Disclaimer: I own nothing if you saw it on Kim Possible. The plot is mine though. Any resemblance to any other show about a swordsman weaving mechanical mayhem is completely coincidental.
A/N: Here it is, chapter 5! Sorry it took so long. Life and its meddlesome ways kept me away from my writing. But here it is! A bit of a long-ish chapter and I'll probably try to shorten it in the future. But any changes will be in dialogue and sequence of events, not in direction of this story so no worries.
Thanks to all readers and reviewers, especially Daccu65. Thanks to his review the first scene in this chapter came to be and many others I will be posting later.
And so on with the show! And for the record... I really cant resist either puppies or kittens so I cant really say which melts your insides faster.
As always please read, review and, above all, enjoy.
Chapter 5: The Storm
-Middleton High School: Gym-
Kim sat down at their table holding a pair of drinks. She was flushed and sweaty from dancing.
She was having the time of her life. Prom was becoming everything she had hoped it would be and more. Eric was an amazing dancer in addition to being smart, athletic, and a certified hottie. He was, she thought again, perfect.
Kim put her drinks down and looked across the table to Monique, who kept looking around while sipping her drink.
"Looking for something?" Kim asked.
"Yes." She answered. "I'm keeping an eye out for the SLG. Proms are a gold mine."
Kim thought for a moment. "Summers Latest Gossip?"
"Got it in one, girl." Monique said, still looking around. She spotted Bonnie, arms crossed and a scowl on her face. "Someone seems to be choking on her words."
Kim glanced at the scowling brunette.
"It gets better every time I look." Kim said with a satisfied smile.
"What does?" Eric asked, sitting next to Kim with two plates of food.
"Just you." She said, smiling at him and taking her plate.
"I'm not the only one." Eric smiled back before he started eating his food. "Man, this stuff is great!" He said after a few bites.
"Ron can cook better." Kim said absently. She paused, fork half way to her mouth. She put it down and looked around for her best friend. It was the first time he had entered her mind that day.
"Really?" Eric asked. From what he'd seen, Ron wasn't very good at…well…anything. The trained mole rat was the only cool part.
"Oh yeah." Monique said after eating some of her own food. "Boy is Picasso with an eggbeater. Speaking of Naco-boy, he totally flaked prom."
"Probably got caught up on some new game." Kim said. She was a bit worried about him, of course. He was, after all, her best friend. But such thoughts were buried deep in the back of her mind by the perfect night at prom with her BF and rubbing Bonnie's nose in it. She glanced at the brunette again and smiled.
They continued eating. Afterwards Kim and Monique talked about the how the dance was going and about all the different dresses the girls had worn.
Eric just sat back and relaxed. After they were rested he led Kim back to the dance floor for a third round. Monique sat for a while longer, observing. She smiled at the couple before she noticed something strange.
"That's an awful lot of phone calls…" She mused. A fairly large number of the other students or their dates answered their cell phones either at the same time or a few minutes apart. They all looked confused, some a little worried. All of them mouthed the word 'no' at some point near the end of their conversations. One of the girls walked past her table.
"…giant robot?" She asked the person on the other end. "What are you talking about? No, nothing has happened here…" She continued walking.
Giant robot? Monique wondered. What's that about?… She shrugged the question out of her mind. Middleton, she knew, was full of odd sights. She headed out to the dance floor to have a good time.
-Highway: Heading West-
Ron rocketed down the highway, savoring the speed. He had always loved bikes, the feel of the wind on his body as he rode. This, however, was the first time his scooter had ever gone this fast and he loved every second of it.
Bugs are a problem though. He thought, as another one smacked against his face. They had never been an issue before since he always rode at slow speeds. He resolved to buy a full face helmet like the one Eric had.
The end of that thought brought a frown out of him which he easily pushed back into a smile as he lost himself in the pleasure of the ride. He was brought out of his musings by strange sounds coming from the earphone in his ear.
"Moving stuff around Wade?" He asked.
"Just replacing some of my destroyed monitors." Wade answered. "I'll need more than what's left if I'm going to be able to assist you efficiently. I'm using the upstairs flat screen so I need to do some rewiring."
"Ah." Ron said. "The Diablo really tore your place up, huh."
"Yeah… It really did."
Ron could hear the sadness in his voice. He did not like it there, not at all.
"Hey." He said. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure you can rebuild anything that was destroyed. Probably even make it better than it was before. And you know you can count on me for anything… just…give me a heads up before you send me something to Guiney pig for you. Deal?"
"Deal." Wade said, smiling a bit as his mind filled with possibilities. He stopped in his rewiring and looked at his room. His eyes lingered on the wrecked holo-projector.
