Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The steady yet uneven tapping of manicured nails against the metal table continued to annoy the two armed guards standing at attention. The cause of the tapping smirked, perhaps she was being a little petty, but she never prided herself on anything remotely close to nice, good, or wholesome even after being pardoned. No, leave that 'good-two-shoes' stuff to the all around doer of good and overall pain in any villain's ass, Kim Possible, or to her 'Princess'. Though she doubted that Kimmie would find herself in this exact position, purposely annoying two guardsmen in the middle of nowhere. While she was sure she was still in Morocco but at this point she couldn't find it in herself to care so she dubbed the city of Rabat, home to over 1.2 million people as Nowhere.

Her current mood of 'screw this country' could be attributed to the fact that she's been waiting in this stuffy dimly lit room for several hours now and she was officially annoyed, thus her current mission was to make everyone in the room as miserable as she was. She could tell the two guards were at their wits end, the woman smiled, a part of her hoped one of them would try something just so she could get some exercise, embedding one of them in the wall and turning their weapons into molten slag sounded like a day in the park to her right about then. The other part of her just wanted to get back to her vacation and not totally ruin her pardon.

 She was just lounging on a beach this morning, a mimosa in one hand and the phone number of a total hottie in the other, about to set up plans for the evening when what seemed like half the country's army rolled up and disturbed her morning. They took her pardon papers and stuck her in this room. She tried to remember if she pissed off anyone in particular in this country before the pardon but the details were fuzzy. There's only so many jewels you can steal before it all starts to blend together like a sort of crime smoothie. Which honestly sounded really good to her at that moment. The room was barely air conditioned, and while she was glad she was still in her black and green bikini from this morning instead of her stifling catsuit, she was getting hot and thirsty.

 She was about to cave and demand a drink when the only door in the room opened and in walked Betty Director with a manila folder and two iced coffees, if the thief didn't hate the woman's guts, she could kiss her right now. Of course, sometimes the hate made it even better, but it would still be a cold day in hell when she would ever do that with the Leader of Global Justice. Doctor Elizabeth 'Betty' Director.

"Hello Shego, I hope these men haven't been giving you too much of a problem." Dr. Director said as she took a seat across the table from Shego before she placed one of the cups in front of the former thief.

"ha, yeah right, I've received warmer treatment in the Arctic." Shego huffed but early grabbed the cup of coffee and savored its taste after gulping down half of it. It was perfect, an iced mocha, super sweet just how she liked it. Which should have been her first sign that something was off. How did they know how she liked her iced coffee?

"Well, that's unfortunate, do you know why you're here, Shego?" As Dr. Director started going through the folder, its contents were blocked off from Shego’s sight.

"Doy, I was working on my tan and enjoying some well deserved R&R when I was kidnapped by these bozos." Said Bozos huffed a bit, but remained quiet. 

"Well deserved? Shego you've done nothing but wander through every beach and nightclub for the past six months." Dr. Director scoffed.

"i knoooow, and it's been so exhausting too." Shego laid back as far as she could in her metal fold up chair.

 The conversation was already giving Dr. Director a headache, a common symptom when speaking to the superpowered thief. "Shego, I meant more specifically, do you know why you are being held by the Moroccan government?"

"Someone didn't read the news?" Sure, it was Stoppable that sent the Aliens packing but she was there too. Even got an award for it and that was now sitting nice and pretty in some pawn shop’s storefront window.

"Shego." Oh great , Cyclops was trying for a disappointed parent vibe. News flash Bets, Shego was twenty-four and didn't even speak to her folks anymore. Pick a new technique.

"What? Fine, I don't know. I thought the pardon you issued to me had me covered, So maybe this was just your doing, after all I've been good ever since, I swear it."

Dr. Director pulled out several photos of Shego in one of Drakken’s old hovercrafts flying through the sky. "Violating airspace traffic laws in a Hovercraft do not count as being good."

"What." Fuck.

"Shego, you've been violating the law ever since you decided to just use your hovercraft instead of taking an airplane or boat like a normal person. You've neglected to even radio and inform traffic control towers or border stations of your arrival or departure, which also violates immigration travel laws. Every time you crossed a border or flew without going through the proper channels has been a violation of the law, and more importantly it was a violation of your pardon."

 Shego had steadily gone paler as Dr. Director continued, whilst pulling out more photographs, a sinking feeling settled at the bottom of her stomach. There was photos from her social media, pictures taken by fans, and surveillance photos taken by GJ agents. They were watching her from the beginning.

 "The pardon was issued under the understanding that both you and Drakken would turn over a new leaf. And to his credit, Dr. Lipsky has. He's been under contact with us, researching Lowardian tech in Middleton. Doing some incredible work. Unlike you." To emphasize her point, she pulled out several photos of Shego. Her driving the hovercraft she got from Drakken, her suntanning on beaches, her in nightclubs dancing the evening away, her making out with boys, Girls, and even that cute non-binary bartender back in London. There was also several photos of Shego doing more than just kissing. Even a few photos of her in the middle of it, taken up close and personal, that must mean, oh no. Yup she slept with a couple of undercover agents too.

 Shego, still a bit stunned, tried her best to formulate a response, "It’s just a bit of joyriding. What's the harm?" But even that sounded weak to her when she said it out-loud. She could see that she was in a lot of trouble. She was about to kiss that sweet non-felon freedom goodbye. Shego wondered if she could even get the drop on Cyclops and make a run for it. Flip the table maybe? She put one of her hands under the table and subtly lit up… Except nothing happened. No plasma, in fact. She felt cold… Very cold. It would have been nice if it wasn’t for the fact that she was unarmed in a room with the Leader of Global Fucking Justice. What the fuck? Was her only thought.

 Betty just arched an eyebrow and smiled like she was secretly pleased that everything was going according to her plan. It unnerved Shego greatly.

“The harm Shego? We could ask the city of Breda, Netherlands when you flew over to go to Amsterdam. They saw your craft and the green woman piloting it and thought it was the Lowardians’ round two. You sent the whole city into lockdown.” Shego cringed and shivered as she still felt as cold as ice. That would have explained why Amsterdam felt like a ghost town at that time, though Shego didn't look too much into it. She was quick to leave then when she was no longer having fun.

 "Now much like the Netherlands and many other countries; these lively gentlemen behind me and the Moroccan government would just love to see you behind bars for this and all your past crimes. Pardons don’t erase memories after all. As it turns out they have a grudge against you after you stole the Crown Jewels from them and stashed them behind a Dairy Queen's dumpster in Athens."

 "Now that's a lie! I doubt there's even a Dairy Queen in Greece!" Shego huffed and rubbed her hands together under the table, trying to get any sort of warmth or spark back into her.

"Ohio. Athens, Ohio." Several more pictures were laid on the table, a teenager in an ice cream stained uniform wearing a crown with a dopey smile posing for the camera.

 Shego frowned, yup now that definitely rang a bell. In her defense, it was a crazy weekend. God, why can't people just take a joke and laugh about it afterwards. Haha, a pimple covered teen got hold of the Crown Jewels ain’t that funny? Judging by the annoyed faces of the guardsmen or the fact that there were literal tanks that picked her up at the beach, the answer was no.

 "Shego. I want you to understand that the only reason I'm here is to help." Totally believable there; showing up with a folder of ‘Shego’s greatest worldwide bender and fuckups’, just totally screamed, ‘here to help.’

 "Pull the other one Bets, clearly your people have just been following me waiting for me to make a slip. Did you finally want to test how plasma proof your cells are?" She tried to bluster and boast, but instead she was panicking. Fuck why isn't anything happening?! Fuck. Fuck!

Dr. Director smiled, “Why would we need plasma proof cells?” Shego realized, the coffee. Director knew. She did this. That goddamn Bitch did this. Shego was furious, yet not even the smallest of flares appeared. Shego looked at her coffee cup and threw it across the room, the remainder of it's contents splashed against the wall. The guards both flinched and raised their guns, but Dr. Director just raised an eyebrow at them and they lowered them again. It was at this moment Shego knew she was absolutely fucked; Dr. Director held all the cards.

The actual Devil as far as Shego was concerned, just continued as if nothing had happened. "As for your question, if that was true. We would have apprehended you a week after the invasion when you got in your hovercraft and flew to Belgium. Where, according to these photos, you had a craving for authentic Belgian chocolate." Several more surveillance photos were tossed out of the folder.

 A glance at the photos caused Shego to deflate; her powers gone and she was being dragged through what were simultaneously the highlights and now low points of the past six months. "So, what happens now?" She said as she was trying to ignore that one of the photos was of her licking chocolate off of a stripper she met in Brussels. Judging from the angles of the photos, the stripper was an undercover GJ agent. Yup it was official this was the worst day of her life and all Shego wanted was to get out of this room as quickly as possible.

 Betty gave her an ultimatum, Shego was never a fan of those. "It's simple. You either walk out of here in handcuffs, or arms free under contract. Your choice really.”

 Shego put her head in her hands, she was outmaneuvered and she hated it; she couldn’t fight her way out without her powers, especially in just a bikini, and she really didn't want to go back to being a felon. Fun as it was, after seeing what Stoppable did to those aliens she wanted no part in that, less likely to die in a ditch this way. 

She looked up at Dr. Director who was pretending to clean up the photos, though it only accomplished shuffling them to subtly show Shego more photos and reveal how much more the GJ leader knew, most were of her recent adventures, but there was several from before the pardon. It was a total power move and Shego hated every moment of it because she would do the same thing if their positions were reversed. Shego sighed and gave up. “What do you need from me?”

"You've made an wise decision Shego." Dr. Director did yet another snide smile, this was the happiest Shego has ever seen the woman and that terrified her greatly, “You help us with a little problem with one of our contractors. They're short a hand and I would like you to join them. In return, you'll accrue some good favor with everyone and we’ll get any warrants directed at you buried. Do this and you'll have your freedom"

 Shego wanted to scream, thrust into the hero game once again. Only this time she really didn't have a choice. Stuck in a cell, without her powers or stuck as some 'stick in the mud's’ lapdog. It was an easy choice really, Shego just hated that she had to make it.

 "Alright. Who?" Might as well get this over with. Just please don’t be Will Du.

 Dr. Director pulled out another set of photographs and laid them on the table and Shego took a look.

 "Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me."

KPKPKP

 In a defunct Henchco warehouse in northern France, a group of men in wine red uniforms ransacked the building. They tore through the crates and shipping container in search of something. A man dressed in a wine red cape with ‘MM’ embroidered on it ordered them as they continued to pillage. He was The Master Moscato, Scourge of France! He twirled his handlebar mustache evilly. Soon, he would have what he was looking for. And then they would all pay, they would all pay! 

"Over here! Master Pistachio! Found it!" One of the henchmen called as they held up a metal crate with ‘Caution: Fragile’ and ‘Flammable’ pasted across it. 

"You fool be careful with it! And it's not Master Pistachio! Its Master Mosc-" his answer was interrupted as a beeping ringtone came from right above him. He looked up only to find a pair of boots flying into his face and to the ground he went; launching from his face, a young red-headed woman landed several feet away from him.

"What's the sitch?" The woman said into the ringing device she pulled from her pocket as she darted away from the prone villain, just in time too as his henchmen all pulled out guns. Luckily she made it behind a stack of metal crates before they started firing.

 "Oh hey KP, did I catch you at a bad time?" She looked down and saw the face of her best friend, who called her as she was in the middle of something, though she couldn't find it in herself to be mad, just mildly annoyed. Judging from the Dojo in the background and martial arts Gi he was dressed in, he was likely just wrapping up a Tai Shing Pek Kwar training session.

 "Yeah kinda Ron. But no big. Just in the middle of a mission." She really should start putting it on silent when she was sneaking.

 "Oh, sorry." Ron rubbed the back of his neck, an old habit formed whenever he was nervous. "So, probably not the best time to call and see how that date with the girl from your chem class went." As much of shock as her coming out was to him, he's still been her most supportive friend about it, even if he didn't fully understand all of it at times.

 "Yeah, not ideal timing. I'll give you the full version later. Short version, she showed up with her boyfriend and asked where mine was."

 "Oh. Oof that's rough buddy. You know, that’s exactly why I think movies aren't a good first date." As baffling as ever she could see. Kim dreaded what he was going to say next, now was so not the time for one of his ‘Ron’ moments. “It’s too much like a group activity, it's too easy for someone to just bring another person.” A few henchmen ran up with batons, and swung. One by one, Kim shattered one’s kneecaps with a kick, broke the arm of the other, and knocked the third one out with his one baton, leaving all of them out of the fight.

 “Missing the point, Ron, she was trying to say she was taken and not interested.” Gunshots pinged off the surroundings as Kim pulled out a Taser and her grappling hook. She really needed both her hands free for this.

“Well, why didn't she just say that?” He said in response. Kim just sighed.

 "Um. KP, what's that noise I keep hearing in the background?" Shit. She still hasn't told him that the villains started packing actual guns, though in her defense it's not easy to say 'oh the bad guys are genuinely trying to kill me now' instead of just throwing her in a trap and walking away. She missed those days more than just a little bit. Plus she knew he would freak out the moment she did, and then he would tell her parents and it would be a huge case of drama. It was easier to just pretend that things were alright, and they were. She's Kim Possible after all, she can do anything.

Except beat a 8ft tall green alien. That particular intrusive thought lingered like a bad cold. A stiff reminder that the only reason she and the rest of humanity was still alive right now was halfway across the world and she couldn't even bring herself to tell him the truth. But she could feel bad about that later, she had more important things to do.

She could see Ron was trying to look around from his side of the screen to get an idea of what was going on.  "Um. It's nothing, just the henchs with some new tech." It was technically not a lie. "Listen, I'll call you back on my way home. Say hi to Yori for me." Not that Yori actually liked her, she was still convinced Kim was going to try to steal Ron back, even after informing her that Kim herself was more likely to steal Yori then Ron.

