The Beast Within


Chapter 11


A return to normal

by
StarvingLunatic


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TITLE: A return to normal

AUTHOR: StarvingLunatic

DISCLAIMER: I don’t own these characters. I still don’t own the dragon eyes either.

SUMMARY: AU. Middleton is a town where everyone has special powers. Well, not everyone. Kim is the only normal one. How does she cope?

TYPE: Unknown

RATING: US: R / DE: 16

Words: 3432


Kim and Shego were at the GJ main building…again. They had been going there the past few days. Kim was used to going to the building for training, but she had not been doing much training. She had been getting a whole bunch of tests done on her, physicals, cat scans, her brain waves were monitored, and all other kinds of things. She was not sure why they were doing all of the tests, but her mother was involved with a bunch of them, so Kim did not think too much on them. She guessed that the tests might have something to do with the fact that she could not remember a good deal of the day that she had rescued Shego.

Shego, on the other hand, was at the main building mostly to make sure that she was on the up and up. She had not done anything to prove otherwise and she had been providing information GJ with on WEE whenever she was asked to do so. She held no kind of love for WEE, especially after the crap that Gemini pulled on her. She hoped that they were making a move against WEE because she wanted in on that. Although she was doubtful that Doctor Director would let her in a sting operation, but there was always the fact that she would go anyway.

“How you holding up?” Kim asked Shego as they had lunch on the roof of the building. Kim never ate in the cafeteria because people stared at her, sometimes like a science project and other times like a freak. She doubted those stares would improve now that she had Shego with her, a very well known WEE agent.

“I’m fine. As long as the third degree doesn’t involve almost drowning me, I’m fine with it,” the older female answered.

Kim nodded and that was all. She never asked about Shego being tortured, which the pale woman was glad for. Shego knew that she was going to have to get over it, but she just did not want to talk about it yet.

The pair was standing while eating their lunch, which were a couple of hero sandwiches. They looked out onto Middleton. Shego noted that it looked like a nice little suburb. What a brilliant lie, she thought.

“You want to go out shopping when we’re done with all of this?” Kim asked curiously.

Shopping? Wow, it seemed so normal, they both thought. Lately, things had been anything but normal, so it would be nice to do something like that and maybe relax a little bit. It could take their minds off of everything, and there were a lot of things. Aside for always having to be at GJ main building for whatever reasons, there was also an issue between them.

Kim and Shego were not quite sure what they were anymore. Every night since Shego had arrived in Middleton, she had stayed in the Possible house for a few reasons. One of the reasons being because Kim wanted her there, another being so Mrs. Possible could make sure that she was healing all right, and another was that Doctor Director preferred her there, so the family could keep an eye on her. Since she stayed the house, she crawled into bed with Kim every night when the rest of the household was asleep. She occasionally kissed Kim; sometimes on the cheek and sometimes on the mouth. But, she never said if they meant anything.

Kim could tell that they all meant something, but she was not sure what. There were so many different ways to take the actions and sometimes she signs of all of them, so she did not know which one to chose. Sometimes, the kisses seemed affectionate, like a lover. Sometimes, they just seemed friendly. Other times, it was like Shego was thanking her for being there for her or for saving her. And lastly, there were times when she could tell that Shego kissed her or cuddled up to her in her bed just because it made the pale woman feel safe. She was like a security blanket to Shego, who continued to have nightmares of her time in Gemini’s torture cell.

So, maybe the shopping trip could ease their minds and maybe help them figure out just what they were to each other. Were they friends or something more? Or had they come to a point where Shego looked at Kim as something like a guard dog? Even though Shego would never admit to such a thing since she was a fierce warrior in her own right.

“You sure you want to be seen around town with a known WEE agent?” Shego inquired. Usually, she would be taunting with such a question, but she did not want to make things anymore difficult on Kim than she already had. After all, she was the reason that monster inside of Kim might have woken up.

“It’s no big. I can’t really go any further down the social ladder anyway and my friend Ron is already holding down the bottom,” Kim replied with a warm smile. She had gotten used to her lot in life, so she did not care if people thought less of her because she was with a WEE agent.

