KIM POSSIBLE: YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN
Chapter one
I.
Dr. Director sat back in her chair and enjoyed a sip of coffee from her favorite mug, the one that her staff had given for her birthday. On the mug was a picture of Dr. Director as she kicked a guy, who also happened to wear an eye patch, in the crotch. Some of the younger staffers had told her that the eye patch wearing guy, who looked suspiciously like a male version of Dr. Director, was a famous comic book hero who ran a secret organization that stopped all manner of "evil take over the world schemes". Smiling softly at the joke of it, Dr. Director then turned her attention back to the report that lay in front of her. The only thing that really disturbed her about it was how they found out when her birthday was.
The report she was reading should have been fairly short, ten to twelve pages. But after the botched attempt to rescue Dr. Vanover and the subsequent search for a missing Kim Possible, the report had ballooned to over eighty pages, and she still hadn't read the latest interrogation report on Dr. Drakken. The capture of both Dr. Darkken and Shego on a private island owned by Senor Senior Sr. had been both unexpected and lucky. None of Global Justice's intelligence had indicated that Drakken and Senor Senior Sr. were working together. However, if Senor Senior Sr. had been on the island he had some how managed to escape undetected. Other than the fact that the Senor Senior Sr. had an insurance policy on the island through Lords of London, and Drakken's unreliable information, there was no indication that he had been on the island.
But on the plus side there seemed to be rift in the alliance of the two villains. During the past several interrogations, Dr. Drakken had practically spilled his guts about Senor Senior Sr. and his operations. Drakken must have a good reason for doing this, she just wished that she knew what it was. The professionally trained interrogator in Dr. Director told her that Drakken was doing this for one reason only, give the GJ interrogators something else of interest and he would distract them from asking to many questions about Drakken's operations or methods. But the cynic in Dr. Director told her that while Drakken was smart, he wasn't that smart, and that there must be a different reason. A reason that she needed to find out.
The other major thing to consider was what to do with Shego. The only reason that she hadn't escaped from Global Justice custody yet was that she was still heavily sedated. Dr. Director knew that was only a temporary fix though. Eventually Shego would have to be weaned off of the sedatives before they became toxic to her system, even with her comet powers. If the doctors were right, then in three to four days time Shego would have recovered enough to make an escape attempt. That and the fact that they were sedating Shego in order to maker her helpless violated several laws. Normally Dr. Director did not like the use of sodium pentothal on her prisoners during interrogations. While it wasn't illegal to use such substances in low does, she found that sodium pentothal really wasn't as effective as other tried and true methods unless it was given in almost dangerously high levels. Thus, the issue of the heavy use of drugs to sedate Shego was beginning to bother her conscience. Shaking her head in frustration, Dr. Director knew that there had to be a third solution, after all that's how she became the head of GJ, by seeing options that others had missed.
Looking at her coffee cup again, Dr. Director smiled as a though occurred to her, 'in for a penny, in for a pound' she thought. Then just as quickly she frowned as she realized that all she was doing was kicking the problem down the street for a few days. Swallowing herself doubts, Dr. Director quickly jotted down a serious of instructions and then sealed them in an envelope marked "Eyes Only" and forwarded it to her senior interrogator. She knew her conscience would eventually bother her about the orders she had just written, but Dr. Director would cross that bridge when she came to it.
II.
Meanwhile, and really not all that far away, life went on for the community known as Middleton. People set about their routine in preparation for another day. For one person, that meant meeting his best friend since pre-k to make sure that she, never much of a morning person, was ready to go to school.
"Hello Possible clan. It's another bright and sunny day today." Ron announced as he walked in to the Possible household. Although Mr. Dr. P had different feelings about it, Mrs. Dr. P had made it clear to Ron that he was like family and could come in when ever he felt like it.
"Morning Ronald." Mr. Possible said from behind his newspaper.
"Good morning Ron. Would you like some breakfast while you wait for Kimmie?" Mrs. Possible, or as she liked to think of herself "Ron's other mom", asked.
"That would be badical." Ron responded.
"I thought you might, so I made an extra plate for you." As Mrs. Possible placed the plate of bacon and eggs in front of Ron, Mr. Possible shot her a look that said "But that was my plate."
"Rufus, look, bacon." Ron said as he handed a strip to the tiny rodent who resided in his cargo pants pocket.
"Yum!" Rufus squeaked enthusiastically before disappearing back in to his pocket.
"Well I hope you two are ready for a full week ahead of you, I would imagine that you both will have quite a bit of school work to catch up on after missing all of last week." Mr. Possible said.
