Ch.52
Ron was excited.
His lab/workshop was completed and the people responsible for the job were already outside to give him the tour.
How could he not be excited, a major step had been cleared so he could put some of his ideas to work.
Still enjoying the moment he brought Yori and Shego out the house so they could share the moment together.
The construction company only sent two people over, a man and a woman. The five foot three middle age man with a muscular build that proved his life's work from a simple construction worker to architect and eventually CEO of a company. Ron recognized him as such and extended his hand in greeting.
"Roderick."
"Ronald." Roderick said as he shook Ron's hand asking. "Are you looking forward to it?"
"Very." Ron agreed and looked at Vanessa. She was a five foot nine young woman carrying a tablet and Roderick's assistant as well as Ron's go between with the company. "Vanessa."
"Ron." Vanessa greeted and looked at Yori and Shego.
"Right." Ron said realizing introductions were in order. "Roderick, Vanessa I'd like you to meet Yori and She-"
"Sarah." Shego cut him off before he completed his sentence extending her hand to Vanessa as Yori shook hands with Roderick. Then shook Roderick's hand as Yori greeted Vanessa.
"A pleasure." Vanessa said and asked. "Ready for the tour?"
"Yes." Ron confirmed and followed as Roderick and Vanessa led the way to his reconstructed garage.
At a glance Ron was able to tell that it was twice as big and could accommodate a truck pulling in to drop of supplies or pick something up. Inside the garage nothing seemed to indicate lab though there was plenty of space to park two cars side by side and still store things.
As the seemingly normal garage doors closed turning the garage into a grenade resistant room without giving signs that it was anything but a garage, Roderick spoke up. "First we'll guide you throughout the premises and we'll finish transferring control if everything is to your satisfaction."
With those words he walked over to a desk where a simple mat lay. Swiping his hand over a corner turned the mat into a tablet interface. A hand print, password and retinal scan later opened access to the lab. The entrance was a lift marked by yellow and black lines that after access was granted operated on voice command.
After Vanessa made sure that everyone was safely on the lift she gave the command 'Down' and the lift started descending. A few feet after everyone's head was cleared doors closed preventing an accident of someone walking into the open hole. There were ten seconds of silence where the only light came from the walls before light became visible at their feet.
When the lift came to a halt a glass panel slid open giving the group access to the facility. The first thing to note was that the lab was the size of a school gymnasium though Ron would have liked to make it bigger his parents property set a limit. Second thing of note was that everything was state of the art.
Ron would have loved to say that he was professional about everything and waited for the tour but seeing it first hand sent him over the top and he started inspecting everything himself. He went over every piece of equipment and their positions to make sure that if he added anything it would not interfere with the existing equipment. Once he was done Ron realized how rude he had been and while blushing profusely returned to the group.
"Sorry about that I just couldn't resist." Ron said rubbing the back of his head.
"Not a problem." Roderick said with a smile.
"Assuming you're satisfied with this floor we can go down to the next." Vanessa said seeing Ron hadn't raised any concerns.
"That's fine though I would like to look at the power readings later." Ron said.
"Very well, this way please." Said Vanessa leading the way back to the lift. With everyone on board she commanded. "Down, B2. As you had requested the standard facilities for overnight work we took the liberty to make a set of apartments with a common living room and kitchen. Each room has been equipped as a master bedroom and has everything one expected to find."
"That's great. Though I don't know about the other's, when inspiration strikes I expect to be down here not letting it go to waste." Ron admitted already thinking of the final touches for the Neuro Linker.
This time Ron calmly toured the apartments with everyone and especially the kitchen. It was on par with a restaurant's and had heated flooring incase it was too cold or a person wasn't wearing shoes.
When everyone sat at the kitchen table Ron went over the power requirements for the sub levels and a few other things on the tablet Vanessa carried before signing paperwork. Afterwards they went back to the garage and transferred the security access for the lab to Ron removing theirs. As Ron had signed the release for the final payment he added a million in bonus to ensure that if there was any future cooperation they would do their best.
Seeing them to their car Ron bid goodbye and texted Felix and Wade letting them know the lab/workshop was operational.
"So what did you guys think?" Ron asked Yori and Shego.
"Spacious, well equipped, with the best security money could buy, overall assessment, money well spent." Shego commented. "Though I have a few ideas on how to make the security better if you're interested."
"Hearing you offer I definitely I'm." Ron quickly agreed.
