Three months later:
Kim at Global Justice:
Dr. Director surveyed the indoor obstacle course from a raised platform at the end of it. After having Global Justice humiliated by the bank fiasco and the resulting losses of Dr. Drakken, Dr. Mozenberg and losing Kim Possible for a while, Dr. Director decided a new mandatory training refresher course was in order.
At least one thing had worked out for itself. Kim Possible a week after vanishing had turned back up. Actually, she had marched back into Global Justice and when Dr. Director had been summoned from her office Kim had only said. "I'm back."
When questioned on where she had been for a week, Kim had tried to give her some story about a ninja school in Japan that had trained Ron to be some kind of assassin and how Kim had thought they would help her recover Ron but they had laughed at her. Dr. Director wasn't too sure what to make of her story. While Dr. Director had never known Kim to lie, Global Justice's computers clearly showed there was no such structures in the area that Kim said the school was located. The story was made even fishier when Kim had produced her Kimmunicator to show the longitude and latitude of the school and she couldn't find the information in her device at all.
Kim had called Wade, who answered immediately which only served to annoy Dr. Director who had tried to contact the genius and had failed several times, and demanded that Wade give Dr. Director directions to the school. A nervous looking Wade had replied he had no idea what Kim was talking about. He knew of no school in Japan that trained ninjas.
This of course infuriated Kim who screamed she knew he had the information and that she knew he kept all his information backed up on three hard drives and if she had to, she would have Global Justice show up at Wade's house and get that information in person. To which Wade had replied that he had no backups of said information, that it was gone. Kim finally cooling from her anger asked him if he meant the information had been erased from his hard drives to which Wade replied, no he meant the three backup hard drives he had had were missing, physically gone from his computer system.
That little bit of information lead Dr. Director to ponder that maybe someone had gotten to Wade and had removed the hard drives to keep the information secret. Perhaps even threatening Wade into silence. In any case, there was little she could do about it. Without fairly close coordinates, she couldn't send a group into Japan to locate this school of Kim's. The Japanese government would not look kindly upon a force sent into their country to scout around for a school that officially didn't exist. And in any case, the last thing Dr. Director needed at the moment was to stir up a bed of ninjas to cause her even more troubles.
Dr. Director sighed as she watched another batch of her agents fail to complete the obstacle course in time. In the days when she had been nothing more than just another agent of Global Justice, Dr.
Director had seen the agency emphasis more physical training and less dependency on fancy gadgets, a failing she had to admit she was directly responsible for. When scientists came to her and fervently told her they had a way for her agents to be better, faster and or more protected without having to rely on long physical training, Dr. Director had been too eager to listen to them. She should have known nothing beats good old fashioned work outs and physical conditioning.
So far, there were only two agents who consistently finished the course in the allotted time. Not surprisingly, they were Agent Will Du and Agent Kim Possible.
Hearing a shout Dr. Director leaned over the railing of the raised platform to see Kim waving up at her. "Why am I wasting time with this silly kindergarten course? I could be out there looking for Ron!" Kim yelled up to her.
"Because you came back to Global Justice, in effect telling us you need our help." Dr. Director replied with maybe just a hint of malice in her voice. Kim had threatened her agency with going public. In her mind, Kim should be grateful that Global Justice hadn't thrown her into a jail cell for threatening to reveal them. "So you shall take the same refresher training the rest of our members do."
"But I don't need this!" Kim said stomping her foot.
"Because you are perfect, right?" Dr. Director yelled down finally having had it with Kim's constant attitude problem.
"Yes." Kim shouted back. She paused for a moment but then nodded her head. "Yeah. I'm perfect. Why should I keep denying it?"
Dr. Director just stared at her for a moment. "All right Kim. You say you are perfect and you know how Global Justice should run the investigation for Ron Stoppable and the rest of his gang. I propose this challenge to you. The Global Justice obstacle course has been used for decades as a means to test and train the physical abilities of our agents." Dr. Director raised her hand. "And yes I know you have consistently finished the course well within the mandatory times. But you have yet to beat the record time for the course. The time being…" Dr. Director looked over at Will Du. "Which is?"
"Four minutes and thirty seconds." Will Du supplied on cue.
"You finish the course under that time and I will turn over full control of the investigation to you." Dr. Director finished.
Kim rubbed her hands. Finally, she would be able to get Global Justice to help her find Ron without any more of these silly training sessions or delays.
"However…" Dr. Director continued. "If you fail to finish the course under the record time I will place you under Will Du's command and you will OBEY every command he gives you without question and…" Dr. Director eyed the young woman standing staring up at her. "You will also stand on this very platform
and in front of all the agents that are at Global Justice today and say, I am Kim Possible and I am not perfect!"
Kim's eyes flashed in anger. "You got a deal old lady." She muttered but loud enough that Dr. Director and Will Du heard her.
Dr. Director turned to look at Will Du. "Agent Will back in the days when the course record was set, they used something they called the opponent system. It was a means of distracting and delaying an agent on the field in addition to the physical requirements of the course itself. Even though we don't use this system today, relying on just the physical exertion, the equipment is still part of the course. I would like you to use the machinery while Kim is trying to beat the record."
"Wait a minute!" Kim shouted. "What is this?"
"Don't worry Kim, the equipment is only to distract and delay. It in no way can harm you. And it would be unfair for you to break the track record for the course, not having everything used against you like it was on the person who set the record. Now would it?"
Kim frowned but then set her jaw. "Bring it on. I can do anything."
Dr. Director nodded at Will Du who ran over to the sidelines of the obstacle course to familiarize himself with the controls while Kim went to the starting line.
Kim waited for Dr. Director to start the course timer. The first obstacle on the course was a run across pads floating on water in a large pool. It was simply a test of balance and as far as Kim was concerned a piece of cake. Almost all the other agents except her and Du had fallen in at least once and in some case two or three times in the icy water. Kim and Du however had simply glided over the pads as if they were solid blocks of concrete.
