190Your standard legal disclaimer thing: I don't own Kim Possible. I will remove this story off the net if they give me shit. Blah blah blah, yada yada yada. You all know the drill by now.
Small Surprises, Big Consequences
Chapter 12: Convergence Point
Looking up at the stars through the old rickety roof of his tree house, Ron continued to replay the last few weeks in his mind. There was no better place to think when he was feeling a need to sulk, and did he ever feel a powerful need to do that tonight. After that stressful talk with his vacant and inaccessible BFF, complete with creepy little tagalong, and later an argument with Monique; he could think of no better way to cap off his evening than in the branches of the old tree.
Over the past few hours he'd decided that this wasn't as bad as the whole Bueno Nacho/Eric mess of the previous Spring. Not quite anyways, but it certainly felt close enough when he looked around the empty tree house with the half-erased "no girls allowed" sign.
'Yeah, this time there's no awesome-but-evil kid's meal robots, and Bueno Nacho isn't owned by some absent-minded blue doctor who's twelve different kinds of nuts and three kinds of ugly. Or is that three kinds of nuts and twelve kinds of ugly? Math isn't my strong suit… And Kim isn't in danger of being felt up by some kinda sick and wrong living blow-up doll… at least I don't think so… But then again, I wouldn't have a clue if she was with how distant she's been.'
He sighed for perhaps the fifteenth time that hour and shifted around on the couch, but jerked to a stop when he heard an indignant squeak and saw a wrinkled and fleshy pink face poke out of his left pants pocket and glare at him, "Hey!"
Ron winced and reached forward, scratching the little rodent at the base of his skull, "Sorry Buddy. Wasn't thinking."
Rufus rolled his squinted little eyes and chirped out a few indignant squeaks that in Ron's mind automatically translated to; "Of course you weren't, that would get 'n the way o' your self-pity party with a side o' whinin'. Cheddar forbid you do something productive. Preferably somethin' productive involvin' mexican food, but I'm flexible."
Of course, Moleratese was a complex language with multiple subtle nuances, but Ron had a surprisingly firm grasp of it. In response to his little companion's commentary on his dour mood, Ron crossed his arms and rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Quiet in the peanut gallery. And there's still leftover BN on the desk. Have at it."
"Cheese!" Rufus declared happily, wriggling free of his pocket nest and running down Ron's leg, onto the table, and burrowing straight through the paper of the takeout bag. Ron smirked halfheartedly, before leaning back and indulging in sigh number sixteen. 'At least someone is easy to please.'
That was the major difference between the sitch now and the one that had started the summer off. Back then, Ron had had an enemy, a face to pin his problems on. Drakken, Shego, and Eric. And the answer was obvious, get Kim away from Eric, get Bueno Nacho away from Drakken and Shego, and somewhere in the middle of all that; save the planet from twenty foot tall rampaging Diablo-bots. For the hundredth time. Now though, he and his best friend and now ex-girlfriend were in trouble all over again, but with no enemy in sight.
Ron shook his head, and glared at the ceiling. No, that wasn't right at all. He knew exactly who to blame for his wavering grip on his BFF. That was what made the whole situation evolve into some new mutant form of frustration. It was clearly all his fault, that's all there was to it.
He'd thought he was doing all the right things at the time, sure, and was entirely enthusiastic about the upgrade in their relationship dynamic. But little by little, he could see Kim becoming more and more disinterested in their outings, more insincere regarding her moods. At least as far as their being on literal dates went. By the end it didn't even feel like they were a couple anymore, merely hanging out like before. But the fact that they were supposed to be boyfriend and girlfriend overshadowed all of their outings.
Ron was almost relieved when Kim suggested that they rethink where their relationship stood. He'd hoped it meant getting back down to basics, being the same best friends since Pre-K that they'd always been. But no, of course life had to be heinous and conspire against him like usual. Kim wanted to dwell on it and dissect the whole mess to see what had gone wrong. It was her essential Kimness in full effect. But if they ever did just put their failure of a relationship under a microscope, Ron feared Kim would discover what he'd known the whole time; that he was clearly to blame.
After all, he didn't take her on long fancy dates, and wasn't some big macho guy with a motorcycle like… ugh… Eric. That just wasn't the kind of thing Ron was into. He wasn't that guy. Didn't know how to be, and honestly didn't want to be.
And while Kim was absolutely gorgeous, and easily the best, most important person he knew… kissing her was, to beat an old metaphor into the gravel, almost exactly like what Ron imagined kissing his sister would be, you know, if he had one. Hell, looking back on it, it was a kiss that had set off this mess in the first place!
'Why did I even do that! Or… wait… did she do that? Argh! Who knows, but if I hadn't we wouldn't be living some awful Agony County episode every time we talked! Or ditching me to go on missions, like I'm somehow out of the loop.'
