Realized Potential

by Dridius

Ron accidentally uncovers Drakken's evil Lil' Diablo plot. Instead of getting Kim from Prom he goes it alone so that she can have her special night. AU.

7. Dusting off

Disclaimer: I own nothing if you saw it on Kim Possible. The plot is mine though.

A/N: I... AM... ALIIIIIIIIVE! And I am back at long last.

First I would like to say sorry to everyone who waited so patiently for this update. Cannot believe it took me almost a year to post this. Life has been full of death, destruction and weddings, among other things, this past year. So I've been incredibly busy.

Second I would like to Thank everyone who waited. Thank you, seriously.

And without further delay, here ya go. The chapter came out bigger than usual so eat up!

As always, please read, review and, ABOVE ALL, enjoy. X-D

PS: Forgot to mention when I posted this. All dialogue italicized inside quotation marks ("Like this") indicates something said in another language (not English). Just so you know.

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Chapter 7: Dusting off

-Location Unknown-

Ron opened his eyes to the clear blue of the sky. He could see the fuzzy, out of focus forms of clouds as they rode the wind across his field of vision. They looked fuzzier than usual but hey, some clouds were just that fluffy.

He groped at the grass he lay on as the clouds passed by. The smell of the grass reminded him of the shape guessing game he used to play as a kid. He lay just like this, on the grass, looking at clouds and trying to find things they looked like. He never did it alone though, he always did it with his best friend. He tried to play the game now but the clouds were just too fluffy. Oh well, maybe next time.

He sighed and closed his eyes, his hands continuing their inspection of the grass. It had been a while since he'd been this calm. This…at peace.

Wait a sec. He thought suddenly, a frown creasing his face as his hands stopping their pawing. I'm not supposed to be calm or at peace… right?

He thought hard, trying to pin down the reason for his uneasiness. He had been doing something…something important.

It was a mission. He remembered. We were attacked… In a rush it all came back to him. The diablos, the synthodrones, Shego.

"Shego!" He whispered fiercely, his eyes snapping open as he sat up quickly. "Ugh!" He grunted. "Wha…"

His body felt incredibly stiff... No… not stiff. It was more like some sort of pressure was pushing against his body from every direction. Like moving through thick gelatin or something. It fought him for every centimeter. It made sitting up quite the challenge.

Finally, after a little while, he managed to sit up and look around.

"Where the heck is this!" He shrieked.

This was definitely not Bueno Nacho HQ. Ron looked to his left then his right and rubbed his eyes, trying to get them to focus. They wouldn't. All he could see were the blurred shapes of what he guessed were trees in the distance, as if he were seeing them underwater without a mask or goggles. As far as he could tell, he was in the middle of some vast plain.

Weird.

It wasn't the first time he'd woken up in a weird place. Heck, he'd sleep walked all the way to school in his boxers. Now that had been a weird morning for everyone involved.

But this? This was weirder. Not because of where he was but because as much as he wanted and expected to freak out over it… he wasn't. He could feel the urge bubbling and then dissipating into calm. The calmest he could ever remember being. Far calmer than he'd been the last few weeks.

He reached down to pat Rufus's pocket like he always did in weird situations. When he did he noticed that his little buddy wasn't there.

…

Oh no. He thought. This was not going to go well.

He could feel it. His heartbeat rising. His breathing speeding up. The pure, unfiltered panic surging through him from the deepest parts of his mind.

Then, as suddenly as it'd hit him, the fear dissipated. His heartbeat slowed, as did his breathing. All of it replaced by the earlier calm

Now that was just messed up. So messed up that he let his body drop back down from his sitting position. He lay there, staring up at the blurry sky, wondering what the heck was going on when he noticed it. A bit of out of place green just at the top edge of his vision. He moved his head up and followed it with his eyes. The green connected to more green as far as he could see from his position.

Curious, he rolled to his side, fighting the ever present pressure, and pushed his upper body up a bit to get a better view.

"Whoa." He whispered. His voice had an echo to it, as if someone else had said the same thing at the same time. Only the back of Ron's mind noticed this since most of it was taking in what his eyes were seeing.

It was a tree of that he was sure, even with his blurry vision. However, it was simply massive. It took him a few minutes to take in all of it.

"That…" He said with awe in his voice. "is the biggest tree I've ever seen."

And it was, there was simply no contest. He didn't know much about plant science… ok he knew nothing of plant science, not even what it was called… but he wondered if trees could even get that big.

It was as taller than the tallest skyscraper he'd seen. Its smallest branches would have passed as large trees. He could probably fit a number of busses into its trunk too. But, as big as it was, its size wasn't what his mind was having such a hard time processing.

No… it was the emotions that seeing it brought out of him. He was ridiculously happy to see it. He was so happy it reminded him of the first Christmas morning he could remember. Opening his presents alongside Kim as her and his parents watched from the side. It had been magical.

He loved that tree. Of that he was sure. But… why? He was very, very sure he had never seen this tree before. Even if he couldn't make out any of the details he was sure he'd never seen one this big.

So why did he care for it so much?

He kept staring at it for a few more minutes before deciding to get closer to it and check it out. He could just make out the blurred shapes of what appeared to be structures at its base, right where the tree's trunk curved out of sight. Maybe there was something there that could tell him where the heck he was and how to get back to Middleton.

He pushed himself up slowly and carefully, the pressure making it hard to keep his balance like his body was used to. Once he finally got up he took a step towards the tree and stumbled back to his knees. The constant pressure made it difficult to walk.

I wonder if this is how toddlers feel that first time they learn to walk… He wondered as he got back up and walked forward slowly. Concentrating on one step at a time. I will never laugh at them again… though they really are kinda cute.

He slowly walked up to the tree, arms to the side to keep his balance. After what felt like hours to him he reached the base of the tree. He reached out and touched the trunk. It was warm. Looking up at its massive canopy he felt a wave of familiarity. Like he'd known and loved this tree his entire life. What was up with that?

He forced his eyes away from the tree and started moving around it to find the structures he'd seen. He kept one hand on the trunk for support so that he could walk faster. It felt incredibly pleasant to run his hand over the trees bark. Seriously, what was the deal with this place?

A few minutes into his walk around the tree's trunk he saw the structures and quickened his pace. A few feet from them his hand ran over something that shouldn't be there. He paused to examine it, it had a rectangular shape and it felt like a piece of wood. Looking up he saw the blurred shape of others leading up the tree at regular intervals.

A ladder. Ron concluded. Like the one that lead to his tree house back home. He wanted to climb it, see where it went… or try to see at least. Honestly, he hoped this blurry sight thing wasn't permanent. He wasn't a fan of glasses. But he had to find a way home, find out how the whole Diablo thing ended. Find out where his…sitch…with Kim was at. So he kept moving to the structures.

Once there he realized what they were. Two benches with a table in between coming right out of the tree. Nothing that would help him get back to… was that cheese he smelled? He sniffed and followed his nose the side and thought he saw something that brought tears to his eyes. It was a cheese fountain. He could tell by the smell and the way the yellow goop cascaded so gracefully. So… beautiful.

Ron shook his head and tried to focus. He had to find out where he was and how to get back. He couldn't afford to be distracted by the cascading folds of delicious liquid gold…

…

He cleaned the drool of his chin and forced himself to look away. When he did he noticed something. A mass of gray a few meters away that led over what seemed like a river into some dense looking white mass.

He moved towards it, drawn to it for some reason. Something about that gray mass seemed to be calling to him even more than the nacho cheese fountain.

What… the… hell is up with this place? He wondered, a little annoyed. The weird calm and absent freak outs were one thing but walking away from free cheese for a blurry gray thing? This something he would never do. And yet, on he walked. Fighting the ever constant pressure towards the masses of white and gray.

Once he got there he ran his hand over the gray. It was stone.

It's a bridge. He realized. One of those old, huge stonework things made to last centuries. Totally cool. Looking across it he stared at the mass of white. Watched it shift and warp mesmerizingly into various shapes.

It's fog. He thought, confused. It looked like fog but for some reason it stayed put, never moved any closer or any farther away. It's a creepy fog. He concluded. He was a little put out by it but could simply not look away.

After a few moments of staring he took a tentative step forward and then another. He felt like he should go through it… go through the fog, over the bridge, over the river and to the other side. Halfway to it he stopped and tilted his head… he'd heard something.

After a few minutes the sound became clearer. Footsteps, huge footsteps coming towards him. Seconds later a very, very large man with long, golden hair in what looked like a tight, yellow shirt and billowy white pants emerged from the mist. He walked right up to Ron and stood there looking down at him.

Ron just stared up and the giant. He couldn't make out any of his features but he could tell one thing… this was one huge dude. Like… twenty feet tall and broad like a bull.

"Dude…" He said before he could stop himself. "You are huge."

The giant stared down at him for a second before bursting out in deep, booming chuckles.

"Oyu vahnet neghcda a itb." The giant said in his deep, booming voice.

For some reason Ron smiled wide at the sound, the giants voice sounded as pleasant as the lullaby his mother and Mrs. P had sung to Kim and him at bedtime. So happy and nostalgic. The smile faltered once he registered what he'd said.

"What you say?" Ron asked, he hadn't understood a word.

"Itwa, hatw rea oyu nigod rehe? Sit ayw oto noso." The giant said before turning his head to look at the mist behind him and back at Ron. "Waa nma, oyu tosmla sodsecr vore. Dogo night I cedided ot prod yb. Hatt loduw veha nebe a dab ript."

"Seriously, dude." Ron said with a huge smile that he couldn't explain. "I can't understand a word you're saying." He was incredibly happy to see this guy. And again he didn't know why since he didn't know him.

The whole loving and caring for things and people he'd never seen or met before was really becoming a bad trend with this place.

"Rehe…" The giant said, bringing his hand up to his head and pulling something out of his hair. Ron couldn't be sure but he thought whatever it was, was getting longer and wider. "Etl em lehp oyu egt kacb."

The object grew long in the giants hand as he lifted it over Ron.

"Wait a sec dude." Ron said, not at all frightened, Just curious. "What're you doi…" He was cut off as the giant suddenly brought the object down on his head and everything went dark.

-Middleton High School: Gym-

Kim stood in the middle of the dance floor with her arms wrapped around her boyfriend and her head on his shoulder. They danced in graceful circles to the slow music the DJ had put on to give the teenagers a breather.

The night had exceeded all her expectations. It'd been a long while since she'd felt so good. So... normal. Not only had she shown Bonnie up, she had spent the most amazing night with her boyfriend. And the night was only half over.

Kim brought her head up to look at her boyfriends eyes. They held that glow of confidence that she found so attractive. She bit her lips in thought and glanced at his.

I'm going to do it. She thought, alternating glances between his eyes and his lips.

Eric's eyes twinkled in understanding and his face broke into a confident smile. It looked as attractive as the glow in his eyes.

