X-Possible

002: School Day


The front door of Middleton High opened, and through it walked emerging teen heroine, Kim Possible. She was wearing the latest trends from Club Banana, a lime-green tank-top, stopping just below her bust, baring her midriff, hip-hugging capris jeans, and plain tennis shoes. She carried a plain grey backpack, slung over one shoulder. She walked down the halls grinning and waving at those who greeted her. There was the warm air of familiarity that they showed her, followed by a curious, mystified expression when they looked next to her. This caused her to glance to her side without alarm, and smile at her best friend walking beside her, they were shoulder to shoulder.

Striding next to her was a blonde-headed, streaked with red, standing an inch taller than her, boy whose face looked familiar, with brown eyes, and an angular, boyish face, big ears that looked slightly pointed, as well as the three freckles on both cheeks. He wore a happy expression, tinged with grief, as he walked with confidence next to the red-head. In the minds of the other students, it looked a little like Ron Stoppable, but that could not be right, Ron Stoppable's body never looked that good. The clothes were the same, the hockey jersey over a black turtleneck, and beige cargo pants, now held up under the jersey by suspenders, including a brown leather backpack, but the body was different. This body looked fit and trim, and while the normally baggy clothes still looked too big for his frame, they could tell by the breadth of his shoulders that he had a lean, muscular physique, and walked with the same economy of motion, as the girl walking beside him. Kim wished he would dress a little more stylishly, but it really was not a very big ish with her, he would not be her Ron if he dressed like that. I'll be the fashion maven for us, and only insist on proper attire when it's necessary.

They reached their lockers, located right next to each other this year. They opened their respective domains depositing the backpacks inside. Kim turned to her best friend, her brother in all the ways that mattered, and placing a hand on his shoulder asked, "How are you holding up Ronnie, it's only been a week since Rufus left us?"

"I'm not gonna front KP," he said his voice trembling, "the first few nights, the first week really, were the hardest I've faced since Camp Wannaweep."

"I wish there was something I could do to help ease your pain," Kim said with a tear running down her face, "just know, that I am here for you, whenever you need to talk, okay?" Ron nodded lowering his head, but that was not good enough for Kim, "Hey," she said lifting his head up by the chin to look her in the eye, "whenever, wherever, I am your best friend," she said, "you mean everything to me Ron Stoppable," she pulled him into her arms, and hugged him tightly.

Ron tightened his hold, and returned the hug, with one just as powerful, "Right back at you KP, unless Josh Mankey happens to be around," he said slyly. "You tend to turn your head off when he's around."

Kim's embarrassed blush could have competed with her hair for redness, and still maintaining the hug, hits Ron on his now firm shoulders. "I wasn't that bad Ronald Stoppable," she hissed in his now more acute ear.

"Of course not," Ron said lightly, "I'll just make sure the next time Josh asks you to the Spring Fling dance, I'm not standing in a closet. I'm lucky the janitor had to clean the gym the next morning or I'd have been in there the whole weekend." Kim's arms tightened around her best friend's neck as she remembered her actions back then. She berated herself for that lapse a hundred times and swore to herself that she'd be a better friend than that. Ron would never have forgotten about her like that, he even quit his dream job at Bueno Nacho to come rescue her, even though they had been fighting at the time. In a low voice, she whispered to him, "I'm sorry about that Ronnie," Kim said right into his ear, using her pet name for him when she is being her most sincere, "you deserve a better friend than that, and after what happened to Rufus, I promise to step in and fill the void he left in your heart. I can't and won't try to replace him, because he is irreplaceable, both as a teammate and a friend, but I will be as true to you as he ever was, from here on out." Ron was stunned, and tears began to well up in his eyes, both at the thought of his little buddy leaving them, and at how his best friend chose to console him.

They did not care that every eye in the halls was glued to them, as far as both were concerned the only person that mattered, in the world, was holding them now. "What's the matter K," said a snarky, conceited voice, "did the idiot's rat die, or something?" Kim's eyes widen, Ron gasps and his lip trembles, and the next thing Bonnie knows, she is being pushed into a locker and Kim is in her face.

