A/N
Chapter 4 is up and running!
Kim and Ron are introduced to their future daughter, Julie Anne "June" Stoppable and her companion Xander. They also learn that things are not going like they should, and that means that something very bad is about to happen.
As if that weren't enough, someone very close to Kim and Ron is dealing with things she's not ready to share, and Kim's more confused than ever. Also, a shadow from Ron's past is starting to appear once more, throwing a definite wrench in the works.
Team Possible has always been able to balance personal life and world-saving, but could these new kinks in the line throw them off?
And here is the necessary stuff:
Kim Possible and all related characters are (c) Disney, Bob Schooley, and Mark McCorkle.
Original Characters are my creations, and I would appreciate if you ask before you use them. Thank you.
Wade rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Uh, Kim, Ron, I don't know how to tell you this, but you do know these two, or you will."
Kim glanced at Ron, who looked as confused as she felt. They would know these two?
Ron spoke first. "What's going on Wade?"
"Well, I don't really know where to start, so I'll just start with the introductions. These two are from the future, and their names are Xander and Julie."
Kim shook her head in surprise. "The future? What are you talking about, Wade?"
Wade rubbed the back of his neck again. "Umm, that's not the part that's going to be hardest to believe. Julie's full name is Julie Anne Stoppable, a.k.a. June Stoppable. She's your daughter."
It took a minute for both of them to digest what Wade had said. When it finally clicked, though, it was pretty obvious.
"Whoa, slow down!" Ron was waving his hands in front of him as if the tech genius's pronouncement was a force in could stop from crashing into him.
"Wade, that is SOOOO not funny," Kim countered, crossing her arms at the bad joke.
Unfortunately, Wade seemed unfazed and completely set in his idea. "It's not a joke, Kim. June here is your daughter from the future."
June stepped forward. "I'm afraid it's no joking sitch, Mom. And neither is why we're here."
Kim shook her head back and forth in a rapid double-take so quick the other four all half-expected to see her head pop off. "Whoa, whoa, WHOA! I'm not your 'Mom'. That's…just not possible…it's ridiculous."
For once, Ron appeared more rational. "Uh, KP, you do have to admit she has pretty good resemblance to you. Put either a red wig on her or a blonde wig on you and you two could be twins. And you do tend to talk the same."
Kim was still having a hard time wrapping her mind around the idea. Her mind was racing, searching for anything that would provide a more rational explanation. One explanation made some sense, but only if that villainess had managed to coerce some guy into getting the same radical procedure she'd had done by that rogue plastic surgeon.
"Maybe its Camille in disguise?" she supplied weakly, her voice not even convincing herself.
Xander shook his head and placed his hand on June's shoulder. "I told you your dad would accept it easier than your mother."
June, on the other hand, felt somewhat crushed by Kim's defense. She had known that her mom was going to have a hard time accepting what was going on, especially with the trouble she knew the shape-shifting former heiress had already caused her still young parents. And granted it was a lot to take in, even if June was pretty sure that Kim already knew Ron was the one she would eventually marry. But still, the mere idea that her own mother was having trouble accepting who she was hurt a lot more than she had expected. If this sitch weren't of the utmost importance, and if Xander hadn't been there, she had a feeling she might have uncharacteristically abandoned the mission right there. As it was, she couldn't stop the watery sheen from invading her eyes.
Whether Kim noticed it or not was never made clear. However, the red-head did appear to be trying to come to terms with the situation.
"Okay, Wade. Say you are telling the truth. How can you prove they are who they say they are? Or better yet, how can they?"
"Because, Kim, they know things they couldn't be aware of unless their story is true," Wade said with a completely straight face. "Things that only the three of us, and maybe Monique, know about."
"Okay, but I'm still not fully convinced this sitch is on the up and up."
Though the holo-Wade merely continued to stare at her with a straight face, she was surprised to hear Wade's voice in her ear. It was only then that she realized she was still wearing the Kimmunicator's Bluetooth headset. And what he said caused her to blush redder than Ron's favorite jersey from her neck all the way to the roots of her hair.
"And because June knows all about certain things you own that you've only told Monique about at this point. And I even had to confirm it with Mon as soon as they told me. Things that have to do with what you eventually want to happen with Ron on your wedding night, or maybe before then."
