Chapter 4: Sharks Come Out To Feed

Ron arrives at the place where those students were talking about. He already had a goal in hand, yet his thoughts remained elsewhere. For instance, he had to walk out on Monique when Kim did it.

Standing up a friend is pretty much a shitty thing to do. Yet, that's what he did. Well he wouldn't say he stood her up all the way. He did show up, yet he abruptly left. He did say goodbye, so maybe the blow was softened. The first chance meeting does determine some aspect of character. He still wanted to make it up to her.

With his ninja outfit ready, he sneaks into the house by using the window. He looks into a closet and sees a black backpack followed by a considerable amount of cash. He walks towards it and opens the bag, filling it with as much cash in it as the bag can fit. 'Ned has been a victim of their little protection racket, s'only fair if his hard work is paid off.' Before he could hoist the bag over his shoulders, something instinctively told him to turn around. He did, but not before throwing some shuriken behind him. He sees the three of them, the Fashionistas, fixed with angry glares. Casts either absent or nonexistent on their bodies.

"Look at you three." Ron says. "Thought you'd be at a hospital or something, I mean you look terrible."

Chino was about to charge him but Ron vaulted out of the way, having the guy crash into the wall. That probably didn't do good for him, especially with him sustaining a dislocated shoulder and broken fingers. Maybe he relocated the shoulder, but some remnants of pain remained. His face contorting towards such an action is a prime example of that.

"Look, I'm not this girl you people are talking about. This Kim Possible character. I'm a completely different guy, so I'll put this simply; abandon your criminal ways or I'll kill you." He then grips his blade.

"You can go to hell!" Chino said as he pushed himself up. Ron sighed. This meathead was suppose to be some mastermind criminal, but he wasn't listening, or trying to fake it.

"Maybe you need a little persuasion." He takes his blade out and sliced Chino's throat, he fell lifeless to the ground, his blood staining the carpet.

Both Espadrille and Hoodie looked in horror, this guy was a killer, plain as day. Yet the grief, this shattering feeling of losing a partner and possibly friend in front of their eyes, while the killer treats this as a game, if it didn't matter to him.

Espadrille attacked with her purse, she attacked with it three times, missing each time. Yet the fourth time, caused the straps to collide with his blade, and sever in half. She couldn't process what would happen next, as she felt a cut open on her hip, then a stabbing sensation coming from behind her. When she saw her blade, it pierced her torso from behind. Blood flowed out of her mouth, spilling and coating her outfit. Ron then removed his blade, letting the purse-wielding bandit fall to the ground. He swiped his blade and with a cold glare, he looked at the one remaining enemy.

"Last chance." Hoodie lost two of her comrades, he couldn't see her eyes but he knew it was stained with tears. It was seen that her body was trembling in the terror that she was subjected to. She felt many emotions in her system. Anger, hate, sadness, grief, more importantly; fear.

Her knees buckled for awhile until they gave out. She then fell to the ground, on her hands and knees. Ron casually walked towards her. He bent down looking at her broken, emotionless face. "If they see you without a scratch, they'll think you did it. Isn't that how thieves are to each other, dogs eating dogs?"

She could only shiver at the sound of his voice, causing Ron to continue nevertheless. "Now I know I said that I'd let you go, but I have to make this real. I'm gonna lie, it's really gonna hurt."

"No…" Hoodie quietly said. She then felt a tight grip wrapped around her arm and the back of her shirt.

"No! No, please!" She begged. Her pleas were falling in deaf ears. She felt herself launched right out of the window. She screamed as her body was slammed onto the top of the car, causing glass to break and the alarm to blare.

He took the bag and fled the complex. He didn't smile at his actions, neither pride nor disappointment showed itself. What he did, was his duty, his responsibility… nothing else.

Traveling back to Bueno Nacho, he was mired in thought. About being here, about his self-imposed mission. Middleton has interesting characters here, yet they plague the good people here, they plunge this city into damnation. But they had a savior, temporarily. Ron hasn't seen Kim fight yet, nor has he challenged her in combat. For all her battles, the defeat of her adversaries happened to be temporary. The people still felt endangered.