"That's what I'm afraid of." Ron sighed, "But have no fear, with Kim's help I shall overcome even this."
"Remember Ron, help is the key word, not do it for you." Mrs. Possible softly chided.
"Morning Mom, Dad, Ron." Kim announced as she entered the kitchen.
"My Kimmie, I don't think I've seen you this chipper on a school morning." Mrs. Possible said.
"Might want to check her for moodulator chips." Ron joked.
"So not funny." Kim retorted as she began to enjoy the eggs on her plate. "Besides why shouldn't I be chipper? Let's face it, another day at school is better than the past week I've had."
"Speaking of school" Mr. Possible interrupted "I was telling Ron that you two can expect quite a work load to get caught up from missing last week."
"Your dad's right, KP; we should get going so we're not late." Ron said before lowering his voice and continuing in a conspiratorial voice, "I just bet Mr. Barkin is laying in wait to ambush us if we're even half a second late."
"Over re-act much Ron?" Kim mocked as she put her plate in to the sink before grabbing her back pack and heading for the door.
"I'm not over re-acting, Kim. I tell you he has it out for me."
"Uh huh, get him." Rufus added as he popped his head out of Ron's cargo pocket.
After the two teens had left, Mrs. Anne Possible sat down across from her husband and finally spoke her mind.
"James, do you think Kim will be all right?"
"I don't know honey, I hope so." Mr. Possible said as he put down his newspaper. "Based on what Dr. Director told us, it sounds like Kim's psyche was put through the ringer."
"I know, and that's what has me worried, Kim still needs time to readjust back to reality, and she can't do that very well if she keeps going on these missions."
"Is that what really has you worried, Kim continuing to go on missions?"
Mrs. Possible slowly nodded her head in acknowledgement of her husband's hypothesis.
Meanwhile, as Kim's parents discussed the future of team Possible, the two teens in question were carrying on their own discussion.
"KP, are you ok?" Ron asked.
"Huh, what?" Kim asked.
"I asked if you were ok. Man you've been out of it this morning Kim." Ron said worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm ok Ron. Just have a lot on my mind."
"Like what?"
"Oh you know, just the usual stuff, thinking about how much homework we'll have to catch up on, seeing my friends again, cheer practice after school, about how I need to tell Wade that I need a new "Kimmunicator."
"Well once we get to school you should be able to use your computer in your wall locker to talk to him."
Just then a package delivery man approached Kim and Ron.
"Are you Miss Kim Possible?"
"Uh, yeah."
"I have a package here for you. Please sign here." The young man said as he handed a small brown box and clipboard to Kim.
"What is it?" Kim asked.
"Sorry lady, I just deliver them. But it doesn't say 'do not open 'til Christmas,' so I guess you'll find out pretty soon."
With that the delivery man left a somewhat confused Kim, and an excited Ron.
"Oh… oh… open it, Kim. Open it! Let's see what's in it." Ron kept repeating like an excited five year old who had just been given a gift.
"Ron, it's my package, not yours. I'll open it when I'm ready." Kim fumed.
Suddenly a voice emanated from the box. "Hey, open the box already. Kim? Ron? If you're out there open the box."
"Ok, I'm ready to open it now." Kim muttered as she tore open the box and saw a brand new Kimmunicator in it, and starring back at her from the small video screen was the smiling face of Wade Load.
"Wade, how did you know that we would be here?" Kim asked.
"Easy Kim, you and Ron are so predictable. You take the same route to school at the same pace everyday. I didn't even have to run my new prediction analysis program to know when and where you to would be."
"Or at least on days we're here to go to school." Ron added.
"Well at any rate, thanks for replacing my Kimmunicator, Wade." Kim said with a smile. "You rock."
"I know." Wade said as he basked in the praise. "But Kim, I've got to know, how did you escape from Senor Senior Sr.'s island?"
"Didn't you read the Global Justice report?"
"Yeah, but there's something I don't understand, when you found Rufus how did you know that he was the real Rufus and not some synthodrone?"
"Yeah how did you know that he was the real Rufus?" Ron asked as he pointed to the pink mole rat on his shoulder.
"Well, I'm kind of embarrassed to say it, but it was because he knew the password to my diary." Then looking at Wade again Kim continued, "And no it's not the one you know. Remember how ferociously peeved I was when you hacked in to my computer to read my diary?"
Wade could only nod his head in acknowledgement of his transgression.
"Well that night in a bit of anger I changed my password." Taking a scathing look at Rufus, Kim then continued. "And some how Rufus knew that I had changed my password so that it read "Wade Load Must Die".
