Several hours later, after Drakken and Shego had managed to awkwardly disentangle themselves from layers of mutated vines, mumbling apologies and somehow managing to avoid any more direct eye contact the whole time, and after eluding mobs of pesky photographers thanks to Shego's stealth skills, the pair were making their way out City Hall through a back door, both breathing a sigh of relief now that the chaos was behind them.
"How does Kim Possible make this look easy?!," Drakken griped. "The fans, the reporters, little brats whining for autographs?" He was still characteristically a bit tense and ripping out the latest batch of yellow petals that had sprung from his neck.
Shego, though, was back to her usual cool and collected self and was leading the way across the parking lot to the hovercraft. "Relax Dr. D. After the way your mutant flower picked up that anchorman by his ankles and tossed him across the lobby," she chuckled, "I doubt anyone will be beating down our door for a follow up interview any time soon."
Drakken noted her smile and felt some satisfaction himself. "Yes, well, these powers really are starting to come in handy after all, aren't they? I've been thinking, after this all this publicity, the marketing potential of the super pollinator…"
Shego had reached the hovercraft but paused, hand mid reach to the door, her face thoughtful. Drakken had noticed her hesitation and trailed off. "Um, Shego?"
Spinning slowly around, Shego leaned back against the hovercraft, feigning nonchalance and appearing to take great interest in her nails. "Yeah, speaking about how handy that flower of yours is, what's up with it getting a little too… handy with me back there?" She was pointedly avoiding eye contact, appearing more interested in her manicure than Drakken who was growing increasingly nervous as he realized what she was alluding to.
"Oh! Heh… yes, that… well, I uh…." He gulped. Her hands weren't glowing yet, a good sign, but how was he going to get out of this conversation unscathed? "I guess I still need some practice with being a super mutant, that's all." He made a dismissive gesture with his hands as one of Shego's eyebrows rose, almost imperceptibly. "Anyways," Drakken rushed to change the subject, "about my pollinator, I'm thinking there's going to be a lot of interest and we should take advantage of-"
"Right, right," interrupted Shego casually, "so we mass produce, rack up some dough, then…" She looked up at him, a question in her eyes, "what next? Our criminal records have been wiped clean, it's not exactly going to be easy to keep a low profile now, and we basically just helped our arch rivals escape from certain doom so they can live to defeat us another day." Her hands were on her hips now and she stared pointedly at Drakken. "Still feeling the "take over the world" business, Doc?"
The question caught him off guard. Everything had happened so fast, he hadn't had time to consider the impact events of the past 24 hours would have on his evil genius career. Could he really move right along to his next scheme for world domination after having been dubbed a hero in the eyes of the public? Or had this set into motion bigger changes? After a seemingly unending pattern of failure after failure, would this one brush with success redefine his whole persona? Should he let it? What had that the buffoon had been rambling on about, about the center? Not holding? Nnnnngggh. "Shego, I…I…" he stammered helplessly, unable to avoid her questioning, green eyed stare.
"OH DREEEEWBIE!"
"Oh snap." Drakken was saved from answering Shego, but still dreaded the impending reunion with his mother as her call startled them both.
"Oh there you are! I was looking all over for you after the ceremony. Come here and give your mother a hug. Just think, my boy! The hero! Oh wait until I tell the girls back at the bingo hall about this!" His mother was enthusiastically hugging him, cutting off the circulation to the lower half of his body and he grimaced uncomfortably. Shego was only momentarily miffed about the interruption and attempted to hide her amused smile behind her hands as Drakken struggled in his mother's grip.
"Mother! I must have just missed you. I certainly wasn't attempting to make a quick get away without-"
"Dude!" Motor Ed drove up in his tricked out monster truck and quickly hopped from the cab. "What happened? One moment, you were like totally going all flower power on the channel six bro and the next, you and Green were like, total ghosts. Oh hey there Green!" He made a big show of slicking back his mullet and waggling his eyebrows.
"Oh brother." Shego eyed the hovercraft. Could she manage to escape this? No, Drakken had the keys and he was still under siege by his mother.
