Chapter 5 Laughter Is The Best Medicine

Kim didn't have a clue what to make about his comment, so she let it go focusing on both Ron and Dr. Director. 'How could he say something like that to me? ME? "Settle down." He never talked like that before. Not to anyone. But he did try to watch my back, like always. Even if he sounded like he was as mad at me as much as Sagara. What happened to him?'

But she knew what happened. Graduation Day. The breakdown earlier shocked her. Sure Ron would whine and moan about something, but sobbing like a terribly hurt child wasn't something she would have ever expected.

Dr. Director pulled out a set of folders, rifling through them and she passed one to Sousuke. "Here's the things you requested Sergeant. And I must say, your requests show a great deal of forethought. We had to special hire the contractors to finish in time. But I believe you'll be pleased."

"The hardest part was finding a site that met all the requirements. It is located within 2 miles of the campus. Has road access on three sides. However one, opens into an alley. Both vehicle and personnel doors on three sides with a small parking lot and a personnel door on the forth. And if need be it is very defensible."

"Your contact specified some kind of basement. The only building that came close was this one, the basement only covers one half of the floor space. But it was a commercial building and has 14 foot ceilings down there with freight elevator access the basement as well as the other two floors. The remodelers finished two days ago. Here are the key's, garage door openers and deed."

"Inside the folder, you have a listing of all equipment inside the vehicle area and the personal items you and Miss Chidori shipped are already in the utility area outside the personnel apartments."

She pulled another folder and removed several pages and cards. Splitting the cards, she handed them to him and Kaname. "Here are your I.D.s, drivers licenses, and concealed carry permits. Under. Stand. Sergeant. This is not Japan, we won't be able to manage the press as easily here if you go blowing up buildings. So please restrain yourself."

Kim thought to herself, 'Blowing up buildings?"

Dr. Director continued. "That being said, you are authorized to use necessary force to protect your charges. You are to let no one harm or capture them. Is that clear?"

"Perfectly, Commander."

With a wry grin she said "Sergeant, if I recall, I asked you to call me Betty." He called her 'Commander' because it had a proper military sound and he felt better about it. Besides, Director Director just sounded to confusing.

"M'am, this is an official briefing, not a social setting, therefore proper titles should be used."

"Hehe, fine Sergeant, shall we adjourn to your facility."

"Sousuke, did you buy another building?"

Kim and Ron were wide-eye at the thought that someone the same age as them bought another building like Dr. Director described. Kim more so then Ron. Ron knew about having money. He was starting to get access to his royalties. Kaname wasn't surprised at all at Sousuke's response.

"Of course Kaname, the lack of other tenants will be a benefit. This way it will be much more secure. Commander, was my special equipment delivered?"

"You mean those strange fur covered machines? Yes they arrived. They are in the garage along with your personal effects."

Kaname slowly turned her head to face Sousuke. "Bonta-kun, you brought Bonta-kun. What a minute, that was a plural."

To Kim's surprise, Sousuke was getting visibly nervous. 'He faces down Ron knowing about his MMP and doesn't break a sweat. But she talks to him in that tone and suddenly he's sweating bullets?'

"How many Bonta-kuns, Sousuke?"

The other three occupants of the room couldn't believe what they were seeing. Kim was just surprised. Ron was looking on and thinking, 'She got him shaking in his boots, he threatens to taze me and doesn't blink and she does this to him? Whoa, she's scary. And what the hell is a Bonta-kun.' Dr. Director was shaking her head at the remarkable young woman beside her. 'He tells Admiral Borda "to get bent" and he's afraid of her?

Gulping, Sousuke said, "Four."

"Four? Sousuke, you have enough personal weapons for the Sendai Division, why do you need four Bonta-kuns. Isn't Al enough?"

"That reminds me Sergeant, the ARX7 was delivered two days ago. It's in the hanger now." Snapping her fingers, she added, "As a matter of fact, I want you to perform at least a cursory inspection before you leave the base. Make sure it's combat ready."

Sousuke took advantage of the distraction to say, "Yes Commander. Immediately. Kaname, I will return in a little while."

"Can I go with you, been a while since I seen Al."

Nobody missed the subtle signs of a pleased Sousuke. The gentling of his eyes, the softening of his tone. "Certainly, Kaname. Commander, may I have a guide to the base hanger."

"Agent Stoppable, Agent Possible, would you be kind enough to guide them to the hanger?"

'WHAT? Guide them to the hanger? What, is she…' Kim got no further then that when Ron had her looking at him with a dumbfounded look. "Sure thing, Dr. D." Pausing and talking mostly to himself, "Wait a minute, that sounds like Drakken. Dr. B? Dr. E? Dr. B! Yeah that'll work." He returned his attention to the rest of the group saying, "Sure thing Dr. B, elevator just down the hall to the right? Take it up to the second level, out to the right, end of the corridor?"

