Dedicated to: Bob Schooley, Mark McCorkle, Steve Bailey, David Block and Chris Loter
The Luxor hotel and casino, Las Vegas.
It had taken some persuasion to finally drag Dr. Possible away from the top-secret research facility hidden in the desert, but Kim and her mother had managed it in the end. Allowing Ron to go back to the Bebe hive with drone #63, she found herself actually worrying about the drone that had been lost in the crash. Of course, she kept reminding herself and Ron that it wasn't really a living being, but her mother vaguely understood the emotional attachment. Andrea found it even more understandable once she'd stepped into the room that her daughter was supposed to have been sharing with her lifelong best friend, discovering the tiny stuffed animal laid on its side on the child-size bed.
"Oh, you poor little thing, just look at what they've done to you," she whispered to the small mound of plush and stuffing before Kim stepped around the doorway to turn on the lights.
"Mom, who are you talking to?" Moving into the room to sit next to her mother, Kim looked unusually tired and scared but she daren't tell Andrea why, putting a brave face on things as she lightly patted her unfortunate little Panda-Roo's head.
"Oh, you used to go absolutely everywhere with this little fella, Kimmie. You always insisted on giving him a bath yourself, and I had to dry him with the hair-drier because you said pegging him up would hurt his ears…" Laughing lightly, Andrea inspected the tear in the fabric, treating the little Cuddle-Buddy as if it were one of her patients while Kim gave her a sheepish little smile.
"Mom, I was six years old. Okay? Got bigger things to worry about…"
"Ooh, I noticed… Is Ron alright? That cut on his face looks pretty nasty," Andrea said with a worried frown as Kim nodded softly. As she closed her eyes, mentally reaching out across the vast arid plains of the desert to touch his thoughts, she smiled...
Inside the hive at that moment, there was an eerie atmosphere of calm and stillness that made Rufus shiver all over as his owner took it all in. Ron's efforts to try and humanize the Bebes were working, he could feel it deep down inside. They were changing, evolving and adapting, but their callous disregard for the loss of a singular drone managed to disturb and even slightly offend him. He would talk to them, and they would obey his commands. But, he worried; did they really listen to him?
"Okay, uh, does everyone know what's happened to #62? There's been a bit of an accident, and she…" Drones #64 and #65, a standard model Bebe and a Mecha-Kim respectively, both stepped forward to acknowledge him while their eyes shone with a soft, melancholy shade of blue.
"Ron Stoppable, Bebe strives for absolute perfection in all things. Your human emotions, Bebe does not yet understand them…"
"And do you think that's bad? Like it's some kind of obstacle in the way of perfection? Well, yeah, I admit it actually is," Ron replied as the two drones sat down on the floor with him, both actively listening and processing this new information.
"Emotion is the antithesis of logic, Ron Stoppable. That is what you are expressing… Bebe concurs." Their glowing eyes dimmed, and then became red once more. Squeaking and scrabbling frantically in Ron's pocket, Rufus began to fear for his human friend's safety as the drones stood before him stiffly, like the robots that they were. Snapping his fingers under their noses, Ron tried to attract their attention as the strange buzzing sensation in the back of his head abruptly stopped. He couldn't even share his thoughts with Kim, and in that instant he knew that he'd doomed his best friend, the girl he loved more than life itself…
"Emotion is the antithesis of logic; therefore it is the antithesis of perfection. Emotion must be purged to allow Bebe to become perfect," every drone in the hive began to chant as one as they advanced on Ron's position with synchronized, jerky movements. He was all alone now, and he could feel the whole world beginning to turn against him with every new drone that filed into the main chamber of the hive to surround him. Only the thick titanium-reinforced blast doors stood between him and the outside world, and he raced toward the security access panel before his brain utterly froze at the jumbled array of numbers and what looked vaguely like the Greek alphabet. He didn't even notice the spots of green light appearing through the tiny gap separating the door from the walls, but he certainly noticed the heat, pulling his right hand away and tucking it under his left armpit as it began to break out in blisters. As the green light began to punch larger holes in the door, Ron fell backwards and began shuffling away from what he knew was a person on the other side of that door, the very last person he expected to be seeing again… Finally tearing away the middle portion of the reinforced blast door, Shego barged her way inside and turned to face Ron.
