Chapter 16: New Additions
Success! After three weeks in the artificial womb, the monkey had completely grown back its missing arm.
"Subject is alert, healthy, and not in any noticeable discomfort at this time," Amy dictated into her recorder, as she observed the monkey in its pen. "The re-grown arm seems to be weaker than the other. I believe that this arm will regain strength with use but I will continue to observe the subject too confirm this."
"I have allowed the subject limited contact with other monkeys," she continued, as a divider in the monkey's cell opened. There were two monkeys in the other cell, which immediately joined her subject. The three monkeys began sniffing each other. As they had been captured from the same band, they recognized each other.
"I am no expert on simian behavior," Amy continued, watching the monkeys. "But the subject seems somewhat…dominant towards other monkeys. The subject demands first call on all food, the most comfortable sleeping perches, and that the others groom him. The subject was the alpha male in his band, so I suspect that this behavior is a result of his status, rather than a side effect of the treatment."
"I am forwarding a full report, including video recordings, to my employer," Amy concluded. "As the procedure is obviously successful, I shall proceed with the second step immediately. File report."
Amy clicked off her recorder and returned to her lab, after a last glance at the monkeys. Her procurers, advertising via word of mouth, had acquired two more subjects for her. One was deformed from Polio and the other suffered from Multiple Sclerosis. She would perform the procedure on both of them. She had already pulled brain-stem cells from both and a few hours of work would see them both prepared.
She smiled, sadly. She didn't care about the long, irregular hours. She truly loved her work and the compensation her employer provided was very welcome. The only problem was that she missed Monty. She sighed. They had only had a few days together, which she had savored. Although she wanted to be with him, she realized that he would never approve of her experiments. No, it was better this way. Her work was going well, he was recovering at her safe house, and her employer was being very generous. A few more months and they would be able to spend all of their time together.
"Ron, will you just settle down?" Kim shook her head, grabbed her BFBF's belt, and forced him to sit next to her on his parents' couch. "If you're getting this worked up about meeting your adoptive little sister, I can just about imagine what you're going to be like when w-, I mean you, become a father."
"I know, KP, but it's like, what if she doesn't like me? What if she doesn't like Rufus? What if I'm not a good big brother? Maybe I should have saved a couple of those teddy bears."
"Obsess much?" Kim shook her head again, even though she had to smile at that last statement. After their live interview with Rita Richards, and the subsequent 'human interest' report that Warren had put together, someone on line had gotten the idea to send Ron teddy bears. This had prompted a deluge of the cuddly little toys. For several days, Ron didn't have a clue what to do with them all, then he decided to give them away. No patient under the age of twelve had checked out of the Middleton Medical Center without a teddy bear, since.
"No, Ron," Kim took her boyfriend's hand. "Giving those teddy bears away to those kids was the right thing to do. You've made a lot of kids happy. Now, the cuddle-buddy you bought for her, yourself was appropriate for a big brother. Just calm down, your folks will be here with your little sister in a few minutes, then we can get on with the business of having a little sister."
"We?" Ron wasn't as distracted as he was letting on.
"Well," Kim had a slight blush. "I've always said that you're the tweebs' big brother, I don't know why I can't be a big sister to…"
"Hanna," Ron supplied.
"Hanna," Kim replied with a grin and a nod. "It's a cute name."
"Yeah," Ron agreed. "She's nine months hold, she's Asian, and all the agency will say is that her parents weren't ready to raise a child."
Kim nodded at him; it was only the twentieth time today he had given her this information.
"But what if she doesn't like me or Rufus?" He continued.
"Ron, stop!" Kim knew she had to head this off. "You're starting to freak me out as well. Let's talk about something else."
"Good idea, KP," Ron admitted. "What do we talk about?"
"Let's see," Kim mused. "Oh, no! Do we dare?"
"Dare what?"
"Ron, after the two of us got together, our mothers had a word with me and our fathers did the same with you. We've never talked about our discussions, have we?"
"Uh, er, no," Ron admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Don't you think it's about time?" She prompted.
"Uh, I guess so."
"Okay, you first!" Kim gushed, then sat back.
"Well, my talk had a lot to do with the, er, progress our relationship could take," Ron said, after a few minutes to gather his thoughts. "Your dad sort of laid down some rules, but they really confused me."
"What did he say?" Kim growled, planning on having a talk with her father later.
"It had to do with…well…what I could do with you."
