The Twilight Shore

Title: The Twilight Shore - Rejected by Death (1/20)
Author: Rann Aridorn
Notes: Well, here we go. Season two, and the huge "WHA?!" and disbelief that sprang up from the climax of the last arc. I'd been working towards this for quite awhile, and while Drakken's return maybe wasn't planned from the start... well, at the start, very little was planned. This whole thing started out with the intention of it being a rather short, semi-pointless Kigo sexfic. The story wasn't having it, though, and years later it's become what's my current fanfiction masterwork. Yeah. I don't know what the fuck I'm on, either.
Legalish notes: All characters having appeared in Disney's Kim Possible are the property of Disney, and are used here without permission, but with no intent for profit. All other characters are original and the property of Rann Aridorn.


Shego lay on the sand and stared up at the sky. It was lit as if the sun had just barely sunk below the treeline of the jungle to her side, sending a faint wash of colors out across the diffuse clouds and fading into dark blues and purples out at the edge of its reach. A beautiful, and seemingly perpetual, twilight.
She didn't look to her other side, but she could hear the Beast out in the dark ocean. The sound of water sluicing along its hide as it slipped briefly to the surface, the occasional strange, echoing bellow that resonated in her bones.
But she did nothing but lay there and stare at the sky. She didn't have to ask why she was back here, in the dream world that she hadn't visited in months. No, that was pretty obvious. She finally closed her eyes, letting her thoughts shift, taking her back to hours ago, that wall crashing in, and someone she'd killed with her own teeth walking out of the dust towards her.

Kim stared. Actually, all five of the pack members were staring, frozen in place with varying expressions of shock on their faces. The dust was continuing to slowly settle around Dr. Drakken's feet, the sounds of gunfire and voices shouting carrying from the rooftops outside.
"Form up," Punk ordered as she pushed herself to her feet and moved to stand between the younger group and Drakken. Mesh and Ice Princess followed suit, moving to their leader's side.
Drakken scowled, turning her head to the side. That small movement broke some of the spell, calling attention to the myriad differences. He was taller, for one thing, the broadness of his shoulders seeming more genuine and less reinforced by the coat, his arms filling the sleeves more fully. His jaw was harder, face craggier, the scar running across his cheek an almost jagged line far more imposing than it had been before. His hair was longer, the ponytail falling almost to his knees.
"I'm in no mood to deal with you today, Punk. I've come for a reunion with my dear Shego and to say hello to Possible and the buffoon."
"Over my dead body," Punk growled.
"That -was- the general idea."
Kim had never seen Drakken move so fast. She didn't think she'd ever seen anyone move that fast, for that matter. He darted forward and grabbed Ice Princess' upper arms, slamming his forehead against hers and rocking her head back, releasing her and letting her slump to the floor. Punk's hand swung and struck across Drakken's cheek in what must have been a vicious backhand, but it barely turned his head. One of his own hands came up and grab her wrist, giving her arm a casual-seeming twist that caused it to snap loudly enough that the Pack could hear it as if they'd been standing directly next to them. He brought his fist up into her middle, just above her stomach, and there were more snaps as Punk was lifted off her feet, blood spattering from between her lips before he gave her a nonchalant shove to the side.
"Drakken! Stop it!" Kim shouted, her face having gone even more pale than it had moments before.
"Focker!" Mesh roared as she came in, swinging all four fists down at Drakken in an attack that probably would have broken him to pieces if it had hit. But his gloved fists swung up and impacted the undersides of her lower set of arms, Mesh letting out a gasp of pain as they both abruptly fell limp. The blue-skinned man yanked his hands back in time to catch the wrists of her upper hands, and began to squeeze, the skin visibly compressing between his fingers. Mesh grit her teeth, trying not to cry out as he pressed her forward and onto her knees, his smile malevolent as he looked down at her.
"I told you I was in no mood to play. I don't think I'll be satisfied breaking just one this time, maybe I'll break all four. -Off-."
"I said leave her ALONE!" Kim shouted, leaping forward and swinging her staff like a baseball bat, the metal length slamming across Drakken's collarbone just below his throat.
"Oof!" Drakken released Mesh and staggered back, the location more than the impact seeming to have staggered him lightly. Kim pressed her advantage, shoving the tip of the staff under his chin and forcing him back, placing herself between him and the four-armed Irishwoman she'd been in serious combat with only minutes before. Drakken steadied himself, then rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. "Still playing the dashing little hero, eh, Kim Possible?"
"Old habits die hard."
"As do old foes."
"Apparently." Kim's green eyes narrowed. "Though I'm starting to wonder. You're -nothing- like the Dr. Drakken I knew."
"Death can change a man." Dr. Drakken smirked now.
"Kim, watch ou-!" Shego screamed.
