The Trinity Sitch - Book 4: Heart of the Fury
Chapter 2: Table for Two
Two shadows detached themselves from the darkness high in the superstructure supporting the massive underground complex. They moved along the open framework, silent as cats stalking their prey. They were clothed from head to toe in skin-tight black outfits, their heads shrouded in form-fitting hoods and wrap-a-round visors. Even their feet were covered in the flexible fabric, allowing them to use their sense of touch more easily. It also helped them remain utterly silent.
A pair of large sentries passed beneath them, not once thinking to look up. Even if they did, all they would have seen were the shadows cast by the framework. They waited until the guards were out of sight before continuing. The intruders moved with liquid grace, their every move planned before it was made. Their skill was tempered by patience. What they had come for would remain where it was until they claimed it. The time for speed had not yet arrived.
They rounded a bend and stopped, their way blocked by a large, clear tube. A slight rumbling reached their ears and they melted into the darkness once more as an object shot by them at great speed, rocketing down the tube. Nodding to each other, they proceeded, slipping over the transport tube before another passenger could pass them by, though it would be highly unlikely they could see them at the speed they traveled.
There was nothing to distinguish between the two of them except for the fact one of them was male and the other was clearly female, though both were on the slender side of athletic. The differences were subtle but distinct. Neither would be mistaken for the other. The man was several inches taller than the woman though it seemed he was deferring to her as they neared their target.
The ventilation shafts were out of the question here. Some time in the past it had been suggested that somebody wanting to infiltrate the complex could use them to get about undetected. In response, the whole ductwork system had been redesigned, with complex sensors, convoluted twists and, most effective of all, the main ductwork had been divided into several smaller shafts rather than one large one. The heating and air conditioning system could still deliver its steady dose of comfort, but no human being could now surreptitiously crawl through them.
Too bad nobody had pointed out the open framework that held together the upper levels of the facility.
Reaching an unmarked doorway, the man dropped to the floor, his visor covered eyes scanning every direction before he signaled his partner. She dropped without a sound and produced a tiny device from her tool belt. She fitted the tiny flat-panel screen over the lock, an ultra-sound system embedded in the device showing the interior of the locking mechanism. In moments the high-tech lock pick had defeated both the latch and the electronic security system. They were in!
The room was filled with mechanical and electronic devices of every description. As the male figure stood watch, the female went directly to a certain shelf, grasping a spherical electronic device half the size of her head. It seemed to be divided into two hemispheres, with dial shaped controls and lensed energy projectors. She pulled a picture up on the tiny screen and compared it to her acquisition. She placed it gently into a large pouch on her belt and tip toed out of the room, nodding to her companion as she left. He nodded back and the both leaped right back up into the rafters.
Slowly, carefully they retraced their steps, escaping from Global Justice Headquarters undetected.
The first time Ron made the drive from Middleton, he was pumped, full of excitement and joy at being selected for the company's new Tri-City district. Ever since the Middleton location opened it had fallen into the home office district, considering it was the only location in any of the three neighboring cities for quite some time. Even when they opened one in Upperton and finally in Lowerton they still fell under the aegis of headquarters, especially since it was only a hundred miles to the west.
Then, that hated enemy, the rival from the East had dared to rear its ugly head in the shadow of the once great company! Thinking the time was right to beard the lion in his own den, the greatest challenge the company could face had opened a location in Middleton.
Chihuahua Taco had come to town!
Of course, they built their new restaurant out on the Interstate, not in the heart of town as Bueno Nacho had done. Still, the affront could not go unanswered! This was their territory and it must be defended at all costs. They must protect what was rightfully theirs!
They built their own roadside location right across the road, one hundred feet closer to the off-ramp.
With four restaurants, and plans for two more, (interstate locations both in Upperton and Lowerton) it was time to consider turning the reigns over to a proven hero, one who had twice saved the company, one who was already a celebrity in his own right, one who had just graduated from a distinguished college with a degree in the culinary arts.
Boy howdy, did Ron have a swelled head when he made that first drive up there.
By the third trip he was wondering how a hundred miles had gotten so long…and so boring!
