Chapter 2: The Pain Known as Reality

Yikes, we hit an upload glitch on the prologue! That's fixed. Thanks for the words, guys! Yeah, I know there's going to be a lot, a lot, a lot of questions throughout the entire story, so send them my way! Any and all. I've got things planned out, but I want to make sure I don't miss a thing. Fortunately, you'll get some answers in this chapter, but unfortunately you'll wind up with more questions, too! We'll also be going back and forth in time a lot throughout, because there's been a lot of things that happened between this story and the last.

Warning: This entire chapter is pretty much angst.


Back on the plane, Kim was checking all of her wounds, but it wasn't where her mind was. She was upset at herself because even with all the signs available, she wasn't able to see that Sean was an enemy from day one. She didn't know why it didn't hit her when she snuck into his apartment. Unlike Erik, who she thought she stopped thinking about months ago, it wasn't because she was overwhelmed by his looks or smooth personality. Identical, but ever since Ron, she hadn't been attracted to those types of guys at all. Sean was being such a jerk lately it was no wonder he was some assassin sent to kill her. The truth was that Sean was the second partner Kim had after the separation. The first one had also tried to kill her.

This was quick to put her under depression again, which she had been under for quite some time, dwelling on the thought that she was never going to find a sidekick again. Kim thought she'd be able to handle things like she could in high school; keeping her cool, able to handle anything without too much stress, no drama, no problems. And some things didn't change. She couldn't be alone and hated the thought of it. Life felt empty when she was lonely. One would assume the college life would have changed that, but Kim couldn't make friends in college like she could in high school.

The reality of it was that Kim didn't have any friends in college. She was an extremely lonely person.

She attended Upperton University only because Upperton Community College was close by, and she wouldn't have to travel far to see Ron. Unfortunately life takes us in directions we fail to anticipate or control. Now that Ron was gone, a lot of people tried to help Kim become a new person. Unfortunately, it involved selling out her beliefs and everything she stood for. Kim attended only a few parties in high school, but those were just to hang out with Monique or to check out Josh's band when she crushed on him. They were just social gatherings. Kim wasn't a party girl, and it wasn't the person she wanted to become. She wanted to become her own person and not someone else's puppet, and people looked down on her for this belief alone, convinced she wasn't cool or fun. It didn't stop some guys trying to woo her, unfortunately.

It wasn't that people weren't interested in Kim; they downright disliked her. The reason was because a long time ago, there was a drug bust among certain party-goers, and a few drinks made some teens go into an-all out fight. The teens ranged from sports athletes to the honor roll, and it wasn't long before all kinds of people got involved and a huge riot broke out that spread outside the campus. Stores were broken into, looting was wild, random people were taken off the streets and beaten, cars were rolled over or put on fire, all hell broke loose. The police needed help as their efforts to cease the violence went slow. Kim offered her help, nothing personal against any of the students, but she didn't want people getting hurt, and it was already a bit late for that, even though she attended to most of the injured, all policemen. She was armed with various flash bombs, one in particular that would knock anyone out if they looked into the flash, and it proved to be more helpful than tear gas or rubber bullets, as it was harmless and took rioters down by large numbers. More than half the campus was involved and arrested for taking part in it. Kim didn't want to go around telling everyone on the campus she was involved, but later when the police made their public announcements, they all thanked the world-famous Kim Possible for her help. It was on during an episode of Pals, and when everyone found out that Kim was involved, they downright hated her. Others thought Kim shouldn't have interfered in business that wasn't hers, her defense in taking part of it was snobbish, or she took part in it only because she wanted to look good for the cameras. They didn't blame themselves for their actions, they all blamed her. To just about everyone else, they didn't like a celebrity walking around the same campus; a pretty and tough girl who always tried to do the right thing, and was adamant on staying that way. A lot of people thought that Kim thought she was too good for them, even though they never talked to her.

Kim never apologized for the incident, only saying she was sorry that they all wound up in jail. If she said anymore she would have looked like a snob to them, but they already saw her as such. She wouldn't take responsibility for their actions. Upperton was a bad place, and she realized that her rival Valia Ryan wasn't exaggerating when he told her about how bad substance abuse was in the area. Oddly enough the community college where Ron attended had little to none of it. In the university, everyone wanted attention, and those who didn't never opened their doors.

