Deep within the Middleton Space Center, Dr. Franklin McCoy sat hunched over his computer terminal in darkened space of his lab. This late a night it was only him and a few guards on the premises which was fine by him since he didn’t want to be disturbed. Even more so than usual. He glanced up from the monitor to the prone figure laying on the table next to it, checking for probably the hundredth time that hour that it wasn’t about to get up and try to kill him. For there, laying on the table was the broken and deactivated body of The Queen Bebe. It had taken a lot of talking to finally convince Global Justice to let him examine the body and importantly the programming running it. They had agreed to the deal only after they took her armor and deactivated the sonic weapon in her left hand in hopes that if she was reactivated she wouldn’t be too great a threat.
So here he sat, alone in his lab with only the faint glow of the computer screen and a few overhead lights illuminating his work space. A myriad of wires ran from the whole Shego blasted in The Queen’s head to his computer. He was staring so intently at the many codes of data that he failed to notice the other person who entered the lab, even when they’re standing right behind him.
“Working late?” a friendly voice asked.
“GAAAAAHHHH!!” he shouted in surprise then swung around to see who it was. He let out a sigh of relief when he say it was only, “Vivian. Don’t DO that!”
“Sorry,” the blonde scientist giggled. “Didn’t mean to.”
“Well next time knock first.”
“I did. Five times.”
“Oh,” Dr. McCoy replied, feeling a little stupid now. “I guess I didn’t hear you.”
“Apparently not,” Vivian replied as she leaned forward to look at the screen. “What is that?”
His body tensed a little as he tried not to notice that the low cut blouse she was wearing revealed even more when she bent over like that. He took a second to compose himself before continuing.
“It’s information I’m browsing through from that,” he explained, nodding his head towards the broken robot.
Vivian looked over at the table and was a bit surprised at what she saw at first, but once in information sank in a playful smirk crossed her face.
“So finally found a woman who could stand to be around you, huh?” she quipped.
“Oh haha,” he replied, turning the chair a bit. “This coming from a woman who’s been dating a robot for how long now?”
“It hasn’t been that long,” she shot back, crossing her arms over her chest in indignation.
Dr. McCoy just stared at her. She tried to act like she didn’t notice but after nearly a minute under the doubtful gaze she finally gave in with an irritated sigh.
“Fine, it has been that long! Happy?!” she snorted.
“Very,” he replied with a satisfied grin then turned back to his screen. “And for your information, Global Justice took her…well I guess you could call them clothes to make sure they weren’t hiding any nasty surprises.”
“Wait, you talked Global Justice into letting you examine this thing?”
“Well part of her programming was based on my technology so that entitles me to something.”
“Ever the opportunist, huh?”
“It’s not that!” he shouted back, surprising even himself.
A moment of uncomfortable silence followed the outburst as he stared down at the floor. When he found the courage to speak again he sighed and looked up at her.
“It’s not that,” he repeated, softly and with a hint of remorse. “Part of my technology was used to create this thing and the results where…bad. And it could have been a whole lot worse if Kim Possible and her team hadn’t stopped it. So if there’s a chance that combing through her programing can uncover some way to stop this all from happening again, then that’s a chance I’m willing to take. It’s not for me, it’s for everyone else on the planet.”
“Wow that’s…surprisingly noble of you,” Vivian replied.
“I have my moments,” he said with a sad smile.
“Well I’ll let you get back to it then. If you need any help, just let me know.”
“I don’t think I will, but thanks.”
She nodded, and started to walked towards the door as he went back to his work. Right as she reached the doorway her him make a negative sound. She turned back to see him staring at the screen, his eyes wide in terror.
“Oh no. No, no, no,” he muttered. “This isn’t good.”
“What is it?” she asked, running back over to him.
“I was looking through some of the data right before the Shego woman blasted The Queen here and seems a data burst was sent right before her systems went offline,” he explain, his voice and hands shaking a bit.
“And?” Vivian asked expectantly.
“Whatever system was used to send the burst was connected to my X-23 personality chip.”
“So?”
“So that means what got sent was…her. Everything that made her what she was, personality, memory files, everything.”
Vivian’s eyes widened as the realization dawned on her.
“Then that means…” she started.
“That she could still be out there,” Dr. McCoy replied in a far off voice.
“Wait. I thought you said the Bebe robots only had the chip for a day or so? How could they find the time to not only build another body for The Queen but also duplicate your personality chip in that short a time?”
The question seemed to snap him out of his daze as he let out an exhausted sigh and turned to her like she asked the most obvious question in the world.
“Yes they did,” he replied in a condescending manner. “But you’re not thinking fourth dimensionally. They could move at an accelerated rate, faster than any of us could see. For them minutes could be like hours, hours-days, days-weeks, weeks-years, do you understand now?”
“Yeah I think I got it,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “But that’s all theory. There’s no real evidence they did that. Are you even sure you’re reading it right?”
“Well a lot of the data is corrupted so I suppose it’s possible.”
“And I’m guessing you haven’t been sleeping well lately.”
“Well…no.”
“Then it’s probably a combination of bad data and sleep deprivation,” she reasoned. She then placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile. “You’re letting your imagination run away with you Frank. Go home get some sleep. The robot will still be here in the morning and you’ll be able to reason things out a lot better by then.”
