Chapter 2:
A Gin And A Snare

Kim had already finished her meal at Bueno Nacho. Ron, as always, took longer to finish because he ordered so much more. She had her foot nestled snugly against his, staring at him with a wistful smile. Ron looked up while Rufus still kept gobbling away at his Naco.
'You know KP, it's not easy to focus when you do that.' he said with a faint smile.

'Mmm-hmm.' she said. They gazed at each other in silence for a while. Rufus peeked up, and said 'Awwwwwwwwww!' before returning to his Naco.

Ron had a few crumpled pieces of paper off to the side, ruins of the few starts he had tried making on his own poem. She herself had not started yet. Ron was grimacing as he erased another line. 'Why is this so hard?' he said, gritting his teeth. 'I went on Celebrity Search and totally winged the Naked Mole Rap. This should be a easy!'

'Not worried.' said Kim lightly. 'I'm all about change, progression and advancement from one level to the next. I am gonna wow that crowd!'

'That would be a first.' said a familiar snide voice.

'Hi, Bonnie.' said both Kim and Ron flatly. Bonnie stood off to the side with her hangers-on lurking behind her. 'Can we help you with anything?' said Kim.

'Just hoping that you don't make a total fool of yourself by reciting a lame poem next week. Not that I care if you look bad, but your lame-ness might reflect badly on the school - which would make me look bad. So try not to stink up the class too badly with some square recital.'

'Trust me, it'll be totally rad!' said Kim.

Bonnie stared at her with a look of mingled contempt and amusement. 'Totally rad?' she said, an insolent smirk pulling one corner of her lips off to the side, 'Not with moldy dialogue like that. Barkin said Janus was supposed to be about progression. And you're still using catch phrases from the stone age.'

Bonnie and her entourage walked away, their giggles echoing through the air. Kim turned to see Ron with his hand on his brow, shaking his head. 'What?' said Kim. 'What?' Ron was staring at her as if she had a tree growing out of her head.

'Kim... that was totally.... unhip.'

'What are you talking about?' she said.

'Unhip. Not current. Non-trendy. I mean, I hate to agree with Bonnie on anything, but she was right.'

'But... I'm still hip!' said Kim defiantly. 'Aren't I? Still funky-fresh.'

Ron raised one slow eyebrow. 'Uh... people don't say 'funky-fresh' anymore.'

Kim's face fell. 'They don't? Since when?'

Ron looked grave. 'Since ages ago! Haven't you stayed current?'

Kim looked uncomfortably off to the side. 'I've... we've... been busy lately! Really? No one says it?'

Ron smiled. 'Relax Kimmy, it's natural when you get older to be less in touch. Besides, we don't have to be hip anymore - we're dating!'

Kim was flabbergasted. Later at home, she threw her things onto the desk chair and lay down on the bed, staring at the cieling. The more she thought about it, the more it bothered her. And the truth of what Bonnie and Ron said sank in on her. She hadn't read "Teen Scene" for weeks. She remembered skipping Agony County - not once but twice because of her schedule. Her job at Bananna Republic took up so much time, between that and Cheerleading practice, and her constant travels here and there across the globe, not to mention the time she and Ron were spending together...

She stared at the cieling, then reached to the night stand and picked up Teen Scene. She looked glumly through the first article, noting how many words sounded unfamiliar. Had she been letting her relationship with Ron and her other responsibilities make her 'square'?

The Kimmunicator beeped it's familiar fanfare. Kim pulled it from her pocket and said "What's the sitch?' almost reflexively, but not really paying attention.

Wade answered. 'Got a call from Professor Lloyd at Stafford labs in Nevada, Kim. Security has been put on alert. Apparantly someone made a threat that they were going to steal some...'

'Top secret equipment?' said Kim.

Wade squinched one eye. 'Don't do that, it's freaky!' he said. 'But yeah. Someone made an anonymous tip-off.'

'Got us a ride?' Said Kim.

Wade shrugged. 'You know it.'

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Ron gripped the armrests of his seat as the supersonic jet roared through the sky. Why did he always have to eat so much? He knew that at any given moment, he could be pulled along on a high speed jet ride, or be careening the skies on a parachute, or riding some roller-coaster of doom, but he still stuffed his face every afternoon. Kim was talking to the pilot.

'Thanks for giving us this lift Mr. Willis.' she said brightly, lowering the visor of her helmet.

'Not a problem, Ms. Possible.' said WIllis. 'It's the least I could do after you saved my plane from crashing over Area 51.'

'No big!' she said. 'Anyone could fix a damaged fuselage with bobby-pins while hanging from a wing at 2,000 feet.'

Willis glanced over his shoulder. 'No big?' he said, 'Do people still say that?'

Kim felt a sinking sensation inside her that had nothing to do with the g-forces of the plane.

Ron gulped. His mucho-grande size meal was churning inside him. He heard Kim shout back at him. 'We're over the drop point, Ron! Let's go!'

Ron unbuckled his seat belt and stood up wearily, the parachute strapped on his back rankled uncomfortably against his neck. As he approached the open door at the side of the plane and stared out into the empty void of blue sky, he turned to Kim. 'Just once - couldn't we land at an airport?'

Kim gave him a dour look and jumped out of the plane, pulling Ron after her. 'Waugh!!' Ron squealed as they tumbled out into the air.

Barely a few mintues later, they were strolling through the corridors of the Stafford science labs, with Professor Lloyd escorting them. Ron was staggering and clutching his stomach. Luckily, or unluckily, he and his lunch had not parted company during their plummet toward the earth, nor during the back-and-forth descent with their parachutes. The halls were as antiseptic and orderly as Kim had ever seen in any of the many top secret facilities she had been to, but there was a very high number of guards posted at every door.

'As you can see Ms. Possible,' said Professor Lloyd, a short rotund man with glasses and a rather thick German accent, 'since we were contacted, the entire base has been mobilized. No one can get past our security. Still, I was glad to summon you, for you can never have too much protection.'

'Can you tell us who it was who tipped you off?' said Kim.

'Curious thing,' said Lloyd. 'They sent this letter. You can see for yourself.' He handed Kim a ragged piece of paper. Kim opened it and Ron leaned in, with Rufus scampering up his arm and perching on his shoulder.

The note seemed like it was pasted up from various letters cut out of magazines. It read, "On the night that falls in yet two days, your deadliest weapons will be stolen away". Kim held up the note to her Kimunnicator. 'Wade - you seeing this?'

'Yeah,' came Wade's voice. 'Analyzing.'

Ron sniffed. 'Is that note... perfumed?' he said, looking puzzled.

Kim sniffed too. 'Yeah - and it seems familiar.'

Wade piped in. 'It should. That note was pasted up from letters cut out of an article in "Teen Scene" magazine. The paper and font are a perfect match.'

Kim nodded. 'The perfume samples in the ad pages!'

Ron smiled and raised an eyebrow. 'How did you know it was "Teen Scene"?' he asked. 'Isn't it written for girls?'

Wade looked uncomfortable. 'I've... uh, heard about it.' he said.

Kim came to his rescue. 'So we're looking for - what - teenagers who need top secret weapons?'

Wade shrugged. 'If it's the same people who were helping Aviarius, the weapons here could be just the thing to use for a jailbreak.'
Kim was all business. 'The note came here the night before last. If it's telling the truth, the theft will be tonight.'

Ron's voice rose to it's high pitched squeal. 'But that's crazy! With all these goons running around, how do they expect to pull it off?'

'I don't know,' said Kim, looking intense. 'But when they get to the labs, they'll be in for a surprise!'