A/N: man, this chapter got way longer than I expected: so much longer than I had to cut the last scene, in fact. I guess I'll adjust it a little so that it can fit in the beginning of the next chapter – for now, I hope you'll enjoy this one.


"Hoochie-coochie, Pepe, Pepe…!"

Theresa Director rolled her eyes, and amused smirk on her lips as she watched her son cooing at his beloved chihuahua – who, on the other hand, seemed just as happy to see him… at least judging from the way it was yapping and trying to lick his face; she doubted it had ever been separated from Sheldon that much. "And then you complain when I call you Shelly," she pointed out as he finally managed to turn his attention away from his pet for more than two seconds straight.

"Of course, that nickname is embarrassing," Gemini protested before blowing a few kisses at his dog "oh, yes, of course daddy didn't forget to get you a new chew toy…!"

"Yes, because this isn't," his mother said with a chuckle "how are things going?" she asked.

Gemini shrugged. "Fine," he said vaguely "still travelling a lot and stuff like that. I'm kind of busy."

She rolled her eyes. "My, who would have guessed," she chuckled "sometimes I wonder who's the busiest one between you and Betty."

Oh, great, Gemini thought with a grimace. She just had to bring up his sister now, uh? "Yeah, I hear from her sometimes," he said – that wasn't even a lie… kind of "she's got a lot of stuff to do."

"Yes, that what she tells me. But she still keeps shifting from my question on whether she met someone interesting or not," she said with a snicker, and Gemini felt a sudden and unusual pang of empathy for his sister: it was the same question she often asked to him… and if she had brought that up now, she was bound to ask him now as well.

Well, that's great. Just about the last question I could want to reply to.

"And what about you?"

She didn't even try to be subtle this time, uh?

Gemini sighed, still keeping Pepe cradled in the crook of his arm. "Mom, I told you – I'm too busy to think about that," he said, hoping against hope that conversation could end quickly "I keep, uh… travelling and moving around a lot. Settling down would be impossible, unless I meet someone who doesn't mind staying alone for most of the time or being dragged around the globe."

"Well, it could be someone with a similar job," she pointed out, then she paused for a few moment before a grinning slyly "your colleague seems nice."

"Who, agen…er, Shego?" Gemini asked, absentmindedly scratching Pepe's ears and causing his pet to yap in appreciation "well, she's good at her job, and--" he trailed off as a sudden thought occurred to him. He turned to his mother, and he wasn't really surprised to see she was smirking. "…wait. Is there something you're trying to tell me?"

His mother chuckled. "I simply said she seems nice," she said with fake innocence "and you work together too, so I guess work wouldn't be a problem."

Gemini took a deep breath. "Mom, she's just a colleague. Ours is a strictly professional relationship," he said slowly, fervently hoping she would just drop it before the conversation took an even more embarrassing turn.

"My, no need to get so defensive – I was just saying she seems nice. What made you think I meant anything more?" she smirked.

"I know you," Gemini grumbled "I know where you're getting at, and the answer is no, we're nothing more than… colleagues."

"You still sound too defensive to be believable, Sheldon," she said with a shrug "it's not like I told you to marry her and give me grandchildren. Not that I wouldn't mind one or two," she pointed out, her smirk widening – she knew how he would to react at that idea "I was about your age when I had you and Betty."

Gemini nearly cringed at the thought. He, having children? Yeah, right – that was so out of the world that it was downright laughable: the only thing that could make it even more laughable was trying to picture agent Alpha as a mother. The whole conversation was starting to make him feel rather awkward – it suddenly felt even more awkward than the lectures about protected sex and birth control she had often given to him and Betty when they were teens… usually over dinner, which never failed to make them keep her eyes fixed on their dishes and start eating as quickly as they could so they could get away.

"Mom, we already discussed this!" he nearly whined "with my job, it wouldn't be a good idea…"

"Oh, no need to get so worked up – mind your blood pressure," Theresa Director snickered, giving him a pat on his back "I was just kidding, you know. I'm not that desperate for grandkids – raising you and Betty alone was more than enough to wear me out, so I don't really need more children around to give me the final blow," she joked.

Gemini gave a weak smile. "You make it sound kind of tragic."

His mother smiled and reached to ruffle his hair – an embarrassing habit she had never lost, but he didn't mind too much as long as there were no witnesses. "Tragic? Not at all – I just said it was tiring, not that it wasn't wonderful and rewarding," she said fondly "you have to admit you two were anything but easy to handle though."

