Shego stared across the table. She had faced down more super villains in her life then she cared to remember, both as a super hero and then as one of them. She had faced down Kim Possible, time and time again. She would be damned if she was going to back down before a potential employee, even if the prospect managed to make Shego feel grungy and mussed while Shego was dressed in her best business suit. “So, Mrs. Poppins…”
“It’s Miss Poppins, or Mary Poppins.” the woman interjected. “I am not married, but worry not… I have had plenty of experience dealing with children. My credentials are of the highest caliber.”
Shego nodded. “Miss Poppins, you do realize that Sheki and Kim can be a bit… high spirited. Unusual”
“Every child is unique.” said Mary Poppins, firmly. “As for high spirited, pish tosh! At their age, they simply need to be molded.”
Shego ground her teeth together, feeling an intense urge to find out if the woman’s pearl-gray sweater was plasma proof. “Perhaps you’ld care to meet the children?” said Shego.
“Splendid notion!” said Mary Poppins, getting to her feet and picking up her carpet bag. “We’ll get along like three peas in a pod… you’ll see.”
Shego nodded. Once Miss Poppins had entered the room where Sheki and Kasy were in, Shego took careful note of the time on the clock.
“Come along.” said Mary Poppins, taking out a tape measure. “Don’t fool around in there.”
“Is it a space-time warp?” asked Sheki, her pre-school vocal cords having trouble getting the complex words out. “Or some form of matter fabricator?”
Kasy squirmed as Mary Poppins used the tape measure on her. Mary held up the tape measure and frowned at what it said. “Most peculiar… ‘Kasy Ann Possible. To be considered Armed, Legged, and Extremely Dangerous’. Well, now you.”
Sheki reluctantly gave up her examination of Mary’s carpet bag, and allowed herself to be measured.
“’Sheki Go Possible. May actually be the more dangerous twin. You have been warned’. Now this is simply ridiculous, you both can’t be more then four years old, there’s no way….”
Shego smirked as Mary Poppins stormed out of the nursery, pulling her hat in place. “Those…. Those hooligans! What they did to poor Petey…”
The scorched end of Mary Poppin’s umbrella opened one eye and awked weakly. “Don’t want a fire-cracker…. Don’t want a fire-cracker…”
“I take it you’re no longer interested in the position?” asked Shego.
Her only response was the door being slammed, loudly.
“Fifteen minutes.” announced Shego. “A new record, girls.”
Kim cleared her throat nervously, looking at the newest applicant. So far, he had been the only one who had spent a full hour with the twins. Kasy, in fact, was currently sitting next to him on the couch, playing with his… um, tail.
“So, Mr….” said Kim, looking at his resume.
“Just call me Hellboy.” the figure offered. He turned to smile at Kasy.
“Um, yes.” said Kim. She glanced at Shego. “We don’t normally approve of language like that in the house…” said Kim.
“It’s where I’m from, ma’am.” said Hellboy. “Originally, at least.”
“And you don’t mind Kasy and Sheki using you as a plasma target?” asked Shego.
“Ma’am, my girlfriend is a emotive pyrokinetic… our entire bedroom is decorated in asbestos.” Hellboy shrugged. “Most your little girls can do is warm me up a little. Heat doesn’t bother me.”
Kim cleared her throat. “There is one condition I have to insist on.” said Kim, firmly. “No smoking in the house.”
“Dr. Jones.” said Kim. “I see you’ve retired from a university recently. You seem a little young to retire from a teaching position.”
Doctor Henry Jones Jr. shrugged. He didn’t see any point in trying to explain how drinking from a holy artifact had massively slowed down his aging process… or how the event of computers had forced him to retire when those same computers had finally added up how long he’d been teaching.
“I like working with children.” he said. “Dr. Director will certify that I’m rated as highly trustworthy by the government. I’m multi-linguistic.”
“And you carry a whip…” said Kim. She didn’t approve of that detail… even if he might need it, dealing with Kasy and Sheki.
Late that afternoon, Shego and Kim stared at the pile of folders on the kitchen table. Most had been placed in a ‘Rejected / refused’ pile, of baby sitters who had been considered and then either been rejected or had refused to have anything more to do with Kasy and Sheki.
“How about Mrs. Doubtfire?” suggested Shego. “She seemed nice.”
“She was a GUY.” growled Kim. “A cross dresser, and not even that convincing of a woman. I don’t want that as a role model for Kasy and Sheki.”
“So he’s not that good looking in a skirt.” said Shego. “So? We’re both lesbians. A lot of people would say we’re not good role models.”
