Kin of the Punisher

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for plot.

Ch. 1 Disaster

Six years before prom…

"Hey Mrs. Dr. P, is Kim home?" A ten-year-old Ron Stoppable asked as he stood outside of his best friend's house. Mrs. Possible smiled at the young blond standing on her doorstep.

"Yes she is, but she's feeling a bit down ever since she got her braces. Maybe you could go and cheer her up?"

Ron stood up straight, put on a serious face, and gave a salute. "Yes ma'am."

Mrs. Possible smiled and half-saluted back, "Thanks Ronald, you're a good friend. Unlike two very naughty little boys." She turned to glare at her two sons standing in opposite corners of the living room.

"She's up in her room." Mrs. Possible stood to the side to let Ron in and watched him climb the stairs until he disappeared behind a wall.

Ron opened Kim's door quietly as not to alert her of his presence. When he saw her, he had to clench his mouth shut or else he'd burst out laughing, because there was Kim sitting on her bed, reading a book, with a scarf wrapped around the bottom half of her face.

Ron got an evil idea in his head, he got down on all fours and began to crawl toward Kim's bed, and so far, she was oblivious to his presence. When he reached her bed, she was still concentrating on her book, so Ron decided to have some fun with her.

Very slowly, he stood up and said, "Hey Kim." To say that Kim was startled would be a huge understatement. Kim must of have to gone two feet off the bed before landing on the floor, on the other side of the bed. Her book almost hit Ron, but luckily he ducked just in time, Kim stood up and glared at him.

"Ron," she said, her voice muffled by the scarf. "What are you doing here?" she sounded annoyed.

Ron smiled and said, "Your mom said you got braces and I wanna see 'em."

Kim's hands immediately went to the scarf covering her mouth, as if her life depended on the fact that her mouth was covered.

"C'mon, let me see 'em," Kim shook her head no; Ron made a move to grab the scarf. She jerked back, avoiding Ron's grasp. This went on for a while, until Ron launched on to Kim, bringing them both to the floor and they began wrestle with each other for the scarf. Even though Kim didn't want Ron to see her braces, she couldn't help the laugh that escaped her lips.

They were so busy having fun, they both failed to notice the phone ringing. "I got it," called Mrs. Possible from the kitchen. She walked into the living room and picked up the phone by the stairs. "Possible residence," she said. "Yes, I'd like to speak to Anne Possible," a man's voice asked. "Speaking,' she answered. "This is Martin Soap of the New York Police Department, I'm afraid I have some terrible news…"

Meanwhile, upstairs Kim and Ron were still competing for the scarf until they heard, "What!" they heard Kim's mom say. "Oh my God," she sounded distraught. Kim made her way to the stairs, while Ron let the scarf slip through his fingers, fall to the floor and soon followed her.

When they reached the stairs, they saw Mrs. Possible, leaning against the wall, her left hand over her heart, her eyes clenched shut. "What happened?" she asked. "I see, thank you," then she hung placed her right hand over her eyes and began to cry.

Kim and Ron were both at the bottom of the stairs when she asked, "Mom, what's wrong?"

Anne looked at her through watery eyes and Kim could see that these were the eyes of someone who had lost something very dear to their heart. Anne walked over to Kim, knelt down, put her hands on Kim's shoulders and said, "Kim, I need you to go to the neighbors and tell them to call your father and tell him to get here as soon as possible, okay?"

"But mom," Kim began but was silenced by her mother. "Kim, I need you to do this, please." Kim nodded her head, went to the front door and left. Anne turned to Ron and said, "Ron, I need you to look after the boys, make sure they don't move, okay."

"Yes ma'am," Ron answered solemnly. Anne went upstairs, went to her room and closed the door behind her, the tears just wouldn't stop. 'Oh God,' she thought as she fell on to her bed. 'How could this happen?' she grabbed a pillow and hugged it to her chest. 'I'm so sorry Frank,' she thought as she began to weep.

James Possible came home immediately when his neighbors had informed him that something had happened. The neighbors had informed him what Kim had told them: something was wrong and that Anne was crying.

When he walked into the living room, he saw Kim and Ron on the couch; they looked over to him when he closed the door. "Hi, dad," Kim called.

"Hey Kimmy," he said, "Where's your mother?"

"Upstairs, she hasn't left the bedroom since she got that call."

"Do you know who the call was from?" James asked.

Kim shook her head.

"Hm, I better go talk to her," he said as he began to climb the stairs.

When he had disappeared from their sights, Ron looked at Kim and asked, "So what do you thinks wrong with your mom?"

Kim shrugged and said, "I don't know but I hope my dad can fix it."

As he came to the door leading to his and Anne's bedroom, he could hear sniffling and a whimper every now and again. He opened the door and saw Anne lying on her side of the bed, a pillow hugged to her chest, tears running freely. James closed the door, alerting Anne to his presence.

As soon as she saw him, she got up, walked over to him, and hugged him so forcefully, that he was knocked against the door. "Oh, James," she said. "It's horrible, just horrible," she sniffled.

James wrapped his arms around her and said, "Its okay, its okay," he said patting her back. "Look, just tell me what happened."

"Frank's been shot," she said.

"You mean, like in a training exercise," James asked.

"No, no" she said, shaking her head. "He, Maria, Lisa, and Frank Jr. were having a picnic in Central Park and they saw a mob execution. When they were discovered, they… they…" she broke down into sobs again.

James pressed her close to him. "Are they okay?" he asked.

"Just Frank," she answered. "Maria, Lisa, Frank Jr. they're… Oh God I don't want to think about it."

James just held her as she cried on his shoulder, comforting her in her time of need. He had met Frank only once, but he knew how important he was to Anne. When she had calmed down, he sat her on the bed and asked, "Are you going to go see him?"

She nodded her head and said, "I have to make sure he's okay."

"When will you leave?" he asked.

"I was thinking of tomorrow, if you can handle the kids," she answered.

"Of course," he said. "Why don't you try to get some sleep and we'll sort this out in the morning."

She nodded her head again, and then she laid her head on a pillow, closed her eyes and was fast asleep. When he was certain that she was asleep, James looked to the ceiling and whispered, "How could you let this happen?"