She half-closed her eyes and brought her head closer to his at the same time he did.

Perfect. She thought as a skylight above them exploded into a thousand pieces. Through it flew a what looked like a wingless jet-pack. A second after its entry, wings sprang from its sides and thrusters under it fired to keep it hovering over the heads of the students and faculty.

No... Kim thought in horror, staring at the thing that she knew would ruin everything. She watched it take off along the walls of the gym. She could see its 'head' scanning the crowd, looking for someone. She knew who but hoped she was wrong.

As if hearing her thoughts the drone locked onto her. Kim and Eric dove to the side to avoid being run over... flown over?... by it. The drone flew up and flipped itself into a hover with its head staring right at Kim. Kim glared right back at it.

Is one night as a normal teen too much to ask for? She wondered while preparing herself to take the thing down. Hopefully she would be able to take it out quickly and get back to her date.

The drone hovered for a few seconds before flying towards the side of the room. Kim followed its path and ran after it, weaving through the frightened students with ease and grace with Eric right behind her. It flew towards Monique who raised her arms ready to defend herself.

The drone stopped right above their table, spun around to face Kim then abruptly turned off its thrusters, dropping roughly onto the table and knocking their things to the floor. There it lay, its thruster smoking, when Kim made here way to it. She eyed it suspiciously, waiting for it to try something. But it didn't, it just rotated its head to stare at her as she walked around the table inspecting it. The way it was made looked familiar.

"Possible!" Mr. Steve Barkin yelled over the crowd as he moved towards the source of the disturbance. "As... praiseworthy... as your extracurricular activities are, would you mind stopping them from interrupting school sponsored events?"

"Sorry, Mr. Barkin." Kim said automatically, scrounging through the floor for her purse. "I'll take care of it." There was something about this thing that was bugging her and she knew who could answer her questions

Mr. Barkin gave a sharp nod and moved towards the glass covered floor under the shattered skylight. Thankfully the dance floor only had a few couples dancing at that tine so no one was hurt. There he supervised the janitors as they cleaned up.

Meanwhile Kim found her purse and took out her Kimmunicator.

"What is this thing." Eric asked, tapping the head a few times. The drone spun its head to him, its camera focusing and refocusing as if sizing him up before returning its unsettling gaze to Kim.

"It's a drone." Kim answered, looking at the constantly blinking light of her kimmunicator. Wade was still calling her.

"Oh..." Eric said a little uncertain. By then Monique had walked around the table to them, her purse at the ready jut in case. "Who sent it after you?"

"That's what I'm going to find out." She said with unrestrained anger. She hit the call button on her kimmunicator and Wade's image was instantly displayed on the screen. He was typing furiously on his keyboard, occasionally pausing to glance to his side before attacking his keyboard again.

"Hey Wade." Kim said. "Could you tell me who..." She began but was cut off quickly.

"Kim!" Wade yelled through the screen. "About time you picked up, I've been calling you for hours!"

"Yeah, um..." Kim blushed in embarrassment and slight guilt. She redirected the conversation "Never mind that Wade. A drone just crashed prom and almost hit Eric and me. Think you can figure out who sent it?"

"It's mine." Wade answered,

"It's... what?" Kim said, restraining her outrage. Under it, though, she hoped she could wrap this up quickly and get on with her date.

"I had to get you to answer the kimmunicator somehow." Wade said, still typing into his keyboard and glancing to his side. His expression looking more anxious with each pause. "Listen, Ron figured out what Drakken is up to, and its bad."

Wade explained everything as quickly as he could while still making sense, all the while attacking his keyboard and glancing to his side. Eric and Monique stood to Kim's sides, listening to everything Wade was saying. Eric thought it all sounded farfetched and ridiculous, but Kim and Monique's serious expressions held him from saying so.

By the time Wade got to Ron's destruction of the Middleton Command Tower Kim's hope of a completely normal night was extinguished.

"All right." She said with a sigh. There was nothing else to it. Reluctantly, she asked. "Do you know where Drakkens new lair is?"

"Yes." Wade said, using his mission support voice. "The lair is a hundred miles west of Middleton at Bueno Nacho Headquarters." A map of Middleton appeared on the screen showing the fastest route between her current position and BN HQ.

"Good..." Kim said. It was so close this time, she could be there and back in no time. "...set up a ride for me Wade and tell Ron to meet me in front of the school ASAP. Please and thank you."

"Um..." Wade said, the uncertainty in his voice stopping Kim from hanging up like she usually did.

"What?" Kim asked.

"Ron..." Wade started slowly and uncertain. He glanced to his side again, the worry he had been holding back seeping out of his eyes. "Ron's already there."

Kim stared at Wade for a few moments before bringing her palm to her face.

"Not again..." She whispered. She very much hoped he had landed somewhere closer to home this time. Eric raided an eyebrow at Monique, lost. Monique gestured for him to get closer and told him about the North Pole incident.

"I-I tried to stop him." Wade said. Kim frowned. Wade never stuttered and he sounded close to... crying? She watched Wade stop his mad typing and entwine his hands to keep them from moving. Something wasn't right.

"But... he sounded so serious," Wade continued, everything pouring out. "I knew I wouldn't be able to talk him out of it. So I sent him some gear I thought would give him enough of an advantage. But..."

"Wade." Kim said gently yet firmly. He was on the verge of hysterics. "Calm down. Breath. That's it. Now, tell me what happened. Did he get caught?"

"Yeah, but..." Wade said, sniffing. Kim was getting worried, she'd never seen Wade like this... ever. "The shirt was just armor." Wade tried to explain. "One of the fabrics I considered for the battle suit. I didn't add any tech to it so it does nothing to mitigate energy attacks so he got the full brunt of it. So..." Wade tried to go on but the words got stuck in his throat.

"Wade..." Kim said, she was really starting to get a bad feeling. "Just start from the beginning."

Wade thought that would take too long so he just skipped to the important part.

"Ron was fighting Shego." He said. "He was doing great until those upgraded synthodrones surprised him from behind. He fought the first one off but the second one caught him and pushed him down. It used some sort of taser on him."

"That's not so bad." Kim said, confused. They've been hit by far worse before so why was Wade so freaked out?

"Kim, the surge burned out the Roncom!" Wade said, willing her to understand so that he didn't have to actually say it.

"The what?" Kim asked.

"One of the new gadgets I sent him. He used it first so I named it after him." Wade explained. "Kim... I always shield my electronics against powerful electrical surges. The amount of power needed too burn it out would easily..." Again he stopped, he just couldn't bring himself to say it.

Kim was starting to catch on. No.

"Check his chip." She ordered.

"I already did Kim..." Wade cut her off. "I've been running diagnostics on it since it happened. Due to its location it received only minor damage and is still fully functional. But it says he's... um..." He stopped yet again, the words were like razor blades trying to squeeze themselves through his throat.

But Kim didn't need to hear the words to get the message they carried. Her eyes opened wide as she stared at the screen and stood motionless. Behind her Monique covered her mouth in horror and disbelief. Eric just stared, he didn't know what to feel. He hadn't known Ron long but as much of an oddball as he was he still seemed like a good guy.

Plus he was his girls best friend, as uncomfortable as that sometimes made him. She watched Kim, waiting for her reaction.

Meanwhile, on the dance floor the janitors had finished sweeping the glass off the floor and were heading out. One of them leaned against the wall, talking on his phone while the other took the glass out to throw it away.

"Ok, people." Mr. Barkin roared. "Lets get tonight's event back on point. Please get the music back up Mr. Killing Me" He told the DJ.

"Yo, man." The DJ said, offended while fiddling with his equipment. He had a lot of work to do to fix the atmosphere. "It's DJ Killin'it." He put on a fast paced beat to get the blood pumping, the teens had rested long enough.

"My mistake." Mr. Barkin grumbled, frowning at the noise and moved away. What do kids see in this noise. He wondered while kids flocked to the dance floor. He looked up at the broken skylight. He'd seen some large clouds moving in from the east so he'd better get up there and seal up the breach.

As the music started back up and the prom continued Kim just kept staring at Wade's image in the Kimmunicator.

"Kim..." Wade said, uncomfortable with the silence. "I'm so sorry. If only I'd built something for..."

Before he could finish Kim turned around and started walking across the dance floor towards the doors. Students almost had to leap out of her way to avoid getting trampled. She walked quickly and purposefully.

"Get me a ride Wade." Kim ordered as she walked. "The fastest one you can get. Also send me all the info you have on Drakkens plans and his lair. Everything Wade. And prep the battle suit."

Wade nodded, glad for something to do with his hands other than checking and rechecking the functions of a chip he was sure worked. All the data he had uncovered over the course of Ron's infiltration of BN HQ was sent to Kim's kimmunicator. Maps, enemy numbers, his scan of the diablos, everything.

He ran into a snag with the battle suit though.

"Kim, You cant use the battle suit." Wade said.

"I know its still experimental." Kim said, her eyes running through the map of the lair. "It's time for a road test."

Their going to be sorry. Kim thought viciously. And she was going to use everything she could to make sure they would regret messing with her.

"No, I mean you really cant use it." Wade said. To Kim's annoyance he took down the map and replaced it with an image of the vault closet keeping the battle suit safe. "One of the diablos that attacked your house must have hit it with an energy blast."

"They blew up my closet?" Kim said in horror. Her grief over lost clothes was quickly squashed and tossed to the back of her mind. She had more important things to obsess over. "Is the suit damaged?" She asked, her feet stopping their persistent march.

"No, but the palm print scanner was destroyed." He explained. The image on the screen zoomed in and showed her some technical information she didn't quite understand. "Because of it the vault went into a security lock-down. I wont even be able to access the lock protocols for at least two hours."

She sighed loudly in frustration and continued her march.

"Fine, I'll just beat them the old fashion way." She said, her voice dripping with the promise of violence. "Get back to me about that ride. And, Wade?"

"Yeah?" Wade's image reappeared on the screen. Kim's eyes and voice had softened as she said her name.

"Don't worry." She said with a slight smile. "Ron is a lot tougher than he looks, tougher than anyone else thinks. I'm sure he'll be fine." There was no doubt in her voice or her eyes.

"Ok." Wade said. He glanced to the side again. Looking the flat line that his chip kept sending instead of the intermittent peaks that he wanted to see. For the first time ever he wished that the technology he was so proud of and put so much faith in was wrong.

Unfortunately the facts told him otherwise.

"I'll get back to you on that ride." Wade said before he hung up.

Kim sighed and stared at the black screen for a moment. Fighting back the chill she could feel crawling up her spine. She moved to put her kimmunicator away when she realized she didn't have her purse. Looking around her she realized she wasn't in or anywhere around the gym either. She was in a hallway of the school.

Blinking a few times in surprised she got her bearings. She was right in front of her locker. She had walked all the way here from the other side of the school without even noticing.

