Disclaimer: I don't own anyone but DJ, Duckie, War Hawk, Andrew, Carmen, Carmen the second, Cassandra, Tomik, Silvia, and Laszlo and Tigress.

My eyes were only half open as we watched an old movie called "Pirates of the Carribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl". I felt warm and safe, Mom's arms wrapped around me as we lay on the couch trying to fall over the edge. I didn't think about why I had some packed bags in my room. I was warm and safe; I loved her and she loved me. I needed nothing else at the end of the day.

"Did Dad get a motorcycle? Nope, it's just DJ's obnoxious purring," I opened my eyes, looking up. Duckie looked very pleased with herself.

"Can't you go bug someone else?" I growled. She was interrupting my last precious minutes with Mom.

"Why? You need this annoyance to get you through the long, painful months deprived of your darling, idolized sister."

"I'm sure they'll be plenty of pestering idiots in Go City."

"Girls, knock it off," Mom said half-heartedly. Duckie paused a minute.

"You never snuggle me, Mommy."

"You're not the only one, Duckie," Dad called from the laundry room.

"Duckie, you can't sit still to save your life and Mary, you're just too hot to handle," I winced as she yelled to Dad.

"Thank you, honey, but it would be nice if we cuddle once in awhile, too," I could tell Mom was rolling her eyes at this and thinking something sarcastic.

"You're the only one I ever snuggle with," she whispered. I purred. Duckie stalked off, making gagging noises. Mom sighed, "Don't get me wrong, I love your sister, but if you come home and she's dead, don't be surprised."

"I don't want to go," I whined.

"I don't want you to go, but you're my peace treaty to your mother."

"What do you mean?" The doorbell rang. I dug my claw-like nails into the sofa, "I'm not going."

"If I have to get Uncle Hego to drag you out, you're going to be sorry," Mom pushed me off the sofa, "I thought I taught you not to claw the furniture when you were two."

"I'm not clawing the furniture," I took my nails out of the upholstry.

"Stand up before I step on your tail," she threatened. I stood up, knowing she would.

"Hey, sweetheart. DJ will be out in a minute, as soon as Shego drags her out," Dad greeted Uncle Hego. I smirked at how uncomfortable he looked when Dad called him "sweetheart". He must not know that's what Dad calls everyone.

Duckie uncerimoniously threw my bags down the staircase.

"NO MORE FUR!" She cheered.

"Don't throw my stuff around!" I yelled at her.

"There's nothing fragile in there!" She protested, stomping down the staircase as loud as she could.

"Like you know!"

"Girls, not today," Mom growled, her hands lighting up with green fire. Duckie and I both shut up. I glanced behind Uncle Hego. A motor home looked like a ride to my own personal heckhole.

"I'm not leaving," I declared.

"Fine by me," Uncle Hego agreed.

"Hego, DJ, I know you don't want to do this, but cooperate. It's not for a lifetime; just three months," Mom looked at Uncle Hego meaningfully, "I'm just as skeptical as you, but DJ's a good girl. I have faith this'll work out for the best," Uncle Hego just shrugged.

"DJ, go with your uncle,"

"Over my unconscious body," I hissed. Uncle Hego groaned.

"We're already behind schedule and I'm tired of arguing with this brat."

"She's not a brat; she's my baby," Mom said.

"Exactly," Uncle Hego stepped inside. I crossed my arms and glared at him. He grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and with no more effort than a tissue, picked me up off the ground.

"Put me down!" I yowled, kicking and slashing at the ground. What was he, super strong?

"Say goodbye to your family," I did not like Uncle Hego. I settled down anyway as Dad hugged me.

"I'm going to miss you so much, sugar," he choked.

"I'm going to miss you, too, Dad," I said, hugging him back. And then he started to cry.

"Dad, Dad, calm down. I'm just as overjoyed as you, but keep it in," Duckie gently pried him off of me. She hugged me, "Aw, who am I kidding? I'm going to miss you, my lump of fur!" She pulled away, "I put your going-away present in one of your bags. It's the cellphone, so you can tell us how Go City is."

"Did you remember the charger?" I asked dryly. She opened her mouth to answer, and then closed it.

"I'll be right back," she ran up the stairs.

Mom's eyes were distant, like after she got to specific parts of her stories about being a hero or villain. She smiled as she looked at me, pained.

"Go City has a lot more things to do than little Perro. You're bound to make a lot more friends. If you ever need me, you can call me at any time and for goodness sakes, remember your manners,"

"I will, Mom," I said. She gave me a bear hug and I hugged her just as fiercely, "I'll make you proud," I promised, feeling my eyes water. We kissed. She held her head in my hands and looked me in the eyes.

"Be good; please, be good," It was as if the words carried a greater weight than I knew. I wanted to say "I will", but I couldn't say the words. My throat hurt. Great, I was going to cry in front of everyone. I squeezed my eyes tight to force the tears back. I was acting like I had never been away from home before.

"I GOTS THE CHARGER!!!!" Duckie hollered, pounding down the staircase. She shoved it into one of my bags.

