Party Planning

XX

A top of the line satellite dish system stolen from one of Drakken's old lairs, beaming in hundreds of channels, and there wasn't a single thing Shego wanted to watch. Channels flipped past in a blur as she sat in her white leather couch, feeling herself gradually sink into the material. Part of it was the luxurious softness of the leather, but part of it, Shego had to admit, was the fact that she had eaten a hell of a lot of cupcakes over the past couple of weeks. She couldn't help it – Drakken's D Cups, she was loathe to say, were delicious.

She had even tried to lift the recipe out of Drakken's computer systems, but there had been nothing useful in the database. At least not according to her henchmen, since Shego did not have the technical know-how to be breaking into Drakken's advanced systems. She had the distinct impression that her henchmen did not know what they were doing either. Perhaps she should have outsourced the hacking. Maybe that Frugal Lucre character would be a good bet.

Still, Kim's accusations sat in her stomach heavier than the four cupcakes she had just inhaled in a fit of anger before throwing herself onto the couch. She knew she was stealing the cupcakes to be vindictive, and she knew it was a pathetic low for her. After hearing about the new business Drakken was opening up through the usual villain circles, Shego had realized that his relationship with Hank Perkins had to be serious, to say the least. He had moved on.

Despite the fact that she had always fancied herself an independent spirit, someone who needed no one, a take no prisoners woman who chained herself to no man, the fact remained: she had not moved on. Kim accused her of stealing the cupcakes for attention. Was that it? Was Shego trying to get Drakken to talk to her again, but couldn't bring herself to just come right out and ask?

"Hey Shego," said Ron as he walked in to the lounge area. "Man, this place is kind of huge – I got lost in the corridors for a few minutes. I'll be out of here eventually, so don't get all crazy on me."

Shego glanced at Ron and nodded faintly as he passed through the lounge to the minibar. She noticed that the floor was still strewn with charred wood and melted plastic footballers who had been unfortunate enough to stand in the way of Shego's swipe when she cut the foosball table apart earlier. Midas would have to clean that up, she supposed.

"Do you have any soda?" asked Ron. "And you know, I always thought if I was rich enough to have a place as big as this, I'd put a private Bueno Nacho right in the middle of my house. You should give it a thought."

Ron returned to the couch with a cold soda in hand and plopped down on the opposite end from Shego, watching as she flipped channels. He cracked the soda open with a sigh as he thought about the total meltdown he had just gone through with Kim. Here he thought the mission had been going alright, but clearly Kim did not share his sentiments. Ron was trying to stay positive, but what was there to be positive about?

"Wait a minute."

Shego dropped the remote and stared at Ron, who sat in her leather sofa and let out a belch before noticing the pair of eyes that were boring into his skull.

"What the hell are you still doing here?"

XX

The jet was well on its way back to the United States, passing over at the Atlantic on its return trip. Kim was on her way home, but that did nothing to cheer her up. She sat in the her window seat and stared at the passing view, her eyes still blurred with tears she was trying to keep from falling. A seat lay empty beside her.

She had been optimistic about the mission, about patching things up with Ron. She thought she wanted to patch things up with him, and there were times while they were in pursuit of Drakken's cupcake cargo that she thought things were going to work out. Things had been awkward with Ron, but a few snippets of conversation between them had felt friendly enough, carefree enough, to remind her of the way things were.

And yet, somehow the mission had ended up a train wreck. Ron probably hated her; for all she knew, things were worse with him than they had been when they weren't even talking to each other. She couldn't believe he could still affect her so much, even after the many months they had spent apart. Other people couldn't hurt her the way Ron could. She wondered if Monique could, but the opportunity had never come up, and they had never really had a serious fight since they got together.

What hurt even more was that she knew Ron had been right about some things. Not everything, but enough that Kim's confidence in her own lack of blame for the breakup was shattered. She had chosen to break up with him, and she did not regret what she had done, but she had also told herself ever since that time that it had been Ron's fault. He just couldn't grow up. He was just too childish, too unwilling to change and make something of his life.

