Old Enemies, New Enemies

XX

The lunch room's deathly silence continued as Bonnie stood in the doorway with her husband. She was pleased to hear someone at one the more distant tables, next to the lunch room windows, whisper something to his friends about seeing them drive in with a hovercar. Bonnie liked it when her good taste was recognized. She was a little jolted, however, by the sight of Tara King approaching her from across the room. She and Tara had been friends of sorts in high school, but they had not kept in touch afterwards.

"Hey Bonnie!" said Tara as the two of them embraced. "Sorry, I usually check in people at the table, but you're over an hour late so I left it for a while."

"Fashionably late," Bonnie corrected her. She looked at the piece of paper that Tara was scribbling on. "Checking people in? How come?"

Tara thought for a moment. "I'm not actually sure. It seemed like the thing to do. Maybe I'll send an email about who attended the reunion later? Anyway, here's a class reunion party bag!" she said brightly.

Bonnie looked at the bag and took it as if she was doing Tara a favor, and then walked into the lunch room with her husband as the noise level returned to normal. People seemed to have acclimated themselves to Bonnie's presence. Bonnie said hello to a few people, a little disconcerted that the popular and unpopular groups she remembered from high school seemed to be completely intermingled. Finally, she caught sight of the face she was looking for. The table was already close to full, but Bonnie and her husband would make room.

"Kim Possible!" said Bonnie, her face molded into a careful mimicry of civility. "So nice to see you again!"

"Please," Kim replied with a smile that was almost as cold as the one Bonnie was wearing. "Have a seat!" She motioned vaguely to the table, even though there were no remaining chairs around it.

Bonnie and Junior grabbed a pair of chairs from an adjacent table – one had a purse and coat that Bonnie had to remove before grabbing it – and scooted themselves in between the other occupants of the crowded table. A number of people in the room remembered the high school rivalry between Kim and Bonnie, always a hot topic when it came to school gossip, and felt their hopes dashed upon realizing that no cat fights had occurred at the moment of their contact. Still, an electric tension hung over the table. It was almost tangible, and it kept everyone on their toes – figuratively speaking - as they stared at the two former teen rivals. Monique and Josh both gave each other a look that suggested they were planning to bolt if fists began to fly.

Bonnie was silent for a moment as she gaped at the sight of Brick Flagg, who she had not recognized until she actually sat down at the table. Judging by the woman and child beside him, he had dropped a few rungs on the ladder of life since she had last seen him. Maybe her popularity had rubbed off in him in high school. Maybe the Brick she saw now was the result of years without her positive influence. Bonnie turned her attention back to Kim and thought about how to start up some small talk, but decided it was easier to talk about herself.

"So," she said, "I'm sure you all remember Junior, who I met back in high school. I think it was on one of your missions actually, wasn't it Kim?" Bonnie got a curt nod from Kim in reply. "Anyway, we're married now, and living fabulously exciting and sophisticated lives. Eating the finest food, buying the finest clothing, which I'm sure goes without saying. We do a lot of international travel, that kind of thing."

"How do you finance that kind of lifestyle?" asked Monique. "I'd like to travel more, but even a fashion boutique doesn't net me that much cash." She glanced at Junior with an appraising eye. "Is your hubby there as loaded with cash as he is with muscle?"

Monique's roving eyes caused Bonnie to narrow her own. Her nostrils flared menacingly, which Junior seemed to pick up on some subconscious level since he quickly stopped smiling at Monique's attention and stared into space instead.

"Junior's family is very wealthy," Bonnie admitted, "and his music career has done well. We've even met some celebrities thanks to his connections in the business. We get a decent amount of royalties from his albums."

"I am very popular in a small country known as Pittsburgh," Junior interjected.

Bonnie ignored her husband. "But even if it wasn't for all that, we'd still be wealthy. I'm doing quite well in my radio talk show career."

"I think you mean your career as an international criminal," Kim corrected her.

The silence at the table was so thick that it could be cut with a knife. Bonnie and Kim stared each other down, looking like two bulls that were about to charge each other and smash the table to pieces in the process. Both Monique and Josh twitched a little, as if preparing themselves to leap out of harm's way. After what seemed like an eternity, Ron coughed awkwardly.

