Hey everyone, sorry for taking so long but a lot of stuff happened in my life pretty much exactly right after the last time I posted. First off, I found my long lost brother I spent 20 years and joined the military searching for. We lived together at my place for a bit, then we moved cross country to live with his family. Wife was nice, the kids were all kinds of rambunctious.

I went out west at first to mountain country and then to the west coast to start up my life without him- dude can't just uproot a whole household on the spot. And finally going back to my native Midwest. I did all that on my tiny chevy spark.

Its been quite a summer. Did you know that shipwrights are still a thing or that you can get some pretty good sushi in Mexico? I did not.

Now on to the actual story… this was fun and very experimental. I guarantee you won't like some aspects- Cough Ron Cough-. But the rest you will. And don't worry, that one unpleasant bit won't last.

Honey pot

Chapter 14- Sherbet

"Okay." Bonnie breathed, looking up the side of a two story yellow painted house. As she backed up a few more feet from the back door, she tried to ignore the fact that the grass really needed to be cut, as it was all kinds of overgrown. Shaking her head Bonnie sighed. "You can do this. You can do this. You can do this."

Bonnie bolted like a greyhound toward the house, gathering speed before she jumped off the ground. Flipping in the air, she landed hands-first as she gripped the railing of the back porch and curled up her legs. Using the momentum of her body, Bonnie kicked out her legs as she pushed off the railing with all the might in her arms, jumping twice as high as she did before with her second flip. With the tiniest amount of space, Bonnie landed on the gutters of the house and, using what little traction she had, jumped to the closest window and caught herself safely on its ledge. Only the tips of her toes were touching the building, and only one hand grasped the wall for support. Without so much as taking a breath, Bonnie opened the window and silently slid into the room.

The room itself was the same one Bonnie hid in less than a day ago, after she found Ron sitting on his bed with Kim's head over his... Bonnie shook her head to clear out the image. Looking around, Bonnie wasn't surprised that it was exactly how she left it. Same beige wallpaper, bland white drawer and carpet, along with a yellow twin bed with its sheets all crumpled up. Just how she left it. Bonnie quickly did a double-take looking for Ron's pet rat and gave a silent relief when she couldn't find it.

Cracking open the door to the second story hallway, Bonnie found no evidence that anything had changed from the day before. Anything that had been on the wall was still on the floor. Bonnie nodded at this, taking it for a good sign, but the moment she tried to step out she heard a loud explosion. Instantly Bonnie shut the door as quickly and quietly as possible.

"What now, more villain crap?" Bonnie mumbled, biting her lip. After a few moments, Bonnie heard nothing but silence. No signs of heat. No evidence of force or pressure. In a town like Middleton, everyone know what an explosion in your building felt like. Pressing her ear against the door, Bonnie only heard more faint explosions and low mumbled screams. "Huh?"

Cracking the door open again, Bonnie was met with the sound of the same loud explosion, but this time Bonnie turned toward it instead of away. Tip-toeing the short distance to the back of the hall, Bonnie peeked down the stairs as another explosion went off from the big TV, now sitting back on its stand. Bonnie couldn't see Ron, but knew he had to be down there. After the explosion cleared, the screen turned to a bunch of Nazis before they were consumed by flames and an achievement named after a bad pun appeared.

"Well, at least the TV works."

Bonnie sighed under her breath as she walked toward the opposite end of the hall. Hopping over the little dresser barricade, Bonnie finally got a look at Ron's old room. In a word, it was tiny. Especially compared to his new digs in the attic that stretched to the length of the rest of the house. But Ron's old room was a whole other level. Bonnie was half sure that her own walk in closet was bigger. Another word would be 'expected'. Lumpy spring bed, stained sheets, filthy carpet, decrepit desk, and an ancient boxy computer. A far cry from the hard wood floor, king sized memory foam mattress, oh and gold plated hot tub in the giant room he lives in now. This was definitely the room of a boy who had openly walked around in public with a live rodent living in his pants for three years, not one of a globe-trotting side-kick or royalty check prince.

"Really glad I didn't bring a black light to this mini-man cave." Bonnie shook her head as she slid her bright yellow fanny pack to the front. Pulling out a couple princess purple latex gloves, Bonnie grumbled. "Tara, I hope I never find out what you have this kit for."

For no other reason than it was right in front of her, Bonnie started with Ron's old TV cabinet. Opening up all the cupboards, she only found a seemingly endless collection of video game cases, with the last filled with retro consoles and controllers piled on top of each other.
Going under the bed, Bonnie found only boxes of old comics. If there was any order to the collection she didn't find it. Bonnie half-heatedly wanted to make a jack-it magazine joke but it just seemed dated. In this day and age everyone got their stuff from their computer, to which Bonnie then turned. It was an ugly piece of hardware. At best mid-90's. Bonnie didn't know what kept the frame together, and its screen was cracked and smudged.

"I wonder if he actually used a pole to fish this out?" Bonnie asked as she turned the ancient computer on. Its screen flickered to life for a moment before crashing hard with a defiant beep. "No way he actually typed it out anyway. Now what's in here-"

Bonnie instantly froze in place as she opened the desk cabinet, because instead of finding old homework, forgotten games, and other random junk like the rest of the room, she found actual garbage. The desk drawer was filled to the brim with open packets of pet food, some of which had a picture of Ron's pet rat as a logo, some bent or broken cages, and what Bonnie could only generously call bowls of ripped newspaper. Bonnie was almost happy when she found some half rotted apple cores and banana peels. At least that was trash Bonnie could identify. As bad as it looked, the smell was worse. Her eyes already watering, in one smooth motion Bonnie kicked the drawer shut as she turned around.

"Noooooo..." Bonnie mouthed as she looked around the room one last time, or rather at anything else really. Bonnie grimaced trying to shake the image and the smell from her mind. Searching for what she hadn't checked yet, Bonnie noticed the closet. "Oh what fresh slob hell is this?"

As she walked over to it Bonnie couldn't help but remember that the one time she saw Brick's closet. It was a glorified trash compactor full of random junk. She had a lingering memory of a deflated human-shaped balloon sitting on the top, and it being the only thing that anyone could pull out without dragging the rest of the closet with it. The few times Bonnie had seen other guys' closets they were usually little better or different. But Ronnie was a globe trotting side-kick that had shaken hands or traded blows with all kids of people around the world. His closet could be filled with literally anything. Readying for the worst, Bonnie held her breath as she opened it... only to bet met with a giant steel door.

"Uh... Ah, panic room." Bonnie said, nodding to the mild surprise on her reflection's face in the shiny metal. It made sense, or rather it made sense now, Ron running to his old room instead of the swanky gold plated one upstairs. Looking to her side, Bonnie found that there was a small numbered key pad on the right of the steel door, its screen glowing a dark neon green. "Its either here or down in the living room with Ro- Might as well check here first. Come on side-kick, I've known you just long enough to know that you've got some brains."

