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Revelations of Destiny	By : Kellendros Category: Kim Possible > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 63461 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Kim Possible, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 40
- 41
- 42
The day sped by quickly for Kim; first a half-day of school that consisted of nothing much other than getting her report card, breaking down the communications PC in her locker to take home, and more or less hanging out with her friends and talking about the prom, followed by an afternoon at the mall with Ron, Monique, Eric, and Tara to do some last minute shopping for that selfsame prom.

It turned out the reason Tara had called her last night was that she’d been thinking of getting her hair cut short for the prom, and she wanted everyone’s opinion on the radical change. However, that was overshadowed by the bad news Tara brought with her to the mall, putting the girl in tears over it. Last night Josh Mankey had gotten into a minor car accident—which wasn’t that bad since there were no injuries… but what was bad was the point twelve percent blood alcohol level they tested him at, and the three joints the police found in his car afterwards. Between the drunk driving and the drugs—which Josh had steadfastly denied were his or knowing how they got there—Josh’s parents had gone supernova, grounding him until they decided whether or not to ship him off to a summer “boot camp” for delinquent teens, and leaving Tara with no date for the prom and potentially no boyfriend at all for the rest of the summer.

It took everyone some time—and considerable effort—to calm the girl down, and at one point Ron took Kim aside to ask her what she thought about him offering to take Tara to the prom—just so she’d have someone to go with—since he was worried about how it would look to both Tara and Zita; he didn’t want to come off as some sort of two-timing, opportunistic jackass after all. Before he could figure it out and make up his mind however, Eric beat him to the punch, offering to take Tara since “His plans had fallen through.”

Kim had felt a little stab of guilt over that, but there was nothing she could do really. Despite Eric being such a great guy, Kim just didn’t have any attraction to him whatsoever other than platonic friendship.

After Tara had calmed down and cheered up a little, the group had spent about four hours having a late lunch and shopping before everyone drifted off one by one to have supper and start getting ready for the prom. Ron was the last to go, walking Kim back to her house before finally heading home to get ready himself—and running a little late actually with the delay, though not quite enough to put him into full panic mode.

After Ron left, Kim had gone inside and gotten a light snack, just to take the edge off her hunger, and then spent a last few minutes making absolutely sure she was happy with the outfit she had, with considerable dithering and difficulty, finally managed to put together for the evening. Once she was, Kim packed away everything she couldn’t wear while driving her motorcycle in the sack-purse she was forced to use, planning on changing once she got where she was going—which also happened to be the excuse she used with her parents when they asked why she was leaving so early, given the prom was only starting at eight o’clock. That brought her to where she was now; carefully maneuvering her big bike down a nearly claustrophobic alley deep in the heart of Lowerton’s Chinatown, about to make the last tight turn into the area Shego had said to meet her at.

Easing her bike through the gap, Kim slowly glided to a stop in the center of a thankfully much wider back street, turning off her engine and flipping the kickstand down before she stood up and took off her helmet. As she shook out her hair and then scanned the alley, Shego seemed to materialize from out of nowhere—though Kim was willing to bet it had really been from a shadowy depression near where the pale woman now stood.

Pausing a moment, Kim studied Shego with fascination. The woman was wearing a snug, tightly knit dark green sweater that had a regular pattern of vertical piping worked into it, with a modest oval cutout just above her well-shaped breasts, and a high collar that was done up with a single large onyx and gold button at the front of her throat. The sweater only came down to just above the start of Shego’s waist, leaving her bellybutton and a good six inches of her now exquisitely sculpted abs exposed, though they were slightly covered at the sides by the open, short black jacket she wore over the top of it.

Kim blinked, realizing she’d been fixated on Shego’s stomach, and broadened her observation, taking in the fluffy white ermine trim on the loose cuffs and long, raised collar of the jacket, as well as noticing the intricate pattern of swirling curlicues subtly embroidered across it in barely discernible dark green thread. As Shego approached, Kim found herself fixating again; this time on the movement of her swaying hips—or rather the fact that her black cotton pants were painted on so tightly from gold-buckled, green-belted waist to knee that Kim imagined she could see the play of muscle in Shego’s curvaceous thighs as she walked.

It wasn’t until Shego came to a stop a few feet away that Kim finally noticed the blousy, flaring bottoms of her pants as they swirled around the green leather shoes encasing Shego’s feet—suede and with a heavy three-inch heel. It took Shego snapping her fingers a few times to get Kim’s attention before she caught the carved jade bracelets around her wrists and the intricate—and surprisingly girly-looking—green and black woven suede purse she carried as well.

“Yo; eyes up here Possible.” The smile curling Shego’s black-painted lips clarified her dry, irritated tone as teasing.

“Hmm, wha?” Kim gave her head a little shake and looked up to find Shego smiling at her wryly—and perhaps, just perhaps, a little pleased as well. A second later Kim’s eyes narrowed slightly and she stepped off her bike while grumbling; “You are an evil, evil woman…”

After a second’s pause, Shego grinned in amusement and answered; “Mmyes, yes I am. Very much so.” A second later she added; “But just out of curiosity, what exactly is the source of this particular declaration of evil?”

“You know damn well it’s practically impossible to dress any kind of ‘up’ if you’re riding a motorcycle and you don’t know if ‘club chic’ will work where you’re going or not. It took me forever to figure out something that worked and that I could get here with!”

Shego just stared at Kim blankly for a minute, then snorted and responded; “Y’know Princess, there are these things called ‘taxicabs’ in most parts of the world, which are vehicles you can hire to take you places you want to go. Maybe if someone hadn’t of overlooked the obvious, someone wouldn’t be blaming others for the problems she’s created for herself, now would she?”

Kim felt a hot rush of anger and embarrassment flood through her at Shego’s mocking comment, coloring her cheeks, but mocking or not, it didn’t change the fact that she was right; Kim had gotten too wrapped up in her first take on the situation, causing her to overlook options she might have thought of otherwise.

“Well… I… you…” Kim sputtered before venting a muted cry of annoyance. “All right, fine, whatever.” Kim grumbled. “Just turn around and keep a lookout while I change clothes here.”

“Whatever you say Kimmie.” Shego smirked, taking a step back and turning around, assuming a casual stance with her arms crossed and one hip slightly cocked to the side.

Despite being less than happy with her right now, that didn’t stop Kim from finally noticing that Shego was wearing her hair pulled back at the top and above her ears, held in place by a large, round, gold and emerald clasp in back and falling from it in a narrow, tight braid that had a small gold band clamping it off just before the tip exploded into a lion’s tail tuft. It also didn’t stop her from appreciating the enthralling lines of Shego’s now sublimely tight, curvy butt that could be made out through the thinner shroud of unbound hair that still remained over it.

Kim shook her head sharply and shifted her concentration to the matter at hand, quickly hanging her helmet off one handlebar while dangling her huge purse from the other. In no time at all she’d taken off her light jacket, loose jeans, and sneakers, swapping them for the clothes inside her purse before taking out a hairbrush and spending a few minutes getting her hair done up right. In what was actually a surprisingly short amount of time, all things considered, Kim had everything packed away and was finished changing.

“All right, I’m ready.” Kim announced, with only a hint of irritation—and hesitation.

