"So what causes one of my best and brightest students to request an audience with me?"
"A request from the chosen one, master," Yori answered the old man.
"And what would that request be?"
"I request your indulgence to hear his exact words," she stated. "He has a certain suspicion about Yamanouchi. I wrote them down from his email, so that I would remember."
"Of course," the old man gestured her to continue.
Pulling the paper from her sleeve, Yori read. "Yori, Kim recently got a call from Monty," she paused, looking at her master. "Monty is the name Stoppable-san often uses for..."
"Lord Fiske," Sensei interrupted her, but without impatience or annoyance. "I am aware of this, continue."
"During this call, he told her that he had tried to use Lake Wannaweep to mutate himself further," she continued. "Believe me, I have stories about that place, but Kim and I were at a competition at that lake when he made this attempt. We didn't know that Monty was there, but he claims that a young man stopped him. He showed Kim a sketch he made of the young man, and she recognized him as Hirotaka, the guy who came to Middleton High while I was at Yamanouchi for the exchange."
Yori risked a slight glimpse at her master, but his expression was unreadable, so she continued. "After that, he showed her pictures that one of his monkeys took while we were fighting in the yellow temple. I'm sure that you've noticed that my feet aren't quite normal. He claims that my feet are this way because I was mutated and not him."
"I jumped into the contaminated water," Yori continued to read. "I wanted to become mutated so that I could match a villain called Gill Moss, who was terrorizing the camps around the lake. Since a doctor called Doctor Lurkin had cured Gill of his mutation earlier, I was sure that he would be able to cure me, afterwords. The water didn't seem to affect me, so I didn't think anything of it at the time. A couple of weeks later, I started to notice my feet changing. I was also getting stronger and less clumsy, so I didn't tell anyone. The problem is, Monty noticed and now I have to wonder if it was Yamanouchi that arranged it."
"If you don't know, please ask Master Sensei," Yori concluded. "Over the last few years, I've been exposed to mystic forces, hit by rays and struck by chemicals so many times that I can't be sure what caused this. I don't know if it can be reversed, or if it should be reversed. Please, anything you can let me know could help."
More silence answered Yori while her master stroked his beard and appeared to be in deep thought.
"Young Stoppable gives me a potential way to deny Yamanouchi's involvement," he finally stated. "As he has said, his life as a heroine's assistant has exposed him to many strange and potentially harmful events. Perhaps even the Mystical Monkey Power itself is doing this to him. It would be so easy to state that Yamanouchi has nothing to do with his state." He looked sharply at Yori. "You have questions, speak!"
"My questions are for knowledge that is not my place to know," she protested.
"Ask anyway!"
"Yes, master," she took a deep breath. "Did Hirotaka do as Stoppable-san suspects?"
"Be seated, child," Sensei instructed her. "But first, your writing..." he gestured towards a brazier and a candle.
She bowed her understanding and burned the paper.
"Your email must be deleted as soon as we are done here," he instructed.
"Already done, master," she assured him.
By now, the old man was seated so Yori did as instructed and took her own seat.
"Lord Fiske is somewhat of an enigma," Master Sensei told her. "He is driven, one could say ruled, by his hunger for power. He is capable of great cruelty and violence yet, he is also capable of great patience and precision. While his understanding of the Mystical Monkey Power is incomplete, he has gained some knowledge of it that is beyond that of the collected scholars here at Yamanouchi, who have been studying it for centuries. When it became clear that young Stoppable was imbued with the power, I instructed Hirotaka to inform me about news of anyone even tangentially associated with him. One day, last year, he informed me that Dr. Lurkin had met with an unfortunate accident, at about the time when Lord Fiske was to visit his place of employment."
"Yes, we suspected Lord Fiske," Sensei confirmed, when he saw her expression. "So I sent Hirotaka to investigate the situation. He managed to obtain some of Dr. Lurkin's research and also observed young Moss. Eventually, we determined that Fiske intended to use the chemical contaminates that had mutated Moss in order to modify his own DNA with monkey influence. This was intended to increase his chances of becoming the ultimate monkey master, over young Stoppable. After thwarting this attempt, Hirotaka realized that we wanted Stoppable to be the ultimate monkey master. So, when your friend attempted to mutate himself too oppose Moss, Hirotaka introduced the very monkey DNA Fiske had attempted to use into the pool that young Stoppable was immersing himself into. In all honesty, we did not know if this had any affect on him until you reported his mutated feet."
