It was a difficult question. On the one hand, you did like Tara. Not really as much as she apparently liked you, but enough to want to give things with her a shot. Mankey seemed okay with the idea when he gave you that option, and that was really cool of him. It would be a good way to put yourself out there, to get some actual experience with the ladies, as it were. Heck, if things didn't work out then it wouldn't be the end of the world. Still...
The more you thought about it, the less you thought it was a good idea. Tara was awesome. That was indisputable. The problem was... you had about a million things you needed to be doing. Training, networking, organizing, Monster Combat Missions, KP Missions, even schoolwork was taking up a fair amount of your time lately. Adding dating on top of everything else? That did not sound like a smart move. In fact, it seemed like the kind of move that would get Mister B yelling at you again. 'Stoppable!' He'd yell, 'get what you've got under control before you add even more on top of it! Do you want to get your friends and teammates injured or worse!?'
That was another thing! You actually had friends now, besides Kim! That had never happened before! Argghhh! You stopped thinking, and took a deep breath.
Ultimately, the question was 'do I want to date Tara?' You shoved everything else in your head away, pros, cons, positives and negatives. Did you want to date Tara? The answer... was no. You liked her. Heck, you liked her a lot! She was a great friend, an awesome teammate, and an all around good person. You just... didn't want to date her. Huh. One of the prettiest girls in school was interested in you and you just... didn't reciprocate. Not the way she wanted. Weird. Another confusing issue for the growing pile of weird and new strangeness that had engulfed your life.
You sighed deeply and looked Josh dead in the eye.
"No," you said," I think Tara and I are better off as friends. I'll tell her that, and clear things up. Thanks for telling me, Josh."
Josh looked at you seriously, "No problem Ron. You're not the kinda guy to lead someone on, so I thought you deserved a heads up. I'll see you at school." He nodded to you, all cool style and headed off towards the nearest parking lot.
You stood there in the band shell as the sun finished setting, at a bit of a loss. A thousand different thoughts went through your head, regrets, could have beens, and more than a little frustration. Finally though, as the park's lights came on around you, you got yourself under control again. This week sure wasn't pulling any punches!
You headed back to your bike, and drove home slowly and carefully. The ride was just as smooth as you remembered it, but it wasn't the same. You weren't man and machine attaining oneness with the road, you were just a guy on a cool motorcycle headed home after an emotionally exhausting evening.
xXx
Friday started off way better than you'd expected it, especially since you'd thought it'd take longer to fall asleep after an evening like that.
Well, the comfort naco you bought probably helped, especially since Ned gave you a bit of extra cheese, just for his biggest customer. Your morning routine was totally normal- eating a hearty breakfast of samurai skillets made by Mom, getting your clothes on, brushing your teeth and getting ready to leave.
Of course, walking to the driveway instead of the sidewalk was a change. As was putting on the black and gold leather suit Señor Senior Senior dropped by when he heard about your recent purchase. The helmet itself was an addition of Nico's. The man said that if you wanted to ride the thing, you might as well make sure you didn't die on the first go. After that, you went through the motions to start the machine, feeling the purr of the engine below you as you got ready to ride. After a few steps, you were off of the driveway pavement, and ready to go. With a metallic howl, you shot forward towards the school. You skirted the speed limit, too lost in the humming vibrations of the road to really care about petty limitations. As the High School approached, the nearby traffic increased. You took that as a sort of challenge, bobbing and weaving around the cars of student and faculty alike, revving a little as you took the right turn into the school's parking lot. You blasted into the silent place, finishing your little stunt with a sharp turn into the parking slot right next to you.
As the engine died down, you could hear the faint whispers of your classmates around you. Popping the kickstand, you surveyed the various faces that had gathered around your beast. Brick and Junior were smiling, but not surprised. Señor Senior Senior must have given them a head's up or something. Everyone else was talking about your entrance, though. Which was awesome, because that meant it probably went exactly as you'd thought it would when you were daydreaming during breakfast. Slowly, the crowd parted to let a single man approach.
"'Sup, Ron." Mankey had his hand out, and you took it without hesitation before going in for an awesome bro-hug that he reciprocated. All around you, a sharp intake of breath was heard. Apparently, even though you were something approaching cool now, it was still pretty common to think of you as a dork. The few times you'd totally wiped out last week probably hadn't helped, in retrospect.
You shrugged, locked up your bike, slipped your helmet off your head and onto your backpack. Once you were sure it was firmly in place, and that you totally hadn't spaced taking the key out, headed into the school. Brick and Junior followed along, and the rest of the students just sort of came in after them. It would have been kinda creepy if you weren't totally sure it was because they were blown away by the Ronshine.
Today was going to be a great day.
XxX
The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and Kim Possible was not a happy camper. She stood outside the front door of Middleton High School waiting, and she frowned, lost in thought. The last week had been like something concocted by a medieval torturer! Sure, she'd thought that the idea of DRAKKEN of all people influencing anyone was a Bad Thing, but she'd had no idea what spending time with him in a non-thwarting capacity was like! Kim shuddered. After the last few days she had a lot more respect for Shego than she ever thought she would.
He never stopped talking. Ever. Kim had thought his monologuing was bad enough when he was actively trying to take over the world, but when he was trying to teach someone it was a thousand times worse! To add insult to injury, Drakken's bizarre attempts at mentoring had eaten up all of Kim's non-Mission and non-School time. On the plus side, she was giving Ron that space she thought he needed. On the minus side, she'd seen almost nothing of him for the last week!
They passed in the halls, hung out between classes, and talked when they could, but that was way less interaction than they usually had. He hadn't even been able to tell her anything about what Shego was doing to him! She knew that witch was up to something! She just wished she'd gotten to Shego before Ron had jumped on the grenade. It was sweet of him. Stupid, but sweet. Who knew what crazy stuff he'd had to do with Shego as a career week mentor!
As Kim walked to her locker, she did her best not to let her internal discomfort show. Unfortunately, she ran into Monique, who immediately noticed something was off.
"Alright girl," Monique said, "Lay it on me. What's got you trippin'?"
"What, no," Kim tried to deflect, "I'm fine Monique, nothing's wrong."
"Uh huh," Monique drawled, "Nothing's wrong? Everything's fine? You're not wiggin' out over Ron getting stuck with Ms Evil Thing for a week?"
