Kim Possible and all related characters are the property of Disney. Transformers and all related characters are the property of Hasbro.

The Transformers used will be a mixture of Generation 1, Beast Wars, the IDW Comics series (which is fantastic, by the way), the Aligned Continuity (The Prime and Robots in Disguise TV series and the Fall of Cybertron and War for Cybertron video games), and a smattering of The Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon, and Cybertron) and Animated.

"You're gonna do WHAT?"

Is it wrong that, even after all these years, I still like to see Shego freak out? My name is Kim Possible, and up until an hour ago I was a Global Justice Agent on detached assignment with Unit E. Then I was unceremoniously fired for standing by my best friend Ron Stoppable. Who knows, by the end of this sitch, I might get my old job back.

But getting back to Shego. I was standing in her cell, which was really more like a dorm room. The walls, doors, ceiling and floor were all lined with a mesh of non-conductive elements to block radio transmissions, as were the surfaces in the adjoining bathroom. The door locked from the outside, and was guarded by two armed soldiers. But considering the fact that this room was the only thing keeping her from self destructing, I knew Shego wouldn't try to escape.

Mech had held her captive for six years, the same as they had Ron. He was tortured physically and mentally, and so was Shego. In her case, they conducted experiments on her to try to replicate her comet powers. And to keep her from kicking all their biscuits, she was injected with microscopic robots that soaked up her power, and could be triggered to explode, hence the reason she was in this giant Faraday cage.

I was standing in the corner of her cell with Agent Fowler while one of the phlebotomists drew several viles of blood, all of which were put in a container lined with the same material as the Faraday cage. She winced when the needle was pulled out.

"I'll admit it's not a perfect plan," I said. "But right now it's all we've got."

Shego wasn't backing down. "Not a perfect plan? NOT A PERFECT PLAN? Princess, that plan is more whack than the whackest plan Dr. D ever came up with!"

"Be that as it may," Agent Fowler added, "that's what we've got right now. And we can't let on that we know there's a fake running around the base. Don't worry, Shego, we have no intention of letting you go up like Fourth of July fireworks and taking us with you. We've got some pretty high tech and heavy duty backup for this little plan of ours."

"Those freaky robot guys?" Shego asked uneasily.

I couldn't help but dig in a little more. "Yup. And if you play your cards right, I might be able to convince Dinobot to come over for a play date." I thought Shego was going to wet herself.

A short time later, I was with Ron in one of the conference rooms. He was wearing a pair of sweat pants and a Unit E t-shirt. His crutches were in the corner. Spike Witwicky and I had just finished spelling out the plan to him. Spike was the one doing most of the talking.

"So that's what we want to do," Spike said. "We can do this without you, but it would be more believable if you were there in the flesh."

Ron's eyes were darting around, as if he was trying to find an escape route. "I don't know," he finally said. "I mean, I haven't had the best of luck with synthodrones after figuring out they're synthodrones."

"This time you'll have backup," I told him. "This time you'll have me. The real me. Not the one hundred plus fake Kims you've been tortured with."

"A hundred and fifty," Ron said. "They kept having trouble with the infiltrator models, and I didn't always tell them what the flaws were." He closed his eyes and lowered his head. "No matter how much they hurt me."

I took Ron's hands in mine. "They will never hurt you again. Do you understand me? I won't let them. To get to you, they'll have to go through me!"

"And me." Spike added his hands to the pile. "You saved my father-in-law, Ron. You kept my wife from losing her dad and my son from losing his grandfather. I know this is asking a lot, but after we're done, so are you. You'll never have to do anything like this again."

Ron didn't say anything. All he did was nod. It was on. Now all we had to do was make sure the trap was baited.

I shouldn't have been surprised when I saw Will Du lurking in my office like a bad smell. He was looking over the pictures I had on my desk. They were the same pictures I had on my desk in my old Global Justice cubicle. I had taken everything with me when I started this assignment. Something I know he noticed.

"At least you won't have to go back and clean out your desk," he sneered.

"You are so loving this," I shot back. "I make you look bad, so you try to get me out of the way. You hear about me finding Ron and Shego alive, get jealous, and then come here and try to find a way of getting me fired. Which you did." I walked by him and took a seat at my desk. "Well, now your completion ratings are really gonna tank! You've been riding on my coattails since we were partnered up."