But the tiny bit of warning she'd had over the others wasn't enough, and her desperate willing of her body to move forward produced only a few staggering steps, her muscles feeling like they were made of dead, raw meat. Drakken moved forward with that superhuman speed again, grabbing the metal staff out of Kim's hands and snapping it in half as if it were a toothpick he'd used up. He brought both halves swinging in, striking them against the sides of Kim's head. The redhead fell backwards, Mesh managing to wrap her arms around her enemy, the weight of Kim's body pulling both of them to the ground. Mesh let Kim go and started to get up, only to have Drakken slam both halves of the staff across the side of her head before dropping them.
Ron and Yori were on the move, Ron's fists almost blurs themselves as they lashed out in a flurry of hard strikes and jabs. The first two struck home, Drakken's head snapping to the side and then back, surprise registering for a moment on his newly harsh features. Then he smirked, slapping aside the next blow, and the next, before grabbing the front of Ron's gi and swinging him around, slamming him to the floor across the already downed Punk's back and slamming a palm to his stomach so hard that the pink-haired agent's body jolted beneath him. Rufus rolled out of Ron's pocket and thumped hard against a piece of debris, letting out a pained squeak.
Drakken turned back to face the other assailant, ducking his head back to avoid a slice of a razor fan at his eyes. He continued to duck and weave as Yori wove a flashing design of death with her weapons, the slashes and arcs of the weapons seeming to tell a story of rage in Japanese. Then one of Drakken's hands snapped out, pinching one fan between his fingers and twisting it out of Yori's hand. He gave it a small toss to catch it and snap it closed, then brought it down on Yori's other wrist, the ninja crying out in pain before Drakken's hand struck her cheek in an almost dismissive slap that nevertheless lifted her from her feet and slammed her against the wall.
Rage tried to force its way through Shego's confusion and exhaustion, but couldn't make its way. Because for all the differences, for all the superhuman strength and speed, for all the brutality, everything that said this was some imposter... she knew that it wasn't. Her senses told her the truth more plainly than anyone else's could, seeking out the truth beneath the changes.
"Kim," Shego groaned, wavering on her feet.
"Yes, 'Kim'. Who you've apparently been skipping around the globe with in happy little heroic bliss." Drakken sneered as he walked over to stand in front of Shego, now actually able to look down at her. "Killing me was one thing, but becoming a -good guy-? Frankly, I'm disgusted."
His hand came up, with that almost calm, casual manner he'd been using, and wrapped around her throat. His fingers tightened, his hand pressed down. Shego gasped as the pull caused her weakened legs to give out, and she was suddenly being held up by nothing but his strangling hand. She grabbed feebly at his arm, looking up at him.
"I was going to give you the opportunity to join me, to be a part of my new empire of evil. But you've become so pathetic, so weak," Drakken intoned with mock pity, looking down at her. His eyes were cold, dark, his expression utterly cruel. "That I think I'll do you a favor and just put you out of your misery.
"Please," Shego forced out, feeling her body start to tremble. She was too confused and hurting to even feel ashamed as a pair of tears slid down her cheeks. "... Doctor D..."
Something flickered in Drakken's eyes, the callous twist of his lips faltering. "... Shego?"
"Doctor D... please... you're hurting me..."
His eyes widened, and he yanked his hand from her neck as if he'd been burned, staggering back a few steps. Shego fell forward onto her hands, coughing and trembling. Drakken stared, shaking his head a little. "Shego... I..."
"Lord Drakken."
A lithe, feminine figure in black was perched lightly on some of the rubble at the front of the store, her head covered by a hood and a mask with round, glowing green lenses and slits in front of the mouth, giving it the look of some sort of alien skull. The rest of her body was equally covered in black, form-fitting cloth overlaid with a web of straps and belts for attaching equipment to. Her voice was faintly electronic, apparently filtered through the mask.
"We have dispatched most of the Global Justice soldiers, but reinforcements are on the way." She cast a glance over the room, where the Pack and Global Justice Elite alike were starting to force themselves back to attention, trying to shake off injuries and unconsciousness, some heads turning towards her. "If you have no further objectives here, we should go."
"... Yes... yes, you're right, of course." Drakken straightened, his shoulders once more taking a haughty set as he turned and walked towards the front of the store. "You'll be seeing more of me, Kim Possible. I think you'll come to find out that it is now I who can do anything."
Drakken walked out of the store without another backward glance. The figure in black stood and regarded the injured group for another moment, before raising an arm, green flames bursting into being from her fist to her elbow. She swept her arm down in an arc, the emerald fire flung out and catching in the rubble and along the walls, rising into a half-wall of flames as she turned and followed after the blue-skinned man, the jade fire illuminating the large white "1" emblazoned on her back.
Punk staggered to her feet as Ron rolled off of her, wincing and holding an arm across her middle. She limped over to Ice Princess, kneeling down beside her. "Princess? Summer, you okay?"
"Yeah," the blonde replied groggily, wavering back and forth in place where she sat.
"Focus, okay? If you can, I need you to put the fire out." Punk glanced towards the flames, then raised a hand to her ear. "Report. Anyone."