Kim's eyes narrowed and her hand gripped into a fist, crushing the homework she'd been pulling out of her backpack. She paused and relaxed her hand, and tried to smooth the papers back out. "OK, so maybe I'm a little tweaked from dealing with Drakken all day every day, and worried about what Shego's got Ron doing. It's normal! Supervillains are majorly of the bad."
Kim sighed, "I guess I just hoped that if he picked Shego and I kept an eye on Drakken we'd get to spend some time together. I don't know Monique, it just seems like we've been drifting lately. He's been changing so much..."
"Girl, I thought that was a good thing," Monique asked, "Weren't you glad for him a couple weeks ago? Said he was comin' out of his shell?"
"Yeah, but I always thought that when he did that we'd still be together all the time. Now he's got new club stuff, and it seems like we're almost never around each other. This week was just worse than usual..."
"Don't worry about it Kim!" Monique reassured her, "You just gotta find the time to talk with him, and you'll find that the whole thing will blow over. I'm sure he's missing you as much as you're missing him."
"Maybe you're right Monique", Kim started, before falling silent. What was that?!
The loud roar of a motorcycle echoed across the schoolyard. Moving faster than Kim thought was probably safe, a gold and black custom motorcycle came into view and turned sharply into the school parking lot. It's driver spun it completely around as it parked, in an impressive display of driving skill. Whoever this was, they knew how to ride a bike. Regardless of safety, it was one heck of an entrance.
Kim cocked her head at the motorcycle, something about the rider looked familiar. She wasn't sure what though, it wasn't like anyone could tell who it was while they were wearing that helmet and those motorcycle leathers. Then Josh Mankey of all people walked up to it. Kim wasn't sure how to feel about Mankey. On the one hand, they'd pretty much been way over. On the other, he was her last serious crush. Mostly, she'd just let things go, figuring Tara would be happy with him. That didn't mean her emotions always agreed with her. Wait, who did he say this was?!
The mysterious stranger took off his helmet and confirmed it. RON!? SERIOUSLY?! When had he gotten a motorcycle? Heck, when had he gotten lessons or a permit for one?! What was going on with him?! Kim stood there, staring silently, her jaw hanging open until Monique raised a hand and gently closed it for her.
"Well Kim," she said, "Looks like you've got something to bring up when you talk to Ron, huh?"
xXx
You really needed to stop jinxing yourself. Running through the Wyoming countryside was one thing, doing so while bleeding from a gunshot wound was another. Everything had gone wrong from the start. You weren't sure what it was you did this time, but you kicked off the alarm much earlier than you'd even thought possible. Before you managed to stun the guys running the security cameras, you were taking fire from the guards.
Of course, they still weren't anything much to deal with. You'd gotten sloppy on the way back and in your haste you now sported a slowly bleeding gash on your right shoulder. As you dashed to the hovercraft, you kept as much pressure on the bleeding shoulder as you could while still moving at top speed. That wasn't much. By the time you jumped into to your seat, your sleeve was seriously stained. You looked over to Shego, whose face was scrunched up as she tried to hold in back her laughter. Finally, her mask cracked a little.
"Never assume your allies are on your side, idiot." What did sh-
Oh.
Oooooohhh. She obviously saw your face, since that was enough to set her off into an uncontrollable fit of cackling. You felt yourself growing slightly annoyed with your erstwhile mentor. Seriously, was evil really that petty?! You quickly checked the round in your gun, confirming that is was another one of the Hencho stun rounds, before coming to a somewhat fun conclusion. Evil was petty, and you were supposed to be evil right now!
So why not be a little mean? Before she could even register what you were doing you drew your sidearm and fired a round at her, watching as the electrified shell clipped her hand. With a yelp, she stopped laughing while you chuckled a little bit.
"What the hell, Stoppable?!" She'd have been more intimidating if her left plasma-coated hand wasn't lying limply by her side. You rolled your eyes.
"Not so funny now, is it? Now get the hovercraft going, the guards are still chasing me and I'm still bleeding."
"If you hadn't noticed, Sidekick, I only have one hand to start it with." The impulse to make dumb jokes about her dating prospects aside, you looked at her flatly.
"Has that stopped you before?" She heaved a frustrated sigh as the sounds of pursuit grew louder, and with some effort managed to start the thing up. As you rose out of the field you'd been sitting in, you finally got enough pressure on your wound to staunch the bleeding. No more blood loss for you today! Probably. Still, it would be best for you to get some medical attention.
"Shego, can you drop me in front of Kim's house? I should probably get this looked a-"
"No." She didn't even let you finish?! Didn't she even pretend to care about your wellbeing?
"But I'm injured!" She rolled her eyes.
"It's just a graze. You'll sleep it off and be better in no time!"
"Bu-"
"[i[Fine[/i]. If you're really so married to the idea of getting help, then I'll bring you to someone who can patch you up. Better him than Princess' mother, who'll probably let things slip to Kimmie even if you should be protected by patient confidentiality." Oh, right. You probably shouldn't let your choice of mentor, much less your activities, get around to her family if at all Possible. That would not be a pleasant conversation. And besides, if it was a guy Shego knew he'd probably be professional, calm and at the very least decent to deal with.
XxX
"SHEGO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE RIGHT NOW? YOU'RE NOT DUE BACK FROM VACATION UNTIL NEXT WEEK!" Dr. Drakken yelled at his nominal sidekick, ignoring the blood you'd tracked in.
"Riiight, well, y'see Doctor D," Shego drawled back, "My little Career Week protegee here forgot to follow the rules and got a little banged up. Could you take a look at him?"
Wait. Shego's medical guy is DRAKKEN?! Suddenly, you've got some reservations about this. Also, wait, wasn't Drakken one of the Career Week Mentors who actually got picked, who was it who got him again? You know this, you really should know this...
"OH MY GOD! RON! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" Oh, that's right, Kim picked him to keep him from influencing any impressionable teenagers. WAIT KIM!?
And now she's run across the room and started stripping your shirt off. "Er, hey, KP," you winced as the shirt brushed over your gunshot wound.
Before Kim could do more than get at your wound Drakken pushed her gently away. "Stand aside Kim Possible, let the Doctor do his job!"
You blinked, "Wait, you're a medical doctor? I thought you had a PhD or something?"
"Actually Buffoon," Drakken expostulated as he pulled out a First Aid kit from under a bench, "I'm a licensed paramedic. Now hold still, this will sting like the dickens." Boy, did it! You shuddered as he carefully cleaned out the graze with some medical wipes, and then swiftly and competently applied a wound dressing.
