Kim Possible by Walt Disney Productions

Superman and Batman by DC Comics and Warner Brothers Entertainment

Classic Cowboy and Jezrianna 2.0 present ...

Kim Possible: The Last

Ron Stoppable: The Batman

(S)The Worlds' Finest(-V-)

Kim Possible, world-famous, red-headed superhero, flew south from Denver, Colorado. Her flight path paralleled Interstate 25, which lay below her, twin ribbons of shimmering white concrete against the brown landscape on either side. To Kim's right loomed the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, its snow-crowned peaks rearing majestically over the westernmost edge of the Great Plains.

Kim smiled. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, perfect for flying. Ahead of her, Kim spied a twin-engined passenger jet, also southbound. She veered toward the mountains to give the jet a wide berth. That made Kim's smile widen. Unlike anyone else on Earth, Kim didn't need an airplane to fly.

'This,' Kim thought, 'Is the best part of having been born on another planet.' She was Kryptonian by birth, having been rocketed to Earth by her biological parents Jor-El and Lara to escape her homeworld's cataclysmic destruction. Fate or fortune had seen Kim's ship touch down on the shores of Lake Middleton, where she had been found by James and Patricia Possible, who raised her as their own daughter.

Kim had grown up believing herself to be a human being, albeit a physically gifted one. Always a confident extrovert, not to mention stronger and more agile for her age than most of her friends, as Kim entered her teens she'd gone into the business of helping other people, and quickly earned a reputation of 'the girl who could do anything'.

As her adolescent years progressed, Kim began to realize that she wasn't, in fact, 'your basic, average girl'. When bullets started bouncing off her skin, and she discovered that she could bench-press cars, she'd confronted her parents, who had revealed her true origin. She'd been stunned, but ended up accepting the truth more quickly than she'd expected. A lot of that was due to the steadying influence of her life long best friend, Ron Stoppable. With his trademark goofy humor, he'd caused her to laugh away her fear and confusion.

Ron. Kim glanced over her shoulder. Half a mile behind and to the side flew the Team Possible jet, with Ron at the controls. He must have felt her gaze, for he turned and met her eyes, grinning from ear to ear.

Kim touched a control on the belt of her red and blue bodysuit, with attendant red boots and gloves.

"And just what are you so happy about, Mr. Stoppable?" she asked, a sub-vocalization microphone built into the collar of her top allowing her 'talk' without opening her mouth.

"That we'll be home into half an hour," Ron explained. Then, with exaggerated glee, "So. Many. Things to! Be happy! About!"

"Name three," Kim challenged.

"Easy," Ron sneered loftily. "In ascending order of importance: your Mom's pot roast, see Rufus, sleep with you."

"Nice to see you've got your priorities straight," Kim laughed.

Ron assumed a sly expression. "Well, those last two are a bit of a toss up..." he allowed theatrically.

Kim quirked an eyebrow at him, then rolled and banked until she was right alongside the jet, glaring at him through the side windows of the cockpit.

"That's it, mister!" she declared. "Whadda ya say we race the rest of the way?"

"Usual bet?" Ron asked. Kim nodded. "Then I says 'yer on, little missy'!"

Kim gave a bare fanged grin and fell back until she was dead even with Ron. Ron's left hand grabbed the jet's throttles, his thumb hovering over the afterburner button.

"Three!" he called.

"Two!" Kim echoed.

Beep beep bee doop!

"You are so lucky," Kim mouthed at Ron, before saying, "Go, Wade!"

The broad face of Wade Load, Kim and Ron's long time friend and technical guru, appeared on a screen on the jet's instrument panel.

"Got a mission for you," Wade said simply.

"Such as?" Kim prompted.

"Have you ever heard of Alexander Luthor?" Wade asked.

"Lex Luthor? Sure," Kim answered. "He's a physicist, works at the government's High Energy Research complex in Upperton. My Dad went to college with him, and he visits us every now and then. Why?"

"Dr. Luthor is at your house right now," Wade explained. "Something he was working on was misused, and he wants you to take a crack at fixing the problem, if you're willing."

