Kim Possible Fan Fiction ❯ Contested Intentions ❯ Opening ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Contested Intentions

A Kim Possible Fanfiction written by Lemonfresh (and pals).

Author's Note: Well then, good to see everyone again. At the moment, I'm feeling like a man of few words; and yes, I realize fans of Evermore are busting a gut over the irony right now; at the moment, so I'll make this quick. This is a Kim Possible fanfiction, set not too long after the end of the series, and yes indeed, it is a Kigo fic. So, standard warnings about there being shoujo-ai/yuri/femme-slash/girl-girl love in this fic apply. Much the same as with Evermore, I will tolerate flame reviews only if they include some form of constructive criticism beyond the idiocy, so please save me the trouble of having to delete your review and at least make an effort at that. This is a one-shot, so don't expect to get more following this, I'm swamped with work as it is. But, if there is a big enough positive response, then I'll consider turning this into a series. Last, but not least, I'll note that there's going to be a little surprise in the second chapter of this, and fourth too, really, that make this fic a little special, but I'll let you find out about those when you get there. Anyways, I hope you enjoy reading, and do drop me a line if you feel even the slightest urge to comment.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the animated television show, Kim Possible, but I am not seeking to profit from this work of fanfiction in any way, so please don't sue, I don't have much cash as it is.

Some people say that nothing ever really changes. Day in, day out, get up, go to work, come home, go to sleep, the same crap every day of their miserable little lives. No matter what unexpected events occur, whether it's the death of a loved one or burned toast in the morning, the world goes on turning, and life continues on just the same. I say those people are fucking idiots. Everything is always changing, nothing ever stays exactly the same, no matter how desperately some wish it would.

My life used to be simple enough: I was Alpha Female in the crime world, able to steal anything at the drop of a hat, working for a mad scientist just pathetic enough to awake that single shred of pity in my being, thus allowing him to afford me. He came up with hair-brained schemes to take over the world, and I'd facilitate them by stealing what was necessary for them, and almost inevitably, we'd be stopped one way or another, most often by the teen super spy/heroine extra-ordinaire, Kim Possible. Really, I got paid to steal things and fight people, a job I would have killed for, if it had been necessary. But like I said, unlike what the idiots of the world seem to think, nothing ever stays the same for long.

A very good example would be recreational activities. My needs in that area are very simple, I like to go somewhere that I don't have to deal with anyone or anything, where I can just kick back and relax for a week or so. But, in typical fashion for my life, all the hoops always seem to need to be set on fire, and it turns out to be very difficult to find a place utterly devoid of the sludge I call humanity. It became even more difficult when I found out that my lovely little deserted island, miles away from anything else at all, had just recently become the latest, hottest resort and tourist destination on the face of this earth. Just to be on the safe side, since terrorizing the resort itself would defeat the purpose of taking a vacation from super-villainy, I beat the fishing boat captain that had brought me to the island the last few times within an inch of his life.

Oh, don't give me that look, you'd do the very same thing in my position, and don't you deny it. Christ, making me think of Possible and those damn looks she's always giving me, like she's so disappointed in me . . . Oh, yeah, that's another lovely development, while Kimmie only keeps getting better at what she does, Drakken seems to be on a downward spiral. Don't believe me? When was the last time you were stupid enough to think you could take over a country just by making the Department of Internal Affairs stink to high heaven? Yeah, right, don't even know why I put up with the guy anymore . . . The money helps, still paying the same exorbitant fee as usual, which is more of a change than you think.

Normally, I would have extorted another pay raise out of him by now (ah, ah, ah, ah! Don't even start.), but I've noticed that things are even more pathetically cheap around than usual. He may be paying me the same, but he seems to be putting only half as much as he used to into general operations. I wouldn't have cared much, except that if there's nothing else I care about in this job, no other perk worth mentioning, there was job security, because I've always been indispensable to that blue nut. And that's even more important now, what with the way the villain community has gone south.

A couple, like DNAmy, have gotten out of things completely, retired to an easier, simpler life. The rest are starting to lay low, going after only smaller targets that won't put them on the radar and bring the wrath of Kimmie and/or Global Justice down on their heads. Yes, you heard me right, ladies and gents, villainy is in a recession. Which means that, unlike previous times, when I could toss Dr. D to the curb at the drop of a hat and have a hundred other evildoers of various forms clamoring to snap me up, now I'll most likely be unemployed for quite some time, and I don't like that idea. It means that I don't have control over the events that affect me, my own life, and I've always hated being kicked around by circumstance.

