(A/N: Sorry this took so long! I'm usually more comfortable writing dialogue than action scenes, so it was kind of difficult to get through it. Originally, I was going to have Dr. Drakken in this chapter and have a little back-and-forth with Shego first, then later try (and fail) to defend her from Slade. It didn't quite fit with the tone, though, and I felt like Slade and Shego's banter is enough to carry the story for this part. I do feel kind of bad leaving Drakken out of the story so much. To make up for it, I will have a chapter featuring Drakken really soon, as soon as we catch up with the heroes. So here comes the most intense chapter I've written so far. Brace yourself and enjoy!)
The door to Slade's lair creaked open a crack and Shego stuck her head through the gap. "Hello?" she said, looking to each side. "Anybody home?"
The returning silence was uncanny. All she could hear were the newly repaired gears above turning. "Huh," she thought aloud. "Dr. D must have hooked them up again. Weird."
She stepped inside gingerly. Slade easily could have put in a trapdoor while she was gone, and she was not in the mood to fall down some dumb chute again just for dramatic effect. It was strange how deserted the lair was. This was a bit of a relief. Shego was not looking forward to what Slade would have to say about today's performance. She walked out into the middle of the room and pivoted around. "Guess it's just me," she concluded, placing her hands on her hips and relaxing her posture.
She spoke too soon. Out of the shadows appeared Slade. Shego honestly had no clue where he had come from. Somehow, in the dim light he had materialized barely a few feet ahead of her. His one eye was narrowed and fixed on her. "You have failed me again, apprentice," he said, full of wrath yet seemingly in control. He walked one step at a time until he was directly in front of her. He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back up against the nearest wall, holding her there tightly. "Did I not warn you that I do not take failure lightly?" he asked, his voice losing a great deal of its previous calmness.
"Uh-huh, yeah," Shego said, pulling out a glowing hand. "And I don't take people shoving me into walls lightly." She grabbed his hand and pushed herself far from his reach. "Seriously," she continued, her glow deactivating, "there's this thing called personal space. Have you heard of it?" It took only an instant for him to be standing directly in front of her, his body only a millimeter away from brushing hers. "Okay," she said warily, "apparently you have not."
His one eye looked down at her face. She was certain he was scowling under there. "You have disappointed me, apprentice." He gestured with his hand to the screen on the side wall featuring several green dots blinking. "When you left, there were six signals. I ordered you to remove six signals. You returned with only one deactivated, and that was merely because you destroyed her communicator, not her life." He put his arm down and balled his hands into fists. "I am very angry with you, apprentice. Very, very angry."
Shego took a step back. "Easy, grandpa. Look, I'm not proud to admit this, but I have some teaching experience, and let me tell you, saying, 'don't fail' to a student is like making sure they fail, so maybe you should reevaluate your own pep talks before you get too mad at your apprentice." Slade took one step toward her. She stepped back again, beginning to feel really uncomfortable. "Anyway, I know what I did wrong, and it won't happen again. Just one more chance. I swear Kimmie and her super buddies will be goners next time."
Slade suddenly grabbed both of her small gloved hands in one of his and held them so tightly that he began to cut off circulation. "One more chance?" he repeated harshly. "I don't have time for one more chance! The next phase of the plan is already in motion!"
"Hey!" she shouted, kicking his legs. "Let go! I'm on your side, you idiot!"
He dropped her hands and slapped her so hard that she flew back several feet and landed on her side. The landing stung her cheek, and she rubbed the area with her hand. No blood that she could feel, but it was hard to see in the dim light. She turned her horrified face on the one who had dealt the blow. "What are you doing?" she demanded, picking herself up off the floor.
"Teaching you a lesson!" he replied, jumping up into a flying kick that she barely dodged. She blocked two punches and slid out of the way of another kick. He lunged to grab her. She sprung into the air. He reached out and grabbed her leg, throwing her onto the ground. She reached for her belt and activated a lime green force field around her body.
"You are insane!" she shouted at him from inside her orb of protection, which illuminated the room with its eerie green tint. "You're lucky enough to have an apprentice as evil as I am, and then you go berserk over one stupid setback? Please!"
