Define, Hell IV (or, Define, Hell, IIII): Changes, and Christmas

Disclaimer/Author's Notes: Kim Possible and all the characters of the show are owned by the Disney Company. All other characters can be blamed on the author (he, however, is not responsible for all of their actions at all times, being barely responsible for himself most of the time….).

This is a strictly not-for-profit, just-for-fun work.

This is not a part of the (shameless plug) Blue Eyes, Shining stories or the JadeKimVerse, but judging from the reviews of the original tale, I've been charged with showing the aftermath of Ron's actions and explaining Kim's behavior.

I hope that you enjoy this: you can blame Cindy for this story (yes, it's the same Cindy that sent me the ANC picture that spawned "Merry Christmas, Momma" and "Paint Me a Christmas Memory:" she's a closet Plot Bunny).

A/N Forward:

Questions:

What happens after Define, Hell III: The Sequel?

Answer:

It's a description of the wicked turn that took place as a result of the events of the Diablos night: they weren't what you remember from the show….

We have angst, we have fluff (and, there will be smuff), and we have…well, I'm not sure what you'll call it all, but it's here.

This is the end of the DH IV arc, but never fear: the future is still coming…

--

And now, on Define, Hell IV (or, Define, Hell, IIII): Changes, and Christmas:

Chapter 15: Epilogue: Phoenix-1

--

Next, on Define, Hell IV (or, Define, Hell, IIII): Changes, and Christmas:

(Friday, October 1, 2010)

"Prisoner SG-0784394 present, ma'am," Shirley Erica Golightly, a.k.a. Shego, announced in a monotone voice.

"Good. Have a seat, Shego," the prison guard smiled as Shego took a seat.

"May I ask, ma'am, the reason for this time out of my cell? Have I done something wrong, ma'am?" Shego couldn't figure out why the other prisoners' smiles were as large as they were as she was being escorted from her cell in solitary, through the general populace, to this room. In fact, several had yelled out "Way to go, Shego!" while others had given her a thumbs' up.

"Not at all, Shego," the guard smiled.

"Please, call me Mary, Shego, and I'll call you Shirley, if you'd like," Mary continued, and Shego felt a strain for some reason.

"SHEGO!" She heard a voice she hadn't heard in a long time, and she looked up to see the reason for her current state, wrapped in a strait jacket, being rolled into a room adjacent to hers and visible only through glass.

"He can't hear or see you, Shirley," Mary continued, and Shego realized how old he looked now.

"Shego, have you seen Erik, yet? He should have been back by now."

"He doesn't remember what happened as a result of the Diablos, yet," Mary said as Shego looked into what looked like empty eyes. "He hasn't remembered what happened since he was taken into custody," she added with a sad look in her eyes.

"You have a request from a Dr. Load to have the two of you view a video," and Shego shuddered. She remembered the last time that he was here, and his artificial, motionless, eyes had haunted her dreams for many, many weeks.

Mary turned off the lights, and Shego could see that Dr. D was facing forward to see the large video screen in his room.

She turned to see hers, and she saw logos, rising from the fires of burning buildings; the letters formed up to reveal something she never expected to see again, and something new, as well:

the Team Possible logo, and another logo for a group called BlazeIT! Search and Rescue.

The logos faded, and Shego's nightmare became real:

Sitting in a chair, alone in a darkened room, was Dr. Wade Load, wearing his dark glasses and holding his white cane.

"Good evening, Shirley," he began, and Shego's skin began to crawl.

--

"It's been just over three years since Drakken began his plans to unleash his hell on the planet, and Team Possible stopped you.

"It's time that you two get the full picture of the results of your actions," Wade clicked a remote in his hand, and a screen lit.

"This screen will scroll the list of names of those who died as a result of the Diablos," Wade began, and the first names appeared:

Dr. Ryan Load

Dr. Rachel Nathan Load

Dr. Samuel Clemens (Slim) Possible

Wade froze the screen, and the three names stared unseeing at Shego.

"Recognize those, Shego? My parents, and the older brother of Dr. James Possible: Joss' father, from the 'Crooked D' sitch," Wade smiled, and Shego's skin felt like it was covered in spiders.

Wade hit the button, and the screen began to scroll those names off, and then a new group of names began to appear.

Aaron, Joshua Carlton, age 6

Aaron, Jamie Carla, age 4

Aaron, Jennifer Jamison, age 31

Aaron, James Charles, age 38

'We killed an entire family,' she thought, and she started to realize just how bad things were and how surprised, once again, that Nerdlinger hadn't asked for her to get the death penalty.