/This is second unit. Heavy casualties in the first unit, we've got rescue ops streaming in./
"I need a medical unit in the flower shop. Non-terminal."
/Understood./
Punk stood slowly and helped Ice Princess tenderly climb to her feet, the white-clad teenager aiming her hands at the flaming storefront and starting to aim slightly unsteady blasts of ice into it. The pink-haired mutant turned her head towards Kim, who'd managed to get sitting up and was leaning back against the counter. "Just... stay right there, alright?"
Kim looked at her, then brought a hand up to touch one of her ears, bringing it around and examining the blood smeared on her gloves. With a sigh, she nodded.
A few minutes later, the shop was abuzz with Global Justice agents with red crosses on their hats and armbands. One turned Yori's head slowly side-to-side with his hand on her chin, the other holding something that played a beam of light across her head. He glanced to the side at a screen, then nodded. "Light concussion. Other than that, scrapes and bruises."
A nearby agent nodded and stepped forward, starting to pull Yori's hands behind her back, handcuffs jingling as he pulled them from his belt. The exhausted ninja simply allowed her arms to go limp, accepting Kim's decision to remain and allow them to get medical attention.
"Hey." Punk, having noticed what was going on, walked over, scowling. "What are you doing?"
The agent blinked, looking up at her. Indeed, most of the eyes in the room that could focus were turned in their direction. "I'm securing the prisoner."
"These aren't prisoners. They're patients."
The agent looked as if he were having trouble keeping his jaw from going limp. "But ma-, ah, Punk. They're the whole reason we were here. They're on the GJ Most Wanted list, all of them, even the naked mole rat."
"We're treating and releasing. That's an order." Punk scowled at him, making it clear it wasn't up for debate.
Apparently he didn't understand that, since he scowled back. "-Ma'am-, orders on this come from above you, and are not for you to supersede."
Snarling, Punk snatched the agent's pistol out of its holster, her thumb clicking the safety off as she held it up, pointing towards the ceiling, her finger on the trigger. "Soldier, we are still in the field, and I am your direct commanding officer, right now I am -God-. I am giving you an order that is within my current range of defined powers, making it a lawful order. If you refuse to obey it, I will -shoot you- so that you cannot interfere with the carrying out of my order, is that understood?"
The entire place was silent, all activity having stilled to focus on the confrontation. The agent's eyes were wide, his expression disbelieving. "But... orders from-"
Punk's finger found the hammer of the pistol and pulled it back with a very audible click.
"... Yes, sir, understood, sir," the agent said quietly, raising his hands at the elbows and stepping back from Yori.
"Good. And if you ever again decide to mistake my leniency towards the rules as a lack of knowledge of 'em, you just remember this." Punk turned away, easing the hammer back into place and putting the safety back on, shoving the gun in her waistband as she walked away. None of the other agents in the room made any move towards the Pack members.
"Thank you," Kim murmured as Punk slid down to sit beside her and leaned back against the counter as well.
"This is not a standing invitation, Red. You helped one of my people, you get some courtesy returned. Don't expect this next time, I won't be able to give it to you." Punk scratched at her cheek, not looking at the younger woman beside her.
"I understand. ... Still, thank you."
"Your girlfriend seems pretty exhausted and shell-shocked. As soon as everyone's checked out, we'll clear out, you can get her back to wherever home is."
"Yeah."
Both of them were silent, watching the other people get attended to, or just watching the various members of their teams try to rest in between pokings and proddings. Kim finally turned her head, looking at Punk.
"Is it still that big of a deal for her?"
"... I dunno, kid." Punk shrugged, still not looking at Kim. "I don't know anything about her anymore. I don't know how much of you still being on the Most Wanted is her and how much is pressure from up top... it's not like you were keeping it just between the two of you early on, eh?"
Kim stared for a moment, then let out a short, rueful laugh. "God, you know... the thing between me and her was so angry and hurtful and fresh back then, I just put it all on her. But I guess holding a dictator hostage kind of makes ripples, huh?"
"More than it ought to, seems like." Punk let out a tired sigh, then turned her head a little, watching Mesh's stretcher being loaded into the ambulance. Shoving herself to her feet, she waved a hand. "Alright, all Global Justice personnel, let's clear out."
The medics and other agents all began to bustle their way out of the building. Kim almost didn't notice that someone else had actually walked up to stand in front of her until she looked up at the dark brown cowl and white lenses a lot like her own, short, round, stiff flaps poking up from either side of it.
"Here. You might find this useful," Ferret Girl commented, holding out a disk in a clear case. "You know. For some of the questions you're still too confused to ask right now."
"I... thanks," Kim answered, taking the disk. The caped woman nodded once, then turned and followed after the rest of the departing agents. Kim reached up to grab the edge of the counter, then pulled herself up.
"Home, KP?" Ron asked tiredly, dragging himself to his feet as well.
