The next few days were a blur for Kim. After Shego was incarcerated, Kim was not allowed to see her under any circumstances. It had been a blow to the redhead at first, but now she no longer cared.
She no longer cared about a lot of things. School didn’t really matter to her anymore, nor did the remains of what had once been her social life. After the charges had been dropped, everything simply went back to normal. It was all just a blur, really. Only the truly important things stood out in her memory.
The sound of a gavel, bringing the courtroom into order. That was what she had heard when her fate was decided.
“Miss Possible, the evidence against you is overwhelming,” the judge had spoken, not caring what GJ had said about simply acquitting her. He preferred to do things the old fashioned way, from what Kim had heard. At least he had agreed to make the hearing private. “Assisting a known felon in escaping imprisonment, going to a night club with a minimum age of 21, and assault against your best friend.”
Wait, what did the fact that Ron was her best friend have to do with anything?
“The first one alone would net you a few years in prison under normal circumstances,” he had finished.
Kim had said nothing. Her lawyer had advised her as such, but the real reason that Kim stayed quiet was because she had nothing to say. She didn’t care anymore.
“However,” the judge sighed, “Given your standing in the community, as well as the strings that your friends at GJ managed to pull, I’m inclined to let you off with a warning. I would have given you community service, but given the amount you participated in prior to your crimes, what’s the point?”
A low rumble of laughter made its way through the small audience of the courtroom. Even Kim’s lawyer cracked a smile. Kim herself stayed stone-faced.
The sound of the gavel silenced the audience. “Order!” the judge shouted before continuing: “But rest assured, Miss Possible, commit one more felony, and you’ll be looking at 300 hours of community service. Do you understand?” He looked her straight in the eyes.
“Yes, your honor,” Kim said dispassionately.
“Good,” the judge had replied. With a bang of the gavel, he announced: “Case dismissed!”
After that, Kim had tried to go back to school, just in time for finals. She didn’t remember much. She probably flunked the tests. She didn’t care. All that really stuck out in her mind was when she was reunited with Monique.
“Hey, baby girl,” the African-American beauty had said as she gave the emotionless Kim a hug.
“Hi, Mon,” Kim said in response, not nearly as excited about seeing Monique as her friend was to see her. “How’ve you been?”
It was a rhetorical question, but Monique answered anyway. “Well, since you been gone, I started dating Brick.”
That snapped Kim out of her daze. “You’re kidding!” she squealed, already starting to resemble her old self. Maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to go back, she reasoned.
Monique simply smirked. “Nope, I kid you not. After he ditched little Bon-Bon, Middleton’s star quarterback gave yours truly a ride home from the prom.”
“Monique, that’s great!” Kim shouted happily, enveloping her best female friend in another hug.
“I know, I know,” Monique replied humbly. “That’s not all, either.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a set of keys.
Kim could barely keep herself from squealing when she saw the insignia on one of the keys. “Mon, you got a—”
“Car, I know,” Monique finished proudly. “My birthday came a few days after the prom.”
“I’m sorry I missed it,” Kim said, dipping her head slightly.
“Don’t be,” Monique insisted with a wave of her palm. “It was family-only anyway. Mama didn’t want Brick comin’ over.” She rolled her eyes.
Kim chuckled. “Sounds like my dad.” The two girls shared a giggle and started to walk to the parking lot.
Monique’s face suddenly turned serious. “So how’ve you been holding up?”
“Okay,” Kim replied half-heartedly.
“You don’t sound okay,” the chocolate queen observed. “How’s things goin’ with Ron?”
Kim sighed and dipped her head. “That’s pretty much the only thing left to straighten out. Our last meeting wasn’t exactly a friendly one.”
Monique nodded, and stopped walking. “I heard. Did you really punch that boy in the face?”
“Why?” Kim asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Well did you?” Monique repeated, not backing down. “I talked to him earlier today. He says he’s been tryin’ to call you for days now. Why haven’t you been answering?”
“Because I don’t know what to say!” Kim blurted, taking Monique by surprise and causing her to take a step back. “Because I’m afraid I'll hurt him again if he and I try and talk it out!”
“Well you’re hurting him now!” Monique countered. “If you don’t talk to him sooner or later, you’ll end up driving him away for good!”
Kim didn’t speak. She just stared. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks, yet she made no effort to wipe them away. Finally, she said quietly, “Maybe that’s what I want.”
Monique was stunned, a fact made obvious by her exaggerated gasp. “You can’t be serious!”
“Well what if I am?” Kim screamed. “What if I can’t bring myself to talk to him because I’m so damn confused right now and all I want to do is run away again? He doesn’t deserve me as a friend!” Her voice was choked by tears, and yet she did her best to scream at Monique, who just stood there, unflinching.
“You say that, but I know what you really mean,” the black-haired girl replied flatly. “You’re afraid that just because he confessed his love for you and you ran out on him, that he won’t still be your friend. Am I correct?”
Kim nodded.
“Well that’s a load of bullshit right there,” Monique continued. “You two have been best friends since Pre-Kindergarten. That’s thirteen years, Kim. Running out on him because you were confused and punching him in the face because you were angry isn’t gonna ruin a friendship like the two of you have.”
Kim sniffed as she dragged her arm across her face, wiping away the tears. “You really think so?”
Monique nodded. “I know so. Something that trivial isn’t going to drive you two apart. But shutting him out and refusing to talk to him will.”
The redhead nodded in understanding and sniffed again, and Monique drew her into a hug. “Have I ever told you that you’re the best friend a girl could have?”
Monique chuckled. “Only about a thousand times. I’m here for you, GF.”
Kim squeezed Monique tighter. “Thank you,” she said.
“For what?”
“For not holding the past couple of weeks against me,” Kim clarified.
“As you would say, ‘No big,’” Monique dismissed as she and Kim separated. “Everybody makes mistakes. I just hope you learned from this one.”
“I think I’m learning,” Kim responded. “But there’s still a lot left to straighten out. I mean, how are people going to trust me to go on missions anymore?”
Monique placed her hand on Kim’s shoulder. “You’ll figure it out,” she assured the redhead. “You always do.”
“Thanks, Monique,” Kim said once more as the two girls began to walk to Monique’s car again. “I think I'll call Ron up after I get home.”
“You do that, baby girl,” Monique replied as she moved to her side of the car. She pulled the keys out of her pocket and unlocked the doors. Both girls climbed into the vehicle. “Now then,” she spoke up, changing the subject. What’s this I hear about you bein’ a lesbian?”
Kim laughed as they began to pull away from the school. “Well, it all started at the prom….”
Back in the present, Kim giggled softly to herself as she thought of Monique’s reaction to the whole story. The girl had taken the whole thing rather well, and proved to Kim once more that even if things weren’t going so well with Ron, she always had someone she could count on. Now, as she lay on her bed, waiting for Ron, she couldn’t help thinking to herself that maybe Shego had been wrong. Maybe she could go back to her normal life. After all, anything’s possible for a Possible, right?
Right?