Slade stood tall and menacing, his muscular arms crossed over his chest and his mask shining in the neon green light. "There are certain rules for a master and apprentice relationship. Not only have you failed to defeat the Teen Titans, but you continue to refuse me any of the respect a master deserves. I could almost accept your failures, had you any sense of proper conduct toward your superiors. Dr. Drakken spoiled you with his stupidity. I am not so permissive. You knew this from the beginning. You have two choices, apprentice: treat me with respect or face the consequences."
Shego tossed her black hair and deactivated her shield. "I pick choice number three: I leave."
"Apprentice," Slade said, "I forbid you."
Shego answered him sarcastically, "Ooh, he forbids me. I'm sooo scared. You don't know what you're losing here. Supervillains actually hire me to teach their kids how to be evil. I don't need to stick around with some faceless maniac who isn't worth my time." She turned her back and walked toward the exit. "You can keep Dr. D if his blue brain is really that important to you. Hey, maybe I'll go solo and take over the world all by myself."
"Apprentice, this is your final warning…"
She turned around with one hand on her hip and spoke slowly as though she were addressing a two-year-old. "Read my lips, honey. Shego leaving. Apprentice go bye-bye."
The moment the last taunting syllables escaped her lips, Shego felt something strange inside of her. It tingled strangely. She felt like many sharp pins were stabbing into her, but at the same time sucking something out. It started at her finger tips, then travelled down through her hands and into her arms. It hurt more and more as it expanded. The green lines on her battle suit glowed brighter and little bolts of green electricity sputtered on and around her. She dropped to her knees, clutching her head. The pain flowed through her entire body now. It felt like she was suffocating, yet somehow still breathing. It lasted for a very short time, but it felt like an eternity.
She looked to Slade desperately. She knew that whatever was happening, he was somehow controlling it. "Stop it!" she screamed at him. "Just stop it!" He looked down at her without a hint of compassion, as though she were a fly drowning in a puddle.
Her knees gave and she crumpled onto the floor. The bright green stripes faded and whatever was causing the pain stopped. She caught her breath slowly, then lifted herself up from the floor. He is so going to get it, she thought, aiming an energy blast Slade's direction.
Wait.
Something was wrong.
Her hand was cold. There was nothing in it.
She clenched her teeth and thought of everything that had just happened, filling herself with wrath. She balled up her fist and…nothing.
"Impossible," she said, looking at her hands. They were still green, but a bit paler than usual. She had lost her powers once before, but it had been much less painful and her powers had been sucked into the crystal of a magic staff, not simply disappearing with nowhere to go. She looked angrily at Slade. "You…you took my powers!"
"So I did," he replied emotionlessly. "Any other stunning observations, apprentice?"
"But…how?" she asked. "You can't do that. Only the staff can do that!"
"Apprentice," Slade said, "you really ought to keep a more open mind." He reached behind him and pulled out a crystal, now containing a green glow below its clear surface. "The crystal of Aviarius's staff is able to both enhance and remove powers from the same origin as yours, when applied properly. I copied the staff's technology to make your suit. The one who controls the crystal can choose to bring your powers to their full potential…or to discontinue them." He placed the crystal behind his back again. "Of course, I did add a few details of my own to the process. A little pain always adds shock value."
Shego took a step forward. "Hand it over."
"Excuse me?"
She held out her hand. "You've made your point. You're the boss, I'm the apprentice. I'm not too dumb to know what's good for me. But if you want me to stay, you'd better hand over that crystal. My powers are a part of my body. My body, my control." She walked up to him until they were only a few inches apart. "Now, Slade."
He did not respond verbally, but took the crystal out again. He took out of his belt a clear case into which he put the crystal, sealing it up tight. He held it up. She looked at it eagerly, stretching out both hands to grab it.
Slade appeared willing to give it to her. Just before she could reach it, he held it far away and said, "Apprentice, at what point I give the impression that this was a negotiation?" He then proceeded to place the case on a black stand beside the computer and punched in a code to lock it in place. "As long as the crystal rests in its current position, I am connected to it within my own armor."
Shego ran to the crystal and reached to grab it. She was hit with an electric sensation and drew her hand back quickly. "A force field, naturally," Slade explained. "I am not foolish enough to leave it unprotected in plain view."
"I can't believe this," Shego said accusingly. "You said we would be in this together. You said that you were going to improve my powers. You said that you saw my full potential. You lied to me. All you wanted was a slave."