"I'll get you a list of things to buy and I'll stop by when you have them and set everything up." Shego added.
"Cool." Ron said.
"I entirely agree with Shego-san." Yori said adding. "I especially liked the apartments and communal living area, they show care for your partners."
"You're right plus the kitchen was great." Ron said looking at his phone as Felix and Wade texted they're on the way.
'Did you let Mrs. Renton know?' Ron asked seeing as it was unfair to not include her.
'Yeah, right now Wade is helping us load the car we'll be there in twenty.' Felix replied.
'Cool, I'll order some pizza.' Ron said.
Mrs. Renton arrived precisely twenty minutes later bringing Wade and Felix.
Ron had her pull into the garage where the pizza and drinks were already waiting. Quickly putting the equipment onto a cart Ron added everyone to the lab authorized roster letting them customize their passwords, Shego and Yori included. Once that was ready he gave the command. "Down."
"Does the lift have voice recognition?" Wade asked.
"Not yet but soon." Shego replied. That was one of the upgrades she had in mind.
When everyone saw the lab/workshop they admitted that it was better than they had expected. Even Wade agreed that it was on par with his own when he started.
After everyone inspected the lab they went to the living area and celebrated.
~~~~~
Although Monique was a bit bummed out that Ron only felt the need to explain himself to Yori she didn't let it bother her, much. She was rushing to see Kim while making sure that Josh wasn't going to be in the picture.
When she got to the Possible's Monique rang the doorbell expecting Kim to open the door so she said directly what was on her mind. "Girl we need to talk."
"We do?" Asked Ann not expecting the visit.
"Sorry Mrs. Possible, I was expecting Kim to open the door." Monique apologized quickly once again noting that if she looked half as good as Ann at that age she'd be satified.
"Come in Monique, she should be upstairs." Ann said letting her in.
"Thanks Mrs. Possible." Monique said and made her way to Kim's room.
Upon arriving Monique noticed that Kim was standing by her room window and looking in the direction of Ron's house. She briefly wondered why but didn't want to be distracted from the main reason she came over. "Girl we need to talk."
Kim had much the same reaction as Ann asking. "We do?"
"Yes we do." Monique repeated and dragged Kim to the bed. "I need to be sure of something. You and Ron, not a thing and never will be a thing, right?"
"Right." Kim easily agreed making Monique sigh.
Taking a deep breath Monique spoke. "So with your blessing I'm going to ask him out."
There was a couple of seconds of tense silence before Monique repeated. "I'm going to ask Ron out."
"I heard you I just don't understand why." Kim said trying to hold back the desire to scream that Ron was hers.
Monique noticed the building amount of anger in Kim's face and wondered what was going on. 'She just agreed and didn't seem to be lying that Ron had no chance with her so why the anger?' Moving a bit away from Kim's reach Monique cautiously asked. "What do you mean?"
"I mean why is everyone suddenly showing interest in Ron?" Kim raised her voice. "He hasn't changed, he is the same old Ron. Why is it that now everyone is suddenly noticing him? First Yori and Sarah now you. I don't understand, it's just Ron is not a hottie."
"He is a hottie and it's not a recent thing." Monique responded explaining. "I've had a crush on him since I got to know him better. We have a lot of things in common and the guy can brighten anyone's day. He has a way to make anyone feel special. I think I really like him and things will work out between us."
Kim took a calming breath before asking. "Why didn't you tell me you were feeling this way?"
"Because till recently he only had eyes for you but now that you shut that down there's a chance." Monique explained.
Hearing her words Kim smirked. 'And knowing Ron it's going to stay that way.' Kim thought before speaking. You're right then I wish you luck."
"Thanks Kim, I knew you'd understand." Monique said relieved and gave her best friend a hug.
~~~~~
Tara was on call with Bonnie after they got to their respective homes.
"We're really behind." Tara repeated for the 5th time since the call started.
"Yes we are." Bonnie agreed then added. "Tara I think we need a united front. Yori already lives with him and from the looks of things Sarah can stay over whenever she wants. At this rate we'll be stuck in the friend zone. And if my instincts are correct he and Yori have started dating if not more."
"How can we make a united front. Short of ambushing him we don't have enough chances to interact." Tara said and added. "Plus I think they've already been intimate."
"What! How? When?" Bonnie yelled.
"I don't know but that's the feeling I got from watching them this morning." Tara admits, her instincts spot on.
