The Matrix: Revisited Upgraded Chapter 3, a kim possible fanfic

The Kimmatrix: Matrix Upgraded

A Fan Fiction Fusion By

Classic Cowboy and Turles

Chapter 3: Breaking Point

"A man loses his sense of direction after four drinks. A woman loses hers after four kisses."

- H.L. Mencken

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Kim sniffled as she laid in her and Ron's bed in their temporary apartment in Jericho. She had been tossing and turning for hours, but it had felt like an absolute eternity to her. She glanced up at the clock that displayed time in military style. It had told Kim that it was 0345, with as little time that had passed in her eternity of misery Kim felt as if the clock was laughing at her, taunting her with minutes that went by like hours. Her heart ached when she thought about Ron again, and the next wave of tears came over her like an ocean that was drowning her in its depths of misery. It was the first time in six months that she slept without Ron to curl up next to, never before in her entire life had she felt so alone…or so empty, and it didn't feel right at all.

"Why, Ron?" Kim cried, her tears burning across her face and soaking into her pillow as she tossed and turned even more, the sadness, the loneliness, and the misery drowning her. She rolled onto her side, closing her eyes, and yet her tears still managed to squeeze out and roll down her raw face and into her pillow. "Why?" She asked again, her heart begging for some kind of answer that could explain Ron's behavior.

"Doubt he'd hear you." A familiar voice spoke to Kim.

Kim quickly sat up, her heart jumping to racing speed as she looked to see who was in the room with her. Sitting at the edge of the bed was a young woman that Kim barely recognized. Yet, the dress she had on, she did recognize it was that pair of loose white pants and sash that covered the young woman's breasts. It was the very same dress that Kim had worn during that celebration in Neo Zion nearly six months ago. She remembered how Niobe had told her that it was belonged to a friend of hers that had passed away. Looking at that young woman, she wondered if that was the person that Niobe was talking about. At that point, Kim remembered that woman she had spoken to around the time that Ron was captured by Drakken for use in that Code Copier of the Merovingian's.

"Wanna talk?" She asked sympathetically.

Kim felt as ease with that woman, as if they were connected to one another on some indefinable level. Yet, when Kim sat next to her, she could almost swear that this woman looked like Bonnie Rockwaller, but Kim dismissed the notion. Her reasoning being, how could anyone resembling Bonnie be so kind?

Sitting next to her, Kim still couldn't do anything but cry. The young woman wrapped her arms around her and allowed Kim to cry into her chest. It was like what Kim's mother used to do when she was younger, what all mothers could instinctively do for their children when they were in the throes of depression.

"I don't…" Kim cried as she tried to speak through her tears and sniffling, "…don't understand…w-what happened…we were great…then he…he spoke to…him…and….and…came back a different person."

In that woman's arms, Kim felt the lady's hand rubbing the back of her head just like a mother trying to calm her child. While Kim wrapped her arms around her, she hoped to fill that emotional void that was made when Ron left her.

"He just has demons to work out," The young woman advised, "Do you remember what I told you, Kim? You have to let go and have faith in him."

"I know!" Kim wept even harder into the young woman's sash, "I know…but…I...I just wish…I could talk to him." She dried her tears as she thought more about it, and an idea started to form in her head. She wiped her nose with her hand and looked at the young woman, "Maybe I could talk some sense into him." He voice then began determined, "I'll corner him in the morning and I'll talk to him or I'll beat whatever is wrong out of him!"

"I don't know if that's such a smart move, sweetheart." The young woman stated, smiling sympathetically at Kim.

"I don't care!" Kim stated, her old self Blue Fox traits resurfacing once again, "I have to know what's wrong!"

She made that last declaration before she found herself lying down on her bed. She opened her eyes and looked around and then back at the clock that read 0734. It then occurred to her that she did fall asleep despite all her tossing, turning, and weeping.

"Stupid dreams…" She signed before curling back up to her pillow.

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Kim "Angel" Possible had hit the ground in a hard thud. The battle she had was too terrible to even describe. She couldn't make any victories in it her own. There were only casualties, her tight leather clothes were cut and torn nearly all over her body so much that it was a wonder that it still stayed on her body. Beneath each cut in the garments, there was the cut into the flesh where blood ran freely from her cuts and gashes. She looked out with the one good eye she had left since the other was closed shut from a black eye. She tried to get up, but she had lost so much blood that she could barely get onto her knees.

