"You built a bomb." The words coming right from his own mouth made no sense to Ron. They might as well have been spoken by someone else. But there they were, produced by his own vocal chords and extremely flummoxed mind. Rufus squeaked something from his shoulder, apparently just as shocked. "You took what I was planning on using as my master's project and turned it into a bomb."
Ron sat on the bed of his dorm room, mind whirling as he stared at who had once thought was his harmless professor and mentor, who had taken a seat in the camp chair Ron kept around for Rufus to nap in. Draft papers, as usual, littered the room like a second carpet and Ron could not help but wonder if the mess changed how Professor Sharpe saw him. Then again, that was pretty much the last thing he should be thinking of.
He had just found out that Professor Sharpe and Wade had built a bomb together.
Using him.
"I wouldn't say it that way," Professor Sharpe replied in his typical musing fashion. "You never actually designed a bomb. At least, I haven't seen anything from you remotely resembling a bomb. Though I wouldn't deny the possibility one could be in here somewhere," he said as he gestured at the mess. "I mean, if I had thought you were the type to build one. Wade and I never actually found a paper from you and thought "Hey, let's make a bomb." Never happened."
Ron laughed dryly. "So what am I? Your inspiration?"
"We were building the bomb anyway."
"You're an engineering professor at a public university! Maybe if you were at some snotty Ivy League place I'd see you building bombs, but the largest thing out of campus is the public health program!"
"It is a good program."
"I know, it's a great program. " Ron sighed and leaned back against the wall. Why was his life so odd right now? "I'm just saying University of Middleton is not the place one would expect to be holding a bomb."
"Mr. Stoppable, the bomb's not on campus."
"Keeping on tenure people who build bombs, then. Excuse me if I am still trying to figure out why the hell you were building a bomb."
Jackson shrugged. "Merely for theory. I also happen to have a strong background in physics. It was merely a pet project that happened to improve when we saw some of your ideas."
Ron groaned. "So now I'm involved in a bomb trade? And if I do the slightest thing wrong everything explodes? This is my teens all over again."
"Sorry, but a great deal of your ideas went into its creation."
"Is it legal to take that from me?"
"I honestly don't know. We were planning on giving you credit when we presented the bomb, of course. I mean, your ideas are brilliant. Your ingenuity for engineering much more harmless things is genius. You're extremely talented."
"Thanks, I guess."
"But things have taken a turn for the worse."
Ron closed his eyes. Okay, so it had been awhile since he had fought evil. Since Kim, actually. But he could do this. This was fine. A refresher. An exercise. Getting back in the game. Besides, should it not be cool to find out he had inadvertently helped design a dangerous weapon? Shouldn't he be screaming "Boo-yah?" at this time? He reopened his eyes and stared firmly at his professor. "Just go ahead and tell me everything. I'll pretend it's a lecture. I'll even take notes."
Jackson Sharpe sighed and bowed his head. "My father and I have not… gotten along very well since I graduated from high school. Years ago, I know. I pursued the field of science just like him. Which you would think would have made him proud but my father is, I'm afraid, on the wrong side of the law. It made growing up very interesting, I gotta tell you. It's not like I completely shun evil. I'm pretty neutral on the axis of good and evil, I just don't like seeing people getting hurt. My father doesn't care either way. He formed a small alliance once with a man named Garrison Wiles."
Ron's heart skipped a beat. Garrision Wiles. The man who had help Kim prisoner.
Apparently things weren't quite as allied as my father thought, and Wiles was able to slip off while my father was thrown into prison. Betrayal, pure and simple. My father doesn't… like being imprisoned any more than anyone else would, I guess. I think his reaction was worse. So he's after Wiles now. For revenge. Can't say I blame him. You see, Wiles has most of his operation—"
"Underwater," Ron said.
Jackson's eyes lit up. "Underwater. That's correct. You must have spoken to Kim."
Ron stared at him. "How do you know about Kim?"
