Thanks everyone for reviewing, I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

Disclaimer: Kim Possible and related are the property of Disney which, contrary to common belief, I do not own.

Thanks to Slipgate for beta-reading this chapter and helping me prevent mistakes and giving me some great suggestions.

Chapter 3: A Boy Named Wade

When Walter and his students arrived at the scene, the police was already present; they were trying to console the clearly distraught parents of the boy who was trapped in the basement of their home.

"Lontain Load," said the African American man as he shook Walter's hand. "Please tell me you can get our boy out of there."

"We'll do what we can," Walter promised. "Can you tell us what happened?"

Lontain's wife answered that question. "Our boy Wade was playing around in the basement. He really loves all kinds of technical stuff… and then there was suddenly a crash and half the basement ceiling came down."

"And you already confirmed that he was relatively okay?" Walter asked.

"Yes, fortunately," Mr. Load said. "He loves to buy all kinds of computer stuff and cell phones at yard sales. He got some of those working and he managed to call us and tell us he was okay, but just when I told him you were on the way to help him the connection got weaker and then broke off."

"Must be all the concrete interfering," Walter commented as he looked at the blueprints of the house he had just received. "The basement was separately built?"

"Yes, we wanted to build a swimming pool several years ago, but due to the ground quality we had to dig out a lot more. By that time it was cheaper to line it with walls and make it into an extended basement."

"And don't forget that Wade practically begged us to turn it into a room," Mrs. Load pointed out. "He is agoraphobic and he didn't like the idea of an outside pool that much."

"How old is Wade?" Victor asked.

"Eight," Lontain said. "We shouldn't have allowed him to play there alone, but he was always so fond of taking apart all those electronics, and there is hardly any room in the garage."

Kim chuckled softly; she knew two other boys who were just like that. But that also brought her back to reality; Wade was just a little boy, like her younger brothers, trapped and alone in a basement. She really hoped they would rescue him as soon as possible.

It didn't take long before the firemen began unloading equipment to remove the collapsed section of basement. However, it soon became clear that doing so would highly disrupt the already weakened structural integrity of the rest of the basement.

"We can't risk this with Wade still inside," Walter said as he discussed it with the police and the other firemen. "And if we want to drill a way in, we first have to dig out one of the walls. I'm not going to risk collapsing more of the ceiling with drilling from the top."

Meanwhile, the presence of two fire trucks and a police car had attracted quite a crowd, and the police officers were busy keeping the area clear, so they asked the firemen in training to help them keep people behind the line of yellow tape.

As Kim, clad in a bright yellow safety jacket, guarded her section of the tape (not that many people broke the rules, but there were always those who were just too curious) she spotted Ron standing within the now slowly diminishing crowd. "Hey Ron." she called out with a wave.

"KP!" Ron walked over to where Kim stood. "What is going on? And how did you get in there?"

Kim smirked. "Fireman training." Then she turned more serious. "There is a boy trapped in a partially collapsed basement. We're trying to get him out."

Ron gasped; he was somewhat claustrophobic. "That's terrible. Will you be able to get him out?"

"I hope so." Kim looked up as Victor walked their way.

"We're working on ideas to get the boy out of there without breaking away more of the basement," the fireman said. "The people here are losing interest anyway, so you might as well join us. It's always good to learn from these discussions."

"Oh, can I come too?" Ron asked, eager for some 'safe' action, the sort that didn't encompass risk or strenuous activity.

Kim frowned. "I don't know Ron…" she said, but was momentarily taken aback by his pleading eyes.

"When did he learn that?" the redhead thought as she recognized the mediocre but still powerfully felt imitation of her puppy dog pout.

She looked helplessly at Victor, but the fireman shrugged. "As long as you stay back and don't interrupt."

"Digging away the soil until we reach a wall may collapse the wall because it is made of concrete plates," Walter said. "And digging a tunnel will easily take two days."

"What about the ventilation system?" Brigitte asked as she pointed at a few pictures that were taken of the basement; they showed a happy, and somewhat overweight boy who pointed proudly at a desk table with several disassembled calculators, RC cars and cell phones. The pictures also showed a somewhat bulky ventilation system that connected the basement to the air-conditioning system of the house. "If we can get a look inside the basement we might be able to find a better way in."