"What's the matter, KP?" A very sinister voice taunted Kim as he came closer. Kim looked up at a man in an Agent's suit, tie, and sunglasses, yet he had no earpiece. "I thought you could do anything."

Kim was about to answer, but she was stopped when the Agent quickly reached down for the material of her leather vest. With a force that Kim had never seen in any human being, the Agent picked her up off of the ground. She watched his face in terror as he held her there. It felt as if the Agent wanted to study her for at least a moment, as if she were a scab that was picked off a hidden place and wanted to see it before it was thrown away.

"Why he loves you I'll never know." The Agent sneered at Kim as if she were a bug that was about to be squashed. She watched in further horror as copies of the Agent began to pour into the room, all of them gathering around the one Agent who had Kim Possible in his grasp. They watched like a crowd at the Roman Coliseum waiting for a condemned prisoner to be executed as the one Agent looked at Kim from behind his sunglasses.

"You're pathetic," he stated, grinning sinisterly at her, "You think you are this great hero because you take down some rejects from the local carnival. You know what, though? You're nothing! Absolutely nothing! I mean, look at you now, KP! Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the Great Kim Possible, she can do anything! Look at your bloody body trembling in fright, your green eyes wide with terror, and your lips trembling in fear! You're no hero, just a scared little girl who is waiting for the One to come and save her! But you know what? After I brought him to realize how you've really treated him, I doubt he'll ever be there to hold you in the spotlight again!"

"You don't…" Kim choked, as she spat blood from her lips, "you don't know anything about Ron!" She said her last statement as she gathered up her blood and saliva and spat in the Agent's face. It landed right on the lens of the Agent's sunglasses and Kim felt victorious for the first time in this: her darkest of hours.

"You'd be surprised Kimmie." The Agent stated, laughing darkly as he reached to pull off his soiled sunglasses. "Has he ever told you about his experience in your closet?" He asked as he lowered Kim down and brought his fingertips directly over her sternum as if he was about to reach in and pull her heart out, "I'd tell you to ask him, but…you're fixing to be a little occupied."

Kim didn't have time to ask what he meant, all she could do was let out a sharp and high scream as Smith's fingers plunged into her chest. From the wounds came black fluid that oozed its way down Kim's body as well as around her face. She looked out with her one good eye as a tear slid down her face, while her lips uttered one name before the fluid engulfed her:

"Ron…"

"Kim!" Ron screamed as he sat back up on his bed on the Neb II. He looked around hoping to find Kim when the memories of what had happened instantly came back to him. Secretly, he had hoped Kim was there beside him to reassure him that everything would be alright. Instead, he had to do it himself, "Just a dream…"He panted "Just a dream…"

He laid back done upon his bed, feeling a huge void in both the bed and his heart. He took a deep breath as he wrapped his arms around the pillow. He wanted nothing more than to dash back up to the apartment he had with Kim and dive into her arms apologizing for everything, and begging her for her forgiveness. To be back there in her arms and the warmth of her body instead of the cold emptiness that surrounded him. Still, there was so much that needed to be sorted out first, but he did know that he had to face Kim sometime. He shook his head at the thought because the thought of Kim only loving him for his abilities paralyzed him.

"Wonder if Neo ever had days like this…" He sighed before trying to get back to sleep.

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Inside the Matrix…

"Wahoo!" Tim hollered as he leapt off the of the windowsill edge inside the abandoned Gemini house. He didn't land on the ground though; his speed through the air seemed to slow down as if gravity was losing its effect on him. He spun like a diver pulling tricks in mid-air, but Tim did it as he worked his way over the old and decaying dining room table. He even managed to do one mid-air somersault before he landed on his feet on the other side of the table.

"This is so cool!" Jim chirped as he too made his leap off of the windowsill, but, instead of the acrobatics of his brother, he made backstrokes through the air as if he was swimming through a pool.

"Shouldn't we head back home, Tim?" Jim asked as he landed on the other side of the dining room table.

"Maybe." Tim nodded, "But let's look around a little more first; this is just too cool to waste to go back to Old Lady Granger."

"Hoo-sha." Jim went along with his brother.

The two of them went further on into the house, while in the shadows of the dining room were two figures. Figures of men, but at the same time they weren't men at all. They were transparent, at least only transparent enough to see through them. While their basic shapes could still be seen, they came out of the shadows, floating with no legs beneath them, holes in their heads where the eyes would be but only sockets remained, and their hair flailing around like the snakes on a gorgon's head. The two…ghosts…looked at one another, their mouths spread wide to show their cone-shaped teeth as they floated along through the dining room, passing through the table as if it wasn't there and through the wall, following Jim and Tim as they explored the house.

