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Description
Crumbs

Author: The Humbug

Disclaimer: “Kim Possible” and all characters within © The Walt Disney Company and its related entities. Kim Possible created by Mark McCorkle & Bob Schooley. All rights reserved. No profit is being collected from the fiction contained within. You can blame the rest of this on me.
Rating: PG-13 for combat violence and intimations of a physical relationship and intimate contact between consenting adult females. This should also cover a little harsh language now and then. If this will offend you, please read something else and then seek some professional help.
Summary: This is a Kim/Shego pairing fan fiction and is set in my ‘Who’s Writing This Crap?’ storyline. It is a sequel to ‘A Cookie For Ecclesiastes’ and you really, REALLY need to read that story first. Kasy Ann and Sheki Go Possible are the creations of NoDrogs. The KP version of The Supreme One as well as the ruined Shego is my idea. WARNING: Some parts are a little dark.

Crumbs / Seven

“Got it!”

“Booyah!”

Kasy Ann Possible relaxed and rolled backwards away from the door. Her fingers bled and her whole hand was cramped but she’d finally managed to pick the lock. She let the bent sliver of metal she’d found drop to the damp floor and made room for her sister. Sheki held her twin’s shoulders and they both grinned like dirty thieves. It had been hours since they had last spoken with their captors and both girls had managed to sleep a little after the gift of food and water from their ghastly visitor. Somewhat refreshed, they weren’t about to stay in this dump for a moment longer than necessary.

Sheki reached for the latch.

“Shek, hold up!”

“What?” The raven-haired girl regarded her twin with impatience. “Let’s get the hell out of Dodge!”

“Language.”

“So not the drama!” She rolled her eyes. “What is it?”

“SO the drama! We don’t know what’s out there!” Kasy flexed the joints of her sore hand and regarded the closed door. “There might be a whole army out there for all we know.”

“Or maybe just… her.” They both shivered and it had nothing to do with the cool dampness; they each recalled the madness in the eyes of that woman who looked so much like their mother, and wanted nothing to do with that again anytime soon. “Ok, you could be right.”

“Gee, thanks.” The redhead stood.

“D’oy! So what do we do now?”

“Well… I don’t really think that there is an army.” Kasy began to pace, a habit that she had picked up from their Mommy. “I think that it’s just the two of them.”

“Two against two!”

“We still need to be ultra careful.”

“We can take them!”

“Even if it’s her?”

Sheki rested her hand on Kasy’s shoulder and two pairs of emerald eyes locked.

“Even if. Team Possible can handle anything.”

“But she’s our…”

“No, she isn’t. She’s someone else’s mother. Someone who’s dead.” They both remembered their brief adventure with Rufus 3000 and there was no need to review those details. “And they weren’t us. Anyway,” Sheki gave the redhead a smirk, “you spent all that time picking the lock and now you don’t even want to open the door?”

“Kinda dumb, huh?” Kasy was smiling a little now. “Ok, then. We’re out of here.” She turned and together they stood before the metal barrier. It took all of their stealth training and significant self-control to pull open the door.

The result was somewhat anti-climactic because there wasn’t much to see. There were machines in various states of use or disuse, with rubble pushed here and there against the base of support pylons. The impression was of a significantly larger chamber than they could see but the space was shrouded in darkness. Her earlier misgivings subdued, Kasy was the first through the door.

“So… do we look for a communications device first, or just a big door conveniently labeled ‘EXIT’?”

“Um.” Sheki bent her knees and shifted from foot to foot. “Could we find a bathroom, first?”

“Ok.” Kasy nodded. “Bathroom first and then the big door labeled ‘EXIT’!”

They left their filthy cell behind them, sticking to the shadows and each praying that they wouldn’t encounter the woman that they had once heard order the death of thousands in their Mommy’s voice.

88888888

The lair appeared to be in almost exactly same state in which she had left it about ten years ago.

Almost.

Pausing to listen, Shego was confident that more power was flowing through the electrical grid than should be possible for the sole remaining auxiliary generator. There was no way that anyone else but she could have squeezed one more amp of power from that generator. Anyone except her, she admitted smugly. More power, maybe a little cleaner, less rubble strewn about… it was apparent that whoever had staked their claim to this place had been here for days and obviously knew their way around a lair. Shego slipped out of the air vent and was all the more cautious.

Neither time nor tide had dulled Shego’s stealth techniques and she traversed the shadowy chamber unmolested, pausing only to plant the occasional phosphorus grenade at particular spots. A pylon here, a stanchion there… all intended to cause maximum chaos but little actual destruction, to confuse their unidentified foes through the art of misdirection. Hunkering down against the base of a support pylon, Shego re-established her bearings and reappraised the condition of the lair.

Two minutes had elapsed, by the account of the chronometer strapped to her upper arm, since she had entered this central chamber and still no sign of the residents. Not a shred of clothing, no empty food containers and nothing so much as a candy wrapper. All the usual marks of human inhabitation were missing. She’d heard no one, seen no one.

Shego turned her head to check the time again.

“Such attention to detail. Remarkable.”

Combat training kicked in and Shego fell into a spinning crouch while the voice still echoed between the walls. Only then did the unmistakable nature and tone of the familiar voice reach her cerebellum and Shego growled as she stood, turning to face the new arrival.

“Damn it, Pumpkin, I told you to…”

Further admonitions caught in her throat when she beheld her visitor.

For some inexplicable reason, Kim’s mother was standing just a few feet away with her arms crossed and wearing a facsimile of Kim’s old blue and white battle suit. A light blue cape rested across her shoulders and the redheaded woman’s gaze was cold, almost reptilian.

