The Mist

by Karon19

After a freak storm, a mysterious mist envelops Middleton. Kim, Ron, and other residents are trapped in the local Smarty Mart, waiting for help to arrive. But as tensions rise, the real monsters reveal themselves.

6. Monsters

Darev: It's been a long time coming but I finally finished this chapter. The Bonnie/Justine subplot has taken a lot of time to develop and I apologize for the wait. It's not easy being a writer with so much free time. I really need a job.

I was hoping to finish up the entire story by this Halloween but it has been slow in creation. I know I said I'd update in spurts but I don't know if I can keep up that pace. Bear with me and we'll see how this works out. Also, I'm adding a slight change to the page break. And now the thank you portion of the ramble.

Thank you, Daydreamer 9, CajunBear73, Uzziel, Reader101w, Shadowgirl416, Awesomestpennameyoucanthinko f (and how!), Dittolicious, Soulman 3, Sonicethehedgewolf, and newcomer Tragic Guy 20 for leaving a review.

KP

"Here goes nothing." Felix, sitting in front of the makeshift display, motioned for Ron to hit the switch. His friend did just that, forcing the heavy handle into a down position. Almost immediately there was a whir of machinery as the communication satellite came to life. It was actually a hodgepodge of machinery sewn together by hard work, a lot of tape, and in some places, a prayer. It tittered precariously in the clearing of aisles that Ron and Felix had been tirelessly working in for the past two hours.

Most of the patrons had no idea what they were doing. Now a crowd had gathered around the duo with Rufus watching from the sidelines in the company of the children. The mole rat had been making himself useful by keeping the kids' minds off of the terrible string of events that had befallen the city of Middleton. He was hardly ever away from Ron but his friend needed a distraction, something to do besides ponder his failure to save Junior's life when the monstrous tentacles attacked. It seemed to have paid off, Rufus thought, for his friend had thrown himself wholeheartedly into the task, putting all his attention to the task at hand.

Now the machine sparked to life and the floors reverberated. Stepping beside Felix, Ron watched as lines of electricity traveled up the cables and coalesced into a single beam at the top of the array. It was Felix's hope that this contraption would enable them to get a strong enough signal to penetrate through the ceiling and the mist that would allow them to contact the outside.

"Readings holding steady," Felix announced, an excited murmur going through the crowed. "Signal strength...at acceptable levels." He looked up at Ron who smiled for the first time since the loading bay incident. "I think we did it, partner."

The entity known as jinx must have been in the crowd for no sooner had Felix uttered those words when the array began to shake violently. The screen went blank and Felix couldn't get it to respond. "No!" He typed away on the keyboard and all he got for his trouble was a jolt of electricity that shocked his finger. As if that were the last straw, the array groaned and leaned over more. The patrons scattered and Rufus was left trembling as the top of the array fell towards him. Fortunately a sturdy pair of hands grabbed him and pulled him back just before the construct collapsed.

Oscar held Rufus protectively, stroking the rodent's bald head like a parent would a frightened child, which ironically Rufus had been keeping company with recently. He waited until Rufus stopped shaking and the patrons regrouped around the ruins of the improvised satellite before approaching the boys. "Looks like it didn't work."

"You think?" Had his legs worked, Felix would have kicked them by now. "I can't believe this!" He settled for slapping the side of his wheelchair, numbing his palm on contact. "All that work and for nothing!"

"Not nothing, son. You were putting your skills to good use."

"For all the good it did me."

Ron put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Chill, Felix. You did the best you could."

"Yeah, I guess." Still frustrated but less angry, Felix wheeled away from his failed invention. "I guess I'm just not as good as my mom."

"Felix..."

"It's okay, Ron-man. I'll just have to find something else to do." He looked at Oscar. "What happened to Rufus?"

"The poor fellow was nearly squashed like a bug."

Seeing this, Ron ran to Oscar and took the mole rat. "Rufus! Are you okay?" Rufus looked at him, black eyes wide, and nodded. "You saved him?" He asked Oscar.

"I happened to be nearby when it happened."

"Thank you, Oscar." Ron was very grateful.

"Well I couldn't let one of our patrons bite the dust, now could I?"

Ron chuckled at that. He put Rufus in his shirt pocket, clean since he changed from the one that was covered in Junior's blood. "Patron? Rufus never spent a dime at Smarty Mart." Back in the vicinity and safety of his owner/best friend, Rufus settled down. "Glad you're okay, little buddy."

Oscar smiled. It looked like the old Ron was coming back.

"What happened?" Mr. Barkin, who had been overseeing the fortification of their store, asked as he brushed through the crowd which was fast diminishing. "It sounded like a mortar shell in Da Nang."

Felix looked up to Mr. Barkin, disappointed. "The communication tower fell apart. I'm sorry."

"You did your best," Oscar told him, but the look on the youth's face told him he wasn't in the mood for consoling, or as he saw it, patronizing. "Look, why don't you two take a break." Oscar pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. "A couple of guys had a great idea not too long ago. They're starting a barbecue and are cooking up lots of grub. They figured it would be a great way to boost morale and let us all come together as friends and neighbors."

"A barbecue in the middle of a warzone?" Barkin's brow furrowed. "Quaint."

"Well I wouldn't call this a warzone, Steven."

"And what would you call it, Oscar?"

The seasoned Smarty Mart employee was at a lost, but Felix filled in the blank for him. "A very bad situation," he called it, rolling by with his head hanging low. The array's failure was truly weighing on him.

"He's taking it rough," Oscar commented to Ron who walked up next to him. "Maybe you should keep an eye on him, Ronald."

Ron thought on it a moment, moved to follow, and then stopped.

"What's wrong? Did Felix say something to you?"

"It's not the array, Oscar, or the fact that it fell apart. Felix is worried about his mom. He really wants to know if she's okay." Ron turned to face both men, his eyes pleading. "Isn't there any other way we can get through to somebody on the outside?"

