Amid the rubble of the IMAX theatre, the thing stood and stared intently in Ron Stoppable's immediate vicinity. It was a cold, unfeeling machine, just a thing. He kept telling himself that's what it was, because the real deal was right there with him, looking about the entertainment complex for a suitable starting point for her attack. It was unnerving, certainly, to stare into the face of something that had designed itself to perfectly imitate you, and Kim worried for a second that it would actually be able to defeat her or even replace her… Ron cheered her on, evidently just thinking the same thing himself and trying to push it aside. With his customary zeal, the young man made a bolt for the now-abandoned "Yard of Margarita" stand and hopped behind the bar, Rufus chattering and pointing to the array of siphons and taps. "I got a better idea, little buddy. Besides, what good's frozen raspberry 'rita going to be against Mecha-Kim? Sit tight…" The overpriced novelty souvenir glasses had caught his eye before, and a swift sharp tap against the bar confirmed that they were made of tough enough reinforced plastic to be used for what Ron had in mind. While Kim traded punches and kicks with her Bebe doppelganger, she glanced back in her best friend's direction to fire off a short quip. "What are you doing back there? Looking for a lost salt-shaker?" Turning back just in time to block a knife-edge swing at her neck, Kim never saw what Ron had in his hands as he sprang up from behind the bar again. Sprinting to her side, Ron passed Kim the three-foot length of hollow blue plastic before gripping the base of his own makeshift weapon.
"Well, here's where the fun begins," he joked as Kim gave him a sly little smirk. She was more accustomed to bare-fist fighting, or fencing with words, but Kim could adapt. Unfortunately, so could their implacable foe, a series of sharp serrated plates emerging from the painted metallic structure of the Kim-bot and tearing its clothing to shreds. "Ron, I really hate to use an old cliché, but I suddenly have a very bad feeling…" Kim tried to voice her concerns, but Ron was lost in the moment. Rushing the Kim-bot and raising his green "sabre", he tried to attack her lightly-armoured head from his right. Allowing a very different side of his being to control his actions, Ron began to fight with almost instinctive skill until a concussive energy blast fired from the robot's palm caught him square in the chest. Seizing her opportunity, Kim pulled Ron back to lean against the bar and get his strength back, then dived straight into combat with a traditional cutting remark. "Didn't anybody tell you, honey? Kim Style only looks good on Kim. But I must say; it's nice of you to break out of the traditional Bebe mould for once…" Speaking in a mechanical mockery of Kim's own tone, the robotic creature taunted Kim right back. "Yes. We have a new mould. One that has been made specifically to fit you, Kim Possible." Taking up a second empty souvenir glass that Rufus nudged in her direction, Kim twirled them in her palms as she eased herself into an unorthodox Escrima stance. Weakly, Ron lifted his head to watch the fight until a sharp pain struck him just behind his right eye. Chittering frantically, Rufus scampered across to the nearest concession stand soda fountain to fill a cup with ice and drag it back over to his owner's side, even as Kim appeared to be gaining the upper hand over her evil replica with her lightning-quick baton-fighting attacks.
"First game of the season last year, I suggested to Bonnie that we try batons instead of pom-poms. But, hey, you already know she was born with a stick up her butt, that's why you like her so much…" Ron pressed a mass of ice wrapped in paper towels against his cut, his vision starting to blur around the edges as Kim stood casually, making the mistake of letting down her guard. In two quick thrusts, it was all over. The Mecha-Kim's fingers vibrated through Kim's clothing and flesh like an electric kitchen knife, slicing into her arm above the elbow and downward just slightly below her knee. His heart skipped about a thousand beats all at once and suddenly, that rarely-used confidence began to force surges of adrenaline through Ron's brain, and he dimly remembered watching his own hands picking up Kim's discarded weapons to drive back the twisted creation of mad science while it tried to break his spirit with that distorted perversion of Kim's voice. "A bold move, Ron Stoppable… We would have expected you to learn your lesson by now." With some real power behind his swings, Ron was beginning to enjoy himself in the middle of the fight and even unconsciously found himself replying, "Well, I am a slow learner" until the Mecha-Kim simply reached up and crushed one of the glasses in Ron's hand with a gleaming chrome claw and spat back a rejoinder in his face. "Yes. You most certainly are, Ron Stoppable." His face fell instantly, taking all that bravado with it in a gently-falling shower of blue shards. Glancing back to Rufus while he kept the Mecha-Kim at bay with his remaining weapon, Ron nodded as the little hairless creature shook his whiskered head and went back to tending to Kim's wounds. "Come on, little guy… You saw the m- ", Ron never finished his sentence, the Mecha-Kim tasering him into submission and intoning "Ron Stoppable acquired…"
The world around them had ceased to exist, both teen heroes lapsing into unconsciousness in the span of seconds and being lifted over the bare shoulders of the gleaming Mecha-Kim. Fear and uncertainty descended over the tiny figure of Rufus, ignored by the robot and left alone for the first time since his birth, and he began to stab randomly at buttons on the Kim-municator in his panicked state. For the most part, all he managed to do was turn on the in-built MP3 player and play a totally random selection of Kim's favourites, the Mecha-Kim already rushing back to the Bebe hive with her captives. Ever resourceful, Rufus soon managed to haul the comparatively heavy device up onto a clean table and switch on the main screen. Wade was already panicking, his forehead running with sweat as all manner of alarms were blaring in the nerve centre of his room, and the young man struggled to make himself heard over the noise.