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Meanwhile, in the real world, at the city of Jericho, Kim walked proudly through the hallways of Jericho to Air Filtering Station Zero-Four. She was filled to the brim with determination that she would find out the answers to her questions, no matter what the cost. Of course, Kim knew that there was much at stake, but that didn't matter to her, she would get the answers. It was either that or Ron would be spending a lot of time in sick bay the next few days. Each step she took was, to her, a milestone to reach her goal, like all those times she fought villains and when she would be getting closer to foiling their plans. Except then she knew she could do it, this…this was different.

She turned the corner and found the sign on the door that read Air Filtering Station Zero-Four. She stepped into the station, which was a very circular room with rods (The air filters) sticking out at least a few feet from the wall, which made the room feel very creepy. It felt as if one misstep could impale a person on one of those rods, even though they were flat ended. She looked around seeing members of the Neb II pulling out the rods from the wall and replacing them. There was Morpheus, Niobe, Ghost, Link, and, of course, Ron.

"Target Locked." Kim thought to herself as she smirked and went over to Ron who was just pulling out a rod from the wall.

"Ron." Kim asked as she stood behind him, "Do you have a minute."

Ron didn't even turn to look at Kim, "As you can see, Kimberly, I'm just a tad busy." He said, his voice sounding very cold and unfeeling, "Can it wait 'til later?" He asked as he picked up a new air filter rod that he was about to insert into the wall before Kim reached over placed her hand on it and gently shoved it downward as if telling Ron to stop what he was doing.

"No, Ronald." She replied as if there was no negotiation about what she wanted, "No, it can't wait."

On the other side of the Air Filtering Station the members of the Neb II began to gather in one place as if they were frightened children huddling themselves from their parents fighting. In reality, they were just giving Kim and Ron space to work their problems out. Though Link was the most vocal about this as he whispered to anyone within listening distance. "Oh shit…" He gulped, "Real names. The shit hath hitteth the fan…eth."

"Look." Kim started trying to be kind once again but still firm with Ron, "I just want to know what's wrong, that's all. I know that Smith guy told you something completely off the wall and as usual you bought into it, hook, line, and sinker. So do you mind telling me what he said so that I can prove him wrong?"

"Well, actually, KP, you're off to a good start of proving him right." Ron sighed as he set down the air filter rod and turned to walk away. He was only a few steps away from her before Kim dashed over in front of him and slammed her palm into his chest, stopping him dead in his tracks."

"No, Ron." Kim stated, holding Ron at that distance, "I'm not leaving 'til you tell me what he said and exactly what you meant by that."

"You can't save me this time, Kim; this is my fight." Ron stated, looking directly into Kim's emerald eyes, while his own were filled with years of torment, sorrow, pain, and misery that were unleashed like a rabid animal that had been poked and prodded.

"Your fights are my fights." Kim stated defiantly at Ron, "Isn't that what best friends and partners are for?"

Ron began to laugh as if he had heard the greatest joke of his young life.

"What's so funny, Ron?" Kim demanded as her fingers buried themselves into his shirt and grabbed it.

"So it's partners now huh?" Ron chuckled, coming down from his great laugh until his voice turned dark and serious, "Funny…to Monique, Tara, Bonnie, Josh, and who-the-hell-ever else, I was just your sidekick."

Kim's grip on Ron's shirt loosened a little, "What?" She asked, very puzzled by Ron's statement, "I…I don't understand…"

"Have you ever treated me as your partner or as your best friend around your friends, Kim?" Ron asked with the hatred and bitterness seething through every word that he spoke. Kim's grip on his shirt had let go as she saw all the anger and sorrow in Ron's brown eyes. Ron even took a step towards Kim, while she took a step back, becoming frightened by what she saw. "I was good enough when everyone else was busy, but whenever Monique or that hottie Josh was available, it was 'see you later, Ron. I'll call you.' When I wanted to be the Mascot, you didn't believe in me, you just went along with what the rest of the squad thought! And let's not forget that one Halloween! Do you remember that, Kim? Do you! You lied to me! You gave me some bullshit story that I should have seen right through, and I had to go off on my own for the first time in my whole life! But I thought; No, KP would never lie to me! Remember that, Kim? I doubt it!"

