A/N: Thanks to the marvelous bcbdrums for editing!
Woven Paths Part 1
Shego's heart was pounding as she stepped back, but as her head hit the corner...everything shifted. She wasn't a scared young girl, and she for sure wasn't about to look like she was a cowering weakling in a corner. She fell into a defensive stance despite her nerves, taking in angles not to fight, but to run. Four of the thin emaciated looking hench-people stood shoulder to shoulder in the small hallway. She avoided looking at Dollmaker, ignoring everything about him. A small glance showed that he and Dr. Botox still stood in the room's doorway. Devious Shark, comical costume and all. stood behind the hench-people.
She watched the twitch of the stiff, altered joints of the hench-people all shift into fight mode. That was her cue. She lunged as if to fight but dove over them and kicked off the wall. Devious Shark grabbed for her, but she gave a swift knee to his face and used it for extra momentum to thrust herself forward down the hall, knocking his ludicrous mask around. She sprinted, not caring if they were pursuing her. She knew her powers would only amplify their energy and she wasn't going to risk a brief power spurt to do that. Her hand hit the banister of the stairs where Maisy stood ascending them for the night no doubt.
"Get out of here— Ahhh!" Shego's hands flared with pain. The gloves she still wore constricted.
The pain surged through her like electricity, her hands sparking in green as she tried to burn the gloves off. It only increased the pain. Maisy had an apologetic look on her face as she held up a little black clicker. It was glowing green and pulsated with the same rhythm as the electric pulsing in the gloves. Shego's body felt tired and rigid as the pain increased. She could feel hands tighten around her arms to hold her. There was little she could do to fight as electricity ran through her nerves.
"Come Shego, I know you better than that," came a voice behind her.
Dollmaker's words echoed in her head as the pain took over completely, and darkness flooded her eyes.
The racing paranoia was overtaking the thoughts that the gauntlet was trying to push into Drakken's head... He blocked out Hermes telling him to calm down and the thrashing of the other gauntlet trying to break free. He gained a brief moment of rationality...a thought that perhaps Devious Shark had only been a temporary hired hand, and had no actual connections to Dr. Botox... Shego was on her way back... The inn was too busy... It was a weekend after all.
"Thank you!" gasped Hermes.
Drakken spun around to look at him restraining his now-loose hand as it calmed down and became docile once more. Drakken continued to think positive, despite the array of failed thoughts pushing into his head and what he assumed was Hermes's nerves transferring to him.
"How certain are you that Devious Shark is the comic from the retreat we were all on?" asked Drakken.
"Completely. Cleopatra was ranting about how annoyed she was that Dr. Sweets had brought him around or something...because he kept cracking bad jokes that made her uncomfortable," shrugged Hermes. "I mean, she only brought that up before ditching us in Tibet a second time and because she'd seen Devious Shark while in Tibet... Then we got stuck in a canyon and I really stopped listening."
Drakken stared at him as he rambled. He'd barely heard any of it, only the confirmation of his fears. Drakken saw Hermes's hand twitch and tried to calm down, but there was a wash of unease and...hurt, hitting him that felt forced. Drakken snatched up Hermes's phone that had been on the table.
"Do you care to explain what's going on or are you just...doing your own thing now?" asked Hermes in agitation. This shifted in Drakken as well.
You never think...just act... That's why you fail...
Drakken glared at Hermes who grabbed the wrist of the gauntlet as it moved.
Drakken tried to calm himself as he dialed the number for the inn from Hermes phone into his before giving it back to him. Drakken waited for the phone to pick up...hoping... His chest was pounding as he repeated a mantra of 'just a coincidence'... He was wrong... He was wrong often. This could be one of those times... He might simply be panicking for nothing...
No answer. Drakken felt himself tense as he dialed again.
It rang. No answer.
Again...and again... Drakken felt the panic mingling with raw fear as no one at the inn even bothered to pick up the line. His mind began spiraling in directions he couldn't place, shoving together pieces of a mental puzzle that didn't fit or fit too well, trying to figure out any possible reasons he could... All while still hitting the call button.
"Drakken?" Hermes's voice cut through his thoughts. Drakken looked up from the phone to see Hermes gesturing to his clenching hand. "What exactly is going on?"
"If Devious Shark is the comic from the retreat...then he was working with Taxley...er...Dr. Botox," Drakken growled. "Whatever they call themselves... And if they still are then Shego is in danger, or might be...I don't know... And I won't know until someone answers the phone!"
