"Xerox hurry up on your objective window!" Mr. Lynch barked. Kim hated her new code name. The simulator was frighteningly real luckily her team mates were there to back her up. The deviant know as frostbite had Bobby pinned down. The large black man seemed familiar to her; she couldn't put her finger on where she'd seen him though. She spawned two duplicates and took him to the ground. He has hot to the touch she thanked goodness for Edna's gloves that came with her costume it had been a bone of contention for Mr. Lynch, but she stood her ground no pervy spandex outfit for her. Between Caitlin rear hanging out and Rainmaker whole exposed right leg she was wondering who'd come up with these outfits in the first place. She subdued the large black man with a nerve strike and moved on. Just then a tall blonde ghosted through a wall and launched a kick she barely had time to parry. She answered with a kick of her own which passed right through her.
"Nice try." Sublime said smugly as she decked Kim with a fist like granite. Two of Kim's duplicates jumped her from behind and two more flanked her as Kim herself got up shakily. Rainmaker took the blonde out with a bolt of lightning.
"Thanks for the assist." The five of them said in unison.
"No problem, oh shit behind you Kim!" Sarah said as Kim ducked in time to avoid Powerhaus's mammoth fist as it smashed into a wall causing him to yell out in pain.
"So you aren't invulnerable." Kim said as she and her clones all dog piled the giant latino wrestling him to the ground. Kim choked him out while her clones held him down.
Caitlin knocked out Copycat in short order. Kim kicked herself for not neutralizing her first. Her fight with Professor Dementor had taught her mind control was extremely dangerous. Evo and Grunge were duking it out, the fact he'd assimilated a quarter had been the only reason he hadn't been disemboweled by Evo's claws. Meanwhile Roxy had Freestyle pasted to the ground with extreme gravity.
"Hey, Kim, help Grunge!" Roxy exclaimed. Kim and her clones ran over and knocked Evo to the ground then Kim got a wicked idea; she had each of her duplicates grab a limb and they tossed him into the air similar to a cheerleading maneuver only they didn't catch him and he hit the ground hard knocking him unconscious.
"Alright kids that all of them." Mr. Lynch said.
"Yeah, they're tough, I'll give them that." Kim said drawing her clones back in.
"Five on one aren't favorable odds, I don't care who you are." Sarah said plainly.
"It doesn't help that they aren't a very cohesive unit." Kim replied.
"Kim, can you come to my office after you hit the showers?" Mr. Lynch asked.
"Sure." She said heading off. Kim needed a talking-to from Mr. Lynch like she needed another hole in her head. Probably another team player speech, she'd had enough of that. She missed the good old days when it was her and Ron against two-bit villains. No government conspiracies, she could be home by dinner time and Ron was just down the street. She shook her head to clear it. No use pining for what she couldn't have there was only the now. Besides what did these kids know about fighting evil? They're lost and scared just like Bob said. Kim thought Mr. Lynch didn't approve of her spending so much time lately with Bob, but what was he going to do? Ground her? Well he could, but if she could sneak out of her parent's house this place couldn't be that hard.
She got out of the shower and toweled off. No Grunge spying on her thankfully. Was he truly that hard up? He got more action than any of them and she had to admit she was starting to miss it…NO! She couldn't think about that. It would only lead to more unnecessary complications, but Bobby was looking pretty good in that body suit and he played guitar, he was pretty good too… Kim took a cup of cold water from the bath tap and dumped it over her head; that did the trick as she toweled off again and got dressed. She was sure Mr. Lynch didn't want to be kept waiting as she hurried off.
"You wanted to see me?" she asked upon entering his office.
"Yes, I wanted to show you something. This was taken from the Middleton medical center yesterday." He replied switching on a monitor to show a black clad man in a ski mask killing a squad of men then turn and obviously addressing her mother in her office after pulling up the front of his mask. Just then he was attacked from behind by Evo and at first Kim thought the man was mortally wounded until she saw the wound close in seconds, and the man shot Evo and then beheaded him with a sword. The man said something pulled the ski mask back down and left.
"Where did you get this?" Kim asked.
"Security footage, tell me, Friend of yours?" Lynch asked.
"No, none of my enemies were killers at least not that I know of." Kim replied looking a little green at the graphic display of dismemberment.
"That squad, according to my sources, were confirmed I.O agents." Lynch said.
"So that man was protecting my mother?" Kim asked.
