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Chapter Text

Author's Note:   Hello, and welcome to another brand new story! We're back for Phase 2! Just a quick disclaimer: this is an alternate take on the story of Shego, set in a world that is shared with a variety of other cartoon villains, heroes, and anti-heroes. For more on the Danger Watch Universe, check out my bio. Now, thanks for coming out, and enjoy the chapter!

Prologue

October, 2010

For a moment, as she hung from a half-inch thick cord, dangling a gut-wrenching twenty-three stories in the air, the woman felt a flicker of doubt. She glanced down, and instantly regretted it. The ground seemed to sway, an infinite distance away. Then, she grit her teeth, swallowed hard, and forced her attention back to the task at hand.

A beeping noise from her spider-shaped gadget informed the woman that its job was done. With a sigh of relief, she plucked the spider from the window with a black gloved hand, and shoved it into the small, black bag that hung across her back. Then, she deftly flicked the glass pane upwards, revealing an open room, and a way in from the death defying heights.

The woman took it gratefully, swinging with practiced ease into the narrow square, and detaching her cable in the process. She landed, cat-like and with hardly a sound, on the floor inside, and instantly checked her surroundings. The lights were off, and so at first, she only made out the objects closest to her: a few swivel chairs, and a desk or table.

Closing the window as her eyes adjusted, she took in the rest of the room. It was, she realized, an empty meeting room, like one might find in an office building or a corporate H.Q.

"Well," the woman muttered to herself, "good thing I didn't zoinks right in on the bi-annual status meeting."

She snorted at her own office-based joke, and then shook her head, standing and casually brushing some inky black hair over her shoulder. From the small bag she produced a tightly wrapped bundle of clothes. After locking the door, she peeled off her jumpsuit, changed swiftly, and then put the green and black bundle back into the bag.

The woman was now wearing a grey suit, complete with a skirt, nylons, and shiny black heels. Squinting at her reflection in the window, she pulled her pair back into as tight a bun as she could. Then, she produced her pièce de résistance: a pair of dark green, wing-tipped glasses, complete with false lenses. Nodding her approval of herself, the woman turned, and strode confidently into the hall beyond.

Almost immediately, she rounded a corner and nearly crashed into two people wearing white suits. One of them wore a strange earpiece. Bluetooth, the woman assumed.

"Oh, pardon me," she said, feigning a meek countenance and scrambling to walk around them, despite their insistence that it was alright. She didn't turn back when one asked if she was new around here.

As she continued to strut along, she searched for any sign of a floor plan, maybe a "You are here" sign. None presented themselves. The woman began to grow irritated. She was familiar with the layout of the floor her target was on, but she no idea which floor that was, nor did she have much knowledge on the rest of the building. She caught a glimpse of several corporate 'H' logos; lining the walls, on people's lapels. She was reminded of the stakes at hand. She wasn't robbing just any old corporate building. She was robbing Hinobi Technologies.

"OK, keep cool," she muttered to herself, "just gotta find the payload and get out before the most heavily funded private security force in the world catches you."

"About that," came a voice.

Ahead of her, a man rounded the corner, taking a stand in the middle of the hall. He was dressed differently than the suits the woman had seen before. He was clad in a form fitting white combat uniform, complete with some kind of hi-tech blue vizor, and a weird glove with a built in computer. His skin was dusky toned and poorly moisturized, and his bottle-blond hair pulled back into a greasy ponytail.

"You're a little too late," he said. He tapped a button on the side of his visor, and then added: "This is Youngblood. I've got a suspicious individual in Sector 3."

"What's that accent?" The woman stalled, her eyes flitting around for an exit. "Whales?"

"Whales? I'm from Greenwich you-"

"Is that how its pronounced? 'Grennitch'?" She cut him off, before giving a cutting laugh. "Cuz its spelled- I mean, its spelled entirely different."

"Enough with the jokes," Youngblood said, aiming his weird glove, palm first, at the woman. "State your name and reason not to be mindwiped. You've got about fifteen seconds."

"Yeah, OK, sure." the woman said, putting her hands in the air casually. "Well, my name's Shego and-"

With a sudden burst of action, the woman called Shego lunged forward, a serpentine kick flying towards her adversaries head. Youngblood's trained reflexes barely saved him, and he dodged backwards. Shego landed, somehow maintaining a perfect combat stance in high heels.

"Oh, you're fast," she commented.

Youngblood looked at her expectantly, and Shego shrugged.

"I don't really have, like, a closing statement. I was mostly just distracting you so I could, ya know," she mimicked delivering an axe kick with her fingers.

Youngblood shook his head, and a warbling sound began to come out of his gauntlet.

"I'm done with this," he said.

Then, as fast as Shego could blink, a ball of what looked like floating computer code came flying out of his gauntlet. As Shego squinted in confusion, the ball of code rapidly morphed into a clustered projectile. The package then untangled in the air, gaining a much wider area. A weighted net! As the tangle of heavy rope cascaded around her, Shego acted on instinct. With a bright flash of green energy, she performed a cartwheel kick that sliced a perfect gap in the industrial strength netting.

Youngblood squinted at her new display of power, and Shego blew a strand of loose hair back. She glanced from Youngblood's face to his gauntlet. What was it, she wondered, and how did it create things from thin air?

"What are you?" Youngblood said, glancing at a display on his wrist before quickly snapping his eyes to Shego, who had taken a micro step forward. "That speed, agility… whatever you just did with the green light. That's not human."

"You should see me when I'm not in heels," Shego scoffed. "So what's with the glove?"

"I asked first," Youngblood growled. "Glitch."

Shego narrowed her eyes, and her arms and legs began to glow with an eerie, flickering green aura. "What did you just call me?"

Before he could respond, she lunged forward again, this time with a swift jab. Youngblood threw up a hasty block, and avoided the punch to the face. He couldn't, however, avoid the knee that Shego slammed into his stomach a second later. Gasping, the wind knocked out of him, Youngblood stumbled back a pace, trying to put distance between them. He couldn't keep up with her in hand to hand.

Shego was on him, though, with an unrelenting barrage of attacks. As Youngblood struggled to dodge backwards down the hallway, he began to use the environment to his advantage. He blocked one of her kicks by swinging an office door open. With surprising power, Shego's foot smashed through the thick wood, and she had to take a moment to dislodge her leg. With those precious seconds, Youngblood began to digistruct something to defend himself.

"Quit running you-!" Shego said, freeing herself from the door. She saw Youngblood standing a few meters away, looking smug. With a snarl, she bolted straight forward and-!

Ga-bong! Shego slammed face first into a thick layer of bulletproof glass. It phased her for only a moment, though, and she quickly regained her bearings. She watched as Youngblood began to create additional layers in between them with his strange tech. Experimentally, Shego charged up her fist with green energy, and punched the glass as hard as she could. She made a sizeable dent, but it didn't shatter completely like she'd hoped. She punched again, again, and again. She formed an indentation about a foot deep, and wide enough for her to stand in.

However, glancing up, Shego grimaced. Youngblood had already created a dozen layers twice as thick as this. She was running out of time. She needed to finish this before the entire place was swarming with Hinobi security, and her chances of making pay-day would become very, very slim.

"Screw this!" Shego shouting, turning and sprinting into the open office room; much to Youngblood's confusion. Vaulting over chairs, Shego ran to the very back of the room, and (hardly even breaking stride) charged up her green energy to barrel straight through the back wall. Plaster and insulation tumbled down around her as she emerged in the next room. She bolted to the door, whipping it open.

Youngblood's look of utter surprise would have made her laugh if she wasn't so pissed off.

"Hyah!" Shego cried, leaping into the air and delivering a flying dragon kick to Youngblood's chest. With her enhanced power, he practically ragdolled, flying into the opposite side of the hallway with a pained grunt. Shego looked down at him as he groaned, and just shook her head, brushing hair over her shoulder as she clacked down the hall in her high heels. "Shouldn't have got in my way."

bwaar-sheeEEEr!

The familiar sound of Youngblood's gauntlet rang out, and then immediately after came the sound of some kind of slithering projectile. Before she knew it, some kind of cable wrapped itself around Shego's leg, and with a yank, Youngblood tugged her to the ground. With a slam, she hit her jaw on the floor, wincing in pain. Growing further frustrated by the waste of time, Shego used her burning green power to slice the cable from her ankle, and stood up, looking back at the injured Youngblood. His cocky grin faltered as he saw her stand, green flame-like energy flickering around her clenched fist.

"I didn't wanna have to do this," Shego said, "but you're starting to get on my nerves."

Youngblood gulped as she strode over to him, malicious intent in her eyes. As she reared back her glowing fist, to deliver the finishing blow, the Hinobi agent squeezed his eyes shut. So much for that promotion he was working on. However, instead of a flash of green and the end of all things, Youngblood heard bootsteps, followed by combat grunts.

Opening his eyes, Youngblood saw a small force of Hinobi security come charging into the hallway. Shego growled, and turned to face them.

"Seriously?!" She cried, narrowly dodging a digistructed harpoon, which flew over her shoulder and impaled itself 6 inches into the bulletproof glass.

Shego went for the nearest agent, but there were nearly a half dozen of them, and they each bore the same strange technology as Youngblood. Shego blocked a swing of what looked like a crowbar, grabbing the weapon and melting it in her hand, but just as she did, she felt something painful prick into the small of her back. As soon as she had registered the pain, a tingling, crackling, excruciating sensation flew up and down her spine, and her jaw nearly locked itself shut.

She'd been hit with a high-powered taser.

"Gghgh," she groaned, reaching back and plucking the delivery projectile from her back. She whipped around, eyes bleary and ears ringing, to face the agent that had tased her, but as soon as she did, she felt more lancing projectiles riddle her arms and neck. Glancing down, she saw that her arm was now pinpricked with blue feathered tranquilizer darts. The floor suddenly swooned, seeming hundreds of feet away.

"Gah… damn… it," Shego grumbled, lurching forward and raising a flickering green fist at the nearest Hinobi agent. However, as she stepped into the punch, she found that she had no feeling in her feet, and with a final "oof!" she collapsed onto the hallway floor.

There was silence in the hallway, save for indistinct radio chatter coming from each of the Hinobi agent's headsets. One of them went over and grabbed Youngblood by the hand, hauling him to his feet. Youngblood nodded a wordless thanks, and then walked over to look down at the unconscious woman.

"Who was she?" One of the other agents asked.

Youngblood shook his head. "I don't know, but she clearly has superhuman abilities."

"Do we call the boss?" Another agent asked.

Youngblood nodded. Then, as the agent went to tap numbers into their gauntlet, he put his hand on theirs, stopping the action midway. "I'll call Phil. You lot get her into a containment cell, for now."

"Understood."

As the other Hinobi agents set about collecting Shego from the ground, Youngblood punched his commanding officer's number into the gauntlets pin pad. It rang once, and then a display of voice waves appeared on the head's up display of Youngblood's goggles.

"Go for Phil."

"Commander," Youngblood said, using Phil's newly minted title in order to stoke his ego, and perhaps cushion the blow. "We've had a break-in at our New Jersey HQ."

"A break-in?"

"A glitch, sir. Woman with some sort of green superpower. I'm sending you footage of the fight that I caught with my goggles. "

There was staticky silence, leaving Youngblood's heart to beat pain into his aching muscles as Phil reviewed the video being sent to him.

"I see," Phil said simply. "Good job in subduing the glitch, Agent Youngblood."

"Sir," the agent said appreciatively. "Is this the one? Who's been robbing corporations for the past few years, and getting away with it?"

There was another pause.

"I believe so," he said. Then, without missing a beat, he continued. "I have a new assignment for you."

"Sir?"

"There's a remote base west of the HQ. I'm sending you coordinates now. I need you to escort the glitch there for questioning."

"What kind of questioning, sir? Standard interrogation protocol?"

"Not to worry, Agent Youngblood. You won't be doing the questioning. I've just sent word to one of our specialists. He'll be meeting you there."

"May I ask who they are?" Youngblood said, a little miffed. He had been hoping for a chance to earn his promotion by squeezing the information out of Shego. Hearing that they were bringing somebody else in on the project put a little tinge of jealousy into his chest.

"His name is Dr. Drew Lipsky," Phil said simply. "Criminal Science major, great with putting puzzle pieces together. He's been keeping up with this case for some time. Between the two of you, you should have no trouble getting the information we need."

"... Yes, sir."

"Good. Now, no more time for talk. I have things I have to take care of. Phil out."

With that, the commander hung up. Youngblood looked down at his gauntlet seriously, and then turned to watch as the other Glitch Techs carried Shego away. He looked at her face, oddly peaceful in her unconscious state. A big difference from the complicated, dangerous eyes she had worn during their skirmish. The longer he looked at her pale face, the more he was filled with resentment.

"Oh, I'm getting that promotion," he said, "and you… had better not get in my way."

Phase Two, Book One

Shego

Chapter Text

Author's Note:  Hey, welcome back to another chapter! Thanks so much for reading! If you enjoy the story, go ahead and leave a Comment and let me know what you think! Also, if you aren't already, a Bookmark on the story or my profile can help you keep up with Danger Watch going forward! I'll be dropping a short-story anthology called Danger Shots really soon, along with more Shego of course!

Wow, ok well that's enough from me. Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 1: Infested Waters

As Doctor Drew Lipsky pulled his unmarked sedan into the parking lot of the undisclosed Hinobi safehouse, an excited knot was forming in his stomach. Gathering up his suitcase, which he had meticulously packed the night before, he paused only to check his messy black mullet in the mirror. Then, he practically skipped up the steps to the door. He idled momentarily, as the security system scanned his dark retinas, but then continued his eager jaunt into the building.

As Drew entered, he brushed past the small cluster of white-clad Glitch Techs who were hovering near the water cooler. However, he didn't get far before a senior tech flagged him down. "Ah. There you are, Doctor. Finally."

"Yes," Drew said, not bothering to hide his distaste as he looked the Glitch Tech up and down. "Doctor Drew Lipsky, p.h.D. Whom do I have the burden- I mean, pleasure of working with?"

The agent scoffed.

"Special Agent Youngblood. Glitch Techs. Squad One."

"Wonderful," Drew said flatly. "Now, on to more important matters. The woman, the thief? She's here?"

"Yes."

"Subdued?"

Youngblood shook his head. "She didn't stay out for long. We're lucky we have those cyber-restraints on hand. She might have smashed her way out of the holding room otherwise."

"Show me this holding room," Drew said. Youngblood jerked his head, signaling over his shoulder. Without another word, Drew strode over to the room. Beside the door there was a wide, rectangular pane of glass. Inside of the room there was a pair of chairs on either side of a simple metal table. At the table sat a woman wearing a grey and green prisoner jumpsuit, as well as hi-tech restraints on her hands and neck. Drew frowned.

"You have her chained like a dog," he said reproachfully. Youngblood shrugged, and Drew sighed. "Alright. I'm going in. I'm turning off the two-way glass for the next hour, so that our guest might have some privacy."

"That's ridiculous," Youngblood objected.

"You've done your job, Agent Youngblood," Drew said, hitching up his briefcase. "Now. Let me do mine."

Youngblood restrained a growl as Drew entered the holding room, but once the door closed, he just shook his head, and walked off down the hall.

Shego watched as the doctor entered the room, one slender black eyebrow quirked up. As the door closed behind him, he gave a sheepish smile, as if he were nervous or excited. Shego crossed her arms as well as she could with the bulky restraints on her hands. The doctor sat down in the chair opposite her, placing his briefcase on the table looking at her with a combination of sadness and excitement. Shego wrinkled her nose.

"Dude. What's with your face?" She said. The doctor looked puzzled, and sat up straight, touching his nose.

"What? Is there something in my teeth?"

"No, your expression! You look like a puppy dog about to pee himself. Listen, cut to the chase, will you?" Shego said, exasperated. She turned to the mirror, which she knew was two way glass. "Who hired this guy?"

"The glass," the doctor said, opening his briefcase and pulling out a manila folder teeming with papers. "Is off. I thought you might enjoy a little privacy."

Shego was surprised by that. The doctor pulled a pair of small, round spectacles out of the front pocket of his blazer, and stuck them on his nose as he read through the files. Eventually, he found what he needed, and placed it before him, finally producing a pen, with which he began to scratch notes.

"She-go," he said, glancing up at her for confirmation. "Your name, right? I'm Doctor Drew Lipsky. That's quite the name; Shego."

"It's the one I got," the woman said aloofly.

"I must say, you have quite an impressive resume, Miss Shego. Burglary, grand theft, armed robbery, various cases of arson…" As Drew trailed off, Shego yawned. Drew glanced up from the paperwork again, and found that she was looking at him with a dull expression. "Oh, am I boring you?"

"You're tellin' me stuff we both already know, doc," Shego said.

Drew made a face that said Fair enough. Then, he produced a small spiral notebook, licking his finger and flipping to the next blank page.

"Very well. Then let's get to the things we don't know, shall we?" The doctor said. "Where did you acquire these superhuman abilities? Or, more importantly, why have you been using them to pull off elaborate heists?"

Shego snorted.

"Something funny?" Drew asked.

"Nothing. It's just that you have no idea what you're talking about."

"No?" The doctor leaned back in his chair, and steepled his hands. "Enlighten me then."

Shego opened her mouth to retaliate. Something about his smug, upturned expression was driving her up the wall. However, she held her tongue. She knew this game. The doctor was goading her, poking at her pride in order to get her to spill.

"Almost got me," Shego said, waggling a finger at Drew, who simply shrugged, still holding his poker face.

"Got you what? We're having a conversation."

"That's not something people say."

"Shego," Drew said, folding up his glasses and looking her square in the eyes. She stared back, unimpressed. "I have to stress this to you: if you want to make it out of here with your memory untampered with and your body not floating in the bottom of the Caribbean, you are going to have to start being very honest with me."

Shego rolled her eyes. "Yeah, ok Doctor Mullet."

