Chapter 8
The Brotherhood
The six friends had sat down to a huge lunch, courtesy of Ron, he had decided to make his Montreal Steaks, and for desert, his famous 'Seven layers of Heaven' cakes,
"Oh, man, that's the best cookin' I've ever tasted." Cannonball said, patting his stomach,
"Thanks, Sam." Ron replied, positioning himself in a chair next to Kim, it didn't take too long for the dining room to get more guests,
"Do I smell steaks?" Beast asked, walking into the dining room, and taking a big sniff,
"Montreal Steaks, Beast." Kim corrected, looking at the large, blue, fur-covered X-Man,
"Mmm, I've not eaten one of those in a long time." Beast said, looking at Kim for permission to sit,
"Help yourself." Bonnie said, offering Beast a seat across from her, and Cannonball,
"Why, thank you, Bonnie," Beast responded, looking at the tanned beauty, then, turning to Kim, he added, "who's the chef?"
"I am." Ron replied, smiling as he watched Beast cut up his steak, and take a bite of it,
"Oh, this is absolutely marvelous, I must have the recipe, Ron." Beast said, looking at Ron, and smiling,
"Sure thing, I just have to remember it first." Ron replied,
"What does he mean by that?" Beast asked, looking at Kim,
"He never writes his recipes down, Beast." Kim replied,
"Oh, I guess that makes a difference." Best said,
"Do I smell food?" came the voice of Storm from around the corner,
"Montreal Steaks, Storm, help yourself." Brick said, motioning to an empty seat to Monique's left,
"Why, thank you, Brick, I think I will." Storm said, helping herself to a steak, and a baked potato,
"This is heavenly, who made it?" Storm asked, an expression of bliss on her face,
"I did." Ron said, he was starting to feel important, it was his talent in the kitchen that had helped the five friends survive during their eight month trek across the country.
After lunch:
Ron had decided to go outside, and onto the front lawn, while Kim, Bonnie, and Cannonball had opted to go to the Danger Room, to burn off the calories of the afternoon's meal. As he took a seat near the fountain at the entrance, he heard someone near him,
"Who's there?" Ron said, jumping up from his seat, and activating his power, the sparks began to crackle from his fingertips,
"Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you." came the melodic voice of a young woman, British, from the sound of her voice,
"Who are you?" Ron asked, now looking in the direction of the young woman, she was very beautiful, with long, purplish colored hair, and dark eyes, the face seemed to hold a depth of knowledge that stretched further than her age, which Ron had guesses was about his own,
"My name is Elizabeth Braddock, my friends call me Betsy, but here, in X Land, I'm known as Psylocke." the young woman said, smiling,
"I'm Ron Stoppable, my codename is Staticfire." Ron said, smiling, for some reason, this woman was giving him looks he had only seen thrown his way by one other,
'Uh-oh, she's crushing on me, Kim's not gonna like this.'
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Ron asked, hoping to confirm his suspicions,
"Isn't it obvious?" Psylocke asked,
"What's that?" Ron asked, playing along, she was being as evasive as Kim had been that first time,
"To see someone like you around the mansion is few, and far between, and I like what I see." Psylocke said,
'Boy, she's not playing around.' Ron thought, as he made a move to the door,
"Uh, look, Psylocke, I'm already taken." Ron explained,
"Oh, really?" Psylocke asked, looking at Ron with a bit of an unbelieving expression,
"Yeah, my girlfriend is in The Danger Room right now." Ron replied, trying to move away from Psylocke's advances,
"What kind of a woman would leave her boyfriend outside, while she works out in The Danger Room?" Psylocke asked,
"Not, that I don't mind, but Kim would, and I don't want to hurt Kim, she's everything to me." Ron explained, running for the front door, and right into Jean Grey,
"What are you running for, Ron?" Jean asked,
"I've got a lovesick student chasing after me." Ron replied,
"Oh, really, who?" Jean asked,
"Psylocke." Ron replied,
"Betsy, you've got Betsy Braddock's attention?" Jean asked,
"Yeah, unfortunately." Ron explained,
"Unwanted advances, huh?" Jean said,
"Yeah, I don't think that she believes me about me and Kim." Ron said,
"I know that you and Kim are an item, Ron, but if Psylocke is after you, you might find her hard to shake." Jean said, smiling,
"Let me guess, she's one of those girls that doesn't give up?" Ron asked,
"Well, Psylocke has a hard time taking 'no' for an answer." Jean explained,
"Oh, great, that's just what I didn't want to hear." Ron said, proceeding to the elevator, and the sub basement level, where he ran into The Danger Room, and right into Professor Xavier,
"Sorry, Professor, I didn't mean to run into you like that." Ron said,
"That's okay, Ron, what's bothering you?" Professor X asked, looking at the expression on Ron's face,
"Psylocke, she's crushing on me." Ron explained, looking at Professor X,
"And, it's an unwanted advance." Professor X prompted,
"Oh, yeah. I love Kim, and there's no other girl I would rather be with, but according to Jean, Psylocke doesn't take no for an answer." Ron said,
"I'll talk to Psylocke, and see if I can't straighten her out." Professor X replied, but that wasn't necessary, Psylocke had walked in at that moment, and looked through the glass floor of The Danger Room, to see Kim, Bonnie, and Cannonball going through their paces,
"Interesting, which one is yours, Ron?" Psylocke asked,
"The redhead." Ron replied, looking down at Kim, and smiling,
"Isn't that Kim Possible?" Psylocke asked,
"Yeah, it is." Ron replied, smiling,
"I thought she was a non-mutant?" Psylocke said, her expression puzzled,
"We thought so too, until about eight months ago." Ron said,
"The Sentinel attack on Middleton." Professor X said, making Psylocke's eyes light up,
"That was eight and a half months ago," Psylocke said, "I thought you found them, Professor."