Maybe those things were still true, but Ron had thrown accusations at her that had never occurred to her. She had been condescending at times, she did make comments about Ron not getting into college, which had been meant to drive him to take the initiative, but Kim now knew that Ron had not taken it that way. She could be bossy sometimes, after all. More than that, however, something else was dawning on her.

She was jealous of his Mystical Monkey Power. Kim was amazed that something lurking just beneath her self-awareness had now risen so clearly to the surface, glistening in its horrible reality. Ron had mentioned going to Yamanouchi in the past, before the breakup, and while Kim hadn't turned him down, she hadn't been remotely encouraging either.

Kim had told herself it was jealousy at the time, but not over his powers. Over Yori, over being away for long periods of time. But she knew Ron would not betray her, nor would Yori take Ron from her. And the distance, while a reasonable thing to worry about, was already something they had to face with Kim hard at work at a college in another city. Now that Ron had spelled it out, Kim realized it was true. She had to be on top. The idea of Ron's powers – powers he stumbled upon almost by accident – elevating him so much that he might outshine her in her own greatest passion? It was scary.

Will Du stepped into the passenger compartment as the plane flew on autopilot. "Are you sure we shouldn't call in Global Justice?" he asked. "What happened back there?"

"It doesn't matter," said Kim. "Waste of time. This whole mission was a waste of time. Shego stole a big metal box of cupcakes from Drakken, big deal. They're pretty much all eaten now anyway. If Drakken really wants to do something about it, he can sue her for damages. Besides, we still don't know this whole cupcake business of Drakken's is really on the up and up. I still don't trust him. You guys want to invade Shego's lair for trivial reasons on behalf of another supervillain who might be working against you?"

"Perhaps not."

Will Du sat down beside Kim in the empty passenger seat, and while Kim was not interested in having any company, she was too tired to say anything about it.

"May I ask why Ron did not come along when we lifted off, and you insisted on going anyway?"

"I told you, he's getting a ride later."

Will had heard Kim say it the first time, but it wasn't really the question he was asking. Still, he found his answer in the implication behind Kim's words. He had noticed that the two former teen heroes were having a rocky mission together, and everyone in the villain-fighting community was well aware that they were no longer a couple. Clearly, something had happened on the island.

"I have to say," said Will Du as Kim stared blankly out of the window, "I never really understood what you saw in him. He was lacking in the kind of skills needed to be successful in our business, Kim. And I don't think he ever took what we do very seriously."

Will cleared his throat tentatively as he inched a little closer to Kim.

"Perhaps it's a good thing that things aren't working out between the two of you. I believe you still need a little work, but you'd be a very satisfactory member of Global Justice, and maybe you could find a mission partner who complemented your skill set more-"

"Will, shut up and fly the plane."

Will's pitch was cut off in mid-stroke, and their conversation bounced to a sad halt. Maybe he had spoken too soon. That Stoppable fellow had really warped her priorities, after all. Will nodded curtly and got up from the passenger seat, returning to the cockpit with as much grace and decorum as he had left to muster.

XX

When Shego had woken up late Sunday morning, she had not expected to spend her afternoon with the sidekick of her longtime arch nemesis. And yet, here she was. Ron Stoppable had commandeered the remote and was now flipping channels listlessly – by Shego's count, they had gone through the entire list of channels about three times now.

Shego had decided that she would not tear Ron to shreds for inviting himself into her island hideout, taking her soda without asking, and sitting in the same room where she had been fighting his ex-girlfriend barely more than an hour earlier. She supposed she was feeling a little magnanimous. Or maybe her current seething hatred towards Kim was, amazingly enough, making her sympathize with the buffoon.

"Um, do you want us to kick him out?"

Midas had tentatively stepped through the shattered remains of the patio sliding door, and was staring at the new guest sitting on the couch beside his boss.

"No, he's fine," said Shego. "He'll be leaving soon. Just don't bother me right now, okay? I'm trying to chill."

Midas nodded obediently and left the two of them to their television.

