The evening had come quickly enough, but they had managed to get everything put away. Sitting on Kim's bed they were talking about the various courses they would be taking when classes started next week. Both were excited at the prospect of actually taking course they wanted to. They were still talking when the main door opened; they heard several people come in.

"HELLO, anybody home?" Cam bellowed from the common room. "Gee, I hope they aren't off doing something else." Kim and Ron came in. "Ah there you two are, alright let's go, come on come on."

The group consisted of Gwen, Casey, Kari, Steve, and Cam. "Where exactly are we going?" Kim asked.

"Good question, out."

"I beg your pardon."

"We're going out." This was not the response Kim wanted. "Ok, since we are all going to be living with each other for the next year, we need to get to know each other. So we're going to go out and have some fun." The smile never left his face.

"I'm game. How about you KP?" He looked over at her; she just shook her head and smiled. "That's my KP, always up for some fun."

The group decided to go down to a local club called The Input. Club was actually a poor term, it was more laid back for what most people would call a club, there was no blaring music or huge crowds. Instead it was more of a coffee house but with a larger selection of food and drink. The locals still called it a club though. Grabbing a table that would fit all of them the guys left to get the drinks and food.

"So what's it like being a world wide heroine?" Casey asked looking at Kim.

"It can be a little wild at times but it isn't anything really. I just do what I can." Kim smiled. "What about you three? I'm at the disadvantage here, so I'd like to level the playing field."

Kari laughed. "I guess your right; we know lots about you, even as messed up as the media can be, but we don't know anything about each other. Well I grew up in your typical small town, nothing really special about it, couldn't get away fast enough. College was the best bet to escape so I decided to get a degree in Veterinary Science, been working on that for the last 2 years." Kim hadn't realized that Kari was older then she was. Kari noticed the look. "Yep, not a fresh from high school like the rest of you."

"I'm just here to waste some time until something more interesting comes along." Gwen commented, lounging back in her chair. "Figured college was a good way to stay out of the real world for awhile longer." The others gave her a puzzled look. "I spent too much time as a kid being pushed to do things, so now I get to call the shots and I'm going to take a break." She pasted a lopsided grin on her face.

"What about you Casey?" Kari was looking at the smaller girl.

"Me, oh, well I was top of my class in school, I was captain of the debate team, and I organized school protests against the lack of punishment to bullies. I was also active in the community, doing things like soup kitchens and the what not. Being out there I saw all of the crime that goes on so I decided the best way to help would be to get the criminals into the system and keep them there. That's why I came here to get a degree in Law; I plan on becoming a DA." She had not taken a breath the whole time she was talking. The other girls sat there for a second before busting up. "What, what did I say?"

"Not what you said but how you said it. You need to learn to breath, or you'll pass out during your court cases." Gwen was in tears.

The guys looked over at the table when they heard the laughter. "At least they're having a good time. How long does it take to get a pitcher pop and seven glasses?"

"Who knows, I think the waitress must have fallen asleep back there. Anyway you were saying." Steve brought them back to the conversation they were having.

"Well I spent the last several years working at an auto shop, you know building custom cars. I enjoy it but I think of it more as a hobby then a career. A few years ago I ran into Kari, she'd brought a car to the shop for her dad. With all the time I had to put into the car she was around a lot, we became friends and she convinced me to go to college." He swung his arms wide. "So here I am a 24 year old freshman."

"Dude, doesn't matter how old you are as long as you're doing something you want to do." Ron grabbed the tray of drinks that had finally arrived. "Better get over there before the ladies get tired of waiting." They began moving past people carefully.

As they got to the table and seeing the smiling group of women, Cam spoke up. "Guys we have just made the fundamental mistake of the ages, never leave a group of girls to talk alone. It only brings trouble." He dodged a hit from Kari as he pulled his chair out.

"You better watch yourself or you'll be the first one in trouble." Kari glared at him in mock irritation.

"So Steve, what about you?"

Steve looked up from his drink. "Pretty much the same story as any other college ball player, lots of work for lots of fun." He placed his drink on the table. "I wasn't the best, but I worked hard and tried harder; it paid off. Which was good because my family really didn't have the means to send me to college, financial problems." He looked back into his drink for a second.

"What happened?"

"My dad got hurt and was in the hospital for awhile. That sort of thing eats up money really quick." Smiling he looked back up. "But I'm here now and here to stay."