'And Monique was no help either,' he thought, remembering the outing he'd just had hours earlier with his other female friend. She had been immediately sensitive to Ron forcing himself to have a good time while they saw the movie. He'd just wanted to enjoy the film, or at least attempt to. But Monique, of course, just had to keep asking about how things between Kim and he were going. When his reluctance to discuss that particularly sore topic became evident, she'd become all indignant and huffy.
'I get that she's worried, but really, why can't anyone let this go? It's not like we plan to try again, do we…?'
He leaned up and looked at the shifting takeout bag of precious mexi-food, "Hey Rufus?"
"What?" Shouted his pet's annoyed, squeaky voice. "Eatin'!"
"Any sagely molerat wisdom you can toss my way about the KP… thing?" Ron probed, his voice slightly strained. Rufus seemed pretty good at dealing with the fairer sex… not for any reason Ron understood, but he didn't want to look a gift rodent in the incisors.
"Hmmm," Rufus hummed to himself, accompanied by rhythmic crunching and chewing. Then he chittered out, "Talk to her."
"Wow, thanks," Ron deadpanned, crossing his legs under him. "You should do this professionally."
"Yup! Humans 're easy! " Rufus cheerfully agreed, followed by a good deal of chewing. "Talk talk!" which Ron understood as moleratese, "Just don't have the talk 'round mini Shego this time. Bad idea. Wait till she's alone before you try and broach the conversation with her."
"Ah, well yeah duh," Ron nodded to himself, before his eyes suddenly opened and he snapped to attention at Rufus, "Wait, what!"
"Creepy lil girl," Rufus shrugged off matter-of-factly; slightly annoyed that he was continually being distracted from his meal, "Smoky smoky."
Ron blinked as he thought back to the small, incredibly unpleasant little girl Kim claimed to be babysitting; Angie or something weird liked that. She was green, yeah, and had the same hair and eyes as the psychopathic merc, but that could easily be a coincidence. Well… a very very very unlikely easy coincidence at any rate. Also, Kim had claimed she was watching her for, quote "A friend-person, who I know and you don't," close quote. That hadn't come off as weird at the time, but… since when did Kim have friends he didn't know?
Ron suddenly stood up, as if struck by lightning, 'Hey, wait! Kim doesn't have any family in Go City! But… but Shego does! But that doesn't make any sense… unless…'
Ron reached into his pocket and pulled out his Kimmunicator, quickly signaling Wade, whose sleepy face filled the screen after a full minute. "R-Ron? Is… What's-,"
"Wade! Kim is being blackmailed into helping a Juvenated Shego! …wait, how do I know what a Juvenator is! I'm gonna file that with the Meat Cake mystery for my memoirs or something. Whatever, not important! I knew that name 'Aggy' sounded SO fake."
Rubbing his eyes irritably, Wade glared at Ron with bloodshot eyes and stated flatly, "I warned you about the neurological damage that prolonged exposure to Diablo sauce causes. You have five seconds to start making sense before I call the men in clean white coats and go back to bed."
"We don't have five seconds!" Ron shouted into the screen, "Just set up a ride for me to Go City and I'll explain on the way!"
Kim looked back at the kitchen, where the Drago family matron was still presumably putting away the dishes. Mrs. Drago had told her it'd be a little while before she could bring Kim the spare linens for her brief stay, and had left the redhead to her own devices. Simply informing the heroine of that mundane agenda had somehow come across as icy and threatening. There was no way the woman wasn't doing that on purpose; however, her face always remained stoic and impassive, despite the uninviting aura that surrounded her.
'My villains could definitely learn a thing or two about intimidation from Mrs. Drago, that's for darn sure,' she thought with a weak smirk. 'I really don't know what I expected from the woman who raised Shego. Apparently anything but that… brrr… no wonder her daughter is so twisted. Like some kind of weird adolescent rebellion thing if I had to guess, making her all anger and emotion. But then what's happened since? Shego's hardly adolescent any more…'
Kim nodded to herself, but then remembered that Shego had, in her own unique way, insisted that Kim find her right after the meeting with Mrs. Drago to inform her of how the events had gone down. The problem with this presented itself as soon as Kim was more than a few steps from the dining room. She had absolutely no idea where Shego would be, aside from "with Agni." As to where that was…
'Well I don't want to interrupt something… but I also don't want Shego flying off the handle at me for not coming right up to her. Well, if I'm darned if I do and darned if I don't…' Kim looked around the first floor a brief moment to ascertain where the stairs were. Once she located the master stairwell, Kim made her way upwards. The building seemed to be three stories tall from the outside, so there was no telling which room was Agni's. he entire building was a confusing mishmash as it was, some kind of converted factory, with rooms not arranged at all like a family home but more like some monastery cloister. Hopefully, like the bizarre little girl who dwelled within, her room would stand out on its own.