As she tried to reign in her blushing, Kim nervously rubbed her abdomen at the precise spot where she had nearly been sucked into a vortex created by embarrassment. During her sophomore year, Drakken had sprayed her with a serum made from the pollen of the rare Amazonian Aurora Orchid. The stuff had the effect of causing a person's desire to disappear in humiliating situations to come true, and Drakken's plan had come very close to succeeding. Of course it hadn't helped that Kim had been unable to control herself and stay home when Josh Mankey asked her out on their first date. Things had been made even more difficult by the interference of Drakken and Shego, who had done all they could to make sure that every uncomfortable problem that could occur on a date had happened. Even the Tweebs had gotten in on the action, though they had been unaware that the mortifying situations were slowly vanishing their sister from existence. As it was, Kim had been reduced all the way to a mere head with no mouth before Ron managed to bring a sample of the flower back and waft the pollen over to her, causing her to sneeze and reappear instantly.
Kim couldn't hold back a nervous laugh at the thought that, if the stuff were still in her system, she would have gone from fully there to completely gone in less than a second. After all, it was true: Kim did own a few "very special" unmentionables that only Ron would ever see. The only reason Monique knew about them was she had been with Kim on that particular trip to the mall, and had helped her friend pick out colors that flattered her even more than the barely-there things already did. She'd also been there as a sort of moral support when a slightly embarrassed Kim had gotten one item in particular personalized with monogramming. If Wade knew about that, it was only a matter of time before it slipped out to Ron. The two had gotten much closer as friends after the whole Cupid Ray fiasco, and Wade had even joined Ron and Felix on several of their more recent "guy's night out" excursions. Evidently though, even if the holo-Wade was looping, the real thing was still watching her, because he immediately said the best thing she could hope to hear from him at that moment.
"Don't worry, Kim. Monique already swore me to complete secrecy, and said she'd kill me if she ever found out I told Ron."
Kim relaxed immediately, though she could tell there were still flames to her cheeks. Trust Monique to pull something like that for her BFF. Ron didn't appear to notice, thankfully, but June was looking at her with a knowing yet apologetic smile on her face. She mouthed "sorry" at her, and Kim realized that the young woman hadn't wanted Wade to have to use that bit of information to prove that what they were saying was the truth. But what finally clinched it for her that June was in fact her daughter was the way the girl cocked her head to the side and shrugged when she said it. It was a mirror image of the move she had pulled with Ron every single time she'd had to break plans because Josh or Eric or somebody else asked her out unexpectedly. The gesture had been inherited from seeing her own mother do it more times than she could count, and Carmichael women were the only ones Kim had ever seen pull it in that exact manner.
"Okay, so if you two are from our future, what are you doing here in the present? What's the sitch?"
Xander groaned good-naturedly. "Man, you Stoppable women and that phrase. It's your response to everything."
Ron grinned, already noticing the major spark that existed between the two "kids." If this situation was for real and he was right, he was most likely talking to his daughter's current boyfriend. Maybe they were more, but Ron didn't really want to think that far ahead right now…
"Get used to it, my man. Those words are more likely to come out Kim's mouth, and I suspect June's as well, than the word 'Hello'."
Kim rolled her eyes at that, even though she knew it was true. It was actually a rarity that they didn't have at least one mission a week nowadays, what with how popular and well-known they'd become. Of course, they weren't all evil-genius-fighting, world saving globetrotter trips, but it did seem the hits on the site had been picking up more so lately. She suspected that was going to be even more of a case this summer, what with people picking up the pieces from the Lorwardian attack. She just hoped they didn't have to turn anyone down due to the strains of time constraint they were sure to face this summer.
"Okay," she said after a minute. "Before we go any further, we have to establish something right off the bat. I'm Kim, and he's Ron. No more calling us 'Mom,' 'Dad,' or 'the Stoppables.' Deal?"
June smiled. "Deal. Besides, I was having a hard time with that anyway since I'm technically older than you right now."
Ron blinked. "Older? You look like you're still a teenager to me."
"I am, but I'm already 18. Kim doesn't turn 18 for a few weeks, right?"
"May 31st, that's right," replied Kim. She was inwardly shocked she hadn't realized her birthday was less than three weeks away. The only explanation she could come up with was that the Lorwardian attack had probably pushed it right out of her mind.
In typical fashion of course, Ron agreed and kept going. "Right. And you were the result of your parents taking advantage of August 25th being National Kiss-and-Make-Up Day to make up after that fight about which of the Tri-Cities to live in."
Kim and June were both instantly mortified, and Wade and Xander both got flabbergasted looks on their faces. The result was a nice, loud, four-person chorus of surprised voices accosting the offender.
"RON!"
Xander broke the uncomfortable ice quickly. "Anyways, the reason we're here is that we're chasing a villain from our time that is here to change the future to an alternate one where he has a lot more power. And the only way to do that is to have the version of him from this time mess with a crucial event that will occur soon and change your lives forever."
Kim nodded. "Okay. So we stop him before he interferes, and the sitch is done."