Kim has only ever moved that fast when she was fighting Shego. "Don't you ever, say that to me or Ron again," Kim's voice is dripping with menace, "do we understand each other, Bonnie Rockwaller?" Bonnie's eyes are wide, she had never seen Kim lose it like she just did, "you can say anything you want about me, Bonnie," Kim continued through gritted teeth, "but until further notice, you don't breathe an insulting word to me or Ron about Rufus, or I'll make sure you look worse than DNAmy after I'm done with you, understood," Kim growls? Bonnie nodded frantically, but then a hand rested on Kim's shoulder, she did not need to turn around to tell whose hand it was, she would know the feel of his hand anywhere.

"It's okay, Kim," the voice of Ron said, as he rubbed the back of her shoulder, "Rufus, is in a better place now," he continued in a subdued voice, "he can't be hurt by Bonnie, anymore." Everybody's eyes widened, and they gasped. Ron without Rufus was like a pizza without cheese, it was still edible and quite good, but there was just something fundamentally wrong about the idea.

Kim backed away from her fellow cheerleader, and looked at her partner, or at least the most important person in her world right now, she noted Ron's dull eyes and waning smirk. She returned it, with a warm, caring one of her own, "Come on Ron, let's go to class," she said taking him by the arm and threading hers through his, and pressing her shoulder into his, then began pulling him along, "we have a new chemistry teacher who's supposed to be world renowned, I hear he volunteered to do it as a sort of getting back to basics crusade."

Before they were out of earshot, Bonnie said something unusual, "I'm sorry Ron," she said loudly enough for them to hear, "I'm sorry about Rufus, if it wasn't for you, and him, I would have become the bride of fish sticks last year, so thank you." The couple turned and nodded thanks to their tormentor for recognizing the truce, where Rufus was concerned, with that both sides turned and walked away.

Kim and Ron walked into their Chemistry 2 class room and lab. They sat down next to each other, waiting for class to start. They began chatting about everything except the vacancy in Team Possible. What was most on Kim's mind was what Ron told her when she reached his house two weeks ago, after she returned from her family's summer vacation. Wade had already been and gone, delivering his apology to Ron in person. It seems that since Kim and Ron were away at boot camp and special agent training for SHIELD and Global Justice, the two agencies sent a trainer over to Wade's house and trained him in learning how to support his field operatives. The trainer upgraded his equipment and made him do the same physical conditioning exercises as Kim and Ron, to help Wade understand what Kim and Ron were going through.


"Oh, Ron," Kim said, her voice distraught over her mistake, she flung herself at him, running her hands all over his body looking for damage, "I am so sorry I didn't listen to you when you told me Monkey Fist was 'bad road.'" Kim had arrived five-seconds ago, and they were still in the door. She broke down and cried into his chest, having long since reverted to her base form. Ron was so surprised by her apology that he did not react for another minute or two.

Ron brought his arms up around his best friend's shoulders, she snuggled her face even deeper into her Ron's now more muscular chest. Ron picked her up and carried her bridal style into the living room, while kicking the door closed. He sat down on the couch, bringing her down to sit beside him. He caressed her head and threaded his fingers through her hair, like he always did when she cried, he is the only person outside of her parents, she ever cried around. They were alone in the house, Vicky having taken Rufus to a specialist she knew to determine why his health seemed to be deteriorating. "Kim, KP," he began, "it's alright, I'm okay, I wasn't harmed beyond a few bruises, and they're a small price to pay for the valuable lesson I learned." Kim nodded into his chest, and breathed in his scent, she may not be in her anthropomorphic state, but her senses were always active. "I'll tell you another thing, Kim," Ron continued, as he stroked her hair some more, "after speaking with Rabbi Katz, I'm glad you didn't listen to me."

Kim sat up, looking at him in disbelief, "but Ron, not listening to you almost got you killed."