You and Kim stared at him as he demonstrated more competence at helping you than he ever had as a supervillain. Once he'd finished taping you up he looked up and noticed your stares.
"What?" he asks, "I paid my way through to my doctorate by working as a first responder. As long as you show up on time for your shift and don't steal medical supplies you're way ahead of the pack."
"Didn't you drop out of college?" Kim asked plaintively.
"They let me in, I let myself out," Drakken replied, "Then, I continued my higher education through a series of alternative courses of study, including, but not limited to, paramedic school." All three of you were staring at him now.
"Really," he sniffed, "Is it so hard to believe I, the Great Doctor DRAKKEN! Am capable of such things."
In a bizarre moment of shared confusion, you, Shego and Kim looked at one another, and resolved never to mention this again.
Kim shook herself and examined you. "Ron," she said slowly, "Is that HenchCo tactical gear?"
"Uh, yeah," you replied, "All part of the Career Week package KP!"
Kim's eyes slowly moved from you to Shego, and they narrowed. Her lips thinned as well, and you could tell that she was getting ready to blow. Oh man, what was she thinking? Heck, what had you been thinking! Of course this would get back to Kim somehow! Why hadn't you thought up an excuse or something to explain this away!
Surprisingly, Kim didn't immediately explode. Instead, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and deliberately turned from Shego back to you.
"We'll talk about this later, Ron. When we're not in Drakken's Lair. I appreciate the need to keep Shego away from the rest of the student body, but I would have helped. You didn't need to go this far." She gestured at your gear, and looked pointedly at your injured shoulder.
Shego took the opportunity to cut in, "So y'see sidekick, when you're actually getting paid for your work, you get benefits packages. Dr D handles all our medical issues inhouse, and what he can't we get grade-a coverage for."
Drakken turned his nose up at that and stalked off, "Hmph," he harrumphed, "Of course you do Shego! I'm not a barbarian! If my henchmen are injured or ill they can't do my evil bidding! I can take care of 99% of our issues personally, I'm not made of money after all!" Before making it more than a few meters away, he spun back around and raised one hand, index finger high.
"Kim Possible!" he cried, "This is an excellent opportunity for your final lesson in proper super villainy!"
Kim groaned, and covered her face with her hands.
"Proper management of Sidekicks!" Drakken continued, either ignoring her or just not noticing. It was hard to tell with him. "I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get to this while Shego was on vacation! Now, you have to strike a delicate balance with your sidekick, helping, but not restricting them." He tapped his chin, "I imagine it's a bit like raising a teenager, so take this as valuable advice if you ever decide to inflict another generation of irritating do-gooders on the world."
Kim didn't react besides groaning again, louder. Wow, if this was what she'd been dealing with for the last week maybe getting shot at wasn't so bad, glancing shoulder wound and all.
"Now, when I first heard Shego wanted to take some time off to keep her education certification current, I was skeptical at first. But she had the accrued vacation days, and she chose to use it in a suitably villainous manner! I'm sure that her presence at your school has been driving you absolutely mad with paranoia!"
Kim shot Shego a poisonous look that promised pain the next time they fought. Man, you were glad for the whole "fade into the background" thing that happened when you kept your trap shut. Unfortunately, Drakken wasn't done.
"Despite being otherwise occupied, she still knew she could come to me for help. Cheap medical service in this instance. You have to manage your sidekick carefully Kim Possible! Give them space, but also make sure they know they can come to you when they need to! Isn't that right Shego?"
Shego glanced at you, and then looked at Drakken, "Sure thing Doctor D," she smirked, "Whatever you say. Me and my little Career Week Protegee will get out of your hair. Wouldn't want to distract you from your mentoring any further. A sidekick's job is to be seen and not heard, right?"
"Quite Right Shego, I'm glad you're starting to appreciate that. Not everyone is a fan of how lippy you get! NOW! Kim Possible! Listen and Learn!"
Kim gave you a look like a drowning man in search of a life preserver. Shego saw that look, grinned, and smashed Kim's hopes. She grabbed you by the collar and pulled you out of the room. You shrugged at Kim as you dragged your feet on your way out. You guys would have to talk later.
After throwing you into the hovercraft, she flew off towards Middleton. While you were doing that, you took the opportunity to set up a talk with Tara.
[quote]Hey Tara, you mind meeting up for a talk tomorrow morning?[/quote]
Within a few minutes, she responded.
[quote] Sure, Josh said you might ask. Something up?[/quote]
You continued the digital conversation.
[quote] Not really. Just want to clear some stuff up. Anywhere you want to meet?[/quote]
You'd started touching down in Middleton before you finally got your answer.
[quote] The Park near Middleton High sound good? I was going to jog there before the weekend practice. I can meet you there around nine.[/quote]
As you got out of the vehicle and walked to the front door, you finished the conversation.
[quote]Awesome. See you then.[/quote]
You hoped this wouldn't go too badly…
XxX
The crisp air of Winter in the park only set you on edge for what would have otherwise been a nice Saturday morning. It was colder than normal, though the bench you were sitting on wasn't too uncomfortable. As you breathed fog into the cold air, you quietly fiddled with your own thumbs. You knew this conversation was going to suck. A few minutes later, Tara came into view. She was clad in cooler clothing than you were, but she was busy jogging before she saw you and likely knew she would have worked up a sweat. When she saw you, she gave an energetic wave before running up to you.
"Hey Ron, you wanted to talk to me about something?" She didn't sit down or stop moving. She just kept slowly pacing while she talked. You couldn't tell if she was nervous or just trying to stay warm. You sighed. There really wasn't a better way to go about this than to just get it over with. It'd be like pulling off a bandage. A sticky, cootie-covered one, but it was the same in principle.
"Look, do you like me?" She rolled her eyes.
"Of course I do! You're one of my friends, and I'm not friends with people I don't like, dummy." She smiled, but you could tell it didn't completely reach her eyes.
"You know what I mean, Tara," She opened her mouth, but you were already on a roll and you couldn't stop the stream of words falling from your mouth, "I'm not here to wreck your relationship or anything- Josh was the one who told me. I just wanted to talk with you about it, and clear some things up. I mean, I like you too Tara but I'm not sure if it's in that way and even if I wanted to try you're with Josh and I don't want to feel like a terrible person and there's so much going on right now that I can't really get into a relationship and, and, and-" you were gasping for breath, letting out so much opaque air that Tara's figure started to blur. After a few seconds, the fog you created cleared up to show the blonde cheerleader simply pinching the bridge of her nose.