Ned for example, he had no concern when saying that Kim couldn't find a permanent solution. When Ron decided to help, he had a… semi-permanent solution. Two of them are dead and one of them was broken, hollow. Would Hoodie still go back to her ways? He doesn't want to see it like that, but if it does… he'll do what he has to.

Going into Bueno Nacho, in his street clothes, he places a sticky note on the bag, as it read: 'The money you worked for Ned, plus interest… this never happened.' He sees Ned go into another room to take care of something, he decides to leave it near the cash register, being a noticeable spot to see.

With his job finished, now he can go home. Maybe tomorrow would turn out better and less… homicidal.

Kim was able to wake up as the morning came upon her. Everything seems less burdening since last night. Her thoughts freed from turmoil, caused by the responsibility to maintain a newfound relationship and to apprehend a murderous vigilante. Kim's done a lot of crime fighting, that she knows, people are always out to get her and she's come out on top.

As she freshened up, she goes downstairs to the kitchen to see her family. "Good morning Kimmie." Her mother chimed. She set her daughter's plate as well as her own.

"Hi mom." She says. Giving the plate of breakfast to Kim, Anne sits down with her family for a little time before they all go off onto their routines.

"What's the matter Kim? You look like you have a lot on your mind."

"It's no big Mom, just the usual stuff." She says. Well it was true… half-true.

"Are you sure Kimmie-cup? Because I'm reading the papers on this new vigilante group they're talking about… I thought you would've heard of it by now from Global Justice." James spoke.

"Aw man what if it's a ninja…" Jim said. "That'd be so cool." Tim adds to it.

Kim shoots her head in annoyance. "Did they specify if it was a group?" The redhead asks.

"They didn't. It's still under investigation. But a lot of people are thinking differently about it." Her father responded.

"Whoever it was… they knew what they were doing." Her mother added. After that, there was a ring.

"Hey Wade, what's the sitch?" Kim asked him. He could only say this in a brief mannerism.

"They struck again." He tells her. He then pulls out an image. "Someone targeted the Fashionistas late last night, Chino and Espadrille were killed. Hoodie survived but she's in the ICU after falling down from her place and flattening a car."

"Wade, is there something we can do at this point?"

"Not yet, the Director will have something for this, but for now we need to find out who's gonna be next, and see if Hoodie knows anything."

"Ok thanks." She hangs up.

"All of this happening close to home… one hand, people are safer… but like this… it's…" Anne couldn't find words to describe this, she didn't encourage or discourage this. But if there was anything about this, it was definitely unsettling.

"I'll stop this Mom, everything's gonna be fine." Kim, finishing her breakfast, kisses her mother on the forehead and leaves for school.

A nightmarish dreamscape began to haunt someone immensely. His hands, clawing at the comforting pillows as he shivers at the further thought.

He pictured himself in a car, in the backseat, his seatbelt strapped in as an older woman looked at him from her passengers seat. "Did you enjoy the circus, honey?" The woman said. The woman's voice, her look, her smile. He remembered it vividly, it was his mother.

Ron nodded his head. "I had a lot of fun." He said. Yet his voice was more child-like, that voice was him, when he was six years old.

"Well, when the circus comes back, we'll be able to make another visit." Ron's dad said.

"You promise?" He said as he played with the toys they bought for him. He would crash them together, making noises as they collided.

"We promise." Ron's mother said. They drove in the foggy night, the radio tuned on to relaxing songs as he was calm as can be. They were turning onto a curved road until… they saw a vehicle closing in on them… unintentionally that is.

"LOOK OUT!" They were sideswiped off of the road and into the woods, as several branches or barks of tree attack and tap at the windshield. Until something forces all three of them forward. They crashed onto a tree. Several minutes later, Ron took off his seatbelt and crawled toward his father.

"Daddy, Daddy?" He whimpered as he looked to see his face, unconscious and bleeding, his eye completely swollen. He then tried to shake his mom awake.

