A/N: THANK YOU ALL FOR THE LOVELY REVIEWS!
Another Heist Part 1
Drakken couldn't help the scowl on his face as he looked at his reflection in the mirror while he buttoned his asymmetrical black-and-silver lined waistcoat. He looked at the black and teal jacket laying across his chair with an even deeper scowl. It wasn't the attire that was making his stomach sour before the heist they were about to partake in... And the heist was an afterthought now that he had secured several decoys... No... It was his reflection.
The fair-skinned makeup he wore was different than the first heist. No putty to hide his scar, as the effort had seemed not worth it. Though as he stared at the glasses serving a dual purpose—one being to obscure his scar—and his slicked-back hair...he felt he was seeing a very unwelcome ghost. The ghost of a pathetic, friendless, nerd he thought he'd eradicated long ago. He pursed his lips and grabbed his jacket before deciding to leave the room rather than lingering any longer where he could see his reflection.
His hand fiddled with the glasses as he walked and he felt his body become more tense as he headed down the staircase. He debated on running and buying the putty just to ditch the glasses despite his reasons for wearing them...though he admitted some of the normal blurring he pretended wasn't there was gone. He looked at the spiraling banister a little closer.
"There's a pattern," he muttered and shook his head. "Maybe we can grab some putty on the way if we leave early—"
"How did you take longer than me... All you did was your face," he heard Shego sigh.
He looked to where she leaned against the wall just below the stairs. He blinked at the sparkle of the dark periwinkle blue dress she wore. The one-shouldered asymmetrical jagged design and high slit on her one leg gave the hint of Shego... The rest looked more attuned to a model in a magazine. He ignored the swirls shifting inside him and the thought of how she fit it more than any model he could come up with. The fair-colored makeup she wore still held a tint of her normal pallor, but the dark burgundy lipstick and dramatic Grecian-inspired curls...almost made him forget it was Shego. But her bright green eyes and cocky smirk erased that internal swirl... He blinked at the soft and crisp lines of the woman in front of him before adjusting his glasses yet again.
The glasses can stay...
Drakken pushed certain thoughts aside as he finished smoothing out his suit jacket and stepped off the last step. He watched her eyes flare wider for a second before her smirk became deeper and she drifted towards him to replace his hands on his collar with hers. Drakken found his grumbling annoyed expression fade to one of smug delight at seeing every detail of Shego's features... He was not a fan of the makeup coating her skin, but disguises were necessary.
"Hello, handsome," grinned Shego as she adjusted his glasses. Drakken's expression fell to annoyance once again.
"The mocking begins early it seems." He rolled his eyes and moved away to finish fixing his collar himself. "Perhaps the glasses should go... This is more than uncomfortable."
Drakken heard a scoff from Shego before looking at her. She gave a slight head shake at whatever she'd been about to say before clearing her throat.
"You're fine," she sighed. The smirk came back to her features. "And myself?"
Drakken looked at her again but decided to get back at her mocking and gave a bored shrug.
"It's fine." His smirk turned into a snicker as she shoved him and grumbled.
"Wow. Such a confidence boost." She rolled her eyes. "I should have asked Dean—"
Drakken cut her off with a swift, mild kiss.
"You look lovely," he sighed. Her features softened. "How much was the dress?"
"Could have been more," she shrugged as she moved away from him. "Always remember that."
"Considering I'm not paying for it... I hope it was more costly than the last." Drakken followed her towards the deck. "Interesting color."
"Peri seemed fond of it." The devious expression on her face only added to Drakken's annoyance at that information.
Drakken grumbled as they got to the hover car and he helped her in, his eyes glaring towards her window and its flowers. He wasn't jealous of his own flowers... More annoyed at the liberties his flowers seemed to take without his direct orders. His eyes shifted to Shego.
Why are they taking orders from her—
"You know, they listen to me because you know I'm right," Shego said casually, as if reading his mind. "At least subconsciously you acknowledge it."
