Calling up the security feed on his workshop computer, Ron watched cautiously as Monique left his house through the front door. Finally satisfied that he had some much needed privacy, he opened a file on his computer, input the password and sat back as the floor plates of his workshop shifted a bit. A raised platform emerged from the opening the plates made, and on it laid a complete chrome suit of armor.
With an excited grin on his face, Ron called up the blueprints, and went over the details one last time. Now that he had talked Monique into replacing the arc reactor embedded in his chest, he had just the right power source to power this thing. Getting up from his seat, he gave his latest invention a final look-over as he tightened small screws, and tucked essential wiring in the right places.
"Alright, let's see how this baby works," Ron declared proudly as he picked up the gunmetal gray-colored boots and hefted them onto the floor. Each boot weighed in at just over thirty-two pounds, but that in itself would be the least of his problems. Pressing a button on the side of the boot, the back part unhinged itself and widened just enough for Ron to slide his right foot in. Doing the same with the other boot, Ron felt immediately weighed down by the new footwear. Taking a step proved to be an arduous task as he tried to stop himself from falling over.
He jury-rigged the power cables of the boots with a couple of loose cables to the arc reactor in his chest, and as soon as the connectors clicked into place, a miraculous change took place. Ron flexed his muscles and swiveled his ankles; it felt as though he was wearing his running shoes.
Taking a couple of tentative steps around the workshop, he found it no different than walking regularly. A childish grin broke on his face, as he tried running, and found that everything responded the way he intended it to be, without restricting his movement one bit. After a momentary pause, he tried to lift his feet higher than they would move while running or walking. Much as he expected, without the leg pieces to assist his movements anything more movements that brought his feet above his knee was going to remind him of the fact that the boots still weighed thirty-two pounds.
Shrugging, a childlike grin crept onto his face, and he glanced at the far side of his workspace. "Now, let's do the Air Jordan..." Ron yelled, taking a running start before leaping as high as he could. The computer that monitored the muscles in his lower legs knew what he was trying to achieve and instantly triggered the repulsor technology in his soles.
With the added impetus, Ron's jump was far more impressive than any he had done before, even while training at Yamanouchi. Before he knew it, Ron was accelerating towards the ceiling at a stunning speed and smacked his face head-on on into the eighteen-foot high ceiling. After a few instants the repulsors cut off, dumping him into a dazed tangle of limbs and wiring from the storage closet he crashed into.
Groaning in pain, Ron rubbed his back and forehead for a moment, before staggering to his feet and hobbling over to his computer chair, pulling wiring and various components off of him the entire way. He collapsed into the chair with a loud grunt.
"Okay, note to self," Ron muttered angrily. "Next time, jump outside." Glancing over at the rest of the armor, a thought occurred to him and he broke out with a grin.
Punching a few commands into the computer, Ron happily watched as robotic arms descended from the ceiling and emerged from the floor to pick up various pieces of the remaining armor. Stepping forward,
he activated the voice command, almost stumbling over his words in his excitement. "Activate armor emplacement routine!" he called, and watched in fascination as the robotic arms began snapping on pieces of armor onto his body. The last thing he saw was the helmet, with the face piece boring down on his head, before it enveloped him in darkness.
After a moment, Ron began to feel a hum in his chest as the arc reactor started to work towards its full capacity. The heads-up display inside the helmet flickered twice before it brightened, and gave Ron a highly detailed view of his surroundings. Taking a moment to adjust the display settings, Ron quickly got used to the fact that he was actually viewing the world through micro-cameras embedded in his armor.
"Activate enhanced reality systems..." he said in a quieter tone. He barely contained a crow of delight as the enhanced reality systems fed information to his suit's HUD. He glanced about his shop, smirking as the suit correctly identified anything that his eyes rested on for more than a few instants. His prize toolset he had won for engineer of the year six years earlier... Sockets and ratchet wrenches were identified, and a brief description came up if the manufacturer name was visible in his field of view.
"Manufacturer website," he grunted as he stared at his newest car, a pearl Mugello blue Audi R8. The website was up almost instantly, showing the entire Audi lineup. "Close site." Ron said quietly, his smile triumphant in its scope. After a moment of self indulgence, he sighed and stepped away from the table that had just held his armor.
"Now, this should prevent any more painful accidents," Ron declared with a huff. "Time to test the fun stuff... Initiate repulsors at ten percent power..."
As soon as he gave the voice-activated command, he felt a violent jolt as he was thrown backwards, careening wildly through the air before he slammed into a wall, leaving behind a more than a visible impact crack in the drywall, and spiderweb cracks from floor to ceiling. Shaking his head for a moment, Ron coughed as he got to his feet.