"I'm quite serious," Drew said. "I've been monitoring your case for a long time. We still know very, very little about the supernatural and superhuman here at Hinobi. I can barter your information with the people upstairs… They have a lot of reasons to want to make you disappear, Shego."

"Why should I trust you? You work for them."

Drew gave her a sympathetic smile.

"You don't have much of a choice, I'm afraid."

Shego growled. She wanted with all of her being to lash out and thrash this egg head. She even struggled against her restraints, trying to charge up her emerald green plasma, but the Hinobi tech held firm. Drew waited for her breathing to steady. Eventually, she seemed to resign, and lean back in her chair like a pouting teen sitting in front of the principle.

"What do you want to know?"

"Excellent," Drew said. "Progress. Well, let's start slowly, shall we? How long have you had your abilities?"

Shego shrugged. "Since I was a teenager."

"And where did they come from?" Drew asked, now frantically scribbling notes once more.

"A magic space rock."

"Extra… terrestrial… rock…" Drew said. "What did you do with them at first?"

"At first… At first, we were just trying to figure out what happened to us. It was like, our relatively normal lives were just flipped upside down. Nothing was the same. None of us had ever really had it easy in life, but suddenly it was like disaster after disaster."

"You keep saying 'we'," Drew pointed out. "Who are you referring to?"

Shego seemed to pause, her eyes going distant, as if contemplating whether or not she wanted to continue.

"My… my brothers," she said.

"They have powers, too? Like yours."

"Each of us has… had, a different one," Shego said. "Hego had super strength. Mego could shrink his size, and the twins could duplicate themselves."

Drew continued his rapid-fire notetaking. "That's quite the line up of abilities. Where are they now?"

"That's a long story," Shego said. Drew smiled, and gestured widely with his hands.

"I've got nothing but time," he said. "Why don't you just take it from the top."

Shego looked him up and down. Despite her own instincts, something about this messy, dark-eyed man put her at ease. She felt like she could trust him; and she didn't trust anyone. Drew simply looked at her earnestly, showing nothing but his genuine curiosity. That made her sigh turn into a slight chuckle.

"Fine… I guess I should start with the first time we found something on patrol."

"Patrol?" Drew asked. "Ah, looking for armored cars to hi-jack?"

"Oh, nobody told you, doc?" Shego said. Drew raised an eyebrow, and Shego's small grin became a wide, superior smile. "I used to be a superhero."

We started on the street level. Go City was sort of used to us by that point, but we had learned to stick to our city. Other places wouldn't react too well to a bunch of color coordinated costumed weirdos walking around the block. However, most of the people of Go City didn't mind us. What can I say, it was the 90's.

We'd get a few punks who thought we weren't the real deal; Hego dealt with them. Every so often we might have a college kid or fast food worker come up and thank us. Mego made sure to thank them for thanking him. It was rare, though, for us to find any real trouble.

That night was different.

"You see that?" Mego said, from the head of the group. He was clad in his signature purple. "Weird crowd at the end of that block. Should we check it out?"

"It might be a street fight," Hego said.

"Cool!" The twins said at the same time.

"Let's see what this is all about," I said.

We walked towards the crowd, and to my surprise, I saw a few stragglers break from the pack and come towards us. Hego straightened up, and I raised an eyebrow.

"Hey," one guy said, looking pale like he was about to be sick. "You guys are those, like, superheroes or whatever, right?"

I snorted. Hego gave me a stern look, and then smiled confidently at the man.

"Yes," he said. "We're Team Go. What's happening?"

"This lady, she's hurt, she… it's… you gotta come see," the guy said, waving at them to follow as he started back towards the main crowd.

"It's really bad," another guy said as we got closer.

"They all look like they've seen a ghost," I muttered.

As we got closer, the bulk of the crowd split so that we gained access to the inside of the circle. What I saw was gruesome. I'll spare you the grim details, but suffice to say there was only about three-fourths of a lady left. Something big had taken a bite out of her.

"Did anybody see what did this?" Hego asked the crowd. Most of the people had arrived after the fact, and all of them seemed frightened. Eventually one woman spoke up: she'd seen it go off into a nearby alley. Hego gave her a reassuring look. "Can you describe it to us?"

"You won't believe me," she said. Hego smiled grimly,

"Try me."

"It was… like… a huge shark."

Next thing you know, all of us are running off towards this dusty old alleyway. Hego said it was so that we could stop this thing quickly. I was pretty sure it was because cops would be arriving soon, and they tended to assume the worst about us and crime scenes. Once in the alleyway, we fanned out, back to back, trying to catch a glimpse of the supposed shark monster.

It was Mego who found it. "Guys?"

I instantly lit my hand up with the glowy green stuff, illuminating the alleyway. Mego was pointing towards the ground. Following his hand, I saw what the fuss was about: an open manhole cover. I looked to Hego, and I could tell exactly what he was thinking.

"Oh, come on, Hego," I said. "Please-"

"We have to go down there," Hego said. "It's probably hiding out in the sewers."

Despite my better judgement and constant verbal disagreement, it was decided. We went into the sewers after the shark monster. So, there we were, sloshing our way through ankle deep sewage. I can't even tell you how long it took to get the smell out of my costume after. Anyway, we were down there for maybe ten minutes before we started to hear the noises. Distant splashing, at first, but then there was muffled screaming as well. We started running towards it.

The monster was just as horrible as I had been expecting. It was like some kind of freakazoid shark, but it walked on two legs, like a gonzo tyrannosaurus. Its beady red eyes reflected against the minimal light, and it took notice of us as it devoured its latest victim. I had to avoid looking at the mess underneath it.

"Is that a mutant-?" One of the twins asked.

"-or an alien?" The other asked.

"AR-MAH-GOOHN!" The shark let out a terrifying roar of challenge that almost sounded like words.

"You heard it," I said, charging up both of my fists. "It's an Armagon."

"Team Go," Hego said. "Let's go!"

We burst into action. Up until that point we had been trying to gain mastery over the powers that had been forced on us. Only after we had gone on patrol a few times, doing more harm than good, did Hego start dragging everyone to 'mandatory glow training.'

That's what its called, by the way. My powers? We just called it 'the glow'. I saw that stupid look on your face, like you were gonna ask a question.

Anyway, I usually complained about having to go to superpower practice, but that day, I had never been more thankful for the training. The Armagon shark came barreling towards me like a torpedo with teeth. I tried to ignore its muscly, humanoid legs. I tried to ignore how they ran of webbed feet, ending with claws. As a matter of fact, I more or less just tried to tune out the fact that I was fighting an awful shark monster in a New Jersey sewer.

It was a pretty hectic fight, from what I remember. I was dodging shark teeth most of the time. At one point, I was tail-smacked and thrown into the water. Disgusting. Also, did you know that shark skin is rough? Well, I didn't until that day. I felt like I got smacked in the face with a tractor-sized roll of sandpaper. As I picked myself up, Hego and an army of twins were grappling with the shark, and Mego was nowhere to be seen. Angrily, I threw myself back in the fight.

Amidst the chaotic scuffle I managed to grab the Armagon's dorsal fin. It didn't like that. With another roar of "AHR-MAH-GOHN!" he dove into the deeper sewage, shaking off Hego and dispersing the twins. I, however, managed to hang on, and I barely had a second to take a breath before we plunged into the murky water. From there, I rode on the worst water slide of my life, clinging onto this sandpaper-y dorsal fin as we rocketed through the sewer system.

Eventually, with a splash, we came shooting out of a huge pipe, and blasting out into the bay of Go City. The briny seawater made me squint, but as we ripped along the surface of the ocean, a voice shouted. No, not in my head: my ear.

"Yo, Sis!" The voice said. "There's a bunch of civilians on the beach. Look's like some kinda concert."

"Mego?!" I shouted against the spray of seawater and the Armagon's angry roar. I looked around in confusion, before I spotted my younger brother. He had shrunk down to the size of an action figure, and was hanging onto my hair for dear life. Before he could respond, we suddenly plunged under the water again, as the Armagon tried angrily to shake us off.

This time, it worked, and I was shaken off, my hands bleeding from holding onto the rough dorsal fin for so long. I was cast into the open ocean, and the shark was WAY faster than I was. I frantically shot to the surface, but this thing could move in the water like nobody's business. I charged my legs up with the glow, and as it reared up to chomp me in half, I kicked as hard as I could at the Armagon's snout. Even against the water resistance, my enhanced strength was enough to flip the shark's lid, sending it reeling for a moment.

As an added bonus, I used the force of pushing off of the Armagon to propel myself closer to the shore. I swam like a demon. I was always the best swimmer of the team, but I was nothing compared to an actual shark with soccer player legs. Luckily, a hit square on the nose from my glow empowered kick was enough to daze the Armagon. I scrambled onto the beach, dripping and terrified, and to my confusion I was met with applause. I quickly realized that the applause was not for me.

"Alright, guys, that was my latest little number. I call that one 'I Think I Need A Little Change!' Now, this next one is gonna be the last jam of the night. It's a cover of a pretty popular tune. Hold onto your socks!"

A cute guy in his 20's, with long, wild hair and his ear's pierced, was shouting into a microphone. He was standing on a little stage that he had no doubt crafted himself, with all of his sound equipment crammed into the back of his van, just like Mego had said. He had a decent little crowd built up, for how homegrown his set-up was.

Too bad his concert was about to get rain-checked by a shark monster.

"It was… it was September…" The guy started to sing. "Wind blows… the dead leaves fall…"

"AAAAHRR-MAHGON!" the Armagon roared from the shoreline. He had swam up with startling speed, and was now maintaining the same speed on land, running after me like a demonic dinosaur.

One by one, the concert goers realized the peril that they were in, and screams erupted across the beach as they ran off in every direction. The performer, apparently named "Mister Universe" (I still laugh to this day about that one), said something like "oh, shit", and then shoved his whole kit into the van before driving away, kicking up sand.

"At least they were smart enough to run," I muttered, as I turned to face the charging Armagon.

"I wish I could say the same about us," Mego said from my shoulder. "Look out!"

I flinched as the jaws of the giant shark were suddenly right before us! It was too fast! I threw my arms up, bracing for impact… but there was none. I winked an eye open, and saw the Armagon snapping at the air, inches from my face, a frustrated rage in its eyes. Then, I looked past the shark, and saw what was holding it back.

"Not so fast, Armagon!" Hego shouted, as he held the monster's tail with his glowing blue arms.

Then, with a mighty heave, Hego sent the mutant fish sailing overhead, before it hit the sand with a heavy thud.

"Dogpile!" A sudden chorus of voices chimed out.

Next thing I knew, the beach was swarming with little dudes in red. The twins, using their cloning ability, had created dozens of doppelgangers, and the entire horde came crashing down on Armagon. The monster struggled at first, and even destroyed a few clone-twins in a puff of smoke, but eventually, it went down under shear numbers. Once the creature was subdued, Hego grabbed a nearby metal umbrella and bent it around the Armagon's jaws like a muzzle.

"Job well done, team," Hego said, dusting off his hands.

"Yeah," Mego said, suddenly hopping off of my shoulder and reverting back to regular size. "Great job! Especially me."

"You literally didn't do anything," I said. Mego shrugged.

"That's what you might have seen," he said. "I was helping behind the scenes."

"Oh, sure," I said.

Just then, the air was filled with the sounds of sirens, and flashing lights in blue and red. Cops, as well as coast guard ships, were swarming towards our portion of the beach. We all turned to Hego, who, while troubled, bowed his head and gave us the verdict.

"Alright, Team Go," he said. "Let's leave. Our job here is done."

Drew leaned back, looking down at his notes, as Shego finished her story. The woman raised a dark eyebrow as the doctor tapped his lips with his pen.

"Well," Drew said, "sounds like you were quite the team."

Shego eyes, which had held a sparkle of nostalgia as she recounted their efforts, suddenly became clouded with dark thoughts. There was far more to the story, Drew knew, and they were only scratching the surface. She had told him a lot, though, and he thought maybe, if he asked gently, he might learn just a bit more.

"So, then what happened?" Drew asked. Shego paused, but then shook her head.

"Maybe next time, Doc," she said. "I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I'm sick of talking."

Internally, Drew sighed. However, he also knew that he couldn't rush this kind of progress. So, externally, he gave her a gentle smile, and began to pack his things back into his briefcase. "OK. We'll pick up here again tomorrow; does that sound good?"

"Whatever," Shego said, as he went to the doorway. "Not like I'm going anywhere."

Drew laughed at her joke, which Shego wasn't sure she liked. Then, the Doctor was gone, and Shego was alone with her thoughts.

She wasn't sure she liked that, either.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: Baby Steps

That night, Drew stayed up late working on digital paperwork. There was a lot to document; Shego's story was revealing, and the information crucial. Everything he had committed to memory went down in writing, so as not to be lost later. As Drew paused, rubbing his eyes from the blue light, there was a ping on his desktop. A private message.

MISTER GREEN: Good evening, Mr. Blue.

Drew pulled up the instant messenger, and paused. The messenger was a remote colleague of his, a fellow scientist whom Drew often exchanged theories with. As he looked at the message, his tongue in his cheek, an idea came to him. He began to respond.

MISTER BLUE: Mr. Green. Your timing is uncanny as always.

Mr. Green and Mr. Blue were codenames that the two of them used. Technically speaking, their interactions were off-books. Mr. Green preferred to remain anonymous, to avoid the prying eyes of Drew's employer. Drew didn't mind giving his correspondent his privacy. Three dots appeared as Mr. Green started typing his response.

MISTER GREEN: Working on anything interesting?

Drew snorted. "You don't know the half of it."

MISTER BLUE: Yes, actually.

MISTER GREEN: Care to elaborate?

MISTER BLUE: Do you remember my pet project?

MISTER GREEN: …

MISTER GREEN: The thief?

Drew grinned wryly. Mr. Green was always sharp as a tack. The doctor sent a winking emoji in response. Mr. Green inquired about some of the basics, and it was clear that Drew's contact was excited for him. This filled Drew with a sense of satisfaction; this was a project he had been working on for quite some time, after all. After the initial wave of excited, geeky texting, Mr. Green asked a question that gave Drew pause.

MISTER GREEN: Have you figured out how she's been pulling off these burglaries?

MISTER BLUE: The subject has some form of superhuman ability. I haven't yet determined its exact nature.

Drew was careful not to use Shego's name.

MISTER GREEN: …

MISTER GREEN: What all can she do?

"You know, I don't entirely know, Mr. Green," Drew muttered to himself, glancing down at the shuffled paperwork on his computer desk. He sifted through his notes on the 'glow', as Shego had called it, and found them to be fairly lacking. There was some kind of light and energy projection, but beyond that, Drew knew very little on the extent of her abilities.

MISTER BLUE: You know, I never thought to ask.

MISTER GREEN: Well, I have to get going. Keep me updated; I'm as curious as you are as to where this all leads.

Drew nodded, and rubbed his eyes once more as Mr. Green went offline. He glanced at the time, and winced, realizing how late it had gotten. Resolving to question Shego about the extent of her powers during their next session, the doctor decided to call it a night. He shut down the computer, and crawled into bed, eager to awaken and continue his research.

"Good afternoon, Shego," Drew said, closing the door to the holding room behind him. He once gain toted his massive briefcase, teeming with notes. Shego sat, her unrestrained hands in her lap, and murder in her eyes. She avoided Drew's gaze as he sat down, prompting him to greet her again. "Oh, I see you've gotten restraints off! Good behavior, I assume? Are you ready to continue where we left off?"

Shego scoffed. "As if, Doc. Do you know what they made me have for dinner last night?"

"No, what, was it something awful? Was the lasagna cold in the center?" Drew said.

"It was terrible," Shego said, levelling her bloodshot, killer gaze on the doctor. He gulped. "Not to mention the little night-night serum they put in the water."

Drew looked appalled. "They what? They drugged you?"

Shego nodded. She leaned back in her chair, her neck lolling dangerously to the side. "Yeah, I mean, I asked the punk-ass from green-witch what happened when I woke up. He just said 'oh, bugger, standard protocol, cheerio'"

"Well. I truly doubt he said 'cheerio'," Drew said.

"I'm paraphrasin', Doc," Shego said, lurching forward and staring him in the face once again. Drew grimaced, and leaned back a bit.

"I think you might be suffering some unintended side effects due to your, eh, 'glow', Shego," the doctor said calmly. "Listen, let's keep our conversation brief and topical today shall we? I want to know about your powers."

"Oh, yeah," Shego started to say.

"Perfect. So, firstly-" Drew began to say.

"That is topical," Shego said. Drew blinked.

"... Yes," he said. "But, your powers."

"Right," Shego grinned slightly. "What about 'em?"

"Well," Drew sighed, scribbling in his notebook. "What are they?"

Shego leaned back, as if considering the question thoroughly. After a moment of muttering to herself, she held up a finger, and began to rattle off a string of answers. "I can create a sort of glowing energy that acts as both an offense and a defense. It simultaneously damages the world around me and defends the parts of my body it surrounds. Aside from that, I think it also grants me some resistances to basic sickness, and I can go for longer without eating than I should be able to."

Drew frantically jotted down the words she said, shaking his head with amazement. "You are… incredible. So, when did you quit the superhero gig and start robbing high security facilities?"

Shego's expression darkened. "Mm?"

"I just mean… Did you lose a sense of responsibility? Or was it more like-"

"You don't know jack about responsibility, Doc," Shego said, her voice low and dangerous.

Drew sighed, but put his hands up. "Alright, Shego. I won't pry further, I should not and I will not. You've put up with me with elegance, and for that I thank you. I think I ought to let you rest."

"You think I wanna sleep now?" Shego spat. Drew was already heading towards the door.

"I think you should," Drew called back to her. "If you're feeling better, we can try again tomorrow."

"Then what're you gonna do?" Shego asked, as if she didn't care if he lived or died.

"I," the Doctor said, "am going to speak with the 'punkass from green-witch'."

