(A/N: I'm baaaack! Here's the one you were waiting for. Things are really starting to pick up.)

Shego paced back and forth, silently lecturing herself the way she usually lectured Dr. D out loud. She couldn't believe she had brought Starfire here. It had seemed like the only option at the time, but as soon as Slade walked in, she was in big trouble. Not that she was afraid of trouble. Or Slade. She just didn't want to jeopardize her plan, which had already started to crack before her eyes. She glanced at the alien princess, still unconscious and tied tightly to a pillar. Thankfully, her super strength had been removed at the same time as her starbolts, but Shego had used extra strong cords just to be sure. Suddenly, she heard footsteps in the corridor. Slade's. Shego needed to think of an excuse and think of one fast.

"Apprentice," Slade's voice boomed, "I seem to have lost contact with you during the fight. I trust you did not disappoint me."

"Nope. No disappointment here," Shego said, looking as innocent and possible.

"So you did capture Kim Possible?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got her," Shego assured him. "No worries. I'll just go grab Teen Wonder for you, and then we can destroy the rest of them. Couldn't have done it without you, slick. What a team we are…"

"You are stalling."

Shego put on her best confused face. "Stalling? Psh! What's to stall about? I got her, didn't I?"

Clearly, Slade was not convinced. He bent down, pulled her face up to his with his giant hand, and ordered, "Show me Kim Possible."

"Okay, okay," Shego said, pushing his hand away and stepping back. "Geez, you'd think people would have a sense of personal space." She stepped out of the light and gestured to Starfire's figure, still in Kim's clothes, tied to the pillar. The poor lighting hid her face, or so Shego hoped.

Slade seemed satisfied at first. Here was a teenage girl with red hair and Kim Possible's mission clothes, seemingly incapacitated. The last he had heard of the fight indicated that Kim had indeed been there. However, he noticed something a bit odd about the girl's skin tone. It was hard to tell without full lighting but seemed a bit more…orange than usual. He stepped forward until he was just inches from the prisoner and scanned his one eye over her closely. He took one step back, then threw Shego a backhanded slap.

Shego stumbled back two steps. "What the heck?!" she shouted.

"You brought me the wrong prisoner," Slade said, eerily calm. "I ordered you not to disappoint me, and you have seriously failed."

The green woman knew that there was no faking her way out of this, so she decided to confess. "Okay, fine, you got me. That's not Kimmie. Starfire showed up in Kim's clothes. We fought, and I took her instead. She's completely knocked out and I took all her powers too. I mean, that's got to at least be a three-quarters victory, right?"

Slade looked down at her menacingly. "You were told to kill all the Titans besides Robin and Kim Possible. Every last one. And yet, this one remains alive. You may very well have jeopardized my entire operation."

"That's 'our' operation, metal mask," Shego retorted. "Do you think I could see who she was before it was too late? Her teammates were about to catch up to me, so I had to get rid of the evidence. Just take a chill pill, geez."

Slade's eye narrowed and he swiftly grabbed both of her arms, holding them tightly behind her back. "Please, are we really doing this again?" Shego scoffed.

"You could have just as easily destroyed her and left her for her teammates to find, yet you instead chose to bring her here alive, ready to be tracked down by the Titans. If it had been Kim Possible or Robin, they would have lost a leader and been disorganized enough to buy us time. Why did you not destroy her?"

"Because I was too tired," Shego mocked with a sarcastic smirk.

She quickly regretted her words as Slade twisted her arms, sending her a full dose of pain. "I am your master. Answer me with respect!"

Shego groaned as her arm tightened, then, still lacking any sign of remorse, said, "Ow…I mean, Saturday nights are supposed to be fun. Save destroying for Tuesdays, am I right? Ah!" He twisted harder. "Okay, that does it!" Shego said, landing a high kick on Slade's masked face, loosening his grip long enough for her to propel herself off of him and to safety many feet away.

"Ordinarily, I'm impressed by extreme evil," she said, "but with you, it's just sick. If you aren't happy with the way I do my job, you can do it yourself!" She shot a blast of green energy directly at him, full of all the hot anger and fury she had built up for him.

