A/N First, thank to Eddy13 for beta reading.

With this chapter, we're finally getting into the story and plot; the first three chapters were really sort of an introduction.

Chapter 4: Golfing in California

(Friday Afternoon)

Kim reached back and pulled the chord on her parachute. She drifted to the ground, and left the equipment where it lay. She hadn't figured it out yet, but somehow Wade always seemed to get her gear picked up and ready for use the next time she needed it. Pushing all other thoughts from her mind, she pulled out the Kimmunicator and focused on Wade.

"Where's Killigan?"

"He's a couple of hundred yards south of you, and it looks like he's trying to sink a putt on the 13th hole. Whoa!"

"What!" Kim looked around, expecting danger.

"He had to have cheated, he's got marked down that he's trying for eagle."

"Wade, focus-is there anything important I need to know?"

He consulted his screens. "He seems to have some weird club attached to his back, I'd watch out for that, Kim."

"Gotcha, Wade, I'm going in." Kim went over to the 14th hole, and waited. A few minutes later, she watched from the bushes as a golf ball came whizzing through the air and dropped within inches of the hole. Wade was right-that is too good. Killigan always lost his temper when he did poorly, and since he wasn't a very good golfer, he lost frequently. He had been banned from all the golf courses in the world because he started destroying them in fits of rage. Since then, Killigan had become a better player, but he wasn't this good.

Rufus peaked his head out of Kim's pocket and sniffed the air. She saw him, and motioned that he should stay inside. He realized that he wouldn't be able to do much to help here, so he just watched from her pocket. If she needed him, he was right there.

As Killigan walked toward his golf ball, Kim stepped out in between him and the hole. "Kim Possible! What are you doing here, lassie?"

"You've stolen something, and it's time to return it; hand it over."

"You want my new driver, do you, lassie? Well you cannae have it."

Kim was confused. "New driver? You just stole a golf club?"

"'Just a golf club!' This driver has an automatic linear director; it makes sure that I hit my target every time. You just saw my last drive, it almost landed right in the hole. I'll not be letting you take away my new club." At that, Killigan reached into his golf bag and pulled out two of his golf clubs and advanced on her.

He swung sideways with both clubs, hoping to catch her off guard. She easily avoided the attack, doing a back flip that landed her just out of reach. Killigan rushed forward, swinging from both sides, trying to get her to focus on one hand so he could hit her with the other. Kim realized that he had the advantage as long as he had the clubs, so she did a handspring over his head and ran toward the 14th hole. She pulled the flag out of the hole, and used it as a staff.

Killigan charged at her, bringing the clubs down towards her head. She raised the staff, catching the clubs between her hands. She kicked out, but he dodged and swung the club in his left hand. Kim blocked, then staked the flag in the ground and jumped, using the pole to help propel her feet. She caught Killigan in the chest, driving him backwards next to his golf bag.

By this point, Killigan changed tactics. He zipped open his golf bag, and let his special exploding golf balls come out. He started hitting them toward Kim, laughing gleefully as she dodge, some barely missing her. It was then that he realized something was missing. "Where's your sidekick, lassie? Is he sick?"

Kim flipped sideways, watching as two golf balls missed her and hit each other. They exploded, but were far enough away that she had already forgotten about them. "He's out on a vacation for the next couple of weeks."

"Aye, that's good for us villains; I got tired of piecing together my lairs after you two showed up. He always blew up my hideout-and I never have anything explosive; I don't know how he does it."

The mad golfer hit a few more golf balls her way, and she nearly stepped out on one before she backed away. Kim decided to go on the offensive, and used the makeshift staff to bounce some of the golf balls back at him. One exploded near his feet, causing him to back peddle and trip over his golf bag.

The teen jumped forward and knocked the clubs out of his hands; then she used the pole to sweep out his legs. She pushed the end of the pole into his chest. "Looks like you duffed up, Killigan." As she reached down for the special driver, she heard a beeping behind her. As she turned, she spotted a double sized golf ball glowing red. She tried to move out of the way, but it was too little, too late.

The explosion flung her forward, over Killigan and right into the grass. She was able to roll with the fall, and just barely missed falling into the thorn bush nearby. She quickly looked around, and spotted the mad golfer dashing off to his blimp. She tried running after him, but realized that he was too far away. He escaped.

Rufus scampered out of Kim's pocket and stood on her shoulder. They both watched as Killigan's blimp sailed away, then Kim turned to Rufus. "We'll get him next time."