As Shego turned around and gave Kim an appraising look, a gleam of silver drew Kim’s eyes to the small, diamond-shaped platinum lozenges capping Shego’s earlobes, and she concentrated on studying the series of thin wedges dangling from them like miniature wind chimes in order to take her mind off the other woman’s stare—despite the fact that her outfit was at least in the same league as Shego’s style-wise, Kim knew it was decidedly on the plain, low-rent side of things when compared to the high-class quality of Shego’s clothes and accessories.

Kim had gone with her midnight green velvet sweater with the three-quarter sleeves and teal cuffs, a loose black knee-length pleated skirt, and a scarlet sash belt with gold thread embroidery and a golden hoop buckle for a splash of color. Sheer black nylon stockings covered her shapely calves, which were further accentuated by the climbing, crisscrossing straps and modest three-inch heel of her black leather shoes. She’d done up her hair in a high ponytail held in place with a mother-of-pearl clasp, and for accessories she wore her gold pendant necklace, a half-dozen or more gold bangle bracelets on each wrist, a pair of simple gold oval earrings, and of course, the necessity-inspired and highly out-of-place sack-purse she’d brought everything in.

“There, see now?” Shego finally declared, “All that complaining for nothing; you look fine. Well… except for that purse anyway.” Shego smirked.

“I do not look fine Shego.” Kim grumbled. “Well, ok, so I do look ‘fine,’ but compared to you I look like I came out of a thrift shop.”

“Oh please. You do what now? Get an allowance, baby-sit, and save the world for free? I rob from the obscenely rich and give to… well, me. Of course there’s going to be some disparity if we’re living within our means Princess, but that still doesn’t change the fact that you look good. Now stop being such a brat and let’s go have dinner.”

“Brat!” Kim squawked indignantly.

“Well what else would you call it sulks-because-her-stuff-isn’t-as-good-as-mine girl, hmmm?” Shego bluntly demanded, one eyebrow raised.

Kim opened her mouth to retort, and then closed it a moment later without having spoken. Gathering up her purse as an excuse to turn away from Shego’s gaze, she quietly grumbled; “I am not a brat…” under her breath, low enough that Shego couldn’t hear. A second later Kim turned back and gave Shego an impatient look, saying; “Well? Let’s go already…”

Shego half turned as Kim moved up next to her, about to take a step, but then she stopped and raised her eyebrow again instead, glancing back to Kim’s bike—or more precisely, her helmet—before saying; “You just going to leave that there?”

“Ummm, yeah… why?”

Shego just gave a disgusted sigh and stepped back to grab Kim’s helmet off the handlebar, softly muttering; “How the hell did you manage to survive this long?”

“How much did this thing cost you?” Shego said, holding up Kim’s helmet as she headed up the alley.

“A hundred and thirty-nine dollars; it was on sale from one-eighty-nine.” Kim answered as she followed Shego. “Why?”

“Would you leave two hundred dollars lying in the street and expect it to still be there when you got back?”

“Well, no… but it’s never been a problem before.”

“Mm’yeah. You think there might be just a liiiittle difference between a driveway in the suburbs or a gated parking lot and an open street in the inner city? Let alone a back alley. So far you’ve been lucky, but this thing wouldn’t last ten minutes out here…”

“I suppose…” Kim reluctantly admitted, then glanced back at her new motorcycle for a moment before worriedly asking; “But then… what about the bike? Shouldn’t I move it?”

“Normally yes, yes you should. If only because you don’t know the part of town you’re in, so you don’t know how much of a risk you’re taking leaving it here. But in this particular case, no, because I do, and I know it’ll be fine here.”

“But why would a… what? Eight? Nine? Ten thousand dollar bike be safe but a two hundred dollar helmet wouldn’t?”

“Closer to fifteen actually, but that’s not important…” Shego said. “The difference is that the people who would come looking for you if you stole that bike wouldn’t bother if it was only a helmet—well, usually anyway. I mean it’s still possible, but they’d have to be one majorly vindictive S.O.B. to bother…”

“People? Come looking for you? What are you talking about Shego?” Kim asked, thoroughly confused now.

Shego sighed and responded; “We’re in Chinatown, right?” At Kim’s nod she continued, “Well, who lives in Chinatown? Way more poor immigrant families than should be crammed into these blocks, that’s who. Now, there’s only one way you could have enough money to afford a bike like that and still be living around here, and that means Johnny Car Thief wouldn’t even think about touching that ride, even if he doesn’t recognize it, because he doesn’t want to risk Boss Jin and six of his boys showing up at his front door a few days later, axes in hand and looking to pay him back for stealing that bike, got it?”

“So you’re telling me that my bike is safe because of the street gangs and organized crime in the area? That’s seriously warped Shego.”

“Heh… no arguments here Princess, but that’s the way things work in Asian culture; losing face isn’t something you can afford even a little, so it tends to produce extreme responses to it, which in turn produces extreme considerations of politeness and propriety to others. In other words, they’re really touchy about insults, so you gotta be equally careful around ‘em.” Shego grinned as she finished.

Kim followed along in silence for a few moments, lost in thought, before shaking her head slightly, dismissing her concerns and considerations. It was then that she finally noticed she and Shego had come out of the alley and turned onto a secluded street that was packed with extended storefronts and various small, almost shack-like shops, most of which were closed for the night—though a few remained open and brightly lit by elaborate neon signs or more conventional lighting around traditional signs. The lane itself wasn’t particularly crowded, but there were still enough people walking by to make Kim suddenly nervous about being out in what was to her, the open, with Shego at her side.

“So… where exactly are we going anyway?” Kim asked, a hint of her anxiety showing through.

“Right here.” Shego said simply, turning and lifting her chin slightly to indicate a modest sized yet elaborate Chinese archway in front of what seemed to be a featureless, solid stone wall. It wasn’t until they got a little closer that Kim could see the red posts and sinuous golden Chinese dragons arching between them stood in front of a steep stairwell, which descended into a dark, vaulted tunnel running under the wall.

“And here would be?” Kim asked as she followed Shego down the stairs and into the tunnel, finding it was less than a hundred feet long and barely lit by a series of dim, recessed lights.

Shego didn’t answer, she just kept walking, and Kim felt her impatience and irritation growing along with the lengthening silence. She was just on the verge of repeating her question—as a demand this time—when she and Shego came out of the tunnel into what seemed to be a hidden courtyard in the middle of the block, roughly a hundred and fifty feet wide and about a hundred feet deep. Seeing what was in that courtyard made Kim forget all about her question.

The entire area was landscaped into an elaborate Chinese garden, complete with a series of waterfalls on the far right-hand side, feeding a small stream that flowed across the yard and ended in a modest coy pond. All about the area were well-manicured cherry trees, rolling mounds covered in lush green grass, and elaborate tiered flowerbeds full of verdant growth.

On the far side of the courtyard, rising up over the garden, was a squat, incredibly elaborate three-story square pagoda, resplendent with carved golden dragons coiling around red-lacquered pillars, detailed railings, intricately carved open screens framing the windows, and heavy, shiny red and gold tile forming the multiple sharply curved, flaring roofs between each level as well as the pointed top of the building.

