Disclaimer: I only own my villainesses and Shego's parents.

"Sweetie, are you all right?" Avarius asked again, this time from right outside the door, "I heard a crash."

"I'm fine...Dad," I forced the word out. I'd have to save my hysterics for a more private moment, "Just fell off my bed, that's all. Clumsy me," I laughed.

"You don't usually sleep in so late. Did you catch that bug that's been going around?" He asked worriedly.

"Nope, just catching up on my beauty sleep," I assured him, staring at myself. This couldn't be happening. How could this be happening? I pinched myself, and then slapped myself. Nope. By some twist of fate, I was now my best friend.

I showered and dressed with my eyes closed. Even we weren't that close of friends. She was so small. I mean yeah, you could tell she was petite compared to most girls, but to actually feel the difference between her and me... I know I'm not exactly an ideal weight, but I could feel her hipbone poking out, and her stomach caved slightly inward. How did she manage to fly with such a frail body?

The most amazing thing was that I wasn't hungry. At all. I was tempted to skip breakfast for fear of seeing Avarius, but the image of my mother stopped that temptation in its tracks. No matter what I did, no matter what I said, Mom always caught me and practically forced breakfast down my throat.

"Breakfast is what gets your metabolism, and the rest of your body for that matter, started. You just went eight or so hours without any food. Whatever you've got going can wait ten minutes for you to have a piece of toast or something," Was her speech. She wasn't a strict mother, but she had a couple set-in-stone rules, and eating breakfast was one of them.

Avarius was at the dining room table, drinking a cup of coffee and reading the paper. He was dressed simply in a red plaid shirt and jeans, not a hint of his bird costume to be seen. I've gotten used to seeing villains outside their costumes; Killigan has a lumberjack coat and Monkey Fist has been known to wear sweats on occasion. Back then, though, the only villains I had seen outside their costumes were the villainesses. He looked up calmly as I came by and smiled.

"Morning, morning glory," he said. This surprised me; it wasn't a reference to a bird.

"Morning, Dad," I replied politely.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Yes," I must've if I went to bed Shego and woke up the next morning War Hawk.

I winced as a sudden pain ripped through my lower torso. It didn't leave, though it did slightly get better. I got a bowl of Cheerios and went back to the dining room. As you might've guessed, I've spent a lot of time around the Nest, while Avarius was away.

He was silent, watching me eat. I felt a little self-conscious; was I doing something wrong? Was there some little thing I had never noticed about War Hawk that was a tell-tale sign that I wasn't her? Was he still thinking about me sleeping in late? Was I eating too much or too little? Did War Hawk not eat breakfast at home?

"Chloe, I know why you slept in," he stated. Oh snap. He used her real name less than I did. I wouldn't put it past Avarius to guess correctly.

I froze as he looked me directly in the eye.

"If you didn't want to have a father-daughter day, you could've just told me," he said softly. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that I looked absolutely stunned.

"No, no, it's not that!" I quickly assured him, "I was just really tired, honest!" He smirked, arching an eyebrow.

"Too many late nights with Golden Arrow catching up with you, eh? Just as long as you keep up with your school work... and stay away from that Tigress girl," he shook his head, "That girl has no limits and a thousand dirty, cruel, harmful tricks up her furry sleeve. Mark my words, War Hawk, people will end up dead around her."

He was preaching to the choir.

"I try. You can't always get away from her, though."

"Especially with the crowd you hang out with, your "peeps"," he agreed. I finished and rinsed the bowl and spoon off before setting it in the dishwasher, "By the way, someone keeps calling. I don't recognize the number, and they hang up once they hear me answer," his face fell, "Is there a boy?" He growled. I laughed.

"No, Dad," I assured him, jogging off. This was so awkward, and he had no idea.

I picked up the phone and dialed my number, taking the cordless back up to War Hawk's room.

"Hello?" I recognized my voice on the other line. It's weird how your voice sounds different inside of your head than outside.

"Ohmygoshohmygosh," I started saying.

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshwhathappenedtous?!" She screeched.

"I have no idea!" I exclaimed.

"Well, then, how do we switch back?"

"I don't know. Did you eat any fortune cookies?"

"Be serious!" She sighed, "Listen, I'm cashing in my favor. We're not going to tell anyone outside of the villainesses about this, okay? Not your brothers, not your mother, not my dad, not anyone. I'm barely passing myself off as you as it is, and if Hego knew...if Hego knew..."

