I do not own Kim Possible, or any other Disney character. I'm just borrowing them for my own view of alternative tales.

Kim Possible - Force of Justice

By LJ58

Part 9:

The small, unlikely vehicle circled the floating base in the middle of the ocean twice before it began to descend. The base was right where the coordinates had indicated.

Once again, it was a huge dome that looked as if it had simply risen up out of the sea. Gemini realized his sibling was anything if not consistent. For an 'evil mastermind,' s/he long felt he was rather two-dimensional in his approach to things. No wonder WEE remained more annoying than a real threat to the world.

"I don't see a way in," Jim said as he pressed his face to the window on his side.

"I know the way," Gemini told them. "Ron, go down low, and approach from the east side. There will be a small hatch just under the support beam there."

"How can you be sure," Shego asked grumpily with her arms crossed, still only half her former size as Kim smiled happily beside her.

"Because it's always there," he told her. "My sibling is strikingly unoriginal in his approach to anything. It's why he's always been so easy to beat."

"I don't know," Tim remarked. "The whole cloning Kim as a super agent seems pretty fresh to me."

"That was my idea," Gemini/Betty spat.

"Oh," the twins blinked, sharing an expression meant only for themselves.

"And the kidnapping us to use us for evil?"

"That's his," Gemini told Shego. "You don't want to know how many world leaders, or scientists I've had to debrief, or deprogram after he's gotten his hooks into them."

"Funny, I never heard of him doing anything like that," Kim frowned.

"I keep it in-house. He may be annoying, but he's still family," the one-eyed agent told her.

No one said anything to that.

"Aquatic mode," Ron said as the car hovered just over the water, and slowly approached the massive support beam Gemini had indicated. "And, look. A hatch right behind it."

"She shoots…."

"She scores," Jim finished for Tim.

"Or is it he," Tim asked curiously.

"Never mind. Just make us big again, Possible. We've got butt to kick."

"Where's the brain thingy," Ron asked.

"Here," Gemini said, holding it up. "And remember, save the butt-kicking until after I've got my body back."

"We'll see what we can do," Shego smiled less than sincerely as Kim's touch quickly restored her to her normal size.

"Hey, what about us," Jim and Tim protested in tandem.

"Actually, I have an idea for you two," Kim smiled.

Neither sibling liked the way their resurrected sister smiled at them.

"Uh-oh," they said in stereo as she reached for them.

KP

"Through here," Gemini pointed. "His operations center will be there."

"What about the labs?"

"That way," he pointed after Kim asked the question.

"And power and engineering," Ron asked.

"That way."

"Which leaves barracks that way," Ron murmured, eyeing the last corridor he glanced down.

"Right," Gemini nodded.

"So, what's the plan," Tim asked in a very small voice.

"And why make us so little," Jim demanded in a huff from Ron's vest pocket on his ninja uniform.

"Two reasons. Without Rufus, you two might be able to get the job done in case we need someone his size."

"And two," Jim asked as Tim only glared at her, muttering something about rodents.

"Because I wanted to," she beamed at her brother, patting his tiny head.

"Remember the plan," Gemini cut in. "Kim, you have to take out the lab, and get all the scientists out. Ron….."

"We take out main power, and put a hurt on any backup systems we come across, while keeping the backups from backing up."

"Uh, riiight," the true head of GJ nodded.

"Why do I have to go to the lab? If Gemini, the real one, is in ops, I should….."

"And risk finding out he has some way to still control, or neutralize you," Gemini demanded.

"Cyclops is right, Kimmie," Shego told her somberly. "We don't know what else he or Drew did to you. Let's not find out the hard way when you're still not in complete control of your own abilities."

Kim frowned, but Shego cut her off.

"Stopping him comes first, Princess. If you were thinking straight, you'd know that."

"I know that. It's my plan, remember?"

"Which is a good one. But we can't risk you facing Sheldon until we know he can't still influence or hurt you," Gemini cut in. "Now, let's move before….."

"They notice us," the twins asked as the lighting turned bright red, and a shrill klaxxon began to wail.

