=All-Purpose Disclaimer=
Cyberwraith! Cyberwraith!
Friendly neighborhood Cyberwraith!
Writes the fics! Saves the day!
Makes no cash anyway!
Hey now!
Can't sue that Cyberwraith!
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Kim Possible
The Power of Love
by Cyberwraith9
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The cavernous launch bay echoed with Shego's cruel words, bouncing them again and again into Kim's perfectly sculpted ears like a broken record. Any thoughts Kim had prior to that-of rescuing Ron, of stopping the rocket, of saving life as the world knew it-vanished in an instant. In their place came a haunting silence that froze her to the floor. She couldn't move or act as she was forced to listen to the vile villainess.
"This isn't funny, Shego," Kim spat uneasily. Her usual confident attitude was shattered. Only a ghost of her former self existed in her voice.
Shego sneered, making Ron flinch again with her deadly green glow. "I'm not joking around, Kimmie," she assured her teen arch-nemesis. "I can read your little clown's face like a book, and it reads like a crummy romance novel."
Kim's eyes flickered to Ron's questioningly. His face silently screamed for her to run and finish the job. But there was something else present…something he wouldn't quite let Kim reach, no matter how deep she looked. What was he hiding? Could Shego be right?
"You must've been blind to miss it all this time, Hero." Shego continued to taunt her opponent, unaware of the unspoken communication between Ron and Kim. "He tags along wherever you go, following you across the globe like a puppy-"
"Shut. Up." Kim growled. Her fingers curled tightly at her sides, shaking with a building rage. "Just shut up!"
The baddie's grin grew wider still. "And you had no idea, did you? Oh, how cute!" she laughed derisively. "That's just adorable! I bet you even replaced him with that bucket-head without a second thought, didn't you? I've seen this moron risk his life for you, and you dump him aside like the garbage he is."
"SHUT UP!" Kim roared, screwing her eyes shut. When she opened them again, a green fire burned within them with intensity far greater than Shego's power could ever hope to match, fueled by a great rage and a hidden shame. "STOP IT!"
"So what's stopping you now, Kimmie?" Shego's eyes glanced up at the catwalk, then back at the fuming redhead. "Run along and disarm Drakken's stupid toy. I'll just take care of your excess sidekick problem right now." She drew a finger across Ron's throat as she kissed him on the cheek. "All you have to do is leave little Ronnie all alone."
Ron spoke up at last, grunting in disgust at her wet kiss to hide the pain her burning fingers inflicted. "I'm not alone." he uttered. His eyes narrowed with determination, and twitched each time her gloves grew too close. "I'm never alone."
"Let me guess," she rolled her eyes, scoffing at Ron's heroic cliché. "You keep love in your heart, blah, bu-blah, bu-blah." She waved her free hand in the air, sighing in disgust. "Boh-ring!"
"Nothing even close to that lame." he replied coolly.
Stabbing pain lanced through Shego's leg without warning. She yelped and flinched reflexively, accidentally releasing her hold on Ron. "Gyah!" Swiping at her leg, she caught hold of something pink and blobbish, and brought it to her face. Rufus grinned, flashing razor-sharp incisors that had been buried in her thigh a second ago. "You rotten little-"
Ron's elbow crashed into her chin, snapping her had back. She staggered, then caught the full force of his spin kick at her temple. Her vision rushed with black, and the rest was blissful silence.
"Finally," Ron muttered, lowering his leg and relaxing his stance. He touched delicately at his throat, hissing as his fingers met with seared flesh. "I thought she was going to turn me into crispy strips…"
"Ron!" Kim rushed forward to capture Ron in a tremendous hug. But Ron ignored her, and bent down to retrieve the forgotten Kimmunicator. Shunned, hurt and worried all at once, Kim tried to examine his throat, but he wouldn't let her touch him. "Are you-"
He held up a hand and said the two words he had never used with her before. "Shut up." As her jaw snapped shut with shock, he pressed an ear up against the blast doors they had retreated through. "Do you hear that?"
Pushing aside her indignation, Kim strained with all her might, but couldn't hear anything. "No."
"Mon and Will…" Ron trailed off ominously.
Then, without warning, a series of red lights began flashing in the launch bay, bathing the teens in intermittent crimson. The floor beneath them shook violently, nearly toppling the two of them. Kim retained her footing only because of Ron's steadying hand.
"Thanks," she said to his stony features. She might as well have been expressing gratitude to a brick wall. "What was that?"
Ron checked his watch, balancing carefully as the lair continued to tremble. Rufus tried to steady himself on his buddy's shoulder. "A little behind schedule," he muttered, "But not bad…" A sudden force began pushing down on the pair. It was the feeling Kim got when she rode the lift up in GJ's warehouse. "We're…rising? But who-?"
"Mon and I were a little shorthanded," Ron said dismissively as he examined the rocket. "We needed an extra set of hands with some technical savvy, so…"
Kim's eyes grew wide with fresh terror. "Oh no." she murmured.
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Drakken's henchmen sat helplessly, bound in the far corner of the lair's central control room with thick ropes and gags. They could only watch in helplessness as their captors, who had taken them completely by surprise, bounced across the controls in a pair of rolling chairs.
As the lair began to rumble and quake, a broad smile split Jim's smug face. "I think we got it to surface," he told his brother, tugging at his unfamiliar black and khaki mission clothes.
"Sweet," Tim echoed his twin's grin before turning back to the console. His gloved hands danced across Drakken's myriad controls. "Now let's get communications on-line."
"Outstanding!" they harmonized, running through the lair's hundreds of functions as they searched for the right ones. In a few moments, their numbers would jump from six to…well, a lot more.
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Kim followed Ron up the ladder, trying to hold on as the lair continued to shake. "I can't believe you brought them along. Are you completely insane?"
"No," he grunted, pulling himself onto the lowest catwalk, "Just desperate and out of options." He hauled Kim up with a helping hand, and then pressed the Kimmunicator into her palm. "Get to work," he told her shortly.
Kim cried out as he began walking for the upper-level entrance to the adjoining room, where Drakken and the rest were (hopefully) still tangling with Monique and Will. "Wait! Where are you going?"
Ron paused and turned around. "We surface, Drakken gets desperate and launches the rocket. Mon and that partner of yours are in over their heads. Someone has to keep them busy until you defuse the nuke."
She searched and searched, but couldn't find any trace of sarcasm or humor in his face. "But why me?" she insisted. "You're the one with the plan!"
"Kim…" The teen heroine saw a little of the old Ron return as he exchanged glances with Rufus. "Do you really want me defusing a nuclear warhead?"
She couldn't help but smile at this. "But I can't do this alone," she said with a tinge of sadness. "I need you…"
His eyes softened for just a moment. "Anything is possible for a Possible," he reminded her.
She turned back, taking in the sheer enormity of Drak Force Five with wide eyes. Just being near the devastating tube of metal and uranium, knowing what it could do, sent a jolt of fear running up and down her spine. Even with Ron's faith, she still wasn't certain. "But Ron," she turned back to protest, but Ron was already gone. The heavy hatch was already sealing behind him.
Kim pivoted with a sigh. Certain or not, she didn't have a choice. She only hoped that Ron was right. Otherwise, the world was in a lot of trouble. "Okay," she breathed, walking quickly towards one of the access hatches on the doomsday weapon. "Let's get started."
A blur of black and green swung up and around the gantry's railing. It was only Kim's lightning reflexes that saved her from a face full of boot as Shego landed like a cat onto the cold metal grating. "Actually," she said, crouching low with a fearsome scowl, "I thought we'd end this…right here, right now."
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'Anything is possible for a Possible.' The words echoed through Ron's mind as he re-sealed the launch door from the other side. Though the situation seemed hopeless, he knew just how true the axiom was. Life with Kim had proven that a thousand times over.
He crept silently to the edge of the catwalk. Below him stood a gaggle of supervillains with the other two members of their team in hand. Drakken was already at his control podium, typing furiously as the rest milled about, keeping Monique and Will firmly in place.
'As for the rest of us,' he added silently, 'We do what we can, and hope the rest falls into place.' Taking a deep breath, he pushed off the edge and fell into open space. Rufus yelped in protest of the sudden freefall, then tumbled away as Ron landed in a shoulder roll on the unforgiving steel plating.
"You!" Drakken shouted and pointed at the uninvited interloper. Flecks of spittle flew from his frothing mouth as he descended into a blind rage. "How did you take control of my lair?"
"Magic," Ron scowled, readying his fists as the Legion began advancing on him. "For my next trick, I'm going to turn you all into prison inmates."
Long sneered at the former sidekick. Though he was still unarmored, he now wielded one of the Knights' trademark swords of fire. Behind him stood his armored comrades, each holding one of Ron's friends in their crimson clutches. "You're a fool, Stoppable." the executive shot at him. "You're unarmed and outnumbered."
"I hate to say it," Monique groused, "But he has a point." She looked glum, as if the day was already lost.
"Don't just stand there, you idiot, DO SOMETHING!" Will screamed and squirmed pathetically in Falchion's grip.
As the Legion came closer, Ron drew a cleansing breath. His eyes fluttered closed as he began blocking out all distractions. The villains' howls and taunts vanished. Gone were Monique's and Will's cries of terror. Even Rufus' worried chatter from his perch on the boy's shoulder faded away as Ron withdrew into a place deep inside himself.
He sat beneath a waterfall in the tranquil hills of Yamanouchi on a cloudless summer day. There were no birds singing overhead, no people for miles to break the peace. The only sound was the wind brushing through the trees, and the rushing of the icy waters as they cleansed his body and soul.
'Master,' Ron's voice echoed through his mind's sanctuary, 'I seek your guidance.' He wasn't certain if he was speaking aloud, or only in his thoughts. Whether he was in a memory or actually back at the ninja academy was a mystery; Sensei always spoke of such things as if they were possible, but an outsider like Ron had never managed it before.
'What is it, my student?' Master Sensei responded calmly. Though Ron's eyes were closed, he could feel his teacher's presence as clearly as his own. Like him, Sensei spoke with an echoing voice that came from everywhere, and yet nowhere, all at the same time.
'There are too many,' Ron explained, letting the waterfall quell his rising worry. He could still feel despair, even in the meditative state beneath the waters. 'I cannot win.'
'Then you have already lost.' Sensei responded. 'Accept your fate and give in.'
'There are others,' Ron told him. 'They're counting on me.' Try as he might, inner peace still eluded him. He could feel it swimming just below the surface of his turbulent thoughts, brushing against his metaphysical hands every so often. Growing desperate, he seized at the peace, but the sharp spike of his emotions only heightened the distance between him and his objective. 'I cannot fail them!'
'Then there are not too many.' Sensei said simply.
'What do you mean?'
As always, the old master's voice was calm and patient, no matter how horrifying the situation grew. Ron had only seconds to act in the real world, but that would not hurry Sensei's lesson in the least. 'You claim there are too many to fight,' he reminded his student, 'Yet you have told me that others are counting on you, and you cannot afford to fail.'
'That's right. It's a bunch against one. Me. And I'm not exactly the best fighter.'
