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Happy Birthday, Shego!
Prologue
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Oh Hell.
Oh fucking hell. Great, a major screw up on my part. Maybe that's an understatement... Hell, it is, but still, it wasn't entirely my fault, right? I laugh weakly as my inner irresponsibility tries desperately to convince me that it wasn't my fault. I watch from the edge of the cordoned area as Will Du, second-in-command of Global Justice, barks a series of commands and several eyes zero in on him with angry intensity. A part of me is vindicated, and rightly so, as several officers grumble at his failure during the op.
See? Stick-in-his-ass Will Du felt it imperative to disengage pursuit of Gemini and pull my team back to give the command team back up and help with the injured, all one of them. Oh, could this be any better? I think to myself as he holds himself up in self righteous indignation over reactions to his orders. It was his fault that we failed to capture Gemini! He declared that the mission was over when it shouldn't have been…
I sigh heavily as I catch myself twirling my hair in my fingers again. Something I did a lot the first time I did the hero thing. At least this time I'm getting paid working for GJ, and making a hell of a lot more than Blue-boy ever paid me... I force myself to stop twirling, instead I pull out a pack of smokes, another bad habit I picked from the hero business. I smile ruefully as I flare up a fingertip, the green plasmic glow igniting the cigarette easily.
Heh, who'd have thought that villainy would foster healthier habits? Not that I have to worry, particularly. The comet that gave my brothers and I our powers also removed any chance of getting cancer, at least outside of a tailored virus or the like. Taking a deep drag, I stifle a laugh as Du looks over at me, his distaste for my habit written all over his face. I grin and blow a cloud of smoke in his direction, earning a roll of his eyes as he turns to bark out some more orders.
I hold the cigarette between my lips and scrub my fingers through my hair, trying to straighten a few tangles my nervous twisting gave it. I mean, what was I to do? Disobey GJ's second in command and getanother review and a possible suspension for my 'inability to follow orders'? Either way, Betty's gonna chew me up one side and down the other. That is if the mission leader doesn't get to me first. I wonder if she still holds a grudge from last week. Damn you, Du, it's entirely your bloody fault! Asshole!
I try to look as inconspicuous as possible as I shoot deadly glares at the uptight Asian as he orders people around. Maybe he's got something against me? I mean, here I am, a former super villain, and I probably make a better agent than him. Betty definitely likes me better, anyway, and so do most of the people in the chain of command. Well, no contest there; who likes that uptight dickwad anyway? "Hmm...?" I ask myself aloud as a Global Justice assault hovercraft flares into a landing profile, taking my attention away from Du as it lands. I wonder idly who's here to clean up this mess.
Wait, who else...? I ask ironically, then close my eyes and rub my eyes with my thumb and forefinger. "Oh, hell no, not him." I moan nervously as I glance over to the hovercraft. The ramp drops and a familiar pair of 'mission' pants and boots are visible at the top. Anyone but him. My heart skips a beat as I see that familiar, ambling swagger as he walks down the still descending ramp, his tight body and strong arms not at all hidden by a GJ issue turtleneck sweater. Then that freckled face comes into view, lips and eyes beaming a smile of apparent relief as he glances around, looking for the mission leader. Dammit, God, why do you have such a cruel sense of fucking humor? Couldn't they have sent anyone other Global Justice's golden boy.
But no, no one up there seems to want to listen to me. He ambles down the rear ramp of the assault hovercraft, and looks around again. After spotting a team of medics checking on our mission leader, who was starting to bitch audibly after being poked and prodded by a team of medics for the last five minutes, he starts to confidently survey the catastrophic scene around him. Collapsed scaffolding, one injured agent and restrained henchmen. Not a pretty sight. Not as pretty as him.
I let out a distracted sigh as he walks out from under the tail section to check up on the team leader, his straw blond hair swaying slightly with every step he takes. He's just a hair shorter than me, meaning he's about an even six feet tall. Granted, he'd had his growth spurt a few years back during his first year in college, growing into those hands and ears of his, but it still doesn't take away the impression he makes walking into a room. His steps are steady and confident, totally devoid of the buffoonery I now have fond memories of. His cat-like grace is definitely alluring, a side product of his years of training in that Japanese ninja school of his, not to mention the nearly decade-long sidekick act.