He returned the stare for several long moments, then shook his head away. "I'll get to that part."
Ron was not sure he liked the idea of Kim being a part.
"If that bomb gets underwater," Jackson continued. "Down by Wiles' stations, he'll destroy everything that man has worked for."
Good, Ron thought bitterly. Aloud, he said "So are you going to give him the bomb?"
"I don't want to, but I may have to. He has my son."
Professor Sharpe had never mentioned a kid. "He's holding his own grandchild hostage?"
"It looks that way."
"And you want my help?"
"You're involved, Ronald," Jackson said, finally using Ron's first name. "This work is partly yours, I'm sorry to say, so you are involved."
"I don't care." Ron stood up from his bed. Rufus hopped from his shoulder and superciliously crossed his paws. "I don't care. Your father can do whatever he wants to that deep-sea prison. Blow it up. Good. Kill Wiles. Even better. He's a villain. I don't care what villains do to each other."
"You have something personal against Wiles?"
Ron crossed his own arms. He could feel his own heart pounding. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do."
"Kimberly Possible."
"How did you know about her?" Stupid question. Pretty much everyone knew about him and Kim. And everyone by now probably knew about Kim and her imprisonment with Wiles.
Jackson gave a strange smile. "Oh, the news. Campus gossip. You know how it is. Pretty young lady. Not as pretty as your fiancée, of course. But attractive. She used to fight villains. Just so happens I know one of them very well."
"Shego." Kim had mentioned something. Of course it would have to be Shego.
The strange smile broadened. "Ah, Shego. Crazy woman, very beautiful woman. We had a small affair."
"She's the mother." Ron collapsed back onto the bed. "My professor fathered a child on one of my old enemies. Too small a world."
"Pretty much."
"I still don't care. Sure, I'll let Shego be a mom. She's probably a great mom. Very fierce and protective. I'm sure the boy is a cutie. Get him back. I told you I don't care what happens to Wiles."
"But you do care about what happens to Kim, don't you?"
Ron sat straight up. His heart skipped another beat. "What?"
The smile on Jackson's face was awful now. Like a hunting fox, if Ron had ever seen such a thing. "It's actually quite brilliant, what my father wants to do. Not only destroy Wiles and everything he has done, but take the prisoner he had held for six years and destroy her too. You might say it's pointless, but my father intends to show Wiles just who is the bigger man. Who can kill, and who just wastes time, space, and money on a prisoner. Mock everything Wiles has ever done."
"What are you saying?" Ron demanded. Once more he stood up, fists clenched, heart pounding, pulse raging through his ears. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that Kim is part of the deal. If you don't want her hurt, you had better help."
For what seemed like an eon Ron did not know what to do. It was a horrible feeling, and for that eon he felt like the worst person in the world. All because he was incapable of making a single little decision. He could not choose to help save an innocent little kid. He could not choose to save his best friend. He instead could think about how mad he was at Kim, how Kim's return ruined everything. And how he could end everything now just by refusing. Mourn Kim all over again, move on all over again. Could he really do that just fine?
Then he thought of Kim. Kissing her.
Monique.
Oh, who was he kidding? Of course he had no other choice. Of course he wouldn't think twice before doing anything for Kim. Except he already had.
"What do you need me to do?"
Jackson stood up. "Come with us. Help us. We get my son back. Kim is safe."
"So Kim won't be involved?"
"I'm afraid she already is. Shego brought her out simply to deliver her to my father."
Ron shook his head. "No. Shego wouldn't." He knew Shego would.
"Only if necessary. Shego was desperate. She didn't know about the bomb. She does know. If all goes well, this won't be a problem and Kim will be fine."
"I'll go," Ron said quickly, maybe too quickly. But what else could he say? "I'll call my fiancée. She'll need to know… that I'll be out of town. Or something." He dug through the papers for his phone.
