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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
- 60
- 61
- 62
Yet another spoiler-ie disclaimer amendment, so, yet again, spoiler space to help shield it from eyes that wish not to see. ;) :p

Alice Cooper is an actual person, and as such belongs to himself, however much managers and record companies might want to dispute that fact. His likeness is used in this story without permission and very much for parody reasons, given I highly doubt he’d consort with internationally wanted super-criminals otherwise. The lyrics to “Welcome to my Nightmare” are owned by Alice Cooper/Atlantic Records, and the lyrics to “Little by Little” are owned by Alice Cooper/Epic Records. Both are used here without permission and do not represent a challenge to title or copyright.

Notes: And now, before we get on with the show, I pause for the unusual: a short foreword. With this chapter, the published word-count for RoD is now well over 500,000. That’s right folks, half a million words, still with no end in… well, ok, maybe not no end in sight, but end still way off in the distance at the very least. ;) :p Now in some people’s opinion it’s half a million words of crap, but hey, I’ve been seeing this through for over two years now, so it’s still a milestone moment no matter what.

And that’s that. Oh, and, I really don’t hope to see you all at a million, because I’m hoping to be finished well before that, at around “only” 750K or so, if I’m lucky. ;) :p

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July 27, Wednesday, Midmorning

Kim jerked up and then nearly fell off the couch as she heard Shego shriek loudly from out in the main hall. As soon as she recovered from her surprise, she was vaulting over the back of that selfsame couch and heading down the corridor at a dead run, visions of invading Global Justice troops to her parents to an irate Drakken flashing through her head as she went.

Skidding across the smooth hardwood floor of the main hall in her stocking feet, Kim came to a stop as she found nothing more than an excited Shego bouncing up and down by the front door, grinning ear-to-ear as she looked down at something in her hands. As Kim approached the ecstatic woman at a more sedate pace, she saw that it appeared to be an envelope, letter, and some kind of heavy, colored paper strips.

“So, good news I take it?” Kim asked with a grin, infected by Shego’s jovial air.

“Great news Kimmie!” Shego beamed as she turned to the approaching redhead. “Orchid came through for me and got tickets to the last Alice Cooper concert on the European tour! It’s in London, tonight!” Shego squealed like a schoolgirl and bounced up and down again.

“Lemme get this straight,” Kim raised an eyebrow, though she was still smiling, “you had your fixer get you concert tickets, have I got that right?”

“Damn straight.” Shego held up the tickets, gazing at them reverently. “I didn’t think I’d be free for it, so I didn’t get any beforehand, and it’s been sold out for months now. I’m lucky she was able to get them at all, even in the eleventh hour like this.”

“Couldn’t you have just snuck in or faked them or something? I mean, you are supposed to be evil and all.”

“Not if I wanted to take you, no.” Shego responded dryly, before her voice dropped to a near mutter. “Besides, there’s evil and then there’s just plain wrong.”

Kim snorted softly, still vastly amused by Shego’s fangirlish leanings towards the rock icon.

“So you’re planning on taking me, are you?”

Shego was suddenly hesitant, sheepishly replying; “Well, yeah. I mean if you feel like it that is. It’s ok if you don’t wanna go; I know metal isn’t really your thing.”

“Neither were girls or green super villains either; things change.”

It might have been gentle teasing, but that didn’t make the implication any less true. Over the last few weeks Kim had actually come to enjoy Alice Cooper’s music quite a bit. A lot of it was pretty… warped, to say the least—especially his earlier material—but aside from that Kim really enjoyed the outstanding quality and style the icon’s music had—not as much as Shego, obviously, but still enough that she was fairly excited over the idea of seeing him in concert.

“So you’ll go then?”

“Of course silly; I’d go just because you asked me to.” Kim’s smile twisted to a smirk. “The fact that I actually want to go on my own is just an added bonus.”

Shego gave another little elated squeal, taking Kim by the shoulders and bouncing happily once more.

“That’s great Kimmie! You won’t regret it, trust me; this’ll be like nothing you’ve ever experienced before! You’re going to have the time of your life!” Shego’s eyes widened and she grew still as a sudden thought struck her. “Oh jeez! Time! We’ve got no time! Oh crap, we’ve got to start getting ready!”

Shego stepped back from Kim, talking more to herself now than the redhead.

“Ok, let’s see… the concert is at eight, and we’ll gain an hour from the time difference, that means we’ve got… crap, less than twelve hours! It’ll only take about a half-hour to get there, but I can’t land anywhere near the stadium, so we’ll have to say two hours just to be safe… and I’ll need at least an hour to make lunch and supper… another hour to get my Harley down to the hangar and onto the plane…”

“Shego, calm down.” Kim stepped forward and took Shego by the shoulders, making sure the older woman was focused on her. “That leaves eight hours. Eight hours is more than enough time to get ready, even on short notice like this.”

“Not if we have to go shopping for clothes and stuff… I’m not sure I have everything I need anymore—and you! Do you even have anything to wear?”

“Even if I don’t, eight hours is still more than enough time Shego, seriously.”

“Ok, ok, you’re right.” Shego finally started calming down in the face of Kim’s steady composure. “It’ll be a little tight, but I suppose it’s not that tight. I guess it just caught me off guard is all.”

“There you go.” Kim stepped back with a smile. “Now, why exactly are you bringing your bike? Wouldn’t it be easier just to get a cab from the airport or something?”

“Oh hell no.” Shego balked. “There is no way I’m showing up to a concert in a cab, let alone one of those ugly little boxes tooling around London town!”

Kim laughed. “Well, I guess if you’re talking style, I can’t argue with that.”

“Damn straight.” Shego grinned back. After a slight pause she continued; “So, you wanna help me get the bike on the plane?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Thanks. Bring it around to the service elevator while I run down and bring up the lift for you, ‘k?”

“ ‘K.”

With Kim’s help, the considerably calmer Shego was able to get her Harley onto the hover-jet and fully secured with a modicum of effort, and in only forty-five minutes as well, putting her in an even more upbeat mood, if such a thing were possible.

“Ok, I’m going to make a quick trip into town to get a few little things I’m missing for tonight.” Kim announced once the pair was upstairs again. “It shouldn’t take too long, so I’ll probably be back in time for lunch.”

“All right. I’ve got a few things to take care of before I start cooking, and I’m going to make supper now, while I’m doing lunch, so you’ve probably got a little more time than usual.”

Kim nodded and headed up the stairs with a lively spring in her step, while Shego turned and set out for the living room with an equally energetic pace.

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“And that’s why my hair looks like this.” Kim finished with a grin, looking over to where she’d propped up her Kimmunicator on her queen’s dresser, and the image of an equally grinning, still-in-her-pajamas Monique on the small screen.

“Well, I have to admit that is a pretty good explanation girlfriend.” Monique responded, honestly a little surprised that Kim had such a normal reason for having her hair styled in two long, full, face-framing “apostrophe” bobs in front, with the rest pulled back in a high topknot ponytail secured by a three-inch leather cuff—and more importantly, why those bobs and the last two thirds of that ponytail were dyed a wholly unnatural shade of shimmering neon purple.

“Yep.” Kim gave a soft, somewhat squealing giggle. “My first real concert!” Kim’s smile twisted to wry. “Never thought it’d be with Shego, but it’s going to be great!”

“Ahhh, yeah, I’m sure it will, but you wanna run down how this is your first concert again there Kim? Because I seem to recall two previous ones—especially since I was, y’know, with you for one of them and all.” Monique challenged dryly.

“Oh, those. C’mon Monique, you can hardly count the empty stadium Ron and I sat in before the Seniors kidnapped the Oh Boyz, and yeah, technically the one we went to with Hirotaka was a concert, but I mean really, you think a Bravo’s concert at the Middleton Civic Center compares to a sold-out Alice Cooper concert in a downtown London stadium?”

“Yeah, ok, I guess you’ve got me there.” Monique grinned back at Kim, then sighed. “Wish I was going to a concert or something exciting like that, instead of heading off to work in a few hours. Don’t get me wrong,” Monique hastened to add, albeit dryly, “I love working at CB—especially the employee discount—but after a straight two weeks of full-time hours for part-time pay, it starts to get a little old.”

“They still haven’t found a replacement for Janet yet?”

“Actually they found six, none of which lasted more than a few days once they realized they had actual work to do and weren’t being paid to hang out in the store.” Monique’s dry, disparaging tone clearly carried the weight of her not undue disgust.

Kim sympathized with her friend, and they talked for another half-hour or so while Monique ate breakfast and Kim continued getting ready for the concert. Then, after they said their goodbyes, with Monique offering upbeat wishes of luck for the concert, Kim took a minute to make sure she was decent before calling Wade.

“Hey Kim, what’s—whoa! What happened to your hair?”

Kim rolled her eyes and, for the second time in an hour, dryly explained her current change in hairstyle.

“Oh, cool. You should enjoy yourself then; Alice Cooper is one of the founding fathers of the modern rock concert; his showmanship set the tone for pretty much everything to come after him.”

“Don’t tell me you’re a fan too?” Kim couldn’t help the dry disbelief that bordered on disgust in her tone. It may have been overreaction, but at the moment it seemed like everyone had known exactly who Alice Cooper was long before she’d ever heard of him.

“Well, he does have some good stuff, but no, not really; I just know a lot of things. Information is what I do after all…” Wade’s grin carried a certain smug self-satisfaction about it, and Kim laughed, knowing it wasn’t wholly unwarranted.