"Don't you mean what he'd allow the two of us to do?" Kim growled.
"Uh..yeah. But that's not the way he put it." Kim nodded, knowing the way her father thought.
"Well, the ground rules he laid down were confusing," Ron continued. "He had this chart showing square inches of physical contact allowed, and how it increased with the length of time we continued to date, exclusively. That wasn't so bad, but when he started to explain the adjustment factors, I started to zone out."
"Adjustment factors?" Kim prompted, unsure if she should be amused or irritated.
"Yeah, first there were the…body areas," Ron was blushing furiously at this moment. "Some body parts had a multiplier attached to them so I..er, we, wouldn't be allowed as much contact if those body parts were involved. I had just kind of gotten my head wrapped around this one, when he brought up the clothing coefficient. We have a divider factor proportional to the thickness of the cloth separating our actual skin."
"So the more clothing we're wearing, the more surface area contact he's willing to allow?" Kim was starting to lean towards amused.
"Exactly," Ron confirmed. "I had just figured out that he would frown at you sitting on my lap if we were wearing swimsuits, but he would be fine if we were in mission gear. Then he got into the really confusing factors."
"What other factors could he come up with?" Kim asked the question before she had a chance to wonder if she really wanted to know.
"First there was a time of day factor," Ron answered, giving her a look that said 'you asked for it, don't blame me.' "After six at night, the boundaries get more restrictive. Then there was a lighting factor, which made things more restrictive with dimmer light. It was about this time that my dad's eyes started to glaze over. Then he started with the 'distance to the nearest, responsible adult' factor, and the 'number of adults able to observe us' factor. He was just about to hand me a three ring binder, with all of the factors and charts, when my dad stepped in and summed it up."
"What did your dad say?" Kim was debating trying to find that binder and read it for herself.
"No going past first base until they talked to me again," Ron couldn't quite bring himself to meet her eyes. "Your dad agreed." Ron paused for a few minutes, unsure if Kim was mad at him or not. Looking up, he saw that she was more amused than irritated. This gave him the courage to ask, "What did our mothers talk to you about? Turnabout's fair play."
"They weren't so much concerned about our…progress as they wanted to make sure that us getting together wasn't some rebound thing." Kim quickly grabbed Ron's hand when he flinched at that.
"Ron, I'm sorry, but they did say that."
"It's not your fault," he muttered at first, then continued with a little more annoyance in his voice. "But just once, I'd like to find someone other than Monique who doesn't assume I'm your rebound."
"We'll show them by staying together," Kim assured him. "Anyway, when I described how we got together, our talk out behind the Gym, they were both impressed with us. That's when the compatibility questions started."
"I'm not sure I want to know, but what were the questions and answers?"
"First, they brought up the religious difference. They assured each other that they didn't have any problems with it. They didn't even ask me. Then they asked me what I found attractive about you. I told them that I hadn't realized how cute you had become and that I liked the slender, athletic guys. That's when you mother asked me if I really found you attractive."
"What did you say?" Ron took a drink of lemonade, preparing himself for some form of 'politely diplomatic' answer.
"Only to the point where I wanted to throw you to the ground and ravage you."
Ron quickly found himself experiencing an extended bout of choking.
"You handled that better than our mothers," Kim informed him, after his breathing returned to normal. "They were both drinking coffee at the time and they absolutely sprayed it. I'm glad I wasn't directly in front of them at the time. Anyway, that seemed to have sort of thrown them off track. They spent the rest of the time telling me that if this thing between us works out, it will probably be the best thing that ever happens to us but if it doesn't, it could haunt us both for the rest of our lives."
Kim looked her BFBF squarely in the eyes, "I told them that you were worth the risk. Do you agree?"
"One hundred percent," Ron assured her, leaning in for a kiss. "Even before the clothing coefficient."
Their kiss was somewhat marred by the ensuing giggling, which meant that they weren't terribly disappointed when Ron's parents pulled into the driveway. The teens raced out the door, then tried looking calm and mature for the Stoppables' benefit. Of course, Hanna Stoppable charmed them both at first glance.
Hanna proved to be a fairly content infant. While she didn't smile, very much, at the strange faces around her, she didn't cry either. Kim and the Stoppables (Rufus included) only had about a half-hour to fuss over the new addition before the Kimmunicator went off.
"What's the sitch Wade?" Kim answered, using her trademark answer. "You're seriously cutting into my 'catching some cuteness' time."