"No I haven't!" He said it like a little kid.

"You so have!" I couldn't help but laugh at how completely in denial he was. "Will, before we teamed up, you were at a forty percent arrest and completion rating! Hardly the kind of stats GJ's so-called 'top agent' should have! After I came on, you went up to sixty percent. I should add that my ratings are at a comfortable eighty six percent. You are so on your own now."

Will stormed up and slammed his hands on my desk. "At least I still have a job, you unemployed amateur!"

"Oh I have a job, Will," I said in a smug voice. "Agent Fowler offered me a full agent position with Unit E after Dr. Director fired me. "

If looks could kill, Du would have killed me. "Anything's possible, right?"

"Totally," I said. I got up and went to the door, which was his cue to get the hell out of my space. "There are bigger things here than jurisdiction, Will. Bigger things than Global Justice and Unit E, bigger than the Worldwide Evil Empire, and bigger than all of us. I see the bigger picture, Will. I know what's important. All I've ever wanted was to help people. All you've ever wanted is all the glory. That's why I'll always be better than you. Now get out! I have some paperwork to fill out."

As soon as he was gone I closed the door, went back to my desk, and sat down. I let out a long, exhausted sigh. It was true that I had been offered a job by Agent Fowler. He jumped at the chance to get me permanently. I hadn't given him a firm answer yet. Ever since I first learned about Global Justice, I'd wanted to work for them. That had become my dream, and I achieved it. Then I got a good look from the inside.

It was such the top heavy bureaucracy. And a lot of the time we were basically mediating between Dr. Director and that lunatic brother of hers. I think I'd dealt with more WEE cases in the last year than I had any other super villains. Not that a lot of them were still around.

Professor Dementor was still on the loose. With Drakken gone, Dementor took more of a prominent role in local and international super villainy.

With Ron gone, Monkey Fist declared himself the one true Mokey Master, and went about trying to consolidate his power. Yamanuchi was there to block him at every turn. That was another reason Hana was placed with Ron's fam. She was a living mystical weapon, and Sensei was afraid that Monkey Fist would try to capture her. I couldn't help thinking about what would happen if Fiske learned that Ron was still alive. We'd just have to cross that bridge when we got to it.

The Seniors pretty much retired to their island. After what happened to Drakken, I guess Senor Senior Senior decided that being evil was't all that great of a hobby. Junior is still trying to become a pop sensation, but is so failing miserably.

Motor Ed pops up every now and again. He had broken Adrena Lynn out of prison before stealing the Kepler rocket from the Middleton Space Center. He tricked it out into a hypersonic hot rod to cruise the countryside with. That was the case that brought me out of retirement, actually, and the case where the Tweebs tricked out our dad's old Sloth so we could keep up with the rocket.

Sometimes I think it was simpler when I had 'take over the world' missions every week. Things made sense back then. Show up, beat the bad guys, be home in time for dinner and homework. Lather, rinse, repeat. Prom night changed all that. I knew I could never change it back, and that things between Ron and me would never be the same.

I loved Ron. Nothing would ever change that. But he would never love me back. All I could hope was that, someday, he would forgive me. Someday, maybe we could be friends again.

But that was enough of that. "Head in the game, Posible," I said to myself. "We have a trap to spring."

"This is the worst thing you could do, Bill!" You've heard the old saying that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? Add in a nurse who's having a patient stolen away to that mix. It was so not pretty to see June Darby giving Agent Fowler the verbal smack down. Even though I knew she was acting, I still felt bad for Fowler. No one deserved to be on the receiving end of that rage, fake or not.

"I'm sorry, June, but it's out of my hands!" was Fowler's reply. "This order comes from higher up the chain of command. We've all been overridden here." Fowler turned to Dr. Carl Greer, Ron's attending physician and a veteran of G.I. Joe. "I didn't want to do this, Carl, you know that!"

"I don't know what I know anymore," Doc said. "Other than the fact that I may need to rethink my position here." With that he turned on his heels and left. Everything , it seemed, was already in full swing.

Ron was standing on his crutches, wearing the same clothes he had on earlier, and had a duffle bag slung over his shoulder. He had a look of what I can only describe as detached fear in his eyes. Unfortunately, it was a look I'd seen a lot since we'd rescued him.