"So what's the deal with that guy?" asked Ron. "Are you two going out or something?"

"Uh, it's complicated. We were for a little while, when I first set up here, but it was mostly just a rebound from Drakken. It didn't work out, so now I just make him obey my orders. Not bad for an ex-boyfriend, actually. I think he resents it, but hey, he can always go back to being a massage therapist if he doesn't like his job here."

"So were you and Drakken really going out? I gotta say, me and Kim were both kinda surprised about that. He didn't seem like your type."

Shego's eye twitched a little. She had to be in a strange mood, to be having a conversation with Kim's sidekick about her personal life, and she realized she had opened up a little more than she meant to.

"None of your business," she snapped. "I was surprised when you and Kim started going out, anyways. You really don't seem like her type."

Shego got up and went over to the minibar for a drink. She opened the refrigerator behind the counter and let out a grunt of displeasure when she saw that Ron had taken the last of her sodas. She could fix herself a margarita, but she was lazy, and she had already told Midas to leave her alone, so he couldn't fix her one. There were other varieties of alcohol, but it was too early in the day for that. Even for her. And she didn't want to come off as a sad sack around Kimmie's dorky ex. With a fatalistic sigh, she grabbed a glass from the cupboard behind the bar and poured herself a glass of water.

"Why, who did you think Kim's type was?" asked Ron as she returned and plopped down on the couch.

"I dunno. Somebody more suave. That frosted blond guy that was at your high school seemed like a decent match."

"Josh Mankey? No, they were horrible for each other. That guy was no good! She's actually going out with this girl who was friends with both of us in high school, Monique Jenkins."

Shego raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Monique, like a girl?"

"Yeah. Honestly, when I found out she was going out with Monique, I was kind of wondering why she didn't go for you, if she was into the girls all of a sudden."

Shego spat out a mouthful of water, which sailed an impressive distance and hit the television screen. She was not aware that Kim had developed an interest in the ladies, but even more surprising was Ron's suggestion that Kim would be into her.

"Me? What are you on?"

"Well, I don't know," said Ron, a little defensively. "Sworn enemies locked in heated battle, both totally hot chicks. I always thought you had kind of a fixation on Kim, and then I find out Kim has a thing for girls, so I kind of imagined things from there. That's all!"

"Yeah, the sworn enemies thing is a bit hard to ignore," said Shego. "I'm fixated on Kim because she's freaking insufferable, which maybe you've been noticing a little since the two of you stopped going out. Kimmie is hot though, I'll give you that. And good job on flattering me there with the hot chick comment, seeing as you're crashing my pad and stealing my sodas, punk."

"Er, yeah," Ron laughed nervously. "Thanks for the hospitality, by the way."

"Whatever."

"I can leave if you want me to. I guess this is kind of weird anyway. I don't want to deal with going home yet, but Kim wouldn't like me hanging out with her arch enemy like this."

"Still thinking about what Kim would want, huh? She was right – you really haven't gotten over her."

Ron had gotten up from the couch, intending to find a telephone and call Wade to get a ride hooked up, but he sat back down with a flustered expression. Maybe he hadn't gotten over Kim.

"Big deal," he said. "You haven't gotten over Drakken either."

"Sure I have"

"No you haven't!" Ron blurted out. "You turned him gay and now you're stealing his cupcakes!"

"Then you turned Kim gay, hypocrite!"

"Oh, right. Hmm."

"And will you just stop on one channel already? You're driving me nuts with the flipping!"

Ron grumbled and flipped channels faster, with a touch of vindictiveness. As the two of them grew quiet, Ron couldn't help but think about all the things Kim had flung at him in their argument before she left. There was no way she could be right about all of it – what was wrong with playing Zombie Mayhem and being happy with where you were in life? Not everybody had to be working all the time, always trying to reach some goal. Ron wanted to do what he wanted to do, instead of buying into what other people thought he should be doing with his life. Never be normal, after all.

"Do you think I'm childish?" he asked Shego.

"Yeah."