"If I were to hide behind technicalities, I could claim that we don't know for sure," Sensei concluded. "I could say, truthfully, that nobody knows the exact physical changes that the Mystical Monkey Power imposes on the human body. Yet, this would be turning my back upon what I know. Yes, Hirotaka sought to alter young Stoppable's DNA. He did so, so that a young man friendly to Yamanouchi would have a greater chance of becoming the ultimate monkey master, as opposed to a truly evil man who is antagonistic towards our school. I will not hide behind the actions of my subordinate; when I learned of what he did I not only approved of his actions, I praised them. If you wish to judge, judge me for this act."
"It is not my place to judge, master," she reminded him.
"Not out loud," he sighed. "Or in any visible way. Yet, you retain the human right to question and wonder why an act was taken. I sought to explain your cousin's thinking so you will think less harshly of him for doing what he did."
"Yet, Stoppable-san did not know he was mutated at this time," Yori pointed out. "What if the mutation had been something...vile...like Gill Moss experienced?"
"Something obvious could have been reversed," Sensei pointed out. "Several people at the camps young Moss attacked became mutated and all of them have been cured of this condition."
"What about Hana?" Yori asked. "Will she be mutated?"
"It is doubtful," Sensei sighed. "As I said before, even our best scholars do not have full knowledge of the Mystical Monkey Power, but all agree that it will mold her. The Mystical Monkey Power will never allow her to become so simian that she cannot function as a human. If anything, the monkey DNA that she inherited will give the power more leverage, to make her even more powerful. Much as with Stoppable, the Mystical Monkey Power will not let him become so mutated that he is not human."
"But what of someone not blessed with this power?" Yori asked. "The Mystical Monkey Power is not passed from parent to child! What if Stoppable-san were to marry and father a child? Would the child be mutated?"
"I am not a geneticist," Sensei sighed again. "And this is another reason I will not hide behind the technicalities and avoid an unpleasant task. Young Stoppable has access to those who can answer this and other difficult questions. I will not deny him the chance to find out."
"What should I say to him?" Yori asked her master. "And how shall I communicate?"
"You need not tell him what I have told you," Sensei told her. "I shall take care of informing him. This was done to him by my command and I chose to not inform him what had been done. I shall face his anger, his hurt and disappointment. In the meantime, tell him that I will contact him within the next few days."
"Master?" Yori was confused at the command.
"Even an old man may have difficulty coming up with the words to apologize for his actions," he told her. "And even an old man may need to reflect upon the betrayal that he performed before speaking to the one he betrayed. Leave now."
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Life was good, but it could be better.
Middleton and Eastside celebrated homecoming the same week and, as luck would have it, a mission came up. Not just any mission, but one that had them running to Duff Killigan's castle in Scotland. The mission itself had been easy enough; rescue Ricky Rotiffle from Duff Killigan. They had parachuted onto the island...without either a crash or a pants-related mishap... and quickly overpowered the irate golfer. Duff even helped them in a way, accidentally incapacitating himself with one of his own exploding golf balls. Ron even got to meet one of the people he followed on-line and compliment the man for his wonderful...even poetic...snack blog. A very easy mission, only slightly dangerous, and taken care of quickly.
Then came the trip back, with a game that evening.
Ron was convinced that people who didn't have to fit intercontinental travel into their schedule didn't realize how time consuming it was. Even with the rides that Wade could come up with, which were usually much faster than commercial, passenger flights, it took hours to 'cross the pond', so to speak. Fortunately, Wade came through, as always. He had downloaded their homework assignments and placed cameras in their classrooms. With his wrist-mounted communicator, Ron was able to virtually attend his classes and do his studying, while Kim did the same.
That in itself brought a certain amount of embarrassment. Ever since he had met Wade...granted the meeting had been virtual...the boy genius had been more than willing to help him out with math and science courses. Of course, back then he would have probably tried to get Wade to do them for him, but the boy was far too smart to let that happen. Instead, he gave hints, pointed out errors and generally made Ron figure it out while pointing out what he had done wrong. This help had been available for years, but he had never made use of it.
His self recriminations for the past didn't matter, the point of his memory was that intercontinental travel took a great deal of time, even when you could make use of it by doing schoolwork, other research or even catching up on lost sleep. They made it back to Middleton...needing to parachute into their respective schools, of course, just before the end of the school day. Coach Roughman had some hard looks for him but the grumpy coach couldn't really say anything; his schoolwork was caught up and he hadn't missed any practices. Not only that, you could consider dodging exploding golf balls to be a good workout.