"None of us would fit through there," Victor objected. "And we don't have camera-equipped remotes, and requesting one would take at least as long as digging away the basement, believe me."

"I could fit through there," Kim offered; the ventilation shaft was very small, but she was sure she could snake through. "We can't leave that boy waiting all that time… who knows how scared he is right now."

They had tried to call Wade's phone, but every time there was a connection, it broke off after one or two tones. The only thing that got through was a text message from Wade that said he was still okay.

"Too dangerous," Walter said. "The ventilation system goes past the partially collapsed section. If it isn't stable there, you have no way to go. Besides, it's probably blocked off anyway."

"How about we rig a camera to an RC car?" one of the trainees suggested.

"It could work, if not for the dust filters," Walter replied. "And I'm not sure if the signal would carry that far into the system."

"What about a naked mole rat?" Everybody looked at Ron after his suggestion.

"Ron… hush," Kim whispered, afraid that her friend would be sent away.

Suddenly nervous, with every eye on him, Ron coughed. "I… eh… what about a naked mole rat going in through the ventilation system and taking a look? He took Rufus out of his pocket to make his point a bit clearer.

His idea was met mainly with confused frowns. Cathy was one of the few who seemed to consider it. "They do use trained rats to look for earthquake survivors these days… can your mole rat do that?"

"Rufus is super smart," the blond-haired boy proudly stated. "He can negotiate a maze in seconds."

However, it was the fact that the mole rat crossed his paws and nodded smugly that amazed the firemen a lot more.

"Well, he is light enough not to cause a collapse," Walter said. "But I doubt he can carry even our smallest camera."

"Rufus can tell me what he saw," Ron replied as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

This time, Kim too became the subject of several raised eyebrows.

The redhead shrugged. "Ron has a way with animals. Back before he was scared of them, he once had an hour-long conversation with a monkey at the zoo."

"I'm trying to forget those things," Ron said with a shiver. "Monkeys…"

As Ron began instructing Rufus, Cathy leaned over to Victor. "Good call allowing him in."

Victor shrugged. "Who'd have guessed he had an intelligent bald rat with him?"

Cathy smirked. "Naked mole rat. But that's not the point… every time he's around, Kim seems to be performing twice as well."

"They're friends. He supports her." Victor replied.

"Maybe so… I hope high school won't eventually destroy their friendship though." Cathy knew all too well how the difference between boys and girls in high school could disrupt lifelong friendships.

"Will Rufus really be up for it?" Kim asked; she had seen the mole rat perform pretty amazing feats and he had matured quite a bit from the tiny and slightly ugly creature he was when Ron had just bought him, but this was a different matter than negotiating a maze that Ron made.

"Of course," Ron said confidently. "Especially when there is a nacho waiting for him."

Kim frowned; she was not sure how good it was to feed animals human food in general, and Bueno Nacho food in particular, but Rufus hadn't seemed to fare any worse for it. "Okay then, good luck Rufus."

However, the naked mole rat returned after only a short while.

"There is a steel grate in the way," Ron announced after a short chat with Rufus, "but Rufus thinks the ventilation shaft is stable."

"For a rodent perhaps," Walter objected when he noticed Kim stepping forward to offer once again to crawl down there. "I'm not going to risk anyone in such a dangerous spot."

"The ventilation shaft is pretty much straight, right?" Kim asked. "Then you can pull me back when something is wrong."

"We could keep contact with a wired radio," Cathy suggested; they had already looked into the shaft before Rufus entered, and it did look fairly stable for the first part. The woman turned to Kim. "But the moment you feel that something is wrong, signal for us to pull you back, okay?"

Kim smiled, eager to help the poor boy that was trapped in the basement. "Of course."

"Okay, this is tighter than I expected," Kim muttered as she snaked through the ventilation shaft; she couldn't even properly crawl through. "Good thing I'm not doing this on a daily basis."

"Are you okay?" Walter asked through the radio set.

