Elizabeth Promise

“Well, this should be enough” The public evaluator, a woman in her late thirties, said. “Wait for me here, Miss Promise”

As the woman left the office through the backdoor, the lady she talked to let out a long said. She almost twitched at the pronunciation of “Miss Promise”, being the first time she was called like that. Indeed, the name she introduced herself with, Elizabeth Promise, was not her real name, but a new identity she had made for herself… and vowed to take as her own from here on.

Both first and last name were meaningful for her. It represented the oath she had taken, the one she made for her big mistake…

She had never, ever felt so guilty in her twenty-five years of life. Yeah, she used to be a criminal, but she limited herself to steal and assault, but not to kill, unless it was necessary.

But the deaths she now carried in her conscience were not only unnecessary, but a massacre. Why did she listen to him? Goddamned Doc, she should have never worked for him in the first place! This plan was wrong from the beginning and she should have stopped when she could, but she didn’t…

She didn’t… and now she had ruined a girl’s life to a point beyond forbidden.

Let’s get Kim Possible in the past, he had said. Lets take revenge on her when she’s vulnerable, had been the reason. But fuck that! It was low beyond cowardly and nobody ever thought of the consequences. Nobody thought someone else could get hurt in the process, but oh, there was hurting. Hurting, and killing, and leaving one life broken.

Why did they have to do it on that day? The day daddy was taking his little daughter to the Space Research Center for the first time to introduce her to his job, the day the whole family had to be reunited. Why that day? Why not just go for the target and only the target? Why make it public? Was the Doc feeling so vengeful that he wanted to kill her in front of her parent’s eyes? God… goddamnit!

Such a foolish mistake like firing green plasma around, accidentally hitting a rocket… and ten seconds later, there was no more Space Research Center.

She survived thanks to her superhuman capability and tolerance. The little girl she was supposed to kill also survived… thanks to her parents. She knew… she found her beneath their dead bodies…

Her parents dead, her brothers… killed before they were even born. Her boss and his partners died too, and she didn’t lament that. She simply couldn’t at this point. And dozens of innocent people died as well…

All because of her…

When Elizabeth heard the door opening, she quickly cleaned the tears falling down her cheeks and stood up to once again meet the public evaluator, who had now brought someone else along her. Elizabeth looked down at the five years old redhead that would be, from here onwards, her responsibility… and had to make an effort to fight back the tears.

“Kimmie… from now on, this woman will take care of you”

Summoning all of her self-control, Elizabeth walked toward the little girl, kneeling in front of her.

“Hello, Princess” She said, raising her hand toward her, “I… I hope we can get along.”

The little girl looked scared, but eventually took the offered hand and approached the woman who was, as she had been told, adopting her. Elizabeth stood up, not letting her go of her daughter’s hand at any second.

This was the vow she had made… to dedicate her life to raise this girl, to do all in her power to, somehow, repay for what she had done. She had even decided to leave behind her old life and names. She couldn’t even go back to the future, as the device used to take her and her boss twelve years back in time was destroyed in the explosion.

No… this was her life now: Elizabeth Promise, adoptive mother of Kim Possible. And come fate and destiny against her if they must, but she was going to defend this oath, and this child, with her very life.