"You know you two could really be twins, right? Look, I get it. I understand how both of you feel. It sucks, trust me. I do like you, Ron. Lots. I think you're braver than you'll ever give yourself credit for, and every moment I spend around you only seems to prove that more. I admire you, Ron. I get that you don't want to go out with me right now, and I'm okay with that. I figured it was a losing battle from the start, especially since I'd imagine that would end with me having to deal with Kim." Well, that was confusing. You were sure Kim wouldn't have any problems with you dating!
"But Kim's my best friend, she'd never try to interfere with a relationship I decided to enter!" Tara giggled at that.
"Go on thinking that, Ron. Someone out there needs to. Just remember that this isn't a zero sum game. I can like more than one person, and still function as a human being. I think you understand that, on some level, and while I did have a crush on you I think I'll be able to shelve it. Even if it might return at...inopportune moments. So there's nothing to worry about, Ron," she turned to the left and shouted, "AND THAT INCLUDES YOU TOO, JOSH." Surprisingly enough, the blonde artist fell out of a nearby bush when she said that. With a small start, he jumped up and brushed himself up before walking to the two of you in a deceptively calm manner.
"'Sup?" You looked at him, slackjawed.
"You were spying on us?" He nodded.
"Yup." It was then that Tara seemed to snap, falling to the ground in a fit of laughter.
"You two really are the same person!" No! Your name was Ron and you weren't in any way relatable to mo- oh wait, MMP. Well, you certainly weren't as pop- no, you couldn't say that anymore. At least he was calmer than you? And he was way more artsy! To your side, Josh chuckled.
"Yeah, I guess we are!" Wait, if Josh was your twin, did that mean… The thought itself made you fall to the ground and scream to the heavens.
"NOOOOOOOOO!" Your own great yell served enough to bring the blonde couple's attention to you.
"What's wrong, Ron? I thought you and Josh were sorta okay with each other?" You nodded.
"Of course we are. But if we're twins, then one of us has to be the good one and the evil one, right?! And Josh is, well, Josh. Which means that I'm the evil twin! I just didn't know it yet! I even went to train under SHEGO of all people for a week! VOLUNTARILY! It's already happening!" Tara resumed spasming in laughter on the ground, while Josh pinched his nose.
"Dude, we don't have to be good and evil. You've seen the Bash Brothers, man," Of course you had, they'd co-starred with a few Fearless Ferret episodes, "we can be like them. Except we use guns." You know what? That sounded awesome, and it meant you didn't have to betray him in a contrived plot arc a few seasons in! That was totally the best of both worlds. You perked up as the hum of the park seemed to take on a new vibrance.
"Yeah, that sounds like something we could do! We'll be the greatest pair of twin superhero hunters ever!" Tara finally managed to calm herself down enough to look weirded out by how far you were going with this, even as the din of the area made it hard to hear her.
"You do know you're not actually twins, right?" Together you turned to her.
"Don't ruin the moment, Tara." She said something that you couldn't hear, as the sounds of the world around you grew even louder.
The buzzing changed to an almost earsplitting pitch, before you felt yourself getting yanked up by something. With a rough shove, you found yourself in the seat of an all too familiar hovercraft. Shego sat in the driver's seat, busy righting herself from what you assumed was her own crazy maneuver to grab you.
"Stay in the seat and don't even think of trying to shoot me again or so help me I will make this crash in a way you won't survive." Not willing to see if she'd cash that threat, you plugged the seatbelt in with resignation. As you looked back to grab the thing, you noted the a small cooler in the back of the vehicle.
"So where are we going?" She sighed.
"Go City. I need you to do something for me." Of course she did.
"What do you want stolen?" She rolled her eyes.
"Not everything I do is criminal, Stoppable," The raised eyebrows were enough to convey your disbelief, "I just want to you to bake me a cake, alright? Can't you humor a girl on her birthday?" You frowned at the thought.
"You have a birthday?"
"Uh, doy! How do you think I came to be here?" You opened your mouth but she cut you off, "Never mind. I'm pretty sure I really don't want to know this answer. Beyond that, I have some… unfinished business there."
Well. That wasn't ominous at all.
XxX
Shego kept quiet the rest of the ride. You were a little concerned about being abducted, but she'd technically been doing that all week. It didn't take long though, before you started flying over an unfamiliar city.
"So," you said, "Where are we going?"
"Uggghh," Shego groaned, "You couldn't have kept quiet the whole way. Fine, we're over Go City right now. I've got some people for you to speak with."
"Wait. Go City!? As in, soon to be home to the world's largest Bueno Nacho Go City?! Kim and I scheduled a trip for its grand opening as soon as it was announced back in September!"
"Why am I not surprised that that's your point of reference," Shego sighed, "Anyway, I'm going to drop you off to speak with some of the locals. They have a ... useful frame of reference for your issues."
"What issues?" you asked cluelessly.
"The Mystical Monkey Power or whatever you want to call it. When we fought that vampire you saw something weird that no one else saw. These people should be able to help."
"Oh cool!" you exclaimed, "That's awesome! Who are they?"
"Why don't you find out?" Shego said as she pressed a button the console. Huh, you wondered what that meant? For all of about five seconds before your seat rocketed out of the hovercraft and landed on top of a giant building shaped like the word Go. Ejector seat. Nice! And you didn't even scream this time! You must be getting used to having your life spontaneously put in horrible danger! Wait, that isn't a good thing...
You unbuckled your belt, stood up, and looked over the roof of the Go Building. There was a door close by, and it didn't look too seriously secured. You went over to it and found it completely unlocked. You shrugged and headed down into the building.
As you went, you got an idea of the aesthetic this place was designed with. The whole place screamed super base. You just weren't sure if it was hero or villain. Your gut said hero, there were too many bright primary colors for a proper villainous lair, but why would Shego of all people send you to talk to a bunch of superheroes? That'd just be crazy! Still, this place had all the amenities. While searching for people, you found a jet hangar, a supercomputer, a seriously impressive combination gym and combat training area, and even a jacuzzi! Whoever these guys were, they knew how to stock a base. You felt like you should be taking notes for your eventual Hunt Club headquarters once you had some funds. You guys couldn't operate out of the school forever after all. What you didn't find though, was any kind of kitchen area. That had to be further down, and you did not want Shego angry with you. Well, angrier
Eventually, you heard the sounds of someone moving around, and inched towards the noise. Whoever this was had to know who Shego was sending you after. You wound up in what had to be the control center for the whole base. It had a conference table with another giant GO on it and everything!
