The Matrix: Revisited

by Classic Cowboy

Rewrite of The Kimmatrix Trilogy with Turles. Everything that has a beginning has an end. I see the end coming, I see the darkness spreading. I see death... and you are all that stands in his way. But for every end ... there is a beginning. The Oracle

12. Upgraded Chapter 4

The Kimmatrix: Matrix Upgraded

A Fan Fiction Fusion By

Classic Cowboy and Turles

Chapter 4: Work it Out

"The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing."

- Blaise Pascal

110101100110100111001011011100101010110101

"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 while 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 finger tips 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. She looked out with her one good eye as a tear slid down her face, while her lips uttered one name as the fluid engulfed her:

"Ron…"

Kim closed her eye as the tear ran down her face; the only thought in her mind as the black liquid engulfed her was that she would never see Ron again. Thinking about that, Kim began to regret everything that she had ever done to Ron as she fell into that darkness, as if it were a pit from which she would never return.

Then as quickly as the darkness came, it fled, and she felt herself being pulled out. Even more so she felt something pulling her up by the arms. She opened her eyes and found that she was no longer in the grip of Agent Smith. She felt shocked when she found herself flying over the parking lot to a nearby building where she was laid down upon its sandy roof. She looked up to see who it was that had saved her, but heard his voice first.

"You ok, KP?" She heard Ron's voice ask as she watched him come around so she could see her reflection in his mirror lens sunglasses.

"R…Ron?" Kim coughed weakly. She couldn't help but smile at her liberator; even though such harsh words had been exchanged, she couldn't think of anyone she wanted to see more. She tried to stay awake to tell Ron the most important words that she could think of, but her eyes closed as she fell into unconsciousness.

"It's ok now, KP. I'm going to save the day again." Ron said as he brushed back a few strands of Kim's hair. He stood up, reached into his pocket and pulled out his pet and best, non-human friend, Rufus. The naked mole rat stretched as he yawned, and then looked up at Ron, sensing the concern from him.

"Stay with her, buddy." He instructed to Rufus.

"Got it." Rufus squeaked as his paw came to his face in a small salute before he jumped out of Ron's hand and down to the unconscious Kim.

With Kim in good hands (or paws as the case may be) Ron went to the building's ledge and looked down to the warehouse parking lot where he saw the multitude of Agent Smiths. Every single copy was looking at him with such contempt and hatred, and Ron felt that déjà vu coming over him, that he had done this before, but the memory was much more solid this time. He remembered his last life and his last battle with Smith and how that battle killed his previous self.

From within the crowd of Smiths came one Smith who stood out among the crowd as the Alpha Smith so to speak. He looked up at Ron and called out to him.

"Mister Stoppable!" He shouted to the rooftop, "I see you came early! Have you thought about my offer?"

"Yes!" Ron shouted back down at the lead Smith; he clenched his fists as his own contempt for Agent Smith bubbled to the surface, "I've give it a lot of thought!" He stated as he stepped off the ledge of the building and floated down to the asphalt ground to meet with the rogue Agent.

"I think I have only one real option." Ron said as he stepped forward, taking no offensive stance against the Agent. He came to him as if he was negotiating peace between himself and the program.

"That's right." Smith smiled broadly, reaching his hand out to Ron

"So to put it simply…" Ron started, taking Smith's hand in his own in a friendly handshake. Smith grinned widely as he saw his victory was close at hand, and that's when it went down the tubes. He felt Ron's grip on his hand grow tighter until he looked up at Ron who yanked Smith's arm towards him, bringing the rest of his body up against Ron. Smith looked at Ron from behind his sunglasses and saw that he was grinning with that same level of macabre joy that Smith had had just a few minutes ago. It frightened Smith because it was so much like him and yet so much like Mister Anderson. Ron leaned over and whispered into Smith's ear, "I'm going to have to beat the shit out of you."

Ron then took the agent's arm and brought his body around into Judo throw, slamming it against the concrete. The lead Smith felt his body ache as he tried to get back to his feet, but Ron had other thoughts on his mind. He looked to the crowd of Smith copies who at first had been very confused about what had just transpired between Ron and the lead Smith. Before any of them could even collectively think about what to do next, Ron "Neo" Stoppable had dove right into the crowd. He punched, kicked, stomped, and threw every single Smith that came across his path, or, at least, the ones that were within good reach. All the while, from a distance, it looked as if a bomb had exploded sending the Smiths in every direction. Inside the crowd of Smiths, all of them felt collectively afraid because it was just like their encounter with the original Neo (Mister Anderson), yet, at the same time, it was so different.

Ron brought his hand out to reach for one of the Agents ties, as he grabbed it Ron heard Smith's Question:

"Why Mister Stoppable, why?" He asked as Ron used the tie for leverage to throw the agent across the parking lot, "I am a part of you. How can you betray yourself?"

"What can I say? I'm a sucker for punishment." Ron stated as he punched another agent directly in the face smashing his sunglasses and his nose. In fighting all those Smiths, Ron felt like one of his favorite wrestling heroes, like Steel Toe or Pain King. He even imagined the announcer calling out his name and the masses cheering for him. One match only, Ron "Neo" Stoppable verses Agent Smith and his clones, a match for the future of humanity, let's get ready to rummmmmmmmbbbbbbbbblllllllllle! He even began to do various wrestling moves like choke slams, head butting; he even went so far as to take one of the nearby parking meters and crack it over an Agents' heads.

He did have the power advantage, but Smith had the superior numbers. Even though Ron felt that he was winning, the number of Smiths seemed to multiply, and even with his control of the Matrix, it wasn't enough. He was only one man. That had hit him when one of the Agents had punched him in the chest and sent him flying against the nearby brick wall of the warehouse.

"Give it up, Mister Stoppable." The Agent Smiths said, the phrase echoing amongst the clones.

Ron felt his back, as well as the rest of his body, ache as he tried to get up off the concrete ground. He no longer felt like the wrestling stars that he idolized as a boy, he felt like his old self. The Ron Stoppable that he was six months ago, the one who wasn't as smart, brave or as athletic as Kim Possible, only that time getting up off the concrete, Ron knew that he was on his own. Kim couldn't save him, but Ron remembered that he promised Kim that he wouldn't be excess baggage. He got back to his feet, his body recovering from the impact against the wall. He didn't' bother dusting himself off. He needed a way to win, because he remembered how it happened last time. The last One sacrificed his life to defeat Smith and Ron knew that it was too early to give up.

He took his stance as the Smiths crowded around him. They had him against the wall with no way out and Ron did not want to run, he wanted to fight, but how?

"It is inevitable…" The Smiths echoed, "You will join with us…"

Hearing that phrase coming from the Smith's lips, something had occurred to Ron. It was something that was so obvious that he had wondered why he didn't think of such a thing before. The idea being if Smith was a part of him, then weren't his abilities as well? At that point Ron's head was a blank, and he acted purely upon instinct. He looked around for the nearest Agent, seeing the crowd of Smith clones and smiled.

The smile frightened the clones because they were already suspicious about what he was up to.

"If you say so, pal." Ron smiled as his hand dove right for the nearest agent, his fingers buried into his chest as if it was Play-Doh. From the wound in the agent's chest came a reflective liquid just like the kind that would come over someone when Smith took over. Except, this time, it wasn't black, the liquid that began to infect the Smith copy was a bright silver, like mercury.

"NO!" The clone screamed trying to break from Ron's grip as the silver fluid covered him from head to toe. It was only a half a moment later that the silver fluid began to shrink and standing in place of the Smith Clone was an exact copy of Ron. The Smith clones were shocked at what they were witnessing, their own powers being used by another.