As far as interrogation rooms went, it wasn’t half bad, Shego observed. It was predictably spartan, with a single metal table and two chairs under a bare light bulb that seemed to expose every particle of dust in the otherwise sanitary room. The floor and ceiling were concrete, and the walls were lined with what Shego was sure were two-way mirrors through which her captors could observe her. She didn’t give them much of a show, nor did she much care that they were watching her. They were just one more set of eyes among many.
At least they had been trusting enough not to shackle her to the chair. Or maybe it was the fact that, despite the vast resources at their disposal, GJ still hadn’t figured out how to put a damper on Shego’s powers. Shego herself didn’t know if there was any way to counter them. Not that she would tell them if she did. As she was the only one in the room, with no one to talk to, Shego did what she did whenever she was bored: she filed her gloves.
To some it would seem a rather silly practice, but Shego knew that the metal claws sewn into her gloves would not stay sharp forever. Besides, it gave her something to do with all her bundles of free time. And since there were no magazines lying around, this was the best of her options at this point. Why GJ let her keep her nail file Shego didn’t know, but the fact that they made no attempt to reel in her far more potent plasma abilities led her to suspect that perhaps they were just counting on her to comply. Which, surprisingly enough, she was more than willing to do.
The steel door at the end of the room hissed open, and a brown-haired woman with an eye patch over her right eye entered. As soon as she passed its threshold, the door automatically hissed shut.
“What’s up, Doc?” Shego said in mock greeting.
Dr. Director chuckled. “Always with the snark, Shego. Why can’t you simply say, “Hello?”
Shego placed her feet casually up on the table and leaned back in her chair. “Well, I could, but then I wouldn’t get to hear that enchanting laugh of yours.” She laid on the sarcasm so thick that Dr. Director could practically taste it.
The one-eyed woman laughed again. “Well as long as we’re talking, you can start answering questions.”
Shego didn’t even look up from her nails. “Shoot.”
A wry smile formed at the edge of Dr. Director’s mouth. Shego always was entertaining. “What happened with Kim Possible?”
“Exactly what I told you earlier: she kicked me into a tower, put me in a police van, then an hour later she comes and tells me she loves me. She suggests we run off together—”
“She suggested it then?” Dr. Director interrupted.
Shego cast an annoyed glance at Betty for a brief second before returning her attention to her nails. “Yeah. She suggested it. And I agreed. Anyway, we—”
“So you didn’t try to stop her?” the one-eyed woman questioned once more.
Shego looked briefly annoyed, then began to laugh hysterically. “Well of course not! I mean, what’d you expect me to do? Tell her, ‘No, I’d rather go to prison where we eat processed crap for breakfast, lunch and dinner and all the girls are either fat or dykish?’ Sorry, but I prefer good food and skinny femmes.”
“…skinny femmes…” Dr. Director recited to herself as she jotted down Shego’s words for later. “And then what happened?”
“We ran off to one of Drakken’s old lairs, the one with a jamming system. We did… personal things for a couple days—”
“You mean sex,” the one-eyed woman chimed in.
“Actually, no,” Shego responded smugly. “Possible will tell you the same thing. We didn’t have sex. Hell, I’m the one who convinced her not to.”
“I'll give you the benefit of the doubt,” Dr. Director deadpanned, jotting something down on her notepad. She chuckled. “Which actually eliminates a lot of my questions.”
“Good, then you can answer one of mine,” Shego replied. “Is Kimmie okay?” She asked the question with a level of concern that surprised even Dr. Director, who had a reputation for taking things in stride.
Dr. Director sighed. “She will be. She won’t talk to Ron after what happened at the lair. You know, I’m still surprised that he was able to get in there so easily.”
Shego grinned. “Yeah, well, an alarm kinda gets annoying when you have to fight off a dozen synthodrones just to get a midnight snack. Plus, Kimmie mentioned that he was trained at some sort of… secret ninja school.”
“Yamanouchi,” Dr. Director said.
Shego snapped her fingers as she recalled the name. “Yeah, that’s the one. Wait, how do you know about it?”
Dr. Director tapped the manila folder that she had placed on the table. “Global Justice is an intelligence agency, Shego. We gather information from all kinds of different sources.”
“Like Kim’s computer kid,” Shego chimed.
Betty smiled.
Shego placed both hands behind her head and leaned back in her chair, still resting her legs on the table. “So what’s gonna happen to me?” she asked with a slight yawn, not really caring.
“Well, we’re keeping you here for now,” Dr. Director said. “Given that none of the world’s prisons can hold you.”
Shego smirked and held her hand in front of her face. “And you think you’ll fare better how?”
The one-eyed woman grinned. “We have something you want.”
“Kimmie,” Shego guessed.
Dr. Director nodded.
“You really think she matters that much to me?” Shego said flatly.
“You haven’t attacked me yet,” Dr. Director pointed out.
Shego laughed. “True.” The green woman shifted her position to where her feet were back on the floor and her elbows were resting on the table as she leaned closer to Dr. Director. “But what’s to say I won’t?”
Betty smirked. “Whether you’ll admit it to me or not, you do care for her. I guessed as much when I saw you and Miss Possible on the front page of every newspaper nationwide.”
A chuckle was Shego’s reply. “Ya caught me, Doc.” She leaned back in her chair once more. “But tell me, what exactly could you do to her now? I mean, she’s fully acquitted.”
“But she can’t go back to being a hero. You know that, Shego,” Betty pointed out. “We can ensure that she gets back on the right track.”
Shego smiled inwardly, but still maintained her cool composure. ‘That’s what you think. Watch. Kimmie’s gonna fuck it all up, and she’ll come crying to me when things don’t work out. You really think Iwanther to live a normal life? Please. I’m just biding my time until she breaks me out.’
Almost as if she were reading Shego’s thoughts, Dr. Director smirked. “I have a meeting to go to, so I believe this concludes our session for today.” She snapped her fingers, and the door hissed open. A tall, muscular figure walked through. When she caught a clear glimpse of the new arrival, Shego busted out laughing.
The man was not amused. “What?”
Shego could barely control herself. The man filled out the uniform well enough, but after seeing him in the same black and blue jumpsuit for so many years, Shego found the sight hilarious. The only thing that could have made it funnier was if he were wearing one of those stupid helmets. She noticed that he kept the mask, however. “He-Hego! Working for Global Justice?” she squealed. “Oh, this is priceless!” She was rolling on the floor laughing now.
“It’s not funny!” Hego shouted.
Shego regained her composure long enough to address her older brother. “It’s a little funny,” she opined, squeezing her thumb and forefinger so close together that they almost touched. She went back to laughing.
The elder Go straightened his arms and clenched his fists, causing a blue glow to emanate from his hands. He ground his teeth tighter with each laugh from his sister. If one looked close enough, they could actually see steam coming from his ears.
Finally gaining control of herself, Shego stood up. “Things not working out with the team, Hego?” she asked in mock sympathy.
Hego mumbled something under his breath.
“I’m sorry, what was that again?” Shego mocked, cupping her hand to her ear.
“I said we lost the funding on the tower,” Hego repeated a bit louder. “It’s just like what happened with Team Impossible. Kim Possible drives everyone out of business. Then the only place we can turn to is Global Justice.”
Shego strode over to Hego and placed a hand on his shoulder, still mocking him. “Aw, it’s okay,” she said snidely. “Haven’t ya heard? Kimmie’s turned to the dark side now.”
