Authors Note: It's been a while. Déjà vu all over again. Sorry to keep everyone waiting with this story. But hey, at least I actually wrote a bunch of stuff this time unlike that massive break I took from writing while in the middle of The New Kid. Anyway, enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kim Possible.

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Shego and Bonnie looked on with a mixture of impatience and curiosity as Ron paced back and forth through the living room of Shego's condo. Since he had uttered those three words he had said nothing else. His face was a mask of torment, but neither of the two women knew it was from the pain of his vision or simply what he had seen in it. They guessed that either could be true. While neither had ever experienced what he had, they knew from his reactions that they were painful. But at the same time, Kim was still his best friend. Despite what had occurred many months ago, they knew that a friendship that had been forged since their childhood could not be broken easily. They assumed that to see her in any kind of danger would give Ron physical pain.

Neither of the new women in Ron's life had any love for the girl. They were the two biggest thorns in the side of the redhead. Discovering this about each other only helped to bond what had once been two complete strangers with nothing in common. In a dark, twisted way their mutual dislike for Kim brought them together. Their hatred was on two very different levels though.

Bonnie had once been the queen of Middleton High School. Even when she was a sophomore she had ruled the food chain with an iron fist and was often able to get close to the juniors and seniors. Once she herself had become a senior her power was only cemented, except for Kim. Kim was an abnormality in the way things worked. She seemed to exist outside of Bonnie's precious food chain, and yet was still beloved by the population. The fact that she had dated the high school loser, Ron, had only further enraged the queen. But despite all of this, Bonnie would never wish any kind of physical harm on the girl. She may have wanted to humiliate and discredit Kim at every opportunity, but she would never bring herself to hurt her.

Then there was Shego. Shego had, on multiple occasions, tried to harm Kim. She had gone further than that though. There were several instances where she had actually tried to kill Kim. Cutting a jetpack off of her in midair and attempting to slice her into tiny pieces with a giant blender were only two cases of this. There was no doubt at all that the older woman hated Kim for the many times she had beaten her in combat or foiled Dr. Drakken's plans. For Shego it was a matter of pride. It was why she had saved Kim from the hands of Warmonga. If anyone would kill Kim, it would be Shego. No deserved that honor but her.

Since the Lorwardian invasion however, those heated feelings had seemed to cool down a little. Maybe it was due to the fact that she was no longer working with Dr. Drakken to take over the world. Maybe her new hobby of eliminating thugs and common criminals sated her taste for violence to the point where she no longer cared about defeating Kim. But there was still no denying the fact that given a reason to do so, she would hurt Kim.

Shego was annoyed by the fact that in the couple of minutes since he had gotten his vision that he had not shared the contents of it with her. She was growing annoyed with his pacing. Normally she would have been thankful to receive some silence from the boy. She knew all too well how much he talked and how many times she wished that she could sew his mouth shut. But this was not one of those times. She didn't think of the humor in actually wanting him to spill what was on his mind. But since he didn't appear to be willing to do so on his own, Shego decided that she needed to give him a little push in the right direction.

"Stoppable," she said calmly.

Ron didn't seem to notice her voice. If he had he didn't respond to it. He continued looking down at the floor as he paced back and forth in front of the couch.

"Stoppable!"

The raised voice got his attention. It was a tone that you did not want to ignore if you wanted to keep your health. Ron had heard the enraged and annoyed yell many times while on a mission with Kim. He stopped walking as he turned to face the green-hued woman.

"What?" he asked absentmindedly.

"What did you see?"

Ron scratched the back of his head. "I told you that I saw Kim."

"Duh. We know that you already said that," Bonnie said. "Think we can get some details on your little picture headache?"

He gave the brunette a small frown before turning his attention back to Shego. "She was in trouble. She was hurt. Bad. It was Monkey Fist."

Shego let out an incredulous laugh as she rolled her eyes. She was having a hard time believing that it was that simple.

