Ron Stoppable: Thou Shall Not Kill
By: MouseKappaSig (aka: Joe Dave)
Chapter 2: A Major Sitch and Guidance
"Kim...Kim, wake up. Don't even think of letting go. Wake up," pleaded Ron as he climbed into the Black Hawk Chopper.
"Sir," the field medic interrupted, "sir, you have to move there isn't enough room for you back here, and I need to tend to her wounds."
"B-But I..."stammered Ron taken aback at the order he was just given. "I have to..."
"I said MOVE!" shouted the medic and throwing Ron towards the front of the chopper returned to treating Kim as best he could.
Ron was awakened abruptly by the sound of Kim's parents entering the room followed by her twin brothers she referred to as the Tweebs. Mrs. Dr. Possible rushed forward and had enveloped Ron in a vice-like hug before he could even register completely what was going on or even where he was. That was until the ominous beeping of Kim's heart monitor dragged Ron's attention kicking and screaming back to reality.
"Oh Ronald, thank God. How's Kim," asked Mrs. Dr. Possible loosening her hold on the boy.
"I...I don't know...the doctors said she would be fine in the end...but..."Ron began, "but she hasn't moved since they finished the surgery. And ..."
Ron's eyes began to fill with tears as he continued, "and she has all these tubes and machines..."
Mrs. Possible pulled Ron back to her chest, "Shhh...Ronald its going to be ok. No one blames you, least of all us. We know how much Kim means to you.
Mr. Possible approached his wife and Ron, but turned slightly going between Kim's bed and the two. Taking Kim's hand he knelt beside his daughter, her best friend, and his wife. His mouth opened and closed several times but when nothing came out he turned to Ron and patting the boy on the back gave him a wordless thanks. The Tweebs, Jim and Tim, stood perfectly still and watched as time stopped in the little room with nothing but the constant beep of the heart monitor perforating the silence.
Two weeks had passed since Kim's surgery and she still had not waken. On the bright side her heart beat was stronger as was her breathing, she was responding to light but as far as all CAT and MRI scans were concerned there was little hope of Kim waking today or by the dance witch was only three days away. A fact that had Ron beyond bummed, not to mention over half of Middleton High. Even Monique couldn't bring Ron out of his thoughts. He even passed up tickets to the GWA which told everyone near him that he was in it deep. To top it off everyone seemed to be avoiding Ron's gaze as if they were trying to keep from infringing upon what some were calling his own personal funeral march. Everyone except Bonnie, the brown haired bimbo made it her own personal goal to remind Ron every time she saw him that she considered him to be useless and on one occasion even blamed him for Kim's condition.
"HEY LOSER! YOU KNOW THE ONLY REASON KIM HASN'T GOTTEN BETTER IS BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T WANT TO SEE YOU. THAT'S RIGHT, YOU'RE THE REASON SHE'S STAYING IN THAT COMA," mocked Bonnie.
She never saw what happened after that, but Mr. Barkin did. All Bonnie knew was that she woke up in the nurse's office with a black eye and bloody nose.
"Why did you do it Stoppable?" Mr. Barkin demanded, "ANSWER ME!"
Ron never moved, he gave no hint that he was even listening. His eyes were glued to his still balled up fist and to the bit of Bonnie's blood that was coagulating on his knuckles.
"STOPPABLE, ARE YOU LISTENING?"
"..."
"Fine, Stoppable. You leave me no choice. You are suspended for a week, you will not be allowed to attend the dance and I will be phoning your parents."
"Is that all," Ron said in a tone that told everyone he couldn't care less.
"No. It's not, Stoppable...I want to know one thing."
Ron stopped and shot him a glance as he turned the door knob. "What would that be?"
"How did it feel? Was the juice worth the squeeze?"Barkin smiled.
"Every. Last. Drop." Ron replied smiling as he closed the door behind him.
"So your not grounded?"asked Wade, "Man if I did that I would be on the receiving end of the longest lecture know to man. Not to mention the years of grounding I would receive, but I guess your 'rents understand why you did it."
