Welcome back to ST's little shop of horrors. While this and the next tale are being posted the ole ST is continuing to write on 'The Hunter: Book Two' and I am averaging about a chapter a week. So, book 2 will begin posting after '…Maybe' is done.
I want to again thank everyone who has read, followed, alerted, faved or reviewed. Anyway, about those reviews: CB73, yes Ron is bitter but mostly about himself. He feels guilty. As for those old classless mates…yeah soon; Jimmy1201, Ronnie doesn't care about refunds. He figures in time he won't need money, but then neither will the Ls. Anyway, the overloads will know; Invader Johnny, it won't end well for somebody.
Daccu65, Ron knows he has to have a 'backup' and he picked Tim Possible. The younger of the tweebs knows where to get the info; Tito-Mosquito, Tim was locked up in a mental institution, but true most of this is on the down low to keep the leaders in line with threats to their families; ajw1970, Rufus is way too old for this and is with Nooni at Yamanouchi.
I guess I really need to thank CajunBear73 for all his work for years and years.
Let's do this!
ST-103
Dead Man Switch
Chapter 5
"Well Stoppable here we are. You might want to get out and stretch your legs while I refuel.", Drakken said from the front seat of the fossil-fueled, aging van; a rare vehicle in this day and age, post Invasion.
"Middleton? What the hell are we doing here? People might know who I am…If they recognize me they might tell the authorities.", Ron exclaimed in a panic when he recognized his hometown where his onetime boss in crime fighting was a big hero.
The former Professor Dementor asked in return, "If you are being looked for, what better place to hide?"
The blond man frowned, "You have a point Demenz, but Drew, we shouldn't stay here long."
Drakken snorted, "We won't. I have a hidey hole nearby under a mountain that is very secluded. And, where we will be, you will be able to get fresh air and plenty of exercise since you are for the most part, recovered."
As they drove through the small city Ron suddenly blurted, "Stop here."
"No.", Lipsky replied.
"Yes…just for a moment."
"Very well, but don't take too long."
The blond man got out of the old van and walked up to the fence. Dementor followed and heard Ron as he looked at where a wide stump was situated. "It's gone."
"What dis gone?", the former mad man asked.
"Where Kim and I first met…it's all gone now. She's gone, soon I'll be gone too. Nothing that we stood for will be left. Maybe that's for the best…it was too good to be true."
(sob)
Ron and the short scientist turned and walked back to the van, with the former sidekick muttering when he saw the blue toned scientist was getting anxious, "Let's get out of this town before something bad happens to us."
The former Dementor snorted, "Et won't be az bad az vhat vou have in ztore for dem, sidekick."
Ron stopped for a moment, "How come your accent comes and goes?"
"Et must vee stress."
"Stress? You put me in a lot of those stressful sitches, ya pygmy."
"Come ve must go."
"Yeah, yeah.", Ron replied as he thought about where his life had led him so far.
When they got to the van, Drakken asked, "Is everybody happy now?"
Ron frowned, "Not really, but it doesn't make a difference, does it?"
Drakken frowned as he closed his door, "For you…no."
Ron craned his neck as the mad blue scientist turned on the engine. He paled slightly as he recognized two figures approaching on the sidewalk. "Shiiiitttt! I hope they don't see me."
"Who?"
"Don't do anything stupid, those two women on the sidewalk might recognize me.", Ron warned.
Drew Lipsky waited until the red head and the blonde walked past them, "What was that all about Stoppable?"
"I was the mascot on the cheer squad and they were cheerleaders.", the blond former sidekick explained.
XX
Jessica Roland (nee Simmons) and Liz Whelpley (nee Bancock) walked up the well-worn sidewalk of their old stomping grounds in the old part of Tri-City (Middleton) Colorado. "Hey Jess doesn't that look like Ron getting in that old van?", the orange haired woman inquired pointed with her left hand.
"Huh? Ron? Ron who?", the blonde responded, not remembering.
"I don't remember his last name, but he was our mascot for two or three years…he came in with Kim.", she explained.
"Oh.", the freckled blonde said, "I think I know who you mean. I think he's the guy that Junior and Vinnie were looking for a few weeks ago. They even used his last name, it was Dumpable or something."
"Jessica stay away from those two.", Liz warned.
Jessica asked, "Those two, Kim and her friend?"
"No, you dummy, Vinnie and Junior.", Liz clarified.
"Why is that?"
The red head's eyes softened, "They're bad news Jessica. Remember Tara from the squad?"
"Yeah."