"Yes, but, if you had listened to me, you and I would be no better than my uncle Graydon, or Eric Magnus Lensherr," he told her, which made her flinch like he had physically slapped her. Just like he knew about, and has seen her mutation in full effect, and still told her she looked beautiful, Kim knew all about Ron's family tree, my brother, is not his uncle, and any mutant in the struggle for equal rights, knew who Graydon Creed was, and knew of the terrorist Magneto. "Kim, I had absolutely zero proof of anything regarding old Monte," Ron began, pulling her back into a hug, kissing the top of her forehead, "there was nothing that led me to believe that he was the bad road, I made him out to be. The only reason I suspected him was, because of my aversion to his life's work, studying monkeys. That he turned himself into a monkey-human hybrid, tried to kill me, and got me exposed to a mystical force, that, according to Wade when he scanned me, has awakened my X-gene," Kim gasped at that, but Ron only smiled at her, "now that, is all the proof I need to know that he is 500 miles of bad road."


Skip forward to today, it appears Ron has acquired most of his grandfather's mutation, and a dash of his grandmother for flavor. Kim glanced up at Ron's red-striped hair, in the last two weeks Ron's healing factor has progressed to be equal to, and even a little faster than Uncle Logan's version. Ron's endurance, while not equal to Wolverine's, is still increasing daily. He has told her that his senses are increasing not only in acuity, but threshold frequency, now approaching her own.

To say nothing of the gifts, the mystical monkey power, as Ron remembers Monkey Fist calling it, has bestowed on him. Ron tells her of his dreams, where he witnesses and participates in cataclysmic battles, and every morning finds his mind saturated with information, regarding training of his new body, and mind. Far from making him forget knowledge he already has; the new information finds a way to work with Ron's older information. She watched him perform a kata from one of the martial arts contained in his brain; his mutation worked with the MMP to speed up the process of gaining muscle memory. The second time she watches him perform that kata he was significantly better at it, approaching her level of one of the sixteen forms of Chinese martial arts, she is so close to mastering. I wonder how competent he's gotten in two weeks?

"Hey Ron," she speaks up, he looks at her curiously, "Would you like to start sparring with me, I've noticed you're getting better and better in your forms training," she compliments but adds, "but forms are just a fraction of the training needed to be competent in martial arts?"

Ron's face took on a thoughtful expression, "well, I still have Rabbi Katz training me in combat and we spar all the time," he says, she looks down thinking he rejected her proposal, she felt so sad that she thought her best friend was turning her down, "but he's not exactly a spring chicken, and I can tell I'm starting to tax him. I'll continue to train and learn under him, his fighting style, and spar with him if he asks, but I don't see what it can hurt to get in a little extra practice with my best friend. He did say when I started training with him that once I got up in levels, he would start allowing me to spar with you."

Kim leaned back smiling happily, but Ron was not finished, "however I'm not just going to be fighting you, with the new styles my mind is training me in, I'm going to use everything I've learned to test myself against you." He stopped and leaned forward because the desks were filling all around them. "So, you better do the same KP, don't slack off, or go easy on me because you fear you could hurt me. As Rabbi Katz says, 'it is better to test your limits in training, than in the thick of battle,' besides with the way I heal you don't need to worry about injuring me." Ron says, "do you think you can pretend I'm one of your deadliest enemies for the short few times we'll be sparring?"

Kim was surprised at his vehemence, he was serious, she had only intended to test him, but then after thinking about it, she realized in the back of her mind that she really wanted to test herself, to test her own limits against him, "Yes, I can, and will," Kim answered definitively, "when we face each other, I promise, I will fight you just as hard as I fight Shego, or any of our other enemies."

At that moment the bell rings, and all students grow still and quiet. Before the door opens Kim and Ron begin to sniff the air, and a familiar scent precedes the figure that enters. "No… way," Ron whispers in astonishment, "did you know he was coming KP?"

"No," Kim answers just as surprised, "I didn't, and Dad never mentioned Cousin Henry coming for a visit."