"So, Shego, when I got out of the hospital, I went to my parents' gravesite, but I couldn't see it, for some reason," Wade smiled, and Shego would have not have been surprised to see fangs appear.

"Kim, in the meantime, quit her world-saving work, and she even quit the cheerleading team at school. The team wouldn't take her resignation, though, and they put her on leave," Wade added, and Shego looked shocked: Princess had given up world-saving, even cheering?

'Princess took it hard,' she thought, and Wade smiled at the camera, "Yes, Shego, she took it hard, all of it, but she took the death of my parents and my eyes the hardest."

Wade clicked another button, and another screen appeared: this one with an old woman's picture on it.

"This is Esther Possible, Slim and James' mother. She was retired, but she left her retirement home in Florida and went to live in Montana to raise Joss, to give her a chance to be with her friends while she grieved for her father."

Another screen appeared, and two side-by-side pictures of Joss Possible appeared: in the first, one that appeared to be a picture taken a number of years ago, her hair was blowing in the breeze as she flew through the air; in the second, however, was a defeated-looking young woman, standing on crutches, one leg missing and an artificial arm in place on her shoulder, her auburn hair hanging limply on her head, framing equally-sad features.

"This was Joss Possible, Shego: this is what the Diablos did to her." Wade was silent, but Shego watched him shake.

He stopped shaking after several moments, and he clicked the remote. A picture of James Possible appeared, standing at the gravesite of his older brother, his arm around his mother's and his niece's shoulders. Yellow roses covered the fresh earth.

The picture began to move, and Shego heard words that she never wanted to hear:

James Possible, saying: "I'm sorry, Mama, Joss, it's my fault he's dead," and the picture froze.

Another screen activated, and the picture was of Ron, an arm around Kim, and his other around her brothers.

'Those two," Shego thought: 'they look like their dog died,' she grinned.

"But, what you didn't know, Shego," a voice that sounded, strangely, like another, younger Wade came from the shadows to the right of Wade, and a shimmering picture appeared on a new screen that appeared from those shadows, now lit, "was that 'Nerd-linger' had a backup plan in place," the image resolved to a picture of a younger Wade Load, looking like he did before the Diablos sitch.

"Hello, Shego. I'm Wade-A: Wade's avatar, activated after he went off-line with no notice for a pre-determined period. I contacted Ron, and then I contacted these two," and pictures of two girls, one black and one white, popped up on the screen, "and I brought them in to fill in for Kim for a bit.

"Ron had to take the Team Possible lead, and he helped train these two; fortunately for him, they already had some skills he didn't know they had had." At this point, a picture of the dark girl flowed to the front of the screen.

"Monique Jenkins-Terranborne, age 17 at that time. Five feet, four inches tall, intelligent, oh, so pretty," Wade-A started, and Wade cleared his throat. Wade-A turned, looked, and said "sorry," before he continued. "Monique understands Ron better than anyone other than Kim, and sometimes even better than he understands himself: that's the major reason for her involvement in Team Possible. She also knows a thing or two about electronics," Wade-A laughed, "and has a strong biological and chemical background. She's also a follower of GWA (and has been for a few years), and she has seriously mad fashion skills," he finished, and Shego couldn't help but think:

'Even his avatar is a horn-dog,' Shego grinned, and the other picture flew to the forefront.

"Sarah Janine Best, age 17 at that time. Five feet, five inches tall, intelligent, sassy, my next-door neighbor, and now, thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Best, Wade's adopted 'big sister;' not like he never had other ideas," and Wade's throat-clearing covered Shego's full-belly laugh.

"Sarah, at that time, was a second-degree black belt and certified markswoman, and a computer hardware and search engine expert, to boot. I also knew that she and Kim talked about her joining Team Possible, but she declined every time that Kim talked to her about the idea in the six months prior to 'Der Tag.'

"Drew only partially succeeded, Shego," Wade-A grinned. "He took Kim out of the picture, but he put into place Ron, Monique, and Sarah, along with Jim and Tim: other than Ron, individuals that had none of Kim's history in fighting with the other villains. After you and Drew were out of the picture, Dementor and the others were so scared that Kim might come back and 'take them out' that they all went underground. For that," Wade-A laughed, "I thank you. With the assistance of Global Justice, the new members were able to cover, but they had a chance to learn rather than jump into the faster-paced fray."