"I think it's because you pamper them," he scoffed. "Sugar water and aspirin... Are you out here watering them too when I'm in the lab?"
"Nah... I just fill a bucket once in a while and they do it themselves... Wish all flowers were like that," she shrugged as she started up the hover car. "Did you mess up my lipstick, by the way?"
"No." Drakken rolled his eyes and then gave her a devious grin. "Want me to?"
The moment he said it, he felt his heart race and his stomach twist. Before she could respond or he could gauge her expression, he yanked out one of the decoy rings.
"So, the plan," he stated quickly. "We find this Ms. Valentine and work on distracting her enough to switch."
"Yes. I know," responded Shego. "If you remember, I suggested we just do the same as before because your ten other elaborate plans got a little out of hand."
"I still maintain the power outage would have worked," he argued.
"Yes, because night vision goggles are so easy to have on hand in the few seconds we would have." She shook her head.
"It was a solid idea," he sighed.
He internally grumbled as she flew. He refrained from the pouting that his body so desperately wanted to do as to show his displeasure. He instead went over the plan more carefully... All the plans, but the main one at the moment... There was a limo waiting for them occupied by a former henchman. He'd dismissed the offer of a law enforcement officer being of assistance instead... They may have been given a clear for the heist, but neither wanted to acknowledge this. His mental breakdown of the plan was cut off by Shego's voice.
"What are you brooding about?" she sighed.
"I'm just going over the plan." He waited a beat. "Internally, since someone doesn't want to hear it—"
"You can do that?" She looked shocked.
"...Do what?" He raised a brow. Her expression switched to smug amusement.
"Keep your rambling to yourself," she teased. "Four years later...and you drop that bombshell on me."
Drakken rolled his eyes and scowled.
"I keep a lot of thoughts to myself," he snorted. "Thought you figured that out already."
"Hmm, any thoughts I might have been interested in?" asked Shego. He saw the coy smirk on her face.
"I'm certain some would have," he mused. "There were a few plans you might have had some smart remarks about."
He watched the coy smirk on her face fade into an eye-roll before refocusing on the flight. It took Drakken a confused few minutes of silence for her words to sink in.
"You meant about you?" he asked nervously.
"Doy?" she snorted and looked at him. "Kinda was leaving a smooth opening there... Or are you done with the whole wooing charm thing?"
Drakken felt a sudden swirl of pressure in his chest and stomach. His next words came out almost in a jumble.
"I wasn't sure we were doing that tonight." The sentence was so clustered together that he didn't think it was distinguishable.
Shego shrugged but he saw her knitted brows.
"I was under the impression this was a fun heist, and my Christmas gift," she grumbled. "Excuse me... I'll remain professional."
"Since when?" he couldn't help but retort.
He was greeted by a gloved hand shoving him into the corner of the hover car as he snickered. It was silent for a few seconds as Drakken took in Shego's expression. That swirl of unease seeped through him as he felt he looked at her for far too long as his eyes lingered on where the slight tint of her normal skin lingered where fabric met skin. He was about to look away when Shego let out a loud snort.
"Admiring the blending there, Doc?" The expression of deviousness had returned and Drakken quickly looked away from where his eyes had lingered on her bustline.
He cleared his throat.
"Not as well blended as last time," he stammered and looked at his own gloved hand.
"Huh," he heard Shego sigh. She placed the hover car on autopilot and turned to look at him. "Is that really all you were looking at?"
Drakken felt embarrassment flood as heat to his face. He mentally ran through every response, joke, or comment that would back-pedal the conversation... Then his mind stopped racing for a verbal shield. He looked at her expression. There was no malice or narrowed eyes; just a faint smile as she waited for a response. He thought back to his comment about joining her on the roof the other day... He'd run before he could get a response from her, half expecting a blast of light to fly after him... It had only dawned on him after returning to the lab to make the call that moments later they had kissed after forming the plan.
She hadn't been angered or annoyed in the slightest.
"If it wasn't?" he said as calmly as he could.