“Decidedly remarkable. Amazing, in fact.”

No, this wasn’t Anne Possible. Who was she… and where in the HELL had she come from? Shego was beyond baffled.

“Where… how did…?”

“The attention to detail, that is. That timepiece on your arm, for example.” The woman gestured idly at the device just above the green and black uniformed elbow. “It looks exactly like the one I bought for my wife for when we would go out on missions.” She slurred the last word with thinly veiled disgust. “Any normal wrist watch simply flashed into greasy soot when she fired up.” The lips curled in a half smile. “I suppose that someone wanted the look to be totally accurate.” She shifted her weight, cocking her hip. “It’s a good thing that Shego isn’t here. She doesn’t like clones very much.”

“I’m no clo…” Shego caught herself, refusing to be distracted. “Who are you? Spill!” A uniformed glove was raised accusingly. “And where are my daughters?”

“What, no ‘Oh, Kimmie, it’s me’?” Clearly amused, the shorter woman advanced a step. “Aren’t you even going to pretend to be Shego?”

“I AM SHEGO, BITC…”

Wait.

Something in the voice, the words, the motion of that slender body. But that couldn’t be possible.

Leaner and harder of face, this woman could pass for her Princess. A few more age lines around the mouth and a tight clench to the jaw… Shego’s own mouth went slack. Why hadn’t she noticed it immediately? Her first impression was of her Mother-In-Law, and with good reason; this other woman was older than Kim and practically radiated authority, hence the mental shift towards Mrs. Dr. P.

“Kim?”

“That’s more like it.”

Anything’s possible for a Possible.

“K-Kimmie?”

“Ooo, I haven’t heard that one in a long,” the petite woman savored the pause, “long time.”

Slowly the differences came into focus.

The redhead looked to be pushing fifty years old, roughly the age of Dr. Anne Possible so the initial confusion was forgivable. The hair was much longer than Kim wore it, fuller and with a few shocks of white to be seen. The eyes should have been the immediate giveaway… they were shaped of fiery emeralds and not the ocean-blue gaze belonging to Anne Possible. At a second glance, several of the ‘age lines’ Shego had noticed were actually scars and while the newcomer was certainly as slim and petite as her Princess, there was an arrogance about her that made the other woman seem considerably more imposing than her physical stature warranted. There was an unbridled power radiating from this petite woman that could be felt from several feet away.

Shego found her voice.

“Who are you?”

“That is not important.”

“Wrong answer, sugarplum.”

“My, you are being obtuse.”

“Last chance! Who are you?”

“Allow me to reiterate.” The imperious tone bade no argument. “That is not important… to you.”

“You know, I believe that you’re right. Let’s move on to our second round of questions.” Shego advanced, arms out and talons ready. She flexed her gloved fingers and breathed deep in anticipation of showing this person the true definition of pain. “Girls! Where? Now!”

“Oh, dear. As if I had time for this…”

“NOW!!”

Shego closed the scant distance and her claws reached for the target… but sliced through empty air as the smaller form shifted and eluded the attack. The former villain was prepared for the dodge and spun, her leg extending to knock the feet out from under her mysterious opponent. All this was taking place in the gap between now and now and this time contact was made.

But it wasn’t enough. Shego felt her shin connect with the back of the blue and white uniformed knee but, instead of being swept outwards, the redhead folded backwards and flipped, carrying the lithe body out of harm’s reach and negating the strafe. She landed casually and straightened as if she had all the time in the world.

The former thief watched the older woman brush concrete dust from her uniform.

“You could make this easier, you know.”

“Easier for you?” Shego taunted.

“That’s not exactly what I…” The stranger was forced to halt her retort because Shego was already moving. The taller woman leapt and swung, a practiced move calculated to demoralize as well as damage, bringing her fist within a hair’s breadth of her opponent’s face. The redhead feinted to the side and responded with a kick directed at Shego’s solar plexus.

It missed, Shego having used a variant of the redhead’s own defensive move from seconds ago. She chose to sustain her offensive rather than flip away out of danger so Shego proceeded to unleash a volley of kicks, punches and roundhouse strikes that made her seem more like a whirling Dervish than anything else. The speed and accuracy of her attacks was in stark contrast to her earlier stealth and she was growling with each breath.

The petite redhead eluded every attack with an expression of patient indulgence. Shego kept moving but pulled back to reevaluate the sitch; she was as furious with herself as she was with her opponent at the failure of making a palpable hit and it was imperative to capitalize on weakness.

IF there was a weakness to be found, that is. If this person can move like my Kimmie, Shego realized, that may be easier said than done. At least I don’t have to pull my punches.

Changing strategy, the green and black clad woman lanced outward with a kick powerful enough to break bones. The smaller woman moved equally fast and avoided shattered ribs with a raised arm; the arm moved to divert and redirect the passage of the leg, possibly to unbalance Shego after the failed blow. The taller woman felt a dangerous strength in that block so she retracted her leg and braced herself. Her next move was a mid-feint to the right and then a jab from the left. This was immediately followed by another kick that was nothing more than a distraction whether it connected or not. Without even waiting to weigh the success or her actions, Shego brought up her balled fists and threw jabs that could have impressed any prizefighter.

To say that none of the attacks made contact would be untrue… but none succeeded in doing any damage. The petite woman in the blue and white uniform managed to block or dodge them all without saying a word or even changing her expression, and she only launched a fraction of the attacks that Shego did. The stranger apparently preferred to maintain her steady defense.

It was when the stranger brought up her guard that Shego noticed the other woman’s right hand.

