AN: Haven't uploaded anything in a while due to life basically being a pain in the ass so wanted to get back in the game. This one came to me the other day after watching Dark Knight Rises and I thought to myself, "Why not?" Without further ado, here we go!

Long Enough to Be the Villain

Kim gasped in pain as her arm throbbed in time with her heartbeat. The world spun around her as she grasped her arm and felt the blood flow slowly down it. She couldn't seem to get enough breath and in an offhand manner she realized that the throbbing emanating from her side was probably a broken rib or two. Her legs were shaky as she stood amidst the unconscious bodies of the Global Justice operatives that had accompanied her on the raid. Taking in her surroundings without taking her eyes off of the person in front of her she noticed that even the '#1 agent of Global Justice' himself was sporting a broken arm and leg and was laying against the wall behind the man in front of her.

Finally unable to take the silence that had stretched on while he observed her since the beatdown, for that's all it could be called, she simply asked in a shaky voice laden with sadness, betrayal and hurt, "Why? Why Ron?"

Ron stared at her for a few minutes, as if trying to unravel the mysteries of the universe in her bleeding arm, torn mission clothes, and black eye. Finally he responded "Why what?"

"You know damn well what!" she shouted at him, wincing as her whole body throbbed harder. "Why do this? Why become a villain!?"

Ron sighed softly and lowered his gaze at that question before furrowing his brow in thought. After a minute during which the only sound was the wind blowing through the destroyed street and the distant sound of the reporters as they captured every minute of this disaster, he looked back up at her with a sad smile on his face. The way he was looking at her, it felt like before. It felt like when he was just Ron, her friend, boyfriend, confidant, partner and lover. The moment, however, was shattered along with her heart with his response. "I lived too long, kp."

She stared at him in shock, not understanding what he meant. That phrase, however, cut her deeper than any injury he had inflicted so far. "Wh-what are you talking about?" she asked in a shakier voice than before. "What do you mean you 'lived too long'?"

He kept that sad smile on his face for just a moment longer before letting it fall back into the emotionless mask he had worn from the start as he said "You remember when Barkin subbed for our history teacher? The time we were discussing Nietzsche and his beliefs? Barkin told us a quote of his that struck me as perfect to us." Kim paled a bit as she realized just where he was taking this. "He said 'Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.' After that, if you recall, he singled me out to attempt to explain what he meant. Do you remember what I said?" She slowly shook her head, trepidation filling her. He simply smiled sadly again and said "I thought not. I told him he was basically saying 'You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain'. At the time, I was thinking more of you than me. You, after all, are the hero while I was just the sidekick. Turns out it was me who lived too long first."

Tears flowed freely down her face as she stared at him. She had to stop him, she knew, but all she could see when she looked at him was the little boy who had been friendless when she first met him, who had been by her side through everything. Held her when she cried, helped her stand when she fell, brought her down to earth when she needed it. Loved her no matter what, held her in his arms as they slept, made her laugh, and had her back when it felt like her world was falling apart. She stared at him and saw the future that was now forever gone. She saw herself walking down the aisle with her father on her arm, saw them married with a kid or two screaming through the house. Saw them growing old together watching their family grow around them. She cried. She cried for the fantasy she saw, for everything they were losing. Mostly, she cried for him. "Ron," she said, sobbing the whole while and gently reaching out toward him as if to grab hold and feel him again, "just come back, please. After everything we've done, I'm sure I can cut you a deal." She started stumbling toward him, tears clouding her vision, obscuring everything but his face. "Please." Her hand finally bumped into him and she instantly grabbed his shirt and placed her face into his chest. "Don't make me do this. Don't make me fight you. P-l-e-a-s-e!" she cried out as she soaked his shirt with her tears.

After only a second she felt his arms encircle her and pull her close. She cried harder and could only shake her head when he spoke. "I can't kp. I can never go back now. It's too late." she heard him make a sound that was somewhere between a sigh, a sob, and a chuckle "I fought the fight, now only dark remains. Leave it to Breaking Benjamin to have a quote for this." He gently disentangled him from her and pushed her away. "Come on kp, do what you came here to. Stop the villain, save the day, and forget the lonely boy who was too weird for anyone else. You know you have to. If the hero doesn't save the day, then the villain wins." Here he smiled again, in that Ron way of his and said, "Besides, the sidekick doesn't matter in the end. The hero has to keep the hope alive for her fans. Before that though, how about I do one last favor for you." So saying, he glowed a brilliant blue and touched each of her injuries. As he did, she felt them healing themselves.

