June 1, 2005
With one powerful and explosive kick, Shego was slammed into the display window of Club Banana. The glass shattered, and the mannequin toppled over. Smiling, Kim noticed that her archrival seemed to be temporarily knocked out. Looking over her shoulder, her eyes went wide.
“Ron, behind you!”
Out of the corner of her eye, Kim saw Dr. Drakken in the process of sneaking up behind Ron. Her gaze stayed on her sidekick long enough to witness him hastily duck Drakken’s ill-aimed punch. Her heart sighing in relief that her long-time friend was alright, the heroine didn’t realize that Shego had awakened and closed distance so quickly. She only had time to gasp in surprise before Shego’s flaming plasma fist made contact with her lower abdomen. While Kim was staggering back in pain, Shego stood proudly and chuckled.
“What’s the matter Pumpkin? Didn’t do your stretches this morning?”
Recovering her balance, Kim flipped before landing a roundhouse kick to Shego’s right shoulder. She grinned.
“You wish.” Kim laughed.
“Glad to hear it Princess. It would be an insult to have to fight an out-of-shape you. You know how much I love it.”
Smiling seductively, Shego blew an air kiss to Kim, who rolled her eyes in response.
“Shego! I had no idea you like me THAT way.”
“Well, you know what they say Kimmie.”
Shego took a lunge at Kim, but the teenage cheerleader easily backflipped out of the way, landing on a nearby table and glaring at the raven-haired woman below her.
“Oh, and what’s that, Shego?”
A predatory smile gracing her face, Shego kicked out the nearest table leg, causing a caught-off-guard Kim to fall right into her grasp. Wrestling Kim into a fork-hold, Shego used one hand to steady Kim’s head, and turn her face so that the two girls were staring at each other. Kim’s grass green eyes met Shego’s forest green ones, and for a fleeting moment, there was silence.
Shego leaned in, pressing herself closer to Kim. She broke Kim’s gaze and whispered ever so softly in Kim’s ear, “Opposites attract.”
Returning her smug gaze to Kim’s stunned one, Shego quickly pressed her lips against Kim’s for a fraction of a second.
It was electric. It was ecstatic. It was wrong.
Pushing the still-stunned girl away from her, Shego’s lithe form backflipped away from the superheroine. Once she had gained a considerable distance, she faced the young girl, who was staring at her intently.
“Something to remember me by.”
With both her hands, Shego launched two green flaming plasma balls at Kim. Kim’s gaze hardened, and her calf muscles tensed, ready to spring her into action and away from harm. The plasma fireballs drew nearer, and Kim crouched down in anticipation, her explosive action already planned out.
“KP! I got him!”
Ron’s triumphant exclamation startled Kim out of her concentration. She glanced over at Ron, wondering what the fuss was, somewhat dubious that “I got him” meant that he had successfully apprehanded Drakken. As much as she loved him, this WAS Ron she was talking about.
Unfortunately, her millisecond lapse of concentration made her lose sight of Shego and the green glowing plasma balls.
Time seemed to slow down and approach a screeching halt, and for the first time in her crime-fighting career, Kim Possible froze, her breath caught in her throat.
On the other side of the room, the villainess Shego stared, dumbfounded, at the frozen superheroine. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise as she realized that her defeat of Kim Possible might be more real than she had originally intended.
Kim stared at the swiftly approaching emerald flames, her mouth opened in a silent scream and terror evident in her eyes. On her right side, Ron was moving quickly with Rufus trailing behind. Skidding to a halt beside Kim, he flung his arm out and grabbed her wrist, and with one swift motion, pulled her to the ground on top of him. With an earsplitting BOOM, the plasma exploded into the wall behind the Team Possible duo.
“You okay, KP?” Ron inquired with worried eyes, looking up at Kim.
“Thanks Ron.” Kim breathed, her resolve only temporarily shaken.
Snapping back into her usual crime-fighting mentality, Kim wasted no time in jumping up from Ron and launching herself into a full pursuit of Shego, who at that point, was still watching her with a surprising intensity. As Kim drew nearer to the green and black woman, she paused.
Shego was looking at her.
But not with anger in her forest green eyes. Nor hatred. Nor rage. There was…something…but no discernable emotion. Or, perhaps, there were too many emotions, each trying to overpower another? Kim couldn’t tell.
“Shego?” Kim ventured, somewhat timidly, Shego’s new aura bewildering her.
Shego smiled cruelly, and any hint of softness behind her eyes vanished.
“Till next time, Kimmie.”
And with those four words, Shego backflipped out of Club Banana and quickly disappeared into the darkness, followed by a certain blue-skinned scientist.
Kim took a long sigh and rubbed her right shoulder, the muscles unusually tense. Her face twisted in a grimace as she hit a particularly sore spot.
“Boo-ya!” exclaimed Ron and Rufus from behind her, giving each other high fives.
“Who’s the man? Who’s the naked mole rat? We are, baby!”
Kim turned around to face the dynamic duo. Seeing them both unharmed, she smiled before walking over. Upon eying Kim, Rufus began dancing around and flashing the thumbs-up sign.
