KIM POSSIBLE: LOST IN THE DARKNESS

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN KIM POSSIBLE. IT BELONGS TO DISNEY. I OWN ONLY MY OC. ANY RESEMBLANCE TO REAL PERSON OR PEOPLE ARE MERE COINCIDENCE. NO FINANCIAL PROFIT IS MADE FROM THIS. THIS IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY.

Guest: I curtsy to your compliment, dear reader. You have no idea how much I appreciate those simple words. Sometimes, a simple gesture would suffice to warm one's heart.

CHAPTER 24 ANOTHER PLAYWRIGHT

The words were like sharp knives, piercing her skin, stabbing her heart over and over again. Ann's blue eyes brimmed with tears, but she held them in, not wanting to show anymore weakness in front of the woman who had caused her family, and the world great pain. The neurosurgeon shook her head in denial, closing her eyes briefly before opening them once more, her blue orbs meeting those mechanical red ones.

'Not just anyone… this woman, she's my daughter, my Kimmie-cub…'

She tried to tell herself that Shadow couldn't be her daughter. Her daughter was lying on a hospital bed, recovering from her injuries. There was no way Shadow was Kim. Their personalities were too different. One was the hero looked up by everyone. The other was a psycho bent on mass murder and terrorism. Even if the incident from ten years ago hurt the teen emotionally in some way, she was convinced that her daughter would not sink into such a state.

To fall into the abyss of darkness, and was lost in it. No, not lost, but enjoying it.

"Emotional much?" Shadow whispered, and stood up to her full height, towering over the two who still sat on the floor, shell-shocked from the news she had just broken to them. She let a small smirk grace her lips, and walked over to her chair, sitting down. "Surprised? Aren't you two happy to see your daughter back? Give me some sort of feedback, will you? After all, I did try my best to make a dramatic appearance back into your life."

James stumbled onto his feet, the gun in hand. "You're not our daughter. There's no way our daughter would end up like you!" he whipped the gun up, and fired.

The bullet hit Shadow in the shoulder, and the villainess let out a howl before grabbing the injured shoulder, red eyes aimed at James, who fired once more. The bullet bounced off the metal of her other shoulder, and was embedded in the wall. Shadow shot to her feet in rage, ready to kill the man.

Before James could fire once more, Ann tackled him, and the next bullet hit a light over their head. The rocket scientist struggled out from his wife's grip, and was about to yell at her when he noticed the tears in her eyes.

"James, please, stop this…" Ann pleaded, tugging on her husband's sleeve. "She's our daughter. No matter who she has become, she's still my daughter. Your daughter. Our daughter."

For the briefest moment, Ann allowed her motherly side to emerge, and reach out towards the woman who had so much negative emotions bottled up inside of her. And in that moment, she sensed the link. It was tenuous, as though it would break like a gossamer. But Ann was convinced that Shadow was her daughter. That special bond was all the proof the neurosurgeon had needed.

James swallowed. "Ann, she's not our daughter. Kimmie-cub is not a monster. She would never sink this low. She would never kill. She's a hero. Besides, our Kim is in the hospital, recovering from the wounds this madwoman inflicted. This woman is a psychopath. She's trying to trick us…"

"No…" Ann said, shaking her head. "She's our daughter. I'm her mother, I know it…"

"Then why couldn't you recognize me when you first see me?" Shadow inquired in a low tone. Her voice dangerously calm. "If you truly claim to be my mother, why did you abandon me? Why did you lose faith in me? Why did you leave me to suffer those pain alone?!" she yelled the last sentence out, panting. "Why, for all these years, did you live in the delusion that I'm dead?"

Ann was unable to meet her eyes. "I… I…"

"That's enough!" Shadow hollered. "I don't want to hear your pathetic excuses. The two of you are pathetic parents! When you two abandoned me ten years ago, I told myself, that it would be the first and the last time. Kimberly Anne Possible died in that mission, and I, Shadow Eclipse, will be using her mortal shell to destroy this world!"

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Shego crept in the dark, trying to get her bearings, without much avail. She was unfamiliar with the layout of the place, and thus had gotten herself lost in dead ends a couple of times. But this time, she was sure that she was in the right place. The darkness was not as deafeningly quiet as before, but was filled with pained groans of the prisoners. Not to mention that the place practically reeked the coppery smell of blood.

She allowed her hands to flare up, giving her a better vision of her surroundings, and found herself staring into the two identical faces which belonged to Jim and Tim. The Possible twins' eyes widened in shock before the two scrambled over to the bars separating them.

With the sudden flare in the dark space, the other prisoners began to stir, and Shego could make out other men and women behind bars, reaching out towards her, babbling in languages she failed to understand. Swallowing hard, she tore her emerald gaze from the state the prisoners were in, and focused on the twins in front of her.

"Did you see mom and dad?" they both asked in unison.

"I could ask the same about my brothers," Shego replied, and grabbed the bars, melting them with her plasma. "Come on, let's get the two out of her before Shadow finds us."

