(S)
The Batmobile raced along the streets of Triton, its engine rumbling like thunder, weaving through traffic under Batman's steady hand.
Ron marveled at his counterpart's skill at handling the massive vehicle. Ron wasn't exactly a slouch behind the wheel, but his skills were feeble compared to those of the Ron of this world.
Even more impressive was the way the traffic parted for the onrushing Batmobile, like the Red Sea parting before the Israelites. The looks directed their way by pedestrians and other drivers showed a mixture of fear, apprehension, awe, and hope. Reaching out with his mind, Ron tasted the emotions behind the expressions. What he found saddened him, but he took heart from one thing: the people of Triton hardly dared hope that life in their city would improve, but Ron's counterpart, as Batman, had rekindled their ability to hope, and with every day that he survived in his fight against the forces of darkness, the tiny flame he had lit grew larger and stronger.
Behind the Rons, in the jumpseats that made the tiny passenger compartment's front seats seem spacious, rode the two Kim Possibles. The Kim of this world was detailing the capabilities of the blue and white battle suit she was wearing. From what Ron gathered as she spoke, it had been made for her years earlier by her version of Wade for use in a mission against Doctor Drakken and Shego. Kim's description of a hapless, rather clumsy and incompetent Drakken and a sarcastic, somewhat cruel, but not really vicious Shego made Ron smile. But behind the smile, he was deep in thought.
'The names are the same, and the appearances are the same, but the people playing the roles are so different,' he mused. 'At least in general,' he amended after a bit more reflection. Some people, like Monkey Fist and the Senors, were virtual carbon copies of each other in appearance, personality and behavior.
Others, like Duff Killigan, had identical origins and appearances, and similar personalities, but radically different behavior: the Killigan of this world was a terrorist and thief who graced the Most Wanted lists of dozens of countries, while the 'Duff' Killigan that Ron knew was the rich and respected Patrick, Lord Killigan, who hosted an annual golf tournament on his island estate. As far as anyone had ever been able to show, the rumors that he was an exceptionally skilled and successful thief were just that: rumors.
Ron shook his head and focused on the Kim of this world again and what she had been saying. Her suit was impressive. Among its capabilities, it was fire-, bullet-, and shrapnel-proof. It offered protection from extremes of temperature, as well as augmentation to Kim's strength. It also contained a host of neat gadgets, from a mouthpiece that allowed underwater breathing to built-in communications gear. Pouches and pockets held tiny lasers, canisters of tear gas, constrictive plastic, and other items, some of which Ron recognized from his Kim's use of identical stuff.
"Pretty neat suit, KP," he grinned, unfeigned enthusiasm evident in his voice. To his surprise, the Kim of this world gave him a queer look, then blushed slightly.
"All it needs," Ron went on excitedly, "Is a big 'KP' on the chest, and you'd be all set."
That made the other Kim blush even more.
"You make me sound like some kind of superhero," she said with a wry smile, underlain with more than a touch of regret.
Ron shrugged. "We'll, you've got the colorful costume, the cool gadgets, and the mad skills," he replied. "In my world, that'd make you a superhero by default."
"Your world sounds like a happy place," this world's Kim said softly.
"Be that as it may," Batman interrupted gruffly, "We're in our world, Detective Possible, and we need to stay focused."
"Right," Kim agreed, snapping out of her reverie. She pulled out her Kimmunicator and keyed it. Wade's face appeared on the small screen.
"Wade, what have you got on that location Catwoman gave us?" she demanded. They'd left the Batcave without any real idea of what they were walking into, driven by the urgency of the situation. Wade had promised complete plans of the place, as well as advice on getting in undetected.
"Oh, ye of little faith," Wade grinned cockily. "I have everything you need right here, Kim. Downloading it to your... I mean, to everyone's Kimmunicators now," he added.
The Kim of this world studied the information that came up on her display.
"The Lowerton Foundry," she muttered. It made sense. The foundry had been shut down since the mid-nineteen-seventies, after more than a century of operation. Presently, the sight was mostly abandoned, save for a handful of small businesses that were able to make use of various of the old foundry's facilities.
It was a widely held opinion within the Triton PD that said small businesses, while wholly legitimate in and of themselves, were fronts for the mob, probably used to launder money from various criminal activities.
