CHAPTER 4

Soft golden rays of morning sunlight streamed across the battered face of Kim as she laid unconscious in her hospital room, hooked up to a slew of tubes and wires with only the slight sounds of oxygen squirts and heart monitor beeps breaking the silence. Her disheveled hair still contained small traces of debris throughout it while her fine porcelain skin was marked with various purple and red hues of bruises and disrupted by rows of sutures. Her neck was encased in a brace and her arm was riddled with lacerations. Despite her appearance, she laid in peaceful silence.

Next to her head, a battered Rufus was curled up on the pillow sleeping and trying to recover from the injuries he had sustained in the fight earlier.

To her side, the peacefulness was disrupted by Ron. He himself marked with cuts and bruises, stood guard over his girlfriend in silent reverence while sporting a vengeful scowl. He gently caressed down her injured arm, his finger carefully detouring around the cuts and then working its way back up it.

There was a gentle knock at the door, Ron peered up with his bloodshot eyes to see Tara gently making her way into the room, tablet in hand.

"Hey," she whispered softly, "I'm just doing my rounds and need to check on Kim."

"Huh? Oh...yeah, alright," Ron replied scooting back from the bed and giving her space to work. "Are the camera crews still staked outside?"

"Yeah, they're starting to set up camp and are lined up around the block. Apparently, this is national news."

"Great." Ron gave a long suffering sigh.

Tara inspected the set of IV bags hooked to Kim's arm. "How are you doing?"

"Not good," he finally said after several seconds of delay. "Not good at all."

Tara's forced smile turned into a look of concern and so after she had finished up her patient monitoring, she pulled up a chair next to Ron and sat next to him. The two continued to sit in silence for several seconds, both watching Kim's chest slowly rise and fall with her breaths. Tara slid her hand into her friend's and gave a firm squeeze of reassurance.

"The, doctors, well, I guess Kim's mom, said that the bullet didn't hit anything critical," he finally muttered after several seconds of silence.

"Well, that's good to hear."

"Yeah, she said the bullet kind of knicked her large intestine so they're going to have to monitor that for a while to make sure it heals properly and doesn't come down with pet...petro...something or other.

"That would be peritonitis," his friend corrected.

"Yeah, that. Whatever that means."

"It's inflammation of the inner abdominal walls. It's nothing to mess around with and can be fatal if it becomes septic. The bullet might not have hit anything critical but she's not out of the woods."

"Great," he sighed. "She failed to mention that part to me."

"She was probably trying to protect you from worrying more than what you already are. You know how Doctor Possible can be."

"I know."

Tara gave her friend a small smile. "I'm sure she will be fine. Kim's a fighter, and aside from being able to wear a bikini, she should recover from this. It might take a little while but she will be fine." she assured.

"Just my luck." Ron gave a rueful smile. "Do you have any idea how much time and effort I've put into trying to get Kim into a bikini? Or was it getting her out of the bikini?"

Tara gave a snort. "That's the spirit. If it's one thing I've learned working here it's that a positive attitude can go a long way."

Ron's face fell. "I know, but-"

"There's a but?"

"Yeah, there's a but. It's more than just the gunshot wound. They can't tell yet because of all the swelling but they think she might have damage to her left eye, and there's also a strong chance she suffered some sort of head trauma after Akuma slammed her head through…" Ron choked up for a second before continuing, "through the control panel." His voice trembling as his countenance moved from aggrieved to angry.

Tara squeezed her friend's hand tight again and pulled him in for a comforting hug. She could feel the heat from his anger radiating across his skin and he shook as he tried to contain it.

"Why did we have to do this?! Why couldn't we have just stayed in Eugene like good, retired crime fighters and enjoyed each other's company like we had planned!? "She even suggested that we have a naked weekend together."

She winced uncomfortably at the oversharing, but kept her peace and let the young man vent.

"Sorry." Ron pulled out of the hug. "I mean, she even had her doubts about doing it the other night but we still went through with it. Ugh...why didn't I go with my gut?"

"Because this is what you two do," Tara answered refocused. "You two help people, you protect them, save them if you have to. When you have a passion like that it's hard to just up and walk away from it."

"Yeah, but we never had this sort of thing happen to us either," he said pointing again to Kim's body. "Sure, we came close a few times, but not once in all those years did either of us ever get hurt this badly. But this...this is too close to my nightmares about graduation coming true."

Tara nodded in sympathy and took his left hand into hers. "Well, to be fair, you two have been out of the game for some time now. You were probably both a little rusty compared to what you were like in high school."

Ron picked furiously at a seam in the orange cushion on the arm of the chair with his right hand. "I know," Ron acknowledged, then stopped suddenly. "Oh, and on top of it all, I didn't get to pop the question either."

"You didn't?"

He sighed. "Nope. I was waiting for an opportune time to do it and managed to lose the ring in the process."

"You did?"

"Three. Times."

"Oh no!" Tara gasped letting go of his hand, "I am so sorry Ron."

"Wasn't your fault. But man, those stones weren't exactly cheap."

Tara stood and lightly rubbed her index finger across Kim's hair. "I'm sure. But you have to know that in the end she's going to say yes to you, no matter what you use to ask her right?"

Ron made a tiny smirk and nodded in agreement. "I know, but I just wanted it to be special with a lot of grandiosity and make it a big deal. Especially after everything we went through a while back. During those years...I thought that I had lost her completely as a friend."

Tara turned a caring smile toward Ron as she continued to smooth Kim's hair. "I know, Ron, I was there. Still, Ron, that's not your style, and you know that's not her style either." Tara stopped messing with Kim's hair and reached into the pocket of her dancing cow motif smock and pulled out a short string. "I mean, you could literally tie this string around her finger and she'd give you the same answer as what you would have gotten if you gave her that 'Kobe Special' you originally bought. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise and that you were supposed to do something different, something a little more, you know...subtle."

Ron's eyes hardened. "A blessing, Tara? Do you call this a blessing?" he asked pointing to Kim's battered face.

"You know what I meant Ron, calm down." Tara quickly sat down next to Ron again and grabbed both of his hands gently. "I didn't mean to get you riled up."

"Sorry, I've been mad all night," he growled. "It's not you."

"Do you want to talk about it? I can hang here for a little while longer before I have to check on the patient in A113."

Ron leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "The guy who's responsible for this. He used to be on our side."

"He was?"

"Yeah, he was the top agent in Global Justice."

"Global what?"

"It is...was some top international secret spy agency."

"Probably why I've never heard of it."

"Yeah, so anyways they had this guy name W-"

Ron stopped talking when a set of heavy knocks sounded from the door.

"Ocupado," Ron grumbled not wanting to be disturbed.

Despite his response, the door opened and a still disheveled Bonnie followed by Ken Trepid walked in.

