Our Place in the Food Chain: Part XXIX

Every time I'm riding in a car and I'm preoccupied I look out the window Kim thought to herself as she was doing just that. It didn't matter what she was looking at. The scenery she knew from seeing it her entire life and it was dark outside anyway but it really didn't matter if she was watching it or just staring off into space.

The whole sitch was just so awk-weird.

She frowned, thinking ruefully that by now Ron would have asked her what was wrong. Cary, instead, was pounding on his steering wheel, singing along to something she never thought a guy from Go City would want to.

He apparently knew every word, every note, every little inflection of Free Bird. It had come up on the MP3 player plugged into the stereo and for the second time he had hit replay.

I wonder how long I would last dating him if I wasn't with Ron? It wasn't that Southern Rock wasn't her thing, he just seemed so different from what she normally liked. He was good looking, smart, nice as he could be but there was just something about him singing at the top of his lungs in the car that was a deal-breaker for her. She did wonder if she really was that shallow.

No, it wasn't shallow. It was her prerogative to like or dislike what she wanted to. Plus, it wasn't like Ron didn't sing along with stuff, especially when an Oh Boyz track would play. Maybe it was something else and she was just focusing on the singing.

Maybe it was the fact that Cary's singing was like a screeching bird in pain.

She looked back at him as the song (mercifully) ended. He was just reaching for the player when she spoke up. "Please, Cary. Not again."

"Okay, no problemo." He turned the volume down to a much more comfortable level. Kim had already decided this was either his car or he did the most driving in it. Considering the way the steering wheel was wrapped, the collection of CDs he apparently played when he didn't have the player with him and the little condor pendant from his old high school hanging on the rearview mirror, it was clearly a teenage boy's ride. It was just interesting that he would have a relatively expensive car like this. He glanced back at her. "Tell me something, and I don't mean this as an insult on him in the slightest way, but what's the deal with Ron?"

She gave him a surprised look. "What do you mean, what's the deal. I love him."

"Yeah, that's pretty apparent but I just can't figure it. I mean, you're like the prettiest girl in the whole school and you'd think you'd have the choice of any guy there." He looked over at her and smiled.

"What, like I'd sit from on high choosing my suitors? So not likely. Oh, and yes, that is a bit insulting to Ron. I did choose and he was my choice." Why was she even thinking what dating this guy would be like. She had Ron and didn't need any other.

"Hey, whatever you say. It's cool. Kind of like my Mom and Dad. Mom used to be a model back when she was in High School and College and Dad, well, let's just say I got lucky and got my looks from Mom."

After knowing him several months, she still had not met his mother. She tried envisioning what a female version of him would look like. At least, if his father wasn't much to look at, he really should understand why somebody could fall in love with somebody who didn't have model looks. "See, there's more to somebody than just how they look, although to me Ron looks real hot."

"So it's what's inside that counts?"

Maybe he's not so bad if he gets that. "Yeah. God knows I had to learn that the hard way."

"Erik?"

Kim shivered slightly at the mention of that name, wondering for a moment how he knew that until she realized someone at school had probably filled him in on the whole ordeal. Still, that was a subject she would rather leave in her past. Lessons learned, not need to revisit. "Let's not talk about him, Okay?"

"Sure." He said, turning his attention back to his driving.

She had been so distracted by his singing and their conversation she hadn't noticed they should have been there about ten minutes ago. It only took half an hour to walk there so it only took minutes in a car. "Hey, this isn't the way to the mall. It looks like you're headed for the interstate."

"I am. We're meeting my friends at the Upperton Galleria. I see the Middleton Mall several nights a week and I'm just plain sick of it. Thought you'd like the change of scenery, especially since you've lived here your whole life."

She frowned slightly, simultaneously upset with herself for making the assumption and with Cary for not spelling out that particular detail. Still, it really wasn't a bad idea, though the Galleria tended to be a little snooty and upper-crusty for her tastes. At least it had a Club Banana. "I guess so, but isn't Bundy's a lot closer to Middleton?"

"I had another place in mind. More scenery changes and all that."

"It's still okay for minors?"

"You betcha."

Kim nodded in response. Maybe it was actually a really good idea. If it took them some time to get up with the rest of his friends it was less likely somebody she knew would see them together and make the wrong assumption. She could just imagine what would happen if Bonnie saw the two of them together and reported that to Ron when she went to Japan in a couple weeks. She had come out of the short end of the deal after Kim slugged her and was looking for some payback. Already she was dreading how she might treat Ron once she joined him at Yamanuchi.

