When
Place woke up in the morning she didn't know what to do.
She
clearly remembered exactly where she was and what she'd been told,
she had no illusions that it might have been a dream and it would
turn out that she was, in fact, the real Kim Possible.
Her
room had some generic clothing in her size, she dressed in a black
t-shirt and loose bluejeans. But then what? Could she really walk around inside of Drakken's lair, looking for all the world like Kim
Possible, and not have it turn into a disaster? Wouldn't alarms go
off and chaos break loose as soon as one of the henchmen saw her?
Wouldn't everyone she met expect her to fight them?
She
ended up thinking herself into a box. She didn't remember how
exactly she got there, but she was sitting against a wall, knees
pulled into her chest, when Shego found her.
She
hadn't heard Shego coming and gave a yelp of surprise when Shego
tapped her on a shoulder.
"Jumpy?"
Shego asked.
"You
could knock," Place snapped. She regretted her tone, partially
because she didn't think it was called for, but also because it
wounded her pride. She only reacted that way because she felt
vulnerable, and she didn't like feeling vulnerable.
"I
did," Shego said.
"Oh,"
Place said. "Sorry."
Shego sat down next to Place and asked, "Do you want to tell me about it?"
Place thought it over for a moment. "No." She looked at Shego who seemed disappointed. "I want to get out of here." For a moment Shego's expression turned ... pained? Afraid? Place wasn't sure. It was only a moment before Shego suppressed whatever it was and her face was neutral. Still, Place had a feeling she knew what caused the expression, and it was a misunderstanding. "Of the room," she clarified.
Shego sat down next to Place and asked, "Do you want to tell me about it?"
Place thought it over for a moment. "No." She looked at Shego who seemed disappointed. "I want to get out of here." For a moment Shego's expression turned ... pained? Afraid? Place wasn't sure. It was only a moment before Shego suppressed whatever it was and her face was neutral. Still, Place had a feeling she knew what caused the expression, and it was a misunderstanding. "Of the room," she clarified.
Shego
said a drawn out, "Oh," with relief and understanding in
her voice, but then stopped it abruptly and repeated, "Oh,"
with no hint of emotion.
Place
made note of it in her mind, hoping that at some point she'd be able
to figure out what Shego's agenda was. If it were nefarious, though,
Place had to admit that she'd already been duped. Maybe it was
learning Shego's story, maybe it was the impression she'd gotten from
Shego's few unguarded moments--there hadn't been that many-- maybe it
was wishful thinking, but Place felt like whatever Shego wanted it
wasn't inherently bad.
Which
made Place realize that, sooner or later, she was going to have to
find out if she'd been subject to any mental conditioning or mind
control. But not yet.
Now
she was planning to stay in the lair until she was strong enough to
defend herself against whatever the world might throw her way. Which
brought her back to leaving the room. "You mentioned training
yesterday."
"I
did," Shego said.
"Where
would we do that?" Place asked.
"We?"
Shego asked. Her voice wasn't neutral, but it also didn't give Place
an insight into what the woman was thinking it was... guarded, maybe?
It would fit with the way Shego seemed to be trying to hide her
emotions.
Then
it hit her: since when did Shego hide what she was feeling? Shego
said whatever she felt with snark and volume. And she'd back it up
with violence if need be.
Whatever
Shego was looking for in Place, Place realized that it had to be
completely different from Kim's normal interactions with Shego. But
that little epiphany was soon cancelled out by the realization that
she'd already known that.
Shego
didn't offer Kim a place to stay. Shego didn't sit down and talk
with Kim. Shego didn't treat Kim the way she was treating Place in
any way at all.
Realizing
everything was completely different wasn't attaining some new
knowledge, it was just going around in a circle and returning to
square one.
And
that's when Place noticed that Shego had taken out her nail file.
"Sorry,"
Place said. She said it sincerely. She meant it. If it turned out
that Shego was planning on using her for evil then the whole sitch
was going to be hell. She was too emotionally attached already.
She'd only been there for a day.
Then
again, Place thought, she'd only been alive for a day.
"You
going to tell me what's going on in there, princess," Shego
asked, "or are you just going to keep on drifting off with no
explanation?"
"I
just have a lot to think about, is all," Place said. "Anyway,
where were we?"
"Well, funny you should ask that..." Shego said, a hint of her usual snark in her voice.
"Well, funny you should ask that..." Shego said, a hint of her usual snark in her voice.
"We
were at 'we'," Place realized.
"Yes
we were," Shego said.
"Well,
I just sort of assumed we'd train together," Place said. "Did
you not want to train with me?" Place originally planned to let
Shego respond, but before Shego could, Place thought of more to add,
"I mean if you're not working on any evil schemes then you've
got the free time, right?"
"Yes, I do," Shego said.
"Yes, I do," Shego said.
"So,
do you have something better to do?" Place asked. She didn't
realize it, but she had slipped into a, very mild version of, the
Possible puppy-dog pout.
"No,"
Shego said.
"Then:
yes, 'we'," Place said. She stood up. "Come on, it'll be
fun."
Shego
smiled, an actual honest smile. No evidence of a reverse polerizer.
No evidence that the tables were about to turn against her. No
common enemy. Place was experiencing something Kim never had. It
was odd, but it was also good. Place wanted to see more of the
smiling Shego.
Once
Shego was on her feet Place was out the door. Only to turn right
back around and say, "I know you already told me, but where is
the training area again?"
