Author's note: For those going "Oh no, not ANOTHER new story! Where's the next chapter of At The Centerfold of the Storm and The Princess Diaries?" The answer is they're coming and hopefully soon.While in physical therapy for my broken shoulder, I've found my time to work on KP projects very limited… I write for a living by day as well, so by the time I get done with the stuff that pays the bills and THEN the therapy, my arm's just about dead. So, to keep putting SOMETHING out, I've been digging out old plot bunnies and stories I'd already started and cleaning them up. I posted this a few weeks ago on the Haven as a rough, but I think it's ready to go out into the world now. And YES, there is more of it already written. Legal stuff at the bottom to avoid spoilers, heh heh!

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THE BACK-UP PLAN

By SHADO Commander

Chapter One - Interview

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"282… 283… 284…"

Beep-beep-Be-Beep!

Kim Possible grunted in exasperation as the piercing tones of her Kimmunicator cut into the isotonic section of her morning workout. Terrific. Going back and grabbing the remainder later was going to hurt more than cramming them in now, and for one brief fraction of a nano-second she considered ignoring the device for the few seconds it would take to finish the last sixteen sit-ups… but in the end she was simply fundamentally unable to let the device continue to ring. Heck, if she was honest it had become a Pavlovian reflex somewhere along the way, and while she got fewer calls these days, the ones she got were inevitably more pressing and urgent. The halcyon days when it might have been someone with the need for a cat rescue or even a genuine babysitting job had ended somewhere around the third or fourth time she'd helped save the world.

Sigh…

She supposed the progression was inevitable, but while she didn't miss the cat bites and claw marks, the money she'd made babysitting was a different story. She had to be the only globe-trotting hero in the entire world who couldn't hold down a part time job or scratch together enough cash to go to the movies. To say nothing of next semester's college tuition.

But she could worry about that later. Right now it was 'prevent the epic disaster' time again. Or the 'stop the unstoppable super-villain' routine. With one bitten-nailed hand she plucked the trilling device from her exercise bench, using the other to push her soaked and tangled red mane clear of her tiger green eyes, then used the two of them together to carefully adjust the field of Kimmunicator's forward camera to focus exclusively on her face, placed her right thumb on the 'on' switch and allowed her lean feline frame to collapse bonelessly back onto the workout mat with a thump. It was a well-practiced maneuver that took less time to perform than describe, one born out of sheer necessity due to her recent lackadaisical attitude towards daywear. No doubt her parents would be horrified by her current appearance, and she didn't even want to think what her fashion conscious friend Monique would have to say… probably something about looking like an out of work porn star and involving the words 'raggedy ass'… but ever since the Lowardians, Kim had found herself the focus of far more media attention than she had ever imagined, and the demand that she always look 'perfect' in case of a paparazzi attack had bred a counter response to do as little as possible during the few moments she had that she knew were private. And, with her parents usually off to work long before the teen hero rose and seldom returning until late afternoon at the absolute earliest, and her brothers at Space Camp for the summer, Kim had seen little reason not to conserve her laundry and few remaining sets of 'good clothes' by prowling the house for most of the morning wearing little more than ratty old T-shirts and equally threadbare cotton briefs. It wasn't as if she didn't have a huge collection of both, and they were perfect for most of her exercise routines… however, they WERE already worn down nearly to the point of transparency even before being rendered completely translucent with sweat.