"Okay, I get it, no telling," Yeah, how awkward would that be? Hey, Avarius, you might have noticed I've been acting weird. Well, I'm actually Shego who switched bodies with your daughter on accident. Sorry, "I'm sure between all of us, we'll figure something out."

"Yeah, definitely. We just need to hold out until then. Oh crap."

"What?"

"I promised Dad I'd spend the day with him. I've been blowing it off for so long now..."

"Day with Avarius, no problem."

"Seriously?" I snorted.

"Don't sound so confident," I said sarcastically, "Besides, I'm pretty sure I got the better end of the deal," I added as I heard feet pounding towards her.

"Shego, you have to see the crap Wego 2 took! I don't even know how it got out! Seriously!" Mego yelled, laughing. War Hawk moaned.

"Yell "That's nasty, leave me alone"."

"Thanks. Talk to you if I survive this."

"Ditto," I hung up, "Ah!" I shrieked as the pain came back, fierce and angry. And I had to go.

To leave out the gory details, War Hawk failed to mention she was due for her time of the month. And that she was completely out of supplies, even Pamprin. There were no females in the lair besides War Hawk, except for the birds, but they aren't mammals.

Great, just terrific.

I got a pair of shoes, her purse and found her car keys on top of her dresser. She was the only villainess who obtained her car in a legal fashion; saving her paycheck. Whether Avarius got the money for her paycheck legally was a questionable manner. It was a mustard yellow '85 El Camino. She's upgraded since then, but keeps that butt ugly car I refer to as the Pimp Mobile for sentimental purposes.

"Where you off to, hummingbird?" There we go. I was waiting for the bird talk. I turned to Avarius, who was sitting in the living room, shoes and coat on.

"Oh, well, I gotta go get something from the store real quick, and then we can start father-daughter day," To my horror, he stood up.

"I can go with you," he offered. I shook my head.

"Don't think you want to," he looked pretty hurt by that. I scrambled for something to say, "It's a girl thing."

Yes. The phrase that makes grown men (or at least Drakken) stick fingers in their ears and scream "lalalalalala". The phrase that made my dad run from the room and scream for Mom. The phrase that my brothers said to each other to explain whenever I did something they didn't understand. Avarius, however, apparently did not know the code phrase for, "Dad, I don't want to talk about that with you or have you with me". He just rolled his eyes.

"I know you've needed bras," he stated a little louder than necessary.

I turned the darkest shade red imaginable. Arch enemies and talk of female undergarments never went together comfortably.

"How about we just go to the mall so I can grab my stuff while you...do whatever you do," I compromised.

So we drove the Pimp Mobile to Crystal Springs Mall, which size rivals the Mall of America. Avarius chatted like a caffinated five-year-old and I tried to sound like War Hawk. I didn't know how they interacted outside of work, but Avarius didn't question me. I must've been saying something right.

I slipped into Bullseye, a department store that was in competition with Smarty Mart. Avarius looked suspicious when I passed by the junior's department and headed towards the cosmetics.

"I don't see why you wanted to leave me behind while you restocked your makeup," he said.

"Dad, I didn't come here for makeup," I turned around and then said in the softest audible voice, "I'm on my period and I need supplies."

Avarius took it a lot more maturely than any male I've ever uttered the "p" word to. He straightened and his eyes widened as if to say "oh". And then, without thinking, repeated it so everyone within a 3 aisle radius could hear him.

"You're on your period?"

My hands flew to his mouth.

"Avarius!" And then, in a very soft tone, "Yes, and I need to buy some supplies. Fast," I took my hands off. He laughed.

"You could've just told me. It's nothing to be embarrassed about," he insisted.

"Yeah, but it's not exactly something I want to bring up," I muttered.

We separated then on our search for items no one wants to hear about. I was glancing down a row of pink and purple boxes when I heard an unpleasant purr behind me.

"Look what the cat coughed up," I rolled my eyes and turned to a delighted Tigress.

"We really need to stop meeting. At all," I hissed. Her eyebrows raised.

"Little temper there, huh? Been hanging around Shego too much?" Oops. I saw Tigress and my resolve disappeared. I am submissive, I am caring, I am shy, I am in love with Hego, I am War Hawk.

"Why are you here?" I tried to add a little sugar to my tone. Tigress shrugged.