"Dude…" Ron gazed in awe at what he had done like that very first time that he manipulated the code of the Matrix to fly and even bring Kim back to life.

"Booyah!" The Ron Clone smiled as he performed a small victory dance, which was quickly stopped when the two of them looked at the Smith clones and knowing the work they needed to do.

The original Ron clenched his hands in rage as he thought about how Smith was so close to breaking him and Kim up. As he clenched his fists, he felt a hot, itching, almost burning kind of sensation, sort of like athlete's foot, but it was in his hands. That was when they started to feel very warm like he was holding his hands close to an open fire. He looked down and was even more shocked to find his hands glowing with green flames.

"Shego?" Ron asked aloud as he looked over at his clone.

"Who would've thought?" The Ron clone shrugged as he held up his hands, igniting them with those green flames. He then turned his gaze to the crowd of Smith clones, "Want to try that again?"

"I think so." The original Ron smiled with his glowing fists ready, "Smith…you're goin' down!"

The two Ron's dashed into the awestruck crowd of Smiths. It took a few seconds for them to come to grips with what happened, but it was too late. Ron "Neo" Stoppable and his clone had taken a different approach to the fight, instead of just kicking or punching at the Smith copies, they simply converted them. Using both hands, they infected each Smith to become another Ron, the first two made four, and those six made twelve, and they made twenty-four. By the time that the number of Ron's had reached the low fifties, the Smith's began to fight back, but Ron had already taken both advantages to the fight, he already had the power advantage and had gained the number advantage. Smith couldn't even put up a decent fight anymore since he was outnumbered two-to-one, and severely out-powered as well.

Somewhere in the midst of Ron's and Smith's fighting, the original or rather the prime Smith and Ron were dueling one on one. At least Ron thought he was fighting the original Smith, but looking out amongst the crowd, he saw each one of them was just a citizen of the Matrix trapped inside the codes of Ron Stoppable and Agent Smith. The code of Smith had that sickly green color while Ron's was a bright yellow color as if it was made of light. Looking through the crowd, Ron spotted him, the one amongst the fighting copies of Ron and Smith, which did not have either code encasing him.

With the true Smith in his sight, Ron dashed out over the fighting masses to the original Smith. He closed in upon him and began his one on one duel with the rogue agent, and Smith couldn't even get a single punch at Ron.

"What's the matter Smith?" Ron asked sarcastically of the agent as he continued to slam his fists left and right at him until Ron reached out, grabbed the agent's tie, pulled him towards his face, and whispered, "Wonder what would happen if I assimilate you?"

Smith reached his hands up and snarled at Ron, "You'll never get the chance!"

He shoved hard against Ron, and freed himself of the One's grip.

"We'll see…" Ron replied as he smiled devilishly at Smith. He then dashed up to the Agent, his fist cocked and ready to slam. He came up under the agent, delivering a great uppercut that sent him rocketing upward as if he had on a pair of Ron's old blaster briefs. Then the gravity of the Matrix did its job and brought Smith back down to the ground to where he landed in a circle of his copies.

As Smith got back to his feet, Ron came around for the next assault. He came up to the Agent except this time instead of making a punch, Ron had crouched down and made a leg sweep. Smith had it together that time; he dodged Ron's attack, and, seeing his opportunity, Smith made a backwards kick that had hit Ron directly in the jaw, which sent him flying up and onto his back.

Ron staggered back onto his feet, feeling the numbing pain in his jaw. Getting into a crouched position, Ron dashed and performed a spear on Smith, hitting him in the stomach and tackling him to the grimy, asphalt ground. The two of them wrestled like a couple of kids fighting on the playground with all of their copies continuing to fight all around them until Ron reached up and kicked Smith off of him.

Once again Smith went up, came down, and landed on the asphalt surrounded by his copies, which got him back to his feet. He, along with his copies, looked around seeing that they were even more outnumbered than before, it went from being two-to-one to a margin of six-to-one.

The original Smith curled back his lips, baring all his teeth in rage.

"You haven't seen the last of me, Mister Stoppable!" Smith declared to the crowd of Ron copies, "Not by a long shot!" He then turned to what was left of his copies and dictated his order, "Retreat!"

Agent Smith and his clones scrambled out of the warehouse parking lot leaving behind a very proud Ron Stoppable…all of them. Each one looked at each other, feeling the pride of a job well done.

"Boo-yah!" One of the Ron's shouted out, and very soon the word echoed with each copy and flowed outward like a ripple in a pond. There was even a small breakout celebration dance, the kind of dance that Ron would do sometimes when he knew that the situation was definitely well in hand, as if to say we're bad, you're sad…we're bad, you're sad! The celebration amongst Ron and his clones was brought to a grinding halt when they heard a very familiar voice.

"Oh…my…God…" The voice uttered.

The closest of the Ron's turned to see where the voice came from. The other Ron's had quickly picked up upon and turned to the same direction that the first Ron had turned. They had looked to see, standing at the edge of the crowd, Morpheus, Ghost, and Niobe. All three of them had removed their sunglasses to gain a better view of the spectacle that they were witnessing. The Ron clones were silent when they had looked to the three of them, until the first Ron who had discovered them spoke.

"Hi guys…" The first Ron smiled sheepishly as he raised his hand in a stiff wave.

Fractions of a second later the whole crowd of Ron clones repeated the first Ron's reactions. Though the reaction that they gave was like that of a stereo system, coming from all around and then ending in a slight echo with the Rons in the back finishing it off.

It was beyond anything that Morpheus had expected of Ron, in the beginning he had hoped that Ron would simply be like Neo, but looking at the forty-plus Rons, he realized that expectation was the lowest of the low. Then again, Morpheus had to remember that Kim's life was at stake; even Neo exceeded expectations when he had brought Trinity back to life.

"Where's Kim?" Niobe asked, recovering from her shock of seeing the Ron clones as she had slipped her sunglasses back on.

"Right here!" A single voice called from the crowd as they began to split and part like the Red Sea. Stepping out from the crowd of clones was a single Ron who was carrying Kim Possible in his arms. He walked up to meet with Niobe who handed Kim's limp and unconscious body over to her. Niobe took Kim into her arms, set her down on the ground, and saw how bad of shape she was in. Kim's clothes were torn, dusty, dirty, and grimy from being slammed into walls and the ground. Her face caked with dried blood that ran from her lips and the cuts in various spots, with small clean streams caused by her tears.

"Kim." Niobe called as she felt the girl's wrist and neck for a pulse…it was still there no question about it.

Kim stirred slightly, giving a slight groan as she moved her arms and legs. She opened her eyes, or at least the one eye that wasn't swollen shut from bruising. That singular green eye looked up at Niobe. It was filled with relief upon seeing the woman that Kim had come to think of as an older sister. Her cracked and bloodied lips started to move, small puffs of air coming out as she tried to speak.

"Ron…" Kim spoke with a very dry wheeze, "Is... he... al… alright?"

Niobe looked down at Kim, taking in her question and knowing full well what the answer was when she looked up and out over the crowd of Ron Stoppable clones.

"You could say that." Niobe stated to Kim rather slowly wondering how Kim would take in the events that had transpired.

Through blurred vision out of her good eye, Kim saw Niobe looking behind her. She slowly turned her head to see what was there, her head and hair scraping against Niobe's lap. At first, she couldn't see anything until her damaged vision cleared as much as was possible. Her heart was glad to see that Ron was still standing, alive and well, but then she felt confused when she saw someone else who looked exactly like Ron, even had his exact clothing. The confusion only multiplied when Kim saw another Ron, and another, and then another, until it overwhelmed her. In the back of her mind, she tried to reason that there must be something wrong with the Matrix or something was wrong with her vision. That must have been it; she thought slowly, that she was seeing multiples because of the trauma to her head. But the feeling had overwhelmed Kim Possible so much that it had overtaken her; her one, good eye rolled back into her head and she fell back into the darkness of unconsciousness.