With a bang of a starter's gun Kim was off. The first pad she hit, she was gone before the pad could even dip down in the water from her weight. Kim in her mind wondered if she should force Dr. Director to temporarily move out of her office while Kim was in charge. A ripple in the water to the left of the pads caught Kim's attention and pulled her from her day dreams. What looked like a cannon suddenly shot up out of the water and turning to point in Kim's direction fired.
Kim smoothly leapt to the next pad before the projectile could hit and turning to look back over her shoulder Kim saw the projectile was a ball of water as it splashed the pad she had just left. Kim frowned as she concentrated on the surface of the pool to watch for more surprise water cannons popping up. The next pad on the course was farther apart than the others require a pretty good leap to reach it. Still neither Kim nor Du had had any problems previously in making the jump nor did Kim expect any now. She was just in the midst of raising her leg to make the leap when another water cannon suddenly shot up from underneath the surface of the pool directly between her and the next pad. Before Kim could react, a ball of water discharged from the cannon and slamming into her and not just drenching her but also driving her back to the edge of the pad she was on. Kim angrily shook the icy water from her eyes
and glared over at where a very happy Will Du was at controls. For a moment, his actions and smile reminded Kim of Ron playing video games.
With a growl of annoyance, Kim raced back and leapt over the water cannon before Du could get another shot off.
The next obstacle on the course was a narrow ledge that one had to shimmy along. Underneath the ledge was another pool of icy water. While the ledge was narrow, there were plenty of hand holds on the wall in the form of large black holes. With a confident air, Kim placed the edge of her foot on the ledge and began to inch along it. Suddenly from a black hole in the wall at her face level, a punching glove on a pole shot out and smacked her in the face. Kim almost lost her grip just from the shock of it but at the last moment, she grabbed the edge of another hole in the wall and held on, only to pull her hand back with a sharp intake of breath as a second punching glove came out of that hole nearly bruising her hand. With another hard glare at the usually stoic Du who was now nearly giggling, Kim continued to inch across the ledge. As a third punching glove came out of the hole in front of where Kim was about to step, Kim leapt up and landing on the pole sticking out she made a desperate leap and crossed over to the other side avoiding all the other holes and the ledge entirely.
"I'm making good time." She called out to spite Du.
The next obstacle was a long inclined slide that one had to race up to reach a platform. The slide was steep but nothing that someone couldn't make. Of course if you had fallen into water at some point earlier in the course, the slope made it slippery to get up and Kim was still dripping a little water from her impact with the water ball Du had hit her with but still, a piece of cake, right?
As Kim started running up the slope, the platform at top had a hatch in its underside open and barrels suddenly rose up to the slide and started rolling down it.
"What you got Donkey Kong in that thing?" Kim shouted in annoyance, as she had to leap over the first barrel as it reached her. Even with the barrels, Kim made good time up the ramp. Reaching the top, she leapt over the last barrel as it rose into position.
The next obstacle was a slide down a rope attached to the platform to a small platform floating on the water of another pool. The slide was easy and frankly was one of Kim's favorite parts of the obstacle course. As Kim griped the slide part of the rope, a series of boxes raised up on either side of the course. Kim hesitated a moment to see what was going to come out of the boxes but Du was playing this part of the course close to his vest and not allowing Kim any advanced warning. Aware time was running out Kim shrugged and started her slide. Immediately the front part of the boxes slide down revealing ports in the boxes and a series of heavy bean bags were launched at Kim. Several of the bean bags painful smacked her in the sides but Kim resisted the urge to let go of the rope to clutch her aching sides and finished the slide down to the pad. A quick glance at the clock above the course revealed she still had a minute and twenty seconds left.
The last obstacle was simply a series of trampolines that one had to jump from one to the next. If you timed your jump just right, you could simply bounce from the first to the last without any effort at all. Kim looked at the first trampoline and then at where Du was standing on the sidelines and then up to where Dr. Director waited on her platform. "What is it this time? Surface to air missiles to blow me out of the sky in mid jump?"
"Nothing like that I assure you." Dr. Director called down to her. "All it is is just the trampolines."
Kim thought to herself that would be reassuring if it wasn't for the fact that Du had a smile on his face that a Cheshire cat would have envied.
Kim with a deep breath ran and launched herself at the first trampoline. As her foot hit the trampoline and she felt the surface give in preparation to bouncing her, she heard a click and the platform instead of staying solid shot downwards and then back upwards as if it was a launcher in a pinball game. And Kim was the pinball. With the extra umph given to her by the trampoline's platform, Kim over shot the next platform and headed towards the third.
"Ha!" Kim thought to herself. "This time their little trap backfired. I'll just skip the second trampoline all together and make better time this way."
As Kim's foot landed on the third platform it too sank rapidly but this time it didn't spring back up. Thusly it absorbed all of Kim's momentum leaving her wind milling her arms to keep from falling off of it to land in the water below. With the third platform lowered so much there was no way Kim could bounce hard enough to make the fourth trampoline platform, she could make the second one from this position but that of course would mean going backwards and losing valuable time. So with one determined bounce she leapt the distance to the pole that held up the fourth platform and started climbing it as fast as she could to reach the trampoline on top of it.
The pole rapidly shot up and then down as Du tried to shake her from climbing the pole. Kim gritted her teeth and comforted her queasy stomach with the idea that as soon as she was in charge she would put Du investigating an animal shelter. Let him spend a couple of days collecting canine waste samples without the benefit of plastic baggies and he would regret doing this to her.
Finally reaching the bottom of the trampoline platform Kim grasped the edge of it and swung herself upwards. Hitting the trampoline Kim threw herself forward before Du could screw with the height adjustments of the trampoline again and doing a forward flip, she landed on the large red circle at the end of the course signaling the end of her run.
The agents who had gathered to watch her run the course applauded her achievement.
Kim with a large smile turned to look at the clock. Which read, four minutes and forty seconds.
Kim turned in horror to see Du and Dr. Director walking over to her. "Who? Who was it that finished this course in four minutes and thirty seconds?"
Dr. Director was not one to gloat but she couldn't help but lean in to the panting Kim Possible and say. "This old lady did. Fifteen years ago."