"Your brothers are being tortured," Jim said in a low tone, and Tim elbowed him in the ribs, signalling him to shut up. his doubled glared, rubbing his ribs, but remained quiet.

Shego didn't look up. "I know what's happening to them. But they're just baits. It's me who Shadow wants," she stepped away from the hole she created by melting off some of the bars, watching the two climbing out from their cells. "Look, when we find your parent and my brothers, I want you to bring them out of here, do you hear me?"

"Why?" Tim huffed. "We want to help. We can take Shadow down together."

"NO!" Shego yelled, surprising the twins and herself with the tone she was using. She winced inwardly, putting a hand on a shoulder of each of the twins. "I don't want the two of you to get involved in this."

"When she kidnapped our family, she already got us involved," Jim stated. "Let us help, Shego. She has mom and dad."

Shego shook her heads. "It's my fault things escalated to this state today. I'm the only one who can stop this," her emerald eyes seemed sad. "Let me handle things from here onwards, alright? Stay behind me."

"Fine," the twins agreed, crossing their arms over their chests.

Shego smiled softly, ruffling their hair. The two had finally let go of their hatred for her. Though she couldn't understand how and why, she was happy for the change. The twins reminded her so much of her own twin brothers.

Her com unit chirped, and Wade's face appeared on the small screen. "I know this may look like a bad time to contact you, but I need to send you the layout of the place. I've located thermal signatures in rooms above you. They might be more prisoners."

"I'm on it, nerdlinger," Shego replied. "Can you scan the place to see if you can find the Possibles? And find a way to get these other prisoners out. This place makes me sick!"

"I can't hack into their systems," Wade said exasperatedly, furiously typing away at his keyboard. "But I'll keep you updated on the sitch. Speaking of sitch, Shego, are you sure you're up to this?" he asked, worry clear in his voice.

Shego shot him a glare, hoping that he would shut up. She had no intentions for the Possible twins to know what they were up against. In fact, the less people who knew, the better.

"As I'll ever be," she replied dryly before cutting the communication off.

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Ron untangled himself from the wires, and nearly lost his pants in the process. Kim and Hana shook their heads at the sight, and stifled their giggles when the Monkey Master looked up at them with an irritated look on his face.

"Very funny," he commented dryly as he stood up, and pulled his pants back up, securing it with a belt, not that it was much use anyway. "How far is it?"

Kim shrugged. "I don't know. The only thing I know is that we need to tear this place down, just like how we tear down Drakken's lair in the past," she said with a smile. "I'm definitely missing the good old days. It's a shame I missed ten years of my life by sleeping."

"Hey, hey, don't say something like that. The world will go back to its original state. After all, Team Possible is back," Hana interjected.

"She's right, girlfriend," Monique concurred, patting her friend on the back. "With you back, anything is possible, right?"

"Are you trying to imply that you guys can't get anything done without me around?" Kim joked, fumbling around her pouch for her infrared red specs. "Heat signatures in the next room. Must be Hench's men. On for some action?"

"Hell, yeah!" Ron replied, pumping his fist in the air.

Hana decided to reply with actions. Melting into the shadows, the rest heard the door slid open with a low hiss. Then a few grunts, and Hana whistled to get their attention. Kim looked down at the fallen henchmen, arching an amused eyebrow at Hana, then with a smirk, turned to Ron. The male ninja scoffed, crossing his arms, and mumbled something under his breath about attention stealing kunoichi.

"Look at what we have here," a male voice sounded from their back. And there was Aviarius, dressed in an elaborated robe with peacock feathers. A dark mask covered the upper half of his face, an arrogant smirk plastered on his lips. "Kim Possible, how dare of you to set foot back at Obsidian Pact. Master Shadow had been generous enough to let you go once. But this time…"

Crows appeared behind him, crowding the entrance with their numbers. Falcons swooped into the room after the crows, their giant wing span effectively covered the entrance even further. Aviarius cackled madly, and pointed a finger at the group.

Blue aura burst out from Ron's body, and formed a shape like a monkey around him. The blue aura swept the birds out from the air into the walls, where the birds let out a screech before falling limp onto the ground. Monique watched in amazement, while Kim patted Hana on the back, and whispered something to the kunoichi, who giggled behind a gloved hand.

"NO!" Aviarius howled, pulling at his own hair. "My birds! My beloved birds!" he turned to them, and pounced on Kim.

The redhead ducked under a fist, and brought her elbow up into his jaw. The sound of bone breaking could be heard. The villain grabbed his injured jaw, and kicked at Kim blindly. The hero smirked, and grabbed his leg, twirled him once before throwing him into a nearby wall. Aviarius let out a howl when he hit the wall, and struggled up to his knees.

"My minions, attack!" he yelled, and more birds swarmed the room. But this time, the birds were clearly created in a lab. They were hybrids, and each of the birds were larger than their average size, with metal claws attached to their talons.

"Oh, finally!" Hana said with a smile, and melted into the shadows.

