This did not make sense.
Shego sighed. “Last time I didn’t know what his plan was from the onset – he almost won. Guess he figured with me out of the way completely, his new master scheme would work out a lot better.”
“So he tried to kill you?”
“Hah!” Shego slapped her knee. “Be serious here, Princess – he couldn’t kill me if he tried. However, Shego is pretty much dead now. Now it’s Shennen’s turn to shine.” The anger in her voice grew.
“Shego, I know this is probably the worst time to ask you this, but before I get put in the slammer, I wanna know – what really happened with the comet and all? And how exactly did you end up going from being a member of Team Go – a superhero – to becoming the most feared woman in the world?”
Shego sighed. “Hmmph – figures the one person I’d actually tell the truth to would be my archenemy.”
“Are we really enemies anymore, Shego?” asked Kim.
Shego snickered to herself. “No, I guess not, Pumpkin… Now, you might wanna get a tissue, because knowing you? You’re gonna be in tears by the end of this.”
“You think I’m gonna cry at your life story?”
“Kim, if you cried over PMSing at your ex, this room’s gonna be flooded after I’m finished.”
“Fine, whatever.” Kim sat down on the bed, as there were no chairs nearby. “Just start –uh, whenever you’re ready, of course…”
Shego sat down on the bed, too. She had to calm her nerves first. “Jeezus…hold on…I thought talking about it would get easier over time…” She shuddered. “But some hurts never go away.”
“Shego?” Kim asked quietly. She’d heard the pain in Shego’s voice when the woman had snapped at the Tweebs, but the pain that escaped Shego’s lips now was on an entirely different level than Kim had ever seen before. As her former foe shuddered, Kim instinctively put her hand on the woman’s shoulder.
“What?” Shego asked, frowning – though, she made no attempt to remove Kim’s hand. Her shaking slowed as took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “I’m collecting myself. That’s all.” She shut her eyes.
A black van pulled into the driveway. As soon as its doors opened, a spry young 8-year old girl hopped out of the car and ran towards the house. “Grandmama Go! Grandmama Go!” she exclaimed excitedly.
Standing in the doorway was an old but strong woman, who had about as much reason for a cane or a walker as the air had a good reason to stop moving. She knelt down and embraced the young girl in a massive bear hug as she ran up to her. “Why hello there, young Shego! Where did you all run off to without me this fine morning?”
“Look what Hego, Mego, the twins and I all got from the Halloween costume store, Grandmama Go!” little Shego babbled, holding up the shopping bag recently acquired from their early morning trip.
“A plastic bag?” the old woman asked.
“Grandmama!” the little girl whined, pouting and putting her hands on her hips.
The old woman laughed. “Grandmama Go’s just kidding, little lady. Show me what you bought!”
The little girl fished out a small green-and-black jumpsuit, along with a little black mask. “Superherocostumes! Look! I’m Green girl!” She held up three similar suits - 1 blue-and-black, 1 purple-and-black, and the last one red-and-black. “Hego chose Blue Man, Mego got Violet Boy, and the twins get to be the Red Thunder Kids!” she chattered away. “Oh, this is gonna be the best Halloween ever, Grandmama!”
A new woman’s voice entered the room. “Oh, I’m sure it will, be, sweetie – I’m sure it will be.” Shego turned around. A fair-skinned woman with glasses and wavy black hair stood smiling in the doorway.
“Mommy!” Shego ran over and hugged her mother’s leg, tightly.
“Hi, sweetie.” The woman bent over and kissed her daughter on the forehead. “How was the trip to the costume store? I’m sorry I couldn’t come with, but Mommy had to finish up some stuff for her work.”
“It’s okay, Mommy. We got cool superhero costumes!”
“Really? Lemme see!”
“Okay!” Shego fished out her green-and-black costume. “See? I’m Green Girl, Hego’s Blue Man, Mego’s Violet Boy, and the twins are the Red Thunder Kids! We’re gonna go trick-or-treating as Team Go!”
“Oh, sweetie, that’s awesome!” Shego’s mother proclaimed. “I promise with my life, that this time I will be home in time to go with you all this year! You hear that, Shego?” The girl nodded happily. “Okay.”
“Hey, who wants some late noon pancakes?” a deeper voice cut in as a gruff but friendly man entered with a shopping bag. “I even got Coco-Moo to go with it!”
“Coco-Moo!” Shego shouted enthusiastically, running up to the man. “Thank you for letting us buy those costumes, Daddy!” she said, hugging the man’s leg.
“What else would I do for my beautiful daughter?” the man ruffled Shego’s hair as the girl giggled.