"What do you two want?"

"Nice to see you too," Trepid said peering over the bed. "How's Kim doing?"

"How's it look like she's doing?"

"Okayyyy, Tara?" Bonnie interrupted, turning her attention to what she had hoped would be a more willing participant to her questioning.

"Banged up pretty bad, but she should recover."

"No major damage to any internal organs?" Trepid asked.

"Not major, but she has an intestinal wound that could get infected."

"That's kind of good. Those bullets can really muck up the organs in the abdominal cavity with the amount of force they enter with."

Bonnie grabbed Kim's patient file from the wall holder and started skimming through its pages. "Any traumatic brain injury?"

"Probably a concussion, we'll have to run her through a protocol once she's conscious to be sure."

"Let's see," Bonnie mumbled to herself and ignoring Tara's reply, "multiple lacerations to facial region and extremities. No big, just cosmetic. Damaged blood vessels inside vestibule. Just a nose bleed. HA!, She's on Brevoxyl-4, I knew it!"

Tara quickly stood and approached the girl. "Um, HIPAA much, Bonnie?"

"No, hate the taste of Pabst Blue Ribbon and I Joy Division blows," she remarked continuing to go through the file.

"That's hipsters, Bonnie, not H..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatev's. Blood transfusion performed after blood loss, good for her at least. Overall estimated hospital stay…"

"GIMME THAT!" Tara shouted and yanked the folder out of Bonnie's hands.

"2-3 weeks. Yeah, that's not gonna work for us," Bonnie continued despite losing her reference.

Ron had reached his boiling point with the two, and stood from his chair. "For us?"

The brunette sighed before turning to Trepid. "Yeah, she's out."

"Out? What do you mean out?"

"Great," Trepid sighed, ignoring Ron's questions. "Well, I guess that's all we can do here. We better head up to the roof to catch our ride."

"Hello?!" Ron practically shouted from across Kim's bed trying to get the pair's attention.

"What, Ron?" Bonnie asked with a groan.

Ron moved around the bed and faced the duo. "Let's take a quick time out and explain to me WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!? In fact, let's start with why are you." He pointed at Bonnie. "Are conversing with him." He quickly moved his finger to Ken. "Like you're a part of Global Justice or something?"

Bonnie moved from a look of indifference to one of annoyance. "That would be because I AM a part of Global Justice you moron."

Ron's mouth dropped open. "You...what? Huh?"

Bonnie's look of annoyance shifted to one that Ron had seen more times than he could count, one of smug superiority. "I'm an L3 Agent to be exact." She turned to Trepid. "What? You didn't tell him?"

"No," Ron interjected angrily, "he didn't."

Trepid shrugged, "Well, Stoney, you were on break. And we're supposed to be kind of a secret organization. I figured it was kinda need to know?"

Ron's head snapped back and forth between the two as if he couldn't decide which one to spear with his stare. Then he finally settled on glaring at Bonnie. "Stoney?"

"Stoney, stone, Rockwaller, rock. It's a stupid nickname he came up with for me because apparently calling me by my actual name is such a chore," she said sending an unflattering look towards Ken.

Ron shifted his focus to Ken and sent an angry glare towards him.

Unfazed by the two unfriendly looks he gave a sheepish grin. "Well, um...this...is...my way of telling you?"

"Ugh, unbelievable!" Bonnie scoffed.

"What? It's not like you were supposed to be here in the first place, Miss 'Don't Bother Me On Spring Break.' I didn't think it was important to the mission."

"ENOUGH!" Ron said slamming his fist onto the table next to him so hard that it caused Kim's unconscious body to jump and the picture of the pastoral scene above it to shudder.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Time Out!" Tara said sternly and moved between Ron and the spies. "If you all are going to get into a shouting match you need to leave the room now! Kim isn't going to heal any faster with the three of you arguing over her!"

"No worries, Tara, we were just about to leave," Bonnie replied with a trademark flip of her hair.

Ron took a deep breath. "Come again?"

"We gotta go, Ron," Trepid repeated. "Despite all of this, Du and Akuma are still out there, now with all of the components they were after and need to be stopped. We have to rendezvous with a helicopter on the roof in ten minutes.

"Ten minutes?"

"Yeah, we need to be prompt about it. This pilot, he's... Well, he's not very keen on us asking for favors so if we're not up there exactly when he lands he's liable to take off without us."

Ron looked down at the teal hospital gown he had been put into upon arriving at the hospital and gave a grunt. "Fine, I can be ready in five. Just move so I can grab my gear from behind you and…" Ron trailed off with a hiss at seeing an uncomfortable look come across both Ken and Bonnie's faces. "What?"

"Yeah, Ron, you're not really um...going along with us on this one," Trepid uttered while rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"Come again?" Ron's eyes began to twitch with anger.

"Well, the whole reason we asked you all along in the first place was...well… I mean… I was down a person and, well, you know… I needed..."

Bonnie had no trepidation at all to intercede in the older man's ramblings. "What Agent Trepid is trying to say nicely is that your services are no longer required for the remainder of this mission. He had a serious lead and needed backup on the account his partner, me, was on a much-needed vacation."

"More like sidekick," Trepid mumbled.

"However as you can see, on the account of an international criminal ambushing her, wrecking her vehicle, kidnapping her, and using her as a hostage before being thrown out a 30-story window, thus ending her vacation. Yada, yada, yada. And now that 'said' partner is back on the case and so you can go back to doing whatever your regularly scheduled break was supposed to entail."

Ron's twitching intensified and his skin began to turn several shades of mottled red. "YOU'RE...JUST…DUMPING US?! JUST LIKE THAT?!"

"Ron, let's be frank about this," Bonnie continued arrogantly, but calmly. "Ken here needed a competent person to fill in for me. Which is why he called in Kim as that last-ditch effort to fill in. Obviously Kim isn't in any position to continue and my vacation is apparently over with, so the pros are going to take it from here."

Ron stammered, trying to find the words. "No, let's not be frank. You all contacted us in the middle of a really, really good romantic moment, made us change our plans for Spring Break, foiled my plans for a marriage proposal-which resulted in the loss of THREE separate engagement rings of varying prices, leveled a space center which was the employer of KP's father along with a few thousand other people and put Kim in the hospital with head trauma and a bullet wound. So there won't be any returning to our 'regularly scheduled break'. And you're acting like it's not a big deal?! It's a pretty FREAKIN' big deal!"

Bonnie's arrogant look flickered for a second into something else. "Marriage proposal?"

Ron was too wound up to catch the short slip. "Yeah, marriage proposal. And according to Trepid here, the reason he called us up was that Drakken was dead and Shego was missing, not because you weren't gracing us with your presence!"