"Now smile Drewbie," Drakken's mother said as she pulled a camera from her purse, "And look to your left, I want to get your good side."
"Mother," Drakken griped half-heartedly, glancing back at Shego.
Shego was getting irritated. Could this get anymore annoying? "SHEGO!" chirped a chorus of enthusiastic male voices. Face. Palm. Shego's brothers were approaching from the opposite direction. They were literally surrounded.
As Hego strutted up to Shego, he extended a hand warmly to his sister who was trying (unsuccessfully) to hide her expression of pure malice. He took her hand in his, oblivious to her subliminal daggers, and proceeded to shake it vigorously. "I knew this day would come, Sis. We're so proud of you! Saving the world just like old times!" Mego and the Wegos were encircling her, babbling a string of excited agreements over top of one another.
"Uh, yeah, no. Not exactly my intention..." Shego was attempting to back away but realized there wasn't going to be an easy way out of this.
Hego chuckled as he slung his arm around her shoulders. "Oh isn't that just like our Shego? Always the modest one! Come now, the Go jet is right around the corner and we can't wait to get you back to Go Tower."
"Wait, what?" Shego was being lead away from the hovercraft, herded by her brothers. Meanwhile Drakken, overhearing the commotion ducked below his cousin Eddie's incoming high five to see what was going on. Shego was slowly being dragged away. Or was it voluntarily? It made sense, didn't it? Wasn't she technically a super hero again? Wasn't this a logical progression after what had happened? No more evil plans and so no tough sidekick necessary? Shouldn't they go their own ways now?
His mother droned on. "Oh Drew, just think of all the nice girls you'll meet now that your picture will be in all the papers and you've given up this whole villain mess. And I mean nice girls, not like that mean, green one who's always shooting you with her laser hands. I'm talking about girls that will know how to cook and invite me over to dinner on Sundays…" As she kept babbling, Drakken watched Shego's retreating form with growing anxiety. And then, Shego turned to glance back at him over her shoulder. The Wegos now had hold of one of her hands each and were dragging her slowly away while Hego was obliviously droning on. And what was that look on her face? Confusion? Helplessness? Resignation?! And maybe it was the strangeness of that look on her face and how it just didn't sit right with him or maybe it was the fact that cousin Eddie had lifted the hood of the hover craft and was tinkering around inside ("I mean what kind of speeds can you get this up to with a rinky dink engine like that? Seriously?!") but Drakken had had enough of this unpleasant family reunion and it felt like something that had been building inside him since this whole alien business started had come to a head and he exploded.
"Nnnnnggh. PUT A SOCK IN IT EDDIE!" And at that out burst, Drakken's mother, Eddie, Shego and the rest of the Go family immediately went silent and stopped still in their tracks turning to him in surprise. He stomped up to the hovercraft and roughly slammed the hood back down, just missing Eddie's head in the process. "And stop touching my things!" He spun on his heels. "Mother!" He was trying to contain the anger in his voice, it was his mother after all, and he knew her intentions were good but he just couldn't contain his outrage anymore and his voice trembled with it. "I have absolutely no intentions of giving up being a villain! I don't care how many medals I get! Or how many of these ridiculous ceremonies they throw me or how many stupid speeches they make me give! And Shego is not always shooting me with her laser…." He trailed off. "Well… maybe sometimes, but not always. And that's besides the point!" He shook his head, exasperated. "The point is that without her I'd be a head mounted on a wall in some alien's vacation home! So zip it!" His mother's jaw dropped but she indeed remained silent.
Drakken turned towards the stunned Go Family and stomped over, walking past a speechless and shocked Shego who only watched as Drakken brought himself nose to nose with her brother Hego, a man twice his size and probably able to lay it him out with a single punch. Raising his finger in Hego's face, he exclaimed, "And as for you! If you think for one minute that Shego could just up and run back to your precious Go Tower and become some over zealous, pretentious, boring super hero like you, after years of being one of the most intimidating and inspiring villains I've ever known, you obviously don't know a thing about your sister!"