"Just looking around, seeing if there's anything worth coming after hours for. You?"

"Same here."

"Whatcha looking for?" I shrugged, trying to copy her nonchalance.

"Nothing in particular."

Interrupting the rare moment of peace with Tigress, from several aisles away, Avarius screamed.

"ARE YOU A TAMPON OR A PAD KIND OF GIRL, CHICKADEE?!"

I. Wanted. To. Die. And I wasn't even War Hawk.

Tigress burst out laughing, gripping at her sides. My cheeks burned and I covered them with my hands. I heard a thud as Tigress hit the ground, kicking her legs and laughing out loud to a degree no one should "lol" to. Avarius appeared innocently at the end of the aisle.

"Did you hear me, sweetheart?" He asked. My hands fell to my sides.

"Who didn't hear you?!" I snapped, hormonal tears prick my eyes. There is nothing more dangerous, more completely absorbing than estrogen, and I know guys don't understand it. It's like a hurricane of mood swings, and the only thing you can do is to ride them out. So this humiliation, in that moment, had been magnified to a hundred times worse than it really was because of the estrogen. Combined with an unfamiliar cycle and mood pattern, and I was helpless to War Hawk's hormones. A few stray tears escaped despite how stupid the situation was.

A relative of mine once introduced me to a phrase called "divine imprecation". "Divine" is like heavenly or coming from above or insert belief about a power beyond our own here. "Imprecation" is pretty much giving someone a curse. Essentially, it's karma coming to bite you in the butt. A lovely bit of divine imprecation came upon Tigress just then, via the intercom system in Bullseye.

"Hilary Felina, this is your mother and boss speaking," Tigress stopped laughing as a familiar Russian accent spoke, "I don't care what your excuse for wandering off is. I have sent your sister out to look for you and I am still in the junior's department. You find your sister and come back here. Bra shopping is not mandatory, though the alternative is me picking them out for you. Trust me, you do not want that."

...I thought my mom was cruel.

&

After the Tigress incident, Avarius vanished. I bought some supplies, went to the restroom, and (after buying them) hid them in War Hawk's purse. I wandered around the mall after that. Where had Avarius gone off to?

I was in Goth Central checking out the black nail polish when I felt someone come up beside me.

"I didn't know you liked stuff like this," I glanced to my right. Mego was casually looking over the spiked bracelets that were next to the nail polish display.

"Yeah, well, Daddy Dearest doesn't really allow this kind of thing," I dangled a nail polish container and then set it back down, "What about Mrs. Go? I wouldn't think she'd be too proud of her boy wearing that," I pointed to the bracelets.

"Mom had some paperwork to do and told Shego to take us to the mall. She didn't even notice that I snuck away, she's so spaced out today," I smirked. He shoved his hands into his pockets, "Hego promised he'd take me to Game Loco to try out Off Safety 2: Death Sentence-" I straightened.

"With the new Execution Style fire pattern?!" He arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Wanna check it out?"

"Let's go!" I was halfway out the door, dragging Mego behind me, before he even finished.

We had a blast at Game Loco testing Off Safety 2: Death Sentence. We compared the difference between it and the first Off Safety, and agreed Off Safety 2 was way better. It was two player, and though we could go against each other, we played co-op.

"You're not the girl I thought you were," Mego commented as he reloaded, shooting off-screen.

"Is that good or bad?" I shot at a vampire soldier.

"Good, really good," he shot at another vampire that had almost bitten me, "Actually, you kinda remind me of Shego."

"Have I been acting like her?" I asked worriedly.

"A little," he admitted as we ducked down in unison, "You know, Shego's pretty cool...for a girl anyway. I like hanging out with her. You won't tell her I said that, will you?" The alarm in his voice caused me to laugh.

"Course not," we stood back up, "Aw!" My timing was off. I was killed by a mutant general.

Mego misaimed and was shot to death. We looked at each other and smiled.

"War Hawk!" Metaphor exclaimed, running into the store. Golden Arrow, Artica, and Mischief were right on her tail.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Something is terribly, terribly wrong with Shego. Something must have happened to her," Artica said gravely. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Brace yourself," Mischief warned like Martin Luther King Jr.

"Shego...does NOT want to go...to..."Bricks of Fury"," Golden Arrow said slowly.