"Give it a minute. We'll need to do a quick bug sweep and then figure out how we'll get home in a way that would reveal a tail."
"Then we are not to trust their generosity?" Yori murmured.
"It doesn't make sense to let us go just to capture us at home, but no way I'm taking it for granted." Kim walked over and leaned down, putting a hand on Shego's shoulder, the green-skinned woman still sitting on the floor and staring at the wall. "Shego? ... Baby? You with me?"
"Yeah," Shego murmured, raising her head a little to meet Kim's eyes.
"You gonna be able to make it back to the hideout?"
Shego shook her head slowly. "... I can barely walk. They said I had signs of malnourishment and extreme exhaustion and a few other things."
"Alright," Kim acknowledged quietly. She pulled out her Kimmunicator and spent a few moments waving it at each of them in turn. Finally, she nodded. "We'll head to rally point twenty-three, we can make it that far with helping Shego walk. There's a clothing store under our protection there... we'll apologize and pay them back for what we need tomorrow. Then we can call a cab to get us back home."
"A cab will record the fare," Ron noted quietly.
"We'll have to risk it, we can't carry Shego to the other side of the city, especially since most of us aren't much better off than she is." Kim leaned down again. "Shego?"

"Shego?"
"Yeah?" Shego opened her eyes, turning her head towards the voice that had been calling her softly.
"That thing Ferret Girl gave us is done setting up." Kim brushed the backs of her fingers across Shego's cheek. "Plus it's time for you to eat and drink something again."
Shego nodded and rolled off the bed and to her feet, not bothering to change out of the loose pants and tanktop she'd gone to sleep in. Kim watched her cross the room towards the kitchen area, moving like a woman still in a haze or a dream. The redhead worried her lower lip with her teeth for a moment, before simply following after her lover and helping her prepare her meal.
"Yori's set up a separate computer with no way to access the outside world to run the program on," Kim commented a few minutes later as she sat at the table, watching Shego tear a thin sliver of raw steak in half with her teeth and gulp down what she had. "She said she'd have had it done sooner, but it kept demanding higher system requirements."
"Mm."
"..." Kim leaned forward a bit and nudged the glass with Shego's fruit juice laced with vitamin supplements towards her. Shego picked it up and took a gulp without even looking at it. "... I'm freaked out too."
"I'm a little more than freaked out," Shego muttered scornfully.
Kim pushed away from the table and walked over behind Shego, leaning down and draping her arms around the other woman's shoulders. Her hair fell forward, laying like a gauzy curtain across Shego's cheeks. "There wasn't anything you could have done," she whispered against the top of Shego's head. "You were hurt and exhausted and shocked... in fact, one of the medics said you were close to being in shock. It's not your fault."
Shego bolted to her feet and overturned the table with such suddenness that Kim staggered back and almost fell over. The green-skinned woman whirled around, fists clenched, yellow-green eyes flashing and teeth bared.
"The one thing, the -one thing- I live for, to protect you and the others, and I -couldn't do it-! Don't tell me it's not my fault, don't tell me it's okay! It's my -life-, it's why I -exist- now, don't tell me it's not my fault when I don't do it!"
She stared at Kim for long moments, her entire body trembling, before tears began to slip down her cheeks. Then the tension flooded out of her body in the form of a quiet sob, both of her hands coming up to press over her face.
Kim slowly came forward, slipping her fingers between Shego's hands and under them, sliding her hands over Shego's own cheeks and getting Shego's fingers over her own hands. She leaned in, kissing Shego's lips softly as the older woman sobbed, shaking her hand.
"That's not just what you live for. You live to love us. You live to support us. You live to give us someone to love and support and protect. Don't say it's as simple as that," Kim whispered.
"God, Kimmy, what's happening?" Shego managed through her sobs. "I thought it was over, feeling so confused and uncertain like this. It's Doctor D, but it's not, that's not him, he wouldn't do those things, but everything was telling me it was, his smells, his sounds, but he's dead, I killed him, I should be happy, he was my friend and I killed him but now he's alive, but it's so horrible, he was so horrible..."
"Ssshhh, ssshhh," Kim soothed, leaning in and resting her forehead against Shego's.
"Guys? Everything okay?" Ron called, walking into the room at a quick step and looking around.
"The table got knocked over," Kim answered quietly, Shego giving a small hiccup and rubbing a hand across her face.
"Okay," Ron acknowledged evenly, letting it stay at that. "Yori says the info program's ready to go. You two gonna come up?"
Kim nodded, giving Shego one last gentle kiss on the lips before drawing away and walking towards the stairs. Shego followed, then stopped and pulled Ron into a tight hug. Ron ran a hand over her hair until he felt her shuddering stop.
"I'm scared," Shego confided after a moment. Why she could confide it to her friend when she couldn't say it outright to her lover, she wasn't certain.
"I know."