He chuckled. "Can't argue with that," he admitted, petting Pepe again with a slight thoughtful frown. As much he was happy to see his pup again, he couldn't deny that he seemed to be doing much better there with his mother and siblings: he had recovered well and he was more relaxed, less jumpy… and he did look happier, he mused uncomfortably. Maybe agent Alpha had been right: he was better off there, and as much as he missed his presence in the base he had to think of what was best for him first… still, it was hard for him deciding to just leave him to his mother permanently.

Maybe he'd just leave him there a little more time before he decided, he thought while stroking his muzzle, and he was surprised to realize that the idea didn't make him feel quite as lonely as before. He faintly wondering where had agent Alpha gone to spend the weekend. A part of him was tempted to ask her on Monday, then again he doubted he could do that without having her thinking he cared, which he certainly did not, and--

"… still, your colleague does seem nice…"

Oh, God, not again. "Mom!" Gemini protested, much to his mother's amusement – no matter how old he and Betty got, teasing them would always be among her favourite pastimes.


Commodore Puddle's temper definitely hadn't improved, Shego thought with a slight grimace as she got out of Drakken's home the same way she had gotten in – the window – and walked off the lane before she gave in to the temptation to fry that pain in the neck of a dog; it was still somewhat more tolerable than Gemini's neurotic chihuahua, but just barely.

His dog reduced to a large French fry was probably not something Dr. D would be happy to find once he got back home, Shego mused with a smirk, but it quickly vanished as she wondered where the heck could Drakken be. Since she had grown tired of beach pretty quickly – she usually loved it, but for some reason resting on the tanning bed all day and occasionally flirting with some overly muscled, overly tanned and brain-dead lifeguard just to see the look on their face when she ditched them just seemed boring that day – she had decided to pay another visit to Dr. D, maybe to taunt him a little over the headache the whole mess with Electronique had surely given to GJ… but much to her surprise, he wasn't home.

The possibility he could not be home hadn't even crossed her mind, because… just because, Shego thought with a small frown: Drakken wasn't the kind of guy who's got much stuff to do during the weekend, he had never been. Maybe he had just gotten out to buy groceries or something and he'd be back soon.

Buying groceries, Dr. D? He'd have them delivered here rather than dragging himself to a grocery store before noon on Saturday. Besides, you've been ringing his door for something like twenty minutes before you got in to check if he wasn't sick or something. Maybe he did find something to do during weekends after all.

"Maybe he went to some lousy scientific convention, or to pay a visit to his mom," Shego muttered to no one in particular as she walked back to the hovercraft she had left in Drakken's backyard.

Or he's working on weekends. Or he's on a date.

The thought actually made her laugh. A date, Dr. D? Yeah, right. And hippos were flying happily in the bright blue sky, she thought. She was so amused by the mere idea that she didn't realize she had hadn't thought where she could go until she got on her hovercraft and started the engine. She hesitated for a few moments, then she shrugged and decided that maybe she could just get back in the base.

If she really couldn't think of anything she wanted to do, she could as well just get some rest. Besides, while reading a magazine on the beach she had gotten to read a rather amusing interview to Electronique, describing how she had given Team Go serious trouble and had taken down a bunch of policemen and a handful of GJ agents before she had been forced to retreat. Gemini was going to love it, Shego thought with a smirk, not even minding the detail that she was pretty much choosing a chat with her boss over a weekend on the beach or in some fancy hotel.

As she set the hovercraft on the stealth mode to avoid being spotted and while flew to the base, she couldn't help but wonder what he was doing now. Probably sulking in the control room while coming up with some other evil scheme, she decided: the chances he could be doing anything else were about as many as Dr. D had to really be on anything resembling a date.

Later that day, news reported several sightings of odd flying creatures that resembled terribly hippos with wings not very far from DNAmy's home.


"I want Lipsky to report in my office immediately," Dr. Director's voice resounded in the lab through the interphone "it's a code C-M."

"Of course, Dr. Director," the head scientist said before turning to Drakken with a perplexed look on his face "what is code C-M?"

Drakken grinned a little. "It's on a need-to-know basis, and you don't need to know," he said, feeling rather smug for finally getting to be the one to say that after all the time he had heard it from that infuriating Will Du. He just couldn't wait to say that to him…!

The scientists could only exchange baffled looks as he dropped what he was working onto, went to fetch something that looked a lot like a thermos – but of course it wasn't, it had to be something else, possibly some device related to that mysterious 'code C-M' – and left the lab, humming something to himself.

Drakken ignored the curious looks he got from a few agents as he stopped in front of Dr. Director's office and pressed the button on the interphone. "Code C-M, Dr. Director."

