Shego crouched outside Kim's window, watching the teenager sleep. She was actually considering not disturbing the girl, but her inner rebel was arguing against the idea. Perhaps she should go ahead and strip, straddle the do-gooder's face and wake her with the claim that she'd already seen...

Yeah, probably too soon, the villainess reasoned. Doesn't mean her face would be any less priceless when she woke up, of course, but it'd be more plausible if I give it some time. Unless I really do get a peek. Perhaps if the dork's backfiring freeze ray had knocked them right out...

With a frown that pre-empted further pointless what-ifs, Shego snuck inside. The window was unlocked this time. That in itself gave her pause. Man, I really have made a habit of this.

This time, the green girl chose to wake the redhead by pouncing on the bed and using her weight to keep the girl trapped under the duvet during her initial waking struggle. Kim stopped when she realised the cause, who was smirking profusely. "Feeling immobilized, Kimmie?" Shego asked softly with her typical snark.

Kim frowned up at her nemesis. "Get off me," she hissed.

"Oh, I dunno," Shego whispered in her sweet (but still sarcastic) voice, "If you're even letting your own sidekick trap you now, I can't help thinking you like it."

"And stop making fun of Ron," Kim added, completely missing the kinky bondage reference.

"Why? You never stop me making fun of you, pumpkin."

The nickname earned Shego a glare, but the redhead didn't respond to it verbally. "That's different. It's... part of the fight. He's not on our level, but he does the sidekick thing very well... in his own way."

Shego's smirk twisted into more of a snarl. "Yeah, the bumbling fool interrupted our fight. Twice. Heck, he's lucky he landed on me, the second time. Anywhere else and he woulda been jellied. Maybe I should knock him out before we start rumbling, in future..."

"Leave him alone. He's been my best friend since pre-K."

"And he should have been electrocuted with you," the green girl's voice was suddenly serious. "How d'you think you'd feel if you got your best friend killed, hmm?"

"I would've saved us," Kim insisted. "We just happened to have help from a Canadian spy this time."

This obviously struck Shego by surprise. Kim took the opportunity to knock her off-balance by kicking at her knees. As the older girl lost her leverage with a startled yelp, the teenager managed to scoot out from under the duvet and into a crosslegged sitting position against her pillow.

This left Shego's face practically in her lap. The wicked smirk returned as she looked up at the girl. "I don't eat girls out through sweatpants, Kimmie."

With an outraged squeak, Kim's fists practically punched the mattress between her crotch and ankles to block the former from her visitor's sight, who snickered at the act... though she still wasn't sitting up to match the heroine. That was new. Was she that comfortable with her archfoe now, or...

"Shego..." Kim hesitated before plunging on, "Are you a lesbian?"

"Mmm, twenty percent, maybe twenty-five," came the immediate and apparently honest response. Shego watched Kim balk and raise an eyebrow. "Does that bother you, princess?"

"N-no!" the heroine exclaimed, almost forgetting to keep her voice down in the process.

"Methinks the goody two-shoes doth protest too much," the green girl deadpanned, clearly not impressed.

Kim blushed, but also frowned. It wasn't intolerance she was currently experiencing, so much as inexperience. "I... I've just never met any-"

"That you know of," Shego cut her short. "One in twenty-five is the current demographic, I believe..."

"Really? Where'd you get that?"

"The latest election exit polls."

Kim relaxed her arms as she frowned down at Shego. "Those people are old enough to vote."

"You think that makes a difference?" The villainess asked as she rolled over and laid her head in the teenager's lap, provoking another muted exclamation. Once it was clear that Kim was too surprised to kick her off, she continued, "How many kids go to your school, Kimmie? How many girls in the cheerleading team?" In a bitter voice, she added, "How many are staying in the closet to avoid the kind of cruelty only kids are capable of?"

Kim's ongoing indignation at Shego's actions was distracting, but she managed to stammer out a reasonable response. "It makes a difference because... because... some kids don't know what... who they like, yet."

"Do you?" her visitor immediately asked.

"Well, there's a boy at school..."

Shego's upside-down face sighed up at her. "Ah, well. Guess I'll have to wait for your college years after all."

"Maybe you shouldn't come here anymore," Kim muttered grumpily.

"Why not?"

"You keep visiting my bedroom at night, you sneak a peak, then flash me, and now your using my lap as a pillow and flirting with me..."

"Gets under your skin, doesn't it?" When Kim did not respond, she added, "The only reason you haven't moved is because you're trying not to give me the satisfaction."

