Chapter 42: Prom Night, Part 2

Monique stood to the side as the couples were forming a line for their big entrance. Ron was running late but she wasn't worried, yet. She saw Kim and Eric and she actually managed to smile. Kim had made peace, sort of, with her friends earlier in the week. Monique still didn't think that things were right with her best friend but at least it was a start. Kim and Eric did make a fine-looking couple, sure to set Rockwaller to stewing for weeks to come. Too bad her and Ron were going to blow everyone away. If only he would get here.

A familiar four-chirp tone sounded from inside Kim's purse. She automatically reached to grab it, only to find her wrist caught gently in Eric's hand.

"Kim," he said. "You're always there for everyone else. This is your night, your moment. Don't you think you've earned your time? Let someone else save the world tonight."

Kim thought about it, nodded, and turned off her Kimmunicator.

The Bueno Nacho manager was getting nervous. Where was that synthodrone? It should have been here, with Stoppable by now! He was preparing to call his employer when a single, loud knock sounded on the back door. He quickly looked up towards the front of the restaurant, where Ned and another employee were hard at work. He closed the inner door, opened the back door and felt his jaw drop in astonishment.

He saw a roughly five and a half foot figure, swathed in a shapeless green dress with a ragged mass of dark hair over its face. The figure held another, blanket draped figure over its shoulders. The manager stood there, stunned, for several moments. The figure spoke in a rasping whisper.

"Subject…two…resisted. Unit…unable…to…transmit."

The manager came to his senses. "This way, quickly!" He ordered and led the gracelessly shuffling figure to an unused storeroom. He unlocked and opened the door, revealing a cot and shelves full of Lil' Diablo toys. He ushered the figure inside with him, then closed the door behind them.

"Put him on the bed." He ordered, then pulled out a cell phone. "It's me. Yeah, she's here and she brought him in. She's been damaged and says that she can't transmit. Okay, I'll keep them both here."

He tucked his phone back in his pocket and approached the figure on the cot. Pulling a set of handcuffs from a shelf, he unwrapped the prone figure only to stop cold when he found himself staring at a martial arts target dummy. He spun around and his eyes flew wide when he saw Ron Stoppable, in full mission gear, dropping a green dress and a dark wig.

"Who were you talking to?" Ron demanded as he advanced on the considerably larger man. The manager sneered at Ron and swung his ham-like fist, only to see Ron nimbly deflect the fist over his shoulder, catch the arm, and flip him head over heels across the room.

"Who were you talking to?" Ron demanded again, advancing on the now prostrate manager.

The manager pulled out his cell phone but Ron kicked it out of his hand before he could push a single button. The phone arced up into the air where Ron caught it and stuffed it into one of the pockets on his cargo pants. "Answer me!" He demanded.

The manager backed away from Ron as quickly as he could. He clutched at his shirt, activating the emergency pendant he wore around his neck, under his shirt. A rustling sounded through the storeroom as the covers popped off of the Lil' Diablo containers and the toys stood up. Ron could hear shrieks from the front of the restaurant. The manager smiled, pulled his pendant out of his shirt and up to his mouth.

"Attack subject two!" He said into the pendant. All of the toys advanced on Ron, the ones on the upper shelves hopping down to the floor. The shrieks from the front of the restaurant became more intense. Ron didn't understand the sitch. These were just toys, after all. After a moments hesitation he closed in on the manager yet again.

Again, the manager swung a fist at Ron but this time Ron sidestepped the blow, stepped forward and delivered an open-palm strike up under the man's sternum. All of the air whooshed out of the manager's lungs. He stumbled back to the wall, then slumped down, only to be caught by a furious Ron Stoppable. Ron grabbed the collar of the man's shirt and pinned him against the wall, reversing the roles he and the synthodrone had assumed a short time ago.

"You, mister, are in big trouble." He informed his opponent. "Whatever your employer is working on is going to fall apart once I get this phone to my technical guru and he finds out who you were talking to. Now, you can come clean and make it a lot easier on yourself or you can EYAAAA!"

Looking down, Ron realized that shouldn't have discounted the toys. Several of them had formed a chain by locking their hands together. They had wrapped one end of this mobile chain around one of the shelving units, and the other end was now wrapped around Ron's ankle. He kicked, hard but only managed to gouge his ankle on the toys' hard bodies. The toys had anchored three more chains at other points in the room and the free ends were creeping towards him as additional toys linked into the chain. More of the toys were climbing up his feet and legs, scratching and gouging his skin and linking together to form a net around him.

The manager laughed at Ron. "You're never going to get that phone to anyone. You're going to be all tied up in just a minute. This is all going to be over in a few hours and then I'll be getting you back for this." To the big man's shock, Ron smiled back.

"Okay Rufus, I'm going to need that thing."

The manager looked in shock at a small, hairless rodent scampering away from him carrying his emergency pendant. He had been too occupied with Ron to notice Rufus climbing up his shirt and biting through the cord that held the pendant. Rufus tossed the pendant to Ron, who one-handed it while keeping a grip on the manager. Fortunately for Ron, he had seen the manager issue the earlier command.