Josh shrugged. "I'm not surprised."

The table's other occupants stared at Bonnie, waiting for her to confirm or deny Kim's statement. Bonnie glared for a moment, a mixture of anger and surprise stewing in her chest. She had not been aware that Kim Possible knew about her career path after high school. Bonnie considered denying it for a moment, but she decided if Kim already knew about her extralegal hobbies and could actually do anything about it, she would have done something already. The very fact that she and her husband were here at the reunion and not in prison meant that Kim had nothing solid against her.

"I'll put it this way, K." Bonnie smirked at the way Kim tensed a little at hearing the condescending, one-letter address that Bonnie used for her in high school. "I do like to dabble in some activities that might not be the kind of wholesome, white-bread things you and Stoppable spend your time doing."

Speaking Ron's name out loud made Bonnie really notice him for the first time. Although she had been focused on Kim, she had seen Ron at the table when she first sat down, but the sight of them together was so ingrained in her mind that she hadn't thought about the implications of both of them attending the reunion together until now. When she looked at the red-headed, freckle-faced young girl who sat in between them, Bonnie connected the dots in her mind.

"Wait a minute," she said to Kim. "You actually married Ron Stoppable?"

"Ron Possible now, actually", Ron corrected her.

Bonnie stared at Ron for a moment, then back to Kim, then back to Ron again, then to their daughter, and finally blinked several times as if making sure she was not hallucinating. She let out a raucous laugh. Junior joined her, although he had been distracted and wasn't sure what they were laughing at.

"You couldn't find an upgrade in college, Kim?" Bonnie shook her head with mock sympathy. "That's really rough. Honestly, I'd be less surprised if I saw you with Shego tonight."

"Yeah well, joke's on you," said Ron indignantly. "Shego's with Adrena Lynn! Last time we saw them, they said they were giving up the life of crime and moving to some tax haven in the Caribbean after Shego made all that money on her autobiography."

"Yeah," Kim mumbled as she thought about the book. "Drakken sure wasn't happy about that one."

"The book, or Adrena Lynn?"

Kim thought for a moment. "The book, but good question."

Bonnie was not interested in Kim and Ron's former foes, but she couldn't help but be interested in why Kim Possible hadn't stopped her many illegal capers if she knew about Bonnie's choice of profession. "So Kim," she asked, "how come you haven't put me in jail yet, if you think you know so much about what I do with my time?"

"Oh, I'm sure I'll do it soon enough," Kim said. "I've been keeping an eye on you for years now, but Ron and I have been a little caught up in raising a family." She nodded to her daughter. "That, and you're not exactly my area of expertise. I notice you like to carry out your little stunts by proxy. You're not really a supervillain – sneakier than most supervillains, maybe, more careful for sure, but you don't invent anything or try to take over the world. You're basically just a common criminal."

Bonnie bristled at what she knew was an insult. Kim might have a point about her activities not falling into the supervillain realm, but she knew she was much more than a common criminal. Junior's father, as annoying as he could be, had instilled Bonnie with a certain sense of pride in her work. There was a certain grandiose air to what she did, an elegance. If anything, Bonnie thought of herself as having more finesse and taste than supervillains did.

"And what about you, Kim? Are you and Ron still freak fighting? I can't imagine living comfortably off of that. You guys did it for free, didn't you?"

"Actually, I convinced Kim to charge," said Ron. "For certain cases, anyway. We'll take a call from a rich client sometimes and make a lot of money, but we still help people for free, although we don't do missions in general as much as we used to."

"For shame," said Bonnie with a grin. "Lost your passion and sold out, huh?"

"Having a kid changes things a little, Bonnie," Kim replied. "We wanted to make enough money and have enough flexibility to give ourselves more free time to raise Annie. I do missions and consulting work from time to time – security, that kind of thing – and Ron runs his own bakery now. He was doing mail-order baking for a while, too."

"Muffins were the most popular order!" Ron said excitedly.

"Doesn't sound as lucrative as what I do," said Bonnie.

Kim shook her head. "It probably isn't. But we like to enjoy a little dignity and self-respect in between paychecks."

