Kim Possible lay on her bed thinking over the events of the day, they hadn't seen Jason since he vanished earlier. Ron was watching for Jason over at his house and Rufus was looking around Jason's now semi destroyed house for anything they might find useful. Though all he found was a packet of Diablo Hot Sauce. Amazingly still unopened. Rufus just shook his head in disappointment.
As Rufus was trudging through the trash that used to be the front wall of Jason's apartment he saw someone approaching off in the distance. Jason's head was lowered, but he looked more confused than sad. Rufus shook the dirk off of himself and ran up to Jason. Jason looked down at him with a knife sharp sparkle in his eyes. "Hey Rufus, find anything?" "Nu-uh!" said the naked mole rat. "Oh yeah!" said Rufus whipping out the Diablo hot sauce. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?" asked Jason. "Big time..." squeaked Rufus in his small voice.
"Jason!" called Ron. Ron ran over to Jason and said, "Hey, you ok dude?" "Did you find anything at Mr. North's?" Ron asked him. "I figured you were going there, I wanted to tell you they confiscated everything already." Jason wasn't sure how to respond. He had found something, but should he tell them. He said he trusted them, and he would hold himself to his words. Jason looked Ron in the eyes, his own eyes pierced right through his blond haired friend. "I am going to find my mother Ron... and I have the tools to do so now. All of them." Jason reached into his pocket and pulled out a small hand held device. He clicked a couple of buttons on it then handed it to Ron. "Make sure Wade gets this, it'll allow me to contact him from the Ferret Hole." Ron's eyes widened as he took the item from Jason. "Wha... you mean there was STILL stuff there?" Ron said in amazement. "You have no idea..." responded Jason.
Kim walked up to Ron and Jason, she could tell something was amiss. Ron looked at her, not sure what to say. Jason looked at her, also not sure what to say. "What's wrong?" Kim finally asked them. "Ron?" asked Jason. "Go ahead dude, I'll tell her." Ron said as Jason trailed off towards Middleton's central city area. "Where is he going?" asked Kim. "Ferret is going to go look for his mother." Kim looked at Ron curiously. "What...did you just say?"
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The sun crept down along the horizon. Shadows filled the alleyways, monsters hid under beds. But tonight even the monsters would learn fear, for something dangerous roamed the rooftops. The costume wore like a second skin. He jumped from the roof and fired a grapple as he glided through the air. He swung to another building and landed on the railing. He crouched on the corner and looked down below. It was dark. He had found his way to the rough part of Middleton. Surprisingly Kim and Ron had both never been here before. He eyes searched everything below him, looking, waiting.
A scream came from a nearby alleyway. The response was not controlled, but simply was. He ran along the roof rail and plunged down into the alleyway, ricocheting off of emergency fire ladders and walls. Much of this was new, but it wasn't anything really hard for him. He grabbed a rail on one of the fire escapes and positioned himself to peer down into the alley below. There was a young woman, kind of roughed up, apparently these guys had chased her here to a dead end and she had been trying to fight them off.
He jumped and landed on a dumpster. The THUD caused everyone there to turn. Five thugs stare at him. The young lady scared of him. It was right, it was how it should be.
There were no questions, there were no words passed. There was only action. He jumped from the dumpster into the midst of the thugs. An uppercut, easily dodged, easily countered. The first was down. A roundhouse kick, out maneuvered, outclassed the second fell. In but a matter of seconds all were down. All were unconscious. He looked at the girl, terrified of him. He took a step forward, she pushed back against the wall as if looking for a way to run. She froze as he approached her. He looked her right in the eyes. "Don't be afraid. Only those like them need fear me." She wasn't sure what to say, but the words spilled, "Who...who are you." He leaned over, and whispered quietly into her ear.
"Oh!" she said. "Umm... thank you for your help." She ran past him and down the alley. Sirens were heard.
