"Thanks for the ride, Mr. Ryan," Kim said, leaning into the cockpit of the King Air C-90, where Ron was happily ensconced in the co-pilot's seat. Ever since his brief stint as the Fearless Ferret (2.0) and his even briefer stint as pilot of the Ferret Jet (which could easily have been fatal) he had taken every opportunity he could to log some time at the controls of an airplane. He was easily guiding the twin turbo-prop along the course programmed into Garmin G-1000's navigation page.

"It's no trouble at all, Kim. You saved my life. An airplane ride here and there is hardly payback. Besides, I was heading to Teterboro anyway. A quick swing through Jersey is barely out of my way."

Seven months ago, Jason Ryan, who ran Middleton airport, was run off the road by a drunk driver. His car ended up on its roof in a ditch and caught fire. Kim and Ron happened upon the accident only moments after it happened and pulled the unconscious Ryan from the wreck before he burned to death.

"No big. We were just in the right place at the right time."

Today they were headed back to New Jersey, where rumor had it that Motor Ed was tinkering with big boy toys again. Using contacts from the lab where he once worked on top secret government projects he had apparently stolen some new sort of engine and was building a vehicle that would make the "Doom-V" look like a toy.

"Two Seven Four Victor Papa, descend and maintain one zero thousand, cleared direct Morristown."

"One zero thousand, direct Morristown, Four Victor Papa," Ron responded to the radio from New York TRACON.

"Four Victor Papa, contact Morristown Approach on one one eight point one, advise you have information Hotel."

"118.1, advise hotel, 4VP, good day, sir."

"Looks like we're about to begin our decent, Kim," Jason said. "Better get strapped in."

"Sure thing."

"I'll take it from here, Ron."

"Aww, man. I can land it."

"I'm sure you can, but I'm PIC, and, oh yes, I have a license."

Kim couldn't help but smile as she sat down and fastened her seat belt. Ron had seemed to mature almost overnight after the Lorwardian invasion a few weeks ago, but he still had his moments. Just a month ago, Kim would never have believed that she would miss moments like that, but now they didn't come often enough. As many times as she had wished Ron would grow up, she never imagined she would miss the child once he was gone, but she certainly did.

Ten minutes later they taxied up to the terminal. Jason idled and feathered the number one engine and Kim and Ron quickly disembarked. Ron closed the airstair door and they waved as Jason taxied back to the runway.

"So, what now?" Ron asked.

"Time for some Junkyard Wars."

"Right on!"


Night was just falling as they crept over the fence that defined the perimeter of the junkyard. Kim took a few deep breaths and felt her senses heighten to their maximum sensitivity.

"Okay Ron, keep your eyes peeled," Kim said softly. "There's no telling what Motor Head's got hidden around here."

"I'm glad Rufus isn't here. He hated this place."

"How'd the Tweebs talk you into letting them take him along anyway?"

"A one of a kind chance to fly a miniature rocket? How could I not let Rufus go?"

"I suppose you've got a point."

Ron whirled suddenly and took up a defensive stance.

"What is it?"

"I thought I saw movement."

"Well keep an eye on it, but we don't dare go looking after a half seen sight. It could be exactly what they want us to do."

They continued to creep through the junkyard, but there was no further sign of life. No movement, no animal sounds, not even a breeze. It was deathly silent. There almost seemed to be something sucking the sound out of the air. Even their stealthy footfalls should have produced at least a little sound, but they did not. The only sounds Kim heard were faint internal sounds. Her heartbeat, the rushing of her blood through her veins, her quick shallow breaths, and the unfortunate gurgle of a not yet completely digested salad.

They entered the clearing that had once contained the hidden entrance to Ed's underground lab, but the odd formation of stacked cars was gone.

"Well, that's dookie," Ron whispered.

"Looks like we're not going to get an invitation this time."

"Should we split up?"

"Sure, if we decided we wanted to make it easier to capture us."

"So, I'm gonna go ahead and take that as a no."

"Good call."

From their left came a soft metallic sound, as though a soda can had been tipped over, or perhaps a loose piece of scrap metal being tripped over. It could easily be a trap, but it was also their only lead at the moment. Kim inclined her head in that direction. After a few paces Ron grabbed her elbow.

