It’s brisk this early in Middleton, and I like it that way. Autumn’s come early, and I like the cold snap of the air as it enters my lungs, the way the chilly air plays over my skin and the crunch of leaves under my boots. Actually, that’s probably why, while a certain redhead snores herself into a stupor on her bed, I’ve gone for my daily run. I bet that’s why you’re out here too, right? Not like you were waiting for me or anything.
Oh, I’m Shego… but you knew that. You did right? I’m pretty famous… No smartass! Not for being pale green! My story is simple. Super hero turned villainess and thief, a damn good one too! Used to work for a blue skinned moron called Drakken, got paid, fought Pumpkin as often as I could, stole shit, and basically lived it up for a while. Then, just when I think it’s all worked out fine, I find out that my hatred for a certain teenager has blossomed into respect… and then love.
What? Pumpkin? Oh, you mean Kimmie. What? You’ve never heard of Kim Possible? What? Never? The Kim Possible… a redheaded teenager at Middleton High. Hero, well… heroine. You’ve never heard of her? What rock have YOU been under? Look, I’ll boil it down for you. Hot nineteen year old cheerleader, smart, sexy and has the whole ‘I have a heart big enough for the planet’ thing going on big time! Also happens to be one of the top freelance Global Justice agents around, is certainly the only person I’ve ever met who can keep up with me in a fight.
I love her too… so don’t get any ideas.
Eh? Yeah, I know… Villain and a Heroine, go figure! Eh? How did it happen? Weeell, that’s the thing, I don’t remember suddenly thinking ‘Hey, I should give her a taste of Shego honey’, it just… happened. Long story cut short, we’ve fought for years, I used to hate her, grew to respect her, respect turned to interest in her way more than I thought, HAH, possible and suddenly I’m spilling my guts to my nemesis while holding her down and trying to stop her punching me.
Why? I dunno, I suppose I got sick and tired of Drakken to be honest. The guy is irritating to the extreme, he never comes up with plans that work, they all get more ludicrous with time and well, I hated being able to grapple that body of Kimmie’s, but never touch it the way I wanted to.
Woah, yeah… watch that patch of leaves. Slippery, aren’t they!
Anyway, yadda yadda… holding Princess down, spilled my guts. She can’t belive it, Drakken can’t belive it, the buffon she hangs out with… he did belive it and looked really conflicted. Anyway, I resign from Drakken’s employ, have a holiday to try and shake Kimmie from my mind, fail, and end up hovering on her damn doorstep… with roses.
Yeah, laugh it up! You DO know I can generate plasma, right? Okay… yeah, that’s what I thought.
So, roses… hovering, doorstep. Then the parents get involved, and boy do those two have open minds! I tell them I’ve left Drakken, want to remain neutral, realised I want their daughter for SO many reasons, and bam! Am I shown the door? Am I hell… they call Kimmie down to see me. ME! And I thought MY parents were bonkers.
I have never seen Kimmie so baffled before… horrified actually. Weeel, I know but try and see it from her point. I certainly did when she took my flowers and shoved them into the waste disposal. I was so conflicted at er response… it was her mother who calmed me down, forced Kim to sit… and we sat there for hours. Hours! Just… staring at each other.
Finally, Kimmie asked me one question. “Why?”
Yeah, well… when she’s intent on looking at you with those big, beautiful, green eyes? Trust me, one word speaks volumes, okay?
My answer? Ha! If you’re expecting me to have poured my heart out to her, told her how much I’d come to respect and love her, needed her to stay with me and t help me forgive myself and atone blah, blah, blah… well, guess again! Eh? What did I say? You’ll laugh and I’ll get pissed off and… oh, okay! Okay! Jeez. Fine. I stared into those eyes, smiled and I told her that it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Yeah, laugh it up in front of the lady who can fire green plasma. Oh no, please do keep laughing…
Not so funny now? Oh right… and what happened? You think you can tell me how Kimmie felt? Fine, go ahead…
Yeah, damn it. She DID throw, what little of my flowers remained, into my face and kicked me out. I ended up staring at her door, fuming, covered in bloody flower petals and struggling to resist the urge to smash her door in with my flaming fists. I couldn’t believe it! I’d made an effort, I knew she’d dumped the Buffoon months ago for some reason or other and that meant she was available.
Yeah, I did end up wandering away… and staying away for a few weeks too. Why? Doy! Why’d you think? I came back with a plan and I wanted Kimmie to be mine!
“Thanks for the coffee.” I look at you, watch you smile and shrug, handing the stall guy a couple of dollar and picking up your own cup. “I mean it. To be honest? You’re the first person I’ve ever come across who doesn’t find this,” I motion with my hand, brushing the green skin. “Freaky.”
You smile, shrug and tell me it's “No big.”
