The cemetery was beautiful. Everything was trimmed grass sectioned off by flower beds, surrounded on most sides by woods that were just big enough to seperate the place from its surroundings. The result was a colourful, peaceful place to lay the recently deceased to rest.

Mourners gathered. Words were spoken. The coffin was lowered into the grave.

The ceremony ended, those assembled began speaking among themselves.

One among them caught a hint of movement at the edge of the woods, a figure they believed they recognised. Excusing themselves with a whisper, they left the congregation for the treeline to seek the figure out.

"Kimberly." The teen hero turned to the familiar voice to see Dr. Director peeking out from behind a tree. "I'm surprised they let you out of their sight."

"Shego knows I won't risk any harm to my family."

"They've been captured, then." At Kim's confirming nod, Betty continued, "I'm so sorry, Kim. How are you?"

"Not as bad as expected, really. I expected execution or something, but... Shego's been taking care of me."

"Taking care of you?"

"Like a pet."

"...Then she really does take you 'shopping' on a leash and collar?"

"Yeah." Betty was surprised that Kim didn't sound more angry about it, but the teenager continued, "What about Drakken? Is everything he claims true?"

"The world is his," the brunette admitted, "Everyone who submits retains their free will, but anyone captured while resisting is mind controlled. Right now, everyone who's ever gone to college is doing manual labour... mostly cleaning up the mess his robots made."

"What about Global Justice?"

"We were funded by the United Nations. The only resources we have now are what we had in our possession when all this began. We've been sabotaging what we can, but we have precious little intelligence to work with."

"There's a control signal being broadcast from Bueno Nacho headquarters. It controls all the diablos. Take out the signal, Drakken loses his robot army."

"Understood. I'll see what I can do. If we can get sufficiently organised, we might be able to stage a worldwide strike at key points the moment the robots are neutralized." Betty hesitated a moment, then asked, "Who are they burying over there?"

"Rufus."

"The naked mole rat?"

"He and Drakken bonded while he was good - during the attitudinator incident - and I guess something carried over. Shego said that when we were captured, Erik... the synthodrone snapped Rufus' spine while we were unconscious. There was no other way to free ourselves before..." Kim trailed off at the memory, then shook her head and continued. "Shego said that when Drakken learned what the synthodrone had done, he had her rip it to shreds. I haven't seen him... it, since, so..."

"What is Shego's interest in you?" Dr. Director suddenly asked, and frowned as the teenager blushed.

"She likes to keep me around. Not just to rub it in... um. Like... whenever she's in the mood, we fight; if I win, she lets me talk to my family. And..." the blush deepened, "She's made it clear that she'd like to do... other things, with me..."

"I wasn't aware Shego was capable of rape."

Kim was quick to defend the villainess. "She isn't! She hasn't! All she's ever done is kiss me... and invite me to... do more. And she's made it clear she's not holding anything over my head for it, it's just... if I want to..."

"You're aware of Stockholm syndrome, Kimberly."

"Yeah... but to be completely honest, this has been going on for a a lot longer, on some level."

"...Oh." Betty didn't know what else to say to that.

"Maybe if you can find a way to let me know when you're going to take the world back, I could... keep her occupied."

"You'd do that?" the older woman asked in surprise.

"I keep saying I can do anything. I don't mind losing my virginity to save the world... at least, not like this."

In the silence that followed, Kim's choker suddenly sparked, shocking her. "Ngh! Time's up, I'd better get back. Whatever happens... good luck, Betty."

Dr. Director waited several minutes after Kim left before taking another peek at the gathering. The teen hero was consoling Ron Stoppable alongside Drakken, while Shego looked on. The look on the green girl's face was hard to read. Betty didn't like it. Synthodrones and cybertronic robots were one thing, but Shego was the wild card in Drakken's deck. Under the circumstances, perhaps Kim's idea would be... prudent.

But if Shego wasn't forcing Kim into anything, would it be ethical to use that against her? As Betty made her way back to the nearest transport tube, she realised she was more concerned with Kim taking advantage of that. What would it do to the girl? To both of them? If Kim could influence Shego, only to betray her...

Perhaps it was better not to risk the consequences.