The flare of mischief in her eyes brought an entirely different swirl of heat in him.
"Well now I'm more interested in how this evening turns out." The glint in her eye didn't change as she took back over flying. "Lucky we're on a time crunch or I'd want more clarifications."
Drakken opened his mouth to continue the conversation but instead he let it die. They both needed to focus on the heist at hand.
Shego grimaced at the quality of the makeup she'd used this time. Though faint, there were patches of her normal skin tone showing in certain spots. Not nearly enough for anyone to notice unless they really looked, but enough for her to be very annoyed. It had been a mistake to find a dress that was not fully sleeved like last time. In truth she'd bought the dress for the ball after Drakken had given her the tickets and had not bothered to purchase a new one. She'd had no intentions of being in disguise when it had been acquired, and before leaving the lair she'd been agitated she was in disguise that night.
She'd planned on expressing this when Drakken had come down the stairs, but the startling sight of him had stopped it. She glanced at him as they walked into the elaborate columned room where the sounds of idle chatter and soft music mingled. The dark suit, gloves, and design of his attire was all Drakken, but his face didn't match. It was only makeup and framed glasses, but her mind flew back to the first heist, and the way it hadn't looked exactly like him. But now... Perhaps it was the glasses or the paler makeup...but he simply looked like the older version of the images draped throughout Mama Lipsky's home, more so than the last time could compare to.
She sighed and rolled her eyes. The comment she'd given him as he'd stepped off the steps had been meant to be encouraging and flirty, but he'd simply taken it as a jab. She shook it off as she was handed a glass of champagne that Drakken took from a passing waiter. She let her eyes take in the large grand chandeliers and elegant golds and blues of the venue. It was larger and more ornate then the prior ball they had attended. The heist and disguise slipped from her mind as her arm remained firmly locked in Drakken's. They were doing the same thing... Locate the target...and then wait it out. Which meant for a duration of the time, she could unapologetically enjoy the evening. She leaned towards Drakken as she looked at the dance floor.
"You know what I'm thinking?" she hummed.
"We should try to find Ms. Valentine's table and do a switch like last time?" he responded. "Agreed. Let's find our seats first."
Shego was about to correct this when Drakken pulled away from her arm and began moving towards the tables quickly. Shego furrowed her brow and felt her stomach drop as she crossed her arms and followed after him slowly. Her eyes lingered on the currently empty dance floor and she let out a sigh as she joined Drakken in searching for their seats. She left her untouched glass at a random place setting as they maneuvered through the tables, Drakken already several away from her and avoiding the people walking through looking for their own places before dinner.
"Found them," Drakken hastened a few tables away. "Now to— Shego...did you use my other name?"
"What?" sighed Shego as she joined him. "I changed it to the names we used last time like you asked."
"Yes, but this says D. Lipsky... I went by Andrew," Drakken grumbled. Shego rolled her eyes.
"Somehow the two letters make all the difference?" she snorted. He narrowed his eyes. "Uhg, just go by Dr. Lipsky all night then."
"It's not the point," grumbled Drakken. He seemed to move on as he began looking at tables again. "Why don't they have a proper seating chart..."
"Tell you what. When you throw a huge multi-person event...you can set up seating charts the way that you want them," sighed Shego. "But I can't tell you why they do what they do."
"Why are you in a mood?" asked Drakken suddenly. "You were fine—"
"I'm not," Shego cut in. She shook it off. "These shoes are new and I want to sit down."
"Oh." Drakken looked suddenly concerned but then seemed to sprint in more haste. "Let's find the table quickly. Sooner we find her, the sooner we can switch out the ring and I can begin working on it."
Shego nodded before pausing in her search.
"I thought the plan was to wait it out and swipe at the end...like last time." She furrowed her brows, and Drakken shrugged.
"Yes, that was... But if we can swipe it early, then we can get out of here with no worries someone else isn't doing the same thing... Preferably shortly after dinner. Besides, if this Ms. Valentine is a villain then we'd want to avoid her finding us out..." Drakken drifted off as he walked around tables.
