KP: Secret Shame Saga Prologue Chapter 8: Part Eight: Differant Monsters, a kim possible fanfic

Realease Notes:

Holy Crap! It has been a while. Been busy with a dozen other things.

I gotta admit, I thought the final episode(s) were pretty sweet. Atta boy Ron! I love how the show writers totally picked good-humored fun at the fanfic community. Positively glorious. I gotta admit I never expected them to pair Drak and Shego within continuity. I know that there are plenty of fans who've been pushing for the idea, but I always saw their relationship as sorta brother-sister or even father-daughter. It's cool though, they're just wrapping up all manner of loose ends.

Unfortunatly, for that reason above all I am going to have to re-imagine my own version of Graduation a little bit in order to fit in with my plans for the SecretShame Saga. I really didn't want to; from the beginning I wanted to write 'around and about' the original episodes as opposed to ignoring or contradicting them. Even now, I'm thinking I am going to stick with the major premise of what happened in Graduation, just because it was so awesome, and by and large, most of it will inform/fit in with the larger story arc of the Saga.

Of course, none of that really matters if no one reads it. Which is why I should really stop babbling and just start writing.

The Author.

Part Eight: Different Monsters

Everything had been going so well.

He had finished his genius doomsday device, he had set a (sort-of) clever trap for Kim Possible, he had been just about to devolve the meddling teen into some sort of prehistoric thing or another, he was going to use his nefarious ray to take over the world itself and he had some of mother's leftover meatloaf in the fridge that he was going to eat after all this was said and done.

But then, as Dr. Drakken's head fought its way through the black spots in his vision, he became aware of the horrible sound. A screaming animal, assaulting his eardrums. So terrible that it twisted his insides to hear. And then it stopped, and Drakken's eyes rolled open with a groan.

Everything was going so wrong.

Ron Stoppable stumbled away from the mess of ruined light fixture and the moaning blue form of Drakken pinned beneath it. Rufus' aim, as usual, was impeccable. How the tiny fleshy rodent pulled off these unlikely saves, Ron never truly understood. He simply accepted them as par for the course. The mad scientist was down for the count, it seemed.

But that didn't help the terrible feeling that was growing in his gut.

Ron had seen the Reverse Engineering Ray fire wide when the fixture had dropped, knocking Drakken off the raised platform. And judging from the awful scream that had followed, he could safely assume that someone had been hit by it. From the sound of it, most likely Chris Cutter.

He wasn't so cold hearted that he didn't feel pity for the dark-haired man. True, he was a lying thief and had been little more then trouble from the moment they had met, but Ron still wouldn't wish anything more then a punch in the face towards the man. After all, he had saved his life once or twice… sorta. That was worth something to the blonde teen. Plus Ron was at his heart a good guy. Even people he hated didn't deserve to be de-evolved into primordial goo.

But none of those thoughts were causing the rising dread in his chest. A knot of fear that seemed so… primal, that it was almost foreign to the suburb-raised teenager. It was almost as if some bizarre monkey sense was calling at him from deep inside. And yet, his mystical monkey powers did not come forth when he reached for them. That was not unusual. It was getting so that he could never tell when Tai Shing Pek Kwar would manifest itself.

A deep reverberation sounded in the room, and the fear in Ron's chest spiked. That wasn't a mechanical noise. That was a growl.

The young man circled around the raised platform and came to a screeching halt, frozen in mute shock at the terrifying image before him. Rolling muscles and ivory blades slowly stalked towards a cowering Shego. A hulking monster with fangs, claws and spikes protruding from seemingly every joint. Only the tattered black cloth that still hung from its metamorphosed body gave clue as to who the creature had once been.

He understood instantly where the sense of dread had come from.

Through the control room entrance Kim Possible sprinted, directly towards the Cutter-monster and the motionless Shego it was closing upon. The redheaded teen could see that her green-skinned nemesis was uncharacteristically frozen in alarm. She had to admit that even she had been rooted in place for a moment to simply process what had just happened. The enigmatic thief, Chris Cutter, whom she had just learnt was not precisely human, had been de-evolved into some sort of genetically engineered monster by a fluke shot from Dr Drakken's Reverse Engineering Ray.

She had to admit, this was one of the less-likely events she had expected to occur this day.

"Options, Wade!" She shouted at her oversized blue wristwatch. The dark, freckled face of the younger child genius didn't meet her eyes through the tiny LCD screen, instead focusing on the multitude of monitors around him as he furiously worked on the powerful computers at his disposal.

"I'm trying!" He cried out in frustration. "I have no idea what Cutter even was, let alone what he's devolved into! I need more time!"

"Hurry!" The teen leapt aside as several of Drakken's pre-programmed Synthodrones jumped into her way, still following their orders despite the drastic change of sitch. She easily avoided their robotic grasps, but they slowed her down.

She would never make it to Shego in time.

Hot breath rolled across her face, causing her wavy black hair to shudder as if caught in a breeze. She couldn't take her eyes off the teeth. Glistening fangs, unsheathed from the curled lips on Cutter's distorted face. Since childhood, Shego had been afraid of teeth. When her older brother had been six, and herself only four, their father had bought a family dog. It had been a hairy little thing, some sort of mutt amalgamation between a Terrier and a Spaniel. The kennel that her father had adopted from had been under investigation for cruelty to animals, which is why it shouldn't have been a surprise when the scared and abused animal had bit her. To this day, she remembered the little dog's snarling face, obscenely long canine teeth bared from an adorable little snout. She still remembered the pain when the creature latched onto her arm, still smelt the sharp animal aroma of its hair, still carried the small scar just below the elbow.

The monster and his toothy grin came forward, larger then any dog, curved talons dragging furrows across the floor. The green woman's mind refused to work, trying to deny the reality of this nightmare come true.

Cutter's head leaned in closer, testing the air. His hunching bulk filled her vision, sickle blades jutting off from his shoulders and elbows like some sort of walking medieval torture device. His movements were smooth and deliberate, like a jungle cat, and his pupilless reflective eyes watched her with unnerving intensity. At the back of her head she recognized a voice that was calling her name, screaming at her to move, but she couldn't even find the nerve to blink.

Cutter's maw opened wide, wider then a human jaw could possibly stretch, and a growling breath came from deep down his dark gullet. Even though his mouth was still no where near large enough, Shego was afraid he would swallow her whole.

Then Shego finally blinked, as the rumble turned into a howl and the monster flinched and twisted his long neck, trying to dislodge the three razor-sharp bobby pins that had been lodged there. She realized that she was holding her breath and her lungs expelled forcefully. The spell now broken, Kim's voice rang crystal clear in her ears, calling her name from farther behind the monster.

"DamnitShego!! Move!!"

Cutter turned back to her, the pins no more then an annoyance and already half-forgotten. He snarled, his reflective eyes narrowing. But the green woman's own emerald eyes were also narrowing, and her own black lips twisted into her own snarl. The familiar features of the annoying, frustrating, arrogant, bouncing idiot in the face of that big freak fueled her rage. She refused to be afraid of an overgrown mutt.

"I am not moving. I got here first." She hissed through her clenched jaw as she stared down the towering Cutter. Her clenched fists burst into swirling flames of green plasma and she raised them in front of her. "You move."

The monster went roaring across the room, propelled by an unearthly blast of energy.

Kim threw herself to the ground as Cutter spun overhead. Three standing Synthodrones were effectively ripped apart by the assemblage of slashing edges that protruded from the genetically engineered monster as it barreled through them. She felt the warm splash of synthogel along her prone body as the robots burst like water balloons.

