"You're back early," Wade said from the computer complex in the Cave.
"Dinner party's moving to Kim's," Ron said moving toward the Bat-suit rack. "I have to patrol."
"You wanna talk about it?" Wade said seeing right through Ron's disguise. "Tomorrow night I mean …"
"Tomorrow's just another day," Ron said pulling on his battle suit.
"Keep telling yourself that and you might actually start believing it." Wade said, leaning back in the computer chair.
"Have you found anything on the Lucre case?" Ron asked, pulling on the mask both literally and figuratively.
"Not yet, it's weird," Wade said turning back to the computer. "But I'm still digging."
"Good," Batman said as he opened the cockpit to the Batmobile. "Contact me when you do."
(S)
The dozen thugs charged almost as one. The ones approaching Kim seemed to hesitate a bit, or at least were being somewhat cautious. They split up into three groups of two and spread out, dividing her attention. It was an effective tactic, Kim knew, or would be against a normal human being who would have to spend a lot of time twisting and turning, trying to keep track of all of them.
Some of the thugs were armed with knives. Others carried lengths of chain or pieces of pipe. One carried a tire iron. None of them were carrying guns that Kim could see. One of the thugs, backed up by his partner, lunged at Kim, knife blade glittering in the light of the street lamps. Kim brushed his weapon arm aside and popped him on the chin with a perfectly controlled punch. Perfectly controlled because if she wasn't careful, she could easily kill him. For that very reason, Kim spent hours practicing her punches on a special impact gage her father had build. The thug went glassy eyed and staggered backwards, then fell on his backside.
The partner of the downed goon backed away, yet sported a broad grin. Kim felt something hit her in the back of the head and turned around to see another thug holding a length of pipe. There was a slight dent in the pipe, and a stunned look on the tough's face. Stepping forward, Kim grabbed the pipe, pulled it out of the thug's hands, and popped him as well.
One might think that having seen a third of their number go down in a few seconds would have discouraged the others, perhaps even made them consider breaking off their attack. Not these guys, which caused Kim to revise her estimate of their collective intelligence, already low, now down a couple more notches.
In a few more seconds, it was over, the dozen gang members lying stunned or unconscious on the street. Ron and Kim were tying them up when squealing tires and a roaring engine heralded the arrival of a police car.
Kim and Ron shared a glance. What to do now? Getting tangled up with the local cops could prove awkward, if not downright disastrous.
"Still," Ron murmured, "It's not like we can run away."
The police car, the words 'Triton Police Department' plainly visible on its sides, braked to a halt, and two uniformed officers got out.
One played his flashlight over the gang members lying in the gutters before raising it to the faces of the people standing over them.
"Lieutenant Possible!" he exclaimed.
Kim fought to keep from looking surprised. "Ummm, yes!" she responded.
"What happened here, ma'am?" the cop asked, gesturing at the thugs.
"Well," Kim stammered, "Ron and I were out for a walk and they, uh, attacked us."
At the mention of Ron's name, the cop shined his flashlight in Ron's face. "Whoa! Mr. Stoppable!" the cop breathed his tone almost reverentially. Then his expression turned serious.
"Ma'am," he said, addressing Kim, "You ought to know better than to go walking in a neighborhood like this, especially with that sort of company," he added, gesturing at Ron.
"Hey, I can take care of myself!" Kim snapped, and the cop cringed slightly.
"Sorry, ma'am," he apologized. Then, all business, "I'm gonna need a statement."
Kim groaned inwardly. Despite the fact that they were here to help the people of Triton, and might even end up enlisting the help of the local authorities, they really didn't have time for this stuff.
"Look, Officer, uh," Kim hesitated, reading the man's name tag, "Mooney. Ron and I just want to be on our way. Can't I give a statement, uh, tomorrow?"
Mooney gave Kim an odd look. "Are you all right, ma'am? Should I call for an ambulance?"
"No!" Kim exclaimed. "No, I'm fine, Mooney." Mooney didn't look convinced, and Kim was starting to feel desperate. In a whispered aside to Ron she said, "Help!"
Ron closed his eyes briefly, then opened them and said in a soft but firm voice, "You take it from here, Mooney."
"I'll take it from here, ma'am," Mooney said cheerfully.
"She can make a statement later."
"You can give your statement later," Mooney confided.
"Have a nice evening."
"You kids have a nice evening!" Mooney said in a cheerfully dismissive tone. Ron linked arms with Kim and led her away. As soon as they could, the two ducked around a corner and out of sight.
"That was weird," Kim observed.
"Yeah," Ron agreed, "But at least we learned something from it - your counterpart here is a cop."
"I wonder why that is?" Kim asked. "Is she some sort of super cop? And if so, where is she?"
"I don't know," Ron admitted. "I still don't sense her, so..." He let the sentence trail off. "What do we do now?"
Kim frowned in thought. "Well," she said, "We at least have her address. Let's try that. Maybe someone there can tell us where she is."
"Sounds like a plan," Ron agreed. He was about to say something else when...
Beep-beep bee doop!
Reflexively, Kim and Ron reached for their Kimmunicators.
"Go, Wade!" Kim said.
(-V-)
The Batmobile spun around in a donut as Batman slammed on the brakes. Batman quickly changed the frequency on the communication relay. "Wade, are you there?"
Yup, who was that? It sounded like Kim, but she hasn't used the old Kimmunicator frequency in years.
"Where's the Kimmunicator now? Could that have been her?" Batman asked, narrowing his eyes.
I just did a scan; it's in Kim's bedroom closet with the batteries taken out of it…
"Something doesn't feel right," Batman growled, "Looks like I'm going to be showing up to the dinner party after all."
(S)
"What the hell was that?" Ron demanded.
"I have no idea," Kim admitted. "That sure looked like Wade, but why did he cut the signal?"
"This is a weird world," Ron said, somewhat plaintively.
"I hear you, lover," Kim agreed.
"Maybe your counterpart can explain what's going on," Ron suggested. "Let's go see her."
"Good idea," Kim said, turning her back to him. "Hop up."
Ron put his arms around Kim's neck and threw his legs over her arms piggy-back fashion. Once he was securely in place, Kim rose into the sky, taking the ultimate shortcut to their destination.
(S)
Kim stared at the warehouse apartment her counterpart lived in. She was there, along with a bunch of other people. Kim recognized 'her' parents and even, to her considerable surprise, 'Bonnie Rockwaller'. But there were others present as well. A man her father's age, with glasses and a moustache. And children. Three little girls, cute as buttons, who seemed to have the run of the place.
But no Ron. And now Kim understood why Ron had been unable to sense her counterpart. Microscopic vision showed that Kim's counterpart was human, not Kryptonian.
"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder," she murmured.
"I agree," Ron said softly, "But weird or not, she's our best shot at catching Lehrman. So let's do it."
Taking a deep breath, Kim walked up to the front door of the apartment and rang the bell. Sounds of movement inside heralded the twisting of the knob and the door swinging open.
"Yes..?" the green eyed redhead who answered said, her voice trailing off into stunned silence as she stared at something she never imagined she would ever see, even in her wildest dreams.
Herself.
"Barbara, honey?" the Kim inside the home asked staring into the other Kim's eyes.
"Yes, Mama?" a little redheaded girl bounced up to her mother's side.
"Has mommy been drinking tonight?"
To Be Continued …