He approached one of the thugs who was regaining consciousness and grabbed him by the color. He pulled him up to where he was looking him right in the face. "Why were you after her?" He asked in a dark voice. "WHY where you after HER?" He came again, darker, colder. "We..we..wanted to...to...um..." tried to say the Thug. His patience seemed to lessen, his grip increased. "Why...?" "We wanted to rape her..." finally said the Thug. "You will tell the police, and I'll be listening to make sure you do." he said. The thug stared at him. "Who...who are you?" Sweat dripped down the thugs face. "I want you to tell all your friends about me. I am the Fearless Ferret." This is where the Thug questioned the reality of the situation. He was being interrogated by a guy named after a rat...or rodent, or...whatever. But his doubt ended fast when the Hero hung him upside down from a escape ladder. The rest of the thugs were piled below him, just kind of throw one on top of the other.
He looked down from the roof as the Thug explained what happened to the police. The police didn't know what to make of his story. It was the first time they had had someone so openly confess to what they were going to do. It was the first time they had dealt with claims of a vigilante. One of the cops looked up, and for an instant he could have swore he saw something. But as quickly as it had been there it was gone. "Officer Hobble, you like like you just saw a ghost!" laughed one of the other officers. "If you could call it that..." said Officer Hobble pulling the tip of his hat down to shadow his face.
It had felt good. It had been everything he expected it to be. He was the Fearless Ferret. He continued his search for his mother. The Ferret searched through countless warehouses and abandoned buildings, using the scanners in his costume and an assortment of tools he had brought with him. Dee Deet! Sounded the communicator in his left ear. "Go Wade," said Jason. "How's the skulking going?" asked Wade, not joking. He had just heard the cop radio. "I've found no trace of my mom, I've been looking everywhere and nothing." "I've never had a case like this Jase, honestly I've got little idea of where to start searching. Kim and Ron went through the wreckage at your apartment and they haven't found a single clue yet. Nothing." "Tell them I said thanks for their help Wade. I'll keep looking on this end, call me if you find anything, FF out." "Ok, later," said Wade as he closed the transmission.
What could he possibly do. Nothing seemed to be going right for him. He had moved to a new home, put his prison past behind him, and now this had to happen. He wasn't going to let it beat him though. He was going to find his mom. Jason climbed to the roof and brought up his magnification lenses. Off in the distance to the west he saw smoke rising from the ground, and to the north he heard sirens. He knew it was going to be a long night.
His grapple launched and connected with a steel railing on a nearby building as he took off towards the west, towards the smoke. It didn't take him long to get there. A small building had taken fire, and the Fire Department had made a perimeter around the building to let no one into the flame infested building. Jason swung to the neighboring building then jumped through a window of the flaming building. Glass shattered as he landed inside. His sound system had detected faint cries for help from the inside, which explains his entry. Jason went in further, calling out "WHERE ARE YOU?" Before too long he was getting responses like "HERE, OVER HERE!" and "PLEASE HURRY!"
A beam had fallen in front of the door trapping these people inside. He wasn't strong enough to move the beam. He looked around trying to figure out what to do. Jason stepped to the side and used his Ferret Claw to tear a small hole in the wall. The fire hadn't spread through the inside of this wall yet. He quickly tore through the sheet rock with his claws and broke a couple of beams with some basic martial arts skills, and started helping the people out of the flaming building. Down the stairway, he had to use smoke grenades to clear the flames long enough for them to get down.
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The people outside watched as the building just burned and burned. Smoke and ash rose, blocking out even the moonlight. The area was loud with screams and cries of horror at the terrible scene. Flames screamed out of broken windows, small explosions made holes in the side of the building where a gas pipe had been. Then another small explosion tore an opening where the main entry had previously been. A small group of people came running and shouting as they exited the burning building. Firefighters tried to calm the people as they kept saying, "HE...HE...HE WENT BACK IN!"
More explosions tore the buildings east end to nothing. The building was starting to collapse now, and the police and fire department began to evacuate those in harms way.
