There was a definite smell to the underwater. Not the scent of the ocean, nothing so poetic. It was what Kim had known all too well for six years, the mix of pumped air already stale from transportation mixed with various scents of candles and incense. Nothing truly fresh whatsoever.

Before mental panic began came the hyperventilation. Every skill she had ever learned went to keeping her mind calm, but her body reacted as she felt the shuttle dock with the station. It could be no other station. The gag was still in place, and her lungs craved to breathe it in with every lungful of air they gasped. Her wrists pressed at her binds in a desperate attempt to pull them away. Not a single action was her doing.

And then came the mental. The blood that pumped madly through her hit her brain and her scream was muffled by the gag. She couldn't be back. She didn't want to be back. No no no no no. She was captured, she was scared, she didn't know where anyone was, days and weeks and months and years were passing and no one was coming and all of it was happening all over again in the horrible pound of a single heartbeat…

And somewhere there was a voice. A female voice. Wiles had so few female employees. Which one was it?

The voice came again. "Kim!"

They hardly ever used her name. She twisted again at the bindings. She wanted to die. She wanted out of here.

"Kim!" The voice was a scream, a vocal knife breaking through the glass jar that was suffocating her.

She gasped again against the gag. Kim. She was Kim. She knew that, she had always known that. She had never been this crazy before or anywhere near it. She took another deep breath through the nose, then another.

A panic attack. Wow.

"Kim, look at me." The voice belonged to Monique. Thank heaven. Her dear wonderful boyfriend-stealing friend Monique. The one who had been capture along with her. Capture before her, actually. At least they were together. With another deep breath that seemed to finish off the panic attack and start to work on the racing pulse she turned to look at Monique.

Monique looked terrified. Of course she was. Monique was rarely involved with missions. She was a fan, a devoted fan and a listening ear. But at least Monique was calmer. "Kim, are you all right?"

Kim nodded. Okay, one panic attack. She had survived.

Monique smiled. She was tired, her make-up was smeared, and her hair was a mess, but the girl could still muster a smile. "Good. I didn't want you to hurt yourself. Assuming we can hurt ourselves when we're tied up like this. Though I supposed anything is possible. For a Possible."

Kim gave a muffled laugh. She was calming down. She was in a place she had never wanted to see again, but she was calming down.

"This is where they kept you, isn't it?" Monique asked solemnly as she looked to the shuttle door. "Where we're at now?"

Kim nodded. No proof except the smell, but where else would it be?

"Kim… I met Tara."

Good grief, she had forgotten all about Tara during this. Though somehow the fact that Tara had survived seemed rather unimportant in light of her current situation. Though Tara was involved. Tara was clearly and ridiculously involved.

"It wasn't Tara."

The "What do you mean?" came out muffled. That was impossible. She had seen Tara herself, hugged the girl. It had definitely been Tara.

"Tara was killed when we all thought she was," Monique continued. "They did the same thing that they did to you when we all thought you were dead."

Oh, no.

"She talked to you. She told me she had. You and Brick. That was not her. The real Tara is dead. The one we talked to was a clone."

Kim closed her eyes. Of course. How dumb was she getting? A clone. If they had cloned her they could clone anyone else. Or better yet, how mean was she being to herself for thinking she could spot a clone?

"I really want to know what's going on," Monique said softly.

Kim nodded in agreement. So here she was. Back at the beginning. Shego had taken her from this place and Shego had brought her back. Fantastic. What had possessed her to trust Shego in the first place? The thought crossed her mind that she should be angry about this, but all she felt was irritation. Well, she couldn't blame a mother for focusing on her child.

And Shego had given her chance to fight for herself. That had to count for something, albeit a grudging count.

Well, she didn't need Shego. She could get out of here again. She had Monique.

"I think I owe you an apology."

For what? It wasn't like they had all come specifically to rescue Monique. She hadn't even known Monique was involved.

"I'm sorry about Ron."

Oh. Him. The dreaded R word. Kim nodded for her to continue.

Monique did everything correctly. Steady voice, eyes on Kim. "It's like fated disaster that you would come back so close to the wedding. And please don't take that I'm not happy you're back. I am. You being alive is a dream come true. I used to have these little fantasies of the very thing that happened. Well, not the very thing, but there was certainly a variety. The thing is, your death was all just a big misunderstanding. I think there were even a few clones in a few of them. The irony. I'm so happy you're back!"

Monique was sincere. Of course. Monique would never be so mean and heartless as to truly wish her back to death. Or this underwater grave.

