Author's note:

Hello, Everyone. It brings me great joy to welcome you all to the season premiere of And You And I season 3!

First and foremost, a huge thank you to everyone who has stuck with this fic throughout two rollercoaster seasons. Seriously, I can't thank you guys enough, you have been terrific. I have been blown away with all the positivity I've had in the comments and the sheer number of kudos, votes and favourites I've had across my three platforms. So, thank you all so much. I also need to say a massive thank you to everyone who voted for myself and And You And I in the first round of the KP Fannie awards. Thanks to your support, we have both made it through to the second round in each of the categories we were nominated in. Also a big shout out to Celioxa, who has also made it through to round two in the best reviewer category. The second round is now underway, however, I'll wait until the end of the update before giving you the details for voting this time around.

So, that brings us to the opening chapter of season three. Heh, I literally did not know what to call this one until I went to copy the document over, when a line from a Rick Wright (read Pink Floyd) solo song popped into my head. That lyric is Make a choice and it comes from the track Summer Elegy.

Enjoy.

##

Chapter One: Make a choice

"ARGH!" The piercing scream burst out of the handset and Shego had to distance it from her ear to stop it from deafening her.

What the hell?

The scream died only to be replaced by a cold voice, "hello, Convict."

Shego stiffened on hearing a voice she'd hoped never to hear again. Hastily, she brought the handset back to her ear. "Brooks," she replied, voice deadpan.

"Surprised to hear me, Convict?" the Captain asked rhetorically. "I suppose you were expecting to talk to your little friend instead. Well, I have her here and she is just dying for you to pay attention."

A single thought filled Shego's mind, oh shit!

##

A light breeze drifted across the salt flats of Bonneville Speedway, in northwest Utah, dragging a small dust cloud across the surface, which whipped around the green and black; mad-science modified Honda Blackbird. However, the motorbike stood propped up on its stand, alone; motionless. Its rider, instead of being astride it, sat bolt upright in the blue hovercraft that floated ten feet overhead.

Shit, shit, shit, she cursed internally, now knowing full well who had made the piercing scream that had started off the conversation; Bonnie. Fuck, I knew she'd get caught sooner or later. I warned her about calling me, but she wouldn't listen… and I was foolish enough to feel sorry for her and so risked her long-term safety in order to give her some short-term comfort. Why the hell did I not just hang up on her that first day? She had no time to beat herself up nor try and fathom her thought processes.

"What do you want, Brooks?" Shego barked aggressively.

Several hundred miles away, deep within the fortress that was the country's maximum-security prison, Captain Brooks stood within a small; white-walled interrogation room. To her left, was lance corporal Higgs and one of the other analysts from the control room, the pair bent over a laptop, as they ran a trace program to try and get a fix on the convict's location. While in front of her, sat the terrified figure of Bonnie Rockwaller, who had been restrained to a metal chair for over three hours now. Sweat covered the inmate's forehead, as she slowly rocked back in forth, having been subjected to two hours' worth of sensory disorientation. Her teal eyes held a terror beyond any Brooks had ever seen before.

"That's Sir to you, Convict," the Captain replied, her voice so cold it sounded as though it had been drawn from an ever-frozen lake. "And I would watch your tone if I were you."

Shego let out a short; sharp laugh, "HA! What are you going to do to me? I'm hundreds of miles away."

Captain Brooks' lips thinned and she glanced over at Higgs, whose expression was grim and the shake of his head told her that she would need to keep the convict on the line for longer… much longer. "Nothing," at least not at the moment. Brooks picked up the chrome fronted blindfold from the trolly containing the sensory disorientation equipment. Her words and the sight of the thing had been enough to elicit the previous scream from the inmate. "However, I have no qualms about inflicting more torture upon your little friend."

The second the Captain reached out with the blindfold again, Bonnie began to scream, "NO, GOD, PLEASE, NO. AHHHHHH!"

"BROOKS, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Shego yelled viciously into her phone; as she shot to her feet, her plasma burst into life around her balled up free fist. "Let her go! She's just a stupid kid who pissed off Kim Possible one too many times at school and hooked up with an equally stupid kid, whose dad plays supervillain for fun!"

Captain Brooks did not so much as flinch at the roar that bellowed through the phone, although, out of the corner of her eye, she saw that both the lance corporal and private had. Well, that is interesting. It seems like Shego does care to some extent about her cellmate… how much, I wonder? She set the blindfold back down on the trolly, but it took several moments before the inmate stopped screaming. "You should know that I have done nothing that will permanently damage Miss Rockwaller… yet. But, if it is for the greater good, then believe me, I will." It was no lie. The Captain had suffered too many humiliations because of the villainess' jailbreaks over the years, especially that first one; where the woman had blown a hole in the penitentiary wall and led a mass escape. Whatever it takes, I will catch you, Convict.