"Doy," Shego groaned, clamping hands over her ears. "All he needs now is….."

"Intruder alert. Sector five. Intruder alert," a computerized voice declared blandly.

"Never mind," Shego drawled, and turned down the corridor with Gemini. "Let's go shut that freak down."

"I'll be right behind you," Kim told them, and headed off down the corridor toward the lab.

"Ah, isn't the engine room that way," Jim pointed with a small finger as Ron turned toward the crews' quarters.

"Do you want half the henchmen in here dogging our steps while we try to work," he asked, starting to turn a bright blue as his eyes narrowed as he eyed a certain beam a few feet down that last corridor.

"Not really," both boys agreed even as doors opened, and men in red began to spill out.

"Get back," Ron shouted even as he launched himself at the first beam, driving a hard kick into seemingly unyielding steel. The beam buckled, and the plating overhead sagged dangerously as the voice now droned, "Caution. Structural integrity compromised," just before a second kick to a second beam brought down the roof, and cut off the goons approach.

"Now we go play boom,'" Ron told the twins.

KP

Kim was still complaining when she stepped into the lab where nine scientists were working over what looked like a glass coffin. Around them, four men in red with weapons dangling from their shoulder straps turned to gape.

The four henchmen stared at her as she smiled wickedly, and declared, "Oh, goody. I do get to play."

"We give up," the first man declared, flinging his weapon aside, and throwing his hands up without hesitation.

All three men behind him mirrored his action.

Kim glowered about cheap henchmen without certain vital portions of the usual anatomy as she walked over to look into the glass coffin. Inside the container was a young, green male that was obviously a clone that didn't share her DNA. She looked at the scientists, asking, "Is he alive?"

"N-N-Not yet," one man shook his head quickly.

"His brain wasn't even…..vitalized, since…. What are you doing," the scientist asked as her hands began to glow.

"Trust me, I'm doing him a favor," she said, and using her plasma, ripped at the cables, tubes, and wires leading into the glass container before she turned set to smashing any of the equipment around her. She paused when she realized all the men were still standing there watching her.

"You really should be getting out of here. We're sinking this thing, and everything in it very soon."

Every man there turned and bolted as Kim smashed a glowing fist into a computer that looked important even as the lights began to flicker ominously.

Pausing to eye the devastation she had just caused, she looked down into the green face behind that glass panel, and shook her head. "Trust me. I'm saving you a lot of grief," she told him, and then headed out of the lab after a few plasma bursts that quickly set fire to anything and everything flammable around her.

"Now for some real fun," she smiled as she ran back the way she had come.

KP

"Gemini! Or should I call you….Elizabeth," the apparent Dr. Betty Director smirked as she jumped up when the pair ran daringly into her main control room just moments after the alarm had gone off. "I should have known."

"That you'd get your scrawny ass kicked for screwing with me and Kimmie's genes? Definitely," Shego declared, every henchman there shrinking away from her when her hands lit up with bright green energies.

Betty only smirked, "Sometimes, my dear, I think there is more there than either of you care to admit."

"Just give up now, Sheldon," Gemini shouted at his sibling. "This doesn't have to be this way."

"Oh, but it does. You think this is still about you and that band of spineless miscreants you lead? Ha! I control them all now. But very soon, I'll control the entire world with the power I'll possess once I put my brain in….."

The lights began flickering ominously even as she stopped to frown.

"Do I even have to guess," she sighed, and looked at the gaping henchmen. "Well? Get them," she shouted as the men only then moved to attack. Most of them going for Gemini even as 'Betty' shouted, "But don't hurt my body. I might still want it later!"

"I've got something you need," Betty spat, and fired a stun missile at her.

"Drat, I knew I should have disconnected those cybernetic connections before I left you."

"Face it, Sheldon," Gemini hissed as Betty jerked, fell back, and landed on her backside as Gemini turned to just glare at the men, and they turned and bolted. "I've always been better than you."

Shego, meanwhile, had to pound her way through the men who kept trying to attack her in spite of her plasma she kept flinging at them.

