The corkscrewing of the vehicle did not throw them off due only to the bizarre technology that allowed it to fly in the first place. With the black and purple blur no longer in sight, Shego turned her attention to their flight path. As the world spun around them, their destination was moving the least; their destination being a particular spot of the street 'below' them that was approaching at dangerous speed.
As Drakken held on for dear life, eyes squeezed shut and trying not to scream again for fear of what else might come out of his mouth should he open it, the villainess crawled back into the seat, took the controls, and timed their use to ensure they wouldn't be upside down when they stopped spinning. If Kim Possible could survive a giant blender, a trained combat pilot could do this.
Shego did. The craft was upright when it bounced off the street and the impact cancelled the last of the rotational inertia. Luckily there was no traffic at this hour, so there no complications resulting in an actual crash. The vehicle haphazardly regained altitude until they were once again skimming skyscrapers on their way back to the mountain lair.
It wasn't until Shego had returned them to their original course that she had time to process what had just happened, and promptly lost it.
"She... jumped off... a flying car she jumped off a flying car! IS SHE CRAZY?"
Drakken opened an eye, realised they were safe and drew a vast sigh of relief. "Well done, Shego! ...What were you saying?"
"Crazy!" Shego repeated as she scanned the rooftops behind them, "Insane! Unhinged! Demented! Bat guan-"
"Language, Shego! And why are you so upset? You've known all along I'm a mad scientist, and megalomania is more of a mental condition than true insanity, anyway." He huffed disappointedly. "Shame about the nanotronium, though. I doubt we'll be able to get our hands on it again, anytime soon. Maybe the pan-dimensional vortex inducer would serve as a substitute, the security always... Shego, are you paying attention?"
The villainess turned her glare in Drakken's direction. "Oh, no, I'm not going anywhere near that pan thing again. Not after last time!"
"You've been like this ever since we renegotiated last year. If you were still under contract-"
"Well, I'm not! And you wouldn't get anywhere without me!"
"So what's stopping me from-"
"Because there's no contract!" the green girl yelled, causing the mad scientist to cringe deeper into his side of the vehicle. "Which means there's no limit to what I'll do to you if you so much as try anything I don't like!" Shego paused and took a deep breath to calm herself before her glow ignited spontaniously due to her temper. "Considering I'm letting you pay me what you can instead of what you used to, you should be grateful. I've probably prevented you from blowing yourself up a dozen times over by now."
In a rare display of wisdom, Drakken remained silent for several minutes when Shego stopped ranting. He'd heard how her joint caper with his cousin Motor Ed had gone, and he had no desire to be shoved out of a flying car while in transit. Plus, the lack of talking made time for thinking, something he was currently lucid enough to do in a straight line of cause and effect.
"I do appreciate you, Shego," he said quietly, surprising the villainess. "I'm glad you've remained a part of our evil family, even under current circumstances and despite... well..." self preservation instinct told him not to mention how she'd walked out on their last caper, "I guess what I'm saying is... thank you for putting up with me."
For some reason, the whatever that Shego thought came out of her mouth as, "You're welcome," albeit forced.
"Why don't you take tomorrow off? Absence makes the heart grow fonder, after all; and it will give me time to come up with a new plan. A better plan!"
Shego rolled her eyes, but she wasn't about to say no to a day off.
She had changed. There was no denying that now. Not just in the past year, but since this whole romance thing with Kimmie had begun. It had taken all her willpower not to visit the heroine on her day off, and when she'd lost her memory, it had actually been a relief... a genuine relief to know the girl would be able to spend some time not worrying about... stuff. Not to mention an opportunity to get back to her thieving roots.
Of course, hurting Ron Stupidballs had been a bonus. Chasing him around while Kim just stood there, signing an autograph for a fan, had been a literal blast. But the brief conversation right before that...
"Glowing hand... glow... go-Shego!"
"So, still remember how to fight?"
"Oh, yeah. Bring it... I think."
Kim had remembered her. The smile, the look in her eye... yeah, she'd remembered. No wonder she got confused. And no wonder Shego had enjoyed pelting the damn sidekick with one blast after another, punishing him for getting in the way. It could only have been better if she'd started kissing Kimmie right there in front of him; then what would he have done?
What an irony, the fact that dating him was the last thing she had to remember. The connotations were suggestive as hell. Then the one little detail Drakken always forgot reared its explosive head, and Shego had quit then and there.
Well, at the time, she'd quit. She'd go back after the weekend. Or the week. Frankly he was lucky she bothered to pick him up in the helicopter. One last opportunity to taunt the blue moron, after all... but, well, he did need her...