"It's called being evil," Slade replied coolly. "You should really try it sometime."
That last sentence was too much. Coming from a superhero background had made her feel the need to overcompensate her evilness at the beginning of her villain career. Even long after her villianhood had been established, the slightest hint of her growing soft was enough to set her off. This was a personal insult, and Shego did not like being personally insulted.
She ran at Slade and jumped, aiming a flying kick at his head. He reached out his arm to stop her. She grabbed his arm and twisted it behind him. He shook her off. She landed for a brief moment on the wall, then bounced to all fours on the ground, rolling forward one full rotation before jumping to her feet and grabbing Slade's shoulder. She tried to let out her claws and electrocute him, but they wouldn't come out. He picked her up and threw her not so gently into the mass of gears above.
She tried to activate her grappling device as the spinning machines loomed closer. Nothing happened. Great, she thought. He has my powers and my suit. She quickly shifted her weight so that she landed squatting with two feet on the ground and one hand gripping a pole for balance, barely escaping certain destruction by the turning gears.
A smoke bomb went off, covering the area so that Shego could barely see. She stepped back to get a better view and found her back up against a wall. Slade emerged from the smoke carrying a metal Bo staff. "You did not think you could get away so easily, did you, apprentice?" he asked.
"Not exactly," Shego replied. She tried to buy herself some time while she felt around for a weapon of some kind. "I see you got all this weird machinery stuff working." She felt her hand grasp a lever of some kind. This could be useful.
"Your former master had some free time," Slade explained, continuing to walk toward her. "You know how the fool enjoys building things." He lunged forward and thrust his staff at her. He would have crushed her if she hadn't kicked the lever, broken it free, and blocked his blow with a staff of her own. She pushed him away and twirled her new weapon.
"Newsflash," she said confidently, "I don't call anybody master."
"Then you will have to learn," Slade replied.
He ran toward her and the two began to fight. Shego was accustomed to relying on her powers in a fight. It was rare that she used a weapon other than her own hands and feet. Slade, on the other hand, fought like a professional. As the jagged edge of her makeshift staff struck his metal armor, tiny red sparks flew. Shego pressed her weapon against Slade's, then used the leverage to flip herself over him to a more open position. As the ground on which they stood turned slowly in a circle, he stepped toward her, while she stepped backward at the same pace.
"Surrender, apprentice," Slade ordered. "Without your powers, you are nothing. Serve me the way I wish, and they will be restored to you."
"Surrender?" Shego repeated. "That's not even in my vocabulary, old man. I'll just have to beat you without energy bolts. Not a picnic exactly, but it should be easy enough."
"Indeed?" he asked, walking a little bit faster. Shego quickened her pace accordingly. "You should know that you lost more than just your energy bolts when I took your powers. Strength. Speed. Endurance. Resistance to injury. All that came from your rainbow comet." He quickened his pace again. So did she. "Many years ago, I too underwent a strange procedure. I have been genetically altered to become a superior fighter. I still am. You no longer have anything on your side. You are weak and powerless. You might as well give up!"
He turned around suddenly and struck her from behind with his staff. She stumbled forward, then grabbed the pole in the center of the moving piece they stood on and swung around to kick him square in his false metal face. She bounced off and grabbed her own staff that she had dropped. He tried to trip her with his weapon. She jumped out of the way and nearly got off the spinning gear, but he blocked her escape with a couple of well-timed moves. Now standing on her feet again, she found herself struggling to block his blows. She hated to admit it even to herself, but he did seem unusually gifted in the area of martial arts. Finally, she found herself cornered against the wall again. Slade reached out one gloved hand and held her face up to his level, letting her feet barely graze the ground.
"Call me master," he ordered.
Shego panicked for only a second, then she remembered something. She waited until the gear put her next to that lever she had broken off for a weapon. "In your dreams," she said with her evil smirk reappearing in its usual position.
She pressed the lever all the way up with her foot, stopping the platform's motion. She grabbed Slade's wrists and used her feet to push herself off of him, landing with both feet on another platform just below. Shego was never one to run from a fight, but this time she knew she had to get out now and worry about Slade later. She took off running, not even looking back.
If she had looked back, she would have seen Slade leap down to ground level just as she fled through the door. "She won't get far," he said, walking calmly over to the computer. He opened a program he and Drakken had installed that morning, entered a long, detailed code, and clicked a button labeled "Send".
