A/N The story is coming along quite nicely and really picks up in this chapter. The first chapters really threw a lot at you the reader. The proceeding chapters will slow that down a ton.

I'd like to thank MatthewC for his review, nothing helps a story get better then an objective review. I'd also like to thank campy and lab1152 for their interest in the story, I hope you are enjoying it.

As always R&R.

She stared at the clock which met her gaze with its burning red numbers, 6:00am. Not being able to go back to sleep she decided to get up and start her daily workout a little early. At least it won't be crowded she thought. Throwing on some clothes she headed for the stairs, once outside she began to stretch. When she finished she started jogging towards the rec center. The jog served as a good warm up since the center was on the other side of campus.

She was surprised at how many people were already there. It wasn't a large number but more then she had expected. Her workout consisted mostly of going through the many forms of martial arts she knew. After finding an empty room she decided to start with Kung Fu. As she progressed into the workout she moved on to several different forms each new form flowing in perfectly with the last. When she finished she was sweating and breathing hard.

"Nice work." She turned to see Steve standing in the doorway. "I don't recognize any of it but nice all the same."

"Thanks, what are you doing here? Don't you guys have your own gym?"

"We do but the workouts are usually in the afternoons so I came here. Although without a partner it makes getting a good workout tough, should've gotten Ron up." Kim raised an eyebrow at him.

"Why would you get Ron to come with you?"

"Oh uh, I didn't mean Ron I meant Ray he's a guy from the team, likes to workout in the mornings." He could tell she wasn't buying it. "Well Ron's always offering to help with everything else I figured he'd help with this."

"Uh huh, not buying it. Start talking." She placed her hands on her hips.

"Hey look it was just a slip of the tongue forget about it." He was bigger then her by a lot and it didn't make him feel any safer.

"Last chance before I start using some of those unrecognizable moves on you."

"He asked me not to tell anybody but since you asked so nicely." He ran a hand over his face. "About a month ago he was feeling pretty down, I'd guess it was about the run in you two had. Anyway he didn't like the idea of leaving you to fight two on one. So we started working out together."

"He's never been worried before; I mean we've faced hordes of goons with much worse odds then two on one."

"True but this time it was different. He realized that you guys are up against two pretty strong opponents. I think it scared him, he's no longer sure he could help even as a distraction."

"That's crazy, he doesn't need to any of that."

"Why not, you do." The statement hit her like a brick. "You workout everyday not only to make sure you don't lose anything but also to get better. Why shouldn't he do the same?"

"It's not like that. It's just…" She stopped mid rant realizing Steve was right. "Ok maybe you're right. I guess I better go talk to him."

"Good, just don't tell him you found out from me. I don't need to try and explain extra bruises to the coach."

"Ron wake up."

The sunlight was coming through the shades proved it wasn't as early as it felt. Looking up he found himself staring into a pair of emerald eyes. He smiled sleepily. "Is this a dream or did I end up in heaven." A pair of hands grabbed the bed and tossed him onto the floor. "OW ok, I'm up, geez KP." He took the hand that was offered to him. "Why the hostile wake up?"

"How long were you going to do it before you told me?"

"Tell you about what?" Ron wasn't really sure what she was talking about.

"Don't play with me Ron Stoppable. You've been working out with Steve."

He considered all types of half truths to tell, but the look in her face told him to not even bother. Sighing he got up and sat on the bed. "I wasn't going to tell you, at least not for a while. She sat down next to him.

"You and I are together on top of that we've been friends forever. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I…I don't know. I thought maybe you'd talk me out of it, or that you'd say you can handle anything by yourself."

"But why did you feel you need to start working out?"

"You've always been able to take on the bad guys. Now though it isn't a bunch of hapless thugs who are only going to tie us up. Now it's a pair of very dangerous individuals. I guess I was just scared, scared of losing you." She wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"It's ok to be scared, but hiding something isn't. We're a team and team members talk to each other." She released him. "Just so you know, I never thought that you'd ever let me down and that still holds. If you feel like you need to do it then continue to work with Steve." Standing up she pulled him to his feet. "What ever you do I'll be right behind you."