"She's out cold again." Niobe reported to Morpheus

Though Morpheus had other issues on his mind, mainly about the situation at hand with Ron, just looking at them, the scenarios of consequences ran through his mind if no solution could be found to rectify it right away. He approached the crowd of Ron's hoping to find a quick solution to this.

"Can you…" Morpheus began, but then ran into another problem: which Ron to address, after rethinking it for a moment, he had to find the original Ron, "Which one of you is the real Ronald?"

The crowd of Ron clones began to look to one another as if not even they could find or know who the original Ron Stoppable was. Though something else happened, as the forty-plus Ron's looked at one another, smiles began to creep across their faces like children with some kind of mischievous intent in mind. From somewhere in the crowd of the Rons came a noise, it was the kind of noise that someone makes by blowing air through tight lips, the very same sound effect one makes for a beat when there's no equipment to do it. With the beat going, the crowd of Ron's began to dance in a synchronized fashion as if their minds were linked together to know what step to take next. They danced in their synchronic pattern as they began to rap together, yes; the crowd of Ron Stoppable's began to do a rap.

I'm Ron Stoppable

Yes, I'm the real Stoppable

All you other Ron Stoppables are just imitating

So won't the real Stoppable please stand up?

Please stand up…

Please stand up…

Cause I'm Ron Stoppable

Yes, I'm the real Stoppable

All you other Ron Stoppables are just imitating

So won't the real Stoppable please stand up?

Please stand up…

Please stand up…

Watching the crowd of Ron Stoppables do their oddly paced dance as they rapped, the feel of the situation became truly bizarre. Niobe and Morpheus had not a single clue of how to respond to such an event. Though Ghost on the other hand was just enamored by what he was witnessing. He remembered seeing the music video, "The Real Slim Shady" made by the rapper Eminem, how in one part he was surrounded by people who looked just like him. Seeing all those Ron's and hearing them rap like that made Ghost think that the situation had made a great leap from scary to plain ridiculous.

"This…this has to be a nightmare." Ghost thought as he widened his eyes at the crowd of rapping and dancing Ron Stoppable's.

"Ok, ok, seriously." One of the Rons said, stepping out of the crowd of clones and bringing an end to the dancing and rapping. He came up to meet the dumbfounded group and offered his solution as he took off his sunglasses. He then looked at Morpheus, Niobe, and Ghost with those chocolate brown eyes and said, "I think I can fix this…"

Ron Stoppable (The original as the group had presumed) took a step back, turned to the crowd of clones, closed his eyes, and began to relax. Ron himself didn't exactly have a clear idea of what to do. Even the process where he used Smith's ability to copy himself just came to him by instinct alone or maybe it was just pure luck, just like all those times that his bumbling had helped Kim save the day. But the problem remained that he had to find a solution to this on his own.

In his mind's eye, Ron could see the Matrix around him, its code flowing over every surface, bright in highlights, and falling into darkness for the shadow. All the while he searched for an answer of how to release the people encased in his code. It felt tense…he felt tense…he took a very deep breath and let it out to relax as if he was trying to remember the feeling of barely coming out of a test with a C-minus.

After his last exhale, Ron felt something change around him; he looked ahead, his vision was still that of the code of the Matrix. He could see his code starting to release the people, one strand at a time as if it were the layers of an onion coming off of the core, but to the others it was very different. To the eyes of Morpheus, Niobe, and Ghost, it looked like the Ron clones were glowing. It wasn't an outward glow, more like some kind of halo for the body. It was as if the shell that was Ron was starting to crack on each of the clones, and each crack was allowing light to shine through, a bright, yellow light.

Surprisingly, none of the Ron clones that were cracking displayed any sort of pain. They seemed to accept what was happening, or at least they were anticipating it, until all of the Ron clones looked like glass that had been shattered. That was when they began to break apart, each of the Ron clones crumbling away to reveal the person that was held inside.

Each part falling away like loose icicles until they had hit the ground where they shattered into pieces of yellow code, some pieces were of his face, his arm, or perhaps a hand. It was all falling away to free the people that were once prisoners of Agent Smith and then, by the same token, prisoners of Ron Stoppable. At first the crumbling was slow but then sped up, until, one by one, the people were free.

It was incredible to the eyes of Morpheus when he and his crew were standing at the edge of that parking lot looking at forty people who were lying unconscious upon the asphalt. All of them, men, women, young, and old; it was a miracle if Morpheus were to give the event a name. He looked amongst the still bodies of the hostages to Smith, until he saw Ron "Neo" Stoppable standing in front of them, so it was him, the one who said he had the solution was the original.

Ron looked out amongst the dozens of bodies until his eyes had locked in upon one particular one. It was a woman's body with long, black, and flowing hair that obscured her face from identification. Yet, Ron knew who it was; he looked to her body and saw that green and black design it had, alternating back and forth from left to right. Ron smiled when he made the connection.

"Like I thought," He giggled to himself, "I was Shego…wait…"

He looked down at Shego, giving a little more thought to the actual ramifications of having Shego within him or that Shego was a part of him. The very thought made his skin crawl. It was because of the simple idea that Shego had become Ron.

"Now…that's sick…and wrong!"

Ghost had brought himself out of the shock that he had just been in, going from being blown away by Ron versus Smith's army, to the Ron clones doing their rendition of "The Real Slim Shady" and finishing by the clones release of the people they inhabited. Ghost had put his sunglasses back on and slowly approached Ron who was looking at the people lying on the asphalt parking lot.

"Are they…ok?" Ghost had asked nervously

"They'll be alright." Ron answered as he turned around to face his crewmates, "But I think they're gonna have the hangover from hell when they wake up."

He looked over at Niobe who was kneeling down with the beaten up Kim Possible in her arms. Silently, Ron came over to Niobe, who knew full well what Ron wanted. She picked up Kim in her arms and handed her limp body to Ron knowing that she was all of Ron's reasons for being here and that was all that mattered to him. Slowly, Ron slipped his arms under Kim's body and felt the weight of her body as Niobe slipped out her arms from under Kim completing the transfer.

Ron looked down at Kim, seeing how fragile and helpless she was despite all of her efforts to be the strong woman that she wanted to be. He cradled Kim's unconscious body, his forehead pressed against hers, and he whispered something that only he could hear.

"And I have her." He whispered, "I have Kim back."

110101100110100111001011011100101010110101

Kim had opened her eyes to such blurry vision, that the interior of the Neb was fuzzy globules of gray and black. It wasn't the fact that her vision was blurry that caught Kim's attention. It was the fact that she could see out of both of her eyes when she could distinctly remember that in her fight with Smith, one was swollen shut.

She tried to move the rest of her body, but every single muscle ached with such pain. She hurt in places she didn't think it was possible to hurt in. The pain made her close her eyes once again, and when she opened them again, she looked to see something that was a shade of pink combined with yellow. It was hovering over her like a light fixture in a dining room. She made herself blink a few more times until the blurs came back into focus. The blurs of gray and black became the walls and ceiling of the Neb II and the blurs of pink and yellow were Ron Stoppable. She moved her eyes around since her neck hurt too much to move, and she saw that she was surrounded by Morpheus, Niobe, Ghost, Link, and Ron. She looked back up at the blonde man standing over her.