The game had gone well; he put up good numbers again and the team was well ahead by the end of the second quarter. Much like Middleton, Eastside announced the winners of the royalty election during halftime. Ron didn't get elected King; he wasn't even in the running. He would have honestly been disappointed if he had been; he had only been at the school for less than a semester. Instead, it was the starting quarterback, Brian, who was given the honor. Ron applauded along with the rest of the school. Brian was a good guy and although he could be bossy during practice, it was because he wanted the team to perform well. The Queen honor went to Michelle, a cheerleader who, as Rick had pointed out, was scorching hot and well aware of it. Ron applauded politely; she was just too much like Bonnie for him to really want her to win. At least he didn't have the long history of her putting him down and calling him a loser, much like he did with the brunette back at Middleton.
By halfway through the third quarter, Coach Roughman had started to put more and more second string players into the game. While the coach was determined and strict, he still wanted all of his players to be on the field for a play or two on their homecoming game. At the end of the third quarter, he pulled all of his starters.
Maybe there was something wrong with him, but he wished he was playing video games with Felix after the game, instead of attending the traditional dance. However, Felix pointed out that he was going to be attending the Middleton dance and that Ron would be expected to attend his own. That was fine, the two could always fit in some on-line zombie bashing, even if they couldn't get together in person. He managed to call Kim to congratulate her on being the Queen, only to find out that Bonnie had cheated her way into the honor.
He was honestly disappointed for Kim; as much as she could be self-centered at times, she was nowhere near as bad as Bonnie. Besides that, with all she did for others, that honor would have been nice for her. Mentally complaining about the injustice of the world didn't do any good, but it was a nice distraction while waiting for the dance to start. As was the custom, the King and Queen took the floor first.
Ron had spent a great deal of time as the Mad Dog, so he knew that Michelle was putting on her cheerleader's smile. Brian, who didn't have to smile while he played football, was more obvious about not really enjoying where he was, even though he was doing his best to hide the fact.
"What's the deal," he asked Rick. "I know that Michelle isn't the nicest person in the world, but she's still pretty. Why does Brian look like he's trying to dance with a spider?"
"They're exes," the mascot whispered to him. "I don't know all of the details, but they were with each other for most of the fall semester, last year. They broke up sometime during Christmas break and she gives the death glare to anyone showing any interest in him."
"So who's she with?" Ron asked.
"Are you interested?" Rick asked, but with a grin that told Ron it was mostly a joke.
"Got someone out of town," Ron reminded him. Ron had previously told him that he was seeing someone, but hadn't gone into details. "I've never seen her with anyone and I wanted to know if anyone's going to take offense if I say I don't think she's very nice."
"Nobody, to the best of my knowledge," the mascot told him. "The rest of the girls on the squad agree, and they really wish she'd find someone and maybe take the edge off her attitude. Apparently, she was easier to get along with when she was dating, even though she had a major superiority complex."
"That reminds me of someone back at Middleton High," Ron told him. He was about to go on about some of Bonnie's more memorable moments when one of the cheerleaders came up and asked Rick for a dance. The blonde running back smiled as his friend accompanied the girl onto the dance floor. He was happy that most of the Eagles' cheerleaders were at least friendly towards the mascot. A slight frown came on his face when he wondered what it had been about him that made the Middleton squad so indifferent about him. Then, the smile returned, happy that Rick was having a better time of things than he did.
Of course, that brought on thoughts of his own situation. He really wished that Yori could be here, or he could be somewhere with her. Strangely enough, it wasn't the bedroom gymnastics that he missed the most; he would have loved to be dancing with her, talking about her trials in her classes and training, and just spending time with her. Somehow, mundane activities were better with her around. In typical, Ron Stoppable style, when he had somehow wound up with a great girlfriend, of course that girlfriend would live about 6,000 miles away.
He also wondered if he hadn't missed out on something with her. He hadn't even realized that she had liked him...as in LIKED him, before that encounter after the Middleton Days Festival. Then, Kim telling him that she was into him and then the mission to stop Fiske, in which he found out that the Middleton Days encounter had actually happened, then their vacation time in Hua Hin. He had never had a girlfriend before, but he didn't think it was normal for things to move so fast. Somehow, he wished that he would have gone through the awkward times; wondering if he should try to hold her hand, wondering if it was the right time to try to kiss her, being nervous about getting her a present...that sort of thing. Maybe she was right; since she was a ninja who regularly faced danger and his life wasn't exactly secure, they had to move things along if they were going to have anything. Still, there was something about the whole sitch between him and her that he couldn't quite put his finger on...
