The sunlight blinded Drakken as he opened his eyes, forcing him to shut them again instantly. Coughing and groaning he slowly managed to get himself up into a sitting position. He felt like someone had hit him with a truck, or like he'd had a run-in with an unhappy mobster sporting a baseball bat. His forehead was throbbing, his neck was stiff and his back and chest were aching like there was no tomorrow. The part of his body in the most pain though, was his left arm. His shoulder to be exact. Drakken shakily got up on his feet and stumbled a few steps before his legs gave away and he fell into the dark, coarse rubble surrounding him. That's how she found him. Face down in the rubble, unconscious as sea water started washing in over him.

She kneeled down next to the limp body and shook it gently. As the villain gradually came back to his senses she lifted his arm up and placed it around her neck.

"Dr. D?" she asked, standing up and pulling him up with her. He moaned in response. The mad scientist finally started reaching full consciousness.

"That's quite a blow that alien Amazon gave ya, huh?"

That voice. He knew that voice. It was her. His head moved from its hanging position as he forced himself to look at her.

"I thought you'd learned not to mess with aliens after the whole Area 51 thing, but nooooo," she continued. "Thanks to you my vacation was cut short by Princess…"

She suddenly noticed the look he was sending her. She'd seen it before, just not this intense.

"I don't need your help, Shego," he whispered hoarsely, his scowl growing ever deeper. "I don't want your help!"

Shego kept quiet. Normally she'd make a sarcastic remark or comment on how he literally did need her help right now, but something told her it was best to keep her mouth shut.

"Let go of my arm," he ordered coldly.

Still somewhat shocked by the bitterness in his voice and words she quietly complied, releasing the supporting grip she had on him.

"Now get away from me."

Shego's mouth twitched. "Doc…"

"You're fired. I'm done with you."

"But…"

"YOU LEFT ME IN PRISON!" Drakken finally snapped. "And when I do get out, no thanks to you, you come here to mock me."

"No. Well, I mean… Maybe, but…"

"BE QUIET!" the man interrupted with a roar before his voice went icy again. "You don't get to talk. Not now."

Shego now felt about an inch tall. This was the angriest she'd ever seen him. He was even more mad than that one time she'd lost his body to Possible after he'd conducted a mind switch.

"I don't want anything to do with you anymore," Drakken continued. "I've had enough of you stealing my thunder, undermining my authority in front of every person we've ever had to deal with, and your constant mocking of my plans! And now this. You betrayed my trust, and our contract."

The sidekick swallowed. This… This couldn't be happening, could it? Dr. D firing her? The scenario was so… unreal to her. She'd never been fired before, and she wouldn't ever have expected him to do it. It was Drakken. Her safety net. The one person she could always rely on no matter what. He was the one stable thing in her life. In many ways he was more like family to her than even her own brothers. This… It wasn't right. It wasn't how it was supposed to be. She could see the anger and hurt in his eyes and hear the coldness in his voice, and it cut her, deep. Deeper than she'd ever like to admit. He was really angry at her. It wasn't just a game. It wasn't him having one of his frequent outbursts from being stressed or annoyed. No, this was real, focused rage. And he didn't even know she'd been the one to expose him as a fraud to Warmonga. She sure wasn't going to tell him now.

"Now get away from me," Drakken hissed as he turned his back on her and started walking away, revealing a slight limp. "I never want to see you again."

Shego blinked a couple of times as everything started to sink in. It was happening. He was firing her. Telling her to stay away from him. She wasn't really sure what she'd done, how she'd hurt him, but she had. A feeling she hadn't felt in a long time slowly came creeping up on her. Frowning she folded her arms, kind of like someone who's trying to keep warm. She turned around and walked over to her small, black hover car. Her frown deepened a little as she buckled up, and took off. She was alone now.

A week had gone by. Shego'd done a bank job, but not much else. She'd called around a little. Gotten in touch with a few of her old contacts. Even talked to Big Daddy Brotherson. She'd done a heist for him. It'd been simple and the pay was decent. Not much compared to her old salary, but money wasn't an issue anyway. After years of thievery, trading on the black market, and dealing in stocks and bonds she was well off. But she wasn't happy. Actually she felt pretty miserable, and she knew why. She just couldn't bring herself to admit that she missed him. She missed how he'd treat her like more than just a mercenary. She missed how he'd rely on her to help him with his schemes. She missed being able to push his buttons till he threw a fit. She even missed his more annoying qualities.