'Numbers are irrelevant, young Stoppable-san, so long as the one is stronger than the many. A thousand drops of rain cannot topple the mighty oak.'
'Yes, but nine villains can topple the sidekick.' Ron retorted as respectfully as he could. 'They're gonna cream me…'
'If you believe it to be so, then it shall be.' Sensei said with an air of finality. Ron could feel his master's presence slipping away as the old man's voice grew distant. 'However,' he added distantly, 'If you shed your former identity of a sidekick…if you fight not for yourself, but for those you love… if you embrace the hero within…then there is no force on earth that can stop you. You will be unstoppable…'
Unstoppable.
Ron's eyes snapped open. What had felt like minutes had actually been only a few seconds; Killigan, Monkey Fist, Falchion, Claymore, Junior and Senior, and even Lucre (with his homemade ray gun) were rushing at him with a ferocious collective snarl. Though the two Roddigan thugs were slowed by their other captives, the rest moved quickly and forcefully, armed with their trademark weapons or, in Fist's case, not at all.
'Am I unstoppable?' Ron thought to himself, faced with the overwhelming odds. 'No.' he decided at last. Nostrils flaring, chest rising and falling with slow, deliberate breaths, the teen adopted a defensive stance. His fists became knives, his feet light as air. Every sense was alive and sharp, telling him each secret the room and his opponents tried to hide from him. Sensei was wrong…or more accurately, mistaken; he was not unstoppable. He was what he had always been.
"I am Ron Stoppable." he murmured. It wasn't much, but he knew now that it would be enough. His memory flashed with dancing red hair, reminding him who and what he was fighting for. Though she would never love him, he knew now that Monique was right; all that mattered was how he felt about her.
Like a monolith against the tide, Ron waited for the villains to reach him.
And he was ready for them.
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Kim ducked beneath Shego's powerful blow. The villainess' fist pounded into the railing, bending it beneath her awesome strength. Rolling to the side, the heroine lashed out with a blow of her own, catching Shego in the ribs and paying her back for the injury she suffered on the Nebraska mission.
"Why are you doing this?" Kim demanded, following up with a crescent kick that slapped across Shego's face. "In a few minutes, Drakken could launch that thing. It'll vaporize us both!"
"Scared, Kimmie?" Shego taunted back. She wiped a thin trail of blood that dribbled from her lip with a smile. "I don't care about Drakken's idiotic plans anyway. I knew he would fail one way or another. I just wanted another shot at you."
"Me?" Kim sidestepped another of Shego's power-packed punches, feeling the green glow burning at her suit. She was growing desperately hot as the fight wore on, and it was starting to tax her. "Taking this awfully personal, aren't you?"
"Face it, girl." Shego brought her other elbow up in a bone-jarring strike that dragged across Kim's face. Kim tumbled back, sprawling onto the gantry in a heap. Her nemesis stood over her haughtily, with hands on hips and sinister sneer firmly in place. "You just don't have the ol' zing anymore. Selling out made you suck."
Kim growled. It was her turn to wipe the blood from her face as she glared up at Shego venomously. "Fine. Let's take this old school." Reaching behind her, she drew the combat knife from her utility belt, gripping the hilt firmly.
Shego caught the glint of steel as Kim reached around. "Ooh," she mocked, making an 'O' shape with her lips. "Scary."
Wordlessly, Kim brought the knife around. She used her other hand to pull at the middle of her uniform, then brought the knife down in a pair of smart, precise slashes, hacking the material apart. The knife went tumbling over the edge as Kim tossed it aside. She tore at the stretchy fabric, ripping it around her waist until a large strip was ripped away, exposing her ivory midriff.
"Finally!" she sighed, standing up and dropping the useless fabric down after the knife. A new life seemed to flow into Kim, as if the source of her powers were returned. "All right Shego," Kim smirked, gesturing at the pale, pasty woman as she got back into her fighting stance. "Let's dance."
Shego's amusement grew as she rushed forward, feet pounding against the metal.
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There was a definite order of power to the natural universe. Tornadoes. Hurricanes. Volcanoes. And now topping the list: Ron Stoppable.
Ron moved like lightning as the first wave of evil reached his position. His stance was deceptively calm, but his muscles had been coiled and ready. Killigan was at the forefront, waving his putter like a club and screaming Scottish obscenities at the teen. Ron spun in place with half-lidded eyes, as if he had just awoken from a long nap. His foot came up an smashed into Killigan's jaw, knocking teeth every which way as the Scotsman was lifted off his feet and back in the direction he had come.
Falchion and Claymore abandoned their captives, tossing them aside as Killigan came flying back. They were able to sidestep the golfer as they rushed Ron, swords raised and licking the air with deadly flames. The two flunkies flanked Ron as they came in from either side, moving and darting, testing the waters. They would not be brought down as easily as Killigan.
Ron ducked beneath Falchion's sword, losing a couple of triangles of blond hair to the blade as he shuffled toward the hilt. With a swift, exacting kick he struck the hand guard, knocking Falchion's blade right into his face. His armored helm melted beneath the intense heat, ruining the electronics and plunging his world into darkness.
As Falchion stumbled around drunkenly, Ron grasped at his hands and swung the sword around while the warrior still held it. Claymore hadn't been expecting an attack from his own comrade, and caught the slash across his chest. Though unhurt, his systems were badly damaged. Sparks flew everywhere, dancing across Ron as he released Falchion and, with a little encouraging push, watched the two swordsmen topple to the ground with a thunderous crash of metal.
"D-Don't move, y-y-you!" Lucre warned him, standing at a distance with his laser cannon leveled at Ron.
Ron rolled to the ground, grabbing a splinter of the Knights' armor as the red beam of death lanced over his head. Before he even got back on his feet, the sharp shard was flying straight for Lucre. The piece lodged into Lucre's barrel just as he was pulling the trigger for a second shot. His conglomeration of tuna cans and vacuum tubes exploded in his face, blowing him a good ten yards back. Ron was back on his feet before Lucre even hit the ground.
Junior and Senior froze in place, looking at the far-superior combatants that had fallen before Stoppable's stone-faced assault. Junior seemed ready to mess his pants right then and there at the thought of taking on Ron, but luckily his father kept a cool head. Just as Junior was about to continue the foolish attack, his old man stopped him with the end of his cane.
"I think it would be wise for us to retreat, Junior." Senior informed his son. He gazed appreciably at Ron, giving the teen hero a tiny nod and a salute. "I applaud you, Ron Stoppable, for your courageous efforts." With that, he did an about-face and led his son away as the station continued to shake.
Ron watched the pair make their cowardly exit out the door, then glanced around at the fallen villains. Apparently, Long had thought much as the Seniors had; he was nowhere to be found, and his sword was abandoned on the floor. As he frowned down at the former threats, he sensed a dangerous presence approaching him from behind. "I wondered when we'd get to you," he said.
Monkey Fist grinned toothily as Ron turned around to face his arch-foe. "I'm actually rather glad the fools fell." he informed the teen. "That way, we have a chance to finish what we keep starting."
The pair began to circle each other, glaring intently into the other's eyes with pure malice. Monkey master pitted against monkey master, ninja to ninja, the two seemed almost evenly matched. Both moved with fluid movements, making no sound on the metal plating. Monkey Fist's bushy hair bristled with ire as Ron's face remained implacably calm.
"You have no chance against me, Stoppable." Monkey Fist snarled and bared his monkey fangs. "We both possess monkey magic, but 'I' am the true monkey master!" Ron said nothing at this, keeping his eyes trained upon the rogue as they went round and round the shaking floor. "Only 'I' possess the skill to properly wield the ancient power!" Ron still would not respond to the bait. "What? No inane chatter? No stupid jokes? Are you actually afraid, Stoppable?"
Ron's gaze flickered only an instant. "Not really," he shrugged. "I'm just letting you babble on like a moron while my partners sneak up on you."
"Oh please." Monkey Fist snorted. "Do you really take me for a-"
Ron would never know what Monkey Fist thought the teen took him for, because a pair of stolen pipes slammed into the sides of his head with a dull, painful thud sound. The hairy ninja's eyes rolled back into his head as he slumped to the ground, revealing the identical set of Ron's rescuers.
"Some ninja." Jim tossed his pipe away as his brother did the same, and looked down at the fallen hairball. "This guy's pretty lame."
"Isn't he your arch-foe, Ron?" Tim asked.
Ron wasn't listening. He rushed over to where Mon and Will lay, and checked on them both. They were slowly stirring, but still seemed very groggy from all the jostling. Ignoring Will completely, Ron helped Monique to her feet. "Are you okay?"
"Getting there, cutie." Mon rubbed her back. "This mission stuff is hard."
"Are you kidding?" Jim exclaimed.
Tim added, "This is awesome!"
Will eyeballed the twins incredulously, standing up with cracking joints and a thousand new aches. "You brought unauthorized minors along? Are you really this stupid?"
Ron's hand snaked out, snaring Will's collar and hauling the agent off of his feet. Their faces drew within an inch of each other as Ron's patience finally broke. "Listen, and listen good, Du." he snapped.
Will never lost his air of arrogance, though his eyes betrayed a hint of fear behind his cool exterior. "What?"
There was a moment of silence between them as Ron breathed heavily, glaring at his rival with unbridled hatred. He wanted to beat the agent within an inch of his life, to pound Will until he became something Kim would never want to see again. But, with Sensei's voice still ringing in his ears, he knew the path he had to take.
"If you hurt her," Ron said in a low, even tone, "I will hurt you."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Will insisted. He tried to break Ron's grip, and was surprised to find it stronger than steel. No matter how hard he pushed or struggled, he couldn't get free.
"One tear." Ron told him. "That's all it will take." He didn't care that Mon, Jim and Tim were watching the showdown in confusion and horror. "Make her cry once, and you will have to look in a thesaurus to write the new definition of pain I'll give you."
"If it's pain you're looking for," a familiar voice cackled from above, "I'd be happy to oblige."
Abandoning their useless male posturing, Ron and Will looked up in unison. There, lowering down from the ceiling on a quartet of mechanical tentacles, was one of the biggest battle robots either of them had ever seen. And who should be at the controls of the metal titan? None other than Doctor Drakken himself, protected by some sort of roll cage as he sat within its armored protection.
"Hello boys," Drakken greeted them cheerily. "Did you miss me?" His goliath touched down, sending a quake through the deck that nearly toppled the irritating intruders that had nearly foiled his plans. The tentacles retracted back into the ceiling as he sent the battle suit forward, pounding against the metal floor with surprising speed. "How do you like it? I'll have to thank the Seniors for the funding."
"Oh, good golly Miss Molly," Monique whispered as an armada of weapons extended from the battle bot and pointed their way.
"Ah, I almost forgot. Since we are surfaced…" Drakken fiddled with his controls for a moment. An instant after that, the red lights that had flashed when the station was surfacing returned, this time with a soft, feminine voice reminding them to get clear of the launch area. "There. In two minutes, the world will at last know the wrath of Doctor Drakken!"