"Yeah, I think Barkin did too. Something about his smile when he asked me if it was worth it." mused Ron as he watched his computer screen where an image of Wade stared back.
"Interesting. So you heard anything new about Kim?"
"Nothing you don't already know...unless you have something"Ron replied hopefully
"Nope, sorry ma...hold on"
Wade fell silent as he messed around on his computer before turning back to face the now confused looking blond.
"We just had a hit on the site. Its from ...FRUGAL LUCRE AND COMPANY!"
"Say what?"
"Hold on Ron, streaming the video..."
A moment later Wade's face was replaced by that of the sniveling Frugal Lucre, along with Drakken, Shego, and Monkey Fist standing behind him.
"Greetings Vorld. For zose of u whoz don't as of yet know mine name, I am FRUGAL LUCRE," bragged the pathetic excuse of a villain in his fake Russian accent. " Mine comrades and I..."
"OH for the LOVE OF CHRIST! WILL YOU STOP THAT AND TALK LIKE A HUMAN," snarled Shego as she grabbed the back of Lucre's chair with a hand engulfed in green flames.
"AH...y-yes. As I was saying, I and my comrades are now prepared to take the world as our own. We, that is to say I, have created a computer virus that upon its activation will shut down every last piece of medical equipment in the world, respectively killing everyone on life support and severely reducing the chances for survival of anyone in an ICU around the globe. Also with the loss of all medical databases the search for curses to diseases like AIDS, cancer, and the Ebola virus, will be crushed as the total collected knowledge is lost forever...And thats just phase one."
There was a pause in the action on the video as Dr. Drakken stepped forward to take center stage.
"Yes," Drakken coughed clearing his throat, "Phase two of our devious scheme is this. Once the virus has shut down all medical equipment it will change its prime directive and begin a countdown that upon reaching zero will launch five Nuclear Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles from each county that has them. This will of course kill 90 percent of the global population. Those of you that survive will be given what medical attention is available. Sadly many of you will still not survive, leaving my self and my colleagues to rule over the few 100 thousand or so that are left. And with the rest of the world destroyed, we will be free to rebuild it in our image. So sorry."
With that the video ended and Wade reappeared on the screen.
"Do you have a trace yet Wade?" Ron asked.
"Not yet. The signal was bounced off every satellite in orbit. It's gonna take some time to track down but Ron...," Wade replied as he let his fingers fly over the keyboard.
"I know Wade...Kim."replied the blond dryly, "find out where they are and let me know as soon as you have anything."
"Will do...and Ron..."
"Yeah"
"We will stop them..."
"I know." sighed Ron looking at his alarm clock, "but it's late so I'm gonna get some sleep. Im gonna go see someone bright and early tomorrow. Night Wade."
"Night Ron," answered Wade before his image clicked off the screen.
Ron awoke at 5:00 am the next morning. Had it been a normal day he might have gotten up around 6:30 and that was only if he wanted to be early to school. Being suspended he had no reason to get up this early, but he wanted to talk to Rabbi Katz and temple was at least 8 miles away. Yawning, he stretched and slithered out from under the covers and out of bed. The cool carpet caressed his feet as he planted them down and stood. Crossing the room he grabbed a shirt and some cargos, walked out his door, down the hall and stairs, through the kitchen and out the door into the cool dawn. Rufus never even noticed him leaving as he was asleep in an open sock drawer.
By the time Ron arrived at Temple the sun was already long into its route across the sky. It had to be at least 9:00 he thought to himself. Rabbi Katz would be in his office finishing some sort of paperwork or something; Ron was sure that he would have time for a long talk. And with that, Ron crossed the threshold of the sacred building and after knocking walked into Rabbi Katz's office.
The office was nothing special, it was just like any one could see at any law office. Four walls, a window behind a desk that was littered with random papers and trinkets, and a book shelf that took up most of the far wall. Despite the rather plain appearance of the room its atmosphere was welcoming and warm. Rabbi Katz sat at his desk with his feet propped up on top of it. In his hands was a book titled, "The Endless Waltz of Good an Evil." Upon seeing Ron enter the Katz marked his place and setting the book aside smiled up at Ron.