She managed to glance backwards as the creature twisted through the air, screaming like a wounded badger. Into a rack of equipment it smashed, scattering electronics like dead leaves in the fall. With hardly a moments hesitation, the teen superhero was up and crossing the distance to the supercomputer console where Shego was crouched on one knee, grimacing in the direction she had sent Cutter. Ron was quick to meet them there, also staring back across the cavernous room with a look of sheer disbelief.

"Are you all right?" Kim was quick to ask her longtime arch nemesis, momentarily forgetting again the bad blood between them.

"Stupid freaking men." Shego snarled, her pale green face pinched with fury. Slight wisps of grey smoke rose from her cooling hands.

"What… is he?" Ron sounded abnormally grim. Kim stole a glance at her blonde boyfriend only to see him still staring rigidly, as if seeing something that no one else could.

"He's a genetically engineered… thing, I guess." The cheerleader quickly explained. "Apparently he was created by The Evil Empire for something nasty."

"He was… made?" Shego said quietly and Kim's head spun back to look at her. The woman's expression had softened somewhat into almost confusion. "Someone… created him to be a… a weapon?"

"Wade's working on the bioscans," the redhead continued hastily, "looking for a solution to…"

"He's coming back." Ron spoke flatly.

Kim turned to see the beast leap out of the pile of equipment with a spray of metal and plastic to land with a resounding thump on the metal floor. Raising up to its full height, it swung its great clawed hands to either side of its muscled flanks and unleashed a deafening roar towards the ceiling.

Drakken had a splitting headache. One that was not being helped by all the screaming and yelling that was going on. He managed to drag himself from underneath the light fixture and prop himself up against the raised platform where his reverse engineering ray was mounted. He rubbed his face with his gloved hands, trying to force the throbbing pain out of his skull.

"Ow, ow, ow…" he whined aloud. "Argh! Where's an aspirin when you need one?"

The growling hiss of exhaled air pressured against his eardrums and the following howl made him jerk involuntarily. Drakken moaned with renewed vigor. What was making all that noise? The mad scientist crawled along the width of the base, poking his pony-tailed head out far enough to see the commotion.

He was just in time to be practically blinded by the exploding flash of green light from Shego's hands. But he still managed to get a full, terrified look at the growling monster that was reaching for her before it was knocked across the room. All teeth, claw, spike and muscle, it was a walking work of evil art. He blinked away the black spots in his vision as the mutant life form crashed into more then a few pieces of expensive equipment, but he hardly noticed. What was it? Where the heck had it come from?

"No matter," the blue skinned man narrowed his eyes dangerously, "I must have it! Capture it, bend it to my will and clone an army of it to terrorize the world into submission! Yes!" He chuckled to himself, his mind already swirling with the possibilities. But first he would need to subdue the creature.

He watched as the beast leapt back to its feat and roared defiantly at his assailants. Around him, any number of Sythodrones silently ignored him, trying to press in towards Kim Possible, as they had been programmed earlier to do. The beast snarled at the nearest drone that wandered past him and slashed out with its long curved claws, easily slicing the robot in half and sending the gushing torso portion flying through the air. Drakken winced. His regular Synthodrones would be no match for the brute.

"But perhaps…" the evil genius' lips curved into a fierce smile. "My improved Berserker Synthos will prove more up to the task!" And so, Drakken snaked along the ground towards the main computer console, being careful to avoid the eyes of his hated arch nemesis who was too busy watching the roaring terror to notice his exploits.

"Back up!" Kim shouted, waving her arm behind her. Ron gave her just enough room so that she didn't swat him in the process, but he would be damned if he was retreating without her.

The Cutter-monster snapped at another Synthodrone that passed too near, but it didn't flinch as it made its way towards its redheaded target. The monster cocked its head uncertainly, seeming confused by the synthetic creatures that were ignoring him. Appearing to decide they were no immediate threat, he swung his head back to face the three quarry before him. His lips curled back to snarl menacingly.

"It's going to charge! Get ready to run!" Kim adjusted her stance in front of Ron, he tried to do likewise but truthfully hadn't the slightest clue where they could go. The Synthodrones marched forward, blocking any immediate exit.

"Him." Shego spoke up.

Both Kim and Ron turned to look at the green woman. She was staring at the monster with an unreadable expression. "Him… not it."

Both Kim and Ron were forced to quickly turn their attention back to the oncoming drones as the first two robots quickly came upon them.

"Ron!" His teammate barked, gaining his attention for a moment. Out of her utility pouch Kim's hand tossed him her laser lipstick and let loose a volley of razor pins in one fluid movement.

"On it, KP!" Ron just managed to catch the dangerous device and use it to cut down one drone even as the other slowly bled onto the floor.

The monster didn't quite charge. Instead he leapt laterally onto the far wall, his razor claws digging easily into the concrete. Along the vertical surface he loped and swung, quickly circling around the room to their right.

"He's trying to flank us!" Kim hopped backwards, dodging another barrage of synthetic jabs and sweeping out their legs as she went. "Regroup!"

"Always got to be the boss." Shego snorted, but fell in line beside Kim to face the rapidly moving adversary. Ron stayed just behind her, facing the next wave of drones who were mere footsteps from engaging.

The Cutter-monster slid along the wall with unworldly ease, sending sparks flying whenever he crossed a metal surface. A vertical conduit of wire was severed in a flash of electricity, causing nearly half the lights in the room to flicker off. One or two emergency fixtures automatically kicked on in the darkened corners, bathing them in an eerie red glow. The glowing white orbs and dark silhouettes of the marching Synthodrones created the atmosphere of a zombie horror movie. Ron gulped audibly. The monster scurried up towards the ceiling, his claws making vicious scraping noises as he went.

"Watch him!" Kim cried out, reaching into her utility pouch. She shoved Shego towards the drones "And cover me!"

"Hey!" Shego snapped as she barreled into the synthetic soldiers. "These things are not even after me!"

"But Cutter willbe if Kim doesn't stop him!" Ron snapped at his new battle companion. He held the lipstick like the hilt of a tiny sword. The effect was rather comical, he had to admit.

"Phff.." she huffed, casually poking holes in the drone she had bumped into. "Like she would do anything that I couldn't…"

The monster came roaring down into their midst. Ron felt an overwhelming wave of panic as his vision was filled with tooth and claw and blade. A strangely absurd thought crossed his mind and he wondered if Cutter the thief would eat him or just steal his wallet.

Then there was crackling blue all around them, and the monster literally bounced. Into the mass of Synthos he rolled, seemingly stunned, causing vicious slashes and impalements with his bladed body. Ron saw Shego, both hands glowing with green energy, looking around in equal disbelief. The both looked at Kim in tandem.

The redhead stood straight, holding a cylindrical-shaped device above her head. The crackling blue shield around them faded and then blinked away.

"Woah! Cool!" Ron couldn't help but shout in excitement. "New gadget!"

"It's a portable version of the battlesuit's shield." She lowered the device with a frown. "But it only has three charges before it burns out."

"That's great, Kimmie." Shego cut in. "I'm really glad for you, now could we focus on the genetically engineered monster?"

Cutter's growling had taken a dizzy note to it. He shook his head and actually brought his clawed hands up to hold his skull in a very human-looking gesture. He retracted them instantly, snarling as rivulets of blood trickled down his temples where his serrated talons had punctured him. He roared angrily, at his massive ivory-edged knuckles and smashed them into the ground, cracking the cement floor.

