Thanks to pre-reader Zephyr of Shadows. He also suggested that I leave an A.N. telling you all to listen to the song starting from just before the lyrics start.
Reviewed for errors, updated and inks repaired 19FEB2012
Song: "My Immortal"
Artist: Evanescence
Location: youtube /watch?v=cu7QvOQKcKk
Chapter 3 My Immortal
Ron felt someone shaking him pulling him to wakefulness. He really didn't want to get up. It had been a long night. Smacking his lips he opened one eye to see Rogers smiling face.
"Get up, Ronnie. it's a great day, the skies are clear and it's only supposed to get into the 80's. Come on, we're burning daylight."
Ron turned his head and looked out the window. All he saw was stars in the sky. Looking at the clock he noted it was still before 5AM.
"Uncle Rog, I luv ya, and you've done a lot for me in the past few weeks. But if you don't have a good reason for getting me up this early, then I foresee mayhem in the future. God did not intend for people to be up this early, if he did, he would have turned on the light."
"Just get up boy, the trucks loaded, the boat's gassed, our poles have new line and hooks and the fish are calling."
"Fish? You got me up before God, for fish? You're joking." And with that Ron rolled over pulling the covers over his head.
Knowing he was still up, Roger told him, "Ronnie, I'm not gonna say it again. Next time 'ill be bucket."
Snapping the covers down enough to glare at his older relative. "You wouldn't dare." Roger just looked at him.
"Nnnnggggg, you would. Alright I'm up." Two weeks ago Roger done just that. When he tried to get Ron up one morning, Ron refused. Roger returned a few minutes later with a bucket filled with the water from the cooler in the garage. It wasn't ice any more but it was still pretty frigid.
When the water hit him, Ron left the bed like he was shot from a catapult, screaming bloody murder. Roger didn't have too much trouble getting Ron up after that. Usually calling him once was enough. Ron's mom and Kim both, would probably have paid money for the secret. Ron was a notoriously heavy sleeper.
"Good, I'll see ya downstairs. Breakfast 'ill be in ten."
For the last month, Ron had been staying at Roger's house. The move was for a couple of reasons. One was so he didn't have to waste time traveling before he got to work on Elma Lee. Another was to get him out of the familiar house. Because she was so torn up about losing her 'Big Brother' he had left Rufus there, moving his cage and EnviroTrail into Hana's room.
Roger insisted that they do nearly all the work on fixing the derelict automobile. They could buy all the parts and materials they wanted. But the effort, sweat and blood in the car would be theirs, mostly Ron's. Roger showed Ron what needed to be done and Ron executed. Every step of the way Roger explained what, why and how.
Little tips and tricks of the old fashioned hot rodder. Like using an iridescent pearl nail polish to highlight the timing mark on the harmonic balancer on the front of the crank. Or petroleum jelly instead of some product made for the purpose the prevent the corrosion on the battery posts. The jelly was just as effective at a fraction of the cost. Frugal Lucre would have been proud.
Ron was stunned when Roger poured a 20oz bottle of Coke into the washer along with their greasy clothes. "The carbonic acid in the soda helps break up the grease, and the soap pulls the grease and sugar from the clothes."
From that first night and over the next five weeks, everything unnecessary in Rogers garage found a home elsewhere to make room for the growing assortment of pieces-parts. The shop bench was covered with valve covers, rocker-arms, lifters, rods, valves, timing chain, gears and cover, springs, the massive heads, intake manifold, alternator, water pump. Everything that could be removed from the huge big-block.
Over time the walls came to have various body parts leaning against them. The first being the hood, followed by the doors, fenders, gas tank, front windshield, you name it.
They had pulled the 428 completely leaving a substantial hole that was the engine bay. Roger bought a new hoist and engine stand. His old ones weren't strong enough. Once they had the engine mounted, he turned Ron loose with the instructions that "if it's bolted, unbolt it, but be careful with the crank, I'm not sure we can replace it."