She sighed in bemusement. She had never been so absentminded. She had better get over it fast, she couldn't afford to be, not now.

She went to her locker, put in the combination and opened it. She put the kimmunicator on one of the shelves and took out her mission clothes. She and Ron always kept spare sets in their lockers in school as well as their lockers in the gym. Since the gym was so occupied she opted for this set.

She slipped the shoulder straps down her shoulders to carefully take off the fragile fabric and change when she heard a female cough behind her. Turning around she saw Monique and Eric. The latter covering his blushing face and resisting the urge to take it all in.

Kim gave a very feminine yelp and, blushing furiously, pulled her dress back up. Thankfully she hadn't taken it down much so she was sure he hadn't seen anything. Still...

"Don't sneak up on me like that." Kim scolded them, the blush draining from her cheeks a bit.

"Girl, we've been behind you this whole time." Monique rebuked.

"Really?" Kim asked, there was no way.

"Yep." Monique answered. "All the way from the gym to the sidewalk where you paused, turned and marched right over your Bf's foot into the school."

"Did I?" She asked, turning to Eric who had only just uncovered his face.

"Yeah." He answered with a wry smile. She looked down at his shoe seeing a divot right over where his big toe would be. "You have very sharp heels."

"Sorry." She apologized.

Her face creased in a frown of thought. She was usually far more aware of her surroundings than this.

"Girl," Monique said, seeing her train of thought. "You better find it before going off to do your daring do."

"Huh?" Eric said, confused he hadn't followed that one at all.

"I know." Kim said. "I'll be fine by the time I get there." She tried to reassure.

"You better." Monique said, not very convinced. "You'd also better take some backup with you to get Naco Boy back safe. Preferably some strong and athletic backup with good reflexes."

"What?" Kim asked, confused. "Who?" Monique obviously had someone in mind and the prospects of some backup was appealing. Especially if Ron was hurt.

Eric, however, had actually followed that one.

"That's a great idea." He said.

"Huh?" Kim said, still confused. After a few moments she caught up. "Um, Eric? I'm not sure that's such a good idea."

"Why not?" He asked. Kim looked at him like she was trying to sugar coat something so he went on. "Ok, I know this isn't something you can just do when you feel like it. But you could still use someone to get Ron out of there while you do what you do."

Kim looked at him, trying to find a way to let him down easy. But what he said made sense. She was sure Ron wasn't... no, she wouldn't even think it... but he might be seriously hurt. She wouldn't be able to get him out and fight Shego at the same time.

On the other hand, it was always incredibly odd to go on a mission with someone other than Ron.

Then again...

After a few seconds of going back and forth in her mind she came to a decision.

"Ok, you can come." She looked him up and down. He looked great in his white tux, but this required a different outfit. "Follow me, please and thank you." With that she grabbed her mission clothes, shut her locker, turned around and led then through the locker lined halls of Middleton High.

She stopped in front of the locker that happened to be next to Mr. Barkin's office. She had recently started to wonder if Ron was right about Mr. Barkin having it out for him. She entered the combination with practiced ease and opened it. As she did a small avalanche of papers and BN takeout bags fell out. She sighed and rummaged through the mess.

"Who's locker is this?" Eric asked, knowing the answer.

"Ron's." Kim answered, still looking. How could Ron fit so much garbage into his locker? She handed her clothes to Monique so that she could use both her hands.

"You know his combination?" He asked, redundantly.

"Of course I do, he's my best friend." She replied like it was obvious. She thought she could feel it, stuck under a stack of unopened school books. She'd have to pull hard to get it out.

"Huh..." He said trying to sound nonchalant. "Does... um... does he know yours?"

"Duh." She said with a grunt as she pulled hard. Out came a plastic bag and some stiff books that fell to the floor like bricks. The pages never so much as fluttered. He'd probably never even opened them once. "Here, hold this for a sec." She said, bending over to pick up all the stuff and shove it back into his locker.

"Hmph." Eric grunted, taking the bag. Looking it over he decided to open it and see what it was. Inside he found some gray cargo pants, a black turtle neck, a utility belt, a pair of black gloves and some black sneakers with socks jammed inside. "Are these..." Eric began.

"Ron's mission clothes." Kim finished with a grunt while forcing the door to his locker closed. "Don't worry about the size, he always gets things a few sizes to big."

She turned to see him rummage through the stuff. She noticed how simply thrown in his clothes were as opposed to her neatly folded set. Ron was hopeless.

"Why does he?" Eric asked, holding the shirt up. It looked just about right for his build.

"I..." Kim started, looking at the shirt quizzically. "I don't really know. He's just... always has." She resolved to ask Ron about it as soon as she could. Not knowing things about him always made her feel odd.

"Meet me in front of the school." She told him. "Wade should have our ride there soon."

"Yes, ma'am." He said with a rueful smile and walked away to find a bathroom.

She and Monique did the same with Monique leading the way. Once in the girls bathroom Kim entered a stall and started to change.

"So..." Monique said after a minute. "You really think he's ok?" She knew how accurate Wade's tech was. The odds of them breaking when he didn't expect them to was very low.

"Yeah..." Kim said after a pause then continued to change. "Like I said, Ron is a lot tougher than people realize. He's probably hurt, but he'll be fine."

Kim finished changing and came out of the stall to a very worried Monique.

"And you?" Monique asked, taking Kim's clothes and heels.

"Me what?" Kim replied taking her hair-dryer out of its holster and checking it like she always did before a mission.

"Are you ok." Monique clarified.

"Of course I am." Kim said after her inspection. "Why wouldn't I be?" She put the hair-dryer away and scratched her neck. Her crop top was unusually uncomfortable.

"Oh, I don't know." Monique feigned thinking about it. "Maybe the fact that you almost gave your BF a strip show? I don't know about you, girl, but I think it's a little early for that."

Kim blushed. She had tried to forget that.

"And..."

Oh god. Kim thought in slight panic. What else did I do?

"... your wearing your top backwards. Probably feels uncomfortable, huh." Monique said with a smile tinged with worry.

Kim sighed and took of her top, not even bothering to enter a stall, and replaced the right way. She was caught.

"Ok, so I'm worried." Kim said, adjusting her top. She started pacing while confiding her fears. "I, mean... the last time he went on a mission alone he ended up on the North Pole. And he was lucky enough to get there. The pod he used to survive that sub-orbit explosion was the very last and a garbage pod at that." Kim started pacing, all the fear she had held back pouring out. "It hadn't exactly been designed for safe reentry and the safeguard of its contents."

Kim stopped her pacing and took a deep breath.

"The chip had been useless." She said. "All the snow and ice created too much interference. Wade couldn't get a signal from it." Kim shook her head, she didn't want to remember what she had thought. "Now he's only a few miles away but the things broken. But he'll be fine."

"Ok." Monique said. She had been right, Kim had been holding back the same fear she herself felt. "Now that you took that out of your chest go get our naco boy back" And with that she pushed Kim out the door. Kim had to smile, her mind felt lighter now that she had told Monique what she felt.

Monique went back to the dance while Kim walked quickly to the front of the school to meet Eric. She got there just as Eric was hanging up his phone. She looked him up and down. She had to admit the clothes fit him far better than they ever did Ron. Again she wondered why he always bought clothes too big for him.

"Hey." She said. Eric turned around to meet her and looked her over just like she had him. "Not a bad look for you."

"Your not so bad yourself." He replied with his confident grin. "So... Where's this ride you were talking about?"

"I'm wondering that myself..." She said, looking up and down the road. It was deserted. She took out the kimmunicator.

"Wade, where's our ride?" She asked him a little more roughly than she intended.

"I haven't been able to get one." He said, his eyes on another monitor as he typed and talked.

"What? Why?!" She asked, a little peeved. She had a lot of favors in the area.

"It's because of the diablos, Kim." He said as yet another contact replied negative. "Even though they only caused minor damage while active they still caused some major panic. Everyone is too busy or unable to answer."

Damn it! This couldn't be happening. She pinched the bridge of her nose in thought. She needed a ride, a fast one. But where would she...

Her thoughts were interrupted by the jingle of keys. She looked up to see a grinning Eric holding the keys to his bike.

"What?" Eric said, ginning all the while. "My bike not good enough for a teen heroine?"

Kim snatched the keys from his hands and enveloped him in a crushing hug.

"Oh! I could kiss you!" She said before letting him go.

"Well, I wouldn't min..." He started but was unable to finish.

"Mind if I drive?" She asked him. "Please?" She gave him one of her best puppy dog pouts.

"Well... um..." Eric stammered, he still wasn't used to it so he never stood a chance. "Sure." he conceded.

"Yes!" Kim crowed in triumph. Moving quickly, she walked towards where the bike was parked.

"Wade." She said, he was still typing away trying to find a ride. "Don't worry about the ride, were taking Eric's bike. I want you to get eyes on Ron. Try to find out where he is and how badly he's hurt."

"On it." Wade said. He thought for a moment then started typing again. "I'll send the drone ahead. According to the chip he's in what seems to be a warehouse at the back of the complex. It's scanning capabilities should be enough to assess his condition so long as the wall isn't too thick."

"You rock, Wade." Kim said, hanging up.

She reached the motorcycle and grabbed her scooter helmet, tossing Eric's to him. She got on the bike with grace and turned it on. Eric sat behind her.

"You do know how to drive these right?" Eric asked.

"No big." Kim said, calmly. "Put your arms around me." She revved the throttle experimentally a few times.

Eric was more than happy to comply. He wrapped his arms around her thin, exposed stomach, trying hard to control his thoughts and not really succeeding. She was remarkably toned.

"Now, remember." Eric said. "This is a heavily modified HWU Shinai, it has a lot of torque so go easy on the..." Everything else he was going to say was forgotten.

Kim pulled hard on the throttle sending the bike down the road like bullet. He took the corner so tightly that she almost ran over the janitor who was about to cross the road. He dropped his cell phone in surprise.

Suddenly Eric was more concerned with holding on than to what he was holding on to. Kim barreled down the streets and past corners like a professional racer. Eric considered himself a speed nut, but he'd never ridden like this. It was both terrifying and thrilling. He held on tighter.

As for Kim, only one thought coursed through her mind. Get there, fast.

Hang on, Ron. She thought. I'm coming.

They got on the highway and Kim pushed the bike to its limits. Above them Kim saw the drone fly ahead towards the dark clouds that were moving in from the west.

Lightning flashed in the distance followed by the rumble of thunder.

-Bueno Nacho HQ: Command Center-

Drakken stood in front of his throne, arms crossed behind his back, looking at the large monitors that covered the far wall of the command room. He was grinning like the mad man he was.

The screens showed the his creations darkening the skies all over the world. They had gone online not ten minutes ago and everything was going according to plan. They had encountered some surprisingly organized resistance all over. There were reports of blue-clad soldiers popping up unexpectedly to fight his diablos.

