Construction and Destruction
Middleton High School.
"Mr. Barkin's office?" Ron asked. What had become the "central committee" (according to Felix), occupied the principal's office. Bonnie, Kim, Ron, Felix, Monique and Zita.
"Not Mr. Barkin's… Ms. Clemsen's." Bonnie said, "And she probably hasn't poked her head out from under her bed yet, so it's ours." The cheerleader looked around. "We need some place to store records, and this is the place to do it, since it has filing cabinets and a working lock." Kim looked down at the trashed and burned records.
"I hope they had backups…"
"Hey." Ron said, grinning, "if they don't they'll have to take our word for grades…" Kim raised an eyebrow.
"Honor system?"
"In an alternate timeline, somewhere, Ron Stoppable aced Math… so it's true…kinda." He said, as everyone, including Rufus gave him a look. "Well it could be!" Monique shook her head, grinning.
"I doubt it." Ron sighed. Somethings never changed, and he couldn't even prove they had, since Mr. Barkin's graded papers of their time in Japan were currently classified at MAJESTIC.
"OK…so what do we do now?" Zita asked. Half of them looked at Bonnie, half looked at Kim…and Kim was looking at Bonnie.
"Get organized, first." Bonnie said. "We don't have the passwords for the computer, and the school only has emergency lights, so we can't use it anyway-"
"I can use the chair…and we all have laptops" Felix pointed out.
"We'll use them…but I don't want to leave them lying around for anyone to use," Bonnie said, and ruthlessly used an eraser on the whiteboard behind the desk, removing half drawn plans for an opening night party. "Get those other white boards." She continued. Bonnie frowned. "Now, we need to…"
"How about a map?" Monique asked. "We could use the magnetic tape to make a map of the school… I mean in rough, and use that to make certain we're getting stuff done."
"Hmmm…" Kim said, "Color code it? Red for nothing, Green for cleaned?" Bonnie nodded, and then shook her head.
"We'll need more colors than that, Kim." The attractive cheerleader said. "Say, Red for nothing done, yellow for cleaned but not repaired or repainted, blue for repaired and green for everything done."
"Sounds like a plan." Kim said, smiling.
"Oh man…" Ron said, looking at the map of the school that was taped on the desk. He'd forgotten how many rooms there were. "This is gonna take a while."
"Oh yeah." Felix agreed.
"Well, first thing we do, Bonnie said, smacking her head in annoyance, "Is what we should have done first thing."
"What?" Monique asked, the others looking equally confused.
"Can anyone tell me if the gas is still on to the labs and the cafeteria?"
Everyone blinked.
"I'll… find out where the main valve is." Ron said. Kim moved to go with him, but Bonnie's pointed finger held her in place.
"Kim…" She grinned, "Wow, I get to give you orders…"
"Don't get carried away." Kim said, grinning back. "What do you need?"
"Dragoon some of those seniors who are looking lost…and figure out a place to put stuff outside. We can't be cleaning and fixing and painting if we have no place to put books and everything—and it'll be a pain to leave it in the hallways." Kim nodded, and then looked out.
"I know what to do." She said, and grabbed her Kimmunicator.
"Wade?"
"Yeah Kim?"
"Do we have any favors that could get us some shipping trailers?" The techno savant paused, and then nodded.
"I think so—there's a company that's handling fixing the road and they could tow some to the school…would… four do?"
"Please and thank you!" Kim said. She looked over a Bonnie.
"Four should be enough—I mean we're working in sections after all." Bonnie nodded.
"We're going to be getting a lot of hungry people… " Zita said, "I'll go and liberate some of the theater food since it's still closed."
"You won't get in trouble?"
"Nah—department of health regulations—they'll just have to throw it away." Bonnie nodded, and went on to her other item.
"OK, Felix… you know about electronics? How about electrical wiring?" The wheelchair bound youth grinned.
"You should see my project." Bonnie nodded absently, chewing her lip.
"Do you think you can figure out how much and how badly the schools electrical system is messed up? I saw scorch marks around some of the lights and I really don't want to burn the place down." Felix gave her a thumbs up.
"It'll take time, but I can trace every circuit in the place."
"Thanks…now, Monique, why don't we get started making our white board map, and then when Ron gets back we'll figure out who to pick to manage some of these jobs…" As the day wore on, the activity started getting more organized, and if the school was still a mess and a mountain of work it was a mountain that looked to be climbable.
The Hospital
Shego was really beginning to hate the MRI, the EEG, the blood tests… in fact, she was seriously considering trying to find a saint to mug and force a miracle cure out of. Here she was, in the MRI tunnel, again, and again her comet powers would screw up the readings. What was the point?