Here's the best part, though: that is what's going to happen. I can see it in the way Drakken's been acting for the last month, ever since Possible defeated that “Ultimate” plan of his, but even before then, really. Doesn't laugh anymore, at all, doesn't show me inane little plans that aren't even really plans half the time, hell, he doesn't even try to talk to me anymore. It's . . . a little disturbing, to be honest. He's not himself, more like a ghost or a shadow of what he used to be. I think the Princess finally broke his spirit, killed his “too dumb to quit before he embarrasses himself” perseverance. And that means I'm going to be out of a job.

Even I've changed, not as much as some other things in my life, but still. Not too long ago, ruling the world sounded pretty cool, not so much so now that I think about all the worthless crap I'd have to deal with, even under an absolute totalitarian regime. Awhile ago, I wouldn't have shed a tear at my contract with Drakken being ended, one way or another, even if I was going to be jobless without him. But now, he's become like a whining little puppy, and as much as I hate to admit it, I can't kick him away. I've become soft. Much the same, it used to be that I would have danced a jig at the news that Kim Possible had bitten the dust. Now, I'd be sad, if for no other reason than because it would mean I'd never get to fight her again (I swear, if you pull any of that, “awwwwww,” crap with me, I'll burn you to the ground).

I respect Kim, because she can fight better than anyone else I've ever seen, and most of all, because she respects me. Kimmie's changed too, really, she's gotten older, more mature, more skilled, more intelligent, and most of all, more beautiful. She fights even harder than she used to, really makes me work for my paycheck. Normally, I'd resent that fact, except that I enjoy the work far too much to care that I'm doing it. I feel good, alive, when I come back to the lair after a fight with her, covered in perspiration, my heart still thundering in my chest. I've watched her progress over the years, and I know exactly how she's come to the point where her fighting is like a dance: precise, powerful, and unbelievably fast.

Joining her in that dance so many times over those years, I think I've let myself get too close. She respected me, I respected her, we fought each other with everything we had, and eventually, we didn't even need a reason anymore, if we had simply bumped into each other on a busy street one morning, we would have busted right into it. We stopped really trying to hurt each other a long time ago, we just wanted to test one another, wanted to know which of us was the best, wanted to see who would break first. And neither of us have, only making each other better through competition. I don't care, I want to make her stronger, I want to make her the strongest person she can be.

I think I actually love Kim Possible, as absurd as that concept is.

The mirror before Shego, in the tiny bathroom of her room in the lair, shattered into a million little shards of glass and clattered to the tiled floor around her feet. Slowly, she pulled her fist away from the place on the wall that her mirror had previously occupied, and examined her knuckles. They were bleeding a little, from lacerations caused by the glass shards as her punch broke the mirror apart.

“It hurts.” She muttered, anger flashing in her green eyes. “I'm soft.” Barely, Shego caught the sound of Drakken's subdued voice calling for her to hurry up, so they could leave.

She said nothing in return, simply pulled off her glove, wrapped her knuckles in a little bandage, and then put on a new glove. She really wished she could say it was the “same ol', same ol',” but she knew that it wasn't.

* * *

It's funny how nothing ever seems to go the way you want, isn't it? All anyone ever really wants is for everything to stay the same, even teenagers, despite their protests otherwise. Change is hard, and the biggest change of them all is growing up, and as the song says, “everybody knows it sucks to grow up, and everybody does.” I drive, for example, because that's a necessity of growing up and becoming an adult, although I don't have a car of my own anymore. After my first three got crushed, torn apart, and/or exploded, mom and dad kind of decided that I could do without, especially since all three went to the scrapheap within the same week.

Another problem with growing up is school: I'm done with Middleton High now, and it's time to go on to college, and that's never easy. Have to find a suitable school; and by extension, decide what you want to do with the rest of your life; and that makes your friends an issue. Though most kids don't realize it until it's too late, friends don't often last past high school, because when college hits, everyone has to go off in different directions, it's virtually inevitable. To be brutally honest, I'm not sure what I want to do with my life, there's so little I could do that would still let me be Kim Possible, the girl who can do anything and saves the word on a weekly basis, but I'm also not comfortable with dedicating my entire life to just that. Ron knows what he wants to do, that one Home Ec. class ages ago changed his whole outlook on life, he wants to be a chef, maybe not quite like Emeril, but he does know that he wants to cook food for people for his living. Monique is a little unsure of things too, but I think that no matter what it ends up being, her schooling is going to take her out of state. And Wade . . . Wade might always be there, I suppose, but it will be just like always, he won't really be there, he'll just be able to talk to me.