"Ron…I…" Kim tried to give her reasons for her actions, but her throat felt very dry and cracked with a very nasty taste in her mouth, like morning breath or something. Before she could utter another word, Ron threw his arms around Kim and laid his head against her shoulder. Within their confinement, Kim could feel the expression of Ron's face against her neck and shoulders. She could feel the heat against her cool skin and what was more, she could feel hot wetness, and she knew right away that Ron was crying. His arms were around her so tight that she was starting to find it hard to breathe.

"Damn it, Kimberly Anne Possible." Ron growled as he cried into Kim's ear. "Don't you ever, EVER do that to me again, do you hear me?"

"Ronald," Morpheus commanded calmly of Ron, "She needs air to explain her actions."

Ron instantly let go of Kim, dried his tears and stepped back from Kim's jack chair. Morpheus then stepped up beside Kim and looked down at her with a scolding expression on his face. Kim knew that look; her father gave her that very look whenever he said her full name as Ron had just done.

"Ok, Kimberly." Morpheus began. His voice was calm but still carrying that stern command, "Would you care to explain why you foolishly entered the Matrix alone and without an operator, thus disregarding your training?"

Kim looked up at Morpheus and started to think of her explanation as well as counter arguments. She did go into the Matrix alone, but it was because there were so many reasons to do it. After all, it wasn't exactly her idea; it was Josh's in the first place.

"I admit I was in alone, but I had an operator." She said as she looked around still feeling the confusion and disorientation, "Where is Josh? I lost contact with him when I went in."

As the crew looked around, a voice came out from behind some of the wires and pipes within the Jack Chamber.

"I'm over here." The voice groaned.

Niobe went over and pulled out the groaning person, she picked him up and brought him over to the Jack Chamber to be questioned by Morpheus. They looked to see that it was Josh "Ares" Mankey.

"Sir." Josh addressed Morpheus, "I think someone got the drop on me, what happened?"

"We were about to ask you the same question." Morpheus asked intensely.

"I don't know." Josh explained as he started to rub the back of his head with the expression of pain on his face, "I was monitoring Kim when she went into the Matrix, and then someone hit me in the back of the head. Next thing I knew, I was listening to you guys talking."

Morpheus narrowed his eyes, "This is not good. That could mean he's already out. If Smith has already assimilated someone that was freed from the Matrix, then he can exit and take over their bodies in the real world." He explained to the younger members of his crew, the ones who weren't there for the last war when this event had happened.

As the rest of the crew had heard this before; they felt shocked and a real sense of danger in the air. Not the kind that they had before where they felt that Ron would come and save the day, this was a true danger. In the real world, everything wasn't as easily done as it was in the Matrix. Kim and Ron looked at each other, very shocked by the prospect of Agent Smith walking among them in a human body, while Josh Mankey covered his mouth when he heard this news. Though he only covered his mouth to hide the smile that had crept up onto his face.

"Yes, that would be a terrible thing." He said, sounding very concerned, even with that smile behind his hand.

"Niobe, Ghost, Link, Joshua." Morpheus stated in his commanding voice, "Go and alert all the commanders in Jericho."

"Yes, sir." Link spoke for the group as the four of them left the Jack Chamber of the Neb-two to go alert the people in charge of Jericho.

"Ronald," Morpheus commanded Ron's attention, "Kimberly has had a great ordeal; take her to your guest quarters and let her rest. Besides, I have a hunch that you both have issues to work out. This would be an excellent opportunity for that."

"Yes, sir." Ron said with a slight smile coming to his face.

Morpheus looked at Kim who still sat in her Jack Chair; he had a little more to deal with as far as she was concerned. He walked up to the Jack Chair and stared down at Kim with a neutral look on his face but still with such a glare of frigidity in his eyes. It was the kind of look that Kim remembered her father having during the Halloween incident.

"Kimberly." He said very coolly to her, "I will let you off this one time with this warning: if you ever…ever enter the Matrix alone and without permission again, I will have you removed from my crew without hesitation, is that understood?"

"Y…yes, sir." Kim acknowledged, she wanted to drop her head in shame but it was hard to do that when she was laid back in her Jack Chair. So, all she could do was look straight back at her captain.

"I did not hear that." Morpheus said with such iciness that it sent chills up and down Kim's spine.

"Sir, Yes, sir!" Kim said louder, her loud tone hurting her dry throat.

"That's better." Morpheus nodded coldly, "Dismissed."

110101100110100111001011011100101010110101

Over the black and scarred ruins of the Earth, the hover ship Mad Dog was slowly cruising along towards their target objective. They knew that they were coming close to enemy territory so Captain Steve 'Kid' Barkin ordered that they fly on as few pads as possible. Basically the Mad Dog was flying along with only its bottom hover pads on, so it wouldn't alert the machines. Then again the first part of the week long flight they flew "full steam ahead" sort to speak, but when it came to the machine city, Zero One Two, it was best to be cautious. It had taken them a full day to get as far as they had, but the wait before they reached the point that was in their briefing was becoming unbearable for them.

On the bridge, Steve "Kid" Barkin was at the pilot's chair keeping a good firm grip on the controls, making sure that nothing would set off the sentinels. He couldn't remember the last time that he had been this tense, certainly in the past, but all of that was inside the Matrix. The times in the real world were ten times worse. He could feel his own sweat becoming an adhesive between himself and his seat, despite how cold it was on the bridge. With him at the helm was Bonnie "Tres" Rockwaller and Brick "Tater Salad" Flagg.

"How far, Tres?" Barkin asked, keeping an eye on the radar.

"Should be right over that horizon, sir." Bonnie reported.

With that report, Barkin reached for the COM microphone, "Napster," He called, "Activate the stealth system."

"Roger that." Dr. "Napster" Possible responded over the COM.

Within seconds, the Mad Dog was cloaked, thanks to the new prototype stealth system that "Napster" had developed for the ship. The stealth basically made the ship invisible the machines' detection methods; the only problem was that it consumed a great deal of power, thus another reason why they had approached Zero One Two on only their bottom pads. With the cloak activated, Barkin once again reached for the COM microphone.

"Napster," He called, "How much time before power runs out?"

There was a moment of silence, no doubt Mr. Possible was calculating the amount of time that they had before they would run out of power, so that they could gather as much information as they could and head back.

"At our current rate of power," Napster reported, "We have about 20 hours left."

"Roger that." Barkin acknowledged, "Return to the bridge"

A minute later, "Napster" and "Kazaa" Possible returned to the bridge to be with the rest of their crewmates. All five of them looked out over the rising hill with the sparking lightning in the dark clouds above them, and the black, scorched earth beneath them. In coming up to the crest of the hill, they slowed down just a tad so that they could assess what was at the bottom, that place that was the source of that signal. As they came to the top, they could feel something sinister taking place.

"There's something there." Napster Possible stated as the Mad Dog reached the top of the hill and the crew looked down to the valley to see what was there. What they had discovered was something that put the greatest of frights into all members of the Mad Dog, even the most seasoned and battle ready Steve "Kid" Barkin could feel his insides shiver when he looked out into the valley of the machines.

Below the Mad Dog, there were sentinels, thousands, perhaps millions of them. All of them scrambling and climbing over one another with their mechanical squid-like arms, each of them on top of one another like ants in a colony. They covered the entire valley floor to such thickness that it looked like a sea of metal and metallic arms that scrambled, reached, waved, and climbed as far as the eye could see. Yet, dotting random areas in the valley of scrambling sentinels, there were larger machines that they were constructing, yet their shapes were very familiar, they were simply large, circular, metallic lumps in the sea of sentinels. Yet as the crew of the Mad Dog looked closer at one of them, they saw something even more familiar: one of the circular lumps had…eyes…red eyes that dotted its face like those of a spider, each opening and closing at random times. The lump with all those red eyes seemed to look out across the sea of sentinels like some kind of monster out of a children's story ready to spring and kill whatever it could land whatever kinds of hands it had on them. Even those eyes seemed as though they were looking directly into the bridge of the Mad Dog, to see the petrified and frightened looks on the Mad Dog crews' faces.

