#ruffus

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  Hiro and Baymax flew down to meet up with the rest of Big Hero Six and their newfound allies.

 "We checked all around the upper levels, no way in there."

 "And we couldn't find anything on the ground level either." Honey Lemon sighed.

 Kim pulled out the green communicator and spoke into it, "Wade?"

 "Yeah... I got nothin'." Wade's voice sounded out. "The entire building is surrounded by a solid wall of hard light. That kind of tech is still supposed to be years away from being developed. Whoever this Hardlight guy is, he's no slouch in the brainiac department."

 "So we got two evil geniuses on our hands?" Ron whined. "Oh man."

 "Well good thing we got our own team of geniuses." Kim smiled.

 "So how do we get rid of a wall of light?" Gogo thought out loud.

 "Maybe I can super heat it with my fire breath?" Fred suggested.

 Honey Lemon shook her head. "It's too big Freddie, and he's no doubt keeping it cool from the inside."

 "Yeah and we don't want to risk any of the surrounding buildings." Hiro agreed.

 "I could probably get us in using my portal magnets, but they're going to spot us as soon as we enter." Varian mussed.

 "And we've no way of knowing where they're all hiding in such a big building." Wasabi confirmed. "Meaning they can get the drop on us anyways."

 "Looks like you'll have to break out your Chameleon suit Fred." Hiro said.

 "Ummm... do you mean the rubber suit that looks like a giant lizard?" Wade asked over the communicator.

 "Uh yeah?" Fred hesitantly agreed.

 "The little guy kind of short circuited it."

 "MOLE!!!"

 "Soooorrrrrry!" Mole's voice sounded from off screen. "I accidentally spilled soda on it while looking for my su- My Suit! I have a super suit! I knew it! I knew it! And it's just my size!"

 Mole ran on screen carrying a small red lizard suit. "Oh I knew you guys were going to make me a part of the team! You already had a suit made for me and everything! Oh and it's perfect! Just how I would have designed it, with cup holders and springs and everything! What does it do? Huh? What are my powers? Do I get to breathe ICE!?"

 The members of Big Hero Six exchanged awkward glances with each other.

 Varian raised an eyebrow "You built Mole a suit?"

 "It's a long story." Hiro sighed.

 "I told you we should have used an amnesia-tino." Honey Lemon whispered to Wasabi who nodded in agreement.

 ``What are you guys whispering about?" Mole grunted as he tried on his suit.

 "Oh nothing." Honey Lemon hastily called out.

 "So now what?" Gogo asked.

 "I guess someone needs to use Tadashi's suit... but I don't know who it'd fit...."

 No sooner did he finish talking then did Varian finish opening a portal. There stood Tadashi; a look of shock and irritation on his face.

 "Oh, come on!"

 Varian smiled. "I expanded the mini-portals for long distance travel. I figured it would come in handy."

 "What happened to, 'you deserve a vacation.'?" Tadashi complained

 "Sorry big bro, but we kind of need your help." Hiro shrugged.

 "What about me? I can help... toooowoooah!" There came the sound of a crash over the communicator.

 "You stay put." Gogo ordered.

 "And put that suit up before you break it too!" Fred yelled over her shoulder.

 "Tadashi,-dōshita no?" Baba's voice rang out from the next room.

 "Uh.. Terebi keshi teru dake. I'm going to step out from some... uh.. milk Baba. I'll be right back. Mata chikaiuchini o ai shimashou." Tadashi yelled goodbye as he stepped back through the portal. "So... which loonatic in spandex are we facing today?"

                                                --------------------

 Hardlight scanned the wall of code that came up on the computer display, trying to commit to memory what he could. He didn't know if Drakken's brainwashing machine would work or not, but if it did, then Ian wanted to be in on it.

 "Studying hard?" Shego whispered over his shoulder and Hardlight stiffened at being caught spying.

 "O-of course." He turned around and gave her a winsome smile, not that she could see it through the dark visor of his helmet. "I want to learn from the best and this is some impressive coding."

 Shego raised an eyebrow. "If you're such a smart guy, then why do you need Dr. D's invention? You got your own tech. What are you up to?"