"Emergency," the computer declared as Gemini slid the first band over the dazed Betty's head, and then put one over his.

"No, it can't end like this," Betty tried weakly to rise.

"Shego," Gemini shouted as his finger was poised over the switch. "Get ready to detain the real Gemini," he told her as she fought her way through men who simply didn't have much chance against her at the best of times.

"With pleasure," she quipped, turning to eye the pair as a faint, golden glow surrounded them for a moment before the one-eyed man fell on his face beside Betty. She turned to elbow one of the men still standing, and then drove a hard fist into the face of another.

"And I thought Doc's henchmen were out of shape," she drawled as she watched the last fall. "At least they know when to run, though."

Gemini recovered first, slowly sitting up, and looking around with an expression that might scare children.

Shego only smiled.

"I'm so going to enjoy this," she smiled as the man's scowl faded as two green fists rose before him.

"What'd I miss," a voice chirped as Kim ran into the chamber just then.

Betty groaned, just starting to come around as Gemini smirked as he fixed his eye on Kim who tracked the room, and only then spotted him.

"Didn't you leave anything for me," she demanded of Shego.

"Damn it, Princess. You just never listen."

"Of course I listen. I heard every word you just said," she shot back.

"Enough," Gemini declared smugly as he rose to his feet, flinging the portable brain switcher from his head in disgust as he eyed the two women facing each other instead of him.

Both turned to glare at him.

"Agent Possible," he barked. "Override Alpha, Alpha, Alpha. Now, come to me," he smiled coldly.

"Kim," Shego gasped as Kim stiffened, and walked toward him without arguing. "No!"

KP

"Done," Jim told Ron as they rejoined him in the middle of the smoking, loudly humming room that was full of flashing lights, venting steam, and stray sparks just then. "This place is going down in less than twenty minutes."

"More like ten," Tim told him as their efforts combined with Ron's experience soon had everyting coming apart. Literally.

"Let's not hang around to find out," Ron told them, scooping up the two small boys he returned to his vest before they paused to rouse the one unconscious tech left behind when the rest of the technicians and henchmen fled at the sight of him tearing into the heavy, steel door with glowing, blue fingers. They had seen enough in their world to know that he was not the kind of buffoon you faced down any longer.

So they bolted.

"Agreed," the twins shouted as Ron headed back the way they had come, the tech heading down another corridor that likely led to some means of escape.

He reached the hatch in good time, looked out, but saw only the floating Roth still where they left it with no occupants.

He groaned.

"KP," he guessed as a sudden jolt shook the entire complex.

"You think," Jim asked sardonically.

"I thought we were in charge of demolition," Tim complained.

"Let's just find them," Ron shouted. "This place isn't going to last long like this," he reminded them as another jolt shook the entire structure.

They ran into the control room even as a blast of fiery, green energy slammed into the wall near a very frantic Gemini who was cradling a melted cybernetic hand as he ran for new cover.

"Come back here," Kim demanded, the exploding plasma impacting harmlessly on a far wall.

"Kimmie, damn it, calm down," Shego shouted, racing after herself.

Betty was just getting to her feet as Ron caught sight of her.

"Do I want to know?"

Betty looked around at the devastation made by Kim's rampage, and shook her head.

"Guys," Tim spoke up.

"The clock is still ticking," Jim finished even as they almost lost their footing as Kim's fist suddenly smashed into a wall after Gemini just managed to duck the blow.

"She's going to kill him," Betty realized as she shook off the last of her lethargy.

"She's going to kill all of us," Ron told her. "This thing isn't far from sinking like a rock."

"Damn it, Princess," Shego howled, ducking a bolt of plasma inadvertently shot her way when Gemini ran past her. "Don't make me whip your skinny backside again!"

"As if," she shouted back.

She had faked compliance when Gemini had pulled that mind-control thingy on her, and walked right up to him. He obvioulsy didn't know that she had fried every piece of installed cybernetic hardware in her body when she had first gainted consciousness, and lost control of her plasma. When he ordered her to take out Shego, she simply grabbed the cybernetic hand he was using to point at the green-skinned felon, and melted it in a grip as strong as it was hot.