As a result, there HAD been the odd embarrassing occasion when it hadn't been just Wade on the Kimmunicator… and even when it was just her tech genius alone, the young man was definitely in the process of becoming an actual young man and was clearly reaching the point where even Kim's modest feminine charms might become items of interest. Best to simply keep said items out of sight and hopefully out of young minds and spare everyone any future awkwardness. After all, they'd all learned the hard way that combining work and romance could be a bad idea, and the least she could do was spare Wade some of that grief… especially after he and Monique had already had to shoulder a huge share of the drama involved in brokering the peace between herself and Ron after their brief attempt at turning friendship into a 'Relationship' had been brutally crushed underneath the Godzilla-like foot of Ron's no longer completely secret secret ninja school's policy of non-trans-Pacific communication. To say that had sucked completely would be the understatement of the century, and the fact that they'd had to play out the entire travesty while still putting a good face towards the world media had only amped the suckage to 11. Still, as traumatic as it had been for all involved, at least it had happened before they'd made the mistake of trying to take the relationship to the 'next' level. And, in the end, friendship had prevailed and they'd simply decided to back off and see where they were in a few years when… or more likely, she privately admitted, if… Ron finally learned how to keep his suddenly expanded Mystic Monkey powers completely under control.

Again, all of those thoughts flew by in the nano-second it took to toggle the Kimmunicator's 'on' switch, less the product of conscious reasoning than simply an acknowledgement of what was.

"Hey Wade." Kim forced a wide display of teeth that passed as her 'game' face as the familiar features of her tech guru and web master rastered onto the device's small screen. "What's the sitch?"

"Um…" There was no disguising the nervousness in Wade's voice. Instantly, Kim was on full alert, as something in the way Wade's whole body fidgeted back and forth immediately triggering a wide battery of alarms.

"Hey Kim," Wade recovered quickly. "Uh… funny you should ask… I got a real strange call a few minutes ago."

"Strange?" Kim's eyes narrowed. "Strange as in weird strange or ominous strange?"

"Oh, uh… No! Not ominous!" Wade protested, though he was still not quite meeting Kim's eyes. "I mean, actually, it's not bad at all, I guess… and depending on your point of view… it MIGHT be really good but... I'm not sure how you'll feel about the requirements."

"Requirements?" Kim massaged her forehead with her free hand, hoping to ward off what felt like the beginnings of a headache. "It's not another Global Justice recruitment scheme, is it?"

"No, I think Betty's finally accepted that you're not interested in even talking with her again until after you've got your Masters. I think this is something you would be interested in, but they were really, REALLY sparse on details and… um…" Now it was Wade who rolled his eyes back up into his skull. "The thing is… They want you to agree to an interview BEFORE they'll even tell us what the mission is."

"Interview?" Kim blinked. "Hold on. You mean like a JOB interview?"

"That's right," Wade gulped. Now the reasons for his evasiveness were becoming more obvious. There had been a time when she'd been more ready to accept the fact that some people could be worried about her being able to take on some of the missions she undertook, but these days her 'credentials' were public knowledge… and generally anyone who wanted her to 'prove' herself first was going to be nothing but trouble anyway.
Which brought up the interesting question of why Wade hadn't already informed them of her 'my way or the highway' policy?

"They DO know what I do, right?" She frowned, keeping the growl in her voice to a soft minimum. "And how long I've been doing it?"

Wade's response was equally carefully controlled. "Yes Kim, they know exactly who you are. But… when I tell you who THEY are, I think maybe you'll understand why they're being so cautious."

"In that case," Kim sighed, "Maybe you should just cut to the chase and TELL me already."

So Wade told her.

"Holy crap," a stunned Kim replied once her brain had had time to assimilate who it was that was asking. What the hell did THEY think that SHE could do for THEM…?

Then again… her motto HAD always been that she could do anything. It looked like someone was finally going to call her on it.

And more than that, she KNEW why Wade had really been so nervous.

"You already told them that I'd do it, didn't you?" She scolded, putting a bit more accusation in her tones than she really felt.

"Just the meeting!" Wade yeeped, a flush rising on his face. "I… I couldn't say no, Kim. Not to THEM."

"Yeah… I can see that," She gave in to Wade's pathetic attempts to pull off a puppy dog pout. "Oh what the hell, if they want to talk to me, I'll talk to them… but no promises."