Ron pursed his lips in resentment. He had forgotten that Shego was not the type to go for tact. He put the remote down, about to settle into a morose funk and join Shego in staring absently at the television screen as they watched nothing in particular, when he noticed the DVD collection stacked on wire racks nestled into the oak entertainment unit on which the television was sitting. Ron got up from the couch and walked over to the racks, getting down to his knees and flipping through some of the titles. He was impressed. There were a few romantic titles here and there – he shuddered briefly as he passed over The Memo Pad – but most of the DVD's were action, science fiction, and martial arts. He stumbled upon one title in particular that caught his eye.

"Whoa, you have Bricks of Fury?"

"All seven."

"What? I didn't know they released a seventh."

"I think they just use the same sets for each movie and dress them up a little different" said Shego. "I know they made at least a couple of the movies one right after another. It's like an assembly line. But that's part of the mystique."

Ron looked back at Shego, his expression filling with barely repressed excitement, and Shego couldn't help but laugh at how quickly Ron's blue mood was dispelled by something shiny and fun to play with, at least temporarily. DVD in hand, Ron edged towards the player below the television as if asking his host an unspoken question.

"Whatever," said Shego. "I'm going out tonight, but it's not like I'm doing anything right now."

Ron let out a faint whoop and scrambled to put the DVD into the player. He rushed back to the couch and leaped on it hard enough to send a ripple all the way to Shego's end, not wanting to even miss the opening credits, since installments of the Bricks of Fury series often began with a brick hurtling towards the screen.

"Where are you going tonight?" asked Ron.

"Cyprus. You and Kim managed to bug me with your little unannounced visit, and I feel like partying and getting it out of my system."

Ron's distracted nod was replaced by an involuntary twitch as the movie's namesake flew at the screen before being overlayed by an obnoxious title sequence and loud music. The movie would be a good distraction from what had happened with Kim, which Ron was still trying to avoid thinking about too closely.

Not only that, but he felt a strange thrill as the movie began. Watching a movie with Kim's arch nemesis on a private island wasn't childish; it was rebellious. It was new. It was Ron, breaking out of his routine, pushing his boundaries, just like Kim had been haranguing him about.

It was bad to the bone.

XX

Midas sat in a comfortable green leather throne on a raised dais in the center of the control room, overlooking the work stations around it. The throne had been designed for Shego, but she rarely spent much time in the control room anymore. She didn't even care when she saw Midas sitting in her once-sacred seat.

The empty cell in which Kim and Ron had been locked was set, along with a few other prison cells, into a wall across the room. The arcade machines where a couple henchmen had been playing were pushed alongside another wall. At that moment, however, all of the henchmen under Shego's employ were gathered around Midas as he sat in the throne, one leg crossed over the other. The mood in the control room was as tense as a taut wire, ready to snap at any moment.

"Is he still up there?" asked one of the henchmen.

"Last I saw," said Midas. "They seem to be chatting it up."

"This is ridiculous," another henchman said. "I never thought I'd actually want Kim Possible to come and attack us, but after months of just sitting around and doing nothing, I was kind of excited about today. And now Possible just leaves, and her sidekick is here hanging out with the boss?"

"You're preaching to the choir," said Midas. "I wouldn't mind it that much if I was being paid well, but - well, you all know how she's been with the paychecks lately."

The henchmen nodded as a few grunts of dissatisfaction escaped from the seated crowd. Had the henchmen not looked like bodybuilders, the scene in the control room would have looked like a disgruntled boy scouts meeting, with the scouts seated in a semicircle and gathered around their scoutmaster.

"I think she's lost her touch," said Midas. "Okay, so we're talking about Shego here, but I think she was best suited to be a sidekick. Everybody knew about her when she was working for Drakken, right? Villain's Digest must have done an article about her, what, like every three issues? But what has she done lately?"

The grunts rose in volume.

"She tried to be a supervillain, and maybe it was going well for a while, but she's gotten soft. Sending us on that ridiculous operation to steal cupcakes from her old boyfriend? I mean, come on."

"And now she's up there fracturizing with the enemy!"