Not everyone hated and avoided her. Sometimes when Kim ate at the cafeteria, some random people would sit at her table. Some would ask her how life is out of curiosity almost as if they hadn't heard of her, and others would just thank her for trying to make the place better. Unfortunately, Kim usually never saw them again. Upperton U. was pretty huge.

There was one incident she remembered, however.


Kim had grabbed her lunch, which consisted of a cheeseburger, tortilla chips (the sign said nachos but there was no cheese), and chips. A small lunch, Kim ate alone at the tables, looking only at her food as everyone in the cafeteria glared at her. Kim knew that if she made eye contact there would have been trouble, but people thought by ignoring them Kim made herself out to be a snob. She couldn't win. But she was able to eat her meal without a problem, until some football player purposely knocked his tray into Kim's head as he walked past her.

She sighed and got up, putting the tray away and making her way back into her room. However, on the way over, she turned the corner too fast and ran into a boy. It was done with enough force that sent his plate of pizza and carton of milk in the air. Kim gasped when she noticed it and tried to grab them before they hit the ground. However, she realized she had her hands on his, as he also grabbed the plate and milk before they hit the ground.

"I am so sorry about that!"

"Don't worry about it," the boy humbly replied as he picked up his tray. "Hey, you're Kim Possible, aren't you?"

Kim hung her head. "Who wants to know?"

The boy sighed as he put his tray on the nearby counter. "Life hasn't been good to you lately, huh?"

Kim finally looked into his eyes. He was about as tall as she was, a tad bit taller, with blonde hair and blue eyes. He had on usual winter wear; jeans and a red hoodie. He had a rather calm posture, leaning back on the wall with his legs crossed and with his left hand in his pocket.

"No, not really," she answered.

"Wanna talk about it?" he offered, nodding his head towards the tables.

"I'm taken," Kim quickly answered.

The boy burst out laughing. "Did I come off like that? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it that way."

Kim looked embarrassed. "No, I'm the one who's sorry. It's just that a lot of guys have been hitting on me so much, and I haven't broken up with my boyfriend."

"I'm sorry to hear that." He then chuckled. "We say sorry a lot, don't we?"

Kim let out a weak chuckle. "I suppose so."

Kim and the boy, Mat, walked towards one of the tables. He ate, asking Kim about her, entirely out of curiosity. He had heard of the riot, one of the few students who wasn't involved on the bad end. He told Kim not to worry about things, and since everyone in Upperton U. was a simpleton, not to listen to them. Kim wasn't sure what to make of his advice, but then she remembered she had to do her laundry. She thanked him for the talk, but it was the first time she spoke with someone there who had a brain in his skull.

Kim couldn't help but look back into the cafeteria as Mat went to get another slice of pizza, leaving his tray and drink on the table. However, three cheerleaders went to his table and took his seat. One of them grabbed his tray and put it at another table. When Mat turned around, though, Kim noticed that his happy go lucky face quickly went sour. He went and picked up his tray, then confronted the girls.

"Excuse me, I was sitting here."

The girls didn't listen, talking amongst themselves. Mat had to slam his right fist into the table to get their attention.

"I was sitting here."

"So?" One of the girls said. "Wait, you want to sit next to us? Gross!" Suddenly, all of the girls lifted their trays and got up.

Mat put his tray down, but asked the question. "What the hell was that about?"

"We're not sitting next to the new guy."

"You think we'd hang out with someone like you? Guess again."

"You're not cool."

Kim had seen this scenario once before in this school. A new girl came into the cafeteria, asking if she could sit where some of the other girls were, and they all got up and walked away. Kim sat next to her and tried to talk, but the girl didn't say much. But this was different and she knew things were going to get ugly.

"I get it," Mat said. "You think you're too cool for me."

"Well, duh."

Mat started laughing to himself, then looked at the girls. "Oh please. You want to hear something awesome?"

"What would you know?"

"I'm not exactly as I appear to be," he answered as he twitched his eyes. "C'mon, you know you want to hear it."

Finally, the girls gave in, all putting their ears together as Mat was going to whisper something in their ear. Instead, he grabbed them all by the hair and slammed their heads into the table. They all flew back, and Mat even threw their food on them. Kim simply gasped.