"Kim! I can't believe you would do that." Ron said in disbelief. Kim's temper was well known, but this was unlike Kim.
Crash!
The loud noise that came from the Kimmunicator quickly drew the teen hero's attention back to the now empty screen.
"Wade? Are you ok?" Kim asked.
First one hand, then another appeared on the screen as a somewhat shaken Wade picked him self up off the floor. While Kim thought it was physically impossible to do in real life; she could have sworn it looked like Wade had sweet dropped. Having returned himself to his seat, Wade proceeded to profusely apologize to Kim and ask for her forgiveness, partly out of respect for his friend, but mostly out of fear for his bodily well being. This continued for the rest of the trip to school despite Kim's reassurances that she was no longer angry with him and that she was not about to unleash sixteen different kinds of kung-fu on him.
"Wade, I swear to you that I'm not going to hunt you down and hurt you." Kim said as they walked through the front doors of Middleton high.
"Kim just doesn't want to get her hands dirty." Ron teased. "Hey KP, buy me a grande size naco I might take care of it for you." Ron said as he assumed a monkey martial arts stance.
Rolling her eyes at Ron's antics, Kim turned her attention back towards Wade.
"Wade, for the last time, I'm not angry with you." Kim then paused and a small grin crossed her face. "But if you ever do that again I may just turn Mr. monkey mayhem here loss on you."
Seeing that Kim had just made a joke about the situation, Wade was able to relax knowing that he was out of the doghouse.
III.
"Hey girlfriend, where have you been?" Monique asked as she embraced her best friend.
"So not the drama Monique. I just had to spend a few days stopping another one of Drakken's schemes." Kim answered somewhat truthfully. As much as she would have liked to sit down with Monique and tell her all about her latest adventure, Global Justice had, for reasons Kim didn't know, classified the operation as Top Secret.
"A few days? You were gone a full week. Usually you kick Drakken's butt in one day; you must be out of practice." Then Monique had a slightly mischievous grin. "Unless you really didn't go and stop Drakken but instead took off to your little love nest with a special some one."
"Monique, I can't believe you said that." Kim chuckled even as she began to blush slightly.
"And just who was mister lucky? Was it someone we know?" Monique continued to tease with a not so subtle glance toward Ron.
"I just bet the two losers ran off to their little love nest." Came the shrill, snide, and snotty remark from Bonnie Rockwaller as her friend Tara simply waved to the trio. "After all two losers like you deserve each other."
"See, everyone missed you guys, even Bonnie." Monique said sarcastically.
"And we missed you too Bon-Bon." Ron returned sharply. "Hi Tara." He then added in softer tone as he added a small wave to his greeting.
"Talk to the hand." Bonnie said dismissively before turning her attention to Kim. "As for you Kim Possible, do you think you can make it to cheer practice today, or is that not possible for a Possible?"
"Oh believe me, its possible." Kim retorted.
"Well if you decide to take off for a week again I'm more than capable to continue being the captain of the team."
At this last comment, Ron and Monique had to stifle a laugh as they watched Tara make a gagging gesture behind Bonnie's back.
"Well I've spent enough time with the bottom of the food chain." Bonnie tossed over her shoulder as she sauntered off towards a group of football players.
"Can you believe her? She is so full of her self." Kim fumed.
"Oh she's full of something all right." Monique deadpanned.
As Kim continued her rant against Bonnie, Monique caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye that surprised her, and that was not something easy to do. As the unofficial gossip queen of Middleton high school, Monique had sources everywhere and she was always in the know about things. But standing there talking to each other, rather chummily too it seemed, and just out of Kim's line of sight, was one Tara and one Ron.
"Umm, Kim, I hate to break your rant, but shouldn't you and Ron be heading to class? You don't want to be caught being late by…"
"Possible, Stoppable."
"Mr. Barkin." Monique sighed. "Well good luck with Barkin, TTFN."
"TTFN?" Ron asked as he and Kim approached Mr. Barkin.
"'Ta ta for now.' Geez Ron, haven't you ever watched Winnie the Pooh on the Disney channel? You wanted to see us Mr. Barkin?" Kim asked.
"The principal wants to see you two after cheer practice today to discuss your recent absence." The former military man and general school authority figure said in an almost uncharacteristically civil tone.
"But why? Our parents excused our absences."
"I'm just relaying the message Possible."
Then, as if to maintain appearances, Mr. Barkin switched back to his usual gruff self. He loudly and strongly recommend that the two teens hurry to their next class to avoid being tardy.
IV.