Will looked about wildly as the vocalized countdown started from two minutes and ran backwards at a steady, terrifying beat. In front of them, Drakken and his war machine continued to advance. A dull blue glow was growing in each of his weapons' barrels, which had zeroed in on the four teens. There was nowhere to run, nothing they could use to pierce Drakken's armored shell, and a countdown that would end all too soon. "Okay…nobody panic…" he muttered uselessly, succumbing to fear even as he coached the others not to. "Nobody…What do we do? What do we DO?"
"Will, shut up!" Monique hissed, backing away slowly. It didn't matter; in a moment, their backs would be to the wall anyhow.
"It's hopeless! We have no back-up, no weapons! We're doomed!" Will cried.
Ron's fist silenced will mercifully. The agent slumped forward, unconscious, into Ron's waiting arms. "Jim, Tim," he barked quickly, "Did you guys…"
"Don't worry, Ron," Jim winked.
"Help is on the way," Tim assured him.
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Six heavily armed F-14 Tomcats winged over the Pacific ocean at near-mach speeds, homing in on a specific signal. Flying US naval colors, the fighter jets had orders to rendezvous with a civilian team at these coordinates, and provide assistance as needed. Far behind them, a troop carrier was being escorted by the other half of their squadron. It was up to them to clear the way.
Lieutenant Chip Barkan flew lead, keeping a tight handle on his control yoke as he checked his instrumentation. He and his men had been skeptical at first, but after hearing who the civilians were, they had jumped at the chance. Chip still remembered the stories his uncle used to tell him about Kim Possible, and all the trouble she brought with her to his sleepy little school. Anyone that could infuriate his Uncle Steve like that was someone worth meeting.
"Lead, this is Screaming Pelican Two."
"Go ahead, two." Chip spoke into his mask.
"I have visual confirmation on the target at one o'clock low, Angel zero. It appears to be…some kind of villainous lair, sir."
Chip dipped his nose a little, checking out his XO's sighting. Indeed, there was a strange, dome-like structure floating out in the middle of nowhere. A circular hatch had opened up in the middle, but they were too far to see what could be inside.
"Confirmed, Two. Screaming Pelicans, stay on this vector until we receive a signal."
"Lead, this is Three." His communications specialist. "I'm receiving an automated signal right now, sir."
"What's it say, Three?" Chip asked via the comm.
"It…appears to be in some sort of code, sir." His other wingman sounded extremely confused and embarrassed. "It seems they want us to disable the facility, but what does 'Hoo Sha' mean?"
Feeling a rush of adrenalated excitement, Chip brought his weapons on-line. "I don't know, Three, but we're going to do the first part. Screaming Pelicans, prepare for a strafing run. Don't sink it, but I want it broken."
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Ron nodded, then shoved Will into the twins' hands. "Good job. Now get out of here, and take this buttercup with you."
"Awwwwwwww,"
"We wanted to stay for the battle!"
"No arguments, remember? Get going!" Ron pointed firmly. Heaving a sigh, the two took up Will's head and feet and began jogging awkwardly with the burden, muttering and complaining all the way. Satisfied, Ron glanced over at Monique. She didn't need to be told twice.
"Be careful, Ron," she whispered, and kissed him on the cheek.
"You too." Ron gave her a small smile before watching her take off in a sprint after the twins.
Drakken tracked the sub-sidekicks' movements with his weapons as they tried to escape. The monitor in front of him registered a clean kill. He grinned, and prepared to squeeze down on the trigger, when a metallic ping blasted right next to his ear. "What the-"
"Hey!" Ron shouted from down at his feet. He picked up another piece of metallic flotsam and chucked it, bouncing the bit right next to Drakken's ear again. Rufus stood on his shoulder and raspberried the villain, waving his tail in a taunting manner. "Old, Blue and Ugly! Down here!"
Drakken shifted his focus immediately. The weapons on his enormous suit retracted, fitting back into their hidden compartments as he glared down at the arrogant ant at his ankles. "I'd rather squash you anyhow, Buffoon!" he bellowed. The mechanical monster's foot raised off of the ground and then descended upon Ron, who barely rolled out of the way in time. The entire floor shook with the blow so violently that Drakken himself was hard-pressed to stay upright.
"Okay," Ron muttered as he began to run, with Drakken close behind him. "The good news is, he's chasing us. That means Mon and the twins can get to safety."
"Uh-huh," Rufus agreed readily from his shoulder, clinging tightly as the floor continued to quake with Drakken's eager steps.
"The bad news," the boy countered, "Is that he's chasing us. That means…well, it means he's chasing us."
Rufus nodded worriedly. "Uh-huh…" he moaned again.
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The flashing lights and ominous countdown scared Kim more than Shego ever could, even as she ducked another shot from the villainess' fists. With her belly now exposed, it was as if she were a whole new Kim. She kicked Shego in the stomach once, twice, three times, and followed up with a vicious uppercut as the older woman staggered.
"Are you even listening?" Kim demanded, pointing up at the ceiling, and the unseen voice within. "We have thirty seconds!"
Shego leaned heavily against the catwalk, gasping and puffing. "I guess…you're right…" she panted. "On the one hand…I hate you. I hate you so much." She straightened as she regained her equilibrium, glaring at Kim. "But on the other, I have an extreme and healthy love for myself."
Kim glared right back at her. "I'm not leaving until this thing is deactivated," she told Shego. "It'll probably kill me anyway."
"Works for me." Shego leapt backwards into a series of handsprings that took her towards the door. "See you later, Kimmie! If you aren't crispy-fried, that is!"
Kim watched her go for a moment, brushing a lock of hair out of her face. "Finally," she sighed, and turned back.
Any relief she had felt at Shego's retreat melted away at the sight of the rocket, which was already rumbling in pre-launch eagerness. There were fifteen seconds left on the clock; not even she could disarm a nuclear weapon in that kind of time.
Glancing at the open hatch a few yards in front of her, she set her features in grim determination. "Guess we'll have to improvise," she said, sprinting for the entrance to the deadly missile with only seconds left on the clock. With expert grace she dove into the hatch, catching it with her toe so it slammed shut behind her, automatically sealing as she hoped it would.
The interior of the rocket was cramped, and extremely dark. Searching from memory, she drew a small lamp from her utility belt and clicked it on. Wires and pipes surrounded her on all sides, hissing and trembling as the rocket prepared for take-off.
Wasting no time, Kim drew out the Kimmunicator…'her' Kimmunicator, and flicked the switch. A most welcome sight greeted her on the other end of the connection, a sight with his ever-present soda cup in hand.
"Kim!" Wade cried out, tossing his drink aside. "I've been waiting for you! What happened? The rocket's set to launch in ten seconds!"
"No time, Wade. I'm inside."
It took two precious seconds for Wade to realize what she was talking about. "…the ROCKET?"
"I'll have to disable it en-route, and before we get over land. Start telling me how-"
The rocket's shaking increased tenfold as a deafening boom echoed through the metal tube. Kim had to slam her hands over her hears, and hoped that she wouldn't be completely deaf as the rocket began to lift off.
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Drakken stomped at the puny little sidekick, trying with all his mechanical might to turn him into liquefied jelly on the bottom of his size forty-three feet. "Hold still, blast you!" Drakken howled, working his controls in frenzy.
Ron danced to the side, narrowly avoiding yet another squashing attempt. "Well," he muttered, "Since you asked so nicely…" Despite his bravado, he knew he couldn't keep it up forever. His heavy backpack was slowing him down a little, and bringing early fatigue to the already drawn-out fight. Rufus was in a panic on his shoulder. The poor little guy was jiggling and morphing with fright, unable to hold his shape at…
Wait a minute.
Drakken watched Ron skid to a halt. A devilish smile grew on the mad scientist's face as he locked eyes with the sidekick, and raised the foot of his tremendous mech. "You can't win, Buffoon." Drakken consoled him sardonically as he prepared to take him from this world and launch him into the next. "I'm smarter than you, bigger than you, and better than you'll ever be. It was really just a matter of-"
Ron's hand worked with deadly accuracy, hurling a new projectile straight for the cab of the mech. The tiny ball of pink flew right through the roll bars and struck Drakken in the face. Everything immediately went black for the villain as a wave of pinkish semi-liquid covered his eyes.
"AAAAHHH! Get it OFF!" he screamed, tugging at the blob. Try as he might, it wouldn't come off. It was clinging to him somehow, and…chuckling?
"Good work, Rufus!" Ron gave his little pal a thumbs-up as the naked mole blob shlupped over Drakken's eyes. His little face bobbed up and down, grinning and laughing as Drakken uselessly pulled at his edges.
Looking up, Ron smiled in silent thanks that Drakken's mech's leg was still raised in preparation for a stomp. The former sidekick took a few steps back, then launched himself in a flying kick. Though the robot was tremendous, Ron managed to place the kick at its wide, boxy hips. He put all his focus, all his energy, and brought it into his foot as it struck the flat, armored metal.
Drakken's war machine wobbled for a second, then fell. Ron could almost hear the creaking sound of a tree falling before the mech struck the floor with the deafening clash of metal on metal. He fought to keep his balance as the floor shook violently, then ran and jumped atop the prone machine, running up its length until he reached the control cab.
"Ah-hah! Gotcha!" Drakken finally pulled Rufus off of his face. The creature snapped back into his original shape as he left the scientist's features. "I've got you now, you little pest!"
Ron reached in, grasping at Drakken's blue lapels and hauling the scientist halfway out of the roll cage. "Funny," he growled, "That's 'my' line."
"EEP!"
"Drop the rodent." Drakken obeyed, releasing Rufus. The mole rat bounded atop the mechanical terror (now significantly less terrifying) and climbed back into Ron's pocket. "You're out of friend and out of toys, Drakken."
An ear-splitting, thunderous explosion shook the entire lair from behind the two of them. Both turned in unison, and adopted appropriate expressions; Ron with horror, and Drakken with undiluted joy.
"Hah!" Drakken crowed right in Ron's face. "Drak Force Five is already in the air! There's nothing you can do to stop it now."
Ron felt an unbelievable loss hit his system. Kim had been in that room, but now he could only see fire through the armored glass. She was… Rage flooded through him as he felt tears stinging at his eyes. He turned back to Drakken, drawing his fist up. A very small sense of satisfaction sparked amongst his pain as he watched Drakken realize what was about to happen.
"Then I guess there's nothing to stop me from turning your face into abstract art." Ron growled.
Drakken's sniveling returned immediately as he clasped his hands together. "Please," he begged, "Don't hurt me! After I rule the world, I…I'll make you fire chief!"
Ron was about to take his vengeance on Drakken's features when his own Kimmunicator beeped. He pulled the exact duplicate of Kim's favorite omni-tool from his pocket and thumbed the control. "WHAT?" he snarled.
"Ron," Wade seemed absolutely panicked as he typed like a madman, pulling up specifications on the missile and its deadly cargo. "Kim's on the rocket!"
"…what?" Kim was alive? It wasn't possible! 'But then again,' he reminded himself, 'Remember who we're talking about.'
"She's on that thing! She's trying to disarm it in mid-flight. And Ron…she doesn't have any way of getting down."