Bonnie looked at the spaces on the key pad, only five.

"PIN code, birthday, social. No. No. He wouldn't do any of that. Doesn't fit anyway. Come on Ronnie, what would you put in there?" Bonnie asked herself. Her best answer was a blank. Bonnie thought again about what Ronnie liked, or at least what she knew he liked. Before she even come up with the answer, she noticed that the shiny surface of the steel door was giving her reflection a fun house effect and focusing on her chest. Raising an eyebrow at this, Bonnie typed in a code. Instantly the screen turned from a dark green to a bright neon, followed by a mechanical woosh sound. "N-no, no way."

"*ACCESS GRANTED.*" The security panel announced, its voice mechanically monotone. "*WELCOME, MR. STOPPABLE.*"

"80085, 'BOOBS'. Seriously?" Bonnie asked, bewildered, as she read the flashing code on the tiny screen. Shaking her head Bonnie turned to the metal wall as she grabbed her own boobs. Her palms held up the pear shaped orbs. Through her reflection, Bonnie saw that even completely spread out, her slender hands couldn't fully grasp them as they sank into the thin purple fabric of her hoody and the firm flesh below it. "Why are guys so obsessed with these?"

Bonnie shook her head one last time as she entered the panic room. It was even smaller. The panic room made Ronnie's old room look like the attic he was living in now. There was just enough room for a foldout olive cot, a bucket under it, and a desk sitting under a monitor built into the wall. There was a book sitting on the desk, but since it didn't have the Hello Kitty print, Bonnie ignored it and looked at the monitor. The screen showed security feeds from all the shared parts of the house, showing the hallways, kitchen, and living room along with the front and back yards. Looking closer, Bonnie could see that the only movement on any of the feeds was coming from the kitchen.

Bonnie instantly slapped her hand over the part of the feed that was moving the moment she recognized the familiar messy blond hair. She did not want to see Ronnie right now. She didn't need it. Bonnie bit her lip as the same ball of unfamiliar feeling swelled, and for a lack of a better word *melted*, in the back of her chest. Shaking her head, Bonnie took a deep breath before she looked back at the screen and, to her surprise, discovered that the feed was paused. Tilting her head at this, Bonnie touched the monitor again and the feed instantly continued.

"Touch screen." Bonnie nodded as she tapped the kitchen camera feed. Once it stopped, Bonnie pulled the section focusing on Ronnie out of sight as she noticed and enhanced a section on the kitchen counter that showed a black, pink, and white box. It was no surprise to Bonnie when it turned out to be the misplaced diary of a middle school girl turned recipe book. Bonnie let out a lazy groan as she leaned against the desk. "Of course... What am I gonna do now? Like hell I'm going down there without some kind of hazmat sui-."

Bonnie stopped herself as she felt the book on the desk brush against her hand. Looking down at what turned out to be a red binder, Bonnie shrugged as she grabbed it. Honestly, Bonnie was curious. She wanted to know what book was so important that the 'too lazy to read the manual' side-kick would keep it in his panic room... Maybe this is where she could make the jack rag joke. Opening up the red binder, Bonnie found she had no such luck.

The beginning of the book was filled with half-baked two man team names written randomly on the first couple pages. Most of them you'd find on Saturday morning cartoons and bad wrestling. Some didn't even make sense. There were too many than Bonnie cared to count but there were a few that managed to stand out: The Terrific Twofer's, Debunking Duo, The Kimtastic Stoppers.

"Okay, that last one was just sad."

Bonnie rolled her eyes as she turned the page and to her surprise she found an index. The words were smudged and the letters were all kinds of blocky and twisted, but she could still read them. It was marked by year, events, adventures, and Ronnie's usual 'sick and wrong'. There was also 'wrong-sick' crossed out below with the word 'no' stretched out in bold next to it. Flipping through the pages and stopping at one in every section, Bonnie discovered it was a scrap book of times throughout Ronnie's life. Specifically him and Kim doing stuff together. There was a title on every page, the same ones at the start of the book.

The 'Terrific Twofer' page was where Bonnie's interest in Ronnie started, Bueno Nacho... Well around 10 years ago at its grand opening, with Ronnie taking a selfie of him being pulled there in a little red wagon by Kim on a bike. Why he actually wanted to remember the latter part, Bonnie didn't know. The 'Debunking Duo' page was about a middle-school-aged Ronnie and Kim at the gate of some mansion. Ronnie had his pet rat in his hand as he took a selfie. The 'Kimtastic Stoppers' jumped straight into their spandex patrol, as it was Ronnie doing a clumsy panicked selfie of him being carried in Kim's arms. There were flying on rocket boots with a giant red robot behind them. There were others' of course, pages of Ronnie and Kim just doing regular everyday stuff, going to the movies, eating lunch, cashing a pay check.

"Wait, Ronnie had a job... and who has actual paychecks anymore?" Bonnie asked as she looked closer at the picture. It turned out to be the cashiers check, not a paycheck. The picture itself was at the First Middleton Bank, Ronnie standing in a line to turn in the check. "I-I remember this."

Moving her hand out of the way, Bonnie saw the full picture of herself not an hour after Ronnie first got the check. Bonnie was in her favorite purple V-neck and matching skirt, her right arm wrapped around Ronnie's while her left hand took the selfie as she winked at the camera. Ronnie's face was bright red as stared down at his arm buried in her chest. The cashiers check was barely in the picture at all, as Ronnie was more focused on her.

"Binary Booty? Yeah, he was definitely running out of names." Bonnie said, reading the title of the page. Flipping it over, Bonnie found the next one blank, as was the rest of the book. "Huh."

Raising an eyebrow at this, Bonnie flipped back through the last few pages, which had to be a few weeks if not a few months in Ronnie's life, but couldn't find any more pictures of herself. Flipping further back a few more pages, then a few more until she had gone through all of them back to the scribbled index, Bonnie found more of the same. There was only one picture of her, no more, and it was at the very end.

It made sense. The whole book was about Ronnie's special time with Kim, from their slowest regular days to their most heroic acts. There was no reason why Bonnie would expect to see herself in it. But if that was true, than why did Ronnie put the selfie of them at the bank together? Even more, it was the only picture without Kim in it. Bonnie stood there, confused, staring down at the last page of herself with Ronnie before flipping to the front of Ronnie's first day at preschool. She didn't understand.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Raaahh, you've gotta be kidding me." Bonnie spat as she turned another corner only to find yet another row of endless parked cars and zero empty spaces, not even the handicapped spots. "How many floors have I gone through and still not a single one? I thought I'd lose my mind to summer heat, not this."

