Things are coming to a head as we reach the halfway point in this story, and our villains finally set their evil machinations into motion. But as those who are familiar with my stories know, things aren't always as they seem, especially when I start throwing cliffies at ya'll... and there are many more thrills and spills to come: some expected, and some that will definitely take you by surprise. But first, my thanks to this week's reviewers: Sentinel103, levi2000a1, CajunBear73, AlphaSeymour, Eddy13, Bookworm Gal, LTA, Oreochema, Katsumara, readerjunkie and Tito-Mosquito. And remember, leave a review and you'll get a reply, and maybe a hint or two of what's to come. And there's still a whole badical lot to come!

After the afternoon's competitions were concluded and the awards presented, Shego asked Kim to meet her in her office both to celebrate Earth's victories, and to discuss a troubling diplomatic development.

Kim took a seat in Shego's posh office and cheerfully began, "Well Shego, it looks like human brain won out over Lorwardian brawn today, and I couldn't be happier. And we haven't heard a peep from that Grallx character or any of the other conspirators you found out about while on Parfa. Who knows, maybe that stolen PDVI malfunctioned and sent them all into some parallel universe."

Shego added with a snort, "Or else a Lorwardian sitcom."

Kim cautiously surmised, "I'd like to think that they all just got cold feet once they found out that the same team that clobbered them the last time are all back here together on Lorwardia, but some bad guys never seem to learn. Present company excluded, of course."

This earned her a smirk from the former villainess. "Thanks. At least I was actually one of the good guys to begin with. Besides, these guys have only had about a year to overcome their centuries of arrogance."

She continued with a sly grin, "But I've had a whole year and a half."

Kim returned her smile with a chuckle. "Cute, Shego. Speaking of which, how do you feel about being on the right side of the law again after so long? All over those anger issues with your brothers now?"

Shego airily waved her hand and sarcastically replied, "Oh, just fantastic, Kimmie! With my new devil-may care attitude, I feel like skipping through fields of flowers singing like a complete moron."

Kim burst out laughing. "Now that's the Shego I remember." She continued a little more calmly, "And I do know Middleton wasn't just built in a day. Or rebuilt, as the case may be. I just hope that all of this this isn't the calm before the storm."

Shego echoed Kim's feelings. "You said it, Kim. And not everything's coming up roses, which is why I wanted to meet in person, instead of over a comm link that might be monitored. I've just received some disturbing news from one of my contacts in Drakken's high command. There's been a halt in any further troop withdrawals from the occupied worlds, and I expect I'll be receiving orders real soon to renegotiate the final withdrawal date specified in the Earth/Lorwardian Accords by using the Lorwardian solar year, which is a few months longer than Earth's."

"But why? All that'll do is delay the inevitable. Stalling for time is so not the usual sitch with these guys."

"Yeah, it sounds so..."

"Sick and wrong?"

Shego chuckled. "You've been around the Ronster way too long, Princess. But I gotta agree, it doesn't sit too well with me either. And there's more. I also just found out that for the past several months, any shipments of military or hyperlight technology to Earth have been replaced by anything but."

"Well, that would explain why the Tweebs were watching an import of 'Lorwardia's Funniest Military Bloopers' while I was getting ready for this trip."

"Yeah, but the weirdest thing is that these orders didn't come from Warmonga or the High Council, but from somewhere within the High Command."

Kim frowned, "Hmm. Not through diplomatic channels, but military ones. I don't like the sound of that."

"Yeah. You'd think that orders like these would come right from the top. But when I asked him, Dr. D said he had no idea about any of this. If it had been his idea, he would have spilled his guts to me, gloating over his malevolent plan for galactic domination. So he couldn't be behind it. And even more curious, whoever's calling the shots must know full well I'm gonna spill the beans to both you, Dr. D and Warmonga."

"Whoa. Now I really don't like the sound of that. Top leaders being kept out of the loop? I'll bet once we find the source of these orders, we'll find the source of the conspiracy too. Let's hope Ron and Camille have some luck in flushing them out before the award ceremonies begin. Which reminds me, I need to be back at the stadium pretty soon, since Warmonga's making a special address to the crowd right before the final soccer match begins."