"Fraternizing, Bob."

"What?"

Midas rolled his eyes and ignored the question. He had been a little unsure about his plan at first, but he was gaining confidence by the second. He owed a lot to Shego – she had hired him to be her second in command, trained him to be an unbeatable expert in espionage and martial arts, and given him the thirst for power that, as a massage therapist, he had only tasted on the rare occasion that he had a talkative politician as a client. When Shego had come to his spa for a hot rock massage that first time, Midas had been lucky. But things were different now. The time was ripe. The time was now. It was time for him to step up.

"Soon," he said to the henchmen, who were like putty in his hands. "Soon we'll take action. All we have to do is wait until the right moment."

"When's that?" asked Bob.

Midas shrugged. He was trying to sound cool; it wasn't like he had actually calculated a specific moment to take action. "I don't know," he said, "let me go up and check."

Midas left the henchmen behind and exited the control room, stalking through the compound until he found the lounge area. Shego and Ron were missing. Judging by a collection of empty snack packages, along with a soda and another empty glass on the table, they had been hanging out. And Midas noticed the DVD player was on. He felt a twinge of jealousy; why would Shego give a weakling like Ron the time of day while she treated him like a worthless underling? The woman had definitely lost track of her priorities.

More empty rooms passed by as Midas checked the rest of the compound. Finally, he found an open door that led out onto the covered dock connected to the far side of the building. The room was sort of a combination of a dock and a hangar area, with a concrete walkway surrounding a small harbor that led out to the open ocean. Shego had once intended to use it for marine operations in her eventual island empire of evil, but lately she used it to tool around on her jet skis when she was bored of staying inside. Right now, Midas found Shego and Ron looking over the jet skis in question.

"I stole that one from a contest in Turkey," laughed Shego as she pointed to one of her favorites, a green and black striped jet ski moored close by. "The color scheme was a total coincidence. They gave the jet skis on loan to the contestants, and when they started the race I just drove off until I could find a place to hide it!"

Ron had to laugh, although he felt a little guilty about finding the story so amusing.

"Excuse me," interrupted Midas, "but do we have any plans to do anything today? What if Global Justice attacks us, for instance?"

"I thought we already checked on that," said Shego impatiently. "We saw no activity from their base in Turkey, and if they wanted to give me trouble they would have done it when they came to pick up Possible. You really think Global Justice has the time to be worried about a bunch of cupcakes?"

"Fine," said Midas. "What am I supposed to be doing tonight, then?"

"I don't know. I'm going to go party, you do what you want."

"Should I come with you?"

Shego groaned and rubbed her temples. Sometimes Midas could be a real pain. And she definitely did not want her ex-boyfriend hanging around while she was trying to have a good time and wipe Kim's annoying visit from her memory with a few strong drinks.

"You stay here," she said. "Hold down the fort, whatever. Clean up that mess in the lounge room with the foosball table and all the glass."

"Yes, ma'am," said Midas, knowing the address got under Shego's skin.

"And don't call me ma'am, for God's sake!"

Midas smirked and left the dock area as Shego continued to give Ron her tour of the private island. He had gotten the information he wanted, and it was exactly what he had been hoping to hear. They would both be gone tonight, he thought, and Shego would most likely be returning in a drunken haze. Perfect.

XX

It wasn't that Shego was vain, but – well, okay, she was vain, and she had a certain pride in her hangout that she didn't get to express to people very often. Her henchmen were jaded, having worked with many supervillains in the past, whereas Ron seemed to be impressed by just about anything under the sun. He even had a number of surprisingly interesting suggestions when it came to evil lair amenities, although Shego knew she would not be using them anytime soon.

"Hey," said Ron as they finished looking at the watercraft, "you mind if I tag along while you go party?"

Shego looked at Ron suspiciously. "I don't think it's your scene," she said. "I'm just going to be hitting some bars and dance clubs, probably."

"Yeah, but it's either that or I go home and deal with my parents asking me what happened on the mission. I'd just rather not think about that stuff right now. And this is actually the first time I've been out of Middleton for a while – I guess I was kind of used to all that travel when me and Kim were still doing missions together. It's not until this weekend that I realized how much I missed it."