"Why are you even bothering going in the parking structure?" Tara asked, her voice coming from Bonnie's phone on the car's dash. "You had to know it was full."

"Meh, it was either in here or the lot outside which is even more packed." Bonnie shrugged, turning another corner which, if anything, just seemed even more crowded. "So either way I'd be doing laps, but this way I won't die of heatstroke when I come back to my car since it's in the shade."

"There are spots outside but you'd have to walk, like, the full mile in the summer heat." Tara said, Bonnie could hear her friend nodding in her voice. "Deal with all the peo- whoa, I think someone just dropped out there... good call."

"Wait, how the hell do you know all that?" Bonnie asked as she turned up the ramp. This must've been where all the big rigs were parked because both sides were so full it felt like there was barely any room for Bonnie's compact car. "...and seriously?"

"Well the EMT guys are coming over on their golf carts to the red chubby guy drenched in sweat face down in the dirt." Tara answered. "And I got here an hour ago. What took you so long?"

"Uhhh, traffic?" Bonnie bit her lip, cursing at herself for not thinking of something better.

"Wow, are you even trying?" Tara laughed. "Well, I got stuck in traffic too. Someone up ahead lost a wheel. By the time I got there this caped badass was throwing stuff at some pale guy in a purple suit that was running away. We fought for a bit until we learned his mom's named Martha too. Then he took me here on his awesome hovercraft. It had cool wing decorations and everything."

"A timeless Christmas classic and the worst movie ever made. You really are a Bat fanatic, aren't ya?" Bonnie shook her head and turned another corner. "I'm not a super nut but even I know that whole 'Martha' thing sucked. I thought you Bat crazies were against even mentioning it."

"Meh, it's kinda like the Hindenburg." Tara explained. "When something that's supposed to be that great crashes and burns so bad it can't be forgotten, you might as well use it."

"Just as long as you don't tell me about the R-rated fanfic about those two." Bonnie smirked, remembering her time with the blonde on those pieces. Just the memory of the insane pointless plots and impossible proportions they gave the characters made her wince. "Jesus, the lengths alone. I'll laugh so hard I'll probably crash into someone. What'd you call it, yoy or yaah something?"

"Yaoi, actually." Tara laughed. "But people in this part of the world call it slash."

"Congratulations, you've made it so weird I actually want it to work." Bonnie said, a hand over her mouth to hold back the laughs. "How do you know that Wally's even here?"

"My new drone's given me an eye in the sky." Tara answered flatly. "Kinda hard to miss a guy with his own security escort. It's got a cute banner advertising Josh's portrait booth."

"When did you get a drone?" Bonnie asked, turning yet another corner. Bonnie rolled her eyes at the increasingly familiar sight of zero spots open. "And one that can pull a large enough banner for people to actually see."

"Oh, Wade's letting me test it out." Tara answered just as flatly, a bored tone in her voice before Bonnie heard clicking and pressing sounds coming from her phone. Bonnie could only guess Tara had put the controller next to her phone. "Wade wants Kim to have a new robo-buddy. He said it's a huge upgrade over the last one. Trick rockets, sticky cables, a touch screen. The works."

"What, how-" Bonnie stopped as she the dark red taillights of a dark green mini-van lit up. Stopping the car, Bonnie bit her lip as she watched it and she waited for the van to back up, only for it not to happen. The rear lights faded, the doors opened, and the Possible family hopped out. "Of course it'd be them."

Bonnie sighed and leaned back into her chair as she saw the two doctor parents of the Possible clan strut to the back. When she saw the twins follow Bonnie was half tempted to put her car back in gear and mow them down, remembering her short time with them a few days ago. That's of course when Bonnie saw Kim, who, aside from the clear annoyance on her face directed at her brothers, looked fine. Bonnie sat there as she saw the Possible family walk down the stairway.

"Huh."

"Bonnie?" Tara asked. "Hello, earth to Bonnie?"

"H-huh, what?" Bonnie stuttered, turning back to her phone with clear surprise and confusion in her voice. "Nothing. What were we talking about?"

"You're pretty drifty today." Tara teased. "I got me a super drone! Neon indigo bells and whistles all around."

"Cooool." Bonnie said, barely paying attention as she continued down the lane."So cool."

"Oh yeah, definitely drifty." Tara said, Bonnie could hear her friend shaking her head as she said those words. "Cheer up and focus, gold digger. You're new beau doesn't have a pet rat living in his pants... well not in a literal way."

"Uggghhh." Bonnie grimaced, a creeping feeling crawling up her spine at the word. "Please don't say rat."

"So I'm good with mouse, mice, rodent, and Rattus norvegicus?" Tara joked, a teasing laughter in her voice. "...Thank you Google."

"Tara, listen to me carefully." Bonnie said, turning another corner, her voice flat and calm. "You keep this up, you're gonna wake up one morning to find your pillow missing from its case and replaced with something slimy, squishy, and croaking. It'll be frogs, toads, and every swamp rat you could find around because I put'em there!"

"That, that right there Bonnie, is why you're my partner." Tara said, more approval in her voice than fear from Bonnie's threat. "I just can't come up with those zingers like you can. Terrifying and hilarious. Perfect."

"Anyway."

"Anyway," Tara answered, getting back on track. "The profile link Wade sent me has been blowing up with updates about the Middleton Days festival. The latest stuff on the ride at the top of the parking building."

"There's a ri- Wait, he's right on top of me?"

"Crap, that's a great line." Tara squealed. "I gotta write that down with a good fallow up... um, 'that's what she said'?

"Awwww, no. Try, did he ask if was good for me too." Bonnie joked, and couldn't help but smile when she heard Tara let out a hearty belly laugh fallowed by some scribbling sounds. Suddenly the light shining in from outside changed into a darker violet shade for a moment. Turning her head Bonnie instantly stopped her car as she saw the thin triangular membrane of a hang glider disappear as it dived below the concrete wall of the parking structure only to rise again a moment later further away. "Holy crap!"

"Bonnie, you okay?"

"Uhhh, I'm guessing the ride's hang gliding off the top of the building." Bonnie took a closer look at the hang glider that just dived before her, the color wasn't a dark violet like she thought but actually a neon purple. Tilting her head to the side Bonnie also saw none other than the logo for Go-city on the back in its bright orange, white and navy blue. "And apparently anyone with their own hand glider can come and just jump off... wow, they are going to eat him alive down there when he hits the ground."

"Are you talking about the D-bag in the Go-city glider?" Tara asked, her tone between amused and annoyed.