"Monkey Fist?" she asked in an amused tone. "You're saying that your little ex-girlfriend got her ass handed to her by him? Come on now. As much as I hate to admit it, monkey boy has never been a match for Kimmie. I think that your visions are starting to fry your brain."

Ron shook his head softly to dismiss what Shego was saying.

"I don't ever get the whole picture. Details are always hazy. But they're always true. I usually don't know how or why things happen, only that they do. And I saw…"

Ron stopped himself before he could finish the thought. He felt that maybe if he didn't say what he had seen aloud that somehow it might not come true.

"Saw what?" Shego asked impatiently. "If you want this little gig of yours to work, if you want to sleep in my place and eat my food, then you need to start sharing everything with the rest of the class," she said motioning to Bonnie and herself. "So what's it going to be?"

He let out a heavy sigh before looking to the floor. He wasn't a superstitious person. Usually he just went with the flow and was unafraid to do or say whatever he felt like. At times it seemed like he had no shame whatsoever. Being Ron Stoppable meant saying a lot of stupid or inappropriate things. It was part of his charm, if one could call it that. But for whatever reason, whether it was superstition or simply not wanting to think about what he had seen, he was hesitant to share his latest vision.

He opened his mouth a couple of times trying to speak, but nothing came out. He didn't quite know how to phrase it in a way he was comfortable with. His hesitation did not go unnoticed by the two impatient women.

"Out with it already!" Bonnie barked.

"Fine," he said softly. "Kim was a bloody mess. She was in pain. She was lying on the floor in some museum with Monkey Fist standing over her. And I don't know for sure, but I'm pretty sure he had a sword."

Shego did not betray any emotions she was currently feeling inside. Years of serving a super villain had taught her the value in appearing cold and unfeeling. Bonnie on the other hand looked at least a little alarmed by his description of what was going to happen to Kim.

"What? Are you serious?" she gasped. "How is that even possible for Kim?" she added with an unintentional pun. "Kim doesn't lose. She's little miss perfect. I mean, Shego knows firsthand just how much she doesn't lose to any super villains."

The jab at Shego's combat record against Kim only earned Bonnie a dark glare from the former villainess. Even if it was true, she woman still did not like hearing about it. As far as she was concerned she was still superior to Kim. If it had not been for having to try to ensure that Dr. Drakken's plans were successful she was sure that she would be able to beat Kim in a one on one fight. But her attention had always been split between Kim, Ron and his little vermin friend.

Shego said nothing to reply to Bonnie's comment. Rather she looked back at Ron.

"Go on. What else can you tell us?"

"I… I don't know really. That's what I saw. It was definitely in a museum because of how the place looked. There was stuff in the background that just screamed 'museum'. Like I said, it's all kind of hazy. But the image of Kim is burned in my mind."

"Great. So she's in some museum somewhere in the world," Bonnie sighed. "Real great power you have there, Stoppable. Do you even know when it's supposed to take place?"

"I… no," he admitted. "I don't even know what she would be doing in a museum in her mission gear. She gave up doing missions because of the guilt she felt after the Lorwardian invasion. So I have no idea what she would be doing trying to stop Monkey Fist."

Shego folded her arms across her chest as she looked up at Ron. She was happy he had stopped his obnoxious pacing.

"I think it's a safe bet that it's somewhere in London. If she gave up missions like you said then she won't be going all around the world to rescue someone's cat that's stuck up in a tree. Maybe it was a local thing and so she felt that she could spare an hour to stop a break-in close to where she lives. If that's the case then the field will be narrowed down significantly."

Ron nodded in agreement. He was glad that Shego was a member of the team. He wasn't exactly the most intelligent and analytical person in the world. And while Bonnie was far from stupid, she still wasn't as smart as the college-educated and experienced Shego. Shego also had the advantage of not letting emotions cloud her mind or judgment when it came to just about anything. In situations where most people would be panicked or fearful, she was able to remain calm and collected while thinking of a battle plan. Most of those plans involved dishing out incredible pain on others.

