"I'll do what I can to help," Kim said. "After all, it's what I do. But... explain to me why I need to fight the Glows."

"They work for the Supreme Emperor," Mikka replied. "He's a direct descendant of Shego. All of the Glows are related to him in some way or another."

"So someone finally did manage to take over the world?" Kim asked sadly.

Mikka nodded. "It's been that way for two hundred years." She looked Kim in the eye. "You wouldn't have been able to stop it. Don't blame yourself."

Kim's eyes widened. "Did you just..."

"Not intentionally. You just think really loudly."

"Oh."

"Anyways, the Emperor controls everything. The land, the resources... everything. The cities are all responsible to produce a certain amount of food and other products for the Imperial City. The officials in charge of each city are responsible to make sure that it happens. The city gets to keep whatever's left."

"A dictatorship."

"Yes. There's also other high ranking people; mostly Glows. I suppose you could call them social castes. If you're born to someone of high rank, you'll be high ranking. If you're born a worker, you'll stay a worker.

The cities are mostly left to their own devices. As long as the supplies keep coming in, and there's no reports of trouble, the Emperor doesn't care about it. The city officials are responsible for assigning a job to every person when they turn eighteen. There's no choice in the matter. There's lots of gangs running around, too. The police don't care about that, as long as the gangs don't steal the supplies that go to the Imperial City or hurt any officials or police."

"Of course," Charri said, resentment in her voice, "say one word against the Emperor, and you're toast. All you can do is shut up and do as you're told." She glared at the wall. "I hate them."

"Our father was caught saying things," Mikka explained. "He was just talking with a few friends. He questioned the social order. He never thought the whole caste thing made sense. Someone must have heard... he disappeared one day. The police left a note calling him a traitor. We haven't seen him since."

"I'm sorry," Kim said.

They all were silent for a few moments.

The door suddenly opened.

A woman stepped in. She was very similar in appearance to Charri, with brown hair cut shoulder length and hazel eyes.

"Who are you?" she asked, noticing Kim.

"My name is Kim Possible," she said. "Are you their mother?"

"Yes," said the woman. "I am Mrs. Stoppable. Nice to meet you, Kim."

"Stoppable?" Kim asked, eyes wide. "You mean..."

"Yup!" said Mikka. "Charri and I are your best friend's descendants."

"So, a descendant of my best friend brings me back to life so I can fight the descendants of one of my worst enemies?" Kim said, bewildered.

"Uh-huh!" said Mikka, grinning.

"Would anyone mind explaining this to me?" said Mrs. Stoppable, in a bemused tone. Kim thought that she was rather calm for someone who'd just discovered a stranger in her house.

"Mikka wanted to go to the ruins," Charri explained. "Apparently, she had some particular ruins in mind. So we went there. We found a cylinder shaped chamber where her body had been preserved. According to Mikka, her spirit was still with her dead body, so Mikka somehow started the body working again."

"You can do that?" Mrs. Stoppable asked.

"Yes," Mikka said, blushing. "But only because there was still a spirit for the body."

"That is strange," said Mrs. Stoppable, turning to Kim.

"I don't know why it happened," said Kim. She looked away, remembering...

Cold.

Nothing but the all consuming cold.

This has to end sometime...

But what if it doesn't?

She shivered.

"I don't ever want to go through that again," said Kim softly.

"You were aware the whole time you were trapped in there?" Charri asked.

Kim nodded. "Sometimes I sort of floated out, and saw things... I watched Ron get married, and I attended his funeral. But mostly I was trapped."

"You poor thing," said Mrs. Stoppable. "You're out now, at least."

Kim sighed. "Yeah, I know. I'm very thankful for that."

They were all silent for a moment.

"So..." Kim started, wanting a change of topic, "how should we go about this? If we want to topple the Emperor, we'll need to get into the Imperial City."

"That won't be easy," said Charri. "The security is insane. Getting caught sneaking in is an immediate death sentence. The only plausible way in is by the supply routes, and those are monitored 24/7."

She said something earlier about Mikka getting sent to the Imperial City if it was discovered that she was a psi, Kim thought.

"What other ways are there to get into the city?" she asked.

"Well, if you're one of the lucky few who live there, that usually means you're at the top of the social castes. There's one road for traveling in and out, and it requires DNA verification, a retina scan, and an ID card to get in. The city is walled, and the door system is automated. There's no way we could get in that way," Charri replied.

"Hm. This could be tricky," Kim said. "What sort of equipment do we have at our disposal?"

"Nothing like you had before," said Mikka.

"Maybe there are a few of my old gadgets in Middleton."

"Middleton was destroyed a long time ago," said Mrs. Stoppable.

"Why?" Kim asked.

"The Emperors were descended from Shego, remember?" Mikka said. "You're the one who most often defeated her, so the first Emperor destroyed your hometown in revenge."

"Oh. So we've basically got nothing, gadget-wise."

"Yup."

Well, thought Kim. This could be quite a challenge.