Chapter 48: The Price of Valor
"Mr. Barkin, Ron's going to be okay isn't he?" Bonnie was almost hysterical. Of course, Felix and Monique were both highly emotional at that moment, as well.
The four kept watching the video feed. "I don't know, Rockwaller." The Vice-Principal replied. "I can tell that he has taken a horrible beating. Fortunately, Possible as well as several of the Police and FBI personnel, are first aid experts. The bad news is that he needs a Trauma Center and he's close to forty miles away from the nearest one."
They couldn't see Ron anymore. Kim, Police, and various agents had surrounded him. Monique did note Rufus, dragging some sort of device, scamper into the picture and disappear into the forest of legs surrounding his fallen human. After a time, a floating platform of some sort appeared and set down near the group. Several men unloaded a stretcher and disappeared into the group of people surrounding Ron. A few minutes later the stretcher, with Ron on it, was loaded onto the platform. Kim jumped on board and the platform took off. Whoever was operating the camera was able to record them flying for just a few seconds before they vanished in the distance.
"All we can do is hope and pray," Mr. Barkin told the three teens. "Whatever your beliefs, I think that Stoppable can use all of the good wishes he can get."
"But, he is going to be okay, isn't he?" Bonnie was even more distraught than she was before.
"Bonnie, why are you so shook up about this? You've never done anything but put Ron down." Felix's tone was gentle, even if the question was hard.
"I-I never realized what they go through. I just thought that it wasn't anything special. You know they just run around, pick something up and get out. I never thought…" She was almost as pale as Ron had been.
"Didn't you get the idea when Ron had his hip all messed up?" Monique was getting angry with the taller girl.
"I didn't realize it could be so bad! Oh, God! I had my friends bumping him and he was so… Oh God!" Bonnie sank down onto the nearest chair.
Felix rolled up to her. "Bonnie, they can't talk about everything they do, but I know that they very seldom get hurt badly. Yet it isn't unusual for them to come back badly bruised. You might have been of the opinion that this has just been some big attention grabbing scheme, so I hope that what you've just seen changes your mind."
Bonnie nodded and in a worried voice said. "I just hope he'll be okay."
He was lying down, staring at the night sky. Men wearing uniforms surrounded him, looking down at him but foremost, closest to him were a pair of green eyes surrounded by a red halo. He tried to reach up, to touch that face that held the eyes, but his arms felt so very heavy. Then everything went dark.
Time passed, he had no idea how much. He opened his eyes and found himself staring at the night sky again. Whatever he was lying on had a slight vibration and the wind whistled by him. He had a vague sense that he was moving rapidly but couldn't be sure. But right in front of him, right in his face, were those green eyes surrounded by the red halo. Those eyes, he now noticed, wept. This troubled him for some reason but before he could wonder why, everything went dark again.
He opened his eyes to a very bright light. Time passed while he looked at the light and he eventually discovered that masked people surrounded him. One of them noticed that he was awake and leaned down close to him. These eyes were blue, but they reminded him of the green eyes. A familiar voice said some words that he couldn't understand but they calmed him anyway. He closed his eyes and let the comforting darkness engulf him again.
Still more immeasurable time passed. He opened his eyes again to dim light and quiet noises. As he became more aware of his surroundings, he realized that he was lying on a soft surface and that a warm sheet was drawn up to his chest. His head still felt heavy, but he could move it with some difficulty. He looked down and noted tubes protruding from his arms. He wanted to study them, but the green eyes distracted him again.
The face with the green eyes and red halo floated into view above him and again, tears flowed from the eyes. This bothered him again, so he tried to speak but something was in his throat, preventing speech. He lifted an arm, even though it was much heavier than he remembered, and clumsily placed his hand on the side of that precious face. A small, yet strong hand grasped his and pressed it to the cheek. With great difficulty, he moved his thumb and wiped the offending tears away from the nearest eye. For some reason, the tears began to flow even faster. He wondered why for a short time, then the darkness returned. Time passed again.
Ron Stoppable woke up and looked around him. He was clearly in an ICU bed of some sort. A bank of monitoring equipment sat to his left, with wires and tubes running under his covers. He managed to keep from guessing where some of them must be connected. He wasn't in pain so much as everything felt numb. For some reason, he felt strangely calm. Further thought was halted when KP's face swept into view above his own. Her face was smudged with dirt, streaked with tear tracks and etched with fatigue. Her hair was wild and unkempt. She's so beautiful, Ron thought.
Again, her eyes shed those offensive tears, so he tried to ask her why she was crying. Something was in his throat. He experienced a moment of panic, or as close as he could come to panic within this overriding calm.
"Ron," KP's voice was a welcome sound, even quivering like it was. "You have a breathing tube, so you can't talk. Do you understand?"
Ron's mind wasn't working very quickly, so he tried to say that he understood that he couldn't speak. After this attempt failed, he lifted his right hand and gave a 'thumb's up' to her. She quickly caught his hand in both of hers.
