Chapter 1: Nightmares

Kim! They're escaping!

I know Ron, I'll take care of them. Call Wade and defuse the bomb.

Will do. And Kim?

Yes, Ron?

Stay safe

I will.

Kim Possible jolted awake, her sheets twisted around her, while she grabbed the combat knife under her pillow. Panting heavily, she looked around the dark room. There was nothing. The woman next to her in the bed moved. "Katie?" the girl asked, "What's going on?"

"Nothing Sam," Kim replied, putting the knife back in its sheaf and under her pillow, "go back to sleep."

"Did you have a nightmare?"

"No," Kim lied, "I thought I had heard something, but it must have been the wind."

"Ok," said the other girl, and she rolled over and went back to sleep. Kim laid back and stared at the ceiling. The mosquito netting covered her bed, and a ceiling fan turned slowly. Outside she could hear the sounds of Kigali at night. The construction, the trucks, and the taxi drivers talking and smoking outside of her building. She always had trouble sleeping, and lately it has been getting worst. When she didn't have the same nightmare over and over, she couldn't fall asleep, like now. She would let the memories flood over her until she cried. She thought about her parents, her brothers, Wade, Monique, even Bonnie. But mostly she thought of…

Suddenly there was a crash outside, Kim looked out the window, but it was only a motorcyclist who had hit a taxi. Now both drivers were yelling at each other. She laid back down.

She had only been in Rwanda for two months, but she was already planning on leaving, and was looking for her next destination. It had been two years. Two years since her crime fighting career ended in tragedy. Two years since she found out the secret truth about her life. Two years since she left Middleton, tearfully kissing her mother on the forehead while she slept, and disappearing into the night. Knowing that Global Justice had pegged her as a flight risk, she had to be careful. Fortunately, she had been stocking up on emergency money, identities, weapons, and other supplies over the years, in case she ever had to make a quick escape. She cut her hair her mother's length, and stealing her lab coat and car, she drove to the hospital, making it look like her mother received an urgent call in the middle of the night. She had stowed Rufus in her pocket, she couldn't' leave him behind after everything they had been through together. After entering the hospital, she went down to the basement where she had hidden a change of clothes and a wig. She then got on the bus, and changed buses twice, before arriving at a house on the outskirts of the city that she secretly owned.

She stayed there for a week, being careful to not go outside, and watching the street. After what she felt like was a sufficient enough time, she packed her bag with clothes, disguises, identities, and the emergency cash she had stashed at the house. She then drove to Go City, where she picked up the rest of her flight money and spare identities that she had in a safety deposit box she secretly owned at a bank. She sold her car at a sketchy dealership, and bought a used one, no papers signed. She drove to British Columbia, staying at hotels that took cash. She made it over the border with a fake passport. Sold her car, and then took a train to Ontario. There she bought a plane ticket to Dublin. She spent the next six months traveling through Europe, rarely staying in the same place for more than a week. She didn't contact anyone, not even her parents or Wade. She trusted them, but she didn't know who might be bugging them. She thought about calling her father on Father's Day, even to the point of picking up a pay phone, before she came to her senses. A few times in cities, she thought she was being followed, but it turned out to be nothing. She was constantly cutting and dying her hair, or wearing a wig from her vast collection. She mainly traveled on trains or boats, avoiding airplanes. Luckily, due to her age she just looked like another college student backpacking across Europe.

She soon became bored with the constant traveling and hiding, realizing that she could not do this forever. Then one day, she was in a café in Prague and saw a news report on a refuge crisis due to a civil war. Deciding that there was a way to use her special skills, she joined a humanitarian group and traveled to a small war torn Middle Eastern country. There she worked in a hospital, providing "special" assistance. She loved working there, helping others. She felt like she had finally found her true calling in life. But she was eventually forced to leave after first discovering that a nurse she had slept with was actually a CIA operative, and then a local militia group put a bounty on both her head and the CIA operative's head. Heartbroken and fearing that she was drawing to much attention on herself, she fled the country. Since then, she traveled around Africa, helping out at hospitals, orphanages, and refugee camps. She enjoyed Africa and swapping stories with other aid workers she met in various cities. There was no shortage of other young American women searching for their purpose in life who ended up in Africa that she bedded. They all drifted through her life, each one different, but also similar, none staying around for more than a few weeks. But there was something different about Sam. Kim couldn't decide if the girl was a lesbian, or just seeking company, any company. As for herself, Kim wasn't quite sure either. She had never kissed a girl until she went into hiding. Now they were all that interested her, but still she had a longing for something deeper. She had found love once, but didn't know if she ever could again.

Kim felt her hair. It was growing long again, and was turning back to red. She thought about keeping it like that for a while. She missed her old hair, her old looks, her old life, but knew she could never go back. She missed her parents and didn't blame them for what they did, she knew that they were desperate and were taken advantage of. Her only fear about running away was that they would feel that it was their fault, but it wasn't. She still loved them.

