Change Isn't Easy
by
Chapter Four: Going out with a Bang
Disclaimer – If you don't know by now, you haven't been paying attention to these disclaimers anyway.
--
The flight to Go City was a lot less eventful than the preflight screening which had cost Shego so much of her dignity. After a few hours and a brief layover in Atlanta, she found herself in the exit area of the airport. She would have preferred to have the freedom that a rental car offered, but Go Tower, her one time home, was on an island inaccessible to ground traffic. Since her hover car was hidden in a shallow lagoon in Florida, she would have to get to the pier that offered rides to the many small islands dotting Great Go Lake. Living on an island was one of the few things she thought Hego had gotten right. By limiting access, the Tower was much more secure, and Team Go had made quite a few enemies over the years.
As Shego hailed a cab and told the driver her destination, she wondered why her brothers didn't count her among those enemies. After all, the last time she saw her brothers, she tried to keep all their powers for herself. Aviarius, one of the dumber but more persistent villains her brothers faced, had used a special cane to drain the 'comet power' that made Hego super strong, let Mego shrink or grow, and allowed her younger twin brothers Wego I and Wego II to make copies of themselves. He had also stolen her ability to form and control the green fire around her body, and things had looked pretty bad. So bad, in fact, that she had teamed up with Kim Possible to turn the tables. Eventually she snagged the cane, turned on everyone, and gave all the powers to herself. She had them all on the ropes, until Drakken burst onto the scene, distracting her and allowing Kim Possible to kick the cane out of her hands. Everyone got their power back, and Shego and Drakken ran back to their own lair. She had wanted to kill Drakken for interfering, but she just couldn't do it.
After all, he had come to rescue her when he thought she was in trouble.
She emerged from her thoughts as the cab slowed in front of the pier. "That's nineteen bucks, lady."
Shego handed the driver a twenty and walked to the small booth where she could get a ride to the island. "Hey sport, how much to get to Go Tower, and when can you take me?"
The elderly man who was in the booth looked closely at her. "You look like her, but you aren't green..." He shook his head. "Sorry, lost my train of thought there. That island is restricted. Can't take you there unless you got permission from Team Go. Good news is, if you got permission, it's a free trip. Do you?"
"Yeah, I got a permission slip right here, buddy." She raised her hands, which were now glowing green. "Remember me now?"
It is you... yeah, I remember." Underneath the counter, his foot stepped on a small pressure plate, which would set off an alert in the Tower. "But you aren't on the team anymore. So you still need permission, don't you?"
"Listen buddy, I am in a really bad mood. Screeners clawing through my clothes, screaming kids on the plane, and now I have to spend the day with my brothers before I can get on with the rest of my vacation. So call 'em, find out if they want to see their sister or not, and do it now!"
As her tirade reached its peak, a cell phone rang. The old man pulled a phone out of his jacket and hit the answer button. "Yeah? Yeah, it's her. You sure? Alright, it's up to you. It's your house and she's your sister. We're on our way." With that, he hit the end button and put the phone back in his jacket. "Well, looks like you got Hego's attention. Says you're welcome anytime. Shall we go? He sounded anxious to see you." He grabbed a 'closed' sign from underneath the counter, hung it on the front of the booth, and headed towards a small boat tied to the closest dock. Once Shego secured her bags in the back and was seated, he started the engine and cast off the mooring ropes. For the second time in one day, she felt she had reached a point of no return. Unless she decided to swim for it, she was stuck with her brothers for the rest of the day.
The boat ride was actually pleasant. It brought back memories of her younger self, before all the fighting with Hego and Mego, when they had been a family, having fun and fighting bad guys. Her father had been a fishing fanatic, and loved to be on the water even if he didn't have a rod and reel in his hands. Her mother hadn't been much better. She never cared much for fishing, but she loved the water so much that her friends swore she was at least part mermaid. They had practically lived on the water.
And they died there as well.
Shego wrenched her mind away from those memories. Spending time with her brothers was going to be difficult enough without remembering events that pushed her away from them.
"We're here. Hego said he'd meet you at the front door. Here's the number to call when you want to leave. Try to keep it to reasonable hours, okay?" He handed over a business card with the appropriate information, and Shego began walking to the entrance of the 'Fortress of Fools' as she liked to call it. Her walk was a slow, measured pace usually seen on death row inmates taking their last journey.
She seriously didn't want to do this.
Seriously.
In spite of her reluctance and lack of speed, she soon made it to the door. I figured that Hego would be at the door. He really goes for that etiquette crap. Just as she was about to knock on the oversized entrance, the door opened and Shego experienced something called a 'glomp'. Some describe a glomp as an overly energetic hug. Shego thought it was more of a football tackle disguised as an act of endearment. The only thing that told her that she wasn't really under attack were dozens of voices, all sounding the same, yelling "Shego!" and "Sis!" over and over again. "OKAY, okay! Let's cut it down to just the two of you, alright?" She had a glare on her face that would have made any sane person run from the room, but the many red blurs that merged into two young boys were used to her bad temper. "Aw, come on, sis! We haven't seen you in months!" "Yeah, we missed you!"
