Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“So, not to be disrespectful or anything,” says Bonnie Rockwaller, “but it seems like some of us shouldn’t be here.”

Honestly, Ron has to agree. He might understand recruiting Monique and Yori, or even Tara and Bonnie, but he’s not entirely sure what everyone else is doing here. Sure, Brick’s strong, and Justine and Felix are smart, but Amelia? Larry? Josh? He can’t figure out what they’re being recruited for.

“Agent Barkin wrote this list, and left notes on what he thinks each of you would be best suited for.” says Dr. Director. “At this point in time, though, we’re just interested in seeing what you’re capable of. You can refuse any of these tests at any time.”

“Will you erase our memories if we choose not to accept the job?” Tara asked.

“No, Miss Flagg, we will not. We have other ways of guaranteeing you keep our secrets.”

“That sounds worse, actually.”

Dr. Director chooses not to respond to that.

Joss Possible raises her hand.

“Yes, Miss Possible?”

“I’m excited about this and all, but I’m also only fifteen. Don’t you need to contact my father for permission?”

“We did, and he gave it. In writing and on video.”

“I’m surprised. But still excited! Let’s go!”

***

“So, our test is an empty room?”

Amelia sounds very skeptical, but Ron’s pretty sure there’s more to this test than they can see at first.

“No, Miss Bux. Your test is not an empty room. Dr. Lipsky if you could explain how the room works.”

“Of course, Dr. Director.” Says Drak – er, Dr. Lipsky. “I built the room using nanobots and scavenged Lorwardian technology. The room looks empty now, but it’s designed to scan, evaluate, and assess all who enter it in order to provide the most challenging non-lethal training experience possible. It’ll adapt to you as you spend time in it. As you learn, so will it.”

“I’ve seen enough movies to know that this room is eventually going to gain sentience and try to kill us.” Says Tara.

“I hope not, but just in case, Agent Du and Agent Go will be on standby in case anyone needs rescuing.”

“Okay, I feel a little better now. But I’m still not going first.”

“You don’t have to. Before we begin, there is one more thing you all should know; the room can tell if you’re holding back or hiding any unique abilities. It’s best to use them from the beginning, because the room will put you in a situation where you have to.”

“Yeah, this thing’s going to try to kill us.”

“So,” began Justine, “what you’re saying is, if we have superpowers, the room will be able to tell, and force us to use them even if we don’t want to?”

“Yes.”

It’s interesting that almost everyone starts looking nervous at that. They seem hesitant, and none of them are talking. Bonnie is the first to speak.

“Well, since you’re all going to find out anyways, I have star power.”

“Girl, now is not the time for jokes!” Monique admonishes.

“I’m not joking! I can manipulate light, heat, and, oh just look!” As she says this, an orb of light, heat, and sparkles forms in her hand.

“Did you just create an actual star?!” asks Dr. Lipsky.

“Yeah. I have literal star power.”

“You’re going to be insufferable about it, aren’t you?” Monique asks.

“Only a little bit.”

“Well, Miss Rockwaller, would you like to go first?” asks Dr. Director.

“Sure. I mean, someone’s got to show them how it’s done.”

“Excellent. The elevator will take you down to the training room. We can watch from up here.”

With that, Bonnie gets into the elevator and heads down to the training room.

***

Honestly, Bonnie’s doing really well. She’s dodging obstacles, blasting projectiles, and doesn’t seem to be concerned. It’s almost too easy for her.

Almost.

“So, when exactly does this thing end?” Bonnie asks.

“As soon as you hit the button to turn it off.” Dr. Director answered.

“I still can’t find it.”

“Then perhaps you’re not looking in the right place.”

“I’ve looked everywhere! The walls, the floor, the only place I haven’t checked is the ceiling!”

“The perhaps you should.”

To Ron’s surprise, she actually does.

“I see it! Kind of high up. How am I supposed to reach it?”

“I thought stars could fly?”

“Actually,” Justine started, “stars mostly just float in one place because there’s no gravity in space. They don’t really fly.”

“Babe,” says Brick, “she knows that.”

“Ah.”

Bonnie takes a deep breath, and actually starts to float. And then, she starts to fly.

Obviously, the room attempts to keep her from getting to the button, but she dodges some of the obstacles, and destroys ones she can’t dodge.

The sound of a buzzer lets everyone know that Bonnie has made it to the button. The room returns to its empty state, and Bonnie heads to the elevator.

***

“Excellent job, Miss Rockwaller.” Dr. Director says.

“Thanks.”

“Now, who’s next?”

Everyone’s hands go up.

This is going to be an interesting day.