Drakken yelled as it again went to a dial tone. In a split second the gauntlet snatched the phone from his hands with a flare of sparks and smoke as the pieces fell to the ground. Drakken glared at Hermes, who looked just as taken aback. Drakken took calming breaths as the gauntlet became docile again.
"Okay, you need to stop yelling and making our new fashion accessories angry," hissed Hermes as he rubbed what part of his wrist was left exposed. "Taxley? Isn't that the guy who double-crossed Shego and Pandora over a year ago? How do you know Devious Shark was working with them at the retreat?"
Drakken stared at him in confusion. He had a vague image of Pandora helping an unconscious Hermes...
"Those...whatever they are...test subjects-turned-army... Those apparently are Taxley's thing." Drakken narrowed his eyes and almost his lost train of thought before continuing. "They were after Shego at the retreat... The comic...shark boy... He was in on it... Tried to grab Shego but she blasted him."
Hermes looked more confused.
"That...wasn't Global Justice?" asked Hermes. Drakken felt another wave of emotion fighting over him that didn't feel like his.
"Didn't Pandora tell you?" asked Drakken. That feeling swiftly turned back to a form of anger and anguish he couldn't place.
"She doesn't tell me a lot of things," scoffed Hermes. "Could have been a simple hired hand at the time... He's not very well known...and probably just takes odd jobs."
"Right...give me your phone again," ordered Drakken. There was a twisting in his gut. "Even if that's the case...we still need Shego for the—"
Drakken was cut off as there was another array of sparks as Hermes's hand crushed his phone now. Drakken felt a boiling of fury overcome his attempt at calm.
"This!" Drakken yelled at the hand that had broken the phones, "has nothing to do with you so cut it out!"
"Technically it does," said Hermes. He sighed as his hand finished crushing the phone. "We were getting Shego to get them off at first.
"Well don't tell them that!" snapped Drakken. Hermes blinked at him and slowly raised a brow.
"Aren't they—" Hermes began but Drakken growled.
"Yes! They're attached to our psychics," he hissed.
"'Psyches'?" suggested Hermes. His right hand lunged towards a tool. "Will you calm down!"
Drakken glared and then took a deep breath.
"Forgive me if I am otherwise preoccupied with things more than words," he grumbled. Drakken felt the panic waver. "She doesn't have her phone so I can't track her—"
"You have a tracking device on her?" asked Hermes.
Because you're insecure... You know she wants to leave... She only stays because of pity.
Drakken took a deep breath and pushed the thoughts down. He knew it was the gauntlets but he assumed it was less Hermes's thoughts and more the things were getting used to him again. The idea was nauseating, but he needed to move past that and focus on the current situation. They needed to get to the Villain's Inn. If Shego had walked into a trap, that's where she had been headed... If she was fine...then it would just be a desperate act to get the gauntlets off.
"We have to go," said Drakken. "If we go to the Villain's Inn—"
"Oh so now we're traveling with these?" Hermes indicated to their hands. His expression fell. "I'm sure it's all—"
"You can stay here if you want, but I don't know how well off you'll be with it being on its own," Drakken snapped and indicated to Hermes' hand. "Mine will drive me mad... Yours...well good luck."
Drakken didn't care to stand around and argue about going or not. He began stalking out the lab and towards the hover car, mentally calculating how far the hover car would actually make it... If there was time for a tune up... His mind was swirling with every possible scenario... Good...bad... What he might return to if he left a gauntlet unchecked. Drakken's pace slowed as he felt a surge of guilt but didn't turn around. He needed to focus.
All he would do is slow me down... Could be in on it... Who's working for who...? Does Cleopatra know... Is this all a ploy... Am I overthinking...
Drakken hissed at his wave of thoughts. They did nothing to help him move faster or sort out the hover car concerns. He looked at the hover car as he walked into their garage area. He hopped in and started it up.
Why even bother... Shego would do better without you.
Drakken narrowed his eyes.
It would help you get rid of these feelings you try to deny...if she wasn't around.
Drakken jumped out of the hover car and was about to storm back to the lab when he smacked right into Hermes as he rounded the corner. Drakken's already sore nose stung on the impact. He felt a rush of anger come over him versus the pain and annoyance he should have felt. He looked down to see Hermes on the ground but before he could say anything, a leg swept under him and he hit the floor painfully.
"What was that for!" snapped Drakken as Hermes got up.
"What do you think," grumbled Hermes. "Let's go so I can get this thing off."