Middleton had always been a city of healthy and heated competition. Whether it was between companies, sports teams, restaurants. Bonnie's own rivalry with Kim for cheer captain wasn't anything out of the ordinary. That competitive spirit only got more intense when it came to other cities. While Middleton had famous rivalries with its close neighbors to the north and south, Upperton and Lowerton, its only real competition in the tri-state area was one city in particular. A true adversary. Middleton's one and only personal arch enemy for many people in both places, Go-city. The guy in the hang glider was rubbing that very arch enemy's pride and colors over a festival celebrating Middleton's proudest achievements. Unless that hang glider flew back to wear it came from, both it and its pilot would get spray painted in Middleton colors and covered with anything people in an amusement park wouldn't mind throwing.

"Oh yeah." Bonnie nodded. "Wait, if Wally's gonna go on one of those things where do they land?"

"Uhhh, hold on. Nightwing will tell me." Tara said, Bonnie could hear more switches flipped and buttons pressed. "The drone's showing me a few landing pads out here but they're all in different spots."

"Damn it! Finding Willy will take all day, if i ever do. Oh, screw it." Bonnie said putting her car back in drive, looking at all her mirrors, and scooting to the nearest opened handicapped spot she could find. "Well, that solves that problem. Glad everyone's given up on this place after the sixth floor. I'll see ya later Tara."

"Good luck on your, um... Movie reference." Tara sighed. "I guess its a drifty day for everyone. Freebe?"

"Its cool." Bonnie smiled, getting out of her car and heading toward the stairwell. "Have fun with the new drone. I gotta ask though, did you chose that name because of the batman reference or because you get to call it 'Dick'?

"Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie." Tara said, mock disappointment in her voice. "You really need to learn how to have your cake and eat it too. Exhibit A. I'm about to test the paintball function by shooting at Go-city D-bag. Hope he hates purple and orange."

"Finally a great one-liner." Bonnie joked as she made it up a level. "You're getting better."

Racing up the last level Bonnie quickly made it to the top and scanned the roof of the structure. Bonnie soon found the line for the hang gliders, Wally himself was not too far from the front, along with his trio of bodyguards. Hard to miss a trio of buff dudes in matching expensive navy blue suits surrounding a whiny rich kid all standing like their waiting for a colonoscopy. At the front of the line were the rows of hang gliders taking up that whole side of the roof, and next to them were guys in flight suits strapping people in before themselves with their hands on the controls.

"Shit. I'll never make it to him." Bonnie sighed as she walked to the closest wall of the roof and looked out at the festival. It was a pretty standard carnival. It had a Ferris wheel, tilt-a-whirl, a few mini-roller coasters. More local company themed games and stands than Bonnie cared to count. Every last square inch jammed packed with people. "What am I gonna do now?"

Looking back up to the sky, Bonnie saw more than a few hang gliders just cruising along and not much later she found the same neon purple Go-City glider from before. It was doing showboating stunts in the air over the crowd of people. Bonnie heard boos and cheers, some even from that very roof she was on. Right up until a teal colored drone pulling a golden banner behind it, obviously fallowing the Go-city hang glider. This time everyone was cheering, no boos were to be heard.

Suddenly the drone started shooting paintballs of all things at the glider, exploding mid-air not much past its target if it missed. It soon got everyone's attention both on the ground and anyone else who wasn't already cheering on the roof, The glider tried getting away but found itself completely outmaneuvered by the drone. Their little dog fight leaving behind a trail of exploding balls of purple and orange mist. After a few more tries getting away, the glider took what looked to be another showboating stunt. Slowly gliding around, heading straight for the drone like a kamekaze run. Only just before it hit, the glider erupted in a bright purple neon flash with the pilot suddenly gone. As the glider slowly and wildly broke off, the drone itself started acting all... weird.

The drone stopped and hovered in mid-air, its banner being advertised more by wind than the drone's flight, while it continued to shoot its paintball volley only to explode into mist a few meters away. Moments after it started spinning, the exploding paint mixed together and morphed into what looked like a brownish cloud just sitting there in the sky. Soon after a thin stack of black smoke started spewing out of its top, giving the whole thing an angry feel. Then, just as suddenly as it all started, the drone stopped spinning and charged forward on the same path before it tried imitating a cloud. It wasn't long before the drone took a nose dive, its decent was fast but controlled. It was a strange thing to look at. The drone diving into puffs of purple and orange mist while black smoke trailed behind.

Then suddenly out of nowhere the drone took a B-line to its right, which by some miracle took it within spitting distance of the GO-city glider on its own slow decent to the ground. Like before that purple flash erupted out of nowhere and the gliders pilot was suddenly back in his harness as he sailed off. Turning back to the drone, Bonnie saw it was still on its controlled decent toward... a bouncy house.

"There's a super in town." Bonnie mumbled before sighing. "Kim's gonna be all over it -Light bulb. Light bulb? I've been hanging around Ronnie and Tara too much."

Joke aside, Bonnie immediately looked around the wall that best oversaw the drone's crash, hoping to spot Prince Wally, but it was completely swamped by the crowd of faceless nobodies who wanted to see for themselves. The veteran cheerleader knew she couldn't push through the mass of people on her own so she was forced to hop on top of the thin brick ledge before doing a few flips and twirls to get around them. During one of the flips Bonnie spotted the Prince himself right at the front of the line about to be buckled in, only to see the pilot, or whatever they were called, pull out his radio with a disgruntled look on his face.

"Okay, that's shut down." Bonnie said as she hopped off the brick ledge to the concrete roof of the parking building on the other side of the stairwell. "Wally's not going anywhere off that."

At her new angle Bonnie could see that the zip-line was still active and sending people down. More than that, Bonnie saw a familiar face from school strapping people in at the front of the line, a half-hearted look on his face. Switching her gaze between bored zip-line guy and an annoyed prince Wally, who was clearly arguing with the hanger pilot, Bonnie smirked as she saw her reflection in the glass wall of the stairwell. Bonnie blew herself a kiss as she saw how tight her princess purple hoody was on her.

"I'm sorry, Sir." The pilot said as he unhooking the harness off of Wally. "Th-"

"I'm not a Sir, I'm a *Prince*." Wally pouted, deliberately folding his arms over the harness. "Show the proper respect.

"Uh, okay." The pilot said, looking past Wally toward his bodyguards for clarification. They gave a reluctant nod. "Well, regardless, because of what just happened the gliders are done for the rest of the festival."

"I did not come all this way and stand in that heat just to be told no." Prince Wally pouted again, swatting the pilot's hand away as he tried again to unfasten the harness. "I swear, if you don't put me in that glider and shove me off this building, I'm going to give you what I call a *Yelp disaster*. Yelp disaster, correct? Am I using that right?"

No one said anything. Not his bodyguards who just continued to just stand there silently, looking stone faced at the corners at the platform for any possible threat. The pilot just continued looking up in bewilderment at the first prince he'd probably met in his life. The few people unfortunate enough to be around him just started walking away.