"Here's what the new Team Possible looked like, two years ago," and a picture of Ron, Sarah, Monique, Jim, and Tim, with Wade sitting in the background, and a 'Team Possible' logo, floating above their head, appeared on the screen.

Shego looked at the girls' outfits, and then framed her hands like a movie camera lens. "I hate to say it, but those two, Sarah and Monique, make those outfits look really, really good: they could make Dr. D's goons drool before they locked them up, and I am sooo jealous of their outfits," she said out loud, looking down at the prison orange.

A tap on her shoulder, and Shego looked up to see a smiling Mary, holding a lunch tray.

"He still remembered what you said, Shego," and Mary lifted the lid to reveal the lunch, and Shego laughed, once again:

A turkey-and-bacon on ciabatta bread ('how long has it been since I've tasted, smelled, or even seen my favorite kind of bread?' she thought), with fried pickle spears, a whole, huge, fresh gherkin on the plate.

Shego picked up the pickle, took a bite, and smiled.

"Now, that's a pickle," she sighed, and she began to devour her lunch.

She hardly noticed that Wade's presentation had stopped , but she did note that the screen with the names continued its march:

Austin, Robert Lyn III, age 65

Baccen, Hans, age 54

Baccen, Gretchen, age 53

Baccen, Sylvia, age 18

--

(not on the planet Earth….)

"They have imprisoned the Great Blue!" Warmonga yelled, and the room fell silent.

"Why?" The First Prime asked her, and she mentally sighed.

"They claim that he did things to cause planet-wide destruction, and that he was not of 'sound mind,'" she laughed.

She stopped the replay and growled.

"Have you fixed that accursed switch, WarJunge?"

"Not yet, Warmonga: the off switch is jammed with some sort of resin, and it will have to be replaced."

"REPLACE IT, THEN!" she shouted.

"I am sorry, Warmonga," he began. "The only replacement for this unit is in the Fleet store-ship, and it's behind us."

"How far behind?" she asked, trying not to scream again.

"A full week, Warmonga," he admitted, and she cut the circuit before she could scream, once again.

"Amateurs, and the son of WarAlte, as well," she slumped in the Admiral's seat. She was leading the Fleet to that planet to bring the Great Blue from captivity, and she didn't care if she had to destroy it to do it.

Her battle-mate, Warhok, was sitting in his seat, behind her and being quiet, as he should be.

It was going well…except for that accursed switch.

She wished, once again, that she had never allowed Warhok to install his accursed switch in the vehicles of the Fleet.

The Fleet was so far behind schedule, having been traveling for over 20 Quahogs (4.5 Earth years) that some were beginning to grumble about the existence of the 'Great Blue.' Three one-way trips to space by certain crew members resolved those questions, and grumbling disappeared.

--

After she finished eating, Shego looked up, and she felt that Wade had been watching her eat.

"Did you enjoy your lunch, Shirley?" he asked with a smile

"I did: thank you for the pickles, by the way. How did you know I liked them fried?" she asked, and Wade laughed.

"I should have known," she mumbled, and he laughed.

"Shirley, remember your time, down South? I almost got you fried green tomatoes instead, but I remembered your comments about pickles, so I got the fried pickles. That's why you've had a fresh batch every week, and different ones, as well," Wade smiled, and Shego realized just how much he had done for her while she was in.

"Thank you," she whispered, and she lowered her head so he couldn't see her tears.

'Why am I doing that? He can't see,' she thought.

"It's 'no big,' Shego," he laughed.

"Anyway, let's continue:

"Dr. Drakken forgot the motto:

"'Anything's possible, for a Possible.'"

Wade smiled.

"Take Dr. James Timothy Possible, whisk in a dash of both distraught daughter and mother, stir in one dead brother, mix in a niece who has lost an arm and a leg, drop in two twin sons that are just as bright has their father and as stubborn as their sister, add a 'heapin' helpin'" and Shego heard giggles from Joss, "of a co-worker who has taken advanced cyber-robotics to a level unheard of, stir for 30 months on a simmer, and," Wade laughed, "well, you get this," and Wade showed:

A picture of Kim, in her first mission, back in her battle suit, working with Ron. 'Wow, Princess got better-looking with age,' Shego thought.

A picture of Joss Possible, wearing a prosthetic arm and leg and smiling proudly.