Chapter Text

Ron’s nervous. Sure, he’s done this before. Sure, he has new powers that he’s been working on with Yori. Sure, his baby sister managed to get rid of his astigmatism so he can see better now. But he’s still nervous.

He’s used to being the sidekick, or the distraction. He doesn’t typically do missions alone. So, he’s not sure he can handle this training room. He’ll need to be rescued and Global Justice will realize he’s not cut out for this.

Just like Kim’s always known.

Dr. Director is still trying to choose who should go next, looking from the crowd of young adults to Mr. Barkin’s notes and back again. Everyone was a little too eager to volunteer for this.

Finally, after a long silence, Dr. Director speaks up.

“Ms. Ishida, would you like to go next?”

“I would be honored.”

Yori bows before heading to the elevator.

This will be a short run.

***

Well, Ron was right; it was a short run. Yori found the off button almost immediately, and navigating the obstacles in the room afterwards was effortless for her. At least, it looked effortless.

“Thank you, Ms. Ishida.”

“You are welcome, Dr. Director.”

“Now, Ms. DaMont, would you like to go next?”

“Absolutely!”

Honestly, it’s a little weird that Monique was volunteering. According to her, she has no desire for hero work. So why would she volunteer?

Ron will have to ask her sometime. Right now, he’s just going to hope she does well in the room. She may have training, and increased abilities (and size) after her dad’s super-soldier genes finally kicked in, but she still doesn’t have a lot of experience.

Monique heads to the elevator.

***

Honestly, she did a lot better than Ron was expecting. She wasn’t as fast as Yori, but she did manage to find the button and navigate the obstacles.

She is also clearly a lot stronger than she looks.

If Monique wasn’t his friend, he’d actually be concerned about getting her angry.

***

Tara wasn’t particularly fast or strong, but she was very agile and skilled. Her style seemed to consist of dance moves, cheerleading moves, and martial arts moves, but he was pretty sure she only ever trained in one of those.

Is it possible to learn something just by watching someone else do it?

***

Brick was chosen next, and mostly just plowed through the obstacles. They didn’t even seem to hurt him at all.

Maybe he was named Brick because he’s indestructible.

***

Felix was chosen next and agreed to go despite initial concerns about his ability to do so.

He used the flight abilities of his chair for navigation, though the room was able to create obstacles that could grab him.

He had trouble escaping, but then his eyes started to glow a bit.

Instead of telling the obstacles to let him go, he made them press the button to turn the room off.

Everyone’s gotta admit, it’s pretty clever.

***

Justine was hesitant to go but agreed anyways.

Her ability to make portals on a whim was surprising, though it shouldn’t be.

It definitely confused the room.

Getting to the button and pressing it was effortless for her.

***

Amelia was definitely a surprise. Fur, fangs and ice were not what anyone expected to see from her.

Ron wonders if Barkin knew about it.

***

Honestly, with how calm Zita is, Ron would’ve chosen water as an element for her. Not fire.

Turning into a snake to dodge obstacles was cool, though Ron’s curious about how long she’s been able to do that.

And if Barkin knew about that, too.

***

Josh was able to just step through the obstacles, like he was a ghost.

The definitely confused the room. For a minute anyways.

According to Dr. Lipsky, the room started making denser and denser obstacles to find a limit on what Josh could phase through without harming himself.

Josh handled that by making himself dense enough to break the obstacles when they hit him.

Alternating between them, he managed to get to the button.

***

“C’mon already! When are we going to get to go?”

“Joss, a little patience won’t kill you.”

“I’m just tired of waiting! What’s the point of asking us here if they don’t want to actually test us out?”

“You’ll have to forgive us, but we were busy contacting our agents. Neither of you ever attended Middleton High, and Agent Barkin wasn’t the one who added you to our recruitment list.”

“What?”

“Then who did?”

“We’re still unsure, but we’ve decided to test you out anyways.”

“Yes!”

Joss is even more excited for this stuff than Kim ever was.

“Mr. Possible, you’re next.”

“Oh, come on!”

***

Ron knew Larry pretended to be a wizard, but he didn’t know he was an actual wizard.

Larry makes it to the button, but he looks tired afterwards.

He’s probably low on mana.

***

Joss is excited to finally get to go, but Larry seems nervous about it. Ron’s used to dealing with anxiety, so he decides to talk to Larry about it.

“Worried for your cousin?”

“Worried? Yes. For Joss? No.”

“Then what are you worried about?”

“Well, shortly after she turned fourteen, Joss found out she could absorb energy.”

“That’s cool!”

“Yeah. Except, she blacked out her whole county.”

“Not cool.”

“Nana suggested sending her to train with Shaolin Monks to learn control, so I assume she’s done that.”

“Why would your Nana suggest that?”

