Chapter 2: Baby Steps

That night, Drew stayed up late working on digital paperwork. There was a lot to document; Shego's story was revealing, and the information crucial. Everything he had committed to memory went down in writing, so as not to be lost later. As Drew paused, rubbing his eyes from the blue light, there was a ping on his desktop. A private message.

MISTER GREEN: Good evening, Mr. Blue.

Drew pulled up the instant messenger, and paused. The messenger was a remote colleague of his, a fellow scientist whom Drew often exchanged theories with. As he looked at the message, his tongue in his cheek, an idea came to him. He began to respond.

MISTER BLUE: Mr. Green. Your timing is uncanny as always.

Mr. Green and Mr. Blue were codenames that the two of them used. Technically speaking, their interactions were off-books. Mr. Green preferred to remain anonymous, to avoid the prying eyes of Drew's employer. Drew didn't mind giving his correspondent his privacy. Three dots appeared as Mr. Green started typing his response.

MISTER GREEN: Working on anything interesting?

Drew snorted. "You don't know the half of it."

MISTER BLUE: Yes, actually.

MISTER GREEN: Care to elaborate?

MISTER BLUE: Do you remember my pet project?

MISTER GREEN: …

MISTER GREEN: The thief?

Drew grinned wryly. Mr. Green was always sharp as a tack. The doctor sent a winking emoji in response. Mr. Green inquired about some of the basics, and it was clear that Drew's contact was excited for him. This filled Drew with a sense of satisfaction; this was a project he had been working on for quite some time, after all. After the initial wave of excited, geeky texting, Mr. Green asked a question that gave Drew pause.

MISTER GREEN: Have you figured out how she's been pulling off these burglaries?

MISTER BLUE: The subject has some form of superhuman ability. I haven't yet determined its exact nature.

Drew was careful not to use Shego's name.

MISTER GREEN: …

MISTER GREEN: What all can she do?

"You know, I don't entirely know, Mr. Green," Drew muttered to himself, glancing down at the shuffled paperwork on his computer desk. He sifted through his notes on the 'glow', as Shego had called it, and found them to be fairly lacking. There was some kind of light and energy projection, but beyond that, Drew knew very little on the extent of her abilities.

MISTER BLUE: You know, I never thought to ask.

MISTER GREEN: Well, I have to get going. Keep me updated; I'm as curious as you are as to where this all leads.

Drew nodded, and rubbed his eyes once more as Mr. Green went offline. He glanced at the time, and winced, realizing how late it had gotten. Resolving to question Shego about the extent of her powers during their next session, the doctor decided to call it a night. He shut down the computer, and crawled into bed, eager to awaken and continue his research.

"Good afternoon, Shego," Drew said, closing the door to the holding room behind him. He once gain toted his massive briefcase, teeming with notes. Shego sat, her unrestrained hands in her lap, and murder in her eyes. She avoided Drew's gaze as he sat down, prompting him to greet her again. "Oh, I see you've gotten restraints off! Good behavior, I assume? Are you ready to continue where we left off?"

Shego scoffed. "As if, Doc. Do you know what they made me have for dinner last night?"

"No, what, was it something awful? Was the lasagna cold in the center?" Drew said.

"It was terrible," Shego said, levelling her bloodshot, killer gaze on the doctor. He gulped. "Not to mention the little night-night serum they put in the water."

Drew looked appalled. "They what? They drugged you?"

Shego nodded. She leaned back in her chair, her neck lolling dangerously to the side. "Yeah, I mean, I asked the punk-ass from green-witch what happened when I woke up. He just said 'oh, bugger, standard protocol, cheerio'"

"Well. I truly doubt he said 'cheerio'," Drew said.

"I'm paraphrasin', Doc," Shego said, lurching forward and staring him in the face once again. Drew grimaced, and leaned back a bit.

"I think you might be suffering some unintended side effects due to your, eh, 'glow', Shego," the doctor said calmly. "Listen, let's keep our conversation brief and topical today shall we? I want to know about your powers."