“All right, looks like I walked right into that one.”

“Mmmmhmmm. So, what do you need from me?”

“I was hoping you could screen my Kimmunicator calls during the concert; last thing I need is for Ron or my parents to see Shego in the chaos if I pick up without thinking first. It’s going to run from eight ‘til midnight, but that’s London time, so I think that would be one to five Middleton time. Actually…” Kim paused for a moment, considering, “better make that noon ‘til six, since I’m sure we’ll get there early and leave late.”

“Ok, can do Kim—oh, and FYI, you’re right on the time difference too.”

“Thanks, I really appreciate it.”

“No problem. Anything else you need?”

“Anything happening on the site?”

“Nope, mostly quiet; there’s not even that many minor things coming in today.”

“Ok. And I suppose it would be overly hopeful to expect you’ve made some progress on finding Corscan?”

“That would depend on how you define ‘progress’…” Wade quipped dryly, continuing without even giving Kim time to respond. “I finally finished hacking into those last few intelligence agencies’ databases I was working on, so now I’ve got access to pretty much all the information I need to begin looking for her from that angle; I started the data mining and facial recognition programs just last night actually. Also, the team finished their search through all the security records of pretty much every major airport in the world, and a lot of the minor ones too, dating back five years. They didn’t find anything on Corscan, but we knew that was a long shot anyway—however, they did turn up a handful of sightings of Damien Frost and Li Huizhong scattered across the globe. I’m not sure if it’ll lead to anything, but I’ve got them running down all the sightings anyway, and I passed the information on to Neon Spyder too. If we’re lucky maybe we can find a pattern to those appearances, or correlate them with events occurring at the same time they were in those areas. It’s not much, but at least it’s something…”

Kim sighed. “Have I mentioned how much I totally hate how slow this is going and especially all the waiting involved?”

“Only about two or three billion times since we started.” Wade gave a grin along with his dry humor. “Don’t let it get to you. It might be slow going, but we are making progress—well, of a sort anyway. It’s only a matter of time until something turns up; just be patient.”

“That’s the problem…” Kim grumbled under her breath. A moment later she gave a little sigh and, in a louder tone, continued; “Ok, thanks Wade. I’ll talk to you later unless something comes up, all right?”

“Ok, see you later Kim.”

After putting her Kimmunicator away, Kim finished up the final touches on her hair and makeup, then made sure she’d laid out everything she wanted for her outfit before putting it all on, which was a not-so-small task unto itself.

Standing in front of the full-length mirror on the back of her closet door fifteen minutes later, Kim adjusted the waistband of her well-worn denim skirt and the black studded leather belt that matched her broad wristbands, making sure the straps of her purple thong were properly displayed as she gave herself a final inspection before heading out.

She’d gotten a heavy, spiked, black leather dog collar in town to go with her other accessories, and she was using her silver-chained biker wallet as well. She’d also picked up a black T-shirt that boldly declared “Rocker Grrrl” in jagged, iron grey framed red letters across the front, along with a light, loose black greatcoat. She’d taken the sheers to both garments after she’d gotten back, cutting off the T-shirt so that it only fell a few inches below her breasts, fully exposing her taut, rippling abs nicely, and tearing off each sleeve of the greatcoat an inch below the shoulder, then frizzing up the remaining flaps of fabric into furry ruffs of thread before removing the belt loops and outer pockets as well. A pair of sheer, seamed, black silk stockings and ankle-length, silver-buckled black boots with heavy two-inch heels completed the look. Kim thought it all went together pretty well, especially with how she’d done her hair and the dark purple lipstick, nail polish, and somewhat lighter eyeshadow she was wearing.

Nodding in satisfaction, Kim picked up her Kimmunicator and slipped it into an inner pocket of her greatcoat before heading out to the main hall.

“Well well well… looks like you’re really getting into the spirit of things there Kimmie.” Shego’s pleased voice came from behind Kim as the redhead was closing the door leading to her suite.

Kim grinned as she turned to face Shego. “Yeah, I think I-yyaaaahhhh!”

“What? What?” Shego shouted as she quickly twisted around to her left and right, frantically looking in every direction, not realizing that she herself was the source of Kim’s wide-eyed expression and shocked exclamation.

“Y-your hair!” Kim raised a slightly trembling hand to point at Shego in dismay. “What did you do to your hair?”

“`Geh.” Shego grunted in annoyance, rolling her eyes and shaking her head as she straightened, finally getting it. “And what, exactly, is wrong with my hair?”

“How… how could you…?”

Kim trailed off in the face of Shego’s bone-dry challenge, unable to give further voice to her dismay. She barely noticed the short black skirt, fishnet stockings, and form-fitting knee-length boots the other woman was wearing, all showing off her curvy hips and shapely legs to considerable effect, nor the black corset, leather jacket, and mid-forearm length fingerless leather mitts she had on. And as eye-catching as it was, she paid scant attention to the matching Kelly green trim that framed the lacing of Shego’s boots, corset, and the inch-wide strips on either side of her skirt, or the fact that the long, thin, triple straps of her mitts and the piping on her corset were done in the same color, pulling everything together as a matched outfit. No, her focus was solely fixed above the pale woman’s shoulders, and the hair there—or rather, the lack thereof.

All that remained of Shego’s long, impossibly thick, luxurious mane was a broad four-inch strip down the center, swept back in an admittedly equally impossible foot-high, heavily hairspray-and-extra-strength-Le-Goop-laden teardrop Mohawk, while the rest of her skull was shockingly bare, bereft of hair right down to the smooth surface of her faintly gleaming scalp.

“What?”

“You… you cut off all your beautiful hair… just… just for a rock concert?” Kim’s brain still hadn’t quite rebooted yet, so plaintive disbelief continued to dominate her tone.

“Yeaaaah?” Shego twisted the one-word reply with supreme sarcasm; to her it was beyond self-evident. “What’s the problem? It’ll grow back…” A second later her eyes widened in surprise as she was struck by a sudden epiphany. “Oh… ooooh, that’s riiiight, you don’t know…”

“Know what?” There was a hint of sharpness there as Kim’s mind finally started firing on all cylinders once more, catching the lifeline that leading comment seemed to offer.

Shego grinned with just a hint of sheepishness as she answered; “Well, there’s a reason why I’ve kept three feet of hair for over a decade now, and it’s not just because I like the way it looks. It’s how long my hair was when we got hit by that stupid rock, and for some reason that’s how long my powers seem to like it too, because whenever it gets cut or whatever, it grows like crazy until it’s back to the way it normally looks, then stops dead until the next time it gets shorter, however that happens. So, all of this?” Shego gestured vaguely at her bare scalp. “Yeah, it’ll all be back in under a week, tops.”

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!” Kim’s relief expressed itself as something entirely different.

“Nope.”

“So you’re telling me you can do whatever the hell you want to your hair, no matter how radical, with absolutely no repercussions because worse case scenario you can just sheer it all off and a week later you’re right back to where you started?”

“Ahhh, yep. Pretty much.” Shego grinned.

“Ugh… that is so-ho-ho-hoooo unfair.” Kim whined plaintively.

“Yes, so very unfair Miss ‘I can do anything’, so very, very unfair.” Shego taunted with a wry smile.

Kim gave a high-pitched, whining sigh and grudgingly conceded; “I guess.” Then she grumbled; “But it’s still annoying.”

“Can’t argue there.” Shego grinned, then her smile and tone turned sly as she continued; “So, you think my hair’s beautiful, do you?”

“Oh don’t get all cat-who-ate-the-canary on me, you know damn well I’ve always liked your hair, even before we got together.” Kim chided with dry, good-humored exasperation. “Speaking of which, now that I’m over the shock, you know that’s not supposed to be possible, right?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your Mohawk; it’s thick and has body and volume. That’s not right.” Kim grinned broadly, highly if incredulously amused. “I’ve seen them before in school and on a few missions, so I know they’re normally all flat and thin. What you’ve got going on there is like something out of a cartoon or something.”

Shego chuckled. “Well, it’s all part of the package Kimmie; I break the laws of man, and my hair breaks the laws of nature.”

Kim laughed and shook her head, grinning as she did. A moment later she sobered somewhat, and her grin shifted to something else entirely as she said; “Speaking of packages, I’ve gotta say as things go, I’m really likin’ the wrapping on this one.” Kim looked Shego up and down with a lingering, appreciative gaze. “Verrrry nice…”

“Oh really?” Shego’s grin shifted to a smirk, and she took a half-step back, striking a pose with her hands on her hips, which were noticeably cocked to the left, her curvy, leading leg extended slightly forward. “So you like what you see, do you?”

“Ab-so-lutely…” Kim drew out the enunciation with a wanton grin. “Only reason I’m not climbin’ up on that for a little taste is because we don’t have the time—and I don’t wanna ruin my makeup either.” The last was tossed off with irreverently dismissive humor.

Shego gave a little laugh, then raised an eyebrow faintly as she responded; “Can’t say I’d mind that at all Kimmie; you do look smokin’ hot in that outfit, all bad grrrl of rock and roll and all, but you’re right, we’ve gotta go.”

Kim smirked and fell in alongside Shego as the taller woman began heading down the hall. “So I pass inspection, do I?”

“With flying colors. You’ll stand out even as you fit right in Princess.”

“Good. I was a little worried I’d taken it a bit too far—or… not far enough, as the case may be.”

