Thanks to Mr. Wizard, Comet Moon, Eddy13, CajunBear73, sharper1988, The Enduring Man-Child, bigherb81, Joe Stoppinghem, TexasDad, Quathis, Classic Cowboy, screaming phoenix, JCS1966, Katsumara, Shrike176, noncynic, Molloy, RonHeartbreaker, whitem, and Muzzlehatch for reviewing and to everyone for reading.

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Special thanks to campy's cat for proofreading this chapter. A signed photo of Debutante is in the mail.

KP © Disney; original characters © the author

I.

"Hicka bicka boo!"

"Hoosha!"

The exultant cries floated across the dark suburban yard, informing James and Ann Possible that their boys were safe. Parental relief was immediately leavened with parental anger, however, as their suspicions that the twins were the cause of the explosion had been confirmed.

"Jim, Tim …" their father said sternly as he jogged up to them.

"Hey, Dad," a grinning Jim said.

"Look what we did!" Tim proudly added.

"Oh my!" Nana said.

"The machine," Ann said in wonder as she looked towards the ruins of her home and saw that the Lorwardian walker was no more. "It's gone. But how?"

"We used Ron's Z-Boy game control console to reverse polarize the matter/anti-matter flux capacitors …" Jim said.

"And annihilated the walker by creating a momentary singularity that collapsed in on itself," Tim concluded.

"Outstanding!" James said as he rested his hands on his sons' shoulders.

"Could someone explain that in English?" Mr. Stoppable asked. "I may be Actuary of the Year but I didn't understand a word of what the boys said."

"We made a black hole that made the aliens' machine disappear." Tim explained.

"I see," Mr. Stoppable said with an appreciative nod before he asked, "Do you think that would work with the junk in our garage?"

II.

"What's the sitch?" Kim asked Cochrane. The captain replied with a concise report on the Colorado's discovery. "Sounds lairish to me," the teen hero said thoughtfully.

"It definitely has the bad guy mojo," Ron agreed.

"But which bad guy's mojo?" she wondered aloud.

"Drakken?" Ron suggested.

"He has done underwater lairs," she said. "But he really seemed into the whole flower thing in the Alps before the Lorwardians showed up."

"True," Ron said. "Maybe it was Monkey Fist?"

"Monkey Fist?" she replied skeptically. "Aside from the fact that he's now a statue, using an underwater base would help him become supreme monkey ruler how?"

"He'd use it to create an army of giant sea monkeys," Ron explained.

Kim cocked an eyebrow. "Giant sea monkeys," she said with acute skepticism.

"Okay, that did sound pretty lame," Ron conceded before he brightened. "Unless DNAmy's involved! She's all about splicing and dicing the genes!"

"Okay, as weird as that sounds, it could be possible …"

"Ah-booyah," Ron said smugly. "The Ronman shoots and scores."

"Maybe," Kim said. "We won't know until we actually investigate."

"Aw man," Ron said. "Pointage denied."

"Or maybe not," Kim said encouragingly. "We won't know until we see what's over there."

"Fair enough, KP," Ron said.

"So I take it you're willing to go?" Cochrane asked.

Kim looked to Ron, who nodded. "We're in," she said.

"Excellent," the captain said, shaking hands with Kim, then Ron. "And thank you for agreeing to help."

"No big," she said. "Helping people is what we do. When do we leave?"

"As soon as you confer with Lieutenant Stark and his team."

"Does he have additional information for us?" Kim asked.

"No," Cochrane said. "He'll be leading the mission."

"Excuse me?" Kim replied in disbelief.

"I know you're used to operating on your own, Miss Possible," the captain said as he held up his hands in a placatory manner, "but I'm also aware that you are missing two key members of your team."

"KP and I can handle ourselves just fine," Ron said defiantly.

"I suspect you can," Cochrane said, his tone understanding yet unyielding, "but this operation is being launched from my ship and the two of you are my responsibility. While I have tremendous respect for your abilities and track record, I can't take any chances with your safety."

