Side Effects


"So... do we just.. let this play out?" asked Ron, he, Kim, and Cleopatra watched the chaos unfold before them.

"I'm actually curious where this is going," said Kim, a raised brow, "Why is Drakken tied up?"

"No idea, I know as much as you," said Cleopatra, she looked at her gun, "Didn't even get to use this yet."

"Adding weapons to your game?" asked Ron casually, she nodded, "Very nice... is it solar powered, because..."

"Ron! What is the explicit and single rule we have?" asked Kim quickly, he sighed.

"Stop giving villain's ideas and or convincing people to be villains," sighed Ron, Rufus face palmed.

"That's a rule?" asked Cleopatra, Kim nodded and she gave Ron a concerned look.

"So, from what we all know. Dr. Sweets double-crossed Shego and Drakken, who were going to double-cross her. Drakken is under mind control, and that's why Shego has been running around stealing things. Because Dr. Sweets needed them?" asked Kim, Ron and Cleopatra nodded, "And now Shego knows and is trying to kill Dr. Sweets."

"Still... why is Drakken tied up and should we untie him?" asked Ron, Kim looked in deep thought at the idea.

"Alright, don't want you to have a moral breakdown, " said Cleopatra, she side stepped a few blasts as she made her way across the room.

Shego shot another blast at Carmella, her angry was more turning into amusement as Carmella practically hop scotched the last round. Shego back flipped out of the way as a shock blast flew at her from the odd bubble gum looking gold staff. Something she'd probably made Drakken make or modify in her absence. Shego glared, she had to give it to Drakken and Carmella, mind control did seem an effective way way to get people focused. Oh god, there getting to you. Shego shook her head, she was not about to agree with mental enslavement. Obedience was one thing, this was a whole new level. Carmella gave a loud squeak as she dove behind a pillar as a green blast flew at her.

"I surrender! I surrender!" yelled Carmella, she threw down her staff, "We have bigger problems, Shego."

"Like what? Possible," asked Shego, she looked over to the teens, "You two mind if I finish this?"

"No, go ahead," said Kim, Ron looked at her and shrugged.

"I meant Drakken," snapped Carmella, "I tried... HEY!"

"I was getting tired," said Shego as she grabbed the staff and fired it at her, "This is pretty nice actually."

"Will you listen!" snapped Carmella, "I tried to switch out the tea, and it's gone horribly wrong."

"What?" asked Shego, she held the staff down as Carmella sheepishly peaked around the pillar, Shego shot a blast, "Okay, I'm done. What now?"

"... I was trying to switch the tea so I could get rid of the Mind Control," said Carmella, "Without the painful side effects... but something got mixed up."

"Something got mixed up..." said Shego, her eyes wide, the sound of whirling behind them beginning.

"Ohm, ladies!" came Cleopatra's concerned voice, "Ladies!"

"Yes, well, I can't seem to get him to snap out of it.. and whatever I mixed too much of in it... well..." said Carmella, she gave a nervous laugh, "He's become less an obedient servant and more a love sick obedient puppy... or rather violent overprotective bloodhound."

"Excuse me... AHHK!" Shego screamed as a laser blast flew at her, she dove, looking to see a wild eyed Drakken firing at her, "Are you KIDDING ME!?"

"Well you did just shot at me a hundred times!" snapped Carmella, with a glare, she began frantically waving, "Drakken!"

"I was trying to warn you," said Cleopatra, who was now tied to the pillar, "Kind of missing the simplicity of orange and sandwiches right now."

"This keeps getting better," said Ron with a broad grin, taking a bite of popcorn.

"Where did you get that?" asked Kim with wide eyes, Ron pointed behind them where the Henchman all stood in the shadows, "Okay, I'm over this."

"Have you lost your mind," yelled Shego as Drakken continued to fire at her.

"He can't help it, he's protecting me," said Carmella, Shego saw a dopey smile on her face, "And yes, he has lost his mind... temporarily... I think. It's very sweet, really."

"Wipe the look off your chemically deranged mind and tell him to STOP!" yelled Shego, she glared at her.

She wanted to glare at Drakken, to blast him in his deranged foggy eyed face, but he wasn't to blame... for once mind you. But if he didn't stop, she'd just have to do it. She dodged another blast as Carmella tried to talk to him, but whatever the mixture had done to his head, he kept snapping back from a face of adoration to one of pure violence and rage. If she wasn't the one being blasted at, she would have actually been impressed by the way he'd contorted his face. He looked every bit the mad scientist that he'd been aiming to look like in this moment. Her stomach did a flip as his eyes darted between the two, his hands gripped on the controls. It was like a robot having a glitch by his motions and twitching.

"I am not in any danger, Drakken, just turn the laser off," Carmella spoke softly and sweetly, Drakken seemed to calm down, his face smoothed into a smile that made him look unnatural, Shego felt a chill up her spine.

"Are you sure, my Dumpling?" asked Drakken, Shego's body seized up and without thought she blasted Carmella into the wall.

