Chapter 40: Thursday Morning

Ron's cell was ringing as he climbed into his window after his Tai Sheng Pek Kwar exercises. He checked the ID, it was Wade.

"Hey Wade, what can I do for my favorite tech Guru?"

"Actually, I've got three pieces of information for you."

"I'm all ears."

"Okay, first item. Checking up on Dessie. I'm not having any luck."

"What?"

"Her information will pass a cursory check, but not the in-depth routines that I run. She has a valid Social Security Number, but it showed up in the database two months ago. She has school records, from a high school in Maryland, but no Elementary or Middle School records. It's like she suddenly popped into being in the last two months. Looks like you're weird-dar is in good working order."

"Not so much good weird-dar as a close call, what else can you tell me?"

"Well, I've started a facial construction similarity profile between her and all known criminals, just in case she's a crook in disguise. So far the closest match I've got is Shego."

Ron thought about that, give Dessie a pale green complexion and she would look a little like Shego! "Could she be a cousin of Team Go's?" He asked.

"Still working on it, just thought I'd keep you up to date."

"Good work so far, what else have you got?"

"I've found out what Dr. Megahenry was working on in the Soviet Union."

"The guy Drakken was trying to locate at The Bermuda Triangle?"

"That's him, it turns out he was working on some sort of electromagnetic spectrum energy transmission system."

"Okay Wade, lets pretend I didn't understand a lick of that."

"Right, you understand how power lines work, don't you?"

"Yeah, the utility company puts them up so birds have a place to sit."

"Ron…"

"No, really, they take electrical power from the generating point to the consumption point. I may not know science but I do understand business."

"Right, well Dr. Megahenry was working on a method of transmitting power without using a solid channel. I don't know how successful he was, but he may have continued his work after the wall came down."

"Wouldn't that transmission fry anything that got in the way, like lightning?"

"Probably not. According to his research, his transmission channel needed a very special transmitter and a very special receiver. The specific form of energy he had discovered wouldn't react with anything other and the proper receiver. Meaning that the transmission would pass right through you without causing you any harm. In fact, he used two forms of energy, one form for long distance transmission and another form for local consumption. He needed repeaters to switch the energy between the forms."

"Interesting. What else do you have?"

"Third item. The new Bueno Nacho parent company has been making some strange orders through front-companies for the last several months. Not only have they done some major excavation work, it looks like they've had everything they need to construct a fusion reactor delivered to their corporate headquarters."

"They must be trying to make some really hot sauce."

Wade chuckled. "I agree that this is unusual behavior, but if we assume that Drakken is in some way behind the takeover at BN and he's contracted the services of Dr. Megahenry…"

"Added to those funky antennas at all of the BN branches…" Ron chimed in.

"He might have a way of generating and distributing massive amounts of power." Wade concluded.

"But why?" Ron mused. "Maybe he's thinking of destroying the worlds electrical grid then charging everyone through the nose to provide energy."

"That's one possibility. Another one is that he may want to be able to set up one of his doomsday devices anywhere in the world without arranging for a power feed."

"That would make him a lot more mobile," Ron agreed. "Anything else?"

"No, but I'm getting access to more and more of the doctor's research. I should have more in a few days."

"Thanks Wade, you rock!"

"Kim said the same thing, by the way, she wants you to come over and walk her to school today."

Ron was surprised by this, but did as he was told. Kim was waiting for him at her house and the teens met up and headed for school without a word. Kim seemed ready to speak several times, but just didn't. Finally, Ron broke the silence.

"So, what did you think of what Wade found out?"

That was the nudge Kim needed. "It's troubling but Ron," and here she stopped and turned to face him. "That's not why I wanted to talk to you." She took a deep breath. "I've been treating you terribly again. I quit walking to school with you, quit sparring with you, without even letting you know."

"You've had other things on your mind." Ron's voice had a decided edge to it.

"That's no excuse, not anymore. I'd really appreciate it if you would start walking to school with me and start sparring with me, again."

Ron bit back his first response and thought for a minute. She hadn't really dumped him, since they hadn't actually dated, but it still hurt. If he said the wrong thing, he could destroy a decade plus friendship in a moment. He calmed himself and swallowed his pride and pain. "That's fine by me."

"Thanks Ron." She paused a little. "What's next is going to be hard for me to say and it might come out wrong, but here goes. Yesterday, after school, I spoke with Monique. She's the one that pointed out how badly I've treated you. I thought long and hard about some other remarks she made and she was right. I remember when you had just broken up with Sue; you told me that you didn't think that any girlfriend was worth loosing our friendship. I finally realized that it goes both ways. No boyfriend, no crush, is worth loosing Ron Stoppable."

Ron felt moisture creep into his eyes. "Thanks, Kim," was all he could say.

"No Ron, thank you. Thank you for forgiving me when I've ignored you. Thank you for always looking out for me. Thank you for being willing to be friends, again, after I've treated you like you weren't worth my time."

"I'm not willing to be friends again, we've never stopped."

With that, Kim simply grabbed him in a tight hug. "Ron Stoppable, let me say this again. You are the absolute best friend I've ever had. Never, never forget that."

There was some suspicious moisture in Kim's' eyes.

"So," she continued, "are you going to make the dance on Saturday?"

"Yes," he replied, "since I've quit being the Mad Dog I've been bottling up all of these bondiggity moves and I've just gotta let 'em out somewhere." He made a few moves to demonstrate.

"I…hear that you've been seeing that new girl, Dessie."

"Yeah, but she kind of creeps me out. I'm going to the dance with Monique."

Kim looked surprised for a few moments, then smiled very warmly. "That's great," she said, "Do me a favor, save a dance for me?"

"Anytime, KP."