“She trained with them when she was about Joss’s age. She was also an Aviatrix and a Navy Underwater Demolition Diver.”

“I had no idea.”

“Neither did Kim until a couple of years ago.” Larry gives a shrug. “I guess she never asked. Or got curious enough to look it up herself.”

“And you and Joss did?”

“Well, yeah. We’ve always been curious about Nana when she was young. Especially Joss. She loves hearing about Nana’s adventures.”

The lights start to flicker. Larry walks over to the control panel for the room and grabs the mic.

“Go easy on it, Joss. We’re trying to not get stuck here.”

“Sorry!”

Joss gets to the button quickly after that.

***

“You did great.” Larry says to Joss. “But you shouldn’t have been playing around.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I just got excited. This is the most interesting thing to happen since I got here. I’ll try to take this stuff more seriously in the future.”

“I know you will.”

“Of course you do.”

Ron was going to ask what she meant by that when Dr. Director spoke up.

“Well, now that we’ve seen what everyone’s capable of, we’ll begin the-“

“Sorry, hate to interrupt, but Ron never went.”

“He doesn’t need to. We already know what he’s capable of.”

That’s a confidence booster.

“He’s just that good, huh?”

“He single-handedly defeated two Lorwardians. Yes, he is.”

The silence in the room is more awkward than Ron was expecting. He has to say something to break the tension.

“What? Don’t tell me you guys are surprised.”

More silence, now with looks ranging from awkward to uncomfortable.

“You guys are actually surprised?! How?!”

“We thought Drakken had beaten them.”

“How could you think that?!”

Ron’s trying not to be hurt.

“Well, he’s the one getting all the medals.”

“And whenever anyone asked Kim what happened, she said it’s over so that’s all that matters.”

Ron’s feeling a bit hurt. But he’s going to give Kim the benefit of the doubt on this one.

“Well, she was unconscious the whole time. Maybe she just didn’t want to admit she doesn’t know.”

“More like doesn’t want to admit you saved the world this time.”

“Bonnie!”

“Hey, if she was unconscious and she knows you weren’t, who would she have thought saved the world? Did she honestly think Drakken did it? Why is Drakken getting medals and you’re not even getting recognition?”

“I…look, Bonnie, I agree with you. But I don’t want to discuss it right now. The feelings are fresh, and I want time to process them before I act on them.”

“Sorry. I guess I just get a little angry whenever Kim’s involved.”

“I know. And it’s not unjustified. But we’ll deal with this later.”

“I can handle that.”

“Thanks.”

Everyone else lets out an ‘aww’ at the same time. Bonnie has to comment on that.

“Kind of killing the mood here, guys.”

“Girl, you’re doing this with an audience. What did you expect?”

Bonnie probably had some snarky comment to that, but the room started acting weird. Dr. Director immediately went to the control panel.

“Dr. Lipsky, what is going on?”

“Uh…the room appears to be detecting a…presence…in Earth’s atmosphere.”

“What kind of presence?”

“Well, since I made the room with Lorwardian technology, it’s detecting the presence of…another Lorwardian ship.”

Well, this was a good day.

Chapter Text

This is Ron’s worst nightmare. Actually, it could be a nightmare. Maybe he’s dreaming.

Nope, the pinching hurts. He’s awake.

“Dr. Lipsky, is there anything you can tell us about the ship?”

“It appears to be much smaller than the one Warhok and Warmonga arrived in. It also hasn’t launched any robots yet, so I’m beginning to wonder if there are even robots on it.”

“Either they’re really overconfident or they’re not even trying.”

“Agent Go may be onto something. Still, until we can properly assess the situation, we will assume that it is a threat and act accordingly.”

“Uh…Dr. Director,” Dr. Lipsky said, “there appears to be a transmission coming from the ship.”

“Can you play it for us?”

“Yes, it should be on the screen now.”

~Transmission Starts~

“Pathetic Earthlings!”

Is that a Lorwardian? Her hair's curlier than expected. She doesn't seem to have makeup either. And it’s hard to tell but Ron’s pretty sure she’s smaller than Warhok and Warmonga.

But, then again, he’s only met two of them, so it’s entirely possible they have natural variations in those kinds of things.

“I am Warpath! You have twenty-four hours to surrender the blue one who defeated Warhok and Warmonga. If you do not, I will destroy this entire planet! I will be in the place known as Middleton Landfill when you are ready to hand him over! And no blue imposters!”

~Transmission Ends~

“Dr. Lipsky, who all received that message?”

“Thankfully, no one. Whoever was sending it didn’t seem to know how to send it to any Earth communications. We only picked it up because we’re using Lorwardian technology.”

“That’s a relief. We can at least avoid a mass panic.”