Shego laughed and pulled Kim in by the waist for a little squeeze. “No, you got it right Kimmie, you got it right.”

In high spirits, the duo proceeded to the underground hangar, where they boarded Shego’s hover-jet and took off in a blast of fiery exhaust as soon as the pre-flight check was complete.

Catching a good tailwind and encountering little to no rough weather or turbulence, Shego was bringing them in for a landing at the London Gatwick airport in just under a half-hour, mainly due to the necessity of having to slow down when they got near the airport—she could have gotten them on the ground in just twenty minutes if she’d been able to come in fast and hard all the way.

The extra time seemed insignificant, but given Shego’s anxiety over making it to the arena before the concert started, it was enough to have her complaining about it vociferously when the pair ran into minor difficulties (and resultant delays) getting her Harley off the plane once they’d landed. Even so, by the time they managed to leave the airport grounds and get onto the highway, they still had over an hour to spare—not that anyone would know it by Shego’s constant stream of grumbled complaints every time they hit a roundabout on the way to their destination.

Despite moderate traffic and her nerve-induced criticism and worry however, Shego managed to get them to the arena with twenty minutes to spare, which she considered barely tolerable given it took them another five minutes to find an acceptable parking space.

“C’mon, c’mon, let’s go already!” Shego was practically bouncing up and down with excitement and nervous energy, in marked contrast to Kim’s somewhat more reserved—and amused—enthusiasm.

“I’m coming, I’m coming, just hold your horses.” Kim smirked as she gave her seams one last check before straightening out her skirt and coat. “Ok, let’s go.”

Shego gave a happy little grin as she immediately broke off her anxious hovering and headed straight for the main entrance, her long, eager stride setting a pace that Kim had to rush to catch up with, and required a slight effort for her to match once she did. Even so, instead of annoying the redhead, Shego’s enthusiasm infected her, raising her spirits and anticipation to nearly the same level as the green-hued devotee’s, until they were both acting like the teenage fangirls Kim actually was and Shego was in spirit, if not fact.

Between the effects of their stylishly striking, blunt-instrument-sexy appearances, far above average ability to nimbly weave through tight spaces, and Shego’s no-nonsense attitude—along with rigid, brutally stabbing fingers where necessary—when it came to snags in the form of knots of unmoving people in the overall crowd, the pair made it through the doors and presented their tickets for authentication in just under five minutes, which was no small feat in and of itself.

While they were waiting for their tickets to be scanned, Kim immediately noticed a dull murmur coming from ahead of them, one that grew louder and more encompassing as they reached the inner halls of the arena a few moments later and Shego paused to buy them some bottled water. It reminded her of school assemblies and sports games, only on a grander scale, but even that familiarity didn’t prepare her for the impact of the full, unfettered wall of sound that washed over her when they entered the arena proper. It was like the roar of the ocean, as the energetic voices of thousands of people filled the cavernous interior with an almost palpable vibration, ebbing and flowing almost hypnotically, as if a living thing, a muted thunder embodying the excitement and anticipation of countless kindred souls. She might have lost herself in it for a few moments had it not been for Shego’s insistent tugging at her arm.

“C’mon Kimmie, we’ve only got a few minutes left to get to a good spot before it starts!”

Kim doubted she could have heard the shout if she weren’t standing next to Shego.

“Ok, I— wait! What do you mean ‘get a good spot’? Don’t you mean find our seats?” Kim shouted back in confusion as Shego kept a firm grip on her hand while dragging her out onto the floor.

“Seats? Hell no…” Shego quickly shouted back over her shoulder as she pushed through the crowd. “Standing room only Princess; it’s the only way to fly!”

“Ok!” Kim had never attended an event in that manner before, but she really doubted she’d have any problems with it, given how much time she’d spent walking over rough terrain, let alone more recently dancing in clubs.

As Kim let the obviously more experienced Shego take the lead cutting their way through the crowd, she was able to observe the gamut of people around them, and the redhead was surprised to find that although a lot of the crowd was comprised of people around her parents’ ages, as she had expected, a noticeable number were much older, and more importantly, a far larger portion were around her and Shego’s ages—late high school or early college to be sure. That, she had not expected. But after a few minutes pondering the discovery, she realized it shouldn’t have been that surprising. After all, a concert was a concert, and she knew plenty of people her age went to Grateful Dead and Rolling Stones concerts for no more reason than that.

Another thing she hadn’t expected was how many people were dressed “normally,” for lack of a better term. Sure, a large portion of the crowd was in “traditional” leathers or comparable rock attire, with a smaller subsection in more extreme outfits befitting the macabre nature of the iconic shock rocker’s material and stage persona, but a considerable number of them were wearing an admittedly casual but otherwise relatively mundane assortment of clothing. Still, overall, there were far more people dressed similar to her and Shego than not, but it was an interesting observation nonetheless.

“Ok, this is a good spot.” Shego shouted after coming to a stop about a hundred feet from the stage, more on the right hand side of it than in the center.

“What, here? Why?” Kim shouted back.

Shego moved in closer to Kim so she could just talk loudly instead of shouting.

“From here we get an easy view of the whole stage without being too far back to see things, and we’re better positioned to watch what’s under there when the time comes…”

Shego raised her arm, pointing out over Kim’s shoulder, and, following the line of the taller woman’s arm with her gaze, Kim found she was indicating a big, somewhat rectangular structure that stood on the left-hand side of the stage, draped in the concealing folds of an enormous, inky black cloth.

“What’s under there?” Kim asked, sensing that Shego knew the answer already.

“I can’t say for sure, but it’s probably the gallows.” Shego responded in an eager tone. “It might be a guillotine, but I wouldn’t bet on it.”

“Really?”

“All part’a the show Kimmie.” Shego grinned in anticipation.

Kim couldn’t help smiling herself, even as she continued studying the stage with a decidedly incredulous amusement. It was certainly different from any other setup she’d ever seen. Aside from the black-swathed scaffold, there were the expected long, angled, boxy lighting units out in front, stacked towers of nearly ludicrously large speakers to either side of the stage, and various microphone and guitar stands. Somewhat less expected was the flowing, bluish-grey cloth backdrop emblazoned with a pair of twenty-foot wide, disembodied eyes outlined with the traditional black makeup design Alice Cooper wore, looking down on the crowd eerily from where they gently undulated high above, or the set of short black stairs that stood to the right of the scaffold, climbing to a raised platform where the drum kit was set up, which in turn had another set of stairs rising from the far right-hand side of it, connecting to a catwalk that vanished into the darkness behind the right-hand speaker tower.

Before Kim could ask Shego anything further, the house lights suddenly dimmed and the stage lights came up in strobing red, orange, and yellow as the opening act trotted out to a mixture of lukewarm applause and the occasional catcall.

Kim didn’t have a clue who “Hammersmith” was (neither did Shego for that matter), but she had to admit that although they weren’t exactly the greatest, and their sound wasn’t something she was particularly into, they didn’t deserve the lackluster response that haunted them throughout their entire set. Even so, despite getting their most applause for leaving the stage, they did manage to get the crowd worked up and ready for the main event, if only barely. A few moments later the stage lights dropped as well, plunging the arena into near-complete darkness, marred only by the faint light coming from various corridors around the periphery.

An expectant hush fell over the crowd, with only the soft susurrations of whispers and breathing filling the darkness. The air almost hummed with an anxious, quivering anticipation, and Kim found herself caught up in the energy, a step away from trembling like a drawn bowstring as she too stood still and silent with bated breath, waiting for what was to come. The quiet darkness seemed to last forever, but then, just as the eager excitement teetered on the brink of becoming unbearable, a rich, laidback baseline rolled out over the crowd, accentuated by the sharp contrast of high, strummed guitar licks and gently tapped and brushed cymbals.

The crowd broke into a muted, rushing roar peppered with staccato whoops of exhilaration at the sound, Shego among their number as she gave voice to her ecstatic excitement, but to Kim’s surprise it all seemed rather… subdued, to her. A few moments later she finally understood as Alice Cooper’s steady, rhythmic voice joined the music so gently it was only a step above a whisper.

“Welcome to my nightmare, I think you’re gonna like it, I think you’re gonna feel, you belong… A nocturnal vacation, unnecessary sedation, you wanna feel at home, ‘cause you belong…” A funky riff broke the gentle rhythm as a heralding precursor, and the stage lights slowly came up in a soft, eerie, sickly green and white glow, illuminating a shadowy, stick-thin figure standing at the top of the stairs. “Welcome to my nightmare, oh-o-ho-ho…”

The stage lights brightened further and the music swelled, growing stronger and louder, as did Alice’s voice, the singing taking on a commanding vibrancy and power as the leather-clad form of the rocker stood fully revealed now, his emaciated, scarecrow-like appearance further enhanced by the black makeup surrounding his eyes and trailing from the corners of his mouth in thin lines.

“Welcome to my breakdown, I hope I didn’t scare you, that’s just the way we are, when we come down… We sweat ‘n laugh and scream here, ‘cause life is just a dream here, you know inside y’feel, right at home… yeah… welcome to my breakdown, oh-o-oh-hoooo… Yeah welcome to my nightmare, yea-a-a-a-ahhh.”

As the intensity and insistence of the music rose even as Alice slowly descended the first fight of stairs, the crowd answered the long instrumental interlude with rising enthusiasm as well, and now Kim found herself joining the chorus of thousands of throats as the cresting rush of excitement swept her along with it.

