Into the Darkness
Chapter 4
Kim raced outside, hopping fences and hedges as she made her way out to the street. No other thought had entered her head except to get to Ron and end it. She didn't even notice when a large, black SUV pulled alongside her. A man reached out and grabbed her off the street, keeping his hand over her mouth to stifle her screams.
Amidst her struggling, she recognized the two figures in the front seats. It was Abby and… Wade. Kim stopped struggling, signaling to King that it was safe to let go.
"Wade, what are you doing here?" Kim asked as she situated herself.
"Making sure you don't pull something stupid and get yourself killed." Wade replied in a harsh tone. Kim shifted uncomfortably in her seat, not looking at anyone, while Abby pulled off to the side of the road. "Now," Wade said as he turned in his seat, "what do you think you were doing, just running off like that? You didn't even ask for a ride or anything!"
"I was trying to…" Kim started, but was cut off by Blade.
"You were trying to go off on your own, kill Shego, and then try to save Ron. What you would've ended up doing is getting yourself into a lot of trouble, and then we'd have found you dead or worse two days later."
Now, Abigail spoke up, "What you need to remember is you aren't alone in this. We're all here to help. Plus, as a bonus, Wade thinks he's found a sort of cure for Ron." Kim's face lit up at the mention of this and she looked to her longtime friend. She had long since given up any hope of bringing Ron back to his old, goofy self.
"It's not so much a cure, per se. It's actually a Romanian curse that gives a demon a soul. The only problem is we need something to hold the soul when we summon it. There's only one thing I could find in my searches: an Orb of Thessulah."
"Do you think that this curse could be the cure Shego was talking about, Wade?"
"Well, Kim, it's entirely possible. At least, I couldn't find any other sources to suggest that it could be anything else." Assured that Kim would be ok now, Abby started driving again.
"Ok, we'll worry about whether it's the same as Shego's later," Kim stated authoritatively, shifting into full-on mission mode. "All right, prep time. If anything can be said about Shego, she keeps her word, but even so, she won't make it easy for us to get to her. I'm thinking an ambush is likely."
"Because when do suck-heads play fair?" King queried with a smirk.
"I've got something that might be useful for general ashings; you can even use it to keep Ron tied up until we can get him secured, Kim." Wade mentioned, slipping into his tech-boy persona. Kim gave the boy genius a dirty look, as if to say that she didn't want to hurt Ron if she could help it. "Calm down, Kim, this won't kill him if you have it set to the right kind of ammo. Also, you have to remember that he's still a vampire, even though…"
"he looks like my Ron, I remember, Wade." Kim finished his sentence. "So what's so special about this thing? It looks like that giant three-barreled shotgun King is always working on."
Wade's face broke into the smile he always wore when explaining a piece of new technology. "It's a modified version of the Bonejack. Instead of one kind of ammo, I've made it able to fire three different kinds, one for each barrel. I've got it loaded with silver stakes and hollow points with garlic extract or silver nitrate. I rather like the silver nitrate; it always makes for a nice, slow death." Wade said with a macabre grin, which scared Kim just a little.
"You're a freaky little devil, aren't you, Wade," Kim said, trying to sound more amused than she was.
"I like to think of it as so smart, it's scary." Wade answered back, smirking. "Also, I made this special toy to keep Ron at bay until we can work out the specifics of the curse." He held up a small, black device with small hinges on either side. "It's an explosive device filled with silver nitrate, designed to go off if anyone tampers with it."
He tossed it to Kim, "Use it when you've got him on his back; I'm sure you know how to do that." Wade said, wiggling his eyebrows and making Kim blush the color of her hair.
"What's our point of entry?" Blade asked, bringing the conversation back to their "battle plan".
"The most obvious is the front door, but they'll be expecting that." Wade replied.
"Unless," King started, "we split up. We can make a diversion for Kim, so she can get straight to Shego and Ron."
"Sounds like a plan," Wade assented, "I can even have the Holo-Kim follow you in for more believability."
"We'll be there soon; everyone should start getting ready," Blade said in his usual monotone voice. The rest of the trip was spent in silence, everyone doing what they needed to prepare. Kim sat inches from friends, yet she was miles away. She was once again immersed in memories from what seemed like a different life. She remembered both visits to Wannaweep and how Ron had shown ingenuity and bravery both times; granted, she wasn't huge on the giant beaver he'd become the second time. She remembered how he had risked so much during that date with Josh, and when she had been in library lock-up, he had faced his monkey phobia again to get her out; he had also gone crazy when he had those Naco royalties, when she had made him get that new hairstyle, and even worse, when he had gone evil. Zorpox was a walk in the park, though, compared to what he had become now. She remembered how he had been much better at being evil than Drakken, but then again, almost anyone could be better at being evil than Drakken. Ron had commanded fear and respect from Shego, something Drakken had never been able to accomplish. Now, she, Kim, was riding to capture Ron, if not kill him.
She was shaken out of her thoughts by Abby. They had arrived.
"Right, so we're all clear on the plan?" Wade confirmed. Everyone nodded. "Go to it, then," he said, activating the hologram.
"Last one in has to kiss Shego," King called out, sending Abby following after him. Blade shook his head, said something that sounded like "rookies," and followed after them. Kim started to move in, but Wade stopped her for just a second.
"Just remember, if it comes to it, you might have to do the unthinkable; I hope not, especially now that we might have a chance to "save" him, but it's still a possibility." Kim just turned and walked away.