"So do I, but there's a few things I need to wrap up here first, so I'll meet you there. But first, a little toast to both our athlete's success, and our success in cracking this conspiracy."

She pulled out a small bottle of wine and uncorked it.

"Uh, Shego, I'm not 21 yet."

Shego laughed lightly. "But you're on Lorwardia now, Kimmie. So those rules don't apply here. So humor your cousin and just have a taste. I'm interested in what you think of this."

Kim complied, taking a careful sip. "Wow, this is actually pretty spankin.' What is it?"

"It's a 2008 White Zinfandel from... Drakken Vineyards."

Kim's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Get out of here! Drakken's into wine-making now?"

"Sure. He figured he needed something to fall back on in case his sugar production for Hank's Intergalactic Cupcakes didn't pan out..."

Meanwhile, Ron and Camille were strolling about the streets of Lorwardia Prime. Camille had assumed the form of Grallx, thanks to Debutante's memory of the Parfan shapeshifter that Ron had tapped into. For his part, Ron continued to wear his Mad Dog mask. Lost in a sea of visiting alien lifeforms, he blended in with absolutely no difficulty. Together they hoped to spark a reaction among the Lorwardian conspirators behind the techno thefts and force them to tip their hand before they had a chance to act. But time was running out. Kim and Shego both felt that if they made their move, it would have to be before the awards ceremony concluded that evening.

Camille wasn't particularly enjoying herself though, thinking that she'd rather be out shopping and having her photo taken by hordes of admiring papparazi. But considering the fact that all she had to do was walk around and be seen actually fit her personality quite well, and Ron kept up a mental convo with the prickly heiress as they strolled along the wide avenue.

"Hey, Camille, you're doing great. I'm not picking up anyone's reactions quite yet, but I figure it's only a matter of time."

Camille thought back, "Well, I hope it's soon, cuz I'm bored, bored, bored. Just as long as I can do some really serious shopping once this is all over. But I have to admit, these telepathetic chats do pass the time pretty well. So our little undercovery mission couldn't be easier."

Ron nodded back silently. "Yup, a piece of cake. And since there's probably a military connection with the conspiracy, all we have to do is wander close enough to any gorchy guards we spot and see what kind of reaction we can proroke. Look, there's a few right there."

As the two disguised humans sauntered by them, the two nine-foot-tall soldiers ignored Ron, but sneered at Camille. She mentally asked, "Any epic brainwaves, Ron?"

"Nah, they both seem pretty bored, actually. One's thinking that they'll blow our soccer team away in tonight's gold medal competition, and the other one's wondering which sports bar to celebrate at. But they're both wondering what a Parfan like you is doing here on Lorwardia. It sounds like they act like guides for the Lorwardians's Thorgoggle hunts, and rarely travel off-world."

"What's a Thorgoggle?"

Ron sent her a mental image of one, and she reacted predictably. "Eww! That thing's really grody! Forget that I asked..."

He almost commented on how some people view hairless sphynx cats, but thought better of it.

At that moment, one of WarRaptor's ubiquitous security cameras picked up the pair. Battlefox instantly spotted them and notified his commander.

"WarRaptor, come take a look at this. Isn't that our shapeshifter friend walking out in the open?"

The ringleader frowned in anger. "What in the name of Warhafter... I ordered Grallx to stay hidden! And now I find him wandering around the city like a frackling tourist! And what on Lorwardia is that thing with him?"

Battlefox drolly replied, "It looks a bit like a Terran bulldog."

WarRaptor made a disgusting face. "Yes, an extremely ugly Terran bulldog. Bring both of them in. I want to find out exactly what's going on."

His subordinate relayed the message through the dispatcher to the two guards, who immediately stopped the disguised humans. "All right, you two. Come with us."

Ron tried to stall, still not picking up any incriminating thoughts from the guards. "Uh, what's this about, officer? I don't think we were breaking any jaywalking laws. But on a foreign planet, I guess anything's possible..."

As they were being lead away, Ron sent a quick thought to Camille. "Just play along, but don't say anything. We may have just hit a bon-diggety nerve somewhere, and we're probably being taken to someone who actually knows what's going on."

He also sent a mental message to Kim. "KP, we may have just hit pay dirt! Two guards are taking us in right now."

