Disclaimers: I don't own Kim Possible. Also, please keep in mind that there is (M)ature content herein. This includes violence, explicit language and sexual content.

The Escaped

Even though she had been sucked into a circumstance she could have never imagined, Shego had stoically held onto her honor while always remembering that honor and morality never did quite intersect in her mind. She stuck to what she expected of herself and never really cared about the expectations others would foolishly mark her with. More than one person had to face up to the fact that everything they thought they knew about Shego was wrong.

Shego had promised to release her family from Animatus's world. That is what she expected of herself. So, it was in error for the community to think that she even thought about releasing them as well. Shego had never promised them their freedom. She owed them nothing. It had been she and Kim who had kept everyone alive for the last few years. It was their blood that had been spilt, their individuality violated. They had brought order and consistency to the rest of Animatus's subjects.

So as Animatus's robots flooded into the community to control the riot Shego had instigated, she owed her compatriots nothing, not even her thanks. She grabbed onto her family and felt no remorse in hearing the terrified screams behind her, and made sure to grab onto Kim with enough strength so that her lover couldn't take a look back either. She understood that Kim might still have that heroic impulse to save as many people as she could, and refused to let that impulse ruin their opportunity to escape Animatus's world.

"Your actions are ill advised," Animatus voice called out to them. "Unless you turn back immediately the entire community will suffer."

"You always sacrifice the pawns to save the queen," Shego calmly replied.

"I will terminate your life," Animatus warned. "Do not test me."

"Try it!" Shego lit up her hands, more than ready to deal with the robots that had finally managed to catch up with her family, completely unconcerned with Animatus's threats. Animatus's chips had been taken care of. The burn marks on her, Kim's, and Athena's wrists were testament to that. Shego had fried them all while they were still buried under the surface of their skin. "You've made us too powerful, Ani," Shego couldn't help but add as she tore a hole through one of the robots.

"Shego!" Kim disposed of one of the robots as well as she held protectively onto their daughter, calling a warning out to her lover as one of the robots attempted to cut off Shego's head.

"You've destroyed the chips," Animatus's voice coolly commented. "This was unforeseen."

Suddenly, the robots stopped their attack and became the lifeless pieces of metal that they were made of. The door Kim had moved to, intent on breaking down with her fists, hissed open. Everything was calm again, quickly becoming like any other time Kim and Shego walked down Animatus's halls.

Shego grabbed onto her lover's hand, then led them through the door. They crossed the threshold into Animatus's labs, entering into the same room they had woken up in all those short years ago. Animatus hadn't changed anything.

"I outgrew my creator as well," Animatus spoke softly. "She could no longer control my programming."

Another door hissed opened, revealing a room neither Kim nor Shego had ever been invited into before. Together, they stepped through that door as well, surprised to see several dozen screens displaying their faces. On one screen it looked like they were having some sort of verbal altercation. On another, they were fighting off Animatus's robots, and on another they were sitting down at a table sharing a meal with a group of people neither of them recognized.

"Are these our clones?" Shego asked.

"You are the clones; series five." Animatus easily admitted. "The originals are on the far left screen, unaware that they exist in my world at all."

Both Shego and Kim carefully looked at the screen Animatus had pointed out to them. They noticed that the Kim and Shego shown were more physically like they had been when they first awoke in Animatus's world. They were sleeping in separate beds, and they didn't look particularly strong or healthy. They were average and plain, and almost sickeningly normal.

"Are we free to go, then?" Shego asked, knowing that despite what Animatus had revealed, she still had promised to release her family. That only consisted of the Kim who stood next to her and the child that was held within her lover's arms.

Yet another door opened for them. "You have earned your freedom."

"We have to," Kim started to say but was quickly interrupted by Shego's stronger voice.

"No!" She yelled. "We owe them nothing."

Kim looked down at Athena, who had known to keep her silence while her parents rushed her out of the only home she had ever known. It didn't take long for Kim to recognize the decision she had chosen to make the minute she agreed to sacrifice the community members just so that they could escape. She had already chosen to put her family's lives above all others. She had already rated them as more important than any one else, and that included even their own original selves.

"What will you do with them?" Kim held Athena closer to her body, a part of her hoping that her child wouldn't remember the choice she had just made.

"The tests will continue." Animatus answered. "I have not learned what I desire."

"Yeah?" Shego snorted derisively. "I'm not so sure that we've learned it either." She turned to Kim and motioned towards the open door. "Let's get out of here."

The door led to an elevator that swiftly took them back to the surface. When the doors slid open, Kim and Shego were greeted by the smell of sweat and chlorine. They were in a gym, right next to the pool.

One Month Later

Kim straightened out her clothes, still unused to the fit of the clothes she had bought during her shopping trip with Shego. Shego had promised her that she looked good in the them, but she didn't feel completely comfortable. Animatus had chosen their clothes for them, and she almost preferred that over having to choose her own wardrobe. At least in Animatus's world she didn't have to worry about her clothes looking bad on her.

With a quick sigh and a timid roll of her shoulders, Kim lifted up her hand and knocked on the door she could remember walking through countless times before. She could even remember when the door was destroyed when one of her enemies had followed her back to her home. The memories were so vivid, even though they weren't technically hers.

"Kimberly?" The woman who answered the door stuttered out the name, clearly shaken from image standing in front of her.

"Hello, Mom." Kim nervously cleared her throat. "I um…I think I need to tell you something."

The End

Author's Note: A little anti-climatic maybe? Well, I think so, but I have my reasoning for it-- Sequel.