Woven Paths Part 2

Drakken paced the concrete around the hover car. He ran his hands through his hair and hissed as the claws of the gauntlet scratched him. The bartender had not been helpful. They'd only gained the knowledge that the thing around her neck had been supposed to protect her if she ran into trouble; a gift from Devious Shark...or rather, Botox... It had been a fail-safe, not an aid. Drakken had been trying to pull every story from his memory he'd ever heard about Botox...but he didn't know which were just scary stories elaborated on from fact, and which were actual truths. He was regretting not letting Eddie go through those attic boxes now... They were all in code, but... Drakken changed his thought process. He could focus on what he should have done later... The crooked leg of the laser came back to mind and he wondered about stabilizing it. He grumbled under his breath that his mind was going elsewhere and not where he needed it to be.

"So are you panicking...or do you have a plan," asked Hermes. He was looking at his trembling hand. "Because—"

"I don't know what to do... It's not like there's some sort of...beacon that—" Drakken's rant was cut off as the hover car started making a beeping noise.

They both looked at each other and then at the hover car. Drakken practically dove over Hermes to get into it. He banged his knee and fell into the console. His hand fumbled for the location radar he used for Shego's phone tracker. It was usually silent unless she had her belt on to send him a location signal on purpose.

"I thought she didn't have her phone—" Hermes began.

"Shhh," snapped Drakken.

"...Is it voice activated?" whispered Hermes. Drakken looked at him in confusion. "Well then don't shush me."

Drakken ignored him as the screen came into focus. It was spinning to a location, but it was broad and not nearly isolated enough. It took him a moment to realize it was from her hoverboard; something he'd neglected to put on a central zoom location...mostly because he figured if she got stranded, making her wait would be funny while he looked for her.

You're a fool!

Drakken tried to lock in the coordinates or even general ones, but the beeping stopped. The screen stayed frozen but where the dot had been was gone. The coordinates hadn't been saved. He felt nothing... He leaned more towards confusion, but he couldn't place where his feelings wanted to run. Before the war of words running in his mind could settle, Hermes interjected.

"Tibet." There was a waver in Hermes's voice. "Of course it's Tibet...couldn't be anywhere else."

"What?" asked Drakken. He looked back at the screen. "Tibet?"

Drakken didn't question the logic, nor think about narrowing the location down. He yanked himself in front of the steering column and began locking in a general direction. The hover car roared to life, a little more loudly than it normally would have he noted. He heard scrambling as he lifted off, not having realized Hermes was only partially in the hover car as he did so. As Hermes hit the floorboards, Drakken gunned it.

Shego closed her eyes and cringed as the electrical sound resonated throughout the room. She didn't want to look at the figures being tormented in front of her. The sound stopped and she opened her eyes to see the figures who had seemed to come to her aid now twitching and shaking as they resumed their posts. Her chest was pounding as she looked towards where Dollmaker stood with a sad expression on his face before turning to her. It wasn't sincere, but forced.

"Some are defective...and it's unnecessary for you to make them go through that." He put down some sort of device on the metal table that was next to her.

"I didn't do anything," hissed Shego. "Clearly, your so called defects are stronger—"

"It is simply residual," grumbled Botox. They let out a deep almost apologetic sigh. "There is nothing left up there that would make them...in any way conscious of actions. They are susceptible to coercion at most. So the shock treatment was wholly unnecessary."

Dollmaker dropped a metal item he was messing with on the tray.

"But—" he was cut off.

"Nothing was gained by it," snapped Botox. They shook their head and looked at Shego. "Don't do that again...not that it would work... They'll associate that action with pain for a while...before they forget."

"Is that what those metal strips do...cut off nerves?" asked Shego. "Block thoughts?"

"They keep them living," said Botox calmly and tapped their own head. "There is nothing much up there anymore...but the synthetic fluids filter through their systems, keep them sustained. Without it...they would be nothing more than vegetables... It was actually something I created to help regain the consciousness of someone with severe brain damage... It did not go as planned...but it has its purpose now."