"You know." He said, thinking aloud. "I have been thinking about modifying my projector so that I could use it to make 4D models of my prototypes that I could freely manipulate."
"You mean like what the lead in 'Tech-Armor Guy' had?" Ron asked after thinking for a few seconds.
"Precisely!" Wade said, very excited at the prospect. "That was so cool. I've wanted to make one ever since I saw the movie. But since I would have to completely redesign and replace my projector I never got around to it."
"Well there you go." Ron said. "Now that you have to rebuild it, remake it."
"Yeah!" Wade said, a bit giddy with anticipation. He went back to rewiring the large flat-screen with a large smile on his face. Meanwhile the back of his mind went over what he would need to build the new projector. Which parts he would need to order and those he had to make himself.
Ron smiled to himself. Booyah! Score one for the Middleton Mad Dog.
Ron continued to enjoy his ride, passing cars as if they were standing still instead of doing 60mph on the highway. Wade continued to rewire the TV, linking it to his systems, enjoying it like only a techie could. Once he was done he sat down and started spreading his displays around his two remaining monitors and the TV. The monitors were to his front and to his left at an angle. The TV stood to his right and a bit further away than the monitors since it was bigger.
Alright then. Wade thought. Center monitor will be for the EE display. Half the left monitor for Ron's vital data, both from the neck-phone and microchip, the rest for whatever searches I might need to do. Map of the lair will be on the TV.
Wade typed in all the commands he needed to. Since Ron wasn't at the lair yet he brought up a map that showed his current position and speed of travel. His eyes widened in surprise.
"Ron," He said. "Do you know how fast you're going?"
"Not at all." Ron answered. "But I'm liking it."
"Ron…" Wade said, cautiously. "You're going at 150mph. At your current speed you'll be there in approximately twenty minutes."
"Sweet." Ron said. "Making good time then."
"I'll say. You're making a hundred mile trip in a little over a half an hour."
"That a record?" Ron asked.
"No." Wade answered
"Bummer."
They continued the trip in a companionable silence. Ron enjoying his ride and Wade making small modifications to his system as they came to him. He set the Kimmunicator program to keep trying to contact Kim in the background. He'd never said he would stop calling her. The moment she answered he would tell her what was going on and send her his way.
After a few minutes of silence the TV gave a notification.
"Ron." Wade said, sitting a little straighter. "Your exit is coming up."
"I see it." Ron answered. He slowed the scooter down to a more reasonable speed as he neared it. As soon as he took that turn Bueno Nacho Headquarters came into view, still a few miles away.
-Bueno Nacho HQ: Command Room-
Drakken strolled into his command room. He'd finally grown so utterly bored in his CEO office that he came to see the status of the operation first hand. He wasn't used to all this waiting.
"Shego!" He yelled as he entered the room. "Is Middleton ours yet?" He asked with a big, evil smile.
"Nope." She answered. She typed in a few commands into her console and studied a video it played.
"What?" Drakken followed up, clearly bemused. "What do you mean? I told you to bring Middleton online! Why haven't you!" He snapped at her.
"Hey!" Shego paused the video and glared daggers at her boss. Drakken was cowed instantly. "I did bring the tower online so don't get snippy with me!"
"Ok, ok." Drakken said, making calming gestures with his hands. "So…um." He swallowed. "Why isn't Middleton ours yet then? Since… like you said…the tower was activated."
Shego frowned. Drakken took a few steps back.
"I've been trying to figure that out." She said at last, turning back to her screen. "The tower was destroyed. I don't know how and Lars isn't answering his phone."
"Kim Possible!" Drakken yelled, throwing is hands to the heavens as if cursing them.
"Is still at the dance." Shego said smoothly, switching videos. "Already checked in with the surveillance henchman."
Drakken kept the pose for a second before he brought his arms down, not sure what to do with them.
"Huh?" Was all he could say.
"Someone else destroyed the tower." She elaborated. "I'm still trying to find out who." She closed the video file and opened the next one. "It would be easier if you had installed some more security cameras instead of leaving the ones that were already there. They only cover the inside of the restaurant."
"Do you have any idea how much that would cost?" Drakken asked her.
"Great." Shego said. "The world in the palm of our hands and we fail cause your too cheap to buy one camera to keep an eye on the tower."
"Over thirty-thousand cameras, Shego." Drakken explained. "Then add the manual labor for installing each one and…" Drakken continued his rant while Shego ignored him and examined the surveillance footage.
"Bah!" Shego said, breaking Drakken out of his ranting. "None of the cameras have a good enough angle on the tower. All they show is a few Diablos moving around outside before they deactivate." She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose as she thought. Her eyes snapped open as an idea came to her.
