Author's Note: Well this is shaping up to easily be the most popular solo project I've done yet. Lord knows I'm certainly enjoying myself. Hope you all enjoy this chapter, it wasn't easy to write. As always, write a review, get a response. Special thanks to all those who have reviewed already. I can't tell you how much your positive encouragement and genuine comments have meant to me. It's nice to know at least some other people are enjoying this as much as me.

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On the monitor, the figure lay still, relaxing with his hands behind his head on his pillow in his cell. Casually, he nodded his head up and down in rhythm with a tune that he hummed aloud, his right foot taping in sync as well.

From within the control room, Kim Possible, Will Du and Dr. Director looked on at the image being transmitted via the camera in the detention area of the eerily calm figure of Zorpox as he laid peacefully, his eyes closed as if in rest, a sickly grin across his face.

"It's strange. From the video tape, I expected him to be cackling up a storm, and bouncing off the cell walls." Dr. Director replied in a reserved tone. "Instead, he's so calm, it's like he's not even locked up."

"I don't think he is." Kim observed. "At least, not in his mind."

There was a tense silence before Will Du made an observation.

"What's that tune he's humming?"

It took Kim a second to force herself to answer. "It's the Camp Wannaweep Cheer."

For a minute longer, there was silence as the trio watched the otherwise unmoving figure from within the cell. Finally, Kim brought herself to focus on another priority that was on her mind.

"So how exactly are you going to make sure that he doesn't get out of that cell?"

"Not to worry Miss Possible." Will tried to contain his enthusiasm at his chance to show off. "A cold couldn't get out of this facility, let alone that mad man. That energy wall blocking his cell is strong to enough to stop a rampaging triceratops."

"And that's assuming that you have a rampaging triceratops around to test it on." Kim observed sarcastically.

"Actually, we do. We captured DNAmy and several of her experiments just last week." Dr. Director interjected.

"Oh."

"Continuing." Will reasserted his tone. "That cell is controlled by a GJ palm scanner. Only someone with authorized prints and a DNA scan can shut down that field. The room is also guarded by a special panic feature. In the event that something goes wrong, the entire room will be flooded in seconds with enough gas to put down an Olympic athlete for hours."

"Keep going." Kim was listening very intently.

Will struggled to hide his indignation as he went on. "Well assuming that it was possible for him to get out of that, the entire facility is already observing lock down protocols. Every exit out of this facility has already been sealed except for the main one which is under heavy guard. In the event of an escape, blast doors will seal shut throughout the facility. Zorpox couldn't get ten feet out of the detention area before being trapped behind one. Every one of them can only be opened by a GJ palm scanner and the proper authorization just like in the cell."

"What about the ventilation ducts?" Kim asked.

"Monitored by a laser grid." Dr. Director spoke. "If any one of the lasers is tripped, the entire system is flooded with gas."

"There are at least a hundred agents on guard between Zorpox and the only way out of here. Every one of them is armed and equipped to subdue him without injury. Trust me, he's not going anywhere."

Kim was unconvinced. She turned back to the monitors where the frighteningly content picture of Zorpox remained unchanged. She knew that as long as they were in the control room, they could see him, but he couldn't see them. Somehow, this did nothing to ease her mind. Finally reaching down to a microphone that was connected to the cell, she spoke.

"Ron?"

The figure in the cell remained unmoving save for his continual humming.

"Ron, can you hear me?"

Still no response.

"Zorpox."

Kim watched as the sickly grin on Zorpox's face grew even wider. Zorpox stopped humming, his eyes opening as he propped himself sitting upright on his bed in the cell.

"Kay Pee." He almost hummed in a low tone.

Kim was taken aback momentarily from the microphone. She wasn't surprised as Will Du moved for the microphone.

"Zorpox, this is Speci…"

"Special Agent Well Duh. Put Kimberly Ann back on." Zorpox replied as if ordering an underlying around.

"I am in charge of this operation; you will address me when I speak to you." Du's tone rose to the challenge.

Zorpox merely shrugged off Du's insistence, pretending to observe the features of his cell, even as he casually let out. "Out there, in here."

"What?" Will's patience was fading rapidly.

"'Out there, in here.'" Zorpox reiterated. "Pretty lame as far as pick up lines go if you ask me, but hey, I suppose I can't argue with results." Zorpox taunted, the entire time, his voice maintained an eerie calm. He wasn't talking to Will.

"What do you know about the Annihilation Wave?" Kim asked, grabbing the microphone from Will.

"Oh Kim. It's been so long since we saw each other, therapy notwithstanding, and all you want to talk about is business." Zorpox feigned disappointment. "Come on, don't you want to catch up? Ask me how I'm doing. Maybe kick back and talk about the good times."

"The last time I saw you, you tried to rip the world in half." Kim replied frankly.

