Chapter 5

Shego grunted as she laid back down, as Kim left the room. She thumped her head back into her pillow a few times, trying to sleep again. After a few minutes of struggling, she managed to fall asleep, and subsequently had a most strange and disturbing dream. In her dream, she saw Kim walking down a long hallway with white, sterile walls, floors and ceilings. It was so clean and blindingly white, it sort of reminded her of a hospital.

Now, Shego watched Kim walking, noticing for the first time that she was carrying a tray of food. Kim then stopped before a door, and opened it. Inside, Shego saw a woman lying upon a hospital bed. She frowned at first, not recognizing the young woman, whose hair was long and jet black, while her skin was very pale.

Kim smiled down at the woman, who looked up when she opened the door to the room. The woman lying there looked as if she hadn't eaten well in days. "Morning!" Kim greeted the woman cheerfully.

The dark-haired woman looked longingly at the food on the tray, and managed to croak in soft weary voice, "F-F-Food."

"Well," the bubbly seeming Kim responded, "you know the rules, my dear. If you want some food, why then, I need to hear those magic words. C'mon…you know them…" Kim coaxed, holding the tray away from the hungry woman.

The woman's eyes flared defiantly briefly, but her defiance didn't last too long before she suddenly collapsed, sniffing back a tear. "Food…please," she managed to say.

"Very good. Now, that wasn't so hard now, was it?" Kim replied cheerily, laying down the tray of food before the woman. "See? You are starting to learn, Shego."

Shego cringed in her dream, coming to the horrific discovery of just who the woman in the bed really was: herself! She blinked and gasped as she looked down at her dream self…she looked so haggard, and drawn…hardly what she usually saw when looking into a mirror. It was then that she began to realize just where this had to be, and then looked about, swallowing hard. Before she could will herself to scream, Shego finally was able to wake up. She felt someone touch her shoulder, then gently shake her fully awake. She sat straight up in her bed, her eyes a bit wild, and snapped her gaze over to where Kim Possible now held her hand upon her shoulder.

"Shego? Are you all right?" Kim asked, concerned.

Shego swallowed hard, feeling a cold sweat upon her forehead. She nodded her head weakly, mumbling something that sounded like, "Yeah, I'm okay. Er, just a bad dream is all."

Kim smiled at that, feeling a bit relieved. "Hmm. Well, I've found that sharing helps get rid of dreams like those sometimes. You know, most nightmares are about something we don't like or are uncomfortable with." Kim paused, then looked over at the most unsettled Shego again. "Now, do you know why you had yours?"

"Do I know? Oh, yeah," Shego grumbled, pausing to look down at her hands, which where shaking like a leaf.

Kim noticed this odd phenomena too, and smiled weak smile of understanding. "Oh, yeah…I've had nightmares like that," Kim admitted, then had an insight possibly. "Um, this nightmare of yours…it wouldn't have anything to do with your upcoming stay at the Rehabilitation Center now, would it?"

Shego just nodded, not meeting Kim's gaze.

Kim frowned, then looked over at Shego. "Well, if you tell me what's bugging you…maybe I can help," Kim said.

Shego looked over at Kim a moment through the EM barrier, then sighed. She took a deep breath, then proceeded to explain her nightmare, not bothering to look up at either Kim or DNAmy, who both listened to the tale. When she had finished, DNAmy broke the silence.

"Poor dear…no wonder you're shaking like a leaf," DNAmy observed, shaking her head in sympathy.

Kim smiled over at the obviously still distraught Shego. "First off, Shego, I want you to know that no matter how badly you behave, you need not worry that we won't feed you. If we at the Center feel that you have behaved badly enough that we have to punish you, the worst you may expect would be a short stay in solitary confinement. Nothing more than that, I promise! We would never starve anybody…period! Hey, look…we're the good guys, remember? Only bad guys would starve you, okay? So, don't worry. Something like that will never---and I do mean, never---happen." Kim then looked over to Shego, and grinned mischievously. "Although, I'll admit that the thought of you saying 'please' to get food does sound rather---"

"KIMMIE! Please!" Shego barked, not amused at all.

"Sheesh, calm down. I was only joking, Steph. You know, you'd think that you don't have any sense of humor, girl," Kim teased.

Shego sighed, tired of all her inactivity…truth be known, she was starting to get bored. And going back to sleep wasn't really any option either, evidently. She had too much sleep already, thank you very much. "So, where are we going exactly?" Shego asked impatiently.

"New York, the Big Apple," Kim replied. "We've got to stop in and pick up Andrea Lynn, you see."

Shego frowned at that. Andrea Lynn was very new to the whole villainy game. She had only been captured five times last year, after all. Kim could see Shego´s thoughtful face, and knew pretty much what she was thinking.

"Now, I know she's kinda new to this villainy thing, but she has started her own crime wave here of late…even if it's not on the same scale as the rest of you are used to. I'm of the opinion that I'd rather get her now, quick, before she gets to be too much to handle."

Shego nodded her understanding, then shrugged. After all, what did she care? She looked around, before speaking again. "Do you have any window on this heap?" she asked tersely. "You know, sleep isn't looking all that promising at the moment…"

Kim smiled upon hearing that. So, she headed over to the door and pushed a button beside it. Shego and DNAmy watched panels slide up, revealing windows that gave them both a very good view of the New York from above. Kim smiled, taking a look out the window herself. "Well, ladies, I need to get ready. So...see you later, Amy. Stephanie," Kim said, making sure to emphasize Shego's first name. She then nodded politely, totally ignoring Shego´s inevitable glower over being called by her real name. Kim then went into the next bay back, to check on Ron at the boy's room.

Kim moved inside and immediately saw Monkey Fist, who had apparently awoken quite crankily from his bout with chloroform. The enraged ape man was currently screaming near incomprehensibly at Ron, who just smiled, confident in the fact he knew that Monkey Fist couldn't get out from his bunk thanks to yet another stout EM barrier.

Drakken, in the bunk adjacent to Monkey Fist's, just glowered at Kim as she moved past his cell, but he didn't do anything more. He knew he couldn't escape his incarceration, so he didn't even try.

"We need to get ready, Ron," Kim instructed, and Ron nodded his agreement.

He smiled one last time at the boys. "See ya!" he tossed out, which only set off the volatile Monkey Fist once more.

Kim led him out of the holding compartments, then toward the exit hatch on to the out of the way tarmac located at La Guardia Airport in New York. As the two walked along, Kim turned to Ron, curious about something. "So, Ron…why is Monkey Fist so angry anyway?" Kim asked, arching an inquisitive red eyebrow at her friend.

Ron shrugged at first. "I'm not sure I know…exactly. Like you could see he was doing a whole lot of screaming…so I'm not really sure, KP. But, I'll tell you this…if I had to guess, I think he's none to happy with us for taking him down with chloroform from behind. I'm not fluent in primate shrieking, mind you, but I thought I could hear the words 'ungentlemanly' and 'unfair' in and among his shrieks."

Both of them laughed at that, before stepping away from the aircraft, and toward the nearby stepvan with very modest Global Justice logos on its side.