KIM POSSIBLE: YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN
I.
With favorite coffee mug in hand, Dr. Director read the executive summary of her senior interrogators latest report on Dr. Drakken.
"…subject exhibited no signs of medical distress which would have prevented interrogation. When questioned about his means and methods, the subject became evasive and was caught lying on several occasions by the interrogator, but showed a greater than expected refusal to provide straightforward or useful information. Further more, the subject made numerous inquires as to the current whereabouts of Shego. When provided with only a general answer the subject became agitated and began to rant about not losing her. When pressed about this the subject mentioned that Shego had threatened to leave him for someone else. Recommend further use of non traditional coercive methods, and further questioning of possible relationship between the subject and Shego as a pressure point for extracting more information of subject's means and methods."
Dr. Director leaned back in her chair and considered the report. This was one of the reasons she was generally against using sodium pentothal in interrogations. While it did reduce a person's inhibitions and made them more willing to talk, it also had the potential to make them too chatty and to ramble on about trivial topics, which made it that much harder to separate the chafe from the wheat in terms of what was or was not useful intelligence. Apparently this was what had happened to Drakken, either that or he was being far harder to break than she had given him credit for. Thus far he continued to avoid providing GJ with any useful information on his means and methods or operations, although he had given them plenty on Senor Senior Senior. Perhaps that explained the rift between the two villains.
Maybe Drakken hadn't been just rambling about really wanting to keep Shego, possibly for romantic reasons, something that no one had expected, and Senor Senior Senior wanted to steal her away. Also for romantic reasons? Dr. Director immediately dismissed that notion, it didn't make much sense. Yes Shego was a mercenary and would work for anyone who paid her, but she wouldn't hook up with some older man just for his money. Would she? Or was Dr. Drakken being paranoid that Senor Senior Senior was a romantic rival. Either way Dr. Director needed to know. She approved the interrogators request and made sure that he received highest priority of all support.
II.
"Morning Possible clan." Ron said with a little less enthusiasm than he had the previous day.
"Morning Ronald." Mr. Possible said from behind his paper.
"You look tired this morning Ron. Did you sleep well last night?" Mrs. Possible asked.
"Not really." Ron answered even as a yawn separated the two words. "I was up till almost one in the morning working on homework."
"Burning the candle at both ends hey Ron? I remember doing that quite a bit when I was in college." Mr. Possible joked.
"You mean I have more of this to look forward to?" Ron whined while Rufus patted his down turned head.
Mrs. Possible couldn't help but to chuckle at the scene. "Now dear, don't go and scare poor Ron. Let him at least finish high school first."
"Speaking of school, shouldn't you and Kim be leaving for that soon?" Mr. Possible asked as he looked at his watch.
"Don't remind me Mr.Dr.P." Ron groaned.
"I'll see if I can hurry Kim along then." Mrs. Possible said with a smile. Kim had never been a morning person; in fact it was almost more accurate to describe her as an anti-morning person. While Anne and James weren't exactly morning people either, she had no idea where or why her daughter had inherited such an extreme version of it.
"Kimberly, hurry up and come down dear, Ron is waiting for you." Mrs. Possible hollered up the stairs.
No sooner had Mrs. Possible walked back in to the kitchen then Kim quickly rushed down the stairs and in to the kitchen.
"Sorry I'm late, no time for breakfast, come on Ron lets go." Kim seemed to say all at once. So caught up in her rush to get out of the house Kim didn't even notice that her mother had called her name three times.
"Kimberly Anne Possible, stop right there."
"Yes mom." Kim answered, her left foot still in the air from where she had frozen mid-step.
"You are not leaving this house without breakfast young woman; it's the most important meal of the day."
"But mom we're late." Kim protested.
"I know, that's why I made these egg sandwiches for you two to eat on the way." Mrs. Possible said as she handed one each to Kim and Ron.
"Thanks Mrs.Dr.P." Ron said as he happily took the sandwiches despite being practically dragged out the door by Kim.
"Yum. Hey KP your mom's egg sandwiches rock." Ron said happily. He and Kim had barely even made it to the sidewalk before he began to scarf down his sandwich.
"Ron! Starve much?" Kim asked in mild announce as she far more daintily began to eat her own breakfast.
