1While Bonnie attended to her baby-inflicted injuries, Kim took a giggling Hana from her arms.
"I think she likes you," snickered Kim.
"No shid." Bonnie still managed to stare daggers at Kim and Ron from behind a reddening tissue.
"Sorry about that. She gets a little cranky when she needs a nap," said Ron.
"Yeah, and you should probably get Hana home, too." Bonnie didn't hear this last crack from Kim, and it was probably for the better.
"I'll gadge ub wid you nader." Bonnie went one way while Kim, Ron and Hana went towards Ron's house.
"Note to self: Bonnie sounds like Buh-weet when hit in the face," Ron mentioned to Kim.
"When is that ever going to be useful?" Kim asked.
"You never know."
--
Bonnie wandered back home to see if anyone was there. She had stopped bleeding and decided it would probably be best if she were to avoid Kim and Ron until absolutely necessary, and that it would be best to avoid her sisters until their funeral. Seeing that no one was home, she went back up to her room to take a nap. She had a hard time getting around her room since she had accumulated many more things in the months she spent away from home, yet her room had not grown any larger, much to her chagrin. By the time she finally made it to her bed, she fell in flat on her back, not so much out of exhaustion, but out of a desire not to re-aggravate her facial injuries. She didn't fall asleep right away; instead, she stared at the ceiling for a good ten minutes. Kim and Ron had not caught on to her to the point that it would foil her plans, and she didn't even have to lie to them. She really did want to see Señor Senior, Junior pay for dumping her. She knew that his father, seeing a villain unconstrained by the follies of tradition succeed where others had failed, would almost certainly take out his anger on her ex. Furthermore, she ended up with some really nice diamonds out of the whole deal with the "devil" that she had made.
--
"I think I was wrong about her. I don't think Bonnie is any more bad road than she's always been." Ron and Kim were taking Hana home for a much-needed nap.
"That could still be pretty bad, given that the stakes are a lot higher when we're out in the field than when we're cheerleading. She 'forgets' part of a routine, or attempts a coup d'etat, the squad ends up in a pile on the football field or in the gym. She 'forgets' to shut down a security system, or decides to try to gun for a field promotion, no pun intended, we end up in chains or sent home in boxes."
"You think she realizes that if we go down, she goes with us?" asked Ron.
"She probably has some cockamamie escape plan that will probably end up putting her in the clutches of Global Justice before the hour is up," Kim replied confidently.
"Then again, if she is actually going to try any evil while we're out there, don't you think that she would be more likely to copy Señor Senior, Senior? What you said sounds more like Drakken, or maybe Gemini."
"True, but maybe she wasn't trying to copy anyone. But when has she ever had an original idea?" Kim and Ron realized that this conversation was going nowhere. However, they personally were not going nowhere and found themselves in front of Ron's house. They brought Hana inside and put her down for a nap. Kim and Ron quietly left Hana's room and headed for the living room. After a brief silence during which no one could think of anything to do, Ron yawned and slid into one corner of the couch.
"I think Hana had the right idea there," Ron whispered as he drifted off to sleep. Kim did likewise, using Ron in the same way that he was using the back and side of the sofa.
--
Jack Hench was in his hotel suite riding out the daily two-hour downpour that had struck every afternoon since he and the other Henchco executives had arrived. He had asked Señor Senior, Sr. to use one of his weather machines to stop the rain for at least long enough for him to squeeze in eighteen holes, but one eccentric billionaire told another to kindly consider his request to stick it where the sun doesn't shine. SSS's weather machines were stricty for nefarious purposes only. So Mr. Hench kicked back and considered ordering a movie, when a rapid and loud knocking echoed from the door to his suite. He thought about calling security, but he reconsidered and answered the door.
"Mr. Hench, we have a problem," said a businessman of little consequence.
"What is it?"
"Break-in at one of our facilities. Should I notify Kim Possible?"
"You should know about our procedures regarding asking for her help already. Do we know what was lost?"
"Let's see...I just received a message from the facility. They are reporting nothing missing now." Jack did not have as much of a look of relief as one would expect upon receiving such news.
"Okay, and anyway, in our business you have to allow for some...loss of merchandise." As it turned out, there was actually loss of merchandise, but nothing that would really harm Henchco's bottom line, at least in the short term.
--
Bonnie was awakened from her nap by the sound of her phone ringing. She first picked up a newspaper in her room to see if Kim and Ron had in fact been mashed into a pulp, or had their eyes gouged out or their elbows broken. As that was not the case, it all had been just a dream. A disappointed brunette picked up her phone and answered it.
"What now? OK, I don't need hourly updates or anything. Yeah, just let me know when you have everything set up. You think you'll be ready for us tomorrow? So you'll call me before you hit Kim's website and you'll give me everything then. Got it." Bonnie was pleased about this latest conversation. She knew that the ruse would not have to keep up much longer. After that, Kim and Ron would be out of her hair, she would have no reason to stay in this one-horse town, her sisters would be next on her list, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. She briefly considered stirring up a little trouble between Kim and Ron, but she thought better of it; she didn't want to get thrown out of Team Possible before she had the chance to quit.