"Well," said Shego, "It would be amusing to see you try to keep up with me. Just don't say I didn't warn you, Stoppable. And we are not visiting any Bueno Nachos."

Ron wondered how she even knew he was such a big fan of Bueno Nacho. There was the time Shego had fought him in the restaurant while Kim had the tick-shaped explosive on her nose. And maybe he had mentioned it a few times in passing during missions. Still, Ron told himself, he had an expansive palette of tastes in food; it wasn't like Bueno Nacho was the only place he could eat.

"Alright then," he said, "Partying tonight. It's a date!"

Shego rolled her eyes. She knew Ron was just throwing out words with no thought to their meaning, but she already began to wonder if letting him stick around at all was a mistake. At least he was a change of pace, she supposed. It might be fun to terrifying him, if he was stupid enough to think he could keep up with her. And maybe he'd give her some juicy gossip about Kim. Then again, Shego wondered if anything could top what Ron had already told her about Kim's current romantic inclinations.

XX

As Monique left the Upperton campus, the college students who were enjoying the remainder of their weekend before classes started again gave way to the more varied residents of Upperton itself. She had just left a party at one of the fraternity houses, but without Kim around it had been a little uninteresting. That, and Monique had dealt with an unusually long string of frat boys hitting on her. She was used to getting attention because her looks, but she hadn't really been in the mood to stick around the party for much longer.

A cool breeze blew as evening hours began to wear on. Monique gathered her faux-fur lined jacket closer around herself as she passed through downtown Upperton, which tended to be bustling with pedestrians and laced with traffic at all hours of the night. She turned onto a familiar street, one where she and Kim often went shopping, and passed by quaint shops and boutiques along the sidewalk.

A shop dedicated entirely to candles and potpourri; a shop filled with knick knacks and home furnishings; a gaming shop with a poster advertising the latest installment of the Zombie Mayhem franchise plastered in its window, making Monique wonder if Ron had gotten the game; a custom clothing and couture shop where Monique had shopped numerous times already. She enjoyed designing clothing for Steve and Paul to show off in the wrestling ring, but often Monique wondered if she would end up owning her own fashion boutique someday. Maybe she'd take over that very store if she and Kim stayed in Upperton after graduation.

Monique stopped next to an unfamiliar cafe and, after seeing the sign, realized what she had stumbled upon almost immediately. Kim had given Monique a brief description of her mission the other day, and Monique had seen the cupcakes around campus, but she had not visited Drakken's shop yet. Judging by how ubiquitous those little cupcakes were on campus, even in classes, it was probably making a tidy profit. Even Monique had been craving the cupcakes ever since Ned brought them to the Upperton Arena while they were working. Seeing as she was still in a bit of a funk, maybe an unhealthy snack was just what Monique needed.

The patio outside of the store was empty as it was getting a little cold outside, but most of the tables and booths inside the bakery were filled. On the left, a line of booths straddled windows that looked out into a side street. On the right, a glass counter curved out into the store, displaying a variety of cupcake styles. Behind it stood several bored-looking workers.

"Welcome to Doctor D Cups," droned one employee in her general direction. "Where one cup is never enough."

Monique walked up to the counter and looked briefly at the bakery items under their glass display window.

"We have cups of all sizes," droned the employee - "pick whatever is the best fit for your tastes!"

Monique looked past the worker at the employee door in the back. "Are the owners here, by any chance?" she asked.

"Mister Drakken is gone, but Mister Perkins is in the back."

"Can you tell him that Kim Possible's girlfriend is here?"

"I'll get him for you."

The young man disappeared into the employee area and came back after a moment with an older man: clean-shaven, straight-laced, and dressed in a business suit topped by a chef's apron.

"Hello there," said Hank. "Welcome to our little cafe and bakery!"

"Thanks. I haven't gotten the chance to chat with Kim too much since she went on that mission with Drakken – I just thought I'd stop in and ask you if you knew how it was going, and maybe grab a cupcake while I'm here."

