I do not own the characters named herein from Disney, and am only using them for a tale meant for entertainment purposes only.

Kim Possible: Darker Destiny

By LJ58

5

"We leave the truck up ahead as planned," Ron said, climbing out of the sleeper to get into the passenger seat as Ben left the town behind.

"Right. I know. Too bad we couldn't have gotten a truck load of supplies, or something. That would have been pushing, though, I guess."

"Even Dr. Porter's people can't fake passes well enough to get a truck into a warehouse, or especially out," Ron reminded him. "We'd have been pushing just getting inside. With the shortages, food is more valuable than gold just now."

"And don't we know it," Ben said, slowing down as they neared the side road where they would hide the truck in an dead-end canyon until it might be needed again. Just in case.

"Too bad we can't drive closer, but….."

"Yeah, and lead the drones right to our main hideout," Ron scowled.

"I know. I know. It's just….."

"Stop," Ron hissed, already opening his door to leap out.

Ben slammed the brakes hard, the squalling of the old brakes filling the air as the empty trailer behind the old truck almost slid off the narrow road. Just ahead, all but slumped in the middle of the narrow, gravel lane, knelt a cloaked body that Ron was already approaching.

Had Ron not shouted, Ben might have run right over whoever it was.

"Didn't know he could see in the freaking dark, too," he muttered, having been running without lights since leaving the main road. The half moon gave just enough light to steer, but little else. He wouldn't have seen that shadowed figure until he had run over them if Ron had not yelled.

Pulling the valves to set the brakes, he made sure the idling truck was in neutral, and reached for his rifle before climbing out.

Ron might be a big shot ninja that could kill monsters with his bare hands, but Ben knew his limitations. This world tended to shove them in your face every single minute, of every single day.

"What is it," he called to Ron who was kneeling over the slumped form. "Who is it?"

He almost asked if it was another trap.

"An old friend," Ron said grimly, and helped the haggard figure rise as the hood of their cloak fell back to reveal a tangled blonde mane.

"Damn, she's skin and bone."

"It's Tara," Ron told him. "Sorry," he turned to the obviously suffering girl who was little more than skin and bone. "I forgot your last name. It's been while."

"Doesn't matter," she rasped, obviously parched, too.

"Better get her in the truck," Ben said, eyeing the trembling girl. "She doesn't look like she can even stand up."

"How did you end up out here," Ron asked a few minutes later as she lay in the back of the sleeper, curled up on the old mattress, wrapped in Ron's own jacket. They had let her eat and drink her fill as they drove to the place where they would hide the vehicle, and chose to stay to let her rest before they moved. After all, it was close enough to daylight they would have to sit, and wait for dusk again anyway. They chose to spend the day in the security of the truck for Tara's sake.

"I got tired of the club. Tired of being...used. I finally decided, if I was going to die…. I wanted to do it on my terms. Not…..theirs. That stupid club…. It was…. You can't imagine," she said quietly, her tone empty, and devoid of spirit.

"I can guess," Ben told her.

"How? You….. You're men," she said. "Are you…..going to turn me in," she whined.

The two looked at one another, and Ben couldn't help but chuckle.

"You're safe, Tara. We're not exactly real drones."

"You're not," she frowned, looking at their borrowed uniforms they still wore.

"We'll explain later. Right now, we're going to change, and let you rest. Don't worry, you're safe," Ron told her.

She stared at them.

"You're…..exiles, too," she realized. "But you look…..?"

"There are more of us than the emperor will admit, or likes to admit. Trust us, you're safe now," Ron smiled, and grabbed a small bag before climbing out of the truck as he eyed the rising sun. "Come on," he told Ben. "We'd better change, and then find something to camouflage this rig in case the wrong eyes come looking."

"I know the drill. Jeez, you're a lot more uptight when Yori isn't with us."

"She needed to stay and watch the colony in case this was a trap," he scowled as he jumped out of the truck, and pulled out his own ninja garb to change.

Ben just pulled off the snug jumpsuit, and tossed it into the still open door before pulling out a pair of well-worn jeans.

"Dude, I'm just saying, the only time I've seen you ever relax anymore is when that cute little….."

"Yori is a ninja warrior. Not one of your…."

"Chill, bro. Jeez, it's like I said….."

Both trailed off as they looked up to see Tara had climbed out of the back to stare out of the windshield down at them.

"You aren't…..leaving," Tara whine as Ron opened his door again, and looked up at her.

"No. We're resting. Travel in the Wastelands is a bad idea in daylight. We wait for night. It's actually safer," he told her.

"I wish I had known that earlier. It seems I've been running for days," she moaned. "I heard stories. We all have," she settled back to sit on the engine cover as Ron and Ben climbed into the seats again, realizing she needed company just then. "But the things I've seen," she shuddered.

"You learn to avoid them," Ben told her. "Or shoot them, and run like hell," he added, patting his snub-nosed rifle.

"My life was not supposed to be like this," she sighed, and stared out at the canyon walls around them.

