- LATER THAT YEAR -
During a cool October night, Professor Dementor desperately scrambled through the back streets of downtown Seattle while clutching to a large metal briefcase. He dived into an alleyway and desperately tried to contact his henchmen.
"Myron...Myron! Come en zu incompetent ball of hayar!" He screamed on his communicator.
"Y-yes Professor...where are you? You're late for our extraction point, are you okay?"
"No zu fool, someting vent a foul! Dat bloody ginger gerl...she cvashed dee party! I zeed you to come to me ands gets ve outta heah!"
"Okay Professor, where is your location?"
"Vat?! Can you not USE DE GPS I GAVE YOU TO TVACK ME?!"
"You mean the GPS that is sitting here in the helicopter? The one you said that we wouldn't need for this 'open and closed' operation?" Myron replied.
"Zes, zat von…" Dementor replied beating himself over his own head. "Vy do I vet you ignorvamouses talk me into dese tings?"
"Because you threw it at us after we suggested to you that take it along in case something came up?"
"Warum… warum…" he sighed to himself in German as he looked around at his surroundings trying to get an idea to where he was at. As he looked up, he discovered that he was next to a high-rise construction site. He frantically looked around to try to identify where he was until he finally came across a large banner promoting the hotel which was being built. "Ah ha! Zit appeahs dat I'm at de verksite of de new Uptowns Superz Sveets Hotel. Can zu finds zat?"
"I'll see what I can do Professor." Myron replied. A few seconds later Dementor got the last bit of new that he wanted to hear at that moment. "Uh, sir...I don't know how you did this, but you are like, on the other side of the city from the extraction site."
"VAAAAAT?! How fah amz I froms where I'ms supposed to ve?"
"Like, um... miles. Did you not get on the light rail as we had discussed?"
"Light vail?" Dementor responded confused, "Since vhen did ve include a trip on a light vail in this plan?"
"We were discussing it right before Ted suggested that you wear a GPS tracker on you and you broke out in a fit of rage. Remember? It was the signature aspect of the exit plan, the part that once you acquired the Nautilus Wheel you would discretely walk onto the Sound Transit and take it all the way to the airport where you'd get on the helicopter? Maybe you forgot about it being that this was such a simple plan."
Dumbfounded, Dementor took a moment and realized that his temper might have prevented him from making sound judgments and hearing out the entire plan. Knowing he was being followed, he took a deep breath, thought for a minute and then replied back to his brother in-law, with a solution.
"Alvight, heres vat we do. Iz shall climb to ze top of zhis hotel and zen youse shall fly to me and extract me from ze top okay? I should ve at ze top in five minutes, I see vu there."
"Yeah, um...it's not going to be five minutes."
"Vat?! You flyz like a crow, it should take no time zat all to zet here!"
"Normally sir you'd be right. However you told us to keep the engines running while we waited for you. And that was 45 minutes ago, we're going to have to refuel."
"And zat vud takes how long?"
"Twenty minutes, hang tight we'll get you out of there"
"Myron, if zou veren't married to Hildegarde—"
"Listen! I was following orders, bro!" Myron snapped back, in the first time he ever showed a backbone to his boss-in-law "Twenty minutes! If you're not on the rooftop of that high rise ready to be picked up, YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"
"Yes. Yes...tventy minutes. Yes very good." Dementor replied back in utter shock that Myron stood up to him.
He signed off from his communicator and glanced up at the iron skeleton of the building he was to climb. He first threw the metal briefcase over the wooden fence and then attempted to jump up and pull himself over. To which, his short stature proved to be a bit of a challenge. Eventually he threw enough buckets, boxes and cinder blocks onto a pile big enough that he was able to successfully scale the fence. Once he was over, he grabbed the briefcase and bolted towards the heart of the construction site in the hope of finding a lift elevator to take him to the top quickly and effortlessly.
"Vere is das bloody leeft in dis wretched place?!" He uttered to himself in a panic as he felt around in the darkness, completely unprepared with a proper escape plan or flashlights. Eventually his fingers touched a box of which he felt the obvious roundness of lift buttons. "Ah ha, got 'cho!" he whispered in exclamation as he climbed into the elevator lift's safety cage and began to press the UP button.
"Cahm on! Cahm on! Vy aunt you going aap!?" He said as he desperately pushed the button again and again to no avail. The elevator's power was turned off, most likely to hinder people from doing the very thing he was attempting to do. "Vell, I guess ve vill just have to do zis de old fashion way." he muttered as he climbed out of the safety cage and headed for some scaffolding. Soon he had gotten himself into rhythm and was scaling the building floor by floor, girder by girder, beam by beam with a fair amount of ease until he reached the very top of the structure.