"Do come in, Lipsky," was the reply he got as the door buzzed open. Drakken stepped in and lifted the object that looked like a thermos and that was, indeed, a thermos.

"Cocoa moo," he announced "I got the biggest thermos I had," he added, putting it on her desk, and Dr. Director was rather amused to see that the thermos was bigger than her head.

"I'd say it's more then enough," she said, pushing the paperwork aside with some satisfaction and reaching for some plastic glasses she had in a drawer. Drakken blinked as she handed one of the glasses to him. "Uh… I'm not dismissed?" he asked, unaware of the fact Dr. Director wouldn't drink one drop until she saw him drinking first; not that she really thought he would try to poison her or anything close – he was not stupid – but better safe than sorry: that kind of precautions had saved her life a few times.

She raised an eyebrow. "You're not seriously expecting me to drink it all by myself, are you?"

Well, now that he took notice, that thermos was rather big – maybe too big for one person, he thought. "Er… okay," he said a little awkwardly, wondering if Dr. Director had thought he had brought her so much cocoa moo because he was planning to have some himself as well "I'll, uh… bring a smaller one next time," he added, sitting on the seat across her, his fingers fidgeting a little, feeling suddenly uneasy for some reason. He hadn't felt that uneasy at all when she had introduced her to cocoa moo the previous day, especially since she had loosened up a little and didn't look that imposing and professional and somewhat scary anymore. Maybe some cocoa moo would mellow her this time as well, it had already worked once…!

"You better, or I might end up giving in to the temptation and drink it all by myself next time," she said, and for a moment she could just picture herself with something like a hundred extra pounds sitting in her office the whole day drinking that stuff. She didn't know whether she should be amused or horrified by that thought, and she eventually settled for some mild amusement – she knew she'd never allow herself to get to that point, but that stuff really was delicious and it was a serious challenge to her self-control.

"Oh," Drakken grinned a little sheepishly and reached to open the thermos, then he frowned a little as it didn't open. "Just a moment…" he muttered, holding the thermos under his arm and struggling to open it.

Dr. Director rested against the back of her seat and observed his vain struggle with a faint smirk on her lips. In her work she was usually surrounded by fairly competent men who certainly wouldn't have any kind of trouble opening a thermos, so she had to admit it was an amusing change from routine witnessing something like that. After five minutes it was getting harder and harder for her to not let the small smirk turn into an actual laugh.

"Nnng!" Drakken gritted his teeth as he tried again with all his strength, his blue face almost turning purple, then he sighed and slumped his shoulders, finally giving up. "I can't open it," he admitted a little embarrassedly "maybe I clamped the lid too tightly…"

"I see," despite her efforts, Dr. Director couldn't block out the amusement from her voice as she reached to take the thermos.

"It's stuck," Drakken said almost defensively "as if it's glued or something. There is no way to open it without--" a faint 'clack' made him trail off as Dr. Director effortlessly opened the lid. "…oh."

"Well, it was a little hard to open," she said somewhat encouragingly as she noticed he had frowned a little.

"Ah," he seemed somewhat relieved "really?"

"Do you want the truth?" she asked while pouring some cocoa moo in both glasses, a smirk still on her lips.

"No."

"Fine. Yes, it was really hard to open."

"Yeah, wasn't it?" Drakken agreed a little sheepishly, his frown disappearing as he reached for his glass of cocoa moo. He hesitated for a moment, then he raised his glass a little. "So, uh… to Gemini's… well… what was it you were wishing he would get yesterday?"

Dr. Director stared at him for a few moments, puzzled, then she had to bite the inside of her cheek to not start laughing. "Let's just say it's not a disease I'd want to talk about while about to drink cocoa," she pointed out.

"Ah," Drakken snorted a little, trying to not laugh "so, uh… to his demise, or something like that?" he tried again, though he wasn't sure he really wished that to happen – not as long as Shego worked for him anyway.

"That sounds better," she said before taking a sip. It was delicious, and it took her a few instants to realize that she hadn't waited to see him drinking first. She tensed slightly and glanced up at Drakken, but she immediately relaxed as he saw him emptying his glass before licking his lips in a childlike fashion. But of course – had she really thought he would slip poison in the cocoa? Obviously she hadn't… but she was still relieved to have that certainty confirmed.

"Another round?" Drakken asked as she finished her glass, already reaching for the thermos.

She was about to say it was enough, then she glanced down at the paperwork and grimaced. She wasn't one to avoid getting the work done, but she simply loathed filing that useless stuff and once Lipsky got back in the lab she could only resume filing it. And after all she was ahead on her schedule, so she supposed five more minutes – just five more minutes – wouldn't hurt. Besides, that stuff was delicious.

