“Viewers, I - I’m sorry that you had to witness that…I’m not sure if I’m ready to believe it myself - but what just happened… We may have just seen the tragic death of world-famous teen hero Kim Possible-”
Dr. Drakken sat up in his cell, rubbing his eyes. “Ah, what a wonderful dream-”
“-as well as her father, James T. Possible. I – there are no words for this…To have this – on top of everything else that we’ve all watched unfold on this new day of horror for the nation – it’s just too m-”
Drakken looked up at the TV on the far side of the wall in the asylum. “What?”
“…And as you can see, all those henchmen were finally been rounded up there, and – oh my…Ladies and Gentlemen, we are now getting word that there has been official confirmation by the authorities – We’re going to go live to the scene of this incident now, where our field reporter Jon Das is – Jon?”
“Thanks, Bill. Well, the mood is very somber here – for good reason. We already know about the multitude of fatalities the Armed Forces has suffered from the destruction of Andrews Air Force Base, Forts McNair and Meyer, and the Pentagon – and the horrific killing of that Senator’s 3-year old daughter - but it has now been confirmed by the paramedics on the scene here that we must sadly add 4 more fatalities to that count: 12-year old Wade Load - whom we’ve known for a while was the right-hand man in this whole affair - of a gash to the head suffered when jagged debris from the rubble behind me collapsed on him – and, of course, renowned teen hero Kim Possible and her father, James Timothy Possible – both of gunshot wounds to the head. Kim, as I’ve been told, was shot by Wade from…a very close range… A weird gun, probably his own design, was found underneath the toppled Lincoln statue - which Mrs. Possible and the others have confirmed he was perched on when he fired the fatal shot at Kim. And Mrs. Possible, with many tears in her eyes, has confessed to shooting James herself at point-blank.”
Drakken’s face dropped. “She’s…dead? Kim Possible is truly dead?”
“Thank you, John – and to reiterate for those of you who are just tuning in, we have some very sad news: The worst terrorist attack in U.S. history since 9/11 - and the worst attack on Washington, D.C. since the British burned it to the ground exactly 193 years ago today in the War of 1812 - has left the nation’s capital in burning ruins, and claimed the lives of countless civilians and members of the D.C. National Guard, as well as police officers, firemen, and medical workers. And now, it’s been confirmed that among the body count we must add world-famous teen hero Kim Possible; Her father, scientist James T. Possible; Her former ally, 12-year old Wade Load; The 3-year old daughter of a Senator…”
“But – but - that’s impossible!” Drakken stammered. “Kim Possible can’t be dead! She always wins!”
“Bill, I’ve been informed no criminal charges will be filed against Mrs. Possible, most likely due to the knowledge Kim had provided about her being under the influence of the Attitudinator. However, they said that Mrs. Possible had talked to the police and was willing to pay some of the rebuilding costs…”
“Hmmph…” Drakken muttered to himself.
“Thank you, Jon. Once again, shocking news from the nation’s capital: An attack was thwarted, but…”
“It won’t be the same if I just tell Shego I actually did brainwash them into killing Dementor for me…”
“Our hearts and prayers go out to the families, friends, and loved ones of those who were lost today…”
“Dad, we’re ready to - MOM!”
“BOYS!”
Tim and Jim practically tackled Mrs. Possible as she walked through the door of the Stoppables’ house.
“You’re back!”
“Kim did it!”
“She saved you!”
“Yes - yes she did…” said Mrs. Possible.
“Where is she?”
“Yeah, we wanna congratulate her!”
“You haven’t been watching the news, boys?”
Mrs. Stoppable walked by. “Oh, I unplugged everything with a screen or speaker after picking them up.”
“You turned everything off?” Mrs. Possible asked.
“I didn’t want ‘em to get all worked up over how everything was going.” Mrs. Stoppable sipped her tea.
Mrs. Possible sighed. “Should’ve at least kept the radio on…Would make this a lot easier…”
“…Mom?” the twins asked, sensing something.
Mrs. Possible kneeled down to them. “Boys? Your father… and your sister–” She choked up, not continuing for about 15 seconds. “–THEY’RE DEAD!” She finally blurted out, bursting into tears.
Mrs. Stoppable’s teacup hit the ground, shattering into a million pieces.
Jim and Tim looked at each other. “What?”
“Boys, if you end up hating me for this, know that I hate myself already…”
“Huh? Hate you?”
“Why would we hate you, Mom?”
“They were – they were trying to get the hostages out on GJ helicopters. But I – I had the axe Wade made – I jumped on the helicopter ladder your father was on and sliced the rungs off just above where he was holding onto it – and after we fell back to the ground, I – There was a dead Guardsmen’s gun next to me. I – I grabbed it before he did, and I – I – BUT I WASN’T MYSELF! YOU HAVE TO FORGIVE ME, BOYS! PLEASE! I KNOW YOU TWO CAN MAKE SENSE OF ALL THIS!”