As she touched down on the roof, Kim thought again about the possibility of this whole "cure sitch" being a trap-trap. She had told everyone that Shego would keep her word, but she was trying to convince herself of that as much as them. 'Honor among thieves', Kim thought as she hit the button to collapse the jetpack.Opening the skylight, she heard the sounds of battle from near the front of the warehouse. Everyone was engaged; she was sure there were some very confused blood-suckers down there jumping through her hologram. She laughed dryly at the thought, before moving back to the task at hand. Moving along the railing as quietly as she could, she tried to catch a glimpse of her prey, but they were hidden from view. Down the stairs she moved, expecting attackers to come from any dark corner. The modified shotgun weighed heavily on her back; she still wasn't completely proficient with firearms, although a lot of on-the-job practice had helped steady her aim greatly. Finally, she reached the ground floor, looking around for any sign of Shego or Ron. She suddenly felt something pull at her back. Twisting around, she came face-to-face with her jade-skinned nemesis pointing the big shotgun right at her midsection.
"Little girls shouldn't play with such big guns, Kimmie. You might put someone's eye out." Shego drawled snidely as she lifted up the modified firearm for inspection. "Let's see here. Faint trace of garlic on the chamber," she shook the weapon with one ear pressed close, "liquid silver inside as well," she spoke as she side stepped Kim's leap towards her, and then turned around. "Am I right in thinking you've got regular silver bullets in there as well?" Kim just stood there stone-faced. "Well, well, well, ol' Wade sure has outdone himself this time; it's such a pity you won't get to use it." With that, Shego broke the Bonejack II over her leg, spilling its contents all over her leg. "Now that's taken care of, we can start having fun," the villainess said as she started throwing bolt after bolt of plasma at her arch-foe. Kim cartwheeled and somersaulted out of the way, looking around for something to level the playing field. Spying a pair of crowbars, she grabbed them and jumped towards Shego's position. Or at least where she was two seconds ago. Kim rolled with the landing to get her bearings on where her opponent was. In a split second, she swung behind her, landing a glancing blow to Shego's side. "Is that the best you can do, princess? No wonder you've been getting your ass handed to you for the last six months." Kim swung hard overhead with both crowbars. Shego caught them with both hands glowing, melting the makeshift weapons into nothing useful. She then grabbed Kim, spun her around by one leg and one arm, and said in a playful voice, "Around and around little Kimmie goes, where she stops, Ronnie sure knows." Kim landed hard on the rough concrete, picking herself up only to face her ex-best friend.
"Ready for round two, KP?" he said in a dangerous voice before sending her flying from a double-fisted sledgehammer punch. The force from Ron's punch was such that she hit the ceiling, denting it, before she was caught in the lumbar plexus by Ron's elbow. Once again, Kim found herself eating asphalt. This time, she was picked by her hair, a migraine joining the rest of her aches and pains, as she was supported by arms that she recognized but felt alien to her. Soft fingers lifted her chin upright before becoming a menacing grip which threatened her windpipe. "Give it up, come on, KP, just give up," a voice said. "It'll be quick; it might even be painless," Ron intoned gently. Kim started shuddering, although, she wasn't sure if it was from internal bleeding or from being so close to Ron. She had, of course, dreamt of this for so many nights since her Nightstalker training had started, but it hadn't been quite like this; she forced herself to focus on the current sitch: her help was indisposed, she couldn't land a hit on either Ron or Shego, her major weapon lay in pieces, her only other was of no use, and she was effectively at Ron's mercy. Part of her wanted to do what he said; it was obvious that she couldn't lay a finger on them, but a different part of her said she couldn't just lie down and die. That wasn't Kim Possible's way. However, she couldn't see an opening to exploit. At this point, Ron had leaned in to bite. She felt his hot breath on her neck and braced herself for the pain she knew was only moments away… it never came. Something was wrong; Ron shook his head to clear it, but he couldn't get his senses back. The smell of Kim's hair had done something, awakened something inside him. Kim took her opportunity and smashed Ron's forehead with the back of her head. He stumbled back, still reeling from whatever it was that had happened to him, although she couldn't imagine what that could be.
"What the hell happened, Stoppable? Get your head in the game and finish Possible off, NOW!" Shego screamed at her disoriented sidekick. When he didn't make any show of responding, she took matters in her own hands, which were now burning at near-nuclear proportions. However, before she could take more than a few steps forward, she was tackled from behind by King. "Ohhhh, my God, will you never get tired of me kicking your ass, King?" she said in laughing frustration.
"Remember who has who pinned, Sheila, darling," he said with a smirk as he slammed a silver stake through her left hand. She screamed out in pain and told King a number of things she would do to him once she got out of this predicament. "Ohh, promises, promises," he told her as he shoved another stake through her other hand. More screams, more promises to eviscerate every inch of skin from his body. "Now, promise you'll stay right there," he told her and blew her a kiss. "Come on, Kim, pin your BF and let's get out of here."
"Yeah… yeah, I'm on it," Kim said in a disconnected voice. She moved around behind Ron and jammed the device's prongs into the back of his neck. At this, he seemed to snap out of his funk.
"What… happened?" he asked in broken speech. His answer was a gun barrel shoved in his face.
"Twitch an eyebrow, and you're dust." King said evenly. "Let's go."
Needless to say, the trip back to headquarters was spent in silence.
A/N: Major props to Spectre666 for helping me break my writer's block. BTW, your lumbar plexus is in your lower back.