Ron was about to protest again, but Kim laid a hand on his shoulder. "We'll do it."

"You sure?' Ron asked.

Kim nodded in reply, her expression telling him that while she was sure of her decision, she was most decidedly not happy.

III.

Halsey escorted Kim and Ron to their briefing. On their way to the meeting, the young officer gave the teens some intel she was pretty confident would not be forthcoming through official channels.

"Stark may have a chip on his shoulder about having to take you on this mission."

"How come?"

"Let's just say that 'confident' doesn't begin to describe him. I'm sure he thinks he can handle this on his own and in his sleep – he graduated top of his class at Annapolis, was promoted to Lieutenant in record time, and is a member of the Space, Land, Underwater Group, the Navy's most elite special operations unit."

"So this dude's a slug?" Ron asked.

"Ron!" Kim exclaimed.

"What?" he replied, puzzled by his girlfriend's reaction.

"Just because he may be a bit big-heady doesn't mean you should call him names," she chided.

Halsey snickered. "Actually, Ron has a point: the acronym for Space, Land, Underwater Group is …"

"SLUG," Kim groaned.

"Man, who comes up with this stuff?" Ron wondered.

"Your government at work," Halsey said with a grin.

Kim gently rested her hand on her boyfriend's shoulder. "Sorry for harshing on you."

"'Sha," Ron said with a shrug. "It's all water off the Ronman's head."

"I think you mean back," Kim suggested.

"You sure, KP?"

"So sure," she assured him.

"Well, here we are," Halsey announced when they arrived at the briefing room.

"Thanks for everything," Kim said.

"My pleasure," Halsey replied as she shook the teens' hands. "I'll see you when you get back – and the chimeritos will be on me."

"Coolio!" Ron said, anticipating a second run at the ship's Bueno Nacho.

"You ready?" Kim asked Ron after the young officer had left.

"Where you lead, your faithful sidekick goes, KP," he said, bowing, and with a grand flourish, pointing to the door.

"About that," Kim said, her tone suddenly serious.

"About what?" Ron asked.

Kim took a deep breath. "You're not my sidekick."

"I'm not?" Ron asked, surprised, then worried. "You're not firing me, are you?"

"No," she said with a smirk. "I'm promoting you."

"Promoting me? Why?"

"Because you're not a sidekick anymore, Ron. You're a partner. You showed that during the whole invasion sitch. You were awesome. And that wasn't the only time. You totally rocked at the cupcake factory during the Atmosfreezer incident, not to mention with Han and the Yono."

"I'm really your partner?" Ron asked, overwhelmed by the compliment.

"Mmm hmmm," Kim said.

Ron felt his eyes tearing up. "I'll make you proud, KP," he sniffed, trying, but failing, to hide the well of emotion he was feeling.

"You already do," she said before she kissed him on the cheek. "Now let's get the 411 on this sitch."

The two teens then walked into briefing room. Cochrane rose to his feet to greet them. "Ms. Possible, Mr. Stoppable, welcome," he said as he shook their hands. "Allow me to introduce Lieutenant Stark, who will be leading this operation, and Lieutenants Spruance, King, and Nimitz."

"Pleased to meet you," Kim said graciously to Stark and his team.

"Same here," added Ron.

"I've heard about your exploits," Stark said in a manner that could have been interpreted as either complimentary or condescending.

"Thanks," Kim said, very much on her guard.

"You have all been apprised of the situation," Cochrane said, wasting neither time nor words. "There's been no change in the object's status, though we have to presume that could change at any time. Act quickly and carefully. Find out what that thing is and get back here."

"Aye, sir," Stark replied.

"Well, I'd better leave you to your planning," the captain said as he headed for the door. "Good luck."