"He can't… hold anything." Shego was staring at Cutter again, speaking to herself. Ron gave the green woman a confused look. "Everything he touches… is destroyed."

"Um, are you ok?" He asked her carefully. The thief blinked and looked at him with a frown, seemingly snapped out of the moment.

"Fine, sidekick." She sneered. "Never better."

"Guys?" Kim's voice from just behind them made them turn to her. "Why have the Synthos stopped?"

Ron looked around him. The Synthodrones had stopped. They all stood silent and erect, completely immobile. Even their glowing orbs had dimmed. Several were swept away as the monster continued to slash in dazed anger, but the rest never flinched.

"Worry not, Shego! It's all part of my newest plan!" The surprising voice of Drakken came from behind them all. Naturally, they all spun to regard him as he stood next to the massive computer control console. He stepped back from the panel and smiled evilly at his arch nemesis. "I thank you, Kim Possible, for keeping that beast distracted long enough for me to reprogram my Synthodrones! Soon they will all mutate into behemoths that will easily overwhelm and subdue the creature so that I may bend it to my will! And then… I will unleash the beast onyou!" He began his typical laugh which was quickly cut off.

"You did what?!" Kim, Ron and Shego all shouted at the same time.

Drakken's smile fell, and he looked at them with thinly veiled concern. "What? What's wrong with that?" Ron didn't even know where to begin with that answer.

"You big, blue, idiot!" Shego shouted at her employer. She couldn't believe that he did this to her, again. She looked back to the frozen squadron of synthetic soldiers, crowded throughout the room. Sure enough, they were changing. Expanding as though their insides were ballooning with pressure.

"Wade," the princess quickly squawked into her wristwatch, "we have a whole new sitch."

"I don't get it." Drakken whined. "Shego, what's going on? Why are you freaking out?"

"I'm aware," she heard the blue communicator squawk back, "hold on…"

"You know," the blonde sidekick groaned, "I think I'd actually rather be studying."

"Hey!" Drakken started sounding irritated. "Would somebody pay attention to…"

Shego rounded on him. "Listen, you moron! The super synthos are defective! As soon as they come back online they are going to go ballistic oneveryone!"

Drakken snorted. "Well, that is the whole point of…"

"Everyone includes you and me!"

Drakken paused. His eyes widened considerably as the reality of the situation dawned on him. Shego spun back to watch as Cutter rose steadily out of the throng, seeming to shake off the last effects of the shield impact. His large head swung around, taking in the changing robots around him. He hissed and slashed out at the nearest one, spilling forth steaming half-solidified synthogel. When the transformation was complete, the gel would be completely solidified and a simple slash wouldn't incapacitate any of the drones so easily.

"Got it!" The nerd on the other end of the cheerleader's wrist communicator piped up. "Are you anywhere near Drakken's computer console?"

"I can be." Kim answered confidently. Shego had to admire how the teen always seemed in control. She would never admit that she herself often lacked the same self control and it was a weakness the younger girl always managed to exploit when the two of them met in the field. The redhead crossed the distance between herself and Drakken in three leaping bounds. The mad scientist fell back in surprise. "What now?"

The electronic response was drowned out by a shuddering roar. Shego looked back to Cutter to see him lifting a squirming synthodrone, impaled on his long ivory claws. One by one, the hulking super-synthos began moving again, seeking out the first available target. A couple started shambling towards them, pinpricks of white light shining through their recessed sockets.

"Um… Kimmie?" Shego called over her shoulder. "If the nerd's going to do something, it had best be now." She watched Cutter, huge and muscled, swat away the few drones that were pawing at him in a disorganized muddle. If the drones weren't there to distract him, would he immediately attack the people in the room again? Or would he calm down if they left him alone, like the other times when she and he had fought before he had been devolved? She couldn't be sure. As a matter of fact… why did she even care?

"Hey!" Drakken protested his nemesis who was stewing over the massive control panel. "Don't touch that! It's only used for evil!" He reached for her wrist and earned a quick slap on the hand from the cheerleader. He retracted with a yelp.

"Say again, Wade?" Kim prompted her teammate as she gave Drakken a dirty look. "Some people over here don't know how to shut up."

"Plug the Kimmunicator into that data port on the side." The nerdling instructed. "I should be able to access and override the syntho's command line."

"Kim!" The sidekick stepped backwards away from the super synthos. "Tell him to hurry!" He held the tiny lipstick in front of him like it was a time bomb. Shego groaned and rolled her eyes. How the hell did she keep finding herself in these positions?

Cutter roared again, making them all look at him. Three more drones went flying through the air to crash into the crowd. Shego swore that he looked more annoyed then anything. He easily knocked the few super synthos who were actively attacking him aside as if they were children. How much of Cutter was still inside that snarling monster? How much of that smug dork who had the gall to steal her work, ruin her mission, break into the lair and then turn around and ask her out was still worming under that jagged surface? And why did that make her so angry? She let loose a green flash of power as the nearest robot came within striking distance with more strength then she had originally intended. Back into the room it spun, knocking aside several more in its wake. She had been in this position before, and knew that wouldn't stop the super synthos as yet more came their way. The blonde teen beside her groaned.

"Ok!" Shego heard the electronic voice behind her. "I've got it!" Suddenly the drones stopped moving for a second time. Not fully trusting the momentary lapse, she risked a look behind her to where Drakken was milling around Kim at the console.

"What did you do? What did you do?" He shook his fists like an angry child. "You better not have wrecked my stuff!"

"I've managed to reestablish a command link with the drones." The electronic voice ignored Drakken's protests. "They are back under computer control. Now what do you want to do with them, Kim?"

The redhead turned and looked past Shego at the snarling visage of Cutter the monster. He had quickly swept back all the drones nearest to him upon their sudden halt, and now he locked gazes with the only other living creatures in the room. His mirror-like eyes narrowed into fierce slits and he dropped down onto all fours, his bladed shoulders tensing like a cat about to spring.

"Tell them to take that thing down." Kim said coldly.

"No… wait!" Shego found herself protesting, much to her surprise. "You can't…"

"He's going to kill us, Shego." The younger woman stared at her with surprisingly stern jade eyes that made her seem much older at that moment. "And who knows how many others, unless we stop him now."

As the more then hundred super synthodrones snapped into sudden, eerily-coordinated action, the green woman had no argument available.

The monster knew these prey. They're scents played upon his memory. Primal as it was, he did remember. He had tasted these scents back when he was before. Two were male and two were female, he could tell that by odor alone. The one pair were mated, or close enough that it made no difference to the monster. He could sense the shared fear between them, not only for themselves but for each other. The sort of fear that could be exploited in the hunt. It was the kind of cold understanding that a natural predator had without fully comprehending it. That had meant something once. When he was weak and soft and his mind was full of thoughts. Useless, complicated thoughts. Now there was only instinct. It was all the monster needed.

But a breath of memory sparked in his devolved brain. The other female… the one who had hurt him. The one who had inflamed the instinct to kill with her painful green light. Her scent carried another instinct that also came from before. The monster desired her. Yes, sex was but another primal instinct to the creature in its savage state. But even now, as the human and monstrous aspects of its genetically engineered mind battled over the meaning of this impulse, the need to mate was confused and intermingled with the need to kill and survive. The monster desired her… and so the monster would kill and devour her in an orgy of impulse.

Somewhere deep down, the human aspect cried out in terrified horror at this prospect.