As Lexi in supply back at Middleton HQ likes to say, "What a delish piece of man meat." And here I am agreeing with her; he's an absolutely delicious man, one with that 'just right' mix of body, attitude, confidence, and domestic ability that a lot women dream about, even if they don't realize that's what they want. Hell, I didn't, until I got to know him. He's also a man that's flirted more and more openly with me for the last two and a half months. But he's also the one that just so happens to have a fiancé that's pissed at me.
With good reason too, I guess. Rumors, schrumors, there's got to be a grain of truth in them, right? No one has the imagination to come up with a wild rumor like the one that got the idea in my head to actually pursue him, y'know? Plus, the guys from the intel department should know what they were talking about, shouldn't they? Yeah, right... Military intelligence my ass!
Still, I didn't have to jump the gun. But, like this Gemini screw-up, I had to go off half cocked, just like in the bar last week at that GJ gathering. I mean, I don't steal boyfriends, let alone fiancés! Well, in the very least not from friends. But, just like last week I find myself studying his every movement. There aren't many people out there, men or women that can emanate the raw sexual energy he does. Then he feels my eyes wandering over him, and glances shrewdly in my direction. And again, like last week, I reflexively jerk my head back and gaze off in some other random direction, cursing my stupidity as I play the shy schoolgirl act, all but screaming that I was staring at him.
And exactly like last week, he gives me this smile that has a meaning I can't quite make out. It's halfway between amusement and desire, but he just stands there for several seconds, leaving me confused. Last week, he'd just walked over with this barely discernable strut in his step, and eased up against me, asking if I wanted to dance. And what did I do? I seized up in shock. The rumors must be true! I'd thought. His loyalty to her is unquestionable, but if he's here, flirting back, Hell, dancing like this... It must be true...
And so we started dancing, nothing too lascivious, not at that point, anyway. Then she came flying out of the shadows, grabbing him by the arm and giving me this evil eye. The look was clear, and it said, "Back the fuck off, bitch." Then she stared at him and gave him an even more evil eye, and she drug him away with that "We have to talk!" speech!
I mean, granted, she and I used to hate each other, but since I came back to the so called good guys side, we'd become best friends.Well, all three of us had, really... Gah, I'm rambling to myself. But yeah, we're friends, best friends, and here I was moving in on her fiancé, all because of a stupid rumor.
God, what an idiot! I scream at myself. And I certainly felt like an idiot the entire night, the way she kept throwing looks at me, unreadable little looks, nothing overtly hostile, but ... The funny thing is that I'd never once failed to read her before that night. Yet there I was, at a loss for what those looks meant. Then she'd pull at his arm every time the three of us got within fifteen feet of each other, and it didn't matter if it was intentionally or unintentionally. Talk about getting shut down. No, that wasn't getting shut down, that was getting roughed up and tossed out.
But it was almost worth it. He has gotten gorgeous over the years, and that smile of his isn't nearly as goofy as it used to be, it's actually kinda sexy... Wait, kinda sexy? God damn I feel like a moron for thinking that. He's probably the sexiest thing in GJ, well, next to his girlfriend since they are a kinda matched pair. So, sexiest couple, I guess. If they really are together, that is... I just wish she'd share… And then there's me of course, but I won't go there right now.
So today, I decide to go for gold. And despite my rational side struggling for survival, I axe it immediately by flipping my hair back, dipping my chin low and glancing at him coquettishly. I resist batting my eyelashes at him, mostly because I think it looks stupid, but only barely; after all, he has that effect on me. And now it's just exactly like last week, his smile widening as he walks over.
"How are you doing?" his caring words pierced through my little haze, dragging me fully back to the present.
I smile hesitantly at those soft hazel eyes brimming with concern, "Hey, I'm sorry 'bout what happened out there today, I..."