He dove out of the way just before it could touch him, letting the bolt crash into a pile of old machinery behind him, making a loud, cacophonous noise. The sound somehow managed to penetrate the ears of the unconscious Starfire, causing her to stir. However, Slade was much too busy with his defiant apprentice to notice anything else in the room. He made a fist, and Shego's powers drained out of her, making her yelp with pain and drop to the floor. Slade stalked over to her side and picked her up with one hand by the cloth of her suit, while she was still writhing from the experience. Starfire blinked a couple times and opened her eyes just in time to see it. Wondering what was going on, she kept her silence and observed the next bit of the conversation.

"I did that quickly because I have no time for games," he told her. "Believe, me, I wanted to draw it out again, and next time, I will. It seems pain is the only way to teach you anything, apprentice."

She glared straight back at him, though she felt terrible inside, like something had been ripped from every fiber of her body. "It's not like you've tried many other techniques," she spat.

"Why did you not destroy her?" he demanded.

"I don't know, okay? It…it just didn't seem like a good idea. Look, if you want her dead so badly, here she is. Your call."

Starfire was now aware of several things that she had previously been oblivious to. For one thing, Shego had taken her to Slade's lair and she was now a prisoner. Second, her hypothesis about Slade mistreating her powers sister was right on the mark. Third, even though Shego had not tried to kill her before, there was no telling what Slade would do. She moved her arms silently, trying to break the cords. Her strength was gone. She stared down at them and found that no beams of green shot from her eyes. All of her powers must have been sucked out with her starbolts when they were taken. And now she was the only Titan in a room with an extremely angry Slade who had been planning to destroy her anyway. This was not a good time to be powerless.

While Starfire took in her situation, Slade continued berating his apprentice. "You were ordered to destroy her. You were ordered to destroy all but Robin and Kim Possible. The Titans could be tracking her as we speak. Do you want to draw them here?"

"Her communicator was smashed on the scene," Shego retorted. "If they find her down here, it's your fault for making this place too easy to find. Besides, you said that you wanted Robin alive to destroy personally, and that you'd let me have Kimmie, remember? How would we not have the same problem with them? If you're gonna be a jerk, at least don't be a hypocrite about it."

"How dare you—"

"Stop!" Starfire shouted, reminding Slade of her presence. It was a risky move, but Shego was in serious danger and Slade had to be interrupted. "Shego speaks the truth. The communicator is lost. My friends are far away. But you should know that the Titans are strong, and they will stop you. The lack of powers that Robin has does not make him the easier to destroy or capture. My friends will find me just as easily as they would have found him. Your plan shall fail."

Slade turned around slowly until he faced Starfire, his eye somehow staring menacingly into both of hers. Shego felt like a facepalm was in order, but was also curious about how this would play out, so she refrained and watched. "I know of Robin's strengths," Slade said, his tone angry yet controlled. "Do you think I forget old apprentices so quickly? With Shego's amplified powers and Dr. Drakken's inventions, destroying all of the Titans ought to be the easiest thing in the world. That is why I need Robin. I want him to see his precious teammates and the city that worships them go up in smoke before him. I want him to see everything he has ever worked for go to waste and know that I was the one who did it. Depending on how things go, he may be begging to become my apprentice again before it's over. He certainly was the best one."

"Gee, thanks," Shego muttered.

"My apprentice feels the same way about Kim Possible," Slade continued. "I agreed to take her as prisoner as well to pacify her. Unfortunately," he turned to face Shego briefly, "that privilege is now revoked. I have no reason to keep you alive, however. I'm not exactly a big fan of having witnesses." He reached for a weapon that was usually at his side and stopped upon realizing that it was missing. "Apprentice!" he shouted. "What have you done with my laser gun?"

Shego looked confused. "Your what?"

"My—you know, the one I always use."

His green assistant shrugged. "Hey, I've been doing all the attacking lately. You probably left it in your room or something."

Slade groaned. This was beyond embarrassing. Losing weapons may be acceptable for a failure of a villain like Drakken, but this was unheard of for him. "Then…give me one of your weapons, apprentice!"

"Yeah, I kind of put those away after dropping princess here off. They really way you down."

"Why, you infuriating…"

"Watch your language, buddy, there's a kid in the room. Also, aren't those the Titans?" She pointed to the wall where the large screen showed current security footage of all entrances to the lair. In the center frame, Robin, Raven, Kim, Ron, Cyborg, and Beast Boy were just picking themselves up after landing in a heap in the sewers.