Instinct is what told the monster that he was in danger moments before he was actually attacked. Danger from the unliving things all around that smelt like burnt earth. They grabbed at him like vines and twisted like giant slugs. They swarmed as insects did, crawling over his body.

The monster roared and lashed out in fury. His claws, long and brutally sharp, tore through the unliving things as easily as they would through meat and bone. His powerful hind legs kicked and stomped, their own wicked claws shredding and crushing his foes. Still they swarmed. Instinctively his many-vertebrae'd neck darted to the side and he sunk fangs into one of the unliving things that held on to the blades of his shoulder. Distasteful was the thing's insides as the monster wrenched it from it's perch with a mighty flex of his neck and whipping his head to loose it back it into the mass. The bitter flavor remained, leaving the monster desiring the taste of blood to wash it away.

But the tide continued to rise around him and so the monster raged mindlessly. He knew no fear, though he fought for his survival. The monster knew nothing but the need to hunt and kill. As such, he was a fundamentally flawed creation; missing the reason and mindset of a human being as well as the natural pragmatism of an animal. Engineered from two different sources into a physically imposing specimen, but lacking the necessary mental attributes from either to be a successful weapon, let alone a species. It was, perhaps, for this reason that whoever had created the creature had gone on to engineer a more humanoid successor beyond this prototypic phase. Though such thoughts on the nature of its existence were as far beyond the monster at that moment as the stars were beyond the moon.

And as a relentless horde of unliving foes steadily began to blanket him in an ocean of stinging jabs and wounding tears, the monster's scope grew even more narrowed.

Ron's insides twisted at the sight of the flooding synthodrones. Not only because that strange nagging fear that had started harassing him since Cutter was devolved had been steadily rising. Not only because the thought of so many mutated super-synthos in the same room as him incited unpleasant memories of the morning before. Not only because he was still recovering from being trampled not too long ago.

Ron's insides twisted at the thought of the drones tearing Cutter apart, limb from limb.

Despite the fact that Cutter was now a rampaging monster with spikes seemingly sticking out at every angle and teeth the size of jack knives, he had once been a man… well, sort of. Ron simply couldn't equate the distasteful person, who had still managed to save his life twice, with the evil genetically engineered weapon that Wade seemed to think he was. Humanity had to count for something. Even for a lying thief like Cutter.

He brushed past Shego, who didn't even flinch. Her eyes were locked on the struggling mass and the snarling form that was quickly being overrun. If Ron didn't know better, he would have thought she almost looked… rattled. He jogged up to Kim, Drakken not far behind her, eyeing the battle anxiously.

"We… we're notreally going to let them kill him…" he appealed to his friend and partner. "Are we, Kim?"

Kim looked at him with her beautiful jade eyes. Beautiful and cold. "It, Ron. It is a genetically engineered creature made by an evil world empire. It has to be destroyed."

Ron winced at the hard look on her face. "This isn't right, Kim. He wasn't always a monster. He was a person once." He placed a gentle hand on her slender shoulder. "We don't do this to people. Please."

Kim stared at the rolling synthetic mass, Cutter now completely buried. Ron felt her deflate slightly under his touch and he released the breath he had been holding. "You're right, Ron." She sighed. A quick flick of her wrist brought the Kimmunicator to her face. "Wade, call them off. We need to find a way to help…"

Suddenly Ron jerked involuntarily, cringing from an unseen assailant. The gnawing fear in his chest had spiked to a terrifying new level. He gasped, his heart beating and adrenaline flowing unrestricted. He wanted to wail in dread.

"Ron?" Kim was instantly gripping his shoulder. "What? What is it?"

Drakken peered over her head. "What's wrong with what's-his-face?"

"Oh my God…" Ron hissed through clenched teeth. "I can feel it…"

"What?" Kim practically hollered in his ear, completely ignoring everything else. "What do you feel?"

"Him!" Ron spat. "He's coming for us!"

The ground rumbled.

"Something's happening!" Shego called out. All eyes turned to the boiling mass of synthodrones, surrounded by expanding lines of reinforcements, clamoring to reach the middle. The ground rumbled again and the mass shuddered. Somewhere inside that heap, something powerful was forcing its way out. Shego turned to look at the three of them with a sadistic smile on her face. "Cutter's still alive! He's kicking your robot's asses!"

Ron shivered. Whatever this weird monkey-sense was, it was telling him definitively that something predatory was after him and by extension, everyone else in the room. He swallowed stiffly, trying to get a hold of himself.

"Kim?" The blue wristwatch squawked. "What's going on? Do you still want me to call the drones off?"

Kim mechanically raised her arm without removing her eyes from the shaking pile. "Hold off on that for a second, Wade."

He was alive!

Shego wasn't sure why that meant anything to her, but it did. He couldn't die. For some reason that was important to her. There were plenty of other people that Shego wouldn't mind if they died, but Cutter somehow was not one of them.

The floor rumbled again. There was no doubt who was the cause.

"Pull back!" Kim cried out from behind her. "Get behind something!" Shego heard Drakken squeal in surprise as the cheerleader undoubtedly yanked him by his collar.

Her emerald eyes were locked on the heaving mass of drones, tumbling like ants around an unseen caterpillar that was thrashing underneath. She found herself locked in place for the second time tonight.

"Shego!" The cheerleader's voice was muffled behind her. "What are you doing? Move!"

She didn't move. She stayed right where she was. The ground rumbled again and the entire pile of mutated synthos rose up and then down. Gloved hands curled into fists and Shego realized that she was whispering through clenched teeth.

"Come on." She hissed. "Come on, you bouncing idiot."

The pile lurched again, and the rumble caused an empty glass beaker to tumble off a nearby table with a punctuating shatter.

"Shego!" Kim sounded almost pleading. "Come on!"

She ignored her and instead willed strength into that boiling mass. "Push you lazy ass. Push!"

Something erupted from the pile of drones, emerging in a spray of solidified gel like a bean sprout. A long, ivory blade that carved three mutant synthos in half along its arced path. A moment later, another similar scythe edge drove through the robots like a shark's dorsal fin.

"Yes." Shego snarled. "Kick their asses."

The pile heaved again. And again. Drones tumbled backwards down towards the floor even as more clamored towards the peak. Beneath the surface, massive shapes moved and pushed, trying to break free of the swarming cocoon. The drones pushed back, doubling their efforts to bury and smother their prey. The shape of the mass swelled, even as it seemed to shrink towards the floor.

"Shego!" Drakken managed to sound annoyed behind her. "You get right over her right this minute or I'll…"

The mountain exploded, sending tumbling forms flying through the air in every direction. Rising from the center of the explosion in a deafening roar of fury was a hulking monster of muscle and bone. Some drones smashed into the ceiling, immediately tumbling to the ground in a shower of broken pipes and stalactites. Some crashed into the nearby walls and standing equipment while others collided with other drones like bowling pins. Still others came flying straight towards Shego.

The green skinned woman didn't even flinch as two spinning synthos breezed past her, narrowly missing the thief and crashing somewhere behind her. Her eyes were instead on the vicious creature who was tearing through the swarming robots around him with terrifying strength. If possible, he looked even more feral and monstrous then before. A killing machine, born and bred. His entire person had been hijacked by those who created him, twisting him into a tool of purest destruction. She shuddered as she realized the obvious cosmic parallel standing in the same room.

He never had a choice of what he was. What he was made for.

In that moment. Shego knew she had to help him.