Probably someone's master plan coming to ruin. Drakken thought. Oh, I so hope their yours Dementor.

Even with this unexpectedly organized world resistance his creations should take over everything in a matter of hours. There was no beating them. He'd learned from the Middleton tower incident and had reassigned plenty of diablos to guard the towers. He had also sent another army towards Middleton to replace the ones disabled there.

Thinking of the destroyed tower wiped the grin off his face. Now sporting a frown he turned to his second in command who sat at her terminal going through some surveillance footage.

"Tell me again, Shego." He said. "Who was that intruder? The one that took out all of my synthodrones. Leaving me with only two of my personal guard."

"Sorry, Doc." She said, not even looking up from her monitor. "Repeating things twice is already to much for me, so just accept it and move on."

"I refuse to believe that the intruder..." He said in a low voice while walking to her station, he glanced at the monitor. "...that he..." he jammed a finger at Ron's image dancing through his drones. "...Who was able to take out my drones is the Bufoon!"

"Probably." Shego said, fast forwarding to her fight.

"Aha!" Drakken said in triumph. "So it isn't him. I knew it couldn..."

"No, it is him." Shego smirked, it was just too easy.

Before Drakken could get into an angry rant the phone rang.

"Yeah?" Shego answered. She frowned at what she heard then hung up. "She's coming." She said, pausing the playback.

"Kim Possible?" He asked after a moment, Shego raised an eyebrow. "Just making sure this time." Draken shrugged. He looked back to his monitors and saw the steady progress of his war machines. "She's far too late to stop me. You!" He pointed to one of his minions. "Send her... a small greeting." He said with great relish before turning back to Shego.

"Now, Shego." He said. Shego sighed audibly with irritation, she recognized that tone. "Please run the whole 'Buffoon broke my sinthodrones' thing by me again."

Yep. She thought. Herecomes the rant. She got into her 'ignore him' state of mind, substituting her magazine for the surveillance footage. Something about her short fight with the sidekick bothered her and she was determined to find out what.

-Location: Unknown-

"Ow!" Ron exclaimed, his eyes tearing up from the pain. "What was that for you big ... um... huh?" He looked around, his eyes finally focusing on his surroundings. He looked around in utter confusion. This was not the place he had been exploring earlier.

This place was filled with Naco Night promotional merchandise. From 'Naco Night Every Night' banners to huge display Nacos.

"Am I in heaven?" He wondered in awe. "Ugh." He grunted when his body told him that no, he wasn't. Every muscle in his body hurt like he'd overworked them all at the same time. That and his right forearm stung like hell along with a few spots of pain across his back and chest. Nope, definitely not heaven.

Trying to inspect his arm he discovered one more un-heaven like thing. He was tied up, quite securely, to a giant burrito.

His hands were tied together and held above his head. His body was held firmly, and uncomfortably, against the burrito by a few lengths of rope. His feet were tied the same way his hands were.

"Kim, you all right?" Ron asked, stretching his body as much as he could. "Kim?" He asked again when he didn't get a response. He looked to one side, seeing nothing but an oversized cactus, then to the other. She wasn't there.

"Kim?! Kim!" Ron yelled, something wasn't right. "Where are y... oh, right. Solo mission. Duh" He remembered. He'd come alone this time... He looked around the large storage room and tried to swallow past the lump in his throat, succeeding on the third attempt.

No, he wasn't alone.

"Wade, you there?" He asked and waited for a response. "Wade, come on man. Don't play with me." He said when he heard nothing. Ron waited for a full minute in the silence for an answer. But no voice appeared in his head. Ron started to sweat.

It's ok, it's ok, It's ok. He thought, taking a deep breath. Wade had gone silent on the bridge too, probably some glitch in the gear like with the grapple-watch. I'm never really alone.

"Rufus, I need you buddy." He called loudly. His best, little bud was all ways there in times like these... "Rufus?" Ron called again, sweat tracing down his face and his body starting to tremble in a terribly familiar way.

He was alone...

No! He thought fiercely, trying to fight it. Not now! Please... He begged.

But it had already started. The memories came streaming through, bringing with them the irrational fear they had sown into him.

There he sat, alone and afraid in a wooden cabin far from all the others. The cabin crawled with all manner of small, creepy insects that would bite you if you were foolish enough to fall asleep. And even worse than the bugs was the crazed monkey that screeched at the top of its lungs whenever it wished. Jumping and climbing over anything it could, himself included, and biting him whenever the counselors brought his food too late.

But he'd already dealt with the fears those ordeals had given him, though. Those phobias had all been overcome. All except one. The biggest fear. The one given to him by his entire stay at that hellish camp, not just one aspect of it.

Monophobia. The fear of being alone. The last little gift bestowed upon him by Camp Wannaweep.

Mom!

Dad!

I wanna go hoooome!

"Agh!" Ron flinched like he'd been struck in the gut at the sound of his child self cry in the night. His parents had stopped taking his calls for help. Left him there...

His body continued its mutiny, trembling uncontrollably, with his heart-rate and breathing racing each other to see who was fastest.

Don't think about it! He ordered himself. I can't faint, not now! That was how these things usually ended, he would hyperventilate himself to sleep.

But not even his mind felt like cooperating.

Mom!

Dad!

Rufus!

"Ugh!" Ron grunted as the next blow hit him. He had even called out for his lost imaginary friend. But he had left him a year after he had become friends with Kim. He hadn't come to help him either.

After Wannaweep he'd thrown his first and last true tantrum, forcing his parents to let him get a pet. He would never be alone again.

Yes, think of something happy. He told himself after recovering a bit. He ground his teeth, trying to keep the air inside of his heaving chest.

But it wasn't enough.

Mom!

Dad!

Rufus!

"Kim..."

Ron whispered at the same time as the kid inside him cried. He'd called for all of them every night that he spent there. Yet he'd spent all those nights huddled in a corner... all alone.

"Ahhh." He whimpered between gasps. He brought his head up to look at the ceiling, tears falling freely from his eyes and mixing with his sweat, drool and snot. His head felt faint. It wouldn't be long now until the darkness claimed him. Any thoughts of resistance where gone, he felt too drained for that. Instead his thoughts swam from memory to random memory.

His first night at Wannaweep.

His first sleep-over at Kim's.

His first night at Yamanouchi.

His first mission with Kim.

The night Rufus told him he had to leave.

Sensei seeing through his fear.

Oh yeah... Sensei had seen though his constant need to have Rufus by his side. He'd tried to teach him how to properly meditate, how to control his breathing, his heartbeat. Said they would help.

As the darkness crept over his vision he wished he had done more than fall asleep during his lessons. His thoughts jumped one last time before he fainted.

The place with the huge tree and huge man.

And just like that his mind began to clear, his heartbeat slowed and his breathing returned to normal. In a matter of minutes his panic attack had subsided and he was perfectly calm. The only thing wrong was his sight, it was still dark.

He tried to blink a few times to... Oh! He just had his eyes closed. He looked around the store room, taking in his surroundings for a second time. Nothing had changed. He was still tied up. Still in a storeroom...

Still alone...

"What the hell..." Ron asked of no one in particular. He was on uncharted waters, he had never been this truly alone in years. He wondered about the tree place again but couldn't quite picture it. The picture in his mind was even blurrier than his dream.

Ron shook his head, deciding to act rather than think about it. His panic attack may have stopped but it might comeback at any moment. He felt so exhausted that he wouldn't be able to resist at all. So best to keep busy.

He looked up at the knots that held his hands together and fastened him to the burrito.

"As if a knot can hold the Ronman..." He said confidently while he continued to study the knots. "...for more than a few hours." He was forced to admit. Damn, those are some decent knots.

It was hopeless. It would take him hours to untie those things. He needed something other than his able fingers to get out of this. His sword would be nice... heck he'd take small knife, even a butter knife.

Ron continued to list down possible things he could use to get out of this sitch, getting more frustrated with each one. Finally, he pulled against his restraints as hard as he could as if it would do anything.

"Agh!" He grunted in frustration. This was the first time he was ever captured while having no one to talk to about it. Or , more importantly, someone to complain to about it.

Damn it! Ron thought as he ceased his struggle. If only he could call his sword from wherever Drakken's goons had stashed it then he could just... just...

Hmn... Ron thought for a few minutes. His mind going back to Sensei.

Whenever he thought of him or Yamanouchi his thoughts all ways landed on it. The Lotus Blade. But, would that even work? I mean sure, he'd called the thing to him... once... with disastrous clothes striping consequences. But that had been from a mile a way at the most, now he was a whole half world away.

There was that and the fact that he wasn't in a position to ask permission to borrow it. As far as they knew the thing would just fly away from wherever it was...

Sensei would understand right? It's not like he had anything else...

...

Screw it. He would apologize later.

Ron licked his dry lips, getting ready to do something he had only done once in his whole life. He was about to call on his mystic side in order to call a mystic weapon to his side. It was going to be interesting.

He took a deep breath and... whistled like he would a dog.

"Here boy... or girl..." He said, very unsure of what he was doing. "Or thing... whatever. I'm in a bit of a bind here so if you could just, um, you know." Man he felt silly. "Heeeelp." He finally called out.

-Yamanouchi, Japan: Yamanouchi School-

Master Sensei, headmaster of the Yamanouchi School, walked along the ancient halls of his school with a bright smile. He had just had lunch with his many pupils. It always made him feel younger to watch the latest generation go over its plans for the upcoming summer. How things had changed from the time when he was that age.

He walked out of the main school building and across the grounds where the last classes of the school year were just getting underway. He was headed to a small shrine just beyond the great sakura tree that graced the edge of the school overlooking a sheer cliff. In that shrine, protected by a twenty-four hour guard among other, unmanned defenses lay the Lotus Blade. An ancient weapon passed down from headmaster to headmaster going back to the very first, Toshimiru.

First headmaster and founder of the school, Toshimiru carved the school out of the very mountain using nothing but the Lotus Blade. A feat impossible to anyone who didn't know of the swords power. The weapon was passed down along with the prophecy proclaiming a great warrior of purest heart who would claim it as its one true master.

He sighed when he reached the shrine and nodded to the guards. He had hoped that young Stoppable would have been that warrior. He possessed the purest heart he had ever come across on anyone but a child and he was a fierce warrior... when he allowed himself to be.

That boy was quite the puzzle, so full of contradictions that it felt as though his very essence was at war with itself in an effort to find balance... or dominance.

Alas it was not to be. He had already been claimed by another force, another prophecy. And if he had read the signs right, young Stoppable had a rough road ahead as the chosen one of Son Wukong, the Monkey King.

Master Sensei entered the shrine and looked towards the stand that held the sword above its scabbard. Gazing upon its beauty Master Sensei did something that he didn't normally do. He opened his eyes in surprise.

The sword was glowing a very faint but deep blue, as if lit from within. This was not normal behavior. Before he could think of what to do the sword erupted in thin wisps of deep blue smoke that rose straight up, ignoring the wall of shatter proof glass above it.