The weird part was the people. There were four guys in here, all dressed in odd costumes that looked... well, a lot like Shego's. Two boys who looked a little older than Jim and Tim in red, a skinny guy in purple, and a giant of a man in blue. Each of them turned to you upon your entrance. The Blue guy with a face that went from elated to confused in seconds, the purple one with a fixed scowl and a roll of his eyes while the red twins just smiled at you. You waved.
"Uuh, hi?" The blue one nodded.
"Good afternoon, citizen," he paused, "How exactly did you get in here?"
"Uh, you left the door on the roof unlocked."
"See Hego," the purple one said sourly, "I told you that door was a mistake."
"Now Mego," Hego replied, "The roof has the best view of the city! We just need to be more careful about locking it." He turned back to you, "Now, what brings you to the Go Tower, Citizen?"
You blinked, "Uh, an ejector seat?"
"Really?" Hego asked curiously, "I had no idea they had sufficient range to reach the Go Tower from the city proper!"
Mego smacked his face with one hand, "He meant why are you here." He looked at you with narrowed eyes, "I'd like to know that too by the way."
"Oh right," you nodded in understanding, "Shego kidnapped me and shot me at your tower. Said some people could help with… uuh, something personal."
"And how do you know Shego citizen?" Hego asked, "She is not the bastion of heroism she once was! She's turned her back on Justice and Freedom! In fact, I believe she's an internationally wanted criminal if I'm not mistaken!"
"No duh, man. I've been getting dragged around the world to steal stuff for the entire week because of her," you get a couple of hard looks in response to that little nugget of information, "And against my will, might I add!" Sorta. you squinted.
Hego ran up to you and gave you an all encompassing hug, "You poor boy! You're safe now, here, in the Go Tower, home of TEAM GO!"
Alright, you're starting to have trouble breathing now. You try and tap on Hego's massive biceps and wheeze out "Thanks?"
"Oh let up Hego, the kid can't breathe."
Hego immediately let you go, and dusted you off, "Ah, my apologies citizen, sometimes I don't know my own strength," he leapt back, began to glow blue all over his body like Shego's hands glowed green, and lifted the conference table over his head, "MY SUPER STRENGTH!"
"Okay, so you have superpowers like Shego. Fantastic. Now I can be threatened by four more people. Great."
"Nah, my brothers don't threaten anyone but supervillains Sidekick. You'll be fine." Shego put in as she walked by snacking on a bag of chips.
"Shego!" you, Hego, Mego, and the twins yelled.
"Yeah?" she said with a raised eyebrow.
"You're here!" cried Hego, "You've come back to us!"
"Whoa whoa whoa," Shego said quickly holding up her hands palm forward in a gesture that clearly meant to stop, "I am not here to come back. I'm here because the Sidekick there needs help, and I figured that unfortunately, we, as a group, were probably the best people to help him."
"Still sis," Mego put in, "You showed up for your birthday for the first time in years. I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it."
"Shyeah, and you wouldn't be seeing it if it weren't completely necessary," Shego sighed, "Look, you'll like this. The sidekick there roped me into doing some monster hunting. Turns out Vampires, werewolves, and a whole bunch of other things that go bump in the night are real."
"I KNEW IT!" cried Hego, "I KNEW THE SUPERNATURAL WAS REAL!"
"Well, of course it's real you dim bulb, we all have superpowers. But seriously Shego, Vampires? Really?"
"I know Mego," Shego rolled her eyes, "It sounds like something from one of Hego's comic books, but it's true. It's how I knew that blondie over here had something supernatural going on himself. The Vampire we were hunting had this supernatural fear deal, and the two of us were the only ones there who actually saw what its power really looked like, and boy was that freaky."
"Yeah," you agreed quickly, "I don't get how no one else saw the shadowy tentacles of darkness that oozed sick and wrong."
"Because Stoppable," Shego drawled, "you and I have something that they don't. Superpowers."
"Shego!" Hego cried, "Is this true!? Have you taken on a superheroic protegee!"
"Yeah, no," Shego shut him down, "If anything he's the one dragging me into being less evil. The kid just had an accident with these weird stone statues that gave him weird monkey powers."
"How'd you know about the statues Shego?" you asked suspiciously. You hadn't told her anything about that.
"Monty won't shut up about how you and your little rodent friend smashed the things. He'd spent years tracking them down, and lost them almost immediately."
"Oh, yeah, Monkey Fist was there too. I forgot."
"Monkey Fist? You have your own animal themed super villain archnemesis?!" Hego exclaimed.
"Well, yeah, but just the one," you replied, "I'm the sidekick usually, hence Shego calling me that. Kim's the one who usually has the archnemeses. In fact, Shego works for her number one recurring baddie, Dr Drakken."
"Ok," Shego said quickly, "Let's not make this about me! Anyway Hego, I thought if you guys wanted to give me a birthday present, you could take a look at Stoppable here, and see if your understanding jibes with mine."
"I'd be happy to help Sis," Hego said pompously, "Anything to help the cause of Justice!"
"Yeah sure," Mego said waspishly, "What's in it for me?"
"I'll let you have some of the birthday cake that Stoppable's going to bake me. He's a world class chef and we spent the last week getting the ingredients for it."
"Hey wait," the twins looked at you, "Didn't you say-" "-that Shego had made you steal stuff for the last week?"
"Ahaha," you laughed nervously, "Yeah sure kinda... Anyway which way to the kitchen little dudes, the Ron man's got some baking to do!"
The twins looked at you closely before shrugging and heading out of the room. They motioned for you to follow as they went out the door, and you did. Anything to avoid Shego Family time!
XxX
The actual baking didn't take long. It took you about an hour to get the cake put together and into the oven. The twins, who you learned were collectively referred to as Wego, peppered you with questions as you worked. Where did you go live? Were you still in school, and if so what school did you go to? What was hunting monsters like? Who did you fight crime with? What was Shego like these days?