"I'm pretty sure Yelp is just for food." Instantly the heads of the entire group turned toward the brunette beauty as she strutted up to them. Bonnie didn't fail to notice how every last one of their gazes shifted from her face down to her chest, which she left unzipped to show plenty enough off. The bodyguards were the first to break off and back to their stone faced surveillance. The pilot shook himself out of it shortly afterwards before shrugging and walking away. The Prince himself was practically paralyzed, his wide eyes matching the bouncing of her chest. "Hi, Wally."

"Ba-Ba-" The Prince stuttered, his eyes shifting back and forth from Bonnie's face to her chest. "Bambi, so good to see you again."

"You too." Bonnie said, ignoring that the Prince got her name wrong again, and trying not to grind her teeth under her innocent smile. Tilting her head and changing her sweet grin to an intrigued frown, Bonnie asked. "Something wrong with the hang gliders?"

"Yes!" Wally whined, pointing toward where the drone landed. "After spending the whole day in this hot sun, the one thing I came to America for is right there but these safety obsessed fools won't strap me into a glider and shove me off a building. So I can get down there."

"Prince Wallace," The big bald black leader of the trio of bodyguards said, his tone reserved but firm. "Your father was quite clear that we were to keep you away from any danger."

"My 'babysitters', I believe the correct term was." Wally said brushing off his guards. "They're no help, but mark my words. I am going to where the purple super villain and his killbot is. You three can't stop me."

"Well, Wally, if you want down so much I think the zip line is still open." Bonnie said, pointing to the ride line at the other end of the parking lot platform. Another child was just being strapped in and being sent down the line. Bonnie smirked as she looked the Prince right in the eyes and pulled out something between her breasts The tease was happy to notice Wally's left eye twitch as she did it. "Guess who has two VIP, front of the line, tickets?"

"Uh...um." Wally stuttered, his eyes focused on Bonnie's chest. His gaze lingered on until one of his bodyguards had to tap him on the shoulder to snap him out of it. "W-well, its no hang glider, but I'm up for it. Still something I've never done."

Bonnie allowed her innocent smile to grow into a teasing smirk as she made her way to the zip line, giving a little extra hip action as she went. Bonnie kept that smirk as she made it to none other than Ron Reiger, one of the many shut in nerdlings at the school that tripped over themselves just to get a pretty girl to look at them. Even if the best the boys could do was stutter and wheeze at the girls. Admittedly, Bonnie only knew his name because he shared it with Middleton's favorite side-kick and was good with computers... and exactly the person she needed to let to her to the front of the line with normal tickets to the local movie theater Bonnie just happened to have in her pocket. He also looked at her almost as intently and as openly as Wally, though he didn't have a princely title, looks, money, use, or anything really to balance it out.

"VIPs, step on up." Reiger said, turning away from a clearly annoyed overweight balding man, his eyes squarely on Bonnie's chest. "Please enjoy the Middleton Days zip line."

"Here, Reiger." Bonnie winked, giving Reiger the expired movie ticket, giving him a good look at her chest to boot. Like the Prince just a few moments ago, Reiger's gaze lingered on with him standing there frozen. "Could ya gimmie the harness?"

"H-huh, oh, yeah yeah sure." Reiger said, quickly adjusting his pants and pull his reflective vest better over his crotch. "H-here y-ou y-ou go."

'Classy.' Bonnie thought, quickly pulling the harness away from him and strapping herself in. Reiger's eyes were twitchy and nervous as she did, especially when Bonnie tightened the straps around her chest, pressing her breasts against the thin cotton of her hoody. 'This is for a gullible prince, not a nobody like you.'

"Thanks." Bonnie teased.

"Where does the zip line end?" One of Wally's bodyguards asked, bald leader guy from before.

"About three places." Reiger explained, trying to snap the hook into Bonnie's harness, but with his eyes glued to her chest he kept failing. So Bonnie had to cover up with her hand to get him to focus. "The furthest stop is by the trees next to the snack bins-"

"Go." The bald leader snapped. The even more buff ginger guy instantly ran toward the stairwell, not even bothering to listen to the other options. They knew their charge. "Thank you."

"Well, isn't he just a good worker bee. I suppose I will go to the furthest one. Now Blosso-" The Prince stopped in his tracks, his eyes all but bulging out of their sockets. It was no surprise, the harness showed off Bonnie's physique and curves even more, her hard nipples all but pressing through the thin purple fabric. "...um"

The cheerleader smirked at the dumbstruck Prince one last time before hopping off the roof, blowing him a kiss.

As she descended down the line, Bonnie took in another look at the carnival. It was mostly the same as before, but now there was a small crowd around the bouncy house the drone landed in. The event's security was doing its best to keep the people away as first responders came shuffling in. It wasn't long after that the paramedics came out, pulling kids with them from the play area. The open gold digger had to admit she was relieved when she saw that none of the kids were on stretchers and were walking on their own out of the smoking crash zone. Kim Possible, the resident super hero, wasn't far behind. She was standing on top of an approaching fire engine, of all things, its flashing alarm lights below her feet. When the truck finally stopped, Kim started hosing the deflating castle with foam from something on her wrist, the smoke ceasing almost instantly. Jumping off the truck in a double flip, Kim raced into the bouncy house before quickly coming back out leading a couple of young boys with different colored but matching shirts.

"What are the odds they're all fine?" Bonnie asked as she landed at the halfway platform. She didn't really want to know. Bonnie kept on looking at the now smoldering remains of the castle-shaped bouncy house as the last of the children were pulled out, completely ignoring the volunteer worker hooking her harness to the other line of the ride.

"That was crazy, wasn't it?"

"Huh", Bonnie agreed, turning back to the volunteer. He was a little taller than Bonnie, balding, with brown hair and hornrim glasses. He looked to be around middle aged. The name tag on his reflective vest read 'O.C.' Bonnie had never seen or heard of him before, but it was a big city. Though, Bonnie noticed he wasn't even a little distracted by her appearance. "What happened?"

"I don't know myself." The man sighed, his voice filled with contempt. "Though judging from the history of this place, I'd say a villain tried something before the Possible girl stopped it. Only for it all to crash and burn in the worst place it could. A place filled with kids."

"Y-you think they got hurt?" Bonnie asked, actual concern in her voice. Seducing and manipulating the gullible was one thing, but endangering kids was something else.

"Nah." The man shook his head. "I doubt it. The robot wasn't falling fast enough and bouncy houses are pretty famous for taking hits like that."

"Really?"

"They have to be in this town." The guy explained, folding his arms as he looked out on the crowd. "Every year there's always something. Last year the dang ferris wheel got knocked loose. It was a miracle no one got hurt or died. Still cost the city a fortune. Almost ended Middleton Days for good."

"I heard about the Ferris wheel, but not about ending the event."