"About everything. I don't even remember most of my fight with Punk, or why I was so exhausted and run down after, and I sure as hell don't know how..." She swallowed heavily, letting the rest go unsaid.
"Only one way to find out, huh?" Ron grinned and angled his thumb towards the stairs. Giving an uncertain nod, Shego walked towards them, Ron keeping a hand resting on her arm.
Yori was sitting on the floor, a keyboard in her lap as she typed on it, watching a flat panel monitor sitting on top of the computer tower it was hooked up to. The other three all gathered around her, Rufus skittering out of the side of the tower and giving a thumbs-up.
"Let's see what this thing is," Kim said, resting a hand on Yori's shoulder.
Yori nodded and ran the executable. A second later, the screen went black. Then, a tiny glow appeared in the center of it. It grew bit by bit, until it actually became large enough that it was distinguishable as tiny little round things splitting and replicating, until they formed an ellipsoid shape with its smaller end angled down. Then the little shining circles shifted, a pair of eyes and a simple mouth opened up, creating something that vaguely resembled a Roman theater mask.
"I am Aura Cell," the face announced, the rather melodious sound of multiple voices overlapped emerging from the speakers set to either side of the tower. "I am a smart AI designed to interpret questions and respond with the data compressed and encrypted on this disk."
The Pack exchanged looks, before Kim leaned forward again, speaking up so that the microphone would be sure to pick up her voice. "Why were you given to us?"
Aura Cell was silent for a moment, apparently needing to "think" before responding. "Ferret Girl believed that it was information you deserved to have. Punk agreed."
"Why do we deserve it?"
"Because they felt that Subject One was a much more dire threat than yourselves, and that he was especially a threat to you."
"Who's Subject One?" Ron asked, even though he suspected they all had a pretty good idea.
"Subject One is the Global Justice designation for the entity otherwise known as Drew Lipsky, alias Dr. Drakken, alias Lord Drakken."
Another exchange of glances, then everyone looked back at the screen. The silence stretched, as everyone seemed hesitant to ask the next, most obvious, question.
"How is he alive?" Shego asked flatly, folding her arms over her chest.
"Subject One was restored to biological functioning as part of a revolutionary medical experiment being undertaken by Global Justice," Aura Cell answered immediately, as if it had been anticipating the question. The graphic retreated into a corner of the screen as images and data began appearing in windows while it explained. "The experiment involved tiny machines commonly known as 'nanites' and the repairing of damaged tissue."
A window popped up displaying a wireframe of something that looked like a centipede with legs the length of a spider's, colors and shades passing over it until it looked as if it were actually assembled and being videotaped as it undulated its way through a bloodstream.
"While the nanites were already seeing use in some cases of extreme injury, it was hypothesized that they could possibly revive those who were recently dead, such as cases of hypothermia or drowning. However, in the case of Global Justice agents, there were questions as to what the mental effects of reviving a mind after brain death had already technically occurred would be.
"When Dr. Drakken's body was recovered, he had been placed in cold storage a maximum of several hours after his death, presumably by the Synthodrones that inhabited his lair. A preliminary examination of the body revealed that his veins and arteries were seared on the insides. From this, it was hypothesized that Sheila Go's new ability, her 'venom', performed similarly to a liquid version of her plasma abilities, passing through the bloodstream and burning as it does so."
An outline of a human body shaped roughly like Dr. Drakken appeared, tiny green lines winding their way from a point on its neck until it had formed a perfect model of the circulatory system. Shego grit her teeth and looked away, closing her eyes.
"Between the cold storage and this manner of death that left the body otherwise intact, and his status as a fugitive prisoner, Dr. Drakken was deemed the perfect test subject for the nanite project."
"Wait, hold on," Kim interrupted. "What do you mean, his status as a fugitive prisoner?"
"In a lot of places, the bodies of prisoners become the county or state or wherever's responsibility if they die in prison." It was Ron who answered, the blond still squatting with his forearms rested on his knees, eyes on the screen. "Unless the family wants to take responsibility for the body, I think."
"Mrs. Lipsky did not answer inquiries within the allotted time," Aura Cell volunteered.
'Yeah, I bet they tried real hard to give her a chance to,' Kim thought sourly. Aloud, she said, "And since Drakken was technically a prisoner who'd broken out, his body defaulted to some federal prison's responsibility when he died, and GJ stepped in."
"Correct."
"Okay. Go on."
"Dr. Drakken was dubbed Subject one and his body was injected with the most advanced nanites that the program had on hand. They began reconstruction, and roughly two hours into the process, the subject registered an extremely faint heartbeat."
"When was this?" Shego asked. "How long after he died?"
"Approximately six months."
Kim and Shego exchanged a look, the redhead raising her eyebrows. "He's been back for almost two years now. Aura Cell, continue."
"Reconstruction continued for five hours, vital signs growing increasingly stronger. However, during the sixth hour, something changed." A window with a three dimensional rendering of a human brain, again in the faint outline of Drakken's head, appeared with little flashes of light showing here and there to simulate activity. "As the nanites began repairing the damaged neural relays and synapses of Subject One, they began to exceed all expectations of their operating capacity."