June shook her head. "I wish it were that simple. But if it were, we wouldn't have contacted you. After all, this isn't the first time we've had to correct something. Although it's never been this big a sitch before."
Ron scratched his head. "What do you mean?"
Xander looked around quickly. "We'd tell you more right now, but we need to get to someplace secure before we can. If he learns we're on to him, this whole mission will be blown. And trust me when I say you do NOT want that sitch to come about."
Kim put her hand to her chin. "Well, we obviously can't go back to Ron's house. I don't think our parents would be too thrilled to run into their granddaughter right now when Ron and I haven't even started college yet. Even if you are from the future."
"Definitely," agreed June. "According to these Chaos Calculators that Wade installed into our Kimmunicator 7s, the less people we interact with the better. We've already slightly altered the time stream just by being here, and that whole 'squash an ant' theory is pretty much spot on."
Ron glanced at the box of recovered Team Possible technology. "Well, we can cover our extended absence by saying we had to go after someone who stole some of the gadgets we recovered here."
Wade smiled a bit, although there was a hint of nervousness. "I would suggest you come by my house, but Monique's here, and she's not really ready to have Kim or Ron see her the way she is right now."
Kim felt a renewed surge of curiosity. Again she wondered why Monique was staying at Wade's house when her house was in the part of Middleton that wasn't damaged. And why did she now not want to talk to or see her personally declared BFF Kim at the moment? For some reason, it didn't hit Kim until that moment that she had only actually been to Monique's house once, the night of the Halloween party and Centurion Project mess during her freshman year. Not only that, she had never met either of the girl's parents or heard her talk about them that much. For a strange moment she got a weird memory of Monique mentioning that her dad played golf, and that was why she wasn't initially scared of Duff Killigan and his exploding golf balls. Then Kim got a major headache that quickly disappeared, and the memory disappeared right along with it, almost as if it had never existed in the first place.
"Maybe you could call in a favor?" suggested Xander.
Kim shook her head. "No, that wouldn't work. Favors are pretty much for rides only unless we agreed otherwise with the person who's offering them."
Fishing for ideas, Ron supplied, "Maybe we could ask Hego and the others if we could use Go Tower? That would give you two a place to stay as well."
Xander immediately shot that idea down. "Stay with my uncles? Are you kidding me? I like them and all, but five minutes in the presence of Uncle Hector or Uncle Melvin is already more than I can generally stand, and that's with them being mellowed with age."
"Uncle Hector and Uncle Melvin?" Kim asked confusedly. Then it dawned on her who he was talking about. "Oh, you're referring to Hego and Mego."
June nodded. "Yeah, in our time they generally prefer if we call them by their real names unless they're in uniform."
Ron snapped his fingers in triumph. "I knew it! You're Shego's son!"
Xander grimaced and shook his head yes. "Yes, Sheila Go Lipsky is my mother. I knew powering up like that was going to give me away. And yes, Andrew Lipsky, a.k.a. Dr. Drakken, is my father. Though I would greatly appreciate it if you didn't tell them yet. If they knew, things would fall apart before they get a good foothold. Their relationship right now is…tumultuous at best. It's going to be a little bit before they hit the point where I'm safe."
"Boo Yeah! I told you, Kim." He had a smug look on his face that Kim would have thought roguishly handsome had they not been trying to deal with an obvious crisis.
"Yes, but back on topic," observed Kim, "we have to find some place for you two to stay low and keep your cover. Like you said, if this guy you're chasing happens to find out you two are here, this whole sitch will blow up in our faces."
It was quickly turning into a problem. All five were racking their brains to find a solution, but nothing anybody came up with worked any better than what had been suggested. After a bit, Wade looked off to the side for minute, and though his lips moved, they couldn't hear what he was saying. Then he turned back towards them.
"Hey, I just talked to Monique, and she said go ahead and come over, just don't ask a lot of questions about her or her situation right now."
As it was the best plan they'd come up with so far, they all agreed. Kim and Ron climbed into the Sloth and used the videophone to inform their parents there was a mission to take care of before they could come home, and to not wait up. Both mothers told them to be careful, and both fathers told them to not worry about any sort of curfew. Once the call was done, Xander and June, who had stayed outside to keep from being seen by their grandparents, climbed into the back seat. Kim gave what June termed the "mom eye" when she noticed the two didn't immediately buckle up, but they passed it off as being used to future cars having features like automatic seatbelts. Kim wasn't sure she believed them, and made a mental note to later write a physical note to remind herself to keep an eye on her daughter's habits once she became a teenager.