Shego started to wonder how alive or dead the hench-people actually were...as if suspended on the border. The way the one had looked at her before going to the hover-board... She didn't fully believe there was nothing there. Botox walked over to the hover-board and handed the broom back to the one. Other hench-people seemed to scurry from where they had surrounded that one. Shego narrowed her eyes and felt her chest pound in panic. Botox leaned over the board before clicking the switch off. Shego's heart fell to her stomach.

Botox shook their head as they moved through the hench-people and back towards the platform.

"Hoping that signal would get to your Dr. Drakken, were you?" sighed Botox as they looked at the twitching hench-people more closely.

"Dr. Drakken?" Dollmaker froze. This confused Shego. "But—"

"A comical poser." Botox shook their head. "On with what you were doing."

"He is not a poser." Shego rolled her eyes and felt agitated. She needed to distract them. "So his plans don't work out all the time...just like everyone else... See anyone else taking over? Uh, no."

"I meant taking a name that doesn't belong to him," interjected Dr. Botox. They rolled their eyes in return. "At least be original."

"Oh, because Dr. Botox is real authentic," scoffed Shego. "Took you like what...ten seconds to come up with it?"

"It's a family name," Botox walked back up the platform. "Unless you assume I am immortal...well not yet, but in time," they smirked at her. "My mother was the original Dr. Botox... She was brilliant... She could concoct a serum like no other... Of course many had side effects. Those intended for blood aid would make one feeble and cognitively damaged...but many chose to pay the price for flawless skin... She made the serum Dollmaker has used...you are familiar?"

"Disgustingly," whispered Shego. Her eyes glanced where Dollmaker had sat next to her.

"Yes, well...he doesn't know how to make it right," scoffed Botox. "Such a shame about those lovely girls."

"Can we not talk about that," Shego heard Dollmaker barely whisper. Shego agreed with him.

"Perhaps we should... Maybe it would make Shego less weary knowing it will be done properly and not pathetically." Botox shot Dollmaker a narrowed look.

"I'll pass," stated Shego. "Both are equally pathetic and deranged."

Shego saw Botox take a step back, as if being called out on their hench-people being the same as their son's was shocking. Shego saw the window. She found another delay. Another argument could buy more time to come up with an escape...or hope the signal had actually worked. Either way, she pounced.

"I mean, at least Dollmaker tried to make his beautiful," smirked Shego. "Yours look like botched surgery dolls."

"Please don't," Dollmaker whispered frantically. His hand patted her arm and Shego ignored her skin crawling.

"Are you insinuating...that his crude and faulty attempt at making his dolls...were better than my fully capable creations?" Botox's eye twitched.

Botox opened the window.

"At least he showed some creativity and wasn't a carbon copy of each other... I mean...at least put some effort into your craft," scoffed Shego.

Botox let out an angry breath of air and Shego fought the smirk that wanted to spread on her own face.

Always hit the ego...

Drakken knew this wasn't exactly safe but he wasn't about to pull over. They'd already lost time the three times he'd pulled the wrong plug in switching out wires. He let out a sigh of relief as he slammed the small flap on the side of the hover car closed. He would have finished sooner had he not been feeling swirls of emotions that weren't his own. It was driving him more insane than when it was his own insecurities that the gauntlet would draw from.

Not that it's still not doing that.

Drakken heard an echoing in his thoughts but pushed it aside. As intrusive as those thoughts were, it was not as strong as he remembered...which was slightly relieving. At least for him. He could see Hermes's hand twitched involuntarily as it hung over the side of the hover car. Every time they got near a tree top it was as if Hermes was intentionally smacking it on items. Drakken glared as he noticed the rope tied around his waist that was supposed to be a safety precaution was idly hanging and no longer tied to the seat.

"Was that you or the gauntlet?" scoffed Drakken. Hermes looked over at the seat in boredom before his eyes went wide and he grabbed the rope. Drakken sighed. "Well it doesn't matter now I'm done...hopefully."

Drakken felt emotions swirl and rolled his eyes.

"Can you...not," he hissed. Hermes glared at him.

