July 17th 64 AD,

Rome, Italy

Septimus hated this shift.

Sure, guarding the jail had its perks, he could testify to that, but at night the prison was either incredibly boring or incredibly hectic. It either was calmer than a tomb or some idiot who claimed to be innocent would try to escape from their cell. Nine times out of ten, it didn't work, but that didn't stop the fools from trying. With the addition of those two new prisoners though…all the guards had been pulling double duty to watch for escapees. Something about the duo made people go crazy and actually attempt the escape.

Never mind that the penalty for escaping was death, no matter that your family would be imprisoned and dishonored or their money liquidated and given to the Senate, all that was on the prisoner's minds was breathing fresh and free air.

So now, Septimus found himself patrolling through the cells and making sure that prisoners were all accounted for.

All clear…he thought idly, maybe it will be a quiet night.

"Excuse me guard?" a prisoner asked.

Septimus stifled a groan as he recognized the voice. He contemplated ignoring the voice and continuing his patrol but his curiosity won out. Turning on a heel, Septimus faced the row of cells where the voice had come from.

"What is it slave?" he asked, the malice dripping off his every word.

There was a sound of shuffling and the occupant of the cell slowly approached the bars to speak. In the torchlight, the man's blonde hair looked orange and his naturally brown eyes looked dark and demonic.

"I was just wondering if sometime tonight, you could tell the chef to hold the flour from my bread tomorrow," the man said softly but with a smug tone, "you see, it will be Passover soon and I would like unleavened bread so I could celebrate my heritage and religion."

Septimus snorted and shifted his weight from one foot to the other idly, "Sure, I'll run right down to the chef and tell her that Ronnicus the Great wants his food served differently than everyone else just because he wants to serve his God."

Ronnicus smiled as he saw Septimus back up a step and start to resume his patrol.

"Oh, one more thing," Ronnicus said, a bit of sadness in his voice, "We're sorry."

Septimus turned to face the prisoner, his back to the wall of cells on the other side of the hall and asked, "Sorry for what?"

A strip of cloth snaked out from the cell behind him and caught him around the neck. The owner of the cloth jerked sharply at the cloth and Septimus flew back into the bars with a loud CLANG.

Another hand snaked out from the cell and pinched Septimus on the shoulder. With a sigh, Septimus' head drooped as unconsciousness claimed him.

The hands lowered Septimus to the ground and fished around in his pockets for the keys, "See? I told you that the neck pinch would work," Ronnicus smirked from his cell.

"Ron you only know about that trick because you saw it on-" the other prisoner said, a distinctly feminine voice.

"Ah, ah, ah," Ronnicus defended, "My idea, it worked, therefore I get the credit."

In the semi dark cell, the woman grinned as she felt her hands close around the metallic hoop of the key chain, "Gotcha," she whispered and started experimenting on which key opened her cell.

"Septimus? You all right down there?" a guard's voice called out, his voice echoing eerily in the hallway.

Both the prisoners froze and looked at each other like deer caught in a car's headlights.

The woman looked across the hallway and mouthed, What now Ronnicus?

He motioned for her to be quiet as he heard the guard start to move towards them, Hang on, he mouthed back, Let me try something.

Lowering his voice, Ronnicus looked down the way and coughed, "Yeah, just slipped, that's all. I'm continuing my patrol."

The booted feet stopped moving and the guard laughed, "Scared me there Septimus. For a second I thought there was an escape going on."

Ronnicus laughed back and called out, "Just make sure to leave me some wine back at the desk."

"We'll see how much is left when you get back," The guard's uproarious laugh faded as he retreated back to his post.

They waited until they were clear before moving around again, "Good one," the woman said as she pushed a strand of red hair from her eyes.

"No problem," Ronnicus said as he watched her work. After several seconds of working the lock, the woman had found the key and had her cell door open.

"Do I want to bring my armor?" she asked as she moved Septimus back into her cell.

"Don't," he argued, "you'll just get weighed down."

She nodded, "good point, let me get you out of there and then we'll go."

Ronnicus looked idly at his left hand and scratched at some dirt that had built up on it as he shook his head, "We don't have time. You remember the location. We have exactly fifteen minutes to get there, send off the message and escape."

She shook her head and locked the cell door, "We're a team Ron. I'm not leaving you here."

She started working on Ronnicus' door but as she started to select a random key, the sound of booted feet rang throughout the prison.

"WHERE IS SHE?" a woman shouted and both heard the guard at the entrance stammering and explanation.

"D-d-down t-t-t-there," he stammered as they heard a crackling of fire.

"BRING THEM TO ME. NOW!" the woman shouted, her voice causing dust to fall from the ceiling and the torches to flare up sharply.

"Ma'am, yes Ma'am," the soldiers replied.

