Annnnnd we're back. Y'all thought you were safe didn't ya? Sorry about the wait, but although I don't have a life anymore CB does and since we basically work together waiting to post chappies sometimes slows down.
Again, I want to thank everyone who has read, faved, followed and or reviewed in this Arc so far. Also, I want to thank CajunBear73 for all the editing and cowriting that he has done with me since World War One.
Also, there is NO mayhem in this chapter so NO need for 'meds'. Therefore, one or two of you should be able to relax.
Let's get to the reviews: Bobtrumpet, yeah y'all can relax in this chapter too. Book 2 isn't done, I have a few more things to accomplish, but we are about 1 week from Anne returning and about 3 weeks from graduation and all that stuff; CB73, Kimmie sees 'Eric' as her future and she could never be wrong. Ergo she cannot be played either. It's a good thing Ronnie boy has made friends or he would have been cast adrift and would have been flapping in the breeze; shthar, if teens wanna fight the big boys bad sh1te can happen. It would bring closure to have the body at the funeral.
DoctorDetroit, Kimmie has an ego. She is the product of two highly intelligent parents, she has geniuses for brothers. She is a highly regarded cheerleader…..in short she is perfect and she knows that. The only thing she isn't perfect about is her personal life. 'Eric' knows and understands this is her great weakness. He knows how to exploit it and he knows that her rock is Ron Stoppable. To defeat her 'Eric/Hans has to defeat Ron. He has broken the heroine away from the goof and he is further breaking Ron away from his family. 'Eric' has not counted on Ron discovering other friends however; Uberscribbler, idiot 1 and 2 won't show up here either except in passing; Jimmy1201, no blood in this one just racing minds.
Gj agent; Kimmie thinks that 'Eric' is 'oh so much' and that everyone should love him because she does. She knows that 'Eric' and Ron have some tension between them, but she thinks that they should put it aside for her benefit; Guest, everyone can ship whoever they wish. I don't have enough time left on the world to argue the point.
Again, thanks to the reviewers.
Let's get this show on the road,
ST-103
The Hunter: Book Two
Chapter 22
Global Justice:
"And Du, you guys are sure this isn't going to change my personality?", Ron Stoppable inquired as the two walked away from the GJ nursery where Ron had just dropped his sister off before the procedure.
"All this is supposed to do is allow you to pick up and retain information Stoppable, it should not do anything more than that. Don't expect to become a super genius and don't expect to become more of a prick than you already are."
Ron snarked, "Gee that's too bad, I always wanted to be on the cover of 'Asshole of the Month'."
Will Du laughed, "Oh we received a notification from Interpol that Francis Capon has retired and has bought a fishing boat. He was in private business before with a small winery and grape growing concern, now it looks like he might be out of the law enforcement game entirely."
The blond teen grinned, "You're welcome, I guess Betts is happy this clown won't be assigning dangerous missions to teenagers anymore. But you know, something tells me he's dirty."
"I too question his actions Stoppable, but I have another bit of information you should want to be aware of."
"Yeah, go on."
GJ's 'Top' Agent revealed, "Interpol personnel were interested in the name Frank Zorro. Do you know anything about that?"
"I got carried away, I won't let it happen again.", Ron promised.
"No, keep using the name. That way they will be looking for one person and it will allow us to be able to track anyone else who has it out for Possible.", Du told Ron as they came to a door that had a 'Restricted' sign on it. "Relax, go inside. Doctor Director is waiting for you Stoppable. I just hope your brain doesn't explode. It would take a lot of scrubbing to get the goo out of the machine."
"Fuck you Willie.", Ron mock ranted as he flipped the agent off, then opened the door.
"Good for you to join us Ronald.", Betty Director's voice began as Ron entered the room, "Please have a seat while Doctor Giles gets the machine warmed up."
The blond teen sat down in the comfortable chair, "How has your life been going Ronald?"
"Well, since I agreed to this, ah screwing with my head, you can tell I've been getting further behind in my classes, so not very well.", Stoppable responded.
"I see from the surveillance videos your friends are helping you with the childcare, that is very good of them."