Once the block was denuded of everything, they carefully set the block, pistons and rods, crank, cam, heads and the intake in the bed of Rogers beat-up old Ranger and carted it to the speed shop. They left it all there with orders to have everything magna-fluxed, balanced and blueprinted, ported and polished.
Returning to the garage, they got started on the rest of the car. All the interior pieces went to the custom upholsterer. Then the transmission, driveshaft and rear axle were pulled.
Transmission to the local shop for inspection and servicing, the driveshaft and axle to the side for later. Next all the body panels and glass came off.
Ron, under Rogers tutelage, inspected the panels for rust and corrosion, marking the areas with florescent yellow spray paint. When Ron asked about the neon yellow paint, Roger told him, "You aren't bloody damn well likely to miss it now are ya? By the time ya get ready to paint it, you should have had a chance to sand, fill and prime it. If ya see any yellow, ya know ya missed something."
They were down to the frame and body from the firewall back when the Killigan mission came up. Ron was not amused. They were just getting ready to send all the body panels in for media blasting when Wade called.
Wade was covering for both Kim and Ron by screening the hits much more thoroughly then usual sending all but a mere handful to GJ. There hadn't been many in the first place Since the Dementor mission, it seemed the villains were trying to lay low and avoid Team Possible in general and 'The Buffoon' in particular. So Wade sent them to Ron reasoning he needed the work out more than she did. He was also more then a little pissed at her for dumping Ron like she did.
Killigan was trying some screwball golf scheme. Ron landed and boldly walked up the front door. Not bothering to knock, other then to knock it down, he walked into Killigans main workshop. Killigan turned and saw Ron standing there. Ron allowed the MMP to cause his eyes to glow, while he just 'stared' at the crazy Scot. It looked like blue smoke coming from his eye sockets. After a LONG moment of just staring, Ron asked him in a very quiet voice,
"Dude, do you know who I am?"
Killigan had seen the tapes. "Ya nananame escapes me at the mamamamoment, Laddie! Bubububut, I rrrecognize ya."
"Good, then you know what I'm capable of. Now, the past month and a half, hasn't been the best in the world for me." Gritting his teeth Ron continued "And I've had a really short temper. Now unless you want what I gave Dementor and his men, you will stop what ever it is that you're attempting, and Leave. People. Alone!"
"Not everybody likes golf, matter of fact a lot of people hate it, me included. Now, if I have to take time out of my day and come back here again, I'm going to level this castle, with you inside it. Is. That. Clear!" The whole time Ron had been stalking closer to Killigan and by the time he finished, he had backed the Scot into a chair and was looming over him nose to nose, with Killigan getting more and more frightened by the second.
"A A Aye, Laddie. I unnerstand." he stuttered
"Good, now since you never really got your plan underway, I'm going to let you go." Growling Ron said, "But if I have to come back here…." He left the rest hanging and just looked at the terrified Scot. Long. And. Hard.
Killigan nearly wet himself he was so frightened. But what he didn't know was that, no sooner then Ron boarded the GJ Hoverjet home, he threw up.
He had gotten in late from the mission, with another nightmare thrown in for good measure and here was Roger, waking him up before 5AM to go FISHING! Ron could already tell it was going to be a long day. But he didn't know just how long it was going to be.
Between the few missions, working his shifts at Smarty Mart, working on Elma Lee, cooking most of the evening meals and doing all the other things required like his laundry, showering and cleaning up after himself, Ron didn't have a lot of free time. So even though he was griping about it, he was looking forward to a day off relaxing.
He had decided to take at least a semester off from his schooling. Kim would have called it either lazy or he couldn't make a decision. But he had made a decision, to wait. It wasn't like any schools were beating his door down anyway.
So maybe a day on the lake was just what he needed after all.
Downstairs in the kitchen, Roger felt the vibrations of his cell phone, groaning he knew what ever it was would ruin the day. Looking at the caller ID and getting a 'Private Number' message he felt his suspicions were confirmed.