A picture of Sarah and Monique, marching Camille Leon and her henchmen off to the police wagon, and

A picture of James Possible, a woman that had to be his wife, his sons, Kim, his mother, Sarah, Monique, several others, all sitting around a big table at Christmas, celebrating.

'I wonder…' Shego started to ask herself, but her train of thought was interrupted by Wade.

"I'll bet you're asking: 'What happened,'" Wade smiled rhetorically.

"Hephaestus-2, the second generation of the material that Drakken stole," Wade answered his own question. "James asked himself what he could do, Kim asked him if he could help Joss, and Jim and Tim went to Dr. Vivian Porter, noted cyber-robotocist and...well, let's just say they hit four home runs, Shego."

The names continued to scroll:

Charles, Charlene Burroughs, age 55

Charleston, Jonathan III, age 13

Cimmaron, Hector Guzman, age 45

Cimmaron, Lupe Valdez, age 44

Cimarron, Hector Guzman, Jr., age 17

Cimarron, Hermione, age 17

Cimarron, Juanita Lucielle, age 14

Cimarron, Jasmine Serena, age 13

"So, Shego, I'd like for you to meet someone very dear to me:

"My fiancée, Miss Andrea Jocelyn Possible," and Joss came walking in as Wade stood.

'She looks like nothing happened to her, except for those seams on her arm and on her leg...whoa, she's showing an awful lot of leg for a young girl," she thought, but those thoughts disappeared as Wade literally enveloped her in a passionate kiss.

When Wade's lips let go, Joss turned to face the camera and smiled.

"Hello, Shego," Joss said, and she sounded so much like Princess when she said that line that Shego had to do a double-take. 'I guess she's not that young, anymore,' Shego thought when she looked her over.

"You're really gonna love this," Joss said, and her artificial leg turned flesh-and-blood, followed by the arm. The seams disappeared.

Shego sat back in her chair, totally in shock.

"You like?" Joss grinned. "Thank the Tweebs: they cajoled Dr. Porter into working with them on Uncle Jim's Hephaestus-2 formula, and they gave me a Christmas present nine months ago."

"I think it was a fair trade, Joss," a male voice came from off the screen, and the twin Possible boys came in ('wow, young men, now,' Shego thought), each cradling a young woman. "After all, you gave us Jennifer and Becky for Christmas," Jim continued,

"And we couldn't say no when they asked us to marry them, so..." Tim concluded with a smile, and Shego laughed.

"Hello, Shego," Monique and Sarah came in, each with a young man on their arm. "Thanks to you," Monique continued, "we're both engaged, too, but only after a rough 24 months," she smiled a smile that told Shego that she never wanted to meet her in a dark alley.

"Shego, it's 'Princess' and her 'Prince'," came a familiar voice, and Kim came in with her arm wrapped around Ron Stoppable's waist. Kim and Ron both wore battle suits.

"It's about time," Shego laughed, and Kim laughed with her.

"You're right, Shego, but I had a lot of demons to slay, and my father and brothers and friends helped me slay them all." Kim smiled. "And, someone stood by me and my dreams and nightmares the entire time, and now we're engaged to be married after college," Kim held up the ring.

"Now, that girl has some serious bling on her hand," Shego laughed, but then she thought:

'If 'anything's Possible, for a Possible,' what about young Possibles,' Shego asked herself as Wade placed his cane in Joss' hands and reached, with both hands, for his glasses...

--

"INCOMING WORMHOLE!" Sergeant Walter Harriman called out.

"ID?"

"Yes: it's Colonel Carter's code."

"Open the Iris," and the Iris opened on the StarGate in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, and United States Air Force Colonel Samantha Carter stepped onto the platform wearing a crisp dress uniform, belying the fact that she had just completed a multi-light-year trip.

"Stand down," and the troops in the Gate Room lowered their weapons and saluted. Sam returned their salute, adjusting the briefcase strap on her shoulder as the blast door opened.

"General O'Neill," Sam saluted, and Jack returned her salute.

"Sam, I," Jack started, but he turned away. But, before he turned away, Sam noticed that his eyes were red.

'Jack, crying?'

"Let's go," he motioned, and the two headed for the base commander's office.

"Sam," Major General Hank Landry stood as Sam entered, and she saluted.

'He looks tired...no, exhausted,' she thought as he returned her salute and motioned for her to take a seat.

"Did Jack tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"I'm dying, Sam," Hank laughed, and Sam had a flashback to her father saying the same thing.