(S)

Kim swooped down into the broad expanse of the Possible household's back yard. The house she had grown up in had changed more than a little over the years. Not only was it home to her parents, the Drs. Possible, it was also home to herself and Ron, her fiancée and soon-to-be-husband, as well as her brother Jim, his wife, and their children. Two of those children, little James III and his younger sister Kimberly, ran to meet their aunt as her feet touched the ground.

"Auntie Kim, Auntie Kim," they cried, their words echoed by a chirping chorus of naked mole rats following hard on their heels.

Kim swept them into a hug and started to greet them when her words were drowned out by a thundering roar. Looking up, one and all saw Ron shifting the jet from conventional to VTOL mode as he guided it toward a touchdown on the roof of Team Possible Headquarters. The concrete monolith overlooking both the Possible home and Mole Rat Hill, as the great colony/warren complex was known, wasn't pretty, but it had been designed with function in mind, not form. As Global Justice HQ was the brain and central nervous system of the world's elite commando forces, Team Possible HQ was the center of the nascent but growing community of superheroes that had been cropping up since Kim had first 'gone public' with her true nature.

When Ron emerged from HQ, the greeting scene was played out again. Though he and Kim weren't yet formally married, Jimmy and Kimmie addressed him as 'Unka Ron'. Their naked mole rat playmates were equally enthusiastic. Ron was in his element, and Kim almost literally had to pry him away so they could go talk to Dr. Luthor.

Kim's parents were entertaining their guest in the living when Kim and Ron walked in. Guests, actually, as Wade was there as well, and in person.

"Ah, Kimmie, Ronald, you're back!" James Possible exclaimed, rising from his seat on one of the living room's comfortable couches. The man Kim recognized and remembered as Lex Luthor stood as well. He was a tall, lanky man, with bushy red eyebrows which were all that remained of his once luxuriant head of red hair. In his thirties, Luthor had begun to experience the effects of male pattern baldness, and rather than put up with a slowly receding hairline, had opted to shave his head. He'd been bald ever since. Bright blue eyes gleamed with intelligence as Luthor studied the new arrivals.

"Lex, you remember our daughter Kimberly, don't you?" James asked.

"Certainly, Jim," Luthor nodded, "Though it has been a few years." He gave Kim a frankly appraising look, then said, "You've grown."

"Getting older tends to do that to a person," Kim said sagely, and Luthor chuckled.

"Too true," he agreed, then turned to Ron. "And this would be Ron Stoppable." Though he had phrased it as question, Luthor's words were clearly a statement.

"You remembered my name," Ron said, awe touching his voice, "And we only met once, for like, a minute."

Luthor smiled. "I never forget a face. Or a name, Ronald Dean Stoppable."

Introductions out of the way, Ron and Kim found seats while Lex described his problem.

"For years now, I've been intrigued by the possibility that our universe isn't the only one that exists." At the blank looks on Kim and Ron's faces, Luthor expounded.

"Imagine," he said, "That you had two choices: go out for breakfast, or eat at home. Now suppose that, if you went out, while at the restaurant another patron began to choke. Because you are there, you manage to save his life." Luthor looked at Kim, Ron and Wade. "Now imagine that, at the instant you chose between those two courses of action, a new, separate universe was created, identical to our own except that in it, you took the other path."

"You're talking about alternate timelines," Kim threw in, and Luthor nodded.

"Naturally, there are as many potential timelines as there are options in a person's life, or rather, in the lives of everyone who has ever lived, everywhere."

"An infinite number, then," Patricia observed, and Luthor smiled at her. "Exactly, Patty."

"Naturally, there isn't much call for research into such things, so I've been pursuing this as a personal hobby. Eighteen months ago, I made a breakthrough, and devised a means to 'tune in on', if you will, the signature of any given reality."

"That's where this man comes in," Luthor said, producing a photograph. Kim studied the image. A non-descript fellow of middle age, black hair, dark eyes.