"Ron…I…." Kim uttered as she felt herself being backed up against the wall between the air filter rods. She felt trapped, no where to go except to face Ron who was only half an arms distance from her. She truly felt afraid because it was her original plan that she would be the one cornering Ron to get the answers to her questions and now turn-about about been played upon her.

Ron stared down at Kim with his milk chocolate eyes, "Oh, and let's not forget the school dance a year ago, remember that one? While you were trying to convince yourself to ask Josh out, while I tried every way in the world to get any girl to go with me. Did you notice? NOT AT ALL! Oh! And I'm sure you had a great time with Monkey, but did you ever call me, see if I was going with anyone, or act like you even cared! NO, you were having a grand ole time with Monkey while I spent the dance and THE WHOLE FREAKING WEEKEND in the broom closet! Did you ever even concern yourself with where I was that whole time? No, you were too obsessed with Monkey!"

Kim gulped, feeling so afraid to even look at Ron in the eyes seeing all that hatred and sorrow that he had in those brown orbs and knowing it was all directed at her. Still she tried to make a response, but then Ron had cut her off again.

"Even when I changed, it still wasn't good enough for you!" He snarled at Kim, "I made myself buff like Brick by using that muscle ring. I became a genius because of that brainwave enhancer. I became rich because of my naco royalties and I was throwing my money around left and right. I even saved the day on numerous occasions without your help. Hell, Kim, I even let you change my hair style, but was it good enough for you, ever?"

Kim's mouth felt very dry when Ron brought up all these memories. He was right, he had changed himself so many times, but Kim simply wanted the goofball Ron. She tried to tell herself that she liked Ron just as he was, but if that was the case why did she let him do all that stuff to himself? She knew that Ron was right; that she never thought he was good enough for her no matter what he did.

"No." Ron answered his own question, "It wasn't. You always put me down for it! I could never win with you, you always pushed me down and away as I was, but when I changed to be like one of the guys you noticed, you put me down for it until I became my goofy sidekick self again! Tell me, Kim. If we were never freed and I never became the One, would you still have noticed me?"

Kim had an answer to that question, "I noticed you before all that!" She shouted back before Ron could cut her off, "I noticed you long before any of that!"

"You sure have a real funny way of showing it, Kimberly!" Ron snorted at Kim's statement before he turned his back on her, "It still doesn't change the fact that you had lied to me!"

"At least I told you something!" Kim hissed at Ron's back, feeling her own blood beginning to boil with all the faults that Ron was stating against her, "But I have a question for you! What happened with you and Yori?"

"What?" Ron asked turning around to face Kim, his voice showing shock at what he heard.

"You know Yori." Kim stated very sarcastically, narrowing her eyes at Ron with an anger that flared from the thought of the girl in question, "The girl from Japan. The girl you never told me about!"

"How did you…" Ron stated, but then he narrowed his gaze at Kim as his mind made the connection of what Kim did, "You read my mail…"

Ron remembered the letters that he saved that were from Yori, the one girl that seemed to like him for who he was. At least before all of the things that happened when he was freed from the Matrix. Yori seemed to actually find Ron humorous with his "American Style Jokes" as Yori called it. Ron even remembered how Yori always said that he was a warrior hero at Yamanouchi.

"Yes, I did read those letters." Kim replied, shoving a finger at Ron's chest, "And I'm glad I did. So what then, Ron? Or should I say, Mr. Pot calling the kettle black? I never kept you out of anything! I even told you when Josh took me for the first time."

"YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO TELL ME ABOUT THAT!" Ron screamed at the top of his lungs at Kim, "I ALREADY KNEW!"

"What?" Kim asked, her arm dropping to her side as she felt the shock come over her by this turn of events.

"You really want to know what Smith told me?" Ron asked with his voice very low and over flowing with anger, "You really want to know? I'll tell you. He told me the truth! You're no better than Bonnie! All you wanted was a guy who was strong and powerful! I have no reason to be in this relationship with you, Kimberly Anne Possible! And yet, I don't understand how or why I could love someone as shallow and two-faced like you as much as I do, ok?"

"B…but…" Kim uttered, feeling and damn near hearing her heart break into a thousand pieces, "I thought…."

"Don't!" Ron interrupted bringing his index finger to Kim's lips, "Don't think…don't speak…don't do anything. Just let me handle this one fight by myself…for once!"