"Sorry Kim," the genius replied. "I've got a high priority request from Global Justice. They're not giving me much in the way of details but they say that they'll have transport, and a full briefing at the Stoppables' in ten."
"If GJ thinks it's that important," Ron sighed. "I guess we better deal with it."
"Right," Kim agreed. "Wade, did you catch that?"
"Every word."
"Good enough," Kim looked to her 'second parents.' "I hate to break this up but…"
"We understand, Kimberly," Mr. Stoppable assured her. "National, perhaps international security is at stake."
"Sorry little sis," Ron cooed at Hanna, giving her one final hug before returning the infant to his mother. "Duty calls."
With that, the teens rushed up to Ron's room, where Kim kept a spare set of mission gear. Both were waiting when the GJ hoverjet landed in the Stoppables' street. The teens leapt aboard the aircraft and had just strapped themselves in for takeoff with a video screen unfolded from the ceiling and displayed…
"Dr. Director!" Kim exclaimed. What can Team Possible do for you?"
"I need you to perform a rescue mission, Ki-…I mean Team Possible," Global Justice's head offered a tight smile at her own near-gaffe. "Aviarius seized a …sensitive item from a medical center in Omaha, Nebraska. We tracked him to an equipment shed, on a farm outside of town and sent in Will Du. Naturally, Du has already been captured. His biometric implant reports that he's still alive. I need you to enter the shed, liberate Du, and secure the item. Once you have done that, a GJ team will move in and assist."
"Just what is the item, Dr. Director?" Kim asked.
"I will not say over this channel, even though it's secure," Dr. Director informed her. "I will say that you'll recognize it when you see it."
"Uh, not to question your tactile brilliance," Ron began.
"Tactical brilliance," Kim corrected.
"That too," Ron conceded. "But why Team Possible? What about Team Go and Team Impossible?"
"Valid points," Dr. Director admitted. "In light of Aviarius's ability to steal Team Go's super powers, we don't want them anywhere near him. As for Team Impossible, while we haven't seen him, we consider it likely that Monkeyfist is assisting Aviarius."
"And we have the most experience dealing with Monty," Ron concluded. Kim wondered why her BFBF gave his wrist grapple a discrete pat as he said this.
"Correct," Dr. Director confirmed.
"I'm not sure I feel right about this," Kim offered. "We know that Fisk has his sights on Ron. What if this is a trap?"
"That is possible," Director conceded. "If you encounter Fisk, I want you to immediately call in the support team."
"Understood, Dr. Director," Kim replied, feeling better about tangling with Fisk.
"Your technical support man has given us your Kimmunicator frequency and scrambler codes," Director continued. "We will monitor your communication until you resolve this situation. Agent Jones is the operative in charge of the support team. When you arrive, in roughly ninety minutes, report to him. He will be expecting you. Good luck to the both of you."
"Ahem!" An irritated Rufus glared at the screen from his perch on Ron's shoulder.
"Er, the three of you," Dr. Director amended. "Dr. Director out."
With that, the screen went dark and folded back into the ceiling. Kim and Ron spent the rest of the trip discussing tactics against Aviarius and possibly Monkeyfist. They were also trying to get their heads into the game, as both wanted to finish the mission and get back to fussing over Hanna. As it was, it seemed to be only a few minutes, rather than an hour and a half, before they landed outside of Omaha and Agent Jones met them.
"The subject, item and our agent are in there," the GJ operative was all business as he gestured to a large structure.
To someone used to urban life, the term 'equipment shed' brought to mind a small, aluminum structure, maybe the size of a bedroom, used to store yard and garden tools. For the structure that confronted Team Possible, the concept was the same but the scale was much larger. The farm, located on the Great Plains, had an acreage that rivaled a couple of smaller, European nations and required extensive equipment to work the land. The 'shed' that Agent Jones pointed out was two hundred feet long, one hundred sixty feet wide and the roof's peak was thirty feet above the ground.
"There's no farm equipment in the structure," the agent informed the teens. "The farm owners retired earlier this year and none of their children wanted to go into agriculture. The owners have already sold off the equipment and have rented the farmland prior to an outright sale. Aviarius apparently showed up posing as a traveling circus's representative and rented the structure. He claimed he wanted some shelter for the circus animals while they passed through the area."
"What does the interior look like?" Kim asked, as Ron released Rufus to make a stealthy approach and scout.