"Well right before she disappeared she had been talking to them…and later the same thing happened to my niece…I never saw her in person ever again.", Liz explained, "Anyway, I saw it with my own eyes with Nancy. Bonnie told me about Tara and both Tara and Nancy were on episodes from our 'Masters' planet like what Kim went through…you don't return from that."
"Oh…I couldn't watch that stuff, Dad broke our TV on purpose so we had an excuse…"
"You didn't?", Liz caught the blonde's shake of the head then asked, "But you heard about it, didn't you Jess?"
"Of course, I heard, but we hadn't seen it.", Jessica conceded, "Anyway let's keep this to ourselves, if that was this Ron guy that you remember."
"Of course, but the next time we see Bonnie maybe she can tell us everything that she remembers about that time. Between the three of us we should be able to figure it out."
"You mean if she hasn't been committed again. I don't know why she went off the deep end…"
Liz stopped and looked around then lowered her voice, "I'm sure she knew it was Tara with those aliens Jesse. Best friends know things about best friends."
"Yeah I suppose. Now Liz, what was that news you had for me?"
XXX
Anne Possible again watched the video message from her twin sons. In it they warned her of their upcoming trip into space to work on some 'technology' for a cargo ship that was slated to take a five-year trip to Pluto and a few of the other mini planetoids in the rock-strewn Kuiper Belt before returning back to Earth. She thought to herself since she had been briefed on the mission in general terms, 'So it has begun on their end. I need to see what Jimmie has to say…'
The neurosurgeon opened up the file which had her husband's six-hour old message in with James Possible's image, "Anne I still miss you, but it will be another month here on Mars.", it began. "We have found some very special alloys here that mix naturally, so my team wants to spend some time examining them. However, we will make the end of our window to return home so you don't have to worry about spending another Christmas alone this year."
Anne sighed to herself knowing her husband's desire to travel to the stars, "It has been too long to be without you Jimmie. I can't wait for you to get home…the house is soooo empty with the kids gone." She then thought of the last time she saw her beautiful daughter and began to weep, "Ronald…", she sobbed, "you need to kill them all." Then she opened her writing program and began composing her letter of resignation as a doctor because she knew she had violated the oath of her profession.
(sniff)
XXX
Jim Possible glanced at his brother as he flipped down the faceplate of his flight helmet, securing it with expert efficiency, using only the intercom for the moment knowing it wasn't 'bugged' since they had run a scan before strapping in, "Are you ready for this, Tim?"
"Yep and yep, we've waited years and developed technologies to make this mission work…if I die doing this it is for the greater good…You?", the younger of the twin Possible men replied as he scanned though his checkoff list.
Jim Possible had thought long and hard about what had happened over the preceding years, "I know that you want to kill them all too, but it is getting too much for me. Losing Sis…I've moved on, I just want this to be over and get on with my life. All we have done is concentrate on taking down the aliens hard."
"Bro, after this is underway just back off, no one is going to blame you…I just have to see this through even if it kills me.", the younger of the twins tried to explain his feelings to his brother.
"I understand, but I don't know what I'd do if you were killed Tim, it'd be like losing half of me."
"I might not have to go now Jim, Ron's note indicated that he was getting close launch status and if he does we won't know anything until something happens on Lowardia. So, if he launches and is successful then all we have to do is help with the mop up…"
"And it's going to be dirty Tim, all those collaborators who have been helping the aliens all these years are going to try and fight for what they got. Ron won't be able to destroy them all himself. There will be enough to kill off everything on Earth."
"True, they are and true they may, but there are a lot of us who are fed up with this. We have to get rid of all of them or everything we have fought for will be in vain. I'd rather die on my feet then live this unholy life that has been forced upon us."
Tim frowned as his twin stated, "I'm just worried that they're going to get you."
"Jim, that's my risk. I'm willing to take it to make sure that you and Mom and Dad can live out your lives free…Kim fought for that and that's the least I can do now.", Tim Possible argued.
"Don't bring that up about Kim. What they did to her…that was disgraceful. No one should have gone through that, especially her…Stripped naked and then executed like that, she was all alone…by herself."
"And that's why I'm willing to do anything to stop what is going on now. They are still killing teenaged girls the same way…Girls who have done nothing, just to prove that the Lowardians have their feet on our necks. And you know they even have humans doing some of their dirty work. It simply has to end. Hardly anyone knows that they are slaves to Warmonga and Warhok."