Doubt filled Ron's eyes as he looked back and forth between the now-empty silo and Drakken's pathetic face. Sighing in disgust, he tossed the villain away, letting Drakken fall to the distant floor below before hopping down himself. He checked the harness of his backpack, now extremely glad that he had thought to bring it along.
Drakken hauled himself to his feet, shaking off the dizziness of his fall. "You think you're all that, Buffoon!" he cried, "But you're not! I win! Me!" A distant sound like thunder echoed through the metal facility, pausing Drakken's ranting. "What was that?" he asked with a sinking feeling.
"That would be the US military bombing the crap out of your house." Ron said as he stalked towards the blast doors. With nothing left to protect, they opened easily at his command, sliding apart to reveal the scorched remains of a dozen catwalks and other now-useless equipment. "In about two minutes, you'll be up to your eyeballs in Navy SEALS. I'd start working on a reception for them, if I were you." He turned back, shooting the mad scientist a glare of pure hate. "They can be real nasty if you're not polite."
And with that, Ron disappeared behind the closing blast doors. Drakken sunk to his knees, feeling the familiar ebb of failure work its way through his thoughts. "I wonder if SEALS like cookies…" he muttered in his delirium.
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Kim reminded herself to thank Drakken after she beat the holy snot out of him; the scientist had insulated the interior of his missile, probably to protect its delicate innards. It was lucky for her, since it meant she probably wouldn't suffer any permanent hearing loss after this. As it was, she had to turn the volume on her Kimmunicator up to max just to hear Wade's voice over the roar of the rocket boosters.
"Okay," Wade shouted into the link, "First things first, you have to disable the Pulson Detonator. That way, whatever juice Drakken's trying to spread across the Midwest will burn up when the missile explodes."
Kim began climbing, worming her way between the snaking conduits and hoses with great difficulty as she worked her way to the nose of the craft. It wasn't easy, but she managed it in under thirty seconds. It was amazing what a little panic could do to one's performance time. "Okay," she said, reaching the small black box of technology, "I'm there."
"See the switch next to the blinking light?" She did indeed, noting the small red illumination on the far side of the Detonator. At her nod, Wade continued, "Flip it."
She did so, and watched as the light ceased its flashing. She waited a moment for further instruction, but there was none. "That's it?" she shouted above the din.
"Easy, huh?" Wade smiled. "Now, go about ten feet down. That's probably where he moved the nuclear warhead's guts. It'll look like metal linguini."
She found the radioactive warhead, and proceeded to follow Wade's instructions to the letter. Even with her quick hands and quicker mind (not to mention Wade's brilliance), it took several minutes to make sure that when the rocket exploded, it wouldn't spread nuclear junk halfway across the planet. "Done." she said.
"Okay." Wade nodded. "Now, just cut the fuel line and get out of there."
"Um…" she glanced at her techno-buddy worriedly. "If I cut the fuel line, isn't that gonna…you know, turn this itty-bitty space into wall-to-wall fire?"
"You remember that insulation?" She nodded, and Wade continued, "The interior is totally sealed. You'll get a good dose of rocket fuel if you aren't fast enough, but the engine's should flame-out pretty quick."
"You rock, Wade. See you soon." Kim cut the connection, then began climbing down. A few seconds later, she had reached the hatch where she had entered, noting a large lever on the inside of the door that would open it. Looking back, it was easy to spot the main fuel line of the rocket.
Wedging herself with her back against the door, Kim kept one hand firmly on the latch. Her other reached into her utility belt, pulling out a razor-sharp shiruken. Kim closed her eyes for a moment, breathing a silent prayer to the Powers That Be to let her survive the craziest stunt she could ever remember pulling. Then, at the same time, she threw the throwing star and pushed down on the lever behind her.
The hatch blew open with explosive force, ripping her out of the craft and into the open air. Kim felt the terrible heat of the rocket's engines as it flew up above her. She had been lucky that the sudden decompression had carried her out of the rocket's path quick enough to avoid getting roasted. Then, with a great sense of pride, she watched the rocket's engines sputter and die. The titanic tube of metal wobbled a moment, then dipped and began its long descent to the ground.
Her mission complete, Kim's mind turned to more immediate concerns. She flipped over and looked down at the sprawling blue ocean below her. The air was extremely thin; she could already feel herself fading away as blackness nipped at the edges of her vision. Wind and air whistled in her ears and tore at her skin as she plummeted like a stone, reaching terminal velocity in a matter of moments. And with a sickening feeling, Kim Possible, the girl who could do anything, realized that there was still one ability beyond her grasp:
She could not fly.
Her lungs heaved, trying to get enough oxygen to her brain to keep her awake, but there simply wasn't enough at that altitude to do the job. As she felt herself slipping away, she was comforted to know that she wouldn't be awake when her body struck the water below, for the blow would surely liquefy every last part of her. It wasn't a sensation she wished to experience.
A stupor settled over her brain, quelling most of her fearful thoughts. She knew what was going to happen, but she was not afraid. Instead, she felt only remorse for the things she had not done yet…and foremost on that long, long list was a talk she had meant to have with a certain blond for quite some time now. But it was too late… She knew rescue wasn't coming. Though in the midst of her delirium, she thought she saw a small dot of light climbing from Drakken's distant dome and rising towards her.
'Must be my imagination.' she thought dreamily, watching the dot zip through the air.
If it was, then Kim possessed a powerful imagination indeed; she watched the dot grow into a full figure, clad in black and wearing a rocket pack with extended wings on either side. The figure rose to meet her, staring intently at her as he reached her height. Immediately, he cut his thrusters, and began to fall with her.
Dimly, Kim squinted at her imaginary savior, trying to see him through the tears that the vicious wind tore from her eyes. She thought she saw locks of blond hair and freckles beneath his translucent visor as he reached out for her, wrapping her in his arms and holding her close. The warmth of his body made her shiver in delight. She clung tightly to him, not caring whether he was real or not, merely glad she had something to hold onto as she faded from reality.
Ron activated his thrusters, confident that he had both of them. The jetpack he had been lugging around the entire mission now began to pull its weight (and the two teens' as well), slowing their descent as they plummeted towards Drakken's now-harmless dome. Down below his feet, Ron could see the Screaming Pelicans winging about in a series of flybys, securing the perimeter and making sure that none of Drakken's associates escaped. He checked on his precious cargo; Kim seemed out of it, but she was still breathing and didn't appear hurt. And for that, he was thankful.
Kim's head swam as she felt their fall suddenly slow to a more tolerable rate. Dizzily, she looked up at her savior. Her eyes met his…
…and Kim gasped.
She and Ron were standing at Graduation, both dressed in silken black robes and wearing those ridiculous mortarboards. They were surrounded on all sides by their fellow graduates, gathered on stage in an enormous auditorium in front of an equally enormous audience. The Dean of Students was at the podium at the forefront of the stage, droning on and on about the brilliant accomplishments of this year's class, but neither Kim nor Ron listened. They merely grinned at one another, reveling in their accomplishment. Ron reached out for her hand, and she gave his a little squeeze. They had done it: They had graduated college.
There was a huge fight in a warehouse. Drakken and his henchmen were rushing about, trying to secure some device or another. Kim couldn't be sure. All she knew was that Shego was in front of her, hands glowing and face snarling. Suddenly, a kick from the side knocked her away, and Ron stood in her place. He smiled at Kim through a neatly-trimmed goatee, and gave her a wink which she felt herself returning before they went after the rest of Drakken's cronies.
Kim was older now, dressed in a business suit and sitting on a park bench. She waited impatiently, her knees bouncing up and down in her pressed skirt as she scanned the paved path curving off to her right. She kept glancing at her watch, wondering what was keeping them. Suddenly, she saw a pile of messy blond hair break the crest of the hill. Ron's smiling face came into view, followed by another pair of faces down by his waist, framed with equally golden hair. The little ones' dancing green eyes lit up at the sight of Kim, who stood to greet the trio with a blossoming smile.
They sat on a porch in a quiet, peaceful neighborhood, looking at a young couple walking past their house. The couple waved at them and shouted a brief greeting before walking on, hand in hand. Kim felt a leathery hand encircle her own, and looked over. There, with wisps of white hair that had once shone like the sun, her beloved looked at her with large brown eyes that held only love. He smiled a toothless grin at her, which she returned in kind, feeling her heart soar at his affections.
Kim watched Ron's brown eyes stare at her impassively as they floated back down into the silo. She was speechless right up to the moment where unconsciousness finally claimed her. All she could think about was Ron's round, beautiful face, and the future it had held for her.
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"Kim…Kim, wake up."
Kim sat up from her metal bed, groggy and aching. She could feel footsteps pounding on the floor plating as she opened her eyes to see Monique's chocolate complexion examining her with open worry. "Wha'? Where am I?" she murmured, rubbing her aching head.
Monique helped her to her feet amidst the chaos of the missile control center. There were military men and GJ agents everywhere, all armed to the teeth as they swept over Drakken's submersible facility. Gathered around Kim was a small group of onlookers, two of which nearly tackled her back to the floor upon seeing she was all right.
"KIM!" her twin brothers wrapped her in a double-hug, squeezing her tightly.
She laughed, hugging them back before pushing them off. "Hey tweebs. I hear you helped out. Nice work." Their eyes danced with excitement at her praise, but they tried to be nonchalant about it…and failed miserably.
Glancing over, she was very surprised to see Doctor Director standing next to Will. The agent wore an abashed face as he mumbled a greeting to Kim, but the agent in charge welcomed Kim back to wakefulness with a slap on the shoulder. "Excellent work, Agent Possible! I think that has to go down as the gutsiest Doomsday diffusing I've ever seen."
"Thank you, ma'am." Kim muttered, looking around. There wasn't a villain in sight, which worried her. "Where's?"
"Drakken and his bunch have already been taken into custody…though we couldn't find Shego." That didn't surprise Kim in the least. She looked around as Doctor Director gestured behind her. There, Drakken was handcuffed and being escorted out by a pair of GJ agents. "Just getting Drakken out of here now."
"Kim Possible!" Drakken howled, tugging against the agents' grip as they forced him out the door. "You think you're all that, but you'll never escape the power of LoVE!"
The Director shook her head as Drakken was forced out the door. "That has to be the lamest supervillain team name I've ever heard."
"Amen." Monique laughed. She threw an arm around Kim's shoulder, giving the girl a friendly punch to the ribs. "How about that? A whole mess of sidekicks, and Kim still manages to save the day on her own."
Kim chuckled at this. "Not hardly. I'd be feeding the fish if it weren't for…" She looked around, suddenly realizing that there was one person missing. "Wait a minute. Where's Ron?"
"Stoppable?" Doctor Director shrugged. "Haven't seen him. He wasn't here when we got here."
Monique tried to calm Kim down as she hunted wildly with her eyes. "Don't worry, Kim. I'm sure he'll turn up. I mean, come on; we're in the middle of the ocean. Where's he gonna go?"
Kim nodded, wanting with all her heart to believe Monique. But when the search parties didn't turn up any sign of Ron, and they had to leave the facility aboard a GJ hoverjet without him, she wasn't the least surprised.