 "I don't need it." Ian laughed. "But as you say, I'm a smart guy. I don't let opportunities pass me by." He hopped onto his hover disk and flew out of her reach. "I've been honest about what I want. I want to defeat Big Hero Six once and for all. I think the good doctor can help with that, in exchange for me helping him bring down this Kim person."

 "You expect me to believe that?" Shego scoffed as her hands lit up with green fire, however she was momentarily tripped up when Ian flew directly towards her. He leaned in and shoved his face into hers. They would have been nose to nose if not for the helmet, which reflected back her own image.

 "I don't expect you to believe anything, after all you seem pretty 'smart' yourself. So if we're playing the honesty game here, then what's your angle?"

 "Angle?"

 "Sure. I mean do you really follow that loser around just out of loyalty?"

 Shego crossed her arms and shrugged. "He's the best paying mad scientist in the business." Then she smiled wickedly. "Plus, I get to enjoy all the perks."

 She jumped and took a swipe at him. Ian barely had time to fly out of the way.

 He hovered higher up into the air and gloated down at her. "Touchy. You mean you never thought about going solo before?.... Like, ever?"

 "Too much work." Shego yelled back before jumping onto several pipes to reach her opponent.

 Hardlight quickly brought up a light shield to block her attack, he then punched a command into his gauntlet and purple pterodactyls with sharp breaks flew at the supervillainess.

 She dispatched them with ease, but it gave him time to move out of her reach.

 "I don't get then," Ian shook his head as he floated up towards the ceiling, "If you've no skin in the game, why play?"

 Shego snorted with laughter, "Why? 'Cause it's fun. I mean what else am I going to do with flaming green hands, join the circus?"

 "Ahhh.. so you're like me. You're in it for the challenge." Hardlight circled around her mischievously. "Come on, you know you're better than him... why waste your time being second fiddle?"

 Shego dropped her defensive stance for just a moment, only a moment, but Ian noticed the look of confusion on her face anyways. She really didn't have an answer to that question. Then suddenly she kicked his hover disk out from underneath him and he hit the concrete floor with a groan.

 The cocky smile returned to Shego's face as she leered over him. "Good thing you were wearing armor, huh?"

 "Yeah, uh, good thing." Ian grunted as he slowly sat up.

 She bent down till she was face to face with him. "You said you like a challenge. Well how's this game? You step out of line and I kick your rear end again, huh?"

 Hardlight was going to retort back when the door opened and Drakken re-entered the main computer room.

 "Ah, Shego, training the new recruit, are we?" He beamed at them.

 "You could say that..." She smiled and gave Hardlight a knowing look.

 "Excellent!" Drakken marched over to the computer screen as Hardlight and Shego glared at each other challengingly. Ian hated being toyed with. That was his job! But he couldn't risk revealing himself now and they both knew it.

 "So what's the next step of this master plan?" he asked as he stood back up.

 "I've finished the final upgrades for my brilliant invention." Drakken replied as he finished uploading some files. "Now all that's left is to lure Kim Possible here."

                                                --------------------

 The gathered superheros watched as a garage door slid open in the back of the warehouse. Suddenly Tadashi appeared, as if out of thin air, holding the door aloft and wearing his super suit.

 "I disabled the alarms, repeated an empty feedback loop for the security cams, and fed energy away from this door to the front  of the building. With any luck they won't know we're here till we're on top of them."

 "We're are they located?" Hiro asked.

 "They're in the central control room, what would normally be the main hanger, but this Hardlight dude has some sort of maze built leading up to it."

 "That shouldn't be a problem." Varian said as he pulled out his portal magnets again.

 "No, but the fact that they have three other people kidnapped might be."

 "Kidnapped?" Kim echoed

 Tadashi nodded. "Yeah, three old people wearing funny suits."

 "Funny suits?" Gogo asked, horrified as realization hit her.

 Fred figured it out as soon as she did, and let out a very audible gasp. "They've captured the world's greatest superheroes. The living legends themselves! Oh this is bad."

 "Just to clarify, we're talking about those three geezers from the convention, right?" Wasabi asked.

