Chapter 4 Oh, What's In a Name?
"Another smoothie, Brad!" Shego called, waving her now-empty cup in the air. There came a familiar whirring of the drone approaching, and he took the cup with automated fingers clasped firmly around the glass.
"What would you like, Queen Shego?" he asked cordially.
Shego looked up from her newspaper. She had lounged her way back onto her favorite sofa again, her legs hanging off and relaxed from one side. A yawn escaped her, and she stretched. "Strawberry banana." she snapped her fingers with rapid succession, "Pronto."
He nodded his head at her, and whirred away again where a group of other drones stood waiting for the next order. They all had aprons on with their numbers, one donning a specific chef's hat to give him status over the kitchen area. "Strawberry banana smoothie for Queen Shego" she heard Brad order, which caused a swell of whirs, beeps and static so the smoothie could be made. Shego buried herself in the paper.
Drakken was laying on the couch across from her with a book in hand. Having a casual day in the city-lair, he had put on a plain white t-shirt with comfortable, dark blue sweats. She caught a swift glance of him looking up in plain confusion and bewilderment. "Why did you call Number One Brad?" he asked.
Said Brad zoomed immediately to Shego's side. "Queen Shego has honored me by giving me my own name to stand out from my drone brethren," he answered. "I live to serve her."
Shego still purposely kept her eyes on the newspaper, so Drakken pressed, "But why did you name him Brad?" he sneered the name.
Again, Shego didn't look up, but answered breezily, "Oh it was the name of my first boyfriend." A terrible temptation urged her to look up to see Drakken's reaction, but she kept her eyes diligently on the paper, though she had not read a word of it. To her immense pleasure, she could hear Drakken grumble. Oh, she loved to make him squirm sometimes. . . Okay, she liked it all the time but could you blame a gal?
"So what's so special about this . . . Brad?" he asked; Shego could practically hear his face tightening and eyes narrowing in an aggravated expression. She finally did look up to Drakken and make eye contact with him.
She lifted one eyebrow, and a smug half-smile curled up one side of her face, "Oh, you know. . . He was just, a really great kisser. . . And wasn't too bad in other departments either, if you catch my meaning," she lifted an eyebrow suggestively at her boss, taking immense pleasure to see Drakken's face shift from a dusted blue to an immediate and scandalized plum. Shego casually turned her head the other way to hide her smug grin as she called out, "How long until that smoothie, guys?"
"Almost done, Queen Shego!" they chorused back to her. The screens where their mouths would have been rotated up so it looked like they were smiling. When they spoke, their ocular screens lit up with a warm green glow.
Drakken grumbled to himself. Sulkily, he crossed his arms over his chest. He looked like a child pouting in a corner when his favorite toy had been stolen by a sibling. His cheeks puffed up in that way when he was angry, and his eyebrows had furrowed over his eyes. Did Shego dare think he looked. . . jealous? A pleasant feeling unraveled in her stomach.
Stretching her body over the frame of her favorite chair, she extended one of her long and nimble legs. She was wearing shorts today, and the fabric rode up her thigh; her loose tanktop showed a bit of her stomach. "Yeah, sweet Brad. He really was charming. It's a shame he moved to England not long after we graduated. He had really nice hair, mmmh, and his tan! Oh my gosh you would not believe how badly all the other girls wanted Brad, but he went out with me!" Shego laughed, her tone high. Dr. D's face was almost violet, and she went on boldly, "I can't even describe how great it was when we spent the night together for the first-"
"Blegghmehhack! Shego! You can stop there!" Drakken threw his hands in front of him, and they waved erratically. "I don't need the details! Thank you, but no thank you! Blech! Gag me, already." He looked at her with bright purple cheeks. "Did you have to name Number One after you first boyfriend though, really? I mean-" he tried to pull off his voice as uncaring and scathing, tried being the key word, "How pathetic is it that you actually named the robot after your first boyfriend? I'd go with something else, personally."
Shego placed a finger to her chin in a sort of contemplation. Oh, she knew exactly what he was playing at. "You know, maybe you're right. Brad is a bit un-intimidating anyway, isn't it?"
Drakken nodded his head seriously, "Absolutely. It sounds too cutsie, like a dog name or something."
Shego snapped her fingers quickly three times. "Brad!" she called.
The drone zoomed immediately to her side, "Yes, Queen Shego?"
She pointed her finger at him. "From now on, your new name is Zed! Got it? Consider it an upgrade name; it sounds more bad-guyish. You're welcome." She flipped her paper back into place to actually start reading. Her fingers snapped impatiently, "Now where's my smoothie?"
Newly-named Zed bowed at the waist. "I am honored, Queen Shego," he answered. Shego saw Drakken raise a dark eyebrow. Zed's back straightened, and his mechanical hands opened as another drone placed the next smoothie to his care. Zed turned back to her and bent down. "Your smoothie, Queen Shego," he said.
She took it from him, "Thank you Zed. Well done. You and your buddies can go power down for now if you want, or power up I mean. Charge, up your juice or whatever. Take a break."
Zed straightened his back. "We thank you, Queen Shego." Immediately, he turned and zoomed to the others. They formed a clean line and went to the outlet wall where their forms compacted into thin brief-case like shapes to charge their batteries.
Shego was aware of Drakken's eyes on her. His own eyebrows were raised now in confusion and wonderment. "Why do they call you queen?" he asked plainly.
"Because they know one when they see one," she said smugly, sipping the smoothie from the straw.
Drakken mumbled at her, something about 'you and your lip,' before he looked up when she spoke. "Besides," she said, and his head lifted to look back at her. "They call you 'King' don't they? We're the only two living beings that they've ever known. It's not too hard to figure out." Shego was aware her face was turning a deeper shade of green, though she prayed Drakken wouldn't notice. She glanced up to him, oddly locked on to his expression.
He was staring at her now as he put the pieces of the puzzle together, and partly realized what she was saying. His face would probably be eternally purple from now on, and his lips pressed together. "Well, yes, I suppose that would make sense. I did program them off of that. . .one . . . program, anyway. So, mmrgh, yes it makes sense."
Shego lifted the newspaper so he wouldn't be able to see how dark her face was becoming. "Yeah. Makes sense. Now let me read."
The two lapsed back into a comfortable, though more thoughtful silence, and while Shego was able to read a few more sentences in the paper, Drakken managed to interrupt sooner than later.
"Zed isn't the name of an old boyfriend, is it?"
The villainess didn't look up from her newspaper, and decided to throw Drakken a bone for being such a good sport from her snide taunts, "No, it's not. Never known anyone named Zed."
Drakken grunted, and went back to lounging on the couch to read his book. He held it up to his face so she couldn't see him, but Shego didn't miss the small smile that curled up his lips.
*looks up guiltily* um, how long has it been since I updated? October in 2014? Oh. . . . *stares guiltily at the 36 pages of writing on my word document that have not been uploaded*
I'm a horrible person.
Um, sorry bout that. . . .
Enjoy the chapter? I'll upload the next one tomorrow, I promise.
Please leave comments and critiques! I love hearing from you people, even if I never reply or it takes over a year for me to update! But don't worry, I am DETERMINED to publish this whole story, no matter how long it takes!