"That was childish and uncalled for," snapped Drakken as he got off the floor. "I was clearly on my way back!"
Not like he wouldn't doubt that...
Drakken took a deep breath as he watched Hermes's gauntlet scratch along the side of the hover car.
Hermes suddenly looked nervous.
"That was not intentional," he stated firmly.
Drakken said nothing as he climbed into the hover car and started it up. He instead focused on the gears of the hover car and just how fast he could push it before something broke. His eyes darted towards Hermes's hand and he had a flashback of the shredded hover car he'd been stranded on the island with...because of the very things on their hands.
Stay calm... You can't help Shego if you can't get there...
There was fear and nausea in his stomach again. Panic.
Shego's head was pounding as she felt herself come to. Her whole body ached and twitched and her hands felt blistered. She tried to rub her head, but she couldn't move. Something was holding her in place. She blinked her eyes and saw dim light. She was in a lab...overlooking a lab... There were cylinders around the far end of different colors...something pumping into the ground with pistons...and blurred figures as she blinked away the grogginess. Her vision came into focus on the tank nearest her. A slender near-skeletal body floated in it.
Images flooded her head from a memory she didn't want to remember. Young women... Propped-up corpses... Disfigured...altered... Dressed like her...
"Dollmaker." She felt it leave her lips with a terrified ache.
"Ah, you're awake." The voice was near her left and her head turned quickly.
While the years had changed the once portly middle-aged man into a slender and aging elder, Shego recognized the empty eyes of the person who'd plagued her nightmares back in Team Go. She felt the rush to attack, but couldn't move. She finally registered that she was bound to a vertical platform. She knew thrashing did nothing, but she couldn't stop the flight and fight instinct inside her.
"Oh, Shego, my dear...please do be careful," Dollmaker made a tsk sound and sighed. "You never could relax."
"Don't talk like you know me...let me go!" snapped Shego. She pulled with all her strength.
"Oh, but I do know you," smiled Dollmaker. He pouted. "You used to be such a perfect young girl..."
There was a sound of boots on metal and Shego looked to see Dr. Botox walking up the steps of a small platform towards them.
"Try not to get attached," sighed Botox. "When you do that, you let your guard down."
Shego tried to regain some composure as she looked at Botox's face. The skin looked like a new mask, fashioned on with a golden eye patch that seemed to hold it in place.
"New hideous accessory." She tried to sound confident. "Oh and I like the eye-patch."
Botox smiled, which barely affected the chemically-treated face. The squint of the eye showed no wrinkles.
"I was a little sad your boyfriend wasn't with you this time." Botox tapped the gold patch. "I was so hoping to repay him the favor...but I suppose there'll be opportunities... I can hold grudges for generations."
"He gave you an eye-patch?" asked Dollmaker. "That seems rather nice."
"I have forgotten how...simple you can be," sighed Botox as they glared at Dollmaker. "I mean my eye you fool."
"Oh...well then you should choose your words more carefully," grumbled Dollmaker. His attention turned back to Shego who was desperately trying to get her wrists free. "Why must you always be so difficult? Think of how much simpler life could be."
Shego growled as his hand touched her shoulder. Her body felt rigid and her skin crawled at his touch. Botox seemed bored and unamused. Shego's eyes scanned the lair as her vision had fully returned. The hench-people abominations that weren't in tanks seemed to be mindlessly cleaning or just standing. She tried to count them and look for any possible exits—
"If you're looking for an escape route," smirked Botox, "there are two entry points on the left and the right...should you escape your bindings...and get past my beautiful creatures. There are miles to cover...and they wouldn't be painless in any way."
"Pfft, beautiful?" scoffed Shego. Her eyes darted to the exits in calculation of Botox' threats, "You mean your monstrosities... Tell me...do you dig up corpses just to make them look like that?"
Botox's tight, smug expression shifted. The face did little to shift but the narrowed eye showed nothing but anger. Then it shifted to something she couldn't quite read.
"My creatures...like you...didn't know who not to cross nor when to bite their tongue." The smirk returned and stretched the taut skin. "So I took them away...made better use of them. Vagabonds, liars, thieves, harlots..." Botox gestured to random figures and then their hand fell on one sweeping nearby. "Those who pry too far into what they don't understand."
Shego had already figured as much, but the careless confirmation...made her stomach turn. She preferred the blindness to thinking they were never human and made to look like they had been. And the knowledge that the creatures...were once human...made a new panic swell in her. She wondered if this had been what Dollmaker had been trying to do years ago; make a type of distorted doll army...but had no cognitive means to do so. Just the basic idea and supplies from Botox. Shego should have been silent or tried to talk her way out, but her instinct to lash out was being stewed up by her fear.
