Violence.
That was all they knew when they encountered each other.
It was in their very nature to fight each other. One was the good girl. Kim Possible, of the-can-do-anything variety. And the other was always the bad girl. The baddest of the bad. The kind that made even villains cringe.
Always the bad girl. She played it so well, who could blame her?
Two opposites.
Perpetually the good girl, Kim didn't have an evil bone in her body.
Shego went out of her way to cause mayhem.
So they had their conflicts.
The kind of conflicts that were mandatory. There was never an off day when it came to the two. It was expected of Kim to drop everything for Shego.
It was like they yearned for that physical contact, that battle of reflexes and wits in a clash of fists and fury.
That physical contact left, when suddenly, Shego seemed to disappear off the planet.
And just as suddenly, returned.
“Seriously, Shego. Stealing from a retail store?!” Kim ducked a hastily thrown mannequin and then flipped away just in time to avoid a vicious swipe at her head. Monique had evacuated quickly (“Best way to help you girl is to make room for you. You a pro!” Monique shouted back to Kim as she ran away, “You *go* girl!”) while Ron ran around frantically nearby, trying to help… but not really. His main job when it came to Shego was to keep Drakken,
Shego's employer, occupied. Since Shego was solo, his help wasn't really needed. He was just… distracting.
“Hey, did you see the pricetag on that?” Shego snapped. “You want me to SPEND my hard-earned money on THAT?! It was a hankerchief with strings attached to it! Now THAT'S robbery!”
“Why can't you just shoplift quietly like the normal people?!” Kim retorted with a kick at Shego's midsection. The green-eyed thief managed to block the foot with her arm, as her hands flared up in eerie green flames.
“Oh, PLEASE. When have I ever done things ‘normally’.” Shego sniffed, and aimed a jab at Kim's throat, which was hastily batted away. Shego was a living weapon. Not only was she extremely proficient in martial arts, but she had those dangerous glowing green hands. To make matters worse, she was a quick learner. It seemed that every trick that Kim tried on Shego, Shego would learn how to counter it, if not at the time, then the next time they fought. So basically, everything Kim knew, Shego wasn't far behind.
To say that Shego lagged just behind Kim was entirely false. While Kim might pull a quick one on Shego once in a while, there were just as many times that Shego beat the younger woman and managed to escape.
They were both on these invisible plateaus. If one managed to gain higher ground, that one would inevitably pull the other up. Equals.
But they hadn't seen each other in years. Around three, almost hitting four years. So the dance they danced was crude. But it had a familiar rythym they were slowly molding back into.
“--and I sincerely doubt the ‘hard-earned’ money part! You stole your money!” Kim picked up a mannequin and hefted it like a bat.
“I work for my money, Kimmie. I get paid to steal, so really, I'm just doing my job.” Shego sneered, dividing her attention between the mannequin and the heroine. “Unlike you, I get paid to do the job I love.”
“My people pay me!” Kim protested. Looking for just that opening, Shego blasted the mannequin-turned-weapon into oblivion.
“Yeah, with what? Rides to your next mission? That's pathetic!” The first hit was Shego's, as a well-aimed kick sent Kim flying. “Tuck and roll, Kimmie!”
The redhead hit some racks of clothes, sending them down along with her. Fortunately, said racks of clothes cushioned her fall.
“The best form of gratitude is the amount of numbers someone can squish into a paycheque for you!” Shego shouted at the jumble of clothes as Kim tried frantically to free herself.
“Hey! You!”
Shego clutched her head in pain as something hard hit her. A stapler. Shego snarled.
First hit on Shego went to Ron Stoppable.
“Yeah, you with the deadly glowing green hands! Yeah, I'm talking to you!” His false bravado was extremely transparent. Ron's freckly face went several shades whiter as Shego turned her smoldering gaze on him.
“Oh, you are so dead.”
“Eyes where they should be, Shego.”
Shego turned around, just in time to see Kim's smirk and a fist heading towards her face.
Shego - 1
Ron - er… 1
Kim - 1. Finally.
Shego stumbled backwards, glaring at the teenage heroine, her attention back to where it should be. On Kim. She should never had let her eyes wander from what was important.
“This, was what you were looking for?” Kim, when she was floundering through the pile of clothes, had left the fashion disaster(haha) with a casualty. A tiny green top that was basically a hankerchief with strings tied to it. “Why don't you just make one at home?!”
“I'm busy committing nefarious crimes, thank you very much.” Shego placed a hand on her hip. Three years had really been a long time. Three years for Kim to graduate high school and start university. Of course, it was all home courses since her schedule was extremely erratic due to villainous plots that refused to work around her timetable(villains are so inconsiderate). Nearing the end of her teenage years, Kim had, excuse the corny phrasing, blossomed from a girl to a beautiful and intelligent young woman who had a top gymnast's physique.
“But stooping to stealing? From a retail store?” Kim looked almost disgusted.
“Look at the pricetag, Kimmie! That's highway robbery!” Shego's green and black cat suit did nothing to hide the form underneath. Three years ago, she had been slim, sinewy and fit. Now her body looked harder, Kim could see muscles sliding underneath the material of Shego's clothes. Where before, the costume had been a deceptive second skin that hid that athletic body well, now it hugged Shego's body tightly, defining muscles, curves and telling whoever looked at her that she knew how to use her body to HURT YOU. It was like watching the play of muscle underneath a panther's coat.