“Ron, thanks for your help.” Kim grinned, as she patted Ron on the shoulder.
“As you would say KP, no big.”
This statement made Kim grin even more, and she raised her left hand to join in the high-fives partying; however, a sharp pain on her side interrupted the festivities.
“OW!” she exclaimed as she glanced down her body. “What’s – OUCH!”
Kim frowned as she saw a 3-inch burn down her left side, no doubt left by one of Shego’s flaming plasma fireballs. The surrounding skin was inflamed and red, and the burned flesh itself was white and already blistering. A thin line of bright red blood trailed along Kim’s side, and Kim noticed that in addition to searing her skin, she had also maintained a rather painful gash.
“KP…” Ron trailed off as he noticed the injury.
She looked at him, a soft smile on her face.
“As you would say I would say: No big. Come on. I should get to a hospital.”
“Excellent Shego, excellent.” Drakken exclaimed as he rubbed his hands together. “Did you see it? You burned her – what a good aim!”
Earlier that night, under the cover of darkness, the evil team had returned to Drakken’s secret lair (which, technically, wasn’t all that secret as Kim had stormed it several times already). Despite not being quite as successful as originally hoped, Drakken was still finding ways to gloat.
Shego glowered at him.
“Oooo, I wonder if she’ll have to get stitches. I bet they’ll hurt.”
“Dr. D, Kim Possible is a teenage cheerleader heroine. I doubt she’ll cry if she has to get stitches.” Shego rolled her eyes.
“Ohh, I hope she cries.” Dr. Drakken continued to laugh, rubbing his hands together.
“Dr. D!” Shego stood up, glaring at him. “Kim Possible can take it. She wasn’t all that injured anyways.”
“Shego, what’s wrong?” Drakken looked at his henchwoman with wondering eyes. “You should be gloating right now I tell you, gloating You nailed her good. You should have seen the look in her - ”
“Uh huh, I noticed, thanks for the update.” Shego shot back, interrupting her boss before he could finish.
With Drakken looking at her dumbfounded, Shego took a few graceful steps and began walking towards the door. Her exit; however, was interrupted by Drakken’s laughter.
“Oh, I get it.” He got out, when he had caught his breath.
Her back to him, Shego’s eyes widened ever so slightly.
“You can’t be happy until you’re completely finished her off. You’re such a perfectionist that way, admit it.”
Shego glanced over her shoulder to a chuckling Drakken and gave him a sly smile.
“Yeah Dr. D. I won’t be happy until I get her.”
Laughing to herself, Shego finally completed her exit, leaving a plotting Drakken behind her.
“I’m a teen superhero. Well, heroine.” Kim explained for the third time in the emergency room. “I fight villains, and I get hurt. It happens when your opponents can throw flaming plasma balls at you, ya know?”
When the second nurse that night left the room, Kim sighed heavily. How many times did she have to explain her injury to the hospital staff to convince them she wasn’t being abused or practicing self-mutilation? Apparently at least three tonight.
She looked down at her left side again, stretching her neck to gain a better look. Indeed, her skin was quite angry-looking, and although the wound had ceased bleeding, it still was raw and slightly oozing. She grimly nodded to herself. Yep, this puppy was going to need at least 10 stitches.
Her mind wandered to the earlier fight between her and Shego at Club Banana. She replayed the action, frame by frame. Every move she had attempted, Shego had countered. Every attack Shego mounted, she was able to block. Action and reaction. Cause and effect. It made sense, it was logical.
And then there was that kiss.
Kim shook her head violently. Better not to think about it. It meant nothing. How could it mean anything? It couldn’t. Shego hated her, they were archenemies.
“Excuse me miss?”
The doctor’s gentle voice knocked Kim out of her reverie, and she looked towards the door.
“What’s the sitch doc?”
The doctor, a young woman in her early forties with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes, walked in the room, closing the door behind her. She was carrying a tray with what looked like thread and a needle.
“You have a pretty bad gash there. We’ll need to stitch it up so it can heal properly. I’m guessing you’ll need about 15 stitches, give or take 5.”
Inwardly, Kim cringed. Needles. She hated needles.
“I’ll be using a 2.0 Vicryl stitch. It will probably hold the best, considering the location and severity of the cut.” The doctor continued, while preparing the needle. “Ready?”
Kim nodded stoicly.
Some time later, Kim was reclining on her bed and mulling over the day’s events. It had taken 17 stitches to properly sew her back up. She gingerly poked at her side and cringed.
Yeah. It still hurt. But two ibuprofens in the morning would fix that.
Yawning, she stretched her arms, wondering what time it was. A quick glance at her beside clock told her it was 12:37 AM, and considering the action she saw today, way past her bedtime. Placing a bookmark in chemistry textbook and setting her alarm for a bright and early squad practice, Kim snuggled under the covers and was unconscious in minutes.
Outside her bedroom window, a certain black-haired woman was observing Kim, and had been doing so for the past several hours. Moving quietly and quickly, Shego jumped onto the window ledge before deftly undoing the lock and slipping in the room. The night breeze blew in the room, and under the covers, Kim shuddered and curled into a tighter ball.
