Kim said hardly a word on the way back to California.
"So Kim what do you do for fun?" Caitlin asked.
"I don't…" Kim said looking out the window.
"Got a boyfriend?" Roxy asked.
"Used to." Kim replied.
"What happened?"
"I put him through a wood-chipper." Kim said sarcastically.
"Ever think about switching to girls?" Sarah asked.
"No, I can't stand girls, glad I'm not one." Kim replied still looking out the window.
"Then what are you?" Sarah asked.
"A space alien." Kim replied.
"Wow, it's like dealing with Bobby in the beginning." Roxy said.
"I believe the words she's looking for are: leave me alone." Bobby said.
"What he said." Kim replied resting her head against the glass.
"Ok. When you're ready." Caitlin said.
"You'll be the first to know." Kim said dozing off.
Kim stood at Ron's grave.
"You treated him like a dog!" a voice said. Kim turned to see Yori standing there.
"I wanted to make him happy; he could have been so much more." The female ninja continued.
"Then why didn't you?" Kim asked.
"He wanted to return to his mistress. Maybe he enjoyed it? Being mistreated… Loyalty was one of his more admirable traits." Yori said with a shrug.
"What happened to the famous Japanese etiquette?" Kim asked.
"We are not in Japan." Yori replied drawing a knife and stabbing Kim in the stomach.
Kim woke with a start. Their meeting hadn't gone quite that bad at Ron's funeral; Yori was, of course, unfailingly polite but the look in her eyes spoke volumes.
"You ok?" Grunge asked.
"Bad dream, I'll be fine." Kim said steadying herself.
"Kim we don't have a house keeper so you'll have to your own cleaning." Lynch said.
"How does this differ from home?" Kim asked.
"Good, glad to see we understand each other." Lynch replied.
"How do you prefer to be addressed?" Kim asked him.
"Mr. Lynch, will do fine." He replied.
"Ok." She shrugged.
The rest of the ride was largely uneventful. Kim dozed most of the way.
"I'm surprised you haven't asked what we do." Roxy said.
"Meh, you'll tell me when you're ready." Kim said.
"My power's kinda lame, I control gravity." Roxy replied.
"You call controlling one of the main forces of the universe lame? If you took the time to crack a physics book you'd find quite the contrary. Does the term black hole mean anything to you?" Kim asked mildly irritated.
"Black hole, you mean like Grunge's gut?" Roxy asked.
"As in the gravitational phenomenon that not even light can escape, hence its name?" Kim asked.
"Heavy." Roxy said.
"Indeed." Kim replied.
"I control the weather." Sarah replied, Kim face-palmed.
"I generate plasma." Bobby said.
"I take on the properties of whatever I touch." Grunge said.
"Super strong and nigh invulnerable." Caitlin said.
"And I'm the one woman cheer squad. Freakin' great, this must be my karmic adjustment for Ron." Kim said.
"Who's Ron?" Caitlin asked.
"My best friend…was my best friend…he died. I treated him like crap, he wanted to protect me from my scumbag boyfriend and I didn't listen, I stopped talking to him all together and the day I was going to say I'm sorry I didn't get the chance, he got hit by a car, his injuries were fatal, and I was there when they scarped him off the pavement. I threw up… I-I couldn't help it…." Kim said shell shocked by the recollection. The rest of the group just looked at her dumbfounded.
"The first words out of the girl's mouth who hit him were: My dad's gonna kill me! It took the star quarterback and the strongest cheerleader on the squad to drag me off of her." Kim said smiling a little.
"How strong can a cheerleader be?" Roxy asked.
"Tara held up the pyramid, Imagine holding up not only the girl on your shoulders but the two other girls standing on her." Kim said.
"You knew the cheer squad?" Grunge asked.
"I was the captain." Kim said plainly.
"Cheerleaders aren't athletes they're for decoration." Sarah said.
"Fuck you." Kim said rolling her eyes and flipping her off, much to astonishment of everyone in the van.
"Years of gymnastics, dance, choreography, and practice. Know what the hell you're talking about before you make judgments." Kim said angrily.
"Kim calm down. I won't have you acting this way." Lynch said sharply.
"Oh, I take it Sarah hmph.." Kim started before a duplicate put a hand over her mouth.
"Someone's cranky when her blood sugar gets low." The duplicate apologized.
"That is amazing." Caitlin said.
"Hrmmmm." Kim growled.
"Prime, you promise to behave? Anybody got something to munch on? She's too polite to ask." The clone asked; her hand still over Kim's mouth.
"You called her prime?" Caitlin asked.
"Yeah, she is the first. We all live in her head." The clone explained.
"So you're all different aspects of her personality?" Caitlin asked.
"Something like that, I'm the responsible one." The clone said.
"Is there a bitch in there?" Roxy asked.
"Yes, you don't want to meet her." The clone said shaking her head.
"I think we did, briefly." Sarah said.
"Could you please not antagonize us we're going through a tough time." The clone replied.
"The grieving process is quite unpleasant and we're racked with guilt, so the last thing we need are your ignorant views compounding the situation." Another clone said.
"Which one are you?" Roxy said.
"I'm the smart one." The other clone replied.
"Is there a dumb one?" Grunge asked.
"I prefer to think of myself as the fun one." Yet another clone said.
"Kim pull them in we're running out of room." Lynch said. Kim pulled them back with some effort.
Caitlin offered Kim a granola bar. She chewed on it sullenly.
"Control is going to be an area of focus for you, Kimberly." Lynch said.
"Alright, anything is possible for a Possible." Kim replied.
"Family motto?" Bobby asked.
"Yeah." Kim said.
"You're not like Wego." Lynch said.
"No, Wego just makes carbon copies; mine talk to me and apparently have my best interests at heart." Kim said.