A broad cobblestone pathway led from the tunnel to the steps of the pagoda, with a heavy carved stone bridge forming a gentle arc over the stream, and several smaller paths branching off the main one to wind through the gardens. At the end of the main path, a pair of enormous granite Fu Dogs on solid, cubical pedestals stood guard to either side of the stairs, while overhead, strings of colorful Chinese lanterns added to the warm golden light spilling from the windows of the pagoda, giving the entire area a soft, almost magical glow to it.

“Oh wow…” Kim murmured, amazed at the sight before her, “what is this place?”

This time Shego answered, smiling as she said; “Welcome to Underworld Dreams Kimmie.”

“Underworld Dreams?”

“C’mon, you’ll see.” Shego said, heading up the path. A moment later Kim followed suit, catching up to Shego in only a few steps and walking alongside her once more.

“There’s a place like this in every major city in the world Kimmie.” Shego paused for an instant, then added, “Well, not like this specifically. Some of them are Italian, others French, Indian, even Mexican—and it’s not always restaurants; there are bars, nightclubs, or even social clubs too, but they all have one thing in common. They’re secluded, incredibly discreet, and most importantly, neutral ground for anyone and everyone.”

“Neutral ground?” Kim asked.

“Yeah. No matter who you are, no matter which side you’re on, you can come here and not have to worry about anything happening to you. All debts, feuds, warrants, bounties, or anything else you might have hanging over your head are suspended within a one block radius. Two families that are killing each other on sight will exchange nothing more than harsh words while they’re here, and even good ol’ Osama could sit down next to a table full of Special Forces and they wouldn’t do squat, other than leave…”

“What? That’s crazy Shego! There’s no way something like that could happen.”

“Well ok, so I might have gone a little overboard with that last one there, given the relative levels of intelligence to cowboy diplomacy in the current administration, but aside from extreme cases like that—and cases of extreme stupidity—the neutrality of these places is respected by everyone without exception… well, aside from the few exceptions I just mentioned anyway.” Shego grinned as she contradicted herself.

“Ok, I can understand why criminals might need a safe place to meet each other at, or just to go to without having to worry about what happens if they run into rivals, but why would the authorities ever respect that? It doesn’t make any sense.”

The pair was crossing the bridge when Kim asked her question, and Shego paused at the top of the arc, turning to Kim as she answered.

“Well, first of all, because all the underworld respects these places, and the last thing the authorities want is the repercussions of pissing off everyone. That could lead to all kinds of things they’d shudder to consider. Aside from that, every so often the authorities need to make contact with people who would take a lot more time and effort to approach if they didn’t have somewhere like here to do it at.”

“Why would the authorities need to talk to criminals like that?”

Shego rolled her eyes and responded acerbically; “Oh I don’t know… CIA contacting someone to do a little black ops for them maybe? FBI looking for information on terrorists, serial killers, or kidnappings from the mob? Or here’s a good one; world famous teen heroes looking to team up with their arch rivals in order to put the smackdown on power-stealing birdbrains, orrrr I dunno… track down their old girlfriends who’ve dropped off the face of the earth for instance?”

Kim blushed faintly and looked down at her feet for a moment before saying; “Ok, ok, I guess I wasn’t thinking there. But you’ve got to admit that on the surface it does seem pretty screwy, right?”

“Mmmm, I guess I can give you that.” Shego replied, heading down the far side of the bridge.

Kim followed in silence, and it was only a few moments later that the pair ascended the pagoda’s broad stairway and found themselves before a large keyhole archway. Past the archway was a recessed exterior antechamber, in which a pair of well groomed Asian men wearing crisp black suits stood to either side of big double doors, elaborately carved and made of dark, beautifully polished wood.

After a moment’s pause, Shego stepped forward and Kim followed her. Entering the antechamber, Shego walked to within a few feet of the doors and then stopped, seemingly waiting for something. Catching Kim’s inquisitive look, she leaned in slightly and murmured; “Weapons scan.”

Kim bobbed her head once in understanding and waited about thirty seconds before the man on the right inclined his head slightly to Shego, then turned and, with the assistance of his companion, opened the doors wide for the pair.

With a quick nod back, Shego strode forward through the open doors, and Kim followed right on her heels. Inside was another antechamber—or perhaps a small hall; it was hard to tell—with a cavernous twelve-foot vaulted ceiling supported by numerous intricately carved, dark wooden trellis arches. A smaller set of double doors stood to either side of the hall, through which Kim thought she could hear the muted sounds of music, while directly in front of them was a large keyhole archway leading to a broad stairway of burnished golden-brown wood.

Despite the fact that the short five-foot stairway seemingly led nowhere, that was where Shego headed, so Kim continued to follow her lead. As she mounted the steps, understanding came quickly as Kim saw that the stairwell opened up into another flight of stairs to either side of the ten foot wide landing, and it was only a few moments later that she and Shego ascended the set to the left.

As she climbed the stairs, Kim saw that they were open on the left, with only a heavy wooden railing supported by sinuous carved Chinese dragons around the edge. When she reached the top, the room above was revealed to have yet another cavernous twelve-foot ceiling, supported by numerous thick beams and trellis arches, all elaborately carved and polished to a lustrous finish and covered in beautiful gold detail work.

The first thing Kim noticed, aside from the high ceiling, was a small podium placed only a few feet back from the right-hand side of the top of the stairs, behind which stood an attractive Asian girl wearing a beautiful scarlet silk sleeveless sheath dress with a high mandarin collar, gold highlights, and a stunning golden phoenix embroidered across the chest, its long, sinuous tail feathers falling all the way past the girl’s hips to nearly her knees.

The girl watched them come attentively, and when they reached the top of the stairs she smiled, focused on Shego, and said; “[Chinese: Welcome to Underworld Dreams most honored guests. It is our sincere wish that this humble establishment can serve your needs satisfactorily.]”

Shego nodded and responded; “[Chinese: I’ve got a reservation. Shego, party of two.]”

The girl inclined her head once and consulted the register book on the podium, flipping over a page and then looking up with a smile, nodding once more and saying; “[Chinese: Yes, I have it here Miss Go.]” The girl’s expression sobered as she gestured to the area behind the stairs, continuing; “[It is with sincere regret that I must ask you to endure the inconvenience of waiting until your table is prepared. We will do our utmost best to see that your wait is as brief as possible.]”

Shego nodded and said; “[Chinese: Thanks.]” then turned and headed for the area behind the stairs, tossing off a “C’mon.” to Kim as she went.

Despite not understanding a word of what was said—other than Shego’s name—Kim had still gotten the gist of the conversation, and followed Shego without hesitation. Also despite only having a strong suspicion it was Chinese the girl and Shego had been speaking, Kim hazarded the risk of asking; “Since when do you speak Chinese?”

Shego turned her head and tilted it, looking across her left shoulder at Kim and raising an eyebrow slightly as she dryly responded; “Ahhh… since I was six?”

“Sorry.” Kim apologized, only in hindsight realizing how lame the question had been. Looking away, Kim focused on her surroundings to hide her embarrassment.

The area behind the stairs was vaguely shaped like a very flat ‘U’, sectioned off by the railing around the stairwell and a pair of freestanding railings to either side of the area, each running about twelve feet out from the wall. Directly behind the stairwell, at the narrowest point of the area, were a pair of elaborate glass and carved lattice doors leading to the second floor balcony. The larger open areas to either side were about twenty feet wide and nearly as deep, with numerous well-padded, solid-looking carved wooden chairs and couches positioned around several small tables.