“Just a pair of social outcasts, huh?” Shego teased.

“A trio actually, although Mo’s not really a social outcast. She’s just not social enough to be popular,” Kim commented.

“Well, at least you’ve got two friends. More than some people have.”

“I suppose,” Kim conceded.

“You just feel freakish around them sometimes too?” Shego guessed.

“Sometimes, especially with Ron’s mouth.”

“Well, from what you’ve told me about the kid, he’s an idiot and you should probably excuse his behavior.”

Kim laughed a bit and nodded. She was lucky to have two great friends, she knew that. She was thankful for them, just like she was thankful for Shego. Life was about the little things, after all, and she had the little things.

“Here you two are,” Mrs. Possible said as she stepped out onto the roof.

“What’s up, Mom?” Kim asked as she and Shego turned to the redheaded neurosurgeon.

“Nothing. It’s just everyone’s looking for the two of you. I figured you went to lunch or something and they were all scared that you might have helped Shego escape or something ridiculous like that,” her mother explained.

“Where the hell would I escape to?” Shego inquired. She was currently in the safest location she could possibly be. Anywhere else and she would have a trillion of Gemini’s goons getting on her nerves, trying to take her back to his holding cells. He would not dare come into Middleton, though, or he could start a war. A war he could quite possibly lose.

“They’re overly cautious people in there,” Mrs. Possible replied since she understood what Shego meant. There was also the fact that she could tell Shego was close to Kim and probably would not cut out on the girl. She was not sure how close the two were, though.

“This might make shopping a bit more complicated, eh, Princess?” Shego asked Kim with a bit of a laugh. If they got all bent out of shape over the pair going to lunch, wandering the city for a while might seem outrageous.

“If they’re going to make it into a security issue, I guess so,” the teen conceded.

“Shopping?” Mrs. Possible echoed.

“Well, we thought we’d go shopping to pass some time,” Kim explained.

“Well, I’m sure if you clear it with Doctor Director, she’ll understand,” her mother replied.

Kim shrugged. It was plausible that her mentor would understand and give them permission to go wander the city. But then again, it was also plausible that Doctor Director looked at it as a huge security risk to have Shego looking around. Shego was not even allowed to look around when they went into the main building of GJ. She was blindfolded and Kim tended to lead her to wherever she was wanted because Shego would not trust anyone else to lead anywhere.


“Hey, Doctor Director, got a minute or two?” Kim asked as she poked her head into her mentor’s office.

“Of course,” the brunette woman answered. She always had time for Kim, even if they were going through quite a bizarre time at the moment with the fact that the dragon might be trying to wake up and she had a turned WEE agent staying with her pupil and all.

“Okay, good,” the redhead said as she entered the room and closed the door. She went and sat down in front of the desk that the leader was at.

Doctor Director swept some papers into a folder before turning her attention to Kim. The redhead was not sure what the papers were, but she ignored them because sometimes her tutor worked on top-secret things of course. Now, the papers were top-secret, but the reason that Doctor Director put them away was because they involved Kim. She was getting back test results almost every hour it seemed in regards to her little pupil.

“So, what can I help you with?” Doctor Director inquired.

“Well, it’s just that me and Shego were hoping to go do some shopping or something today once we got let go. It’s just I’m not too sure if that’s okay or not because of the noise that went on when we just went to lunch today,” Kim explained.

When the pair had returned from the roof with Mrs. Possible, they got to see first hand how insane everyone really was. They had alarms flashing; none of their alarms made noise, but they did give off a horrible, near-blinding blinking light. Everyone was moving around like panicked wasps. Some people had changed into their animals forms while others had their powers going, all to locate one person. Kim had no idea, but they were also on high-alert because of her. They were trying to be cautious in case the dragon suddenly woke up. She thought that they were on high-alert just because they did not know where Shego was.

“Shopping? You want to take her around town? Kim, you do realize she could be a double agent,” Doctor Director said.