Hego lit up. “Really? So I can still be a hero?”
Shego smirked and shook her head. “Nuh-uh. Sorry bro, but the big guy always takes over the little guy. Global Justice is the future. You ever wonder why I quit?”
“Well look where it got you,” Hego gloated, placing his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest arrogantly. “Now I’m the one who gets to escort you to your cell.”
Shego turned to Dr. Director. “Somehow I’m not surprised,” she said with a smile. “What better way to counter my abilities than with those of my brothers? I gotta hand it to ya, Doc. You really know how to run this organization.” Surprisingly, there was not an ounce of sarcasm in her voice.
Dr. Director bowed at the compliment. “Thank you, Shego. Hego will show you to your cell. I have a meeting to go to.” With that, she exited.
“So Hego,” Shego said with an evil grin. “Have I told you how much I love the new uniform?”
Hego scowled. “Yeah, yeah. Are you gonna come willingly or do I have to use force?”
Shego started to walk. “You can’t force me to do anything,” she said. “I have my own reasons for doing this. Besides, you think I’m gonna pass up this opportunity to mock you? Hello! This is mocking gold!”
“Whatever,” Hego growled. “Just walk.”
“Will do,” Shego replied.
A tall, thin Asian haired man stopped and turned to them. “What?”
The two super-powered siblings flashed him a death glare. “Nothing!”
Pandaroo was no ordinary stuffed animal. Sure, the toy was filled with plush and wasn’t technically alive, but to Kim, he was more than that. He was the one she turned to when nobody else was available. Pandaroo never judged her or yelled at her. He never told her to stop crying and face her fears when all she wanted to do was find comfort in the arms of another. Friends came and went, but the only constant factor in Kim’s life was Pandaroo. With things not working out with Ron, she needed him now more than ever.
And so she sat cross-legged on her bed, holding the stuffed animal tight against her chest, the top of his head in her mouth. Bits of drool dampened Pandaroo, much like a soggy blanket in the mouth of an infant. Kim had reverted to her childlike state, where she didn’t have to think about things like broken friendships or lesbian lovers who were in prison. As she rocked gently back and forth, the only thing on her mind was the softness of the fabric that made up her Pandaroo, and the comfort that she felt from holding him. It was better than thinking about anything else at the moment.
A sudden knock at the door shocked Kim out of her meditative state, bringing a sad expression to her face as she set Pandaroo on the bed and got up to face the music. She walked over slowly, taking a deep breath and hesitating before turning the handle and pulling the door open. As much as she had prepared herself for this moment, as much as she had gone over what to say in her head, Kim still found herself unable to speak.
They stared blankly at each other, empty shells that had once contained the souls of best friends. They were only two feet apart, but it felt as though an infinite chasm had formed between them. Silently, they stood there like two trains meeting on the same track, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Their mouths spoke no words, but their eyes betrayed everything. Kim’s hand remained on the doorknob, ready to close the door at a moment’s notice. The boy across from her simply stood with his hands hung limply by his sides.
It wasn’t the lack of emotion on his face, nor was it the way he stood there motionlessly: it was his eyes. Those chocolate brown spheres that had once been so full of life were now dead, filled with not even so much as sadness. And yet, she could see everything in those eyes. The pain she had caused him, evident by the way his eyes no longer sparkled, cut her like a knife. Regret hit her full force, and suddenly Kim found herself having trouble standing. She let go of the doorknob, buckling her knees and falling to the floor.
Just as she was about to hit the ground, a pair of large hands sprung forward reflexively, catching her and placing her back on her feet. Kim chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her neck.
“Thanks,” she finally managed to speak.
“No problem.”
“Do you… Do you wanna come in?” Kim asked quietly.
Ron nodded.
Kim cantered slowly over to her bed, resuming her earlier position and squeezing Pandaroo as tightly as she possibly could. Ron pulled up a chair beside the bed.
“So…” Kim began, not really knowing what to say, but preferring unfinished sentences to awkward silence. “H-how’ve you been?” She cursed herself mentally. What a stupid thing to ask! Worse, she had put him in the awkward position of answering.
“Okay.”
Okay? That was a lie. “Your nose is broken in three places,” Kim pointed out, indicating the bandage that split Ron’s face down the middle.
Ron chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, well, you hit kind of hard. For a girl, that is.” Kim scowled out of instinct. Realizing his mistake, Ron threw his hands in the air. “Don’t hit me again!” he pleaded.
Kim laughed. Good ol’ Ron. Always finding a way to ease the tension. Suddenly talking to him seemed easier. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna hit you,” she assured him, and he relaxed. Kim dipped her head slightly. “I’m sorry that I hit you in the first place, though. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Fah,” Ron dismissed with a wave of his hand. “I deserved it. I shouldn’t have come up and grabbed you. I should know better than that by now.”
Out of all the possible responses that she had expected Ron to give, this was the only one for which Kim had not prepared. It had never even crossed her mind, in fact. But now that she thought about it, how could she have believed that he would answer any differently? Mon was right. She really had gotten too worked up about this. She smiled. “You never let me feel guilty, do you?”
Ron smiled back. “Never, KP. It was my fault, not yours. You’ve got nothin’ to be sorry about.”
“Are you sure?” Kim asked.
“I’m sure,” Ron answered a little too quickly. He looked away just as fast.
Kim couldn’t help but think to herself that this was all too good to be true. It probably was, and Ron likely still resented her on the inside. But as long as he wasn’t showing it, she felt better. It suddenly dawned on her why he was taking all the blame on himself: he cared for her. More than anything else in the world. Rather than make her feel better, however, the realization only made her heart heavier. Ron had always been there for her. She hadn’t done the same for him.
“What about Shego?” she asked.
“What about Shego?” Ron returned innocently, as though trying to dodge the question.
“The fact that I’m in love with her,” Kim clarified.
“I’m okay with it,” Ron replied far too quickly and in much too high a voice to have given it any real thought. Kim raised an eyebrow and gave him the most skeptical of glares. “Okay, so I’m not okay with it,” Ron admitted after only two seconds. “Kinda freaks me out, actually.”
Kim sighed. At least he was being honest now. “Is it because she’s a girl?”
Ron shook his head and blew a puff of air to signal how ridiculous that suggestion was. “Nah, that’s not it. Can’t say I’m really surprised, either. I mean, you’ve never been that lucky with guys.”
“I’ve dated!” Kim retorted, though she didn’t know why.
“Yeah, and I can count them on one hand,” Ron replied. To demonstrate this point, he held up a finger. “You locked braces with Walter Nelson, and after that his family moved to New York. That was your first boy.” He raised a second finger. “Second one was Josh Mankey. You went with him to the Spirit Dance, and you went on a date that ended up with you turning invisible and almost disappearing. And you yourself said that you just moved on.” He held up a third finger. “Then we have Brick Flagg, who you kept insisting ‘was not your boyfriend,’ and who ended up dumping you after you saved him from a crazed stuntwoman. Plus, he’s dating Monique now.”
“Then there’s you,” Kim reminded him.