In another moment the blade shot off to the side, point first, breaking the shatter proof glass and reinforced concrete wall beyond it. It sped towards the east, its blue smoke trailing behind it.

Within a second the many on duty guards of the Lotus Blade came to Master Sensei's side. They all watched the wreckage that had housed their schools treasure and waited for their orders.

Master Sensei brushed the dust from his robes and pondered the situation.

"It appears..." He said to those around him. "...that the Lotus Master will soon reveal himself..."

His students all listened in silence, they had all studied the prophecies. With this both the Monkey Master and the Lotus Master had appeared. Following which a time of great turmoil would soon follow.

"Master Sensei!" A senior student yelled, running toward the shrine as fast as he could. "We have incoming reports of... The blade! What..." The student said, about to bombard the Master with questions when he raised his hand for silence.

"Speak." Master Sensei said calmly, lowering his hand.

The student gave a sharp nod, regaining his composure. "Master, we have reports of large machines attacking every city and most large towns across Japan and the world."

Every student turned from the messenger to the Master.

So it begins. He thought,

"We must move quickly." He said. "Contact every graduate and outside resource. We must protect as many lives as we can."

"Sir!" The messenger acknowledged and sped off. Master Sensei began walking purposefully back to the main school building while giving his orders.

"Gather all juniors and seniors and prepare to mobilize." He said walking past the sakura tree. "Tell Olivia to get all the information she can in regards to these machines. Everyone else is to stay here on standby."

"Yes, Master!" The remaining students said and all sped off to do their assigned jobs. And to spread the word.

Master Sensei spared one last glance towards the shrine before pushing the mystery out of his mind. There was a lot of work to do.

-Bueno Nacho HQ: Command Center-

"Further more..." Drakken said, about to list yet another reason why the intruder could simply not be the Buffoon but was thankfully interrupted by an alarm. "What is it!" Drakken asked, annoyed at being interrupted.

"Report!" Shego said, moving away from Drakken and her console and looking at the one of the large monitors.

"A large number of Diablos have been temporarily disabled." One of the henchmen said. He typed into his console and a large map of the globe appeared on the screen. There were an incredible number of yellow dots covering every continent with a few red ones sprinkled about. But what drew the eye was a surprisingly straight line of red crossing Japan from west to east.

"What is it?" Drakken asked, looking at the map with pride. This time, the world would truly be his.

"Probably nothing." Shego said unconvincingly, she knew better. Just as she finished her thought yellow dots on the west of the US turned red as they were disabled. "Then again, probably something heading right towards us... could we at least stream the video of one of the Diablos?" She asked Ddrakken.

"Ngh." Drakken frowned in distaste, he should have thought of that. "I suppose... it could be done." He walked towards his own master control console and started typing away. "Ok, there. Now which one do you want to see through?"

Shego walked over to his console and pointed at a dot that looked a few seconds away from going red. "That one." she said.

Drakken brought the optics of that very diablo up on the big screen and turned to the west so that it could see whatever it was coming. After about half a minute of waiting they saw flashes blue electricity in the distance. Then, suddenly, the Diablo in front of theirs was separated from its legs in a shower of blue electricity and sparks before the screen cut to static.

"What happened?!" Drakken screamed. He hadn't seen anything at all.

"Rewind the footage." Shego said and the henches obeyed. "Good now slow it down... slower, ok now play it." The henches did as told and everyone watched as what appeared to be a spark of electricity from the diablo in front of theirs seemed to ark towards it before the screen turned to static.

"Whatever it was." Shego observed. "It moved too fast for the the camera to see." She closed the video window and brought back the map. More dots were going red, moving in a straight line towards them.

"Perhaps we should prepare." Drakken suggested. "It seems all sorts of meddlers are coming out of the woodwork."

"That..." Shego said, with a bit of reluctance. "Is actually a good idea. Careful Doc, too many of those might jinx us."

"Ngh." He glared before adressing another henchman. "You! Assign plenty of Diablos to guard the perimeter, set them to destroy anything that approaches!"

The henchmen did as told, soon a ring of yellow dots surrounded the complex.

"No one is going to stop me..." Drakken growled. "Not this time."

-Bueno Nacho HQ: Unknown Storeroom-

"Whoa!" Ron said as a strong tingle radiated from the back of his neck throughout his body. "That felt weird... does that mean you're on your way?" He asked and no one answered, obviously. "Lets call that a tentative 'yes'."

Ok, ok, ok. He thought. Concentrate. He had to focus. Last time he had called it it had ripped his clothes off and nailed them to a stone wall. But he hadn't been ready that time, now he knew what to expect. He just needed to concentrate and catch it just as it...it...

Catch? Ron looked up at his catching instruments which were tied together to prevent things like escaping... and catching...

"Oh, man." He said nervously. "Oh, dude, cmon! Ok,ok, calm down. I'm sure nothing bad will happen... Right?"

The tingle became a little stronger.

"Yeah, um, you know what?" Ron said, a little bit of sweat beading on his brow. "I think I'm good, no need to come over or anything... heh... yeah."

The tingle became stronger again.

"Oh, cmon man... sword..." He pleaded. "If I told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?"

Ron looked to a small window at the top of the wall opposite him, that's where he would come in from if he were a flying magic sword. He waited for the tingle but it never came and breathed a sigh of relief.

Then the tingle popped up, a bit different this time. If he had to put a word to it he would say it felt... defiant? Like it was saying 'You called me so suck it up!'

He was screwed... actually no, he wasn't. He was impaled. Or would be... soon.

Tingle, tingle, tingle.

Crash.

Ron closed his eyes right before he heard a soft thud and a tremor reverberate though the burrito he was tied to.

"Aw ha, naaaah!" He cried refusing to open his eyes. "I'm skewered! Ah, I can see it now. 'Sidekick Burrito Kabob At Bueno Nacho'. This is messed up, dude! Actually no, its worse. Its Upped Messed!"

He waited for the pain to start but it didn't. Tentatively he opened his eyes and looked down to inspect his body, there was only the rope holding him to the burrito.

Huh? He wondered before looking up to inspect his hands. The sword had struck right between his hands cutting into the ropes that held them together.

"Heh." He chuckled. "That... That was cool." He pulled his restraints against the blade's edge and cut them, letting them fall to the floor. He rubbed his sore wrists, getting some blood flowing. Those knots had been really tight and well done... obviously Shego's doing.

"Ok." Ron said, reaching back up to pull the sword out of the burrito. "First, find Rufus. Then call Wade and see what's up. And finally stop evil plot. No worries." He cut into the ropes that held him to the burrito.

"Ack!" He said as he cut through the last of the ropes and pivoted like a light switch on the ropes still holding his feet, slamming his face into the burrito. "Ow. Not cool." He pushed himself away from the prop and rubbed his nose. "Did not think that through..."

Just as he was about to cut off the restraints on his legs he felt something fall out of his pocket. He caught it just in time. It was something pink and soft and limp. It was...

"Rufus?" Ron said, holding his little buddy. "What the hell, dude! Where were you when I had my panic attack? I almost..." Rufus hadn't moved since he'd caught him. He just lay in his hand, mouth agape and body limp... "Rufus?"

Rufus had been in his pocket when he'd been electrocuted, so...

This couldn't be happening... Ron looked back at his feet. He needed to get down, hanging there wasn't going to work. He tucked Rufus to his chest and with the arm holding the sword pushed off with as much force as he could. He bent his knees, cut himself free and jumped off the burrito. He spun in the air once to adjust his position and landed on his feet.

Ron dropped the Lotus Blade with a clang and squatted. He brought Rufus up to his head, pressing his ear into the little guy's chest.

"Cmon, cmon." He begged. "Don't do this to me." He waited, heart hammering in his chest again but for a different reason."

After a few seconds he heard it.

Tuku, tuku, tuku.

The sound of Rufu's fast paced heartbeat. A sound that had become such a constant companion over the years. And one he would probably feel lost without.

Breathing a sigh of relief he let himself fall back onto his butt, holding Rufus protectively to his chest.

"One hell of a night, eh bud" He told him, closing his eyes.

Just then Rufus stirred. Responding to the vibrations of Ron's voice through his chest. He opened his eyes and stretched his little body. Ron looked down and locked eyes with him.

"Ow..." Rufus squeaked.

"I hear ya." Ron said with a chuckle. He looked around the empty high ceilinged store room and rubbed his neck. He had never been on a mission like this. It wasn't even half done and he already felt so tired he might drop at any moment.

"Alright, buddy." Ron said getting up. "Ready for round two?"

Rufus stretched again, cracking a few bones, and looked up at Ron. He tried, and failed, to stifle a laugh.

"What?" Ron frowned. "There something on my face?"

Rufus nodded enthusiastically and pointed at his head. "Goop." He squeaked.

Ron brought his hand to his face and started feeling it. Moving up to his hair he felt it.

Squish.

His entire gloved hand was covered in green goo. "Augh, nasty." He wiped his hand on the floor while Rufus laughed. "Yeah, whatever. You ready to go or what." He said, bending down to pick up the Lotus Blade from where he'd dropped it. Rufus jumped to his shoulder and settled in for the ride.

"Hmph." Ron grunted bringing his hand to his neck and pressing on the microphone to turn it on. It probably got disabled during his electrocution. As soon as he did it stung like hell.

"Ow! What the..." He wondered pulling down the collar of his shirt. He touched the quarter sized device, pulling on it a little. It stung again and felt stuck to his skin. "How bad is it?"

Rufus walked across his shoulder and inspected it. "Burn." He squeaked.

"Great..." The thing had welded its self to him. "Ok, rip it off. Quick. Like a band aid so it doesn't hurt so much."

Rufus grabbed both edges of the microphone and pulled it off with out so much as a countdown.

"Ah!." Ron cried with tears in his eyes. "Oh, man. That smarts. Ow. Why didn't you do the countdown?"

Rufus chattered in his defense while placing the burnt microphone in Ron's hand.

"Yeah, right." He told him while examining the burnt piece of tech. It was bloated and covered in hardened bubbles. He could see tiny bits of burnt flesh welded to it. Looked nasty.

"Rufus..." He said, a little worried. If the microphone was that bad then... "Could you check my ear for the earwig?" He asked turning his head.

Rufus checked, his little paws tickling Ron a bit. "Gone." He sqeaked.

"Gone?" Ron asked before checking for himself. Yep, the earwig was definitely not there. Probably got taken too.

"Ok, lets get out of here." He told Rufus, shoving the burnt microphone into his pocket and pulling the collar back up over his burn. "Need Mrs. P's first aid kit and the rest of my stuff."

Ron walked around the storeroom, trying to find the door, while Rufus examined the sword in his hand. It was different from the one they'd brought. It looked a lot like...

"Hmn!" Rufus squeaked before chattering into Ron's ear.