"Wait," he whispered in her ear. "When they brought me here that first time, they used a different entrance. It was more hidden than the main entrance."

"Do you remember where it was?"

"Not sure. But I think it was over there." He pointed back to their right.

"Okay, let's try that."

They headed back that way and after a few minutes approached a wall of stacked cars. It looked solid, but Ron led her to a small gap between a minivan and a convertible.

"This is it."

He squeezed through the gap and Kim wondered how Ed managed to get through the narrow opening. But sure enough, behind the stack was an obvious entrance. They ventured inside and suddenly a set of doors closed behind them. A moment later came the clunking of gears and the elevator started down. Kim took up a ready position as they descended.

"Be ready, Ron."

The elevator stopped and Kim tensed as the doors slid open.

The room was empty.

"Where's all his stuff?" asked Ron.

"Maybe he's moved to a different location."

"Nah. Wade would have told us."

"Wait. Over there."

She led them to the center of the large room. A small green puddle, roughly four inches in diameter, stained the floor. Kim dabbed her gloved finger in it and brought it to her nose.

"Anti-freeze. It's at least 70 degrees in here. Whatever made this puddle hasn't been gone long or this would just be a green stain."

"So then where is it now?"

"Ron, that's the question of the day."

The tomb-like silence was suddenly broken by several sharp sounds. They looked at each other in alarm.

"Was that gunfire?"

"Automatic rifle," Ron responded.

Shouts arose from some place further in the lab, followed by more shots, then a cacophony of both.

"Whatever is going on here just got above our heads," Ron said.

"I agree. Time to retreat and call in the proper authorities."

They returned to the elevator and pressed the call button. Nothing happened.

"Not good," said Ron.

"But we've got an edge."

She activated the Kimmunicator.

"Wade, we need an exit."

Static answered her. Ron tried his, also to no avail. The sounds of the fight were escalating, and getting closer.

"We gotta find a way out, quickly," Kim said. She started towards the shadowy exit at the far end of the room. Ron followed close behind, then suddenly moved to one side of the door and pushed Kim behind him protectively. This got a surprised and somewhat miffed response from Kim.

"Ron, what are you-"

"Shhh!"

Did he really just 'shush' me? She thought.

She was about to say something when she noticed a faint blue-white aura surrounding him, something she hadn't seen since graduation, and realized he was tapping his Mystical Monkey Power. Only seconds later a black clad figure rushed through the door carrying an impressively large black rifle. Lightning quick, Ron tackled him from behind, catching him off guard. In only moments, Ron had possession of the weapon and pointed it at the person lying on the ground. Kim started to move towards him and was suddenly knocked to the ground. A knee hit her in the small of her back and her breath rushed from her lungs.

"Drop the weapon! Drop it now!"

Gasping for breath, Kim saw at least four pair of feet storm past her. She couldn't see Ron.

"Let her go!"

"Put the weapon on the ground and back away!"

"Let her up and I'll think about it!"

"Last time! Drop it or we will shoot you!"

Kim tried to shout at Ron to obey them, but she was still trying to get her lungs working again. Then she heard a loud clatter. Accompanying the sound was an increase in the brightness in the room, a radiance that matched the faint glow that earlier she had noticed around Ron.

"Now let her up, and don't think I'm intimidated by the guns. These ain't Christmas tree lights here."

The feet stormed towards Ron's voice. The sounds of battle quickly followed. Hard slaps, fists connecting with body armor, bodies hitting the floor. Shouts and hollers. The blue-white light intensified, and there was a sound like a thunderclap. Kim saw two black forms flying past her, and heard the hard impact of large masses colliding with the wall, then the floor. The shouts intensified and Kim's gut tightened into a hard knot as several gunshots sounded.

"Cease fire! Cease fire! You might hit him!"

The sounds of battle abruptly abated.

"Now lower your weapons, let her up, and maybe we can talk this through."

The glow was fading and Kim was jerked roughly to her feet as she finally managed to catch her breath. She almost sobbed out loud when she saw Ron with a chokehold on one of the black-clad figures, and most definitely not shot.