He looked at his communicator's clock. Ten minutes down, ten minutes to go. Gripping the briefcase close to his chest, he nervously paced back and forth across the top of the building, making sure he wasn't being followed. Once seeing the coast was clear, he backed up under an overhang and collapsed in a heavy heave of exhaustion as he awaited his extraction.
"Ahhhhhh." he sighed in relief as he slouched against the wall and took in the view of the Seattle skyline all around him.
"You know Professor, this building does have a set of stairs." a female voice said from the darkness followed soon after by a small LED light turning on revealing a smug Kim Possible sitting mere couple of feet away from him.
"GAAH!" Dementor shrieked as he leapt up and backed away from his foe. "Keem Possivle! You...you zook...diffvrent?"
Indeed Kim did look different than the last time she and Dementor's paths had crossed. She sported a more ragtag outfit consisting of an Oregon Ducks athletic tank top and a pair of Army surplus fatigues, a result from her sleek, custom made purple outfit being destroyed along with the rest of her belongings during the Lorwardian invasion. She also got a little adventurous in her first semester of college and cut a good portion of her hair off, leaving her with a chin-length bob.
"Yeah, you like it?" Kim replied brushing her hands through her short hair. "Don't look too much into it there Professor, new look, same old me. And you're not leaving this rooftop with that briefcase."
"And vhere is das buffoon?"
"He's...not...here!" Kim growled angrily as she gnashed her teeth.
"But how, how did zou findz me?"
"To be honest, I had lost you for a while until I heard a panicky voice with a Germanic accent screaming down a back alleyway. I overheard your whole escape plan and made it up here and just waited for you to show up. You should really invest in a GPS system." Kim replied sarcastically.
"Zat...is so ivonic." Dementor replied slightly humiliated. "Dis whole mission has veen an utter vailure from ze beginning."
Kim, still openly annoyed by Dementor's question about Ron sighed and gave her foe a proposition: "Look, I have an Organic Chemistry exam tomorrow of which I haven't studied for, I'm freezing due to this stupid rag tag outfit and I've got other things on my mind that don't involve you. And as for you, you're obviously having a night stuffed full of fail too. Neither of us want to be here, so let's make a deal. Hand over the briefcase, and I'll let you get on your helicopter and we can both go home."
"Zat's it?" Dementor asked perplexed. "No han-to-han fightzing? No scaling das crane?" He asked pointing to the crane high above the worksite.
"That's it. No strings attached." she replied. "I've got bigger deals than you going on tonight."
"Hmmm, zor request seems zound. Okay, deal." he said with a cautious grin.
"Good, now give me the briefcase and we'll be on our way. No funny stuff." Kim demanded.
"Has it your way." he said cautiously as he slowly approached Kim with her open arms.
After a few seconds of tense standoff, Kim was now holding the bottom of the briefcase with her hands, her eyes focused straight on Dementor's refusing to blink as the exchange slowly developed.
"FIVE MINUTES AWAY SIR!" shouted Myron over the communicator. The sudden message startled Kim and made her lose focus. And within a literal blink of an eye, Dementor shoved the base of the briefcase into her midsection, forcing her to drop hands to her stomach. As she grabbed her body in reflex, Dementor spun himself around and clocked her across her shoulders with the briefcase, sending a disoriented Kim to the ground in a brutal thud.
"Psyche you mind zucka! Ah ha ha ha ha ha!" Dementor gloated as he stood over a groaning Kim lying in a fetal position. "That's vat you get for tinking you can deal vith a super villaIIIIIIIAAAAAAYYYYYYYY! *THUMP*
Kim opened her eyes a crack to see what happened. As her vision came into focus she saw Professor Dementor lying in a moaning heap a few feet away from her. She rolled over onto her back and looked up to see Ron and Rufus standing over her in an attack stance.
"And that's what you get for underestimating Ron Stoppable's mastery of stealth fighting! Boo-yah!" Ron shouted at Dementor.
Yip yip, boo-yah! Rufus chirped while also assuming a fighting stance on Ron's shoulder.
Once he saw that Dementor wasn't about to get up, Ron knelt down to help Kim off the floor. ''A helping hand for my lady?" he offered.
"You're late again Ron." Kim snapped as batted away Ron's hand of assistance. "Where the HELL were you?!"
"Sorry, the Roncycle was a bit slower than I thought it would be. Plus I hit a Bueno Nacho with a drive through outside of Tacoma. Two Nachos for the price of o— Hey! You cut your hair?"