Fuck! Shego cursed internally. She knew Captain Brooks too well. That hateful bitch will do anything, so long as it serves her purpose. "And what is your greater good this time?" she spat, however, she need not have bothered asking the question for she already knew the answer.

The corner of the Captain's lips curled upwards ever so slightly, as the memory of when she had injected the convict with the serum to suppress her superpowered glow filled her mind. "You, back where you belong; in cellblock D," she replied smoothly.

"And how the hell do you expect to accomplish that?" Shego asked, although she already knew the woman's play. She's going to try and force me to turn myself in, in order to stop her torturing Bonnie… shit. Raising her free hand to her forehead, which still had her plasma active, she started to pace back and forth inside the small cockpit of the hovercraft. There's no way I'm turning myself in… I can't go back to prison, not now… but Bonnie doesn't deserve the hell Brooks is willing to put her through…

The Captain already knew that the convict would have deduced her intention, however, she stated it anyway, "simple. Either you return to the penitentiary and turn yourself over to me personally," her gaze met with Bonnie's as she finished, "or I will start to seriously hurt your little friend." Despite the convict's initial outburst, which could largely have been fuelled by her usual rage, Brooks doubted how much the woman's feelings towards her cellmate went but had deliberately used the word friend on the off chance that they stretched that far.

The second Brooks had finished talking, Bonnie, as expected, cried out in a pleading tone, "Shego, please, help me!"

FUCK! Shego cursed internally; her free hand seized a fistful of her hair and pulled on it tight. This should have been easy. She should have been able to simply laugh at Brooks for even daring to suggest that she would turn herself in and do so without a care for what happened to Bonnie. Alas, the events of the past few months had changed her as a person. No longer was she the uncaring; unfeeling Shego of old, who did not give a shit about anyone other than herself. Adopting Ru-Ru; her stint in jail as Bonnie's cellmate and their subsequent phone conversations and, most of all; her time spent with Kimmie. All of these things had changed her as a person; chipped away at her Shego persona, bent and broken the rules she had set out for herself six years ago until she had become someone else. Not the person she had been prior to descending into villainy, nor the peppy prude Miss Go that the attitudinator had made her. No, she had become someone different; a new Shego. Unfortunately, Captain Brooks had just reminded her that there was a serious downside to caring about people. What the hell am I going to do? I can't turn myself in, but I can't let Bonnie be tortured by that bitch?

In frustration, Shego formed a large plasma ball and hurled it over the edge of the hovercraft. It exploded upon hitting the ground; filling the air with a small cloud of dust and debris, leaving behind a small crater with a charred edge. And for a brief moment, she almost headed for the pilot's seat, intending to fly straight to the prison to break the girl out. Only she quickly reminded herself that it would be a fool's earned. Daylight would make sneaking in an impossibility and without knowing exactly where Bonnie was being held, the odds of her reaching her and getting back out again using the all-plasma-blazing method were slim to none. Yes, her abilities were beyond good, perhaps even beyond exceptional, but even she had her limits and Brooks would no doubt be waiting for her to try something so foolish.

Unfortunately, this left her with only one option. I'm sorry, Bonnie, you're going to hate me when you hear this, but I promise I'll get you out of there. Taking a deep breath, Shego let out a long, high-pitched laugh. "Who do you think I am, Brooks, Kim fucking Possible? The noble hero that will sacrifice themself in order to save the damsel in distress?"

On the other end of the phone, she could hear Bonnie beg in a tortured wail, "Shego, please, help me!"

I'm sorry, Bonnie, but this is the only way she might decide that torturing you will get her nowhere. Shego laughed again and made herself sound as callous and cruel as she had done in her early days of villainy. "I'm a supervillain, Brooks. I don't give a shit what you do to her. Break her knuckles, cut off bits of her fingers, gouge her eyes out, it won't make a blind bit of difference. I will never turn myself over to you."

Captain Brooks stared at the inmate; her expression unmoving as she listened to the expected refusal of the convict to turn herself in. While I can't tell what side of her is genuine; it doesn't matter. I never expected her to turn herself in. I can only hope that Higgs has found something… or that she decides to try her hand at a jailbreak, as if she does, I'll be ready for her!

Bonnie started to scream again, "no, please, Shego! Don't do this! Don't let her hurt me. I'm your friend!" The inmate's voice became a deafening shriek, "I'M YOUR FRIEND!"