"Well excuse me for thinking and have general human emotions... Not all of us can only range from tantrums to madness." Hermes was going to continue his rant but a scratching noise on the side of the hover car stopped him.

"Well it's affecting me," snapped Drakken. He heard more scratching. "Do you know how hard it is to focus when your own thoughts are being invaded... Now add an emotional parasite."

"They are rather like parasites," muttered Hermes as he pulled up his hand from outside the hover car.

"I was talking about you," finished Drakken. There was a glare but silence.

Drakken looked at the map and at its center. Wondering where in the mountains a lair might be. How many of the hench-people were there? How to get in? What was he even doing? He had only what was in the hover car, and he hadn't thought this out at all. He had been in such a blind panic and hurry, that getting weapons or a giant robot had escaped his thoughts. Not that the robot was functioning anymore... Some parts had been harvested for the vehicle he was driving. He could feel his mind falling down a rabbit hole of questions and concerns all while trying to focus on anything else.

What if—

Drakken needed noise, sound...anything but his thoughts. He turned on the radio but no sound came. He glanced at his unwilling companion next to him, staring off into space and...for once there were no emotions filtering through that weren't his own. Drakken narrowed his eyes.

"How come there's no effect—" Drakken felt annoyance rush though him. "Ow."

"I am trying...as you requested...not to think," said Hermes. "Which would be easier if you didn't talk to me."

There was silence again. Drakken began mumbling under his breath, letting the sound of his own voice distract his thoughts. But singing and going on for miles...he knew it was affecting Hermes, because Drakken felt angry and the sound of scratching began again. Drakken hummed a little louder as more thoughts filled his head.

You don't know what you're doing—

Making it worse—

She doesn't need you, you're going to get in the way like normal—

You have no plan—

Even if you did, it wouldn't work—

"I need a distraction... Tell me something...anything!" yelled Drakken. Hermes jumped and the scratching intensified.

"Ohm...you have a new design pattern on the side of the hover car," sputtered Hermes quickly.

"Oh that's nice, been meaning to have to replace the whole thing," grumbled Drakken. "Next."

"Certain beetles taste like chicken if cooked with certain leaves," continued Hermes. "Flat stones make good pillows if a camp is raided."

"Noted," said Drakken. It was silent and the feeling of agitation came back. "Keep going."

"Well what do you want to talk about?" Hermes glared. "First you tell me to stop thinking...then freak out about that...then you annoyingly mutter and sing to yourself... Now suddenly you want to have a friendly conversation?"

"I need to stop the noise in my head or the options are I will crash the hover car or make your new fashion accessory go berserk," said Drakken. He tried to sound calm. "So yes, let's have a friendly...non-sarcastic or venom-filled conversation."

Hermes rolled his eyes.

"How's your mother?" he asked after a second.

"As obnoxious and smothering as ever," said Drakken. "Waltzes into lairs, sends Shego gifts... She even dropped Eddie off at my lair once... That didn't go well for any of us."

"I imagine not... I remember she did that one weekend freshman year... Didn't you lock Eddie in the boiler room?" asked Hermes.

"Possible did... Not that I blamed him for that... You know how he coveted his brownies," scoffed Drakken. There was a snort from Hermes., "At least she gave me an hour's heads up for that one... She just dropped him off to ride a motorcycle through my lair last time. Shego was not thrilled by our lair guest."

"Would imagine not," said Hermes.

"I mean the cross-country drugged road trip that followed didn't help matters either," shrugged Drakken. Hermes had a raised brow. "Eddie married a stripper at a topless church in Vegas, we ended up in Mexico, I flew through a windshield...we robbed a bank... Of course I remember very little of this adventure."

"Wow. Were you all under the influence?" asked Hermes.

"Why else would we attend a topless church wedding in Vegas?" snorted Drakken. He paused. "Why does that even exist?"

"Be glad it was him and not you and Shego," replied Hermes. Drakken's stomach twisted at that thought.

"Yeah, small favors," cringed Drakken. There was silence. "Tibet?"