"Go ahead, and rest," Ron told her, dropping back out the still open door. "We're just going to camouflage the truck for our safety. We aren't leaving. We won't be moving again until after dark. Don't worry, you'll be fine with us."

"I'm…..lucky I found you," she smiled.

"Actually….."

Ron's scowling had him trailing off as Ron gestured curtly.

"We'll…..you know, be outside. Plenty of water in the back there. So relax. Ninja-boy's right. We aren't moving till dark."

"Ninja…..boy," she frowned as Ben climbed out of the truck again, and this time shut his door as he walked around to join Ron who was eyed the scrub around them.

"You sure you should be making promises like that," Ben asked Ron. "It's not like it's really safe out here. Telling her everything is going to be….."

"She's already close to breaking. She needs food, and at least a week of rest. Only she isn't going to get it. Not yet. And if she tried to go back after obviously running away….."

Ben said nothing to that.

They both knew how Drakken's stooges took defiance. Just as they knew how severely they punished it. Which made it doubly surprising that Kim Possible was still alive.

"Still," Ben murmured.

"She needed reassuring. Not reality. That is going to be coming soon enough. Although, she probably understands it well enough herself after trying to manage on her own out here as long as she has."

"Can't be too long. She's not dead," Ben huffed.

"Did you look at her? She's been out here at least two, maybe three weeks. Living on the fringes of the Wasteland, and trying to stay alive, I doubt even you can imagine how hard it was for her. She's not been…..trained as we were. So if she needs a little fantasy….."

"I get it. You like her," Ben said as they took to cutting, and piling pieces of scrub, and old brush around the truck he had parked as close to one canyon wall as he could after leaving the old mining road they had been following.

"She was a friend during one of my…..home visits," Ron said. "If things had been different…."

"I thought Yori was your girl," Ben asked curiously.

"Yori is many things," he said somberly. "But I suggest you never refer to her as 'my girl' in her presence. Not if you wish to keep breathing."

"I'll take your word for it. So, you're saying you two aren't…..?"

"Is that all you think about," Ron scowled as he paused, barely sweating though Ben was already covered after their early labors following the long, tense night.

"No," Ben smirked. "Sometimes I think about a nice, thick burger. All greasy, and covered in cheese….."

"Dream on," Ron sighed. "I don't think anyone even makes burgers any more. Let alone anything good."

"One more thing to blame on that blue freak," Ben sighed.

Ron said nothing to that as he continued to work, very aware of the worn-down blonde that still watched them from the truck.

KP

"Dr. Porter," Ron said, reporting in after dropping Tara at the clinic, and promising to see her again when he had time. "We made it. Only we don't really have much to add. All Bonnie could do was confirm that Possible was….."

"Hold it," the woman hissed, listening to an old radio.

"…..peat, to all those listening, the false emperor, Dr. Drakken, has been captured. Shego turned on the madman to support Kim Possible, who deposed him in a daring gambit with the aide of foreign allies, and America is once more free. To everyone hearing me, the emperor is no more! More to come, but Kim Possible has promised that she will not replace the emperor, and she and Shego are even now working to restore democracy, and freedom to this nation!"

Ron gaped.

"Is this…..a trick," he demanded, only now understanding the peculiar smiles, and weary relief on the faces around him as he had returned.

"We're triple-checking now," Dash told him, still playing with the old radio. "I'm still trying to reach my contacts, but word is, Possible and Shego were in this from the start. What can't be denied is that the drones are already disappearing from the skies, and it looks like those two are serious about dismantling the emperor's power base."

"Just like that," Ron frowned. "It has to be a trick."

"Or, it could be just strange enough to be true. Still, we're not going to rush out to announce our presence just yet. For now, we wait. Even without Drakken, we still don't know what is ahead. And let's face it, the damage already done is going to be lasting. We still have a long way to go," the young scientist told him.

"Way to kill a buzz," Dash sighed, looking up from the radio. "Looks like that's it. They been announcing it every hour since dawn. We'll have to wait to see if they repeat it again in an hour, or add anything. For now….."

Ron frowned.

"Kim Possible. It just doesn't seem….real. I mean, the little girl I remember was so….."

"I knew her, too. Before James…. Her father….. Vanished," Vivian told him. "I think that broke her heart. Maybe," she added. "Maybe that was when she decided to start working on her own plans. Because it's now obvious that she was three steps ahead of all of us."

"I still don't get why Shego would turn on Drakken to help her," Ron frowned. "It's too….convenient. I'm still not convinced."

"And that's just one more reason we're not taking chances. Stay sharp, my friend," Ron was told. "Just in case."

"Always," Ron murmured, and wondered just what the endgame in this one might be.

KP

"Bon-Bon," Moni shrieked as the brunette walked into the old mall, and spotted her.

Unlike many of the prettier girls in the Tri-City area, she had been put into a retail chain to control the flow of merchandise since she had some skill in that field. After all, even Drakken's system needed competent laborers to keep things moving. Monique had been lucky in that respect.

"Hey," she smiled blandly. "Did you hear about the blue freak," she daringly asked.

