Monique's eyes flickered open. She couldn't remember where she was, or how she got there. There was only darkness. She had a splitting headache, keeping her from thinking too hard.

Groaning, she reached up and touched her aching head. Something moist coated her fingers as she flinched on contact. Blood. It had to be.

She shuffled around on the stone floor, kicking up dirt. Although it was dark, her eyes were slowly adjusting, and she realized there was a little bit of light.

The chocolate-skinned woman peered through squinted eyes. She was in a small room, from the looks of it, a cell. There was a bar grating a few feet to her right, and she could just make out the lines of another cell just across the width of a hallway. Crawling towards it on her hands and knees, she tried to keep her head still. She didn't want to think about anything, but she knew that wherever she was, she probably needed to get out of there, and fast.

She clenched the bars as she peered into the darkness. There was a soft sound coming from the cell across from her, a slight ragged gasping.

"Kim? Is that you?" she asked hesitantly. It was slowly coming back to her. She remembered that the two of them were running, but she couldn't remember what it was they were running from, or how they got there.

"Mo?" came a confused voice.

Monique sighed in relief. "So it is you! How did we get here?"

"I…I'm not entirely sure. I can't remember anything. I know we came here to find Shego… and then… nothing."

"You too then huh?"

"So you don't remember?"

"Not at all," Monique muttered bitterly. "So, do you have any gadgets on you that can get us out of here?"

"Probably, but I can't get out," she said sullenly.

"What do you mean?" Monique asked with a worried tone.

"I can't move my hands or feet?"

"Are you injured?!"

"Yeah, but not enough to immobilize me. I'm chained. Are you not?"

"No… I guess I wasn't seen as much of a threat," Monique said unhappily. She was happy she wasn't chained, but not being seen as a threat was sort of demeaning.

"These chains don't cut me any slack. I'm literally pinned to the wall. It's quite uncomfortable," Kim muttered.

"Are you ok?"

"For now yes, but not if we're here much longer. We need to get out of here. There's just something wrong with this place," Kim said. The fact that there was eerie silence whenever the two weren't talking was unnerving.

"Run you idiot!" Shego snarled, pulling the blonde after her and all but dragging him.

"What's going on?!" he wailed. He hadn't noticed whatever was surrounding them. One moment he'd been thinking about Bueno Nacho, the next, he was being pulled through the forest by an insanely strong woman.

"I'm saving our asses! Now would you pick up your fucking feet and run?!"

He stumbled a bit before he managed to start running alongside her and she released him. At long last he seemed to notice that something was chasing them.

The foliage behind them was rustling from the disturbance of whatever was following them. Ron tried to take quick glances to see what they were up against, but all he could make out were shadows all over following them. He gulped.

"We should almost be to the cave! You keep running until you hit the back wall, got it?!" she instructed.

"That'll hurt!"

"So will dying if you don't shut up and do as I say!"

"Alright!" he whimpered.

Shego saw the cave before him and pointed to it, and he sped up, passing her. He continued to run until he did as she said he would, slamming into a wall about 20 yards into the darkness.

She came dashing in after him with her hands alight.

He cowered against the stone as he saw a giant glob of black fill the cave entrance, sealing off all natural light. It sped towards them but halted as it neared Shego, making a hissing noise as it slowly backed away.

"You fucking remember me?!" she snarled in question. "I sure as hell remember you!"

"What… what is that thing?" he asked with wide eyes, his lips trembling.

She fired a plasma blast at it and it disappeared from the cave entrance, retreating into the forest.

With a huff she put out her green glow and slid to the floor. "Damn, used a little too much energy in that blast."

"What was that thing?" he asked again.

"I don't know," she muttered darkly. "If I knew I would've found a way to get rid of it already. When my plane crashed, I later found out that the blob thing is what pulled me down. When I tried to fight it on the ground, punching and kicking was useless. The blob could split up and then put itself back together. I was glad to see that plasma worked on it. Whenever I hit it, it seems that I can disintegrate a little of it."

"So why didn't you get rid of the whole thing?" he asked warily.