Bonnie folded her arms in annoyance, unable to think of a retort. Dignity and self respect – Bonnie snorted at the ludicrousness of Kim's attitude. If only Kim had entered politics or high-level corporate management – then she'd make her eat those words. Kim had always been concerned about right and wrong, always trying to mold the world into something it was not. Bonnie had seen how futile that was, even in high school. She knew how the world worked. She knew that if you wanted something, you had to take it.

As Bonnie thought about Kim's attitude, she realized that it hadn't changed at all since high school. Kim Possible was still little miss perfect, still flagrantly violating the natural order of things. Moralizing, marrying a geek, starting her little nuclear family. Or maybe not. Could a nuclear family have one child, or were two required? Bonnie didn't know the answer. She did not think about it for long, however. Now that her initial attempt to outdo Kim in terms of life achievement hadn't gone quite the way she intended, Bonnie felt an overwhelming urge to dominate her old foe in something. Anything.

"You know, Kim, I was just thinking about all those cheer routines we did in high school."

"Uh huh."

"After popping out a kid and slowing down on your missions, you must be getting a little out of shape. Kind of sad how things change, huh?"

"Speak for yourself, Bonnie."

Judging by the way Kim's hand was clenching a handful of tablecloth, her knuckles as white as the fabric, Bonnie knew that she had taken the bait.

"What do you say we get a little fresh air and have a little contest out on the football field, huh Kim?"

Kim nodded quietly and got up from the table. Ron looked like he was about to get up too, but Kim held a palm out to stop him.

"Stay here, Ron. And keep Annie with you. This could get ugly."

"Aw, I wanna see mommy beat up the evil lady!"

Bonnie made sure Junior wasn't going to tag along either – she wanted to be able to focus entirely on Kim when they got to the field – but she didn't have to worry about holding her husband back, as he was clearly not interested in leaving the table and didn't even seem to be paying attention in the first place. She followed Kim through the lunch room door as the rest of the table watched them in silence.

"Is mommy going to be okay?" Annie asked her father.

Ron nodded hesitantly. "Uh, yeah. Mommy and Bonnie just have to work a few things out." He looked down at his plate of food, which had been emptied, and decided to get another helping. "I'll be back in a minute, honey."

Ron left the table for the lunch counter, looking over all the options available. A little spaghetti, some egg rolls, an Indian vegetarian option – it looked like Tara had tried to go for a certain international flavor without getting too fancy. Ron was a skilled cook, but he was not a gourmand – everyday fare was perfectly tasty to him. Years of eating at Bueno Nacho had instilled a cosmopolitan attitude towards food in him. Although he had to admit there were certain exceptions – it was good, for instance, that the lunch counter tubs were not filled with actual lunch food, of which even high school memories still had the power to make Ron retch.

As he began to pile a new helping onto his plate, Junior came up beside him and picked up a plate for himself, not having had the chance to eat anything since he and Bonnie had arrived. Bonnie's mother had fed them, but like Ron, Junior could always go for more.

"Ron Stoppable," he said as he looked at Ron and remembered his old enemy, "I am interested to know – were they always like this in high school?"

"Kim and Bonnie? Oh yeah. I was kind of hoping things would be different at the reunion, but I guess those two are never going to get along."

Junior ladled some soup into a bowl. The food was not quite as sophisticated as what he was used to – not a single lobster, truffle, or hunk of foie gras could be seen – but he was hungry all the same. Junior laughed as he thought about his past with Ron.

"I suppose we were once like that as well, no? Do you remember that battle we had with the hair styling and the comb?"

"Oh yeah," smiled Ron. He looked up at Junior's hair. "I see you're still using Le Goop."

"Are you not? Hmm, I suppose I can see that you are not. Your dressing has much improved since I last saw you, but you must handle the cowlick issues."

"Thanks for the tip."

"You know," observed Junior as they rejoined the rest of the group at the table, "I must admit that I miss our little fights. I am surprised that you and Kim Possible have not attempted to interfere with myself and Bonnie. I keep waiting to see Kim drop into our lair with a witty comment or some such thing, and yet it does not happen. You were a worthy opponent when you did not run away."

