1 day in the past
Shego sighed as her eyes opened the next morning; those damn birds were too noisy to allow her to get back to sleep. Not that it had been overly restful, what with that damn Kim Possible haunting her dreams. Standing up out of her sleeping bag she let out an annoyed groan before taking a deep breath of air through her nose.
The familiar dusty aroma of the lumber mill filled her sense of smell for a moment before she crinkled up her nose at the underlying layer of body odor coming off of her. There was something else she couldn’t identify, but that could wait until after her bath.
Dragging out her towel from her pack, Shego marched herself to the area she had set up a basin for bathing. Pulling off her gloves Shego winced as the smell of chemicals hit her nose. She wished she knew what the hell she had been playing with using her bare hands to emit that awful smell. Reaching up a hand to her hair, she ran it through until she hit an obstacle sticking out of her head.
Feeling the obstacles flick against her fingers her eyes widened, Shego bolted to the mirror she had set up and stared into it, gawking at the two blackish-green cat ears on top of her head.
“What’s going on?” Shego whispered to herself as she turned to eye the functional cat ears on her head from new angles, “Is this from Kimmie? Did she transfer over to me?”
Groaning with displeasure, Shego decided that she would have to take her bath before she started hunting for answers. Removing her suit she sighed happily as the pressure and pain of her lower back relived itself. Turning to fill the tub her eyes glanced over at the mirror. Her jaw dropped at the sight that greeted her eyes. In the mirror she could make out her own reflection, but with cat ears and a tail. Finally something clicked in her mind.
“DNAmy…” Shego whispered in disbelief, “Kimmie sent DNAmy to jail the day before I found her…”
Shaking her head she shot a blast of plasma at the base of the large water tank, lighting up the fire wood she had stacked underneath. Letting the fire build, Shego fed a tube from the ceiling into the tub letting water flow in from the roof cistern down to the inside tank and through a series of filters that made the water almost 100 pure Dihydrogenate Monoxide, otherwise known in layman’s terms as water.
It would have to be quicker than she liked, but still she needed the bath and change of clothes she had stored here. Slipping into the steaming water, Shego let out a sigh of relief as the heat helped to reduce the pain her body had been feeling. Closing her eyes she let out a sigh of pleasure, just as the thought that she needed to hurry occurred to her.
Muttering darkly about the need to remove certain crazy scientists from existence entirely, Shego started scrubbing her skin, hoping to remove the smell of both the body odor and the chemicals. After a while Shego noticed that the chemical smell wouldn’t go away.
Getting out of the bath, she hissed at the feeling of the colder air on her skin and the return of the pain in her body. Rushing back to her pack, she dug through it, trying to find some pain relievers. After a few minutes of looking she noticed her arms and hands were covered in fine black hairs, which seemed to grow thicker before her eyes.
Shaking her head to fight back the annoyance of what she was staring at, she continued to dig through her pack, searching for the pain reliever. Gritting her teeth in pain, she stopped her searching and curled up forward. It felt like all of her bones were being ground incessantly while millions of fires burned her skin. Pulling herself into a tight ball Shego let out a shriek of pain feeling as though every single cell of her body was imploding in on itself.
Forcing her eyes open she stared at her hands shrinking and growing thicker fur, while she felt every bone in her face shrinking and reforming. Letting out another shriek of pain, Shego arched painfully as her spine readjusted and shrank, leaving her only two feet long from tail base to nose.
Panting heavily, Shego stared at the far wall, trying to figure out her next move. ‘Can’t go to Drakken’s cause of his allergies, DNAmy is in prison and won’t be able to change me back… wait… Kimmie was able to change back. She has to know how to do it.’
Rising shakily off the floor, Shego looked about the area with an annoyed sigh. ‘Guess I’m traveling light.’
Running out of the lumber mill, Shego grumbled to herself that she was going to beat DNAmy within an inch of her life. Getting to the road, Shego hopped on the under slung spare tire of a semi heading into Middleton, there was ample space in the massive tire’s rim. Staring at the road whizzing by beneath the semi, Shego sighed, thinking back to how badly Kim had looked when she had left her.
