It didn't take them long to reach the bottom, to Kim's surprise. If she had to estimate, it was a mere 5 stories below street level. Not as secure as she'd expected…

The tube opened up into a wide, open warehouse, scaffolding full of various machinery protected only with chains. It was easy enough to jump through the hole at the bottom of the tube without touching the bottom. Child's play, really. Shego managed the same, even with Drakken on her back.

"Ouch!" Drakken yelped as Shego dumped him on the floor. Rubbing his bottom, he glared at her. "Thanks for the soft landing, Shego!"

"No problem, Doctor D," she replied, a smirk on her lips.

"Nnnnngh…"

"Can we please focus?" Kim looked around the large warehouse. "We need to find that brain-tap machine. It's supposed to be in Aisle J, booth 83..." She pointed at the sign above them. "At least we've lucked out. We're in Aisle J right now!"

"Look at Miss Exposition," Shego snarked. "Who would've thought that Kimmie doubled as a guide?"

Kim's cheeks reddened, but she said nothing. What did she care if Shego was teasing her? At least they weren't fighting…

"This is booth 47…" Drakken pointed, then directed their attention to the next booth. "And that's 45… So…" He waved vaguely in the other direction. "We want to go this way…"

"And Captain Obvious! Aren't we just seeing the celebrities today?" Shego laughed.

"Cram it, Shego!" he grunted, stomping his way down the aisle.

"What's wrong, Doctor D?" the green woman said with some mirth, catching up to him and tracing a finger up his arm.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's the constant picking that you can't seem to control?" he grumbled back. "You are mocking your husband and daughter, after all!"

"Hmph." Shego crossed her arms as they walked. "I'm just trying to find something amusing in all this is all…"

"It's not very funny, Shego," Kim admonished.

"I think it is," the older woman countered.

"There!" Drakken skipped ahead, eyes focused on one specific booth. "There it is!"

Luckily for them, it was on the bottom row of the scaffolding. The brain-tap machine was a rusty red color, with actual rust tinging the edges of the machine. A large plunger-like proboscis stuck out of the side, with a rather crappy rickety-looking chair sitting under it. The arms of the chair were partially melted, from what Kim couldn't guess. A large panel with a variety of buttons stood, as did a large old-school viewing screen placed in the center of the machine.

"So this is a brain-tap machine…" Kim said, taking it all in.

"Let's see if it still works," Drakken said, rubbing his hands together before pressing some buttons.

"Yeah, like it's actually gonna have a charge still," Shego snarked. "While you're at it, why don't you find a plug-in to put it i-.."

The screen burst to life.

"...huh."

"Can you get it working?" Kim asked. She knew there was a difference between 'on' and 'working', after all.

"Hrm…" Drakken pressed a few more buttons. "I think so… But…" he knocked on a rusty corner, which practically vaporized at his touch. "Not for too long. The heat from the energy source'll fry this thing before too long…"

"Then we better get this figured out," Shego said with a frown. "Have at it, genius."

"...I can't tell if you're mocking me or not," the blue man said, taking a moment to give her a small glare.

"Just do it!"

"Alright, fine!" He paused. "...what are we doing again? I don't think anyone actually told me…"

"We're looking at the memories to see if there's any clues for what happened," Kim said with as much patience as she could manage. Talk about being dense…!

"Ah! Right! Okay!" Drakken pushed a few buttons. "This should pull up the most recent memories that were extracted…"

On the screen appeared two middle-aged people. One, a woman with dark eyes and jet-black hair, had her hair in a tight ponytail, while she was in a knee-length poodle skirt with a simple blouse. The other, a redheaded man in a pair of worn jeans and a work shirt, was crouching down, arms held out and smile wide towards the person whose memory it was.

"Who are they?" Drakken asked, eyebrow tilting in confusion as the person they were seeing through ran into the waiting arms.

"...those are my parents," Shego said vaguely. Then, angrily, "Those are my parents!"

"Really?" Kim looked at the screen. Now that Shego had pointed it out, she could tell there was some relation between her and the two displayed. The similarities were too much to be coincidence.

"What in the…" Drakken scratched his head. "Why does it have your memories if this was supposed to be used to torture me?"