"Exceed expectations?" Yori echoed.
"Correct. Like myself, the nanites operate on a kind of smart AI. This is nothing approaching real sentience, but it does involve a capacity to 'learn' and act on acquired data. They were already programmed with extensive knowledge of human anatomy, but in the process of fixing the damaged portions of the brain, the nanites somehow learned how to interpret the information contained within. It is still unknown specifically how this happened, as no examination of the affected nanites is possible due to Subject One's escape.
"But the nanites began to act on the information they acquired from the brain. From the data that was obtained while the experiment was still relatively under control, they seem to have read the information regarding Subject One's self-image and, upon comparing it to the actual parameters, determined that the body was in fact damaged in some way as it did not match the new data. So they attempted to repair it."
"Repair it?" Kim frowned a bit, then her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "You mean they tried to make Drakken the way he thought of himself?!"
"Correct. Extremes of strength and speed, as his muscles are constantly rebuilt and enhanced by nanites, a more imposing body image, and even mental changes to more accurately fit in with his perceived image of himself as a dangerous supervillain. It was for this reason that any future use of the nanites for this purpose was deemed illegal on the highest level."
"So that's why he was all... scary," Ron murmured. "He's finally the heartless bastard he always wished he could be."
"..." Shego rubbed her forehead, then sighed. "What about the other stuff?"
"I do not understand the question," Aura Cell replied.
"I was around Drakken for years. He was a real idiot at times, but he actually did have a pretty good brain on him for technical stuff. I'm not saying that he could've actually taken over the world, but it didn't make sense for him to not get further than he did." Shego's jaw worked a little. "Some part of him was holding back. I'd known it for a long time, on some level he didn't -want- to win. What about that part?"
"Unknown," Aura Cell said after several moments of silently referencing data. "Subject One has so far been so thoroughly adept at escaping capture or observation that little is known of what he has not displayed during battles with Global Justice Elite."
"After what we saw tonight, the fact that they're alive says something," Shego muttered. She was silent, thinking of what else she'd seen, and the rest of the Pack seemed to be waiting for her. Finally, she said, "Did Drakken clone me?"
"The true identity of the women with the official codename 'Black Minions' is unknown," Aura Cell replied after a brief pause. "There are known to be at least five of them. They are extremely adept in martial arts and utilize a kind of plasma-based flame that shades to the green part of the electromagnetic spectrum. While it has been determined to have a near-identical makeup to those utilized by you, Sheila Go, it cannot be confirmed if it is produced naturally or artificially. Probability that they are clones created from your genetic stock is judged to be roughly seventy percent."
Shego nodded once, closing her eyes. Then she turned and walked away, padding down the stairs without a word.
"... That'll be all for now, Aura Cell," Kim said after a moment, rubbing a hand over her face. "Thank you."
"I am at your service," the image replied, the mask made of tiny, glowing cells taking up the rest of the screen for a moment, before the computer shut itself off and the screen flashed 'No Signal' briefly.
"Quite a lot of information to take in," Yori murmured, leaning back on her hands.
"I don't even know where to start with absorbing it," Kim said, flipping one hand in the air in frustration. "What Global Justice did was completely immoral and irresponsible! They-!"
"Tried to make it so you could take back a choice someone made that no one usually can," Ron interjected quietly.
"..." Kim sighed and pressed both hands over her face, rubbing up and down slowly. Ron was right. Whatever the moral grey area... probably dark grey area... Global Justice had been working at it with good intentions. In her shoes, between risking doing something horrible to one of their own agents that had fallen in the line of duty, and doing it to someone who routinely endangered hundreds of thousands of people, and all in the name of saving lives... could she say she wouldn't have given an okay, no matter how reluctant, in that case?
The image of Shego lying cold and still flashed through her mind, and she winced. No, with that thought in mind, there probably wasn't a lot she wouldn't give the go-ahead to try.
"What now?" Ron asked, standing up and turning towards Kim.
"There's not a lot we can do about it right now. We can try to be prepared for the next time we run into him, and start preparations now, but unless it gets brought to my attention he's doing something and there's obviously something I can do about it, I'm not going to go hunting him."
Ron raised an eyebrow. "What happened to no more passive approach?"
"What happened is that I learned I have limits. An augmented SuperDrakken is currently beyond them," Kim replied dryly, putting her hands on her hips. Any hint of humor drained out of her, however, as she continued, "For right now, I have to put Shego as my first priority. Between whatever happened in her fight with Punk and this thing with Drakken, she's managing to keep it together by the thinnest of margins. I'm not going to let the woman I love go to pieces just because I have an inflated sense of my own abilities."
"Of course," Yori said quietly, smiling and rising to her own feet.