"So...who copied who, then?" she scoffed. She still couldn't look at Dollmaker but she nodded her head towards him as she stared at Botox. "You rip off doll boy or did he rip off you?"
Botox laughed, which furthered Shego's discomfort. The laugh was shrill and loud but the face barely moved. Dollmaker's hand finally let go of Shego's shoulder, but the relief was short-lived as he moved to stand near Botox and she couldn't avoid seeing him.
"I suppose you could say...it's more a family business," said Botox in a bored tone. "Some fall flatter than others, but one can only spare so much time for the brainless."
Dollmaker looked annoyed by the statement.
"Are you referring to Devious Shark, because he is still—" Dollmaker was cut off.
"I was referring to you," snapped Botox. "As much as it pains me...'doll boy' as you call him...is my son."
Shego's eyes shot open as she looked between the two. She was well aware that Botox was once a woman...decades ago... Her mind was quickly running the timeline when it clicked that it overlapped correctly. Even from a psychology standpoint, seeing Dollmaker's obsession with dolls and perfection... And the once well-known plastic surgeon with mutilated people as their guards, was his parent... Dots were connecting that she'd rather not be connected. She let out a nervous snort.
"Rotten apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it," said Shego. "So did you bust him out of the psych ward or did he never actually go?"
"Oh he went...thought it might help," shrugged Botox. Dollmaker looked annoyed. "He is capable...but a complete idiot."
"I am right here," hissed Dollmaker. Botox rolled their eyes as Dollmaker glared. "They said in the hospital that this belittling behavior—"
"Oh, I am not listening to this again... Just take the blood we need so we can get this over with. The sooner you get your doll, the sooner I can get to work with those samples," groaned Botox. The smile they gave Shego made her blood run cold. "I hope you're good with cleaning, because quite frankly...we need a better maid... The other one sweeps in circles."
Shego's stomach sank as her eyes fell over to the one monstrosity of Botox who was still sweeping the same spot. Her wrists pulled at the restraints begging for them to snap.
Drakken looked around the Villain's Inn, attempting to see Shego. He hadn't seen her hoverboard, nor did his shifting nerves sway. He'd spent the better part of the flight trying to time how long it took to get there and how many hours had seemed to have passed since she'd apparently left Dean's apartment. His eyes scanned over the dance floor and the bar.
"Since the board isn't here, maybe she headed back and we missed her," said Hermes. Drakken knew he was attempting to keep him calm but he felt nothing but annoyance and he wasn't sure if it was him or the gauntlet by that point.
Drakken drifted through the crowd towards the bar where he saw Conner cleaning the counter. The paranoia was running through Drakken as he approached, mistrust billowing in him. Logically he was aware he lived in a villain world where trust was only something that existed on a base level...but his mind was lost in the stories he'd heard of the villains of old from his uncle growing up...and just how deeply woven some loyalties might still be. Drakken placed his hands on the counter.
"Hey Dr. Drakken, what will it be?" smiled Conner.
"Has Shego been here?" asked Drakken. Conner raised a brow.
"I saw her earlier during shift change...don't know if she's still here. I'd ask Maisy, she was talking to her," said Conner nodding towards where a blonde bartender served drinks at the end of the bar. "Another villain quarrel?"
"No," muttered Drakken as he headed towards the end of the bar. He heard Hermes start talking to Conner.
Drakken felt a rush of irritation.
She's probably upstairs... You should be back working on the laser... You don't need to be here.
Drakken squinted his eyes in frustration and clenched the fist the gauntlet resided on, a swarm of noise in his head. The thing was starting to focus more...if that was possible. It had been less nauseating and destructive than he remembered. Drakken chalked it up to them working on separate beings versus tormenting one. He felt the calm return and opened his eyes. They met the bartender's he was headed towards. He expected a pleasant smile or an eye-roll at another patron. What he hadn't expected was a wash of panic across her face before she seemed to quicken her pace to leave.
Drakken's confusion turned to anger rather quickly. He moved faster to cut her off and she darted towards the back room. He didn't know much about the layout of the Villain's Inn but he was certain there was an exit back there or she wouldn't have booked it. Drakken wasn't thinking. He simply followed, knocking two arm-wrestling patrons from their bar stools as he used them to get over the bar counter and follow after.