"Certainly!"

Hank removed his apron and turned to one of his employees. "I'm taking a short break to chat with this young lady," he said. "Bring us a couple of cupcakes and mugs of coffee, and let me know if anyone needs me."

"Yes sir."

Hank led Monique to the only remaining empty booth in the shop and sat down with her.

"You don't have to sit down or anything," said Monique. "I just thought I'd get a quick update."

"It's no problem at all. Good business is always about building a relationship with your customers, after all."

"Uh, yeah, I guess so."

The cupcakes and coffee arrived at their table after a few moments. Monique picked up her cupcake and took a deep sniff; she had no idea how they got it to smell so good, but it was hard to deny that Drakken had something good going on. She wondered if anyone even tried the other bakery items.

"To be honest with you, we haven't heard much from your girlfriend either," said Hank. "We've been in touch with that boy who gives her all her tech support backup, Wade. He was here earlier, actually. Kim and her sidekick were going to explore another lead they got from the Seniors, some new island lair."

"Really? You think they're okay?"

"I'm sure they are. That Wade boy will update Drakken if we learn anything new. Drakken's been handling most everything related to the cupcake stealing problem, since he has all the past experience with Wade and your girlfriend. Tonight he had to go do some work on our franchise expansion plans with Assad Sacke over at the warehouse. We're very confident in the scalability of this enterprise, based on how we've done here in Upperton."

Monique nodded absently. She had been thinking about Kim and Ron together all day – whether they were arguing, whether they had repaired their damaged friendship, whether they had skipped the mission entirely and were passionately making out. Most of all, however, as much as Monique knew how Kim could handle herself, she hoped her girlfriend was not in any danger.

XX

"And what about Ron?"

"He told me he's going to stick around a little while and make sure Shego isn't up to anything else. He wants to see if he can figure out if there was any other reason she was stealing those cupcakes. He called me right after Kim left and said that Shego seemed to be fine with him staying for a while. I think he was in the bathroom when he called, actually," said Wade as he wrinkled his face in displeasure at the memory.

"Strange," said Dr. Director. She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Well, alright. Keep me updated on any changes. It doesn't sound like Shego is quite the threat she used to be, but you never know. We'll be on standby if we need to send any backup."

"Gotcha."

Wade sighed as he closed down the feed. Dr. Director had been disappointed at the way the mission had ended with Kim leaving in a huff. Wade was disappointed as well, but then he had tried at least. There wasn't much he could do to patch things up between Kim and Ron now, and it didn't seem to him like they were very invested in patching things up themselves.

He was surprised to see Kim quitting the mission early and Ron staying to keep an eye on things for a little longer, but Wade wondered if that was really what was going on. He got the feeling that Shego was not up to very much, and it was a bit strange that she would even tolerate Ron staying on the island at all. And judging by the trace Wade had on Ron's chip, which his friend still hadn't discovered after all these years, he and Shego were currently hanging out at a tourist trap in Cyprus. Wade had been getting some strange ideas over the last couple of hours about what was going on down there. Ideas about a pair of former sidekicks commiserating...

No, that's ridiculous, Wade told himself. He shook his head to clear his mind a little.

Whatever Ron was doing down there, hopefully he might have something else for them to go on when he got back. Wade wondered if they were looking for explanations where none existed; maybe Drakken really was a legitimate businessman, and Shego was stealing cupcakes out of bitterness. Or just because she liked them. They were undeniably good.

Wade had entertained the thought that maybe there was something about the cupcakes themselves, but he had tested the one he took from his last visit to the bakery. It was hard to resist eating it, but he had pulled through. All his tests came back negative. The cupcake, the frosting, even the little cherry on top of the one he had taken – no hidden substances, no unusual readings. It was just a plain old cupcake.

He picked up his frosted test subject, from which he had already taken a few bites, and finished it off, saving the cherry for last. It wasn't quite as fresh as the ones he had eaten before sending Kim and Ron on their mission. Not as fragrant, either. But then, it had been sitting out all day as he tested it. He would have to come back to the bakery later and eat some better ones. Just to make sure Drakken was staying out of trouble, he reassured himself.

