Note: Anonymous posting is now enabled. I realized the other day that little box was checked, and I didn't mean for it to be. So let the anonymous flaming commence!

Mad love to: Willk1989, PseudoJuliet, Lonestarr, Sestren NK, Lkillingsworth (blab all you like!), BluJae, Numbah34, Jokersdaking, sehnsucht792, Dreamer007 (sorry for the sleep loss), kimnronever, theokestral, Spooks-A-Lot, Fuzzie Muzzie, Furlings are Cats, zebrafinch (by reading this sentence, you hereby absolve me of all liability), JPMod, Akemi, Kimberly Ann Possible (thanks for the C2 invite), Emotionally Attached (The artist formally known as CptShort), KitsuneAkurei (ut oh, indeed), and Randomreader217 (note; any attempt at deification will be respectfully declined).

OK, either the final (next) chapter will be very long, or I will divide it in half. Just so you know ahead of time.

You know all those old sitcoms where someone gets trapped in a bank vault…?


Chapter 12

(delete)

There went yet another memory of Ron Stoppable.

Ray was finding the deletion of pleasant memories regarding Ron Stoppable from the artificial mind of the Kim Clone to be very therapeutic. It greatly helped to ease the rage. And since his wedding had been broken up in spectacular fashion earlier that day, there was quite a bit of rage to work out. Initially he sought to take it out on Shego, but she'd disappeared, in a manner of speaking. Hiding, no doubt. But since there was currently only one exit from the complex, and it was heavily guarded, there was no way she would be able to slip away without his noticing. No, she was definitely still somewhere in the complex. She'd have to come out of hiding eventually, and he'd deal with her. Oh, would he ever deal with her.

Here was a memory of Ron Stoppable and something called the "Ron Factor".

(delete)

This was fun! It would be perfect if he could just see the Kim Clone's face as her memories disappeared a little at a time. Or more importantly, the faces of those around her as Ray filtered out all the good memories in her life and left only those that were unpleasant.

Another memory involving someone called Bonnie. She seemed to have been a tormentor of sorts in Kim's life during High School. Better leave those in.

When he thought about it, the Kim Clone had fallen just short of smashing success. He had almost pulled it off, and that was after having brought her out early. Yes, that wasn't exactly the plan, and he wasn't exactly a guy who worked well with improvisation; but he had to admit, he had come just that close to succeeding.

Memory where Stoppable saves her from literally embarrassing herself to death.

(delete)

The biggest problem when he first activated the Kim Clone was the fact she believed she was Kim Possible. After all, she did posses a perfect copy of Kim's brain; her memories, her personality, and so forth. Modifying her memories and personality was a delicate process. If she suddenly became a completely different person, those who knew her would get suspicious. It was a matter of fine tuning. First priority, create and enhance doubts about Ron Stoppable. He had to delete a good chunk of Stoppable related memories in order to make that work. Good memories regarding Ron were incompatible with any doubts he could program into the brain. Anyone else attempting the process might have gone insane from the maddening detail involved. But Ray was meticulous and patient. After all, hadn't he worked for a year just to get Kim to accept a date with him?

Activating the Kim Clone before the intended time had been problematic. Originally she was scheduled to come to life – as it were – when he got back from his honeymoon. But the morning after the real Kim had rescued Ron from Deathray's lair, he'd gone down to see her at the hospital.

As casually as he could, he asked her what she thought about the possibility that Ron Stoppable had also been Deathray.

"No!" She said without thinking about it, "No way. That's not Ron."

"OK," Ray said backing off, "I understand how you can feel that way. I'm just bringing it up as a possibility, that's all."

"If he is Deathray, then I will ask him, and he will tell me", she said firmly. "Until he wakes up, I don't want to talk about it."

He'd never seen this side of Kim before. Usually she was very respectful and genuinely warm with Ray, but just the idea that Ron might be Deathray and she almost bristled.

So it was just a matter of time. Ron would tell her about Ray as soon as he woke up, and at the very least Kim would begin to wonder just who Ray really was. Again, Stoppable had become the bane of his existence. Time for a drastic measure. The modifications to the lair were almost complete. The real Kim Possisble would never disbelieve Ron, but if he took the Kim Clone down there, with some of her memories deleted and an inserted predilection to doubt Ron. That might be altogether different.

Timing, as usual, was everything. He left her alone in the hospital room with Ron, went to his secret lab, and set up the brain scanner. He had three Ray Clones assist with the preparations. Man, he sure could get things done fast with extra versions of himself helping out. As long as they stayed hidden until the proper time, it was like having himself as his own henchmen.

