The new Kim stood in the cluttered lab, taking in her surroundings before settling her eyes down on Ron.
"So, this is where you've been hiding?" Kim asked seductively, walking straight up to Ron, completely ignoring Shego.
"Aww, you missed me." Ron declared. "I'm touched."
Kim just smiled at him faintly for a split second, and then delivered a hard smack across his face, prompting a surprised look from Shego, and drawing a trail of blood from Ron's nose.
"You fool! Do you realize what I had to go through to try and find you? I actually had to use our favor with the Impossible Trio to find Lipsky's lair and get my hands on his stupid Dimensional Vortex Generator. Plus, I had to reactivate your spare Synthodrone, lest Lord Montgomery Fiske get any ideas. And what I had to do to finally get Shego to tell me where you and Andrew had gone…"
Kim's palm slapped out again, but Ron caught the attack square in his hands.
"And here I was worried you didn't care." Ron grinned widely even as he licked the blood from his own face. With that, Ron pulled Kim's face towards him, the two sharing in a lustful kiss that nearly turned Shego an all new sickly shade of green, even for her.
-----------------------------------------------------
"So you think you know how to track the Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer?" Kim asked as she, Ron and their new guest walked home through the quiet streets of Middleton.
"Ok, before we go on, can I ask that we come up with some kind of nickname? Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer is just too much of a mouthful; it doesn't really roll off the tongue, you know what I mean?
Kim shot Ron a half annoyed look, even though a part of her was smiling widely on the inside that he was still his usual self. He may have learned some new moves and bulked like she still couldn't believe, but inside, he would always be her Ron.
"Well, after all the modifications I made to ours in my world, I decided to rename it the Dimensional Vortex Generator." Dr. Lipsky offered.
"Hmm, yeah. I was thinking of something even shorter than that." Ron admitted.
"So, Dr. Lipsky, you said you might have an idea on how to find the … whatever we're calling it." Kim tried to refocus the conversation.
"Not exactly. I can't track the device itself, but I am the one that modified it in my world, and I know exactly what equipment my Ronald Stoppable is going to need if he wants to modify it the same way in order to get home. It's not the kind of stuff you find in your local hardware store. There can only be so many places in either world where he can look."
"So if we just keep an eye out for what he needs and be sure to be waiting when he shows up to steal it…" Kim began.
"We might be able to catch that fiend in the act, and get it out of him." Andrew finished with a bit of enthusiasm.
"Wait, wait. Hold everything. You're saying I know how to rewire a Dimensional Generator thingy? I can't even get the Kimmunicator to call Wade when I want." Ron argued.
Dr. Lipsky seemed a bit taken aback by this, as he turned to Kim.
"It's true. Last time, he nearly set off an international incident by accident." She responded with a sigh.
"Hey, you know, once you've got him on satellite uplink, Castro really does have a great sense of humor." Ron replied defensively.
"My Ron exposed himself to an experimental device called the Phoebus Project a little over a year back." Andrew explained.
"Let me guess, turned him into a super genius." Kim sighed.
"I'm afraid so. I gather he and Kim eventually got tired of extorting scientific expertise out of their Wade." Andrew explained solemnly.
"Oh sure, he's allowed, but when I need help with finals, will anyone let me near it? No, I have to stay up till six in the morning studying!" Ron exclaimed in frustration.
"Trust me, my Ron has the know-how, but he's still got to track down the right equipment."
"Wait a minute." Kim reached into her pocket to retrieve the Kimmunicator. Within a minute, she was able to call up the image of Team Possible's tech support and team genius.
"Oh sure. She just makes it look easy." Ron added to Andrew.
"Kim? Do you have any idea what time it is?" Wade asked groggily from his desk.
"Wade, listen closely. Remember that train hijacking. I need a list of everything that was stolen." Kim looked at the image on the Kimmunicator as he began to type furiously on the computer in front of him.
"So, let me get this straight. In your world, I'm super smart, a bad boy, a ninja; I'm really the man over there aren't I?" Ron asked, almost impressed by his own accomplishments in another world, in another life.
"I'm not really all that familiar with the personal details of your life." Andrew admitted. "But I gather that when you first asked Kim out, her father wasn't keen on the idea, which was actually one of the few smart ideas he ever had in his life. You nearly beat him to death the same night as your freshman homecoming."
Ron fell silent, a slight guilt working its way up his spine. The night was actually quite warm, but Ron brought his arms around themselves as a chill crawled up his skin.
Andrew Lipsky went over to Kim, his eyes following hers down the list that Wade had managed to gather. His eyes fell to the ground in defeat as he read down the list.
"It's too late. I'm too late. I failed again. He's already got everything he needs." Dr. Lipsky's voice sank with the weight of an anvil as he moved away, trying to conceal a stutter in his breathing.
The trio looked at each other with a terrifying silence, each one silently asking the same question. So what now?
-----------------------------------------------------
"Hmm, I knew there was a reason I kept you around." Kim moaned contentedly.
"Thought it was because you needed a meat shield to run around and attract bullets." Ron leaned back onto his pillow, placing his hands beneath his head.
"What crawled up your butt and laid eggs?" Kim asked in a disgusted tone.
"This place. Have you taken a look around?" Ron got out of bed, moving over to where he had left his clothes as he began redressing.