"That hit a nerve," said Cleopatra under her breath as Ron untied her.

"You should follow my blog, those two are heavily mentioned," said Ron, he whispered, "Especially a few weeks ago."

"What happened a few weeks ago?" asked Cleopatra, she whispered back.

"Long story, I'll give you the link," said Ron, reaching in his pocket.

"That's enough," said Kim, who round house kicked Drakken from his laser, it began to swing around, "What's wrong with this thing."

"He hit auto," said Shego as it began freestyle blasting wherever there was heat.

"I should have stayed in my cell," cringed Cleopatra as she and Ron dove for cover behind the pillar.

"Can't you blast it," said Kim towards Shego, she dodged an array of hits.

"It would only amp it up," said Shego as she too dodged shots, "Drakken, turn that stupid thing off!"

"He's sprinting towards Dr. Sweets," said Ron, Shego growled and shot a blast towards them both.

"Rufus, do you think you can hit the off switch?" asked Ron as Rufus nodded and began sprinting towards the laser, it began firing at him, he ran back to Ron, "Nice try, buddy, we'll have to figure this out. Wait. Cleopatra, can you hit it with your laser?"

"Have I mentioned I've yet to use this?" asked Cleopatra, looking at her laser.

"No time like the present," said Kim as she attempted to get closer to the machine, only to go flying into Shego, Drakken, and Carmella.

"Aim and shoot, you can do it," said Ron, Cleopatra missed, "Try again."

"You do it," said Cleopatra, shoving the laser towards him.

"No way, trust me I will blow this place up, you do it," said Ron waving his hands frantically.

"Someone, do something!" yelled Shego as she yanked Drakken out of the way of the blast, tripping Kim into Carmella in the process.

"Okay," said Cleopatra, she shot and with a great winding sound the machine shut down, "Did I... I Did it!"

"Took you long enough, oh come on," said Shego as Drakken attempted to break free of his hold to reach Carmella, a look of exaggerated concern on his face, she groaned.

"YAYY! You did it!" cheered Carmella, clapping and hopping up and down, "And you didn't even need to flirt... HEY!"

"That was for ditching me in prison," snapped Cleopatra as she shot at Carmella, then again, "You know how much I HATE orange, you bitch."

"Oh my god, fine," said Shego as she let go of the struggling Drakken, "Try not to hit him, there's enough to clean up in here already... you know what... hit him."

"This is just sick and wrong," said Ron shaking his head as Drakken picked up Carmella and tried to kiss her, Carmella's hand blocking his face.

"Agreed," said Cleopatra, she smirked, "He could do better."

"I heard that!" came Carmella, Cleopatra and her began to argue, "Drakken sweetie... LET GO! SHEEGGOoo!"

"So, you made some sort of love potion or something?" asked Shego casually, walking over to the discarded tea pot, Kim looked at it with her, "So is it Dr. Aphrodite now?"

"So you're just... going to ignore that?" asked Kim with wide eyes at Shego as she indicated to where Drakken kissing Carmella in a series of butterfly kisses, Kim looked horrified.

"She did it too him," snapped Shego, Kim looked at her.

Shego looked over at the scene in front of her, she felt a rush of nausea, the names were one thing, but this was too much. Drakken was literally out of his mind from the chemical experiments Carmella had done to him. She felt a wash of fury again, but managed to hold it back as she approached them, she yanked her arms between Drakken's and locked her hands behind his neck and in one yank, she had him pinned on the ground.

"Thank you!" said Carmella, Shego glared at her and she scurried backwards, "I'll fix this. I promise. I was hoping trigger words might work, but..."

"Yeah, whatever. There are tranquilizers in the second drawer in the desk, get it!" Shego snapped at Ron and Carmella, the two broke, "Hey Princess, you want to give me a hand here."

"I'll get his legs..."

"Actually, gag him," said Shego as Drakken was singing a song to Carmella now, it made no sense, his mind was spewing garbage now and her head was starting to hurt.

"What do they look like?" asked Ron, sprinting to the railings again.

"It is a large metal syringe that clearly says 'To Knock 'Em Out'... Please tell me you can read, Stoppable," snapped Shego, Drakken stopped fighting, "Now what?"

"Shego..." mumbled Drakken, his face muffled by being pressed against the ground, "Uhg..What's happening?"

"... Drakken?" asked Shego, slowly letting go of him, "Wait... are you back?"

"From my foggy delusional mental prison.. yes... Can you get off me now?" snapped Drakken, Shego jumped off him, but readied to take him down if this was some sort of mind glitch again, "I feel like a truck hit me..."

"That was Shego... and a laser... and Kim," said Ron, he held up a box, "So we don't need this then?"

"No," said Shego, she yanked Drakken up and pulled his face to look at hers, his eyes were tired but not foggy, there was no strange dopey look more than normal, "He's back... Did it wear off?"

"No, it must have been a trigger word... perhaps it meshed with the original formula like I thought, " said Carmella, she stepped closer to them and Shego's hand flared, Carmella darted around a pillar.