 Tadashi shrugged. "Whoever they are; they have them suspended in these glass cages and they're hooked up to some sort of machinery. It looked like they were unconscious and the machine was reading their bio-signals."

 "Drakken." Kim and Ron said simultaneously.

 "Then do you know what he's doing to them?" Honey Lemon nervously asked.

 Ron shook his head. "No idea, but that sounds like his MMO."

 "Drakken prefers to steal what he can rather than build his own stuff," Kim explained, "but usually he kidnaps scientists and other inventors, not superheroes."

 Hiro stood in thought for a moment. "Alright... Tadashi, you'll be in charge of freeing the superheroes while the rest of us fight off Hardlight and Drakken."

 "Don't forget Shego." Ron said, "She's the one you really have to watch out for."

 "Hmm, hmm." Ruffus chirped in agreement on his shoulder.

 "We can take her." Gogo said as she gave Kim a friendly nudge.

 Kim nodded in agreement and gave her two thumbs up. "Yeah, we got this."

 "Alright, Honey Lemon and Varian, you'll handle Drakken's plant monsters, Wasabi you'll cover them, and the rest of us will take on Hardlight."

 "Well then what are we waiting for?" Wasabi grinned as he walked into the darkened hallway. "Let's Go save the daaaahhh!"

 Wasabi let out a scream as he accidentally stepped into the waiting jaws of a light monster, this one shaped like a treasure chest with teeth. He furiously backpedaled away before his limbs could get caught between such teeth.

 He stabbed the snarling creature and it dissipated, only for more hard-light monsters to appear. These looked like flying bats.

 "Automated defense systems." Hiro exclaimed. "We need to get out here quickly before we're discovered."

 Varian was already ahead of him and a portal appeared beside them. They all ran through, and into another hallway.

 "Wh-where are we now?" Honey Lemon asked, breathing hard, as the portal closed behind them.

 Varian shrugged. "Somewhere in the building still, but I've no idea where this main control room is."

 Everyone turned to Tadashi, expectedly.

 "Don't look at me. I've no idea where we're at either. All I know is we're somewhere in the middle of the maze."

 Hiro sighed. "If we have to work our way through the maze, we'll be noticed for sure."

 "And that'll give more time for Drakken to do whatever it is he's going to do. I don't know what he has planned, but you can be sure it's something bad." Kim said.

 "I have an idea." Ron suddenly said and walked over to place a hand on Varian's shoulder. Ruddiger peered around on his other shoulder and Rufus stuck his tongue out at the raccoon, who returned the gesture.

 "Varian and I will cause a distraction and lure some of the villains away while you sneak into the main computer room."

 Varian only looked confused by the suggestion. "Why me?"

 "Because 'distraction duty' is typical sidekick stuff."

 Varian scrunched his face up in revulsion. "I'm not a sidekick!"

 "Really? Cause you're not a part of the main group, you need saving a lot, and you have a lovable furry mascot on your shoulder."

 Varian worked his mouth in protest, but only unintelligible gutters of offense would come out.

 His friends didn't pass up the opportunity to take dig at his expense.

 "You are the one who always claims he's not a superhero." Gogo said.

 "And you do have a furry mascot." Hiro slyly smiled.

 "Not to mention, you've been either kidnapped or attacked by random goons and supervillains at least six times in the past eight months." Fred counted on his fingers.

 "You're also incredibly annoying," Tadashi gloated. "perfect as a distraction."  

 "B-but who will work the portal?" Varain whined, unable to combat their points.

 "I will." Tadashi said, snatching magnets out of his hand. "I have a better idea of where the main hanger is anyways."

 And with no further argument he opened another portal to a different part of the maze. As everyone else went through, Ron led a still confused Varian away in the opposite direction.

                                                --------------------

 An alarm rang out inside the central control room.

 "Looks like we got some pests running around." Shego stated as she viewed a security camera. The fuzzy face of a raccoon was sniffing at the lens, then the familiar buck-toothed image of a certain naked mole rat joined him. The creature stuck out its tongue and waggled its paws as if to taunt whoever was watching.

 "What the..?" Hardlight asked as he and Drakken peered at the screen from behind her.

