Disney owns, I don't. Nuff said! Oh, I am such am evil man! I must be, because I am enjoying it just so damn much! Also, a quick shout out to Ayotte and her story, Equal Romance 2. Appears she did the whole coma story first, and I didn't realize it. Excellent story by the way, just updated today!

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Redemption – Understanding

"So what made you pull the green wire?"

Ron just smiled. "It just seemed the thing to do! I just figured Drakken would have made it green because it was Shego's favorite colour!"

Shego just smirked. "You do know you were damn lucky! Ours were both the blue wire!"

Ron paled slightly as he heard that. "Oh."

The two women laughed, as they all sat around Ron's living room, but Bonnie felt just a little uncomfortable, with Shego sitting with them, and stopped laughing first. She couldn't understand how Ron could seem so comfortable with the villainess in the same room, someone who has tried to kill them on several occasions.

Ron watched as his mother, still dressed in a bathrobe, brought in tea and cookies, setting them down on the table in front of them. "If you kids need anything, help yourselves. I'm heading for bed."

Shego smiled up at the older woman. "Tov, toda!"

The older woman looked shocked at first, then smiled herself. "Al-Lo-Davar!" She turned and headed upstairs.

Ron still looked surprised. "I didn't know you spoke Hebrew?"

Shego took a sip of tea, smiling. "I've done some work for the Mossad. You tend to pick up a little."

"So, how'd you manage to track Monkey Fist anyways? We've hardly been able to at all!"

The smile faded at the mention of Monkey Fist. "I wasn't, I was looking for you. I was hoping you could… help me track him down." The last part was said with a grimace. "Your mother told me you two were at the museum. Charming woman, a little naïve, handing out your location to any super villain that comes knocking on the door, but nice."

Ron instantly went sympathetic, but knew he couldn't lay it on too thick, Shego would just go defensive before they could find out everything that they needed. "So, what's caused the big mad-on for Monkey Fist?"

Shego's eyes darted back and forth between the two teens, before realizing that she had no one else who could talk to about this. "Well, first off, the prick stabbed me!" Lifting her shirt, she showed them the evidence. Shego carefully pulled back the bandage, showing the massive area of scar tissue. Ron and Bonnie leaned in, grimacing at the sight.

"How…?"

"The bastard stuck a knife in me when I wasn't looking. Gave it a good twist too! If it wasn't for the fact that I heal quick, I would be dead." Shego paused, trying to comport herself. "He came to Drakken to try and build something that would amplify the energy of mystical items. They worked on it for three days. When Drakken started in on one of his rants, Fiske took the opportunity to stick me. He was gone when I came to." Shego closed her eyes, clenching her fists. The power flowed briefly on her hands before disappearing. "When I found what he did to Dr. D…"

Bonnie was the first to speak up. "Is he…?"

"No, but I doubt he'll ever be able to walk again. He's in a hospital up in Calgary. He hadn't woken up the last time I was there, but he looked stable… surprisingly."

Ron saw the tear trying to escape her closed eyes, and was a bit surprised. "I didn't realize you felt that way. I mean, I knew the moodulators amplified emotions, but the way you treat him… "

Shego turned to him, leaning in close while igniting one of her hands, bringing it close to his face. "One more word from you, and you'll spend the next week in traction!" Seeing the look of fear on their faces, she knew she had gotten her point across, but didn't want to fully alienate the only people who might be able to help her. She sat back in her chair. "Besides, it's not like that. Dr. D… Drew… has been more like a father to me. He was the only one who would take me in when I quit the hero business. Sure, I like to rile him up, but that's when he works best… when he's got something to prove!"

Ron laughed lightly at that, though Bonnie was still worried about how Shego would react. She decided to call Wade up, and update him on everything they had learned.

The young boy looked a little blurry eyed when he appeared on the screen. "Sorry if I woke you Wade."

"No problem, just a little tired. I've been putting in extra hours trying to track Monkey Fist, and… is Shego sitting with you guys drinking tea?"

Bonnie just smiled. "Uhh… yeah… that's kinda what we wanted to update you on. Shego says that Fist had Drakken make some kinda device that would amplify the power of mystical items. We think he was successful!"

Wade looked very confused. "Magic can be amplified?"