Once on the second floor Kim checked through a restroom, broom closet, some kind of study, and a small laundry room, not to mention several empty bedrooms, with no sign of either the wily thief or her belligerent progeny. She was about to give up and move on to the third floor, when, as luck would have it, Kim picked up on the faintest aroma of smoke wafting from one end of the hall. It was weak, but it was a much more preferable lead to wandering on what seemed like a wild molerat chase.
Around the corner, Kim finally came across her destination. The room was unmistakably Agni's, what with the precious little sign taped on the front decreeing in large jagged font; "Abandon hope all ye who enter here." And in smaller print underneath; "In other words, open this door and you'll regret it forever, Losers!"
'Well, I wonder who lives in here,' Kim sighed resignedly, placing her hands on her hips. 'Charm just oozes out of this family, doesn't it?'
Kim leaned over and lightly rapped her knuckles against the door, calling out, "Shego? Agni? You in there?"
There was a moment of silence, before Kim knocked again, a little louder this time, and tried once more to call out to them. Again, there was silence, only this time the door creaked open, giving Kim a very clear look into the very empty, if insufferably cluttered mess of a living space.
'Well, where the heck are they then? Upstairs? Argh… this place is big enough, Shego could have at least given me some direction.' Kim blew out a "humph" of air in annoyance, and was about to turn on her heel and go back towards the stairwell, however something stilled her retreat.
She knew she should hurry upstairs and find her archrival post haste, but… when would she have a better opportunity to get an insight into how Agni had been living all alone, all this time? This was Shego's kid, after all; a person she never would have believed existed in the first place.
Slowly, she inched her way past the door, mindful of any noises her feet might make on the old wooden flooring.
'This isn't me snooping, really,' Kim reasoned as she snuck forward into the preteen's quarters, 'If I'm gonna help take care of her, it'll help to get an idea of how she lives, right? And it may give me some ideas to help convince Echidna, Mother of all Monsters, that this is for the best.'
She nodded to herself, satisfied with her own justifications, and eased the door halfway shut behind her. It took her a moment to realize she had just cast aspersions on Shego's entire family with that little mental label. Obviously hours in a car driven cross country was too long if she was picking up Shego's venomous tongue in her own head now.
Chiding herself, she shook her head and tried to get back to her normally sunny self. Looking around, the quick glances Kim had stolen from out in the hallway really only had given her a vague idea regarding the young girl's domicile. The simple fact was that it looked hopelessly cluttered and filthy; every space and surface taken up by boxes and books, papers and note pads, all spread out in hopeless chaos. Kim could only imagine the dressing down Anne would put her through if her room ever fell into such a chaotic state. Considering the tweebs' faced similar wrath on a semiweekly basis, she had some idea at least.
But almost as immediately as she stepped inside she realized that that assessment was somewhat premature. As she moved into the room and gave her unfamiliar surroundings a closer look she realized that it was in fact the opposite. There was still a strong sense of chaos to the set up, but in actuality this was controlled chaos. As she ran her eyes over the layout, a strange sense of pattern and intent began to form from the hurricane-like tossings.
Stripped of all major excess, the room was little more than a simple bedroom accommodation. To Kim's left was the closet door and bookshelf, before her was a wide rectangular window with a television beneath, and to her right, propped against the wall was a small bed beside a desk. On the desk sat a desktop PC with some cartoon screensaver slowly bouncing back and forth within the borders of the monitor. For some reason, she felt like she should give that little cartoon a closer look, but the other contents of the living space were currently closer and equally distracting.
She began to slowly walk around the room, taking in the little details and careful where she put her foot down. There were several boxes stacked on top of one another framing the space to her immediate right, each labeled with a sharpie marker, and all written boldly in Russian. Kim could speak and understand the language passably, but reading it was beyond her depth.
She approached the bookshelf and wasn't too surprised to see how swollen with literature it was. Agni seemed mature beyond her years, and if her tales of school were to be believed, then she probably spent a lot of time cocooned in her own little world.
The top section was full of contemporary young adult fiction. Not exactly higher reading, but certainly an easy way to pass the time. Several of the multiple series seemed complete and well worn. A little lower and she found herself looking down at several very thick tomes of the much more scholarly variety; Frankenstein, The Island of Dr. Moreau, House of Leaves, an annotated War of the Worlds, even some Dickens and Twain, plus Chekov of course. Looking these over, Kim had to remind herself once again that the Go Academy wasn't just a stuffy private school. They didn't let you in just because you were rich or they never would have scouted Kim in the first place. Trailing her eyes down to the bottom section, Kim took one look and covered her mouth instinctively to hold in a laugh.
'A girl with superpowers from a family of superheroes, and she actually reads comics?' Kim laughed to herself. There was a rather large pile of them scattered around the lower shelves of the book case, issues of Fearless Ferret, Ultraguy, Wraithman, and a bunch of other titles Ron was sure to have memorized. There was also a sizable amount of Japanese trades, each with tortured aggressive looking covers, usually featuring young women. Well, what Kim could see of them in anyway. The entire lower section of the book case was a tossed mess compared to the more studious upper stories.