His wondering about his situation was suddenly interrupted with a stunning blonde girl walked right up in front of him.
"Michelle," he offered a polite nod. The two were by no means close, but with her being a cheerleader and him being on the team, were quite often in the same circles.
"Care to dance?" She asked him.
He really couldn't come up with a reason to say no. Other students were looking on and it would be rude not to. Besides, it wasn't like a slow, romantic song was playing at the moment. It would be good for him to show off some of his bondiggity moves. Out on the floor, he cut loose a little, showing off the moves he had worked up as the Mad Dog and adding in a few more. Michelle's smile actually slipped from the overdone, cheerleader's smile to something that looked a little more genuine, if only because she was being amused by the whole act. With the song over, she followed him off of the floor.
"I'd like to have a few words with you," she told him. He couldn't come up with a way to politely refuse so he followed her out of the gym's main doors and a few feet away from where other students were milling about. Once they were away from others, he stopped, pointedly refusing to go any further away. She must have gotten the hint because she actually gave a slight nod before facing him directly.
"I hear you have a girlfriend from out of town," she stated.
He nodded.
"Where?" She demanded.
"That's my business," he answered.
Her eyes narrowed for just a moment, but she seemed ready for that kind of response.
"Because I have to wonder if it's true or not," she told him.
"What difference is it to you if I have a girlfriend somewhere?" He asked her.
"Let's review what I know about you," she told him. "You used to be the Middleton High mascot, probably the best mascot in the district, yet you never dated any of the cheerleaders. You run around the world with Kim Possible, have been for years, yet there was never anything between the two of you. You suddenly left one school and came to another with no obvious reason, only saying that there was some baggage back where you came from. Now, here you are in a new school and the star of the football team, but you haven't even asked any girl out, much less dated. Cherry on top, you're a damn good dancer. What am I supposed to think?"
"You're supposed to think that it's no big deal if what you're implying is true or not," Ron allowed a little irritation to creep into his voice. "I don't cause problems and I'm a damn good football player, which gives you plenty to cheer about. Besides, if what you're implying is true, then I'm really, really no concern of yours, am I?"
"No need to get defensive!" She snapped. "I just want to know how things stand!"
"How things stand is that I had some issues back at Middleton High that I didn't want to deal with," Ron grumbled. "These are my business and do not affect you, or anyone in this school, in any way. As for what you're implying, even if it were true, it would be none of your business. However, let me put your mind at ease; if you find yourself chatting with the Middleton High cheerleaders at some point, ask them about Sophomore year, when I asked every one of them to the Spirit Dance, and every one of them not only turned me down, but laughed at me for asking. That's the sort of thing that a guy remembers." He paused, having a sudden realization. "Is that what you're getting at? Do you want me making a play for you so you can put me down and feel better about yourself?"
"No," she protested, but something had snapped inside him.
"It's none of your business, but I'll let you know anyway; my girlfriend is in Asia. Yes this is an interracial relationship. Do you have a problem with that? Does that upset your world view?"
"No!" She was getting indignant, as well. "I was just..."
"I'm also Jewish!" He growled at her. "Does that bother you? You danced with a dirty..."
"I never said that!" She snapped. "Where do you get off accusing me of being racist and antisemitist? All I wanted was to find out..."
Ron didn't get to know what she wanted to learn. At that moment a glowing, somewhat humanoid looking mass appeared nearby, prompting a scream from Michelle and gasps of shock from the few students close enough to see. "Stoppable-san..." a thin voice whispered from the mass.
"What's that, a ghost?" Michelle demanded. "An alien?"
"No, worse," Ron grumbled. "A ninja."
"What!"
"It's his way of talking," Ron sighed. "Why call or email when you can terrify everyone? Maybe he does this to check my blood pressure. The last time, he wrote my name in gravy on a wall. I guess he's decided that vandalism is not honorable."
"Are you serious?" She shrieked.
"More than I want to be," he grumbled. "Do me a favor and don't follow me. I'd rather you not hear what he's going to say. Come to think of it, just how secure is mystical, ninja ghost talk? It can't be easy to encrypt that."
Now Michelle was looking at him with almost as much fear as she was looking at Sensei's sending. This seemed a good time to get away from her, so he stalked around the corner of the gym. The glowing mass accompanied him, scaring the heck out of a young couple using the seclusion for a necking session. As soon as the two of them had vanished, leaving a cloud of dust behind them, the mass came into focus as Sensei.
