Hego stared. "What."
Shego tilted an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'what'?" Crossing her arms and leaning back, she stated, "That's what happened, Hego. Take it or leave it."
The large man narrowed his eyes and looked at Drakken, slowly getting up from the Go tower table where he, Kim, Drakken, Ron, and the other Go siblings were sitting. "So you took advantage of my little sister's-.."
"Oh please, Hego, stop with the self-aggrandizing," Shego snarled, severely regretting her decision to finally fess up. "If anything, I took advantage of him!"
"Self-aggrandiz-.." her brother squawked, sitting back down. "There is no self-aggrandizing about me! If anything, I'm selflessly-aggrandizing!"
"Hego, you're making it seem like you're my protector," she explained, rubbing her head. She knew, knew he would be like this. She'd just been hoping that he wouldn't. "I don't need anyone to take care of me! Especially you!"
"But Shego-.."
"Up-bup-bup-bup-bup-bup," Shego rapidly said, forcibly shoving Hego's lips together with her fingers. "No, no, no."
"I think that Shego's right," Mego said with a shake of his head. The green woman stared at him. Since when in the world did Mego admit that someone else was right? "I mean, she made her choices and it didn't turn out awful..." Ah, there was the Mego that she knew and didn't care for. "...so clearly she doesn't need you bugging her like this."
"Yeah Hego!" said one Wego.
"Shego knows what she's doing," the other Wego finished.
"So what do you say, Hego?" Shego asked, letting go of his lips.
Hego rubbed his now-red lips and said, "Well, I supposed everything turned out okay at the end…"
"Good! Glad that's out of the way!" Drakken said, slapping his hands on the Go tower table. "Now then…" He twiddled his fingers and turned to his daughter. "I, ahm…"
"Yes!" Hego said grandly, "Welcome to your new home, Kim!"
"New home?" Kim and Shego said at the same time, eyebrows raised.
"Well, yes!" Hego said like it was obvious. "You're part of the Go family. That means joining up with us in our battle with villainy!"
The room was silent for a moment, Kim and Shego sharing an exasperated look.
"I already have a home," Kim pointed out. "I don't really need a new one…"
"But…" Hego boggled. "How will you be able to stop the criminal element without your family having your back?"
Shego's face met the table as she groaned. "Hego, you don't get it." She raised her head and said, "Kimmie doesn't need you guys to do the heroing crap. She's doing pretty well by herself."
"Yes, but think of the extra evil she could thwart with us!" Hego said, clearly picking up steam. "We could expand our operation! Join her on her adventures! We could-.."
"Sorry Hego, but it's Team Possible," Kim said, sharing a look with Ron. "We do fine on our own… And you have all of Go City to protect!"
"But family-.."
"She doesn't want to join us/you, Hego!" the other Go siblings shouted at once.
Hego flopped back in his chair. "Fine," he pouted. "I get the message."
Finally…
"...but that doesn't mean that Shego shouldn't rejoin!"
"Hego…!" Shego was close to either pulling her hair out or blasting him across the room. Maybe both. "I don't want to be a hero!"
"Are you still going to be villains then?" Hego asked, clearly not seeing the middle ground.
"No./Maybe?" Drakken and Shego answered at once.
Shego stared at Drakken. Did he just…?
Drakken cringed under her gaze. "Well, what else am I going to do?"
"Be a hero?" Hego asked hopefully.
"NO!" This time the two were united in their answer.
"Anyway…" Kim looked at her father, beginning to use her ultimate weapon. "Are you really going to go back to villainy? Even now?"
"Well, I mi-.." Drakken narrowed his eyes. "What is that? What are you doing?"
"Please don't? For me?" Kim pushed her lip out even harder, utilizing the puppy dog pout to its full power.
"I… Nnnngh…" He squirmed uncomfortably. "Stop that!"
"There is no fighting the PDP," Ron said with a sagely nod. "You might as well give in now."
"I… I…" He crossed his arms and growled, "Fine! No more villain stuff!" He muttered not under his breath, "Party pooper."
"So, what are you planning to do?" Ron asked Shego.
Shego sat and thought. "I'm considering going back to college. Getting a master's, maybe a PhD." She looked at Drakken. "I want to get my life back on track, Doc. I think you should try, too."
Drakken rolled his eyes. "You do realize that just over a month ago you were haranguing me about that very same thing? Going back to school?" he said, continuing to pout.