'I'd have guessed with the life she lives, these would have gotten old fast but…' Kim looked up, her eyes traveling the room briefly, 'I don't think she leaves here often. This isn't a bedroom so much as a nest. Planet Agni. She really is just a lonely kid under that green skin…'
Kim felt a strong swell of sympathy as she processed that information, idly stepping around the bed. That aggressive attitude of the youngest Drago was clearly little more than a wall put up against her world. Better to hurt than be hurt. 'Huh… I wonder if that's Shego's deal too?'
When Kim's eyes locked onto the computer screen, however, all empathetic thoughts flew out the window on a gust of irritation. The picture that moved about with crude animation as it bounced on the screen was of a small cartoonish Shego holding to flaming fists into the air in triumph. Under the caricature's foot though, was a small cartoonish Kim, face down in a red puddle with little spirals for eyes.
'That… little… BRAT!' Kim grit her teeth and stormed out of the room, her brush with sympathy quickly forgotten. 'I should have never given her the benefit of the doubt, she's as evil as her-'
"Lost, Miss Possible?" came an unmistakable rough voice directly behind her. Kim gasped and whipped around, her heart catching in her throat as she came face to with Mrs. Drago. The tall woman's frozen, impassive gaze burrowing into her like a laser through her monocle. "I came up to inform you that your room is prepared."
"Uh, yeah," she squeaked out, before clearing her throat. "I mean, yes. I can't find Shego and Agni. Do you know where they are?"
There was a slight pause before Mrs. Drago turned and walked back the way she had apparently come, stating flatly, "Knowing them as I do, I would check the roof first."
'At least this place hasn't changed,' Shego mused to herself, her long hair flicking about in the late evening breeze. It seemed like a lifetime ago, longer in fact, since she'd last come up to the old home's rooftop at night, just to close her eyes and let the stress and frustrations drift out onto the wind.
No one came up here, neither her parents nor her brothers, and definitely not any rare house guests. Back when she was still just a high school student playing at being a superhero, this and her room were the only places Shego could find some peace… Well, and one other place, but she didn't go there very often after Junior High.
'Aaaaaand the roof of the GO Tower, to a lesser degree. But that place was like a symbol of stress, just being there tended to suck. But I guess I've just always had an affinity for roofs and high places. Foreshadowing at its best I 'spose. And apparently Agni likes it up here too. Now what does that say about her?'
Old Go City was always quiet compared to the constant din the main streets were known for, and that went doubly so for late at night, and triply so when three stories up on a rooftop. This whole neighborhood had always been somewhat sparse, and ever since the impact… Shego wondered if that was one of the reasons her parents had never moved. After All, the city had had little in the way of plans to renovate this area even before the comet came.
During her nostalgic musings, the super-powered thief's eyes looked down the block towards the abandoned storefronts, looking over the disused and long abandoned photomat store. The sign had weathered even more, and was beginning to tilt to one side, and one of the windows was broken. That building held such conflicting emotions and distant memories for Shego; or rather more accurately, for her unmasked childhood self, both the pink-skinned one and the green-skinned one.
Regret, loss, confusion, the old building inspired all of these feelings in her, but looking down and feeling the tiny feverously warm hand clutching her own, she couldn't help at feeling some misplaced sense of pride. 'I stuck by my principles that one time, for better or for worse. I'll be the first to admit that what went down that night was an epic mistake… I honestly don't even understand how that happened, but…'
She looked down at the small head of blackish-green hair sitting quietly beside her. Shego automatically tightened her fingers more securely around Agni's hand. 'I may have been stupid, and I won't even pretend I never regretted it. But regardless, even if I could go back to that night… I wouldn't change a single thing.'
Agni, after a moment, looked up and over at her mom, feeling she was staring at her. Both pairs of emerald green eyes locked onto each other for a moment before Agni smiled slightly and scooted over from where they were sitting on the ledge to rest her head on Shego's shoulder.
"I wish we didn't have to go back inside."
Shego frowned, and looked away towards the empty street, trying not to think of this closeness. From a distance, it was easy to have a relationship with her daughter. Hell it was fun, something to look forward to. The letters, the stories, the photos, there was something comforting in that whole routine, like having a pen pal. Up close, however, she was painfully reminded of how she'd abandoned a frightened four-year-old girl one night years ago. Left her to her uncaring bitch of a mother and a school full of hypocritical faculty and sadistic students. And worst of all, how she'd almost…
'STOP! I am not going there! Not now, not with her right here… I just… I can't think about that,' The fingers on her right hand flexed, digging into the brickwork beneath them. The phantom sensation of warm wetness clinging to her nails. 'I'll never forgive myself for that!'
Looking down towards where Agni snuggled into her, Shego noticed just how quiet she'd been since she'd found the girl up on the roof. 'Is she always this quiet? Dammit to hell, a real mother would know! She's probably worried too. Gah, you idiot, of course she is. Why wouldn't she be? Don't run away again, you bitch. Ask her how she's doing!'