“Until someone at the landfill notices the Lorwardian ship landing in it.”

“That’s not going to happen, Agent Go, because you and Agent Du are going to head over to the landfill to notify them and keep an eye on our Lorwardian guest.”

“I assume you mean now.”

“Yes.”

“Alright.”

She heads over to Dr. Lipsky and gives him a kiss on the cheek before leaving.

There’s a silence in the group. Ron can’t blame them; they only just signed up for this, and now they’re having to realize that this is actually dangerous and serious.

Bonnie’s the first to speak up.

“Obviously, we’re not actually handing Ron over to her.”

“I do believe that is entirely his choice. Mr. Stoppable, what would you like to do?”

Naturally, everyone looks at Ron to see what his answer is.

“I…I have no idea. The only reason I beat the Lorwardians last time was by going into a rage and using my full powers. I’ve been training with Yori, but I still can’t use that level of power yet. I don’t think I can win. But if I don’t do it, they’ll attack the planet again. I can’t let that happen.”

“She.” Drakken commented.

“Huh?”

“She’ll attack the planet. She, not they. I used our tech to get a look at her ship. I can’t see much, but I can tell there’s only one Lorwardian on that ship.”

“I have to agree with the Doc’s girlfriend,” Monique says, “either she’s extremely confident or she’s not trying.”

Something about all of this seems odd. Ron can’t figure it out yet, there’s too many pieces missing. But something is definitely…off about this whole thing.

“She’s my wife, actually.” Dr. Lipsky’s voice draws Ron out of his thoughts.

“What?!”

That’s certainly news to Ron.

“We’re married. It was her idea. Global Justice was only going to provide us with shared living accommodations if we were married.”

“I guarantee there was more to it than that.” Monique says as though it should be obvious.

“Well, yes. But I prefer to keep my private life private.”

“I mean, I guess that’s fair. I guess that explains the rings.”

“I made them myself. Hers had to be specially designed to not melt, obviously. But they also have the added bonus of allowing us to instantly change into our work uniforms.”

“Really? Do you have more?”

“Well, I could make more, and I could have them look like other accessories, too. It would just take me a while.”

“That’s great because I have designs for everyone.”

“Wait,” Tara interrupts, “you designed costumes for us? When?”

“I needed something to do while everyone else was in the room.”

“Fair. What’d you design for me?”

Tara and everyone else gathers around Monique to see what she designed for them. They start giving ideas and there’s even some bickering about the designs.

There are few moments greater than Ron and his friends being allowed to just…be.

“Hey, Doc,” Ron speaks up, “how many of those accessories do you think you could make in twenty-four hours?”

“Alone? Seven.”

“And if you had help?”

“More than that. It would depend on the help.”

“Dr. Director, can you contact Wade? He also has a girlfriend named Olivia Anwell who could help.”

“Mr. Load is not answering, so I’ll be contacting Miss Anwell directly.”

“I didn’t know you knew how to contact her.”

She doesn’t acknowledge that. Olivia appears on the screen.

“Uh…hello, how can I help you?”

“We require your assistance and request that you come immediately. Also, if you know where Mr. Load is, we require his help as well.”

Ron can hear Wade’s voice in the background saying he’s on his way. He tries not to snicker at it.

Evidently, it didn’t go unnoticed by Dr. Director.

“You have a boy in your room when your father or I aren’t home. Get over here immediately and you’ll only be grounded for a month.”

“Mom!”

Well, that was a shock.

“Olivia.”

“Coming!”

Monique whispers to the group:

“We’re all in agreement to not say anything about it, right?”

There’s nodding and murmurs of agreement.

Ron loves his friends.

And his family.

He loves the planet Earth.

And he’s made his decision.

Chapter Text

It’s almost twenty-four hours exactly when Ron shows up at the landfill.

Ron hopes Roachie and her family weren’t too bothered by the uninvited guest. He’ll have to check on her after this.

And Rufus is probably worried about him. Not to mention unhappy about getting left behind.

He told his parents everything. They’re worried, of course, but they understand. They’re probably praying right now.

Ron’s not really recognizable in his new costume, but he should seem “blue” enough for Warpath to know who he is.

(He’s not sure why he grew a blue tail, but his hair turned blue as well, so at least they match.)

“Well,” Ron starts, “I’m here.”

“So, you decided to show up after all.”

Ron was right; she is shorter than Warhok and Warmonga. A lot shorter. He’d say between six and seven feet. Nowhere near their height.

“It’s an honorable decision, but it doesn’t mean I’ll have any mercy on you.”

There’s no feeling behind the words, but Ron’s not going to point that out right now. Instead:

“So, let me guess, you’re going to kill me?”

“I am going to destroy you and reclaim the honor you have stolen from Lorwardia!”