The drive over to Wade's house took little more than ten minutes, but the time dragged due to the uncomfortable situation of having nothing that could be said safely. Once there, Kim immediately noticed something was off. There were Wade's parents' cars, and there was Monique's little compact and her brother's beat up old truck, but nothing else. She tried to chalk it up to Monique's parents' cars being destroyed in the invasion, but for some reason it kept splintering in the back of her mind. What was the sitch with Monique, and why was Kim getting this weird feeling that there were secret aspects to her best friend's life that had never been shared with anyone? Wanting to honor the young woman's request for no questions, Kim forced herself to shove the sensation to the back of her mind for later discussion.
However, despite that resolve, entering the Load household simply brought up more questions and stronger feelings that something wasn't quite right. Monique's family was only using two of the Load's three guestrooms, and Kim knew full well from what Monique had said that, even though she and her brother cared about each other a great deal, they couldn't stand to share rooms with each other. Again, Kim mentally strengthened her determination to not question her friend about it. She merely hugged her tight, noticing that Monique held the hug a bit longer than normal. Then the girl simply returned to the room she was using and shut the door. A million questions pelted Kim's mind, but she held them all at bay.
Wade led them into the holo-cube in his basement bedroom, which he had already configured to display a cross between a briefing room and a comfortable sitting room. There were several comfy chairs arranged around a round table, as well as a digital projector and screen with audio and video already set up. As they all sat down on the comfy chairs, Kim asked what was up with the equipment, and Wade pointed at June and Xander.
"They asked me to set it up. Said they had visual aids to help explain things."
June reached into the pack she had and pulled out a disc that was just slightly smaller than a normal CD. "Was your future self right in thinking you can play this with your current technology? It runs on your Mission Projector 4.0 program"
Wade nodded. "Actually, I'm already up to using 6.0, so it shouldn't be a problem."
June appeared visibly relieved, and she pulled out another disc the same size. "That's good. I actually have one here that's formatted for version 6.0 if that would be better."
Wade took the disc from her and inserted it into the player. The screen immediately lit up, and an older version of Wade appeared on it, this one much taller and muscular than his current stature. Again, Kim got a ferociously bad headache that disappeared almost as quickly as it had come. Looking over at Ron, she realized he was having the same problem. When the older Wade spoke, his voice was rich and deep, and it had a laughing quality to it.
"To my younger self, and hopefully to Kim and Ron if June and Xander have been successful in following the order necessary for this to work, I apologize for pulling you away from putting your lives back together. I know this isn't the best time, what with the clean-up from the Lorwardian attack, but we three know that villainy never was considerate of our personal troubles or trying times. And unfortunately, perhaps the biggest threat Team Possible has ever faced is about to make itself known. I wouldn't have sent Xander and June back in time again if I didn't think it absolutely necessary, and I wish this mission could have been accomplished without involving you. Unfortunately, that is not the case. In just a minute, I'm going to pause so that my present-day self can have a chance to explain Project: Gemini Chronos."
As he said it, the words, "PROJECT: GEMINI CHRONOS" appeared on the screen as the first entry in a bright red bullet list.
"Also, with Xander and June's help, you also need to inform Kim and Ron of the details concerning the two missions you also classified in the Chronos file, Profile: Rewriting History and Profile: Sitch in Time."
The words, "MISSION PROFILE: REWRITING HISTORY" and "MISSION PROFILE: SITCH IN TIME" each joined the red bullet list as entries.
"I realize that means you're going to have to tell Kim about that, Wade, but this is of the utmost importance. Once you've completed these tasks, and Xander and June are satisfied that Kim and Ron are up to speed, press play to continue the disc. And please hurry. We don't have much time if my calculations are correct."
Kim looked over at Wade. She knew that Wade kept mission profiles on all their missions in case they needed to reference back to them for current ones, but she had never heard of these two, or of any projects that concerned their missions. This sitch was becoming more and more mysterious, and evidently things Wade had kept from her and Ron were just the beginning. And what had Future Wade meant when he said, "tell Kim about that"? Then she remembered that morning at Global Justice. He hadn't…
"Wade, what's going on here?" she asked, turning towards him with a seriously tweaked expression on her face.
Wade held up his hands in defense. "Now Kim, I only did it to keep you safe, same as Ron. It was only there in case one or both of you were incapacitated and I needed to give your rescue exact coordinates."
"WADE…"
He recoiled just a bit. "Ron's not the only one chipped. You are as well. But it was only intended as a safety measure. I never had them recording when you weren't on a mission or in a serious predicament."
Ron was puzzled. "What's he talking about, KP? What does 'chipped' mean?"
Kim turned towards him with a smile. "We both have a mini-microchip of Wade's design somewhere on us. It provides 3-D GPS coordinates on us at all times so that Wade can track us. I knew you still had one, but I didn't know I had one, or that it was even active."
Ron's eyes got wide. "You've been having me tracked? For how long?"