"Well I would suggest smoke signals but I don't that's going to work in this weather." Oscar's attempt at humor received no accolades. "Sorry. Bad joke."

"Hey, guys." Kim and Monique, seemingly joined at the hip now, appeared as one, their faces grim. Kim looked at the pile of junk on the floor and noticed Felix's absence. "I'm guessing the satellite thing didn't work out."

"You think?" Monique kicked a piece of metal for good measure.

"Hey, KP. Mon."'

"You look like shit, Ron."

"Right back at ya, Monique." Ron added. "No offense."

"None taken."

Barkin addressed Kim directly. He kept his hands behind his back as if he were speaking to a fellow officer in the military. "Everything copasetic on your end, Possible?"

"If by copasetic you mean the situation hasn't changed one bit, then yes. Everything is totally copasetic."

Monique touched her arm. "Chill, girl. You're doing the best you can."

"We all are." Oscar stepped between them. "I can't tell you how proud I am of the job we're doing. If I was your boss and you were my employees then I'd give you all raises."

That seemed to brighten everyone's mood, even Mr. Barkin who managed something of a smirk.

"Now what say we all grab a bite to eat? We'll need our strength if we're going to hold down the fort until help arrives."

While Ron tried to remain cautiously optimistic about the chances of that happening, he didn't want to entertain the thought of people being anywhere in the mist. He still had flashbacks of that time in the loading dock, the tentacles seeping in like serpents from hell, slithering, biting, tearing bits of Junior off of him like he were a late-night snack. That's what we are to them, Ron thought, food. If those things were to get inside with all these people about, it would be a massacre.

He looked at the front of the Smarty Mart where Barkin's team of volunteers had stacked bags of flour and manure up in a makeshift barricade against the windows. He recalled how the steel loading door was nearly rent when the tentacles applied pressure from the outside. What good was all the stacked shit in the world against something like that?

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked at Kim. "Ron? You alright?"

No matter what his feelings he had to be strong, for Kim as much as himself. "Hanging in there, KP." Smiling, he took her hand. "Come on. I'm starving."

KP

They had covered the corpse using a tarp and dragged it out of the storage room. Between the two of them, Bonnie and Justine were able to sneak it by any onlookers by going down the side aisles, carefully making their way back towards the bathroom where they had first met. For added security, Justine made sure to place an OUT OF ORDER sign at the front door and upon one last look to make sure the coast was clear, closed the door.

"What the hell are we doing?" Bonnie asked aloud. She threw down the tarp in disgust. It was soaked from the creature's blood and had stained her hands green with puss. Disgusted, the brunette moved to wash her hands at the sink.

Justine approached the tarp and removed it so that she could get a good look at the creature. The thing resembled a translucent manta ray with a spindly tail that was twice the length of its body. Below it were a series of cockroach-like legs that had no doubt creating that skittering sound they heard in the ventilation ducts back in the storage room. The thing was dead, no doubt, but Justine still maintained a healthy distance. Like Bonnie she had gotten some of the green-puss blood on her while they dragged it out, though unlike Bonnie she was in no hurry to remove the stuff.

"Fascinating." Justine knelt before it.

"You and I have a very different opinion on what constitutes fascinating, Ms. Flanner."

"Why Ms. Rockwaller," Justine stood up and walked to the sink. "I'd no idea you could be so formal." She took washed the stuff from her hands. Her clothing stains were another matter. "The fact remains that we have our evidence. Now we can prove that Dr. Possible was responsible for this mess."

"You still haven't told me how you figured that out." When cold water would not suffice, Bonnie turned the faucet onto scalding, hoping that would erase the stench from her hands. It took but two seconds to regret that decision and she pulled her hands back, wincing in pain. Waving her digits in front of her, Bonnie asked, "How do you know it was Kim's dad?"

"Because I've seen that thing before."

Bonnie's eyes bulged. "You have?!"

"An artist's rendering, actually."

"You mean a picture?"

"In laymen's terms, yes." Justine shut off the faucet and went to dry her hands. "I was hacking into the space center's computer mainframe and managed to pick out a few pieces of Intel before I was forced to abort. Most of what I found was logistics, personnel, names, and such, but some of the more secret files proved very...interesting." Her eyes fell on the corpse when she said that. "Apparently someone had seen a creature like this and drew a rough sketch of it. The image I saw was a computer rendering but it was almost identical to this one." Justine looked at Bonnie. "Whatever they were working on in the space center has something to do with this thing."

"And Dr. Possible?"

"You can't tell me the head of research and development had no idea."

"That still doesn't mean he was responsible for the mist."

"Bonnie, what's two plus two?"

Bonnie looked at her incredulously for asking such a ridiculous question. "What?"

Justine asked again. "What is two plus two?"

"Four."

"It all adds up when you put the pieces together."

"You're not making any sense, Flanner."

Justine fought the urge to smack her upside the head. Honestly, some people can be so dense. Either that or they were just plain stupid, or both. She decided the jury was still out on that one with Bonnie and returned to studying the creature. "Look, I'm not saying that Kim's father did anything wrong intentionally, but one way or another he is part of the reason that this happened."

"Kim thinks otherwise."

"Of course she would. If someone were implicating your father wouldn't you defend him?"

Bonnie looked away. "You haven't met my father."

Justine raised an eyebrow at that. Clearly there was more to Bonnie Rockwaller than meets the eye. An investigation for another time, she thought. She stood up. "Regardless of how she feels, we have to bring this to everyone's attention. If more of these things are skittering about then people need to know."

"Like they aren't scared enough as it is."

"I don't like it anymore than you do, Bonnie."

"Really?" She placed her hands on her hips. "Because it looks to me like you've got it out for Kim Possible."

Justine glared at her. Bonnie smiled right back. "Am I wrong?"