As the door closed, Shego shook her head, and couldn't hold back the little cackle that bubbled up in her guts. For whatever reason, Drew made her laugh despite herself. Probably because he's a total dork-ass, she thought to herself. Then, she shook her head, trying to clear it. Since she had woken up that morning, her head had been ringing intensely. She felt… suppressed. Not like the tranquilizer darts from Hinobi Security, but a more full-body, aching suppression.

"Ugh, this sucks…" Shego muttered, slumping forward against the metal table.

Maybe a little more sleep wasn't such a bad idea.

"I was willing to overlook the manacles on behalf of her unknown power levels," Drew had to force himself not to shout, keeping his voice low enough to not disturb the rest of the Glitch Techs down the hall. "I was willing to overlook that, Special Agent Youngblood, but you drugged her?! Are you insane?"

"It's standard procedure." Youngblood said, looking deadpan at Drew through his vizor. "Keeping their brain in a tired state will further interrogation results. Not only that, but it keeps her from using her power, and makes it easier for us to mindwipe her when this is all over."

"It's not been decided if we're wiping her mind or not!" Drew seethed. "She is a human being! How can you be so heartless?"

Youngblood snorted. "You haven't had her try to take your head off, Doctor. Tell me how human she looks then."

"I'm going to speak to Phil about this," Drew said. Youngblood shook his head, unable to hide his chagrin.

"Go ahead," he said smugly, "the commander's the one who ordered it. Oh, he's also stopping in tomorrow to check on our progress. Why don't you just talk to him then?"

Drew grimaced, but then turned on his heel and stormed out of the facility. Humiliated, furious, and filled with a passionate drive to turn this back on Youngblood somehow, Drew drove home. For the rest of the afternoon, he paced across his condo, thinking of ways to get a handle on the situation. Unfortunately, most of the satisfactory methods of vengeance led to him losing his job. Eventually, Drew's rage wore down to fatigue, and he dragged himself to bed.

Before he went to sleep, almost as an after thought, Drew sent Mr. Green his notes on Shego's powers, using a theoretical anonymous person as the actual bearer, in order to keep her identity secret. Then, with a sigh, he shut down the computer, and tucked himself into sleep. For the rest of the night, he continued to plot his next course of action.

Drew Lipsky was not one who liked being caught unawares.

Chapter Text

Author's Note:  Hey again, welcome back to another chapter! Just a heads up: Danger Shots is now running! It's a series of one shots and extra side stories to flesh out characters, set in the Danger Watch Universe! I'm also trying to do a Q and A thing there, so that I can interact with you guys keeping up with the series! Be sure to check that out if you are enjoying the series!

Anyway, enough out of me. Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 3: The Tiger, Uncaged

Shego was awoken at some point in the early hours in the morning by the sound of conversation. Somebody, or rather, two somebody's, were talking on the other side of the door to her holding room. They were not trying to be quiet, and Shego even heard one of them laugh. From her positon at the table, head still in her arms, she groaned. Her head was pounding, but, on the bright side, it seemed that she had slept off the remaining effects of the suppression serum.

Then, another thought hit her, just as she heard the door click open. Her head was in her arms.

She was unbound.

"Just make it quick," said a voice from beyond the door. Shego made sure to remain still, as if she were still asleep. "You don't wanna be in the cage with the tiger when the tranq's wear off."

"She's no tiger," the person who had entered the room said. He had a gruff voice, with a timbre that made him sound rather large. "Looks more like a sleepy little kitty."

Shego gagged internally, but made sure not to blow her cover. There were footsteps as the big guy made his way over to her, and Shego heard a sound like energy charging up. From her facedown position, she could only make out a faint flash of blue light. Then, she felt something cold and metal clamp down on her hands. The dampening restraints that she had been subject to previously, Shego reckoned. She knew that there was a pair for her feet as well.

Before the man could attach the second pair of restraints, Shego sprung into action, reaching for her inner power. For a moment she worried that the suppression serum might still be working, and that her plan would be foiled. However, to her immense pleasure, she felt the strength surge through her.

kLOng! Shego covered her leg in glowing green energy and thrust her knee upward. The stainless steel table crumpled and flew upward like it was made of alluminum foil, striking the figure in front of her in the jaw. Shego got a good look at him now as he toppled backwards and hit the floor; a buff, bald man in a Hinobi uniform. Shego snorted.

"Code Green, Code Green!"

Shego leapt out of the chair, and turned to the door. The other person, a muscular, stout woman with bobbing blond curls, was calling into her techno-gauntlet. Wasting no time, and cursing the fact that she had let the man bind her hands, Shego charged forward. The Hinobi agent at the door brought up her gauntlet to fire off some kind of projectile, but Shego was too fast. With a flying jump, Shego brought her legs up, wrapping her knees in a deadly chokehold around the agent's neck. Then, with a swift twist of her hips, Shego shifted the woman off balance, bringing them both toppling to the ground. From there, a swift kick to the side of the head put the agent out of commission.

Rolling out of the grapple and back to her feet, Shego glanced feverishly around the floor, looking for keys. There! Hanging from the woman's belt. She snapped the key ring up with the end of her foot, and with a chomp, caught it between her teeth. As she turned to run down the hall, Shego rolled her eyes.

She really wanted her hands back.

That would have to wait, however, as the hall was now blaring with sound and flashing light. Some kind of alarm was sounding; Shego had no time. At the end of the hallway, she spotted her exit. A nondescript door, with a telltale sign above it, complete with glowing red letters. Her goal in sight, Shego doubled down, sprinting as fast as she could towards the door.

Suddenly, to her right! Movement! Too fast!

The agent came at her like a freight train, barreling down a perpendicular hall and attempting to crash into her like two cars in a stoplight accident. Shego was caught off gaurd, her focus on the door, and she was tackled into the hallway wall.

"Uhf!" She exclaimed.

Despite the initial blow surprising her, Shego hardly sustained any damage. Her assailant, another Hinobi grunt, reared a fist back, charging up the strange, digital energy at the business end of his gauntlet. It was pointed directly at her face. Shego lashed out with her leg, sweeping the agent's own legs from under him, just as the digistruction went off. Some kind of restraint went flying uselessly into the air. Shego kicked straight down, but the Hinobi agent rolled to the side, scrambling to his feet.

"I've got visual on the target," the agent said into his gauntlet. "West wing, main corridor. She's right by the exit!"

"Shud-" Shego cried through her mouthful of keys, jumping off the wall and smacking the man down with a spinning roundhouse kick, "-upf!"

Shego turned to continue towards the exit, but found that two more agents had appeared to block her path. They stood between her and the door at the end off the hall. She could hear boots rushing down the hall behind her, as well as to the right. With a sour sense of de ja vus, Shego realized that she would soon be surrounded. There was a zapping noise, and the two agents in front of her produced weapons. Guns, to be specific, but nothing like Shego had ever seen. They had a strange, lightweight appearance to them, and seemed to pulse with faint electricity.

"Stand down!" One of them called out.

"Schrew you!" Shego shouted back. Awkwardly, she used her mouth to try and jam what she assumed was the digital keyfob down towards the restraints on her hands. She found no luck.

"Last warning!" The Hinobi agent called out.

Shego could see the battalion rushing in on her right flank, and she knew that behind her would be a similar situation. With a groan, she spat out the keys. She would just have to find a way to break out of the cuffs once she escaped.

For now, she had to focus on the escaping part.

"That's it! Open fire! Stun her!"

There was a sudden barrage of energy from the two guards blocking the exit, as bluish lasers began to pelt down the hall towards Shego. One beam collided with the wall beside her, singing the wall and bursting into sparks. While it wasn't the weirdest or most dangerous projectile she'd ever had launched at her, she knew that she didn't want to get hit by a laser of that magnitude. With a glance over her shoulder, she grimaced. Four Hinobi agents were rushing in behind her, with maybe twice as many coming in on her right. With laser fire still richocheting down the hall, Shego made the only logical choice.

She ran headlong back the way she came.

The agents running towards Shego were so surprised by the swiftness and fierceness of her charge that they actually faltered slightly. She almost grinned, but wanting to sell her ruse, she instead opened her mouth and snarled angrily at the Hinobi agents, activating her glowing legs and further shaking them up. They braced for the impact, two of them digistructing riot shields for protection. Then, just before the point of impact, Shego took a running leap, pushing her foot off of one of the shields like a diving board, and did a somersault, landing behind the troop of agents.

There were several grunts of pain, and even a scream, and Shego turned around to find that the laser barrage from down the hall had taken out all four of the flanking guards. They lay on the floor, stunned by the electrical shock. Blowing some wild hair out of her face, Shego turned her glimmering green eyes to the two shooters, who looked like they had just made a serious mistake. Which, of course, they had. However, before Shego could rush them, the larger battalion in the perpendicular hallway arrived.

"Oh, you guys just keep comin', don't you?" Shego complained.

Then, amongst the urgent shouting, Shego heard a familiar voice. It stood out due to its accent, and it seemed to be shouting out commands. As the Hinobi agents rushed in, gauntlets at the ready, blocking the hall, Shego's suspicions were confirmed. She spotted him, taking up the rear, a predatory look in his eyes as they settled on her.

Agent Youngblood looked like he wanted revenge.

"Take her out," Youngblood ordered. A chorus of whirring noises accompanied the battalion digistructing various weapons and restraints.

"Oh, hey, good," Shego taunted Youngblood. "I was hoping I'd get another chance to kick your ass."

"Now!" Youngblood commanded again, a vein pulsing in his forehead. "Use whatever force is necessary."

The Hinobi agents, at his order, burst into action. A bulky woman stepped forward, swinging at Shego with a digistructed energy baton, the tip warbling with energy. Shego threw up the heavy metal restraints on her hands, using them to catch the blow. The onslaught didn't stop; another agent came up beside the first, attempting to go head to head with her in melee. He swung a fist, which Shego ducked. Then, Shego swung the woman into the second attacker, using the leverage of her baton that was caught in Shego's restraints.

Wam! Shego was suddenly blindsided with a stinging blow to the head! The agents were closing in around her, and she whirled around to find that Youngblood had shot some kind of energy bolt at her from the end of his gauntlet. He was weaving through the crowd of Hinobi goons, maneuvering through the tight hallway space so that there was always someone between him and Shego. Growling, Shego ignited her legs with glowing green energy, delivering a three piece combo right to an assailants chest. They went flying back, toppling another agent in the process. With the slight opening, Shego tried to muscle her way towards Youngblood. She wanted to smack that confident smirk off of his face.

However, more agents blocked her path, and some of the ones that she had taken out were starting to pull themselves back up. Suddenly, she was being struck from all sides, and Shego had to drop her hyper offensive style for a defensive one. She used her metal restraints to block attacks, she swept legs, she fought like a bat out of hell, throwing Hinobi agents into each other and letting out animalistic combat growls as she did. Her eyes were glowing an intense green now, and the energy that was radiating from the lower half of her body was becoming intense and erratic.

Eventually, through her sheer combat prowess, she managed to wade through the sea of enemies, and found herself locked in melee with Youngblood. The confidence in his eyes faltered only slightly, and Shego grinned, pressing forward with a heavy swing of her metal restraints. Youngblood grabbed another agent and shoved her in front of him, causing her to take the blow directly to her jaw, and knocking her to the ground. Then, before Shego could wind up for another swing, Youngblood shot a barrage of energy bolts from his gauntlet.

Shego blocked the first beam with her cuffs, but was unable to deflect the rest as they came firing at her in rapid succession. BamBamBam! The wind was nearly knocked out of her as she took several shots of concussive energy to the chest. She stumbled back, but vengeance was coursing through her veins. Gritting her teeth, she pulled deep inside of her, drawing on a power she was still not entirely used to. Her glowing green energy gained a flicker of red. Hinobi agents rushed in behind her, attempting to grab her arms and stop her, but in a sudden burst of speed, she was no longer there. The agents grabbed onto a flickering after-image where Shego had just been.

Youngblood flinched as Shego seemed to manifest in front of him. He stumbled back, firing off more blasts, but Shego was too fast. She dodged most of them, deflected the last with her metal restraints, and made it right into Youngblood's face.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Shego roared, her head now coated in the green glow. She reared back, going to deliver a punishing headbutt.

ShhEEr!

Suddenly, something was pulling on her waist. Then, her arms. Enraged, Shego looked over her shoulder, to find that the security team had formed up, all of them aiming their gauntlets at her. Thick cables were being launched from their gauntlets, latching onto Shego. Stronger than them, Shego pulled on the cables as hard as she could, and even managed to yank a few agents off balance; but there were too many of them. More constricting cables were shot at her, wrapping around her waist, neck, chest, and finally her legs. Nearly a dozen strong binds were suddenly holding her down. She struggled against them ferally, but to no avail.

Youngblood, recovering from the initial shock of her onslaught, curled his lips into a sneer. Then, he aimed his gauntlet level with Shego's glowing, raging eyes. With a level, uncaring gaze, he let loose a final blast of energy. Shego took the blast straight to the face. Her eyes flickered, dimmed, and then returned to normal. Then, muttering curses, she slumped forward, unconscious, held up only by the multitude of chords suspending her. At a motion from Youngblood, the Hinobi agents released the cables, and she fell unceremoniously to the floor. Standing over her, gauntlet aimed down at her head, Youngblood spat on the floor.

"No," he said, "I'm going to kill you."

Youngblood began to charge his gauntlet for another blast.

"That's quite enough, I think," came a voice from down the hall.

The Hinobi agents straighted up, snapping to salutes. Youngblood followed their gaze, and found himself face to face with a man in a white suit. Like the other Hinobi agents, he wore a hi-tech visor and gauntlet, but the pins on his lapel marked him as a superior.

"Commander Phil," Youngblood said, as a pair of agents came forward and attached power dampeners to Shego's feet. "The glitch has been contained."

"I can see that," Phil said. The agents hauled Shego off, bringing her back ot the containment room. "Well done, Agent Youngblood."

"Sir," Youngblood nodded.

"At this rate, you might just earn that promotion," Phil said. "You could finally strip that ridiculous codename. Officer Mitch Williams has a certain ring to it, wouldn't you say?"

"Sir," Youngblood nodded again.

Then, the door at the end of the hall opened, and another newcomer walked in, confused by the commotion. Dr. Drew Lipsky, looking poorly slept and disheveled, but full of drive, came striding down the hall, beelining for Phil and Youngblood.

"Ah, just who I wanted to see," Phil said. "Now, Agent Youngblood, if you'll excuse me."

"Sir," Youngblood said, giving a final nod before walking off to file his incident report.

"Doctor Lipsky," Phil said. "Good to see you."

"What happened?" Drew demanded.

"Your little pet project escaped containment," Phil said. "Injured quite a few of my Glitch Techs in the process."

Drew was not entirely surprised, but he did purse his lips. This was not good for his case. Shaking his head, the doctor started to rifle through his briefcase. "Well, that is less than ideal, but can you really blame her? The amount of malpractice-"

"I am starting to suspect that she might be too dangerous to be kept here," Phil continued. "I was considering this already, when your first few interrogation sessions yielded little in the way of useful information… Doctor, I'm considering pulling the plug on this entire operation."

"What? But- Phil!" Drew protested.

"She needs to be contained, Doctor," Phil continued, "and to serve for her crimes. We're developing a place specifically for this… I understand your moral concerns, but logistically-"

"She's not some animal!" Drew insisted. "She's a person! A scared, complicated, damaged person, who needs help. Not to be thrown in the slammer!"

"I've reviewed the footage," Phil said. "I don't see 'scared' as a descriptor for this glitch."

Drew was seething now. The rage from the previous night was boiling up again, and while he wanted to lash out, he knew that the only way to get through to Phil was with hard facts and logic. Emotional appeal was not going to work. "She used to help people, Phil. I've been working with her. She's… she's opening up to me… I think. Maybe we could bring that side of her back out."

Phil searched Drew's eyes inquisitively, and the doctor seized the opportunity to press the matter even further.

"The world is changing. Secrets are becoming not so secret, and we are woefully unprepared. There are things ten times as dangerous as her out there- real threats, that your Glitch Techs could never dream of handling! We need somebody powerful on our side… Who do you trust more? A person? Or Wakeman's robot?"

That seemed to do the trick. The mention of the XJ-9 gave Phil pause. Drew could see the gears turning inside of his head. Eventually, the commander sighed.

"You have two days, doctor," Phil said, tapping a countdown into his gauntlet. "Two days to compel this 'Shego' to see the light. If you fail to glean any useful information by then, or if she's not willing to cooperate, then that is it. I take matters into my own hands. Understood?"

Drew was not satisfied, but he knew that this was the best opportunity he was going to get. He gave a grim nod. "Very well."

"Good," Phil said, striding down the hall. "Now, I have mountains of paperwork to fill out, and about a dozen other incidents to cover. Two days, doctor!"

Drew watched him leave, and it was only after the door closed behind the Hinobi commander that the doctor unclenched his fist. He let out a frustrated sigh, and began walking towards the door as well. He had to find a way to get Shego on his side, and quickly.

It was time to go to Nasty Burger.

Chapter Text

Author's Note:  Hey again! Welcome back to another chapter of Shego! Things are rolling right along for Danger Watch's premiere anti-hero, and this chapter has some more info on her backstory. Thanks so much for everyone tuning in, and also a huge thank you to those of you who have been keeping up with Danger Shots! There's currently two Shots up, and more in the works, so stay tuned here for more info on when those are coming! In the mean time, thanks for coming, and be sure to enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 4: A Bird For A Burger

That afternoon, Drew arrived at the Hinobi base with a bag of fast food and a sense of purpose. As expected, he found Shego sitting glumly in her holding room, but as soon as he entered, a hungry, excited look entered her eyes. She tried to hide it, but Drew could tell.

"Hello, Shego," the doctor said, taking a seat across from her and placing the greasy paper bag between them on the table. "I brought you something."

Shego licked her chops.