"Okay, so we're going to London then," Bonnie said as if a decision had been made. "I get to cross that off of my list of places to go. I've already done Venice, and I still need to ask Kim where exactly we went to stop the giant wiener dog guy."

The "giant wiener dog guy" statement earned her silent stares from both Ron and Shego.

"Ugh. I guess you needed to be there to know what I mean…" she said softly. "The point is that we should get packing. I want to go and see London."

"You do realize that we're going there to help Kim, not sightsee. Right?" Ron asked her.

"Yeah yeah yeah," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Save Kim and then go check out London. And since Shego is paying we'll be able to go to all of the expensive restaurants too."

"You're crazy if you think I'm paying for you to go on vacation," Shego told her. She then looked back to Ron. "By the way, Stoppable, how exactly are we going to be making money off of this little mission of yours?"

"Um… what?"

"The whole reason I agreed to join this little team was because you said that those visions of yours could earn us money. You know, we would get into the business of saving those in need and getting paid for it. You think Kim's going to pay us anything for saving her?"

Ron frowned as he looked down at his feet.

"Honestly? No. And I don't care either. This time isn't about making money. This is personal. This is about helping my best friend. I would hope that you could understand that much."

"Then what's in it for me? Really. Why should I be spending my time and money going to England to help out Kimmie? Tell me."

"Because it's the right thing to do."

The simplicity of his answer made her want to laugh. Shego wasn't the type of person who did things because they were the right thing. She needed some sort of incentive. More often than not that incentive was money. She had become a rich woman from working for Dr. Drakken. She had also garnered a fearsome reputation among other criminals and super villains by her long list of accolades and accomplishments. In some situations a reputation was just as valuable as money. Sometimes being feared was able to end a fight before it even begun.

She looked at him with an amused smile. "Do you honestly think that I care about doing the right thing? Especially when it comes to her?"

"Would you rather go down being remembered as the woman who never beat Kim? Would you rather have history remember the person who finally defeated her to be named 'Monkey Fist'? Honestly, Shego. Monkey Fist? The great and powerful Shego couldn't defeat a cheerleader, but a guy who has a sick obsession with monkeys could?"

"Not like the name 'Shego' exactly strikes terror into people's hearts…" Bonnie muttered soft enough to make sure neither had heard her.

Ron knew that his words had caused the desired effect when he saw Shego's hands clench into fists. An all too familiar look of hatred settled on him. He fought fiercely to keep from shrinking under it.

"You'd better be careful of the path you're going down, sidekick," she warned him. "And if you honestly think that you could pull some little psychological stunt on me that easily by appealing to my sense of pride then you're mistaken."

"I'm going with or without you. I'll go to Wade to get me a plane ticket illegally if I have to. Even Drakken if Wade can't help me. I'm sure blue boy wouldn't have a problem in doing that. The question is whether you two are coming or not."

Bonnie stood up immediately and nodded her head. "Of course I'm coming. I wonder what their malls are like. I wonder if they have things over there that we don't. I could really use a new purse too."

Shego rolled her eyes at the youthful and shamelessly obvious greed from the brunette. Clearly her mind was not at all focused on the vision Ron had had. Shego knew from what she had seen of Bonnie's living conditions that she desperately wanted to return to a life of luxury and ease. Her struggles to become an actress had thus far produced no results. Until they did, Bonnie was obviously going to be using the opportunity to earn money from Ron's visions to live a more comfortable life. Shego honestly couldn't blame her. The place where the aspiring actress had lived prior to coming to this condo had been horrid to say the least. The chance to go on a free vacation to a foreign country was something that most people wound pounce on. But most of them wouldn't make it as obvious as Bonnie that they wanted to go for purely that reason.

"I guess it could be fun to rub a little defeat in princess's face," Shego mused. "It will be nice to see the look on her face when she realizes that she's not invincible after all. And when she sees…"

Shego stopped before she could finish, instead completing her thought in her mind. A sly smile spread across her face at the thought of the possibilities.

