“Glad you could get here, Kimmie,” her father said as Kim staggered out of the car.
“Sorry I didn't come home last night,” she replied, yawning.
He took in her drawn, exhausted appearance. “Evidently,” Dr. Possible said, mystified.
“Hey, KP.”
The voice came from behind Kim, startling her. “Ron? What are you doing here?”
“Because I might have a mission for you, Kim,” her father explained, “and I know how you like to have Ron with you.”
“Mind if I go fill my tanks, Dr. Possible?” Sadie asked. She too sounded beat.
“You might want to wait just a moment,” he replied. “It looks like Sappho has been stolen.”
“What? Stolen?!” Kim gasped.
“Someone came here in the middle of the night and flew her away without proper clearance or authorization,” Dr. Possible said.
“That's crazy,” Sadie said. “Sappho couldn't have been stolen. That would be like me being stolen. Neither of us would let strangers activate us without our permission.”
“Car chooses the driver, not the other way around?” Ron asked.
“You better believe it, buster. Sappho probably flew off for a joyride.”
“Security footage showed a lone figure entering the hangar minutes before takeoff,” Dr. Possible told them, disproving that theory
Kim felt her heart sink. Sappho had only the best things to say about Shego the last time she flew. Of course she'd be willing to give Shego another spin, no matter what the hour was. Which explained how Shego was able to make herself so scarce. She'd left the city entirely. “Uh, Dad?” she said anxiously.
“Dr. Possible!”
Her father turned around. “Yes, Dr. Freeman?”
“She's back!” The other scientist stopped running and pointed behind him, panting heavily. Sure enough, the familiar gray sphere was slowly coming in for a landing.
“Please be inside,” Kim thought to herself, but she knew Shego was gone.
And when Sappho settled down not far from them, her fears were confirmed. “Shego came here last night,” she told them, unusually subdued. “She asked to be taken somewhere. I dropped her off and came back.”
“Shego?” Dr. Possible asked. “Kimmie, you should have told us she was leaving. We were never properly introduced.”
“It was kind of a split-second decision,” Kim said.
“Shego's gone?” Ron looked entirely too relieved.
“Sappho, where did she go?” Kim asked.
“Somewhere in northern Mexico, I believe,” the ship told her.
Kim was almost rocked by the sudden feeling of dismay. She pulled out her Kimmunicator and brought up the data Wade had sent her on Drakken's location. “Here?” she asked fearfully, holding up the device.
Sappho activated her “seeing eye”. “Yes, that was the place,” she said quietly.
“Damn,” she hissed despairingly.
“Kim?” Ron asked.
“She's gone to find Dr. Drakken.”
“By herself? Could she kill him on her own?”
“Ron,” she said hopelessly, “as strange as this may sound, I hope she's gone there to kill him.”
Dr. Freeman looked oddly at his two self-automated vehicles. “What are you girls up to?” he asked suspiciously.
“Nothing,” Sadie said neutrally.
“You were flashing your lights at each other awfully quickly.”
“Can't cousins have a private conversation?” Sappho asked, but her voice had none of its sly pleasure.
“Guess you can go home then, Kim,” Dr. Possible said, “and catch some shut-eye.”
“Actually, Kim,” Sappho interjected quickly, “maybe you could come inside for a minute. There's something I'd like to tell you, just between us.”
“I think you should, Kim,” Sadie added.
Kim nodded. “I'll be right out, Ron.”
“Cool. Ruby and I are headed to the Worldwide Domain of Waffles after this. Rufus is sleeping in.”
“Waffles!” Ruby said brightly.
Kim went into the spaceship and the door closed behind her. “What did she have to say, Sappho?” she asked.
Sappho paused. “Sadie was telling me that you had quite the night.”
“It was no… yeah, it was big.”
“Shego had a lot to say, Kim Possible. I began recording it when I realized how upset she was. I thought you might like to hear it?”
Kim closed her eyes. Undoubtedly Shego had some very unpleasant things to say about her, but she had to listen, for clues as to what she had planned. “No, but I have to.”
“Sit down then.”
She did, and she waited.
“ - hospital a dozen times, but I never imagined she could hurt me that badly with just a look.”
Kim almost leaped back out of the chair. Shego's voice lashed across her hearing. It was raw, ragged, and the venom hit Kim like a physical blow.