Still keeping an eye on the indignant villainess, Kimmie glanced at the tag.
“$70?! For *THIS*?!”
“You see?!” Shego pointed out. “Robbery!”
Kim looked torn. But she finally shook it off. “You still have to go to jail, Shego.”
“Do not pass GO!” Ron added in. “Do not collect a hundred!”
“Yup yup!” Rufus, Ron's inseperable naked mole-rat, agreed.
“You'll have to beat me first, Kimmie.” Shego crouched down into a battle-ready stance. “Maybe check out some of the moves I've learned since I last saw you.”
“Where DID you go to?” Kim suddenly seemed to realize she hadn't seen the villainess for the longest time. Caught up in the heat of the moment, she had spotted the commotion in a clothing store and at the first flash of green fire, had sprinted towards it automatically, adrenaline pumping through her veins.
Anything Shego sent off an immediate reaction in Kim Possible and vice versa. Like vinegar on baking powder. Like fire to gunpowder. Like sugar to a child. Like… like anything that would cause an immediate and volatile reaction!
Yeah.
“I'm sooo glad you realized I was gone for a while,” Shego said drolly, before launching into a furious attack that left Kim struggling. It was a different fighting style, a different technique, and it took everything for Kim to block, dodge, and weave. Yet, it infuriated Kim that Shego seemed to be holding back and STILL landing punches. And it surprised her even more when Shego managed to sweep her feet out from under her in a move that Kim should have seen from a mile away.
The key words were ‘should have’ and ‘but didn't’.
“Kim!” Ron shrieked and ran towards his friend. Shego watched the downed woman impassively, while Kim knelt on the floor, trying to catch her breath.
“Stay away from her!” Ron struck a martial arts pose, standing in front of Kim defensively. He was scared. This wasn't the first time Shego had gotten the better of Kim. But he had watched with magical monkey mysticism in the back of his mind. And that magic monkey had screamed with terror at the ease which Shego had flown from one move to the other almost effortlessly. In his eyes, Ron could see Shego's form in slow motion, every precise attack… and Kim's valiant but doomed to fail struggle against this deadly thief.
“Move, Ron.” Kim's voice was quiet, full of determination.
Ron cast a glance behind his shoulder, nervously trying to keep Shego in his line of sight.
“But Kim--”
“MOVE!” Kim pounded her fist against the floor in a burst of temper that Ron had never ever seen before. Kim never lost her cool like this! Except for that one time with the moodulator… but this was Kim. Without the moodulator. He was so stunned, that he staggered backwards a few steps, right into Shego, who pushed him away.
“Oh, did poor Kimmie make a boo-boo?” Shego mocked, leaning down slightly.
“How did you do that?” Kim asked. It was something that never happened. She couldn't find an opening. The control that was so carefully balanced between the two had tipped into Shego's cup.
“Do you want to know?” Shego asked sweetly.
“HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!” Kim pounded her fists on the floor again, wildly, enraged at how Shego was dancing around the subject.
In a split second, Shego was in front of Kim, crouched down in front of her.
The redhead only had time to gasp in surprise before both her hands were caught in Shego's grip.
“Temper, temper, Kimmie.” Shego's eyes burned with mischief. “Now… how do we ask for things?”
Her condescending tone grated on Kim's nerves.
“Kim!”
“Don't!” That one word stopped Ron in his tracks.
“How do we ask?” Shego's eyes hadn't left Kim's face. “Because if you don't ask me nicely, I won't give you what you want.”
The fingers on her wrist tightened, and Kim let out a tiny cry of pain.
“Kim!” Rufus squeaked, and tried to rush out of Ron's pocket towards the redhead, but Ron's hand kept the rodent down. This was Kim's fight.
“How. Do. We. Ask?” Shego's green eyes bore into Kim's.Kim glared at Shego defiantly. Shego smiled, and leaned forward, pressing her lips against Kim's ear in a brief kiss, one that the struggling, but captive heroine could not refuse. Then the villainess let go of Kim and backflipped away from Kim gracefully. Picking up a couple of shopping bags she had left on the floor when she started causing ruckus, she smirked at the stricken heroine. As an after-thought, Shego picked up the small green top she had wanted and slipped it into one of her bags.
Then Kim watched as she left the ruined store.
“Come find me when you're ready to grovel, Kimmie.”
That was what she whispered so harshly as she pressed a hot kiss behind her ear that infuriated the redhead to no end.
Kim looked on dazedly, as police taped off the area. Monique had come back with the authorities, and now stood next to Kim, an arm around Kim's shoulders. Monique could tell something was wrong with Kim. And knowing better than to ask, she just held onto Kim silently.
Ron explained the situation to police, leaving out a few key details so nobody would worry. Everybody except for Kim's friends assumed Kim Possible would hunt down Shego and bring her in.
Though Ron really thought highly of Kim, he really didn't know if it would happen this time. This time, Shego had been on a totally different level. And Shego had been holding back. Where the two women had been equally matched before, this time… Shego had left Kim behind.
endnote: comments are welcome, cuz, despite what people think… I don't know what I'm doing and your assurances keep me on my path!