"Yes Ma'am, it is, and I am lucky to have them."
"I understand that Miss Possible tried to force her new boyfriend on you and your sister, how did that turn out?"
"Not well Ma'am, Kim and I will still work on missions, but the moment that is about all."
"And why is that Ronald? I want my agents to be able to work together without friction."
Sigh, "Ma'am I don't trust Kim's boyfriend around my little sister…she cries when he comes close.", Ron explained, "I can't put up with that."
"I'm sorry for you Ronald."
"Meh, it is what it is, but for the here and now. I don't want to fail, but I don't want to cheat either."
"This is not cheating per se, it is an experiment. You are our test monkey, so to speak."
"Yes Ma'am, I understand that. If something goes south will you be able to take care of my sister, then have Wade call Yamanouchi and let them know? I'd like to not orphan Hanna again."
"So, you are more worried about your family than yourself Ronald?", Doctor Director inquired.
"I guess that's what it sounds like…I mean I'm not suicidal and I want a relationship with a girl and I know there are some who are interested in me…but…"
"But?"
"I cannot get into a relationship for a good long while."
"You are still hurt over what you and Kimberly had then?"
"I'm not sure exactly what we had Ma'am, but I do know she's happy…"
"And you're happy then?"
"Well except for Mom, Dad and Rufus, yeah.", the blond teen responded.
"And not about you and Kimberly?"
"Uh no, I'm through that part of my life. At least I won't have to worry about being launched towards a black hole now, so, Eric had better watch his Ps and Qs.", Ron now laughed out loud, "Kim will be pissed and will have to go looking for another hottie."
"And not you?"
"Once burnt, twice cautious. I might go through life as a bachelor.", Ron's laughter died down as a white coated and bearded man came up to them.
He announced himself as he offered his hand, "Mister Stoppable, I am Doctor Klean."
Ron stood up and took the hand, "Mister Stoppable was my Dad, you can call me Ron, loser, buffoon, sidekick or anything else."
The older man half smiled, "No confidence, heh?"
"No confidence in learning calculus after being tossed into it halfway through the school year.", Ron replied.
"Why did they do that?"
"Hell if I know, but I can't get into another math course this late in the year because the school says they're all full and I need one to graduate. But mostly I think it was Steve Barkin who is fucking with me."
"How well did you do in trigonometry?"
"I haven't had it and calc is kicking my ass."
"Ahhh, pardon my French Ron, but that is bullshit…the being in calculus I mean."
The former running back grinned, "I like your French."
"Doctor Director told me that you have a problem learning correct?"
"I have a problem learning something that I don't know anything about, it just doesn't make sense.", Ron clarified.
"Do you understand that this will not give you instant 'smarts' and that you will have to study the material?"
"I AM studying doc, it's not sticking…that's the problem. I have tutors and they are getting almost as discouraged as I am."
"Well, I think we can help you. Please wait here, I am going to give you something to drink to help you relax and then we'll get started.", Doctor Klean told Ron.
"I'm not twenty-one…"
"This is non-alcoholic or non-narcotic.", the scientist informed the teen.
"So, nothing mind-expanding. Mine could sure use some expanding.", Ron snorted.
The scientist left and came back with a Styrofoam cup and handed it to Ron. Through all of this Betty Director watched. Once the teen finished the slightly sweet liquid, Klean said, "Follow me."
Ron rose from his chair and almost fell over, "What the…"
Doctor Klean grabbed the teen's arm to steady him, "Good, the drug is taking affect…."
"Why did you drub…err drug me?", Ron's eyes flashed almost causing Doctor Director to rise from her seat.
"It is relaxing you so the process is easier. When all this done, we will give you a few tests and then have you lay on a cot for about thirty minutes and re-do the tests. If we have the feedback that we expect, then we will take you and your sister home and have someone stay at your home over the weekend so you can get used to your new enhanced brain function. You will have a slight buzzing in your ears for the weekend and then you will be able to study easier if everything goes as expected.", the doctor explained.
Ron asked as he was feeling pretty good, "So, this is what it's like to be drunk?"