 Then the camera zoomed out to reveal the pets owners holding them. They too waved at the camera with smug smiles.

 "Ron Stoppable!?" Drakken fumed. "Then that means... no wait. This is what we want. The sidekicks must be causing a distraction so that Kim and her new friends can get the drop on us."

 "Sooooo we're just going to wait for them?" Shego asked.

 "Certainly, my dear Shego. when Kim arrives we spring the trap and -"

 "And then get your butt kicked!" A voice called out.

 All three villains turned to see several superheroes fly through a portal into the room.

 "Or you can just surrender now and save yourself the trouble?" Kim commented.

 Drakken seethed at her for a brief second before slipping into a smile. "Oh I don't think so."

 He took a step backwards towards the computer console and flicked a switch. The machine holding the elderly supers lit up and started to hum.

 Kim and Big Hero Six share a couple of worried and confused looks, and then suddenly a bright flash flared in front of them and there stood three human shaped figures made of blue hard-light.

 They looked like younger versions of the legendary trio of supers, complete with their retro costumes.

 Fred couldn't help but squee with joy when he saw him. "Eeeeep! Hehehe! I can't believe we get to fight brainwashed versions of the most prolific superheroes of our time!"

 "Fred!"

  Everyone shouted at him and he hastily stopped clapping and jumping in place.

 "Oh, yeah, right... heroing time."

 He coughed and took up a fighting pose.

 It did little good. The light version of Lima punched the ground hard and a small earthquake ruptured under their feet.

                                                --------------------

 Ian watched the superheroes fighting each other with interest, as he stood with Drakken and Shego on the slightly raised dais that held the computer banks.

 "You used my hard-light technology to construct vessels for your brain washed supers."

 Drakken smiled wide. "I knew you'd appreciate it. It was a last minute addition to my brilliant plan. Instead of risking the hosts, their hard-light clones take the brunt of the attack while still emulating the original counterpart's powers."

 They watched as the green suited superhero tried to slice through one of the light clones ineffectively.

 "Not to mention they're practically indestructible." He grinned wickedly.

 "You know, Dr. D, I had my doubts, but I'll admit this is one of your better plans." Shego said as she leaned over the banister to admire Kim and two of the other heroes get chased around by the flying light clone.

 Ian was a little more guarded with his praise. "How did you solve the projector issue?"

 "Oh a simple self-sustaining feedback loop. With a little tinkering, and our soon to be newest recruits," he said this as the Fearless Ferret clone tried to shove the pink armored girl into one of the brainwashing tubes. She was rescued by the girl with yellow skates at the last minute. "We can build an entire functioning army of super powered, invulnerable light clones, and release them on the whole world. First San Fansokyo, tomorrow Washington!"

 "D.C.?" Shego asked.

 "No, Seattle. I hear the sunsets are lovely upon the bay this time of year."

 "You'll never, ugh... get away with this Drakken!" Kim managed to yell back at him as she dodged a punch from the light clone of Miracle Maiden.  

 "I already have, and you'll be joining my army's ranks whether you like it or not Kim Possible!"

 As Drakken yelled back at his arch foe, Hardlight checked his gear and found a spy chip planted on his gauntlet. He held it up and Drakken caught sight of it.

 The other supervillain momentarily stiffened but then straightened himself to his full height and smiled calmly. "Ah, my patented micro-decoder. Impressed?"

 Ian studied the microchip carefully before pocketing for later.

 "Indeed." He said lightly. "In fact, I might just be even more impressed with you now than when I first asked to be your student. I bow to your skill." And for once, Ian genuinely meant it.

 He gave a little bow and Drakken returned it gladly, with a thank you, and that's when the light's cut out.

 The light clones faded away and the three super villains were left standing in the dark facing seven angry heroes.

 "Wha- What happened?" Draken gasped.

 "The sidekicks!" Shego yelled as she lit up her hands and jumped into the fray. "They must have cut the power."

 Drakken collected his wits and sent his vines out to fight off the other supers. "Hardlight! Go take care of our pests!"

 "On it!" and Ian flew away from the battle on his hover-disk.

                                                --------------------

 Tadashi hissed under his breath as the power went out.