"You're all a bunch of superficial losers!" he yelled. "Heaven help me, I should beat the crap out of all of you for being so narrow-minded! 'You're not cool!' Grow the hell up!"

Before Kim could get back inside, Mat walked out one of the other exits, and she couldn't catch up to him. He was the only person who treated her nicely around the campus, except Sean, and suddenly turned into a different person. As much as Kim hated to say it, she had seen these girls before and he gave them exactly what they deserved.

After that, however, she never saw him again. Out of all the people she met in Upperton U., the one person who engaged into a deep conversation with her was the one who left.


Kim was never used to loneliness, and when she heard others having fun or talking about things she was interested in, the thought that those people would kick her out of the room wasn't a pleasant one. She hoped that she would get over something like this since high school, but these people made Bonnie Rockwaller seem like the girl who wanted everyone to be her friend. She refused to sell herself out to please them, but at the same time she wish she had at least someone in person to talk to. And she didn't. Ron was gone, Monique attended another school in another state and was pounded with more work than Kim, she lost touch with the former Middleton squad, not that Kim was as close with them as she thought she was. There were also two others, her mom and another colleague in the hero biz, but they too were often busy.

That was Kim's social life in the area, and due to some circumstances she was unable to join any kind of extracurricular activity, even though her classes kept her extremely busy. It didn't help that most of her instructors and professors were egotistical to the core, and she often wondered how they got the job in the first place. Either college interfered with hero work, or hero work interfered with college. It was more difficult to balance than high school.

The fact was, Kim's site had been getting a lot less hits than her high school days. Her social life, her schoolwork and stress really interfered with her hero work.

When college first started in her freshman year, Kim and Ron shared an apartment together. Things were supposed to go well, with Kim getting a job at Club Banana while Ron was guaranteed a job at any Bueno Nacho he wanted for saving the big boss' life. But things haven't gone well. After Ron left, things became too lonely for Kim and she refused to accept everyone else's help with paying the rent. She didn't want money for her hero work, even though people donated enough to put her and generations of Possibles through college. She told herself she could do it through her own pocket, but she couldn't. Finally, she chose to move out and live in the dorms. Being in the apartment was a constant reminder of Ron.

She thought being lonely was bad, but this place just took the cake. Other than the riot incident ruining her social life, every single guy would hit on Kim and most tried to touch her, and it quickly got to the point where she had to beat some of them down. Kim didn't enjoy it one bit, but they all thought it was funny when they scared her. After that, most would play pranks on her like putting gum on the bottom of the doorknob or even in the keyhole. Her guilt ceased when her mom told her they deserved the beat downs, when her husband wasn't overhearing anyway, but that was the least of her dorm troubles. Despite the riot incident, Kim often said hi to anyone passing by, left her door open, but no one showed any interest unless they liked what they saw. She also couldn't study with all the noise, and she went from dorm to dorm with the same results. She couldn't even sleep well because of it, and that definitely interfered in schoolwork and life.

She also got into a lot of heated arguments with her professors, mostly on the professor's part. All Kim was trying to do was correct them on information, but they hated to be corrected. They would tell you that the moon was pink, and if you said otherwise then they'd start a scene. Kim was often threatened with failure, and like before, she sometimes had to swallow her pride and get that A. She knew a lot more than they did due to traveling the world and working with some of the most brilliant minds, as well as being the daughter of one, but they were too high on their horse to even think that perhaps they were wrong. And those who did admit that they were wrong didn't care about their work. The paycheck was all that mattered.

The best part about life at Upperton U.? Kim was stuck with a roommate she couldn't stand. The girl always had boys over who often hit on Kim, and when she tried to isolate herself from them to study, to listen to music, or to download information into her Kimmunicator, they said she was uptight and no fun. The girl also partied a lot, which meant she came back at three in the morning, and the girl had the nerve to complain about Kim typing anything at eight at night. No matter how important it was, she complained that Kim was being noisy.

The reason she accepted this recent mission was because she was finally on Winter Break, sort of. Schoolwork was eating up much more time than she thought. Sure, Kim knew the information in the books before reading for assignments, but she made the mistake of skipping a chapter, only to be tested on it. She didn't understand the question, so she was convinced she didn't know as much as she did.