“Oh my god…” Mrs. Stoppable knew immediately what happened.
“What don’t you want to re–” The boys’ eyes went wide as they figured it out. “YOU SHOT DAD?”
“YES!” Mrs. Possible 75 percent cried, 25 percent yelled back. She looked at her hands; touched her mouth, trying to find herself. “And I – I laughed about it! I laughed the coldest, most heartless laugh that even I’ve ever heard – and I taunted Kim over it – I – OH GOD, I WISH I COULDN’T REMEMBER ANY OF THIS!” Mrs. Possible collapsed onto her knees in tears, pounding on the floor with her fist.
The twins looked at each other silently. After reaching a non-verbal agreement, they looked back at her.
“How did Kim die?”
The question was calm, collected - but one could easily sense the pang of sadness echoing underneath.
They let Mrs. Possible take her time to respond. Fifteen minutes later, she sniffed back a tear and began.
“Kim jumped down from the helicopter ladder she was on to go after me so she could take your father’s body back and save it from – well, me – but Wade, he was hiding on top of the Lincoln Memorial statue with a special gun of his Kim, she – She had a gun, I think she got it from that Global Justice guy – She was going to fire at me, trying to wound me… But then Wade – He fired at her – Shego was trying to stop him, and threw a huge blast at the bottom of the statue, which ended up toppling it over… He stayed on it as it fell into the rubble pit – There was a huge cloud of dust - and when it was all over, he was dead, and so was KiMMIE!” Mrs. Possible couldn’t finish – all she could do was cry. “Oh, boys…You know I wasn’t myself. Please – Say you forgive me!”
“Kim’s really gone?” asked the twins, tears starting to form as it settled in. “Dad, too?”
Mrs. Possible nodded. “Yes, boys – They’re really gone.”
The twins lips started to tremble – and then they latched onto her, crying.
“I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but – nothing’s happened to Ronald?” queried Mrs. Stoppable anxiously.
“No, no – Ronald’s fine. Everyone else is fine – except for Wade and Rugua.”
“Rugua?”
“The 3-year old girl I – I –” Mrs. Possible looked at her hands, slowly closing and opening some fists.
“Oh – we saw that part,” said Tim.
“Yeah – I think everyone saw that part.”
Mrs. Possible sniffed back tears. “I’m sorry, boys…If - if it wasn’t for me, this never would have hap-”
“No.”
Mrs. Possible looked up.
Tim wiped away his tears.
“Don’t worry, Mom. It wasn’t your fault.”
“Yeah - don’t blame yourself.”
“What?” asked Mrs. Possible.
Jim looked up.
“Tim’s right. Besides-”
“We may have lost Kim and Dad-”
The twins put their hands on her shoulders. “But we have our mom back. That’s at least worth something.”
Mrs. Possible didn’t know what the tears running down her cheeks now were for anymore: Sadness for the loss of James and her daughter - or happiness that her two sons, at 12 years old, were acting far more maturely than she – a doctor who, like every doctor, had inevitably lost a few of patients – was. Either way, it didn’t matter. She enveloped Jim and Tim in another hug. “Thank you, boys…Thank you…”
“What shall it say, Ma’am? “She could do anything”?”
“No. No…Um…”
“I don’t get it – how the hell did they beat them when the goddamned D.C. National Guard couldn’t?”
“Dude! C’mon! The Middleton National Guard couldn’t beat just Kim, Shego, and Ron last year – when Wade was good, and they were trying not to hurt anyone. You think another National Guard stood a chance against Wade after he’d turned bad? Please! Also, recall on the news yesterday that the evil Mrs. Possible said they were waiting for Team Possible to show up? How much you wanna bet those pathetic henchmen never even met a soldier? Wade destroyed everything with those – uh… meteor…comet things, or whatever the hell they were – before they even got close to their position! And then Team P-”
“Ricardo, do you mind?”
“Huh?” The man chatting away to his friend in line at Bueno Nacho looked up at Señor Senior Senior. “Hey, what, man? I don’t got work today. Can’t I just get a meal without you bein’ all up in my face?”
“Normally, I would not interfere as I have – but you are talking quite loudly-”
“So what, man? I’m allowed to talk to my friend in line. I’ll talk quieter if that’s what you want-”
“-And, you are doing so without any courtesy for those who are around you.” Senior pointed behind him
Ricardo looked behind him. Ron and Monique were looking at him from the booth by the window. Rufus even was looking at him. Ricardo’s face turned red. “Oh man…Uh, sorry – sorry, guys…”
“And one more thing, Ricardo:” said Senior.
