"Shego," Kim repeated. Since when did Shego come through this line? Only in the case of pending disaster or… did she have any idea of this synthodrone incident? Of course she did, it was probably her idea. Kim closed her eyes and drew a breath. Oh, but wouldn't she kill for a shower and a nap right about now. Saving the world was getting despicably tiring. "Put her through."

Still muttering something about 'smacked lips', Wade pressed a few keys and the computer's transmission was switched. Shego's face sneered through the screen—not that the sneer lasted long. A few stunned blinks and a cough was all it took. "Kim."

"Shego." This so was not the time. "Nice of you to call. Come to check up on your latest project?"

"I tied you up!" Shego shook her head slowly and sighed. "Drakken. I warned him we should have killed you immediately, but no, he wanted to concentrate on world conquest! Oh, well, I still should have gone right in. Boy, but I really need to work on my self-motivation." Her green-gloved hand squeezed a fist as she gave another deep sigh. "Good thing these sorts of problems can be solved instantly. Where are you at?" Eyes circled over the screen. "The high school. On a Saturday. Little Miss 4.0. I should have expected as much."

"Of course you don't count on me sitting around waiting for you," Kim replied. The locker door swung briefly in her hand. She should just shut the darn thing.

"Nah. I hate to admit it, but I half-guessed you'd find yet another way to weasel out. Ah, well. Till next time."

"Exactly why are you calling me? Shouldn't you be after your precious robot?"

Shego fingered a strand of hair, pulling it up to her face for scrutiny. "Actually I wasn't calling you. I was trying to get a hold of your little computer genius friend, but you all decide to send me right on through to you. Which is very annoying when you're trying to fly a ship and all you want is some good service, but I expect teen heroes don't have that sort of respect. But it seems there is no longer any point talking to him anymore considering he apparently already knows that you are the real Kim." She rolled her eyes.

Shego didn't appear to be very much into this mission. Kim released the locker door. "I take it you recognized a cheap costume."

Shego grinned and flicked the hair strand back. "Duh. Considering I went through all the effort of forcing Drakken's lazy tailors to stitch it together under a quarter of an hour I had better recognize what I put on you. Hideous, ain't it? Just like the original. I swear, I'm not really understanding how Drakken's new pet managed to put up with it. Tough thing, though. Of course, you didn't have to battle against Princess Synthodrone and get knocked into a transformer. So maybe it would be good for Halloween. Though I still prefer going as Glinda."

This was odd. Shego, for once, wouldn't shut up and get on with whatever she was planning. "You're stalling. Is that all you called me up about?"

"Yeah, pretty much. And I'm glad you caught the stalling." Shego switched a key on her dashboard to autopilot. "I really did call up your technology guy to maybe throw a bug into his system even though Drakken refuses to invest in proper equipment that doesn't attach an identity to everything you send out. But apparently he already knows about you and that stupid synthodrone."

"Stupid synthodrone?"

"Do you have any idea about what went on last night?"

She had to be kidding. Kim fought the impulse to swear at her. "No, because you and Synthodrone 901 Erik the Fake decided to tie me up in a basement. Good ties, though. I was actually impressed this time." No, she couldn't be rude. This was information time. Hopefully this wasn't all some distraction to send Wade a virus. Well, she would let him worry about that. "So tell me what happened."

Shego pretended to consider something. "Well, we shipped a synthodrone, a rather cute one, I might add, to you for an instant prom date, yay for us. Then Drakken does his pathetic Bueno Nacho disaster bit, your sidekick guy shows up, yadda yadda, we pretend to kidnap 'Erik the Fake'. Oh, and we capture you and switch you with another synthodrone that looks just like you. She gets tied up with your sidekick friend, he thinks she's you, in case you haven't noticed. The two of you escape, and then—" She paused for breath. "Then Drakken's brilliant creation goes completely short circuit on us!"

This was new. Kim's eyes widened. "Short circuit?"

"Uh-huh. The idea is that she would capture the rest of your gang, rally some unknowing law enforcers to our side, and definitely not attack me! She tries to electrocute me, we wind up in prison, and she skips off just like you."

"But you broke out of prison."

Shego nodded. "Glad you noticed. She decided to repent. Drakken completely adores her, but I'm thinking something is not right."

"Then why are you talking to me?"

"I think I already told that story. Kim, I spent all morning trying to be all calm and collected and blasé about this, but that robot is not obeying orders and I am sick of it."