Not to mention they weren't teaching him anything he didn't already know. Ninety-nine percent of running a fast food restaurant was pure procedure anyway and most of the food was pre-fab. He could create any number of new and exciting dishes from what they had, but that's not what the company was about. They had taken the Naco for what it was, a simple twist on something they already had and capitalized on it. The Naked Molé Wrap, well, that one was just a retro-play on the early 2000's fad of low-carb foods. It really wasn't anything more than pre-formed Chimirito innards with guacamole smeared on it instead of being wrapped up in a flour tortilla. No, the only thing new he was seeing was an endless stream of numbers and figures that he knew wouldn't apply in the real-world dynamic of restaurant operation. He knew the real down-low. It was about people. Follow the procedures correctly and the place would just about take care of itself. The real secret was knowing you were actually dealing with living, breathing human beings with feelings and motivations all their own. Take care of that and success was within reach.
Bueno Nacho was now his dojo, and he was the sensei!
Technically he had been named the manager of the Middleton location. That was simply how they had him on the payroll as he undertook the training courses. In practice, it was Ned who ran the place. That had been true, with only two brief exceptions, for the last seven years, counting the single day when Ron had been made assistant manager back when he was fifteen and the horrible period when Doctor Drakken has placed one of his lackeys in charge of the place to keep an eye on his nemesis and her buffoon sidekick. Come to think of it, he couldn't remember ever actually seeing the head manager, ever!
Thinking of their victory over Drakken still made him smile, even if the aforementioned seemingly former mad scientist now lived quietly in a rented chalet just an hour from their home with his new wife and adopted daughter. Kim may have started becoming pretty tight friends with the woman who once was known as Shego, but he still had a strong feeling that Drakken himself was still five hundred miles of bad road.
It was really strange at first, walking into Bueno Nacho as he always had, with Kim at his side to have the whole staff suddenly snap to attention and almost fawn over him. Funny how the power to "Hire, Fire, Counsel and Appraise" affected people's attitude towards you. He had to gather the whole staff and explain something to them. If he came in wearing the company uniform or dress clothing, he was the boss. If he came in with his wife or his friends in civilian clothing, he was to be treated as any other customer. It took a while, but they eventually came around and relaxed around him.
Ned was the easiest, having been used to Ron for many, many years. Ron's first move once he completed the training was to make Ned the full store manager, a position he would have held by now If Ron hadn't been recruited.
What was it about the drive to and from headquarters? Three times a week he had to make this trip and it seemed on some portion of the drive it was raining. Even the first time he had seen the building the storm clouds were brewing and by the time Drakken unleashed his worldwide horde of Diablo Bots a full blown storm was raging. Kind of a weird image for a chain that tried to project and image of the desert southwest. Oh well, nothing to be done about that! (If only Global Justice hadn't broken up the weather machine after the snowman incident!)
Given time to think about it, he was having mixed emotions about his new life. Oh, being married to Kim was extremely badical. How much better could it be? Yet now he had become the primary bread-winner for their fledgling family, at least for the next few years, allowing Kim to devote all of her energy to her advanced education. He was fine with that, in fact he was ecstatic. By doing what he felt he was born to do he was fulfilling a role that would allow Kim to become the best that she could.
However, old insecurities died hard. There were always stories how a steadfast spouse would put their significant other through grad school, only to lose them once they achieved their goals. In one moment he would reassure himself Kim would never do that, in the next he would tell himself that's precisely what somebody like her deserved. How fair was it that a beautiful, accomplished woman like her would waste her life with a plain-looking man whose lot in life was to run a tiny district in a massive fast food chain?
Trying to take his mind off such dark matters he let his mind drift back, thinking about the events of the last couple years. He thought about their wedding, their graduation from college just a few short weeks before, their senior year, their hiatus from adventuring, their last few missions…
…but mostly he thought about their last really big adventure, the one that took them to a planet on the far side of the Spiral Arm. So much had happened then, not the least of which was the revelation that he was supposed to be some kind of avatar for a group of celestial beings known collectively as the Effurien, gifted with the ability to use and understand any kind of hand-to-hand weapon. Only, like his Mystical Monkey Power, it seemed only to come and go, at least for a while before it simply disappeared completely. They kept up their training rigorously, hoping to keep their edge once it was time to resume their old lifestyle, but they never could seem to recreate the conditions where his so-called powers would come to the fore.
