The image on the Kimmunicator screen replayed itself again and again. Team Possible watched in numbed terror as the entire area was reduced to ground zero by the attack.
"Turn if off, Wade." Kim finally instructed. The image on the screen was replaced by a two way conference, Wade's image taking up the entire top half of the screen and Dr. Lipsky from within a NASA laboratory in the lower half. Off to the side of Team Possible stood Doctor Director. "Andrew, tell me you and my dad were able to find those two."
"Yes." Dr. Lipsky replied firmly. "The new tracking system we picked up detected two energy signatures consistent with the signature of the Dimensional Vortex Generator. One of them came from Colorado, and the other came from a small island in the South Pacific. That's where the other Team Possible is hiding."
"I just got off the phone with the Joint Chiefs." Dr. Director interjected. "If you've really found out where they are hiding, I'm instructed to call in an air strike with napalm and melt that island to glass."
"Bad idea." Wade replied. "I took the liberty of taking some satellite pictures of the island. It looks fairly undefended… until I found this." Wade typed in a few choice keys on his computer pad, prompting an image of an enormously large tesla coil standing over a hundred feet into the air over the peak of the large mountain in the center of the island in question.
"What is that?" Ron asked.
"It's a Point Defense System. They've got one in our world too." Dr. Lipsky's image reappeared on the screen of the Kimmunicator. "Doctor Director, that thing is capable of shooting down any number of planes you send at it out of the sky in seconds, as well as any missiles fired. The same with any ground assault. They'll all be annihilated before getting within a mile of the stronghold. That thing could target a fly with a ray weapon powerful enough to melt steel like butter."
"I hope you have another way of getting in then. The President is going to want to know what we plan to do about this situation." Doctor Director's determination had not wavered in the slightest, despite Dr. Lipsky's warnings, eyeing the scientist squarely.
"We go in through the secret underwater entrance." Ron answered.
For a moment, all eyes turned on Ron with a mixture of confusion and astonishment.
"And how do you know they have a secret underwater entrance?" Kim asked, her eyebrows arched.
"Oh come on. Setting up a secret headquarters on a small, totally isolated and completely exposed island in the middle of nowhere. I know I'd have one if I wanted to be able to escape without anyone noticing." Ron replied rather obviously.
Stunned silence reigned for a moment longer before Kim turned back to the images on the Kimmunicator.
"Wade?"
"I think Ron might be onto something. Thermal scans are picking up an underground structure that looks like it might empty into the ocean." Wade responded with a note of surprise in his voice as data presented itself across his screen.
"Then that's our way in. We'll need a ride." Kim turned to Doctor Director.
"I think I can arrange that." The Director smiled widely.
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"In the United States, the National Guard has been mobilized in every state to help with the evacuations going on all across the country. Reports are already coming in of traffic in the cities of New York, Washington DC and Philadelphia being completely crippled due to the sheer volume of fender benders and assorted other accidents resulting from a panicked populace desperately fleeing their homes in search of safety. Of course the question on everyone's minds in a situation like this is where exactly might such a place be?"
The image of the reporter on the screen suddenly went mute, the report continuing on in deafened silence as the villainous quartet continued to stare at the images on the screen. Thousands of people had taken to the streets, carrying supplies and themselves down the highway passed trapped vehicles. Families struggled desperately to remain together and keep moving, using everything from shopping carts to their own shoulders to carry what they might need just to survive another night.
"Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful." Ron whispered in a hushed awe.
"Reminds me of home." Kim grinned, her arms crossed as she tried to focus in on the looks of terror in the eyes of the people on the screen.
Dr. Drakken and Shego simply looked at each other almost nervously, Drakken twiddling his fingers aimlessly before finally working up the courage to speak. "Uhmm, I don't suppose you'd like to tell me what the real plan is?" He asked meekly.
"Real plan?" Ron asked, his eyebrow rose slightly.
"Yeah." Shego responded. "I mean what, you're just going to blast every city on Earth and that's it?" Her voice as unsure and unconfident as Drakken, though she managed to hide it slightly better.
"No." Ron replied plainly.
Shego and Drakken let out a collective sigh.
"Just a few to get our point across. Or at least as many as it takes till our do-gooder selves show up to try and stop us." Kim announced.
"Once we've got them, we'll leave. You two can keep the Mega Cannon if you want. We've already got one back home." Ron explained rather simply.
"What, that's it? Just like that?" Shego asked, unconvinced.
"What? You expect us to stay, conquer this place like we did back home? Try to hold on to two earths at the same time?" Kim asked.