Kim suddenly felt very worried about how Ron was going to react. "Since Halloween our Freshmen Year, when Duff Killigan kidnapped you so he could bargain with me for the Centurion Project. I got worried what would happen if something like that but more serious took place, so I had Wade rig up a mini-chip that I slipped into one of your Nacos a week later."
"And I wondered what would happen if Kim were the one kidnapped and missing, so I had Ned slip one into her veggie taco salad that same day," added Wade.
Kim turned to give Wade a quick smile to show she understood. Then she turned towards Ron, who still hadn't said anything yet.
"You know, Ron, that chip is actually a good thing. It was part of the reason Kim was able to find and then help you on the 'Gorilla Fist' mission," interjected June.
Ron leaned in closer to Kim, and she felt like a bug under a microscope. At least she did until he spoke.
"Considering you did it because you were worried about me, I think that has got to be one of the best things you've ever done for me. Mind if I keep you around for a while?" He smiled and then kissed her, a soft, lingering kiss that made her heart melt, his hands cupping the back of her head and running gently through her hair.
"Couldn't get rid of me if you tried, Ronnie," she said when they finally broke for air.
"Guys, focus here," Wade interrupted.
"Sure thing, Wade," Kim replied as smoothed her hair from where Ron had run his fingers through it.
Wade took a deep breath. "Okay then. First things first—Project: Gemini Chronos. After the Zorpox incident, I realized that it could have very easily been Kim who was the one who had been turned evil, which would have been a lot harder to deal with. Even more so if both of you had been turned. I also realized that it was entirely conceivable that whoever was turned evil could end up killing the other. So I devised a back-up plan should it ever come to that. In theory, I would find someone I trusted completely to go back in time and stop the events that turned you towards the path of malevolence. I called it 'Gemini Chronos' because it was in effect an idea to erase an evil twin from history. However, I never told you about it because without the ability of time travel, it was just a theory. Evidently, by the time in history that Xander and June are from, time travel has been discovered."
He turned towards the two. "Everything right so far?"
June nodded. "So far so good."
"So which of us gets turned evil?" asked Ron.
Xander shook his head. "Unfortunately, our Wade told us that you have to see it on the video. Otherwise we risk exposing our cover and messing up our timeline."
Neither Kim nor Ron was happy with that answer, but unfortunately they had no choice but to agree. They turned back towards Wade.
Wade shrugged and continued. "Now for the importance of the chips. I have them set up to automatically download mission results to my computer after each mission before they shut down. During your sophomore year at Middleton, there were two instances where a mission profile was sent to my system even though no time had passed and no mission had occurred."
"Weird," was the only response Kim could come up with.
Wade nodded. "I agree. The first time this happened was shortly after the first cheer practice you two had that year, and I deemed it Mission Profile: Sitch in Time. The mission specs I received on that one dealt with something called the Tempus Simia idol that allowed Drakken, Shego, Monkey Fist, and Duff Killigan to travel into your past and future and mess with the timeline. Basically, they attempted to take you out before you could grow into the skills that would let you defeat them. But it failed because you were alerted to the problem by a talking future descendant of Rufus. However, Shego realized that the two of you worked well together, so she went back to that point and split you up, sending Ron to Norway. That splitting of Team Possible allowed for the original successful stealing of the Tempus Simia idol, which also led to Shego taking control of the world. But you two then went to the future and stopped her. In the process, you smashed the idol, which snapped you right back to the walk home you had been on immediately after that cheer practice."
"When I said I hate meat cakes!" exclaimed Ron as he caught on.
"Exactly," Wade responded.
"I still don't get that," replied Kim. "You've never even had meat cakes."
"That's just the point," said Wade. "Ron has had both meat cakes and lamb cabbage stew. He just doesn't remember having them because in our corrected timeline he never moved to Norway and had to eat them."
Kim made a connection to this. "Wait, is that where these ferocious headaches keep coming from? Like, is there a mission that Monique went on because Ron was stuck in Norway? Where she and I went up against Killigan?"
"That's right," said June. "And if you were to ask her about it, she'd probably tell you that she get those headaches and disappearing memories as well. It's one of the effects of time travel and timeline switching. Though I suspect hers are more like minor twinges than actual headaches, simply because her present-day self wasn't involved in correcting the timeline."
"Makes sense…I guess," Kim said, fishing for something to grasp about the sitch. It made sense in talk, but in her head all it was turning into was one big jumbled mess.
"Anyways," added Xander. "After we learned about that one, we went back to before those four stole the body from the Tri-City Museum and 'appropriated' it. Did the same thing with the head from that temple in the Australian outback, and took them with us to the future so the events would never exist."