"And that was… Wrong… Of me." It felt like she was choking on the words.
Her husband just kind of… Looked at her. "What?"
"I'm not repeating myself."
"I never thought I'd see the day…" Mego said, joining Drakken in the staring.
Shego growled, "Okay, yeah, I said it. Let's move on!"
"So then…" Hego looked at the crowd in front of him, discomfort on his face. "I suppose you'll want to be going…"
Shego paused, then shrugged. If that's all he was up for instead of actually talking about things…
"Yeah, I gue-.."
The viewscreen burst to life.
"Team Go!"
The face of the mayor - somehow looking the same as always - popped up on the screen. "We need your help!"
"Team Go is at your service!" Hego said, standing heroically. "What is the problem, mayor?"
"Aviarius is assaulting the aerodynamics auditorium on Albany Avenue!" the mayor announced, absolutely astonished.
"Don't worry, mayor. We'll handle it!" Hego said, flexing his muscles.
"We can help too!" Ron said brightly. Kim nodded in agreement.
"What do you say, sis? For old time's sake?" her eldest brother asked with his golden boy smile.
"...ugh." She hated it, but if her princess was going to go toss her hat in the ring… "Yeah, sure. Doc and I'll tag along."
"Wait… Why am I tagging along? I'm not a fighter!" Drakken complained.
"You certainly handled yourself pretty well against Gemini," his wife countered.
"I'm still injured!" He waved at his bandaged leg.
Shego rolled her eyes. "Don't worry. It's just some birdbrain villain. You'll be fine."
"I… I just… Nnnnngh…"
"C'mon… We can consider it family bonding time!" Ron said, getting up and patting Drakken on the back.
"You certainly aren't my family!" Drakken snorted.
"Don't worry, Dad," Kim said with a smile. "We'll have your back."
Shego looked at Hego and wondered… Why did he wince?
"Fools!" Aviarius cried out from where he was hovering in a large, hawkish-looking flying machine. Rockets were strapped to the bottoms, as were a few laser guns. He was directing what looked like little penguins to the aeronautics museum, having them steal all of the items inside. He yelled at the fleeing civilians, "Run away! Run like the little ants you are!"
"Aviarius!" Hego jumped from the Go jet which Shego had graciously decided to pilot for them and struck a heroic pose. "Stop your nefarious scheme now!"
"Oh look! If it isn't the cheer squad," Aviarius sneered at him. "You can't stop me!"
"Wanna bet?" Mego also posed, as did the Wegos and Ron.
"Ron, what are you doing?" Kim asked, walking up to him from where she'd parked the Sloth.
"Posing in a group! It's fun," he claimed. "You should try it!"
Kim shrugged and joined him, posing like she had when she confronted Drakken and Shego in her new outfit for the first time. "...you know what? It is kinda fun."
"Please, Bubble-butt," Shego said, walking up to the group. "Don't reduce yourself to their antics. You're better than that."
"No kidding!" Drakken agreed, coming up behind her.
"HA! Precisely where I want you!" Aviarius tossed something at the group. It flopped out in front of Hego's feet. It looked like a duck-billed platypus.
"That's not a bird…" Kim pointed out.
"Of course it is!" Aviarius sniffed. "It has a bill and lays eggs!"
"Yeah, pretty sure it's a mammal," Shego said.
"Shut up!" Aviarius scowled and grunted, "You can't stop me from my goal!"
"What's the point of this?" Ron asked, scratching his head as he went over to poke the platypus. "Like, are you just gonna decorate your lair or something like that?"
"I, ah…" Aviarius raised a finger, then dropped it. He then shook his head and said, "You won't distract me!" He pushed a button on his console.
Suddenly, the platypus shuddered and burst open. Almost like liquid, metal swirled around the group and formed into oddly-shaped, tightly spaced bars. Kim tried to flip out of the way, but ended up tangling herself up with her purple uncle.
"Now who's being put in a cage?!" he cackled. "Those bars are made from Lorwardian metals! Good luck bending those!" With that, he resumed his task of emptying the museum of its memorabilia.
"Great…" Kim shook her head as she stood up, helping Mego to his feet. "How did this happen?"
"Because certain people couldn't help but be stupid," Shego said, glaring at Hego.
"Calm down, everyone…" Hego used his glow and punched at the metal bars. It barely dented. "Curses!"