"No internal walls," the agent informed her. "Just a big, open space and a concrete floor. As you can see, there are two, big, bay doors on the front of the structure. There are personnel doors right around the corner, and on the far side of the structure. Other than these, the only openings in the walls are a handful of ventilation openings on the roof and the long-axis wall."
"Do you have any information about Aviarius's motivations?" Kim continued her questions.
"None," the agent informed her. "I'm under orders to support you. We haven't gone in for fear of Aviarius harming either Du, or the item."
"What is the item, anyway?" Kim asked.
"I don't know," Agent Jones admitted. "Dr. Director instructed me to contact her as soon as you complete your mission. She said that I would receive instructions on the proper care of the item at that time."
"The item is a person," Ron informed the two of them, as he approached with Rufus on his shoulder. "Rufus did a quick scout. Aviarius is in there, perched in the rafters. There's a medical bed, with someone in it, sitting in the middle of the floor. Du is there as well, tied to a chair several feet from the bed. Finally, there's some sort of tarp screening the back half of the building. Rufus couldn't tell what, if anything, was behind it."
"Okay, I'm calling in an ambulance on my own initiative," Agent Jones informed them. "What else do you need from me?"
"We need to take Aviarius by surprise, but we can't risk flash-bangs with the item in the shed," Kim told him. "What kind of horsepower does your vehicle have?"
It turned out that while the agent's vehicle didn't have the horsepower Kim needed, a nearby farmer had a tractor that did. Ron and Kim sneaked up to one of the bay doors, hauling heavy chains. The GJ team attached one end of the chain to the farmer's tractor while Kim and Ron attached their end to the bay door. At a signal, the farmer gunned his tractor, tearing the bay door out of the frame. Kim and Ron charged through the open doorway, Kim tumbling to the right and Ron tumbling to the left.
"So, Team Possible has come to play again," Aviarius commented from the rafters, after his surprise wore off. We'll see how you do this time."
Kim and Ron didn't waste time with banter. Both fired their wrist grapples at the birdman. While Kim's metallic claw flew straight at the villain, forcing him to dodge, Ron's was slightly off target. Aviarius didn't realize that it was a feint; Ron's claw gripped one of the rafters and the boy triggered the retracting function, pulling him up to Aviarius' level. The bird-obsessed madman suddenly found Ron on another rafter, only a few feet away.
"Take down Aviarius," Kim yelled to her BFBF. "I'm freeing Du." Kim ran towards the bound agent.
Aviarius scrambled back as Ron leapt across the open space. He threw a hummingbird shaped dart at the boy, but Ron deflected it with the hard metal of his wrist grapple. Ron slid forward on the rafter, closing with Aviarius when he heard…
"Ronald, I was hoping you would see fit to join us," the cultured voice both frightened Ron and filled him with rage. He leapt to another rafter, barely avoiding Monkeyfist, who had been hiding up higher, in one of the ceiling vents.
"Agent Jones!" Kim snapped into her Kimmunicator. "Monkeyfist is in here!"
"We're coming in," Jones' response sounded over the Kimmunicator.
"Now, now," Aviarius chided. "We can't have these interruptions, can we? Meet the flamingo of doom!"
The tarp, which had blocked off half of the building, was torn from its supports when a giant, robotic flamingo lumbered through it. The ground shook under the construct's unsteady stride. The thing's head was barely under the level of the rafters, more than twenty feet in the air.
"You've GOT to be kidding me," Kim muttered, still working to free the trapped Will Du. She cut the last rope, grabbed the agent, and pulled him from his seat just as one of the robot's feet crushed the chair. She gave the dazed man a shove towards the bay door opening even as the handful of agents, which made up the support team, rushed inside.
"Get Du out of here!" Kim screamed at the agents. "Then get outside yourselves!" Kim barely dodged another giant foot. "We need maneuvering room to fight this thing!"
As surprising as an objective bystander would find it, an agency that considered Will Du its number one operative did have competent agents. Two of the support team seized their comrade and hustled him outside while the remaining three helped Kim keep the robot distracted. The over sized construct stomped, scratched, and pecked at the dodging humans, nearly catching someone on more than one occasion. Kim took her own advice, retreating outside the building and past the item. She barely had time for a quick glance into the rafters, to see how Ron was faring against Fisk.
Ron's quick retreat, in the face of Monty's surprise attack, had given the boy time to get set for the villain's next assault. As he watched Monty gather himself to spring to Ron's rafter, Ron started to concentrate on his wrist grapple, then looked down at the GJ team and realized that there were just too many witnesses present. Monty sprang to his rafter, several feet away from him, and Ron shuffled along the eight-inch wide beam to meet his nemesis as Kim led the robot outside.