 "Okay KP, be caref-" she hung up before he could finish. Made her feel like shit, but she could apologize after everyone stopped shooting at her. She put away her Kimmunicator and aimed for the dark rafters with her grappling hook, she flew through the air, just in time too as a nearby crate exploded.

  A nasally voice rang out, "What are you doing you fools?! I said be careful! You could bring down everything around us!" Yup, sounds like she broke his nose with that landing. “And find her!”

 A chorus of  “Sorry” and “Yes Master Macchiato!” rang out from the henchmen as they took aim all around.

 “I said my name is Master Mosca-” His nasally voice was drowned out by a second exploding crate as his henchmen fired blindly around the warehouse. The perfect cover for Kim as she leaped down onto a hench's face and knocked him to the ground; though unlike his employer he did not get back up. ‘ Too easy’, She thought. The one next to him made an attempt to grab her just as she tased him. They seized up with electricity and fell forwards onto where Kim stood. Forced to drop her taser as she dodged to the side, but the bulky henchman clipped her on his way down and threw her off balance, she needed a moment to regain her footing. A moment she didn't have.

 The guards all swiveled to the sounds and pivoted to face her; smoking guns pointed at the redhead, she could see Master Moscato with a smirk on his face as he had her surrounded. "Well, well. Kim Possible, it seems like the end of the road for you. Shame you won't be able to see my master plan come to fruition." He laughed, though he looked and sounded ridiculous as his nose was still very much broken and bleeding.

 "Kill her. We have what we need." As he turned around and motioned for the guard carrying the crate they were after to follow him.

 Kim was desperate, but she wasn't one to go out without a fight. Adrenaline pulsed through her veins, as the guards all raised and took aim. She hoped that whatever was in that box was going to help her. as she nimbly stole a gun from the nearby tased henchman and fired her grappling hook in the air with her other hand as she fired off a shot with the gun at the crate held by the henchman.

 All the henchmen turned instantly to follow the bullet's track as it struck the crate, going into it. But not out. A loud 'clang' was heard from inside the box.

 Master Moscato just looked at it, a faint whistling could be heard, and said "oh you have got to be kidding me." Before it promptly detonated.

Chapter Text

The door to an 20th floor apartment flew open as the green-skinned thief charged through it. She angrily tossed her stuff in a corner and went into the living room. She knew she should clean up as she hasn't been in this particular safe-house since she left for her worldly tour. The place needed a good dusting, but she didn't care much at that moment, she instead went straight for her liquor cabinet, grabbed a bottle of something strong and went straight for her patio.

She was bounced around from the Moroccan police station to a UN/GJ holding center to the worst private jet ride she had ever had, and that was saying something. To end up here, home sweet home.

Her home turf, downtown Go-City stretched from her view, she could see the harbor and Go-Tower in its center from her view. The once home to her and her super-powered brothers now derelict and abandoned. Which meant that Hego's attempt to revive the team after the Invasion likely failed, she got a call from him right after that award ceremony. Pompous as always ranting on about her return to justice! and all of that crap. Like he always believed in her, which Shego knew was bullshit. Hego just wanted to go back to fulfilling his comic book fantasies and hero complex, and she told him exactly what she thought of it in no less than an entire dictionary's worth of insults. Seemed he got the message then, of course she felt a tiny little bit bad about that. After all he was her brother, insufferable as he was; so she sent a gift basket with a cookbook from France to him. Not because she actually cared or anything. She just didn't want him to bother her with his whining.

She took big heavy gulps as she tried to get rid of the anger flowing through her, usually she would just go and let out some plasma, but now that wasn't a fucking option cause of that one-eyed harpy. She couldn't believe she let herself be bossed by some eyepatch wearing government cock jockey. Those bureaucratic asshats had her on a leash, and a tight one at that. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

That bitch, Dr. Director's reminders were fresh in her mind. It was less of being 'voluntold' and more straight up blackmail with her powers as a hostage.

"Cooperate or lose your glow. Permanently." Dr. Director's parting words bounced around in Shego's mind as she took another gulp. Everything just went downhill after she got on that GJ jet.

---

“I already said I was going! No need to manhandle me Assholes!” Shego huffed as she was forced into a plane seat by two GJ agents. Across from her, Dr. Director sat and slipped a fresh coffee, her expression gave Shego no clue what she was thinking. It greatly pissed her off; well the entire past several hours had already made her furious, so this was just the icing on the cake. Here she was in a GJ private jet, about to be flown off to the last place she ever wanted to visit again. Go City. She groaned at the reality of it. They probably expected her to be grateful or something after they allowed her to go back to change and grab her stuff from her hotel. However she was anything but grateful, oh yes, thank you great and mighty GJ and not a sorry excuse for a shadowy governmental enforcement agency. They took her spare burner phone! Had she the means, she would have burned all of their asses and called it 'Flamme de ass.' Her French was a little rusty.

 "So, are you finally going to give me the details on this whole 'helping Pumpkin thing' or am I supposed to just guess." Shego asked as she adjusted her wrinkled 'ACAB' printed shirt; she picked it for a reason, mainly for the minor personal victory it felt like.

 Director placed a couple of folders on the small table set up in front of them and made a motion for Shego to look through them. Shego really hoped it wasn't more photos of her escapades. Especially her time in Italy a few years back, Shego cringed at the thought. In her defense, how was she supposed to know you couldn't just take an abandoned canal gondola and take a selfie wearing the Pope's hat? And she did return both of them so there, no harm, no foul. The fancy robes couldn't have been still that mad about it. Could they?

 Fortunately for Shego, they seemed to have enough of humiliating her. The folder instead contained dossiers of various henchmen and supervillains; most of which were in a GJ detainment center. But what struck Shego as particularly strange were the photos. All of them showed the villains in more than worse wear. Broken limbs, covered in bandages and splints, burns, even a henchman in a coma. "Look here in particular." Dr. Director pointed at a man in a hospital bed, his face was wrapped in burn bandages, his eyes glared at the camera. The photo's caption was dated to only a week ago, and the man was listed as 'Master Moscato The Scourge of France." Really? 'The Scourge of France' is named after Italian wine? Shego chuckled to herself as she continued to look through the photos and dossiers.

Oh, Kimmie's going hard now. Shego smiled at the thought. Sure it was pretty fucked up; the mere idea of Kim fucking Possible putting people in the ICU, but it reminded her so much of when she was fed up with her brothers and the hero gig. Back when she just said fuck it and nearly killed a villain in the middle of a crowded shopping mall.

Well it turned out he was just a mall-Santa, but he made a joke about her tinted skin and asked if she would play the Grinch, so in her opinion he did deserve every single one of the fifty five different bones she broke in his body. Now the 1997 Toyota Camry she stole from his 'elf' helper and promptly dumped in Go-City's freezing harbor was a different story entirely though. She did that for the shits and giggles and to mainly piss off Hego, who at that time tried to force a holiday themed 'Go Go-City!" sweater on her.

Shego smiled at the warm fuzzy feeling that rose in her every-time she thought about that day. Sometimes when she was in a bad mood, she would just remember Hego diving into the freezing harbor water to pull the car out. You never forget your first real 'evil act' as they say.

A snap of some fingers and a cough shook her from that thought as Dr. Director laid another dossier in front of her, Shego rolled her eyes and picked up GJ's file on Kim Possible including missions, statistics, dozens of reports and complaints filed by 'Will Du', and several psych reports made by GJ psychologists who, in Shego's opinion, were likely overpaid to just peddle sophomore psychology courses and self-help books. It's what she would have done anyways. Over all Shego really didn't give a flying fuck about it and barely read it. She was mainly waiting for the harpy to get on with telling her what she wanted beyond just 'lending a hand' to Kim Possible. Her eyes idled on one of the psych reports, her initial opinion about it being bullshit seemed to be correct.

 'PL-TSD (Post Lowardian - Traumatic Stress Disorder), Savior complex, reckless, unflappable narcissistic belief in her ability to do anything.' It continued on and Shego just rolled her eyes and groaned as she read the usual pretentious psychologist bullshit, the blah blah blah that explained how Kim Possible clearly sought approval for everything and that pushed her to live up to her family motto of "Anything is Possible for a Possible." The whole thing made her want to vomit. Also everyone had PTSD after the Lowardians kicked their shit in before Stoppable kicked in theirs. So big whoop there, even she had an occasional nightmare about Warmonga using her as a training dummy, but you don't see her complaining about it. After all that's what the whiskey she kept at her bedside is for anyways.

 So Princess was Princess. That was it. She did the hero thing because she was at her core, a 'goodie two shoes'. She didn't need a twenty page dissertation by some pretentious asshat to know that. Though she will admit that Kimmie going hard was new, it was likely due to something else instead of this ‘psychoanalyze’ crap that's being petaled. Shego wondered how much the egghead was paid to write this, maybe she should have just became a psychologist instead if it meant you could just say random shit for money. 'Dr. Director was a mean bitch because no one ever held her so she now sets out to make everyone's life as terrible as hers was. The end.' Paycheck please.

 Shego grinned, secretly pleased with herself, she looked at her new 'employer', and made an effort to actually talk to the Cyclops. "So Kimmie's finally growing up, huh?"

 Dr. Director looked up from a tablet she was reading from in her off-hand. "Indeed, she is showing remarkable growth, however unpredictable. The fact is, that report is mostly incomplete. The end results are painting a dangerous picture and we need more data. Actual eyes with her. This is where you come in." 

"Hold on. Are you telling me to spy on Kim Possible? Also what picture? Sure Pumpkin's getting a little rough. So what? It's a dangerous world, especially if she's alone." Well it looked more like burnout to Shego, something she herself was very experienced with, but she wasn't about to reveal that card to the Queen Government Bee herself. Shego still didn't want to be there or dealing with them after all.

"Keep reading, Shego." Dr. Director ordered, or at least it sounded like an order. Shego never took those all that well though, Drakken could attest to that. She really wanted to just set the paper on fire just to smite the harpy, but she couldn't. She no longer felt cold, that ever-encompassing chill that stuck to her very core. Instead, it was just the absence. A void. The sign that her glow was still gone, her 'green', the 'ever burning-flame'. The roaring explosive boil that existed beneath her skin at all times, begging to be discharged. Instead, she just felt 'normal', like she was fifteen again before the meteor crashed and she hated every second of it.

Shego gritted her teeth and looked away, silently swearing a very plasma-filled enema against the GJ leader one day. She glanced back at the report, already she started to roll her eyes at the stupidity of it as it was now talking about Kimmie being forced to rise to the challenge as the criminal underworld was shifting towards the development of stolen 'Lowardian tech' and Henchmen using more dangerous means of protection. Okay maybe that bit wasn't complete bullshit, that was actually something she could agree with as she had heard some news that filtered in through her old contacts from time to time. Not that she was ever really planning to return to crime, but a girl always had to have a backup plan after all.

However that feeling didn't last as she read one particular line near the end, the one no doubt the Director was pointing her too.

Final Conclusion: Kim Possible is a driven passionate individual who is an extremely competent and capable asset however she is also ambitious, ruthless, and incredibly cunning.  Her strong sense of justice mixed with the observed and reported trait known as her 'Kimness' makes her an also extremely volatile individual. Should she ever lose faith in the rule of law or governmental agencies, It is hypothesized that she will likely turn to other methods in a misguided attempt to remedy the world's ailments.

As such, this report recommends Kim Possible be classified as an Alpha 1 Threat Level should she turn rogue, and action be taken immediately to prevent this from passing.

For more information on Kim Possible's behavior please see cited reports: 'little Diablo', 'Master Mascato', 'Firefly', and 'Lowardian Invasion'.

  What. They thought the Princess was going to turn evil?  That is actually insane. Genuinely insane and she used to work for Drakken so she knew insane. Shego looked up and met Dr. Director's eye, a grim frown on the GJ Leader’s face.

 "Really? You're taking this piece of garbage seriously?" Shego couldn't believe it, GJ really was full of a bunch of idiots, she would have sooner bet that Dementor would hang up his helmet and start a bakery, it ain't happening.

 Dr. Director set aside her tablet to focus on Shego and sighed. "It's more complicated then that. The truth is Kim Possible is pulling away from GJ for one reason or another and we cant afford to look the other way. All the signs have been pointing to Possible becoming more aggressive and gradually losing her faith in the systems in place. She's no longer the same bright eyed young woman she was before. We can't have that, we need a Kim Possible that will fully work with us."

"Meaning, you want her as your dutiful lapdog." Shego knew what this was all about, power and obedience, 'the governmental powers that be' just wanted another tool in their belt.

 "Shego, stop being so obstinate. It's imperative we take action before anything else happens, which is why we have brought you in." Good luck on that, Shego made a career on being as obstinate as possible.

 Shego rolled her eyes, "Sure, Kim Possible is becoming evil and you want her arch-nemesis to spy on her. Are you fucking stupid? Did whatever freakside accident that happened to your eye take part of your brain too?" Shego put her fist in her other hand in a 'got it' gesture. "No wait, I'm here as 'free unpaid labor' because of government budget cuts. Tell me, did they also have to switch to discounted bulk coffee after spending all of it on this fancy new jet?"

Dr. Director did not look amused and Shego relished every second of it. Her brothers always did say her second superpower was pissing off everyone in the room and she lived for it. Shego wished she could take a picture of Director's face, frame it, and then just stick it above her bed and look at it whenever she needed a 'pickup', but sadly her phone was still confiscated and she doubted she was going to see it anytime soon.

 "Are you done?" Dr. Director asked as she put her empty coffee cup on the table. "Or do you have more you would like to add?"

Shego pretended to think for a moment, "hmm, do you ever let your partner just stick in the socket? Just to see what it feels like? I promise won't tell~." By the gasp of air behind her, Shego knew that the two agents behind were doing their best to hold it in, rather it was shock or laughter was not known to her.

Dr. Director looked unimpressed and not remotely amused, Shego knew she was going too far, but fuck it was fun to press the woman’s buttons, and Shego was never good on 'self-control.'