“Hey, Shego – I got an idea,” said the elderly woman. “Why don’t you and your brothers go put your costumes on, hike up into that treehouse of yours in the backyard, and after I finish helping your Mom and Dad make pancakes, we’ll bring em up to you and we can all have a treehouse picnic together! Then we can get some great pictures of Team Go saving people’s lives around the metropolis that is Go City!”
Little Shego’s eyes lit up. “Okay!” She grabbed the bag and ran off. “Hey, Hego! Mego!”
--
“Uncle! Uncle!” Shego laughed triumphantly at Hego’s cry. She and her brothers always roughhoused - but usually Hego won. This time, though, Shego had pinned him in a unique way, and he couldn’t break it. The siblings sat up, dusting themselves off. “I gotta hand it to ya’, Sis – you’re really gettin’ good!”
“Yeah,” Mego hmmphed. “Must’ve been my superior training.”
“No, I believe it’s due to my better conditioning techniques,” injected Hego.
Shego rolled her eyes and turned away, smacking her head in disgust. There was no reason to even get in the middle of Hego & Mego’s arguments. “Can’t you two just get along for 5 seconds?” she groused.
“I’m getting along. He’s not,” said Mego, thumbing at Hego.
“What? You’re not the one listening to Team Go’s leader!”
“Leader? Since when?”
“Since I’m the oldest!”
“Ugh, for the love of-” Shego threw up her hands. “Why do I even bother?” She looked back at the wall facing their house. “How much longer are Mom and Dad and Grandmama gonna take?” she asked.
“’Ey-” the first of Shego’s 2-year old twin brothers, who were both looking out the window on the other side of the treehouse, pointed up. “Whass thah?”
“Huh?” Shego stopped. She looked out the window – and gasped. “HEGO! MEGO!”
“Well, I’m – huh?” Mego and Hego stopped their debate and looked at Shego.
“LOOK!” Shego pointed out the treehouse window.
Outside in the sky, a huge object glowing like a rainbow was hurtling down through the sky. “Get the binoculars!” Hego said. A second later, they were in his hand. “Wow…” he said, looking at the object. “That’s a weird meteorite – no, wait! It’s a comet! A glowing comet!”
“A glowing comet that’s HEADING RIGHT FOR THE TREEHOUSE!” Shego shrieked. Indeed – the comet was getting larger in their view – and it was doing it amazingly quickly.
“Take one of the twins! I’ll get the other one! Team Go, let’s get out of here! Move! Move! Move!” Hego shouted.
Shego nodded, snatching up one of the twins and vaulting down the treehouse ladder. She looked back as she frantically raced down the rickety wooden stairs. The comet was almost on top of them. She could hear it now. She looked back down: Her parents were opening the door, Grandmama Go with them.
“MOMMY! DADDDY! GRANDMAMA!” she yelled. RUN! RUN! RUN! RU-”
The last thing she saw before a blinding green glow smashed into her back like a hockey puck from a 70-mph slapshot and knocked her into unconsciousness was her parents and grandmother, staring dumbfoundedly still as the comet’s glow washed over them.
“GRANDMAMA!” Shego snapped awake. She looked around. Her house was gone. She was lying in a smoking pile of rubble. Some huge flames towered over her not forty feet behind her. Shego staggered to her feet. Somehow, her Halloween costume had remained perfectly intact, if burnt a little bit around the edges. The mask was gone, though. However, as Shego frantically leapt to her feet, none of that mattered to her at the moment. “MOMMY! DADDY! HEGO! MEGO! TWINNIES! GRANDMAMA!” she shrieked, desperately throwing rubble aside looking for everyone. “MOMMY! DADDY! HEGO! MEGO! TWINNIES! GRANDMAM-” A soft groan was heard. Shego looked over. Someone was alive.
“Ow…” Hego said – and Shego stared as his hands glowed blue and he proceeded to pick up the massive piece of cement leaning on top of him and toss it away from him. It took Hego a second to realise what he’d done himself. “Whoah!” he said, looking at his glowing hands. “What happened?”
“HEGO! HELP ME! WE GOTTA FIND EVERYBODY ELSE!” Shego screamed.
Hego looked around. “Holy crap! MEGO! TWINS!” he yelled, hurling massive chunks of rubble like they were Frisbees with his glowing blue hands. He looked at them again. “This is kinda cool!”
“DAMMIT, HEGO!” Shego yelled, using a word she’d heard her father say was bad many times over, even though he said it himself a lot and had contributed the most nickels to the swear jar due to that. “STOP OGLING YOUR HANDS AND HELP ME FIND THE REST OF OUR FAMILY!”
“Okay, okay, Sis, sheesh – MOM! DAD! GRANDMA! MEGO! WEGO! WEGO!” he yelled the real names of the twins instead of just calling them “twins.” Then he spotted movement. “Sis! Over here!”