Reaching the drummer’s platform just as the music surged yet again, trumpets adding their shrilling voices to the mix, Alice turned to the crowd, slowly raising his arms until they were spread out to either side of him, long black cane in one hand and silver microphone in the other, letting the thunder of the crowd and the driving beat of his music rush over him for a long moment before he continued, his voice resounding, strident and demanding, belting out the lyrics as if he were rising to the challenge of the teeming masses before him, meeting their swelling energy with a wellspring of his own.

“Welcome to my nightmare! I think you’re gonna like it! I think you’re gonna feel, you belong! We sweat ‘n laugh and scream here, ‘cause life is just a dreeeee-e-yeaaaah, you know inside y’ feel, right at home… heeere. Welcome to my nightmare, o-o-o-oooooh… Welcome to my breakdown!”

The sudden sound of a thundering, rumbling explosion burst from the myriad speakers, hanging in the air for a long moment before the music broke down in a momentary swirling psychedelic funk of howling guitars. The crowd went crazy along with the music, their roaring energy continuing long after the beat recovered from that spiraling climax, the music slowly fading away until it was lost in the reveling thunder of countless fans, and Kim was carried right along with that exaltation, howling alongside Shego with the voices of human and guitar alike while surging excitement pounded through her veins.

The opening song set the stage for the entire concert, at least to some degree. It was like a roller coaster ride of rising peaks and sloping valleys, the excitement and energy climbing and falling all throughout the show, never quite letting up, but always giving the crowd time to recover before the next resurgence sent their excitement building once more, with every ascent going just a little higher than the last as the show built to its inevitable final climax.

Kim lost herself in the experience along with Shego, as did nearly everyone else in the arena, amazed by the consummate skill with which Alice directed his show and worked the crowd, enthralled by the power and diverse complexity of his music, and most importantly, surprised by just how funny the show was in addition to horrifying. It was gallows humor to be sure, all wry and cutting, just like the rawboned scarecrow conducting the complicated tale playing out on stage—and it was a story, there could be no doubt about that—but it was humor all the same, mixed in with the black-clad, ax-wielding maniacs, bloody stabbings and dismemberments, straitjackets, black-robed skeletal specters of death, and a host of other disturbing, unhinged imagery. It all came together to entertain and delight Kim like some fantastically twisted three ring circus, and she drank in every moment with Shego at her side, shouting and laughing and dancing and shrieking right along with her, both of them sharing the experience with each other even as they lived it—and Shego was certainly living it.

It had been years since she’d been able to go to a concert—since before she’d gone to work for Drakken actually; the scatterbrained mad scientist was so erratic she could barely plan for anything around him—and even longer since she’d had someone to go to a concert with. On top of that was the fact that this was the first time Kim had ever experienced something like this. Everything was fresh and new and even more thrilling for her because of it, and that in turn increased Shego’s own enjoyment as she got a vicarious boost from the teenager’s open excitement. All of those things came together to lift her to the heights of exhilaration, as the sheer strength of her elation carried her away completely, lost in the moment and loving every second of it.

Unfortunately for Shego, there were… repercussions, to her losing herself like that. After the grand climax of the show, while the rest of the exalting crowd was pumping their fists in the air and firing up lighters, she found herself summoning her power without even thinking about it, her energized hands waving back and forth trailing long streamers of dissipating lime-green cosmic energy. A moment later those twin arcs erupted in a fountain of rippling green energy waves that curled up and outwards in a brilliant but harmless pyrotechnic display.

By the time Shego realized what she was doing, it was far too late. Kim might be laughing and clapping and cheering at the sight, but the rest of the crowd sure wasn’t. Even as Shego jerked her arms down and extinguished her power like a candle being snuffed out, looking around wildly with a mortified expression, the crowd was pulling back, opening up at least a ten-foot wide circle around her and Kim as they retreated in shocked awe and no little alarm. Finally Kim caught on—it was pretty hard to miss now—and registered the edge of panic in Shego’s eyes as the taller woman frantically waved her raised palms back and forth, simultaneously trying to apologize and downplay her display while a deep blush spread across her cheeks.

Alas Shego’s words were lost in the dull roar of the shouting, applauding crowd—or at least, the vast majority of it that still had no idea what was going on down where Shego and Kim stood. A moment later Kim leaned in and shouted over the din to the flustered woman, on the assumption she had a fair idea what was going on in Shego’s head.

“You think security is going to come after you? Or the cops? Do we need to get out of here now?”

Kim wasn’t particularly angry, nor worried, just a little disappointed at the thought of having to leave—and of course, a bit vexed at how exactly they would go about extricating themselves from the situation if they did have to flee.

“No, no… well, yes actually, but it’s not that. It’s a lot worse than that.” Shego shouted back morosely, only glancing at Kim briefly as she did.

In all the audio chaos and confusion—and to a far lesser extent visual as well—it took Kim several moments to notice that Shego’s attention wasn’t focused on her or the couple of clots of security personnel the redhead could barely make out from where she was—clots that were most definitely focused on them she noted however—but rather the pale beauty was unexpectedly oriented on the stage, and more specifically, Alice himself.

Following Shego’s gaze, to her slight embarrassment Kim saw that the aging rock icon was looking back at them, squinting slightly in the stage lights while apparently talking to someone on the mini-headset concealed beneath his long, straggly black hair. It was only a few seconds after that that Shego’s worst fears were realized, as Alice pointed out into the crowd and several spotlights throughout the stadium swiveled around to highlight her and Kim in their bright glare.

“Ahhhh crap.” Shego lamented quietly, ducking her head in resignation as she did. Beside her, Kim was able to make out the sentiment by reading her expression and lips, but before she could ask anything, Alice astounded her by raising his microphone and apparently addressing them—or more specifically, Shego.

“Well now, what have we here?” Alice’s rhetorically curious voice was smooth and almost… playful, Kim thought. “I almost didn’t recognize you; it’s been a while. Of course, there’s really no one else it could have been I suppose…” Alice grinned genially—and incongruously, given his stage makeup.

Shego groaned and shook her head as she raised her gaze to the stage.

“Why don’t you come on up here?” Alice beckoned to Shego with the hand holding his black cane while the mystified crowd looked on in relative—very relative—silence.

“Ohhhh no, no, that’s ok…” Shego declined pointlessly, given there was no way Alice could have heard her, but there was no mistaking the exaggerated shake of her head or the way she waved her upraised palms back and forth.

“Now now, don’t be shy; come give us a little visit.” Alice grinned broadly, clearly enjoying Shego’s bashful reluctance. “Why don’t you folks open up a path for our friend here? After all, you really wouldn’t want her to feel… unwelcome, now would you?”

After a few moments the crowd rumbled something that was largely unintelligible, but still gave the impression of agreement, and the portion directly in front of the two women parted like the red sea at Alice’s command. Shego shook her head again and gave up, glancing at Kim as she reluctantly shouted; “Come on, let’s go…”

Kim didn’t have any idea what was going on, but she followed alongside Shego as the pale woman headed for the stage as if her final destination was the very gallows that loomed there.

When the pair reached the sectional, freestanding barrier of heavy metal railings separating the crowd from the ten feet of no-man’s land in front of the stage, Shego bellowed at the waiting security guards that she wasn’t going any further unless Kim was allowed over it as well. Once they waved and nodded their assent, she leaned in close to the redhead so she could, by necessity loudly, speak in her ear in what otherwise passed for a whisper given the circumstances.

“Just wait for me here, ok? This shouldn’t take too long—I hope…”

“What’s going on?”

“Oh you’ll find out soon enough.” Shego grumbled as she took Kim by the waist and effortlessly lifted her over the barrier, the redhead instantly and instinctively cooperating by pulling up her strong legs so the pale beauty could pass her over the top.

Once Kim was on the other side of the barricade, Shego rolled her eyes and gave one last resigned shake of her head while stepping back a few feet and crouching down, her powerful legs bulging and flexing noticeably before she launched herself into the air, sailing high overhead while gracefully flipping and spinning around with her arms outstretched, to land next to Alice with the slightest of ease, facing back the way she came. A moment later she turned to the rock star and grinned at his astonished expression while ignoring the roar of approval that thundered up from the crowd.

“Well, you asked for me.” Shego exclaimed bluntly, though not without a smile, enjoying having turned the tables on Alice for however briefly she was sure it would last.

Shaking his head after a few more moments of stunned silence, Alice grinned back and replied; “I guess I did.” Turning to the crowd, he raised his microphone and continued in a much louder voice, thanks to fifty thousand watts of the finest amplification JBL speakers could provide. “This pale vision of loveliness you see before you is one of my biggest fans, and, as you’ve all seen, a woman of many talents as well…” Alice glanced at Shego with a sly smile, and she knew in the pit of her stomach that he was about to make her pay through the nose for the disruption of his show and jumping on stage like she had, “not the least of which is being a damn good bass player.” Alice smiled evilly. “Wouldn’t you all like to hear her play?”

“Oh fuck no!” Shego shouted with rising panic in her eyes, turning three shades darker green and waving her hands frantically while giving her head a nearly violent shake. Alice just grinned all the more broadly.

“Oh, look, I think she’s shy.” Turning to the crowd, he shouted; “How ‘bout it folks? Let’s hear how much you want her to play…”

Shego’s groan was lost in the thunderous roar of approval that washed over the stage, and she bowed her head, shaking it gently as she accepted that she was well and truly screwed. Looking up again, she gave an exaggerated stage nod and spread her hands helplessly while shouting; “All right! All right! You win you sadistic bastard.”