"Being inebriated is not as enjoyable Ron." [Woo-Hoooo! Morphine in a cup! I wants me some 6-packs!]
They went into another room and a technician opened the door to a very large box. The lights were already on and the doctor lead Ron to a very comfortable chair. Klean then cautioned, "Now until we release you stay in this chair for your own safety. Alice will be in momentarily to hook you up to the interface. We have to check to make sure everything is working properly before we can begin. This will also give us a baseline on how your brain is working.
Moments later a lanky and homely blonde began to put sensors on Ron's arms and chest. Finally, she put a red helmet on the teen and began attaching cables.
She asked as she spoke into a microphone, "Can you hear me?"
Ron nodded and said, "Yeah, I can."
"Good we are going to check for conductivity, that will take about ten minutes and then we'll be able to begin. A word of warning if the dull pain you feel behind your eyes lasts for more than thirty seconds or if you feel something else bad hit the red button and we will immediately stop. Do you understand me?"
"Yeah…I uh don't have a stopwatch…"
"We will be recording. We want you to talk to us while this is going on."
"Okay, I get it."
"Good now you will hear people talking, but that is us just getting ready. We will notify you before we begin."
Ron, still feeling slightly goofy, grinned and raised his thumb to show to her that he understood.
X
"We are ready and will begin the procedure in twenty seconds, but we are recording now."
"Yay, it's nice to have someone else in my head."
X
Doctor Klean's voice next said, "And now you should feel some pain, we are timing this. Let us know when it lets off."
The blond teen grit his teeth and muttered, "Hurts like shit, if I find out this is because asshole Barkin is screwing with me I'm gonna kick his ass."
Doctor Director warned, "No unauthorized violence Ronald."
"It isn't you who feels like his head has a buzz saw going through it.", Ron responded knowing that if he could get through one of Sensei's workouts he could get through his current torment.
Then suddenly the pain was gone.
"Hey guys, it doesn't hurt now. How much longer?"
"Twenty more minutes Ron, just stay relaxed, the bad part is over.", Doctor Klean notified the teen.
"Good, cuz I'll have to use the can by then."
Betty admonished the teen, "You should have thought of that before we began."
"I shouldn't have gotten that jumbo slurpie."
The leader of the UN's law enforcement arm rolled her eyes and muttered, "Kids."
At the same time images flashed in Ron's mind. "Oh, Coolio.", the teen muttered under his breath.
"Ron, close your eyes and tell me what you are seeing.", Klean instructed.
"I'm seeing stuff from my science class…It sorta makes sense ya know."
"Good, now just relax. We will be done in a few minutes." [Kind of reminds me of an old Star Trek episode where Spock had his brain stolen and a machine granted users the capability of putting it back…humans only got one shot at it…Dr. McCoy?]
X
The door opened and Doctor Klean stepped in along with the technician, "We are done Ron."
Alice began disconnecting the former running back from the machines. "I understand you have to use the restroom. When I am finished, I will escort you there and then bring you back to lie down for a while until we do the second test.", she informed him.
Alice helped our hero rise from the comfy chair and led him out. Will Du was waiting along with Doctor Director. Du stepped forward, and took Ron's arm, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Didn't think of it, I'll try to remember next time…"
"You should be able to, you got an upgrade sidekick."
X
Will (after leading Ron to the can) walked him to the small cot and helped him sit down. "How are you feeling Stoppable?"
"Like my mind is racing, while we were coming back, I just went over four math assignments in my head and they seemed to make sense to me."
XXX
Kim frowned as she stared at the closed door. With a sigh she pushed the 'Connect' button on her wrist Kimmunicator. Immediately Wade's hologram appeared, "Hey Kim." The preteen then looked up, "You're at Ron's place anndddd I can see he's not there. Also, something tells me that you want to find him."
"How do you know that Wade?", an annoyed Kim Possible inquired.
"Remember, I have the houses monitored. But I can't tell you where Ron is since I don't have his chip back in him yet, but the only time you look for Ron anymore is to see his sister. His cellphone is off and so is his Kimmunicator."