Kim immediately responded, "Awesome, Ron! Shego's right here, so I'll let her know. I'm on my way to the stadium right now, so just send me a spankin' brainwave if you find anything out."

Ron and Camille were both marched into WarRaptor's office, where the fuming Lorwardian awaited them.

"Grallx! You were ordered to lay low until we had a chance to get you off-planet, and yet I find you wandering around as if you were a frackling tourist! Explain yourself!"

Camille glanced at Ron, expecting some mental guidance about how to reply, but strangely heard nothing.

Ron was perplexed at his sudden inability to send or receive any thoughts at all from anyone. He tried to read WarRaptor's mind, but was also unable to read a single thing. In fact, all he heard was mental raster, as if a white noise machine was running inside his head.

"Oh, man, this is so not good. It's like someone encased my mind in a cloud of fog."

He sighed, "Just like most of high school."

Ron continued his attempt at mind reading, but began to panic when he realized that unless he was able to pull off his planned mental tricks, he and Camille were both in deep trouble.

As he began to sweat beneath his mask with the continued effort, WarRaptor's patience began to wear thin. "Well?"

Camille quickly coughed into her hand and muttered an apology. "Sorry."

The Lorwardian looked at her askance and questioned, "Something the matter with your voice? You don't sound well."

She coughed again as she quickly thought up an excuse. "Just a cold. I was looking for a drug store where I could get some cough syrup."

WarRaptor huffed, "Well, why didn't you say so in the first place? I could have sent a subordinate to get you what you needed without you leaving the building and needlessly exposing yourself."

He continued in a conspiratorial whisper, "And I hear that Smarty-Mart has a two for one special, this week only."

Next he looked suspiciously at Ron. "And just who is your friend here?"

Ron quickly tried to think of a plausible answer that would avoid blowing his cover, deciding that something close to the truth might just work. He babbled, "I'm, er, a foreign exchange student, studying, uh, cooking!"

WarRaptor barked out an incredulous laugh. "You're studying cooking? On Lorwardia?"

Ron pulled awkwardly at his collar. "Yeah, I'm, uh, collecting Thorgoggle recipes for my final dissertation?"

The Lorwardian scratched his beard, not looking quite convinced. "Indeed. I like mine braised, after tenderizing for a few days in a nice xarthex marinade."

"Yeah, braising is definitely the way to go. The meat's too tough otherwise, even after marinating it for a week, a-yup-yup."

Just as WarRaptor began to nod in agreement, Shego suddenly swept into the command center. Even though she was totally removed from the normal chain of command, her fierce reputation preceded her, and everyone immediately snapped to attention. Drakken may have technically been their ultimate superior, but Shego naturally instilled quite a bit more fear into them than their boss. And especially at this awkward moment, as Shego should have been nowhere near the command center at this time.

"WarShego! What a, um, pleasant surprise. And what may I do for Your Highness today?"

She carefully looked over the Parfan who had apparently been eluding the entire Lorwardian Home Guard for weeks. But knowing that this was really Camille in disguise, she flashed a wide smile at WarRaptor and said, "I see you've finally apprehended the elusive fugitive. And I'm pretty sure that Dogface here is wanted on, um, at least eleven planets. Good work."

"Thank you, WarShego, but..."

Not allowing WarRaptor to continue, she ordered, "Warmonga and the Great Blue have given me orders to interrogate these two immediately."

She frowned at the pair and commanded, "Both of you, come with me."

As she quickly pushed them both out the door, WarRaptor continued to bluster impotently. "But this is highly irregular, WarShego! Our facilities here are more than adequate for any interrogation..."

Without a second thought, she ignited one glove with a powerful fwoosh of plasma. "Talk to the hand, WarRaptor."

Knowing that any further objections might prove quite painful, he mumbled back, "Yes, yes of course..."

As the door closed behind them, Shego swiftly marched them down the hall. Ron whispered, "Thanks, Shego. You showed up just in time."

She shushed him until they were all the way down the corridor and out of the building.

"Quick, both of you into my groundcar."

They quickly complied as Shego floored the vehicle, sending up a cloud of dust and gravel.