"Most of the time."

Now it was Bonnie's turn to glare.

"But I don't want to argue with you right now. Like it or not, Bonnie, and I certainly don't, we're in this together. As far as I know, you don't very much like Kim or her boyfriend. I'd thought you'd jump at the chance to discredit them both."

"How does the loser fit into all of this?"

"Because whatever affects Kim affects Ron, and hurting her reputation, even vicariously through the fault of her father, would hurt Ron as well. Think about it." She had to smile. "You could accomplish what you couldn't do in four years of high school: bring down the almighty Kim Possible." Justine caught a glimmer of satisfaction in Bonnie's green eyes. The girl was intrigued, this much was undeniable. She would just have to prey on Bonnie's innate desire to defeat her all-time rival once and for all. It wouldn't hurt to have Middleton's Queen of Mean in her pocket.

Something that resembled indecision crossed Bonnie's face.

"You will never get this chance again, Bonnie."

She glared at Justine. "I know how to fight my battles."

"Then prove it." Justine held out her hand. "Prove it by taking advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity."

Bonnie just looked at her offered hand. "What's this?"

"A partnership. A temporary one, but one that will suffice to suit both our needs."

"You and me?"

"Working together for the common good."

Bonnie's eyebrow went up.

"For our good, then." Despite the darkness in her voice, Justine was being entirely sincere. She meant every word. "Well?"

Conflict raged within Bonnie and a part of her wanted to just walk away from all this. She always thought that she had the silver tongue in the school, but Justine Flanner proved to have one made of gold. The chance to defeat Kim, to show everyone that she wasn't all that, that even gods could fall, was just too tempting. Yes. She could bring down a god. All she had to do was make a pact with the devil.

A devil named Justine.

Almost involuntarily, Bonnie's hand went up. Tanned fingers clasped one another as the two conspirators made their pact.

"It's a deal then...partner."

Bonnie had felt less dirty when she had the monster's blood on her hands.

KP

It was pitch-black outside. Night had fallen and still the mist lingered on. The tension inside had settled somewhat now that the people had food in their stomachs. People ate, sat together, and socialized, allowing a small sense of normalcy to return to the megastore after hours of uncertainty. Needless to say the barbecue was a big success and got everyone's spirits up. With the festive mood the patrons almost forgot about the mist outside.

Almost.

Ned was sitting by himself, eating a hamburger. He looked bored. Felix rolled by him at that second, a tray of food in his lap. "Mind if I sit here?"

Ned looked at him, befuddled. "But you already have a," his eyes lit up. "Oh. That was a joke!"

Felix winked at him. "I don't care what Ron says about you. You're sharp as whip."

Ned almost coughed on his hamburger. "Ron says things about me behind my back?"

But Felix was already laughing so hard he almost dropped his tray. "I'm just kidding with you, Ned. Geez, man. Relax." He parked himself right beside Ned. "You look like you wish you were somewhere else."

"Don't I ever?"

"I hear you. Anyplace is better than this." Felix pulled the bun off his burger. "I told the guy I wanted ketchup."

Ned went into his pocket and pulled out several packets. "Here you go." He handed them to Felix. "Always come prepared."

"You walk around with ketchup packets in your pocket?"

"Actually it's chimarito sauce. I pretty much take my job wherever I go." The scrawny youth took a huge bite out of his burger and chewed thoroughly. "Try it."

Against his better judgment, and not wanting to insult Ned, Felix did put the sauce on his burger. It took a few deep breaths before he gathered enough courage to take a bite out of it.

"How is it?" Ned asked. He spent the next minute and a half slapping Felix in the back due to a serious coughing fit. "Don't worry about it, rookie." Now it was Ned who was smiling. "There are not many who can handle the orange dragon."

Felix took a long sip out of his bottled soda, gradually regaining control of his throat and breathing.

"So I heard the communication array broke up." Ned tried to sound jovial, which made it sound like he was making fun of Felix. "That's too bad. Though I guess you just didn't have the right equipment. Even Smarty Mart doesn't have everything."

"It wasn't Smarty Mart."

"Oh?"

Felix suddenly lost his appetite. "It was me." He sighed. "I'm just not smart enough to build an array of that magnitude. If my mom were here she'd have it up in a jiffy. I wish she was here."

For once Ned was observant enough to realize that Felix was really bothered by something and his next question wasn't so upbeat. "Are you okay, Felix?"

"No, Ned, I'm not. I should be home but instead I'm here."

"Why did you leave?"

"I was on a food run. We were running low so I came here."

"And why didn't your mom do the shopping? Seems weird that she'd let her only paraplegic son go out on his own."

"She works at the space center, Ned. I was home alone. Someone had to do the shopping."

"Don't you have someone to look out for you?"

Felix turned on him rather sharply. "Do you think I'm incapable of doing anything by myself? What, you think I'm a cripple through and through? I can do plenty of things. That includes leaving the house without a babysitter." He pointed to himself using his thumb. "I'm my own man. Just because I can't walk doesn't mean I can't run with the big dogs, okay?"

Ned held up his hands reflexively. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry."

"You just sound so insensitive. People can get the wrong idea."

"You're right. And I'm sorry. I'm just not used to talking to people."

The Renton boy settled back. "What are you talking about? I see you working the cashier all the time."

"That's work. I meant socializing with people. In case you notice I don't have a lot of friends."

Felix had noticed. He was much more observant than Ned, than most people as a matter of fact. While not a regular at Bueno Nacho, he had been there enough times to refer to Ned on a first-name basis. The two had barely exchanged anything more than a pleasant greeting and farewell, making them no more than mere acquaintances. Come to think of it, Felix did not remember seeing Ned anywhere other than the Bueno Nacho. Did he even go to school? Could his parents afford it? Looking at him now he realized that he knew nothing about the boy.

