Welcome again to another installment of Ultimate Nightmare! Thanks to The Real Sidekick, KnightofFaerun, and Yankee Bard for reading and reviewing, I'll get my response out to you as soon as the bot thing is taken care of, I didn't forget about you guys!
Ultimate Nightmare
Chapter Two
Ron sat on the edge of his bed rubbing his temples with his hands, trying to figure out what exactly was going on.
He knew the last 'dream' was way too real to be considered a dream. It had to have happened, and now that he was thinking about it, the dream before it couldn't be a dream either. The very, very first few times he had this dream it felt like a dream, he didn't feel any pain, he couldn't really scream, he just felt like he was a spectator in it. This is about on par with how you feel even during the most intense dreams, no pain, no pleasure, no feeling what so ever.
But the last two, those were completely different. He felt the pain, the anguish, the terror, the fear…it was all so real.
He wasn't very good at problem solving, but being the severity of the consequences of the last two dreams he was able to start trying to solve this mission sitch.
His thoughts came to the Russian man, who obviously was in charge of this whole thing, more specifically his final words during both events that echoed in Ron's head.
"You should've done better..."… "Not bad boy, but you still didn't succeed, maybe next time…"
Just what is up with that?
Clearly this man had to know what was going on with Ron, maybe he even controls what's happening and trying to get Ron to succeed, he couldn't be sure. He knew he'd run into the man again, and that…unfortunately would be where he'd confront him about this.
His thoughts drifted back to Kim…
"…I'm sorry Ron…"
It didn't add up in his head, why would Kim be sorry? Was she sorry for getting killed, dying in his arms, just what would make her say these words?
If I'm able to fix this, then I'll never have to hear those words come from her…
He grabbed a piece of paper and started sketching out a floor plan for Drakken's lair; he'd been through it at least twice already so he knew where things were situated. Within seconds he had the floor plan roughed out, including the location of the goons, Drakken himself, Shego, and where the device was located along with the ever important self destruct button.
He had to figure out a way to get the device and not have the self destruct get activated; only he wasn't sure how he was going to do it. The first time through it was actually his fault for tripping the self destruct (he's man enough to admit his mistakes), the second time Kim actually flung Shego into the control panel and she set off the self destruct.
Another thought came to his mind as he was going over how to avoid hitting the self destruct. Again it went back to what the Russian said before he woke up again.
"Not bad boy, but you still didn't succeed, maybe next time…"
He thought about what changed between the first and the second time, it didn't take him long to think of the device itself. He accidentally destroyed it the second time when he tossed it to the man, perhaps that was the key to getting out of this.
That device has to be destroyed…that's how I'll end this nightmare…
He hoped, he prayed he'd fix this soon, he couldn't keep going through this pain and torture of seeing Kim die in front of him, he feared it'd de-humanize him, make him not care when people died…and turn him into someone who was definitely not him.
Hopefully I'll have a plan ready by the time Wade calls at lunchtime…for now I better try and get at least a couple hours sleep…
He lay back in bed, trying to just get a few hours of sleep before school, however he couldn't stop running his newly developing plan through his head…so he didn't really get the few hours of sleep that he wanted.
Ron sat in Barkin's history class anxiously waiting for the bell signaling the lunch period. Instead of actually paying attention to what Barkin was teaching, he was looking over his floor plan and trying to formulate the best plan to destroy the device and end this torture.
Unfortunately Barkin was able to notice Ron wasn't paying attention.
"Stoppable!" He shouted, snapping Ron back to the class.
"Since you're paying so much careful attention, maybe you'd like to answer the question…"
"Um, right….what was the question?"
"Well, I'll repeat myself this once, AND ONLY THIS ONCE! Why was the 8th Air Force suffering such disastrous losses October 14th 1943, also known as Black Thursday?"
Ron took a moment before answering.
"Because the bombers went in against 1100 Axis pilots and had no fighter support with them, resulting in 65 bombers going down, with a loss of 600 men."
Barkin's smug look turned into a frown as he stared at Ron.
"Stoppable; that is correct, now continuing on…"
Ron smirked as he looked back down at his still evolving plan, he remembered being asked the same question in his last two dreams, and getting the answers wrong both times. He did enjoy proving Barkin wrong on occasion, it made him feel better about what was going to happen next.
