Spoiler Disclaimer: Same as Chapter 1
"Is this supposed to be the entrée?" Kim asked, sliding into her usual seat beside Monique in the Middleton lunch room. "I mean, it looks like pudding."
"The newspaper said it was 'turkey surprise'," Monique replied, munching on a carrot stick. "Turkey pudding... now that's a surprise."
Kim's nose scrunched up, and she sniffed her lunch tray dubiously. "If this is turkey, how come I can smell seafood?"
Monique silently pointed to the senior's table. In a glittering silver service bowl that more closely resembled an ornate medieval chalice than the utilitarian food service bowls the high school ordinarily used, a heaping selection of fancy seafood - she could see the red carapaces of boiled lobster tails even through the mounded concentric rings of peeled shrimp - held pride of place in the center of the table while the seniors and the star athletes snacked on the glorious offerings. "Fruits of the Sea," Monique commented dryly. "Nothing but the best."
Groaning, Kim pushed her tray of culinary mystery away from her. "I can't wait to be a senior," Kim sighed, munching on a dinner roll, which alone of her lunch offerings appeared to be edible.
A series of beeps from the depths of the side pocket of her pants caught her attention. "The day's looking up. Maybe I won't have to eat this after all." Drawing out her Kimmunicator, Kim initiated the connection and asked, "What's Drakken up to this time, Wade?"
"Drakken?" Wade asked in puzzlement. "Who said anything about Doctor Drakken?"
"He has been just about the only villain we've heard from in months," Monique commented dryly. "You mean he's not why you called?"
"Last I heard, Shego was still sunbathing in the Bahamas. I doubt she'll break Drakken out of prison before she runs out of money or she gets bored. Drakken's safely on ice for a while."
"Glad to hear it," Kim smiled, "I can use the break. So what's the sitch, Wade?"
Wade smiled back. "No emergency, just a status update. I know you have lunch this hour, so I thought it'd be safe to interrupt." He abruptly stopped speaking, and appeared to lean closer to the camera. "Whoa... What is that?" he asked, staring at Kim's lunch tray.
"Turkey surprise," Monique repeated with a grin.
The Kimmunicator abruptly sprouted a dozen sensors and probes as Wade's fingers danced on his keyboard. "Want to know what the surprise is? I'm kind of curious myself."
"Please don't," Kim requested, without much enthusiasm. "I'm going to try to eat it, I think. Leave me some mystery. It's hard enough to sleep, knowing what I know about the meatloaf..."
The probes retracted and Wade shrugged. "Let's hope anything's possible for a Possible. Even surviving... that."
"So, all joking aside, what's really up?" Monique asked. "What update did you mean? Like I said, things have been fairly quiet, except on the Drakken front."
Wade smirked. "True, but Kim, remember about six months back, your trip to Bear Hollow?"
"How could I forget?" Kim asked rhetorically. "By the time I left, I met everyone in town and most of the nearby vicinity, and had to turn down invites to four church socials and a quilting bee. Not to mention the two marriage proposals..."
"Um," Monique cleared her throat to interrupt. "Why don't I remember this? Sounds like it was a hard mission to forget."
"We gave you a pass on that one, Monique," Wade explained, "because of your mother."
"Luckily for you," Kim added. "Monkey Fist had been there and gone before I even arrived, so it was all a waste of time. So this is an update on Monkey Fist?"
"Exactly," Wade nodded. "I finally learned why he's been so quiet lately."
"Oh? Why?" Monique asked, leaning closer to get a better look at the tiny screen.
Wade clicked his mouse, and a photo of a rather bland looking man in a suit and tie was briefly displayed on the Kimmunicator's screen.
"Apparently a distant relative of Fiske's took him to court; he was trying to have the title, the estate, and what's left of the ancestral bank account taken away from Monty Fiske and turned over to himself because of Monkey Fist's erratic and criminal behavior."
"I don't see much of a family resemblance," Kim noted.
"He is a distant relative," Wade repeated, "and a pretty smart one, too; I read some of the court documents, and his case was pretty persuasive."
"And of course, we're strictly unbiased observers of the legal system, with absolutely no interest in the outcome at all," Monique commented drolly.
"Exactly!" Wade chuckled. "Anyway, Fiske won, but it was close. Very close. There were some rumors circulating, and he had to do some fancy legal maneuvering of his own to make it go away."
"What rumors?" Kim asked curiously.
"Since Fiske fired his other servants, and Bates passed away, there's been only Fiske and his monkey ninjas at the estate. About six months ago though, Fiske returned from a vacation with a young male companion, and..." Wade trailed off leadingly.
"Aha," Kim breathed, making the connection. "So it was a boy... whatever."
"Aha what?" Monique asked. "And boy huh?"
"Anyway," Wade continued, "There are a number of explanations for why an older man who has never been married would suddenly start spending all his time with a younger male, frequently in a gym or dojo, and would often be seen wrestling or sparring with him. The rumors gave one explanation for the behavior, and despite a general lessening of certain prejudices, it didn't look good for Fiske's case, so he had to take steps."