"Uh huh, sure." Rufus didn't sound as confident as earlier.

X X X X X X X X

Later that night, two shadowy figures stood near a ventilation shaft outside of Duff Killigan's castle. The first figure was completely covered from head to toe in black; the second figure was dressed likewise, only his head was exposed, revealing a blue face with a small scar. The first figure pulled out a small contraption and used it to melt the vent. It turned into a gooey mess, then cooled quickly. He then turned to his companion and motioned that he should get in the vent. His companion stepped forward and jumped one, twice, but couldn't reach his target. The first figure cupped his hands, and when his companion stepped in it, he flung him up toward the vent.

Drakken hung on to the vent as best as he could, kicking his feet trying to get inside. Finally, he was able to use his small hands to get some leverage and heave himself in. After laying in the vent for a minute, he turned and leaned out, grabbed Zorpox's hands and pulled him in. Zorpox took this opportunity to encourage Drakken.

"See, you're already doing better. You were able to pull yourself into the vent without any help, unlike when we were doing the run through in your lair. A little more experience, and you'll be as good at this as Shego."

"Really?" Drakken was like a puppy, thrilled to receive any praise.

No, even Ron is better at this than you. "Sure, in fact, at this rate, Shego will be out of a job."

They continued the rest of the way silently. Soon the vent reached a grate that led into the lair. Zorpox kicked it out, and hopped down to the ground silently, crouching as he looked around. Drakken was right behind him, but he managed to snag his clothes on an edge of the grate. As he fell, a ripping sound was heard, and Drakken landed missing an entire sleeve. He looked sheepishly at Zorpox, who shook his head sadly. Zorpox consulted his memory, and turned left, heading towards Killigan's vault. He stopped near the door and pulled out a small box with wires sticking out. He attached it to the electronic keypad there and waited for a beep. After he heard it, he reached for the door and pulled it open slowly.

Drakken and Zorpox went inside the vault, looking for their target. Drakken spotted it first, quickly grabbing it and stuffing it inside the bag he had with him. They both got ready to leave, when they heard a voice behind them.

"What have we here? Thieves? I'll teach you little buggers." Killigan reached for his putter, but hesitated when he saw the unmasked figure. "Dr Drakken?"

"Killigan; I need something from you, and I don't think you'll give it to me, so I'm taking it."

Duff Killigan was slightly confused. "Why are you here? Where's Shego-she's usually the one who steals things. Did she quit?"

Zorpox looked at Drakken, purposefully ignoring the mad golfer. "See? Even Killigan knows that Shego, not you is the better villain. You just an evil poser. You need to prove your worth by becoming a better villain, make the other villains see that you're the brains of the outfit-they all hold Shego in higher regard than they do you. Now follow my lead."

Drakken stopped to mull this over, while Zorpox turned to Killigan. "Let us go." The voice was cold, emotionless, and vaguely familiar. The golfer just laughed.

"You expect me to just let you go after you break in here? Are you daft, man?"

"No, just confident." Zorpox stood with his arms crossed.

"And who do you think you are, Drakken's new sidekick? You don't stand a chance without Shego; don't make me laugh."

Zorpox looked over to Drakken, waiting to see if he would jump in. He did.

"S-she's not half the villain that I am, I don't need her to succeed, she's just my sidekick, he's my partner."

Okay, not the most terrifying of responses, but I guess I need to show how it's done.

Zorpox reached into his clothes and pulled out his small contraption. It looked like a hairdryer with a small dish on the end. He pointed it at Killigan and smiled broadly under his hood.

"Here's the deal, Duff-we're leaving, and if you try to stop us, you'll regret it." His voice left no doubt that he would follow through with his threat.

"You're going to stop me with that wee little thing?" He looked unconvinced. Before Zorpox could respond, Kiligan threw his club at Zorpox's hand. Zorpox didn't even flinch, calmly firing at the club and vaporizing it. He then made a slight change to his weapon, and fired again at Killigan.

It hit the other villain in the chest, dropping him where he stood. Drakken walked forward and poked him with his foot. "Did you kill him?"

"No, just stunned; I change the laser's output so that it knocked him out."

Drakken looked at Zorpox suspiciously. "You didn't tell me that your laser could do that."

"No, I didn't."

There was a long pause. "Um, okay...next time, explain all of your plan to me."

"Why?" Zorpox sounded confused.

"Because I said so, and you have to do what I say, or else I'll turn you back into the buffoon."