There’s feeling now, but it’s forced. Still, now’s probably not the best time for it.

“Honestly, not sure Lorwardia had any honor to begin with.”

“How dare you!”

She fires her staff at him. He dodges and it knocks over a pile of trash.

Now the fight begins.

“Say, aren’t you a little short for a Lorwardian?”

“I am more than large enough to squash you!”

She lunges at him and he effortlessly dodges.

“And why is it just you here? I thought Lorwardian conquest teams came in pairs.”

“Oh, it’s not just me here.”

She presses a button on her staff, and many robots fly out of her ship.

They arrange themselves into some kind of attack formation, all aimed at Ron.

“Any last words before a blow you to bits?”

That time, Ron wishes he had kept his mouth shut.

***

“Well, don’t you have anything to say?”

“Just one thing. Unstoppables, go!”

Thankfully, Lorwardians don’t know about magic, so they had no way of detecting Larry’s invisibility spell hiding the rest of the team.

As soon as Larry drops the spell, Warpath notices she’s surrounded.

Ron could swear she looked scared for a second. It doesn’t last very long before she orders her robots to attack them.

Thankfully, that’s what Ron was hoping for.

***

Training Room, Global Justice, Twenty-Three Hours Prior

“So, Dr. Lipsky, is there anything else you can tell us about this Lorwardian?”

“I can tell that she’s building something. Or a lot of somethings.”

“How can you tell that?”

“Her ship is using a lot of power and according to it’s manifest she brought a lot of raw materials and parts with her. She’s most likely intending to build something.”

“Probably a bunch of robots.”

“She doesn’t have enough materials to make even one of the Lorwardian conquering robots.”

“She could probably make a bunch of smaller ones though.”

“Yes, she could. But that could pose a problem with Stoppable being overwhelmed by how many there are.”

“Uh, hi,” Ron begins, “couldn’t help but overhear and, well, I have an idea. What if we got a bunch of other people to handle to robots while I fought Warpath?”

“Did you have anyone in mind?”

“I’m thinking of calling them Unstoppables.”

***

Middleton Landfill, Middleton, Present

The Unstoppables scatter like roaches, with Warpath’s robots following them.

Now it’s just Ron and Warpath alone. He’s not sure how he’ll fare against her if the combat goes on too long, so he’s hoping to end it quickly.

He can dodge effortlessly, but he definitely doesn’t have the kind of strength needed to actually harm her.

It might be time to break out the big guns.

Or, in this case, sword.

***

Bonnie was expecting flying to be more difficult. Instead, it feels natural to her, like she was always meant to do it.

Unfortunately, she is being chased by alien robots, so she doesn’t get to enjoy it as much as she’d like.

Creating a “star” to throw at the robots is easy, but her aim could definitely use some work.

If she can’t hit them, she’ll need to find some other way of destroying them.

"How do stars destroy things?"

***

Zita’s pretty sure her parents would be upset about this. They always said they adopted her to keep her out of danger, and now, she’s throwing herself into it.

She doesn’t have the aim to hit them, so she turned into a snake to hide in some of the piles.

The robots are looking for her, but luckily, they don’t know about her ability to turn into a snake.

She needs to find some other way of destroying these things.

"How does a snake kill its prey?"

***

The lasers coming out of the robots might not hurt Brick, but he still wishes they’d stop firing at him.

He might be able to destroy the robots if he could reach them. Unfortunately, jumping is not one of his superpowers.

He’ll need to find some other way to crush them.

"Where’s a falling anvil when you need one?"

***

Justine was certain they were only interested in her intellect. She hadn’t been expecting to actually fight anything when she agreed to join.

Still, she’s here now, and she’s not a quitter.

She just needs to get away from those robots for a bit.

"Luckily, escaping is pretty easy for me these days."

***

Josh believes in helping people whenever he can, so he has no problems agreeing to fight some robots.

Their lasers go right through him, but he can’t reach the robots to destroy them.

He’s not a fighter, but he’s currently wishing for a more combat-oriented power.

What good is shifting his density if it can’t help him win a fight?

"Maybe I just need to try something different with my power."

***

Amelia’s always hated her Yeti heritage. But right now, she’s grateful for it.

After all, being ridiculously strong and able to shoot ice is extremely useful right now.

Destroying the robots will probably be easy for her.

"If only I could just transform and use my powers."

***

Larry may never be able to LARP again after this. No LARP will ever be this exciting.

He gets to be an actual wizard and use actual spells.

If only he had bothered to learn any kind of combative spells instead of just levitation and healing.

"I should've actually read that spell book."

***

Felix can usually make machines do what he tells them to, but these machines are from another planet. They really don’t want to listen to him.