"Of course if you die so do they." Lynch said matter-of-factly.
"Am I nuts?" Kim asked.
"No, your powers were formed in a moment of stress, and that moment shapes them." Lynch said.
"So because I hated having so much on my plate, this gen factor, made it so I could clone myself?" Kim asked.
"As far as we can tell." Lynch replied.
"Why is this happening?" Kim asked.
"You inherited it from your father." Lynch replied.
"The serial man-ho." Kim said.
"Alex was the type who could fall in love a hundred times a day." Lynch said.
"Not good if your occupation makes it so you have to leave suddenly for protracted periods of time." Caitlin said.
"Have you met him?" Kim asked.
"Yes, he…likes his freedom." Caitlin said choosing her words carefully.
"I just won't talk to him." Roxy shrugged.
"You ever want to meet him?" Caitlin asked.
"Not at this point. My reaction wouldn't be conducive to a long term relationship." Kim said.
"Huh?" Grunge asked.
"She'd kick him in the slats." Roxy said.
"No, I'd use a dim-mak technique to render him impotent." Kim said.
"Uh, you can do that?" Grunge asked.
"Sure." Kim said crossing her arms.
"Why didn't you do it to the scumbag?" Bobby said.
"Didn't think to…too angry." Kim said.
"I really am a nice person!" a clone said before Kim pulled it back in.
"What she said." Kim said.
"Talk about a whole new definition of talking to yourself." Bobby said.
"Yeah…." Kim trailed off.
"What's up?" Roxy asked.
"I just realized I'm going to California. I'm very fair skinned. I don't tan I burn." Kim said.
"Lots of sunscreen." Lynch said.
"And your pick of guys to apply it." Roxy said.
"I think I'm going to wait on that." Kim said.
"Please don't tell me you're in that all men are scum phase of the post break up." Bobby said.
"No, decent guys exist, Ron was living proof. Besides I can't hate men I relate better to them than women." Kim said.
"You and Ron were friends that long?" Caitlin asked.
"Since Pre-k so about…four years old." Kim said thinking back.
"Wow, that's a long time." Caitlin said.
"Yes, we were born within a week of each other. How weird is that?" Kim asked.
"Bet he never forgot your birthday." Roxy said.
"No, never." Kim said smiling a little.
"What did he look like?" Caitlin asked. Kim got her wallet out and opened it.
"Kinda goofy lookin'." Roxy said.
"That's my Ron." Kim sighed.
"Why didn't you guys date?" Bobby asked. Caitlin gave him a look.
"I've been getting that a lot after his death. Life got in the way, the usual excuses…I'm beginning to wish we had. It's like nap time you don't know what you have until it's gone." Kim said with a sigh.
"You liked nap time in school?" Roxy asked.
"No, I was a hyper-active child, Ron loved it." Kim said.
"Was he not exactly…driven?" Caitlin asked.
"He was a slacker, but he reminded me to stop and enjoy life while I could. He'd say we aren't going to be young forever, KP." Kim said.
"KP?" Bobby asked.
"My initials." Kim replied.
"None of you can call me that, ever." Kim said.
"Fair enough." Bobby said.
"Well, Kim this is home for the foreseeable future." Mr. Lynch said pulling into the drive way of the huge beach house.
"Hope you brought a bathing suit." Roxy said.
"Right here." Kim said gesturing to her suitcase as everyone piled out. Grunge ducked behind the van.
"What's with you?" Kim said.
"Creepy neighbor. I think he hates us." Grunge said.
"I'll get to the bottom of that later, now I need a shower." Kim said.
"Yeah, I'll show ya where that is." Roxy said.
"Thanks." Kim replied hefting her suitcase.
"Nice place huh?" Grunge asked.
"Yeah." Kim said not mentioning the Senior's villa.
"Pool out back hot tub and the ocean a hundred feet that way." Roxy said.
"Bathroom's right over here, lock the door, the guys don't know any better sometimes." Roxy continued leading Kim away.
"I think a flying bar of soap will disabuse them of the notion." Kim said plainly.
"That's kinda harsh." Roxy replied.
"That's what it took with the twee-er my twin brothers." Kim said.
"Twin brothers?"
"Yeah they dress alike, finish each other's sentences, and have their twin language." Kim said.
"Freaky." Roxy said.
"You get used to it." Kim shrugged.
"And here's your room." Roxy said.
"Uh it looks like somebody already lives here." Kim said.
"Yeah me, until Mr. L gets the den cleared out we're sharing." Roxy replied.
"Don't make fun of my pandaroo." Kim said.
"Hey, I have a batterfly." Roxy said hands up.
"Glad to see we understand each other." Kim said heading in.
"So yeah I just wanna get this outta the way, Grunge and I are dating so if we…ya know… need alone time…"
"Say no more I'll sleep on the couch." Kim said with a dismissive gesture as she unpacked.
"Whoa never figured you for the thong type." Roxy said.
"Last boyfriend had me wear them and I liked them." Kim said.
"At least you have the ass for it." Roxy said.
"And you don't?" Kim asked skeptically.
"I used to think I needed to lose weight but Mr. L talked to me about it." Roxy said.
"We're built about the same. If you lost weight you'd blow away if someone sneezed." Kim said.
"Yeah it was pretty dumb." Roxy said chagrinned.
"Ok got my bathing suit." Kim said holding up a blue one-piece.
"Kim, this is California, you can't seriously wear that." Roxy said.
"What do you have?" Kim asked. Roxy held up a leopard print bikini.
"I've never owned one of those my dad wouldn't allow it." Kim said.
"Your dad's not here, now is he?" Roxy said with a conspiratorial grin.
"You're right." Kim said setting her jaw.
"Ok, you get freshened up and we'll hit the mall, this is gonna be awesome!" Roxy exclaimed.