“Really?” I blink, rare for me. Normally, I’m as cool as ice to everyone. You… you seem to disarm me with an ease I’ve never seen before. I sip my coffee, watch you sip yours and try to figure you out. “So, you’ve never heard of me?”
I watch you shrug, smile, tell me no and that the skin… who I am, doesn’t bother you.
“I can’t believe I’m talking to someone who doesn’t know me.” I glance across at the stall owner, watch him smile and try to be inconspicuous. I motion and you turn. “He knows who I am… and I’d bet if he wasn’t piss scared he’d be calling the cops.”
I turn away with a snort, hear you boots crunch on the dead leaves behind me. Sipping my coffee again, I suddenly feel an urge to blurt something secret to you. Why, I have NO idea. “You know… this was the stepping stone for me too…”
You blink, tilt your head and I stare at the your, almost pure black hair. I keep staring as dark red highlights flicker into life and shimmer through it. It reminds me of autumn a little, of Kimmie too… the red. That makes me sad, and frustrated, and I don’t like the feeling. I step back and stare at you once more. You smile and I get a terrible sense of Déjà vu. I know that smile too!
What was a stepping stone? You ask me. I blink, tugged away from the sense that despite meeting you in the park this morning, I know you, somehow… somewhere! It’s disconcerting, and I concentrate on my coffee.
“Coffee, that was the first step in my plan. A cup of coffee. Can you believe anything so, so damn normal would start the process? The long, and oh so damn slow, process I was hoping to finish.”
You sit quietly, sipping. You never ask, just sit there and I find the rest blurts from me, answering the question you never say!
“It was my first step to trying to woo Kimmie. A cup of damn coffee at Marco’s. Not that damn Ktarbucs piss. Ugh.” You laugh, and I grin. “Well, I like strong, decent coffee. So does Pumpkin. I thought it would be neutral ground, right? So, I… used all my skill and, and-” I pause, stare into your eyes and find the tough woman act slip. I sigh. “I cheated.”
How? You ask me, so innocently once again.
“I went to the buffoon’s house! Kimmie’s blond Ex!” The distaste for Ronald Stoppable is clear in my tone and you shake your head wryly. “What? Okay, so the guys a dweeb and I can’t see what Princess ever saw in him, but he… he knew how to get her to listen, to come to Marco’s.”
I watch as you sigh and sip more coffee. Why am I telling you this? Some runner I met in the local park, I glance across and there you are… running alongside. Fifteen minutes later, you’re still there, running alongside. I think at first you’re trying to flirt with me. Ha! Fat chance as the one person I want is slumbering in her bed, locked away from where I can hold her… But, you’re not flirting. I find this out as I increase my pace, only for you to match it.
It took four more increases in speed for me to realise two things. One, you’re running alongside for a reason more than simple flirting and two, you are fucking fit! That’s when I stopped and asked you why… and received a shrug and “you looked like a serious runner… and I like to pace. Why?” reply.
Somehow, and I don’t know exactly how this has happened, I seem to be telling you everything! Still, I muse, sipping my own coffee and watching you gently shift dark hair back into place as the wind blows strongly, I’ve come this far… why not go the whole hog. It might make me feel better.
“So, I knock on buffoon’s door.” I continue, and your eyes flick to mine with interest. “And Stoppable, well he stands there and stares at me, and I stare at him. Eventually, I ask myself in and tell him to shut the door and his damn mouth, cause it’s hanging open! Of course, he does… and asks me why I’m there. Ha!” I pause, realise my coffee cup is empty and throw it into the bin. “I tell him I need his help… too… too explain myself to Kimmie. He’s sceptical at first, even I can’t blame him for that, and finds my recount of the flowers and initial meeting with a grin. Little runt.”
You laugh at that and I shake my head. You don’t seem frightened of my plasma, the fact I could use it to stop you from laughing at me… and I can’t work out why!
“Yeah, laugh it up…” You sober and tilt your head. I find myself flicking my long dark trusses behind my head and I shrug. “Long story short, Stoppable finally, and grudgingly I might add, agrees to help me get Kim into Marco’s. To my surprise, he tells me it’ll involve lying to her. Can you imagine? Stoppable actually lying to Kim Possible? His best friend since life? I mean, what are the chances. I don’t believe him, and ask why he’d wanna help me? I mean, hello? I blurt that I need Kim and have only just realised it and you’re helping me? Is he an idiot?!”
You grin, the same sly grin that I know I’ve seen before. The same déjà vu comes across me and I stare at you again, until you promt me with a shake of your cup. “And?” You ask.
“He says that it’s obvious that I have been in love… well, lust, with her for months… months! Little runt worked it out the first time he saw me jump her with more than an attack in mind. Did you know that Stoppable is not as wholesome as he pretends? He has a sat dish, and watches plenty of porn! So, when he saw me ram my leg in-between Kimmie’s and press? Little git knew instantly I had more personal things I wanted to do.”
You smile, comment and I sigh.