"Appropriated?" Kim asked with raised eyebrows.
June shook her hands. "Don't worry, Kim. We didn't steal it from them. We simply explained that it was important to return it where it belonged, and paid them ten times what they had paid for it. They accepted it pretty easy, actually."
"But Wade said the timeline was fixed when the idol was smashed…why fix something that was already fixed?" Ron asked with a questioningly pointed look.
"True, but according to our timeline, the Tempus Simia still existed," Xander replied. "You two found the head on another mission as a side item. Wade studied it, and that's where time travel originated. We simply removed it from this time and moved it forward to the point in history where you would find it. That, if our Wade's data is right, won't happen for several years. Basically, we caused the idol to jump forward in time to a point where it wouldn't threaten all existence."
Kim wasn't entirely satisfied with this explanation. There had to be more to this story, but she figured she would let it slide for now.
"Okay. So what about the other mission?" asked Ron.
Wade scratched his head. "Mission Profile: Rewriting History is slightly more mysterious. Do you remember a trip to the Middleton History Museum at the end of that same school year?"
Kim thought for a moment. "Not really…wait! The field trip where our clothes changed!"
"Yeah, what the heck was up with that?" quipped Ron.
"According to the mission profile sent to my computer, the two of you not only saved the entire Tri-City area from a massive explosion, you also proved that Kim's great-aunt, Miriam "Mim" Possible, didn't actually steal the Electrostatic Illuminator from the Tri-City Expo a hundred years ago."
Kim was confused. "But that's impossible. We already knew she didn't do it because Ron's great-uncle Johnathon Stoppable proved it by finding the device in the Taco Stand. It was his first big case."
Wade shook his head. "Not according to the mission recorders in your chips. Based on what they sent back to my computer that day, you and Ron proved she didn't do it when you found the device in the Taco Stand at the Middleton Museum's Expo Exhibit. Then it was stolen by Dr. Drakken and Shego in their hovercraft, but you rescued them shortly before it exploded."
"Wait," said Ron, shaking his head in confusion. "One of the things that made great-uncle John's career was proving Mim's innocence when everyone else had her pegged as a thief. It's one of the reason's he's always part of the Middleton Police Department's float at every Middleton Days festival. How could he do that if we were the ones who found the thing?"
"Actually, Ron," answered Xander, "we're also the ones responsible for that little conundrum. See, that was our first time travel mission. Prior to our…interference, if you will, Mim was considered the black sheep of the Possible family. However, we already knew about it because you told us about that mission. Anyways, my parents, who are much different people from the ones you know, said they wanted us to fix the timeline so that it was proven that Bartholomew Lipsky and Miss Go were the ones who tried to steal the device, not Mim."
Kim felt her jaw drop, and also noticed that Ron and Wade had identical expressions to hers. Drakken and Shego had done something nice for the Possible family, all while knowing they probably wouldn't get credit for it?
"Why would they do that?" Kim's voice squeaked out.
This time it was June who responded. "They had their reasons, Kim. Like Xander said, the Andrew Lipsky and Sheila Go-Lipsky you currently know are nothing like the ones that we know. People change if you give them a chance. Anyways, we came to this time and followed your mission up to the point that we found out where the device was hidden. Then we knocked you out and took you back to the point in the field trip where Mr. Barkin woke you up and propped you up, so you would think you had been asleep. Then we used a device on you that alters memories so that the person thinks it was just a weird dream. Then we went back a hundred more years and left clues for great-great-uncle John so that he would find it in the taco stand. Though we had to leave more than normally allowed, he did eventually catch on and find the device. When he did, his detective career took off, and the rest as they say is history. The only problem is that when we altered your memories so you wouldn't remember it, we forgot to put you back in the clothes you wore the day of the field trip. Luckily you didn't fret too much over it, so we decided to leave it alone before we messed something else up."
"But what about that whole 'squash an ant' idea you were talking about back at my house?" asked Kim. "How did you know you weren't fixing something that was supposed to remain messed up?"
June held up her wrist, showing what looked like a much sleeker and far more advanced version of Kim's wrist Kimmunicator. "Used a program in these. And since Wade's already written a prototype for it, I can tell you what it is. The program is known as a Chaos Calculator, and contains everything that ever happened in history. If you want to know what ramifications a particular action will have, you simply input it into the C.C., and it uses multiple logs and history studies to calculate what will happen."
Her blue-green skinned companion joined in. "Say for example, we had fought earlier, and one of you had sustained some sort of injury. The C.C. would have immediately input that into the established chronological progression, and calculated the new future we would face when we got back. That's why we have a specific order we have to do things in. If we do even one thing out of order, the entire timeline could be messed up, meaning that even the smallest change could result in either of us not existing."
