Disclaimer: Still don't own Kim Possible. I can't bring Disney to the negotiating table just yet...

Chapter Two: The Strange

The next day was one of a full schedule for Kim. Her Political Science lecture had finally let out and she was now walking off to lunch. Middleton University sported a decent enough cafeteria and the redhead was looking forward to a break. Unfortunately for her, things were about to take a turn for the worse.

Like clockwork the daily "Ron Gang" rumbled through the hallways and burst through the doors of the college cafeteria. There were the assorted fans, hangers-on, scene kids, and assorted faculty who just liked to be a part of the "action" that was the new Ron Stoppable.

Although he had gotten numerous offers from colleges all over the world, Ron had decided to stick with what he knew. Thus, when Kim had packed up and migrated to Middleton University, Ron had went right along with her. Of course, being a superhero was anything but low-key. Ron had taken to it well enough, though.

"KP! I'll be over in a second!" Kim had to smile at that. Ron would be Ron no matter how big the crowd was. Not even Ron's cheery disposition could override all the glares Kim got from the fangirls in the group, though. Seemingly oblivious to them, he plopped down in the seat opposite Kim with his tray of food while his groupies disbursed.

Kim nodded, laughed, and sighed when appropriate as Ron started talking about what a great day he was having. Apparently he had aced a chem test that he hadn't had time to study for and he was put into the starting lineup for the football team. Surprise, surprise. Kim was certain someone had pulled a few strings but if Ron didn't catch it she wasn't going to point it out. Other than the few sarcastic thoughts, the redhead mostly went with the mood of the conversation and replied when necessary.

Her mind, however, couldn't have been farther away. She was planning what she would do next period, getting her schedule in-place, and picking out a wardrobe for tomorrow. It wasn't that Kim found Ron boring or that she was purposefully ignoring him, it was just...well, she couldn't keep focused on anything anymore. Not just Ron, but everything. Her grades were still up of course, but the lecture didn't have the same hold it did in high school. The fire was just gone.

Ron noticed the blank look in his girlfriend's eyes. He continued to talk though. He had tried to just let the conversation die once and Kim had instantly asked him why he had stopped talking. It was a talent she had, being able to subconsciously listen while her mind worked on other things. Most of all, though, she just looked bored. He tried to think of topics that would interest Kim such as that the cheer squad was looking for new members or that the karate club was accepting applications but nothing was getting through. Oh, he'd get a response but it was always nothing more than a curt nod or, on a good day, a few words.

'Must be the college thing,' Ron thought to himself. Kim had become fairly distant since college had started so that was a good explanation. But...then again, Kim had been in college for several months now and she was still in this rut.

As the bell rang, Kim gave him a weak smile and said something about heading off to her American Literature class. Ron nodded and trotted away to his own classes. He was stopped by the ringing of his Kimmunicator before he got too far.

The screen flickered with static for a brief moment before Wade popped on screen. The boy had grown a bit in the last year, but he was still the introverted tech wizard that he always was. Still, he was all business. "Ron, Shego and Drakken busted out of prison again," he stated.

This wasn't that big of a surprise to Ron. He had honestly expected them to break out a lot sooner. "Got a lead on them? Oh! Maybe we can pick them back up before they get to a lair!" That was always fun, sending them right back to prison. A sudden thought hit the boy, though, and he ducked into a side hallway to ditch the mob following him. "Have you called KP yet?" he asked once he was certain of their privacy.

"She's the next one to get the info," Wade replied.

"Don't tell her. I think she's been stressed with all this college stuff, I can take care of those two." Yeah, this was a great idea! That just had to be it. Kim was probably stressed from her last fight with Drakken. She had gotten pretty banged around after all. Ron nodded to himself, this was a great idea.

Wade didn't look like he approved but he left the decision up to Ron. Not like he wanted to see Kim get hurt either. "Are you sure you can handle them both?" Wade asked as an afterthought. Shego was powerful enough by herself and with Drakken added to the mix...

Ron, though, didn't look worried. "That's the one thing I'm good at now! No problemo for the Ronster." He certainly looked confident. "Just tell me which way to go and I'll have them back behind bars before KP even knows that they escaped."