As Kim sat down on a chair with pale green padding and golden highlights, she took note of the few other people sitting around the area as well, but they all seemed content with their own company and barely gave her and Shego a second look, which helped her relax considerably—though until that moment she hadn’t even realized she’d been tense.

Returning her attention to Shego, Kim paused for a moment, unable to resist simply sitting back and admiring the pale beauty seated across from her. It took a while before Kim realized that Shego’s dark green eyes were watching her as well, and as their gazes met and comprehension dawned on both of them, they each simultaneously demanded; “What?” followed an instant later by a declaration of; “Nothing…”

It was only a split-second after that that Kim reflexively added; “Jinx! You owe me a soda!”

Shego just raised an eyebrow and fought the smile trying to curl her lips—with little success—while Kim felt a hot flush spreading over her cheeks. A moment later she stammered; “So ahhh… Shego… do you ahhh… come here a lot?”

Shego gave up fighting her smile and responded; “Not enough to be considered a regular, no, but I’ve been here more than a few times. The food’s really good, and it’s always nice to be able to relax a little. I’ve even gone down to Hell a few times, but honestly, hanging out with criminals in my off time isn’t really my thing.”

“Hell?” Kim asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

“Oh yeah, you’ve never been here before, sorry. The layout of this place is based on a theme. Heaven, Hell, and the Earth Realm, see? The first floor is Hell, and it’s a big, sprawling, combination dance-strip-gambling club, where it’s all about vice and sin, right? This floor would be Earth, where heaven and hell come together. Middle ground. And the top floor would be Heaven, where the Grand Design is plotted and planned and put into motion, reflected in the fact that it’s all private rooms and meeting halls up there.”

“Ok, I get it now.” Kim said. “So, what do they serve here anyway?”

“Well obviously they specialize in Asian cuisine, but really they can bring you just about anything you ask for, so long as you’re willing to wait for them to make it.”

“That’s cool. So how long are we going to have to wait do you think?”

“Don’t like being out in the open with me, or are you just getting hungry?” Shego grinned wryly.

A complex little spike of anger, irritation, embarrassment, shame, and regret shot through Kim, but in the end she answered honestly; “Well, mostly the second, but yeah, a little bit of the first too; sorry.”

“It’s ok Kimmie, I understand.” Shego said sympathetically, smiling softly. “It shouldn’t be that much longer.”

Kim nodded and looked down at her hands resting in her lap. A few minutes passed in lengthening silence, and just as Kim looked up to break the quiet between her and Shego, she noticed a young man in a sharp-looking black and white busboy’s uniform walking towards them from the dining area. Shego noticed his approach as well, and she reached down to pick up Kim’s helmet from where she’d set it on the floor, rising from her chair smoothly once she had it. Kim quickly gathered her oversized purse and stood up herself, just in time for the busboy’s arrival.

Coming to a stop with a deep inclination of his head that was just shy of a bow, the busboy said; “I beg you, please forgive the intolerable wait. If it would please you, it would be my great honor to escort you to your table now.”

Shego nodded, and the busboy turned, leading the pair out of the waiting area and deeper into the restaurant. As they went, Kim finally took note of how the dining area was laid out, having only been vaguely aware of it in the background until now.

In actuality, the room was more of a hall than anything else, nearly a hundred feet long and over twenty-five feet wide, but it seemed much smaller due to the way the individual dining areas were set up. Each table and its accompanying chairs were centered on beautiful, elaborate rugs instead of resting on the polished hardwood floor, and most of the areas were sectioned off by a variety of tall painted or carved wooden screens that made them quite private, and in some cases even cozy seeming.

The busboy led them all the way down the hall to a small table tucked into the left-hand corner of the room, which offered two big round windows in carved trestle frames. A big hanging lantern above the table gave the setting a warm, golden glow, and one of the folding screens around the area had a beautiful painting of a stalking tiger done across its dark wooden panels, while the other featured colorful, almost shimmering peacocks on each of its sections.

The busboy seated Kim first at a nod from Shego, and then helped the pale beauty take her seat a moment later. After that he took two menus from a wire-frame carrier in the center of the table and offered one to each of them before saying; “Unless it is your wish to order now, your waiter shall attend you shortly most honored guests.”

At Shego’s faint shake of her head after the pair took their menus, the busboy gave another of his near-bows before quickly turning and vanishing out the gap between the two screens, leaving the pair to their own devices.

Settling into her chair, Kim couldn’t help spending a few moments admiring the new sleek, shapely muscularity of Shego’s bare arms and shoulders now that she had taken off her jacket, revealing the tight sweater underneath to be sleeveless. Eventually though, Kim followed Shego’s example and opened her red leather-bound menu, finding it was written in both Chinese and English, and was several pages long. It was less than half a minute later that Kim noticed something else about the various meals listed on the creamy, heavy paper and looked up at Shego, her expression equal parts curiosity, confusion, and nervousness.

“Ummm, Shego?” Kim waited until Shego looked up from her menu with a curious “Yeah?” before continuing; “There’s no prices on this menu; how am I supposed to know what stuff costs?”

Shego snorted, her lips curling in amusement as she responded; “Well, first of all, if you have to ask, you shouldn’t be here in the first place. And second, who cares? It’s not like you’re paying anyway.”

Kim looked like she was going to object, but before she could do more than open her mouth Shego cut her off firmly. “Ah-ah! Not one word Possible. I asked you here so that means I’m the one paying, end of story. You wanna pay for something, you be the one to ask me out, got it?”

Kim exhaled briefly in a near sigh and, with a resigned smile, responded; “All right, fine. I guess that’s fair.”

Kim went back to studying her menu and Shego blinked once in surprise, having expected more of a fight, before doing the same herself. By the time the waiter arrived several minutes later, Shego was well prepared to order, but Kim had barely managed to skim through the entire menu by then, and only had a vague idea of what was available.

“If it is acceptable, might this humble servant be enlightened as to your wishes for the evening’s repast?” the waiter asked respectfully.

Shego nodded and put her menu back in the carrier while saying; “Yeah, I’ll start with a shrimp cocktail, then I’ll have the shrimp fried rice with chow mein and a double order of sweet-and-sour garlic ribs—the full length pork ones, not beef. After that I’ll top it all off with a small bowl of chicken soup, followed by a big bowl of fresh mountain strawberries for dessert, along with whipped cream and chocolate sauce on the side.”

The waiter gave a nod and turned his attention to Kim, who flipped through a few more pages of the menu and then gave up, saying; “I’ll have what she’s having, only along with the shrimp cocktail I’ll take a French fry platter with ketchup and turkey gravy on the side, replace one of the garlic ribs with a double order of pineapple chicken, and I’ll have a double order of the shrimp rice and a double egg roll plate as well.” Kim paused, looking at the last two pages of the menu for a moment before finishing; “and we’ll have a bottle of the ‘02 California Merlot to drink.”

A second later Kim gave a small start and looked up at Shego, apologetically saying; “Oh, sorry. If you want something dryer that’s ok with me, I just really prefer sweet wines to anything else.”

Shego blinked three or four times, as still as a deer caught in headlights otherwise, and then gave her head a little shake, saying; “Ah… no, nooo, that’s fine Princess.”