"Bring up a map showing the location of all the Diablos in Middleton five seconds before the tower went offline." She ordered the many henchmen manning the control room. They hurried to comply. In seconds the map was on the big screen of the room, it showed the city with many yellow dots that represented each Diablo.
"Zoom in on the Bueno Nacho." She ordered. "Ok, now show me what happened in those last five seconds."
The henchmen typed in the commands. All in the room watched as two of the dots moved quickly towards the restaurant and seemed to run over the command tower a second before it went offline.
"Oh good." Shego said. "The Diablos took themselves out. Looks like your great plan is crumbling on its own Dr. D."
"They are obviously chasing something." Drakken said, ignoring her jibe and tucking his hands behind his back. He walked up to Shego and stood next to her as he examined the screen.
"Hmn." He hummed, deep on thought. "Show us the location of those two Diablos when the tower was activated." He ordered.
The henchmen complied. The map changed to a residential neighborhood showing the Diablos inside a house. The two dots started moving around the house when the command signal was broadcast. The rest of the dots in the area moved out of the houses they were in started moving towards the two.
"That's Possible's house…" Shego realized.
"Kim Possible!" Drakken yelled again.
"Is at the dance, remember." Shego told him. "Those Diablos are attacking someone..." She mused aloud. "Explain to me again, why can't we see what the robots are seeing?"
"There're too many of the Diablos." Drakken said. "The amount of information that we would receive from them would be too large for our servers to handle and would slow us down to a crawl. We wouldn't be able to take over a taco stand. Therefore that information is stored within the Diablos, where it can be extracted at a later time."
"Right." Shego sighed. She thought for a few minutes. "Zoom out a bit, show me a wider area." She ordered and they obeyed.
"Look." She told Drakken, gesturing at the screen.
"What?" He asked, looking at the screen. He squinted a bit as he noticed a pattern. "The Diablos… They are moving towards two specific locations, aren't they?"
"Yep." Shego confirmed. "I set them to make the sidekick and nerdlinger their priorities. That," She pointed at a house with one dot to which all nearby dots were moving towards. "must be nerdlinger's house. And that means that these two" She gestured to the two dots which had moved outside the house. "must be attacking the sidekick."
"The buffoon?" Drakken asked, incredulously. "You're saying the buffoon destroyed my tower? Impossible, the Diablos would've stopped him."
"Not if he had the princess's family to help him." Shego countered, looking at the two dots as they mulled around outside the Possible residence. "Oh! There they go." She said as the two dots sped away from the house, all the dots in the area immediately changed their direction and followed at a slower pace.
All in the command room watched as the two dots sped through the neighborhood and then through town to the Bueno Nacho, where they ran over the command tower.
"Curse that lippy family!" Drakken said shaking a fist at the screen.
At that moment an alarm sounded. The words PROXIMITY ALERT flashed on the big screen. The henchmen all started typing commands into their consoles, first silencing the alarm then replacing the map on the screen with a video feed that showed an empty road.
"Report!" Drakken barked at the henchmen.
"One vehicle detected coming in fast off the highway." One of the henchmen said. "ETA one minute."
"Kim Possible!" Drakken yelled… again.
"Would you stop with that." Shego complained.
"Sorry." Drakken apologized. "This whole 'distraction worked' thing is really throwing me off."
"Don't worry." Shego comforted. "I'm sure something will happen to ruin your plan, then everything will feel right again."
"Yes." Drakken agreed. "I'm sure you're ri… Hey!" Drakken glared at a grinning Shego.
Any ranting Drakken would have done at that moment was put on hold when some weird bike and its rider appeared on the screen and sped past the camera.
"Who is that?" Drakken asked as the camera was switched to another one further down the road. They watched the man on the bike ride past it again.
"No idea." Shego said, clearly curious. The camera switched again, this time to one hanging on a pole just above the guard house next to the entryway.
They all watched as the mysterious intruder rode in and parked his vehicle, which they now saw was a rocket-propelled scooter, next to the sidewalk and stepped off. He stood there for a few seconds before taking out a strange object from one of the packs on his belt. He fiddled with it before the device took off into the air and hovered a few feet above him.
"What is this!" Drakken complained. "I thought Kim Possible was the only heroic meddler in Middleton!"
"Obviously not." Shego said as she took control of the camera. She rotated it and zoomed in on the mystery man's back, showing the sword across it. "Looks like he's armed." She noted, moving the camera to look at the device hovering in the air. "And has gadgets of his own."
The intruder walked over to the side of the building where he pointed his left wrist up and shot a small projectile from his watch to the roof of the building. He then proceeded to hoist himself up.
"Shego." Drakken said, clearly annoyed at this intrusion. "Tell the Sumo Ninja to go and…greet... our new guest. Also, send synthodrones series 600 through 800. Just in case. Let us teach this new upstart who he is messing with."