Ron on the other hand was not amused. The expression on his face as he looked at the older woman told her so.

"We're not going there so you can gloat and laugh. We're going there to help her. I don't care how much you hate her. Kim is my best friend. And if you don't want to do anything to help her I'll just have to do it myself."

"Oh yeah? And how are you going to do that?" Bonnie wondered.

"I've saved her before," he said solemnly. "I'll do it again if I have to."

Bonnie realized what he was talking about. The last time he had saved Kim he had killed Warhok and Warmonga. The way he looked when he talked about it told her that it was a painful memory. No matter how justified he had been in doing so, to save both Kim and the world, the act of taking two lives still deeply affected him.

"Oh…" was all she could say as she remembered the earlier conversation.

"In any case, it's settled," Shego announced as she too stood. "I'll go get Drakken on the phone and tell him to get us some tickets to London. You two get packing. And Stoppable, try to remember some more details about that vision thing of yours. We may have it narrowed down to somewhere in London, but I'm sure there are plenty of museums there."

"Right. I'm sure we can just look online and see which ones have some stupid monkey artifacts. That's what the guy is always looking for. Monkeys monkeys monkeys. Why is it always freaking monkeys?" he asked to no one in particular.

"Uh huh," she said with indifference. "Anyway, you two do that. It will give you a chance to do something useful for once. We'll leave as soon as possible."

Ron nodded silently and went off to begin gathering things he felt he would need for an extended stay in London. It would be a vacation if Bonnie had her way. So far he had not seen the use in bringing her aboard the team. It just seemed like she was using it for her own personal needs. But then he figured that this was better than how she had been living for the past several months. He decided it was best not to tempt fate by leaving her in the bad part of the city to risk being kidnapped or murdered. Living with Shego was ironically one of the safest places that she could be.

He went to check on Rufus before he started preparing to leave. The tiny hairless rodent was sleeping. These days he spent most of his time sleeping. It was the way of a naked mole rat. He wouldn't bother him for the mission. Rufus had plenty of food and water. And if he needed more, the rodent was quite adept at finding ways to get more. There wasn't a worry in Ron's mind when it came to Rufus' well-being when left alone.

He felt a knot of nervousness in his stomach. He would be seeing Kim again soon. For the first time since she had moved to London way back in August, he would be seeing his best friend. He only hoped that she was feeling better now than the last time they had been face to face.

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Ron finished putting the last of his clothes into the large duffle bag that he would be taking with him to England. He decided against a suitcase since they would not be on an extended trip like Bonnie imagined they would. While neither he nor Shego had any reason to hurry back to the United States once they had succeeded in their mission, she was not about to let the two teens drain even more money from her substantial funds. A small vacation would only be a drop in the bucket of money she had available to her, but to her it was the principle of the matter. She would not be taken advantage of by either of them, and as soon as this gig began to have more downside than up she would not hesitate to throw both of them back on the street.

He let out an audible yawn as he considered the new information he had gleaned prior to the short time he had spent packing. Looking on the internet he was able to find a lot of details about museums in London. Some of them had up to date websites about what items and exhibits were currently on display. That had helped narrow the field immensely when it came to what building might be housing a priceless and dangerous monkey artifact. For some reason the UCL Institute of Archaeology stood out to him the most. Upon further inspection he discovered that they had recently received a number of pieces from the Far East that would be on display for the next several months. In his gut he felt that this would be as good of a place as any to start.

After zipping up his bag, Ron stood and saw Shego enter the room with a similar looking bag of her own. They seemed to be on the save wave-length when it came to the terms of their mission. If he was looking for proof that she did not expect to stay in England for more than a day or two, the single duffle bag was all the evidence that he needed to confirm it. She gave him a small nod when she noticed that he was all but ready to depart. She then turned to look over to room that Bonnie had made her own.

"Is she ready?" she asked.