With that acquiescence, Kim looked up at the waiter and nodded, putting her menu back in the carrier as well. With nary a pause the man picked up the wire-frame basket, gave a sharp nod, and humbly said; “I beg your forgiveness for what I’m sure will be a most intolerable wait, but we shall make every effort to bring you your meal as quickly as possible.”

After the waiter left, Kim noticed that Shego was staring at her with a considering gaze, but before she could say anything, the other woman spoke.

“You are aware that if you only pick a few bites out of every dish you ordered we’re going to thrown down the second we’re out of range of this place, right?”

Kim snorted sharply into a chuckle at Shego’s mostly serious threat, smiling broadly as she responded; “Don’t worry Shego, I’m not trying to kick you in your wallet, I’m just really hungry is all. Other than a few mini pizza-bagels I had over an hour ago I haven’t eaten since lunch, and it’s what? almost seven-thirty now? Which is way past when I usually eat supper.”

“Well all right then.” Shego said, mollified. After a short pause she asked; “So, anything new on your end yet?”

“Hmmm, what?” Kim answered, confused for a minute before she finally realized what Shego was talking about.

“Oh.” Kim gave a short sigh. “Not really, no. Wade came up with a few ideas, but we haven’t figured out how to pursue them yet. He says there’s data storage sites that aren’t hooked up to the Internet that should still have the old information stored on them, so if he can get access to one of them he should be able to get a copy of it. He also said that if he can get the hard drives from some of the Corsair International computers he’ll be able to retrieve the information from them too, and it might help him figure out how they got rid of everything as well.”

“Unfortunately, we haven’t come up with any ideas on how to do any of that yet.” Kim gave her head a little shake, then asked; “How ‘bout you? You find out anything from the people you were going to talk to?”

Shego gave a little amused, enigmatic grin and responded; “Yeah, you could say that—insomuch as when I told the diggers I hired they wouldn’t be able to find the old information anymore, some of them told me the same thing about the data stores, so I can solve one of your problems anyway. I’ll have a full copy of the Summer Springs data store FedExed to your little techno-geek’s house sometime tomorrow.”

Shego paused for a moment, then continued; “Other than that, I’ve got nothing either. I met with Big Daddy Brotherson and brokered a deal with him for any information he can find, along with a cutting-edge techno-geek of my own called Neon Spyder—that’s with a ‘Y’. They’ll be getting back to me as soon as they find anything. I’m going to be contacting my last source tomorrow morning to see what they have to say and how much it’ll cost me.”

“And you can send Wade what he needs why?” Kim asked evenly once Shego finished speaking, one eyebrow arched as she picked up on the one thing in Shego’s statement that stood out.

Shego’s grin broadened as she responded; “I told you I was out doing some late night shopping last night Kimmie.”

“Shego! You can’t—” Kim started in an indignant huff, before Shego held up her hand and cut Kim off with an irritated look, firmly saying; “Aah! First, what the hell did you think working with me meant? Second, what? Like you’ve never downloaded a song off the Internet or listened to a burned CD? It’s not like I actually stole anything… Come to think of it, how exactly is this any different from what you get your little underage nerdlinger to do for you all the time? And third—and most importantly—I am not having this conversation before we eat. You wanna dive back in after supper you go right ahead, but for now, not one more word, got it?”

“All right, fine.” Kim growled, acquiescing mainly because it wasn’t really giving up, just accepting a delay—and because as much as she hated to admit it, Shego had a point. As a matter of fact, the more Kim thought about it, the more she realized that Shego really did have a point. Although Kim would have never done what Shego had as a first option, she had to admit that she would have probably done it as a last.

Kim didn’t realize just how long she’d been turning the matter over in her head, trying to look at it from any angle she could in order to come up with another conclusion, until the silence between her and Shego was broken by the waiter arriving with their appetizers—or in Kim’s case, practically a first course.

After he left, Kim watched Shego dip one of her jumbo shrimp into the red sauce and then bite the meat off the tiny bit of tail she was holding it by. While Shego chewed, Kim sighed as she realized she couldn’t eat until she said something.

“Look, Shego, I’m sorry ok? I overreacted.” Kim apologized softly, though she couldn’t help but add; “Or at least… I would have, if you hadn’t cut me off.”

“Mmmph, wha?” Shego swallowed, then smiled wryly as she more clearly said; “Still talking to me, eh?”

“I’m trying to apologize, but you’re not going to make it easy, are you?” Kim growled.

“Have I ever made anything easy for you Princess?” Shego’s grin was downright infuriating now.

Kim shook her head and made an irritated sound, looking away for a second before responding; “No, no you haven’t.” Kim sighed. “Look, I’ll admit I was just reacting before thinking, all right? I’ll try my best not to do that anymore, but in return could you at least try to talk to me about our options instead of running right out to commit the first crime you can?”

Now it was Shego’s turn to sigh. “All right, I guess I can do that. But you need to understand that just because I like you it doesn’t mean I’m going to stop being who I am, and who I am is someone who doesn’t particularly like to let a little thing like the law stand in the way of getting results. I mean I like Drakken too—in a big… retarded… slobbering Saint Bernard puppy that pees all over the rug sort of way—and you don’t see me holding back with him, right? Mind control chips notwithstanding…” Shego’s expression turned considering, and after a few moments she added; “As a matter of fact, it seems like I’m the only one that’s been doing the compromising here so far. What exactly have you been doing in return?”

“Well I’m here and not dragging your ass off to jail for one thing.” Kim all but snapped, spearing some French fries with her fork and dipping them in gravy before putting them in her mouth and chewing with an aggressive air.

“As if you could.” Shego taunted before continuing; “And that doesn’t count anyway. You’re here because you want to be here, and you’ve never gone out of your way to cart my ass off to prison before; you only come out to play when I’m actually doing something you feel you need to stop. As long as I’m ‘behaving’ you could care less where I am or what I’m doing.”

As Shego ate another of her shrimp, Kim took a breath to retort, only to realize she actually had none. Shego was right; Kim really didn’t care whether Shego was in prison or not as long as she wasn’t doing anything wrong. Sure she’d prefer it if criminals served their time, but she’d never considered it her job to make sure they were properly punished, only that they didn’t get away with whatever they were trying to do—and, of course, that she actually caught them afterwards, just for the closure of knowing she’d gotten a clear-cut victory over them.

Kim sighed and ate one of her shrimp, finding it surprisingly tasty. Eventually she said; “Ok, you’ve got a point. But I can’t help it if you come so front-loaded with problems Shego.” Kim held up a finger as Shego’s eyes flashed and she drew breath to respond, continuing with her own thoughts instead of letting Shego speak. “No. I know that me wanting to hide being gay from my parents and the public is my problem, not yours, but you’ve got to admit that who you are brings a lot more to the table than my issues—especially considering that for the last two years I’ve been the one who’s stopped you from doing the things that make you who you are. I mean you’re the one that said you don’t have any rules to follow after all, but I do, and that means I’m the one that gets to deal with all the worry and anxiety that seeing you brings.”