"Stop," he said into the pendant. All of the diablos stopped. Ron shook off the ones that had been climbing up his body but his foot was still chained. "Return to your containers." The diablos all started to head back to the shelves, releasing Ron. The manager let out a roar of rage as he lunged at Ron. Ron dodged the attack, tripped the man, then pounced on him and applied a sleeper hold. He was out in less than a minute.

Ron tucked the pendant into a pocket and ran to the front of the restaurant. He nearly collided with Ned, who was hurrying back to the storeroom.

"Ron," he gasped. "What's going on? First all of the toys jumped up and started heading to the back, then they all turn around and head to where they had been, then I hear the manager yelling!"

"I don't know what all is happening." Ron replied, "but if I were you, I'd get everyone out of here. I think that something really bad is about to happen and I think that BN is going to be in the middle of it."

"No need to make people leave," Ned answered. "When those toys started jumping off of the tables, everyone just up and left on their own."

"Ned, please close the place down and leave. This is going to be really bad." Ron pleaded with his friend.

"Okay." Ned and the other employee started shutting down the facility.

Ron returned to the storeroom. The manager was just beginning to stir. Since the man had been kind enough to provide a set of handcuffs, Ron used them to cuff one of the man's hands to one of the shelving units. After a moment's thought, Ron emptied the man's pockets, as well. Then it was back out front to see that Ned and his assistant had just powered down all of the cooking appliances. Ron asked Ned to remove all of the telephones. With that the three boys left the building and Ned locked it. Ron stepped away and grabbed his phone again.

"Ron, what happened?" Wade wanted to know. "I had a strange signal transmitted from the Bueno Nacho sign and a spike in their electricity consumption." Ron explained what had happened. "Do you still have that pendant thing?"

"Yes."

"Good, I'm going to contact Mr. Dr. P and let him know what's going on and what we've found out. That might be enough to loosen his jaw up, if you know what I mean. Take the pendant to his place, I'll send one of my carrier flyers to pick it up."

"What did Kim say about all of this?" Ron asked.

"She's not answering her Kimmunicator."

"Do you think she's okay?"

"There haven't been any police or news transmissions that suggest anything has happened to her."

"Okay, here's what we'll do. I'll swing by the gym and pick her up. If I survive Monique, I'll take her home and we can discuss this at that time." Ron shook his head; Monique was going to be mad at him for standing her up, his mom as going to be mad at him for borrowing one of her dresses and Kim was going to be mad at him for ruining her date. Three ladies mad at him in a single night. Proms really were stressful.

Monique was officially stewing. Ron still hadn't shown up and she didn't know if she should be mad or worried. If he's in trouble, fine but if he's fine, he's in trouble. She chilled with Kim and/or Cindy whenever they weren't dancing and she had danced with both Oscar and Felix. So far, Bonnie's posse hadn't really unleashed on her but it was only a matter of time. She could see the girls whispering to each other while they stole glances her way. She looked away from them, towards the lobby and spotted…"RON!"

He wasn't wearing his tux; he was in mission gear. He had swelling around his left eye and his upper lip had been split. It wasn't his attire or his injuries that made Monique catch her breath, it was his demeanor. She had heard Kim talk about 'Ron in the clutch' but she had never seen it before. His usual goofy grin was replaced with a determined scowl and his stride was crisp and deliberate.

She ran up to him, several other students right behind her. "Ron, what happened," she had just stammered before Kim showed up.

"Ron, who did this to you?" Kim wanted to know.

Ron chose his words very carefully. If Eric's a synthodrone I don't want to reveal him and have him attack a gym full of students. "Kim, we really need to go to your parents' house. Wade uncovered some vital information and your father is key."

"Kim, why don't you just let Ron take care of this? " Eric asked. "If he's managed this far on his own, he should be able to handle the rest."

Ron didn't even look at Eric. "Something big is coming down, Kim. I think it's Drakken but I don't know for sure."

"What happened to you?" Kim demanded.

"I was investigating a lead that Wade and I had tracked down. I was attacked and this attack confirmed our suspicions. Kim, I really think that we'll be in action against Drakken within the hour."

"Kim, I don't understand why Ron came here. This is our night." Eric was glaring at Ron.

"All you have to do is call Wade." Ron replied.

"Ron, lets go." Kim grabbed Ron's arm and started for the door.

"Monique, I'm sorry about this. I owe you big time." Ron told Monique as he turned for the door.

"You bet you do," she replied. "You just get back here in one piece and we'll work out how you're paying me back."

Eric stood in stunned shock. She wasn't supposed to choose the weirdo over him. Finally he started to follow Kim and Ron. "Kim, really, why are you leav…ERP!" He suddenly found himself standing nose to nose with Oscar.

"Pal," the wrestler told him. "This is a dance, a school function. We're all here to enjoy ourselves. But if you leave this building, I'll be more than happy to let you know what I think about someone coming between my friends."

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A/N: I use the term 'target dummy' to refer to a life-sized, padded mannequin used to practice martial arts strikes and throws. Back when I practiced marital arts, the school I attended had such an item and we referred to it as a target dummy. I understand that other terms may apply for other schools and other regions of the country. If you have another term for such a mannequin, please let me know and I will alter the terminology in this chapter.

Till then, hope you're enjoying the story.

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