Annnnd we're back! If you are not yet aware this tale is my take on Tito-Mosquito's 'For the Pride of Lowardia'. I hope everyone is amused.
I want to thank everyone to has read, followed, alerted and or reviewed this feel good story. Speaking about reviews, this is where I answer some. So, here we go: CB73, Ronnie boy is on a one-way trip and he realizes that his past will be forgotten as was his boss's; Invader Johnny, while Ron may not have failed Kim he feels that he did. And Ron would love to still be in her shadow; Jimmy1201, yay Rufus is relatively safe in this fic. Wade? Heck do you want another chapter? I could do something, but it won't be pretty.
Bobtrumpet, Yes, it is. Don't worry about Junior, his brother is there; Daccu65, Jess and Liz were just placeholders in this fic, we won't see them again. Yay, more questions; Tito-Mosquito, nah just the tree. The collaborators were opportunists.
I again, want to thank CajunBear73 for all his work pulling my bacon out of the swamp.
Let's get this show on the road, remember a total of ten chapters and the next tale in line is fourteen.
ST-103
Dead Man Switch
Chapter 6
Drakken's lair outside Middleton:
The blond entered the lair by a camouflaged entry from his very early morning mountain run. As he entered the modern kitchen, Drew Lipsky handed him a glass of water and some peanut butter stickies.
"You are doing much better, Stoppable."
"You watched?"
"Yes, your time over the last week is twenty-three percent better than it was before. Now you need to eat and then hit the weight room. Oh, if you haven't noticed before the lair is surrounded by sensors. That is why we sometimes lock the place down."
"Yeah, I know my schedule. And I also need a dozen synthos for combat training.", Ron informed the former villain as he munched on the sweet treats.
"All you're going to do is destroy them with that frog sticker of yours…"
"You're right, I'm going to destroy them, but unarmed this time."
"Oh really? And at what setting?"
"Six."
"They will break you at that level, try two.", the former Doctor Drakken suggested.
"We might as well find out how I can do, by the end of next week we have to be at nine."
"Level nine? You're nuts, sidekick."
"No, I'm just feeling better…finally.", Ron replied as he exited the kitchen and made his way to the exercise room, a room he had begun using three weeks before, "I feel that I have to be at that level to lure the bastards in."
"Well don't overdo it sidekick, I have a feeling that you and we will have only one chance at this."
"Yeah Drew, I know and I have a feeling that our window of opportunity is beginning to close. We'll never have a chance like this again.", Ron warned his co-conspirator that the odds for making this happen could be starting to dwindle.
"Ahhh so we might all be dead in the near future sidekick?"
"At least one of us will be Drew, if our luck holds out maybe all of us.", Ron snorted giving a glimpse of his dark side.
"You know I have been meaning to ask you about that Zorpox madman you were…"
"Ask away."
Drew Lipsky fingered his mullet (which was longer now than it ever had been and had more than a little gray in it to boot), "Has he ever come out again? I never heard of anyone making a decent attempt at taking over the world."
"Of course…Mister Z is always in the back of my mind, you know. He's made some of the scientific leaps with some of the toys. I got him to help me on this, and I think he's going to have a blast when it all goes down.", Ron explained, not wanting to tell more than necessary about who was doing what.
"So, you have true geniuses on this then, besides me and the runt."
"Yeah we do. When you think of it we have had some of the greatest geniuses ever to walk the planet working on this operation. I hope they can live with themselves after we are done. I hope you understand that I can't out anyone for fear that one of those collaborators might wish to harm them.", Ron hoped, and wondered if all the assets they had placed ahead of time would take out the collaborators without too much trouble.
Just then the former Professor Dementor entered the kitchen carrying a cup of coffee, "Gutten morgnin Dakken un Sidekick. Haz mien stroudle sounded ov to be removed zee oven?"
Ron snorted knowing that the Austrian scientist slash retired villain pushed the envelope of his accent in a comical way.
Drew informed Stoppable, "There is an apple strudel in the fridge sidekick, I baked it last night after you went to bed."
"It's not on my diet, but I suppose I could eat a small piece just to be neighborly.", the blond man chuckled as this was one of the few times he had anything to be happy about in years.
Drakken quickly rose to his feet and grabbed the sweet dessert out of the icebox, cut three slices off and put them on plates. Then he quickly inserted all three into the industrial sized microwave and entered the time.
While this was going on Demez walked over to the cupboard and took out another cup and filled it with coffee and placed it in front of an empty chair, "Coffee is better with strudel than water. You were a good chef, you should know this."
"You guys worked this out last night, didn't you?", Ron inquired.
Drew Lipsky glanced at the young man who was planning on giving it all up of his own free will, "So you caught us Stoppable, we're celebrating getting out of this dump in the next week or two."