The boy met the villain head-on, blocking a front, snap kick from his longer-legged opponent before sliding forward and launching his own assault. Ron threw a left-right punch combination followed by a front knee strike. Monty hopped back, then turned a graceful, backward somersault on the narrow surface. Ron kept close to him, robbing his opponent of his range advantage. The two exchanged a flurry of straight punches, elbows and knees. Ron took a couple of his but he had delivered several more and was getting the better of this encounter. He risked a quick glance towards Aviarius.
The birdbrain was perched, several rafters away, watching Ron fight Monty and holding up his staff. He would occasionally glance out bay door opening, to where Kim and the GJ team were probably fighting his giant robot. Ron couldn't understand the villain's inactivity; while he was getting the better of Monty, Aviarius's assistance would probably turn the tables. Ron snapped his attention back to his opponent as Monty went back on the offensive.
"You have improved greatly, Ronald," Monty commented, unleashing a series of front snap kicks. "You are indeed a worthy adversary."
Ron was forced backwards. Although he blocked the kicks, inflicting painful bruises on his tormentor's shins in the process, Monty's long legs gave him a reach advantage. Ron was ready to block Monty's next kick up, then slide in underneath in and strike at Monty's supporting knee, when the villain surprised him with a roundhouse kick.
Balanced on a narrow beam, Ron had limited himself to straight-forward techniques, like punches and front snap kicks. Although Mr. Barkin wanted him to do better in physics, Ron understood the principle of each action having an equal but opposite reaction. Ron also understood the real-world application: throw an outside technique, like a roundhouse kick or a ridge-hand strike, and you stood a good chance of knocking your opponent off of the narrow perch in one direction, and yourself in the other. Ron hadn't been able to dodge Monty's kick so he blocked it and found himself struggling to keep his balance. As he windmilled his arms, he looked at his opponent expecting to see Monty doing the same. Instead, the villain was fully in balance and preparing to deliver a devastating strike against his flailing opponent.
Suddenly, Ron understood. While he, Ron Stoppable, was limited to keeping his weight centered over the rafter, Monty was able to grasp the rafter with his feet. Thus, the altered villain could throw an outside strike, like a roundhouse, without knocking himself into space. Realizing that he was at a disadvantage on the rafter, Ron performed a Kim-like maneuver. He quit flailing his arms and allowed himself to fall off to the side of the rafter, even as Monty's fist flew through the space Ron's head had just vacated. Once perpendicular to the rafter, he kicked off, giving himself some horizontal speed to work with. Ron fired his wrist-grapple and caught another rafter to his right. The boy pulled hard on his cable, changing his direction from a straight line to an arc. It was wise he did so, as Monty leapt at the boy and barely missed him.
Ron's actions had given his body a spiraling motion to the ground. He deactivated the claw and activated the grapple's retractor as he tumbled off the velocity, ending on his feet near the 'item' in the bed. Ron got his first, close look at the patient and he was so shocked that he almost missed the fact that Monty had encountered a wall, has sprung off of it, and was now flying towards him again. As it was, Ron barely dodged the oncoming madman. Both combatants squared themselves and continued their struggle.
Monty came forward with another roundhouse. Ron wasn't content to simply block this strike; he blocked it upwards then dropped down and swept Monty's support foot out from under him. The villain dropped flat to his back then was forced to roll quickly away, barely avoiding a series of foot stomps. Monty regained his feet, taking a hard blow to the ribs, and tumbled away from his antagonist. Ron didn't pursue, staying close to the patient in case Aviarius decided to move in. Monty, snarling in rage, charged Ron once again and Ron did something out of character.
Ron's Yamanouchi trainers had instilled a very 'blue collar' approach towards fighting into him. Foremost were three rules. The first rule was 'Always maintain contact with the ground.' Of course, 'ground' wasn't the proper term. The idea was to always keep at least one foot on the surface that was supporting you. The second rule was 'Never turn your back to an opponent.' While Kim had the speed and agility to pull off spinning kicks and fists, Ron was better served grinding away at his opponents. The third rule was 'Never throw a single strike.' By throwing combinations, Ron made it difficult for opponents to block all of his strikes. Of course, his instructors had also told him that he would have to break these rules, from time to time. One time had been when he leapt from the rafters and right now was another time.