Back inside the command center, Battlefox hissed, "Now what? If Grallx talks, our entire plot is doomed, and us with it!"

WarRaptor growled back, "Calm yourself, Battlefox. Let's not panic just yet. Something doesn't seem quite right here."

He thought for a moment, then ordered, "Play back the recording of today's games, time sequence 1645 point 10."

Battlefox begrudgingly complied as he snarled back, "And what exactly are you looking for?"

The recording began to play right at the point when Ron ran onto the track in panic, accidentally winning the event. The announcer gushed, "With a galactic record of 5.95 seconds, the winner of the 100-yard dash is a last-minute Terran entry, Ron Stoppable!"

"There! Freeze that!"

Battlefox hit the pause button. There stood Ron, wearing his Mad Dog mask. The very same mask that they had just observed on the person who had just left with Shego and Grallx.

WarRaptor cursed in anger. "Frackle! Stay right here. There's something I need to check on first."

A minute later, WarRaptor opened the door to Grallx's quarters. There sat the Parfan shapeshifter, quietly reading the latest issue of Thorgoggle Monthly.

"Something wrong, WarRaptor?"

The Lorwardian hit his wristcomm so hard he nearly broke the device.

"Battlefox! I'm implementing Phase 3 immediately. We appear to have a Parfan imposter wandering about, and as that could upset things rather quickly, I'm accelerating our timetable. As soon as you notify Wolfenstrike, meet me as soon as possible at the designated location. We haven't a moment to lose!"

As the trio of humans roared away from the command center, Ron smirked, "So, Shego. I must be moving up in the world, now that I'm wanted on eleven planets."

She smirked back, "Yeah, I was only wanted in eleven countries back on Earth, so I figured you'd appreciate that."

As they all began to relax, Shego continued, "Lucky for you two that I started monitoring the Home Guard dispatch frequency as soon as Kim told me you were being taken in. I was on my way as soon as I knew where they'd been ordered to take you."

Ron exhaled in relief. "Good thing, too. I don't know how much longer I could have stalled that oversized gorilla."

Camille whined, "Yeah, what happened with you back there anyway? I thought you'd give me some kind of mental cluey thingy about what to say."

Ron frowned back, "I dunno, it was real weird. I couldn't seem to send any bon-diggity thoughts of my own, or pick up anyone else's either. I've never experienced anything like it."

Shego looked worried. "I think I might know the reason why. I just found out that WarRaptor had a thought scrambler installed inside the Command Center last week. There's a few telepathic races in the games that he wanted to make sure didn't get wind of any Lorwardian secrets, so he claimed. But come to think of it, he probably knows about your mental powers too, which explains why he got his shorts in a bunch after catching who he thought was that Grallx dude wandering out in the open. And that's probably the reason why he hauled both of you in just now."

Ron continued her train of thought. "So that puts him at Numero Uno on our Top Ten list of suspiciousy suspects."

Shego nodded, "Ya got that right. Now to give Drakken and Kimmie the heads up."

She flipped her wristcomm on, but frowned when it failed to activate. "What the hell?" She tried the comm unit in her groundcar, but with the same result. "Damn, none of the comm channels are working! Ron, can you get a mental message to Kim?"

Ron immediately tried to comply, but winced in pain as soon as he did so. "Wow, I'm getting that wrongsick mental raster again, but it's ten times worse now."

A chill went up Shego's spine. "I think they're on to us. WarRaptor must have amped up that thought scrambler and may be broadcasting it all over the city by now. Which means we're out of time."

She tried to think quickly. "Okay, the final ceremonies before the championship soccer match are about to start. I'm going to drop you two outside the stadium. Try to warn Kim that I think something big is going down real quick. I'm going back to try and find Drew. He's probably in his office at the Command Center, and if he doesn't know what's going on, he'll probably be finding out real quick."

She added with a grimace, "One way or the other."

Screeching to a halt in front of the stadium, Shego popped the door open. "Okay, you two. Good luck."

At that moment, the stadium was filled to capacity in anticipation of the final event of the games, the final match between Earth vs. Lorwardia. The game was being broadcast live all over Lorwardia, and uplinks were also in place so that Earth could also watch the final battle of the titans. Some were resigned to a Lorwardian shutout, but others just snickered in reply, reminding them that David had ultimately perservered against Goliath, and that this wouldn't be the first time Earth had prevailed against Lorwardia.