They continued to talk about this and that, jumping from one story to another and having a great time. Cam and Steve got up to go get the food which had finally arrived on the counter. As they moved towards the counter a nearby table over turned, two guys were arguing with each other. Looking at each other Cam and Steve shrugged and walked over.

"Guys please, let's keep it civil shall we. This isn't really the place to be having a fight." Cam moved up to the closer of the two. "Why don't you just take a minute to calm down and think about this."

"Think about this jerk." The guy threw his drink into Cams face. He was about to follow through with a punch; Steve didn't give him the chance.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He grabbed the guy and slammed him to the floor. "If you're looking for a fight you found it." Steve pulled the man's arm behind him until the joint started to pop. A hand appeared on Steve's shoulder, looking up he saw Cam, still dripping from the drink.

"That's enough Steve he didn't hurt me, just got me a little wet, I'll live." Cam stepped back as Steve roughly hauled the guy to his feet. "I suggest you leave before you ruin the night for anybody else, yourself included." The guy scrambled off, deciding he had better places to be. "Well hopefully, that is as exciting as the night will get. Come on."

They finished grabbing the food and returned to the table. The night went on without further incident and the group had a great time.

Ron had spent the last two days making sure he had everything for his classes. He had just been to the bookstore and picked up all of the books, notes, folders, and papers on his list. The weight of his backpack was almost enough to drag him to the ground.

"I swear Rufus, they only make you get this much stuff to give you a workout walking from your room to class."

The little mole rat looked up. "Yep"

"Oh well, almost back to the hall; at least they got the elevator fixed." While it wasn't a terrible climb, stomping up 4 flights of stairs with a loaded backpack didn't appeal to him all that much. As he got into the room he dropped the pack on the floor. He looked around sheepishly, hoping he hadn't bothered anybody. He saw Cam slouching down in a chair in his room. "Sorry about that Cam." He didn't respond to the comment, confused Ron walked to his doorway and knocked. "Hey Cam, everything alright?"

"Huh, oh, uh yeah." He stammered. He hadn't heard anybody come in and was surprised to find Ron standing in the doorway. "Didn't hear you come in."

"Yeah, you seemed kind of focused on something else." Ron noticed the picture in his hand. It was of a cute young girl. "Oh I get it, lost love."

"What?" Cam looked at the picture in his hand. "Oh no, this is my kid sister." He quickly put the picture away.

"Cool, how old is she?"

"Uh, well she would be your age…" He coughed slightly. "Hey I really should get back to this paperwork." Sitting back up straight in his chair.

"Sure big man, no problem." Ron grabbed his pack and started dragging it towards his room. "Don't work to hard, classes haven't even started yet." Cam smiled back at him and nodded.

Later Ron was running around trying to get his stuff together. He and Kim had plans to go out, but if he didn't get his act together they were going to be late. As he grabbed his comb he knocked an electric shaver onto the floor, it landed with a heavy thud. He picked it up and finished his hair. Flying out of the bathroom he almost crashed into Kari.

"Oops sorry about that, was just making sure you hadn't killed yourself in there."

"Who me, nah, just…trying to get ready and… find my…hmmm. Hey Cam have you seen my shoes." Cam was on the couch writing something, he lifted his arm straight up then pointed directly at the floor by the TV. "Cool, thanks man." Ron ran over, grabbed his shoes, and plopped down onto the chair. "Whatcha working on, you've been writing for like an hour." Cam waved his free hand at him and continued working. Ron went back to tying his shoes.

Finishing he looked up and saw a strange expression on Cam's face; it was a cross between anger and…well he wasn't quite sure. Then he noticed Cam's hand was shaking, not from anger but almost as if he could no longer hold the pen he was writing with. The pen dropped from his grasp, his hand still shaking. Kari was there in an instant talking quietly with him. Ron was about to ask a question when everyone else came into the room.

"Ready to go Ron?" Kim asked from the back of the group.

"Where are you two off to?" Smiled Gwen as she looked at Kim.

"Just dinner and a movie, figured we'd better do it now before we don't have any time."

As the group continued to talk Kari lead Cam to his room, no one noticed the slight limp."

Kim and Ron had finally managed to get out the door. They'd had a wonderful evening at the movie and having dinner at a nice restaurant. Ron had been disappointed that it wasn't Bueno Nacho, but he thought it was good none the less. After dinner they decided to take a walk around the city before heading back to the Hall.

"I had a great evening Ron."