“I’d hardly call one kiss at the prom followed by you running out and hooking up with Shego a date,” Ron retorted. “Plus, the whole thing kinda felt rushed. After you left….” He stopped.
“What?” Kim prodded, needing to know.
Ron sighed and continued. “After you left, I couldn’t help but wonder if I took things too fast. I mean, admitting my feelings for you did get you out of that funk, but….”
“But…?”
“But I wonder if it was too soon. I mean, did I come on too strong, did you not want to be kissed right then, was it my breath….”
Kim stopped him. “No, no, it wasn’t any of those things, Ron.” She lowered her head. “It was my fault. I’m the one who took things too fast. I led you on even though I knew I didn’t really feel that way about you. I wanted to repay you for helping me that night.” She brushed a tear away from her eye. “But the truth is, I’ve always seen you as sort of a brother. I don’t feel the same way you do, Ron. I’m sorry.”
“Hey,” Ron whispered, reaching out to her and lifting her chin with his finger. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault. It’s nobody’s fault. Maybe we just weren’t meant to be. Maybe… maybe we just needed to get it out of our system.”
Kim chuckled softly as she wiped a tear from her eye. “You really think so?”
Ron smiled. “I know so.”
“Thanks,” Kim whispered softly.
“For what?”
“For being my best friend no matter what,” she replied.
“Hey,” Ron stood up and stretched his arms out. “C’mere.”
Kim stood to her feet and gave in to the hug. For no reason other than she was a mixture of relieved and overjoyed, tears started to stream down her cheeks, landing on Ron’s shoulder, which seemed to have been sculpted especially for her face.
In that moment, it all made sense. Shego was wrong. Kim could get her life back. She may not be able to go back to being a hero, but maybe this was the chance for her to live a normal life. Maybe this was her destiny after all. To just be average American cheerleader Kim Possible, the girl who used to save the world. And that was enough for her.
“So how’s life as a GJ agent been treating you?” Shego asked with a surprising lack of sarcasm.
“Okay,” Hego answered. “It’s more steady work, less time lying around the tower waiting for an alert, but at least the pay’s good.”
Shego chuckled. “Maybe if you had paid me I would have stuck around.”
“Like I would pay my own sister to do what she owed to her family?” Hego scoffed.
Shego rolled her eyes. “You see, that’s why I left. You were always talking about how it was our ‘duty;’ how we ‘owed’ the people of Go City. I don’t owe anybody anything.”
“You owe the U.S. Government 6.3 billion dollars in stolen goods,” the elder Go pointed out. “Not to mention the other ten countries you’re wanted in.”
A proud smile was Shego’s only response.
“Whatever,” Hego sighed. “We’re here.”
The cell was unlike any Shego had ever seen. Instead of metal bars, which Shego could easily cut through, the cell was enclosed in a force field, which was a deep purple in color. Shego guessed it had something to do with the fact that her powers were green, and purple was the opposite of green. What simplistic idiot thought of that? Experimentally, she fired a bolt at the force field.
“Shit!” Hego yelled before it even connected, tacking his sister to the ground. Shego was wondering what the hell had gotten into her brother when she saw the field reflect the plasma, flipping it 180 degrees and shooting it right over their heads, landing in the door at the far end of the room. “Don’t DO that!” the giant commanded, getting up and dusting himself off.
“Calm down, wet blanket,” Shego snapped. “I just wanted to see what would happen.”
“Well, have you seen enough?”
Shego smirked. “Yup. Looks like GJ finally got their act together. Let me guess: you helped.”
“Him? That blue buffoon wouldn’t know how to make a force field if it hit him in his big head!” Shego turned and saw a man with purple hair, sans the mask that he usually wore. Apparently Mego had followed them in. “Your old boss designed it.”
“Drakken?” Shego asked angrily, feeling somehow betrayed.
“Yes, Shego,” came a voice from one of the cells they had passed. Shego turned around and saw that it was none other than her former employer. Why hadn’t she noticed that before? Had she really been so caught up in needling Hego that she’d missed it? “I’ve been around your plasma longer than anyone else except your brothers here. I know how to keep you under control.”
Shego responded as she always did when she felt betrayed: she got angry. She clenched her hands into fists and ignited them, prepared to rip the blue doctor a new one. Her plan was thwarted, however, when she felt a rather large pair of hands grab her from the back and toss her into the cell, whose force field had been momentarily deactivated. As soon as she crossed the threshold, the purple energy lit up again. She powered down, no longer seeing the point.
“I'll leave you two to discuss matters,” Hego announced proudly. “Let’s go, Mego.”
“Oh, hey, nice internal rhyme,” the purple Go mocked. “You ever think about poetry, Hego?”
“Shut up.” The door hissed shut behind them.
Now Shego was alone in the cell-block with her old boss. Her cell was in the center of the room, and rows of other inmate’s cells were like spokes of a wheel around her. There appeared to be four spokes in total. She decided to examine her cell.
There was a chair, satellite television, and a good selection of magazines for Shego to pass the time. Betty had even sprung for green and black shag carpeting. Shego smiled. They were actually trying to keep her this time. She decided to stay for now, at least until Kimmie was allowed to visit. Then she could drop subtle hints about wanting to escape. Besides, she had business to attend to. Sitting down in the lush chair, she turned to Drakken and scowled.
“Well, don’t you look comfy in your new cell,” the blue doctor sneered. “I told them that if they wanted to keep you around, they were going to have to give you some basic accommodations.”
“That’s the only thing that stops me from breaking out of this cell right now and strangling you to death, you blue traitor,” Shego snarled. “Why would you design something to hold me?”
Drakken smiled in such a way that he only did when he was about to launch into one of his trademark rants. “Have you forgotten, Shego? You left with Possible without so much as saying goodbye. I heard everything. I know how you feel about her.”
“So does the entire world, Dr. Dumbass,” Shego retorted. “Oh, wait, you don’t get the newspaper here.”
“Gnn, there goes my plan,” the mad scientist cursed. “I was hoping I could blackmail you.”
Shego leaned back in her chair and smirked. “Too bad, Dr. D, ‘cause I love Kimmie, and I don’t care who knows it.”
“Well this explains a lot, seriously.”
Drakken looked annoyed and turned around. “Go back to sleep, Eddie. I’m trying to talk with my former sidekick.”
“I was never your sidekick, you idiot,” Shego snapped. “I just stayed with you for the chance to fight Kimmie.”
“She still would have stopped you if you were on your own, you know,” Drakken pointed out. “Why did you stay with me?”
“Because unlike you, I don’t stab people in the back and leave them to be kicked into electrical towers,” Shego replied venomously. “I stay true to my word, and you had me under contract.”
“You’re still under contract!” the blue doctor declared, grasping at straws now. This was not how he had expected it to go. He had expected Shego to be an emotional wreck, sobbing over the loss of her Kimmie. But instead she was still the same smartass he had always known. This posed a problem.
“No, I’m not. Contracts aren’t legally binding when the employer is in prison. I only broke you out all those times because you hadn’t pissed me off enough to leave you. But now you have.”
“Gnn,” Drakken growled. “This is so not how it was supposed to go. You’re supposed to be depressed right now; easy to manipulate! Do you have a heart of stone, woman?”
