Took from me all that I had
With my soul and spirit dead
Killing everything in me
What is one use to be free

Now to drive away the pain
I'll destroy all I distain
I'll become what I despise
Living someone elses life

(Don't ever back down)

Don't ever back down
Don't ever turn around
My end has come
So now I come for you

"The End Has Come" by Ben Moody

Divided We Stand

Ron pulled the mustang to a stop outside a storage unit in a small town about an hour outside Middleton. He left the sports car running as he got out and Bonnie slid into the driver's seat.

"You don't have to do this." She told him. "You could just get back into the car and we can drive. Go somewhere. Anywhere. It doesn't matter, we'd be together."

He sighed as he looked back at her. "You saw the files Bonnie. Someone has to stop this Grissim guy."

"And that has to be you." It wasn't spoken as a question. She said it in a small voice, resigning to the fact.

"Even with the files nobody would believe me. So yeah, it has to be me." Ron told her as he cupped her cheek. "But I am coming back. I promise."

"Just be careful."

He grinned at her. "Don't worry I have a plan."

She grinned back. "I repeat. Just be careful."

"I promise. I love you." He said as he kissed her softly.

"I love you too." With that Bonnie drove away, heading to a flat in New York Ron had set up for her. She'd wait there until she heard from him.

As he walked towards the storage unit Ron picked up the bag he had taken with him. In it were the files he had retrieved from Caesar's lock box at the Caesar's Palace Hotel and Casino. A few other special items were in it as well.

Opening the door to unit 27 Ron couldn't help but grin as he looked at the equipment within. He was thanking his lucky stars that he and Wade had started setting these up. It stood to reason that Ron couldn't have the equipment he would need for missions on him all the time. They had decided to set up non-traceable lockers like this one all over the country. It made things a lot easier for them especially when going right from one mission to another that required different equipment. They had thirteen set up before this whole mess started.

Seeing all the equipment he would need was here and in working order he took the 'special' items out of his bag and began to make the other components for his plan.

---------------

It had been a boring day in the Global Justice operations room and it was looking to be a boring night. Some of the more diligent tech agents were using the time to get ahead on some of the code work. Others actually had a game of cards going. Normally Dr. Director would have reamed them for it but tonight she was tempted to join in herself. There was usually at least something going on.

Suddenly the large main screen came to life and cards flew every which way as the agents were startled. A young man walked into view of the camera he had obviously been setting up. Despite the brown hair Dr. Director recognized him.

"For those of you who don't know my name is Ron Stoppable. Global Justice has falsely accused me of a series of crimes. Murders to be more specific. More importantly you have tried to kill me several times already and saying I'm pissed about it would be an understatement. Seeing as it doesn't appear to matter if I'm guilty or not I'm going to take the kid gloves off."

Ron gestured to a disturbingly familiar device beside him. "This is a nuclear weapon. I could have bought three at a discount but one's plenty."

Gesturing behind him Ron continued. "This is a missile. Put them together and… well you get the picture. In a few hours somebody is going to die. And bye somebody I mean you. Have a nice night."

As the screen went blank Dr. Director cursed. "Shit. I hate it when Grissim is right."

---------------

As the signal ended Ron deflated the balloon made to look like a warhead and kicked over the cardboard cutout of a missile. "I said it to Gill and I'll say it again 'arts and crafts is my element'."

Ron was glad Wade had given him a few hacking lessons and, let's face it, gave him a few idiot proof programs to help him out. Not that it would matter. Ron was still no Wade and Global Justice would figure out where the signal came from soon anyway. Of course that was what he wanted. That was why he broadcast from on top of the warehouse he wanted them to go to.

It was a warehouse at the Lowerton docks. Ron had been waiting nearby four hours before he had even bothered to try and send the broadcast. He wanted to make sure that Grissim and Will Du were here. Make sure that the double agents were here before making a move.

Global Justice would try to call them of course, Grissim being one of the heads and Will being a senior agent. After pressing a few keys on the laptop with a small satellite dish attached it wouldn't do them any good. Ron had activated a program Wade had written to block transmissions. The people inside would know something was up if anyone tried to make a call, but it was better than Grissim knowing a Global Justice team was about to storm his lab.

Quickly and silently Ron made his way through the building. Caesar had blueprints with camera locations and guard roots and schedules among the files. Ron had memorized them. In short order he made it to his destination. There was only one guard in front of the door.

Sneaking up behind him Ron put him in a chokehold. Soon the guard blacked out and Ron searched him for keys. Grabbing them he unlocked the door and went back for the guard and tossed him inside.

