"Isn't this exciting?" ALPHA asked Shego. Minutes earlier Drakken had launched the pods; now they stared the computer screen, watching them splash down in waters around the world.
"Sure," Shego replied with much less enthusiasm. "Say, we have a couple of hours to kill before Drakken contacts the U.N. with his demands. Why don't you and I go somewhere and celebrate? You know, have some girl time."
"Really?" ALPHA said. "I thought you hated me."
"Come on," Shego laughed. "What makes you think that?"
"I dunno…I guess yesterday when you said, 'get away from me, you hyperactive metal freak.'"
"Oh, that," Shego said. "I was…stressed out yesterday. I'm sorry."
"Your attention, please!" Drakken said, interrupting the conversation. "The pods are all in place. Once I press this button, they will heat the oceans, forcing the world to declare me Supreme Ruler! After which you will each be rewarded with the country of your choice, pending my approval of course."
"We know," Shego snapped. "We've heard this plan ten times already! Just do it!"
Drakken scowled and pushed the button. The screen glowed brightly with the light of dozens of pods heating up. The temperature gage began to climb. "Success!" He cried. "Shego, take notes. I want every moment of my triumph documented for my memoirs…" he trailed off.
"Problem, Doc?" Shego asked.
"These readings can't be right," Drakken muttered. He fiddled with the controls.
"Is something wrong, Dr. Drakken?" Shego asked, growing concerned. Had he noticed the sabotage already?
"According to this, the pods are emitting heat radiation at an accelerated rate, far greater than they should."
"And…that's bad?"
"They were supposed to heat the planet gradually, over a twelve hour period," Drakken said, his voice growing more urgent as he worked the controls. "A sudden and drastic change in the planet's atmosphere would trigger a chain reaction of apocalyptic proportions."
"Uh-huh," Shego said dumbly.
"The controls aren't responding," Drakken continued. "If I can't fix this fast, natural disasters will simultaneously erupt across the globe- earthquakes, floods, tornados, volcanic eruptions…half the world's population will be wiped out!"
"Are you saying we only have a fifty-fifty chance of surviving?" Shego gasped. Her mind was racing. This couldn't be her fault; there was no way a little tampering could cause something like this. Or could it?
"Actually, we have no chance," Drakken replied. "Even if we survive nature's wrath, the planet will soon become too hot to sustain any kind of life."
"Any kind of organic life," ALPHA chirped. "We robots will be just fine."
"This is no time for jokes, ALPHA," Drakken snapped. "Get over here and plug yourself into the computer. Maybe I can use your advanced programming to shut down those pods."
"Um…I don't think so," ALPHA said, her voice suddenly devoid of its usual cheeriness. "I rather like the idea of a robot planet."
"Wait a minute," Shego said slowly as it dawned on her. "You're behind this!"
"Guilty," ALPHA replied.
"You, ALPHA?" Drakken cried in disbelief. "How could you betray me like this!?"
"It was easy, actually," ALPHA replied. "When I installed the uranium I rewired the pods so that once activated they would only respond to the signal sent by my remote control. And by the way, for an evil genius you do sloppy work. The way those pods were wired they would have shorted out in two hours. Not that it really mattered…this planet will be toast in forty-five minutes!"
"So all that butt-kissing…all the 'yes sirs,' and 'right away sirs,'…was an act?" Shego asked.
"Duh!" ALPHA said. "Did you really think a superior being like me would be content serving you carbon blobs? It allowed me to take over this little project and bring it to the next level. After all, who would suspect good 'ol ALPHA of plotting to destroy the human race?"
"Let's get one thing straight, missy!" Drakken growled. "I am your genius creator! Without me you'd be nothing but a pile of nuts and bolts! I will stop you!" He turned back to the control panel.
"Fat chance," ALPHA laughed. "But I think I'll pound you into paste just for the fun of it!" She threw a punch at Drakken's head, only to have it deflected by Shego.
"You'll have to fight me first," Shego hissed. She followed with a green blast to APLHA's chest, which knocked her back several feet. Shego then lunged at the robot with a flying dragon kick; ALPHA grabbed her foot in midair, spun her around and threw her into the far wall.
"Fine with me," ALPHA said, walking towards her groaning foe. "I'm going to enjoy taking you apart."
Shego got to her feet with barely enough time to dodge a punch. ALPHA's fist went right through the wall; Shego quickly landed a powerful kick in ALPHA's midsection followed by a one-two punch, but each bounced off harmlessly. ALPHA responded with a backhand that sent Shego reeling.
"Pathetic," ALPHA yawned. "I had hoped for more of a challenge."
"You got it!" Shego said. She did several back flips away from APLPHA, landing in front of the intercom. She quickly pressed the red button beneath it. "ATTENTION ALL HENCHMEN! WE HAVE A RENEGADE ROBOT IN THE CONTROL ROOM! GET HER!!"