"Yeah, I can't be around Ron, but I'm not allergic to Hanna. So, I can at least be around her. Maybe I could take her out to play…", Kim explained.
Wade frowned knowing that Kim usually thought she was right and also knew that one thing she and Ron disagreed on was Hanna being exposed to Kim's boyfriend, Eric. So, the genius pointed out, "I guess as long as the baby isn't close to Eric. But I'm not Hanna Stoppable's primary caregiver. Ron is the one who decides about who can be around her."
"Wade that is soooo bogus…"
"Do you want Ron to cut off all access of his sister to you?", Wade inquired.
Sighing in frustration, "No!"
"Then you have to accept that, until Ron's Mom is on her feet, you have to abide by his wishes. Great guy or villain, Ron decides who gets close to her. Neither you nor your Mom and Dad can convince him. They can try to take him to court, BUT the court decides and they usually go with the next of kin. So, I'm not sure you want to even try this in court before a judge.", Wade warned.
"Okay, I guess I'll go to the mall then, Monique is working and I'll try to catch her at her break.", Kim responded, then in a moment of inspiration the heroine stated, "Maybe Ron needs a girlfriend."
"Huh? Kim, uh Ron's got enough on his plate at the moment with his sister and his mom…"
"Hear me out Wade, Ron can use a nice safe girlfriend. I can even pick one out for him and everything will be fine…"
"Kim, listen to yourself; nice, safe…that you would pick out. Sorta leaves out any choice on Ron's part even if he was interested. I do know there are girls from other towns who are interested in Ron if he were available, but according to the words that came out of Ron's mouth he. isn't. interested at the moment.", Wade got out before he had a pre-teen melt down.
Not to be deterred, Kim muttered aloud, "I can ask around…"
"Kim, just stop right there. Ron's a big boy and I am warning you that he is very protective of his sister and he is not interested in a female companion at the current time. Now I don't know if this makes you feel good inside, but all Ron has right now is worry for his family and his friends of which you are one…but don't push this.", Wade informed the red head.
"How do you know this? I already knew I am his friend."
"I'm his friend too Kim, who do you think he talked to last summer when you were on that long vacation?"
"You?"
"Bingo. Is it so hard to believe Kim? Sure, I've only been working with Ron for a few years and don't have the lifelong friendship you have with him, but I've been there talking with him while you were gaga with all your other boyfriends."
"Wade, I was not gaga over any…"
"Two examples Kim, Josh Mankey and Eric One Point 'Oh'.", Wade just put out to his red-haired friend.
"I was not gaga over either of them…"
"No?", Wade started, "With Josh you risked disappearing to go on a date with him while Ron was trying to recover that flower in the Amazon to detox you from that pollen Drakken had sprinkled on you…And with Eric, the first one, you shut Ron out of your life for a couple of weeks. You don't know how close you came to losing his friendship over that." Kim blushed as she looked down at her feet. "It almost cost us the world last spring. Drakken played you Kim. There isn't any other way to put it…so NO, you don't always know or do what is best. Does this make you a bad person? No, it doesn't, but you have to realize that Ron has put himself out there for you. Let him make his own decisions about his own life. That's the bar he set for you, please set the bar for him at the same level."
"Wade, I'm sorry about that."
"You don't need to apologize to me for any of that, but you have to realize that Ron is seventeen just like you, this time next year he could be in the Army or somewhere else equally dangerous without me being his backup…Hell, he's even talked about moving to Israel and not coming back…He just wants to move on with his life and he might want to leave Middleton forever. He's looking at his options.", Wade informed her.
With a small voice, Kim responded, "We'd talked about Ron maybe playing football in college…"
"Don't count on it, Kim."
"Yeah, Ron's said that often enough that he means it. But without football he won't be able to go to Upperton…he won't have the money; his family just barely makes ends meet."
"Kim, you didn't hear this from me, but Ron may not graduate from high school. He's not doing well in the classes that they assigned him to this spring's classes."
"We need to get him a tutor Wade."
"Ron has tutors, Justine, Felix and Zita…he's not picking up calculus."
"Calculus! What the hell is he doing in that class?", now the heroine was in shock as she wondered what the heck was going on.