Shego nimbly danced over the piles of rubble in her way as she ran over to where Hego was. “What?”
“I saw movement – right there!” Hego yelled. He tried to move whatever it was in the rubble that was in the way of what he had seen, but it wouldn’t budge. “Augh – it’s not moving! I have super strength and it’s not moving at all!” Hego said. “Sis – tell me you got some superpower from that comet as well!”
Shego was getting angrier and angrier. “IF I HAD, DON’T YOU THINK I’D BE USING IT?” she shrieked, throwing up her hands – and stopped, staring at the green fire that was emanating from them.
“Yes! You did, Sis! You can use it!”
“If I can figure out how!” Shego snapped. She concentrated and tried to fire the flames from her hand – but nothing happened. “DAMMIT!” she screamed, punching the piece of rubble Hego couldn’t move.
And watched the flames around her hand melt the piece of rubble in two.
“Awright, Sis!” Hego cheered, slapping her on the back lightly.
“Guys? Can’t you see me here?” a tiny voice asked.
“You hear something?” Shego asked Hego.
“Thought I did,” Hego said to Shego.
“I said HELLO! CAN’T YOU SEE ME HERE?” Mego suddenly seemed to grow up from out of the ground in front of Shego and her oldest brother. “I mean, it’s not really that hard to see me and all!”
“Mego! You can shrink yourself!” Hego said.
“Of course I can! I figured out that one pretty quick myself!” Mego sputtered.
“But that’s good! You can help us find the twins!” Hego said.
“Bro-thar?” the three older Go siblings turned around to find the twins just fine – except that there was four of them. However, the four quickly receded into two.
“They can make copies of themselves!” Hego gasped.
“That’s great – CAN WE FIND OUR PARENTS AND GRANDMAMA NOW?” Shego screamed.
Then she remembered: Her parents. Grandmama Go. Frozen in fear as the comet engulfed their home. Frozen in fear as the flames from the friction against the comet in the atmosphere washed over them—
“MOMMY! DADDY! THE FIRE’S WALKING TOWARDS YOU!” she screamed, running hotfoot over the terrain, barreling right for the massive tower of flames on the other side of the yard.
“SHEGO, NO!” Hego raced after the tear-filled young girl.
As Shego got closer, the heat from the flames smashed into her face. The smoke wafted over her lungs. But she didn’t care. She was going to find her parents. She was going to find her Grandmama. She was-
“NOOOO!” Shego screamed as she smelled something burning. Something that wasn’t wood. She stared as she reached the inferno. The heat blasted into her eyes. Her throat burned from the lack of air. She feel her costume start to melt against her skin. But she didn’t care. “PLEASE, NO!” she cried, plunging her hands into the burning rubble. “C’mon, damn hands – IGNITE!” she screamed – and they did. “YES!” She then dove them both back into the flames, corroding off metal, clearing some of the rubble. The regular flames surged across her skin, locking her in an intense pain. But she wasn’t paying attention to it. She was going to find her parents. She was going to save the rest of her family—
She threw aside another chunk of metal – and shrieked. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Staring right at her was Grandmama Go – or at least, what she could only presume was Grandmama Go. And right next to her lay – Shego panicked, tossing rubble like a madwoman – two more bodies.
“NOOO! MOMMY! DADDY! GRANDMAMA! NO! PLEASE! NO! IT’S HALLOWEEN! MOMMY! YOU SAID YOU’D COME TRICK OR TREATING WITH US! NO! YOU’RE NOT-”
“SIS!” Hego snatched the girl out of the flames, even as she fought him with all her might.
“NO!” Shego yelled. “NO! WE CAN SAVE THEM! THEY’RE NOT!”
“SHEGO! WE CAN’T SAVE THEM! IT’S TOO LATE!” Hego yelled through the tears beginning to swell up inside of him.
CRACK! A portion of the rubble above the bodies snapped from the fire burning through it, falling down over the horrific scene.
“NO! IT’S NEVER TOO LATE! WE CAN STILL SAVE THEM!” Shego yelled, fighting her brother’s grip with every ounce of strength she had in her body. She was going to go back in there. She’d save--
FWOOSH! With just a thought, she ignited her hands. Hego cried out, letting go of her in pain. She immediately rushed forward again. ““MOMMY! DADDY! GRANDMAMA!”
“SHEGO, NO!” Hego made sure to tackle Shego the second time, keeping her hands away from either his face, and keeping her from being able to turn her hands around and launch the green flames at his face. He choked up as he watched the rubble collapse with a sickening CRACK. “THEY’RE DEAD! IT’S TOO LATE, SIS!” Shego got the picture as the rubble completely caved in. Hego released her, and he, Mego, and the twins immediately embraced their sister as they all wailed in anguish over their loss.