AAAA
With Bonnie:
AAAA
Bonnie gave a very unfeminine grunt as she pulled down on the chrome lat bar in front of her. As the bar crossed her line of sight, she could briefly see her face and eyes reflected by its surface.
Bonnie resisted the urge to stop her repetitions to wipe the sweat from her forehead and just settled for expelling a sharp breath upwards in an attempt to blow her damp bangs from her eyes.
Finally finishing her set Bonnie allowed the bar to rise upwards one last time and released it. Taking a deep breath, Bonnie reached out, grabbed her nearby water bottle, and took a long hard swig from it. Unnoticed by Bonnie a tiny trickle of water escaped the edge of her lips and flowed down to join the many tiny streamlets of sweat that was running down her face and neck to disappear in the valley of her breasts underneath the tight crop top T-shirt she was wearing. Bonnie might not have noticed but the other bodybuilders, both male and female certainly did as they tried to surreptitiously watch her work out. Bonnie was the center of attention in the fairly exclusive and expensive fitness gym, if not for the fact of how fit and trim she looked in her designer athletic shorts and crop top T-shirt that showed off her stunning abs, then for the utter intense drive she was showing while performing her exercises. None who knew the previous cheerleader would have believed the fanatical drive she was showing now. Not even while competing with Kim Possible or her sisters Lonnie and Connie had Bonnie ever shown such a drive and dedication.
As Bonnie rose from the lat pull machine, even though her arms were quivering from the recent strain she had put them through, she made to go to the next machine without pause.
A beffy male bodybuilder stepping into her path stopped her. Bonnie almost growled at the man for his interference before her mind placed the face in front of her. Her temporary roadblock was none other than Chad Defestrom, the owner of the gym, so Bonnie impatiently waited to hear what he has to say, although she had a pretty good idea what it was going to be.
"You are overworking your muscles without proper rest again Bonnie." The tall tanned blond muscle builder stated confirming Bonnie's prediction.
"How many times do I have to tell you? You are here every single day. Your muscles need time to recuperate."
Bonnie bit back her initial almost automatic response of 'mind your own business' because frankly that was what the man was doing in the first place. That and the owner of the gym had been very accommodating to Bonnie by sometimes opening his gym early those times when Bonnie's frustration and desire for her Master grew so strong she couldn't sleep and she needed to work out to relieve her stress.
Bonnie knew the man would gladly help her relive her stress in another physical manner if she would only give him a tumble but since that day with Ron in the ROOM, Bonnie had decided her body was to become a temple. A temple that would only have one 'high priest' enter its sacred portals again and that was to be her Master Ron.
"What about these other guys?" Bonnie asked casting a negligent hand in the direction of some of the other body builders. "They are here as much as I am. I don't see you bothering them about their routines."
"Those guys are all posers." Chad just as negligently nodded his head in their directions. "Sure they work out but most of the time they just drink water and flirt with the women who come here. No one is as driven about his or her exercise routines as you are Bonnie. Are you thinking of entering some kind of body builder competition?"
Bonnie allowed a secret little smile to cross her face. "It is a competition of sorts but I'm not out for any dumb trophy."
"Then all this effort is just to gain some man's attention?" Chad asked a bit jealous. Bonnie was quite the looker and he had tried to get her to notice him since she started coming to his gym but she ignored all his attempts.
"No." Bonnie said with conviction. "It is not just SOME man."
Chad sighed. "Well remember what I said. Take every alternate day off or you are going to tear a muscle and end up having to put your training on hold till it heals."
Bonnie nodded her head and as Chad moved off to coach someone else, she made a beeline for the butterfly machine before someone else could take it. The butterfly machine was a machine that you sat in with pads at shoulder level that a person put their arms behind and pulled them towards their chest. While Bonnie only used the machine sparingly, because prolonged use of it could tend to flatten a woman's chest by over strengthening the muscles of it, judicious use made the breasts stand out more and become more 'perky'.
Bonnie also liked the machine because it took so little thought to perform the exercises on it she could let her mind wander and most of the time her thoughts were of her Master Ron. There were the odd moments when Bonnie would allow herself to ponder over her fixation on Ron and whether it was normal or healthy but those thoughts never lasted long. He was the certain 'someone' she had been searching all her life for and she was going to prove she was worthy of him. As the pads on the machine closed and opened alternately blocking Bonnie's view of the gym, her mind suddenly dragged up a memory Bonnie most definitely did not want to relive.
She had been fourteen years old. Her parents had been fighting off and on for months like cats and dogs and Bonnie was scared that her family was about to break up. Her older sisters Lonnie and Connie instead of comforting their younger sister had tried to convince her that it was all her fault. The stress and confusion of home life was causing the normally A student Bonnie to let her grades slide slightly.
She was in no danger whatsoever of failing any classes but her performance was lacking a little and her grades had slipped from A's to B's.
One night Mr. Rockwaller was almost at the edge ready to leave his vain and simpering wife. The woman had no substance at all. She was strictly about appearances and image. She had raised the two older girls in her image perfectly and what was so distressing was the girls were too simple minded to even realize it. Their mother dragged them around as if they were prized show poodles and the girls thought it was love. He couldn't take it anymore. His greatest comfort was that the youngest, his little Bon Bon wasn't completely like her older two sisters yet and he held out hope that she would be different. That she might grow up valuing intelligence over looks and make something of herself.
After yet another heated argument with his wife, Mr. Rockwaller sat down at the table to read the mail. Among the exorbitant bills for clothing and perfume his wife and daughters had racked up were his daughters' report cards. Connie and Lonnie had done well as they normally did but Bonnie's showed a slight slippage. Fearing his youngest was turning into nothing but a vain air head, he rushed up stairs and found Bonnie reading a fashion magazine. Actually she was pretending to read it as to distract herself from the recent fighting she had heard coming from downstairs.
In a fit of anger Mr. Rockwaller had dragged Bonnie from her room to the hallway's linen closet all the time telling her how worthless she was becoming and throwing her into the extremely tight and confined closet he made sure the door was blocked so she couldn't get out. Still in a rage, he then left to get away from the women in his life. Bonnie remained locked in that tight closet for 12 hours as she beat on the door and begged her sisters to let her out. Her sisters had only laughed at her and reminded her that it was ALL just her fault and she was nothing more than trash and she deserved it.