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Cyberwraith! Cyberwraith!
Friendly neighborhood Cyberwraith!
Writes the fics! Saves the day!
Makes no cash anyway!
Hey now!
Can't sue that Cyberwraith!
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Kim Possible
The Power of Love
by Cyberwraith9
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The cavernous launch bay echoed with Shego's cruel words, bouncing them again and again into Kim's perfectly sculpted ears like a broken record. Any thoughts Kim had prior to that-of rescuing Ron, of stopping the rocket, of saving life as the world knew it-vanished in an instant. In their place came a haunting silence that froze her to the floor. She couldn't move or act as she was forced to listen to the vile villainess.
"This isn't funny, Shego," Kim spat uneasily. Her usual confident attitude was shattered. Only a ghost of her former self existed in her voice.
Shego sneered, making Ron flinch again with her deadly green glow. "I'm not joking around, Kimmie," she assured her teen arch-nemesis. "I can read your little clown's face like a book, and it reads like a crummy romance novel."
Kim's eyes flickered to Ron's questioningly. His face silently screamed for her to run and finish the job. But there was something else present…something he wouldn't quite let Kim reach, no matter how deep she looked. What was he hiding? Could Shego be right?
"You must've been blind to miss it all this time, Hero." Shego continued to taunt her opponent, unaware of the unspoken communication between Ron and Kim. "He tags along wherever you go, following you across the globe like a puppy-"
"Shut. Up." Kim growled. Her fingers curled tightly at her sides, shaking with a building rage. "Just shut up!"
The baddie's grin grew wider still. "And you had no idea, did you? Oh, how cute!" she laughed derisively. "That's just adorable! I bet you even replaced him with that bucket-head without a second thought, didn't you? I've seen this moron risk his life for you, and you dump him aside like the garbage he is."
"SHUT UP!" Kim roared, screwing her eyes shut. When she opened them again, a green fire burned within them with intensity far greater than Shego's power could ever hope to match, fueled by a great rage and a hidden shame. "STOP IT!"
"So what's stopping you now, Kimmie?" Shego's eyes glanced up at the catwalk, then back at the fuming redhead. "Run along and disarm Drakken's stupid toy. I'll just take care of your excess sidekick problem right now." She drew a finger across Ron's throat as she kissed him on the cheek. "All you have to do is leave little Ronnie all alone."
Ron spoke up at last, grunting in disgust at her wet kiss to hide the pain her burning fingers inflicted. "I'm not alone." he uttered. His eyes narrowed with determination, and twitched each time her gloves grew too close. "I'm never alone."
"Let me guess," she rolled her eyes, scoffing at Ron's heroic cliché. "You keep love in your heart, blah, bu-blah, bu-blah." She waved her free hand in the air, sighing in disgust. "Boh-ring!"
"Nothing even close to that lame." he replied coolly.
Stabbing pain lanced through Shego's leg without warning. She yelped and flinched reflexively, accidentally releasing her hold on Ron. "Gyah!" Swiping at her leg, she caught hold of something pink and blobbish, and brought it to her face. Rufus grinned, flashing razor-sharp incisors that had been buried in her thigh a second ago. "You rotten little-"
Ron's elbow crashed into her chin, snapping her had back. She staggered, then caught the full force of his spin kick at her temple. Her vision rushed with black, and the rest was blissful silence.
"Finally," Ron muttered, lowering his leg and relaxing his stance. He touched delicately at his throat, hissing as his fingers met with seared flesh. "I thought she was going to turn me into crispy strips…"
"Ron!" Kim rushed forward to capture Ron in a tremendous hug. But Ron ignored her, and bent down to retrieve the forgotten Kimmunicator. Shunned, hurt and worried all at once, Kim tried to examine his throat, but he wouldn't let her touch him. "Are you-"
He held up a hand and said the two words he had never used with her before. "Shut up." As her jaw snapped shut with shock, he pressed an ear up against the blast doors they had retreated through. "Do you hear that?"
Pushing aside her indignation, Kim strained with all her might, but couldn't hear anything. "No."
"Mon and Will…" Ron trailed off ominously.
Then, without warning, a series of red lights began flashing in the launch bay, bathing the teens in intermittent crimson. The floor beneath them shook violently, nearly toppling the two of them. Kim retained her footing only because of Ron's steadying hand.
"Thanks," she said to his stony features. She might as well have been expressing gratitude to a brick wall. "What was that?"
Ron checked his watch, balancing carefully as the lair continued to tremble. Rufus tried to steady himself on his buddy's shoulder. "A little behind schedule," he muttered, "But not bad…" A sudden force began pushing down on the pair. It was the feeling Kim got when she rode the lift up in GJ's warehouse. "We're…rising? But who-?"
"Mon and I were a little shorthanded," Ron said dismissively as he examined the rocket. "We needed an extra set of hands with some technical savvy, so…"
Kim's eyes grew wide with fresh terror. "Oh no." she murmured.
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Drakken's henchmen sat helplessly, bound in the far corner of the lair's central control room with thick ropes and gags. They could only watch in helplessness as their captors, who had taken them completely by surprise, bounced across the controls in a pair of rolling chairs.
As the lair began to rumble and quake, a broad smile split Jim's smug face. "I think we got it to surface," he told his brother, tugging at his unfamiliar black and khaki mission clothes.
"Sweet," Tim echoed his twin's grin before turning back to the console. His gloved hands danced across Drakken's myriad controls. "Now let's get communications on-line."
"Outstanding!" they harmonized, running through the lair's hundreds of functions as they searched for the right ones. In a few moments, their numbers would jump from six to…well, a lot more.
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Kim followed Ron up the ladder, trying to hold on as the lair continued to shake. "I can't believe you brought them along. Are you completely insane?"
"No," he grunted, pulling himself onto the lowest catwalk, "Just desperate and out of options." He hauled Kim up with a helping hand, and then pressed the Kimmunicator into her palm. "Get to work," he told her shortly.
Kim cried out as he began walking for the upper-level entrance to the adjoining room, where Drakken and the rest were (hopefully) still tangling with Monique and Will. "Wait! Where are you going?"
Ron paused and turned around. "We surface, Drakken gets desperate and launches the rocket. Mon and that partner of yours are in over their heads. Someone has to keep them busy until you defuse the nuke."
She searched and searched, but couldn't find any trace of sarcasm or humor in his face. "But why me?" she insisted. "You're the one with the plan!"
"Kim…" The teen heroine saw a little of the old Ron return as he exchanged glances with Rufus. "Do you really want me defusing a nuclear warhead?"
She couldn't help but smile at this. "But I can't do this alone," she said with a tinge of sadness. "I need you…"
His eyes softened for just a moment. "Anything is possible for a Possible," he reminded her.
She turned back, taking in the sheer enormity of Drak Force Five with wide eyes. Just being near the devastating tube of metal and uranium, knowing what it could do, sent a jolt of fear running up and down her spine. Even with Ron's faith, she still wasn't certain. "But Ron," she turned back to protest, but Ron was already gone. The heavy hatch was already sealing behind him.
Kim pivoted with a sigh. Certain or not, she didn't have a choice. She only hoped that Ron was right. Otherwise, the world was in a lot of trouble. "Okay," she breathed, walking quickly towards one of the access hatches on the doomsday weapon. "Let's get started."
A blur of black and green swung up and around the gantry's railing. It was only Kim's lightning reflexes that saved her from a face full of boot as Shego landed like a cat onto the cold metal grating. "Actually," she said, crouching low with a fearsome scowl, "I thought we'd end this…right here, right now."
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'Anything is possible for a Possible.' The words echoed through Ron's mind as he re-sealed the launch door from the other side. Though the situation seemed hopeless, he knew just how true the axiom was. Life with Kim had proven that a thousand times over.
He crept silently to the edge of the catwalk. Below him stood a gaggle of supervillains with the other two members of their team in hand. Drakken was already at his control podium, typing furiously as the rest milled about, keeping Monique and Will firmly in place.
'As for the rest of us,' he added silently, 'We do what we can, and hope the rest falls into place.' Taking a deep breath, he pushed off the edge and fell into open space. Rufus yelped in protest of the sudden freefall, then tumbled away as Ron landed in a shoulder roll on the unforgiving steel plating.
"You!" Drakken shouted and pointed at the uninvited interloper. Flecks of spittle flew from his frothing mouth as he descended into a blind rage. "How did you take control of my lair?"
"Magic," Ron scowled, readying his fists as the Legion began advancing on him. "For my next trick, I'm going to turn you all into prison inmates."
Long sneered at the former sidekick. Though he was still unarmored, he now wielded one of the Knights' trademark swords of fire. Behind him stood his armored comrades, each holding one of Ron's friends in their crimson clutches. "You're a fool, Stoppable." the executive shot at him. "You're unarmed and outnumbered."
"I hate to say it," Monique groused, "But he has a point." She looked glum, as if the day was already lost.
"Don't just stand there, you idiot, DO SOMETHING!" Will screamed and squirmed pathetically in Falchion's grip.
As the Legion came closer, Ron drew a cleansing breath. His eyes fluttered closed as he began blocking out all distractions. The villains' howls and taunts vanished. Gone were Monique's and Will's cries of terror. Even Rufus' worried chatter from his perch on the boy's shoulder faded away as Ron withdrew into a place deep inside himself.
He sat beneath a waterfall in the tranquil hills of Yamanouchi on a cloudless summer day. There were no birds singing overhead, no people for miles to break the peace. The only sound was the wind brushing through the trees, and the rushing of the icy waters as they cleansed his body and soul.
'Master,' Ron's voice echoed through his mind's sanctuary, 'I seek your guidance.' He wasn't certain if he was speaking aloud, or only in his thoughts. Whether he was in a memory or actually back at the ninja academy was a mystery; Sensei always spoke of such things as if they were possible, but an outsider like Ron had never managed it before.
'What is it, my student?' Master Sensei responded calmly. Though Ron's eyes were closed, he could feel his teacher's presence as clearly as his own. Like him, Sensei spoke with an echoing voice that came from everywhere, and yet nowhere, all at the same time.
'There are too many,' Ron explained, letting the waterfall quell his rising worry. He could still feel despair, even in the meditative state beneath the waters. 'I cannot win.'
'Then you have already lost.' Sensei responded. 'Accept your fate and give in.'
'There are others,' Ron told him. 'They're counting on me.' Try as he might, inner peace still eluded him. He could feel it swimming just below the surface of his turbulent thoughts, brushing against his metaphysical hands every so often. Growing desperate, he seized at the peace, but the sharp spike of his emotions only heightened the distance between him and his objective. 'I cannot fail them!'
'Then there are not too many.' Sensei said simply.
'What do you mean?'
As always, the old master's voice was calm and patient, no matter how horrifying the situation grew. Ron had only seconds to act in the real world, but that would not hurry Sensei's lesson in the least. 'You claim there are too many to fight,' he reminded his student, 'Yet you have told me that others are counting on you, and you cannot afford to fail.'
'That's right. It's a bunch against one. Me. And I'm not exactly the best fighter.'