"Now release him."

"You first."

"Listen, son-"

"I'm not your son. You let her go, I let him go. That's how it's gonna be. Or I could just break his neck, and then whoop all your asses."

After a moment, Kim was roughly shoved towards Ron, and Ron let his captive go.

"Now just who the hell are you?"

"Ask me nicely."

"Ron!" Kim shouted.

"Ask me nicely!"

There was a moment of silence and several of the black figures looked at each other. The tension in the room was thicker than a bad LA smog. Only with the sudden silence did Kim realize there were still sounds of a fight from deeper in the lab. After another brief moment of strained silence, one of the men finally spoke.

"Please, sir, identify yourself."

Ron relaxed visibly, as though everything were now hunky-dory, and said pleasantly: "Ron Stoppable. And this is Kim Possible. Perhaps you've heard of us? And who might you be?"

The commandos (commandos?) relaxed and were noticeably relieved. The leader peeled open a Velcro flap over his left breast, revealing gold stitching that formed the letters NSA.

"Hey, cool! I saw a vest just like that at Army-Navy surplus." His voice turned hard again. "You're gonna have to do better than that."

"You're a cocky little pissant, aren't you?"

"Only when I'm outnumbered and my life is threatened."

The man removed an ID wallet, opened it and presented it to Ron.

"Special Agent Lee Majors, NSA. We're conducting a recovery operation. What are you doing here?"

"We're conducting a recovery operation."

"Ron, that's enough!" Kim said sharply, stepping forward.

"I'm sorry, Agent Majors. We were given information that Motor Ed had stolen some kind of new engine from his old government lab. We were just trying to stop whatever cracked plot mullet-head was trying to come up with."

"And where did you get that information? It's been classified."

"We have our sources."

"You realize I could detain you both until you provide me with that information."

"Look, Agent Majors. We're obviously working toward a common goal, and NSA types don't usually deal with villains like Motor Ed. If I didn't have a way of getting information about them, they would get away with an awful lot. And an NSA agent should know that the only way to keep sources is to keep them confidential."

He gave a conceding nod. "Very well. But I'm afraid I must ask you and Mr. Stoppable to remain here, under guard, until our operation is completed."

"Thank you, Agent Majors, but that's really not necessary. We've plenty of experience with Edward Lipsky."

"No doubt. But that's not who we're dealing with. Your source," he leaned close to them and said under his breath, "And I won't mention Wade's name here." He straightened and continued in a normal tone, "Was only half correct. Yes, the engine was stolen, and brought here. But by types much more dangerous than the likes of Motor Ed. He was just the fall guy. Otherwise, as you said, we wouldn't be involved."

"So who did steal the engine?"

I'm sorry, but that's-"

"Classified," Kim finished with him, holding up her hands and shrugging in defeat.

"Exactly. Hyler, Adams, Howell, stay here with our guests. The rest of you, with me."

They turned and left the room, heading towards the now sporadic sounds of battle. Kim turned towards Ron with raised eyebrows.

"So what was that all about?"

Ron rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I'm not sure." He seemed sincere. "But you never know with the government types."

"You know damn well what I'm talking about." Kim was surprised to hear herself swear, but her emotions were breaking loose now that the situation was resolved. "The heroics? The taking charge? And you shushed me?"

Ron laughed nervously. "Yeah, well, I just all of a sudden got a feeling those guys were about to storm in here. There wasn't time to explain."

"You shushed me."

"I-I'm sorry Kim. It was heat of the moment."

"And what made you think you could take on eight fully armed combat troops with just your wits? And power that's always been intermittent at best?"

"Well, see, ever since graduation, I've sort of been…experimenting. I've felt more in control, more…I don't know. But I think Sensei was right, and that I've come into my own."

"And you haven't told me any of this?"

"I didn't want to scare you. I wanted to be sure about it all before I said anything."

She stared him down, and he quickly looked away. She was amused (and just a tiny bit relieved) that even with this newfound confidence and strength she could still level him with a look. It was an important skill for a girlfriend to possess.

"Don't worry, Kim. I'll still follow you anywhere."

She laughed, heaved a great sigh, and kissed his forehead.