That afternoon he went back to the hospital and insisted Kim come and take a look at something in his lab. As soon as they got there, he snapped his fingers and she was strapped down to the table by four Ray Beams. The look on her face was priceless. She didn't ask too may questions, oddly enough. There was a strange look on her face that he couldn't quite place, she seemed almost…what? Relaxed? She certainly was calm in any case, and that was a huge surprise to him.

So he scanned her mind into the artificial brain; the Brainbox, as he called it. Made sure the scan was complete, and had the three Ray Clones haul her over to the waiting cryogenic tube. Looking at her cloned self was the one time Ray saw any kind of disconcerted look on her face. He de-activated the cryogenic tube, and the clone began to collapse. Ray caught her, almost lovingly. Kim looked like she was going to be ill. Now he had to work quickly. The clone was thawing out and without even an artificial brain to regulate the bodily functions, she would soon die.

As Kim was forcefully put into the cryo-tube, Ray walked over and stood triumphantly before her. There were a few things he wanted to tell her before he permanently put her on ice.

"Aren't you even curious as to what I'm doing?" Ray smirked.

"I knew you'd get around to telling me at some point," she said, glaring at him.

And realization struck Ray right there, He had finally graduated to Supervillain status! It never even occurred to him. All he wanted to do was tell her how he'd marry her clone and then go on to conquer the world with an army of Ray clones and Deathray suits, so he could watch the look of despair on her face as she was flash frozen. So that was why the villain always spilled his plans right before the hero escaped from some elaborate deathtrap. Ah, but she would never escape. Ray supposed the villains always told themselves that, too. OK, forget spilling the plan. Just freeze her and get on with it.

"OK, don't ask then." Ray said beginning to close the door, "Any last words?"

"Yeah, she said.

He hesitated, waiting.

"The wedding is SO off!" She told him with narrowed eyes.

"I think she would disagree." Ray said, indicating the clone.

Then he slammed the door and hit the button. Ah, there we go. That last thing he said seemed to have gotten to her. She had a surprised, kind of vacant look on her face, perhaps she was realizing that Ray would marry the clone and no one would ever know the difference.

Now he had to work quickly. He had the Ray Clones carry the Kim Clone out of the secret lab and into Dr. Possible's room. Then he activated the artificial Kim Brain and ordered the Ray Clones to get out of sight and stay there. Finally, as the clone slowly began to gain consciousness, he pulled up her artificial brain info, scanned for recent memory, and deleted all recent memories that occurred after they pulled into the lab parking lot. Then back to Dr. Possible's room.

"Honey? Are you all right?", Ray asked concerned.

She slowly sat up and looked around as though waking up from a long sleep.

"What happened?", She looked at him, blinking.

"You just collapsed," Ray said in a worried voice, "You know, I'm not exactly surprised after the night you had last night. And spending a night in a hospital waiting room could not have helped with the fatigue factor."

"Yeah," she looked around, confused. "Wasn't there something here you wanted to show me?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, that can wait," Ray said, trying to sound sincere. It was difficult, considering she wasn't the real thing, "Right now you should go home and get some rest."

"Maybe I should check in on Ron," she said doubtfully.

"He'll still be there this evening," He said a little more forcefully, "I want you to go home and get a couple of hours of sleep. Do it for me? Please?"

"Yeah," she said, squinting her eyes, "Yeah, OK. Hey, didn't you say something to me earlier? Something about Ron and Deathray?"

"Oh, we can talk about that tomorrow," Ray said softly. "Maybe I better drive you home."

On the drive over they talked about the upcoming wedding. She was so much like the real thing it was almost scary. No, wait, it wasn't scary, it was genius. Ray reminded himself to enhance a few things, like her adoration of him, maybe delete some of her more defiant and disrespectful qualities. Suddenly he realized that after all his desire to posses Kim Possible, he had moved on to something better. A fully customizable Kim Possible. Soon she would be worshipping the very ground he walked on. In the meantime, Ray would make arrangements to transport a large package to their honeymoon destination. With the package marked 'top secret', and with Dr. Possible's lab insignia on it, no one would look inside. Then he'd rent a fishing boat, sail out a few miles, and drop the heavily weighted tube with the real Kim into the water.

Of course, those were the plans as of this morning. Now he wouldn't be going on his honeymoon, and the clone was in the hands of those who would never let him near her. But hey, why not keep Kim stashed in the tube, and harvest a little DNA each time he got tired of the latest customized Kim? Not worshipful enough? New Kim. Not supportive enough of his plans for global conquest? New Kim. Put a stain on his favorite shirt? New Kim. Ray needs to take his frustrations out on someone? New Kim.

And it would be just that easy. Pull the real Kim out of the tube, scan her brain, pluck a hair for DNA and then back into the freezer. He was willing to bet he could do it all before she thawed out. And hey, sometimes it might be fun to just let her thaw out for a few minutes. Welcome back to the world! You've been frozen for ten years and everyone's forgotten you, now chill, baby!