Kim thought back to the fight on the train. Even though Sean convinced himself that the two did a lot together that they should've been dating, they didn't. It consisted of study sessions and a few missions. It was no surprise that he was attracted to her, but he wasn't Kim's type.

As she told him before, she never officially broke things up with Ron.

There was hardly a time when Kim didn't think about it, but the truth was, she was considering breaking off the relationship between Ron and her. Ever since they got together at the prom almost two years ago, Ron started changing into a different person. At first, she thought he was growing up and becoming a man, one she couldn't help but be attracted to. Ron started to realize a lot of things with first love, and he did change himself to impress Kim and didn't want her to be constantly embarrassed by him. All this combined, Kim thought she found a gold mine with a bad boy hottie, but Ron didn't stop changing as the months progressed. He became skilled, more mature, but most noticeably, he took her off her feet with several romantic surprises.

"Who knew the buffoon was a natural?"

However, sometime in April, right after Val had gotten away with an artifact he found in Go City, Ron started to grow overly confident in missions, and it wasn't long before he became arrogant, big-headed and even aggressive in his behavior. In less than two months, he changed into a completely different person. It was because he was suddenly growing more skilled in monkey kung fu and the fact that he was dating a girl like Kim. He would boast about it to people, other couples, and would show no mercy to his enemies. But he was anything but compassionate to Kim, and a lot of times he was downright disrespectful.

Kim told herself at first that she became attracted to him because of his new confidence, but he was no longer the romantic goofball he was when they first started out, which Kim realized she loved all along. It got to the point where he often messed up the missions, running carelessly into danger and causing more trouble than needed. Kim often had to pull him off of henchmen because they were already knocked out. He had changed, and even when he tried to get intimate or romantic, which was anything but, something just didn't feel right. His timing couldn't be worse anywhere else; Kim's job at Club Banana, schoolwork, and he even tried to kiss her in the middle of missions. As usual, the villain got away, but this time, it was irritating that he refused to acknowledge his mistakes. Back then Ron would apologize and blame himself, but lately he refused to. He was no longer the same person Kim grew up with and fell for.

Kim put up with this until June of the same year, in the summer when tryouts for cheerleading and extracurricular activities opened. The problem was, Kim suffered a grave injury that allowed Val to succeed in his quest for the eight artifacts. Because of the way Ron handled the situation after Kim recovered, she told herself she was going to talk to him about the relationship. It was getting that bad. Not only that, but she was also extremely worried about him and the person he was becoming. She waited until Ron got home from work that night, complaining and angry as he had been for months. Sucking up her breath, Kim grabbed Ron by his shoulders after he whined and complained about his day, yelling most of the time.

"Ron… we need to talk."

Realizing what those four words meant, he completely lost it. Snapped. He threw Kim's arms off, muttered a ton of angered gibberish, grabbed all his stuff which was already in a travel bag, including his pet, and ran out the door. Sometimes Ron needed some alone time and the two needed their space, which happened more often throughout the relationship than Kim would've liked to think.

However, six months had passed, and neither Ron nor Rufus had been seen or heard from since. Even with Wade's technology, they weren't able to track him down, and Kim refused to believe that he was dead. All of her usual villains didn't act suspiciously, most of which didn't even notice he was gone.

Yet, after Val had contacted Kim shortly after he was successful in getting the eighth relic, he too disappeared.

It was enough to strike her as suspicious.

"Miss Possible, the plane is coming to a landing."

Kim realized she had fallen asleep.


Kim was never sure what to expect when she grabbed the keys to her dorm room. She usually feared the worst, and this time she hoped she didn't have to clean the bottles off the floor and clean the carpet. Even though Kim reported that her roommate drank, as it was against the rules to have drinks or drugs in the room, not much was done about it. Just a slap on the wrist, and since Kim was the only person to report it, she got a load of S and F-bombs for it from her roommate.