'Numbers are irrelevant, young Stoppable-san, so long as the one is stronger than the many. A thousand drops of rain cannot topple the mighty oak.'
'Yes, but nine villains can topple the sidekick.' Ron retorted as respectfully as he could. 'They're gonna cream me…'
'If you believe it to be so, then it shall be.' Sensei said with an air of finality. Ron could feel his master's presence slipping away as the old man's voice grew distant. 'However,' he added distantly, 'If you shed your former identity of a sidekick…if you fight not for yourself, but for those you love… if you embrace the hero within…then there is no force on earth that can stop you. You will be unstoppable…'
Unstoppable.
Ron's eyes snapped open. What had felt like minutes had actually been only a few seconds; Killigan, Monkey Fist, Falchion, Claymore, Junior and Senior, and even Lucre (with his homemade ray gun) were rushing at him with a ferocious collective snarl. Though the two Roddigan thugs were slowed by their other captives, the rest moved quickly and forcefully, armed with their trademark weapons or, in Fist's case, not at all.
'Am I unstoppable?' Ron thought to himself, faced with the overwhelming odds. 'No.' he decided at last. Nostrils flaring, chest rising and falling with slow, deliberate breaths, the teen adopted a defensive stance. His fists became knives, his feet light as air. Every sense was alive and sharp, telling him each secret the room and his opponents tried to hide from him. Sensei was wrong…or more accurately, mistaken; he was not unstoppable. He was what he had always been.
"I am Ron Stoppable." he murmured. It wasn't much, but he knew now that it would be enough. His memory flashed with dancing red hair, reminding him who and what he was fighting for. Though she would never love him, he knew now that Monique was right; all that mattered was how he felt about her.
Like a monolith against the tide, Ron waited for the villains to reach him.
And he was ready for them.
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Kim ducked beneath Shego's powerful blow. The villainess' fist pounded into the railing, bending it beneath her awesome strength. Rolling to the side, the heroine lashed out with a blow of her own, catching Shego in the ribs and paying her back for the injury she suffered on the Nebraska mission.
"Why are you doing this?" Kim demanded, following up with a crescent kick that slapped across Shego's face. "In a few minutes, Drakken could launch that thing. It'll vaporize us both!"
"Scared, Kimmie?" Shego taunted back. She wiped a thin trail of blood that dribbled from her lip with a smile. "I don't care about Drakken's idiotic plans anyway. I knew he would fail one way or another. I just wanted another shot at you."
"Me?" Kim sidestepped another of Shego's power-packed punches, feeling the green glow burning at her suit. She was growing desperately hot as the fight wore on, and it was starting to tax her. "Taking this awfully personal, aren't you?"
"Face it, girl." Shego brought her other elbow up in a bone-jarring strike that dragged across Kim's face. Kim tumbled back, sprawling onto the gantry in a heap. Her nemesis stood over her haughtily, with hands on hips and sinister sneer firmly in place. "You just don't have the ol' zing anymore. Selling out made you suck."
Kim growled. It was her turn to wipe the blood from her face as she glared up at Shego venomously. "Fine. Let's take this old school." Reaching behind her, she drew the combat knife from her utility belt, gripping the hilt firmly.
Shego caught the glint of steel as Kim reached around. "Ooh," she mocked, making an 'O' shape with her lips. "Scary."
Wordlessly, Kim brought the knife around. She used her other hand to pull at the middle of her uniform, then brought the knife down in a pair of smart, precise slashes, hacking the material apart. The knife went tumbling over the edge as Kim tossed it aside. She tore at the stretchy fabric, ripping it around her waist until a large strip was ripped away, exposing her ivory midriff.
"Finally!" she sighed, standing up and dropping the useless fabric down after the knife. A new life seemed to flow into Kim, as if the source of her powers were returned. "All right Shego," Kim smirked, gesturing at the pale, pasty woman as she got back into her fighting stance. "Let's dance."
Shego's amusement grew as she rushed forward, feet pounding against the metal.
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There was a definite order of power to the natural universe. Tornadoes. Hurricanes. Volcanoes. And now topping the list: Ron Stoppable.
Ron moved like lightning as the first wave of evil reached his position. His stance was deceptively calm, but his muscles had been coiled and ready. Killigan was at the forefront, waving his putter like a club and screaming Scottish obscenities at the teen. Ron spun in place with half-lidded eyes, as if he had just awoken from a long nap. His foot came up an smashed into Killigan's jaw, knocking teeth every which way as the Scotsman was lifted off his feet and back in the direction he had come.
Falchion and Claymore abandoned their captives, tossing them aside as Killigan came flying back. They were able to sidestep the golfer as they rushed Ron, swords raised and licking the air with deadly flames. The two flunkies flanked Ron as they came in from either side, moving and darting, testing the waters. They would not be brought down as easily as Killigan.
Ron ducked beneath Falchion's sword, losing a couple of triangles of blond hair to the blade as he shuffled toward the hilt. With a swift, exacting kick he struck the hand guard, knocking Falchion's blade right into his face. His armored helm melted beneath the intense heat, ruining the electronics and plunging his world into darkness.
As Falchion stumbled around drunkenly, Ron grasped at his hands and swung the sword around while the warrior still held it. Claymore hadn't been expecting an attack from his own comrade, and caught the slash across his chest. Though unhurt, his systems were badly damaged. Sparks flew everywhere, dancing across Ron as he released Falchion and, with a little encouraging push, watched the two swordsmen topple to the ground with a thunderous crash of metal.
"D-Don't move, y-y-you!" Lucre warned him, standing at a distance with his laser cannon leveled at Ron.
Ron rolled to the ground, grabbing a splinter of the Knights' armor as the red beam of death lanced over his head. Before he even got back on his feet, the sharp shard was flying straight for Lucre. The piece lodged into Lucre's barrel just as he was pulling the trigger for a second shot. His conglomeration of tuna cans and vacuum tubes exploded in his face, blowing him a good ten yards back. Ron was back on his feet before Lucre even hit the ground.
Junior and Senior froze in place, looking at the far-superior combatants that had fallen before Stoppable's stone-faced assault. Junior seemed ready to mess his pants right then and there at the thought of taking on Ron, but luckily his father kept a cool head. Just as Junior was about to continue the foolish attack, his old man stopped him with the end of his cane.
"I think it would be wise for us to retreat, Junior." Senior informed his son. He gazed appreciably at Ron, giving the teen hero a tiny nod and a salute. "I applaud you, Ron Stoppable, for your courageous efforts." With that, he did an about-face and led his son away as the station continued to shake.
Ron watched the pair make their cowardly exit out the door, then glanced around at the fallen villains. Apparently, Long had thought much as the Seniors had; he was nowhere to be found, and his sword was abandoned on the floor. As he frowned down at the former threats, he sensed a dangerous presence approaching him from behind. "I wondered when we'd get to you," he said.
Monkey Fist grinned toothily as Ron turned around to face his arch-foe. "I'm actually rather glad the fools fell." he informed the teen. "That way, we have a chance to finish what we keep starting."
The pair began to circle each other, glaring intently into the other's eyes with pure malice. Monkey master pitted against monkey master, ninja to ninja, the two seemed almost evenly matched. Both moved with fluid movements, making no sound on the metal plating. Monkey Fist's bushy hair bristled with ire as Ron's face remained implacably calm.
"You have no chance against me, Stoppable." Monkey Fist snarled and bared his monkey fangs. "We both possess monkey magic, but 'I' am the true monkey master!" Ron said nothing at this, keeping his eyes trained upon the rogue as they went round and round the shaking floor. "Only 'I' possess the skill to properly wield the ancient power!" Ron still would not respond to the bait. "What? No inane chatter? No stupid jokes? Are you actually afraid, Stoppable?"
Ron's gaze flickered only an instant. "Not really," he shrugged. "I'm just letting you babble on like a moron while my partners sneak up on you."
"Oh please." Monkey Fist snorted. "Do you really take me for a-"
Ron would never know what Monkey Fist thought the teen took him for, because a pair of stolen pipes slammed into the sides of his head with a dull, painful thud sound. The hairy ninja's eyes rolled back into his head as he slumped to the ground, revealing the identical set of Ron's rescuers.
"Some ninja." Jim tossed his pipe away as his brother did the same, and looked down at the fallen hairball. "This guy's pretty lame."
"Isn't he your arch-foe, Ron?" Tim asked.
Ron wasn't listening. He rushed over to where Mon and Will lay, and checked on them both. They were slowly stirring, but still seemed very groggy from all the jostling. Ignoring Will completely, Ron helped Monique to her feet. "Are you okay?"
"Getting there, cutie." Mon rubbed her back. "This mission stuff is hard."
"Are you kidding?" Jim exclaimed.
Tim added, "This is awesome!"
Will eyeballed the twins incredulously, standing up with cracking joints and a thousand new aches. "You brought unauthorized minors along? Are you really this stupid?"
Ron's hand snaked out, snaring Will's collar and hauling the agent off of his feet. Their faces drew within an inch of each other as Ron's patience finally broke. "Listen, and listen good, Du." he snapped.
Will never lost his air of arrogance, though his eyes betrayed a hint of fear behind his cool exterior. "What?"
There was a moment of silence between them as Ron breathed heavily, glaring at his rival with unbridled hatred. He wanted to beat the agent within an inch of his life, to pound Will until he became something Kim would never want to see again. But, with Sensei's voice still ringing in his ears, he knew the path he had to take.
"If you hurt her," Ron said in a low, even tone, "I will hurt you."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Will insisted. He tried to break Ron's grip, and was surprised to find it stronger than steel. No matter how hard he pushed or struggled, he couldn't get free.
"One tear." Ron told him. "That's all it will take." He didn't care that Mon, Jim and Tim were watching the showdown in confusion and horror. "Make her cry once, and you will have to look in a thesaurus to write the new definition of pain I'll give you."
"If it's pain you're looking for," a familiar voice cackled from above, "I'd be happy to oblige."
Abandoning their useless male posturing, Ron and Will looked up in unison. There, lowering down from the ceiling on a quartet of mechanical tentacles, was one of the biggest battle robots either of them had ever seen. And who should be at the controls of the metal titan? None other than Doctor Drakken himself, protected by some sort of roll cage as he sat within its armored protection.
"Hello boys," Drakken greeted them cheerily. "Did you miss me?" His goliath touched down, sending a quake through the deck that nearly toppled the irritating intruders that had nearly foiled his plans. The tentacles retracted back into the ceiling as he sent the battle suit forward, pounding against the metal floor with surprising speed. "How do you like it? I'll have to thank the Seniors for the funding."
"Oh, good golly Miss Molly," Monique whispered as an armada of weapons extended from the battle bot and pointed their way.
"Ah, I almost forgot. Since we are surfaced…" Drakken fiddled with his controls for a moment. An instant after that, the red lights that had flashed when the station was surfacing returned, this time with a soft, feminine voice reminding them to get clear of the launch area. "There. In two minutes, the world will at last know the wrath of Doctor Drakken!"