"Well, actually… yes. I would." Drakken replied.
"Hmm, we thought about it. But we've still got some problems back home to work out. It's enough work keeping our own world in line as it is, trying to manage two at the same time would definitely be biting off more than we can chew." Kim went on.
Shego's gaze focused on Kim intently, but her thoughts were interrupted by a blaring siren ringing throughout the control room.
"What's that? What's happening?" Drakken asked frantically.
"We've got company." Ron grinned.
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Ron and Kim rechecked over their wetsuits and breathing equipment. The two had made the trip via hypersonic aircraft to the South Pacific where they had boarded the Sea Wolf class submarine, the Trident, which was currently just off the coast of the island lair in question. Even making the trip in record time only left the pair with fifteen minutes before the deadline. Most of the major cities in the world wouldn't even be thirty percent completed with their evacuation. The first shot would surely kill millions, no matter which target picked, if Kim and Ron failed.
"The captain has confirmed our holding off the island. I believe we are going to have to swim the rest of the way." Dr. Lipsky walked into the room in his own wetsuit, already geared up and ready to go.
"This is all assuming that they haven't spotted us. With their technology, you'd think they wouldn't have a problem spotting a submarine just off their coast." Kim replied as she placed her goggles over her eyes.
"Maybe they're on a coffee break." Ron offered uneasily.
"Or it's a trap." Dr. Lipsky finished.
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"There's still one thing I don't get." Kim's voice came over the trio's headset as they swam together in formation beneath the dark waters, guided mostly by a GPS set on Kim's wrist. "If they can open a dimensional portal over any city that they want and drop a huge laser beam, why didn't they just use that to pop right into Global Justice instead of breaking in through the front door? They didn't have any problem using the technology to make their escape."
"I've been thinking about that." Dr. Lipsky replied. "It's quite likely that the targeting system on their Dimensional Vortex Generator isn't completely refined. The Lab was over fifty stories underground and if they had opened a portal even a few feet off target…"
"… they'd have been sharing mail with the groundhogs." Ron concluded.
"Somewhat crudely put, but accurate. Without a relay point to transmit more precise coordinates to their base, they could have very easily materialized inside solid rock during their break in. However, I doubt that their targeting system is off by more than a few feet, which probably won't make much difference now since they are targeting entire cities with a weapon as powerful as the Mega Cannon."
Kim was about to say something when a sight up ahead caught her attention.
"There. The secret underwater entrance." Kim shinned her light in the direction, noting a large, industrially carved mouth within a large rock formation ahead of the group.
"Ha, see. You owe me a Naco!" Ron exclaimed proudly.
"Perhaps we might wait to settle all debts until after this is all over." Dr. Lipsky offered as his pace increased. Kim and Ron followed after, swimming in through the opening, following it up into a large, artificially lit cavern, a metal floor completely surrounding the pool into which the opening lead into.
The trio broke the surface of the water, removing their breathing gear to taste air, when a large sound thundered over head, slightly shaking the cave walls around them.
"What was that?" Kim asked.
"Oh that would be the sound of our Point Defense System in action." A cruel voice rained down from atop a metal walkway that went all around the entire chamber. The trio looked up to see Ron Stoppable, the other Ron Stoppable, leaning back, his arms crossed, against the cave wall. "Oh that reminds me, if you're thinking of getting a ride back home, you might want to try an airplane. I understand flying is the safest way to travel these days. Too bad no one explained that to the crew of that sub of yours."
"Villain!" Dr. Lipsky shouted.
"Actually, I prefer the term 'deranged sociopath.'" Ron explained.
"We don't have time for this. You guys go. I'll handle him." The original Ron stated confidently as he lifted himself out of the water, casually dropping his breathing tank and equipment and removing his wetsuit to reveal his mission gear.
Kim bit back the urge to protest, well aware that they were both on an urgent time table. Taking a split second, the two shot each other a knowing look that they both instantly understood.
Good luck.
Grabbing Dr. Lipsky by the arm, Kim helped him out of the water. Both quickly discarded their wet gear before heading off down a corridor that lead out of the enormous chamber, leaving the two Rons too themselves.
"You have no idea how much I have been looking forward to this." The short haired Ron stated.
"Guess we have something in common after all."
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Kim and Andrew hurried down the dimly lit corridor, both trying to keep a mental clock of the time remaining.
Less than ten minutes.
The pair quickly found themselves inside what appeared to be an enormous assembly area or lab of some kind. A large supply of tools and spare parts lay littered about the floor, and a massive imprint stained the center of the room, marking where some kind of large device of some sort had clearly been moved.