"It regenerates too fast. I'd need a whole load of fucking plasma to deal enough damage to that thing. It followed me the entire time I was trying to find civilization to go home. I guess when I disappeared it came back here."

"Do… do you think it got to Kim and Mo?" His eyes widened at the thought.

Shego slowly shook her head. "I have no way of really knowing. I think Princess could keep them alive and safe for a little while, but eventually it'll catch up. I guess I should let you know that the black blob hasn't ever tried to kill me. At least this is as far as I know. When I said I was worried about them being alive, I meant surviving the injuries. That thing doesn't seem to understand the concept that blood loss can lead to death."

"Then what the hell just happened?! If it wasn't trying to kill us, what WAS it trying to do?!"

"Maim and capture."

He furrowed his brow. "What?"

"Maim and capture. It's its job."

"What are you talking about?"

"Look, just because I said I'd been running from it a long time, it doesn't mean I always managed to evade it. I can't always protect myself from that thing. I get tired too you know."

"Then… does that mean that you were…. Captured?" He couldn't believe it. The only one who should be able to capture Shego is Kim, and even that's somewhat stretching it.

She nodded glumly. "If Princess isn't in this forest, then she's locked up."

"If that's true, then you know where to find her right?!" he asked with renewed hope.

She shook her head. "It's not that simple. I managed to escape only because they didn't know that along with the plasma I gained a lot of superhuman strength. The shackles they put on me were unbreakable, even when I was at full strength. If they have Kimmie, whoever they are, they'll probably use the same things they used on me. Not only that, but where she's locked up could be anywhere. It took me nearly a week to escape the maze of cells. There are only two exits in the whole place, and that blob is able to split itself up and guard both."

"What happened during the week that you were there?" he asked worriedly.

She licked her lips slightly. "Let's just say that most people wouldn't make it through something like that without some mental scars."

That renewed Ron's fear and also determination. "We need to find Kim now then." He hopped up to his feet, getting ready to leave.

"No. We wait till morning."

"Kim could be going through whatever the hell it is you went through, yet you're not willing to go get her now?! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"What's wrong with me?" she asked in a low tone. "You really want to know?"

"No shit! My best friend is in danger and you're here being all cryptic and not wanting to go after her!"

"Look, that blob is stronger at night than during the day. It seems the sun weakens it. Think about it. The sun is basically a big ball of plasma. At night, the sun isn't out to hinder it and make it weaker. I'm trying to keep us both alive so that we can go get the two of them out alive as well. If we're half assed in our planning, we'll be dead before we find them."

He grew silent. As much as he hated to admit it, she had a point.

At long last he sat back down in defeat and asked, "So why did we choose a cave? Now we're trapped."

"No. If we were out in the open it'd have a free shot at us, but in a cave, it can only come from one direction. I have a sort of torch in my bag. I plan to light it was plasma. It will keep the blob at bay for the night. If not, then I'll just have to light the damn thing up until it backs away for the night." She rummaged through her bag and pulled out the torch she was talking about. It seemed good enough. After she lit it with her plasma, the thing turned a bright green and the light danced on the walls. She handed it to Ron while she rummaged in her pack for something to eat.

Ron took it hesitantly before using its light to look around.

Then he noticed that the walls and floor seemed slightly discolored around where they were, while the roof was one solid color. "What's up with the coloring of these rocks?" he asked quietly, mainly talking to himself. From what he could see further down the cave, it was supposed to be one uniform color.

Shego took a look at what he was talking about and sighed.

"You know why it's oddly colored?" he asked with a skeptical frown.

"Yeah. You're sitting on dried blood."

Author's Note: Yay! I finally worked on this one some more! I have to say thank you to all of you who comment. You guys are the reason I'm still posting my stuff here and continuing. I'm not very good at finishing a story, but when I have people encouraging me I feel like I can overcome that obstacle and get shit done. You guys are really amazing. I thank you for supporting me. I do still need to say that I'll probably still be slow when it comes to updates. School is already driving me insane and it's only the second week. But hey, at least I'm getting something done right? ;)