Hey there! Once more I've found enough time in my life to update this little pastime fic I started.
Thank you for those reviewed: CajunBear73, Lorien Urbani and Andrea Churchill. Greatly appreciated.
Disclaimers: see chapter 1.
CHAPTER 4: THE DOCTOR EXPLAINS
Kim Possible had earned herself a nickname "Girl-Who-Can-Do-Anything". She hadn't chosen it, she could not remember where it had come from, but it had stayed with her ever since she was 14 years old.
That was when she had become the local do-gooder in Middleton, Colorado. At first it had been little things like helping the old ladies' cats out of the tree, babysitting neighbor's children and delivering the mail. She hadn't done it because of money, even when the little sum she earned had been welcome, but because she honestly liked helping people.
When she had ended her high-school and entered college, her hobby of helping others started to take more time consuming forms. She entered the practical nurse training and started tutoring other students. The most amazing fact in this was that somehow she managed to keep up with her studies. Then again, as her father would often say, anything is possible for Possible.
Such results could not be achieved without pain however, and Kim also many times felt like burning up, shouting and screaming and giving up. It was at times like these that she would be cheered, encouraged and helped by one person very precious for her: her boyfriend Ron Stoppable.
Kim and Ron had known each other's since preschool but their intimate relationship was still relatively new. The two had become best friends almost instantly and were so for years to come, until the high school separated them momentarily. High school has its own food chain which is favorable to others and cruel to the rest. Kim was pretty, bright, sporty and had good grades. It didn't take long for her to find her place on top of the food chain and hang out with other popular students.
Ron was not as lucky. While he wasn't bad to look at, he wasn't "hotty", nor was he athlete or top student. Ron got along well enough to pass his classes, but his closest friends were the ones usually referred to as "geeks". Ron loved comics and video games, and aside of giving moral support for Kim, whom he usually referred to as KP, he had little other interest to sports.
After the first year of high school the two started drifting apart. Well, that's what they told people who asked. Truth was Kim more or less threw ten years of friendship out of the window. She did this telling herself that it was the right thing to do, that not all friendships were made to last. Ron understood this, though he couldn't understand.
They played the part of complete strangers the next year, until the summer holidays before their third year in high school. That summer Kim caught her then boyfriend Josh with a girl she had thought her friend Bonnie. Neither of the two showed any shame in the matter and laughed what a fool she had been. Kim was utterly humiliated.
And who had then showed up, not to laugh at the girl who had hurt him, but to offer support? Why, Ron of course, who still liked to consider him her friend. Kim learned that summer who her true friends were and when she returned to high school for her third year, she showed no sign of defeat for Bonnie and Josh. Instead she pushed forward with her studies and was proud to be Ron Stoppable's friend.
Their relationship didn't take the next big step until after high school. It began to dawn to them, as it had for those around them far sooner, that they were spending far more time with each other than finding people to date. Whenever one of them did have a date, the other would start to feel a rather uneasy jealousy.
It was finally Ron who spilled the beans, though he had to be rather drunk first. They had been celebrating him getting in to the cooking school he had wanted to go and had drunkenly confessed his feelings to her. When she next day asked him about this he could have said it was alcohol talking but instead admitted he had been telling the truth.
Kim could not have been happier that moment and the two had been a couple ever since.
Kim's nature of helping people had finally brought her to Asia where she had volunteered for humanitarian work. Ron had stayed in states but had promised to join her as soon as he could get out for a vacation. Kim had been excited the day his plane was supposed to arrive to Hong Kong.
The following days were the worst of her life. She anxiously waited for the news of the survivors, but when Ron had not been amongst the eight people who had been saved, her life seemed to shatter. The other workers, with whom she had befriended, did their best to keep her spirits and hopes up, but with each passing day everything seemed harder and harder for the girl who can do anything.
Then Wade Load had suddenly contacted her. Wade was young computer prodigy with whom Ron and Kim had befriended in high school. He had a social network around the globe and could contact anyone anywhere anytime. When Kim heard from him that Ron had been picked up by a vessel Golfer that was on its way to Hong Kong, she was overjoyed.
You can imagine her astonishment when Golfer arrived without Ron.
"What do you mean he's not with you?"