"Ron, I was so worried, we were so worried! It looks like you'll be fine."
Ron frowned and worked to pull his hand free. Kim released it and Ron tapped his left wrist with his index finger while looking at her.
"What time is it? Kim asked.
Ron shook his head, pointed to his face, closed his eyes and made a circular motion on the back of his wrist with his finger. He opened his eyes to see Kim looking perplexed for a minute.
"Oh! How long have you been out?" Ron nodded. "It's still early Sunday morning. You've been fading in and out for several hours."
Ron nodded again then pointed at her. "What about me?" She asked. Ron remembered the cut he had taken under his eye, so he touched the bandage then pointed back to her. She thought a moment. "Oh, how badly am I hurt?" Ron nodded. "A few scrapes and bruises, no big." Then those cursed tears started to flow again. "Nothing like what they did to you!" Ron was uncomfortable with her weeping but before he could do anything…
Two more people entered his field of vision and one of them introduced himself. "Mr. Stoppable, good to see you are awake. I'm Doctor Munson. Your condition has improved to the point that we can remove the breathing tube. Ready?" Ron nodded. "Now, when I tell you, I want you to try to cough, do you understand?" Another nod. "Okay, cough."
Ron didn't enjoy the feel of the tube coming out but it was a relief to have it removed. A nurse squirted a little water into his mouth. He swirled the water around and swallowed the tiny bit that remained.
"Okay, Mr. Stoppable, I'm going to ask you a few questions," Dr. Munson continued. "I don't want you to be upset if you can't answer them. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Ron rasped.
"First, what day is today?"
"Saturday, no, Sunday morning." He said in a whisper, it was difficult to talk.
"Very good, Mr. Stoppable. Do you know where you are?"
Ron thought a moment. "I don't know for sure," he took another breath and tried to rally is muddled thoughts. "Middleton?"
"Not a bad guess," the doctor observed. "Do you know today's date?"
Ron automatically looked at his left wrist, which didn't have his wristwatch. "Um… I don't know, but I know that it's late April."
"Not bad, I always need to look at a calendar to tell the exact date. Can you recall how you were injured?"
"I tangled with a synthodrone…it whipped me good."
"A synthodrone?" The doctor looked very confused.
"Doctor," Kim cut in. "There are such things. The only thing that Ron has wrong is thinking that it whipped him. He was standing at the end of it all, the drone wasn't."
"Very well, Mr. Stoppable." The Doctor continued. "You don't seem to have any memory loss. This is a very good sign. Now, is there anything that you want to know?"
"Oscar and Cindy?" Ron asked Kim in a weak voice.
"They're just fine. The State Patrol picked them up a couple of hours after we left Bueno Nacho. The Police and the FBI held them for a while but they've already been released and they're both back home."
Ron nodded, "My parents?"
"Your folks are fine and I've updated them as to your condition. I'll email them and tell them that you're awake and aware. Telephone communication out of town isn't very reliable. They won't be back for a day or two, at least. Drakken's latest scheme really messed up the Air Traffic Control System, so all commercial flights have been grounded for a few days. They're trying to rent a car but demand is pretty high right now."
"How about your 'rents, and the tweebs?" Ron's weakening voice let everyone know he was tiring.
" Everyone's fine. Mom finally got to go home late last night. The casualties were pretty heavy but nowhere near as bad as they could have been. Dad's back home but he's going to be spending a lot of time in front of a lot of investigative committees. The tweebs are back home, as well and they're taking care of Rufus." Kim smiled. "They're already building small aircraft and Rufus loves to pilot them."
"Is Monique going to kill me?" Ron whispered, with a worried grin.
Kim's smile brightened. "She says that saving the world from a mad tyrant is just barely a good enough excuse to stand her up. She says that you still owe her a date but you have to be fully healed up first." Kim's smile faded. "I guess somebody filmed the fight on the roof, Monique and some other kids saw the beating you-"
"That's enough conversation for tonight." Dr. Munson interrupted. "Ron, I don't want you to think about your injuries. I will say that you will make a full recovery but you have some hard work ahead of you. Kim, there's a staff vehicle and driver waiting for you in the sublevel. The main entrance has a phalanx of reporters and cameramen right now, so we're going to sneak you home so you can get some rest. Ron, that's your job right now, as well. I want you to get some sleep."
Kim grasped his hand again. "Okay, Ron. I'll see you later. She darted in and kissed his forehead, then left the room. Ron was out within minutes of her exit.
He dreamed about green eyes.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A/NAgain, my thanks to all of you who have been reading my story, I hope you've been enjoying the little trip I've taken you on.
A bigger thanks to everyone who has either reviewed, or emailed me with suggestions. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, so suggestions, comments, and corrections are always welcome.
Finally, a major thank-you to Joe Stoppinghem for Beta reading and smoothing over my rough writing.
Catch you all at the next update.
daccu65.