You answered all their questions politely, while only skimping on the details when they got too close to something nasty. You didn't think that a pair of what looked like thirteen year olds needed to know the gory details of how you got into Monster Hunting.
Talking about your adventures with Kim, however, was another matter. As you waited for the dough to rise, you told them about your escapades around the world, and how you helped people every single day you could. They seemed pretty cool with it all, if a little bored. Still, they enjoyed the tale of the confrontation with Monkey Fist well enough themselves. Especially when you had a super awesome Kung-Fu battle with your own archnemesis.
They tried to press you on the Shego front, but by that time the Cake was ready and all you needed to do was ice it, and you'd be golden. They left after the fifth time you told them to get ready, just in case they decided to try snitching your dutch vanilla heaven recipe. When that was done, you brought the thing out into the conference room where Hego said they would be. Almost as one, the five of them turned to you when the double layered-marble cherry surprise birthday cake you'd gotten moved into the room. You could swear you saw drool dripping out of their mouths.
With a small bow, you started cutting into the cake. Making sure to slice of a larger piece than you normally would, you lay it down into some nice looking plates you found into the kitchen. After that, you took out the quart of vanilla bean ice cream you found in the freeze-
"HEY! That's my ice cream!" Mego blurted out, only to be silenced by four angry glares as you placed a single scoop on the plate. You handed the thing to Shego, who seemed to be honestly considering whether or not she'd tear into the thing with her hands. Finally though, she shrugged, picked up a spoon, and dug in. Or at least tried to, because it was then that Hego raised his voice.
"Well, since our dear sister is here and it is her birthday," you could see the scowl already beginning to form on Shego's face. It was honestly kind of hilarious. "We must celebrate it in the traditional way."
What followed was probably the single worst rendition of happy birthday you'd ever heard. Sure, you were in a room full of Superheroes but apparently none of them could sing to save their lives. By the end of it, following the verse that proudly asked how old she was (24, apparently), you weren't sure totally Shego wasn't going to up and leave again with the aura she was throwing off in waves. Of course, the bad mood didn't last long in the face of your awesome baking skills! In fact, now that everyone seemed to have a slice, you decided to help yourself. The room was quiet for a moment as everyone just enjoyed their cake. When things slowed down a bit, Shego finally spoke up.
"Okay, so while you were off baking, Hego, Mego and I had a serious talk about your powers. Now, we've got a few theories about how they came to be, but that doesn't matter right now. We've discussed the possibility of training you, but you'll need to come with one of us to get in. The doors only recognize someone with powers, and you don't know how to use them yet." Yeah, that would kinda suck. You didn't want to get caught outside.
"Which means," Hego cut in, "that you'll need to be accompanied by Shego. She wanted to just give you our phone numbers, but we could never be sure you'd arrive when we're out saving the day."
"It also means she can't weasel out of coming back here and seeing us for once," Mego laughed. That made enough sense. Still, Shego seemed antsy enough as it was.
"Yeah, yeah. And it's all really nice. Now, we should probably get going. I have a class to prep for tomorrow morning." She grabbed you by the arm, scooped up the rest of the cake and moved to the roof. When she was up there, she strapped into the hovercraft and shot up before you could even get into your seat. When you finally managed to get into the seat, you were halfway home. Apparently, she'd had enough of the familial embarrassment, or something along those lines. Ten minutes later, you were outside your house in Middleton and she blasted off somewhere else. With that over, you flopped down into your bed and went to sleep.
XxX
You woke up Sunday expecting things to be more packed than they'd been in quite a while. First on the docket was the team meeting, where you'd go over what you knew about Gill, his past, his goals, and his powers. After that you'd all share Career Week stories and you were really looking forward to that. Last, but not least, you'd head over to stately Masters Manor, and check in with Vlad and Jazz. You hadn't been able to spend any time with her this week, and you felt a little bad about not helping get her settled in. You'd have more time next week though!
Sunday was cool and clear as you could hope for, for a Colorado morning in early December. The roads were even clear enough for you to bring the Ronshine! You zoomed down the streets and made it to school ahead of just about everyone else. You locked up Dawn, and headed into the school, thinking over what Gill being around would mean.
There hadn't been any more missing persons things going on, and the scientist who'd taken custody of him hadn't hit up the site. Hopefully, that meant he was still getting set up and hadn't already built up an army of mutants. Maybe the fact that it was the dead of winter in not-so-sunny Colorado that had slowed him down? Still, better safe than sorry...
By the time you made it into the room you had your thoughts marshalled, and you were ready to brief everyone. Which was good, because the rest of the club started showing up as soon as you sat down. Mister B was first, and he gave you a hard look.
"Be more careful on that bike of yours Stoppable. If we hadn't worked off the rust from my reflexes you'd be down a bike and up a full body cast."
You winced, "Jeez Mister B, I'm sorry. I'll be more careful. It was my second day with the new ride. I wanted to put it through its paces!"
He narrowed his eyes at you and nodded, "I think you did that Stoppable, now what's the plan for dealing with this mutant freak?"
The rest of the club piled in as he asked, you guessed Brick or Josh must have given the girls a ride, because there's no way all of them would have fit in Bonnie's convertible. Maybe Viv gave them a lift on the underground express or something? You wave them to their seats and step up to the front of the room.
"OK guys, we're here early to talk about the threat that Brick discovered outside Lowerton. The location and coloration of the scale together make it clear that Gill's back. As Mister B and the girls already know, Gill's an old summer camp 'buddy' of mine. He got mutated in the horrific chemical abyss of Lake Wannaweep and setup the Cheer Team to get turned into freaky mutants just like him. "
Bonnie and Tara shuddered, and Mister B scratched at his neck where the gills had started to come in.
"Now, there haven't been any other indicators that Gill's up to something. The scientist who took custody of him after he got caught hasn't reported him missing, and there's no reports of mutants or missing people in the Lake Wannaweep area. That's good. It means he's probably still feeling things out, and hasn't started trying to build another army of super-mutants."
Brick raised a hand, "Uh Ron, what exactly can this Gill guy do? If we're going to be fighting the guy, what's his deal?"
You sighed and straightened up, "It's like this Brick. A few years back I went to summer camp at the place of evil known as Camp Wannaweep. While I was there I refused to swim in the contaminated waters, and traded all my swim time with another camper, a guy named Gil, with one L. Turns out I was smart to do that, because he ended up mutating into a super strong, super swimming, mutagen goo spewing, reptile-fish swamp mutant. He even changed his name to Gill with two LLs."