Kim shook her head, and slipped into her fighting stance once more. Monique followed her lead, taking a more defensive stance. Ron, on the other hand, ignored the sudden increase in the number of birds, and focused on his power to take their enemies out.

"Come on, Aviarius, show me your worst!" Kim taunted.

Aviarius stood up. "I'll make sure you regret coming back to life!"

"And I'll make you regret breaking out from jail," Kim replied in her confident tone.

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Betty sneaked into another room, and quickly jammed something into the access panel on the inside. She touched the cool metallic wall, searching for a light switch, and found it to the left of the door.

Fluorescent light flickered to life above her head, illuminating the room in its soft white rays. Banks of supercomputers lined the room, but no henchmen were sitting in front of the terminals. The former leader of Global Justice assumed that all the henchmen had went out to place the antimatter in place.

To the one eyed woman, she felt that it was a foolish move for Shadow to deploy all her henchmen outside. It would give them the chance to strike and take out the base in record time. Something kept bugging at the back of her mind, telling her not to call in her forces, that it was all a trap.

Betty took another step forward, and the floor beneath her gave away. Refraining herself from screaming, she took out her grapple gun and fired upwards, but the angled descent made it harder, and the hook missed the edge by a few good inches. Betty swore, and discarded the grapple gun, curling into a ball to reduce the force of impact.

What she didn't expect was a soft mattress cushioning her fall.

"Who's there?" asked a man.

Betty opened her eyes, blinking a few time, and noticed that the room was completely dark. She squinted into the darkness, trying to see who had been talking, but saw nothing but darkness. She swung her feet out, and jumped down from the mattress. Her boots making contact with the floor made an echo in the room, and Betty winced at the loud sound.

"Who's… there?" a female voice asked this time.

"Betty?" came the voice. "Betty, is it really you?"

The one-eyed woman searched for a torchlight, and switched it on. The narrow beam of light pierced through the darkness, and at the edge of the beams were two metal tables, with blood dripping off from the edges. Two bodies lay on top of the table. The blonde woman let her head loll to the side, her blue eyes meeting Betty's onyx ones.

The blonde's hair was matted to her sweat drenched forehead, and a large gash was weeping blood. Her body was covered with a thin sheet of white robe, and covered in red patches of blood. The exposed limbs were bruised and lacerated. One eye was swollen closed, and her lips were split.

"Vivian!" she screamed, running and sinking onto her knees beside Vivian. The blonde gave her a weak smile, and clasped Betty' hand in hers. "Oh God, what happened to you?!" tears began to gather in her eyes. Using one hand, she wiped them away with a frustrated grunt.

"Love, I'm fine…" Vivian whispered. "See, I'm right in front of you."

Betty shook her head, willing the tears to stay down this time, and failed. "No, look at you. I told you to leave last time, why didn't you do so? Why did you have to stay with that monster?!"

"She is not a monster," the male voice said.

Betty shone her torchlight at the man, and saw that it was Felix. The man's state was almost the same as Vivian. And similar to the blonde robotics genius, his eyes had yet to lose the fire.

"Yeah, she's something worse. Calling her a monster is an insult to the species itself," Betty said. Vivian glared at her, but Betty merely glared back. "What?! I'm not saying anything wrong, am I? She might have been my protégé, but I can't just forgive her for her sins for that one reason."

"Kim…and Shadow…" Felix started. "They're not the same…"

Betty's eyes widened in shock. "But the DNA fingerprinting…"

"DNA does not truly define a person…" Vivian mumbled. "Project Fluctlight, and Project Replication. That was what changed things…"

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Without anyone noticing, a figure stepped into the room. He silently stepped behind Shadow, and pointed a gun to the woman's head. Shadow whipped around to meet her attacker, but was frozen in her spot when she realized who she was facing.

"Yes," the man said with a malicious smile. "I believe that it's time to close the curtains. This play has taken a turn which is not in my script, and as a playwright, I feel obligated to step forward and so something about it.

"Master Syn Diablo…" Shadow managed to whisper in a mix of awe and fear.

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So, allow me to start with apologies. I know, it has been a long wait for those who are waiting to see this chapter, but life has been demanding. Two days after my last update was my midterm exams. After that was Chemistry project, student council election, and various big and small quizzes. Now, trial exam is just two weeks away, and finals one and a half month, so forgive me for the scarce updates. Please understand that I do need to get into a university nest year, and these upcoming exams will determine everything.

Next, I would like to thank those who left me a review as usual. Thank you so much for your kind words. Equal thanks are extended to all those who favourited and followed this story. I wouldn't be able to come this far if it weren't for all of you. Thank you so much.

And here we are. Shadow letting the truth sink it. Kim infiltrating the base. Shego found the Possible twins and has been forgive. Betty found Vivian and Felix by accident. What will she learn from the two? And the mysterious man at the end of the chapter. Syn Diablo. Who is he? What role does he play in this?

Stay tuned. I'll see you all soon.