Kim sighed and shook her head gently. “I know you don’t agree with the things I do Shego. You probably think I’m a fool for trying to be a hero and believing what I do. But that’s who I am, and whether you accept it or not, the fact that I’m here with you is a big compromise for me,” Kim looked up, seeking Shego’s gaze with her own, “but it’s a compromise I’m willing to make because despite everything my head is telling me, despite all the problems I’m sure we’ll face, both from each other and the world around us, my heart tells me it’s something I have to try, because if I don’t, I might be turning my back on something special without even trying to make it work.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say fool exactly… maybe a little naïve… misguided… unrealistic…” Shego muttered absently before continuing in a louder tone. “And I’ve got a reputation too you know. How many jobs do you think I’d get if the world found out I was going out with one of the most high-profile heroes out there, hunh? You really think Drakken’s gonna trust me if he finds out you’re trying to get into my pants and I’m considering letting you?”

Shego sighed and shook her head, seeming to deflate as she looked down at the table.

“But all things considered, I guess I can admit that it’s harder for you than me, so I guess I wasn’t considering your side of things enough either, sorry.” Shego looked up and smiled, adding; “I’ve been living for no one but myself for the last six years Pumpkin, it might take me a while to remember how to be something other than selfish.”

Kim couldn’t help her smile or saying; “Well if this is you at selfish, I’d hate to see you at your best—you’d probably give Mother Theresa a run for her money. In a… bitchy… punchy kicky blasty sort ‘a way…”

Shego rip-snorted just shy of violently, grinning and shaking her head in amusement over Kim’s statement. A few minutes passed in silence as the pair ate quietly, before Kim humorously—and just a bit tentatively—asked; “So… you suppose this qualifies as our first fight?”

Shego grinned, making a show of looking around as she said; “Roof’s still overhead… nothing’s on fire… walls intact… no screaming crowds running from the devastation… neither of us are bleeding… nope, I’m gonna have to say it doesn’t.”

“Oh that’s reassuring.” Kim responded with a soft snort and grin.

Shego gave a soft laugh and responded; “Hey, I might be exaggerating a little there Princess, but trust me, when we have our first fight, you’ll know it.”

Kim and Shego finished off the rest of their shrimp cocktails, and it wasn’t until Shego started stealing French fries from Kim’s platter while they continued to wait for the main course that Kim spoke again.

“So, what do you think we should do about the last lead?” at Shego’s inquisitive hum Kim elaborated; “The hard drives from the real CI headquarters?”

“Well, since I’m not supposed to run right out and commit the first crime I think of, I’m guessing just taking them is out of the question…”

“Not… out of the question, noooo, but definitely at the bottom of the list.” Kim responded, surprising Shego.

“In that case, I suppose you could start out with your cute little helpful hero thing and just ask for them. Explain to this Silver guy that someone was posing as the head of his company and that you’re looking for them. It might work, depending on the kind of guy he is, and if nothing else, it’ll give you a chance to get a read on him, see if you think he might be working with her or not.”

“Yeah, that’s what Wade suggested too.” Kim responded, thinking about what Shego said. “All right then, we’ll start there.”

Kim and Shego began sketching out a plan of action and refining it while Kim finished off her French fries—with occasional “assistance” from Shego. By the time the main course arrived, interrupting them while the waiter and his assistant busboy served the food, they had nearly everything worked out.

“All right then, I guess that’s the best we can do if you don’t want to consider anything else.” Shego said while they waited for their food to cool a little.

“Not right away, no.” Kim answered.

“I still say having me steal the things and then you coming in to ‘help’ with the investigation is a better idea.”

“Yeah, I agree, except for the fact that we’re not sure if they’re really working with her or not. I don’t want to start off with an illegal scam on someone that might be innocent.”

Shego snorted and dryly responded; “They’re a multinational corporation Kimmie, there’s no way they’re ‘innocent’ by any stretch of the imagination.”

“You know what I mean.” Kim grumbled, poking her food around with a fork to test it and releasing a few faint streamers of steam.

Shego sighed. “Whatever.” A few moments later she continued; “Well then, given the time difference we’ll need to leave around one-thirty or so.”

“Isn’t that a little early?” Kim asked.

“Not really. He’s the CEO, so unless he’s a workaholic odds are he takes off around three, four at the latest if nothing important is going on. Actually, come to think of it I’d better get one of my diggers to hack his personal schedule, just to make sure—and to see if he’ll even be there for that matter.”

“Well then, isn’t that a little late if you think he’ll be leaving so early?”

“What do you mean?” Shego asked, confused.

“Well, if we leave at one-thirty then by the time we get there and set up won’t it be around like, four o’clock or so?” Kim answered.

“Oh yeah. Sorry, wasn’t thinking there. You don’t know I’m using my own plane now instead of Drakken’s crap-copters, my bad. It’ll only take us about an hour to get there.”

“Oh, ok then.”

With the plan settled and their food finally cool enough to eat, Kim and Shego dug in. As Kim started carefully cutting the meat from her ribs, the succulent pork practically falling off all on its own, she looked up only to pause in amazement as she watched Shego grab an entire rib and strip the meat from it with her bare hands. As Kim stared in disbelief, Shego kept twisting rib bones out of their meat with her fingers, building up a little log cabin of curving, pale grey bones on her side plate—and building up a thick coat of garlic sauce and grease all over her hands as well.

It wasn’t until Shego finished and licked a big gob of sauce off one of her fingers that the whole messy, slob-like display that would have raised comment even from Ron made sense to Kim, as lime-green energy flared around Shego’s hands while she held them over her side plate, charring the greasy mess smeared across them to ash in an instant.

As Shego dismissed her power and gently shook her hands, dislodging the fine grey-white powder still lightly clinging to them in a rain over the bones below, Kim all but groaned; “Oh that is so unfair.”

“Hmmm, wha?” Shego looked up to find Kim staring at her with a mixture of amused and envious disbelief, her knife and fork still hovering forgotten over her ribs. It only took Shego a moment to figure out what the redhead meant, and with a lopsided grin she curled the fingers of her right hand a few times, beckoning, and said; “Here, gimme those and I’ll do them for you too.”

Kim just snorted faintly, shaking her head as she slid her plate across the table to Shego. In less than a minute Shego stripped the meat off Kim’s ribs and repeated the cleaning process over the now quite sizable pile of bones on her side plate. Just before she slid Kim’s plate back to her, Shego took one of the redhead’s pineapple chicken balls and popped it in her mouth, chewing happily.

“Hey!” Kim griped with only a touch of indignation at the theft, starting to cut up her now boneless meat.

Shego chewed and swallowed before saying; “Oh shut up, you’ve still got eleven or twelve of them left…”

Kim just smiled with a faint snort and kept quiet while Shego began cutting up her own meat. With less to cut than Shego, it was Kim that started eating first, but a minute or so later she stopped again, once more given pause as she heard a loud crunching noise from across the table. Looking up, Kim saw Shego chewing away with a steady, muted crunching and a happy look of gratification on her face.

It took Kim several moments to figure out what was going on, but once she did she shuddered and looked away, exclaiming; “Ewwww! Tell me you’re not doing what I think you’re doing!”

Shego looked up to see an expression of mild disgust on Kim’s face, but she was still too busy chewing to speak. However, that didn’t prevent Kim from clearly understanding the “The hell?” look she shot back, one eyebrow raised slightly.

Kim wiggled her fork in the direction of the meat on Shego’s plate, complaining; “You’re not supposed to eat the bony bits!”