Steeling herself, Shego cleared her throat briefly managing to ask without her voice choking too much, "So, kiddo… you doing… um, okay?"
There was a brief pause before Agni's head nodded against Shego's shoulder, hesitant to break the quiet again for fear her mother would evaporate on the breeze. Briefly, she peeked up at her mother through her long bangs, with a questioning sideways glance. "Are you doing okay?"
'Intuitive, ain't she,' Shego mused, giving a weak but reassuring smirk. "Of course, you know this is in the bag. Kimmie may be an annoying, altruistic-to-a-fault, self-important stubborn meddler, but she's on our side... this time. Your Gram is nowhere near as tough as me, and even I have trouble dealing with Kim. Don't waste your brainwaves on worrying."
Agni stared up at Shego for a moment, her eyebrow quirking up slightly.
After a moment, Shego frowned uncomfortably and asked, "Uh… what?"
"It's just," Agni began, searching for the proper way to put her question, "It's weird that you have so much faith in your arch enemy, ain't it?"
Shego sputtered indignantly for a moment, before simply scoffing and shrugging off the thought with a dismissal, "Whatever, any good villain knows her heroine's strengths. Besides, she's Drakken's arch enemy… I'm just an evil lieutenant."
Agni frowned at that statement, but neither she nor Shego were entirely sure as to why. But soon after she smiled again and wrapped both arms around her mother's, laying her head back down on her shoulder. "Well, you're wrong. I'm not worried, but not because of Goody-two shoes… You're here."
That did it, Shego could feel her eyes welling up with wetness, she quickly turned away, gritting her teeth and using all of her rather impressive will to hold back the tears. 'Why doesn't she HATE me? I left her to all this. It's all my fault. She has to know that! I know her, she's not a forgiving child. She holds grudges, has a short temper, gets into fights all the time. So why the fuck does she put me on some kind of goddamn pedestal!'
She discretely rubbed her eyes with her right hand, her gums hurting from how tightly she was clenching her jaw against the emotions, 'Why is she so unconditionally able to forgive me?'
Cautiously turning back to where her daughter happily clung to her arm, Shego could feel the question forming, but had no power to stop it. She simply couldn't leave this alone, it wasn't fair.
"Agni… listen, I-"
The sound of the roof entrance creaking open quickly grabbed the attention of both green girls. Kim stepped out, quickly locked eyes with the both of them and shrugged in exasperation. "Jeez, Shego. You could have told me you were up here. I spent ten minutes looking for you."
"Well, congrats, you found us," Agni muttered, letting go of Shego and crossing her arms, apparently forgetting about her mother's half-finished question. "Wanna cookie or something?"
Shego laughed a bit too brashly, thankful for the convenient distraction from asking something she may have ended up regretting later. "Hehe, I wonder where she gets it."
She moved her legs back over the ledge and stood up, walking over to Kim and placing her hands on her hips imperiously. "So, how'd it go down between you and Hell-bitch?"
Kim sighed and looked between Agni and Shego, before putting on a confidant smile and placing her own hands on her hips, putting on an air of confidence. Taking a deep breath, she briefed the pale woman on what had taken place.
'Gosh is this place gloomy,' Kim thought to herself and her eyes traveled over Mrs. Drago's home office. The Drago family Matron had earlier instructed Kim and Shego to meet her there for the discussion regarding Agni this morning. Mrs. Drago, however, was oddly absent thus far, leaving Kim and Shego sitting alone.
'The place reflects its owner's personality to a T,' Kim internally grumbled.
That reflection, of course, being cold, dark, and lacking anything resembling embellishments or notable excess, while still retaining an obvious air of some sort of eccentricity. The centerpiece of the room was a wide oak desk, an antique from the look of it, looking as though its old craftsmanship could withstand even Hego's might. Two old wooden chairs were positioned in before it, and though slight as any wooden chair, they gave no flexibility or squeak in their construction either. On the desk was a desktop computer, desk lamp, and various office supplies, but no family photos or personal items that Kim could see. As the windows were covered by thick blinds, the only source of, insufficient, light in the room was provided by the desk lamp.
There were three file cabinets taking up the length of the left-hand wall, but none were labeled. The opposite wall was filled by bookshelves housing what seemed to be thick tomes of reference materials. The only personal effects Kim could see were a pair of charcoal drawings framed and on opposite sides of the room from one another. Kim had needed to stand up to look them over, prompting an annoyed scoff from her companion where she sat fidgeting in her own seat.
The first sketch was a surreal view of the Go City skyline, the buildings bent and reaching tall, curving inwards like giant jagged fingers in some deformed sense of perspective. In the main street dividing the scenery were two small and featureless black figures with their hands joined.
The second was much simpler; it was the GO Tower, a scenic view from an angle so that the sun was positioned behind the massive 'GO' in sunset. The mixed signals quickly caught Kim's mind, 'Such contrasting messages between these two.'