"WHA-" she began, but he waved her silent.

"Well, not completely: I do have this minor problem of an inoperable brain aneurism, but the Jaffa have assured me that a symbiote host can cure it. Of course, the President, NSC, and the Joint Chiefs, for some reason, don't take kindly to aliens running the StarGate program, so I'm stepping down, effective in six months, so I can help train my replacement in the meantime: well, so Jack and I can, that is," he smiled.

"Besides, I've found a better job," Jack smiled, and Sam turned with a look of horror on her face.

"Sir, you're leaving DHS and the program?"

"Not so much leaving, as he's dragging it, kicking and screaming with him," a very familiar contralto voice, and Sam smiled: only one person that she knew had that voice and had that edge, 'and could get that look on both Jack's and Hank's faces:'

"Betts, what in the world are you doing here?" Sam stood and saluted the commander of Global Justice, and Dr. Elizabeth Director returned the salute of her friend from college and then, totally out of character, hugged Sam.

"Stealing your old boss away from DHS," Betty replied, and Jack smiled.

"I can't believe it!"

"Believe it," Jack replied.

"He's the new Global Justice Commander of all Planetary and Space Forces," Betty smiled. "'The Very Model, of a Modern Major-General,' as it were," she laughed as she sang, and Jack grinned

"But, why?"

"Drakken's Diablos attack," Betty began, "forced several countries to admit that they could not respond, individually, to a threat of this magnitude. The members of the governing committee liked the responses of Global Justice to the 'event' and the aftermath, and they asked if there could be some synergies between GJ and the StarGate organization.

"Of course, I agreed that they were possible," Betty grinned, "but only if they were under my command," she smirked, "and they all agreed."

"Just goes to show that they all have short memories," a male voice came from the door, and everyone turned to face:

"Dr. Adams!" Sam shouted as she jumped up and hugged the Global Justice CMO (Chief Medical Officer). "Thank you, again, for helping my dad when he was so sick," she whispered into his ear.

"My pleasure, Colonel," Dr. C. P. N. Adams replied as he released her. "I heard that you were back on-planet," he added.

"But, why?" Sam added as she sat back down and resumed the conversation..

"Well, we need a new commander for StarGate, and..." Betty smiled, and Sam stared at her as if she had been taken over by the Ori.

"Who did you have in mind?" Sam asked, and the heads of Jack, Hank, and C. P. all followed Betty's head and stared at her with knowing grins.

"no," she whispered.

"No," she said in a louder voice.

"NO!" Sam shouted, and Jack laughed at her.

"I'm not ready!" she shouted once again, and Hank started laughing along with C. P. and Betty.

"Besides, my move was predicated on you taking the position, Sam," Jack added, and Sam glared at him.

"Why?"

"Permission to answer the question, ma'am." Jack stood and saluted Betty.

"Permission granted, Jack," Betty responded, and Jack turned and walked over to Sam, pulling her to her feet and staring into her eyes.

"Permission to court the Colonel, ma'am?" Jack asked.

"KISS THE GIRL!" was the yell from the room, and Jack moved in.

C. P. started the timer on his watch when the lips joined, and Sam didn't complain.

When they separated, Jack smiled.

"Now, you know why I had to leave the Air Force and DHS, but it was most definitely worth it," Jack started, but Sam grabbed his head and pulled him back in to her for round 2.

C. P. didn't time this round.

--

Shego watched as Wade removed his glasses, and his artificial eyes stared at her, unseeing: the eyes of Shego's nightmares for several months.

"And, now, for something completely different," Wade said with a laugh, and Shego saw the dead come to life.

"You like?" Wade smiled, and Shego's stomach did the Flippies, and the pickles inside her couldn't decide if they should stay down or make a return engagement.

They stayed down, this time.

"I didn't know when I came to visit you the first time, Shego, but Jim and Tim had already started the research to allow the interface between inorganic and organic; the side 'benefit,' if you will, is that both Joss and I can change, at will.

"I was serious, though, when I told you that Team Possible would be back.

"I didn't know at the time that a new team would be joining them: BLAZEIT! SEARCH and RESCUE, a team dedicated to helping people in need, no matter the sitch: now, Team Possible can concentrate on the evils of the world, while BLAZEIT! concentrates on the natural disasters.

"The double-S shadow that you see behind the BLAZEIT! logo is not for the Seniors," Wade laughed, "but to honor Joss' parents: Sheri Nicole Possible, and Samuel Clemens Possible.