 Dr. Director on the other hand apparently had enough with the thief and pulled a small vial filled with a clear liquid and held it up. At times like this, when Shego was reminded that this woman just had this 'mastermind' feel to her, quite the dramatic gesture she was making. A reminder that sometimes the difference between 'supervillain' and 'force of good' was just a governmental 'okay'. The gesture reminded Shego of something one of the crime lords like Gemini would do. Competent and more than a little terrifying. No doubt most of GJ was scared of their own boss. "This is the antidote to the power suppressant we gave you. Without it… well there's no data yet on when you'll be getting your powers back." A sickening feeling settled in Shego's stomach. Dr. Director pulled the small stopper open and tipped the vial over. The liquid splashed against the floor. "Oops. Clumsy me."

  Shego leaped up, intent on ripping out the Leader's throat only to be stopped and shoved back into her seat by agents behind her; she thrashed, slipped out of their grip and took a swing at one of them. The agent's face crunched against the well-thrown punch as he was sent backwards to the floor, however it gave Dr. Director enough time to move across the table and grab her arm and ram her knee into the back on Shego's knees, who crumpled to her knees. Soon her arm was behind her back with Dr. Director pinning her down, face first to the floor.

 "Are you okay, agent Wilson?" The Leader asked.

 "Yeah, luckily she doesn't have her powers or gloves. I'm gonna wake up with a shiner, but I'm good." If she wasn't face first thrashing on the ground with Dr. Director's knee placed on her spine, shego would feel a bit more smug about it. But no, now she was here and she swore that at the end of it all, she would be the one take Director's head for all she had done.

. "Now Shego, are you going to do that again?" Shego could feel the woman's knee as it dug into her spine.

 "Given a chance I'd do my best to make sure your agents match." Spiteful to the end.

 "Shego, I'm only going to say this once. Cooperate or lose your glow. Permanently.”

---

Shego took another swig, yup. Worse day of her entire life. Dr. Director kept her in that pin for the rest of the flight before she tossed Shego on her ass on a private landing strip near Go-City airport. She had to scramble to avoid the more than little pleased agents who threw her stuff and a briefcase filled with the document's and secret mission orders. She swore she would burn them all one day, revenge would be sweet. She just needed her powers back, which meant dancing to their tune for a little bit.

First she had to meet Pumpkin and make friends, shouldn't be too hard, after all she did have some respect for the young woman, hopefully it was mutual. At the moment though, she was angry and needed some relief.

 "Fuck." Was really all she had to say about it. She took another swig, but it kept up dry. She glared at the empty bottle. Sure she could just go to sleep and try to forget, but that wasn't her. So she stood up, grabbed a leather jacket out of her room and went out the door. Time to make some trouble.

KPKPKPKP

Everything hurt. That was a fact that was very well known to Kim at that moment. She groaned and flopped onto the evening dew covered grass outside as Global Justice agents swarmed the half collapsed building. The blast dislodged her grappling hook and sent her crashing into a nearby stack of crates halfway across the warehouse. Covered in bruises, cuts, abrasions and more then a little bit of singed hair, Kim looked like how she felt; like she lost a fist fight with a bear, if the bear had a flamethrower and was a master of 'Fuck Kim's shit up' Style. Or at least that's what she imagined Ron would say if he was here right now. She even imagined his voice; which was likely more than a little concerning, if she could find it in herself to care.

She closed her eyes and just breathed, though her moment was disturbed by someone screaming. “You ruined my face! You Bitch! You ruined my fucking face! I will ruin you, Kim Possible! I swear on my name! Master Moscato! You will pay!” The villain screamed from somewhere behind her as he was loaded onto a GJ medical transport along with several severely burned henchmen by a squad of GJ agents.

Kim did flinch at the yelling, and felt bad about the explosion, but they had guns and were trying to kill her. So that rationale prevented her from going into a guilt spiral. How did Ron and Rufus always destroy the lairs without anyone getting more than minorly hurt? She didn't understand that. It seemed like every mission ended with someone going to the hospital nowadays. 

Correction. Every Global Justice Mission. The ones where she's sent to go fight an extra brand of dangerous and crazy; men like Master Mascato or Firefly who would not hesitate to shoot Kim or any innocents dead if it meant they would win.

Her old enemies never went that far unless pushed to the limit and that in of itself was enough for Kim to miss her old rogues. Most of her old list of foes were in GJ custody; like Dementor after his last scheme, an attempt to turn the world's crust into sauerkraut, Killigan tried to turn Poland into a golf course, and Frugal Lucre was caught for embezzlement. Kim didn't even need to stop him that time, the IRS did it for her.

There was a few that turned away from crime though which she was happy for them. Seńor Senior Senior retired and even sent her a 'congratulations on attending college' postcard and gift basket. His son, Junior continued with the whole 'Pop Star' thing, with Bonnie Rockwaller taking care as his manager after she finished summer school.

Then there was the others like Motor Ed, who ended up with a plea bargain and was now working with his cousin as an mechanical engineer. Drakken himself seemed to thrive in his new environment as a legitimate GJ scientist. He was given an honorary degree from Middleton Institute of Technology and even patched things up with Kim's dad. There was even a few times when he went over to her parent's newly fixed house for a barbecue. She would bet he visited even more often then that, but she didn't live at home anymore so that was hard to tell.

All that was missing was his former assistant and Kim's favorite enemy, Shego. who just disappeared shortly after the award ceremony, if it wasn't for the occasional social media posting of fans seeing 'The Great Shego' or even partying with her, Kim would have been worried that the reformed thief had gone back to the crime life. But no, it seemed like her former nemesis just liked to spend her days in debauchery. Which fitted her in Kim's opinion, even if Kim did miss the occasional showdowns they had.

 All in all, it was enough that made Possible miss those days; her missions felt more manageable and even enjoyable back then. Now her missions always seemed to come from GJ, and the new card of villains didn't mind smearing Kim Possible's insides across the pavement.

 Just this endless cycle of ending the mission limping and covered in bruises. Repeat every couple days, sometimes back to back even. It had to have been months since she got just an ordinary mission through her website. Where were all the cats stuck in trees? The lost children? The charities needing an extra hand? Heck she'd wish she was doing disaster relief over this. Then she'd be actually helping people instead of whatever this was.

 "Miss Possible, are you enjoying yourself?" She was still laying on the ground, she twisted her head to see Will Du standing there, a clipboard in one hand, ballpoint pen in the other. He was either taking notes or filling his much beloved reports. Kim just groaned and straightened her head to look back at the French evening sky, the smoke from the fire obscured the stars. She heard him scratching out several notes as she just took a moment to breathe. No doubt the report he was filing was judging her 'sloppy' performance, likely his recommendation was to have GJ stop relying on her expertise. At this point, part of her wished they would follow what he suggested too, the other part chastised herself for being selfish when people clearly needed her to save them. She already knew he recommended that after every mission she went on especially after Wade hacked his way through their systems and showed her the dozens of reports and complaints that Will Du's filed against her.

 It hasn't done much to affect her or her missions, besides the few times she did have to go in and get psych evaluated, but that wasn't really a problem. She was told it was standard procedure more than anything else, so at that point she stopped caring and told Wade he didn't have to look into it anymore.

 "Possible, if you require medical assistance please say so. I have the proper documents for you to fill. otherwise I will take you to the nearby airfield for pickup." Will Du sniffed and walked over to the GJ black sedan, because nothing said 'nothing suspicious here' like an unmarked black sedan with tinted windows. Kim wondered if GJ knew how that looked. As she stood up pain shot through her side, she was definitely going to need a hot bath and some pain meds, she was just thankful she didn't have class in the morning.

 She limped to the car and got in on the passenger side and they were off. Kim tried to make the time pass quicker with some conversation but that didn't work as well as she had hoped. Kim has always tried to be a friendly person, but Will Du's icy exterior always made it quite difficult. One word responses seemed to be his forte this time as any attempt at conversation died as quickly as it began. Though it was better than Dr. Director or a random GJ from giving her a ride. Will Du made no attempt to hide his hostility towards Kim, but that was preferred over GJ's attempts to fully recruit her or convince her to take a new partner. She wasn't even an agent for them, she was just willing to help them out. Yet they frequently took it as an excuse to steer her towards their rules and regulations. The key word is 'try', as Kim was nothing if not stubborn and shot down anything with the reasoning that it was 'her team, not GJ's.'

 If nothing else, At least Will Du would rather take a position on a moon base rather than ever try to recruit her. 'Amateur' he thought she was. So there would be no weird recruitment attempt made then, still didn't remove the current atmosphere inside that car though. She'd love a distraction right about now.

 As if by her very plea for mercy, her Kimmunicator went off. She didn't even bother looking to see who it was, she was just thankful to get out of the awkward silence. With a small, "I'm sorry." To Will, which was met with silence, she answered her 'phone'.

 "What's the sitch?" Please don't be another mission. Please don't be another supervillain who terrorized London. Or any other major city for that matter.

"Hey Kim, have a good mission?" Ron asked as his face appeared on her screen for the second time that night.

She'll gladly take her best friend. "Hey Ron, yeah it wasn't too bad." Technically not a lie as any fight nowadays that she was walking away from was good in her book. "Didn't I say I was going to call you instead?" She was more or less just teasing him, she might have been annoyed at it, but she was mostly just thankful to have someone to talk to besides Will Du.

 Ron looked panicked, "Uh. Yeah you did. Sorry. But I need your help! Let's say hypothetically you did something stupid and now your girlfriend won't talk to you. How would you solve that?" Kim has heard that phrase enough to know that when Ron said 'hypothetically' it usually meant, 'i did the thing and now i need help with digging myself out of the hole.'

 Somethings never change. "You pissed off Yori didn't you?" Kim was smiling, for once. Something normal! She can handle relationship advice! Granted since coming out of the closet her longest relationship was three weeks but it still counted.

"What?! No! We're good. Totally good. Soooo good… yes please help!" The usual panicked Ron with Rufus nodding along on his shoulder, it was enough to bring a bubbly giggle to Kim's throat.

 Ron will always be Ron, Kim smiled through it. "Alright, I need full details, but here's what you have to do generally."

The rest of the way to the airfield passed peacefully, except for one Agent Will Du, who swore he would never give another teenage girl a ride ever again.

Chapter Text

There were two kinds of people in the world. Those who adored winter. They spent the days frolicking in the snow, running around holiday shopping while pop remixes of Christmas songs blared on repeat, or slaving happily over ovens with cookies and themed cakes. And those who hated winter, the cold, and did everything in their power to make it known and someone else's problem.

Without her powers Shego was firmly in the second column. She had one personal policy regarding winter. 'Don't fucking deal with it.' Had she things her way, she'd happily still be at the Moroccan beach or a dance club doing body shots off of multiple people's chests. Not here in Go City while the city itself wasn't able to decide between being a slushy mess and the faux holiday cheer that happened between Thanksgiving and Christmas like a toddler that couldn't decide what it wanted for lunch. It was cold, bitter, and she was forced to deal with it.

It did very little to temper her mood as she was an angry storm that threatened the streets she wandered. She desired to put her now-not-glowing fist through someone’s face, preferably Dr. Director’s. She needed something to take her mind off her struggles for a bit before she could focus on her next steps. Anything to make her night remotely better before she had to start the next morning figuring out how to start her next simple three step plan.

1. Find Princess, gain her trust, and somehow join her team.
2. Do so until Dr. Director is either satisfied or has hopefully finally keeled over. Accelerate the latter part if possible.
3. Get her fucking ‘Glow’ back and give the Cyclops a plasma enema, living or dead.

Simple and straightforward, her plan rivaled even Dr. D's greatest of plans. Which was like two, maybe three at most. He wasn't exactly well known for them. His best plan were those creepy fast food dolls and the fake 'mister perfect', even then that plan almost put Shego in a coma when Cupcake found out and punted her into that electrical tower. She wasn't even part of that plan, all Dr. D, but she was the one that got her ass tossed like a patio chair left out in a hurricane. Nothing good came from messing with Kim Fucking Possible emotionally and here she was blackmailed into it. Fuck spy agencies, fuck 'global security', fuck Dr. Director, and also fuck Dr. D. it was probably his shitty work that got her powers suppressed in the first place. He was the one who knew the most about it after all. She wouldn't put it past him, he was always more interested in her powers than she liked. The amount of times he tried to sneak looks or samples of her plasma when he thought she wasn't looking was more than she liked. Granted she would have liked that amount to be zero, but she was a realist at heart and always knew how to temper her expectations. She would have to do some digging later and find out who made the 'suppressant'. If Drakken really did make it then she would make him pay ten fold. Five fold if he did it against his will as she was merciful. Someday when she could burn and incinerate at will again, she would give any who betrayed her a personal lesson in 'Don't Fuck With Shego.'

She hoped the idiot was happy and enjoyed his working for the harpies at GJ, because when the truth came out; there was no soldier, fortress, or fucked up experiment that she would stand in her way. That was a promise.

She let those thoughts fester as she marched down the street in search of a good time, of a distraction. Her mind a blender filled with a smack-down smoothie as revenge fantasies swirled in her head.

She stopped.

She took a deep breath.

Followed by another.

Then another.

It felt like several minutes as the cold air burned her lungs as she worked to compose herself. Her pops always said, 'don't fret over the things you can't change.' She begrudgingly admitted he had a point. She was the type to get caught up in the moment. She was in her hometown, she knew her way around. The hot-spots, the good bars, the clubs, plenty to do. She could still have a good time. She at least knew where she should start and she made her way to an older part of the city she visited regularly back before she even signed up with Dr. D.

---

Shego was a Go-City girl at heart and that was an unchanging fact. A fact as true as was the stench from the Go-harbor or the sewer rats that were as big as her mom's old Beagle. She may have been born and brought up in a quiet suburb, until that rainbow flavored comet fucked things up, but Cities were her bread and butter when they weren't covered in freezing slush that is. Give her the nightclubs; the skimpy dressed guys and girls no matter the weather, the 24/7 convenience stores, the bar fights, the crooked con-artists, museum heists, and the dime-a-dozen half baked superheroes and villains that sprang up like bad case of hangover acne. All of this made Go-City her home, no matter how long it's been since she's wandered its streets.

