Hey everyone! Sorry this took a while, I really meant for it to be out a lot sooner. Don't worry though, the wait was worth it for once! This is a pretty good chapter, considering it's me. Just to let you know, I'm going to devoting all my time to a new chapter of Breaking the Curves before I update this again. Hopefully you won't go crazy.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Kim Possible related, but I do own myself and my name. At least, I hope so.

The familiar beeping of Kim's palm pilot look-alike roused her from a dream of snow and monkeys. Blinking bleary eyed at her clock, she waited for the time to register in her brain. 1:47. She groaned and picked up the Kimunicater.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" she asked the pajama clad form that materialized on the screen.

"Yes. It is 1:47 and 32 seconds. 33 seconds. 34 seconds-"

"What's the sitch, Wade?"

"It's Drakken. He's finally ready for you."

Kim moaned, "What time zone is he in! Doesn't he know teenagers need their sleep?"

"He was very insistent in his message. And rather annoyed. I think Shego is behind this wake up call."

"I bet," Kim muttered to herself. "Alright, I'll go get Rea."

"Oh yeah, how is the new girl?"

"She's ok, but I haven't seen her in full combat. We did a quick spar, but not enough to fully judge her on."

"I haven't heard much about her; she's pretty new on the scene. I hope she serves her purpose."

"Of being a decoy? Yeah, same here."

"Better get a move on. I'll have transport there in ten."

"Thanks Wade." Kim hung up.

With a tremendous yawn, Kim rolled off her bed and onto the floor. Pushing herself up, she tugged off her pajama top and proceeded to the closet to change into her mission clothes. Three minutes later, she was in the guest room, prodding Rea in the cheek.

"Get up. It's mission time."

Rea opened one eye, "Are all of your mission at an ungodly hour of the morning?"

"Not usually. Consider this your hazing."

"Right," Rea groaned, stretching out across her bed, "Lemme get changed."

With a nod, Kim left. She waited in the hallway for five and half minutes before Rea came padding out. She now wore a tight blue t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans that were tight around the thigh and lose below the knee. They fanned out around her ratty New Balance sneakers. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail, and she was sliding her glasses onto her nose.

"Good. Let's head out," Kim instructed.

"No coffee?"

"Sorry. Hopefully your adrenaline will wake you up."

"I'd settle for a bucket of ice water."

"I'm sure that can be arranged."

Rea gave her a scathing look. Kim smiled.

They trooped downstairs. Kim left a note for her parents on the kitchen table, and directed Rea to the front door. Outside, in the night, the wind was a little chilly. Rea shivered, but said nothing. Her eyelids drooped, and her body sagged from want of sleep. Kim watched her with slight pity. The girl was getting a rude awakening into the world of heroism.

They gave a start when a helicopter swooped down onto the street before them. Kim started forward, closely followed by Rea.

"Hello Kim!" called the driver, a man, wearing a helmet and goggles, so they couldn't see his face properly.

"Hi, Mr. Depart," Kim called back, sounding much more awake than she felt. "Thanks for picking us up so late. Or early..."

"It's no problem," he replied, his mouth curving into a smile, "After you saved my son from that 'copter accident, it's the least I could do."

"It was no big. He's a pretty good pilot, for a five year old."

"He had good genes," Mr. Depart said proudly.

Kim and Rea climbed in and strapped themselves to their seats. The helicopter picked up and zoomed off to the north. Kim watched the trees and houses and power lines flash along below them. At one point, she glanced at Rea, and noticed the young girl had her eyes shut tight and was breathing very deeply.

"Are you ok?" Kim had to shout above the roar of the helicopter.

"Yeah. I just...I don't like heights," Rea shouted back, blinking her eyes open, staring hard at Kim so as not to look anywhere else.

Kim sighed. "You're going to have to get used to it."

"I know," Rea whispered, but Kim didn't hear her.

"Here we are, ladies," Mr. Depart hollered from the front.

Kim looked down below, and Rea peeked over her shoulder. Drakken's lair loomed like a condominium of evil on its hill in the middle of nowhere. Rea shuddered at the shear distance between herself and the ground, and pulled back into the safety of her seat. Kim frowned.

"Where are you letting us off at?" she shouted to Mr. Depart.

"At the main entrance. Wade said that Drakken is expecting you."

"I guess so," Kim muttered.

"At least we don't have to jump," Rea piped up. Kim smiled at the relived look on her face.

Mr. Depart settled the helicopter down at Drakken's front door, and let out his two passengers. They thanked him, and entered the lair. Rea padded after Kim, who walked down the hall like she owned the place. No one stopped them; no one jumped out of the shadows and shouted "Aha!"