"WHAT?!" Mego and I exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know," Metaphor shook her head, "We were just about to steal Shego when Hego came running over with the news about "Bricks of Fury" coming out a week early. Her response?"

"That movie sounds so stupid," Mischief said in the exact tone I would have used after an especially lame trailer.

"No way! Shego's been waiting for this since seeing the teaser trailer a year ago," Mego stated.

"Who wouldn't want to go see a movie about a night security guard who brandishes his own form of justice using a cinder block?"

That was when I got stares.

"Chloe, you've hated "Bricks of Fury" since you first heard the plotline," Golden Arrow reminded me.

Oh snap.

"Hey, Mego, Hego was looking for you. You guys are going to the matinee," Artica said, not taking her eyes off of me.

Mego and I glanced at each other. He gave me a "sucks to be you" look and then wandered out. The minute he left, Mischief, Metaphor, Golden Arrow, and Artica closed in on me.

"What's going on with you and Shego?" Golden Arrow demanded, her voice low. I shook my head.

"It's crazy," I warned them.

"Not as crazy as you and Shego totally switching positions about "Bricks of Fury"," Mischief chided like Mrs. Huxtable from "The Bill Cosby Show".

"Since when do you play video games with Mego and Shego is uncomfortable around Hego? She went into American Eagle!" Artica exclaimed. I outwardly cringed. I wouldn't be caught dead in such a mediocre store.

"Since we switched places," I said matter-of-factly. The girls looked at each other.

"Isn't that a therapy exercise?" Metaphor said hesitantly.

"No, like we switched brains or bodies or something. She's me and I'm her." They looked at each other again. Artica snorted.

"No way," she insisted. Golden Arrow shook her head.

"Can't do it. It's impossible to switch bodies," she stated.

"You have any other explanation?" There was a pause. Mischief snapped her fingers.

"You two have been hypnotized," she said like the host from "The Twilight Zone".

We all shook our heads and bluntly stated, "No!". Mischief stuck out her lip.

"'Kay, then. Prove you're really Shego," Artica challenged.

Just as she said that, War Hawk (I?) came jogging into Game Loco.

"Please, please don't make me go to "Bricks of Fury"," she begged, pressing the ticket into my hand.

"As much as I'd love to, I really should go find your dad. There was an incident in Bullseye..." Golden Arrow cracked up.

"You were in there?!" I laughed.

"Even better, she was there with me," I turned to War Hawk/myself, "You should go. You're the one who doesn't want my brothers to find out."

"Well, I'm convinced," Metaphor spoke up. We all looked at her and she shrugged, "I can tell when something's been planned, and that right there," she motioned at War Hawk and I, "Wasn't planned."

"That wasn't acting, either. They were completely in character. That is, if they were in each other's bodies," Mischief mused like George Lucas.

"You can't switch bodies unless you surgically remove their brains and somehow implanted them into each other's bodies. And I don't see any stitches," Golden Arrow stated.

"Shego, they already know that I don't want to see "Bricks of Fury", cover or not. I don't think I can endure much more of your brothers. Please?" She unleashed the puppy dog pout. I smiled.

"Fine. I'll suffer through the movie just so you can go do whatever," We embraced and I went to the theater.

The boys turned and stared at me as I trotted up to them.

"Shego didn't want to waste the ticket, and I'm apparently the only one she could track down," I white-lied. Hego Turned back to the concession stand line, rolling his eyes. The twins turned back to their imaginary war game. Mego smiled at me and came to stand beside me.

"I'm glad you came, or I'd be stuck with these losers," I giggled. He was so cute when he was trying to act all masculine. We went into the theater and, as usual, Mego and I sat in the front row while Hego and the twins sat in the middle somewhere.

"Man, you are so secretly like my sis," Mego said approvingly.

"You talk a lot about her," I noticed. He shrugged.

"We understand each other. She's pretty cool when she isn't being all cranky and whatever," he settled into his seat, "I totally dig her personality in a girl. Not like I would date Shego, big ew!, but a girl like her..." I took his hand.

"I think you're too young to be thinking about girls," I reprimanded him. He groaned.

"That's what Hego says."

"Bricks of Fury" was awesome, way more so than I imagined, however as the series progressed through the years it got worse and worse. The first one was one of my favorites and to share it with Mego... it was one of the few bonding moments we've spent alone together. And, until the end, it was a good memory.