"More like they found me." Professor X said, gesturing to Ron, and then to Kim, who was signaling for the Professor to shut down the Danger Room,
"There were two others, weren't there?" Psylocke asked, as Professor X turned to the console, and shut down the Danger Room so that Kim, Bonnie, and Cannonball could clean themselves up, and come up to the control room, and receive their grades on the exercise,
"Oh, yes," Professor X said, now turning to Psylocke, and smiling, "they won't be here until later this afternoon, speaking of that, Ron, are you ready for your final qualifications?"
"Sure, let's get this party started." Ron said, now walking into the room, and changing into his X-Men uniform,
"Alright, Ron, this exercise will test what you know, and to see if you can hold your own in battle conditions, are you ready?" Professor X asked, looking at Ron,
"Let's do it." Ron said, reading himself for a fight,
"Okay, here we go." Professor X replied, punching a few buttons on the console in front of him, and activating the Danger Room, just as Kim, Bonnie, and Cannonball walked into the control room,
"How did we do, Professor?" Kim asked,
"You passed, all three of you," Professor X said, smiling, "Shockwave, I'm going to place you in charge of Charlie team, it will consist of you, Staticfire, Mold, Dream Weaver, Wildfire, Magma, and Cannonball."
"Cool." Kim said, she had a big grin on her face,
"This test is to determine who will be second, should the team need to split into two groups." Professor X explained,
"Who's the front runners?" Kim asked,
"So far, it's Wildfire, followed by Cannonball, and Dream Weaver." Professor X replied. It was at that time, that everyone in the control room was diverted to what was happening in the room below.
Everyone watched, stunned, as Ron was floating five feet above the floor, just as Kim had been rocketing around the Danger Room, with Bonnie right behind her, Ron struck with a speed that even Kim had no idea he had possessed. Within seconds, he had taken out all of the sentries that Professor X had thrown at him,
"I would have to say, that Staticfire just jumped into that role." Professor X said, looking at the devastation that Ron had just brought down on The Danger Room,
"Okay, Staticfire, come on up." Professor X said, motioning for Ron to return to the control room,
"Here's the situation, Ron," Professor X said, as Ron came into the control room, a towel wrapped over his shoulders, and his civilian clothes on, "you are to be given the number two position in Charlie team, that means, should the team split in two, you would lead one, while Kim leads the other."
"Boo-ya!" Ron said, smiling,
"I thought you would like that." Professor X said, smiling, it was at that time, that Beast's voice came over the intercom,
"X-Men, report to the War Room, urgent."
"Pack out your trash, boys, time to get dirty." Ron said, heading for the door.
At the old Weapon X labs in Canada:
The X-Men landed some meters away, hoping that they would not be detected by anyone as they came in,
"So far, so good." Ron said, unhooking his belt, and pushing away the jet's control yoke from in front of him. Rogue had decided that Ron should learn to pilot the X-Jet, should the need arise that Charlie team would go into a hostile area alone,
"True, Staticfire," Rogue replied, "but don't y'all go getting all confident 'bout this, though, I've seen other missions like this one, where it was all quiet, 'till the last minute."
"Then, all hell breaks loose, huh?" Kim elaborated, looking at the lithe southern woman,
"That's about right," Rogue replied, "now, according to the data that Beast got, we should be a couple of yards from the main entrance, and, from what the Professor said, Magneto is with them."
"And that could be dangerous, y'all." Cannonball added, looking at Bonnie with a concerned look in his eyes,
"That's okay, Hon," Bonnie said, looking over at Cannonball, and giving him a reassuring smile, "besides, I'm looking forward to a good fight."
"You may get more than just a scrap, hun," Rogue said, now looking over at the tanned beauty, "Magneto's a real looney."
"So, he's completely mental, and he's a mutant? This is so not good." Kim said,
"Jus' take it easy, hun, y'all can do this." Rogue said,
"We'll be right here, I'll guide you as much as I can." Jean said, from her seat behind Rogue,
"Okay, Charlie team, let's form up outside the jet, and go after The Brotherhood." Kim said, now standing, and heading for the loading ramp at the end of the jet.
Just as the rest of the team had gotten out of the jet, Ron caught Kim's arm, and pulled her off into a corner of the jet,
"Have I told you lately that I love you, Kim?" Ron said, placing his hands around Kim's waist,
"Yeah, almost every night." Kim replied,
"Well, I do." Ron said, placing a kiss on Kim's cheek, Kim moved her face, and captured his lips with hers, melting into an earth shattering kiss,
"Oh, God, GET A ROOM, THE BOTH OF YOU!" Bonnie said, looking up the ramp, where her friends were standing, sharing a passionate kiss,
"You got a lot of room to talk, Bonnie," Kim said, "I saw that kiss you planted on Sam in the hangar bay."
"You are sooo Busted." Ron replied, smiling widely,
"Okay, so you got me, can we just get this over with, so we can get back to the mansion." Bonnie said,
"Agreed." Kim said, walking down the ramp, hand-in-hand with Ron.
CLIFFIE! I am sooo evil for doing that, aren't I? Muwhahahahahahahahah!
And I'm not going to give away the next chapter, you'll just have to find out what happens next.
As always, keep the reviews coming,
Doug