Alice laughed, not that Shego could hear it, and in less than a minute’s time, roadies rounded up a microphone stand and a spare bass for her, setting it up a little to the right of center stage as fast as they could, while a grumbling Shego and highly amused Alice hashed out what song they were going to do.

Meanwhile, in her position down in front of the crowd, Kim could hardly believe her eyes and ears; what was happening seemed almost—no, completely—surreal. For a moment she actually wondered if she might have fallen and cracked her skull open on the hard concrete floor, making everything that was going on a mere hallucination she was experiencing on her way to the hospital. At least that would make more sense. Not, mind you, that Kim wasn’t enjoying the little scene playing out above her, just that the firm eight-point-five vibe on her weird-o-meter kept pulling her out of the moment, which was all playful delight to her otherwise.

By the time everything was set up for her, Shego and Alice had worked out a game plan and, after she received her big, badass black bass and moved into position, were ready to begin. A moment later Alice signaled the band and the stage lights cycled to a darker mix and dimmed considerably, while backstage, several lighting techs bit their lips or fidgeted nervously as they tried to remember the protocol and cues needed for the song Alice wanted, as it hadn’t been planned for the night’s performance, and thus hadn’t been programmed into the system, so they were going to have to do it the old fashion way: manually from start to finish.

A hush fell over the crowd, and there was dead silence from the stage before the sharp crack of a whip split the air. A few seconds after that, the drummer began a steady, measured beat of sharp percussion underscored by a skilled, complex thumping of the bass drum and the brassy hissing of brushed cymbals. The high squeal of a guitar slid into the beat, announcing itself boldly before settling into the mix with a rich riff that was punctuated from time to time by further high howls, and Kim almost missed the fact that Shego slipped in her own pulsing bass line right on the tail end of that wailing entrance, as subtle as a ninja.

With the music established, Alice raised his microphone and, just as he was about to begin crooning the opening lyrics, Shego flashed Kim a broad, wry smile of playful satisfaction. It took Kim a few moments to figure out why, since the song wasn’t one she was very familiar with, but she had heard it a few times before, and recognized it eventually, prompting a return smirk as a complex little thrill of mirth and groaning disbelief shivered through her.

“Black leather gloves and your lipstick shines, bright as moonlight glows… My wildest rose cuts so fine and deep, it hurts but never shows…” Alice’s smooth voice intensified, becoming more demanding as it rose to a driving finish, “You’re bad, you’re so hardcore… pull me down here on the, killin’ floo-ooor!”

By the time the chorus hit, Kim felt an elated emotion swelling and surging up in her chest stronger and stronger right along with it, and she was grinning broadly now.

“Little by little we cross the line! (Oh-oh oh-oh!) Little by little the ties that bind! (Oh-ooo-oh-oh!) Little by little by little by little! (Oh-oh oh-oh!) Little by little tonight!”

The music fell from the surge that accompanied the chorus, sliding back into its smooth, pulsing rhythm, and Alice’s tempo fell with it, crooning once more while still somehow managing to maintain its previous demanding intensity. Nearby, Shego wasn’t just playing anymore, but also swaying back and forth in a supremely sexy undulation, her broad hips pausing at the apex of each sway for a double tap before heading back the way they came.

“Your sugar tongue speaks hot and sweet, lyin’ just for fun… Push and shove, sex is sex… But honey, love is lo-o-o-ove…” Once more Alice drove to a rising climax, “Oh we’re not, sick insaaaane, a’ just another, lovers’ gaaa-a-me!”

By the time the second chorus hit, Kim was almost mimicking Shego, dancing in place with her hands high above her head, shouting and laughing now as intense adulation bubbled up from inside her.

“Little by little we cross the line! (Oh-oh oh-oh!) Little by little the ties that bind! (Oh-ooo-oh-oh!) Little by little by little by little! (Oh-oh oh-oh!) Little by little tonight!”

When the chorus wound down again, Alice broke the pattern by not only maintaining the intensity he’d established in the previous climax, but also driving it even higher.

“I’m all undone! My pretty one! Don’t slap my faaace, unless you kiss me!”

Shego was already moving out from behind her mic the moment Alice hammered the last line home, the pale beauty’s swaying walk and the taut, flexing lines of her exquisitely curvy, fishnet-and-leather-clad legs even more pronounced as she took on the solo, rising, licking lime-green energy bursting from her hands as she proceeded to make love to her bass with a fairly consummate degree of skill.

Somewhere in the back of Kim’s adulation addled mind, a small part of her remembered that the song was supposed to have a guitar solo instead, and a shorter one at that, but the larger part of her didn’t notice and didn’t care as she thrilled and howled along with the crowd to Shego’s rippling, thrumming wall of rich liquid sound, every fiber of her being lost to the delight rolling through her from the performance.

Shego’s double-length extended solo ended when she and Alice moved in closer to one another, sharing his mic as they both sang the modified chorus that came after the solo, her voice not exactly the greatest, but at least adequate for the task at hand, blending with his in a not unpleasant harmony.

“Little by little we cross the line! Little by little the ties that bind! Little by little by little by little! Little by little tonight!”

Shego rapidly retreated to her previous position behind her mic the instant the chorus ended, while Alice alone took center stage once more, bringing the song home, as was his right.

“A’ you beg and you cry for more… Y’ pull me down here on the killin’ floo-ooo-ooorrr!”

As the final repeating chorus refrained while fading off into the distance, Kim laughed and cheered along with the crowd until at last, the song wound down fully and a grinning, notably barely sweating Shego took a broad, sweeping bow with one outstretched hand, once more absent its aura of green cosmic energy.

“Well I guess I’ve punished you enough.” Alice shouted to Shego after she was done. “Just try and control of yourself next time, ok? Or better yet, let me know you’re coming and I’ll work you into the show if I can.” Alice grinned evilly at his threat-disguised-as-offer.

“Oooohhhh no, I’ll be sure not to get carried away again, trust me!” Shego bellowed back, and Alice laughed at the alarm in her voice, then scanned the crowd for a few long moments.

“Looks like they want some more.” Alice returned his attention to Shego. “I’ve still got some juice left; you up for a few encores?”

“Ahhhh, no, I don’t think so.” Shego shook her head with a rueful grin. “I’ll stick around to watch, but I’m done playing for this crowd.”

Alice nodded his acceptance, and a few moments later a pair of roadies ran out to collect Shego’s bass and microphone stand at the rocker’s headset-issued orders. Once they had, Alice put an arm around Shego’s shoulders for a half hug and they turned to the crowd, each raising an arm for a brief moment before Shego walked to the edge of the stage and stepped off, dropping down to the floor and walking over to Kim, who was grinning like a Cheshire cat. Behind Shego, Alice addressed the crowd once more.

“Damn that’s one witchy woman, isn’t she folks?” Alice waited for the cheering to die down before continuing; “How ‘bout we give her a little tribute?”

Meanwhile, down below, Shego found herself dealing with a double armful of excited teenage cheerleader, as Kim jumped forward with a laugh and hugged her while bouncing up and down slightly, a silly grin on her face as she loudly exclaimed; “I didn’t know you played guitar, or that you knew Alice Cooper!”

Shego snorted softly and gave a wry smile, lightly wrapping her arms around Kim’s waist and lacing her fingers together while she leaned in to respond; “It’s a bass, not a guitar, and I don’t exactly know Alice, more like we met a few times back when I was, y’know… not evil.”

Kim snorted softly, her grin twisting to amusement at Shego’s inability to name herself a hero. “Well, you were great up there anyway. It was amazing!”

“Nahhh, s’nothing special.” Shego responded, turning to watch the stage as the band began the opening power chords of Poison, only to snort and smirk at Alice’s choice.

Kim decided to let it drop, smiling at Shego’s uncharacteristic modesty, and the pair stood arm in arm as they enjoyed the song along with two more encores before Alice finally called it a night.

As the house lights came up and the crowd milled about, their voices rumbling and rushing like crashing surf, Shego leaned in to Kim and said; “C’mon, we’ll leave out the back side exit there.”

“Ok.” Kim responded as Shego guided her to the right with her arm, walking in step with the taller woman. With just the slightest teasing edge to her tone she added; “So, did you enjoy your time on stage?”

Surprisingly, Shego nodded. “Yeah, once I got over it it was pretty fun. It’s been a while since I’ve been in the spotlight like that. Still, not something I want to make a habit of.”

Kim smiled and nodded her head, and the pair continued on in silence until they’d made it out of the main arena and into the lower halls of the building.

“Ok, I really need to find a bathroom now.” Shego suddenly and loudly announced in the comparative quiet of the hallway, prompting Kim to laughter.

“Hey, isn’t that my line?”

Shego shook her head with a wry grin, and there was a hint of laughter in her voice as she replied; “Not this time Princess; I’m about to start growing gills here.”

Kim laughed again, and the duo quickly tracked down the nearest washroom, which wasn’t actually that near, so by the time they found it, Shego was considerably beyond antsy. Fortunately, the washrooms were sufficiently secluded from the main areas of the arena that the pair had them all to themselves, so Shego was able to rush into one of the stalls without delay, as did Kim, though at a slightly more sedate pace.

A few minutes later, after Kim exited her stall and washed her hands, Shego’s voice drifted out from the stainless steel box she occupied, pitched to carry.