Kim pulled Drakken down behind the console with a yelp, a large drone crashing where his head had been just a moment before. The thing rolled past them, already forgotten by the young woman as her mind raced.

Ron was right. The monster had been a man once. But now it was just a monster, one that threatened not only their lives but the lives of everyone else that it came into contact with. She thought of the friendly and peaceful people who lived on the nearby islands. She thought of the constant shipping traffic between those islands and this one, and the horrible thought of this monster somehow crossing the sea to those villages. As painful as the thought of Ron's disapproval was to the teen superhero, she knew what had to be done.

"Stay down." She commanded Drakken in a stiff tone. Surprisingly, the supervillian didn't argue. Across the small gap between the console and the raised platform where Ron had taken shelter, she met the young man's soft brown gaze. His expression was still tight, as if something was clawing at him from inside, but his eyes held nothing but devotion for her. If she hadn't needed to be so strong at that moment, she would have cried.

"I need the lipstick, for just a second." She wasn't proud about how easily she asked for it. Ron tossed the deadly tool to her without hesitation. He trusted her.

"Stay here Ron." She tried to smile at him. His expression shifted into confusion, oblivious to what she had decided to do. She could never ask him to help her with this. She made the choice and it was her burden alone to carry. She would not force Ron to make the choice with her, even if it meant losing him. No. She wouldn't cry. She had to be hard. She had to be a hero.

Without waiting another moment, she jumped out from behind the console and sprinted towards the chaotic battle. She passed Shego, who yelped in surprise. Kim didn't say a word to her. Even her arch nemesis believed the monster was a victim that needed to be saved. Kim couldn't ask her to make the choice either.

The beast, towering atop the swarming drones like some sort of mountain god, roared and drooled in mindless fury. Kim Possible, her young face cold and expressionless, began the calculating assent to murder the god.

Ron was left alone. Confused, terrified and alone. He fought the terror, trying to master it, knowing that it wasn't really his terror, but something that was being forced upon him. But the confusion worried him even more then the terror. What was Kim doing?

Another, different fear began to grow in him. One that was entirely his own.

The blonde teen scrambled from his hiding place, looking out towards where his best friend and partner had dashed. He saw her approaching Cutter and nearly fell over.

"She's taking him on alone!" He cried out. "Kim, no!"

"She's what?" Drakken piped up from behind the console, but Ron was already running.

He didn't think, he didn't rationalize. All he saw was the lithe black and purple form of his girlfriend scaling the horde and he ran. Nothing else mattered.

It was with surprised shock that he found himself on the ground, his arm pinned behind him. He tried to lurch forward and was rewarded with a sharp pain in his shoulder.

"Damnit! Stop it!" Shego snapped at him. "You're going to dislocate your shoulder!"

"No!" He snapped back. "You're going to dislocate my shoulder! Let me go!" He tried lifting himself up again only to have the older woman's knee drive him down again.

"Are you insane?" She grabbed him by the hair and pulled his head back so that she could shout in his ear. "What do you honestly think you can do?"

Ron swallowed a curse and cried out with more desperation then he intended. "She's going to try and kill him!" He heard a sharp intake of breath from the woman behind him and her grip loosened. Taking advantage of the moment he pushed and spun around to face his green rival. "You have to help me stop this! That monster will tear her apart!"

"If she doesn't kill him first." Shego sounded hollow.

Ron reached forward and grabbed the powerful woman roughly by the shoulders, something he would never attempt in any other circumstances. "Help me." He pleaded. "I don't have the power to stop them!"

Shego looked at him hard. "I won't kill him."

"I'm not asking you to."

"Short of killing him, there is nothing I can do to stop him." She sounded afraid. Ron had never thought Shego afraid of anything. "What about your stupid monkey powers? Why can't you use those?"

He pulled at his blonde hair in frustration. "I can't use them!" He cried out in desperation. "They never work when I need them! I'm just notmonkey enough!"

"Monkey enough?" Shego repeated. Her eyebrows rose suddenly and she grabbed him, pulling him roughly to his feet. He yelped at the raw physical strength in her deceptively feminine frame.

"I think I can fix that."

Rufus scampered from pipe to duct and back again, trying to find a way to assist in the insanity below. For a long while he had been hiding, paralyzed not long after he had dropped the light fixture on Drakken. It had come upon him in a wave of primal fear that drove him to find a dark hole to retreat to. Rufus understood instantly that the source of fear was from the same predator that had been at HenchCo, though he lacked the capacity to explain it. But for some reason, the predator's scent had grown in menace a hundred times to the point where the tiny naked mole rat couldn't overpower his natural instinct to run.

But the strength had come, as it always did, from Ron; his owner, his companion and his friend. He could feel Ron's need as distinctly as his own, a strange connection that had developed from spending almost his entire life with the young man and further heightened by the shared commune with the mystical monkey power that both had experienced.

And so, Rufus had fought back his instinctual panic as surely as Ron Stoppable did on the ground below and emerged from hiding. Even now, he shuddered at the sight below him. The snarling beast was a swirling factory of predatory dread that any sane animal would flee upon sensing. But Rufus was not a normal animal. He had never been.

Rufus continued scampering around, trying to find a way back down to his master, who he sensed would need him very soon.

Kim leaped up the pile of drones with the ease of a practiced gymnast. Even so, every robot shifted and turned independently, making each foothold dangerously unreliable. On top of that, she had to dodge the falling synthos that went sailing past her and tumbled down the heap as the monster continued to spin and thrash. She chose her path quickly but carefully, improvising on the fly as the entire structure of the pile shifted under her feet. Always, she watched the movements of the monster. It made no indication that it noticed her beyond the dozens of forms that continued to clamor towards it. She would have one shot and surprise was key. If she missed it she would very likely be dead.

The laser lipstick was gripped tightly in her right hand. She had other gadgets that may have been lethal enough to do the job, if utilized properly, but the lipstick seemed the most surgical to her. She wanted this to be quick and painless.

The last five feet grew more tumultuous. Around her, every drone reached and grabbed, scrambling up towards their programmed target. Oblivious to her and the certain doom they faced when they reached him. Severed pieces of synthodrone fell like some sort of grotesque precipitation around her as the giant muscled beast simply cut them into ribbons with his great clawed hands and sickle-bladed arms. Others he simply picked up and threw across the room. She felt the moisture of his sweat and saliva raining down in his furious effort.

Kim picked her angle. She hopped and leaped around the heap to gain the optimum approach. And taking the first opening given her, she snapped forward like a striking snake, aiming to cleave the monster's head straight from his shoulders.

Her only thought as her arm arced around was the bitter notion that she was Kim Possible; she could do anything.

Even kill.

But it was chance that ruined her perfectly executed attack. As she flew forward, the chaotic pile of drones underneath the monster finally gave way to his powerful thrashing. As one, they all tumbled to the floor in a drowning mass of twisting limbs and crushing bodies. Kim spun in the air, her target dropping in front of her before she herself fell into the throng. She instantly lost all sense of direction as the swirling crowd engulfed her. She fought viciously, trying to kick her way to the surface. But which way was up? It seemed like an eternity, or maybe just a few seconds, but suddenly her reaching forearm felt the cool breeze of the cavernous room. She snarled and pushed, her head breaking free in a gasp. Everywhere the drones where squirming and writhing in the eerie red emergency lights, like some sort of hellish sea.

She pulled the rest of her body out of the constricting hole. Trying to catch her breath and regain her sense of balance, she looked around her immediate area. Where was the monster?