"Right..." Ron muttered to himself. "This is going to be a long day..."
It was already night, after numerous bumps, scrapes and cuts, Ron had managed to properly calibrate the internal gyroscopes and the computer could properly calculate to compensate for his shifts in center of gravity so that he would not be thrown across the room if he raised his arms too fast. That said, he finally whooped in triumph as he manage to steadily hover a good four feet above the workshop floor.
"Badical!" Ron shouted for joy, as he did a backflip, happily enjoying his newfound freedom from gravity. With a tired sigh, he floated back down to the ground and grinned happily at his accomplishments so far.
As he stripped himself of the armor, Ron glanced up at the computer clock. "Maybe the night's still young," Ron said to himself as he stretched his limbs out in the open. "I hope Monique doesn't mind me being fashionably late."
Forty minutes later had Ron through a quick shower and into a newly pressed suit. He was cruising downtown in his custom painted, silver accented Aston Martin. Relishing the freedom of simply cruising down the streets, Ron pulled to a screeching halt right outside a rather swanky-looking hotel. Stepping
out of his car, and sliding his sunglasses into his pocket, Ron tossed his keys to the valet and winked at him as the young man gawked at the crisp one-hundred dollar bill slid into the keyring.
Stepping up to the unfurled red carpet, he noted that most of the VIPs were already inside, hobnobbing and brown-nosing each other for the Firemen's Charity Fundraiser. There was still quite a significant number of reporters camping outside, mostly of the paparazzi sort. Seeing that the infamous Ron Stoppable was making his first public appearance since his strange press conference two weeks earlier, they immediately jumped out of their bored stupors to mob him with questions.
With a charming smile, and knowing that this picture might just make the cover of People magazine, Ron declined any questions coolly as he stepped into the hotel, leaving behind an excited gaggle of reporters. It was only a matter of time now before Ron would be seen leaving the hotel with his latest woman for the night, and it was only a matter of speculation as to who would be able to tie the billionaire playboy down.
As he stepped into the grand ballroom of the hotel, he garnered more than a few surprised stares from the other guests. Ron slid through the crowd easily, declining any handshakes, preferring to give a curt nod wherever he absolutely had to and then moving on. Walking up to the bar, he politely requested a scotch on the rocks, before taking his time to survey the crowd.
A predatory smile crossed his face as his eyes drank in the sight of a dozen or so lovely beauties giggling flirtatiously at him, and coyly begging him to come hither with their eyes. Taking a long sip of his drink, he decided to take his time; he was going to enjoy tonight, after all.
"So I guess you decided to make an appearance," a sultry feminine voice purred as a woman in a red dress slid up to the bar beside Ron. He glanced down at her feet, and took note of the long side slit in her dress that let her show off her long, smoothly toned legs. Ron grinned as he remembered those legs wrapped around him in the throes of passion not too long back. Without turning to the voice, he replied:
"Hello, Bonnie."
"It would seem that we still have business to discuss," Bonnie remarked as she licked her lip suggestively. "During our last meeting... I was left a little unsatisfied."
"Oh come now, Bonnie," Ron turned to her with a smirk. "You don't expect me to show you all my tricks in one night?"
"I suppose we better resume our partnership then," Bonnie remarked coolly, as she gently laid a hand on his. Stroking her fingers lightly back and forth, she looked coyly at him and said, "I do have a couple of interesting propositions for you..."
Just as Ron was about to lean in to give her a kiss on the lips the crowd parted a little, and of the corner of his eye he thought he had seen...
"Maybe later, Bonnie," Ron murmured softly into her ear as he swerved at the last moment to give her a chaste peck on the cheek. Before he could face the wrath of rejecting Bonnie Rockwaller, well-known socialite and CEO of the Rockwaller Industries International Group, Ron had already made his way through the crowd before stepping up before his target. "Hey, Monique..."
Monique turned around to face Ron in surprise. "I thought you wouldn't be coming," Monique smiled. "You could have at least let me know. I wouldn't have had to spend the last two hours thinking up excuses for you."
"Hey, then it wouldn't be a surprise, right?" Ron smiled back charmingly. "I have to say, Monique, you look absolutely ravishing in that dress."
"Thank you, Ron," Monique blushed a little. "Just so you know, this was my birthday present from you."
"Really?" Ron stepped back a little and gave her an appraising look. He studied the long black strapless dress, and admired the way it seemed to accentuate Monique's curves in all the right ways. Along with the way Monique had done her hair up in a bun, plus the black sequin heels, Monique managed to look elegant, charming and seductive all at the same time. "The dress looks expensive, but I bet it's worth every dollar on you."