"My bad." Ron chuckled. "I didn't have time to make my own breakfast this morning, and you know how my mom's cooking is."
Kim shuddered slightly at the mental image that appeared in her head. Despite all the ribbing Kim took for being kindly referred to as "inexperienced" in the kitchen, she knew that Mrs. Stoppable had a reputation for being almost as bad as her. Hoping to remove the thought from her mind, Kim changed subjects by asking Ron the burning question on her mind that morning.
"So Ron, what did your parents decide about letting you go on missions with me?" Kim asked.
"You mean you're folks are still letting you go on missions?" Ron asked.
Kim shook her head no. "They haven't decided yet, which is furiously unfair. So until they say no, then we can still go on missions."
"Sorry KP but there's no "Ron" in "we," my folks agree with Principal Leslie. They even called her this morning to let her know of their decision." Ron stated simply. "So it looks like Team Possible will be out of action for a while."
"You don't sound very disappointed Ron." Kim accused.
"Frankly, Kim, I'm not."
"You're not? How can you not be? Ron, they're trying to break up Team Possible." Kim protested.
"What are you talking about, KP? No body is trying to break us up; we just can't go on missions for a while." Ron countered.
"But don't you see Ron, it starts with the school, first they say we can't do missions, then our parents, next it will be the government just because they don't like the idea of a couple of teenagers saving the day."
"Woah! Time out, Kim. Don't you think you're over reacting a bit there?"
"Over reacting? Ron, saving the world is what we do."
"Kim, we're teenagers. Saving the world is a part time gig we do, it's not our entire lives." Ron replied exasperated. "Besides, how do you know that the government wants to stop us from going on missions?"
"Because it makes sense, they did it before, they could do it again."
"Kim, no one has ever stopped us before. I think your confusing real life and the lie that Drakken told you."
"I am not." Kim protested.
Gently placing his hand on Kim's shoulder, Ron attempted to reassure his best friend. "Yes, Kim, you are. Trust me; no one in the government is trying to stop Team Possible. Too many people like us and would stand up for us. Besides, maybe we could us a little break from being Team Possible for a while."
"Uh huh, break." Rufus added.
Despite Ron's reassurance, Kim still felt a little confused. In her argument she had easily confused real life memories and the memories of her fake life that Drakken and Senor Senior Senior had created for her. The worst part of it was that she hadn't even noticed the slip until Ron pointed it out to her.
"Am I?" Kim seemed lost in thought for a moment as she said this. "Maybe you're right, Ron." Kim sighed. "Maybe I still need some time to finish sorting things out in my head."
"Do you want to talk to a Global Justice shrink, err I mean psychiatrist?" Ron asked. "Remember Dr. Director said they were available for you any time."
Kim shook her head no. "No thanks Ron. I would rather talk about things with someone I'd feel more comfortable being around."
"Well I'm here for you any time too, Kim."
"I know. And thanks, Ron." Kim said as she gave him a quick hug.
III.
Senor Senior Senior bent down and gently stroked his son's hair, or at least the small amount of his hair that wasn't covered by bandages. Senior's eyes started at Junior's head and slowly ran down the length of his injured and bandaged body.
"Oh, my son, I am both truly proud and saddened by the sight in front of me. You showed your courage and love for me when you used your body to protect me from the exploding building on our island." Senior said barely above a whisper.
Junior had suffered numerous burns and other injuries over most of his body, including his handsome face.
"I will avenge you my son. Already I have begun my plan for revenge against Kim Possible. But do not worry Junior, I will wait until you are healed, then we will enjoy the sweet taste of revenge together."
"Father." Junior said in a weak voice.
"Yes my son."
"Will I be ok? Will I still be able to be an international pop star?"
"Yes, soon you will be good as new."
"And what about Shego? Is she ok too?"
Senior paused for a few seconds to consider his reply, "That I do not know, son." Senior answered honestly.
IV.
Monique prided her self on being the schools unofficial gossip queen and the knowledge that came with it. So when she wasn't in the know on something it bugged her greatly. But being a direct and take charge kind of girl that she was, Monique knew that she had to go straight to the source, and that just what she did.
"Hey Ron." Monique said with a smile as she seated herself at the same lunch table Ron was at.
"Hi Monique." Ron answered. But something about Monique's smile caused an image to appear in Ron's head, an image of a robot with flailing arms and shouting "Danger Will Robison, Danger".