"Why not?"


"What does it mean, he's not in the base?" Shego asked, frowning a little; she had been ready to bet he would be there working on some plan – what else could someone as devoid of any kind of social life as him be doing on Saturday after all? "Where is he?"

Beta shrugged. "I have no idea," he said as he pressed the button to make the hangar's ceiling close before it sank back into the mountain with the rest of the base "he just told us to get the helicopter ready and to contact him should anything happen, then he left."

"Oh."

"Do you need to contact him for any reason?" Beta asked, and had Shego turned to look at him she would have noticed a small smirk on his face.

Instead, she just shrugged. "No, not at all," she replied, sounding just a little colder. He was probably at his mother's place, she told herself. Sure, he was there to pay a visit to his mom and to his neurotic rat – where else could he be? "Did he tell you when he'd get back?"

"No. I could let you know when he gets back if you need to--"

Shego snorted. "I told you I have nothing to tell him," she said, already forgetting how she had been about to tell him about that interview to Electronique she had read on the villain magazine – it wasn't like she was paid to entertain him after all, she thought in annoyance.

"Alright," Beta cleared his throat as they walked in the elevator to get to lower floors of the base "so I assumed you have other… reasons to be here on your weekend?" he asked. He stayed in the base to work on weekends at alternate weeks because he didn't mind a little extra, but as far as he knew Shego had never spent those days working unless on a mission or specifically asked to.

"I got bored with beach and wanted to rest, that's all," was the dry reply as the elevator stopped.

"Oh."

Shego – who had been about to walk down the hallway and to the sector where her room was – suddenly stopped in he tracks as she detected something slightly off in Beta's voice, something too close to amusement for her tastes. She turned to look at him, and he wasn't quick enough to erase the fain smirk from his face. She narrowed her eyes. "What is it you find so funny, Adam?" she emphasized his name threateningly, though at the same time she folded her arms in an unconsciously defensive gesture that was highly unusual of her.

Beta paled a little, his eyes widening behind the goggles. "I… nothing, really," he said quickly, taking a few steps back "I was just… thinking of some stuff."

"Oh, really?" Shego almost purred, finally smirking a little at the anxiety in his voice "what kind of stuff?"

"Er… some stuff the other guys talk about sometimes," he swallowed "but it's nothing important, really. Just random chats and jokes to not get too bored, you know."

Shego gave him a rather scary smirk, casually lighting up her hand. "Well, now I am bored," she pointed out "what kind of stuff do they talk about when you're bored?"

"I… I mean…" Beta seemed unable to tear his gaze from the plasma around her hand "it's the other guys who talk about it, really, I don't! I don't even care whether you and Gemini… well…"

"Me and Gemini what?" Shego urged him on, her eyes narrowing dangerously once more, an odd feeling at the pit of her stomach as she tried to guess a possible answer. Still, it couldn't be… no one would think… would they?

Beta swallowed. "Well, you seem to, uh… get along quite well. I mean, he doesn't get mad at you over anything, and listens to your advice, and you spend a lot of time talking, so some guys were…" he paused and looked at her almost pleadingly, but since she just kept staring at him he could just go ahead "mind you, it's just some random fun and no one really--"

"Beta."

"Fine, fine! Some guys are starting to wonder how much time is there left before you and Gemini, you know… hook up. They're starting to make bets, and some bet you already did – not me, I didn't bet on anything!" Beta quickly added, but Shego wasn't even being threatening anymore: she was just staring at him with a dumbstruck look on her face.

"They…. what?"

"It's just a joke anyway," Beta added quickly, omitting the detail he had bet fifty bucks that they'd hook up by the end of that month "just some stupid joke."

"Sure – a very stupid one," Shego finally snorted, apparently recovering from the surprise, but she sounded a little too defensive to really pretend she believed it. She mentally cursed herself for suddenly feeling so uneasy: for some reason, she felt a lot more awkward at the thought than when those Lowardians had assumed there could be anything more than a professional relationship between her and Dr. D. She shook her head and glared at Beta again. "So you better tell them that they lost their bet, because there is nothing going on between me and that--"

Whatever she was about to say next was cut off by the sound of the elevator's door buzzing open. Both her and Beta turned to see Gemini walking in with a somewhat thoughtful frown on his face. "Agent Beta, tell agent Kappa… agent Alpha?" he blinked in surprise as he saw her standing there, and he suddenly felt oddly uneasy as he was reminded of the fact his mother had pretty much told him they should date or something barely a couple of hours earlier "what are you doing here?"