Hitting the receive button, he answered with his usual early AM greeting. "What? You're joking right? Nggggggg. He'll be down in about ten to fifteen minutes. Give us a few hours, let me get breakfast in him and I'll send him your way. Right. Out." 'It never rains, but it pours.'
Classes started in three weeks and since the split, she hadn't been on a single mission. She questioned Wade about it. He just said there wasn't any hits. Kim wasn't sure if she believed that. Since the formation of Team Possible, Wade had always been their first line of defense against spurious and counterfeit hits. He was also more then smart enough to deflect any that came their way, if he thought was for the best.
She had tried to get in touch with Dr Director to talk about the missions and the lack thereof. But every time she called she got that pompous ass Will Du. The conversations didn't last long. "Is Dr. Director there? No. Goodbye."
Song: "My Immortal"
Artist: Evanescence
Location: youtube /watch?v=JB5PxVUn1-8
No matter what she did, she couldn't stop thinking about him. His warm chocolate brown eyes, his freckles, the cowlick sticking up at the top of his head. Those ears she loved to hold during kissy face. She thought about what she had heard from various people. Her parents, Monique, Ron's Uncle. How could she face him. Even if she could come to terms with what happened, what about how she had treated him since.
She had run into Josh Mankey at the mall a few days ago. He must have heard through the grapevine that she wasn't seeing anyone and approached her asking her out on a date. The conversation hadn't gone as the artist thought it would. Josh did something even Bonnie knew better then to do anymore. With the first words out of his mouth he called Ron a loser.
"Hey Kim, since you dumped the loser, you wanna catch a movie together."
I'm so tired of being here
Suppressed by all my childish fears
And if you have to leave
I wish that you would just leave
'Cause your presence still lingers here
And it won't leave me alone
Kim rounded on the unsuspecting Josh with a fury she hadn't felt since she found out about Syntho-drone 901 AKA Erik. She screamed at him, "Are you alive? Are you free to walk the streets? Can you go where you want when you want? Then you can thank one person, just one! Only one person was able to stop those aliens. Not the Army, not GJ, not Shego and Drakken, not MEEEEEE!"
These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase
"You can live your life because of ONE PERSON! RON STOPPABLE! You should be THANKING him. Not cutting him DOWN. He did what he had to. To save you, and me, and everyone else on this STINKING PLANET. And I swear before GOD that if you ever say something like that about him again….."
By now everyone in sight was silent, staring at the tableau before them. Everyone for a hundred feet had clearly heard what she said. And she stood there, tears streaming down her cheeks, hands clenched in fury, mouth closed breathing through her nose, visibly trying to regain her self-control.
When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have
All of me
Through gritted teeth and with a quiet almost murderous tone that only Josh could hear, "I swear to GOD, I won't be responsible! Do you understand me, Mankey. You have no idea what happened that day has cost him, none! And if you can't talk about Ron with respect, then just shut the fuck up!"
The profanity shocked him more then her tirade. Kim turned and walked to the back of the store. With a cracking voice she muttered, "I need a break." to Monique as she walked past the other girl.
"Go, girl, I'll handle this!"
You used to captivate me
By your resonating light
Now I'm bound by the life you left behind
Your face it haunts
My once pleasant dreams
Your voice it chased away
All the sanity in me
Entering the storeroom she went to the back security room where they kept the prerelease items, entered, locked the door behind her and simply broke down.
Back on the retail floor, Monique moved on the artist with blood in her eyes. But where Kim's fury was white hot, Monique's was frozen. Like an Icelandic glacier, remorseless, pitiless, unstoppable, she advanced.
These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase
Getting nose to nose with the bewildered young man, with grinding teeth and in a hushed tone, she told him, "Listen here Mankey, Ron's my friend, and if you EVER dis him again, then when Kim is done stomping a mudhole in your ass, I'm gonna show up and bury what's left. This is a class establishment, and your not welcome here. Leave."