"I aim to please, although I understand why you picked where we ate." He smiled as she poked him in the ribs.

"There can be such a thing as too many Nacos." She laughed at the horrified look Ron was giving her. "Oh come on, you can't eat them all the time. Well I mean you could, but why."

"Sometimes I don't know why I try Rufus." He was confused at first as to why Rufus didn't respond, then he remember Rufus had stayed home. "Maybe we should stop at Bueno Nacho to pick something up for Rufus. He would probably be pretty upset if we didn't bring him dinner."

"Ok Ron, but only to pick up something for Rufus."

They had begun walking down a deserted street when a hooded figure jumped out in front of them. He wasn't alone as two more came out of a nearby alley.

"Hand it over and I won't have to hurt the pretty little thing on your arm."

"Neither is going to happen dude, so why don't you and your friends just call it night." Ron had put himself between Kim and the thugs. He knew that if it came to a fight Kim would be in no danger, but he wasn't just going to stand there and not defend her. "I won't tell you again."

"You're a pretty funny guy, maybe I'll let you live long enough so you can watch my friends deal with your girl." He moved forward pulling a knife from his pocket.

Kim was about to spring at him when a muffled cry brought her attention back to the other two. Neither was standing any longer, instead two dark figures were moving slowly away from them and towards the third. Any other time Kim would have been more then happy to run across Ribbon and Stalker, but not when she was dressed for a night on the town.

The thug's attention immediately moved from his victims to his attackers. Even though he was a thug he knew a little about fighting. He dropped back into a lower stance, holding the knife close to his body, ready to lash out with it. He waited for them to approach, Ribbon held back as Stalker moved in. He waited until the perfect distance and attacked with a quick strike. The thug's first swing was good, really good; but good wasn't enough. Stalker caught the man's hand and wrenched it around, causing him to drop the knife, as he drove his face into the wall. The thug staggered away as Stalker released him. His nose was broke, he could barely see through the tears building up in his eyes. Stalker was now on the other side of him, trapping him.

This punk got lucky. He thought. It won't happen again. He charged, faked a jab and threw a left hook, it to did not land. Stalker's right hand was wrapped around the thug's fist, he applied pressure. Bones began to creak and pop, as the thug fell to his knees. The thug broke, begging to be let go. The impact from the kick thundered down the alley, the man slide several feet before coming to a rest.

Stalker was about to continue after him when an arm grabbed him and spun him around. He was face to face with a very upset red head, her green eyes flamed as she stared at him.

"That is ENOUGH! He is beaten; there is no point in hurting him further." Kim was surprised at how angry she was. The thought of beating a downed enemy was beyond her. She was about to continue when she was roughly pulled back. At first she thought it was Ron but the sight of him with his mouth hanging open squashed that idea. Turning she found Ribbon standing before her waggling her finger back and forth. "That's it." Dropping back she entered into her normal fighting stance.

The dark fighter before her shifted slightly and entered her own stance. Kim charged sweeping low with her leg. The attack didn't land like she knew it wouldn't, dodging it placed Ribbon out of balance. Kim's other foot lashed out catching her in the chest and sending her to the ground.

Rolling with the fall Ribbon came up on her knees in time to block a quick strike to her face, only to be tossed as the strike grabbed her wrist. She was outclassed and she knew it, she didn't want to fight Ms. Possible, they were on the same side. She hoped that her partner would not enter into the fight.

Stalker began to move towards the two battling women. He didn't care that the other woman was a hero, only that she was fighting against them. He found his path blocked by the only other person standing.

Ron knew he didn't stand a chance, knew he would likely be hurt badly, and he knew none of that matted. Watching he knew she was in no danger of losing to Ribbon but both of them was a different story. He would not, could not stand by as KP was double teamed. "That's far enough big guy, this fight is between the ladies." Nervously he took up a stance. The first swing was arching, powerful, and slow. Ron ducked out of the way and landed a hit on his opponents exposed ribs. Maybe I do stand a chance he thought. The backhand sent him to the ground and chased the thought from his head, groaning he was lifted off the ground by his collar.

She heard him cry out, looking over she saw him being lifted up. Ribbon was pushed from her mind, only Ron mattered now. Springing high she brought her knee down on Stalkers arm with devastating results. Muscles strained and failed, the arm dropped limply to his side losing its grip on Ron. She was immediately at his side as he gasped for air.

