1Disclaimer: A public disavowal, as of pretensions, claims, opinions, and the like.
Kim pulled up to Tara's house at around ten. Everyone got out and walked up to the front door. Bonnie rung the doorbell four times, with the first ring a bit longer than the next three.
"What was that all about?" asked Ron.
"Something from when we were little. Tara's dad thought it would be cool to have all her friends ring the doorbell in Morse code when we visited so he could tell who was coming," Bonnie explained.
"We never did that," answered a confused Kim.
"Well, maybe he only did it with the cool kids," Bonnie supposed. Before Kim could respond to this slight, Tara answered the door.
"Kim! Ron!" Tara embraced both of them, then turned to Bonnie with a hint of shock. "I didn't know you were coming back...ever."
"I also thought I would be with Junior forever," said Bonnie sadly. Tara was taken aback by this revelation. Once again, Kim and Ron braced for another eruption, but there was none. Bonnie was not amused by their antics.
"Okay, I get it! I am prone to hysterics when I break-up with billionaires! It wasn't funny the first time, and it won't be funny any other times!" snarled Bonnie.
"At least she's still herself," mused Tara. The two of them had been the best of friends for a long time but had drifted apart, starting about the time that Kim and Ron had upgraded their relationship. Nonetheless, she was one of a diminishing class; those who saw any redeeming qualities in Bonnie Rockwaller. Although Tara didn't know it yet, Kim and Ron had recently rejoined this group. "So, how was the mission?"
"Well, we actually had two missions..." Kim started, but Bonnie interrupted.
"No one wants to hear about the first one; it was just like all the others you've done. Bad guy want to steal or blow up or take over the world, he somehow screws it up when you get there, he gets away, you take all the credit." Kim and Ron did not particularly like this mostly accurate assessment of their first mission of the day, but they let Bonnie continue. She described their battle with the unmanned helicopters, making absolutely certain that everyone knew who was piloting the Sloth during what she called "the only time the mattered" and that Kim wanted to cut and run.
"So, Kim, do you think you'll let Bonnie go on any more missions now that she's back in town?" asked Tara.
"We'll see," said Kim, and not in the sense that parents use that phrase.
"Listen, Tara and I have a lot of catching up to do, and I figure you two want to do things that I'd rather not think about, and also I need to update my MyFace page, so if you wouldn't mind leaving us alone the rest of this evening, that would be great." Bonnie was really trying to minimize her time with Kim. Seeing as the feeling was mutual, Kim and Ron made their way back to the Sloth.
--
Dr. James Timothy Possible took one look at his hole cards and quickly realized something was amiss. His brother, Slim, turned up his hole cards, and finding them to be identical to his brother's, he turned to the Actuary of the Year to his left.
"Hey, you reckon you could figure out the probability of this happening?" asked Slim.
"With a fair deck," explained Mr. Stoppable, "the probability that all three of us would have pocket aces of spades is zero. Steve, I'm afraid you're not playing with a full deck." Steve Barkin fanned the remaining cards, and determined that he was using a deck left over from his time in the military.
"That appears to be the case. Does anyone around here have a regular deck of cards?"
"I do," said Ron, walking into the Possibles' dining room. "Hey, Dad, Mister Doctor P, Mister Doctor P's brother...hello, Barkin." This last one he greeted in a far more sinister tone.
"Stoppable!" bellowed Ron's former teacher and current co-worker, "You are aware that your mission in no way exempts you from your double shift, which will be starting in around eight hours. I would recommend that you get yourself home and asleep post haste. That goes for you too, Rufus." Barkin directed this last comment towards Ron's pocket.
"Um, Mister B, he's already taking your advice. He's still in the car, asleep."
"Speaking of occupants of my old car, where's Kim?" asked Dr. Possible.
"She's probably just pulling some of the bullets out of the windshield and fenders. Speaking of which, do you think Jim and Tim are up for some body work tomorrow? Because if they're not, Kim will probably find a way to change their minds about it."
"Shouldn't be a problem...wait, did you say bullets?" The rocket scientist's voice took on a somewhat alarmed tone.
"He certainly did," said Kim, who came in, planted a kiss on her boyfriend, and dropped a handful of 30 x 113 mm rounds onto the table. "It's a good thing Wade put in the extra armor, or we'd be..." Kim trailed off, but one could easily tell where she was going with this. "This was certainly no ordinary mission." The adults were taken aback by Kim's nonchalance. Dr. Possible got up and walked from the kitchen to the living room and gestured to Kim to follow him. The two of them sat on the couch.
"Kimmie-cub," Dr. Possible addressed his daughter using the name she really preferred he not use in front of anyone outside their immediate family or the Stoppables, "maybe you and Dr. Director need to have a little talk. You just can't go in with guns blazing when you don't have any guns."