Briefly she glanced at Shego where she sat still in her chair, deigning not to join the redhead in her examinations. Shego continued to shift from crossing her left leg over her right, to switching over and crossing her right leg over her left. She was clearly nervous about the coming proceedings and doing a poor job of hiding it.
Grumbling in exasperation, Kim sat back in her chair, "Shego, that is uber-annoying, calm down. I told you, this'll be no big."
Shego sneered slightly, and made a dismissive grunt, turning away from Kim but visibly settling herself. "Bitch sure is taking her sweet time."
"Of course she is. Intimidation seems ferociously wired into her. I mean just look at this room, it's like it was designed to make people want to keep their distance," Kim stated flatly, gesturing to the office around them. "The chairs alone are so slight compared to the desk, meant to make us feel like naughty students or something."
"Oh, you think this is bad," Shego smirked, although the amusement didn't reach her eyes. "Imagine what it was like for me to tell her I was pregnant in here. Bear in mind, I was thirteen at the time."
Try as she might, Kim couldn't hide the shudder that went racing down her spine at the thought. 'I'd redo that Lil' Diablo mess a dozen times, over having to ever experience something like that in a place like this.'
"Of course, she already knew somehow," Shego muttered under her breath, glaring at the far wall to avoid any kind of eye contact.
"What does your mom do in here anyways," Kim asked, leaning back in her seat. She could tell that Shego needed a change of subject if she was going to not just shut down entirely again like in the car.
Shego raised her eyebrow slightly and gave Kim a questioning look, "I figured Agni would have at least told you that much. Mommy Dearest is a private eye, believe it or not. A real Dick."
There was a brief pause as Kim processed this, before she lowered her head and smiled halfheartedly. "You know, that's one of the least surprising things I've heard all week."
Both of them laughed a bit at this, which normally would have struck the both of them as odd.
"Now remember what we discussed," Kim finally stressed for the fifth time today, "I wanted you to be here too because this is way important to you. But please don't-"
"I know, I know, I know!" Shego stressed in irritation, rubbing her brow with a strained look that Kim recognized as one she wore often when dealing with her blue employer. "I won't snark, or insult, or interrupt. I'll be a good little career criminal."
"Shego…" Kim warned, giving the green thief the same look she'd give Ron to drive her point across.
"Puh-leez, Princess, what do you take me for?" Shego glared, leaning towards Kim, making the redhead lean away slightly, "I want this to work out far more than you do."
Kim was about to respond when the door behind them creaked open loudly and Mrs. Roza Drago finally stepped inside. She made a brief and seemingly insincere, "I apologize for the delay," as she stepped around Kim and Shego and took her seat behind the old desk.
Kim noticed Shego stiffen, her fingers digging into the chair's arms. Spontaneously and discretely, Kim reached over and touched the side of Shego's arm, getting her attention. The thief blinked and turned her attention over to Kim. The redhead smiled encouragingly when their eyes met, and after a moment Shego sighed and forced herself to calm down. Relieved, Kim turned her attention back to Mrs. Drago.
If she noticed the brief exchange between them, she gave no indication of it. She simply raised her left eyebrow ever-so-slightly at the silence, "Let us get to the point. You wished to discuss my granddaughter's future with me."
Kim swallowed, trying to get her thoughts in order. Sitting up straight in her chair, Kim cleared her throat and focused on Shego's mother.
"That's right, Mrs. Drago," the cheerleader began, cautiously keeping her voice calm and level and trying not to feel like an eight-year-old in the principal's office. "As you know already, Agni came to me for help finding Shego, due to some kind of stress regarding her educational environment and home life."
The redhead paused, waiting to see if Mrs. Drago wished to respond. She simply continued to stare into Kim's eyes, apparently giving the silent go ahead to continue. Briefly glancing over at Shego, where she sat glaring with her arms crossed, Kim continued.
"When I spent some time with her, it became obvious that Agni has some serious anger issues, and a strong sense of being alone in the world. She's a very bright young girl, and clearly is starved for affection but…"
'But I really don't think you know what affection means, Mrs. Drago, and your husband is a dictionary example of ebullient.' Kim managed to keep from saying this out loud.
Shego 'tsked' under her breath, her eyes narrowing slightly in response to this fairly mellow characterization.
'Well, time to get to the grit,' Kim thought, steeling herself to get down to her main point of all this.
"This, and all the bullying she mentions at school has only aggravated her situation, and considering she ran across three states just to find me, in order to find her mother… I think we can conclude that her problems are significant enough to warrant changes."
Mrs. Drago's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but she remained silent. Kim wished she would say something, anything, give some actual feedback during all this. But no, it was like trying to converse with an ice sculpture, one which did not melt.
Taking a deep breath, Kim concluded her opening, "All things considered… I honestly believe that Agni needs a change of scenery for things to turn for the better."