“Aw, man, spare me another life lesson, okay?”
“If you were to check your calendar, Ricardo, you would notice that today is Tuesday. So, according to your schedule-” Senior held it up to show him. “You’re, oh…five hours late now, at this point?”
Ricardo’s face dropped.
“I’m sorry, Ricardo – but I’m afraid I am going to have to give you another life lesson: You’re fired. I have already informed Ned and the other employees that you are not to receive the employee discount.”
“You idiot!” Ricardo’s friend semi-laughed. “Now you can only order like, the kid’s meals! Oh, man, I am so glad I brought my wallet anyways…And no man, I ain’t gonna let you mooch off of me, either.”
“This isn’t over, old man. You hear me?” Ricardo stammered - then turned and walked out in a huff.
“I am sorry you had to see that,” said Senior as he walked over to Ron and Monique’s booth. He sighed.
“Don’t you worry about whether or not you just created another villain, Senior. I can guarantee you didn’t.” Ron looked out of the window and watched Ricardo asking for bus money.
Monique stood up, fishing out her wallet. “…wanna clobber him, but Kim would let him go home…”
It was over. Wade was stopped. Mrs. Possible’s good side was reclaimed. It was a moment of triumph.
So why did it all make her feel like a complete sack of shit?
Oh. That’s right - Kim was dead.
Shego was barely able to make it up the stairs. And somehow, she was even able to close the trapdoor.
All she did the next hour was stare. Stand and stare at K – their -- room – with a glazed look in her eyes. She could still smell Kim. She could still see that smile on the ladder, the last one the woman ever gave. She forced herself to walk over to the bed. It felt like it took every damn ounce of her strength to do so.
The bedsheets reeked of her. Shego laughed. Hadn’t had time to wash them yet… She wanted to stay in the bedsheets forever. Never had she been closer to her than here, on the bedsheets… But she knew she couldn’t. Kim was gone. She wasn’t yet. She couldn’t just stay there wrapped in the bedsheets… Well, actually, she could – but then she what the hell would she get done? That’s what Kim would’ve told her. No – wait – it was what she would’ve told Kim. Shego smiled. They had been closer than ever before…
“Shego?”
She’d heard it land, heard them come in, heard them open the trapdoor – but had completely ignored it. She rolled over. They may have landed on her nerves a lot, but none of her brothers needed ask nor speak to know exactly what the gaze splashed across her face meant as she slowly looked up at them.
“Sis…Kim put in the will that it can’t be read without you present.”
It took Shego forever and a fortnight to wrench herself away from the bedsheets. But they knew it would. They didn’t care. Even Mego wasn’t anywhere near that goddamn dense… As she threw herself into Hego’s arms, sobbing out the last of her tears, Shego realised one more thing: It was also what Mom and Dad would’ve told her. And even… Yeah. It was even what Grandmama Go would’ve said.
Meaning-
“C’mon, Sis…”
Shego looked skyward and smiled warmly. “You did approve…”
“What, Sis?”
Shego shook her head. “Nothing, Hego. Nothing… I’ll be there in a second.”
Hego shrugged, and walked back down the stairs.
The black veil fluttered back down over Shego’s eyes as she closed the trapdoor and followed him.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
Monique leaned in and kissed Ron deeply as everyone clapped. After Kim’s death, they’d decided to hold off the wedding until either the last year of college, or after college was over. But after Monique became pregnant Freshman Year, the two of them had decided to go with Sophomore year of college.
In a compromise, they’d decided to hold two ceremonies – the generally considered “traditional” one, and a traditional Jewish one. It certainly made for interesting planning, but it only made the day better.
“Now, everyone – Hold on a minute, you people gettin’ up - There will be a 5-minute break to allow for a wardrobe change, and then the Jewish ceremony will commence, overseen by my friend, Rabbi Katz.”
---
Ron and Monique took a sip of the wine – then Ron crushed the glass with his right foot.
“MAZELTOV!” cried the guests.
---
“I still can’t believe you and Dad could make it!” Monique said, finishing her hug.
“Well, we figured Iceland’ll still be cold when we get back. Plus, we just wanted to see our darling little Granddaughter who’s already speaking at a year old - Hi, Annabella!” The couple waved at the 1-year old girl, her skin the colour of coffee with a light amount of cream mixed into it, and dark blonde hair.
The girl clung to Monique’s leg.
“Aww…Annabella, aren’t you gonna say hi to Grandma and Grandpa?”
The little girl shook her head, and buried her face back into Monique’s leg. “NO!”