Trepid stepped between the pair. "Look, Ron. There isn't any way I can say this without coming across like a giant, thankless douchebag, but Bonnie's right. Regardless of whatever the reason was, you're not equipped to handle these guys. They aren't some campy villains with a goofy gimmick and a futile plot to take over the world. These guys are trained killers who won't think twice about greasing you the moment you get in their way."

Ron's face actually seemed to become more angry. "Oh, and she is equipped?" he asked pointing toward Bonnie.

Bonnie pushed Ken out of the way and stepped toward Ron with fists clenched and eyes like daggers. "I took two semesters of Muay Thai kickboxing and I'm learning Krav Maga. That's on top of the 12 years of intensive ballet training which, I might add you would be very surprised how much that comes in handy when you're in hand-to-hand combat and outnumbered 4 to 1."

Ron looked wholly unimpressed. "That's not exactly a bold resume'."

Ken stepped between the two again and guided Bonnie away from Ron and toward the door. "Come on, Stoney, we need to get up to the rooftop."

Bonnie looked back at Ron and raised her eyebrow in a snarky manner before turning her back on him and making her way out of Kim's room.

Ken paused at the door after Bonnie left. "Ron, look, it's nothing personal, we just don't have the time to sit around offering thoughts and prayers. But this is what we professionals have to do," he said and closed the door behind him.

The latch clicked and Ron stared at the back of the door in seething silence. His teeth were gnashed so hard together that they appeared to be on the verge of cracking under the pressure and his eyes began to water. He turned his eyes towards an equally stunned Tara who was still standing next to Kim and now holding her hand.

The blonde pulled her open mouth and shut before turning a furled brow toward Ron. "Are you going to stand for that bullshit?" she asked uncharacteristically.

-

Seconds later Ken and Bonnie had made it to a utility elevator which was located down the hallway from Kim's room. While they waited for the doors to open, the superior look Bonnie had been sporting began to give way to a more subtle, melancholy one.

"I messed up bad didn't I?" she asked her partner.

"Bad doesn't even begin to describe it," Trepid replied with an agitated tone.

"Sorry. I mean, I had him in my sights and all and..."

"Now's not the time, Bonnie," Ken grumbled. "We'll deal with it when we get back to base."

"Alright, it's just…"

"No justs, like I said we'll discuss lat-"

Their conversation was abruptly cut when the sound of a door slamming violently open occurred down the hallway from where they were standing. Both swung their heads quickly around to see what the source was and were stunned to see a fuming Ron enter the hallway behind them while pulling on his mission gear.

"Oh, God, he really thinks he's coming along with us," Trepid mumbled to his sidekick.

"As if this day couldn't get any worse," Bonnie added.

"Pros?! You call yourselves pros?!" Ron said stomping towards them while pulling his black turtleneck over his head.

"And here comes the guilt trip."

"YOU'RE THE REASON Kim is lying in that room with a gunshot wound! Not because of me, the so-called amateur."

"I know. I'm aware of that and it's regrettable," Bonnie replied returning to the cavalier demeanor as soon as Ron got close.

"Regrettable? REGRETTABLE?! Are you freakin' kidding me. You SHOT HER, Bonnie!"

Just then, a gentle ping was heard and the elevator doors opened and the spy duo entered.

"I didn't mean to, Ron," Bonnie said back from inside the cab while Trepid pressed the close door button feverishly. "I had the shot. I had him right there in my sights, and Du pulled her in at the last second as a shield. It was an accident, and yeah, I feel bad about it."

The doors began to close until Ron's arm suddenly slid through them, forcing the doors back open.

"Yeah, you look really torn up about it Bonnie," he sniped while forcing his way into the cabin. "I knew you were cold-hearted, but to just write off Kim getting shot like a 'whoops, my bad' moment is getting into sub-zero range."

"I saved your life!" she growled while backing him against the wall, her nose firmly pressed into Ron's. "Maybe it was because you were too busy getting your head caved in to realize it, but Du was just about to perform some sort of nasty death punch on your sorry ass before I acted. If I didn't take it, you'd probably be down in the morgue instead of here whining to me about it!"

Ron pushed her back off of him and hit the elevator's emergency stop button. "Whining? You call this whining? This isn't whining, Bonnie. This is someone finally telling you the truth. You damn near killed the woman I love. So, don't ever expect me to thank you for that. I would have rather died."

"This making us late for our ride," Trepid grumbled.

Ron spun to face the older man. "Then start talking. And maybe you'll get to the roof on time."

"Fine, about what?"

"You can start with telling me how long Bonnie here's been your partner."

Trepid shrugged. "Technically, she's the sidekick."

"Partner, sidekick, groupie, friend with benefits; I don't care. How long!?"

"I dunno, about a year and a half?" Ken asked Bonnie who nodded in slight agreement.

"So that means…"

Bonnie was scowling at the blond boy and interrupted him. "Yes, I've been moonlighting as an agent while being K's roommate."

Ron matched her scowl. "Is that so? Or is it more like 'moonlighting as KP's roommate while being an Agent?'"

Bonnie's scowl broke, confirming his hunch.

"Okay, fine, more like 'monitor' if you want to call it that," she said, crossing her arms in a huff.

"So you've been spying on us? ALL THIS TIME?!"

"I'd like to think of it more in line with keeping tabs."

Ron didn't look at all impressed by Bonnie's attempted wordplay. "Keeping tabs without knowledge or consent is spying!"

"Oh lighten up, Stoppable! You of all people know that your girlfriend hasn't been exactly the best in terms of reliability these last few years. Do you have any idea how hard it was for Wade to create an algorithm to keep that titty video of hers from popping back up online? Or how excruciating it was to always tag along with you two on all of those get togethers you went on?"

"We never asked you to 'tag along' on those get togethers and we never wanted you to 'tag along' on those get togethers." Ron's face was moving beyond red at this point and nearing purple. "In fact, your third wheel act usually resulted in us deciding to stay in for the night and watch movies instead."

"Exactly!" Bonnie said flashing a sinister grin. "I had first-hand knowledge that a good amount of those events involved various amount of alcohol and other 'recreational' substances at them. Especially that last one I broke up. Why tempt fate right?"

Ron stumbled back from the girl and his eyes went wide. "That last event was a Seder Meal put on by the Hillel group, Bonnie." With a shake of his head and a disgusted snort he continued. "The wine and herbs used in that are not exactly kegs and kilos."

"Seriously? You didn't know what a Seder Meal was?" Trepid asked butting into the conversation.

"Okay, fine, so maybe I didn't know what a Seder was at the time. My bad on the whole Passover thing, I'm not a Hebrew. But still, I was only doing my job."

Ron waved his hands, as if to dispel the previous conversation from the air, before turning his glare back on Bonnie. "That's why I'm here! I'M her boyfriend, it's my job to keep her straight, not yours!"