"Listen… I feel terrible for how things have started here. We've really gotten off on the wrong foot, and I know that these barbarians haven't been giving you anything good to eat," Drew continued.

"Are you trying to bribe me with food?" Shego asked, eyebrow raised, crossing her arms.

Drew blushed. "Ye- erm, no? Erh… Why? Is it working?"

Shego blushed. "No… Yes. Shut up."

Ravenously, using what limited mobility she had with her power dampeners on her wrists, Shego dumped the contents of the Nasty Burger bag onto the table, and began to tuck into the food with relish. Drew couldn't help but watch her eat; partly because it was funny to see someone open a paper wrapped cheeseburger with limited use of their fingers. However, he also watched partly because he couldn't shake this strange fascination he had gained towards Shego.

Eventually, once Shego was halfway through her meal, Drew sighed. She glanced up at him expectantly, knowing that there was a catch.

"Spiddit out, Doc," Shego said through a mouthful of cheeseburger. Drew's expression darkened.

"I'm afraid I have bad news, Shego," Drew said. "We've found ourselves on a bit of a time crunch. The higher ups at Hinobi want to pull the plug . That would mean mind-wipes, the disappearing act… the whole nine yards. Unless, I can make a 'breakthrough' with you."

Shego scoffed. Drew could tell that it was not going to be easy to get through to her, especially after what she'd been through.

"I get it," the doctor said. "Frankly, the way you've been treated, I wouldn't want to cooperate with me either. However, I know that there is a chance for you yet. I know that you are reasonable, despite what Youngblood thinks. You didn't kill any of those Glitch Techs today-"

"I was pulling my punches," Shego said. Then, after swallowing a mouthful of french fries, she added: "Kicks."

"Well, it's a good thing, then," Drew said. "I'm not sure I could have convinced Phil of even two days if there had been fatalities this morning."

Shego finished eating, giving a satisfied sigh and leaning back in her chair. Then, she began to study the doctors expression. He was gravely serious, a little hopeful, but mostly… Somehow, he was the one who seemed desperate. Not her. 'And I'm the one stuck in a cage,' Shego thought to herself. Eventually, she shook her head. Something about this dork fascinated her. She couldn't quite place it, but deep inside of her cold heart, something inside of her wanted to help him. She didn't want to disappoint him.

"Ugh, fine," she said, rolling her eyes. "What do you wanna know?"

"Excellent!" Drew said, causing Shego to snort. "I suppose, I must know: what made you turn from the life of superheroics?"

Drew was sure not to make any accusations this time, remembering the sour expression she had gained when asking about this subject before. This time, Shego pondered the question, until an answer seemed to come to light behind her eyes.

"I guess… It must have been our last fight with that weird bird dude."

It was training night. The five of us had gathered on a rooftop, and the moon was high in the sky. Hego was leading us through a drill, and this guy shows up out of nowhere.

"Ah! Team Go!"

Now, we'd dealt with this guy before. Aviarius, he called himself. A total nutjob in an eagle costume. He had wings, yellow boots, and a ridiculous bird mask. The last few times we had tusseled, he had been using a rudimentary glider system to fly around and harass people. Once the wings were thrashed, he was a piece of cake to take out.

That night was different.

"Oh, great," Mego said. "This guy again."

"Go home, Colonel Sanders!" One of the twins said.

"Yeah, it's not worth the hospital bill," the other twin quipped.

We sprung into action, forming a defensive formation and staring down Aviarius, who was hovering in the air above us. Something sparkled in his hands, but I don't know if any of my brothers noticed, and I was too busy laughing at his stupid ass costume. The bird-themed weirdo cackled.

"Not this time, Team Go!" He shouted. "You see, I have an ace up my wing this time!"

"Bird puns? Seriously?" I snorted.

"Team Go," Hego said. "Be ready. Something doesn't feel right."

"It's just Aviarius," Mego said. "This guy's what, a C-tier villain? At best?"

Hego grimaced. Looking back, I think he must have gotten a burst of intuition. We probably should have listened to him. However, at the time, I was too busy clowning on Aviarius. The bird villain eventually grew sick of our banter, and produced what he had been holding for full display: a scepter. A short rod, simple and metal, on the end of which was mounted a glittering shard of crystal. A shiver went down my spine, though I didn't know why. One by one, we stopped laughing. Aviarius sneered.

"Yes, that's right," Aviarius said. "I've done my research. I needed to know what made Team Go so powerful. What, exactly, was the source of your infamous… Glow?"

Aviarius tossed the scepter back and forth between his hands. I turned to Hego. "Hego? What's he talking about?"

Our leader just clenched his fists. Aviarius chuckled maniacally, and then, pointed the staff down towards us. "Oh… You don't know? Or perhaps, you don't remember? Maybe it's best if I just show you."

"Team Go…" Hego said.

"Hyah!" Aviarius shouted. Then, a beam of multicolored energy came blasting down towards us.

"Let's Go!"

We dove into action, everyone dodging to the side at Hego's command. Unfortunately, Mego wasn't quite fast enough. He was struck in the back by the richocheting waves of energy the blast came off. By this point, Aviarius was now circling over head like an oversized bird of prey. He fired another blast, this time aiming for Mego, who seemed the weakest link.

"Mego! Shrink! Make yourself a smaller target!" Hego called out.

"Oh, yeah, duh!" Mego laughed to himself. Then, he started to glow with purple energy. However, instead of flashing and vanishing from sight, the glow flickered, and then fizzled out. "What?"

Aviarius laughed even harder. I looked up to him, and found that the crystal on the end of his staff was glowing purple now. Wanting to wipe the smug look off of his face, I turned on the glow, and kicked down a small water tower.

"Hego!" I called out. My brother caught the idea. Then, he caught the water tower. Then, he heaved, glowing blue as he launched the enormous projectile end over end at Aviarius. I grinned; no way the bird brain dodged.

Then, I blinked, and Aviarius had disappeared. The tank went sailing past, crashing onto a nearby rooftop in an explosion of water.

"What?" I said.

"Guys," Mego said, his voice laced with fear. He was looking at his hands, trying to summon his purple glow. Again, the power seemed to fail him.

"No…" Hego said. "It can't be…"

"But it is!" Aviarius' voice cried out. Suddenly, he seemed to appear somewhere else in the sky. With a thrust of the staff, he shot another multicolored beam at us. This time, he struck the twins, who were rushing to try and get to Mego. They cried out in pain, falling face first onto the rooftop. This time, I watched as a red energy seemed to rise out of my youngest brothers, and shoot through the air. Then, Aviarius' staff glowed red.

"It's not possible!" Wego shouted. The tried to multiply, but like Mego, their power seemed to fail them. "He's taking our powers!"

"No way!" I called out. "You mean- that thing? It's part of the magic space rock?"

Aviarius scoffed. "'Magic space rock' indeed! You have no idea what this was, do you?"

"What are you playing at?" I called out.

"Don't let him goad you! Stay focused!" Hego called.

I ran forward, towards Hego, who held his arms, ready to give me a boost. I jumped into his waiting hands, and with his super strength, he sent me flying into the sky. I charged up my fist with green energy, and used the added momentum of my flight to swing what would have been a punch strong enough to knock over a building. However, right at the point of contact, Aviarius shrunk down, vanishing to my eyes, and avoided the strike.

Suddenly, he was behind me! I spun around, swinging a desperate kick, losing a battle with gravity. However, my kick went straight through his form like he was made of air, and he vanished into red smoke. Then, a half dozen other Aviarius' popped up around me. He was using Mego and Wego's powers at once! The group of bird men laughed as I fell, and Hego barely caught me, breaking my fall.

"This crystal was made from the same material as the Five Stones of Cosmic Power!" Aviarius taunted. "Not as powerful as them, mind you, but made from the same stuff!"

"What are you talking about?" Hego called, as even he was unable to fight his curiosity. None of us knew much about the origins of the space rock, or our powers. Despite the inherent danger, this was a good oppurtunity to learn more.

"The stone came from Petropia. It was in possession of the crystal folk, you see, and under the protection of the Crystalsapien, Gaurdian of Petropia. It, like the Stones, were made to appease the Diamond Authority, who deemed themselves rulers of all the gems of the universe." Aviarius went on. He looked down at them, mirthfully enjoying flaunting his knowledge. "My goodness! I can't believe you don't even know the origins of your own superpowers!"

"You just spoke a whole bunch of gibberish!" I called out.

"Yeah!" Mego agreed.

"So, you really don't know…" Aviarius said. Then, he pointed the staff down at them. "No matter! You will die never knowing the truth of the stars above!"

He fired off another blast, and this time, Hego shoved me out of the way. However, he was too late to avoid the strike himself, and he looked physically weakened as a blue energy was sapped from him, shooting to Aviarius' staff. I ran to him, and me and all of my brother's formed up. "Hego!"

"I'm fine," Hego said. "We have to… stop him… If he gets all of our powers… It will be too late."

"It's already too late!" Aviarius said, now glowing red, blue, and purple all at once. "You've no hope of defeating me!"

"Shego," Hego said. "It's up to you."

My brothers all turned to me. I grimaced. I hated being the one in charge. With a loud sigh to ensure they know how annoying I found all of this, I cracked my knuckles. "Fine. I'll pluck the chicken."

"From there, it's just more of the usual. Punch punch, kick kick, I'm a badass, we save the day, bada-bing, bada-boom," Shego said.

Drew was scratching notes into his notebook as fast as his wrist would move. When she cut off her story abruptly, his head snapped up. "Wait- that's it? What about your powers?"

"Oh, yeah," Shego leaned back, patting her full stomach. "Once I kicked bird-brain's butt I stomped the crystal thingie with my foot. Everyone got their powers back."

A flicker in her eye told Drew that there was more to that particular part of the story than she was letting on, but the information she had given him was vital, and he didn't want to sour her burgeoning trust of him, so he didn't press the issue.

"I see," he said. "So, what happened then?"

"Well, after that we just started running out of bad guys to face. Eventually, we started drifting apart. Some of my brother's tried to do the hero thing for a while, but I had never really been the most on board with the idea. Hego went off trying to learn more about space, Mego got really into reality television, and I went back to school and finished my degree. Doing the part-time hero gig made it pretty tough to go to college. I…" Shego paused, a faint smile on her face. "I had a life for a while."

"You have a degree too?" Drew mused, genuinely curious.

"Yeah?" Shego said. "What's yours in?"

"Criminal Psychology. You?"

"Child Development and Education," Shego said.

"You… have a teaching degree?" Drew said, with mild surprise. Shego rolled her eyes.

"So what? I'm good with kids; and teaching people stuff," she said. Drew's eyes sparkled, a faint smile on his lips. Shego made a face at him. "What?"

"Your story is just… fascinating," he said.

"What do you think about all that, Doc? I'm sure you Hinobi egg-heads gotta know more about what's going on in space than I do, right?" Shego asked. Drew gave her a reluctant look.

"I'm sorry, but, no," he said. "I'm still a novice when it comes to the unexplained, and the higher-ups keep most of the important secrets to themselves. I will say, though, that aliens and the supernatural seem to be an increasing thing in recent years."

"Pshh," Shego said, putting her feet on the table. "That's been there since the 90's."

Drew chuckled. Then, surveying his notes, he sighed. "It's just… What I don't get, is why you turned to crime? You were a superhero before, and you went and got yourself a degree! Why not just go straight?"

Shego's expression darkened, and Drew was about to apologize for ovestepping a boundary, but then, something there softened. She sighed, and swallowed her instinctive, reactionary rage.

"Maybe tomorrow, Doc," she said quietly. "I'm full… I think I need some sleep."

Internally, Drew was disappointed, but he knew that today had been a long day for Shego; what with the combat-filled breakout she had been through the morning of, and sleeping off the suppression serum the night before. So, he nodded, putting away his notes and glasses in his briefcase. "Of course, of course… Shall we pick up first thing in the morning then? We're still on a time crunch."

"Mmm," Shego pondered, feining reluctance. Then, she gave him a wry smile. "Maybe if you bring me a coffee and a Big Donut."

Drew shook his head, returning the smile, and took his leave.

Chapter Text

Author's Note:  Hey again! Welcome back to another chapter of Shego! This one's a little shorter but I should be able to start getting chapters out a bit faster from here on out! This is sort of the most mature/romance driven book in the DWU as of right now, and its different from the usual vibe. I sort of thought that a cool character like Shego deserved an awesome identity in this 'reboot' I'm doing. I thank you guys for sticking with it! We're about halfway through Shego, and I can't wait to reveal the next project for you guys. Plus, I've got some more Danger Shots in the pipes as well. 

Tl;dr thanks for reading! hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 5: Time Ticks Down

Lipsky was woken up early in the morning, before the sun was even thinking of rising. There was a notification at his desk top. Squinting at the light in the darkness, he clocked the time. 4:32 a.m. The doctor groaned. However, his weariness was momentarily staved off as he read the notification.

MISTER GREEN: Interesting… sounds like she's dangerous.

Drew realized his contact was replying to the notes on the anonymous Shego's powers. Rubbing his face and sliding into his computer chair, he began to respond.

MISTER BLUE: I don't know… She is a bit temperamental, has a criminal record, and shoots plasma from her hands, but there's also something about her.

MISTER GREEN: ?

MISTER BLUE: I don't think she's malicious. Just misunderstood.

MISTER GREEN: Well, you should at least have a contingency. Do you have a counter-agent or restraint? Have you been able to test the energy signature of her power?

MISTER BLUE: I haven't had the time. Or the pull. I've got about 24 hours left to find a way for her to cooperate, or else they pull the plug and she gets vanished.

There was a long pause as Mister Green was typing. Drew yawned, steepling his fingers, his eyes dark with shadows.

MISTER GREEN: Does she want a job?

Drew snorted.

MISTER BLUE: LOL. Somehow I don't think that would go over well with my employer.

MISTER GREEN: …

MISTER GREEN: Does this matter to you? Does she?

Drew was about to rapidly type his response, but he stopped before his fingers touched the keyboard. The question made him think harder than he was expecting to. Did he care that much about this project? No, Drew started to think, after the way Hinobi had treated him, and the way they had shown their ugly side… The doctor was hardly hanging on by a thread with the corporate mega giant. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to type no. Something was holding him back. Something was tethering him to this project, driving him crazy.

It hit him like a sack of bricks.

He didn't care about the project.

MISTER BLUE: Yes. Surprisingly… I care more than you think.

There was another pause, as Mister Green considered his response. Drew was nearly chewing his fingernails in suspense, mulling over his own strange, tumultuous feelings about the task at hand. About Shego.

Mister Green's next message broke the doctor's rickety train of thought.

MISTER GREEN: I could come get her.

"Wait- wha-?" Drew started to say out loud. However, before he could try and decipher his own reaction to the offer, an alarm began to sound. Drew groaned, wincing at the time and gathering himself.

As he showered, Drew was still thinking about the conversation with Mister Green. Why had he asked Drew's relationship with Shego? Not that he knew her as Shego. And what did he mean by "come get her?"

Drew got dressed in his usual doctortial attire, and packed his laptop in a side bage alongside his usual briefcase. Today was going to be a long day at the office, and he might want to talk to Mister Green again if things went sour. As he pulled his unmarked car out of the driveway, and towards the local coffee and donut shop, Drew was still stewing in his own thoughts.

To Shego's surprise, her first visitor of the day was not Doctor Lipsky. As the door swung open, she leaned back nonchalantly in her chair, expecting her usual visitor.

"Hey, doc," Shego remarked. "I don't smell any coffee or donuts."

Then, her smug, playful expression melted into one of disgust. Instead of Drew, Agent Youngblood entered the room. The sheer sight of him made Shego flex her muscles, and she groaned internally at the continuous annoynace that were her restraints. Instead of sitting across from her, Youngblood simply leaned against the far wall, looking down at Shego.

"What do you want?" Shego asked.

"Me?" Youngblood asked, nonchalantly combing a hand through his hair. "I'm easy, love, I just want my damn promotion. Its YOU-!"

Youngblood suddenly lunged forward, slamming both hands on the metal table, and shouted so loud that Shego was actively fighting the restraints. However, they were fully activated, rendering her arms and legs passive. No doubt extra security after her breakout attempt.

"You!" Youngblood continued, "who seems to matter here! So. Tell me. Who are you? What do you want? Why the bloody hell should I let you keep whatever is in your tragic memory?"

Shego nearly growled, but then, with a deep breath, she grew completely calm. Youngblood panted himself down, still boiling inside, staring at her with an incredulous look on his face. Shego gave him a little winning smile.

"You've got hardly 24 hours left before we wipe you anyway," Youngblood said. "No chance of escape again, I mean, I dunno. If I were you, I'd be taking the handout."

"That's why we're nothing alike," Shego said, giving her best plastic smile. "I'll wait to speak with the doctah, thank you."

Youngblood seemed more confused, and then it seemed to dawn on him. He scoffed. "You say I have an accent. Where are you from? Queens?"

Shego's facade broke for a second. "Hey, watch it, I'm from Jersey! Queens? Queens?"

Youngblood smirked. "Thanks for the town of birth."

Then, he began to stalk out of the room. Shego, in her frustration, shouted after him.

"Hey! Hey! Get back here Green-witch boy! I'll turn you into a sand-wich! I-" Shego grunted against the restraints. "I'll kick your ass you rat bast-"

Youngblood closed the door behind him, striding down the hall towards his office, still bemused by his own victory. It was a small victory, but one he had earned nonetheless. A birth location was far better than nothing, and his interrogate adversary was… formidable. Still, Youngblood thought, it should have been him leading this project, not the good doctor.

"Speak of the devil," Youngblood muttered, as the doors to the facility opened. An exhausted looking Dr. Lipsky, carrying a paperbag, a briefcase, and a to-go coffee cup.

Drew didn't even say a word to Youngblood after catching sight of him. He simply walked straight forward, eyes on his destination. Youngblood, still full of glee at his own self fulfillment, turned smugly to call after him.