The next day her father finally returned to the house after a night of drinking. Staggering upstairs and finding his daughter inside a closet he couldn't remember putting her in, he figured she was hiding from her sisters and to teach her a lesson on standing up for herself he then spanked her unmercifully for hiding from her problems rather than facing them.
This spurned on another fight between him and his wife, who feared he might start spanking her precious Connie and Lonnie and Mr. Rockwaller finally had enough and left the house to never return. Oh, he made sure he sent money to keep the family going and sent gifts every year at the proper times but Bonnie never saw her father in person again.
All of this ended up leaving Bonnie believing that since she hadn't been 'good' enough that her father had left her. This had inspired Bonnie to never let anyone ever think they were better than she was again. She would be the best! She strove and competed with the shadows of her sisters Lonnie and Connie throughout school and once entering high school she met Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable. Oh, she knew them from before in elementary school but at that time they seemed normal and harmless enough and they and her had little contact with one another. Bonnie had eyed Ron a time or two but only from a distance of course. No, it was when they all entered high school that things started to go downhill. Everything that Bonnie tried to excel at, Kim was there first. Classes? Kim was there. After
school activities? Kim had signed up to chair them before Bonnie could. Cheerleading? Kim was made head cheerleader over her!
Talent shows? Somehow, Kim always managed to get out of those but even in those cases Ron bested Bonnie! Nobody could remember what Bonnie had done for her talent but for weeks after the show, everyone was humming a song about a naked pink mole rat!
The one area Bonnie had over Kim was that Kim was dating a non entity on the school food chain while Bonnie was dating a football quarterback. The absolute highest point a male could get in the food chain and when Bonnie had made a goal of pointing that out to Kim, the bitch stole her man from her just to prove she could! That was the point when Bonnie decided it was time to take something away from Kim.
Ron cared nothing for appearances and was happy being himself, which of course went counter to everything that High School was about but Ron was good natured, kind, compassionate and loyal. Things that Bonnie had craved all her life to receive from a man and Kim had it and didn't even know or value it.
So Bonnie crossed a line. She snuck into Ron's house while he was asleep one night and tying him up she basically raped him. Any other male would have either bragged about it or had turned her in. Instead, Ron had seemed to understand Bonnie on a level no other had before and one day when they were in the hallways alone, he had come close to her and whispered that he forgave her. Bonnie of course acted like she had no idea what he was referring to but still she was grateful that Ron wasn't going to hold what she had done against her.
After graduation, hearing that Kim had dumped Ron and her own lover had left her, Bonnie quietly went to Ron. She didn't try to console him or let him cry on her shoulder but had simply asked if he wanted to have sex with her again. To her surprise, Ron had agreed and Bonnie found out that sex was far more enjoyable when your partner isn't forced into it and was willing. Ron had held and stroked her in a way none of her other lovers had ever done before and Bonnie had come close to thinking they might have made love rather than just sex. But even then, Kim still couldn't let Bonnie win anything and be better than her. Just when Bonnie had been about to throw all her pretensions away and allow Ron to admit to the relationship in public and try to make something more of it, the bitch had come back and taken Ron away from her again!
Bonnie had thrown herself half heartedly into trying to fix her relationship with Senor Senior Junior but he was even more shallow than she was and slowly drifted away from her.
Well no more! Bonnie was done with being weak and losing people she cared about due to her failings. She was going to become strong and she would make her Master accept her and love her damn it! With his help, Bonnie was certain that he could 'improve' her and help her finally become 'good enough'.
Tears were streaming from Bonnie's eyes so strongly she didn't even notice that Chad had returned to check up on her again and caught her crying as she exercised.
"You have strained something haven't you Bonnie?" The man asked her as he reached out and caught the edges of the pads forcing her stop.
Bonnie could only blankly stare at him for a moment before nodding her head and placing a hand on her chest. Oh her chest did hurt but not from anything as simple as a muscle strain. No, she was heart sick for her Master to accept her and correct her behavior and make her his, to make her perfect.
"Should I call for a doctor?" Chad asked concerned.
Bonnie shook her head no. "I'll just take a quick shower and go home. Maybe you are right and I will skip tomorrow's schedule and let my muscles relax for a day?"
"Trust me it is the best way to do it. You'll actually improve faster by taking a day off." Chad replied as he helped her from the machine.
Arriving back at her family home, Bonnie quickly raced up the stairs to her room to keep from running into her mother or her sisters and locked the door. Looking at the full mirror on her closet door she finally got up and walked over to it. Opening the door Bonnie looked around to see if anyone was watching, even though she knew she was alone in her room and the door was locked, before pulling a box from the back of the closet.
Opening the box Bonnie looked in on what she thought of as Stage Two of her plan to attract her Master's attention to her.
Pulling out black leather pants from the box, Bonnie quickly slid out of her street clothes she had worn from the gym and slid the black leather over her lean tanned legs. The black leather pants were custom made for Bonnie from an exclusive boutique she had found and fitted her like a second skin. Instead of shiny leather like most women would have chosen, the black pants were a dull black. Bonnie figured that would be more appropriate for a criminal than shiny pants that might attract attention in the dark. Bonnie then reached into the box and pulled out a pair of black leather boots. The boots had high stiletto heels that while Bonnie admitted to herself were impractical for committing crimes; they still looked so damn hot she couldn't resist getting them. Pulling them over her legs Bonnie walked around a bit trying to master the boots so she would be ready when the time came for her to commit her first crime.
Reaching back into the box Bonnie pulled out a black spandex / tight knit weaved shirt. Everything was in black not just because Bonnie figured that black was a natural color for a criminal to wear but also the fact she noted that Ron had worn black, as well as Shego and that Harley Quinn person. Admittedly, Shego and Quinn had other colors in their costumes. That being green in Shego's case and red in Quinn's but Bonnie decided fashion wise you couldn't go wrong with your basic black and obviously, it was a favorite color of her master to be.