Not that they were expecting anyone to.

They entered the same large, empty room Kim had met with Drakken in a week earlier (and Rea too, spy style). And there were Drakken and Shego, standing on a raised platform dead center in the middle of the room. Shego was smiling, clearly devious. Drakken was looking pretty pleased too, holding a pink, oversized piece of candy under his arm.

"Ah, Kim Possible," he sneered, "I see you have fallen into my trap."

"What trap?" Rea asked, looking behind her in case they had missed something.

Drakken looked annoyed, "Who are you? The buffoon didn't used to make stupid interruptions."

"Uh, yeah he did," muttered Shego.

"His name is Ron Stoppable," Kim said, rolling her eyes.

"Whatever," Drakken waved a gloved hand, "Who's the new girl?" He gestured in Rea's direction.

"The name's Rea," she said, straightening up, "And don't you forget it."

"What is up with sidekicks having names that start with R?" Drakken wondered, in an overly exasperated voice.

"My name doesn't start with R," huffed Shego.

"Whatever! We're getting off topic. As I was saying, you have stumbled into my trap, and-"

"What trap!" Rea cried.

"Shut up!" Drakken shouted back, "The point is, you won't beat me this time, Kim Possible," he said, pointing an accusatory finger at Kim. "And Ray," he added, as an after thought.

"It's not Ray, its Rea," she snapped.

"That's what I said!"

"No it's not!"

Kim turned to her new partner, "Rea, chill out. Don't freak in the middle of a rant, that's when you get all the information you need to stop a villain. It's a very important part of the process."

"Sorry," she muttered, looking away.

Kim turned back to Drakken. "You were saying?"

"Um, yes, well. You, uh, won't stop me this time, Kim Possible. Because my new plot for world domination is unbeatable. Behold!" He held up the large candy shaped object.

"What is it?" Rea asked, her voice a flat monotone.

"It is my bubble gum bomb!" he said triumphantly.

"What does it do?" Rea asked, still monotone.

"It explodes bubble gum, of course. This little beauty can encase the largest cities in the United States in its rubbery goo. No one will be able to escape! The world will be at my knees."

"I'm sure," droned Rea.

"Would you please take me seriously," whined Drakken.

"No."

"Oh, little Miss Ray, you think you're all that. But you're not!"

Her whole body twitched. "It's not Ray. It's Rea!"

She leaped up onto the platform, and punched Drakken across the face. He grunted and dropped the bubble gum bomb. It fell with a crash.

"Hey, what was that for!" he cried. Shego sniggered.

He whirled on her, "Why didn't you do something?"

She shrugged, "It's about time you got a good smack in the face."

Beep beep beep

Rea smiled sheepishly at Shego. The older woman gave her a weird look.

Beep beep beep

"Uh, guys..." Kim said. The others looked over at her. "I think the bomb started." The others looked down at the bomb near their feet. It indeed had begun its countdown. It read: 19m, 40s. 19 minutes and 40 seconds.

Drakken screamed in anguish. The girls looked at him.

"Drakken..." Shego's voice was threatening, "What's wrong?"

"We have to get out!" he cried, "Detain Kim and the girl. I don't want to waste that bomb. It took me days to build!"

"Ok," said Shego and Rea at the same time. Shego looked at her funny, but Rea got to work right away. She punched Drakken hard in the nose, and he crumpled to the floor. She pulled a length of rope out of one of her pants pockets. Deftly, she tied Drakken's hand and feet.

Shego watched her, mouth agape. Her eyes narrowed as Rea straightened up and glanced at her.

"Rea, what was that?" Kim asked, staring at Drakken.

Rea looked back at Drakken. "I tied him up. So he wouldn't try anything. Is that bad?"

"No..." Rea could see the gears turning in Kim's head. "We just never got it done that fast. Well, Ron never got it done that fast. I was always busy with Shego."

Rea didn't say anything. Instead she looked at the timer on the bomb. It now read 18m, 29s. She pointed at it, "Maybe we should do something about that."

"Right, right," Kim muttered, pulling out her Kimunicator. Clicking it on, Wade's face materialized on the screen. "Wade, we got ourselves a bomb."

Wade smiled, "Let me at it."

"Hang on, I'm supposed to be beating you two up," Shego said loudly. "I mean, that is what I get paid for. And stealing stuff."

Kim nodded absently, as she watched the Kimunicator sprout a propeller and fly off toward the bomb lying on the floor. "Rea, do you think you could-"

"Yes." Rea assumed a fighting position, facing Shego.

Kim looked up at her, "Um, that's not what I meant. I was going to ask you to help Wade take care of the bomb, while I deal with Shego."