“No, I just won’t open it up for you,” Shego said simply. “Only Kimmie has that right. Besides, she’ll come and break me out.”
“What makes you so sure, babe, seriously?” Ed had crept out of the shadows and was now staring a little too intently at Shego, even though the force field made her skin look even more odd.
Shego scoffed. “I don’t have to explain it to you two losers. I know Kimmie. She’ll come and get me. She can’t go back to being a hero after she’s been a villain. It’s too much fun on the other side. Hell, I'll bet she’s planning how to get me out right now….”
Ever since she had made amends with Ron, Kim had been walking on air. The last official week of the school year had arrived, and the whole school was a flurry of yearbook-signing, people talking about where they wanted to go on vacation that summer, and people saying their last goodbyes before the school year ended. The mood of the Junior class was a mixture between happiness at finally being done with the school year, and sadness at the fact that the next year would be their last. For Kim, however, there could be no bigger relief. One less thing to worry about.
Since she had officially announced her retirement as a teen hero to the press, the media had been abuzz about Kim. “I just want to live a normal life now,” she had said in front of all the cameras, microphones and shouting reporters. “I’ve had my fun. Now I'm just going to leave the world saving to the professionals.” At that, the newly reestablished Team Impossible had stepped out onto the stage, posing proudly and smiling for the cameras. Kim had smiled both outwardly and inwardly.
“Team Impossible wishes to express our gratitude to Miss Possible for her noble sacrifice,” Dash Demond had said. “We know that it must be hard for her to give up her life as a hero, and we salute her for having the courage to step down and allow us to take her place. In honor of her policy of not charging to save the world, Team Impossible is proud to announce that we are now non-profit. We’ll do you proud, Miss Possible.”
Kim smiled. That had been last week. Little did they know how easy the decision was for her to make. She didn’t see any point in saving the world anymore, especially since she had gotten a taste of the other side. Maybe Shego had been right about her not being able to go back to being a hero, but that didn’t mean Kim couldn’t still live a normal life, surrounded by friends. The school had accepted her back as though she had never left, and soon she was on the top of the food chain once again. Life was good.
For now.
She was walking with Ron to her Algebra II class when Kim spotted the one person she didn’t want to see. The sight of that brown hair and those icy blue eyes made her blood boil, but Kim did her best to remain calm. No point in violating her probation. She stopped at exactly the same time as the other girl and the posse that followed her around wherever she went.
“How’s it goin’, K?” Bonnie sneered. “Bet you’re really enjoying your new free time now that I’ve been promoted to head cheerleader.”
Rather than form a retort, Kim decided to frustrate her rival by playing nice. “Yeah, congratulations on that, by the way. I’m sure you’ll do a great job.”
“Damn straight!” Bonnie huffed. “And don’t think you’re gonna get it back when I get tired of the responsibility, because I am not the same girl I was two years ago. I’ve learned that work can be just as fun as play if it has the right payoffs.”
Kim crossed her arms. “And those would be?”
“Watching your face when you try out the new routine I designed for you,” the brunette said smugly. “And the way the crowd will be cheering for me instead of you.”
“What makes you so sure about that?” Kim challenged.
Bonnie grinned. “Oh, well, let’s see: you quit saving the world, you’re on probation, you were seen kissing a girl on the front page of every newspaper worldwide, not to mention you barely managed to pass your finals with a C. I’d say you’ve fallen from grace.”
“I’m still more popular than you’ll ever be, you stupid plastic bitch,” Kim snapped. “The people of this school don’t love you; they’re afraid of you. You really think that posse of yours follows you around for your bubbly personality? You wouldn’t know humility if it crawled up your leg and pulled that pool cue out of your fat ass.” She walked up to the stunned Bonnie and placed her finger on her sternum. “This whole school is sick and fucking tired of your whole queen bee act. Do you know what people say when you’re not around? They call you names, Bonnie. They call you a bitch, ice queen, phony, egomaniac, and some other stuff you don’t even want to know about. You’re about as popular as a playground bully, Bonnie. Get the hell over yourself.” With that, Kim shoved the brunette back a couple of feet and crossed her arms.
For the first time in her life, Bonnie was at a loss for words. She opened and closed her mouth, but no words came out. Finally, she clenched her hands into fists, straightened her arms by her sides, and screamed as she stormed away.
Ron was dumbstruck. “Uh, wow, KP… that… that was a little….”
“Harsh?” Kim finished smugly.
“Shego-like,” Ron clarified.
The realization that she had just practically channeled her former arch-enemy only made Kim smile all the more broadly. Ron, on the other hand, chuckled nervously. ‘Oh, this does not bode well,’ he thought.
She couldn’t believe it.
“I just want to live a normal life now,” said a very familiar voice on the TV screen. “I’ve had my fun. Now I'm just going to leave the world saving to the professionals.”
That wasn’t how it was supposed to go.
“Damn it!” Shego yelled as she lit up her hand and tossed a plasma bolt through the screen, ruining the TV set. She didn’t care. “She wasn’t supposed be able to go back! She was supposed to break me out of this hell hole!” She growled and tossed a bolt into the smoldering remains of the television, destroying it further. “Goddamn it!”
“Would you keep it down, Shego? I’m trying to sleep.”
“Grrr,” Shego snarled as she prepared to fire in the direction of the blue doctor, then powered down as she remembered the barrier that prevented her from doing so. She settled for blasting the TV one more time.
“What’s wrong, Shego?” Drakken taunted, now awake. “Plan didn’t go as expected?”
Rather than get angry, Shego got defensive. She started to go into denial. “No, she’ll still come back for me. She loves me. She told me that!”
“How do you know she wasn’t lying?” the blue doctor sneered.
“Because Kimmie. Doesn’t. Lie,” Shego said through clenched teeth, putting more emphasis on each consecutive word.
“How do you know that?” Drakken retorted. “She lied that one Halloween. And didn’t you say she’s a criminal now? What’s to say this wasn’t all just a trick?”
“Because I know Kimmie, that’s why!” Shego yelled. “She’s gonna come back for me!”
“No she’s not,” Drakken replied in a sing-song voice. “Oh, I love this. Here you are, the big bad Shego, helpless against the charms of your old arch-foe. You miss her, don’t you? I’d be surprised if she even thinks about you anymore!”
“SHUT UP!” Shego screeched as she flared up her hands, too blinded by her anger to remember the force field. Without thinking, she hurled a rather large, but still non-lethal, bolt of plasma at the doctor. Rather than hit Drakken with a satisfying “whoomph,” however, the plasma merely reflected off the force field. The smile disappeared from Shego’s face when it struck her in the gut, knocking her flat on her back.
“Hahahahaha!” Drakken sneered, clutching his sides. “Genius, isn’t it? The more power you use, the stronger it reflects it back at you! You’ll never get me!”
Shego didn’t answer. As she lay there on her back, pondering her momentary stupidity, she thought to herself: ‘Damn it, Kimmie, where are you?’
