Disclaimer: I don't own Kim Possible, any of her fellow characters, or any of her cool toys. (Though it would be nice to have a few of her toys. I wonder what I would look like in the battle suit…. Hopefully not as bad as Kim's cousin….)

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'This is not good,' thought Ron Stoppable. Kim had picked a bad day to take off. First it was mister It's-not-a-skirt Killigan, and then Ron gets a call that Shego and Drakken are robbing the Middleton Research Center. What really made him nervous was how Wade had been concerned enough to say that they should be extra careful tonight. The genius knew something, but no matter how much he pried, Ron could not get him to say more.

When he heard the sound of voices up ahead Ron motioned for Yori to be quiet. An unnecessary thing to point out to a ninja, but Ron was focused on figuring out what was wrong tonight. With their backs to the wall the pair eased closer to the door where the sounds were coming from.

A quick peek around the corner gave Ron a snapshot of what was happening. Drakken was pacing the room while Shego was bent over a lock, picks in hand.

"Can't you just cut through it?" the madman asked. Ron heard the unmistakable sound of Shego's plasma flaring briefly. "Not me, the lock!"

Ron turned back to Yori. "You stop Dr. Drakken, I will try stalling Shego long enough for you to secure him," he whispered. Yori acknowledged the plan and Ron took a deep breath. He had the wistful thought about how easy this would be if Kim was here.

Ron led the charge. He headed straight at the back of the plasma wielder while Yori went left after Drakken. His plan was simple, surprise her, and if he was lucky, knock her out. If unlucky, try to avoid anything worse then first degree burns.

His masterful plan came to a screeching halt when he felt something slip between his legs and trip him. Ron felt the air rush from his lungs as he smacked the ground halfway to his target. Ron looked around for the cause of his fall. Looming over him was a woman dressed from head to toe in black. A full mask with built in goggles hid even her eyes.

The black thief swung a long staff at his head. Ron backpedaled quickly until his back was against the wall. Using the wall for leverage he managed to regain his feet and take up a defensive posture.

Meanwhile Shego had nabbed what they had come for. The green woman charged at Yori forcing the ninja to release Drakken and draw her fans in defense. Using an impressive series of flips and dodges she stayed a hair ahead of Shego's glowing talons. Ron tried to run to his girlfriend's aid, but was cut off by a staff smacking into his chest.

"Meet my new partner, Autumn," Shego taunted from the other side of the laboratory.

Autumn lashed out with a series of strikes that forced Ron to focus on his own defense. Using his forearms as shields he avoided several attacks that were designed to knock him out quickly. A straight on jab managed to slide past his defense, but to the left of his head. Ron curled his arm and held onto the end of the staff. With easy grace he dropped down and twisted around, wrenching the staff from his attackers hands. Coming back around he lashed out with his newly acquired weapon. Catching his opponent across the ankles sending her to the floor hard.

"Got to love the Mystic Monkey Powers, boo-yah," he crowed. His attacker did not stay down though. She came up swinging and Ron took a step back to give himself room to use the staff. But when he attempted to turn the weapon on its owner it collapsed to a short eight-inch stub. "Oh man, this tanks," he commented on the sudden change in his fortunes.

Unable to think of a better tactic Ron went with his old standby. He ran. He ran as fast as he could to stay ahead of his pursuer. While running he poked and prodded the staff in an attempt to make it expand again. He hit it on his palm. He pressed both ends. Finally, he tried to twist it open. That worked and the staff sprang back to its full length. Unfortunately for Ron, one of the ends was pointed at his face. His unconscious body slid to a stop directly behind Yori.

Seeing her opportunity, Shego threw a roundhouse kick that she knew would be avoided, but succeeded in making the ninja trip over her boyfriend and crash to the floor. Before she could move, a pair of glowing green fists were aimed directly at her chest at point blank range. "Stay," Shego growled.

Yori could only watch as Autumn approached and collected her staff from beside Ron. The masked thief flipped Ron over onto his back. A black glove turned the blonde boy's head back and forth so that she could inspect the bruise that was forming just below Ron's right eye.