"Enjoy your last day, Doctor," he said.

Drew ignored him, and strode up to Shego's cell. He could tell just by the way she was fuming to herself that she was not in a good mood. Drew sucked in a breath, and opened the door to the room.

"Oh, there he is… Finally!" Shego said. "Where ya been, doc? I had this Hinobi guy busting my chops!"

"Sorry, I nearly forgot about a stop along the way," Drew said, coming forward and placing the donut and coffee on the table before he said down. Shego looked longingly at the coffee, which reminded Drew of something. "Oh, yeah. I also got you a straw."

Drew produced the straw, and Shego felt something drop inside of her. She shook away the confusing feelings to focus on the easy ones: chiefly thirst. And caffeine addiction. She eagerly slurped down a few sips of coffee, before panting from the heat of the beverage. Drew laughed a little, but switched to a grin when Shego glared at him.

"So, about the donut," he said, gesturing to her restraints. "I was thinking-"

"We will come to the matter of the donut when it arrives," Shego said, feigning seriousness. "For now, I think I owe you some info. I told that Youngblood guy that I'm from Jersey. You know how weird it is to have two interrogators? It's like having two barbers."

"OK, I'm ignoring your weird metaphor," Drew said. "You have something you want to share?"

Shego shrugged. "I mean… I've been thinking it over, and I sorta parsed out where things started to change… After the fight with Aviarius, we all went our separate ways. My brothers… well, they all took it differently, but none of them took it well. One by one, things started going really wrong for them."

Drew was scrIbbling away notes.

"It started out small, but then, it just started to get weird," Shego said. She sighed. "I guess I have to start with the whole situation on the yacht…"

Chapter Text

Author's Note:  Bam! Back to back chapters! If you enjoy the story please don't be afraid to bookmark or leave a comment, its feedback from you guys reading along that gets me hype to continue!

Chapter 6: Talking Statues

New York City, June 1999

"I was living with two roommates at the time. We had all gone to the same college. I remember that night vividly, because it all felt off, right until the end. I can close my eyes and see it happen like in slow motion.

It was dark outside. The T.V. was on. There was this reality show that was popular at the time, about this group of dog-themed vigilantes called "the Pack." They would go around roughing up criminals and putting on a big show of it. Real 'Dog the Bounty Hunter' type stuff, mixed with the appeal of a boy band. You'd have loved it.

The girls were squealing because the leader of the Pack, an androgynous lady named Fox, was announcing that they would be holding a raffle for tickets to their next fan cruise, which kicked off the next morning. They weren't selling anymore tickets, and there would be live video coverage of the event. You didn't wanna miss it!

Barf.

"Hey, Veronica," Roommate #1 said. That was the name I went by, then. Veronica Goh. "We're going to that laser rave place you like. Do you wanna come?"

"I'm good ladies," I said, waving a hand. "I actually have a date with the T.V."

Roommate #2 giggled. "Suit yourself girl. Come on!"

Then, the two of them left, and for a brief moment, I had peace.

Then, thirty seconds later, a monster came crashing through the bay window.

It was hulking and craggy, and looked like it had some kind of stony armor. As it picked itself up from the glass I saw that it bore a pair of leathery wings on its back. It's skin was a textured light blue. It looked like some kind of demon.

Looking to the huge hole in the side of my apartment, I saw that more were crawling their way in. One was green, and had an extra set of arms, with film like a flying squirrel's nightmare between its limbs. The other was brick red in color, with a terrifying mane of white hair, and a face ending in an enormous shoebill beak.

The biggest guy, who came in first, started to raise his arms. I gave him no time. I ignited both hands and lunged in for the attack. He was tough, but I was way stronger, and so I was backing him into a defensive posture. Then, his little green buddy flew in, and latched himself onto my back. I shouted out in surprise, but gave the big guy a kick so he wouldn't be in a hurry to get up. Then, I whirled around the room, trying to tear the monster off of my back.

When I finally grabbed the little creature I instantly threw him forward with all my empowered strength, making him practically bounce when he hit the floor. I took a breath, but there was hardly room for it. The big guy was getting up, and the red one was walking in with a dangerous gait. He was a warrior, for sure. I held up my fists, glowing with fury, ready to face them all.

Then, a voice stopped us all in our tracks. "Enough."

One word, two syllables from this gravelly baritone was enough to stop the home invaders. They were suddenly motionless, like statues. Whoever had spoken bore great respect among them. When he arrived, gliding gracefully despite his size into the room, I could see instantly why Goliath was their leader.

The gargoyle leader, whose name was Goliath, introduced himself, and apologized for the damage to our home. He explained to me that he and his young wards, whose names were Broadway, Lexington, and Brooklyn (don't ask) were of a troll species called gargoyles. The only trolls, they made sure I knew, that could survive the petrification process of the sun, and live again come nightfall.

"Look, that's great and all," I said, gesturing to the massive hole in the side of my house. "But why are you guys like… here."

"We believe you may have information on the Pack," Goliath said, gesturing to the telethon. I shook my head.

"What?! What do I have to do with those costumed weirdos?" I asked.

In response, the little green guy, Lexington, pulled out a piece of a torn newspaper from the satchel he wore across his chest. It was a blurry shot of me, alongside my brothers. One of our earliest patrols.

"Because you used to be a 'costumed weirdo'," Lexington said, trying to stay humble with his 'I-told-you-so'.

I tried to keep a poker face. "Look, that was a long time ago. I don't play superhero anymore. I don't know anything about the Pack."

Goliath looked grim when he spoke next. "I'm afraid, then, that you won't like what I'm about to say. The Pack looks flashy, but they use that outward display to hide their true intentions. They're a dangerous group, really dangerous, hiding in plain sight."

"So, what," I remember saying. "You want me to come out of retirement so bad you BUST DOWN MY WINDOW? Do you know how expensive thats gonna-"

"They're also recruiting," Goliath said, staying frustratingly calm. "And it seems like your brother, Michael, is interested."

Michael was the name that Mego had chosen for himself. Michael Goh.

"What?" I said. I remember my head was spinning at the mention of my brother. "You… you've been spying on all of us?"

"I apologize," Goliath said. "There are many things we try to keep tabs on, that lie within our territory."

"Your 'territory'?" I echoed.

"Everything within a hundred leagues of Castle Wyvern is the domain of the Manhattan Clan," Goliath.

"That's right," the red gargoyle, Brooklyn, said, his arms crossed over his chest, and his wings draped over his shoulders like a cape. "We rule the rooftops, baby."

Lexington and Broadway started to enthusiastically agree, but bowed their heads as Goliath held up a hand. Brooklyn alone sniffed, turning his beak up, and even he remained silent as Goliath spoke to me.

"I will attone for trespassing on your privacy in the future, for now time is of the essence," he said. "Your brother has boarded the Pack's yacht. There, they are looking for a new member, after we defeated them in battle. If your brother joins them, I fear it will begin a downward spiral as unending and dangerous as a drakkon."

"A drakkon?" Drew asked. "Did you mean a dragon?"

"Yeah, see, I asked too! Yeah, apparently its just like a dragon but spelled funny, and more 'monstrous'. I mean, how can you get any more monstrous than a literal dragon."

"And these were… talking gargoyles."

"Yes?" Shego said.

"Like, living statues?" Drew asked. Shego could tell he was doubting the truthfulness of her tale.

"Look, Doc, you told me to spill so I'm spillin'!"

"I know, I apologize its just… How am I to just accept that some gargoyles might just be alive? I drove past like fifteen gargoyles on the way here this morning!"

Shego just laughed. "The same way you get used to alien shark monsters and bird costumed freaks. Eventually, you're just kinda not surprised. Earth's full of weird shit."

"Quite…" Drew muttered, looking somewhat harrowed.

"May I continue?" Shego asked.

"Please."

"I looked back and forth between the gargoyles.

"OK, well, I don't have much of a choice. Can you get me to the pier?" I gestured to their wings. Goliath nodded to Broadway, who can over with a sheepish green, and stooped to one knee so I could climb into his back.

"Hang on," I said. I quickly grabbed the emergency get-out bag I kept underneath my bed, and stuffed a few extra necessities into it, including my old costume. I took one last look at my apartment, my broken apartment, my broken new life, and I sighed. Then, I said forget-about-it, and jumped on the back of a living gargoyle.

If you ever get the opportunity to choose between taking the subway or gliding somewhere on the back of a gargoyle, nine times outta ten I would recommend the subway. This time, though, the night winds brushed my face, along with a rush of emotions I knew I would be wading through to get to bed that night. This was one time I was glad to be moving at the speed of a pigeon, the rush of nearly missing the tops of buildings kept my mind off of my past collapsing in on my new life.

We touched down sooner than I expected, in a large yard of shipping containers. As I slid off of Broadway's back, Goliath gave me a short bow of his head.

"This is as far as we can take you," he said, his gaze going to rest on the purple-pink horizon that would soon become sunrise. "We must return to roost before the sun rises."

I nodded. "Yeah… Thanks for the heads up, by the way."

Goliath just nodded, and one by one, they turned to run off, looking for a tall building to glide from. Lexington was the last to go, and he turned and gave me a little peace sign as he ran. I returned the sign. Once the gargoyles were out of sight, I pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Sure enough, I was still at the docks with my action bag. This was really happening.

I snuck my way down to where the big, fancy boats were moored. I could tell which boat was the telethon party board before I even checked the sign, but I made sure before I climbed onto a random cruise liner. Sure enough, the ship with the party lights and loud music was the Pack Fan Cruise vessel. I quickly scaled the side of the building, and waited until the coast was clear to vault up and onto the deck.

From there, I snuck past a few security guards, as well as a few straggling partygoers, until I managed to swipe a room key. I found the corresponding room, a large, comfortable suite with a waterbed and a jacuzzi. I instantly entered, locked the door behind me, and threw my bag down beside the bed.

That was when the tiredness sank in. I was drained. It had been a late night of fighting monsters and learning about reality show terrorists trying to recruit my younger brother. I figured that, since the cruise didn't start until tomorrow, the pack would be too busy with the televised broadcast to do anything nefarious. So, I settled down for a nap until morning."

"Yes, I can really see how you became a career criminal," Drew said. "Stowing away, stealing a room key."

"It was my brother," Shego said.

"What if it was someone else's room?" The Doctor continued to poke fun.

"Listen, doc, you fight three gargoyles at 1:00 in the morning and you tell me how nice a waterbed sounds, OK?"

Lipsky snorted a final laugh, and waved a hand, submitting to dropping the joke. Shego, meanwhile, made a loud noise as she slurped at the bottom of her drink. The doctor raised an eyebrow.

"I'm outta coffee," Shego said.

Drew nodded. Perhaps it was time to take a break. Not to mention, he was hoping to have a word with Mr. Green. "Yes. A brief succession. I will get your coffee, and then we can continue."

Chapter Text

Author's Note:  Hey again! Welcome back to another chapter! We're getting down to the wire, and for better or worse, Shego's time at the Hinobi holding base might be coming to an end! Thanks for keeping up with the story, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 7: The Stakes Are Raised

A few minutes later, Drew was sitting at a table in the agent's lounge. His laptop was open in front of him, and he was nursing his own first cup of coffee for the day. He had made sure to encrypt his computer to avoid Hinobi's nosy network, and was now contemplating Mr. Green's message from early that morning. As he tapped the lip of his coffee cup against his mouth, Drew heard bootsteps in the hall beyond. He watched, annoyed, as Youngblood entered the lounge. The agent just snorted at the doctor, and went to pour himself a cup of coffee. Drew ignored him, finally typing his response.

MISTER BLUE: Too dangerous. My employer is high security.

MISTER GREEN: We have a man on the inside.

Drew chewed his lip.

MISTER GREEN: I'm only offering because it seems like you really care about this. We're a smart couple of individuals. I'm sure we could think of something.

Drew knew that there was truth to his contact's word. He let the pause last as long as he could, but quickly responded when Mr. Green started typing again.

MISTER BLUE: It would be risky.

MISTER GREEN: …

MISTER GREEN: So then, tell me, Mr. Blue. Is the risk worth the reward?

Drew's heart pounded with a dozen different reactions. He cosidered what success in this endeavor would look like. Shego, potentially, would walk free; no doubt back to a life of crime and living on the fringes of society. Should they fail, then not only Shego, but Drew and quite possible Mr. Green would all be on the receiving end of the wrath of a technoconglomerate. On the other hand stil… Drew gave a side glance to Youngblood. Getting Shego away from him might be worth all of that.

Drew blinked. He had surprised himself with how protective he felt of her. He barely noticed the notification ping of Mr. Green's next message.

MISTER GREEN: I have to know by tonight. I can get there as early as tomorrow morning.

Drew barely had a moment to read the message, as he realized that Youngblood was making his way over. He must have caught Drew's stink eye. Drew quickly closed the laptop, and looked up at the approaching agent.

"I don't get it," Youngblood said, pulling up a chair to sit across from the doctor. "You had a pretty decent career, Doctor Lipsky. I read your files. You were making good money as a scientist-slash-analyst. Great benefits. Why stick your neck out for something as stupid as a burglar?"

Drew clenched his teeth. Inside he was wrestling with the same question. At first, he thought it was a professional curiosity. His excitement for the forensic nature of the case. However, as time went on, as Drew learned Shego's story, as he saw the way she was kept, how that infuriated him… Drew had felt something else, there, too. However, he couldn't let that confusion show to Youngblood. So, the doctor stared him level in the eyes.

Youngblood scoffed. "I just don't think its worth it, mate. Think of what this is going to look like on your record? You'll be cleaning beakers for the rest of your life; and forget about trying to find a job somewhere else."

Drew remained silent, holding back his rage. Youngblood eventually grew bored of antagonizing him, and stood to leave. However, not without a final, jabbing comment.

"Nothing you've done is gonna matter to her by tomorrow morning."

Once Youngblood was gone, Doctor Lipsky took a moment to compose himself. Once he had become relatively calmer, repeating a mantra he'd picked up from a VHS tape, he went over to the coffee pot and poured another cup. Then, he brought the steaming mug back across the safehouse, opening the door to Shego's holding room with his hip.

"Oh, you're back." Shego said. "I was starting to think you might have fallen into the toilet."

"Hilarious," Drew said flatly, setting her coffee down in front of her. "I was just having some… interesting conversations… Are you ready to continue?"

"Just a sec, Doc," Shego said, gesturing with her chin to the powdered donut which lay neatly on top of a paper napkin. "I'm hungry. And I can't move my hands."

Drew blushed slightly. "Yes. I had considered that. Do you want me to, uh…"

Shego squinted as he trailed off. "To what?"

"I mean," Drew stumbled, "Would you like some… assistance?"

Shego rolled her eyes. "Well, yes, please. Doctor! I can't move my hands here."

Drew shook his head, still a little red. He didn't know why he was so giddy about such a simple task. He took the donut and gently raised it to Shego's mouth. She looked at him, unimpressed, and then looked ravenously at the donut. She quickly dug into the donut with her face, accidentally nipping Drew's finger twice and getting powdered sugar all over her mouth. Drew couldn't help the smile that crept onto his face as he watched.

As Shego finished eating and licked her chops, she seemed to notice Drew's expression. This time, she also looked a little pink in the cheeks.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing," Drew said, clearing his throat and forcing a neutral face. "Here."

He reached forward with the napkin and wiped the powder off of Shego's mouth. As Shego did her best to sit still, she found herself looking intently at Drew's face as he worked. She gulped. Oh, no, she thought. Not him.

"OK, OK," She blustered. Drew withdrew his hand. "We got business to do, doc. How long we got?"

"Not long," Drew agreed. "Let's see… alright, so, you snuck onto the Pack's yacht. You said the boat left the next morning? What happened then?"

"Right, well, for most of the morning the passengers were allowed to just roam the ship. I swiped this stewardess outfit with a really cute hat, and went around carrying appetizers to blend in. Apparently, the big event would happen at sunset, where the Pack would reveal their chosen prodigy. In the meantime, guests were meant to mingle.

Which meant that I needed to find Mego.

I set down the tray, grabbed a single mimosa, and swapped hats with a sleepy sunbather. I pulled on some green sunglasses and began to strut my way across the main deck, stripping off layers as I went in the crowd. I came out in a green and black bathing suit- what? It was cute, OK?

I scanned the pool first. Nothing but sunburnt partiers and picture-perfect Y2K ladies. Ignoring the various male gazes, I turned and strutted over to the side of the boat. There were places to sit in the shade, and a variety of buffet bars were set out for the party guests. I scanned the food line. Still nothing. Then, I spotted a set of wooden stairs. The seemed to lead up to a balcony. I scanned what I could of the balcony, but I only saw brightly colored umbrellas and waiters sweating through penguin suits. I heard the sound of laughter coming down.

Slurping my mimosa, I made sure that there was nobody watching, and then I started to make my way to the stairs. Before I got there, however, a figure came walking down. I froze, and he spotted me, walking closer. He was a tall and muscular man, covered with salt and pepper gray hair and sporting a well kept but wild beard. He wore grey swimming trunks, and had a fluffy looking white towel wrapped around his shoulder. I continued to slurp as he approached.

"Well, hello, miss," he said.

"Hi," I said, trying to sound casual.

"You look pretty. Hopin' to get on the show, eh?"

I nodded.

"Well, maybe we can arrange that. We got something of a V.I.P seat up on the balcony. There we can have, eh… private conversations with the frontrunners. And I must say, you," he looked me up and down. "Are a front runner."

I had to summon all my willpower not to wrinkle my nose in disgust. Instead, I forced my face into a smile, and somehow managed to make myself giggle.

"Sure," I said in my best college grad voice, "I'm into it!"

The man grinned, and began to lead me up the stairs by the wrist. I nearly gagged. He smelled like wet dog, cologne, and pool-water. As we ascended the stairs, I caught a glimpse of the balcony, and my heart skipped a beat.