The ring of her phone slowly pulled Monique from the darkness. She blinked her eyes open. Her pocked buzzed, and the little glow of phone light shown through the fabric.
Phone call. Oh. How perfectly ordinary. Who would be calling? Ron? Was he finally apologizing? Oh, but he had better have a beautiful story. And flowers. She really wanted flowers.
Her head really hurt. Even blinking hurt. She moved an arm to reach the phone.
She couldn't. Her hands were tied.
The ringing finally stopped.
Slowly everything returned in a study mudslide of memory. She had been in Tara's house. She had broke into Tara's house. Because Tara had asked her. Tara was alive. Tara was not dead. Tara had needed something and didn't dare go in. Something for a computer. So she had gone in.
And now she was here, hands bound behind her back, lying on the floor. A cement floor. She could see the cracks in it, illuminated by neon lights far above. Again she tried to pull her wrists apart. It wasn't rope, but cord. The same had been wrapped around her ankles. And the cord did not end there. She twisted her head around and followed the line up to a rather ordinary looking metal pole.
Where was she?
"Help!" she called. She could see the misty edges of the room. It looked like some sort of warehouse or military station. Except she and that pole seemed to be the only things in it. "Help!" she called again. Her voice echoed impressively against the walls and bounced back to her. It gave her the chills.
So this was what came from listening to a dead girl.
She gritted her teeth and twisted until she was sitting up. The action did not do much for her wrists, but at least she was more comfortable.
"Help! Anybody!"
It was useless. She should not have gone into that house. It had been a trap.
She sat there in the cold room, shivering.
Soon, a door opened. Monique had noticed it before, but it was there, even complete with a glowing EXIT sign above it. But no one seemed to step through.
No…
A little boy stepped through, barely above a toddler. His hair was dark and his eyes were bright green. "Hi," he said. "I'm Brexton."
His baby voice was charming, and as alarmed as Monique was to see a kid in a place like this she could not help but smile. "Hi Brexton. What is this place?" She could certainly use a little kid for information.
"The Room." Brexton spoke the last word with special regard.
"Room? What kind of room?"
"It's a neat room. Cool things happen in it."
Well, it did look rather boring to Monique. "Brexton, is your mom or your dad around?"
Apparently that was the wrong thing to ask. Brexton's face looked suddenly very sad. "The man says my mommy is supposed to come for me, but she's late. Not here yet."
"I'm sorry. Where are you staying?" She couldn't imagine a child being kept in a room like this.
"In another room. I have a bed and stuff. Not this room."
"What does the man want?"
Brexton shrugged. "I don't know. I just want to go home. Bye."
Bye? That was sudden. But sure enough Brexton was stepping back through the door and closing it.
Brick could feel the tension in the air. Not wind, not a coming storm. Something real that could only exist with people. He felt Kim's hand shake in his as the car pulled up to the side of the road where they waited along with Shego and Wade. Where was the tension coming from? He or Kim? All he knew was that he had never felt jealousy as strong as this and he had no right to even be feeling jealousy.
The car was a convertible. Apparently college professors all had to have some sexy car to show off. Or maybe it was to prove they weren't all that stuffy. But there it was. A convertible with two people. The one he assumed had to be Professor Sharpe and the other was someone he had only seen in passing over the past few years. Ron Stoppable.
They climbed out of the car. The tension shot way up. Again, Brick didn't know where it was coming from. He squeezed Kim's hand tighter. He didn't know why he felt he had to do that, but Kim did not seem to mind. No trembling, no tricks at pulling away.
Kim and Ron stared at each other. Ron also stared at the hands.
"Hi, Ron," she said softly. "Sorry about yesterday."
"It's fine," he said quickly.
"I must have looked so stupid to you."
"You weren't stupid."
Brick felt his blood boil.