While they had been rebuilding the lair last night, Shego had helped Slade set up countless booby traps around the hideout. There was only one safe way in, and it was one particular sewer tunnel. Of all the sewers near Slade's underground lair, this was the smallest one. She tried to walk along the side of the wall, avoiding falling into the murky green water below.
Suddenly, a siren went off, accompanied by flashing red lights all around her. Shego froze and instinctively looked for the police. Instead of seeing them, she found two straight lines of robots blocking her path forward. They were black and copper, shaped similarly to a human. Their eyes glowed bright red and they stood at least a foot taller than her. She looked back and saw two more lines blocking the other side. Drakken must have created these while I was out, she realized. He must have hooked up all the machinery in the lair to power mass production. She laughed out loud. "You guys are Drakken's creations? This should be easy!"
The two groups of robots charged toward her. One from each side reached out to grab her. She gave one a roundhouse kick, then ducked the other one's grasp, following it up with a punch to the face. She looked all over it for an off switch, but was surprised to have no such luck. She did manage to count a total of fourteen robotic adversaries. Two more from each side advanced on her. One shot out its hand, which remained attached to its arm with a long metal cord. Its stretched it out toward Shego. She jumped up, making it miss its target. Next, she snuck up behind another robot and shoved it into her current attacker. Two more shot their arms out at her. She ran between them, backflipping out of the way just in time to make them tangle up in each other's cords. They fell over and another robot ran toward her. She jumped clear across the murky water and landed on the concrete of the other side. As it pursued, it was submerged up to its chest. She jumped again, this time landing on the partially submerged robot's metal shoulders. Four others surrounded her in the middle of the water, shooting their arms up at her. This time, they successfully grabbed both of her arms.
Shego tried to break loose, but she could not. Slade's words echoed through her head. You lost more than just your energy bolts when I took your powers. Strength. Speed. Endurance. Resistance to injury…You might as well give up!
"No!" she shouted out loud to the darkly soothing voice in her mind. She launched herself into the shallow water, pulling the robots down with her. Underwater, she managed to slip out of their grip and reach the concrete on the other side. "Blech!" she said, spitting out some blackish-greenish water. "I am never going in there again."
A heavy metal object fell on the hand she was using to push herself up. She looked up and saw one final robot, his foot nearly crushing her arm. "Oh, heh heh," she said awkwardly. "Hey there. I know we just met, but I've really gotta go, so…"
The robot grabbed the back of her black suit and held her up by it at its eye level over the disgusting sewer water. She looked behind her and saw the others rising from below the water with their arms back in place, completely unharmed. "Ugh, are you kidding me?" she said, very annoyed by how things were going.
She grabbed her captor's wrist and bent it back so that it lost its grip. She swung herself around and grabbed onto its neck, gripping his back with her feet. The neck and the connecting point between limbs were usually the most vulnerable spots. She held on tightly and did her best to snap its metal head off. It wasn't as easy as she had thought. The neck was solid metal. There was nothing to twist. She gave up and pulled at its arm. Again, it was too strongly in place. There were no weak spots, or at least none she could see. "Dang it," she muttered. "What kills you freaks?"
The robot turned its head around so that it faced backwards. Its glowing red eyes shot out red laser beams at her hands, forcing her to fall crashing to the floor. She looked up and saw two newly returned robots with one hand each turned into a blaster weapon, and both of them pointing at her. Behind them and in the water, twelve more were doing the same exact thing. Shego stood up slowly, knowing they could all shoot her if she made one bad move. She looked and saw that the exit was now open. Could she risk it? You are powerless, apprentice, Slade's voice told her.
Get out! she shouted inside her own head, holding onto it with her hands like she was trying to shake him out of it. She took off running, as if she was trying to run away from the sound of his voice. The robots all opened fire. She dodged red blasts with the skills of a trained gymnast until one shot at the ceiling. A heap of debris fell down toward her head. She jumped out of the way of what would have been a serious injury, but realized that she was teetering on the edge of the concrete and the water. A robot, she could not see which one, sent a laser beam from its eyes to her feet, sending her splashing into the water again.