Then, the final scene went mushy. The guy's girlfriend freaks out after she find out he's the guy killing all the crime lords. The ending would have been way better if the girl walks in on him killing someone, he looks up and sees her, they stare a minute, she states "I don't know you anymore", and then she walks away. But no, they have to discuss morals for twenty minutes. Watching Mego, though, he seemed to be concentrating on something else instead of being bored to tears like me.

He yawned, which caused me to yawn of course. I was just about to whisper to him how lame this was when his arm wrapped around my shoulders. I turned to him.

"Are you cold?" I asked. He gave a sly smile.

"Not next to someone so hot." I shrieked and scrambled away, "What?" Mego asked innocently.

"Did you just try to hit on me?!"

"Yeah," I screamed bloody murder, clutching my ears. Mego frowned, "Oh, I see. You wouldn't mind if Hego hit on you."

"Yes, I would very much mind!" I stood up. Mego blocked my path.

"What does Hego have that I don't, huh?! Is it the super strength?! Well, is it?!" I ran up the aisle, "Don't waste your time with him! PICK THE HOTTER BROTHER! DID OUR OFF SAFETY 2 CO-OP MEAN NOTHING TO YOU?!"

I nearly ran over War Hawk.

"Wow. Is it really that bad?" I grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Mego just hit on me! I've unintentionally created a horrible Bermuda Love Triangle!" I ran screaming from the theater, hands still over my ears.

That. Was. So. Wrong. Next time I saw him, after the shock had worn off, I was going to slap the romance right out of that boy. He was my little brother, my sweet innocent brother whose only concern was video games and being well-liked at school. He wasn't suppose to like girls until he was 37. What had gone wrong?!

I calmed down by the time I got to the food court, and I dropped my hands to my sides. Avarius was sitting alone, idly glancing at the bright neon restaurant signs. I went to the borderline dirty table and sat across from him.

"Hey, Dad," his glazed-over eyes turned to me.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I wouldn't want you to be seen with me," he stood up. I grabbed his wrist reflexively.

"Dad!" He looked down at me.

"I don't want to embarrass you," he said bitterly.

"You aren't embarrassing me," I insisted. His eyes softened.

"It's almost 2. You want to grab a bite to eat?"

"Sure," I agreed.

I easily ordered War Hawk's usual; a small Ceasar salad with a mango peach smoothie. Avarius ordered fish and chips with a berry smoothie. We sat back down at the borderline dirty table.

"What have you been up to?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing much. A shop here and there. I did catch a movie with Golden Arrow."

"That's nice. I saw them around here and assumed you "hooked up" with them," he sighed, "I'm sorry about what happened in Bullseye."

"Hey, it's okay. Tigress got it back," It was a little sympathizing, seeing Avarius this way. So...normal. And sad.

"I've been trying to work on my volume level, but I guess I'm not trying hard enough," I played with my crotons.

"I'm sorry, too. I said I was going to spend the day with you, and I kind of ran off."

"That's all right," he stirred his smoothie, "I just need to wrap my noggin around the fact that you're a teenager now, and that you'd rather be with your friends," he looked up at me, "I want to be part of your life, Chloe. I just want to be kept in the loop. To hang out with you like this every once in awhile," he got a startled look in his eye and then shook his head.

"What?"

"It's nothing, just the birds."

There is a lot of irony in the superhero or supervillain line of work. One of the biggest is War Hawk's absolute hatred of birds. She couldn't stand a single species. If given the chance, she would kill one or two and blame it on natural causes. Avarius, on the other hand, was a vegetarian and absolutely in love with birds. But not like a crazy vegetarian who won't wear wool or drink milk. He just didn't eat meat besides fish. And was obsessed with birds.

"Do you want to head back with me or hang out here?" I was startled from my vegetarian and bird analysis, Avarius standing up. I stood up.

"I'll go with you," I said. His eyes lit up, and it was worth going against War Hawk's personality.

I learned a couple things about Avarius and more than I ever wanted to know about the hundreds of birds he cared for as we worked together caring for them that afternoon. Tucked away in the woods, a fair walk from the lair, was a roost/nest/coop/gathering-of-birds-in-a-building. It was a bird sanctuary he and War Hawk's mother had started after their honeymoon. The majority of the birds were injured, crippled for life, or unable to be released back into the wild. He was very loving with them, treating them like they were his own children (creepy but mostly sweet). He had named the permanent residents, including a young one-winged falcon named Robin.