Duff Killigan, captain of Golfer, rubbed his brows. The last thing he had expected to find in Hong Kong was an annoying redhead American girl demanding answers from him.
"Lassie, diz thes swatch loch a passenger cruise? We dinnae hae passengers!" (1)
"Are you saying you never had him onboard?" Kim demanded. "Because a message was sent from your ship telling he had been picked up and was on his way here with you!"
Killigan wiped sweat from his forehead. So he couldn't lie about the boy then. "Ah left heem at mah first port ay caa an' that's aw aam supposed tae dae". (2)
"What port?"
Now Killigan was losing his cool. He knew he couldn't tell about the island, Miss Go was a person he didn't dare to anger. He tried to make himself look as big and tough as he could and looked down the girl.
"'at is mah business an' mine aloyn" he said. (3)
The intimidation tactic failed. Kim looked ready to introduce her fists to Killigan. "Well, maybe the American Embassy will make it their business!" she said and stormed off.
"Gie them mah regards!" Killigan shouted, trying to appear uncaring. But deep down he was worried of what might come to him now. (4)
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At the Island:
Dr. Drakken, Miss Go, Yori and Ron returned to the enclosure. When they got out of the car Drakken told Miss Go to take Yori inside. Ron still had her gun. It was in his pocket, but his hand was ready to take it any moment necessary.
Drakken stared Ron for a moment. "I suppose you'd want some sort of explanation?"
"If you think you can justify what you've done to those people in the jungle than yes, by all means do" Ron said, trying to keep calm.
"People?" Drakken asked with sudden humor in his voice. "You think they're humans?"
Now it was Ron turn to stare.
"Follow me" Drakken said and led them to garden next to the house where Ron had seen the surgery room. The garden, as Ron had noticed earlier, was filled with plants he had never seen before.
"Tell me, are you an expert of botany?" Drakken asked.
Ron shook his head.
"But I trust, you would recognize a normal dandelion when you saw one?"
"Of course" Ron said. He then looked the garden, trying to see if there were any.
"There" Drakken said and pointed a plant close to them. It was tall and had huge leaves.
"That's not a dandelion" Ron said.
"Yes it is. And those are some lilies. That's a tulip and that's orchid" Drakken said, pointing different plants, each more and more amazing looking. "The reason why you can't recognize them is because I have genetically changed them".
"Changed them?" Ron repeated.
"You saw my diploma yesterday in the house. It was granted to me for remarkable genetic engineering. I started with plants you see. I took an ordinary flower and made it turn to something amazing. There is a cell, you see, that all humans, animals and even plants share. It's a cell that controls the form we take. In the very beginning all plants and animals start out the same, yet they grow to be different looking creatures, like bears and pigs. Even human beings do not all look the same. Some are blonde, others black. You follow me so far?"
Ron only nodded, not knowing what to say.
"I began to explore how to control that cell and make things to take different shapes. It really started out as scientific interest, nothing more. Just wanting to see what all I could do. My results with the plants delighted my peers, but plants soon lost their challenge and interest to me. I wanted to try other, more complicated beings, but the idea of animal testing was too much for them. I didn't let it stop me, of course. I caught dogs and rats from the street to my house. One day however one of the dogs escaped my house and well…" Drakken laughed a bit "…it wasn't a pretty sight. Before it could be traced to me I left the states and moved to Europe. It was there that I started working with a man I had been corresponding, a certain Professor Demenz. Have you heard of him?"
"No" Ron answered.
"I suppose his name is only remembered in Germany anymore. Clearly an insane individual but clever enough to help me to perfect my serum" Drakken told.
"A serum?"
"Ah, yes. Before leaving to Europe I had operated on the animals. Very messy and never could make satisfactory results. With the serum everything is so much easier. Demenz and I created the most fantastic looking creatures. A snake with a cats head. A rabbit with horns. We even tried to create a horse with wings, but that never turned quite right. In the end I had to leave again. Demenz had gotten in trouble with local authorities. I took the serum and fled. Last I heard he was put the prison".
Ron didn't know how to react. The story Drakken was telling him sounded too fantastic to be true, but he couldn't forget the creatures he had seen in the jungle.