Shego stared dumbly at him for a moment or two before she recollected. "I… wasn't feeling too well and decided to get back here to rest," she lied lamely.

"Ah."

"Eh."

There was a brief silence. Gemini shifted his weight from one leg to the other. Shego seemed suddenly very busy smoothing her hair. Beta just stood where he was wishing he were anywhere else on the globe.

"You should… go see a doctor or something," Gemini finally said "you could take Monday off too if you're not feeling well."

"There's no need, my head is just spinning a little. I'll be fine. I think I better lay down for a while," she immediately added, and Gemini nodded.

"Sure. You're dismissed," he said, completely forgetting the fact she was already off duty. Nor Shego did anything to remind him, for she just nodded and quickly walked down the hallway and around the corner.

"Uh… sir?" Beta finally dared to call out.

Gemini – who had completely forgotten his presence – recoiled. "What are you doing still here?" he barked "go tell Kappa to come in the control room to inform me of whatever report we got!"

As Beta nodded and rushed to do as he had been told Gemini sighed and walked to the control room, wishing his mother would lose her habit of giving him odd ideas that eventually resulted in more embarrassment than he could take.


"I'm truly sorry you won't be able to attend to tomorrow's convention, of course – no, obviously it won't be a problem," Jack Hench leant a little more comfortably on his seat as he listened to Señor Senior Sr. speaking on the other side of the line "I'll be glad to allow you a demonstration of the device you're interested into – you the client can't reach us, we reach for the client. I'm very busy this week, but I seem to recall out sales representative in Europe has some time left on Tuesday. Do you already have his number? Perfect. Oh, you're welcome – I hope the device will meet your expectations. Have a nice day."

Hench hung the phone with a satisfied sigh, as always when he knew an item was pretty much sold already. It had been a rather satisfying workday, he mused. Maybe he could consider getting back home a little earlier since the following day he would have plenty of work to do at the convention and--

The beeping sound signalling an incoming communication snapped him from his thoughts. He glanced at the name of the caller and sighed before reaching to press the button to accept the incoming call. "Is there any other clarification you need?" he asked, trying his best to not groan.

Gemini had called something like three times already to ask him the same thing over and over again, and if he knew him – and he did know him well since they had been roommates in college before they even were business partners, Hench being the one who had given him the funds to create his organization – it certainly wasn't because he needed any kind of clarification. More likely, he was just bored… and as always when bored, he'd start childishly pestering other people as if expecting them to entertain him somehow. He had been like that throughout all their college years, and that was one thing that had never changed.

Gemini just shrugged. "I just want to know where the item will be delivered and when," he said, not even trying to come up with a more convincing lie. Fine, the truth was that he was bored – nothing relevant had happened in the past few days, and now he couldn't even tell agent Alpha to join him for some talk because… well, just because, he thought somewhat uncomfortably.

He didn't really want to admit to himself that he felt a little awkward at the thought, and he pretended to not have noticed how agent Alpha seemed a little warier than before in his presence: she spoke of nothing that wasn't related to missions and left as soon as she wasn't needed, not even cracking her usual jokes and taunts. Had anyone told him he'd miss her snarky attitude only a few days before, he would have laughed. Well, he didn't really miss it, it was more… it was entertaining, that was all, he thought before Hench's reply snapped him from his thoughts.

Hench had finally thrown all his professionalism out of the window and was speaking slowly, as if talking to a rather dumb child. "Sheldon, this is the fourth time you call in a few hours about that one order – and I told you at least nine times that you'll have the device delivered to the usual place by Tuesday morning at most. What else is there you need to know?"

Gemini couldn't help but smile a little, somewhat amused by the exasperation in Hench's voice. "…what's the usual place?" he asked innocently.

"Sheldon?"

"Yes?"

"I really hope you're not being serious. If you are, I swear to God I'm interrupting the communication. Screw clients policy," he told him. He would have never dreamed of actually saying that to any other client, of course, but he supposed he could take some liberties when you're speaking to an old friend whose evil organization was built thanks to his funds.

Gemini blinked – he had never seen Hench losing his patience, and he supposed it would be an amusing thing to witness. "Really?"

This time, Hench chuckled. "Of course not, but one would think you're trying to get me doing that," he said with a shrug "so, what's the matter?"

"Matter?"

"You called me four times in three hours in a half to ask me a lot of info about a purchase that you certainly knew at heart after the first call, so my guess is that you're either bored to death or want to annoy me just because. Not to mention it's usually your agent Beta to call – I like this one, by the way."

"Yes, he's good at what he does."

"Surely much better than the one you had last year. After a while I though he could only speak in grunts."

