))) I think I'm getting slower in how often I upload chapters. Sorry bout that! I can't get too lazy because I'm determined to actually finish this story. There are so many people who like it! I never got even close to this much praise for my last story! The reviews make it so much easier to keep going, ya know? Hearing that people actually like it and hearing what they think should/could happen next, it's awesome. Keep on reading and I'll keep on writin'! (((

Mystique stared angrily at Shego and Drakken.

"We just. . . dropped in to say hello!" Shego said evilly. She balled her hands into fists and her gloves instantly ignited with green flame. She thought she could easily take this woman in the business suit. She certainly didn't look like she was much of a fighter! As for those boys, they were just boys. Shego could take them out easily!

"If it's a fight you want," Mystique began, and morphed into her usual blue self. "So be it!"

Shego stood in surprise with her mouth hanging slightly open. Drakken, still standing somewhere behind her, started babbling like a fool.

"How ay you- did? What. . .huh?"

"Shutup!" Shego shouted, regaining her senses. She took a fighting pose and glared at Mystique. Mystique lunged for her, but Shego flipped up into the air and landed on Mystique's back, knocking her to the floor. Shego stood up to claim victory, but Mystique was already on her feet. Shego was caught off-guard because she hadn't expected Mytique to be able to get up so quickly and received a hard blow in her side.

"Get her, Shego!" Drakken shouted when he saw her fall.

"I can do it, thank you very much!" She shouted. "And now these goons know my name! Thanks a lot!" She knocked Mystique into a wall and then dodged behind the disgustingly old and worn out sofa. Mystique jumped up on the back of the sofa, ready to strike, but Shego was prepared. She grabbed what looked like an old textbook and hurled it right at Mystique's face. Mystique lost her balance and toppled backwards onto the floor.

"Mystique!" Lance cried, and rushed forward to help.

"Back off, boys! This is my fight!" Mystique said, wiping a spot of blood from her lip. She morphed into a bull and charged at Shego. Shego leapt into the air and grabbed onto a thin pipe that was sticking out of the wall where Mystique had hit earlier. She fired away both ends and pulled it out of the wall to use as a weapon. Mystique was right behind her and Shego turned just in time to block a punch aimed for her head. Mystique pulled her hand back and rubbed her fist, which had just impacted at a very high speed with the pipe Shego was holding. Shego took this opportunity to deliver a well-aimed blow into Mystique's side with the pipe.

"I could have done that if I had my hand held, battery-operated plasma ray!" Drakken said helpfully from the corner he had retreated to.

"You wanna come out here and do it?!" Shego cried, turning to him. Mystique knocked her to the floor when Shego turned away.

"No, that's alright, I'll stay right here!" Drakken yelled back. He flinched as Shego got another good one right in the stomach. "Where it's safe!" Drakken added to himself.

By now, the whole Brotherhood was rooting and hollering for Mystique.

"Come on, Mytique!" Lance shouted.

"Go get her, yo!" Todd said, punching the air.

"Get-her-in-the-head, get-her-in-the-side! Oh-yea! Punch-her, yea!" Pietro chanted. Fred jumped up in his excitement and caused the whole room to shake when he landed. Mystique and Shego were both thrown to the floor.

"Oh-great-now-look-what-you-did!" Pietro said, angrily shoving him.

"Hey, you can't mess with me! I'm the Blob!" He shoved him back and Pietro went flying into a corner. Lance and Todd sniggered.

"What are you guys, some kind of freak show?!" Shego asked, not pausing in the fight for a moment.

"Actually, if you must know," Mystique said, pulling back to punch Shego. "We're mutants."

"Mutants, huh?" Shego said, missing a kick at Mystique's head. She backed up a few steps and hurled the metal pipe at Mystique's head like a spear. Mystique ducked and rolled off to the side and the pipe sailed over her head. Shego turned her gloves back on and shot a blast at Mystique before she could get to her feet.

"And what's with those fancy gloves of yours?" Mytique panted, and did a flying kick towards Shego.

"My boss happens to be a mad scientist," Shego said, starting to get winded.

"She means, brilliant evil genius, or something along those lines," Drakken put in.

Shego growled at him for interfering and continued the fight.

"Does Mystique look a little. . . tired to you guys?" Todd asked.

"No way," Lance said, but a bit doubtfully. "Mystique never gets tired!"

"I-dunno-that-girl-does-look-pretty-fierce," Pietro said.

"I kinda think she's cute, yo," Todd said to himself. The others stared at him in amazement. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Mystique and Shego were now so into the battle they were completely oblivious of everything going on around them. They leapt for each other and grabbed each other mid-air, looking for a moment like a scene from The Matrix. They fell to the ground. Both quickly got to their feet and took a defensive stance, but neither made a move.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Shego asked loudly, but she couldn't hide in her voice how tired she was.

"What are YOU waiting for, little girl?" Mystique asked. "Scared I'll hurt you?" It was obvious that she, too, was exhausted.

"Mystique, let us help!" Todd insisted.

"No, boys, this is over. Sit down, girl, and tell me what you're doing here!" Shego looked doubtful, but she was so weary that she finally obliged. She drug herself over to a sofa and sat down, but didn't relax completely, still ready to move quickly if the need arose. Todd hopped over and sat down next to her. Shego cringed when he smiled, showing his grayish, crooked teeth.