XX

Junior closed his illustrated book about the age of the dinosaurs and placed it on the end table beside the bed. The dinosaurs were fascinating, but Junior had more pressing things on his mind, like why Bonnie had not come to bed yet, and why he kept hearing faint traces of conversation coming from a few rooms away.

He got out of bed and went into the bathroom to wash the melon extract facial masque from his face, deciding that he had given it enough time to sink in and rejuvenate his skin. The sound of speaking grew louder as he exited the room in search of his fiancée and father, and did not take Junior long to find that it was coming from the library. He opened the door to find his father and Bonnie up in the second-floor alcove.

"Whatever are the two of you doing up there?" he asked.

Bonnie glanced down briefly, but then looked back to his father without so much as a hello. The two of them were poring over something, although Junior could not tell what it was from his vantage point. He made his way up the small spiral staircase that led to the ledge, where Bonnie was sitting on front of a computer station set into the wall beside the bookcases. His father was poring over some papers on a nearby oak table, lit by an ornate desk lamp.

"I have been waiting in bed for you, sweetie."

"That's nice," said Bonnie dismissively. "Junior, we're a little busy planning something here."

"Planning? What are you planning?"

Señor Senior Senior looked up from his papers and gave his son a severe look over a pair of reading glasses. "We are speaking about how best to approach the island lair that Kim Possible and her young friend visited. It is time to pay Shego and her henchmen a visit and discover why they are so interested in Drakken's cupcakes."

"Shego? Are you saying that is Shego's island?"

"Yes, my son."

"Excuse me, but why did I not know this?"

"Because you spend your time tanning beside the swimming pool, while Miss Bonnie and I have been monitoring her island closely for a long time. She seems to have kept a low profile until the last few weeks, ending with this fascinating 'cupcake container' of which Kim Possible has gone to so much trouble to find."

"But father, I am sure that Kim Possible has discovered that already."

"Kim Possible is hiding something, my son. Or Drakken is hiding something. Perhaps both of them. No one would go to so much trouble for a simple baked good. She spent a lot of time snooping around our lair when she was here – it was fortunate that we had no doomsday weapons or suspicious devices lying around. Still, she was quite interested in these baked goods. Perhaps this Containment Chamber they were speaking of contains something more valuable than cupcakes. It was valuable enough to be stolen, and so it is valuable enough for us to investigate."

"But father, has Kim Possible not taken it away already?"

"She has not. We have kept an eye on a spy satellite monitoring the island since this morning, and she left without any cargo. Not only that, but she has left her sidekick behind to stay on the island somewhere. Very interesting indeed."

"I do not see what is so interesting," complained Junior. "I was hoping we could go out on the yacht tomorrow and watch the dolphins play. Why must we always go back to the supervillainy?"

"You may not be interested in my hobbies, my son," said Senior as he got up and looked over Bonnie's shoulder at the computer monitor, "but Bonnie understands their allure. Please allow us to plan to peace. And get some sleep – we will be ready tomorrow."

Junior grumbled as he descended the staircase again and returned to his room. He had enjoyed peace and quiet on his little island for quite a while, but the reappearance of Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable was looking like it had jogged his father's thirst for villainy. His father had been patiently grooming Bonnie in the ways of villainy, and while Junior had been a little jealous of the shift in attention, he also knew he did not want to follow in his father's footsteps.

Still, it looked like Bonnie was now looking to put herself to the test. And as usual, Junior would be dragged along for the ride. So much for a pleasant day of dolphin watching.

XX

Notes - I know I said this before, but now I think I actually will be uploading chapters a little faster, hehe. I mentioned it earlier but forgot about the whole being-busy-with-other-stuff-on-the-holidays thing. Then again, I update faster than most people in the first place, so it's all good. The next chapter will be even larger than this one - I considered cutting it into two chapters while I was writing it, but decided it really worked best as one.