"The point" Dr. Possible had said, in some exasperation, "Is to see if things are changing in your brain."
"They are. From annoyed to put out." Possible sighed, and frowned, looking at the read out.
"OK Shego… we're done for now."
"And?"
"And I can definitely say that it's not any common problem. It's something with your brain chemistry…when you're neurotransmitters get to a certain level… hmmm….that might be a possible route…"
"To what?"
"Understanding, moderating and hopefully eliminating your problem."
"How?" Andrea frowned.
"No idea yet—give it a little time, Shego—I know it's hard, but this isn't a broken arm—it's your brain and I don't want to risk making things worse."
"Ok…" Andrea paused. There was nobody around and she'd been avoiding this. She couldn't do that anymore.
"Shego… come over here and sit down." Shego blinked.
"Bad news?"
"What?"
"Doctors don't usually ask people to sit down to hear that they've won the lottery."
"No… not bad news…but maybe…odd news." Shego blinked and sat down next to Andrea.
"Shoot." Andrea paused. There was no good way to say this, but…
"Shego. When you had your miscarriage… did you ever actually see your child?" Shego blinked and frowned.
"No, I was out…and I don't know if I wanted to…My body had just killed her, after all."
"Maybe you didn't." Andrea said quietly, and relayed Baby and Wade's findings. By the time they were finished, Andrea was glad Shego was sitting down.
"No…" Shego shook her head. "That makes no sense!"
"I know…and Baby's findings…aren't conclusive." Andrea added, "There are a number of things that could explain this."
"Like what?"
"Bad records… a desire to make certain nobody found a death certificate with Shego on the next of kin…"
"Or?"
"Or, for some reason, you may have been lied to, and the child could be alive." Involuntarily, Shego's hands flared with plasma.
"Why?" She snarled.
"I have… some ideas." Andrea said.
"And they are?"
"Going to stay mine."
"WHAT ?" Now Shego was on her feet facing Andrea and the plasma hadn't gone out. The doctor met Shego's eyes steadily.
"For exactly that reason, Shego… charging hither and yon acting like a super powered madwomen—even if you don't have a seizure, is the one thing most calculated to muddy the water."
"Oh?"
"Oh. And I won't help you if you do that."
"Oh really! I don't recall asking for your help!" Shego said hotly. Andrea looked at her unrepentantly….and Shego broke the gaze first. "Besides…what could you do?"
"I'm the doctor on record for you…and as such authorized to examine any medical records, and patient-doctor confidentiality applies." Shego paused at that.
"But I need a promise from you." Andrea said.
"What?"
"we do this…" she paused, "Non-violently."
"Non-violently?"
"We may have to…bend a few laws, but no violence. Do I have your promise?"
"I…arrrrgggghhhh…." Shego groaned, "OK…I won't wring anyone's neck."
"Good." Dr. Possible said. "The first thing we do is place a call to the clinic. " That, with the aid of Baby and Wade, was easily accomplished, even given the state of the phone lines and the numerous missing telecommunications satellites.
"Dravan Convalescence home." A voice came over the speaker phone and Andrea calmly started talking.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Andrea Possible, and I'm treating a former patient of yours, Shego." The voice on the other end of the phone came back, closed and suspicious.
"And?"
"And we need a work up on her pregnancy. Ms. Shego has expressed some interest in having a child." The answer was immediate.
"Those records are confidential."
"I understand… I can send certification from Ms. Shego authorizing me to examine them."
"I am sorry, that cannot be done." Shego had had enough. She grabbed the phone and snarled into it.
"OK, clerk girl… I AM Shego, and I want those records."
"I am sorry, that is not possible." And with a click, the clerk hung up on the spluttering mercenary.
"Non-violence?" Shego growled. Andrea looked thoughtful.
"Well… that proves there's something rotten in Denmark." She said. "Any legitimate hospital with nothing to hide would never have done that—even if they were worried about me, the procedure is to demand ID, not hang up…especially not on the woman whose records you are talking about."
"So let's go to"
"Europe?" Andrea said. "No…they delivered the baby…alive or dead." She paused, "But if they acted illegally, they would never keep the records, you know that. Remember, Baby went from records of inventory use." Shego, reluctantly, nodded.
"Then who?"
"Foreign adoptions have to go through the U.S. government…" She paused, "And your baby…if she was alive, would have had to re-enter the United States…"
"A lot of paperwork…" Shego muttered.
"Oh ye of little faith…" Andrea said. "Wade, Baby?"
"Yes?" Two voices came as one.
"How would you solve our little problem?" Wade grinned.