All in all, as the day progressed, things went pretty well as far as Kim was concerned. Even though she did have to struggle in some of her classes, in others she was so far ahead of her peers that her week long absence did not impact upon her education. On the social side of things, despite a few glares and snide comments from the usual suspects, most of the student body was happy to see Kim was back alive and well and were eager to catch up with her. Even cheer practice went pretty smoothly. Most of the cheer squad was glad to see Kim reclaim her role as captain of the team from Bonnie, although there were a few hold outs from some of Bonnie's more hard core posse. Even though Kim no longer had to wear a sling on her left arm; the injury still limited her from practicing the squad's full routine of hand springs and the like. Despite this limitation Kim found herself quickly getting back in to synch with her fellow cheer leaders.
By the time cheer practice was over, Kim was in an upbeat mood. Even the fact that she and Ron were making their way to the principal's office couldn't bring her down much.
"You ready for this Ron?" Kim asked as they stopped just outside the door to Principal Aline Leslie's office.
"As ready as I'll ever be for going to the principal's office KP." Ron answered as they walked through the door way.
"Kimberly, Ronald, please sit down." Mrs. Leslie, the principal of Middleton High school instructed.
"Are we in trouble? Because I didn't do anything, the lunch lady can't prove it was me, how was I supposed to know that my blog about the quality of the school food would get me in trouble?" Ron started sputtering until he saw the principal raise her eyebrow. "I'll just be quiet now."
"Thank you for enlightening me with that bit of information Ronald, but that's not why I called you to my office." Mrs. Leslie said.
"May I ask why you called us in here?" Kim asked, generally perplexed.
"In the past I have been a bit lenient about you two leaving school to go on your missions. You do the world a lot of good and have generally managed to maintain acceptable grades." Mrs. Leslie said while making sure that she was completely facing Ron during the last part of his statement.
"Was that meant for me?" Ron asked offended. "I'll have you know that I slacked really hard to get those grades."
"Be that as it may, the fact of the matter is that during your most recent, and I might add prolonged absence, you two missed quite a number of assignments that now must be made up."
"Yes we know that and we'll have them all turned in on time, won't we Ron." Kim interjected, then as an after thought she turned towards Ron and sharply added. "Won't we, Ron."
"Oh sure thing KP." Ron answered with a lopsided grin.
Holding up her hand to forestall any further comments from the teen heroes, she slid a sealed letter to each of them and continued.
"I'm sure you will. And normally I wouldn't worry about it to much, however, I'm afraid that isn't the case this time. As I'm sure you are already aware of there are only two weeks until the end of the quarter. Two weeks before teachers have to submit their final grades, which as it stands now, has a solid week of incompletes for each of you. So to help make sure that all assignments are turned in on time at the end of the quarter, I have written a letter to your parents explaining to them that it is in my professional opinion that you two not be allowed to go on any further missions until the end of the grading period."
"What? You can't do that." Kim said loudly.
"First of all Kimberly, your opinion of the matter wasn't asked for. And secondly, I can. In the letter I explained that if your parents decide to allow you to continue to go on missions then I will suspend you from all after school and extra curricular activities until such time as all of your late assignments have been turned in and have received a satisfactory grade."
"I can't believe you're doing this." Kim all but shouted as she rose from her seat. "You're trying to get at me aren't you? You just don't like me going on missions and now you've found an excuse to try to stop me."
"Miss Possible, I do not appreciate being shouted at in my office."
"Amp down KP, you're going to get in trouble." Ron pleaded as he placed a hand on Kim's shoulder.
Feeling Ron's hand on her shoulder seemed to bring Kim back to reality and to calm her down a bit. Blinking a couple of times, Kim looked at both the principal and then at Ron as if she was just realizing where she was.
"Are you all right, Kimberly?" Mrs. Leslie asked with genuine concern at Kim's reaction.
"She's been under a lot of stress lately." Ron provided when Kim didn't answer.
"I see. Well in that case then I won't hold you two any longer. Please make sure that you parents read the letters tonight, I will be expecting an answer from them by this time tomorrow."
Ron simply nodded his head and collected up the two letters as he followed Kim out the door.
"KP, are you sure you're all right? That's not like you to yell at a teacher, yet alone the principal like that." Ron asked, concern in his voice.
"I'm fine Ron."
"You sure?"
"Yes I'm fine. I just can't believe that after all we've done for people, all the times we've helped them, or stopped some take over the world plot, that… that… they turn on us and treat us like that."
"Well KP the principal does have a point, this is the longest that we've been away on a mission and we have missed a lot of assignments."
V.