Yeah, this was certain to be a great idea. Wade didn't like it but what could he do? Ron practically ran the show these days. "Sending you the coordinates now, Ron. Call for backup if you ne-"

The Kimmunicator went black as Ron cut the connection. He had a general idea of the direction Shego and Drakken were traveling and that's all he needed. With Rufus securely in his pocket, the young boy dashed out into the campus courtyard and took a mighty leap into the air. Shego and Drakken were a fair distance away from the campus but he could get their in one class time. With permission from the dean, Ron could leave in case of a national emergency and still make up his classes.

Far below Ron, traveling at a brisk pace through neighborhoods and suburbs, Shego and Drakken were making their way towards their Middleton lair. Drakken's vines were proving to be a very effective method of locomotion and Shego had always been adept at fleeing the scene of an escape. It wasn't long before she felt Ron in the area, though.

"Dr. D, we've got incoming!" Shego growled as she leapt atop a nearby house. Without her alien jet pack she couldn't hover; that would give Stoppable a decent advantage. "Keep an eye out for Kim."

Drakken snorted but creeped into a rather large tree. He would get the drop on the annoying Possible by outsmarting her! Yes, he was a genius in both the lab and the battlefield. At least, that's how the good doctor saw himself.

Ron blinked as flew past a cackling Drakken sitting in a tree. The mad scientist didn't even seem to notice the boy and went about his ranting. Oh well.

"Has Drakken finally lost it?" Ron asked as Shego started powering up.

Shego shrugged. Who knew what was going though her boss's mind at any given moment? "Lost it? That would imply that he had it at some point," she scoffed. Slowly, though, her sarcastic demeanor shifted into a confident one, her scoff became a smirk, and her arms lit up with green flame. "Ready to dance, creampuff?" She did do a quick scan for Kim to make sure the teen didn't get in the crossfire. She had gotten a lot better about that, though, since her ponytail had been burnt off a few months ago. Come to think of it...

"Where's Kim?"

The boy wonder shifted in the air and tried not to look sheepish. "She's...uh...she doesn't need to come along to take care of you two!" Lame, but all Ron could come up with.

Shego laughed long and hard as she launched a plasma bolt at the boy. "You just don't want her to see me kick your ass." The thief exploded off of the roof she was standing on in a burst of plasma and plowed into Ron, sending him flying through the air. The boy crashed into a parked car and was now stuck in the metal. It had crumpled like a soda can under the force of his impact.

He didn't have long to escape before a ball of plasma enveloped him. The gas in the car exploded and took a large chunk of the street with it. Ron, protected at the last second by his Monkey Mojo, casually walked through the wall of fire that had overtaken him.

All around people were fleeing their homes in terror. There weren't too many people in America that couldn't identify Shego, Ron, or Drakken by their unique powers and no one wanted to be caught up in a fight.

As Ron and Shego faced off, Drakken slipped down from his tree. Seeing the Buffoon all busy was just too good of an opportunity. That, and Kim Possible didn't look like she was showing up.

The green vines snaked through the lawns and homes that had been evacuated. With Ron and Shego fighting on the ground, it was simple enough to just have the appendages sneak up and grab the boy's leg in a grip that could bend steel.

Ron yelped as he was tugged backwards and Shego lost no time delivering an explosive punch to his jaw. The blond's head snapped back in time to catch Shego's boot coming from the other side, sending him screaming into a vacated house. This time he was a lot slower getting up.

"Thanks, Doctor D!" Shego called out. Maybe Drakken wasn't so useless after all? As she pounced on Ron when he stumbled out of the house, Shego missed the small blue device that was jostled out of the boy's pocket.

Wade, now able to see what was going on, quickly started to type at his computer. He had known this was a very bad idea from the get-go. Oh no, though, Ron wouldn't listen. He could handle it. Yeah, right, not yet he couldn't. Judging by how revved Shego seemed, the pale thief was probably in a bad mood. The geek knew who he should call, but in fighting like this...

"...any port in a storm, right?" Wade mumbled as he keyed up the second Kimmunicator.

Kim was sitting in class when she felt her com device start to rumble. Although Ron still kept the old team jingle on his, his girlfriend had learned early in the year that professors wouldn't be nearly as understanding with her disrupting class. Excusing herself, she walked out into the hall before turning the device on.

A worried face greeted her on the small screen. "What's the sitch, Wade?" she asked. Classes were mostly going on so the halls were vacant.