It wasn't because of the gorgeous view of the sea, or the private hot tubs. It wasnt about the lavish spread of exotic foods and expensive drinks. It wasn't even the rest of the Pack lounging around in on-brand swim-wear.

It was the fact that Mego was sitting in the midst of them, laughing and talking, enjoying some kind of a fruity smoothie. There were other partygoers milling around as well, but they were visibly jealous of the attention Mego was getting.

"I know, I know. I'm pretty awesome," Mego said loudly. Then, as he finished the story, he realized that one of the Pack had come back with a new guest. Me. I swore at Mego in my head, telling him not to blow our cover. My brother continued to squint at me.

"Wolf, who's this?" Said a man with a heavy Australian accent. "Someone catch your fancy, eh?"

"Well, she wants to be on the show," Wolf said, sneering in a way that made my stomach churn. He let go of my wrist (finally) and walked over to the food with a nauseating display of self-arrogance. "I told her this is her best shot."

"It's true," said another member of the Pack. He was wrapped around two other women in a hot tub: a partygoer and a third Pack member. He wore his hair long and shaggy, and the female Pack member's hair was cut shorter than her ears. They both had intense eyes that lingered on me like prey.

At that point, Fox, the red-headed woman from the telethon, who had been quiet since I arrived, stood from her spot, playing with the hair of a sleeping party guest, who's head was resting against her calf.

"Right, you all," she said. "Get your outfits together. Especially you two."

Her fingers pointed to the two in the hot tub, who both shared a wry laugh.

"We're going to shoot some daytime footage for the special," Fox said. "The camera crew is already waiting. Let's revv up the party, yeah?"

The Pack pulled themselves together, donning outfits more akin to their usual television attire. As they were stalking out, I slapped my Jersey girl voice back on and put my hand on Wolf's arm.

"What should I do, sugah?" I said. Wolf grinned.

"You just make yourself comfortable," he said. "This won't take long."

I forced a flirtatious grin, and then Wolf went off to catch up with the rest of the Pack. Once he was out of sight, I spun on my heel, tearing off my sun hat and glasses and storming over to Mego. Mego had the same idea, it seemed, as he was stomping towards me.

"What are you doing here?" We said simultaneously.

"Me? I got invited," Mego said. "Your turn."

I rolled my eyes and tried to drag my brother by the wrist. He resisted my pull. I turned back and scolded him. "Come on. We're leaving."

"We're in the middle of the ocean," Mego said.

"We can get on one of the Pack's speedboats," I said.

"You're causing a scene, Veronica," Mego said.

I stopped, and whirled around on my brother, who stared at me unflinchingly. I groaned.

"Look dude, I know you think the Pack is cool, but this thing isn't all paparazzi and red carpets," I said. Mego laughed.

"Is this, like, jealousy?"

"Are you kidding me?!" I snapped. "I got my entire nice, new life uprooted by GARGOYLES in the middle of the night; and all so I could have to come aboard the Nickelodeon Cruise and rescue you from the cast of WWE Smackdown!"

"Rescue me?!" Mego scoffed. "Who says I need rescuing?"

I shook my head and started walking. "Let's go. Don't make me drag you."

Mego followed, but more because he wanted to keep spouting indignantly than out of any respect for my request.

"What's so evil and secret about the Pack?" he called out to me.

"They're mercenaries, Michael. Killers," I said.

"But they're on t.v. all the time," Mego said. "They've never killed anyone."

I rolled my eyes so hard they went back in my skull.

"They didn't film that part, doofus," I said.

"What if… I don't care? What if the fame is worth it to me?" Mego said. I could tell by his tone of voice that he was questioning it as he said it. I shook my head.

"Is it?" I asked.

Mego sighed. "No."

"Hey," came a gruff, male voice from behind me. It made my skin crawl as Wolf appeared behind me. "What's up, sweetheart? I thought I told you to wait for me by the jacuzzi."

I looked to Mego, who looked resigned, and mouthed "sorry." Then, I did what anyone ought to do when a guy does some shit like that. I elbowed him in the solar plexus. The older guy sputtered a bit, surprised, and took a step back. He looked confused more than anything.

"What the hell?" He said.

"Oh, haha, sorry, you surprised me," I said, deadpan.

"Um, Veronica," Mego said. I ignored him, squaring up with Wolf. Bystanders were starting to look out way.

"You uh… alright, babe?" Wolf asked. I growled.

Mego muttered at me again from behind. "Shego…"

"OK, no way- look, dude," I said, stamping my foot at Wolf. "I'm not your babe!"

"No," another voice called out from the crowd. They had gathered all around us by this point, and the music had stopped. The voice came from Fox, for whom the crowd parted. Her bright stark hair was framed by a headset mic adorned with fox ears, dyed the same color as her hair. "You're someone special, aren't you?"

"Veronica Goh! Listen to me right now!" Mego hissed.

"WHAT?" I snapped, turning to my brother. "I'm squaring off with evil (and sexy but mostly evil) villains."

"You're glowing," Mego said quietly.

I looked down at myself. Surely enough, I was covered head to toe in my glowy green aura. I looked back up, and realized that my cover was pretty much entirely blown. I groaned. I couldn't even complain about it, because my little brother had been trying to tell me. Now, it seemed, Fox was going to blow any oppurtunity I had of starting again to the wind. I glowered at her, and the leader of the Pack just grinned, showing off perfect white teeth that either had false tops or had been filed to look like fangs.

"You think you know who I am?" I bluffed at Fox. She seemed amused.

There was a duet of laughter from slightly behind me. I whirled around to see the duo from the hot tub, Jackal and Hyena, creeping forward on our flank. Their wild hair was still somewhat damp with poolwater, and they both wore fur vests and strange metal bracelets.

"You're someone that Coyote will pay handsomely to speak with," Fox said. While her tone made it sound unpleasant in a variety of ways, I was pleasantly surprised that she kept our identities vague. I was expecting an Aviarius-level "curse you Team Go!" moment. Instead, she simply added: "Both of you."

Mego and I went back to back, muscle memory after many years of training and fighting together. The Pack began to close in on every corner, and the partygoers had formed a large ring to give us berth to fight. Mego was shaking his head.

"I just wanted to be on reality TV. Also to go on a cruise," he complained.

"Well, you did those things," I said. "Now. we're fighting mercenaries."

Fox was done wasting time. She gave the command, and the action began. Mego and I knew our exit strategy: the speedboat's below deck. The first to rush in were Hyena and Jackal. Both cackled wickedly, as blades emerged from the strange bracelets around their wrists, forming deadly gauntlets. I kept them at bay, empowered by my glowing green energy field. At one point, Wolf lunged in from behind, and before I could react, Mego suddenly vanished, and then reappeared, landing a solid uppercut on the older man's jaw. I grinned at the satisfaction on Mego's face.

From there, the fight broke out in earnest. It was looking pretty bad at first, as we were outnumbered. It didn't take long for me to realize that there wasn't much they could do against me. They seemed to rely on their claws, blades and martial arts, and since my glow protected me from harm and gave me enhanced punching power, it soon became clear they were outmatched.

Then, Wolf pulled out the gun. A sawed off shotgun to be exact. The crowd shrieked in fear.

"No more games," he said.

I gulped. At this range, even with the glow, I would be pushing my luck on wether that sort of blast could kill me. I started moving and he pulled the trigger. Luckily, my glow held, but I could feel the impact, and it did not feel good. Imagine getting hit in the ribs with a golf club.

The battle became a chase, as both Mego and I started to bolt. Wolf reloaded his gun, and the other members of the Pack broke into a sprint after us. I was ahead of Mego, looking over my shoulder every few seconds to make sure he was keeping up. I was looking for the boat storge. I passed the buffet, the suites, the bathrooms. Then, there! Finally, I found the ladder that led down into the cargo hold of the yacht. Mego and I split up. I went looking for a fast boat, and Mego went looking for a way to get us onto the water.

I found a shiny new speedboat. "Found one!"

"Me too!" Mego called out. He was closer then I expected, and I turned to see him running up to me.

"That was fast," I said. He never stopped, bolting and diving into the boat. I turned my head, swivveling to follow him. Then, a cold feeling touched my toes. I looked down, and saw water running past my feet.

"It's counting down," Mego said.

I scrambled into the boat. Then, we watched as water rushed in from the slowly opening hold doors. An alarm blared, as this was not supposed to happen while the ship was at sea.

"The doors will close on their own before the boat takes too much water," Mego explained. "We need to wait until the water is high enough to drive the boat out of here, so we'll have a very small window."

"We'll make it," I remember saying. I had been pretty sure I was lying.

So, for a few agonizing seconds, we waited as water rushed into the cargo hold. Then, there was a roar of anger, as Jackal sprang from behind a floating crate, and into our boat. I blocked his first slashing claw, and kicked him in the chest, sending him over the side with a splash.

"Drive!" I shouted to Mego.

"I need more water! We can't risk destroying the rudder!"

"Argh," I complained, as Hyena now sprang from the water. She and I traded blows, and she managed to scratch me lightly on the cheek. Then, I gave her a two piece combo to the jaw, and sent her flying back into the water. We were bobbing in the water now.

The alarm increased in pitch.

"Drive!" I repeated.

The engine roared to life.

"Driving!" Mego agreed.

Then, we were speeding across a water-filled cargo bay, circumnavigating a sea of boats, crates, inflatable bounce houses, and other strange rich people yacht stuff that I don't want to recall. As we shot towards the sliver of light that was the open sea, there was a loud explosion behind us, followed my a metallic crunching noise. Gunfire.

Wincing, we both ducked low, and Mego floored it. By the skin on our teeth, we shot out of the bay just before the doors closed, and shotgun fire rang out from behind the thick metal. Then, we were shooting out across the open ocean. As the salty spray stung my eyes, I turned to look back at the yacht as it grew smaller.

"Yeah, that show sucks anyway," I said.

Mego couldn't help but snort out a laugh, and I grinned.

"I missed you sis."

"We came ashore the next morning on a vacant, unclaimed beach. We were so exhausted, we slept in the boat. We woke up a little after sunset, which was convenient, because that's when the gargoyles found us. We said our thanks and goodbyes, and then they vanished, and we went out separate ways," Shego said.

"What happened with the gargoyles after that?" Drew asked.

Shego shrugged. "I never saw them again."

Drew hummed thoughtfully.

"They seemed like they only had good intentions," he said. "Even your brother, more or less."

"I know, I know… You're like 'get to the traumatic part already'," Shego said. "I'm just… Its hard to think about."

"Believe me, I wouldn't ask such a thing of you if the stakes weren't so high," Drew said.

The doctor looked to her sofly. He could see the pain there. He felt such sorrow, anger, frustration. He wished that he could make it all go away. He wanted to see what she looked like when she was happy. He wanted to hear more about her life as a teacher. However, Drew knew that they were in a bind. Time was ticking down. If they didn't find something in her story to spare her, the Hinobi higher-ups would hi-jack the operation, and put her away permanently.

Eventually, Shego composed herself.

"Mego and I kept in touch after that," she said. "Just in case of an emergency. We hardly talked, but we kept tabs on each other. One day… One day, he called me, and told me to read a newspaper. A story about a serial killer in Go City. He was killing his victims, dressing them up in the color red, and painting his moniker on their faces…"

Shego looked like she was going to throw up.

"The killer was going by the name 'Wego'."

Chapter Text

Author's Note:  Hey again! Thanks for coming out to another chapter! Things get emotional this chapter, so be prepared for feels. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 8: End of Story

When Shego spoke, her voice was trembling.

"I was… We met up, near the scene of the last crime. The whole place was crawling with police tape. Mego had disguises. Fake badges… In case someone caught us. We figured we might see something the cops hadn't. We got in easily, nobody was even there to question us. We…" Shego swallowed. "It was late. I remember… the streetlights were on."

Drew had his hands clasped together, and his knuckles pressed to his lips, listening intently. Shego could tell there were gears turning in his head. He was listening and thinking at the same time. Just how he always looked. For a second, she considered stopping. Flirting with him. Doing anything to get away from these dark, dark memories. However, she knew what the doctor would say. She also knew that he would be right.

She gathered herself before she continued, becoming less shaky as she spoke.

"There was this thing… that the twins would do when they were little. They were pranksters, right. And," Shego actually laughed a little, her eyes glistening. "They were good at it. The only problem they had is that one of them, inevitably… They would go back to the scene of the crime…"

Drew had never seen Shego like this. Something about the nature of the memory was almost too much for her. He could see it. Even the way she told the story, it was far less like a story than the other recountings. She was talking to Drew more than she was talking at him.

This was the first time she had told anyone about this, Drew realized.

"The place was horrible. W-Wally…" Shego trembled as she bit back her brother's name. "... Wego really did a number on it."

"Where did you all come up with your codenames?" Chimed Drew. He wanted to spare Shego from this painful memory, at least for a moment. Shego shook her head as if it were embarrassing.

"We actually went by Team Go first," she said. "We were orphans. Street kids. None of us knew what our names were supposed to be. Sure we had nicknames and junk from the block. For a while, I was called Trash Panda."

They both snickered at the silliness of it.

"But we all named each other. Hego cuz, well, he was Hego. The twins were Wego for obvious reasons we couldn't pass up, and Mego named himself. We all basically agreed with him though. As for me," Shego rolled her eyes. "I was the girl. So, Shego."

"Oh, very clever," Drew said sarcastically.

"I know," Shego grinned. "But, we were tweens, and I got outvoted. I wanted to be Mofo or like, Syber Optimus or something badass. But no, I had to stick with the 'Go' motif."

"Team rules," Drew said, as if it were the most natural assumption.

"Exactly!" Shego said. "Then, get this, we chose our cover names from this old sitcom we used to watch."

Drew snorted. "No way."

"I'm deadass serious!" Shego said. "It was this show about a 70's family. Henry, Michael, Veronica, and the twins, Willy, and Wally."

There was a moment, where they were smiling at each other, and the air was electric.. Then, reality settled back in as Shego said her brother's name again. She cleared her throat. Drew continued to stare at her, as if the moment had hit him like a truck. Then, he blinked, shaking himself back to the present.

"Um," he said.

"Yeah," Shego said. She sighed, and continued her story. "Mego and I were walking into the place. Apparently, it was where he had been operating out of for a while. It was covered in… everything. Blood. Other stuff. The first few floors were covered in police forensic gear, but as we went up a level, we found nothing of the sort. The place was like a demented funhouse. There were shards of glass like broken clown mirrors everywhere. It stank… Drew you should have seen the bugs."

Drew grimaced as Shego recoiled from the memory. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

"There were… hanging ropes. Covered in dried stains. The walls… had writing. In blood," Shego's voice cracked. "It just said "We are Wego" over and over and over…"

Shego looked sick. Drew burned with guilt.

"We kept looking… We couldn't help it. It was a carnival of terror. Something out of my worst nightmare, ya know?" Shego took a quivering breath. "Then… Then, we saw him. Well. I mean, we both thought we saw him. We started running after him, we… We split up."

Shego looked like she was going to throw up.

"Shego we can-" Drew started to say. She shook her head, and forced herself to press on.

"I… I caught up to him. I grabbed him. He was… laughing. This horrible laugh. I shook him, I tried to say his name, and then… He vanished." Shego made a 'poof' motion with her hands. "A clone. That's when heard the s-screaming. I ran as fast as I could but I- I…."

"It's OK," Drew said.

"Wally killed Michael," Shego wailed. Tears were streaming down her face. She looked broken. Drew felt his stomach drop. He rose from his chair and went around the table. The doctor knelt beside Shego, letting her press her face into his chest as she continued to sob through the end of the story. "Wally killed Michael and I- I killed Wally!"

"Shhh," Drew said.

"I killed my baby brother," Shego sobbed.

"We're done, we're done," Drew soothed, stroking her jet-black hair. "You don't need to be there anymore. I won't make you remember it anymore."

Shego cried for a while. Drew sat there, trying his best to provide a soothing presence. Eventually, her eyes ran dry, and with a dignified sniff, she pulled away from Drew. The doctor remained next to her, hand on her chair, staring at her. Shego kept her eyes away from his.

"That's the whole story, doc," she muttered. "The whole thing… There's nothing in there that your boss deems "saveable" is there?"

She said it more than she asked, like she knew the answer.

Drew shook his head. He refused.

"I'm sorry," the doctor said genuinely. "I'm sorry I've been stupid. How did I not see from the beginning? I… I need to make it up to you."

"This isn't your fault," Shego said.

"No, but I think I'm the only one who can help you," he said. "I want to help you."

Shego stared at him, now.

"Why?" She asked.

Drew didn't say it, but they both knew why.

"I'm going to get you out," the doctor said. He gathered his laptop, and his things.

"What?" Shego said incredulously.

"Tomorrow. First thing in the morning," Drew said. "Be ready. I'm getting you out of here."

Then, the doctor left. Shego sighed, wiping her eyes as best she could through her restraints. She hated this; being trapped, her destiny in the hands of others. She swore that as soon as she was free of these restraints again she was going to kick so much ass.

Could Drew really do it? That thought, and the thought of Agent Youngblood's nose being broken in slow motion, lingered in Shego's mind as she went to sleep that evening.

As soon as Drew got home, he went to his computer chair. He threw his things haphazardly on the bed, instantly opening up the messaging program. Mr. Green was online. Drew started to type furiously.

MISTER BLUE: Can you come get her?

Drew chewed his nails, staring as the screen, his heart pounding, thinking of all the ways this could go wrong. His chest hitched up a pitch as Mr. Green started typing. Then, when the message came through, Drew had to suck in a breath before he read it.

MISTER GREEN: …

MISTER GREEN: I'll be there before sunrise.

Chapter Text

Author's Note:  Hey again! Welcome back to Shego! I hope you're enjoying the story, as this is the climax! After this, there's just one final chapter and then some post credits scenes, where I'm excited to reveal the next chapter of Phase 2! Thanks as always for reading, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 9: Hours

That night, Shego slept with fitful nightmares. She dreamt a scene from when she was little.