"Since Demenz was already in trouble it was easy for me to empty his bank account and take it with me. He had quite a nice sum of money, a family inheritance I think. With that money I managed to buy this island which didn't really belong to any specific nation and have been financing my most ambitious experiments for the past eight years now".
"And what experiments might those be?" Ron dared to ask.
"To turn normal animals into human beings".
Look of shock appeared to Ron's face. "What?"
"Those creatures you saw in the jungle. They're animals, each one of them" Drakken simply said.
Ron was now beyond shocked. He was physically incapable of reacting.
Drakken walked past him to the door. "Come with me" he said and opened the door. They entered back to the surgery room, where the dark fur covered man still laid on the operating table.
"My creations have named this place the House of Pain. They remember the pain of transformation they've experienced here and they fear this place. It was easy to make the law to control them. If they break it they'll end up back here" Drakken explained as he moved closer to the table.
Ron didn't dare to come too close. "How exactly do they break the law?" he asked.
"Oh, by hunting and killing, walking on all fours, spilling blood. Being animals. They reduce back to animals so easily. If not the law they wouldn't stay as what they are even for a week. Of course I soon discovered how hard controlling them was" Drakken said and pointed the scar below his right eye. "Thankfully I happened to meet Miss Go. Her full name, if you're wondering, is Lee She-Go. She's a half-American half-Korean mercenary who got herself in such bad businesses that she can't enter American or European soil anymore. Or really any other civilized place either" he laughed. "I guess that's why she stays more than anything".
"What is he then?" Ron asked, carefully looking the creature tied to the table.
"A bear. Though he looks nothing like that anymore right?" Drakken smiled. "I think I shall call him Eric. Don't you think it's a good name?" Drakken asked, though he seemed to be talking now more to himself than to Ron.
There was a sudden noise behind them and they both turned around. The pink creature Ron had seen earlier in his room was walking through the table.
"You've already met Rufus, I take it. He's a naked mole rat, only one I've used. Rodents are so small, very difficult to get good results" Drakken said.
Ron started the pink creature and remembered how clearly it had spoken earlier. "But he…it…whatever speaks! They all speak!"
Now Drakken was grinning. "Exactly! My greatest achievement was to make them speak and understand words. But let me tell you, it takes time. It always takes so much time to make them speak" doctor said with a tired look on his face. Then an almost sly smile appeared. "One day I'll make a woman and it'll be easier" he laughed.
Ron turned from staring the pink creature named Rufus, back to the doctor. "You've not made any… women?"
"As of yet, no. And there has been no need so far. For Miss Go's and Yori's sake we castrate these guys before letting them out to woods".
Ron turned his back to Drakken. This all was way too weird to be taken in. It was beyond wrong-sick for him. Wiping cold sweat from his forehead he turned back to Drakken. "Why?"
"Pardon?"
"Why do you do this? If you're so brilliant you can… create these creatures, why are you on this island with your little animal kingdom? Why haven't you tried to do something more practical?"
For a moment Drakken only stared Ron, as if the answer to that question should be obvious. Then he frowned. "Oh, you don't understand. You couldn't possibly. Not until you'd done it yourself".
Ron looked confused, when suddenly an odd expression appeared to Drakken's face. He seemed to stare somewhere far off.
"You do not know" Drakken said slowly "what it means to feel like God".
Ron didn't dare to say anything, as Drakken seemed to have mentally wondered of somewhere else. However he soon noticed Ron again and walked him out of the House of Pain.
"You must be exhausted. I do trust there won't be any more foolish escape attempts. They wouldn't do any good for you. We shall discuss of means to return you back to society tomorrow" Drakken said and watched as Ron, only nodding, walked back towards his room.
"One more thing" Drakken shouted after him.
Ron turned around to see Drakken watching him with what could only be described as a sadistic smile.
"Sleep well" Drakken said and returned to his surgery house.
Ron did sleep that night, but not well.
To be continued…
Once more thanks to Lorien Urbani for her "Scottish" translations.
1:"Lassie, does this look like a passenger cruise? We do not have passengers!"
2: "I left him on my first port of call and that's all I'm supposed to do".
3: "That is my business and mine alone"
4: "Give them my regards!"
That's it for now. Till next time!