"Aw, come on," Rea whined, "I wanna fight her. Just this once."

Kim threw a questioning look in Shego's direction. The older woman shrugged, "If she wants to get her ass kicked, that's fine by me."

Kim looked back at Rea, "Do you think you can handle her?"

"Yes," she said, nodding, serious.

Kim sighed, "Alright. Go for it."

She looked back at the bomb. 16m, 22s. She sighed again.

Rea grinned at Shego, holding her right hand by her nose and left hand just under her chest, bouncing on the balls of her feet. The older woman raised an eyebrow.

"What do you think you are, a boxer?"

"This is how my brother taught me to fight."

Shego laughed, "This is going to be even easier than I thought."

"Come on, we don't have much time."

"Fine."

Shego lunged, arms outstretched. Rea sidestepped her with ease. She understood the move had been one of warning; Shego sizing her up. The older woman fell into a summersault, twisting as she did so she could roll back to face her young opponent. She crouched, studying the girl's face. She hadn't psyched her out, nor had she expected she would. This kid had confidence, if nothing else.

Rea resumed her fighting stance, and waited. She didn't like making the first move. Shego took the invitation, and flipped forward, landing very close to Rea. The girl attempted to take a couple steps back, but stumbled when Shego's fists flew at her face. She blocked the right, but the left made contact with her jaw. Her head whipped to the side. She dropped to the floor in a crouch and swept her leg under Shego's feet. The raven haired woman flipped back, sliding low to the ground. Rea ran forward, kicking up at her chin. Shego rolled left. When she came back up, she saw Rea's foot coming at her head, but had no time to react. It made contact, and she slid across the floor, coming to a stop several feet away. She made to get up, but Rea pushed her back, sitting down on her waist and holding her hands over her head.

"Gotcha," she hissed, grinning wickedly.

"Idiot," Shego muttered.

Her hand burst into green flames. Rea screamed as white hot pain seared her palms. She wrenched herself away and scrambled off the older woman, staring down at her hands, her mouth hanging open. They were red and blistering and stinging. She didn't notice the tears running down her face.

Kim's head snapped up when she heard the scream bounce around the room. She glanced over at the figures a ways behind her. Rea was trembling on the floor, holding her hands up toward her face. Shego was climbing to her feet. A powerful urge, a desire, tugged on Kim. She needed to be out there. She needed to help Rea. She needed to fight Shego.

Beep beep beep

She looked at the bomb. The timer read 11m, 55s. Feverishly, Kim got back to work.

Shego stood, looking down at Rea's kneeling form. The girl just sat there, staring at her damaged hands.

"Sorry kid," she said, "But business is business."

Without warning, Rea was on her feet. Her fists lashed out; punching every part of Shego she could get close too. The older woman reeled back, feeling the blows land all over, shocked. After a moment, her instincts kicked back in, and her hands went up to block the strikes that kept on coming. They moved steadily across the room, Rea dealing the blows, and Shego pushing them aside.

"Do you ever give up?" the older woman grunted, knocking away an uppercut aimed for her chin.

"Not when I have something to prove," Rea replied, and drew back. Shego blinked at the roundhouse kick that came flying at her.

"Shit."

Kim jerked up at the sound of a crash. She looked again at the two fighters. Shego was struggling to get out of a pile of boxes she had been thrown into. Rea stood a few feet away, panting.

"Kim!"

She wrenched her eyes away and turned back to Wade, "What is it?"

"Cut the chartreuse wire. That's the last one."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay. Let's go for it."

Reaching inside with her wire cutters, Kim moved the tool over the yellowish green cable.

"Chartreuse is the color of choice," she muttered, and snipped.

The timer froze at 7m, 17s. Kim breathed a sigh of relief.

"Kid, you're really starting to get on my nerves," Shego muttered, getting to her feet. Rea just watched her, trembling slightly. Her hands throbbed painfully and several blisters had split open. Shego, on the other hand, though looking a little battered, seemed fine in comparison. Rea let out a weary sigh. She didn't know how much longer she could take.

Kim's voice broke the tension, "I stopped the bomb!"

"Fuck," Shego hissed. "You're going to get it, Possible!" And she hurried away to take on her favorite opponent. Rea watched Shego run off, glad to be done with her.

Maybe I'm not as good as Sensei thought.

She wished she could see them fight again, but she was too busy passing out.

