I was looking over my stories. I found this one and reread it. I spent some time putting pieces back together (all the notes for the mystery where on my old computer that gave up the ghost). I'm going to continue it. I'm not apologizing for any delays, so I don't want to hear any complaints about "two years, you freak! Two years!"

Lots of love to everyone!



The blue hood hung at the woman's shoulders, and pale blonde hair tumbled past it. The woman was in her early twenties, strikingly beautiful despite telltale dark circles under her eyes.

No matter. Tara Archer looked good. Especially for having been decapitated.

She tumbled into Kim's arms, crying.

Kim was crying, too. She had done nothing of that for days. When would it stop? But it was not crying over own life, but Tara's. Here was Tara, very much alive. "Tara," she said. "What in the world?"

"I had to, Kim," she replied, releasing Kim. "I had to. Brick, Officer Flagg, I had to."

"Fake your own death?" Brick stammered from behind him. "That was one hell of a fake!"

"A clone," Kim said. "It was a clone. Of course it was."

"I borrowed the idea from you." Tara wiped the tears from her eyes. "I hope you don't mind."

"I don't understand."

"Neither do I," said Brick. He knelt on the ground, seemingly starved for air. "Tara, you have a death certificate. The entire force is revolving around your murder."

Tara gave a bell-like laugh. "I didn't think I'd create so much of a stir."

"Well, you did. Damn it, what is going on? Who else is not dead?" Brick seemed almost upset. "Tara, wow. I'm sorry. I'm really, truly glad you're not dead. But… what? Another clone?"

"My friend Trudy up at the hospital. I'm dating her brother. He's a scientist in this lab. He specializes in—"

"Cloning," Brick finished. "I can't believe it. So… he knew?"

Tara nodded. "He and Trudy both knew. They swore they wouldn't say a thing. We had to do something. I guess I'm just too much of a coward to cut town."

"So you went for cloning." Kim smiled wanly. "Wow, Tara. I have to hand it to you. What else has changed since high school?"

"I didn't do the cloning. Grant did. My boyfriend. I just… gave him the idea."

"From me?" Kim's frown returned. "The photos you left out…"

Tara nodded. "It… it was a few weeks ago. I was in the E.R. This older man came in. Fractured wrist. Nothing huge, but he was under a lot of pain killer. He… he said some things. " She took a deep breath. "Kim, you were shot to death in Idaho six years ago. Everyone knew that. And then this man found out that was not true. This man who came in to the E.R. for me to treat him. His name was Darren Sharp."

Kim's blood turned to ice. "Darren Sharp?"

"Yes. Does that name mean anything to you?"

Kim nodded. "Yes."

"Kim, I'm so sorry."

"Keep going," Brick said softly. They could barely see anymore with the setting sun.

"Yes, of course." Tara closed her eyes. "His name was Darren Sharp. Just this nice old man, I thought. He said you were being held by a man named Garrison Wiles. Oh, but Darren Sharp seemed to hate this man. He didn't talk about why, he just said he hated him. Called him a cheat, a thief, everything. But the important thing was that he said you, Kim, were alive. I… I didn't know what to do with that. At first, I tried to just pass it off that he was rambling from the meds. But then…" Her hands went to her eyes as fresh tears came. "Three days later he sent me a letter that he was going to kill me."

"Why didn't you go to the police?" Brick asked.

"And what? Tell them local heroine Kim Possible was alive and somebody knew where and that now that man was trying to kill me? Brick, I wanted to go to the police. I even picked up the phone right after I read the letter. But… but what if I were wrong? What if the man were simply crazy? Kim, I did not want to upset your family all over again. They went through so much pain."

"So you cloned yourself?" Kim asked. "That was your response?"

"I paused from calling the police long enough to get another call. I don't even know who it was. Still don't. Male. That's all. He told me what to do. He sent me a key. I'm living a few cities away right now. Totally secretive."

Kim took a deep breath. "Well… this is good news. I guess. As good as news can get right now. Darren Sharp knew I was alive. He… he put out an ad out for my capture six years ago. That's what happened."

