Disclaimer: I don't own KP. If I did, there would be a KP channel on cable. Disney owns. Disney pwns. Nuff said.
The Trinity Sitch - Book 3: Blade of the Fury
Chapter 4: Monkey Business
Something about the old, heavyset man, who only made himself known as Arcus Uri, made Monkey Fist dislike him instantly. Then again, there were very few human beings he liked being around anyway. He crouched on the edge of his seat, watching the portly fellow as he examined his prize. He circled the table, alternately squinting at the stone monkey torso and touching it with his fat, pale fingers.
"This is amazing." The wizened man finally exclaimed.
"What is? You haven't even told me what that old relic is supposed to do." Fist growled.
"Perhaps I never intended to tell you. All I needed you for was to acquire it, not to actually use it." He said dismissively, not bothering to look fist in the eye.
"Then why am I still sitting here? Give me what you promised and I will take my leave of you."
"Why are you still here? Maybe to answer my questions." He finally fixed the man/ape with a withering glare, pale blue eyes locking with black.
Fist felt his heart turn to ice. The sudden surge of fear he could not explain, as the man had gone from a doddering old fool to a towering menace.
"You pathetic freak. Seeking the magicks of this world, while polluting your body with this unnatural…science!" He gestured at Fist's hands. "Did you not even think to examine what you took?" he grabbed the idol and held it inches from his nose. "Did your ancient nation of Japan label their icons of power so?"
Almost afraid of what he would see, Fist looked at the tiny brass plate fitted on the bottom of the statue. 'Tri-City Museum Replica #90125." It was a fake!
"What is amazing to me is how incompetent you really are. Maybe if you weren't so obsessed with that child and his betrothed you might have noticed they switched them."
Monkey Fist bared his teeth. "You said break into the museum and retrieve that thing. I have done so. I cannot help you didn't foresee a trick like this. You said it would be on the pedestal!"
Uri moved so quickly Fist didn't have time to react. In one fluid motion he was lifted up and slammed into the nearest wall, soft but shockingly strong fingers throat, barely leaving him enough room to breath.
"This is what I get for depending on some…lackey!" Uri snarled, knowing the effect the word would have on the arrogant Englishman.
Fist drew back to strike but a white glow traveled down the man's arm. Fist's arms and legs dropped limply down as his energy and will to fight were stolen away. The white glow slowly turned blue and a feral smile spread across his captor's face. "So, not everything about you is the product of your unnatural science!"
He trembled uncontrollably, knowing his Mystical Monkey Power was being torn away from his very soul. The glow winked out and he was dropped to the floor in a crumpled heap.
"Pathetic Terran, thinking you could use the power of noble animals by making yourself look like one. It will be a wonder if you are even able to walk without it!" Uri left him there in his agony, giggling to himself as if he were stifling maniacal laughter.
Monkey Fist lay like that for what seemed like forever as the spell-induced terror slowly faded. What didn't fade was the horror of what the old wizard had done to him, what that fat fossil had stolen from him! Gradually, fear was being replaced with burning hatred and rage.
The sound of crunching wood and stone reached him. He knew what was coming.
She would not see him like this!
With quivering effort he got a paw/hand under his body. It was quickly obvious just how much strength and vitality had been sapped from him. Somewhere beyond the door a wall was being battered down by some unseen force. Desperation and burning hatred couple by indomitable will gave him the strength his body could not. He shakingly rose to his feet as the door leading to the room was smashed to splinters.
A pair of monstrous, genetically modified gorillas in Japanese-style armor pushed their way into the room, followed by half a dozen monkeys dressed in ninja garb. Finally, pushing her way past her creations and Fist's minions came DNAmy, searching for her beloved.
"We are going to find Arcus Uri." He said with a low, vicious snarl, "…and he is going to PAY for this!" He got the last out as he collapsed to the floor, unmoving.