"And you believe that Middleton is an appropriate 'change of scenery'?" Roza queried, speaking up finally for the first time since Kim had begun. Her voice was low and level, giving away no intention or hint at her reception.
Kim frowned and briefly glanced back at Shego, before turning back to Mrs. Drago and nodding slightly. "Um… well, yes actually. The middle-school there would allow your granddaughter a great deal more freedom, and from what I have gathered from Agni, I'm sure that the students and faculty would be much more welcoming. She would have a much easier time making friends and improving her social skills, which I believe she desperately needs."
The redhead leaned back slightly, considering how to phrase this next part carefully so not to make Agni, and by association, her family, sound undesirable. "Also, Middleton has a high tolerance for… unusual happenings."
Kim forced a smile, "After all, I've saved the world more times than I can count, but very few times if any is that considered any big deal there. So Agni's… um…"
"Her nature," Shego stated flatly, saving Kim the embarrassment of trying to come up with an appropriate description. "My daughter's unusual nature…"
"Uh, thanks Shego," Kim added briefly, "But what I mean is, she could probably get away with not being forced to wear that makeup disguise anymore. Doing without all that and being honest with her appearance might squash her feelings of isolation."
Shego frowned, her cynicism not quite letting her believe that last part. Still, she wanted to believe Agni could have something more closely resembling a normal life, so she didn't let fly her doubts.
"As it stands now…," Kim continued her tone a good deal more firm, "I can't help but feel Agni might be a danger to herself and others. I'm surprised there hasn't been an incident regarding her powers already, but I believe helping her in this way would improve her self-control and avoid any kind of future incidents.
Taking a breath, the redhead made her final push, "And finally, if she stayed with me, Agni would have an opportunity to actually see Shego, which I think we all can agree would mean a great deal to her. Shego's told me she can't stay with her, but this arrangement may be the next best thing."
Sighing, Kim slumped her shoulders back in her chair, feeling mentally exhausted at having gone over such heavy material with such a ferociously unresponsive audience. She'd rather be scaling the side of a free flight weather machine in a storm than doing this. Even now, Mrs. Drago was still eyeing the both of them, with no indication that she intended to respond at all, let alone favorably
"You gonna actually say something back? Or you just gonna sit there and be a stone-balled bitch all morning?" Shego stressed through gritted teeth, leaning forward and threatening to get out of her chair, before she felt a firm hand on her shoulder keeping her in place.
"So am I to understand, Miss Possible, that that is all you have to say?" Mrs. Drago asked bluntly.
Both Kim and Shego frowned, taken aback by Mrs. Drago's question. After a second, Kim hazarded, "Was… something not clear?"
"I am afraid, Miss Possible, that I am the one who must clarify certain details," Roza's monocle caught the light of the desk lamp ominously as she said that, somehow mirroring coldness despite the broad daylight in the rest of the room.
'That's it! She's totally doing that on purpose,' Kim realized in annoyance. She refocused on Roza's unaided eye in mild irritation of the theatrics.
"First of all, regarding the school Agni attends, I did not make that decision lightly. It is true that one of the major reasons she attends that academy is their advanced curriculum; my granddaughter is every bit as bright as her mother, and I do not intend to repeat allowing those talents to go wasted. However that was only one factor in my decision to place Agni in the Go Academy. My other reason being that it is a secure facility and offers constant supervision. Supervision Agni desperately requires." Mrs. Drago's carefully chosen and precise words belied even the faintest hint of her native tongue, further off-putting Shego, who was used speaking a thick Slavic speech when in this office.
"Secondly," the matriarch continued before Kim could respond, "Regarding her disguise, I do not require she wear that for aesthetics. I'm not nearly as shallow as that."
Shego scoffed loudly, and looked like she forcibly swallowed back a retort, but Mrs. Drago went on unconcerned.
"She wears that makeup to conceal her connection to my daughter. I do not need to inform you of how many enemies she has made throughout her career, or how many villains and other disreputable types would jump at the opportunity to take advantage of a child with such powers."
Kim winced, trying quickly to think of a detailed retort, but Shego's mother gave her no opening, leaving the teen more frustrated for her inability to counter.
"Regarding my daughter," her eyes narrowed slightly, "I know you are aware how my granddaughter idolizes Shego and her criminal lifestyle. An idolization I discourage to the best of my ability."
Her pale blue eyes narrowed in Shego's direction, and the glare was quickly returned, "I know that Shego encourages Agni's delinquency and fosters her sense of self-isolation. Without this kind of influence, she could very well have found healthier ways to deal with her social issues rather than lashing out physically and verbally at every opportunity."
"Mom, you are so full of-!"
"And finally, Miss Possible," Roza cut Shego off making her turn red in the face with barely concealed rage. The older woman's eyes took on a familiar threatening glow causing Kim to scoot away from the desk unconsciously. "This next point is perhaps the most obvious flaw in your… fairly well-crafted argument."