"You're generous with your compliments tonight," Monique remarked wryly.
"It's just that I've never seen you look like this before," Ron replied smoothly.
"Oh yes I have," Monique replied sarcastically. "It's just that you're usually too caught up on your bimbos that you never notice me trying to appease your business associates for you."
"Oh Monique," Ron laughed infectiously. "Since you look so good tonight, would you like to have this dance with me?" He extended an inviting hand to the mocha skin tone woman.
"I don't know..." Monique replied hesitantly.
"Oh come on, Monique," Ron coaxed with a twinkle in his eye. "Don't be so stuffy. Let's just go out there and have some fun, like we used to before all this..." He waved his hands airily about him, drawing Monique's attention away from him and to the crowd and the hotel's ballroom.
Before she could protest any further, Ron had already taken her by the arm and led her towards the dance floor. Monique tensed up, as Ron politely rested a hand on her hip, while taking her hand into his. Grudgingly, she bowed her head a little as she placed her hand on his shoulder. A glimpse of a smile appeared on Ron's face, and before she could make a comment, she found herself being twirled around the ballroom in a comfortable rhythm.
Monique brought herself to smile at her boss, as she relaxed slightly, still aware of a couple of glaring looks and wagging tongues around her. She glanced awkwardly to the side, and noticed Bonnie was giving her a deadly look, while she slammed down her cocktail. Blushing, she turned back to Ron, only to find that his gaze never left her for a moment.
"Ron..." she started, sounding unsure of herself.
"Yes, Monique?"
"A lot of people are looking at us..." Monique pointed out.
"Let them," Ron coolly replied. "They have never seen such beauty like yours before."
"But..."
"Relax, Monique," Ron cooed. "You should enjoy yourself, you deserve it... I know I don't appreciate you enough, so for tonight, forget about being my personal assistant..."
Monique couldn't help but smile at his words, "If you say so, Ron..." Without knowing it, she had already settled into a comfortable rhythm, as they sashayed around the dance floor. With their eyes locked on each other, Monique started to let her inhibitions slip. She smiled happily, as she felt Ron's large and warm hand gently rubbing her lower back in a slow circular motion, slowly relaxing her into arms. Forgetting for a moment that she'd never let a man press so closely against her without at least three dates, she leaned in closer, his aftershave was most intoxicating. Her lips leaned in closer... She closed her eyes...
And jerked away in horror. "So that's how you do it!" she growled, the anger flashing in her eyes.
Ron looked at her in confusion. "I don't know what you're talking about, Monique."
Monique snapped, "No! I need..." She bit her tongue as she realized her outburst had drawn a few curious stares. Monique took a deep breath to compose herself. "No... I need some fresh air." She pulled away from Ron abruptly and walked towards the open balcony of the ballroom.
"What's wrong, Monique?" Ron asked as he followed her out onto the balcony.
Turning to face the blond, Monique growled angrily, "You! You're what's wrong! I thought you'd changed, but I was wrong! You haven't changed one bit! Let me tell you something, I'm not one of those cheap women that you are going to have a one night stand with just to get at Kim."
"What are you talking about?" Ron asked, genuinely surprised. "I just find you very beautiful tonight..."
"Stop your sweet talking, Ron," Monique demanded. "You know just as well as I do that you don't have any feelings for me. So stop pretending like you care about me beyond your assistant and maybe a friend, or that you're the least bit interested in me. You're incapable of feeling anything for anyone else ever since Kim dumped you."
"This isn't about Kim!" Ron insisted unconvincingly.
"Oh yeah?" Monique challenged. "When you close your eyes, just before you kiss someone, whose face do you see?"
Ron found himself without a reply to her question.
"See? Ron, you keep doing this!" Monique insisted as she angrily stomped her foot. "But do you think this is fair to me? You're still in love with Kim, yet you tried to seduce me!"
"So what if I'm still in love with Kim?" Ron replied tiredly. "She doesn't love me anyway."
"Oh god, Ron!" Monique glared at him. "Do you really think she doesn't love you? Let me tell you something, Ronald Francis Stoppable. Do you know why Kim broke up with you?"
"Because I wasn't successful enough for her, and I didn't make it into GJ!" Ron replied bitterly.
"You honestly think that that's the case?" Monique raised her voice impatiently. "Look at yourself! You're the most successful man of the decade! You are the very definition of success, with the way you built your own multibillion dollar corporation in five years! You have what most women are looking for already! Wealth, security and damn good looks!"
