I do not own the characters named herein from Disney, and am only using them for a tale meant for entertainment purposes only.

Kim Possible: Darker Destiny

By LJ58

6

Everyone in Middleton knew when Kim Possible finally came home.

What they didn't know was why, or what she was doing.

For several months, the world's new champion had worked on shutting down Emperor Drakken's power structure, removing his hand-picked puppets, and restoring authority to the people who quickly reelected their own leaders in the vacuum left when Shego proved she really didn't want anything to do with the crumbling empire.

Kim did stay in place to remind people that vendettas, and vengeance weren't going to help anyone. Their country needed help, and healing, not show trials, and purges.

She proved she was earnest when she didn't kill Drakken outright, but imprisoned him, and left him until the government could be restored, and empowered to properly try the madman by law. This in spite of many who demanded his immediate execution.

There were more than a few that demanded Shego be imprisoned, too, at the least.

Not too many of them spoke up in the pair's presence, though. Shego had already proved she was far from reticent in the use of her own powers when she helped Kim take out those that resisted the new changes.

Then, just when things seemed to be moving toward genuine restoration, Kim and Shego personally came to Middleton, carrying a few tons of strange equipment that was all dragged into her own house.

"Don't worry," Kim had told Mayor Hobble, who had been elected in a virtual unanimous vote. "This is for the future of our world. Just consider me just another citizen doing her part," she had smiled, and then barricaded herself in her house with Shego, and several scientists who shared her vision.

Not all did. Some of the men who had actively supported Drakken's mad experiments were actually detained to keep them from proving a greater danger in the future. Science, they all knew, didn't have the best reputation in their world just then. Kim was working to change that.

Which was why all those scientists once working on weapons, and mind control were now tasked with rebuilding their country, and their shattered environment.

Bonnie heard about Kim's return, and heard, too, that her brothers had been more than furious that she had overthrown the emperor. The two genuinely evil little freaks had been so angry they actually tried to kill her.

Only even they were hard-pressed to stand against Shego, and so they had gone into hiding. No one was looking very hard for them, though. Just now, the world, and especially the nation was more concerned with restoring its former equilibrium, and families were coming back together as people only now learned the true horrors of the Wastelands beyond the still habitable portions of their fractured country.

Bonnie had watched when Kim and Shego had come to Middleton.

And she waited, but the pair never even looked her way.

Then, just as suddenly, they departed, leaving the scientists behind to take care of whatever they had been doing. Almost as soon as they had departed, the first missiles fell.

No one knew who launched them.

No one knew why.

But it was all agreed that they seemed focused on the single house in a particular neighborhood. Once again, death had come to Middleton.

Bonnie was actually glad she didn't live in that part of town any longer. If she had, she might well have died that day, too.

KP

Ron watched from outside town, his vantage point letting him watch the smoke still rising from the craters in his old neighborhood.

"I think this proves the woman isn't in control of everything," he said grimly as he watched the people he had yet to approach scramble to help those that survived the apparent attack.

Brick, and Dr. Porter stood with him, Yori watching their backs as they were still in a dangerous location considering how close they were to this side of the Wastelands beyond.

"What now?"

He looked back at Brick, and then glanced at Dr. Porter.

"You two were going home. Remember. Go help. For now, I'm going to try to get back to whatever is left of Yamanouchi. Yori's right. I'm still not…..what I should be. Or I would have been worthy of the true power of the Clan. And the Lotus Blade. I'm going to find out if I can be. Then, either way….. I'll be back."

"Good luck, bro. We'll be watching for you," Ben told him, holding out a big hand.

"Just watch your back, you moron. Things aren't over yet. That pretty much proves it," he said, glancing back at the craters in the heart of town.

"You have anyone left," Dr. Porter asked Ben when the two ninja left, never looking back. She already knew his parents had died, but he never mentioned anyone else.

"I was thinking about looking up a girl I met recently. She kind of…..appealed to me," Ben smiled.

"Rockwaller?"

"Yeah. She's supposed to be a friend of Possible, too, you know. She might just know more than she let even Ron know," Ben suggested.

"So, you're not as thick you let everyone think," the woman smirked.

"Touché, Blondie," he grinned. "Still, looks like they do still need help. That's our cue. Right?"

"Yes. Yes, it is," she nodded. "Let's go down, and introduce ourselves."

"Right behind you," he told her. "Soon as I get my friend. Just in case," he said, scooping up his rifle he felt as if he were naked without these days. "Just in case," he winked.

"I would worry if you didn't remember that," she smirked, and patted her own holster at her side. "Let's go home, Mr. Flagg," she told him. "It's been too long already."