Luckily, his powers also let him turn his chair into a faster one.

Unluckily, the robots already destroyed the tentacles on it.

He'll have try something new.

"Mom's going to be mad."

***

Tara’s a great cheerleader, she knows this much.

Okay, she’s a great anything. She can learn stuff like gymnastics and martial arts just by watching someone else do it.

So, she has no problems figuring out how to get high enough to reach the robots.

She’s just not actually strong enough to destroy them.

"Why couldn’t I have Brick’s strength?"

***

Yori is honored to be able to aid Ron on a mission.

Unfortunately, she has very little experience with robots or aliens.

She has enough skill to hit them with her throwing weapons, but they do not seem to actually be slowing down the robots.

She may need to try something else if she hopes to destroy the robots.

"There was nothing in my training about this."

***

Monique had told her family, on numerous occasions, that she would never be a superhero.

Well, she’ll have to eat her words on that one.

Honestly, she thought these things would be easier to destroy – she just throws some stuff at them and they crumble.

Of course, they keep blasting everything she throws at them before it can even hit them.

"I wish I had paid more attention in dads' lessons."

***

Joss has been craving adventure for as long as she could remember. Being stuck on a ranch in the middle of nowhere with hardly anything to do was just not working for her.

But she really hadn’t realized adventure could also be very dangerous.

Luckily, she doesn’t have to deal with robots like everyone else does.

She was given a different job.

"This should be fun."

***

Science Lab, Global Justice, Twenty Hours Prior

“So,” Ron began, “I remember from when we fought Lorwardians last time that their robots are controlled by the ship. So, if we can get someone onto the ship, they can turn off any robots she might have.”

“Hmm…an interesting idea, Mr. Stoppable. Who do you propose we send?”

“Joss.”

“Yes!”

Joss might be a little too eager for this.

“May I ask why you want to send her?”

“If she can’t find an off switch, stealing all the power from the ship should also work.”

“Yes, I can see how that would be a smart decision.”

“I thought you would.”

***

Middleton Landfill, Middleton, Present

“It is just you and me, Blue One. I will destroy you!”

Well, she’s definitely upset about something, but Ron kind of feels like it’s not actually him. There’s something off about this whole situation, but Ron can’t quite figure out what.

And he doesn’t really have time to.

She lunges at him, but this time he blocks it with the Lotus Blade.

“Where did that come from? Another one of your tricks?”

“Well, yeah. It’s certainly not one of your tricks.”

“Enough of your insults. You will perish so I can reclaim the honor you have taken from Lorwardia!”

“Look, you guys can have it back if it’ll get you to leave.”

“No! This is combat! And by Lorwardian rules it is not over until one of us perishes!”

“Fine. Have it your way then. But I just want it to go on record that I gave you a chance to leave.”

A blue aura forms around Ron.

Chapter Text

Slipping away from the robots is not a problem for Justine. She just wishes she could go further than just her line of sight.

It doesn’t take them long to find her and start chasing her again.

But maybe getting them to follow her would work.

She opens a portal, goes through it, one of the robots follows her…

And crashes into another robot.

“Oh, this is going to be fun.”

***

Josh can’t keep phasing through blaster fire forever, so he phases through a pile of garbage instead.

The robots stop in front of it, no doubt looking for Josh.

From atop the pile, Josh makes himself more dense…

And jumps.

“Like jumping in a leaf pile, but crunchier.”

***

Once the robots realized Brick can’t be harmed by lasers, they stopped firing at him.

Instead, one of them flew towards him, probably as another kind of attack.

Brick grabbed the robot and threw it at the others.

Good thing he can’t be hurt by small explosions, either.

“Just like throwing a football.”

***

Monique may not have the skills needed to jump to the robots, but she can get them to come to her.

Dodge, run, grab something heavy, like a car, wait for them to get close…

And swing.

That’s the kind of explosion she had been expecting.

“This better not mess up my hair.”

***

Yori may not be able to damage the robots with her throwing weapons, but her war fans could, if she could reach them.

If she could just use a few piles to launch herself higher, then she could get at them with her fans…

And there are now robot pieces where a robot used to be.

“Now, which one’s next?”

***

Like any good snake, Zita is coiled and ready to strike.

She just needs the robot to get a little closer…

And then she lunges at it.

“Constrictors have the right idea.”

***

So, Larry may not know any combat spells, no big deal. He’ll make do with what he’s got.

And that’s the ability to move stuff with his mind.

Sure, he could throw some garbage at those things, but…

He could also throw them at each other.

“Robots do 3d8 damage…to each other.”

***

Felix may not be able to tell the robots what to do, but he can form his chair into any shape he desires.