"Shego, it's fine," said Drakken, his hand gently pulling her hand from his face, "My head is killing me, but it's fine... I just need to sit down."

"So... Stoppable? That was the word?" asked Shego with a raised brow, she looked up at Ron.

"Booyah! I knew he knew my name!" said Ron triumphantly.

"Whose name?" asked Drakken, rubbing his head and squinting.

"... come on.. come on, Man," sighed Ron, he dropped the box aggressively, "Kim."

"You know... we're just going to take this stuff back, and let you all deal with... you know, this isn't our sitch, let's go Ron," said Kim, picking up one of the devices Shego had stolen, "Grab that purple thing in a jar."

"I might need that... in case... side effect," said Carmella, waving a hand at Drakken where Shego had helped him to a seat

"...Can I pour some in a cup?" asked Ron, Kim sighed and nodded.

"That should do it," said Carmella as Drakken shook his arm from the shot, "This is a one all cure all... there's not a lot of it, so I try not to use it... it's actually what I sending you to get... where did you go?"

"I got caught and spent a week in prison," growled Shego, standing on the other side of Drakken, "If he sprouts horns or goes ballistic again... I'm going to shove one of your insane candies down your throat."

"Shego, it's fine," said Drakken, putting his jacket back on, "Carmella means well."

"... the woman used you as a guinea pig," said Shego, crossing her arms.

"That, again, was a serious misunderstanding," said Carmella with a hopeful smile, "I thought you two played us, and I was out for vengeance... which now I know was all a huge snafu."

"What happened to the necklace?" asked Cleopatra, Shego ignored her, but mentally thought back to where she had that hidden.

"Yes, and Carmella had actually mistaken something between us back at the party," said Drakken with a chuckle, indicating between the he and Shego, "So Hector... where is Hector?"

"I made you fire him," said Carmella, she looked at Shego, "when it's a fresh batch, it's foggy for a few hours."

"Shame, he was kind of cute," said Cleopatra, she shrugged, "Well, this has been nice... but I'm going back to my lair."

"Don't forget the Imp," said Shego, glaring at Carmella, she and Drakken exchanged a look and Shego raised a brow.

"Actually, Shego... Carmella and I... in between the last few doses, talked and..." said Drakken with a shrug.

"We're going to legitimately work on perfecting the formula for my Mind Control tea," clapped Carmella excitedly.

"Yeah, good luck," said Cleopatra, tossing her hands up and walking out with a shake of her head, "She calls me the mad one, honestly."

"So, your telling me... that she drugged you... mentally imprisoned you... might have caused you permanent damage... and you're just... still going to work with here?" asked Shego, her eyes wide.

"We are all villains," shrugged Drakken, "Besides, if I do have any other side-effects, who better to have around than the person who made them."

"I told him, if he felt inclined, I would submit to mind control to even the faults," said Carmella, she booped Drakken's nose and grinned, "Just remember I'm immune so it only works in short terms and you have to have a secret ingredient."

"Yes, isolated DNA strands," said Drakken with a nod, he smirked at Shego, "She's going to let me test mind control on her."

"Isolated... eww! She made you drink her DNA?" gagged Shego, Drakken and Carmella shrugged.

"Science," said the both of them, Shego looked between the two and shook her head.

"I'm going to bed," said Shego, she threw her hands up in defense.

She was nearly out the door when she turned around to glance at the two. They were laughing about some joke Drakken had made about DNA or something. The room was destroyed, the laser utter trash, blasts littered the wall, two windows were broken. Shego's eyes locked on Drakken, laughing like an idiot, it felt so wrong... so off. His eyes weren't foggy and nothing seemed wrong... it was just... they way he looked at Dr. Sweets... maybe it was a side-effect of her mad concoctions... maybe her crazy matched his madness... maybe he had chemically induced brain damage. Maybe you're just jealous. Shego stared and then glared. Nope, this is just weird and wrong.


Drakken watched as Shego turned out the door, and he felt a wave of emotions hit him. He gulped, his mind was a madhouse right now. On the one hand, he should be furious... plotting... scheming, all to destroy Carmella... and he knew Shego was on that page with him. Then the other, perhaps because of the formula's had made reason a passing fad right now, but he had started to enjoy spending time with the Mad Doctor, and as before. She had the tools he needed for his Plan... it didn't hurt that she shared the same chaotic glint in her eye as him.

"So, shall we get to work?" asked Carmella, clearing her throat, Drakken realized they had been staring at each other.

"Yes... but first," said Drakken, taking out his phone and calling a number, "Ah, Hello... Yes, it's Dr. Drakken... bit of a misunderstanding the other day..."


"So you got your job back," said Henchman Lucius as he stood in the doorway with Hector.

"Yup," said Hector with a deep sigh.

"Another promotion?" asked Lucius.

"Uh huh," said Hector as he looked around the room.

"That sucks," said Lucius as he padded his shoulder, "Good luck."

"Yeah," sighed Hector as he began cleaning the destroyed lab with a shake of his head, "I need a better line of work."


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