"Let me give it a shot…" Shego's flames burst to life as she worked her powers on the bars. They melted slightly, but with no weak joints to take advantage of it would take a long, long while to work.
"Here, let me try." Drakken's vines crawled out of his coat and wrapped around the bars. Slowly, they began to bend.
"Booyah!" Ron shouted. "Doctor Drakken's got our back!"
"Hmph!" The blue man gave Ron the evil eye. "If it were just you in here, I wouldn't even bother!"
"Mego!" The Wegos turned to him. "You can get through, right?"
"Probably…" Mego shrank down and skipped through one of the floor-level holes. Growing back to his normal size, he smirked. "There! I'm out."
"Go distract Aviarius while we work out a way to get out of here," Hego instructed.
"Oh boy." Shego facepalmed. "This oughta be amusing…"
"Hey now!" the purple man cried. "I can totally handle Aviarius. He's easy-peasy."
"Then get to it! Chop chop!" Ron said, clapping his hands.
"Fine, fine…" Mego ran off to confront the bird-themed villain.
"So then…" Shego decided that since they clearly had the time - her husband could only work so fast on the bars - she decided to poke the bear a bit. "So, Princess, what do you think about your newfound family?"
"Huh?" Kim looked at Shego, confused. "I, ah, guess everyone's pretty cool. Like, I mean…" Kim scratched her head. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, how do you feel about your dear ol' mom and dad? And your uncles?" Hego winced again, clearly trying to hide it and failing. There we go.
"I mean, it's all so new…"
"What's wrong, Hego?" Shego interrupted, staring at her brother.
He looked around, fake innocence dripping off of him. "What do you mean?"
"What do I-.." The green woman glared at him. "You know exactly what I mean."
Hego frowned. "I don't know what you-.."
"Do you have a problem with my Kimmie?" Shego watched him closely
"I… I…" He looked around as if trapped beyond the bars, then cried, "I should have been there!" His face suddenly twisted. "You should have felt like you could depend on me. But you couldn't!" A blue glow surrounded his fist as he swung it, denting part of the cage a lot more than his previous attempt. "And I can't blame you! You're exactly right!
"You didn't tell me, at all, what was going on with you! You had a baby without telling me! You GOT MARRIED without telling me! Because you felt like you couldn't!"
"Hego…?" Kim made a calming motion with her hands. "It's fine. Everything turned out-.."
"It did NOT turn out fine!" Hego waved as if presenting Drakken as exhibit A. "Look at my brother-in-law! He's scarred, mentally and physically! I could've prevented that! If I'd just…"
He flopped to the ground. "If my sister could've trusted me to listen to her, to not lose my cool…"
Shego rolled her eyes. "There you go, self-aggrandizing again!"
Hego glared. "What are you talking about? It's true!"
"It isn't true and you know it!" she growled. "What could you have done, huh? What could you have done?!"
"I could've provided you with safe birth control," he pointed out.
"And that would've left us with no Kimmie. Try again!"
"If I'd known about your relationship…"
"Wrong answer." She shook her head. "You and I both know that I was making a bad decision. We're lucky it turned out the way it did! That Doctor D is, well, Doctor D."
"Gee, thanks." Drakken crossed his arms even as his vines worked to unbend the interlaced bars.
"No problem, Doc."
"Nnnnngh…"
"Anyway… Try again."
"If you'd told me about the baby, we could've helped take care of her! Your husband wouldn't've had to take that job with GJ."
"That may have a point… But that's still linked to our relationship. You would've still been right about me being too young." Shego sighed. She decided not to point out that she also didn't want to return or have him involved in their lives because of the hero-pushing. No point in making him feel worse than he already did, and she didn't have anything to counter it. "Hego, you aren't to blame for any of what happened to us. That's on me. And it isn't about me not trusting you, either. I trusted you to do what would've been the best thing with me. It just ended up being exactly what I didn't want."
"But…" his face crumpled.
"There's nothing you could have done. You would've been right to stop our relationship. And I was too stubborn to let you get involved to do that. Again, that's on me."
Hego said nothing.
"Are you all done with your family bonding exercise?" Drakken asked, a hand on his hip and the other one flourishing at the bars. "Because I'm just about finished."
Sure enough, the bars were bent open to the air, large enough for the smaller people to fit through.