With a frustrated huff, the teenager whipped her lap out from under Shego's head and left the bed completely. She took several steps towards the windows, then turned back to face the villainess. Shego was on her side now, head resting on one hand, and the smirk on her face only infuriated Kim further. "You said you came here to talk about the fights. That's not what you're doing. You're messing with me, like you do when we fight."

Despite the flicker of disappointment she felt, Shego shrugged nonchalantly with her free shoulder. "I suppose without the buffoonery, we'd never have had that fight on the roof of the weather machine. Shame he cut that one short as well. Wind and hail, lightning threatening to strike at any moment... very dramatic."

"Wait, back at the dealership. You said you couldn't stay to chat because of the book."

"Yeah, so?"

"Does that mean you would have stayed, otherwise?"

"No, that was just my usual wisecracking." Shego predicted the redhead's disbelieving eyebrow, and clarified, "The game's still on, outside this room, Kimmie."

"Then why didn't you kill me then and there?"

"After trapping you under office furniture, without a fight? What fun would that be?" The villainess snorted, then growled with a feral grin, "Drakken's orders notwithstanding, I'm not killing you until I beat you, princess."

Kim was quiet for a moment, remembering the lightning rod Shego had tied them to - Rufus included - and the fight on the roof of the weather machine. "How does kicking me off a flying machine constitute beating me?" she finally asked.

"Oh, if that had been the end of it, I woulda been disappointed. Sure, I might have broken some fingers, but you were still wearing the jetpack."

"You wouldn't have cut if off me again?"

The green girl shrugged again. "Always gotta give the hero a chance."

Kim was sceptical. "Says who? The book of villainy?"

"Well," Shego affected a familiar piratical accent, "It's more of a guideline than a rule." She sniggered, but the teenager was not amused. With a sigh, the villainess clarified. "Look princess, setting aside the difference between criminals and villains, bad guys are people too. We all have our own codes of conduct or whatever, just like everyone else." She gestured to her surroundings. "Your bedroom has nice big windows with ordinary double glazing and no curtains. A sniper could shoot you in the head as you slept, and that's just the easiest method. If someone wanted you dead that badly, you'd be dead, period."

Shego's explanation did nothing to improve Kim's mood. "Then why am I still alive?" she whispered angrily.

"You were already a hero before you started tackling supervillains only last year. And you're still a teenager. Anyone willing to pull that trigger would have to be crazy to risk that kind of backlash. But if I beat you, or you can't escape some over-elaborate death trap, well... those are the risks you chose to take." Shego paused, considering. "The only reason any of your actual enemies would attack your home or school is if there was a specific reason to go to either of them. Liiike... if the microchip had been here instead of inside the rat. For the most part, your family and fellow students should be safe."

"What about dad?" Kim asked. "Drakken became a mad scientist because he and his friends made fun of him in college."

"Really?"

"You didn't know? I wondered where you were during the whole Bebes episode."

"On vacation, probably. Bebes?"

"Robot girls."

The green girl grimaced. "Ugh. Drakken and robots, never a good idea. He's great with hardware, but software? Don't even ask."

Kim paused; they'd gotten off-track again. "What if Drakken gave you a sniper rifle and ordered you to shoot me? Would you do it?"

"He wouldn't," Shego assured her once she got over the apprehension Kim's question provoked.

"But if he did?"

The villainess finally sat up, clearly uncomfortable with this line of questioning. "I wouldn't be happy about it, but..."

"You'd blow my head off in my sleep," Kim accused her.

"Well, not after bringing it up myself," Shego reasoned, and weathered the teenager's furious glare for a long moment... before her own temper flared in response. She pointed to herself, saying, "Evil, princess. You really need reminding?"

"I thought you... respected me."

"I do. But Drakken's my employer. If there's nothing in the contract to contradict his orders, I follow them. This is my job, not a hobby. My respect for you is professional."

"What about as a person?"

If it were not for fraying tempers on both sides, Shego might have asked if Kim wanted an honest response, first. Under the circumstances, she simply gave it. "I think you're a damn fool for doing everything you do for free. And you're a bigger fool for thinking you can do anything. It's going to get you killed, someday." She looked the teenager in the eye and grinned eagerly. "I just hope I'm the one who'll be there, that day."

Kim seethed silently until she could hiss the words, "Get out," through clenched teeth.

"Yeah, I'll get out," Shego snorted, rising to her feet and passing the heroine on her way to the window. She was almost offended that the teenager turned to keep her in view the entire time.

"And don't come back."

Shego paused at the window, but said nothing. They exchanged a final glare, then she was gone.

And just like that, it was all over.