"His name is Francis Lehrman," Lex said. "He's an electro-mechanical engineer by training and a weapons designer by trade. We met at a conference in San Diego a couple of years ago, and he took an interest in my theories."

"I've been interested, nay even obsessed, with the idea of contacting, and then visiting, alternate timelines," Luthor admitted. "With Lehrman's help, I was able to build a device that allowed me to bridge the dimension span, and send a probe into a parallel timeline."

"I found a world quite similar to our own, not surprising, given the proximity of the two timelines."

James chose that moment to interrupt. "Proximity, Lex? What do you mean by that?"

"Well," Luthor said, rubbing his bald pate, "Basically, the more recently any given timeline diverged from our own, the 'closer' to us it is. I can't say for sure how 'far away' the timeline I found is, but it seems to have diverged some years previously. For example, what we know as the tri-cities of Upperton, Middleton, and Lowerton, Colorado, are known in this other world as 'Triton'. The limited data I've obtained suggest that Team Possible as we know it here does not exist there. Nor can I speak with certainty about your counterparts. One of my goals was to make contact with mine, but I couldn't find him."

"What are you getting at?" Kim asked bluntly.

Luthor took a deep breath. "It seems that Lehrman has used my device to send himself to that other world. For the last month, Triton has been subjected to a crime spree by gangs armed with weapons identical those designed in our world by Mr. Lehrman."

"You waited a MONTH to do something about his?" Ron erupted.

Lex chuckled. "Ron," he said patiently, "As I said, Triton has suffered for a month. Lehrman used my machine early yesterday morning."

Ron could only stare back in complete bafflement.

"Differential time flow," James guessed, and Luthor nodded.

"Overall," Luthor said, "Time flows evenly, but moment to moment, it doesn't. You send a probe over for an hour here, and a day may pass there. Or vice versa."

Luthor shook his head wearily. "I had taken some time off from the HERC to work on my little project, and Lehrman had come to help me. He was staying at my house, with free access to my personal lab. That was how he got to the machine. Yesterday morning, I woke up to discover he was gone. No note, no message, just gone. But his car was still in my driveway. I checked the lab, and discovered that the machine had been used, and that a large object had been sent to that other world."

"Fortunately I make a habit of documenting my activity when I'm in the lab, just in case anything should happen, good or bad. There are a number of video and sound recorders that turn on automatically whenever equipment there is activated."

"So you have video of Lehrman activating your machine and stepping into it?" Wade guessed.

"Precisely, Mr. Load," Luthor confirmed. "He had a great amount of baggage with him, either weapons, or at least plans for them, and who knows what else."

"And you want us," Kim said, gesturing between herself and Ron, "To go and get him back."

"Please," Luthor asked. "Innocent people are getting hurt, even dying over there, and it's my fault."

(-V-)

It was a typical Triton evening, meaning gun fire and police sirens echoed in the downtown area, this time surrounding the First Triton Bank. "What the heck kind of guns are those?" Chief Detective Kim Possible growled as she ducked on the opposite side of her partner's car as the bank. On the third floor of the bank, the windows were broken out as a gang made their stand, and a really good stand at that.

"Definitely not somethin' ya get from Smarty-Mart's sporting goods section!" Kim's partner Harvey Bullock said, checking the clip on his firearm. His eyes flashed when he heard the powerful shells going through the other side of his rusted out car. "HEY, I JUST WAXED THIS THING, YA JERKS!" he stood up and yelled before Kim pulled him back down behind cover.

"If we could get in there, we might be able to rush them, but those things have range and accuracy like I've never seen," Kim whispered, peeking over the hood. "Looks like twelve inside, at least twelve are shooting. Damn, if we could just get in closer!"

Another gunshot and a cop behind the car beside them fell down with a bleeding shoulder. "Back-up?" Bullock asked, reaching for the radio.

"Back-up." Kim nodded in agreement taking it from him. "Possible to Dispatch, Possible to Dispatch, we need back-up. Repeat: we need back-up!"