Standing tall and proud in the middle of the mess of mechanical devices was a tall, red haired young woman that Kim had been looking forward to meeting.
"So, you're the hero around here, huh?" The other Kim Possible asked sarcastically, her eyes focusing intently on the pair. "You know, I couldn't believe it, I just couldn't believe it. Even when I heard it, saw it for myself, I still thought it was just some bad dream. Maybe some crazy scheme of Lipskys to drive me insane or something. But look at you. The real thing. Teen hero extraordinaire. Can't believe you actually did it, Andrew." Her gaze turned to the scientist.
"I told you there was a better world, and that I'd make you answer for all the horrible things you've done." Dr. Lipsky stated firmly, as if there was a triumph, however small, to be found in this moment.
"Yeah, yeah. Too bad your wife isn't here to share your little moment. Oh you should have heard her scream, beg, to tell me everything about your little plan. She was pleading to give you up, to sell you out so that I'd stop." Kim's lips curled sinisterly. "I've got the whole thing on DVD if you don't believe me."
"HARLET! I swear you'll pay." Rage coursed through the scientist as he ran charging toward his nemesis, who remained perfectly calm and composed in the face of the rampaging doctor. However, before Andrew Lipsky could reach his foe, he was cut off as Kim Possible leapt between the two, landing to cut him off.
"She's only trying to distract us, to stall for time. Go. Shut down her cannon. I'll cover you." Kim shouted the order as her gaze came firmly down upon her double.
"Yes, yes. Go. Go fail this world like you failed your own a dozen times over." The other Kim waved dismissively as she slowly composed herself for combat.
For a moment, Dr. Lipsky seemed torn between the decision before himself. However, as he considered ignoring his duties, and giving in to his rage, his anger, he looked down at his hand, his eyes focusing on a golden band around his ring finger.
"I'll see you later. Good luck with her." Dr. Lipsky answered finally, speaking to Kim as he ran off past the pair. For a moment, the original Kim expected her double to leap after the scientist, yet she remained perfectly composed against herself.
"So, just you and me." Kim smiled.
"Come on hero; let's see what you've got." The other Kim challenged.
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Ron Stoppable blocked a kick to his head, following through with a blow to his double's gut which was deflected. The two moved faster than the eye could follow with a series of blows and blocks, finally climaxing as Ron managed to grab a thrust from his double and using it against him in the form of a judo throw that sent his double flying through the air.
The short haired Ron regained his bearings, leaping to his feet in time to see the original Ron fly towards him with a drop kick. Acting quickly, the alternate Ron ducked the attack, and then leapt up into the air with a flying spin kick that clobbered the original Ron as he touched down, hitting him squarely in the face. Determined to keep up the pressure, the short haired Ron followed through with a swipe and a roundhouse kick, both of which missed.
The original Ron maintained his defense, keeping his arms and hands close to his face as he deflected a series of jabs from his opponent.
"I know all about you." The short haired Ron taunted, even as he managed to swipe his double's feet out from beneath him. "You're just the sidekick, the distraction. You run around, make a scene, embarrass yourself, and usually get lucky."
The alternate Ron's foot shot down to land right on top of the original's lungs, but was caught squarely by his twin's hands.
"I've improved my repertoire lately." The original Ron stated confidently as he twisted the alternate Ron's foot, prompting a loud cracking sound that elicited a cry of pain. Even as the short haired Ron grabbed for his foot in a vain attempt to control the pain, the original Ron leapt to his feet, kicking out fiercely and knocking his double to the ground.
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Kim Possible ducked a roundhouse kick, before leaping back and over another. She came down, quickly using her own momentum, only to propel herself back at her double, tackling her and sending them both to the ground.
"What do you get out of it?" The alternate Kim asked, even as she head butted her double, knocking her back, and giving herself a chance to regain her footing.
"You wouldn't understand." Kim replied, even as the pair stood back, both regaining their pose. "People like you can never think about anything but themselves. You'd never understand anything about me."
"Oh you'd be surprised." Even as the leather clad Kim spoke, she leapt forward through the air to land a drop kick on her opponent. The original Kim ducked the attack, coming around in time to deflect a roundhouse kicked from her opponent. Kim quickly regained the offensive with a haymaker which the other Kim caught firmly in her grip, allowing her to taunt her opponent. "Dear diary, still no news on Ron. His postcard said he'd be home soon, but of course, I have no idea when soon is." The other Kim mocked in a high pitched, dreamy school girl voice. "Sound familiar?"