"Yeah, it is." Ron answered while doing a circuit of the room, the door had to be somewhere on the wall.

Rufus chattered in surprise then anger.

"Well what else was I supposed to do?" He explained. "You were knocked out and we are probably running out of time. I needed to get out of those ropes fast." He found the door at the other end of the room. Reaching it he tried the knob.

Locked. Figures.

Rufus chattered again, this time a little worried.

"Don't worry." Ron reassured. "It's a magic sword. I'm sure its smart enough to dodge people and fly out a door or window. I mean, it used a window to come in here didn't it?" Ron was about to shove said sword through the keyhole to break the lock when he felt something unpleasant. "You feel that?" He asked Rufus.

Rufus looked around and chattered in the negative. He didn't feel a thing.

Ron shrugged and pushed the tip of the sword into the keyhole like a key and twisted it. They exited the storeroom through the newly opened door and walked carefully down a hallway. At the next corner he stopped and gestured for Rufus to get on his hand. Rufus did and Ron got him close enough to the edge of the wall to peek around it.

"Anything?" Ron asked.

"Camera." Rufus said with a nod.

"We shouldn't get spotted again." Ron said. Once was enough and he had the bruises to prove it. "Any ideas?"

Rufus looked up at him, thinking, when he noticed something above them. Rufus chattered his discovery to Ron.

"Great idea." Ron said. The ceiling above them was lined with those covers buildings had to hide structural beams and electrical cables. There enough space above them for a person to uncomfortably move around in. And more than enough for a mole rat to run in.

Ron reached up to push one of the covers up and let Rufus into the crawl-space but he couldn't reach.

"Aw, man..." Ron said, wishing for the upteenth time that he were taller. "Oh, I know." He said, bringing the lotus blade up.

Ok, Ron thought. Something to open the cover and let Rufus up there...

A dozen different images popped into his head and the Lotus Blade changed into every one of them before settling for a big ruler one of his middle-school teachers used to smash against her desk to get the class's attention. Though Ron suspected she just liked to see them jump.

Good enough... Ron thought and used it to push a cover up. Rufus scampered up the ruler and into the space to do his thing.

Ron waited, turning the ruler back into its sword form and admiring it. It was a beautiful weapon. Bluish steel with a pale blue for the edge and a darker shade for the back. It had a stylized lotus blossom carved on its base on both sides. The hilt was traditional with a square guard. It was really... not a katana?

Ron frowned and looked it over again. It was definitely not a katana. For one it was only half the size of his katana. Plus it had a straight blade instead of a curved one. He had always assumed it was a katana because of the whole Japanese school thing. He'd been obviously wrong.

His thoughts were interrupted when Rufus landed on his head.

"Done." Rufus squeaked with pride.

"Nice." Ron said, finger bumping his friend after he jumped down to his shoulder.

Ron walked around the corner without a worry into a hallway dotted with a few double doors. At the far en he spotted the camera Rufus had mentioned. Walking up to it he saw a hole in the panel right above it and a disconnected wire. Once he was under it he raised Rufus up to reconnect it.

"Don't want them to know something is up." He reasoned with Rufus. He they hugged the wall so as not to be seen by the reconnected camera and rounded the next corner.

"We're walking blind." Ron said. "We really need to find a... Oh! There's one." He said, spotting one of those 'You are Here' maps with escape routes every large building was required to have by the fire department.

"Ok..." He examined it. "We are the... yellow dot? Wow. Stick it to the red, dudes. If I were Shego, where would I put my stuff... Aha, Security Office. Fastest way to you is... got it."

Ron and Rufus made their way through the building, pausing at every corner to check for cameras and repeating the process whenever there was one. Luckily the office wasn't that far. Once at the door Rufus peeked over the doorway.

"Two." He sqeake-whispered.

"I'm telling you man." One of the henchmen inside the room said. "We should check it out. That many cameras going out then coming back is not a normal thing."

"Relax." Another voice said. "You know how the boss is. Probably a cheap set up. I'm surprised they lasted this long without a bug."

"I don't know..." The first said skeptically. "Maybe its another intruder?"

"Doubt it. There aren't that many people like that. Relax newbie. Speaking of intruders, who the hell keeps a dead rat in their pocket?"

"Probably the same people that keep a dead rabbits foot..."

"Hey!" Ron could hear a chair being pushed back by someone getting up. "This thing has been proven to bring good luck"

"Right..." The first henchman said, not at all convinced.

Ok, two henchmen... Ron thought. No worries.

He looked at the Lotus Blade in his hands and felt the same doubts about using it on someone as he did before. He could so easily hurt someone or even... no, he needed something better. Holding it he noticed the same slight discomfort he felt with his katana. It just felt off, as if it were unbalanced. It just wasn't right.

He pushed those thoughts aside and concentrated. He needed another weapon. One for handling real people without hurting them badly.

A staff. He concluded.

Following his will, the Lotus shifted into... a quirky wizard staff from his favorite RPG game?

That's not right... He thought so he kept changing it. No. Nope. Nu uh. Oh cmon, that's not even a thing.

"I'll be right back." A voice said, closer than Ron would've liked. "I just wanna make... sure?"

Ron froze like a deer in headlights. The henchman was just out of the doorway but it was enough to see him perfectly. The henchman took a deep breath.

Ron struck the henchman right in the throat with the thing in his hands, making him choke on the words he was about to shout. He turned around, staggering, and tried to get back in the office.

"He's... loose!" He tried to yell but could barely whisper. Ron brought the thing over his head in a choke hold and pulled him into the hallway, out of sight.

"What was that?" The other henchman asked, looking back from where he sat. "I'm telling you, man, you're just wasting your time." He said, turning back.

"Shh, henchman." Ron whispered to the henchman. "Just sleep, it's ok, shh"

Ron held the henchman from the doorway with all his strength. The henchman fought fiercely and almost beat Ron off him but his strength gave away and he collapsed bringing Ron down on top of him.

"Good henchman." Ron said, letting go. "Just sleep for a while... you are sleeping right?... Dude?" Ron turned him over and gave him a once over. "Yeah, you're sleeping."

Ok... Ron thought, picking himself up. That's one way to take out a henchman. Now for number two.

He walked back to the doorway and had Rufus peek inside again. Once he gave what resembled a thumbs up Ron entered quietly. The wall to his side was covered in screens that showed four cameras each. On the other side was a small holding cell and in front of him was a table with the henchman sitting with his back to him. On the wall beyond him were two doors.

Ron crept up to him, ready to knock him out with a hard hit to the head from his... thing, seriously what was it?... when he noticed it. One of those tazer-staffs Drakken armed his henchmen with leaning against the table. Right next to the henchman. A mischievous smile crept over his face.

Payback. He thought, setting down the Lotus Thing on the floor.

He crept closer to the henchman, being as silent as he could. As soon as the staff was within reach he grabbed it.

"Hey!" The henchman said, turning around. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Shocking you." Ron said to a very surprised henchman. He has seen them use these things so often that he knew exactly what to do. He twisted the handle and pulled it towards the center igniting the tip. He pressed it quickly to the henchman's chest.

The henchman screamed with surprisingly high pitch before being launched backwards into the wall and crumpling to the floor.

Ron stood still, a little flabbergasted. He slowly held the staff away from him, turned it off and examined the settings. They were all on highest.

"Dude..." He said, looking at the unconscious man. "This is just mean, what if you had hit me with this? It's probably gonna leave a mark." He tossed it to the side.

He grabbed the keys for the cell off the wall and dragged both unconscious men inside, locking them in.

"Don't go anywhere." He told them. "All right, now where's my stuff..." He wondered. He spotted his gear on the table where the henchman had been at. Everything had been taken out of his packs and laid out in distinct groups.

"They were splitting up my stuff?" He realized. He walked up to the table to inspect his things. "That's just wrong, man. Don't I atleast deserve an 'if we win can I have it'? Weve been enemies long enough... Ah! My harness..." He said mournfully while lifting the harness his sword was attached to. The chest strap and one of the shoulder straps had been shredded. All in all... it was now useless. Thinking about it, Shego had racked him across the chest... "It still had that new stuff smell..."

He removed the sword from the harness and wondered how he would carry it now. His eyes went from the buckles on the harness to their counterparts on the scabbard and back. An idea forming.

"I need a sowing kit..." He whispered, looking around. He decided to explore the rest of the office while searching for what he needed, starting with the door on the right. It opened to a locker room.

Inside the locker room the saw a large mirror that ran along the wall with four sinks under it. Further along the same wall were two showers with plastic curtains. Opposite them where two bathroom stalls. Next to the stalls, opposite the sinks and mirror, were two rows of five lockers stacked on top of each other.

"Surprisingly clean..." Ron noticed, walking to the first locker. On the way he noticed something near the mirror. "Gah!" He immediately took a defensive posture, his heart raced as he stared at the hideous beast, obviously some failed synthogoo creation of Drakken's.

The thing was so ugly he had a hard time looking at it. Drakken had obviously tried to make it look human. He could see some tufts of blonde hair sticking out of the leaking synthogoo on its head. It also had what appeared to be a face, also covered in goop, with sickly pale skin and freckles...

Hmn... Those freckles look familiar... He thought, studying the beast more closely. He raised an arm to wave at it only for it to mirror his actions.

...

"Heh." Ron chuckled moving closer to the mirror. "I knew Drakken couldn't make such a good looking drone. Ronshine cannot be duplicated!" He took off his gloves and put his head under one of the water faucets.

He was relieved to see that the goo washed off easily with water.

Why did that drone blow his guts all over me, anyway? He wondered, drying his head with a paper towel he got from a dispenser on the wall. As he did he noticed some black flakes falling of his arm. Inspecting it he realized his entire shirt was caked in blackish dried goo. Yet his pants were still coated in the bright green sludge.

Odd... He thought, carefully taking off his shirt. "Geh!" He exclaimed when he saw the bandages on his right forearm. They had been soaked through with blood. Definitely needed changing.

He put the shirt under the running water to wash off the dried goo. He noticed he water wasn't soaking into the shirt and instead just ran of it. It was water proof. Wade hadn't mentioned that. He finished washing it, wrung it and draped it over his shoulder. He'd put it back on after he changed his bandages.

Looking at his body in the mirror made him frown. He was covered in very distinct bruises. He could even make out the size and shape of the boot one of the drones kicked him with. Those were gonna hurt in the morning. Whatever, back to his original task.

He turned around and tried to open the first locker. It was locked. Luckily he had just the thing to pry it open with. He looked through the open doorway to the Lotus Blade which lay on the floor where he'd left it in its Lotus Thing form. He extended his arm.

"Over here Lotus Blade." He called.

The thing lifted and spun through the air, gracefully avoiding the table. It flew right through the door, past Ron's waiting hand and straight into his face.