"Oh please, Stoppable, nine times out of ten you're still two hours away in that time warp of our childhood called Middleton. I'm there all the time. So unless you miraculously manage to have the grades and credits to transfer down to Eugene or you installed a rocket booster into that stupid derelict moped of yours, you aren't there to keep her straight."

"That's B.S. and you know it. How many times since you have moved in has Kim even talked about a non-school related party? Huh? How many?"

Bonnie moved closer to Ron. "None! But that doesn't change a thing. It's still my job to keep tabs on her. When people, that matter more than you or I do, wanted us to keep tabs on her while she was still in college and to make sure that she didn't fall off the wagon or make another national embarrassment out of herself, they gave us the job."

"Who exactly gave you that job? Huh? Because the last time I checked spying on US citizens was illegal!"

Ken's eyes snapped wide.

Bonnie paused for a second. "Besides, you should be thanking me. The way you two go at it like rabbits every time you are near each other she would probably be parents by now if it weren't for me."

Ken swore steam was going to erupt from Ron's ears any second now.

Ron moved within inches of Bonnie. "So barging in on us during 'private time' was doing your job too?"

Bonnie gave an evil smirk and met Ron's furious brown eyes with haughty light green. "Nah, that was for the lulz. That, and you two defiled my recliner. My dad gave me that recliner, it was an heirloom. I took it personally."

"Aaaaand now we're back to TMI," Ken interrupted. "Someone please hit the damn switch."

"Shut up, Ken!" Both Bonnie and Ron said in unison.

"Okay, okay. So, not the drama people."

Ron gave one last glare at Bonnie before pointedly turning towards Ken. "Yeah, don't say that again. Ever," Ron ordered. "You should have told us about Bonnie. I can't begin to tell you how royally cheesed off I am at you."

Bonnie rolled her eyes and stepped back from Ron. "Oh just go for the gold and say 'pissed off' Ron, this isn't Disney Junior."

This brought Ron's attention back to the brunette. "And you, a freaking agent?! How could you, of all people, be an agent of an elite spy agency?"

Bonnie scoffed. "Well, I wouldn't call them 'elite' per se. They did base their entire science department around the premise that you, of all people, were the reason behind Kim's successful freelancing and not something like, oh I don't know...teamwork, her own talent or the fact you were backed by a 10-year-old kid genius who had more degrees to his name than you did semesters before you declared for one. They're not exactly MI6 when it comes to judgment."

"As for how I could be an agent? Here's a thought: How could your girlfriend go from 'the girl you want to bring home to mom' to 'the girl you bring home passed out drunk in the back of a pickup truck?' People change. Maybe after I got out in the real world I realized how dumb and insignificant being popular in high school actually was. Maybe, I wanted to actually do something with my life to benefit others for once. Maybe, I was approached and recruited on my abilities and tough grit and not on some archaic rivalry."

"Oh yeah, who in their right minds would recruit you? Kenny here?" Ron asked gesturing at Trepid.

"Actually, it was Wade who recruited her," the senior agent corrected.

"Wade?" Ron asked being taken aback.

"Yeah, Wade. He remembered me when I helped to take down Dementor a while ago and thought I had some potential to have an expanded role."

"Well that's not a big deal, Kim's cousin Larry took him down too. And he wasn't even trying."

"Not with another sixteen-year-old glued to his ass he didn't." she remarked, referring to the time she and Kim were stuck together via a Bondo Ball. "Consider it a handicap on what I could really do. You all retired, Ken took over, he needed some help, the rest is what you see. So quit trying to marginalize me."

"You hypocrite. That is all that either of you have done to us from the second this mission started. You call yourselves professional, but all I see is a couple of holdouts from a dead organization with overinflated egos and saddled with sociopathic tendencies," he said depressing the emergency button and re-engaging the elevator. "You started this. You brought us on. We're finishing this, together...capiche?"

Visually fed up with the argument, Bonnie turned to her partner.

After several seconds of silence Ken gave a slight eye roll. "Fine, you can come along," Trepid conceded as the elevator continued to slowly rise.

"And no more spying on KP either," Ron demanded. "She is perfectly capable of going throughout her day without Big Brother peering into her every move."

Bonnie nodded. "Well, the proverbial cat is out of the bag on that one anyway." She then stopped and thought for a second. "However, she only saw me for a second before getting shot, so there's a good chance sh-"

"NO, SPYING! Period! Or I might be inclined to start looking into who authorized it to begin with. I'm not as stupid as you both think."

Bonnie looked to Trepid for guidance, to which he responded with a simple nod of his head in agreement.

"Fine, no more surveillance. But if she falls back into Girls Gone Wild Kim again, it's on your head, not mine."

"I can live with that. Besides, unlike some people, I trust her," Ron remarked while adjusting the pants he had hastily put on earlier before exiting the elevator with his newfound squadmates. "So what's our plan now?"

Ken let out a slight groan. "Our plan went out the window the moment we turned the Space Center into a landfill. Right now we'll hitch a ride back to HQ and figure out with Wade what we're going to do next. That's the best course of action to take."

"Yeah, it's going to be fun telling him about the jet," Ron replied.

"Don't remind me," Ken said as the elevator doors opened onto the hospital roof and letting the blinding bright daylight in. Ron was taken aback by the light, his head was already sore from the beating he had endured earlier. Once he managed to get his vision adjusted against the blue sky he saw a bright yellow helicopter with the words 'CASCADE ADVENTURE TOURS' scripted across its tail and its strikingly familiar-looking pilot impatiently waiting next to it.

"Wait, is that...Junior?" Ron asked looking at the pilot who appeared to suddenly become distressed at the sight of the trio.

Trepid adopted a quick pace towards the helicopter and answered the younger man. "Yep. And he's looking a little upset."

He stopped for a second and turned back to the two young adults. "Wait here a sec so I can make sure that he's not going to leave us on the pad in a hissy. Also, Bonnie, hockey puck."

Bonnie responded with a nod and watched as her partner headed over to try and smooth over their ride's nerves.

"I'm assuming by the look of his body language that the whole story with you and the soccer team isn't as fabricated as everything else in your college career?" Ron asked leaning on the wall next to the elevator doors.

"Nope," she quipped back.

"That would do it."

"Yeah, well, we were over well before that anyway."

"Distance?"

"Broke."

Ron gave her an incredulous look. "As in broke broke?"

"As in he decided to go all-in to real estate investments after his father died. Shortly after, the economy went to shit and so did his bank accounts."

"Ditching the billionaire playboy boyfriend the moment he's in dire straits? Why am I not surprised," Ron barbed as the two watched Trepid schmooze Junior. "So much for how people change, huh BonBon?"

