Kim finally buckled and met Ron and Yori for lunch at Bueno Nacho. It was hard to accept that Ron had found her to be, as he put it, 'Way too intense'. But after some nacos and some antics by Rufus, things started to feel more normal. They had even started to make fun of Monkey Fist's accent when the Kimmunicator beeped.

"What's the sitch, Wade," she asked.

"Drakken and Motor Ed are tearing apart an expo of advanced prototype cars in Detroit," he said.

"Shego?" Kim asked.

Wade scrolled through the reports for a moment. "Nope. Looks like the cousins are on their own for this one."

"What do you say?" she asked turning to her friends sitting together across from her. "You two up for a little motor mayhem?"

"We are in KP," cheered Ron.

"It would be my honor to assist, Kim-san," replied Yori. Even Rufus gave the thumbs up.

Outside the Bueno Nacho a helicopter landed in the parking lot. They quickly got on and buckled in for the trip to the airport where they transferred to a jet that quickly took them to Detroit.

While en route Kim thought about her relationship with Ron. It was hard not to since she was watching him snuggle up close to his new girlfriend. When they had split up it had only hurt a little. After all they were still best friends, and they always would be. What hurt was the reason Ron had given. Ron said he couldn't keep the pace, anymore. It had been fine while in high school, but the constant strain from the missions and Kim's inherent intensity had been too much for the blonde boy to handle. The fears at graduation had instilled the need to think about the future in him. He wanted a plan, and Kim wanted to just keep doing what she enjoyed.

Kim had even caught him mediating a couple of times. He seemed to be pulling back and becoming more reserved. He wanted to think things through and maybe try avoiding unnecessary risk.

Yori on the other hand was calmer. Sure she was a ninja and she went on missions just like Kim, but apparently she didn't share Kim's penance for diving into the fight or jumping out of a plane without a chute. (Hey it had worked. She had caught the guy and used his parachute!) Yori was more methodical and, to Kim, boring. What was the fun in knowing how everything was going to turn out? Where was the challenge and the need for intuition? Kim was pulled from her thoughts when they had to jump from the plane and parachute to the roof of the convention center where the expo was being held.

Looking through the skylights they could see Motor Ed and Drakken. They were loading cars into a modified semi truck that they had obviously rammed through the wall of the building. Police and security were being held back by a sizeable group of syntho-drones.

After opening the windows the three heroes lowered repel lines down most of the way, but not far enough to give away their arrival. Carefully they lowered themselves until they were directly over the villains. On a silent count from Kim they all dropped on their targets.

Yori managed to land directly behind the group of drones. Using her fans she quickly began to slash away, spilling green goo in her wake. Ron landed directly on Drakken. The pair crumpled to the floor in a comic pile of flailing limbs.

Kim managed to land directly in front of Motor Ed. "Whoa," said the startled mullet-head. "How's it hanging, Red. I hear you're a college coed now."

Kim found herself in a foul mood. What was the point of this? A single swift kick knocked Ed through the open window of one of the cars they had been trying to steal.

Before he could climb back out of the car, Drakken and Ron rolled hard into the grill of the vehicle. The air bag exploded with Ed's head only inches away from the steering wheel. The rogue mechanic was knocked out. So were Drakken and Ron.

Kim turned to find another opponent. Unfortunately, she watched as Yori soundly cut down the last of the drones. Kim wanted to scream. All this way? One measly kick? No challenge at all! WHERE THE HELL IS SHEGO?!?

"Are you alright, Kim-san?" Yori appeared concerned.

The redhead shook her head to regain focus. "Sorry about that Yori," she replied. "I just got caught up in the moment, that's all." Kim tried to shrug off the ninja's attention.

"We should be going, Kim-san," said Yori. "Would you be so kind as to help me collect Ron-san. He seems to be having trouble standing."

The girls walked over to where Ron was trying to get up, having regained consciousness. "Did we win," he asked sheepishly as the women helped him to his feet.

"Yeah, Ron," said Kim. "You were awesome. You took out both Drakken and Motor Ed."

"Your American style buffoonery has saved the day Stoppable-san." Yori gave Ron a peck on the check.

"Boo-yah!" Ron suddenly felt a lot better. "Back to the Bueno Nacho from some serious Naco style celebrating!"

--------

Back in Drakken's lair, Shego was all smiles. On her television she had watched the entire battle. Kim's response to how easily they had won was priceless. The girl should have been happy that they had stopped the bad guys, but it was clear to the green thief that Kim was not pleased with the results. The girl was practically bouncing from foot to foot looking for some kind of outlet.

"You aren't going to find it there, Kimmie," she said to the television. "If you want a real challenge you are going to have to look for it."

Shego went to her private quarters and began to pack. She had her own plan now. She didn't need Drakken for it either. She would let him rot in jail for now. Maybe he would be useful again sometime, but she doubted it.

Taking everything she needed she loaded up a hover car and went in search of her own lair. She was through working for idiots.

---------

Two weeks after the events at the car expo, Kim was bored out of her mind. Ron and Yori had gone to Japan for the week. Not a single mission had come up either. She had been a little surprised when Shego had not busted out Drakken. She had been hoping to have the excuse to fight her nemesis.

