Kim rolled over to see a familiar silhouette at her window. She watched it sleepily for a moment, until she realised Shego wasn't coming in. Curious, she crawled out of bed and went over to find the window unlocked, just as she'd left it. Why hadn't... She's waiting for me to let her in? the teenager wondered, opening the window and returning to bed while Shego helped herself inside.

Kim didn't have to ask why she hadn't dropped by after the destructo-bot mess with Doctor Freeman. They never even got the chance to trade blows; in fact, she remembered the villainess hadn't looked too happy about being supplanted by a robot army.

As she watched Shego stalk over to her bed, it was clear she wasn't too happy now, either.

"You blackmailing bitch."

Definitely not happy. "You kicked my biscuit with all those powers," Kim reminded her, "So I think you've had your revenge. I'm probably lucky you needed a hand to hold the staff."

Shego grunted discontentedly as she sat on the edge of the bed. "You really shoulda known better."

"I think you let it go to your head. You let Rufus and Drakken distract you."

"The rat's a better fighter than the buffoon. And yeah, you were very lucky."

Kim smiled knowingly at Shego. Shego glared back. They were both thinking the same thing, but Kim knew better than to actually bring up how easy it was to relieve the villainess of the power staff.

Shego relented when she realised Kim was being nice about it. "When the damn thing broke, I was worried you'd get all the powers. Watching the glows swirl around you, only to..." She held up a hand and ignited her power. "It's... kinda wierd, how they each went back to who they were supposed to."

"You were still green without your powers," the redhead pointed out. "And Mego was still purple. I guess the glows knew where they were supposed to be."

"Yeah," the villainess spoke with surprising melancholy as she closed her fist, snuffing out the glow. "Makes you think about where you belong."

Kim's eyes widened in disbelief. "You're not thinking about rejoining Team Go, are you?"

Shego scoffed at the notion. "Are you kidding? Having Hego cower at my feet was the only thing better than going after you!" She thought it over, then added, "Perhaps thinking about where I don't belong would be more accurate."

Though Kim was full of questions, she suspected Shego would shut her down if she took the direct approach. "What's the deal with the skintone, anyway?" She chose to ask. "Hego and Wego didn't seem to be changed like that."

"Blood colour was all we could ever figure; since people already have red and blue, it's not as noticable. Might as well assume whatever makes me the only one who can project my glow is also the reason my hair stays mostly black."

"You never did tests or anything?"

Shego raised a disdainful eyebrow. "You think a bunch of scared kids with superpowers would let themselves end up as lab rats?"

"Point," Kim acceded. "Hego's the eldest, right? Were you second or third?"

"Third. Mego..." the green girl snorted in contempt. "He reversed the colours of his outfit to stand out. Then the twins decided to do the same, to keep the pattern going, y'know? You'd think his puppy died, the amount of moaning he did about that." She gave Kim a sideways look. "You really didn't know I used to be a hero before now?"

"How would I know?"

"I figured your computer nerd would have dug it up."

"Nope, all he ever got was your criminal record."

"Oh, lovely. Those photos never did me justice."

Kim smirked at the memory. "Ron would have disagreed."

"You're kidding," Shego sneered.

"It was before he met you," Kim assured her.

The green girl lay back across the bed and stared at the ceiling, fingers interlaced over her stomach. "So... how much did Hego tell you?"

"He showed us the rainbow-coloured comet smashing the treehouse, gave us the 'fate knocked hard' speech..."

"Ugh, of course. Probably the first time he got to use it in years."

"He also said the team broke up after you left." That statement only provoked a grunt from Shego. Kim couldn't tell if it was one of satisfaction, regret or plain lack of interest; she suspected the green girl was as curious about what Hego had told her as the heroine was about the reason for her turn to villainy. "The more you fought evil, the more you liked it, he said... but he didn't go into detail about it."