As it turned out, Kim wasn’t even thinking about Shego. It wasn’t that she was insensitive or anything, just that cheer practice required her total concentration. Of course, this was made harder by the fact that one member of the squad was missing. She didn’t really care that Bonnie hadn’t shown up. In fact, she expected as much after the tongue lashing that she gave the brunette. Kim kept telling herself that Bonnie deserved it, that she had been pushed to her limit. But the way she had done it stuck out in her mind. It had felt… well, very satisfying, actually.
“Alright, girls, let’s hit the showers!” she announced, and the entire squad breathed a big sigh of relief. Kim, of course, had barely broken a sweat, and didn’t feel the need to shower until she got home. She also decided to do so because the other girls knew about her sudden flip in orientation and had confronted her about it before practice. She normally would have stood up against the injustice, but for some reason she just didn’t seem to care. Besides, it gave her time for other pursuits.
She was about to engage in those other pursuits when she saw a familiar set of blue eyes walking right towards her. Steeling herself, Kim prepared for a rematch with her high school rival.
“Missed you in practice today, Bonnie,” she greeted. “Had to fill in for you.”
Instead of the reaction Kim expected, Bonnie softened her expression and put her hands together nervously, as though begging forgiveness. “Yeah, sorry about that,” she said. “You kinda had a point earlier. I wanted to see if you were right, so I asked everyone in school what they really thought of me, no strings attached. And you were right. They do hate me. I was too ashamed to come to practice.”
Kim was hit with a wave of satisfaction mixed with guilt. Bonnie got what she deserved, sure, but Kim had never intended to make anyone’s life miserable. She actually felt sorry for the brunette. “Bonnie, I never meant to make you feel that way.”
“It’s alright,” Bonnie dismissed. “I deserved it. I’ve been a total bitch to you over these last few years. And you’ve been nothing but nice to me.”
“That’s not true,” Kim protested. “We’ve butted heads plenty of times.”
“Yeah, but I always started it,” the brown-haired girl pointed out. “You were just standing up for yourself.”
“It’s what I do,” Kim said proudly.
Bonnie suddenly looked nervous and looked to the side, rubbing her fingers together. “Listen, K, do you wanna come to a party tonight? I figure I kinda owe you something after all those times I’ve been a gigantic bitch. This’ll be my way of making it up to you.”
Kim thought about that for a second. This was obviously a trick. There was no way that Bonnie would admit she was wrong. She was about to say no when somebody interrupted.
“What are you two ladies talking about?” Kim turned around and saw Ron approaching.
“Oh, um, Bonnie just invited me to a party,” she said in all honesty.
“Would you like to come to, Ron?” Bonnie asked, causing Kim and Ron’s mouths to simultaneously drop. Even Rufus crawled out of his master’s pocket to show his incredulity.
Kim spoke up first. “Say what? You’d really invite Ron?”
Bonnie chuckled nervously. “Well sure, why not? I mean, after the whole school pretty much told me they hated me, I don’t have that many friends left. You two are the only ones who have ever been nice to me. I kinda wanted to do this to say I’m sorry.”
“Bonnie, I don’t know what to….” She stopped. What a perfect opportunity for her to turn another former enemy into an ally. It would certainly make things less stressful around school. Besides, she’d been dying to get out and do something fun. “Alright, Bonnie,” she said with a smile. “I'll go.”
“No, you’re not,” her father said later that night when she asked him about it at dinner. “You’re on probation, Kimmie-cub. I don’t want you anywhere that there could be alcohol.”
“But daddy!”
“No ‘buts,’ Kimmie-cub. Your mother and I have been sitting back letting you ease back into your routine, but we’re standing firm on this one. House rule: unless it’s for a mission—”
“I don’t go on missions anymore,” Kim reminded him.
“Right. Then unless your mother and I say it’s okay, you are not allowed to leave this house except for school. Are we clear, Kimmie-cub?”
Kim scowled. “Stop calling me that. I’m not a little girl.”
“Then stop acting like one,” Dr. Possible retorted in what had to be the oldest line in the book. Kim rolled her eyes.
“Honey,” her mother spoke. “Your father and I are just worried about you. That time you spent under Shego’s control must have been hard on you.”
“I wasn’t under her control!” Kim insisted vehemently.
“Exactly,” her father agreed. “You chose to break the law and run away from home. The charges may have been dropped, but there are still consequences. One of them being that you are not to leave this house unless it’s for school or your mother and I say it’s okay.”
Kim muttered something under her breath.
“What was that, honey?” Anne prodded. Whatever it was couldn’t have been nice.
“I said this sucks,” Kim repeated a little louder. “This is a really great opportunity for me to turn an enemy into a friend.”
“And you saw what happened last time you did that,” James chimed in. “You ended up committing three felonies. What if Global Justice hadn’t been there to bail you out?”
Kim said nothing.
“Kimmie, we just want what’s best for you,” her mother said in an attempt to comfort. “You need to learn that there are consequences for your actions.”
“Consequences? You want consequences?” Kim shouted, standing up and causing the tweebs, who until now had been sitting rather quietly, to run out of the room as they had learned to do every time this sort of thing happened with Kim. They still eavesdropped on the conversation, though. “The woman I love is currently in GJ custody, and I’m not even allowed to visit her! I’ve been kicked off the honor roll, I damn near failed my classes, and I’m not head cheerleader anymore! That’s plenty of consequences!”
“It’s not enough,” her father disagreed. “You got off easy.”
Kim chuckled bitterly at him. “You know, I knew this was what you were going to say. I don’t know why I even bothered asking you. Maybe I thought that you would see it as a sign of respect and realize that I am learning from all this. I don’t need to be grounded to know what I did was wrong. It was my decision to make, and I made it.”
“And now you have to pay the consequences,” Dr. Possible added.
“Fuck the consequences!” Kim screamed, causing her parents to pale a little. “You just want to keep me under control! I’m not your ‘Kimmie-cub’ anymore, dad! I haven’t been since I was eight! I’m seventeen years old! I can make my own goddamn decisions!”
“Not if you aren’t willing to pay the consequences,” James repeated like a broken record.
Kim let out an enraged scream. “ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!” The sheer volume stunned her parents into silence. Once she was sure there would be no interruptions, Kim continued. “Fine, you know what? I won’t go to that party. But that doesn’t mean I’m gonna buy into your fascist rules! I’ve had it with this place! As soon as I’m eighteen, I’m GONE!” With that, she stormed out of the room, leaving her parents slack-jawed.
James dipped his head. “Damn it,” he whispered.
“Y’know, Bets, I was honestly counting on Kimmie to bust in here and get me out,” Shego said in a somewhat amused tone as the head of Global Justice took the seat across from her. “I thought that after tasting the other side she’d never be able to go back to bein’ a hero. Never counted on the possibility of her droppin’ out completely.”
The brown-haired director smiled as she adopted a more relaxed pose than their previous sessions. “There are many things that we can’t even begin to see coming,” she mused. “Sometimes it works in our favor, sometimes not. You and Kim, for example. I never would have guessed.”
“And it worked in your favor,” Shego said with a smile that denoted no small amount of respect for the woman who had captured her. “Meanwhile, I got royally fucked.”
“I assumed as much based on the state of the television set in your cell,” Betty responded. “What did that thing ever do to you?”
“It showed me something I didn’t wanna see,” Shego answered truthfully. “I thought Team Impossible were your flunkies.”
