Ch.63
After Shego's presents and talking for about half an hour the house interrupted. "Vehicle on premises."
"That should be our ride, Shego-san." Yori says and Shego confirms it when she had the house open the display in the livingroom.
Standing Shego walks them to the door and kisses them goodbye.
"I..." Shego begins to speak but changes her mind. "I'll have something important to tell you the next time we meet."
'I'm going to quit working for Drakken.' Shego admits to herself.
Ron and Yori look at Shego for a moment before smiling and getting in the car, making her wonder if she spoke aloud.
~~~~~
The ride back to Middleton was uneventful and silent. To Ron, Yori's company helped sooth his building rage and he was grateful.
Had he been alone he would have most likely decided to do something stupid and even now he was having trouble stopping some of the retaliatory actions he was coming up with. Still, he needed this out of the way and taken care of. Calling Wade, Ron asked if he could meet him at his lab and in person. With Wade agreeing Ron hung up and closed his eyes.
In the lab he saw Mrs. Renton, Felix and Zita beside Wade.
"Hey Ron what's up?" Wade asked oblivious to Ron's rage.
Ron gritted his teeth and walked up to Wade, not saying a word. He grabbed Wade's hand and put the tracking chip in it. Then Ron tried not to strangle Wade and stepped back. Wade looked at his hand in confusion for a moment before realization hit. When he looked up he must have seen the rage in Ron's eyes for he stepped back trembling.
"Care to explain?" Ron asked him.
Wade nodded slowly but asked. "Did Kim finally tell you?" If possible Ron's expression got worse answering the question. "Guess not."
"She knew!" Ron said.
"She found out pretty early and was supposed to tell you." Wade said.
"Why did you put one of these in me?" Ron asked.
"I did it to keep you safe and if anything happened in the field so we could find your body." Wade answered.
Ron's eyes widened at the reply Wade just gave him, it meant the young genius was aware that they could get hurt or die in a mission. Ron was aware but didn't think the young genius knew they could get hurt or worse.
"Of course I screened out most missions that would put you against death directly but some of them slip through. So I prepared so that at least your family has something to bury." Wade explained.
"When did you chip me?" Ron asked.
"About when you entered high school." Wade answered.
"When did Kim find out about it?" Ron asked again.
"Dr. Possible's ten year college reunion. You tricked Drakken into kidnapping you instead." Wade said.
"That was freshman year, Wade." Ron yelled. "Almost three years, you would realize by now she doesn't plan to tell me!"
"I pressure her once in a while Ron, she said she was waiting for the right time to tell you." Wade confesses. "Even uses the p.d.p(puppy dog pout)."
"Has the chip ever been used outside of missions?" Ron asked. Wade trembled and Ron asked again. "Has it even been used outside of missions?"
"Yes." Wade admits. "Kim has asked me to use it to find you a couple times."
Ron clenched his fists harder. "Does Kim have one as well?" He asked.
Wade looked unsure if he should answer but did anyways. "She found out before hers was ready and forbade any inside her body only in the gadgets."
'Kim saw fit to leave me chipped but refused hers then goes as far as to use mine outside of emergencies.' Ron thought his anger building.
"When was the last time Kim asked you to use the chip?" Ron asked.
"Couple weeks ago, you studied at Tara's." Wade confirms.
'The day I felt I was followed.' Ron remembered.
"Wade I want to know what other secrets you guys are hiding from me." Ron stated.
Wade looked torn as he hesitated a moment before dealing the last blow. "Kim was the one who called the food inspector."
Ron seemed frozen at those words, even his building amounts of anger seemed to disappear. 'Kim did that.' Ron thought before saying aloud. "I see."
And he did see. His best friend since pre-k has been keeping tabs on him through a tracking chip and instead of encouraging his success she shut it down. 'What am I to you Kim?' Ron asked himself.
Sighing Ron spoke again. "I honestly wanted to beat the crap out of you, Wade but I just lost the motivation to do even that. I just want to say that all you needed to do was explain your reasoning and asked me, I would have consented. But to chip me, a jew, without my knowledge was pretty close to the worst thing you could have done to me. So I would like some space to avoid doing something drastic."
Tearing up, Wade replied. "I'm so sorry Ron, that was never my intent. I'll leave, just let me know if you need anything."
"Yeah, the car upstairs will drive you home." Ron added.
Nodding, Wade left.
Mrs. Renton, Felix and Zita were shocked into silence when they understood what was going on. They couldn't fathom what Ron was going through but they could see that by the time conversation ended he lost something important. They couldn't help cry at the sight.
"Ron..." Felix tried to say something but words failed him.
"I'm sorry you guys had to see that." Ron apologized before adding. "I'm going to turn in for today."
"Yeah, we'll see you tomorrow." Zita replied.
"Yeah." Ron said and turned back to the lift with a silent Yori following.
Inside the house Ron went to his room with Yori and finally started crying. Yori sat on the bed with him and brought him into a hug. Ron cried his heart out at what his bestfriend since pre-k had done or thought of their friendship. Since when did the mutual support stopped. Since when did the person he trusted most started taking advantage of him. And most importantly, since when had his success became threatening to her.
Ron cried till he fell asleep in Yori's arms.
~~~~~
The next morning Ron and Yori got dressed in silence.
Ron then went to the kitchen and started cooking while Yori took her first doze of birth control. When she went to the kitchen Ron still looked lifeless even as he cooked which normally cheered him up.