"But this Ron thing is a big deal. I don't have the background with him that you have. You've been best friends since Pre-K, you're as close as anything, while I moved in during the middle of high school. In some ways I wish I had the history you had with him. Because, Kim, I am madly in love with him. I would do anything for him. And I know that he loves me. And I know it might be hard for you to hear that. But it's true. The boy wears his heart on his sleeve and he loves me and he wants to marry me and I don't think you coming back can change that. I can't imagine how you must feel knowing that."

Heartbreak. Classic heartbreak to the extreme.

"But he loves you, too. He loves you so much and he always has. So it probably sucks the most for him right now." She gave a dry laugh. "I really don't think he's meant for this type of drama. It's not good for him. And, well, you're amazing, Kim. You're the most wonderful person ever. Who wouldn't be madly in love with you? I…." Her voice stopped, and she spent a moment catching her breath. "If we get out of this—excuse me, when we get out of this, I'm going to call off the wedding. It's not fair to any of us. There's a reason you came back when you did. Maybe… maybe you and Ron are meant to be together. I'm pretty sure you would have wound up together if things had gone differently. I'll call off the engagement, and we can all see where this winds up."

The first thing that came to Kim's mind was a big fat no. No, you idiot girl, do not call off the wedding with the man you love! For that first thing just included two people that loved each other. Not Monique, not Ron. And all Kim could feel was horror and sorrow that Monique would even dare consider such a thing. Next came relief. Relief and total and complete agreement because yes that was what needed to happen because Ron was hers and hers alone. Except he wasn't anymore. But he could be. Monique was right and maybe things needed time. Lives were in messes. And the third thing was that crazy kiss with Brick and the childish holding-of-hands.

"May the best girl win," Monique whispered.

Kim suddenly felt like the biggest jerk in the world.

The door opened then, much to Kim's next thought of "Finally". She recognized the narrow hallway of Wiles' underwater world. She also recognized the creep known as Darren Sharpe. And she recognized the uniforms on a few unconscious guards whose bodies littered the hallway.

"Sorry, ladies," Darren said. "I'm… technically not supposed to be here, you understand. Your former captor and I do not get along, Kim, I'm afraid. Like you got along with him any better. Imagine, someone faking your death and caging you like an animal for six years. Terrible."

With strength surprising for a man his age he yanked them both up until they awkwardly reached for the ground with bound feet. He frowned. "That's not going to work for me. But kick me and you're both dead. Except you will be anyway."

What was he talking about?"

He untied their feet, a gun in his hand.

Kim waited. She even followed him obediently down the hall—as obedient as she could be with bound wrists. And she waited all the while. She recognized the hallway, it had been burned in to her mind. She hated this place. And she hated this man who had brought her back to it. And she was not going to listen to a thing he commanded.

She was Kim Possible.

When the moment was right she kicked, foot whirling upwards in a jump that connected with his head. With a groan Darren slumped forward.

"Back to the shuttle?" Monique asked, already moving.

Kim nodded.

But before either woman could reach the door, the gun in Darren's hand went off. Kim leaped to the side in instinct, but the bullet landed nowhere near her. Instead, it landed with perfect marksmanship on the lock.

No. It would not take a test to see that the lock was now jammed. Even with hands available they wouldn't close the door. And Kim had no idea how to get to the shuttle controls before Darren could shoot again.

Kim whirled around the other way and ran past Darren as he struggled to his feet. On second thought, she came back and gave him another kick. The gun went skidding across the floor, discharging into a whole in the wall.

Darren just sat up and laughed. "Fine. I won't deliver you as planned. I'm flexible. I can get out of this place. You won't."

Kim didn't listen to anything else he had to say. She kept running down the hall, Monique at her heels.

Darren picked up the gun, studied it, then fired again.

With a scream Monique collapsed. Blood flowed from her leg. Kim stopped and sat down next to Monique.

"I suppose Kim can still run without her friend," Darren said. "I don't care either way. I'm out of this soggy dump." He walked into the shuttle.

Kim didn't care what he did. The blood was quick. And her hands were literally tied.


"Wake up!"

Brick's eyes fluttered open to stare at a smooth white ceiling. How random.

A voice sighed. "Good. You just helped me pass a test in adjusting the power of this thing."

Wade. Oh, hell. The teenage brat who had jolted him down. Brick was so going to punch him. Later. Now he had to figure out where the hell he was. He sat up to stare at the rest of the mess of boring white simplicity.

Ron sat on a bench not far away, looking upset. Not that Brick blamed him, he felt the same way.

Jackson Sharpe sat on a folding chair, hands clasped like any other professor.

"What did you do to me?" Brick demanded of Wade. "What is going on?"