Shortly after that the bell for lunch sounded and the class started clearing out. Ron sighed as he picked up his books and headed to his locker before he started over to the cafeteria.
Ok, it's a simple plan Ron, you go in, you fight a couple of goons, you use their stun stick on all of them, then you 'accidentally' shoot the death ray and destroy it. End of plot, end of self destruct and most importantly end to getting killed.
He sat down at their usual lunch table as he ran over the plans again, just to be safe.
"Hey Ron, are you feeling ok?" Kim asked as she sat down at the table across from him.
"Never better Kim, why do you ask?"
"Well for one you've seemed very preoccupied this morning, and secondly you didn't grab any lunch for yourself." She said as she looked at him, trying to figure out what he was up too.
"Well you know KP, my um…stomach hasn't been feeling very well this morning, and cafeteria food might just make it a bit worse…"
"Ron, didn't you tell me that you have a steel stomach?"
"I did…"
"And…?"
"Nothing remains true Kim, do I have to remind you of my 'Stoppable fortress of immunity' that ended up being breached when Shego sneezed on me?"
"Ugh, don't remind me…"
Beep Beep Be Beep
She reached for her device as Ron looked on.
"What's the sitch Wade?"
"Reports are circulating that Drakken has build a new weapon he plans on using for global domination…"
"Again? You'd think the guy would learn that every time he builds himself a device for world domination he always gets foiled by us…" Ron said, feeling very confident over how this run would end.
"Well, yeah. Anyway what's this weapon he built Wade?
"From what I can tell, it's some kind of Portable Death Ray."
"Didn't he already build one of those?" Ron asked, sounding more like him than before.
"So did I, got a ride Wade?"
"All set, you're ride will be there in five…"
"Thanks Wade." She said as she turned the device off.
"Come on Ron, we have a villain to stop."
"Well yeah, of course we have a villain to stop, I was listening in you know…" He said as they walked over to their lockers.
They landed on Drakken's island lair, just like before…
Time to put my plan into motion…
The two started down one of the corridors, leading them towards the main lair complex. Ron could already hear Drakken in the mist of his rant to Shego on how wonderful his new death ray will be.
"…and with this ray, I will force the world to bow to my will, and I will be the supreme ruler of everything!!!"
"Yeah, sure thing doc, these things always sound so fool proof in the beginning…"
"Shego, what do you mean?"
"I mean every time you have a brilliant plan it's always interrupted by…"
"Kim Possible?"
"You got it Dr. D…"
"Ah hah, but this time I've gotten a special surprise for Miss Possible and her buffoonish sidekick…"
"You always have a special surprise for those two, and it never works." Shego said as she started flipping through an issue of villains digest.
"Well this time is different! This time she'll be completely locked out of the lair, every entrance and exit is locked with two foot thick solid titanium doors, we're unreachable!"
So that's what Drakken was ranting about all these tries? I thought he hired the goons we're going to run into on the pad...well not like it matters…
"Yeah, this is what I'd call unreachable…" Kim said dryly as she and Ron stepped from the dark hallway.
"KIM POSSIBLE?!?! But…how did you…the solid titanium doors….the unreachable-ness…"
"Dude, you left a door open…" Ron said motioning back down the hallway.
Drakken turned towards his henchmen standing on the catwalk above.
"How many times must I tell you imbeciles to shut the doors after you go through them, you're all getting drastic pay cuts!"
"You can't do that, we're under contract!" One henchman shouted.
"Read the fine print you dolt! I can do whatever I want once you sign the paper, and right now you're all loosing a weeks pay over this!"
Groaning was heard from the mass of henchmen.
"Shego! Show these fools why I pay you so much!"
"Ugh, fine, but I want a paid vacation after this…" She said cracking her knuckles.
"If you defeat them then you'll get Greenland too!"
"Doc, I said I wanted ICELAND!" she shouted.
"Beggars can't be choosers Shego." Drakken said.
"Grr, you're going down princess."
Shego launched into an attack on Kim, much like Kim expected. They were each dishing and dodging blows with one another when Kim called back to Ron, much like Ron expected her to do.
"Ron, get the device!"
"Already on it KP!"
Ron took two casual steps forward before he encountered the same three goons who he encountered last time. This time though, Ron wasn't even really trying to fight them, but went through the same moves he did before.