Instead, Rebecca's side of the room was completely empty. Unfortunately, she took all the food, all of which was Kim's. Kim then remembered that today was her roommate's last day. She had one more to go, even though she turned her final paper in early and didn't need to go to class, but she was going to take the time to relax. That's what she told herself at least. She could still hear all of the noise of music and games, which wasn't allowed due to finals. She saw that some guys were still wandering around, and Kim closed her door. She didn't want them to throw open jars of jelly into her room again. To them, the sound of Kim crying in fear, pain or from annoyance was a hoot.

Still relieved that her roommate was gone, Kim crashed on her bed. No more Rebecca, no more classes, and the sounds of people leaving outside was music to her ears. She remembered how psyched she was when she started school, only to be utterly disappointed when she started classes. She had high expectations due to all she heard about it, and it was nothing but a social ground for junkies and egomaniacal professors wanting to flex their ego even more.

Kim was actually afraid of the semester coming to an end, and for one reason. She was afraid to tell her parents that she wanted to transfer to another school, and the only reason she stuck around Upperton was just in case Ron ever came back. That was really the reason she stayed in her room today instead of packing her things and driving home, but then again the interstate was crowded. Her parents hoped she would stay here with all they heard, but it just didn't feel like the right place to Kim.

Opening her eyes once crashing on her bed, the first thing she saw was an old picture of her and Ron on prom night. It was the same picture that her mom took when the two thought they had their privacy and made out in front of Kim's front door. It was beyond embarrassing at first, but the night was just too memorable. The picture was small compared to the frame, so Kim had actually put in a lot more pictures creating some kind of collage. Some pictures were from the days of high school, and some were taken after.

It almost made her want to cry, not only because she missed him so much but also because she really didn't know if he was still alive. It took her a couple of minutes to dismiss that thought by telling herself over and over that he was. If he was, someone would have found a body and reported it somewhere, and she had Wade and his colleagues check any and every single database in the world for any recent entries with his name in it. The most recent one was dated only a day before he ran away.

But then Kim saw what was next to it – the photo collection CD that she gave to Ron on Christmas a couple of years back. It was the one thing he had left behind when he ran out the door. Kim forgot it was there, collecting all kinds of dust but fortunately no drink spills from Rebecca's side of the room. She blew off the dust and looked at the cover. It was a picture she took with Ron some time back. It was a cute picture to her. She was hugging Ron from behind with a huge smile on her face, but Ron looked awkward.

Back then Kim told herself it was the perfect picture, but looking back, it wasn't. The reason she appeared so happy in the picture was because of the date she had with Josh two nights before, and Ron had eaten too many packets of Diablo sauce with his naco. But then again, Kim wasn't only happy because of the date, she was also grateful that Ron still helped. Kim loved the picture so much, and at the time she started to create the album, a few months before Christmas, she though it was the perfect picture. But looking at it again, she remembered her old life in Middleton. Back then things were so nice and perfect.

Right there in her room, she completely lost it and burst into tears. She grabbed the album, held it close and curled into a ball. She just wanted to go to sleep. But one of the things Kim hated the most was crying. She let herself go for some time before getting herself back together. She let out a sigh as she put the album on her bed, and the corner of her eye caught the mirror. She looked terrible, almost forgetting about the bandages and wounds. She didn't want to walk outside and have people looking at her, so she decided to hit the showers.

Because most of the floor was empty and the restroom and showers required a student ID and a keypad password, Kim didn't need to fear a lack of privacy. She wound up taking a shower that lasted a good half hour, but noticing strange green streaks coming from the bandages, she took them off. Her wounds were completely healed, sans where the pipe went through her leg. She felt relaxed more than ever when she got out, if not for some moron leaving the windows of the bathroom open. Kim rushed back to her room and wasn't seen by anyone, thankfully. Rumor had it one girl had her bathrobe taken by some of the guys in the middle of the hall.

Kim quickly locked the door, changed and crashed onto the bed, grabbing the album and the prom photo. She sighed and hugged it tightly, tired and about to fall asleep. But from the corner of her eye, she noticed that something was blinking. Her phone, which was right next to where the picture was. She had a message on her answering machine. Too tired or lazy to get up, she leaned as much as she could to hit the Play button, only to hit it and fall off the bed.

"You have one message. Message One – Kim! Hey, it's me, Jen! Listen, uh, when you get back from your mission or class, I'm not sure where you're at… Call. It's very important, so call back ASAP. So I guess I'll hear from you later. Bye!"