"Then you guys hang low for a while I do my thing. Hopefully this time next year you'll drink a toast to my memory."
X
Two weeks later:
"Stoppable I have a vehicle for you to use now that you are finished with most of your training.", the former villain told the former sidekick after the young man had destroyed twenty-three synthodrones, set at level eleven, with his bare hands in under three minutes.
Ron's chest was heaving, "Yeah I'm pretty close to where I need to be…"
"You are not close enough to get away though.", Dementor commented after watching the one-sided battle.
"I don't have to get away, so it's good enough."
Drakken frowned, "You should say goodbye to Anne if you are determined to go through with this suicidal mission."
"Yeah maybe I should and apologize for what happened to KP."
"I don't think you were ready to take on those aliens Stoppable. Why do you keep beating yourself up over it?"
"Because the love of my life trusted me to take care of her…and I failed. I was scared shitless…I didn't even make the attempt and it might have made a difference. That is what has been hanging over my head for years…If I had just tried, I could have just given Kim the time she needed to recover from being knocked silly…Somehow, she would have won.", Ron tried to explain, "…I'm a coward, just a lowlife yellowbelly who didn't deserve to even be in the same room as Kim Possible, let alone be her boyfriend….I wasn't worth her spit!"
Drakken frowned remembering the beating that the four of them took (Kim, Ron, Drakken and Shego), "Listen Stoppable, there was nothing you could have done…"
"Maybe not, but I could have tried. No one deserved what she got. She begged for her life! Kim Possible was only eighteen when she was executed. She had her whole life in front of her. Think of all the people she could have helped if she'd lived only ten more years."
"Sure Stoppable, just because she was your girlfriend…"
"Drew even if she was somebody else's girlfriend, she was first and foremost my lifelong friend…and I abandoned her in her time of need. That's something that she never would have done to me…I. Am. Not. Worth. Her. Spit.", Ron harshed out on himself.
(Moan)
Demez frowned, "Is your head in the game Stoppable, with this mindset we may lose all…"
"I won't fail mankind the way I did Kim…That I promise.", Ron told them as he took a bite of the pastry that Drakken had made for the occasion.
"Listen I'm as ready to go as soon as possible guys. Tomorrow I am going to rest and load that vehicle. Right now I have to check my schedule and send out my last notices before I take my shuttle ride out to the freighter."
"Then we can talk, you know catch up on old times.", Drakken suggested, "We might be the last humans you speak with very much."
"I suppose we can do that, just promise me that Mrs. Dr. P doesn't get hurt."
"I can't promise that Stoppable, but I can promise that we will do our best to keep her and her family safe."
Ron half smiled, "That's about as much as I can hope for. Please don't enter the computer room for obvious reasons."
XX
Anne Possible sat at the monitor she used to speak with James and her two sons, "So when do you expect to be done with your mission to that freighter, boys?"
"It might be another week or two Mom, this old piece of junk was basically that…a piece of junk. They should have just attached some rocket boosters to this thing and let it burn up in the sun instead of sending it out on a run to some of the mines in the Kuiper Belt. When we got here we didn't know just how bad it was.", Jim Possible lied. Earlier in the day they had computer tested the faster than light drive and had a success. The next step was to test the cloaking system so that the asset would be able to complete his mission.
"Your Father is going to be coming home next month, it would be nice for you both to be here when he lands."
"Dad is going to have to go through a month of quarantine Mom. You know the rules, you helped write them.", Tim informed her.
"I know, but if he can see you through the glass I think he'll be a lot happier that we're back together again."
Sighing, "We'll be there if we're back on good old terra firma again, Mom. Uh, just so you know, I have to go back into space for a month or two. A special expedition came up and they asked me. Jim doesn't have to go so he'll be there for sure.", Tim said.
Anne caught the glance that her elder twin gave to her younger one, "I suppose we all have to make the best of our opportunities boys. On another note, have you heard anything from Ronald? He avoids me like the plague."
Tim Possible said, "He still feels it was his fault that K…K…Kim w…was killed. He wants to make it better somehow."
Anne cringed remembering the last moments of her daughter's life, "There was nothing anyone could do. If you see Ronald tell him I wish to speak with him…I'm not mad at him no matter what I said at the time. I know he has some plan that he is going to try, but I think he should be home with us and not be out there on his own."
"I'll tell him if I hear from him, Mom. Listen, we have a lot of work yet to do, we'll call next week at our regular time. Is that all right?"
"Of course, boys…Oh, and there's this new nurse at the hospital. I'm sure she'd like to meet you.", as Anne again tried to set one of them up with a date.
X
Two days later:
Anne was reading the paper (over an internet service provider) and sipping a cup of decaf tea while calming down from her day in the hospital, when she heard the doorbell ring (Yes the Possibles actually had the old style that gave off a tone when a button on the outside of the house was pushed.).