“Yes, he sounds kinda cool… in a pervy kind of way.” You laugh and I can’t help but grin in response. “What? Okay, so I’m evil… but he’s still a perve. Anyway… where was I? Oh yeah. He says that he’ll invite Kim to talk with an age old enemy.”
You stop me, pointing out that it isn’t much of a lie to Kim.
“I said he told me he’d lie to help me. I didn’t say the blond moron had any ability… What he DID say he would do was to imply that this girl, Bonnie someone or other, wanted to talk… over coffee. He said Kimmie had been desperate to work something out with her, finals for a competition or something, and this would get my little Princess to come to me.”
I glance across and jog up and down. You take the hint and pitch your coffee cup into the bin closest to you and start running with me once more. Our pace is slow, the thud of boots on cold concrete a welcome distraction to me while I think… while I recall.
“So, picture the scene. Marco’s is a tiny little shack in Middleton. Tables, chairs and the bar with the coffee machine. One door… and one shadowy corner. I’m sitting there, a expresso in front of my body, and I’m wearing black jeans and a green top, not this catsuit….” You pause and angle an eyebrow. “What? Oh, this isn’t just a jogging suit, it’s also my signature outfit.” I wait for laughter, but you don’t give me any, just a mind look of interest. “Anyway… I’m not wearing anything that screams ‘Shego’ but my pale green skin IS a giveaway… which I cover using a newspaper.”
You grin, chuckle and watch as I frown, before motioning with your hands. Damn it, the chuckle was even more familiar…. Who ARE you?
So, I sit there, hidden by a paper, and with the jingle of door chimes, in she comes. Kimmie Possible. Even now, the memory of her… Gray combats, pink midriff T-Shirt, the long silky red hair like autumn leaves, the soft green eyes that are so damn well like mine they make me shiver, the pert mouth with the smooth lips, and her ever, ever cheerful and foxy face. Yeah, I’ll never forget how Kim looked when she came in that day…. never. “
You stop and motion with your hands at a hill, suggest a little dash down and then up it to keep ourselves limber. I agree and set a pace I wonder if you can keep up. You can… easily, and it baffles me.
“Anyway,” I manage. “She comes it, sits and glances around. I can feel her gaze on my paper, but she passes over me… she can’t see past the paper itself, and Shego doesn’t wear jeans. Not in her world. So, anyway… she stares and does that all the time Stoppable orders her coffee, and a muffin. She does it all the time he sips his latte, and finally she grows inpatient. Kimmie is good at impatience and demanded to know where Bonnie was.” I pause, lick my black lips… wishing I could forget this. “Ron says to turn around, as the person who wants to talk about peace is right behind her. Kimmie turns, I pull down the paper and smile as much as I can… as nicely as I can… and say “hi” to her.”
You slow down as I come to a halt… a pained expression on my face. I can see concern in your eyes, and to my shock it doesn’t piss me off like it would with anyone else. I shrug off your offer of going no further in run or the past. I… for some reason, telling you all this makes me feel better and I need to keep going. You nod, and wait patiently for me to continue as we run steadily up, turn and run back down the hill.
“I say “Hi” to Kimmie… and she stares at me in… in… shock, yeah… but horror, terror, fear, anything but what I was hoping for!” You pause and open your mouth, but I know what you want to ask. “I wanted her to show… I dunno…. Grudging respect, acceptance that I wanted to… I dunno, talk? Instead, she fixes me with those mixed emotions of shock and horror, yadda yadda and… and…” I sigh, deep and soulfully. I can’t help it, as the memory is kinda mixed emotionally for me too. “Kimmie jumps me, in the coffee shop. She jumps me and I can feel her trying to pin me down, while yelling for someone to call the cops… “
You shake your head and I sigh in response.
“Yeah… how I felt too. I hadn’t even attacked her. But you have to see it from her point of view. She… she thought it was all a fucking set up, not by Stoppable, but by me and Drakken! She thought I was trying to kill her, or fuck her mind… it was a mess.” I shrug. “So, I have to fight her off, no mean feat and I only do so thanks to Stoppable of all the people in the world, pretending to fall on top of Kim because I tripped him up. I left Marco’s with coffee all over my top, muffin pieces in my hair and… and…” I look at you, judge the chance of anyone else seeing or hearing me. “I cried! I never fucking cry! But she made me feel like shit! Like there way no way to… to talk, to resolve… to change our relationship!”
You nod, knowing somehow that I don’t want sympathy. I swallow back the same feelings I had all those weeks ago and shrug.
“I thought it was all over… And then, then the miracle came… something that gave me a chance to prove how I felt about her.” You frown and I smile, knowing you’ll find the next part interesting. “You see, not long after that? I, of all people, get a call from Doctor Director. The head of Global Justice. Now, as much as it was a shock to have her call me on a private mobile phone of which only I knew the number? What she offered me… what she said she could offer me… was amazing.”