"Hear? It's been all over the news for like hours," the ebony girl beamed. "Our girl took out the trash, and even convinced Shego to help her! Is that not like…..outrageous," she beamed.

Bonnie, who still recalled her own meeting with the green-skinned woman shuddered.

"You okay, GF," Moni asked her.

"I….. I will be. I just quit the club. When we heard we didn't have to follow the old rules….."

"I don't blame you. And let me guess, you still need a job to put money in your pocket?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "Only so far…."

"I can guess. Come to my office. I think we can find you something. After all, if I can't help my best friend, who can I help," the other woman smiled.

"Thank you," Bonnie choked out, still half afraid this was all some horrible joke they were playing on her, and someone was going to come for her any moment.

If they did, though, half the state was likely going to be in trouble, too. The minute the news had broke that Drakken had been overthrown, every woman in the club had been shrieking, and walking out en masse. The men had not liked it.

The women didn't care.

She didn't care.

"Anything," Bonnie told her as she followed her down the still mostly empty corridors filled with boarded up windows more than not. "I'll even mop floors."

"I think we can do better than that," Moni smiled at her. "After all, with the doom and gloom set tossed out, I'm thinking people might be ready for some real fashion again. So, what do you think about helping me bring out some slightly dated, shall we say.…underground fashions I might have stored away for a rainy day," she beamed.

Bonnie couldn't help but smile.

"Sounds…..fun," she murmured, and meant it. Because fun was something she had not truly felt in a long time.

KP

"People," Dash shouted as the dozens around him and Ron, and Dr. Porter all cheered, and shouted, and babbled questions they didn't yet know the answers to as the weeks passed, and it became obvious that Drakken really had been thrown out, and changes were already happening around them.

"People," the big man shouted again, holding up both hands. "Listen!"

"We all know the emperor is really gone by now," Dr. Porter told them. "We all know Shego really has turned on him, and helped Kim Possible overthrow his mad regime. No, we don't know what is coming, but we have heard that the women are genuinely working on bringing back a genuine democratic government again."

The cheers sounded all the louder.

"That said….."

She paused as the people around her vented their long repressed emotions.

"That said," she said when they finally grew quiet enough for her to continue. "Remember where we are now. We're working on getting you back home, if you still have one, but we can't just blindly rush into the Wastelands. It's a sure way to die. You know that. So I'm asking you to be patient, and wait your turn. We only have a few working vehicles, and not much help from the outside. Not yet. Meanwhile, we need to remember to stay on guard, and be wary. The drones, and guards may be gone, but the mutates and hybrids are still out there. Along with miles of open desert, and a lot more. Let's not make mistakes now."

"We just want to go home," someone shouted.

The crowd very boisterously agreed.

"Enough," Ron shouted.

When he spoke up, everyone listened. Especially when his eyes glowed that weird blue, and the one man that could face mutates one-on-one was well known as a genuine power.

"Dr. Porter has asked for patience, and so I suggest you be patient. We will get you home. But I doubt you want to run off in any direction, and stir up a nest of mutates, or worse. We've lasted this long by being careful. So let's remember that caution until you're all truly safe. Shall we," he growled before stalking off.

"He's still upset."

"Tara was the first one to rush back to Middleton when we arranged the first transports," Dr. Porter told Dash. "She did still have family, after all, and she wanted to try to get back to them."

"I thought he was hooked up with…..?"

"It's complicated," Dr. Porter told him, "But I suggest you not go there. Not where he can hear you."

"And Burn always wondered why I stayed single," he grumbled. "Chicks are nothing but trouble. Er, no offense," he told the small blonde eyeing him archly now.

"Just remember, a chick kept you alive all this time. And now a chick likely just helped save our world."

"Hard to forget. I can see why it rankles the ninja, though. All this time, and all the trouble we've had just surviving, and a little redhead walks out of nowhere, and takes out the most powerful guy alive? It's almost….."

"If I could have gotten back into my labs, he wouldn't have been so hot," she told him. "My robots were part of the tech that freak stole to take over the world in the first place. My work, and James Possible's," she said darkly. "Poor guy."

"I wouldn't let too many people hear you say that. Even I know what comes next."

"Oh," she asked.

"C'mon, Doc," Dash told her. "After these kinds of coupes, someone is always looking to vent on scapegoats. You don't want people thinking you helped that freak in any way, shape, or form."

"Point taken," she grimaced. "Poor Oliver," she sighed. "He never wanted to be a monstrous killing machine," she said.

"None of us wanted this, Doc," Dash told her, glancing around as the people continued to celebrate, and even a few arguments broke out as emotions soared.

In short, it was more normal human behavior. The kind that had been missing for years.

"Still," he said, watching the crowd, "I think we'll make it. Because if one little girl can show us what's possible, I think people are going to start dreaming again. And daring what we had started to think was impossible."

"Nice speech, old man," the blonde scientist told him. "Going to broadcast that one?"

"I might," Dash chortled. "I think I'll be needing a new job soon. Think I have a future in radio?"

She only smiled.

"Let's get that next transport ready. Before some of these people try walking home."

To Be Continued….