"Good morning Ronald," Rabbi Katz greeted with a smile, "I was wondering when you were going to make an visit. I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to come by. Pull up a chair. How are you my boy?"
Ron took a seat and sighing began to explain what was on his mind.
"Rabbi Katz, what do you know about life and death?"
"Well my dear boy...that all depends on what it is you wish to know. Are you worried for yourself or...are you worried about Kim? Or maybe you have something else on your mind. Hmmm? Like maybe the whole incident at school yesterday."
"...", Ron's mouth hung open in disbelief.
"Yes I know about yesterday, and about miss Possible. In fact there isn't much about you I don't know Ronald, you mother and father do an excellent job at keeping me in the loop. And while what you did yesterday may have had a very fulfilling feeling to it, you know that as a...Man...that it was not right. But im not going to lecture you. You have questions and I believe I can answer some of them."
"U-ummmm. Y-yeah. Rabbi...I was wandering what the Almighty said about..."
"Death? Ronald the Almighty said that we should not fear death, but embrace it as it is his way of calling back those He deems ready to return to Him. Your friend..Kim...is very dear to you and it's only natural to question His choice, but Ronald,...you must never doubt that His plan will not work out for the best."
"But Rabbi Katz. I can't see the good in His plan. I see all these people suffering on the news everyday, I see the diseased of the world cry out and never receive any help. Then there are people like Drakken and Charles Manson who deserve worse than death and...it never gets any better. I'm beginning to question if God even cares anymore, or worse still if He even exists."
Rabbi Katz stroked his beard and thinking a moment replied, "Those are awfully mature thoughts. And I too had them when I was your age. Why does God let everything happen on the earth as it does? Why not just step in and fix everything. If he was Almighty then why did he do nothing? My boy to this day I have yet to figure out what His plans are for me let alone the rest of the world. All I can tell you is that God works in mysterious ways. And then you have to remember that God gave man Free Will, the ability to know right from wrong, to choose to follow Him or to forsake Him. So...If man has all these things then why do we still have problems. Because Ronald, unlike you most people have taken a different path, one that is easy but full of sin. You and your friend Kim chose the path that many are afraid to tread as it offer very little along the way but promises. Promises that you can not see or perceive but have to keep faith that they are there. It's a hard thing to do in this day in age. Who knows, if the Almighty feels it necessary and fit to call your Kim back to Himself then there is nothing you can do but rejoice in the knowledge that she is with Him in his Kingdom, but remember, in this life God will test your soul. This may be but one of many tests in your life. Now,...Is there anything else Ronald?"
"Yes,"Ron replied weakly, "oh how do I say this...you see...there were...some people involved in Kim getting hurt. They felt no remorse in what they did. They even laughed about it..."
"Ah... the old need for revenge. It's natural to have such feelings when a situation such as your's is involved, but you must not act on those emotions as to follow them to the extent I believe you are thinking would break one of His sacred Commandments, Thou Shall Not Kill. And Ronald, even though we as Jews do not recognize Jesus as the messiah he did have a pretty good handle on the whole revenge thing. I believe if I'm not mistaken he said, "judge not..lest you be judged." Is there anything else my boy?"
"No Rabbi. That's all I needed," answered Ron.
"Very well Ronald. Think about what I said. And for heaven's sake boy, don't be a stranger. Now run along, Im sure you have something better to do than to listen to a old man all day,"smiled Rabbi Katz as Ron left his office.
It was well past noon when Ron left the Temple, the words of Rabbi Katz echoed in his mind as his feet carried him automatically down the road.
"Ron...can I get your order,"Ned asked again pulling Ron out of his musing.
"Oh sorry Ned...ummm. Two nacos, a burrito, and large coke."Ron said surprised that he was in Bueno Nacho.
Ron payed got his food and took a seat at the same booth he, Kim and Rufus had shared all those weeks ago. They felt like an eternity to the blond, who prodded a naco with his finger until it fell apart, that they had all been happy and talking about prom, when his biggest problem was Kim dragging him all through the mall. It was 8:00 pm when Monique walked in and woke him from his daydream, his food had long since gone cold and uneaten.