"I didn't know that you and Tara were so chummy. What were you two talking about yesterday?"
"Oh nothing, I was just asking if I could borrow her notes from history class."
"What? You mean you would turn to someone else for help rather than Kim?" Monique asked in feigned shock.
"Well Mon lets face it, Kim was gone all last week too, so it's not like she would have any notes for me to borrow." Ron pointed out.
"Speaking of last week, I heard some interesting gossip."
"And it's all true." Ron said proudly.
"It is? What is?" Monique asked surprised.
"That's right, the Ron man is all that and a bag of chips. So doubt the gossip and rumors at your own peril." Ron said with his trademark lopsided grin as he ended his monologue of self delusion.
Monique just sat there for several seconds before slapping her hand against her forehead in disbelief. She could not believe that she had walked in to that one with her eyes open.
"So do you know of any good, or even remotely plausible gossip then?" Monique asked.
"Ahh, nope. None that I know of."
"You don't know anything?"
"I know nothing." Ron insisted with a terrible German accent.
"Well I heard that Tara got stood up by her date last week."
"That's too bad." Ron replied.
"But it gets better, she supposedly forgave the guy."
"That must be some lucky guy." Ron said.
"And here's the interesting part, nobody seems to know just who it was that stood her up."
"Thank goodness for that." Ron blurted out with out thinking.
"What makes you say that?" Monique asked as she leaned closer to Ron, her almost sixth sense like ability to pick up on interesting tib bits of gossip now kicking in.
"Uh, umm, what I mean is…." Ron began to stammer.
"Hi Monique, hi Ron." Kim said as she sat down with her lunch.
"Oh hi girl. I was just seeing if Ron knew any juicy gossip." Monique said.
"Juicy gossip from Ron? Please, the best you can get from him is dehydrated gossip." Kim chuckled.
"True that." Monique added. "So are you planning on coming by Banana Republic this weekend? It's been weeks since I've seen you there, and we just got in a new shipment of cargo pants."
As the two girls became lost in their discussion of fashion they quickly forgot about Ron, much to his relief.
"Well little buddy it looks like Kim is the distraction this time." Ron whispered to Rufus.
"Uh huh, distraction." Rufus added.
Soon the bell rang indicating that the students had five minutes until their next class.
"Catch you later GF, Ron." Monique said as she turned left to head down a perpendicular hallway from Ron and Kim. A few minutes later the two were standing outside of Kim's English class.
"Are you sure you're ready for this Kim?" Ron asked the red head as they stood just outside the doorway.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Kim replied with little enthusiasm.
"Maybe you should skip class then."
"Ron! I'm so not skipping class." Kim objected.
"Yeah but this is your first class with Josh since you've gotten back from the island."
"So not the drama Ron, that one was a synthodrone." Kim said with faked confidence. "And Mr. Barkin is teaching this class today, so it's not like I'll be able to just sit around and make google eyes at him."
Ron wished he could believe Kim, he really wished he could. But he knew better than anyone, maybe even better than Kim herself, just how many unresolved issues she had when it came to Josh Mankey. And that was before her mind had been messed with in that fake Middleton full of synthodrones.
V.
Later that afternoon, Kim was leading the cheerleader squad through their routine like she always did. Despite her weeklong absence, Kim had quickly gotten back in to the groove with her fellow cheerleaders. In fact, even Bonnie, although she would never say it out loud, had to admit that Kim was back in the routine. That's why it came as such a surprise to everyone when she seemed to stop in mid routine and the rest of the squad crashed in to her and ended up in a big pile on the floor.
"Kim! What are you doing you klutz?!" Bonnie shouted.
"Way to go, idiot." Added Jennette, one of Bonnie's posse.
"Why don't you make yourself useful and help check the other girls for injuries." Ron countered as he offered a hand to help Tara and another girl named Cathy to their feet.
As the last of the cheerleaders picked themselves up off the floor, Kim saw a hand offering to help her stand up. Attached to that hand was the reason that Kim had lost her rhythm and caused the crash.
"Here, Kim, let me help you up." Josh said with a smile.
"Um, thanks." Kim lamely replied.
"That was some crash there, are you ok?"
"I, I think so."