Whereas the left hand was simply gloved, the right was encased in an articulated metal gauntlet that ended just beyond the wrist; each digit was barbed and carried talons that looked every bit as sharp as Shego’s own. It had been the glint of light on the metal limb that had caught Shego’s attention and the distraction almost made her the recipient of a devastating punch… nonetheless, she made note of the gauntlet in case it proved to be important.

There was no time to rest because another punch immediately followed the last one and it took all of Shego’s skill to evade it and still retaliate with a countermove of her own. The open-handed strike had missed the fair cheekbone by millimeters but the former villain was gratified to see the redhead’s expression shift from aloof to alert. Shego smirked to broadcast that she had noticed the change but otherwise she remained silent. Instead, she opted to roll into a crouch and risk a brief moment of introspection. She was gratified that her fighting abilities hadn’t deteriorated over the years. She rarely needed to make use of her fighting skills these days and, while she had once been ranked as THE most dangerous woman on the planet, it now took a disciplined regimen of exercise to keep in fighting trim. The fighting wasn’t nearly as lethal now that she joined her spouse on missions for Global Justice.

She couldn’t let herself go anymore and surrender to the sweet pleasure of hand-to-hand combat like she could in the old days with her Princess. Back then she could howl her rage to the sky and cut loose with abandon, never having to fear that ‘the girl who could do anything’ might not be up to the challenge. Kim Possible always gave as well as she got even when a little plasma was forthcoming, and was nothing less than Shego’s equal.

Was it possible that her angel sometimes shared that unholy joy?

But Shego did hold back, even though she denied it even to herself. It was when she started looking forward to the battles for a different reason that she realized she couldn’t bear to think about her Kimmie being seriously hurt. Those days were a surreal period in her life because there was absolutely nothing that could ever have come from this change in attitude. And then Drakken had his ‘brilliant’ plan involving the DNA retrovirus and the smallest of possibilities came to pass. The rest was history.

But here was a total stranger on whom Shego could unload her inner hate. The redhead was breathing a little harder by now and Shego wondered if a snarky comment was in order.

“Are you are member in good standing with ‘Lair Care’, or what?”

The slender woman kept her guard up but did not reply.

“Hate to tell you this, but I know someone who’ll be mighty pissed off to know that you’ve stolen her look.”

The only reaction was a subtle narrowing of those emerald eyes as they circled around and around.

“You know, she-bitch… may I call you ‘she-bitch’?” Shego smirked and calculated when she might best renew her attack. “I’d thought I’d seen an ass scrawnier than yours before, but I was wrong.”

The other woman stopped circling. Shego raised her left arm and gestured at the slender woman’s backside, also subtly drawing her right arm back and flexed the talons built into her gloved fist.

“But I’ve gotta say that you have THE scrawniest ass that…”

The smaller woman leapt and the taller woman lashed out. The air snapped at their passing.

Time, direction and velocity were judged all in a split second and the blue-white blur landed a few feet behind Shego, landed and stumbled because the calculation was just right and red blood flowed from a gash cut into the woman’s upper back. The stranger didn’t lose her footing completely but the pain she felt was evident in the way she stood.

Shego grinned at the victory and started to turn fully around to face her foe… when a hot needle of pain bored into her upper arm. Wincing, she looked down and saw a rent in her sleeve and rivulets of blood seeping out onto her pale green skin. She had felt her own claws connect with the leaping form but hadn’t felt the successful blow to her own arm; her opponent had struck too fast and the talons of that metal glove must be like knives. Shego bared her teeth and glared across at the other woman in time to see the ribbons bordering the ragged hole in the smaller woman’s uniform writhe and knit together, erasing the damage and covering the wound beneath. Likewise, the bleeding of Shego’s wound slowed and stopped altogether, the flesh already starting to heal itself even if her uniform remained compromised.

So the battlesuit’s the real deal, hm? Good… one more reason not to restrain myself. Her breathing slowed and she relaxed her control over the ever-present ‘humming’ that suffused her bones. Her flesh tingled as twin fields of super-heated plasma leached out through her conductive talons to encase her hands.

Shego charged, her hands ablaze with green death.

“This ends now, she-bitch.” It had long been tested and documented that her power could melt steel and pulverize granite; even without the benefit of the extreme heat, the fields increased the concussive strength of her blows a hundredfold. She could taste the victory and almost felt sorry as her claws came down…

… and her plasma sizzled and died against a brilliant blue sphere of energy that flashed into being around the slender woman. Shego rocked back on her heels, almost unable to comprehend. As if forgetting the urgency of her sitch, she reached out and prodded the sphere, watching the sparks flair under her hand.

“Oh, no you didn’t!”

Shego struck again, the only result being more fireworks and a crackling energy discharge.

“BullSHIT!”

More power was generated and she blasted the field again and again and again.

Still the blue sphere held firm.

“NO!” Anger erupted without conscious thought and her arms became a black and green blur. Shego dropped all pretense of tactics or strategy and planted her feet directly in front of the energy field as if she were a lumberjack, raining blow after blow down upon the blue barrier. Each strike sent a shockwave through the concrete floor and split the air with a peel of thunder. Pieces of rubble danced and bounced across the floor of the chamber and were occasionally joined by more pieces falling from the ceiling.

Regardless of its nature, each attack resulted in little more that pretty fireworks that scintillated against the immaterial blue wall. The woman inside the field even relaxed her pose a little as each attack failed, be it a short-lived plasma ‘grenade’ or a simple, undignified fist pounded against the barrier.

“NO! BITCH! DIE, YOU… DIE, BITCH!!” Shego didn’t relent. She couldn’t relent. Hammering against the force field with both hands now, she was physically and mentally incapable of ceasing her attack. The bravado and taunts had served to briefly hold back the fear she felt for her daughters’ safety and, now that she found herself faltering, something within her snapped.