"Hmm. Good times." Zorpox grinned. "I'm fine by the way. Of course, you have a whole new set of problems now don't you?"

"Do you know anything or not?" Kim asked frustrated.

"Well, gosh Kim, it's just so hard to think under pressure." Zorpox rubbed his forehead in pretense. "I know. Why don't you come in here with me? We can have a study session. You know, one of our late night sessions."

Kim said nothing. Instead, she bit down on her lip, sighing as she blinked heavily in frustration. She knew what was coming next.

"Just the two of us, your parents downstairs, you in your tight little white tee that barely conceals your bra. Low cut jeans that show those darling little undies with the hearts on them." Zorpox closed his eyes as if mentally undressing Kim right there. "Hmmm, that sweat dripping down your neck, even though the AC isn't really broken. Quite a picture, don't you think so, Will?"

At this, both Kim and Dr. Director turned to the special agent.

"Oh geeze." Kim turned away in disgust even as the agent turned away to protect himself.

"I bet some good little soldier knows how to stand up and salute a lady, don't they Du?" Zorpox's voice mocked through the microphone.

In frustration, Dr. Director moved over to the microphone. "Zorpox, you are now speaking to Dr. Director, head of this facility."

"Ahh, good. Listen doc, I need to ask, what's the policy on conjugal visits?"

"You will refrain from all further crude behavior or we will remove your bed and leave you to sit in the corner of your cell. Is that clear?"

Zorpox didn't respond. Instead, he seemed to ponder something before finally saying "You know, I'm getting kinda tired of talking to disembodied voices. You have anything to say, you know where to reach me." With that, he proceeded to lie back down on his bed.

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"Will, we need to talk."

Kim's declaration caught Will Du by surprise. Never the less, he followed her out of the monitor room while Dr. Director remained behind.

They made it fifteen feet down the corridor and well out of Dr. Director's sight before Will felt himself slammed against the concrete wall once again and raised up off the floor.

"Let's get a few things straight!" Kim's voice burned with the wrath of a woman scorned. "One, if you ever point your… soldier at me again, I will break it off."

Will tried not to let out a pitiful gulp.

"Second, I am holding you personally responsible for Ron's safety until this is over. If he comes out of this in anything other than pristine condition, if he has a scratch, a bump, black eye, missing freckle, even a wart that wasn't there before he went in that cell, I swear, no archeologist in the world will be able to identify your remains. Do you understand me?"

"Yes." Will tried not to sound too terrified in his response, as Kim lowered him back down. Her gaze burned into him for a few seconds longer before she turned, and headed straight for the detention area.

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Kim's footsteps were as light as air. The sound of the metallic door opening, admitting her entrance, on the other hand, was louder than she would have cared for as it quickly but loudly opened, admitting her entrance. Inside, the room was brightly illuminated by the emerald light of the cell force wall.

"KP? Is that you?"

The familiar voice made Kim's heart flutter, but she forced it down. Inside the cell, Ron seemed to be desperate with concern as he noticed her.

"Oh Kim, thank god. Listen, I don't know why but the Attitudinator wore off. I'm me again, and I remember everything. I know where the Annihilation Wave is."

Kim didn't say a word. She just moved herself so as to stand directly in front of the cell as she watched him speak.

"Kim, did you hear me? We've got to get to Mt. Scarem. The Annihilation Wave is going to send some kind of wave or something into the Earth's core that's going to trigger every volcano on the planet. We've got to stop it."

Kim still didn't say anything. Her expression remained hardened.

"KP? What's wrong with you? We've got to save the world."

Kim paused for another few seconds before speaking again. "Drop the act, Zorpox."

The feigned look of desperation on Zorpox's face disappeared, quickly replaced by a wide grin of amusement.

"Hehehe, sorry. I just get so bored in here." Zorpox explained.

"It's been a long day, and I'm in a bad mood." Kim began.

"Ooh, tough." Zorpox observed. "Did you practice that one in the mirror for a few seconds?"

"You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I will shove you back inside Ron and then personally slag every Attitudinator on this planet till you're nothing but a bad memory."

"Oh yeah." Zorpox seemed excited. "That's it. Get all riled up. Scare me. Threaten to hurt me. Come on, Ron's not the only one with a dark side around here. Let's see what you've got."

"Ron doesn't have a dark side." Kim retorted.

"Well, I don't know how to tell you this Kim, but I'm not just his grumpy half."

"You're a freak. An accident." Kim began. "What's left over of Ron's exposure to the Attitudinator. Without that machine, you don't even exist."

"Oh I exist Kim." Zorpox maintained his calm the entire time, his voice more of an eerie whisper. "Truth is, I'm always there, with him and you. I'm the part he just doesn't like to show, the part that he is embarrassed about. But every time you kiss, hold hands, stare into each others eyes, I'm there with the both of you."