Bonnie rubbed her forehead in frustration before turning around to Ron. "Look, Stoppable, somewhere you have to draw the line with what you're willing to live with. And I'm not going to spend the rest of my life with a guy who lives in the cargo bay of the same helicopter that he spends all day shuttling bigfoot enthusiasts up to Mt. Hood in."

Ron just shook his head. "Still, you dump him after he loses his dad and his savings. That's a real kick in the balls."

"Meh," she responded half-heartedly while watching Ken wave back to the duo telling them to come on.

"Speaking of which," she said as she spun to face the unsuspecting young man and grabbed his shoulders, "there's my cue."

"Your wha-"

Before Ron could even register what was going on, she had quickly landed a hard knee jab directly into his crotch. The force of which knocked the air out of his lungs and dropped him to the ground instantly.

"Hockey puck." she winked.

"Buh! Buh! Bon….what the?! *UGH!* Sonuva!" Ron gasped while rolling around the ground in pain.

Showing no remorse for what she had just done, Bonnie punched the elevator button, reopening the double doors and then proceeded to grab one of his hands and dragged his fetal positioned body back into the lift.

"Don't take it personally, Stoppable," she said while stepping over him, "but you're needed more back downstairs at K's bedside than you are on that helicopter."

"Buh...I can...fight," he managed to squeak out, still grasping tightly at to the crotch of his pants and trying to sit up.

"And I'm sure you believe that with all your heart, but I think it's best you do what we said earlier and leave this to the professionals." Bonnie stepped out of the elevator car, leaned in and hit the button back to the ground floor. "Make sure K knows I really am sorry about shooting her," she said while Ron watched helplessly as the two chrome double doors shut between them.

Bonnie watched as the little arrow on top of the elevator door lit up red, confirming that the lift and its cargo was heading back towards the bottom floor. Satisfied that Ron was no longer a part of the equation, she flipped her hair back and jogged towards the helicopter.

Trepid and Junior were already inside the craft by the time she strolled up to the helipad and were still in the midst of having a heated conversation based on their body language through the windows. Despite this, Bonnie pulled open the back door and slid onto the bench.

"...don't give me all that formal gobbledegook!" Junior grumbled to Trepid. "If I knew you had that vile, treacherous, horrible woman with you I would have never answered your call!"

"Nice to see you too, Junior," Bonnie remarked sarcastically while she put on a set of headphones.

"No talking from the back seat!" the jilted lover demanded. Bonnie responded with a sneer and a middle finger.

Junior's brow knitted together. "Get out."

"Junior," Trepid said, leaning into him, "we need to go. You guys can continue your little soap opera once we get back to base. I've had about as much teen drama as I can handle today. Right now time is of the essence, and I'd like to think the world isn't about to enter a major crisis on the account of your hurt feelings."

"She did more than hurt my feelings. She ruined my life!"

"Hey, I wasn't the one who decided to throw all of Daddy's money into timeshares in the middle of freaking nowhere! Do you even know where Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina is? I'll give you a hint, NOT where you buy a luxury vacation home!"

"I bought into an idea that it was going to be! I was practicing forward thinking."

"Maybe you should have practiced diversifying your portfolio! Moron."

Junior's face twisted into a sinister sneer which would have made his father proud. "I said, 'Get out, you witch!'"

"Hey, here's an idea you guys can buy into. Both of you SHUT THE HELL UP AND LET'S GO!" Trepid shouted at the duo. Both stopped with their banter and stared with disdain at him over the crass suggestion.

Junior turned to the controls of the helicopter and flipped a few switches. "Fine, but no promises after we arrive."

"Just...get me back to base...please…" Trepid said while rubbing his fingers up and down the bridge of his nose in an attempt to stave off a migraine.

Junior glanced behind his seat where he saw a perturbed Bonnie slouched into her seat, arms crossed with her trademark scowl focused on him. He returned a sharp glare of his own before grabbing the helicopter's cyclic and lifting it into the air. As the helicopter rose in elevation, the scowl on Bonnie's face began to give way to one which was more concerning.

Hundreds of miles away a different sort of activity was taking place inside a secret, underground facility where Will Du and Akuma piloted their hovercraft onto a small landing pad located at the end of a long vertical tunnel which was built into the side of a mountain. Upon coming to rest on the polished concrete floor, the craft was quickly met by a group of former Drakken's henchmen, still wearing their red cowled uniforms, and Maddox, his former chief of research who had been responsible for the Synthodrone androids many years prior.

"Come on! Get away, get away you fools!" Maddox shouted at the henchmen, waving them off to disperse so his superior could exit the vehicle unabated.

"How was the 'errand'?" Maddox asked while helping Du exit the craft.

"It was...complicated," he replied while rubbing an abrasion on his face he received from his fight with Ron. "However, we got what we needed and that's all that matters."

"Excellent!"

Akuma next exited the hovercraft, tucked tightly under his arm was the round, yellow protective case which contained the mirrors.

"Take it easy with those Akuma! Those things are fragile!" Maddox scolded.

Akuma growled back at the scientist looking him square into his rose-colored glasses, objecting to the criticism.

"Now, now, Akuma, let's not get carried away," Du said calmly. "How about you take those mirrors down to the assembly site and make sure they don't do anything to damage them."

"Fine," Akuma nodded in compliance "I think I can handle carrying them 50 yards after they managed to survive a collapsed building and a hovercraft flight," he jabbed at Maddox before heading out of the area with the henchmen in tow.

Once Akuma had left, Du and Maddox began walking out of the landing bay in the opposite direction.

"What is the status on the drill?" Du inquired while putting his hands behind his back.

"Ahead of schedule, with the mirrors in our possession we should have full assembly by the end of the week."

"Excellent."

"So, speaking of which, you never really explained to...well, any of us what exactly you're going to do with it once it's completed."

"That's because it's none of your concern."

"I'm sorry, of course...it's just some of the guys were curious and…"

"I pay you all to do a job, not ask questions to why you are doing the job," Du injected.
"Be grateful I gave you a place to work instead of leaving you panhandling outside the Guild of Calamitous Intent like I found you."

"Yes sir, forgive me for bringing it up."

"Just, get it built and operational," he continued as the duo walked down a long corridor. "That's all you need to worry about."

"And speaking of things functioning properly, how is our guest doing?"

"We are making progress, her levels are elevated but she's still not at the point for the desired reaction to take hold."

"Yet," Du added.

"We're getting there. We've run her through several stress tests ranging from waterboarding to low pressure chambers and she still hasn't cracked, despite it being days since we started the process."

"How about we go have a chat with her, I may have some news which might help that process along."

"As you wish," Maddox said while cleaning off his magenta-hued glasses. "We currently have her down in the Sector 4 tank soaking in an experimental chemical bath that we've hypothesized will speed up her molecular structure faster and more efficiently than the shock treatment we had originally tried on her."