"My diary?" Kim asked aloud. Her momentary shock gave the other Kim the chance needed to kick out, hitting her opponent squarely in the stomach, forcing her to draw a long breath. "How…?" Kim managed to gasp the question.
"Blame my Ron. He downloaded it off your computer just as you and your boyfriend got home. You know, we really do have a lot more in common than I was willing to admit." The alternate Kim mused almost fondly.
Kim turned rage red at this. Anger seethed through her entire system which she harnessed into a haymaker that knocked her twin back, drawing blood from her nose.
"I am nothing like you! You've killed hundreds of people. You're a murderer, a monster." Kim shouted, bringing her foot around for a roundhouse kick that the other Kim caught squarely in her hands.
"Well, to each her own." The leather clad Kim smiled as she used her strength to grab her twin's leg, lifting it up into the air and spinning it around a hundred and eighty degrees before letting go, sending the original flying through the air to skid roughly onto the ground. "But there are similarities. After all, we both keep our boy toys dangling by strings like the good little puppets they are."
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"You think a few new moves are enough to take me?" The short haired Ron asked, even as he reset his foot in a swift movement. "You're just the sideshow. She's saved your life so many times, it's pitiful."
Rising back to his feet, the other Ron renewed his attack with a left strike, then a right. The original managed to dodge both, only to catch a knee straight to the gut, causing him to double over in pain.
"You think that because your girlfriend has held your hand all this time, that that makes you a hero. That that gives you what it takes to play with the big boys?" The alternate Ron followed through with a harsh uppercut, sending the original to the ground, spitting blood. "Nobody ever watched my back. I learned to take care of myself, to fight my own battles." The short haired Ron hissed as he stood over his twin, grabbing him by his shirt, only to land a solid blow across his face. "The only reason you ever mattered to anyone was because of her." Another solid fist impacted across Ron's face. "But she's not here right now, and that means you are nothing." And another. "You're nobody." And another. "You don't even deserve her." The short haired Ron hissed.
Pure determination shot through Ron Stoppable's body, giving him renewed strength as he retaliated with a forceful strike to his double's throat. The alternate Ron lost his grip, gasping for air as he fell back.
"Got that right." Ron stated coldly.
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"You know nothing about us." Kim stated furiously as she leapt to her feet. Grabbing a spare wrench as a weapon, she quickly charged her double, swinging the weapon through the air. But the alternate Kim saw the attack coming and casually dodged it, before grabbing her twin's hand and twisting it behind her back in a single swift movement.
"Oh I know all I need to know." She whispered into the original's ear. "You know, I'm as big a fan as any of manipulating men into doing whatever you want them too, and I'm even pretty good at it too, but I never could top you."
"That's…." Kim tried to argue, but was cut off as she bit down the urge to scream at her arm being twisted even tighter behind her.
"Josh Mankey ring a bell?" The other Kim grinned widely. "You let that loser of a sidekick of yours run around the world, risk his life to find some stupid flower, and all while you were out on the town with some nice beefcake."
Biting down hard, Kim pressed her feet down hard before leaping backwards into her double, causing them both to stumble back and forcing her double to lose her grip. Kim then leapt away to give herself a chance to regain feeling in her arm.
"I mean, I've got my Ron dangling right around my finger, and I don't think even I could get him to risk his neck so that I could go out on a date." The alternate Kim went on, snickering to herself the whole time. "I mean seriously, I'm good, but even I'm not that good. I gotta ask, what's your secret?"
Kim snarled before charging her double, lashing out with a series of kicks and punches that her double managed to dodge or deflect, before retaliating with a haymaker to the original and knocking her down to the ground, drawing a trail of blood from her nose.
"You know, maybe after I get done with you, I'll keep him for myself. If you can whip him into shape, I shouldn't have too much trouble. It'd be for the best, really. After all, it seems like he deserves better than you anyway."
Forcing herself past the pain, Kim shot back up with an uppercut that knocked her twin into the air, only to land hard on the ground.
"I know." Kim's voice could have frozen an entire ocean.
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"I know you're new to the neighborhood, so let me fill you in on how things work around here." Ron quickly arched and twisted his body to dodge a series of attacks from his double before landing a fierce punch straight into the gut of his opponent. "Kim's got the whole world lined up for her on a silver platter, and she's earned it. She could have absolutely anyone she wants; the line goes around the high school twice. There are people who would kill to be her best friend, her boyfriend and who does she pick? Me."