Yeah, this would be sweet.

Of course, the real test of the first Kim Clone came when he took her down to Deathray's lair. Sure he could plant a suggestion in her brain that indicated Stoppable, but it drove the point home if she had external input. Finding the mask was just the thing. And, of course, the real purpose was to convince the twins. He knew they looked up to their big sister, and if she felt definitively that Ron was Deathray, well then they'd have no choice but to keep their yaps shut about any suspicions they might have.

And then no one would have believed Stoppable, no matter how sincere he sounded.

Stoppable. Oh the rage that boiled up whenever he even thought about Ron Stoppable. The man just wouldn't die, even when he tried to kill himself! And then there was the humiliating defeat Stoppable had served him at his own wedding! The humiliation… and the fear. Ray instantly told himself it wasn't fear he had felt. How could he possibly be afraid of Ron Stoppable?

Memory about Kim and Ron's prom night.

(delete)

Yeah, maybe things weren't so bad after all. The Possibles had a Kim that would soon be little more than an emotional vegetable. Sadness, Misery, Fear, he wasn't going to delete those. And they would all think they had saved Kim from some horrible fate, only to watch her have a melt down.

Likes being active in the community.

(delete)

He was going to enjoy this.


Three figures crouched at the edge of the woods near Dr. Kim Possible's laboratory and quietly discussed a plan of action. Under normal circumstances the lab was a two story, high-ceilinged structure surrounded by a tall fence. There was a single lane entrance complete with guard shack. Beyond the fence, thick forest for several miles.

Unfortunately these weren't normal circumstances. Three Deathray battle-bots – no doubt piloted by Ray clones – were standing guard at strategic points around the lab. It was Jim who had suggested coming to check the place out. Kim had shut it down a month ago in preparation for her wedding (Kim never really had a staff, so no one was put out of work). She intended to resume her research after the honeymoon. Clearly, Ray had been using it for his own purposes for some time now.

Tim had surmised that because Ray was now a wanted fugitive, he might not have such an easy time disposing of Kim, so there was a high probability she was still alive. They didn't really expect to find anything at her lab. But it looked like they just might have stumbled upon everything.

A direct assault was out of the question. Any overt actions they might take could result in harm coming to Kim, if she was actually inside. Someone was going to have to go in there and find out, and since Ron was both a trained ninja and had the capability to cloak himself if necessary, it would naturally fall to him. Initially, he demurred, saying it probably wasn't his place to rescue Kim Possible while her brothers remained outside.

Tim argued the point with him, "This isn't about whose 'place' it is, it's about Kim's safety and the best chance she has of being rescued. Believe me, if we could cloak, if we had training in Ninjitsu, then yeah, we'd be the ones going in. But that isn't the case. We've seen you in action in this kind of scenario. You're the one who should go. And who knows, she may not even be in there anyway."

Tim's words were tactful, but his eyes said it all; This isn't about you, shut up and do your job.

Ron never questioned the twins' judgment again.

Jim had been quietly thinking for some time, and finally spoke up. "I think there may be something in the lab we can use to our advantage."

The other two waited for him to continue.

"There's one security measure Kim probably never told Ray about," Jim went on, "Mostly because it was never actually intended to be used except in extreme cases of security breach. After Goliath Kilgore broke into the lab, we refitted the walls with an experimental titanium alloy."

"It's one of the densest alloys known to man," Tim picked up where his brother left off, "Heavier than lead, and tougher than anything out there. We fitted large slabs of it above the entryways. We called the whole thing 'Final Option' to distinguish it from the other measures we had installed. Kim was never to use it unless she absolutely felt she had to, and never to tell anyone of its existence, mostly because the fewer people who knew, the less likely that information could get out."

"So what does it do?" Ron asked.

"Basically, it turns the entire lab into an inescapable prison." Jim explained, "Plates drop into the door and window fittings and fuse themselves into place. It was designed to trap someone inside if, say for instance, Kilgore ever decided to come back or some other bad guy. Once Final Option is engaged, there isn't a weapon on earth that could blast its way in or out. We're pretty sure the lab could withstand a direct nuclear blast."

Ron chuckled, then stopped when he noted Jim was serious.

"It would take us most of a day to just cut a hole small enough to crawl through," Tim continued "In addition, the walls are embedded with automatic jamming equipment. Communications would be completely cut off."

"OK" Ron surmised, "So we lure the three Deathrays in there and then trigger Final Option."

"Actually, I was thinking of a different approach," Jim interjected. "You get in there and implement Final Option, trapping the Deathrays outside. We deal with them, you check out the situation in the lab. They won't be able to get in and impede whatever you do in there. After we deal with these guys, we'll cut our way in and find you."

"What do you think, Wade?" Ron asked.