"So it doesn't bother you at all that he's Jewish?"

Kim shot him a look, not knowing where that came from. "What's that got to do with anything?" She asked sharply. The only hint she had or anyone around her having a problem had been Ron's mother and she had gotten past that, though Rabbi Katz had warned them there would be certain elements who would not care for their paring, both in the Christian and Jewish faiths.

"Uh, it's just, some people get freaked out. I mean, look at your family. You're so wasp you should have black and yellow stripes and stingers sticking out of your butts."

"What are you talking about? What does any of that matter? Plus you seem to be making a whole lot of assumptions about me and my family."

"Well, look at you. Green eyes, fair skin, red hair. You've got to be Irish, at least some."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this. Yeah, Mom's got some Irish in her. Back to Ron, why has where he goes to worship got to do with anything?"

"They're so different than you and I. It's like two different worlds that weren't meant to go together."

"How is Ron so different? Are you trying to say the Jews are a whole different race or something? You've got a lot to learn, Cary. Just look at yourself. Your hair, your eyes, even the freckles on your face, they're just like Ron's or do you think all Jews have dark curly hair and big noses and grow long curly beards."

"Kim, I'm sorry, I think you've gotten the wrong idea what I'm talking about. It's about your faiths. There's just too much different."

She shook her head. "Really, not that much if you think about it, though I've accepted Christ as my savior while Ron considers him a prophet, but the way our faiths affect our lives is a lot the same. Sure, I don't speak enough Hebrew yet to understand everything when I go to Temple with him, but his Rabbi has explained a lot when we go to counseling together."

"Counseling? Man, I didn't know you two were having such problems you needed counseling."

"Oy, that's not the point. We're going because we're in love and we want guidance when we do have problems. It's like changing the oil in your car. You do change the oil in this thing, or do you want your mother shelling out for another forty grand car?"

"Okay, okay, I get it. By the way, Mom didn't buy me this, Dad got it for me."

"Oh, while we're on your Dad, why haven't you mentioned he was in prison?"

"I didn't think I needed to bring it up. He's out now but he's busy in Go City."

He pulled off the interstate, heading into a fairly dark district she was only vaguely familiar with.

"You know, I would have thought we had a good ten miles to go yet before the turnoff for the Galleria." Kim said.

"Shortcut. I hate the interchange at Main Street."

"Uh, sure." She said, more than slightly nervous now. Very dark thoughts were starting to creep through her mind.

How much did she really know this guy? Why was it that most of her friends, including her boyfriend and lifelong companion all thought there was something up with him? Why was it that she wasn't listening to them, to her own misgivings. He had set off her weirdar before. Why wasn't she listening to that?

Why was she alone in a car with him, ostensibly going to the wrong mall, getting off the main road long before they needed to for a shortcut that didn't make a bit of sense?

Kim was starting to get the notion that she might have done something really, really stupid.

"Cary, this was all a bad idea. I'd like to go home."

"Why, it won't be long, we're almost there." He said genially.

"Cary, I don't care if we were already in the parking lot, I want to go home right now, so just turn this car around and take me." She said, her voice almost turning into a growl.

"No."

This time she really did snarl. "What do you mean no? When a young woman, whether you're on a date or not says she's going home you take her, you got that?"

"No." he repeated almost impassively."

"Why the hell not?" She screamed at him, her fists starting to ball up.

"Because we're here." He pulled a tiny remote off his sun visor and pointed it forward. They were nowhere near the mall, in fact they were still in the north end of Middleton, somewhere in the warehouse district, not far from where Drakken and Motor Ed constructed their "DoomVee."

Thoughts of the 'Moron Cousins' were the furthest thing from her mind at the moment.

A door rolled up on the side of the building and he drove right in, pulling to a stop in the middle of the abandoned looking warehouse.

"What is going on?" Kim shrieked, reaching into her purse and pulling out the Kimmunicator.

"Nuh, uh, uh!" He said, snatching it from her hand. It crumpled like a soda can in his hand even though some of the internal components were made of high-strength alloy. Chips of plastic and metal rained down from his hand as he dropped the ruins of the device on the floor of his car.

"You know, I thought you were supposed to be such a smart girl." He said, any trace of niceness gone from his face. "I thought this was all going to be a bad idea, that the moment I told you my name the gig would be up, that you'd run at least a cursory background check on me and you'd find out who I am, who my Dad is."