"Actually I don't have any friends." Ned was embarrassed to say.

"What about Kim and Ron?"

"They're just regular customers. I just give them their food, they eat, and they leave."

"I had no idea."

"I know you didn't." Ned spoke harshly and regretted it soon after. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that how it came out."

Fortunately Felix did not push the issue. "It's cool." He took another bite out of his burger. This time he coughed only two times and Ned looked at him with newfound respect. "You know something? It's not that bad when you get used to it."

That brought a smile to Ned's face.

For some reason, Felix felt a kindred soul was sitting right next to him. Not one to miss out on an opportunity he picked up his soda. "So about not having any friends," he began and lifted the soda in a toast. "Consider me your first one."

"Really?"

"Come on, dude. We're all bros when the chips are down." He waited for Ned to pick up his soda before tapping them together. "Cheers."

"Kampai."

"Salud."

"Bottom's up."

They drank in fellowship.

"Those two are hitting it off." Monique observed from where she was sitting with Kim and Ron (and Rufus of course). "Wonder what they're talking about." She turned to Kim who was focused solely on Ron. The boy hadn't touched his meal despite his earlier comment about being starved. He picked as his steak a couple of times but hadn't taken a single bite.

"Ron?" Kim had called for his attention twice without success.

Ron was staring right at his steak. All that meat, so succulent, so red; it reminded him of Junior as the tentacle ripped him to shreds. The image proved too much and Ron dropped his plate, and Rufus, and ran to the nearest restroom to throw up.

"Ron!" Kim put her plate down and ran after him, ignoring the concerned eyes that followed her. Shaking his head clear of stars, Rufus got up and gave chase, hot on Kim's trail.

"Left behind again," Monique said as she watched her friends run off. Getting up, the ebon-skinned girl walked off from the rest of the pack. She didn't see Ned eyeing her from the other way. His cheeks flushed and his pores opened up to release sweat after watching the way Monique sauntered off.

"Someone's got a crush."

Forgetting he wasn't alone, Ned jumped and turned to Felix. "What?"

"Dude, it's cool. You like Monique."

"I do?"

"Does chimarito sauce burn your tongue?"

"Of course it does. It...oh...you're playing with me again."

"Like a fiddle."

"I hate fiddles." Ned grumbled.

"Dude, you should go talk to her."

Now he blushed. "Me?"

"No the burger. Yes you. Go after her."

"I can't talk to Monique."

"Why not? Is there a law I don't know about?" Felix looked around. "Does she have a boyfriend?"

"I don't think so."

"Then what's the problem?"

Ned suddenly found it very difficult to talk to his new friend. "It's just a stupid crush."

"Then be the bug and get stepped on because your crush is walking away. Trust me I know a thing or two about crushes."

He looked up. "You do?"

"Zita Flores." Just saying her name filled Felix with warm feelings. "Prettiest girl at Middleton High."

Ned had to think on it. "Oh, you mean the Mexican girl. I've seen her a couple of times around the Bueno Nacho but she usually eats outside." He spoke as he ate, bits of meat, bread, tomato, and chimarito sauce flying out. "You know Ron had a crush on her for a while."

Felix shrugged. He couldn't argue with his best friend's taste in women. Zita, Kim, Tara; the boy knew how to pick them. He even recalled seeing Ron with a cute exchange student from Japan in the hallway one day. The guy was a babe magnet, not that Felix would ever tell him of course. For all his animal magnetism, Ron was a little full of himself and even the smallest compliment would make him feeling like he was the big man on campus. There were times when Felix had stop and ask himself just what made a guy like Ron so attractive to the ladies. He'd convinced himself it was the freckles but then he got to thinking it was the whole clueless boy routine. Spend any amount of time with Ron and you'd quickly learn that it wasn't a routine.

Maybe hot girls just like hopeless causes.

"She is pretty," he heard Ned mention.

Thinking about Zita, her brown skin, her Aboriginal hair, the slight curl to her speech, and that rump! Suddenly Felix was feeling very hot and it wasn't the chimarito sauce. "She sure is."

"You think so, too?"

That snapped him out of it. "What?"

"Monique. I was just telling you how pretty she is."

"Oh. Sure. She is pretty, Ned." He put a hand on the boy's back. "All the more reason," and shoved him off his seat, "for you to go talk to her." Ned stumbled but caught his balance. "And tell her how you feel."

"How...I...feel?"

Had he feeling in his legs Felix would have kicked him in the butt. "Go! Leave your plate here. I'll clean it up for you." Though Ned had pretty much finished his meal, Felix didn't want him to have an excuse not to go speak with Monique. Watching him fiddle around just a bit more, Ned placed the plate down and fixed his glasses.

"I guess I can give it a shot." He straightened up. "What's the worse she can do?"

"Laugh at you and call you a wimp."

Ned turned back, horrified. "What?!"

I've got to stop doing this, Felix thought. "I jest! Just pick a topic. Most girls are easy to talk to once you get over your own inhibitions."

"You mean like you and Zita?"

Felix offered an awkward smile. "Yeah. Like me and Zita."

Slowly regaining his confidence, which was followed by deep breaths, Ned stood up straight, puffed out his chest, and nodded. "Okay. Here I go." He walked away.

Alone, Felix considered his words to Ned. "Maybe you should follow your own advice, Felix Renton."

KP

Kim stood outside the men's lavatory, hearing Ron empty his bowels from the inside. A moment later the door opened and Rufus popped out. "How's he doing?"

The naked mole rat shook his head. "Bad."

She sighed. "The thing at the loading dock is really tearing into him, isn't it, Rufus?"

Rufus nodded, rubbing his paws together nervously.

"I can't imagine what that must have been like, seeing someone killed before your eyes." Inside the bathroom, Ron hurled so loudly that Kim flinched. "It must have terrible." Kim shook her head. "What am I saying? Of course it was terrible! God, Ron, why wasn't I there with you?"