"Earlier, you used the same words Ron said to me that night we stopped Drakken's Diablo scheme." Kim changed tactics.

"Heh, 'out there, in here.' You know, for as long as he rehearsed how he was going to tell you how he felt, you'd think he could have been more eloquent than that." Zorpox mused.

"So, you remember everything that he does?" Kim asked.

"Oh yeah. It's all up here." Zorpox tapped his forehead. "We're both using the same brain; I just know how to use it better than he does."

"If you remember everything he knows, what doesn't he remember everything you know?" Kim asked finally.

"I don't know. Maybe he doesn't want to. Maybe he's too scared to remember how much fun we had together." Zorpox offered.

"Ron would never enjoy what you do." Kim argued flatly.

"Hehe, if you say so." Zorpox leaned in closer to the force field. "Answer me this though: who was the most famous of all the angels?"

Kim paused at the question before dismissing it as an obvious distraction attempt. Instead, she changed her line of question.

"You mentioned Mt. Scarem as being where you hid the Annihilation Wave. Since I now know that's where it isn't, why don't you tell me where it is?" Kim poked.

Zorpox didn't respond at first. Instead, he narrowed his gaze at Kim almost in pensiveness before observing "You know, you're not fooling anyone. I mean sure, puberty did you nothing but favors and you've certainly expanded your reputation what with saving the world and being captain of the cheer leaders, but in the end, you're still just the same shy little girl no one wanted to sit with at lunch in pre-school."

"Not true." Kim retorted with a triumphant smirk. "There was one guy who would sit with me."

"Oh right." Zorpox feigned surprise. "And now the super hero and her pet are in love. All flowers and kisses." Zorpox paused, leaning in against the side of his cell as he spoke again. "But, doesn't it ever freak you out that the guy who you're probably going to lose yourself too is the closest thing to family that you could ever get?"

Zorpox's face was one of mock disgust before continuing. "Man, 'I'm in love with my best friend who might as well be my brother, and his evil alter ego is trying to kill me.'" Zorpox summarized before pondering. "Hmm, I wonder if Springer would be interested?"

Kim refused to give Zorpox the satisfaction of a disgusted look before she went on. "You think it matters what you say? When this is over, I will personally be the one to shove that Attitudinator on your head, and turn you off like a bad movie."

"And then what? You'll live happily ever after? Just you and your man?" Zorpox questioned.

"I was thinking of something like that." Kim admitted.

"Well, I will tell you one thing, I am looking forward to the honeymoon." Zorpox grinned.

Kim still refused to give Zorpox any further satisfaction as she simply walked out of the cell.

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"Du, I do not need to remind you that you will compose yourself professionally at all times during the course of this investigation."

"No Ma'am." Will answered smartly as Dr. Director eyed him narrowly.

"Good. Now then," Dr. Director began again as she sat down at her desk. "I am officially informing you that I am pulling the plug on this in two hours."

Will's shock was visible to all, and gave Dr. Director a certain degree of satisfaction. "Dr. Director, with all due respect, our analysis of Zorpox classifies him as an Alpha level intellect. Breaking him psychologically could take hours, in which case I am going to need every second of the ten hours that I asked for."

"Well you've got two. Deal with it." Dr. Director stated simply.

"Director…" Du was cut off.

"Du, this entire operation is going on against my better judgement. If Stoppable hadn't agreed to it, this would have ended before it began. Now I suggest you make use of every second of the two hours that you get before I come to my senses and put an end to this right now. Is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am."

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"So you're saying that you don't think the eruption was unnatural in any way?" Wade asked as the images of two different professors from differing universities appeared on separate halves of one of his computer skins.

"Well my team has been studying the Mt. Scarem volcano for the entire academic year. We've been hoping for an eruption all year." The image of the first professor admitted. "I can't tell you how interesting this has made our school year."

"What about you, Dr. Daimler?" Wade turned to the other image.

"Well," the professor began "our models for predicting volcanic eruptions are still years away from being perfected, though don't tell our sponsors that, but frankly, by our calculations, Mt. Scarem has been overdue for an eruption for about a decade."

"Are you sure?" Wade seemed almost discouraged.

"Well, fairly sure." The professor admitted. "Of course, a decade isn't really that long on a geological scale.

Wade sighed. "Thank you doctor. Doctor." With that, Wade cancelled the calls, turning both lives images dark. There had to be an answer somewhere. There just had to be.

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The metal detention doors opened as Will Du stepped inside the holding cell. Inside, Zorpox gave him a silent stare as he moved in front of the force field.

"Stoppable." Will offered as a greeting.

Zorpox merely chuckled. "Agent Duh."

"Or should I call you Zorpox?" Will asked sarcastically.

"Well, it does have a better ring to it, but personally, I was kinda thinking you should start calling me Master." Zorpox grinned.

"Pretty bold claim, considering that you're locked up in that cage, and I'm out here." Will smirked triumphantly.