She and her brothers were sitting in a public park. The twins were feeding some geese, and Hego was leaning back against the bench, enjoying the sun on his face. Shego and Mego were bantering, cracking jokes about each other, their brothers, and random passers-by. Shego laughed internally when she remembered some of Mego's jokes. She never wanted to admit it, but he was the only one on the team as funny as she was.

That made Shego's heart hurt. The grief, welling up inside like it often did at night, brought her awake. Shego groaned, sitting up and out of her makeshift bed.

Thonk!

"Ow!" Shego groaned, as she felt her head impact with something solid. She squinted, groggily opening her eyes. She tried to stretch her limbs, and found that she could hardly move them. Her head was pounding now, and not just because she had hit it against the wall of wherever she was being held. She could tell she'd been given the suppression serum again, albeit a smaller dose than before. Her enhanced physiology was shrugging it off already.

Probably just enough to keep me asleep while I was moved, Shego thought, once again testing the boundaries of her new environment. As best she could tell, she was inside of some kind of coffin-shaped holding box. There were tiny cracks for her to breathe. To her surprise, Shego found that she was not restrained. With a growl, she tried to ignite her glow, expecting the green light to illuminate her dark surroundings. However, to her dismay, Shego found that the serum was still lingering in her system.

Just enough to keep me asleep and screw with my powers, she thought, annoyed.

Since she couldn't move, and she couldn't see, Shego decided to test her other senses. She began to listen intently, trying to get an idea of what was going on outside. She began to make out conversation, but distant and muffled by a door or a wall or something. She also heard a low, whirring noise, like some kind of engine. As she awoke further, and the adrenaline began to course through her, she began to pick up on even more.

There was the slightest shake of her containment unit, and then a vibration consistent with the hum of the engine. Shego realized she was on a moving vehicle. At first she was confused. She wasn't supposed to leave until the next morning. Then, she realized, that someone must have tried to weasel in the literal meaning of the next morning.

And Shego knew exactly which weasel.

Drew hadn't slept since Mr. Green's message. He was too filled with anxiety and dread over what would happen in the coming hours. Eventually, the doctor gave up on rest, and decided to make himself a pot of coffee. If he was going to be awake, he may as well be productive too.

So, Doctor Drew Lipsky began to do what he was best at. Research. He started poring over the records he was able to access via his employee status in the Hinobi mainframe. He downloaded as much data as he could into his laptop; personal files, blueprints, the training and equipment protocol of the Hinobi agents. Drew read through security procedures that Hinobi went through with their facilities and began to theorize on a notepad ways to circumnavigate them.

After a couple of hours of research, Drew decided he was going to need some supplies. He wanted to have contingencies to every possible thing that Hinobi might, or more likely would, throw at him. So, in the middle of the night, the doctor made a trip to the local hardware store and Best Buy. He came home with a small duffel bag filled with cables, batteries, tools, wires, lenses, adhesives, a burner cell phone, and all manner of other things that he thought might come in handy.

After a few more hours of tinkering, worrying, planning, and triple-checking his notes, Drew got a ping on his desktop. He immediately checked it.

MISTER GREEN: I'm close. Where should I meet you?

Drew wasn't sure. Any unauthorized vehicle showing up at the Hinobi safehouse would get checked out immediately. However, it wasn't easy to park far away and approach on foot either. With a grimace, Drew began to type in a long number.

MISTER BLUE: This is a burner phone number. You can communicate to me through this. I don't know all the angles yet, so we have to play this by ear.

After Drew sent the message, there was a longer pause. Eventually, Mr. Green went offline. Then, Drew's phone loudly started vibrating. The doctor nearly jumped. Then, with a deep breath, the determined doctor answered the call.

"Hello?" He said. "Mr. Blue speaking."

There was a staticky laugh on the other end of the line.

"So good to finally hear your voice, Mr. Blue," Mr. Green said, speaking in a low, cunning baritone.

"Likewise," Drew said.

"What's our plan?" Mr. Green asked.

"I will keep you posted. For now, I'm sending you an address. Try driving around for a while. Don't look suspicious," Drew said.

"What, looping the block in jet black a Caddilac Coupe de Villes? Certainly not suspicious," Mr. Green said.

"Why are you driving something so obnoxious?" Drew asked.

"Because I have a sense of style," Mr. Green said. Drew could hear the toothy smile through his words. "Don't worry, I won't draw any undue attention. Keep me in the loop, Mr. Blue."

Then, Mr. Green hung up, and Drew sighed. He sent his accomplice the address, and then began to pace back and forth once more. The sun would be starting to eek at the corners of the night sky soon. Drew knew that time was of the essence, now, as they would be moving Shego in the next few hours.

With one final gulp, Drew donned a long, dark blue coat. Slinging his bag of equipment over his shoulder, the doctor went out to his unmarked sedan, and began to drive towards the Hinobi facility. The entire drive, Drew's mind was on the many ways this could all go wrong. He was running over failure scenarios over and over in his head, trying desperately to find ways out of them. There were many chances that they would fail, and all of them would be sent to this secret Hinobi prison.

However, there were also many chances that they might succeed. That they would all walk away, free of Hinobi influence. A chance to start anew. Drew thought about Shego. He wanted to see her face, when she no longer had to worry about the supercorporation breathing down her back. He wanted to see her relaxed. The strange feeling in his guts continued to grow. With these thoughts inspiring him, Drew grew more determined than ever, and quickly pulled into the Hinobi base parking lot.

It was empty.

Drew furrowed his brows. Something about this wasn't right. The safehouses were under 24 hour surveillance, the doctor had been certain to check that. And especially on a morning as important as this, there should be at least a few Hinobi vehicles parked here. None were.

"But, the only reason they would leave the base is if…" Drew said to himself.

Realization hit him.

"Shego."

Youngblood's face was the first one Shego saw when she was released from her holding pod. She snarled at him, trying to lunge forward and get her hands on him. However, on either side of her, Hinobi agents appeared, clamping restraints on her hands, and then her legs. Youngblood snorted, shaking his head.

"Calm down, will you?" He said.

Shego, breathing heavily, cast her gaze around the room, trying to figure out where they had taken her. The room was tall cielinged, made of various kinds of white metal. There was only one door, and it was currently blocked by two Hinobi goons.

"Where am I?" Shego spat.

"You," Youngblood said, as if he was happy to enlighten her. "Are in a preparations facility. In about an hour, a barge will be coming for you, and you'll be shipped off to a very special place."

"Special place?" Shego repeated.

"Oh, yeah. One for glitches just like you," Youngblood said. "Dangerous. Out of control. Metahuman."

"Who do you people think you are?" Shego said. "What does the government think about this?"

"Irrelevent, I'm afraid," Youngblood said. "They stay out of our way, and I don't get paid enough to worry about it."

A sneer crept onto his face.

"Not yet, anyway."

The containment capsule was taken away, and Shego was settled into another steel chair. She could have screamed. Her butt was blistering from sitting in these all day. However, she showed no weakness, as she was too busy glaring daggers at Youngblood, who seemed supremely unbothered.

"Shame, really," Youngblood said. "I mean, I'm glad to see you go, but Phil was really hoping you might be of use to us. I know better, though. This is exactly what you need."

"What is exactly is this," Shego said.

Youngblood regarded her. For a moment, Shego watched his ego and his sense of protocol do battle. His ego won out. Youngblood couldn't help but lord anything he could over Shego's head. He had become so giddy with the thought of her detainment granting him status, that he was slipping, just slightly, at the edges. Internally, Shego couldn't help but smile, though she held back her grin on the outside. She'd found a weakness.

"This is state of the art, darling," Youngblood said. "Cutting edge Hinobi technology, based on mindwipe tech from the 60's. It's what we call 'experimental hypnotic memory therapy.' It's a… behavioral enhancer."

"It's mind control," Shego put it in laymen's terms. Youngblood laughed.

"As if," he said. "Not even Hinobi is that advanced. It does, however, render you… susceptible to persuasion. It makes it easier for us to… handle, those who we're detaining. Rehabilitate them."

"So you're drugging them," Shego said.

Again Youngblood laughed. "Not nearly so barbaric… Listen, since you're on the schedule anyway, and you seem so curious, why don't we get your session started a little early? I'm sure Phil won't mind if we're a little extra punctual."

The Hinobi agent snapped his fingers, and the others in the room began to file towards the door. Then, a projection device was lowered in through a panel in the ceiling, until it was level with Shego's face. Youngblood stood at the door as the other agents filed out.

"You might feel mild discomfort between your eyes," he said. "Otherwise, the procedure should go smoothly."

"Oh, I bet," Shego said, sweating a little.

"Well,' Youngblood smirked like a tween bully. "I guess it is known to have a few… bugs."

Then, the agent left, and closed the door behind him.

Once he was gone, the projection device turned on, and blue light was beamed into Shego's eyes.

Drew answered the call before it finished its first ring, driving frantically with one hand.

"Mr. Blue-"

"They already moved her," Drew said. "We have to go. Now!"

"Mr. Blue try to keep a level head."

"There's no time!" Drew swore. "We have to get there before she ships out on the boat."

"How long-?"

"I don't know!" Drew said, swerving into a turn and causing several cars to honk at him from the intersection. The doctor ignored them.

"I'll just follow you, then, shall I?" Mr. Green said.

Then, he hung up. Drew was slightly relieved. Now he was able to focus on driving. And drive he did, like a bat out of hell, all the way down to the waterfront. He was pretty sure, from his study of the Hinobi procedures, that Shego was going to kept in a holdover facility to be prepped before she was shipped out to their new, secret prison. That would be his only window to get to her. So, minutes later, the doctor skidded to a stop outside of a run-down looking wharf building. He recognized some of the cars parked outside as belonging to Hinobi agents. In particular, Drew noticed Youngblood's vehicle.

Drew got out of the car, and starting to walk intensely towards the entrance. He felt a buzzing in his pocket, and answered, never breaking a stride.

"I see you," Mr. Green said. "Lets make a plan."

"I have to get in there," Drew said.

"You're just going to run in? That's practically suicide," the doctor's accomplice said.

"Just wait outside, then," Drew said. He was rapidly running calculations in his head, and digging inside of his bag of tricks for the right gadget. "Keep the engine running. Shego and I might need an exit."

Then, Drew hung up. He realized he had just told Shego's name to Mr. Green, but at this point, he didn't think it mattered that much. They were all in. As Drew strode up to the front door, he knew that it was far more reinforced than its flimsy appearance suggested. He pulled out a small, wireframe sphere, inside of which was a sticky substance and a vial of liquid. He squished the device against the door, and pressed a red button on the surface. Then, the doctor quickly hurried a few steps away, covering his head and neck with his arms.

Ka-BOOSH! Seconds later, an explosion broke the door off of its hinges, shaking the pier. Drew pulled a cloth over his mouth, to avoid the smoke, and charged into the now open building, stepping over the thick steel that he had just blown a hole through. Drew didn't even stop to think.

All the doctor was thinking of was Shego.

The projector did little but blind her at first. Shego squinted, trying to avoid the piercing light, but found that it pressed just as hard against her eyelids, no matter how she scrunched her face up. Then, sound was added, a warbling, full bodied, ringing that settled around her ears like a blanket of ants over her brain. It made her skin crawl. The light started to flicker in strange patterns, forming rapid, moving images against Shego's eyelids. It was all overwhelmingly uncomfortable, and combined with the lingering sluggish pain of the suppression serum, it was driving her crazy.

She wasn't sure how much time passed, but Shego was shaken from her miserable hypnosis by an external sound. A muffled shout, following by the sound of something heavy slamming against the door. She tried to open one eye and look past the projection device, but it was too bright. She couldn't make out a thing, and had to squeeze her eye shut again. There was more shouting, followed by a loud, scraping noise, like a lawnmower engine catching. Then, more heavy slams against the door and floor.

Finally, there was a snap-hiss as the door to the white room opened. There was a shuffling of feet, and someone was trying to speak to her. They sounded like they were underwater. Shego couldn't see. There was a smashing noise, and suddenly the blinding blue light flickered out and died. Shego's brain rushed with relief, and the ringing noise that cloaked her mind soon followed, filling her with more relief. She felt a hand against her numb face, fingers gently prying at her eyelids. Seeing if she would respond.

Shego slowly opened her eyes, swallowing to readjust her ears. As she blinked, the bright spots in the center of her vision began to fade. The face in front of her slowly became distinguishable. A rounded jaw, black hair, light freckles, dark eyes.

"-ego? Shego! Can you hear me?" The man's voice filtered back in as Shego's ears adjusted back.

It was Drew.

"Doc?" Shego groaned. There was a beeping, and then a release of pressure as Drew removed the restraints from her arms and legs. She stood to rise, and Drew helped her. Still wobbly from the invasive technology, she slumped against the doctor for a moment. He held her up, and for a moment, they both breathed heavily into the embrace. "I never thought I'd be so glad to see you."

"We have to go," Drew said. "Can you walk?"

As each second passed, Shego was gaining strength. She nodded, pulling away to stand on her own two feet. She lingered close to him, however, both of them finding comfort in the others presence.

"Where's Youngblood?" Shego asked. "I wanna spit on him on the way out."

"I didn't see him," Drew said. They were both rushing out the door, and he gestured to the unconscious Hinobi agents they stepped over. "Just these two so far."

Then, the alarm began to sound. Lights began to flash as the siren wailed. They could both hear the distant boots and shouts of scrambling Hinobi security agents. Drew led the way, pulling Shego through the twisting corridors of the base, back towards where he had come in. Just as they were about to turn a corner, laser fire erupted behind them. They dashed for cover behind some large pallets, meant to be loaded onto the docks. A squad of Hinobi agents had arrived, and were heading their way. Soon, they would be blocking the way they needed to go. Thinking fast, Drew turned to Shego, who was trying to summon her powers.

"Shego," the doctor said. A green spark jumped from Shego's fist. She growled, pushing harder. "Listen to me."

Shego turned to look Drew in the eye.

"There's a car waiting outside," he said. "A cadillac. An accomplice of mine is driving it. Its only a little further down that hallway."

Shego followed his finger, and she also started to follow his train of thought.

"No," she said.

"I'm going to cover you," Drew said.

"You're coming with me!" Shego rebutted.

"It can't be both of us, and it can't be just me!" Drew said.

"Doc no, I-" Shego swallowed. Her eyes were red. "You can't. I just found someone I could care about again don't… Don't make me lose that again."

Drew's heart was in his throat. He stood, reaching into his bag and producing a handful of gadgets.

"I care about you too, Shego," he said. "I'll be right behind you."

Then, with a shout, Drew went rushing out from behind cover. He throw a contraption, and then tucked into a roll, narrowly avoiding the onslaught of laser fire. The gadget rolled to the feet of the Glitch Techs, and exploded into an arc of white electricity. It bounced against each of them, and their technology started to fritz. However, Drew knew it wouldn't last long, and more were coming. He whirled around on Shego, who was standing there, looking like she wanted to fight. She was still only sputtering weak green energy. She wasn't at full power.

"Go!" Drew shouted. "Now!"

Shego didn't want to, but something deep inside of her made her legs move. The part of her that had kept her alive, all of these years, she reckoned, was doing its job one more. The survivor in her knew that this was her moment. But inside, another part of Shego was hurting. She dashed down the hallway Drew had pointed out, letting the sounds of the fray behind her fade. She rounded a corner, rushing as she saw light peeking around the corner. An exit! She was almost clear!

As Shego rounded the corner, she stopped on a dime, her stony expression curling into one of malice and disgust.

Standing in front of her, with a gauntlet aimed for her head, and a comically arrogant smirk on his lips, was Special Agent Youngblood.

"Well, well," he said. "Here we are again."

Shego clenched her fists. The Hinobi agent glanced down, and his confidence seemed to further increase.

"And hardly any power this time," Youngblood said.

"I've got more than what it takes to kill you, you little prick." Shego said.

"Oh?" Youngblood said. There was a bzzap! as digital energy formed around the lip of his arm cannon. Shego shifted into a defensive stance. As the 1's and 0's formed solid matter, Youngblood was suddenly holding a hi-tech looking blade. "I'd like to see you try."

"Grraah!" Shego roared, charging forward.

There was little room to maneuver in the hallway, and so Shego had no choice but to deftly dodge backwards as Youngblood performed a lunging stab with his blade. He stabbed forward again, and once more, trying to find purchase on Shego, unprotected by her glow. Shego, raging but patient, timed his lunges, waiting for her moment. Then, as he was rearing back to strike again, she performed a tight high-kick, slapping the end of the blade into the wall.

From there, Shego pressed her momentum. She twisted in, wrestling the blade from Youngblood's hand with a twist of her foot before moving forward for an elbow to his jaw. The agent blocked, barely, and Shego struck again. The rage bubbled up, hotter and hotter inside of her. Youngblood's face brought her nothing but anger, as she channelled her blame onto him. This was his fault. Having to remember these dark memories, what happened to Drew. He had done this!

The ferocity of Shego's attack was deadly, and even Youngblood's considerable training was just enough to keep up. However, the Hinobi agent had one trick up his sleeve that he knew Shego would have to contend with. He caught a punch from Shego, and with a warbling, blasting sound, shot out a blob of digital energy from his gauntlet. The digistruction finished just as the item collided with Shego's face, and there was bony clack!

Shego reared back, reaching up and nursing her surely fractured jaw. Youngblood had launched a heavy metal pellet directly into her face. She blinked back the pain, pushing it down under her anger, and turned back to Youngblood. He looked confident again, through a strand of hair now clung to his sweat-covered forehead.

"So uncivilized," Youngblood said. Then: bswrrszap! The agent digistructed a beam gun, right into the palm of his hand. He aimed the weapon level with Shego's chest. "I was hoping not to have to kill you. Too much paper work."