Two guards paced outside a large mansion, laughing and boozing away. Rea watched them, safely hidden away in a large barrel. Around midnight, the guards dropped to the ground in a drunken mess. The girl slid out of her hiding place, and moved stealthily to the mansion. She paused for a moment, surveying the pitch black grounds, before sidling in through a side door to the servant's quarters. A short staircase stood just inside the door. Around the bend in the stairs was where the servants lived. She knew she had to go up these stairs, find the main hall, take another staircase to the second floor, and locate the study. Whoever she was looking for would be in there. She made to move up the stairs, but suddenly, every servant in the house spilled out of their rooms, walking and talking and watching. Rea knew that if they saw her, they'd call security, and she'd have to run. So she curled up at the bottom of the stairs to wait.

And then she woke up.

Rea opened her eyes slowly, squinting as the light assaulted her. She was not in a hospital bed, or her bed at home, or her temporary bed in the Possible's household. She was in Kim's bed. Kim was at her computer, typing away on an instant messaging program. Rea watched for a while, but couldn't read the conversations because she was not wearing her glasses. She saw them on the bedside table, and reached for them. That's when she noticed the white gauze covering her hand, and the memories of the fight flooded back to her. Kim turned when she heard a sharp intake of breath behind her.

"Are you ok?" She paused when she saw Rea staring at her glasses dejectedly.

"I can't pick them up," she muttered sadly, gesturing toward the glasses with a hand that now resembled a white oven mitt. "How long do I have to be like this?"

"Not long," Kim said, abandoning the computer and coming over to sit on the bed, "That's just so you won't mess with your hands while the medicine settles."

"What does the medicine do?"

"The medicine will take away the sting, and repair the tissue damage. You should have some mild scarring, but nothing too awful."

"Okay. Uh, could you get my glasses? I'm slightly blind right now."

"Oh, sure."

Kim picked them up and slid them on Rea, who blushed.

"So," Kim said, drawing back, "How was your fight with Shego?"

Rea beamed, "It was awesome!"

Kim blinked in surprise, "Awesome? But she totally whipped you! And your hands! How is that awesome?"

"It was such a blast," Rea gushed, "I've never been in a fight that intense. She fought me like she fights you. No wonder I couldn't keep up. If you hadn't gotten her attention, I'd probably be in the hospital still."

"And you liked that?" Kim looked at her skeptically, one eyebrow raised.

"Well, yeah. She showed me that I still have a ton to learn. I need to up my endurance level, at the very least. You could train me, right? I'm going to need it."

"I figured you already knew how to fight," Kim muttered, rolling her eyes.

"I know how to fight," Rea sneered, "But I don't know how to fight like you two can. I mean, I thought I could, because my instructor had said so. Obviously, he was way off. I've got a long way to go before I'm as good as you and Shego."

"Well, sure, I can teach you," Kim said, shrugging, "But you gotta be willing to work your ass off."

"Oh, I'm willing. It's not like I have anything better to do."

"That's the spirit!" Kim replied brightly, "We'll start as soon as your hands are better."

Rea smiled, "Then maybe next time I fight Shego, I'll actually hurt her!"

"Let's not make promises we can't keep..." Kim muttered.

Rea stuck her tongue out at her.

They were quiet for a minute, Rea looking at her hands, and Kim staring into space. Then Kim spoke up.

"I apologized to her," she said, still looking intently at nothing.

"What?"

"I apologized to Shego, for kicking her and getting her hair fried. I said I was sorry, while we were fighting."

"And what did she say?"

"She said 'Thanks, Kimmie. That means a lot to me.'"

Rea smiled softly.

"I am sorry, you know," Kim said, finally looking at the girl lying in her bed. "That night had been so stressful, what with Eric turning out to be robot and Ron confessing his feelings for me. I was angry and confused and I needed so desperately to take out my aggression on something, anything. And Shego just happened to be there. I wouldn't have done that, under other circumstance. I told her that. And she forgave me. I didn't think I'd be so grateful, but I am. I don't want Shego to be mad at me."

Kim opened her mouth to say more, then shut it, frowning slightly.

"That's really sweet."

Kim blinked, "You think so?"

Rea nodded, "You're really like friends, you know. Enemies wouldn't care so much about each others feelings, or feel bad if they got into an argument. They'd try to make each others lives as awful as possible. But you and Shego seem to have a connection."

Kim chuckled, "We sure do. It mostly consists of us kicking the crap out of each other."

Rea shrugged, "Some relationships are like that. Friendly competition and stuff."

"Whatever. It's not that big a deal," Kim said, standing up. "You hungry?"

"A little."

"Cool. I'll go make us some ramen."

"Sweet."

Rea leaned back against the headboard, thinking.

This is very interesting. She admitted to liking Shego more readily than I thought she would.

Damn, she's got a nice bed! I should get my ass kicked more often.