Kim stared at her bedroom ceiling and sighed, wishing for the hundredth time that the Kimmunicator would just beep already or the phone would ring or something would just HAPPEN. She really wanted to get up, get out, even if she had to make nice with Ron long enough to go to Bueno Nacho for some friend time or pick a fight with a random criminal just to get the feeling out of the pit of her stomach.
But she couldn't. Not after what she had just been forced to do. Too much was running through her head for her to concentrate long enough to take action.
Kim sighed again and looked at the small gold dish sitting on the window pane glinting as the morning light played across it, ashes gently chasing themselves in a back and forth motion with the slight breeze blowing in. She closed her eyes and remembered…
earlier
Kim stumbled on the steps leading to the front door and sat down on the porch. This was the tenth mission in as many days and she was exhausted. She hoped Wade had told her parents that she would be later than normal, she didn't need to be grounded as the start to her last real summer vacation.
DNAmy was the last of her normal weirdos to go down over the last few missions. The others hadn't been heard from in almost a year and it was assumed they had either retired or been eliminated. She was looking forward to having GJ handle things for awhile.
She pushed open the door and staggered to the kitchen. Hitting the start button on the microwave she sat down and put her forehead on the table and waited. After the microwave stopped, she took her dinner and climbed the stairs to her room.
She put her plate on her desk and snapped on the small lamp so she could eat and get ready for bed. Turning around, she stopped in shock, all traces of tiredness slipping away as she saw the black envelope with exquisite gold filigree (addressed to her no less) wedged into the grip of her pandaroo which was hanging from her ceiling fan about a foot away from her face. Pumped, she whirled and scanned the room quickly.
Three things occurred to her. First, her window was unlocked. Second, there was a small black bag on her bed where her pandaroo usually stayed. Finally, she noticed that all of her dresser drawers were slightly open.
“Tweebs!” she hissed, but then stopped. Her brothers usually went for the direct approach. The punch line should've kicked in by now. But there were no small explosions, no flashbulbs. In fact, it was an unusually creepy silence that made her shiver.
Carefully, she took down her plush and turned the envelope over in her hands. The paper was very heavy and the gold work was phenomenal. Taking out her Kimmunicator, she pressed a button.
“wha…oh Kim, do you know what time it is?” grumble Wade as his image solidified.
“Someone broke into my room while I was on the mission and left some interesting things behind. Need a quick scan please and thank you” Kim whispered.
“Go Kim, I'm ready”
The familiar hum of the scanning beam helped quiet her jitters as it swept the envelope, then the bag, and then her dresser.
“Give me a few minutes and I'll get back to you…Wade out”
Kim sat down and picked at her brainloaf…not even paying attention to it.
beep beep beep-beep
“Go Wade”
“Well…” Wade trailed off. “Good news and bad news. Which do you want first?”
“Bad”
“No fingerprints, no hairs, no watermarks, no nothing. Only thing I can tell you is that these are all mundane items. No funny substances, energy signatures. Seems safe.”
“But…?” whispered Kim.
“Kim…that's pure gold on the envelope. There's a key inside. Also, there's other gold items in the bag. Whoever left these things is sparing no expense.”
“Senoir Senior Senior?” they both whispered.
“I'll check on it Kim.” and the screen went blank.
She sighed and ran her hands over the writing on the outside of the envelope. Reaching into her desk drawer, she pulled out a letter opener and slit the top of the envelope open carefully. Turning it upside down and she held out her hand to catch the key.
The key fell out. Looked like the key to a jewelry box. Carefully, Kim pulled out the folded paper and saw more gold writing on the inside. Sitting back down again, she opened the paper and read the note:
read this carefully and follow all instructions to the letter
failure to comply will have consequences to the ones you love
you are not to initiate contact with any of your allies
if they contact you, you are to tell them nothing is wrong that you are taking Kim-time
retrieve the items from the bag on your bed and place them on your desk
open your curtains and adjust your light to focus on the desk and window
open the box you will find and hold each of the items up to the window
if you recognize the item hold your right hand up to the window
if you do not, hold your left hand up to the window
follow the instructions you find on the paper inside the box
enjoy the other gifts i have left for you
the last of your favors expires tonight
consider this notice that your debt is being collected
Kim's eyes widened at the wording of the last line. NO ONE knew about that. She had been very certain to make certain to purge that incident from everything and every person who might have an inkling what had happened. She'd even gone so far as to purposely destroy three Kimmunicators to keep Wade from fully finding out and to using some leftover Drakken shampoo and mind control chips to suggest memory loss to Ron and her parents when they got too suspicious.