She listened to the remainder of the recording with mounting horror as Shego poured out her hatred for everyone, including herself. Once she'd found Shego's insistence on believing the worst of her to be frustrating. Now it devastated her, because she couldn't help but feel she deserved it. Shego had opened her heart to her, and Kim, coward that she was, had run away from it.
“Did you know?” Sappho asked softly when it was over. “About her parents, I mean?”
“Of course not!” Kim said, crying now. “She never talks about her past, not to anyone!”
“I see. Perhaps she told me because I am a machine, rather than a human. Or because she was so angry that she needed to let it out, and I was the closest thing available.”
“I had no idea,” Kim whispered. “No wonder she's angry with the world. She's been considered unworthy almost her whole life.”
“She isn't, though. I know you don't think so.”
“No,” Kim agreed. “She's one of the most amazing people I've ever met.” She looked down. “Thank you, by the way,” she said.
“For what?”
“You tried to help her. You were a better friend to her than I was.”
“I bet you'd like to change that, though. Correct?”
Kim nodded, anguished. “I can't let her think it was because of her,” she said. “And I definitely can't let her throw the rest of her life away on Drakken.”
“I could have you there in a couple hours.”
“Then do it,” Kim immediately said. “No, wait. Give me a minute. Open the hatch.”
She ran outside to her father. “Dad, I need to borrow Sappho. Shego's gone to Drakken, and I have to go after her.”
“Is it important?” he asked.
Kim nodded vigorously.
Dr. Freeman looked unconvinced. “She's been out all night. I really think Sappho needs to recharge for the day.”
“Please, Dr. Freeman.” It was not Sappho who spoke, but Sadie. “I don't think there's time.”
The inventor looked at the car, surprised. He switched his gaze between Kim and the two machines. “I don't know what's going on,” he said, “but if this is life or death, then I have to say yes.”
“Looks like waffles will have to wait, Ruby,” Ron said to the mole rat.
“Actually, Ron,” Kim said quietly, “I think I'd better go this one alone.”
“What?! But what about Team Possible?”
“This isn't exactly a mission,” she told him. “I'm going there to save Shego, not fight her. But if you're there, she's going to get even more defensive than she is now. This has to be between us.”
Ron stared at her. He wasn't dense. He could see the streaks on her face, the circles under her eyes, and the determined look. “At least take Ruby,” he said. “She did good at the Acceptables’ base.”
Ruby nodded.
“Thanks, Ron,” Kim said, hugging him suddenly. “You're always thinking of me,” she whispered in his ear.
“Yeah, well,” he replied, embarrassed. Meanwhile Ruby took advantage of the embrace to crawl into Kim's pocket.
Kim backed away. “I'll be back for dinner,” she promised.
“You'd better, young lady,” Dr. Possible warned her. “Your mother wasn't happy with you staying out all night. You had better not have been chasing boys.”
“Chasing, yes. Boys, no.” She turned around and hurried back into the ship.
“Kim, you should rest,” Sappho told her as they took off. “It will be a few hours, and you appear to be tired.”
She nodded. Spending the next three hours endlessly thinking about the previous night wasn't that appealing to her.
Kim expected to toss and turn when she lay down on the sleeping cot that Sappho had built in, but instead she descended almost immediately into a deep sleep.
It was uneasy, however.
“But - you always said anything was possible.”
“Not this,” she said quietly. Kim stretched out a hand.
Shego grabbed her hand, pulled hard so that Kim tumbled forward, and kissed her again. Viciously. Her tongue crashed through Kim's lips and invaded her mouth as aggressively as she'd once buried her fist in Kim's stomach. Kim tried to pull away for a moment, but then, so unlike her, she yielded. Her tongue tentatively tried to reciprocate, but Shego wasn't interested in giving. She was only taking now.
Despite that, Kim couldn't suppress a low moan that was muffled by Shego's mouth.
At that point, Shego suddenly broke it off. Dazed, Kim could only stare at Shego, who looked back at her with contempt and loathing.
“Seems possible to me,” Shego said murderously. “I guess what's impossible is that Miss Priss could ever admit to being a dirty dyke, shame of the family.”
Stung, Kim lashed out. “At least I have a family.”
Shego flinched, and Kim was immediately horrified that she'd even said such a thing. “Shego…”
“I could have taken you the other night,” Shego hissed at her. “I could have broken up that platonic little sleepover you wanted. I could have passionate, sweaty love to you for HOURS. But I guess you were just a tease. I know you enjoyed feeling my hands on that tight little body of yours the one time you were wearing my clothes. But you can't have what you want, so you make the rest of us as miserable as you are.”