But brute force wasn’t enough and Shego was also losing strength. She had been expending too much energy too fast and her fields were already on the verge of winking out. If she didn’t get to rest soon… but there would be no chance of that now. Instead, the former villain began to emit the highest level of plasma radiation that she was capable of without injuring herself. The air around her hands seemed to boil and nearby light fixtures flickered slightly and her gloves had already started to vaporize.

She unleashed a barrage of energy against the blue sphere in every form that she could generate, even a cascade of ‘sheet lightening’ that she rarely used because it was difficult to focus and aim. Any one of these strikes would have been powerful enough to buckle titanium and not even her inherent immunity to her own plasma would prevent her from roasting if the air around her skin didn’t shed the heat fast enough.

“Are you finished?” The redhead inside the blue energy field crossed her arms and stared out with something akin to pity. This volatile exchange lasted until Shego felt her knees trembling. Her energies were finite, she knew, and they had all but run out. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m on something of a schedule.”

The former villain heard the question but chose not to respond. She let her plasma fade and backed off instead to conserve her waning energies and rethink the sitch. Her Princess would’ve been proud to see that Shego wasn’t so bullheaded that she couldn’t use guile. This stranger was faster than she should be and far too strong for her size and the battle suit was obviously not some dime store knock off. Shego needed time to think, to plan… and to recharge.

“It’s just that I seem to have zoned out for a bit.” The blue and white clad woman looked out at Shego from within the force field and there was a bemused expression on her face. “If I missed anything worthwhile, I do beg your pardon.”

“Ok.” Shego dropped her battle stance and faced her opponent. “I accept that the battle suit is the real McCoy and that you know how to fight. I don’t know what your game is but I want...”

“What you want… does not concern me.” The blue force field did nothing to muffle the contemptuous tone. “I had hoped that our game would be more than an idle distraction but I see now that to continue would be pointless.” She actually paused to brush her uniform free of non-existent grime. “Enough time has been wasted. Now that we have what we came for we will be departing this world for greener pastures.”

“Who’s ‘we’?” Shego mustered her strength and walked right up to the field and held her glowing hands against its transparent surface. The petite woman inside the field ruffled the folds of her blue cape and didn’t react to the proximity or to the question.

“… but I am not without some mercy, even towards a clone.” The redhead shifted her full attention to her opponent. “Especially since a quick death for you means that I can fulfill my plan that much faster. Sort of a win-win scenario.”

“For the last time, she-bitch… me Shego, YOU clone!” She kept her hands against the force field and radiated the lowest level of plasma emission that she could without taxing her resources. What she needed a healthy dose of natural sunshine to keep her energies topped off but there was no way that she’d get one anytime soon. The field remained steady under her hands as the stranger continued speaking.

“As I was saying, I realize now that whatever programming you were given by my enemies compels you to believe that you are seeking your children…”

“They are my girls, bitch! MINE!”

“… so I will kill you quickly out of compassion.” The word seemed unfamiliar to the mouth that spoke it. “Whether you are capable of accepting it or not, the ‘girls’ of which you speak are not your daughters. They are my daughters and…” The redhead frowned. “Why am I bothering to argue the matter with you?”

“My honest face and your assumption that I give a shit?”

Shego never would be able to totally remember exactly what happened next.

The force field vanished so suddenly that the pale green woman stumbled forward and Shego found herself practically nose to nose with the smaller woman. She raised her hands, intending to arrest her fall more than anything else. As her right hand came up, the metal hand of her opponent flew up and locked the shredded glove in a crushing grip; the redhead might be smaller, but the strength in that strangely gauntleted hand could not be denied.

The former thief was trapped… or maybe not! Shego gave the redhead a shark’s smile and let her right hand erupt in a plasma field.

“Welcome to the briar patch, you little whor…”

The shining metallic hand glowed with it’s own plasma field and Shego felt pain like she never had before.

All thought was ripped from her brain in a blinding agony that coursed down the flesh of her arm and burned deep into her core. For one of the rare times in Shego’s turbulent life, she screamed... screamed with pain, with fear and with the burning knowledge of failure. With perfect form, the petite redhead swiftly spun and pulled, wrenching Shego clean off her feet with every bit of power that the blue and white battle suit contained.

The tall woman flew across the darkened chamber, flew several yards to crash against a roughly hewn rock wall and landed in a black and green tangle, wisps of smoke rising from charred skin and smoldering uniform, gathering in an oily haze above the spot where she lay. The dim lights overhead were blinding to her and Shego could barely tell the difference between up and down as she fought just to keep breathing.

Her next sensation was the staccato steps of booted feet drawing closer. The small woman’s gait was casual and it gave the impression that she had nothing but time on her hands. Shego managed to blink and cough but wasn’t strong enough to move.

The battered woman had to force out her words.

“…who…”

“Goodness, you are persistent.”

“…who…”

“Persistent and repetitive.” The tone was almost accommodating. “I suppose there’s no harm in telling you.” The small shape lowered and she knelt down over the vanquished woman and it was all that Shego could do to focus her eyes on the black silhouette. The metal hand started to glow again as the segmented digits condensed into a fist and slowly drew back.

Shego waited for the inevitable impact that would surely drive all consciousness from her mind.

“I… am the Supreme One.”

To Be Continued…

Author’s Notes: This chapter is a bit longer one because it’s mostly one solid action sequence; it is the first REAL big fight scene I’ve ever written. I did my best to make it as literarily compelling as possible, and to include as many visual cues as I could. If you leave only one review for anything I ever write, please let me know what you thought.