Then she began to pound on him, getting angrier with every blow until the man wisely ran for his life when her punches began to warp metal if he had not ducked them.

Shego clotheslined her when she ran past after the one-eyed moron, and shouted, "Ron, get the fruitcake. I've got Kimmie."

Kim looked up at her, and for a moment it seemed she might just attack her. Then she focused on the hand Shego held out to her, and Shego asked, "You really wanna stay here and chase that loopy bastard around while this place goes down? Or do you want to get out of here?"

"Fine. Fine. I'm all right," she said, rising with her help, and taking a deep breath as Betty walked over to cuff a very nonresistant Gemini who looked more than a little afraid of his creation just then.

Another shudder shook the lair, and this time no one had done anything.

"I think it's past time to go," Ron told them authoritatively.

"We won't all fit in the Roth," Shego said, looking at Gemini.

"Yes, we will," Kim smiled tightly.

"Don't even think about it, Possible," Shego growled as they all ran for the hatch. Even Gemini was smart enough not to resist.

Just before they jumped into the water, Kim grabbed him by his collar, and was almost instantly dangling from her hand as he was shrank down the size of a doll, and handed to Betty.

"Oh, now this is almost ironic," Betty stared at him before shoving him into a utility pocket on her uniform coverall. "Hold your breath, Sheldon," she advised him as he clutched the top of her pocket. "We're going for a swim."

Ten minutes later, they were powering away from the sinking lair as dozens of escape pods floated in the sea around the crumbling hideout. Betty, in the front seat, reached for the communications panel to advise Global Justice that pickup and cleanup was required even as Ron lifted the car into the air. Below them, the last of the henchmen were simply abandoning the lair to swim away. By then, the escape pods were already gone.

"How about calling the army and the feds off our families, too," Betty was asked by Ron.

"Damn right," Kim agreed.

Beside her, Shego remained her own size. The boys were sitting in the middle of the seat with Gemini, all of them still the size of dolls. None of them very happy about it.

"I'll handle everything once we get back to headquarters. It'll be good to get back to my office, and back to work."

"About your office," Kim suddenly blushed as she recalled how she had left the office.

KP

"Kimmie," Ann Possible stared at the lithe, pale green woman standing before her with thick, red hair flowing over her shoulders in confusion.

"Hey, Dr. P," Ron smiled as he appeared in the door to the secret room with her. "Look who I found."

"Yeah, mom. It's me," Kim smiled as her mother engulfed her in her arms. "Thank God you're okay."

"What am I, chopped liver," Shego complained as she pushed past Ron.

"Down, girl," Kim laughed. Behind Shego came Jim and Tim, once more restored to full size after dropping Gemini in a Global Justice holding cell, and making a few calls to get the authorities to back off on their hunt for certain persons, and their families.

"Don't worry, mom," Kim told her as she stepped back from her hug, and let the twins hug her as James Possible looked over from a chess game he was playing with Ron's father. "It's almost all over. At least, the running and hiding part is done. We have a few lose ends to tie up, but you guys can go home now."

"So, you're you," Ann Possible asked Betty after she turned from hugging her sons. "The real you?"

"Yes, ma'am. Thanks to your very remarkable daughter."

"You will be able to…..?"

Betty's expression sobered when Ann gestured helplessly at Kim.

"Mom, this is me now. The new and improved model."

"I wouldn't necessarily say improved."

"Shego," Ron murmured, then pointedly stepped between the women. "This is a synagogue. A sanctuary. Not a dojo."

"I should say not," the smiling rabbi appeared just then. "Did I hear right, Ronald," he asked. "Did you settle things so you aren't being hunted again?"

"Yes, Rabbi Katz, and thanks for taking care of our folks," he added as he blushed when his own mother appeared out of the kitchen to hug him after she realized she was hearing his voice.

"I helped," Hana informed him smugly.

"I know you did, squirt," he told her, rubbing the dark head. "Oh, and Yori says hi."