Duck, slide, leg-sweep, block-block, grab stick, twist, smack, block, block, twist, and fire. There, piece of cake…
He looked around him, glad to see all three goons on the ground again. He then turned towards the remaining goons on the catwalk…
"Anyone else wants a piece of me!" He shouted at them as he twirled the stun stick.
They rushed in a mad panic over to the steps leading from the catwalk to the ground level, Ron just aimed the stun stick at the stairs and started shooting blasts of stun electricity towards them.
Within minutes several goons were unconscious at the base of the stairs, others started running back the other way, looking for another way down.
Excellent, now I can 'mistakenly' hit the death ray with this…
He started firing randomly at the retreating goons, making sure his aim was close enough to cause damage to everything but the actual goons.
"Ron, stop clowning around and get the device!" Kim shouted as she landed a blow to Shego's abdomen.
Ron turned back towards her, aiming his stun stick directly at the device on the console.
"Sure think Kim! After I bag this goon!" He then squeezed the trigger, the stun stick fired its blast, hitting the death ray dead center, blasting it to smithereens.
Ron put on his best shocked look and slowly turned around to where the device had been, incredibly satisfied to see a smoldering spot where it once was.
"Oops…" He replied, trying to sound as sincere as ever.
"No! You buffoon!" Drakken cried out in anguish.
"Hey, you shouldn't give your goons faulty equipment! I didn't even pull the trigger!" Ron started arguing as he kept motioning to the console.
He saw a piece of the death ray roll to a stop on top of the self destruct button, although the piece wasn't heavy enough to actually initiate the self destruct…
Or so he thought…
"SELF DESTUCT IN 60 SECONDS…"
"What? Oh come on that doesn't even begin to make sense!" Ron started arguing.
That really doesn't make sense…how could something so small and light set the stupid thing off? Well not like it'll matter now anyway.
"What, how? That piece was plastic!" Drakken argued, trying to figure out how exactly the piece set off the self destruct himself.
"We'll solve that later doc, for now lets get out of here!" Shego said as she grabbed Drakken by the collar and drug him over to the hover car before flying off.
"Ron! I'd like to leave here in once piece if you don't mind!" Kim shouted as she motioned to the hallway she was heading towards.
"Right behind you Kim!"
They ran down the hallway, the timer counting down as Ron was doing the same in his head…
"…5…4…3…2…1…thank you for hitting the self destruct button…"
They leapt through the open door as the explosions started behind them, soon Drakken's lair caved in on it, sealing the remains of the device deep inside the rubble.
"Seriously why does Drakken have such a countdown on his self destruct? I mean the whole 'thank you for hitting the self destruct button'. Just who would be around to hear that?"
"Honestly Ron, I don't know. I just wish we had something to turn over to GJ." She said glaring at him.
"Hey, I didn't shoot it intentionally! Besides, you have the report to give them right?"
"The actual device would be better Ron."
The area was lit up by bright spotlights, causing the two to shield their eyes.
And here we go again, not this time guys, tonight we go home…
"Hand over the device Comrade…" The Russian man said, slowly walking ahead of the rest of the men.
"Um what device dude?" Ron asked this time.
"And who are you guys?" Kim asked.
"We are Mercenaries, we've been paid to retrieve the portable death ray Drakken was working on. Thank you for asking... now the device please…"
"Um dude, the device was destroyed…" Ron said confidently.
"Destroyed? But how?"
"It was inside when the self destruct activated." Ron said before Kim could say he destroyed it. She glanced over at him with a scowl.
The man spoke something in Russian before he turned to the two again.
"Was it completely destroyed?"
"Um, yeah."
He said something under his breath, Ron surmised it was some sort of swear word judging on how he said it.
"Well, we really should be going now…sorry about the device dude…" Ron said as he started leading Kim away from the landing pad, confident it was finally over.
"Not so fast…" The Russian said.
Oh now what?
Slowly they turned back around, he had a handgun in his right hand pointed right at them.
"We cannot let you go, not after you've defied us…"
"Hey, do you see anything that looks like a portable death ray on us?" Ron shouted.
There was an uneasy silence…
"…No…"
Ron sighed in relief…
"But I have my duty…"
Ron's eyes practically popped out of his head upon hearing those words.
No, no, not again, please not again…
"Sorry Comrade"
The Russian fired, Ron was frozen in place as he watched the bullet sail towards him…
Only Kim pulled him out of the way…and paid the price for it…
The bullet intended for Ron struck her in the chest, she started to fall backward right into Ron's arms.