Night had come quickly as Ribbon stepped onto the ledge, the height was dizzying. A breeze picked up and swirled around her, blowing several strands of untucked hair across her eyes. She put them back in place and rolled her mask down. It would be another long night, not counting the fact it was getting into late fall. She took a deep breath of the cold crisp air and stepped into space. Gravity pulled at her as she rotated in a tight flip before landing on the first platform of the fire escape. The landing wasn't clean and she stumbled towards the rails edge. A strong hand grasped her, stopping the fall.

"You should be more careful, stunts like that will get you hurt." The voice was cold.

"Have to try new things to be ready for anything."

"I suppose." Stalker turned and moved to the opposite side of the platform.

She looked through the dark at his barely visible form. He was completely still as he scanned the streets below. Most nights they turned up nothing more then a mugging or petty crime, some nights not even that. Every crime they stopped was meaningful and yet it wasn't enough. He was searching for something more; something she wasn't sure he'd ever find.

"Let's go." He moved quickly down the escape, if he made any noise it was lost to the wind. Hitting the ground he quickly moved across the street and into the shadows of a broken streetlamp. Voices were coming out of the nearby alley.

"Man I wish you'd hurry up, I don't like standing out here in the open."

"Give me a bleedin moment this lock is being stubborn."

"Keep it down both of you. The less said the better until we are inside."

"Get your panties out of the twist there in I'm almost done." The sound of smacking flesh directed his attention behind him. Turning he found himself on the edge of a battle, his partners in a losing fight with two dark figures. The blood in his veins turned to ice. "Stalker and Ribbon." The words escaped his lips without thought. He backed up to the wall and slid along its length until he found a pile of boxes.

He was going to die, he knew it. They would find him and… The sensation of cold steel in his hand brought him back to his senses. A gun, his gun, the one he always had on him. He pulled it out of his pocket and stared at it, his confidence growing. Slowly he stepped from behind the pile he had been hiding in. The fight was over as the one called Stalker dropped his opponent in a heap. He was only a matter of feet away, he couldn't miss.

Some how Stalker had felt his presence and turned to face him. The smile on his face was evident, as was the gun he was holding. Without a pause he charged the man, and the world turned bright white as the gun roared to life.

She sat curled up against a dark rooftop corner. Occasional sobs escaped as her head rested on her knees. The tears had continued to come and go as the scene replayed itself in her mind.

He charged as the man fired, the sound was so loud. They collided with each other, hard. The impact drove the other man back into the wall, his skull cracking like thunder, and then he slowly fell to the ground. Stalker was on his knees panting.

She tore her thoughts away from the memory as the tears began again. Through blurry eyes she could see him standing a few feet away leaning against the roofs edge. By some miracle the man had missed, completely missed. It didn't change how scared she'd been and how scared she still was. Losing him would have destroyed her; he was more then just a friend. The thought shook her, when had he become more then a friend. This thought held her attention that she failed to notice he had walked up to her.

"How you doing?" His voice was filled with concern as he kneeled. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve.

"I'm ok."

"I think it's time we got home then. After a night like tonight we can use all the sleep we can get." He smiled and helped her to her feet.

She had no words for him as he placed his arm around her shoulders. The warmth and safety the gesture held chased away the rest of the tears.

Light, horrible light forced its way under her eyelids. She laid there for a moment before giving in and throwing back the covers. With a grumble she made her way out of her room and into the kitchen. The room was empty and from the looks of it nobody else was even up yet. Rummaging in the fridge she found several items that looked liked they my have been food at some point. Closing the door with disgust she decided going out might not be such a bad idea. A familiar beep caught her attention.

"What's the sitch Wade?" Pulling the kimmunicator out.

"Looks like your two friends were busy last night." He tapped a few keys and a new image came up. "These are some pictures from the scene, not very pretty." The pictures showed 3 individuals all lying in heaps. "The first two are in good shape, well for the most part. The third isn't doing so well."

"Why?"

"Major head trauma, in a coma at the moment, the scary thing is it was done by a single blow." The picture shifted to a shot of the alley wall. "You can see where the brick has been cracked and from what I've read the back of his head doesn't look much better." The comment sent a shiver down her spine.

"I was afraid it was going to get to this. Have you got a location for us to check out yet?" The look she got was one of wounded pride. "Ok silly question, where do we go tonight?"

"Over in the lower district. The area is being redeveloped from industrial to commercial lots of activity there."

"If anything comes up let me know."

"Sure thing. Catch you later." The kimmunicator went blank.