"Well we know the location of the hospital, and the time…"
"And we can assume that the child, if it exists, was not transferred by boat." Baby continued. "It will be a simple matter to search all entry records during the two months surrounding the date of birth, and collate any other information."
"Ready?" Wade said.
"Yes father." Baby replied. Shego and Andrea watched, fascinated.
"Man, Dr. D really missed a bet when he didn't hire Wade." Shego muttered.
"Kid's scary in a way."
"Well, he's on our side…" Andrea murmured, "And he's a good kid."
"Got it!" Wade said.
"So soon?"
"Yeah… I'm surprised they didn't do anything more to hide it."
"You should not be, father, previous to my existence, the information processing capability we just used did not exist." Baby said in her slightly feminine voice.
"Um…focus, guys?" Shego said.
"Oh!" Wade looked down. "There were only 7 infant adoptions during this time period.
"That could be from a lot of sources."
"True, but one of them came from the hospital just across town from yours' Shego, and they had no record of any pregnancies due to deliver in that week."
"Interesting, but not conclusive." Andrea replied.
"And that infant entered the U.S. by the special dispensation of Go Team…. Or more specifically, Hego." Andrea blinked….that was…
"That bastard…." Shego's voice was soft.
"Shego, we don't know for certain…"
"Oh, I do…" She hissed, eyes slitted in rage. "He wanted to keep any bad publicity to a minimum, remember? Baby? Unwed teen mom? Have to take time out for feedings and diaper changes… That bastard Hego couldn't get me to abort her, so he did the next best thing…he got rid of her… he made me think I killed her." Shego sat back down, actually shaking.
"Thank you Wade." Andrea said and quickly turned the comlink off. "Baby, privacy, please."
"Yes doctor."
"Do you know…" Shego said. "Do you know what it was like to think that she had died…that my own body had killed her, crushed her against my womb?" She paused, and took a shuddering breath,. "But it sure helped Hego… I party and I dance…but I maybe have sex once a month, now, when I'm damned certain that my cycle makes certain I won't get pregnant…. And that pretty much ruled out the Big Marriage word."
"You were thinking of marriage?"
"Naw…nobody was ever serious…but after…" Shego paused, "It wasn't even a chance." Her fire went out and she briefly splayed one hand over her belly. "When I first found out I was pregnant….God I was scared and pissed… mostly at the kid, then Hego…then I was just scared. I know it sounds stupid… hell, I was sixteen so yeah, it was stupid, but as the day got closer… I wanted her… I wanted to hold her and maybe try and make things better for the both of us." She shrugged, "and then I killed her…except if you're right, I didn't kill her, but my loving family, let me think I did."
"Maybe… maybe not all of them." Andrea said. "That's why you and I need to go to Go-City…for a talk with Hego." Shego glared.
"I'll let my hands do the talking." She said.
"And maybe die, because you are not at your best…or kill Hego, go to jail and, oh yes! Cut off the best source of information…not to mention breaking your promise."
"My promise? Get real Andrea! But you're right, first I get the info , than I kill…" Shego turned from Andrea, facing the MRI unit. "I can't talk to him, Andrea, not and keep that promise… I'll try and kill him. If a tenth of this is true, I'll try and kill him if I see that self satisfied, full of himself face…after this."
"Then let me talk to him, alone." Andrea said. "He'd expect you to come in and demand to know things… but not your doctor."
"And that's going to impress him?" Shego said.
"Why Shego… you just spent the last several days talking about how image conscious Hego was… " Andrea's expression might be considered a smile—her teeth were bared, at least. "And trust me, Kimmie isn't the only one in our family who is owed favors." She called Wade.
"Wade, I need you to leave a message with Kim and Jonathon… Shego and I are going to Go City…for a little chat."
Possible Household.
"Wow." Ron said. "That's a lot…" He continued, looking down at the dinner table, now covered in the blueprints and schematics of the school (courtesy of a favor owed Kim by the City Hall Clerk), not to mention the remains of a take out dinner. The Central Planning Committee and Politburo (According to Felix and now Monique) was in session, and the work looked…intimidating.
"We got some of the hallways cleared out…" Bonnie said, "but we need a lot more if we're going to get this done by the start of school."
"There's always outside contractors…" Monique said.
"No, nope, uh-nuh" Bonnie replied. "let them in and they take over."
"Besides," Ron said, "They're all backed up doing other stuff."
Like fixing every other building in down town The thought ran through.
"Well, we need tools—we just can't use the stuff in shop—it's not enough." Bonnie paused, "At least all the kids with bike helmets are bringing those in, so we don't have to worry about people not having helmets, that's better than nothing. Now equipment, Kim?."