“She could be, but I know she’s not,” Kim replied.

Doctor Director nodded. She understood how Kim knew; it was the same reason that she knew Shego was being sincere. Kim did not know it, but she seemed to use her dragon eyes all the time. For some reason, the power did not come through full force in Kim like it did with Betty, so Kim did not have to cover her eyes to make sure she was never getting too much data, so she was able to read people better than almost anyone. The dragon eyes let them see more than anyone else.

Betty often wondered why Kim’s dragon eyes never overloaded her brain. She wondered if the dragon had something to do with that or Kim’s brain adjusted since she had had the power from birth. She remembered when Kim was a baby and those golden eyes (Kim’s eyes had been gold until they got the dragon to go to sleep) used to move a mile-a-minute, taking in everything, but Kim never seem overwhelmed. She just seemed really interested in everything.

“To be honest, Kim, I don’t mind if you take Shego out. You both have been through a lot. You need to unwind,” Doctor Director answered.

“Really?” Kim was shocked.

“Really,” Doctor Director said. “But, Kim.”

“Yes?”

“Tell me one thing.”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Is this going to be a date?” the brunette asked.

Kim blushed all the way up to her ears. Doctor Director had to ask. She was getting a vibe from Kim that the girl had a crush on Shego and she supposed that would make sense with the things that she had been getting from Shego the past few days when she debriefed the pale woman. Shego had just been telling Doctor Director about her time with Kim sparring in the woods and how Kim got so angry Gemini, which was probably what set the dragon off. She did not expect Shego to tell her anything too personal, but whenever she saw Kim with Shego, she got the feeling that Kim, as the kids would say, liked liked Shego.

“Ma’am?” Kim managed to ask as she regained some of her composure.

“Nothing, nothing,” Doctor Director replied. It was none of her business, she told herself. Kim was a teenager, so it was expected for her to crush on someone sometime. Maybe it was even good for her, so she did not end up working herself to death.

“So, we can go shopping?”

“Yes, shop to your heart’s content. Just make sure you have energy for tomorrow. You do have training, after all,” the older woman answered.

“Yes, ma’am!” Kim grinned.

The redhead practically ran out of the office. Doctor Director guessed that it was a date. Well, that was none of her business, she told herself again and turned her attention back to the papers on her desk. She pulled the papers out and looked them over.

Through all of the tests and everything, what everyone was telling her was that the dragon was back in its slumber. They were not detecting anything very off about Kim. They admitted that her brain activity was just a little abnormal and physical tests were saying she was just a little different from what she used to be, but they were all confident that the dragon was sleeping. It seemed that she was back to being normal for the most part. They did not detect any activity from the creature at all and they remembered the last time the dragon was coming out, it let them know.

The dragon was not a quiet or docile creature at all. When it had first come out when Kim was a toddler, there were signs before it made its appearance. Kim had physically changed, growing claws and fangs. She used to puff out black smoke from her nose or mouth when she exhaled. And she had also become very ornery and used to bite people if they were close enough, except for her parents.

Doctor Director was not sure what to make of the information. It was almost like they were all on edge for nothing. Kim was still Kim and the dragon was still asleep, but still, the dragon had woken up for that brief moment and they were not sure if it might do it again.

Doctor Director was still inclined to believe that Kim was merging with the dragon, but the merge had not fully taken place yet and that was why it manifested itself when she was so upset. It seemed to come out when she believed that she needed a lot of power to get what she wanted and she did not want to hear otherwise. It still was an unsettling thought.

If Kim called the dragon out when she was angry, then that meant that she would more likely to be reckless with the power. She had trained Kim to be disciplined and in control in case the dragon either woke up and tried to take over or if the dragon did merge with the girl and she could handle the power. It seemed like she still had a long road ahead of her if Kim had gotten so out of control for Shego, although she considered that situation might have been worse than what Shego could tell because the pale woman had been locked in a cell for most of the action.