The locker door was back in Kim's hand. "And what do you want me to do about it? She has my best friend thinking who-knows-what, she's already tossed me into the janitor's closet. She's good." Toss in the diplomatic compliment. "Hey, she beat you."

"I noticed. So, since you 'can do anything' and all," Shego even bothered with the finger quotes. "I thought you might be interested in bringing her in with me."

Silence hung for several horribly long moments as Kim stared at the screen. "What?"

Shego sighed and blatantly avoided eye contact. "She is quickly becoming another classic Drakken mistake, and I want her stopped before she really thinks she's you and really ruins my life. Yes, Kim, I'm hiring you for a mission."

Somewhere below hell freezed over. "And why should I trust you?"

"Kimmie, there's another Kim Possible out there running around with your sidekick. You, on the other hand, need some serious mayonnaise conditioning and a make-over. As usual. Even if you get other people besides Computer Whiz Boy to believe you're you, how long is that going to last before they confuse a synthodrone with you?" Shego's face broke into a nasty grin. "I'm one of the few you can trust."

She was sort of making sense, Kim thought. "And you won't be confused?"

"Please." Shego held up a small remote. "I can find her anywhere."

The sunshine was incredible. 993 threw her head back and breathed in the air. Well, pretended to breathe it in. Sometimes this personality detail chips could be quite enjoyable. "Ron, this is a wonderful day!"

Ron drew a breath and immediately began coughing. "Eh, yeah. But I think a car backfired somewhere nearby. That guy over there." He pointed down the street to where some college student was having serious car trouble.

"But that's a marvelous smell." Somewhere inside of her a program kicked into gear. No, Kim Possible did not think random automobile fumes were worthy scents. She laughed. "I'm kidding."

Ron also laughed, shrugging. "Eh, it's better than when the catalytic converter is seriously not working and the emissions government people are probably tracking them down somewhere."

993 liked that smell, too. "So, we're agreed that we don't like those smells?"

"Right-a-mundo, babe."

993 giggled. "Ron?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't ever call me 'babe' again." Kim Possible programming was reacting against that as well. Though she didn't understand how Drakken drudged up that information. Maybe it was her who wasn't liking that word. Oh, but that was a nice feeling to have an opinion.

"Then what am I suppose to call you now that we're a couple?" Ron paused on the sidewalk. "Honey? Dear? Those are icky!"

"Hmm." This was something she would have to think about. "How 'bout 'Kim' and "K.P." for now and I'll get back to you on the pet names later?"

He nodded, though she couldn't help but notice he looked a little disappointed.

Kimmie, she thought. Kimmie would be wonderful. "You can call me Kimmie."

"But that's what your parents call you!"

No wonder the word had seemed familiar. "So?"

"Kim, that's just weird." He nodded. "Yes, I'm definitely sticking with the K.P. I like that name. I invented it."

"You did?"

"Yes. Back in 5th grade, I think. Dang, but that was a good year." He sighed happily. "You know, I think I like you this way."

993 nearly tripped over the curb. "You do? What way?"

"Normally right now you'd probably be demanding that we hurry up and get to our houses and change into mission clothes and all that boring stuff, but right now you're just relaxing. It's nicer."

She blushed. Yes, Kim Possible programming was sending some signals about the 'hurry up' factor, but this… this was what she liked. Oh, something was seriously wrong with her. But forget Drakken. "But we are on our ways to change into mission clothes."

"Yes, but we're doing it much slower!"

She laughed again. "I wasn't aware there was such a difference." She stopped in front of her house. "This is my place."

Ron nodded, almost fearfully. "Uh, yeah."

"Are you afraid of my dad trying to kill you?"

He nodded again, with definite fear. "As a matter of fact, I am! Your dad doesn't like boys."

"True." She darted over the lawn, hoping he'd chase her. "Isn't it great? You finally have a reputation with my father!"

He finally did put forth some sort of chase, slowly dragging his feet over the lawn. "But last time he promised to send me into a black hole!"

She paused, hand on the door. "He did? When?"

"Middleton Days." A long pause followed. "During the moodulator incident."

Moodulator incident. 993 squeezed the doorknob. There wasn't a history for that. "Oh, yeah." She pushed the door open.

He jumped through after her, suddenly a lot more interested in staying in proximity. "Hey, Kim, how come we never talk about that?"

Moodulator incident, moodulator incident. What was she supposed to say? "It was pretty freaky, wasn't it?"