"I couldn't write this story any better, Shego," Wade finished as he reached over and took Joss' hand in his, lifting it to his lips and gently brushing it. "I never could, in my wildest dreams, have imagined things turning out this way, or this well."

"As well as they could be if one has lost both of his parents," Joss spoke. "Shego, you haven't seen what has been happening out here, but you need to," and Joss reached over and grabbed a remote. Flicking it on, the screen in front of Shego was suddenly filled with images of funerals from around the world and a montage of the massive property destruction that had taken place.

"Now, to be fair to you, Shego, the funds that you 'donated' have helped to replace a portion of the properties destroyed, but there are some things that can never be replaced: for example, a full collection of Renoirs and Gogans, and an original of the Declaration of Independence, just to name a few items."

"People don't want to kill you any more," Kim said, "especially me."

"Trust me, Shego," Sarah spoke, "when she first heard what had happened to Wade and his parents, it was all that Ron and I could do to keep her from finding you both and killing you."

"But, I'm much better now, Shego: I don't hate you, anymore," Kim added as she squeezed Ron's hand.

"I don't hate you, either, Shego, even though you used to punch and kick me on a regular basis," Ron laughed, and Shego laughed along with him

"Never again," she whispered, a bit louder than she thought she did, and Ron nodded approvingly.

"Good, because I still think I have some of those bruises, but at least the cracked ribs are healing, and the skull fracture is much better, now," he joked.

'Ouch,' was Shego's thought.

"RON!" Kim said, and Ron smiled: he would never tire of hearing her speak his name, no matter how she did it, and he leaned over and kissed her on the lips.

"But, wait: that's not all!" Wade announced, and everyone looked at him, perplexed.

"There's one more item, Shego, that even Kim hasn't seen: in fact, no one except my beloved has seen it, and she's only seen the prototypes," Wade added.

"And, that's because I threatened to cut him off after our wedding night for 12 months," Joss laughed, and all of the guys squirmed in pain and understanding.

'They are in love,' Shego thought.

"You saw the opening, Shego: like a phoenix, Team Possible rose from the ashes of almost total destruction, and BLAZEIT! did, as well. Well," he smiled, and he hit the lights...

--

"The planet is ripe for plunder: they are despondent, defeated, and broken," WarJunge laughed.

"One should never underestimate one's enemies, WarJunge: that is what we taught our last five enemies, all now totally annihilated," came from a very subdued Warhok.

--

Two people both looked at Betty Director and had the same two thoughts:

'She's so lonely,'

And

'I know just the person for her.'

Neither of them learned the plans of the other for over a year...

--

Shego watched as Wade picked up the remote and pressed a sequence of buttons. The curtain in the background started to lift and, as it lifted, it revealed...

"Oh, snap," Shego said, and Mary laughed and applauded.

"Shego, let me introduce you to a couple of 'little projects' that I came up with; well, with 'a little help from my friends,'" Wade said with a grin that Shego knew, inside, would light up every light in Go City east to the Atlantic Ocean.

Behind the curtain were what looked like two planes...at first; but, after looking a little harder, Shego could tell there was more to them than met the eye. Both appeared to be approximately four times the size of the Go Jet, and they had what appeared to be a hybrid delta wing configuration. 'It looks like the designers of this craft had access to too much information on the SR-71from a past life,' Shego thought, 'but whatever they knew or got their hands on, they improved upon.'

What looked like the engine intake ports started forward of the wings on the fuselage, behind the forward hatch, and seemed to continue down what she could see of the plane. Another hatch was located further down the fuselage, past the center of the wing. The tail started its rise about at the middle of the fuselage and gracefully curved up.

Shego could also see openings that she guessed had to be maneuvering thrusters in the nose and tail sections, but she could also see some of the same types of barely-concealed port openings that peppered the entire length of the craft and did the same on the wing edges that were visible to her, so she could not be totally sure of their purpose.

Additionally, the nose wing and rear wing edges that she could see also housed more of the same type of ports, and these typed did not appear to be stationary. Shego could also see something like them below the tail structure. The locations made her think of some type of weapons ports, but 'this was Team Possible, and they didn't use weapons like that,' she thought. That was the past, though, and maybe they were just what she thought they were…

The planes were painted identically: the upper part was a combination of brown, green and black that gave it a mottled look. The bottom that she could see seemed to be painted in a sky-blue color with white mixed in. The line was blurred between the upper and lower halves of the crafts...