"She seems to like you," he noted as she affectionately groomed a lock of hair from her perch. I petted her feathers.

"She reminds me of Mom," I said quietly, remembering War Hawk's mother. Avarius nodded.

"That's why I named her after your mother." Oh. I thought it was irony, because she was a falcon. He patted me on the back, "You become more and more like her everyday; beautiful, kind, intelligent. I love you so much," I smiled.

"I love you too, Dad." He was such a sweet pea!

We were silent for a while and then, in a low voice, he started to sing a song even I had heard him coo to War Hawk.

"Chloe, Chloe, I've been woeing, what a sad world this would be, if all the Chloes were transported far across the deep blue sea."

He couldn't carry a tune, but I never heard anyone sing so sweetly.

&

"I left you to the wolves yesterday, didn't I? Between your brothers and my dad..."

"Actually, your dad is pretty cool."

"And utterly embarrassing. He still treats me like a little girl."

I spread out on the living room couch as I talked to War Hawk on the phone. Nothing had happened last night, so we were still in each other's bodies.

"Chloe, I would kill for a dad like yours. He just wants to be part of your life. You're so lucky; my dad has never tried to hang out with me one on one."

"What about your mom? I don't exactly see you spending as much time as she'd like with her."

"All she ever wants to do with me is turn me into her villainess prodigy."

"I'm just saying you're sounding really hypocritical right now," I hung up on her out of anger, sighing in frustration. I lay there, not feeling like getting up.

The phone rang a few minutes later. I was hesitant to pick it up, but decided to anyway.

"Hello?"

"Shego? It's Metaphor."

"Oh, hey Metaphor."

"Any reason why no one's answering at the Go Tower?" She asked.

"War Hawk and I had a little spat. She probably thought you were me calling back."

"Oh, well that's not good to be fighting like that while you're switched. This whole mind thing got me curious, so I've been looking it up all over the place," I perked up.

"Really? What'd you find?"

"Well, it all comes down to two kinds of switching brains; the sci-fi kind and the fantasy kind. Okay, so do you guys remember the switch?"

"No, we were both sleeping."

"And this was...?"

"The night before we saw you at the mall."

"Been hooked up to any machines lately?"

"Not that I know of. Are you going down some checklist?"

"A self-made one, yes. Have you come across any ancient artifacts, relics, etc.?" I pursed my lips.

"Come to think of it, Mego and I were messing around with some old pyramid thing he picked up from a mission in Cairo."

"That sounds promising. I'll talk to War Hawk and then I'll come pick you up."

"'Kay, bye," I hung up and went to go get some shoes and a coat on.

Avarius saw me when I came back down.

"Where you off to, hummingbird?" He asked.

"Just going to go hang out with Metaphor," I said. Just at that moment, the doorbell rang. Avarius went with me to the door.

And there, standing innocently in front of us, was my body, complete with my Team Go uniform. Avarius went rigid, a snarl on his face.

"Shego!" He hissed. She smirked. After an agonizing pause, Avarius laughed and shook his finger at her, "You sly fox. You got me that time," he admitted. Metaphor changed back to her normal scaly self, laughing.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. Can I borrow your daughter for a bit?"

"Sure. What are you up to?"

"Oh, just checking out an Egyptian artifact I stole, watch the latest dirt on Team Go, maybe do some homework, the usual."

"Have her back by nine, all right? She's been having some unusual sleeping habits lately."

"Yes, sir. Come on, War Hawk."

She cracked up when we got into her car.

"Oh man, Team Go is in an uproar!" She exclaimed.

"What do you mean?"

"You know that interview you did post-busted-butt?"

"That was forever ago," I stated. Did they run out of good human interest pieces or something? "So, what's the big deal? Did it turn out crappy?"

"Worse. They edited it. "Shego: Running With the Wrong Crowd?" is a classic example of the press taking a perfectly innocent interview and twist it into something far from what you meant to say."

"Oh man. The "hang out with villains" thing?"

"Yep, the "hang out with villains thing"."

"That title is so wrong. I'm not running with the wrong crowd, I'm running with the right crowd!" She laughed and we knuckle-bumped.

"Don't you know it!"