The presence of those small enterprises would also serve to explain away any activity at the sprawling foundry complex. And complex it was. In the hundred and twelve years of its existence, the foundry had been built, partly torn down, rebuilt, buried, flooded, rebuilt again, and so on. The last modernization, in the late fifties, had left a curious assemblage of modern concrete buildings standing among crumbling edifices of brick and stone. Old plans showed extensive underground passages and chambers, some of them quite large. In all, the place was a labyrinth, and Barbara could be anywhere within it.
"Yes, the Lowerton Foundry," Batman growled. "It fits Slade's M.O. perfectly: fairly remote, easily defensibly, yet close enough to the action be a convenient base of operations."
The Kim of the other world was studying her own Kimmunicator thoughtfully.
"Big place," she murmured. "If we have to search the whole facility it'll take hours, even at-" She cut herself off suddenly and sat up straight. Fixing her gaze on Batman she said, "My Ron can probably sense Barbara through the mystical monkey power, once we get close enough, that is," she said, "But that will only give us a direction. Actually getting to her could take a while. What's your plan?"
Batman didn't take his eyes off the road.
"I suspect that Slade is using this building here," he said, taking one hand off the wheel just long enough to point at a building on the holographic display that sprang to life across the inside of the Batmobile's windshield. It was the foundry's main building, the one where steel and iron had been melted and poured into molds. "But we'll check all of them, just to be sure."
"My Ron and I will handle the outbuildings," the other Kim remarked. When Batman responded with a quizzical glance, she added, "Between him, me and Dexter, we can search them faster than you might think, Batman. Besides, you and your Kim should be the ones to rescue Barbara. We'll play backup."
"Why that one?" the other Ron interjected, nodding at the display, his tone dubious.
"It's far and away the largest and the interior would work well as a maze-like fortress." Batman answered grimly. "If Slade's anything, he's a killer. Especially with those who try to get in his way. He enjoys luring his enemies into death traps. But we have one advantage. Slade is expecting one or two, we're delivering four."
"Heck of a trump card," Ron whispered, glancing back to his Kim to wink. "On the other hand," he added, "Slade does know you're coming. Or at least he expects it."
"Exactly," Batman nodded. "That's while we need to check all the buildings. Slade may have anticipated that I'd deduce his choice of lair and altered his plans accordingly." Batman went silent for a moment, thinking, then spoke again. "I assume, with your ninja training, you can stick to the shadows, Ron," Batman asked, glancing to the visitor. "And hopefully, keep your Kim hidden."
Ron nodded.
"Good. Hopefully, we can get Barbara out of there before it gets rough, but if anyone runs into trouble, hit the signal button on the Kimmunicators." Batman concluded. The Batmobile slowed as he turned a corner, then stopped. The canopy slid back. "This is where we get out," he announced. "The foundry is a two blocks away. We go on foot the rest of the way."
(-V-)
"This place is a maze …" Kim complained as she and Batman moved through the main building. The place was like the steel mills she always saw in movies, with huge crucibles, giant cranes, massive conveyor belts, and a bewildering array of machines whose functions she could only guess at. All of them were cold and dark, but that only seemed to make them more intimidating.
"I warned you it would be," Batman reminded her as he paused to look around a corner. They had seen few signs of life so far. The three buildings they'd checked so far had been obviously deserted, with no evidence of recent activity. Now, they were in the big building, the one Batman had singled out from the beginning. There was plenty of activity here. There were some guards, but they were all on the perimeter of the building, looking outward mentally as well as physically. There were few to none in the interior.
The danger inside came from the lackeys of the two men they were seeking. The danger was that of discovery, as none of the men they had seen so far seemed capable of putting up a serious fight. They were all engaged in manufacturing Frugal Lucre's advanced weaponry.
"How do you know we're on the right track?" Kim whispered.
"I don't." Batman admitted. "Hopefully, we'll find Barbara without anyone noticing we're here. If we have to, though, we'll snag somebody and see if they know anything."
They moved on, deep into the building, sticking to the shadows. Batman had expected Kim's suit to stick out. He'd forgotten that it had the ability to shift its coloration. Kim hadn't and had switched to a black and gray camouflage pattern before he'd finished voicing his concern.