Zorpox stepped forward and slapped him on the back. "Ah, there's that backbone that I was looking for. Don't lose that. Now, we need to show Killigan that there is a punishment for trying to stop us."

Zorpox started explaining what he wanted to do to Duff Killigan's lair, and Drakken started to grin evilly. In his excitement over the plan, he didn't realize that Zorpox hadn't promised to explain his future plans. As soon as he finished explaining, Drakken dashed off, leaving Zorpox standing and shaking his head. The dark-clothed sidekick turned, then made his way toward Killigan's kitchen.

X X X X X X X X

After Kim had gotten home, she had told her parents how the day had gone; she focused on Killigan's escape, but left out her thought on learning to cook. They were sympathetic, but really didn't have any advice to offer her. Missions were Kim's thing, so they just left her to solve that problem. Mrs. Possible knew that there was something else bothering Kim, and almost asked about it, but decided that Kimmie needed to come to her first.

As her mind drifted to cooking, Kim couldn't help but look at her mom-Ann Possible had tried to teach her daughter to cook-she really had-but every attempt ended in disaster. First it was the blender...then the can opener...then the stove...Kim wasn't sure how much of the kitchen was still original with the house.

Her mother knew a lot about cooking, that was sure-even though Ron knew more, Kim felt a certain bond with her mother, probably from all her failed attempts at learning to cook. Since she couldn't ask her mom to teach her, she needed to find another way of learning-she could probably check out a book from the library if it came to that. But first, she felt she needed a break.

Kim went upstairs and threw herself down on her bed. It had been a long day, made even longer because she hadn't had Ron to talk to. After Killigan had gotten away, she had spent over an hour talking with Global Justice. GJ had contacted her and told her that they were going to send an agent in and not to worry about the golf club. Since most of the villains had been quiet lately, they had been able to send in their top agent. Dr. Director told her that since most of the villains were between lairs or working on a new plan, Kim should take some time off and relax.

Nobody seemed to realize that fighting villains was her way to relax. She was able to go all over the world and help people, which was much more satisfying than sitting at home and watching TV. She had told no one, so not even Monique knew how totally she had freaked when she was home alone with nothing to do. Ron had been busy with Felix, and everyone she knew had plans. She craved contact with other people; that was part of the reason she was with Ron every chance she got. He had a tendency to prattle on and on at times, but Kim knew she always had something she could talk to him about.

And now she was thinking about Ron again. He'd been gone for barely a day, and she was completely at a loss what to do. She tried to think back to what she had done when he had gone off to Japan as an exchange student. Actually, she'd spent the entire week fighting with Monique over Hirotaka-so that didn't really help her much. She could always try and find a date-but that was really desperate-she'd only be looking for someone to stand in until Ron got back-and no one could replace Ron.

Kim didn't like the way her thoughts were going, so she rolled off the bed and grabbed her schoolwork. She quickly pulled out what she needed and started working; first thing was to read some of the book Barkin gave out. Just as she pulled it out, the Kimmunicator beeped. She grabbed it and pushed a button, and Wade popped up.

"Um, Kim, just got news on the Duff Killigan thing. The agent that was sent in wants to talk to you..." At this, Wade hesitated. I don't think she's gonna like this. "Dr. Director sent in agent Will Du."

Kim grimaced, but knew she had to take the call. "Put him on Wade."

The view switched from Wade's face to the smug Will Du. "Ah, Kim. I have captured my target. I thought you should know that I have succeeded where you failed. I knew this wasn't a job for an amateur, but Dr Director said that I had to let you try before I got the go ahead to capture Duff Killigan."

Kim hated his attitude, but couldn't argue with his results. "And the invention?"

"The...ah...what?" Will Du looked confused. That hadn't been in the briefing.

Kim stared at him. How can GJ be that successful and yet be that incompetent? "Duff Killigan stole an experimental Golf club-that's why I was after him. Don't tell me that you didn't get it."

Du paused. "I...um...didn't see anything like that. Since the lair is a mess, it is possible I missed it, but I will have the other agents check."

"Wait-hold on. The lair's a mess? Killigan always keeps his clubs and golf balls organized. What are you talking about?"

"Normally I would not discuss such things with an amateur such as yourself, but since you assisted me earlier when I captured Killigan, I suppose I can tell you."

Kim nearly exploded at him for that comment, but took a deep breath instead. "Please tell me."