"Ron are you ok?" Her face was pale with dread and she looked him over. A small amount of blood came from his lip but other then that he appeared to be fine.

"I'm good KP." His words coming between gasps. "Just need to catch my breath. Where did they go?" Looking around he couldn't see any sign of Ribbon or Stalker.

"Doesn't matter at the moment, we'll get them next time." The concern on her face was still evident. "Let's get out of here."

Ribbon leaned against the rooftop chimney, her arms wrapped tightly around her body. Silently she watched him, he hadn't moved for nearly an hour, perched on the edge of the building. She knew what was wrong; she just didn't know what to do about it. They had been risking their lives taking on the criminal element for 2 years now. Sometimes they got hurt, the bad guys always got hurt, that was the way things were. Tonight things had changed, they had fought and lost. It wasn't the loss that bothered her; it was who they had fought with. They had never intended, never wanted to fight with someone who was doing the same thing they were. As bad as it was for her it was worse for him. Losing as she had, her only intent was to distract Ms. Possible, but he had lost himself again and almost severely hurt Mr. Stoppable. The thought was tearing him up inside.

Quietly she walked over to him and gently placed her hand on his. He looked at her and she saw in his eyes pain, uncertainty, and fear. No words would help; she simply stood there holding the hand of a man who was slowly losing himself.

Ron woke up later then he planned to. Stretching he felt muscles complain and bones pop. Climbing out of bed slowly he put on some clothes, and stumbled into the main room. His eyes still refused to fully open as he yawned.

Steve was in the kitchen leaning against the counter working on breakfast, he managed a muffled morning between bites of cereal. His hair was a mess and he looked like he might fall into his bowl. Realizing something he swallowed the over sized mouth full he had. "Hey, good thing you're dressed the girls will be down in a moment. Don't need you scaring them by being half naked."

"If the girls are coming don't you think we should get Cam up?"

"No, look what getting up did for us." At that moment the door opened and the girls came in. "Ugh how can they look that good this early?" Looking at the clock. "Oh yeah, it isn't early." Pushing off from the counter he winced.

"What's up Steve hurt yourself?" Casey was looking over at him.

"Oh he took a hard hit at practice yesterday." Gwen replied. The others looked at her with the, how do you know that look. "Well I mean I heard some of the other players talking about it. What; I was walking past the field when they were leaving." The others were smirking at how flustered she had become.

"She's right, wasn't watching enough of the field and took a helmet in the arm." Looking the others saw a bulge on his right arm indicating where the ice pack was. "Nothing to big should be good in a day or to. As much fun as I'm having talking about myself are we going to just sit here all day or are we going to go out and enjoy the last of our summer break."

The last of summer hadn't lasted nearly long enough, now they were in the full swing of school. Ron was coming out of his last class of the day, or night as it now was. Who ever heard of a class finishing at 9pm he thought. He trudged towards the hall with more energy then he thought he had. Rounding a corner he saw Gwen up ahead of him, he was about to call out to her when she disappeared into an alley. Ron stopped at the entrance to the alley and looked in. He could see Gwen talking to someone but couldn't make them out. They both began heading out towards the other end of the alley. He almost went to catch up, but then thought better about it, no sense in intruding. Continuing on he could see the hall glowing from all of the lights, almost home.

"Hey Ron." He looked and saw Kari walking towards him. "Just get done with class?"

"Yeah, going to be a long term getting out this late. What are you up to?"

"I'm supposed to meet Cam at the library so we can study." Checking her watch. "In fact I better get going. Have a good night." With that she headed off.

Walking into the main room Ron was surprised to see Cam there. "I just ran into Kari, she said you two were going to the library."

"I'm running a bit behind." He was stuffing things into his bag. "If I don't get going and fast she is going to hurt me." Smiling he headed towards the door. "Take it easy Ron, be back later."

Ron collapsed onto the couch and flipped the TV on. He didn't realize how tired he really was until he heard the door close. Looking at the clock he had been dozing for the last 3 hours. Glancing over the couch he saw Steve digging in the fridge, he looked absolutely beat.

"Steve what happened to you?"

"Oh it has just been another long day, classes, practice, and then we had to review game footage." The expression on his face lead Ron to believe that there was more but he decided not to pursue it. "I'm going to crash, good thing it's the weekend, I can sleep in."

"Night." Ron turned off the TV and got up to go to bed himself. It had been a long week and he was really looking forward to the weekend.