The other Ron managed to gasp enough air in his lung to swing up with a fierce uppercut, but the original caught the attack, turning it into a judo throw that hurled his opponent through the air.
"Me. A complete screw up, a real clown, and yet she chose me as her best friend. Whatever else the world threw at me, I always had her, pulling me out of every kind of hazard imaginable, from toxic waste filled pits with mutant sharks in them to Barkin."
"Oh gag me." The short haired Ron managed to spit, even as he forced himself to his feet. Wiping blood from his face, the alternate Ron managed to attack again with a foot swipe, which he then twisted his body to shape into a kick, which the original Ron managed to catch squarely against his chest.
"For as long as I live, I'll never know why." Ron threw the foot up into the air, prompting his double to move in flow with the momentum which he transformed into a flip. However, as the other Ron completed mid flip, the original kicked out, knocking him out of the air and hard to the ground. "But I can't even imagine what your Kim saw in you."
"Shut up."
"You must have had to jump through some pretty small hoops to earn her attention. Probably stalked her like some kind of desperate pervert before she even gave you the time of day." Ron grinned.
"I'll tear you to pieces." The other Ron spit.
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"Amidst all that incoherent rambling, you did manage to get one thing right." Kim stated, as she stood over her double. "Ron does deserve better."
The alternate Kim spun out with her legs, trying to knock her opponent off her feet, but the original managed to leap over the attack, landing behind the alternate as she came up to her feet.
"That wasn't the first time he's put himself on the line for me. You've read my diary, you must know what he did for me, what he put himself through, just so that I could have Christmas with my family. What he's done for me every day that we ever went on a mission together."
The alternate Kim rolled her eyes as she kicked out, but the original leapt over the attack, coming down and landing a kick of her own to her double's side, knocking her back.
"Ron could have had a normal life a long time ago. Instead, he chose to come with me, to make sure I stayed safe battling super villains and all kinds of other crackpots like you."
Kim pressed her attack, with a series of punches, which her double managed to all dodge, except for the last one, which landed squarely in the side of her ribs.
"Friendship doesn't even come close to describe what we have. Maybe we were friends in kindergarten, but friends don't put themselves on the line for each other like Ron has for me. Friends don't make you laugh the way Ron makes me. I nearly lost myself to some fake, some blow up thug, and he saved me from myself."
The alternate Kim managed to bring herself away from the pain in her side long enough to see a solid fist knock her back, spurting blood from her mouth as she fell back.
"You'd never be able to understand what we've had. I guarantee your Ron never bothered to watch your backside. Say what you will, but you don't strike me as the trusting type. He'd probably leave you as soon as a better deal came long."
The other Kim rose to her feet, leaping forward with a flying spin kick, which Kim managed to duck, even as she dodged a kick to her legs, followed by another to her face.
"Your Ron will probably look the other way on a second's notice, but not mine. I can't imagine what I ever did to deserve someone like him, but I promise I'll rot before I ever let someone like you near him." Kim stated forcefully.
"Oh, you're going to suffer a lot worse than that." The leather clad Kim swore as she backed away, placing some distance between herself and her foe.
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"All very touching," The short haired Ron hacked, as he unsteadily rose to his feet. "But that doesn't change that you don't have what it takes to beat me."
"I've got less blood over my face, if that helps any." Ron added.
"Maybe," the other Ron admitted, "but you don't have this." Bringing himself upright through sheer hate, the short haired Ron extended his hand outward into the air, his fingers stretched as if to receive something.
Ron could only stare at confusion until he felt a slight gust of wind coming into the room, and a familiar presence tickle his senses.
"Oh no." Ron whispered as a familiar sword flew through the air, out of the corridor that he had seen Kim and Andrew disappear down, and into the other Ron's waiting hands. "The Lotus Blade." Ron exclaimed in silent horror.
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"You may have the boyfriend, and the heart warming sob story, but you are insane if you think that's all it takes to take me." The other Kim swore as she stood somewhat unsteadily.
"Well, I also think I've got the hair going for me too." Kim replied confidently.
"Not even. Besides, you certainly don't have this." As she spoke, the other Kim reached into her pocket, producing a small, silver bracelet that she fit loosely over her wrist.
For a moment, Kim's eyes struggled to take in the significance of the bracelet. By the time comprehension finally dawned upon her, it was already too late.
"Oh god." Kim exclaimed silently even as the metallic bracelet seemed to come to life, expanding and growing outward over the other Kim, covering her entire body with a pre-designed living armor. "The Centurion Project."