"Gotcha." Shego did as she was told. Normally she would make some sarcastic remark, but this time she was curious as to what this apparently new hero could do. And the sumo plus synthodrones were a perfect way to find out.
"And you!" He pointed at a random henchman. "Go get us some popcorn and drinks. No reason not to enjoy a show before my ultimate victory over Kim Possible and the world." Drakken sat down on his comfortable command chair at the back of the room to wait for the snacks. "Oh, and Shego? Tell them to capture him alive if they can. I need a test subject for my new torture room."
-Bueno Nacho HQ: Outside-
Ron parked his scooter next to the sidewalk leading up to the main entrance of BN HQ. Stepping off, he stood there for a few moments looking at the large building. The far side of the building was shaped like a taco, lettuce and everything. It was the tallest part of the building and had many windows, so it wasn't just a prop.
"That is the biggest taco I've ever seen." He said, taking the EE2 out of his pack and activating it. It flew out of his hand and hovered a few feet above his head. "The sombrero opposite it is normal though."
"It is." Wade agreed, seeing it for himself. "Why would they build that?" He wondered.
"Who wouldn't want to work in a giant taco?" Ron asked, as if it was the most obvious thing. He started walking towards the nearest wall. "Ok, how do you work this thing?" He asked, examining his wrist grapple once he reached the wall.
"Green button activates it." Wade explained. "Red button fires the grapple and retracts it."
"Alright." He said, pressing the green button. A small three-clawed grapple popped out the front of the large watch. "Let's get started." He pointed it towards the roof of the building and fired. He gave the thin line a few tugs to make sure it was secure then pressed the red button again.
The watch hoisted him up at the same speed as his hairdryer grapple. As soon as his feet left the ground he felt an extremely familiar pulling sensation from his pants. Glancing down he noticed that they were still held firmly in place by his harness and thigh-holster.
Success! Ron thought, smiling. No more on mission de-pantsing. No sooner had he finished that thought that the watch-grapple started making odd sounds. A few feet from the roof's railing it gave a shrill metallic screech and stopped pulling him up. Ron dangled like a hooked fish for a few seconds before he spoke.
"Wade?" He said, looking at the watch.
"Sorry." Wade said, a little embarrassed. "It's a prototype, I was still working on it."
"Ok." Ron said, looking at the wire thin line that held him. "I'll finish this climb old school."
That will cut right through these gloves. He concluded. Cut… Ron looked at his forearm which was covered by the long sleeve of his new lightweight armor shirt. "Let's test this out too then."
Before Wade could ask what he meant, Ron brought his legs up and pushed himself away from the wall until it looked like he was standing on it. Pulling himself up with his left hand Ron took a right-step forward and snaked his right arm around the wire. Once it was tight he pulled himself up with his right arm and did the same thing with his left. Had he not been wearing the shirt the wire would have dug deep into his arms.
Once it was the right hand's turn again he was able to reach the railing and hoist himself over.
He untangled his arms and took off the malfunctioning watch so he could pull back his left sleeve and see if there was any damage done. There wasn't even a scratch on his arm.
"Cool." Ron said, impressed.
"Isn't it?" Wade said. "You should see the new synthetic-skin material I used for Kim's battle suit though. The technology is amazing."
"Hmn." Ron said as he looked around the roof for the large air ducts that were always present in large buildings like these. After finding them he proceeded to infiltrate the new lair with a practiced ease that could only come from experience. Wade piloted the EE2 in after him.
After ten minutes of crawling around the ducts they finally found an opening. Peering out of it Ron made sure there was no one around before kicking it open and dropping to the floor. He was in a dimly lit hallway with many doors.
"Ok, were in." Ron said, standing up straight. "Which way do we go?"
"Give me a moment." Wade said. A moment later the EE2 made some high pitched sounds. "And… sonic-mapping complete. As far as I can tell the only people in the entire building are located in a circular room on the top floor. That must be the command room. The only stairs that reach it are on the Taco side of the building. There also appears to be one large signature moving around the upper floors.
"Lead on then, my friend." Ron said, gesturing towards one end of the hallway.
"This way." Wade said, piloting the EE2 in the opposite direction.
Wade led Ron through the empty hallways of BN HQ and down a flight of stairs to the ground floor. After walking through more empty hallways he turned a corner and went through some double doors into a vast room with a high ceiling in the shape of an arch. The wall that faced the outside was almost completely covered in glass windows. Taking a few steps forward he looked up and noticed that many of the upper floors had bridges that connected a hallway to the glass wall.
"The stairs to the top floor are on the opposite side of this room." Wade informed Ron.
Ron started walking along the wall towards the stairs he could see on the other side of the building when he noticed something. He gave a sort of strangled gasp.