Ron allowed his arm to drop to his side, bringing his finger with it. He gave one last cold look at Kim before he turned around and left the Air Filtering Station. He walked out the door and never looked back at Kim as if he was going far away and didn't want anything to hold him back.

As he left, Kim allowed herself to slide down the wall and sit on the floor with the air filter rods on either side of her. She felt lost and alone, even more so than before, it truly seemed better when she didn't know. It dawned upon her the full and true meaning of the phrase Ignorance is bliss. All she could do was sit there and try to gather up the all the pieces of her broken heart.

With Ron gone, there was a deafening silence that came over them, even the crew of the Neb II were shocked and blown away by what they had witnessed.

"Well…" Link whispered as he started to replace the filters once again, "That was interesting."

Yet, as Ron Stoppable left the Air Filtering Station, there was someone there in the corner, hidden by the shadows. As Ron stomped his way down the hallway, the figure stepped out into the light. He smiled with sinister intent, rubbed his hands together greedily, and he saw that that everything was going just as he had planned it.

"Good." Josh "Ares" Mankey reveled in the current turn of events.

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"KP?" Josh asked as he walked into the apartment that was once shared by Kim and Ron, "Kim? You ok?"

Josh came into the apartment, gingerly seeing as how bad the fight was between Kim and Ron. He had seen his fair share of lovers' spats in his life, but what he saw between Kim and Ron was beyond anything he had ever witnessed.

As he came over to the bed where Kim sat curled up into a ball, Kim looked up weakly at her ex. Her eyes red and her face raw and pink from her tears.

"I'm sorry about what happened with Ron." Josh offered his condolences to Kim as if he was expressing sorrow for the death of someone close to Kim.

"Does the whole city know?" Kim asked, turning her glance away from Josh. All the things that Ron had said to her had shattered her heart, but, at the same time, all of it was so true. Kim looked at herself and saw all the things that Ron said to her, that she was shallow, and two-faced, and so many other things; after all, when she was back in the Matrix, she would only buy from Club Banana when she knew the same clothes could be found at places like Smarty Mart for a quarter of the price.

"Isn't being embarrassed by him what caused this whole problem?" Josh asked, sitting down next to Kim, his voice taking on the tone and tenderness of a crisis counselor.

"I've never been embarrassed by Ron." Kim said to Josh with an air of pride.

Josh cocked an eyebrow at Kim's bold statement.

"Much…" Kim corrected herself.

"Yeah." Josh nodded knowingly as he slipped an arm around Kim's neck, "you had some of that coming, but it wasn't all your fault, Kim. It wasn't you who made him think about this so much."

"What?" Kim asked, glancing at Josh and giving no thought to his arm around her neck. After all, it did bring back some good memories that Kim had with Josh. All those times she was with him in the Matrix, especially that one special birthday she had.

"The whole city has heard about Ron's run-in with Agent Smith." Josh explained

"I don't know what to do…" Kim sighed, looked down at the dingy and grimy floor, "Only thing I can think of is to do what the Oracle said and…just…have faith in him."

"Faith?" Josh scoffed, "You know, if you were twelve, that would be cute, but now that you're this age, it's just sad, Kimmie. I met the old bag once; she isn't really worth all the hype that everyone talks about. Face it; Smith isn't really that bad yet. He's no worse then Drakken, or any of the other bozos you took on. I'm sure you can take him down easily without Ron's help."

Kim looked up at Josh who was smiling in that way that Ron used to when he was offering his support to her. Though Kim looked at Josh, wondering what he was implying by what he was saying to her.

"Why don't you go ahead and take him down before he gets powerful like he did the last time." Josh suggested, "I mean…I'm sure you don't want Ron to end up like Neo."

"You're right." Kim agreed, getting out of the curled up position she was in and standing up on her feet with that same determination in her eyes that she had that morning that Ron had been taken away from her, "Maybe if I stop this guy, I'll be able to prove myself to Ron!"

"That's the spirit, Kim!" Josh cheered Kim on as he stood beside her, "I'm sure you will beat him. Come on; let's use the Jack Chamber on the Neb-two."

With that, Kim and Josh were on their way to the Neb II without a single care of the dangers within.

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Inside an old, dilapidated, warehouse office in the industrial part of New York City, a black rotary phone began to ring. From out of the shadows came Kim's hand, which picked up the received and held it to her ear eagerly.