"Rufus, what happened down there? I lost Ron's signal and now Kim's out too! Find something to write on, hurry!" Away the little mole rat went, screaming and racing around the casino floor with the ends of the wristband around his belly flailing behind him. Without looking where he was going, Rufus found himself charging straight into a cup left carelessly on the floor by the video poker machines and sending up an eruption of loose change. The poor old woman who scooped up the cup to deposit another quarter in her lucky machine's slot got the fright of her life when the tiny little whiskered head popped up from under the mountain of coinage, waving and exuberantly shouting "Hi!" in his usual manner. Showing off his band, Rufus scampered along to pick a pen up and clutch it between his powerful jaws as a crowd of curious onlookers gathered around him. Following the small rodent as best they could back to the food court, hotel staff and rubber-neckers alike trying to help him communicate to Wade exactly what went down. Surrounded by his computers, Wade mopped his brow and exhaled heavily while he ran through it one more time with Rufus.
"So, one of the robots looked almost exactly like Kim? That makes sense, actually. She's beaten them twice before, and proved that she's capable enough. So now they're trying to assimilate her capabilities into themselves…" Wade hesitated as Rufus squeaked and garbled a long stream of nonsense, jumping on the spot. "Literally? You don't mean… Well, let's not wait to find out."
At the Lipsky residence in Lowerton, Doctor Drakken had barely just survived a full hour in the supply closet with Andrea Possible, when her beeper sprang into life. Falling on her husband's mercy, the blue-skinned villain cowered on his knees with Shego looking on, raising a slender dark eyebrow in the older woman's direction while Drakken pleaded with his former room-mate. "I'll give you anything! When I have Canada, you… You can have any province! Just keep that woman away from me…" With barely a hair out of place, Andrea smoothed down a crease on Drakken's overcoat and let her husband see the message flashing across her pager. Noticing the sudden shift in the overall tone, Shego sat her employer down and pulled her gloves off to buff her immaculately polished black fingernails and insult Drakken some more. "You just don't know the meaning of the word shame, do you? You haven't just been whooped by Kim Possible, but by Kim Possible's mother! Once this gets around, nobody's gonna take you seriously as an evildoer." Snapping back at Shego, Drakken gesticulated wildly with his unusually small hands, off on another tirade again… "Shego, that's quite enough! Obviously, our guests have just received some very bad news, or from our point of view, some excellent news…" Taking all this in, Shego let her lips curl into a cruel smile, crueller still when she reminded Drakken, "Poor little Kimmie Possible, lying in a ditch somewhere between Reno and Vegas, and you can't take the credit for it…" Grumbling, the self-proclaimed "mad genius" hugged his knees and fell into a typically childish sulk, the Possibles turning back to their hosts to break the news to them.
"Kimberly and Ronald have fallen into the clutches of… Yes, Drew?" Interrupting Jonathan, Drakken had timidly raised a hand to speak, looking around furtively. "Er, yes. Who's this Ronald?" Andrea and her husband shared a look; Shego closed her eyes and began to massage her own temples, her speech patterns lapsing into Yiddish unexpectedly. "Oy vey… Ron Stoppable? Runs away and hides a lot?" Drakken looked blankly at Shego for a few seconds, then finally his blue lips split into a wide grin. "Ah hah!"
"Finally, he gets it," Shego muttered before Drakken cut her off again. "You're Jewish, Shego! I knew there was something about you…" Giving up, the pale and long-haired girl just frowned and shook her head slightly, letting Jonathan explain to them again. "Ronald and Kimberly have been incapacitated, and are now in the hands of the Bebe robots. The drones may be planning to cyber-genetically link to their brains and control them somehow…" This last sentence had the dubious honour of being the one to make Drakken perk up, his grin widening again as he rubbed those tiny little hands evilly. "Perfect! Not only will I regain control of my Bebes, but Kim Possible herself will be one of them!" Apparently, he had forgotten where he was, and the company that he was currently keeping… Forcing herself to smile sweetly, Andrea circled around to the back of Drakken's chair while Shego gave the woman a wicked look. "Drew, would you like another hour in the closet? No? Then please, shut up." Not exactly approving of his wife's violent streak, Jonathan settled into a high-backed leather armchair and reached for her hand, patting it in a reassuring manner while he talked things through with Shego again. Casually, he remarked that she shared an ethnic background with Ron Stoppable, and was greeted with a non-committal shrug. "So, probably not related, then?" he replied…
Thanks to everybody for continuing to read this little tale as it develops. This particular chapter is dedicated to the hard-working tireless souls at http/groups. helping to keep the dream alive. Boo-yah!