"So why bring us in on this?" Kim observed. "Wouldn't that mess with the timeline as well?"
June sighed. "Actually, this is the only way to fix things without alerting the villain we're chasing to our presence. Also, if you guys try to fix what he's going to change, it leads to the dystopian future we're trying to prevent from occurring. So if we warn you about it now, we can do what we have to in order to prevent it."
"'What you have to'? What does that mean?" Ron asked.
June got a slightly pained look on her face. "The only way to stop him is to let him succeed, and fix it after the fact."
"WHAT?" Wade's voice carried a complete and utter disbelief. "You actually want him to win and bring that about?"
It dawned on Kim that Wade already knew the supposed "great disaster" that June and Xander had come back to prevent. She also realized that, for reasons known only to them and to him, he hadn't yet told her and Ron what it was. Though he clearly wanted to, they had obviously warned him against revealing anything about it. What could be so ferociously horrible that there was hesitation when it came to telling her and Ron what was going on?
Xander stood up, his fists clenched, though thankfully not yet glowing. "Hey, don't take it out on her! You're the one who gave us that very specific instruction! If we stop him beforehand, he simply goes back in time again, this time more guarded against our interference, and teams up with his present-day self again. And if that happens, we fail every time we try to fix it. His future self has to think they've succeeded, and then you can apprehend his present-day version after his future self has already gone back to our time. Then we go back to our time and apprehend that version as soon as he appears so he can't undo the fix."
Kim put her hand to her chin. "So who is this guy you're after? If we get tabs on him now…"
"Then you alert him to our plan. In your words, 'We're being sneaky'," interrupted June.
Ron held out his hands in frustration. "So why even involve us if you can't tell us anything?"
"Guys, I think Kim and Ron are ready to see the rest of the disc. It's time they knew what you two are here to try to prevent," Wade piped in. He looked worried yet determined.
However, June merely shook her head. "Sorry, Wade, but that's not possible yet. You were right just now, Wade. Before they see the disc and the explanation of why we're here, they need to know the full sitch. And that means telling them about that."
Xander's look was nothing short of complete shock. "June, No! They have to see it on the disc!"
"Xander, the sitch has changed, if you hadn't noticed!" June snapped. "They weren't supposed to even see us back at Mom's house!"
The young man's rising anger was apparent. "We have a responsibility on this mission to keep the timeline intact! We can't go off doing whatever seems right at the time!"
Ron stood up, and Kim had never seen him so full of contained fury. Well, except for maybe a few days ago against the Lorwardians. In less than a second, he stood between Xander and Julie, facing the young man with a look that would have melted steel.
"I know you have a mission to follow, and I respect that. And I know that technically you have yet to be born. But talk to my daughter like that again, and I will make sure that you never go out on a single date with her."
Ron's hair was starting to wave on its own, and Kim noticed his eyes were flashing back and forth from their normal warm brown to a hard, brilliant blue. She was just about to step in between them when June did it for her.
"DAD! Calm down, NOW!"
Evidently being called "Dad" had the effect of breaking Ron's building rage. "June, he has no right to talk to you like that."
His future daughter stared him down with a look he'd only seen from a severely tweaked Kim, such as when he "borrowed" the battle suit or wouldn't give up his coupon book. "I agree with that, but you can't do anything to him or it might change history. Say you fight him and get hurt. The injury means you can't go on a mission you were supposed to go on. Mom gets hurt because you weren't there to back her up, and can't do a later mission that was supposed to contain a really romantic moment between the two of you that fixes a fight. You break up, and your kids are never born, which includes me. Do you really want that?"
Kim was about to interrupt, but then it hit her—June hadn't said "kid", she had said "kids". They were going to have more than one? Although she'd always enjoyed her own big family, she also knew that world-saving was generally a full-time job. As a result, she'd always assumed they'd have just the one kid. Another thing about it was that June hadn't mentioned which kid she was. What if they messed up and named the kids wrong? Would that change history as well?
Seeing the look on Kim's face jerked Ron back to his girlfriend's side. "KP, what's wrong?"
Kim let her head fall into her hands with her elbows resting on her knees. "Ron, I just realized that everything we say or get them to say is changing the mission aspects they have to follow. We need to just shut up and let them tell us what they can."
Xander also seemed to calm down. "Ron, you're right. I shouldn't talk to June like that, no matter how the sitch changes." Turning towards his companion, he slumped his shoulders. "Sorry about that, June. You're right, they are entitled to know what we're trying to prevent. I just got so caught up in the right way to do things that I got blinded by the mission parameters. Our Wade even told us the best way to go was with the flow. Forgive me?"
