Author's notes: HAHAHA I live!!! Or rather my muse does. Anyway I'm kinda back to working on my fics. I have a new beta reader – DawnBTVS. They're a great help. Well on with the story.
After leaving the WWEE compound Shego returned to the safe-hotel. The 'Great Blue' still hadn't shown up so the thief started getting things ready to leave for her flight to the Director's contact. On the day that she was going to leave for China Draken came flopping through the door.
The cerulean tinged man walked into Shego's room finding her back facing him packing a duffel bag. "Shego! You made it!" he said with surprise written on his face.
Not looking up from the bag, Shego continued to stuff clothes into it. "Doy, of course I made it. I'm actually amazed you got away from those goons."
"You really should have greater faith in your employer," Drakken whined. After a pause he asked, "Um… is it really true? Is she out of our hair forever?"
The pale woman stopped mid action. Placing the clothes back on the bed, she replied in an emotionless voice, "Yeah, she's dead, Doc."
"Yeessss!!!!" The blue man cheered and started dancing around in a small circle. Looking over at Shego he noticed she still hadn't moved since answering him. Stopping his rejoicing he went over to his sidekick and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Shego, are you alright? You know you can tell me if something's bothering you, evil family and all that." He heard something from the pale woman but he couldn't make it out. "What was that Shego? I didn't hear you."
In a soft whisper, she repeated, "They killed her. They killed my Kimmie." Her voice grew stronger as anger boiled up inside her. "I was the one who was going to kill Princess. Not some faceless fucker with a gun!" At this point Shego's plasma burst into life and Drakken jumped a good three feet from her and landed on his ass in fear. "No one was worthy of her, only me!" As sudden as her plasma and anger appeared they vanished just as quickly. Her voice died down and she repeated in a whisper, "Only me," as tears spilt down her face.
Wiping her face, Shego returned to packing her bag. "I need some answers, so I'm going to be leaving for a while Doctor D. Keep your head down and watch out for GJ." She zipped the bag shut and walk past Drakken, just as he was getting up from the floor, to the door. Opening it she paused for a moment in the doorway before striding through and shutting it.
Drakken only managed a small wave as his brain tried to process what just happened. "I hope I see you again Shego," he said to an empty room.
The stealth fighter flew unnoticed over the night draped Hong Kong as it swiftly moved closer to its destination. Not having been picked up on any radar or other means wasn't all too surprising being that the jet was an experimental fighter of the US Air Force. Shego only played with the best and most cutting edge toys available. Once she was over downtown Hong Kong, Shego used the VTOL engine to drop the jet into a walled in courtyard that had an attached dojo. As soon as the jet touched ground four turrets came out of the ground at each of the corners with armed men pouring onto the battlements.
Once the jet cooled down enough the cockpit slid up and moved forward with a hiss. Shego stood up and was the first to say anything. "I'm looking for Xiao, Daiyu"
"And who exactly would be looking for her?" A great giant of a man asked from the entrance to the dojo.
"An acquaintance of the Director's. Now where is she?" Shego sharply commanded.
The guard cocked his head to a side in thought, before asking, "Which Director?"
"Both. Now get Xiao out here or I'll teach you a more personal way to walk on fire," the villain said as her left hand lit up.
The big man's eyes widened at the sudden appearance of the green flame but the door behind him slid open allowing him to step to the side as a woman in a Shaolin monk robe came out. Her graying hair covered one eye and fell down below her waist. The one eye that the thief could see had a knowing glint to it, as though the woman knew far beyond what a mere mortal should know. "Now why would the world famous Shego be looking for an old woman?"
Locking eyes with the woman, Shego demanded, "I need to know where Betty is."
Taking in Shego for another second before turning her back on her and walking back into the dojo, she said over her shoulder, "Hmm… I fail to see why I should tell you anything."
Shego was caught off guard by the sudden dismissal. Growling she let her other hand become incased with her fire. "Because, old hag, if you don't I'll show you what a plasma enema is like!"
Xiao shook her head at the threat. Mumbling, " Young people, always thinking violence solves everything."
Taking an active effort to control her anger, Shego snuffed out her plasma but kept her fists balled. In a much calmer tone she said, "Look, I just want to know where Betty is so I can get to the maiming and killing, alright?"
Chuckling under her breath, the old woman commented, " Violence now, just to achieve more violence later."
"You don't know anything about this! Just tell me where she is!" Shego pressed.
Turning around to face Shego, Xiao looked pointedly at her. "Perhaps if you told me what this was about then I might consider answering your question."
Shego's fists shook as her anger surged again. This time she didn't bother holding back and lunged at the gray-haired woman with a snarl. Her fist cut through the air as it flew straight for Xiao's face.
With a hair's breadth between Shego's fist and Xiao's face, the old master moved her head just enough to dodge the attack. Shego didn't let the unexpected move deter her and struck out again. Snapping her right leg up in a sharp front kick the old woman took a single step to the left to avoid it. Growling in aggravation Shego threw her left leg out in a tight roundhouse. Seeing the kick coming Xiao again took the smallest amount of effort to take her out of danger, which was a simple back step. Aft the three attacks were dodged effortlessly Shego let her hands be wreathed in her plasma and sent a flurry of punches at the old woman. And again Xiao moved the bare minimum distance needed to avoid all of Shego's punches.