"Anything else?" Uncle Hego asked.

"That's everything. You can take me away to my doom now," I hissed. My neck was starting to hurt from his hard pinch at it. He carried me away.

"I'll help," Duckie decided, gathering my bags and carrying them to the motor home. Uncle Hego set me down at the other side, where no one else could see us.

"Listen, I think this is just as crappy of an idea as you do. I'm just as pleased about this as you, but it sounds like we're going to have to fudge it to those who think it is, okay?" He murmured.

"I'm not faking anything; I'll just try to be nice about it," I stated.

"Close enough," Uncle Hego agreed.

"Where do the bags go, Uncle Go-Go?" Duckie asked.

"I'll take them, thank you," he smiled. He did have a nice smile when he meant it.

Uncle Hego carried my bags for me as we got into the motor home. It was actually pretty nice. They all watched me as I came in and I tensed. I didn't want to deal with a whole bunch of strangers I couldn't trust. I didn't want to leave Perro. I did not want to leave Mom. I slumped into a seat at a small table across from the girl I had scared. Her eyes looked wide at me for a second, but she turned back to her book. The others were watching me from a larger table in the corner, Aunt Chloe sitting as co-pilot. I pulled out my IPod (I liked older technology compared to the new, way too complicated technology), put the earplugs in, and stared out the window. Duckie was jumping up and down and waving at me. Dad was no where in sight. But Mom, Mom looked so, so sad. As though I really wasn't coming back.

&&&

"Pit stop," Uncle Hego announced. Good. I was grateful for the opportunity to leave my seat.

I looked around. We were in a Walmart parking lot of a small town somewhere between the Midwest and the East Coast, the sun sinking below the horizon. My chest ached as I thought about Perro. Carmen's foot tripped mine as I was getting out. I regained my balance, jumping off the steps gracefully. I smirked at Carmen, who sent me a glare.

"What looks good to you guys?" Uncle Hego asked when we had all filed out of the motor home.

"McDonald's," Tomik replied.

"That restaurant over there, "Stanley's"," Carmen said.

"I'm craving Chinese," Silvia said.

"Well, clearly you all want different things," Uncle Hego pulled out his wallet, "I'll give you guys ten each; go spend it as you please," Now I could slip away, undetected, find a cab to take me home...

"What are you in the mood for, DJ?" Silvia asked me.

"Chinese sounds good to me," I said honestly.

"Great! I saw a place coming in," she took my hand. I tensed at the sudden contact. This got everyone's attention, so I relaxed.

"Cassie, you coming with us?" Carmen asked slyly.

"Actually, Chinese sounds pretty good right now," she said quietly. Carmen frowned, glancing at the adults.

"Cassie, why don't you come with us?"

"But I-"

"Come with us. It won't be a party without you," she cooed. Cassie gave one last look at us and then went with Carmen. This made my blood boil.

"Cassie can go wherever she wants," I hissed. Uncle Hego looked at me.

"I'm not forcing her. She wants to come with us," Carmen said like I was being an idiot. My hands balled into fists.

"Ow, ow, ow,"

"Sorry," I released, forgetting that Silvia's hand had still been in mine. We started to walk towards the restaurant.

"You need to control your anger around Dad. You're already on thin ice with him," Silvia warned me.

"What have I done to Uncle Hego?" I asked incredulously.

"Nothing; it's your mom Tigress. Hasn't Aunt Shego told you any stories?"

"No; she's never even said her name," Silvia shook her head.

"I haven't heard much, Dad nor Mom nor any of Mom's friends will go into details. Dad dislikes very few people, he's usually pretty easygoing. She's the only one he's ever truly hated. Sorry, I shouldn't be talking about your mother this way."

"Hey, if Tigress is a monster, I need to know. And for the record, she's not my mother," Silvia nodded her understanding. We were almost to the restaurant, since we had been on the town outskirts already, when we heard sirens. Both our heads jerked up. There was a car racing away from the police, right towards us. Silvia looked torn. I tensed my muscles and then dashed across the street, hoping to attack the driver when he came by.

I saw it happen out of the corner of my eye and at first thought it a delusion, but I couldn't make something like this up. Silvia looked both ways and then kicked a lamp post. The lamp post snapped under her foot, falling into the path of the car. It was a mere speed bump, though. Silvia glanced around again and then something blue sprouted from her arms. Then, she flew out in front of the car. She crouched down and put her shoulder into the car stopping it instantly. The driver and his companion bailed out of the car, swearing. In a few more cat leaps, I was in front of the driver.

"Where do you think you're going?" I growled. He screamed like a girl, shouting out more profanity. I grabbed him, dragging him over to the stopped police cars, "You looking for this guy?" I asked an officer who had gotten out of his car. He stood, mouth opened. I got that reaction a lot.

"This guy was with him," Silvia spoke up, dragging the second behind her.

"Thank you; we'll take it from here," A veteran cop said. I gave him a nod, passing off the criminal. Another one took Silvia's, "Can we have your names to give you credit for the capture?" I shook my head.