It's all really strange, and difficult to deal with. Ron, I think, is just planning to go wherever I go, just like always, just like he did in high school, taking all the classes I took, so we could be together . . . we got into a relationship, not too long ago, just like everybody expected us to, eventually. It didn't work out, but so not the drama, we both got over everything, and we're just as good of friends as before. Mom and dad were a little sad when they found out that we weren't together anymore, but they were glad that we were at least still friends. That's the other thing, getting ready to go away for college, it changes the way you feel about your family. Thinking about leaving . . . it makes me miss even the tweebs, even though I haven't picked a school yet. I've always had mom and dad there for me if I needed them, which more than made up for the occasional embarrassment, so realizing that I might be so far away in a couple of months that I couldn't even call them up on the phone because it could cost so much . . . yeah, that is so the drama. But it's something I have to deal with, otherwise I won't be able to go on with my life. And I know I can do it, I'm Kim Possible, anything is Possible.

That's an interesting subject now, saving the world and all. The villains . . . I don't know, they're getting old or something. Word on the net, according to Wade, is that a couple of them have actually retired, dropped out to lead an easier, quieter existence. I don't buy that for one minute, but hey, if they're going to take a break, I won't complain. Dementor, Killigan, Monkey Fist, the Seniors, even Drakken and Shego, all of them have been really quiet. Ever since that time, a month or so ago, when I foiled his attempt to lobotomize the entire earth's population, Drakken hasn't even made a peep. Or hadn't, at least, considering I'm getting ready to go out after him now, at a Top Secret Research Facility hidden in the Andes. Still, I think something is up with him, at least, he's been talking a lot less when we fight, not gloating nearly as much as he used to. Even when he almost had me beat that last time, for all intents and purposes part of the concrete wall and under guard by Shego, as his laser prepared to fire on the refracting satellite in orbit, he barely said a word, almost seemed to expect me to stop him. Which, I suppose, he rightly should have expected, but that's not the point. He just isn't the same Dr. Drakken that he's always been, and that's a little disconcerting.

But Shego, Shego's the same as she's always been. Strong, dangerous, and a tongue like a bull whip, those are the traits I've always associated with that woman, and she still has all of them. And, as is fairly common knowledge, Shego's the one who makes all of Drakken's ridiculous schemes possible, mainly because she can go toe-to-toe with me and actually win half of the time. She . . . always makes me a little sad, because she could do so much more, for good or evil, if she'd just leave Drakken behind. Of course, I don't think she really can, even though she probably realizes as much. It's not a trait of Shego's that most can pick out, but I think she'd make a wonderful mother, a quality I might envy in her, if she displayed it more often.

I'm not very good at the whole, “motherly instinct,” thing myself, as my few times of baby-sitting Rufus have shown plainly enough. Really, Ron is a better “mother” than I am. But yeah, Shego is the villain you watch out for, because she's just too good at what she does, and knows it too. And her flagrant disregard for any and all things that could be considered laws only makes that more of an issue, no qualms about doing whatever it takes to get the job done. She's got determination like you wouldn't believe, and against me, she doesn't back off until she's got no other choice, it's a little frightening, sometimes. Of course, I can kind of understand why, it's not as though I'm any different, never slowing down, never stopping, and certainly not ever giving up, until I come through for the win.

Although I think that's one of the main reasons that her being a villain makes me so disappointed, not because she could do so much good in the world if she set her mind to it, really, but because she reminds me of myself, far more than I care to admit sometimes. Stubborn determination, a belief in what we do, fighting ability, intelligence . . . it is scary. I get so upset because I'm worried that the same thing could happen to me, and I don't want it to. Worse, being around her . . . it brings out parts of me that I never even knew existed, before I met her.

I've never thought of myself as a violent girl, yet from the very first moment I saw Shego, I knew that I wanted to fight her, more than anything else in the world. It was like a fire burning in my chest, but it didn't really hurt, and it felt so wonderful when I finally fought her for the first time. It's hard to explain our . . . relationship, for lack of a better term, largely because I don't really understand it myself. We fight, with everything we've got and at every opportunity, but we're not trying to hurt one another, we're not enemies anymore. We banter and toss sly insults and scathing retorts back and forth, like master fencers fighting with words rather than swords, yet I respect her, and I feel that she respects me too. It doesn't really make much sense, any of it. It feels . . . right, somehow, but not righteous, not the same kind of feeling I get from knowing that I'm stopping evil and keeping the world safe for another day.

It's like . . . like we're supposed to fight each other, were meant to fight, were made to do it. Coming home from a mission against Drakken, I feel relieved, stronger, like I'm a better person for having fought her. As if . . . it's like . . . I feel . . . I don't know.

Shego . . . she's . . .

“KP, come on!” Ron yelled from outside the door to Kim's room. “If you don't hurry up, we won't be back in time to hit Bueno Nacho and get to the orientation at Middleton Community!” The, now young woman, heroine blinked, before smiling just faintly and pulling her black crop top over her head.

Even if growing up did “suck,” Ron had always made that easier, and Kim had to thank him for that.