“The firemen couldn’t do anything. We watched the rubble burn until the last charcoal extinguished itself,” said Shego. “When you’re eight years old, and you watch something like that happen, you need to blame somebody in order to get over it a lot easier.” The pale-skinned woman looked up. “But I couldn’t blame anyone. But I needed to blame somebody. So for the first time in my life, I felt the hate rise up in me. Hate against the world. Misplaced hate, yes – but it was hate nonetheless.” She sighed, and looked over at Kim. “What’d I tell you, Kimmie?” she asked, managing a half-hearted grin.
Kim’s shirt collar was already stained with tears. “Oh my god…Shego…I – that’s so terrible…” In her fit of tears, she’d ended up wrapping her hands around Shego and leaning her head on Shego’s shoulder.
Shego let it slide. It was actually making it easier for her to talk about it all. “That isn’t even the half of it, Pumpkin. With both our parents and legal guardian dead, we should’ve been split up and dragged to Foster Home after Foster Home. Ironically, even though I thought it was a stupid idea of Hego’s at the time, it was Team Go that allowed us to stay together. To continue being a family. But we still had to go to school and stuff, you see? Part of the arrangement our attorneys made with the city. But I wasn’t exactly a people person, and the whole “school atmosphere” didn’t help, either. Some out-of-state kids moved in about a year later. One saw me using my fire to stop Aviarius in the first time we ever faced him just as heard the story of how Team Go came to be. He refused to believe “something as gay as a rainbow-coloured comet” had killed our parents and Grandmother Go. He saw something else. He saw me with my fire – and the news reports stating that Mom, Dad, and Grandmama Go had all burned to death. Faster than lightning, there were whispers in the halls: I’d killed them. At first, everyone saw through his bullshit, but as we went into middle school and more people saw my actions as part of Team Go, the rumour started to grow. By high school, it’d become “common knowledge” that I’d murdered my parents. I was able to ignore it and write it off as a joke, but then a few more out-of-state kids came in. And then it happened…” Shego shuddered. Even with the comforting hands around her, talking about the incident wasn’t going to be any easier. She sighed, closed her eyes, and collected herself.
18-year old Shego sat on one the benches outside during lunch, ignoring everyone else’s nervous looks at her. She was used to that. Being a superhero who could ignite her hands into green flame any moment she wanted to would cause some people to be more than a little antsy around her. She knew that, and it didn’t bother her. What she didn’t know – was the conversation going on behind her, inside the school:
“Hey look! It’s the freak girl with the glowing green hands!”
“Isn’t she supposed to be, like, a superhero or something?”
“What? Superhero?”
“Yeah – Team Go or something like that.”
“I don’t think so, man.”
“Hey! Let’s attack her! We’ll find out for sure that way!”
“I don’t know man – I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Aw, c’mon – chicken…”
“Dude, she could kill with those hands!”
“So? If she’s a superhero, she won’t kill us – right?”
“I also don’t wanna get suspended, man!”
“Oh, boo hoo! You didn’t seem to care last time that happened!”
“Rrrrgh – fine. But if she hurts us, I’m blamin’ you.”
“Blame ahead, you bastard! Let’s do this!”
“Now?”
“Yes, chicken!”
“Alright…but it’s your ass that’s gettin’ cooked, Bro!”
Shego finished the first half of her sandwich when the shadows fell over her. “Shego?”
“What?” Shego snarled, looking up. She didn’t mind nervous looks, she just did mind when people didn’t leave her alone about it. But her face changed when she saw who it was. “Oh! You’re the new guys! Sorry, didn’t exactly wake up on the right side of the bed this morning…You need any help finding your classes?” she asked. “I get a lot of new people asking me to help them out with that.”
“Can you help us out with THIS?”
CRACK! The punch caught Shego completely off guard. “Hey, what the f-”
POW! Another punch caught her in the back of the head, having enough force to knock her off the bench and tumble down the small hill towards the tennis courts.
“What the hell did I do to you?” Shego asked as the first student walked towards her.
“You were born,” the student snarled, and reeled a vicious kick into her chest that sent her slamming against the chain link fence that bordered the tennis courts.
“EVERYBODY ELSE WHO’S OUTSIDE RIGHT NOW, GET THE HELL INSIDE!” Shego bellowed, not wanting to have to make the choice to hurt these morons and then end up hurting innocent people on the sidelines. Fortunately, most of everybody else had already figured out that part, and were diving inside the school doors. Shego looked behind herself. If she was gonna have to fight them, best to drag them out into an open area. As another punch came rumbling towards her face, Shego leaped up onto the attacker’s shoulders and used them to kick off of him, propelling herself up into the air as the student was thrown backwards onto the grass instead of slamming into the chain link fence. She spun a 180, grabbed the chain link, and deftly hopped up it like it was nothing but a set of stairs.
