Oh, and I own squat, whatsoever. Even these early chapters are not mine. Disney owns the characters, Scoutcraft Piratess owns the story concept, I'm just posting and playing with them. The early chapters will just be tweaked for some minor mistakes from the original (for some reason, the apostrophes and quotations got doubled in the copy she sent me).

VRWC has done it again, with a nice light Ron/Bon that's heavy on the fluff entitled The Rooftop by Moonlight. Be sure to check it out! Heck, it's just plain sweet, so you K/R fanatics shouldn't be scared to check it out (I'm talking to you MrDrP and Argy).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Ronless Factor – Chapter 21

The magazine hit the tabletop with an audible smack, as Shego leapt to her feet. "What the hell do you mean the fun has begun?"

Drakken just cackled softly. "It means Kim Possible has found our duplicates in prison, and will be looking for us."

Shego just looked incredulously at her employer. "And you're happy about that? You do know that means she's probably figured out that we are behind Cory and his little hit and run. That doesn't bother you at all?"

"The only thing that bothers me is that the fool failed to finish the job by killing that little bitch like he did the buffoon!"

Shego jaw dropped, but she had no words to what Drakken had said. Never before had he been that… vulgar and bloodthirsty, not in all the time that she had known him. But ever since they had escaped prison a few short weeks ago, he had been showing signs that maybe he wasn't all there. His hiring of Cory had been a huge shocker to her. Sure, she wanted to kill Kim Possible herself, but the way he did it just seemed so… impersonal. She wanted to end Kim Possible herself, with her own two hands, or at least in some fashion that she designed herself that allowed her to witness the teen's demise. But paying someone to run her down, and then to attack her stupidly in a restaurant, with witnesses no less, no, that wasn't her style at all, and until a few weeks ago, she never would have thought it to be Drakken's either.

Shego could see that he was on the edge, and the way he had been acting, she didn't want his anger sent her way. She decided that flattery wouldn't hurt in this situation. "Don't worry Doc, we'll take care of her for good, just like you want. I still think it would have been better to just attack her ourselves, rather than hire…"

"I wanted her dead! I wanted her and that buffoon DEAD! Do you understand Shego? She has embarrassed me for the last time!"

"I understand Doc. After all, she did kick me into that bloody tower. I think I want payback just as much as you."

"I want the bitch to suffer!"

"Don't worry Doc, we'll get her this time."

"We damn well better!" Drakken's fist slammed into the table, spilling some papers to the floor. Shego winced slightly, as he took a moment to compose himself. "I apologize for the outburst, I just hate when a simple plan does not come to fruition. Still, it does not matter. As you say, she will be dealt with, especially now that her distraction is no longer around to bother us. Of course, we don't want to be here when we let her techno geek find us. I've already arranged a suitable site for our next stage in destroying Kim Possible."

"Are you finally going to tell me this great plan of yours? I mean, you've kept me in the dark this whole time about what you're planning. I'm kinda curious, especially after how close we came last time."

Drakken smiled, and Shego was happy to see his disjointed manner had settled, however briefly. "Yes, we did come close, until those two… anyways, I see no harm in you seeing, now that your skills will once more be needed. You see Shego, I have simply taken the next logical step in a project I began a few months ago. While the first part went flawlessly, and I had thought we had left our young Kimberly Ann broken and beaten, that wasn't quite the case though. All because of that buffoon Ron Stoppable, and his pain over the changes to his beloved Bueno Nacho. Of course, that is something I should have foreseen. No matter though, because I know the flaw involved last time. I was too involved. Delegating, working behind the scenes, that is the key!"

Shego just nodded, not quite knowing where he was going with this. "So… you're not looking to control the world? I mean, that's a pretty visible job, isn't it?"

"Not if you whisper in the right ears." Drakken was leading her down a hallway now, and they paused briefly at a door. Shego had seen it some time ago, but never really paid it much attention. Now she was curious.

Once the door swung open, Drakken continued his rant. "But it's not just enough to whisper in those ears, not if you want power. Sure, that's how countries are run, with backroom deals and leverage of the right people. No, you have to take it one step further. You have to control those in command. If you control the right people, at the right times, you can control the world!"

Drakken's laugh was irritating, but Shego was too absorbed in what he was saying. "You know, that idea just might work. But how do you get control of that many people. I mean blackmail will only get you so far."

Drakken chuckled, pausing at a random door down the hallway. "You still don't understand, do you Shego. My plan is far grander than simple blackmail." He swung the door open with much ceremony, a sanctimonious grin splitting his face. "I've just acquired a key piece to my plan, one that I believe you are familiar with."