"Stoppable-san," he spoke. His voice was somber and somewhat hollow. "I have dire news for you."
"I hope so," he snorted. "This is the sort of thing that really should be saved for an emergency."
"Your irritation is understandable," Sensei told him. "And you will shortly become even more irritated. I have a harsh truth to tell you, one that reflects badly upon Yamanouchi, and upon me."
Ron could only gasp at the apparition in front of him as Sensei made a confession.
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"I've already given Ron what I've learned from DNAmy and some other geneticists," Wade told the assembled group. "I'll leave it up to him to say what he's willing to let you know."
Ron looked around the Possible's den. Kim and Eric were there, while Wade was present on the television screen. The boy genius had assured him that he had put anti-listening devices in the walls, ceiling and floors, and was tracking Jim and Tim's whereabouts. Ron appreciated the effort.
"Okay," he told the two others in the room. "I don't want anyone else to know about this, at least until I decide what I want to do about it. Felix is a good friend, but I'm not telling him because the fewer who know, the better. That goes for my folks, as well." He drew a shuddering breath at that one.
"It's okay," Kim assured him. "You don't have to tell anyone until you're ready. Me and Eric already know some of it, so tell us what you're comfortable with."
"Okay, first the science," Ron told them. "It turns out that I am mutated with spider monkey DNA. It's making me stronger and more agile. There's also no way to reverse it."
"I saw DNAmy merge Barkin with Rufus!" Kim protested. "After that, they were pulled back apart with no harm to either one!"
"That was because the alteration was short lived," Wade interrupted. "There's only so much time to act once the merging has happened; just like when you were being turned into a monkey by that amulet. If it had gone for a couple more days, you would have been a monkey for the rest of your life."
"Maybe if I had said something when I first noticed it, we could have done something," Ron told her.
"That's still up to debate," Wade reminded him.
"Okay, I'm not understanding this," Kim confessed.
"Wade, feel free to fill her in," Ron instructed.
"Right," the boy nodded. "From the science, we can't know when and how this alteration has taken place. We can only know that it has been done and it's irreversible."
"But Sensei got ahold of me Friday night," Ron noted. "So we know when it happened, even if Wade is skeptical."
"I believe you," Wade told him. "And I believe Sensei. The only thing is, you said that you didn't notice the change to your feet for weeks after you were exposed. By then, it was probably too late to reverse the process."
"Ron, would you mind letting us know what Sensei told you?" Eric asked. "Maybe that will tell us something."
"Okay," Ron took a deep breath. "He said that the MMP won't let me turn into anything really different from human, something like Fiske will be as far as this genetic change will take me."
"Fiske's alterations aren't obvious unless he chooses to reveal them," Wade pointed out.
"Yeah," Ron brushed off Wade's comment. "He also told me that Yori didn't know anything about this until I asked her about it...which made her ask him."
"That makes sense," Kim told him. "Yamanouchi is supposed to be a secret organization, so they might work on a need to know basis. Look at you; you're not telling Felix, and he's a close friend. It's not that you have anything against him, you just prefer to limit the number of people who know."
"Okay," Ron took a deep breath. "He didn't know about a couple of other things, since he isn't a geneticist. Wade, could you fill them in?"
"Are you sure?" Wade was clearly concerned.
"It's going to come out eventually," Ron sighed. "Dr. Director sort of put Kim under a microscope this Spring. I guess it's my turn now."
"Okay, let's start with physical performance," Wade told those present. "While the modification has made Ron stronger, it isn't as influential as you'd think. It's kind of hard to quantify human, physical performance but working with Dr. Hall, I estimate that the genetic modification accounts for somewhere between four and eight percent of the increase in physical capability he's showing since before this alteration."
"That little?" Kim seemed shocked.
"That little," Wade confirmed. "For the rest, he's caught in a positive feedback loop. He got a little stronger, which meant that he became more agile, and that caused him to push himself more, which made him more capable, which encouraged him to push himself more, and so on. Think of it, he went on that mission to recover Ray X before he was modified. He swam across a quarter mile of open ocean, scaled a one-hundred and fifty foot cliff, then bungee jumped down an air duct before hauling it out of Drakken's lair. That's a fairly normal weekend for the two of you, but most people wouldn't even attempt it."
"Okay, flattery will get you everywhere, but what's the point?" Ron asked.