It had been awhile too, since she really graced these streets. She didn’t count the few missions where she and the Princess worked together against her old Team Go villains; Aviarius, and the Electronique and her Reverse Polarizer. She shuddered whenever she remembered that low point of her life. She'd rather go 1v1 against Warmonga's reanimated corpse than ever go on a date with 'Stevie' ever again. The moment she unleashed those death traps on his ass was the only highlight of that entire thing; well maybe she could include the time she spent with Pumpkin in that, but only because she was pretty cool when she wasn't being a total goodie goodie.

Needless to say, its been some time since she really was in Go City for an extended period of time. The last time she was here of her own volition besides when she grabbed some stuff before her vacation was before she signed on with Drakken. Back when she just quit Team Go and by extension her family, though mainly because of Hego and their bitch of a mother. Shego needed two things; money and reputation. At that point, no matter what Hego said, she wasn’t like ‘fully’ evil. She just believed in doing whatever the fuck she wanted. Nineteen year old Shego wanted freedom and she was only about to find that through villainy. Really at the time it was a means to the end, it just worked out that she was good at it.

The plasma powers certainly helped bring in attraction. It didn’t take long before she had an agreement with an old bookie she once used as information for Team Go cases. He’d find her jobs and would get a small cut. Thus ‘Tony’ became her gateway into the criminal underworld. She started small with bodyguard and B&E jobs before they found Dr. D’s ad in the ‘Villain’s Weekly’ classified section. They both laughed at it. ‘Help wanted 4 WORLD DOMINATION. Dental Included.’ Ultimately Shego did hedge her bets on it and if she was honest. The whole thing did have more ups than it had downs, not that she would ever admit that to Drakken.

It made her feel just a little nostalgic. She spent a lot of time bouncing from the classes at Go University, and this particular older part of town where an old bookie had his 'lair' in an old fashioned bar.

Tony was the first person who saw Shego for what she was, a free soul. Not bound or tethered to anything or anyone. It would be good to see him. He was a lot like a grandpa or a cool uncle.

However, much like the recurring theme of the day, which is 'what the fuck else could go wrong?' His bar wasn't the same as the last time she was there.

Sure the sign above still said 'Tony's', but that's where the similarity to the days of old ended. As far as she could remember the bar was not popular as Tony kept it quiet as possible to draw as little attention as possible as it was his base of operation.

Sure it's been a few years since she really stopped by, but this was just weird.

 Was there a comic convention going on in the city or something? There were entire groups of dorks in robes that littered the outside and inside. The robes were ashy gray as a base with a blackened soot effect on them and an orange flame insignia on the front. With the experiences she had, as both an ex superhero and 'retired' villainess, uniforms and badges said three things to Shego; Henchmen, military, or cults as the likely suspects.

 She could strike out 'military' for obvious reasons. These weren’t soldiers in military dress, and last she checked this was Go-City, not a third world country with oil and accidental Lowardian Tech.

  Henchmen were pretty likely, though that insignia wasn't any she's ever seen before. Probably belonged to some lame ass supervillain called the 'Scorching Steve' or something equally dumb. At least that would mean her friend would be okay, henchmen rarely 'offed' old bookies. Especially since Jack Hench standardized the whole industry.

 If it was a cult, though. That made things more complicated. Cultists were usually out of their collective minds, devoted, and fanatically dogmatic. Which could mean either they were peaceful to the core, performing community services and bake sales, or vice versa would not hesitate to stab an old woman and sacrifice a baby. If they tried to convert her then she’d have her answer, and they would have had a boot shaped whole in their asses.

Shego proceeded her way inside to get to the bottom of the mystery, the men out front didn't stop her besides giving her a few weird looks. 

The inside was quite warm which was appreciated as Go-City was bitterly cold this time of year and without her powers she felt like a popsicle. Cigarette smoke and the sweet smell of booze lingered throughout the area. A pool table set up in the corner near a small stage where 80s fantasy power metal was blasted through a jukebox. Not really her type of music, but at least it wasn't Karaoke night. If there was a Hench or Dr. D on the stage singing 'Muskrat Love' she would have turned right around out the door, and gone the hell home. She would have set the bar on fire and spent the next week in bed, preferably after she poured bleach in her ears.

Power metal she could deal with, she had no doubt that her brother, Hego, could name them by the squeaking that the lead vocalist's tight leather pants made alone, and her brother likely had a poster on his wall. He was the type to like lyrics about dragons and righteous wizards that were belted out over an electric guitar. Shego could respect the physical and musical prowess that they had to display for it, but she couldn't take the lyrics very seriously. After all, it wasn't like dragons or magic were actually real. No, Shego preferred pop with a good dancing beat for clubbing, rap, or any music that actually said something. Usually it was 'fuck the man'.

She was right about the other thing though, definitely a hideout for some sort of flavor of the week spandex covered ass-clown. Just her luck really, of course the one place she thought she could get a decent drink and here it was, turned into 'loserville'. population: 'way too fucking many.' If there was a divine presence out there somewhere which she always highly doubted, She would make sure that they were kicked in the groin repeatedly for inflicting this curse upon her.

She sighed and strode further in. She could do this, get a drink, find out what happened to her old friend, and maybe start a fight, after all no one would miss these losers anyway. She was motherfucking Shego, and no one was going to ruin her evening. Well, not anymore then it was already ruined. She kept that attitude as she made her way to the bar; she already knew that from the moment she stepped in that she stuck out like Motor Ed in a library; she could feel everyone's eyes on her.

 Normally she loved being the center of attention, if this was a normal bar/club scene she might even cause a little flare up of her powers. Show her stuff, bewitch and beguile the masses, made sure everyone knew who the hell they were all dealing with, but now without her powers? It felt like a stack of cooling stones took permanent residence in her stomach. Fuck. She felt nervous? No. There was no chance in hell of that happening. She was Shego, even without her glow, she was still an absolute badass and she could prove it.

 She steeled herself, which only made her more angry and annoyed, as she walked up the bar and all but demanded a bottle of something strong.

 The bartender, wearing the same robes as all the rest, looked up from the glass they were polishing and was surprised by her appearance.

 "Um. Are you lost by chance, missie?"

 "The only thing I am right now is annoyed. Now. If a sealed bottle of whiskey doesn't appear in my hands within the next ten seconds. I will make you eat that glass." She would never again trust an opened bottle of anything.

 "Hold on, wait a second here!" He said frantically.

"One." She loved this part.

 He misunderstood as he gave a small polite smile, "Alright thank you, now as I was saying you shouldn't be here."

"Two."

"What?" He made a face that Shego would giggle about in her dreams for days to come.

"Ten." Shego yanked him by the neckline of the robes and tossed him over the edge of the counter. He flew back across the floor of the room; an occupied table stopped his slide and his consciousness. The sounds and voices of outrage from weirdly dressed henchmen as they got up echoed through the room. Shego didn't give a shit as she reached over the counter for a bottle, she didn't care what she picked, and a shot glass. She gladly helped herself to their stock as she poured herself her first shot. It burned beautifully on the way down. Tasted just like paint thinner, she wouldn't be shocked if it was.

The fantasy power metal came to its end with the vocals sounding a lot like "and victory for all" or some other Dungeons and Dipshits nonsense. Shego could count on a closed fist how many fucks she gave about it. In its place, classic heavy metal blared. Now this got her blood pumping. She could work with this as she poured herself another shot.

On the second shot, she heard the barking of orders and the rattle of weapons, yup they were definitely an organized force in some regard. Luckily nothing sounded like firearms, which was good. She could deal with pool cues, bats, and even metal chains, but bullets were still a fatal weakness. She smiled, exactly what she ordered, some entertainment. She refilled her glass.

On the third shot, a gruff voice rang out behind her "who the fuck do you think you are?" The armed men behind him all gave agreeing shouts like a group of the world's worst hype-men. Shego was reminded of kids on the playground sticking up to the bully, it was enough to bring a small chuckle to her lips as she turned around back to the bar and downed her next shot.

"Hey! I was talking to you!" He said as he grabbed her shoulder. Shego whipped around with the bottle in hand and smashed it against his temple. He went down like a sack of potatoes covered in glass shards, which left her holding a wet bottle handle and not much else.

Apparently the group wasn't expecting the woman to fight dirty, a mistake they'll pay for dearly as they were stunned for a moment, just long enough for Shego to throw the handle at another thug's face, he ducked but the guy behind him didn't. A small joy at fighting a crowd of idiots. The robed thug crossed the distance and swung a metal bat downwards. She dodged to the side, but she felt off, out of balance. Her glow was so intrinsic to her being, her fighting style; that to fight without it, it felt like she might as well been fighting underwater. It clearly showed. Normally she would have glowed up and melted the bat as she let her powers ruin those that dared to oppose her, instead the metal barely missed her as she was forced to dodge. This only made her angrier, at that moment the blame shifted from GJ and Dr. Cyclops to these two-cent lackies. She wanted to make them pay. 

*Crunch!* The thug stepped back as he held his nose with one hand as Shego's fist met the bridge of it. The now loosen grip on his bat allowed her to steal it and low swing, his kneecap shattered as he went down, still awake and alive but out of the fight. Shego didn't have the time to knock him out as a pool cue smashed against her side.

She gritted her teeth, its clear the other thug expected her to go down or cower, but he clearly didn't know who the fuck she was. She retaliated with her new weapon as it made love to his face and he crashed to the ground. She hated that she had to use a weapon, but she wasn't about to fight a group unarmed at an added disadvantage. She was angry and ego-bruised, not stupid. Shego was now fully facing the group, mixed expressions across the robed figures.

Shego could see everyone else behind in the bar crowding around, most of them armed with improvised weapons, misused sports gear, and a few knives. If this was the best they had to offer she was going to wipe the floor with them. Powers or no. She was mother fucking Shego. The baddest bitch out there! She was voted Henchwoman of the Year for three consecutive fucking years! These weak assed discount wannabes didn't know what the hell they got themselves into. She sneered at the rest of them, "What's the matter, boys? Scared of little ol' me?"

She felt a hand grab her ankle as the man, whose nose and kneecap she shattered, held on for dear life. Cute. Shego stomped on his already broken face. Down for the count he went.

Two more thugs used that moment to charge her with bats of their own and swung on opposing sides. She dropped to the ground and let them miss, her bat went straight forward into a thrust into one of their groins before she blocked a swing from the other one. Too easy.

She threw a side kick straight into the other guys knee cap as he took a step forward, "Fuck!" As he began to crumble to the ground, only to be stopped by Shego's knee colliding with his face.

A pair of strong arms grabbed the former thief from behind and knocked the bat out of her hands. Fuck. she didn't even hear him closing the distance over the music. A gruff voice assaulted her ear. "Settle down girly, we wouldn't want such a pretty face to get hurt?" Shego’s response was to drop her weight to the ground as she forced the man to support all of her, he stumbled. She sprung back up and smashed the back of her head into his face. She’ll find a knot back there in the morning, but his face had more problems than her at least as she tried her best to arrange it to resemble a ‘Picasso’ as she repeatedly pummeled against it.

He held on to her as he swore and called her a plethora of misogynistic insults. Shego swore right back at him and stomped on his toes; tried to kick out his legs, but he held on and pulled her back toward the center of the room where his friends waited. She thought fast as they passed a table and caught a chair with her foot. He pulled away from the table as one of his comrades approached, silver flame insignia pinned to his chest and a wicked dagger in hand. The knife looked golden, and ceremonial, and wavy like a serpent. Fuck. Maybe they were cultists. Only weirdos carried around ceremonial pieces like that.

Shego thought it was called an ‘Kris’? She only knew cause she once had a hook up in London with whom she had affectionately called the ‘Sword Lesbian’. More because the ‘reformed' thief couldn’t have been bothered to actually remember the woman’s name, just that the hookup’s idea of pillow talk was showing off her medieval weaponry collection and that woman also had some really toe numbing strap game. Maybe she'll visit London again someday after all this shit. A return trip was usually enough reason to learn someone's moniker in Shego’s book.

Needless to say, Shego wasn’t looking for a badly done recreation of that night with some nutcases and a few new holes in her.

Her foot hooked around the chair and she swung and kicked it forward into the dagger wielding cultist, it based into his legs and he tripped. Whoosh! The knife went sliding towards the two of them. She dropped again and grabbed the dagger and slammed it into her grappler's shoulder and left it there. He dropped her as he held his wound. A quick sweep to the legs and he pounded the ground with his body. A moment later she was moving forward to the now knifeless man who scrambled untangle himself from the chair. His friends backed away and watched in horror as she picked up the chair, her savior from the stabbing, and promptly smashed it against the man's face. Once. He collapsed as the chair creaked.

Twice. She reveled in the violence, her blood hummed inside her, it called to her. Like a siren call to adrift sailors. The call of the void. That little voice that told her to continue. She could almost feel her powers. Almost.

A third strike as she couldn’t resist taking out her anger. “Don’t!” Fourth. “Fuck!” Fifth. “With!” The wood shattered into pieces before she got out her last strike. She ended it with a kick to his face instead. “ME!”

She stood over the bloodied body of the henchman. His still standing friends looked on in fear at the mess she had left of several of their men and the bar. They ran, tails between their legs, from her destruction. “Cowards.”

She took a still smoldering cigarette from a nearby ashtray and strode around the room looking for a still conscious goon. She took a drag. It's been years since she smoked, it was a god awful habit but she really needed it after the day she had.

Ah. The bartender was still mostly fine, he was just pretending to be unconscious. Smarter than she originally thought as she smirked and squatted to his level. She could see him as he tried to hold his eyes shut and not make any noise. She blew a puff of smoke into his face as he was forced to cough and opened his watering eyes. He looked fearful of her.

“I have two questions. And two only. And you will answer me truthfully. Capishe?” The man nodded along in understanding.

“What happened to the old guy who ran this bar? Tony?” “I-i don’t know!” he stammered out.

