The Fae settled back into the shadows of the old tree as the pair of teens moved toward its selected spot. The inferno that was destroying the lair was dying out, the shell that was the lair didn't have enough material to sustain combustion. Contrary to the Illuminati predictions, the apparently uninjured girl was helping the blond boy along holding his arm across her shoulder with one hand while carrying a metal cylinder with the other. The expression on her face was not one of worry, but of annoyance, bordering on anger.

"Ron, when we get back, we need to talk about paying attention to what I say during a mission."

"But KP"

"Save it for later Ron, I need to get this back to the authorities and with you unable to run, it's just me." Kim eased Ron down to a sitting position out of immediate sight behind the old tree, using an exposed root as a back rest. Kim quickly surveyed the area, the fire from the manor was already mostly out and didn't look to be spreading. The bad guys all seemed to have cleared out. At any rate, they would be more likely to chase after her carrying the PDVI than her wounded partner. She pulled off her utility belt and dropped it next to him saying "Take this in case you need more vet rap for your ankle. You should be safe enough here, I'll be back as soon as I can." She took a deep, calming breath then bent down and gave him a quick kiss. "I love you, we'll talk later." And with that, she took off at a ground eating jog.

"Rufus!" A small face peered up at Ron from a cargo pocket. "Go!" With a faint blue flash, the little mole rat raced after Kim, quickly catching up with her, jumping up on her back and nestling under the end of her flowing pony tail. Rufus was light in weight and ninja trained so Kim didn't immediately notice her little passenger. Mystically enhanced or not, the little mole rat panted to catch its breath after its maximum effort sprint.

"What was he thinking?" wondered Kim, putting her hand on a low wooden fence and vaulting over it. "I told him to clear the way to the exit, not to jump and grab the PDVI. It's sheer luck that only one of us was hurt and the bad guys were too busy clearing out to take advantage of that. Lucky that the lair destructed, I wonder what that was about. Hope that no henchmen got caught in the blast." After scanning the surrounding area for signs of pursuit and seeing none, she checked her direction and she continued jogging northeast.

The Fae watched Ron grunt with pain and pull up his shirt, exposing a bloody area on his side. The bloody mess looked painful, but unfortunately not fatal. Ron struggled to hold a white pad on the wound while trying to wrap a roll of some brightly colored material around his waist to hold the pad in place. The Fae was about to come out of hiding when it noticed another person stepping out of the shadows. This must be the other player it has noticed earlier. The new player's clothing, general body shape and the way they moved suggested a kounoichi. This bothered the Fae as none of the probable Illuminati prediction paths mentioned the presence of any oriental assassins at this time and place. Still, the death of Ron Stoppable would accomplish its goal without any effort on its part and the Fae was fine with that. And if the assassin failed to deal with him, well, then that was why it was here.

Ron was sorely missing Rufus as he tried to wrap the vet rap around his abdomen with one hand while holding a pair of telfa pads over the wounds on his side with the other hand. The ibuprofen he took hadn't kicked in at all yet. He jumped when small but strong hands took the pads out of his hand.

"Where is your partner? Only a warrior without honor abandons a wounded teammate." a soft voice whispered. A small light appeared and the ninja started to inspect his wounds.

"Yori?" Ron said, trying to get his heart rate back under control. "Kim had to finish the mission, she didn't know I was wounded. The PDVI could destroy half the state if misused, she had to get it to safety. Sidekicks are lower priority."

The ninja snorted and Ron thought that she rolled her eyes, then stifled a scream as she pulled something out of one of the cuts.

The ninja held a paper packet up to his mouth and whispered "Bite." Ron bit down on the edge of the packet and using Ron's teeth to hold the edge, the ninja tore it open using one hand.

The ninja sprinkled powder from the packet on the still bleeding wound and then covered the wounds with two fresh telfa pads with one end of the vet rap on top. "Hold this in place." came the whispered command. "You need to practice, your shuriken missed by a good foot."

Ron spit out the bit of paper. "I was in a hurry and trying to spoil his aim".

Ron held the pads and the end of the vet rap while the ninja quickly and tightly wrapped the elastic wrapping around him. The ninja smelled a little like cherry blossoms, but Yori had a more slender build. Ron wished there was enough light to at least see her eyes. Reaching across Ron and into Kim's utility belt the ninja pulled out another roll, this one a fluorescent pink. "Veterinary wrap, really?" came the soft whisper.

"First choice for horse's legs and sidekicks.", replied Ron.

Ron felt the flesh under the pads harden as the blood coagulated and the pain eased. 'Must be from that powder stuff', he thought. Pulling out of couple of wet wipes from the pack, Ron started wiping the blood from his hands.

"Thanks, my name is Ron Stoppable" Ron looked up to ask her name, but the ninja was gone. He thought he heard the faint whisper of "Later, sidekick".

"Pleased to meet you Ron Stoppable", replied a lilting feminine voice from behind him. Ron, with only the smallest scream of courage, jerked around to see a small barefoot woman dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. In turning, Ron felt a sharp pain from something poking his lower back. Reaching back, he pulled out a quart Burperware container. It was heavy and jingled as if it were filled with coins. Glancing at the box, Ron missed a look of predatory satisfaction from the Fae.

"Ron Stoppable, you seem to be in possession of my treasure."