The door opened, and there stood none other than Dr. Henry Phillip McCoy, PHd in all his blue-furred anthropoidal glory. He would have stood 6'3", if his natural posture was not stooped a little, so he stood an even six-feet tall, in a brown suit, a plain dress shirt, which did little to hide the powerful muscles of his body, and a tie the color of his fur. That is correct, over every inch of his exposed flesh, namely his head, which had a strong chin with a warmly smiling mouth, opened to reveal a set of teeth, four of which were slightly, elongated canines, glasses supported by pointed ears, hands with long fingers ending not in fingernails, but claws, and two feet the size of boats, which also happened to end in claws. "Good morning class," he spoke in a civilized, urbane baritone. Most of the class was stunned by his appearance, two were flat-out dumbfounded by the simple fact that he was there at all. "I said, Good Morning, Class!"

"Good morning sir," all but two in the class chorus.

"Morning Hank," Kim pipes up.

"Hiya, Dr. McCoy," Ron replies, opting for a more formal address.

Hank's smile widens, truly feeling welcome by at least two members of the student body, the rest of which whip their heads around to their two classmates. "Ah, doctor or mister McCoy, Kimberly, while we're in school, if you please."

Kim blushed, "Sorry, Cou… Doctor McCoy," she amended, giving him his due respect.

Hank chuckles, "As my second cousin has informed you, my name is Dr. Henry McCoy, and I have been invited by the superintendent of this school district to lead this, and all other chemistry classes for the semester. As you can tell by my appearance, I am a mutant, I was born with a gene, called an X-gene that alters my genetic makeup thus," he said gesturing to himself.

There was a hand raised in the back, Hank pointed and asked her to stand and state her name, "Tara Powers, and was it true that you were an Avenger, Dr. McCoy?"

"I still am, once an Avenger, always an Avenger," Beast answered. "Now, if there are no other questions…," there were none, Beast was astounded, whenever he was out in public he had to fight himself to keep from bowing under the pressure of scrutiny based on his appearance, now these high school students barely bat an eye at his blue fur. "Now that introductions are out of the way, time for a little housekeeping. I will call the roll and you will move to sit in the row closest to the door going back and forth in alphabetical order: Amy Abbot…" By the time he was finished Kim and Ron were seated right next to each other with Ron sitting outboard and Tara, Kim's fellow cheerleader sitting just behind Kim.

As the bell rang, Tara reached over and took Ron's hand, "I was sorry to hear about Rufus, Ron," she said, squeezing his hand, before giving him a sympathetic look, before heading off to her next class.

Ron Stoppable was heading to his next class, Introduction to Japanese and he was running late, because he had remained behind to speak with Kim's second cousin on her dad's side. Middleton was an unusual city, with green skinned women walking around without batting an eye, a man with blue fur and looking like Magilla Gorilla was only a little different. Hank McCoy was James Possible's maternal cousin, through his mother born Nancy McCoy, Kim's grandmother Nana.


"What're you doing here Hank," Kim asked as they stood in the classroom while other kids filed out? "You don't just drop everything, leave Westchester because a superintendent asks you too," Kim adds, not buying the story he fabricated, she stands next to Ron while speaking with her nana's nephew.

"Irrefutably," Hank answered, "you are correct." He looked around and dropped his vocal frequency below that of human speech, a frequency that he knew his second cousin could hear and speak. "Cerebro picked up an anomalous reading about two weeks ago," he told her, Ron was following along perfectly, though he did not realize he was doing it, he thought Kim and Hank were speaking normally, we can't seem to pinpoint its location, it seems to act very much like an elementary particle. It moves in wave form until we try to locate it, then it disappears like it was never there. We were able to track it here to Middleton." Kim looks over to Ron with a questioning eyebrow, it's Ron's secret, it's a best friend thing.

Ron had a sneaking suspicion, and apparently so did Kim, so keeping an eye on Ron, asked, "I trust you, Kim," Ron said, in the low frequency they've been talking in, "and you trust Hank, so I trust Hank."