"Nightmare. Beautiful to visit I'm sure... Trapped in the mountains and tracking around to the nearest towns with very little funds...horrible. I think it was pure luck that I've at least had to rough it before... Pandora...not so much." Hermes rolled his eyes . "I don't think she's gone camping in her life."

"Interesting she stayed behind... Did she get used to it—"

"That was mostly because of a private issue," Hermes stated. He pulled a phone out of his jacket.

"When did you get a phone?" asked Drakken, confused as the prior one was destroyed.

"I took it off the bartender," said Hermes. "You just reminded me that if— It's blank. This must be a throwaway phone. There's not even a call history."

Hermes began dialing on the phone.

"You said..." Drakken trailed off as it rang. "Who are you calling?"

"I figured if we're headed to Tibet and don't know where to start looking, might as well have someone start while we fly there," shrugged Hermes. The ringing stopped. "It's me. We're headed back... No... I..."

Drakken focused his attention to the map frozen on the screen. They were getting closer, but even with the impromptu tune-up he'd done throughout the flight, every minute made him nervous. His hand twitched and he looked at the gauntlet closely, observing a dull red glow in the blackened stone. He didn't know how long the things would be controllable either. The first time, it had been hours before they had begun their true torment...so that time was nearing with every second.

"Not yet," he whispered. He watched as the glow faded away.

Shego's plan was working. Botox had taken to ranting...though not in a way she was familiar with. It was half to themselves and half at her. She didn't care so long as they kept it up long enough for her to figure out an escape or another distraction. She was running on borrowed time and she knew that.

"You may see them as monstrosities...but you know what I see them as?" hissed Botox. "Progress... No scientific and medical progress has ever been made without unorthodox procedures behind it."

Shego needed to keep them talking, but her eyes narrowed.

"Experimenting on unwilling participants is not the same as taking a risk on a medical patient," retorted Shego. Dollmaker was hushing her and it only encouraged her. "Only cowards do that."

"You should have brushed up on your history," snickered Botox. "Most were done on the unwilling... And these people...the ones who you see before you... They had nothing to contribute to the world...so I gave them a purpose... And with it, I contributed in strides to the medical world."

"Your contributions are a sham." Shego kept going. Waiting. Hoping for time to pass.

Botox stared at her with a blank expression before the thin brows tried to knit in frustration. Shego heard Dollmaker slide away from her, not even having succeeded in getting a single vial of blood. Shego's relief was short-lived as Botox came closer to her, the glint of light on the gold eye-patch making her squint for a second.

"I thought someone of your intelligence would have done research before working for my alter ego," said Botox. They gestured around them. "This may be all anyone sees of Dr. Botox. A medical mad doctor with questionable morals on the surface. But Dr. Taxley... Dr. Taxley is an advocate, a humanitarian...whose research and procedures have gained awards, notoriety, praise...have saved countless lives because of all of that... And this is what made that possible. The only sham about my contribution to the world is no one knows how much work I really had to do."

"Congratulations. You fooled the world into thinking you're not a mad quack," scoffed Shego. She needed them to rant more.

She didn't have to wait long because Botox hadn't even acknowledged her comment and was pacing with a far-off look in their eye. Botox's expressions were already hard to read, but whatever was being emoted, Shego couldn't place. Botox seemed to be talking to themselves versus to Shego. Shego looked towards Dollmaker. He was gone. Only the metal table sat next to her with syringes and other various tools that made her queasy. She tried to stretch her hand. Her fingers touched the cloth the tools lay on. She looked back at Botox to keep an eye on them.

"Imagine how many advancements I or my family would have had without being muzzled like mongrel dogs," sighed Botox. "Generations and years wasted because of a fool's deal before I was even born."

Shego needed to keep them going.

"Muzzled?" she asked, hoping they wouldn't turn. They didn't.

"The Taxley name was once destined for greatness! Until my grandfather blindly joined contracts with fools... Then suddenly...everything changed... No experiments on the unwilling... Rule after rule...that was blood-bound," hissed Botox. "Progress can't be gained that way...all under the pretense that their medical scientists said it could be."

