"Stevie?"
"Oh, Stevie is it? Well, he's trespassing." Drakken released his pickle jar and reached for a button.
"No, no. Wait," said Shego knocking his hand aside. Barkin was standing there is that awful checked jacket, holding a bouquet of purple flowers. But then the moment was ruined as he got down on his knees, pulled out some kind of banjo thing, and started singing a very bad rendition of the O Boyz's "Quit Playing Games with My Head". "Ugh, never mind," Shego hit the button, releasing dogs on the hapless Barkin.
Drakken went contently back to his gherkins, safe in the knowledge that he would not need to worry about his sidekick being distracted with other matters. However, Shego stood there for a moment, staring at the screen. Barkin was still holding the flowers, now only a bundle of broken stems, and his jacket had been torn by the dogs. The dogs were still surrounding him, growling menacingly, as he stood on a ledge on the lair's outside wall. It was a pathetic sight.
"Hey, Dr. D, I'm getting a drink from the kitchen, you want anything?" Drakken muttered something incomprehensible through a mouthful of pickle. She left her magazine lying carelessly on her chair, and headed for the kitchen. However, once out of the possible view of Drakken she changed directions, climbing up to one of those vents that were always so easy for Kim to infiltrate.
Steven Barkin was contemplating his current situation, the primary objective being getting past the slobbering pack of attack dogs, and run fast enough to make it to his car without becoming a chew toy. He was just about to tear off his jacket and fling it the opposite direction in the hopes of giving him a split second head start, when he heard something. It was like sandpaper, something sliding against something... And then there was a thud as something fell right beside him, causing him to take a small step back, then recover his footing as a dog snapped at his heel.
Besides him, tottering on the ledge was Shego! He quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her to the safety of the ledge; however it was a small ledge and so this action caused the two of them to be standing very close together.
He took in her appearance; the green jumpsuit and her black hair now wavy and free flowing, ruffled slightly by a breeze. She gave him a small smile, not seeming to notice his appraising glance, and turned to the dogs, who were pawing at the rocks below them. Her hands flared a bright green, and a small blast sent the dogs running who had dealt with the flaming lady too many times before. She slid down the slope, and turned to Barkin who jumped down besides her. "Thanks," he said, suddenly conscious that he was still holding the mutated flowers.
"Yeah, no problem... Hey, I'm sorry about them, and..." Shego gestured helplessly, suddenly feeling self-conscious and... was it guilt? "My boss, he..." that was a very safe, and often used, harbor. "How'd you get this address?" she suddenly asked. It was one thing for the nerdlinger to trace their magazine subscriptions, it was another for Barkin to find her.
"I asked Possible." Ah, so it was the nerdlinger. They stood there, silent for a moment, before Barkin asked, "So, what are you doing here? Stoppable muttered something incoherent about a warehouse, Team Go, Electronique, and Zorpox."
"Oh, well you see..." Geez, this was harder than she thought it would be. "Um, remember how Team Go had turned evil?" He nodded. She didn't like the calculating stare he was giving her. "Well, when she turned them evil, she turned me good. Then when Possible, Stoppable, and I went to fight them, and Electronique was there with the attitudinator, although she called it the reverse polarizer, and my brothers were turned good, and we captured Electronique. However, after the fight, Ronald was messing around with the attitudinator, and got me with it, and now I'm... evil. Again." She forced herself to look him in the eye, wondering what his reaction would be.
"Ah, and so this would be the lair of the evil Dr. Drakken," Shego nodded, bewildered at his lack of reaction. Barkin continued talking, "and you would be his sidekick and -"
"I am not his sidekick! I'm a hired mercenary! Ugh, a sidekick would be like, like the buffoon! Mercenaries are paid better," she growled. She already felt lousy for ditching on Barkin, roller skating sounded like much more fun than listening to Drakken munching on pickles, she didn't need him to make her feel any worse.
"Ah, so that's why you became a teacher, only for it's amazingly high pay rate for green necks!" Pure, dripping, bitter sarcasm.
"I came because I needed Possible's help with my brothers! And what do you want me to do? Just give up, go back to a nice normal lifestyle when I'm wanted in over 11 countries?! It's amazing that GJ didn't find me during the past week!"
"Wanted for what?" His voice was strangely calm.
"Wai- wha'?"
"What are you wanted for? What are the charges against you in those over 11 countries?"
Shego stared at him strangely for a moment, "Theft mostly, willful destruction of property, couple charges of arson," she lit up her right hand, staring at it contemplatively, " 'Course the last one wasn't always on purpose..."
"So you're not wanted for anything major like manslaughter."
Shego gasped at him, "I would never kill- ever! That is the one line I don't cross, so do not even suggest that I would do something like that. I suppose you've killed, haven't you? In the military, toting those M-16's, shooting down helpless civilians by orders of your precious US government-"
Her hands were glowing dangerously, her eyes narrowed into slits, the green pupils glittering with pent-up ferocity. Any sane man would have run for his life, so Shego was shocked when she found that she couldn't move her hands and looked down to see that he was grabbing her by the wrists. "Let me go!" she demanded, swearing to herself that she would make Barkin wish she would kill.