Description
Crumbs

Author: The Humbug

Disclaimer: “Kim Possible” and all characters within © The Walt Disney Company and its related entities. Kim Possible created by Mark McCorkle & Bob Schooley. All rights reserved. No profit is being collected from the fiction contained within. You can blame the rest of this on me.
Rating: PG-13 for combat violence and intimations of a physical relationship and intimate contact between consenting adult females. This should also cover a little harsh language now and then. If this will offend you, please read something else and then seek some professional help.
Summary: This is a Kim/Shego pairing fan fiction and is set in my ‘Who’s Writing This Crap?’ storyline. It is a sequel to ‘A Cookie For Ecclesiastes’ and you really, REALLY need to read that story first. Kasy Ann and Sheki Go Possible are the creations of NoDrogs. The KP version of The Supreme One as well as the ruined Shego is my idea. WARNING: Some parts are a little dark.

Crumbs / Seven

“Got it!”

“Booyah!”

Kasy Ann Possible relaxed and rolled backwards away from the door. Her fingers bled and her whole hand was cramped but she’d finally managed to pick the lock. She let the bent sliver of metal she’d found drop to the damp floor and made room for her sister. Sheki held her twin’s shoulders and they both grinned like dirty thieves. It had been hours since they had last spoken with their captors and both girls had managed to sleep a little after the gift of food and water from their ghastly visitor. Somewhat refreshed, they weren’t about to stay in this dump for a moment longer than necessary.

Sheki reached for the latch.

“Shek, hold up!”

“What?” The raven-haired girl regarded her twin with impatience. “Let’s get the hell out of Dodge!”

“Language.”

“So not the drama!” She rolled her eyes. “What is it?”

“SO the drama! We don’t know what’s out there!” Kasy flexed the joints of her sore hand and regarded the closed door. “There might be a whole army out there for all we know.”

“Or maybe just… her.” They both shivered and it had nothing to do with the cool dampness; they each recalled the madness in the eyes of that woman who looked so much like their mother, and wanted nothing to do with that again anytime soon. “Ok, you could be right.”

“Gee, thanks.” The redhead stood.

“D’oy! So what do we do now?”

“Well… I don’t really think that there is an army.” Kasy began to pace, a habit that she had picked up from their Mommy. “I think that it’s just the two of them.”

“Two against two!”

“We still need to be ultra careful.”

“We can take them!”

“Even if it’s her?”

Sheki rested her hand on Kasy’s shoulder and two pairs of emerald eyes locked.

“Even if. Team Possible can handle anything.”

“But she’s our…”

“No, she isn’t. She’s someone else’s mother. Someone who’s dead.” They both remembered their brief adventure with Rufus 3000 and there was no need to review those details. “And they weren’t us. Anyway,” Sheki gave the redhead a smirk, “you spent all that time picking the lock and now you don’t even want to open the door?”

“Kinda dumb, huh?” Kasy was smiling a little now. “Ok, then. We’re out of here.” She turned and together they stood before the metal barrier. It took all of their stealth training and significant self-control to pull open the door.

The result was somewhat anti-climactic because there wasn’t much to see. There were machines in various states of use or disuse, with rubble pushed here and there against the base of support pylons. The impression was of a significantly larger chamber than they could see but the space was shrouded in darkness. Her earlier misgivings subdued, Kasy was the first through the door.

“So… do we look for a communications device first, or just a big door conveniently labeled ‘EXIT’?”

“Um.” Sheki bent her knees and shifted from foot to foot. “Could we find a bathroom, first?”

“Ok.” Kasy nodded. “Bathroom first and then the big door labeled ‘EXIT’!”

They left their filthy cell behind them, sticking to the shadows and each praying that they wouldn’t encounter the woman that they had once heard order the death of thousands in their Mommy’s voice.

88888888

The lair appeared to be in almost exactly same state in which she had left it about ten years ago.

Almost.

Pausing to listen, Shego was confident that more power was flowing through the electrical grid than should be possible for the sole remaining auxiliary generator. There was no way that anyone else but she could have squeezed one more amp of power from that generator. Anyone except her, she admitted smugly. More power, maybe a little cleaner, less rubble strewn about… it was apparent that whoever had staked their claim to this place had been here for days and obviously knew their way around a lair. Shego slipped out of the air vent and was all the more cautious.

Neither time nor tide had dulled Shego’s stealth techniques and she traversed the shadowy chamber unmolested, pausing only to plant the occasional phosphorus grenade at particular spots. A pylon here, a stanchion there… all intended to cause maximum chaos but little actual destruction, to confuse their unidentified foes through the art of misdirection. Hunkering down against the base of a support pylon, Shego re-established her bearings and reappraised the condition of the lair.

Two minutes had elapsed, by the account of the chronometer strapped to her upper arm, since she had entered this central chamber and still no sign of the residents. Not a shred of clothing, no empty food containers and nothing so much as a candy wrapper. All the usual marks of human inhabitation were missing. She’d heard no one, seen no one.

Shego turned her head to check the time again.

“Such attention to detail. Remarkable.”

Combat training kicked in and Shego fell into a spinning crouch while the voice still echoed between the walls. Only then did the unmistakable nature and tone of the familiar voice reach her cerebellum and Shego growled as she stood, turning to face the new arrival.

“Damn it, Pumpkin, I told you to…”

Further admonitions caught in her throat when she beheld her visitor.

For some inexplicable reason, Kim’s mother was standing just a few feet away with her arms crossed and wearing a facsimile of Kim’s old blue and white battle suit. A light blue cape rested across her shoulders and the redheaded woman’s gaze was cold, almost reptilian.