"I don't believe this," I said, channeling my anger at Mech, Global Justice, and myself into my performance. "I don't freaking believe this!" I stormed up to Fowler and Spike. "Not even three hours ago you were saying that Ron wasn't going anywhere! And now you're turning him over? What's the stinking sitch here?!"

"Kim," Spike said, doing his best to sound like the calming influence, "it's out of our hands. This came all the way down from-"

"I don't give a damn if it came down from on high with angels and a choir!" I pointed over to where Ron was standing. "He should be resting! He should be getting better, not being sent off to some GJ gulag!" Okay, I maybe went a teensy bit too far with that one, but I was on a roll.

"Agent Possible, that's enough!" Dr. Director snipped.

"You don't get to give me orders anymore," I snapped back. "You lost that right when you fired me. And don't think that I'm going to take that lying down! I've already sent off a grievance about that to your superiors!"

I turned to Spike and Agent Fowler. "And if this is how things are going to work around here, then I want no part of it. I quit."

"That's your choice," Fowler said, hanging his head. "But before you do that, please escort our guests out to the tarmac so they can be transferred over to Dr. Director's custody."

"Kim?" Ron's voice sounded small and scared. That was real fear, not an act. "Don't let them take me away. Please."

I went to Ron and took his hands. "I'll be there with you. Every step of the way." I shot a death glare over to Du and Dr. Director. "I need to get changed into my battlesuit, just in case things go bad, then I'll meet you at Shego's cell. And let's hope we don't all get blown to kingdom come if those signal blockers don't work."

I was already at Shego's Faraday cage cell when Will and Dr. Director got there. I was wearing my black and blue battlesuit, and Shego was outside the door and had been shackled and fitted with the signal blocker; a combination belt and head unit that, in theory, would stop any unauthorized radio signals from reaching the nanites in her bloodstream by creating a radio scrambler field around her.

"I still think this isn't gonna work," Shego sneered.

"You'd better hope it does," I shot back. "I don't want to get covered in Shego splatter."

"More like you don't want to get turned into Kimmie kibble when I go boom."

"Will both of you just shut up?" Will snapped.

"Oh look," Shego said in a singsong voice. "It's little Willy Dufus and his handler, the Nick Fury wannabe."

"Keep it up, Shego," Dr. Director said, "and I just might let that self destruct signal come through."

I shot Dr. Director a death glare. "What part of 'unknown blast radius' don't you two understand? If she goes up, she could take this entire base with her! What, did you think I was making that up?"

"Yes," was all Will said.

I let out a groan, rolled my eyes, and walked on. Shego was on my right, and Ron was on my left. Will and Dr. Director were bringing up the rear. It was slow going, due mainly to Ron being on crutches, and that was getting to the GJ reps.

"Can we please hurry this along?" Will complained.

To my surprise, Ron turned around and let into Will. "You try getting your knee shot out at close range and see how fast you move!"

I put my hand on Ron's shoulder. He cringed on reflex, as if physical contact now meant pain. He looked at me with a worried look on his face. I smiled and mouthed the words "Nice one."

We continued on to the back loading dock. Outside was a red cab-over-engine big rig hooked up to a grey trailer that had a blue stripe running down the sides. It also had a very familiar red emblem emblazoned on it. I smiled. Backup just in case I needed it. Ten feet from the truck was the GJ hypersonic transport.

"This is where we part ways, Kim," Dr. Director said.

"No way. I go with Ron all the way to the transport."

"What am I, chopped liver?" Shego groused. "Or are you waiting to see if that's what I turn into?"

I wasn't paying attention to Shego's tantrum. For one thing, I so didn't want to hear her complain, and for another, I had just gotten a message over my earpiece that I had been waiting for. The detonation signal had been detected, analyzed, decrypted and blocked.

I nodded at Ron, and we both turned to face Will and Dr. Director. "Change of plans. Ron and Shego aren't going anywhere, and you go into a holding cell."

Will threw the conniption fit I expected. "You stupid amateur! You really think you can lock us up? I can have you sitting in a foreign prison cell where no one will ever find you!"

"That's enough, Will," Dr. Director said.

"Exactly," I agreed. "Besides, Will, I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to her." I looked straight at Dr. Director.