Will looked about wildly as the vocalized countdown started from two minutes and ran backwards at a steady, terrifying beat. In front of them, Drakken and his war machine continued to advance. A dull blue glow was growing in each of his weapons' barrels, which had zeroed in on the four teens. There was nowhere to run, nothing they could use to pierce Drakken's armored shell, and a countdown that would end all too soon. "Okay…nobody panic…" he muttered uselessly, succumbing to fear even as he coached the others not to. "Nobody…What do we do? What do we DO?"
"Will, shut up!" Monique hissed, backing away slowly. It didn't matter; in a moment, their backs would be to the wall anyhow.
"It's hopeless! We have no back-up, no weapons! We're doomed!" Will cried.
Ron's fist silenced will mercifully. The agent slumped forward, unconscious, into Ron's waiting arms. "Jim, Tim," he barked quickly, "Did you guys…"
"Don't worry, Ron," Jim winked.
"Help is on the way," Tim assured him.
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Six heavily armed F-14 Tomcats winged over the Pacific ocean at near-mach speeds, homing in on a specific signal. Flying US naval colors, the fighter jets had orders to rendezvous with a civilian team at these coordinates, and provide assistance as needed. Far behind them, a troop carrier was being escorted by the other half of their squadron. It was up to them to clear the way.
Lieutenant Chip Barkan flew lead, keeping a tight handle on his control yoke as he checked his instrumentation. He and his men had been skeptical at first, but after hearing who the civilians were, they had jumped at the chance. Chip still remembered the stories his uncle used to tell him about Kim Possible, and all the trouble she brought with her to his sleepy little school. Anyone that could infuriate his Uncle Steve like that was someone worth meeting.
"Lead, this is Screaming Pelican Two."
"Go ahead, two." Chip spoke into his mask.
"I have visual confirmation on the target at one o'clock low, Angel zero. It appears to be…some kind of villainous lair, sir."
Chip dipped his nose a little, checking out his XO's sighting. Indeed, there was a strange, dome-like structure floating out in the middle of nowhere. A circular hatch had opened up in the middle, but they were too far to see what could be inside.
"Confirmed, Two. Screaming Pelicans, stay on this vector until we receive a signal."
"Lead, this is Three." His communications specialist. "I'm receiving an automated signal right now, sir."
"What's it say, Three?" Chip asked via the comm.
"It…appears to be in some sort of code, sir." His other wingman sounded extremely confused and embarrassed. "It seems they want us to disable the facility, but what does 'Hoo Sha' mean?"
Feeling a rush of adrenalated excitement, Chip brought his weapons on-line. "I don't know, Three, but we're going to do the first part. Screaming Pelicans, prepare for a strafing run. Don't sink it, but I want it broken."
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Ron nodded, then shoved Will into the twins' hands. "Good job. Now get out of here, and take this buttercup with you."
"Awwwwwwww,"
"We wanted to stay for the battle!"
"No arguments, remember? Get going!" Ron pointed firmly. Heaving a sigh, the two took up Will's head and feet and began jogging awkwardly with the burden, muttering and complaining all the way. Satisfied, Ron glanced over at Monique. She didn't need to be told twice.
"Be careful, Ron," she whispered, and kissed him on the cheek.
"You too." Ron gave her a small smile before watching her take off in a sprint after the twins.
Drakken tracked the sub-sidekicks' movements with his weapons as they tried to escape. The monitor in front of him registered a clean kill. He grinned, and prepared to squeeze down on the trigger, when a metallic ping blasted right next to his ear. "What the-"
"Hey!" Ron shouted from down at his feet. He picked up another piece of metallic flotsam and chucked it, bouncing the bit right next to Drakken's ear again. Rufus stood on his shoulder and raspberried the villain, waving his tail in a taunting manner. "Old, Blue and Ugly! Down here!"
Drakken shifted his focus immediately. The weapons on his enormous suit retracted, fitting back into their hidden compartments as he glared down at the arrogant ant at his ankles. "I'd rather squash you anyhow, Buffoon!" he bellowed. The mechanical monster's foot raised off of the ground and then descended upon Ron, who barely rolled out of the way in time. The entire floor shook with the blow so violently that Drakken himself was hard-pressed to stay upright.
"Okay," Ron muttered as he began to run, with Drakken close behind him. "The good news is, he's chasing us. That means Mon and the twins can get to safety."
"Uh-huh," Rufus agreed readily from his shoulder, clinging tightly as the floor continued to quake with Drakken's eager steps.
"The bad news," the boy countered, "Is that he's chasing us. That means…well, it means he's chasing us."
Rufus nodded worriedly. "Uh-huh…" he moaned again.
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The flashing lights and ominous countdown scared Kim more than Shego ever could, even as she ducked another shot from the villainess' fists. With her belly now exposed, it was as if she were a whole new Kim. She kicked Shego in the stomach once, twice, three times, and followed up with a vicious uppercut as the older woman staggered.
"Are you even listening?" Kim demanded, pointing up at the ceiling, and the unseen voice within. "We have thirty seconds!"
Shego leaned heavily against the catwalk, gasping and puffing. "I guess…you're right…" she panted. "On the one hand…I hate you. I hate you so much." She straightened as she regained her equilibrium, glaring at Kim. "But on the other, I have an extreme and healthy love for myself."
Kim glared right back at her. "I'm not leaving until this thing is deactivated," she told Shego. "It'll probably kill me anyway."
"Works for me." Shego leapt backwards into a series of handsprings that took her towards the door. "See you later, Kimmie! If you aren't crispy-fried, that is!"
Kim watched her go for a moment, brushing a lock of hair out of her face. "Finally," she sighed, and turned back.
Any relief she had felt at Shego's retreat melted away at the sight of the rocket, which was already rumbling in pre-launch eagerness. There were fifteen seconds left on the clock; not even she could disarm a nuclear weapon in that kind of time.
Glancing at the open hatch a few yards in front of her, she set her features in grim determination. "Guess we'll have to improvise," she said, sprinting for the entrance to the deadly missile with only seconds left on the clock. With expert grace she dove into the hatch, catching it with her toe so it slammed shut behind her, automatically sealing as she hoped it would.
The interior of the rocket was cramped, and extremely dark. Searching from memory, she drew a small lamp from her utility belt and clicked it on. Wires and pipes surrounded her on all sides, hissing and trembling as the rocket prepared for take-off.
Wasting no time, Kim drew out the Kimmunicator…'her' Kimmunicator, and flicked the switch. A most welcome sight greeted her on the other end of the connection, a sight with his ever-present soda cup in hand.
"Kim!" Wade cried out, tossing his drink aside. "I've been waiting for you! What happened? The rocket's set to launch in ten seconds!"
"No time, Wade. I'm inside."
It took two precious seconds for Wade to realize what she was talking about. "…the ROCKET?"
"I'll have to disable it en-route, and before we get over land. Start telling me how-"
The rocket's shaking increased tenfold as a deafening boom echoed through the metal tube. Kim had to slam her hands over her hears, and hoped that she wouldn't be completely deaf as the rocket began to lift off.
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Drakken stomped at the puny little sidekick, trying with all his mechanical might to turn him into liquefied jelly on the bottom of his size forty-three feet. "Hold still, blast you!" Drakken howled, working his controls in frenzy.
Ron danced to the side, narrowly avoiding yet another squashing attempt. "Well," he muttered, "Since you asked so nicely…" Despite his bravado, he knew he couldn't keep it up forever. His heavy backpack was slowing him down a little, and bringing early fatigue to the already drawn-out fight. Rufus was in a panic on his shoulder. The poor little guy was jiggling and morphing with fright, unable to hold his shape at…
Wait a minute.
Drakken watched Ron skid to a halt. A devilish smile grew on the mad scientist's face as he locked eyes with the sidekick, and raised the foot of his tremendous mech. "You can't win, Buffoon." Drakken consoled him sardonically as he prepared to take him from this world and launch him into the next. "I'm smarter than you, bigger than you, and better than you'll ever be. It was really just a matter of-"
Ron's hand worked with deadly accuracy, hurling a new projectile straight for the cab of the mech. The tiny ball of pink flew right through the roll bars and struck Drakken in the face. Everything immediately went black for the villain as a wave of pinkish semi-liquid covered his eyes.
"AAAAHHH! Get it OFF!" he screamed, tugging at the blob. Try as he might, it wouldn't come off. It was clinging to him somehow, and…chuckling?
"Good work, Rufus!" Ron gave his little pal a thumbs-up as the naked mole blob shlupped over Drakken's eyes. His little face bobbed up and down, grinning and laughing as Drakken uselessly pulled at his edges.
Looking up, Ron smiled in silent thanks that Drakken's mech's leg was still raised in preparation for a stomp. The former sidekick took a few steps back, then launched himself in a flying kick. Though the robot was tremendous, Ron managed to place the kick at its wide, boxy hips. He put all his focus, all his energy, and brought it into his foot as it struck the flat, armored metal.
Drakken's war machine wobbled for a second, then fell. Ron could almost hear the creaking sound of a tree falling before the mech struck the floor with the deafening clash of metal on metal. He fought to keep his balance as the floor shook violently, then ran and jumped atop the prone machine, running up its length until he reached the control cab.
"Ah-hah! Gotcha!" Drakken finally pulled Rufus off of his face. The creature snapped back into his original shape as he left the scientist's features. "I've got you now, you little pest!"
Ron reached in, grasping at Drakken's blue lapels and hauling the scientist halfway out of the roll cage. "Funny," he growled, "That's 'my' line."
"EEP!"
"Drop the rodent." Drakken obeyed, releasing Rufus. The mole rat bounded atop the mechanical terror (now significantly less terrifying) and climbed back into Ron's pocket. "You're out of friend and out of toys, Drakken."
An ear-splitting, thunderous explosion shook the entire lair from behind the two of them. Both turned in unison, and adopted appropriate expressions; Ron with horror, and Drakken with undiluted joy.
"Hah!" Drakken crowed right in Ron's face. "Drak Force Five is already in the air! There's nothing you can do to stop it now."
Ron felt an unbelievable loss hit his system. Kim had been in that room, but now he could only see fire through the armored glass. She was… Rage flooded through him as he felt tears stinging at his eyes. He turned back to Drakken, drawing his fist up. A very small sense of satisfaction sparked amongst his pain as he watched Drakken realize what was about to happen.
"Then I guess there's nothing to stop me from turning your face into abstract art." Ron growled.
Drakken's sniveling returned immediately as he clasped his hands together. "Please," he begged, "Don't hurt me! After I rule the world, I…I'll make you fire chief!"
Ron was about to take his vengeance on Drakken's features when his own Kimmunicator beeped. He pulled the exact duplicate of Kim's favorite omni-tool from his pocket and thumbed the control. "WHAT?" he snarled.
"Ron," Wade seemed absolutely panicked as he typed like a madman, pulling up specifications on the missile and its deadly cargo. "Kim's on the rocket!"
"…what?" Kim was alive? It wasn't possible! 'But then again,' he reminded himself, 'Remember who we're talking about.'
"She's on that thing! She's trying to disarm it in mid-flight. And Ron…she doesn't have any way of getting down."