“Ahhh, Kimmie?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I might be in here a little longer than I thought; would you mind going out to the bike and making sure nothing happens to it? I’ll catch up as soon as I can…”

“Sure. See you out front.” Kim replied cheerfully.

Shego sighed when she heard the sound of the washroom door thumping shut, then proceeded to make a variety of most decidedly unladylike sounds. She and Kim might have grown closer—considerably closer, given some of the things the redhead had been doing to her over the last few weeks—but they still weren’t that close yet.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the time Kim made it outside the arena and around to the front parking lot, the crowd had already begun to exit the building en masse. Skirting her way around clots and streams of concertgoers while pausing for the occasional car to pass, Kim made it to Shego’s bike fairly quickly, and was pleased to discover it was still where they left it and seemingly unmolested—though honestly, that was exactly what she’d expected. Kim smiled faintly. The way Shego didn’t want her around while she was using the bathroom was cute.

A few minutes later, as Kim was idly looking over the bike while she waited for Shego, she heard a deep, slightly smarmy voice from behind her.

“Heyyyy, niiiice bike baby, but I think your chassis beats it by a long, hard mile at least.”

Kim took a deep breath and sighed softly while cutting her eyes to the umber skies above, having a fair idea what was about to happen. Turning around, she was completely unsurprised to find a tall, slightly heavyset guy with long black hair and a stubbly, close-cropped beard looking at her with a leering smile and hungry eyes. In fact the only thing that did surprise her was that despite his grimy fingernails and the few grease stains on his jeans and white t-shirt, his hair was actually clean and well styled—albeit in a somewhat unstylish retro high back-sweep.

“Ahhh… yeah. Thanks.” Kim returned with dry sarcasm, noting that not only were there a couple of guys in similar leather jackets a few yards behind her… admirer, obviously his friends just by the way they were standing and watching the exchange, but also that several more men scattered around three nearby muscle cars and a few motorcycles were watching the exchange with apparent interest as well.

“So, I’ve got a few things I need to take care of first—business; y’know?—but afterwards how’s’about you and me go for a little ride, and then maybe I can give you a nice long ride…”

Kim didn’t know which she wanted to do more, laugh in her “suitor’s” face over the proposition and the slick, confident smile that accompanied it, or hurl on his scuffed black leather boots, but she marshaled her self-control and did her level best to project a neutral, non-suggestive smile and tone as she responded, not wanting to risk either encouraging or antagonizing him if she could help it—especially the latter, given how quickly the situation could… deteriorate, with all his friends watching him like they were.

“Sorry, I’m just waiting for my friend and then we’ve gotta leave for home.”

“Well maybe I could get you home instead—or at least get you somewhere hot stuff.”

Kim couldn’t resist a brief shake of her head and quick roll of her eyes, nor the way her voice took on a hint of biting undertone as she quietly responded; “Look, I’m not interested, ok? Trust me, you’re so not my type.”

“Hey, c’mon, how would you know unless you give me a try? I guarantee you will not be disappointed.”

Kim was frustrated but not particularly surprised at the response, or the way her “suitor” took a step closer to her, looking down from his superior height while hovering just outside her “personal space.” She was also unsurprised when his friends ribbed him with “What’s the matter bro? Little girlie shoot y’down?” and “Havin’ trouble wit’cher game there Charlie?” It seemed everything was playing out exactly the way she hoped it wouldn’t.

Squaring her shoulders and turning to face Charlie head on, Kim’s features slid into her “game face” as she responded in a hard, even tone.

“Well, I tried to be nice, but apparently that’s not working, so I’ll be a little more blunt. I’m not interested in what you’re selling, so just move along, because it ain’t gonna happen!”

Behind Charlie, his friends laughed at the statement they could easily hear this time ‘round, and his eyes flashed for a moment before he veiled his ire, once more assuming oily confidence as he reached out and put a hot, heavy hand on Kim’s shoulder.

“C’mon babe, don’t be like that. I know a hot little piece like you has to keep up appearances, but I’m not smalltime like you think! I’m hooked up; big-time; Charlie’s got pull baby, and if you play your cards right you can come along for a ride you’ll never forget!”

Kim frowned, and a moment later Charlie’s arm went flying back and out to his side as she snapped her forearm up into his, knocking his grip loose, then unfolded her arm to shove the offending limb even further back with a sweeping push from the blade of her hand, all in one continuous rising and falling motion he could barely follow, almost looking as if she hadn’t moved at all.

“It’s time for you to go, now.”

Kim’s level command was iron hard, as was the glint in her sharp fern-green eyes, but Charlie was having none of that as his wrath surged up at the sound of his friends’ hilarity increasing behind him, and his face and narrowed eyes turned mean and vicious as he took a step forward while reaching for her shoulder once more, this time with an air of brutish menace.

“Hey you little cock-tease, if you’re going to put the goods on display you don’t get to get all uppity bi—”

Charlie didn’t get any further as Kim knocked his arm aside again, this time stepping in and slamming two rapid, alternating palm-strikes into his left shoulder and lower right ribs, followed by a quick jab to his solar plexus, and finishing with an aggressive twin palm strike that hit his sternum and stomach, sending him stumbling back from her with the force of those final, brutally efficient blows.

“Hit the road jackass, before you hit the ground instead!” Kim snapped in a threatening growl, not even bothering to take up a combat stance as Charlie’s friends caught him by either arm when he staggered back, keeping him from going down hard on his ass.

Unfortunately, they weren’t smiling or laughing anymore either, their previous mirth melting into angry scowls that mirrored Charlie’s boiling wrath to a lesser extent. Within moments they had him steady and back on his feet, and as soon as he recovered from Kim’s comparatively gentle blows, the trio spread out and advanced on her in unspoken agreement, their body language clearly hostile and aggressive. Despite all this, when Charlie reached behind his back and pulled out a long length of motorcycle chain, the flat, heavy, dark metal links sinuously uncoiling all the way down to the asphalt, the sheer, abrupt viciousness of it took Kim off guard.

Hauling his arm up and back, the chain coiled through the air as Charlie roared; “You fuckin’ bitch!”

Kim tensed, preparing to spring out of the way as Charlie’s cocked arm began its brutal downward arc, but before she could, he was suddenly yanked up short, the entire right side of his body jerking back as his chain snapped taut in midair, while behind him, Shego’s strident voice cut through the night air like a razor.

“Maybe, but she’s my bitch asshole, so back the fuck off or you’re in for a whole world of hurt!”

“What the fuck?”

The shocked exclamation burst from Charlie as he twisted his head around to look over his shoulder, only to gape at finding an irate Shego standing there holding the other end of his chain in her upraised right fist, his friends mimicking his expression as soon as they were over their own surprise and looked as well. Meanwhile, Kim felt a strange little thrill shoot through her at hearing Shego’s fierce—if somewhat insulting—declaration.

“ ‘The fuck are you bitch?” Charlie demanded violently as soon as he found his voice.

“Wow, real extensive vocabulary you’ve got there douchebag.” Shego’s tone was dry and biting before it became simply biting, if not outright snarling. “I’m the bitch that’s gonna clean your clock!”

An instant later, a surging line of green fire trailed up the length of chain connecting the two of them, and the moment it reached him, Charlie went flying, a dull roar and faint concussion wave rolling out into the night in conjunction with his brief trip through the air, the sudden flight ending in a brutal, bouncing, tumbling impact against the cold, hard, uncaring asphalt of the parking lot.

“Now pick up that sack ‘a crap and get the fuck outta here before I really get mad!” Shego snapped at the other two shocked greasers, deftly adjusting her grip on the chain in her grasp before lashing its energy-wreathed length once, like a whip.

As soon as they recovered, the two companions quickly complied with Shego’s command, at least to an extent, rushing over to Charlie and pulling him up off the asphalt and to his decidedly unsteady feet, though overall, the stunned greaser didn’t seem that worse for wear.

“Humph, must be losing my touch…” Shego grumbled softly before taking a step closer to Kim and asking; “You ok Pumpkin?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Kim responded with nonchalant cheer before her brow furrowed ever so faintly and her tone shifted to slight concern. “Which… might be more than I can say for us. Or them, as the case may be…”

Shego grunted in confusion, but when she followed Kim’s gaze only to find that a good dozen men and a few women from the surrounding area were slowly moving in to encircle them at a distance, each dressed in at least a vaguely similar fashion to Charlie and his two obliging companions, and all looking none too happy to say the least, she immediately understood.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me… I haven’t had to deal with this kind of lame-ass small-time crap since I was fifteen.” Shego muttered with dry disgust.

Despite the situation, Kim smirked and quipped; “Well, I had to deal this kind of lame-ass small-time crap just last month. Still doesn’t make it any less annoying though…”

“Don’t suppose you’d be ok with me just blowing a few craters in this parking lot and sending them all off to a lovely tour of the local ICU, would you?” Shego shot back just as dryly.

“Ahhh, no, that’s not an option.” Kim replied firmly.

Shego sighed, muttering; “Old fashion way it is then…” Stepping forward, she scowled, lashed her energized chain once more, and sharply declared; “Oi! Unless you morons are even dumber than you look, you need to turn, the fuck, around, and walk away right now, because otherwise you won’t be walking anywhere for a real long time!”

