Welcome back to A Sitch Too Far. Short note before we dive into Chapter 23: I got a lot more feedback than I expected about how horrible Kim's predicament in the last chapter was. This is true in a very real way, but I guess it goes to show how desensitized I am these days. The sort of discourse that was in last chapter is sadly not nearly as restricted to the absolute fringes as we would hope it to be, but I am glad that folks have retained a deep and healthy disgust of it.
Do rest assured that the content of the final chapters will stay broadly in line with what we've seen so far and that we're not diving into the deep end here.
Chapter 23 - Can't Fight This Feeling
'Congratulations, Stoppable, you just had to adjust your seat like a little girl who couldn't stand a little discomfort.' That's what Ron was sure Barkin would have told him if he were present. Kidnapped at a rest area in the blink of an eye… A new low, for sure. More so than himself, he was worried about Kim and Rufus. Kim had been the first to get tasered, and Ron had lost track of his rodent friend when he himself was shocked into submission. Now blindfolded and tied up in the back of a van, the best he could do was hope for the best.
After what could've been anything from one to five hours, the van stopped and almost immediately the rear door was opened. He heard a small group of goons step inside, one of them grabbed Ron while others put him in chains. He was soon led, still blinded, on a ridiculously long walk inside whatever building he was in. Up some stairs, down some stairs, left, right, all jumbled together. Finally, they came to a stop and his blindfold was removed, followed by his restraints. He was inside a cell, which really felt like overkill. Though a heavy locked door might have been enough to hold Ron, he'd been thrown into a metal cage, one of three that shared what had once been a single large room. He had a bed, a bathroom corner with shower, and no privacy. Well, some privacy because the other cells were empty.
"You wait here," the leader of the goons announced, and the group left the large room, and Ron alone in his cell.
A few old magazines had been left on a table just outside his cage, and after checking that the room was indeed empty, he helped himself to them, stretching his arm through the bars. His daring heist yielded him a copy of the 2003 Henchco catalogue (plus the usual Summer Seasonal Deals insert), a French car magazine, a German gossip rag and some foreign edition of National Geographic, thankfully an issue low on simian content.
"Still better than Camp Wannweep, somehow…" Ron mused to himself. With no serious hope for a quick or easy escape, he used the magazines to distract himself from his worries for a while.
After a while, a larger group of goons showed up, a different guy was leading this group. "Back against the bars."
Finally one who speaks proper English, Ron thought as he complied with the instructions. He was again put in shackles and led away, this time to some sort of lab, with a funky examination bed-chair-thingy. A man in a lab coat was expecting him and ordered the goons to tie him down for the session. The goons left Ron alone with the weirdo.
"So, this is the guy who was captured alongside the girl… She is a feisty one, but she is useful to us…"
Kim's here!
"I will not be as patient with you, and I shall expect your full cooperation in our struggle against the shadowy cabal that pulls the strings that bind our world. Inferiors have no place in our utopia."
Ron had to hold back; he managed to keep his reaction to a quiet groan. It wasn't a big surprise to find that the bad guys had taken a page or two out of the nazi playbook, not after the events in Munich. Still, Ron felt like he had a target painted on his back, and that a lack of cooperation was unlikely to have a positive outcome.
"I'm afraid we don't actually have a file on you, mister…?"
"Zorpox," Ron blurted out. He immediately regretted it; he was just begging for more trouble.
"Wait a minute, you're the guy Drakken told me about!"
Uh oh.
"He was very impressed with your Mega-Weather Generator."
Are you serious? Ron decided to play along. "Uh, yes, the Mega-Weather Generator… It was, uh, going to be my gateway to world domination. Until Kim Possible wrecked it…"
Ron's captor hesitated for a moment at the mention of Kim's name, "So, if you're Zorpox, how come you were in the same car as Kim Possible?"