Dr. Director smiled. “Their contract was up for renewal when it happened. They saw an opportunity and took it. It seems some people want to save the world on their own no matter what.”
“Kimmie used to be like that. I remember complaining not too long ago about how she didn’t know when to quit. You know what she told me?”
Betty shook her head.
“‘Neither do you,’” Shego finished. “I’ve been thinkin’ about that a lot. How I’ve never given up no matter how fucked up life was for me. But the one time I decide to stop running, everything goes to hell.”
She smiled self effacingly. “You’re the tortoise and I’m the hare, Doc. For years you tried to catch me, but you couldn’t. I was always several dozen steps ahead. But I took too many naps along the way. And you just happened to catch me sleepin’ on the job.”
Dr. Director just laughed. “Your literary analogy is entertaining, Shego, but I think it would have just been faster just to say that the law finally caught up with you.”
“It’s not like I’m in some sort of hurry.”
Betty smiled. “No, I guess you’re not. But you can still run, Shego. I know you. Why are you still sitting there? Why haven’t you tried to escape even though you feel as though Kimberly has abandoned you? Why have you stopped running?”
Shego just stared at her. “Because I’m tired,” she answered simply.
Dr. Director merely nodded her head in understanding.
“Hello, Ronald.”
“Hey, Mr. Dr. P. Is Kim here?”
“She’s upstairs, Ron,” Anne interjected, coming up behind her husband. “I think she needs someone to talk to.” James looked at her in protest, but the glare she gave him prompted him to step aside and allow Ron to enter. The blonde walked on by, oblivious to what just happened.
He reached the top of the stairs and knocked on her door. “KP, are you in there?”
No answer. “KP, open up! It’s me, Ron!”
Silence.
Sighing, Ron twisted the door handle. “Kim?”
No one was there. He scanned left and right, but was met with only an empty room. “Uh-oh,” he said. “This is not good.”
“What is it, Ron?” Kim’s mother asked, walking up behind him. Ron stepped aside to allow her to see the empty room. “Oh my.”
“Do you know where she went?” Ron asked.
The redhead’s eyes narrowed. “I have a pretty good idea,” she growled. “And she is going to be in big trouble.”
The scene of the party was pretty much as Kim had expected. Dozens of people she didn’t know, all making asses of themselves while downing tons of alcohol. That much she had been prepared for. What she hadn’t been expecting, however, was for it to be happening at Bonnie Rockwaller’s house. After all, the Rockwallers were a fairly strict family. Kim deduced that they must have been out of town. She walked up the sidewalk to the door, where she was assaulted with loud music. Unfamiliar with most of the guests, she tried to find someone she knew.
“Possible, you made it!” The greeting came from none other than Brick Flagg, Bonnie’s on and off boyfriend, who was now dating Monique. Speaking of the chocolate beauty, where was she?
“Kim!” Oh, there she was. The redhead waved nervously and strode over to where her best female friend and her new boyfriend were sitting on Bonnie’s couch. “How are you, girl?” she squealed as she embraced Kim in a hug.
“I’m okay.”
“Just okay? Girl, by the end of the night you’re gonna be so wasted you won’t even remember the last few weeks.”
It was then that Kim noticed the glass in Monique’s hands. “Monique, is that….” Apparently a lot had changed since she’d been gone.
“Like you would say, it’s no big,” Monique dismissed. “It’s non-alcoholic. I was referring to the fact that you’ll be so caught up in the party, you won’t even need alcohol to forget your troubles.”
Kim smiled in relief. “It’s that crazy, huh?”
“You better believe it,” the African queen stated proudly. She leaned in closer to Kim. “Be on your guard around Bonnie, though. She’s still a little jealous that I took Brick, and whatever truce you two may have might not hold around me.”
“I'll be fine,” Kim assured her.
“Alright,” Monique replied as though she didn’t believe Kim at all. “Just to letcha know I warned ya.” She looked behind Kim. “Speak of the devil.”
“How’s it goin’, K?” While she knew that voice anywhere, Bonnie’s tone had definitely changed. She actually seemed happy to see the redhead for once. “You enjoying my little party?”
Kim turned around to face the brunette and smirked. “I wouldn’t exactly call this party ‘little.’”
Bonnie didn’t seem to hear the remark. “Oh my gawd, Kim, have I told you how much I love the outfit?”
“This old thing?” Kim dismissed, indicating the little black dress she had once worn on a date with Ron. “I just threw it on.” Actually, she pretty much had the way she snuck out of the house.
“Well, some of the girls and I were hanging out around back. You wanna come join us?” she offered.
“I don’t… know,” Kim replied, throwing a hesitant glance towards Monique, who was waving frantically and mouthing, “Don’t do it!”
“C’mon, it’s just the girls from the squad. We’re not gonna get you drunk or anything. I promise.” The way she said that last sentence was almost… seductive.
Against her better judgment, and if only to satisfy her curiosity, Kim replied: “Sure, Bonnie. I’d love to go.”
“Great!” Bonnie replied. “Meet us out back.” She turned and walked off.
“Don’t do it, girl,” Monique warned after BonBon disappeared. “You know what some of those girls are like. They’ll corrupt you faster than a bank vault full of cash.”
“I’ve saved bank vaults full of cash,” Kim protested. “I’ve never been tempted before. I'll be fine, Monique.”
“Somehow I doubt that,” her best female friend replied dryly.
“Whatever,” Kim huffed. “I'm just gonna go out there to see what they want, then I'll be right back. Quit acting like you’re my mother.”
“I’m just worried about you, Kim. You’re not acting like yourself.”
Kim looked at Monique with the most serious of faces. “No, Monique. I am acting like myself. I never resist a challenge. And that’s all this is: a challenge.” She turned and walked in the direction she’d seen Bonnie disappear.
“More like a deathtrap,” Monique muttered after Kim left.
“Look, maybe I should go in there first,” Ron suggested. “Cool her down a bit.”
The Possible parents just glared at him.
“Or we could just all go in there together,” he conceded. ‘I hope Kim hasn’t gotten into any real trouble.’
“So how’s it hangin’, K?” Bonnie greeted cheerfully as Kim closed the back door behind her.
“What did you want me out here for?” Kim asked, looking around. All the girls from her squad were there, and they were staring as though they were expecting something. She noted that they all stood around her in such a way as to block any route of escape. One even stepped in front of the door. Kim had been in enough traps to know this was not a friendly gathering. She narrowed her eyes. “Oh, I see.”
Bonnie began to pace. “You know, Kim,” she said as much to Kim as to the other cheerleaders, as though giving a monologue. “When I heard you were back, my first reaction was, ‘Why didn’t they throw her in jail?’ Turns out you knew the right people.”
Kim crossed her arms and scoffed. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Oh, nothing, I was just a little jealous that I didn’t know those same people when I got my DUI and my parents took away my car,” the brunette answered in a way that suggested she blamed Kim for the incident.
Kim just scoffed.
“Then I heard you were actually gonna be reenrolled in the school. So I thought, ‘Good. At least then I get to watch everybody boo her and treat her like garbage. But you know what happened? They welcomed you back with open arms. You think they’d do that for me, Kim?” She snapped her fingers, and before she could react, Kim found herself pinned to the wall by two cheerleaders.