"Mommy, Daddy isn't waking up. Mommy, Mommy please!" He says. With him gripped in fear, his parents not moving, smoke coming out from the car, the windows broken into shards. There was only one thing he could do at a point like this…

Scream.

"GGGRRRAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Ron clutched his head at the awful memory. Fresh tears came from his eyes as he jerked himself from the blankets and stood up. He forcibly opens his door to vent in the hallway.

"FUCK! FUCK!" He screams as he violently paces around clutching his head. He places his hand toward the wall, pinching his nose, attempting to calm himself down. He sees the time on his alarm clock, he sees that it's about two hours before he has to go to school. Maybe a drink of water with a workout can help him out.

He goes downstairs to the refrigerator, to see if there was any bottled water. He was right on the money. "Looks like they've been taking care of things home." He mumbled. He takes the cold bottle from the fridge and his attention turned to see cheese wrapped in a plastic bag, with a small chunk of it lying on the fridge shelf. He picks it up and placed it in the trash. He ponders to himself, whether or not he ate something before he went to bed, or maybe did some midnight snacking. He did remember walking down the steps like a zombie, drawn by his hunger.

Before he could leave for the front door, he looks at a picture of him and his parents, several years ago before the… accident. "Hey guys." He said in a somber tone, with a look to match.

He leaves the house, and takes a walk down the street. As he looks up in the sky, he was met with a vibrating feeling in his pocket. He got a call with an unknown I.D.

"Hello?" He answers the call.

"I'm reading the news of you stopping a plotted prison break and killing some random thugs. Almost makes me glad to see you doing well." It was the old man from the shop.

"I need something more, someone better, killing guys like them doesn't show progress." Ron didn't want to be pushy about this. But at least there should be someone that has a significant importance in this, someone who both heroes and villains worldwide would know in the upper echelon's of a crime syndicate.

"Aiming for the big sharks now?" A silence was heard across the call. "Jack Hench… he's your target." With that, the call ended. Ron remembers that name, from the guy he interrogated. If there wasn't anything on about Dementor escaping prison, that must've meant Kim stopped the delivery.

He pictured himself holding his blade, cutting down all of those ingrate scumbags piece by piece, he was itching for action, but that would have to wait. For now he needs to remain as Ron, the teen in high school. The guy in the crowd. He'll do the vigilante thing soon enough.

The sun seemed to shine brighter, the skies looked a lot more beautiful with the white puffy clouds adding to it. Kim walked towards the school to see her beloved artist, leaning onto a wall, taking a sip from his bottled water.

"Hey Josh." She waves at him and pulls him in for a hug.

"Kim." He said. The artist wrapped her in a hug as well. "How've you been? I mean after last night?" Josh was happy about their little outing, but what mattered to him, was her opinion.

Kim smiled. "C'mon, I really liked it. Believe it or not, it's was nice."

"Uh, yeah…" Josh began. "If it wasn't for the new guy, this probably wouldn't happened."

"I'd like to think it could've happened, he just sped things up in a good way." The redhead wanted to give the artist some level of pride for his boldness upon asking her out.

"I think you're right."

"Yeah. So listen, I've got this art thing I wanna go to tonight and… I just wanted to let you know and…"

"Yeah it's no big. Go on and have fun." She says.

"Cool. I'll see you soon." He walks away to get to his class. Leaving Kim to turn around and see another boy.

Blonde and restless, as if nothing could've lulled him to sleep the night before. His hands tugging at his hair as he then covered his mouth. He closed his eyes for a quick second and reopened them. He takes a look around the school and takes himself to the entrance.

"Hey, Ron." She walked toward him. It looked almost like the blonde boy wanted to get away, but he stopped in his tracks. He probably knew she caught up to this.

"Hey, you're Kim right? How did it go between you and him?" Ron asked. He wasn't sure if he cared or not about this, but it's a good conversation starter. "You looked pretty happy walking out."

"Yeah, it was pretty great. Look, I didn't really thank you properly for y'know… setting us up."