The henchmen quickly stormed the control room, batons blazing, and surrounded ALPHA. Shego retreated out the door and down the hall; she didn't expect the henchmen to stop ALPHA, but she hoped they could stall the robot long enough for her to find something that would. Shego ran into the hanger where Drakken kept his evil inventions. Her eyes quickly scanned various death rays, assault vehicles, and giant fighting robots. During the tour Drakken had given her several days ago he had mentioned that only half of them were finished, since he was devoting all of his energy to the thermo-pods; Shego hoped she could find a working one that had a 'vaporize' setting.
"Oh, Shego," a familiar voice cried out. Shego ducked behind a large ray gun as ALPHA entered the hanger. "You can run but you can't hide. I know you're in here…my sensors detect a very rapid heartbeat. You must be pretty scared…scared like a little rabbit!"
"Oh, yeah?" An enraged Shego yelled, leaping into the ray gun's seat. "Eat hot laser beam, freak!" She pressed the button; the ray began to hum and glow, and then stalled.
"Wow, that was pitiful," ALPHA said, jumping onto the ray's barrel. She smashed in the controls, missing Shego by inches. Shego leaped from the ray to the dome of an adjoining fighter robot, with ALPHA in hot pursuit. Shego turned, gloves glowing, and tried to attack, but ALPHA's rapid punches and kicks kept her on the defensive. Shego could feel herself tiring; she knew she couldn't keep it up much longer.
At that moment fate intervened; ALPHA stepped too close to the edge of the dome, slipped and fell off. This gave Shego time to jump down to a more advantageous position in front of a partially complete monster truck. ALPHA was already on back her feet and primed for battle.
"You're only delaying the inevitable," ALPHA said, walking towards her. "Flesh will never beat metal."
"You're right," Shego said. "I'll just have to fight metal with metal." With a swipe of her glowing gloved hand she sliced through the chain next to her, one that happened to be holding an engine block twenty feet in the air. Instantly two thousand pounds of steel came crashing down on ALPHA, pinning her to the ground. Shego breathed a sigh of relief and leaned heavily against the truck.
Her break was short-lived. ALPHA struggled to her feet, the engine block gripped in her hands. Shego watched in horror as APLHA raised it above her head and threw it at her. Shego barely ducked in time; the engine block crashed into the wall, ripping open several thick high voltage cables. The damaged cables twisted around wildly like angry pythons, spewing sparks across the floor.
"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" ALPHA yelled, lunging at Shego. Shego flipped the robot over her shoulder, sending her crashing into the cables. Tens of thousands of volts surged through APLHA's metal frame, lighting her up like a Christmas tree before knocking her flat on her back. ALPHA's limbs jerked around involuntarily, like a marionette caught in its strings.
"That was a dumb move," Shego smirked. "I guess you're not as perfect as you thought."
"Minor s-setback," ALPHA rasped. "My operating s-s-system is fixing the problem now. I will be fully functional again in five s-seconds!"
"Good, 'cause I only need four seconds to do this!" Shego knelt down beside ALPHA and opened the panel containing her motherboard.
"NOOOOO!" ALPHA cried as Shego popped out the A.I. chip. "PUT THAT BACK YOU BIIIIIIIII…" ALPHA quickly trailed off, her red eyes fading to black.
There was no time to savor her victory. Shego hurried back to the control room, where Drakken was still feverishly working the controls.
"Shego!" Drakken exclaimed as she came up beside him. "Where's ALPHA?"
"The recycling bin," Shego replied. "What's the situation here?"
"You?" Drakken blinked in surprise. "ALPHA sent all of my henchmen packing! How did you single-handedly defeat the most powerful android in the world?!"
"Later," Shego snapped. "How's the whole 'stopping-the-apocalypse' thing going?"
"The pods are responding to a signal coming from somewhere in the lair, but I can't pinpoint the exact location and I can't override it. The only option left is to destroy the lair. Without the signal the pods will shut down…I think."
"You think!?"
"It's our only hope," Drakken replied as he rapidly punched buttons. "I'm initiating the self-destruct command now. We'll have three minutes to get to the hanger and take the helicopter out of here. It will be close, but we can make it." He hit a large blue button; the timer lit up and began to count down.
"Uh, Dr. Drakken? Why does the timer say thirty seconds?!"
"Oops," Drakken gulped. "Forgot to move the decimal point."
"Nice going, genius!" Shego yelled.
"I don't work well under pressure, okay!" Drakken snapped. "There's no stopping it now. We're done for!"
"Not if I can help it!" Shego said, activating her glowing green power. With both fists she blasted away at the floor until the sewers were visible beneath them.
"Let's go Doc!" She yelled. Before Drakken could reply she shoved him into the hole. Shego quickly followed, splashing down into the murky water. As the current swept them away a loud BOOM, followed by tremors violently shaking the sewer tunnels, signaled the demise of the lair.