"Please! I built it! No more please!" Pleaded a form curled into a fetal position in the corner.

Ron knelt in front of the boy and moved his hands away from his face. "It's alright Wade. It's me. It's Ron"

"Ron?" Wade questioned as he slowly looked up and saw his friend. "Ron!"

For the first time Ron got a good look at him. All of Wade's visible skin was covered in bruises and fresh scars. His left arm was in a makeshift sling. It looked like he made it himself from the cot that was in the corner of the room.

"I'm sorry!" Wade cried suddenly with tears in his eyes. "I tried to hold out. I tried to be strong but I couldn't! I couldn't take it anymore. I'm not a spy! I'm not trained for this. I'm sorry!"

"It's alright Wade." Ron said as he held the crying boy. "I'm here now. I'm here to stop everything. He will never get to use the mutagen."

Wade pulled back and wiped his eyes. "You know?"

"That they were working on a mutagen to create super soldiers? Yah. I… found a file all about it. Terrorists with an army of super soldiers? Not good in my book."

Pulling them both to there feet Ron led them to the door. Wade limped and had to lean heavily on him. "C'mon. Let's get out of here. I've led GJ here. When they find this place they'll shut it down."

"Amy!" Wade cried and stopped as they made it into the hall.

"Come again?" The file hadn't mentioned her. But then again, Caesar didn't know who was working on the formula. He just knew that it was being made.

"DNAmy. Amy. They had her working on it too! We have to help her. She's across the hall."

Opening the door Wade indicated revealed the rather familiar form of DNAmy. She was also heavily scarred, but none were as recent as Wade's. At least she could still walk unaided.

She actually hugged Ron when she saw him, muttering repeated 'thank you's' into his shoulder. When he was finally able to disentangle her from him the three of them got back on their way. It was slow going as they traced a path Ron had cleared earlier.

Abruptly Ron stopped and shifted Wade to lean on Amy. "Take him and go. The path will be clear from here. Follow this hall to the end and take the stairs on the right to the roof. You should be safe their."

"Where are you going?" Wade asked.

"To get the mutagen." Ron said simply as he placed a taser in his hands. "Be careful."

"Be careful."

"Always."

"I'm serious Ron."

"So was I."

"…You scare me…."

---------------

Global Justice was moving towards the warehouse in force. No available agent was spared. Not when the stakes were this high. It had been considered to simply level the building with explosives, but that was quickly dismissed. Normally warheads could take some serious punishment and not go off. Unfortunately they had no idea what tampering Stoppable may have done to it.

This may even be a ruse. Sure it looked like he had tried to cover his tracks when they traced him and it was common knowledge that he wasn't a hacker, but something just didn't ring true. Stoppable had already proven himself a resourceful and capable opponent. Far more than they had given him credit for. After that disappearing act he pulled… well who knows.

Dr. Director cleared her head of those thoughts as the strike teams radioed in. She was leading this mission herself and now that everyone was in place it was time to give the order. "Do it."

---------------

"Shit!" Grissim cursed as a series of explosions rocked the building to its very foundations. Looking at a monitor he saw GJ agents charging inside from their homemade doors. "What the hell is going on?"

Will Du came up beside him. "I don't know sir. We should have been informed of any Global Justice activity. I just don't know."

"I can tell you." A figure said as it disentangled itself from the shadows at the far side of the large lab.

In an instant all the guards in the room and Agent Du had weapons trained on the intruder.

"Stoppable!" Grissim hissed.

"In the flesh."

Recollecting himself Grissim motioned to his guards. "Du and I will take care of this. Go and help the others with our… guests."

The guards left making the large room feel so empty with just the three men occupying it. When he was only a few meters away from the other two Ron spoke. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"

"I already have." Grissim stated calmly as he waved his hand towards a large case on a nearby table. Inside were several needles and small vials. All filled with a strange green liquid. "I already have the mutagen. It's going to net a pretty penny on the open market you know. And it will be easy enough to get away since I have a feeling their here for you not me. All I have to do is not be seen."

Ron grinned at him, ignoring the gun Will had pointing at his skull. "No. I was talking about framing me for murder. That kind of thing puts me in a bad mood."

"To be fair it was Mister Du here that did the killing. I just gave the order."

The grin on Ron's face still hadn't wavered and in truth it was beginning to piss Grissim off! It was like to dumb kid didn't know he was about to die. "It's time for this to end Mr. Stoppable!"

"I couldn't agree more."