(-V-)
Barbara tried the door again. It was still locked. The office she was being held in still had furniture and stuff, even some things she could have used to break the glass of the big window in the door. But there was a man standing right outside, which made escape by that route impossible.
Not one to give up, Barbara went around the office again, searching for something, anything, that might help her. She was halfway along when she heard a scratching noise and tensed up. She wasn't afraid of rats, as such, but she'd seen a couple since she'd been brought here, big ones. The idea of being locked in a small room with one wasn't very pleasant. Something scampered out of the shadows and slid to a stop in front of her.
"Rufus!" Barbara gasped, "I mean, Dexter!"
"Hi!" Dexter said, waving up at her. "Kim Kim Ron Ron come rescue you!" he squeaked.
"I can't get out the way you got in?" Barbara asked eagerly. Dexter though for a moment, then nodded his head and gestured for Barbara to follow. In a corner of the office, hidden under a rug, was a ventilation grille. Moving as quietly as she could, Barbara pulled the rug away. The grille was held in place only by gravity and came up easily.
The air duct below was dark and scary looking, but Dexter, sensing Barbara's apprehension, jumped down into it and produced a tiny but powerful light from the pack he wore on his back. With a grin, Barbara lowered herself into the duct and pulled the grille back into place.
(-V-)
Kim was standing behind Batman, leaning over his shoulder as he scanned the open area ahead of them. He found he had to concentrate to stay focused, what with her being so close and smelling so good. She touched him lightly to get his attention and pointed. A man carrying a fast food bag and a large cup was heading for what appeared to be an office. Interestingly, the office door had a guard, who had to unlock the door to admit the man with the food. More interestingly, the man with the food came out mere moments later, clearly agitated.
"She's gone!" the food man exclaimed.
The guard ducked into the office, came back out again, produced a two-way radio and spoke into it.
"Possible's brat has escaped!"
In the darkness across the way, Kim smiled.
"That's my girl," she said softly.
"What do you mean she's escaped?" Slade demanded angrily. The stammered response of his unseen lackey made Lucre grin. Whatever his faults, the man knew how to cow and intimidate people.
"I mean she's gone, sir," the lackey answered. "There's an air vent in the office we didn't notice earlier," he added after a brief pause. "Maybe she went in there."
"Maybe you should find out," Slade suggested sarcastically. Then, in an icy cold voice, "If she isn't caught in fifteen minutes, I'll have to take disciplinary action."
Shaking his head in disgust, Slade hit the general communications button on his radio.
"Attention. The prisoner has escaped. She may be in the ventilation system. Be on the lookout and keep me informed." With that, Slade snagged his weapons and headed for the door. "I'm going to look for her," he said simply. Lucre responded by picking up one of his prototype weapons and following on Slade's heels.
(-V-)
Batman keyed his comm unit.
"Wade," he whispered. "Barbara's escaped into the ventilation system. I need plans for it, ASAP."
Wade had barely answered in the affirmative when a new voice came on the network. At first, Batman didn't recognize it, but then it hit him. It was the voice of a naked mole rat. The excited chittering was hard to follow, but then Barbara's voice took over.
"Mommy?" the little girl whispered, sounding more than a little scared.
"I'm here, baby," Kim broke in. "Where are you?"
"I don't know," Barbara confessed. "There are men all around, and I think they know where I am."
"Your Mom and I are on our way," Batman said as reassuringly as his stage voice would allow him to. "You stay where you are, unless someone comes in after you, okay?"
"Okay," Barbara promised.
(-V-)
Kim and Batman hurried through the foundry, avoiding such of Slade's underlings as they encountered. They had made the somewhat risky decision to have Dexter transmit again, for just a few seconds every couple of minutes, so they could get a fix on Barbara's location. It was risky because, even though it was highly unlikely Slade could break the Kimmunicators' encryption set, he could detect the transmissions themselves. If he was listening for them.
(-V-)
Barbara shivered nervously. One of the bad men was getting very close now. She could hear him moving in the vent behind her.
"He must have figured out where we got to and followed us, Dexter," she whispered.
Dexter nodded in agreement, then tugged at Barbara's wrist with his tiny paw.
"Hnka! Follow!" he chirped, gesturing farther down the shaft.
Gathering her courage, Barbara followed Dexter's lead.