"I'm with the Twins on this one," Wade confirmed in his ear.

"OK, now we just need to figure out a way inside." Ron said.

"Actually, I've been thinking about that." Wade continued, "I'm looking at a satellite image of the lab now. The three Deathrays are all facing away from each other. I think our best approach might be the roof."

"Wade thinks we should go in through the roof," Ron told the Twins.

"Can't," Jim stated, "The roof's one giant titanium plate, with titanium grating on all the air vents. Besides, none of the air vents are large enough for a human to crawl through."

Ron nodded knowingly.

"Well", Wade continued, "We can get you onto the roof and go from there."


Shego had had enough. Well, more than enough, really. What began as a simple revenge plot against Kim Possible had now completely overwhelmed her. She wasn't the type who normally took that kind of treatment from anyone. But his rage was fierce, and unpredictable, and there were multiple versions of him running around now. She cursed herself for letting Ray get away with his abuses. And she felt like such a coward for not standing up for herself.

Earlier that day, an alarm had gone off in the control center. It was Deathray One, and it was supposed to be at the police impound lot. So she got on the communicator, and tried to contact Ray. Then she pulled up the internal camera for Deathray One and there he was.

Dressed in his tux.

It was such an absurd sight to see Ray strapped into the cockpit dressed in a tuxedo that she let out an involuntary giggle. Then she realized something must have gone wrong.

Again!

Kim Possible was currently residing in a cryogenic tube, and somehow she still managed to defeat Ray's plans. Then she realized it was probably Ron and the computer kid, and they were putting their lives on the line to save what they thought was Kim. After all Ron had been through, almost dying, and then being framed for Deathray, he still tried to save Kim.

Shego knew she was in trouble.

She also knew no one would be coming to try and save her.

She tried sneaking out the entrance, but it was guarded, and they weren't about to let her go. So she slipped out of sight, found herself a hiding place within the complex, and bided her time. She was confident she would get out at some point.

And when she did, all thoughts of vengeance would be focused on Ray Beam.


The Ninjet hovered some one hundred feet above the complex. Ron strapped himself into the harness and hooked up the cable. They couldn't land on the roof for fear what little noise the jet made would still attract attention. Parachuting was not a good idea, since even a breeze could blow him off course.

Ron double checked the cable was secure, then went over a few things with Wade. Once on the roof, the Twins would create a commotion, drawing the three Deathrays away from the lab. Ron would infiltrate once they were safely away from the building. It was decided Ron would try to get in through one of the regular doors, since the Deathrays were obviously using the large garage-style doors at the building's loading dock on the other side. The Twins had given him a small remote device that would trigger the Final Option measure.

The cockpit slid open, and Ron stood up, preparing himself as best he could for what was to come.

"Remember," Wade reminded him, "Once that place seals itself shut, we won't be able to talk to each other. Contact me the second you get out of there."

"Aw, Wade, are you actually worried about me?" Ron teased.

"Hey, I saved your butt at the wedding today. Don't make me go out in public again." Wade said seriously, "Just be careful, and bring her home."

"You got it, buddy." Ron said quietly and dove off the aircraft.

He sailed silently, almost gracefully through the air. Wade engaged the brakes gradually and Ron came to a halt just a few feet above the roof. He detached himself and dropped silently to the roof below. The cable withdrew, and the Ninjet rose quietly up and away.

Ron crept to the edge of the roof nearest the Twins position and stuck his head up as far as he dared. He wasn't sure just exactly what kind of distraction they had planned, but he certainly wasn't expecting them to just walk casually out in the open.

Yet that's exactly what they did.

The Deathray nearest Ron powered up some kind of explosive ray and fired. The twins just managed to dodge it, turned and sprinted back into the woods. The beam ripped a three foot crater in the asphalt, sending chunks of debris flying everywhere. The two Deathrays nearest him moved off in pursuit.

Ron lowered himself to the ground and frantically began checking doors. All of them were blocked. In some cases, large steel plates had been welded over them from the inside. There was no way he was going to get inside that way. He used his grappler to climb back to the roof and crept over to the other side of the building. To his dismay, the third Deathray had taken up a position guarding the large loading dock doors. His head was about eight feet below and a little forward of Ron's position.

Explosions and other sounds began to come from the woods. The third Deathray remained unmoved.

Ron considered his options. He couldn't drop to the ground without injuring himself. He could lower himself with the grappler but if something caught Deathray's attention halfway down, he'd be dead. Then a thought occurred to him.

You must successfully make the leap.

Ron thought back to his final days at Master Sensei's school on Mt. Yamanuchi.

"Wade, get ready to cloak me." He said quietly.

Ron took a step back, and two quick steps forward and leaped off the roof.

Lightasafeather, lightasafeather, lightasafeather! Ron thought frantically to himself.