Hmm, it seems like Miss Rockwaller was stupid enough to think of Shego as her friend. Captain Brooks shifted her gaze to lance corporal Higgs. The man had a look of frustration on his face and she knew that the trace was not going well. Dammit, this entire conversation is going to be a waste of time! "I will find you, convict," she declared with certainty. "Sooner or later, you will make a mistake and we will recapture you. Then you can spend the rest of your days rotting in cellblock D with what remains of Miss Rockwaller, once I'm finished with her."

"Do what you want to her, I don't care," Shego replied, her tone still empty, callous and cruel. "But you won't find me." A genuine smirk then formed on her face. "As you are undoubtedly aware by now, your lackeys are having no luck with their trace program. You won't find me," but you'll be seeing me soon enough, only you are not going to like it very much.

"NO, SHEGO, PLEASE!" Bonnie screamed again. "I'M YOUR FRIEND!"

The line went dead.

##

Captain Brooks looked over at lance corporal Higgs. "Tell me that you at least got something?" she asked, however, had a bad feeling she already knew the answer.

Higgs bit his lower lip, "ummm…" he hesitated, "I'm afraid not, Sir."

Hand almost crushing the handset, Brooks viciously launched it at the wall; as she yelled, "DAMMIT!" Seething, she drew in a ragged breath through gritted teeth. "You're telling me you had all that time to set up and I kept her on the line for almost ten minutes and you got nothing!"

Both the lance corporal and the private looked terrified. "We're sorry, Captain," Higgs stammered, "but she must be using something to scramble her signal… something that we just can't get a lock on… something beyond what our technology can track. We couldn't even pin down a continent."

"Get out of my sight!" Brooks barked and her gaze fell upon Bonnie. She'd put the girl through hell that day and for nothing. Yet it was not sympathy she felt, no. Instead, she felt the urge to hurt her. To do as Shego had suggested and start breaking her knuckles with a pair of pliers. Or to inject her with a large dose of the Hyoscine-pentothal, un-restrain her and watch her writhe around on the floor; screaming in agony. Except it would bring her no closer to catching the villainess and… and will watching her suffer even make me feel better? Her brain immediately answered that yes, yes it would. If she could not have Shego, then she could at least enjoy tormenting, torturing and breaking her 'little friend'. Only… only what will that accomplish? I've already wasted the bulk of my day off, do I really want to spend the rest of it torturing someone for no reason other than it might relieve some of my stress?

The Captain stared at the inmate, who was still shaking in her bonds; still whispering the words, "I'm your friend," to herself and whose teal eyes looked so utterly terrified.

"Captain," the voice of lieutenant Boyle drew Brooks out of her musings.

"What is it, Lieutenant?" she barked, not bothering to ask how he had known to pick this precise moment to appear.

"What do you want done with Miss Rockwaller?" Boyle asked.

Brooks gaze passed from the man to the inmate and she paused. It would be so easy to simply send him away and to take all her frustrations out on the girl, so, so, easy… "take her back to her cell," she eventually replied.

"As you wish," Boyle said and then indicated for a pair of guards to enter the room.

She thought for a moment, so, so, easy… "On second thoughts, Lieutenant, she's an utter mess. Take her to the infirmary and have the doctor admit her until such a time as he deems her fit to return to cellblock D."

Boyle looked at her questioningly, "Sir?"

"Just do it," Brooks barked, feeling that any delay in the inmate being removed could easily cause her to change her mind. Once admitted to the infirmary, she'll be beyond my reach for a few days… unless I choose to try and override the doctor's medical opinion, which would run the risk of him filing a complaint with Elizabeth. As was the case in any sort of military setup, the Commander in charge, be they a Captain, Colonel or General, ruled the roost over the entire facility, except when it came to the infirmary, where the chief medical officer held the final say, so long as there was someone above the commander to whom they could file a complaint.

Captain Brooks waited until the inmate had been removed from the room, before reaching in her pocket for her cell phone and dialling.

"Hello?"

"Corporal," Brooks replied, "I want you to meet me in my office."

The woman on the other end chuckled lightly. "It's my day off and, more importantly, it's your day off too, Lucy…"

Brooks felt a flash of irritation upon hearing the shorthand version of her forename. This was a bad idea.

"…however, I'll put aside all the important TV watching I've got planned and come to your office, if you promise to call me Amber for the rest of the day. Deal?"

Brooks counted herself fortunate that it was only a telephone call, as she knew that the look of infuriation that had just formed on her face would have caused the other woman to laugh. "You'll come to my office if I order you to, Corporal, and that is final." She was never this bold before we took that damn trip to Hillton.

