It's Complicated
Chapter Four
- Twenty Questions
Kim's thoughts were so preoccupied with Ron that, by the time realized she would soon be off to Nebraska, it was 2:39 and Mr. Gordon had already wrapped up his lecture. Kim collected her things and hastened to the front of the classroom.
"Mr. Gordon?"
"Oh, Kim. What can I do for you?"
"Well, I'm going to Nebraska-"
"Spy thing?"
"Um, yeah. Do you think it's possible if I leave a little early?"
"Alright, I'll let you go this time. But I expect double participation next class."
"Thanks, Mr. Gordon."
Kim slid out of the classroom, hoping to avoid any further confrontation with Ron. She walked swiftly outside, dodged around any bathrooms, cut through the back parking lot and into the front of the school where (she couldn't understand why she was surprised) Will stood beside his car. His back was turned away from her, and he hunched over the driver's door as he spoke into the car phone. The parking lot, just before school let out, was quiet.
"Nebraska? Agent Do, this mission is far under-caliber for you."
"I'm aware of this."
Kim huffed, quickly covering her mouth. Will paused, almost distracted, but continued,
"But believe me, Dr. Director, Helicon's engagements run much deeper than Global Justice originally presumed-"
"Your assignment was merely to check the distribution of the lunch meat in the area and return to Headquarters with no hassle. But we've received reports that you've enrolled into Middleton High School, visited the New Mexican Military Science Center and requested radioactive analysis at Global Justice's International Laboratory. Not only that, your unprecedented encounter aided in Dr. Helicon's disappearance. You've put our tracking team weeks behind."
"We have a new lead."
"We?"
Will coughed.
"I, Dr. Director."
There was a pause, giving adequate time for Kim's head to reel. Will wasn't even supposed to be in Middleton?
"If you don't mind me asking," Dr. Director's voice filled the quiet parking lot with her authoritive and sharp tone, "what is so important that you would jeopardize the entirety of this operation?"
He paused quietly and leaned his weight on the car, arms braced against the side as if he were supporting a very heavy weight.
"I just need time. I'll report shortly."
Will leaned on his car with his head buried in his arms, supposedly in pensive thought. Kim took a few deep breaths and, with a concentrated expression, walked over to him. He glanced up in mild surprise.
"Kimberly."
The words came out strange and easy.
"Hey partner, ready to go?"
Will's eyes seemed to relax.
"Quite." He said.
Kim climbed in the car beside him, involuntarily hugging her backpack to her chest and trying desperate not to watch him. Will fiddled with the keys, obviously troubled. There was a very tense silence.
"So…" In the corner of her eye, she could see some of the early dismissals rushing towards the bus, "How was…"
"Kimberly." He looked over and Kim saw (it made her catch her breath) a very sad look in his eyes. His mouth was half-open, as if on the verge of saying something else. Kim knew he wanted to say something else. But instead, Will turned his face away, started the car and backed out of his parking space. Her voice leaped before she could temper herself,
"What?"
"Nothing. I've arranged a helicopter to Nebraska."
"That's all?"
He glanced at her swiftly.
"Where you expecting something else?"
Kim shut her mouth. What could she say?
Will said nothing more and Kim said nothing more, so the drive to Middleton Airport was silent, except for the static and music on the radio. No words were exchanged, still, when they reached the airport and boarded the helicopter. It was, really, much more than a helicopter; bigger, almost jet-like in design and much, much faster. The pilot rambled on to her for a few minutes about it being a prototype from Germany. Kim half-listened. Between wondering about Will and worrying about Ron, Kim really had no time for additional information.
They landed in Nebraska within two hours, on the building across from the deserted Gustav's Lager and Gut Bread factory. It was, simply put, anything but deserted. White smoke emitted from the back chimneys.
"There's a fire escape there." Will broke the silence; his expression had taken on one of seriousness. Kim nodded distractedly.
"Oh, right."