With lighting speed, Dr. Director lunged at me, but before she could get far, Ron lashed out with one of his crutches, catching the spymaster upside the head and sending her flying.

"That's it!" Will had his shock watch trained on Ron. "All of you are under arrest!"

"Will, you idiot!" Ron shouted. "Look at her!"

We all turned our attention to Dr. Director, who was pulling herself to her feet. Her head had turned a hundred and eighty degrees, and she was slowly repositioning it so she faced forward. When she had, we saw that her eye patch was gone, and that instead of a ruined eye or an eyelid covering an empty socket, the patch had covered nothing. All that was there was a blank expanse of synthetic skin.

"What the hell..." Will muttered.

"That was never Dr. Director," I said. "That's a synthodrone. And she's been trying to hack into Unit E's communications array since you got here."

"Not an easy task, I'll admit," the synthodrone said. "Your blockers are better than we thought. But now that I have Shego right in front of me..."

"Not so fast." I worked the controls in my suit's glove, and Shego faded from view. She was never in that cell. That was all a holomatter simulation; the same kind that shielded my power suit at the Mech base in Lowerton, and was doing the same thing now since I was wearing the power suit and not my old battlesuit. I didn't want to tip my hand to Mech that we were onto them, and I didn't want Will to know I had this kind of tech. Besides, the power suit had the hollomatter projector and my battlesuit didn't.

Will was dumbstruck. He backed up a few steps, stumbled, and fell flat on his butt. I would have laughed if this hadn't been a life and death sitch.

"How did you figure it out?" the synthodrone asked.

"Blame Ron," I said.

"You never blinked," Ron said. "Like, ever. Just a little flaw I noticed on syntho-Kim number one that I never bothered to point out. Those Mech scientists really dropped the ball on that one."

"So true," I added. "You'd think they would have noticed." I really didn't have much room to talk since I, and everyone else, had missed that one too. You'd think someone not blinking would be a dead giveaway, but not this time. Maybe it was because Dr. Director only had one eye, or because we were distracted by the sitch at hand. Or maybe we were all that oblivious to it. Whatever the reason, Ron noticed it, pointed it out, and got the ball rolling on this.

"Where's Shego?" the synthodrone demanded.

"Where you won't get her. Ever." I got in a fighting stance.

"You really think you can take me on? I'm an infiltrator/combatant model synthodrone! Your sixteen styles of Kung Fu mean nothing to me!"

"Who said anything about fighting? I'm doing my best Ron Stoppable impersonation and distracting you."

"You're wh-" The Betty-drone didn't finish its sentence. It was hit by a high voltage stun beam from behind, courtesy of an elelcro gun wielded by one Agent Marissa Fairbourne. That was a special prototype weapon G.I. Joe developed. The fact that Marissa's 'rents, Flint and Lady Jaye, were long time Joes was what gave us access to that thing in the first place.

The synthodrone collapsed to the ground without draining. It's CPU was scrambled, but the tech was slavagable. That meant that we had a vital piece of Mech's equipment that we could study and use against them.

"Thanks for the assist, Agent Fairbourne," I said.

"Anytime, Agent Possible," the brunette responded. "Now, I need to get this back to the Pit before my folks get antsy about this thing."

"No one move!" I turned and looked at Will, who was holding an actual gun, pointing it right at me.

"For the love of God, Will," I groaned. "Would you please knock it off? That was never Dr. Director, which means Ron, Shego, and you were never going to New York!"

"I don't care," Will snarled. "Ever since I met you, you've been mocking me! It got worse when you joined up and we became partners. All you do, all you ever do, is make me look bad! Well, no more! I'm done! You're going down, then I'm taking Stoppable and Shego to the real Dr. Director, and I'll be the best agent again!"

A loud grinding sound filled the air, and a huge shadow fell over Will. He turned around and saw Optimus Prime looming over him. "I suggest you drop the weapon." Optimus got down on one knee and glared right into Will's eyes. "Now."

Will dropped the gun, turned around, and fainted.

"Well," Ron said, "that was anticlimactic."