Much to her horror, corporal Martinez laughed again, "sorry, Lucy, but I think I hear Pals calling. Do you want to repeat that?"

Captain Brooks balled her free fist and her gaze darted to the empty chair to which the inmate had been strapped. She forced herself to take a deep breath and then pinched the bridge of her nose, why does she never make this easy? Unfortunately, option two would have cleared several security gates on her way to the infirmary by now. Somehow, she managed to keep her tone level, as she replied, "I'd like you to meet me in my office… Amber."

She could almost imagine the smile on the other woman's face when she replied, "you know, it is really unfair of you to ask me to haul my ass up to your office at such short notice like this, especially with all the TV I've got planned for this evening. However, since you asked me nicely, sure, why not."

Brooks exhaled slowly. "Thank you, Co…" she caught herself just in time, "…I mean, Amber. I'll be there in the next fifteen minutes."

"Well, if you are only giving me fifteen minutes, I'm definitely not going to put my uniform on."

The Captain pursed her lips, but she managed to restrain herself from arguing with her. For Amber had hit the nail on the head with her first point; it was supposed to be both of their days off and nothing she said or did could force the woman to do anything she did not wish to. "Fine, but you had better not be late," she said by way of parting shot.

"See you there, Lucy," Amber replied and then hung up.

Taking one last look around the now empty interrogation room, Brooks pocketed her phone and left. She might have failed to gain any information that would help her recapture Shego, but she would be dealing with her frustrations in a manner that would not involve watching Miss Rockwaller screaming in agony and that at least was something.

##

"ARGH!" Shego yelled in frustration as she shot another large blast of plasma over the side of the hovercraft. "Why the hell did you have to go and be so stupid, Bonnie?" Still pacing back and forth, she spied an icebox and gave it a sharp kick. "And why did I have to be stupid enough to let you continue to be stupid?" Hands still glowing, she slammed her fists down on the edge of the craft and left two melted indents in the metal. She had to do something; had to save Bonnie from the sadistic clutches of Captain Brooks. Once more she had the thought of flying straight to the prison and trying to blast her way inside, however, her brain quickly reminded her of why she had rejected that option in the first place. What the fuck am I going to do?

She continued to pace as she pondered her options. I could try breaking in by stealth, however, after Kimmie broke me out, I'll bet Brooks has doubled the security and I don't have a fancy battle suit with stealth camo, nor any way of locating her without searching for her. It did not take her long to realise that no solution would get the girl out anytime soon. No, if she intended to break Bonnie out of jail, she would need to plan it carefully, …or know someone who is already planning to break her out.

Picking up her phone, Shego saw that she had a missed call and text message from Kimmie and it was only then that she recalled that her friend had been late for their race that afternoon. She opened the message and read, "Hey, I'm so, so sorry, but I had to deal with some idiot who tried to blow up Middleton and I ended up getting KO'd in the process, but I'm alright. Can I explain it properly over drinks tonight in Heartbeats?"

Hmmm, seems Kimmie ran into some trouble of her own today. But since she's not coming, I can deal with her later. She quickly sent back, "ok, 8 pm?" and then scrolled through her contacts list. Finding the one she was looking for, she dialled.

"Hola?" a voice replied in a thick Spanish accent.

"Hey, Senior, it's Shego."

"Ahh, the lovely, Miss Shego. I suspect you are calling me in regards to the delay in the paperwork for your new island. I spoke with…"

With everything that had happened with Kimmie over the past few weeks, she had forgotten about the island she'd purchased on a whim. However, the reminder would not go to waste. "Actually, it's not about that," she cut in. "It's about your jailbreak."

"Oh. Have you recalled something that might be of some help to me?" Senior asked, sounding hopeful.

"Better," Shego said firmly, "I'm going to help you plan and carry it out. However, it's going to cost you." While she was doing this for Bonnie's sake, she still had a reputation to protect.

"As I told you last time we spoke, my offer remains on the table until such a time as Junior and his fiancé are freed; the cost of your new island."

While the thought of haggling crossed her mind, she rejected it. Not only was she not doing it for the money, but one million dollars was already a substantial fee for her services. "That'll do nicely," she said, heh, like to see you make that much from one job, Kimmie. "Now, send me the location of your island in The Bahamas and I'll join you there on Monday."

"Certainly, I look forward to your arrival," Senior said and despite the fact it was going to cost him one million dollars, he sounded overjoyed. "I will see you then."

"Later, Senior," Shego replied and hung up. As she stared out towards the horizon, a single thought filled her mind, I'm coming for you, Bonnie, just hang on in there.