"I don't know. I haven't seen her since you left to go call Drakken. Is everything set up?"

"Yeah. With all of the free time on his hands he got right on booking the three of us a flight to London. He actually seemed glad that he was able to help. I guess with the whole retirement from villainy thing he needs to do something to make himself feel useful in the world."

Ron nodded silently in understanding. It didn't surprise him. In all the years that he and Kim knew Dr. Drakken, the only thing that mattered to the mad scientist was world domination. It was the only light that Ron had ever seen him in. The desire to take over the world and destroy Kim were what defined him. Without that Ron knew nothing about the man. Sure, he knew vague details about how he had gone to college with Kim's father, but things like hobbies, likes and dislikes, goals and dreams other than conquest, they just didn't seem to exist in Ron's mind.

Maybe he would soon learn more about the former super villain now that he was a small part of the new team he was on. He actually welcomed the thought. He had been given a pleasant surprise when he learned that Bonnie actually had dreams that didn't involve a food chain or being superior to Kim. He supposed that one could technically consider becoming an actress being at the top of a food chain in terms of wealth and popularity in pop culture, but there seemed to be more to it than that. Bonnie's dream did not seem like a shallow one where she was only doing it for the glamour and fame. He hoped that he was right and that someday she would find some kind of happiness.

"It's going to be weird being on a normal plane like this," Ron said. "Normally me and Kim would be on some cargo plane or a boat or a really fast Global Justice jet or something. But now I'm probably going to get stuck behind a crying baby or next to a really annoying guy who won't shut up."

"Being stuck with a really annoying guy who won't shut up? Yeah, that does sound like torture," Shego said sarcastically.

Ron let out a small, cynical laugh at yet another verbal jab from the woman. "Yeah yeah, I get it, you think I'm annoying. Maybe you should put that wit to better use and become a comedian rather than waste it on me."

Shego brushed off the comeback and chose to change the subject back to an earlier one. "So what's taking Bonnie so long? Go in there and find out."

He shrugged with indifference. "Alright."

He stood from the couch and made his way through the condo to the former weight room that he had helped convert back into a bedroom. He opened the door and stepped inside as he began speaking.

"Hey Bonnie, Shego-"

He cut himself off mid-sentence at the sight before him. Bonnie was standing next to her bed that had several outfits laid out on top of it. But what his attention was focused on was the curvy, tanned body of Bonnie clad in nothing but her black bra and panties. His eyes widened immediately and it took a second for him to even realize he was staring. It took another to realize that this was a not a good thing.

"Oh my God Bonnie I'm so-"

"What the hell Ron!" she screamed. "Get out! Close the door!"

Ron quickly backed out and pulled the door shut behind him hard which caused a loud noise to resonate through the entire condo. His heart was thumping as he walked back to the living room where Shego was as quickly as he could. She eyed him suspiciously as he sat down on the couch without saying a word and was focused on looking down at his feet.

"What was that all about?" she asked.

Ron took a deep breath and didn't make eye contact as he thought about what he should say.

"Um, she's not ready," was all he could think of.

Shego sighed in frustration. "Well what was the yelling about?"

Ron let out a long breath. "I'm sure you'll hear about it soon enough."

While Shego did not like being given vague and cryptic answers, she believed she already knew what had happened. Bonnie's words and tone had been loud enough to hear in any room of her home. Growing up in a house with four brothers, Shego knew all of the situations that could result in a girl screaming the way that Bonnie had. A small grin curled on her face.

"Way to go, Stoppable," she said knowingly.

Ron rubbed his eyes for a few moments before suddenly becoming alert. The sound of a door opening in anger got his attention and he looked up to see an angry Bonnie storm into the living room. This time she was fully clothed as he looked up at her heated face.

"Do you know what knocking is?" she asked him.

"I'm sorry Bonnie. I don't know what I was-"

"Of course you don't know what you were thinking!" she said finishing his sentence. "Oh wait, I know! You were thinking of a new way to be a thoughtless idiot!"