There were some spare nets in the corner of the courts. It was all Shego needed. Two flips, and she was over the other side of the chain link, and running out to the open athletic fields. Her pursuers followed, taking the long way around the tennis courts. “Christ, they really mean it…” she growled to herself. “Stupid new kids…can’t they see through the bullshit in those damn rumours?” She assumed her stance.
“We’re not through with you, “Superhero!”” one of the students cried. “You deserve to pay for what you’ve done!”
Shego let the green flame roar into existence around her hands. “For what I’ve done? I’ve done nothing to you! I don’t even want to fight you! For god’s sake, morons – give up now! I don’t wanna hurt you!”
“This isn’t about what you’ve done for us!”
“Then what is it about?” Shego yelled.
“Rumour has it you killed your parents…and your Grandmother.”
Shego felt the rage boiling inside her. “I can tell you without a doubt I didn’t,” she spat acidly. The green flames around her hands flared up even higher. “If you’re gonna use that stupid bullshit rumour that was started two years ago to try and provoke me, trust me – it’ll work. And I don’t want it to work.”
“Aw, gonna cry to your brothers?” the student taunted.
“I. Don’t. Want. To hurt you. Can’t you assheads SEE THAT?” Shego exploded. “I don’t know what the hell your deal is, but certainly isn’t revenge for my parents &Grandmother, because I didn’t kill them.”
“Our deal is ours to know,” the student taunted. “C’mon, family killer – let’s see what you got!”
Shego fought every fibre in her body to extinguish the green flames towering around her hands and sit down in the grass cross-legged. “No.”
“What? Coward.”
“It’s not cowardly to not kill.”
“Like you didn't kill your family?”
“I’m warning you…”
“Warning me? You’re sitting in the freaking grass like you’re doing Yoga! Stand up and fight!”
He swung a punch – and Shego barely moved her head to dodge it. “Besides, if you really wanna test a superhero, you pretty much picked the worst one to test yourself against.”
“Why’s that? Cuz you murdered the people who loved you the most?” The student tried a roundhouse kick – but Shego just caught his leg and threw him aside. Without even looking at what she was doing.
“Like I said, give it up, douchebag! You’re a fly on the wall to me! I can squash you like a bug!”
“So why don’t you, Grandma killer?”
“SHUT UP! I’M TRYING TO SAVE YOUR LIVES!” Shego yelled.
“From what? The girl who killed her family, trying to save lives. How sweet…”
Too far.
“From what?” Shego sprang up, a twisted gleam in her eyes as her hands flared up green.
“Hey, whoah – what the-” the student backed up.
“From WHAT?” Shego yelled, as the rage reached its point. “FROM ME!” She hurled a massive wave of green flame over the glass, catching both the students in it. They screamed in agony and fell to the ground after the attack rolled over them. But Shego wasn’t done. She was too furious. She kicked them both, hard. “GET UP!” The first student slowly got up – and turned to run. Immediately Shego spun a wave of green fire around them all, setting the grass on fire in a circle around them, trapping the three of them within the circle. “I said “Get up,” not “Get up and run,” freaks!” she yelled, staring them down.
“Okay, okay!” the students backed up. “We’ll stop! We’ll stop!” they cried.
Shego glared. “Stop what?” She grabbed both their heads. “THIS?”
KRI-KRACK! She spun around and delivered a vicious blow to the students’ necks. The wind from the speed of the kick was enough to put the circle of flames she’d created out.
But by the time the bodies of the students landed on the ground, Shego knew she’d gone horribly wrong.
“No…NO!” She immediately ran to the fallen students and promptly proceeded to administer CPR. “C’mon, C’MON! PULSE! PULSE, DAMMIT!” But no pulse came to either student. Shego kept trying. “BREATH, DAMN YOU! BREATH!” she screamed, over and over again.“BREATHHH!” After about 30 minutes, she gave up, and fell over the bodies, sobbing. “Oh god… not again! SHIT!”
Just then, the Go Jet landed in the field behind her. Hego leaped out. “Shego! Someone called the police and said you were being attacked at the-” He stopped at the sight of his sister, kneeling over the two fallen students, sobbing her eyes out. “Oh no…Shego, don’t tell me that these two - they aren’t-”
“I’ve tried CPR on both of them for half an hour, Hego – WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK THEY ARE?” Shego screamed. “THEY’RE DEAD! STONE, COLD, FREAKING DEAD!” She sobbed more.
Hego stared. “Shego, what did you-”
“I DIDN’T MEAN TO! THEY – THEY…”
“What? They what?”