"Oh, yeah," Shego started to say.

"Perfect. So, firstly-" Drew began to say.

"That is topical," Shego said. Drew blinked.

"... Yes," he said. "But, your powers."

"Right," Shego grinned slightly. "What about 'em?"

"Well," Drew sighed, scribbling in his notebook. "What are they?"

Shego leaned back, as if considering the question thoroughly. After a moment of muttering to herself, she held up a finger, and began to rattle off a string of answers. "I can create a sort of glowing energy that acts as both an offense and a defense. It simultaneously damages the world around me and defends the parts of my body it surrounds. Aside from that, I think it also grants me some resistances to basic sickness, and I can go for longer without eating than I should be able to."

Drew frantically jotted down the words she said, shaking his head with amazement. "You are… incredible. So, when did you quit the superhero gig and start robbing high security facilities?"

Shego's expression darkened. "Mm?"

"I just mean… Did you lose a sense of responsibility? Or was it more like-"

"You don't know jack about responsibility, Doc," Shego said, her voice low and dangerous.

Drew sighed, but put his hands up. "Alright, Shego. I won't pry further, I should not and I will not. You've put up with me with elegance, and for that I thank you. I think I ought to let you rest."

"You think I wanna sleep now?" Shego spat. Drew was already heading towards the door.

"I think you should," Drew called back to her. "If you're feeling better, we can try again tomorrow."

"Then what're you gonna do?" Shego asked, as if she didn't care if he lived or died.

"I," the Doctor said, "am going to speak with the 'punkass from green-witch'."

As the door closed, Shego shook her head, and couldn't hold back the little cackle that bubbled up in her guts. For whatever reason, Drew made her laugh despite herself. Probably because he's a total dork-ass, she thought to herself. Then, she shook her head, trying to clear it. Since she had woken up that morning, her head had been ringing intensely. She felt… suppressed. Not like the tranquilizer darts from Hinobi Security, but a more full-body, aching suppression.

"Ugh, this sucks…" Shego muttered, slumping forward against the metal table.

Maybe a little more sleep wasn't such a bad idea.

"I was willing to overlook the manacles on behalf of her unknown power levels," Drew had to force himself not to shout, keeping his voice low enough to not disturb the rest of the Glitch Techs down the hall. "I was willing to overlook that, Special Agent Youngblood, but you drugged her?! Are you insane?"

"It's standard procedure." Youngblood said, looking deadpan at Drew through his vizor. "Keeping their brain in a tired state will further interrogation results. Not only that, but it keeps her from using her power, and makes it easier for us to mindwipe her when this is all over."

"It's not been decided if we're wiping her mind or not!" Drew seethed. "She is a human being! How can you be so heartless?"

Youngblood snorted. "You haven't had her try to take your head off, Doctor. Tell me how human she looks then."

"I'm going to speak to Phil about this," Drew said. Youngblood shook his head, unable to hide his chagrin.

"Go ahead," he said smugly, "the commander's the one who ordered it. Oh, he's also stopping in tomorrow to check on our progress. Why don't you just talk to him then?"

Drew grimaced, but then turned on his heel and stormed out of the facility. Humiliated, furious, and filled with a passionate drive to turn this back on Youngblood somehow, Drew drove home. For the rest of the afternoon, he paced across his condo, thinking of ways to get a handle on the situation. Unfortunately, most of the satisfactory methods of vengeance led to him losing his job. Eventually, Drew's rage wore down to fatigue, and he dragged himself to bed.

Before he went to sleep, almost as an after thought, Drew sent Mr. Green his notes on Shego's powers, using a theoretical anonymous person as the actual bearer, in order to keep her identity secret. Then, with a sigh, he shut down the computer, and tucked himself into sleep. For the rest of the night, he continued to plot his next course of action.

Drew Lipsky was not one who liked being caught unawares.