While he knew that he had made a mistake, Ron did not appreciate the insults. While he may not have thought his actions through, he knew that they were in no way malicious. To have Bonnie go on yet another tirade at his expense was starting to upset him as well.

"Look, I'm sorry okay? I wasn't thinking. I was just coming in to see if you were finished packing. Trust me, I didn't want to see you like that."

Bonnie opened her mouth like she had just been insulted. "Excuse me? What do you mean you don't want to see this?" she said motioning to her body. "Are you calling me ugly?"

Confusion was evident on Ron's face as he shook his head and hands. "What? No! Of course not. Bonnie you're one of the hottest girls I've ever seen in my life. Seriously, you were like one of the hottest girls in Middleton High."

"Don't objectify me! I'm more than just good looks. It's people like you who make it so hard to get into the acting business. Always looking for eye candy and big fake boobs instead of actual talent."

Ron was again thrown a curveball with the latest direction in Bonnie's tirade. He didn't know how to react or respond to what she was saying. Fearing that he would say the wrong thing, he looked over to Shego with a look that pleaded for her help.

The former villainess laughed at his helpless expression. "Sorry Stoppable, you're on your own here."

Ron closed his eyes in frustration as he resigned to just stop talking. If there was one thing he had learned since he had arrived in Los Angeles and started living with these two women, it was that he simply did not understand the female gender. Everything they did was complicated and everything they said had something that he could misinterpret or respond to the wrong way. It was especially bad when they were two of the most volatile and headstrong women he had ever known.

Maybe it was a product of spending nearly his entire life as Kim's best friend. To him she was just that, his best friend. He hadn't even really considered her a girl for much of their friendship. It took the Moodulator incident to make him realize that she was. Because of that all kinds of feelings and emotions that he had never felt before were unlocked and came to the surface of their friendship. It had all come together on the night of junior prom during the Little Diablo incident. On that night they had finally seen each other as more than just friends. And then in a little more than a year it had ended. Things had changed forever and they would never return to the innocence of simply being best friends.

He shook his head at the thought of it. He sincerely hoped that things would be better once they got to London. He also hoped that when she came home for the summer that they could resume not only being friends, but maybe even try dating again. Since there had been no ugly breakup and it had been on friendly, mutual terms, there was a real possibility of it. But that was still several months away. He wasn't about to start dwelling on it or get his hopes up.

Bonnie let out a sigh while shaking her head. "Look, I'm sorry for going off on you like that. Just try to remember to use some common sense when living in a condo with two women, okay?"

Ron nodded in understanding. He still wasn't in the mood to say anything.

"Anyway, I'm ready to go now. I'm going to need you two to help me with my luggage though."

Shego frowned at her. "How much luggage are we talking here?"

"Oh, only three suitcases. I figure that I'll need plenty of outfits and all of my products to help keep me looking my best. I wouldn't want to be unprepared in case I meet a hot guy on this trip."

Ron mentally groaned at her explanation. One minute she was ranting about objectifying her and being more than just a pretty face. The next she was going on about needing to look beautiful. He truly did not understand the fickle nature of women. He figured that maybe it was best if he didn't try to wrap his mind around their insanity.

"Well you have fun on your little vacation," Shego said cheerfully. "Ron and I are only going to be there until we save Kimmie's ass from whatever he saw in his vision. But you're more than welcome to stay. Just know that you're the one who will be paying the hotel bill."

Bonnie's jaw dropped again. "Wait, what!"

"You may have planned on staying there for a vacation, but I didn't. Considering you two are already sponging on me as it is, did you honestly think that I would be paying hundreds of dollars a night for a nice hotel and your expenses? Because honestly, you are not the cheapest person to provide for. And I can't imagine how much you would cost if you were let loose in a foreign country."

"But I helped you get $500 from my old landlord! You said so yourself!"