Bay City's resident vigilante, Jen Ferno, another ally of Kim's. It had been over a year and a half since they actually worked together in combat, but Jen was one of the few allies who kept in close touch the entire time. She too had a lot of changes in her life, now being an official representative of Bueno Nacho since her father Benjamin was still CEO, but still the sharp shooting teen heroine that Kim knew her by. It would take her twenty years for her hacking skills to rival Wade's, but she managed to get most of the information she needed, most of which she passed onto Kim to keep her current. That was really all she had in common with Kim, unlike Monique when it came to fashion trends and every other one of Kim's interests. But sometimes Jen would call Kim simply to let her vent, because she knew how her social life was. She kept in touch frequently and hoped she helped Kim from going insane in some way or form because of Ron's disappearance, even though Kim usually vented to her mom instead. But Jen understood stress involving hero work, unlike Monique or Kim's mom.

Kim figured that if it was important, she would return the call. It wasn't like Jen would say something was urgent when it wasn't, she was an honest type, usually too much for her own good. Kim pulled out her cell phone and looked up Jen's name on it. The whole dial-one-number-before-calling and long distance cards was too much of a hassle for her.

It took three rings for Jen to answer. "Hello?"

"Hey Jen, it's Kim. Got the message."

"Oh great, I- Did you just wake up? You sound terrible."

"Not a good day."

"Wanna talk about it?" Jen was able to hear Kim's depression, and she often asked this question when she called.

"This time, sure. If you don't mind."

"No, no no no no… Go ahead. I'm here for ya, you know that."

"Okay. Well, Sean and I went to some island called 'Area 46' because we got a hit about some missing people there."

"Area 46?"

"Some remote island in the middle of the Atlantic."

Jen sounded surprised. "I have actually never heard of it."

"Neither have I. Well, it was a trap. Like Logan, he also tried to kill me."

Jen sighed. "Good to know that he didn't. I'm sorry to hear that Kim, but-"

"I know, you told me he wasn't good news… why didn't I listen?"

"Well, look at it this way, at least you didn't start dating him. At least I hope you didn't."

"No, of course not. So not my type, but… all the signs were there and I totally missed it."

"Kim, you're stressed out. I mean, you've got bad guys to stop, you've got classes and finals-"

Kim sighed. "I know, Jen. But I can't let that stop me from doing what I do."

"I understand, I really do, but you need to find a way to calm yourself. I just wish I knew how. We're all worried about you."

"I know you guys are and I appreciate your concern. But what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Jen sighed on her end. "Well, Nev intercepted a communications of some group in the middle of the Atlantic-"

"That was where Area 46 was."

"I guess I called too late, then. I called just when we found out."

Kim only sighed.

Jen continued, "Kim, please don't dwell on it too much. I mean, it's almost winter break. You really need it."

"What? Stop doing what I do and let the bad guys take over?"

"Don't let this damage your cool, Kim. Please."

Kim sighed loudly. "Maybe I do need a break, but there's so much I still need to do."

"Kim, you're not the only teen hero in the world. You know Wade, Nev and I can ask for a favor and have anyone take your place as long as you need." Jen knew that Kim couldn't be replaced by one person, but lately more teen heroes have proven themselves worthy. Still, Kim was number one in the arena.

"I know. I'll think about it."

Jen only sighed. She knew Kim wouldn't. She had been trying to convince Kim to take a vacation or some kind of break, but Kim always refused. Saving the world was more important than her own comfort, no matter how many times Jen tried to assure her that others could handle things. Jen exclusively handled her home, Bay City, and there was no need for Kim to be there.

"Well, that was really it, then."

"Thanks anyway, Jen," Kim sighed again, "I'm really sorry."

"Sorry? For what?"

"Well, for one, not listening to you guys when you all said Sean was bad road. But second, all these times you've called, I always talk about myself. It's always 'How I'm doing' or 'How I'm coming along', but I never ask how you're doing."

"There's not much to say, really," Jen merely replied, "Besides, it's hard for me to talk about my problems because they're nothing compared to yours."

"I so dramatize my life now."

"Don't be ashamed of it, Kim. Everyone does at one point, believe me."

