By:Obbiejoe
Unable to take another step Kim stopped just as she rounded yet another of corners that seemed to go absolutely nowhere. It felt like she had been running in circles for hours and knew the day had finally come, the day her luck ran out, the day she lost, the day she would in all probability die.
She should have realized this was a trap as soon as she crawled in to the first ventilation shaft, it was all coming together too easily. Then when the grate dropped behind her she had resolutely crawled forward counting on her seemingly unending luck to not only get out alive but turn the tables on whomever it was that had set the trap. It hadn't quite worked put that way.
Twenty feet along the shaft the bottom had opened up on her and dumped her unceremoniously into the corridor, that was where she first faced the rolling mechanicals that had been chasing her ever since.
Each mechanical was equipped with a stun baton that she had seen the business end of more than once but each time rather than rolling in to finish the job the mechanical had dropped back a few feet. Whoever was controlling the things was toying with her and giving her time to run, the only problem was that there was nowhere to run to, each corridor she took simply branched out into a maze of other corridors.
She slid against the wall and sank to the floor with her breath coming in gasps knowing she could go no further. Since her pursuers were mechanical they were tireless and even if she was able to move she knew it was only a matter of time before they once again caught up to her.
She tried to catch her breath and conserve what little energy she had left. The fact that she was beaten was clear so, to her, her next move was equally clear. She may be going down but she was going to go down fighting.
The sweat had plastered her hair to her forehead and was running down her face in unending streams as she waited. She knew they weren't far behind, she had seen several of them rolling up a corridor she passed only a few seconds ago.
Glancing back at the corner she had rounded seconds ago she strained to hear the whirring sound that would tell her they were on their way, the sound she had been running from for what seemed to be an eternity.
Even though she had been expecting it she still gave a startled flinch when it came. The whirring was faint but getting louder with each passing tick of the clock and she braced herself, ready to make her last stand.
She absently tugged her gloves tighter on her hands as her eyes remained focused on the corner she knew they would be rounding any moment. She slowly stood and faced the direction she knew her end was coming from determined to go down on her feet, not cowering against the wall.
Her eyes blinked closed when a bright blue glow suddenly filled the corridor she was watching. When she opened her eyes again she knew something had changed, something was different but she couldn't place exactly what it was. Then it struck her, the whirring sound was gone.
She waited, thankful for the respite, no matter how short it might be, to gather more strength. The seconds ticked by in complete silence and even though she felt her strength returning more quickly than she had thought and her breathing had returned to nearly normal she knew it would be useless, the mechanical killing machines had been toying with her but she was through being their plaything, or the plaything of whoever was controlling them.
The seconds continued to tick by until she knew a full minute had passed, a very silent minute. Taking a step forward she braced herself just before she rounded the corner. This was where the game ended, she would no longer be running only to have them once again chasing at her heels, running her down until she finally collapsed for good, she was now on the attack.
Not wanting to give whoever it was the satisfaction she took a bold move and stepped directly into the corridor ready to finish this once and for all. What she saw confused her, the machines were there all right, and only a few yards away, what confused her was the fact that they were in pieces, each and every one of the almost indestructible mechanicals were literally torn apart.
What really surprised her was that she hadn't heard a thing, all she had heard was the incessant whirring until it suddenly stopped. She had heard absolutely nothing to indicate the destruction she saw in front of her.
Taking a step forward she approached the destroyed robots warily, looking for some sign that this was yet another diversion, another attempt by the mysterious controller to start her running again. She was already amongst the wreckage when she heard a voice and spun toward the sound instantly assuming a fighting stance. "That was a very brave thing to do KP, coming out to face those things like that."
About thirty feet away Kim saw a man dressed in black standing there watching her. She expected to see him joined by others at any moment but he simply stood there, like he was waiting for her to make the next move, what caught her attention was when he called her KP, even though being called by her initials was odd it somehow sounded familiar."
Not relaxing her posture at all she called out. "Who are you and what did you call me?"
The figure actually leaned against the wall of the corridor and folded his arms in front of him before he answered. "Well, first my name is Ron, Ron Stoppable, and second, well, I called you KP, that's what I used to call you all the time and you never seemed to mind, of course we were only four or five at the time."
Kim took a good look at the man standing there leaning against the wall looking totally relaxed. He was almost six feet tall and very thin, his blonde hair looked like it was a total mess and his face looked almost boyish. There was an odd smile on his face that was reflected in his brown eyes but she couldn't recall ever seeing him before, no matter what he implied.
Maintaining her vigilance even though he looked completely nonthreatening she called back. "Sorry Ron, but if we've met I don't remember. What I need to know is why you are doing this, why are you chasing me around.
The dark clad man smiled wider. "Well, you not remembering me isn't all that surprising, I've been told I'm a very forgettable person. As for chasing you around, well, that wasn't me. Unless I miss my guess that would be that silly German midget Dementor, I'm only here to help."
Kim narrowed her eyes still not trusting this man no matter what he said. "Help, help how?"