“Shego, PLEASE stop this.”
“I will NEVER forgive you for those times you made me feel wanted,” Shego snarled, even as the tears streamed down her face. “You're the evil one, not me. I wish you were DEAD!”
Instead of trying to run, Shego pounced on her. Her hands wrapped around Kim's throat…
Kim bolted awake, hands clutching at her own throat. “Shego!” she screamed.
“Kim?”
Slowly she became aware of where she was. “Sappho,” she wheezed, realizing she was soaked with sweat. “How far are we?”
“Ten minutes.”
“Thanks.”
Kim curled up without trying to go back to sleep. The dream had been much worse than reality, but one thing was true - Kim had been selfish, and she'd hurt Shego. Maybe she was the evil one.
“See what you can find, all right?” she said to Ruby as she held the naked mole rat in the palm of her hand. “Maybe you can find Drakken first.”
“Uh-huh, uh-huh,” Ruby replied before waving and leaping off her hand. She disappeared into the ventilation duct Kim had found.
Kim rubbed her arms, feeling cold. Sappho was waiting a safe distance from the base, in case something happened to Kim and Drakken attempted to steal the ship. If only she could find Shego and get her to understand, however, then Drakken wouldn't even be a problem.
Quietly she crept through the empty corridors.
Then her breath caught in her throat.
The room she'd discovered was dimly lit, but she could still see familiar long legs in green and black, resting on a desk. A black hand was being held out for inspection, and then the woman, hidden behind a high-backed chair, began filing it again.
“Shego,” Kim said quietly.
The filing stopped, but Shego didn't respond.
“I know I'm the last person you want to see right now,” Kim said as she came up behind her.
“That's not true,” Shego said.
Kim didn't know how to interpret that remark. “Okay,” she replied, taking it as a good thing.
Shego swiveled around in her chair and suddenly dived for Kim's legs. Kim was caught surprised and tumbled to the floor, Shego's arms wrapped tightly around her calves.
When her ankles felt cold without warning, she knew what Shego was doing. “Shego, please, wait!”
Shego didn't respond, however, and when Kim pushed her away, she looked down and saw that her feet were encased in an uneven block of ice, preventing her from standing.
Then Shego flung herself atop Kim, preventing her from sitting up.
“Shego!” Kim said helplessly.
“Shego must capture Kim Possible!” Shego said emptily.
Kim had never seen Shego under the influence of the mind-control chip. And she didn't see one now on Shego's forehead. But she remembered how Jim and Tim had been under the control of the chip. And she remembered Shego telling her about how Drakken had tried to use it against her the other night. That was enough to make Kim understand. “Oh God, Shego, no, NO!” she screamed, horrified.
Shego brought her arm back and slammed Kim across the face, knocking her head against the floor.
This time Kim's sleep was dreamless.
“Well, well, Kim Possible! You look different. Is it the hair?”
Kim groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. “How about, I'm older?” she growled, looking at Dr. Drakken with hatred. Her feet were free of the ice, but now she was held suspended, her wrists manacled. Her toes dangled a few inches above the ground. Kim looked over his shoulder and saw Shego standing at attention, like a lifeless mannequin. It was so wrong seeing the fiery, energetic Shego like this that she bit at the air between her and Drakken, wanting nothing more than to beat him senseless.
“Hm, yes, that's true,” he realized. “I was sure you changed your hair. Didn't it used to be brown?”
Irritated, Kim shook her head and glared at him.
“Well, it has been years!” Drakken snapped defensively. “I can't be expected to remember every little detail! Shego! What color was Kim Possible's hair five years ago?”
“It was red, Dr. Drakken!”
He grimaced. “Shego,” he growled, “repeat after me. Kim - Possible's - hair - used - to - be - brown.”
“Kim Possible's hair used to be brown.”
“Good! Now what color was her hair before?”
“Kim Possible's hair used to be red!”
“Gah!” he snarled.
“What did you do to Shego?” Kim hissed at him.
Drakken looked back at her. “Come now, Possible. You remember the old mind-control chip, don't you? I thought you looked rather fetching in Shego's clothes.”
“So did I,” she thought sorrowfully. “There's no chip on her head!” she said out loud.
“Ah! But there is a chip on her body. Shego, come here!”