"W…w…what…are they?" Brick asked fearfully, never taking his eyes off of those red monstrous and blinking eyes of that metallic lump.

"It must be a sentinel." Barkin answered confidently as he tried to dismiss his fear of the creation in the sea of sentinels.

"Ron…" Bonnie whimpered slightly, never in her life did she want Ron so badly, but not for any other reason than to protect her from the monsters that were just outside the Mad Dog's windows. "Y…you said that he could…s…stop those things, right?"

"Neo could." Barkin said as he took a good hard gulp, looking out at the monstrosities, "But I'm not sure…with…this many…and these new ones…they're not the Sentinels I remember."

"Do we have a count?" Kazaa Possible asked trying to set aside her fear as well.

This was the only time that Brick was able to break his eye contact with the metallic monsters outside the window. He turned to his console and began making a radar assessment of the sea of sentinels. It took a little while for the results to come back, not only did the onboard radar have to count the larger sentinels that were out there, but the multitude of Sentinels that were…possibly constructing them.

The results came back, and Brick read his screen:

Sentinels: 9,000,000,000

Unknown machines: 12,560

"This…" Brick uttered, "This can't be right…it just can't be…" He said that last sentence with such fear and panic that he was desperately trying to keep the controls from slipping out of his hands.

"How many, Tater?" Barkin asked

"Twelve…." Brick gulped, trying to get over the reality of what his screen told him, "Twelve thousand five hundred sixty of these new machines."

Barkin was silent for a moment then told his crew what needed to be done about this, "We need to warn someone who can do something about this." He stated, "Where's the Nebuchadnezzar Two?"

"Scanning now." Bonnie stated as she desperately and nervously tapped her controls with jittery fingers after witnessing the horror that was out there. As she made her scans she tried not to look up so she wouldn't inadvertently look out the window. At least until her scan results came back, "Scans show the Neb Two is in radio range; it's docked at Jericho."

"Let's get our asses over there." Barkin stated, "Tres, back us off, nice and slow. Once were at the bottom of the hill, set a course for the Jericho canal."

"Aye, sir." Bonnie "Tres" Rockwaller acknowledged as she took the controls and very slowly backed the Mad Dog down the hill that they had climbed.

"Napster," Barkin ordered, "once we're out of range of the Sentinels scans, deactivate the stealth system."

"Yes, sir." Napster saluted and headed down to the engine room where the controls for the stealth system were located.

"Kazaa," Barkin commanded, "Once the stealth is off, set full power to the pads and full speed to Jericho."

"Aye-aye, sir." Mrs. Kazaa Possible agreed as she sat in the last of the four empty seats on the Mad Dog Bridge, where the power controls were at.

"Tater," Barkin called, "When we're on our way to Jericho, made contact with the Neb Two, we need to arrange a Meeting."

"You got it, sir." Brick "Tater Salad" Flagg smiled as he sat at his console

Slowly but surely the Mad Dog backed down the hill and headed Northeast towards the city of Jericho, wishing only that they could go faster, but knowing they couldn't. There was too much to risk, especially with the knowledge of the billions of sentinels that were working on their new machines a few miles away.

110101100110100111001011011100101010110101

Back inside the city of Jericho, Ron "Neo" Stoppable, was carrying Kim "Angel" Possible back to the small apartment that they shared. It was odd to Ron that he never considered himself to be physically strong (at least outside the Matrix), but there he was carrying Kim with no trouble at all. Still, the events of the day were still hanging like the stench of burnt sugar in his mind. The more he thought about it, the more his stomach turned. During that whole time, neither Kim nor Ron had said a single word to one another. Even when Ron came to the door, opened it with Kim still in his arms, and carried her in like a groom bringing in his new bride. He brought Kim over to the bed that used to be theirs, the place where they could be in each others arms, until yesterday. As Ron laid Kim down upon the bed, the silence was too much for either of them, and it was only after Ron sat down carefully next to Kim that they looked at one another.

"We need to talk." They said in unison, at first they paused but then did it again, "You first."

They looked at one another with a sense of being dumbfounded about both of them coming to the same conclusion at the same time. It was only after another half a minute of silence that one of them had decided to give it another shot.

"Ok, I'll go first." Kim volunteered, but before she went on she reached for Ron's hand, with all the strength she had in her sore body she squeezed it. Ron looked over at Kim who was asking something of him with her eyes, those emerald eyes that pleaded with him, "Please, hear me out before commenting, ok?"

Ron couldn't break his contact with those eyes, and so he only nodded his reply to Kim. After seeing Ron's reply, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before beginning.

"You were right," Kim stated sadly as her green eyes looked away from Ron, "And Smith was right…I don't deserve you. I never deserved you."

Ron opened his mouth to try to counter Kim's statements; after all, coming so close to losing her had made Ron re-examine some of the issues in his mind. But before he could utter his counter comment, Kim had already anticipated him and cut him off.

"I said, hear me out, Ron." She reiterated as she squeezed Ron's hand a little tighter, "You were right that I…I never treated you as a partner…or as a best friend…I took advantage of your faithfulness and hurt you more times then I realized. I…don't deserve you…, but I'm willing to do something I swore I'd never do for anyone: beg. Last night…was…was horrible. It was the first time that I've slept outside your arms in months…I hated it…I don't want that anymore."

Ron's heart began to sink when those words sank into his mind. Even more so, he could feel his heart ache in pain when he saw the tears building up in the corners of Kim's jade eyes. He had never wished harder for a single day to never have happened than yesterday, or none of what happened would have happened in the first place. Silently, he cursed himself for even going along with Smith to hear his words.

"I want to ask if we can wipe the slate clean." Kim asked, her voice slightly cracking as the tears slowly rolled down her face and she sniffled between each heartfelt phrase, "No…I want to beg if we can…I used to say I was independent…and proud of it, but you know, Ron…I never was. You have been with me since day one…and when I thought….when I thought that you were going to leave me…I didn't want you to leave me, Ron. I love you so much! I need you with me. So here I am…"

To Ron's surprise, Kim began to move again, at first she sat up on the bed, and then brought her legs around. With each move that she made, Ron could see the enormous amount of pain that it had caused her. Despite the pain, Kim still continued, setting both feet on the floor next to the bed as she got up.

"Kim, you shouldn't…" Ron advised her.

"Please, Ron…" Kim asked, "Let me do this…"

With that, Kim stood up, still hunched over and her face displaying such pain that Ron had yet to see another person in his life endure. Yet, he expected Kim to stand fully up, but she didn't, she softly fell to her knees as if she were to pray, but she inched her way over to Ron. She placed her hands upon his thighs and looked up at him; her eyes suffering so much pain of her body and her heart.

"Please, Ron." She begged on her knees in front of Ron, "please, forgive me…for everything…"

Ron could not believe what he had witnessed; not even the amazing acts that he had done inside the Matrix could compare to the act that Kim had done right then. He had seen Kim do so much in her life inside the Matrix, yet, when it came to the most humble of activities, Kim was like metal, unbendable. She was the kind of woman who never begged for anything, at least not without using the "puppy dog pout", but this was genuine. He reached out for Kim's hands upon his thighs, took them into his, and looked up at Kim. He had to get a few things off his chest too.