 The villains hadn't noticed him in his cloaking suit, and while his friends fought, he had been trying to hijack the controls of Drakken's brainwashing machine.

 Cutting the power was actually the last thing he wanted to do. He had no idea what life support systems the trio of elderly people were on, whether or not they were getting filtered air into those glass tubes, and he didn't know what would happen to their minds if the connection was suddenly severed while still hooked up to the machine.

 He furiously worked to reconnect, whatever it was he had disconnected.

 The lights flickered back on, the machine powered up, and Tadashi breathed a sigh of relief. He then made his way to the main control.

 The Doctor and his minions were busy fighting off the rest of Big Hero Six, even as the hard-light clones came back online to rejoin the fray.

 This finally provided Tadashi with a chance to access the actual computer.

 "Alright, let's figure out this code." he muttered under his breath as he pulled up the readouts.

                                                --------------------

 "There... that should turn off the rest of the maze." Varian said as he pulled out the last of the wires from the breaker box.

 The purple light running down the hallway of the warehouse flickered off.

 "Haha! Booyah! Let's see their fancy tech work without any power!" Ron cheered.

 "Oh, I don't know." A familiar voice called out. "I imagine it'll work very much like this!"

 Hardlight came barreling down the hall towards them. He punched a command in his gauntlet and a fiery pink phoenix manifested itself before him and gave chase after the two heroes and their annoying pets.

 As they ran away, Varian looked over his shoulder to see Hardlight fixing the wires from the breaker box. They had only stalled for time, and Varian could only hope that it was enough time for his friends.

 Then he curiously noticed the villain attaching what looked like a disc to one of the data wires....

 "Woah!" Varian jumped as the light phoenix shot fire at them!

                                                --------------------

 "Wow! You got some pretty nice fighting moves." Fred complimented as he jumped out of the way of Shego's firey hands. "Did you study Kung-fu or Judo---woah!"

 He ducked quickly, as she ignored his question and took another swipe at him.

 "You know, y-you'd probably make a good super hero if you wanted to?"

 "Now why would I want that, when this is so much more fun?"

 She made another dash towards him, only for Kim to knock her down with a flying kick while she was distracted.

 "You're right Shego. This is more fun." She taunted back.

 However both heroes then got tangled up in Dr. Drakken's vines.

 "Here ya go!" Honey Lemon yelled as she threw a chimball at them. A yellow cloud of dust covered them as the sphere busted overhead. Then the vines withered away to nothing.

 Yet, while Honey Lemon took aim at another cluster of vines, trapping Gogo, one of the light clones grabbed her from behind.

 She screamed as the clone of Captain Fancy lifted her off the ground.

 Fortunately she was rescued by Baymax and Hiro. Who tackled the light monster head on, where she then fell to the ground, using her chim-boots to soften her landing with a spongy green gloop.

 And so it went on, around and around, the supers and villains jockeying for the upper hand, never quite being able to stay on top. They were all pretty evenly matched.

 Tadashi tried to ignore the battle and resisted the urge to join in, even as one of the clones punched the ground and sent his friend sprawling on the floor. He shook his head in frustration. He could have probably taken that Drakken dude out with ease in his super suit, but it wouldn't solve the problem of the brainwashed supers attacking them. He had to prioritize freeing them first.

 He picked up a screwdriver and undid the back cover of the main computer. He was almost done....

 He didn't notice Shego recovering from her attack.

 She looked up to see a screwdriver floating in the air...

 "What the...."

                                                --------------------

 "I. Hate. Being. The. Sidekick!" Varian huffed between breaths as he and Ron continued to run away from Hardlight's growing menagerie of light monsters.

 He shooed away some more light bats, and then ducked as the phoenix breathed more fire.

 "Hahahaha! Who's the genius now, Varian?" Hardlight laughed behind them on his hover disc as he punched more codes into his gauntlet.

 "What did you do to make this guy so mad?" Ron called back. He was slightly faster than Varian and ran a few feet ahead of him.

 Suddenly a gigantic purple spider appeared in front of them, blocking their escape. The two boys skidded to a stop.