Why is she running? Why do you think... You were right. Something's wrong... Maybe it's just that a villain is glaring at her? You're—
Drakken felt a strange fog come over him and heard yelling from the bar as the heavy door swung closed behind him. The back of the bar held a small kitchen, with a dim light and the smell of grease wafting through the air. He scanned through the darkness of one side, looking for movement. His eyes spotted the exit and he ran through the door to the dark alleyway...or what was once an alleyway. It was simply a large pocket between buildings with only a barely-there gap towards the parking lot. The only way out was up. He heard the door squeak behind him.
Duck.
He didn't argue with the voice in his head. He ducked. A swift wind flew over him along with the sound of metal hitting the wooden door. The sound and breeze he'd felt made his anger swiftly change...or combine with a sense of fear and panic. He'd just chased a woman into an alleyway through a villain establishment. He had a brief moment to realize that might have not been viewed as what it really was. He fell to the side as he heard the wind whistling from the metal again.
A bat hit the concrete where he'd stood a second before his fall. The pavement below cracked with a spark. He looked to see the blonde woman he'd chased out there wielding the bat, her eyes a fogged-over swirl of white and a blank expression on her face. Something around her neck was giving off a dull red glow. The events since the first swing she'd made had occurred in mere seconds, but it seemed his adrenaline rush was already fading and he didn't move as she raised the bat again.
On instinct he slammed his eyes shut. No bat came, but instead a tightening of the gauntlet on his wrist was the only pain. There was the sound of a loud thud and whispered apologies. A strange swirl of fog seemed to muffle them.
"Drakken...calm down... I'm sorry...I'm not doing this." Drakken's eyes shot open at the sound of Hermes's voice.
Hermes stood with a panicked expression, his gauntlet-clad hand around Maisy the bartender's throat as he held her up against the door. His other hand yanked at the wrist pinning her. The bat fell from her hand as she kicked Hermes with great force, but the gauntlet held tight.
"Ow! Drakken...a little help in any way would be... Ow! Nice... Hey!" Drakken shook out of his fog and tried to focus.
"What is going on—" Conner came into the doorway. "Release her immediately."
"I am trying," hissed Hermes. Drakken saw the gauntlet relax slightly and the thrashing slow.
The glow on her neck...
With a swift twitch Hermes's hand reacted and released her, yanking whatever the glowing item was with it. Something small and metal began pumping small black goo down Hermes's hand before he dropped whatever it was, the blinking glowing brighter. Maisy was taking wheezing breaths from where she'd slid to the ground after Hermes had let her go.
"He said that...would...help...if...I'm in...trouble," she muttered to herself, her wide eyes and breathing showing shock settling in.
Drakken's mind was a swirl of questions but they were trumped by the reason he'd come in the first place, the blinking, garbage-spewing device no longer leaving any question about who was involved.
"Botox and Devious Shark are involved aren't they?" asked Drakken sharply. Maisy pushed herself into the wall. "Where are they?"
She remained silent and Drakken felt anger.
"What is going on here... What is that—" Hermes shoved Conner into the kitchen and closed the door as Maisy moved away from it, shutting the man inside and leaving the three of them outside.
Drakken looked at Hermes, but the other man's eyes were glued to the device on the ground as the gauntlet hand held a firm grip on the door. Drakken ignored this and instead knelt down near Maisy. He wanted to grab her and demand where Shego was, but that's not how he reacted. His anger was won over by some form of pity. If it was a mirror of Hermes playing through the gauntlets... he didn't know. His hands balled into fists of forced calm as he spoke as softly as he could.
"Where is Shego?"
Shego's fingers desperately tried to reach the clasp on her restraints. But whatever was on the gloves she wore was making her fingers numb and she couldn't get any grip. She had no idea how much time she had before Dollmaker came back for blood-samples. Her eyes fell to the cleaning figure from before, now on the platform and sweeping in slow circles. Shego's nerves tensed as she examined the creation. Paled skin, thin bleached hair, and glowing thin tubes on their neck, head, and arm. She'd never looked at one of them that closely. Their attire reminded her of an old nurse uniform.
How cliche...a doctor and nurses.
She wondered if there was anything left of who they used to be inside them. She knew some must have tongues, as she'd heard one talk before... Perhaps that had been a newer one at the retreat. She wondered how old they were... Who were they... Did anyone miss them? Were they someone's loved ones long thought dead? Shego didn't like the twisting turns in her stomach. She needed to focus on not becoming one of them, not who they were.