Shego stood for a few moments watching the redhead. Her eyes softened at the sight off the girl, who in her sleep, appeared fragile and vulnerable. She wondered if Kim would ever look at her with the same expression, one not of rage and animosity, but of softness and tenderness. A sudden whimper from Kim shook Shego out of her mulling, and reminded her of what she had originally come here to do.
Taking a seat on the edge of the bed, Shego slowly pulled the covers away from Kim, exposing the teen’s shoulders and back. She rested a gloved hand on Kim’s shoulder-blade, and began exerting a small amount of pressure. Her eagle eyes stayed focused.
Kim moaned softly in response, but remained asleep.
Confidant that she would remain that way, Shego placed both hands on the back of Kim’s neck, and began massaging the day’s muscle knots away. Working expertly and with extreme care around Kim’s left side, Shego could feel that Kim had quite the impressive accumulation of calcium deposits in her upper back. Frowning, she felt a small twinge of guilt. How many of those knots were caused by her? She couldn’t imagine any other of Kim’s foes giving her such an intense physical workout - that honor was reserved for her. Somehow, she liked that thought.
By the time Shego had thoroughly massaged Kim’s neck, shoulders, and back, her fingers were numb and her wrists aching. Kim had positively responded to Shego’s attention, and in the process, had attempted to snuggle up against the villainess.
Now, Shego found that extracting herself from Kim might prove to be quite the challenge. As much as she desired to stay with Kim, and curl up next to her, she knew she had to leave, and do so without disturbing the younger girl.
Gently, Shego half pushed and rolled Kim away from her. The sleeping figure frowned and moaned in protest, but thankfully stayed asleep. Leaning over Kim, Shego pulled the sheets and covers back over her, and proceeded to tuck her in while watching a sleepy smile appear on Kim’s face.
Time seemed to stretch on forever.
Shego crouched over Kim, bracing her arms on the bed to either side of Kim to steady herself. Slowly and carefully, she lowered her head before planting a quick and soft kiss on Kim’s forehead.
Normally, nothing happened at this point, other than a feeling of elation and euphoria overcoming the supervillianess; however, tonight proved to be different. As Shego watched with mounting horror, Kim stirred and began to open her eyes.
Shego’s first instinct screamed for her to move, to flip, to duck, to do SOMETHING – even if that something meant knocking Kim unconscious before she opened her eyes.
But Shego continued to stand there, her breath caught in her throat, and her gaze transfixed on the slowly awakening Kim Possible.
Wanting to stay, needing to go. Isn’t that how life went?
And for the second time that day, time became painfully slow as Shego’s brain attempted to coerce its body into action.
Kim…I need to tell you…
Move!
You have to know I don’t hate you…
MOVE!
Suddenly, both of Kim’s eyes opened and looked right into Shego’s, and Shego drew an involuntary sharp breath. Kim blinked, as if she couldn’t properly digest the fact that her archrival was leaning over her – and in her bedroom of all places.
MOVE! DO IT! FOR KIMMIE!
With a burst of speed and three well-executed series of jumps and flips, Shego had disappeared from Kim’s room, leaving the bewildered girl staring out the open window, shivering slightly from the breeze.
Outside, Shego waited on the roof in a cat stance, awaiting to hear Kim’s outraged scream and ready for immediate action. She strained her ears, listening for something…anything.
The silence was deafening.
Sighing in relief, Shego disappeared into the darkness, not risking to be seen a second time by Kim that night.
She sensed that Kim had already fallen back asleep, and knew the girl would be alright.
June 7, 2005
Someone was calling her name.
Kim struggled to open her eyes, but the darkness was seductively inviting.
Who was nudging her? Didn’t they know what time it was? It can’t be past 6 AM, could it? It was too early, five more minutes…
With a good amount of effort, Kim forced opened her eyes, and looked into a pair intense green ones. She blinked.
“Kimmie?”
An older woman with long black hair, pale green skin, and forest green eyes was staring down at her with a blank look on her refined features.
Kim swallowed and attempted to speak, but her throat was painfully dry. Shego produced a glass of ice cold water from somewhere behind her, and slowly proceeded to pour the refreshing liquid into Kim’s mouth, pausing every once in a while to let her swallow. Kim settled back into the rather comfortable bed she found herself reclined in, a feeling of well-being creeping through her. She cleared her throat and spoke.
“What time is it?”
Shego let her eyes widen slightly, before she gained control of her facial muscles to steel herself into a more neutral expression. Slowly and deliberately, she began to answer Kim’s question.
“It’s a little past 6 PM. But…” Shego paused momentarily, unsure of how to continue. “I think you should be asking what day is it.”
Kim blinked, and carefully asked, “What day is it?”
“June 7.”
“Okay.”
Shego studied Kim, her eyes narrowed, an unspoken question present. Kim looked slightly confused at where she was, and probably how she got there, but was not immediately alarmed by Shego’s presence.
“Umm…” Kim’s voice trailed off, and she looked at Shego almost as if expecting permission to speak.
“Yes?” Shego prompted softly.
The redhead paused, looking slightly embarrassed.
“Who are you?”
To be continued…