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The man across the table was every bit as intimidating as she'd expected him to be. Having dealt with a wide range of alien conquerors, generals and more mad scientists than she could shake a stick at, Kim was pleased to find that she was able to meet his steely gaze evenly, though she couldn't deny the nervous tickle that started at the bottom of her spine and ran all the way up her to the base of her brain stem as she took in those cold, empty eyes. Damn. They really did look like they did in the photos.

And yet, ironically, she realized after a split second, the person he most reminded her of was Mr. Barkin, her former teacher and vice-principal. Perhaps it was the way he seemed to personify 'authority'… or perhaps it was the way he was pretending to idly shuffle through the thick 'dossier' on her that he had casually produced and placed on the desk in front of him. The one with her name, the word 'CLASSIFIED' in big red letters and the logo for Global Justice all emblazoned on the front. He would have actually have impressed her more if he'd simply laid the folder down so that she could see it, as there was little doubt in Kim's mind that he already had most of the information in the folder committed to memory and that making her wait was simply a way of establishing a psychological advantage.

Kim took advantage of the time to mentally run through a couple of martial arts katas, as it probably would have been unacceptably rude to close her eyes and pretend to sleep. Though if he took much longer, she was going to ask him if Betty knew he'd been going through her drawers…

"You have a very impressive resume, Miss Possible," The man suddenly spoke, his raspy voice not unlike the sound of two millstones grinding together. Two millstones with WAY too much testosterone.

"Thank you sir," She nodded back tightly, but felt compelled to add: "But that's not a resume, and if your only source is Global Justice then it's far from complete. However, if you've read it, I believe that you would have seen that I prefer Ms. these days."

"Ah yes…" Was that a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth? Yes, it was. So he was at least subconsciously acknowledging that what they were really doing is playing dominance games. "I should have remembered that."

"Yes, you should have," Kim's responded with a more overt show of teeth. "But based on the lack of detail in your communications with Wade, it may be that your memory's simply not what it used to be."

Kerblam. Judging by the way his eyes flashed, that was clearly a big score… she'd suspected that he wouldn't be used to people talking back to him in his official persona. Well, people on THIS side of the law, anyway; especially young women who still looked as though they were in their second year of high school rather than their first year of an accelerated college program that would give her two masters in the next three years. Of course, the 'sweet young thing' was an image she deliberately cultivated these days. As the daughter of a rocket scientist and a brain surgeon, she had more than enough to live up to already without adding the sobriquet 'mature for her years' on top of it.

Not that her opposition let her hit phase him. "I'm afraid," He volleyed back smoothly, "That all I can tell you at this point is that it would be undisclosed assignment that would require your presence for approximately three weeks."

"Well, Gosh!" Kim replied with a smirk that would do Shego proud. "That just explains everything. I don't know what I had such reservations about!"

Another frown from the man across the table. "I take if from that that you're not ready to accept those terms, now that we've met and you've seen that we are, in fact, who we are?"

"That would be correct," Kim took up the challenge easily. "I have great respect for the work that you and your associates have performed in the past, but I'm afraid the credit that bought you was exhausted in getting me to agree to this meeting under these conditions. From this point you'll have to sell the assignment to me on its own merits… and outside of picking a police station as a neutral meeting site, so far the way that you're handling this situation stinks of black ops."

"You… don't trust us?" The man's expression was almost unreadable. Not angry, per se… rather more as though he found the idea to be almost alien. That his personal honor was such a universally accepted concept that he had difficulty imagining someone not simply accepting his word as gospel. And oddly enough, knowing that the shoe had moved onto the other foot, that he was experiencing what she had been feeling, Kim felt her own emotions become more sympathetic for the first time.

"Should I?" She asked quietly. "Either you don't trust me or you think there's something about what you're doing that you think I might have objections to. And if you have Dr. Director's notes, you know how well I take to being manipulated, especially into things that push the edge of my own moral code."

"The doctor did mention something about a Pixie Scout mentality."

"Guilty as charged," Kim admitted. "I know that there are some who believe that anyone who does what I do to be is nothing more than a vigilante, but I do try to keep my face clean… then again, unlike some others I do put my face out there to be seen."