"You two visit the shop we snagged the clothes from last night. We left a note, but you'll need to take some cash and he'll need an apology and an assurance that this is -not- to become a regular thing. Pay for the clothes, to have the locks changed, and a little extra on top of it. Let him know I'll drop by to apologize in person at some point, but be sure to be vague about when."
"Got it, KP."
"And Ron, I haven't forgotten what you said last night. Scarapini needs a little refresher course, it sounds like." Kim rubbed her forehead, then glanced towards the stairs. "I'll have something by tonight. You and Yori will have to do the footwork on it, though."
"Of course," Yori repeated, nodding.
"Alright. Well, we've all got jobs to do, let's get to them."

"So I am to understand that you willfully allowed Kim Possible to escape, and in the process threatened one of my agents?" Dr. Director said coolly, her hands folded in front of her lower face as she gazed at Punk and Babylon, the latter having removed her costume and support frame to return to her chair.
"Technically, he was my agent at the time," Punk replied, just as coolly. "And listed among the exact specifications of my duties and abilities is 'judging when it is no longer viable to pursue, capture, or apprehend a target on a given mission'."
"And despite the fact that they were injured, exhausted, and putting up no resistance, you decided their apprehension was not viable."
Punk sighed, letting her shoulders slump from their more rigid posture. "I was dealing with a supervillain who was responsible for the deaths of twenty-seven agents, and a 'supervillain' who risked her own life intervening to save one. Call me crazy, but when the bad guy is benevolent enough that they try to protect a member of my team from the other bad guys, it's behavior I like to encourage." Punk shook her head, then added, a little more formally, "I made it clear to her that it was for this time only, and it was. But taking advantage of them trying to do something good would be setting ourselves up for a fall when we do bring them in, and you know it."
Dr. Director gazed at Punk silently for long moments, then looked down at one of the mission reports, spending even longer looking at a section that Will Du had apparently gotten rather over exuberant about highlighting, circling, and even drawing arrows pointing to. Finally, she leaned back a little and nodded. "I'll accept your judgment, but an official reprimand will be placed in your file."
Punk rolled her eyes, but for some reason didn't voice the sarcastic comment she wanted to make expressing just what she thought of her Global Justice file. Instead, she said, "If you're inclined to listen to my judgment, then could I just say that I think it's stupid to be devoting our time and resources to hunting the Pack instead of Subject One?"
The eyebrow above Dr. Director's eyepatch raised. "The 'Pack'?"
"Oh. Yeah. Shego called them that at one point, guess I picked it up."
"And what makes you think the... Pack... is any less dangerous than Subject One?" Dr. Director frowned. "You've seen what they can do in person, you know from the files what they've been willing to do in the past."
"And it doesn't scare the shit out of me like Subject One does!" Punk snapped, leaning forward and slapping her hands to the top of the desk, stabbing one finger against it repeatedly for emphasis as she spoke, the words hissed between her teeth. "He's been -fucking- with us, Betty, just playing around. Last night we were between him and Possible and it pissed him off, he stopped pulling punches. He is far faster and far stronger than we thought he was, and the only reason he didn't do permanent damage to Mesh is because Possible stepped in. I think the only reason he hasn't made his big move yet is because it doesn't suit his timetable and if we don't find out what that timetable is and do something about it first we are -sincerely- and -totally- -FUCKED-!"
Dr. Director looked at Punk for long moments, then lowered her eyes, seeming to actually be considering the profanity-laced rant.
"Look, we've had Possible, Shego, and the rest backburnered for at least a year and a half anyway," Punk continued, lowering her voice. "If the highest ambition she's got for the immediate future is a coup in organized crime in fucking Seattle, let the FBI deal with it, give 'em something to do. Subject One is actively dangerous. I didn't mind going after Possible and the rest, in fact I looked forward to it, but face facts... the Pack aren't the ones responsible for twenty-seven dead GJ agents."
"No, you're right," Dr. Director said after a few more moments of heavy silence. "I'll delegate the monitoring and investigation of the Pack to our next-best group. In two weeks, you'll be assigned full-time to the Subject One matter."
"Well, it's about damn time," Punk replied, letting out a rush of breath and straightening up. "I thought you'd never see-" She paused, blinking. "Two weeks?"
"We now know the general area in which they're operating," Dr. Director replied, evenly, coolly... the same way she'd spoken to Punk (to everyone, for that matter) for the last two years. "It will take time to assemble the proper team, brief them on previous data, bring them fully up to speed, and give them any additional training and readjustments they need to take over the case. I'm setting that period at two weeks. During that time, I want you spending every waking moment trying to wring everything you can about the Pack out of Seattle. Understood?"
Punk pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes closed. She wanted to shout a few choice words or throw something around. But the damnedest thing was, she actually thought Betty was being ridiculously reasonable. Maybe she'd been working this side of the good/evil dynamic too long.
"Yeah. Yeah, understood."