“I…I guess you’re right,” he resigned, still feeling a little unsure. “I mean there are times when I’m wrong, rare as they may be. This is probably one of those times.”
“See? Feel better?” she asked as she lowered her hand.
“A little.”
“Good. Then go to home,” she advised before she left the room.
He sighed and looked back at the screen again.
“She’s probably right,” he said to himself. “I’m sure this is just me overacting. At least…I hope it is.”
Warning! Warning! Critical damage incurred! Memory transfer now initiating!
These words flashed through her processor before the world went blank. A moment later her optics jolted back online and she was staring into a pitch black chamber. If she had lungs, she had no doubt she would have taken in a deep breath from the shock of coming back to life. Nonetheless the sudden reactivation was still jarring and she felt confused as she tried to sort through her memory files.
She remembered having the red headed nuisance named Kim Possible by the throat and was in the process of melting her brain with her sonic disrupter when she suddenly felt…not pain, but something close. There was considerable amount of damage done she could feel that. Then most of her body stopped responding and with her last bit of strength she turned to see…Shego. Yes, it was Shego holding her child. The child that should have belonged to her Hive. Somehow, she had broken free.
Kim. Kim had helped her. And while she was focusing on the younger girl, her pale skinned mate had snuck up behind her and critically wounded her. Yes, that was what had happened. But where was she now? Did her own fail safes kick in? Was she in her spare body?
Restoration complete. Chamber doors now opening.
I suppose that answers that question, she mused as the door began to slowly rise.
Her optics quickly adjusted to the lights of the room awaiting her. Fortunately, they weren’t very bright so the transition was smoother than she had expected. While her eyes didn’t dilate like those of humans, as sudden switch from pitch black to extremely bright could still wreck havoc with her systems. As she stepped out of the chamber, she marveled at all similar this new body felt to her old one. Naturally she expected it to be the same mold as her previous one, but she thought there would be some more of discomfort or uneasiness. Those feelings were most likely due to the rather human emotions given to her from the personality chip.
I may have to do something about that, she thought as she walked up to the large window in the room.
Wherever the rejuvenation chamber was hidden, it was obviously placed in a very tall building as she could see almost the entire city from the window. It wasn’t in Middleton, that much was obvious, there were too many skyscrapers for that. She knew a quick look through her memory banks would identify it but at the moment she really didn’t care. In the grand scheme of things it mattered little as most of the humans cities would be torn down and rebuilt into proper places for her and her subjects to live.
“She speaking of which,” she whispered as she turned when she felt the presence of two Bebes behind.
“Bebe number 24,” the first one said.
“And Bebe number 27,” the second spoke.
“Reporting for duty,” they said in unison.
“Report,” The Queen stated.
“The second group of Bebe units were unaffected by your untimely shutdown,” 24 started.
“They are continuing to work on the Beta Hive and it should be done within the next month,” 27 completed.
“Then everything is running on schedule,” The Queen surmised.
“Yes your majesty,” they both replied.
“Excellent,” she mused as she turned back to the window and held her hands behind her back.
“What are your orders for the moment?” 27 asked.
“Simply to wait. I was a bit impatient before and struck before we were ready. I will not make that mistake a second time. Once the new Hive is completely then we will take our time to observe the world and wait for the prefect time to strike.”
“Yes majesty,” the two Bebes sounded again.
“There is one other thing I have learned from this experience.”
“What is that majesty?” 24 asked.
“I gave into the all too human flaw of arrogance. I allowed Kim Possible time to plan and execute her escape. I underestimated her. I will not do that again. The next time we meet…I shall kill her,” The Queen stated as she clenched her right fist into a ball and dangerous glint shone in her eyes.
End.
Author’s Notes:Well there you have it, the definitive end to this story. Just this story of course, I still have big plans for this universe. Plans I really didn’t think I would have, but things just kept coming to mind. Hell, this is the epilogue to an 11 chapter story that was only planed as a quick six chapter story. So while I plan to stick to at least the stories I have up in my profile, don’t be surprised if you see more little stories from this universe pop up every now and then. In fact I have one already in mind that I hope to get written up sometime within the next week or so. Keep an eye out for it. And of course there’s still “Kim In Exile” for me to work on so I should be hanging around the KP fandom for quite awhile.
You know, looking back over everything this really has been one hell of a ride and I would be kicking myself if I didn’t thank all you wonderful readers out there. You guys not only made all the effort in writing this story worth it, but completely surprised me at how much you all liked it. When I first thought of the idea, I knew that Kigo had a pretty strong fandom and figured at least a couple of people who like NoDrogs’ stuff would check it out but honestly I thought maybe I’d get 60 or so reviews for the whole thing. Last time I checked there were 165 reviews. Wow! I was only off by 105 that’s not too bad. Heh. Seriously I am thankful for of you who reviewed and I’m just so happy you actually like my stuff. Like I said, you guys really help inspire me.
Oh and before I forgot, Dr. Cox and unnamed doctor talking to Ron about Dr. Acula come courtesy of the awesome show Scrubs which I highly recommend. Check your local listings for times and channels. Though it shouldn’t be that hard since they play it almost all the time now. It’s become the new Wings or Sienfield. But that’s cool, cause the show rocks.
One last thing. Sorry Invader Johnny but “the talk” between Kim and Ron will have to wait for another day. Hopefully it’ll be worth it though.
Alright that’s all from me for now, hope to see you all for the next story.