Drakken spun back around grabbing Shego's wrist and pulling her to him roughly. "SHEGO!" Whoops, his adrenaline was running high and that came out much more forceful than he had intended. Shego raised an eyebrow with a look that clearly said, "Watch it, pal" despite being so shocked by his previous performance. Drakken apologetically cleared his throat. "S-Sorry… ahem… Shego." He started again, more calmly and released the death grip on her wrist instead taking her by the hand. Apparently all the steam from his previous tirade had run out and he was beginning to falter. "Look I know… I know these last few years haven't been what one might call…. successful…" Despite that being pure mocking gold, Shego let it slide with only a faint smile. "What I mean to say is, "Drakken stumbled, "perhaps I've been going about this… maybe I need to reconsider…. nnnnngggghhh." He was flustered, he couldn't seem to choke out what he was trying to say as he cringed in frustration. The Go family and his own looked on in silence, apparently in awe of him after he had just served them each a big slice of the cold, hard truth. The rest came out in a rush. "Maybe what I really need is a change in business strategy and I think after everything that's happened a promotion is in order for you Shego."
"Dr. D…"
"Now wait! Wait, before you go and say something sarcastic, hear me out! What I'm saying is that… well a woman of your talents... would be better suited for the role of a partner in an evil dictatorship, not a sidekick." His anxiety was slowly starting to grow again.
"Yeah but Doc…"
"Obviously your contract would need to be renegotiated! And… and that would of course include a raise in your salary. I'm imagining something of an evil corporation, Drakken and Shego, Incorporated maybe…"
"Drakken! Would you…" Shego was still attempting to insert herself in his ongoing rant.
"OH ALRIGHT!" He grabbed both of her hands desperately in his as he cried out, "SHEGO AND DRAKKEN INCORPORATED! We'll name it whatever you want! I'm a proud man Shego! Don't make me be-"
Shego rolled her eyes exasperated and grabbed the ribbon of Drakken's medal with both hands, roughly pulling his face to hers and pressing her lips to his in a forceful kiss, effectively shutting him up. Drakken struggled only briefly before his eyes drifted shut, his body finally going slack, more relaxed than Drakken typically ever was as he leaned into the kiss. The Go and Lipsky families let out an astonished, collective gasp, jaws dropping. Hego rushed to shield the Wegos' eyes with his hands.
A few moments later, Shego slowly pulled away. Drakken's face was comical in its bliss. If this were a cartoon, he'd have stars circling his head. Shego smiled coyly as she snarked, almost sweetly, "You had me at 'Put a sock in it Eddie.'"
Drakken blinked a few times, staring at her amazed. "S-so, you're staying?"
"Please Dr. D, it shouldn't take a genius to figure that out." She may have been mocking him but her tone didn't hold quite the level of venom it usually did. And she was still smiling that half smile she'd shown him earlier, the one that he hoped he would be seeing much, much more of. Shego took him by the hand and started leading him towards the hovercraft. She waved back at her brothers then at Drakken's mother and cousin as she called out to them, "All right everybody, shows over. It's been so fun catching up but we have a lair to unpack." And there was that classic Shego sarcasm, back in full force, and Drakken grinned proudly as they climbed into the hovercraft together.
Meanwhile the dazed fog that had fallen over the spectators was starting to lift. Drakken's mother had pulled a handkerchief from her dress and was sniffing happily to herself, "Oh they'll make such cute babies, I've always liked the color aquamarine." Eddie was still slack jawed in amazement, "That was so totally rockin', I'm not even mad, seriously." Mego threw up his hands in exasperation. "Well that went well."
In the distance Shego and Drakken were already flying away oblivious to anything going on behind them. Drakken was 2 for 0 today, he felt untouchable! Shego slid closer to him, leaning her body into his as she pressed her lips up to the edge of his ear and whispered seductively, "Now about that raise in my salary."
The End…. No wait!
EPILOGUE
In a low-lit conference room, Shego and Drakken sit at opposite ends of a long table both dressed in gray, formal business attire. Shego looks over at Drakken smugly, leaning back in her chair, as he fidgets nervously with the collar of his shirt and quickly scans over the copy of Shego's renegotiated contract in front of him. "Um Shego…" he starts hesitantly, "What's a safe word?"