"Oh, it's all good, I mean, I was listening over the command frequency and it sounded to me like it's Du's fault for pulling rank and ordering you to fall back to his position and give him back up. Personally, I think Betty will see that you did your best under the circumstances. Hell, you did a great job out there, taking out those henchmen and that powered armor of his." He smiles sheepishly, realizing he's defending me without need, and that smile makes him even sexier somehow. Or maybe I've just got it that bad.
"Does, well..." I hedge a bit, glancing nervously at the medics. "Ummm... She knows he ordered me back over the command circuit, right?"
"I dunno, she got knocked out when they brought that scaffold down on the command team..." He shakes his head, concerned. "I don't think she realizes what happened though."
"So..." I say leadingly, letting my tongue run along my upper lip as I draw the word out, "Does she also know why I've been flirting with you so much lately? Or was that jealousy trip real and not part of some plan like all the rumors say?" I try not to let any emotion other than playful flirting enter my tone, but I know I've failed when his smile softens, his beautiful hazel eyes glinting with mischief.
"She might, but then again, she might not," he says ironically, his smile becoming a touch devilish before he raises his eyebrows in mock confusion. "Kinda depends on what rumors are you referring to?"
"Don't play stupid, I've been meaning to ask you about that," I continue, rambling again. I don't know why, but he makes me feel like a teenager asking a boy out for the first time. And I've never been like that, not even the first time I asked a guy out! I sigh in frustration before continuing, my voice taking an unintentional edge to it. "If you two are still together or not, I mean? It looks like it... But then, if she's seeing some woman from the university...?" I let the phrase drop off, not knowing exactly what to ask, and getting nervous as his smile grows somewhat.
"Yeah, well, that's the amusing par-..." He begins, only for her voice to be interrupted by an angry shout from across the hanger.
"What the fuck was that about?" I turn my head to see the team leader stalking over to me, "We had everything under control, and you let Gemini go so you could come in all hero-like and help us out?" she almost screams at me. I glance back over at him and notice he's got a nervous, almost guilty expression on his face, then I glare back at her as she moves up to me, getting well into my personal space.
I can't help it, the way she did that just hit the wrong nerve at the wrong time. Ignoring the hands that are suddenly trying to separate us, I move that much closer to her. "Then maybe Du shouldn't have called for backup that we didn't have?" I scream back, leaning in closer to her face. I barely keep myself from glancing over at him, my face clouding with emotions. "Didn't anyone tell her about that?"
"You were supposed to igno-..." she begins, but I stop her in her tracks with a combat voice roar. I know I should be the one being calm, but...
"You shut up and listen for five fucking seconds, okay?" She steps back at the ferocity of my voice, but there's fire in her eyes as she rolls her fingers in a 'hurry-up' gesture, infuriating me further. "Du got on the command channel and ordered my team and myself back to the main hangar where you guys got jumped when that goddamn scaffold fell on that pretty little head of yours!" She opens her mouth to make some other argument, but I push on, not letting her speak. "He pulled his rank in GJ, saying that since you were out cold, the mission was under his command, and that the mission was blown, therefore his orders superceded any you'd given before that point. He even gave the rule he was using down to the sub-paragraph!"
"And your orders came from the Director, dammit!" she screams back, and I know by the tone she's reaching, and that there's something else bugging her.
"Uh, huh, you don't think I pointed that out to him? He had a counter point, something about this being a covert field op that he had ultimate authority after you once we left HQ? But that's beside the point; this isn't about the op at all, is it?" I ask harshly, my voice dropping to a deadly murmur. "This is about last week, right?"
"Yeah, right!" she belts at me, "This is about you, and how you let a known super villain get away 'cause of some so-called order! Which, I might add, is in none of the records!" she emphasized her last point with a jab of her finger into my chest in time with each word, "Then again, a former international thief would know all about covering her ass, wouldn't she? After all, no good thief is ever reformed!" I know my face is shocked when she says that, and my head swims as if she had just slapped me.