"Killigan's castle was a total wreck. It looked like someone had gone in and destroyed the place. All of his golf clubs were bent or broken, his golf balls were smashed, and the rubber bands inside were taken out and spread all across the floor. His kitchen was ransacked, with all of his recipes thrown around. Even the giant mirror in his main room was smashed. I found Killigan unconscious inside his vault, no word yet on how long he will be unconscious." As Du was discussing all this, he pulled up pictures that he had taken of the destruction.

"Do you know who did this?"

"Yes, but I'm not sure I should discuss an ongoing case with an amateur..." Kim started growling, so Du thought it might be a good idea to tell her anyway. "Monkey Fist. We found quite a bit of monkey hair, as well as some bits of black cloth."

"That doesn't make sense! Why would Monkey Fist be after that golf club? He always goes after monkey things-no, something's wrong here." Kim frowned, thinking about it, but coming up with no answers.

"Who else could it be? You're just jealous that you, an amateur, was shown up by a real professional. I'm sorry that you-" Kim cut him off in disgust. Wade appeared back on screen.

"Sorry about that, Kim. Anyway, I have a theory about that special golf club. It looks like its primary purpose is to direct an object to hit a certain point, up to an error of about 0.00001%."

"Um, okay...not seeing the connection, Wade."

"Basically, it will let a person hit a golf ball that will almost always land near the hole. But, it you hook this thing up to some sort of satellite system, it would let the weapons be able to hit a target with pinpoint accuracy. They could drill a hole in a quarter from space, and not hit the guy who's holding it. Kim, someone could create a weapon that could threaten anyone in the world."

Kim sighed. "Great, I went from a missing golf club to a plan for world domination. Hopefully it won't end with something worse." She thought a moment. "I still don't think that it was Monkey Fist. Wade, could you do a check on all the other villains and see what they're working on? I think there's something we're missing."

"Sure, Kim, but it'll take a while."

Kim yawned. "No hurry, it's probably about time I went to bed anyway." She yawned again, then looked surprised. "I'll check back tomorrow-I guess I really need my sleep. Good night, Wade."

"'Night, Kim." He signed off. Kim looked over at her discarded homework, and decided it could wait one more day. She shoved it off her bed, then laid on top of the covers. She needed to get ready for bed, but instead she let her mind wander. She wondered what Ron was doing at this very moment.

X X X X X X X X

Zorpox chuckled quietly, looking at the golf club sitting on the table in front of him. Everything was going exactly as he planned-but Drakken didn't know it. The caped villain had been able to get the real item he needed from Duff Killigan; the golf club was just a bonus. He glanced over at Shego, who was trying to look disinterested, then looked to Drakken, who seemed eager. Zorpox explained his "plan."

Drakken nodded, thinking he had a good grasp of it, so he tried to explain it back to make sure he had it down.

"Okay, with the sensor on this Golf Club, and a few other items, we should be able to create a system of satellites that will be able to target any city in the world-from there, we can threaten every country in the world, and they will all have to bow to our demands-"

Zorpox interrupted, "-but that won't work for all countries, because some of the leaders will be willing to sacrifice their own people to stay in power. If you cause world wide destruction, people will hate you, and you will have lots of rebellions-not to mention if you kill everyone, you won't have anyone to rule over. Instead, focus on the leaders-with these satellites, you can fire into one of their windows and set their coffee mug on fire-that will get their attention. From there, fear will do the rest-and it will be the leaders that fear you, not the people. In fact, do things right, and the people will love you for freeing them from the evil tyrants that rule their counties."

Drakken nodded-it made sense, but it wasn't something he had ever thought about-actually making the people like him. He always figure that if he took over the world, he would either have to destroy lots of things to get people to cooperate, or he would have to mind control everyone. To actually have the people like him-it was a radical concept.

Shego wasn't impressed. "That's your plan-laser satellites? That not any different than something Drakken would do. Actually, it's less impressive than some of his other plans." 'Operation Too Complicated To Work' came to mind.

Drakken tried to shush her. "Shego, there's more to the plan than that." He paused, turning to Zorpox. "There...is more to the plan than that, right?"

"Yes." Zorpox rolled his eyes. "-okay, after we wrecked Killigans lair, I left a few...things behind. After we finished, I tossed a lot of monkey fur around."

Drakken frowned in thought. "Monkey fur? Why?"

Shego sighed. "Why do you think, Dr D? Where does monkey fur come from?"

"Um...Monkeys?"

The villainess smirked. "Very good, Drew, you know your animals."