“We’ll keep looking.” snapped Kim. “How about that friend Barkin recommended, Major Payne?”
“Way too loud.” said Shego. “Plus, if anyone is going to be telling our girl stories about intense fighting, it’s going to be KPusKP.”
Mouse came in, covered in greasy overalls. Following eagerly behind him was Kasy and Sheki. Kasy in fact was lugging his tool box, which was bigger then she was. “I finished installing those new plasma duct linings on the Kimminator” he announced, washing his hands in the sink. “I should finish having them calibrated in two or three days, and then the new plasma spike system will be fully online.”
Shego looked up. “Good, good….” she said. The Kimminator may have been named for Kimmy, but Shego was the one who flew it most of the time. “I hope the twins weren’t any trouble.”
“Sheki and Kasy?” said Mouse. He shook his head. “Nah…. It’s nice having them around. They love hearing me explain what everything does…”
Kasy put the tool kit own, then stuck her arms out. Making ‘whoosh whoosh’ noises, she started running arround like she was a jet. Sheki clapped her hands, joining in the play. “Elevate flaps!” she called. “Stay ‘bove stall speeds….”
“That’s right…” said Mouse, grabbing Kasy as she rushed by. “But I think it’s time you two both went in for a landing.”
Kim looked at the man who had managed to slide into the position of the Kimminator’s primary mechanic, then at the easy way he held Kasy… a lot of the applicants had seemed afraid to touch Kasy and Sheki, as if their pale coloration was contagous. “Um, Mouse….” said Kim. “Have you ever considered a secondary career in child care?”
Mouse peered into one of the turbine exhaust manifolds on the Kimminator. Thick data cables ran from open ports on the wing, into a diagnostic computer. A complex, multi-colored chart rotated on the screen, displaying information from the last engine test.
“This is boring.” muttered Kasy, looking around. She picked up a rubber ball and threw it at a wall, catching it when it rebounded. Her twin sister ignored her, more intent at poking at the keyboard attached to the diagnostic computer. “It was more fun earlier, when the plane was on.”
Sheki just nodded, touching keys. While Kasy might have been impressed by the noise and sheer power of the Kimminator’s engines being run inside the well ventilated hanger, Sheki was more interested in the computer that Mouse had been using to control the engine.
“What’cha doin’, anyway?” demanded Kasy.
“Wanna control the plane.” explained Sheki.
On the screen, the chart vanished, replaced with the words ‘Safety Interlock Disengaged… Please stand clear’. Several yellow lights, running around the edge of the hanger, began to flash.
“What the…” muttered Mouse, straightening up too quickly. There was a loud bang of the back of his head hitting a raised metal panel.
“Make it go!” urged Kasy. Biting her tongue in concentration, Sheki repeated the sequence she had seen Mouse use a few minutes earlier.
By the exhaust vent, Mouse’s swearing over the pain in his head halted as he heard the sounds of the jet engine preparing to activate. “Oh, Sith-spit…”
The local office of Global Justice had seen many strange and bizarre sights. Global Justice, after all, was responsible for dealing with threats to world safety that most people would find literally mind boggling. However, even by Global Jsutice standards, the sight of a man covered in black ash, with most of his hair burned off, busy pulling two pale-skinned preschoolers along was unusual.
“Where’s Kim Possible?” roared Mouse, his shouting due to a mix of extreme anger at being far too close to the exaust of a jet engine and temporary hearing loss caused for the same reason.
Kim Possible sighed. Mouse had been taken down to the clinic to get cleaned up and have his hearing checked, leaving Kim alone with her two daughters. “Girls… that was very dangerous what you did.” Kim said. “Mr. Mouse could have been seriously hurt.”
“We want Monique back.” said Kasy, crossing her arms in front of her. “Or to stay with you and mom.”
“Yeah.” said Sheki, quick to follow her sister’s lead.
“Monique had to go with Ron and Yori to Japan.” said Kim. “And mom and I are busy trying to save the world. It’s an adult thing… as much as we want, we can’t keep you with us all the time.”
“Where’s mom?” demanded Kasy.
“She’s… busy.” admitted Kim.
“This feels… weird.” admitted Shego, laying down on the leather-covered reclining couch. The room was dimly lit, with several scented candles lit for atmosphere.
“Sometimes it’s easier to relax around a stranger then someone we know intimately.” said the woman who had just finished lighting a third candle. She blew the match out, then dropped it into a trash can. She sat down close to Shego, in easy arm’s reach but not yet touching. “So, Shego… let’s talk about how your nights have been going.”