Laying her ears flat, she wondered if Kim could ever forgive her. Maybe there was some way to help Kimmie heal. ‘Great… now I’m feeling guilt. Pumpkin, you’re making me go soft.’
Getting into town, the semi stopped at a light, giving Shego enough time to jump off and wander towards the hospital when she heard a familiar low growl. Turning down side alley Shego’s eyes lit up with glee as she saw the pack of five dogs that had been chasing Nemmy cornering a small kitten.
Drawing up to the rear of the nearest one, she reached out with her claws and raked it down on the soft part of the dumb beast, flaring up her paw as it tore in. The Rottweiler let out a yelp of pain and bolted, dragging its butt to put out the fire started there. Hearing their companion’s pained yelp, the other pack members turned as one to see a cat surrounded by green flames baring its fangs and claws.
Using the brain that was an often neglected option on their part, the dogs all turned and ran for their lives. Shego grinned evilly and gave chase, figuring that the hospital was in the direction that the dogs had started running.
Hounding the hounds past a liquor store, Shego streaked past Monkey Fist and Duff Killigan who had paused in their debate about Scotch and British Lagers to stare at the pack of dogs being ran off by a demonic cat.
“Montey lad? Oi tink Oi’m goin’ off de drink,” Duff said in an awed tone to which Montgomery Fisk simply nodded.
Shego smirked internally as she slowly gained on the dogs, before the strong stench smell of antiseptic began irritating her nose. Sliding to a halt, Shego looked up to see the gleaming white of the hospital before her. ‘Kim…’
Looking around, Shego spotted Kim’s mother walking into the hospital. Running up behind the rushing woman, Shego sighed and tried to act like she belonged there. It seemed to work, up until they reached the elevators, and Mrs. Possible spotted her.
Mrs. Possible’s eyes looked over the cat by her feet before sighing and picking her up. “I guess you’re one of those cats we brought in for the seniors or pediatrics. I’m going to visit my daughter right now, but she’s on the floor to herself because of who beat her up.”
Shego leaned up to rub the older women’s neck gently, trying to apologize with actions instead of words. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this… I guess I just need someone to talk to.” Mrs. Possible said while petting the cat. “Maybe you’ll be able to cheer her up.”
Riding in Kim’s mother’s arms silently, she eyed the few GJ operatives stationed along the corridor to Kim’s room. There were a total of ten operatives on this end of the hall, and she could see another ten on the other side. Shego smirked knowing that she could have taken all of them on without breaking a sweat. This way though was much easier, on both her nerves and the operatives’ egos.
Shortly after they were inside Kim’s hospital room and Shego’s heart sunk. Nothing could have prepared her for the sight of her rival with dozens tubes and wires from her to various machines. Leaping out of Mrs. Possible’s arms to land gracefully on the bar of the bed, Shego carefully padded onto Kim’s stomach and laid down, her eyes locking with Kim’s sleeping face.
Hours passed by unnoticed by Shego, until Kim’s eyes finally fluttered open. Getting up, Shego lightly picked her way across the bed to gently rub against Kim’s neck, inhaling the scent of the woman who had been her nemesis. Feeling Kim’s attention shift to her, Shego put on her best accusatory stare, letting her know exactly who she was.
“Sh…Shego?” Kim’s voice croaked out in question, causing Shego’s heart to shatter inside. Standing up she walked up to Kim’s head and raised up to lightly rest a paw on Kim’s lips, to keep her silent about who she was, and so that her heart wouldn’t break any more.
Turning away from the worry filled eyes, Shego crawled her way through the hurdles of wires and tubes. Just hearing Kim’s voice had made her want to cry, but Shego hadn’t in public, and wasn’t about to start. She knew she could cry in front of Kim, but that would have to wait until they were alone. Returning to her position on Kim’s stomach, Shego curled up to gaze along Kim’s battered body with apology written in her tear rimmed eyes.
‘My God Kim… Did I really do all of this?’ Shego asked silently, never expecting an answer.