Ron leaned over to look on the screen. "Well, it is just energy, isn't it? So it should be possible, right?"

Wade still seemed uncertain. "I don't know. Like I said, I don't know enough to be able to even hazard a guess."

Now it was Shego's turn to speak up. "Dr. D mentioned something about scanning several to find some energy signature or something."

A flash of understanding crossed the young boy's face. He instantly began typing, and it was a couple minutes before he looked up. "If Drakken was able to determine the identifiable parametrizations for direct adaptive control of linear multivariable objects, it might just be possible! I just didn't think it could be done!"

The others sat there confused, before Ron spoke up. "Umm… Wade… in English please. I don't think any of us got that."

Wade face grew concerned as the ramifications of his discovery came to him. "If Drakken was able to identify a single energy frequency emitted by the objects, he could, in theory, have developed some way to amplify those energies. And if I'm right, he could raise them to unspeakable levels! I assume since Shego is there that Drakken doesn't want to help Monkey Fist anymore? Think I could talk with him?"

Shego sat back, a frown on her face. Ron just winced when he answered. "I'm afraid he's… indisposed right now. I'm surprised you hadn't heard about it yet?"

"Well, I have been a little busy. Just give me a… oh wow… did Monkey Fist…"

Shego grabbed the Kimmunicator from Bonnie. "Yes, he did! So you'll get right on this and find Monkey Fist, so I can thoroughly kick his ass and put the sick bastard down!" She tossed the Kimmunicator back to Bonnie and got up, heading out the front door. Ron looked over at Bonnie, and followed Shego outside.

He opened the door to see Shego sitting on the step, lighting a cigarette. She looked up briefly to see who came out, and turned back around. Ron sat down on the step beside her.

"I didn't know you smoked?"

"I don't normally, quit three years ago, but after the last couple of days…"

They sat in silence like that for a few minutes, just looking out onto the street. When Shego finally spoke again, it was almost a whisper. "I just don't like people seeing this side of me… you know, scared and vulnerable. Makes me sick that I even feel this way. I don't even know why I'm talking to you about this."

"Maybe because you need someone to talk to? Someone who's willing to listen, like me?"

"Oh, that's just great! The big bad villain crying on the shoulder of the goody-two-shoes hero! Won't that just look great for my reputation?"

Ron just looked over at her. "Why does that matter to you anyways what they think of you?"

Shego just glared at him. "It matters because I'm supposed to be the bad guy, and you just don't go crying to the heroes when you need help! Because I'd never find work if something like this got out!"

Ron just sat there for a moment before replying. "I don't think you're a bad person. You just made some bad choices."

Shego just laughed. "I've stolen, I've hurt people, I've even killed a man! I'm a bad person!"

The last one caught Ron a little off-guard, he hadn't heard anything like that on her rap sheet, but it didn't stop him. "Shego, would a bad person have helped us disarm those bombs tonight? Or helped me after Kim's injury? And I know you only grabbed me when I turned evil to stop me from causing too much damage till Kim and Drakken could fix things!"

Shego looked a little surprised at that. "How did you…"

Ron just smiled. "You didn't exactly give Kim much of a fight, now did you?"

Shego lowered her head again, sighing quietly. "The good doesn't exactly outweigh the bad though, does it?"

"Why did you go evil anyways? You mentioned giving into your darkness the last time we talked. What did you mean by that?"

Shego just snickered. "I never exactly was what you would call a "good kid". Always in trouble at school, fighting, smoking. But at least I was doing the hero thing. I had a boyfriend, I had a life. Hell, I was even somewhat happy, considering my brothers were such idiots!" Ron had to laugh, having met them himself. "Hego didn't exactly approve of my activities, but he couldn't fault me when it came to fighting. Then, we met Doctor Chaos!"

Ron looked confused, but Shego just laughed. "Don't bother racking your brain, kid. You'll never have heard of him. He never made the papers, just a couple of very quiet attacks against us. Then, he somehow learned of our secret identities, never figured out how, and decided to start with me. Kidnapped me and my boyfriend right out of the school, knocked me out before I could do anything! Next thing I know, I wake up chained to a wall with my boyfriend, Jason, strapped to a table." Shego paused, taking a drag from her cigarette. "The bastard spent two days torturing him in front of me, while I couldn't do anything but watch. He just kept laughing at me while Jason just kept screaming, begging!" Shego took another drag, pausing to collect herself. "I don't know what was worse, the screaming at the beginning, or the silence when Jason had screamed so long he couldn't make a sound, his throat was so torn up. Two days of that! You know what that can do to a person? Then, when he thought Jason wasn't any fun any more, he killed him, just like that. By that point, I almost glad that he had done that!"