Ron remembered their fights, which – as far as he could remember – mostly consisted of slapping and hair pulling. Junior had a point, though. Going on those missions with Kim could be terrifying, but over time, Ron had come to find them exciting in their own way. And as far as supervillains went, Ron always preferred fighting the Seniors to going up against a foe like Monkey Fist.

"Well, you never know, Junior. Maybe we'll see more of each other in the future."

"Maybe so, Ron Stop – er, Possible."

XX

Steve Barkin gazed over his old domain from a seat on the empty football bleachers. He had left the lunch room earlier since his old students were all involved in conversation with each other – that, and he had felt a sudden urge to wander the school grounds.

A lone football lay still in the end zone on the far end of the field, where he had thrown it earlier. The football was surrounded by an expanse of green and powdered white, drenched in the gaze of the evening floodlights. Goalposts stood guard like sentinels at either end of the field, their arms frozen as they reached for the sky. To Barkin, the football field was a long-forgotten second home.

Barkin had been shooting a few hoops inside the basketball court earlier, but he was getting older, and it had not been long before he found himself beginning to feel worn out. He was still a bulky man, but some of that bulk had turned to fat in the course of old age, and his body did not respond to his will the way it used to. Now he was outside cooling down and enjoying a little fresh air. Sitting, watching. Enjoying the memories. If he smelled hard enough, Barkin could almost pick up a whiff of sweat in the air. Maybe it was an echo of those carefree days as Middleton High School football coach.

Or maybe it was the fact that he had just been shooting three-pointers inside for the last fifteen minutes.

Barkin remembered the teams of children who ran back and forth across the football field like human waves, natural and poetic in their movement. He remembered the chants, the screams, the thundering roar of the audience when the Mad Dogs made a touchdown. He even remembered the cheerleading routines, which had been particularly spectacular during the time that Kim Possible held the post of head cheerleader. Those were the days.

And these were not the days. Barkin had lost his job as a gym teacher back in the Second Great Depression of '13, and while he had kept up substitute teaching at Middleton, sometimes even getting other odd teaching jobs in neighboring towns and cities, things had never been the same. His Smarty Mart job had kept him afloat for a long time after teaching was no longer a reliable source of income, but then the Middeton store had been shut down after Smarty Mart stock plummeted following the pubic revelation of holo-cam indiscretions by a certain Martin Smarty.

Barkin had tried to find a position in some of the newer chain stores, including a Brainy Bazaar that opened in place of the old Smarty Mart, but he found that his age and past experience worked against him. Being overqualified was more of a strike against him than he had expected. He remembered telling a young Ron Stoppable before his graduation about the center not holding. Perhaps Barkin had been overreacting in Ron's case, but as for himself, he knew he had no center anymore. And now here he was, trying to grab hold of a past that was already long out of reach.

The sound of soft footsteps across the turf interrupted his thoughts, and Barkin looked up to see Kim Possible and Bonnie Rockwaller storming onto the field. They were arguing with each other, red in the face, and they didn't even notice Barkin as they made a beeline to the middle of the field. Barkin noticed that the two of them were both carrying pom-pons.

"What's going on?" he asked them.

"We're having a contest," Kim replied, a little surprised to see Barkin over on the bleachers. She had not noticed when he left the lunch room earlier.

Bonnie nodded in agreement. "We're going to work out once and for all who's the best cheerleader."

Barkin felt his spirits perk up at the mention of a competition.

"I'll be the judge!"

XX

The class reunion was at its peak, and the lunch room was bustling with activity even though various people had wandered off to other parts of the school in order to reminisce about their teen years. Taking a break from his incessant eating, Ron watched his daughter over in the section of the lunch room that had been devoted to children and wondered how his wife was doing in her grudge match against Bonnie.

Annie seemed to be hitting it off alright with Brick and Justine's son. Madison, if he remembered the name right. Tara's husband Doug was also playing with them. Although Annie had complained about being too old to hang out with some of the other children, Ron was glad he had sent her away from the table, since the topic of conversation was turning to relationships, old crushes, and other romance-related subjects. He didn't want to be giving his daughter any ideas about dating in the near future. Not until she was thirty or so.