"But, she broke up with him, what's the problem?"
Monique didn't answer. She just backed up, looked around and spotted someone. "Security!"
Immediately two of the uniformed guards appeared. "Monique, what can we do for you?" They both already knew what was up and were itching for a reason to run the little turd in.
Glaring at Josh she snarled, "This person needs to leave the store. NOW!"
When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have
All of me
Back in the storeroom Kim was a wreck. She just squatted on the floor with her back to the wall and sobbed. Something had occurred to her just a few minutes ago. One of the reasons she had such a hard time with what happened Graduation day was that Ron had beaten an enemy she couldn't. Her goofy partner, the guy who would spout off with random thoughts at the most inappropriate moments, the one who lost his pants at the drop of a hat, her Ron had defeated someone that defeated her.
I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone
But though you're still with me
I've been alone all along
That meant Ron could beat her!
For their entire lives, she had always been the dominant one, Ron the subordinate. She lead and he followed. That's just the way it was. Like the sun rising in the east. Now there had been a paradigm shift. In the back of her mind she had always suspected it was possible. That was why she'd always called him 'Potential Boy'. But she never really expected to see it.
When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have
All of me
Me
And here it was. Potential realized.
Ron was walking down the street heading to the closest fast food place. He didn't care which one as long as it wasn't Buenos Nacho. Since the split, just the thought of going back to the place where he had spent so much time with Kim made his heart ache.
He was still receiving the royalty checks with his father as the trustee. His father authorized a release of funds for Elma Lee. Ron had set down with him and they discussed the use the money would be put to.
The agreement they reached was Ron was allowed to spend anything necessary for the car, but little else. Ron brought the receipts to his dad weekly and they went over them looking for anything extravagant. His dad raised an eyebrow at a few of them, but after talking to Roger, he came to the conclusion that while expensive, a set of Edlebrock headers were actually the best value.
Uncle Rog had canceled the fishing trip because 'something' was wrong with the truck. Roger had asked Ron to walk up to the auto parts store and pick up a voltage regulator for the Ranger and on the way there grab some grub somewhere. That didn't make sense though, because he was pretty sure the alternator for the truck had a built in regulator, so why didn't he ask for an alternator.
Ron was dragged from his musings by the ground opening up and swallowing him. GJ had struck again.
At almost the same time, in another part of town, a few people were surprised when they saw Kim Possible there one moment and gone the next. Almost like the ground opened up and took her.
The transport tubes deposited them in a briefing room with each other and three and a half other people. One was the eye patched visage of Dr. Director. The half was Wade on the large central monitor. The other two looked Japanese and immediately Kim had visions of Yori.
The female was a little taller then her and had curves to put Bonnie's to shame, easily. Her hair reached her backside and was so black it appeared to be a blue. She was relaxed, sitting in a chair facing away from the table towards the tubes.
The male was standing beside her in a position of Parade Rest or At Ease. With obvious military training, he was average height with a lean build, had almost black hair, a cross shaped scar on his left cheek and piercing steel-gray eyes. Kim could instantly sense his mind working, assessing, calculating the physical abilities both her and the person beside her.
Looking to her right, her heart leapt into her throat. It was Ron. He was in a tank top and cargos. His arms had bulked a bit in the last five or six weeks. 'He been working out?' He spotted her and with more then 14 years experience she could almost read his mind. In his eyes she saw pain, anguish, fear and anger. Most of it directed at her.
When Dr. Director addressed them, Kim felt a knife in her heart. Every other time the two of them had been there, Dr. Director had shown respect to the both of them and Ron in particular by addressing them as "Team Possible"
"Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, GJ needs your assistance."
The rain the night before had washed the streets clean and left a sweet summer nights smell in the air. A half an hour ago the storms had moved off leaving a clear cloudless night sky with the Milky Way prominently visible.