Rufus looked at her quizzidly.

"I would have been able to help you. We could have saved Junior, you and I. We save people together all the time. He didn't need to die." She slumped against the wall. "You wouldn't have to suffer." Ron hurled again, coughing and spitting. "I'm so sorry." Shutting her eyes, Kim was on her backside, leaning on the wall, and hugging her legs together. "I should have been there with you."

Heavy footsteps approached her. "Possible." Mr. Barkin paused when he noticed her posture. He was about to ask what was going on when he heard the ruckus inside. Looking at Kim, who finally looked up, he said, "Stoppable?"

She nodded.

Steven sighed. "It's about that kid, isn't it?"

"He blames himself for what happened. I know it."

"If what Oscar told me was true, and he's never one to exaggerate, he did everything he could to save Thomas Bartholomew Junior. It's never easy to lose men under any circumstances. Believe me, I know." Barkin's face softened for a moment. "But we can't save everyone. You understand that, don't you?"

"No." Kim shook her head. "I always save everyone."

"But sure enough one of these days..."

"Are you saying I'll fail one day and somebody will die?"

"It happens to all of us eventually."

But Kim stood up, her face stern and her voice hard. "No. It does not happen to me. It will never happen to me. I save people, Mr. Barkin. It's what I do."

Mr. Barkin waited for Ron's current fitting episode to subside before addressing his student. "Kim," it was rare when he addressed her by her first name. Mr. Barkin was a military man whose service record was as long as his arm. As both a commander and a follower of men, he learned to keep things professional between him and his fellow soldiers. It hurt when you lost a friend and comrade, but things were made worse when that friend had a name, a family, a life. Steven had shed so many tears in his life that he'd forgotten long ago how to cry.

"You're smart, Kim. I daresay you're even brilliant. But you're still young and therefore naive. It's a hard lesson we all must learn and Ronald is learning it as we speak."

"He's traumatized."

"The first time is always the hardest."

"It won't happen again." Kim clenched her fist. "Not if I have anything to say about it."

One of Barkin's eyebrows went up. "Oh. I see how it is. You plan on protecting him from now on."

"Ron and I help each other."

"Protecting him is not helping him, Possible." It was back to last names again. "I don't know if you've noticed but your boyfriend had done some growing up over the years. He's still a bit rough around the edges but he's made of sterner stuff than most. Trust me, Possible, I know...because he reminds me a lot of myself when I was his age."

Kim gawked at that. "You were like Ron?"

"In some ways, yes. I did save the world once you know."

"Actually I didn't know that."

"We should exchange stories sometime, Possible. I was lost and without direction. Then a mentor took me under his wing and showed me the ropes. I learned many difficult lessons while under his tutelage. But the most important thing he taught me is that sometimes no matter how hard you try, no matter what tricks you employ or strategy you come up with, things just go bad."

"But you don't give up."

"That's right. You don't." Ron hurled again. "But that doesn't make the loss any easier." Rufus had gone in by that point, his concern for Ron overriding his need to give him space. "For the first time Stoppable knows what it is to truly fail. It's eating him up inside and will continue to do so. He will never forget this day."

"I'll be with him."

"You can't protect him from the world, Possible."

"In case you don't know, anything is possible for a Possible."

"Really?" Mr. Barkin scrutinized her. "Does that include humility?"

Kim did not back down. She never did. "It includes being there for the people you care about."

"You can't always be there for everyone."

"Watch me!"

"Oh I am watching you. A lot of people are watching you." Barkin walked away. "They will see the best and the worst of you before this is all over." Something in his voice made the comment sound prophetic. "Come see me in the manager's office when you're done here, Possible. That green woman's starting to talk in her sleep."

"Shego?"

Ron's voice quieted down and turned to the door. Part of her wanted to go in and comfort Ron, to ignore what Mr. Barkin had said, to prove him wrong. She will always be there to protect him. Except that one time.

"Don't let him get to you, Kim." She heard the faucet turn on inside. Gently, Kim knocked on the door. "Ron? Are you okay in there?" A grunt answered her. "Ron?"

The door opened up and Ron staggered out. Kim smelled the foulness of the regurgitation on him and stepped away. Then she remembered why she was here. "I'm here for you, Ron."

"I know, KP." Balancing himself inside the doorway, Rufus running up Kim's shoulder, Ron looked at them both before saying, "I know I can always count on you both."

They smiled at him. After a couple of kind words, Kim told him what Mr. Barkin had said about Shego and she wanted him to accompany her. Ron followed, but only after Kim was out of earshot did he say, "I just hope you can count on me."

KP

Outside the Smarty Mart night had fallen. Those trapped on the inside would not be able to tell the difference, however. Like smoke the mist cut visibility down to near-zero. The Smarty Mart had been outfitted with floodlights atop the roof but even those powerful illuminating devices could not hope to penetrate the thick fog.

Vinnie peeked out from behind one of the loopholes in the barricade into the mist. "I can't see shit out there, man," he told Big Mike. Crouching back down, a half-eaten burger and hotdog on a plate next to him, Vinnie hugged his legs close to him. "You think the thing that got Junior is still out there, man? Cause if it is, I can't see it. It's probably looking at us right now. It probably wants to eat us, too." Shaking despite Oscar having turned the heat up for the whole store, Vinnie could not hide the tremble in his voice. "It ate him, man."

Always few with words, the giant that was Big Mike could not disagree. Even sitting he towered head and shoulders over the barricade. He too was traumatized over the incident in the loading dock, watching helplessly as his friend was dragged out by a monstrous tentacle...monster! The worst part about it was the guilt that came with doing nothing at all. He was so scared that he didn't move. He watched Junior being nibbled at by the alien appendages as they ripped pieces of skin and muscle off his body. He would remember Junior's screams until the day he died.