"Thank you Captain Obvious." she said as she stood up and wiped a little blood from her shoulder. "So let me get this straight. We had an urgent warning that there was a planned theft of a priceless piece of technology from one of our oldest clients and you STOPPED FOR DINNER?!"
"Well, you can't fight crime on an empty stomach can you KP ?"
"You can't fight crime when you no-show a mission and your partner gets bludgeoned by a briefcase either Ron!"
"Hey, I saved you on that last one."
"I shouldn't have been in that position to begin with!"
"Agreed, you should have had something in your system. Would have made you more alert."
"What I should have had was my partner here to help me take Dementor down. Dammit Ron, what is it with you and common sense lately?" Kim asked with a visible twitch in her eye.
lately? Rufus chirped.
"Are you saying I don't have common sense?"
"No, I'm telling you that you don't have any common sense! Last week you were late when we foiled Duff Killigan's plans in the Everglades, botched up keeping Motor Ed from stealing those JATO systems, COMPLETELY no-showed when May Hemme took hostages on that yacht. Where is your head man?!"
"Hey, it's a long way to get here from Middleton!"
"It took me four and half hours to get here! And I still beat you here!"
"So? You have a faster car."
"So?! Take the bus! Call in a favor! You know? Like we used to do, ALL THE TIME?"
"Well, you could have picked me up."
"I ASKED YOU! You said you were good and had a ride already!"
"I did, but I had to eat!"
"I have an exam tomorrow!"
As Kim and Ron broke into a full-fledged shouting match, neither of them paid attention to Professor Dementor who slowly managed to make it back to his feet and began to sneak away from the arguing couple. Even though Rufus tried in vain to get his two friends' attention. They also were so engaged into their argument, neither of them paid attention to the sound of a helicopter getting closer and closer to their location. Rufus however did and as the helicopter hovered over the rooftop and a rope ladder was dropped from it, he decided to take matters into his own hand and jumped up on Kim's shoulder, grabbed her head and spun it around in the direction of the helicopter.
By the time she turned around, Dementor was already halfway up the ladder with the briefcase and the helicopter began to fly away.
"Auf Wiedersehen beetches!" Dementor laughed as he and and his henchmen flew off into the Seattle night.
Kim and Ron stood there speechless as the helicopter disappeared from view. Ron then turned back to his girlfriend who was now seething with rage.
"Well, that's just great! Congratulations Ron, we just botched our fourth mission in a row."
"Hey, that wasn't completely my fault." he said as he pointed towards the direction the helicopter left.
"Whatever Ron." a tired, bleeding Kim said as she limped passed him in disgust. "I'm heading back to Eugene. Hopefully whatever Dementor got away was something harmless like an espresso machine prototype and not some doomsday device."
"You mean we aren't going to go after him?"
"What's the point? You'll probably show up late to that too. I'll just get Wade to call Hego, Team Impossible, or heck maybe even Joss. I'm sure even she could manage to show up on time if asked and she's still in middle school."
"Okay, I get it KP. You're mad at me for being late, but what about you?"
"What about me?"
"Well, let's see, you never answer your phone when I call you to talk to you. I must have left seven voicemails the other day alone."
"It was more like eleven—and I was in class!"
"And then you've missed our last couple of time of playing Everlot together, which resulted in me getting killed by a pack of pygmy trolls and losing a lot of XP…"
"I had to study! I'm taking Physics and Organic Chemistry this semester Ron, I don't have time to play games!"
"Oh I see, but you have time to talk to Monique on the phone for an hour and a half. Yeah I know about that!"
"That's because I haven't talked to Monique in months and her grandmother died! You can't be serious in bringing that up as an act of jealousy!"
"Okay fine, but when I remember vividly a few times when I called you and your roommate picked up and said you were out with a group of people and you were going to be out for most of the night. You can't make time for a couple of minutes for me, but you'll go partying the night away with a bunch of floor mates?"
"Yeah, that 'group of friends' is more like a 'study group' Ron, do you really understand the amount of school work I have on me this semester?!"
"Hey, I'm in college too remember? I'm well aware of the homework."
"YOU'RE TAKING CULINARY ARTS CLASSES AT LOWERTON COMMUNITY COLLEGE! I'm having to learn about Stereoisomers, Spectroscopy and Keytones. The closest thing to chemistry that you are learning is how much yeast goes into a loaf of bread dough!"
"Hey! That's an essential part of the bread baking process!"
"AAARRRRGGGGHHHH!" Kim replied yanking on her short hair. "YOU...DON'T...GET...IT! I DO NOT HAVE THE TIME! I DO NOT HAVE THE TIME FOR STUDYING, I DON'T HAVE THE TIME FOR A SOCIAL LIFE, I DON'T HAVE A TIME FOR THESE STUPID MISSIONS AND I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOU!"