The following summer he had gone alone to the Yamanuchi school to discuss it with Sensei. Unfortunately, the old teacher had been strangely unwilling to discuss it in anything more than the most general terms. He also refused to put the powers to any kind of test. In fact, during the whole visit both he and Yori had seemed oddly evasive and were somehow distracted by something. He knew something was truly amiss when he was not allowed to see the Lotus Blade.
The trip to Japan ended in another disappointment when Yori told him she would not be coming to the United States to attend their wedding the next summer. He left not knowing whether it hurt her to see him with Kim or that some secret ninja stuff was drawing her away. He returned to Middleton feeling like a chapter of his life was closing forever. He felt terribly sad thinking his friendship with Yori could be over.
Sensei was enthusiastic about one thing, though and that was the idea that Ron's soul had been merged with Kim's. He pressed the young man for any details he could remember, though at first he wasn't able to relate too much considering the ceremony was conducted mostly in Arkonian. Still, with his old teacher's aid (and not just a little help from his mystical powers) he was able to recall much more. The white bearded master of Yamanuchi carefully recorded all on a parchment scroll before turning it over to the scribes so it could be recorded in the school's history. Ron was amazed that such an important part of his own life was considered important enough to be recorded for posterity.
He started feeling much better as his mind drifted to some other aspects of their great outer space adventure. They spent days alone in space, with just each other for company in what was, quite literally a flying luxury yacht! Three and a half years as a couple, two and a half of those engaged, much longer if you count the time they had been in denial about their emotions, emotions (and hormones) running high, well, who wouldn't take the plunge in a situation like that? He always knew in his heart that being with Kim would be…well…Badical! But it was even beyond that! He couldn't believe how much he was in love with her then! He couldn't believe how much he was in love with her still! Then there was their honeymoon, which ended in a two day orbital cruise aboard the X.S.S. Trinity!
Booyah!
A passing highway patrol car brought him out of his reverie. Without realizing it he had bee pressing harder and harder on the accelerator, though whether from excitement or just a longing to get back to Middleton and the love of his life he could not tell. He slowly took his feet off the gas, hoping the officer would not turn around and come back after him. Considering he was driving a fully restored black 1977 Pontiac Trans Am with the full Firebird treatment he was, shall we say, a traffic cop magnet! It didn't help the high-performance electric motor (hooked up to a miniature cold fusion power plant) was capable of over 150 miles per hour. He had to take it easy, much as he wanted to get home to Kim, the last thing he needed was a speeding ticket!
At ten years old, the smallest member of Team Possible was started to show his age. Granted, his kind was usually prone to wrinkles in their pink, naked skin, but he had always been quite plump, being perhaps the best fed Naked Mole Rat on the planet. Still, right around his small black eyes wrinkles were indeed beginning to form and he was beginning to slow down, though only just a little.
He scampered across the table top, smoothing down wrinkles in the tablecloth, straightening the runner, making sure the candlesticks were perfectly straight and lining up the silverware perfectly. He was doing his part so the night would be perfect.
If only he could quiet the fear that gripped his tiny heart.
The sounds were not encouraging. For one, only he knew that his human, when he was absolutely certain he was alone, was capable of uttering words that would peel the paint right off the walls. It was an escape valve of sorts for Ron and a secret Rufus would never gladly tell.
The fact Kim was in the kitchen saying many of those same words was causing him no shortage of anxiety!
He went back to work, doing his part for their evening together, though under no circumstances would he enter the kitchen until his human came home.
Nor would he eat anything that came out of it, no matter how hungry he got. Once bitten, they say!
Kim opened the oven, her face a mask of utter despair and misery. At least this time she didn't get a blast of superheated smoke right in her face, temporarily blinding her, though this was almost as bad. Just how hard could it be to make a casserole? She downloaded the instructions and tried to follow them to the letter, but some how, some way something always went wrong.
It wasn't fair! Her mother could cook! Her husband could cook! Even her little brothers could cook. Heck, even her near-twin cousin Joss could cook, though her fare tended to be a little on the camp-stove side of things. No, if there was one thing she had to go and inherit from her father it was an utter and total ineptitude in the kitchen.
Unfortunately, it was now clear the chicken in the dish had died in vain. The cheese, well, it now had much more in common with the diamonds in her wedding ring than anything that ever came out of a dairy.