He alighted one-footed on the head of the mechanical beast, straightened up and stepped backward into mid air. He caught himself on Deathray's shoulders and clung tight, piggy-back style.

"Now!" he said as quietly as he could and as loudly as he dared.

The cloak engaged and Ron vanished.

The Deathray spun around looking wildly about. Then it extended a mechanical arm with a camera attachment and examined itself. Finding nothing, it strode into the lab a few paces, expecting to find something there.

Ron triggered Final Option. With deafening thuds and slams, massive metal plates slid into place around every door, window and conceivable opening. A huge titanium plate slid downward over the loading door opening and settled with a ringing crash. Then loud hissing noises could be heard as the plates fused themselves into place. The cloak disengaged.

The Deathray spun again and hammered the loading dock doors with every weapon he had. Barely a scratch. Then the mechanoid turned and moved to the center of the lab. He began walking down a concrete ramp oddly placed right in middle of the lab's large central room. At the bottom of the ramp was a long corridor with concrete on all sides. Wherever it lead, the corridor clearly was a recent addition to Kim's laboratory. Ron slipped off the back of the Deathray and flattened himself against a wall. The Deathray continued walking along the corridor. Ron guessed the passageway to be about a mile long., and at the other end would be whatever operation Ray had set up. His new lair, no doubt.

Ron looked at the Deathray to double check it was moving away from him then ran back up into the lab to check each of the rooms. He looked in every open space in the main room, then started down one hallway and checked each room individually. They were all littered with equipment and disused research material, but no cryogenic tube. He moved to the opposite end of the building and began checking each of those rooms., The first three were empty, as was the supply closet. Only four rooms remained. If she wasn't in any of these, Ron would have to go into the heart of enemy territory to get her. Who knows how many Deathrays were down in there?

First room. Empty.

Second room. Empty.

Ron's heart began to race.

Third room. Empty.

No…wait.

There was a soft blue glow in the far corner. Ron moved as quickly as he could to it.

YES!

Kim looked the same as he had seen her that morning at Dr. Possible's lab. There didn't seem to be any security measures in place around her. Clearly she had been stashed back here in haste. Ron looked to the side of the tube. One red button, one green button.

At least Ray liked to keep things simple.

He pressed the green button and waited. Five seconds later alarms began to blare from the main chamber of the lab. There seemed to be security measures after all. Then it occurred to Ron that perhaps the Deathray had made it to the other end of the corridor and reported what he'd found. The jamming equipment embedded in the titanium plating had prevented it from simply calling in an alarm.

Ron hesitated. Should he leave Kim here alone? On the other hand if he stayed, the Ray Clones would no doubt do a thorough search of the lab when they got there. Ron sprinted out of the room, down the ramp, and along the huge concrete corridor. A Deathray was indeed coming back toward the lab. Then Ron's heart dropped to his feet. There were six Deathrays coming down the corridor in a neat, single-file line. He could get back to the lab, hide himself and Kim, and hope the Rays wouldn't find him. They would probably vaporize or disintegrate everything in the lab, which made hiding a moot point. In addition there would be no help from Wade. Just Ron Stoppable versus six Deathrays.

The alternative was that Kim would likely be caught and killed.

He charged down the corridor.


"Only two!" Jim called to his brother, "Where's the other one?"

"I don't think it left the lab!", Tim called back, then ignited his rocket pack and shot into the air, barely avoiding blaster fire.

Jim had to dive and roll away from disintegrator fire. He regained his feet, took out his grappler and shot. The hook latched itself with a metallic thud on to one of Deathray's legs. Jim pushed a button and let go of the grappler. A tiny rocket fired, propelling Jim's end of the grappler sideways. Anchored firmly to the leg of the Deathray, it spun through the air in ever tightening circles around the mechanoid until it wrapped itself firmly around Deathray's legs five or six times. The metal behemoth fell over with a crash and struggled to free itself. Jim ran over, trying to find the latch, but it seemed Ray had made some improvements. The latches on the suits were now electronic and could only be opened by remote.

Jim crouched and took out a small device that looked like a golf ball on the end of an ice pick. He pushed a couple of buttons, then jammed the device into the metal skin. Three seconds later, massive electric bolts began to surge through the machine, overloading its systems and shorting everything out, including the latch mechanism. The Ray clone was trapped inside.

One down.


The Lotus Blade had already become a shield by the time he had it in front of him. Ron took the full force of the disintegrator and was knocked backward. This time he lost his footing and tumbled, twisting out of the way of the beam. Some of the hairs on the back of his neck were singed.

To Ron's good fortune - depending on how you looked at it and your capacity for optimism - the corridor had been constructed to accommodate the width and height of only a single Deathray. Ron wondered abstractly what happened when two machines entered the hallway in opposing directions. But since they were all under the control of one mind, maybe that didn't happen. Still it seemed impractical to build a single lane road a mile long when the vehicles couldn't pass each other.