Erupting up like a submarine from the depths he came, quickly knocking back the few drones that still gripped to his powerful body. He roared long and loud. And then he looked at her.

Kim cursed, despite herself. She realized instantly that she had lost the lipstick in the fall. Without taking a moment to lament the lost weapon, she reached for her utility belt, not expecting a second's hesitation from the monster and giving none in return.

As she had anticipated, the beast shot forward within the course of a few hundred milliseconds.

Drakken slinked along the ground in embarrassed dread. Everything had gone so very wrong. The monster was too powerful for even his super synthodrones to subdue and the creature looked like it would not stop its rampage at just them. At this point, the megalomaniac figured it was in his best interests to cut and run. Perhaps he could reap some kind of villain cred latter on if he claimed responsibility for the carnage the monster would cause. But for now, he had to survive and escape.

That was about when something grabbed him by the collar.

Drakken actually screamed until he was roughly smacked upside the head by a familiar green glove. "Oh shut up, you cry baby! Come on, we need your brain." Shego lifted him by the arm and drug him along with the blonde kid towards the RER platform.

He rubbed his face angrily and glowered at his sidekick. "Shego! What are you doing? We need to get out of her before that… thing eats us alive!" He grunted in surprise when she snapped open the hidden panel on the raised platform and pressed the button to lower the podium.

"We need you to figure out a way to reverse your reversing ray." She ignored and pushed him towards the descending weapon. "We need to turn Cutter back into human form, pronto. And the kid here is going to keep him busy until we can do that."

"What?" Drakken sputtered, he looked from her to the teenager, who looked just as confused, if not somewhat discouraged. "Reverse the Reverse Engineering Ray? Into what? Just a regular Engineering Ray?"

"Damnit, Shego!" The nameless boy tried to pull from her grasp. "I can't stop Cutter! The monkey power just doesn't work! We're wasting time while Kim is…"

Shego spun on the teen and cut him off. "Do you love her?"

The boy stopped and stared at her, seemingly frozen in place by the question. He struggled with the answer, as if finding the words was a challenge.

"I… I… well…"

"Do you want to save her life?" Shego pushed him.

"Y-yes."

"Are you willing to do anything for her?"

The teen's expression hardened with the probing questions. "Yes."

"Then stand right there and don't move." She ordered. Drakken was a little surprised to see the boy comply. Then Shego spun back to him with an intense expression that made him recoil slightly. "Can you do it, Dr D?"

"Reverse the reversal?" Drakken squirmed. "I suppose it could be done, but it will take a little time…"

The green woman grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a look that was one part anger, one part fear and two parts pleading. "Please, Drew."

Drakken met her look. She never called him by his old name. In all the time that she had worked under him, she had called him a great many insulting things, but never his old name. Shego argued with him, belittled him and even threatened him, but she never, ever, begged him. Drakken was caught somewhere between sheer resentment that she would dare ask him for anything after how she treated him, and an almost fatherly concern for this viciously independent woman whom he had shared his roof with for these last few years. Ultimately, it was that hidden softness that cracked his evil façade and decided Drakken's course of action.

"Ok, Shego." He swallowed and nervously glanced across the room. "I'll do it."

"Thank you." She said quietly, so that only he could hear. And then her commanding arrogance returned so quickly, Drakken questioned whether the previous exchange had happened at all. "But first, I want you to shoot this kid."

"What?" The unnamed teen stumbled backwards. "You're going to do what?"

"You said that you're not monkey enough to use your powers." The green woman turned on him. "But we can make you a lot more monkey in just a few seconds."

Kim dove desperately. It wouldn't have been half as bad if the ground had been anything but a squirming mass of mutant synthetic soldiers. But she was nothing if not an improviser.

As much difficulty as she was having on this field of combat, the monster was having much more, since the drones continued to reach and grab at him if he held still for longer then half a second. Even then, he tore through them so easily that it might as well not have made a difference at all.

The beast's long neck darted forward and snapped at her, narrowly missing the ducking teen. Already she had thrown the rest of her razor bobby pins at its face, trying to distract or even blind it. She had been rewarded with, if possible, an even angrier monster now with punk piercings.

But Kim never stopped moving. Her fist shot up towards the angular chin above her head. She drove the impact with her entire body, actually managing to whip the monsters head up enough that he took a step backwards. In the brief moment it took the creature to process what had just happened, she had flipped and spun her way to a safe distance.

The monster, his face so familiar yet so twisted, gave her an almost incredulous look. It snarled and bent its bladed knees, preparing to leap the distance between them. Kim had no doubt that the creature, large as it was, could cross that gap and cut her into ribbons in the time it took her to blink. In truth, there was no safe distance from the monster, being faster, stronger and longer in reach. The only tactical advantage that she could gain was to stay so close that his size worked against him. For that reason, above all, she had just ensured her death by leaping this far from her opponent. The monster hissed and his muscles coiled. He was about to jump. She had no possible exit.

Then a series of high pitched beeps caused the monster to pause, and with that pause the drones started gabbing onto him again like leeches. He snarled and kicked them aside. The beeping increased in tempo and then it became a solid tone. The beast tried to roll his eyes downward searching for the annoying sound.

Then the explosive charge that she had stuck to his jaw detonated.

The monster actually flipped over, spinning backwards off of the steadily slowing pile of drones. She cursed under her breath. The charge hadn't been powerful enough to blow its head off.

Kim sprinted in the direction the creature had been blown. Underneath her feet she felt the change in drones as their bodies grew more solid. The shortened life spans of the berserker chemical reaction had run its course. The synthodrones no longer crawled insistently towards their target. They were dead. And she was on her own.

She raced over the edge, dropping to the dimly lit concrete floor in a controlled roll that brought her back to her feet without a moment's loss. A second explosive charge was already in her hand, ready to toss straight down the monster's gullet. She would need to provoke him into another oral attack, but Kim already had developed six possible scenarios to achieve this by the time she hit the floor.

Which is why it was with significant concern that she found nothing there.

Before even Kim Possible's considerable tactical mind could process the unexpected reality that her foe was, in fact, tough enough to recover nearly instantly from such a blow and then fast enough to outmaneuver her before she could press her attack, a drooling, snarling mass of furious death shot from the shadows to her right. Kim knew she had miscalculated, but she did not dwell on the issue. Instead, she simply reacted.

The hair dryer was in her hand before she could possibly have decided to draw it, and it fired into the creature's descending silhouette. It was a desperate maneuver, she knew. More reflexive then anything. The grapple would be more distracting to the monster then damaging, if even that. The tool wasn't meant to kill, just as none of the tools she had at her disposal were meant to kill. She couldn't help but think, in that strangely surreal moment that seemed to stretch forever as impending death filled her vision, that she would have had much less difficulty if she had simply carried a gun.

And then the moment ended. In a flash of light.

Everything became clear.

A mind expanded, even as it shrunk. Doors opened, even as others were closed. Perception was tilted and then curved into another dimension of experience, and then the ability to comprehend it was blurred as if nearsightedness suddenly set in.

All this. And the pain.

The body changed, forcing itself into something long since extinct. A voice screamed out in agony as corporeal reality tore itself apart and reformed into living history. And then the pain was over. And soft brown eyes opened again, for the first time.

"Sidekick?" He heard someone say. She was a green woman, he knew her. She was a bad person, but now she was helping him. She looked at him strangely. "Stoppable? You… ok?"

The words came out of his mouth. But they were hard to say. "Me… Ron?"