A green vortex opened in Shego's cell, and she came walking out of it. With the door open, the ground bridge signal could get through. It was actually kind of a roundabout process to get her where we needed to. First, we ground bridged her to the Ark. Then she was bridged to Optimus' trailer, which was still set up to block transmissions from when we retrieved Shego and Ron from Lowerton.

The signal jamming in the trailer was selective. The only radio source that could get through was the signal for Teletraan-1, and that let Shego use a telepresence unit to control her holomatter avatar. All the while, we were able to finally get the frequency that Mech was using for the nano explosives in Shego's bloodstream. Hopefully they wouldn't change frequencies until we found a way to neutralize those things. For now, though, we had it blocked. That didn't mean we were going to stop using the Faraday cage, though. Better safe than sorry.

"I can't believe that actually worked," was all Shego said when she was comfortably back in her cell.

"Oh ye of little faith," I said.

"Whatever, Princess. Don't get a big head." Shego sat down on the bed and then looked at me. "Kim. Thanks. You know, for making sure the bad guys didn't get me again."

I nodded, closed the door, and left. That was one down. Now I had to check on Will.

It's amazing how little things can cause the biggest problems. I've had chips the size of pennies on my forehead and on the back of my neck that made me completely controllable or emotionally unstable. I was holding a similar chip in my hand that had been taken off the back of Will's neck.

"It looks like a next generation version of Dr. Bortell's moodulator," Doc said. "The original model had four settings."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "I know. Happy, sad, love and hate. I had such the migraine the day after that thing came off."

"This one is more complex," Doc continued. "From what I can tell, it was set to jealous rage."

"Let me guess. I was the focus of it?" These things couldn't create emotions, only amplify what was already there, which is why I focused on Ron. I was mad at him for losing the Kimmunicator, upset that the Kimmunicator was missing, and crushing on Ron, even though I wouldn't admit it to myself. That's why he got the brunt of everything.

"That's my hunch."

"How's Will doing?"

"He's still unconscious." Doc chuckled. "I shouldn't laugh. Seeing an Autobot towering over you for the first time can be scary. But your friend is the first person I've ever seen faint over it."

I smiled. "Keep me posted."

Will was back on his feet a half hour later, which was exactly when a hypersonic transport carrying the real Dr. Director arrived. All of us were in Agent Fowler's office when she arrived, and she got an incomplete rundown on what happened. By that I mean all mention of Optimus was omitted. Fortunately, Will was so scrambled that he forgot all about that part.

Dr. Director closed her eye and rubbed her temples. Her migraine was coming back. "I don't believe this. Will, you knew I was attending a security conference in Washington DC this week. It's been on my calendar for over a month!"

Will didn't respond. He just sat there, looking intently at the floor.

"This is a nightmare," Dr. Director continued. "Now I need to figure out how Mech was able to get a synthodrone into our secure headquarters."

"They have moles," I said.

"As you stated in your last report," Dr. Director replied. "I'm sorry to say that I didn't take your warnings as seriously as I should have. I honestly thought our security protocols would be enough to keep out any unauthorized individuals. I was obviously wrong."

Dr. Director turned to look at me. "I am disappointed in you, Kim." I gave her a confused look and she continued. "You should have told me about Ron. I may not have been as close to him as you are, but I care about him too! Don't you think I would have wanted to know he was still alive?"

"That was my call, Doctor," Agent Fowler said, "not Agent Possible's."

"May I assume," Will said in a weak and shaky voice, "that the prisoners will still be coming with us?"

"For crying out loud, Du," Dr. Director groaned. "First of all, Ron's not a prisoner. And I'm not big on the idea of transporting a potential bomb with an unknown explosive yield over the continental United States!"

"Ron and Shego have rights, Will," I said.

"No they don't! They're legally dead!"

"Will, shut up!" Dr. Director snapped. "Right now. Just shut up! The moment we go with that kind of thinking is the moment we become the bad guys!" Dr. Director turned to Spike and Fowler. "Drakken's Synthodrone 901 didn't seem to have the limitations the Mech models have. Any idea why that is?"

"Well," Fowler said, "to paraphrase one of my favorite movies, Drakken was a poor scientist, Dr. Director." Everyone except Will chuckled. I guess he never saw the original Ghostbusters. "According to Shego, and to Agent Possible's father, who was a classmate of Drakken's, the good doctor wasn't very good at keeping notes. There were incomplete schematics for the synthodrone exo-sleeves at Bueno Nacho headquarters, and nothing at any of Drakken's former lairs."