Unless…

Ron changed the shield to a battle axe and hurled it, disabling the disintegrator. The lead Deathray was compelled to switch to the more destructive blaster cannon. Ron flattened himself against the wall and froze, hesitating for a fraction of a second, then he leaped clear just as blaster fired ripped a hole in the wall, scattering chunks of concrete. Dirt poured in like sand for a time and then stopped.

Maybe, Ron thought to himself, Ray didn't build a double-wide corridor because he couldn't.

No time like the present to test that theory. Ron began hopping and leaping all over the corridor, dodging blaster fire. He made sure not to stay just on one side of the passageway, but rather leaped from floor to wall, or ran up a wall and leaped to the other side. After a series of these types of maneuvers, Ron would retreat back down the corridor toward the lab, then stop and dodge more blaster fire. The Deathrays pursued, and whether it was because of some strategic decision, or simply that they were still controlled by a mind that had once been human, they would cease their forward progress whenever Ron did. Apparently it didn't occur to them to simply march forward, driving Ron back into a dead end at the lab.

Ron performed his blaster dodging twice more before he felt he was satisfied. They were about an eighth of a mile from the ramp leading up into Kim's laboratory. Ron turned to face the Deathrays. Once again they stopped and the lead machine raised his blaster and fired. Instead of dodging, or shielding himself, Ron flattened himself to the floor and hurled the shield with every ounce of strength he could muster. It sailed off the end of his arm, glowing a bright white, and slammed into the lead Deathray.

The mechanoid toppled over backward. The clone inside it panicked and forgot to release the trigger of the blaster cannon, and thus continued firing as he fell over. Blaster beams ripped into the ceiling, and since the walls and floor were already severely damaged and weakened by the battle, the cave-in was almost instantaneous. Ron had been right, the corridor was built as large is it could be because the ground was too unstable to support anything larger.

Hundreds of tons of rock and dirt came thundering down upon the Deathrays as the cave-in traveled back along the corridor. Ron turned and sprinted for the ramp, holding up his hand to call the blade back to him as he ran. He stumbled the entire way as the floor beneath him shook violently and began to crack. Halting at the top, he turned around to face anything that might have made it through; be it clone or machine. But the only thing that emerged was a cloud of concrete dust.

He stood triumphant, at the top of the ramp and was about to let loose with a "booyah" when he heard a faint, muffled cough.

Kim!

He raced back to the appropriate room and stepped inside.


They had expected the remaining Deathray to take flight, but apparently Ray had gotten wise to the fact that if he recalled it, they'd be able to follow it back to his new lair. The Twins were almost toying with this one, staying just out reach of its blaster, but not disabling it either. If Ray – or his artificial brain – had been a more experienced combat tactician, he would have realized the twins were purposely toying with it in order to study its capabilities.

It followed them into a clearing with four large trees in a rough square pattern. Both boys fired a rocket grappler, attaching to each leg and spinning around the closest tree trunk. Then they got around behind it, grappled its arms and ran out in front, pulling it over forward. They anchored each arm to a corresponding tree which left the mechanoid barely able to move. When they felt the Deathray was relatively secure, they brought in signal jamming equipment. Whatever the signal was coming from the artificial brain, it was too strong to be jammed. But normal communications between the Deathray and its home base would not be possible.

Jim stood guard while Tim got out a blowtorch. It was time to perform some mechanical surgery.


She was standing in the corner, just in front of the cryogenic tube, trembling. Rather, she was shivering. He stepped toward her and took off his mask and gloves.

"Who's there?" She asked, looking in his direction but not looking at him. "Is someone there?"

"It's all right," He reassured her quietly, "Your blindness is a temporary side-effect of the cryogenic process. Your eyesight should return gradually."

Ron's heart raced. Here they finally were, both of them conscious, and with no secret identities between them. After six long years, Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable were standing face to face. Would she be pleased or angry with him? Ron couldn't get his heart to slow down. He'd just faced six Deathrays and his pulse had barely fluttered. Now he was standing in front of her, and found himself terrified.

"That's…that's Ronin's voice! RON!" she cried out, waving her hand back in forth in front of her, "Where are you? Come here, please."

"I'm here," he said stepping closer to her. He reached out and caught her hand.

She flew into his arms.

"I knew you'd come!" she said, embracing him fiercely, "Somehow…I don't know… when they were strapping me down on the table, all I could think was that I knew you would come for me."

She said it with a fervent conviction, not a teary-eyed, weak-kneed damsel in distress kind of declaration, but rather with the solid knowledge that he was somewhere out there, and if it was within his power, he would not let her fall.