The green woman bared her teeth, but it was not a sign of aggression. It was… a smile. "Yes. You Ron. And Ron needs to get his shit together, like, right now."

"Shit… together?" Ron repeated. He scratched his head trying to process the words. Things sort of made sense but were muddled. He shook his head, trying to knock some cobwebs loose. Instead he almost fell over, his center of balance seemed different then he remembered. He dropped his knuckles to the ground, instantly regaining his posture. It felt… natural.

"Come on, Stoppable." The green woman pulled at his arm, which seemed a lot larger and hairier then normal. "We don't have time to screw around. You need to save Kim."

Ron suddenly became alert. "Kim?" He knew Kim. She was… important. More important then anything. Ron suddenly became aware of a powerful predatory presence in the room. Its scent was overpowering, causing his heart to race in panic. Animal instinct demanded that he flee, but his human will commanded him to stay.

"Yes! Kim!" The green woman pointed. "Cutter will kill her, or she will killhim! You need to stop them! You need to use your stupid monkey powers and keep him from killing us all long enough so that we can change him back!"

Ron didn't fully comprehend everything that the green woman was saying. But he did understand that Kim was in danger, and that was all that mattered. He turned and looked across the cave to where the noise came from. To where the scents came from. The scent of terror and the scent of Kim. And there, he saw them. He saw the predator, preparing to leap from the shadows and he saw Kim, falling into its trap.

"Ron save Kim." He said with determination. And he opened a door that had long since been closed.

His devolved brain couldn't fully appreciate what had changed. It was as if the power of the monkey was as natural to him as breathing. Before, it had been difficult for Ron to enter the mindset required to surrender to its influence. But now, it seemed so simple, as if he had been doing it for thousands of years.

Time meant nothing. He had all the time in the world. But that didn't slow his reaction a split seconds worth. One moment he was standing next to the green woman. The next he was across the cave. The predator, large and menacing, descended upon Kim with brutal ferocity. The fear it instilled was a primitive force that welled up within Ron. But he didn't pause for an instant. Instead, he leapt up to meet the carnivore, propelled by raw primal strength and mystical energy.

Together the two forces collided with a crash like lightning.

Kim reeled as a force unlike anything she had experienced knocked her to her back. The monster was gone, her vision suddenly cleared. She saw where her grapple hook had flown unobstructed into the wall in front of her. What the hell just happened?

She felt, as much as heard the struggle beside her. She turned to see a rolling battle in the dimly lit shadows between two silhouettes against the red emergency light. One was immediately recognizable as the sharpened shape of the Cutter-monster but the other was unknown, though distinctly human, only larger and more hulking. It grappled the monster, who was still stumbling from the unexpected collision, and punched it once, twice, three times in the head. Each blow connected with enough force to drive the monster's face into the concrete and she felt the floor vibrate underneath her as it did so. Then the humanoid grabbed the monster by his legs and lifted it into the air, swinging it with enough strength to send it smashing into a nearby cache of heavy equipment, all of which shattered and collapsed onto the living ballistic in a massive heap.

Kim crawled to her feet, dumbfounded. Her extraordinary mind roared through possibility after possibility, trying to decipher and prepare for what was to happen next. Was this a something new that Drakken had brewing? Another robot he had unleashed in desperation? No, it was alive. His own genetic experiment? She couldn't remember the last time he had successfully pulled one of those off. What the hell was this? She quickly stepped backwards as the dark silhouette turned to look in her direction. She saw to pinpricks of light being reflected off very living eyes. She lifted the small explosive charge that she still held in her hand.

The human-thing half walked, half loped towards her. It exited the heavy shadows and she gasped in shock, dropping the charge.

Standing eight feet tall and hunched like a gorilla came a broad shouldered, thick armed, heavily browed Neanderthal. At least, he sort of looked like a Neanderthal, except that he was wearing torn green cargo pants and the remains of a tattered black shirt. That, and he was completely blonde. A blonde caveman.

The humanoid slowly approached her and she didn't run. He made no threatening moves, in fact, he came up to her gently and carefully, a long hairy arm making as if to reach for her, but then retracting again. Soft brown eyes stared at her with total devotion.

Kim felt a terrible knot form in her stomach. "Ron?" She finally asked after a long moment.

The cave man smiled, and she knew. "Kim safe?" He asked in a deep but distantly familiar voice. "Ron save Kim." Nothing could stop the tears at that moment and she didn't even bother to try to be brave.

"Oh my God, Ron." She reached for his flattened face, her thumbs quickly tracing the recognizable characteristics of her boyfriend's visage. He still had his freckles. "What did they do to you?" She choked.

"No cry Kim." Ron drew a light-haired knuckle across her cheek. "You no get hurt." Kim leaned into that touch like it was the only thing solid in the world.

Then there was a familiar rumble.

Ron spun to look back at the pile of rubble behind him. He sniffed the air and grunted, ape-like. "Cutter coming." He looked back to her, his face rocky. "Go to Shegirl and Dragon to be safe. Ron fight Cutter." He pushed her along, gently but with more strength then she could possibly overcome.

"No, Ron!" She pleaded, pushing futilely against his hairy forearm. "He'll kill you! Don't do it!" Suddenly she felt another pair of arms from behind, pulling her from Ron.

"Damnit princess, come on!" Shego growled. "We need to get clear before the fireworks start! You're monkey-brained boyfriend can handle himself for a change!"

Ron gave her a sad smile as she was pulled farther away. Then he turned and leapt towards the pile of rubble, even as it began to shudder and shift as something pushed from below. Kim felt hollow as she let herself be drug towards the main computer console.

"It'd be nice if you helped me out here a little." Shego grumbled, pulling the stumbling teen along. "We've got to get in gear if we're going to…"

Kim whirled around and slapped Shego across the face. The green woman stumbled backwards at the shear ferocity of the blow. She stopped and stared at the younger woman, her gloved hand rubbing her scowling face. "So we gonna do this now, then?"

"How could you?" Kim said quietly, deliberately. "How could you do that to him?"

"He volunteered, Kimmie!" Shego snapped back. "I explained the plan to him and he said yes! He did it for you, dumbass! He did it to keep you from getting yourself killed by Cutter!" She paused. "And to keep you from killing yourself by murdering an innocent man." She added, more quietly.

"That monster is hardly innocent!" Kim pointed across the ruined control center.

"He has no control over what he is!" Shego shouted again. "It's not his fault he was genetically bred by an evil organization! We have to help him! Isn't that what you do, Pumpkin? Help people?"

Kim had no immediate answer. Partially because she knew that Shego was right, just like Ron was right. And partially because at that moment, the Cutter-monster tore free from the wreckage in a violent explosion that shook the room.

Ron recoiled instinctively as pieces of equipment flew past him. Out of the turmoil flew the predator, arcing across the distance between them with vicious speed. Drooling fangs were distended past lips curled back in fury. Slashing claws dove towards the flatfooted cave man, long enough to skewer his entire bulky frame. He felt the last moments of primal panic that all prey feel when a hunter descends upon them. Fight or flight.

Ron chose fight.

The monkey power flowed and Ron slid sideways as if he were simply standing on a treadmill. Cutter, too mindless to be confused by the maneuver, landed and spun in one fluid motion, his claws scraping deep furrows on the concrete floor as his momentum was diverted like a skater on a rink. He lashed out with an elongated forearm studded with serrated edges. Ron twisted his own simian form, balancing on one hairy arm as the scythe-like blade protruding from Cutter's elbow whistled inches from his head. Following through with his spin, Ron's almost fist-like foot smashed across the monster's face.