'That scheme would make both craft hard to see in flight, both from above or below,' Shego thought to herself.

"This Shego, is the newest use for the Hephaestus-3 technology: self-healing air- and spacecraft skin." Wade informed her as he looked at the camera. "Or as I thought of it, "Flying mayhem, pure and simple.""

'Looks like I've not totally lost my touch,' Shego thought to herself. 'I was right that those openings looked like maneuvering thrusters spaced along the fuselage and on the nose and tail sections.

"This is," Wade walked over to the craft on the right and reaching up pulled off the paper covering the tail, revealing its name painted over the Team Possible logo, "the Phoenix-1 space/airborne attack craft. Just like the bird, and us, it rose from the ashes."

Then, Wade walked to the nose of the craft, motioned to Joss to come over to him, and placed her hand on the paper. She pulled, and paper came off; it had blended in so well that Shego had failed to notice it.

"This one is the 'Slim-One', Sweet Tea, and the other one back here is one of its sister ships," (Wade walked over to the second craft nose and removed the paper), "the 'Sheri-One,' named for your dad and mom," and Shego would have sworn that she heard muffled soba from Joss. "I promised them, both, that I would protect you with my life, my love, and this is my down-payment on that promise. They both do Mach 7, easy, in the atmosphere, but we haven't confirmed their top speeds outside of the atmosphere or with the new Kepler-4 drives."

Wade was going to continue, but he was suddenly and ferociously attacked by twin auburn-headed bullets, followed by twin males.

"Well, Shego, as you can tell, Wade's going to be a bit pre-occupied for a bit," Ron laughed, "so, as the de-facto co-leader of Team Possible, do you have any questions?"

"Why?" she asked. "Why did you tell me all this, show me all this?"

"Because, Shego, you deserve to know the truth," Sarah spoke up.

"You always told 'Princess,'" Monique laughed, "that you were evil. Evil wouldn't have given away all her money, even if she was in prison for life, and evil wouldn't have been, and still be, crying whenever you look at that list of names.

"I believe in you, Shego," Kim had broken from their 'Load'ed' assault and returned to be with Ron. "I believe that, when the chips are down, you'll come through."

"Just, not my Chips," Sarah laughed, and her young man punched her shoulder and laughed.

"Heck, maybe even Dr. D will, too, or at least come back,"

Ron laughed, and Wade came forward, two shades of lipstick prints covering his face.

Shego couldn't help but laugh.

"If you can still laugh after all you've been through, Shego, then there's still hope for you," Wade said, and the lights and monitors all went out...

All, that is, except the names list:

Morton, James, age 93

Morton, Jamie Lynn, age 91

Morton, James Jr., age 60

Morton, Toni, age 57

Morton, James III, age 35

Morton, Sandra Dee, age 36

Morton, James IV, age 5

--

"Well. Samantha Carter, may I see you, socially?" Jack asked.

'He looks sooo like a lost puppy, and I never...stop it, Samantha! You know you did, and more than once, too!'

"Yes, you may," she smiled and fluttered her eyelashes, and Betty laughed.

"You took waaaaay too many lessons from Sheri Nicole, Sam.

"Besides, Sam, if you can pry yourself away from General Hunk," Betty laughed, and Jack winced "I have something very important to talk to you about," she added and patted her briefcase on the table.

"What might that be, Betts?"

"Your next StarGate Commander, for one, and quite probably the biggest surprise to you and everyone else.

"Dr. McKay?" and Betty shook her head and smiled, and Sam became frightened.

"NOT WILL DU!?" Sam yelled, and the room became sound-absorbent.

"Gee, Sam, I didn't think you had it in you," Betty smiled.

"Yeah, right," Sam stood and began to pontificate:

"I give you a name, Ladies and Gentlemen, which can strike fear into the hearts of all that know him and even those who don't: the self-proclaimed 'terror of Global Justice,' the man who puts the "A" in PITA," C. P. and Jack both roared at that line, "I give you the Global 'PITA from Juanita:'

"WILL

"DU!" and she took her bows as the group applauded.

"No; in fact, I was thinking of him as your replacement on Atlantis," Betty smiled, and Sam groaned. "You don't know the new 'Du,' Sam: spending all that time with Dr. Load and helping in the recovery has changed him, a lot," Betty added.

"As a matter of fact, Sam, I was thinking of him as your replacement on Atlantis," Betty smiled, and Sam groaned.