Hana beamed at that. Her summers at 'camp' were her most enjoyable moments as she wasn't all that fond of school. Just like her brother, she favored being out and about to sitting in a tiny room all day listening to teachers drone on and on.

"What else do you have to do," Ron's father asked as he looked up from putting James in check. The rocket scientist frowned, and eyed the board even as he spared a glance for the group near the door.

"Kim still needs some serious training at Yam…. Ah, a special school," Ron pointed out. "She is prone to losing her temper without warning, and control of her new powers, too."

Kim blushed green as her mother eyed her, and shook her head. "I'm not that bad," she complained.

"You almost took off Gemini's head, and ignored a sinking lair to chase him around the place," Betty pointed out evenly.

"He pissed me off," she glowered.

"Kimberly Anne Possible," James drawled. "Language, young lady. Oh, and checkmate," he told Mr. Stoppable.

The actuary gaped at the board, unable to believe he had not seen that last move coming. "How do you do that," he exclaimed in bewilderment.

"Well, I use a quantum formula I adapted to…."

"Dad."

"Don't," Jim cut him off when Tim only shook his head.

"Aha, so it's mathematical," Mr. Stoppable smiled, his eyes glittering with excitement.

Both boys groaned.

"Listen, mom. I…. I just came by to let you know you're in the clear, and we're all fine. And to drop off the tweebs," she added.

Both boys glared at her when they looked her way again.

"So, where is this school," James asked.

"Japan," she sighed, "But first we're going to look up Dr. Drakken, and make sure that is one loose-end that stays tied this time."

"So, he really did survive," James remarked as he crossed the room to stand with the others.

"Yeah, he's like a cockroach that way," Shego grumbled, feeling very out of place in the synagogue with these people.

"A blue cockroach," Kim agreed.

"Well, just don't forget you're still our daughter, Kimmie-cub. And you always will be."

"Thanks, dad," she rasped suspiciously as he hugged her.

"And I'll be wanting to hear a lot more in the way of explanations of this matter, Ms. Director," James turned to scowl at Betty. Then he squinted, and asked, "You are the real one now? Aren't you?"

"Yes, sir," she nodded curtly. "And don't worry, I'm having all those brain-switch machines still in existence destroyed."

"Better late than never," Ron mused with a tight smile.

Betty said nothing to that.

"Well, we'd better get going. Things to do. People to find. That sort of thing."

Another round of tearful hugging, and they headed out again, leaving the twins with their parents as Kim, Ron, Shego, and Betty headed for the Roth.

"You even think of shrinking me," Shego hissed as they settled in the back seat.

"We have room now," Kim replied innocently. "Besides, just think of how you can gloat to Mego over how I found a way to use his power he never did."

Shego grinned at that one as Ron and Betty rolled their eyes as Ron once more started the car.

KP

Dr. Drakken gaped at the warped, smoldering steel that had been his door as two figures stepped out of the dust and smoke before he spotted green eyes that shimmered brightly as an almost eerily familiar voice crooned, "Knock, knock, blue-boy."

"Shego," he stared as the woman stepped forward. "Why are you with the buffoon?"

"Try again," the green-skinned woman smiled as Ron stepped up behind her, his own hazel eyes faintly flickering with blue energies as he realized this woman had flowing red hair rather than black.

"Oh, it's you. I thought Shego might have….. Meh. Never mind. She'll be along. She always is," he said confidently.

"About that, Doc," a sardonic voice drawled from behind him.

He spun around, staring at the woman who was more familiar than the reborn heroine. "Shego! I knew you'd be back. Well? Don't just stand there. Get her," he pointed. "I'm right in the middle of....."

Then he noticed a familiar woman in blue was standing beside Shego with her arms crossed, and a genuinely grim expression on her face.

"As I was saying. About that, Dr. D," Shego sighed as Betty remained silent. Shego only walk over to lean against the counter near where he was working. "Princess and I had a little chat recently. You want me to go back to stealing, and do a bit of general villainy. Bets wants Kimmie over there to be the robotic clone of justice. Frankly, we're both just really tired of it all. I mean we do the same old tired song and dance time and again. Greatest plan ever, yada, yada, yada. Cue the hero, and then the same old exploding lair. We're all getting a bit old for that routine. I mean, seriously. Even Hego wised up and retired last year."