"Gordon to Possible," the Commissioner and Kim's late husband's father's voice came through the radio. "Hang tight, I'm calling back-up right now." Kim couldn't fight back the smile when a moment later a bat-shaped spotlight hit the sky.

"All officers, keep them distracted, back-up's on his way!" Kim yelled before firing her side arm into the building. "Ron, hurry your butt over here …" She whispered under her breath.

Five minutes of exchanging fire passed when smoke began to fall from the broken windows. "Think it's him?" Bullock asked when all incoming fire stopped.

"AH! PLEASE, GOD, HELP ME!" One of the gang members tried to jump from the third story window only to be grabbed by a black-clad muscular arm and jerked roughly back inside.

"I think so …" Kim smirked at her partner, "Cover me, I'm going in to help."

"Red, when has the Bat ever really needed help," Bullock asked.

"You'd be surprised, Harv!" Kim replied before ducking down and running into the bank.

Kim ran up the stairs to the third floor of the bank and barely missed the KO'ed thug fall across the floor past her. She looked inside and saw the most well-known and feared vigilante in Triton dancing around the heavily armed thugs like they were children. "Behind you!" Kim yelled as she ran up and did a jumping kick to the thug about to hit the Dark Knight from behind.

"I knew he was there," Batman growled as he ducked a thug's punch, caught his arm and pushed his gloved fist into the thug's ribs.

"You're welcome!" Kim said cheerfully before punching the thug she grabbed and slapping a pair of cuffs on his wrists.

It didn't take the two long at all to sweep up the surprised thugs and get the situation under control. The last conscious thug could easily be considered the least lucky. "Where did you get the guns?" Batman roared into the thug's face, slamming him against the wall that just barely gave to the impact.

"I … I'm not tellin'!" The thug replied, forcing all the bravery he had to the surface as he stared into the Dark Knight's pointy-eared cowl.

Batman pulled him back and slammed him even harder, cracking the wall slightly. "Where did you get the guns?" He roared, his face contorting in anger. "Answer!"

"A new guy… calls himself Frugal Lucre…" The thug answered weakly, only to yelp when it seemed to make Batman angrier.

"Frugal Lucre is in prison," Batman hissed, "Wrong answer. Try again!" He yelled before throwing the thug across the room, and stalking toward him with his wing-like cape wrapped around himself.

"I swear! That's what he calls himself!" The thug whimpered as the crotch of his pants dampened visibly.

"I want the truth, you waste of air," Batman growled, picking him up off his feet by the collar. "WHO got you these guns?"

"I'm tellin' the truth; I swear on my mama's grave, I'm tellin' the truth!" The thug begged before his eyes rolled back in his head and went limp in a dead faint.

"Damn," Batman growled dropping the limp body to the ground, before touching his belt. "Case 234: possible source turns out to be a dead end. But that seems to be the typical for this case. End log." He spoke before turning to Kim, who was staring at the thug.

"Do think he was telling the truth?" Kim asked, crouching down beside the thug, "Batman?" She asked again glancing up to find herself alone. She humphed before reading the unconscious thug his rights.

(-V-)

"Frugal Lucre, huh?" Commissioner James Gordon sighed as he sat back on his desk, "He couldn't have been telling the truth …"

"Maybe, but I was there; Batman put him through a tight ringer and he acted like he believed him." Kim replied, sitting on the edge of her former father-in-law's desk.

"He wasn't lying," a voice spoke from the shadows. Anyone else would have jumped or yelped but both Kim and Gordon had long adjusted to the Bat's quiet, ninja-like entrances and exits. "But it's not the 'Frugal Lucre' that's locked up in Colorado State Prison. He has been there since Team Possible put him there over eight years ago."

"Plus, that's really not Lucre's M.O.," Kim added, rubbing her chin, "I remember his idea of a grand evil plan was charge the world one dollar or else he'd wipe out the internet with an old can of sausages … and those snapping turtles."

"Any idea who it is then, Batman?" Gordon laced his fingers before his face as he leaned over his desk.