"Well," said Tara in response to Justine's question about how she had met her husband, "I was jogging through the park and kind of ran into him."

"You're kidding me," gasped Justine. "What did he say?"

"Oh, he actually apologized a lot, even though it wasn't his fault. Doug's just like that. He never gets angry. He had a mocha cappuccino in his hand, too, and it spilled all over him." The table laughed at the mental image.

"I really should get back into jogging again," Tara said as she patted her stomach. It had definitely taken on a few pounds since high school, although it wasn't bad. "The problem is that Doug's too great a cook! Anyway, what about you guys?" she asked Brick and Justine. "I had no idea you two were interested in each other – when did that happen?"

Brick and Justine looked at each other with a grin.

"Actually," said Brick, "we were kind of dating each other in secret after I graduated from high school. And we knew each other before that. I really dug her intelligence, and I guess I was kind of feeling trapped in the whole jock image that everybody had of me. That, and I didn't want to go to college being the dumb guy who got in on a football scholarship and had nothing else to offer, you know? So I guess those insecurities really made me admire Justine, and that's why I first got to know her."

Monique was shocked that the high school gossip mill had never given her this tidbit. "How did I never find out about this?" she asked.

"You never asked me," Justine replied. "And I didn't really share much of my personal life with people back then."

"We also didn't want to deal with Bonnie if she found out about it," said Brick. "She can be a little scary, even when you're not going to school with her anymore."

"I know exactly what you mean," said Junior. "I love her, but oh boy, sometimes..." He trailed off after realizing that maybe he was saying a little too much.

Josh Mankey had been enjoying the conversation, but there was one person whose relationship status piqued his interested more than anyone else, seeing as she had not come to the reunion with anyone else. "So what about you, Monique? You're seriously still single? I just find that hard to believe."

While his flattery was transparent, Monique enjoyed it.

"Flattery will get you everywhere. But yeah, I guess I've just never been the type to settle. I like having close friendships, but when it comes to relationships I'm a little harder to pin down." Josh raised an eyebrow at her, which Monique noticed but chose to ignore. "I guess I kinda like my independence. Not that there's anything wrong with the kind of thing Kim and Ron have together."

"Sure," Josh said. "I'm pretty similar, actually. I have a bad case of singleitis, but I travel a lot as part of my job so I don't like to be tied down anyway."

"And you like to keep yourself free for all the international ladies, I bet."

Josh laughed. "That's a little too generous. I don't think I'm charming enough to pull off some kind of traveling Casanova deal. What do you take me for, Monique?"

"I dunno - you tell me!"

Ron had never been the most observant of people when it came to romantic interest, but he thought maybe there were a few sparks flying at the table. Josh and Monique's conversation seemed to be dominating the table, as Brick and Justine were a little subdued and Junior had disappeared.

He began to wonder where Junior had gone until he noticed his old foe talking to Doug over in the children's area and playing a board game with a couple of the kids. Ron felt a brief hint of worry – Junior was the husband of an international criminal, after all, and for all Ron knew he was a partner in her crimes – but he supposed that as far as bad guys went, Junior was about as harmless as they came. Even when he was with his father, Junior had never seemed very interested in supervillainy. And from what Ron could see, he seemed to having fun with the kids.

Junior wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but Ron felt like, given enough time, he could almost learn to like the guy. He only wished that Bonnie and Kim could move past their differences and come to some kind of understanding as well. Of course, Ron thought to himself, maybe Bonnie's choice of career path made that idea a little harder to swallow. It certainly didn't look like either of them would be any closer to each other after the reunion than they had been in high school. Maybe, Ron thought with a wry grin, they'd even rip each other to shreds before the reunion was over.

His grin soon disappeared as he began to wonder if that outcome could actually be possible.

XX

A blast of air whooshed through Bonnie's hair as Kim landed with a thud on the turf, inches away from her, completing a triple somersault that Bonnie would have had trouble pulling off even in high school. Bonnie was convinced that her routine had been superior, but Kim certainly hadn't let herself slide over the years. Mr. Barkin stood up from the bleachers and clapped enthusiastically.