"What?" Wade inquired.
"Look." Ron whispered.
"What?" Wade asked again, moving the EE2 every which way looking for whatever could've brought this kind of reaction out of Ron.
Ron walked towards a large picture frame that hung on the wall. It held a black and white picture of a restaurant with glass walls in the front, two large arches at opposite ends and a giant man in a sombrero holding a 'Bueno Nacho' sign.
"The first Bueno Nacho." Ron said in a choked up voice. "Where it all started. Opened November 15, 1969 in San Diego, California by Nico Bueno. A true pioneer who immigrated to the US with nothing but his name, a suit case and a love for his home countries food."
Ron wiped a tear from his eye as Wade rolled his eyes.
"Hey, Wade." Ron said, standing next to the frame and facing the EE2. "Take a picture."
"Don't worry Ron." Wade said. "The EE2 automatically records everything it sees on my system so…" Wade noticed some odd movement from the large signature on the top floor. It stood on one of the bridges that overlooked the large room. Suddenly it appeared to fly off it alongside the wall heading straight for Ron. "Ron! Incoming!" He said quickly as he piloted the EE2 away from the wall and angled it towards the approaching sonic-signature.
"What?" Ron asked confusedly. Then he remembered where he was and, more importantly, why. "Where?" He asked, getting into a slight crouch. He brought his right hand back to rest on his batons, ready to draw them at a moment's notice.
Before Wade could answer him Ron heard the sound of concrete-crushing footsteps coming from above. He looked up in time to see the Sumo Ninja jump off the wall he'd just run down. He landed in front of Ron, crushing the marble floor and twirling a nunchuck around with trained ease.
"You will fall before my might!" The Sumo Ninja declared in a squeaky voice.
Ron stared that the behemoth of a man for a few seconds before a snort and giggle escaped him. The Sumo Ninja took advantage of his distraction and grabbed him by the shirt. He lifted Ron up the slammed him painfully against the wall next to the picture frame. "Ugh!" Ron stopped giggling and reached for his batons.
"What?" The Sumo Ninja asked.
Ron's hand froze inches from his batons.
"Dude." He chuckled, unable to hold back. "Don't talk. I can't take you seriously with that voice."
The Sumo Ninja squinted at the sound of Ron's voice. He sounded just like…
"You!" He said angrily, eyes flaring. "I am strong like the mountain!" He said, lifting Ron high in the air as if he weighed nothing.
"Whoa!" Ron exclaimed as he was violently brought back down and across when the Sumo Ninja struck some weird running man pose.
"I am swift like the wind!" He declared again.
"I am…" He started, slamming Ron back on the wall. "Ugh!" Ron groaned painfully.
"…Vengeance!" He finished, bringing his face close to Ron's so that he could see the rage he felt.
Rufus, having been woken by his friend's ragdoll treatment, quickly assessed the situation and acted. He ran up Ron with the knock-out gas lip-gloss and stood on the Sumo Ninjas hand. There he took a deep breath and opened the container. Ron, having learned from his earlier encounter with the stuff, held his breath too.
"Vengeance!…will…" The Sumo Ninja started feeling light headed. "…be…oi?" His grip on Ron's shirt lessened as he lost consciousness and fell backward to the ground with a loud crash. Ron landed in a crouch and looked over his defeated enemy with Rufus on his shoulder. He had the container securely closed in his paws.
"Nice save Rufus." Ron said, rubbing his back with his left hand. He could feel a sword-sheath shaped bruise forming. "You've definitely earned that post mission cheese."
"Booyah!" Rufus exclaimed.
"Ron!" Wade said, bringing the EE2 close to his friend. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah." Ron answered. "Just a few bruises, no big. Lets finish this." He began walking towards the stairs that led to the top with the EE2 hovering close behind.
The first segment led to a bridge at second floor height which was connected to the third floor by escalators. The second segment started on the side opposite the first on the bridge, doubled back on itself and reached another bridge at fourth floor height. It was connected to the fifth and last floor by escalators.
When Ron was halfway to the stairs he heard some odd thuds behind him. "What was…" He began, turning around and seeing what was making the sounds.
Many synthodrones had suddenly appeared behind him, and more seemed to be falling from the bridges above. The all moved towards him menacingly.
"Wade?" He asked, fear growing. "No 'incoming' for this one?" He took a few steps back until he heard the same thuds coming from behind him again. Glancing back he saw even more synthodrones coming from the very stairs he'd been heading towards. Some took the time to run down them, others simply jumped the railing of the lower bridge.
Wade spun the EE2 side to side, taking in the horde of synthodrones that had simply materialized.