"I don't know, but that's where Barkin put Ron. He studies for hours every night and has bombed a couple of tests.", Wade informed her.
"That's a hundred times bogus…maybe the tweebs can help him…"
"Ron has tutors, he's not getting the tests done in time. I mean he takes shortcuts in his head, but the teachers want to see all the work and Ron just doesn't have the basics to make it happen."
"Are you sure Mister Barkin did this?", Kim inquired.
"Yeah, he made the changes, his initials are next to them in the files. Now, he said he did it because of your allergies, but I hacked the school's database and those changes for this year were made back before September, maybe as early as July. You didn't show any signs of allergies then."
"I wonder what this is all about?"
"I don't know Kim, but I'm going to start digging to see what I can find and it may not be very pretty.", Wade warned.
"Good, you do what you have to and let me know when you track Ron down. I need to speak with him at least over the phone."
"I'll let you know if I find him Kim, see ya later."
"Thanks Wade.", Kim replied as she pushed the 'Connect' button to end the call.
The red head turned and trudged home to let her Dad know she was going to the mall to meet with Monique before her date later with Eric.
XXX
Wade looked at his monitor and checked to see how his friend's bios were doing. The tech guru had lied to his boss about not getting Ron's chip put back in and he sorta felt guilty for it. Wade was in a quandary about not telling Kim the truth, but Ron had been adamant about an information blackout to Eric and both agreed that Kim may end up telling her boyfriend about what was going on with Ron and his family.
'I'll call Ron later to see how the procedure went.', Wade mused as he noticed a spike in brain activity.
The genius wasn't really happy about the state of affairs between the primary members of Team Possible, knowing that if a certain member found out that the other member didn't trust her significant other then there might be even more tension that would affect the team dynamic. If this happened it might even cause the crimefighting slash world saving team to split up.
A beeping noise brought Wade out of his thoughts. He pushed a button and asked, "Hello Dave, what can I do for you?"
"Yeah, Ron said he was going in to undergo a procedure which would help him study…Uh, did he do that?…He, ah, didn't want me or the others to tell Kim."
"According to his chip, Ron seems to have undergone the procedure that you spoke about, but I can't say more till I talk to him. I can say it appears to have helped though."
"Is he going to be home tonight?"
"Yeah, but later. He's resting at the moment. I believe he has some more tests to do before they let him go.", Wade notified the young man.
"Okay, let us know. We think that he shouldn't be alone right now."
"Yeah, that's what the agency that is trying this on Ron thought too and it seems they are sending someone with Ron."
"Who's going to take care of the baby?", a voice asked from the background.
"Who's that?", Wade inquired.
"We're at a fast food place and that was Liz, but Mike and Justine are here too. We have plenty of guys here to look after Stoppable and his sister tonight.", Dave explained.
"Dave, I am going to make a call and then connect you to that person on the other end, between the two of you I'm sure arrangements for Ron and his sister can be worked out so just stay on the line even if you hear some clicks.", Wade informed the high schooler.
"Sure…"
X
"Mister Alberts, this is Betty Director. I understand that you are part of a support group for Ronald Stoppable. Is that correct?"
"Yes Ma'am, many of his friends from high school help us in supporting him considering what is happening in his life."
"Good, Ron volunteered for a pilot program to help us study something."
"What is that exactly?", Dave inquired.
"I am not at liberty to say, but in about two hours we expect to release Ronald from our last test and will transport him home via his auto. We are going to have one of our staff onhand to make sure there are no issues, but help with the child will make this process go much smoother. Is your group going to be able to assist with that?"
"Is there something wrong with Ron?"
"We do not think there will be an issue, but sometimes there is an adjustment period of forty-eight hours.", she told him while not revealing that this was a largely untested way of helping people learn, but looked very promising.
"Yeah, we'll have a couple of people at Ron's house who will spend the night and then others who will come in tomorrow.", Dave agreed as Justine and Mike nodded as they had spoken with Zita, Felix, Curt and Tank earlier.
"That is good, so expect him to be at his home in about two and a half hours. Thank you for your help…Oh, one more thing."