"Near thing." The man shook his head. "I've lived in this town all my life, and ever since we got our patron hero it's been shrinking. No one wants to live in a place where costumed crazies blow up and steal stuff all the time. Restoration alone eats up half the city's budget. Hell, that DoomV fiasco a few weeks back ripped up Main Street."

"I know that super heroes are all kinds of annoying, especially the one we have." Bonnie admitted, shrugging. "I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but can you really blame her for all that? I know that Go City has their own team and aren't they doing fine?"

"I don't know much about their team," the man admitted. "but I know that they only lasted a few years before they crashed and burned. Hard. If the Possible girl doesn't retire or leave the city herself soon, she might end up going the same way. Only worse since she doesn't have a team."

"She, does actually hav-"

"Hold on. Next zip liner's coming." The guy said, pointing up the line. Turning around, Bonnie saw none other than Wally on his way down, fully freaking out. The prince was flailing his arms around wildly, his eyes bulging wide, and all but screaming. Actually, screaming was too dignified. The sound coming out of Wally's mouth was more like a panicked whine. The volunteer snickered, pulling his hand away. "Look at this guy."

Bonnie did look at 'that guy' and couldn't help but remember a famous Ronnie Stoppable moment back in freshman year. The infamously clumsy and belt-challenged sidekick was being carried off over the front of the school by a helicopter from a rope, hanging upside down by his ankle, his pants dangling from his other foot, showing off his heart-patterned boxers to everyone around. Impossible to ignore. Even with that exact moment in mind, Bonnie couldn't help but think that Ron had more dignity than the fully clothed and unnoticed Prince Wally.

"You're gonna have to jump off now." The volunteer said. "Only enough room for two."

"Hold on." Bonnie closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. Exhaling, Bonnie stuck out her chest again as she waved to the Prince, bouncing on the balls of her feet. It was actually pretty uncomfortable. The cheerleader wished she hadn't tightened the harness so much. "Hi Wally!"

Instantly the Prince stopped his thrashing, his obvious panic replaced by a frightened smile. He still shifting his arms around in clear fear and trying to play it off as a wave, though. Bonnie ignored that as she blew him another kiss and hopped off the platform.

Going down the second half of the ride, Bonnie spotted Kim jumping back on top of the firetruck before pointing the teal smartphone strapped to her wrist out at the crowd. Bonnie could only guess that the local superhero was looking for the Go City hang glider guy who caused all that... or Tara. Bonnie wasn't worried about her friend, as she was testing the drone out for Kim's tech guy, so she was probably safe.

As she got further down Bonnie noticed the volunteer at the bottom platform, although this one was different. He had on the same reflective vest as the other volunteers, but he had dark purple hair, mismatched purple and black gloves and boots under it all. Oh, and a black domino mask. All that was enough to send up a red flag, but what really set off Bonnie's weirdness alarm was how skinny he was. Like, unhealthily skinny. As a cheerleader who only allowed herself to eat junk food once a month, Bonnie knew what she was talking about.

"Hey there, girlie", the masked volunteer greeted as Bonnie landed. Immediately after her feet hit the ground he started unhooking her. Here was another guy who was not even remotely distracted by her borderline bondage getup. That was weird. "Let's get you off this rope, away from here, and back to the carnival to enjoy the rest of your day. Sounds like fun, right? Right."

"Are you for real?"

"What's not to love about carnivals?" The guy said, pulling off the last of the harness and tossing it into a bin before trying to shoo Bonnie off the platform. "What's not real about that? Go have a blast before the next guy gets down here. Go. Go. Go."

"Just tell me what you did with the real zip line guy. He better be alive." Bonnie said, swatting his hand away as the mask wearing villain started pushing her toward the stairs of the platform. "They're just volunteers, man."

"Wh-what? I didn't- There wasn't..." The purple guy stuttered, looking at Bonnie for the first time, embarrassed confusion on his face. "You must be mistaken, citizen. I am Melvin Go, zip line guy."

"Wow, most super villains don't even bother with disguises and secret identities in this town, but you're taking it to a whole new level." Bonnie shook her head, pointing to his face. "You're still wearing a mask, dumbass."

"Wha-" Melvin said, patting his face with his hands before sliding them down, clearly annoyed. "There's always that one thing."

"Try everything. You just put on a vest." Bonnie pointed out, gesturing to the reflective 'disguise' covering his chest. "If you're here for Kim, she's over on the fire trucks looking for you."

"I remember her, she's bossy. No. I'm here for the only real VIP in this nowhere town." Melvin said, pointing back up the zip line. Bonnie followed and saw Prince Wally panicking like before as he made his way down, this time in a little ball with his head buried between his knees and his eyes closed. "Yes! A prince like that is totally gonna want a super bodyguard. Hey, Little Miss Nobody Girl. Unless you're gonna get some pom poms and cheer me on, get out of here."

"Nobody." Bonnie hissed. "Hey, super wannabe, Princy boy's got his own guards already. The best royalty can buy. They'll probably beat the crap out of you for the job security alone."

"Phhhh. Nameless suits." Melvin waved a hand. "I've handled actual supers."

"Maybe," Bonnie smirked. "but the fighting is gonna attract Miss Bossy. And after the drone incident you caused... she's not going to be in the mood for talking."

"Sonavah..." Melvin scowled at the smug Bonnie, the two staring at each other for a moment before the same blinding purple light appeared in the villain's place before disappearing. Looking around, Bonnie saw nothing until she turned her gaze down and saw Melvin, no larger than a toy, crawling out of the reflective vest. "This isn't over."

Bonnie had seen a lot of strange things in Middleton since it got its own hero, but a man shrinking before her eyes, his squeaky voice rattling in her head as he ran off was something new. But Bonnie had no time to think about it as she heard the prince's harness approaching. Turning around, Bonnie caught the prince as he hit the center of the platform. Wally himself was still in the fetal position, doing his best to pretend he was somewhere far away.

"Hey, Wally." Bonnie greeted, her voice chipper and sweet. The prince just continued to shiver in his little ball, completely unaware that Bonnie was standing there. "Oh boy. Wally, oh Wally. You made it."

"Huh?" Wally asked, peeking out from his knees at Bonnie. The cheerleader tried her best to keep her welcoming and innocent smile instead of rolling her eyes as the prince grabbed hold of the line and slowly and nervously lowered his legs to the ground. "W-well, wasn't th-that ex-exhilarating? Th-though it's no contest compared to hang gliding. I'm a little... disappointed we didn't get to do that."

'Crashing the Ferris wheel loose, diving into a deep fryer, or tangling in power lines, I'm sure you'd disappoint the pilot into killing you both.' Bonnie thought, taking in a breath. "Next time. I'd love to see you do all sorts of amazing stunts."