"The point is that you live an extreme life," Wade told him. "Yes, the genetic modification has enhanced you, but most of it comes from you, especially since you joined the cheer squad, then the football team. The missions had already molded you to a certain extent but the regular, intense exercise did great things for you."
"Now for the harder part," Ron said. "Wade, could you tell them? It's kind of hard for me to say."
"The alterations have become all inclusive," Wade said, his voice somber. "They're part of Ron now, so if he should father children in the future, the kids are going to be affected."
"That doesn't seem that bad," Eric pointed out. "A little stronger, maybe a little more agile and feet that are slightly altered, but not painful or non-functional. What's the problem?"
"The problem is that the Mystical Monkey Power isn't genetic," Wade answered. "At least not according to Master Sensei. Right now, this power is preventing Ron's genetic modifications from fully manifesting. If he were to father a child, and the child doesn't have they Mystical Monkey Power, the result could be something of a hybrid." The boy looked towards his friend. "Sorry Ron."
"No need to apologize," Ron sighed again. "You didn't do it and facts are facts, I asked you to say it."
"So, where does that leave us?" Kim asked. "I'm saying us, because we're in this with you, Ron."
"I'm not telling my folks," Ron said. "Or anyone else. I'm going to keep on going on missions and playing football. As soon as I turn twenty-one, I'm having a little operation done, so that I don't have to worry about the reproduction issue."
"I still think it's an unfair advantage that you have over your competitors," Kim told him. "But I'm not going to make a hypocrite out of myself. I wouldn't have the problem if you were the mascot on my cheer squad and I don't have a problem with your enhancements helping on missions, so I really can't complain about you playing football, can I?"
Ron didn't have a response to that.
"In the end, you didn't jump into that pool because you wanted to become a mutant, you jumped in because you wanted to stop Gill, and it was the only way. That decision cost you a future family, I don't see why it should cost you the joy of playing football or a possible scholarship, as well. I'm keeping my mouth shut."
"So where does that leave us?" Eric asked.
"It leaves me muddling along the best I can," Ron told him. "It leaves me hoping that I can turn football into a good college degree and turn a good college degree into a good life." He paused a moment. "But I would really like to have a face to face with Sensei and tell him what I think of what Yamanouchi did to me, why nobody told me about it, and why they did it."
"Oh?" Kim asked. "Another story?"
"Long tale," he waved his hand. "But Hirotaka knew that whomever got the mutation would have a better chance of becoming some master of the MMP. He wanted it to be me, rather than Monty, because I was friendlier towards the school. Maybe it's getting time that I wasn't so friendly to Yamanouchi."
"Whoa guys!" Wade suddenly interrupted. "Got a hit on the site. Junior has kidnapped Ricky Rotiffle!"
"That guy really needs to think about his personal security," Ron grumbled. "Twice in one week by different villains isn't a good record."
"Well, his high efficiency data digester is working from Senor's Island, and Senior isn't there right now. It has to be Junior behind this."
"I guess we better rescue him," Kim decided. "When's our ride get here and when do we pick up Bonnie?"
"Bonnie?" Ron asked.
"Long story," Kim told him.
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"So, it would appear that my petty revenge has not harmed the partnership between the pretender and the cheerleader," Fiske grumbled. He wasn't in a particularly angry mood, just somewhat disappointed that he had just watched a newscast about his teenage nemesis assisting in the liberation of a computer scholar from Duff Killigan. During the post-rescue interview, it was clear that Stoppable and Possible were getting along well.
"No matter," he declared. He leaned back in his stuffed chair and held out his cup. While one of his monkeys filled it with tea, he continued. "While Possible and Stoppable pose a formidable adversary, the real issue is Stoppable's relationship with Yamanouchi. It is going to be very difficult to determine if this revelation of ours has damaged the boy's devotion to that accursed school."
One of his monkeys chattered at him for a short time.
"No, Chippy," Fiske refused the suggestion. "I have no intention of informing the sports authorities in his home state that he has been mutated. While this would ordinarily be a fine way of irritating him, it would potentially expose me to the same discovery. I have no wish for the world at large to know the modifications I have embraced, before I am ready to strike. Stoppable remains the key and we failed to obtain the weapon that we could have used to destroy him. However, there is more than one way to best him."
More chattering.
"No, I'm not quite ready for such a confrontation," Fiske admitted. "I still need to heal. However, there is nothing wrong with performing a bit of research. Soon enough, we'll see if that dolt continues to blindly serve that school, as opposed to blindly serving his own self-interest."
Again, the Fiske manor rang to the current lord's shrieking laughter.