"Um…" He began trying to figure out how to break what he had to say to her even as he looked down at his hands that held hers, "Kim…I've got a confession to make…I heard what Smith said about my…closet experience. There's…something you should know about that…"

"I…" Kim said as she felt herself to be slightly confused but curious, "I was wondering about that too…"

"Do you remember your birthday last year?" Ron asked, still avoiding eye contact with Kim who was starting to blush at the memory of that birthday. Yet, her concern was still present when she heard the sadness in Ron's voice when he mentioned that event.

"Yes…" She said blushing some more slightly, "I remember it…It was the night that Josh and I…well you know…"

Ron nodded slightly, "Yes, I know." He responded, still refusing to bring his head up to look at Kim, "But do you remember...what you did every night of your birthday…every year before?"

It wasn't that hard for Kim to remember, "During the day, my family and you would get together for my birthday and then…and you would come over with a cake…we talk all night and…Ron where are you going with this?"

Ron gulped as he mustered his courage to tell the secret, and Kim could see a slight tear roll down from his eyes to the tip of his nose. "I was in your closet…" he forced it out of himself, "I had a two person sized chocolate cake with vanilla icing…your favorite…"

That was when Kim had made the connection surrounding that night, even though it was so magical with how Josh took her virginity; there was that cake that was on the kitchen counter. It had the phrase, "Happy Birthday, Kim" written across it. Yet it had little dents in the icing as if something very small had been dropped into the icing.

"Oh Ron…" Kim uttered as the pieces came together in her mind. She pulled her hand away from Ron's grasp and covered her mouth in the shock of what she had realized. She didn't want to hear what she knew from Ron's lips but she couldn't stop him.

"I was about to jump out and say surprise but then I saw Josh through the cracks," Ron began the story, "I saw…I saw you…and him, kissing…and then…the clothes came off…and you…you started to…and he…and then…" He tried to force out the sentences but the memory was so painful and tender like a war wound the refused to heal itself. His sentences became more broken up when he tried to hold back the tears and began to sniffle between each utterance. "I looked away…but just hearing it…hearing it…almost killed me…please…please don't be made at me, KP….I…I…didn't mean to intrude, but…what was I supposed to do?"

Ron took a couple of short sniffles as he reached up to brush away the tears, trying to remain strong in front of Kim. Yet, Kim couldn't stop herself. Her heart shattered when she heard the truth about that night; she knew then what those dents in the cake were. They were holes made by Ron's tears as he sat in that closet hearing Josh and her making love.

"Oh, God…Ron…" She cried as she rested her head into Ron's lap, her body trembling as she wept, "Please…please tell me…you didn't have feelings for me then…please…"

Ron took a couple of hard sniffles, "I don't know…but was that before or after I hit puberty?" He had tried to sound like his old self with his joking around, but it didn't seem to work as well in the case that he and Kim were in.

"Oh Ron, I'm so sorry…" Kim cried looking up at Ron, her eyes slightly red from her tears, "I should have thought…I should have known you'd be there…oh God, I'm so sorry"

Even with all that pain inside his heart and his eyes burning from his own tears, Ron looked at Kim, who seemed like an absolute mess with her hair in her face and her eyes red. He reached over and brushed those loose strands of hair out of her face to look at her with new eyes, that he wouldn't have very much time in the real world.

"It's ok, Kim." Ron said, sounding calm even with the sadness piercing through him, "at least I know you'll be taken care of…"

"What?" Kim asked, allowing Ron to brush the hair out of her face.

"What the Oracle told me," Ron began with a great sigh, "She told me about what would happen to you. She said that…after I…die…you'll get back with your true love…have a family…and live happily ever after. Seeing as Josh was your first…I would assume he would be…"

"No!" Kim defied as she quickly stood back up on her feet, blocking out every ounce of pain that was caused by her movements.

Ron glanced up at her, seeing the denial in her eyes, yet he knew that the Oracle couldn't have been wrong, if she was right about he and Kim. He, on the other hand, had accepted his fate; he would die within a matter of weeks, and the sands of time were running against him.

"Kim…" Ron began trying to get her to see his point of view, "I'm going to be gone soon…you should realize…"
"Ron, shut up! Just shut up!" She screamed, glaring down at Ron. She wished that it wasn't true, that Ron wouldn't truly be gone. She refused to believe it, "Ron, you were my first time, my first, real time…me and Josh…just happened in a funky sixteen year dream. It wasn't real! But this is, Ron."

Looking at Ron with those large, chocolate brown eyes, Kim felt so confused, she was sad, outraged, spiteful, and in love. Her heart came flying back up into her chest when she dove for Ron, wrapping her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck and pressing her lips to his and forcing her tongue into his mouth.

At first Ron felt shocked, it was déjà vu all over again, but this wasn't to his previous life as the last One, this was only months ago during the Moodulator event. The very first time that Kim had kissed him, at first Ron was shocked, but then it was such a great feeling with those lips pressed against his and her arms around him, that it was like being near a warm fire after coming in from a cold winter's day. It was so warm and inviting that Ron simply let go and embraced it, and that was how it was in their apartment in Jericho: first shock, but then embracement. All that pain, sadness, grief, anger, and bitterness seemed to vanish with that simple kiss. Ron reached up and embraced Kim as they continued their kiss; he even reciprocated it with as much fervor as Kim had.

The kiss had lasted for about two minutes before the two of them broke the kiss and looked to one another. They could see that they had that renewed glow about them, the glow of someone who was in love. It seemed so bizarre that it was only that morning there was hatred and resentment that would rival that of warring countries, and then, on their bed, they seemed to set it all aside.

"So does this mean you forgive me?" They asked together in unison

They both giggled seeing as how they did that again, how they were able to say the very same thing at once. It was like the two of them had that bond that was unspoken, the one that a lot of people talk about when they say that they've met their "soul mate". The kinds of things that are heard about so often, but really are hardly ever seen in real life, but there it was for Kim and Ron, sitting and staring them right in the face.

Ron and Kim answered their own question after their small laughter with another kiss, but with that second one, they began to lie back on their bed; yes it was theirs once again. Even though it was only one day since they had spent that night in each others arms, it had felt like those hours were years. As they lay back on the bed, Kim grimaced a bit when Ron touched her.

"Ouch, Ron." She laughed, "I'm still sore, so please be gentle with me."

Ron didn't answer, he simply laughed, as he lay on top of Kim, kissing her lips, and then moving to her cheeks and down her neck where his hands were starting to work on their own. The two of them had been brought back into their own world, the world that all lovers go to. A world in which there was no one else but themselves, nothing else mattered to them, but it was a dangerous time for that. Especially when at the door, which was opened just a crack, there was someone there watching the whole affair.

It was Josh "Ares" Mankey who had watched the whole affair; the fight, the argument, and the make-up with them kissing and pulling each other's clothes off.

"Very well, Mister Stoppable." Josh whispered with his evil intent, "Enjoy the happiness while it lasts…because I'm going to enjoy watching you die…"

With that he got up and left the doorway allowing the two lovers to reconcile themselves in each other's arms with their clothes flying off in different directions from the bed.

110101100110100111001011011100101010110101

Inside the Matrix, a few hours after the reconciliation of Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable, in the town of Middleton, Colorado, a black sedan was rolling down the residential streets of one of its many neighborhoods. It came up the driveway of Possible family home, doors opening, and passengers stepping out.

The passengers of the black sedan were Morpheus, Ghost, and Niobe, all dressed in their typical Matrix clothes; Morpheus in his black alligator skin trench coat opened just enough to see the shirt and tie of his suit along with his armless, oval lens sunglasses. Niobe in her deep red leather jumpsuit that was unbuttoned to show the skin of her neck and chest. Last of all, but not least, there was Ghost who was dressed simply in a tie-less suit and its shirt unbuttoned.