"I'm in, Josh." Kim spoke into the phone, but heard no answer, "Josh?" She asked again, but there was still no response. It was as if the operators' station was empty. Yet when Kim went into the Matrix first, Josh told her that he'd be there. At first she didn't think much about it because her mind was too set upon completing the goal that Josh had suggested to her. She hung up the phone before she reached into her coat and pulled out a small blue hair band to tie her hair into a high ponytail.

She walked out of the warehouse and down to the streets where she found herself to be in a very large and private parking lot with only a small handful of cars taking up the spaces. She looked around and found not a single soul in sight.

"Ok." Kim thought to herself, "The monitors showed me that Smith was somewhere in the vicinity."

Before she could take another step into the parking lot, her answer came.

"Looking for me, KP?" A sinister voice called from directly behind her. It sent Kim into such a state of shock that she just wanted to jump as high as the street lamps, but instead she only spun around into her fighting stance and found him; the man that everyone in Jericho was talking about.

"Agent Smith, I presume?" Kim asked, with a smirk on her face as she glared at the Agent like he was just another one of Doctor Drakken's lackeys.

"That's my name, KP." Smith said as he casually walked toward Kim.

Stepping closer, Kim felt very unnerved by him, as if he was a hurricane and Kim was just starting to feel the breeze before she would be blown away by him. Yet, the thing that frightened Kim the most about Agent Smith was how he used Ron's pet name for her. She could almost swear that it was Ron inside of the Agent's body. Smith stepped ever closer to Kim, while she could feel her body trembling and her mind trying to fight her fear of him.

"I trust everything is well between you and my other side?" Smith asked in such a casual way, like he was asking about the weather. Kim had no idea what Smith meant by his other half, but she didn't care, and in a flash of heat Kim came back to her senses. She came back to the bravery and confidence that she had when she came into the Matrix.

"You confused Ron!" She snapped at the Agent, substituting her fear with anger at this man, "And FYI…only Ron can call me KP."

"I know you for a fact just how easy it is to do that. Don't you, KP?" Smith smiled, seeing how easy it was to confuse his other half, and to pervert and shove Kim's pet name back in her face. He then reached up to the arms of his sunglasses, "And I think technically I am allowed to call you, KP."

Smith pulled off his sunglasses to look at Kim with a set of eyes that made her gasp. Within the aged and sinister features of Agent Smith's face was a pair of brown eyes. The kind that Kim had not gazed into for a single day. They were brown eyes that carried such sadness and anger, but, at the same time, they had kindness and gentleness within them. Those eyes belonged to Ron Stoppable, so Kim's fear was correct. It was Ron trapped inside Agent Smith.

"You know, KP. There's something Ron has wanted to do since the first day at High School." Smith had started taking another step towards Kim who was frozen in place by that pair of chocolate brown eyes that never broke contact with her, "Ron remembers your words by heart, Kim. I'm a cheerleader, Ron…I…have to sit over here and you stay over there, ok? I'll meet you after class and we'll walk home."

Kim felt shocked by what her ears had heard. When Smith spoke those words that she said to Ron all those years ago, he had done it in Kim's voice. It was the voice that Kim had back when she was a freshman in high school with braces and had gotten into the cheer squad. The very year that Kim had started her first mission and became a teen hero.

"Do you remember that, Kim?" Smith asked, his voice returning to its normal state and sounding very bitter as if Kim had done these things to him personally. Yet she remembered those eyes instantly and thought that Ron's mind must be in there somewhere beneath the exterior of the agent.

Kim did remember when she became a cheerleader, that when she became part of the squad she had made a silent ascension up the high school caste system. So, being with someone like Ron, who was at the very bottom, was practically out of the question. But, she didn't want to lose her best friend, so she had made that split between her life with Ron and her life as a cheerleader.

Kim was about to respond to the agent's question but she couldn't. She was stopped when she felt an incredible force slamming against her jaw. The force not only knocked Kim off her feet; she actually spun in mid-air as if she were in some kind of amusement park ride that was tossing her around, before she came back down to the asphalt ground. She landed face down, feeling the scrapes in her face, and then found herself spitting up blood, its coppery and salty taste filling her mouth. She could still feel the thumping and throbbing in her face from whatever hit her; it felt as if she had been hit by a Mack Truck. With the pulsing pain in her face, and the saltiness in her mouth, she got back onto her feet as Smith came up behind her.