Though looking around certainly gave him a theory. He had been tricked. Outlandishly tricked. And now he was kidnapped by brilliant scientists.

How did Kim put up with it?

"I had to do something," said Wade. "You and Ron were giving us away."

"By mentioning Kim?" Ron asked in a voice more appropriate for a threat.

Kim. "Is Kim all right?"

"And Monique," put in Ron. "Where did they take them?"

Jackson unclasped his hands. "I'm pretty sure they're with Garrison Wiles."

Garrison Wiles. Brick released his breath and sat back heavily. He had let Kim be captured again by the same monster. Had he? Was he supposed to protect her? Wasn't she capable of protecting herself?

"Just like you planned."

"Ron," began Wade.

"I'm trying really hard not to strangle you right now."

Wade sighed and stood up. He was quite tall. "You know, Ron, I don't care. Just listen to me. Kim was never supposed to be caught. That's what Jackson and I were trying to prevent. I knew Shego was going to try something. I had no doubt in my mind."

"But once again you thought Kim could handle herself. She can't always do that, Wade! It didn't work last time and it's not working this time!"

"She can, too!" Brick heard himself say.

Three pairs of eyes stared at him.

"She can, too," he repeated, more softly. "She'll be fine. If we help her."

"I'm sorry," Jackson said softly. "I would have handed her in, but only if there were no other way. That was the idea. If there were no other way. We're sorry, but you have to understand—"

"I hate understanding." Brick wanted to punch something. "I get it. Your kid. Kidnappings happen. I'm sorry. But this isn't the way to do it."

Jackson laughed. "Spoken like a true cop."

"So where are we, then? What's the plan?"

"We're on a submarine," Wade explained. "I still have a few connections, and plenty of people are willing to rescue Kim."

"Does Darren have the bomb?" Ron asked.

The silence that followed was answer enough.

"I had to give it to him," Jackson said. "He had my son."

"Where's your son now?" Brick asked.

"Shego has him."

Despite his fury Brick felt relief. Good. He could feel relief a child was back with his mother. Even if that mother was a villainess. "I'm glad."

"So am I."

"And I'll be third there," said Ron. "Because I'm now deciding this is a rescue mission."

"It is," said Wade. "Finally, a rescue mission. We should be at Garrison Wiles' headquarters shortly. We can get in, get Kim and Monique, and get out. Maybe even deactivate that bomb."

The "shortly" Wade mentioned was far too long. No one spoke, and Brick lost count of the minutes. It couldn't have been more than fifteen, but it felt like hours before the submarine at last rose to the surface.

"How did you get in?" Wade asked as they climbed out into a wide docking space.

"Wade can get anywhere," Ron said.

Wade gave a small smile.

So this was Kim's prison, Brick thought to himself. A quick glance at Ron told him he was thinking the very same thing. And Ron and Kim were close. What would this be like for him?

As if reading his mind, Ron spoke. "So what happened?"

"Huh?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Between you and Kim. I noticed the interdigitation."

Brick kept his eyes focused on the locked doors Jackson and Wade so deftly made their ways through. "Why are you asking?"

"I think I deserve to know and I think you know that, Brick."

"I don't know."

"You don't know what happened? Amnesia getting you? The selective kind?"

"I kissed her the other night."

"Lot of that going around."

"Then we kissed the next day."

Ron didn't look surprised. "Just like I imagined."

Brick really did not want to be having this conversation. "What? Are you surprised? Do you even still love her? I thought you were engaged."

"It's a very complex thing."

"You're telling me."

"So she kissed you back?"

The memory rushed back. "Yeah. Do you have a problem with that?"

Ron was silent for a long time. "No. What does that say about me?"

"You're in love with this amazing girl and you don't care when she kisses someone else?"

"I care. But like you said, I'm engaged."

"So you do love Monique?"

Ron nodded. "Yes. I do love her. And I'm going to tell her that."

"What about Kim?"

Another long stretch of silence. "I don't know. I really don't know. But I'm afraid it's simply that the ship has sailed for that."

"Too long?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry."

"Thanks."

With the next bit of silence, Brick's ears turned to the conversation between Jackson and Wade. "… so if we're doing this right, Wiles' office should be somewhere around… "

The next door opened to the first hall that was actually guarded. Distinguished-looking soldiers, not that such things affected their physique.

"Yeah, we broke in," said Wade, a touch of the manic in his voice. "Take us to your boss for punishment."

Brick had worked security before. He would have done the same thing as the guards, and that was what Wade counted on.

Within minutes, they were in the office of Garrison Wiles.