"I-indeed." Wally stuttered, turning back to the zip line before shifting to Bonnie, his eyes instantly darting to her chest. "O-oh, you took off the harness awfully fast."

"It was a little tight." Bonnie allowed herself to admit to the prince as she stuck out her chest at him. Bonnie smirked as she felt the zipper in the front slide down from the pressure and Wally's eyes all but bulging out from his head. The gold digging cheerleader winked. "What do you want to do next?"

"Uh... um."

"Prince Wallace." One of Wally's bodyguards announced, running up to him with phone in hand, the same bulky ginger guy from before. "It's your father."

"Oh, what now?" Prince Wally asked the bodyguard, his eyes still glued to Bonnie's chest.

"Wedding arrangements." The bodyguard answered, handing Wally the phone. "He said he wanted your opinion on something."

"Wedding?" Bonnie mumbled.

"Oh, it's nothing, Barbara." Wally waved a hand, his eyes *still* focused on her chest. "Could you please give me your number? I'd like to spend more time with you while I'm still in America."

XXXXXXXXXX

"What am I doing?" Bonnie asked herself, defeated disbelief in her voice as she slowly, painstakingly, inched her car up the Stoppable driveway until it was all but touching the garage door. Turning to the window that overlooked the living room, Bonnie saw the flashing lights coming off the TV shining through the drapes. Taking in a deep breath, Bonnie dropped her head on the steering wheel. The exhausted Queen Bee honestly just felt like sitting there until the end of time before another round of chimes erupted from her phone. Painfully inching her gaze to the car's dash, Bonnie saw email alert after email alert. Some she didn't know, most she did as they were the same people from before. Some unanswered replies piling up into the double digits. The high pitched chimed alerts sounded like nails on a chalkboard to the cheerleader as she exhaled. Setting the phone to mute, Bonnie stepped out of her car. "What I have to."

Bonnie felt her phone vibrate as she slammed her door shut, its screen swapped to a bright blue with a golden yellow star in the middle. It was a text from Tara wishing luck and asking for pics. Bonnie actually smiled at this, promising nothing. Bonnie happily shook her head at the winking smiley face emoji. Putting her phone away, Bonnie lost her smile as she forced her way to the front door. She tried to open the door only to find it locked. Too tired to find relief that the walking sack of money finally managed to remember to do the bare minimum security, Bonnie kicked over the Hello Kitty welcome mat for the spare key.

"You can do this. You can do this. You can do this." Bonnie mumbled to herself as she opened the door. It was much better than Bonnie expected, even cleaner than the short peeks she managed to grab that morning, though the TV was now showing a black and white space show instead of a video game. The rest of the room was surprisingly clean. The carpet was visibly vacuumed, all the broken picture frames and broken lamp were gone, the couch was flipped upright and wiped clean. Even the smashed coffee table was somehow good as new. Though Bonnie could see that the unexplained damage control was only in that singular room. Looking up the stairs and down the halls, Bonnie could see the rest of the house was just as smashed and ruined as the last time she was there, if not worse. "What?"

Ding!

By reflex alone, the cheerleader did a back flip from the surprise of the alarm and landed on the other side of the couch, crouching behind it. Bonnie could feel her chest pounding, a creeping claw of fear scrape up her back at the thought of an actual super villain in the house. As thanks to a certain city hero, Bonnie had been around enough of those costumed crazies to know what a 'warming up' alarm on a death ray sounded like. But instead of the raving rant of a power hungry madman, Bonnie heard off-key humming of a song she didn't recognize. Instead of the smell of smoldering human bodies or burning steel, Bonnie could smell the scent of golden crisp food. Peeking out from the couch, Bonnie could see the a familiar pale arm flip a frying pan over the kitchen stove, while the other reset the little alarm clock.

"Oh thank god." Bonnie sighed relieved as she walked over, but instantly stopped as she made it to the counter. "Whoa, spoke too soon."

It was probably the worst room in the house. Everything in the kitchen was covered in something Bonnie could only identify by colors and smells, all of it greasy. The floor had bits of discarded foodstuffs laying around. The fridge was both empty and open. There were garbage bags laying in the far corner, filled with something Bonnie could only describe as 'lumpy'. Ronnie's pet rat had burrowed a hole into one of them. The rodent was sleeping on the side with a swollen gut, full to the brim.

Bonnie was afraid to look but forced herself to turn to Ronnie... and it was so much worse than she thought. The millionaire side-kick was covered in flour from head to toe, flipping random pieces of food in the same frying pan mumbling 'making pancakes' over and over, completely oblivious to her presence. Oh, and he was naked. Not even a pair of saggy tighty whities or a kitchen apron to cover the goods, which Bonnie herself did her best not to look down at. The flour giving his body a snow-white halo look, the dead eyes staring into nothing, the repeated futile actions with matching nonsensical mumbling while completely ignorant of the world around him - all and all, Ronnie looked like a ghost.

"Ronnie. Oh Ronnie, you okay?" Bonnie asked, dropping a dirty paper plate over the rodent as she walked into the kitchen. The side-kick only stirred the frying pan over the deactivated stove, mumbling about pancakes as a response. Getting a closer look at his face, even through the flour and the remains of vomited gunk under it, Bonnie could see how dead tired the side-kick looked. The cheerleader wouldn't be surprised if Ronnie hadn't gotten any sleep, and she figured he would only get worse if she didn't do anything. Grabbing an oven mitt, Bonnie took a deep breath. "You're not gonna enjoy this but I did warn you."

Bonnie slapped him as hard as she could... and it did nothing. Like, at all. It wasn't just that Ronnie didn't notice her, it was that her strike didn't disrupt his little routine in the slightest. Now Bonnie was never a bodybuilder, but she went to the gym twice a week and from her time as a cheerleader she could easily hold up and balance someone on each arm. Even through the padding of the mitt there should have been something. The only evidence that she had so much as touched him was that there was less flour on his face.

"Okay, he's stronger than he looks." Bonnie sighed as she was about to slip off the oven mitt, only to stop when she heard the theme song to 'Pals' in the pile of Ronnie's clothes next his pet rat. Fishing out the side-kick's phone, Bonnie saw it was none other than a voicemail from his parents reminding him of their return later in the week. "Oh great, just another thing to add on my sh-it show list. Come on Bonnie, think... I got nothing. Screw it, time for back up."

Bonnie tossed away the oven mitt and texted the other blond in her life the situation. Bonnie didn't have to wait long for her reply, only it was a call instead of a text. Bonnie shook her head at the familiar ring tone of space unicorns as she answered.

"Bonnie, how'd you end up like this?" Tara asked, amused disbelief in her voice. "It's like a weird mix between a Nickelodeon sitcom and a Thrones plot. I wanna say Littlefinger, but it doesn't sound right."