"Oh! Did that hurt, KP?" Smith asked, feigning concern coated with thick sarcasm, showing no pity for the girl. "Ron felt close to what you're feeling now when he found out that there was no rule to where you were both supposed to sit. Do you remember all the times you dragged Ron shopping, Kim? Just so you could have a boy's opinion, so you could find out if Josh or some other jock or popular jerk liked what you wore? It felt something like…this!"

Smith brought his leg far back and slammed it forward straight into Kim's stomach like a football player kicking the ball as hard as he could. With that, Kim's eyes went wide as the air in her lungs was forced out in one solid burst from the kick. She rolled onto her back, desperately trying to breathe in some air back into her lungs, but instead she coughed violently as blood trickled into her windpipe.

"I…" Kim wheezed, hoping to reach some level of pity with the Ron inside Smith, "…never meant…to hurt…Ron." She continued to cough as she got back onto her knees.

"Oh! And that's supposed to make it all better now?" Smith smirked as he looked around and said, "Pick her up."

Kim had enough to time to wonder who he was talking to before two pairs of hands came down, wrapped themselves around Kim's arms, and lifted her up off of the ground. In her blurred sight, she looked around the parking lot to see hundreds of Smiths just pouring in from all around. Until she looked back at the Smith who had his sunglasses off; he was putting them back on and starting to crack his knuckles while he smiled at Kim with his cruel intent.

"Ron will thank me for this." He smirked

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"Morpheus?" Ron called as he knocked on the door of Morpheus and Niobe's guest apartment in Jericho.

"Come in." Morpheus' voice rang out from behind the door.

Ron opened it and stepped into the small guest apartment of Morpheus and Niobe, which was basically the same as everybody else's in Jericho, just a simple bed, bathroom, and a couple of chairs. Ron entered and saw that Morpheus and Niobe were sitting on the bed as if it was their makeshift couch. He approached them with eyes red and puffy and a face that was raw and pink as if he had been crying recently.

"Good afternoon Ronald. Can we help you with something?" Morpheus asked from the makeshift couch.

"Have you seen KP?" Ron asked rather urgently, as if every moment he had counted upon his urgency to find Kim, "I wanted to…apologize for…ya know…going off on her like I did in the Air Filtering Station… I was just stressed from the stuff Smith told me and…Kim…has a way of pushing things…and..."

"We all understand, Ronald." Morpheus said as he got up from the bed and placed a hand on the boy's trembling shoulder, "Do you wish to talk now about what Smith spoke to you about?"

Ron took a deep breath and exhaled softly, "Yes."

Ron sat down on the bed with Morpheus and Niobe. It was as if Ron was telling something that he had been hiding from his parents and wanted to come clean about it. Then again Ron never had this kind of experience with his own parents, yet Morpheus and Niobe seemed to be like parents to both Ron and Kim. Especially during that time that they had just come out of the Matrix and were lost in the real world (or at least Kim was).

Sitting on that bed with his "acting parents", Ron "Neo" Stoppable had spilled everything that he and Smith spoke of. The Oracle's predictions that he would die within a matter of weeks, his relationship with Kim; whether it was truly real or if it was just because Ron was the One, as well as some very painful memories of their past life inside the Matrix itself. Also, the doubt that came over Ron about his life with Kim and his life as the One. He ended with the decision that would have to be made, to join Smith or pursue his present course and face death.

"And what have you decided?" Morpheus asked with a small glint of worry in his voice.

"He tried to make me look solely at Kim's faults." Ron explained, "Tried to make me think that she didn't care about me at all…I almost bought into it too…"

"Almost?" Morpheus asked

"Kim Possible is…" Ron began to list off Kim's different faults on his fingers, "an obsessive, egotistical, manipulative, controlling, over-bearing, retail-crazy, occasionally holier-than-thou, impulsive bitch."

Morpheus and Niobe weren't all that surprised at the list of Kim's faults according to Ron. The two of them had a look as if they were expecting the young man to figure all of that out.

"But you know what?" Ron asked, "That's just who she is, and who she'll always be. And she's also the best friend I've ever had. Whether she first loved me because of my powers or not, I could see it today in her eyes…she loves me for me or else she wouldn't be trying so hard to get me to let her help. I still don't understand why she loves me, and that's one of the reasons I want to find her…but to answer your question…Smith can take his proposal and shove it up his ass."

"Ok, Priority One." Morpheus stated, "Finding Kimberly. Have you checked in the Neb?"

"Not yet," Ron answered, "I checked our room, then I came here."

