The next segment from "Bad Future," which immediately follows the first segment (which is chapter 1 of "The Shape of Things Yet To Come")
Enjoy and R&R!
A First Peek Into Zorpox's Past
Shego shook her head in disbelief as Drakken plucked the business card from her hand to examine it more closely. "Given the number of our lairs you've been in - and destroyed - over the years? I'd have to say you know a lot about them."
Ron chuckled. "Yours and a lot of other people's, too. But that was a long time ago."
"Not nearly long enough," Drakken mumbled under his breath, glancing briefly up from the business card before returning to his study of the fine print.
"True enough," Shego nodded, raising her voice to drown out Dr. Drakken's almost inaudible comment. She frowned at her boss quellingly, irritated by his attitude, then looked askance at Ron as she asked, "So what happened to you? You dropped out of sight pretty convincingly. Not that we really looked for you or anything, but still," she noted, "I would have thought we'd have heard something about you. I also couldn't help but notice that Kimmie's autobiography didn't mention you, either."
"What with one thing and another," Ron admitted, "I dropped out of the business - however broadly you care to define the whole hero-villain thing - entirely for a while. Frankly, I wanted to keep my distance from anything and everything that could possibly remind me of... Well, pretty much anything."
"Yeah? So what happened to make you drop out? You obviously didn't get killed, maimed, or lose an important body part." She eyed him consideringly - especially his much improved wardrobe, then suggested, "You get married? There a Mrs. Zorpox back at your own lair?"
Drakken's eyes shot up from the card and his scar twitched as he scowled ferociously. His glance strayed back and forth between his sidekick and the visitor, and the gears visibly ground against each other in his mind as he just as visibly leaped full bore to an utterly erroneous conclusion.
"Easy," Ron cautioned the suddenly glowering scientist, as his hand drifted close to his belt buckle - and the small array of buttons that could be seen sprouting from around its perimeter. "Don't worry; she's just being curious - and sociable. Nothing more."
Shego scowled as she turned her glare on her scowling employer. "No doy, Doc. Amp down. And you wonder why we never get any friendly visitors," she snarled.
"To answer your question, Shego," Ron continued, as he let his arm relax slightly. Drakken's expression had eased just as slightly following Shego's reassuringly familiar snapping at him. "No, I've never been married. In fact, the only person I've seen socially in... well, years is Betty, and we have a different sort of relationship."
Drakken's eyes widened in surprise. "There's only one person by that name in our circles," he realized. "You can't possibly mean... Betty... Director?" he demanded in disbelief, his eyes growing even wider.
"You sell lairs to villains... but you date the head of Global Justice?" Shego demanded. "The cyclops?"
"Not date, per se," Ron shrugged. "It's just that there are occasions and functions - either for the head of GJ or for myself as an entrepreneur - when being accompanied by an escort is considered mandatory, either for administrative or social reasons, and since neither of us are especially... interested..." He fell silent for a moment, pausing to organize his thoughts before continuing.
"She and I have known each other a long time," he eventually explained, "nearly as long as we," Ron paused as he gestured vaguely between himself and the villains with one gloved hand, "have, and we also know each other well enough to know what topics we should avoid broaching with each other, so we're... comfortable together. Certainly comfortable enough to deal with the rubber chicken circuit. I suppose you could say we're good friends. Of a sort."
Shego's grin turned sly as she considered his explanation. "Friends... With benefits?"
Her insinuation was obvious - so much so that even Dr. Drakken realized the thrust of her question. He let himself relax further as it finally sank into his beyond-genius intellect that Shego really hadn't been flirting with the visitor.
Ron chuckled and shook his head at Shego's teasing question. "Oh, no. It's nothing like that. We really are just friends..." he smiled lopsidedly, trying to think of another way of describing or defining what they had, but was unsuccessful. "It's... really just as simple as that. We try to keep work out of our... arrangement, because it might complicate things. Usually. Not that she doesn't enjoy pumping me sometimes..."