After an awkward silence on the rooftop, Ron finally responded.
"Well then, I guess you better head back to school then."
"Yeah. I guess so."
"I'll just be on my way then, I have an army of pygmy trolls to kill." he said as he pushed a button on his belt engaging a set of wings and a rocket booster from the backpack he was wearing.
"You... had a jetpack? THE WHOLE TIME!?" Kim snarled in disgust.
"Why yes, yes I did."
"Aaand it didn't occur to you to maybe use that to get you here a little faster?"
"It did. Just a couple of seconds ago. Come on Rufus, we're going home." He replied as he motioned to the mole rat to hop on before engaging the boosters and taking off into the night sky.
Kim watched as Ron disappeared out of sight before falling to her knees and screaming to the top of her lungs in frustration. She then bowed her head to the ground and began to cry as the neighborhood dogs began to howl and pigeons took flight in response to her scream.
-The Next Day-
"And that's how searing a piece of beef seals in the juices!" Ron exclaimed as he read from one of his culinary books to Hanna as she sat on his lap. "Now how about we learn about ancient technique of Robatayaki?"
"Yay!" Young Hanna replied in clueless excitement.
"I thought you'd like it Han, at least someone around here cares enough to listen to me...anyways...first off, Robatayaki is similar to barbecue and is a method of cooking which requi—"
"DING DONG!" went the doorbell to Ron's house.
"Who could that be at this hour?" Ron rhetorically asked his sister as he gently took her off his lap and laid her down in her pack and play next to a sleeping Rufus to go answer the door.
"Hello? Oh, it's you." Ron said as he saw Kim standing on her doorstep.
"Hey Ron, can we talk?" she replied in a melancholy tone.
"I guess you can. Me and Hanna were just about to learn the secrets of Robatayaki before you showed up. It's one of those cooking techniques any simpleton apparently can learn." He said as he cheap shot Kim in spite of the following evening.
"That's interesting." she replied attempting to remain civil. "I'm sure Hanna would really enjoy learning some of the cooking techniques that come from her culture."
"It's Japanese?"
"Yes. It's Japanese." she replied doing all that she could do not roll her eyes in front of him. "Look, let's go upstairs and talk."
Up in his bedroom, Ron plopped down on his bed while Kim opted to grab his office chair and sat in it backwards across the room from him. They both stared at each other in silence for several minutes as an uneasy tension filled the quiet room.
"Hows your shoulder?" Ron asked, breaking the ice.
"Sore"
"How did you do on your test?"
"I got a 65. Failed it."
"Oh, sorry to hear that."
"It is what it is."
"I didn't see your scooter out front…forget it in Seattle?"
"Um...yeah, Wade's got someone picking it up for me."
"Ron, about last night."
"I know KP, I was out of line, I know I dropped the ball, next time we go out on a mission, I'll be sure to get better transportation and get there when I'm supposed to."
"Ron."
"No, you were right, KP. In fact, I'm saving my money up to get an even better—"
"There isn't going to be a next time." Kim said, cutting him off abruptly.
"Huh? Wh-what do you mean not a next time?"
"I'm out." she replied with a tear beginning to run down her cheek. "I can't keep doing this."
"But, but why?"
"I'm failing my classes Ron, I have no time to study, I'm exhausted when I get back to my dorm, I can't hardly move because I'm so sore, I forget to eat, and I'm close to being on academic probation. I only got in there at the last minute because of a huge favor and a lot of strings pulled. I can't blow it."
"Well, what if we cut back on missions and only did ones on weekends?"
"Oh, so if an eighteen credit hour semester isn't difficult enough, lets risk our lives on the weekend so by the time we come back for class on Monday you're completely exhausted again? No, I can't do that. I already told Wade. He's taking the website offline tomorrow and forwarding all of our accounts to Doctor Director and her agents at Global Justice. Maybe she can take care of them, maybe she knows of another young upstart in high school looking for a challenge, either way it's not going to be me. Or you. Or Rufus."
"But...do I get a say in this matter?"
"You're inability to show up when you were supposed to speaks enough on your behalf already Ron."
"But..."
Kim laid her forehead against her wrists as she leaned forward in the chair as she tried to find the words she was looking for.
"Look Ron," her voice somewhat trembling, "We both knew that me going off to college was going to strain our relationship. I don't think we realized how hard it would be."
"Well, we could still talk to each other every night, play Everlot together and all that other stu—"
"You're not hearing me!" She interrupted "It's not just the missions. It's YOU!"
"Me?" Ron whimpered.