"Cary, just what the hell is going on?" Kim said fearfully, still watching the hand that had crumpled her omni-device. She glanced at her purse, there was still a normal cell-phone in there as well as several other devices that could tie into Wade's system.

"You really don't know, do you? Man, how stupid can you be? I bet if we met in the field you'd know how many moles I have on my butt, yet something so simple as school you just take me at face value."

He reached behind her head and pulled her close as if to kiss her. She slapped him hard across his face.

"Heh. Yeah, there's a lot of spark in you, just like Zita had before I wore it out of her. Difference is, she used to love me. She couldn't get enough of me at first when she transferred to my school. Get out!" He pointed over her shoulder out the door of the car.

Kim couldn't get out of there fast enough. She looked around, trying to decide what the best escape route was. Then she noticed she had left her purse on the seat, still sitting open.

Cary grinned and picked it up, dumping the contents out on the floor. "Oh, look at this? She's a little smarter than I was figuring. A backup." He took her phone and crushed it just like the Kimmunicator. "Two containers of Kissy Girl? The same color? Oh, I wonder which one is which? Not that it matters." He tossed both of them into the back seat. He took note of her keen interest in the building instead of what he was doing. "Oh, don't bother looking for a way out. I've had this building sealed from top to bottom. The only way out is with this remote." He took the device and put it in his pants pocket before getting out of the car.

"Cary, or whatever your name is, this doesn't have to go this way. This is kidnapping, they'll put you away and they'll most likely treat you as an adult." She said, backing up slightly as he slowly advanced on her.

"You think I care about that? In a couple days I'm going to be an adult anyway and I'm going be on the road back home to Dad first thing that morning, to hell with Mom and her stupid custody agreements. The only thing I want from her is her name, since it fits me so well. Oh, and I do like looking this good. Sure helps with the girls most of the time…"

"…when they're not all wrapped up in a freaking loser!" He growled at her, balling up his fist.

"This was supposed to be so easy. Everything in the psyche-profile I hacked from Global Justice said you'd turn into a hopeless fawn for a pretty face like mine. A little help in the color department and I had your precious boyfriend's look down. A quick tumble in the sack, the right rumors told to the right people and boom, no boyfriend, reputation down the tubes and my father gets the revenge he wanted so much while I got a little action out of the bargain.

"But no, you're oh-so-much in love with that little homely dude. What's he got? Maybe it's true what they say about those big hands? Or did he tell you something like how nerds are so good at sex because that's all they think about all the time?"

"Cary…" Kim snarled.

"Actually, It's Carrion, but since we were on a first name basis anyway…"

"Carrion, I thought I was just going to be defending myself, but this is going to feel good!" She growled, dropping into a fighting stance.

"You think? I know." He pulled something out of his pocket. It was a crystal of some sort, almost the size of his fist. Casually walking over to a table he picked up a metal rod. Carefully he attached the crystal to the end of the rod.

"I made one of these for Dad once. It worked like a charm. That one was made to tap into Team Go's glow powers. It was pretty specific, but since I had the harmonics down, pretty simple to make, really. Too bad you and that green bitch had to steal it and ultimately break it before the transfer could become permanent."

"Oh my God. Aviarius is your father?"

"No kidding. You're actually just now getting that? I guess it's a good think I take after my mother. I thought the moment you heard my name you'd get it. That stupid little black girl you hang around with sure did. I heard her telling it to some of her other black friends, and that cripple she's going to pollute the gene pool with. I bet they're out right now polluting it since you were left all alone tonight." He waved the crystal in front of her.

"This one is different. The last one was made only to steal the four power signatures. That's all it could do. Then I got to thinking about things after you broke the old one and sent Dad 'back to his cage'." He said, mocking Hego's voice. "Maybe everyone has a special power, something that they and they alone have. Maybe that was something that could be measured and quantified, so I built a new crystal. Then I tried it on a few nice folks at my old school. Pretty soon the head quarterback couldn't half throw a ball any more. A couple of the braniacs suddenly started failing and had to drop back to normal classes. Suddenly I was a straight A student and on the fast track to college"

He moved, faster than she could have imagined. Before she could even react he was behind her, holding her arm painfully against her back.

"Pretty soon, I guess I'm going to know sixteen kinds of kung fu." He whispered in her ear. Pulling her hair gently aside with his free hand he placed a gentle kiss on her neck.

"I think I might like to have a little bit of what old Ron is having as well."

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