"Look don't worry about it. As long as you had a good time, it's cool." He waves it off, smiling.

"But still, you did a huge favor for me… thank you."

"Yeah, you're welcome."

"Hey do you know if Monique is ok? I mean I think I kinda ditched her after last night?" Kim said. She thought about it and felt pretty guilty about it.

"I mean I wouldn't call it ditching, because first off, you didn't plan to hang out, you ran into us. Look, class is starting and we don't wanna be late." Ron said walking into the school and into the classroom.

Another lecture ready to place all students into the thresholds of madness by knowledge, at least that's the way it was for those that couldn't deal with this right now. But to some, a saying held its significance in their minds; knowledge is power.

It was then a note was passed onto Ron's desk. 'Remember 2nite, U.O.M' he turned his head to see Monique. Turns out she was the one who written the note. He could only smile back and nod his head. The dreaded hours had passed and they had all left the classroom.

On his way to lunch, he was met with someone who called him over. "Hey Ron!" It was Felix, who wheeled his way toward him.

"Felix. Hey, what's happening man?" He said greeting him.

"Hey, you heard about the warehouse thing?" He asked Ron. He knew, because he was there… because Felix led him there.

"Yeah, it was crazy." He said nonchalantly. But his thoughts said something else completely. 'Felix, h-he led me there… why else would he have this conversation? Does this mean that he knows? No, it was just happenstance, that's it. He doesn't have enough evidence to prove that I did it. Felix is a good guy, I don't want anything bad happening to him. Well, as long as he doesn't connect the dots, I'll be fine.'

"Something happened with the Fashionistas too, two of them were killed and one is in the hospital. Honestly, I think there's a new vigilante here. I mean, Kim… she doesn't kill."

"A new vigilante?" Ron said. 'Coincidence, rule it out as coincidence.'

"Kim doesn't kill people, she couldn't have just snapped like that and go about things like everything's fine. The methods that he does are stealth-based. Don't get me wrong, Kim's capable of stealth, but once stealth is out of the picture, it ends in some sort of chase around the city."

"So she's bad at this?" Ron questioned. Felix shook his head.

"I didn't say she's bad. There's more ways to stop these guys… look they're both doing good for the good people. Some would like it, some wouldn't, but at the end of the day… it's a crisis averted."

Ron somewhat agreed to it. But he had another question. "Hey, you seem to know a lot about the whole crime thing here, why is that?"

Felix shrugged his shoulders. "I wanted to Kim on missions, y'know be the eyes and ears, hack, stuff that's behind the scenes. But she already has tech support so…"

'He wants to help me… well vigilante-wise. Does he know what he's getting into?' Ron thought.

"What, you wanna help him out?"

"I just wanna do something that… I dunno, can help people. So, I'm trying to see if I can track some leads." Felix looked in contemplation as he said this.

"Good luck with that." Ron said as he walked away.

Kim had a much better day along the road. But it was time to get down to business. All of her years of saving the world and meeting heroes like herself, she never encountered something like this. Someone running around Middleton, committing murder the chance he gets. But the victims weren't innocent people at all, criminals themselves were the targets. Criminals or innocents, this guy is crazy… and she's gonna turn him in.

Before she could think about this more, she could see that Wade was contacting her.

"What's the sitch, Wade?" The redhead spoke.

"For starters, Hoodie is still in ICU, under sedation."

"Is that it?"

"No, how do you feel about an electric based super villain?"

"Well that's something new." Kim said, she seemed to be interested in this.

"Her name is Electronique, she recently attacked a GJ compound containing weapons, it sounds pretty serious. GJ wants you to check it out, once your done, the Director wants to speak to you, something about a new mission priority."

"No big Wade, I'm on it." Kim was able to snatch a helicopter ride to her destination. Several students looked at the chopper descending in front of the school. This was going to be fun, it was nice to get a chance of scenery. What she didn't know, was that someone wanted a piece of the action.

Looking at their watches simultaneously, they both smile to themselves upon seeing it.

"More than enough time."