A/N: A tiny something. Thanks forever to split-n-splice for being my motivation to keep writing. This one not edited or proofread.

Buddy

Drakken's pacing was slow as he surveyed his newest evil creations, his footsteps echoing in the cavernous ceiling of the lair. Each robot in the army was nearly nine feet tall, their exoskeletons reinforced with tungsten. Their laser weapons had GPS precision targeting and commands would be issued via radio internet. And of course, each robot had glowing red eyes, simply for the evil effect. It was his most expensive project to date, even more than the moon laser.

He kicked a hex screw across the floor and it hit the toe of one robot with a clang.

It was too bad the plan would still fail.

"Why the long face, Dr. D.?"

"Gah! Shego!"

His side-kick snickered at having surprised him again, and he caught his breath as he noted her small, approving smirk as she surveyed the robot army.

"I think these are your best yet," she commented, and he straightened up in pride before his shoulders slumped again almost immediately.

"They are, thank you for noticing."

Shego quirked a brow at him. "Then...what's the problem?"

"It still won't work," he said. "No matter what I do... Kim Possible will always be there, somehow, to stop me!"

He'd cringed so hard when speaking the name of his hated teen nemesis that he felt a headache beginning to form at his temples. Shego was watching him blankly and he turned to face the robots, uncomfortable under her emotionless stare.

"And if it's not her, there will be...some design flaw. It's always something," he grumbled.

"You said they passed all the tests?" Shego said, partially in statement.

"Yes," he replied glumly, knowing it didn't matter.

"Then...I'll take care of Possible."

Drakken rolled his eyes. "That's always the plan, and yet she always bests you."

He could feel Shego tense behind him, and he turned to face her apologetically, hoping it wasn't too late to prevent a verbal tongue-lashing. His panic was unwarranted, however, as he watched her take a deep breath and release it slowly through her nostrils.

"No, I mean... I'll go stage a robbery on the other side of the globe. When Possible shows up, you attack with your robots somewhere else. She can't be in two places at once."

Drakken felt a bubbling of warmth in his chest that made its way to his eyes in the form of delighted tears.

"Shego, that's brilliant!"

"Whoa!" she gasped when he enveloped her in a spontaneous hug. He was so elated, he barely noticed her arms encircling him and returning the gesture. He pulled away almost as quickly as he'd grabbed her, wiping his tears with gloved fingertips.

"I don't know what I'd do without you! It's...so nice to have a buddy in evil!"

Shego's small grin faltered then and her expression became unreadable. He noted the slight color to her cheeks but was too excited to bother trying to analyze it.

"I'll program the coordinates for the strike and you can start work on the plan to distract Possible," he said giddily, turning and walking toward the computer.

"Buddy..." he heard Shego murmur, and he glanced back over his shoulder with a broad grin. He was perplexed to see her shaking her head, but one corner of her mouth quirked upward as she began to follow him. She shrugged her shoulders in response to his look of confusion and gave him a playful nudge with her elbow. "...It's a start."