The Trinity Sitch - Book 3: Blade of the Fury
Chapter 6: From Memory
Kim sat in her car, a mixture of anger and concern rising. She checked her watch; ten after seven. She always picked Ron up at seven sharp on Monday so they would be on time for class. Barring bad traffic, the latest they could safely leave was seven twenty.
He must still be asleep, she told herself. It had been terribly difficult for her to tall asleep herself as she mulled over what she had told him last night. She eve wore her Kimmunicator to bed, fully expecting it to go off any minute with Ron on the other end. She finally fell asleep clutching her Pandaroo, staring at it.
In the light of morning, Kim came to the realization she had been up half the night waiting for a booty call!
She woke that morning figuring she hadn't come out and said it clearly enough, she only implied it. She slapped her forehead, knowing she couldn't be that subtle with Ron. The only words he would understand would be "Right now, Ron!"
Plans for the next getaway were forming in her head. Renting the cabin again, no matter what the real cost was, breaking out a silk, shimmery thing from Alexandria's Confession that neither Ron nor Kim's parents knew she owned. She made a mental note to thank Monique for suggesting she buy it!
She glanced at her watch again. It was seven fifteen.
She got out and walked around the house. Standing under his window she shouted "Come on, Ron, we're going to be late!"
No answer was forthcoming.
Concern started pushing aside anger. She half jogged, half ran back to the front of the house, getting out her keys. The Stoppables had given her a key not long after they officially announced their engagement.
The house seemed strangely quiet. She quickly climbed the stairs and rapped on his door. Still not getting an answer she opened the door, fully expecting the sight of him still sound asleep on his bed.
The bed was still crisply made. He never, ever made his own bed and it was rather unlikely his mother had ventured in to make it yet.
Where were his parents? Normally they would be here still, waiting for about eight to leave for their offices downtown, sitting at the kitchen table finishing off a pot of coffee.
She caught sight of the note from the top of the stairs. It had fallen unnoticed under the coffee table.
That explained where they were, but what about Ron?
Concern was edging toward panic. She touched the call button on her Kimmunicator, sending a signal directly to his instead of routing it through Wade's system. From somewhere in the house came the first bars of "Could it Be," Ron's special Ringtone for Kim. She cast about frantically, searching for the source of the music. It was coming from the living room but somehow sounded muffled. Before she could home in on it, the ringing stopped.
"You've reached Ron. If you're a super-villain, my name is Ron Stoppable. Please take note of it. If I can't answer that means I'm probably having a bon-diggity good time with Kim or I'm off helping her save the world or something. When you beep me, you know what to do!"
She shut off the signal, not wanting to hear the voice message again. Something black caught her eye, sticking out from under the sofa. She reached under the ruffled skirt and her fingers closed on something that made her heart go cold.
It was Ron's Kimmunicator.
Ever since Wade built the new units, now small enough to be worn as a bracelet by the female members of Team Possible or a sports-style watch for the boys Ron had very rarely taken his off. She even had to tell him to remove it during their down time as he had become so accustomed to wearing it. She hoped for a moment that this was his spare, but that idea was dashed quickly when she realized the spare wouldn't be active.
More chilling was the fact the plastic band had been torn.
Panic starting to grip her, she punched her main call button.
"Kim! What's wrong?" Wade asked, instantly reading her expression.
"Ron's not here! His bed hasn't been slept in and his Kimmunicator is still here!"
"Okay, I'm in my mother's car. I'll be at the Space Center in ten minutes. Don't worry, I've still got him chipped. When was the last time you saw him?"
"I dropped him off here at ten last night."
"Alright, I'll call you back when I get there and plug in."
"You rock, Wade." The hologram winked out.
Squinting, she noticed something else unusual on the floor. It was hair, specifically, coarse white hairs like one would find from a shedding animal of some sort. That didn't make a bit of sense . Ron's father was severely allergic to any kind of pet dander. If he got anywhere near a furry animal his face would swell up in hives and he would have to take a special injection he kept on him just to keep breathing normally. That's why Ron owned a Naked Mole Rat in the first place.
Where was Rufus? She hoped he was with Ron. Pit bulls had nothing on the little pink guy when it came to protecting his big buddy!
BEEP-BEEP-DE-BEEP.
"Go, Wade!"
"Kim, I've got a lock on his chip, but…"
"But what, Wade?"
"…I, I'm not getting any biometrics from it."
"What does that mean?" She asked, a quaver in her voice.
"Stay calm, Kim. The chip is old and it may be malfunctioning. It hasn't been accessed in a couple years since I rely mainly on your Mark 3 Kimmunicators now. It may just have slipped into passive mode. At any rate, I'm reading it right there in the house with you! I'm overlaying a schematic of the house…Upstairs! Looks like he's in his own bathroom!"
Kim was sprinting up the stairs before he could complete the last word. She threw open the door and turned on the lights.
Her eyes were immediately drawn to the sink. Sitting at the bottom was something black, about the size of a grain of rice, sitting in a small pool of blood.
"Wade?"
"I'm right here, Kim."
"What does the chip look like?"