A flat black 69 GTO prowled the streets of Middleton, Colorado after 5AM, with the lyrical refrain of 'Gimme Shelter' emanating from the interior. 21 hours after it's departure from the Yuma base, the driver was definitely cranky and the passenger was rattled. Who would have thought environmental conditions beyond his control would have put her in such a vile humor.
They hadn't been on the road but a couple of hours when the heat climbed past 98 degrees. It was more then Kaname could take. He had wanted to drive straight through and arrive last night. Kaname vetoed that idea.
They were looking for a place to eat about noon when she saw the hotel. She didn't say anything at the time, but she had already decided what she was going to do. After they ate, she headed to the drivers side of the car. Sousuke didn't even blink. It was her car after all.
What had him blinking though was when she stopped at the entrance to the chain hotel.
She parked, got out saying, "I'll be right back", and walked in leaving a bewildered Sousuke in the car. Coming back a few minutes later, she got in, drove to the other side of the building and parked again. Sousuke was definitely confused now. Settling herself in the sweat slicked seat, she turned and looked at him.
After a moment she said, "I'm not riding another 10 to 14 hours in this heat. I'm not riding another hour in this heat. I rented a room, so here's what we're going to do. We're going to go inside, clean up, and go to sleep. Especially the cleanup part. We were on that plane forever and I want a long hot shower."
"Then later on tonight, when it's not, as Melissa said, hot as the hinges of Hell, we'll continue driving. With all your Otaku survival skills, you should know enough to travel at night in the desert. Is there any part of what just said you don't understand?"
Sousuke had enough experience with Kaname to perceive the tiny danger signs. The twitching eyebrow, the clenching hand, the gritted teeth smile. He decided appeasement was the best course "I understand, Kaname. You're right, I should have thought of that. I apologize."
With her point made and plan accepted, she smiled at him and said, "Good, let's get our bags."
"Just a moment, Kaname."
The twitching eyebrow made an instant return until Sousuke started to address the A.I.. "Eleanor, how are your power reserves." Unlike most Artificial Intelligence's, Eleanor did not have any kind of reactor. She operated off of the vehicles electrical system and needed constant recharging. If she wasn't going to be driven for more a few days, she either had to shut down completely or be plugged in to a power outlet of some kind.
The melodic feminine voice asked Kaname "How long a stay are you intending, Kaname? If you plan on more then 12 hours, I will need to shut down, otherwise I have reserves for a minimum awareness standby. Similar to a 'catnap' in a human, if anyone tampers with the chassis, I can be fully aware almost instantly."
"What do you think Sousuke? Leave about 8 or 9 tonight?"
Sousuke ran through some quick STD (speed/time/distance) figures. "We are supposed the meet the Commander at oh-seven-thirty. If we leave no later then twenty-one hundred, we should be there with enough time to spare for breakfast somewhere."
With a huge 'Kaname grin' she said, "Great, let's get out of this heat, I feel like I'm melting."
Sousuke was hard pressed to keep his eyes off of her though. The sweat had soaked her tee-shirt and it clung to her like a second skin. She noticed him noticing her, but she didn't mind. It had taken forever for him to relax enough to do that, and she wasn't about to cause a relapse of the 'stiff and proper' Sousuke. She liked the improving one too much to do that.
Now while she wasn't going to berate him for it, teasing was different story. Only problem was, she had discovered Sousuke learned FAST. 'Should I do it? It could backfire. Why not!' Stretching her arms over her head, she said, "This shower's going feel so good. Especially after that one on the transport. I didn't think they could make a shower that small. And three minutes? That's barely enough time to get wet."
Opening her door and getting out of the car, she pull the drivers seat forward, reached into the back and grabbed her bag. Looking at Sousuke out of the corner of her eye, she saw him flustered and nearly blushing. Grinning she almost purred "Yep, what I need more then anything right now is a loooong, hhhhhooot shower."