The three of them walked up to the front door of the Possible home with Morpheus in the lead as the leader of this pack. He brought out his hand to ring the door bell and within a matter of seconds, the door opened to reveal Mrs. Kazaa Possible, who wasn't exactly in her Matrix clothes, but rather in her doctor's uniform, which was basically just a white lab coat. She looked up at the trio and her face lit up as if it was the highest point of her entire day.

"Morpheus!" She exclaimed with a small tinge of relief in her voice, "I am so glad that you arrived so quickly. Come in, come in."

As the trio came in, Mrs. Possible looked outside the black sedan to see that no one else was out there.

"Where are Ron and Kimmie?" She asked Morpheus

"They'll be along." Morpheus responded as he reached up to the bridge of his sunglasses and took them off, "they were…indisposed…"

As the trio came into the Possible family living room, they caught the sight of the two little boys watching television, a program of the GWA, Steel Toe vs. Pain King. It did make the three of them silently chuckle since they knew that both Steel Toe and Pain King were back in Neo Zion and that they still made appearances in the Matrix purely for the fun of being in the wrestling league.

"Hello boys." Morpheus called out to Jim and Tim

The boys looked over at the trio and immediately got off of the couch and came up to meet them. It could have been out of politeness to meet them, or it could have been said that they just wanted to get a better look at the clothes that Morpheus, Niobe, and Ghost were wearing.

"You're the person who works with our mom?" Time asked with curiosity, but he asked in a way that seemed a little devoid of all emotion.

"You could say that." Morpheus smiled at the boys.

"We'll leave you alone." Jim stated with that same lack of any emotion whatsoever.

"Yes, we shall." Tim added, "We do not wish to disturb you."

"No, we do not." Jim finished

"Good day." The two of them finished before walking up the stairs towards their room.

There was a moment of silence, but Ghost was not one to stay silent about something like this.

"Now that was weird." He commented.

"The boys have been acting strange lately." Mr. Possible added as he came into the family room. He walked up to the foot of the stairs looking up towards the door to Jim and Tim's room as he stroked his chin pondering upon the mystery of this. After all, Jim and Tim were never that calm when company came, they were usually the very curious types, but they only asked one question. If they were acting normally they would have been asking dozens of questions to Morpheus, Niobe, and Ghost all at once. He turned to the others and gave his theory about it, "They probably did something and acting polite to get out of it. We've seen it before. Anyway, Captain Barkin and the others are on the patio, shall we?"

Morpheus nodded and he, Niobe, and Ghost followed Mr. And Mrs. Possible through the simple and elegantly designed Possible family home to the backyard where there was a small barbeque going on. Mr. "Napster" Possible went to the barbeque where there were cooking, sausages, hot dogs, hamburgers, and some chicken wings. The aroma of mesquite and barbeque sauce filling the air of the backyard, the kind that irritated the back of the throat but was so tangy and spicy that one could never get enough of it. At a picnic table, there was the crew of the Mad Dog: Steve "Kid" Barkin who sat patiently waiting for the meat to be cooked so that the mission briefing could begin. Brick "Tater Salad" Flagg who was listening to a small headset that he made Sparks, his ship's operator, give him since they knew it would be a bit of a wait. Mrs. "Kazaa" Possible was setting up napkins and paper plates for the barbeque and, of course, Bonnie "Tres" Rockwaller, who was sitting at the edge of the picnic table reading a book that had a blank purple cover and was giggling as she read further into it. The new arrivals, Morpheus, Niobe and Ghost took their seats at the picnic table as Mr. Possible was continuing to watch the meat on the grill.

"Shall we get started with this briefing?" Barkin asked.

"Let's wait for Ron and Kimmie to get here." Mrs. Possible asked of her captain.

"Very well."

"Don't worry, Kid." Morpheus said to Barkin, "Neo and Angel will be arriving shortly." As he said that, he looked upward to the sky and smiled, "Speak of the devils."

All eyes looked up to the sky where they saw a small black dot flying around amongst the clouds over Middleton. To their eyes, it was as a fly that was buzzing around a few inches from their face, but they knew better than that as the black dot came down faster and faster to the ground. Such speed was behind it that it was actually causing a funnel shape in the clouds. Within a matter of seconds, they knew who was coming. Ron "Neo" Stoppable was rocketing down towards them, but, as he came within a hundred yards of the Possible home, he slowed himself down and floated to the ground. He came down with the grace of an ice skater, making his landing upon the soft, green grass with Kim "Angel" Possible in his arms. With Ron on the ground, Kim was set down on her feet, but the thing that had caught Kim's parents' attention was the look on their faces.

Both Ron and Kim had looks as if they were both genuinely happy, but even more so, they were genuinely happy together. It was seeing them together in such a way that made Mrs. Possible come to the side of her husband to see if he saw the same thing that she was seeing.

"Our daughter is glowing…" Mr. Possible hissed in a whispered voice to his wife. Though Mrs. Possible only gripped his arm and smiled back at him.

"She loves him." She whispered back as Mr. Possible continued to turn over the meat even though he did so just seconds ago, "Besides it's Ron. Didn't you say, a long time ago, that he was your pick?"

She was right. Mr. Possible did say that if Kim had chosen Ron, it would have been much better than just 'some boy', as he liked to put it. Then again, Mr. Possible was never one to be that excited when it came to Kim and boys. After all during the "Animalogy" craze when Kim found out that she was a Blue Fox and that it's soul mate is the Yellow Trout, he had said "I think Kim is a little young to be looking for a 'soul mate' or any kind of mate." Still, that statement remained in his mind that he liked Ronald better than all the other guys. He was a good kid, kind of like how he, himself, was back in his youth.

As Mr. Possible continued to work the meat on the grill, the crews of the Mad Dog and the Neb Two sat down at the picnic table. The air thick with anticipation as to why they were there, but it had to be important or Barkin wouldn't have called for the meeting in the first place.

"Ok people, listen up." Barkin stated, sounding just like his old self when he was the substitute principle of Middleton High, "Now that we're all here, we've got something big to talk about."

"What is it, Kid?" Morpheus asked

"It works out like this…" Barkin began. He laid out the printed scans thanks to the computer transfer of the data that they had collected into Matrix code. He laid them down on the picnic table between the paper plates on both sides. He showed them all what he and his crew had seen outside of the machine city Zero One Two. A sea of Sentinels building some kind of new "super sentinel" as Barkin called them since they were approximately four times the size of a normal sentinel, and what made it worse was the number of them. When Barkin had reported the number of them to the members of the Neb Two crew, there was a hushed silence for them all with only the sound of the meat sizzling on the barbeque in the air.

"How long 'til they're ready?" Morpheus asked

"They should be ready in approximately two weeks, give or take a day." Barkin reported the estimation.

At the sound of that, it dawned upon Ron that what the Oracle had told him was definitely coming true. That he would die within a matter of weeks, and it seemed that the harbingers were these super sentinels.

"So that's how I'm going to buy it, huh?" Ron asked aloud, but with that question, his hand was squeezed to the point of becoming painful. He looked over to the person that was doing it, Kim, who looked at him, telling him with her eyes that everything was going to be alright.

"You don't know that, Neo." Morpheus stated to the frightened teen, "The Oracle could have meant what she said in some sort of symbolic sense. There is no reason to panic."

Ron nodded as Kim leaned over and wrapped her arm around his left shoulder and rested her head against his right one. As she did, under the cover of the red and white checkered table cloth, Kim's hand sneaked it's way over Ron's thigh and into his crotch. With her hold over that area, Ron looked at Kim trying not to smile too much, but it felt so good to him. Still, they were in public and in front of her parents as well.