Once the captain had left, Stark moved to the head of the table and sat down. His officers joined him and then all four Navy men gazed at Kim and Ron, who exchanged a glance, before they took their own seats.

"Before I begin," Stark said, "I should inform you that I informed the captain of my reservations regarding your participation in this mission."

Kim folded her arms across her chest and cocked an eyebrow at Stark. "And you have reservations why?" she asked. "Ron and I have dealt with dozens of sitches like this before."

"So I've heard," Stark said. "However, I'm still worried about you compromising our safety."

"Okay, dude," Ron said, "I know what you're thinking and Ron Stoppable is sure that his girlfriend wasn't replaced with some destructo-cyborg who's been programmed to explode and create a black hole that would swallow and destroy the Earth."

"Actually, we hadn't considered that scenario," said Stark, who began to rub his chin as he entertained the possibility that the teen sitting before him was actually a highly advanced alien robot.

"And KP wasn't brainwashed by Warhok and Warmonga to lay low until she could find a good time to capture the world's leaders before enslaving humanity, either," Ron said.

"How can you be sure of that?" Stark demanded as he now looked at Kim as if he was all but convinced she might be either a Lorwardian dupe or tool.

"Hello! Reality calling," she snapped. "I'm not a robot and I haven't been brainwashed. Now what's the stinkin' sitch?"

Setting aside the disturbing possibilities raised by Ron, and focusing on his own reservations, Stark answered. "To be frank, I have concerns about including a publicity-seeking vigilante in this operation."

Kim seethed. "You are so flawed," she snapped. "I save the world to help people, not for the publicity. And I am so not a vigilante. If I were, I don't think your captain would have asked us to be part of this mission."

"What she said," Ron added. "Besides, if KP were in it for the attention, she could have been milking her hero work for years. Action figures, sheets, cereal, you name it. Maybe even her own show. That would be so cool. Anyway, she could be rolling in the Claude. But she doesn't. Never has, never will."

"And yet I see her on TV and on magazines more than Britina," Stark said caustically.

"So? Ron Stoppable's girlfriend makes good copy," Ron said. "Kim can't help it if the media dudes know a good story when they find one."

"Fine," Stark said grudgingly. "Since you say you're not publicity-seeking vigilante, I expect there will be no grandstanding or freelancing on your part during this mission. Do I make myself clear?"

"Totally," Kim said glacially.

"Good," Stark said, "Now we will divide into three teams of two: Spruance and Nimitz will lead, to be followed by Possible and King, and then Stoppable and me. We will then—"

"Ron and I are a team," Kim interjected. "We work together."

"The interests of this mission would be best served by the assignments I have made," Stark countered.

"How so?" Kim demanded. "Ron and I know how each other works in the field. I'm sure that's true of you and your team."

"It is," Stark said. "But professionals are able to adjust to new partners, and quickly, in order to satisfy operational requirements. Now, I know you're not a professional—"

"Dude, you so don't want to go there," said Ron, who bristled at the slight to his girlfriend.

"Excuse me?" Stark said.

"It's all right, Ron," Kim said as she placed a calming hand on her boyfriend's arm before she glared at Stark. "We've both worked with others and can do so again."

"Good. Now that that's resolved …"

"You still haven't explained why you want to split us up," Kim observed, interrupting Stark.

Looking annoyed, he answered. "These assignments will put your familiarity with lairs, should that be what we're confronting, at the disposal of two teams rather than one, which should be especially helpful since you're supposedly the expert in dealing with supervillains and their bases."

"Sounds reasonable, KP," Ron observed, drawing a withering glance from his girlfriend that told him he was most definitely not being helpful. "Hey, just sayin' …"

"Are there any further questions?" Stark asked.

"No," a visibly annoyed Kim said curtly while Ron merely shook his head, having decided it would be best to keep quiet given his GF's being incredibly tweaked and the SLUG's pomposity.

"Good," Stark said. "Now, here's how we'll deploy …"

To Be Continued …