“They – they –”
“What? Tell us! They what?”
“They attack - oh god… I didn’t…They’re not… Oh god…”
“THEY ATTACK-? WHAT?”“They - they…I – I-”
“WHAT? THEY ATTACK WHAT? TELL US ALREADY!” Hego screamed, grabbing Shego by the shoulders and shaking her violently.
“I DIDN’T DO IT!” Shego managed to scream before she broke down in tears. “I mean, I didn’t mean to do it – they just – it happened so fast-”
“What happened so fast?” Hego asked.
“I was – I was eating lunch…”
“Yeah?” Hego nodded.
“They came up to me…”
“Yes…”
“And then they – they just attacked me for no reason! I didn’t fight back at first… I told everyone else to get inside, I ran to the open field so if I ended up fighting them, I’d hurt them the least…”
“Go on, Shego…” Hego said calmly. “Take your time.”
“And then one of ‘em said he was getting revenge for Mom, Dad, and Grandmama Go – and I – oh god…I – why did they attack me? Why did they have to believe that stupid rumour? WHY?”
“Oh, Jesus…” Hego hugged his sister. He didn’t need further explanation to know what had happened.
“Take me in.” Shego looked down, holding her arms out in front of her.
“What?” Hego asked.
“I said TAKE ME IN, DAMMIT! I’D RATHER GET DELIVERED TO JAIL BY MY STUPID BROTHERS THAN TO GET TAKEN THERE IN THE BACK OF A DAMNED SQUAD CAR!”
Hego sighed. “Alright…lemme get the cuffs from the jet.”
As Hego retrieved the cuffs, Shego hung her head. “Why did they attack me?” she cried to herself. “I didn’t do anything to them. Why did they attack me?” She smashed the ground with her fist. “WHY?”
Kim couldn’t believe it. Her former archenemy, the woman she actually respected so much for not losing composure in the middle of a battle – was crying.
“I was convicted of manslaughter, because luckily some people were actually honest and confirmed I was only defending myself,” Shego growled through the tears. “I got the minimum sentence and served my time. But because of the ruling, Hego and I were declared unfit to be legal Guardians for Mego or the twins. I rotted in prison, while my family was broken up.” Her hand suddenly ignited in green flame and she punched straight through the mattress of the bed, sending bits of it flying. She extinguished the green flame. “I came to hate the world more and more as time went by. Eventually, I couldn’t take it. I broke out, stole back my Team Go suit, and eventually came to love the hate I harbored inside of me. At first, I only stole little bits of food to keep myself alive. But the rush of stealing helped me feel alive once again, since I had no family to return home to. I kept stealing bigger and bigger things – and then eventually ended up meeting Drakken. I don’t think I need to tell you any of what happened after that.”
“Shego…” Kim looked at the black-haired woman.
Shego grabbed Kim’s arms and loosened the teen’s grip around her waist a bit. “Better watch out, Pumpkin,” she grinned. “That grip of yours could suffocate a moose if you weren’t careful.”
“Huh? Oh. Sorry,” Kim said.
“You’re not gonna let go?” asked Shego.
“Ehh…Nah. I’m not gonna see any of this for a long time after tomorrow, and I broke up with Ron…” Kim sighed. “I just need to stay with someone else tonight, before I’m taken away from everybody. Uh, unless, of course, this is bothering you…”
“No, it isn’t.” Shego sighed. “After telling you all that, it’s nice to have something comforting like this.”
Kim smiled. “Oh, yeah, Shego – here.” She let one arm around Shego go for second and fished out the Kimmunicator. “Here,” she put it on the nightstand next to the bed. “I want you to keep it safe.” She wrapped the free arm back around Shego’s waist.
Shego was stunned. “Kimmie, I – but why? I’m your former archenemy.”
“Yet, you trusted me enough to tell me your life story just now. I think I can trust you enough with the Kimmunicator. Oh, and if you want to, you can move into my room – just don’t change too much in it.”
Shego was utterly dumbfounded. “Kim, I – I don’t know what to say-”
“Don’t say anything. We need to get some sleep. I’ve already set the alarm on the Kimmunicator to go off before Mom and Dad wake up, so they won’t stumble in here and see me wrapped around you.”
“Wait – that’s a problem to you?” Shego asked, grinning.
“Well, uh…” Kim looked away, blushing, laughing quietly. “Dammit, Shego…always do that…”
“Do what?” asked the pale-skinned woman.
“Never mind. Let’s just go to sleep.”
Shego nodded; looked at the clock.
4:30 am.
“You do know we have only 2½ hours before we gotta get up and get ready for school, Kimmie?”
“Mmrph,” Kim mumbled, already mostly asleep.