"I have someone much better," Betty smiled and pulled the folder from her briefcase and tossed it to Sam's open hands.

Sam looked at the folder tab, broke the security seal, and opened it to a picture that she recognized.

She looked up at Betty and smiled.

"Is this person interested?"

"I believe so, yes, with the right motivation."

"Let's talk, then."

"Let's. When?"

"Now."

--

Shego was in the room, as was Dr. Drakken, for a total of more than 6 hours, until the final name scrolled off the screen and the logos reappeared.

They were taken back to their cells.

Within minutes of her return to her cell, the guard brought her evening meal, and the guard was smiling.

Shego looked at the tray, and she understood why:

There was real meat: granted, it wasn't tenderloin, but real meat was real meat.

And, in the corner, was a scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Shego almost didn't give the guard a chance to leave the cell before she had devoured half of the tray.

'I wonder what the celebration is,' she thought as she stopped for a moment to look at the remaining food before she continued to eat.

When Shego finished her ice cream, she found a small note folded underneath it.

She unfolded the paper and began to read:

"Dear Shirley," the note began,

"You can thank Kim for the meal, but you have to thank Sarah for the ice cream: she did the mad research and found your favorite kind.

"We believe in you, Shego, and they all meant it when they said that they didn't hate you, anymore.

"And, I don't hate you…but, then again, I never did: my parents taught me to hate the action, not the person. You would have liked Mama: she had a lot of your spirit…just none of the green," Shego laughed.

"We made sure that the prison got a food upgrade: whether the Warden told anyone why, we don't know, but if you're getting a lot of smiles, now you'll know why.

"Dr. Wade Load."

The paper now had four large wet spots on it…from falling tears.

Shego couldn't sleep.

Shego cried, for most of the next two days and nights, for the ones who had died as well as for those who remained and mourned.

Shego wept.

She had begun to change.

--

The Fleet continued its trip to Earth, confident that they would decimate the planet and acquire the Great Blue and his Green Battle-Mate.

--

Betty thought for a moment as she closed the folder, placed it back on her desk in the guest facilities, and leaned back in her chair: then, she burst out laughing, long and hard, at one singular thought:

'Dr. McKay, meet Dr. Load.

"THAT should be a cornucopia of multiple decades over light-years' worth of disturbing events,' she giggled as she opened the next folder in the stack.

'It's going to be a long night,' she thought, then grinned:

"The more things change, the more they stay the same," and she looked at pictures of the Prometheus and Sam-One, side by side.

--

Author's Afterward

For a short story that started as a response to an old joke, this has exploded…and it was a good explosion.

I have several individuals to whom I owe thanks:

Star-eva01: for his wonderful beta work, willingness to put up with my questions about his beta, and ideas that have worked their way into the series in ways that have only enhanced the telling of the story…and, let's not forget reviews that sometimes, made me laugh so hard that it scared the cats away.

ja and kt: for believing in me, for the wonderful comments, reviews, and countless conversations about ideas. Their work with Sarah in their series provided some ideas that carried over into this 'verse. To kt, especially, for bringing Dr. Adams to life (even if it was payback!): thank you, my adopted Goddaughter.

To Akinyi: for her continued support of me and my writing, and for her encouragement when I was at my lowest points, telling me I would make it. Thank you, my adopted Goddaughter, and to both you and kt: the book is on the way.

To King in Yellow and MrDrP: for the challenges that you two continue to place in my lap that make my think deeper than I had planned. That additional thought has turned that short story into a 'verse that now includes a crossover and has expanded to a depth that I had never imagined. As a result, I have grown as a writer, as well. Thank you, gentlemen: you two are both inspirations to KP writers 'out there, in here.'

The reviewers and those who took the time to send PMs and emails to me: thank you for taking the time to do so. I hope that I provided you with some understanding of where I am going and that I answered your questions.

To my readers: thank you. The continued growth in hits tells me that this is not a one-time read.

Thank you, to all of you, for continuing to support me in this journey.

--

Thanks to the newest creatures, plot squirrels, that have assumed lodging in my trees in the yard and have been trying to get construction permits to add onto my house, Define, Hell will continue.

In case you hadn't noticed, there are a few new actors involved, thanks to the StarGate SG-1 and StarGate: Atlantis shows.

Next, on Define, Hell V (or, Define, Hell, IIIII): Graduation Surprises

Thanks again for reading, and please review.

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