"We've got trouble! Shego and Drakken have escaped and Ron's fighting them both!" The boy tried not to sound so worried but a camera feed of Shego literally dragging Ron's head along the asphalt wasn't doing much for his nerves.

"Wait, wait...Ron went on a mission by himself? Dammit, Wade! How could you let him do something like that?!" Kim fired back. She cut the connection before Wade could answer and darted out the main door. What was Ron thinking? He didn't take missions without her! They had agreed to that after graduation!

Running past surprised students in her dorm, Kim sprinted into her private dorm and nearly yanked the closet door off it's hinges getting to something inside. Hanging at the back of the rack was a single white suit that lit up when the redhead's fingers brushed across its surface.

Kim slid on the skin-tight battle suit after discarding her clothes. Truthfully, she didn't like relying on this machine to fight, but it would serve a purpose today.

With an amazing show of dexterity, Kim leapt out of her third-story dorm and easily landed on the ground outside without missing a beat. Her car was parked right outside and soon the hero was well on her way towards the column of smoke rising in the distance...

"Got a ride yet, Drakken?!" Shego shouted over the roar of her own powers. Ron rushed her once again and the woman easily dodged his clumsy assault. The boy was rattled enough from the pavement grinding Shego had dealt earlier and now he was just getting toyed with. That's what he got for playing hero, though.

Hearing sirens in the distance, Shego finally got tired of beating around the bush. Using a nearby house as a springboard, the super-charged villain scouted Ron with precision and drove her fist into his stomach with such force that the air around them seemed to crack.

The villainess landed perfectly on her feet near where Ron had fallen. She flicked her hair over her shoulder and smirked; heroes would never, ever learn. "Come oooon, Doctor D! Don't you have anything yet? It's not that hard to hotwire a car! Geeze, I could have built a car out of all the scrap metal around in the time it's taken you to-"

With a sudden hitch in her breath, Shego paused her ravings. She had heard something above the sounds around her that didn't sit well. It was like an out of place breeze rusting the trees or something. Shego couldn't really explain it, but the feeling was there. Just as she turned to get a better look, it happened.

A boot-clad foot drilled into the woman's solar plexus the moment Shego had made a move. Flying a good five yards before skidding to a halt, the green villain coughed and sputtered while trying to get some air back in her lungs. When she looked up to see who had hit her, there was only the very groggy Ron Stoppable struggling to rise.

"D-Drakken, where the hell are you?" Getting to her feet, Shego flared up and steadied herself. Whoever had hit her had been quick; faster than Stoppable. The strike had certainly lacked power, though. If someone with more force had hit her when she was that unguarded it would have knocked the thief unconscious.

The good doctor was several feet over looking just as baffled as his partner. "Shego, what hit you?" he asked, obviously not having caught the exchange.

With a snarl, the super-powered female stomped over to Ron and picked him up by the back of the neck. At this range his monkey powers wouldn't be able to block her plasma. "Did you do that?" Shego demanded. She hadn't been caught that unawares since...well, it had been a long time.

The sound of footsteps running along wood drew Shego's attention to a nearby rooftop. Ron forgotten, the thief fired a bolt of plasma into the building that sent charred debris flying and left only a smoldering crater of what had been a two-story home.

Amongst the raining balls of fire, a white blur weaved and whipped in and out of Shego's sight. The unnerved woman sent a few more shots out and just barely leaped away when one was sent back at her. A barrage of punches came at the woman the moment she touched the ground and Shego soon found herself face-to-face with the last person she had expected to see.

"Kim?! What the he-" The thief's statement was cut short by her mouth being filled with Kim's fist. Shego felt a few of her teeth rattle and quickly swatted the younger woman away.

How long had it been since she had felt such a hit? Shego didn't know and she didn't want her body to have to remember. Fighting down the initial reaction to flare her plasma, the thief instead sent a few low-powered bolts at the younger woman. If she were to really cut loose then there wouldn't be enough of Kim left to fill an urn.

The redhead easily avoided the plasma and even caught one with the scoop function of her suit to send back at Shego. This is what she had missed, Kim realized. This back and forth along with the thrill of a fight. It was obvious Shego was holding back, though, and that grated on the girl. Still, the mission was to get Ron out of there; that was it. Shego was still standing over by him, though.

