Author's note: the muse is a funny thing… at first it wants me to work on Broken Blade, but I had to work on Sayonara. I gave into the muse for a while… then she changed her mind, and here I am.
Id like to thank those lovely people who have reviewed so far; zardoz101,wheathermangohanssj4, RSfan, Samurai Crunchbird,Drakonis Aurous, hope master, and Beasty bex. (hope I didn't miss anyone)
Also; time shifts will be well marked.
Sayonara
Chapter 2: Once Upon a Time
It was Kim who found her voice first…
"R…Ron?"
He rose to greet them, leaning heavily on the silver cane. Kim noticed the grimace of pain flash across his face as he moved; causing a fresh wave of guilt to wash across her own.
"In the flesh," he replied, extending his right hand to them. Kim realised he was offering to shake hands; far more than she believed she deserved. She shook his hand anyway; resisting the urge to pull him into a massive bear hug.
"Ron… it's good to see you… but, what are you doing here?"
"Well I was going to Bueno Nacho for lunch when a whole appeared under my feet and I was shooting though that damn pressure tube." He turned to Betty, "which is actually a really cruel thing to do to a cripple, you know."
"I've already apologised for that."
"I know, but next time, let me use the elevator, please." He turned back to the two agents, "Dr Director seems to think that she needs someone on staff who actually knows what they're doing when dealing with the arcane."
"Wait… 'Arcane'? You're the magic guy?" Ron nodded, Kim was confused.
Will seemed to take it in stride, "So what qualifies you for that position then?"
Ron simply smiled and held out his hand. Blue tendrils of energy formed around his closed fist, as though he was sucking power out of the air itself. He was.
The energy coalesced as he opened his hand; a ball of light formed inches above his palm.
Kim's jaw dropped. Shock was written on Will's face. Even Dr Director, who knew he could do this, was slightly awed. But she didn't show it.
"Its… real…?"
"That's right Kim, its real. It's just a ball of light, but it's real." A wry smirk found its way onto his face, "here, catch." He tossed the small sphere to her.
"GAH!" the ball exploded in a flash of blue light as she attempted to catch it. Then she promptly fell on her ass.
Ron laughed gently; though the others were none too impressed.
"See, completely harmless."
"Was there any reason for that? Or did you just want to humiliate my agent?"
"Heh, well there was that, but yes there was a reason; it was just a simple test. If she had been able to catch the ball it would have showed that she had some magical talent. But she didn't, so she doesn't."
"And what would have happened if she had?"
"She would have a lot more homework tonight."
"H… how?" he turned to see Kim still on the floor, staring at him with a mixture of apprehension, disbelief and… fear?
"Well, remember the Jade Monkey Incident? With Monkey Fist?" Kim nodded slowly, "You didn't believe about the power of the monkeys, but it was true. Even more than even I believed…"
Three Years Ago:
Monkey Fist's castle.
"AAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Ron screamed like a little girl as he fled from the psychotic monkey madman.
"You cannot escape little human! Now that I have the Mystical Monkey Power I am truly Invincible! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
'This is Sick and Wrong!' Ron thought, not wasting breath on actually saying it; he was saving that for the screaming. Both his kimmunicator and the holo-Kim had been disabled when the jade monkeys activated, giving Fisk their power. 'Note to self; find out where Wade lives, then kill him in his sleep.'
As he ran a multitude of thoughts flowed trough his head; ranging from frantic 'oh crap's to the submissive 'goodbye, cruel world.' But one thought grabbed his attention and he clung to it like a lifeline. 'What would Kim do?'
'Well, what would Kim do?' he thought to himself as he ran through the endless twisting corridors of the mansion. 'Well of course she'd beat the bad guy and save the day, but how?'
He thought hard as he ducked down yet another hidden passage. 'Well normally she kicks henchman butt while I sneak around and sabotage the super weapon of the week, or hit the base self-destruct button, or turn some invention back on its creator. But this guy doesn't have any of that stuff, and I can't fight.' He mentally sighed as he continued to flee.
'Actually… he does have something super-weapon-ish… the jade monkeys…'
He began to double back as the plan began to unfold in his mind…
"YOU DID WHAT?!?!"