"I know. But it wasn't our call. Bonnie and Señor Senior, Junior broke up while we were there, and we were giving her a ride back to Middleton. She took the wheel for a little while, and that's when we were attacked."
"What have I told you about letting others drive the Sloth?" Dr. Possible interrupted his daughter, but she carried on with her story.
"Anyway, I tell her to just floor it, and we'll deal with whoever sent the choppers later. But Bonnie has to get all like 'Next time they could have nukes' and stuff like that, so she flies around them and gets us shot at a little more, and then she goes in and gets them to shoot each other down. Turns out they were drones and Wade doesn't know where they came from yet. Or at least he hasn't told me."
"Either way, you'd better get Ron home. Then get yourself to bed. You don't have to be at work much later than he does. Take my car, yours has been through a lot today."
--
Kim and Ron went to retrieve Rufus from the Sloth, then drove off in Dr. Possible's car. After a brief period of silence, Ron asked Kim something he had been thinking about since the helicopters had plunged into the sea a few hours ago.
"So, what was the deal with Bonnie?" asked Ron, honestly not knowing what Kim's reaction would be. "Since when can she do that?"
"As much as I hate to admit it, given the right circumstances, I think she is capable of doing a lot of things as well as anyone." It certainly sounded like Kim hated to admit it.
"Why do you think she did what she did? I mean, fight instead of flight."
Kim thought for a minute, during which time she made it to Ron's house. She got out with Ron, and by the time they made it to the front door, she finally had what she thought was a good enough answer.
"Bonnie, in my experience, has always felt that she has something to prove, whether in school, or with her family, or with anyone, really. She always does everything for a reason, but beyond that, she's hard to read. Was she trying to off us in such a way that would make everyone think that she was a hero? Was she simply doing what she thought was the right thing? I don't know, and I'm not sure that she knows either."
"Maybe we should have insisted on staying with her and Tara," suggested Ron.
"I don't think that would work. You don't get answers out of Bonnie; they come out of her when she's damn well ready, and even then, you may not know that you have gotten what you have been looking for until well after the fact. We'll just have to see how things play out, and go from there." All this deep thought about her longtime rival had left Kim exhausted mentally.
"I guess I'll go ahead and call it a night," Ron said as he finished some leftovers. The three of them went upstairs, and said goodnight to an already asleep Hana. Outside Ron's door, Kim and Ron shared one last kiss as they parted ways for the night.
--
"So then Laocoön is telling his people, 'Do not trust the horse, Trojans / Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even bearing gifts...'"
Bonnie had fallen asleep watching the Knowing Channel on Tara's couch. She had just had the most unlikely of days. She woke up this morning as the mate of the presumptive heir to a vast fortune and this evening found herself single and crashing with an old friend. In between she had joined with her rival, a disgusting little rat, and Rufus. She managed to pull off a bit of a coup, in that she had turned Team Possible's standard operating procedures on their ear. She knew that she had thrown them a curve and was waiting to see how they digested the day's events so that she could move her plan forward. Never in a million years did she think that she would voluntarily work towards a common goal with Kim Possible, even if that goal was merely a means to an end for herself.
Turning off the TV, Bonnie was drifting back off to sleep when her phone began to vibrate. She thought about ignoring it, but she answered it away.
"What the hell do you want?" she growled.
"I understand that you and Señor Senior, Junior are no longer connected," answered a heavily distorted voice.
"H-How did you know?" asked Bonnie, annoyed and a bit disconcerted.
"One, you just told me. And two, I checked your MyFace page. You're probably not too happy about this whole situation, are you?"
"Can't say that I am."
"What if I could guarantee that your loss would be avenged many times over?"
"I'm not sure I believe you."
"Perhaps we could talk about this in person. Say, in about as long as it takes for you to answer the door?"
"What are you talking..." Bonnie was interrupted by a knock at the door. She first went to the kitchen to grab some sort of weapon.
"There's no need for weapons," said the voice. Nonetheless, Bonnie grabbed a rather large knife from a block by the stove before she opened the door.
"Please put down the knife." A tall, thin man (or at least Bonnie assumed it was a man) in a hooded sweatshirt stood on Tara's front porch. His voice still sounded distorted, and the hood was pulled down in such a way that made it clear he did not want to be recognized.
"Let me be brief. We have a common foe. We have been wronged and we seek to avenge our losses. Join with me and you will be handsomely rewarded.
"How handsomely?" asked Bonnie, her interest piqued.
"This handsomely," answered the man, pulling out a small box the size of a box of chocolates. He opened it to reveal thirty relatively large, flawless diamonds. "Come with me and I will fill you in on the particulars."
A/N: Everyone is back in Middleton, and we take a breather after a very interesting day. Nonetheless, many questions remain. Thanks again to all those who have read and reviewed this story so far.