"But….Shego," he actually pouted as Ron and Kim walked over to stand in front of him, and he belatedly realized Dr. Director had moved so that the four had him completely boxed. "It's what we do!"

"What we did, Dr. D. I mean, jeez. They were going to execute us! I mean, they tried. If we weren't who and what we are, we'd both be dead and gone right now. Doesn't that give you a clue? Because next time, Blueboy, it might not be an electric chair. Or a freezer. It might be a rope. Or a bullet. Gah! I've even heard they're building a super-max on the moon. The moon, for God's sake!"

"Meh. That would make escape a trifle difficult. And I'm not very fond of executions. Especially mine."

"That's why I am here to offer you another alternative," Betty told him.

"Another….alternative?"

"Yes. First, you tell us everything you did to Kim's cloned body and brain. Then I will sponsor you in a secret research facility under our authority. You will not be Dr. Drakken. Or Drew Lipski. Dr. Janus, however, is a legitimate cover, and you could live out your life doing good for a change."

"Can I think about it?"

"Or you go to the moon, and spent nineteen life sentences in deep freeze," Kim snapped impatiently, slamming a fist down on the steel table between them hard enough to bend it badly inward.

"I think I like that first option," Drakken quickly decided.

"Smart man," Ron drawled.

"So, give, Dr. D," Shego nodded when he glanced her way as if still looking for help from her direction.

"Because I would really like to know," Kim told him, shaking a suddenly glowing fist in his face.

"Meh. You're as bad as Shego now," he grumbled. "It's a good thing I didn't make you completely evil like that shortsighted moron Gemini wanted."

"Wait. You knew," Ron exclaimed.

"You knew it was my brother before this started?"

"Please. I am a genius. It was child's play to detect the personality inconsistencies, and behavioral abnormalities that tipped off anyone with eyes to his charade. You had to be a moron not to notice."

The trio said nothing as they shared a quick glance.

"So, Doc," Shego cut in. "You didn't make her pure evil when you had the chance?"

"Meh, I'm an evil genius, not insane. Even I realized a truly evil Kim Possible would be impossible to control. And even harder to stop. Just look at the trouble we had with the buffoon when he crossed over," Drew stated reasonably.

"Are you saying….."

He smirked at Shego and said, "Even I realized a genuinely evil Kim Possible would be the world's most dangerous woman. I would have to be genuinely mad to turn someone like that loose if I couldn't control her," he smirked.

"So…..? You did all this….on purpose?"

He nodded at Ron. "Exactly," the blue-skinned scientist grinned smugly. "By balancing Shego's evil genetics with Kim Possible's own innate….meh, goodness, I then added the less outstanding natures of Team Go's genetics and personalities innate in their own genetic matrix, creating a unique Kim Possible that was more…..human. Not so goody-goody," he grimaced. "And hopefully not so likely to run out and save the world. Or stop me every time I……"

"You…..screwed…..with….my…..life," Kim growled, and walked toward him with clenched fists.

Glowing clenched fists.

"Oh, snap. Look. I did you a favor. I really did," he protested as tore the table between in half using her strength and plasma, holding up his hands in surrender as she stalked toward him. "I mean, think about it. If Global Justice or Gemini had their way, you'd be a good little Kim-bot right now, bowing and scraping to whoever held the reins while you handed them whatever they wanted. Is that what you would have preferred?"

"He's got you there, Kimmie," Shego said blandly, neither of them pointing out that while Gemini had exploited the plan, the idea had come from the real Betty in the first place. "Even I chose to be what I am. How about you? Ball's in your court now, as they say. What are you going to choose?"

She dropped her hands, her anger fading as the comet-powered glow faded, too when she looked back at Ron. "I….don't know," she said, and turned to walk out of the lab, leaving all three of them standing silent behind her.

"Kim," Ron called just before she reached the shattered doors, loping over to join her.