"Well done, well done! I declare Kim Possible the winner."

"What? Are you blind?"

Barkin shook his head at Bonnie's query. "No. No, I am not blind."

This was a travesty. Bonnie should have guessed that Barkin would play favorites.

"Whatever. Clearly you're going senile. I'm out of here!"

Bonnie left the field in a fury as Kim watched her exultantly, green eyes boring into the back of Bonnie's head as she flung the school doors open and stormed inside. Kim knew that Bonnie's dramatic behavior was as as close to admitting defeat as she could ever get. She had been a little worried after seeing Bonnie take the first turn and pull off an admittedly impressive routine, but Kim's last somersault had probably been what cemented her victory.

"Thanks, Mr. Barkin," she said as she turned to her old teacher. "Don't worry about her, she's just a sore loser."

Barkin nodded and sat back down on the bleachers.

Kim was about to leave the football field and go back to the lunch room so she could gloat to Monique and Ron when she noticed that Mr. Barkin was not following her inside. She realized that he had been sitting out in the bleachers, alone on what was becoming a chilly night, when she and Bonnie had come out to compete with each other. As she looked at his downcast expression, she had the sinking feeling that Barkin wanted to talk about something. Probably something very awkward. She walked back to the bleachers and took a seat beside him.

"Something wrong?"

Barkin nodded, and Kim prepared herself for what would inevitably be a very uncomfortable conversation.

XX

Annie looked up from her game and glanced over at the table, noticing her father wave to her in the middle of a conversation with some other adults. She waved back. Annie was a little bit embarrassed that her father was waving to her, and while she didn't know why, she knew it had something to do with Madison. She supposed that it was because she wanted to show Brick and Justine's son, who was a little older than her, that she was not just a child.

"Do you think your mom killed her high school friend?" asked Madison.

"No! Don't be silly. Nobody kills each other at reunions."

Annie tried to sound sure of herself, but based on the few times she had heard her mother talking about Bonnie Rockwaller in the past, she had to wonder if she was right. They had been gone a long time. Annie wondered how long it took to finish whatever cheering contest they were having.

"This game is giving me a headache," Junior announced as he threw his piece petulantly on the board. "I do not understand what I am supposed to do now!"

Annie looked down at the board. She was winning but Madison was in close second, and Junior was not doing well – although he had insisted that he had never played the game before. A couple more pieces had been set up for Tara's children, but they were a little younger than Annie and Madison, and Annie found it hard to prevent them from rolling across the board when they escaped from Doug's watchful eye. She had long since given up trying to get them to actually play the game.

"You can move your piece there," Annie said as she pointed to a square with a posh-looking holographic building in its center, "and buy Madison Avenue for 500 dollars."

"Hey, that is like your name!" Junior said, pointing to Madison, who blushed a little. Annie noticed his reaction sympathetically. "I find the real estate prices in this game to be highly unrealistic," Junior continued.

"It's just a game."

"Perhaps we can play something else?"

Annie looked around the play area. There were a few more board games laying around, but she didn't think Junior would like them much better. One game did come to mind – it had been her favorite when she was younger, and it only required a pair of hands, but Annie felt like she was a little old for it. Still, it might be the kind of thing that would amuse Junior. Annie sighed. Hopefully Madison would not look down on her for teaching Junior pattycake, and Annie was more interested in doing something else, but she supposed she had to humor Bonnie's husband a little since he was spending time with them.

"Okay," she said as she pushed the board game aside. "Put up your hands."

Their game was interrupted just as it started by the sound of the lunch room doors flying open and hitting the adjacent walls. Annie looked over and saw Bonnie Rockwaller standing in the doorway. Kim, however, was not there.

Annie remembered an expression her father had used a few times in the past when he was referring to missions. She didn't know what had happened between her mother and Bonnie, but Annie hoped she wasn't going to have to open up a can of monkey-style butt-kicking in the next few moments.

XX

Notes - Okay, this chapter was a little longer than the previous two, hope you guys don't mind. The next chapter will probably be similar in size. Thanks for all the reviews so far, I'm glad you guys are liking this - people like reunion stories I guess.