“His name is one the freaking sign! What happened to him?” Impatient as she always was, she took the cigarette butt and rubbed the burned end against his face as he screamed.

“Our Leader already claimed it! The place was ours when I came on board, I swear!” She pulled back the end and stood up as she frowned. What happened to her friend then? Not that she cared hugely about him, but she did owe the guy for the help he gave her on her start for villainy. Shego always paid her debts in full.

“Who's your leader?” Watch it be ‘Scorching Steve’, ‘Burning Blake’,  or even 'Iggy Nite'. Shego would have given anything for her to be right about the stupidest villain name ever. She’d even respond to Drakken’s stupid holiday postcards.

The man shut up fast even with his wounds and her appearance not unlike a modern day goddess of war; she was filled with wicked fury and covered in her foe's blood. He turned defiant in the face of her as if to give his leader's name was blasphemous to his soul. She knocked him in the face, right before extreme pain laced through her body. A quiet gasp let out as what felt like a deep scorching fire licked across her body. She looked down at her side. Fresh blood blossomed around the ‘Kris’ dagger that stuck deep in her side. She turned and saw the prone man who grappled her before, his face a broken mirror of her expression. A look of shock across a ruined bloody face. A quite 'holy fuck?' as he gripped his bloody shoulder wound before he collapsed right back down as he drained the last of his strength to spite her one last time.

she pressed her hand around the blade, she dared not to pull it out, unsure how deep it was. The bartender was out cold along with everyone else that didn't flee the scene. She ransacked the back, but found no first aid kit, and she was unsure how much of her minor healing factor was linked to her glow. She gave up her search, and stumbled out of the bar. Unaware of the security camera in the corner that observed the whole encounter.

“Ah. Fuck.” Her fingers gripped around the edge as she made her way down the street in search of anything. Home. A pharmacy. A convenience store. The cold sapped her strength and adrenaline. She grew dizzy and stumbled. She needed help and fast. She pressed on as her vision darkened. She felt her knock into somebody. Almost bowled them both over, but she could barely see as she collapsed into warm arms. The last thing she saw were locks of red that tickled her face. A familiar feminine voice shouted, though she was far too dizzy to place it. “Shego?!” Before she accepted the darkness.

Chapter Text

Cities blurred into mountainous regions into crystal blue ocean into verdant landscapes as Team Possible flew across the sky and prepped for their mission.

The Helicopter ride itself was one of the smoothies Kim ever had as she finished strapping on her gear and parachute. Grappling hook? Check. Laser pen? Check. Kimmunicator? Check. Taser? Check. Excitement poured over her like a spring downpour. She was practically vibrating in her seat as she prepared herself for the mission. It was a simple one; the world held at ransom for one billion dollars or a Disintegration Ray would be fired at the moon. It was just like the old times, a classic mission. Stop the death machine, beat the bad guy, save the world, and be home in time for dinner. In fact she was pretty sure there's been a mission in the past very similar to this.

Before she could ruminate on it, her thoughts were interrupted. "Um, a little help, Kim?" She looked over to see her new partner, Monique struggling to get the fastenings on her parachute right. Her raven hair shined radiantly in the surprisingly well lit hold of the to copter. Monique gave her a coy smile and a blush lit up Kim's face. The experienced heroine reached over and with a simple movement of her hand, fixed her problem with the parachute, a true pro. Kim looked and got lost in Monique's brown eyes as they were mere inches apart. Kim reached forward and pulled the other girl into a breathtaking kiss. It was everything Kim could have dreamed of. Her lips were impossibly soft and sweet, like a masterfully crafted pastry.

It lasted for a moment. A pure magical moment, before a GJ agent appeared next to her, "we've arrived!" They shouted. "Get ready to jump!" The two departed from the moment they shared. A smile formed across the girl's face that truly dazzled Kim, her heart felt light like she could soar all the way up to the moon and stop the laser with a swipe of her hand.

Trapped in a sapphic daze, she missed even the jump and before she knew it, they were crawling through the vents of the villain’s lair. She’s never been to this particular one, but the pathway seemed so familiar to every other lair she's visited that she was able to navigate it with ease with Monique at her back. Perhaps it was the confidence that was instilled in her. She was at the top of her game.

 The sounds of a distinct familiar maniacal laughter filled the vents. Kim was able to tell instantly whom it belonged to. Drakken. Kim had wished the mad scientist had truly given up his ways, but it seemed like her hopes were too high. They dropped out of the vents into the middle of a large antechamber, the glowing death machine stood upon a massive pedestal pointed at a large hole in the ceiling. The moon in full view. The chamber was empty. No sign of Drakken, Shego, henchmen or really anyone. Just the eerie sounds of maniacal laughter that echoed through the room. Other voices joined in; DNAmy, Monkey Fist, Senior Senior, Adrenalynn. Soon her entire rogue gallery new and old joined in villainous laughter as she spun around; fists in a fighting stance.

“Monique, do you see them?” she called back to her partner, but was met with no response. She turned to only find the empty room; Monique was gone. She called out her name again, but no reply. Just an eerily silence as even the disembodied voices ceased their laughter, She looked up and even the vent she came out of was gone. She looked back at the only thing in the room. The Disintegration Ray with a gentle machine hum with a sickly green glow..

She found it hard to breathe as she approached it, like she was breathing through a heavy winter blanket. Each step felt like she was wading through mud, each step she took, she was no closer. An endless charge through the room as she built up to a sprint towards it. Still no closer. The Ray booted up, a red glow filled the room. The machine began to charge and soon a robotic voice filled the air as it counted down.

Sixty Seconds Left Until Detonation.

Kim dug through her pack, most of her gear was in ruins. Her tools all looked rusted and in disrepair, like they haven't been used in years. Did she slack on a pre-mission check? She thought she did it correctly.

Fifty Nine.

Kim pulled out her grappling hook, the only thing that still looked pristine and fired it across the room, it latched on to the machine, and she zipped across. She landed in front of the console.

Thirty Five.

What?! Kim in a rush poured over the controls as she looked for a way to disable it, the pressure was on as she tried the Ron and Rufus method. Pressing every button until something happened.

Ten.

The clock ticked fast and nothing seemed to work, the voice continued its count and the machine continued to power up, and Kim grew frustrated. The oppressive gloom that lingered only seemed to intensify. She decked down and ripped at the metal panels under the console, so latch on it in sight.

Nine.

She resorted to kicking the panel as it bended and yielded to her actions, she tore at an exposed edge and ripped the panel off to reveal millions of brightly neon wires like aposematic colored serpents slithering in an unnatural habitat of rubber, steel, and copper.

Five.

 “Not so fast. Possible.” She turned. Master Moscato stood there with his face covered in trauma bandages and a gun held up to Monique’s temple. “Step away from the machine.” as he motioned with his gun.

Four.

She stepped away as she racked her brain for an answer. She glanced all around looking for anything, but could only find her, Monique, Moscato, and the Moon Death Machine. “He laughed at her, there’s nothing you can do. Possible. ” He spat her name like it was a curse. “Time for you to learn the truth.”

Three.

 Without any other options she rushed to disarm the madman; a massive green arm clotheslined her. Warmonga's victorious warcry bellowed throughout the antechamber. Kim fell to the ground and looked past Warmonga at the armed madman.

Two.

“Truth is. You can’t do anything.” His voice echoed as Master Moscato pulled the trigger.

One.

Kim woke up with a heaving tearful gasp as she kicked her weighted blanket off of her, panicked and afraid. "Monique?" She called out.

No response except for the quiet sounds of a sleeping city. She looked around only to find her room in her Go City apartment staring back at her. Her Mexican King Snake lazily sat within its substrate hidey-hole in its terrarium, a map of the solar system on her wall, a photo of her with Monique and Ron all posed together before Ron left for Japan, and a pile of various villain case files that included Master Moscato’s sat on her desk half opened.

She took one shuttering breath after the other. In and out. She wept her eyes with the sleeve of her pajamas as she gained control over herself, her heart rate settled.

It was a nightmare.

She was home. In bed. In Go City.

Still there was a nagging feeling in her that she couldn’t resist, a paranoid suspicion. She pulled out her Kimmunicator and turned it on. A background photo of her, Ron, Drakken, and Shego all posed together at the post Invasion award ceremony. She remembered how annoyed her nemesis was at having to have their picture taken together. The time on the screen read 04:32 AM. That made two hours of sleep at most.

She pulled up Monique’s number and hit the dial button. She had to make sure. She just needed to know. Her throat felt tight as it rang and rang. A minute went by as there was no answer. Renewed tears began to roll down her cheeks, please, she begged. Please.

A sleep-addled voice came on, “Wha?” Kim cried tears of relief, but kept a hand over her mouth to just let them silently roll down her face as she didn’t trust herself to speak. After a few moments of silence the voice added. “Kim?” She hung up on the very much alive Monique.

Monique was alive.

It was just a dream; she didn't go on missions with Kim, no one did, not since Ron left. Not for a lack of trying through. It wasn’t uncommon for Monique to ‘subtly’ pitch the idea of her joining whenever they hang out.

Kim tried to avoid those pitches whenever she could.

Perhaps it was because that was the most sleep she’s had all week, but Kim felt a sort of clarity. To her it was an omen as much as it was a nightmare. Her missions were too dangerous to allow anyone to join her, she’d just get them killed and that thought broke her heart.

Master Moscato and Warmonga were just stand-ins. They were examples of a new breed of villains she faced; the vengeful, the cruel, and the monsters. Kim couldn’t ever risk the life of a friend to do what she did. No matter how much she wished she didn't have to do it alone, the alternative was just worse. How long would it take before any of her friends ended up like that dream? A few weeks? That was if she was lucky. The idea of seeing Monique, Felix, Tara, heck even Bonnie, faces burned, a bullet hole in their skulls, or even laying impaled in a spiked pit, bodies broken in pools of blood, mouths slightly open as if to whisper to Kim, ‘all your fault.’ It tortured her heart and wrecked her soul as tears flowed freely down her face as sobs racked through her body. They didn't have weird magical monkey powers like Ron and they didn't have the experience like Kim. They would all be dragged into a deadly situation that demanded more than they had to give.

It was in those deep dark moments as she stared at her ceiling; exhausted, tearful, and angry. She wondered why the villainous bastards couldn’t all just stay down.

She didn't know how long she spent crying, but eventually the tears slowed and she pulled her phone out, Monique's contact info stared back at her. Kim had no doubt that she had to send a message soon otherwise her friend might get the wrong idea and try to investigate by calling back or worse calling Wade to make sure it wasn't a mission thing. Kim dreaded that so much as she couldn't speak with Monique no matter how much she wanted too. She wanted to break down in the arms of the girl she'd had a crush on. A crush she's harbored for years. Just weep in her beautiful arms and kiss her soft lips, and spread out her love for her to see like a blooming summer rose.

But Monique was straight, she dated only guys and Kim knew this, it didn't stop her feelings though, no matter how much they hurt.

Kim buried her face in her pillow at the thought. Her tears and snot dampened surface as she tried to snuff out the redness of her cheeks. The ever-present despair was evaporating, in its place was embarrassment and shame. She removed the pillow to once again stare at Monique's number. Her screen lit up, Monique was calling back, no doubt concerned about her. After all, for all she knew Kim could be stuck in a trap in some villain's lair. There was almost a protocol to it when you were friends with Kim Possible. That thought in of itself made Kim want to bury herself in a hole of shame; her friends shouldn’t have had to be prepared to bail her out of trouble.

She groaned and flopped her head against her bed as it continued to ring. What was she supposed to do? Just answer and say, ‘hey. I'm good. Just had a nightmare. We kissed and you died. And I had to hear your voice to make sure you weren’t dead. Haha Brain be like that sometimes.’ Nope. Not doing that. ever. She would rather fight the embarrassment ninjas again,  or listen to Drakken rap than ever ever do that.

So she settled. Once again. For the emotionally easy route just like when she kept doing in recent days like when she lied to Ron about henchmen not carrying guns. She let the call ring through and when it ended. She gave it a moment before she texted Monique. "Sorry, butt-dialed you. I'm safe, just on a mission. Ttyl." That would at least stop Monique from assuming the worst.

The shame and guilt came to a head as they boiled in her gut; she hastily pulled her waste basket from beside her nightstand and threw up into it.

KPKPKP

Kim felt worn. Like an old pair of boots. Tattered and leaky, struggling to keep it all together. Like any moment she would become unraveled.

It was two days after the nightmare and less than eight hours since she got dropped off from her trip to the West Coast just to stop a madman setting the Golden Gate Bridge on fire.

It all started the day after that nightmare when she was walking to her car across Go U's campus. A grueling winter walk across the entire stretch of campus made her wish that she was allowed to just have a dorm room instead, but Go University insisted that the terms of her full ride were for her to have a place as far from the University as possible. Kim was certain that they just wanted to minimize the chances of the campus being blown up… again.

She was on a call with her mom at the time discussing holiday plans while she rushed as much as she could across the bitter icy walkways.

She kept the phone close to her eye as the icy wind did its best to ruin every student’s day. She could barely hear her mom’s voice. “The house just finished the last of its repairs, do you think I should send Dr. Director a holiday basket? Her engineers and the boys did a wonderful job.” Repairs were a generous word for it since the family home was demolished by the Lowardian’s.

“I think they’ll be fine without it mom, besides GJ doesn’t have an official address to send gifts to anyways.” Kim was certain that their aid was more of an attempt to get on her family’s good side more than it was about just helping, especially since the aid only came after they started pitching the idea that Kim should become an agent.

“That’s a fair point. Still maybe Wade can find out. Will you be home for Christmas? We missed you at Thanksgiving.” Kim regretted that, but there was the whole Master MOscato thing and several other missions. She was stuck halfway around the world for almost that entire week and never got a chance.

She had hopes though and a plan. "Yeah mom, we’ll be home for Christmas. Ron and Yori are flying in and we're all driving down together after my last exams. Ron wants to bring Yori home in time for Hanukkah."