"Not yet, but I'm working on it," Batman said, dropping a folder on Gordon's desk. "That's everything I can work out on the weapons the bank robbers were using. There's no information on this type of weapon anywhere, black market or otherwise."

"Then where are those things coming from?" Kim asked, looking over the folders.

"We'll figure it out," Gordon patted Kim's shoulder. "As for you, your shift's almost up. Don't want to overwork you and get your very generous boyfriend to stop giving the department extra funding."

Kim cocked an eyebrow at Batman's smirk. "Yeah, I better go. That very generous boyfriend of mine is supposed to be keeping a close watch on my daughter." She said with an innocent grin toward the Bat. "I hate to think what would happen if I arrived and found that she's still up this late past her bedtime."

"Hey, Commish!" Bullock said storming into the office, with half of a donut in his mouth. "Press is here. They want to know what to put 'bout the bank robbery."

"Tell them I'm on my way, anything else, Batman?" Gordon asked as he and Kim turned to where the Batman was standing to only find the blinds of the window blowing. "I hate it when he does that …"

(-V-)

It took Kim around an hour to sign out and make her way to Stoppable Manor in the Upperton area of Triton. She stifled a yawn as she pulled the key Ron made her and entered into the large mansion. It still took her a moment to get her bearings in such a large house, but she still managed to make her way to the study and the old, stopped Grandfather clock on the far wall. She opened the case, pulled a lever hidden behind the clock face and watched as it slid to the left revealing a hidden stairway.

She made her way down into the dark, damp chamber. The large tank-like Batmobile was still missing. "Leave it to a pair of computer geeks to forget bedtime," She said as she saw the two men on either side of the large computer chair with some kind of videogame playing on the screen of Ron's super-computer.

Wade Lode and Felix Renton smiled sheepishly as Kim approached them. "Barbara, honey, time to go home."

"But, Mama, I'm 'bout to get a new high score!" a small voice whined from the chair.

"Don't 'but mama' me, young lady," Kim planted her fists on her hips as the roar of an engine echoed down the tunnel at the far end of the Cave.

She picked Barbara up from the chair as she weakly wiggled and complained sleepily. "Time to go home and get some sleep; don't worry, you'll get to come back and play later after I explain the concept of bedtime to Unka Ron, Unka Wade, and Unka Felix." She said as the Batmobile came to a stop on the large turntable across from the computer.

The cockpit of the attack vehicle opened and the Batman climbed out before sliding back his cowl to show the ruffled blond hair and brown freckles that always seemed to make Kim melt. "Hey, KP, I didn't think you'd beat me back …"

"Ah, I figured you didn't," Kim lifted her chin, fighting the urge to smile. "I'm upset with you, you know?"

"I'm sorry, KP," Ron Stoppable said, hopping off the Batmobile.

"You don't even know what I'm upset about," Kim couldn't fight the chuckle.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure I'm sorry 'bout it!" He said, flashing one of his trademark grins.

"You disappeared on me, twice, you could at least say goodbye once in a while," Kim pouted, holding the half asleep five year old on her hip.

"I'll make it up to you …" Ron put extra push into his smile.

"If Barbara had been in the room you made up for her and asleep at … what time is it now? three a.m., if she had been asleep by midnight, then I might have considered staying and letting you make it up, but too late, Mr. Stoppable. Night, guys," Kim said, walking toward the stairs. "Say goodnight, Barbara."

"Night-night," Barbara waved her tiny hand as her mother carried her up the stairs.

"So much for play, all that leaves is work then," Ron said, turning to the Wade and Felix. "Anything new on this so called Lucre and his weapons?" he asked in full Bat-mode.

"Not yet, it doesn't make sense. It's like they just popped in from another dimension." Wade said, going to the computer.

"When have the things we do ever made sense," Ron said, walking toward the two displays he had put up since Kim came in on the secret: two large glass cases with his and her old mission clothes. "I wonder …" Ron said looking at the reflection in the glass. "Nah, too sci-fi…"

(-V-) To Be Continued (S)

AN: This fic takes place after the last chapter of Kim Possible: The Last and Chapter 9 of The Batman