"Then why?" Ron challenged her. "If I am all of that, why hasn't Kim come back to me yet?"
"Because you are the most immature guy I have ever known!" Monique pointed out in exasperation. "Look at you. You sleep with so many women just so that you can hurt Kim. You've gotten your PhDs, found your own company and became rich and successful, only to shove it into Kim's face. You find every single opportunity you can to rub Kim the wrong way, and trample on her feelings as though you don't care when in actual fact you do! Ron Stoppable, you are the most childish and petty jerk I have ever known!"
Ron looked hurtfully at Monique as he slowly digested her words. "Well..." he mumbled apprehensively. "She did it to me first."
"There!" Monique exclaimed. "See what I mean? You're acting like a child. How old are you? Ten? What is all this 'She started it!' business?"
"She broke up with me first," Ron insisted. "Then she had to go and date Brad or whatever his name was and wave her latest upgrade in front of me, even though she promised me a year to get my shit together!"
"Ron Stoppable!" Monique almost lost her temper. "Brian wasn't the reason she broke up with you! Look, the real deal with Brian is that he was also an agent trainee like Kim at Global Justice. Ever since you two broke up, he had been constantly asking her to go out with him! So finally, six months later, Kim finally relents and goes out on a few friendly dates with him. We just happened to bump into them at that restaurant, Ron! It was an honest mistake; she wasn't trying to rub things in your face!"
"But she went out on a date with him! And I distinctly remember you ditching me to go hang with them..." Ron argued lamely, only to be interrupted by an even angrier Monique.
"Ron, stop being selfish! Who Kim dates is none of your business, and as a good friend and ex-boyfriend, you should have actually been happy for her!" Monique exclaimed exasperatedly. She shook her head as she continued, "And by the way, it was just a friendly date! Kim has never thought of Brian as anything more than a colleague. Of course if you would actually listen instead of snap at us at the mention of his name, you would have known that he finally gave up after Brian realized that Kim wasn't interested in him. Which is much more than I can say for you! You went and slept with Tara just to get back at Kim!"
"Well of course he broke it off with her after that; she gave him what he wanted already on that first date at the club…" Ron growled
"What, a dance? I had more dances with him than she did! Besides, weren't you on the phone with Tara that night?"
Monique's sarcastic quip hit Ron deep, and he shook his head angrily at her. "Look, I was on the phone with her 'cause Josh had just broken up with her, and she needed someone to talk to!" Ron gritted his teeth to retain a semblance of control, and keep his voice in check, "Besides, she tried to reach Kim first, but I'm sure we both know, Monique, Kim was busy with more than just dancing at the club. You and Kim can keep as many secrets as you want from me. But I'm not the only one sleeping around! I can just go and ask all her ex-boyfriends and find out for myself!"
"Okay, well, how many boyfriends do you think Kim had after you?" Monique asked, as she narrowed her eyes at Ron.
"I don't know..." Ron hazarded a guess. "I'd say about ten, at least? In the past year alone?"
"Try two! In the past nine years!" Monique replied in frustration. "And that's already including Brian! Look, Ron, I know Kim, and I know she took the breakup just as hard as you..."
"Yeah right," Ron snorted with disbelief. "If she did, why'd she jump in the sack with the first hottie that she could hook up with?"
"Say what you will, but don't you dare drag her down to your level, not after what you've put her through…" Monique glared at him, her fist balled up and ready to smack him for his last comment. "But that's neither here nor there! You know Kim doesn't handle things the way you do. She keeps it to herself, and she throws herself at her work..."
"Yeah, just her work?" Ron interrupted, his sarcastic quip making Monique flinch as if slapped.
"Yes, Ron, just her work. And even though she's busy as Hell, she still requests for additional assignments. Having more work is just her way of coping with not having to think about you... And yes, Ron, she thinks about you all the time!"
"No, she doesn't," Ron muttered under his breath, sighing in annoyance.
Monique bowed her head slightly, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Ron... Fine, if you don't want to listen to me, whatever..." Monique sighed. "I've tried helping you two so far, whether it is to move on, or whether to get back together. Kim's just so stubborn that she doesn't want to bring the issue up with you. And you're just too immature to actually fix your own damned attitude."
"Fine," Ron raised an eyebrow. "If you know everything, why did Kim break up with me in the first place?"
"Do you remember what you two were arguing about just before she walked out the door?" Monique asked with a sigh.
"Yeah, about my rejection to Global Justice," Ron replied unhappily. "She wasn't happy, and said that I didn't take the entrance exam seriously, and flunked out."
"And do you remember what you said?" Monique asked.
"No," Ron replied ironically. "Please refresh my memory."