Thus, Yori decided to intervene the first chance she got which to her delight was minutes after breakfast when Kim let herself in.
"Ron! Hurry or we'll be late for school." Kim announced as a greeting.
Yori saw Ron's conflicted look and took action. She got up and closed the distance to the approaching Kim, making sure to block the way to Ron and slapped the unsuspecting Kim across the face.
"W-what?" Kim asked touching her face.
Slap!
Returning with another slap was Yori's response. And then another before Kim registered what was going on.
The last slap seemed to have finally snapped Kim out of her confusion as she assumed a fighting stance and attacked. Yori didn't hesitate to defend herself but instead of punches and kicks she continued to slap Kim across the face.
Ron realized they were fighting and tried to intervene but Yori and Kim didn't stop. Noted to Yori's delight was that Ron mostly focused on stopping Kim.
"Ron step aside, she's the one to slap me out of nowhere." Kim demanded.
"Can't do that Kim and I need you to leave." Ron try to persuade gently, still unsure how to handle their broken friendship and confront her about it.
"Do step aside Ron-san, I will make her feel some of what you're going through." Yori pleaded.
"Leave? Why? Also let me teach her a lesson and then we can go to school." Kim said not catching onto Ron's feelings.
"I'll be going to school with Yori but I need you to leave." Ron said a little louder.
"Ron you're not making any sense. For now just step aside and we'll talk about it on the way to school. Just you and me." The oblivious Kim repeated.
"Kim. I. Need. You. To. Get. Out!!" Ron was saying slowly till he finally yelled.
Ron's yell stilled all movement in the room as he looked like he was about to snap and Kim finally realized there was something wrong in the situation. Yori put her hand on Ron's shoulder, a form of silent support.
"I'll go." A shocked Kim said, turning and leaving Ron's house.
As Ron sighed Yori spoke. "I'm sorry, Ron-san."
"I know Yori." Ron said. "I know."
~~~~~
As Ron and Yori entered the school they were spotted by Felix and Zita who silently shared their support of Ron. Nodding Ron shared a hug with each and headed to class making sure to avoid Kim.
When Monique kissed him at lunch Ron failed to respond and the girl understood something was wrong. She proceeded to ease the story out of Ron and nearly surprised them with a string of curses. Bonnie and Tara who were at the table joined her in cursing, with Bonnie declaring she'd make Kim pay.
Ron felt touched by their concerned but got them to promise to let him handle it. The only problem was he had no idea how to handle it. On one hand he wanted to confront Kim. On the other he wanted to protect their friendship by pretending it never happened. The only problem was the more he tried to convince himself to let it go the more pain and anger he felt.
By then end of the school day Ron felt like he aged a decade. He couldn't handle keeping quiet and had to confront Kim.
~~~~~
Kim had been shocked when Yori slapped her, then angry when she proceeded to do it again. One of the reasons was that she knew Yori was a martial artist so the slap was a clear message. It felt to Kim like Yori was saying you're beneath me.
When the third slap finally hit, Kim attacked. She hadn't held back in her anger but Yori still managed to slap her a couple more times, refusing to throw actual attacks. Then Ron intervened.
Kim figured that Ron was going to side with her once she explained Yori slapped her but he insisted she, Kim, stop and leave instead. Kim insisted she be allowed to deal with Yori till Ron finally yelled. At that point Kim became aware Ron was angry, really angry with her. Why, because Ron never yelled at Kim like that. Ever. Thus, Kim assumed it was instigated by Yori. Now Kim decided that once she got Ron alone she would use today's incident to get Ron back on her side.
With those thoughts in mind Kim walked to school till she found Josh and promptly moved through her day.
After school practice was odd as Bonnie and Tara were glaring at her and it looked like Bonnie stopped Tara from openly attacking her. Kim chucked it up to Bonnie being up to something but when Ron never showed up Kim was once again reminded he was mad at her. I need to talk to him now.
With that thought in mind Kim quickly showered and headed to her locker. She needed Wade to locate Ron so she could talk to him. Opening the door she pressed the call button to the built in monitor as she went about collecting some books.
His image appearing on the screen Wade greeted. "What Kim?"
"Hello to you too Wade, I need a favor." Kim said after slightly chiding him.
"What do you need Kim?" Wade asked not changing his tone.
"Wade, you okay?" Kim prompted seeing as he was clearly upset.
"No Kim I'm not okay, in fact I'm feeling terrible." Wade said, adding. "You know the worst part, you probably made it worse."
"What?! How could I have made it worse? What's even going on?" Kim asked.
"Ron found out about the tracking chip and how you asked me to use it." Wade answered. "And to be completely honest with him I had to tell him about you calling the inspector on him."
Kim paled like she was bleeding out and went completely still. 'Ron knows. That's why he is mad at me. Is that why Yori slapped me this morning, she knows too?' Kim didn't notice she started shaking as she began trying to come up with a plan for damage control but came up with nothing.
"Wade I need to find and talk to Ron yesterday, where is he?" Kim asked.
"I don't know and if I did I wouldn't tell you." Wade spat.
"What do you mean you don't know, he has your tracking chip." Kim demanded.
"Not anymore Kim, he handed it to me yesterday. Which makes me wonder how he removed it." Wade said.
If possible Kim went a little paler.
"But need to find him so we can talk." Kim absentmindedly said.
"It shouldn't be hard Kim, he's standing right behind you." Wade announced before signing off.