"Well, I'm enjoying the view so far." Kim grinned.
"This world, this place, our… 'twins'. Everyone wakes up and looks out their windows feeling safe. There's no reflexive fear, no general terror, everything is so neat and clean. Global Terror is actually an international organization known as Global Justice. Justice!" Ron practically spit out the words.
"Figures. Those losers couldn't steal candy from a baby in our world before we showed up. Of course in this world, they'd have to be even more pathetic than I ever thought possible." Kim rolled her eyes in disgusting memory.
"Everything is so bright and cheery. Do you know people actually do us favors! Favors, without even having to have them enforced! They volunteer to help Team Possible out of the goodness of their hearts, because Team Possible helped them first." Ron began pacing back and forth in just his pants, his tone becoming more and more enraged by the moment.
"God, this whole world is full of chumps." Kim was obviously not as worked up about this as Ron, but even she had to bite down the urge to gag.
"They have hope. They wake up everyday knowing that they're safe, that they don't have to worry. And whenever something comes along that's really serious, what do they do? They actually rally together. They help each other. And they have us….the other us…" Ron amended "…to save them whenever things get really out of hand."
"This didn't seem to bug you too much a few minutes ago. Not that I'm complaining. It's good to see you haven't lost your focus on priorities." Kim raised an eyebrow as she drew a finger down her slender, naked side.
"I'm not leaving. Not while it's like this. I'm not leaving till we've burned their cities to the ground. Till we've shown them how things work while we're around. Not until they've learned the folly of hope." Ron hissed his last words, a sadistic glee evident in his eyes.
For a moment Kim just rolled her eyes and shook her head, before pausing for a moment to consider.
"Well, things have been deadly quiet back home for a while now. I suppose it could be fun. A whole new world to play in." Kim rose up from the bed, making no effort to cover herself as she moved over, placing her arms seductively around Ron's neck. "Of course, if we are going to play, you know that we're going to need some toys."
"I think I got that covered. I know how much you love to 'shop' after all. But before we get to that, there's something I think you should take a look at." As Ron spoke, he reached down into his pants pocket, retrieving a disk that he proceeded to hand to Kim.
"What's this?" Kim asked, holding the simple object in her hands.
"Think of it as a way of getting to know yourself." Ron smiled his usual, sadistic grin.
-----------------------------------------------------
"There may be another way." Dr. Andrew Lipsky spoke up just as the trio reached the front of Kim's doorstep.
Kim and Ron paused to look at each other before turning to Andrew.
"The Dimensional Vortex Generator. I'll spare you the specific details, but suffice to say, it generates a very unique energy signature when activated, one that doesn't appear in nature. It would be very easy to track its source the next time it's turned on, provided we can set up the right equipment." Andrew's eyes lit up as the idea articulated itself through his own voice.
"Uhh, great idea. Just one problem guys, I traded all my dimensional generator tracking stuff years ago for some baseball cards." Ron added, trying to press a point.
"My dad! He works with NASA, and I'm sure with his and Wade's help, you can set up what you need." Kim replied.
"Your father managed to get a job with NASA?" Andrew asked, overwhelming shock evident in his face. "Will wonders never cease?" He asked rhetorically.
"Why? What was my father like in your world?" Kim asked. Even though she was starting to conclude that the more she learned about this other world, the less she would rather know, curiosity got the better of her in the end.
"Well, we worked together in college. He… had potential, a lot of potential. More than any of us, I'd say. But before he could ever truly develop that potential, he dropped out, to start selling his less than cutting edge science to the first bidder. I gather he tried marrying for money later on in life, only to end up with even more debt than before. I didn't really keep track of him until after the two of you showed up." Andrew recalled.
Kim had officially decided not to ask another question about this other world ever again.
"Listen, it's late, and I'd offer to let you crash on the couch, but I think my dad might freak, and it's way too late to start explaining all of this to him tonight." Kim explained rather awkwardly.
"No problem dude, you can stay with me." Ron offered, placing his hand on the doctor's shoulder. "I make a mean breakfast omelet, and our family couch is very comfortable. You can even ask my principle."
"Very kind of you young man. Still, we'll need to get up bright and early tomorrow. However… awkward it might be, we… I am going to need to speak with your father." Andrew reminded.
"First thing in the morning." Ron assured him. He then shot Andrew a look that the scientist quickly interpreted to mean 'now could you please turn around while I say goodnight to my girlfriend.'
"Well, I'll just give you two a moment." Andrew politely excused himself before turning around.
As Andrew took a few steps off to the distance, the two heroes turned towards each other, Ron's hands reaching out, taking Kim's in their gentle grip.
"We never can catch a break. I don't see you for months, and now, just when you get back…" Kim began.
"… Wackiness ensues." Ron finished, eliciting a giggle from Kim.
"Yeah, wackiness." Kim leaned in, her and Ron's lips sharing in a quick goodnight kiss.
"M'lady." Ron bowed in imitation of a proper gentleman.
"Good sir." Kim replied in kind, extending her hand in proper form, allowing Ron to kiss it, before finally heading off, leaving Kim to enter her home, sighing before heading upstairs to her room.
"Hey! Who trashed my room? TWEEBS!" Kim shouted aloud.
"We didn't do it!" A pair of voices insisted in perfect unison from off in the distance of the house.