Ron had no idea what to say to something like that, and Shego didn't give him a chance. "The bastard was enjoying himself. When he finished with Jason, he turned to me. At this point, I had no strength left, no food or water for days. He decided it might be fun to try something… different with me. He violated me, right there, in front of Jason's body, his eyes staring at me the whole time, as if asking why I couldn't save him."

"That was when Hego got there. The big guy crashed right through the wall, saw what was going on, and grabbed him by the neck, pulling him off me. He was so furious, the look in his eyes, I thought he would kill him right there! But he didn't. He threw him into the wall, and he fell unconscious. Hego ripped the restraints right off the wall, but all I could see was Chaos, lying there, helpless. I still don't know how I found the strength, but I just got up, and walked over to him. I just kept thinking, it would be so easy, that by the time I realized what I was doing, I had my hands on his neck, the fire on my hands going as hot as I could make it. Hego pulled me off him, but I could tell he was already dead. Hego held me, but all I could remember was laughing at what I had done. To this day, I still think he could have stopped me from killing him, but he didn't."

"I spent the next three months in an asylum. Hego covered the whole mess up, probably the only time he ever broke the law. As far as I know, he didn't even tell Mego and the twins. I wasn't in the best place though when I got out of the asylum though. I took off, tried to make it on my own. That's when Drew found me. He gave me a place to stay, food, the works. Sure, I had to steal for him on occasion, but it seemed such a small price to pay, and then the plans got even more grandiose. By that point though, I didn't mind. He is a good man at heart you know, despite wanting to take over the world. He doesn't want to hurt people, he's never killed anyone, he wants to make the world a better place… just run his way. Hell, he even leaves you your weapons and equipment so you guys could always escape! And you think it's just an accident the self-destruct button is always right in plain sight?"

Shego stood up, dropping the remains of the cigarette to the ground and crushing it under her foot. "What Fiske did to Drew, the man is going to pay. I have few people in my life that are important to me, and he hurt one of them! If I get my hands on him, he will die, simple as that! "

All Ron could do was look up at her, seeing the determination in her face. He had no words that could express how he felt about what she had gone through. Finally, she turned back to him. "No one knows what I just told you, no one else ever hears about this. I'm trusting you with this because I think you might just be able to understand, if even only just a little bit. And if anyone else ever hears about this, I will kill you!"

Ron did not doubt the sincerity of her words. "I understand!"

The two stood like that for a few more minutes until the door opened. Bonnie, looking into their faces, seemed hesitant to interrupt, but decided it might be just what they wanted to hear.

"Wade thinks we might have a way to track Monkey Fist!"

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Author's Notes – Check out my one-shot "New Beginnings", for Bonnie's first mission. I just posted it today. Takes place between Bonnie's Curse and Redemption, and it just kept screaming at me to write it.

I'd like to thank the following for their reviews;

Mike9 – Well, that was a review! As for Monty's excessive violence, he's been pushed completely over the bend. He's gotten to the point where he's enjoying it! Besides, who says he didn't do that stuff first? I've only been describing the aftermath!

GargoyleSama – Oh yeah, she's pissed! And I've read Sun Tzu, but have never had a chance to read Machiavelli's work. Now I am definitely curious, after what you just said!

Campy – Ahh, but remember the ending to Bonnie's Curse. Also, she has displayed morals quite often in the show. If the choice was getting her hands on Monty, who she could get later, and saving a couple hundred lives that won't last more than 15 minutes, I think she would make the right choice. Just my thoughts!

MrDrP – Wait till you see who else joins the party soon!

mattb3671 – I'm not sure, but I'm just glad someone appreciates Canada, even if it is to just take it over! You know, when he recovers, he might just have to become a hockey fan! And as for darker… BWAHAHAH! It only gets worse from here!

I'd also like to thank Mobius97, and kpultimatefan for their reviews!