Josh put an arm around Tara and Bonnie started huddling up against Brick, who's beginning to look a bit concerned. Mister B's face just hardened further, and Viv's scrunched up in disgust.
"He somehow heard that I'd ended up on the Middleton High Cheer Squad as the Mad Dog and tricked the squad into a trap. All of us, and Mister B," you nodded to the teacher, "Got caught in a bad horror movie for a night."
You sighed, "He wanted revenge on me, so he was going to mutate everyone into freaky mutants just like him. I managed to beat him, with some help from my little buddy," Rufus ran up to your shoulder and held his hands over his head like a champ, "and Kim called in a scientist to take custody of him to fix him up. The last I heard he was back to normal, but if Brick's finding giant green scales in the Wannaweep area, then things might have changed."
"Alright Stoppable, what's the game plan here then?" Mister B asked firmly, "Are we going to go in and take out his base of operations? Take him out before he starts mutating innocent people?"
Josh piped in, "I think we need more information. We know about this Gill guy, but we don't know the lay of the land. For all we know somebody else got mutated or something. The entire lake was contaminated right?"
You nodded slowly, "It was, yeah. The runoff from the Science Camp messed the whole place up. It was seriously nasty. I guess someone else could have been mutated." You paused in thought for a moment before continuing, "But I'm sure this is Gil. It has to be. The scientists quarantined the area after the incident," Bonnie opened her mouth, "I checked after the news came in, just to be sure. It was one call, it's not that hard. The lake is clean now, so there's no chance there's anyone else suddenly growing scales. Maybe it's just a gut feeling, but I trust it. Still, if we need to check the camp out we can do it. I say we just come in and stop this before it gets any worse."
There were nods all around at that sentiment. Getting proper information and reconnaissance was always a popular thing at this club, but nothing seemed to beat solving these things sooner rather than later. Better to get everything done as soon as possible.
"So, how do we go about this? I suggest we just go in guns blazing, but I'm willing to listen to suggestions." Bonnie raised her hand.
"Let's torch this place and bomb the ashes." You had to admit, the idea had a certain visceral merit to it. You certainly wouldn't mind ridding the world of any trace of Wannaweep.
"Outside of the budding pyromania Mrs. Rockwaller has displayed, that option isn't without merit," said Mister B, "However, that will gain the attention of the city and, more importantly, the police. It'll be the safest option but the most obvious. On the other hand, I could call in a favor to get us some help. Section 13 would be more than willing to send a squad. It'd ruffle some feathers, especially Betty's, but it'll work and draw less attention than going for pure firepower." Bonnie cut in.
"Yeah, but they totally look like black ops. If there's anything that'll trip off any danger sensors, it'd be that. I'd be fine with running from the cops, I don't think anyone here wants something like GJ or Kim coming down on us right now. It's better than going in alone."
Mr B sounded like he wanted to respond, but you knew this wouldn't really go any farther so you made sure to interrupt this argument before it started.
"OK guys, here let's go on to something a bit lighter," you changed the subject, "What did we learn during Career Week? I'll go first! I, well, there's no easy way to say this. I got supervillain training. Shego schooled me in escape and evasion, infiltration, gave me some criminal contacts, and tested me on general illegal operative stuff. 'Swhere I got the new bike. Which I have a totally legal title to mind, just the guy we got it off of was probably about half a step from an illegal arms dealer."
The room looked suitably impressed at that. That, or they were doing a good job of hiding their disgust. Josh stood up next and you nodded and headed back to your seat.
"So, I spent the week hanging with Rabbi Katz. As Ron knows, he's a pretty cool dude. Turns out he's a Monster Hunter too." What. "I got some grade A advice, really helped me get my head together and figure out some stuff. He also gave me some blessed oils and unguents which should be useful if we run up against anything that dislikes holy stuff. Oh, and he also gave me an invite to a group called the Order of Saint Adrian, which was super weird. I'm not totally sure what their deal is, os I'm still thinking it over."
Mister B stood up at that, "For the general edification of my students," he drawled, "The Order of Saint Adrian is a group of Demon Hunting Bikers with anti-demon tattoos. My old unit wasn't sure how those worked, but they were consistent and effective. Give it a solid think Mankey, it could be useful, but it's a big commitment and I'm sure Rabbi Katz will give you more information to work with if you ask."
What. Rabbi Katz was a tattooed demon hunting biker!? ON TOP OF BEING AN AWESOME RABBI?! WHAT?!
While you tried to parse that revelation out Josh returned to his seat with a thoughtful look on his face. Bonnie took his place at the front of the room.
"Captain Black was alright, I guess," she said, before turning to smirk at you, "I got to learn how to catch people like the loser. I got to practice my shooting too, and this one girl made me promise to pass on her contact information. Ordinarily, I wouldn't, but she proved herself moderately cool during my week with Captain Black, so I figured why not. Plus, the idea of her interacting with the loser entertains me."
That was worrying. And Ill-boding. Definitely Ill-boding.
Bonnie smirked at you and walked back to her seat, to be replaced by Tara. "My week was great!" Tara smiled, "Mister Fenton was awesome. He gave me tons of information on ghosts and how to fight them. I'm not sure how much of it actually fits what we might be dealing with around here, but it's something. He also gave me a couple of anti-ghost weapons which should really help!"
That was cool. Given how Jazz and Mister Masters talked about it you weren't sure how useful anything from Mister Fenton was going to be, but it'd probably be better than nothing.
Tara bounced back to her seat, and Brick took the stage. "My week was AWESOME!" he cried. He pulled something from his letterman jacket and put it on his face. It was a ...lucha mask?! "I got to learn Lucha! I am now El Ladrillo!" He took off the mask and grinned, "That means Brick. I got to practice with Junior, who's a pretty cool dude, and he introduced me to some of those LORE dudes you told us about Ron. Nice guys, a little stiff, but nice."
You nodded, that was pretty awesome. It sounded like everyone had had a great week. Now you just had to decide how you were going to spend [i]next [/i] week.
What Do, Boss Monkey?
XxX
After the meeting ended, you headed over to stately Masters Manor for dinner. Mister Masters had invited you to see how Jazz was doing. He hadn't sounded too irritated with you for not helping this week, but you were glad to have the chance to touch base. You raced down the road on the Last Dawn as the sun was setting. You seemed to be doing a lot of that since you got the bike. It was a little weird to be driving something named after dawn at sunset, but you didn't care because you were one with the road, and not in a street pizza way!