"UUUUUHHHHhhh"
Shutting the door, she headed to the entrance with an added twitch to her hips and a grin on her face that stretched ear to ear. Opening the door she made a bet with herself as to how long he would remain in his stupor. She figured twenty to forty seconds. It was about thirty seconds before Sousuke's brain restarted. Waiting until she saw signs of consciousness returning, she hollered "We're in room 214, hurry up." She was pleased that she knew him so well.
Shaking his head, he got out of the car in a hurry, grabbed his own luggage, consisting of both his clothing in a shoulder bag and his weapons duffel, and dashed to the door.
Entering the room, the first thing Kaname did was turn on the AC full blast. Even if it got cold in the room, she could always curl up to him. After showering, (separately, although she teased him about needing her back scrubbed) they climbed into the bed. Kaname dropped in to a deep sleep and Sousuke did his normal catnaps. This was his normal routine when ever he slept anywhere new.
Nine hours later they were up, showered again, ate in the same restaurant as before, gassed up, and putting miles behind them. Eleanor had her avoidance systems running and Sousuke kept his speed below 100 when the speed limit was 70.
Three/quarters of the way there, Kaname offered to drive. She had slept most of the way and was wide awake. Just as she planned, That was the beginning of the problems. They stopped to fuel up, and Kaname took over. No sooner then she got them back on the road, it started to drizzle, then it started to rain, then it started to pour.
Before long it was raining so hard the only reason Kaname was still able to move was Eleanor's projected heads-up display. They had gotten off the interstate some time before and were almost due east of Middleton, heading there on twisty curvy two lane roads.
Kaname had laid out the route and had planned to have a little fun on the way. She had been intending to drive this stretch since the decision to come to America.
Sousuke realized he had created a monster shortly after giving her the title to the car when she got her first speeding ticket.. She had gotten caught in town and there was NO WAY to get away from the little cruiser that clocked her doing 100KPH in a 60KPH.
Her intention here was to open the car up to the limit and see just how much she'd improved since Sousuke started giving her lessons months before. The Kami's had decided that it wasn't to be though. So they opened up the floodgates, and down it came.
And it was all SOUSUKE'S FAULT!
How this was true, Sousuke had no idea, but he just kept his head down and his mouth shut, trying to prevent making her anymore irritated. The skies cleared they were less then an hour from town, and this made Kaname even more irritated. Like someone set it up just to ruin her plans..
Stopping at a little diner they got breakfast, then went to the gas station. Kaname had picked up Sousuke's habit of filling the tank when ever the chance arose. Leaving with a full tank, full cooler, and empty bladders, she drove to the address given to them by Dr. Director. It was still very early and there didn't seem to be much traffic in that part of town. Seeing no where else to park, they left Eleanor on full alert and went to the front door.
Before they got there, the ground opened up and they fell through some kind of trap doors.
At the bottom of their fall, they were ejected into a room. Sousuke rolled like a tumbler coming up into a crouch, Glock in hand. Kaname lacking Sousuke's combat skills, and knowing it, threw herself with her back against the wall in a crouch of her own, and pulling her BDA .380. She knew, instinctively, the best thing she could do was watch Sousukes back and stay out of his fields of fire.
"EVERYBODY DOWN!" She couldn't comprehend how he remembered to use English.
Sousuke only seeing one person in the room, covered him. "Kaname-san?" The use of the suffix and something in his tone told her 'Japanese'
"Daijoubu." (depending on inflection 'are you/it's/I'm alright')
"Yosh, dozo machimasu, wakarimasuka." (good/OK, please wait there, understand?)
"Yokai."(Slang, basically 'roger')
Never having taken his eyes from the good looking man in a uniform of some kind, he reverted to English, "On your knees, hand on your head, NOW."
When the man started reaching for his watch, Sousuke fired a round that grazed the mans ear. "Next one's through your skull. On your knees, hands on your head."