The unlucky Larry wisely decided to stay out of the way his angry redheaded cousin as she shouted into the kimmunicator. Surprisingly he also managed not to gibber.
Wade on the other hand, was very grateful that Kim didn't know where he lived. "I'm sorry! I didn't know the guy was a villain! I just wanted to test the holo-projector!"
"Alright, alright, just get me a ride."
"already done, a GJ VTOL will be outside in five; a few agents and a medic."
"good… wait, GJ? We have favours with them?"
"uhh, no… we owe them one now."
"uhg, lets go…" she signed off and fled the room to meet with the GJ team.
A few minutes later, after he heard the VTOL leave, Kim's cousin Larry cautiously pried himself from his hiding spot. "Is the scary lady gone?"
Ron ran and dodged as best he could, navigating the labyrinth of Fisk's castle whilst avoiding Fisk himself…
"STAY STILL DAMN YOU!!!" the mutated monkey man yelled, "I need to kill you, you monkey hating fool!"
'Not likely,' Ron thought to himself, as he pushed his unfit body as far as it would go. 'I have to get the monkeys; they're the key to stopping Monkey Fist. But even if I destroy them I still have to deal with him… he'll kill me instantly…'a few moments later a very helpful neuron lit up in his head, 'unless I'm on even footing… monkeys are sick and wrong, but super-powers are cool.'
He finally found the right fireplace and slid down the passage hidden behind it, descending into the secret basement. He jumped into the centre of the ring of jade.
"Hey Monkeys! Hit me-" he called out to the Jade Monkeys to grant him their power, as they had for Monty. But he hadn't counted on Monty catching him too soon; and knocking him out of the way.
"NO! You heretic! You will not have my power!" Monty yelled as he pounced upon Ron's fallen frame, raining down blow after blow.
"Blasphemer!"
Ron shielded himself as best he could, but it wasn't enough. Bruises littered his arms and chest as he squirmed and rolled with each blow.
"Heretic!"
There was a faint cracking sound as Ron felt one of his arms break under the villain's fist.
Rufus jumped in to defend his master, but was swatted away easily.
Tears stained his face as Monkey Fist reached down and lifted him by his shirt in one hand, using the other to clamp around his throat, choking him.
"And now you die! Foolish pretender! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Ron's vision swam and he began to feel faint, but terror sharpened his senses as he sought one thing; freedom.
He flailed against the maniac slowly killing him, desperate to break free. His hand brushed against something; something solid and heavy, but light enough to lift. Driven by desperation and instinct he didn't even know he had, he brought the impromptu club around and smashed it against Monkey Fist's head with every fibre of his being.
A brief wave of shock crossed the villain's face before the darkness claimed him and the crumpled to the ground, shards of jade falling around him. The shards cracked with disrupted power, blue sparks jumped between each other before fading. The three remaining monkey's sparked and shattered on their own.
Ron too collapsed to his knees, gasping for breath, trying to fill his burning lungs. Hacking and coughing, his head swam.
He was in no condition to notice how when his fingers brushed a shard, one of the remaining sparks arced along his hand, forming the symbol of a fighting monkey on the back of his hand before fading away…
It was a few hours later; Kim and GJ had arrived. Fisk and his butler had been taken into custody, and the medic was tending to Ron. Kim wished desperately to embrace her friend, but the medic told her it would just aggravate his broken ribs. They soon left to take Ron to hospital, leaving a few of the agents behind to continue the search and cleanup.
Shade watched all this, hidden in the shadows. His mask hiding any emotion that graced his features.
An agent strayed close to his position, but Shade knew his stealth abilities were more than enough to hide him from these amateurs.
When the coast was clear he disentangled himself from the shadows as moved silently over to the centre of the room, crouching down he shifted through the rubble and carefully selected one of the larger pieces of jade before retiring back to the shadows.
Shade scanned the room one last time, before vanishing completely into the dark.
End chapter 2
Wow this took a long time to write, heh.
I think it was worth the effort though, hope I gave a decent 'what the..?' moment at the end there with Shade.
As always; and reviews, comments and queries are more than welcome.
-DarkSeraphic