Shego looked back at the redhead who had her arms around her waist. She could hardly tell this was the same Kim Possible whom she’d tried to maim over god-knows-how-many times. Turning her head back, she almost laughed. And for the first time in a very long time, Shego fell asleep with a smile on her face.
The next day, Ron was strangely absent from school. However, the police sure weren’t. After some haggling, they agreed to let Kim attend school and the assembly after it – then she’d go with them.
And just as one would expect when attending school just after being named a suspect in a murder case, the talking flew down the halls when Kim walked by. No one was even making an attempt to whisper the chatter. It was if they wanted to her to hear them. Wanted her to know how bad she should feel.
Which would be just fine, if for the fact she was completely innocent.
Her classes went fine. Everybody pretty much ignored her predicament. And the assembly started out fine. The Possibles, including the Tweebs, had even showed up to watch the assembly.
Then halfway through a slideshow, the most horrifying thing ever suddenly replaced a picture of Josh Mankey giving rabbit ears to Brick Flagg.
A video feed of Dr. Drakken appeared – and behind him:
“Bonnie!” Kim gasped collectively with the rest of the school.
Shego took out the Kimmunicator. “Wade, you there? You getting this?”
“Yeah – I’m scanning the feed right now. That’s Bonnie all right. No signs of extra electronic signals that would come from either a robotic Bonnie or a Synthodrone one.”
“Kim!” Shennen whispered. “You hear him?”
“Loud and clear. Thanks, Wade.”
Shego turned off the Kimmunicator before Wade could respond.
“Hello, Middleton High School!” Drakken cackled. “I see you’re giving your precious Kim Possible a nice farewell party before she’s carted off to prison for murder!”
Knowing Drakken could hear her, Kim stood up. “What do you want, Drakken?”
“Oh, nothing, really…”
“Kim? What’s going on?” Bonnie asked, struggling to free herself from the ropes she was tied up in.
“QUIET, YOU!” Drakken turned around and landed a stinging slap across Bonnie’s face.
He turned back to the camera. “Jail has changed me this time, Kim,” he sneered. “I'm afraid the bumbling old Drakken you all knew and loved has gone. This time, I have gone off the deep end. You may have even noticed that my skin is a darker shade of blue.”
He reached into his pocket and took out a device-
No. It wasn't a device.
It was a gun.
“No one to save your cheerleading rival, is there?” Drakken sneered.
“Drakken – what are you doing?” Kim asked, even as it dawned on her. “Oh, no…”
“Kim!” Bonnie yelled.
Drakken raised the gun.
“KIM!”
CHIK-CHIK.
“KIM!”
Drakken aimed the gun.“KIM!”
BANG! The entire Gym was filled with the single mass scream of all of its students and teachers.
Kim looked away when the shot rang out. When she looked back—
“Oh god…BONNIE!” she screamed – but she knew it was too late. “Oh my god…”
“Sorry about the disturbance, folks. Just gettin’ a goodbye message out to Kim before she goes off to jail. Toodaloo!” Drakken cackled as the feed faded & the screen returned to the slideshow.
And the slideshow immediately turned off as Mr. Barkin stood up. “Okay, people – let’s go, school’s over for today…” he sighed, trying to forget what he’d just seen.
The Gym lights came on, and everybody got up and left for the exits. Kim, Shego, and Monique followed the Possibles outside – where the police were waiting.
“Okay, Kim Possible, time to go,” one of the cops said, spotting her and grabbing her.
“But you gotta let me go!” Kim cried as she got the cuffs. “Dr. Drakken just murdered someone while everyone in the assembly watched! I’ve gotta stop him before he strikes again!”
“Yeah, well, you agreed to turn yourself in after this assembly, and I gotta follow the law, Miss.” Kim didn’t even hear him as he read her her Miranda rights.
“KIM!” Jim and Tim beelined over to their big sister and embraced her tightly, all three siblings crying. “Kim, don’t go! Please! Don’t go! Not after what we just saw Drakken do!”
Kim avoided looking directly in their eyes. “I – I’m sorry, Tweebs…I have to do this.”
“But…why?” asked Tim through his tears.
“I’m Kim Possible. I can do anything. Like survive being in prison.” Kim smiled tearfully at her brothers. “Think about it, guys…hopefully you’d do the same thing if this happened to one of you.”
Jim looked down and sighed. “Yeah, I know…but still!”
“Don’t worry, boys!” Kim managed to inject a tiny laugh into her response. “You guys still get to bug Shennen until she moves out – which I don’t suspect will happen for a long time now.”
“Oh, yeah, great – thanks for the parting gift, Kimmie,” Shego scoffed, crossing her arms.
“Best I could do on short notice,” Kim grinned.