"According to Shego, Drakken drew everything out on the back of a napkin and then lost it," I said. "Which is why they kept using Ron as a guinea pig to see if they'd gotten them right."

"Then it's a good thing Ron didn't tell them everything they were getting wrong," Dr. Director said. "Okay, Kim, I'm sorry, but this assignment is over. I need you back at GJ headquarters ASAP. And Will, you and I are going to have a nice, long talk on our way back."

Will quickly stood up and left the room. The rest of us didn't budge. "Dr. Director," Spike said, "taking Kim off this assignment would be a mistake."

"Really. And why's that?"

I stood up and went for the door. "I've joined a special strike unit here. I think it's high time you met that unit's commander."

"You can't be serious." Needless to say, Dr. Director was so unimpressed when she saw the red semi. "Your so called strike team is a big rig?"

"Just wait," was all I said.

On cue, the truck's engine started, and it pulled away from its trailer. Then it transformed into the towering visage of Optimus Prime. The Autobot leader got down on one knee and held out his hand.

"Greetings, Dr. Director. I am Optimus Prime. Agent Possible has spoken very highly of you."

"Oh. My. God." Dr. Director looked over at me. "Is this real?"

"Very real," I said. I nodded at Optimus, who returned to his vehicle mode. "Care to meet the rest of the team?"

"There are more of them?" I thought Dr. Director was going to hyperventilate.

Optimus opened his doors, inviting us in. "Please come with me, Doctor," he said, "and I'll explain everything."

The next three hours were a whirlwind for Betty. She got a crash course in Cybertronian history, with emphasis on the civil war. Optimus told her about how Nova Prime first created the Autobots as a police force, and how Sentinel Prime expanded that role. He even told her how Sentinel was granted the Badge of Vector Prime and used that as the Autobot sigil.

He told her about the rise of Megatron, the formation of the Decepticons, and the terrorist attacks in the capitol city of Iacon that triggered the war. He told her how he started out as a historical archivist, and then became an Autobot code breaker. The only thing he didn't tell her was how he became leader, or how he gained the Matrix of Leadership. Come to think of it, he hadn't told me that either.

Then he took her on a tour of the Ark, and I got to check in on Sideways. Big surprise, there was no change. At the end of it all, Dr. Director told Optimus that the Autobots would get all the help they needed from Global Justice. She also gave me a sad look. I think she knew what I had decided before I did.

When we stepped through the ground bridge and returned to the Unit E base, Dr. Director surprised me by hugging me.

"I had such plans for you," she said. "I was going to groom you to be my successor." Betty released me and gave me a weak smile. "Will thinks it's his job, but he just isn't right for it. I was hoping you would be the one to take my place." I was about to say something, but she stopped me. "I'm sorry to see you go, Kim, but this is bigger than all of us. You're where you need to be. And I'll work out an arrangement with Agent Fowler so we can still make use of your skills."

I smiled and nodded. "Thank you for everything, Betty."

She smiled and hugged me again. "Thank you for your service." We ended the hug, and she wiped away a small tear. "Now, I'd like to go see Ron."

I wasn't in the room when Ron and Dr. Director had their reunion. It wasn't my place to be there. Instead I went to my office and finished filling out the paperwork that made me official with Unit E. That was when Will barged in my office.

"Knock much?" I asked in an really annoyed voice. "Did you think that maybe I had the door closed for a reason?"

"You're just abandoning us?" was all Will said.

I was getting one of Dr. Director's headaches. Maybe Will was the cause of them all. "First you want me gone, then you want me back, then gone, then back. You're worse than a yo-yo!" I set down the form I was filling out and looked at him.

"I told you already that this is bigger than us, Will. Dr. Director understands that, and she's working on a way to get these two agencies cooperating!"

"And that means you leave the winning team and join these amateurs."

It took all my patience and willpower to keep from walking up to him and smacking him as hard as I could. "This is a United States Department of Homeland Security operation," I said. "Groups like G.I. Joe and MASK are part of it. I'll let you tell General Hawk and Matt Trakker that you think they're not professional."

Will squirmed a little when I name dropped the leaders of those teams. "Still..."