"Why'd they have to put us on guard duty, Big Mike? After what we've been through, why'd they put up here next to the windows? That thing might see us and try to get bust in. That's just glass, man. Ain't no way that's holding up against what ate our boy."

Big Mike shuddered, his massive frame crunched lower against the manure bags.

"That Barkin's a real ass. We shouldn't be here."

"You're right." Monique appeared out of the blue. "Neither of you fools should be here in the first place. If you weren't, Junior might still be alive. If I recall correctly it was you who opened the door and let that thing inside."

Vinnie jumped up. "I didn't know! Okay! I didn't know that was out there."

But Monique crossed her arms.

"It was Junior's idea to go outside."

"So you're blaming him now."

"No. Yes. Man!" Vinnie was pulling at his hair. "You weren't there, okay? You didn't see it."

"No. And I'm glad I didn't." She stepped up to him, raising an accusing finger right in his face. "Now you listen to me. Both of you!" She eyed Big Mike as well. "You have nobody to blame but your own dumb selves. Getting high while the whole world's gone to shit is bad enough, but bitching about the consequences of your action proves how stupid you two really are. We've all got to pull our weight around here and since you two stoners were so baked you couldn't lift a finger to save your friend, you're stuck on wall duty."

"But,"

"Shut it!" She shoved Vinnie back so hard he fell onto Big Mike's lap. "Now I don't know if you've noticed but Ron is pretty messed up after what happened. He tried to save your friend and watched as he was dragged away by God knows what. He's trying to make up for it. He's in the bathroom right now puking up his food because he can't get the thought of Junior's death out of his head. You two assholes just filled your stomachs and all you can think of is how fucked up your life is. Well get over it!"

Vinnie winced at that. "Chill, girl."

"I'm not chilling, Vinnie. If I hear you bitch about how bad things are for you two again, I'm going to ask Mr. B and Oscar to lock you two up back in the generator room so if that thing comes calling back it'll be able to finish what it started. Got it!"

Both Vinnie and Big Mike nodded.

"Good." She walked away. "Damn fools," she shook her head. She didn't catch sight of Ned who had watched the exchange with heated interest.

"She's so badass." His eyes were fluttering and his cheeks blushed. He found his eyes lingering on her backside longer than he'd intended and was quick to duck behind the checkout counter when Monique, feeling somebody's eyes upon her, turned around. When she left, Ned poked his head out to make sure the coast was clear before stepping out. He sighed against the counter. "Who am I kidding? She's way too tough. She could never go for a wimp like me."

After witnessing the chewing out Monique gave to those boys it made him realize just how out of his league he was with her. Sure he admired her fire and spirit, and her brains and body, hell there was a lot of things Ned admired about her. He once heard it said that the heart wants what the heart wants. It's too bad that what the heart wants is often out of reach of the body.

A thought crossed his head as he looked to regard Mike and Vinnie: I have as much chance of hooking up with Monique as they do, and she doesn't like them.

"Come to think of it, she doesn't like me either," he said aloud. He had a whole speech planned out when he finally gathered the courage to speak to Monique, but after seeing her tear into those two boys everything and anything Ned could have said seemed pitiful. It was chance that she happened to be in Kim's car after his little fender bender accident. It was fate that he sat next to her on the ride over here. Each time a power greater than his own seemed to be bringing them together and each time Ned failed to come through. If only Ned could be as confident with women as Felix and Ron were with theirs. They never had trouble attracting the opposite sex. What was their secret?

He pondered this as he walked down the barricade line, almost in the same direction he saw Monique go. There were several people put on "guard duty" though they mostly seemed concerned with finishing their meal than keeping watch. He couldn't blame them. These were regular people, townsfolk who lived ordinary lives up until a few hours ago. They didn't have the military experience of Mr. Barkin or the courage of Kim Possible. They weren't even trying to keep watch, Ned noticed, and seemed to believe that the plate-glass window would be enough to keep them safe from the mist.

They just want to believe that they'll be okay, he thought to himself. Just like I want to believe that someday I will have the courage to talk to Monique. Ned laughed despite a couple of onlookers looking at him like he was crazy. It wasn't the same thing. His issues with Monique were hormonal, built from a desire to be in the presence of a beautiful woman. This was a life and death situation brought on by an Act of God, beyond anyone's control.

"If Ma could see me now," he said as he leaned against the stacked fertilizer bags. "'Were you scared?' she'd ask, and I'd say, 'No way, Ma. I was too busy thinking about a girl. The mist was the last thing on my mind.'" Ned couldn't believe himself. It's true what they say. You really do find out things about yourself when the shit hits the fan. Then it hit him. "Ma, if you're out there, please be safe."

Thump!

The sound startled Ned so much that he literally jumped. "What was that?" He looked around to see if anybody else had heard it but no one did. Ned could just make out the curb of the sidewalk running along the front of Smart Mart and that was a good four feet away. He peered as far as he could but that was like trying to look through a rain-soaked mirror.

Thump!

This time he was better prepared and did not jump, though he did visibly start. "There it goes again." It was somebody was banging their fist against the window. A third bumped followed shortly, and then a third.

Someone cried out down the barricade. Ned and several others followed the sound to a woman who was covering her mouth and pointing out the window. "Look!" She cried when she had enough sense to remove her hand. Ned and everyone else followed her gaze to the window where they could see a large dark spot just hanging there. All eyes thought it a trick of the mist at first...then it moved.

Ned's curiosity got the better of him and he was the first to move forward. The thing on the outside window was about two feet in length with an elongated body and multi-faceted eyes. The eyes were large, bulbous orbs that appeared red when the lamplight reflected off of them. They were as wide as quarters and protruded far enough that they could swivel this way and that, giving the thing a nearly three-hundred and sixty degree view. Translucent wings, far larger than a body of its size would require, fluttered every now and thing as if it were a nervous tick. There were two sets of wings, the forewings being larger than the back ones, and when moving in tandem they produced a buzzing noise that reminded Ned of a small motor.