Some time after Kim's brothers had actually started seriously daring the Possibles came to a startling realization. Oh, they were very aware their children were growing up, that went without saying, with one child planning a marriage and the other two starting to refer to the girls they were dating as 'girlfriends.' No, that they were expecting, though it seemed to come much faster than they ever imagined. What they never expected was outgrowing the dining room table! Ron had been a fixture at their table for most of the last sixteen years but more and more often Tim and Jim would bring their dates, with the same faces becoming more and more regular until they had each settled on a 'steady.'
"If it weren't for our grocery bill, I could have gotten a new Jaguar by now." James griped from behind his paper.
"Don't exaggerate, dear. You can buy another one any time you want. It's not like Tam and Angela eat anywhere near as much as Ron does." Anne said as genially as she could.
"I don't know. It's like their parents don't even feed them at home."
"James!" She scolded. "How would you like it if the twins had girlfriends they didn't want to bring home to meet us?"
"I guess you're right. At least it will stop at eight. Eight is enough, as they say."
"Until they start bringing children of their own to dinner." She cooed, thinking wistfully of the future.
That earned her a glare of the top of his newspaper. "Let's worry about Kim getting married first." He put his paper down as a pair of headlights turned into the driveway. "Though I'm starting to wonder if the ceremony is going to be redundant."
Anne swatted him on the arm. "Don't be a hypocrite. We constantly went away fro the weekend when we were twenty!"
"I know. I know all too well what I was like when I was twenty and that's what bothers me the most. I'm just having a hard time believing our Kimmie-Cub is an adult. It would be different, I guess, if she wasn't still living here."
"James, you were delighted when she decided to commute to school instead of living in the dorms. Besides, she sat down with me and had a nice long talk about things. You should be proud, you've raised a very responsible son and daughter."
"Son?" He wondered why she hadn't said 'sons.'
"I'm speaking of Ron, dear. We have had as much hand in raising him as his own parents. Let me just say, they are going to have one very interesting wedding night if things continue the way they are." She smiled when his face screwed up in obvious discomfort. She picked up the rubber band from his paper and stretched it as far as it could go. "Think, when all that tension gets released!" For emphasis she let it go, sending it sailing across the room…
…smacking Ron square in the nose. "Oh my God, Ron! I am so sorry!" She rushed right over to make sure it hadn't struck him in the eye.
"No problem, Mrs. Dr. P! Just let me know the next time you want to have a good old fashioned rubber band fight and I'll come prepared." He still rubbed his lightly stung nose.
"Well, look who's back. How was your ski trip?" James said, picking his paper back up.
"Real fun, Daddy." Kim said as she came in behind her fiancé. "Ron only fell a couple of times."
"Oh, so you actually did some skiing?" Her father asked, looking over the top of his paper.
"James!" Anne hissed.
"Actually it was more like snowboarding." Kim corrected. "Right before naked Hot-tubbing!" she added with a wicked grin.
She wasn't sure who was hyperventilating worse, Ron or her father. Her mother just favored her with a look that said You are not kidding, are you?
There, that will put a stop to that line of questioning and I didn't have to even lie about it!
Peeking from around his paper, James waited patiently as Ron poured himself some pop and started to drink. "So, Ronald, when are you going to make an honest woman of my Kimmie-cub?"
"Daddy!" Kim shrieked.
"James!" Anne barked at the same time.
Ron somehow managed not to spray his drink all over the kitchen but still took a while recovering before he could speak.
"James, you know good and well that implies the two of them are 'living in sin!'" Anne regretted saying the last part when she saw Ron's reaction to it.
"Uh, well, Mr.Dr.P, we were sort of waiting until after we graduate and all."
"Good to hear it!" He hid his smug expression behind his paper, pleased he had gotten Ron's goat.
The Possible's table ended up being tested to its limits for that Sunday evening dinner. Wade stopped by to drop off Rufus, bringing the total to nine plus one hungry naked mole rat. Before the table could even be set the roar of jet engines brought everyone to the back door just in time to witness a Global Justice Hoverjet landing in the back yard. Kim waved frantically when she saw her cousin Joss get out. The waving slowed, then stopped when the pilot climbed out next, taking her hand in his.
Kim had to keep reminding herself six years age difference is not that much!