Slade's men were nervous. They all knew who the little girl, and by extension, her mother, was. They also knew that Detective Kim Possible was an ally of The Bat. In their minds, deliberately drawing the attention of the Caped Crusader was madness, and the fancy guns Slade's new partner had provided them were of little comfort. Could bullets hurt a shadow? Let alone kill it?
The fact that they were almost nothing more than common thugs was evidenced by their tactics. Instead of working in teams, they were hunting individually. One thug, a fellow named Steiss, hearing a banging noise that seemed to come from one of the air ducts and crisscross the foundry, raised his gun and fired. The burst echoed loudly in the stillness, making his comrades jump and become even more jittery. The rattle of ricocheting bullets had barely faded when a hand landed on Steiss' shoulder and dragged him around.
"I want her alive, fool!" Slade hissed and cracked Steiss across the face with the back of his fist. Steiss staggered, spitting blood, nodding submissively.
Elsewhere, a man named Pritchard was approaching a dark alcove. His heart was thumping, for he thought he'd seen...something...duck into the alcove. He wanted nothing more than to riddle the alcove with automatic gunfire but, mindful of Slade's words, and terrified of the man's wrath, Pritchard held his fire. With a final summoning of courage, Pritchard stepped around the last corner, gun leveled.
The alcove was empty. Pritchard sighed and sagged with relief. Then, a gloved hand clamped itself across his mouth and dragged him into the darkness.
(-V-)
Barbara found herself at a dead end, looking out a grate at what seemed to be an empty chamber, though she couldn't see all that much of it. Whoever was following her had lost ground, but was still coming.
"I think we'd better get out and see if we can find a better hiding place, Dex," she confided. Dexter nodded his agreement, and with his help Barbara soon had the grate off. A quick glance showed she was in a large room with a very high ceiling. Around the perimeter were stacks of crates and stuff. Plenty of hiding places, she decided. Working quickly, Barbara replaced the grate, then turned to bolt for the nearest wall. She found herself confronted by the black clad figure of Batman.
Barbara threw herself at the Dark Knight with a teary cry of, "Daddy!"
Batman wrapped her in his arms and cape and held her tight to his chest. "It's going to be ok now, munchkin, I promise," he whispered in his own voice as she buried her face into his chest.
"I know," she smiled as Batman picked her up.
"Now, let's get you back to Mommy. She's been really worried about you," Batman whispered. He turned, ready to head back to where Kim was waiting, and froze.
"Leaving so soon?" Slade Wilson, a.k.a. Deathstroke the Terminator, asked, stepping out of the gloom. "I'm hurt that you don't appreciate my hospitality."
Batman stepped toward Deathstroke, making sure he was between Barbara and the madman. As he did so, one hand slipped down to his belt pressed the Kimmunicator signal button. "It's been a long time, Slade," he said.
"Indeed it has, Ronald. I must say your combat attire is quite interesting, though I imagine the cape gets in the way in CQC." Deathstroke said, his head cocked slightly to the side.
"Barbara, stay behind me" Batman commanded, never taking his eyes off his opponent.
Slade reached up and casually drew a sword from a scabbard on his back. As he did so, Batman noticed a number of Slade's minion's enter the room, guns held at the ready. They began to fan out.
Batman knew what they intended. Separate themselves widely enough, and someone among them would have a shot at Barbara, no matter what Batman did. They were going to try and force him to surrender by threatening Kim's daughter. Batman fought to keep a grin off his face. Instead, he counted down in his head. 'Three, two, one.'
There was a rush of air as a dark-clad redhead dropped from the shadows above, snatched Barbara up with one arm, and disappeared back into the gloom
"I think you just lost your trump card, Slade," Batman jeered.
Slade snarled, then gestured to a ladder that lead to the upper areas of the room. One harshly worded order later, three of his thugs were ascending the ladder.
"Let them go," Batman said. "You have what you want."
Slade chuckled. "No," he refused.
"Why not?"
"You must suffer before you die, Batman," Slade mocked.
"You're a monster, Slade."
"And you're a sad excuse for a human being; as always, you lack the strength to do all that is neccesary." Slade sneered.
"Let's find out, Sensei." Batman growled before sending a Batarang toward the assassin.
(-V-)
"Stay close to me, honey," Kim said as she and Barbara took stock of their surroundings. They were on a catwalk high above the floor. Pulling out her Kimmunicator, Kim brought up a diagram of the building. Sure enough, the network of catwalks was included in the plans. Working quickly, Kim mapped out their escape route.