Drakken gritted his teeth. "Shego..." He growled, then stopped, thinking. "Monkey Fist-you made it seem like Monkey Fist was the one that attacked Killigan-that way Kim will go after him instead of us."

Zorpox nodded twice sarcastically, then shook his head. "No-Kimberly won't be fooled by that-what reason would Monkey Fist have for stealing a golf club-it's not a monkey artifact, so he couldn't care less. It will, however, fool GJ-in fact, they've already fallen for it." Zorpox turned to the large computer screen behind him and pulled up the footage he had of Kim and Du's conversation. He had easily been able to tap into Global Justice's systems, and it had been child's play to track Will Du and find out he believed the decoy.

Shego was confused. "We never have to worry about GJ anyway-it's Kimmie that always give us problems-shouldn't you be distracting her?"

Zorpox sneered at her. "Be quiet. Just because you can't hope to comprehend my plan doesn't mean you get to question me. You're just the sidekick-you're only purpose is to follow orders."

Shego's eyes widened at the insult, and she picked Zorpox off his feet by his collar. She just held him there, contemplating what she was going to do to him. He was totally unconcerned, and he looked over at Drakken. "Aren't you going to do something?"

Drakken stepped over and grabbed her arm. "Let go, Shego." She growled, but set him back down. "And you-" Now Drakken grabbed Zorpox by his collar, and looked him in the eyes. "You quit taking shots at Shego. We're supposed to be fighting against Kim Possible, not each other." He let Zorpox go.

Zorpox bowed his head and acted sorry. "You're right-this is a waste of our time." With his head down, neither of them could see the glint in his eyes. "You're right, I'll explain."

He lifted his head back up, looking at Shego. "Kimberly Ann has no respect for Will Du-he's an overconfident lack wit who doesn't realize that Kim is better than him in any way. Since she's able to see through the deception and he isn't, she won't look any further that the first person she finds. She is always able to figure out what villains are going to do by having Wade check on them-seeing what supplies they are getting. Drakken gave me that list of what each of the villains are doing, and Dementor is working with a bunch of chemicals that can be used to make rockets. Kimberly will think that he framed Monkey Fist, and go after him-leaving us free to work."

"Why didn't you just have something at the scene to make Kim go after him right away?" Drakken asked.

Shego knew this one. "Because this way her computer guy will have to do the research, meaning it will take that much more time before she's ready to get us."

Zorpox nodded-at least she understood. "Also, since Kimberly has to go through all that trouble to figure out that Dementor is the one who stole the club from Killigan, she'll be patting herself on the back because she was able to see through the decoy. Since she thinks she knows exactly what's going on, she'll be even more confused when he's not the one who stole the golf club-and she won't have any clue who she needs to go after next-buying us even more time."

Drakken turned to Shego. "What do you think?"

"I think it's a waste of time. Just vaporize Kimmie and be done with it."

Suddenly, Zorpox's attitude changed. His voice lowered, and he eyed Shego, his face dark. "No-I won't let you hurt her." He took a step toward her, his eyes sparkling dangerously.

Shego had to consciously stand her ground. What she really wanted to do was retreat from Zorpox, or else attack him right out. Something about him scared her, no matter how much she fought it-he just didn't make sense to her. She didn't understand him, all his plans never seemed to make sense-then again, maybe that's why he was so dangerous and able to almost beat Kimmie.

Zorpox was always trying to do something for himself, which was understandable, but the way he did it was always weird. With the way he thought things through, Zorpox could create a plan to kill Kim easily-but for some reason that wasn't part of his agenda. Then again, it was the same with Drakken-but while the mad doctor just wanted to be able to boast about how much better he was, Zorpox had some more sinister reason in mind. She started to say something, but Drakken was already talking.

"If you kill her, Shego, you can't gloat; I want her alive so she can recognize that I finally beat her, even if I had help. It will be even better when she realizes it was her sidekick that helped us-she'll never stand the shame." Drakken grinned; he was already imagining the scene-Kim Possible, defeated, finally forced to admit that Drakken was better than she was. He turned to say something else, then yawned. He blinked in surprise, then realized he'd been up for over twenty-four hours, first creating the attitudinator headband, then working with Zorpox.

He looked at the other two, then grinned sheepishly. "I think that we should call it a night-we can continue this in the morning." Zorpox gave him a hard look, and the blue villain rethought his words. "I-I mean we need to get rest before tomorrow-" The teen shook his head again. The mad doctor thought harder, but didn't know what Zorpox was expecting. The blond leaned over and whispered in Drakken's ear.

