1Disclaimer: This is very much a work in progress, and I am having second thoughts about certain aspects of the plot. Also, I don't own any characters here you have seen on TV.
"Oh, that. I cut myself last night. Not that kind of cutting myself. Being dumped from high society is a major black mark on my status, but I know people who have done far worse to themselves and they still show their faces in public." Old ways died hard for Bonnie, but she would have to keep them down as much as possible in order to accomplish her goals. The two of them climbed into the Sloth, and as they began to head towards Smarty Mart, a call came into the car's communication system.
"When do you want us to fix your car?" asked Jim.
"Let's see," said Kim, "I need to pick up Ron, and then we have to meet with Dr. Porter. Apparently there was a break-in at MIST. While I'm there, I could have Dad drive it home during his lunch break. How long do you think it will be?"
"We have all the parts in stock here." said Tim, "so it should only be about an hour, tops. Now let's talk about the bill."
"Let's not," Kim recalled what she had to do when she first had her car made operational.
"Did I say an hour? I meant next Wednesday," Tim smirked.
"Okay, one week as chauffeur, but it ends immediately if either of you calls me 'car monkey.' And no 'neener clause!' May God have mercy on your souls if there is a neener clause!" The Tweebs pondered this initial offer and Jim spoke up with a counteroffer.
"Throw in a minimum use clause, both mileage and number of trips, and we have a deal."
"Please and thank you," said Kim as they arrived at Smarty Mart. The Sloth pulled around to the back where Ron quickly jumped into the car.
"Punch it!" yelled Ron frantically.
"Let's roll!" added Rufus.
"Why the rush?" asked Kim. She got her answer as Barkin burst through the emergency exit.
"Cheese and crackers! There's guano everywhere!" he yelled with a degree of panic that worried even Bonnie. It was enough that Kim honored Ron's request.
"Barkin has major bat issues," Ron pointed out the obvious.
"Take out bat, and you pretty much have all you need to know about Barkin," Bonnie chimed in as they made their way out of the Smarty Mart parking lot. A short time later, they arrived at the Middleton Institute of Science and Technology. Dr. Porter met them in the lobby of the Capek Robotics Building.
"Bonnie, this is Dr. Vivian Frances Porter. One of the world's leading authorities on artificial intelligence. Dr. Porter, this is Bonnie Rockwaller." At the mention of her last name, Dr. Porter's countenance darkened considerably.
"Connie's sister?"
"Unfortunately."
"I see you are no more pleased to know her than I am," responded the professor. "Anyway, we're just waiting on my boyfriend. He should be down..." A tall, red-headed man stumbled through a doorway with his pants halfway down his legs.
"Aww, bugger." he said as he pulled them up and retied the extension cord he was using as a belt.
"Kim, Ron, Bonnie..." Dr. Porter's introductions were interrupted.
"...and Rufus," added the naked mole rat.
"...this is my boyfriend, Dr. Vyvyan Francis Porter. Don't let his pants issues fool you, he has been an invaluable addition here at MIST, and he is the one who was actually the victim of the break-in."
"Dr. Porter, what was stolen?"
"The electron-magneto accelerator. It was developed by one of the scientists I used to work for, Dr. Cyrus Bortel. After he went mad, I took his less ethically-questionable work here with me. The electron-magneto accelerator can increase the power of electrical devices to massive proportions."
"You mean evil proportions," said Kim.
"That is certainly a possibility," responded the lanky Briton. "Viv and your father said you dealt with these wankers with some regularity."
"Maybe if we, you know, actually see the scene of the crime, do you think that could possibly give us a few hints?" Bonnie fumed to no one in particular.
"Right this way." The Porters, Kim, Ron, Rufus and Bonnie left the robotics building.
"So, anyway, Dr. Porter," Ron began.
"Yes?" both of the people of that name responded. "Jinx! You owe me a kiss!" exclaimed Vivian.
"I'm still not accustomed to you Yanks' customs." Nonetheless Vyvyan paid his debt immediately, with gusto.
"Ugh, you're just as noxious as these two," muttered Bonnie. The group walked next door to another featureless gray concrete slab and down a series of labyrinthian hallways.