Kim rolled her eyes and shook her head at Shego’s blunt, iron-hard threat, but she had to admit that as tactless as it was, the display was likely to accomplish its intended goal. After all, even she would have some minor reservations about taking on Shego if this were the first time she was encountering her, given the pale beauty’s current appearance, demeanor, and overtly displayed powers, and none of the greasers were Kim Possible to be sure—which was why what came next was so surprising to her and Shego alike.

Thrashing back and forth violently, Charlie tore his arms free of his helpful friends’ grasps and staggered forward on shaky legs, looking up and raking a furious gaze over everyone before roaring out; “What the fuck are you waiting for? Get ‘em!”

After a brief, hesitant delay, the gathered greasers suddenly produced a variety of lead pipes, heavy chains, knives, monkey wrenches, and even a pair of bulky, old-style canister acetylene hand torches before advancing on Kim and Shego with menacing intent.

“Oh come on!” Shego griped in an irate bellow, unwilling to accept what was happening. “Hello? Flaming green chain here you fucking morons!”

The protest apparently fell on deaf ears however, as, with a scattering of shouts and howls, the gang surged forward en masse, rushing the duo with weapons raised and violence writ large on their snarling, angry faces and gleaming in their flashing, hot-blooded eyes.

Kim was actually taken aback by the rush for a split second, but quickly recovered, hastily hiking up her skirt before sliding into her combat stance just in the nick of time, ducking under a sweeping blow from a slender but still considerably heavy pipe while twisting and jerking to the side, only narrowly avoiding an amateurish switchblade thrust from a second assailant thanks to the distraction of the first.

Meanwhile, Shego was having a much easier time of it, at least initially.

As the greasers charged, she simply twisted her wrist while twisting the power running through the chain she was swinging, focusing it in the dull, heavy hum of a strong kinetic enhancer with a light concussion chaser. As the chain slashed sideways through the air, it impacted three of the charging greasers with the force of a battering ram, blasting the trio back several yards trailing long streamers of lime-green energy, to land in crumpled, insensate heaps across the asphalt. After that she swung her arm up and around her head to lash the weapon almost straight down at a fourth target, a big, burly greaser wielding a heavy monkey wrench. The greaser tried to block with his weapon, but all that accomplished was to send the length of metal rocketing back into his forehead as hard as if he’d swung it at himself full force. A moment later his eyes crossed and he slumped to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, out of the fight completely.

Unfortunately, Shego was acutely aware of Kim’s presence behind and to the right of her, and the risks of trying to use something like a chain in combat when you weren’t fighting alone—especially a motorcycle chain that only allowed movement in two directions instead of all directions like a normal chain would. And that was on top of the difficulties involved in using a weapon like that in close quarters, which she knew was the kind of fight this was soon about to become, given she couldn’t just whirl the chain around her head to keep her opponents at bay. Shego might not have fought as part of a team for years now, but that didn’t mean she’d forgotten what was involved in doing so.

With all that instinctively flashing through her mind in the span of mere heartbeats, Shego flicked her wrist one last time, twisting to her left while unfurling the chain in an almost casual underhand strike at the final greaser charging her in the first wave, except instead of striking at him, she let the entire chain go, so that the curling length of energized metal links flew through space and slammed across his face and chest, snapping him back off his feet as if he’d run face-first into an outstretched, well-set fist. At the same time, her second hand burst into green fire and she took a step back towards Kim, who appeared to be hard-pressed by her opponents, though Shego knew that appearance was in fact quite deceptive.

For her part, it did seem that Kim was hard-pressed by the now four greasers attacking her, two armed with pipes, one with a chain, and of course, the lovely little opportunistic bitch that had twice now attempted to skewer her kidneys with a nine-inch stiletto switchblade while Kim was distracted by her other opponents—the woman might lack skill, but she more than made up for it with sheer viciousness. That however was indeed illusion, as, aside from avoiding Miss Stabby, Kim was in perfect control of the situation, her every bob, weave, sway, and step flowing into one another with minimal exertion or excess movement, all while she carefully tracked and analyzed her opponents, waiting for an opportunity to strike back without risk.

In fact, the hardest thing she was facing was keeping a tight rein on her irritation, because she could easily tell that if it weren’t for the threat of their weapons and the protection afforded by the leather jackets most of them were wearing, she could end this fight in mere moments. Unfortunately, the threat of those weapons did level the playing field for them significantly, at least in conjunction with their superior numbers. If Kim risked a move against one, she also risked giving the others an opening to do her serious harm, so instead, she watched and waited, all while slowly manipulating her foes into position with her evasive movements without them even realizing it was happening until it was far, far too late.

With a final step, Kim knew everything was ready, and, as the greaser on her left twisted in, lashing out at her head with his pipe, Kim ducked and spun out from under the blow completely, only to reveal his chain-wielding friend standing right on the other side of her, who promptly screamed as he received six inches of the whistling metal rod to his shoulder. Even as that was happening, Kim was rising while lashing out with a nearly vertical back kick using her right leg, her body angled down to the ground and the fingers of her extended right hand almost brushing the pavement.

With an eminently satisfying crunch, Kim felt rather than saw the heel of her rocketing foot slam into Miss Stabby’s jaw, sending the female sailing high up off her feet, only to limply plummet back down to the ground, landing in a sprawling heap moments later, the welling blood from a mouth badly lacerated by a dozen or more splintered teeth slowly pooling around her face.

As Kim scythed herself upright, pivoting on her hip while dropping her still extended leg as a counterweight, the fourth greaser bellowed “Amy!” and rushed her with complete and utter abandon, his pipe upraised and bloody murder in his eyes, just as she had anticipated. Grabbing his heavy wrist with both hands, she added his momentum to her own continuing impetus, twisting and throwing him all in one smooth, unbroken move while coming out of her kick.

To the right of Kim, Shego’s eyes widened not only from the beautifully executed move, but also from the fact that the first greaser had recovered from the shock of hitting his friend, and was even now turning to face Kim while swinging his pipe in a short, brutal, backhand arc that was bound to connect with the base of her rising skull, and Shego was too far away and too out of position to do anything about it, even with an energy blast—though that certainly didn’t stop her from trying, hopeless as it was.

Alas for the poor greaser, Shego’s panic was misplaced, as Kim had been keeping track of his movements out of the corner of her eye and suddenly paused for a split-second, her rising head stopping a few inches short of the arc of his swing, with the heavy pipe whistling over her shoulders harmlessly. Then she finished straightening and snapped her forearm up in an over-the-shoulder backfist to his face that had him seeing stars, all while seeming to not even look back at him. A second later a second, flaming fist slammed into the side of his head, the right cross putting an end to the pretty light show for him as it punched out his lights completely.

“This is so-o-ooooh weird.” Shego said to Kim as the redhead looked at her, though there was laughter in her voice and a broad smile on her black lips as she did.

“Tell me about it.” Kim quipped dryly, smiling herself.

A second later Shego’s humor shifted mercurially as she turned to the greaser that was still screaming about his shoulder, irately snapping; “Oh shut up!”

The reprimand was immediately followed by a point-blank blast of lime-green energy to his chest, which sent him sailing all the way back to land in the space between two parked cars across the way, now silent and unmoving as a last few streamers of energy wafted up from his body.

“Shego!”

Kim’s exasperated tone turned the pale woman’s name into chastisement, but Shego merely turned back with a raised eyebrow, wryly responding; “What? I was just putting him out of his misery…”

Kim just rolled her eyes and shook her head, stepping out of the circle of unconscious bodies around her and joining Shego as the pair prepared to deal with the second wave of greasers that had hung back so far, the now cautious thugs reevaluating their intent after the display the two women had put on, before Charlie’s continued foul-mouthed admonishments and driving demands goaded them forward once more.

The remaining greasers engaged Kim and Shego with far more wariness than their predecessors, and after a minute or so, the two women actually found themselves having some minor difficulties dealing with them.

In Kim’s case, the teenager was simply dealing with too many foes at once, so she had to watch in every direction while simultaneously evading all of their attacks, but other than that complication, she wasn’t too concerned. As a matter of fact, she’d already managed to take out two of her attackers; one with a quick snap kick to the jaw while his guard was open, and the other with a combination kick to the back of his knee to drop him down, followed by an elbow to the back of his skull, dropping him completely, all while evading three separate attacks on her. Unfortunately, that still left five more to deal with, as Charlie sent his two flanking friends into the fray against her.

Shego, on the other hand, had a considerably different problem, as she found herself confronted by the two torch-wielding greasers and a third, scrawny looking one that kept jabbing at her with a full-length pool cue he’d somehow managed to pull out of his ass. The nine-inch long teardrops of solid flame represented a significant threat to her, but more importantly, not that the greasers knew it, the hand torches served as a considerable defense against her powers as well. Shego couldn’t risk using her blasts or any kind of heat, cutting plane, or strong concussion field, all for fear of rupturing the fat acetylene canisters hanging below those flames and subsequently blowing everyone in the area straight to hell, herself and Kim included—at least, potentially anyway. Mr. McJabby didn’t make matters any better with his constant attempts to spear one of her eyes with his darting stick either.

In fact, the cautious but constant assault by her attackers actually had Shego off-balance enough that she shouted; “A little help here Kimmie?”

Kim glanced over to Shego while dodging a chain and twisting out of the way of a switchblade, then turned her attention back to her attackers, quickly lashing out to smash her right fist into a hand holding a heavy wrench while she had the opening, causing the greaser to drop his weapon with a sharp cry of pain.

“Kinda got problems of my own here Shego.”