"That was not my best choice for a top agent, I'll give you that," Gemini admitted.

"Definitely. From what I heard, your current top agent is doing much better," Hench smirked a little smugly – he just knew she would be a perfect agent for Gemini's organization as long as she could keep her attitude in check.

Oh, awesome. Just about the last subject I'd like to talk about.

And what's the problem with her, big boy?

There is no problem, I just…

Gemini shook his head a little to chase away such thoughts. "Yes, she'd doing just fine," he finally said "she's a good element. I mean, a bad element. A good one if you aim for evil, if you get what I mean."

"I think I do," was the amused reply "in any case, you didn't reply to my question. What's the reason why you kept pestering me today?"

"I was bored."

Hench sighed. "I knew you'd say that," he muttered, then he glanced at him through the screen more closely "isn't you dog there?"

"No, he's at mom's place. Recovering from surgery," Gemini replied, trying to not think that Pepe had actually recovered quite well and that he was still there because he was starting to think it would probably be better for his pet if he left him there permanently "I'm alone with my agents here – that is why I'm bored."

That, and the fact you're feeling too awkward to call for the only one whose company you happen to enjoy.

I'm not feeling awkward, I just… well, it wouldn't seem so weird if mom didn't get dumb ideas.

And these dumb ideas she got are affecting you this much because…?

"I see. Why don't you attend to tomorrow's villain convention?" Hench was suggesting "it would be better than sitting there and boring yourself to death or annoying the heck out of people who happen to have something to do."

"There is a convention tomorrow?"

"Well informed as always, I see."

"I've been busy."

"Didn't you just say you're bored?"

"I've been busy being bored."

Hench chuckled. "Whatever. I still think you could want to attend, if anything to do something different for once. Speaking of which, your agent Alpha might be interested in attending. When she went to a convention last time everyone was pretty suspicious of her – because of her temporary team-up with Team Possible during the Lowardian invasion, you see – but now that she's been working for you for a few months, most suspects should be gone. Attending to a convention with you would clear any lingering doubt."

Until a few days before the thought of attending to a villain convention with agent Alpha – especially after all the juicy info she had given him about the other villains – would have amused him, but now it made him oddly uncomfortable.

And isn't it getting on your nerves how you keep feeling uneasy for no reason?

Gemini frowned a little at the thought. Yes, it did get on his nerves: what was there he should be uneasy about? Nothing, that was it. That idiocy had to end there: there was nothing to be uneasy about because nothing was going on, no matter what his mother seemed to suggest about him and agent Alpha. Theirs was a strictly professional relationship, he told himself. Now that he thought about it that way, he felt stupid for boring himself to death by avoiding the only agent he could have a decent conversation with no real reason at all. Very stupid.

"I'll ask her if she feels like attending," he finally heard himself saying.


"Now I remember why I never attend to these convention," Gemini grumbled as Shego finally landed the helicopter on a free spot near the building "parking is always a pain. And just wait to see what a mess it will be when we have to leave."

It took her quite a lot of self-control to not roll her eyes. Ever since they had gotten on the helicopter – no need to take the jet for something like that, he had said – he had been grumbling and whining all the time over this or that. She faintly wondered why the heck had he decided to attend to that convention since he apparently didn't even like the idea. And why in the world had she asked he to attend with him anyway?

She had accepted because she was planning to do so in any case – it wouldn't hurt mending her reputation as a criminal a little more – and going with him would classify as extra work and thus gain her an extra in her pay check, but she was starting to think a handful of bucks weren't worth having to put up with him.

Well, it isn't just a handful of bucks – it a big handful of bucks.

That was true, Shego admitted to herself. Not to mention that it was a good occasion to force herself to stop behaving like an idiot whenever she had to be anywhere near Gemini: it had made her feel incredibly awkward since when Beta had told her about that stupid bet of theirs a few days before, and it was simply ridiculous since she knew it made no sense. Gemini was more willing to tolerate her attitude than he was to tolerate any other agent's because she happened to be his best agent, that was all. Theirs was a strictly professional relationship, she thought again as they got off the helicopter and walked to the entrance.

A. Strictly. Professional. Relationship.

"Did the cat eat your tongue, agent Alpha?" came Gemini's dry voice. Shego gritted her teeth and turned to see him frowning a little.

"Last time I checked, no. Why?" she asked coldly.

"I asked you a question," he said somewhat accusingly, somehow annoyed by how she had kept quiet for the whole flight – it was so unlike her. She hadn't said anything unless he asked her some question, and even then she had barely uttered a few monosyllables – hack, she hadn't even said anything snarky when he had thrown up because of those stupid ascensional currents…!