"That's going to be a problem." Kim said, turning red. She'd hit the limits of her favors. "I tried…and construction tools, flood lights and generators… no way. It's all being used and you can't get it for love or money." She finished, she'd tried love, Ron had tried money. Bonnie frowned, and dove under the piles of paper for her lap top, and pulled up the spread sheet she'd spent part of the day making. Kim and Ron looked at her. Bonnie and a spreadsheet… that was something they'd never expected to see…
"Without flood lights we can't work at night—or even in the afternoon until we get the internal lights back up, but that means…" She hissed in annoyance, "That we're going to have to let a bunch of other stuff go." She frowned, "We'll run out of time."
"Maybe not." Monique said, "My dad owns a junkyard."
"And?"
"And he saved money by rigging up car head lights out of the old junkers and putting them in a frame."
"Does he still have it?"
"I… I think so, I can ask." Felix grinned,
"I could get it working again, with some of the guys from shop…and…hey, maybe he'll let us borrow a compressor?" Ron nodded.
"That's an idea… Monique… how about if you and I go to your dad's tonight and we can see." He paused, "If he wants to get paid or have a deposit on his tools, I can give it to him." Monique grinned.
"OK…but you have to promise me one thing."
"What?"
"I saw that bike you brought back from Japan… I want a ride, Ninja-boy." Ron laughed. Meanwhile, Hirotaka had entered the room.
"It will be my honor to help." He said.
"Hi. Where's Yori?" Kim asked.
"She did not see the honor inherent in that most wonderful game your father and Dr. Drakken introduced me to." Then, Ron's father appeared in the room, looking slightly desperate.
"Dad?"
"Hi Son… Um… I'll see you in a moment!" he said vanishing upstairs. The kids were fascinated, until Hirotaka continued,
"It is unfortunate that your house only has one bathroom, Ron-san…and that Yori has locked herself in it."
"She didn't like the uniform?" Kim asked.
"I do not know. When I asked her, she threw a bowling ball at me." The girls looked at each other, looked at Hirotaka still in his uniform.
"Trust us. She didn't." four voices spoke as one.
At Monique's house, Ron found himself talking to her father and mother. Monique had spilled out their idea in a breathless stream that left her parents holding up their hands in a warding gesture.
"Now, let me get this straight." Her father, a stocky man with close cropped graying hair said, "You want that old floodlight set up I made before I could afford lights, a compressor, some tools…to fix the school?"
"Yes sir." Ron said.
"And the city is that bad off?"
oops
"No…" Ron paused, "We're doing this ourselves. If we wait for the city to handle it, the school will still be closed in five years, to say nothing of two months."
"Well, I've worked with the city, and I take your point." He folded his arms. "That's a lot of stuff." Ron nodded.
"I can pay for it, sir." He looked at Ron and raised his eyebrows.
"I don't doubt you could… But you don't need to. I'd rather see the stuff used." Ron found himself under scrutiny. "I know you Ron.—you're one of Monique's best friends…"
"Dad!" He grinned at his daughter,
"Don't worry, I'm not going to pull about the baby pictures, Sprite."
Sprite?
"Besides…" her father said, "Weren't you the one saying that Kim had a ring on her finger?"
"Um…."
"So, when's the day?"
That seems to be everyone's question. Ron thought, wryly. Maybe they should put an announcement up on the website.
"Not for a while yet—not until after high school, that's for certain."
"Good…I'll spare you the homilies about having fun—I figure your parents between them have done that."
Oh yeah. Monique's father shrugged.
"I can get you the equipment—but a lot of it isn't in the best condition."
"If it works, we can get it up to speed." Ron said,
"You need anything else? Well, then lets go open the shop." Ron grinned at that.
"Thank you sir."
"No…thank you. Don't think that just because your not in the news right now nobody knows what you and Kim did…." A pause, "and Ron?"
"Yes sir?"
"It's nice to see you out of other peoples' shadows." Ron nodded and smiled. There really wasn't anything else to say.
Back home, Ron found Kim alone. The Tweebs were hiding (for fear of being called out again) and Mr. Possible and Drakken were off at the lab, no doubt deep in research that would change (or end) the world as they knew it.
"Where's Shego and your mom?" Ron asked.
"She said they had to go on a flight to Go City." Kim said. "The others went home…and the Tweebs are in their room." She took his hand and started tugging him up to her room. "And… it's been a very long day…" She looked at him with a lecherous smile, "So if you just want to go to sleep…"
"I…think I can wait a while on that." Ron said, grinning, following his fiancé up to her room thinking how cool but strange his life had become.
To be Continued.