Without knowing it, Ned had moved closer than anyone else dare and his face was nearly touching the window. "It looks like a giant dragonfly," he announced. True enough the bug on the window was shaped like that infamous insect of the Odonata Order. Ned blanched when he saw the strange flesh-colored skin, a pinkish hue that permeated the creature's body. "And an ugly one at that."

The creature's eyes stared at him. Long stalks protruded from its head to extend the eyes out further. They whirred in Ned's direction as if they had somehow taken offense to his comment and were letting him know of it. Shocked, Ned moved away. "It's...looking at me."

"There's more," somebody pointed out. The view outside the window was filled with the bugs some as big as the one Ned studied, others approaching four and even five feet in length. Each time a bug taped itself to the window it would let out one of those thumps Ned had picked up earlier. They swarmed the plate glass window, all glaring with those ugly, yellow bubble eyes at the patrons. "There's so many of them!" The woman who had first spotted them said, again with her mouth covered.

Ned stepped back. He bumped into the crowd who had gathered about him and noticed the same scared faces staring back at him. "I have to tell Kim." Ned darted away from the crowd.

KP

"Something...in...the mist..."

"How long has she been like this?" Kim asked Mr. Barkin.

"Not long. I was checking up on the two of them when she began this mantra about the mist."

"There's something in the mist." Both turned to regard Ron whose face was unreadable. "Those were the first words she said when she came to Smarty Mart."

"I remember," Kim said. She looked back at Shego. "She was ecstatic. Afraid. I've never seen Shego afraid before."

"Whatever she saw is affecting her right now." Mr. Barkin leaned over and used a hand towel to wipe the sweat off of Shego's brow. "She's having nightmares about that time. Her psyche is trapped in that experience. Her body is trying to wake up but her mind is still back in the mist."

"Will she wake up?"

"Don't know, Possible." He stood back and discarded the towel. "I've seen incidents like these back in the war, boys so traumatized by what they had seen that they'd wake up screaming in their bunks in the middle of the night. I had a few of those nights myself." He pinched his nose as if it hurt to remember them. "It's not easy to forget those things."

"But you got through them, right?"

Barkin turned to Kim.

"Right?"

"If you're asking me if she'll make a full recovery then I can't say yes. She might wake up, either today or tomorrow, or even next week, but she won't forget this. Whatever she saw will stay with her for the rest of her life."

That wasn't exactly what Kim wanted to hear. If Shego's experience in the mist was enough to leave her living the nightmare in her sleep, what did that mean for anyone else who went inside? Is this the fate that awaited Kim when she finally confronted the terrors inside the mist? Would she be stricken by bad dreams the rest of her life? Her eyes fell on Ron who had seen the horrors firsthand. Would he ever sleep again?

"She escaped," Kim said to quiet her fears. "Shego fought and she escaped."

"Barely," Barkin said.

"She almost died, KP."

On the armchair of the couch, Rufus looked over Shego's tossing form with great concern.

"But she didn't. She survived and carried Drakken with her all the way here."

Both men glanced at her with distressed eyes. Kim was oblivious to this. She refused to believe that her longtime rival and equal could be so easily rattled. Aside from her mother, Shego was the strongest woman Kim knew and could not be taken down so easily. "She'll wake up. You'll see."

"Possible,"

"I know what I'm talking about, Mr. B. I know Shego better than any of you."

"What about Drakken?" Ron asked and turned his attention to the man on the other couch. His breathing was somewhat sporadic for his injuries were far greater than his companion's. "Will he make it?"

"He needs a hospital," Barkin reminded them. "That wound in his chest was deep. A grown man can lose two liters of blood before he dies. From the looks of him when he first arrived he'd been bleeding long before then."

"Then he might not live," Ron concluded.

"He will live. Stop being so defeatist, both of you!"

But Ron, who had seen the tentacles drag Junior to his death, could find no reason to be optimistic. Mr. Barkin, who had observed how people fared when faced with situations beyond their control, could only shake his head. Kim wanted to be in control. She was used to fixing things all on her own. Well here was one sitch that even the great Possible would not be able to deal with just a flick of her hair.

"This is so not the drama. They'll pull through this and so will we. Now can we put our heads together and figure out a way to do just that?" Kim heard Shego begin her mantra again, going on and on about the mist. She knelt by her rival's side and looked at her pale-green face. "You hear me, Shego? This is Kim. I want you to fight it. I need your help to save these people. You have to tell me what you saw in the mist. You have to tell me how to fight it."

"There's...something...in...the...mist."

"What is it, Shego? What did you see in the mist?"

Shego's mouth curled as if to formulate an answer but nothing forward. She returned to her mantra, her head beading with sweat yet again. "...thing...in...the m-mist...something...in the...mist..."

Groaning, Kim stood up. "Our one lead and she can't talk to us."

"I can." Ron spoke up. "You want to know what's in the mist, KP? I'll tell you." He faced her directly. "Monsters." His tone hardened at the mention of that word. For a moment he was back there at the loading dock. He was facing the mist with the door wide open, the tentacles streaming in. They already ate Junior and were now after him. Ron was helpless as the tentacles coiled around him, squeezing him, dragging him silently back to the mist. In his mind Ron knew that didn't happen, but he felt like it did. He felt as helpless as Junior must have while his friends watched him taken away. A part of him wished it was he who had been taken. At least then he wouldn't have to feel this guilty.

"Ron...please." Kim empathized with her boyfriend's plight, but the last thing she needed was him throwing fuel onto the fire, as it were. The mood was grim enough without him darkening it further. Taking his hands in hers, she told him, "I need you with me on this. We need to stay positive."

"I know. And I'm positive this is all going to get a lot worse."