Bonnie looked at the tight shirt in her hand and then glanced at the mirror on the door. The shirt was so tight that if she wore it with a bra it would show up like a sore thumb. Hesitantly Bonnie reached for the clasp on her sports bra and paused a time or two before removing it. Pulling the tight shirt over her
head Bonnie checked her look in the mirror. The shirt clinged and hugged her every curve. Taking a breath Bonnie could feel the material cupping and holding her as she wished her master would do. The shirt also made it blatantly obvious to anyone looking she was not wearing a bra but then again Bonnie was planning on leaving her old life behind to attract her master's attention and she had noticed that Harley certainly hadn't worn a bra either.
Reaching into the box one more time Bonnie pulled the last two items out and held them in her hands as she examined them. One was a stylized black mask that covered the upper portion of her face and eyes. It looked vaguely cat like. The other item was something Bonnie would be mortified if anyone saw her wearing it other than her master. It was a black collar with a brass tag on the side that said Bon Bon and a small gold bell that hung down. After putting on both the collar and the mask Bonnie looked at herself in the mirror.
She still thought the name Catwoman was kind of silly so she had decided to call herself Black Cat, but after reflection, she realized her auburn hair kind of ruined the effect. She had thought briefly about dying her hair a coal black to match the costume but she was unwilling to make that drastic a change to her appearance without her master's consent. Sure, she was working out but she looked at that as just improving what she had, a hair color change would be too much without Ron telling her it was okay.
So finally, Bonnie had decided on the name Shadow Cat for her new criminal career. Her brown hair fitted that name without problems and it was somewhat catchy a name.
As Bonnie slowly turned to admire her look in the mirror, her door to her room suddenly opened to reveal her sister Lonnie standing there staring at her.
"What the hell are you suppose to be?" Lonnie asked her with a sneer. "Finally decided to go with your talents and become a whore?"
"Get the hell out of my room Lonnie." Bonnie answered gritting her teeth together. "How did you get it unlocked anyway?"
"Pff. Me and Connie made a key to your room years ago, in case you ever had anything we wanted. Course you being you, you never did. Now what is up with the getup? You going to a punk rock concert or something? Oh, I know! This is a groupie costume for that air headed boyfriend of yours? What's the name of his band? The Squalling Alley Cats?"
"Whatever." Bonnie stated in a bored tone. "Now get the hell out of my room before I put you out!"
"I would like to see you try." Lonnie said folding her arms across her chest.
As Bonnie started moving in her direction, Lonnie took a good look at Bonnie's arms that were clearly visible underneath the tight long sleeved shirt she was wearing. Lonnie could see the muscles that had developed from her daily visits to the gym and for the first time in her life, Lonnie was a little scared of her younger sister. "Well I can't stand around all day talking to a loser like you." She said as she quickly backed out of Bonnie's bedroom and reshut the door.
"If I knew that was all it took, I would have worked out a long time ago." Bonnie mused to herself in her victory of ridding herself of her sister's presence.
Bonnie returned to looking at herself in her mirror. Caressing her hand over her costume one last time and imagining that it was Ron's hands, Bonnie smiled at her image in the mirror. "Soon I'll be ready my master and we will meet again."
AAAA
With Ron, Shego, Harley and Ivy in Las Vegas:
AAAA
As the main house elevator lowered Ron and his group into the living room, he let out a tired sigh. He was carrying a large black sample case which he sat down on the coffee table in front of a couch and collapsed on to the leather couch. He along with the women was dressed in expensive tailored clothing and had just come back from a day's outing at several of the largest casinos in Vegas.
Ron was still a little reluctant to pull off crimes with Shego, Harley and Ivy for fear of innocents being harmed so he had made a lucky discovery about his Mystical Monkey Powers one day at a casino that Harley had insisted they case for a possible future crime. Ron's mystical monkey powers made the manipulation of dice in Craps games easier than eating a Naco. Ron quickly learned he could make the dice do whatever he wanted them too and ended up earning more money using his skills at the tables than they did at the bank robbery! Of course Ron started by winning small amounts in various casinos at first to keep from being spotted right away by the casino' bosses but even the small amounts was quickly adding up to enough that he would be able to legally buy the house they were in a very short time.
Harley spun in the designer gown she was wearing. It was a shimmery black with tiny red diamonds on it and the skirt was split up to her waist revealing her legs when she moved. Her blond hair was brushed out as Ivy and Shego both pointed out that if she put her hair up in pigtails, the dress was too close to her normal Harlequin costume and made her stand out like a sore thumb. So it was either a different dress, which Harley couldn't bare as she had fallen in love with the black number upon seeing it in a Las Vegas clothing store, or wear her hair in a different style than Global Justice knew her for.
"I just love casinos!" Harley gushed. "The bright lights, the sounds, the smells, everything about them just screams money!"
Ivy crashed tiredly on the couch next to Ron. "I just hate casinos for the same reason. The lights, the sounds, the smells, everything just screams nature destroyed and perverted for animal greed and lusts."
Ron sympathetically patted Ivy on the knee of her emerald green designer dress she was wearing. "I know. These money making trips have been especially hard on you haven't they? I know how you hate to be inside for such long periods of time, under those glaring florescent light bulbs."
Ivy nodded her head. "Uh huh." She said sadly.
"That is why I got you a special gift today." Ron said pulling himself up from where he was sprawled on the couch to reach the case on the table.
"Whatcha get her?" Harley asked curiously and even Shego moved closer to see. Shego over the months had learned to temper her jealousy of the other two women with the knowledge that no matter how much attention or affection Ron showed them, that she was still the only one Ron told he loved her to. Shego had even begun to consider the two extra dimensional criminals as if they were the sisters she never had.
"There was a convention like thing going on in a building a few blocks from the casino we were at today, all about gardening and plants. If you remember while you guys were having lunch, I slipped out? Well I went to the convention thing to see if they might have something to brighten Ivy's day."
Ivy smiled at Ron. "That was nice of you Ron but why didn't you just tell me about the convention? I could have slipped in and stolen a few things for myself."
"You think that might be the reason he didn't tell you?" Shego asked rhetorically.