For the third time Ron watched her die in his arms, and the effects were still the same.
They fell back to the ground, Ron in complete shock over what she just did to save him. Only she was dead before they hit the ground, her eyes still open and full of terror, it was enough to make Ron break down and start sobbing again.
He hunched over her and slowly closed her eyes as he held her, wondering what went wrong this time…
He heard the approaching footsteps, and knew exactly who they belonged too. His fists clenched as they drew nearer.
He wanted answers, and he was about to get them.
With his head still down Ron felt the steel of the gun pressed against his forehead, slowly he looked up, not surprised to see the same Russian man standing in front of him with an evil smirk on his face.
The light switched on in Ron's head, within' a second he grabbed a hold of the Russians arm, and twisted it around on him. Getting off the ground Ron stood face to face with the man, his hand on the trigger of the gun that was pointed under the Russians jaw.
He heard the surrounding men ready their weapons and level them at him, but knew they weren't going to fire since he had their leader at gunpoint.
"Impressive Stoppable, usually it takes another two or three times before someone does this, you pick up very quickly…" The Russian said.
"Why, why are you doing this to me?" Ron demanded.
"It's very complicated Mr. Stoppable…"
"Why am I being forced to relive this horrible day over and over again, to torture me by having me watch the love of my life die in my arms, WHY!"
"I can't tell you that…"
"Then what can you tell me…"
"I can tell you that this nightmare of yours is almost at a end. There are people, people who I answer too and deal with, that don't believe you'd do what it takes to prove your love for Kimberly…"
"Just what are you talking about…"
"The circumstances for this day are not in your control, nor can I tell you who is, that's up to you to figure out."
"Fine, if you won't tell me who's doing this, maybe you can tell me how I can stop it…"
"You're almost there Stoppable, you've come extremely close this last time, but the last step to ending this night is to do something you've never done before. Something that is the fundamental cause as to why this is happening to you…"
"And that something is?"
"To kill…"
"I will never, ever kill anyone…EVER!"
"If you don't then you'll be cursed to relive this night over, and over again till you cross that line Stoppable."
"I…won't…I can't…"
"Yet you're facing me with my own gun under my chin…do you love her?"
Ron stared into the mans eyes for a few seconds before answering.
"Yes…I love her…"
"Would you do anything to protect her?"
He paused, was it in him? Could he really kill in order to protect her?"
Sensing his dilemma the Russian continued.
"You've already gotten half of this mission solved Ronald, you've destroyed the device, but you have to finish the other half…and that involves killing us before we do the same to you…"
Tears were running down his face again, this was one of the hardest decisions of his life. Relive the same night over and over again, watching Kim die in his arms? Or do what it takes to make sure they both come home alive?
"How…" Ron asked as he sniffled.
"How…do I destroy all of you?" He asked, regaining some composure.
"I unfortunately can't tell you how to do that, but I can give you a hint…"
"Please…"
"What keeps going off even though you try everything to prevent it?"
Ron cocked his head to the side, until the realization hit him.
The man nodded when he saw that Ron got it.
"Now, you know. Unfortunately this is all I can give you. The rest is up to you Ron Stoppable…"
Ron nodded.
"So um, how do I get to there?"
"It is part of your final test Ronald, this time in order to try again, you must prove to me that you have what it takes to end this nightmare…"
Ron's eyes grew wide.
"Yes, kill me Stoppable, once you do you will be back in bed, and hopefully this will be the last time you have to relive this."
Ron's fingers tensed on the trigger as he stared the man in his eyes.
"You must do it Ron, otherwise you'll be stuck here, watching her die…"
Ron blinked hard before he looked the man in his eyes again, the fear, the terror, the anger. All were no longer in Ron's eyes as his finger started to tighten around the trigger.
"Best of luck Ron Stoppable, we will meet one last time…"
BLAM!
To be continued…
Yep that's right folks, one more chapter is coming up, maybe in a week, maybe less. I can't be sure but I figured its better to end it here than continue on and have this chapter be a ridiculously long chapter.
Next chapter will be the finale, and I do suggest you tune in for it, because you don't want to miss it!
Again Read and review, and once this mailbot problem is fixed you'll get a response from me!
You could use the response as a down payment on a new Tank! (Offer void in Utah)