Later on, after this whole brain switching mess, I watched it. They had twisted it to make me sound like I was hanging with the bad crowd, including some footage from the security camera the night we stole the engine (I highly suspect Artica selling the tape to them. She's not above such a thing). The reporter said some dumb concerning stuff about my future. Hego wasn't so much concerned about my future at that time than how it "slandered the Team Go image". That kind of media splicing is what drove me over the edge most times. I'm human; I make mistakes, more than most and yes I'm on a pedestal as a super heroine, but that doesn't mean you have to zoom in on it. All you can do is try.

We rang the doorbell and there was some agitated barking. I furrowed my eyebrows. What was up with Go-go? War Hawk opened the door. We looked at each other and then embraced. As simple as that, our stupid spat was forgotten.

Go-go stood nearby, anger burning in her eyes.

"What's wrong, baby girl?" I asked, scratching her behind the ear.

"That isn't my mommy. I don't know what happened, or where my real mommy is, but that is a fraud right there," she said bitterly, glaring at War Hawk. War Hawk shrugged as if to say, What can I do? The do knows things, all right?

"The pyramid's up in Mego's room," War Hawk stated. We followed her up.

Mego was on his computer playing some violent game when we came in. He glared at War Hawk.

"You could've knocked. Geez, don't you know anything about privacy?"

"Knock, knock," War Hawk said sarcastically, knocking on his head. I grinned, thinking that was something I'd do, "We're just gonna check on your pyramid Rubix cube real quick..."

"Shego, don't! That's for my project!" He whined.

"I'm not gonna break it!" She retorted. Mego looked warily at Metaphor, and then smiled at me. I pointed at him.

"You say something and I'll beat you so hard your sister's bull accident will look like a scratch," I warned. He spun back around to his computer.

Metaphor picked up the pyramid, holding it close to her eyes.

"Whoa. Someone was very attentive to detail. Look at these markings," she held it close to War Hawk and I.

"Wow. They're like tiny hieroglyphics," War Hawk said.

"Not "like". They are tiny hieroglyphics. This little staff thing is repeated over and over again. It's the symbol for life," My head jerked up.

"How do you know this stuff?" Metaphor smirked.

"Research, nothing you'd know about," she teased, "Besides, ancient Egypt is an area of interest to me," Mego snickered.

"You look like something the Nile coughed up."

"Shut up, Mego. Now these other symbols all link to the life symbols," she showed us as she turned the different levels, "They all must represent a special group of people...or animals. To reverse this, we have to get these all aligned back to where they were before you messed with it."

"How do we know they're aligned?" War Hawk asked. Metaphor shook her head.

"Sleep on it like you two did, hoping we get the right alignment."

"Shego, you know Mom doesn't allow tinkering with dark arts."

"This isn't dark arts, Mego, and Mom doesn't have to know," I snapped.

"I think I have War Hawk," Metaphor announced, "There's Nekbet's symbol, the goddess with the wings. At least, if these symbols are supposed to make sense. I might have you, too, Shego."

"Is that some kind of fortune teller?"

"Shut up, Mego!" We all exclaimed. He threw his hands up in surrender.

Metaphor set it down and crossed her fingers. War Hawk and I did the same.

"Anybody else up for lunch?" War Hawk asked. We went out of Mego's room, "You're ALWAYS hungry!" She said, shocked. I laughed.

"Maybe to someone like you, whose never hungry!" I teased, nudging her playfully.

&

"Mmm," I groaned, opening one eye. My alarm clock read 4:00 a.m., and the radio was on some crappy metal station.

I was going to kill whichever brother did that.

For a moment, I thought I was myself again. I wasn't looking over a bunk bed. I stretched and yawned. Ew, what was that smell? Or that smell? Or that smell? I glanced down. These weren't my blankets. Crap. I had never been in this room before, and I couldn't imagine who slept on a broken mattress in a bundle of blankets on the floor and woke up at 4 in the morning. I hit the snooze button several times before finally getting up at 5. I stumbled to the light switch.

Oh. My. Gosh. I rubbed my eyes, and then rubbed them again, but the room didn't change from its black, gray, and white colors. Who did I know that was color blind?! I ran to the adjoining bathroom and flipped the switch.

Golden Arrow was staring back at me, Tigress in the mirror beside her.

"I didn't know Golden Arrow was color-blind," I murmured. Then, Golden Arrow stepped forward while I stayed in place. She rustled my hair playfully.

"You're the color blind one, silly kitty."

&

Please review.