Oh, and I own squat, whatsoever. Even these early chapters are not mine. Disney owns the characters, Scoutcraft Piratess (Piratess of Summer/Backroads... man, she changes her name a lot, doesn't she lol) owns the story concept, I'm just posting and playing with them.

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The Ronless Factor – Chapter 35

Pain.

It filled him, so much so, Ron sought the blessed freedom of the darkness he was slowly losing touch with. It had been warm and comforting and oh so pain free, but no matter what he did, he couldn't return to that blessed state. Instead, he was forced into this pain-filled existence. But the struggle was useless, he couldn't get back.

Knowing that fighting against it was useless now, Ron fought to instead manage the pain he was feeling. Slowly, laboriously, the pain receded somewhat, allowing him to focus on something other than the pain that seemed to fill ever single bit of his body. But he was dead, and while he knew some things hurt, nothing should hurt this bad after you're dead. For a fleeting moment, he thought he might have gone to hell, to suffer this for all eternity, having failed to protect Kim, but as the pain receded further, he knew that wasn't the case. In hell, the pain wouldn't fade, it would just get worse and worse.

As the pain started to fade, Ron could feel his other senses becoming active. First to become active was his hearing. At first, there was a steady thumping sound, like someone bouncing a ball beside his head that was very annoying considering how much he hurt. But a second, softer sound started coming into focus, much more sporadic and random, so Ron focused on that. For the first minute, or however long it was for him, Ron realized that it wasn't so much as noise as a voice. Kim's voice.

"Ron?"

Ron groaned, the first vocalization he had made in some time. He was trying to respond to her, but that was all he could muster at that moment. Ron tried again, focusing. "KP?"

"Oh Ron!"

Ron felt the contact on his arm, as soft fingers gently touched him, and he sighed. Despite the pain, it felt good when she touched him, almost like sunshine on his skin. Kim's touch always made him feel...

Ron's thoughts froze instantly as he suddenly realized Kim should NOT be able to touch him. Ron bolted upright, despite the pain, his eyes flying open, and the only thing that kept him from getting up was Kim's gentle nudge which his body couldn't fight against pushing him back down. "Oh God KP, I'm so sorry. I didn't want you to die, I thought... I thought... I thought I'd stopped it but I didn't and now your dead and..."

"Ron, I'm alive!"

"...so didn't want you to get... umm... what?" Ron opened his eyes again, blinking past the tears. Kim sat over him, tears in her own eyes as she touched him tentatively all over. She had the widest smile on her face, even as her shoulders shook slightly. He heard a soft gasp and saw Bonnie to his left, standing with her hand over her mouth, looking down on him with a mixture of shock and relief. Rufus was perched on her shoulder, and was in the process of doing backflips on the small space his perch provided him.

Ron turned his attention back to Kim, looking up at her in wonder. "You're not dead, you're all right? Then how... "

"I don't know it happened Ron but you're... you're alive!"

"Alive?" Ron couldn't believe what he was hearing, but Kim wouldn't lie to him, not about this. The teen focused his attentions on his own body for a moment, feeling just how different everything actually felt to just minutes ago. That was when he realized just what that strange thumping sound was that he kept hearing. It was his heartbeat. Ron brought his hand up to his chest, feeling the steady rhythm under his hand as it thumped it's life-giving fluids through his body. His eyes locked onto Kim's, his smile bright. "Alive..."

Kim threw herself on top of Ron, wrapping her arms around his neck and locking her lips with his. That stole all the breath from Ron's body, as the kiss was by far the most impassioned Ron could ever imagine possible, more so than the Attitudinator kiss, more than the prom kiss. Ron quickly returned Kim's attentions with a fervor, as he relished every moment of contact with his best friend girlfriend, never wanting to leave her arms ever again, now that he could hold her in them again.

Bonnie had been, to say the least, shocked beyond belief when she had seen Ron actually materialize out of thin air, the energy of the beam first highlighting and than amplifying the form of the deceased teen. She thought it was a miracle. But that didn't preclude her from taking a more pragmatic approach to the situation then Kim, who didn't look ready to come up for air any time soon. She grabbed the Kimmunicator from Kim, who didn't even notice, and signalled for Wade.