It didn't take too long to evacuate everyone. The building began to crumble piece by piece. Slowly at first the walls seemed to turn inward. Then in a rush everything seemed to just come down at once. Nobody noticed the grapple cable that came screaming through the smoke and flames as the building came down. Nobody noticed the figure with something in his arms as it exited the burning building. All they remember hearing was the cries of a child as they turned to find it in the arms of an EMS officer. The EMS officer immediately began to attend to the child. The EMS officer knew he had seen it. He had seen the tears in his uniform and the scrapes on his chin area, and the blood staining the costume. And he thanked God that someone had been crazy enough to save all these people.
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As she watched everything on screen she wasn't sure what to make of it. It was just a news channel, but the reports of a vigilante on the scene had intrigued her. Something about this struck a cord inside of her. A tear trickled down her face as she looked at the child they showed with third degree burns all over it's body, the one the vigilante had saved. "For all your toughness your still a woman Shego. Crying over an injured child." said Dr. Drakken. A few more tears fell down her cheek and she could hear sniffling behind her. "It is kind of a sad moment though..." said Dr. Drakken as he fiddled with his tools. Shego closed her eyes and wondered what would possess someone to enter a building in that condition and do what he had done. She wiped the tears from her face and began to reach for the power button when the EMS officer came on. Her attention was stuck to his words. "I had never seen anything like it. He was bleeding, he was clearly injured real bad. And according to the people he saved he took a beating getting them out. Estimations would assume he probably had some broken ribs as well. And still he got them all out alive."
This wasn't something Kim and Ron had ever done. This new guy was something completely different, and she wanted to know why. She wanted to know what would make someone do something like that. She had been a hero herself in times past, but this guy put all of Team Go to shame in a single night. He had no powers. He had nothing that made him any different that another person. He was as fragile, as easily injured, and yet for all his weaknesses, despite them, he was helping people. Something seemed to burn inside her chest. She had to know, she just had too. Why...
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Jason Brent clambered through the window to Ron's room where he collapsed on the floor, bleeding, and in pain. Ron shot out of bed and ran over to help his injured friend. Kim was over after a quick phone call along with her mother. It didn't take too long to get the blood stopped and have him all bandaged up. His burns were treated as well. Something had caught Ron's attention though. Jason wasn't wearing the costume when he came in the room. They all knew he had been near the fire, Kim and Ron knew he was the vigilante from the news, Mrs. Possible just knew he had been over there. Aside from that none of them were sure what to make of it. Jason fell asleep pretty fast, and Ron just busted out a sleeping bag and slept on the floor.
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The morning sun poured across his face. Jason groaned as he put his hand up to block the light. He sat up slowly. He hurt like hell, like he had been run over by a truck twice. "Feeling any better?" asked Kim who had come over earlier to check on him by her mom's request. "Not really," answered Jason as he gripped his shoulder. "Jason...why put yourself through that?" He just looked at her and asked, "Would you have left those people to die?" She looked away from him, then said, "No, I wouldn't have." "Exactly," said Jason.
Ron sat up and yawned. "Honestly Jason, if your going to do that, at least don't get so shredded next time." Rufus yawned from the pillow next to where Jason had been resting. "Little dude likes ya bro, don't die on him," said Ron. "You don't need to worry about that guys, I promise I'll stay alive." "And we promise to help you find your mother." said Kim as she put her hand on Jason's shoulder. "Jason, welcome to the team, permanently and forever." said Kim. "Thanks guys..." said Jason smiling.
The moonlight caressed the sides of the building. The air seemed to cry his name. There he stood, high up on a building, staring at the vastness before him. This he would protect, this he would watch over, this he would keep safe. He IS the Fearless Ferret, he IS...a hero.
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Well Ferret Fans, I hope you liked this chapter, I really enjoyed typing this one. The action rages on in Return of the Ferret next chapter, though the chapter will be called something else. Jason's search for his mom continues as Kim and Ron have to go on a mission to stop Dr. Drakken yet again. How will things play out? We'll find out.
-Genko