"I don't know!" Shego grunted, watching the scene play out with a sneer on her face. "But it won't have them for long…"

"Huh?" Drakken and Kim both turned towards Shego.

"Doc." Shego was serious. Dead serious. "If this thing has my memories…" She growled. "I want them back. I want my memories back. They're my memories, and I'll be the one to decide if I want to keep them or not!"

"But, but Shego…" Drakken twiddled his fingers in distress. "It's not made to put memories back!"

"Make it!"

Drakken gulped. "If I do this wrong, it'll eat more of your memories! Or worse!"

"Then don't screw up," she replied with a careless shrug. She sat down on the rickety seat and hooked her head up to the suction cup-looking helmet. Sighing, she closed her eyes. "Ready when you are, Doctor D…"

"I, erm, hnnn…" The blue man took several deep breaths, then got to work. Connecting, disconnecting, cutting, fusing… Belatedly, Kim realized that under his lab coat was a lot, a lot of tools. How did she not notice before? "There!" Drakken finished connecting one last cable and, closing his eyes, pressed a specific button on the console.

The machine burst to life. Shego snorted, then she gasped. Convulsions rocked her as the machine sputtered once, twice.

Then, silence and smoke.

"SHEGO!" Drakken bustled over and disconnected her from the machine. He laid her on the ground and shook her. "Shego, Shego, please be okay, please…!"

"Mmph…" Shego twitched, then jumped. She rolled into a combat pose, hands alight, ready to strike out at whoever got in range. Panting as if she had just ran a mile, she looked around with wild, unfocused eyes.

"Shego! It's me! Doctor D!" Drakken said, waving his arms in front of him defensively. "You know, the blue idiot that employs you? Can never do anything right? Gets 'wrecked' by your snappy insincere comments?"

"Doc…?" Her eyes focused on Drakken. Then, eyes glossing over with tears, she murmured, "...Drew…!" Uncharacteristically, Shego jumped up, flames fading, and practically tackle-hugged the blue man. "God, Drew, I…!"

"Erm, Shego?" He gave a nervous laugh. "You're kind of scaring me here… You are okay, right?"

She paused in her attempt to smother herself in his shoulder. "That's right… You…" She backed off. "Just 'cause I remember doesn't mean you do, right?"

"Well, no…" Drakken stood there, wary. "Did I do something wrong?"

Her face twisted, anguished. "No, Doc…" She schooled her emotions now, reassuming her normal cool facade. "You didn't do anything…"

He let out a breath he'd apparently been holding. "Good! Now then…" He eyed her. "What did you want to do now?"

"Right now, I want to tear the 'nads right off of Gemini… But…" Shego looked at him. "First, I want to remind you… Try to get you to remember…"

"If that's even possible," Kim butted in. Shego looked at the teen like she'd grown extra heads. Explaining, she elaborated, "I mean, the machine looks like it can't take anything else…" Waving at it, she was certain she was right. The control panel was half-melted, the screen now a warped mess of wires and plastic. If Drakken could even get it working, it would've been a wonder to even figure out which memories were his.

"Kimmie…" No malice in her tone. Just regret. Soooo much regret. "I…"

"It's okay… We can talk later once we get out of here, okay Shego?" The green woman flinched when she heard her name, but faintly nodded. "You two ready?" Drakken shrugged, while Shego nodded, this time more assured. "Okay. Let's go…" Shego gave one last look at the now-destroyed brain-tap machine before shuddering and following behind Kim.

"So then…" Kim and Drakken both sat down on the couch in the Caribbean lair, staring at Shego. Drakken ventured, "Do you, ah, happen to remember any of what happened…?

The ride back had been… Nerve-wracking. Shego hadn't been acting like herself at all, her face awash with nostalgia the entire way there, as if she was lost in the newly-found memories.

"Oh, Doc…" Shego shook her head. "I remember most of it. It's almost crazy, just how much…"

"Well, I guess start from the top?" Drakken shrugged. "How in the world did we even meet? I mean, same campus, but..."

"Ah, the great mystery…" Shego let out a dry, unamused chuckle. "It went something like this…"

A/N: Next chapter's a doozy, folks.