Another grunt, this one definitely satisfied. "He still has a smidge of self-preservation instinct, after all," Shego grumbled, then glanced at the redhead. "I'm sure you're dying to ask, but I'm not going to tell; so you can forget it, princess."

"That's okay," Kim told her as she casually twisted around until she was lying belly-down and her head was closer to Shego's. "I know it's not fair to ask just to satisfy my own curiosity." She didn't ask about Team Go's parents for the same reason. They had never been mentioned. Mom's parents had died when she was young, and she never spoke of them either. "I'm sure your childhood wasn't easy after the comet," was all she chose to say.

Shego only frowned and nodded.

"What happened after you left Go City?"

"Travelled the world, picked up a reputation for fighting and thieving along the way. Started getting job offers from supervillains. Superpowered henchman are a rare commodity, and the money from the serious offers got my attention. Drakken was the best fit."

Kim pondered that a moment, then gave up. "Why? I mean, of all the mad science out there, his seems... unreliable."

"Exactly. Dementor's more likely to take over the world than Drakken. But Dementor would make me work harder for my money, and once the world was his, he wouldn't need me anymore. I chose the employer that would need me for the longest amount of time." Shego sniggered. "Plus, once he learned he was competing with Dementor for my services, Dr. D started adding all kinds of perks to the contract. He's definitely the more entertaining of the two. And he's more... open to renegotiation, whenever he really pisses me off."

"That's smart and sneaky," Kim admitted. "It's totally you."

"I know," Shego agreed with false modesty as she inspected the claws of one of her gloves.

"I wish I'd known you when you were still a hero." Kim hadn't meant that to slip out, but apparently the thought went from brain to mouth without filtering.

Of course, Shego immediately called her on it. "Why?" she asked with a fair amount of incredulity.

"Oh... you know... you would have been someone to look up to. You might even have inspired me."

"Boooriiing," the villainess hummed.

"Why?" Kim shot back.

"Because then we probably never would have started fighting."

"Sparring, maybe. And... maybe then we'd just be... rivals. Instead of enemies."

They both fell silent for a moment, wondering whether or not that was already the case.

"It was fun," Kim murmured, "Working together."

Shego felt compelled to point out that they'd worked together to take down a giant robot flamingo, but when she turned her head and saw the look on the teenager's face, she forgot what she was going to say. Her first thought was, Whoever said people wore their heart on their sleeve must have been looking in the wrong place.

Her second thought was, Uh-oh.

"What?" Kim asked. Apparently Shego's realisation had reached her face before she could stop it.

The villainess affected a frown as she thought fast. "Don't think you can bring me back around to your side, little miss goody two-shoes. I'm just waiting for you to grow up and realize you'd be better off joining me."

That provoked a soft giggle from the redhead. "Yeah, that's gonna happen."

"Well, it's not like I can work for you. You'd never afford my rates." Okay, that's better, back in our snarky groove.

"Is that all it would take? If I had more money to offer than Drakken, would you be my sidekick?"

Shego pretended to mull it over. "You could use a competent sidekick."

"That's not fair," Kim admonished her. "Ron and I make a very good team. And we keep beating you, and Drakken, and all the rest, time and again. Even you have to admit he's gotta be doing something right."

"See, you're arguing that you keep winning because of him. I'm saying you keep winning in spite of him."

"...I'll admit he's screwed things up more than once, but he always comes through when it counts."

"If you say so," Shego said in a dubious tone, while silently resolving to pay more attention to the buffoon in future. Sensing an impending lull in the conversation, and deciding she'd rather not go through another one of those just now, she rolled off the bed to her feet. "In the meantime, if you ever win the lottery... meh, who am I kidding, you'd probably just give it to charity."

"Probably."

The villainess marched herself to the window. "I'll let you sleep."

"Good night, Shego."

Shego could hear the grin in Kim's voice as much as the enunciation. "Quit it, pumpkin," was all she said before closing the window behind her... but she couldn't help smiling as she said it.

Dammit. Not going soft. Not going soft!