“Not—” Shego leapt back out of the way of a searing line of fire, ruthlessly stomping on her urge to counterattack as she spotted the second greaser moving in out of the corner of her eye, “as bad as mine!”

Kim took another quick glance, and this time she was able to discern the exact nature of the problem.

“Well maybe now you know what it feels like for me fighting you.” Kim quipped, ducking under a lashing chain before snapping a quick backfist into another attacker before he could strike at her.

Shego jerked her head to the side to avoid yet another thrust from Mr. McJabby, growling; “Less with the ironic observations, more with the help, otherwise I’m taking these douchebags out!”

By her tone, Kim knew that Shego wasn’t talking about dating the flame-wielding thugs menacing her, and while she certainly wasn’t adverse to a little broken-bone-and-cartilage-level maiming of people who were trying to kill her, she drew the line at outright dismemberment and death—especially against amateurs like this. With a frustrated shake of her head, she made an irritated sound and responded with dry resignation.

“All right, fine, switch places with me then…”

Shego nodded, keeping one eye on Kim now as the duo prepared to pull off the maneuver their opponents certainly intended on stopping. Less than a minute later, once they’d gotten everyone in position, Kim leapt up into the air, lashing out with a splits-kick that caught the two greasers between her and Shego in the chest and shoulder, sending them staggering away from one another. At the same time, Shego suddenly took two long steps backward and bent at the waist while turning in Kim’s direction, whereupon Kim, having landed and gotten her legs back under her, stepped forward and twisted into a back-to-back roll across Shego’s strong shoulders, flipping up and off of her at the end of it to land facing the pale woman’s opponents in nearly the same position Shego had previously occupied.

In the meantime, Shego kept turning while straightening up once more, grinning broadly as she grabbed an incoming pipe and switchblade with her bare hands, then kicked a third greaser in the face with enough force to loft him off his feet and several yards back, but not quite enough to take his head clean off, as she certainly could have with the rippling power contained in her flexing, heavily muscled thigh. An instant later she sent a blast of energy surging through the weapons she held, blowing the two greasers off their feet and nearly out of their boots—and certainly out of the fight.

“Oh yeah, muuuuch better now Kimmie.” A twisted smirk accompanied the smugly satisfied statement as Shego stepped toward the two remaining greasers facing her. “This really plays to my strengths…”

“Glad you’re happy.” Kim shot back, her left hand darting out in a blur almost too fast for the eye to follow, grabbing Mr. McJabby’s incoming pool cue and cleanly snapping off a good ten inches from the end of it, before snapping her wrist down to send the slender dowel spinning end-over-end into the face of the torch-wielding greaser on her right—thankfully for him, sharply cracking into the middle of his forehead blunt-end first, instead of burying itself jagged-end first into one of his eye sockets, as she certainly could have done.

With Mr. McJabby staring in shock at the now much closer end of his pool cue, and the second greaser jerking back in startled, stinging pain more than any real injury, Kim turned her attention to the last greaser, twisting and lashing out at the bottom of his hand-torch with a simple short snap kick, years of experience fighting Shego and her absolute-precision-required flaming hands allowing Kim to make the attack on his weapon with an almost casual calm, despite the fat lance of metal-cutting fire screaming out of the nozzle a mere foot above her quickly moving target.

The toe of her boot struck the concave canister bottom squarely, sending the weapon spinning high into the air like a fiery pinwheel, and as soon as she planted her foot on the asphalt once more, Kim stepped forward and leapt up after it, drawing her off-leg up to her chest and brutally pistoning her heel straight down into the disarmed greaser’s shoulder at the apex of her jump, dislocating it and breaking his collarbone even as she used it to bounce higher, reaching up to snag the spinning torch out of the air before dropping once more, adding insult and even more injury to the greaser below as she twisted around while duplicating her previous move, this time on his other shoulder using her other leg, and with the nearly the same results as well, before bouncing off him to land back where she’d started in a low Phoenix crouch, her arms spread out to either side of her and the torch in her right hand hissing like an angry snake.

Uncoiling her legs, Kim twisted her hips while rising, turning smoothly to face her opponents once more, a grim smile on her features as she dryly, but loudly enough to be heard over the injured greaser’s screams, declared; “Your move dipshits.”

While the injured greaser kept shrieking and sobbing as he stumbled away from the redhead, helpless in his crippled state, Mr. McJabby and the last greaser looked at one another fearfully, sharing an unspoken agreement to break and run—especially given they could also see Shego behind Kim’s back, blasting one greaser off his feet with a leg strike that slammed the full length of her leather-clad shin across his chest, while at the same time snapping her right arm down and to the side as soon as it cleared her kick, to literally blast her other opponent with a line of green fire that sent him flying off into the night in a spinning tumble.

Unfortunately, before the last two greasers could flee, several factors convened to prevent their rout. First and least of all, the three greasers Shego had taken out as a group with her chain at the start of the fight recovered enough to reenter the fray, along with one of the men Kim had dealt with earlier, all four of them backing up their shaky companions as they fell in line alongside them even as Shego stepped up to stand beside Kim. Far more importantly however was the second event, coming right on the heels of the first and sending a mysterious surge of renewed vigor through the remaining thugs, visibly bolstering their morale considerably—even the previously on the brink of flight Mr. McJabby and torch-guy.

Off to the left of the melee by Kim and Shego’s perspectives, past several rows of parked cars, came a deep, growling series of rumbles shot through with higher-pitched straining mechanical whines and hums, while the bulky shadow of something huge hunched up into the dark night sky. A few seconds later, just as another, slightly smaller form lurched up from the sea of cars as well, a blazing halo of lights erupted along the squat, tapered outline of the top of the first looming shape. A moment after that, the second, now glare-shrouded form revealed its position once more as a flat line of lights flared to life across the top of it as well.

As the twin cones of pale blue-white light washed over the battleground, faint yet still sharp for all the distance separating the two areas, Shego gave a harried sigh and shook her head while morosely muttering; “Oh god, what fresh new hell is this?”

Before Kim could respond, Charlie inadvertently answered the question as he bellowed; “Oh yeah! Now you bitches are gonna get it but good! No one fucks with us! I told you cunts Charlie was hooked up, and now the Main Man himself is coming to fuck you sluts up! You’re fucked! Totally fucked you stupid cunts! You’ll be begging us to finish you off once we’re done with you!”

As Charlie’s laughter skirted the edge of mania, Shego turned to Kim and, with seemingly complete sincerity, asked; “Come on, you’ve gotta be willing to let me blow him in half now, right? At least let me tear off an arm and beat him unconscious with it or something…”

“I’m thinking about it.” Kim’s narrowed-eyed, growling response was so earnest Shego had no idea if the redhead was joking or not; she could only assume she was.

Off to the left, the first set of lights swayed erratically as the shape lurched forward with an accompanying mechanical whine, a punctuating, reverberating rumble rolling out from the area as it did. A moment later the noise and vibration repeated as the second shape lumbered forward as well.

“Well? What the fuck are you idiots waiting for? You gonna let the Main Man see you backing down from a couple ‘a bitches? Get the fucking cunts!”

At that vulgar encouragement, the line of greasers surged forward with a roar, and Kim and Shego found themselves engaged in combat once more, all while the steady, rhythmic thuds accompanying the approaching behemoths grew louder and stronger, the asphalt beneath everyone’s feet eventually vibrating noticeably in conjunction with the heavy impacts.

Anxious to turn their attention to the approaching menace, Kim and Shego did their best to quickly deal with the greasers, but unfortunately, the men’s zeal had risen to such a high point that it was making up for their amateurish, thuggish level of skill. Despite the distant sounds of panicked screams, and the nearing sounds of shattering glass and crunching, squealing metal that heralded the oncoming threat, the pair only managed to lay out half the remaining greasers before the lumbering hulks arrived, not counting Charlie, who continued to remain outside the fray.

Everyone paused in their fighting as a pair of nearby cars were flattened beneath the weight of the misshapen figures, each of the hulks stepping off the twisted wrecks to plant their bulky feet on the asphalt below, hard and heavy enough that they sank several inches into the usually unyielding surface. Despite the nearly blinding glare of their lights, a general sense of their shape could be made out now that they were so close; hulking, barrel torsos, thick, squat legs, and bulky, blunt arms composed their frames, now clearly apparent as mechanical in nature.

The larger of the two forms seemed to survey the temporarily paused battle for a few moments, and then a shockingly familiar, gravelly voice came from it, dripping with scornful aggravation over the scene before it.

“Ok, seriously? You pansies are getting your tails kicked by a couple ‘a girls? That’s just weak. Seriously. I thought you were all supposed to be some bad-ass mamma jammas, but I guess the Main Man’s gonna have to reevaluate your place in his circle, because I sure as hell can’t be associating with a bunch ‘a whimps; you’ll bring down my rep. Seriously.” There was a slight pause, and then the voice suddenly shifted to curious; “Hey, wait a minute… seriously?” The curiosity quickly gave way to shocked disbelief, “Red? Is that you? Seriously? And… Green? Holy crap! What the hell happened to your wild, resplendent mane She-babe? Someone’s gotta answer for this most heinous of crimes against the hair-gods! Seriously!”

Kim and Shego glanced at one another in wide-eyed shock before turning back to the glare-shrouded form before them, the same disbelieving question bursting forth from each of them in incredulous harmony.

“Motor Ed?”
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Revelations of Destiny