"Yes?", Dave asked.
"Ronald may, for a period of time, seem to be…well… a little goofy. This is entirely normal and since one of our people will be there if there are any problems, we will be able to take care of them. The only obstacle we envisioned was the one which concerned the child."
"Ma'am, I played football with Ron Stoppable and let me say that him being a little goofy doesn't bother me or the others since we've seen him that way before."
"Very good, we will contact Doctor Load when we are ready to depart so that you can be there."
"Thank you, Ma'am…"
"No Mister Alberts, thank you."
With that the connection broke.
XX
Doctor Klean showed Ron a math problem and then explained it. Curiously, the blond teen took notes and then thought about said problem as Klean asked, "Now Ron, what can you tell me about this?"
"Oh, well…"
"No, on paper please. I want to see if your mind is making the logical connections without standard years of training that most students get."
"Sure, Ron stared at his paper and began to write down the formula and when he was done, he began working through the problem. When he was done the doctor looked it over and said, "Very good. It took you four minutes. The standard time to work that problem out correctly is five and a half minutes. I think the machine was a success. I am going to give you a more difficult problem in a moment. Do not expect to finish it or if you do expect it to take over ten minutes."
Ron sighed then nodded as he took the problem from the older man.
The teen's vision suddenly blurred and then as Ron shook his head he could see clearly, very clearly and quickly began to write.
Klean stared, wide-eyed, as Ron's writing seemed like a blur. In less than a minute, Ron laid his pencil down and sat back with sweat pouring off his brow.
The doctor picked up the paper and stared, "Fantastic, Ron, that was a Calc Three problem from university. I know since I taught the class. If you keep this up, math will not be a problem for you. Now I want to run more tests in two weeks, make an appointment with Doctor Director. Now how do you feel?"
"My mind is like buzzing, like I'm thinking of ten things at once."
"We will work on you being able to control that. Now rest here, I will notify Doctor Director and get you ready to go home and get some much-needed rest."
"Thanks Doc.", Ron responded.
XXX
Agent Cindy Dartmouth pulled into the driveway. Ron reached over and pushed the button on the garage door opener and grinned, "Dad was too cheap to buy one so I did. If I had the money, I'd get a state of the art answering machine too."
As Ron was getting Hanna out of her seat a pickup truck pulled into the driveway. Ron picked up his sister and waved to his friends, "Hey, what are you guys doing here?"
"While you crash tonight, Liz, me, Mike and Justine are staying over to take care of your sister." At that moment Big Mike's car pulled in next to Dave's truck. Liz was getting out of the truck and held out her hands for Hanna.
"Yeah, everybody this is Judy, she is monitoring me so be nice to her."
Justine chuckled, "Anyone who has to look after you, ya clown, deserves all the sympathy we can muster."
Judy Asmarath nodded, "I have to run tests on Mister Stoppable at set times, but so far he seems to be a little ahead of the curve."
Justine offered her hand, "Justine Flanner. This is my boyfriend, Mike Little. The red head is Liz Sours and the other guy is Dave Alberts, since dummy here won't introduce us, I figure someone has to."
"Justine Flanner…I know that name, did you have an article in 'Science'?"
"Yeah, a few years ago. It was a good semester. Dad was proud of me. Let's all go inside and shut the garage door.", the genius suggested.
Dave laughed as he walked into the garage with the rest of them, "Stoppable, Justine burned you bad."
"Sorry, I'm a little slow at the moment."
Mike patted Ron on the shoulder, "I am with you Ron."
"Thanks. Now who wants hot chocolate?", Ron asked "I can make something for dinner."
The GJ gal, Judy, asked, "Why don't you relax?"
"Because my head is like thinking of all sorts of stuff, it's like being on a merry-go-round and looking out at the stuff you are passing by.", Ron tried to explain.
Justine turned to stare at Ron, "So, it's like a blur in front of your face?"
"When I close my eyes it's like looking at a slide projector going through pictures real fast. I get a little dizzy when I'm not sitting down.", Ron explained.