"As I was about to say, I was at a convention here a few months ago, when I noticed her. It's kind of hard not to. So I come up to her after the seminar on the mathematics of quantum neutrino fields and she tells me her boyfriend is in the shop, and I'm like 'How would you like someone you don't have to take into the shop.' One thing led to another, and then it led to it again when she was on my side of the pond, so I get a job over here, and here we are today."
"So didn't care about that," sneered Bonnie. Ignoring her comment, Dr. Porter opened the door to one of many labs. The only differences between this one and all the other labs were all the police tape and a big gaping hole in the wall.
"Found anything, officers?" Kim asked to the team that happened to be there.
"Take a look at this." One of the officers pointed to a streak on the edge of the hole in the wall. Kim called up Wade on her Kimmunicator.
"Can you scan this paint streak for us?" A beam swept across the mark, then shut off.
"Got everything I need on this end," said Wade. A beeping went off in his room. He glanced at a monitor showing the Rockwaller residence and noticed that a tractor-trailer had pulled up in front of the house. "Is Bonnie with you all?"
"I'm here, what do you want. Did you ever find out who I, Bonnie Rockwaller, defeated in one-on-two combat, the one of course being me?"
"Not yet, but I'm keeping an eye out."
"Well, keep another eye out," Bonnie said indignantly.
"I just wanted to let you know that there's a big rig in front of your house. Were you expecting something today?"
"All my things from the island are here!" For the first time in a while, Bonnie seemed genuinely excited. She turned to the others and asked them, "Hey, do you think you can help me unload my stuff?"
"We've actually been working on moving robots. It's the first project we worked on together," said the shapely robotics expert. "Vyv, you up for a field test?"
"Smashing idea!" said Vyvyan. "Pun definitely intended there."
"I don't get it," said Ron. Rufus also seemed perplexed.
"That's one of the kinks we've been working on...sometime the robots just go around smashing things for no reason."
"Wait a minute," said Bonnie, "I am not about to have a bunch of buckets of bolts waltz in and start breaking my priceless...everythings."
"No big, we have insurance for that sort of thing. Came in handy in the aftermath of the whole Li'l Diablo affair. Premiums did go through the roof, clouds and ionosphere, but at least they didn't cancel our policy."
"Now that you mention it, almost everything isn't priceless at all. I'll handle the more sensitive things manually." Bonnie walked back towards the entrance to the lab, only to notice that no one was following her.
Kim cleared her throat. "Ahem, you are aware we still have a missing electron-magneto accelerator with potential evil applications here, are you not?"
"Yes, but until we know who the thief is, we can't really go hunting for him or her now, can we?" Bonnie thought she was raising a valid point, not that Kim would listen to her anyway.
"She's got a point there, KP. Besides, it'll be good to get some air, and I've never actually been in Bonnie's house," said Ron.
"Fine, but if we get any leads on the thief, we're stopping him or her. Whether you go with us is your call."
Everyone left the lab and headed out to the parking lot. Kim, Ron and Bonnie headed for the Sloth while Vivian and Vyvyan loaded a pair of their robots into a large van. As they were about to pull out, the rest of the team came up behind them.
"Hey, my brothers haven't finished fixing my car," said Kim. "Got room for three more?"
"Hnk, four!" Rufus yelled from Ron's pocket.
"Get in," said Vivian from the front passenger seat.
They piled into the van. Before Bonnie could complain about the age and substandard seating arrangements of the vehicle, Vyvyan fired up its ancient diesel engine and eight-track player and backed up hurriedly, nearly ramming two other cars. Bonnie's further complaints fell on ears deafened by the poorly-tuned engine and Vyvyan's singing.
"Once in every lifetime, comes the love like this..."
--
Despite its best efforts, the van made it to the Rockwaller residence in about ten minutes. Everyone except the Porters got out immediately and went over to the tractor-trailer parked out front. As the driver opened up the back of the trailer, the sound of metal crashing into metal and glass emanated from the driveway. They turned around to see the Porters frantically trying to shut down the robots, who were now jumping up and down on what was left of Lonnie's car.