June smiled. "No big, X. We're both stressing right now. And you're right; we can't go off doing whatever. We have to keep things in check if we don't want to change things from bad to worse. Forgive me?"
A smile broke out across that blue-green face. "You know it, Jules."
They kissed, and two pairs of eyes looked at their future daughter with warm looks. If this kiss was any sort of indicator of the relationship between Xander and June, how bad could things really be for the future they had ahead of them? But then the same thought hit both of them—if this was what the correct timeline was supposed to lead to, what did the alternate one lead to?
Wade, who hadn't known what to say during the exchange, cleared his throat. "So do you two want to tell them now, or should I press play and continue the disc you brought?"
Xander and June looked at each other for a second, and then June nodded. She turned towards Kim and Ron, a very serious look on her face. It was the kind of look that, had Ron had it on, would have been followed by his telling people to note it.
"What would you two say would be the worst possible sitch for the world to have to deal with?"
Ron immediately supplied his normal answer. "The whole world gets turned into monkeys!"
Kim, sensing the immense gravity of the situation, fought to suppress a giggle. Even as the Supreme Master of Monkey Kung Fu and the destined Monkey Master, her BF still had monkey issues. If that wasn't irony, she didn't know what was. Still, this wasn't the time for that.
"Ron, get serious," she admonished. Then she turned back to June. "Umm, one of the villains surprises us and takes us out before taking over the world?"
June shook her head. "No, go worse."
Ron got a sudden flash of brilliance. "Dr. Cyrus Bortal perfects one of his mind-control devices, and Drakken or someone else uses it to enslave both me and Kim to work for them."
Again, a gesture of negative from the blonde girl. "No, but you're getting close."
Kim was racking her brain, when a thought struck her like a ton of bricks. "Ron goes back to Zorpox, and I'm forced to have to take him out to stop him. But due to our relationship, I can't make myself do it."
This time it was Xander. "No, that's something you could deal with. Though you almost have it."
Ron was suddenly hit with a possibility. It was one of his worst fears, but from the way they were talking, it appeared to be the problem they kept talking about.
"Kim is the one who gets hit with the Attitudinator, turning her evil."
June slowly nodded. "Right. You're sayings about 'I can do anything,' and 'Anything's possible for a Possible?' They apply to taking over the world as well."
Kim shook her head in disbelief. "Me? That's...that's just so ferociously wrong. I would never do something like that!"
June eyed her with a pointed look. "Prior to that whole mess with Team Go and Electronique, wouldn't you have said it was impossible for you and Shego to ever be friends?"
As much as Kim wanted to answer in the negative, she knew she honestly couldn't. "No, I don't suppose so."
Xander sighed. "And I would think the whole Zorpox sitch would have convinced you two that either of you could be converted to evil if that machine managed to flip-flop your personality."
Ron grimaced at the mention of his alter-ego. This whole sitch was bringing new light on just whose voice he was hearing when he had succumbed to his rage while in full-powered Monkey Mode. He made a mental note to speak with Sensei as soon as he possibly could. If that megalomaniac version of himself got out, with full Monkey power, there was no telling what would happen. For a second, he debated telling Kim his suspicions, but decided it was maybe better to confirm things with Sensei first. No need to worry Kim when he wasn't even entirely sure about the sitch himself.
Suddenly, Kim thought of something. "But wait, the Attitudinator helmet was destroyed on that mission shortly after it made Shego revert back to evil. How could it still be used if it's destroyed?"
June stared at her with a look of disbelief. "Kim, I know Ron can be dense, but think…who originally came up with that machine?"
Kim's eyes narrowed. "Jack Hench and Hench Co. They still have the blueprints for it, don't they?"
Xander nodded. "And pretty soon, they are going to have a couple of very interested legitimate buyers. Buyers who are going to want Team Possible's help."
Ron tilted his head to the side, a confused look on his face. "Umm, none of the people who generally deal with Hench Co. have ever been that interested in procuring our help. They normally want more Henchmen to help stop us. Who could possibly have business with both Jack Hench and us?"
Kim was equally as lost. "I have to agree with Ron on this one. Jack Hench has even asked us a few times to test the recruits that are fresh out of his latest training programs."
Xander frowned. "June, I think we're going to have go to Plan B on this."
June sighed. "I guess you're right, X." She turned towards Wade. "Wade, would you mind if we stayed here in holo-cube for a while?"
Now Kim was even more puzzled. "Wait, what's going on?"
June looked at her. "I'm afraid that, until you figure out who would want to both buy an Attitudinator and ask for help from Team Possible, we can't tell you anymore. Otherwise, we jeopardize our mission."
"You mean…" said Ron.
"Yes," replied June. "Until this sitch is clearer to the two of you, we can't tell you anything else."