Shego and Jackson exchanged a quick kiss. "Do we all understand the plan, then?" Shego asked. "We'll carpool. Save a tree or whatever. Jackson, Wade, and Ron in one car. The rest of us will follow. Jackson will approach Darren Sharpe. He'll say something about handing him the bomb. Wade and Ron are there in case Darren has questions. And the rest of us…" A cat-like smile crossed her face "Well, we know what to do. Though I still don't know what the cop is doing here. Those muscles had better be worth something."
"He'll be with us," Jackson said with a sharp look at Brick. "Another associate. Or merely the guy that loads and unloads bombs."
Like he would ever get assigned the bomb squad.
"Good," said Shego.
The cars switched.
Brick did not say a thing to Ron as they drove, and Ron didn't say a word. Why should he? They were guys, they didn't need to talk. But he still felt it in the air. Kim.
She shouldn't be there. Kim was with Brick. Well, not really, but she certainly wasn't with Ron.
And he wanted Kim. Ron had already picked Monique.
Brick didn't ask how Jackson knew the way along the path of old storage buildings that looked more or less the same. He didn't understand villains or how their minds worked. But at last Jackson pulled up to one.
"Out of the car, gentleman," he said.
It all seemed harmless enough. Brick had dreamed of this stuff. Drug busts in abandoned buildings. Such charm and flavor, like an old movie. This was pretty much the same thing except it involved a bomb.
Jackson pulled out his phone and dialed a few numbers. "I'm here," he said. "Let's talk."
And immediately the door opened.
Darren Sharpe was an older man with white hair who really didn't look much like Jackson at all. He also didn't look like a villain. He wore jeans, an old blue shirt. But the gaze between father and son was umistakable.
"So you wish to do a little business?" Darren asked, hardly glancing at Brick and the rest. "So you decided to give me the bomb?"
"Yes," Jackson said stiffly. "I've even brought my associates."
"Always prepared, I see. I appreciate the kindness. Come in, we'll talk in here." And he led them through the boring door into the building.
Inside was impressive. Still definitely a ware house, but it looked… good. Like an old New York flat done up with all the usual comforts.
"Take a seat," Darren asked.
Brick could not help wonder if this were all a trick, but Ron, Wade, and Jackson all sat, so Brick sat down in a chair that faced the cold metal wall behind Darren.
"So you've agreed to give me the bomb," Darren said mildly. "Excellent."
"I want my son," Jackson said.
"I imagined you would. I'll miss having my grandson around. I will. Sure, you can have him. When I have everything."
"We can get you it very soon."
"Thank-you son, but that's not everything."
Ron muttered something under his breath that sounded a lot like "Kim."
"Besides, it's terrible that you would invite an officer of the law in here."
"He works for me."
"I'm sure he does. But forgive me if I have difficulty trusting cops. Oh, well, he doesn't bother me that much. But you see, I already have the bomb's plans."
"Impossible," said Wade. "There's not way you could get those. You…"
"I did. Though I appreciate you coming. Just in case I am a version or two behind. I'm quite good with computers myself, when I want to be. And cloning. My old partner Wiles and I were very much into cloning. I have a few experts on my payroll. Cloning does wonders when needed. Don't worry, Mr. Lode, the clone was temporary and your roommates are currently all your roommates."
Wade swore.
"Still, I'll be happy to take the bomb itself," Darren continued. "Since it's already made and all. Convenient for me. I just wasn't very patient. Some silly nurse picked it right off of me in the emergency room. I took care of her. Took me long enough to get back the plans, but I did yesterday. Except I was too well prepared. You know how that is. See, I had two people looking for the plans at the same time. Wow. They kind of… bumped into each other."
He lifted up the arm rest of his chair and pushed a button. The wall behind him slid apart
It was a window staring into a room. Boring warehouse room. Except in the middle was a familiar figure.
Ron and Brick jumped to their feet.
It was Monique.
"My own fault," Darren said. "I apologize. I'm just glad you agreed to give me the bomb and save me time." He pushed another button.
And what looked to Brick like giant guns lowered themselves from the ceiling and aimed at Monique.