Going quickly to the bed, she retrieved the bag. Upending on the covers, she found the box wrapped in the rags that used to be one of her earlier mission outfits and a small golden dish. She started shaking uncontrollably and almost collapsed.
Taking the box to her desk, she adjust the light and moved the plate to the floor. She held up the key and opened the box. There were several items in the box. Gasping loudly, she jumped up and bit back a sob. It was true. All the energy dropped from her as she quietly opened the curtains and sat back down at her desk, tears running silently down her cheeks.
She picked up the first item: a small clear plastic bag with a piece of contoured black metal. Her right hand rose and she put the bag on the desk.
The second item: a small patch of black silk. Right hand again and the tears increased.
The third item: a small unmarked bottle with two compartments. She opened the cap on the clear side and sniffed. Right hand and she began quietly to sob.
The fourth item: two small clear plastic bags with two hair snippets each a slightly different shade of red. Right hand.
The final item: a heavy gold jewelry set with quite a number of pieces. Right hand up, Kim began to openly cry.
The instructions were a small sheaf of paper folded at the bottom of the box. Kim picked them up and began to read…a gasp coming now and again. When she finished, she began to hiccup but quickly settled back down. She was Kim Possible. She would find a way out of this…this time.
Picking up the envelope, the three plastic bags, the silk, and two notes, she retrieved the bowl from her bed and opened her window. Placing the papers into the bowl, she struck a match and lit the corner of one of them.
Across the open fields behind the Possible house, a smile crept across a face as the figure put down binoculars and chuckled. The figure looked at a watch and began to wait.
When the evidence was gone, she closed her curtains. She picked up the Kimmunicator and switched it off. She grabbed the jewelry and the small bottle as she headed for the bathroom stopping only long enough to sneak a peek at her slightly open top dresser drawer.
The unmistakable sheen of black silk taunted her as she crept down the steps to the bathroom.
She quietly slipped inside the bathroom, locking the door and dragging the hamper under the doorknob. She so did NOT need to be interrupted right now.
Shedding her clothes, she stopped to look at herself in the mirror. Toned muscles, flat abs, and perky breasts, small trimmed thatch of red hair above her naked sex…all of it stared back at her. She ran her fingers through the rough patch of pubic hair and sighed. Still there.
She turned on the shower, grabbed the bottle and stepped in. No use putting this off.
As the shower went on, Dr. Anne Possible woke and smiled. Kimmie was back. Grunting and looking at the clock, she stood up and started walking to the kitchen. Time to start getting ready for another day…this one special because it was supposed to be just the two of them.
Almost an hour later, Anne heard the shower snap off and Kim moving around. Good…breakfast was almost ready. She started up the stairs to catch Kim to tell her to come to breakfast.
Kim stepped out of the shower and began toweling herself off…shivering at the feeling of the towel sliding across the tender areas where she no longer had body hair. Stepping back to the mirror, she looked herself over once again. Her hand reached down to the now bare top of her sex and traced out the small scar seemingly in the shape of two oriental characters. Taking the bottle and turning it over she stopped, hesitant to go through with it. Once she did this, there was no going back. It would be a permanent reminder. As if what I just did won't be a permanent reminder anyway.
Grabbing a hair coloring glove from the cupboard above the toilet, she put it on and squeezed out a dollop onto her fingers. Gently, she started rubbing the substance over the small scar, hissing as it began to burn. She gritted her teeth and waited for the pain to subside. Tossing the bottle into the toilet and flushing, she closed her eyes and braced herself for the coming pain.
Anne stopped in front of the bathroom door and tried the knob. Locked. Smiling, she reached up to the top of the doorframe and retreived the key and unlocked the door. She pushed quietly, gently moving the hamper aside.
All thoughts of good humor vanished when Kim began to make gasping and small moaning sounds. My my my…my little Kimmie is growing up…need to talk to her again I think.
She crept into the bathroom and was not expecting what she saw.
“Kimberly Anne Possible! What on earth did you do to yourself!”
Kim was having trouble keeping sounds of pain surfacing from her throat. The note had said it would hurt, but she hadn't expected this. Through eyes blurry from the burning sensation in her groin, she watched as the small scars begain turning an incredible shade of emerald green.