They shot their grappler guns right for the rail from the opposite building; the cable sailed over over a small alley and the barbed-wire fence to the third story fire escape with a sharp clank. As they leapt from the edge in unison, something caught Kim's attention; a field just past the factory gates that stuck out against the corn and barley fields…
"Kimberly!"
It was too late. Kim hit the rail where she should have caught it and bounced backwards in a slow-motion descent towards the pavement. Before she could muster a scream, Will caught her utility belt, jolting enough sense in her to grab the rail and haul herself over.
"Where's your head?" Kim started backwards; he sounded genuinely…angry. His low, serious whisper sent a shiver through her spine, "What would you have done if I weren't here?"
"I…" Luckily for Kim, her answer was cut short by footsteps and voices nearing the dirty fire escape windows. Kim and Will ducked down and out of sight.
"I don't know about this, Shego." Drakken. "It just doesn't seem…oh, how do I put this nicely…evil enough."
"Doc, we've been over this. Sometimes evil doesn't pay the bills."
"It just doesn't seem right to deny my true calling in life. I'm a veteran in the evil business, you know; and with all these young whippersnappers running around, buying laser cannons and thinking they have what it takes for world domination…You can't teach an old dog new tricks."
"Oh, you're not that old, Drakkie."
"I just feel wrinkles springing up like daisies. Do you think cosmetic surgery would be too much?"
"I don't know. I've never considered it."
"And how would I afford it with the highway robbery these doctors are pulling these days…"
"That's why we're doing this." Shego's silhouette appeared right beside the window. Kim held her breath, "You can get your cosmetic surgery, I can get that new jet-ski I've been looking at…heck, we'd probably have enough for some spinning tops of doom or something…"
"Are they really that good? Everyone's been talking about them and that Senor Senior Senior's been getting awfully cheeky…"
Their footsteps trailed away. Will gave Kim a look she decisively chose to ignore.
She forced all of her conflicting thoughts to the back of her mind, taking firm hold of the window's top ledge and hoisting herself up onto the roof. Her companion quickly followed suit, and they scanned the rooftop for a way inside. The largely vacant expanse had several chimneys; although two spouted streams of smoke, the rest were clean. Kim peered down the dark expanse of one; it was particularly narrow. The metal inside of the shaft was cool, indicating no particularly recent use. Kim took a deep breath and climbed inside, pushed her arms and legs out and began to shimmy her way down. A thick black cable sped down past her as Will scaled down the chimney as well.
"Where does this lead?" He whispered.
"Hopefully an old incinerator; that should take us straight into the factory."
Kim wasn't completely right; they dropped into the oven room, apparently through the shaft meant to relieve excess heat. Kim and Will crept through the kitchen and past a long hallway (odd, Kim thought, most of the doors open easily) and to a large room, apparently meant for the bottling and packaging of the lager. All of the conveyer belts were silent, however. In fact, the entire factory was silent.
"No way…" Kim whispered, "This place should be bustling with activity. At least have a few minions or something…"
Will motioned to the security alarm, which had been deactivated, to the dirty floors and the old levers. Despite that it had just shut down, the factory appeared in complete disrepair.
"I think we should split up, Kimberly. Let's cover the circumference and meet in the middle." Before she could confirm his statement, Will started off in the opposite direction. Kim frowned, recovering her stealth and making her way towards the second-level staircase. The silence of the unmoving machines was plainly eerie. Kim squinted up to the second level staircase; it was completely visible from where she crouched, filled with case upon case of clear bottles. There did not see to be any way to the third floor.
What's going on? And why are Shego and Drakken been on the premises if there's no activity?.
She met Will half way around and, once they had climbed into a vent and forced their way back, Will removed another small, silvery device from his pocket.
"My radio isn't picking up any signs of radio activity."
"Wade," Kim whispered, pulling the kimmunicator from her cargo pants, "Looks like Gustav was a bust. Any other leads?"
Wade did not appear on the screen.