"I'm smothered, every moment of spare time I have has me either stuck on the bed talking to you on the phone for hours, grasping for straws on things to talk about, or you have me logged onto that stupid video game with thousands of other nerds living vicariously through a bunch of pixels rather than living a real life!"
"I don't have any friends at college, I'm surrounded by different, unique and interesting people and I socialize with none of them because I spend all my free time with you. It's like I never leave my dorm room. It's like I never left Middleton."
"You act like that's a bad thing."
"It is a bad thing Ron, college is the time that you spread your wings and fly. Meet people from all walks of life; open your mind to new experiences. Do new things."
"And what about being a hero who has saved the world countless times? Doesn't that count for anything?"
"It counts for annoying frat boys trying to get selfies with me in the food court every day." She replied in a huff. "Or the fan art, or the," Kim shivered. "fan fiction. Do you know what people have me doing with Shego on some websites?! I didn't mind little kids wanting autographs and pictures but I'm tired of the celebrity treatment, I just want to be left alone! And just to have a normal college life."
"I, uh...I can change...I could try to maybe transfer to a community college in Eugene and be closer?" Ron said, grasping for straws. "I can find a job...give you your space...I'll— I'll uninstall Everl…"
"Stop! Please. Just stop!" she interrupted as she tried to hold back tears "You're making this harder than what it already is."
There was an uneasy silence which fell over the room. Ron could hear his heart beating loud and in a panic. It felt as if it was in his throat.
"Kim. What are you saying?''
Kim leaned forward and rested her chin on the back of the chair as she tried to utter the words Ron feared were inevitable. Her eyes began to water as she tried to work up the courage to say what she was wanting to but she couldn't bring herself to utter those words.
"I'm s-sorry." she finally managed. "I'm so sorry…"
With that, Ron knew she was breaking up with him. Crushed, he buried his head in his hands, and began to shake his head as if to say "no." Soon, the movement intensified and it became obvious that he was fighting back tears.
Ron wasn't the only one in tears, Kim was busy sniffling herself, trying to keep from completely losing it. In her heart she knew she would devastate her old friend with this decision, but in her head, all of the frustration, all of the headaches, all of the stress she had convinced herself that this was the proper course of action. All of the time apart and all of the introductions of new experiences she had during college had made her put her relationship under a microscope. She had convinced herself that Ron, as loving as he was to her, wasn't right for her. That him remaining in Middleton was a bridge back to high school and the status quo over progress and discovery. She convinced herself that he was holding her back, that she had outgrew him and that without him, she could truly live the life she had always hoped she would. She'd never tell him this. It was hard enough to merely break up with him. To tell him such feelings would have destroyed his being.
She managed to collect herself and stood up from the chair. She slowly walked over to her sobbing friend and put her hands on his shoulders.
"I'm sorry Ron," she whispered as she bent down and gently kissed the top of his head. "we had a good run."
With that, she slowly rose and exited his bedroom. She made the long walk downstairs to where she came across Rufus now awake and indulging himself with nachos after successfully bedding Hana down for a nap. He looked up from his snack to look at Kim, who hurried down the stairs and headed towards the front door.
Perplexed, Rufus chirped up to get her attention as it wasn't normal to leave Ron's house without saying bye to him and giving him a little head scratch. She opened the front door and turned around to look at the mole rat with wet bloodshot eyes. Upon seeing this, Rufus' trademark grin was quickly gone and replaced with a look of concern and confusion to why his friend was so upset. As the two of them traded glances, Rufus heard the creaking of the stairs and noticed a sobbing red-eyed Ron slowly dragging himself halfway down the flight.
Rufus looked at Ron, then back to Kim, then back to Ron and then after realizing something very bad had happened let out a small groan and slumped into sadness. Ron never made it past halfway down the stairs and just stood, staring at Kim in the doorway, hoping in vain that she would realize her mistake and run back up the stairs to him. But it wasn't meant to be. Kim took a deep breath and slowly exited the home.
Ron and Rufus both stared dumbfounded at the closed door in silence, trying to comprehend what truly happened. With a sigh, Ron turned around and went back into his room and slammed the door shut, which was done so loudly it woke up Hana.
A few miles outside of town, a teary eyed Kim pulled the Sloth into an empty parking lot and made a phone call.
"Hey,"
"It's done."
"Not good."
"Yeah."
"I'll be alright."
"Yeah. I know, thanks."
"So um, this party."
"Uh huh,"
"Right."
"Yeah, I think I'll be up for it."
"Sounds great."
"See you all there."
"And hey, thanks again."
After she hung up, leaned back in her seat and watched as rain droplets began to hit the windshield. She took a deep breath and tried to clear her mind before putting the car in gear and heading onward to Eugene.