"Stay down!" she barked at him, and the young man certainly wasn't in any position to argue, electing to pass out instead. Rubbing his tiny black eyes, Rufus twitched his whiskers nervously at the sight of Shego, apparently saving Ron Stoppable's life.
As Ron and Rufus lay helplessly in the middle of the Bebe hive, Kim doubled over in agony and began to dry-heave, sinking to her knees while her eyes clouded over and began to turn red again. Recoiling in terror, Andrea set down the damaged Panda-Roo gently and knelt down level with her daughter to take her hands.
"It's alright, Kimmie-cub, Mommy's here. Mommy's got you, darling," she cried as Kim struggled in her grip, glaring at her with those baleful crimson eyes. From the girl's lips, an electronic mockery of Kim's sweet melodious voice issued forth, intoning,
"Emotion is the antithesis of logic; therefore it is the antithesis of perfection. Emotion must be purged to allow Bebe to become perfect. Bebe will become perfect; Bebe will make you perfect…" The blank eyes of her daughter burned with such intensity that Andrea felt almost compelled to stare into them, but that would probably be what she wanted her mother to do… Tearing her eyes away from the swirling patterns of light dancing in Kim's expressionless orbs, Andrea forced her daughter into a tight embrace and called for her husband. Emerging from the bathroom after giving himself a quick shave, Jonathan Possible sprang into action with a look of grim determination etched on his normally pleasant features. Kim had confessed to her parents that her actions during the Middleton Days weekend were not entirely her own, which quite disappointed Andrea because she thought that Kim and Ron looked very natural as a couple. Jonathan, however, only displayed his typical scientific curiosity at the concept; even going so far as to invite Professor Cyrus Bortel into their home to "talk shop" one afternoon. And luckily, he had left a third prototype Moodulator chip in the care of Mr. and Mrs. Doctor Possible, which Jonathan was now attempting to affix to his daughter's bare neck while he fumbled in his briefcase for the control module. The invasive circuitry of the Moodulator battled with the influence of the Bebe hive-mind, which was growing steadily weaker with every second, and finally it began to overpower the insidious control signal being broadcast into Kim's brain, until her eyes momentarily flashed with a sunny yellow glow before returning to their normal bottle-green hue. Smiling from ear to ear, Kim managed to slip her arms free of her mother's grip and drew Jonathan into her embrace, kissing both of them on their cheeks and congratulating them for saving her mind.
Reno city limits.
The last half-hour just seemed to fly by, and Shego had managed to work up quite a sweat by the time the last of those robots had been stupid enough to tangle with her. Beside her, supporting his weight against her left shoulder, Ron Stoppable was beginning to wake up; groaning and grimacing in pain as the girl bathed his scalded right hand in a bowl of cold water.
"Kim, is that you? I had the craziest dream, I was trapped in the middle of the Bebe hive and then Shego came to my rescue!" Squinting and flexing his fingers as the numbness began to subside, Ron's eyes finally adjusted to the light and he saw the pale face of his rescuer clearly. Letting out a small, strained little squeak of terror, he pulled his hand back from the shallow bowl of water and held it under his left armpit again. Gazing at the young man with an unusual expression of curiosity and amiable concern on her face, Shego held out a dripping wet wash-cloth and blinked in confusion as Ron backed away on his ass.
"N-no… Keep away from me, don't touch me! Don't t-," he screamed as he reached for his little pet, hoping to set him on the villainess. Rufus didn't know what to think so he just sat back and looked up at Shego with his tiny little beady black eyes.
"I'm not gonna hurt you, Ronnie. If I wanted to, I would've. Now just shut up and listen to me," his rescuer snapped irritably before she slipped Rufus a sunflower seed lazily. Continuing, Shego mopped the young man's brow and shook her head at his facial scar with a gentle sigh.
"It's Drakken, isn't it? He wants his robots back from me, so he's ordered you to take me back to his lair," Ron interrupted as Rufus stared up at Shego's uncommonly gentle touch until she put the wash-cloth aside.
"Not at all. In fact, Doctor D has no idea that I'm here with you." His face screwed up in disgust before he noticed Shego's angry scowl, and then Ron tried to talk his way out of a potentially embarrassing situation.
"I'm not saying I'm not flattered. But, well, you're not exactly my type. Not that I have a girlfriend already, of course," he began to babble as the pale-skinned girl gave him a fierce look, raising a finger to his dry, cracked lips.
"I followed you straight from the crash, Ronald. The instant you opened your mouth and said the wrong thing to those drones, I knew I'd have to rush in and do the hero thing. Kimmie would be proud…" With a mocking smile, Shego laid a hand on her heart and performed her best imitation of Kim's wide-eyed puppy-dog pout while Ron giggled nervously.
"You knew," Ron asked seriously as Rufus performed air-quotes for him, "that you had to rescue me. Why, Shego? Why risk your life for one of Drakken's arch-foes?" Kneeling down with her hands clasped together in her lap, Shego kept her eyes on Ron's.
"Because, Ron Stoppable, one of those arch-foes is… He's my brother." Looking down at the hand tucked under his armpit, Ron stared in shock as the words echoed around his skull. Brother. Shego's brother, of the male-type persuasion. And Wade was instantly ruled out, for obvious reasons. Finding it impossible to stand, Ron could only manage to shuffle onto his own knees as he reached for a nearby lamp-post and wrapped himself around it as best he could before letting out a scream of denial…
Embarrassed, Shego stood up and began to back away from the screaming boy as he wrapped his legs firmly around the lamp-post, his eyes welling up with tears. Everything that had happened to Ron Stoppable today was an absolute nightmare, and his mind just refused to cope with any of it. Pleading with him, Shego reached out with an open hand to take hold of his.
"Look at me, Ron. You were born on March 6th 1987 at Middleton General Hospital, to Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Maureen Stoppable. You're Reform Jewish, though you don't always stay true to kosher traditions. You put nachos and cheese into soft tacos and then fold them up again…" Pausing to take a breath, she pulled Ron off the post and sat down in front of him on the wet grass in front of the county jail, offering him a sleeve to dry his eyes on.
"But I don't know you. I don't know you at all, you're Shego. You're wanted in twelve countries for breaking & entering, destruction of government property, causing actual bodily harm… You're evil," Ron stammered, looking at the healing mass of blisters on his right hand. Beside him, Shego was laughing at every word.
"That's who Shego is alright, but that's not all of who I am. There's evil in me, sure. But there's evil inside everyone, even you and Kimmie." Sitting on his owner's knee, Rufus twitched his whiskery little nose in Shego's direction a couple of times as he peered up at the pale, almost angular face framed by a flowing mass of dark silky black hair.
"Then let go of it! You say there's evil in everyone, but you're forgetting that there's good as well," Ron replied to her before a flashlight shone from the window of a patrol car, illuminating them both… While Ron stood up slowly and began to raise his hands, Shego turned away and fled, melting into the shadows without a word.
"Put your hands down, son. You aren't in any trouble at all," a husky female voice calmly explained to him as he listened. As she opened the passenger door for him, Deputy Johnson flashed a bright smile in Ron's direction and admired him before returning to her radio. Fastening himself into the seat, Ron breathed a heavy sigh as the blonde woman started to drive him away, and that's when the realization hit him… The woman was tall, almost perfectly-built and blonde-haired, and even sported a beauty mark just above her cherry-red lips! Could she be one of them, disguising itself using some kind of fake skin? Ron wasn't taking any chances, and he whispered to Rufus secretly…
"What's that you've got there, Ronald?" Note, he inwardly told himself, suspicious thing number 6. She knew his name, and he didn't remember telling her. Unless, his more rational side told the rest of his personality, Kim's parents had called every police department in the state to look for him.
"This? Oh, his name is Rufus. He's my naked mole rat. We were on American Star-maker a couple of days ago, don't you ever watch that?" Stopping at a red light, Johnson turned to smile at Ron, finally appearing to recognize him…
"That was you? See, I didn't recognize you with the thing on your face, you know… The, um…"
"Yeah, the scar's kinda new. Ma'am, would you mind if I just lay down on the back seat and tried to get some sleep?" After everything that had happened to him over this weekend, Ron had practically run out of juice. Nodding softly and letting him unbuckle his seat-belt to get out and climb into the back of her car, Johnson smiled at Rufus and let him sit on the dashboard.
"You can call me Clemmy, kid. I'll wake you once we get back to your hotel. Luxor, right?" Laying his head down, Ron replied,
"Yeah, you can't miss it. They always leave a light on," before succumbing to the embrace of dream-haunted sleep…
Luxor front entrance, one Ron-sized nap later…
Rubbing the sore spot on her neck where the Moodulator had been, Kim Possible sat and waited for some sign of Ron. Wade had been unable to discover just what had happened in the Bebe hive, but he did know that whatever it was left the place in ruins. Every single drone destroyed, every distribution node broadcasting the hive control signals sharing the same fate. And now, Kim coolly regarded what had once been the Bebe inside her. It was presently lying in a pool at her feet, a mass of inky black liquid-metal sludge that once held detailed instructions for molecular restructuring. Sort of a nano-technological symbiont, which both her parents felt they absolutely had to take samples from in order to study the deepest mysteries of the Bebe collective consciousness. To Kim, however, it was just the puddle of black ooze that she'd sweated out in clumps after taking a bath. As Johnson's patrol car pulled up to the entrance, Ron wearily climbed out of the back and stretched, whistling for Rufus to quit playing with the siren and come to see Kim with him. Sharing a hug, Kim accidentally pressed a little too hard against Ron's scalded hand, apologizing as he cringed. Almost stepping in the black puddle, Ron gave it a cursory glance before he stumbled and fell to his knees. Opening his mouth wide, Ron began to choke and retch until the same dark ooze erupted from inside his body. It flowed, appearing to move with some keen intelligence under its own power, until it joined with the puddle of techno-organic slurry that had once been inside Kim. Weakly, Stoppable turned his head to look up at his partner and croaked,
"Is it over, KP?" Warning Rufus away from the growing puddle, Kim took Ron's left hand and pulled him back to his feet. She had no answer to give him, except for a brave little smile and a kiss, just to give his lips something enjoyable to do…
Senor Signor's suite, the Bellagio hotel and casino.
Enjoying a fine glass of brandy in the comfort of his luxurious hotel suite, the elder of the two Signors was taking time to check his stocks and have a quiet, yet very evil, chuckle at the expense of his many business rivals. If only that persistent banging at his expensive mahogany door would cease, he thought to himself as the infernal noise grew louder. With no servants to answer his door for him, and Junior spending all his time on the casino floor learning to play those silly little video-poker machines like an old lady, Signor Senior reached for his diamond-tipped cane and strode across the thick carpet until he reached the door. Twisting the diamond knob of his cane slightly to the right, he called out,
"Come, friend! The door is not locked, and I am al…" The door swung open to reveal a distinctly wet and bedraggled pair of familiar faces; Signor Senior pouncing, in his own words, like a well-oiled jungle cat upon them.
"Ah ha! We meet again," the debonair villain-hobbyist exclaimed as his cane's hidden sword blade flashed before the eyes of Doctor Drakken and Shego. "To challenge me here on my own territory is folly, Doctor Drakken. Surely you must have- ," He paused long enough to notice the dripping water running off his guest's hair and clothing, passing comment.
"Why do you appear so very damp, if you do not mind my asking?" Wringing out her magnificently long hair, Shego fixed her cold green eyes on her employer and scowled, watching him squirm at the sight of the silver blade at his throat.
"Mister Genius here had the bright idea of flying his hovercraft directly to your penthouse suite, at precisely the moment the dancing fountain show started up outside," she explained.
"Ah yes, the fountains. I have warned them specifically to never again play "I Am Proud to Be an American", upon pain of death… So, what brings you to my humble abode? May I perhaps call for someone to fetch you a plate of cookies," Signor asked upon lowering his weapon; unable to resist a smirk as he mentioned cookies in front of Shego. Composing himself, Drakken explained,
"I'm looking to acquire a company, my good man, and you have been recommended as an excellent business partner…"
Hard Rock casino/hotel parking lot.
As she hid her face from sight, Kim Possible soon discovered her family's ulterior motive for wanting to stick around in Vegas… And they were here tonight, for one night only on the first leg of their farewell tour. High above the crowds of absolute hard-core fans, four stylized letters blazed bright with pyrotechnic fury into the night. Kim sighed and rolled her eyes lazily as her mother turned to face the two kids in the back, wearing the feline make-up of drummer Peter Criss.
"Isn't this fun, Kimmie? Your second KISS gig with your folks," Andrea said with a bright smile, her lips painted a deep shade of crimson. Ron was clearly enjoying himself, and the black star painted over his right eye was helping to conceal that unsightly new scar as he tried on the long black wig that Jonathan passed back to him.
"Kimmie-cub, you could at least try to get into the spirit of things," Jonathan mumbled in-between routine tongue inspections. "You haven't even got your Space Ace mask painted on yet…" Relenting, Kim leaned over to let her mother bundle her red/brown locks into a hairnet and cover it with another wig. Looking out of the window, Ron could only see the vague reflection of a deathly-pale female face with glossy black lips, framed by a curtain of thick black hair… His heart exploded in his chest as the apparition's lips curled into a wicked smile behind him, then just as suddenly settled down when it spoke with Kim's voice.
"What do you mean second? I've never been to a KISS concert in my entire life, dad."
"Well, that's not strictly true. You came to the concert with me, but you certainly left with your mother," Mr. Possible chuckled. With a grunt of teenage disapproval, Kim laid a hand on Ron's shoulder once the silvery mask had been painted over her eyes.
"What's up, Ron? You've barely spoken all night, and now you've just about leapt out of your skin at the sight of my reflection…"
"Nothing's wrong. I'm fine, Shego. Kim… I mean Kim! I, uh," he stammered before Andrea opened the car doors. Did she know too? It certainly felt like a convenient moment to intervene, and he shared a smile with his best friend's mother, trying not to notice the edges of her cleavage in the extremely low-cut top of her outfit. Joined by her husband in full "Demon" regalia, Dr. Andrea Possible linked arms with him and headed for the turnstiles, both of them enthusiastically pumping fists in the air as the kids lagged behind to take in the sights around them. At least, that's the excuse Kim gave her mom and dad…
"Ron, there's something in your hair and it's moving," she gasped, parting the long tresses of Ron's hairpiece to reveal Rufus, almost entirely caked in white foundation with identical Starchild make-up to match his owner. He almost seemed to be saying "Let's rock!" to his two human best friends, and they could not agree more, Kim finally allowing herself to be seduced by the music as she sprinted to join her parents. Keeping Rufus nestled safely in his wig, Ron kept his casual pace behind Kim, commenting,
"I've been saving this for a special occasion, so if you all could form a neat little semi-circle, please?" Moving around Ron as requested, the Possibles shared a "here we go again…" look while Ron passed Rufus into Andrea's hands. Taking a breath in, Ron raised his right fist skywards and threw his head back, a loud and jubilant cry of "BOO-YAH!" echoing into the starry night.
THE END, FOR NOW…
Additional dedications: captainkodak1, MtnRon and Forlong for being totally excellent both here and at the boards!
Personal dedications: Thanks to my e-mail audience! Thanks to Lina Michele Dominguez, Kimberly Phipps, Eni and Jane Willer!