"I was uh," Ron had been presented with an opportunity, but now he had to sell the tall tale. He resumed, trying to sound like he did during his Zorpox phase. "I was undercover, pretending to be her friend, so that I could strike back and eliminate her as a threat to my plans for world domination! Do you know what an attitudinator is?"
"I don't," the man responded.
Booyah! "Well, you've surely heard of Jack Hench," Ron continued, slowly growing into the role he found himself playing, "he built the attitudinator to enhance the drive, the lust for power and the ruthlessness of those who began to falter."
"Sounds like a good thing…"
"It was! But then Kim Possible and her nerdlinger figured out a way to operate it in reverse, and in a moment of distraction, she put the damned thing on me and damn near lobotomized me! Fortunately for me, Jack Hench's business model depends on repeat business, so the effect wears off. So, as I slowly returned to my normal self, I began to play Kim Possible, waiting for the right moment to strike."
"That is a fascinating tale, Zorpox, but I can't just let you loose before confirming your story. Our leader has ordered that our guests, at least those who have not yet proven their reliability, be given these pain inducers, so that we can control you if you decide to act against us."
"Uh, yeah, a sensible precaution," Ron answered as the device was applied to his neck.
"There we go. I hope you're not lying to me, Zorpox, because I would love to learn from your work."
"And I would be glad to take on an apprentice." Since the conversation was going decently, Ron decided to fish for more information, "Say, where did you even get these things?"
"I bought them on eBay, of course, a seller named MindOfBortel. Very reliable. Well, there was this one time that my order got lost in the mail, but he immediately refunded me."
Oh great…
"Plus, he keeps a low profile, unlike Drakken. Good thing he managed to send us a copy of his papers along with the prototype, otherwise that would have been a lot of time and money down the drain. The hand-to-hand combat still needs work to live up to its full potential, but the personality stuff is top notch, given a suitable reference database. I'm telling you, I was impressed with the results he got with his prototype, it's such a shame that he got raided just before he could really put his technology to the test, I'm sure you would have loved to see it."
"Oh, yeah, for sure," Ron said, trying to follow along with his captor's rambling speech.
"Would totally pass for human, too, unless there was a medical examination of some sort. They look so weird on an x-ray, really gives them an 'end of the world' vibe, know what I mean?"
No, not really.
"I really don't understand why he kept his cybertronic pet project going, that shit would never have worked, not in a million years. Well, not unless someone came up with a major breakthrough, but I haven't heard anything about that. If Drakken had focused, he could have delivered the first batch of synthodrones to us on schedule, the first of our army of stormtroopers…"
The speech was dragging on too long for Ron's liking, and the Zorpox persona brought with it the right tool to bring it to a swift end.
"Enough of your rambling, apprentice!" He shouted into the room. "There will be time to learn from the mistakes of past plans, but for now I demand that you release me and return me to my chambers so that I can plan my next steps!
The man was stunned, maybe even frightened – a pretty impressive performance for a teenager tied down to a bed, wearing a torture device.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Zorpox. Uhm, uh…. Let me just call for a team to escort you."
"No further delays!" Ron replied for added effect.
The man picked up a phone and placed a call, "Hi, I need an escort in my lab for the Zorpox fellow. Our male guest. Yes, I'm sure that's his name. What? Still? Well, if 900 is unavailable, send someone else, it's just a precaution, I had a nice chat with him and I think we'll be able to come to an arrangement. Uh huh. Well, I would think that five armed guards would be plenty. Please do. Bye." He put down the phone and turned to Ron, "they'll be here in just a few minutes."
"Very well," Ron answered with genuine frustration to guide his tone of voice. "So, you have Kim Possible locked up?"
"Oh yes. I knew she was good, but she took out three guards in a flash. We got lucky that someone competent thought to look in on what was happening. I'll be working on her tomorrow morning, to help her see past the lies she's been told all her life."
Ron suppressed what would have been a reflexive "sick and wrong" to not blow his cover, but, lacking a better outlet for his emotions, opted to cackle maniacally. "Do let me participate!" He didn't know where that would lead, but surely being in the room would be better than leaving her alone for whatever their captor had planned.