"A-Booyah!" Ron held up a hand to clap with Drakken.
Drakken ignored him and kept working even as Shego, Kim, and the Wegos slipped out.
"Aww man, again?"
"YES again!" the blue man said with a sneer. "I still don't approve of you dating my daughter."
Then, suddenly, Mego was thrown into the bars on the opposite side of the opening.
"FOOL! Did you think you could keep me down?!" Aviarius shouted, his missiles exhausted and one of his laser cannons disabled. Pushing a button, his remaining laser cannons fired. "I am AVIARIUS!"
"And we're Team Possible!" Ron said jumped on top of the cage. Kim joined him, pulling out her compact and using it to deflect one of the lasers. Ron dodged the other one, then, glowing blue, tossed Kim into the air. She performed a perfect flip, landing cleanly into the bird-themed villain's aircraft.
"Time to put you back in your cage," Kim quipped, pulling back her arm for a punch.
"I hate that one line-.." Aviarius was cut off by Kim's fist, which knocked him clean out of the aircraft.
"I got him!" Ron shouted, waving his arms about frantically.
The Wegos multiplied, boosting themselves up to catch the villain. They easily cushioned his fall and brought him back to the ground.
"Okay, I don't got him."
Shego, for her part, was cleaning up the penguin robots. It was easy enough; a swift blast of plasma and they were toast. After a minute, in which her princess and her blond dork joined in the penguin slaughter, the job was finished.
"Great job!" Kim exclaimed with a smile.
"Yeah! Go team!" Ron said, high-fiving the Wegos.
"Hey! Don't I get any credit here?" Mego grumbled as he was helped to his feet by Shego.
"Yeah, I guess you didn't completely suck," Shego said with a smirk.
"Gee, thanks sis." Mego dusted himself off and looked into the cage. "Hey, Hego, what're you doing still in there?"
"I'm contemplating my navel," Hego replied.
"...why are you thinking about your belly?" the purple man asked.
"He means he's thinking about stuff, you idiot," Drakken said, rejoining the others.
"Now that was uncalled for…" one Wego said.
"Yeah. Considering it's Hego, he might've actually been thinking about his belly!" the other chimed in.
"Okay, guys, you might wanna clear out," Shego said, looking at her blue brother with well-hidden concern. "The police and such're gonna want to clean this stuff up."
"And what about Aviarius?" a Wego asked, poking the knocked-out villain in the side with his foot.
"Leave him. They'll be here before he'll wake up." Shego made like she was checking a watch. "Oh, look at the time. Hego and I have an appointment to keep. We'll take the Go jet."
"Gotcha." Ron nodded, then cried as he ran to the Sloth, "I call shotgun!"
"Appointment?" Kim looked at her mother with curiosity.
"Trust me on this, Princess," Shego said with a shrug. Then she said, whispering, "We need some sibling alone time…"
A spark flitted through her eyes. "Gotcha…" She turned to the twins and said, "You two can ride with me."
"And I suppose you can ride with me." Drakken begrudgingly looked at Mego.
"Perfect! Just what I wanted to do," Mego grumbled. "Tag along with my favorite brother-in-law."
"I'm your only brother-in-law," Drakken noted flatly.
"Duh!"
Shego waved everyone else off. Once they were gone, Shego went back into the cage where Hego hadn't moved from.
"C'mon. Let's go."
It was easy enough to lead him to the Go jet. She just had to drag him with her and toss him in.
Once safely ensconced in the Go jet, Shego turned to her brother.
"Okay. Spill. This isn't just about me not depending on you." Shego gave him the evil eye. "So, what's going on in that pea brain of yours?"
Hego squirmed but said nothing.
"Tell me!" A hand was encased in plasma. "Or you'll have a visit to Ouch Town."
He cringed, then said, "I just… I can't believe you didn't trust me!"
"Trust you?" She tilted an eyebrow. "Didn't I already say it wasn't because I didn't trust you? And that NONE of it was your fault?"
"Then why wouldn't you tell me!?"
"Maybe I also wanted to avoid the drama!" Shego glared at him. "Maybe I didn't want this to become 'a thing', hm? Maybe, just maybe, I was hoping that things would settle down enough that it wouldn't be 'a thing', or, at least, it'd be less of a thing. I mean, look at you!" She growled, "I can't believe how much this bothers you!"
"It bothers me about what happened-.."