"Hey, Josh, what are you doing here? I thought you weren't in English class today." Ron asked.
"I had a dental appointment earlier today. Now I'm here doing action sketches for my art class." Josh responded as he held up his sketch pad showing several images of the cheerleaders. "Besides how do you know I wasn't in English class? I have that class with Kim, not you."
"Yeah, how did you know that, Ron? I didn't mention anything about that to you." Kim added.
"Umm, yeah, well. I had better go and check to see if everyone else is ok." Ron stammered as he beat a hasty retreat. He didn't want Kim to know that after she had gone in to her English class that he had stayed out in the hallway watching for Josh until it was time for class to start.
"Anyway, welcome back Kim. So, where were you all last week?" Josh asked.
"Oh! I was on a mission." Kim answered.
"That's what she says. I, for one, don't believe her." Bonnie interrupted. "Now if you're done with your lame attempts at flirting, Kim Klutzable, can we get back to practice?"
Bonnie's little barb was all the prompting that Kim needed, and the anger helped to focus her mind, but only just enough. Fortunately for Kim, cheer practice only lasted about another fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes that Kim had to struggle to try and stay focused and in rhythm, and to not think about Josh.
VI.
At the end of cheer practice Kim rushed to the girl's locker room and away from possibly having to talk to Josh any more. Taking her time changing back in to her street clothes, she hoped that Josh had decided not to hang around and want to try to talk to her. Kim slowly opened the door to the locker room and quickly scanned the hallway for any sign of Josh. To a causal observer, the scene would have been reminiscent of a rodent who was worried about predators. Seeing that the cost was clear, Kim began to quickly walk down the hallway towards the school exit. With any luck Ron would be there to meet her, if not, than she would just have to leave with out him.
Kim as so keyed up as she attempted to make her escape that she nearly jumped when her Kimmunicator began chirping for her attention. Grabbing it excitedly, Kim was hopping against hope that Wade was calling her about a mission. Since her parents had agreed to tell Kim before they told her principal whether or not she could go on any further missions, Kim was living by the motto that no news was good news. All she had to do was start a mission before her parents told her no.
"What's the sitch, Wade? Dr. Dementor? DNAmy? Frugal Lucre?" Kim asked anxiously.
"Sorry Kim, none of the above." Wade said, "Got a strange hit on the website though, it says it's from your dad."
"My dad, why would he use my website?" Kim asked.
"I don't know, but he left a message for you. Here let me pull it up for you."
Kim's eyes quickly scanned across the text of the message as it appeared on the screen. Closing her eyes and sighing, Kim's fears had come true.
"Wade, did you read this message already?" Kim asked.
"No Kim I…" Wade started before being cut off by Kim.
"Wade its ok, I won't be angry. Now I want the truth."
"Yes Kim, I did."
"Then you know what this means right?"
"No more Team Possible?" Wade asked sadly.
"No!" Kim shouted much to Wade's surprise. "No, Team Possible is not going away." Then in a softer voice Kim continued. "I'm sorry Wade, I didn't mean to yell at you. I just mean Team Possible is going to be inactive for a while, its not going away. And I'll stay in touch with you."
"Ahh, sure thing, Kim. We can stay in touch with your Kimmunicator. Just because you can't go on missions doesn't mean I can't contact you." Wade countered, still slightly perplexed by Kim's statement. "Maybe I can help you with some of your homework too."
Kim smiled as she answered. "Thanks Wade, you rock."
VII.
As the pixels that made up the clock display on the screen computer changed from PM to AM, Kim let out a rather large, and un-lady like, yawn. She had been making good progress on her schoolwork until about an hour ago. That's when the Z-monster decided to unleash its sixteen different kinds of kung-fu on the teen hero, and Kim really didn't have the strength to fight back. She was exhausted, physically, mentally, and emotionally after today.
Staring back at herself in the mirror as she brushed her teeth, Kim could see the bags under her eyes. "Just one more thing for Bonnie to jab me about." Kim muttered to herself. As much as she hated to admit it, at least with no missions to worry about for the next couple of weeks there was the prospect of her getting some decent sleep on the weekends.
Pulling the covers up over her, and holding Pandroo close to her chest, Kim was glad that it would be Friday soon, her Ron day. As she drifted off to sleep, Kim wondered if Ron had anything planned for that day.