Roza leaned forward, placing her hands on the arms of her chair, "You are a minor who lives with your parents and thus are wholly inappropriate to act as the guardian of a preteen girl with special needs. I'm also relatively certain that you have not actually disclosed this plan to your parents either."
Shego stood up suddenly, her hands ablaze, "I knew this was a waste of time! I warned you on the phone, remember? I can always just ma-"
The redhead quickly moved in front of the thief to try and salvage the situation, "Mrs. Drago, please, think this over carefully. I understand your position really, but… try to be flexible! I think if you try to see this from Agni's end of things…"
"Don't even bother!" Shego hissed, trying to shove past the obstruction Kim presented, "Bitch doesn't have it in her to empathize with anyone! Never has, now get out of the way."
"Mrs. Drago-," Kim tried again desperately, wondering if this was actually going to devolve into a fist fight. She scrambled to reset her argument in the face of Mrs Drago's total opposition, "I really think you're being pretty inflexible about the situation. It's not all that clear cut and-,"
"I have said all I intend to say on the matter, Miss Possible," Roza stated darkly sitting back and folding her hands.
Shego jerked forward even harder at the rebuke, trying to get around her nemesis and at her domineering mother.
"God DAMMIT!" someone shouted, surprising all the occupants in the room. Most shocked was Kim, who was the one who had shouted it, while slamming her palm on the desk. Shaking her head bitterly, her diplomatic façade shattered, Kim leaned in and growled dangerously. "What part of a twelve-year-old girl bolting across the country by herself don't you understand?"
Her tone rising, she pressed on, "So what if her mom's a criminal? She's a little girl and she feels completely alone! That is the important part in all of this!"
"I don't know what happened to turn you into… this," the teen stated through gritted teeth, gesturing to Roza, "But I can see why your family is so heinously messed up. I pity you! If you have a heart, even a tiny shriveled one, than do right by your granddaughter and admit your mistakes! All of them!"
Shego stood there looking at her arch rival in dumb shock, too surprised by perfect Kim Possible's righteous outburst to formulate an intelligent reaction.
Roza, however had no such problem. Standing up, the older woman leaned down so that she and Kim were eye to eye before stating flatly, "My decision, Miss Possible, is final."
'You just had to listen in, didn'tcha Agni,' Agni grumbled internally, ''cause you're a masochist like that.'
She'd known the outcome of the conversation well in advance. It was an inevitability, really. The idea that her grandmother would allow her to go to a different school, and see her mother… Really, this was doomed from the start.
Agni had known all of this and yet she couldn't help herself. She was right there with her ear pressed to the door so that she could listen in on every excruciating moment.
Kim had impressed her, managing to sound all adult and professional like that, and lay things out like some lawyer from the TV, but the sinking feeling Agni had felt all morning was enough warning for her to realize that this was a doomed endeavor. Her grandmother's words were simply the final nail in the casket.
'And I was dumb enough to hope,' she sighed, lowering her head more so all she could see was the cracks in the sidewalk. This reminded her of the Pandora's Box myth in her old Mythology book. Hope was locked away with the rest of the evil, because it by far was the most destructive of them all. 'Well, I'm not gonna make that mistake again…'
Agni could barely remember what had happened after the conversation had descended into such a disaster. One minute, she was sitting outside the door, and the next she was slowly shuffling down the sidewalk on autopilot.
She had even bothered to put on her disguise, instead simply pulling her hood up and keeping her hands in her front pockets. Although, as of right now, she couldn't have cared less if anyone saw her skin.
'Well, what's the plan now? Run away again? No point now, is there? I've got nowhere to go and nothing to do. Maybe I could go out and be the world's youngest supervillain,' she thought to herself with bitter amusement as she slowly put one foot in front of the other.
'I just don't-'
"OW!" Agni cried out, falling back and clutching her forehead. She'd walked head first into something damn hard. At first she'd thought it was a light post, but there wouldn't have been one out in the middle of the sidewalk, and she was cognizant enough to at least not have wandered to the curb or into the street, even on automatic pilot.
Squinting in pain despite her rapidly receding bruise, Agni narrowed her eyes and looked up past the edge of her hood… and up… and up… until she finally met a pair of radiant yellow electronic eyes, crackling with electricity, staring back at her.
Just below the eyes, Agni could see a pair of initials, "BZ", emblazoned and glowing with ominous light across the enormous breastplate. In the back of her mind, the tween recognized the armor; it had been on display in the GO Tower the few times she'd visited.
And the name associated with that armor came rushing to the forefront of her mind, just as a massive titanium-plated hand reached down towards her with grim finality.
Chapter 12: End
Author's Notes: Wow, it's been awhile… I dedicate this newest chapter to my awesome and infinitely impressive Editor, Eoraptor. Anything witty in this chapter is likely thanks to him. Thanks, man. Always.
And to my readers for sticking with me this long. Sorry guys. New chapter shouldn't take nearly as long. ^^U