Ron hesitated, then put his arms tightly around her, his cheek on her head, smelling her hair as he had done so many times before. And like so many times before, she put her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat, her arms wrapped around him as far as they could go.

For a moment, they held each other, not saying anything.

As much as he didn't want to break the moment, Ron spoke, "We shouldn't stay in this room."

He gave her a quick assessment of the situation.

"I'm not sure how extensive the cave-in is" Ron told her, "And if they decide to clear it, they could come looking for us before your brothers manage to get us free. Is there some place here we can hide?"

"I think I know a place," Kim said after considering for a moment. "Take us out to the loading dock."

Ron led her out to the large central chamber at the top of the ramp. There was nothing but solid darkness down in the corridor now. Only the emergency lights were on.

"Which way are we facing?" She asked him.

"The loading doors," Ron answered.

She pointed back over her right shoulder, "There should be a spiral staircase back in that corner, it's got some plants and books stacked on the steps. Is it still there?"

"Yes", he confirmed.

"At the top of those stairs is a small observation room." She stated "It's never been used. If we can get up in there without disturbing the books and plants, then maybe they won't think to look for us up there…if they manage to get in here, that is."

They worked their way over to the staircase. Ron carefully removed all the books and plants from the steps, then let Kim make her own way up the stairs. Then he replaced the items as best as he could remember and grappled himself up to the second floor landing. Through a narrow door was a very tiny room that looked out over a surgical theater. Its original intent was to showcase Kim's research to the public when she completed it, but the room had never been used. Recently it had become a sort of storage room for extra office chairs, a desk or two, and whatnot. There was plush carpeting on the floor. Ron rearranged a couple of the desks so they could sit in the farthest, darkest corner of the room, and if in the off chance someone decided to peek their head in for a quick glance, Kim and Ron wouldn't be seen. Under other circumstances, Ron would have thought it a pretty cool fort.

They settled in to wait, sitting on the floor, huddling close to each other, their backs to the wall. Kim snuggled up to him, laying her head on his shoulder, glad to be in anyone's company, but probably more glad that it was Ron than anyone else. Ron wasn't sure what to feel. He didn't expect her to sit on the other side of the room, of course, but… he concluded that when two people have had frightening experiences and are in a situation that seems desperate, hiding from an unseen enemy, they would probably cling to each other. And if there was a history between these two people, well, then they would definitely cling to each other. Best not to overanalyze any given situation, though. He was here with her, and right now that's all he cared about.

They sat for some time in silence.

Then Kim finally spoke up, "So tell me something, Ron…Ron?"

No answer.

Ron Stoppable had started that day at four in the morning as a fugitive escaping from a guarded room in a hospital. It continued with breaking into Dr. Possible's lab, discovering a terrible secret, briefly battling Shego, racing to stop a wedding, being forcibly arrested, battling Deathray, discovering another terrible secret, racing back to Dr. Possible's lab, then proceeding to Kim's lab where he broke in, faced down six Deathrays and rescued Kim Possible.

Perhaps we shouldn't blame him too much for falling asleep.


"Where is Deathray's new lair?"

No answer.

"What are Deathray's plans regarding the battlesuits and the clones?"

No answer.

Jim and Tim were interrogating the clone they'd extracted from the second Deathray they'd brought down. An engineering team from Global Justice was on its way to begin cutting through the titanium alloy at the lab. In the meantime, no one had any idea if Kim was alive, or even if Ron had found her, or even if Ron himself was still alive. The Ninjet patrolled the skies above Middleton, scanning and re-scanning everything it could. Wade set up an alarm system should anything out of the ordinary be detected, and went to sleep near his workstation. The Twins continued to question their prisoner.

"What has been done with Kim Possible?"

No answer.

Abruptly, the clone slumped over forward. Tim caught him and tried to prop him up, but it was no good, he collapsed in a heap at their feet. The signal from the artificial Ray had been cut off.

The twins looked at each other.

"I've got-" Tim began.

"-an idea." Jim finished.


Over at the Possible household, the Drs. Possible were trying to deal with the fact that this thing in their daughter's bed that looked like Kim, sounded like Kim and believed she was Kim, actually wasn't. The poor creature was curled up in a fetal position and couldn't seem to stop crying.

"Mom", she whimpered, "Why is all this happening?"

I'm not your mother, Mrs. Possible thought to herself, but then felt guilty for thinking it. It wasn't the clone's fault. She had Kim's memories, her personality – what was left of it – and the belief that she was Kim Possible. Whatever insidious schemes Ray Beam had dreamed up and carried out, they weren't the clone's doing. Suddenly Kim's mother was overwhelmed with pity. She went to the edge of the bed and tried to soothe the miserable creature.

"Try and get some sleep," she said softly, stroking her hair.

Suddenly, the clone's eyes went wide. She began to struggle and convulse.