"Will the Buffoon live?" asked Shego with her usual flippant tone. Inside the thief was concerned. Not for the sidekick, but for her partner. If Ron was hurt Shego knew her new partner would be miserable.

Shego was relieved when Autumn nodded and stood back up. The two thieves left to the sound of Drakken screaming for them to wait up.

Yori was left alone with an unconscious Ron. Rufus, who had been hiding for the duration of the battle, came out of Ron's pocket to inspect the battlefield. He chattered nervously and tried to awaken his friend and cheese supplier.

"Let him rest, Rufus-kun," Yori said. The young woman stared at the door where their enemies had departed. "He will need to recover as quickly as possible." She paused to review the fight on the canvas of her minds eye. "With Shego's new partner, we will all need to be at our best."

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"Finally my Electro Assimilator is complete." Drakken rubbed his tiny hands together in anticipation. "Do you see my genius now Kim Possible?" After a moment of silence Drakken continued. "Fine, Autumn then, but do you see it?"

Drakken turned to see that he was alone in the lab. "Autumn," he yelled. "Get in here!" No response. "Shego?" he asked weakly. "Anyone?"

Elsewhere in the sprawling lair Shego was on the hunt. She poked her head into lab after lab. She checked the kitchen, the living quarters, the hanger, the mainframe room, and on and on. The longer she looked the faster she started to move. Had her Princess fled? Was the fight with the sidekick too much?

The master thief worked her way up through the lair level by level. What would she do if Kim was gone? She was enjoying having the redhead around. If Drakken's stupid obsession had ruined her new partnership she would kill the blue moron.

Shego let out a sigh of relief when she topped the stairs of the helipad built high on the roof of the lair. Sitting on the edge at the far side was Kim with her mask in her hands. The redhead was staring off to where the woods that surrounded the lair met the brightening eastern sky.

The green thief started to jog across the open landing zone, but was forced to pause when her breath was taken away. The sun had peeked above the horizon. The first beams of light had hit Kim's hair and it almost seemed to glow with some inner fire. It cast the younger woman in a glow that produced a vision that Shego was sure would stay with her forever.

Having heard the approaching footsteps, Kim turned and Shego was lost in her partner's eyes for a second time. There was sadness in those eyes that pulled hard on the older woman's heart. Shego came to sit by her partner. She made sure that when she was settled that their legs were firmly in contact.

The green thief was about to speak when Kim spoke up. "I am sorry, Shego, but I don't think I want to be a villainess. This just doesn't feel…" Shego placed an ungloved finger on Kim's lips.

"I know, Princess," she said. "But what about before Drakken hired us? How did that make you feel?"

"That was fun. I enjoyed it," Kim replied. "Can't we go back to that?" Kim sounded so hopeful that Shego would say yes.

"Of course, Pumpkin," she replied. "Just you and me robbing the world blind. How does that sound?"

Kim smiled for a moment and Shego's heart swelled. When Kim's smile slipped Shego's heart fell. 'Oh, no.' "What is it, Princess?" she asked with more concern slipping into the question then she would have liked.

"I'm sorry, but I have to stop him," Kim's eyes pleaded for understanding.

"Huh?"

"I have to stop Drakken," Kim tried to sound firm, but her voice shook a little with concern for what Shego would say.

"Oh, that," Shego paused for a moment then she smiled. "I wouldn't worry about that."

"I can't just hope the thing backfires," Kim said.

"No hope necessary," replied Shego with a smirk.

Kim arched an eyebrow and was about to say something when a loud explosion rocked the entire lair. They both had to hold on to avoid being thrown off the edge of the building.

After things settled, Shego pulled a small board of computer chips from her leg pouch. "One of the lessons from being a villain is that the power control unit is a very important part of any good doomsday device."

Five stories below they watched a blue form race from the lair patting at his lab coat to put out several small fires that speckled his body.

Kim let out a laugh and with it all of the tension of a few minutes earlier.

Shego rolled her eyes. "What ever turned that man's skin blue apparently made him fire resistant."

"That would explain how he survived working with you for so long," Kim quipped.

"Do you want to ask him for the formula before we leave?" Shego shot back.

Kim leaned a little closer and gave her partner a quick peck on the cheek. "Nah, I'll find my own way to avoid getting burned."