--
Kim woke up from her nap first, getting up slowly to allow Ron to stay asleep if he so desired. She glanced back at Ron, who was still fast asleep. His arms seemed to be flailing, as though he were reaching out for someone or something. Kim returned to her previous position, and even though she was no longer tired, she had no choice but to stay there; Ron had wrapped Kim up and had no intent of letting go anytime soon. However, Kim did have one more tool in her arsenal that thought would be effective here. She rotated herself to face Ron, an action that led her still sleeping boyfriend to tighten his embrace. Kim then reached down to Ron's sides and began to tickle him furiously. This was enough to wake him up, but not enough for him to let go at first. For that to happen, the two of them had to tumble from the couch.
"Always have to be on top, don't you, KP," said Ron after a minute.
"As long as our Ronald is the only one you're on top of." Mr. Stoppable had entered while Kim and Ron were lying there on the floor. "Otherwise, you may find out more about Rabbi Katz than anyone alive is supposed to know. You haven't by any chance seen Munich, have you?"
"Can't say that I have, but what does that have to do with me and Ron?" asked Kim.
"I can't continue with this line of questioning. So, anyway, Hana didn't give you any trouble now, did she?" Ron's father's countenance lightened markedly when he changed the subject.
"Nothing the two of us couldn't handle. I think we may have actually been able to wear her out," said Ron.
"That's nice, but how is Hana?"
"Oh, we went to the park. We actually ran into Bonnie there, and she and Hana had a bit of a meeting of the minds."
"Bonnie Rockwaller? I thought she had gone off to be with one of those supervillain's kids."
"They broke up. To make a long story short, Bonnie decided the best way to get back at him was to join up with us. Or at least we think that's why she's doing it." Ron didn't want his parents to worry about him any more than they already did, so he didn't tell her that he had another theory on Bonnie's interest in Team Possible.
"I suppose you two are going to want to transfer to other quarters. Are you going to be home this evening, Ronald?" asked his mother.
"I plan on it."
"Good. I don't want Hana to wake up to an empty house tomorrow. Kim, you realize what this means, right?" Kim was surprised that Ron's parents, of all people, would be bringing this sort of thing up.
"If it is what I think it is, I'm sure I can go without for tonight at least."
"That's good to hear. You two have fun. But when we wake up tomorrow morning, Ronald, we want you to be home, OK?" Ron nodded, and he and Kim went outside into the early evening.
"I wish my parents gave me that kind of leeway on curfew," Kim grumbled.
"I think they're just glad to be rid of me. Besides, what kind of trouble can I get into when you're with me?"
"I've got a few ideas."
"I like where this is going...oh, wait, I have to be home in the morning. This tanks."
--
Bonnie was in her room watching The Fearless Ferret, although she would never admit to such a thing, let alone that it was one of her favorites shows of all time. During one of the commercial breaks, her phone began to ring. Originally intending to let it ring itself out, Bonnie glanced over at it, saw that Tara was calling, and answered.
"Hey, Tara, how was orientation? I don't see how it's all that bad, I mean, you had to get up that early for how long? Plus, you don't have to be up until noon on Fridays. Don't worry about that, there's, like, no way none of them will be letting you in. What do mean, you're not that interested?!? Tara, that's like giving yourself a permanent residence at the bottom of the food chain. Ugh, you're starting to sound like Kim, or worse yet, Ron. Oh, it went okay, except for the part where I got locked in a cage and had to sing for a bunch of leering roadies. I told them to make a decision on whether I can keep going with them after our next little...thingy. So, anyway, are you doing anything tonight? A quiet evening at home with the family? Sure, that's what they all say. Yeah, I guess I'll see you around." Clearly the time that Bonnie had spent away from Middleton had had a detrimental effect on Tara's social graces.
--
Kim and Ron arrived at Kim's house to find it empty, just as Kim hoped it would be. While there were a few obvious possibilities with regard to how they would spend the next few hours, the two of them had not yet run through all of these possibilities before Kim's phone rang.
"Tara, what's up? Cool, how was that? Sounds like you'll enjoy yourself there. What have you been doing tonight? Really...okay, I'll see if Ron is okay with it. Ron, Tara wants to hang out with us some this evening. You all right with that?" Ron answered in the affirmative. "Yeah, sure. What do you want to do? Okay, we'll see you in a few minutes."
"I figured you'd be more likely to have a problem with having Tara over. Just go a little easy on the girl talk. Rufus decided to stay with Hana tonight." Just then, Kim heard a knock at the door and went to let Tara in. Kim opened the door, but did not like what she saw. While it did not appear that Tara had been crying, something did seem to be bothering her.