A look of shock played across the duo's faces as they heard the soldiers moving towards their cells.

The woman struggled with the keys, but Ronnicus shoved her hands away, "Go!" he whispered to her.

She shook her head defiantly, "I'm not leaving you."

He smiled and reached an arm through the bars before wrapping it around her midsection. He placed a tiny object wrapped in a cloth ball in her pocket before pulling her close to him and looking in her emerald eyes, he kissed her passionately before pushing her away, "That's a down payment," he said, "I intend to collect the rest later."

She smiled and arched her eyebrows seductively, "You can bet on it lover boy."

With that, she sprinted down the hallway and seeing an open window, dove through it and into the night.


Ronnicus sat on his mat in the cell and meditated as Sensei had told him to. The world around him lit up in a blue glow as he rose softly into the air, awaiting his fate.

Try as they might, they simply hadn't been able to correct history. And here they were, trying as hard as they could to still defy it.

He shook his head as he heard their approach but now it felt different…it was as if they were distant from his presence and he smiled as he knew he was getting better.

Maybe next time…


The woman in green was not having a good night.

First the emperor was ordering her around. Him, order him around? What was he thinking? Did he know what he was doing? Or had those enhancements also made him stupider?

She followed the guards as they made their way to Ronnicus' cell and she didn't bat an eye as she saw him hovering several feet above the ground with an aura of blue light surrounding him.

He must have sensed her presence because he slowly lowered to the ground. Resting softly on the ground for a moment, he opened his eyes and looked at her impartially.

"What do you want Shego?" he asked skeptically.

"I just missed her didn't I?" Shego asked as she fried the lock on Ronnicus' door with a jet of green flame from her palm.

"About thirty seconds I'd say," Ronnicus replied as he rose to his feet and walked into the hallway. The guards all gave him a wide berth, "Of course, you and I both know that her mission is going to succeed, or else we wouldn't be here."

Shego eyed him disdainfully as she thought about his words. Thinking quickly she nodded, "We'll see gladiator. Take him away."

Ronnicus didn't even put up a fight, but instead allowed the guards to bind his hands with heavy iron shackles and lead him away.


She was running. No not running, running implied that you were holding back and saving some for reserve, no flying would be a better term for it, flying through the cramped city streets as she attempted to elude her pursuers. She paused in an alley way for a brief moment and heard the clanking of the metal armor behind her.

Dang, they were moving faster than she had planned on. With the sound of their booted feet and clanking shields closing in, the woman sprinted towards a wall and ran up it. As she felt her sandaled feet start to slip, the woman kicked off the wall and launched her body across the gap separating the buildings. She felt her feet dig into the wall and kicked off again before she could slip, this time landing higher than when she had originally started out.

Using this technique, the woman soon found herself standing on top of the houses that were packed so close together. She looked around for signs of her pursuers and seeing torch light in the streets below, she was glad for choosing this way.

"STOP!" a hauntingly familiar voice called out and without looking, the woman took off running over vaulting over the obstructions on the rooftops.

She ducked and dodged clotheslines that had been forgotten as she attempted to escape her pursuer.

WHOOSH

The woman ducked instinctively before sliding to the ground as she felt the heat of the supercharged green plasma fly past her head. For the second time that night, she thanked God that she hadn't worn her armor. The plasma would only have been attracted to the metal and the last thing she needed was a melted hunk of steel seared onto her body.

The woman looked behind her and saw the torchlight lighting up the streets below her.

Shego must've called in the entire guard for my capture, she thought and she smiled at the thought, well, that's one more goal in my notebook that I get to cross off: Chased by an entire city.

WHOOSH

This time the green plasma flew so close to her head that she felt it singe her hair. She ducked again and lost her footing before falling to her knees on the rooftop. She grimaced in pain as she slid along the tiled roofs on her unprotected knees and tilting her body forward, allowed herself to fall forward. Thankfully she landed on her shoulder and rolled to a standing position. Pausing just long enough, the woman brushed painfully at her knees and cast a furtive glance behind her. Shego was vaulting across the rooftops while directing the guard, all the while charging up her plasma to shoot. The woman in the cloak wrinkled her nose at the smell of her singed hair and resumed running again. She saw a gap in the rooftops and knew she was approaching another alley and she somehow applied more speed and rocketed at the gap with all the speed she could muster.

The gap was in front of her and she felt her feet on the lip of the gap milliseconds before she leaped out into space.

WHOOSH-BOOM

The rooftop behind her exploded as a superheated bolt of plasma impacted on the tile roof and caused the house to implode in on itself. The woman sailed through the air as the green fire and slate tile enveloped her in a deadly cocoon of death. Miraculously the woman felt her self come down on solid ground and she tumbled across the rooftop in a heap.