Dutifully she approached, and Drakken turned her around. “See this?” he asked, moving her hair and pointing to the chip attached to the nape of Shego's neck. “This is what makes her my willing slave. I had her groveling at my feet for forgiveness earlier. You should have seen it. It was rather - satisfying.”
“You're a monster, Drakken,” Kim retorted.
“Of course,” he went on blithely, “it didn't sound exactly like her. But that was all right, because you see, you do remember being aware of what I made you do all those years ago, right?”
Kim grudgingly nodded.
“Imagining how Shego felt deep inside her brain,” Drakken said, leering, “as she hugged my feet and begged me to take her back - how humiliating that must have been for her! That was a feeling that will warm my heart for weeks to come.”
“When I get free - and I always get free,” Kim reminded him angrily, “I'm going to annihilate you. And then I'm freeing Shego, and she'll destroy what's left of you.”
“Oh, but that's the best part!” he told her. He tugged gently at Shego's chip, and she hunched her shoulders, clearly reacting as if in pain. “It's become fused to her spinal cord,” Drakken told her. “If you remove it, even with a sonic phase disruptor…”
“She'll die.”
Kim stared at him, her mouth a perfect O of shock.
“Shego will look like this for the rest of her life,” Drakken said, swiveling around so that she could stare at Kim without a spark of recognition. “And the real Shego will be trapped inside, unable to do anything about it.”
“You BASTARD!” Kim screamed at him. She never believed she could hate anyone as much as she'd hated the Acceptables, but Dr. Drakken had just proved her wrong.
He cringed. “You don't have to use foul language,” he complained. Then he recovered. “Yes, Kim Possible! As long as I hold this…” He held up a remote control that had been in his belt. “She will obey my every command. Shego, hop on one leg!”
Shego began hopping up and down on one leg.
“Suck your thumb!”
Without stopping her jumping, Shego began sucking her thumb like a baby.
“Pat your head and rub your stomach at the same time!”
She took the thumb out and began attempting to obey. She wasn't very successful at it, and she looked pretty foolish.
Kim just stared in disbelief. Somewhere, she knew, the real Shego was inside, feeling utterly mortified. “I'll kill you for this,” she swore.
“Mm, kill, that's a good one. Shego, stop that hopping and patting and rubbing! Now go over to the worktable and get that knife. The big one.”
Shego did as commanded.
“Stand next to Kim and put the knife to her throat.”
Kim paled as this Shego with impostor's eyes walked calmly over to Kim with a serrated knife in one hand. She held it to Kim's throat, and Kim could feel the edge pricking her skin. “Shego,” she pleaded, knowing it wouldn't help. If only she hadn't reacted the way she had last night! Now Shego was doomed to a life of servitude, and she was staring death in the face.
“Tell me, Shego,” Drakken said cruelly, “deep down inside, how do you really feel about Kim Possible? How will it make you feel to cut her throat and watch her blood spill out?”
“How do you want me to feel?” she asked brightly.
“I want you to tell the truth!” he shouted. “How would you feel if you weren't under my control?”
Shego's face grew curiously flat. “I would be sad,” she said.
Kim gasped.
“How sad?”
“Like my heart would break,” Shego said softly. “I would never be happy again.”
“Ooh, I like that one,” Drakken murmured.
“Shego, I know you're in there,” Kim said hurriedly.
“Don't bother, Kim. This isn't television! You can't magically make Shego break my hold over her! But go ahead and try, if you want.”
“Don't blame yourself for this,” Kim told her. “I forgive you for what you're about to do to me. I just want your forgiveness for last night. This is all my fault, and if I could do it all over again, I would have told you that I feel the same way. But I was so scared. We - we always wondered who the stronger one was, who the braver one was. Shego, it's you. You're the brave one.” A tear ran down her cheek. “Please forgive me.”
There was no sign that Shego had heard her.
Drakken cackled viciously. “And now, Shego!”
There was a noise above them.
“Eh?” Drakken said, looking up.
A little pink shape sailed through the air, aimed not at Shego, but at Drakken. It landed on him, just below his belt.
Ruby's eyes glittered as she bit down hard.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Drakken dropped the device as he crumpled up on the floor, eyes bulging from his sockets as Ruby bit at the most - vulnerable part of his anatomy. He whimpered softly as he lay there, in such agony that he couldn't even pull Ruby off.
“Ruby, get the device!” Kim said, her body filled with a hard satisfaction in seeing him like that.
Ruby let go and grabbed the device. She scampered up Kim's body with it between her teeth.
“No!” Drakken tried to scream, but there was no strength in his voice.