Monty had thrown himself at the teen, coming completely off of the ground and thus unable to alter his direction. Ron slid to one side and broke the second rule by turning his back too throw a spinning back fist. He broke the third rule by throwing only the single technique. Finally, he didn't land the blow as he had been taught. Instead of his fist striking Fisk, the hard metal of his wrist grapple caught the villain between his upper lip and his nose.
Ron felt the impact shoot up his arm and Monkeyfist did a three-quarters gainer, landing on his face at Ron's feet. Ron had clearly seen at least two teeth fly through the air. Ron didn't waste time, but jumped on top of his stunned opponent, grappling him and applying a carotid artery choke. His efforts to render his opponent completely unconscious were interrupted by Aviarius.
"I've got what we need," the birdbrain hollered at his partner. "It's time to get out of here!" The man punched another button on his staff.
As if in answer to Aviarius's actions, a loud, low rumble sounded from the darkened half of the building, from where the robot flamingo had emerged. This rumble was quickly accompanied by a number of higher, whining, engine sounds. Ron took one look at what was emerging from the structure this time, jumped off of Monty and ran for his life.
Kim was desperate to get back into the shed. She and Ron were a team, so they shouldn't split up like this. Still, she knew that Du and the GJ support team weren't a match for this giant robot so she had to hope that Ron could hold up against Fisk and Aviarius until she could disable the robot and return to his side. She kept in front of the terror, dodging it and observing its movements. After several minutes of evasive maneuvers, she noticed that the construct always stepped forward, attempting to stomp on her with the moving foot, then attempted to snap at her with its beak. It would then step with the other foot and repeat the procedure. Its head and lead foot were close each time it did so.
Kim reacted quickly upon realizing this. She fired her grapple, catching the foot that was trying to step on her. She hopped back, just out of the foot's path then jumped up, towards the descending head, with a slight twist to her body. She barely avoided the snapping beak and flipped herself over the head, still trailing cable from her grapple. As soon has her feet hit the ground, she jumped to the foot that she had entangled earlier and secured her grapple to the foot, praying that Wade's cable was strong enough for her plan.
It turned out that the cable was strong enough. The robot, with one foot effectively tied to its head, was off balance. The huge construct fell to the ground and the GJ support team swarmed towards it. The agents volley-fired their shocker watches at the creature's head, then all discharged the devices at the same time. Electricity arced around the giant bird and it lay still.
"No casualties, Miss Possible," Agent Jones reported to her. "Let's go assist your partner."
The team had just formed up, with Kim leading, when Ron appeared, sprinting out of the shed. Kim barely had time to note his expression of terror before the explosions started. Kim suddenly became aware that Ron was being pursued by some sort of rocket-propelled, falcon-shaped missiles. He was keeping in front of the explosions, but the devices were getting closer. The team scattered and Kim tackled Ron, knocking them both behind the giant Flamingo. The remaining falcons exploded against the robots metallic hide. Kim and Ron, although dazed, were unharmed.
A low, rumbling roar sounded from the shed as a large, vulture-shaped aircraft emerged. Aviarius sat in the open cockpit, next to a still-stunned Monkeyfist.
"We'll meet again, ground-pounders," the bird-obsessed villain yelled at them. A clear shield rose up around the passenger compartment as the aircraft roared off, keeping low to the ground.
Agent Jones ran to the equipment shed as Kim questioned Ron about any possible injuries.
"They got away with the item," the agent reported when he returned.
"Doctor Director isn't going to be happy," Du added, stumbling up to Team Possible.
"That's not the worst part," Ron interrupted. "The so-called 'item' was Shego!"
Before Kim could digest this latest tidbit, Ron got a dazed, far-away expression on his face. Kim grabbed him, and noticing that the GJ team was discussing the fallout from the botched mission, pulled him away to where they could speak with privacy.
"Ron," she asked in a desperate whisper. "What's wrong?"
"It's Amy," he answered, shaking his head to regain focus. "She's doing it again."
A/N" Yet another chapter. I'd like to thank everyone who has left a review, or has PM'd with ideas, predictions, and suggestions. The story has been a great deal of fun to write. I hope you enjoy reading, and continue the reviews and commenting that give me more ideas than my not-so-sharp mind can generate on its own.
Finally, as always, my biggest thanks go to Joe Stoppinghem, for his Beta Reading and pre-review services.
Till next time, best wishes
daccu65