"Yeah. And that paid for your bedroom set. I have yet to see any profits from this business that you and Stoppable convinced me to be a part of."

"But…" Bonnie said before closing hey eyes and sighing in disappointment. "Fine. Whatever."

Ron and Shego watched a clearly disheartened Bonnie walk back to her room.

"Maybe we could have stayed for like one extra day," Ron said. "It seemed like it really meant a lot to her."

Shego shrugged. "And I'm evil, remember? People's feelings aren't exactly high on my list of priorities."

"Well technically you used to be evil. You said that you've been beating up criminals for the past few months. And now since we're going to help Kim-"

Ron found himself on the end of a dark glare from the woman.

"Do you want to see how evil I can still be?"

He shook his head quickly. "No, no that's okay. I'm sure you can still be very evil if you put your mind to it. No demonstration necessary."

Shego smiled with satisfaction. "That's what I thought."

XXXXXXXXXX

Life was so different now. And yet for all of the changes, for all of the things she had given up, things just seemed right. Things seemed normal. Maybe it was what she had needed for a long time now.

Kim was alone in her dorm room looking down at an incredibly boring textbook. College was a lot harder than she thought it would be. Back in the United States she had all but breezed through most of her classes in high school. Except that one cooking class. She had barely been able to earn a passing grade on it, and that was only thanks to Ron's assistance. She looked up from the wall of words at the thought of that. She wondered how he was doing.

Over the past several months they had kept in touch via e-mail and sometimes phone, but those were becoming few and far in between now. She had indeed given up a lot when she had come to this place, and perhaps the most important thing was him. They had been dating for over a year prior to her enrollment at this school. But he was far more than just a boyfriend. Or an ex-boyfriend, she corrected herself. He was still her best friend. That was something that would never change. It hurt that they were so far apart, not only by distance, but emotionally as well.

Kim thought about her reasons for coming here. They were ones she did not even want to admit to herself. Ron had tried talking with her about what had occurred that fateful day when the Lorwardians invaded Earth. She had never been willing to fully discuss it. Discussing it meant thinking about what she truly thought and felt. She had already done that enough in the days after the invasion. She had thought about it when the news broadcasts showed the horror and destruction wrought by the alien creatures, when the announcements updating the growing number of dead would flood in every hour to be reported. They were things she simply couldn't deal with. Not now at least. It was one reason she had gone all the way to England.

Kim's attention was drawn to her closet where she kept some of her possessions that she did not frequently use. Her mission gear was in there along with her Kimmunicator. She did not know why she had brought them along. She had decided that missions should not be an important part of her life at the current moment. With three of the most dangerous super villains either retired or turned to stone, she felt justified in her decision. After all, what was Global Justice for? Were they so inept that they couldn't handle a few gimmick super villains like Camille Leon and Duff Killigan? Were they really so outmatched against a mutant frog-person like Gill or a cheap and incompetent amateur like Frugal Lucre? She honestly didn't believe so. Considering that the world no longer had to deal with the likes of Dr. Drakken, Shego and Monkey Fist, she believed the world to be a far safer place than it was when she was still active in the field.

She went back to focusing her attention on her book and resumed reading. Then came the noise she had not heard in months. A familiar four beep tone cut through the air and was as loud as a siren. Her eyes immediately darted over to her closet. She sat still for several moments hoping that it was just her imagination. She bit her lower lip in anticipation. Her worst fears were confirmed when the noise sounded again.

She slowly and hesitantly stood and walked over to open her closet door. She bent down and retrieved the old familiar device from a box that held her purple and black mission attire as well. She couldn't stop a small nostalgic smile from spreading over her face as she looked at the wrist Kimmunicator. As if she had never taken a break from her world saving hobby, Kim pressed a button and saw that Wade on the screen.

"What's the sitch, Wade?" she asked for old time's sake.

Wade couldn't suppress a smile of his own when he heard those words. "You have no idea how good it feels to hear that," he grinned.

"Yeah, it has been a while, hasn't it?"