"It's a tiny little capsule shape, about a quarter inch long."
She picked the object up and held it up to the scanner. "Is this it?"
He took a moment to answer. "I'm afraid so." He admitted, not wanting to considering the look in her eyes.
Kim dropped to her knees, tears starting to flow. Somebody had Ron and they knew exactly how to keep anyone from finding them.
"Kim, please," Wade pleaded, "Ron is almost as good as you now. I'm sure he is alright. If they took out his chip that means they need him for something." Wade tried to sound hopeful.
Through her sobs, Kim thought she heard something. It was faint at first but it became clearer as she paid attention to it.
Scratching!
It was coming from the cabinet!
She opened the door, releasing a frantic Rufus. He scampered to the top of the counter and squeaked "Monkey!"
"Rufus, was Monkey Fist here?" Kim asked, a cold terror gripping her.
"Uh huh, uh huh." He nodded.
"Maybe Monkey Fist knows what happened to Ron when he touched the Time Monkey." Wade theorized.
"This time, Mystical Monkey Powers or no, I'm taking down Monkey Fist!" Kim growled.
"His Monkey Powers have fled." Came a weak, distant sounding voice.
Kim ripped the shower curtains aside with a surge of hope. Lying there on his back, rubbing his scalp was Ron. Now crying freely, Kim scooped him up, crushing him in a hug.
"Ow, Kim, watch my neck, OW!"
She let go of him and turned him around. There was a bloody sore there where something small had been gouged out. So that's where they are, she thought, a hand involuntarily checking the same location on her neck. If it was there, it was too deep to feel with just her fingertips.
"So Monkey Fist did this to you?" She asked, dabbing the wound with a damp rag, cleaning some of the dried blood away.
"Fist was here?" He asked, perplexed.
"You just said his 'monkey power had fled'" She mimicked the gravity he had used to proclaim the fact.
"I did? I don't remember him being here? Are you sure?"
"Well, that's what Rufus said."
"White Monkey!" he squeaked in agreement, trying to be helpful.
"I really don't know about Monkey Fist or any 'White Monkey'..."
"I found some white animal hairs downstairs with your broken Kimmunicator." She handed it to him as his hand automatically went to his bare wrist.
"All I saw was some chubby older guy in funky robes who kept going on and on about finding some sword. It sounded like he was calling it the Sword of the Fury or something."
"Sword of the Fury? Sounds like a bad Kung Fu movie or something."
"Well, he was using some weird word that sounded like fury. F Fury I think."
F Fury? Why did that sound familiar?
"Next thing I know, his goons grab me from behind and he starts babbling about unnatural science while he starts digging at my neck with a wavy looking dagger."
"They took out the tracking chip Wade put on you." She squeezed some antibiotic ointment on the wound and pressed a square of gauze onto it, finishing with some strips of white tape.
"Next thing I know I'm in the tub and I'm hearing voices. I didn't really wake up good until you opened the curtain and I saw you." He winced as Kim checked his scalp. "Ow!"
"Somebody clocked you good." She gingerly inspected the lump on his head. "You know what that means!"
"You're going to kiss it and make it better?"
"Yes, but it also means we're going to the Medical Center to get you checked out."
"Aw, man, come on. I'd rather have you just kiss me."
"I'm not going to stop that." She gave him a quick kiss on the lips and helped him to his feet. He was rather wobbly, making her glad she was taking him to the emergency room. Knocked out twice over the weekend, he would be lucky if he didn't have a concussion.
Before they could leave he sat down on the edge of the tub, making her afraid he was worse off than she figured he was. "I should have stayed with you last night." She sort of relieved he was just being down on himself.
"I don't think Daddy is quite ready for us to share a bed under his roof."
"No, Kim. I mean I shouldn't have gotten out of the car last night. We should have gone ahead and found us some place private and…well, if that's what you really meant last night." He looked up at her, hopefully, not wanting to have misunderstood.
"I…I think, I mean yes, yes that's what I meant. I wish you had stayed, I really do, but now isn't the time to regret that…" She stopped, seeing the look in his eyes. "Ron, we are going to make that time, I promise you. Right now, let's get that head of yours looked at."
She pulled him to his feet again. They turned to leave as Wade's voice broke in.
"Uh, guys, I'm still here you know."
"Eep, sorry about that, Wade. That was meant to be a bit private."
"No kidding, but, despite the fact I'm now scarred for life, that's not the worst of it."
"Huh?" they said in unison.
"Kim, you know where I am, don't you?" he said, his eyes half lidded.
"You're in your lab, aren't you?" Ron asked for her.
"Ron, I'm at work. I'm on the bridge of the Trinity."
Ron just looked confused, but the full ramifications of what Wade said hit Kim like a runaway train.
"DADDY?"
"I'm sorry, Kim, he was standing right over my shoulder the whole time, trying to make sure the two of you were okay. I didn't say anything until he just silently turned around and left."
Instead of turning red, Kim turned white as a ghost
The hazy image of a Katana floated in front of them. Wade adjusted some controls and the image got clearer.