"Still doing fine," Kim said, somewhat louder so she could be heard through the facemask she wore to keep most of the dust away from her mouth and nose. "I think I'm halfway to the basement now, and I see the grate ahead."

The grate was a fine mesh of metal, clearly designed to keep rodents and insects out of the ventilation system, so it was no wonder that Rufus was blocked by it.

For Kim, the grate was an object she easily removed, even in her current position with her arms stretched out in front of her. "I removed the grate. There is a ceiling grate ahead."

"If you can climb out of that one, you should be in the basement," Walter said.

Wade was scared.

Strangely, the fact that a part of the basement he was in had collapsed, trapping him inside, was not the thing that scared him. He hated being outside, and he really enjoyed just being by himself.

The risk of more of the basement collapsing was also not scaring the boy; he had already run some calculations on his computers – which were far more advanced than his parents could even dream of – and the basement would hold easily, with the exception of some cracks in the wall.

What scared Wade was the thought that at any moment firemen, or worse, the police, would walk into the basement to rescue him. And then they would see what he was and what he did.

Wade was a genius. Even amongst geniuses he would stand out. But he was also an eight-year-old boy. And that conflicting data usually brought out the worst in some people.

Because of his agoraphobia and difficulty to connect to other people, his parents had home-schooled him, but he had quickly surpassed them and taken up online courses instead. Fortunately, the system that regulated his home-schooling cared mainly for exam results, and as long as those remained perfect, no one would interfere.

In fact, using this system, Wade had already graduated high school and was currently following university courses – all of this under an alias because he didn't want too much attention.

Another part of Wade's life consisted of hacking. Not the run off the mill stuff like writing programs to create botnets or trying to gain someone's personal data. Wade sought challenge in breaking into highly secured data, like government and defense computers, secret laboratories, and more like that.

As it were, he was part of a 'hacker's guild' that did all these kinds of things. Not to obtain the information, but just to show that they could break in; every hacker left a nearly undetectable marker that indicated his or her success to the other hackers – much like the 'I was here' that was written in graffiti on several locations. Wade was without doubt the best hacker of the guild.

But no one knew who he was, and the only evidence for that was in this very room. His parents might think he was just pretty good with computers and technical equipment, but an expert would immediately see him for what he was.

And that made Wade very scared.

Even erasing his data – something he was loath to do – wouldn't help much as he didn't have the time to do it thoroughly, and he would never be able to properly destroy the computers and technologies he was working on in time.

And now voices were coming through the ventilation system, making it clear that his 'rescuers' would be arriving soon.

And there wasn't much Wade could do about it.

When the grate of the ventilation system finally did open and a girl who couldn't be older than fifteen made her way out, Wade couldn't be more surprised, or relieved.

"The radio cable got stuck on the last corner," the redhead spoke into the radio device she held in her hand as she tried to squirm out of the ventilation shaft. "I'll talk to you guys in a minute… hey, you must be Wade."

The boy stared slack-jawed at the girl as she looked at him from her upside-down position. She then worked herself all the way out through the small grate opening and made a half somersault before landing gracefully on her feet.

Mistaking Wade's awe for being afraid, Kim quickly walked over to the boy. "Don't worry, we'll get you out of here in no time."

Wade flinched a bit as Kim approached, startling the girl. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Kim Possible, I'm with the fire department. We're going to get you out of here in no time." She repeated the last part because she didn't really know what more to say.

"I… eh…" Wade started as he slowly regained control over his voice. "I'm Wade… you already know that. Uhm… thanks."

Even though the nice girl in front of him had taken him aback a bit Wade was glad that no one with any knowledge of computers and technology had entered.

His hope was quickly shattered when Kim frowned and looked around. "What is this stuff anyway?"

Before Wade could even come up with an answer, he was even more shocked when the redhead began correctly naming several of his highly advanced pieces of technology.

"Electronic lock overrides? A jamming device? EMP generators? Seriously, what is all this?"

Wade began stammering for an answer, but then Kim took a look at the programs that were still running on his computer – Wade just couldn't help himself, even in a partially collapsed basement. "You're running hacking software?"

Unable to answer any of the – correct – accusations, Wade burst out the only question he was able to ask. "How do you know all this?"

