AN: I've recently been looking through old files one my computer (I'm in the process of digitizing all my notes for stories, art, etc.) and I found this huddled under some recipes and sillyness from years ago. If I remember correctly, this was started by an iPod shuffle challenge to the song "I'm Still Here' by the Goo Goo Dolls. I figured it has been a VERY long time since I uploaded anything and I kinda liked the way this turned out. As a sidenote, I consider these two chapters to be a one-shot and complete, so if you're hoping for a story to follow them, no such luck. :( Hell, I haven't even finished the other multi-chapter story I started! (I swear, guys, I'll work on it again some day.)
Still Here, Ch. 1
He huffed and slammed the door behind him, leaving the Middleton Board of Education behind him. He shifted the heavy invention under his arm into a more comfortable position and stalked out of the Middleton Institute of Technology. How dare they laugh at him? Again! It was impossible to please these people!
He tossed the equipment in the back of the hover car, seriously considering chucking it on the way back home. What good was it anyway? Its intended purpose had just become the laughing stock of a room full of soggy old geezers who couldn't accept a change if it was their dirty Depends. Jamming the key into the ignition, Drakken growled quietly as the hover car roared to life. He paused for a moment, idling just above the blacktop. Why was being on the right side of the law so difficult? He slumped his forehead on the steering wheel. Ever since the Lowardian incident…everything had changed. He'd found himself working for a bunch of stuffed chickens in suits. He didn't have any freedom to invent what he wanted to anymore. Now he had to be careful about things like 'budgets' and 'ethical standards.' It was just one, big hassle. He hated being 'good.'
He sat up, blinking a few times as he looked around the interior of the hover car. Somehow, it felt like just being able to admit that to himself changed the look of things. Changed hislook on things. Leaning over to the passenger's side, he jerked open the glove box. Rifling through extra napkins and owner's manuals, he dug out his cell phone. Scanning through his short contacts list, his finger hovered over 'Send.' His hand was shaking. He needed to think rationally about this. If he made the call, if he'd be on the run again. He'd have to find a new lair, new henchmen…new everything. And everything would be back to the way it used to be. He realized he was holding his breath and let it out in a long whoosh. Glancing at the university again, he pressed the button.