"I'm not opposed to you guys stealing. I understand that is your nature and I'm not going to try to change you into tea drinking members of the rotary club, but I just don't want you to pull any crimes this close to where we live. I witnessed many times Drakken lose his lairs because he pulled crimes too close to where he was staying at and got found." Ron smiled at Ivy. "And besides, I wanted to surprise you with something nice for all the time you've put in those closed in casinos with us."
Ron clicked the catches on the case and lifting the top off he revealed a tray containing a dozen or so plants.
Ivy's smile of appreciation was like a fine wine to him but he noticed her frown slightly before she lightly giggled. "Ron?" She asked. "What kind of plants did you tell the man at this convention you wanted?"
Ron shrugged. Even staying with an herbalist plant expert like Ivy he still knew very little about plants. I just told him I wanted whatever exotic plants he had. Why what did I get?"
Ivy pointed a finger at a very recognizable Venus Flytrap and as the plant closed its tiny 'mouth' on her finger she giggled again and cooed at the plant. "Awww baby is hungry? I'll feed you some of my special plant food later and you will grow big and strong." To Ron she said. "Surely you recognize this little one?"
Ron frowned. "Um, Venus Flytrap, right?"
Ivy nodded her head. And these she said as she pointed out some of the rest of the plants in the tray. "Blooming Nightshade, Poison Hemlock, and this one is a close relative of nightshade and is known as Belladonna." Ivy pointed at a plant that had compound leaves with three leaflets, small green flowers, and tiny whitish berries. "My namesake, Poison Ivy. In fact, Ron you have bought a variety of very toxic
and poisonous plants." Ivy laughed. "When you told the man you were looking for exotic plants he must have thought you were looking for something to bump someone off and sold you every dangerous plant he had."
Ron's face fell into a frown. "I'm sorry I thought I was doing something right." He said as he reached out to take the tray from Ivy.
"Don't you dare take these back! I love them! They'll have a place of honor in my greenhouse!" Ivy said as she pulled the tray to her chest and practically cuddled the plants.
"What about me?" Harley asked plaintively. "Don't I rate a gift?"
"I saved you today from that banker from Dallas didn't I?" Ron asked raising an eyebrow.
"Huh? Oh you mean baldy?" Harley asked after a moment's thought. "I could have broken his arm when he groped me. You didn't have to pick him up and practically throw him through that slot machine."
"Ron man has to protect his ladies doesn't he?" Ron asked with a grin.
"Are we your ladies?" Harley asked fluttering her eyelashes at him.
"Oh quit it Harley, you know you are. For as long as you want to be." Ron replied.
Ivy got up from the couch. "Well I need to put these little ones to bed." She said gesturing at the tray of plants in her hand. "Want to help me Harley?"
Harley made a slight face before replying. "No, I'm going to go watch my favorite cartoon. It is just starting." So saying she ran out of the room in the direction of the media theater room of the house. Ivy just shrugged and headed over to the greenhouse elevator to take care of her plants.
"The Ron man's ladies?" Shego asked as she settled on the couch next to Ron. Ron lifted his arm and Shego quickly scouted over to make herself comfortable at his side. "So Ron man, how does it feel to have a harem?" She asked.
"Harem? With those two I feel more like a parent watching over their kids most of the time." Ron replied with a chuckle.
"You better not think of them as our kids with the things we have done with them." Shego chuckled herself. "I mean that would be wrong if they were our kids."
Ron thought for a moment before screwing his face into a grimace. "Yeah, that's true. Wrong and sick. Okay so they are not like our kids. What would you compare them too?"
"Exotic and dangerous wild animals that we are keeping leashed." Shego answered immediately.
Ron thought for a moment. "So instead of incest you want to imagine we are committing bestiality?"
Shego gave a snort of laughter before softening her eyes to stare at Ron's profile. "You can always make me laugh, you know that?"
"At least I'm good for something." Ron replied with a grin.
"When it comes to you Ron, you are good for everything for me." Shego replied and taking a hand, she pulled his head down to hers and kissed him deeply.
Ron put the finishing touches on dinner, slid it back into the oven to keep it warm, and started searching out the rest of his 'family' to let them know it was ready. Ron knew Shego was relaxing in her room after their intense impromptu make out session that afternoon on the couch so he decided to leave her for last. Sticking his head into the media room, he yelled to be heard over the blaring TV and let Harley know that dinner was ready. So that only left Ivy to fetch and Ron knew she still in her greenhouses working with her plants. Ivy was always in her greenhouses working with her plants when they were 'home'.
Ron even after three months found it odd to think of what was basically an underground lair as home but he didn't fight the feeling. This was now his home, the three women with him were 'family', and he would fight tooth and nail to protect either.
Taking the greenhouse elevator Ron wondered what he would see when it stopped. The greenhouses were the exclusive providence of Poison Ivy and as such only Harley went to them on a regular basis. Usually Ron would just send Harley to get Ivy but he knew when Harley was watching cartoons it was just easier to do it yourself than to rely on her.
As the elevator rose through its rocky tube, Ron looked upwards. The elevator just like the main house elevator was an open one, only smaller than the main house elevator. Just a round platform with a protective brass railing around it to make sure the riders didn't somehow fall off of it. A single pneumatic piston lifted the platform and the elevator would end in the center of the first greenhouse. As the ride ended, Ron found himself in a type of gazebo like structure that was formed by four large shrubs that rose around the opening of the elevator shaft to converge above the opening forming a 'roof' made of plants. It was very artistic and once again, Ron marveled at Ivy's ability to get plants to form almost anything she wanted.
Opening the railing, Ron made to leave the elevator but was stopped as a vine dropped down from the shrubbery gazebo's roof. The vine wrapped around Ron's waist and pulling him upwards Ron suddenly found himself facing a giant flower coming out of the shrubbery ceiling that looked like a giant mutant tulip.
Gulping with visions of Little Shop of Horrors in his mind, Ron braced himself as the flower quickly came down; Ron prepared to have himself eaten by a plant. To his shock, the flower just pressed its petals to the side of his face as if giving him a petal soft kiss.