Kim turns to her second cousin, "We believe, we know who you were tracking, Hank," she said pointing her finger at Ron.

"You were tracking me, Hank," Ron interjected, his voice dropping into vocal range. Kim smirked at her cousin when she saw his face agog. Kim was raised with two scientists and they raised her to think logically. If Ron could hear in certain frequencies, then he should theoretically be able to speak in those frequencies. Since, according to her mother, children begin speaking and learning to speak correctly by listening and repeating their parents.

Hank McCoy's mouth was hanging wide open, he knew Kim would have told Ron the fodder for their low frequency conversation once they could find a secluded location. Kim tells Hank all about the end of the summer, from Monkey Fist, Wade's duplicity, to the mystical monkey power, and Ron's mutation. Hank, who has known Ron since he was a little boy, has never doubted Ron's character. When Kim began going on missions Beast was dubious about them, until he was told Ron would be there to back up his cousin. Ron may not have had any skills like Kimberly, but Hank believed Ron's own brand of chaos could ensure they emerged victorious, or at least alive. While rare it was not unheard of for mutants to be awakened using magical means, Charles Xavier's step-brother Cain Marko inadvertently used the power of the Ruby of Cyttorak to become the Juggernaut. My friend Logan, Beast thought in the silence of his mind, I think you and Laura have finally found what you have long been searching for, family.


Ron was cutting his time a little fine, so he decided to take the shortcut through D-hall, a place he would normally try to avoid. He walked steadily from one side of the school toward another. D-hall was a little different than the other halls in the school. There were two turns in the D-hall configuration, both in 90-degree tangents, branching off from one another. A pedestrian would enter it one way, follow the first turn, and then turn down the next corridor, returning to their original course to leave the hall. It is the one place where teachers rarely roam, which means that the children of the school with more violent tendencies seem to congregate there, out of sight of the general population.

Given the circumstances, the environment, not to mention Ron's past dealings with those who inhabited this stretch of hallway, it was no surprise when three teenage boys appeared and surrounded him. Ron would later confide in Kim that in the back of his mind, he may have been looking for them, as a chance for a little payback, for past transgressions. These three teenagers have lain in wait for the weak and powerless, since Ron first started school here at Middleton High school. Last year, before he began improving himself, Ron was a regular target of their predators, whenever he happened to pass through D-hall. After he began his campaign of self-improvement he never had a chance to walk between these walls, because he learned to manage his time effectively enough that he no longer needed to tread through D-hall. Today, after leaving his first period chemistry class, with Hank, and Kim heading to Honors Geometry in the opposite direction, Ron had no choice but to take this route. Even with a note from Beast excusing his tardiness, he felt the need to hustle.

The teenagers surrounding him were as different from each other as a rock or pebble was from a boulder. They were very much alike, two had blonde hair in buzz-cuts, the last one had dark hair in an over gelled widow's peak, but the range in stature could not have been much different. The largest of them, Michael "Tiny" Waters, seemed to be the definition of human mountain, he was all of six feet, five inches and seemed to weigh a good two-fifty, it was hard to tell how much was fat, and how much was muscle. Shorter at six feet, though still taller than Ron's five foot, nine inches, and more obviously muscled, than his bigger towheaded companion, stood the ringleader of the trio, Slade Booth. He seemed to be the more intelligent of the three, and he was always the more level-headed of the three, he was the one with Elvis hair. The last member of the group was shorter, and skinnier than even Ron, and the mouthpiece of the group Martin Longman, always the instigator and the talker. He was a coward, and a weasel, always hiding behind the muscles of his friends, to bail his ass out of the trouble his mouth got him into, it would not be the case after today.

"Well, if it ain't, little Ronnie," Martin began in a condescending voice, "it's been such a long time since you've walked down our hall." The three bullies, had arranged themselves so Tiny was in front, acting like a roadblock, Martin was behind Ron preventing his escape, and Slade was on Ron's left side, to lend a hand if it was needed. Today it would be, but it would not be enough. Ron stood looking at the boy in front of him, studying the giant like he would study a tree that needed to be removed.