Dang nabbit! This was supposed to be a special night and she was not about to let Ron do all the work after an all-day meeting at the home office and two hundred miles of driving alone. She wished she could have ridden with him, but there was just too much school work for her to deal with right now. The committee had accepted her thesis proposal, so that was one hurdle already, but the real work was only now beginning. Still, her confidence was high and she knew she was up to the task.
If that only didn't mean so much time apart from Ron.
She worried about him, especially the long, lonely drive. It seemed to go by so fast the first time they made the trip (well, it was fast, using a J200 rocket powered scooter) but it was still a boring, grindingly lonely stretch of road. It wasn't his skill she worried about, it was his state of mind. Over the last months, since they had shelved their world-saving career, she started noticing little things. At first she thought he might be going through a depression, but she quickly realized he was really missing their adventures.
She could understand that fully. She missed them too.
Then too he was, after all, Ron. Despite all they had been through together, how much they had grown as people and as a couple, he was prone to self-doubt. In fact, she had a discussion with her thesis advisor about one thing in particular. It seemed there was a very high percentage of married couples who ended up separated once one partner completed their Masters or doctorate. The very thought of that gripped her soul with icy anxiety. Could she do that to him? Of course not! Ron was her life and she his, but that didn't stop him from thinking about such things.
I am your soul and you are mine his voice said in her mind, as if he were sending it straight to her to quiet her fears.
Oh, I am a stupid, stupid, STUPID… It said BAKE, not BROIL on the instructions!
Frustrated, she tossed the entire mess, pan and all, into the garbage can (Pyrex loooooves Kim!) and got a frozen lasagna out of the freezer. This time she said a silent little prayer, set the oven to BAKE and put the dish into the oven.
Five minutes later she pulled it out in a hurry and took the plastic seal off the tray.
That done, she went to clean up the mess that was supposed to have been tossed salad!
Ron pulled into his space outside of their condo, relieved beyond measure there were no emergency vehicles parked outside. It was just shy of nine-o'clock and he knew Kim would have made some attempt to make the evening special. He was upset at first when he got the call about the meeting, but at least he could get home before it got too late.
There were many special days in their year. Christmas, the High Holy Days, their wedding anniversary, Middleton Days but there was one day that was very special, just for the two of them, a private celebration they always tried to remember.
It was September 4th.
Granted, since they got married on Independence day, it was their two-month anniversary and being a young couple deeply in love that would be acknowledged, but this was something deeper, far more fundamental to the two of them.
Eighteen years earlier, this had been the first day of Pre-K. It was, therefore, their eighteenth anniversary together. Ten months later, maybe their wedding anniversary would become bigger, but this was the celebration of a friendship that became much more than that.
How many young couples could say they had spent nearly their whole lives together?
He unlocked the front door and stepped inside, shaking a few stray drops out of his short blonde hair left from the light drizzle that refused to give up the night skies. As soon the door shut behind him a figure stepped into the doorway, dressed all in black. His heart leaped into his throat at the sight!
"Hello, baby." She trilled in a low, husky voice that sent chills down his spine.
Five years after first seeing Kim in that little black dress and his jaw still hit the floor and this time his father-in-law was not there to snap it shut for him (or threaten a trip to a black hole!)
"Wow, KP, you're just so beautiful! What's the occasion?" he grinned at her
Now, gentle reader, it's clear Ron hadn't forgotten what day it was and what was so special about it and we all know he's not stupid (most of the time) so he wasn't courting serious bodily harm. It can therefore safely be assumed that this had become the traditional banter for this particular celebration!
"Why don't you come here and let me remind you." She purred. Not waiting for him to break out of his trance she moved right up to him, taking his ears gently in her hands and pulling him toward her, their lips parting as they met. His briefcase hit the floor forgotten as his hands reached around her waist and down. The hem of the already short dress started creeping up.
"Hey," she said, breaking free from the kiss, "save dessert for after dinner."
He kissed her neck. It was so much nicer being able to actually touch her wearing that badical dress, so much better knowing she really, really wanted him touching her in that dress! "Maybe I want dessert first? Maybe that's the best part of the meal." He whispered in her ear.
"Ohhhhh, and after I slaved over a hot stove all evening." She mock pouted.