Even as Shego was drawing breath to respond, Ron continued on after taking a breath of his own. "...for information. But frankly, I think she enjoys the reaction she gets when we arrive together at public functions more than any other aspect of our 'relationship.' Bureaucrats tend to be very straight-laced, so when we're recognized, it tweaks a large number of people - and even when we're not recognized, the age difference is still usually enough to spark a reaction.
"I do go solo to most business or villainous functions, and she goes to most official functions by herself. It's not exactly what most people would call a typical or normal relationship, but... it works for us," he shrugged.
He chuckled once more before adding, "I did agree to be her escort to the last Halloween ball, though. I guess that could be considered kind of an official function. If you're interested, I think I've still got that picture..." Given the expressions on their faces, he nodded slightly, one corner of his mouth quirking into a half-grin.
From a breast pocket inside his suit coat, Ron drew a small handheld computer shaped vaguely like the capital letter "Z" and began typing on the keypad inset into the lower half of the device. After a moment, a beam of light began to emanate from a crystal mounted on the thin top edge of the mechanism as he entered the final keystrokes. When his hands stilled on the device, the light pulsed as a photograph was projected in monumental scale against a nearby wall.
The chromatically-challenged duo had barely even turned to see the magnified picture before Shego abruptly snorted as she swallowed the sudden burst of laughter that rose in her throat. The photo was of a couple standing in front of a black and orange balloon archway - the stereotypical background for couple photography at a holiday "event." A banner that stretched diagonally between the legs of the arch proclaimed the event to be the "Global Justice Halloween Ball," but the date listed below the text was unreadable beyond a "20," the remainder hidden behind the pair standing at the center of the picture.
In the enlarged photo, Ron was garbed as a WEE henchman - the large letter "A" emblazoned on the pale blue circle on his chest identifying his position inside the evil organization. His features were largely hidden behind the helmet and blue visor that were part of the uniform, but the lower part of his face was clearly visible - along with his smirk.
Dr. Director stood beside the slightly taller "Agent Alpha," her shoulder pressed against his arm as she posed beside her date. Global Justice's commander was daringly dressed in a low-cut, midriff baring top with leather pants that fit so snugly, they looked like they'd been sprayed on. Her hair was hidden beneath a blonde wig, the part styled in such a way that the long bangs hung over one side of her face, concealing the eyepatch she wore over her missing eye. Dr. Director's grin was manic - either to further the imposture, or from the sheer entertainment value of the costumes they'd worn, and the reactions they had undoubtedly provoked from her subordinates.
Although Dr. Director was visibly mature, she'd aged well, and she was clearly still more than fit enough to pull off the scant style of dress. The taut muscles of her abdomen were highlighted in the gap in her clothing thanks to the arch of her back, while her pants emphasized more than concealed the definition in her calves and thighs as her muscles were clenched beneath the snug leather.
"You went... to a Global Justice dance... dressed as Agent Alpha and Adrena Lynn?" Shego demanded, laughing into one hand as she stared at the photo. Dr. Drakken snickered from beside her, but didn't comment beyond a muttered, "Freaky."
Ron shrugged as he grinned. "What can I say? It was a costume ball - and Halloween is one of my favorite holidays." His grin gained a slightly harder edge as he added, "Besides, tweaking GJ is always an entertaining prospect."
Shego raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask the obvious questions as Ron busied himself in shutting down the projector. She was also moderately disgusted to see that her boss appeared to have completely missed the nuances underlying Ron's comments, since Dr. Drakken's smile remained obliviously amused as he turned away from the fading projection.
Smiling to himself, Ron noted their reactions. Shego was even more intrigued than she'd been when he arrived, and Dr. Drakken had lost much of his instinctive air of menace, apparently having forgotten most of his vengeful thoughts thanks to the timely distractions. "Perfect."
With the ice broken, and the villainous pair in a good mood, Ron rubbed his gloved hands together in anticipation. "Well, shall we have a seat?" he asked cheerily.
Not a large update - either in word count or in furtherance of the plot, but it's one that I've had on ice for a while that I decided to finally finish, polish, and post. More hints of the events that lead to this future, without outright answering any of the larger questions. Hmm... I think I'm seeing a pattern in my writing style...
R&R!