“Honestly, a mech would be pretty cool.”

***

Amelia’s not having an easy time here. She’s already starting to regret this decision.

She regrets it even more when she falls into a pile of garbage.

Now she’s angry.

“That's for my outfit.”

***

If Tara’s not strong enough to harm those things, she’ll have to be smarter than them.

Since they’re aiming their lasers at her, maybe if she launches herself between them…

Yeah, tricking enemies into destroying themselves was just as fun in real life as it seemed to be in the movies.

“Badical!”

***

Bonnie flew around for a bit until she was surrounded by robots, then…

She went supernova.

“Some stars shine, but I burn.”

***

Joss may be good with technology, but she’s having trouble finding an off switch. Ron had said it would be obvious, but there isn’t one here.

She was given orders to drain power from the ship if she can’t find the off button, and that’s just what she’s going to do.

It feels weird.

Whatever’s powering this ship, it’s nothing she’s ever felt before.

“This is...weird.”

***

Despite his need to protect everyone, Ron is still attempting to hold back.

But clearly, Warpath wants him dead, and will not stop until he is.

“So, was this an assignment they gave you, or do you just do this for fun?”

“Shut up and die already!”

“I don’t want to do either of those.”

“Then I will make you!”

She aims her staff to fire at Ron, but he’s too quick and knocks the staff so that it misses.

Unfortunately, it still fires, knocking Bonnie out of the sky.

Ron could hear her scream as she fell.

“Bonnie!”

Now Ron’s angry.

The blue aura intensifies.

***

Honestly, getting knocked out of the sky hurts.

“Zero stars. Would not recommend.”

But other than that, Bonnie’s fine.

However, the air suddenly feels more tense.

She just knows something’s wrong with Ron.

***

The Blue One is angry, and Warpath’s staff and robots have suddenly stopped working.

Clearly, her fate is death.

“At least I will have died honorably.”

***

It takes no time at all for Ron to pin Warpath to the ground.

He raises his sword, and –

“Ron! I’m okay!” Bonnie yells while heading towards him.

“Bonnie! Oh, thank God!”

Honestly, he’s so relieved, he almost forgot all about Warpath.

“Well?” Warpath asks. “Aren’t you going to finish this?”

He doesn’t know why, but looking at her, Ron suddenly figures out what’s off about this whole situation.

Her fear, he lack of knowledge, her seeming lack of experience, coming alone, it all makes sense now.

Warpath isn’t a conqueror; she’s a scared and desperate child.

He sends The Lotus Blade away.

“I think it’s already over.”

“No! You have to finish this the Lorwardian way!”

“No, I don’t. I’m not going to be the weapon they use to get rid of you.”

She seems surprised, and then just sad.

“How did you figure it out?”

“Your ship’s too small, you had to build your robots yourself, you were only given one weapon…it just seems like, if they had wanted you to win, they’d have given you the resources to do it. You weren’t given even half of what Warhok and Warmonga were. They really didn’t want you to come back, did they?”

There’s a long silence before Warpath finally speaks:

“I am too small for a Lorwardian of my age. I am not good at combat. They consider me defective. I heard some of the leaders say that if I were allowed to reach breeding age, I would contaminate the gene pool. Shortly after that, I was given this mission. It was not hard to figure out that they did not want me to succeed. But I thought that maybe, if I did win, I would have earned their respect, their admiration, their…”

“Affection?” Ron asked. Warpath slowly nods. “Hey, I’ve been there. You feel like you’ve been a screw up your whole life and if you could just do one thing right, people will start to like you. But I’ve learned something recently; affection isn’t something you earn, it’s something that’s given freely by people who’ve chosen to love you. You can’t make the Lorwardians like you because they’ve already made up their minds. But that doesn’t mean no one else ever will. You don’t have to do this.” He reaches out his hand. She stares at it for a while before taking it.

“Thank you. But I don’t know what to do now. I can’t go back.”

“You go forward. Start over. Try to figure out who you are and what you like, not just what Lorwardians tell you to be or like. And you can do that here on Earth.”

“You would let me stay on your planet after I threatened to conquer it?”

“You’re not actually the first to try. And you were by far the least successful.”

“Uh…thanks, I guess. But I’m not sure the other citizens of Earth would be so forgiving after seeing my message.”

“Yeah, no one else actually saw that. You sent it to nearby Lorwardian receivers, not Earth ones.”

“I really am incompetent.”

“Not entirely! You’re actually a good fighter given your inexperience. And the robots are impressive for stuff you built yourself. You’ve got great skills and potential, and if the Lorwardians can’t see that, than that’s on them.”

“Thank you.”

“Hold on,” Agent Go starts, “did she say she’s not at ‘breeding age’ yet? You’re a child?”