Coming to a stop, the woman moved a strand of auburn hair from her face and wiped at the soot that covered her somewhat pale skin. She looked back across the street that she had just barely jumped across and saw the still collapsing house that sent dust and smoke rising high into the night.

She bowed her head at the family that had just died but she knew she couldn't let that deter her from her goal. She needed to keep moving.


WHOOSH

A blast of super heated plasma rocked past her vision and she dropped to the ground, sliding on the dust as she did so. She looked over her shoulder and saw her pursuers were still behind her. Not even a collapsing building had stopped them.

"Don't these guys ever give up?" she asked herself angrily even as an arrow hissed past her face.

She lowered her shoulder as another whistled past her and was soon lost in the darkness of the city.

WOOSH

This time the blast missed her completely, but that didn't stop the girl. She turned quickly to look over her shoulder and saw Shego slow to a walk. Turning back, the woman saw why: She was out of rooftops. All that lay before her was the main street of Rome. To her right lay the Coliseum and to her left lay the Temple of Jupiter. Breathing heavily, the woman thought about her next course of action before coming up with a plan. She leaned over the side of the building she was on and seeing a balcony below her, dropped onto it with a clatter.

Pushing the doors that led to the building open, the woman entered the house and locked the entrances to the room.

"Wh-what the…w-w-who are you?" a voice stammered in the darkness.

The woman spun on her heel and assumed a defensive stance. A candle lit up the darkness of the room and the woman saw a family huddled in the corner. The father had his wife and children gathered around him and he held them tightly as they shivered in fear.

"P-please," he pleaded, "please don't kill us. There are jewels and gold in the desk drawer, take it and go."

The woman smiled warmly and held up her hands in surrender, "Relax," she whispered, "I'm not here to rob you. I just need to send a message to some friends of mine."

"Wait a second," the man's six year old son said reverently, "I know you, you're The Scarlet Warrior."

The woman smiled again and walked to the boy. Kneeling down in front of him she nodded slowly and removed a clasp from her shirt underneath. Handing it to the boy who took it in awestruck silence, she smiled, "Yes, yes I am. And I need you to hold onto that for me."

She saw his reverence and she patted him on the shoulder, "can you do that for me?"

The boy nodded and the woman stood back to her feet. Pulling the cloth wrapped item from her pocket, she unwrapped it and smiled as her fingers danced across the familiar blue plastic emblazoned with the KP Logo.

She pushed a button on the side and held it up to her face. Wiping a strand of her beautiful red hair from her eyes she took a deep breath and said, "My name is Kimberly Ann Possible," she started, "My boyfriend Ronald Stoppable and I were sent back in time to stop Drakken and Shego. If you're seeing this, you obviously know more about the situation than I do. Just for clarification, I attended Middleton High, Ron fought off the Lowardian Invasion single handedly and you'll show this to us in the Global Justice briefing room," Kim paused and looked at the family still huddled in the corner, although they weren't as scared anymore, instead they stared at her in confusion.

BANG

Everyone in the room jumped in surprise and stared at the door where a loud bang had come from.

"Kimmy?" Shego's taunting voice called out, "You in there?"

Kim ignored the voice and continued, "Betty, I know this seems surreal and like a gag retirement present, but you told me to tell you this, 'You've secretly…" she continued her message for a few more seconds before another BANG echoed throughout the room. Kim could have sworn that she saw the door frame splinter so she shut the Kimmunicator down and activated a special feature designed by Wade.

"Select destination," the device ordered.

"Cairo, Egypt," Kim answered.

With a high-pitched scream, the Kimmunicator sucked in the wrist band and transformed into a hovering sphere of plastic. Kim gave a final look at the ball of glowing floating plastic before nodding slowly.

"Engage travel feature," she ordered and with a flash of multicolored light, the device shot off into the night.

BANG

The door banged open and guards poured into the room with a fervor brought on only by fear of Shego's wrath. Kim allowed the guards to bind her hands and feet in iron shackles before Shego entered the room.

Seeing Kim standing there smiling, Shego approached her and backhanded her across the face, "WHERE IS IT?!" she screamed, already knowing the answer.

"It's gone Shego," Kim replied from her crouched position on the floor and she spat blood from her mouth, "And there is nothing you can do about it."

Shego snarled and pointed to the doors, "Take her away."


Disclaimer: I do not own Kim Possible, Disney does. I just write about it.

Author's Notes: I know a few of you were expecting a new chapter of my other story but this is my Thanksgiving gift to all of you. This will be a preview of upcoming works. I will be getting to these eventually, but first I need to finish my other story first. Until that happens though, enjoy this first chapter of "Ronnicus: Hero of Rome."

I haven't stopped writing Fractured, I'm just taking a tiny break so I can get these ideas down on paper.