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: Legacies

By LJ58

I

"Just get him, and all the others off the station," Kim told Ron as they stood over an unconscious Dr. Drakken. "I'll get to C-N-C, and plug Wade into the systems so he can stop the countdown that lunatic started."

"Maybe I should wait for you," Ron asked uneasily. "What if Shego…..?"

"Knowing her, she was in the first escape pod to leave this dump," she told him as the standard Henchco space lair's superstructure now attached to a NATO satellite defenses platform groaned audibly, starting to come apart after the fight they had had with Drakken and Shego after they managed to get on board to free the hostages taken from the ISS, and the military platform now attached to the lair like a bad patchwork addition.

The addition Drakken co-opted when he attached his lair to the missile platform had twenty armed nuclear missiles he intended to use to blackmail the planet into bowing to him. It seemed as if his schemes just got crazier and more dangerous as he went along. This was no exception.

"I can still wait….."

"Go, Ron. You're the only one that fly the pod down with the others still out cold, and I doubt we want him getting away again," she said as she scowled at the bound and gagged felon just starting to come around.

"Just be careful," he told her.

"Always," she smiled, and they shared a brief kiss.

"Now, get those people out of here," she snapped. "The clock is ticking," she reminded him, and turned and raced to the platform's primary controls.

"You can count on me, KP," he shouted after her as he began to drag the semiconscious madman toward the escape pod where five unconscious scientists were already stashed.

Kim knew the countdown was getting close. Thirty minutes had already passed since they broke into the lair, and found the failsafe overrides on the stolen missiles had already kicked in when the madman tampered with them in his desperation. Unfortunately, the emergency launch program some ambitious general had insisted on also started the arming sequence. It was their way of ensuring no one tampered with their missiles, since any tinkering would automatically launch the warheads to prearranged targets. The countdown had started the moment Drakken had tried to tap the control systems on board the platform. If she didn't do something, that meant twenty warheads were going to be launching at the planet below, and effectively ending life as they knew it.

She couldn't allow that to happen.

"Okay, Wade, I'm….. Shego!" she hissed, spotting the green-skinned woman in a flightsuit frantically pounding on a console in frustration.

"Princess," she turned to stare at her, and for once, she wasn't looking snide, or sarcastic. "Thank God. Dr. D did….something. These things are about to launch, and I can't stop them," she said, looking genuinely concerned as she tried to work the console before her.

"It wasn't him this time," she told her, warily approaching her. "At least, not completely. These things were built with special fail-safes to keep anyone else from trying to use them. The minute you two tried to reprogram them, the countdowns on all twenty warheads started."

Shego looked genuinely ill. "Tell me you and your Nerdlinger can stop it," she demanded.

"It's why I'm here," she said confidently, and plugged the Kimmunicator into the main console. "Wade, are you there?"

"Right here, Kim," the boy told her as he began working his technological magic. "I'm sending the abort codes now. But….. Uh-oh."

"What uh-oh? Don't say uh-oh. I hate uh-oh," Shego almost ranted herself just then.

"Kim, I can shut down the arming sequence and navigational systems, but it won't stop the missiles' engine ignition programs. There's a short in the drive systems due to the shoddy patchwork, and there's no way to prevent their launching," he told her grimly. "Unfortunately….."

"If they do launch, then their onboard guidance systems reboot," Shego realized.

"Yeah," the anxious face nodded on the small, digital screen.

"Options, Wade," Kim asked. "Surely you've got some ideas?"

"One. But it's risky."

"That's me. Risk with the big R," Kim agreed. "Spill it."

"We short out the docking clamps, keeping the missiles locked to the platform, and then use the propulsion systems to launch them with the entire platform away from the planet."

"Sounds doable," Shego agreed.

"Yes. What do we do," Kim asked.

"I'm already doing it, Kim. There's just one catch. The onboard guidance systems are all fried, too. Those missiles could still go anywhere unless someone is actually on the platform...manually directing their flight path."

"It's never easy with you," Shego joked grimly.

"What's the safety margin, Wade," Kim asked.

"Kim. There is none. Whoever pilots the platform…..is going to die," he told her, looking genuinely pale just then as his face filled one of the nearby monitors.

Kim paled as she looked from her friend on the monitor to Shego. "Get out of here," she told the older woman.

"What? You cannot be serious…..?"