"Then shouldn't we just give up. Yori has clearly won." Bonnie sighed.
"No! I'm not gonna back down till Ron tells me to himself." Tara firmly declared. 'I know he likes me I just need to work on that.' She thought.
'Wow this is the first time Tara's being so firm about something.' Thought Bonnie. "What do you have in mind?"
"I'm going to make it a hundred and twenty percent obvious that I have an interest in him. I'll ask him on dates and even go on the offensive if I have to." Tara declared.
Sadly Tara knew that it was easier said than done.
"Then we'll do it together." Bonnie declared.
"But-" Tara said.
"No buts." Bonnie cut her off.
"But what if then chooses one of us?" Tara said it anyway.
"Then he chose." Bonnie said quietly.
~~~~~
After the celebration on the lab/workshop Ron, Felix, Wade and Mrs. Renton got to work on the the Neuro Linker under the interested watch of Yori and Shego.
It was close to ten pm when they put down the tools and Ron picked up the prototype. The device looked like a bike helmet that from what Shego could see was nothing special. What she didn't know was that the prototype was designed this way to remove the wearer's sight and hearing capabilities.
There turned out to be a microphone built in so Ron could communicate. "So I'll power on the device in three, two and one." Ron then pressed a button on the side and promptly everyone tensed.
If anything went wrong it could effectively fry his brain but Ron was convinced that everything was in working order and after a second of tense silence he said. "Wow, took a second to start up but if we add a standby mode that could easily be handled. This is amazing, it's like having a single eye though. I have a few ideas on how to make the one for sight correction work."
As everyone was in stunned silence Ron stood up from where he was sitting and went over to the desk that displayed a three dimensional version of the helmet, opening a copy of it into a new page and reworking the design it took him twenty minutes as everyone looked in awe to finish the sight correction upgrades.
"Thats-" wade started to say causing Ron to jump.
"Ahh!" Ron jumped a foot into the air before landing.
"What's wrong?" Everyone asked in unison.
"Forgot that I wasn't alone, sorry." Ron admits, adding. "Sound design works too. What were you trying to say Wade?"
"That's awesome and the improved design will make it easier. What made you design the camara this way?" Wade asked.
"Just a moment of inspiration." Ron admitted.
"Did you have inspiration for the general design?" Felix asked.
"Yes, I'm leaning towards this." Ron said and in another twenty minutes a super sleek neck accessory was made. "Now that we have a working prototype it is so much easier to customize."
Hearing Ron speak everyone else was left speechless. He had just done in minutes what they couldn't yet consider possible.
"How much memory would the sleeker device have after upgrading?" Asked Mrs. Renton trying to gauge if that was the limit of Ron's invention.
"By my estimate between two fifty and five hundred gigs." Ron said.
"This is incredible." Mrs. Renton says. If Ron's estimates are accurate he just not only created a knew tool for the medical field helping untold people he is also selling a computer with it. Depending on how good everything looks it would be a new digital revolution. "Okay, my turn to try the Neuro Linker."
"Not fair mom, I was about to say that." Felix complained.
"First come first served." Mrs. Renton simply countered.
Then Shego watched as everyone tried on the devise and experienced first hand its capabilities. When it was her turn, Shego was astounded by the things a simple looking helmet was able to do. As she was experimenting with the helmet Shego looked around and had to admit that it was indeed incredible. Taking some distance from everyone Shego performed a couple of flips and lands them perfectly. She also noticed that the sound didn't have a direction like normal and pointed it out to Ron and the others.
"Cool, we'll work on that but for now I think it's time for a break." Ron announced much to the dismay of the group.
"Ron I was planning to stay the night. We have no school tomorrow and I'm pretty sure mom would give me the okay." Felix quickly said already working on something that would be great for the Neuro Linker's gaming and entertainment options as he was calling it.
"I was also thinking of staying." Mrs. Renton said, adding. "I was thinking on working on a back up power system to help while the battery is being switched that way people without sight would have an easier time keeping the device active."
"Okay." Ron easily agreed and looked at Wade who hadn't spoken. "You also planning to spend the night Wade or what?"
"Sadly I'm due back home in an hour. It's family night and even dad is not late for those." Wade explained. "My mom should be here in ten minutes."
"Okay then Felix, Mrs. Renton I'll be heading up. If you need anything don't hesitate to call or knock on the door and I'll help the best I can." Ron said as he led the way to the lift with Wade, Yori and Shego in tow.