Shego finally finished gnawing on the chunk of cartilage in her mouth and swallowed, responding; “Why the hell not? They’re nice and crunchy and a good source of calcium. Try one.”

“No! That’s just… just… ewwww!” Kim shuddered again.

“Oh please, this coming from someone who likes marshmallows on hotdogs?”

“That’s not the sa— hey wait a minute, how do you know that?”

“I was there for your date with the dye-job topped prettyboy last summer, when Drakken was trying his retarded plan to blush you out of existence, remember?” Shego answered.

“Oh, right…” Kim trailed off, growing quiet as she started to eat.

In actuality, it wasn’t because of the food that Kim had grown silent, but rather that Shego had reminded her of things she had put out of her head until now. That harsh confrontation put Kim deep in troubled thought, turning everything over and over again in her head while trying to ignore the entrancing effect of Shego sitting across from her. Every now and then she’d respond idly to a comment from Shego, but for the most part she was focused on forcing herself to think about things she’d really rather not. It wasn’t until they’d finished the main course and the follow-up bowl of soup, with the waiter having come and gone again twice, leaving them with only dessert left, that Kim finally worked out enough of her thoughts—and worked up enough courage—to speak once more, however reluctantly.

“Shego?”

At Kim’s soft inquiry, Shego looked up from where she’d just dipped a big, luscious strawberry into thick whipped cream, finding the redhead looking at her with a somber, focused expression.

Oh this can’t be good. Shego thought to herself before cautiously venturing; “Yeaaaah?”

“I need to talk to you about a few things, ok?”

Oh yeah, definitely not good. Out loud, Shego answered; “So talk.”

“It’s about what you told me in the helicopter Sunday night.”

Soooooooo not good… Shego groaned in her head before nodding, venturing a noncommittal; “Mmmmhmmm…”

“Well, first of all, you said you don’t go out of your way to… to kill anyone, right?”

“Yeah.”

“That doesn’t exactly mesh with some of the things you’ve tried to do to me over the years. Don’t get me wrong; I’ve already figured out your screwy reasoning behind all the deathtraps you’ve helped Drakken put me in, and I understand it, even if I really, really don’t agree with it. What I’m talking about are the things you’ve done outside of all of that and the usual risks of fighting at our level, like when you released my jetpack harness the Fall before last—errr… no pun intended—or the giant blender you dropped me in last year when you and Junior were trying to steal that cookie recipe.”

“You mean the giant blender that I watched you hold your place treading batter against the pull of the beaters for like, an easy fifteen seconds before you went all crazy and charged the blades? The one I pulled the beaters out of as soon as I got over the shock of you going nuts like that? That giant blender?” Shego responded dryly.

“All right, I guess that might be a bad example. But still, what would you have done if I couldn’t have kept away from the beaters?”

“I don’t know… kicked it in reverse to ‘toy’ with ‘helpless little Kim Possible under my power’? ‘Bwa-ha… ha-ha… haa’?” Shego’s laugh was a hesitant, dry, monotone parody before she continued; “Or maybe ‘accidentally’ blew out the side of the bowl or the beaters with a handy energy blast and hearty aggravated ‘this is taking too long’? Seriously Kimmie, when you can blow holes through concrete you have a lot more options than most people do.”

“Ok ok… but what about the jetpack, or when you cut my grapple line afterward?”

Shego sighed and after a short silence responded; “Ok, well… there you’ve got me… sorta. That was what? Our fourth encounter I think? I still hadn’t fought you enough to know how good you were at that point, and I didn’t know enough about you otherwise to think you were anything special in the morality department either, so… well I mean you were coming up after me while I was hanging off of the side of a dirigible, what else was I supposed to think? So… I got you before you could get me…”

“What?” Kim asked, torn between shock and outrage.

“If it helps any I tried to aim you at a rooftop instead of the street…” Shego ventured meekly.

“You thought I was going to pull you off?” Kim barely managed to keep herself from shouting indignantly at Shego.

“Well… yeah?” There really wasn’t anything else Shego could say.

“Why… I…. oughta…” Kim growled out from between clenched teeth, her pulse thundering in her ears and flushing a faint crimson from fury, but she fought down her anger mightily, struggling tooth and nail to control it as she—barely—recognized Shego had a point. A twisted, messed up, insulting point, but a point nonetheless.

After a few minutes Kim’s breathing and heart rate settled back to normal, as did her coloring, and with a tone of only slightly exaggerated calm she said; “All riiiight, I guess I can accept that. But what about the grapple line?”

“That… would be where you’ve got me.” Shego sighed deeply, and after a moment of reflection continued; “I wasn’t really thinking when I did that. I was just pissed off at you and I lashed out instinctively. Sorry.” Shego looked up, and when she saw Kim’s expression she emphatically added; “No, I really am sorry Kimmie. Not just because of what’s happened between us, but because I meant it when I said I had standards. And killing someone like that, just because I reacted instead of acted… let’s just say that when I woke up the next day and had my head screwed on straight again, I gave a prayer to your goofy sidekick for being there to catch you.”

Kim sighed, calm once more in the face of Shego’s sincere contrition.

“All right then, I guess I can accept all that, but that still leaves one thing…” Kim paused, gathering her thoughts, then continued; “I want to know how you can say that you have standards about killing, how you say you don’t do it unless you have to—well, for the most part anyway—and still work for someone like Drakken. I mean the man builds death-rays and robot armies for fuck’s sakes! How the hell can you work for him when you know that you’re the main reason he can do it? It doesn’t make any sense!”

Despite her best efforts, Kim couldn’t help the confusion, anger, and frustration she was feeling from showing, but surprisingly Shego didn’t react to it. Instead the pale woman took a deep breath and gave a long, controlled exhalation before saying; “That’s not something I can answer Kimmie—at least, not tonight.”

Shego lifted her right hand, her gesture preemptively cutting Kim off while she continued to speak.

“What I mean is that I can give you an answer, but it won’t be much of one, because that’s a very long, most likely complicated conversation about what I believe in that I really don’t feel like getting into right now. It’s not the right time or the right place for it, and honestly I’m not ready to tell you anything like that yet anyway.” After a short pause, Shego concluded with a question. “So, do you want to let it go, or can you be satisfied with the short version?”

It took Kim a few minutes to come to a decision, but in the end she nodded, preferring any answer to no answer at all.

“All right then, give me the short version.”

“Three part answer. First of all, I’m not amoral enough to think I have no responsibility for what anyone does with the things I steal for them, but I’m not a Saint who’s gonna make it my own personal sin if someone goes out and does something nasty with them either. I don’t work for people I know are going to do terrible things no matter what, I only work for people that might do terrible things if they have to, and that ‘might’ is just as much other people’s shared responsibility as it is mine.”

“Excuse me?” Kim interrupted in disbelief; “Drakken ‘might’ do terrible things if he has to?”

“Have you ever seen Drakken try to shoot first and make demands later since way back to our third fight, when you took down his magma cannon in that stupid cheese building?” Shego countered with an intent expression.

Kim’s brow furrowed in confusion, and she spent several moments puzzling over the question before answering with a question of her own. “Actually, no, I guess I haven’t, but what does that have to do with anything?”