She yanked against her restraints as the figure swept around her, in circles as Botox had pointed out. A thought came across Shego and she took a chance.
"Hey...hey," she said in a whisper. It stopped sweeping. "Hey...how does it work... Can you...can you let me out?"
The thing looked at her with fogged-over eyes for a second before continuing sweeping. She let out a groan. Shego wondered what time it was...and if they'd brought her purse with her or left it at the Villain's Inn. She wondered if Drakken would check on her since she hadn't returned.
He probably hasn't even noticed...unless he needs something opened.
She knew he had a tracker on her phone. She'd often planned on yelling at him for it, but instead she'd retaliated by putting one on his belt...which he no longer had. She rolled her eyes and mentally began figuring out a way to get a new one on their tight budget, and wondering if there was a spare one in one of the storage rooms.
Not like it's going to matter...
Her eyes narrowed at her own thoughts as she pulled on her restraints. She didn't know a way out of this. She bit back the fear swirling through her and any tears that wanted to fall. She tried to focus, but images of the creatures before her and memories of preserved and rotting bodies dressed like her were not letting the fear go so easy. She looked around again and saw her hoverboard in the far distance. They'd brought it... Her mind raced. There had to be something on that for a tracker or an emergency signal like her suit's belt. There had been one on the old one, so why wouldn't the upgraded one have it.
"Come on Dr. Drakken...be obnoxious and invasive," she hissed.
The sweeping figure paused at her voice. She wondered if it was only used to Botox's voice and she had confused it. Shego found it easier to refer to them as an it. Who knew what gender they were... Their bodies were all misshapen and nearly identical, most likely from Botox's experiments. Shego took a chance and tried again.
"Do you understand me?" asked Shego. It stared at her. "I know some of you can talk... One spoke at the retreat... Do you have personalities?"
It tilted its head. Shego sighed.
"Can you do me a favor... Go flip a toggle switch under my hover board," she practically snorted in desperation. "Kind of hoping to get my...my friend to come get me."
Shego's shoulders fell.
No one is coming... It's just you. You don't even know where you are.
Shego looked around. The thing was still staring at her with a tilted head and blank expression. It was her only company, and if Botox lived up to their threats...would be her company... forever. Shego went back to wondering how much human was in them again. Did they socialize with each other or just wander around like zombies?
"What do you all do around here for fun?"
Its grip on the broom slacked. A few others had stopped moving.
"I mean, if I'm going to end up like one of you...need something to look forward to, right? Do you watch movies? How about dance...karaoke? Or is this it."
Shego was rambling. She didn't know if it was fear or nerves...or both. She'd been in plenty of sticky situations and near-impossible scenarios. What made this one so different?
Those were possible arrests or a bullet wound...
Shego let out a shaky sigh as she spoke.
"I'm taking it as a no on fun around here," she spoke. Her eyes fixated on her restrained feet.
Wow. So I'm just giving up then.
It was an internal battle she had in her head. She was vaguely aware of rambling under her breath, or maybe louder. Incoherent options...a series of regrets that seemed trivial and silly to dwell on. She found herself musing about how at least Junior had Bonnie to spend time with... How she wished she had gone another girls' night out... How long Drakken would take to realize she was gone... She thought about Carmella weaseling her way...
"Dr. Sweets," hissed Shego. It clicked. "That piece of human chewed-up gum."
Shego felt rage boil through her as things began clicking. She thought about Carmella's strange numbing candies and how they had been related to Dollmaker's early experiments... She'd wondered about that connection. Not the fact Dollmaker got it from Botox...but what if it was direct from the source? And how at the retreat, Botox had...somehow...found her there. Then the memory of New Year's, and Carmella introducing Drakken to Devious Shark...'a friend of hers.'
Her mind was connecting dots she didn't know were even there. Dean having to leave that night, and all his strange problems and unease while gone... Had that been a night intended to capture her?
She looked up to see that a majority of the creatures had moved towards her. She wanted to curse and yell but they brought her back to reality.
This is what Botox did to people who didn't obey... Deals and contracts gone wrong.
It was like a deal with the devil. Follow your job or become...whatever stood before her. She glared with rage still boiling, but she would deal with that later. She needed to get out of there. She needed— The broom was propped next to her. She looked through the small gathering of beings towards the hover board. The figure that had been sweeping was walking in circles around it and Shego felt a surge of hope spring through her as she heard a small click sound in the silent lair.
It listened!
Follow the Crazy this Way -