Slade rushed to the screen and looked at it. His eye, really the only thing capable of reading his emotions by, looked surprised at first, then looked like what would normally accompany an evil smirk. "Very clever, Robin. You've found my little hideout. Now things are starting to get interesting." He mentally activated Shego's powers and her glow returned instantly. "The prisoner can wait, apprentice," he ordered her. "There's been a slight change of plans. We need to move to the next stage of the plan. The Titans could not possibly escape my traps, but I need you to go out there and finish them off as quickly as possible. Dr. Drakken shall activate the rest. The city will be mine by the end of the night. Just leave Robin to me. Go!"

She obediently ran out of the room while he entered a couple of codes into the computer. He walked calmly toward the opposite door, but before exiting, let his eye rest on Starfire one more time. "Don't think I've forgotten about you. You are a perfect damsel in distress." He then left to find Drakken, leaving Starfire alone.

"I am not the damsel in the distress!" Starfire yelled after him, though he was too far away now to hear it. She thought hard about what to do now. Of course, she had to get out of here and help her friends. They could be in big trouble. Slade was controlling Shego's powers. That much was obvious, and certainly unethical. Shego needed her help too. But how could she help anyone without her powers? She wiggling and twisted in the cords that held her fast, but to no avail. Suddenly, she heard a voice.

"Leaving so soon, princess?"

Looking in the voice's direction, Starfire saw none other than Shego. "Shego! What are you doing?"

"Sh!" Shego scolded. "Do you want him to hear you? I'm just giving the heroes a head start. I might hate them, but I'm not exactly rooting against them either."

"What do you mean?" Starfire asked, her voice softer and more cautious.

"I mean your friends are going to be my ticket out of here. Slade knows a lot, I'll admit, but there are a few things he doesn't know. I don't give away my plans like some villains, but I'll make an exception to tell you that Slade is only slightly harder to manipulate than Dr. D, and that not all of his ideas are really his."

Starfire's eyes widened. "It was you who had the plan to capture Robin and Kim Possible," she realized. "You wanted them to come to help you escape from Slade."

"Not gonna confirm or deny that," Shego replied, "but I will say that I know Kimmie can get out of any scrape in existence. I mean, she's literally been thrown in a bottomless pit of water with man-eating sea creatures in a cardboard box. The girl's practically Harriet Houdini."

"How is the pit without bottom if it is filled with the water?"

"Beats me. Point is, if you had been Kim or Robin, I would have been required to take you back to base and watch you miraculously break out and save the day."

Starfire lowered her eyebrows, tiny as they were. "Do you say that I have not the capability of escape?"

"No, I'm just saying I'd rather bet on someone whose record I know from personal experience. Anywho, the only thing Kimmie does better than escape from danger is rescue other people from it. Now, I'm not telling you anything else, but you should be able to figure it out if you have half the brain I think you do."

Starfire thought for a second, then told her, "You mean to have the Titans locate me and to defeat Slade in the process. Then, you plan to make the escape."

Shego nodded. "And if I play my cards right, no one will even know I was behind it. I get out of here with my powers where they belong, the Titans get the credit like usual, and my evil reputation is untarnished."

"But…you do not plan to help me make the escape?" Starfire said, looking down sadly at the thick black cords surrounding her body.

"Nope. Too obvious."

"So I shall play the 'damsel in distress'?" the alien princess asked, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"Nah," Shego said, shaking her head. "You're not in distress if you're in on it. Why do you think the Titans are here in the first place?" She unzipped a pocket on her suit and produced both Slade's laser gun and Kim Possible's Titans communicator. Tossing the gun aside, she added, "I shut off the signal about half an hour ago, but I sent them a little message first. I do still have to fight them a bit. You know, so I don't look like I'm throwing the game too much. Besides, I always like a little hand-to-hand with Kimmie. She's a good challenger." She suddenly froze, then whispered, "Did I just admit that?"

"Yes," Starfire said with a smile. "You are not so far evil as you believe."

"Ugh, if you ever say that again, I will make sure you stay unconscious. Listen, if anybody asks, I don't care who, you don't know anything I just told you, okay? This is just between the two of us."

As the green woman broke into a run toward the exit, Starfire called out to her, "There is yet one thing that you have not done the explaining about!"

Shego stopped. "Yeah, what?"

"You had not the obligation to allow me to live," Star pointed out. "You could have destroyed me upon the top of the Wayne Enterprises and your plan could still have had the success. You claim that you have no connection with me, but if that is the truth, why am I not the destroyed?"

Shego did not respond, but instead ran directly out of the room and left Starfire alone.