"Come on in. You're air-conditioning Middleton," Ron called from the living room. Tara followed his instructions, while Kim followed close behind her. Tara parked herself too close to Ron for Kim's comfort, so Kim one-upped her and took her rightful place in Ron's lap. After an awkweird silence, Ron spoke up.
"So, what brings you here tonight?" Ron asked Tara.
"Actually, I wanted to talk about Bonnie," Tara answered.
"Here we go again," Kim was able to keep herself from rolling her eyes. "I swear, ever since she came back to Middleton, that's all we ever talk about."
"I just don't like what's become of her. She's starting to treat me like she treated...well, you two. Always getting lectures on her precious food chain. I mean, I called her when I got home from orientation, and all she seemed to care about was that I wasn't really into the whole sorostitute thing."
"I must confess, I did get annoyed with you always trying to defend her. I know her sisters and all, but still..." Kim was cut off.
"I ran out of excuses for her last year..."
"This conversation is annoying and depressing me. Let's watch something," Ron said. "Kim, if you wouldn't getting off of me so I can find a good movie to get our minds on something less...dramatic." Kim complied with Ron's request, and allowed him to peruse the Possible family's film library while she continued her conversation with Tara.
--
The remainder of the Rockwaller family returned home that evening. In order to minimize contact between herself and the rest of them, Bonnie grabbed a few things and rappelled down the side of her house; perhaps a little bit of Kim Possible was rubbing off on her. Incidentally, if all went to plan, she would have to rub bits of Kim off of her, as well as the loser and his rat. Speaking of which, he should be calling back sometime soon, thought Bonnie as she walked towards Tara's house. Besides, she always did like Tara's family more than her own. Just then her phone began to ring.
"Okay, where are we now? So you have it all set up as you told me? Yes, I see. And just how do you expect me to pull that off? Do you think she'll believe me? You know, she would fall for that. Don't worry, you won't need a Plan B. Are you going to hit the site tonight or tomorrow? Okay then, you'll see us when you see us." By the time she hung up, Bonnie was standing at the front door of Tara's house. Seeing no signs of occupancy, she resigned herself to spending her last few hours in Middleton alone, but that sure as hell beat spending it with her family.
--
The phone in Jack Hench's suite rang, and he answered. "Hello? This had better be good. Channel 1167? Okay, but I'm not ordering anything. Our room service bill could feed an army. Yes, and the actual amount of money is huge as well." The businessman turned to the specified channel and saw what looked like security camera footage.
"As you can see, this is from one of our storage facilities, the one that reported the break-in earlier today. You'll see it in about ten seconds." The "it" was a figure, probably male, wheeling a crate away from a warehouse."
"Which building is that? Oh...well, tell you what. If he tries to use it, Global Justice and/or Kim Possible will be nail him and we're in a position to play innocent. No further action required." Jack hung up and resumed his preparation for Operation Win Back Last Night's Poker Losses From Señor Senior, Senior.
--
Kim, Ron and Tara got up as soon as the credits began to roll.
"My parents should be home soon," said Tara.
"Yeah, and I'd like to get home before mine fall asleep," added Ron. "I hope they remembered to feed Rufus."
"OK, I'll walk home with you two." Kim still had issues with leaving Tara alone with Ron. She wasn't worried about Ron so much as Tara. The two cheerleaders had shared a room at most of the competitions that the squad had gone to during their senior year. From the way Tara had talked about Ron, she felt as safe leaving her alone with Ron as she would leaving nachos alone with Rufus. Just before reaching Tara's house, the three of them encountered a familiar figure.
"Quiet evening with the family, huh?" said Bonnie in a tone she rarely used towards Tara.
"Mom and Dad went to some swanky dinner party with a bunch of their 'friends.' If I ever end up like them, Kim, send that green woman after me to set me straight. Or on fire, whichever she thinks would be most effective. Got bored at home, then you called, then I decided to see what these two were up to."
"I hope you give some more thought to what we talked about earlier," Bonnie began.
"I have. You're still wrong." With that laconic response, Tara turned back to Kim and Ron, wished them both a good night, and ran inside with an expression that seemed incredibly out of place on her. After a moment, Ron was the first to speak up.
"Well...this isn't awkweird at all." Everyone went home without another word speaking among any of them.
--
Bonnie woke up the next morning and put on the mission outfit that Monique had picked out for her. It was difficult to find clothing that didn't look good on her, and this was no exception. Just as she finished admiring herself in the mirror, her phone rang to tell her what she already knew.
"Bonnie, we got a hit on the site. The people behind the choppers you shot down...they're on the move. Wade says we might be able to wipe them out if we play our cards right. Be out front in five minutes."
--
From the author: I really wanted to put the final act all in one chapter, hence another chapter with limited action. Leave a review, I shall probably respond. Real life really bit me in the buttocks this past month, although I've been getting paid for it. I do hope that the next chapter will take less time. It should be the next-to-last one, and the last big one.