"Always start with the least violent option," Rabbi Katz's voice came to him. Ron smiled his goofy, most affable grin, "Mike, would you please move out of my way, I'm running late to class?" Ron pressed a button on his new communication watch, it was now recording everything that happened here. The three boys laughed out loud, two of them with confidence, the last with a small twinge of unease. Tiny has rarely had to fear much of anything, he has always been the biggest kid in his class, yet Ron did not seem to be as intimidated as he was in the past.

"Did you hear that, Slade, wittle Wonnie, wants to go to class," Martin said, then suddenly made to shove Ron's shoulder from behind, 'even the smallest pebbles can turn the flood,' said a voice in his head. Instead of resisting, Ron twisted his body to the side, causing Martin to shoot past him and Ron left his foot out causing Martin to trip head long into the Goliathan teen. Michael stumbled back a step as his tiny friend rammed into him.

"Sorry Marty," Ron said, "but you shouldn't have put your hand on my shoulder like that, it caused me to stumble." Martin was a little disoriented, Mike really was built more like a brick wall. Ron turned to the other boy in the hall, the leader, "Slade, since you seem to hold the leashes to these two, will you please, ask them to step aside and let me pass," Ron said, tired of the game, "there is nothing to be gained for you three, by holding me here against my will," Ron entreated the mastermind of the gang. "The only thing to be had by further violence is pain, and nobody likes that, am I right?"

Slade put his fingers to his chin like he was giving the matter some serious thought, "You're right Stoppable, there is nothing to be gained from this event," Slade replied seeming to agree with Kim Possible's best friend, who smiled in relief, "except the money in your wallet, and that watch on your wrist."

"Are you sure Slade," Ron tried one more time to do this peacefully, and find an alternative, "it's not too late for you three to back down, and let me pass?"

Slade smiled, "Oh, I'm sure, and I'm going to make an example of you, so that next time we tell somebody to hand over their money, they won't even think of talking back. Tiny." The goliath lumbered forward, and Ron looked down, sighing.

"If that's your final answer, Slade…" Ron said, then faster than a serpent's strike, Stoppable lunged forward with a front kick right at Michael Waters' knee. There was a sickening crunch as the giant's knee was caved in, dropping him to the ground. 'Even the largest trees can fall if you chop them down at the base,' the voice in his head seemed to say. Ron then grabbed the back of Tiny's head and brought it down as Ron brought his knee up to meet Mike's face. The blood flowed down the boy's now broken nose, it flowed into his mouth and down into his stomach, the rancid taste of his own blood for the first time in his life, made Michael's stomach convulse, causing him to vomit, and pass out.

Ron suddenly felt a tingle at the base of his skull, he suddenly launched himself upward over the back of a charging Martin. Ron landed back where he was, which was right behind Martin, 'in the thick of combat, there is no room for hesitation, or mercy, Rabbi Katz once told him, because only the victors have the luxury of showing mercy,' Ron has grown stronger for the last six months, but it was still quite a surprise to him as Ron scooped Martin into his arms with little effort and brought the small, but still heavy boy's spine crashing down over Ron's knee, then body slammed him down on the concrete, tiled floor.

Ron's enhanced senses felt the pressure of a fast-approaching fist, causing him to use some of his newly acquired agility and reflexes to somersault forward over the prone form of Martin Longman. He tumbled forward into an unusual stance, right leg raised to knee height, most of the body's weight on the left leg, whose knee was also slightly bent. Arms akimbo with the right raised to be even with the head, palm twisted facing outward, fingers in a claw formation, and the left was lowered, pointing at a downward angle, with the left hand even with the waist, palm facing the ground also in a claw formation. His limbs were ridged, his joints were loose, and his waist was twisted so the vital areas were pointed away from Slade, while the head and lower body were pointed directly at him. Ron's breathing had calmed as he watched his enemy assume a solid boxing stance.