Kim shrugged. "I've got two brothers just like this. The only difference is that they are more into rockets."

Wade knew he was busted; he had completely and utterly underestimated this girl and now his game was over. He bowed his head and reverted back to the eight-year-old boy he was. "Please don't tell anyone…"

Kim sighed and was silent for a while, seemingly in thought. Then she looked at Wade again. "Have you ever even thought about the ethical ramifications of this?"

"I'm not doing any harm," the boy hastened to say. "I'm just… I'm just curious; I want to know what's behind a closed door. I always make sure not to damage anything or hurt someone's privacy."

"Well, it's still wrong to break in somewhere, even if it doesn't hurt someone personally," Kim replied.

"But… if they have a weakness in their system that allows me to get in and I call them on it, is that so bad?" Wade asked hopefully.

Kim frowned. "I don't know, wouldn't telling them be enough?"

Wade sighed. "Been there, done that. They don't believe any message you send, and I certainly wouldn't try to call them as myself."

"I can empathize with that," Kim said. "So… does it work the way you do it?"

"Partly," Wade admitted. "They threaten to sue me and try to locate me for a while after I pointed out their flaws by using it against them… you know, like leaving a note in a room saying: 'your lock isn't the best.'"

At that moment, the radio, which Kim had left hanging in the open ventilation shaft, crackled. "Kim, are you still there?"

Wade watched Kim rush to the radio with a sense of apprehension; what she would say next might very well lead to him being locked up for the rest of his life in some secure government-run center.

But to his surprise and relief, Kim did not rat him out. "I'm still here, and so is Wade. We're both okay; this section of the basement is still pretty much intact. Wade's… workbench, or whatever it is he disassembled his toys on seems to have taken the brunt of the hit."

Wade's hopeful expression fell when Kim's last sentence hit home. And as Kim began describing the buildup of the basement from the inside so the firemen knew where to drill, Wade looked at his gadgets – almost his friends – with a sad feeling. "Well, maybe there is some poetic justice to it, but it still stinks."

Kim turned around. "Okay, how can we best make your gadgets appear broken and mundane?"

Wade found himself staring at the redhead again; she kept surprising him. But then a smile formed on his face. "You're- you're letting me get away with it?"

Kim grinned. "Yeah, although I'm going to keep watch on you. If I hear about a hacker breaking into secure systems, you'll be the first I suspect."

Wade's smile didn't waver. "Thanks, you don't know how much that means to me."

Kim was still amazed at the apparent disparity between the boy that Wade was and his more mature side. But she quickly snapped out of it when Wade began instructing her on how to set up the 'damage.'

Once they knew where to dig, it became easy for the firemen to get Wade and Kim out of the basement, even though it caused another section to collapse. But since the whole thing had to be dug out anyway it wasn't a big deal.

"Wade!" Wade's mother pulled him into a tight hug. "You're okay!"

"M-o-m," Wade complained, already uncomfortable with so many people around.

Mrs. Load then turned to Kim. "Thank you so much for saving our son, we owe you big time."

Kim smiled. "No big, it was only a matter of crawling through thirty feet of ventilation shaft and pointing out a safe location to dig us out."

"Seems like your toys got busted pretty bad though," Mr. Load observed after taking a look inside the basement.

Wade shot a glance at Kim, but then smiled. "That's no problem dad, I'm sure I can rebuild them."

"That was really cool how you did that," Ron exclaimed on the way home. Walter had dismissed his class shortly after Wade was rescued from the basement. The firemen didn't have much to do there anymore and it was already getting late.

Kim smirked. "I just hope I never have to crawl through ventilation shafts again. Those spy movies are way overrated."

Kim had, for the time being, decided against telling Ron about what happened in the basement; in his enthusiasm he might hurt Wade more than do him good. "Besides, it's not like I will hear much from Wade again. I doubt he'll risk involving me again with what I know… heh, that sounds like a corny movie."

What's so funny KP?" Ron asked when he noticed Kim's grin.

"Oh, nothing," Kim replied. "It's just nice to know my brothers aren't on the top for everything."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ron asked in confusion. "I'm supposed to be the weird one."