"What's with this guy?" Shego asked, pointing to the boy who was sitting right next to her.

"That's Toad." Lance said.

"It's Todd, yo!"

"Hush!" Mystique commanded the Brotherhood. "Introductions are in order, I believe." She sat down in an armchair across from the sofa. Shego noticed she relaxed completely and leaned into the chair. Deciding it was finally safe, she did the same thing.

"My name is Mystique," she continued. "These boys are part of the Brotherhood, which I run here. This is Lance, Fred, Pietro, and Todd."

"I am Dr. Drakken!" Drakken said, stressing the 'Dr.'. "This is my assistant, Shego." The Brotherhood sniggered at whispered when they saw this weird-looking dude.

"What are you little hooligans laughing at?!" Drakken asked, turning. This just made them laugh more. "Oh, if I had my LaserMan 3000 here with me, you punks would get it!"

"Shego, eh?" Mystique asked, leaving the boys to argue. "You're not so bad, you know?"

"Well, thank you," Shego returned. "You're a fairly decent fighter yourself."

"So how did you come to end up in Bayville, and more specifically, in my house?" Mystique asked, truly curious. "I'm sure you weren't planning on ROBBING the place, I mean. . ." she motioned around at the crumbling walls and trash-strewn floors. Shego got the point.

"Well, we were in your house because we were hiding out. How we got to this town. . . that was Drakken's fault!" She pointed to the big, blue man who was still threatening what he would do to the boys, who were laughing their heads off. "You see, it all started after Drakken came up with this elaborate plan to stop Kim Possible, this annoying little preppy girl who's always trying to stop his 'evil schemes'."

"Kim Possible?" Lance said, immediately stopping the argument. "That's the new girl staying with the X-geeks!"

"She's here?" Drakken asked. "Well, at least we know my invention worked now."

"HEL-LOOO!" Shego shouted angrily. "We're here, aren't we? You haven't figured out by now IT WORKED!?"

"Oh, right," Drakken said quietly. Shego made a noise of disgust and continued.

"Well, ANYWAY, Drakken fooled Kim into thinking she had stopped another one of Drakken's plans, which involved a giant heat ray and Antarctica." Mystique raised an eyebrow at this. "Don't ask. He made Kim think it was a big deal, but that was just a decoy, just to put her off her guard."

"And it worked!" Drakken interrupted. "Now, thanks to my brilliant invention, Kim and her little friend are in another dimension and we never have to see them again! Hahahaha!"

"You're are SO slow on the uptake, Drakken!" Shego fumed. "YOU GOT US STUCK IN HERE TOO, REMEMBER?!"

"Oh, that does kind of ruin the whole effect, I guess," Drakken said quietly.

"Yea, it does," Shego said. "In short, Drakken's invention was supposed to send Kimmie to another dimension through the TV somehow. It worked, but when Drakken went to retrieve it, it backfired and sucked us in too."

"Lemme get this straight," Lance began. "You guys are from another dimension?"

"I guess so! Ask Mr. Evil Genius over there." Shego said irritably. They turned to Drakken, who was trying to explain something to Todd, who's mouth was hanging open and it looked like he was actually drooling a little.

"You see, it's quite simple, my trans-dimensional transporter allows a person to actually travel from one dimension to another through the time vortex created by an ordinary television set- "

"Uh, Drakken, you're killing the few brain cells the poor kid has left!" Shego said. "Hey, you, fast-talker," she added to Pietro. "Got anything to drink in this house? How bout a coke?" Pietro, astonished at being bossed around like that, turned to Mystique for assistance, but she was smiling to herself about something. She finally saw him.

"What? You heard her! Go get our guest a drink! It's not as if it would take you that long!" Pietro couldn't believe it, but he walked, at normal speed just to annoy Mystique, and got a soda from the fridge.

"You know, Shego," Mystique began. "I think you would fit right in here. How would you like a job at the Brotherhood, just until you can find your way back to. . . whatever dimension you are from."

"A job?" Shego asked doubtfully. "Well, technically, I still work for Drakken," she looked over at him. He was now rocking back and forth muttering about his various gadgets. "But he's nothing without his lab, and we don't have anywhere else to go, so, I'll give it a try. But what about Drakken? Does he have a job offer too?" Mystique looked doubtful.

"We'll have to see about that," Mystique said. "He can stay here for the night at least, and we'll talk more in the morning."

"Alright then," Shego said. "You have spare rooms?"

"Actually, no, but I'll have Todd move his junk into Lance's room for the time being and Drakken will just have to sleep on the sofa I guess." Lance and Todd heard this and began to protest, but Mystique quickly stopped them with a threatening glance.

"Welcome to the Brotherhood."

)))Crysala, I ended up using a ton of your ideas after all! Thanks a ton for all the advice on this chapter, I'm really happy with how it turned out. You advised me not to rush (like I know I did in the last chapter) so does it go at a good pace? I'm rather proud of it.

Never could right fight scenes, so I think this ain't too shabby, considering. I've been reading comic books all week in preparation for writing this scene. lol

See yall in the next chapter! (((