Kim's dumbfounded look increased. 'He remembered that? We only went there once from here. I didn't remember the way.'

"Correct Agent Stoppable."

Sousuke addressed Ron saying, "Thank you for your assistance Stoppable-san."

Ron gave him a hard look that Kim had only seen on his face once or twice. One of them was the 'Night of the Diablo's'. "Oh don't worry Sagara, we're still gonna rumble."

Thrown by the jargon, Sousuke got the meaning from his tone and inflection. But Sousuke didn't let his temper rise. He was calm, cool and collected. "As I told you before Stoppable-san. If you wish, as long as you refrain from using your powers, I will disarm. And we can beat each other senseless. As a matter of fact, I welcome it. Tanaka-san said you were a formidable hand to hand fighter. I'm sure we both could use the workout."

"Tanaka-san?"

"Yes, Tanaka Yori-san."

"YORI. You know Yori?"

Kim was not happy, here she thought they had left the Japanese vixen behind and now this… this…. THIS CLOWN, was bringing her back up.

"Yes, she nearly defeated me during our last sparring session." Both Kim nor Ron were wide-eyed and neither had any idea what to think about that little tidbit, spoken so matter-of factly.

"Nearly defeated? That means you beat her, hand to hand?" Ron questioned. He knew about her abilities and was impressed. And Sousuke beating her was surprising. He found was being impressed in spite of himself

"Yes. She requested me to ask if you still practice your 'Screams of Courage'." Sousuke was puzzled at that last part.

"Uhhh, that's Yori alright. You don't know it, but that gives you a bony fide, she was really sending me a message "

"Ron I think you mean 'bona fide'." Kim interjected without thinking.

Ron slowly looked from Sousuke to Kim and back again and asked. "Did you understand what I said, Sagara?"

Kaname and Dr. Director instantly caught the tone. Even the Clueless Otaku knew the pot was starting to boil on the subject of 'Kim and Ron'. But his innate honesty took over. Almost ruefully he answered, "I understood from the context Stoppable-san."

Looking back at Kim, "If he understood, what's the problem."

Kim realized her mistake when Ron 'looked' at her. Disdainful was the only word she could come up with. Trying to think her way out of her 'foot in mouth', she stood there biting her lip. "Nothing Ron. Nothing."

"Good. Come on Sagara, let's go see this thing of yours in the hanger." He stalked out of the room turning to the left. Sousuke looked from the retreating Ron to Kim to Kaname, back to Kim, then the empty door. After a few seconds Ron passed by again heading to the right, muttering "Wrong way."

With significant look at Kaname, Sousuke hurried after the power walking Ron, leaving the three women behind. It was a shared look that said, 'We've got our work cut out for us.'

With her much greater time spent in America, Kaname was more comfortable leaving the Japanese suffixes behind. "Miss Possible, would you show me the way to the hanger. I would like to talk to Al."

"Who's Al?"

"Come on, I'll see if I can get Sousuke to introduce you."

"Why would he have to introduce us, can't you do it."

Kaname stood with a quizzical expression for a second. "It's too hard to explain. You have to see it to believe it."

**********

Sousuke caught up to the storming Ron, wondering how to handle the fuming young man. So he tried to talk to him about Yori's 'message'. "You said that Tanaka-san was sending you a message about me?"

Ron slowed from his headlong movement. Still walking, he took a breath and said regretfully, "Yeah, she was telling me she trusted you. I don't know why, but she does."

They turned a corner and reached the elevators, when Sousuke paused. "Stoppable-san, I understand why your upset with me. But in my defense, I had no choice. I wish our meeting could have gone better, but the situation occurred before we had a chance to take action to prevent it. The only thing Miss Chidori and I could do was prepare to deal with the outcome. That included being ready to incapacitate you, if necessary."

"I know." When he saw Sousuke looking at him quizzically, he added, "It was part of the vision. For some reason it showed the two of you talking before Dr. B got back."

Kaname and Kim were just around the corner and close enough to hear what was said. When the elevator arrived, Sousuke and Ron boarded. Kaname started to try and catch it when she felt a petite hand with a steel grip grab her by the arm. When the doors closed she asked, "What was he talking about?"

Looking at the corner to the elevators, Kaname said, "It was part of the briefing Ishido Sensei gave us."

"Ishido Sensei, is that the Master Sensei Ron talked about?"

"Yes. He told us that Stoppable could be extremely dangerous if agitated or provoked. He's been having nightmares for months. He's suffering from Post Traumatic Stress. And because of his powers, could easily go too far and do something he would regret later."

"OK, what were you and him talking about before Dr. Director got back."