Shego's fingers finally grabbed the cloth and she saw the sharp blade near the edge and slowly began to pull. She looked back at Botox as they muttered under their breath, letting it click in her head. They were talking about the Company. She remembered the old painting in the secret office entrance to their lair. The disdain in Botox's voice didn't match the memento she'd seen.

"If you hated the Company, why did you have that painting?" asked Shego. Botox turned and she let go of the cloth in perfect timing.

"Oh it had its perks... Status because of my family ties to its start. It was far more open at the start... More wiggle room and turned eyes... Unfortunately...family successions started to change that. My mother's rival wheedled her way in...and even after a fall from grace, as she put it...she still gained control in marriage... Making it softer...encouraging change... Then it continued. It still held its threats...but the rules were more restrictive," Botox turned around again. "It was unfortunate...it had to end."

Shego's fingers tugged the fabric and her ears picked up at the tone. Something in Shego told her to press. She needed time to get the knife...time to see if Drakken even noticed the signal had been on at all.

"Contracts can be broken... Your family could have left anytime... They chose to follow rules," said Shego. The knife inched closer with the cloth.

Botox's laugh startled her and she almost pulled too hard on the cloth.

"Break a contract? No," they snorted. "Breaking a contract with the Company was a death sentence. Not by their hands...but by those loyal to it... The only way to completely break that contract...was if it no long existed."

Shego watched as Botox walked to the edge of the platform and looked towards where the henchperson continued its sweeping circles around the hoverboard, as if it had never been shocked into obedience at all. Something was nagging at Shego as she pulled the knife closer. The lair had fallen quiet and it unnerved her. Shego had been around villains to know a quiet villain was a brooding villain.

"I do regret the power I had then... Instead of everyone running in fear or just...running when it dissolved," sighed Botox. "Perhaps I acted too brash when I was threatened for my work...should have played nice longer and turned everyone slowly... But you can't undo what is done...and it was all a game of cleaning up loose ends."

Shego's fingers touched the knife and her fingers did their best to grip it so as not to fall and make a sound. Subconsciously she listened, like she always did to ramblings... She looked at the back of Botox's head. They still faced towards the hoverboard and the sweeping henchperson, now joined by another. Shego's fingers slid the knife into her hand and she waited in the silence. She needed them talking to avoid any noise. They were silent again and dots started connecting in Shego's mind. Such as how they'd been so inquisitive on where she'd gotten the Leviathan shoes she'd worn when they'd still been parading around as Dr. Boa Taxley...

"What did you do, start a gossip war or something?" Shego scoffed, sliding the blade to brace against her bindings. "Turn everyone against each other?"

There was a snort.

"Is that what villains do now... How pathetic and juvenile," stated Botox. "Whatever happened to the villainous ways of old... If you had a beef with someone...you got rid of them before they got rid of you."

Shego had glanced at her wrist to make sure the knife was lined up, but her thoughts stopped all together and she swung her head to look at Botox. The connecting dots... The strange subconscious feeling she had was no longer so subconscious. Shego stopped cutting at the binding as she fully listened to Botox.

"So to get out of whatever contract your family had...you needed to dismantle the Company..." Shego said it instead of questioning it. "So you could...do whatever you wanted with no one telling you no? How?"

"By making sure the other half of the contracting party... can't uphold it," was Botox response, "If there is no Leviathans... there is no contract. No contracts. No company... and now that I have bored you..."

Botox trailed off and took a step down off the platform.

Shego's mind was spinning but she didn't have time to dwell on everything she was realizing. She began sawing away at the strap on her wrist, glancing at Botox who seemed transfixed on the hover board or whatever their hench-people might be doing around it. She felt nauseous and she could hear the sound of Dollmaker's boots returning. A slice of the leather showed her progress, but in an instant her gloves came alive with sparks and she dropped the knife as pain surged through her again.