"You can still escape. I'll launch the platform by starting the maneuvering thrusters now ahead of the countdown. That should burn out any fuel reserves, and maybe give me some extra time. Maybe enough time to get away before the warheads detonate."

"It might work," Wade agreed after a long look between the two women. "But your window is narrowing fast, KP."

"Go," Kim told her when Shego still hesitated. "I'll aim this heap for open space, and probably still beat you down," she smiled tautly.

Shego turned, and disappeared through the hatch without hesitation.

"I'm starting the platform's main thrusters, Wade," Kim said as much for Shego's sake as reporting to Wade. "Just tell me this idea actually has a chance," she turned to address only the latter, having switched off the intercoms by then.

"I wish I could, Kim," Wade told her grimly as she worked at the controls where she sat. "But Drakken has screwed up so much of the platform's primary command codes, I'm having trouble deciphering all his changes. You're lucky to still have life support."

"Typical," she sighed. "I think that man must have been born with a self-destruct switch of his own."

"All the escape pods are away, Kim," Wade reported as the entire platform began to shake as the powerful on-board thrusters began to fire. "And shuttles are outbound from the ISS to pick them up. I'm overriding the fail-safes on the missile propulsion systems now. Their thrust should add to your speed, and put a safe distance between the planet and any detonation if you hold your projected course for at least…..nine minutes."

"Time to detonation?"

"Eleven minutes," Wade reported grimly over the sounds of creaking, protesting squeals of twisting, straining metal.

"I know I said I can do anything, Wade," she joked grimly. "But that's pushing it even for me."

"I could still try to take over once you're underway. It's just….."

"Too many variables," Kim agreed. "For all our sakes, I'd better drive," she said tautly, feeling the platform start to really shake as one missile after another began to fire powerful thrusters now. Those rockets were now adding to her speed as the bulky defense station began to pull away from the planet that had birthed her.

"Kim….."

"Tell Ron…. Just tell Ron….."

"I understand, Kim," Wade responded quietly as they both watched her course, and the time ticking down.

"Why'd you lie to me, Princess," a soft voice rasped as the timer continued to tick off precious minutes as she kept both hands on the badly jerking stick that kept the bulky platform on course away from the planet, and headed directly into deep space.

Kim spun around in her seat, felt the helm try to jerk in her hand through the stick, and turned back to fight it even as Shego walked up behind her.

"You should have left, Shego," she said quietly. "This was my decision," she said tightly.

"You think I could live with myself knowing I had abandoned you on a suicide mission," she snapped back. "I might not be the hero any longer, but even I couldn't live with myself if I let you do this. Give me the stick, Kimmie. You can still get out of here."

Kim glanced at the console. Six minutes to detonation. "It's four minutes back down the corridor to the closest pod. If it's still there, and if it will launch with everything else shorting out after the launch. We both know even I wouldn't make it."

"Damn it, Pumpkin," Shego hissed, fists clenched impotently.

"I know. This sucks."

"I…. I wish I could have saved you," Shego said abruptly, walking up behind her chair as the station continued to shudder and hum with the powerful rockets forcing it to speeds it was never meant to achieve.

"I tried to save you, you stupid woman," Kim told her with a choked cry, looking back at her with tears in her eyes.

"Kimmie…"

"I want you to know," Kim cut her off. "Even when I was furious with you.… I always respected you. Admired you. Sometimes….. I wanted to be you."

Shego laughed bitterly at that. "You don't want that, Kimmie. You're everyone's golden girl. I'm just….."

"You're a willful, sarcastic, and very often irritating pest. And…..I think I've always loved you," Kim blurted out impulsively.

Shego put a hand on her left shoulder, and Kim impulsively reached up and took it with one hand.

"I've always liked you, too, Pumpkin," the older woman told her honestly. "A lot. Life would have really been dreary without you along for the ride." "Shego," she said, feeling the stuttering fade of the rockets' boosters, knowing time was fast ticking down for both of them. The inertia kept them moving, now all but tumbling as systems began to fail, and the creaking station around them howled with alerts and vain warnings.

"Kimberly," Shego murmured quietly, tightening her grip on that small hand.

"I don't want to die," Kim admitted in a choked confession as Shego embraced her from behind.

"I know, Kimmie. I….."

And the world went white.

To Be Continued….