"But… I don't…" Wade stuttered looking at his sound-wave made map and more specifically the sonic-radar function of the EE2. It only showed signatures for the people currently in what he believed to be the command room and for the Sumo Ninja. No one else appeared on it yet the synthodrones were there, quickly encroaching on Ron's position. Wade's mind worked frantically, searching for the explanation. He quickly found it and typed in the commands he thought would fix it. His faced paled as all of the synthodrones appeared on the map. There were many. How many he couldn't be sure because they were all too close together to tell.
"I'm sorry." He apologized. "I hadn't thought to teach the EE2 to detect sythodrones as well as people."
"Honest mistake." Ron gulped. "No worries…" He glanced back and forth between the two still growing groups of enemies. "Ok, maybe a few worries."
Rufus, spotting the danger, scampered down into the relative safety of his pocket.
Ron reached behind him and closed his right hand around the hilt of his katana. Slowly, he unsheathed the weapon and held it to his side.
"Um…" He tried to swallow, but his throat felt too dry. "I don't suppose you guys would be willing to talk this over?" The drones didn't even acknowledge his words.
He was majorly scared. But fear was common for him. It had never crippled him like the panic most of his phobias induced. And even those he hadalmost completely mastered. Currently there was only one phobia left that could still cripple him and, thankfully, synthophobia wasn't it.
Did he feel ready? No.
Did he think he could win? He was both hopeful and doubtful.
The synthodrones quickly surrounded him. The first line formed a circle with him at its center and began to close in.
The moment he judged them all to be within range of his blade Ron dropped down and did a move resembling a leg-sweep. The only difference was that his sword was extended most instead of a leg. When he was done with his spin, eight synthodrones deflated into piles of goo due to large cuts on their stomachs.
Ron remained where he was, crouched low with one hand on the floor. He twirled the sword in his hand so that the back of it ran parallel to his forearm and brought it closer to his body. His eyes where wide and fierce as he waited for the rest to make their move.
Seeing what had happened to the ones that had circled the intruder, the rest of the synthodrones reassessed his threat level and approached him more cautiously.
-BN HQ: Command Room-
"Useless!" Drakken exclaimed, throwing a fistful of popcorn at the large screen, as he saw the Sumo Ninja go down. The upstart didn't even lift a finger! "Why did we even hire that fat man?" He asked.
"You thought we needed more muscle." Shego replied, staring at the screen intently. She, too, was confused as to why the Sumo Ninja had gone down without the intruder throwing a single strike.
"Well." Drakken said. "Remind me to add 'usefull' to the ad next time. And where are the… ah. There they are." He said as the synthodrones started dropping behind the intruder from the upper floors. They saw as the intruder took a few steps back from them before noticing the ones that were coming down behind him. Drakken sat back comfortably.
"Lets see how you deal with them." Drakken mocked as the synthodrones quickly surrounded him and began to approach. "They won't go down as easily as… Ah!" He exclaimed in despair as eight synthodrones were turned into piles of goo in a second. "My toys!"
All in the command room watched as the mysterious intruder fought the horde of synthodrones sent to subdue him. He seemed to weave through their attacks. He barely dodged each strike sent his way by ducking under them, vaulting over them or barely moving his body in time. Yet after each evasion he struck with his blade, cutting off limbs and slicing open stomachs and chests. Each stroke turned another drone into a pile of syntho-goo.
Unfortunately for him, he was vastly outnumbered. Eventually he was caught by a foot as he tried to vault himself over a downward punch. Before he could fall the synthodrone whipped him over and slammed him into the ground then whipped him up again and threw him towards the stairs. He fell hard on his stomach and slid a few feet. He'd somehow managed to keep a hold of his sword.
"That's it!" Drakken cheered, throwing some more popcorn on the floor. "Kick him while he's down!"
The intruder rolled on to his back and saw the drones coming at him from his front and from the stairs. He made a handstand leap on to the shoulders of the one coming from the stairs just as the second one tried to pin him down. Just as he landed on its shoulders he sliced open its chest and leapt away with a flip before it deflated. He sliced the second drones head vertically while upside down.
"No!" Drakken complained.
The intruder landed back in the midst of the remaining drones and slipped slightly on the goo that covered a large part of the area around him. One of the drones took advantage of this and got close, planting a devastating kick to his chest that sent him flying sword and all. He landed in the waiting arms of the Sumo Ninja, who had woken up unbeknownst to anyone. The Sumo Ninja gripped him in a tight bear hug and tried to crush the consciousness out of him.
"Yes!" Drakken said triumphantly.
"Shut up!" Said a very annoyed Shego. "They can't hear you so watch quietly."
Drakken crossed his arms and grumbled but otherwise remained quiet.