"Just doing my job as a citizen, officer," I sounded corny even to my own ears. I turned away hurriedly, as did Silvia. We went into the Chinese restaurant and sat in the most private booth in the restaurant.

"That was amazing," I complimented her.

"What do you mean?" She refused to look me in the eyes.

"Kicking the lamp post, flying, stopping the car with your shoulder, pick one," Silvia shook her head.

"The lamp post fell on its own, cheaply built. I ran in front of the car that stopped by itself," I laughed.

"That's a pathetic lie."

"But it isn't," I leaned towards her.

"Come on, you can tell me."

"Tell you what?" She made the mistake of looking into my eyes. She smiled, "If I say what really happened, you swear not to tell?"

"What, you don't trust me?" She looked away, stirring her spoon in her egg flour soup.

"Strangely, yes, I do trust you," she took a deep breath, "Okay, here's the deal. I inherited my parents' super powers."

"Uncle Hego's super strong and Aunt Chloe...?"

"Can fly. She can fly and I can fly."

"How?" She took another deep breath.

"Look under the table," she whispered. I leaned down to see her arm. I watched as long blue feathers sprouted from her arm.

"That's so cool," I murmured.

"Is everything all right?" I jerked up to see our waitress staring at me.

"Yeah, um, I'll take the sweet and sour pork with fried rice, please."

"I'll have the vegetarian rice bowl, please," she wrote down our orders and then walked away.

"You have to swear never to tell anyone."

"Why?"

"Why?! Because if my parents found out...I don't know what they would think. And if anyone else knew, I'd be a freak," I glared at her, "Oh, sorry," she played with her soup some more, "It is liberating, though, having someone else know."

"No one else knows?"

"Except for Laszlo, and he's usually the one who covers for me if I slip up. Don't tell anyone," she said gravely. I grinned.

"Depends on if you introduce me to Andrew," Silvia looked at me a minute and then it clicked.

"Oh, ew, he's your half-uncle!"

"I'm adopted, remember?" She rolled her eyes.

"That sounds like a card you're going to pull out whenever it's convienent for you, but I guess you have a point. So, I hook you up with Andrew and you don't tell?"

"Sure, but I promise nothing," I smiled. Silvia laughed.

"I guess I'm just going to have to trust you," she said.

&&&

The rest of the ride was also in silence. I didn't feel like talking to anyone, even Silvia. I must've dozed off, because next thing I know, I hear someone calling me.

"Deseerah, Deseerah," I sat up, my eyes flashing open. Aunt Chloe had jumped back in surprise, "We're here," she whispered. Everyone else had fallen asleep, too. Quietly, Aunt Chloe helped me get my luggage and we stole out the motor home.

"It's amazing how much faster it is to get home it is with the higher speed limits. Speed limits used to be a lot slower," she laughed, "Now I sound like my dad."

We were in the middle of a forest. It was a steep incline to a large house that blended into the forest except for the single light that shown in a window. My muscles tensed.

"Tigress is definetely a night owl, 3 o'clock at night," Aunt Chloe shook her head. She turned to me, "It's best if I don't go up there."

"Why?" I asked. Aunt Chloe shook her head again.

"I don't want to spoil your first impression. If you need anything, you can call us at any time," she gave me a slip of paper. I stuffed it into my jeans pocket without even looking at it.

"I'm sorry for acting like a jerk. It's not your fault I have to be here," I apologized. Aunt Chloe waved her hand.

"Water under the bridge. I don't know anyone except for crazy Shego who thinks this'll turn out good," Aunt Chloe turned back to the motor home. I turned to the house.

It wasn't hard to carry my bags up the steep incline. The hard part was bringing myself to knock. There was no turning back once I knocked. Whatever she was, she was; I couldn't imagine otherwise once I saw her. I knocked, hard and sharp. A minute passed and I thought about knocking again (or just walking in) when the door opened.

She didn't say "hello". She didn't call my name or even smile. She stood there, sizing me up. This didn't bother me too much; I was too preoccupied with the fact that I had found someone like me. All this time, I had assumed I was unique, a one-of-a-kind original freak, but she was almost exactly like me. Her hair was red and silky like mine, except hers went to the floor while mine went to my hips. Her eyes were dark brown like mine, her features were cattish like mine down to the claws. Our fur was different; I had stripes like hers, but my fur was golden yellow while hers was a fiery orange. She was dressed in a negligee and I surreptitiously glanced at her...you know. There was a large, obvious lump on one of them, erasing the suspicion that she had lied about the breast cancer.

"Come on in," she said coldly, walking away. I followed her. She led me up a staircase to a dark room, "Here's the guest room. We'll talk in the morning," she said, walking away. I knew it was 3 in the morning, but seriously, she's the one who dragged me away from my family.

I curled up under the covers, clothes and all, and fell asleep.

&&&

Lol, I never think about the future, so everyone likes the 2000's better than the present and use that decade's electronics and stuff. Call me uncreative, but I don't like writing futuristic stories. We're supposed to be focusing on the characters! Anyway, uh, please review before I start ranting.