"You're sure?"

"Look at the people we fight. Guys in masks, girls in weird outfits?"

"Good point. I just think it makes me look like I demand attention."

"Emo?"

"I've heard that word so much and I don't even know what that means."

"Well, anyone who really knows you that's not the case. You're not an attention hog. And if they think otherwise and frowns upon you for it, screw'em."

"Yeah…" Kim said unconvincingly. "But really, I haven't heard how life in Bay City is. I'm not really that current."

"Well, paperwork at BN HQ isn't that fun, but at the same time I'm getting so much experience."

"How about you-know-who?"

"Who? Nev? Well… I can't say it."

"What?"

"Okay, but you can't tell anyone."

"Ooookay. Sure."

Anyone would have gotten a bad feeling about this if you heard so many sick and wrong stories from girls involving boys.

"Ever since he got the operation, I've kind of been putting him through some training. But now I can say that yours truly is getting a sidekick!"

Kim briefly covered her face. She expected worse, blaming the thoughts on her college peers and their loud gossip. "So soon? I mean, the guy had half of his internal organs stolen from him and lived entirely off of unstable homemade biomechanical technology for over a year, and now it was removed and he's completely human again."

"The operation did take place over a year ago, so I think he's ready. Oh, he wanted me to tell you he said 'hi' and ask if you were okay."

Kim chuckled. "Tell him I said 'hi' back, and I'm doing so so. But training? Something in my gut tells me there's more to this."

"You've got me there. Remember I said I went to military school? He's getting the same treatment I did."

Kim was appalled. It wasn't the exactly what she thought. "Jen!"

"It's not like I'm torturing the guy! I'm just putting him through the exercises, that's all. And I'm not doing the whole drill sergeant yelling thing on him. I couldn't bring myself to do that."

"Is that what he wanted?"

"Well, he's great with a gun and can get around, and you know he's awesome at creating weapons. I just figure he might have forgotten how it was like to be fully human again. I also wanted to make sure everything in his body worked right, considering who operated… If he has the will to live and help others, I think he can take it to the next level. It's not because I want to make him more 'manly' for my own selfish purposes, if that's what you're thinking. And if you are thinking that, I should drop by just to smack you upside the head."

"I was hoping that wasn't the case, and I'm glad it's not."

"You know my experience with so-called 'manly' men."

Someone was knocking at Kim's door loudly. Kim figured it was just some of the guys wanting to bother her again. "Uh… Actually, I don't think I've heard that one."

"Oh, sorry. Long story short, guy wanted to date me because he found out I was the heiress to the Bueno Nacho fortune, tried to charm me to death, then Nev found out he had bad credit history. Once I asked the guy about it over pizza, he tried to come onto me! Iin public!"

The knocking got louder.

Kim sighed. "And to think we're not alone. So what did you do?"

"Slammed the butt of my SOCOM into his head, slammed his face into the table before breaking the chandelier over it," Jen simply replied. She was doing her nails, and her mind was much more focused on that.

"Sucks to be him."

"Yup. Luckily the place was considering getting rid of it, anyway, so I wasn't sued or anything. Because there were witnesses, I got free pizza, not that I was paying for anything in the first place."

"Free food. Lucky you. And him?"

"I dunno." Jen muttered, "Never saw him after that night. You know what? I don't even remember his name."

The knocking wouldn't stop.

"I'm sorry, Jen. I've got someone who doesn't know when to give up. Listen, I'll call you later, okay?"

"Okay. Take care, then."

"Oh, before I forget, thanks a lot Jen. I really needed that."

"Hey, no problem. That's what I'm here for. You be careful, okay? I've kind of got a bad feeling about this."

"I will. And you too."

"Will do. Bye."

"Bye."

After hanging up the phone, Kim got off the floor and onto her feet.

"Go away! I'm not interested!"

The knocking only got louder. Out of frustration, Kim got up and stomped to the door, answering it. "Look, I'm not interested in you guys and-" Angered eyes instantly turned into widened ones. "Oh! Dr. Myers! I'm SO sorry, I- What are you-"

"Kimberly Ann, we need to talk."