 "Like the improvements I made to my tech?" Hardlight gloated. "No more need for stationary projectors. My light creations go where I go."

 Varian made a fist as he gripped something tightly in his hand.

 "Yeah, but you're still using Rubidium as your conduit!" Varian flashed the villain a wicked smile of his own. "And what does Rubidium do when it comes in contact with water?"

 Hardlight seemed startled by that question. Ron however was only confused.

 "What does Rubidium do when it comes in contact with water?"

 "This!" Varian shouted and threw the chimball in his hand at the closest light monster before Hardlight could react.

 Suddenly there was a loud bang as the creature started to smoke and shoot sparks! Which only caught the rest of monsters on fire as the flames spread.

 Varian didn't stand around to watch the show. Still holding onto Ruddiger with one arm, he grabbed a frightened Ron with his other hand, and dragged him and Ruffus out of the way and down the hall.

 "What was that !?" Ron yelled at him.

 " That  was a bath bomb! While volatile, however, the chemical reaction won't last long. We need to get out of here, now!"

 And sure enough, there was Hardlight chasing after them again, but this time without his army of artificial monsters.

 Ron, Varian, and the animals, ducked into the first doorway that they could, and found themselves in the middle of a battlefield.

 "KP!" Ron yelled as he saw his girlfriend being tied up by what looked like a blue, translucent copy of the Fearless Ferret. A much younger and more fit looking Fearless Ferret at that.

 He ran to her rescue while Varian took off in the opposite direction to help his brother who was locked into a stranglehold with another of the super copycats. This one looked like a young, buff woman dressed in armor, only also made of blue light.

                                                --------------------

 Tadashi barely noticed Ron and Varian enter the room. Nor did he pay attention to the villain on the hover disc that was chasing them.

 He was close to a breakthrough, even as Wasabi and Gogo battled a ferocious light lion, Honey Lemon, with Baymax's help, fought a man-eating flower, and Varian wrestled with the light clone that had super strength.

 He didn't even see the woman called Shego sneak up behind him with a wrench.

                                                --------------------

 "Thanks Ron." Kim sighed as her boyfriend knocked away the Fearless Ferret copy with a karate chop.

 It did little good, as the light clone only got right back up, unharmed, but it gave time for Ruffus to free her from her bonds.

 The raccoon, Ruddiger, hissed at a creeping vine that made its way towards them.

 She and Ron stood back to back in a defensive position as they waited for the next attack. Each giving the other cover and support as they always had. For years, they had fought together and they moved in practiced sync.

 Her life may be complicated, stressful,  hectic, and just straight up weird sometimes, but Ron… wonderful, dependable, hopeful, Ron, was always there, and it gave her strength.

 She smiled to herself despite the dangers present, but that smile faded away quickly when a resounding      clang    filled the warehouse.

 Nearly everyone stopped to look where the sound had come from, even Drakken.

 Tadashi fizzled into view, his super suit short-circuiting as he fell to the ground. Shego stood poised over him, a wench and her hand and a triumphant smile on her face.

 "Well look what I found!" She proclaimed, as Tadashi sat back up and shook his head. His helmet had protected him, but you could see from the cracked visor that his suit would no longer be of use.

 "Tadashi!" Hiro called out from close by and hopped into Baymax's back.

 Drakken caught the two superheroes mid air with his vines.

 "And where do you think you're going?" He sneered. "You got a date with my neruospace-cabulator, remember."

 "Not if we have anything to say about it!" Gogo yelled, and flung one of her discus at him. He ducked out of the way quickly, but the disc lodged itself into the computer bank. The light clones flickered and became just a little more see through.

 "You little fool!" Drakken spat. "You think that will free your friends? Destroy my machine and you'll fry their brains. We'll both lose then."

 Kim bit her lip to keep herself from hurling an insult at him. It wasn't an empty threat, Drakken was serious.

 Ron decided to challenge back though. "So what, we just keep fighting here till the place comes down around us?"

 "No, you'll keep fighting till my light clones wear you down. They never tire, you however won't last much longer. But I'll concede this is taking a little longer than planned, so let's speed up the time table, shall we?"

 He turned a dial on the computer bank and the light clones started to multiply!