Drakken wasn't sure if relief or nerves were winning over as his feet hit hard ground. The sound of water from a nearby stream, a narrow pathway through a mountain pass, and the fog of clouds above the mountain blocking the setting sun would have been beautiful if not for the situation at hand. He walked around the hover car as Hermes hopped out. The side looked like it had been in a fight with a prehistoric monster versus a single angry hand. Drakken hopped up and avoided the jagged edges of torn metal to open the glovebox, grabbing a single laser gun he wasn't even sure was working anymore.

"Would have been easier to grab it before hopping out—" Hermes cut in.

"Yes, well I forgot," sighed Drakken as he touched ground again. "Where is Pandora?"

"Unlike you, I don't have a tracking device attached to her—" Hermes was cut off once again.

"Yes, but I have one on you," came Pandora's voice from a small ridge above. "Little hurt that you don't really. Feels a little one-sided."

"You have..." Hermes shook his head in frustration. "That is not normal."

"And yet...you could track through mountains and blindly get lost...or I can just push a button and find you." Pandora slid down the ridge. It was clear by the state of her suit she was used to those methods of climbing and bracing impact. "So, you sent me all over this place looking for a lair without anything to go on... So what's going... What are those?"

She indicated to the gauntlets with a raised brow.

"Did you guys seriously spend the day together and then get matching jewelry?" she rolled her eyes.

"I'd get a refund," muttered Drakken as he looked at his. "Have you had any luck finding a lair of any kind? How many miles have you tracked? What—"

"We have spent weeks up and down these mountains. Do you think if there was a lair with running water either of us wouldn't have found it?" declared Pandora. "So if you two would like to elaborate on more than 'Just look for a lair or something—' that would be appreciated."

"There has to be something out here...perhaps an underground lair," muttered Drakken.

"Trust me, the only thing in these mountains is the scavenged-over dig we've been exiled to and the government facility with guards who shoot if you breathe too close," said Pandora. She glared at Hermes. "You know that, so why did you tell me to circle the mountains?"

"It appears that Dr. Taxley has been working with Devious Shark... It's all a very long story but it involves Shego missing... And to get these things off we need Shego who may or may not be in danger," sighed Hermes.

Pandora stared at him, and Drakken wondered if she was about to laugh but she suddenly glared.

"You sent me traipsing around this mountain looking for a psycho's lair...alone?" she snapped. Drakken took a step to the side as Hermes backed away.

Drakken felt she had a point from what he'd heard and seen of Dr. Botox.

"I wasn't thinking about that..." Hermes seemed apologetic. "I was just trying to get a head start and you were already here—"

"Wow! Jasper. I know we aren't on good terms right now, but how about a divorce first!" Pandora retorted. Drakken looked up from where he'd been fixated on his laser gun.

"You two go married? Congra—" began Drakken. They both looked at him. "Right..."

Drakken began walking down the path and looking up at the mountain ridge. The signal he'd briefly seen had seemed to be somewhere near the mountain he was looking at. He could see an opening where Pandora had jumped from, clearly a small cave-like camp they'd temporarily made home. There wasn't civilization for miles and as he scanned the area...it should be easy to narrow down possible ways in. His lair was built into a mountain cave too, so it should be cake to find a hidden entrance... But where to start.

What if there's no time—

What are you trying to prove—

Failure— Loser—

Crawl back into your own cave—

"Zip it!" yelled Drakken as he clutched his head. The metal dug in and he yanked his hand away. "Can you two save your bellyaching for later!"

Drakken glared at them just in time to see Hermes's hand reacting to his anger.

"Duck!" yelled Hermes and Drakken at the same time.

Pandora screamed as Hermes's hand flew over her head. Drakken couldn't really pinpoint everything that transpired in the next few seconds. He attempted to help Hermes gain control over his hand even by force. Pandora, unaware of what was happening, had kicked Hermes into Drakken and if not for sudden gunfire bouncing off rocks around them...who knew how long it might have continued for. Drakken yelled as sparks ricocheted around them, all three ducking behind a fallen boulder that gave little cover.

"I thought you said there was nothing around here?" hissed Drakken. He held his grip on Hermes's gauntlet as it tried to attack him.

"Those are probably the government guards," said Hermes. Pandora moved. "Pandora, where are you going?"

