Back at Drakken's lair, one of his goons wasn't feeling so proud. In fact, he was a bit scared. Anyone would be scared if their boss's enemy had him pinned by the throat, which Dementor was doing. "Where is Drakken?!", he screamed into the poor goon's face.

            "I don't know!", the goon whimpered in reply.

            "Listen, you know as well as I do that Shego is pregnant, and Drakken took her to some random hospital to get treatment", Dementor calmly stated. "Let me put it to you this way: I lose, you lose. I win and you stay alive."

            The goon gulped. "I don't know....Wait! Shego's pregnant?!"

            "I know that!", Drakken shouted. "Where is Drakken?!"

            "I don't know", the goon shrugged. "I don't know the name of the hospital."

            Dementor threw the goon against the wall, knocking him unconscious. He growled. Another useless lead…

            ~          *          ~          *          ~          *          ~          *

            Back at the hospital, Drakken, being the "I'm taking command unless someone smarter and stronger than me tells me otherwise, then that person's in charge" kind of person, naturally let Ratigan take charge of the present "sitch", as Kim would have put it. "Well", he said to the assembled group, "now that we know Shego's pregnant, what do we do in the meantime until Shego gives birth?"

            "First", Drakken stated, "we have to find a place for Shego to hide. Any ideas?"

            "It can't be any of the lesser villains like Frugal Lucre or Adrenna Lynn, because they'd probably snitch on us for the money", Shego mused.

            "Wade?", Ratigan asked.

            "Yeah", Wade inquired, looking up.

            "Any ideas on who might be willing to help us?"

            "I don't know…"

            "We could ask Señor Senior Jr for help", Drakken suggested, "seeing as how Shego did help tutor him."

            "He might help", Shego said, "But I'm not sure about his father. He did seem a bit jealous when Jr. started to ignore him."

            "It's the best, and only, idea we've had so far", Ratigan said.

            "So", Shego asked, "what are we going to do? Just walk up and ask him to help us?"

            "No", Ratigan retorted, "We're going to call him and ask for help."

            "Ah."

            "Shego, cell phone", Drakken asked.

            Shego handed Drakken her cell phone. "Here, I've got him on speed dial."

            "Why do you…?", Drakken started to ask, but stopped. "Never mind." He pressed the speed dial button.

            ~          *          ~          *          ~          *          ~          *

            At the island lair of the Señors, the phone rang. Señor Senior Sr. looked up from another plan to get revenge on the Billionaires Club. Who was calling at such a time, when he was so immersed in his plotting? He picked up the phone. "Hello?", he asked.

            In Middleton, Drakken handed the phone to Shego. "Here", he said, "You deal with him."

            "Hey, Triple-S", the familiar voice of Shego replied. "Do you mind if some of my friends and I stay at your place for a while?"

            In the next room, Señor Senior Jr. called "Is that some agent calling, seeking my talent?"

            "You will wait your turn, Jr!", Sr. called before turning back to the phone. "What happened?", he asked.

            Back in Middleton, Shego covered the phone. "He wants to know what happened", she said. "What do I tell him?"

            "Let's see", Veeken asked in mock-contemplation, "Tell him the truth that you're pregnant and we've got Professor Dementor on our tails or pull and October 31st? Tell him the truth."

            "Why don't you?", Shego asked, handing the phone to Ratigan.

            "Hello?", Sr. asked.

            Ratigan turned to Drakken. "I am so going to kill you", he muttered under his breath, motioning a slice across the throat. He turned his attention to the cellphone. "Am I speaking to one Señor Senior, Sr?"

            At the island, Sr. replied "Yes, who is this?"

            From the next room, Jr. called "What if an agent calls me out of the blue, asking me to be a pop star?"

            "Silence, Junior." He turned to the phone. "Go ahead."

            On the other end, Ratigan cleared his throat. "This is Professor Ratigan. Shego asked me to speak with you on her behalf." To himself, he added "Translation: She chickened out."

            "Ratigan?", Sr. asked. "I am not familiar with the name. What do you teach?"

            "Why do I bother?", Ratigan thought. "No, Ratigan, the criminal genius who masterminded the greatest criminal organization in Europe. Does that ring a bell? At all?", he asked.

            "I have never heard of such a man."

            Ratigan paused a moment. "Well, technically, I'm not a man."

            "Technically?", Sr. asked. "Look, you are either a man or not. And your voice is too deep to be that of a woman."

            Ratigan frowned. "Is this man's common sense malfunctioning?", he thought. Out loud, he said "I should say that I'm technically not human."

            "Not human?"

            "Hold on", Ratigan said, turning to Shego. "Do you want to explain it to him?"

            "Rather not."

            Ratigan groaned, turning back to the phone. "Listen, it appears that we aren't getting anywhere with this conversation, so I'll just cut to the quick." He took a deep breath, then: "Listen, Drakken got Shego pregnant, Dementor's escaped and out for revenge on Drakken and Shego, and we need to hide at your island until Shego gives birth."

            "I'm sorry, you got cut off", Sr. replied. "I got as far as 'listen, it appears'."

            "I'm going to say this one more time", Ratigan growled, fast losing patience with the old man. "Drakken got Shego pregnant, Dementor escaped and wants both of them dead, and they need to hide on your island until Shego gives birth, okay?"

            "Oh", Sr. said finally, "well, I suppose it would be alright. Just as long as you don't have any pets. Junior is allergic to animals. Especially rats. He cannot stand rats."

            Ratigan resisted the temptation to smack Drakken. "Okay, I guess." He hung up. "Well, this complicates things", he said to no one in particular. "Sr. said it would be okay as long as there weren't any animals, particularly rats."

            "Aye, that is a problem...", Killigan mused.

            Ratigan uttered a short growl. "Okay, memo to me", he thought. "The next time I have to call Sr, remind me to keep a megaphone handy." He sighed. "I guess there's nothing else for it but this." He snapped his fingers, and Shego did a double take, because she wasn't looking at Ratigan anymore. For a moment, she thought Vincent Price was back and in his prime. But it was only Ratigan.

            The silence was broken by Drakken asking "Does anyone tell you that you bear a scary resemblance to Vincent Price?"

            "Don't make me hurt you."

            "Sorry."

            ~          *          ~          *          ~          *          ~          *

            Back at the island lair, Sr. hung up the receiver. "Interesting…" Suddenly, he had an idea. Walking over to the computer, he accessed the file of the most recent conversation he had with Ratigan. He accessed the file of him talking, and ran an analysis on the voice, searching for a match. Three files popped up. Since Vincent Price was dead, they could scratch that one off. Erasmus Craven was a movie character, so he could be counted out. There was only one name left, and it was an actual file: Professor James Antonius Ratigan. He examined further.

Name: Professor James Antonius Ratigan

Age: Unknown

Species: Rat/dæmon hybrid

Bio: Unavailable

            Sr. sat back in his chair. If he had a beard, he would have stroked it. He had seen The Great Mouse Detective once, when he had left to get a break from Jr, who had already begun in his fanatical quest to become a pop star at the time. He didn't know what had drawn him to the theater in the first place, but, now, he was glad he was. "So", he thought, "The former World's Greatest Criminal Mind is coming here…" He frowned. "What is he doing with Shego…?" His frown turned into a smirk. "Well", he said finally, "It's going to be really interesting finding out."

            To Be Continued…