"Something's interfering with the signal."
Will checked his wristwatch.
"It's 18:00, Kimberly. We should be returning."
"I guess you're right. Might as well see where this vent leads."
Kim and Will followed each other though the one-way vent and, after several minutes, forced there way into the setting sun. They vent opened on the other side of the factory, where Kim caught a clear view of the fields she had spied before. They were corn and barley fields, stretching out as far as she could see. Kim moved closer, reached through the gate and touched one of the corn stalks.
"Kimberly." Will called. She followed him back to where a helicopter had just arrived on the opposite rooftop.
Once they returned to Middleton, Kim found herself being driven home by Will once again. All of the thoughts she had managed to suppress came rushing back like a tidal wave. Will's mood had improved, yes; he appeared deep in thought about their next course of action, and drummed lightly on the steering wheel, a motion that Kim found oddly…endearing. She shuddered vaguely at the thought.
They pulled up to the Possible house just before eleven o' clock. Kim reached for her school bag in the back seat with a big sigh.
"All these late nights are going to kill me…"
"Please make sure to get some sleep for the best academic performance."
"Will do." she said sarcastically, then paused, "No pun intended."
She looked at her house, porch light glowing in a welcoming, but removed silence. She didn't want to go inside, just yet. Kim fidgeted with the book bag on her lap, and glanced at Will to her left.
"Um, Will…?" He looked at her. "This may be…none of my business but, this mission seems awfully trivial for Global Justice so…why are you here?"
He turned his gaze forward, let his hands relax off of the steering wheel and cut the engine. In the half-lit night, streetlight glow seeping into the car he looked different. In retrospect, despite everything, Kim realized he was different. He was thoughtful and polite; he had lost most of his aloof edge. He looked real, in that strange light, as if she could see depth for all his unrippled surface. Still water runs deep. How had Kim missed that?
Will wet his mouth and looked at her softly, without a word. Kim shook her head.
"Never mind. It's none of my business so…"
"You have…something there…" He leaned in and with the pad of his thumb swept a spot just below her eye. "It's just…an eyelash."
Will was so close Kim had trouble focusing on his face, except for his eyes, glancing between her own eyes, her mouth, and her eyes again. She could feel his hand still near her face, thumb resting gently on her cheekbone making tiny, meticulous circles. Kim didn't know what to do, with Will or with Ron or with Drakken. Most of all, she didn't know what to do with herself. She should be getting out of the car. She should at least be inside by now.
So why don't I leave, she thought.
"It should be easier than this." Will said quietly, "I must be a glutton for pain."
"Why is that?"
Then he kissed her.
Once, quickly and tentatively, then another time, longer. He didn't try anything funny. No tongue, no roaming hands. Kim didn't resist, either. It was as if all mental process had gotten lost between the first and second kiss. Will parted and withdrew a deep breath; he would not look at her, just as well, she wasn't looking at him.
"See ya." Kim whispered.
"Yeah."
She got out of the car and started up the driveway. At the door, while she fiddled for her keys, she could see Will's car still resting in the street, the vague shadow of him with his head on the steering wheel. Kim realized that the door was open and quickly went inside.
What just happened, she asked herself, feeling the horror seeping up through her abdomen and into her brain. That, she thought, did not just happen.
Kim's mom came down the stairs.
"So Kimmy, what happened?"
"N…nothing." She smiled pathetically and darted past her and into her room. And sighed.
"Oh god…"
"KP!" Kim spun around. Ron was relaxing on her bed with a comic, "You're finally back. I've been waiting here for hours."
"By the way, Kimmy!" Her mother's voice echoed from downstairs, "Ron's here!"
Kim's gaze swiveled from the door to Ron several times over.
"So what have you been up to?"
She opened her mouth, but was having trouble answering.
END OF CHAPTER IV!
Alright, so…
Hm…
No, I don't have anything to say. Except that it's not over. Not yet.
Artemis