"Let's head over there, then." Morpheus said, standing on his feet as he headed to the door with Ron, but then turned back to his wife, "Coming, Niobe?"

Niobe didn't say a word; she simply nodded, hopped off the bed, and went with Ron and Morpheus.

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It was the longest few minutes that Ron ever had to experience in his life; it was just like having to spend fifteen minutes in a dentist's chair. Time gains the consistency of salt water taffy, continually stretching on and on until it becomes ridiculous. Until, finally, Ron, Niobe, and Morpheus had arrived at the docking garage and headed straight into the Neb II, when they got there they noticed something very odd.

"The ramp is open." Ron whispered to himself before he went up the open ramp. He couldn't wait any longer and called out, "Hey Kim! You in here?"

Morpheus and Niobe followed behind and noticed the very strange situation around the Neb. The ramp was usually closed no matter what. It'd be similar to someone leaving their car door open in the middle of the parking lot. The two of them climbed up the ramp and noticed something else: a sound; a low humming like the almost inaudible sound a TV makes when it's being left on.

"Sounds like the broadcast system is running." Morpheus made his observation to Niobe, "But Link is helping out on the Leviticus…"

Further up into the ship, Ron was dashing around from room to room, trying to find Kim, his heart racing and his skin sweating, and hoping to God that he would find her. He wanted to tell her that he was so sorry for everything he said and did, that he wanted nothing more than to have her back. As he thought about all the things that he would say to Kim, he came into the Jack Chamber; in one of the chairs he could see a body with clothes that resembled Kim's.

"Kim!" Ron shouted as he dashed into the semi-circle of Jack chairs and looked at Kim in hers, but when he found her…he froze.

He looked at Kim's body; it was trembling, her hands gripping tightly onto the arm rests. There were patches of sweat around her armpits, chest, and even droplets of it coming down her face with the bangs of her hair sticking to her forehead like scotch-tape on paper. Ron knew that she was inside the Matrix, but what made his heart stop amidst his rushing was the little line of red traveling down from the corner of her lips.

"Oh no…" Ron uttered

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Kim "Angel" Possible had hit the ground in a hard thud. The battle she had was too terrible to even describe, she couldn't make any victories in it of her own. There were only casualties. Her tight leather clothes were cut and torn nearly all over her body so much that it was a wonder that it still stayed on her body. Beneath each cut in the garments was a cut or scrape or gash into the flesh were blood freely flowed. She looked out with one good eye since the other was closed shut from the swollenness that a black eye brings. She tried to get up, but she had lost so much blood that she could barely get onto her knees.

"Why he loves you, I'll never know." The Agent sneered at Kim as if she were a bug that was about to be squashed. She watched in further horror as copies of the Agent began to pour into the room, all of them gathering around the one Agent who had Kim Possible in his grasp. They watched like a crowd at the Roman Coliseum waiting for a condemned prisoner to be executed as the one Agent looked at Kim from behind his sunglasses.

"You're pathetic," he stated, grinning sinisterly at her, "You think you are this great hero because you take down some rejects from the local carnival. But you know what? You're nothing! Absolutely nothing! I mean, look at you now, KP! Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the Great Kim Possible, she can do anything! Look at your bloody body trembling in fright, your green eyes wide with terror, and your lips trembling in fear! You're no hero, you're just a scared little girl who is waiting for the One to come and save her! But you know what? After I brought him to realize how you've really treated him, I doubt he'll ever be there to hold you in the spotlight again!"

"You don't…" Kim choked, as she spat blood from her lips, "you don't know anything about Ron!" She said her last statement as she gathered up her blood and saliva and spat in the Agent's face. It landed right on the lens of his sunglasses and Kim felt victorious for once in this: her darkest of hours.

"You'd be surprised Kimmie." The Agent stated, laughing darkly as he reached off to pull his soiled sunglasses. "Has he ever told you about his experience in your closet?" He asked as he lowered Kim down and brought his fingertips directly over her sternum as if he was about to reach in and pull her heart out, "I'd tell you to ask him, but…you're fixing to be a little occupied."

Kim didn't have time to ask, all she could do was let out a sharp and high scream as Smith's fingers plunged into her chest. From the wound came black fluid that oozed its way down Kim's body as well as around her face. This time it was no dream, this time no one would wake up, all of it was for real, and Kim could no longer fight it. She looked out with her one good eye as a tear slid down her face and over the black fluid, while her lips uttered one name as the fluid engulfed her:

"Ron…"

To be continued…