"I'm so sorry." Tara turned to Brick. "Well, I'm calling the police now. You found out Kim was back in town first, I think. You're the only on that force I actually know. Brick, now that Kim is "back from the dead" she's going to be in a lot of trouble. And… and Darren said something else while he was under. He's building something. And I took something out of his personal belongings after he said all that stuff about Kim. I'm not sure what it is." She pulled from the pocket of her coat a plastic Zip-lock baggie. In the dim light Kim could barely make a flat metallic form. "It's a computer chip or something."

"You stole that?" Brick demanded.

Tara nodded, almost defiantly. One thing was for certain. This was not the same Tara from before. "I stole it. Somebody wants it back."


Jackson Sharp sighed and listened to the phone ring for the tenth time. For a teenager, Wade Lode was certainly difficult to get a hold of. Why did he bother with teenagers? Is this not why he chose to teach only master students? The answering machine went on. "Hey, this is Wade and by some miracle I'm not with my phone. Leave a message."

Again. "Wade, it's me. Call me back." Jackson sat down at his desk and let his forehead drop against the hard wood. He was tired, deathly tired. His office was messy and cold and dismal. When had this necessity of academia turned into such a prison?

He took a deep breath and lifted his eyes. Blueprints. A design of Ron Stopabble's. His most promising student, believe it or not. Could be quite the idiot sometimes, but he certainly had the brains and the creativity to design some fairly ingenious creations.

In fact… Jackson picked one of them up. A robotics plan, standard enough. Except… except the boy had some good ideas here…

The ring of his phone jolted him from his thoughts. He stared at in confusion as the phone buzzed about on the desktop blinking "Wade Lode". He picked it up. "Hello?"

"Dr. Sharp?" The kid sounded terrified.

"Wade? Are you all right?"

"Um, yeah. I… I saw that you called so I called you back and… Dr. Sharp, I really need to talk to you."

"So do I. You tell me you're giving fake codes to someone. Who? Who is asking for these codes?"

"Some villain lady. Shego. I don't know if you've ever heard of her. Dr. Sharp, I just did something stupid."

Shego. Well, of course. How could he have been so stupid? The briefest smile came over his face. "Why did she want the codes to the bunker?"

"I don't know. She thought her kid was there for some reason. Dr. Sharpe—"

"Did you tell her that?"

"Dr. Sharp, I think I may have just killed someone."


Monique tried Ron's cell. Twenty times now. He wasn't responding. Why wouldn't he call her? What was wrong? She curled up on the couch, trying to keep the tears back. She couldn't cry. She had tests to correct and a wedding to plan—if there still were to be a wedding. Her fiancé was just… she didn't know. Being Ron.

What if he were out with Kim?

That released the tears. She was a horrible person. She was going to hell. But she did not want Ron out with Kim.


Ron's body felt like it had just been struck by lightening. Probably by something close enough. It hurt just to attempt to raise his eyelids. His eyes wet with darkness swirled with patches of red and yellow light. He reclosed them, groaning. Even his fingertips tingled. "Monique," he murmured.

Upon a second attempt at opening his eyes he saw brighter light. And shapes. Movie posters, stuff like that. Where was he? Wade's apartment. That was right. Stupid, stupid Wade. Practically admitted to trying to kill Kim and then electrocuted him.

He was on the floor. Drops of blood had stained the carpet. His blood? No, no, he had punched Wade. It had been a good punch. It had felt so wonderful. Wade had deserved it.

Ron tried to sit up, then realized the source of the tingling fingers. His hands were tied together. Same with his ankles. Wade had certainly paid attention in Boy Scouts.

But where was Wade? Ron was the only one in the room. No weird roommate, no Wade. Ron strained at the knots. He should have brought Rufus. But no, he had left Rufus to do homework.

Well, this was handy. Graduate student and former hero sidekick and he was lying like a sack of potatoes in some genius teenager's apartment. If three days ago he had imagined—

The familiar zap of a beam sent him screaming. Something green burst through the door, burning it. A woman stepped through and stared at him. "Stoppable?"

"Shego?" Ron repeated. Yes, it was Shego. Just as Kim had said.