"Then let's pretend that didn't happen."
"What?" Hego boggled.
"Let's pretend that whole thing with Gemini never happened. How do you feel then, huh?"
Hego said, "But it did happen! And I wasn't there for you."
"Do you have to be there for everyone?" Shego asked, exasperated.
"YES! I do!" Hego shouted. "Ever since Mom and Dad died, I've been responsible for you all! I've tried, so hard, to make sure that everyone was safe and happy! And to find out that I messed up, that I drove my sister to hide important life milestones like you did? It's wrong!"
Shego watched her older brother. "...Hego, you might want to look into therapy."
"Therapy-.. Heroes don't need therapy!" he proclaimed.
"Yes they do," Shego said flatly. "Heck, my princess went to one when she was still processing that whole thing. And, hellooo, who's planning on being a child psychologist, eh? What do you mean about 'heroes don't need therapy'? Bah…"
"But-.. I just-.." Hego sputtered.
"Don't be too proud to help yourself," Shego said seriously. "Okay?"
He sat, a cross look on his face. "...I'll think about it."
"That's all I'll ask for… For now." She strapped her flight helmet on. "Next stop: Go tower…"
"That was super fun!" Kim said, windows rolled down on the Sloth for discussion.
"Yeah, it was," the Wegos agreed, both crowding the window.
"I still can't get over how old you two are!" Ron sat, still gobsmacked from an apparent conversation they all had while Shego and Hego were having their own little talk. "You're, like, older than us!"
"What's so weird about that?" the Wegos said, eyeing the blond with distaste.
"You're so…" Ron tried to think of the right words.
"Short. You're short," Drakken supplied from where he was standing behind the twins.
"Hey! Just because we're short-.."
"..-doesn't mean that we're super young!" they said peevishly.
"Okay, okay!" Ron raised his arms in surrender. "I get it! You're old-timers!"
"Damn straight!"
"Ohhh, gratuitous swearing! Better watch out, Buffoon!" Shego said with a smirk as they walked up to the group.
"Wegos! I can't believe that language!" Hego said, shaking a finger at the two.
Chagrined, they replied, "Sorry Hego…"
"Well, I think they're old enough to do and say what they want!" Mego noted from next to the Wegos.
"Thanks Meegs," the two said, smirking at their eldest brother.
"Whatever." Shego shrugged. "Anyway…" She shoved her brothers aside and gave Kim a big hug. "Don't be a stranger, okay? You know where we are…"
"Most of the time," Drakken corrected.
"Y'know, I never got why you have so much real estate," Ron observed.
"It's cheap and holds value for the most part," Kim's dad explained. "Also, I keep hoping that it will keep pesky teenagers AND Squirrel Scouts out of our lives!"
"'Pesky teenagers'?" Kim quoted with a tilted eyebrow.
"You don't qualify as that anymore!" Drakken shoved his way over to the driver's side window and gave Kim a tentative hug. "Just, erm, don't come through the air ducts anymore please."
"Don't worry." Kim gave a wide, genuine smile. "I know where the front door is now."
"Well…" It was a little awkward, but not too bad considering the drama llamas that Hego had been parading around earlier. Hego gave Shego a meaningful look, then shook it off as he turned towards his niece. "It was nice meeting you in the family sense…"
"You too." Kim looked at her clock and cringed. "Gotta jet. The 'rents wanted to take us out shopping for groceries for this next week…"
"See ya around, Kimmie." Shego stepped back, dragging her husband with as the teen activated the hover capacity on her car and took off.
"I suppose we should go too." Drakken pointed at his wrist where there was no watch and said, "It's getting late."
"You could always stay the night?" Hego offered.
"HAHAHAHA-.. Yeah, no," Shego said, struggling not to fall into condescending laughter at the very idea of staying in her old room with Drakken. "We're leaving."
"You two… Don't be a stranger either," Hego parroted Shego's earlier request. "We do miss you, Shego."
"...yeah, I know." Shego dragged Drakken off to their hovercar and hopped in. Looking at her husband, she asked, "You ready?"
Drakken snorted. "I was ready before we even faced off with that bird guy."
The four Go siblings waved them off as they flew off.
"...so, what did you and Shego talk about?" Mego asked, falling behind with Hego as the Wegos skipped up the rocks towards the Go tower.
"...stuff." Hego shrugged. "Just stuff."