The crowd was buzzing with anticipation as Warmonga rose and lifted her hand for silence. It took several minutes for the huge crowd to quiet down, but a hush soon fell over the entire audience. She lowered her hand and begun speaking.

"This is a momentous day for the entire galaxy. As the first ever Interstellar Games comes to a close, we are reminded that for the first time in countless centuries, the galaxy is at peace. And these games have shown us that it need not be an uneasy peace, but that we may live together in mutual benefit, as long as our respective... inclinations have a healthy and creative outlet. It took an apparently weak and defenseless world to teach us this lesson, but it is a lesson that we Lorwardians have taken to heart. And we hold nothing but gratitude to those humans who have showed us a new and better way, a new path to walk, and new goals to seek after. Goals that will ultimately benefit every race and planet in this galaxy."

She turned to acknowledge the person ultimately responsible for this unlikely turn of events.

"And at the very top of that list of humans is Kim Possible, Earth's ambassador to Lorwardia."

Warmonga motioned for Kim to stand, who was sitting in the front row of Earth's sports delegation. She awkwardly rose and smiled at the crowd who first began applauding, then cheering wildly, everyone rising to their feet. Nearly one million Lorwardians, aliens and an odd assortment of humans rose to their feet in honor of the girl who had proven she really could do anything. And this time, the result wasn't simply world peace for the Earth and Lorwardia, but galactic peace for the hundred worlds between. Kim blushed brightly at the incredible honor, and happily waved back at the crowd.

Bonnie reluctantly rose as well to offer her own half-hearted applause, as she thought to herself, "Hey, they should be clapping for me and our cheer squad too, since we're responsible for cheering Earth's athletes on to victory..."

But as she did, she accidentally dropped her cellphone. As it hit the ground, the batteries popped out, gently rolling beneath the imperial stand.

As Bonnie quickly scrambled to retrieve the batteries, she grumbled to herself, "Nice one, Rockwaller. Nothing like being clumsy in front of literally the whole world. Make that two worlds. Boy, I'll never live this down..."

Just then, Ron and Camille ran through the west gate and into the stadium. Spotting Kim, Ron tried again to send a mental warning to her, but found that his brainwaves were still blocked.

It was at this moment that it happened.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kim spotted the bright flash of the explosion, the terrific impact of which hit her a split second later, knocking her to the ground. For an instant she thought that she might have been the target, until she looked up at the now burning dais, pieces of which had collapsed into a smooth, gaping hole where the imperial review stand had stood only moments before.

"Warmonga!" she yelled. But the explosion had apparently incinerated her instantly. The human delegation had been right next to the blast zone, part of their own stand collapsing as well, trapping several of the cheerleaders in the debris. Quickly activating her super strength, Kim began to glow an intense shade of blue as she swiftly pulled them from the wreckage.

She yelled out, "Is everyone all right?"

Checking them all over, she was amazed to discover that everyone's injuries were relatively minor, miraculously sharing only a few cuts and bruises between them.

"Dad, Mr. Barkin, get the cheer squad back to our quarters! It's not safe here. I'll contact you later."

James countered, "But it's not safe for you either, Kimmie. Wouldn't it be better..."

She quickly cut him off. "No time to argue, Dad. Just do it, please? I'll be fine."

She gave him a quick hug before turning back to peer into the chasm, hoping against hope to spot any other survivors. But she could only note with horror that whatever device had been used had completely vaporized a perimeter exactly twenty feet in diameter, along with virtually everything within it. Not an iota of anything or anyone caught within that area now remained. A sickening feeling swept over her as she suddenly realized who else had just been within that zone.

"Oh, no! Bonnie…"

Her broken cell phone lay on the ground, just at the edge of the deadly pit.

Against the tide of the now-panicked crowd, Ron quickly made his way to Kim's side. Now glowing blue with his own Mystical Monkey Power, they both stared down into the yawning chasm, grimly realizing that even in spite of their formidable abilities, they hadn't been able to prevent this disaster.

Hot tears rolled down Kim's face as she choked out a sob.

"We're too late."

TBC...