"Hey Kim, I was just about to call you. Will's signal has gone offline and..." Wade looked up from his keyboard for the first time and started. "You're not Kim."

Bonnie just shot up an eyebrow at that. "I would hope not." Bonnie glanced down at the pair on the floor with a smirk. "Though..." Bonnie shook that thought right out of her head. "Okay, not going to go there. Look, I need you to run a scan here, as thorough as you can."

Wade just nodded, no longer looking up as he was doing several things at once. "Sure, just hold the Kimmunicator over what you want scanned."

Bonnie held the scanner over the coupling pair, waiting for the response from Wade. A blue light shot out, and disappeared quickly. Bonnie brought the Kimmunicator up to see the young genius and quickly guessed he hadn't even physically looked at the pair.

Wade was doing several things at once, and just scanned over the data. "Hmmm... two people... one is Kim, so we can... hmm... her heart rate and blood pressure are up, but it doesn't look like she's fighting. Second person... VERY close proximity to Kim... anouther bondo ball or... huh... everything reads normal, I'm not sure what you wanted me to scan. Just let me run this through my database and we'll..." Wade froze suddenly, and Bonnie knew he had clued in, though he still didn't believe what he was seeing. "This... this isn't..." Wade's fingers flew across the keyboards, everything else forgotten. "It's... it's..."

"It's Ron."

Wade just stared at the screen for almost a minute, complete astonishment written all over his face. Finally, he collected his wits about him to ask the only question that was on his mind. "How..."

"That's what you're going to figure out. Drakken's had a ten minute head start and I have to break up the love birds so he doesn't get away. Can I just leave this thing here with the rat and you can..."

"Yeah, yeah..." Wade just shook his head again. "I..."

Bonnie put the Kimmunicator on the floor next to Rufus, leaving Wade to do his thing, and she turned her attention to the couple on the floor. "Kim, I know you just got your boyfriend back, but don't you think we should go get the bad guy now?"

Kim pulled away reluctantly, looking up at Bonnie. "Drakken?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes, trying hard to keep from both laughing and crying with all the emotion going on. "Yeah, you know, blue guy, ugly scar, crazy as a loon? Remember him?"

Kim leapt to her feet, wiping the tears away as she looked around the room. "Where did he go?"

Bonnie pointed behind her, to a nearby steel door. "He went through there. I don't think he's left yet, Wade would have said something, but we really should get moving."

Kim looked first to the door and then down to Ron, indecision clear. "Ron?"

Ron groaned as he got to his feet, the pain fading to a more manageable level by this point. "I'm good KP... I think. I mean, I hurt all over, but that's a good thing, right?"

Kim clutched Ron's hand tightly, squeezing both reassuringly for him and to reassure herself that he was really there. "All right then, let's go finish this."

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Will awoke groggily, for a moment forgetting what had happened. But that cleared quickly, and he realized he wasn't where he last was. For a moment, he thought that his men had brought him to a hospital, the bed felt like the standard hospital variety, but a quick look around determined that wasn't the case for him. All around him lay others just as he was, strapped down to beds, IV fluids keeping all those in the room alive. He could hear the alarm in the background, most likely for him. He suspected that if anyone woke up from Drakken's scheme, the alarm would alert him in time to stop any escape. Of course, with all of Drakken's forces occupied, and most likely the mad scientist himself by this point, there was no one to answer the alarm.

Satisfied, Will started working the straps loose. He felt weak, and wondered how long his body had been lying here, but he couldn't concern himself with that, not at the moment. For now, his first goal was to get free, and then to wake up all the others affected by Drakken's plans.

It took about ten minutes, but Will managed to work his right hand free, and then quickly released the straps holding his left hand and his legs. Once free, he braced himself on the edge of the bed and tested his legs. They felt weak to him, but strong enough to support him while he did what he had to do. He wondered briefly if the IVs might not contain a sedative to keep the victim docile enough for someone to subdue someone who woke up, but he couldn't focus on that, not when he was able enough.