"This is where I belong, Will."

"Because of the sidekick," Will snarled.

I sighed. "Partially. But he won't be here forever. Eventually Ron will be well enough to go back to Middleton with his family. When that happens, I'll be staying here. Yes, I am partially staying because of Ron, but I'm also staying because I've become part of something bigger! There are threats out there that make the combined forces of all the independent supervillains, the Worldwide Evil Empire, Cobra and VENOM look like a bunch of schoolyard bullies! And I'm going to help protect the world from that.

"You want to know why I make you look bad? It's because I don't make it about me. It's about the work. It's about helping and protecting people. I put the world first and myself second. You put yourself first and everything else second. Until you can fix your priorities, you'll keep failing."

There's an old saying that all good things come to an end. So do all bad things. On the good side, my career at Global Justice was now over. I gave Betty my official resignation. On the bad side, my visit from Will was also over. As much as I would miss my teammates at GJ, I would so not miss him.

I turned my paperwork in to Agent Fowler, who accepted them with a huge grin. He and Spike invited me out for celebratory drinks, but I declined. I was so not a drinker. I got drunk on my twenty first birthday and got so sick that I thought I was dying. There was no way I was going to even come close to repeating that.

Instead, I went to see Ron. He was back in his hospital room watching Rise of the Fearless Ferret on the laptop I'd given him. He looked up at me as he paused the playback.

"I was about to head home. I wanted to see how you were."

"I'm good," Ron said. He looked over at Rufus, who was sleeping off a feast of cheese on the bedside table. "Not as good as Rufus is, but good."

"That's good." I was about to turn to leave when Ron stopped me.

"KP? Thanks. You know, for believing me."

I smiled. "I learned the hard way what happens when I blow you off, Ron. I'll never do that again. And you gave us a huge advantage over Mech."

Ron moved the computer off his lap and swung his legs off the bed. He was about to stand up, but I took a seat in the chair by his bed instead. He was looking at his feet and wringing his hands. He was nervous, but I didn't know why.

"I don't hate you," he finally said. "I heard what you said to June, and I don't hate you." He finally looked up at me. "I don't know how I feel. I mean, I didn't know how long I'd been gone until you told me how long I'd been gone! I didn't have a calendar I could use to keep track of things.

"For the first however long I was there, I was afraid all the time. Then the first syntho-Kim came. I thought I was saved! I thought you'd found me. Then the damn thing called me Don Droppable, and I knew it was a trick. Then the second one was left handed, another one couldn't get your slang right, and none of them blinked. So I decided to just stop feeling anything."

Ron looked at me and he had tears in his eyes. "But I don't hate you. I could never hate you." Then he reached for me and wrapped his arms around me. I returned the hug, and rested my head on his shoulder. I felt like a part of myself had just come back to life.

"Thank you, Ron," I said quietly. I reluctantly pulled back, but didn't let go of him. "I would like to get to know you again. I want to be your friend again. Not having you in my life was worse than anything I could imagine."

"I'd like that, too."

So there it was. A new beginning. I had a second chance to make things right with Ron. We may never be best friends again, and I seriously doubted he would love me the way I loved him, but we had a fresh start. That would just have to be enough.

By the time I got back to the townhouse, I was fried. All I wanted was a quick bite to eat, a shower, and to go to bed. My mom was on the phone with the medical center, making arrangements to come back, and my dad and the Tweebs were watching Captain Constellation on TV.

With me being part of Unit E now, my fam would get all the protection at home that they had here. That meant they could get back to Middleton, and their lives. It also meant that I would be moving out of the townhouse and into my own apartment. Fortunately I had a few leads on places I could rent. When my dad saw me, he got off the couch and bounded up to me.

"Dad, you okay?"

"Fine, Kimmie-cub, just fine," he said. He may have been fine, but he had something on his mind. "Tell me, how's your friend Sideways doing?"

"Same," I said. "It's looking like he might stay in stasis lock for the rest of his life."

Dad nodded, then spoke up again. "Do you think you could get me clearance to go to the Autobot ship?"

"Sure, but why?"

Dad gave me his version of Ron's serious face. "Because I think I might be able to save Sideways."

Next Chapter: The quest to save Sideways, and Optimus Prime's quest to find BlackArachnia