He'd been the closest thing she had to a friend and she'd managed to push him away. Now she felt lonely, and, in a way, vulnerable. Of course the worst thing was that she couldn't do anything about it. Well, she could say she was sorry… if she was really, really drunk, and dying. Saying sorry just wasn't her. She'd never said sorry. Not even back when she was a hero. She may have been what one would consider good back then, but she still hadn't been nice. Shego was sassy and sarcastic by nature. Always had been. Always would be.

She'd driven away plenty of people with her attitude before, but none of them had been remotely close to her. Dr. D had. He may have been bizarre, fickle and all around inane, but he'd respected her enough to keep his nose out of her personal life. Sure he'd ask how she was doing or how a date went, but he wouldn't pry like the Wego twins or give her a long lecture about coming home late, like Hego. He'd always given her privacy, probably because he valued it so much himself. The questions he did ask were never invasive. Just ones that showed he cared. That he was interested in how she was doing. It'd been nice.

It was raining outside. Pouring down actually. Shego sighed as she moved away from the apartment window and slumped down in her small, black couch. Maybe some TV would get her mind of things. She quickly found the remote and turned on the news. Nothing. Nothing remotely interesting. Nothing on the bank heists she'd pulled. Nothing on Kimmie and her sidekick. Nothing on… Dr. D. Shego groaned silently. Why did her thoughts keep going back to him? She didn't want to be reminded of how much she missed him. She didn't want to be reminded of the fact that she missed him at all. It seemed like fate wanted it different though. Then the phone rang.

Could it be? Only a handful of people knew her number. Him being the caller, it was a pretty safe bet. Maybe he was calling to apologize. To ask her to come back. Even grovel a little. She reached over to the corner table and picked up the phone.

"This is Shego. What can I do for ya? Oh, and be quick."

"No-no, this is about what I can do for you."

She sighed in relief, but also disappointment. It wasn't Dr. D. She did recognize the voice however.

"Jack Hench."
"Right you are." He responded. "And do I have a proposition for…"

"Look, not that I don't find your whole 'sleazy used-car salesman' personality charming, but could you get to the point?" The villainess interrupted.

"No beating around the bush. I like that."

"Riiiight."

"Here's the deal," Hench continued. "I'm inviting you to a villain's conference I'm setting up. Basically there'll be free food and drinks, and then I'll show you and a dozen or so of your colleagues some of HenchCo's newest merchandise, which you'll be able to purchase."

"Wow," Shego replied dryly. "A chance to be stuck in a room full of people with mommy-issues and feelings of inadequacy, while having to listen to you giving a boring presentation on HenchCo's latest load of junk."

"Oh come now. Now that you're moving up from sidekick to full fledged villain you're going to need my company's products to back you up."
The villainess could just picture the oily businessman smirking on the other end of the line. "Whaddya mean, 'moving up'?"

"You and Drakken going your separate ways," Hench explained. "I'm the founder of my own, very successful company. You don't think I'd check up on someone before approaching them? That's like going into battle unprepared. Something I can't afford to do as a businessman. Besides, word spreads like wildfire. If you've got the right connections you can always rely on a steady stream of accurate, and valuable, information."

"Look, Sport, me and Dr. D…Drakken breaking up doesn't mean I'm suddenly into the whole world domination thing. I was only in it for the fun and money." Shego explained.

"Well I'm offering the chance for you to meet some new business-associates then."

The smarmy entrepreneur's proposal began to sound interesting. "Who'll be there?"

"Dementor."

"Yeah, no. I'm not working with someone who both looks and acts like a ripe pimple."

"Monkey Fist."

"My career would so be in the toilet. I mean, Monkey Fist. C'mon."

"Señor Senior Sr. and his son will be there as well."

"Nah, the pay's good but when they don't need me anymore they just dump me like last week's leftovers. And they expect me to fight crocodiles. What am I, a miracle worker?"

"DNAmy…" Hench was interrupted by Shego's shuddering.

"One minute of that woman and I'll kill myself."

"There's Killigan."

"Pass." By now Shego'd pinned the phone against her shoulder, leaving her hands free. She removed her right glove and started inspecting her nails.

"Well that's all of them," Hench told her. "Well, almost all."

"Saving the big guns for last?" Shego asked rhetorically.

"You could say that. Now, your old employer will be there…"
"Dr. D…rakken?" The villainess bit her tongue. Why did she keep calling him that?

"But Gemeni's the one I thought you'd be interested in." She could hear what sounded like Hench putting his feet up at his desk or table, where ever he was sitting, at the other end.

"Yeah… Gemeni… Head of the Worldwide Evil Empire, right?"

"Exactly. I hear he's even looking for personnel."

"Count me in."