"Very well. Miss Cordon, you've been involved in providing additional training for various members of our information gathering department. I'd like your suggestions for who to assign to the new Pack taskforce."
"Of course."
"I'd like it on my desk within forty-eight hours."
"Certainly, I can have it for you by tomorrow, probably."
It was amazing how two women could speak so perfectly civilly to each other and still make it feel like Ice Princess had just set up housekeeping in the room next door, Punk thought with a silent sigh.

"He won't come out."
"I see."
"... Well?"
The person being questioned sighed, undoing the seal around the bottom of her hood and pulling it, and her mask off over her head. She ran her hands through her short, sweaty black hair, rumpling it even further, and glanced in the bathroom mirror, taking in how sweaty her pale green skin looked, how it made the dull silver of her left eye stand out all the more.
"Did you try the Face?" she replied finally, turning on the sink and letting it start to fill with water as she unzipped the front of her bodysuit. She pulled it off of her shoulders and wiggled her arms out, then shoved it down to let it hang around her waist.
"Uh-huh. Tried the Face."
She leaned down, scooping up the cold water and splashing it over her face several times, squinting through the wetness as she grabbed a towel and patted herself off. "Did you try chocolate milk?"
"Cocomoo didn't work either."
"Nnh." The green-skinned woman ran a hand over her hair a few times, long since used to the way the light would catch the little silver threads embedded in the skin around her scalp. She turned towards her questioner, and waggled her arms a little in a brief imitation of a dance. "Did you do the song?"
"Did the cocomoo song, yup. Not even a smile."
She sighed, rubbing her fingertips and thumb at opposite ends of her forehead. "Okay. Let me shower real quick and I'll go see what I can do."
A very hasty shower later, she zipped herself into the much more breathable black bodysuit with her number on the back and set off through the base. When she arrived at her lord and master's quarters, she didn't bother to knock, but instead opened it up and poked her head into the darkness inside.
"Lord Drakken?"
Though her human eye was taking a moment to adjust, her left one provided fairly adequate low-light vision. She took in the room that was somehow both opulent and stark, every piece of furniture and decoration a masterpiece of intimidation and impressiveness, and thus kept to a minimum number to keep the effect from being overdone. Laying atop the covers on the large bed with its soaring posts and elegant drapings was the imposing form of the lair's master, curled up into a ball on his side.
She sighed, and walked into the room, not bothering with the lights as she moved to sit down on the edge of the bed. She reached out to rub at his back lightly. "Lord Drakken, please cheer up."
"Go away, Une," the powerful villain muttered petulantly.
"There's no reason to go into one of your Lows again," Une pressed, trying to keep her voice just the right amount of cheerful. "You decimated your enemies. They were laying on the floor, cowering around you. I've never seen Global Justice Elite look so thoroughly intimidated." When she received no response, Une sighed and leaned forward against her master's broad back, resting her head against his shoulder. "Please, Lord Drakken, Doza is worried about you. We all worry about you. Won't you come and gloat to us, or tell us again about how it's your divine right to rule the world? Anything?"
"No. I suck. I hate myself and I command you to hate me too," Drakken grumbled.
Une turned around and clambered up, putting her arms on either side of Drakken's curled-up body, her chest pressing against his arm as she looked down at him, her almost boyishly short hair shifting and brushing the sides of her forehead. "You know that's the one order of yours we can never follow."
Drakken simply made a dismissive sound and waved one hand a little. Une lingered for a moment, then nodded and drew away.
"I'll come back in a bit. With your favorite dinner, and some cocomoo." There, she actually got the word out without choking. But even that didn't stir her master, and after a few minutes she turned and left the room, pulling the door closed behind her.
"Is he better?" asked her earlier inquisitor.
Une sighed, then bent down and scooped the green-skinned child into her arms, settling her against one side. "No, Doza, he seems to be in a Low, though I don't know what set him off this time."
"Aw. I hate it when Daddy's sad," Doza complained, squirming around to make her harder to hold onto, apparently out of reflex.
"I've told you, he's Lord Drakken, not Daddy," Une scolded mildly.
"But I like calling him Daddy," Doza murmured with a pout, looking down and tapping her index fingertips together. "Sometimes it makes him get all silly and goofy, and then we have cocomoo."
Une's eyebrow twitched. "Those are all good reasons to say Lord Drakken instead."
"Awwww." Doza continued to pout as Une carried her down the hallway, then suddenly smiled brightly. "So how many guys didja get tonight?"
Une grinned a bit. "I only got five. I was following more closely to Lord Drakken, so Seiza and Trieste got to have most of the fun."
"I heard you got ta see Mommy, too!"
"Shego was there, yes," Une allowed, deciding not to comment on the other clone's chosen appellation.
"So is she gonna come home to live with us?"
"No, Doza, it doesn't seem like it. I think Lord Drakken was rather upset with her."
"Oh. So Mommy's gonna have to die, huh?"
"Yes, it certainly does seem like she'll have to."

-End Part One