"It's still not too late to stop this, Slade," Ron spoke, trying one more time to end this fight before things got more out of hand, "we should stop fighting and see to your friends, Michael Waters should be okay, but Martin Longman needs to get to the hospital and be immobilized, otherwise he could go into shock and die."

"Friends," Slade spat, "I have no friends, I have temporary allies, that I can use until they're of no more use to me anymore," the boy never took his eyes off his opponent, "and now that they have been taken down, they are of no use to me anymore."

Ron sighed, "then I must end this as quickly as I can," Ron said, "so, I can make sure, Martin gets medical attention." Slade suddenly launched a blistering barrage of combinations, face, face, body, face, body. To Ron, the bully mastermind, might as well have been moving in slow motion, the first shot he swatted to the side with his lower left hand, putting Slade slightly off balance, the second face shot was also parried down and to the left, and Ron allowed his deflection to push himself to the right, out of the way of the body blow, and right in front of a cinderblock wall. Slade was seeing red and not much of anything else, as he turned to follow Stoppable's movements, and he charged delivering the last two shots a heartbeat apart, Ron twisted his head and torso out of the way just as Slade's fist contacted the brick wall. Slade registered the pain a millisecond before Ron spun around and used one hand to grab Slade by the back of his head and slam the bully face first into the same cinder block wall with which his fists just recently became acquainted. Slade slumped down against the wall leaving a smear of blood in his wake.

Ron stepped back breathing heavily, as he began to sweat profusely, he was just about to take out his phone to call an ambulance for his assailants when he heard a clapping down at the end of the hallway. Ron whipped around to stare at an unusually short, but extremely, muscular, wild looking man. The man was a good four inches shorter than Ron, but when they looked into each other's eyes they could both tell who the dominant one would be. The man wore a black business suit, black dress shirt in a western cut, and a bolo-tie with Native American turquoise cinch. His feet sported a pair of black, worn, cowboy boots. His face looked worn and leathery, with wild black hair flaring up and to the sides, he had bushy sideburns extending all the way down to his chin and cheeks. Ron took all of this in with a flicker of an eyelash, but it was this man's eyes that held him spellbound.

They were the eyes of a predator that could, and would strike, suddenly and without warning, the prey would die quickly, but without mercy. They were the eyes of a man with nothing left to lose but his humanity, and he would hold onto that last scrap of light with his dying breath. Those orbs had seen the very worst side of the species known as man, and yet still found something in them that was worth protecting. Ron did not look away as the man approached him and continued to clap. "Not bad, kid," a gravelly voice issued from the man's maw. "You handled all three of them very well, I didn't see too much wasted movement."

Wolverine was feeling uneasy, he had caught a whiff of the kid as he was taking care of the three punks. Which had set his nerves on end, because he was not sure if he was hallucinating or something, the kid smells like me, a little bit, not enough to make me think he's another clone of me, like Laura, but enough to know that we're related. His scent is familiar in other ways too, I've smelled him before, it smells a little bit like a good friend of mine. "Vicky," Logan whispered, but Ron still caught what he was saying.

"Who are you," Ron started before calming down, with wide eyes as this strange man said his mother's name, "sir?"

"My name is Logan," the man replied, "I'm here at your school to teach you and your classmates Japanese." The man leaned in and sniffed Ron, who did the same, I have these enhanced senses, I might as well use them. "I can tell you've already met my teammate Beast; you must be Ron Stoppable."

Ron nodded, "Logan, my mom told me, once of a dude named Logan."

Logan smiled, "Vicky's been there for me when she could, let me go ahead and tell you my other name, since we might be working together for a while, call me Wolverine." Animals know their kin, they know how closely related they are to each other. Many herd or pack animals will kick males out once they reach a certain age, this prevents the group from worrying about inbreeding, amongst its members. The boy and me, are kin!

In the Go City zoo, in the house of rodents, a new tenant has been successfully introduced to the colony. He skitters in and abases himself before the queen, "Hi," he squeaks, "I'm Rufus."