He made his way to the first bed beside him, looking down. He wasn't surprised to see Dr. Possible, though he was surprised to see her so close to him, considering the many dozens, possibly hundreds of other victims. He noticed the headpiece first, and brought his hands up to his head, surprised to find he had one on himself that he never noticed. Tentatively, he pulled at the one on his head, hoping it didn't go into the skull, but it peeled off fairly easily, only a mild adhesive keeping it in place. Hoping for the best, he turned to Dr. Possible, and with shaking hands, he peeled off the headpiece.

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Anne and James Possible sat in the kitchen, having a cup of coffee. Normally, James would be reading the paper while Anne was getting ready for the day, but both just sat there, waiting. They had gotten a message that Drakken had been located, and that Kim and a team were on their way there now. Even Jim and Tim were subdued, barely eating as they poked at their breakfast.

James kept glancing from the clock to the phone and back again, his agitation growing. "Why haven't we heard anything yet?"

Anne placed a hand on her husband's arm, calming him. "Dear, settle down. I'm sure everything is fine. After all, Kim..."

James turned to Anne as she trailed off, and was startled to see her eyes wide and empty. "Anne?"

Both boys looked up now as well and started as their mother slumped to the table. "MOM!"

James rushed to her side, checking for any sign of life and finding nothing. He clutched her to him, holding her close while looking to his sons. "It's all right boys, your mother will be fine. This just means that Kimmie found her and she woke up. It's going to be okay." Privately, James hoped he was telling them the truth, as he slowly rocked his wife's imitation body gently against himself.

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"...mie is on the... case..." Anne opened her eyes and was startled to see the vaguely familiar face of Agent Du looking down on her. "What..."

"I'm sorry to startle you Dr. Possible. After my synthodrone body was killed, I woke up here and got free. I wasn't certain that removing the headpiece would be a good idea, but there was nothing else to try. Are you well ma'am?"

Anne winced slightly as she moved, testing her arms first and then her legs. "I'm fine I think but..." Anne trailed off and her eyes widened slightly. "My God... James and the boys, we were just having breakfast when... they must be completely freaked out. I have to call them!"

Will glanced around briefly. "I'm sorry, but I don't have my communicator on me, and I don't see anything here we could use to get in touch with them. We may have to wait until my team or your daughter arrive to get in touch with them." Will glanced around at the rest of the beds, considering the task at hand. "I am uncertain at this point though if we should wake anyone else up though, based on your situation alone. Your family was aware of your condition, and therefore know that you are likely fine. No one other than yourself and I were aware though, and removing the headpieces from others may result in panic."

Anne considered that, but then she also considered her daughter's track record. "That's all good, and we will definitely have to get in touch with those affected by this as soon as possible. There's just one small problem with that. Lairs my daughter tends to visit have a habit of blowing up. Especially Drakken's lairs."

Will froze at that thought, raising a questioning eyebrow to the neurosurgeon. "Well... good point. Can you assist me then in freeing the others?"

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Drakken wandered aimlessly through his lab, bouncing from one side of the room to the other, his patterns erratic, his mind even more so. "Not possible... shouldn't be possible... killed him... killed her... both dead... why aren't they dead... makes no sense... buffoon should be dead..."

"Aww, I don't think he likes me any more KP."

Drakken spun quickly, seeing the three teens standing in the doorway, and he lost it completely. "NO, YOU ARE DEAD! DEAD! DEAD!"

The pale blue scientist pulled his gun from his jacket, screaming the same word over and over. Bonnie ducked behind a nearby console with an eep, while Kim pulled Ron behind anouther one before Drakken could get a shot off. All three ducked as shots fired randomly over their heads. It didn't matter that Drakken no longer had any target, he just kept firing and firing.

Finally, when Kim heard a soft clicking sound, she rose up, striding forward quickly before anyone could react. Drakken was still trying to fire, despite the fact that he had no bullets left. All he saw was Kim Possible coming at him, and he had to kill her. When Kim was a couple feet away, she spun, bringing her leg up quickly and kicking the gun from his hands.