Still, it wasn't so much that Joss was just seventeen and her boyfriend was twenty-three, it was who the boyfriend was! Joss had mentioned him in emails and on missions she shared with Kim, but it took actually seeing the couple together in person for it to really sink in.
"Doctors Possible, Kimberly, Ron, always good to see you all." Second Assistant Director Wil Du said genially, bowing slightly rather than offering a handshake.
Ron recovered his bottom jaw (this Kim hadn't mentioned to him!) long enough to ask Kim's father, "At what point will your brother Slim stop freaking?"
"That's a good question, Ronald. I don't think even 'Old Tornado' would phase this particular boyfriend!"
Ron just nodded, correctly guessing Slim Possible used his powerful robot horse much the same way his soon to be father-in-law used the threat of sending misbehaving boyfriends to a black hole.
When the twins arrived with their respective girlfriends, that brought the total to eleven.
The very first time Tim referred to Tam, a petite but strikingly beautiful Asian teen, as his 'girlfriend' both Kim and Ron were merciless, mimicking the kissy sounds the twins had tormented them with when they were younger.
Naturally it was a while before Jim admitted he was going steady with Angela, a pretty blonde a year older than him. Fortunately for them, the joke was already old and the young couple was spared much of the well-deserved payback.
Anne was quietly pleased there were as many guests at her table as Thanksgiving!
It was much later, when, as the hover jet was streaking toward Montana and the twins were driving their dates home that Ron was finally able to speak to Anne alone. At first, he just started drying the dishes as she put them out of the sink, helping her put them away.
"Did you and Kim have some time to actually have fun this weekend? I know a lot of the time you two spend up there is used for studying and you both left so early yesterday for that mission."
"Yes ma'am, Mrs.Dr.P."
"Ron, please, I think by now you're entitled to call me Mom."
"Uh, sure. Yeah, we had plenty of time to ourselves since we just had mid-terms. They're probably waiting to ambush us with a ton of stuff tomorrow morning."
"Kim was kidding earlier, wasn't she?"
Ron suddenly couldn't look her in the eyes. His breath got shallow and wheezy and he kept touching his face.
"I'm just playing you, Ron. Kim shared what you told her with me. Besides, the two of you are adults, so it's really none of my business. Now, what's really on your mind?"
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Can you give me something that can help me sleep?"
"Help you sleep? I've never known you to have any trouble sleeping."
"I didn't used to, but the last couple years I've been waking up from these really vivid dreams."
"Kim hasn't mentioned anything."
"It doesn't happen when I sleep with Ki… I mean, uh, that didn't come out right, did it?"
"I know what you meant."
"Well, tit didn't until last night, though that was really more of a full-blown nightmare."
"And you couldn't get back to sleep?"
"Well, that's the thing. After Kim and I talked about it, I slept like a baby the rest of the night. In fact, we were so late getting up we missed checkout."
"Ouch! They didn't make you pay an extra day, did they?"
"No, they were pretty understanding about it. Kept going on and on how we were such good customers and how we actually helped the business there."
"So you're not sleeping well at home? Sounds a lot like that has more to do with it than your dreams. Maybe you like sleeping next to Kim a little too much." She favored him with a glowing smile that told him she didn't mind that one little bit. "I'll tell you what. I'll call the pharmacy tomorrow morning and prescribe you something mild if you promise me you'll go to see at least your family doctor if this doesn't take care of itself soon. In don't want to alarm you, but this might indicate other underlying problems."
"Sure, I promise. You rock, Mrs. Dr…Mom!"
"Good boy! Now get out to the family room before you start weirding out Kim. Helping with the dishes, what is she going to think?"
Kim took her time driving Ron home. She wanted to walk him there, considering they were both Colorado natives and used to the cold winters but the notion was roundly vetoed by everyone else because it meant her walking home by herself at night. Master of Kung-Fu, crime-fighting hero (at twenty, calling her a 'teen hero' just doesn't make sense any more) or not, a young woman walking alone at night simply was not going to be.
That meant taking the longest, most circuituitous route she could think of. He knew immediately what that meant. She wanted to talk and he was effectively a captive audience until she reached his home.