Ann Possible's voice came out on the other end. "Great! It will be good to see Ronald. I'm happy for the two of them, I'm sure the Stoppables will love Yori…"

Kim could sense like an awkward pause, a  'but' coming, and she knew what was going to be asked and braced.

"But, are you bringing someone home?" Yup. She called it.

"Mooooom."

"It's just that last time I talked with Ron, he said that last date didn't work out well."

Oh god. They were talking about her love life behind her back. When did they even have time to talk? Ron was in Japan! "Everything's fine mom, it's no big."

"Are you sure? I may not know a lot about lesbian dating." That was a full sentence right there and her mom could stop at really any point she wanted. "But I do know that the Anderson's daughter, Katie, do you remember Katie? Well she's back in Middleton and is single."

Kim remembered ‘Katie’ and had firsthand knowledge that she wasn’t gay or bisexual. Kim knew her mom was trying to set her up, that happened every single time they talked ever since Kim came out of the closet. A cycle on repeat. 'Hello, how are you?', 'so-so's daughter is single. She’s a big fan of yours. Want me to give her your number?' or, ‘this intern started working at the hospital.’ Kim’s responses could be summed up as: ‘mom, I'm fine. I can get my own dates,' or 'mom, just because she has a pink undercut doesn't mean their gay.' Kim was at absolutely positive that she knew all the other lgbt+ people that were in middleton and it was basically just her. 

Well there was Alex Sapphic, but she moved to California after the Invasion with a U-haul citing an internet girlfriend, and besides Kim's type was more ‘femme’ anyways. All of this was half the reason she fled to Go City for college in the first place, to leave the sea of heteronormativity that was her hometown.

"Mom. I'm fine." And she was. Mostly.

"I know honey, I'm just worried about you. Me and your dad both are." Ah yes, her father's idea of support was threatening to shoot any partners real or fake into space if they hurt her. Like she’d bring a girl home for that.

As her mom continued to list just about every girl in Middleton and other neighboring towns that she had an misguided inkling about their sexuality. Kim continued her walk as she looked for anything to distract her from this embarrassing talk.

"Hey Kim! Wait up girlfriend!" A very familiar voice that sent shivers down Kim’s neck and set her heart racing echoed across the frozen college landscape. Kim was both terrified at the idea of facing Monique, even as her body betrayed her and she grew excited at the idea of being called girlfriend by her. Even if it was platonic.

"Hey, mom. I'll call you back. Duty calls." Kim laughed in a forced way as she hung up. She quickly thought about a plan. She was totally not ready to get questioned about what happened last night. No doubt she would be forced into giving a story about that 'mission' and how it made her butt dial her friend. A story that would fall apart in an instant. Like a house of cards if the cards were made of bread crumbs, shitty nightmares, and lesbian melodrama.

Her mind whirled over a solution before she looked through her contacts. Her finger paused above Wade’s number. It would be pretty bad if it got back to Monique if she avoided her using Wade and missions as a distraction, but then she hit the button, at the moment she was pretending that she didn't hear her friend calling to her. To be fair, the wind was pretty harsh right now. Hard to hear anyone. The excuse sounded pretty weak to Kim too.

Wade's face appeared, clearly half distracted by a video game in the background. "What's up?"

"Hey, is there anything going on right now?" She tried to not sound frantic.

The clack of keyboard keys was the main response followed up by, "Nope. All peaceful. No mad geniuses today."

"I'll take literally anything." At Wade's concerned look she followed up with a hasty, "I just need the exercise!" She doubted that she sounded all that convincing, but Wade looked anyway, because he was a saint. A technologically savvy saint.

"There was an alarm going off at Jenson's Musical Emporium on 23rd, but it seemed to have stopped." Wade's monotone voice told Kim how ecstatic he was about it. Which was not at all. Still it was an opportunity.

"Thanks Wades! I'm on it!" Just in time as Monique had caught up to her.

"Hey Kim, what's up? Been forever since I've seen ya." Kim’s conscience was going to make her relive this moment every night before bed for years to come.

"Oh hey Monique! Sorry I can't chat, mission!" She sounded a little too gleeful about it, until she turned to face Monique.

Her eyes bled tears of blood that rained down her corpse-like face as they stained a set of mission clothes identical to Kim’s usual set. A bullet hole in her temple. She opened her mouth to reveal a set of destroyed teeth. Cracked like a hammer had struck them. Over and over again. A split tongue spat venom at Kim. The dead Monique spoke her name. “Kim. Kim. Kim. Kim. Kim."

“Kim?”

Kim startled shook out of her daze, a confused Monique stared at her with a concerned expression. No blood. She wasn’t even wearing mission clothes because why would she? Just a stylish winter coat and a beanie. It was almost absurd how different it was. Monique was fine . She’s fine. Clearly Kim was still just a little shaken up. Exams and shitty sleep does that. She just needed a power nap and everything will be back to normal.

Kim tried to not let anything show though, less her friend became any more worried about her, but inside she couldn't stop the sickening feeling rising inside her. “I-I’m alright. Just feeling the exams!” She tried to sound cheerful, but it felt forced, she held everything in to not just start crying on the spot.

Monique had a strange look on her face that Kim didn't recognize, before it slid back to normal. "Oh, yeah girl, it's insane. Like WTF."

Kim just nodded and tried to not vomit. "Listen, I have a mission, I'll talk to you later." She lightly waved her Kimmunicator as if to aid in her deception. She agreed with Wade the validity of the store’s alarm, but she couldn’t handle this conversation anymore.

"Oh, I could come with you. It's been a while since I've joined in." Monique added in quickly, almost eagerly. It was hardly the first time she’s suggested it and back in High School Kim would have happily accepted. Things were different now though.

"NO!" Kim surprised herself with her yell.

Monique flinched as she visibly deflated, and suddenly Kim felt like a total asshole. She tried to walk it back just to ease it. “It’s just.” I don’t want you to die because of me. “It’s a long mission! GJ is picking me up and we’re flying out.” Her friend was giving her a look and Kim had a feeling she didn’t believe her. “I don’t want you to miss class tomorrow or anything because of me.” Monique’s expression softened just a bit and Kim’s sapphic heart ached. She knew her friend only wanted to help, but she couldn't let her join. She was not going to let any of her nightmares come true. “So, I'll see you later, bye Monique!” Eager to get out of this, Kim sprinted away towards her car, not even waiting for a response.

In the end, the alarm at Jenson's Musical Emporium was indeed false, just two teens that were misusing a backroom made for music lessons for a different lesson of their own.

KPKPKP

The worn out feeling Kim faced almost everyday did not improve as she found herself going through the motions of the next day. She thought that a peaceful afternoon would have allowed her to do some actual resting, but much like a recent recurring theme in her life. Things ended up quite poorly on that front much to her dismay. It wasn't long before she was pulled into a GJ mission where she that spent much of that evening and some of the next morning in Costa Rica in a fight against a re-emerged Adrena Lynn armed with an Lowardian tech laser and a bloodthirsty glint in her eyes. She chased Lynn all the way through the city of Cartago, through Siquirres, the port terminal of Moín, to only finally have her pinned down on a dock in Puerto Limón. Kim didn't feel at all bad when she knocked out three of Lynn's teeth for dragging her across half the country.

Kim felt like she could cry when GJ picked them both up, one in handcuffs and a bloody mouth, and Kim just furious and covered in sweat and sea salt. Kim even didn't cheer when Adrena Lynn got carted off. She was all too aware of the fact that Adrena would be out in a week. And so began another day in her excuse of a life, by the time she got back to Go City it was late morning and she was late to class, but she just chose to skip and went to the library, her professor's knew better by now, so she could just ask for the coursework later. She felt her papers took precedence.

KPKPKP

She just came out of the Go City Public Library mid-afternoon, she wasn’t allowed to use the University’s as that was yet another stipulation of her scholarship. 'Don't fuck up the really nice newly built University library please.' So Go City Public Library or GGPL was her choice to study for the massive stack of papers and exams that came with the end of the semester. Didn't help that her chemistry study partner was the girl who brought her boyfriend to their perceived movie date who Kim now made an effort to avoid. Maybe she should just wear a pride pin or something. Something that screamed, 'yes i meant it in a gay as fuck way.' Much to her personal horror, her life seemed to revolve around straight women.

With a mostly done chemistry paper in hand she strolled down the front steps and onto the sidewalk. It was nearly lunch time. She didn't feel hungry, she barely had an appetite most days, but that she knew she should eat. She knew she should go for something nutritious and filling. She had options after all, she was in downtown after all. She could get just about anything here. And it was nice in a way that she wasn't bound to the ever familiar Bueno Nachos like when she was with Ron, who did everything in his power to make it into a second home. She could go for pasta, a salad, a nice bistro, Greek gyros, literally anything… 

She went to get cheap tacos anyway.

It wasn't long before she had sat down with a tray of salty meat and pseudo cheese, even the salad and small nachos she had were by definition a group one carcinogen. It was familiar though, a comfort food that reminded her of blonde hair and a joke at the end of every run-on sentence. It was a feeling that she basked in for way longer than she should, for it to be considered healthy. She felt like she could fall asleep here. Face plant into her food and finally rest. In total she's slept no more than a small handful of hours since the nightmare. The fried smell of the food, soft mariachi music played over speaker, it was so reminiscent of better days that Kim couldn’t help just closing her eyes. Maybe for just a moment… 

Kim was unaware of how long she spent dozing off in the booth until a platter clattered against the table as it started her out of her soft doze. A lovely voice that she often dreamed about whispered her name. "Kim."

Her blood froze over as she opened her eyes and audibly gasped.

"Kim.” A voice like shattering glass rang out. An unnatural grin stretched across the ruined face of her best friend as she took a seat across from her. A horror that wore laser burns like they were fashion accessories. Monique's face dug into a horrid nightmarish caricature of the beloved comfort food; tacos made of charred unidentifiable flesh covered in a vile putrid smelling sauce, chips like sewn leather dipped in a blood red liquid.

Kim quickly lost what remained of her barely existent appetite.

She added in between disgusting bites. "It's all your fault. You didn’t stop them.”

It was surprisingly casual; the way she spoke, like it was a mere comment on the weather and not a damnation of Kim's character. Like her voice didn’t sound like someone with a seared throat.

It was official. Kim had lost her mind and all she could do was to keep staring in horror, barely holding what little lunch she had inside. She kept waiting for her to snap out of it. For her to blink and for Monique to be on the other side. The real Monique. The one who had the style of a model and with a beautiful smile and a voice that always had something to say.

She tried to force it. She closed her eyes. Breathed in. And counted to ten…

Nothing lashed out at her, she couldn’t hear the disturbing voice, or the disgusting sounds of a horrific lunch. Just the normal ambient sounds of a fast food restaurant way past the lunch rush.

"Kim? NGL, you are kinda freaking me out." A normal voice. Her voice. It didn't sound like nails on a chalkboard or a dying animal. Just the voice of her best friend.

She opened her eyes as she jumped in her seat as she felt a light touch of a hand brushed her arm; Monique wore a concerned and confused expression.

Kim nodded. Almost frantically as she broke out of her trance. She looked around. No blood anywhere; her food selection was similar to Kim's, a taco salad and some nachos. Normal tex-mex food. Kim felt like she could cry out of joy, everything was right.

She risked a glance at Monique herself. The 100% genuine Monique . No nightmarish vision greeted her, just the concerned face of her friend, Kim couldn’t help but stare.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" Monique laughed, and took a napkin and dabbed mouth. Kim smiled, just happy that it was her.

Her friend was the very definition of someone thriving in college, a stark comparison to how Kim felt. Tasteful colorful clothes, a new stylish haircut, and brand new accessories including a silver bracelet that Kim had never seen before.

Caught up in the feeling of relief, eager to bask in her friend's presence. Kim asked, "where did you get that bracelet?"

"This?" Monique said with a coy as she thumbed it, "My boyfriend. Got it for me." A smile bloomed on her face as if she was remembering something pleasant.

"Boyfriend, when did you get a boyfriend?" Kim couldn't help but to parrot back at her friend as her heart dropped.

"Yeah. I got one a few months ago. His name is Michael. We sat near each other in 'Introduction to Economics'." Kim had never met Michael, but she already wasn't a fan.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." She spent so much time on missions she was hardly around to hang out.

"NBD, it's fine, how could you after all, we've barely hung out since we came to the city. Together ." Kim did her best not to flinch at the tone. She could tell that was in fact a 'big deal'.

"I'm sorry Mo." She truly was. "I've just been really busy with school work and missions." That was the truth, but the world needed her.

Monique nodded along before she added her own opinion as she was one to do, though she tried to sound soft like she didn't want to offend Kim. "I know, but Kim, don't…" she sighed and fidgeted with her hair before she finished. "Don't you think you're pushing yourself too hard?"

Kim's throat felt like it was being constricted, her voice so soft that she didn't think Monique heard her say, “i’m fine." She was. She just needed a short break for a bit, a power nap, and for everyone to stop worrying about her so much. Global Justice’s mandated therapy, Ron’s constant calls, him and her mom talking behind her back, and Monique trying to join her on missions. It was like everyone was walking on eggshells around her.

And that thought royally pissed her off. Where did they get off? She was fine. Stress happened to anyone. It was totally normal. She just needed a break and to not have had everyone try to treat her like she was glass. She was Kim Possible, not Kim Fragile.

Instead Monique continued unaware of Kim’s quick swift of mood, "I could join you on the missions. I've been taking self-defense classes and Wade's sent me a gadget belt, girl I've been feeling like a BAMF."

Kim was going to have a talk with Wade later, he never mentioned giving Monique her own set of tools. He should know better, he's seen the same things she had from his own surveillance and reports. He knew it was too dangerous. This was exactly what she's been trying to avoid.

"Heello, Earth to Kim? WTF Kim. You've been really off recently." Monique's concerned voice broke her thoughts like a battering ram, but she still felt the anger feeding itself inside her. She had to stop this sooner rather than later. Kim was about to say something harsh that she had no doubt would regret later, but then her Kimmunicator went off.