Doubt filled Ron's eyes as he looked back and forth between the now-empty silo and Drakken's pathetic face. Sighing in disgust, he tossed the villain away, letting Drakken fall to the distant floor below before hopping down himself. He checked the harness of his backpack, now extremely glad that he had thought to bring it along.
Drakken hauled himself to his feet, shaking off the dizziness of his fall. "You think you're all that, Buffoon!" he cried, "But you're not! I win! Me!" A distant sound like thunder echoed through the metal facility, pausing Drakken's ranting. "What was that?" he asked with a sinking feeling.
"That would be the US military bombing the crap out of your house." Ron said as he stalked towards the blast doors. With nothing left to protect, they opened easily at his command, sliding apart to reveal the scorched remains of a dozen catwalks and other now-useless equipment. "In about two minutes, you'll be up to your eyeballs in Navy SEALS. I'd start working on a reception for them, if I were you." He turned back, shooting the mad scientist a glare of pure hate. "They can be real nasty if you're not polite."
And with that, Ron disappeared behind the closing blast doors. Drakken sunk to his knees, feeling the familiar ebb of failure work its way through his thoughts. "I wonder if SEALS like cookies…" he muttered in his delirium.
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Kim reminded herself to thank Drakken after she beat the holy snot out of him; the scientist had insulated the interior of his missile, probably to protect its delicate innards. It was lucky for her, since it meant she probably wouldn't suffer any permanent hearing loss after this. As it was, she had to turn the volume on her Kimmunicator up to max just to hear Wade's voice over the roar of the rocket boosters.
"Okay," Wade shouted into the link, "First things first, you have to disable the Pulson Detonator. That way, whatever juice Drakken's trying to spread across the Midwest will burn up when the missile explodes."
Kim began climbing, worming her way between the snaking conduits and hoses with great difficulty as she worked her way to the nose of the craft. It wasn't easy, but she managed it in under thirty seconds. It was amazing what a little panic could do to one's performance time. "Okay," she said, reaching the small black box of technology, "I'm there."
"See the switch next to the blinking light?" She did indeed, noting the small red illumination on the far side of the Detonator. At her nod, Wade continued, "Flip it."
She did so, and watched as the light ceased its flashing. She waited a moment for further instruction, but there was none. "That's it?" she shouted above the din.
"Easy, huh?" Wade smiled. "Now, go about ten feet down. That's probably where he moved the nuclear warhead's guts. It'll look like metal linguini."
She found the radioactive warhead, and proceeded to follow Wade's instructions to the letter. Even with her quick hands and quicker mind (not to mention Wade's brilliance), it took several minutes to make sure that when the rocket exploded, it wouldn't spread nuclear junk halfway across the planet. "Done." she said.
"Okay." Wade nodded. "Now, just cut the fuel line and get out of there."
"Um…" she glanced at her techno-buddy worriedly. "If I cut the fuel line, isn't that gonna…you know, turn this itty-bitty space into wall-to-wall fire?"
"You remember that insulation?" She nodded, and Wade continued, "The interior is totally sealed. You'll get a good dose of rocket fuel if you aren't fast enough, but the engine's should flame-out pretty quick."
"You rock, Wade. See you soon." Kim cut the connection, then began climbing down. A few seconds later, she had reached the hatch where she had entered, noting a large lever on the inside of the door that would open it. Looking back, it was easy to spot the main fuel line of the rocket.
Wedging herself with her back against the door, Kim kept one hand firmly on the latch. Her other reached into her utility belt, pulling out a razor-sharp shiruken. Kim closed her eyes for a moment, breathing a silent prayer to the Powers That Be to let her survive the craziest stunt she could ever remember pulling. Then, at the same time, she threw the throwing star and pushed down on the lever behind her.
The hatch blew open with explosive force, ripping her out of the craft and into the open air. Kim felt the terrible heat of the rocket's engines as it flew up above her. She had been lucky that the sudden decompression had carried her out of the rocket's path quick enough to avoid getting roasted. Then, with a great sense of pride, she watched the rocket's engines sputter and die. The titanic tube of metal wobbled a moment, then dipped and began its long descent to the ground.
Her mission complete, Kim's mind turned to more immediate concerns. She flipped over and looked down at the sprawling blue ocean below her. The air was extremely thin; she could already feel herself fading away as blackness nipped at the edges of her vision. Wind and air whistled in her ears and tore at her skin as she plummeted like a stone, reaching terminal velocity in a matter of moments. And with a sickening feeling, Kim Possible, the girl who could do anything, realized that there was still one ability beyond her grasp:
She could not fly.
Her lungs heaved, trying to get enough oxygen to her brain to keep her awake, but there simply wasn't enough at that altitude to do the job. As she felt herself slipping away, she was comforted to know that she wouldn't be awake when her body struck the water below, for the blow would surely liquefy every last part of her. It wasn't a sensation she wished to experience.
A stupor settled over her brain, quelling most of her fearful thoughts. She knew what was going to happen, but she was not afraid. Instead, she felt only remorse for the things she had not done yet…and foremost on that long, long list was a talk she had meant to have with a certain blond for quite some time now. But it was too late… She knew rescue wasn't coming. Though in the midst of her delirium, she thought she saw a small dot of light climbing from Drakken's distant dome and rising towards her.
'Must be my imagination.' she thought dreamily, watching the dot zip through the air.
If it was, then Kim possessed a powerful imagination indeed; she watched the dot grow into a full figure, clad in black and wearing a rocket pack with extended wings on either side. The figure rose to meet her, staring intently at her as he reached her height. Immediately, he cut his thrusters, and began to fall with her.
Dimly, Kim squinted at her imaginary savior, trying to see him through the tears that the vicious wind tore from her eyes. She thought she saw locks of blond hair and freckles beneath his translucent visor as he reached out for her, wrapping her in his arms and holding her close. The warmth of his body made her shiver in delight. She clung tightly to him, not caring whether he was real or not, merely glad she had something to hold onto as she faded from reality.
Ron activated his thrusters, confident that he had both of them. The jetpack he had been lugging around the entire mission now began to pull its weight (and the two teens' as well), slowing their descent as they plummeted towards Drakken's now-harmless dome. Down below his feet, Ron could see the Screaming Pelicans winging about in a series of flybys, securing the perimeter and making sure that none of Drakken's associates escaped. He checked on his precious cargo; Kim seemed out of it, but she was still breathing and didn't appear hurt. And for that, he was thankful.
Kim's head swam as she felt their fall suddenly slow to a more tolerable rate. Dizzily, she looked up at her savior. Her eyes met his…
…and Kim gasped.
She and Ron were standing at Graduation, both dressed in silken black robes and wearing those ridiculous mortarboards. They were surrounded on all sides by their fellow graduates, gathered on stage in an enormous auditorium in front of an equally enormous audience. The Dean of Students was at the podium at the forefront of the stage, droning on and on about the brilliant accomplishments of this year's class, but neither Kim nor Ron listened. They merely grinned at one another, reveling in their accomplishment. Ron reached out for her hand, and she gave his a little squeeze. They had done it: They had graduated college.
There was a huge fight in a warehouse. Drakken and his henchmen were rushing about, trying to secure some device or another. Kim couldn't be sure. All she knew was that Shego was in front of her, hands glowing and face snarling. Suddenly, a kick from the side knocked her away, and Ron stood in her place. He smiled at Kim through a neatly-trimmed goatee, and gave her a wink which she felt herself returning before they went after the rest of Drakken's cronies.
Kim was older now, dressed in a business suit and sitting on a park bench. She waited impatiently, her knees bouncing up and down in her pressed skirt as she scanned the paved path curving off to her right. She kept glancing at her watch, wondering what was keeping them. Suddenly, she saw a pile of messy blond hair break the crest of the hill. Ron's smiling face came into view, followed by another pair of faces down by his waist, framed with equally golden hair. The little ones' dancing green eyes lit up at the sight of Kim, who stood to greet the trio with a blossoming smile.
They sat on a porch in a quiet, peaceful neighborhood, looking at a young couple walking past their house. The couple waved at them and shouted a brief greeting before walking on, hand in hand. Kim felt a leathery hand encircle her own, and looked over. There, with wisps of white hair that had once shone like the sun, her beloved looked at her with large brown eyes that held only love. He smiled a toothless grin at her, which she returned in kind, feeling her heart soar at his affections.
Kim watched Ron's brown eyes stare at her impassively as they floated back down into the silo. She was speechless right up to the moment where unconsciousness finally claimed her. All she could think about was Ron's round, beautiful face, and the future it had held for her.
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"Kim…Kim, wake up."
Kim sat up from her metal bed, groggy and aching. She could feel footsteps pounding on the floor plating as she opened her eyes to see Monique's chocolate complexion examining her with open worry. "Wha'? Where am I?" she murmured, rubbing her aching head.
Monique helped her to her feet amidst the chaos of the missile control center. There were military men and GJ agents everywhere, all armed to the teeth as they swept over Drakken's submersible facility. Gathered around Kim was a small group of onlookers, two of which nearly tackled her back to the floor upon seeing she was all right.
"KIM!" her twin brothers wrapped her in a double-hug, squeezing her tightly.
She laughed, hugging them back before pushing them off. "Hey tweebs. I hear you helped out. Nice work." Their eyes danced with excitement at her praise, but they tried to be nonchalant about it…and failed miserably.
Glancing over, she was very surprised to see Doctor Director standing next to Will. The agent wore an abashed face as he mumbled a greeting to Kim, but the agent in charge welcomed Kim back to wakefulness with a slap on the shoulder. "Excellent work, Agent Possible! I think that has to go down as the gutsiest Doomsday diffusing I've ever seen."
"Thank you, ma'am." Kim muttered, looking around. There wasn't a villain in sight, which worried her. "Where's?"
"Drakken and his bunch have already been taken into custody…though we couldn't find Shego." That didn't surprise Kim in the least. She looked around as Doctor Director gestured behind her. There, Drakken was handcuffed and being escorted out by a pair of GJ agents. "Just getting Drakken out of here now."
"Kim Possible!" Drakken howled, tugging against the agents' grip as they forced him out the door. "You think you're all that, but you'll never escape the power of LoVE!"
The Director shook her head as Drakken was forced out the door. "That has to be the lamest supervillain team name I've ever heard."
"Amen." Monique laughed. She threw an arm around Kim's shoulder, giving the girl a friendly punch to the ribs. "How about that? A whole mess of sidekicks, and Kim still manages to save the day on her own."
Kim chuckled at this. "Not hardly. I'd be feeding the fish if it weren't for…" She looked around, suddenly realizing that there was one person missing. "Wait a minute. Where's Ron?"
"Stoppable?" Doctor Director shrugged. "Haven't seen him. He wasn't here when we got here."
Monique tried to calm Kim down as she hunted wildly with her eyes. "Don't worry, Kim. I'm sure he'll turn up. I mean, come on; we're in the middle of the ocean. Where's he gonna go?"
Kim nodded, wanting with all her heart to believe Monique. But when the search parties didn't turn up any sign of Ron, and they had to leave the facility aboard a GJ hoverjet without him, she wasn't the least surprised.
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