After he was done, he stepped back and dropped into the fighting pose he had used when he fought off the Lorwardians, Monkey Fist, and finally Global Justice. She stared at him then looked slowly over toward the cameras where all the world was watching, before wiping her tears from her face and dropping into her own stance.

As she and her family watched this happening on tv, Anne possible cried harder than she ever had before. She cried not only for her daughter and her breaking heart but for the surrogate son she had lost. She cried for everything that had broken in their lives. Her husband held her in his arms as he watched his daughter about to destroy herself. In that moment he was more conflicted than he had ever been. He wanted to hate Ron for what he was putting his family through but no matter how hard he tried, all he could see was the boy that had protected his daughter from the broken bones, burns, and other damage over the years with his own body. The twins simply stared at the screen in front of them, disbelieving the scene in front of them.

"Ron's not-"

"Really doing this-"

"is he?" they asked finishing the sentence in unison.

Their father sighed sadly before pulling them to him and saying, "I'm afraid so, boys." This caused them to bury their faces in his embrace, unable and unwilling to watch.

Much the same was happening with Rons parents. Gene Stoppable held his wife as she broke down in his arms. He stared at his son and refused to look away. He would watch his son no matter what. Hannah simply stared between the tv and her parents, not understanding the severity of what was going on.

Wade slammed his keyboard in sadness, anger, and a feeling of utter helplesness. He was watching his only two friends in the world fighting and there was nothing he could do. For the first time in his life, he wished he wasn't such an introvert. If he was there with her, he could have helped stop him, beat some sense into him before things got this bad. Made Ron realize there wasn't a need for this. But could'ves only existed in fantasy, and this dream was a nightmare.

Kim was first to make a move. Throwing all her sadness, anger, and pain into it, she ran at him, flipped, and launched a flying kick at his head. Ron caught it and sent her flying toward a wall before bursting into action himself and, glowing a brilliant blue, kicking her toward the ground hard enough to knock the air from her lungs. Seeing him coming in for another strike, she rolled out of the way and kicked him as hard as she could in the stomach. Ron flew through the air and rolled once before pushing off from the ground to land on his feet.

This trading of blows went on for several moments. The fight was relatively even with Rons' mystical powers being matched by Kims' years of fighting experience. Ron would throw Kim, Kim would roll with the blows and deliver counterattacks whenever she could. Eventually they were both panting, bruised and bleeding from several scrapes. The tiebreaker, however, came in the form of three squads consisting of Global Justice, SWAT, and Middletown PD all armed to the teeth.

"Give it up Ron," Kim panted through labored breaths, "it's over. You've lost."

Ron stared at the girl in front of him. He stared at her like a drowning man might stare at water. He was dimly aware of all the shouts for him to "Get on the ground! Put your hands in the air!" and "Don't move or we'll shoot.!"

Finally, a new voice broke through. The head of Global Justice itself stormed through the force surrounding the man and shouted above the rest, "Ron Stoppable! We have you surrounded! Surrender NOW or I will have you brought down!"

Ron merely glanced in her direction, but it was just long enough for Kim to grab the high-powered tazer that Wade had made for her just a week before, when the world was right, point it at him, and shoot him straight in the chest. As he twitched and groaned with a thousand volts shooting through his system, she walked over, flipped him over and zip tied his hands behind his back. The last sight Ron saw before he passed out was of Kim standing over him with tears leaking down her face. Before he passed out and was dragged away forever, he smiled up at her with the goofiest grin he could manage and said, "I...Love...You."

An: And there we go. My second Kim Possible fic turned out to be this. Thought about having Kim be the villain but then realized Ron was more apt to do it. Didn't really make him evil enough but what are you gonna do. Maybe a different story. Quotes belong to Nietzsche, Breaking Benjamins song 'Angels Fall' and the Batman movies (where I first heard that saying about Dying a hero). Let me know what you thought.