“All right, Missy, that’s enough – let’s go!” the officer said, leading her to the cop car.
“KP!” Ron ran forward to try to get in front of Kim–
– but Shego grabbed him by the shoulder to stop him. “Don’t. She heard you. It’s enough.”
Ron sighed, and watched Kim get put in the squad car.
“KP…”
Kim looked out the window with the most agonized look of pain in her eyes as the car drove off.
Kim was fingerprinted.
She had her mug shot taken.
She was forced to change into an orange jumpsuit.
Her hands were shackled.
Then she was led to her cell.
She sighed in relief when she saw there was no one else occupying it.
They threw her in.
Click. Click. Clickclickclickclickclickclick—
CLANG.
The sound echoed, like a nail through Kim’s heart. She sat on the cold steel bench of the cell and cried into her hands. Dementor was dead. And now Bonnie was, too – murdered by Drakken right in front of her very eyes. And yet the police were too stupid to connect the two murders. And now here she was, nothing but a bag of flesh and blood in an orange jumpsuit for the next 6 months or so until her trial began. She couldn’t do shit. Shego couldn’t reveal herself, less she get arrested on the spot, too…
“Oi! Is that Kim Possible?”
“By Jove! I do believe it is!”
“What in the name of Haggis d'ya suppose happened to her?”
“Paying department store prices finally snapped her brain, eh?”
“Ah, shut yer’ yapper, Lucre! Nobody cares about yeh damned “Bargain-Bin woes,” ya’ wee fruitcake!”
Kim ignored them, and just sobbed into her hands.
--
The next day, Kim had a visitor.
Her eyes lit up as Dr. Director appeared. “Dr. Director! Oh, thank you! Tell me GJ’s got this sorted out and that I’m innocent!”
“I’m sorry, Kim, but this case is out of Global Justice’s range,” Dr. Director shook her head.
“Oh, I s- wait…HOW CAN THIS BE OUT OF YOUR RANGE?”
“I’m sorry, Kim. I wish I could tell you, but I can’t.”
“Then why are you here?”
“I just wanted to see if you were being treated fairly. I see that you are. And bid you adieu.”
“WAIT!” Kim screamed – but it was too late. Dr. Director was gone.
Kim hung her head and shoulders as she was dragged back to her cell.
--
A week went by. Kim couldn’t keep from asking herself two things over and over and over again:
Why had Drakken killed Bonnie? What did Bonnie have to do with her Drakken despised so much?
We were rivals… Kim thought it over to herself over to herself for many days. Just that – rivals. She wasn’t a bad person, per se, she was just my rival. What message did Drakken want to send by killing somebody who had never really actually tried to hurt me—
Then after half of the next week, she finally figured it out.
Oh, shit.
Shego.
It hadn’t intended to be a message for her. It was supposed to be a message to Shego:
Drakken was going after Shego next.
But Shego couldn’t reveal herself, lest she get arrested and thrown in jail right next to her. And even though she obviously knew what Drakken’s plan was, Shego couldn’t tell her family. And if Drakken had been willing to kill Bonnie for a cheap stab at Kim—
He wouldn’t hesitate to do the same to the Possible family.
She had to warn them. But she couldn’t do it in jail. But what could she do?
There was only one explanation.
And she didn’t like it at all.
I can’t do it. I have to serve my time and stand trial.
But every moment I sit here, it's another moment Drakken has to hatch his new plans…
I can’t do it. It’s not right. It’s not me.
But it’s the only way…
With that, Kim began her planning.
--
It happened at the end of the week.
Everyone had just finished eating, and they all were taken out to the prison courtyard for a special night chat with the Warden about some new rules that just been put in place.
As the prisoners were led back in, Kim saw her chance. She instantly grabbed a guard, bashed his head with her chains, flipped off him and flattened the other guards around her as they turned around, hopping off them towards the courtyard wall. She grabbed the barb wire – cutting herself, yes, but not too bad – and kicked a K.O. to the cop in front of her. Then as the cops in the watchtowers opened fire, Kim leapt off onto the flagpole, slid down – and ran, dodging gunfire as she fled. She was almost home free. Then she heard the K-9s. She looked behind her. They were coming. She turned around, waited—
--and sent crushing kicks into the dog’s faces, knocking the mutts out for a good long while.
She ran a bit further before ducking into a grove of rocks. She found a small, very sharp one, and smashed the shackles on her arms to pieces. As she ran off further into the night, she sobbed uncontrollably.
There she was: Kim Possible. Teen hero. Saver of lives. Highly respected amongst her peers.
Suspected murderer. Escaped Felon.
Now the most feared woman in the world.
All the while, Shego, her former archenemy, sat in her house.
The replacement was complete.
END CHAPTER NINE