Shego's eyes went wide as she scanned the room. She wanted to say something, anything, but she was speechless. Amazement was the only word she could think of to describe it. "My God…"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kim was already on her feet, storming out the door shouting orders, even as the first guards came pouring in. "How did you allow something so sloppy as synthodrones infiltrating this prison? Why weren't both of them fully checked…"

Kim's voice trailed off as she barreled down the hallway, her voice continuing to echo, though no longer all that audibly. Ron knelt down, looking at Bonnie with concern. "Bonnie, are you all right?"

"NO, I AM NOT ALL RIGHT! I am sitting on the floor of a prison, dragged here because Kim wanted a little together time with you, and now my outfit is completely ruined, and I have no change of clothes, and I'm going to get this stupid green slime all over the seats of my car and it IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

Every single person in the room stood frozen as they stared at Bonnie with a mixture of concern and sympathy. Finally, one of the male guards, obviously single and not very bright, bent down towards her. "Umm… miss… how is this our fault?"

Bonnie's head turned so quickly to glare at the big lug, that Ron thought she had to have at least hurt herself with the move. Her eyes blazed with rage, and her expression was such that the obviously intellect challenged guard fell back quickly and scrambled away. "I was not talking to you."

Bonnie tried standing, pushing herself up with her hands. She was almost to her feet when her left foot caught a piece of synthoskin on the floor. That, combined with the plentiful amount of synthogoo on the floor, sent Bonnie falling back onto her butt, where she yelled in frustration.

She turned back to the guards, watching her with great concern. "Can one of you help me out here?"

Two of the guards moved to help her. Ron trailed behind, wondering what he could actually say to her if she was so upset that she didn't mind looking completely crazy in front of these guards. Bonnie was always very careful with how she appeared; the only time he had ever seen her lose it was at Bueno Nacho, after Felix had gone ballistic with the hot sauce on Bonnie's shirt. Now, she blamed him, and probably Kim, for today's events.

"Bonnie, I am so…"

"Shut it Ron, I'm not talking to you right now."

The guards looked at her quizzically, but had the presence of mind to keep their mouths shut. Once she was out of the goop, she made her way to the door, trying to brush as much of the stuff off of her as she could.

Kim was coming back with the warden now, both of them looking very miffed. "I'm telling you Miss Possible, we gave both of them a very thorough physical. I can say for a fact that Shego was not a synthodrone when she came here, she was still bleeding profusely from the forehead when she arrived here not an hour after your capture of her."

"Then they must have made the switch at some point while they were here." Kim ignored the goop that was dripping from her, all her attention focused on getting answers. "The question now is how they managed to pull that off without anyone noticing with twenty-four hour surveillance."

"Don't worry Miss Possible, we'll get to the bottom of this. We will have to ask you and your partner to stick around for a little bit, just to answer some questions."

"That's fine, we'll…"

"No, that is not fine!"

Both Kim and the warden seemed to notice Bonnie now, and could easily see how angry she was. "Bonnie, we…"

"No, I am sick of this! I offered to help, and that did not include getting splattered with goop, thrown across a room, and having my outfit ruined. Now I'm going to lose the entire day, I'm going to smell of this stuff for days, and I have nothing to wear."

The warden nodded understandingly. "We can provide you with a shower and a new change of clothes."

Bonnie just raised an eyebrow at him, looking at him as if he was the craziest person on the planet. "Do you honestly expect me to wear something from this place? Maybe Kim can get away with wearing something so tacky, but I have standards!"

Kim reached for Bonnie, but she pulled away. "Look Bonnie, just let me…"

"NO. Look, let's just get these questions over with, so I can go home. I'm sick and tired of dealing with this, and I just want to soak in a hot bath for the rest of the weekend."

With one last small shriek, she shook her arms, sending synthogoo flying, before following a couple of the guards that motioned for her to follow them. Kim looked on troubled, realizing that maybe she had taken too much advantage of Bonnie, and her sincere offer of help. She pulled out the Kimmunicator again, signaling Wade. "Hey Wade, I want you to run all the footage, find out where Drakken and Shego might have been able to make a switch. They had to have done it at some point while they were in here, most likely in the first few days, considering Cory struck only a week after the Diablo incident." Kim paused, glancing back at the retreating form of Bonnie. "Also… do you think we could call in a favour?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ron smiled as he glanced at the package in Kim's hand. Wade was a master, that was all he had to say. Given thirty minutes, and he managed to come through. Even he couldn't believe how fast Wade had come through on this one.

Kim paused to briefly chat with the guard, thanking him for getting this to them so quickly, and Ron decided to go ahead and find Bonnie. It wasn't hard, not with the directions Kim had gotten.

He passed through the door, smiling broadly. "Hey BonBon, we have a bit of a surprise for… you…"

Bonnie spun quickly, grabbing the towel quickly to shield herself. "STOPPABLE! What the hell are you doing in here?"