"Yeah yeah yeah." A small but genuine grin finally broke through the scowl on her face as she knelt down and hugged her twin younger brothers. The twins, at least, didn't hold any grudges. "I missed you guys too."
--
Some time later, in a local fast food joint, the three siblings continued their reunion. "So Hego and Mego went to a conference for today, and left the two of you alone?" She shook her head in disbelief. "Those two jerks have got to be the worst role models ever."
"Aw come on, sis. We're..." "thirteen now. We can..." "take care of ourselves."
"Yeah, I saw that. Making a voice modulator to sound like Hego and fool the guy with the boat is such a good use of your brains. And what was that disaster in the kitchen? What was it supposed to be?"
"Well it was supposed to..." "be our dinner. But then..." "we set the oven too hot."
"Well that would explain why it looked like charcoal. Now you have something to do for the rest of the night. That should keep you out of trouble until the jerks get home."
"They don't get..." "back until tomorrow morning."
"Those...THOSE..." Belatedly, Shego's mind grasped the implications of that bit of information. No Hego. No Mego. Not until tomorrow morning. Just a pleasant afternoon with the two brothers she liked. "Actually," she said in a much calmer voice, "that'll work out just fine. So what do you guys want to do with the rest of the day? Besides cleaning up the kitchen?"
--
As Drew rose from his slumber and began his last day in the lair, he decided that he would make an extravagant breakfast to mark this special day. He went to the kitchen and was immediately stopped by two facts.
First, there wasn't so much as an egg or slice of bacon to be found; only cereal, oatmeal, milk, juice, and tea. Instant tea.
Second, even if there were a fully stocked refrigerator and pantry available, he had absolutely no idea how to cook anything beyond a grilled cheese sandwich.
"I'm going to have to do something about that. If I intend to live on my own, I need to learn how to cook and so forth. I don't want to live on fast food and microwave dinners." After a bit of rooting around to see if any other breakfast type foods were available, he decided that he would make do with some toast, oatmeal, juice, and tea. "It's not exactly a world class buffet, but it will do for now. Note to self: get some very basic cookbooks, and anything available on treating food poisoning." Dr. Drakken had been an overconfident fool. Drew Lipsky planned on being a realist. He was well aware that his first attempts at even basic meals would likely go horribly wrong. A grin appeared on his face suddenly. "Wouldn't that be a headline? 'Famous Super Villain Found Dead In Kitchen: Fowl Play Suspected.' Ah, Dementor and Killigan would laugh themselves sick." Chuckling to himself, he took the several dishes and glasses that contained his makeshift breakfast to the table and sat down. As he munched away, he thought about the silence that permeated the lair now. The only sounds were those of the appliances in the kitchen and a few that he could hear from other parts of the lab. It seemed strange; no henchmen goofing about or doing odd tasks, no Shego making snide comments about whatever came to her mind, no teenage do-gooders wrecking his latest invention... Only quiet.
"Silence is golden... I think I finally understand that old phrase. I'll make up for it later today."
After breakfast, Drew began his final preparations for his grand finale. His daily checklist was done, except for a few last details. "Alright, last check of the list. Bank accounts all set up. Final message for Shego loaded and ready. Hover car loaded, fueled, and ready to go. Temporary living area secured. All necessary documents are safely in the car. Remote trigger," Drew patted his jacket pocket, "all set with fresh batteries. Looks like it's time." He went to his room and changed into a new set of clothes. Making his way to the lab, he looked over the readouts one more time. "Very good. Enough antimatter so that even at forty percent efficiency, there should be a yield equivalent to three megatons. That should completely erase this island... And Dr. Drakken."
Drew was not the most skilled pilot in the world, but he was adequate. Shego only needed a small launch tube, but he needed a large bay door. After that, he had no problems. The altitude was set by computer, and there was very little to hit over open water. About twenty miles from the island, he stopped the car and looked back. One last time he went over his list to make sure nothing was forgotten. "I think I might be developing an obsessive-compulsive disorder about this, but I suppose when you're ending one life and starting another a little attention to detail is required. But there's nothing left now. No turning back." He pulled the remote, a modified high power transmitter, and pushed the arm button. "Out with the old..." He hit the trigger button.
Even though it was a bright day without a cloud in the sky, the explosion was so bright it appeared to be a second sunrise.
"And in with the new." He tossed the remote into the ocean. It would be a few minutes before the shockwave would reach him. He resumed his original course, which would take him towards Central America. Away from Dr. Drakken. Away from a life of crime, failure, and disappointment.
"Towards a new beginning."
--
Shego awoke to face a new day. She was in a surprisingly good mood considering she was intent on picking a fight with her two older brothers. Or perhaps it wasn't that surprising after all. She went to the kitchen, which was cleaner than it had been, but it still wouldn't pass a Health Department inspection unless the official was blind or bribed. It didn't bother her. She had been surrounded by men for most of her life, and general clutter didn't bother her. As long as it didn't look like she would need a tetanus shot or a stomach pump, she just pushed it out of her way or worked around it.