"Let me rephrase that." He leaned back, smiling at her, his hands still firmly in place on her backside. "Maybe that's the safest part of the meal!"
"Ron Stoppable, for that I'm going to send you straight to bed without dinner!" She smiled back at him, wiggling a little in his grasp.
"I'm saved!" He shouted, finally letting her go. "So, what were we going to have?" He asked, testing the air with his nose.
"I saw that." She scolded. "I only burned it a little."
"Smells more like you burned a lot of stuff a little." He said.
"Okay, so chicken casserole is so the drama. I still had plan B."
"Which is, er, well, was?"
"Is, Mister Slather-that-awful-green-stuff-on-a-Chimirito. Frozen Lasagna, to be exact, and even my Mom got the edges a little burnt when she made it."
"Did you remember to take the plastic off?" He asked with a sly grin.
"Oh Nooooo!" she cringed. Ron simply looked crestfallen. "Gotcha!" She said, poking him lightly in the tummy.
He smiled back at her and asked "Okay, how long did you leave it in before you remembered it?"
Dinner was, despite the fact it was served from a foil pan from the freezer, perfect. Mama Porter's (yep, the family dinner division of Pop Pop Porter) lasagna dinner was actually quite good, though just a pale shadow of what it was like when Ron prepared the meal himself. They each had a glass of wine, though mostly because a big glass of soda just doesn't look right at a candlelight dinner for two. Neither of them cared much for drinking. They didn't stay at the table for very long anyway, leaving their pint-sized waiter to clean up after them.
They moved first to the couch in the living room which Kim had lit with a number of pleasant smelling candles. They snuggled close, only coming up for air to make quick loving comments to each other. Ron's tie disappeared first. She didn't even bother to completely untie the knot, she just pulled the short end loose and slowly pulled it from around his collar. That was followed by her slowly, deliberately unbuttoning his shirt while she nibbled on his neck. His hand returned to her thigh and her hem started rising once more, this time eliciting no protest.
His eyebrows went up in surprise. "Did we forget something tonight?"
"One of the advantages of a dress like this for a stay-in date." She breathed as his hand moved to the small of her back, gently laying her back as they kissed. "Wouldn't you agree?"
"I'll get…kiss…back to…kiss…you after…kiss…some product testing." He responded as he made his way down her neck, to her shoulders where he pushed aside one of the straps.
It was a long time before they made it to the bedroom.
Two people made their way quietly through the darkened environs of the Space Center. One was quite tall, probably about six feet though he had a tendency to slouch forward. The other was obviously a child, with long, dark pigtails and a violet and black jumper made to look like her mother's old uniform. She held the adult's hand as she followed him out into the main hanger/dome of the complex.
They paused at a small door set just to the left of a large roll-up hanger door. There was a large padlock on it in addition to a computer interlock. For the latter, he produced a small electronic gizmo, placing it over the device. Seconds later, the telltale glowed green.
The lock was another matter altogether. If his wife had been here she could have had the lock open in seconds, though she refused to apply those skills any longer. There were other ways to skin a cat, though.
He held the lock in his small hands. Concentrating, he said "Pash dazinga." With a tiny squeak, the lock popped open, causing the man to smile broadly, a look of evil mirth playing across his cerulean features.
The little girl took his hand once more and he led her inside.
Most of the lights were off in the hanger but there were enough to outline the large craft parked within. It was two hundred fifty feet long, with along oval shaped hull tapering toward the front. Two large engines projected from the rear of the craft, flanked by tiny fins concealing various sensors.
The man led the child up a staircase to a round doorway set in the side of the starship. There he crouched down and spoke to the little girl.
"Amethyst, if you'd just put your hand right there on that white square, you'd really be doing Daddy a solid." He said in his sweetest voice.
She smiled and nodded her head vigorously. He picked her up by the waist and she put her hand right onto the sensor.
The doors opened with a slight whoosh.
A woman's voice greeted them as the interior lights came on. "Good evening, Amethyst Argus. Welcome to the X.S.S. Trinity. What can I do for you?"
The girl scowled, putting her hands on her hips. "My name is Amethyst Lipsky." She yelled back at the computer voice.
"That's Daddy's little girl." Doctor Drakken said with his most heinous smile.