Those who were not already in the water dove in. When she resurfaced, she found herself surrounded. All at once, they reached out to grab her. She put up a good fight, but there were too many. She managed to dig her nails into the metal body of one of her assailants and drag herself up. She moved to swim from her slightly elevated position to the shore. Before she could follow through, five robots wrapped their stretched out arms tightly around her and dragged her back into the water. As she struggled, four more grabbed her, holding her down. She gasped for breath. The water was beginning to close in over her. "No!" she shouted. The robots pulled her down into the murky depths. "No no no…" She disappeared under the water.
Back at the computer, Slade stood patiently, watching the whole show on the large screen. Two rows of seven robots marched into the room, their metal parts clanking loudly on the floor. The front two each carried one arm of a dripping green woman, whose feet were dragging behind her. Slade turned around and stepped down to where they were.
"Ah, apprentice. You have returned."
He pressed something on the inside of his glove. The green streaks on Shego's uniform lit up. Her skin returned to its usual shade of green. She opened her eyes and coughed up some dirty water. "Wha…what happened?" she asked.
Slade answered, "You have become acquainted with your coworker, the Sladebot 2.0."
As he said their name, the bots threw Shego onto the ground in front of her master and stepped back into the shadows. She slowly stood up, face to face with Slade. "That was entirely uncalled for," she said, full of fury. "I said I would work for you if you gave me my powers back. You didn't have to send a bunch of robot soldiers to nearly drown me!"
"You were not exactly listening to reason, apprentice," Slade explained. "I did what was necessary."
"But they could have killed me!"
"On the contrary," he replied, "I ordered them to keep you alive at all costs. You are useless to me dead. It took me a very long time to find a suitable new apprentice. Now that I finally have the one I need, I am not about to lose her already." He leaned in so that his face nearly touched hers. "That's something you should know about me, apprentice. There is nothing I hate more than losing…and I never do."
Shego returned, "You lost two apprentices before me."
He straightened up. "In the past, yes. But not this time. You see, apprentice, even if you were capable of escaping the Sladebots, I would still have the crystal, and therefore would still be in control of your powers. You rely on them too much to lose them voluntarily. So, let us try this again. Call me master, apprentice."
"Never," Shego spat.
Slade's eye narrowed. Shego felt the same pain start at her finger tips that she had before. Sparks and streaks of green light sputtered around her body. She groaned in agony. Which name she called Slade didn't matter to her so much. It was the principle of the thing that she hated. Sure, Drakken was an idiot sometimes and had made her do some insane things, but he had never treated her as poorly as this. She had always had pride in how independent and powerful she was. Submitting to Slade would destroy all of that. She could not give in.
"Say it!" Slade ordered.
"NO!"
The pain filled her entire body. She felt like she was going to collapse. Slade stepped forward and looked her in the eyes. "Struggling is useless. You wanted to work for a true evil genius. Now you do. Everything has a price, apprentice. This is yours."
"I d-don't call anybody m-master," she stuttered, fighting the pain. She fell down to her knees, clutching her stomach.
"Well," Slade said, turning his back, "I suppose if you will not work for me, you will not wish to keep that suit." He punched in the code to disable the crystal's force field and picked it up in his hand. "What a pity. Your powers looked so fine enhanced to that level. Perhaps I shall take the crystal myself and make your energy bolts my own. I only need to place it back on Aviarius's staff." He unscrewed the top of the container and held the crystal aloft. "I did have fire-related powers for a short time once. How I miss them. It looks like I will be getting them back, in a way. You really are too generous."
"No! Don't!" Shego shouted. "You can't!"
"No, what, apprentice?"
"No…" she cringed as she said the word, "…master."
Instantly, all of the pain disappeared. Slade placed the crystal back in its container and sealed it on its stand behind the force field. Shego stood back up again. Slade walked over to her and placed his large hands gently on her shoulders, as though he were merely a caring friend or family member.
"Good," he said. "I am glad we have an understanding." He put his hands at his sides and continued, "I have no more need of you for now. You are dismissed. I recommend you finish unpacking your things and take a shower. You carry a bit too much of that sewer water's scent."
Shego walked silently out of the room and into the dark passageway that led to the room Slade had assigned to her. She was angry at Drakken for creating robots that could actually defeat her. She was angry at Slade for betraying her in this way and destroying her pride. Most of all, she was angry at herself for giving in, and for being unable to do anything about it. From all of her fury, two orbs of green flame burned in her hands.