"Couldn't agree more," he nodded, and followed her down the hill, toward the town that had always been home to him even when all else had been lost.

KP

James Possible blinked, and looked around.

"My God," he rasped, seeing nothing but gleaming computer consoles, and Spartan walls around him. "Where am I?"

A door opened as if on cue, and a strangely familiar redhead entered.

"You're safe, sweetheart," Ann smiled at him. "You're finally safe."

"But…. Drew? What happened? He was insane. Planned to use my cybertronic program to…. To….."

"Calm down, dad. It's over."

He looked past his wife, and frowned.

"Kim? You…. You grew up," the man sputtered in confusion. "When….? How….?"

"Long story, dad. But Drew's the one on ice now," she grinned. "And ironically, we owe it all to Shego."

"Shego! That woman tried to….!"

"Dad, calm down," Kim smiled as she hugged him, tears in her eyes. "If it weren't for her, you'd have been dead years ago. She's the one that talked Drakken into just freezing you, instead of killing you. She actually saved your life."

"She did," he frowned. "But….why?"

"I guess she had her reasons. I think, at heart, she's a good woman. She was just stuck in a bad place, and needed someone to show her how to get out of it," Kim declared.

"Let me guess," James sighed, relaxing as he hugged his wife and daughter as they helped him sit up.

"Our little Kimmie-Cub is changing the world, James," Ann smiled. "Now, if we could only get our boys back under control."

"Mom," Kim blushed at her nickname.

"The boys," James echoed.

"It's a long story, dear," Ann told him. "And we need to go. This place is slated for demolition soon."

"Uh, where are we?"

"Drakken's palace," Kim said, turning away now as Ann helped him stand, and get dressed.

"Drew...has a palace," James frowned.

"He built it on what was left of New York," Ann told him.

"What was left…. He didn't," he groaned.

"There's nothing left. He really made a mess," Kim told him. "And we need to clean it up."

"Darn right we will," James said after a moment. "So, let me get caught up, and then….."

"Kimmie," Shego walked in just then, making James cringe at the sight of her.

"Hey, Shego," Kim actually smiled at her. "What's up?"

"Someone just blew your house up, Princess. If we hadn't left early like you wanted, we'd have still been inside when the missiles hit."

"Missiles," Kim exclaimed. "The town? How bad….?"

"Bad. But it was restricted to your neighborhood. Someone has a serious mad-on for you."

"Or you," Ann remarked as she eyed Shego. "You were there, too."

"Maybe….both of us," Kim murmured.

"The boys," they both said grimly.

"What boys," James demanded archly. "And why are you dressed like that," he now demanded of his wife as if only noticing her garments.

Ann sighed.

"You have a lot of catching up to do, sweetie. But we'd better not waste time here. Let's go. Before our boys do anything else."

"Wait. Our boys fired missiles at our house? But, why?"

Shego and Kim shared a grim expression, and Kim sighed as she looked at her father with a curious expression.

"Not everyone was happy to see Drakken defeated, dad. The twins actually liked working for him. A lot."

"My sons… Worked with Drew? Doing what?"

"Killing people," Shego told him bluntly.

"Well, we'll see about that," James Possible all but growled now. "Let's go. It's time to stop this nonsense, and now!"

"Told you," Kim smiled at Shego, and followed him out.

Even as James stopped in the very long hall, looked bewildered, and asked, "Uh, where are we going now?"

Even Shego laughed.

KP

Jim Possible walked out of the rubble long after the last rescue efforts had ended, and looked back at his equally bedraggled twin who had helped him dig their way out of their underground bunker under their underground lab where they had been hiding.

"All that work, for nothing," he complained.

"Yes," Tim muttered sourly. "They didn't even stay for the surprise. What spoilsports," he complained. "They had to go and leave before their surprise arrived."

"What do we do now?"

"The only obvious direction is forward. If Kim Possible thinks she will overshadow us," he growled indignantly, "Then she will learn what a costly mistake she has made."

"Indeed," Jim murmured. "I think, however, we should….retire the name Possible. She has blighted our family honor but good with her…..grandstanding."

"I agree," Tim murmured, and looked around the nearly leveled neighborhood they had firebombed themselves in an attempt to be rid of the brainless woman that should have been disposed of years ago.

They had deemed her harmless, though. Ineffectual. Worthless.

"Yes," Jim nodded. "From now on, we are…"

The pair paused, glancing at one another, and their smiles growing slightly.

"Gemini," they hissed as one in subdued fury, certain they would soon teach their treacherous sibling the cost of defying the emperor.

And most especially them.

End…..?