"Touche."

"Would you prefer I lied about my personal feelings? However, no matter what Betty might say in that folder, I'm not as much of an innocent as people think. There are times when the grey areas of the law need to be skirted, and, in that respect, a certain level of anonymity may be an asset…" Kim waited for that to register before she began to stand, "However, I'd need to know quite a bit more than you're offering before I could commit one way or the other. Since that would seem to leave us at an impasse, I guess I'll be going and you can talk to your other candidates."

"No, wait," The man interjected… and then, to his credit, made what Kim imagined passed for an uncomfortable smile on that rock hard face as he made a further admission. "You're correct. I could have handled this much better. However, we're talking about information that could cost someone their life if it were to leak out."

Kim remained poised in her half risen position.

"Please, sit back down," the man relented.

Kim allowed herself to teeter for another half second, before lowering herself back down and looking at him expectantly.

"Yes…" The man sighed. "As you can imagine, I'm not accustomed to sharing this kind of intel with anyone outside our… team. However, since it seems that, if anything, Dr. Director was guilty of a bit of understatement in her descriptions of your force of personality, perhaps it wouldn't be an extreme leap of faith to trust that her descriptions of your other traits were coached in equally cautious terms."

"I'm not sure if there was an insult or a compliment buried inside all of that," Kim muttered.

"Insults should be written in sand," the man replied with a poker face.

"And compliments carved in stone," Kim returned, completing the old Arab proverb. "But then again, trust is the greatest compliment of all."

"Indeed," The man agreed. "Now as I imagine you may be aware, this city is about to play host to six overlapping major events: The opening of the new Art Museum, the International Gem Show, The State Opera Festival, the National VideoGame Developers conference, the NASCAR Grand Prix and the final three games of the Soccer Global Cup."

"Which means a lot of confused people wandering around with a lot of money and jewels, and the capabilities of the local police stretched completely to their limits," Kim noted.

"Exactly. An almost irresistible attraction for any kind of villain." The man paused and thought of how to phrase his next sentence. "And while the city council HAS made funds available to keep extra police on the streets, I believe they're expecting my associates to provide the crucial difference in maintaining law and order."

"That's… understandable," Kim agreed. "But it still doesn't explain your interest in me. If you want more security, I'd think a few dozen rent a cops would trump anything I could do."

"I think you're being unduly modest about your abilities," The man shrugged. "But what if I added the fact… and I'm trusting you to keep this in the strictest confidence… that one of my associates was badly injured last week… a broken leg, before you ask. Nothing permanently disabling, but there's no way the rest of us can cover this entire city for the three week period."

"Wait…" Despite every attempt to keep calm, Kim felt her jaw falling. "Are you saying…?"

"Exactly," He confirmed. "There's no way we can do it unless we can find someone who already has experience doing what we do to step in. Someone who, ideally, is used to working with similar equipment and is a close enough physical match to wear the uniform and accessories with a minimum of re-tailoring."

"In short," the man grinned another of those thin, taut grins. "Someone like you, Ms. Possible."

"Oh no." Kim heard her own voice stammering. "You can't mean…"

"That's exactly what I mean," the man in the cape replied smoothly as he reached beneath the table and produced an all-too familiar cowl, the feminine counter-point to the one he wore himself.

"For the next three weeks," The Dark Knight focused the full force of his will at Kim's innate sense of responsibility as he slid the distinctive headgear towards her. "We need you to be Batgirl."

TO BE CONTINUED…

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Holy Bat-Legal stuff!: Kim Possible, Wade Load, Dr. Betty Director, Ron Stoppable, The Doctors Possible (Anne and James) and all other characters borrowed from the wonderful KP Universe are the creations of Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley, and those names are all trademarks of the Disney media organizations. Batman and Batgirl are property of DC Comics and Time Warner Communications. All use should be considered fair under current parody law, and is not for profit in any case. Finally, this story takes place at a time at which all characters shown should be considered to be over the legal age of 18