"Do you know who I am, I'll have you behind bars for this."
"Failure to comply will result in death. Last warning."
Reluctantly the man complied.
"Kaname-san." Sousuke looked from the man to her and back again. She got the message.
"Hai." she turned her weapon to cover the kneeling man.
Once she had him covered, Sousuke, staying out of her line of fire, moved behind him and forced him prone. "Interlace your fingers behind your head, cross your ankles and raise your feet off the ground."
The door opened then. Kaname as always, trusting Sousuke in a combat situation, kept her BDA pointed at the captive man as Sousuke whirled to confront the new threat.
Only it wasn't a threat. It was Dr. Director. Looking down the barrel of a loaded weapon was something she had done before, but she never expected to have to do it in her own headquarters. She went wide-eyed for a second before she figured out what happened.
"I gather Agent Du failed to follow my orders to contact you first, Sergeant."
Holstering his weapon, he told her, "Commander, Miss Chidori and I were approaching the specified location when we dropped in to this room. Not knowing the situation, I took action safeguard both her and myself. I apologize for any inconvenience."
"Don't worry about, Sergeant. Good morning, Miss Chidori. Would you please release Agent Du?"
By now Kaname had gone from startled to frightened to mad and hadn't stopped covering the prone agent. "Why?" she growled. "This moron pulled the ground out from underneath us, scaring me out of my wits. I don't like that."
"Because I asked you. And because I need him. When he restrains himself, he's actually a decent agent."
"Fine You, get up." when Will complied, she grabbed him by the front of his coverall uniform, got in his face with the BDA stuffed under his jaw and said, "Look moron, I've been kidnapped, more then once. Had some crazy woman try to experiment on me. Almost killed on more then one occasion. And had to deal with lunatics trying to do more of the same. So I'm just a little twitchy."
Tossing her head to indicate Sousuke. "And him, your lucky to be alive. I'm honestly surprised he didn't shoot you out of hand. For your future health, I suggest you take all that into account. You got that?" Then she shoved him away from her with surprising strength.
Will Du, the 'Top Agent' of Global Justice first stumbled back, then stood there glaring at the two of them and Kaname in particular. Sousuke was starting to get a grim look on his face when he looked at Dr Director. Closing her eyes, she nodded and murmured "Just don't kill him. I DO need him."
Sousuke out of Will's line of sight pulled a flash/bang, armed it and tossed it behind the fuming agent. Kaname saw it coming and counted down from 5. At one and a half she closed her eyes tightly, covered her ears and opened her mouth. This wasn't going to be pleasant, but maybe it would get through to this idiot.
Dr. Director had left just as Sousuke pulled the stun grenade and Sousuke followed suite with Kaname. He WASN'T about to leave. If she had to go through this, at his hands, then he damn well better go through it with her!
The flash/bang went off, knocking Will Du unconscious and Sousuke and Kaname to the ground. Even when you expect it, stun grenades are just that. Stunning! The couple shook their heads to clear their vision and the ringing.
Sousuke was the first on his feet and helped Kaname up, with a bowed head he apologized quietly in Japanese. "Gomenasai Kaname-san."
Patting him on the cheek "Daijoubu, Sousuke-kun." she switched languages "This idiot deserved it."
Dr. Director looked around the edge of the door and asked, "All Clear?"
Sousuke instinctively replied "Clear!"
"I'm sorry about that. I gave orders that you were to be contacted before pulling you down the transport tubes. Guess Will didn't listen."
"Please make sure he understands in the future, Dr. Director. Next time I'll hurt him, not to mention what Sousuke's likely to do."
"It's Betty, and I'll do what I can. Come on, I think a cup of tea would go well right now. Edwin sent me an excellent Oolong."
Three hours later the couple were waiting in the conference room, Kaname sitting with her legs crossed and Sousuke standing beside her 'At Ease'. feet about shoulder width apart hands clasped in the small of his back, when two people 'dropped in'.