Judy Asmarath told Ron, "Just give it time, your reaction is little higher than others who we've tried this on…"
Justine frowned, "You screwed with his brain? You changed Stoppable's brain?" The blonde genius's eyes were wide open, "Why did you do that?"
Ron muttered, "They offered me the opportunity to retain everything you are trying to help me with since I was having trouble and I accepted. You guys were getting frustrated with me….and I couldn't deal with putting you through all that anymore."
Justine turned to the GJ gal and said, "Turn him back, this is bullshit."
"Sorry,", Judy informed Justine, "this is a one-way trip. There is no undoing it. It's not like going to a restaurant and changing your burger with fries to a hot dog with onion rings."
Dave was now upset at what his friend had done and then asked, "What does your group get out of this?"
Sighing, "Mister Stoppable has done some work for us in the past and we felt he should not be punished in part for helping us out…"
Justine narrowed her eyes, "And what if he goes nuts? Or has a brain fart? And rebounds?"
"Chances of Mister Stoppable 'rebounding' are close to nil. We didn't just zap him and send him on his way, he's being monitored. He's already passed most of the tests and might I say quite a bit higher than even we expected."
"So, Stoppable mentioned retain. Exactly what does that mean?", Justine just wanted to punch someone's eyes out.
Judy frowned not liking this at all, "How easily does Mister Stoppable get the data that you are teaching him?"
"He gets the info, but he can't seem to keep it where he can access it.", the blonde genius told her.
"Write out some of the questions you worked on with him last week and see how well he does now.", Miss Asmarath suggested.
"Why?"
"Just try it; it's time to test him again anyway."
Liz said, "This is all nice, but I'm taking Hanna upstairs for her bath. Dave, get her bottle ready and some baby food too."
Justine turned to Mike, "Go out to the car and bring in my book bag. I want to see how far out-of-hand this has gotten."
Mike, who had not removed his coat yet, just nodded to his girlfriend, knew that when she got like this, the best thing to do was to do exactly as she said.
So, the big guy went out the front door. He as back inside two minutes later, "It's snowing again…hard."
Justine gave Mike a smile, then took the pack, grabbed Ron by the arm and pulled him into the kitchen. Pointing to a chair, she told him, "Sit."
"Take it easy Flanner, I'm more fragile than your boyfriend.", Ron grumbled as he suddenly trembled violently.
"Shit, just a minute I have to brew some of my tea…it's for the nerves you know."
"You can wait…"
Ron got up, "No, I can't. Be right back."
The former running back almost blurred to the door leading to the basement. In less than two minute he was back with a rice paper bag. Ron immediately filled the tea kettle, set it on the stove and turned on a burner.
"Okay I'm all set."
"What's so special about that stuff you brought up?", Justine inquired.
Ron truthfully told her what he could, "This was a present from the headmaster of that Japanese school and it's meant to help calm my nerves…"
"It's a drug?"
"More of an herbal remedy. When the water is ready, I put some in the teapot and add the leaves, let it steep and drink it.", the former running back explained.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I've been drinking this stuff for a couple years, they figured out that one of the reasons I'm as goofy as I am or was because I was nervous. And as bad as it tastes I drink some to be not as goofy.", Ron told her knowing like most good fanfiction writers that if you add enough fact to go along with the BS people tend to buy it. Ron then opened a drawer and pulled out a tea ball and opened the bag. Then he filled the stainless-steel ball with the finely cut up tea leaves and screwed the cap back on.
"So, this isn't a drug?"
"Not as far as I know…"
"Good get out two cups then.", she ordered then added, "If it's safe for you then it's safe for me…And we'll be able to tell if you're full of shit."
Then she called out "Alberts! Get in here!"
Dave walked in, "Yeah?"
"You are in charge for a while, I am going to drink some of Ron's special tea to see if he's trying to bullshit me."
"What's it supposed to do?"
"Stoppable says it's supposed to relax you and I wanna make sure that he isn't taking a drug."
"Isn't experimenting a little dangerous Justine?"
"Has Stoppable been acting spaced out or anything?", she asked, then over to Ron, "How long have you been drinking this stuff?"