“Hey, Annaebella, wanna know something?” Ron kneeled to his daughter. “They’re Packer fans…”
The girl looked up. “Weally?” she asked as everyone chuckled.
“Hey – where’s Rufus?” asked Ron.
Mrs. Possible passed by. “Uh, the caterer wants to chat with you about Rufus, I think, Ronald…”
“What? HEY! RUFUS! You agreed you wouldn’t eat all the hors d’oeuvres!” Ron said, running off.
“Welcome back to James T. Possible Stadium, where just 4 years after the tragic death of Kim Possible, the woman she left behind, Shego, has again been a major factor in Middleton University’s incredible 98-0 lead over USC in this BCS National Championship Game. With just ten seconds to go, the Rabid Cats have the ball at the USC 10-yard line after another USC fumble and a timeout called by Shego.”
“All they gotta do is spike the ball here, and it’s over.”
“Here’s the snap – Flagg hands it off to Shego – and she – what the? – she’s handing the linebacker the ball? - And pointing to the other end zone! She’s tellin’ him to run down and score! I don’t believe it!”
“Wow – and all the Middleton players are just standing around on the field urging this guy on!”
“And finally, he just gives up and runs down to put USC on the board! What a show of sportsmanship, and what a perfect way for Shego to end her run as one of the best college football players in history!”
“She wouldn’t have done that five years ago….”
“Well, Chris, remember what she said after she won the Heisman in that unanimous landslide vote her Freshman year? “Don’t vote for me next year, because I’ve won it already. Someone else deserves it.” She’s really changed since the first time I ever met her. What a great display of some class – seriously.”
“You said it, Ed – and now let’s go down to the field, where Stuart Scott is with Shego. Stuart?”
“Thanks, Swami – and I got a little treat for you. Not only am I here with my girl Shego – but my boy Ron Stoppable, better known as the Middleton University mascot! Ron, my man, what brings you here?
“Actually, I’m just giving Shego her glasses. Monique’s off work late, so I gotta pick Annabella up…”
“Aight, man, catch you on the flipside. Now, Shego, I gotta ask: What’s the dilly on that last play, yo?”
“Well, you know – we were up 98-0, and I figured it’d be really embarrassing for them to have their last offensive play be a fumble. Doesn’t look good on the resume, you know what I mean? So I called the timeout, talked to coach, the guys, and they all agreed it’d be a great thing to do. I mean, this was a great USC team - Got some incredible tacklers – but I mean, c’mon - Nobody deserves a score like that…”
“Would you have done that if you guys were up 21-7 with 10 seconds left to go?”
“What? Oh, hell no. Kim didn’t convert me that far, Stewie…You kiddin’ me?”
“Hey, go easy on the Stewie… Aight – whoah, there – trophy nearly smacked me in the head… Alright, Shego – you have the National Championship Trophy in your hand – got anything else you wanna say?”
“Yeah - Brick, get over here, man!” Doing so, Brick and Shego held up the trophy. “FOR KIMMIE!”
----
“I did it, Kim…I did it again! See?” Shego held out the championship trophy replica. “Huh? Oh – that – Well, you lost another bet to me again. Said I’d go two years, then go into the NFL … Well, I kid you not: I’m getting my Masters! And they picked me to be Valedictorian again! What? I know! It’s great! And the best part? I did it for you. Remember, I promised I’d go 4 years just to prove you wrong? Yeah. Well, I did. All of it was for you. You saved me. You saved your mother. You – you saved everybody-”
“AUNT SHEGO! The Packers game starts in, like, 10 minutes!” cried an annoyed 3-year old Annabella.
“Alright, hold on!” Shego called out.
She looked back. “Huh? Oh! That’s Ron and Monique’s kid – I told you about her, right? Yeah – her! What? Her name? I told you, didn’t I? Ah, I see…Well, they named her Annabella Kimberly Stoppable. Eh? Oh, yeah – are you kidding me? Between, Ron, Monique and I? She’s already a total sports nut…”
“AUNT SHEGOOOO!” Annabella whined.
“Sorry, I gotta go. Green Bay’s playin’ Chicago. Oh, yeah – the Cubs almost won the World Series last year! I know! Isn’t that awesome? Everyone’s sayin’ they might actually win it all this year! Alright, well, see you later! Wish you were here!” She set the trophy replica on the grass, blew a kiss, and left.
“How come you always do that, Aunt Shego?” asked Annabella when Shego returned to the car.
“Do what?” Shego asked as she buckled herself in. She adjusted her glasses.
“Talk to her?”
Shego smiled to herself, and started the car. “You’ll find out one day. Buckle up.”
They drove away – leaving the trophy replica leaning against a grave – the tombstone of which read:
KIM POSSIBLE
SHE WAS A GREAT PERSON
END CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE END