Fan Fiction ❯ These Dark Days ❯ One Minute Closer... ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

AN- Again, standard disclaimer rules apply! And much thanks to those of you that have reviewed! But I have to especially send a shout out to Natasel. I love big reviews like that. (Hint, hint!) Anyway, onto the story!
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OH! and don't forget to review!!!!!
 
 
 
Laughter, the pounding of a hand on a table, making the assorted food stuffs and beverages shake lightly. Ron of course grabbed the sodas, steadying them, keeping a wary eye on the naco he had balanced precariously on the edge of the table.
 
'Must.....save.....Naco...!'
 
He snaked his foot up, pushing the dangling treasure back onto the table.
 
'Yes!'
 
Finally Kims laughter died out, one hand going up to wipe away a few tears of mirth.
 
“Where did you hear that one Ron?”
 
Kim scooped up a nacho as she waited his response, savoring the taste.
 
Ahhhh yes...another good visit to the old Bueno Nacho, their favorite hang out. It was friday, school had just let out, and suprisingly very little homework to do. Much to Ron's delight.
 
The tantalizing smells of mexican food filling the air, and her best friend sitting across from her made the already bright sunny day near perfect.
 
“Thats the Ron-man all the way KP!” Immediantly he attacked his Naco in the only way that suited him. Face first.
 
Kim thoughtfully chewed her nacho, casting a withering glance at Ron as she did.
 
Maybe near perfect was to strong a word?
 
“No way Ron, last ti-”
 
-FLASH-
 
Pounding fists, scarce lighting barely illuminating his blurred attacks. A vicious kick to her chest forcing the beginings of a scream from her throat before a well placed chop strangled the shrill noise...here he comes again..!
 
-FLASH-
 
Kim shook her head, panic flooding her features. Where had that come from?
 
Pausing in his easting frenzy, most white sharks didn't eat like that, Ron cast a curious look at his best friend.
 
“You okay KP?”
 
Kim shook her head again, and after seeing the concern on Rons face tried a disarming smile, reaching for another Nacho.
 
“Im fine....just had a weird thought thats all.”
 
-FLASH-
 
Ron grinned at her before gripping her arm and twisting it violently, the snap audible even to her. Without missing a beat he spun, throwing her screaming form into the side of a shipping crate hard enough to leave an impression in the tough metal. She hit the floor hard, hacking up a clot of blood as she did.
 
-FLASH-
 
Kim nearly choked on the nacho she had been eating. She hacked for a moment, finally expelling the offending chip.
 
'Im gonna be sick!'
 
With that she rushed towards the restroom, immediantly heading to the toilet. Several minutes later she shakily stood up, flushing the disgusting mess down and headed towards the sink. Her hands were shaking. Turning the cold water on she splashed a bit of it onto her face, rubbing her eyes furiously.
 
'Ron would never do that! Never! Hes been my best friend since Pre-K....'
 
She looked down at her hands, mentally trying to get them to stop shaking.
 
'Get a grip girl....just nightmares...one to many fights with Shego thats all. Maybe its time to take a break from the Hero gig for a bit...'
 
A creaking sound caused her to look towards the door...but she wasn't at Bueno Nacho anymore...she was in a warehouse...and Ron was strangling her...she couldn't breath...
 
She looked up into his eyes before the blackness claimed her, trying desperatly to get away from his iron grip.
“Ron...why...?”
A smile. A cold, cold smile bloomed on Ron's face. The sweet, innocent face that was always so happy. Why?
“Go to sleep Kimberly...when you wake up, everything will be okay...I promise.”
Kim began to panic when his other hand came to her chin, the one holding her neck loosening to slide to the back of her head. She had to move. Wanted desperatly to move. But her body felt like lead, muscels frozen in shock.
A violent twist of rons arms filled the bathroom with a noise Kim was sure she would never forget.
*CRACK*
Kimberly Anne Possible woke up screaming.
 
The knee jerk reaction to bring her arms in front of her face costing her dearly as her scream of terror was quickly replaced by a scream of pain, her jerking motions causing every wound on her body to flare up in bright mind numbing agony. Through the haze of pain however, Kims mind was racing.
 
'Wha..? Where...but Ron....a dream! Oh thank god it was only a dream...'
 
Kim slumped back down, the agony slowly subsiding once she grew still again. Numerous tubes and wires were connected to her form, a softly beeping life support machine off to her right. The swinging form of an IV bag hanging off to her left, its contents unknown. A cursory inspection of the beeping machine showed it to be a standard monitering system, showing her heart rate and blood pressure. Inwardly she examined the dream she just had, if only to distract herself from where some of those tubes went. She must have been out for quite a while if they needed tubes for......waste removal.
 
Still, it shook her. The dream had started out so well....her and Ron, like always, eating at Bueno Nacho...why did it turn so ugly, so fast? Why was this happening to her!?
 
Kim did the only thing she could do in her situation.
 
She cried.
 
She mourned her friend, cursed herself for the pride that had landed her here, tried unsuccessfully to beat back the throbbing pain coursing through her body. Every sob only aggrivated her ribs, made the bruises on her chest ache. Her stomach showed signs of surgery, that while not recent, still ached. A half giddy part of her mind wondered if she would have a scar. She hoped not, the incision was long and ugly, starting at the base of her ribcage, and going all the way down her stomach. The stiches were not pleasant to look at either. Another ugly gash crossed that, making a target like shape. She hurt so bad....and the fact that Ron was the person responsible for all this just made her sob harder.
 
Several minutes later her sobs had stopped, though the odd sniffle still surfaced every now and then and she calmed herself down enough to take stock of her surroundings, keeping her movement to only her eyes. Movement was violently unacceptable considering her current state.
 
Granted she was laying flat on a medical table of sorts, she could just barely make out the details of the room, if she strained her eyes range of motion hard eough. Gun metal colored walls greeted her eyes, the floor made of the same drab material. The lighting was sparse, barely enough to make out the details of the room, but enough so she could see. Nothing of intrest there...she tried to move her good arm then, not at all surprised to find herself strapped down. A quick cursory glance confirmed that she was completely stapped down, her arms above her head, bent in such a way that her wrists where above her head, and held in place by a fairly thick mechanical restraint. Her legs were held in place by the same mechanical restrains at the lower corners of the table.
 
What did suprise her however, was her current state of nudity. She had been to distracted earlier to notice it. She noticed it now.
 
A soft hissing noise caused her to look towards the rooms only door, the bright illumination flooding in making it near impossible to tell who it was. After the figure stepped in however, she recognized it as Ron. Though he was dressed differently this time. During their fight he had been dressed in what she had come to expect of him the past month. A three piece suit, much like what....oh what was his name....it was in that movie Ron had forced her to watch...Agent Smith! The suit reminded her a lot of him. Now though, he was dressed far more casually, a white button up shirt, the sleeves rolled up. A pair of black slacks. Shoes so shiny you would never believe they had been spattered with her blood days earlier.
 
 
“Ah! Your awake I see. Commendable, my doctors told me you wouldn't be awake for another 5 hours at the least.” He narrowed his eyes then, seeming in deep thought.
 
“Though....I can safely say that you've been under for a few days. Recovering from the surgery and whatnot.”
 
He cast a slow glance over her form, her nudity sending a very small chill rushing through his system. It would be so easy to just take her now.
 
But he would save that for a later time. The though of bedding a woman in her condition was......repungant.
 
The experimental pressure casts he had put on her broken limbs wouldn't be available for actual medical personnel for years yet. To dangerous, side-effects were unknown....but he needed her in atleast some form of working order for his plans to succeed...Besides, the mere act of stealing them had been hard enough so it would only be right if she suffered some kind of horrendous side-effect. She deserved it.
 
For never caring for him.
 
Desrved it for abandoning him.
 
And she deserved it for never even thinking to ask herself why he went with her on all those missions. Of course it wasn't just friendship, but did she ever stop to really think about it? No.
 
The fact that no-one EVER remembered his name irked him as well, so he guessed she desrved it for that to. Not like she ever tried to correct whoever got his name wrong.
 
She blushed a deep red as his eyes slowly took in her person, her face going pale when she noticed his gaze was....for lack of a better term...hungry. He wouldn't dare...turning her head to the side so she wouldn't have to look at him she turned all her attention to the casts on her person. They were odd though...it was a constant X-ray of her forearm, showing the healing process in its entirty. And healing it was! Right before her eyes she felt the cast warm up slighty, literally seeing the bone start to knit back together, only very, VERY slowly. Still...in a few more hours her arm would be good as new....but why?
 
“I bet your wondering WHY Im going through all this trouble hmm Kimmie?”
 
Against her better judgment, Kim nodded.
 
Ron turned around, producing a small remote from his belt as he did. A soft beep followed and a large screen dropped down from the ceiling of her room, springing to life. Her table also rose up in such a way so that he was leaning back slightly, giving her a better view of the screen. Middleton was shown, points of intrest sweeping by. The mall, their school, even her home. Abrubtly the scene switched to other countries around the world, showing major cities, giving detailed specs of population density. A list of cities eventually began to grow on the right side of the screen. Washington D.C. , Seattle, Philidelphia, Chicago, Little Rock, Sacramento, New York, Moscow, Tokyo, Osaka, Beijing....more and more names appeared as the scrolling view dimmed to a overall picture of the world. The cities listed becoming points on the map before her, beside each pinprick of light an ACTIVE icon appeared, flashing an ominous red.
 
'Active? .....For what? What is he planning?'
 
Kim briefly let her anger and fear slip away while she tried to piece together what she was seeing. She remembered a few of those places, places she had stopped Ron. But she had destroyed those lairs, foiled his plans each time. So what...?
 
 
 
“I wanted you to see my plans come to fruition. Obviously if I had left you in your current state gangrene and other....more potent infections would have set in withen a few days, and you would most certainly be very, very dead. I cant have that can I?”
 
A sardonic grin came to his face, his eyes nearly sparkling when he turned to look at her.
 
“Besides...why would I kill my partner in crime? The only reason Im so close now is because of you!”
 
Kims eyes narrowed, and she jerked forward, ignoring the intense pain that screamed through her body with that simple gesture.
 
“What?! I would never help you. EVER. You.....you monster!”
 
A vision of bodies superimposed itself over her sight, the stench of burning flesh filling her nose. Africa. Very nearly a month ago now.
 
Thousands dead, seemingly for no reason other than to distract her. She had been in the area tracking Ron, Wade having gotten a hit on the website saying he had been seen in the area. She never found him....only a test bed for a radical new Bio-weapon the likes of which the world had never seen. That was the day she had her first doubts as to wethier or not it would be right to save ron. If he was capable of things like this...would the world not be better off with him dead?
 
The atrocities in japan caused those doubts to grow. The only thing scans had shown about that mountain-top was that there was a school there. Nothing more. Why had he done that? What was Ron becoming?! Again she had pushed her doubts aside, even as the voice of logic grew louder.
 
'No matter what...hes my friend.....my...friend..'
 
Time after time, horror after horror.
 
Children in India.
 
A family butchered in Russia because they had accidently walked into his lair.
 
The list went on.
 
And all the while Kims doubts grew, until the voice of reason would be ignored no longer.
 
'You've got to stop him.'
 
Kim violently shook her head, the cargo plane she was riding on to her next mission far to quite for her liking. To much time to think. To remember. It didn't help that she was exhuasted. She had been chasing Ron for almost a month now, and she definatly looked it. Her curvy figure was bordering on Bony now, the lack of any semblance of a decent meal finally catching up with her. Little sleep, Ron always one step ahead, always keeping her whipping around from place to place. For no apparent reason! And what was worse she was starting to lose some of her strength and agility. Beyond the missions she was on, keeping up with school work, and co-ordinating her search with wade she just didn't have time to get the proper amount of rest and exercise her body needed.
 
No wonder she had started talking to herself.
 
'Hes my Friend!' The excuse sounded hollow even to her.
 
'Hes not your friend anymore.'
 
'SHUT-UP!'
 
At least they had contained the incident in africa...burning the infected bodies, scorching the land....horrible. Kim threw those memories away, focusing on the now.
 
“Oh but your wrong KP!” Ron threw his arms wide, seeming to embrace the globe as he did.
 
“Back in Africa....you were infected. But thats not the half of it!”
 
He stepped towards her, eyes shining with actual happiness.
 
“When I escaped you for the first time, I was despondant. What was I going to do? I had Kim Possible on my trail! So I thought, why not use that? During my stay at Drakkens old hideout, before you so rudely tried to 'save me', I came across a few things he had locked away, buried with labels top secret cant even being to touch. Getting through his security was childs play, and oh was it worth it!”
 
He stopped right next to her, one hand coming down to stroke her chin once before Kim jerked away, her light growl filling the room.
 
“I had found pieces of a virus Drakken had been working on, a pretty nasty one at that. A targetted Bio-weapon of astounding lethality. The only thing that had Drakken stumped was the delivery system. He wanted to use a rocket, something involving the jet-stream...”
 
Ron bent low, his voice dropping to a near whisper as he brought his mouth close to her ear.
 
“I used you.”
 
Kims jaw dropped. It all made sense now. The seemingly random places he had been visiting. He was using her. She was the perfect delivery system to. Her status as a hero meant she was never checked for a pass-port or had to go through customs at any of the countries she visited. And thanks to her....even unknowingly...the world was at Rons mercy...but to what end?
 
“I see you've finally figured it out! But thats not all. The virus I've perfected wont kill you, I've programmed it to remain inert inside you, thanks to a few quirks I found in your genetic structure, but I digress...”
 
Ron took a breath, his gaze falling once more to the screen showing the planet.
 
“Kim....humor me for a moment and tell me exactly whats wrong with the world.”
 
Kim's addled mind was still trying to wrap itself around the fact that it was her fault the world was in jeopardy. Why hadn't she thought to get HERSELF checked after she went to africa? But...right after that call, she had been called to japan...then to russia...so busy helping people. She hadn't even been home in a month, keeping up with school through the internet. All part of Rons plan. She felt sick.
 
“Just get on with it Ron.”
 
An annoyed look came across his face, but Ron quickly pushed it away. If she didn't want to play the game that was fine.
 
“People Kim. People are the problem. So many older people being in charge, those with generations of power built up, who hold so much wealth its ridiculus. They could very easily end world suffering, usher mankind towards the stars with a mere blink of an eye and the signing of a check....and they don't. To greedy, to self-centered....to old to dream.”
 
Kim's brow furrowed. Where was he going with this? She had though he was just planning genocide...but he actually made alittle sense. The people who Kim usually helped really were just pompus old men with way to much money, and she had often shared her thoughts with ron on how the world would be a better place if they simply wheren't so greedy. Cared more. Still had dreams. But how did that tie in with this virus?
 
“Those bastards could do so much good...but refuse to simply because they can. Well I've had it!”
 
His hand crashed through the screen as he said this, the image blipping out of existence.
 
“The virus you spread for me targets everyone between the ages of 26 and 90. I calculate that atleast 65% of the worlds population will die withen the next three weeks. And from the ashes, I will forge forward with a utopia. I will gather the survivors, teach them about right and wrong, how to help, how greed is a terrible, terrible thing. If mankind cant do it, I'll FORCE them to evolve past this base emotion. I will give the world to a new generation, guided by me towards greatness!”
 
He swung back to Kim, real happiness shining off his face.
 
“Think about it Kim! With all the old pressures gone man will be free to research and invent simply for the betterment of mankind! The old maxims of self gratification and greed will be abolished! A new start, a better place! And I want you there with me, I want you to help me usher in this new world.”
 
Kim slowly shook her head. He was right. Whats worse she agreed with him on some levels. If the people in power, simply ceased to be, man would have a new start, a level playing field for everyone. No longer would the world be dominated by a system of haves and have-nots.
 
But over half of the worlds population would have to die to achieve this. One thing still bothered her though. How had he made the virus target such a broad range of people, yet leave such a small group untouched? Targetted bioweapon or not, she knew for a fact that you had to program a specific genotype into it, and that was skecty at best. She told him as much.
 
“And thats the best part! The virus, really isn't a virus at all. You see small nanites are imbedded inside the initial virul capsule, for all intents and purposes mimicing the common cold. Harmless really. But once I broadcast the activation signal the capsule breaks down, and the nanites quickly flood the body, disguising them selves as a certain strand of protein, unique in all individuals.”
 
Seeing he had lost her there he explained it a different way.
 
“You know why some of the people that practice cannabilism develop tumors? A build up of that protein.”
 
“Oooooh, right.”
 
Nodding he continued.
 
“Anyway, once the activation signal is received the nanites scan the body, looking for the human growth hormone THT. If a certain level of this hormone isn't found, they all move towards the heart and detonate, destroying the muscle.”
 
Kim nodded slowly in comprehension, deep in thought. She could join him. Wanted to join him on quite a few levels. He had a near flawless plan, and the virus was already distributed. But....to systematicly destroy so many people.....but the end result would be worth it right..? No more hunger, no more greed, a veritable paradise. Sure it would be difficult to subdue the masses, especially since most of the worlds militaries were comprised of younger people. She could sway them though. Say it was some wild scheme of Drakkens, pin it all on him and then go about rebuilding the world.
 
Kims silence, had no visable effect on Ron, but inside he was coiled like a spring awaiting her answer.
 
'You know she'll never do this. Shes KP, she SAVES people you sicko.'
 
Rons forehead creased in irritation. He didn't need this right now.
 
'Shut-UP you pathetic excuse of a person. She has no choice. If she doesn't help me she dies. No matter how 'heroic' she is she's still just a teenager. Self preservation will win I assure you.'
 
'Yeeeaaaaah.....tell me when elvis gets in 'kay?'
 
'Quite!'
 
'And just to let you know, your SICK....AND....WRONG. So there!'
 
The mental equivilant of a rasberry sounded in Rons mind and he gritted his teeth in frustration. There had to be some way to shut that voice up.
 
Ron tore himself away from his thoughts when he heard a small intake of breath come from Kims direction, and he turned all his focus to her.
 
'Make the right choice Kimberly. For your own sake.'
 
Kim opened her mouth to speak, the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
 
And the minute hand ticked one step closer to Doomsday.