They watched as the intruder struggle to free himself from the giants grip to no avail. He then bent forward as if about to lose consciousness. They all thought it was over until he whipped his upper body back violently and struck the Sumo Ninja square in the face with a powerful headbutt. The giants grip slacked as he went down for the second time.
"Agh!" Drakken yelled in frustration, more than half his synthodrones had already fallen to this mysterious new meddling hero. From the looks of things the ones that remained would soon follow. "Shego! Take three of the new 900's and deal with this nuisance…harshly."
"On it." Shego replied, getting up and pointing to three of the latest synthodrones Drakken had developed. "You, you and you. Come with me."
"Understood." The three of them replied and moved to obey.
Shego walked out of the room and into the hallway that led to the Activities Room where the new hero was fighting in. Watching him in action had really gotten her blood boiling. She was itching for a fight.
I am going to enjoy this. She thought as she walked purposefully down the hallway.
-BN HQ: Activities Room-
Ron dropped to the ground as the Sumo Ninja fell on his back for the second time, unconscious.
He looked at the approaching synthodrones, thinking about what to do next when something at the back of his head claimed most of his attention.
"Oh man that hurt." He said rubbing the back of his head, where he'd hit the Sumo Ninja, with his free left hand. "That's gonna leave a bump for sure." He made sure he didn't close his eyes in pain like he wanted to. He couldn't afford to take his eyes off them and be caught off guard.
The fight had gone a way he would never have imagined. First he didn't expect to face this many synthodrones. The abandoned lair had only had fourteen. So far he had taken down…ok, he hadn't had brain space to spare on counting but he was pretty sure it was more than that.
Secondly, he'd imagined using some of those cool looking poses he read about in his manual. He hadn't. In fact he couldn't even remember one. From the moment this fight started he had improvised, using whatever movement his instincts suggested. Using one-handed strikes instead of the two-handed ones the manual taught.
He had never been one for planning, more often than not relying on his dumb skill to pull him through. But this was ridiculous, how long could he keep barely dodging those hits before one landed?
That thought had proven prophetic. No sooner had he had it than he'd been caught. The hits he'd received for that encounter and the slip afterwards had been hard. Anymore and he'd be done.
I need room to think. He thought. Looking past the drones that were inching cautiously towards him he saw the stairs that had been his earlier goal. An idea popped into his head. Seeing as how his instincts had kept him mostly unharmed so far he decided to go with it. They'd never see me coming.
Ron firmly pressed the blue button on his right glove, activating his rocket skates. Two seconds later he was propelled towards the approaching drones. Unprepared for his massive increase in speed they failed to react as he zigzagged through them, cutting down those he passed near. Once past them he continued on towards the stairs, jumping on the wide concrete hand rails. Once near the top Ron deactivated the skates and jumped on the bridge.
When he landed he slipped and fell hard on his butt.
"Ow, wha…" He looked down at his feet to see why he had slipped and saw that they were coated in green syntho-goo. Must've run through all the goo on the floor. He concluded. Getting up unsteadily he waddled on his slippery feet towards the railing to see where the drones were and how many were left.
Five left. He saw, to his relief. He also noticed something odd. They were all running towards him just like he had expected, but they were coming for him in single file. One a few feet behind the other. Another wild idea popped into his head as they reached the foot of the stairs and again he went with it.
He waddled to the stairs and vaulted himself onto the railing, putting as much momentum as he could into it. Sliding down the railing using the goo on his feet Ron gripped his sword with both hands and prepared to slice through them all as they ran up to get him.
He got the first two easily but the third had enough time to react and attack. Ron flipped over it as it crushed a part of the railing and managed to cut part of its head off before he got out of range. He landed on the other railing and slid the rest of the way down. At the bottom he continued to slide for a few seconds before his shoes ran out of goo to slide on. Looking back he saw that the two remaining drones were already charging down towards him.
Following instinct again, he charged towards them too while changing his grip on the sword so that his thumb faced the hilt. Feet before he and the lead drone collided Ron slowed his pace while the drone threw a downward punch. The drone punched empty air and Ron stabbed right through its arm, pinning it as he rolled onto the drone using it as a pivot. Once it supported all of his weight he, for the first time, let go of is sword. He rotated his wrist and grabbed it again so that his thumb faced the blade. Channeling all his strength and the momentum of his somersault into his arm he sliced open the first drones forearm and brought it down on the second drone diagonally.
The drone's top half slid to the floor while the bottom fell backwards. The one now behind Ron turned and tried to do a backhand strike with its other arm but lost too much sytho-goo to remain operational.
Ron quickly turned around, ready to dodge another attack he believe was coming. When none came he started looking all over for the next drone. It was a full ten seconds before he remembered those had been the last two.
He'd won.
I won. He thought. Another two seconds passed as that thought sunk in.