"No, you didn't. You just stated that parking is a pain. It doesn't need a reply," she pointed out stiffly.

But you usually would have replied with something sarcastic, Gemini thought a little resentfully before he snorted. "Whatever," was all he said as they stepped into the hall of the hotel chosen for that convention. He gave a look around to see the usual bunch of lousy villains whose names nobody even knew busy with some idiotic contest for the best evil laugh. "Who are they anyway?" he asked to no one in particular.

"Don't know, don't care," Shego said with a shrug, then she lightly elbowed his arm "hey, I think Hench is waving at you."

"Uh?" Gemini followed her gaze, and he smirked a little as he saw Jack Hench approaching. "Mr. Hench," he greeted him.

"Gemini," Hench gave him a small nod "I'm glad to see you here for once."

Gemini shrugged. "It wasn't easy finding some spare time in my schedule, but a change of air wouldn't hurt," he said with a small grin, and Hench raised an eyebrow the shameless and pretty useless lie before he turned to agent Alpha.

"Oh, I see you brought your top agent with you – from what I've heard, you make a quite valid addiction to WEE. I'm pretty sure everyone's attitude towards you will be quite different from last time's," he added, now talking to her directly.

"I bet," Shego said, grinning a little – she remembered all too well the suspicious glances she kept getting from everyone; in a way, she supposed she owed Hench one for getting her that job "I think I'll have a stroll around here just to look at their--"

"HEY, YOU!"

Shego trailed off, startled by Gemini's sudden roar. She turned to see him marching towards the one whose had apparently angered him – that someone being Dementor.

Oh, crap. I shouldn't have told him about how Dementor spread that gossip about him having a functional eye under the eye patch.

"Vat do you vant?" Dementor protested, though taking a few steps back – Gemini was definitely bigger than he was, and he happened to have a missile-firing and quite dangerous mechanical hand. Without his henchmen, it wasn't like Dementor could put up a fight.

"Don't play dumb!" Gemini snorted "so, was it you who kept claiming I faked the loss of my eye?"

At that point, any normal person would have frantically denied; too bad, megalomaniac mad professors whose ambition is taking over the wall simply don't fall in the 'normal people' category.

"Vell, vat if I did?" he yelled back, folding his arms in a display of what could be either a display of courage or suicidal madness "I heard you refusing a bionic eye zat vas almost for free! Vhy else vould you refuse zat, eh? Vhy don't you take that patch off to prove your eye is really missing?"

Gemini gritted his teeth, barely aware of the fact everyone in the hall was staring at them and not caring in the slightest: he had been feeling cranky for days for hell knew what reason, and now that he had an excuse to take it out on someone there was no stopping himself. "Why you little…! Why don't you take off that stupid helmet and let everyone see what the heck is wrong with your face?" he snarled, and Dementor could only yelp as he reached to grab his neck with his mechanical hand and forcefully tried to take off his helmet.

"Hey, vait! Vait! Someone stop zis madman!" he shrieked, struggling without much success to break free from Gemini's grasp. Even though some people seemed to sympathize for him – as far as they could tell he had done nothing to anger Gemini in the first place and after all gossip was an everyday thing in the villain community – nobody dared to do anything.

Shego groaned. "I should make him stop, uh?"

"Yes, you probably should," was Hench's slightly amused reply "possibly before he strangles him or decides to fire rockets in every direction. He still has a bone to pick with him for stepping on his dog's tail once."

"Oh, great," Shego groaned before she stepped forward and put a hand on Gemini's shoulder "hey, boss, how about letting go of his neck? He's turning red, and he looks even worse than in yellow. Are you sure you want to see his face anyway? I doubt it would be a pretty sigh," she pointed out, trying to think of something she could say to drag him well away from Dementor for at least a few minutes "how about getting in the cafeteria? I haven't had breakfast yet, and you threw up yours halfway through the flight."

Gemini blinked as he heard her speaking and paused for a moment to take a look at Dementor's face – or, at least, the part of his face he could see under the helmet. He grimaced a little. "Good point," he admitted, finally letting go of Dementor. The diminutive scientist fell on his back and began couching and sputtering, and the sight seemed to put Gemini on a slighter better mood. "Not so defiant now, eh?" he grinned down at him before he stepped past him, leaving him still trying to catch his breath "did you hear how he shrieked?"

"Yeah, people tend to do that when someone almost strangles them. And that was kind of a girlish shriek – maybe he's actually a woman and the helmet is to hide it," Shego said, smirking a little at the thought of Dementor the Drag Queen. It was clear she had found the little scene amusing after all, and the fact she was smirking and being a little more like her usual snarky self made Gemini's grin widen.