It was a little early, about seven in the morning, and her two annoying brothers would be back sometime around ten. That was plenty of time to plan out the verbal – and possibly physical – beating she intended to deliver to them. Leaving two thirteen year olds to fend for themselves for a day and a half. What are those two idiots thinking? The incinerated attempt at dinner the night before was evidence of what could have happened. She had thought about just leaving and not even waiting for them to return. After all, Drakken hadn't said she had to see her entire family. But if she had left, she would have been just as bad as Hego and Mego, leaving two kids on their own. The thing that really kept her from leaving was the idea of her two little brothers, whom she still loved deeply, caught in a burning tower while her two older brothers, whom she wasn't sure she could keep from killing, were off who knows where.
Oh yeah, she was going to stick around and give someone a piece of her mind. And maybe her boot, and perhaps a fist or two...
Before she finished her breakfast, the twins walked into the kitchen. "Hey, that smells..." "good. Is there more?"
"Yep. I figured you two bottomless pits would be hungry. It's on the stove, still warm, so dig in."
"Thanks Sis. You're..." "the best!"
"No problem guys. It's nice to cook for someone who appreciates it."
After the three had finished their breakfast, they moved into the 'rumpus room' as Hego had named it, which had a large projection television and every game a teenage boy or adult man could want. "Man, this place is a shrine to wasting time. Don't you guys go to school anymore?" Shego teased the two teens, who just grinned back at her. "Home..." "School."
She could only stare, open mouthed, at the two. "Oh no. Please no. Please tell me those dim bulbs aren't your teachers."
The grins grew even wider. "Nope. We have..." "a tutor. And she..." "is really hot!"
Shego let out an explosive sigh of relief. "Yep, you two are growing up all right. Go, play games. I'm gonna watch some TV until our older brothers get home. I got a feeling our little chat might just last a while." Amazingly enough the boys headed for a pool table, rather than the video game console she had expected. "Maybe there's hope yet." A brief search located the remote for a small television set that was meant for monitoring news while the main set was used for movies, games, and general viewing. As she flipped through the channels to find something of interest, she found that all of the networks had the same story. Some sort of explosion. There were a lot of talking heads explaining technical details, all of which bored her. "Must be some sort of natural disaster or accident. No mention of terrorists or demands." As she continued to watch, she was a little impressed with the magnitude of the explosion. "Must have been one big firecracker, since they're measuring it in megatons. But where was it?" Finally, almost as if responding to her question, a graphic was flashed up on the screen locating the center of the explosion. Shego's eyes widened as she began to recognize the area as part of the Caribbean Sea. "Drakken must be freakin' out right now." The graphic zoomed in, pinpointing the 'epicenter' of the explosion. She recognized the three islands that were shown, and she knew there was only one other island anywhere near the explosion.
The lair.
The twins were shocked to hear Shego start screaming at them. "PHONE! Where's the damn phone?!" They were too stunned to do anything other than point to the desk holding a cordless unit, which she almost destroyed in her haste to dial. "The number you have dialed is unavailable at this time. If you feel you have reached this message in error..." "No, no no!" She tried dialing the number again, slowly this time to make sure she had hit the right keys, and got the same message.
Drakken never turned that phone off, because it was how he talked with certain associates and suppliers. He even kept it plugged in, to make sure it was always charged. Since it was a satellite phone, it was guaranteed to work anywhere on the planet with the possible exception of the polar regions. It was so important that it was the only bill he had set up as an automatic payment. The only way that she should get that message was if the phone itself was damaged.
Or destroyed...
Shego's heart froze mid-beat. The horrible chill quickly traveled up her spine and shut down her mind. As it spread throughout her body, her arms dropped to her side, and the phone dropped from her numb fingers. Her legs wobbled underneath her, giving way and sending her to her knees, but her eyes never left the TV screen. Her younger brothers, stunned by their sister's sudden change in behavior, ran to her side. "Sis! Shego!" "What's wrong?"
Her lips were forming words, though her lungs refused to give them sound.
"Come on, Sis! Talk..." "to us. Tell us what's wrong!"
Finally she uttered something they could hear, as she reached her hand towards the television. "Dr. D... No... Please... NO..."
--
Far above the earth, outside of any normal orbit, a pair of satellites had taken note of the large heat bloom on the planet below. Neither satellite could detect the presence of the other, nor could any other satellite, even if it were to pass within a few meters. They were marvels of stealth, and they had the vastness of space on their side. Various sensors recorded the event, analyzing and processing an amazing volume of information about the event. Each one, oblivious of the other, began transmitting that information in an encrypted stream to its master.
No government, big or small, superpower or third world, knew about either the satellites or the masters they served. But the masters... They knew each other very well. Their organizations, for lack of a better word, had been at each other's throats for many years now.
They knew one another very well indeed.
TO BE CONTINUED
A/N: Mace here. I'm callin it quits on the uploads tonight, heading off to bed. I'll get the rest tomorrow.