Rufus dashed inside the trailer to grab anything small enough for him to handle. He saw a golden apple about the size of a baseball. He tried to pick it up, only it didn't budge. Bonnie saw him struggling and picked up the small but very dense object.
"Careful with that, it's five pounds of 24 karat gold. Triple S said it was worth about fifty grand. I'm not sure what these marks on it mean." By this point, everyone had stopped to look at the object Bonnie was cradling.
"Kallistei," said Vivian. "It means 'for the fairest.' It's what was on the golden apple used in the Judgment of Paris."
"Wouldn't it have been in French then?" asked Ron.
"Wrong Paris." said Kim. "You know, the Trojan War and all that?"
Mythology class was finished, and moving class had resumed. In about an hour and a half, the trailer had been completely unloaded and everything was now inside the house. This in spite of the fact that Bonnie had brought in all of three items; the golden apple, a dartboard with Kim's picture on it, and a small bag which she tried to keep far away from Ron and Vyvyan. The six of them began taking things from the living room up to Bonnie's room. Surprisingly enough, there was room for just about everything in there, even though the room wasn't empty to begin with and was smaller overall than the trailer. Again, Bonnie did very little actual work, even though no one really noticed until the work was done. The only thing she moved was a small box that she was just as secretive about as she was with the bag earlier, only this one she hid from everyone.
Bonnie asked for a minute alone so that she could organize her things. The rest of the movers obliged and they headed back downstairs to try to get the robots calmed down enough to get into the van. The real reason for asking for solitude, in addition to trying to cleanse herself of the loser germs she picked up from her brief visit to MIST, was to really, for the first time, contemplate the events that had transpired since she had returned to Middleton. In particular, she was trying to figure out what the deal was with the guy she had been talking with early this morning. When she was over at his place it was like she was in a daze the whole time. Having been up for eighteen hours didn't help matters, but the more she thought about it, one thought came to dominate all others: Who the hell was this guy to tell her how to avenge her loss of a life of ease? And what was the deal with the whole signing in blood thing? Especially now that she had everything that Junior had given her and then some, even though that certainly didn't put him in the clear. No matter how valuable those diamonds were, the deal was off as soon as she got back in touch with him. She reached for her phone, and just as she was about to call him to tell him to take his diamonds and shove them, her phone rang. The caller ID said "Satan;" she had to take this one.
"You know, K, you could have just come up here," Bonnie said snippily.
"Or you could come down here, B," answered Kim in a similar tone. "Wade got a hit on the paint."
"I'll be down in a sec," said Bonnie. Bonnie ran downstairs and outside to the van, where everyone was watching the robots crushing Connie's car. "So who was it Kim?"
"Wade just picked up something else that might be useful. He should be calling back just about..." The phone rang and Kim answered.
"Kim, the paint is a formula unique to one body shop in New Jersey."
"Motor Ed," Kim concluded.
"And that last thing I just picked up...we've figured out the who, I think this will tell us the where." Wade pulled up an e-vite that he had just received. Kim read it out loud.
"Edstock. The biggest, loudest, most rockin' festival of all time, seriously. Isla de La Palma, the Canary Islands." Wade then pulled up a diagram of the layout of the festival.
"The main stage is on this volcanic ridge." Wade highlighted it as he spoke. "If it's going to be as loud as he says it will be, Motor Ed could trigger a massive landslide and tsunami."
"I thought they were really overblowing the threat that ridge posed," said Vivian, who had just helped her husband shut down the malfunctioning robots.
"The threat of it going off by itself isn't supposed to be that great, and no one knows what will happen if that side of the island collapses, but I don't think we should have to find out."
"Nor do I. Hang on. I've got another call." Kim switched over to the other caller.
"Car's ready!" said Tim.
"Dr. Porter, could you give us a lift back to my house? We've got a concert to stop."
"No problem, mate." As Vyvyan drove away from the Rockwallers' house, Bonnie could have sworn she heard her sisters cursing the heavens.
--
A/N part deux: Nothing much to say here. I once again thank everyone who continues to read and review this story.