"We aren't going to leave Daddy, are we?" Barbara asked in an anguished voice.
It was all Kim could do not to burst into tears at her daughter's choice of title for Ron. As it was, she did get misty eyed and choked up a bit.
"Daddy will be fine, baby. You know how good he is in a fight. Besides, that other Kim and Ron are helping us, remember?"
(-V-)
Slade's sword struck the blades of Batman's gauntlets as the two men tested each other's defenses.
"What's the matter, Batman? I thought you would thank me for removing the evidence that your beloved Kim Possible laid with another man."
Batman, knowing Slade was trying to goad him, said nothing, limiting his response to a punch at the face which the older man dodged with ease.
"Ra's al Ghul was right about you. You had so much potential, Batman, only to waste it like this. It's a shame."
"Don't count me out yet," Batman warned, catching the blade of the katana between the spikes of his gauntlets and wrenching it from Slade's grasp.
"Not bad," Slade allowed, spinning away from his foe and snatching up the sword from where it had fallen. He took a moment to examine the blade for damage, then resumed his attack. Behind him, Frugal Lucre and a dozen more thugs ran into the room.
Slade's henchmen reached the catwalk level and fanned out in an effort to cut off their quarry. They had orders to take Kim and Barbara alive, so their guns were holstered, but they were big and muscular and used to intimidating women. When one of them found himself confronting Kim on a narrow stretch of catwalk, he favored her with a lecherous, gap-toothed grin as he advanced. Somewhat to his surprise, she advanced as well, a cold grin on her face as well. The thug never noticed the tiny pink form that scampered toward him ahead of his prey. Not, at least, until razor sharp teeth sank into the flesh of his lower leg.
A yelp of pain, from a male voice, interrupted the duel below. Slade, Batman, and everyone else looked up to see a large man come hurtling down to land on a pile of rubbish. He lay there, groaning, apparently out of the fight.
"One down, two to go," Batman jabbed.
Slade's face twitched at the taunt, but he didn't respond.
"Never strike out in anger, remember?" Slade replied. "You'll have to do better than that."
Frugal Lucre watched the fight with mixed feelings. Batman and Slade were nearly evenly matched. As such, this might take a while, especially since Slade seemed to want to prolong the affair. If it was up to Lucre, Batman would look like a sieve about now. Alas, Slade was insistent that Batman, Kim Possible, and her daughter be taken alive. Such was the word from on high. Lucre grinned humorlessly. Fortunately, he could do something about the current situation without violating the letter of Slade's orders.
"Put away your guns," he told his men, "and bum rush this 'Batman' character. We'll take him down with overwhelming force."
The henchmen moved to agree, perhaps sensing the truth of Lucre's strategy.
Before they had taken a handful of steps, a muffled voice scolded, "Two dozen against one? That hardly seems fair." Then, a hooded figure clad in ninja garb leapt into their midst and began wreaking havoc. Whoever he was, he moved like lightning. Armed with two short staves, each about three feet long, he tore into the thugs mercilessly.
Taking his cue from the newcomer, Batman broke away from Slade and engaged the balance of the henchmen, all the while evading his pursuing foe.
In no time at all, the henchmen were down, leaving Batman and his strange ally facing Slade and Lucre.
"I'm impressed, Ronald," Slade acknowledged with a slight bow. You and your mysterious friend put on quite a show. But," he added, noting that his adversaries were breathing hard from their exertions, "You lack my enhanced stamina. And of course, my comrade has a gun."
Lucre was blinking in confusion. Slade had clearly been addressing Batman when he used the name 'Ronald'. His thoughts whirled. We're in Middleton (sort of), Batman is allied with Kim Possible, and Slade called him 'Ronald'.
"Wait," Lucre said aloud. "Are you saying that Batman is Ron Stoppable?"
"Of course he isn't," the ninja retorted, reaching up and pulling off his hood. "I'm Ron Stoppable."
It was Slade's turn to be shocked. He stood, looking back and forth between the two as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Lucre continued to think. Slade was of this world, knew Batman well and was convinced Batman was the Ron Stoppable of his world. But if Batman was the Ron Stoppable of this world, then the other Ron Stoppable had to be...