She never heard her mother open the door and jumped a good half meter into the air when her mother yelled out.
“Mooooommm!” she whispered “Keep it down, I don't want anyone else walking in on this!”
Anne stopped dead in her tracks. She had DEFINITELY not expected that reaction from her daughter.
“Kimmie…when did you get a tattoo?”
“Uh” was the only thing she could get out as her mother stared intently at the now amazingly bright emerald green symbols.
Anne's eyes narrowed as she finally recognized the symbols and then she gasped again as their meaning became clear.
“Kimmie, what has Shego done to you now?”
Kim stiffened and started to deny it. But then she seemed to collapse into herself and realized that she would have to tell her mother, of all people, what was going on. Fortunately, it was on her “allowed” list.
“Mom, I'll tell you everything I'm allowed, but just not here. Let me finish getting cleaned up and dressed and we'll go somewhere where we can talk without being overheard.”
“Okay Kim, but be quick about it. We need to leave before the boys wake up or there's going to be problems.” Anne dropped the subject and quietly left the bathroom.
Kim looked back at the mirror and sighed…again. Might as well finish this up.
The gold jewelry was on the sink. Finely wrought golden links winked at her in the light. On each piece was a frontis dragon link with ruby eyes.
Taking the the first piece of jewelry that came to hand, she picked up the ankle bracelet and put it on her right ankle. It fit snug, but not too tight. Next was the choker necklace. Heavy gold links weighed down around her neck as she snapped the lock shut and adjusted the dragon so that it was under her chin. Then she put the bracelet on her left arm. The remaining pieces she picked up and, after dumping her old clothes into the hamper, she wrapped her towel around her body and made her way back to her room to finish dressing.
Kim opened her “private” drawer to remove a black silk pair of panties which she put on the bed. Opening the other drawers, she pulled out a black backless top and a pair of tight green knee-lenghth shorts. From her closet, she retrieved a pair of open-top black shoes. Going over ot the window, she opened the curtains again and held up each item to the window before putting it on.
After she was dressed, she put the remainder of the jewelry into the box, locked it, and placed the key in a spot not even Wade could find.
All that accomplished, she closed the curtains and went down to the kitchen to get her mother.
She was so not ready for this discussion.
Shego put the binoculars down and smiled again. Kim certainly knew how to follow directions…it brought back such good memories. She made a small sound of pleasure as she began to anticipate her finishing dressing up Kim later.
Anne looked up as she heard her daughter come around the corner into the kitchen and gasped. She had never seen Kim dress like this before. It was too…she couldn't quite come up with the right word…she settled on “feminine”…for her no-nonsense daughter. Not even a ponytail!
“Kimmie, what's going on…” she started.
Kim sat down gingerly at the table. “Mom, do you have somewhere we can go that no one, and I mean no one but you, would possibly know to come find us much less be able to overhear a conversation?”
Mrs. Possible considered for a moment. “I do, but is this so important that we can't sit here and discuss it?”
Kim shook her head and said “I'm not allowed. I'm not allowed to explain why I'm not allowed unless we are somewhere else.” She hung her head.
Anne stood up. “Come on then, let's go.”
Kim had lost track of the number of dirt roads they had used to get this high up in the mountains outside of Upperton, but the view was absolutely fantastic as she got out of the car and followed her mother into a cabin nestled into the lee of the slope.
“Kimberly dear, you were never here, just remember that” Anne said as she hit the main power switch and the electricity came on.
The inside was a palace. Wide couches adorned a sunken common area. Soft, plush carpeting covered the floors. A fireplace dominated one wall of the room. She could just see bedrooms down a corridor.
Anne had moved to the bar and mixed herself a drink. “Kim, do you want one?”
“Give me a half and half screwdriver” she replied “I think I'm going to need it to get through this.”
Anne started to reply, then shrugged. Kim knows how to mix drinks…boy this is going to be interesting.
Kim looked up as glass was waved in front of her face. Taking a long drink, gasping at the burn, she looked up at her mother. “I'll start at the beginning, but try to keep the questions under control. I don't know if I can finish if you knock me off track with too many questions.”
“Yes, but could you tell me about the tattoo first?”
“Remember when you said that if I didn't quit soon, I would get in over my head?…well you were right. The tattoo you think you saw isn't really a tattoo, it's a mark. I begged Shego to personally burn it into me using my own lipstick laser.”
“Let me tell you about the last time I faced Drakken” she started as Anne gargled in horrified fascination.