"Booyah!" He bellowed in a deep voice.

Cutter's head whipped laterally but he wasn't fazed, swinging back with his massive claws. Ron was forced to drop to all fours, narrowly escaping the thrust. He came back up with both hands interwoven in a reverse double axe handle that cracked into the monster's chin. Cutter staggered back from the blow, but came roaring back, flecks of bloody spittle flying from his maw.

Ron rolled backwards and twisted into an ape-like flip that put some distance between them. He was somewhat smaller then the distorted Cutter, but he was practically as strong and marginally faster thanks to his mystical monkey-boost. But nothing seemed to hurt Cutter. The magically-powered blows that cave-Ron dished out did little to slow the raging creature, and Cutter still had the distinct advantage of multiple deadly appendages that could cut him in half if given the opportunity. Cutter was simply designed to kill. The walking carving knife dropped to all fours and shot across the floor after Ron.

Ron chose flight. Two massive leaps had him at the opposite end of the cave, Cutter not far behind. It was natural for Ron to go up, since he was channeling the forces of monkey. Up into the canopy to escape predators. Up into the trees to use the monkey's superior agility. Without a moments pause, Ron leap up to grip onto the narrow line of conduit that ran vertically along the wall and then bounced off a mounted sconce with improbable physical lightness to grab onto the swinging handholds of the ceiling above.

But Cutter had been caste from a climbing predator whose agility and prowess rivaled that of even the most nimble monkey. With terrifying speed he virtually ran up the wall as if it were the slightest hill. His ivory claws dug into the rock like it was cheese. Unlike Ron, there was nothing light and bounding about his ascent. Sparks and debris flew to the floor with each wrenching claw-hold.

Cave-Ron cut across the room, swinging quickly and easily as if he had been born in the jungle trees. The devolved teen didn't even think about how easy this seemed. He just did it and tried to think of a way to keep Cutter from killing everyone, including him. The monster shadowed him along the wall, his long neck turned to watch his movements like a stalking cat. Ron grunted in frustration. Another powerful swing and he dropped down on top of a raised equipment rack. Cutter skipped along the wall face to intercept him, leaping onto another rack opposite of the devolved teen, low and hunting on four limbs. He growled low and menacingly, claws scraping along the metal surface.

Ron howled and smacked his chest across the small chasm between them. Then he shook his head at the silliness of the move. It was hard to remind himself that he had once been reluctant to embrace the monkey. The power was there now, as much a part of him as the hair on his knuckles. But he had paid a penalty for access to that power. His smaller brain, though more mindful then that of his enemy's, had lost much of the clarity required to fully comprehend the art of Tai Sheng Pek Kwar and the mystical gift that granted it. As such, he had not truly unlocked his full potential as a monkey master. Only Ron Stoppable, the human being, could do that.

But this did not deter the valiant ape-man. His wide shoulders squared off as Cutter prepared to pounce. He recognized that he was all that stood between this reluctant monster and those he loved. And deep down, there was the simple faith in one person who would beat the odds to set everything right.

And that one person was in his corner.

Drakken cursed loudly as, yet again, expensive pieces of equipment were blown apart by the rampaging monster. That creature was destroying everything! It was almost as bad as when that accursed Kim Possible blew up another one of his satellite lairs, as she had the unexplainable habit of doing.

The mad scientist practically tore the protective casing from the side of the RER. He winced. This was no way to treat a work of art. But if he did not manage to reverse the device before the monster killed that oversized ape, he would very likely be eviscerated himself by those awful claws. Drakken shuddered and continued working.

"What?" He heard a disgustingly familiar voice snap. "Your major plan depends on him?"

Drakken turned his head and saw Shego approaching the lowered platform, towing a grimacing Kim Possible behind her.

"He's the one who built it. So he's the one who can reverse it." His green sidekick responded, with a little less confidence then Drakken would have liked.

"Kim Possible!" Drakken cried out, more out of habit then anything. He pointed a gloved hand at Shego. "You keep that meddlesome girl away from my doom ray!"

Possible scowled at him and lifted her wrist. "You can keep your ray. I'm calling Wade."

"We don't have time for this!" Shego snapped. "You!" She pointed at Drakken. "Keep working!" Drakken turned back to the device, mumbling unpleasantries to himself.

"Stupid girls." He grumbled. "What do they know about super science?" He reached for the nuclear capacitor switch, intending to reverse its polarity. He was more then a little surprised when it arced at his hand in a flash of blue lightning and black smoke. He fell backwards with a cry of shock.

"Yeah." The teen superhero said. "I'm calling Wade."

Wade clipped along his multiple keyboards at a dizzying pace. He had been working at full speed since he last spoke with his teammates over the Kimmunicator. And now, with the expectant face of Kim waiting on his computer screen, he was embarrassed to admit that he had little to show for it.

"Basically, he's a juggernaut." The child genius tossed his hands in the air. "I don't see any obvious weakness other then the need to breath, drink and eat. It's as if his genetic structure was stuck together like Lego blocks. It's not unstable enough to break down without a severe dose of radiation, the sort that would kill everything on the island, and there are no allergic reactions to anything I can find." He rubbed his hands over his face. "His immune system operates at an almost immeasurable rate. I'm not sure if there is anything that could truly stop him without simply killing him." He gave Kim an apologetic look across the screen. "I just don't understand how his creators expected to control him when they engineered him."

"They couldn't." Kim's voice was hard. "That's why this was a prototype phase that evolved into Cutter."

Wade groaned. "I'm sorry Kim, I just don't have the information on hand. Most of this is just speculation from the bioscan. If I was there, maybe I could…"

"Hold that thought, Wade." The entire image of the cheerleader moved and shifted as the camera view from her wrist turned away. Wade grew still as her biosigns suddenly flat-lined.

"Kim? Kim!" He shouted at the screen.

Then the biosigns started again. Heartrate, blood pressure, adrenaline… but they were different. Not the same as a few moments ago.

A large, blue face suddenly filled Wade's monitor. "Hello? What? How do you work this thing?" Wade blinked in surprise. Drakken was wearing the Kimmunicator.

The readhead pushed her way onto screen, giving the megalomaniac a withering look. "Wade, I need you to work with Drakken to fix his doomsray. We need to reverse the process."

Both the child genius and the mad scientist protested at the same time. Drakken admonished that he would work with anyone, let alone a simple child while Wade argued that he couldn't possibly accomplish anything with the bumbling mishmash that was Drakken's approach to science. They both were silenced at once.

"Knock it off!" Kim barked, and Drakken recoiled slightly. She fixed her teammate with a gaze across the thousand miles between them. "Wade, this not just for Cutter. We need to do this for Ron."

Wade sighed, and nodded his head. "I'll do my best, Kim. For Ron."

Drakken grimaced but recoiled again when the redhead fixed him with another, less friendly stare. "I suppose I could try to explain my invention to the boy." He said reluctantly. Wade simply rolled his eyes, but stayed silent.

"Good." She stood straighter. "Meanwhile, me and Shego have some backup to provide." The redhead disappeared from the screen. From somewhere out of the camera's view Wade heard the familiar condescending tone of the green thief.

"How is it that you suddenly come in and take over?" She sounded annoyed. "It was my plan, I came up with the damn thing."

Against the sounds of titanic battle, they all set to work.

To be concluded? Ha. I'll believe it when I see it.