"I have to think, Ron. Go home. Take care of everyone. 'Kay? I just…..have to think."

"Kim, you should go…."

"I know where I have to go," she told him, and she vanished outside as easily as any Yamanouchi ninja before anyone could think to follow her.

"Well, that went well," Shego sighed as she came up behind him.

Ron glanced back at her. "What about her training? Where do you think she is going now?"

"Honestly? She already knows almost everything I do, and she can use it, too. The question is….. Will she," Shego asked him pointedly.

Ron nodded, then looked around. "All right. We'll let her do what she wants for now," he nodded. "But remember this, Shego. You're still under oath to Yamanouchi. If we call….."

"Yammi-whozit," Drew frowned.

Naturally, they both ignored him as Betty listened to them with genuine interest.

"I know, monkey-boy. I know. Don't worry, I'll be laying low. I'm not fond of popsicles, or moonscapes," she stated pointedly as she glanced back at Betty.

"Moon-what," Drew echoed.

Ron only nodded again before he turned to go. "And, Shego," he added as he reached the door himself. "Thank you. We couldn't have made it without you. In my book, you're still a hero."

"She's a what," Drew squeaked in horror.

Shego rolled her eyes, and shook her head as Ron disappeared. Soon after, the sound of the Roth's turbines sounded, and then the car was roaring away, and she was standing alone in the wrecked lab with her old employer.

"You know, Drew," she sighed. "You made the right decision. I don't know about you, but I've had enough excitement lately to last me ten lifetimes," she told him earnestly.

"But….Shego? You? A hero? You?"

"Drop it, Dr. D."

"But….."

"I said drop it, blueboy," she hissed as a hand flared with green fire.

"Shego! What did we say about the……?"

His howl echoed around the empty lab as Shego went to her old quarters to pack. Betty followed her, waiting till she got to her room to question her. Se wasn't worried about Lipski. From the impact with that wall, he was going to be out cold for a while. That, and she had her own people waiting outside. He wouldn't have gotten far even if he did try to run.

"The answer is no," Shego told her as Betty walked into her room while she stuffed civilian clothes, and a few mementoes left behind last time into a bag.

"You haven't heard the question."

"I know the question. The answer is no. Besides, whatever I told Stoppable, I made a promise to….someone. I have to go find Kimmie, and make sure she doesn't get in over her head out there."

Betty nodded. "If you change your mind….."

"It'll be a cold day in hell," Shego told her, zipping the tote, and walking past her.

"I can wait."

"Do us all a favor. Hold you breath while you do," the sardonic woman drawled as she shouldered the tote, and headed out of the lair. A part of her surprised that the woman didn't try to stop her.

Betty watched her leave, and she let her go. She suspected Kim might just need her.

KP

"I've been expecting you."

"Really? Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. What is this, one of a dozen scenarios?"

Betty added a cup beside the solitary mug as she poured her morning coffee as she glanced back at Kim sitting at her table. She had expected her, but she still had to fight for composure when she woke that morning to walk into the kitchen to find the redhead sitting there in the dimly lit room.

"Twelfth out of twenty."

Kim sighed, and stared at the coffee set before her. "So, I guess you already know what I'm going to say, too?"

"Not really. I'm still formulating sequential probabilities for that one. You're actually early," the brunette told her honestly. "It's only been five months."

Kim gave a weak smile.

"It's been a weird year," she said after a moment.

"To say the least."

"I'm still not sure how I feel about all…..this. I mean, even without your brother, you had this whole sitch up and running before he even stepped in to exploit it."

"Yes, I did. Would you like to know why?"

"Drakken said you just wanted drones to order around. Perfect puppets that always obeyed orders."

"Please. You should know by now that he's the one obsessed with robots."

"True. So, why did you have me cloned?"

Betty sipped her own coffee, and eyed her over the rim of the mug. Sitting it down, she stared into dark green eyes, and stated flatly, "Because, Kimberly. You're a living symbol. And this world needs symbols as much as it needs its real heroes."

"I don't feel like much of either just now."