"GRISSIM!" A voice called and the trio turned to see Dr. Director standing just inside the entranceway flanked by two GJ agents.

"Betty!" Grissim said in what sounded like a friendly tone. "Agent Du and I were able to get wind of what was going down and came to help. As you can see we were able to capture Stoppable."

"Save it!" She hissed as she pointed her pistol at him. "You and Du are under arrest!"

"Betty! What do you think you're doing."

"The right thing." Ron said as he took something out of his pocket. It was a GJ hand radio with the transmit button taped down. He had made sure Wade disabled the communications jam when he and Amy got up to the roof.

In an instant Will acted. He was the number one GJ agent for a reason. He was good, real good. Before they even registered what was happening the two agents by Dr. Director's sides were dead, perfectly aimed bullets knocking their heads back and sending grey matter out the other side.

Dr. Director herself was able to react a little faster and moved just enough for the first bullet to sail past her. The second managed to catch her in the chest. She hit the ground in a crumbled heap.

He didn't have a chance to enjoy his small victory though. The moment that last bullet had left the chamber Will felt a searing pain in his hand as the gun flew from his grasp. He turned just in time to perfectly introduce his face to Ron's incoming fist. Will reeled back from the force of the blow as it crushed his nose.

Surprisingly he managed to stay on his feet… for a whole second. A powerful kick to the sternum knocked him right off them and sent him skidding across the floor. A blow like that could have easily killed him if his attacker had chose. For the first time since meeting Ron Stoppable Will felt a wave of fear for him.

Hurried footsteps could be heard coming from the corridor that Dr. Director had come from. Quickly Grissim hit a button on one of the labs computer consoles. Large steel doors began to close at both entrances to the room.

Survival solely on his mind Will Du dove for the one closest to him, the one in the opposite direction Global Justice was coming. He just managed to make it through before doors reached the bottom as Kim dove through on the other side.

"Thanks for the idea kid!" Grissim mocked at Ron. "I liked the ones in your old hideout so much I had them installed here!"

Ron and Kim met each others gaze and a silent conversation flowed between them. Any differences, any hurt feelings they had would have to be sorted out later. It wasn't that none of that was important. Just the opposite in fact. It was just that they both had a level of professionalism and right now they had a psycho to stop. That takes presidency.

When they looked away both were confident that no matter what went down they would have each others backs. Even if they never spoke again later.

"It's over Grissim." Kim said calmly. "You're all alone now. There's no way you can beat the two of us."

Grissim just grin that evil smirk of his and shrugged off his coat. He may not be a young man anymore but looking at him in his muscle shirt one could easily see he was still a match for either of his young adversaries alone. Together, however, they would pose a problem. If he planned on fighting fair. "That's where you're wrong little girl."

Grabbing one of the needles from the case by his side Grissim injected himself with the mutagen. For a moment nothing happened, then he fell to the floor gasping for breath as his body began to convulse. His complexion seemed to pale slightly and his muscles bulged and grew. The convulsions stopped and slowly he stood. Grissim looked to be a couple inches taller and virtually all body fat gone leaving pure muscle in it's place.

"Things like this seem to happen a lot to us." Kim said offhandedly as she and Ron took in their opponent.

"Seems like every week." Was Ron's quipped as he launched himself at Grissim.

With an almost bored motion Grissim backhanded Ron sending him careening across the floor. A roundhouse later and Kim was on the ground next to him. "I think we need a new strategy."

"Double team."

"You read my mind."

Undeterred by how easily Grissim had tossed them around the two heroes pulled themselves to their feet. They attacked in cohort. They were a perfect complimentary to each other born from years of experience. Though Kim had done most of the fighting back then they were always on the same wavelength. The only difference was now they fought as equals.

Grissim block a kick Kim was sending towards his groin with the ease of experience and skill as much as his newfound strength and speed. Be that as it may blocking that attack had cost him. It caused a gap in his guard that Ron capitalized on before he could counterattack on Kim. The hard cross would have had any other man seeing stars, but not him, not now.

The fight continued on. Whenever Grissim thought he had an opening on one the other would appear from nowhere and attack. They worked in perfect tandem. One makes an opening the other uses it. One hits high while the other hits low.

It was a good strategy in a situation like this. Only one flaw in it; they were tiring, he wasn't. There attacks just weren't hurting this guy enough to do any real damage. They had to put a serious hurting on this guy and soon.

Grissim launched one of his powerful legs at Ron's chest. Ron let the blow graze him, twisting with it and trapping the foot to his chest. Before that motion was even finish Kim brought her leg around in a sweeping motion and took out Grissim's remaining leg. As the larger man fell Ron brought the trapped leg into a joint lock at the ankle. Grissim screamed in pain as the bone snapped.