“Decidedly remarkable. Amazing, in fact.”

No, this wasn’t Anne Possible. Who was she… and where in the HELL had she come from? Shego was beyond baffled.

“Where… how did…?”

“The attention to detail, that is. That timepiece on your arm, for example.” The woman gestured idly at the device just above the green and black uniformed elbow. “It looks exactly like the one I bought for my wife for when we would go out on missions.” She slurred the last word with thinly veiled disgust. “Any normal wrist watch simply flashed into greasy soot when she fired up.” The lips curled in a half smile. “I suppose that someone wanted the look to be totally accurate.” She shifted her weight, cocking her hip. “It’s a good thing that Shego isn’t here. She doesn’t like clones very much.”

“I’m no clo…” Shego caught herself, refusing to be distracted. “Who are you? Spill!” A uniformed glove was raised accusingly. “And where are my daughters?”

“What, no ‘Oh, Kimmie, it’s me’?” Clearly amused, the shorter woman advanced a step. “Aren’t you even going to pretend to be Shego?”

“I AM SHEGO, BITC…”

Wait.

Something in the voice, the words, the motion of that slender body. But that couldn’t be possible.

Leaner and harder of face, this woman could pass for her Princess. A few more age lines around the mouth and a tight clench to the jaw… Shego’s own mouth went slack. Why hadn’t she noticed it immediately? Her first impression was of her Mother-In-Law, and with good reason; this other woman was older than Kim and practically radiated authority, hence the mental shift towards Mrs. Dr. P.

“Kim?”

“That’s more like it.”

Anything’s possible for a Possible.

“K-Kimmie?”

“Ooo, I haven’t heard that one in a long,” the petite woman savored the pause, “long time.”

Slowly the differences came into focus.

The redhead looked to be pushing fifty years old, roughly the age of Dr. Anne Possible so the initial confusion was forgivable. The hair was much longer than Kim wore it, fuller and with a few shocks of white to be seen. The eyes should have been the immediate giveaway… they were shaped of fiery emeralds and not the ocean-blue gaze belonging to Anne Possible. At a second glance, several of the ‘age lines’ Shego had noticed were actually scars and while the newcomer was certainly as slim and petite as her Princess, there was an arrogance about her that made the other woman seem considerably more imposing than her physical stature warranted. There was an unbridled power radiating from this petite woman that could be felt from several feet away.

Shego found her voice.

“Who are you?”

“That is not important.”

“Wrong answer, sugarplum.”

“My, you are being obtuse.”

“Last chance! Who are you?”

“Allow me to reiterate.” The imperious tone bade no argument. “That is not important… to you.”

“You know, I believe that you’re right. Let’s move on to our second round of questions.” Shego advanced, arms out and talons ready. She flexed her gloved fingers and breathed deep in anticipation of showing this person the true definition of pain. “Girls! Where? Now!”

“Oh, dear. As if I had time for this…”

“NOW!!”

Shego closed the scant distance and her claws reached for the target… but sliced through empty air as the smaller form shifted and eluded the attack. The former villain was prepared for the dodge and spun, her leg extending to knock the feet out from under her mysterious opponent. All this was taking place in the gap between now and now and this time contact was made.

But it wasn’t enough. Shego felt her shin connect with the back of the blue and white uniformed knee but, instead of being swept outwards, the redhead folded backwards and flipped, carrying the lithe body out of harm’s reach and negating the strafe. She landed casually and straightened as if she had all the time in the world.

The former thief watched the older woman brush concrete dust from her uniform.

“You could make this easier, you know.”

“Easier for you?” Shego taunted.

“That’s not exactly what I…” The stranger was forced to halt her retort because Shego was already moving. The taller woman leapt and swung, a practiced move calculated to demoralize as well as damage, bringing her fist within a hair’s breadth of her opponent’s face. The redhead feinted to the side and responded with a kick directed at Shego’s solar plexus.

It missed, Shego having used a variant of the redhead’s own defensive move from seconds ago. She chose to sustain her offensive rather than flip away out of danger so Shego proceeded to unleash a volley of kicks, punches and roundhouse strikes that made her seem more like a whirling Dervish than anything else. The speed and accuracy of her attacks was in stark contrast to her earlier stealth and she was growling with each breath.

The petite redhead eluded every attack with an expression of patient indulgence. Shego kept moving but pulled back to reevaluate the sitch; she was as furious with herself as she was with her opponent at the failure of making a palpable hit and it was imperative to capitalize on weakness.

IF there was a weakness to be found, that is. If this person can move like my Kimmie, Shego realized, that may be easier said than done. At least I don’t have to pull my punches.

Changing strategy, the green and black clad woman lanced outward with a kick powerful enough to break bones. The smaller woman moved equally fast and avoided shattered ribs with a raised arm; the arm moved to divert and redirect the passage of the leg, possibly to unbalance Shego after the failed blow. The taller woman felt a dangerous strength in that block so she retracted her leg and braced herself. Her next move was a mid-feint to the right and then a jab from the left. This was immediately followed by another kick that was nothing more than a distraction whether it connected or not. Without even waiting to weigh the success or her actions, Shego brought up her balled fists and threw jabs that could have impressed any prizefighter.

To say that none of the attacks made contact would be untrue… but none succeeded in doing any damage. The petite woman in the blue and white uniform managed to block or dodge them all without saying a word or even changing her expression, and she only launched a fraction of the attacks that Shego did. The stranger apparently preferred to maintain her steady defense.

It was when the stranger brought up her guard that Shego noticed the other woman’s right hand.