Still looking unimpressed as she continued to evade Shego's attacks Xiao said, "Driving yourself so single-mindedly towards your goal is both admirable and foolish. If you're not aware of your surroundings you're bound to miss things."
"I'm plenty aware of my surroundings, old hag. There are eight armed men within striking range of me; fourteen up on the battlements; four heavy machinegun turrets aimed at my jet; and one old hag unwilling to tell me what I need," Shego snapped back even while she threw strikes that were still not getting any closer.
Sighing as Shego shot out a kick aimed at her legs, Xiao jumped as she responded. "There is more to your surrounding than just simply enemies and various implements to help you defeat them. There is life all around you, swirling emotions that encompass all existence."
The green woman stopped for a moment and looked at Xiao with her head cocked to one side and confusion on her face. "What the hell?" she yelled. "I don't have time for this cryptic key-to-enlightenment bullshit." Throwing a plasma encased fist at Xiao's chest, Shego commanded, "Just tell me where Betty is!"
The old woman didn't even flinch as the deadly limb came at her. Moving like water the master weaved out of place and reached out with her hand, gripping Shego's forearm with her left. In one single motion she jerked the villain forward while sending a right hammerfist into her stomach. Still having hold of Shego's arm Xiao twirled around behind her, forcing Shego to lose balance and fall and her face. "You'll need to open to someone. Or you'll lose yourself," Xiao said with a look disinterest as Shego tried to pull air into her lungs.
Once Shego regained the ability to breathe she started to push herself back up. "It's a month too late for that," she muttered.
An eye brow quirked up and a hint of a smile appeared. "Oh?" Xiao asked, "What was that?"
"Nothing, hag. Look, all I want is Betty's location," Shego harshly. "So I can get my revenge party underway," she said under her breath in English. "I'll leave after you tell me."
The old master picked up everything Shego said, and more importantly understood it all. "If all you want is where Director is, then I can't help you," she said, turning away. "I don't know where she is."
"What!?" Shego roared. "What do you mean you don't know where she is?"
"Exactly what I said– I do not know where Director is," Xiao said simply.
Unintelligible growls and snarls came from the green villainess. "This is what I get for believing that one-armed Cyclops." Pointing a finger at Xiao's back, she snarled, "If I find out you were lying you'll be lucky if you get away with only third-degree burns." Spinning on her heel, Shego started to stalk back to her jet.
"I said I don't know where Director is," Xiao said over her shoulder. Shego pulled up short. "A member of the British parliament was a good friend of Director, so he may know where she is." Shego just snorted and started walking again before halting again at Xiao's voice. "Know this though, revenge will only destroy you. Whoever you lost is gone and not matter what you do, you can't bring them back."
The next two months were spent running around the globe searching for Betty's contacts. Britain led to a member of Germany's counterintelligence. That one led Shego back across the Atlantic to a contact in the CIA. It was the contact in the CIA that gave the villain a vague lead to Italy. Shego had been flying towards Italy as she sarcastically repeated what the CIA operative said, "I heard that the Vatican's guards have been acting differently. Not by much but it's similar to how GJ use to work in the old days." Gorwling angrily she muttered, "Betty had better be here. Can't believe I'm actually running around the earth for the one eyed Cyclops." That was how Shego found herself entering the Saint George Meeting Hall with Ron Stoppable of all people. Opening the door before her led her into a large room. It was similar to a widened hallway, being far longer that it was wide. White wood paneling with gold trim covered the walls. Spanning a length of the room was a rich mahogany table. At the far end of the table were Betty, Yuri, and Vladimir. The three were standing and discussing several documents that were resting on the table.
When the door shut audibly behind Shego, the three stopped and looked up from their conversation. "Ah, Shego, Ronald, I'm glad you're here. We were discussing which locations would be best to monitor," Betty calmly stated.
Shego's attention went directly to the Director. "What do we have for marks?" she asked.
Frowning at the term, Betty went on to detail, "One in Munich, Germany, another in Osaka, Japan, and one last one in London, England. Munich's front appears as a bar named The Coin. Average two story building with numerous exit and entrance points. The front in Osaka is an upper-class brothel. One story, yet it spreads out over two acres. The final one in London is an office building belonging to Revel Security Corporation. Fourteen stories tall and again covering two acres."
Yuri immediately spoke up, "The Yamanouchi will gladly help in observing the possible Council front in Osaka."
Nodding in agreement, Vladimir ventured, "I have contacts that could easily work to gather information on the one in Germany. It may take some time to convince them but I believe they will do it."
Seeing the last remaining option, Ron simply said, "So that leaves England to us."
"Correct," Betty responded. "There were five other high potential fronts yet our limited Intel suggests that these are our best chances. We have limited man power so it may take some time to go through all of our leads."
"That's a lot of ground to cover," Shego said as she picked up the file on London. Still looking at it she asked, "What are we looking for?"
"Hopefully some hint as to where an actual cell of the Council is," Betty answered, "We'll see what our next move is from there."
More Author's Notes: By the way the next fic I'm working on is One Last Reason. I won't be giving an update time but I hope it will be up in the next few weeks.