The rest of the day had passed quickly as Kim planned out the search for the night. It mainly consisted of sticking to the roof tops and staying out of the way. So far they hadn't found anything that indicated Ribbon and Stalker were in the area.

"Looks like tonight is going to be a bust." Kim glumly looked at her watch. "I guess we can't expect to get a hit every time."

"To true KP, can't say I'm all that upset though."

"Ron, we need to catch them and soon before it goes any farther then it already has."

"You're right, it's just that…" He stared out at an empty roof. There wasn't anything there, no movement of any kind and yet. "They're here."

"Where I don't see anything?" She was also scanning the rooftop.

"I don't either, I just feel it."

"What do you mean, you just feel it." A shadow moved as she was about to continue. "There by the skylight." All that could be seen were shadows in shadows. Moments latter they dropped into the building. "Let's move."

Kim pulled out her grapple gun and fired it, catching it solidly on another building. Grabbing hold of Ron they swung across to the roof they had seen Ribbon and Stalker on. All seemed quiet as they approached the spot the two had disappeared into. The sound of splintering wood told them the fight had already started.

"No point in being sneaky now." Kim stated as she dropped down through the open window. She landed gracefully in a low crouch and quickly scanned the room, empty. A sudden thud caused her to spin around, Ron was just picking himself off the floor.

"Nice landing, you ok?"

"Yeah." He replied sheepishly.

The sounds of the fight drew them deeper into the building. All around them was destruction, over turned tables, broken chairs, and smashed crates. Then they started finding people, they didn't look like your typical criminals. Most were dressed in suits, others in identical coveralls, they were all unconscious.

"I've got a bad feeling about this KP. These guys look pretty organized."

"I know what you mean." Moving quickly through the building it was the same everywhere. As they were about to go into another room a burst of gunfire erupted through the wall spraying them both with fragments of sheetrock. Kim hit the floor fast and covered up as Ron landed on top of her.

"Kim are you ok?" The worry was evident in his voice.

"I'm fine as long as you get off of me." When he didn't get off the panic began to rise in her. "Ron!"

"I'm good, just stay down a second." A second burst of fire came through the wall and stopped as suddenly as it had started. Looking up they saw the man come through the door, but not under his own power. He landed in a heap, blood oozing from a nasty looking cut on his face. Behind him stood one of the dark figures they were looking for, Kim was up in a flash.

"No more Stalker, you can't keep doing this." She dropped back into a loose yet defensive stance. "Either give up or I'll have to take you down." The edge in her voice betrayed the cool demeanor she was showing. All she could see were his eyes and they were dark, blank.

She was so focused on the man in front of her she missed the shadow dropping down on top of her, Ron however didn't. He leapt into a high arc over Kim's head and collided with the figure, grabbing hold. As they fell he rotated putting the figure between him and the floor. The floor groaned as he drove the figure into it. The move rewarded him with a whoosh as the air was driven from the would be attacker. He flipped up and away landing in a very monkey pose. Looking he confirmed it was Ribbon he had just taken down. The woman lay curled up gasping for air.

Kim had only been distracted a moment by the attack before returning her attention to her opponent. She was surprised to find he was still in the same spot she had left him, but something was different. His eyes were no longer blank instead there was a cold intensity behind them. This could be bad she thought.

He came at her slowly watching for any signs of an attack. When he got within several feet he stopped, he wasn't in a stance of any kind, he just stood there. Bringing his hands up he at last moved into a standard fighters stance with his left leg in front, but still he made no move to attack. The two continued to face each other the only sound was that of Ribbon slowly regaining her breath. Time slowed down to a crawl. The attack was faster then she would have given him credit for as his left hand shot out in a quick jab. She dodged left and stepped up into him, planting a solid strike to his gut. Jumping back he made no indication the hit had affected him.

They circled each other quickly waiting for an opening. Kim decided to make her own opening and took a half step towards him with her right foot, it had the desired effect. Stalker pulled back to put himself in a position to block the side kick he was expecting, it never came. Her left foot shot out as she spun on her right, sweeping his legs out from under him. He landed hard but rolled with the fall and had his feet under him before she could push the attack. Instead of standing he lunged at her, the move caught Kim off guard. He quickly scooped her up and drove her into the wall, the sheetrock crumbled around her. Stepping back he swing a powerful hook, she managed to block it but the force of the blow sent her to the ground.