"How's firefighting training going?" Ron asked. It had been a few weeks since Kim had helped rescue Wade from the collapsed basement. Firefighting training had kept going, and soon it would be time for entry exams that qualified the trainees to actually help out.

"Training is going well," Kim replied, "but I doubt I'm allowed to do the exams this year. Apparently I'm too young. But the rules aren't entirely clear on that, so Walter and Cathy have decided to look into it."

"Well, at least you can help out next year," Ron offered. "And then you'll be even more prepared."

Kim smiled. "Yeah, but I really want to help now. I mean, if anything had happened to me when I crawled through that ventilation shaft, or before, with the burning house, the insurance company wouldn't have paid a cent. Even worse, what I did was actually not even entirely legal."

"Oh…" Ron was clearly taken aback by that. "Well, you can at least help out with the small stuff, right?"

"Yeah, but…" at this point Kim blushed a bit and looked down. "I actually kinda liked the action. I know it was dangerous, but… I don't know how to explain it."

Ron smiled. "I think I know what you mean."

"You do?" Kim asked, surprised.

"Hey, we've been friends for most of our lifetimes. I think I know you."

Kim couldn't help but smile. "I guess you're right."

"So, heard anything from Wade?" Ron then asked.

Kim shrugged. "His parents sent a card, but apparently Wade's agoraphobia hit a bit hard when he left the basement. His parents told me he stays in his bedroom most of the time now."

Ron shuddered. "I can't believe someone wouldn't want to get out sometime."

Kim grinned. "You and me both. So, want to go to the park?"

"Nah." Ron gestured dismissively. "The Fearless Ferret is on in a moment."

"Kimmie, you have mail," Kim's mother said as Kim returned from Ron's home; she wasn't really feeling like watching The Fearless Ferret and she still had some homework to do.

Kim accepted the small package from her mother. "Who could this be from?"

Mrs. Dr. Possible shrugged. "I have no idea. There is no return address." Then she gave her daughter a quick peck on the cheek. "I have to go. I'm already late for my shift. There are microwave meals in the fridge."

"Those I can handle," Kim muttered as her mother left; after she had forgotten several times to put out the stove when reheating a meal, Mrs. Dr. Possible didn't leave her daughter in charge of reheating meals anymore unless there was a timer involved.

Curious about the package, Kim took it up to her room and opened it.

Inside was a fairly large cell phone-like device with a decent looking screen and a lot of buttons – most of which Kim had no idea what they were supposed to do.

The largest button had a small note attached to it, saying "Press me."

Immediately suspicious of a prank her brothers had concocted, Kim went down to the garage and pressed the button from a distance.

The screen quickly came alive and Wade's face appeared.

Kim stared in surprise for a moment, but she quickly recovered. "Wade?"

"Hey Kim," the boy greeted her enthusiastically. "How do you like this? It's my thank you for saving me… and not telling anyone on me," he added in a softer voice.

"Wow, I..." Kim was a bit at a loss for words for a moment. "Thanks."

Wade smiled. "It took me a while to make it but get this, you can use it for video calls, free calls around the world, browsing the Internet and you can even watch TV on it."

Kim frowned. "Is it legal to use the bandwidth like that?"

Wade chuckled. "Don't worry, I helped some guys at the network distribution and they gave me a couple of free accounts to use."

Kim had been saving for a cell phone for a while – her parents' policy was 'if you want a cell phone, you have to pay for it yourself' – so Wade's gift really came in handy. "Thanks again. So, what's it called? It doesn't really look like a cell phone anymore."

Now Wade began smile proudly. "Calling this a cell phone would be like calling the Encyclopedia Britannica just a book. It has lots of features; you can look at the list and the quick codes when you press 'E5.'"

"As for the name…" At this point Wade began to blush a bit. "It's a communicator, and it's for you, so I was thinking of calling it a Kimmunicator."

"Great, if she didn't think you were a geek, she's sure of it now," Wade thought after he just said that.

But to his surprise, Kim smiled happily. "I like that name, you rock Wade."