"So?" Zorpox asked as he moved closer to the cell field separating the two. "You've got no leverage and nothing to bargain with. If I help you, you get what you want and you shove me back inside and bring Stoppable back. If I don't, you shove me back inside and bring Stoppable back anyway. The way I see it, I might as well just sit back and enjoy the attention."

"What attention?" Will countered. "No one knows you're here. As far as the world is concerned, Mt Scarem's eruption was entirely natural and Zorpox is just a rumor created to embarrass Drakken. You might as well not exist."

"Ooh, trying to attack my ego, now are we Duh?" Zorpox seemed bored. "Don't they teach you Global Justice types any better than that?"

"If you want to waste my time, I'll just leave you in here until we put you back where you belong." Will came back.

"In which case, you're a failure, yet again." Zorpox smiled. "Another job well done by special agent Well Duh."

Will paused a moment before turning around, moving towards the detention doors.

"Leaving already?" Zorpox asked, pretending to be hurt.

"You're not the one I want." Will declared.

"Is that so?" Zorpox just rolled his eyes.

"The last time you were out, you only had minutes after being taken back to Drakken's lair before Kim Possible showed up to stop you. You couldn't have had enough time to build a third weapon capable of world domination which means you must have found it inside Drakken's lair. He's the one I want and he has been all along." Will declared with conviction as he turned back towards Zorpox.

Zorpox said nothing at first as he eyed Will squarely. Then suddenly, the mad villain burst into roaring laughter as he prompted himself against the cell walls, holding himself up. "Oh please. Hahahaha! Is… is this the part where I'm supposed to shout 'Drakken could never have built a weapon as amazing as the Annihilation Wave' and then spill my guts and tell you all about it, just so that I can prove you wrong." Zorpox pretended to wipe a tear of laughter from his eye. "Oh, good one. What else have you got?"

Will bit his tongue in frustration before speaking again. "It must be a living nightmare to be trapped inside Stoppable while he goes around the world, doing good deeds, all the while you have to watch every step of the way. It's gotta be an agony." Will bit back.

"Man, eats you up, doesn't it. Watching him and that cheer leader get all that glory and media, being called heroes. Anyone ever call you a hero?" Zorpox asked.

"I do my job." Will replied simply.

"Oh right, you're 'job.'" Zorpox emphasized mockingly. "Senior Agent by rank of Global Justice. Man, must be sweet. You fly around the world, travel to exotic places, save the day, play hero. Man, with a job like that, you'd think the chicks would be all over you, but… no. Nope. No, she still goes for the blonde dork with no brains, no ambition, and no talent."

Will raised his eyebrows, biting down the urge to say anything that Zorpox could use as he went on.

"You know, that's got to be the real torture right there." Zorpox continued. "Watching her stick up for him, coddle to his every need, pull him by the strings and manage to make a bigger celebrity out of him for his minor accomplishments than anything you ever did. Meanwhile, she just loves to brush those fingers of hers through his blonde hair."

Will remained silent, struggling to keep his frustration in check. His silence was all the encouragement Zorpox needed.

"But hey, at least things are looking up now, right? I mean, here I am, stuck in this cell, probably making Dr. Director reconsider the benefits of using freelance agents with evil alter egos. Meanwhile, she's out there right now in your facility, all lonely and vulnerable, just waiting for the first pair of big, strong arms to wrap around her and swoop her off her feet."

Will remained silent as he glared grudgingly at Zorpox.

"Pretty smart plan you had there. Only problem, how do you get rid of me without bringing the dork back?" Zorpox hushed a whisper at this last question.

Will's face remained firm and unflinching as he spoke. "There are ways."

Zorpox cracked another grin as he leaned in. "I faked a heart attack…"

"… I opened the cell to check on you. In my anxiousness, I forgot to alert medical teams." Will continued.

"I attacked you, so you 'defended' yourself. Kinda old, but then I suppose most classics are." Zorpox mused.

"I'd be playing right into your hands, wouldn't I?" Will asked.

Zorpox merely rolled his eyes, letting out a sigh. "You couldn't take me anyway." With that, Zorpox turned away, stepping away from the force field and Will.

"Don't be so sure." Will returned, as he carefully stepped closer and closer to the cell door.

"Talk. Talk. Talk. Talk is cheap. Let's see what kind of man of action you really are." Zorpox turned his head to see Will stepping closer and closer to the force field.

"You might just get to find out." Will replied.

Zorpox turned to see Will standing an inch from the force field wall. The tension between them was almost enough to crack the entire facility. "Come on, Will. Let's see what kind of a pair you got."

For a minute, there was absolute silence as Zorpox starred sternly back at Will. Both seemed to be expecting action from the other.

"Another time." With that, Will turned around and walked out of the detention area.

"Oh, you can count on that." Zorpox assured.