Monique looked excited, but Kim only continued to scowl as Wade's face appeared.

"Hey Kim and Monique." He addressed her friend even when she wasn't in frame. Suddenly Kim felt like she was setup and that soured Kim’s already deteriorating mood. Monique replied cheerily as she asked with Kim’s signature phrase, “What’s the sitch?”. Kim just bit her tongue as she didn’t trust anything that would come out. No matter what plotting they had done against her, her friends didn’t deserve it… Yet. 

"Dr. Director is currently unavailable, and has personally requested Team Possible's aid on storming Gemini's lair. According to their Intel, WEE has salvaged and broken down several Lowardian Warbots." Wade looked at Kim’s face and looked like he wanted to apologize, but held it back. "GJ has a helicopter on the way to grab you."

"Thanks Wade!" Monique was downright ecstatic as she hung up while Kim took on a somber and grim expression. She was annoyed because no one else seemed to be taking things seriously. She was peeved because they were going behind her back by making decisions about her team without her. She was pissed because it was like they were trying to die. She wanted to shout, but she held it in.

"Come on girl, Let's KSA!" Monique cheered.

The lie felt surprisingly easy for once. "Sure Monique. I just need to stop by the bathroom real quick." Monique finally looked at Kim and her expression fell… by a lot. Kim was unaware of what kind of face she was wearing but judging by her friend's it wasn't good.

"Ki-" Kim interrupted her. "Why don't you grab your gadget belt?" Monique closed her mouth and nodded.

"Alright I'll be right back." She looked back at Kim multiple times as if she expected her to disappear before she exited and went to her car.

Kim waited precisely ten seconds before she sprinted for the bathroom and clambered up and through its tiny window. She was in luck when she saw the GJ helicopter settle as it hovered on top of a nearby building.

She was already loaded up in the helicopter and taking off before Monique even managed to get geared up.

She'll take on all the villains herself if it will keep her friends safe.

KPKPKP

It was her or Gemini. Kim made her choice, could anyone really blame her? 

She left Gemini in a burning lair. One of the warbots became reactivated, even with it being mostly destroyed it wreaked havoc among his lair. All WEE henchmen and scientists fled and it was only her and Gemini staring down each other as the lair fell apart around them, fires bloomed all across the facility “Is this what you want, Possible?! To be my sister’s lackey?!” He screamed as he tackled Kim to the floor, his metallic hand wrapped around her throat. Kim croaked out a response, she was so tired that she couldn't come up with a witty comeback, only a choked, “fuck you.”

“Quite.” Gemini smirked as he continued to pin her down as she thrashed in an attempt to escape. “Goodbye Miss Possible.” He squeezed down as she thrashed even more, her nails raked against his face and his uncovered eye. He held on choking the life out of her. Kim’s vision started to dim; inky void at the edges of her sight. She pulled her grappling hook out and fired above her, it flew wide past him and he laughed in her face before he slapped the gadget away with his other hand. "That did nothing, you have lost."

She eased up as her tool scattered across the floor, her last hope faded, her arm’s went slack and fell to the concrete floor. Gemini’s maniacal laughter began to fill the area as he pressed even more, keen and eager to erase the teenage thorn in his side that she was. She was so exhausted. So tired of fighting. Her eyes began to close as the last of the air in her lungs was chased out. It would have been so easy to just lay down and never get up again.

Amidst the sounds of Gemini’s laughter, the lair falling apart, and echo of her own dying heartbeat, she was unable to hear the chunk of burning support beam that was dislodged by the grappling hook as it fell from the ceiling and smashed itself against Gemini’s back. He let go of Kim's throat as he screamed in pain and he scrambled away to pat the flames out. Air rushed into her lungs as she rolled away and coughed and coughed. Her eyes and throat burned as the stale air of a crumbling burning lair filled her, the moment she was able to do anything that wasn’t just breathing the ashy air, she dived for her grappling hook as a metallic rocket finger flew past her and exploded the nearby wall rendering it to nothing, fresh air rushed in as the flames reinvigorated itself at the oxygen. She looked behind to see the outside, the private island landscape; dense jungle and beach covered by an setting sun. She could just escape, hide in the jungle, and wait to be picked up by GJ, the WEE cell was destroyed and the plan was ruined.

She wasn't forced in anyway to looked back at Gemini, but she did. She looked at GJ's foe.

Gemini who had cast away his seared jacket, singed marks across his body and bleeding claw marks across his face. His eye-patch had fallen off to only reveal an old empty eye socket. An old mark to match his twin. He just finished reloading his gauntlet to take another shot.

How much more destruction will this madman cause? What would happen when he eventually tried again? Would it be in a city this time? How many people would die because of men like him. This wasn’t the end. Kim knew that; that is what always happened. She just will be here next week, or an arctic lair, or underwater, or a volcano. Same shit. Different week. And Kim was just exhausted from all of it.

Like an echo on the wind, an haunting wraith that loomed over her, an apparition that hung on her shoulder to whisper the sweetest words to her. Why couldn't they just stay down?

She raised her grappling hook and pulled the trigger just as Gemini, himself raised his hand and fired.

Chapter Text

Shego awoke to soft sheets and a body that ached all over, a welcome sensation normally. A sign of a night gone right. Now though, not quite so much. She felt like she had a fistfight with a semi truck, which wasn't too far off.

 She slowly sat up and her side protested at the movement. 'That's right. I got shanked by that bastard and his lucky throw.'

She looked around. She didn't recognize the room, the tacky purple sheets, nor the adorable black snake that basked under a heat lamp in a terrarium on top of a dresser. The snake flicked his tongue at her and she responded in kind before pulling off the sheets.

The sports bra she was wearing before, check. Someone's borrowed pj pants. Check. Fresh bandages covered her side where the wound was. Check. Well she was certainly cared for; the last thing she did remember was falling into someone's arms in the street after the cultist shaped asshole played a game of 'darts' but with the stupid knife and her as a target. 

She finished getting up, ‘oh fuck.’  Her head was absolutely throbbing too. She felt the back of it and found a small lump. No doubt from her bashing her head against that hench's face. Repeatedly. Great…

She glanced out of a nearby window to see Go City's skylight. It was a pretty nice view, someone had to have good income or generous friends to live here. Maybe these were her kinds of people. Some Go-City socialite perhaps?

She continued to survey the room, queen bed, antique dresser, a desk with a computer, a GCU hoodie hung over a chair, a solar system poster, lesbian pride flag, and a few band posters. Now she was confused, because this looked more like a student's dorm  if anything. The Strange thing was, Shego knew the city by heart and they had to be miles away from the university.

She checked out the desk. A several picture frames and a bundle of case files? She picked up the photo.

'Well. Fuck.' Shego smiled. Well ain't that lucky of her? Maybe things have finally turned in her favor.

She was saved by Kim Possible. Because of course. What other person would save a stranger and bring them back to their apartment instead of just calling 911 and moving on? Not many, but Kim Fucking Possible would do it in a bleeding heartbeat.

She set down the photo of her, Dr. D, the Boy Wonder, and Kim at the award ceremony for saving the world's ass from the Big Green and Scaries'.

This made everything so much easier. A new plan was already formulating inside of her. It involved Possible and her returning the knife and curb-stomping the rest of the group. Whoever the hell they were. Shego didn't know who they were, but in her experience they seemed more henchy than anything else.

She checked out the two nearby doors, and quietly opened one. A small bathroom stared back at her with an opened med bag propped up on the counter.

Shego stepped in and turned on the blinding lights. Her mirror reflection stared back at her.

'Fuck. I look like total shit.'

Her skin looked pasty and sick looking, her eyes were bloodshot, her hair was a total nest, and even her slight green tint was gone! Her beautiful exotic glow. Her lovely black hair. It was depressed the fuck out of her.

She spent way longer trying to fix her hair and stealing Kim's shampoo, than she did changing her bandages.

But some time later, she did feel better. Positively starving, but better. She changed her bandages and got dressed. The wound didn't seem too bad, if she had her glow she'd be rocking a scar in less than an hour, but now not so much. Now she had to deal with normal unpowered people things like bedrest, mortality, and the concept of being responsible for oneself. 

To shego, it was a total crock of shit.

She strolled back into Kim's bedroom and stole the GCU hoodie for her chair. Kim wasn't all that far in terms of sizing from her so it was a nice fit. So nice that Shego decided that it was hers now. Shego sighed vocally. She felt like she was in college again. Maybe she could convince Kimmie to go do some shots and go to a club later. She was gonna stick to Princess like glue until Bets was satisfied, so might as well have fun with it anyways.

Shego made her way to the other door to explore and find Possible when she heard a heavy knocking followed by a door slam coming from further within the apartment. 

The slightly muffled shouting of one Kim Possible's groupies. "I can't believe you actually fucking left me."

"Monique." Kim's voice sounded raspy. Like it hurt to come out.

"Don't Monique me. Poss- You're covered in blood! And so is your table?! Are you okay?!" Shego wondered if it was just not her blood, it would be pretty funny in a sort of 'cosmic happenstance' way if Princess had an equally rough night as she did. Shego dismissed that quick enough though. ' Nah.' Shego's the queen of a shitty life; Possible can't top that.

"I'm fine Monique. It's not my blood." ' Damn straight.' it was her blood that Kim was covered in and it would still be inside her if it wasn't for some jackoff's lucky throw.

"W-whose is it?" 'Monique' voice cracked just a little bit. Shego had to snuff out a chuckle; girl's probably never even saw a stab wound before. Idly she thought about ripping off her bandages, jumping into the room, and screaming 'BOO!' That idea amused her greatly.

"It's… uh. Shego's." ' Caaaalled it.' She was still the world record holder for 'Shittiest Day Ever' and not even Kim Fucking Possible was going to have to top that.

"Shego? Shego's?! SHEGO'S?! Literally the woman who tried to kill you with a giant blender? Who regularly tried to make you not living for years?! that Shego?" Shego had almost forgotten the blender incident. 'Ah. Kimmie Frappé.' Those were the days. Peak Princess in her opinion.

She could hear Kim swallowing. "Yeah. That Shego, but she was hurt." Awwww. Leave it to the Princess to rescue even a nemesis like her. Truly that bleeding heart of hers was going to get her killed.

"So what? You brought Shego, your worst enemy on the mission instead of me?!" Shego rolled her eyes. Clearly she had stumbled into some sort of lovers spat. She didn't go on some mission, she was having a lovely time at a bar until someone stabbed her for having too much fun.

"Monique, it isn't like that, i foun-". ' Oof. Bad call Possible' , saying 'it isn't like that' to someone already angry was basically admitting that it was indeed like that. Shego continued to press herself against the wall to remain hidden. This was better than television.

"First you avoid me for months, then you ditch me at Bueno Nachos, and finally you take Shego of all people?! She has literally spent the last four years trying to kill you!" The keyword was 'trying' in Shego's opinion, after all the cheerleader was still around and kicking, so water under the bridge really. Shego had already forgiven her for tossing her in prison all those times after all, and the beds there had absolutely garbage support.

The other girl sounded like she was crying now, just a step or two short from full on sobbing. "I thought we were friends." Oof. Okay, this stopped being fun. Maybe Shego should just sneak back into the bed and sleep all of this off. She could just bother Possible when she wasn't reenacting a scene from a teen drama.

As Shego was turning around to sneak back to the comfort of Possible's bed. She heard Kim speak, "please. You are my friend. My best friend."

"Well, you sure as well don't act like it." Shego felt that, like a slap that sent her back to highschool with that biting remark. It was like she could still smell the stale artificially floral air freshener that only slightly covered up the toilet smell of Go High's girl's bathroom.

With the clicky clack of heels against the flooring, the front door opened and Shego was greeted by the sound of the slamming for the second time since her wake up.

"Monique! Wait! Please!" Shego heard another slam as Kim followed after her friend.

"Well good fucking luck with that." Shego said out loud as she strode into the now empty living room and plopped onto the couch. She looked for a remote only to realize that Kim didn't even have a TV. In fact her living room was minimalist at best. Basic black IKEA furniture, a pile of old mail on the coffee table, a few lamps, a bookcase with a variety of text books such as 'Astrophysics for beginners', 'Emergency First Aid in the Wildness', 'Novice's Guide for Reptile Care', 'Veterinary Sciences 101', the teenage stacks of vampire erotica, and a few LGBT+ based novels and autobiographies. Shego whistled, she remembered the pride flag in Kim's room. Shego didn't give a shit about activism like she was certain Kim would be, but she'll give props where it's due. It's always nice to find another one out in the wild.

With no TV or a desire to read, she got back up to finish her exploration of Kim's apartment.

'Ah. So this is what the girl was screaming about. It's not even that much blood!' Shego thought as she found the blood covered dining set next to a small kitchen. An open emergency first aid and surgery kit sat on the edge next to a pile of Shego's ruined blood soaked belongings on a chair. She really liked that leather jacket too.

Well at least Kimmie didn't take her to a hospital. There was a number of reasons why Shego didn't want to end up at a hospital; the first was that Hospitals creeped Shego the fuck out, reminded her too much of when her family got their powers. Fucking doctors and their human lab rat bullshit, and the second reason was a secret trash fire of a spy organization. She had no doubt that if Kim Possible and Shego walked into a Go City ER in the middle of the night, it would soon be plastered all over the news and Shego didn't wanna deal with Cyclops giving her lip for it.

Though, after all of it. She was glad that Kim helped her as bleeding out on a slushy street didn't sound like a good thing to put on a gravestone. So she swore to herself that she would pay Pumpkin back someday, Shego didn't leave debts unpaid after all. She was however, at that moment, annoyed more by the mere idea of owing Possible anything and took out her frustration by raiding Kim's pantry. The clock on the oven said four-something, that meant Shego hadn't eaten anything since she was in Morocco that previous morning.

The raid on Kim's kitchen was not as fun as Shego had hoped. In fact it was downright depressing. Who buys nothing but bulk MREs, protein powder and bars, and snack cakes? Kim Possible apparently. No wonder she had a rough psych evaluation, Shego would be depressed as hell too if she had nothing to eat except for this shit.