"About six weeks.", the former running back responded.
Dave nodded, "He hasn't acted like some druggie in that time. Actually, I've never seen him ever hyped up."
"Good."
The kettle began to whistle. Ron pulled out a teapot, then shut the burner off on the stove. He then put the tea ball in and filled the pot with boiling water.
Dave said, "I'll just watch, but that smell is a little weird. Are you sure you drink this stuff Ron?"
"Yeah, but while we're waiting let's do a couple of problems."
X
"Shit Stoppable! We haven't gone over that yet. How did you figure it out?", Justine growled as she scanned over the fourth problem that she had him do.
"It just sorta popped in my head. Did I do something wrong?"
"Yeah…no…kinda.", the genius sighed as she sipped her tea, "We need to work a little more on showing your work though." Then turning to their observer, "I just feel calmer now. Dave, I think that this stuff is not a drug like we thought."
Dave then asked Ron, "You said that your mind was like watching a slide projector going through pictures real fast, what's it like now?"
"Funny you should ask Dave, but it doesn't seem as chaotic…Hey, school word! Maybe that machine helped my volcabulary too."
Justine grimaced at the butchered word, "That's vocabulary, you dunce."
"Yeah, that too. You wanna check the homework for the science class we share, Justy?"
"Don't call me that!"
Ron looked at Dave, eyebrows raised, "The tea hasn't seemed to have affected her, has it?"
"Well Ron, she's a little nicer than she usually is, but other than that…No."
"Sooo,", his smirk noticeable to all but his 'Instructor', "Justine, you wanna go over the science stuff? If you do Dave might wanna bring in that lady to watch cause she's gotta write down how I'm doing."
The high school QB nodded and brought Judy in. Justine handed over the calculus problems and then, "We are going to try some of his science homework…This class isn't pretty for Stoppable."
"By all means.", Judy encouraged Justine.
"Okay, I'm going to cherry pick the problems, so you only get the ones you've been having trouble with, Stoppable. Are you ready?", Justine narrowed her eyes even if she didn't quite feel like it.
The geekess picked the first problem and set it in front of the dork. She then muttered, "I want all the work where you came up with the answer."
Brown eyes scanned the problem and then he picked up his pencil and began to write on the paper in front of him. Justine looked at her watch as Ron wrote down all the data he needed and began to put it all together. Ron's eyes seemed to flash blue as the speed of his writing increased.
Finally, he put down his pencil. After a moment Justine whispered, "Daaaaammmmnn!"
The former running back shook his head, and wide-eyed said, "I want another one…that was fun."
Now the girl who had an article in 'Science' had already gone through the whole of the regular textbook when she flipped into four chapters in the advanced chapters and pulled up a question. Pointing to the page, "Okay hot stuff, try this one…Dad had to show me when I didn't get it the first time."
Again, Ron wrote down the basics of the problem and started to work on it.
Five minutes later: The genius breathed out a long-held breath as Ron passed the paper back to her. She frowned for a moment and then smugly smiled, "Two decimal places off. I was further off than you my first time, Stoppable. So, good. Real good, whatever they did for you has made it easier for you to ace the rest of these classes. Asshole Barkin is going to see his sphincter pucker. Now…I wonder what he is going to try and do about it?"
Dave Alberts glanced at the paper which had problems on it he didn't understand and whistled, "Ron, you can get an academic schollie."
Ron rolled his eyes, "Yeah, but just like everything else in my short, exciting life it's gonna get screwed up too. Uhhh, what don't we not announce this…or anything? I've already had enough crap from being a 'math prodigy' a couple years ago."
"Sure, but let's fix your sister some food and order some take out.", the petite genius replied."
XXXXX
In the bracket parts of the tale above are CB's comments and I hope y'all enjoyed them.
Now for the legal part. Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, Hanna, Liz, Big Mike, Justine and all the other 'canon' characters of the show 'Kim Possible' belong to Bob, Mark and the Disney Corporation and not me nor CajunBear73. We only do this little hobby to entertain ourselves and our readers…not to make a dime off it.
We'll see ya down the road,
ST-103