After Kim closed the connection to check out the features of the Kimmunicator – Wade knew because he could still monitor the device functioning – Wade felt a bit light-headed. No one had acknowledged him like that ever before. Even his parents didn't seem to fully know what he was capable of.

He knew that what he felt for Kim was not boy and girl love, but deep down he did feel something of a crush for this girl.

He hoped they would stay in contact; at least his gift would keep that door open.

"This is incredible," Kim muttered as she tried out some of the features of the Kimmunicator.

"What is?" Mr. Dr. Possible asked as he walked into the living room, closely followed by Jim and Tim. Kim had been so focused she hadn't heard them enter.

"Nothing." Kim quickly hid the device. The one thing she didn't want to happen was her brothers finding out about it and trying to dissect it. "Mom left us some microwave meals in the fridge. I'll be right back down."

Mr. Dr. Possible watched, confused, as Kim ran up the stairs, but then he shrugged; his wife was better at understanding their daughter anyway. "Well boys, let's see what mom left for us."

The next day, when Ron passed by the Possible residence, Kim was once again toying with the Kimmunicator.

"Hey KP, what have you got there? Some kind of game?"

Kim looked up. "Sort of… it does have games on it."

Ron sat down next to his friend and looked at the Kimunicator. "Whoa, did Jim and Tim make this?"

Kim huffed. "As if." Then she was silent for a moment. "Ron, there is something I haven't told you before, but you can't tell it to anyone else, promise?"

"Sure," Ron replied. "What is it?"

"I mean it," Kim said. "If you told anyone, it could spell big trouble for someone."

Ron frowned. "Okay, you're starting to make less sense."

Kim glared at him.

"Okay, okay." Ron held up his hands defensively. "I promise not to tell anyone."

Kim's smile returned. "Well, when you asked if my brothers made this, you weren't too far off…"

"Wow…" was all Ron could say for a moment after Kim told him what really happened during Wade's rescue.

"So he's like a super genius?" he then asked.

"Pretty much," Kim agreed. "But the rest of the world would see him as a freak when they found out."

Ron sighed. "Yeah, I know how that feels…"

Kim smirked. "Really?"

"Hey, just because I'm not a genius is no reason for people not to like my nonconformism." Ron defended himself.

"Do you even know what that means?" Kim asked.

"Well, a bit. My parents say it sometimes when I do my 'never be normal' thing."

Kim shrugged. "Fair enough, I guess the world could do with a little less prejudice."

At that moment, Jim and Tim walked into the living room. "Hey sis…"

"…What do you have there?"

"Nothing that's for you," Kim said in a warning tone. "You'll just break it anyway."

"Aw."

"We just want to know what it is."

"No!" Kim held the Kimmunicator protectively. "Before I know it, you'll think it's yours and start messing with it."

"But what is it?" Jim insisted.

"Forget it tweebs." Kim stood up and walked to the stairs. "Let's go Ron."

"Tweebs?" Tim asked in confusion.

"Twin dweebs. Tweebs!" Kim cried out.

"What was that all about?" Ron asked on the way up to Kim's room.

"Jim and Tim always want to open up any technology in the house," Kim replied. "I'm not letting them have this… they'll never get it back in working order."

"But isn't Wade about their age…" Ron started.

"Ron, would you ever lend Jim and Tim your Z-boy?" Km interrupted.

Ron thought for a moment. "Okay, point taken. But aren't you being a bit too harsh on them?"

"They're getting way too curious about my stuff," Kim said in a tone that made it clear this discussion was closed.

Ron frowned; Jim and Tim hadn't gotten any more curious than previously. But he decided to let the issue go. His mother had told him that Kim might be going through some changes that would put a strain on their friendship and he didn't want to put more incentive on that.

Noticing Ron's slight hesitation, Kim turned around and smiled. "Don't worry, I'm not mad at you. Besides, we don't have many secrets from each other, right?"

"Yeah." Ron smiled and followed Kim up to her room. It seemed that whatever changes Kim went through, the bad effects only applied to her brothers. "Well, better them than me."

A/N: Well, it seems the gang is all set up. I hope you enjoyed it. I know it's been a while since I updated, but I hope to get back to my normal pace soon.