"Augh!" He said, the thing leaning against his shoulder. "What the heck was that!? That hurt!" The thing said nothing. It just leaned against him all innocent like. Ron eyed it suspiciously before grabbing it.

"Can I get a crowbar?" He asked, and for once it changed straight into what he wanted on the first try. With Rufus on his shoulder he pried the locker open. Inside he found some clothes, shoes, deodorant and other random stuff. He opened the next one and found nothing he needed.

He had to pry open half of the lockers before he found one belonging to a sensible henchman.

"Honestly, people should always keep a portable sowing kit in their lockers." He said, inspecting the small plastic container. "I mean, you never now when your pants are gonna rip, showing off your fearless ferret boxers right? That happens all the time."

Rufus chatted in agreement.

Ron went to back to the office with the kit and a cellphone he'd taken from he sensible henchman's locker. Rufus jumped on the table and pushed the first aid kit towards Ron who had taken off his pants and had already thread a needle from the kit, ready to start his mini-project.

Rufus chattered in protest, pointing at his right forearm. Ron glanced between his arm and his project and came to a compromise.

"Hope bout a race Rufus?" Ron suggested. "You bandage my arm and I sow this, first one to finish gets an extra Naco after we save Bueno Nacho... and stop Drakken."

"Hn! Deal!" Rufus squeaked and got to work on the bandages.

Ron also got to work on his sowing, doing it one handed posed no challenge. He expertly removed one of the buckles from the back of the harness attached it to the left side of his pant's belt. It was an easy task for him and took him less that seven minutes, however...

"Ta dah!" Rufus squeaked triumphantly.

"What! No way..." Ron examined his newly bandaged arm. "What kind of bandages are those?" He asked, not recognizing them.

In response Rufus lifted the the empty wrapper they were rolled in.

"Antibiotic adhesive bandages..." He read. "First aid treatment only. For intended use on mild to moderate cuts, burns and/or bruises. Place directly over wound and wrap area with non-adhesive bandage provided. Seek immediate medical attention for severe injuries." Ron looked at Rufus accusingly. "No fair! this is high-end stuff." And it was, he could feel a cooling sensation numbing the sting.

Rufus just stuck his tongue out and squeaked "Naco!" with relish. Ron grumbled in defeat and finished his work seconds later. He put his pants back on and attached the sheath's upper buckle to the new buckle on his left belt. His guesstimated measurements were spot on. The sword lay comfortably at his side and he could draw it with ease... in fact it was way easier to draw now than when it lay on his back.

Weird. All the cool movies and games always had them on the back. He wondered why they would put them there when it was better on the side of the hip... His trust on TV and the big screen was dropping.

Ron shook those horrible thoughts from his head and grabbed the cellphone from the table. It was time to get back in the game.

He dialed Wade's number and waited. And waited. And waited...

"He's not answering." Ron told Rufus. He hung up and tried again with the same result. "He's ignoring me!"

Ron thought for a second and reached for the EE1 on the table and pressed its button. The propellers extended and started rotating. It took off his hand like a hornet, turning side to side until settling on him. Ron waved the phone at the EE1 and dialed again. It rang once before he heard him pick up.

"Hey, Wade." Ron said, cheerfully. "How long was I..." He tried to ask but his ear was blown out.

"Ron!" Wade screamed into his ear. "How... wha... when... You're ok? Hold on."

The EE1 came closer and blasted him with grid of blue light. Ron blinked twice and then it was over.

"You're... fine." Wade said, bemused. "But the chip said you were dead."

"Yeah, about that." Ron said, feeling a little guilty. He pulled out the burnt and bloated microphone, placing it on the table along with the phone with the speaker function on. "The health chip in this thing wont be saying much of anything... sorry."

"What?" Wade said, catching himself just in time. "Oh! Yeah, um. Don't worry about it. I can easily rebuild the Ron-com. It was just a prototype, anyway."

"Oh..." He still felt sad about it though. Until He finished processing his words. "Ron-com?"

"Yeah." Wade said, distractedly. He was focusing on another aspect of his scan of Ron. "You used it first, so I thought it would fit."

"Wow..." Ron said, he felt all choked up. "Thanks, man." He looked to Rufus, who stood on the table with a small piece of adhesive bandage, pointing at Ron's neck. "Ron-com." He said, lifting his buddy to his shoulder where Rufus tended to the slight burn.

Wade, for his part, was running through every possible reason for the chips malfunction. Not only was he getting obviously wrong vitals, but now even the location was wrong too. He had been staring at Ron's dot on the screen. It hadn't moved at all. He ran more diagnostics but everything checked out fine.

"What's going on..." He wondered aloud.

"What was that?" Ron asked. He was going around the table placing everything back into his packs and reattaching them to the belt.

"Oh, nothing." He deflected.

Maybe if I increase power... He wondered at the same time he typed. Maybe raising the energy would do something. So he did and waited for a reaction. He got one. He lost the signal from it completely.

"Ah!" Ron yelled, startling Rufus. Ron grabbed his side. "What the... Ah! Oh, god, that hurts." He looked to where the pain came from but there was nothing. He just felt a sharp, stabbing pain on the side of his abdomen.

Not good. Wade thought redundantly. He piloted the EE1 to Ron's side and scanned the chip. Oh no... It was so much worse than he thought. Absolutely every part of the chip was burnt out. The only part still functional was its self replenishing battery which fed of its hosts body heat and electrical impulses. With all its functions destroyed there was only on place for the electricity generated to go...

"We have to get it out..." He whispered, he no longer had any communication with it. There was no turning it off.

"It? What it?" Ron asked through gritted teeth. He felt like he was being repeatedly stabbed with a needle by an uncoordinated nurse.

"There's a malfunctioning microchip on the side of your abdomen." Wade told him. There was no time to beat around this bush. "Its discharging small amounts of electricity that are striking all the nerves in its area."

"Huh? Who put a... Ow!" He tried to ask when another shock hit, making him grab onto the table for support. They were getting more painful with each one. "What do we do." He asked, sweat beading on his brow.

"We have to cut it out." Wade said matter-of-factly. He typed a few commands and made the EE1 take out its four, single joint arms. Two on top and two below with three pronged claws. One of the claws combined its pincers into very sharp scissors.

"What! No." Ron said, pushing the sharp, hovering maniac of a machine away. "Can't you just hack it or..."

"No." Wade cut him off. The more they waited the greater the damage could be. "Its far too damaged for me to communicate with it. There's no other way."

"Well, what if we... Ack!" He got shocked again. "Ok, ok. Cut it out. Cut it out." He grunted through gritted teeth. Ron looked up and away from what was about to happen.

"Zaaaaaah." Ron hissed when Wade made the incision. "Man that stings. Ow!" He flinched as he was stabbed again by the nurse. He could feel the warm trickle of blood sliding down his side.

"Ron." Wade scolded. "You have to stand still. I don't want to grab the wrong thing."

"Scary thing to say..." Ron said but did as told. Wade used two of the claws to hold the cut open and a third to dig in. "Whoa. Your claws are so cold Wade. Oh, man that feels gross. Ow! Did you just pinch my kidney?"

"Sorry." Wade apologized. It wasn't his kidney that he had pinched, but still... "I'm not used to these controls yet. And... got it!" He said triumphantly.

The EE1 released its hold on Ron and flew a few feet backwards holding a something reminiscent of a gel pill.

"Is that it?" Ron asked finally looking down. "How could something so small be so painful?" He reached down and put some pressure on the small cut.

Just then the chip let out a small spark, like a static discharge.

"A small spark can cause an incredible amount of pain if it strikes the right place... or wrong place I guess." Wade explained. Then EE1 then stored the chip in a compartment on its belly. To Ron it looked like it ate it... like a bird eating a grub.

"How did that thing even get in there..." Ron wondered aloud. He sat down with a frown. Rufus jumped down from his sgoulder and cut another piece of adhesive bandage and hopped down to the cut. Ron held it closed so that he could patch the leak. "I mean... I didn't have a cut there before..."

"Uh..." Wade said. Oh, crap. "You know, Ki..." Wade tried to change the subject.

"And that didn't even look like Drakken's tech..." Ron interrupted. "His chips are like... square and black and all... evil looking, you know? That thing was blue and oval and cool looking..."

"You should really..." Wade tried again.

"It reminds me of thing you gave Kim few years ago..." Ron interrupted again, he was on a roll, something was really nagging him so he was saying all that jumped into his head. "Remember? It could remote hack a security feed into replaying a loop. That would useful here, eh Rufus."

"I should really tell Ki..." Wade tried yet again.

"I accidentally used it on the school computer network..." Ron chuckled. "every screen on campus showed a clip of me dropping my pants ... we never found out who'd been watching it to begin with."

"Ron..." Wade said nervously. Ron wasn't the greatest detective around, but every so often he got flashes of insight. Wade had known him long enough to see one coming. "I really should tell them you're al..."

"Wait..." He said, eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Is that chip yours, Wade?"

"Um..." Was all Wade could say.

"It is!" Ron said, pointing at the EE1. "I can see it in your guilt ridden little machine eye!"

"Ron, listen..." Wade tried to explain.

"Nope!" Ron said, plugging his ears. "Don't wanna hear it. Lalalala. Can't hear you. Wait... Does Kim know about this?"

"Well, yeah." Wade said. Ron paused for a moment and Wade seized his chance. "She has one too."

Ron frowned unhappily.

"KP let you chip her?" He asked him in a low voice.

"Well..." Wade persevered. "She let me do it after I explained, so..."

"She agreed?" Ron asked in surprise. Kim guarded her private space jealously. "S'plain yourself, dude."

"Well..." Ok, good. Gotta keep it rolling. "I just thought that since we're all involved in dangerous stuff all over the world we should have some sort of backup for the backup."

"We?" Ron was confused. "You have one too?"

"Yeah." Wade lied. "Can never be too careful. You guys have been captured plenty of times. Like when Kim got captured by Drakken during the whole Transportulator thing."

"Captured?" Ok, now his head was just spinning with revelations. "She told me some goons stole it right out of the owners hands and she had to run them down."

"No, she got caught." Wade sprinkled some camouflage truth over his lie. "I helped her out with the... device." He said, not specifying which device had helped.

Ron thought for a few seconds, going back and forth in his mind.

"Well..." He came to a conclusion. "If Kim thinks its ok..."

"Good!" Wade said. Better wrap this up fast. "You sit tight and finish cleaning yourself up. I'll call Kim and tell her your ok. She looked really worried."

That got Ron's mind permanently off the chip.

"KP knows I got caught?" Ron asked in despair. I messed up...

"Yeah, She and Eric should be there soon." Wade said, typing into his computer.

Ron's hear skipped a beat at that. Had he heard him right? Nah... Couldn't be.

"Did you say she..." Ron paused, he didn't want to know. But he felt he had to. "She... brought Eric on the mission?"