A flurry of kicks rained down on fallen man in an attempt to keep the supercharged psycho down.

Kick. Kick. Kick. Kick.

Three ribs cracked.

Kick. Kick. Kick. Kick.

Two broken.

Kick. Kick. Kick. Kick.

A nose shattered. A jaw bruised.

Kick. Kick. Kick. Kick.

A groin searing in pain. That's enough of this.

As the next kicks came they were intercepted as large hands caught them. With a burst of drug and adrenaline boosted strength Grissim thew the two heroes with all his considerable might and sent them skidding to the other side of the room.

He crawled over to a nearby table using it to pull himself up, making sure to keep his weight on his good ankle. 'This can't be happening' was the thought running through his mind. He had decades of experience and was the best agent Global Justice had ever had before moving to his Chief Director position. The drug gave him a great deal of power and he had the skill to back it up and these… children by comparison… were defeating him. He had to do something. He needed more power.

Reaching onto the table Grissim grabbed the case with the mutagen. In quick succession he injected himself with all the needles and downed all the vials. Again he dropped to the floor, this time convulsing worse than before. Muscles bulged as they grew considerably. Doubling, even tripling in size. His clothes ripped as his body grew beyond their constraints.

As Grissim stood his body still convulsed occasionally as more of the drug made its way through his system. Drool and blood seeped from his mouth. His eyes no longer held any of the intelligence they previously had, only some primitive instinct and undiluted rage.

The room shuddered with each step this new creature took. If its ankle was still broken it either didn't feel the pain anymore or was simply beyond acknowledging it. Its hulking pale white form didn't slow it down any as the two heroes were barely able to dodge out of the way of it's powerful fists.

Both went to opposite sides. As they went Ron unsheathed his throwing daggers and Kim took out her GJ issue sidearm. Kim hesitated even as Ron let his blades lose, each one hitting home. The creature screamed in rage more than pain as it turned its full attention on him.

"Any time now Kim!" Ron screamed as he barely managed to avoid the massive limbs coming at him in quick succession. He pulled two of his blades out of the creature as he dodged. Fist wouldn't hurt this guy anymore and at least he could do some damage with these.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The pistol echoed loudly throughout the lab as it unleashed its deadly projectile and didn't stop until the entire clip was emptied. Unfortunately it wasn't deadly enough as the creature brushed Ron to the side and turned his now blood red back to him.

Kim stared wide eyed as the creature that used to be Grissim simply shrugged off the entire clip and turned to glare at her. Regaining some of her senses as the thing began to stalk over to her she reached for the extra clip. All she found was a ripped pocket.

Desperately jumping to the side as the creature attack Kim wasn't quite fast enough. It managed to lightly (relatively speaking) graze her side and send her sprawling painfully to the floor.

The creature came to a stop. It loomed over her like some vengeful god. It raised one massive foot like it was going to stomp her like a bug. It never got the chance.

Ron jumped onto the creatures back jamming his small daggers into its neck. It roared in pain and tried to throw the pest off but Ron held firm trying to cause as much harm as he could. Finally it managed to get a hold of him and toss Ron away head over heels. He landed painfully next to Kim.

The creature stood before them. Bleeding, yes. But it seemed more annoyed than hurt. The two young heroes looked at each other as it raised its arms. This was really the end. They both had so much they needed to say and put everything into one last look. I'm sorry.

Seconds passed and they still weren't paste. Not that they were complaining. Relieved but confused they looked up to find the creature convulsing again. Worse than before. The duo back pedalled out of the way as it fell.

There was a reason doses were carefully measured into those syringes. The human body could only take so much and now what used to be Grissim was paying the price. Blood poured out of its nose, mouth, ears, and eyes. The ground shuddered and the floor shattered from the force of the convulsions. Bones could be heard breaking and finally the spine snapped and the body went still.

The two heroes simply stared for a moment in disbelief. It was Ron who finally spoke up. "Well, that was anticlimactic."

As they stood up the pair was very nearly knocked back on their asses by an explosion. Global Justice agents began to pour through the new 'doorway'. Too little too late, but hey better late than never.

When Ron went to walk away Kim grabbed his arm. "Ron, we need to talk."

"Not now we don't." With that Ron made his way over to the GJ agents that were currently attending to a badly injured, but still alive, Dr. Director. As she watched him go keep realized something about their silent communication earlier. She may have been forgiven, but things were not forgotten.