"But you—" He didn't get a chance to finish.

As if a barrier of invisibility had been slammed in the middle of the room, her parents appeared. Kim Possible's parents. Her mother was grinning as if she had won the lottery and her father was glaring. She was fairly certain that was a knife poking out of his fist.

"Dad!" she cried, pointing at the knife.

His other hand appeared with a half-peeled apple. "Don't worry, I am over the original… fury."

"Original unwarranted fury," her mother corrected.

He sighed. "Unwarranted fury lacking both evidence and reason. Thank-you, honey."

Her mother laughed and winked secretly at 993. "Don't worry, he's under control. Now he's just helping me make apple pie. I've decided to try a few homey meals. And I'm sure your new boyfriend would just love to try it once I'm done. If Jim and Tim don't blow the whole thing up." She shook her head.

Ron forced a smile. "I wouldn't call myself a 'boyfriend' yet, Mrs. P."

The apple fell from her father's hand. "You didn't go out and get married, did you! Because I still have a black hole-worthy rocket in the attic!"

"Yet, dear. He said 'yet'. They're not married." Her mother laughed and picked up the apple. "Though I suppose it's never too early to start planning things. Ron, I was on the phone with your mother all morning and we think the Middleton Country Club would be the perfect place for a wedding if we can just get a membership there."

Ron gave a choked moan and even 993 felt her circuits were giving out.

Another laugh. "I'm kidding! Oh, I shouldn't have told you that. I really did chat with your mom and she was supposed to continue on with the joke."

"There's nothing funny about weddings," her father muttered.

"Ignore him, kids. Though maybe I shouldn't call you kids anymore. So, how was your date this morning?"

Ron was still rendered speechless.

993 forced a smile. "It was fine, Mom. It was so much fun."

"Good! Then we should all relax and go through scrapbooks!" Her mother shot over the living room to a bookshelf. "It's the perfect time to get more acquainted with your girlfriend's baby pictures!"

This couldn't go well. "Mom!"

993 was programmed to be tough, but even she couldn't foresee the shock of the mother of the real Kim Possible dragging her and Ron over the carpet and practically throwing them onto a couch and sinking in between them with three lacy books. "Here's Kimmie on the day she was born. In fact, the next twenty pages are devoted to that day, all credit to your father. Too bad in classic birth order cases parents stop caring with later children, though we have some adorable photos of the twins if you want to look at those next…"

At least it was good for history. 993 stared at each page of photos, wondering what in the world she could learn from these. If she was going to be Kim Possible and have Ron believe her as such, she had to know. As it was, he seemed more familiar with the photos than she was. He would occasionally laugh and make some reminiscent comment about the photo. And all she could do was sit back, smile, and nod like she remembered.

"And this one!" Her mother pointed at a photo of a seven-year old Kim Possible dressed in a pink cheerleading uniform with pom-poms almost the size of her body. "Your first experience with cheerleading. Li'l Middleton Maids was the name of that program. They let you all perform at a Middleton High homecoming game back then. It was so adorable."

"You were at a football game before high school, Kim?" Ron asked, surprisingly entertained. "Dang, but that uniform is so… maybe I shouldn't say. But what was that like?"

"Um…" A question expecting a response. "Um…"

Her mother flipped a few pages ahead. "And here's this one. You brought this one home. A slumber party of a friend. Who was that? You still talk about that slumber party, and you were ten at the time. Oh, Kimmie, refresh my memory."

993 had no idea. At least she had some names and faces. "Monique's. It was Monique's party."

"Monique didn't move here until last year," Ron said.

"It was another Monique." Good save, if she did say so herself.

Ron didn't seem to accept that. "Are you feeling okay?"

A knock sounded at the door. Please let it not be anyone she was expected to know.

The door flew open. Speak of the devil codes. It was Monique.

"Hey girl!" Monique screamed as she darted into the room. "Good to see you looking decent. Now we must talk. I don't care if you're on a date; I need to know every little thing you dare tell me!" She leaped over to the couch and pulled Kim to her feet in a very Mrs. Possible fashion. "Y'all don't mind if I borrow her for an hour, do you?"

"But Drakken—" 993 began.

But Ron and her mother were already shaking their heads.

"I've spent the morning and last night with her," Ron said. "So you two can go off and gossip about me because I know that is what girls do! Kim, we can worry about the new Drakken clone problem later."

993 was dragged out the door.