"Let's see how things go in the morning," the man answered as a team of goons walked through the door. "Ah, good, your escort is here. Take him to cell 3, boys."
The leader of the group grunted an acknowledgement and Ron was walked back to his cell. His restraints were removed through the barred wall after the door had been once again locked shut, allowing him to wander around the room. He had no idea what time it was, and decided to lie down on the bed.
He'd seemingly been successful in bamboozling his captors into believing he was some sort of villain, and potentially an asset. Still, it wasn't at all clear what the way forward was, how would pretending to be evil get him out of his predicament? And how would it help Kim?
Ron found himself missing Kim, not just in an abstract 'wish you were here' sense. He missed her physical presence next to him – it had been the better part of a week since he'd last slept without Kim by his side. He tried to think of something else, Sensei's words came back to him.
It is time for the wall to fall.
Before he had the chance to again dwell on the meaning of those words, he felt something poke his head. He got up to examine it and found the first piece of unequivocally good news he'd had since leaving the hotel in the morning.
"Rufus, buddy, you're okay!"
Rufus confirmed as much with his happy chitter.
"They're holding Kim somewhere in this building, we need to figure out a way of talking to her so we can plan our escape."
"Uh-huh, Sensei!" Rufus answered.
"Sensei? What about Sensei? You mean the wall thing? Still trying to figure that one out…"
"Kim!"
"Yes, we need to get to Kim, we work better together and we'll need her help to escape this place…"
Rufus slapped his forehead, then sat down with his legs crossed and pretended to meditate.
Ron stared at him for a few seconds, then suggested, "Sensei's teachings?"
Rufus nodded energetically.
"I don't remember Sensei teaching us how to teleport, was I asleep for that class?"
Rufus was growing exasperated. "Talk!" he said to Ron.
"Sensei teaches us to… talk… I guess you don't mean the riddles and stuff…"
The naked mole rat shook his head.
"So that means… Talk… You want me to reach out to Kim like Sensei reached out to me!"
Rufus' ecstatic look left no doubt that Ron was on the right track.
"But how do I do that? The wall thing!" He paused to examine the literal wall in front of him. "I don't suppose I'm meant to blow a hole in this wall…"
"Nuh-uh, Kim!" Rufus insisted.
"A wall related to Kim. Wait, a wall between us?" Though Rufus made it known that Ron was getting the message, Ron's tone shifted from excited to nervous. "You're not suggesting that…? Noooo, you got it all wrong Rufus…" he said, as much for his own benefit as for Rufus', receiving a skeptical look from his mole rat friend. "It's not like I have that sort of feelings for Kim, we're best buds. So what if she's gorgeous and awesome and we love to spend time together and kissing her felt totally badical and oh geez, I'm so crushing on her…"
Ron felt downtrodden by his own feelings, despite Rufus' pat on the shoulder and noises of comfort. Though he'd shied away from admitting them, it was hard to deny that there was something and that it had been there a long time.
"What am I going to do, Rufus? If I tell Kim about this and she doesn't feel the same way, I'll just be driving a stake through the heart of our friendship…"
"The wall," Rufus offered.
"Yeah, I have to try to talk to her, so that we can find a way out if here. I couldn't live with myself if she got hurt because loser me was too afraid to tell her the truth. It's time to step up and do where no man should have to do – to talk about his feelings."
Rufus gave Ron a thumbs up and ran off into a vent.
"Alright, here goes nothing…"
If you do want to read something that can be dark and disturbing at times, but remains hopeful, check out The Darkness Within, by the GWA collective of Captainkodak1, Commander Argus, G Go, Mattb3671, MrDrP, WesUAH and Zaratan. Note: It goes off the rails, despite starting off pretty normal. It is not light reading. Also, expect twists and turns, it was written by seven people and it shows.