"Why didn't you tell me you've been having trouble sleeping?" She asked after making the first deliberate wrong turn.
"So much for doctor/patient confidentiality." Ron grumped.
"No, Mom didn't tell me anything she shouldn't have. I'm sure she would tell me if I asked her directly but I didn't have to. I overheard the two of you talking in the kitchen."
"Look, Kim, like you say, it's really no big."
"Yes, Ron, it is big. If you end up making yourself sick…"
"I know, you know what's best for me." He said with a sigh.
"Listen, with all the weird stuff that happens to us, we've got to be really extra careful about things like this. Losing sleep can make you really sick in a hurry. Plus, I'm upset you didn't come to me about it."
"I didn't think it was all that big a deal."
"Big enough you had to ask Mom to prescribe sleep medicine?" She shot back, a little ire creeping into her voice.
They rode in silence for a few minutes, both of them lost in their thoughts. Not wanting to end an otherwise great weekend on a sour note, she put he hand on his thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze. She pulled up to the curb, still several blocks from his house. Leaning toward him she kissed him, her right hand going toward his cheek, her left wrapping around his waist and plunging a few inches into the back of his pants. Pretty soon, both sets of hands were exploring freely, hungrily.
"At this rate, we're not going to make it to our wedding night, are we?" She asked breathlessly.
"Probably not." He answered before going back to nibbling on her neck.
Definitely a turtleneck day tomorrow, she thought as his large hand caressed the small of her back under her jacket and top. A finger slipped under the strap across her back.
TAP-TAP-TAP!
In a move practiced by almost every teenager in the country, one that hadn't been employed now for over two years, the couple suddenly snapped back into their respective seats. Kim rolled the window down for the smiling police officer.
"Aren't you getting a little old for 'parking,' Miss Possible?"
"I, uh, was just telling Ron goodnight." She said, her face turning the same shade of bright red the mutable paint of her car was currently set on.
"Looks like it was going to be a good night." The officer said, his grin getting slightly wider.
Ron opened his door and got out. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kim." He leaned in and kissed her one more time.
"You two be careful. That Monkey fellow is still on the loose." The officer said as he got back on his motorcycle.
Ron watched Kim's car pull away after the policeman. He waved until she turned the corner and slowly started toward his house. His mind was awhirl, processing, or at least trying to process everything that occurred over the weekend, The fight in the museum with the Fists (WRONGSICK – the Fists, not the fight) the truth about the Tempus Simia (though he still only knew his own point-of-view) the near-fight with Kim (how did she always know what's best for him?) and finally her admission that she really was ready (BOOYAH!) all mixing together, each fighting for supremacy.
Most of all, he thought about Kim. Their promise to each other had been made when they were eighteen. Was saying they were more adult now just a way of rationalizing their way around it? Was saving that for a wedding night almost sixteen months away fair to Kim if she was ready now? (okay, that made him chuckle slightly – denial of Ron shine is just sick and wrong!) Was denying himself fair to him? Was it even good for him?
The thought made him realize she had put the ball back in his court.
All he had to do was touch a key on his wristwatch and Kim would be back inside of five minutes and despite the fact they both had eight o'clock classes the next morning, the would find a private room!
No! Ready as they both were, this wasn't the time. There would be nothing special about it except being the first. Special would have been the Chalet they reluctantly left that morning. Special would be some perfectly planned getaway!
He kept going back to how perfect it would be on their wedding night.
GAH! Guys aren't supposed to think like this! I've been thinking about this for what, six years?
Making his mind up to not make his mind up yet, he stuffed his hands into his pockets to fish out his house keys. The porch light was off, which was uncommon but not unusual. Once inside he found the note.
Ron, we are driving up to Denver four a couple days. We should be back some time Tuesday. Love ya, give our love to Kim. Mom
Kim, ready and willing (unless I'm reading too much into what she said?) and I've got the house to myself? Do I call Kim or do I need a really long, cold shower?
Am I insane?
He was reaching for the call button on his Kimmunicator when a rough voice interrupted him.
"Stoppable!"