"Sssshhhh don't mention those names brother, its treason if you do. I want to see all this end too, but the cost if we fail…"
"Which is worse brother? Us standing up and dying together…or our annual tribute of girls' lives to quench our overlords' lust for innocent blood?", Tim asked pointedly, "They didn't just use Kim as an example to keep us in line, they do it every year to lord it over us."
"I don't like it either…"
"And that's why we decided to help in this endeavor and why I am willing to offer my life to make sure this travesty ends as soon as possible."
Tim Possible was interrupted by the radio speaking into his head piece, "Dragonfly Flight, this is Space Center Control; T minus five minutes and counting."
Jim keyed his mic, "Dragonfly copies, T-minus five. Beginning switchover on my mark." The older of the twins then announced, "Mark."
"Roger Dragonfly, going internal in two minutes and thirty-five seconds on my mark. Mark."
Knowing that their communications were going to be monitored for a while at least until they were three orbits in Tim commented, "Smooth as silk, Control."
Right on time the twins felt the rumble of engines as the reactors kicked in (liquid fuel was no longer used, although a solid booster applied the thrust needed for the first three minutes to make sure the rocket reached escape velocity.)
The radio came on again, "Dragonfly Flight, at near-Earth orbit, Control will take over flight instructions in T-minus five minutes. Copy?"
Tim Possible keyed his mic, "Dragonfly Flight acknowledges transfer of control in five minutes."
"Very good, good luck."
X
The twins were on their twenty-fifth orbit when Tim checked his radar, then zoomed in and activated the long-range camera, "There she is, just as old and scruffy as she's supposed to be."
"We need to check it for bugs when we get onboard, you know.", Jim Possible reminded his brother
"Don't worry, we'll have that taken care of before we begin tweaking the programs and adding the cards to the devices that we are carrying with us."
"You know we are going to have to assemble a few of these. Ron can't do this by himself even in microgravity."
"That's one of the reasons we're going to be up here a whole month, Jim. We have to assemble that robot which will help construct the weapons. You know that our 'Masters' don't want anything resembling a weapon to be launched into space."
"It will be a long month brother, I just hope this works."
"You don't know the whole plan Jim and I can't reveal it to you until a certain point because at that point there is nothing that can stop it. Anyway, what you don't know you can't reveal to anyone."
Jim Possible frowned and glanced at his brother, "Then why did they tell you?"
"Jim, the powers that be knew you were committed to a certain extent, but not to the level that I am and it's really a good thing. You need to go on with your life…At this point I look forward to the opportunity to take out as many collaborators as I can if the opportunity arises."
"I would too, Tim…"
"No Jim, I love you, but you're just going through the motions now. I can still hear Kim's voice as she scolded me for something I did…and I'm alive and she's not and she put her life on the line for everyone here…and,", sighing, "I miss it and I miss her even more."
"And it was Ron's fault…"
"Sure, his fault for something being in his face that he couldn't deal with. Now, he's going to do something about it since he finally has his shit together and while it won't help Sis, it will for the girls that will get caught up in this in the future.", Tim told his older brother as he opened the rather large bay on the shuttle to deploy the solar panels that would provide power during their stay in orbit.
"Well we'll talk about this some more Tim.", older brother Jim stated.
(Sob)
XXX
Outside Middleton, Colorado:
"Well sidekick here we are, home sweet home…for the time being.", the blue scientist told the blond in the backseat as the door began to open, "As you can see…well there isn't anything to really see, even if you know what you're looking for."
Ron couldn't say anything as the van drove through the waterfall. He was astonished at the water cascading down all around him. Moments later the water was behind them and the door began to close as Drakken continued, "Your friend Wade helped with this years ago…he ah, thought we might be able to use it."
"Wade's not really stable right now Drew…"
"True but he doesn't know where this is located either. So even if they take him into custody, he won't be able to tell them much about this place other than it is very well concealed."
The blond man smiled sadly, "Good, when I leave to do my thing you guys might want to lay low for a while."
While Ron Stoppable wasn't exhausted by the trip, he still decided to lay down immediately after the evening meal. As he drifted off he murmured, "Kim, I promise I won't fail you this time."
XXXX
Ron Stoppable, Wade, Doctor Drakken, Professor Dementor, Anne Possible and the tweebs as well as all the other 'canon' characters of the show 'Kim Possible' is owned by Bob, Mark and the Disney Corporation….you know the ones who own just about everything else…and not myself nor CajunBear73. Not only that but we don't make any claud off this little hobby of ours. Hope you're all sleeping well, we'll take care of that in a couple chapters.
We'll see ya down the road,
ST-103