Shego's anger was going to boil over. She knew that a blast from this gun would probably do some serious damage to her, without her defensive glow. She reached into her anger, like dipping her hands in lava, trying to take that power, that emotion, that strength, and push it towards her glow. She felt a strange, agonizing pull.

"However," Youngblood said, as the laser began to charge up with a wub-wub-wub. "I can't say I won't enjoy this."

Shzzap! The laser gun fired! Shego grit her teeth, clutching her fists. She roared in frustration, screaming up to the sky, reaching on whatever power she had left to give her the strength to kick this guys ass.

Then, the laser struck, and there was a flash of light. The hall shook violently, and Youngblood threw up an arm to cover his face. At first, his face began to curl into a smug grin. However, as the smoke began to clear, a pale light started shining against Youngblood's boots. Then his gauntlet, and finally, against his hi-tech visor. A green glow was emanating from behind the smoke.

As the dust settled, Shego was standing there, eyes flaring, surrounded by a brilliant emerald aura.

"Oh, shi-"

Before Youngblood could finish the sentence, Shego had launched herself into a punch, throwing all of her considerable might and power behind it. The Hinobi agent took the hit to the face, and was sent flying backwards like a ragdoll. He bounced a few times against the ceiling, the floor, and the wall, before crumbling into a painful seated position. From there, the Hinobi agent let out a little groan of pain. Shego walked over to stand above Youngblood, looking down at him, her face emotionless. Then, with a quick intake of breath, she brought her foot down on his face, breaking his nose with a satisfying crunch. That was too much, and the agent went out cold.

"Glitch," Shego spat.

Then, she swayed, a sudden, nauseating pain rushing up her side. She glanced down. There was a large burn against her skin, having penetrated her clothes. She swooned from the melting mess that was her ribs, and looked away. She had activated her glow just a fraction of a second too late, and through the adrenaline, was only now realizing she had been hit. She could hear the commotion coming from behind her, though it was slowly starting to sound like it was underwater. They were still after her. Drew was either down or…

Shaking that thought out of her mind, Shego decided to focus on the one thing she could control: her own survival. She stumbled out of the exit, and looked around frantically. Then, she saw it: a jet-black old car with tinted windows. The one that Drew had described. It's engine rumbled, and as she came out, no doubt looking disoriented, the driver gave a little honk. Shego lurched across the concrete, until she made it to the car. With no choice, she yanked open the back door, threw herself inside, and slammed the door shut behind her.

Shego caught her breath, and the tires of the cadillac squealed against the concrete as the mysterious driver peeled away from the Hinobi facility. There was the sound of digistruction and laser fire, and a few projectiles impacted against the back of the car, but soon, they were out of range, and roaring down the road.

The pain was slowly overtaking her now. She tried to look at the driver, but couldn't bring herself to sit up. Whoever he was seemed to notice her efforts, as he spoke back to her as he drove.

"Well, hello there," he said.

"Drew's still back there," Shego said, her throat going dry.

"... Then it's out of our hands for now."

"I have to go back and save him. I'm strong enough, I-" Shego tried forcing herself to sit up, but pain lanced through her side, sending stars into her vision. She groaned in pain.

"Rest," the mystery driver said. Despite her anger and frustration and fear, the pain was persuasive, and she was quickly losing grip on her consciousness. "You can stay with me for a while. Lie low. You'll be safe… and then we can discuss plans for the rescue of our mutual friend."

As Shego's vision slowly faded to black, a single question managed to escape her lips before she settled, comfortably, into sleep.

"Who… are you?"

Chapter Text

Author's Note:  Hey again and welcome back to the final chapter of Shego! We've been on a wild ride, and this book has helped to set up a number of things going forward in the Danger Watch Universe! Thanks for sticking it out to the end! Oh, and don't worry, I have a post-credit scene coming for you as well, where we're gonna get the reveal of the next project for Phase 2! Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

Chapter 10: Changing Shades

A few weeks later…

It was storming on the island. Phil rolled his eyes as he donned his rainbreaking parka. Flanked by a pair of Hinobi guards and a scientist with a tablet, he made his way up the path towards the entrance to the facility. As they walked, the scientist was reading some kind of psycho-evaluation from off of her tablet.

"There's been about a 75% increase in manic tendencies and a 125% decrease in impulse control," she said. "Subject seems far more prone to drastic mood swings, irritable one moment, sad the next."

The little entourage walked past several heavily locked doors, beside each of which stood a Hinobi guard. There was a single, reinforced glass viewport in each door, and as the group walked past, a few faces peeked out of them. A harrowed, white haired man with green goggles leered at the quartet as they passed. One of the guards glanced at him, and a chill ran down his spine. The cell's occupant's wrinkled face stretched into a wide, toothy grin, and he began to bubble over with laughter, sliding away from the viewing port. The guard shook his head, and continued walking. He hated this place.

"How are his vitals?" Phil asked.

"Stable," the scientist said. "Enhanced, even. Subject seems to have increased heart productivity, and there is a slight increase in muscle mass as well. Of course, there is an epidermal pigmentation variation."

"Mm," Phil said.

"The behavior module is definitely in need of a tune up, sir," the scientist said.

"The R and D department is working on that," Phil said. He was only partly focusing on the conversation, as his eyes were lingering on the doors at the end of the hall.

The small party walked the rest of the length of the hallway, and as they reached the end, Phil held up a hand to signal his entourage. The guards took up position on either side of the door, while the scientist kept close to Phil.

The automatic doors slid open, allowing Phil to stride into the room. It was a viewing room, with a large panel of glass looking into a holding cell. The cell was roomy, with a small table, a cot, a toilet, and a small set of things for light entertainment: books, crayons, and the like. The walls were covered in inscrutible black crayon; schematics and phrases and nonsensical doodles that none of them could make out the meaning of. Standing in the room was a small team of Hinobi scientists, as well as another person. An officer.

Youngblood, who was nursing several wounds, and holding an ice-pack to his broken nose, turned as the doors opened. Phil gave him a nod, and the Glitch Tech offered the commander a salute.

"Commander," Youngblood said in greeting.

"Officer," Phil said. A ghost of a smile curled Youngblood's lip at the sound of his newly minted title.

They then turned their attention to the holding cell. Aside from the stationary, there was one more thing that occupied the cell. A person. He was wearing a long blue medical gown, with nothing underneath. His dark hair was wild and unkempt, longer in the back than in the front. There was a newly scratched wound on his face, from his forehead down to his cheek, passing over his left eye. The prisoner was siting at the small table, scribbling furiously on a piece of paper with a crayon. However, there was one feature that was more distinguishable about the prisoner than anything else.

"Notice anything different about the good doctor?" Phil asked, almost sounding bemused.

"He's… blue," Youngblood said.

Surely enough, Doctor Lipsky's skin had undergone a metamorphosis. Where once he was pale and pasty, his skin was now a strange shade of periwinkle. As if aware of their presence, Drew suddenly looked up at the mirror. It was impossible that he could see him, but the crazed look in his eyes suggested there was something happening behind them. The scientist showed no reaction, nor did Phil, but to Youngblood, it was an unsettling visage. Despite his malcontempt for the doctor, seeing him in such a state made the Glitch Tech's stomach churn.

"Oh, why, hello!" Drew shouted, his voice raspy, as if he had spent the last few days screaming. "A pleasure, all of you, thank you for coming to my presentation!"

"Can he see us?" Youngblood asked.

"No," one of the Hinobi scientists said. "The subject has been showing signs of delusion. Talking to himself, and to people who aren't there."

Youngblood pursed his lips, as the doctor continued to babble on.

"You see," he said, going over to gesture to a mass of black scribbles on the wall, as if it were a research project he was presenting. "This- this is a drakkon. It's a symbol. A monster, even more ferocious than a dragon! Both of which are real, let me remind you. Now, you might ask: Doctor Drakken, is that why you named yourself after the beast? For its ferocity? NO! IDIOTS! I did it because it sounds cool and because I liked it so THERE!"

The doctor punctuated his point by whipping the crayon across the room, where it collided with the one way glass with a hollow thunk before falling harmlessly on the floor.

"Doctor Drakken?" Youngblood asked.

"That's what he's been calling himself," Phil's science advisor said. "Subject is also showing some signs of dissociative identity. We assume its due to the trauma of the last few weeks, but-"

"Give us the room," Phil said, cutting the woman off. She shut her mouth, blushing with a bit of frustration, but nodded.

"Right away, sir," she said. Then, her and her science team packed up their things, and began to move out of the room. Phil waited patiently for them to vacate.

Once the viewing room had cleared, Phil walked up to the glass, hands clasped behind his back, standing next to Youngblood. For a while, the two of them watched as the newly proclaimed Doctor Drakken paced back and forth in his cell, mumbling about gargoyles, aliens, and bird men with yellow boots. Youngblood stole a glance over at Phil, trying to read his expression, but the commander's face was a stony wall. Eventually, Phil spoke, breaking through the string of muffled babbling from Drakken's cell.

"My superiors at Hinobi are… less than pleased," the commander said. "With the fiasco in New Jersey, in tandem with Wakeman's situation at Rushmore; not to mention the loss of the BITT asset in New Mexico."

Youngblood gulped.

"The higher ups are being forced to take… drastic measures," Phil said.

"Sir?" Youngblood probed.

"You have a new assignment," Phil continued. "Your top priority is to locate and contain Shego. That, I will be leaving to you alone."

At the mention of her name, the throbbing pain in Youngblood's face flared up, as did the officer's anger. The Glitch Tech was filled with a seething lust for vengeance. Phil, glancing at him, saw the emotion there, and nodded as if he understood.

"At this time, Hinobi operation are going underground. The higher ups would prefer if we undertook out operations via more subtle means. So, don't be surprised if you don't hear from corporate for a while," Phil said. The commander started making his way towards the double doors.

Youngblood tilted his head, but refrained from commenting. He was far too engrossed in his own vengeful thoughts. Phil stopped at the door.

"Until next time… Officer Williams."

With that, the commander left. As the doors hissed shut behind him, Mitch Williams turned his attention back to the captured Drakken. With a start, the officer realized that the doctor had stopped babbling, and was staring silently at the one way glass. Even though he knew that Drakken couldn't see him, Williams felt a sense of unease. The eyes of the doctor, dark and bloodshot, seemed to pierce him through to his soul. Something like guilt ran through him, but Williams quickly shoved it down.

He had work to do.

Chapter Text

Post-Credit Scene

Mount Rushmore Hinobi Base

Earlier that year…

"Are you sure you don't want to stay here? I still have dozens of tests to run on the Omnitrix," Nora Wakeman said. "Not to mention, who knows who or what might come after the device next. Vilgax isn't the only bogeyman out there."

The director, as well as her XJ-9, were standing on the lawn of the Hinobi Base. Standing across from them, in front of their newly repaired R.V., were Max, Gwen, and Ben Tennyson. They were the last of the newly proclaimed Danger Watch to leave the Hinobi base. Steven and the gems had left a few days ago. Max smiled earnestly.

"I appreciate your concern, Nora," the old man said. "But I can't keep these kids here forever. Their parents will be worried sick if we don't come back soon. Not to mention, school is almost back in session."

Ben groaned audibly, and even Gwen seemed a little reluctant at the idea of returning to the regular school session after the fantastical summer they had spent with their grandfather.

"I mean… It wouldn't be so bad if we missed a week or two of school," Gwen said quietly.

Max laughed out loud, and even Wakeman chuckled despite herself. Jenny the XJ-9 seemed a little confused, but she tried to laugh along as well, despite not being certain on what school entailed.

"You're already going to miss a few days," Max said. "We have to drive all the way back across the country. If I don't hurry, your parents will lose their minds."

"I can arrange for an excuse of absence," Wakeman said. "The least I can do for both of your bravery."

"Sweet!" Ben said. "See! No school!"

"Yes school," Max denied. "You'll just get a few extra days with your old grandpa."

Had Max said that earlier in the summer, Ben might have groaned. However, now, the promise of more time on the road with their one-time secret agent grandfather meant the promise of more adventure. So, both of the Tennyson kids grinned eagerly.

"Alright, you two. Go ahead and say your goodbyes, then go wait in the R.V.," Max said.

Gwen ran up and wrapped her arms around Jenny for a hug, who smiled and returned the embrace.

"Stay safe," Jenny said.

"You too," Gwen said. The android gave a digitized laugh.

"I'm not worried about that," she said.

Then, Gwen backed away, and Ben approached sheepishly, not sure what to do. Jenny shook her head with a grin, and leaned over to scoop the boy up into a big bear hug, lifting him off of the ground. Ben protested at first, but then gave the teenage robot a hug in return.

"I gotta say, I'll be glad I don't have to babysit anymore," Jenny said, "but, I am gonna miss you, you little punk."

Ben, pink in the face, mumbled something like "imgonnamiss you too…", and then Jenny let him down. Despite himself, Ben smiled.

"Smell ya later," he said. Then, he and his cousin went to wait in the R.V.

Once the kids had left, Max came forward, going to hug Wakeman. She held a hand to his chest, and he chuckled.

"What, no hug?" He asked. Then, before he had even finished speaking, Wakeman lifted herself up onto her tip-toes, planting a gentle kiss on the old plumber's lips.

"No," she said. "You smell like old man deodorant and aftershave."

They both laughed. Then, with a sigh, Max smiled down at his old companion.

"Thank you," he said. "For everything, Nora."

The director waved a hand. "Forget it. Just stay in touch this time, alright? I don't want another 30 years to pass with no calls."

Again, Max laughed.

"Alright. Can do," he said. Then, he beamed to Jenny. "You look after your mother, alright kiddo?"

"You got it, Mr. Tennyson," Jenny said, giving a mock salute, which Max returned.

Then, Max bid them farewell, and walked over to the R.V. The machine rumbled alive with some coaxing, its old rusted engine protesting. Jenny and Wakeman watched as the Tennyson's turned the vehicle around, and they lingered there, watching them drive away, until they were well beyond the treeline.

Two days later…

The old woman was walking down the sidewalk, illuminated only by old yellow streetlamps. As she walked, the felt the brisk wind of the approaching autumn whisk through her shawl, and she clutched herself tighter. She passed by an old roadside diner, its neon sign illuminating a hot dog character sporting a cowboy hat. The diner only had a small handful of patrons tonight, but the old woman remembered it from its hayday.

Then, suddenly, a shadow sprinted from the alley, and right towards her! The old woman gave a shout of fear, as a musty man with bad teeth muscled her purse from her grasp, knocking her to the ground in the process.

"Help!" The old woman cried, struggling to get up. "My purse!"

The thief went sprinting away, laughing to himself over his successful score. He dipped off into another alleyway, behind the diner. He was home free!

Then, a blur of blue dashed across the thief's path, skidding to a stop directly in front of him. It was dark, but the thief could make out parts of the blurs features as it stopped. A long, striped tail, and a frightening, chitinous visage. A glowing green hourglass shape rested in the creature's chest. It was definitely not human. The two held a stare down for a moment.

"Really? Stealing an old lady's purse?" The creature said in a rasping voice. "What, did you just graduate Criminal 101?"

"What the hell are you?" The thief said. The creature grinned.

"I'm vengeance," it said, lowering its voice. Then, it snickered at the thief's frightened reaction. "Haha! You should see your face."

In a flash, the thief reached into his belt and produced a sleek black pistol. However, before he could even think to aim, let alone pull the trigger, the blue and black creature vanished in a blur once more! Suddenly, there was a heavy impact on the thief's wrist, knocking the gun to the concrete. Another blow struck the thief in the face, sending him falling flat on his butt, and just as quickly, the purse was suddenly yanked from his hands. The blur then ran in a circle around him, like a living tornado, and before the thief could even scream he was suddenly tied up in an old, fraying rope that had been holding together a palette of wood.

About 20 minutes later, from inside of the diner, and old man and his red-haired niece watched as police cars rolled onto the scene, sirens flashing blue and red. The cops had approached the old woman, who was again now holding her purse. She tried to stammer out what had happened, but she just couldn't even explain it. One moment, she was mugged, and the next, a flash of blue came by, and her purse was in her hands again.

"Real subtle," Gwen said, picking at her macaroni and cheese with her fork.

There was a flushing sound from a door in the diner, and Ben emerged, wiping his hands with a paper towel before discarding it into the nearest trash can. A smug grin was displayed on the boys face. He returned to the table, and sat down across from the other two.

"How was the 'bathroom'?" Gwen snarked, putting air quotes around 'bathroom.'

"Piece of cake," Ben said, putting his hands behind his head in satisfaction.

They all watched as the police loaded the tied up man into their squad car. Then, in thanks, the old woman began to hand each of them a butterscotch candy. Ben's grin faded as he watched the cops file into the diner, sidling up to the main counter and ordering a round of food. They were chatting about the strange occurrence. Ben eavesdropped.

"Well, at least we got some action. Nothing ever happens in this town," one cop said.

"We might get a bonus for this," another said.

Ben's expression went sour. Max, noticing this, tried to give him a tender smile.

"You did good, Ben," he said.

"Yeah, but I should be getting the money and candy," he said, crossing his arms. "Those guys didn't even do anything. I saved the world!"

"Quiet, dingus!" Gwen whispered.

"Now, now, Ben," Max said, wiping his face and placing a pile of cash on the table to pay for the meal. "Being a hero isn't about people knowing that you did something good. Its about you knowing you did something good. Being a hero is its own reward."

Ben rolled his eyes, and Max just shook his head, smiling.

"Now, come on you two, let's hit the road," he said.

Next Time: Phase 2, Book 2

Ben 10: Secrets of the Omnitrix

Author's Note: And that's that! Shego is officially in the books, and next time, we'll be jumping back in with Ben and the Omnitrix! I've got some awesome stuff planned for Book 8 of the Universe, so be sure to follow my profile and keep a look out for that! Also, I've got some more Danger Shots in the works, and those should be coming out sometime soon as well. Thanks for reading until the very end! See you next time!