The other Ron seemed to sense Lucre's thoughts, no surprise in retrospect, and favored him with a feral grin.
"Lex Luthor sends his regards...Francis."
Lucre shuddered.
"We have to get out of here," he said, his voice shaking.
Slade gave him a doubtful look. "Why?"
"Why?" Lucre replied. "Because if he's here, that means she's here."
Before Slade could utter a word, Lucre raised his gun, pointing it toward the catwalks above. One of the gun's many features was an infrared sight that gave him a clear view of Kim Possible and her kid. Aiming well away from them, Lucre selected the 'grenade' function of his weapon and fired at one of the brackets that held the stretch of catwalk Kim was on to the ceiling.
(-V-)
The catwalk shook violently as the grenade hit and exploded. Kim threw Barbara down and herself on top of her daughter as the explosive round went off and felt shrapnel strike her, though none of the pieces got through her suit.
"Let's go, now!" Lucre commanded, grabbing Slade's shoulder and dragging him along. Slade wasn't one to follow orders, especially from someone he considered an inferior, but something about Lucre's urgency compelled him to obey.
(-V-)
Batman and Ron looked up in horror as one end of the catwalk slowly broke away its supports. The other end was still securely anchored, and the two men could hear the groans and squeals of tearing metal. High above them, Kim, her eyes squeezed shut, held Barbara with one arm while she clung as tightly as she could to the catwalk with the other.
Then, the catwalk broke loose and began to fall, swinging down like a pendulum.
To Kim's amazement the catwalk stopped falling almost as soon as it started. She could still hear metal protesting, but opened her eyes. To her utter consternation, her counterpart was just a few feet away, looking right at her, the free end of the catwalk held in one hand. The other Kim's mission togs (or at least what Kim had assumed were her mission togs) were gone replaced by a tight, form fitting suit of blue and red that would have been embarrassingly revealing on anyone with a less perfect physique. Adding to Kim's bafflement was the fact that the other Kim's grapple gun was still at her hip. There didn't seem to be anything holding her up, and she was a good thirty feet above the floor.
More pops and squeals sounded, and the catwalk jerked. Kim looked back over her shoulder. The other end of the section was ripping loose as well. She returned her gaze to her counterpart.
"Give me your hand," the other Kim urged, holding out her free one. Kim complied, the two women locking grips.
"Have you got her?" Kim's double asked.
"Yes," Kim assured her.
With that, the other Kim let go of the catwalk. Barbara watched it fall away in wide-eyed amazement as the other Kim held them suspended in mid-air.
Some of Slade's and Lucre's thugs had regained their feet and, noting the absence of their bosses, snatched up their guns and began firing at the floating target.
(S)
Twisting to face the thugs, Kim stared at the floor in front of them. A triangle of rippling air appeared. The dusty concrete floor began to smoke. More importantly, the fusillade of bullets aimed at her human charges vanished in puffs of smoke as they entered the field of her heat vision.
Ron and Batman were already moving. In moments, the thugs were down, and Kim was lowering her counterpart and her daughter to the ground.
(-V-)
By the time they found where Slade and Lucre had run off to, the duo had gotten away. No small surprise there, since Lucre had recreated Lex Luthor's dimension bridging device. The still cooling machine gave mute testimony just how and where to the pair had fled.
"Well, it looks like our work here is done," the Ron of that other world said simply. "My Kim and I need to go back to our world and stop those two before they wreak an equal amount of havoc there."
"I understand," Batman agreed, "But I'm coming with you."
"Eh?" the other Ron wondered.
"Slade is mine," Batman clarified. "I know him better than anyone, and he's far more dangerous than you realize."
"I wasn't impressed," the other Ron replied.
Batman actually chuckled. "He wasn't giving his all here because he knew he had an open escape route," he said, nodding at the dimension bridge. "Corner him, and it'll be a different story." Batman paused and glanced at the other Kim. "Even with her super powers," he added.
The Kim of this world spoke up. "First, we drop Barbara off with Bonnie. If you're going to that other world, then so am I."
Batman started to argue, but Kim silenced him with a single raised finger. "I have a score to settle with those two for kidnapping my baby," she explained. "But before we do any of that..." Kim turned to her counterpart. "Just how in God's name can you do all those things?"