"But you are. You're still Kim Possible. The girl that can do anything. The girl, it seems, that even cheat death. People are going to know you more than ever. They will cheer you even more, too. Hopefully, they will even emulate you all the more. Because that is what heroes are, at heart. Symbols that inspire, and motivate. You do more than just save a few people, or safeguard a few dangerous technologies, Kimberly," Betty told her. "You inspire people like Stoppable to step up and become something none of us could have ever imagined. You inspire people like Dr. Hall to change their lives, and become a force for good. And you inspire people the world over to think, and hope that there really is another way. A better way."

Betty paused to sip her coffee again, but Kim still said nothing.

"Let me put it this way. I, in good conscience, could not allow the value of your symbol to fade if something had happened to you. I was hoping you would last longer than you did, but I was planning for the worst, even as I hoped for the best. It's what I do. Now, you tell me. Knowing what you are now, and what could have been, can you honestly tell me you're not happy to still be alive?"

Kim sighed heavily.

"Ron and I broke up."

Betty only nodded. "I know all about the problems with comet-powered physiologies. Still, there is a perspective I doubt Shego ever considered."

"What is that," she asked.

"Considering who you are, and what you represent," Betty told her. "You could just consider the entire world your family. After all, you've always been there for them. Maybe you should just step back and realize that they're there for you, too?"

"We were going to get married," Kim persisted.

Betty only stared back at her now, sipping her coffee again.

"Have children."

Betty still remained silent.

"This isn't fair," she cried, her hands briefly flaring before she gasped and quickly quenched the emerald energies that had escaped her for a moment. "Sorry," she grumbled, eyeing the scorched table.

"Don't worry about it."

They pair sat in silence for a time, then Betty asked flatly, "So, what have you decided?"

"I'm going home for a while."

"That's a good start."

"I don't know if I'm coming back."

"You'll be back."

Kim shot her a dark glare.

"I'd like to say it's because you can't help it. Or that it's the right thing to do. We both know it's actually because you're enough like Shego that you will end up driving yourself crazy inside a week without a real challenge."

Kim truly glowered at her now.

"But there is something else I'd like to offer as an….incentive."

"What?"

"As you know, Dr. Hall is working with us now."

"Yeah. You should tell her thanks for all the help, too," Kim told her blandly.

"Tell her yourself. I'm sure you'll be seeing her. You see, she's currently working on a new project at my request."

"What now," Kim asked, almost afraid of knowing.

Betty smirked knowingly. "How to safely impregnate a comet-powered woman."

Kim's jaw dropped. Shego was never going to believe this one. It was one that had not come up in all the predictions made by that cynical woman who followed her all the way back to Yamanouchi, and around the world even when Kim told her to get lost.

KP

Green eyes opened abruptly as water began to seep into the small space around him.

He tried to understand what was going on, but couldn't quite frame the experiences or information to comprehend what was happening.

He chose to react in the only way he could manage.

Instinctively.

He pounded large fists into the glass around him, and instinctively took a quick gulp of air even as frigid sea water filled the space around him before he freed himself. He rose from the glass-lined container to swim free of his birthplace, and stared around the dimly lit space as the failing emergency lights gave a faint glow here and there, but no clue as to where to go.

He wanted to shout, but wasn't sure what good it would do.

He felt the knot in his chest as his lungs demanded air, and chose to take the simplest path. If his fists could make the glass part, they would make other barriers part. He turned and swam straight at the wall, astonished but instinctively accepting the fact his hands were starting to glow as he rushed at the nearest wall.

If anyone were left on the surface to watch, it would seem that all was quiet on the open sea at that moment after GJ's people had long since left the area, finding no one, and nothing worthy of scavenging after they rescued the scientists, and captured the henchmen unable to get away.

The ocean was remarkably clear and quiet that morning, until the water churned briefly before a dark green head broke the surface, and the man gasped for air as he splashed, and looked around, astonished to see the wide, blue ocean, and the greater vault of the sky overhead. The powerfully built man looked around in all directions before choosing one at random, and began to swim.

Not the End……..