Whereas the left hand was simply gloved, the right was encased in an articulated metal gauntlet that ended just beyond the wrist; each digit was barbed and carried talons that looked every bit as sharp as Shego’s own. It had been the glint of light on the metal limb that had caught Shego’s attention and the distraction almost made her the recipient of a devastating punch… nonetheless, she made note of the gauntlet in case it proved to be important.

There was no time to rest because another punch immediately followed the last one and it took all of Shego’s skill to evade it and still retaliate with a countermove of her own. The open-handed strike had missed the fair cheekbone by millimeters but the former villain was gratified to see the redhead’s expression shift from aloof to alert. Shego smirked to broadcast that she had noticed the change but otherwise she remained silent. Instead, she opted to roll into a crouch and risk a brief moment of introspection. She was gratified that her fighting abilities hadn’t deteriorated over the years. She rarely needed to make use of her fighting skills these days and, while she had once been ranked as THE most dangerous woman on the planet, it now took a disciplined regimen of exercise to keep in fighting trim. The fighting wasn’t nearly as lethal now that she joined her spouse on missions for Global Justice.

She couldn’t let herself go anymore and surrender to the sweet pleasure of hand-to-hand combat like she could in the old days with her Princess. Back then she could howl her rage to the sky and cut loose with abandon, never having to fear that ‘the girl who could do anything’ might not be up to the challenge. Kim Possible always gave as well as she got even when a little plasma was forthcoming, and was nothing less than Shego’s equal.

Was it possible that her angel sometimes shared that unholy joy?

But Shego did hold back, even though she denied it even to herself. It was when she started looking forward to the battles for a different reason that she realized she couldn’t bear to think about her Kimmie being seriously hurt. Those days were a surreal period in her life because there was absolutely nothing that could ever have come from this change in attitude. And then Drakken had his ‘brilliant’ plan involving the DNA retrovirus and the smallest of possibilities came to pass. The rest was history.

But here was a total stranger on whom Shego could unload her inner hate. The redhead was breathing a little harder by now and Shego wondered if a snarky comment was in order.

“Are you are member in good standing with ‘Lair Care’, or what?”

The slender woman kept her guard up but did not reply.

“Hate to tell you this, but I know someone who’ll be mighty pissed off to know that you’ve stolen her look.”

The only reaction was a subtle narrowing of those emerald eyes as they circled around and around.

“You know, she-bitch… may I call you ‘she-bitch’?” Shego smirked and calculated when she might best renew her attack. “I’d thought I’d seen an ass scrawnier than yours before, but I was wrong.”

The other woman stopped circling. Shego raised her left arm and gestured at the slender woman’s backside, also subtly drawing her right arm back and flexed the talons built into her gloved fist.

“But I’ve gotta say that you have THE scrawniest ass that…”

The smaller woman leapt and the taller woman lashed out. The air snapped at their passing.

Time, direction and velocity were judged all in a split second and the blue-white blur landed a few feet behind Shego, landed and stumbled because the calculation was just right and red blood flowed from a gash cut into the woman’s upper back. The stranger didn’t lose her footing completely but the pain she felt was evident in the way she stood.

Shego grinned at the victory and started to turn fully around to face her foe… when a hot needle of pain bored into her upper arm. Wincing, she looked down and saw a rent in her sleeve and rivulets of blood seeping out onto her pale green skin. She had felt her own claws connect with the leaping form but hadn’t felt the successful blow to her own arm; her opponent had struck too fast and the talons of that metal glove must be like knives. Shego bared her teeth and glared across at the other woman in time to see the ribbons bordering the ragged hole in the smaller woman’s uniform writhe and knit together, erasing the damage and covering the wound beneath. Likewise, the bleeding of Shego’s wound slowed and stopped altogether, the flesh already starting to heal itself even if her uniform remained compromised.

So the battlesuit’s the real deal, hm? Good… one more reason not to restrain myself. Her breathing slowed and she relaxed her control over the ever-present ‘humming’ that suffused her bones. Her flesh tingled as twin fields of super-heated plasma leached out through her conductive talons to encase her hands.

Shego charged, her hands ablaze with green death.

“This ends now, she-bitch.” It had long been tested and documented that her power could melt steel and pulverize granite; even without the benefit of the extreme heat, the fields increased the concussive strength of her blows a hundredfold. She could taste the victory and almost felt sorry as her claws came down…

… and her plasma sizzled and died against a brilliant blue sphere of energy that flashed into being around the slender woman. Shego rocked back on her heels, almost unable to comprehend. As if forgetting the urgency of her sitch, she reached out and prodded the sphere, watching the sparks flair under her hand.

“Oh, no you didn’t!”

Shego struck again, the only result being more fireworks and a crackling energy discharge.

“BullSHIT!”

More power was generated and she blasted the field again and again and again.

Still the blue sphere held firm.

“NO!” Anger erupted without conscious thought and her arms became a black and green blur. Shego dropped all pretense of tactics or strategy and planted her feet directly in front of the energy field as if she were a lumberjack, raining blow after blow down upon the blue barrier. Each strike sent a shockwave through the concrete floor and split the air with a peel of thunder. Pieces of rubble danced and bounced across the floor of the chamber and were occasionally joined by more pieces falling from the ceiling.

Regardless of its nature, each attack resulted in little more that pretty fireworks that scintillated against the immaterial blue wall. The woman inside the field even relaxed her pose a little as each attack failed, be it a short-lived plasma ‘grenade’ or a simple, undignified fist pounded against the barrier.

“NO! BITCH! DIE, YOU… DIE, BITCH!!” Shego didn’t relent. She couldn’t relent. Hammering against the force field with both hands now, she was physically and mentally incapable of ceasing her attack. The bravado and taunts had served to briefly hold back the fear she felt for her daughters’ safety and, now that she found herself faltering, something within her snapped.