"Would seem that way." He replied.
"He looks more like one of yours." Kim observed.
"Any idea at all?" Lynch coaxed.
"No, none." Kim replied hands up.
"Any of your contacts would know?" Lynch asked.
"Not without facial recognition." Kim replied.
"Mr. Lynch, I have a question for you." Kim said plainly.
"Yes?" he asked.
"In the week I've been here I've noticed something; Bobby acts kind of strangely around you…" Kim started.
"Ever the detective. He's my son." Lynch replied.
"Ok explains a bit…" Kim said uneasily.
"I hope when the time comes you can forgive your father." Lynch said changing the subject.
"Well seeing as I won't be meeting him any time soon the point is moot, Mr. Lynch. Which reminds me I knew a couple of CIA guys with the last name Lynch; tell me any relation?" Kim asked pointedly.
"I don't think so. Tell me does the name Rick Dicker ring any bells?" Lynch replied.
"No, sorry." Kim lied.
"Oh, well that was the only CIA agent I've ever really had contact with." Lynch said with a smile that unnerved her to the bone. Kim hated lying nothing good ever came of it and typically led to being grounded or worse. Yet these were people who did it professionally, she couldn't hope to compete. The girl who could do anything felt like a tiny fish in a very large and perilous pond.
"Anything else you wanted to know?" Lynch asked.
"No, er, that's it thanks." She said.
"Alright try to stay out of trouble." Lynch said with a dismissive gesture. Kim headed to the living room to find Caitlin reading a book.
"Can I ask you a question?" Kim asked.
"You just did." Caitlin replied with a wry smile.
"Um, does your costume bother you?" Kim asked uneasily.
"Should it?" Caitlin asked, putting her book down.
"I mean it's not exactly modest." Kim said plainly.
"The top half is full coverage. I think the more appropriate question is does my costume bother you?" Caitlin asked.
"I suppose not, just culture shock I guess." Kim said.
"I have nothing to be ashamed of at least that's what Sarah says." Caitlin replied.
"I don't want to be seen as a wet blanket." Kim said sitting next to her new found sister.
"Don't worry that's my job." Caitlin replied putting a hand on her shoulder.
"We gonna finally do your hair or what?" Roxy said coming downstairs.
"Well, I wouldn't want to interrupt QT, with the boyfriend." Kim said with a small smile.
"Ok, ok point taken." Roxy said chagrinned.
"You two have fun." Caitlin said returning to her book.
"So, how's the neighbor? You've been over there a lot." Roxy said getting her supplies ready when they got back to the room.
"He's fine, turns out I knew him from back in my adventure days." Kim replied.
"No kiddin' so what's his problem?" Roxy asked.
"Just a misunderstanding, I sorted it out." Kim lied noting rather distastefully that was the second time today.
"Well, that's good. I mean the guy is huge, I wouldn't mess with him. So we goin' for the pig-tails or did you want to try something else?" Roxy asked.
"How about just some streaks?"
"What color?" Roxy asked shuffling through hair dyes.
"Red sounds good." Kim said hesitantly.
"Ok candy-apple red streaks comin' up." Roxy said and got to work.
"So, I noticed you've been eyeballin' Bobby." Roxy said a few minutes later.
"Is it that obvious?" Kim asked, blushing a bit.
"Hey, you could do worse, he's a good guy. I'll vouch for him." Roxy said conspiratorially.
"Great my next prospect has character references." Kim said.
"I'm taken, he knows Cat's way out of his league, and Sarah's a lesbian. So I'd say your chances are good." Roxy said plainly.
"What if I'm not who he's looking for?" Kim asked.
"The look on his face when you got out of the pool told me everything I needed to know. He digs you but since you just got out of a relationship he's keepin' his distance, ya know?" Roxy asked.
"So, I gotta make the first move?" Kim asked.
"Look, if it's one thing I've learned from this whole on the run thing is this: you only go around once." Roxy said.
"You're right…" Kim said.
"I sense a but coming on." Roxy said knowingly.
"We live together…" Kim said.
"Kim, we could be hauled back to IO tomorrow, you gotta live for today, cuz tomorrow might not come." Roxy said plainly.
"You're right." Kim said resolutely.
"So you're gonna talk to him?" Roxy asked encouragingly.
"Tomorrow." Kim said.
"It's a start." Roxy said face-palming.