Kim's instructor was at the door and welcomed himself into her room. She quietly closed the door as he sat on the empty mattress. Dr. Myers was Kim's Advanced Astronomy instructor, and at this point Kim really wished it were a bunch of dumb guys instead. They've never gotten along with each other one bit, and she was also pretty sure he hated her. He was rejected from the Space Center back in Middleton, and he held a grudge against everyone who worked there, especially the person who rejected him, James T. Possible, Kim's father. There was just reason for it, as the guy didn't know his stuff. Kim was pretty sure the "Dr." part was a hack job.

He presented Kim with a messy paper a half inch thick with her name on it. "Kimberly, I want to make this brief. I have a hard time grading your paper."

"Dr. Myers, I know I turned it in with a poison needle stuck where the staple should be, but I was being chased by a tribal group that day. I saved the tribe leader's daughter with a cap on, and I lost it because I ran into another tribe. I saved the daughter, but when he saw my hair he mistook me for some sort of flame demon. I had to get out of there fast."

He wasn't impressed. "Cute story, Miss Possible. But I'm not here to discuss the appearance of your paper."

"What's wrong, then?"

He leaned over to her. "I'm just going to tell you right now: You need to rewrite your entire paper or I will fail you."

Kim had an A- in the class. She couldn't believe it. "WHAT? What for?"

"It's so full of inaccurate information that I can't deliver credit."

"Dr. Myers," Kim spoke incredulously, "with all due respect, I did my research and spent hours on it. I even had my dad read it to make sure there were no problems."

His eyes burned with fire with the mention of her dad. "I don't care what your father thinks, you will either rewrite this report or you will fail!" He appeared to be changing his mind all of a sudden, and Kim didn't like the look on his face one bit. "However… if you can get me a job at the space center he works at… I may consider giving you a C."

"Blackmail? No way, it's not going to happen. You can't do this."

"Oh? But I can do THIS!"

Myers dropped Kim's paper and pulled out a knife, lunging at her with it. Kim quickly grabbed the report before it hit the ground and used it as a shield. It was so thick that the knife didn't completely penetrate it. Out of hysterical anger, Myers shoved it aside, giving himself a nasty paper cut. The deranged man didn't know how to use his weapon, and if the door wasn't closed or blocked off by him, Kim would have yelled out attempted murder. Not knowing where else to go, Kim backed up to her window.

"Mr. Myers, what do you think you're doing?"

Instead of giving Kim an answer, he charged at her with bloodshot eyes and leapt at her. Kim merely moved aside, but her attacker crashed through the window. She looked outside to see if he was okay, since he was her professor after all, but she quickly looked away as a loud crash followed immediately by a car alarm went off. It spread throughout the campus, and everyone outside turned to it. A frat boy that had too many drinks a bit too early yelled out "MURDER!" completely unaware that his car was just destroyed.

"Sorry!" Kim yelled in regards to his car. Confused and in shock, she found the Kimmunicator closer than the phone and called Wade.

"Wade, someone else tried to just kill me!"

"Okay, Kim. Calm down and breathe!"

Kim's breathing was a clear indicator of what happened. It wasn't the fight that scared her, but the result.

"You only defended yourself, right?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Kim, don't worry, I just got satellite photos of Myers with the weapon, going in and… well, out."

The door knocked.

"I've got it covered, Kim. I'm sending these to Upperton authorities and college security."

Wade cut the transmission as Kim went to answer the door, astounded to see her worried dorm mates. They're frantic, asking what happened and if she was okay, but their questions were answered when they all noticed the wind coming from the now broken window. They told Kim that they saw him come in with a knife, but didn't do anything because they were afraid he knew how to use it. Kim saw past their act; the only reason they were there was because they thought Kim did something 'cool'. The whole day was a long one, with the police coming to ask Kim for information after receiving Wade's photos. Because Myers was still holding the knife even when he was put in the ambulance, they were convinced Kim was innocent. They told her she could go home and they would handle everything. It was their way of repaying Kim for her help in the riot incident some months back.

So much for tomorrow's class. The professor almost killed himself, as Kim received word later that he had actually survived the fall. She was terrified of the thought of being somewhat responsible for his death, but that wasn't the case anymore. She decided to take the Sheriff's advice. After packing up her things and calling Jen again and telling her what happened, she called her mom.

She was coming home.