Ron stared at the sword, his arms crossed, lost in thought. He was still far too concerned by the look Kim's father had given him when he entered the bridge of the starship. He felt about an inch tall, as if he had disappointed the man he respected more than almost any other in the world.
A look at Kim told him she was in the same boat.
"It's the right general shape, but the grip is a little shorter." He held a finger up to the blade of the phantom weapon. "I think the edge stops here, unlike a regular katana, and there are strange symbols carved in it up to that point. The grip ends in something like a spade." Ron was doing his best to remember the details of the weapon he had seen in his nightmare. Concerned, Kim had her arm wrapped around his waist. She had been there when he awoke and had seen the terror in his eyes.
It couldn't be a coincidence that Ron had his dream about a sword and a robed stranger was about, looking for it.
"Did you say it had runes?" Wade asked.
"Yeah, but I'll be darned if I can remember exactly what they looked like. They weren't Japanese or Chinese, or at least I don't think so."
Wade rubbed his chin, scratching the beginnings of a 'soul patch' beard. He modified the image as Ron suggested.
"That's closer. The guard and the end of the grip looked like they were made of gold. Yeah, and there was some symbol on the spade thingy that looked like a cross between a J and a T."
"A J and a T? I've seen that on a sword before!" Wade said, his fingers dancing on the keyboard. The katana image shrank and moved off to the side, replaced with the image of another sword, one totally unlike what Ron was trying to remember.
It was a two edged sword, the grip wrapped in black leather, the wide guard made of gold. The more Ron looked at it, the wider his eyes got.
"Those are the markings, I'm sure of it, and the thing on the spade thingy. The rest of the sword is different, but that's exactly what I saw!"
"Are you sure you weren't just mixing details?" Wade asked. "You are more familiar with katanas than you are other kinds of swords. It was a dream, after all."
"No, Wade. I can't tell you why, but I think these are two different swords. Maybe the same person made them, I don't know. Now, where is this one.?"
"That's the thing. You've seen this sword in person before and there is absolutely no way we can ever see it again." He reset the image, replacing the sword with an hologram of a slender woman with long black hair wielding the sword.
For a moment Ron thought it was Shego, then he remembered who the woman was. It wasn't Shego, though in a way it really was her.
Over three years ago they had encountered a group of people who turned out to be from a completely different reality, another version of their universe. Some of them even had counterparts here in their universe. One, a woman named Dona Argus, who, despite looking like she was in her mid twenties, was actually nearly sixty. When her powers, plus that of her husband and one other warrior, were restored, the weapon had appeared.
Kim gasped.
"Ron, you said they were looking for something called 'F Fury?'"
"Yeah, it was something like that."
"Could they have been saying 'Effurien?"
"That's it, yeah."
Wade started frantically typing. "Accessing the Trinity's database. Now, granted, most of it is copied from a computer that came from Dona Argus' universe, so it might not be right here, but it may offer some clues to what we're talking about. Here it comes."
A balding, heavyset man wearing dark robes appeared in the hologram. Before he could speak, Ron screamed, backing away from the image.
"That's him! That's the guy who grabbed me!"
"Are you sure?" Wade asked. "This is from the Valkyrie's database, he's not even from our universe."
"Of course I'm sure. That's the guy who stuck the knife in my neck!" Ron was actually starting to get a little angry.
"Amp down Ron." Kim said. "Maybe it's our universe's version of this guy Ron saw. Back it up and let's here what he has to say, Wade."
The image reset and the man began speaking again. "I am Acera Uri, chief scholar of the Church of the True Master. Today I will discuss with you the three aspects of the Effurien. While the race that ascended to create what we refer today by that name consisted of many millions of individuals, we know then today by their three aspects. T'Dragma, Conga'alatta and Ma'ar'kus. In modern speech, we refer to them as The Hand, the Sword and the Wisdom of the Effurien."
"The sword of the Effurien, that's what he was looking for!" Ron said.
Kim shushed him, wanting to hear what the man had to say.
"The Hand is often considered the most powerful of the avatars. The historical accounts of the Hand are the best documented, almost always referring to a hero of great strength.
"The Sword of the Effurien is used to describe either a mythical weapon or the warrior who wields it. The sword carried by the False Podondrin was often called by this name, but it was discovered his weapon was indeed a fake." An image of a black sword, very similar to Dona's sword appeared momentarily. "The sword is often the second to arise, after the Wisdom has arisen.
"The Wisdom is actually the most powerful, and perhaps the most dangerous of all the avatars. His powers, while not as obvious as the others, can affect time and space itself."
Wade stopped the playback. "It goes on and on about that, mostly about how religion on the planet Arkonia is centered on the return of these 'Knights of the Effurien.' Look at this."
The katana took the center image once more. He overlaid the runes and made them curve to fit the blade. After a few more tweaks, he could see the excitement in Ron's eyes.
"That's it." He said with a surprisingly calm nod.
"So, supposing this sword actually exists in the real world, how are we supposed to find it?" Kim asked.
"I don't know, KP, but somehow I think it's important we do before this 'Sarah Uri' character does." Ron said, his face more serious than anyone had ever seen before.