Drakken stared numbly at his hand, not even feeling the broken finger the kick had wrought. "No... killed you... rule the world..."

"Not on my watch." Kim bared her teeth as she spun again, this time driving a powerful backhand across the face of Drakken. The mad scientist fell to the floor, and started trying to crawl away. Kim stayed with him, staring down at him with disgust. "You don't know how mad you've mad me." Kim kicked out, catching the villain in the side and sending him sliding a couple feet. Kim stayed with him through it. "You kidnap my mother and replace her," Anouther kick, this time to the arm, "you hurt my friends," anouther kick to the stomach that left Drakken retching, "YOU KILLED MY BEST FRIEND AND BOYFRIEND!" Kim aimed a kick to Drakken's head, and the crack as Drakken's jaw broke was heard through the room, though the villain was still conscious enough to groan in agony. Kim glared down in disgust, her hands clenched in rage. "I should just kill you, do the world a favour. Then you wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else. No one would blame me."

"You'd blame yourself KP, that's not who you are."

Kim could hear Ron right behind her, but she didn't turn. She was breathing heavily as she started shaking. "I want to, so much Ron."

"I know KP, I know." Ron wrapped his arms around her, not holding her back, but just holding her. She spun in him arms, clutching tightly to him as the shaking turned to deep wrenching sobs. "It's okay KP, it's over now, everything is going to be all right."

"So hard Ron... so hard..." Kim cried, finally releasing all the pent up anger and grief that she had held back, finding such relief in Ron's arms. Ron was crying freely as well now, and the pair just held each other as the worst of it passed over them.

That was the scene that the team saw as they came through the door. Most were shocked to see Ron Stoppable, but since none of them were exactly aware of the overall plot, none of them thought much beyond a miracle or a furtherance of Drakken's plot against Kim Possible.

It was Anne and Will, coming in after the team, that stared the most wide-eyed at the young teen as he held Kim. It was Bonnie who explained it to them, who had been just standing there, watching them, and once Bonnie was done, Anne joined in the hug, where she was welcomed warmly.

Once Drakken was taken away to the hospital, the trio broke up. Kim wiped the tears from her eyes with her free hand, keeping the other one interlocked with Ron's, not wanting to let go. She smiled, looking to her mother, then Will, Bonnie, and finally back to Ron. "Come on, let's go home. Looks like we're going to have a lot of questions to answer."

Ron wrapped his arm around his girlfriend, and together, they all left the lair.

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Their departure from the lair did not go unwatched, though none of those in the group knew it. Two figures smiled as the group boarded the aircraft, watching as it took off into the still rising sun.

Michaela shook her head as she watched the craft disappear into the sun. "You know, you really like to play fast and loose with your own rules sometimes."

Rita just smiled, taking a drag on the cigarette in her hand. "What, that whole free will thing? Never broke it. The mole rat could have stopped at any time."

Michaela just smirked in response, the look making the small figure appear a lot older. "You know what I mean. Ron Stoppable was dead, and you gave Rufus the inspiration to correct that."

'Rita' just smiled brighter. "Yup. Like I was telling the boy all along, he and Kim Possible needed to be together. I just didn't say how it was going to happen. I still have plans for those two." 'Rita' paused to take anouther drag. "And what about you Michael, or are you going to stay with Michaela? You going to stick around to help Bonnie out? You're mission there is done as well."

'Michaela' cast one last look up into the sky before 'she' responded. "I think I'll use a bit of that free will myself. I haven't had this much fun since Sodam and Gamorrah. Plus, I think Bonnie could use a bit more help. I think I'll stay with it for a bit."

'Rita' just smiled, patting 'Michaela' on the shoulder. "Well, have fun with that. I still have a lot of work to do." 'Rita looked up into the sky, casting one last look at the slumbering teens as they flew home. "Yup, I think everything worked out perfectly."

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Author's Notes – Yeah, I know, some people are going to be extremely happy, some are going to think I copped out. Personally, I'm happy with how I brought this to a conclusion. Now, just the epilogue to finish off, and this wild ride will finally be over with.