The manor was big. Not quite the size of the Seniors' place, but fancier in some ways. The Seniors' new home looked a lot like some of the older castles and manors you'd seen in Europe on missions with Kim, the kinda place you lived if you were comfortable in your heaping piles of cash and had been for a while. Mister Masters place was designed more to impress, to overawe people who saw it. Given his other house was a literal castle brought over brick by brick from Europe you weren't two surprised.
You rang the intercom bell and security buzzed you in. It was that same wild haired greenish skinned guy who'd flown the plane to Wisconsin. He must wear a lot of different hats for Misters Masters. He directed you to the dining room, where you found Jazz and Mister Masters sitting at the table talking about her training.
"Now Jasmine, I know it may not seem like it, but truly you've made a great deal of progress!" Mister Masters said seriously. Jazz just sighed morosely in response.
"I guess," she mumbled, "I'm not phasing through anything anymore unless I mean to." She shuddered, "I was a bit irritated at first, but you were right. I am glad that Ron couldn't come help until after I got my phasing totally under control."
Well, that sounds like a good segue if ever there was one.
"Why's that?" you asked curiously with a cocked head.
"RON!?" Jazz yelped in shock. You noticed that she remained completely solid as she did, which was a step up from the plane ride back from Wisconsin. Mister Masters just laughed softly and said, "There, you see?" before turning to you.
"Ah, Ronald, it's good to see you. I'm glad you took me up on my invitation."
"I was happy to come Mister Masters!" you replied with a grin, before your face went serious, "Jazz, I'm really sorry I couldn't come visit and help earlier in the week, but my Career Week mentor kinda monopolized my time. It was eat, sleep, and work all week."
"Yes, Señor Senior Senior does say that Ms Go is something of a harsh taskmistress," Mister Masters put in. "Still," he continued, "I'm sure you learned a great deal, and you're here now, aren't you?"
"Yes sir, Mister Masters," you agreed with a nod, "Here and ready to help for as long as Jazz needs me."
"Very good," Mister Masters smirked, "and do call me Vlad, Ronald, it's quite alright. I'm not your teacher or your boss, technically." His smirk widened at that last bit. "Now, let's get down to that dinner I promised you both last week!"
You sat down, and what followed was an honestly nice dinner. The food was just as good as you'd hoped, and thankfully no supernatural cheese involved! You still weren't happy about the fact that any cheese would betray you like that, but this wasn't the time or the place to try and prove your mastery over strange dairy products.
You could tell that Jazz was pretty nervous to begin with, but she calmed down a bit as the night wore on without any power related mishaps. You weren't really one for fine dining, but this was pleasant. You got to talk cheese with Vlad, and double check some of Mister Fenton's info that Tara shared with the club.
Jazz jumped at the chance to learn more. It looked like having the reality of things brought home so seriously had made her really focused on fixing her ignorance. You could understand that. You'd wanted to learn as much as possible when you'd found out there were things out there that wanted to eat and/or kill you, not necessarily in that order.
After that, you talked about Jazz's training.
"So, what have you been doing this week, Jazz?" she coughed into the stew she was eating a bit nervously.
"Well, Uncle Vlad wanted me to get my phasing under control. So I had to go through my whole day without messing up or breaking anything," she sighed, "that was a lot easier said than done." Mr Masters chuckled.
"Jasmine, I wouldn't have handed you those china plates if I hadn't entertained the possibility that I might lose them. It isn't a big deal." Well, that sounded like an eventful day.
"After I got to a point where I thought I could control my shifting well enough, he added some… interesting methods to my training. I will say that I'll never look at dodgeball the same way again, especially when you don't know where or when the thing is coming."
"In my defense I was always polite enough to yell dodge before tossing." Well, that was certainly… something. Jazz seemed to get the look you were giving, though.
"Yeah, I can see why Jazz might not be totally okay with that."
She gave you a grateful nod before continuing, "I still haven't really gotten the phasing down one hundred percent yet, but I'm doing a lot better than I was on the plane ride!" Which was punctuated by her spoon falling back into the meal. "Yeah, like that. But I'm far enough that we'll be able to start more intensive training sessions." Mr. Masters nodded.
"It will begin with some light sparring, to see where Jasmine's skill level lies. I've prepared a small arsenal of training weapons for the two of you to use during the week," He sipped at the tea he was prepared to go with the meal, "Of course, I will also try and train your own supernatural abilities, Ronald. It would be the least I can do." Yeah, the sounde-
Wait, WHAT?!
"HOW'D YOU KNOW I HAVE THAT?"
"RON HAS WHAT?!"
Both Jazz and yourself were standing towards Mr. Masters, who chuckled into his drink.
"Ronald, I've known ever since the incident that changed Jasmine. Though you didn't know it, I think you used your whatever it is back then. It was… rather obvious from my perspective. Once I knew to look for something, it wasn't hard to find it again. Which is why I'm offering my assistance. After all, you're helping Jasmine and I expect you'll start to grow alongside her regardless of what I do." Well, that made some sense, though Jazz was still looking at you in shock.
"YOU HAVE SUPERPOWERS?! Why didn't you tell me this before?" You shrugged.
"Would you have believed me?" She sighed and deflated with a flat 'no'. It was around then that the green-haired servant brought in your third course. It was a nice slice of pie, with a small, ragged white flag planted in the middle that had eyes and a mouth painted on. You looked up at your host in confusion. He nodded to himself.
"Come on, I've heard this booberry pie is delicious." You chuckled a bit while Jazz looked nonplussed.
"Ron, don't encourage him. He's only going to get worse." You gave a sly grin to your pen pal.
"Oh come on, Jazz. Won't you let yourself have some fun here? Can't you at least give a ghost of a smile for us?" From the other side of the table, Mr, Masters snorted while she rolled her eyes to the heavens.
"I'm going to have to deal with this for a while, aren't I?" Both of you nodded as you dug into the masterpiece. Once that was finished, you said a polite goodbye and headed home so you could finally get some rest.
You had a big week ahead of you tomorrow.
Achievement gained- They See me Rolling (and possibly screaming): Gain a car or similar method of transportation of your own! Reward: +1 Free Time actions.