"I'm moving before you shove me out there in the line of fire," she hissed. Drakken saw an array of emotions on the woman's face.

"I wasn't attacking you... The gauntlets... Drakken could you calm down so you can stop holding my hand?" hissed Hermes. Drakken smacked Hermes's hand into the rock as it tried to claw at him.

"I'm not having fun holding your hand," hissed Drakken. The claws of the gauntlet neared his face.

Pandora was unmoving for a second.

"The... Those things that he used to break your wrist," hissed Pandora. "Is that what you went to work on!?"

"I think you two should discuss this later. Between the bullets and the hand holding, the argument is not helping us calm down enough to get these under control," growled Drakken. Hermes's gauntlet was digging into the rock it was held against.

"They feed off emotion," said Hermes calmly. Bullets rang out,

"Maybe we can make it to the hover car," said Drakken. The bullets stopped. "Run?"

They made it several feet before more bullets rang out. Drakken made it behind another boulder. He looked towards the hover car, wondering if they could make it in there without being shot.

You could leave them—

Drakken glared over at Hermes who seemed to be forcing calm. Drakken cringed as he realized it was just him thinking it. He thought about it for another second before the firing stopped and then a male voice rang out towards them.

"Dr. Drakken? Is that you!?"

Drakken's eyes shot open and he looked around the boulder to see two guards had made their way closer, one with hands cupped over his face to call out. Drakken slowly stepped out from behind the boulder and looked around for bullets or a sniper but none came. The two guards, who appeared to have been the only ones, exchanged some sort of interaction before sprinting down the ridge. Drakken blinked in confusion as they neared. Their uniforms looked like government-issued wear but as they got closer Drakken recognized the two men.

"Hector? Williams?" asked Drakken as his former henchmen came into view. "What are you doing here?"

"Some rich doctor paid a bunch of people to play security guards," shrugged Hector as they slowed in front of him.

"We're not supposed to tell people," sighed Williams. He looked at Drakken and then shrugged. "You guys come to bust in?"

"Oh hey, you two," smiled Hector as he waved at Pandora and Hermes. "Still here?"

"Yes, we're still here," retorted Pandora as the two slowly walked from behind the boulder.

"We chased them off a cliff last month," laughed Williams. His eyes trailed over Drakken's hand. "Aw man...those things again?"

Drakken watched his former henchmen take a step back and look around. He didn't analyze this, though he remembered his dismantled lair and reclusive behavior the last time they had seen him wearing the gauntlets. He nodded to this but their words finally hit him.

"It's a lair...not a government... But what about the power source?" asked Drakken.

"Why would you have a lair near a dig site?" asked Hermes. Pandora shrugged.

"Makes no sense."

"That dig site is bogus," stated Hector. "I mean...might be real—"

"Kind of a ruse thing," shrugged Williams. He looked at Pandora and Hermes. "I don't think we're supposed to have said that."

"Are you telling me...we have been digging for priceless items...for months...as an elaborate ruse?" asked Pandora. Hermes's eyes shot open.

Drakken saw them share a look and then burst into mad laughter.

"Are they okay?" asked Hector as the laughter kept going.

"They've been driven to insanity by the mountains... This lair...who owns it?" asked Drakken. He already knew the answer but the two shrugged.

"Not all villains talk to their hired hands," Williams stated. "I miss bowling night...it was so fun."

"We've never actually met them... We just get paid in cash...that's it," shrugged Hector. "Sorry about the dig."

"I'm not here for the dig. How do you get in the lair?" Drakken waved his hand dismissively.

"We can't just—" Williams muttered. "Honestly we are told to shoot without hesitation...not sure showing you in won't get us shot."

"Listen, we like you Dr. Drakken but—" Hector cringed.

"Shego's being held captive in there by some creep," said Drakken shortly.

The two looked at him for a second before exchanging a quick look.

"We'll have to use the back entrance—"

"Do you need our weapons?"

Drakken didn't listen to their prattling but simply followed the two up the ridge as fast as they could move. There were no doubtful voices clawing in his head this time. He just hoped he wasn't too late.

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