That evening at the Possible household, Kim sat at her desk trying to study. Unfortunately, all she was really accomplishing was a nervous drumming of her pencil as she thought about the best way to present the letter from her principle to her parents. As the smells of dinner wafted up from the kitchen below, Kim knew that she was running out of time and that she would have to face her parents sooner rather than later.
"Kim, dinner." Mrs. Possible called from down below.
"Coming." Whether I like it or not, Kim thought to herself.
After another delicious dinner of Mrs. Possible's brain shaped meatloaf, Kim asked her parents if she could speak to them alone.
"I bet Kim's in trouble at school." Jim said.
"No way, I bet it's about a boy." Tim said.
"Tweebs." Kim growled.
"Now boys, leave your sister alone. In fact why don't you help her out by doing her chores for the next week so she can focus on getting caught up on her school work." Mr. Possible suggested.
"Extra chores, ugh, gotta go." The twin pre-teen terrors said in unison as they raced out of the dinning room.
"Now Kimmie, what is it that you wanted to talk to us about?" Mrs. Possible asked.
"It's about school. The principal is concerned about my recent absence and the assignments I have to make up. She also sent this letter home." Kim said as she slid the unopened letter to her parents.
Taking the letter and reading it, Mr. Possible then handed it over for his wife to read as he assumed a contemplative pose for several minutes. After finishing the letter herself, Mrs. Possible like wise put the letter down and assumed a contemplative pose as she looked at her daughter. After several minutes of silence Kim couldn't take the suspense any longer.
"Well?" She asked.
"Kimmie, I think your principal is making a rather reasonable request considering." Mrs. Possible said diplomatically.
"But mom, that's not fair, you're taking her side."
"Now Kimmie-cub, as your parents, we wouldn't be doing our children right if we didn't take in to consideration the input of others. Besides which, Mrs. Leslie said that we have until tomorrow afternoon to make a decision. I think your mother and I should take some time this evening to discuss this before making a decision." Then turning slightly towards Anne, James Possible preempted his wife. "Don't you agree honey?"
"I suppose we should."
"You mean I won't even know what you decide until after you tell Mrs. Leslie? That's so ferociously unfair." Kim protested.
"I think you're over re-acting a little Kim." Mrs. Possible said.
"I am not."
"Kimberly." Mr. Possible said sternly. The use of her full first name and the tone of her voice quickly shut down any further protests from Kim. Mr. Possible cast a stern look to his daughter before continuing.
"Now I know this sounds unfair to you, but as your parents we are responsible for making decisions that are best for you, and as long as you are our daughter we will do that. But to be fair to you, your mother and I will let you know what our decision is before we inform Mrs. Leslie, fair enough?"
Sighing in defeat, Kim had no choice but to accept.
"Good." Mrs. Possible said with a smile. "Now why don't you get back to work on your school work, ok hon?"
"Ok mom."
"Oh and Kimmie-cub."
"Yes dad."
"Can you please tell our brothers to come down here? I want to discuss which of your chores they will be doing for the next few weeks while you're busy getting caught up."
"Sure thing dad." Kim said with a small smile. So maybe there was just a smidgeon of fairness in the universe.
VI.
After dinner Kim had returned to her room and had thrown herself in to doing her schoolwork as a way to not think about Principal Leslie's letter, but that only worked for about an hour. As the night wore on Kim found her mind drifting more and more away from her real life in Middleton and back to the fake one that Dr. Drakken and Senor Senior Sr. had made for her. Finally at about half past midnight, Kim admitted to herself that she really wasn't focused on her schoolwork any more and that getting some sleep was the best thing for her to do. Pulling on a pair of PJs, Kim picked up Pandaroo and crawled in to bed to try to get some sleep.
One thirty in the morning, that was the time that Kim read on the clock on her nightstand. She knew that morning would be there all too soon, still she just couldn't seem to sleep. Hugging Pandaroo close to her, Kim once again began to think about the synthodrone Josh. She still hated him for manipulating her. Yet despite all that, he had some redeemable qualities. He really did look out for her and took care of her needs. He didn't try to take advantage of her when they shared a bed together, plus he was a half way decent cook. And in the end he chose to put himself in harm's way to protect her.
Kim shook her head to clear those thoughts from her mind. It was all fake, everything the fake Josh had done was what he had been programmed to do, nothing more. Sighing deeply, Kim knew that the next time she saw the real Josh she would face a flood of emotions. Looking at her clock again and seeing it was now two in the morning, drowsiness finally began to overcome the teen hero. But just before drifting off to sleep, Kim had one last thought, tomorrow afternoon was when she had her English class, a class that also had Josh Mankey in it.