"KP." Ron started forward but suddenly found his arm wrenched behind him. Ribbon had managed to recover from the blow and wasn't going to let him double up on her partner. The hold was executed perfectly the only problem was she lacked the strength to maintain it. Ron leaned to his left then quickly back to his right, the movement caused Ribbon to shift left pulling his arm into a more open position. He used strength to pull his arm around in front of him while grabbing hold of her. They stood face to face, he flashed a goofy grin at her only to have it answered with a knee to the stomach.

Kim slid to a stop as the man approached her, he didn't wait to let her get back on her feet. Quickly she rolled out of the way of a kick. The kick would have broken ribs had it connected. She was back on her feet in a flash. Stalker was a stronger opponent then most she had faced, but he was lacking in the skills department. She grinned as he moved towards her, he was a power fighter, a brawler. Using her speed and agility to her advantage she began taking the fight to him. Not every attack landed but enough of them were and it was beginning to show. His eyes still held the intensity they had earlier but now there was something else, fear.

The fight had begun to go badly, he hadn't been surprised by this. It hadn't surprised him but he still didn't like it. He had been surprised to see Ribbon having trouble with Mr. Stoppable. They had to find a way to get out of there and lose the two teen heroes. His thoughts were torn from him as a snap kick connected with his head followed by a side kick. The first kick stood him up the second sent him through a glass dividing wall. He landed on his back as the glass from the wall dug into him. Ms. Possible was coming towards him and he didn't have much left. He used what little energy he had and kipped up onto his feet, the move gave the illusion that he was still in good shape. Unfortunately the floor was in as bad a shape as he was, it groaned once and collapsed underneath him.

She was about to finish the fight when he flipped up onto his feet. Was this a joke she thought. The fight had taken it out of her and she hoped to end it soon, now it looked like it was just starting. Suddenly he was just gone as the floor broke out beneath him. Rushing towards the hole she looked down only to be greeted by a bellowing of dust.

"LOOK OUT KP." Turning she managed to get her hands in front of her face as a foot came done on them. Ribbon pushed off the block and jumped into the hole. Ron came running up his right eye was puffy and a small trickle of blood came from his nose. "You ok."

"Yeah, come on." Jumping down the hole wasn't the smartest thing she'd ever down especially since she couldn't see the bottom. She landed rougher then she would have liked but it got her down. A quick scan didn't reveal anybody as Ron landed beside her. "Outside." They quickly found an exit and ended up on the main street. Still running Kim headed towards the alley hoping to catch them. Rounding the corner the alley was empty. "Dammit." She breathed. They searched the area but found no trace of either of them, they had simply vanished.

"How in the heck did they do that, they don't fight like ninjas."

"It's ok KP. They didn't win they only got away. Next time we'll get them for sure." He gave her a reassuring grin. Her mood was still sour but she smiled despite of it, he could always do that.

It hurt, it hurt a lot. The soft tink told him another piece of glass had been pulled out. He hadn't felt it when he had gone through the glass but then adrenaline did some amazing things. Another stabbing pain hit him.

"Digging deep enough?" He growled, his mood was less then pleasant.

"I'm doing what I can, this isn't what I would call a proper operating theater." They were in an empty warehouse surrounded by cobwebs and debris. "This last piece is really in there." She made another push into the wound. He groaned slightly but tried not to move. The clamp bit into something hard, tightening her grip she pulled.

"AHH God that hurts. You didn't grab bone did you?" She waved the piece of glass in front of his face, it was still red with blood. "Guess not. Anybody ever tell you that you have a wonderful bed side manner." His mood lightened. He was about to pull his shirt on when she stopped him. "What?"

"Are we forgetting something?" He looked at her not quite sure what she meant. "Bandages you dimwit now lay back down." She gently pushed him back onto his stomach. Placing the bandages she taped them down with little trouble. "There you go almost as good as new, a little worn on the body but still in great shape." He slipped his shirt back on. Her hands ran down his back softly.

"What are you doing?" He was glad she couldn't see his face at the moment.

"Just making sure you didn't pull anything loose."

"Oh right, thanks." He could feel her hands still resting on his shoulders. "I, uh, mean we should probably get going. The sun will be up soon." Her hands lifted off of him.

"Yeah, we don't want to be seen in the area, might be kind of hard to explain." They picked up their gear and made their way to the door. He held it open for her as she walked through he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you." He held a moment longer then released her and moved out onto the street.