"Booya-aaack!" Ron said as he slipped on the sytho-goo spilled by the last two drones and fell, tapping his head on the bottom step of the stairs.
"Ow!" He cried, almost in tears. "Right on the bump…"
"Ron!" Wade said, bringing the EE2 down from the safe height he had kept it at. "Are you ok?" Wade was extremely surprised. He had expected Ron to put up a bit of a fight, take down a few drones with his sword then get captured. He had already been working on a way to help him escape. Instead he saw him as he tore through all of them and win.
"Yeah, yeah." Ron answered as he got back up, rubbing the back of his head tenderly. "I'll be alright."
Rufus climbed out of his pocket and stood on Ron's shoulder rubbing his head gently.
Wade's question made Ron do a mental inventory of his hurts. He was sweaty, panting and his head was throbbing of course. His back hurt and so did his chest where he'd been kicked. But by far the worst was his right forearm. The cut on it stung as if on fire. Raising it he noticed that it was trembling under the weight of his sword and his grip felt weaker.
"After one or two weeks." He corrected. I should probably stop using it for a while. Ron thought as he sheathed his sword with a soft squish.
Squish? He wondered, glancing back at it. He saw a globule of goo all around the guard. Gross. He thought, reaching back and removing it.
"Were did you learn to fight like that?" Wade asked, brimming with curiosity.
"Learned?" Ron chuckled. He started back up the stairs while trying to flick the goo from his hand and failing. "I used nothing of what I little I learned. I winged myself through that like a panicked chicken. The only thing I remembered was how to hold the sword…kinda." He passed the globule to his left hand so that he could flick it harder without hurting himself, didn't work.
"Really?" Wade asked, skeptically.
"Yeah." He said, glaring at the globule that refused to let go. "Haven't trained enough…" Good thing I bought that training machine. That was the only half of his training so far that had been useful.
"So you've been training?" Wade asked, digging for info.
"A bit." Ron answered. He gave up on trying to flick the goop away and just scraped it off on the railing at the top of the stairs. A thin layer of it remained on his gloves though. "This gunk really sticks." He said. Looking down he saw he shoes and the bottom of his pants coated on the stuff and sighed. The pants and shoes were brand new and he hoped it would wash off.
Wade wanted to ask more questions but movement on his map caught his attention. Not good. He thought.
"Ron." He said. "You have four signatures heading your way. Three synthodrones and one human."
Ron froze as he began to go up the second set of steps, turned around and looked at the EE2 as if he could see Wade through it.
"Shego?" He asked.
"More than likely." Wade confirmed.
"Oh no." Rufus squeaked. "Oh no… oh no… Pain… Oh ho no."
"I can't handle her." Ron agreed with Rufus. "The drones are one thing, compared to Kim they move like fat, lazy snails so I could keep up. But Shego? I won't last five seconds."
"Don't worry Ron." Wade reassured. He typed a few commands and the EE2 lowered to chest height and was hidden under a holographic duplicate of Kim. "I'll lead Shego away with the EE2 then all you'll have to do is get past the drones and run to the command room. Without her there it should be easy to shoot one of Drakken's consoles and destroy his systems."
"I thought I needed to shoot the tower?" Ron asked.
"Only if it's already active." Wade clarified.
Ron thought for a moment then turned to Rufus who nodded.
"Alright." Ron agreed with a nod of his own. "Sounds like a plan."
Ron took a deep breath and went up the stairs. He stopped when he noticed the holo-Kim wasn't following.
"You coming?" He asked.
"This place is full of cameras." Wade explained. "Odds are they saw your fight with the drones and are assuming you're alone. It'd be best if 'Kim' suddenly appeared asking why you left her behind or something."
"Gotcha." Ron said. He ran up the rest of the stairs and stood in the middle of the bridge facing the double doors at the other end of it with Rufus on his shoulder. It had a very large sign that read 'Authorized Personnel Only' with a palm/retinal scanner combo on the wall next to it.
Ron almost jumped out of his skin when they were thrown open and out walked the green hued villainess in her signature green and black cat suit. She was followed by three smaller than normal synthodrones.
Shego stopped some ten meters away from where Ron stood. His heart was hammering in his chest so fast he was sure she would hear it.
Ok, ok, ok. Calm down. Ron told himself as they stared at each other straight in the eyes. You can do this. Just act not scared.
Ron stood straight, shoulders squared. He relied on comforting weight of his gear to calm himself. Focusing on the confidence its presence brought him.
He took a deep, slow breath and mentally prepared for what was coming next.
To Be Continued…
Phew! What a chapter! I hope you guys had as much fun reading this as I had visualizing and writing it.
Next chapter will be action packed as well so stay tuned for someplasma infused scenes. It will also be shorter so it might be out quicker.
Later all!