Feeling like sleeping was a lost cause, she climbed naked out of bed, slipped on a pair of panties and tank top lying on the floor, and went into her other room, that doubled as a kitchen and living room. She checked on Rufus sleeping in his cage. While she didn't mind the naked mole rat running around her apartment, she didn't know how her various girlfriends would react to him, or how he would react to them. She turned on her laptop and waited for it to connect to the faint internet signal she got. She was about to navigate to social media to see what her family was up, using a script that Wade invented long ago that allowed webpages to show hidden content so that she could view her family's pages anonymously (her dad probably posted more bad science pun memes), but then a news story on her home page caught her attention. She clicked on it, and stared at it for a moment with her mouth open in horror.

"No," she said at last.

Billionaire Toy Developer Murdered by Assistant

Founder and President of Nakasumi Toys, Mr. Nakasumi, age 62, was found dead early this morning in his office at the Nakasumi Tower in Tokyo, Japan. Police have already taken a suspect, his assistant Miss Yoshiko Kyoko, age 30, into custody. Police refuse to comment at this point on motive and the murder weapon. Mr. Nakasumi is well known for the creation of his toys loved by children all over the world, specifically Z-Boy who spawned several TV Shows and feature films. He was also well known for his cutting edge technology used to create and manufacture his toys, that frequently made him the target of competitors and terrorists. He had survived two assassination attempts in the past. His assistant, Miss Kyoko, had worked for him for eight years. He is survived by his wife, three children, and two grandchildren. More as this story develops.

Kim stared at the article. She quickly switched to a different news site and read the article there, also reporting that Miss Kyoko was the murderer. "There's something wrong," thought Kim. She knew Mr. Nakasumi and Miss Kyoko for years, and had rescued him numerous times. She couldn't believe that Kyoko would betray and murder him. There had to be more to this.

She spent the next few hours finding out as much as she could about the murder from various news sites. She connected her onion router, and accessed the deep web, checking for any chatter about it. So far she could find out little, but her name did appear a few times, mostly wondering where she was and why she wasn't protecting Nakasumi. She had a few hacking programs that Wade had given her, but didn't quite have the skills he had to hack the Tokyo Police network from such a distance. She would have to be on site to do that. She wished she could contact Wade, but was sure Global Justice would be bugging him. They were probably all over this crime scene, so she would need to be careful, especially if they are expecting her. She was starting to look at plane tickets to Tokyo, when Sam walked into the room. Kim quickly closed the tab.

"Katie? What are you doing so early?" she asked.

"I, I, I just found out some horrible news." Kim replied, visibly shaken.

"I'm so sorry, did someone pass away?"

"A close friend. I'm going to need to leave for the funeral. Tomorrow probably."

"New York?"

"No, London," Kim lied, and immediately felt terrible for it.

"I have friends in London. Would you like me to come along?"

"No it's fine, there's some business there I need to take care of as well. It may take a few weeks."

Sam stared at her for several minutes without talking. Kim looked back at her. She had long dirty blond hair, a nose piercing, and was wearing a pair of panties (most likely Kim's) and a sports bra (most likely Sam's, as Kim rarely wore bras). Then Sam finally spoke. "Katie, there's something that you are hiding. You are always hiding something. What is it?"

Kim sighed. "I've had a hard life. I've been running away from things, people in my past."

"Like your ex-fiancé?'

Kim was shocked. She told no one about her former engagement after she went into hiding. "How did you know about that?"

Sam sat down beside Kim on Kim's raggedy couch. "I found a diamond ring in your drawer last week. I figured that it was from an old engagement, and hoped that it wasn't for me."

Kim sighed, neither of these things she wanted to talk about right now. "Yes, I was engaged once, but that was years ago. I was young and in love with a boy."

"Did he find out you were a lesbian?"

"Bi actually, and no, that's not what happened. I don't want to fucking talk about it."

Sam sighed, "Well one of these days, you do need to talk about it to someone. You can't keep holding it in. It's unhealthy."

Kim sighed, that's what she got for sleeping with a psych student. Sam did post-traumatic stress counseling at the hospital they worked at. A civil war in a neighboring country was sending thousands of refugees across the border. Sam was working with patients and survivors of the violence. "I promise I'll talk about it when I'm ready. I'm just not quite ready yet."

Sam leaned over and looked at Kim's computer. "Nakasumi of Nakasumi Toys died? I loved those toys. What happened?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, they think he was murdered by his assistant."

"That's sad." They sat for a while in silence. It was still another hour before they had to get ready for work. Finally, Sam said "If you don't want to talk, then maybe there is something else we can do."

"Oh?"

"Yes," said Sam, and she pulled off her sports bra and panties, displaying her nude body to Kim.

"I can do that," said Kim licking her lips. She set her laptop on the floor and pulled off her tank top and panties as well, before bringing Sam in for a deep kiss.