Shego
laughed. A good-natured, non-adversarial laugh. Place instantly
decided that she wanted more of the laughing Shego too.
"Follow
me," Shego said.
* * *
"Ok,"
Place said, uncertainly, "so, why is it such a disgusting
color?"
"Snot?"
Shego asked.
"Yeah,
snot," Place said. "Why is it snot-colored?"
Shego
launched a plasma burst at the far wall of the gym. When it hit the
far wall it looked like any other time Shego's plasma hit a resilient wall, but when the flash had faded there was no evidence
the wall had been hit at all. "It can't stand up to my best,
which is why the military sold it so cheaply--"
"The military?" Place asked.
"The military?" Place asked.
"It
was the usual thing," Shego said. "Someone wanted plasma
powered soldiers and thought they could get it by capturing me,
experimenting--"
"Oh god, Shego," Place said. "I'm sorry."
"Oh god, Shego," Place said. "I'm sorry."
"I'm
not," Shego said. "They couldn't catch me anyway. When I
found out why I was getting annoyed by them so often, though, I let
them catch me."
After
that Shego said nothing.
"Well?"
Place asked.
"Well
what?"
"What happened after you let them catch you?"
"What happened after you let them catch you?"
"They
decided that they never wanted to catch me again, and sold the allegedly plasma-proof materials they'd developed, amoung other
things, to anyone who would buy them in an attempt to cut their
losses," Shego said with a smile.
"What
did you do?" Place asked playfully.
"Oh,
not much."
"Come on," Place asked in her best coaxing voice.
"Come on," Place asked in her best coaxing voice.
"I
may have escaped from their plasma-proof cell by turning it to ash,"
Shego said. She smirked. "And I may have set fire to the
entire facility." She paused for a beat. "And I could,
possibly, have started a minor volcano at the
site."
"Volcano?!"
"Ok, it's not as impressive as it sounds," Shego said, her voice colored by an unusual humility. Also, Place wasn't sure if she might be imagining it, but could it be possible that Shego was being bashful? Place thought she picked up on it, she was almost sure of it, but on the other hand: Shego.
"Volcano?!"
"Ok, it's not as impressive as it sounds," Shego said, her voice colored by an unusual humility. Also, Place wasn't sure if she might be imagining it, but could it be possible that Shego was being bashful? Place thought she picked up on it, she was almost sure of it, but on the other hand: Shego.
"How
is creating a volcano anything but impressive?" Place asked.
"After
I scared the people out of the facility I wanted to make an example
of it," Shego said. "It had been built for the sole
purpose of experimenting on me, after all."
"So you made a volcano."
"Not on purpose," Shego said.
"So you made a volcano."
"Not on purpose," Shego said.
"How
do you--"
"I just went full burn in the center and was planning on burning downward a few hundred... or maybe a few thousand feet. I don't really remember the plan..." Shego trailed off. Then she finished quickly, "I just remember trying to get away as fast as I could when I realized how much heat was coming from the other side of the bedrock."
"I just went full burn in the center and was planning on burning downward a few hundred... or maybe a few thousand feet. I don't really remember the plan..." Shego trailed off. Then she finished quickly, "I just remember trying to get away as fast as I could when I realized how much heat was coming from the other side of the bedrock."
"You
just randomly hit a magma chamber?" Place was incredulous.
"How
was I supposed to know one would be there?" Shego asked
defensively. "They're supposed to be buried deep. One to ten
kilometers. It shouldn't have been so close to the surface."
"A kilometer is a few thousand feet."
"A kilometer is a few thousand feet."
"Whatever."
"Why
would you go that deep anyway? Were you trying to make the place
into an inverted mountain?" Place asked. "Or...
something?"
"I
just wanted to make it into a massive hole in the ground," Shego
said. "Then all of a sudden I realized that the rock was going
to melt without my help." Shego sighed. "And at that
point I realized that I should run. Unfortunately, I had to
climb a long way before I got to the running."
"Thus,
a volcano," Place said.
"Thus,
a volcano," Shego echoed.
"And
therefore snot-colored gym?"
"You got it," Shego said. "Much easier to work out when you don't need to worry about burning the place down. So, are you planning on talking all day, or did you want to spar?"
"You got it," Shego said. "Much easier to work out when you don't need to worry about burning the place down. So, are you planning on talking all day, or did you want to spar?"
"Definitely
spar," Place said, lunging at Shego before she even finished the
sentence.
Shego
leapt back and smiled at the surprise attack, then visibly settled
into her fighting mode, "You'd better be careful,
Princess--"
"Think I'm afraid of you?" Place said, feeling good. It wasn't a fight without banter.
"I think I'm rubbing off on you," Shego said. "I mean, a sneak attack?"
"Think I'm afraid of you?" Place said, feeling good. It wasn't a fight without banter.
"I think I'm rubbing off on you," Shego said. "I mean, a sneak attack?"
Place
just lunged forward and threw a punch.
-
Assuming Place really is a clone, I wonder what she should do after she leaves (assuming she leaves). It ... doesn't seem like Kim would be especially willing to listen to Place's impressions, given the automatic excuse of "they screwed with your perceptions to make you see things differently".
ReplyDeleteKim vs. Place would be fun.
ReplyDeleteI imagine Place as more willing to use new techniques, but Kim as more willing to escalate force. I don't know how it would result.
DeletePerhaps it wouldn't result very well... depending on what kind of person the other Kim has turned into...
Delete