She was spending the day at her parents. They were sitting down to dinner when she heard the Kimmunicator beeping in the living room. She practically flew across the house and dove over the couch to answer it. "Slow down, dear," came her mother's voice.

"Sorry, mom," Kim shouted over her shoulder before answering the call. "Hey, Wade. Did we get a hit on the site?"

"Actually it doesn't come from the site," he replied.

"Oh?" She raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"It came through some other contacts I have gained over the years. Not exactly what you would call legitimate contacts," he rambled. Kim could tell he was already having second thoughts about the call.

"What is it, Wade," she asked using the tone of her voice to urge him on.

"I wouldn't normally have even brought it up, but after the conversation we had a few weeks ago…"

"Stop stalling," she demanded. "Spill."

"It would be a paying job, for once." Kim was tempted to question his tone, but realized that if she interrupted him now she may never get the information.

"The job is in Go City," he said. "The client wants the mayor's laptop computer from his office. Now, Kim, this job is worth fifty grand. And it seemed like a good chance for you to work through your doubts about being a hero."

"You don't think I will finish the job, do you?" she asked. She didn't think so either.

"If I was a betting man, I would put my money on you getting in, picking up the laptop, and then immediately putting it back on the desk to just walk away," said the hacker.

Kim thought about it for a moment. Wade was right; if she wanted to she could just walk away at any point. "I am in, Wade. Send me the details."

The Kimmunicator chimed as it received a data file. "That file has plans for the entire municipal building and all surrounding buildings. That should give you what you need to plan your entrance and exit strategies," he said. "There are also some files on lock picking and a few other small things you have never needed the skills for in the past."

Kim switched Wade to voice only so she could flip through the files. "This is all very well prepared. Despite how you sounded, you knew I would take this on, didn't you?"

"Yeah," he replied. "I even set up an account to launder the money if I am wrong and you finish the job."

"Once again, you rock, Wade." Kim thought of something else. "Is there any way you could make a few mods to the battle suit?"

"Let me guess, you want black with a mask of some sort?" he asked.

"Please and thank you," she said with a smile. "I plan to move on this in three days."

"I will have the suit ready," replied the hacker.

---------

Three days later a feminine form, clad in all black was perched on the edge of the Go City Communications Building roof directly across the street from the city's municipal building. The black clad thief wielded a long rifle like grapple device.

Taking careful aim she shot the hook across the open expanse where it imbedded itself in the granite wall just above the highest window of the building. Kim used the built in hook on the butt of the rifle to secure it to the large radio tower on the communication building. After attaching a safety line she grabbed the wire with both her arms and legs and shimmied across the fifteen-story canyon.

Upon reaching the other building she dangled herself from the safety line to inspect the window. The windows on high-rise buildings were not designed for opening. Kim elected to use her lipstick laser to burn a hole large enough to fit through. It was not the most professional solution, she thought to herself, but it would do for a first time try. 'What am I thinking? This is the only try!'

The moment she stepped into the office alarms went off. The sound was distracting, but she knew from the plans she would have a minute or two before anyone could get to where she was.

Kim carefully surveyed the office for her target. A large painted portrait of the mayor and his wife caught her attention, particularly the wife. The woman had long black hair and striking emerald eyes. Kim could easily imagine the woman younger and with pale green skin, a tight form fitting suit….

Kim cursed herself for losing focus. The laptop was sitting on the desk hooked to a dock. Kim quickly pulled every wire she could see heading into the thing and placed it carefully into her backpack, insuring it didn't interfere with the built in parachute.

In her hurry to catch up on her timetable, Kim didn't even pause to think about backing out of the theft. The moment of truth had come and gone. She had acted, not thought.

Then the guards arrived. Four large men burst into the office shouting orders for her to surrender. 'No way,' she said to herself. Kim back flipped onto the large desk and took up her favorite defensive stance.

The first guard made to grab her leg, but only succeeded in having the leg connect with his head hard enough to render him unconscious. Two of the remaining guards pushed the desk in an attempt to knock her off. A front flip ended with her standing with one foot on each mans shoulder. Kim put all of her weight on the left man so she could kick the one on her right. Continuing the motion she flipped off the other man with enough force to wrench his shoulder.

The last guard rushed her. The man seemed to have training as a boxer, but he was not quick enough to guard against the lightning fast strikes that Kim had been perfecting over years of fighting people like Shego. A few quick combos and the man was down. A roundhouse kick sent the man with the injured shoulder crashing over the desk where he remained.

For a moment she was the only one left standing. Then six more guards poured in to the large office.

Kim realized she wasn't fighting to save the world. She had what she needed. It was time to go. She ran across the room and took a flying leap through the hole in the window.

The second she was clear of the glass she pulled her chute. It was a short fall, but the chute unfurled enough to slow her down. Combined with the power of the battle suit she landed gracefully on the sidewalk below. Kim cut the lines to the chute.

Holding out a hand to stop traffic, she ran to the middle of the road amidst the sounds of angry shouts and horns. Kim flipped up a manhole cover and disappeared into the abyss below before anyone could get out of their cars, or guards could come running out of the building.