"Oh...oh yes-Leave me now, I desire rest..." It came out weak, but the intent was still there. Shego gave a half laugh and left. Zorpox gave a small nod, then made his way back to the room Drakken had prepared. The mad doctor sat down, then leaned back in his chair. It was harder to be a villain than he thought. He rocked back in his chair, and went too far. The chair tipped, dropping Drakken on his back.

He groaned and laid there, just staring up at the ceiling, then heard movement from the door. Shego came back in, then went over to one of the tables, reaching for her forgotten magazine. As she moved inside, she spotted Drakken on the ground. She snickered. "You know, Dr D, I think a bed would be more comfortable."

"Save the sarcasm, Shego, help me up." He raised his hands, motioning toward her. She looked at him, grinning slightly. "Shego, now! Do as I say!"

She went over and grabbed his hands, helping him halfway up. She leaned down, looking him in the eye. "I'll do things when I want to, Sport, not before." She let him go, and he dropped back against the ground again. She laughed at his confused look, then grabbed her magazine and left.

Drakken sighed-everyone was against him. What did he do to deserve this? He got up off the floor, then made his way to bed.

X X X X

While Drakken went to bed, Shego decided that she really wanted to get a snack before she went to sleep. She hoped that maybe a little food would help her to come up with some sort of idea of how to deal with Zorpox. She made her way to the cafeteria, but paused in the doorway when she saw the villain inside. She hesitated, ready to turn and leave, but he had already heard her and turned to look. With Zorpox watching her, she didn't dare show any fear, so she moved toward him boldly.

Shego walked up to the teen, still wary of him, but curious as well. She decided to ask something on her mind. "Zorpox, why are you so interested in protecting Princess-you know that she'll try and stop you. To her, you're just another villain, masquerading as her friend-she'll lock you away again, given half a chance-why don't you just kill her? Surely you're smart enough to come up with something."

The caped villain looked contemplative. "I have dozens of ways I could kill her, but that's really not the question you should be asking yourself." He leaned in closer, conspiratorially. "What you should be asking yourself is, 'How would Zorpox kill me?'" He grinned as she frowned. "It would actually be relatively simple-run electricity through your bath, or cause the floor in your room to drop out, maybe have a panel explode as you walked by." He pulled his laser out and placed it against her chest. "Heck, I could kill you right here."

Her eyes widened, but then she shook her head. "You can't kill me, Drakken made it so you can't hurt us."

Zorpox's grin widened. "He made it so I couldn't hurt him-he said nothing about you." Zorpox's smirk turned predatory.

Now Shego felt the first trickle of fear. Was he lying? She looked into his eyes and came to a sickening realization-he wasn't. She stared into his eyes, saw his cold look, and realized she was going to die-he was going to kill her-right here, in the middle of the cafeteria. She could hear the conversation now. Well, she attacked me-I killed her in self-defense. She tensed up, waiting for the searing pain as he fired.

"BOOM!" Zorpox yelled.

Shego backpedaled, then fell, landing hard. It wasn't until a full ten seconds later that she realized she'd stopped breathing. Her heart started pounding in her chest, and she jumped back to her feet. Now that she realized he was just playing her, Shego's icy fear turned to a white hot rage. He just laughed.

"Come now, Shego, you didn't think I'd kill you here-not while you're still useful to me." He stared at her with narrowed eyes. "Don't mistake that for compassion. Tools are discarded as soon as they outlive their usefulness." He turned and strode away, his cape twirling around him.

Shego didn't know whether to be outraged, or go lock herself into her room until this was over. She couldn't help but feel that she'd just come within a hair's breadth of being killed, that Zorpox had been ready to kill her, but something held him back. She realized her hands were shaking, and consciously focused, regaining her composure.

She took a deep breath and made her way to bed, but something told her that she wouldn't be getting much sleep.

A/N First I have to say-One of my favorite scenes in So the Drama, and one of the funniest, is at the beginning, after Kim parachutes down onto her lawn, she pulls her helmet off, then just casually tosses it to the ground. I always figured that Wade must somehow get it back to her-either that, or there's a pile of discarded helmets in front of her house.

To everyone hoping for-or expecting-a Kim/Zorpox confrontation, well, not quite yet; but I will say that the Kim and Zorpox story lines will be intertwined...even if neither one of them realizes it.