“What the hell are you doing?” Kim demanded.
Bonnie smirked. “Oh, just a little… hazing ritual. I think it’s only appropriate since you pretty much got the hero’s welcome.”
“I ama hero,” Kim reminded her. “Everybody makes mistakes.”
“But not everybody gets away with them!” Bonnie shouted. “I’m gonna make you pay for the way you made me feel!”
“The way I made you feel, Bonnie?” Kim questioned. “What the hell did I ever do to you?”
“Showed me up every chance you got,” Bonnie answered almost instantly, her tone taking on a sudden menace. “Made everyone believe you were better than me. You were always Miss Perfect,” she spat with venom. Drawing back her hand, she slapped Kim hard across the face.
“Bonnie, you little—”
“Bitch? I know. And I’m proud of it.” She punched Kim in the gut. “How’s it feel, K? How’s it feel to be completely helpless, knowing there’s someone better than you who controls everything? Huh? How does it feel?!” She punched her again.
Kim just smirked. “Pretty damn good,” She thrust her face forward and kissed Bonnie right on the lips. Just as she expected, the brunette blushed heavily and backed away, licking her arms in an attempt to wash it off. The other girls stuck out their tongues in disgust.
Seizing her opportunity, Kim broke free, rushing forward and tackling Bonnie to the ground. Straddling the brunette, Kim placed her hands to her throat. “You self-righteous little bitch!” she yelled. “You honestly think I give a fuck how you feel? You think I’m still the same girl I used to be? I’ve changed, Bonnie. I’ve seen a world you can’t even begin to imagine.” She leaned in close. “I can do things to you that you won’t ever forget. I can cripple you for life. How would you like that?”
“Get off me, Possible!” Bonnie screeched, struggling under the much stronger girl. “Get her!” she cried out to her cheer minions, but to her horror, she found them simply standing over her.
“We’re tired of listening to you, Bonnie,” Tara spoke. “Kim should be head cheerleader, not you. You don’t deserve her spot just because she made a few mistakes.”
“What?!” Rockwaller shrieked. “She’s evil! She’s a criminal! GET HER OFF OF ME!!!”
Kim drew back her hand and punched Bonnie square in the face, bloodying her nose. “You talk too much,” she said disgustedly, spitting on her rival’s face. She stood up and kicked her in the stomach, causing Bonnie to scream in pain.
“Worthless piece of shit! You think I care about you? All you were since Middle School was a gigantic bitch! And now you think you can just get your so-called ‘revenge’ on me for being better than you?” She ground her heel into Rockwaller’s throat, causing the girl to choke. “Shit like you doesn’t deserve to live.”
It wasn’t the way she was currently kicking her ass or even the words she was speaking that registered with Rockwaller; most of all, it was those eyes. There was a hunger in them; a fire that she had never seen before. Kim didn’t look at all like herself. She looked… evil. The redhead pressed down harder, closing her windpipe further.
“KP, what the hell are you doing?”
“Kimmie!”
Kim turned around and saw Ron and her parents standing by the back door. She growled. “Stay out of this, Ron! You too, mom and dad!”
“Kimmie-cub, what exactly are you doing to that girl?” her father demanded.
“What she tried to do to me,” Kim answered in all honesty, stepping off Rockwaller’s neck and glaring at her family. “It was self-defense.”
“No it wasn’t!” Bonnie choked. “She tried to kill me!”
“She’s right, Kim,” Tara spoke. “Bonnie only wanted to hurt you, not kill you.”
Kim turned to the blonde cheerleader, disgusted. “You’re a finicky bunch, you know that? And for your information I wasn’t going to kill her, just beat her within an inch of her life.”
“I’ve already called the police,” her father interrupted. “You’re in serious violation of your probation, young lady.”
Kim froze. “You what?”
Her father didn’t need to answer; the sound of sirens in the distance did that for him.
Kim looked at her father with absolute reproach. “I hate you,” she said simply.
Ron stepped up bravely, despite what happened last time. “Come on, KP. Just come peacefully, and don’t let anybody else get hurt.”
“But I want people to get hurt,” Kim replied savagely, kicking Bonnie in the face and dropping her to the ground again, this time unconscious. Looking behind her, she put her hands up over her mouth. “Oops,” she said mockingly. “Guess I don’t know my own strength. Oh well, guess I'll have to try someone else.” She swung at him, intending to shatter his entire face this time.
But she never got that close.
Ron reached out with his right hand, catching Kim’s fist and spinning her with her arm behind her back all in one fluid motion. He dashed a few feet and slammed her up against a wall.
“Gah, what the hell?!” she cursed.
“I didn’t want it to come to this, KP,” Ron said firmly, pressing harder as the police stormed out the back door to arrest Kim. “But you leave me no choice.”
“RONALD ADRIAN STOPPABLE, YOU LET ME GO THIS INSTANT!” Kim demanded, struggling against the boy. But he held firm.
“You’ve become a threat to yourself, Kim,” Ron said. “If you keep running from your problems you’re just gonna end up hurting other people, and eventually yourself. You have to understand that I’m just trying to help.”
Kim was no longer herself. She had become a beast that thrashed against Ron’s hold and yelled out obscenities as he tried to restrain her. “Fuck you, Ron Stoppable!” she screeched. FUCK YOU! I hate you! I HATE YOU!”
“We both know you don’t mean that, Kim,” Ron said. “Now calm down.”
“I don’t wanna calm down!” Kim shouted. “I want her to SUFFER!”
“She’s knocked out, Kim! It’s not worth it.”
“Son, we’ll take it from here,” a police officer interjected. “Come on, Kim. I don’t wanna have to use force, but I will.”
“With all due respect, officer,” Ron grunted. “I’m the only one who’s keeping her from going ballistic right now.” He strained harder as Kim nearly broke free. “And it’s harder than it looks.”
“That’s why you have to leave it to the professionals, son,” the officer responded, pulling out his taser. “Now stand back.” He pulled the trigger and two cords shot out, burying themselves in Kim’s upper chest. The animal rage left Kim’s eyes, her pupils shrinking down to little dots as several hundred volts of electricity coursed through her body. She lost all muscle control and fell to the ground.
She had experienced this before. That night with Eric, she had been subjected to the exact same feeling. There was only one word to describe it: betrayal. She looked up to the faces of the people she had called her friends, realizing that none of them could ever truly understand her. As her eyes began to close involuntarily, all she could think about was how betrayed she had felt that night; how much pain she had been caused by a person she thought she loved. It hurt. More than anything else in the world. That was her last thought before her eyes closed completely.
Then everything went black.
Okay, I honestly wasn’t expecting to go that direction either. But I just couldn’t resist having Bonnie launch a failed revenge scheme, only to have Kim flip out and realize that she may be even more evil than she originally thought. I’m essentially expanding on the dark side that she displayed during the kick. Eventually, this dark side may be too much for even Shego to handle. I'll address that later on. Next time, find out what happens when Kim is placed under house arrest (given that no prison in the world can or would even hold her), and how Ron reacts to this whole sitch. Believe me, this is only the beginning.
beeftony