Still leaning against the wall the blonde actually chuckled. "Well, if you look around you you'll see a little of my help, the next thing I plan on doing is showing you how to get out of here, they collapsed the original entrance and sealed it off pretty good so I was forced to make my own entrance to get in here, that's what took me so long this time. Anytime you're ready I can show you where it is."
Kim stood a little straighter and took another look around her. What she saw was at complete odds with what this man said. She had gotten several good hits on these things when this whole thing started and hadn't even been able to make a dent in them, in order to do what she saw around her would require a lot more than one skinny blonde.
Looking back she saw him still leaning nonchalantly against the wall. "Look, I still don't know who you are or what you're up to but there's no way you did all this by yourself."
The blonde leaned forward and teetered away from the wall causing Kim to resume her guarded stance. "I never said I did it alone."
Kim took a chance and took a quick look around her fearing whoever helped this man might be sneaking up on her. When there was no sign of anyone else she returned her gaze to the blonde who, as far as she could tell, hadn't moved an inch. "There's no one else here KP, it's just us. Now this place gives me the creeps so if you don't mind can we get out of here?"
The blonde turned but before he went around the corner he looked back and smiled. "You coming?"
Kim hesitantly followed him keeping a good ten feet between them, about fifty yards down the corridor there was a large hole cut into the wall that lead directly to the outside. The blonde walked through it without a backward glance but Kim stopped and looked warily around the exterior before stepping through, not knowing what to expect.
As she passed through she looked at the edges of the hole that was cut through almost three feet of solid rock, the edges were so smooth it looked like the hole had been cut with a high intensity laser. She was sure she had run down this corridor only a few minutes ago and this hole had not been here so when she finally stepped outside it was with a lot more questions buzzing in her mind than when she first started following the young man.
As soon as she was outside and saw she and this Ron person were completely alone she pulled her communicator from its holster and flipped it on. As she had feared it was completely fried, she had thought so when she had tried making contact with Wade earlier but figured it may have just been blocked so decided to try again now that she was outside.
The blonde must had seen her aborted attempt because he spoke again. "Can't get hold of Wade huh. Well, I can either call you a ride or I can give you one. Honestly, if you don't mind, I'd rather give you one, I'd really like to see the Dr's P squared again."
Suddenly memories flooded into Kim's consciousness. The way he referred to her parents awoke long lost memories of a blonde boy she met in Pre-K, they had been almost inseparable for nearly four years before he and his parents moved away without so much as a goodbye.
She recalled the small blonde boy with the messy hair easily since her parents still had photos of the two of them together hanging on the walls of their home. One in particular had always embarrassed her, it was of the two of them sharing a bath.
She also had no problem remembering the two day crying jag she had gone on after he left or how her mother had tried to console her.
Taking a close look at the man standing there waiting for her to respond she saw it now. The blonde messy hair, the freckles, the large expressive brown eyes and even that small half smile that had seemed to be constantly on his face even back then, this could very well be the same person.
The man she was staring at must have seen the recognition hit her because he smiled a bit wider. "Starting to come back to you huh KP? I was worried for a while there that you wouldn't remember me at all."
As all her memories coalesced in her mind she found she had no words to express what she was feeling. First there was that fact that he had left without a word, not even a hasty goodbye, but she supposed she could forgive that, after all, they had only been seven or eight years old at the time, but now he had simply shown up again, shown up in the most unlikely place she could think of and then… then there was the fact that, according to what he said anyway, he had just saved her life.
As soon as that thought went through her head she began to wonder. Why and how had he shown up at that moment, that precise moment. As far as she knew not even Wade knew the danger she had been in, how had this man who called himself Ron Stoppable known?
The answer was simple as far as she was concerned, he knew because he was somehow involved, he simply had to be, there was no other way, no other way at all.
She instantly decided that she had to keep him close, at least long enough to have Wade check him out and find out who he really was and what he was up to.
Putting a smile on her face she knew not enough time had passed for him to get suspicious. "You know, I think I'll take you up on that ride… Ah, Ron, as long as it doesn't take you too far out of your way."
The blonde smiled. "Heck no KP, I'm headed to Middleton anyway. I moved back a couple of days ago so we're kinda neighbors again."
Now Kim knew something was fishy. Why, after all these years, had he moved back to Middleton, and why was he trying to be so accommodating?
And what better way to get close than to not only claim to be an old friend but also just happen to save her life.
Kim kept a slight distance between them as she followed him down the hill that the lair had been cut from. As she walked she decided she should try and get a bit more information, if she was careful she might learn his true intentions.
Deciding to start slow she tried to sound friendly as she asked her first question. "So, your family moved back to Middleton huh."
She saw Ron stumble slightly but he quickly resumed his purposeful march toward wherever he was headed. "Ah… actually it's just me here KP. My parents were killed almost five years ago."
Even though his words were soft Kim heard them clearly, she even caught the fact that he had said 'killed' and not 'died' and knew she had just learned a useful fact. She vaguely remembered Ron's parents; they had been friendly but not overly affectionate people. She recalled his mother actually shaking her hand when they first met which she found unusual considering she was only four at the time.