After a few short minutes, the duo had reached Sector 4 and were greeted by a large blast door flanked by a pair of henchmen guards.

They walked past, swiped a key card through a station and entered the room which contained the large glass tank Maddox had alluded to earlier.

"This tank used to house Drakken's pet killer octopus until it mysteriously died, I'm glad we were able to find a new use for it."

"That's nice," Du replied with an obvious lack of caring. "Bring her up."

Maddox pressed a few buttons on a nearby control panel which triggered a submerged

platform to rise up from out of the tank. On top of the platform the outline of a female figure began to show as the bright yellow liquid drained off. After the solution had escaped the platform, it was then moved away from the tank, tilted vertically and then finally set on the floor in front of the two observers. The female figure began to cough violently, as she tried to clear the chemical liquid from her lungs. After several seconds, the coughing had subsided and normal breathing had begun. Once she had gained her composure, the woman lifted her head, her long damp black hair stuck to her face, covering it from view before she shook slightly, exposing a bright green eye which gazed with raw intensity at her captors."

"Enjoying your accommodations, Shego?" Du asked tongue-in-cheek.

"Screw...you…asshole" she responded defiantly, her voice still raspy from the chemical bath.

"Still feisty I see."

"Let me out of these bonds and I'll show you feisty."

"I uh, need to check her vitals and get some samples," Maddox injected as he approached his former coworker with a hand held scanner and began to scan various parts of her body.

"Let's see, heart rate is elevated, that's good. Body temperature is continuing to rise, excellent…"

"Get that thing away from me you backstabbing bastard!" she growled. "I can't believe you're actually working for this prick."

"Yeah well, I am a villain Shego," Maddox defended. "It's what I do, and besides, we had a good thing until you and Drakken decided to go all Goody Two Shoes on us and laid us all off. Villains have to eat too you know."

"Yeah, but still...him? So much for old loyalty."

"What can I say, he provides dental," he said smiling an obvious artificially whitened smile.

"Good thing since you're going to need it whenever I get free from this." she said igniting her hands into raging green flames and tried to burn through her straps without success.

Du raised a slight eyebrow at the gesture, unimpressed.

"Oh right...high grade fireproof something or other straps right? Must've forgot on the account of all that simulated drowning you've been providing. Silly me," she sarcastically smirked before extinguishing her flames.

Maddox continued his examination, shining a light in her eyes and trying to look into her mouth. Shego had enough, and lunged sharply at the scientist, grabbing his index finger with her mouth and chomping down on it, resulting in Maddox screaming in pain while blood squirted in all directions. After a brief, frantic struggle he managed to wriggle his finger free of her mouth and fell backwards on the floor.

"YOU ALMOST BIT MY FINGER OFF YOU BITCH!" he yelled, cradling his hand while attempting to stop the bleeding.

"Too bad I didn't," she said smirking with a line of blood running down her cheek before spitting a blood-laden wad of saliva in Maddox's direction.

Through the commotion, Will Du continued to remain in a stoic position, unfazed by the chaos occurring in front of him. "Maddox, go down to the infirmary and get your finger fixed," he calmly said standing over him while he continued to squirm on the floor.

After several seconds, Maddox struggled to make it to his feet before bolting for the exit. Giving Shego a parting glance of disapproval.

Du calmly waited for Maddox to leave the room before he put his arms behind his back and slowly began to approach his captor.

"Concealing your fingers...smart," Shego commented loftily.

"Not putting your extremities within the proximity of a captive's mouth is Common Sense 101," he replied. "This is just me being, casual."

"Sure, whatever *cough*. This is how I roll casual. Tied up, submerged in a tank for hours on end...good times," she said sarcastically.

"First off, my condolences to your partner."

*Cough, cough* "Blow it out your ass."

"Now that's not nice."

"Neither is killing my partner...what do you want?" Shego quipped, still having issues breathing.

Du pulled a stool away from a nearby desk and moved it in front of his captive. He then casually sat down, folded his hands and leaned within inches of her face.

"Do you know what you are Miss Gorforth?" he asked, calling her by her real name.

"Yeah, I'm the person who's going to to burn that stupid smirk off your face along with the rest of its features once I get out of this," she snarled.

"Defiant even in the face of insurmountable odds. How appropriate...how you."

Shego flashed a fake smile, her teeth still red with Maddox's blood.

"Tell me, do you recall that time when your old foe Avairius created a staff which was able to steal your brothers' powers?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Remember how empowered he felt when he was able to switch back and forth between abilities at will?"

She shrugged. "Wasn't that 'empowered' after I took it from his feathered ass."

"Exactly. And then you discovered that not only could you control your brothers' powers with the staff, but you could use them all at the same time. Something Avairius didn't know until after the staff was no longer in his possession."

"What's your point?"

"My points is, you're like the staff. You think that what you emit from your hands are impressive and the limit to your powers, but what you don't understand is that you're so much more than green flaming hands. So much more."

"What are you talking about?"

"Think about your brothers; superhuman strength, the ability to grow and shrink at will, to multiply-while I'm thinking about it, tell me, how awkward was it when your kid brother created that copy of himself and it never went away?"

Shego managed a weak eyeroll as Du recounted her family's life history.

"Fine, then there is you," he continued, seeing Shego wasn't going to play along. "The girl with the glowing green hands. What kind of superpower is that exactly? You don't see something like that in the comic books."

"Comic books aren't exactly 'Origin of the Species' there pal. I can't really help what powers were given to me by that stupid comet."

"True. However, I've followed your family for years, Studied the five of you throughout your hero and no-so-much hero times. And I noticed something, different with you over those years."

"I'm the only girl? Egads, Holmes, you've done it again," she snarked.

"Oh, give me some credit, I'm not a moron," he said standing up from the stool and walking away from her with his hands still behind his back. "It's the glowing of your hands. All of you do it, but only when you are enacting your powers. When Hego is lifting a tanker truck, glowing hands, when Mego is crawling through a keyhole, glowing hands, when Mego is creating his very own basketball team, glowing hands. But you...your hands just glow. I've watched reel after reel of footage between your fights with your siblings and Global Justice and Kim Possible and all you do is basic hand-to-hand combat."

"So, after noticing this, I came to a pair of conclusions."

"Oh, do tell. Always a sucker for lousy monologues."

"The first one is that you never truly use your powers, because either you don't know how to or you are doing it wrong. Like you're driving a car with its parking brake on."

"Now, thanks to the dedicated, and quite possibly unethical, research methods my scientists performed this idea has merit. Your powers aren't emitted through your hands but through your body as a whole. Your insides work like a reactor, continuously creating condensed cosmic energy which you merely release through piddly blasts that barely leave burn marks on walls. You do more damage with your claws and reckless behavior than you have ever managed to do with your powers."