"Awww she likes you." Ron heard Ivy comment.
Turning his head he managed to see Ivy, now dressed in her normal costume was standing near the elevator watching in amusement as her plant continued to rain kisses upon Ron's face.
"What the heck is this?" Ron asked as the plant switched to the other side of his face and continued to kiss him.
"They are my guardian plants. I always plant them around entrances to whatever greenhouse or gardens I manage to set up. Anyone that has my scent on them, they allow entrance with no problems but let someone I don't know enter my garden and …. Well let's just say they are not so friendly."
"I must be drenched in your scent then." Ron managed to say before the tulip flower switched to his other side again and continued to kiss him.
"What can I say? My plants have good taste." Ivy smiled and admired Ron's body that was being held by her plants. "Just like I do."
Ron could see the elevator below him was starting to sink back down and was suddenly afraid the plant holding him might accidentally drop him down the shaft. "Would be a most embarrassing way to die." Ron thought to himself. "Killed by a butterfingered amorous plant dropping me down an elevator shaft in my own home."
"Okay baby put him down." Ivy ordered the plant.
The tulips pressed one last time against the side of Ron's face as the plant slowly lowered Ron and sat him down gently outside the elevator shaft.
Ron sent a wary look back at the plants covering the entrance hole to the elevator but they were once again doing their imitation of a perfectly innocent looking shrubbery, the mutant tulip face no longer visible, as it had pulled back into the mass of leaves of the gazebo's ceiling. "I just came up to get you for dinner." Ron told Ivy.
"Is it that late already?" Ivy asked looking up at the glass ceiling of the greenhouse. Darkness with a few visible stars in the sky showed that indeed the sun had gone down and the automatic lights of the greenhouse had come on. "I lose track of the time when I am with my babies." Ivy said gesturing at the raised plant beds of the greenhouse.
Ron took the opportunity to look around. He had never really bothered since moving into the underground house to come up to Ivy's greenhouse before. Everywhere he looked there was green and a profusion of flowering plants. He had to admit it did look like some tropical Eden and he could understand why Ivy liked to be there so much.
"Let me show you around." Ivy said grasping Ron by his arm.
Ron thought about telling her no, that dinner was going to get cold but he had left everything in the turned off ovens so the food wouldn't cool off too quickly and Ron had to admit he had never seen Ivy looking so alive as she was at this moment surrounded by her beloved plants. Her skin still had a pronounced green tint from working with the plants in the sunlight that had been pouring in from the windows above, the setting sun having not gone down that long ago and she was stunning looking.
Ron allowed himself to be pulled along as Ivy pointed out plants and told him their scientific names. Hearing the elevator rising behind them both Ivy and Ron turned around to watch as Harley rose up from the hole in the floor, she was still wearing the little black dress she had on when they had been in town.
"Hey guys whatcha doing?" Harley had just enough time to ask before a vine dropped down and wrapped around her waist and pulled her upwards as Ron had been done not too long ago.
"Aww come on. Do we have to go through this every time I come up here?" Harley asked but good naturedly as the tulip lowered to smother her with kisses.
"Whoa! Watch the hands! Er, I mean vines!" Harley suddenly shouted out as one of the vines creped along her bared leg from the slit in her dress and started caressing upwards under it. "Ivy!" Harley shouted. "Call off your plant! I am beginning to feel like one of those heroines in a Japanese hentai movie! I don't want this thing trying to 'pollinate' me!"
Ivy giggled as she walked over to her plant and placed a hand on the shrubbery. "Let her down baby."
Harley as she was placed gently on to the ground blew some of her blond hair out of her eyes. "You know it is not always easy having a plant genius for a girlfriend." She said to Ron. Harley's eyes grew wide as the plant as it released her let one of its vines snap her on the butt.
Ivy hid her smile behind a hand as Harley rubbed her butt as she walked away from the entrance to the elevator.
"So again, whatcha doing?" Harley asked as she looked around.
"I came up here to get Ivy for dinner. I already told you it was ready, remember?" Ron told her.
"Oh yeah. I remember you sticking your head into the TV room but I didn't hear what you said. That is why I came looking for you."
Ron rolled her eyes slightly. Sure, he had been known for getting engrossed in a few TV shows in his day but nothing like how Harley could be hypnotized by a few simple cartoons. The woman truly did have a child like sense about her sometimes.
"Well let's go get Blackie and chow down. I'm hungry." Harley said, using her nickname for Shego.
As the three turned to head toward the elevator they all noticed that it had silently went back down again, signaling that someone below had summoned it again and since the only ones that were missing
was Rufus and Shego, they waited to see who it would be to come up. As the elevator silently rose and clicked into place, they could see it was both Shego and Rufus. Rufus was riding on Shego's shoulder and Shego was looking a little annoyed.
"I get up from my nap and find everyone gone." Shego managed to say before the vines from the gazebo started to descend. Rufus let out a terrified eep and leaping down he dodged a vine heading for him and ran over to Ron for protection.
As the mutant tulip descended, Shego glanced up at it and flared her hands with her plasma powers. "Don't even think about it." She told the plant in no nonsense terms.
The tulip face drooped and then hung its head down dejectedly.
Shego watched it for a moment and then put the fire dancing around her hands out. "Oh all right if you are going to pout about it, but just this once." She finally said to the plant.
The tulip raised its head eagerly and wrapping vines around Shego's waist pulled her up to it and planted a big kiss right on Shego's mouth. As the tulip moved away from her Shego made pituhing sounds. "I just got 'frenched' by a flower." She said in wonder.
"How did you know that was what it was going to do?" Ron asked as he, Ivy and Harley walked over to the elevator.
"I didn't know." Shego replied. "I just figured it meant me no harm since I trust Ivy not to sic her plants on me. I had no idea the damn thing was going to want to go 'steady' and make out." Shego gave a slight jump as the plant as it let go of her allowed one of its vines to caress her bottom.
Ivy hid a grin behind a raised hand.