The fridge situation wasn't much better either. A carton of spoiled milk, protein shakes, and a biohazard threat of a fruit drawer. Shego didn't even want to risk opening the several takeout boxes. 'Fucking hell Possible. Ever hear about cleaning out your damn fridge?'

Then she saw it. A holy grail. A stack of clear Tupperware containers tucked into the corner. They were filled with untouched mash potatoes, gravy, turkey, roasted veggies, and even half a pumpkin pie.

Shego reached out before she paused slightly. Was she about to really steal Kimmie's care package of Thanksgiving leftovers? That was a new low even for her…

'Fuck it.' Shego was so hungry she'd steal a double burger and fries from a baby…

She stole a bowl and spoon from Kim's cabinets and loaded it up without much planning or culinary thought. She just piled an assortment of food into the bowl and threw it into the microwave. 'At least the microwave is clean.' Though unused would have been a better descriptor. Shego had a feeling that if she opened the oven or looked in the toaster, it would've been a similar story. It definitely sounded like Pumpkin needed a babysitter or something and it looked like that was going to be here. She sighed and cursed her luck.

Soon though, she was greeted by an incredibly hot bowl with tantalizing nostalgic smells as she moved back into Kim's living room and made herself right at home on the couch. It smelled like Thanksgiving day; something Shego hadn't enjoyed in a long time. That year alone, Shego enjoyed that Holiday by licking strawberry flavored vodka off of a pair of Swedish twins. She smirked at the thought. Good times.

She vigorously dug in, it was downright heavenly, but that was mainly due to the fact that she hadn't eaten anything since she was abducted besides a bad poisoned coffee and even worse booze.

The door opened and a loud sigh came out of a familiar redhead followed by, "Really Shego?"

Shego rolled her eyes whilst holding a spoonful of warm mashed potatoes about to enter her mouth,  A garbled, "Bite Me." As she ate the spoonful. After the day she had. Shego stopped caring and shoved a second spoonful before she even looked at Kim.

Her eyes opened wider at the sight. 'Well shit.' It was clear that the photos in the dossiers didn't really capture the full picture.

Kim Possible was a wraith. A blood stained tank top and pajama pants wearing wraith. A thin pale and freckled ghost, whose idea of nutrition was anything she could eat on a helicopter and met the definition of food on only a technicality. Someone who looked like the only times she slept were when she was unconscious in a villain's trap or when she blinked for more than two seconds.

To top it off, It was like every inch of her was covered with scars and bruises like battleworn medals, like she was a merc in her forties trained for wet work, not a nineteen year old who was being pulled in every direction. She stood there, a true testament to both human resilience… and suffering. A particularly fresh hand-shaped bruise had wrapped itself around her neck like a choker. 'Okay. So maybe… just maybe. Princess has had a shitty day too… or more like a shitty month.'

Shego wondered if she should address that Kim looked like a walking corpse as she shoved another spoonful of warm potatoes and gravy to her mouth. She settled on a haphazard wave.

Kim shook her head and plopped herself on the couch next to her. The two of them enjoyed the silence as Shego continued to eat Kim's food and Kim rested her eyes. She wondered if the girl was up all night. She certainly looked like it.

"Are you okay? The wound looked deep." Shego looked at the other woman to see her looking at her, concern in her eyes. She supposed that even underneath all of that blood and scars; she's still Possible at her core.

As for her question. It hurt like a fucking bitch, but even without her powers it still wasn't the worst wound she's had. That belonged to getting her ass tossed into an electrical tower before the very redhead that now saved her life. Funny how life works out. "Eh, I'll live. Uh. Thanks for patching me up." 

Kim gave the usual Possible smile which looked very out of place on a woman who looked like she just survived a bear attack and said her usual. "No big."

Shego rolled her eyes with a small smile and went back to her food. Some things never changed.

"Uh, do you wanna talk about it? In fact, Shego didn't wanna talk about it. She'd rather eat and pass out again.

Not to mention she had to make up some lie or something. She did still need to gain Kim's trust and she had a feeling that any story that started with, 'I got drunk and started a bar fight with a bunch of cultists' wasn't going to exactly win her over. Sure she could play the sympathy angle with the loss of her powers; but she wasn't sure how much of an eye Cyclops had on either of them, the one eyed hypocrite had stated that her 'mission' was a secret and Shego wasn't gonna push until she knew that she could.

Also there was the mere idea of displaying that level of vulnerability to anyone that absolutely revolted Shego and made her gag a bit in her mouth. She didn't need Kimmie of all people feeling sorry for her.

Kim looked at her with greater concern, but Shego masked her gag by stuffing her face again. After she struggled to swallow her bite she set her plan into motion.

A plan called, 'let's do this later.' "Listen Pumpkin. Could we, I don't know, talk about this in the morning?" It was almost five by now, but morning for Shego didn't start until almost noon these days.

Kim made a scrunched up face, clearly still in some form of 'Mission Mode', Shego. I found you bleeding in the street with a sword in your hip. what's going on?"

'Ugh. Nosy Possible.' Shego was annoyed that she wouldn't just drop it, but she knew that should have expected. So Shego settled on a small lie to tie the nosy woman over and potentially gain some brownie points.

Right. First step to a good lie, a believable foundation. Start with something semi relevant. Don't give more than needed. "Listen, I'm in town for the holidays. And I took up a patrol shift from Hego, that's all." It was semi believable. She supposed. It was close to the Holidays and she was technically in town, even if unwillingly. The most unbelievable part was the idea of her doing anything for her brother, but eh. She couldn't be arsed to find something better to say.

Kim raised an eyebrow. "Helping Hego, you?" ' Oh shit.' Right. Kimmie knew her brothers. She knew how insufferable they were.

"Ugh, lay off Possible. Okay? It was only to get him off my back."

"So you were patrolling in casual clothes and not your old uniform." 'Fuck.'

Defection. "So what? Maybe I wanted to grab a drink afterwards, okay? You are really busting my balls over this, Cupcake. I was stabbed rather painfully, I might add."

Possible visibly deflated. "No, you're right. I'm sorry, Shego." Well guilt did make it easier to sell the whole thing, but it also made Shego feel like a total bitch. 'Sorry, Pumpkin. But my powers are more important than your feelings.'

Keen to still sell it; Shego just huffed in her usual way and dug back into her bowl.

"So who are they? The ones you scooped out and caught you." Shego bought herself some time by taking a particularly large bite, the bowl now almost empty. She slowly chewed and pretended to think it over, several minutes passed as she watched Kim lean closer in.

"No idea." She could have made something up, but that would only make it all less believable, especially since she planned on going after the bastards.

"Wait. What?" Shego relished how the answer made Princess look absolutely flabbergasted. Kim actually thought She was doing 'actual work.' Now that's a laugh.

She set down the empty bowl on the coffee table, buckled down and enjoyed the ride, letting the pieces fall into place. "Yup. No clue."

"But… What?"

"What's the problem, Princess?"

Shego watched as gears turned and grinded inside Kim's head.

"How could you not know?!" Shego shrugged in response.

Shego shrugged again as she let Kim connect the nonexistent dots. "Wait. Casual clothing, got jumped, and no clue." Kim pinched her brow. "Shego, were you just goofing off on patrol?"

Shego did her best to look a little ashamed or embarrassed. The final part of any good lie, let them already catch you in a smaller lie and let them come up with the rest of the story. And now the admission of guilt to seal the deal. "You caught me, Princess. I was grabbing a drink from my old favorite haunt when I got jumped by weirdos in robes." She tried to look guilty about it, but would have required her to actually feel bad about it.

Kim sighed and pinched her brow. "So you were goofing off and got jumped?" Technically she started the fight, but that would not win any points with Possible, so she just went with it.

"Yup." Shego said with a particular pop to the 'p'. The lie in the end wasn't far from the truth, but far enough to not risk any of the more 'sensitive' getting out like the lack of her powers and the actual reason she was in town.

"Great. So that means we have no leads on them." Kim ran a hand through her hair in minor frustration.

"Can you just have your nerd scan the sword and we find it that way?" There was a crest of some kind on the dagger's hilt, so it shouldn't be too hard to find a match.

Kim however made a face at the reference of her tech nerd. 'Trouble with the team, Possible?' 

"It's. Just he's really…  busy." Shego rolled her eyes. 'Totally Possible. Keep telling yourself that.'

Shego of course couldn't resist taunting. Old habits die hard, she supposed. "What? Piss off more than just your girlfriend?" A sign that Shego was listening in to the previous conversation.

Kim took a radically different expression than Shego expected. She expected the slight annoyance, maybe a roll of the eyebrows, a snapback. Not the incredibly dark look on Kimmie's face like she was going to murder Shego right then and there.

 Shego saw Kim take a few deep breaths in an attempt to control herself before she responded. "You do not know what you are talking about." Kim said, before she turned away like a pouty teenager.

Shego never responded well to attitude. "I'm just calling it as i saw it."

Kim's resulting glare fired up all the right spots in Shego; no one was as fun to rile up as Kim Fucking Possible was. Buttons were being pressed and Shego be damned if she wasn't going to continue to smash them.

Shego poked Kim, but she continued her brooding. She poked again, but Kim slapped it away and turned back. Shego yawned and stretched, lightly kicking Kim who moved slightly to avoid. With a smirk Shego placed her bare feet on Kim's lap. Kim looked down, an indignant and murderous frown across her face. She shoved them off of her. Shego put them in her lap again.

Kim shoved them off. Shego put them back. Kim tossed them off. Shego placed them right back with an additional bit of leg and an innocent smile across her face.

Kim shoved them off and ground her teeth as she seethed at Shego who still was wearing her pj pants and hoodie and a not so innocent smile as if to say. I'm not doing anything wrong.

"Stop it Shego." Kim practically growled at her.

"Make me Possible."

With a frustrated shout Kim leaped across the couch and onto Shego who had a scream of her own as she was called upon to support a hundred pounds of redhead. Her side tinged in pain, but she didn't care. This was exactly what she wanted. She grabbed Kim by the hips and threw her off; she slid across the coffee table and landed in a heap on the floor dragging along a pile of junk mail.

Shego laughed as Kim untangled and unstuck herself from a stack of the old Costco ads and credit card offers; an indignant pout across her face. It however wasn't murderous. Just annoyed. ' better than brooding.'

She stood up and stretched as Kim shaked her legs and arms before she got into a half open martial arts stance.

Shego was still so sore and in pain from the bar fight and the absence of her glow made her feel so off, but this. This was familiar. Shego and Possible, nemeses until the end. She lived for this.

Shego threw the first punch; a purposely wide southpaw, it's been a while and she needed to check Kim first more than anything else. Kim block flowed like water, as she redirected Shego's arm across and away, before she palm striked the mercenary's shoulder.

Shego's left arm suddenly felt incredibly numb and unresponsive, "Holy shit. Possible, ya learned some new moves." Kim's blush at the compliment felt like a victory to Shego. A small crack of a smile breaking through what was a broody and gloomy demeanor.

Not that Shego cared if Kim Possible was actually happy or not, but her new involuntary job would be a heck of a lot easier if the girl was not trying her best Batman impression.

After her time with Drakken, Shego could only stand about five minutes tops of brooding and or moping around. She was a super villain not some angsty teen nanny.

Shego flailed her limp arm which caused Kim lean back to avoid, Shego then crossed forward and stomped on her foot. It was more effective at rattling the floorboards than it was as a damaging attack judging by the fact that Kim barely flinched.

It did set up her balance enough for a roundhouse kick that soared straight to Kim's face. She stepped back and grabbed the leg and moved forward. Shego was forced to choose to hop on one leg or fall, she purposely dropped her weight and dragged them to the ground as Kim yipped in surprise as she fell on top of Shego.

Kim was now straddling Shego and pulled her fist back for a punch when heavy knocks came from below them.

"Hey! Stop fucking and go to bed! People are trying to sleep!"

Kim looked at Shego who looked at her. A moment of silence before the thief had the first giggle. Then a second. Then a full blown laugh. Kim couldn't resist either, she lowered her fist and rolled off as she started her own laughing fit.

Shego's sides started to hurt as she couldn't stop laughing at the absurdity of it, and Kim wasn't faring much better with tears in her eyes.

The two of them just laughed for several minutes before they eventually settled down and just laid on the floor.

Shego looked over at Possible who finally had a smile on her face and knew that she had succeeded in some way.

"Monique is straight."

"Mhm?" Shego hummed a response as she just laid there, breathing gently. She had no idea why since she just ate, but she was almost hungry again.

"You asked if Monique was my ex. She's straight."

It was interesting to Shego that Kim didn't say that she, herself was straight, but she did see the pride flag in her room, and wasn't gonna force her to out herself unless she wanted to. Still Shego couldn't resist making a joke of it. "So is spaghetti until it's wet."

Kim reluctantly cracked a smile before she hid her blushing cheeks in her hands.  ' Score .' "Sheeego."

"What? I'm just stating a fact here," Shego said with a haphazard wave of her still numb arm that flopped back onto the floorboards.

Kim looked less annoyed with her and just embarrassed, which was a victory in Shego's mind. She couldn't resist probing further. "In my experience," Shego put her good hand onto her chest, "girls always say they're straight until they meet me." 

Kim rolled her eyes and threw a throw pillow that had landed on the ground in the scuffle at Shego who laughed as she deflected it. "You're so full of it, Shego."

"What? I'm just telling the truth." Shego said with a smirk. Kim just rolled her eyes in response, clearly done with Shego's shit.

Shego looked at a nearby clock on the wall. It was definitely five. There was a little diner on 16th Avenue that she loved to visit when she was in town that always opened early, and her stomach, despite having eaten Kim's food recently, ached for more. She supposed that it just wasn't enough since she hadn't eaten since she was taken from her vacation.

She pulled herself to her feet and walked over to Possible; who opened her resting eyes.

"Come on Pumpkin, let's go grab some breakfast and we can talk."