"Uh, uh, uh. Now, you listen to me. I got to know the good Shego, and yes, okay it was you with your brainwaves reversed, but it was still you. You just admitted that you would never kill, and that you didn't commit arson on purpose. There's still something left in there. Okay, so evil Shego has a few anger management problems, but if you really wanted to, you could reform yourself, and there's plenty of people who would help you work out something with GJ... whoever they are."
Shego's glow had disappeared, but her eyes still smoldered with resentment, "What do you know about me? You don't know anything, anything at all. So I used to be a hero. Big whoop. I am never going back. There was nothing good about being a hero. It took away my parents, it took away my friends, a normal life, it turned me into a freak. You have no idea all the years I had to put up with my idiotic brothers, and now that I left them, I have to deal with perky little Miss Cheerleader and Drakken's stupid plots. But you know what? I get to fight, I get to steal, I get to run from the police; at least it provides some amount of adrenalineWhat on Earth is the most exciting thing in your life, a new episode of Agony County? Oh, wait, I know, selling muffins with the Pixie Scouts. That really gets the blood moving."
Barkin's calm demeanor snapped. "You know what, I've had enough of your sass! If you decide you want to go on straight and narrow, look me up, else stay away. Do I make myself clear?!" Without waiting for a response he threw her wrists away, and marched off angrily to his car and drove away.
Shego glared at his retreating form until the car vanished completely. Then she sighed, and the glare melted away, replaced with a melancholy expression. "He didn't even thank me for getting rid of the dogs," she muttered, disappointed. But what had she really expected? That he would beg her to come back, and she would play around with him, until finally giving in, ditching Drakken for good, having a normal life... But no, it was over. Forever.
In the car, Barkin's anger had also dissipated into a rather despondent mood. What had he really expected? That she would come back to Middleton with him? He had known that is was too good to be true, Miss Go hadn't really existed, no one ever would. Although, if Shego was evil, why had she come to help him? From what he could tell, she would normally have no remorse over someone giving the dogs a bit of exercise... But it was over now, he had set the ultimatum himself. It was over. Forever.
I-----------------------I
Ten years. Ten years since she had been locked up. Nerdlinger had convinced Dementor to help him. They had figured out a way to shut off her powers. To deny her any access to the familiar green glow. So when Drakken had failed again, that stupid Kim Possible had clasped them on her wrists. She couldn't call it up; the flames wouldn't come. Kim had knocked her unconscious. Stupid Kimmie. She had woken up in a jail cell, where she had stayed for 10 years. She wasn't allowed to have contact with any prisoners, but the guards had told her when Drakken had been released, 7 years ago. Released or escaped? It didn't matter, what mattered was he didn't try to spring her. He had left her here. No one had tried. Not Motor Ed, nor Junior, not anyone. Her brothers had come to see her. That had been when she had been locked up for 2 years. Hego had told her all prim and proper like that this is what she deserved. Stupid brothers. And now she was free.
The people at the jail had given her 50 dollars, and a pair of jeans with holes in them that were too big, and a t-shirt with sleeves that came below her elbows and had mud stains all over. And then she was kicked out, left to start what remnants of a life she could. There was a bus to take her to town. An old, hot, smelly bus, and she still had to pay for the ride. She was in the middle of nowhere. It took a long time to get to a city. But she couldn't get to a city, the bus broke down in some suburb. So she got off there. She had no money anymore, the bus driver had taken it to pay the repair guy. She walked about the town, trying to stay in the shadows so people wouldn't stare at her unkempt hair and dirty clothes. The town seemed somewhat familiar, but she couldn't remember why...
Of course she didn't believe in coincidences, but fate was smiling on her today (or frowning, depending on how you looked at it). She had started running for some reason. She needed to run. After years of fighting she was an athlete. And then suddenly, without warning, she was locked in a 4'x7' jail cell, without exercise room privileges. She had nearly gone crazy. And so now she was running; head down, bent over, arms swinging, full out sprinting like God himself was at her tail. Considering the position she was running in, it was bound to happen that she would run into someone. Of course, that someone would feel like a brick wall. She landed on the ground hard. Her knee was in flaming pain, there was a hole in the denim there, so there had been nothing to protect her knee from the rough concrete. She looked up through the strands of black hair that hung limply in her face.
"Are you alright?" The wall knelt down besides her when she didn't take the offered hand. She looked away, avoiding his gaze. "Miss... Go?"
She looked at him, hair still partially obscuring her vision, her knee throbbing, protesting, threatening to overwhelm her if she didn't move, didn't speak. All she could do was stare at the brown eyes gazing with concern into hers.
She managed to choke out, "I think I'm ready to go straight."
And Barkin took her in his arms and held her tight as the silent tears came down.
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Author's Note: I'm not quite sure how I feel about this story, so please let me know what you think. In other words- Leave a review!
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