"Yeah, she needed backup and he was the best choice so... hold on I'm calling her now. I'll patch you through." Wade said. Ron could hear him typing on his keyboard.

He wasn't ready. He couldn't handle this yet. He needed more time.

"You know what..." Ron said, keeping as much composure as he could. He stood up, much to Rufus's protests, who had just finished bandaging the cut. He walked closer to the EE1. "You're right. I really need to clean up. I got so much sinthogoo all over me that I could give Gill a run for his gooey money. I probably need a shower."

He grabbed the EE1 from the air and pressed its button. Its arms bent back into its body and it tucked its propellers in.

"Ron? What are you doing?" He asked when his video feed got cut off.

"Privacy issues." He answered. "I'll call you back as soon as I'm done." He reached for the phone and pressed the 'End' button before Wade could protest. He let his body drop on his chair as if he lost the strength to stand.

She brought Eric on a mission...

The fact made his heart feel like it had been dropped into a very deep well. The pressure of the water being so strong it was a wonder it could still beat. His chest felt so tight, so heavy. He wondered if he would be able to get up with so much weight. He head and shoulders slumped, not even bothering to try.

Missions. Its was one of their core things. One of those things they always did together. The last thing they did together nowadays. And now she had brought pretty boy on one.

It was over.

"Too late..." He whispered miserably. I did too little, far too late. The mission clothes, the new mission gear, the practice. He might as well not had done them at all. He had started caring about it too late for it to count.

He had failed.

Ron just sat there, defeated. Rufus saw his emotions plummet. He had to do something, distract his friend from whatever was doing this to him. He jumped from the table to his shoulder and patted him on the head like he'd done many times before. Didn't work. Ron hadn't even acknowledged his presence.

Rufus started thinking. What else could he do? Bite him? Nah, too extreme. Better save that one as a last resort. He jumped back to the table and looked around. There had to be something... Of course! The TV. There was an actual TV next to the security monitors. Rufus looked round some more and found the remote on the far side of the table. He scampered to it and pressed the On button.

There seemed to be a movie on. Big explosions and fighting. Everything from tanks to giant robots. Perfect. Rufus raised the volume and went back to Ron, chattering and pointing in the direction of the TV.

Ron, though, was oblivious to his friends attempts.

Growing up, she had called it. What did that even mean? And why did it have to hurt so much? Why did it have to lose the friendship he'd had up to now? Why hadn't he figured it out sooner and done something about it? If this is what happened when you grew up then he wanted none of it!

He left himself to the misery. Tears rolling down his cheeks. He was done. The phone he had used to call Wade rang but he ignored it.

Meanwhile the movie raged on. More explosions as the robots rampaged through the city, tanks rolling up and firing at them, destroying one only to for two, bigger, ones to pop up. The defense forces where severely outnumbered. The whole thing was being shown from a reporters point of view.

He sat there, lost in his depression when his tight heart picked up its tempo. He started feeling restless, sitting straight on his seat and grabbing the elbow rests. Even his breathing was picking up. For a moment he feared his panic attack was making a comeback but this was different. His limbs felt energized and begged him to move, to get up, to do something.

Why, though? Why should he do anything? He had just lost the very reason he was even here.

He looked up at the TV Rufus had apparently been distracted from cheering him up by the movie. He sat next to the remote, watching it intently. Was that it? Was it the movie? He reached for the remote and turned the TV off. He caught a glimpse of the corner a building exploding.

He leaned back in his chair, ignoring Rufus's angry chatter, waiting for his body to settle down. But it didn't, if anything it got worse. He got up and paced the room. Why was he feeling this way? Was he that easily distracted from his pains? He put his right hand over is heart.

No, he wasn't. He could still feel it. The constricting pressure around his heart. The terrible weight on his shoulders. It hadn't gone away, hadn't even been dulled in the least. There was something else there, though. Something that wouldn't let him sit still. And he had no idea what it could be.

He looked down at the table were the EMS gun still lay out of its holster and frowned. His gear was... mostly... intact.

I could still go on... He thought and the moment he did his hands moved. He grabbed the gun, placed it in his holster and reattached it to his thigh. He repacked the first aid kit and put it away. While doing so he saw a slightly crumpled paper on the table. Looking it over he saw that it was a picture of two barely teens smiling. He frowned at the image ad moved to crumple it into a ball... but he couldn't. It was as if a physical force kept him from even trying.

With a sigh he carefully folded the picture and placed it back inside his large pack, reattaching it to the small of his back. He put the armor shirt back, mindful of his arm, with much less difficulty than the first time. The shirt seemed to have retained most of his shape. It provided a welcomed pressure over his bandaged injuries.

Ready. He thought, taking stock of hi gear. He glanced at the camera monitors. Well, almost. Just one more... no two, meh... three more things. He grabbed the cellphone from the table and hit redial while at the same time turning the EE1 back on. It took off his hand gently this time.

"Ron." Wade said, turning the EE1 around to look at him. "Bout time you called back. Kim said to stay put. She and Eric are approximately twenty minutes from BN: HQ."

Ron frowned at that and decided to ignore it. He turned on the phones speaker function and placed it on the table.

"Hey Wade." Ron said, gesturing to the monitors. "Think you could disable all the cameras in the lair?"

"Why?" Wade asked, looking at him suspiciously.

"Don't want to get ambushed again." Ron said, rubbing his chest. "It hurts."

"Ron, didn't you hear me?" Wade explained. "Kim will be there soon, so you can just sit tight."

"I heard you, Wade." Ron said. "I'm still going though. Maybe I can finish the mission before they even get here."

"Ron!" Wade said, a bit of panic in his voice. "Just stop. You're hurt. Last time was an incredibly close call. Next time you might not be so lucky. Just stay there and..."

"I cant stop, Wade." Ron said. It was the truth, his limbs were still restless, begging him to get on with it. "I'm going. If I fail then KP and pretty boy can save Bueno Nacho..." Ron said. "and stop Drakken." He added

"But..." Wade wanted to argue, but he knew he couldn't win. So he tried a different tactic. "Fine. I'll help on one condition." He proposed.

"Which is..." Ron asked.

"Let Kim try to convince you." Wade used the big guns.

Ron opened his eyes in surprise. She would obviously tell him to stay put. Could he refuse her? Probably not... Maybe getting ambushed wasn't such a bad thing...

Ron took too long deciding.

"Patching her through." Wade said without warning.

"Ah..." Ron whimpered, he wasn't ready.

Ron held his breath, waiting for his best friend's voice to come. And waited. And waited...

"Huh..." Wade said, confused. "She's not answering..."

Ron gripped that lifeline like a drowning man in a storm.

"Then I win by default." He said, smugly. "I can't wait for her to pick up. So, if you please."Ron gesture to the security cameras again.

Wade hesitated, he really didn't want to do this. Ron saw through it.

"Wade, please." Ron pleaded. "I'd rather do this knowing you have my back..."

And just like that, Wade's defenses crumbled.

"Give me three minutes to make a loop." He said. "If I just turn them off they'll now."

"You rock, dude." Ron said happily, if he was going to do this he would feel tons better knowing he had Wade helping. Now that that was done with he asked about the other two things he was missing. "Hey Wade, what happened to the EE2? I haven't seen it anywhere."

"It was destroyed by Shego shortly after the drone caught you." Wade said, he had flown the EE1 to the security console and plugged into one of its USB ports.

"Aw man, that tanks!" Ron said, grieving for his lost gadget. "You wouldn't happen to know where the earwig is too, would you?"

"You lost it?" Wade asked.

"No!" Ron defended himself. "I just don't know were it is at this exact moment."

Wade chuckled at that, Ron was acting more like himself. That incredibly serious look he had earlier just seemed out of place on his face. He preferred his goofy smile.

Ron for his part frowned, he had lost a lot of gear on this mission already. Far more than he had ever lost on any other. He looked towards the locker room. There were quite a few lockers he hadn't checked yet...

"Be right back." He said, picking up the Lotus Crowbar. He entered the locker room and started prying the doors open. "Rufus, I open em and you search for the earwig."

Rufus gave a salute and jumped to the first locker, throwing a bunch of stuff out in his search. Ron left the lockers to Rufus and went to the other door of the office. The one he hadn't opened yet. He hoped it was the 'Lost and Found' closet.

"...!" Ron barely kept himself from giving a yelp. It wasn't the 'Lost and Found' closet. It was an infirmary. And the bed was occupied by the giant Sumo Ninja. He had an ice bag on his head and was resting. "Sorry for disturbing you..." Ron said as he gently closed the door. He concluded that the earwig was definitely not there.

He went back to the locker room, which was not a wreck, and found Rufus on the floor.

"Any luck?" Ron asked.

Rufus shook his head.

Ron sighed, he really did lose it. Bummer. Looking down at the stuff on the floor he spotted a bluetooth earpiece. Crouching down he picked it up and turned it on, it connected automatically to the phone he was already using. It obviously belonged to the sensible henchman. He put on his ear. it was a poor substitute but it would have to do.

"Lets go, buddy." Ron told Rufus. "Break's over." Rufus scampered up his leg and into his pocket. Ron looked at the Lotus Crowbar in gis hand and after wondering what to do with it for a few minutes changed it into a snugfitting bracer on his roght forearm.

Ron walked purposefully into the office, he was itching to get going.

"Ready, Wade?" He asked, getting the phone and carefully putting it inside the large pack.

"Yeah, all cameras are set in a loop" Wade said with pride. "Ron Stoppable is now the invisible man. I also encrypted the signal you're using so that no one can trace it."

"You, good sir..." Ron said. "Always fail to disappoint." Ron walked out into the hallway without fear.

"Ron, are you sure you're ready for this?" Wade asked again, giving it one last shot.

"The Ronman has got th..." Ron started but suddenly turned around. "Hold on a sec. " He said jogging back to the office. Minutes later Wade heard the flush of a toilet and the running of a faucet followed by the crumpling of paper.

Ron walked back out of the office, pulling on his gloves and looking as serious as he had ever looked.

"Ron..." Wade began but was cutoff.

"Don't try to stop me Wade." Ron said walking past the hovering EE1. "You cant."

"I know." Ron said with a smile. "Its just that you're going the wrong way."

Ron did, in fact, stop for a moment before turning around and walking back, this time following Wade's lead.

"Ron..." Wade said, the smile gone from his voice as he guided the EE1 along the hallways. "Since were going to do this then we should hurry..."

"Why." Ron asked, glad that his friend was now fully on board.

"As of twenty-one minutes ago Diablos all over the world were activated." Wade said with severity. "The world is under siege."

Ron thought about that for a few moments before nodding. Things just got real.

"No worries." Ron said, picking up the pace...

---

A/N: And there it is! So... what do ya think? Next chapter is sure to be the best one... since its the part where this whole fanfic started. The grandaddy action sequence I've played and replayed over and over and OVER again. It will be DETAILED.

Look forward to it and until next time!