Before she knew it, Ron pulled her into a hug. He held her close, taking solace in the bodily contact. "Kim, I'm always with you. You know that."

Hearing that made Kim smile and she put her arms around him too.

"But it will get worse."

She pulled back until she could look into his eyes.

"You didn't see it. I did. It could have been one thing or a thousand, but something tells me those tentacles will be the least of our worries."

KP

Bonnie could not believe she had been reduced to servant wench. Justine had her go on a food run while she "studied" the manta ray monster in the privacy of the restroom. The girl hadn't set one foot outside the room since they'd dragged it in and the girl was starting to smell like cheap hand shampoo bleached toilet. Not that that personal hygiene seemed to matter much to the young prodigy. Brain heads like her could spend hours alone in a hot room with no ventilation and without showering in pursuit of science.

It was just another excuse to hate nerds, Bonnie surmised. Carrying a tray of food in her hands, she realized that for all her criticism of Justine Flanner and her ilk, here she was bringing her food like an obedient maid. Much as she hated to admit it even to herself, Justine was calling the shots. This was her plan to bring down Kim Possible, her idea to sully the name of the most famous resident of Middleton by proving her father's connection to the disaster outside. Bonnie was smart enough to realize that Justine had used her rivalry against Kim to entice her into joining in an alliance. Normally, Bonnie would have jumped at the chance to ruin her red-headed foe, but each step had her rethinking her whole scenario. Suppose if they did succeed and she and Justine managed to prove that James Possible was responsible for the mist? The people would turn on Kim. She'd be ruined. No one would ever trust her again.

So what then? What happens after the fall of Kim Possible? Who takes charge? Who holds the frightened residents of Smarty Mart together until help arrives? Bonnie? No. For all her love at being the center of attention, Bonnie Rockwaller did not like being responsible for others. She looked out for number one, herself. So who would step in and take up the mantle of leadership?

Justine Flanner?

The idea of that devious but super smart blonde calling the shots almost made Bonnie lose her balance and drop the tray. Just a few short feet from the restroom with the OUT OF ORDER sign in front of it and she came this close to losing it. What is it about Justine that rattled her so much? She wasn't beautiful or popular, barely a blip on the Food Chain and Bonnie wasn't sure she had any friends. Yet Justine had reeled her in like she was a fish, hook, line and sinker. She had manipulated Bonnie in a way that would have made her older sisters proud. She had evidence that could destroy Kim and the means to use it. She was dark. She was smart. She was ambitious.

She was dangerous.

And here I am at the right hand of the Devil.

"Pull yourself together, Bonnie," she said as she used her rump to push open the door and step inside. She found Justine had placed the creature's body on a series of paper towels she'd laid out earlier to keep the blood from spreading all over the floor. She looked up when Bonnie entered the room.

"About time." She stood up, reaching for a plate of food on Bonnie's tray. "What took you so long?"

"It's called a line. There are like a hundred people here and I had to wait my turn."

"Really?" Justine sat herself on the sink counter. "I was beginning to think you chickened out and told Kim everything."

"I don't chicken out, Justine. Ever." The mere notion sent Bonnie's ire skyrocketing.

"That's good to know. I'd hate to think I had partnered up with a loser."

"You'd better watch yourself, Flanner!"

"Resorting to last names now? Oh, Bonnie. I thought we were friends."

"You wish."

That brought a smile to the sinister blonde's face. "I wish for many things. Your friendship is not one of them." She held up a hand to silence the brunette before she could retort. "But we agreed to be partners in this endevour. We share a common foe and a common interest. While that doesn't make us friends it does make us allies and that means we must look out for one another."

"Hello! I brought you food!"

"Thank you...partner."

Bonnie acted as if Justine had just insulted her.

"Sit down and eat. You'll need your strength for the coming hours."

Walking around the monster's corpse had Bonnie gagging. "How can you eat with that thing here?"

"There's always a chance that someone, namely an employee who's too curious for his own good, might come in here regardless of the sign. If that happens, I want to be here to make sure he doesn't go blabbering about it to the wrong people." Justine dipped her fork into the steak. While she wasn't particular to meats, the girl was starving. Making schemes was tiring work.

Bonnie sat down on the other end of the counter. "By wrong people, you mean Kim."

"Or one of her confidants."

"Her what?"

Justine smiled. "Her friends." Again, Justine's greater grasp of the big picture was proof why she was in charge of this operation and not the Queen of Mean. "Ron or Josh, for example."

"Josh? You mean Josh Mankey?" Bonnie's eyes betrayed her shock. "He's here?"

"And Tara Strong as well."

"Tara?" Bonnie almost dropped her plate. "What are they doing here?"

Justine shrugged. "Beats me."

Don't tempt me.

"I saw them not that long ago, before I caught you following me back into the storage room. They didn't look happy."

Bonnie could not believe this. What would Josh and Tara being doing at Smarty Mart? Tara was part of the in-crowd so she knew this place was no-go zone. Then again, Bonnie was here, but those were extenuating circumstances. But Josh Mankey...? What's his deal?

"I'm going to talk to her." She put her plate back on the tray and got up.

"Tara?"

"No, Monique. Of course, Tara!" Bonnie was halfway to the door when Justine stopped her.

"But I'm going to need your help dissecting the creature." For the first time, something that sounded like concern seeped into Justine's voice. "I can't do it alone."

"Why not?" Bonnie looked over at her, smiling. "You scared it's going to wake up and eat you?"

"Of course not."

"I've done my manual labor for the day." Bonnie walked toward the door. "Besides, I can use a little gossip after what I've been through." She touched the door and opened it up. "You can just..." A scream cut her off in mid sentence and Bonnie visibly jerked back into the room. She looked at Justine who had just got up. "Did you hear that?"

But Justine was already running up to her, opening the door. More screams followed, men, women, children, and something else. Something not human.