The file that regulates breathing.

(delete)


Her arms waved about wildly. She was pointing at her chest.

"What is it?" Mrs. Dr. Possible asked, becoming alarmed.

The clone continued to convulse, tears streaming down her face. She wasn't even struggling to breathe. That function had been erased, which meant the mind controlling her had no knowledge of how to breathe at all.


(delete all)


She collapsed on the bed, her eyes vacant, her expression terrified. Mrs. Dr. Possible had to look away. Suffering was something she couldn't bear to watch happen to anyone. The clone lay there in Kim's bed, lifeless.

An hour later, a team from Global Justice arrived and removed the body. They intended to take it back to headquarters for study. Mrs. Dr. Possible shed a few tears for the wretched creature whose entire existence was based on the belief she was someone else.

Needless to say, neither of the Drs. Possible had a very high opinion of Ray Beam any more.


Ron sat bolt upright, "Kim!"

"Sssshhh, it's all right," she soothed, "I'm right here."

He'd been sleeping with his head in her lap, and no idea that he'd even fallen asleep in the first place.

"How long was I asleep?"

"Two, maybe three hours." She answered.

"What time is it?"

"I don't know. Aren't you wearing your Ronin suit?"

"Yes, why?"

"You have all those gadgets, and there's nothing on that suit that tells you the time of day?"

"It's never been an issue," Ron protested, "Time of day can be meaningless when you're a superhero."

"Drama Ninja", she teased.

"You hungry?"

"Famished."

Ron handed her half an energy bar, "All I got, sorry."

"It'll do."

They munched in silence for a couple of minutes.

"So tell me all about Ronin." She inquired.

Ron sat there a moment, thinking. Then, instead of telling her about Ronin, he decided to tell her everything. He started from the moment they walked out of Cody Pendant's lair and told her about his frustrations at becoming a liability as a sidekick, about why he ended things with her, and why he went to Sensei's school at Yamanuchi. He told her about his return to Middleton, his partnership with Wade, and his intent on demonstrating to her that he would no longer be a risk to Kim's life. He told her, honestly, about the effect the news of her engagement had on him, and about his decision to fake his death and completely become Ronin. He told her all the things he felt that day, fighting by her side on the roof of the bank, putting her life in jeopardy again, and surrendering himself to Deathray. Finally, he finished with his decision the previous morning to put it all behind him, and expose Deathray before he could hurt Kim, not realizing what he thought was Kim was actually a clone.

When he finished, neither of them said anything.

"I understand," she finally said softly.

"You do?" He was surprised.

"Well, let's be clear, Ron. I understand why you did these things. That doesn't mean I agree with it. You had no right to walk away from me like that without telling me why. You had no right to let everyone think you were dead, and you had no right to give yourself up to Deathray." She said firmly.

"But-" he began.

"Hey," she cut him off, "I let you talk, now it's your turn to listen."

Ron shut up.

"You didn't drag me into hero work, I chose it myself. That means the decision to put my life in danger was mine and always has been. So I understand that you felt somehow responsible for some of the things that have happened in my life, but your decisions were the wrong ones. You should have told me why you were walking away from us three days before the wedding."

"But you would have talked me out of it," he protested.

"Exactly!" Her voice took on an edge, "I would have told you that sometimes things happen that you have no control over. I would have told you that when you do hero work, there will be those who will want to hurt you, maybe even kill you. And then I would have told you that even if I knew I was going to die a year later as a result of my relationship with you, then I would rather have that year with you than the last six years without you!"

"Well the last six years haven't been so great for me either!" he argued back, "I didn't walk away because I stopped loving you, and the fact of the matter is, I never stopped loving you! Not one day in the last six years went by that I didn't think about you and how much I loved you, and wishing I could be with you but too afraid that if we were, then you'd get hurt!"

"Yeah?" She said, her voice rising, "Well I never stopped loving you either!"

"You got engaged!" he shouted.

"You faked your death!" she shouted back.

"Because you got engaged!"

"I was settling for less!"

Silence.

At some point Kim must have gotten her eyesight back because she pushed Ron over, pinned him to the floor, and kissed him fiercely.


The surveillance camera in the operating theater had infrared capability. He'd been listening to the conversation the whole time via that camera, but when the shouting stopped, he panned over and switch to infrared mode. Two human-shaped heat signatures were locked in an embrace in the observation room. It wasn't too hard to guess what they were doing.

Blinding rage seethed within him.

He punched a couple of buttons on the control panel. His own face appeared on the view screen.

"Status report!" He barked.

"We're almost through to the lab," the clone answered, "Estimated time of completion, about three minutes."

Ray switched off the intercom without acknowledging.

Three minutes.

First, he'd let her watch Stoppable die, slowly. Then he'd show her just how much less she had really settled for.