"Yeah, well, maybe I'm bad enough as it is that I don't need any powers."

"So you admit you don't know what you're doing?"

"Hey, I came to the realization a long time ago that I was the 'Jubilee' of Team Go. It didn't hold me back, I was bad enough to handle my own both during and after that time of my life."

"Yes, you and Drakken were a regular Bonnie and Clyde," he scoffed. "Which brings me to the second part of my theory."

"And what's that?" she sneered.

"That being, frankly you're not evil. Never were, are or will be."

"Ha! That's rich" Shego laughed before hacking on some more fluid. "Wait'll I get out of these straps. I"ll show you evil!"

"Oh will you?" he questioned, "I was a top ranking agent for Global Justice for over fifteen years. During that span of time I witnessed firsthand the mass graves of the Rwandan genocide, the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, labor camps in North Korea and militants indiscriminately blowing up schools filled with children in Pakistan. I have seen evil, and what I see in front of me isn't remotely of the sort."

"TRY ME!" she seethed, increasingly getting angrier, her hands and eyes beginning to glow.

"Don't flatter yourself dear, I know an act when I see one."

"Wanna test that theory?" she replied, her eye beginning to twitch.

"Remind me again, how many people have you killed?"

"Huh?" she said perplexed.

"It's a simple question, how many people have. You. Killed?"

Shego pursed her lips and looked down at the floor. "I-I don't kill people."

"Oh you don't? Miss I'm-going-to-burn-your-face-off doesn't have a body count?"

She answered with an awkward shrug of her shoulders.

"Okay, how about how many people have you shot?"

Shego gave no response.

"Stabbed?"

Again, no response other than a slight fading of the glow in her eyes.

"How many people have you beaten within an inch of their lives?"

The glow faded more and her eyes relaxed from the scowl.

"How many people did you hospitalize with something other than a case of the common cold? I have a feeling that number is enough to count on one hand."

Her glow was almost completely gone and the anger written across her face a moment ago was morphing, changing to something different.

"And better yet, let's look at your longstanding feud with the amateur crime fighting cheerleader Kim Possible herself. How many times did you have her dead to rights? Her life hanging within your green glowing hands and you failed to end it? For someone so evil, you seem to lack the basic conviction to smite a foe at every opportunity that's presented to you. Most of which ultimately resulted in either your own humiliation or incarceration. No less at the hands of an individual who had to rely on a licensed adult to drive her to the bulk of her missions."

"That's not the modus operandi of an evil supervillain...that's not even the handiwork of a small time villain. No, that's what you would expect from a fraud. Because in the end, that's all you've ever been. A fraud who pretended to be some high-caliber villain when in reality she's a rebellious Gen-Xer with family issues. And to further play on the charade, you hooked up with the only villain more benign than you as a partner. Evil and you don't even belong in the same sentence."

The glow in her eyes had completely faded away and she slumped over in a big sigh. A smirk came across Du's face as he saw that his words were having an effect on her. He then walked over to her and began to caress the hairs on top of her head.

"Call me a liar," he stated.

"Kiss my green hued ass," she sighed in response.

"It's alright my dear, I know that we can't always end up being what we want to be. But, in your case, I'm quite certain you're the exception to the rules."

"Huh?"

"We will unleash your full potential. It will take some time but the stress tests which have been administered to you are beginning to show progress and your true powers are beginning to rise to the surface. And when we get you to where we want you to be, we'll use you to help usher in a new age of man. You will go from Jubilee to The Dark Phoenix by the time I am done with you."

There was a pause in the conversation while Shego tried to recollect herself from the verbal onslaught Du had unleashed on her.

"So, why do all this?" she finally muttered.

Du stood back up and paced away from the tank.

"Why indeed."

"Oh quit being cryptic. You killed my best friend, kidnapped me, you stuck me in a tank for hours on end, shocking the hell out of me for what seems like weeks. The least you could do is give me an explanation for the whole Clockwork Orange treatment."

"I don't owe you anything," he replied as he approached the control panel and entered in commands that began to tilt the gurney back and raise it back into the tank. "My plan isn't in motion yet on the account of you not being where you need to be yet, so instead of sitting here and monologuing like a comic book villain we're putting you back in the tank to get this process moving along. Trust me though, when it's all said and done, people will remember the contributions you made to society. And its renewal."

"Y-you won't get away with this," she muttered in a shaky tone.

Du stopped the lift. "Wait, what did you say?" with a slight chuckle.

Shego's pride was eroding faster than sand in a flood, and a look of defeat beginning to show on her face while her eyes began to water.

"I said...you won't get away with this."

"Oh, that is great coming from you!" Du laughed. "The big bad villainess Shego has now been diminished to a mere damsel in distress! Lemme guess what your next line is going to be. Something about Kim Possible right?"

"Eat me," she said in defiance.

"Oh no, please. Do say it. I want to hear it come directly from the horse's mouth."

Her eyes began to tear up more, the humiliation of being in a no-win situation started to overcome her. And she uttered words to which she hoped to never say despite her face turn years ago.

"Kim Possible...you know that with me missing and what you did to Drew. You know she's on the case. Somehow...and she'll stop you."

"Yes!" Du mockingly clapped again in schadenfreude enjoyment. "I so hoped that you would lower yourself to saying that. And know what? You're right, that amateur and her boyfriend were sent to find you and to disrupt my plans. They even have Global Justice backing their efforts."

Shego's face flashed a slight glimmer of hope.

"In fact, I actually met the two of them, along with their *cough* replacement a few hours ago."

Her face then blanked as she noticed the lack of concern her captor had on his face at the acknowledgement.

"You know, her coming out of retirement was such a big deal, I bet you they're still talking about it on the news. How about, before we stick you back in the tank, we pop in and see what the media's talking about, shall we?"

Upon saying that, Du pushed a few more buttons on the control panel, which activated a large monitor on the adjacent wall.

"Let's see." He smirked while flipping through channels. "Soap Opera, weather, drama, drama, Flippies, The Ocho, ah! Here we go! I love it when you time a channel change just right so that the story comes one right as you turn to it."

"...so far we can confirm no casualties at the Middleton Space Center, although officials are saying that the facility is a total loss. As for the rumors that former teen crime fighter and local heroine Kim Possible was involved in the incident at the Space Center..."

"Shego pulled her head up from the gurney and glanced down towards the monitor."

"...we can confirm that she was inside the facility when the control tower collapsed and was transported to the Middleton Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries. We have not been told what those injuries are but we have heard reports that she was being treated for a possible gunshot wound and a broken leg. We'll have more information wh-"

"They have it wrong, she doesn't have a broken leg," Du said muting the broadcast and pacing back towards Shego with a grin. "It's more like severe head trauma. Real nasty, 'head went right through a control panel. And those old composites aren't exactly weak."