"Tara, think with the non-fangirl part of your brain. This is real life... -ish." Bonnie smiled, rolling her eyes. "I could really use your advice."

"Yeahhh, sorry." Tara said, her tone amused and completely unapologetic. "I can only offer super weird bad fanfic advice."

"I'm just desperate enough to go for it."

"First off... is Ron really that bad?" Tara asked, curious concern in her voice. Bonnie switched to Facetime and showed her the side-kick in his greasy, floury glory. "Oh, wow. I don't know which Christmas ghost he is but yeah. Bad. What... exactly happened to him?"

"Ugh." Bonnie sighed, turning the screen and the feed back to herself. Bonnie could see the familiar golden wavy hair and girl-next-door face of Tara. The gold digger couldn't help but notice that she wasn't at the carnival anymore, or at her home, but someone else's. Tara's hair was frazzled, her make up was a bit smudged and the only thing covering her from the chest down was someone else's plaid blanket. Looking a little closer Bonnie could see someone else's hand behind her and the lump under the blanket next to her was breathing. Finding herself *very* jealous of her best friend, Bonnie decided to ignore it. "I don't wanna get into it right now. Just focus."

"Alright, but first I need to know what exactly you want."

"I need him... not this." Bonnie slapped a hand over her face in frustration. "Okay, I need him not completely pathetic. I know that's a tall order for him but... I'm getting off topic. I'm just going back to not this."

"Wow, it must be really bad in person if Ms. One-liner can't even put it into words." Tara raised an eyebrow, but as she was about to say more, the lump under the blanket groaned and turned over. Tara looked over at the lump before turning back at the screen with a shushing gesture as she got up off the bed and went into the nearby closet, leaving the blanket behind. Surprisingly enough, the only things in the closet were a winter coat and a T-shirt. "Sorry, I'm in the close-"

"Please don't make any 'in the closet' or 'coming out' jokes. I'm not in the mood."

"Well, you're in a mood." Tara smiled back apologetically as she slid on the T-shirt. "Okay, you need Ron to recover. That means getting him to sleep. Now, standard crazy fanfic trope protocol is to drug him. He's a side-kick so you'll want the extra strong stuff. Is there a first aid kit arou-"

"Okay, I'm gonna stop you right there Ms. slash fangirl." Bonnie said holding up a finger in front of the screen. "I've helped you with enough Lemon shots to know where this is going. You either want me to A- force feed him enough sleeping pills so he passes out, so roofie. B- I somehow get him to splooge and knock him out that way, so bad touch. C- Cover his mouth with something and suffocate him, which is its own sick and wrong. Or D- all the above. Which, by the way, would be done to a garbage-covered and naked 'almost in a coma' guy."

"...Oh, wow." Tara whispered, her eyes nearly crossing. "When you say it like that it really does sound bad... How many fics did we write where that was the plot?"

"Please focus." Bonnie said looking up from the screen at the flour and grease covered side-kick, still completely oblivious to her as he flipped the contents of the frying pan on the floor this time. "I've got a real problem here."

"The fact that it was the girls doing it to the guys... does that make it better?"

"Tara." Bonnie seethed, doing her best to hold back her temper. "Do you have any advice that doesn't involve date rape?"

"Right. Right. Right." Tara breathed, shaking her head. "Sorry about that. Okay, I'm dropping the crazy fanfic stuff. Go full loony tunes."

"What does that even mean?"

"It means you grab a rolling pin or something and smack him on the back of the head." Tara explained, complete with a swinging motion. "Knock him out that way."

"So we've graduated from date rape to physical violence." Bonnie rolled her eyes. "And in a way that might actually kill 'em. Great."

"That, that right there, is part two why you're my writing partner and BFF. You poke holes in my crazy ideas. Keep me from getting too outlandish." Tara smiled, poking the air in front of the camera. "Now comes part three, you gotta find someway to make it work."

"Make what work?" Bonnie asked, all but at her wits end. "The only thing you've told me how to do is go to prison and screw this poor guy up more than he already is."

"Well, the other two options. You could call Kim and have her deal with this." Tara eyed Bonnie through the screen with a wink. "Option two, you could just let his nervous breakdown run its course until he passes out right there. But this is a guy who travels around the world on a weekly basis and we can only guess is awake during all that time- he is. So who knows how long that'll be?"

"Oh god."

"I recommend the frying pan thing." Tara said, jokingly crossing her eyes as she patted the T-shirt's coat hanger against the back of her head. "This is a guy who gets blown up almost on a daily basis. He can handle it."

"I... I really need find someone else for advice."

"Yeeaahhh..." Tara shrugged. "Good luck."

As the feed cut out, Bonnie forced herself to look at Ronnie. The side-kick was the same as before. Still as pale as a specter. Repeating the same motion like a broken robot. Staring off into nothing like a lifeless mannequin. Mumbling the same nonsense like a bad recording. For all intents and purposes, Ronnie was a ghost. Now, Bonnie never liked Ronnie. Honestly, she still didn't. The cheerleader treated him like the village idiot, which he kind of was. Bonnie could count on one hand the number of times he came to school with no pants in the last year alone. As long as she had known him, Bonnie had gone out of her way to mock and avoid Ronnie whenever she could. It took Ronnie actually saving her life along with the rest of the cheer squad for her to give him a half hearted compliment.

Seducing him. Using him. Manipulating and exploiting the side-kick however she could was one thing. Taking advantage of the stupid and gullible was always up for grabs... but physically harming him? Bonnie was never a violent person. She never cared for action movies, and fighting the costumed crusade was for the psychos that actually enjoyed it. Even at school, whenever some idiot got physical Bonnie was usually the first one to report it. Even if it was to the teacher she just blew moments ago for a free A on a book report so she could blackmail him later for a test.

But there he was. A ghost of a man, broken. Sure, Bonnie had already slapped him. Even without the oven mitt, it wouldn't have done any actual damage. Bonnie had the answer to her problem. The way to her goal. But it involved taking that last step. Hurting Ronnie. Possibly for good. She didn't know. Could she do that? Would she do that?

GONG

Bonnie's eyes went wide as she snapped back to reality. Ronnie laid there, passed out at her feet. His eyes were open and spinning and his tongue was hanging out. She realized he was drooling on the floor.

Looking up, Bonnie saw none other than Ronnie's pet rat standing upright on the kitchen counter,
holding the very frying pan Ronnie had been using not a minute ago. It looked down at its master before looking at her. The expression on the rodent's face almost looked... regretful. In a very human-like movement, the rodent shook its head as it dropped the frying pan with a loud thud before jumping off the counter and out of sight.

"Kim." Bonnie's gaze darted down to the fallen side-kick. His eyes were still unfocused but they had stopped spinning. His eyelids fluttered. "Kiiim, what hap... Why?"