"What are you guys talking about?" Monique demanded, smacking one hand flat on the lunch table, and sending viscid ripples wobbling through Kim's ignored entrée.
"Monkey Fist captured bigfoot," Kim explained. "And apparently has been training him in Monkey Kung Fu."
"Bigfoot?" Monique asked, one eyebrow raising in disbelief.
"Not literally," Wade elaborated. "The press called him 'The Monkey-Man of Bear Hollow.'"
"So let me get this straight," Kim turned back to the Kimmunicator. "The fact that Monty Fiske is a criminal who has spent a fortune having himself mutated into being more monkey-like is perfectly fine, but he was almost stripped of his estate because rumor said he was also gay?"
Wade raised his disposable cup in a mock salute. "You'll be happy to know that the court papers don't mention anything about that - since discrimination for any reason is wrong, and using it as a basis for a court decision would just be begging for it to be overturned on appeal. Behind the scenes however, if you'll pardon the expression, the fur was flying. Monty had to create legal documentation as an explanation for his behavior to mitigate the rumors, and he had to do it in such a way as to not seem like he was just covering up for himself, or else people would believe the rumors no matter what he said or did. I have to admit, he was very clever about it, too... New rumors started almost immediately and nobody believed the old ones anymore."
"How'd he work the gossip mill so well?" Monique asked curiously. As someone "in the know" herself, she was well aware of the way fact and fiction could blend and warp once the rumors started flying, and how difficult it was to rein in wild rumors when a frenzy started.
Grinning, Wade clicked his mouse again, displaying another image. "Meet Lord Bobo Fiske, Monty's newly adopted son and heir."
"Him, I can see the family resemblance," Monique commented, staring at the picture of Monkey Fist and his 'son.'
Kim didn't immediately respond as she contemplated the picture on the small screen. As Monique had noted, there was indeed a similarity of appearance to Monkey Fist, heightened by the identical black gis they wore - although the manifestations of "monkeyness" were different. Monty's eyes were slightly sunken, but his face looked much as it had before his mutation experiments, while his hands and feet were distinctly monkey-like, and he sported a nearly complete coat of black fur. Bobo, on the other hand, looked relatively human from the neck down, albeit covered in what looked like gold-colored fur, though his hunching posture combined with the coat could be disguising additional mutations. His feet, as unencumbered by shoes as his father's, looked human, unlike his father's prehensile monkey feet. His face on the other hand...
As a devoted Cuddler of Cuddle Buddies, Kim was used to odd appearing animals, and the blending of characteristics between species to form something new. She loved her pandaroo, and still remembered fondly the time she had seen the ultra-rare flamingoat. But when she looked at Bobo, with the mix of human and animal traits that made Monkey Fist's appearance look normal... "Nice snout," she said, shuddering in revulsion at the bestial features atop the almost-human form.
"Technically, Kim," Wade explained, "it's not a snout. More like a muzzle."
"Snout, muzzle, who cares what you call it? He looks like a monkey! Or a chimp. Or something. Could he really be Monkey Fist's son?" Monique demanded.
"Who can tell?" Wade asked, shrugging his shoulders. "Even if I had a DNA sample, I'd still need samples from before and after every one of Monkey Fist's mutations to do a true analysis, and I doubt if even Monty has those kinds of samples. He does look the part though, and between the adoption papers, a court filing naming Bobo as heir to both the title and his newly incorporated school of martial arts, and an impromptu training session outside the courthouse during a recess to show how seriously they take Tai Shing Pek Kwar... Suffice it to say, just about everyone believes that Bobo is Monty's real son - adoption papers notwithstanding - and not a lover. He's a son born out of wedlock, sure, but Fiske is nobility, however minor. Sowing a few wild oats is expected, even applauded, even in this day and age. Frankly, after all the rumors, innuendo, and strange behavior, having Fiske do something like reclaim his love child and teach him the family style of martial arts seemed so normal as to be boring... which is just what the public and the court wanted, and which in turn made that interpretation all the more believable after some of the more outrageous rumors that were circulating. Anyway, Monkey Fist won the lawsuit, and the relative was sent packing."
"So Fiske's legal troubles are over?" Kim asked.
"For now. Which means Monkey Fist will be free to scheme again," Wade cautioned. "And his 'son' will likely be coming along for the ride next time."
The bell announcing the end of the lunch period broke the troubled silence that followed the warning. "What a pity... no time to eat the turkey surprise," Kim sighed.
"Saved by the bell," Monique snickered as she cleared her trash. "It's better this way Kim. Trust me, that just looks nasty."
"Later, Kim, Monique," Wade waved as he broke the connection.
Kim and Monique headed for their next class, still disquieted by both the warning, and the animalistic appearance of Monkey Fist's "son," and eager to bury their discomfort in the familiar mundane routine of high school.