"Hey, Shego! Aren't you a little slow?" Kim shouted, "A year ago and you would have hit me already." Trying to goat the woman into cranking it up a bit, and maybe come after her, Kim started to use her suit more to augment her legs instead of using it only as a defense to the heat.

This only make Shego more and more frustrated. Of course she knew what Kim was doing in trying to get her away from the buffoon. Initially the plan was just to keep Kim busy, without killing her, to give Drakken enough time to steal a ride. The way the girl wasn't even trying to dodge anymore was getting on her nerves, though. Finally, the plasma-powered woman charged up a substantially larger orb of plasma and hurled it at the redhead. It would just knock the girl out...after sending her through a house or two.

Kim saw the attack coming and stomped her feet into the dirt. This was it, a chance to attack would come right after this. Tossing away maneuverability, Kim put everything the suit had into the shield systems and crossed her arms over her head.

The resulting explosion shook the block and sent bits of dirt and concrete into the air like smoking streamers from a ticker-tape parade. Obviously something had gone wrong, the blast wasn't supposed to be that big! Even Drakken, who had been wisely staying out of the fight, was blown away. It...it must have hit a propane tank or something! The brunette ran into the dust, trying to find a sign of Kim. Instead of the redhead, though, she only found a crater.

'Ohgodohgodohgodohgod' Shego's mind was awash in an ocean of worry as she fell to her hands and knees beside the crater's rim. She had just blown up Kim Possible. This was three, no, four times worse than the time she had cracked the Sistine Chapel! Kim Possible, media darling and former savior of the world, was now in little bit-sized chunks!

"Hey, Shego," the familiar voice cut through the mist in the thief's mind and she looked up. There, standing over her, was none other than Kimberly Ann Possible in all her tattered glory. She was bleeding from several places and her suit was sparking from the very large gashes in it, but the girl was smiling. Not a happy smile, either, but Shego was far too relieved to notice that. Kim noticed the look and her smirk only increased. "You really need to work on your aim. Next time you half-kill me you better make sure you do the job right." With what little power was left in the suit, Kim chopped the back of Shego's neck and sent the woman into darkness.

With that, the redhead promptly fell to the ground in agony. There were too many places on her body that were screaming at her. The Power Suit was understandably shot, as was nearly every appendage that wasn't covered by it. That included the hero's entire right leg and left arm as well as a few ribs. Kim coughed and spit up a few globs of blood, wincing at the pain the spasms caused in her chest. She spared a glance at Shego and noted with disgust at how well her formal rival looked.

Kim closed her eyes in a sigh at that. Ron was pretty much the same way now after he had tapped into his Monkey Powers.

Freaks.

Kim snorted at the sudden thought and shook her head, enjoying the absence of the sun in her eyes for a moment. They were still people no matter what had happened to them, no matter how...unique they were. Really, that kind of thinking was pretty bigoted and Kim Possible was anything but intolerant.

...right?

The introspective was soon out of the teens hands, though, when the news crews started to descend. Ron was just getting back up and, not looking very beat-up, reporters flocked to him.

"What a titanic battle between Ron Stoppable, savior of Earth, and Shego, mistress of evil!" It was one of the more tabloid-ish reporters who was shoving people out of the way to get a shot. The fat newsman pulled the groggy Stoppable to his feat and shoved him in front of a camera. "Not only that, you have saved Kim Possible from certain death!"

Kim blinked a few times just to make sure she wasn't still loopy. Ron had saved her? "No, wait-"

The girl's protest came too late, however, as she was already being swept away by paramedics. Despite her injuries, Kim still managed to look around enough to see a bashful, and very confused, Ron Stoppable speaking with his gaggle of reporters and a very irate Doctor Drakken being put into a police car with the special growth-inhibiting cuffs in place.

What really caught the Kim's attention wasn't either of these things. It was a perfectly conscious Shego calmly walking along with police with her own band of journalists trailing behind her.

That last blow should have kept Shego down and out...but there the woman was, looking fresh as a daisy. It couldn't have been more than three, no, two minutes! Shouldn't putting your very life on the line be able to take someone like that out?

Wasn't that a fair trade?

Of course, no answers were forthcoming to the former hero as the ambulance doors closed shut, blocking her view of the battlefield.