"Babe, there's something you shoul-..." he begins, but she throws an angry glance at him. I turn to him as well and open my mouth to ask him to continue, but all I see is red. I froze; I honestly couldn't say anything at that moment because all of my admittedly hateful thoughts were concentrated on a certain woman standing right next to me. I'm about to start throwing those thoughts at her verbally, but I hear a clicking. I glance back to see a flash and feel my heart almost literally being torn out of my chest as she fires her service pistol at me.
"Wha-...?" I gasp as I look down at the growing red stain on my GJ uniform. My fingers instantly move to cover the mangled, powder burnt flesh around entry wound. I feel my legs going weak and I look up at her with despair in my eyes. "This isn't... How... It happened!" I croak out, falling to my knees.
"Well, I know what you're going to say, and figured it'd be easiest for both of us if I cut to the chase, right?" she asks with a cherubic grin, cuddling up to that still smiling fiancé of hers. "I mean, I already tore your heart out and threw it in your face then, so why not just blow it out the back of your chest instead?"
She giggles as I gape up at her, and then he makes it worse. He shakes his head with mocking sympathy in his eyes and nuzzles her neck, whispering something to her. "Sure, how about on her bed? She won't be using it anymore..." He nods and laughs his sexy, loving laugh at her, the one he'd shared with me a few times over the last couple months. Then they walk off, elbows looped together and gazing lovingly at each other, my suffering already forgotten. I reach out as my vision fades, calling out his name...
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The woman woke up with a strangled cry, biting off the name she'd been calling out as if her life depended on it, her hand reaching out much like it had in her dream. She glances about her room, at the fine silk sheets on her bed that were now soaked with sweat, the finely crafted bedroom furniture, and the huge flatscreen HDTV along the wall adjacent to the foot of her bed. She shudders slightly, realizing the room is chilly, and flares up her glow just enough to warm her up. "What the fuck?" she grates, "Ok, get a grip, I know she wasn't that pissed at me... And he'd never do that!"
Shea Go, better known as Shego, sat in her bed for several more minutes, taking slow, calming breaths and willing her heart to slow down. She'd just succeeded when her alarm blared its wake up call. She grumbled and slapped it off before dragging herself out of her bed. She stood on the plush carpeting of her bedroom, balling her feet and stretched until several joints popped, before finally speaking into the empty room, "I guess it's time to get ready for my volunteer work."
She smiled slightly as she gathered up her clothing and a bath towel, surprising herself as she realized she was looking forward to the day ahead of her. Something's telling me it's going to actually end up being a good day today! She snorted a laugh at her uncharacteristic optimism, then sauntered into the master bathroom and started up her shower, brushing her teeth while it got up to her preferred temperature. She finally stepped in, sighing as the hot water washed over her sweaty skin. Now if only I'd stop having these fucking dreams about Ron and his Princess...
She ignored the tears that were being washed away by the shower's hot spray, trying to rationalize her feelings away and failing miserably.It was just a passing thing, anyway, I should have known better... Her own thoughts rang hollow to her, but she shoved them deep down within her, as she always had in the past. Like she had before the events surrounding Kim Possible's graduation... Before she went back to being a good guy... Before the teenage hero and her boyfriend had become two of the best friends she'd ever had... Before she'd let herself fall in love with the man that boy had become...
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Authors' Notes
Wow, what's going on? New penname? Who's this kgs-wy, isn't he just a beta-reader? Is this the next arch of the Human Element series? WTF is going on?!?
Heh, no, not continuation of prior fics, so don't get all worked up and worrying about that. We've just decided to make a new penname for fics we work on as co-authors from the beginning. Anyway, this is the first of those fics, conceptualized and generally ploted by kgs, a few ideas thrown in by NoobFish and writing and massaging by both of crazy bastiches.
As for the prologue, it seems that poor Shego's changed quite a bit since the events of Graduation. Working with GJ and regularly teaming up with Team Possible, considering both Ron and Kim two of her best friends? Yet, somehow, she managed work some issues up with them, enough to give her nightmares about it. Then again, strong emotions tend to do that, no? But the answers will come later, as the fic progresses.
This shouldn't be too long of a fic, we're projecting it to weigh in at around five chapters, give or take, so it won't be taking away creative time from "The Human Element".