Ruby carefully balanced on Kim's shoulder and put the device in her chained hands.
“Shego,” Kim said. “Put the knife back where you found it.”
“Yes, Kim Possible!”
Kim shuddered as the knife was taken away, but hearing Shego address her so made her skin crawl. “Now,” she said, having no choice, “kick Dr. Drakken. Kick him - very - HARD.”
Drakken looked pitifully up at Shego as she went over, brought her foot back, and kicked him across the room. He moaned briefly before passing out.
“Unlock my cuffs.”
“Certainly, Kim Possible!”
A minute later, Kim was free. Shego, however, was not.
“Oh, Shego,” Kim said sadly, looking at her. Maybe her mother could figure a way to remove it safely…
Kim had just one choice.
“With this device, Shego,” Kim said, “I could order you to behave any way I choose, right?”
“Yes, Kim Possible!”
“I could even mold you in my image. Make you forgive me.”
“Yes, Kim Possible!”
“… Shego, from now on, I want you to think for yourself. I want you to continue not caring what other people think. I want you to live life to the fullest without fear of consequences. I want you to hate who you want to hate, like who you want to like, and love what you've always loved,” Kim said, her voice trembling. “Basically, Shego, I'm ordering you to be the person you've always been. Don't change a thing about yourself, unless one day you choose to of your own free will. And - I'm ordering you never to take another order from the holder of this device, ever again.”
Shego just stared at her for a moment. Then she swayed and fell into Kim's arms.
“Shego? Shego!”
The brunette looked up into Kim's eyes. “Kim?” she whispered.
“Shego?”
She lurched out of Kim's arms, scrambled over the corner of the room, and vomited.
Bewildered, Kim could only watch.
“Shit,” Shego finally said, wiping her mouth. “I have never felt so degraded in my entire life.”
“Shego, is that you?” Kim asked hopefully.
Shego sat up. “I - think so.”
Kim pointed the control at her. “I order you to stand up.”
“Screw you, Kim.”
New tears sprang to Kim's eyes, but these were not tears of sadness. “Shego,” she said, discarding the device. “It's the real you.”
Shego looked at her. “I'd like to tear your face off, Kim. Still glad it's the real me?”
“Yes,” Kim said honestly. “If you hate me, it's because it's my fault, not yours.”
Shego didn't move from that spot. “You could have made me into anything you wanted,” she finally said. “Why didn't you?”
“Because you might not believe it, but I think you're incredible the way you are. A little annoying sometimes,” Kim admitted, chuckling through the tears, “but incredible. And, no matter how scared it makes me, someone I'm attracted to.”
She clenched her fists and closed her eyes, shaking her head. “No, damn it, no,” Shego muttered.
“What?”
“You're making it so goddamn hard for me to hate you.”
Kim brightened uncertainly.
Shego sighed. “Look, I'm not going to say I forgive you, but… let's pretend I do, okay?”
“Thank you,” Kim said.
“For what?”
“For ‘not’ forgiving me.”
“Oh. You're welcome, I guess.”
Then Shego leapt to her feet. “Drakken!!!” she screeched.
Once again, as she had years before, Kim felt oddly disinterested in preventing Shego from inflicting whatever harm she chose on him.
Shego stormed over to the prostrate Drakken, her eyes ablaze with hatred. “Drakken, wake - the - hell - up!” she shouted, shaking him at every word to punctuate them.
Drakken tentatively opened his eyes. “Mommy?” he asked.
“I'll send her your personal effects,” Shego hissed, baring her claws.
He screamed.
“Shego, no! You can't kill him!” Kim burst out.
She stared at Kim. “Are you out of your mind? Do you remember what he made me do? What he tried to make me do?” She looked back at Drakken with utter hatred. “I will never forget the way you made me feel. I was screaming in my mind for hours.”
“You can't do it, Shego.”
“Why not?!”
“Because unlike you, I've killed someone,” Kim said quietly. “When that happened, I lost the last of my innocence. Don't throw away yours. Don't be a killer like me. We're alike in so many ways, but not that way. I couldn't bear to see what it would do to you.”
Shego looked at her for a long minute before finally letting go of him. Drakken turned grateful eyes on Kim.
“Stuff it!” Kim yelled at him. “I didn't say she shouldn't beat you to within an inch of your life!”
Drakken swallowed.
Shego grinned and made her claws into a fist.
“Help? Ow!”
To be concluded…