"You said that you were going to try to work as a clerk or janitor at Global Justice, just so you two could be together," Monique reminded him.
"Yeah, so?" Ron argued. "Is that wrong of me to want to be with my girlfriend?"
"Ron," Monique shook her head. "Kim wasn't angry that you didn't make it into Global Justice with her. Yes, maybe it got her annoyed a bit, but she honestly loves you and wouldn't blame you over something you couldn't control. But she'd like you to be a bit more serious about your future."
"She wanted me to join the army for a year!" Ron raised his voice. "But we were in a war, Monique! I wouldn't have been able to apply to GJ for over three! She basically said she didn't want me to be around!"
"She wanted you to join the army for a year, so that you would have some additional clout on your resume when you applied to Global Justice during their next recruiting season," Monique's voice grated dangerously. "And she already had assurances you would have stayed in the States!"
"She never said anything about me staying here! I went to the recruiter like Kim told me to, and he said that there was nothing else other than infantry duty, which would have put me in Iraq or Afghanistan for at least eighteen months! Besides, I could have done all that she wanted me to do as a janitor with Global Justice!" Ron pointed out. "That way, I could've still applied the next year, and we wouldn't have had to be apart!"
"See? That's your problem, Ron..." Monique said slowly. "You're always settling... You're always okay with things as long as you have Kim by your side... That's what bothered Kim the most. You don't care about yourself, as long as Kim is okay."
"Things had worked out fine in high school and college," Ron replied defensively. "I didn't need to work like she did, and I could concentrate on making sure everything was good for her..."
"Ron, you are Kim's Potential Boy for a reason," Monique said after several seconds. "You are capable of so much, and yet with Kim by your side, it's like you have nothing else to work for, nothing else to dream for. When Kim broke up with you, look at you... Look at all the things that you have done just to try to win her back..."
Ron stared silently at her, biting down hard on his lip as he held back a few hot remarks in the front of his mind.
"Ron," Monique pointed out. "I have disagreed with Kim from day one that the best way to motivate you was to break up with you, but I guess she believes in tough love. I think it's time you stop whatever you're doing and think for a moment. If you and Kim got back together tomorrow, would you no longer be as motivated? Would you leave your company in the hands of Wade and Drew?
"Maybe," Ron replied stubbornly.
"Listen to me for a moment here, Ronald," Monique's eyes flashed angrily. "Kim wants, and has always wanted, you to try your best. Not try your best for her. You need your own life and dreams to follow, not hers. She didn't want you to be left with nothing if something happened to her at GJ, Ron... That's why she did what she did. But don't ever doubt for a moment, Kim loves you very much, and she only wants the best for you. Even if that meant breaking up with you."
There was a long pause of silence, with only the light music and the soft murmurs of conversation in the background. "Alright, I give up! Why are you only telling me this now?" Ron finally spoke up.
"Because you were about to cross a very dangerous line," Monique paused and eyed Ron carefully. "Don't forget for a moment that I'm Kim's best friend; I know how she feels about you. And if anything were to happen between us, I wouldn't be able to look Kim in the eye ever again." Monique sighed and added with a sad smile, "I'm also getting real tired of both of you dancing around this... You're both my best friends, and I don't want to see you two hurting anymore!"
Despite his emotions, the fresh reopening of the feelings of betrayal he felt, Ron was unable to do anything but stare sorrowfully at Monique, "Oh..." was the only word that escaped his lips, and he at least had the decency to look guilty for what he'd almost done to his personal aide and friend.
"I think we've both said enough," Monique replied with a sigh. "Just go home and think about making it up to Kim. And on your way out, don't let Bonnie sink her claws into you: she's been eyeing you ever since you walked in."
"Right, Monique," Ron nodded his head. "I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Good night, Ron," Monique said as she watched the back of her boss disappear into the crowd.
Author's Notes
Alright, I kinda like this chapter out of all the chapters in the whole story. I just like the way Ron and Monique turned out. I don't know, can't really explain it, but the way it just comes together, and Ron displaying his playboy side suddenly gets shut down by Monique who has nothing but the best interests of Kim and Ron in mind. It sort of reminds Ron that there are people out there who still support the both of them, and maybe Ron would now realize that he's being quite a dick.
Anyway, I'm heading out, got me my job, and I'm starting next week. However, will be in a new city (again!) and new apartment and most importantly, new car! Okay, it's going to be a second hand car. But yeah, whirlwind changes abound, but I'm still not abandoning my stories just yet. So wish me luck, and this might be my last update for a while, which means a month or so.
And yeah, I'd try to reply to reviews when I can.