She rose, went to the door and opened it. "Yes, may I help you?"
"Hi Mrs. Dr. P.", a freckled face said to her, "How have you been?"
The surgeon's eyes opened wide at seeing the extremely thin and older male that used to hang around her house when he was younger, "R…Ronald? Please come in. It's been a while we haven't seen you in years…ever since the plan…"
Ron half smiled…and what smile he had didn't reach his eyes as he walked into the home where he was basically raised, "Yes Ma'am, but we don't talk about the plan, if you remember."
Anne Possible shut the door behind him and asked, "I was having tea, would you care for some?"
"Why thank you, if it's no trouble."
"All I have to do is put a bag in a cup…I make it the old-fashioned way.", Anne explained as she led him into his old haunt.
Ron Stoppable looked around as he walked to the kitchen, "It hasn't changed much since it was rebuilt from that walker stomping on it."
"Yes James and I like it the 'old' way. We even kept her room the way she liked it."
"That's good Mrs. Dr. P, a heroine should have a shrine dedicated to her and Kim is no exception."
"Thank you Ronald, that was kind."
Ron sat down in the kitchen breakfast nook where the family had traditionally gathered for breakfasts and lunches. Anne made herself busy, "Since James is on Mars and the boys are going to be rehabbing that freighter I found that using the kitchen is a lot easier and saves on the mess."
"Ma'am, this is one of my most favorite places in the whole wide world. Now how have you been?"
"I've been working more hours than I want, but James should be back in three months and out of isolation in another, and then we are officially semi-retiring."
"Yes Ma'am it sounds like you guys are going to begin to relax a little."
"We are Ronald. And you haven't been around for quite a while. So what have you been up to?"
"I was in Japan doing some research and I guess I completely lost track of time. When I finally figured out it had been years since I'd talked to any of my classmates, I decided to re-connect.", Ron lied not wanting to tell her that the details were nearing completion to a plan that he had come up with years before.
"I didn't know Ronald, after K…Kimmie passed you didn't come around much anymore."
"The reason for that is that I felt that I was the reason Kim was murdered. Actually I still think I am the main reason that she isn't with us today…I failed her."
"Kimmie is with us Ronald, she's been with us her whole life. Just because those alien bastards killed her it didn't mean they could destroy her spirit. So believe me, my daughter is here, although most of the time she is with God helping him out."
"Uh Mrs. P, I had a long drive and the tea and all, could I use the bathroom for a moment?", Ron inquired. The blond didn't want to get into a theological debate with the surgeon at this point in their lives. He was just offering his friendship such as it was.
"Oh, go right ahead. Do you remember where they are?"
"Uh yes Ma'am.", Ron replied since he spent most of his youth in the house, "Excuse me…I won't be five minutes."
While Ron was using the 'facilities' there was a heavy knock on the door.
Anne wondered who it could be and walked to the front door to answer it. "May I help you?", she asked as she recognized the same uniforms that people wore who had been responsible to teenaged girls disappearing in the Tri City area.
"Anne Possible?", one of them asked.
"Doctor Anne Possible.", Anne clarified.
"We would like to question you about a person named Ron Stoppable. Have you seen him?"
"Not in years, Mister…"
"Just call me Agent Junior, my friend is Agent Vinnie.", the middle-aged man pushed his way inside, "We're afraid that the answer is not what we want to hear. You will have to come with us."
"I'm afraid that I have to be somewhere tonight, could I come later?", Anne stalled as a cold dread crept up her spine.
"I insist. You have to come down to headquarters with us now!"
XX
"I wonder just how much I should tell KP's Mom?", Ron mused. Then silently, 'Who is Dr. Possible speaking with?' The blond-haired man began to fade from view using a trick he had learned while in Japan.
XX
"Take your hand off me.", Anne tried to swat at the former 'D' hall goon.
Vinnie, not liking the surgeon's attitude and not used to someone saying no to him, slapped her back, "Remember what happened to your daughter? The same can happen to you too."
Junior grabbed Anne and pulled her out of the house as he taunted, "We have ways of finding out what you know…Of course some of them are fatal. If you still live we may make you a guest of honor for Lowardia's next show."
XX
The covert ninja almost teleported into the kitchen as he heard the front door slam. He covered the distance to the front door quickly while staying 'concealed' the Yamanouchi way. The blond former hero opened the door a crack to see a navy colored van being entered by first Anne Possible and then two of his former classmates.
"Shit," he muttered to himself, "Anne knows too much and the last I heard, those clowns were working for the Lowardians."
XXXX
Ron Stoppable, Doctor Drakken, Dementor, Anne Possible along with the tweebs all belong to Mark, Bob and the Disney Corporation and not me nor CajunBear73. We just do this little hobby to make sure you take your meds.
We'll see ya down the road, oh about four weeks left.
ST-103