But brute force wasn’t enough and Shego was also losing strength. She had been expending too much energy too fast and her fields were already on the verge of winking out. If she didn’t get to rest soon… but there would be no chance of that now. Instead, the former villain began to emit the highest level of plasma radiation that she was capable of without injuring herself. The air around her hands seemed to boil and nearby light fixtures flickered slightly and her gloves had already started to vaporize.

She unleashed a barrage of energy against the blue sphere in every form that she could generate, even a cascade of ‘sheet lightening’ that she rarely used because it was difficult to focus and aim. Any one of these strikes would have been powerful enough to buckle titanium and not even her inherent immunity to her own plasma would prevent her from roasting if the air around her skin didn’t shed the heat fast enough.

“Are you finished?” The redhead inside the blue energy field crossed her arms and stared out with something akin to pity. This volatile exchange lasted until Shego felt her knees trembling. Her energies were finite, she knew, and they had all but run out. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m on something of a schedule.”

The former villain heard the question but chose not to respond. She let her plasma fade and backed off instead to conserve her waning energies and rethink the sitch. Her Princess would’ve been proud to see that Shego wasn’t so bullheaded that she couldn’t use guile. This stranger was faster than she should be and far too strong for her size and the battle suit was obviously not some dime store knock off. Shego needed time to think, to plan… and to recharge.

“It’s just that I seem to have zoned out for a bit.” The blue and white clad woman looked out at Shego from within the force field and there was a bemused expression on her face. “If I missed anything worthwhile, I do beg your pardon.”

“Ok.” Shego dropped her battle stance and faced her opponent. “I accept that the battle suit is the real McCoy and that you know how to fight. I don’t know what your game is but I want...”

“What you want… does not concern me.” The blue force field did nothing to muffle the contemptuous tone. “I had hoped that our game would be more than an idle distraction but I see now that to continue would be pointless.” She actually paused to brush her uniform free of non-existent grime. “Enough time has been wasted. Now that we have what we came for we will be departing this world for greener pastures.”

“Who’s ‘we’?” Shego mustered her strength and walked right up to the field and held her glowing hands against its transparent surface. The petite woman inside the field ruffled the folds of her blue cape and didn’t react to the proximity or to the question.

“… but I am not without some mercy, even towards a clone.” The redhead shifted her full attention to her opponent. “Especially since a quick death for you means that I can fulfill my plan that much faster. Sort of a win-win scenario.”

“For the last time, she-bitch… me Shego, YOU clone!” She kept her hands against the force field and radiated the lowest level of plasma emission that she could without taxing her resources. What she needed a healthy dose of natural sunshine to keep her energies topped off but there was no way that she’d get one anytime soon. The field remained steady under her hands as the stranger continued speaking.

“As I was saying, I realize now that whatever programming you were given by my enemies compels you to believe that you are seeking your children…”

“They are my girls, bitch! MINE!”

“… so I will kill you quickly out of compassion.” The word seemed unfamiliar to the mouth that spoke it. “Whether you are capable of accepting it or not, the ‘girls’ of which you speak are not your daughters. They are my daughters and…” The redhead frowned. “Why am I bothering to argue the matter with you?”

“My honest face and your assumption that I give a shit?”

Shego never would be able to totally remember exactly what happened next.

The force field vanished so suddenly that the pale green woman stumbled forward and Shego found herself practically nose to nose with the smaller woman. She raised her hands, intending to arrest her fall more than anything else. As her right hand came up, the metal hand of her opponent flew up and locked the shredded glove in a crushing grip; the redhead might be smaller, but the strength in that strangely gauntleted hand could not be denied.

The former thief was trapped… or maybe not! Shego gave the redhead a shark’s smile and let her right hand erupt in a plasma field.

“Welcome to the briar patch, you little whor…”

The shining metallic hand glowed with it’s own plasma field and Shego felt pain like she never had before.

All thought was ripped from her brain in a blinding agony that coursed down the flesh of her arm and burned deep into her core. For one of the rare times in Shego’s turbulent life, she screamed... screamed with pain, with fear and with the burning knowledge of failure. With perfect form, the petite redhead swiftly spun and pulled, wrenching Shego clean off her feet with every bit of power that the blue and white battle suit contained.

The tall woman flew across the darkened chamber, flew several yards to crash against a roughly hewn rock wall and landed in a black and green tangle, wisps of smoke rising from charred skin and smoldering uniform, gathering in an oily haze above the spot where she lay. The dim lights overhead were blinding to her and Shego could barely tell the difference between up and down as she fought just to keep breathing.

Her next sensation was the staccato steps of booted feet drawing closer. The small woman’s gait was casual and it gave the impression that she had nothing but time on her hands. Shego managed to blink and cough but wasn’t strong enough to move.

The battered woman had to force out her words.

“…who…”

“Goodness, you are persistent.”

“…who…”

“Persistent and repetitive.” The tone was almost accommodating. “I suppose there’s no harm in telling you.” The small shape lowered and she knelt down over the vanquished woman and it was all that Shego could do to focus her eyes on the black silhouette. The metal hand started to glow again as the segmented digits condensed into a fist and slowly drew back.

Shego waited for the inevitable impact that would surely drive all consciousness from her mind.

“I… am the Supreme One.”

To Be Continued…

Author’s Notes: This chapter is a bit longer one because it’s mostly one solid action sequence; it is the first REAL big fight scene I’ve ever written. I did my best to make it as literarily compelling as possible, and to include as many visual cues as I could. If you leave only one review for anything I ever write, please let me know what you thought.