Shego wanted to snap about that not being the original plan and that they were supposed to enjoy the evening as well, but she fell silent. It would make sense to do that very thing... And she knew Drakken wanted desperately to begin working on the mood ring item... She narrowed her eyes and looked at the name cards. If they sat at the same table it would be a cakewalk really; over before dinner was halfway done if they played their cards right. Her eyes fell onto the card that read S. Valentine and she opened her mouth to say this before stopping herself.
"Why don't we sit in the middle and then we can keep an eye on all tables to find them... If we're at the same table it might be too much since we clearly switched," said Shego quickly as she flipped the name card down. "People are starting to come in. Let's choose one and worry about finding her later."
Drakken looked towards where guests indeed were filtering in. He sighed and gestured to a table in the middle of the entire dining area. Shego hastily followed as Drakken tossed two name cards at table a few feet away and pulled out a seat for Shego. Shego snorted as she sat down and Drakken pushed her chair in. She glanced over at the table a ways distant to where the turned-over name card still lay. She could keep an eye on the location and its occupant and when the time struck they could act. For now, she was going to enjoy her evening.
"So, original plan?" asked Shego as Drakken sat next to her.
"The original plan was the blackout..." he grumbled. Shego sighed. "Yes, it seems we'll have to play it by ear... I still don't understand how a person doesn't have a picture of their fiancée."
Shego shrugged.
"I think the surveillance camera images they sent us where she wore oversized attire and accessories to obscure her appearance should have really tipped someone off," Shego mused. "If not a villain, a con-artist tactic. The description was mildly helpful."
"Long dark hair, pale, pretty... Not exactly helpful... Might as well be describing you," scoffed Drakken. Shego watched his brow raise as he looked at her. "Hmm."
"What's that look for?" Shego glared. "You know very well if I wanted something I'd just take it... And I have no interest in a mood ring."
"Oh, I know," Drakken seemed calm and unfazed by her anger. "If it had been you the description would have been different."
"Green skin—"
"Beautiful," Drakken cut in. He slid his hand into hers where it rested on the table. "Not simply pretty."
Shego felt the glare melt away from her face as his words registered with her. She smirked and finished lacing her fingers in his. She felt warmth spread across her face as his eyes maintained their gaze on her. The reminder of just how charming Drakken could actually be made her stomach swirl like weeks prior at dinner.
"Nice recovery," she finally spoke.
"I wasn't trying to recover. I was simply making a truthful notation." His eyes finally looked away from hers to her hand. "Is this the ring we swiped last time?"
"You're the one who insisted we take up our old roles," Shego replied as Drakken examined the large ring.
"Hmm, true," Drakken muttered. "Should have a better one than this..."
Drakken trailed off as he continued to fiddle with it. Shego had the urge to lean against his shoulder but stopped herself, remembering the makeup that might smudge or smear on his coat. She examined his neck and grabbed a napkin to blend the edges showing. Her mind began to muse about what story they should have continued weaving in their identities or if they should play the newlywed card again. The thickening of the guests gathering around them made it clear it would have to wait until after dinner to discuss. She simply hoped whoever sat with them were not chatty and wouldn't put them on the spot. She leaned closer to Drakken and was about to whisper such when her words were cut off by a voice she knew that made both their stomach drop.
"Seriously! No way, Drew?" the boisterous voice came.
Shego's eyes shot open and Drakken's grip on her hand tightened as they looked to see the owner of the voice. Motor Ed stood with his hair pulled back and wearing an actual complete suit, a look of shock and confusion on his face as he looked at Drakken. Drakken looked at Shego with an expression indicating that he might wish to abandon the whole plan. As Motor Ed pulled out a chair, she really wished the night was going to be much shorter. Shego looked a few tables over to where the back of a woman with long dark hair was seated. She regretted not just completing the plan before dinner ended. Something told her it was going to be a very long night.
*Dance this way...*