"We realized that Agent Du would probably fail to contact the two of you like he did to me and Sousuke. So we had to be ready to stop your partner."

Kim looked stricken, "He's not my partner anymore."

"Then let's see if we can fix that."

**********

Exiting the elevator, Sousuke asked Ron to hold up and wait for Kaname and Kim. While the elevator went to collect the girls, Ron chuckled, "You really would have had her zap me, ya know that?"

With a grim determined look, Sousuke said, "I wouldn't have wanted to Stoppable-san, but I would have done it."

Ron was laughing now. "Ya know, I gotta tell ya dude, it was kinda funny seeing myself do the funky chicken like that. Hurt like hell, but it was funny to see. HAHAHahahah, ZZZZZZZZZtttttttttttt." Ron started vibrating like he was being electrocuted.

When the elevator opened, Ron was holding his stomach, laughing with tears in his eyes. Kim was laughing just as hard. Kaname was standing there with a huge pleased grin. She had related how Sousuke had dealt with Agent Du. The thought of the pompous blowhard being 'taken into custody', then getting knocked unconscious had her in stitches.

Kim and Ron had the same thought. "He/She still has a great laugh.' They had a long way to go to repair things, but it was a beginning.

Kim insisted they tell Ron about the incident. Kaname was laughing too hard to talk, so the task fell to the deadpan Sousuke. All three were already set off, so with his dry military precise recital he had all three laughing so hard they were close to rolling on the floor.

"Miss Chidori and I were approaching the specified location when we dropped into the conference room. Not knowing the situation, I took action safeguard both her and myself. Seeing only one target, I covered him and ascertained Miss Chidori's status. After determining she was well and functional, I had her take over covering duties while I proceeded to take the suspect in to custody." The thought of 'Top Agent Du' being called a suspect had the estranged couple leaning against the wall and each other for support.

"The Commander entered then, explaining that he wasn't a suspect, but one of her agents. She also informed us that she had left orders for him to contact us prior to using the transport tubes. He failed to do so." Sousuke was grim faced when he said this. "The Commander then asked Miss Chidori to release him. When Miss Chidori let him up, she then berated him for his failure to follow orders."

Sousuke's eyebrow was twitching by now, remembering the expression on Du's face. "Agent Du seemed to take exception to his…….. 'dressing down'. To reinforce the lesson, I dropped a flash-bang behind him." At the words 'flash-bang' Ron dropped. He was laughing so hard now he couldn't stand up.

"Stop, HAHAHAHA, no more, hahahahaha, please, oh my ribs, hahahahaha."

Kim laughed harder hearing Sousuke's delivery then she did Kaname's. Kaname remembered the stupefied look on Will's face as he lay on the floor, knocked cold. And Sousuke just stood there with an undeniable look of, SMUG.

**********

When the laughing fools got themselves under control, they moved to the hanger. There in a far corner with a large space around it, was the kneeling form of the ARX7 Arbalest. Kim and Ron just looked at the mecha in awe. The only thing they had seen to compare was the expanded Diablo's. But those were mostly autonomous machines. But here was Sousuke climbing the side to open the cockpit. He settled himself in the seat, but didn't secure the harness. He was just doing a system check after all. Booting up the A.I. took a moment. Once it was up and aware he started having it run through the standby and precombat checklists.

After receiving a "Other then the lack of ammunition, all systems are green." with the deep masculine voice of the A.I. Sousuke told him. "I will speak to the Commander about having you fully armed, Al. is there anything else of note?"

"Yes, Sergeant. Would it be possible for me to remain in a conscious though lockdown state, as well as having communication access?"

"How would that affect your power reserves, Al?"

"It wouldn't, Sergeant. In that situation, the chassis is connected to the base grid."

"I will make the arrangements."

"Thank you, Sergeant."

Sousuke looked at the main display screen with a thoughtful expression. "Al, do you understand the difference between professional and social situations?"

"Yes Sergeant. Professional situations have an impact directly on our military duties. Social ones don't."

"You figured that out faster then I did. OK, from now on, if the situation is professional, I will address you as Arbalest and you will use my rank. If not, I will call you Al and can call me Sagara or Sousuke, understood."

There was a pause. A long one. Then the deep voice of the A.I. said, "Th, th, thank you, Ser…. Sagara!"

"It's not a problem, Al."

"Be aware, that if I am in confusion as to the proper mode, I will revert to the professional."

Sousuke was stunned, that was almost exactly the same thing he had said months ago to Sergeant Major Melissa Mao. "I…. understand, Al"

Kaname, Kim and Ron were watching from below. Ron and Kim didn't know what just happened, but they felt it was significant. Kaname was looking up at her beau with shimmering eyes. After almost two years, the combat team of Sergeant Sagara and the ARX7 Arbalest had merged into friends.