Chapter 02: Fever.

In the Top Secret base the Top Secret secretary brought a Top Secret file to the Top Secret boss.

The Top Secret boss scanned over it and smiled pleased, a very unpleasant sight.

"Excellent," the Top Secret boss said. "I see the data is coming along nicely. Most satisfying... Are we ready for phase two?"

The Top Secret secretary nodded and produced another file.

"The doctors said that they will be ready within the next hour."

The Top Secret boss sat back with a smile.

"Most satisfying... Most satisfying indeed..."

&&&

Early the next morning Drakken strolled into his lair's kitchen, ready for another day filled with supreme evil.

Humming his stage stealing tune from the previous evening he went to the fridge. There was nothing that started a day of evil plotting better than a glass of Coco-moo and his favourite cartoon – Pinky and the Brain.

"Quit playing games with my head," Drakken sang softly as he got the milk and mixed in the chocolate powder. "Quit playing games with my head. Oh boy... Oh boy..."
Of course, he couldn't remember all the lyrics from the Oh Boyz song but in the privacy of his own evil lair he could make it up as he went along.

"Quit playing games..." He opened the fridge and noticed that the pizza he had left in the fridge for Shego was still there.

He frowned and glanced at the clock.

True, it was still quite early, but Shego was normally up by now. She made sure she was around to irritate him when he started concocting his plans.

Then he remembered her outburst from the previous evening.

Drakken grunted as he closed the fridge door.

Shego really could get into him, he decided. And, of late she had an irritating habit of threatening him with personal harm.

But.

He glanced out of the kitchen to the spot where the remains of the aspirin bottle was still stuck on the wall.

He couldn't remember ever seeing her actually use some pain killers.

Hmm.

He glanced in the direction of Shego's room and tapped his fingers against his Coco-Moo.

She didn't even pay him any rent.

He glanced at his glass.

To his knowledge, Shego didn't really like the chocolate milk drink. But, then again, the concentrate powder didn't last as long as he calculated it should.

He tapped his fingers against the glass then came to the brave decision.

He wanted to find out whether or not his sidekick was alright and, he conveniently did have an access key to her supposedly private room.
What could he loose?

Besides.

If Shego threw away the glass, he could just come back to the kitchen and make himself some more.

&&&

Kimberlee Ann Possible was jogging.

No one knew where she found the time to do everything that she did. She didn't really know herself. She was out of the country at least once a week, in mortal danger at least twice and in the top 10 of her glass all the time.

Things just worked.

Her life had a steady flow to it and somehow, someway things always got done.
But, for some reason, today that flow felt interrupted.

Split.

Disjointed.

She was worried about Shego.

And, she felt rather guilty that she was.

The woman was none of her concern and if she was off then she was less of a problem.

But, yesterday Kim felt as if she had missed out on a challenge.

As if she had watched a movie that she had anticipated for months, only to find that the ending sucked, the actors were bad and the plot predictable.

In her opinion, Drakken was her arch enemy purely because of Shego. If she wasn't on his team he would be just like all the other crackpots she fought.

Shego was the one that set him apart from the rest and Kim knew that the day Shego's general indifference to the world changed to action they would really be in trouble.
The only thing that saved the world from Shego was Shego herself, mainly because she seemed to lack the inspiration or motivation to concoct a plan of her own.

Kim wondered what would happen the day someone smarter than Drakken hired her.

Permanently.

She was hired out often enough and she knew that the Seniors favoured her.

But, somehow, Shego always returned to Drakken's side.

Kim wondered suddenly whether or not they were lovers.

Her website fans seemed to think so...

Her cheeks burned hot in the cool morning air as she closed her eyes and sprinted home the last few blocks.

She should stop thinking about Shego, she realised.

She just wondered whether or not she was okay...

&&&

"Shego?" Drakken called softly as the door slit open. "Are you here? Hello?"

The room was dark.

"I've brought you some Coco-Moo..."

He sniffed and hesitantly felt for the light switch. He had tried to insist to Shego to insert some clapper lights because it was more fitting for an evil villain of his status but she had stubbornly refused, saying that enough happened when she clapped her hands together, thank you, she would cope just fine with a normal switch.

He always wondered whether or not she just refused because he had really wanted her to do it.

He found the switch, flipped it nervously and ducked instinctively to avoid any blasts of energy that might stray his way.

Shego was very touchy about him entering her domain.

When nothing happened he stood up straighter and peered into the room.

"Shego?" he queried hesitantly. "Are you awake? Shego? Here's some Coco-Moo for you..."
The figure on the bed stirred and moaned unintelligibly.

Drakken blinked and snuck closer. Shego was normally quite neat but last night all she seemed to have done was slip out of her cat suit and into bed.

"Shego?" he queried again and touched the foot of the bed. "You okay there Shego? Shego?"

She didn't move, didn't jump awake and blast him out of the room for waking her.
She didn't even grunt.

Feeling a touch of trepidation Drakken went to the head of the bed and carefully touched Shego's shoulder.

"Wakey wakey Shego..." he said as he carefully gave her a slight shake. "Lots of evil to be done..."

The woman moaned and pulled herself deeper in under the covers.

"J'st five mor' minutes, Hank," she muttered. "Just five..."

Drakken blinked.

"Hank?" he queried then sniffed.

"Shego, wake up!" he snapped. "If you have a lover here I want to know about it!" He looked around the room for this mysterious Hank and rudely pulled the blankets off of his sidekick.

The raven haired woman shivered and pulled herself into a miserable ball. He could immediately see that something was terribly wrong. Her oversized shirt clung to her slender body, soaked with sweat, and her hand shook as she tried to shield her eyes from the light.

She was very very pale.

"Get out of my room brother!" she muttered and tried to turn around. "Hank, get out!"

She weakly groped around for a pillow.

He felt a bit embarrassed.

Of course.

Hank, or rather, Hego.

One of Shego's estranged family members.

Drakken put the chocolate milk down on the dresser next to Shego's bed and sat down.

"Shego wake up," he said insistently. "Come on Shego, look at Drakken..."

When she didn't respond he carefully turned her back on her back.
Shego didn't resist as she blinked up at him.

Her gaze was unfocused and when she brought her hand up again to shield her eyes Drakken snatched up her wrist and took her pulse.

Every villain had to do a level 3 first aid course to get a licensed lair (seeing as how the most accidents happened in and around the house and, with Global Justice and various other security agencies knocking at the door it was so much more important to be safety aware). He skipped his of course, finding it cheaper to just threaten the inspector with a 363 laser cannon, but even with his lack of knowledge he could tell that her pulse was erratic.

He frowned and, slipping off his glove, touched Shego's clammy forehead.
She was burning up.

&&&

To Be Continued...

AN: My Spelling of Kimberley (Kimberly) as Kimberlee is intentional.