“I am sixteen. Breeding age on Lorwardia is twenty. Why?”

“Because we now have to find someone willing to take in a seven-foot-tall teenager.”

“I do not understand.”

“I’ll explain later.”

“By the way,” Ron addresses Agent Du and Agent Go, “where have you two been?”

“We were on another assignment. At this time, you haven’t been cleared to know what it is yet.”

Yep, Will is still a stickler.

“Look, we’ve all had a long day. I say we all head home.”

“Agreed.” Says Agent Du. “But you will all have to report to headquarters at 8 am for the debriefing. And Miss Possible, feel free to stop by the training room before you head home. You look like you have energy to burn off.”

Joss is glowing. She must’ve absorbed a lot of energy to do that.

Actually, that glow looks familiar somehow.

But Ron’s too tired to remember where he saw it.

He’ll save that for tomorrow.

Chapter Text

“Well,” Dr. Director began, “despite the best efforts of Agent Du and Agent Go to keep the news outlets preoccupied, some of them still got footage of the fight. We were unable to keep the video from spreading, so, Stoppable, it was smart of you to suggest everyone wear a costume. Currently, no one knows who any of the people in the video are.”

The fact that some of them have their physical features change as well helps too.

“Now,” Dr. Director continues, “you all handled yourselves very well on this. I am impressed with all of you, and you should all be proud of yourselves. However, you do still all have a lot to work on. We are hoping to address most of those issues in training. Agent Go will be helping train you all.”

Ron’s going to have bruises on his bruises.

“Agent Du, you’re being given a long-term assignment.”

“Yes ma’am. What is it?”

“You’re joining the Unstoppables.”

Well, Ron wasn’t actually expecting everyone to start protesting.

“Hold on,” Monique begins, “does he even have a power?”

“Yes, he does. Stoppable, you remember Jack Hench’s ‘Project Titan’.”

“Yeah, but he’s not exactly a kaiju.”

Will sighs before responding:

“I was exposed to a much earlier version than the one that affected you. It increased my abilities but did not come with any physical side effects.”

“How did that happen?”

“That’s classified.”

“Fine.”

“Dr. Director, normally I do not question your judgment, but I cannot see the benefit of me joining this team.”

“Agent Du, your are the most familiar with how things operate around here. They will need you to guide them in that.”

“But I still do not –“

“This is not up for debate. You will do it.”

“But Mom!”

Okay, Ron needs to stop finding out people have kids this way.

“William.”

“I will be happy to accept this assignment.”

“Now,” Dr. Director continues, easily segueing back into the previous conversation, “Warpath has been given the name Patti Warren, and is enrolling at Mountainview University, having tested out of high school. She will currently be under the care of Dr. Lipsky and Agent Go. As of right now, she is not considered a threat. We did a press release where we gave the public identities for your alter egos. Mr. Possible chose those, so if anyone has any problems with their names, they need to take it up with him. That is all the information for now. Does anyone have any questions?”

Everyone raises their hands.

“About the debriefing?”

Everyone lowers their hands.

“Well, since we’ve covered everything, you’re all dismissed.”

“Awesome!” Ron exclaims. “Who wants to go to Mr. Fudgie’s Ice Cream-O-Rama? I’m buying.” Everyone starts to leave when Ron turns back. “Will, dude, you coming?”

“You want me to come with you?”

“Well, you’re part of the team. If we’re going to be spending time together, we should try to get to know each other. C’mon, I’m buying. You seem like a rocky road kind of guy.”

“Actually, I prefer mint chocolate chip.”

As Will leaves, Dr. Director smiles.

***

Global Justice Lab

“Hey, Doc,” Shego greeted Drakken “whatcha workin’ on?”

“Well, Kim Possible’s country cousin said the energy she absorbed from Patti’s ship felt weird, so I’ve been analyzing some of the technology we recovered from the ship to see what it was.”

“And did you?”

“Yes, but it’s strange. Their ship is powered by your power.”

“Come again?”

“Okay, look, Global Justice had what was left of the comet that gave you your powers in storage. I analyzed it and the ship, and they’re giving off the same energy. The comet that gave you your powers came from Lorwardia.”

Well, she certainly hadn’t been expecting that.

***

London

Honestly, Kim’s relieved that someone else was around to handle another Lorwardian attack.

She’s grateful it wasn’t too serious.

But she’s also upset that she hadn’t been called.

She was a big help on the last one, and they didn’t even tell her about this one.

Instead, they called this Blue Baboon guy and his team of heroes to handle it.

Kim could’ve handled it by herself.

She doesn’t need a team to succeed.

She'll just have to remind them who the real hero is.

She’s Kim Possible.

She can do anything.