Another of the guardian plants vines descended as Ron neared and the vine headed in Rufus's direction. Rufus gave another eep and ducked behind Ron's head. Peeking out the naked mole rat finally returned to Ron's shoulder and sniffed at the vine as it hovered. Finally, the mole rat held out a tiny paw and the tip of the vine lowered to allow the mole rat to shake it but as soon as Rufus let go, the plant vine darted forward and wrapping around the mole rat and pulled it up towards the tulip part. Several loud smooching sounds later the vine returned Rufus to Ron's shoulder.
"Yuck. Pttuing." Rufus grumbled.
This time Ivy didn't even try to stop the light laugh that came.
"Our little buddy finally gets to see some action and it came from a plant." Harley joked.
Rufus shot her a glare and then holding his head up high he turned on Ron's shoulder so his back was to her.
"Ah, don't be that way. I was just joking." Harley immediately apologized but Rufus wouldn't look at her and turned when she walked around Ron to try and get him to face her. "Look you can have my portion of whatever has cheese on it tonight. Okay?"
Rufus seemed to consider for a moment and then nodded his head and turned to look back at her with a thumbs up gesture.
"That reminds me Ronnie." Harley stated. "What are we having tonight?"
"Vegetarian enchiladas and nacos with extra cheese. Real cheese for us and for Ivy a plant cheese substitute."
"What?! That's not fair! I have to give mine to Rufus?" Harley exclaimed. "You know how much I love your Mexican food!"
Ron laughed. "Don't panic. I have enough to feed a small army. Even with Rufus's and your appetites."
Ron reached for the railing on the elevator to open it so they could all go down but hesitated.
"Did you hear that?" He asked the others.
Shego frowned, while Harley and Ivy just cocked their heads listening.
There it was again, a slight thumping noise and as the group listened, they thought they could hear a groan with it as well.
They all looked to Ivy. "It's not one of my plants, I haven't bred any of them with vocal cords yet and the only plant that has movement capabilities right now is the guardian plants." They all then glanced at the plants that made up the gazebo but there wasn't a rustle from them since the mutant tulip had pulled back up after kissing Rufus.
"The place is haunted?!" Harley asked turning to look all around her.
"It is not haunted." Shego said rolling her eyes at Harley. Another very low groan though had Shego peering at the silent greenhouse herself. She glanced over at Ron to see him staring up at the distant glass ceiling of the greenhouse.
"Can you turn off the lights in here for a moment?" He asked Ivy.
"Sure." Ivy clapped her hands together twice and the lights in the greenhouse shut off plunging them all into darkness. The only light was that now coming from the stars above them.
Shego could make out their dark forms in the gloom of the greenhouse and could see Ron point up at the ceiling. "There!" He said pointing. Looking, Shego could just make out a distant darker vaguely man shaped like shadow against the night sky on top of the glass ceiling of the greenhouse on the outside.
Ron clapped his hands twice turning the lights back on and with his eyes glowing slightly blue he ran for a distant wall. Reaching it, he started to swing and leap as if he were a monkey among the exposed girders of the greenhouse structure heading up towards the window where the dark shadow outside had been.
A moment later Ivy, Harley and Shego reached the wall.
Ivy pulled out a round seed from a pouch on her costume and tossing it into a flower bed near the wall she said. "Grow." A mighty vine burst from the flower bed and leaping up on to it, Ivy sat side saddle on it and began to rapidly rise upwards.
Harley with a forward flip landed on one of the girders Ron had used earlier and began climbing and jumping trying to catch up with him and Ivy. While she lacked the simian grace Ron was showing, her gymnastic skills were still a sight to behold as she twisted and leapt. Shego started to follow her but heard Ron yell down to her to stay where she was in case Ron were to drop their intruder she could catch him.
Reaching the glass windows of the greenhouse ceiling Ron found they were held closed by a set of small screws. He was just about to just punch his fist through the glass when a glowing blue eyed Rufus who had ridden on Ron's shoulder ran up the arm Ron was using to hold on to a girder near the glass. Reaching out Rufus quickly undid the screws freeing the glass pane up. Ron then using his mystical monkey enhanced muscles pulled one handed upwards and with his free hand gently slid the glass to the side. Reaching out Ron felt around till he was able to feel a piece of the man's clothing, grabbing a hold of the man lying on top of the greenhouse windows unconscious, Ron pulled him inside. Now supporting the unidentified man's dead weight with one hand while his other hand clenched the girder, Ron waited with eyes now glowing a fiery electric blue as Rufus leapt out of the greenhouse and pulled the free glass window back into place and working quickly re-secured it, before running back to his place on Ron's shoulder.
Ron wondered for a moment how he was going to make it safely back down to the greenhouse floor with the man with just the use of one arm, the distance was far too great to simply just let the man fall for Shego to catch. Shego was strong but there was no way Ron was going to drop something on her from that height, not to mention all the jerking that would happen probably wouldn't be in the guy's best interest either. But he was saved from having to try it when Ivy rose up on her vine to meet him. The end of the vine she was riding reached out and carefully wrapping around the unconscious man's waist and took the weight from Ron. Not that the man was all that heavy. Ron tried to take a good look at their mystery guest as the plant took him from him but the man's clothing was nothing more that dirty shreds that looked like they covered a sack of bones, the man's jacket was pulled up over his face hiding it, no doubt to protect him from the searing hot sun that had recently set and all in all Ron got the impression the poor soul had been lost and wandering in the desert for maybe days. Which was really odd since Las Vegas itself was not that far away and easily found by the bright lights it gave off during the night.
As Ivy's vine began to slowly descend, Ron started swinging and springing his way down the girders again, stopping along the way to scoop up Harley, who had only managed to reach the half way point and carry her with one arm as he finished a last swing of a girder and landed lightly next to Shego.
"You Tarzan, me Jane?" Harley asked as Ron set her up on her feet after landing.
As Ivy's plant vine reached the ground level, it unfurled dropping the unconscious man into Shego's arms. Carefully laying the man on the floor Shego pulled open the strangely familiar closed jacket revealing the man's face.
A blue skinned face with angry purple splotches across it and a face so swelled in places that Shego hardly recognized him.
"Drakken?" Shego gasped in shock.