"Oh, plus she was shot by one of her own people," he said while pacing around the tank nonchalantly. "Either way, I wouldn't be looking for that spry redhead to come barging in here anytime soon, even if she knew where to look for us in our underground facility, she wouldn't be able to stand on her own two feet much less fight off an entire squadron of henchmen. So, as you can see, nobody is coming for you. So we should get you back to getting those powers realised."

Shego flopped back on the gurney, defeated and upset at the news of pure hopelessness which she had just witnessed.

"Screw you, Du," she defiantly whimpered before she disappeared beneath the surface of the tank and the lid was secured.

Du then proceeded to initiate the stress inducing sequence on the control panels and watched contently as various flashes of light emitted from the tank's opaque walls. Once the sequence was back in operation, he left the room and headed towards the infirmary.

Maddox was getting the eighth suture sewn into his finger by the time his superior entered the medical bay.

"How's the finger?"

"She broke the skin, but I'll live."

"So that means you can get back to your work immediately, yes?"

The scientist nodded.

"Good. In that case, when you are finished reattaching your finger I want you to get back to Sector 4 and increase the intensity of the stress tests four fold."

"I'm sorry but what?" Maddox replied surprised.

"Shego's willpower is starting to break down. I saw it in her eyes after giving her a little bit of news from back home."

"Okay but, four fold?" That's a lot of voltage running through her body! Factor in the chemical bath and..."

"And the desired critical mass will have been achieved ahead of schedule," Du interrupted. "She's on the cusp of total break down, we just need to give her a nudge over the finish line."

Maddox acted unsure of his boss' proposal but he reluctantly agreed to it. "Consider it done."

"Good, and while you're at it, contact Engineering and tell them that they need to begin working around the clock on assembling the Deep Venture. We're moving up the timeline and I want both Shego and that drill operational at the earliest possible time!"

"I will inform them as soon as the stress test is increased."

"Good," Du said contently. "Now if you'll excuse me I have a manifesto to draft."

Back inside the hospital, Tara had stepped into the break room to grab a breakfast burrito from the famed "wheel of death" vending machine. Once she purchased one, she unwrapped it and put it into the microwave, and was somewhat entranced while she watched the pasty white cylinder slowly turn in circles with "cheese" beginning to bubble out of it. As she watched, she caught the movement of a large object lumbering down the hallway, struggling to hold onto the railing which ran down the length of it.

She turned more to see what it was and noticed it was Ron, his face was a slight shade of blue and he was gasping for breath.

"Oh my god!" she shouted while running over to her friend, "What happened?"

"Bonnie, *gasp* balls…*gasp* can't...find...one*gasp* The pain…" Ron left off with a whimper.

"Oh, you poor thing, let me get you back to Kim's room so you can sit down." Tara draped his arm over her shoulder and helped him limp down the hall.

They reached Kim's room and quietly made their way over to the chair Ron had been sitting in earlier. As he sat he slouched over so low that his shoulders were touching his thighs.

"Hang tight for a sec, I'll be right back," Tara said while quickly exiting the room, only to return a few minutes later with an ice bag and kneeled next to her friend.

"Here, this should help."

Ron forced himself to slowly sit up. *Ugh* "Thanks...Tara…" he said sticking the bag between his legs and then proceeding to put his hand down his pants. "I can't...find..one of *gasp* my boys."

Tara awkwardly drew her bottom lip between her teeth, "Yeah, I'm not helping you there, Ron. When it comes to friends, I draw the line at handing out ice packs until I get my LPN license."

"No need *AWW* found it…" he said in obvious pain before pulling his hand out and readjusting the ice pack.

"So, do I want to know why Bonnie kicked you in the pills?"

"Apparently," he started, adjusting himself higher into the chair. "I'm just an amateur who would be in their way as we regrouped and planned our next move. So, to ensure I didn't hop on the helicopter ride back to headquarters, *ugh* Bonnie roshamboed me and then sent me back down in the elevator. Said I was needed more back here at KP's bedside than actually doing something productive."

"Wow, that's a real bitch move. Even for Bonnie," Tara replied.

"Tell me about it. It's not like I wasn't doing her job years before she decided to do it or anything."

"This is true."

"Her and that Trepid guy *ugh* couple of arrogant jerks," he seethed painfully.

"Um, do you want me to go grab a nurse or PA to check you out?" she asked. "If she's now a trained spy she could have really injured you."

"No, Tara, that...won't be...necessary." He sighed and adjusted the ice bag. "This too shall *ugh* pass."

"Alright, then," the blonde said standing back up. "I'm going to go grab my burrito and head back to my station. If you need anything just give a yell or hit that little red button on the side of Kim's bed. If there isn't anything else I'll come back in about an hour and check on you two. I'll even bring another ice pack." She winked while closing the door behind her.

Ron replied with a grimaced look on his face and a thumb up in acknowledgment before slouching back down into his seat, still filled with various levels of pain coursing through his body.

Several minutes of trying to subdue the pain and swelling, Ron began to feel a little better and reached for the television remote which was located on Kim's bed.

"Let's see what they're saying about us, KP," he mumbled to his unconscious partner while turning the television on to the local news channel which was currently broadcasting a news conference being conducted by the Middleton Fire Chief."

"...as we said at the onset of this news conference, there appears to have been no loss of life at the at the site of the Middleton Space Center...according to the program director, the facility was experiencing some sort of malfunction which had forced a full evacuation of the site earlier. However, the cause of the explosions and collapse of the control tower are still being investigated."

"So they're still towing that angle huh?"

"...Our crews have just begun to inspect the remains of the collapsed control tower, but we don't anticipate finding anything to lead us to the contrary. We'll let you know of any updates at 5 pm later today, thank you."

"Pfft, your crews didn't happen to come across an engagement ring by chance did you?" Ron mumbled at the tv.

"Continuing with our main story, whatever occurred at the Middleton Space Center early this morning which left the entire facility in ruins, also may have contributed to the hospitalization of local hero and former teen sensation Kim Possible who is rumored to have been admitted to the Middleton Medical Center arou-"

"Not a rumor. Let's see what else is on." Ron continued flipping through the channels.

"Fishing, no. Infomercial, no. Telenovela, no. Goof Troop, nope. It's too early for anything good, I guess."

"Ron?" a weak and crackly voice spoke from the bed next to him.

Ron's eyes widened and he quickly turned to where he was met with the bloodshot, emerald colored eyes of Kim staring back at him.

"W-what's the 'sitch?" she asked while trying to sit up before quickly slouching back in
pain.

Ron stared dumbfounded at the fact that his girlfriend had regained consciousness, and after a few seconds of silence, he swung his head back towards the door.

"TARA!"

END -