Ron jaw dropped quickly, his eyes wide, before he turned and spun, covering his eyes. He had caught more than an eyeful, and this was going to do nothing to get back onto Bonnie's good side. "I am so SO sorry Bonnie. There was nothing on the door and I just thought this was a waiting room and the guard hadn't said anything to Kim about this being a change room and I really didn't mean to see anything, not that you don't look good and I wouldn't want to see but I wouldn't because I love Kim and I really didn't mean to just walk in here and see you naked and… and… I am REALLY sorry!"

"Why are you still here Stoppable? Are you still looking?"

"No Bonnie, I'm not. I mean, I was, but I turned quickly, so I didn't really see a lot… I mean, I didn't see anything… I mean… I mean…"

As if to make the situation even more awkward, Kim took that moment to come in, smiling brightly, package tucked under one arm. She was freshly dressed, having grabbed a quick shower earlier. "Hey Bonnie, what… are you all right?"

Bonnie just glared, shifting her grip on the towel. "You're pervert boyfriend just walked in here while I was changing, and now he won't shut up long enough to get out of here."

Kim's eyes widened, and she glanced around the room. "Ron, you did not just walk in here without knocking, did you? Didn't you know that this was the women's staff change room?"

Ron was now shaking his head back and forth, really wishing that Kim could hear him now. "Bonnie, please tell her it was an accident. Please? There really wasn't a sign on the door."

Bonnie sank down onto the bench, one hand pressing on her forehead. "You know, I just can't deal with this right now. I've tried to be good about this, I wanted to help, but I don't think I deserve all this. This… this is just too much."

Kim bit her bottom lip, seeing the somewhat defeated look on Bonnie's face. She moved across the room, but Bonnie didn't even look up at her. She settled herself on the bench near Bonnie, and Kim winced as she saw the first sign of tears appear in the brunette's eyes. "Bonnie, I am really sorry about what happened, both today and how I acted before that. You're right, you don't deserve all this trouble, you didn't ask for it. You've gone out of your way to help both me and Ron, and I can't tell you how much both of us appreciate it."

"That's right Bonnie, we both…"

"RON, WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE? GET OUT!"

Kim glanced over to where Bonnie was looking. "Ron, could you please?"

Ron nodded quickly, not even glancing back. "Sure, I'll… I'll be outside."

Kim waited a few moments, hoping that Ron would get the message, which was hard to determine when she could neither see or hear him. But Bonnie seemed to relax a few moments later, so she took that as her cue to continue. "Anyways, we do appreciate it. I know that you've been putting up with a lot. I don't think you'll ever know just how much it means to me personally though."

"Yeah, yeah, you've said this already."

Kim looked down at the floor, really hoping Ron was no longer there and not just being quiet. "I don't think you really understand just how much though. I never told anyone this, but… but when Ron first died, I… I actually considered joining him."

Now she had Bonnie's undivided attention, as the brunette's head shot up, her eyes wide. "Kim, you…"

"I wouldn't have done it," Kim cut her off quickly, needing to get this out, "but I considered it. When I first got the news… but I knew what that would do to my family, and I really didn't want to die anyways. That still didn't stop the thought. Without Ron, I just felt lost, like I didn't know what to do anymore. I felt like I was just going through the motions. When you came to me… when I really knew that Ron was there, even after death, watching out for me, it was like I got my life back." Kim looked over, meeting Bonnie's eyes. "That's why I can't stop saying thank you, and why I'm sorry for taking advantage of you like I have today. Because you gave me a piece of my life back, and I can never do enough to repay that."

Bonnie brushed a tear away quickly, giving a slight smirk. "We're not going to have to hug now, are we?"

Kim gave a short laugh. "No, I think we can do without that. Anyways, besides saying all that, I really wanted to give you this."

Bonnie took the package, a simply wrapped box. She gave it a quick shake, glancing back up at Kim. "What is this?"

"Just open it."

Bonnie ripped the paper off, then lifted the top of the box off. Putting the box down on the bench, she slowly lifted out the garment. Her gaze shifting between Kim and the garment, she finally settled on looking at Kim. "Umm… what is this?"

"It's the latest fashion from Elsa Kleeg. She's not announcing it until tomorrow, so you've got it a whole day early. I thought you might enjoy going for something to eat to show it off when we get out of here. You know, establish yourself as a trend setter."

A faint smirk crossed Bonnie's face, as she looked at the bizarre outfit in a new light. She glanced up wryly at Kim. "You know this doesn't make up for trashing my outfit… but it comes close."

"So… are we good?"

Bonnie sighed dramatically. "I guess so, for now anyways." Her eyes traveled back to the outfit, shaking her head. "Well, at least it's better then Pink Poof."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Notes - Sorry about the minor delay on this chapter. A convention is coming up this weekend, and I unexpectedly managed to snag a table. Had to spend the last few days prepping a number of boxes of comics for sale. Hard to say no to a chance to make a couple thousand in just a couple of days. Anyways, the story will slow briefly, just to get back to a bit of character development, and some promised fun, before things get nasty.