"Not here, Kim." Ron whispered and silently thanked God that her parents were over at the barbeque and didn't suspect that Kim was trying to cop a feel.

"So…who wants some barbeque?" Mr. "Napster" Possible asked

All eyes of the Mad Dog and Neb Two crews looked at Mr. Possible as if he had lost his mind. They had just found out that the machines were making some kind of horrible new weapon and yet here was a man asking if anyone wanted grilled meat. Seemed to be an odd way to react to such a dire situation at hand, but then again everyone has their own way of coping with it.

Ghost certainly proved this.

"Hey, hook me up with two hotdogs." He spoke up

Then the shocked looks of both crews changed from Mr. Possible to Ghost. He looked at them as if they were the crazy ones about such a situation.

"What?" He asked, "Who doesn't like hotdogs?"

110101100110100111001011011100101010110101

The crews of the Nebuchadnezzar Two and the Mad Dog both ate their meals and talked amongst each other about different subjects. Though it was anything but the briefing that Captain Barkin had given them, after all why dull such a wonderful June day with talks of the impending doom brought by the machines. Still, it was odd how they were reacting to this; after all, they knew that the meat and other things that they were eating wasn't real. They knew that as they were eating them, the Matrix was sending impulses to their brains telling them that the meats were tangy, sweet, and delicious. Then again, that sure as hell beat that white goop that they had to eat every single day in the real world.

Though Kim and Ron never left each other's sides when they were eating their food, but Ron was a little distracted since there was something else on his mind. It was something that arose during his reconciliation with Kim, during their fullest and sweetest act of love. The kind that neither one of them had experienced since their first time, so filled with passion. Ron had to talk with someone. He looked at Kim who was sitting on his lap in one of the lawn chairs as if she were showing off saying, Ron is my man and no one else can touch him.

"What's up, Ron?" Kim asked as she set down her paper plate.

"KP." Ron began with his girlfriend/lover, "I'll be right back, I have to talk to someone."

"The Oracle, again?" Kim asked rather surly.

"No."

"Ok then." Kim smiled, "I won't ask who because I bet it's a surprise." With that she got up off or Ron's lap and went over to talk to someone else there, perhaps Niobe or someone. As she did, Ron looked over and saw that Kim's parents were wrapping up their discussion with Barkin and Morpheus. As the two pairs parted company, Ron immediately got up off of the lawn chair and went over to them.

As Ron went over, Kim was looking for someone to speak to, but that was when something had caught her eye. She looked over at Bonnie and saw a book in her hands, at first she wondered what she could be reading, but then she looked closer at the book's cover and saw how familiar it was. When she came closer and saw that the book had no title, just a purple cover; that was when Kim narrowed her eyes at Bonnie who was very deeply into what she was reading.

"Hey! That's my diary!" Kim growled at the giggling brunet

Then, as they say in the Olympics, the games had begun. Bonnie took her firm grip upon the purple, imitation leather bound book and began to run all over the backyard with Kim following in hot pursuit. The two of them exhibited their Matrix moves with running up the exterior walls of the house and making high and long jumps over the picnic table.

"Kim! I never would have guessed!" Bonnie laughed, trying to keep her energy to run from her redheaded nemesis.

"Shut up!" Kim shouted at Bonnie, trying to gain an upper hand in her chase against her.

"But…the thought of you…" Bonnie panted.

"I said shut up!"

Bonnie was laughing as she ran, "Purple?"

"Bonnie! Shut up!" Kim screamed.

Though. to the other members of their crews, it was like Bonnie and Kim were kids chasing each other around a playground, but the guys of the group were hoping that they'd start wrestling each other, then all they would need is some mud and the fantasy would be complete. Even Ron had to give a small giggle as he watched Kim chase Bonnie all around the backyard like little kids. As they were occupied, Ron went up to Kim's parents, who saw him coming and, by the look on his face, could tell he had something important on his mind.

"Hey, Mister and Misses Doctor P," Ron smiled at Kim's parents, "Can I speak to you both privately for a sec? It's kind of…important…" He said it rather nervously, and they could even see a small blush on Ron's face when he brought this up, so the two doctors looked at each other rather worriedly. After all, Ron was always the funny man; he was never one to act so serious about anything, so they gave him their complete attention.

"Of course, Ron." Misses "Kazaa" Possible answered as she and her husband led Ron back inside the house. The three of them went into the kitchen where they knew that no one could see them talking as well as give Ron their undivided attention from the rollicking fun that was going on between Kim and Bonnie.

110101100110100111001011011100101010110101

It had been about twenty minutes since Ron had left Kim's side to go speak with her parents. Though the thought of Ron talking with Kim's parents had never exactly occurred to her, mainly because she was busy trying to get her diary back from Bonnie who continually mocked her by saying the word "purple" to her face. It was about eighteen minutes or so into the chase that they had started wrestling each other on the grass, but then Barkin was the one who had broken things up to hopefully make the time there a little more peaceful.

It wasn't too long after the chase was over that Kim looked over at the glass doors that led back into the house that she saw Ron and her parents walking out. It wasn't exactly the fact that Ron was talking with her parents that caught her attention, what sent her curiosity through the roof was the look on their faces.

Ron seemed to have that very same overly happy look as if he had won something or that he had finally gained something that he had been wanting for a very long time. Then there was her parents, the two of them had smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes. They were crying for joy as they looked at Ron walking over to Kim. Seeing the expressions that Ron and her parents had, Kim couldn't help but feel very worried about the situation or what had transpired between him and her parents. As Ron had approached her, Kim had to ask:

"Ron," She asked with a raised eyebrow, "What's wrong with my parents?"

Ron didn't say anything; he just reached out his arms and wrapped them around Kim's waist and pulled her towards him.

"First off," Ron began, "I gotta know, what's purple all about?"

With the mention of "purple", Kim had that look in her eyes, like the look she had when she made the "puppy dog pout", though she didn't exactly purse her lips forward when she did it. With that look in her eyes, her face began to blush to a shade that made Ron think of the old red shirt that he had.

"On second thought," Ron reconsidered his question, "forget I asked…"

Ron gulped, but he found it hard to swallow because he was so nervous and in the June heat of Middleton, beneath the collar of his suit, he began to sweat. He didn't know how to approach Kim with what was on his mind. He looked over his shoulder towards Kim's parents hoping that they could give him some kind of silent signal that it would be alright. Kim's mother simply winked at Ron, while Kim's father gave Ron a good solid 'thumbs up' gesture even though both he and Kim's mom had tears of joy in their eyes. Ron turned back to Kim whose blush had receded since Ron decided to not ask again about "purple".

"Um…Kim." He began, "Do you…wanna go for a walk….you know around the lake?"

Kim took in the question and answered instantly, "Sure, Ron." She smiled, and took Ron's hand into her own, interlocking their fingers like most lovers do, "We haven't done that in years."

"Yeah…we…haven't." Ron nodded as the nervous sweat began to form on his forehead as well as beneath his long coat. The two of them walked down the steps of the patio to the green grass, past the crew members of the Neb Two and the Mad Dog. All the while, all the members of the crew had a pretty good idea what Ron went to talk to Kim's parents about and they all felt very happy about it, well most did. Bonnie was trying to hold back tears.

As Kim and Ron left the backyard, there were even a few quiet, moral supporters.

"Go get her, Neo." Ghost smirked.

Seeing them walk out, Morpheus nodded knowingly.

"You the man, Ron." Brick added

"Make her happy." Niobe had finalized as the young lovers went to do what young lovers do.

To be continued…