“It has to do with the fact that once I found out what he tried to do, I almost killed him. He knows there are lines I won’t cross because I impressed that fact on him in no uncertain terms, and if he wants to keep his hide intact he won’t cross me or those lines.” Shego hesitated for a moment, and then added; “That was… actually the reason why I was so angry during our fourth fight…”

It took a second to sink in, but once it did Kim erupted fiercely; “You almost killed me because you were pissed off at Drakken?”

Shego raised an eyebrow, looking at Kim with a dry expression. A moment later she prodded; “Stones? Glass houses?”

Kim felt a hot flush spread over her cheeks as a wave of embarrassment washed through her, drowning out her anger almost completely. After a minute or so recovering her composure, Kim proceeded as if the whole incident had never happened.

“Ok, then how do you justify what Drakken and others ‘might’ do?”

“I don’t. That’s the second part of my answer. Shit happens.” Shego responded, allowing Kim her dignity. “There are wars and fighting going on all over the world right now, and most are for reasons a whole lot more fucked up than wanting to take over the world. That’s just the way it works; gotta break some eggs to make an omelet.”

“Oh-kaaay…” Kim responded after a long pause digesting Shego’s answer. “Even if I did accept that… you honestly think helping Drakken take over the world doesn’t cross any lines? Seriously?”

“Nope. Which is my third point; I’m not stupid enough to think that Drakken will make the world any better, but he sure as hell isn’t going to make it any worse either.”

“What? How can you say that? You know what Drakken’s like; there’s no way you can tell me you really think the world wouldn’t be a horrible place under his control!”

“Depends on what you mean.” Shego held up her hand. “No, hear me out first.” Once she was sure Kim wasn’t going to say anything she continued; “I’m not saying that it wouldn’t be oppressive, that he wouldn’t demand total obedience, that he wouldn’t worm his way into every corner of people’s lives, or that the price of disobedience wouldn’t be nasty as hell—and probably lethal—what I am saying is that for everything lost, there’ll be something gained.”

Shego leaned back in her chair and took a breath, let it out, and then continued; “You know what Drakken’s like too, and despite being an egomaniac with the temperament of a four-year-old, he’s also a great big sap. All he really wants is for people to like him, and he sees that as people respecting him and taking him seriously, but at heart… still a sap. Do you really think that if Drakken was in charge of the world there would ever be a child starving to death in some Third World country again? That anyone would ever go hungry? That with the entire world DNA-mapped, bar-coded, and GPS-tagged a rapist or murderer could ever get away with it again? That big drug companies would be coming up with treatments instead of cures because treatments are more profitable? That Drakken would tolerate racism or religious persecution or even homophobia once he got over his ‘ewwws’? Even if you don’t take his soft-heartedness into account, he’d still fix all those things because his ego would see it as a failure if he didn’t.”

“Drakken doesn’t make the world any better. He doesn’t make it any worse. He just makes it different.”

The moment Shego finished, Kim shook her head, responding; “Even if you’re right he’d still be a tyrant, taking away everyone’s freedom and demanding absolute obedience.”

Shego snorted in amusement, smiling wryly as she replied; “Oh you think you’re ‘free,’ do you? Well you go on down to Bueno Nacho and try and take a dump in their salad bar and we’ll see just how free you are.”

Shego held up her hand, cutting Kim off before she could respond.

“Ok, ok, so that’s a ridiculously extreme example. Try this one on for size then. You’re a devout pacifist who doesn’t believe in violence or killing under any circumstances save as an absolute last resort in defense of your own life or the lives of others. You believe in diplomacy and compromise and civil disobedience to solve problems—and by ‘civil disobedience’ I mean civil as in ‘civilized,’ not civil as in ‘civilian’. And here we have the government, in the form of good ‘ol George, declaring war on Iraq,” Shego’s voice twisted into a remarkably good parody of George Bush as she continued; “Because you can’t try an’ shoot my daddy an’ get away with it you evil-doer you! Errr… ah mean… terrorists! Nine-eleven! Osama! Big bad ‘ol dictator… Yeah, that’s it… Freedom! God bless America! Heh heh heh…”

Shego shook her head and returned to speaking normally.

“So, what happens when you stop paying your taxes because you can’t in good conscience fund what you think is an unjust war, perpetrated by an administration you don’t even think was fairly elected thanks to the Florida fiasco? Well I’ll tell you what happens Kimmy. In about two or three years, when the IRS finally gets around to investigating you and finds out that you really really do mean you won’t be paying your taxes as long as the war lasts, and they get over the shock of your conviction holding firm in the face of their threats, they seize all your bank accounts, and if that’s not enough to pay, a whole lot of people with guns show up and take away everything else you own and throw your ass in prison for tax evasion. That’s what happens.”

Shego’s face was grim as she continued; “And that’s why literally millions of people in this so-called ‘free’ country and others obey the laws they live under. Not because they believe in them, not because they think they’re just, but because they’re afraid of the people with the guns and the planes and the tanks that’ll come throw their collective asses in prison if they don’t. At the end of the day it’s the people with the guns that make the rules, just or unjust. Always has been, always will be. No society is really free; because everyone is different, and there’ll always be people that are forced to do things they don’t believe in by the people in power. The only difference is the measure of that force and how many people are affected by it.”

Despite her assertion that she wasn’t going to get into a long conversation about her beliefs tonight, Shego found herself drawn into a surprisingly difficult debate with Kim over her final point. Not difficult because the girl was blindly, stubbornly protesting Shego’s position, but rather because she was actually attacking it with remarkable logic and skill. This was because unbeknownst to Shego, Kim’s leadership training with Corscan had consisted of political as well as military leadership, including analyzing and discussing forms of government and rule. As a result, Kim had spent considerable portions of her time during those lessons going head-to-head with Corscan over these very same issues, and although Kim had to admit that Shego actually made a few points Corscan never had, for the most part the pale beauty didn’t have quite the same killer instinct and cunning that Corscan did, where unless Kim was absolutely sure her points were well grounded and thought out, their every weakness and flaw would be exposed and methodically ripped to shreds by the big woman. Consequently Shego was hard-pressed to hold her own, losing considerable ground before her agile mind finally got over the shock and mounted a comeback that put her on even footing with Kim once more.

Time flew by as the two became totally immersed in verbally defending their respective positions while attacking the other’s, sometimes aggressively, sometimes methodically, and sometimes slyly, but always thoroughly. They might have gone on all night, except an hour or so after sunset the intense discussion was—eventually, when Kim finally took note of it—interrupted by the very muted sound of Kim’s Kimmunicator chirping from deep inside her overfilled, voluminous purse where it lay on the floor.

With a start, Kim quickly reached down and pulled her purse up onto her lap, laboriously digging through it for her Kimmunicator. While she did, she glanced at Shego and said; “Can you please…”

“Yeah yeah yeah… stay out of sight and keep my mouth shut, got it.” Shego replied in a mock grumble, smiling as she did.

Finally pulling her Kimmunicator free from the crowded depths of her purse, Kim looked around for a second to make sure the view wouldn’t reveal anything strange before she triggered receive.

“Kim!” Wade shouted anxiously as soon as he got through, a look of worry on his face. “I’m glad I finally got you, I was about to try your phone…”

“What is it Wade?” Kim’s words were a concerned rush in the face of the young genius’ agitated state.

“It’s your dad…”
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Revelations of Destiny