Kim was showing Shego around the Middleton mall. It was not what Shego was used to when it came to shopping, but it was fine by her for the moment. After all, she was with Kim and, plus, she was away from Doctor Director. She had quickly learned to hate that woman.

“Possible!”

Kim sighed. “Damn it, not now,” she said mentally.

“Don’t act like you don’t hear me!” Bonnie called from behind the pair.

“The damn man in the moon could hear her,” Shego remarked and Kim chuckled a bit as they turned to face Bonnie, who was marching up toward them.

“You, me, now,” Bonnie ordered, pointing a clawed finger in Kim’s face.

“Bonnie, can’t you see I’m busy now? And do you know how much trouble we could get into fighting in the mall?” Kim pointed out.

“Let’s take it outside,” the tanned teen said.

“Can we not? I’m busy,” Kim said.

“Why don’t you just kick her ass? She obviously wants you to,” Shego commented, speaking to Kim.

“What?” Bonnie said in an outraged voice, as if Kim had never, ever kicked her ass anytime or any place.

“I don’t feel like it,” the redhead sighed. She was tired of fighting Bonnie, especially since she could now fight Shego to her heart’s content. She did not even want to bother with Bonnie anymore.

“No, go beat her ass. Come on, I’ll watch,” Shego said to encourage the redhead. She would like to see Kim fighting and not have to block.

“Don’t make me do this,” Kim slightly whined.

“No, come on. She accepts your challenge,” the green-skinned woman said to Bonnie. “Lead the way.”

Bonnie did as Shego said and marched out to the park lot. Shego took hold of Kim and dragged the reluctant fighter out to the battleground. Kim pouted as Shego stood her before Bonnie as the tanned woman transformed into her cat form.

“Oh, she’s one of those,” Shego sighed. She did not have much love for the transformers from either organizations. Changing into some kind of animal form seemed kind of pointless since it came with weakness and no projectiles.

“Bonnie, come on. I don’t want fight you again,” Kim said.

“So what?” Bonnie growled and she launched herself at the redhead.

Kim sighed and dodged Bonnie with ease like always. Oh man, it was boring, the redhead thought. Bonnie was no where the level of Shego and months of fighting the pale woman meant that fighting Bonnie was like putting her to sleep. She did not even want to bother with it. She counterattacked and kicked Bonnie in the side the moment that she had the chance.

Bonnie yelped like a cat as the blow landed and she went flying. The cat-girl slammed into the wall of the mall and then fell threw it. She let out a small, pained meow as she collapsed into the rubble. Kim looked rather puzzled; she had not meant to kick Bonnie that hard. For some reason, she did not seem to know her own strength anymore, she thought.

“Umm…Bonnie, you okay?” the redhead called.

“I’m going to mess you up when I get out of here,” Bonnie muttered, even though she was not getting up anytime soon thanks to that blow.

“Wow, Princess, nice move,” Shego commented with a smile.

“I didn’t mean to do that,” Kim said.

“Well, obviously, you need to go out and practicing if you suddenly got so much power,” Shego commented.

“Do I usually hit you that hard?” the teen inquired curiously.

“Something like that. Don’t worry about it. So, you want to go do anything?” Shego asked. She did not really care that Bonnie was down for the count. Kim did not look extremely strong, but that was a powerful kick. She thought that they were making too big a deal about the dragon since Kim might make a few mistakes, but apparently, nothing too horrible where people died or were in critically injured in Bonnie’s case. Besides, from what she could tell, Kim had been getting progressively stronger as they fought each other, like most people would. So, Kim was dangerous with or without that dragon.

Kim nodded since she could tell Bonnie was all right. She and Shego went off back to the shopping. It was nice to just wander around and relax, especially after days of being tested or questioned and just bothered.

If only everyone could relax. Doctor Director had to worry about the dragon and her brother because she knew that he wanted Kim. The Possibles did have to worry about their daughter and the dragon. Even Shego had to worry a little bit, what if everyone was right about that dragon?


Next time: Gemini calls on Drakken while Kim and Shego try to make sense of their relationship.


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