"I'll have some agents spreading that rumour in no time," he announced "and after that he won't feel like messing up with me!"

Shego chuckled at the thought of Dementor's reaction should he ever find that written on the gossip section of the villain magazine. "Well, now that's evil, boss."

"I'm a bad, bad man," Gemini said somewhat smugly. He was about to add something else, but he was cut off by a merry shrill the moment they set foot in the cafeteria.

"Hi there, cutie! Where's your lovely puppy?"

"What…?" Shego blinked as she realized that it had been DNAmy to call out. She was sitting at a table only a few feet from them with a rather grumpy-looking Duff Killigan, and she waving at them. She was waving at Gemini, Shego was startled to realize. "Wait, what?" she asked, turning to glance at Gemini, and she was surprised to see he didn't seem to be bothered by the fact she had just called him 'cutie'… then again, maybe the fact she was probably the only person in the globe who would refer to his neurotic dog as a 'lovely puppy' did a lot to soften him.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Hall," Gemini said with a brief nod "my poor little Pepe couldn't be here – had to go through surgery, and he's still recovering."

"What? The poor thing! I hope he's doing better," Amy exclaimed, a worried frown on her face.

Gemini smiled a little. "He's doing quite well, yes," he said. It wasn't everyday someone asked him about his Pepe, let alone with such a concerned look on their face.

"Oh, I'm glad he's fine! I always get so worried when one of my babies is sick. Remember the cute puppy he always has with him, Duffy?" she asked, turning back to Killigan – who, on the other hand, seemed anything but pleased by the interruption.

Shego blinked. Duffy? She had just called him Duffy? Fine, she seemed to have pet names for everyone and their cat, but why wasn't Killigan even protesting? He did look rather unpleased, but it seemed to be mainly because of their presence, as if they had just interrupted…

Oh. Ew!

"Aye, I've seen that rat before," Killigan was grumbling, gaining himself a deadly glare for Gemini.

"Are you asking for trouble, Duffy?A fight could ruin your pretty skirt," he growled, causing the golfer to grit his teeth.

"It's a KILT!"

"Now, now, no need to yell," DNAmy chided Killigan, giving him a small pat on his arm before turning back to Gemini "why don't you sit down? There's still space here, and we could have chat--"

"We'd love to, but we've got stuff to do," Shego said quickly, grabbing Gemini's arm and pretty much starting to drag him away – she suddenly didn't feel hungry at all anymore, and the last thing she wanted was having to witness any part of what looked way too much like a date. Besides, she wasn't sure she liked it how friendly DNAmy was to her boss and how he didn't even seem to mind: last time her employer had teamed up with Amy, things had definitely not gone well. "See you around."

"See you!" she heard DNAmy's shrill before the door of the cafeteria closed behind them.

"What in the world…? Agent Alpha, what do you think you're doing?" Gemini bellowed, yanking his arm free from her grasp after a few moments of confusion. It wasn't everyday someone grabbed his arm and dragged him along; actually, he couldn't remember last time anyone had dared.

Shego raised an eyebrow. "Boss, you did realize we interrupted a date, right?"

Gemini blinked. "We… what?" he turned back to the door, then he winced. "… ew."

"Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking."

"But didn't you tell me she was after Monkey Fist?"

"Well, maybe she realized she could do better than dating a piece of rock."

"And she chose herself a man in skirt."

"Hey, you must have noticed she's got weird tastes and a few loose screws."

"Good point."

There was a brief silence.

"In any case," Gemini spoke again "dating a… colleague is highly unprofessional."

"Yeah."

"I mean, who would take seriously two villains who date each other? I'd never do that."

"Of course not," Shego cleared her throat and scanned her brain for something she could say to change subject "so, uh… how about taking a look around? Possibly avoiding matches made in hell and Dementor."

"Good idea. Since we got all the way here, I guess we could at least take a look before we get back home."

Shego blinked. "Before we get back… what?"

"To the base," Gemini quickly corrected himself, mentally kicking himself for that stupid slip "before we get back to the base. Anyway, we could… well, you've been to far more conventions than I have. You tell me."

"Well…" Shego frowned in thought for a few moments, the she grinned a little "there should be a few newbies showing off their weapons somewhere. I bet it's going to be worth watching – last time an acid-based weapon blew up and sprayed everyone with acid. There was a lot of screaming and running in circles before someone realized it was actually pea soup."

Gemini chuckled at the thought. "It sounds like something worth watching. Maybe we should fetch popcorn before we go?"

"Sure. And how about soda?"

"You just read my mind."