"Too long if you ask me."

Kim nodded in agreement, not necessarily because she missed the missions, but because she missed the regular contact with another of her best friends.

"So is something important going on? You haven't used this method of communication in a long time."

"I know. And I'm sorry to do so, I know that you said you wanted… um, a break," he said with noticeable hesitation. "But I thought you should know that something is going on."

"Don't worry, Wade. You know that I could never get mad at you. So what's the sitch?"

"I have some bad news. There's been a break in at the UCL Institute of Archaeology."

Kim did a double-take upon hearing those words. "What? But that's right here in London. What's going on?"

"I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but I have an idea," Wade said as he looked away from the camera. "I have a list here of recent museum robberies that have occurred all over the world in the last couple of weeks. They all have one thing in common."

"Do I really want to know?" she asked with a trace of anxiety in her voice.

"Kim, they all have to do with ancient Asian artifacts. More specifically, ones having to do with monkeys."

Kim shut her eyes when she heard the words that she knew were coming but had still hoped would not be spoken. She couldn't hide her disappointment from the super genius on the other side of the communication.

"How long have you known about this?"

"Honestly I put the pieces together as soon as the first robbery occurred. It all became very clear when I learned that our monkey friend was no longer a stone statue in the Museum of Middleton. I don't know how or why, but somehow Monkey Fist is back to being flesh and bone. And he has some kind of agenda."

"He's always had the same agenda. It's always monkeys. Smelly, flea-covered monkeys."

"You're beginning to sound like Ron there," Wade laughed.

Kim didn't share his appreciation of the humorous moment. Seeing her reaction stopped his laughter and he resumed speaking to her in a serious tone.

"The question now is what are we going to do about it?"

"I don't know," she said honestly.

"I know that you don't want to do anymore missions. But right now Global Justice isn't in a position to stop Monkey Fist from whatever he's after. I'm not trying to pressure you or anything, but it's your call."

Kim knew that Wade would never try to force her to do anything she wasn't comfortable with. Going on mission had always been her choice. This time would be no different. Conflict was raging inside of her.

On one hand she did not want to do any missions at the moment. She was busy with school. She had a new social life with new friends and was enjoying being a basic and average girl. And in the back of her mind where she dared not explore, she had other reasons for not wanting to go on anymore missions.

But another part of her kept nagging her about the risks of not going on this mission. She knew very well what kinds of magic Monkey Fist was interested in. She had once been turned into a monkey herself thanks to a magical amulet. And most recently he had been turned completely into stone. She did not know how he was back to normal. But the fact that he was meant that the world just got a lot more dangerous.

Guilt began to gnaw at the pit of her stomach. Ignoring this could mean more harm and more suffering in the world. Plus it wasn't like she had never faced and beat Monkey Fist before. She had done so on numerous occasions. This would be nothing new, nothing out of the ordinary. And since it was a local mission it wouldn't even take that long. Whether she liked it or not, she had come to a decision.

"I'll do it," she said as she put on a confident face for her friend. "Set me up with a ride and I'll be ready."

Wade smiled at her decision. She may have wanted to take a break from missions, but deep down he knew that she was the same person he had known for years. She always did the right thing. Helping others was a part of her that she could not shed no matter where she went in the world.

"Okay. A local who still owes you a favor will be there in a few minutes. You don't have much time to change and get yourself ready, so I'll let you go now."

"Alright. Thanks Wade."

After shutting her Kimmunicator off she set it down on her desk and leaned back in her chair. She let out a sigh as she stared up at the ceiling. She wasn't nearly as calm and collected as she made herself appear to be in front of Wade. But she knew that she had no time to dwell on the subject. Her ride would be here any minute. She had to change into her mission clothes and get herself mentally prepared for her mission.

Kim stood up and again went over to her closet. She reached down and grabbed the box of clothes and set it on her bed. She held her purple shirt up in the air in front of her and stared at it for a few long seconds before she started to change.