In the end, Shego had to admit she couldn't make sense of her own feelings anymore. So she did something she hadn't done in a long time, and spent the next Saturday night drinking. Home, alone, so she wouldn't accidentally blow something up or kill anyone. A sensible drinker, that was her... though sense was hard to come by when she first awoke the next morning.
Started drinking. Can't remember stopping. Must have drunk it all. Yes, that blurry shape on the floor looks like an empty bottle. Funny, how vodka can sneak up on you like that. Proper Russian stuff of course, the kind you should only drink straight...
Fuh, an' there's the han'over. Don' even think... any hard consonants... owww.
A groan would have made her head vibrate, so she settled for a slow, pained exhalation.
"Shego?"
What, hallucinations now? Wait...
Kim eased into the green girl's bloodshot view. "Want some water?" she whispered.
"Whad're ya doin' here bumbkin?" Shego managed to grumble.
"You called."
Shego had absolutely no memory of that. "Couldn'tve."
"You called mom."
"...Oh."
"Here, sip this, then I'll run a nice hot bath for you to soak in. Okay?"
"Nhkay."
Shego soaked until her fingers and toes pruned, then pulled the plug and took a shower as well. By the time she was done, the cobwebs had been blown from her throbbing mind and she had to deal with the fact that Kim was here, in her home, her haven, her sanctum... and that she didn't mind in the slightest.
She found the redhead sitting in the kitchen. "I didn't know what you'd want with a hangover, and I probably shouldn't try to make it anyway."
Shego only grunted on her way to the fridge, where she grabbed some diced lamb and mini potatoes. She cut the latter into halves before boiling them, then started frying the lamb in butter before sprinkling a smidge of rosemary over the pan.
"That's your idea of breakfast?" Kim eventually asked.
"It's how hungry I am, and it's got the protein and starch I need."
Kim sounded dubious. "As long as you don't throw it all back up, I guess..."
Ten minutes later, Shego sat opposite Kim at the kitchen table with her meal. "Memory's all back, then?" she asked as she stabbed her first mouthful with a fork.
"Yeah."
"Good. For a while there you sounded like you were chipped."
"I know. Remembering it is almost as wierd." Kim watched Shego chew slowly for a moment. "So, you called mom's cellphone late last night and did some drunken rambling. I got Wade to trace it and came to make sure you were okay."
"Shoulda unplugged the damn phone," the villainess muttered between mouthfuls. "Never used it before, anyway."
"Are you okay?"
"What did I ramble about?"
"Mom didn't say."
Shego grunted. "Probably didn't make any sense to begin with," she hoped aloud.
"It was easier than I expected to get in here. You were passed out on the couch, so I let you sleep."
"Knew I shoulda set up some booby traps."
"It's a nice place, Shego. It's... normal."
From the look on the green girl's face, the sentiment was not taken as a compliment. "It's your damn fault."
"What do you mean?"
Shego frowned, and delayed by forking another combination of lamb and potato into her mouth. Kim remained silent, and soon enough her patience was rewarded. "You got me thinking about a normal life. Well, as normal as I can get. I'm a wanted girl. I had to buy this place through a hired proxy, and the only reason I did is so I could imagine the two of us living here, doing the stuff normal couples usually do. As time went on, one 'what if' piled onto another, until I found myself wondering if I could actually..."
Abruptly Shego looked up and stared into the teen hero's eyes. "You're not just the only person in the world I could quit evil for, Kimmie. You're the only person who's ever made me feel like I could be a hero again. And... I hate it. I hate that you can affect me, change me so much." Her next words came out as a growl, and as her attention returned to her food, the fork stabbed downward with fresh vigour. "When I left my brothers, I swore I wouldn't let anyone dictate how I feel or what I do ever again. And for similiar reasons, it bugs me that telling you this stuff could influence you."
It took a moment for Kim to realise Shego was done talking, after the bombshell she'd just dropped. "Thank you for telling me, Shego. And FYI, I don't want you to ever feel bad about telling me the truth. But look at your track record. You rebelled against your brothers, and now you're rebelling against Drakken. You love your independence, but you hate the effort involved in being in charge, at least when it comes to heroics or villainy. How long do you think you could stand being a part of team Possible?"
"Depends on who's getting the sex, I guess."
"Maybe you could go back to teaching."
"Wanted. Woman," the villainess enunciated. "If I took a steady job, it'd only be a matter of time. I know Global Justice has a hands-off approach, partly because they don't wanna provoke me, partly because of my history and... what I just said, I guess. Heck, they've probably been hoping you can turn me back around since we started tangling. But they're just one group. I have to worry about the police and militaries of a dozen nations, not to mention bounty hunters, hitmen and... other groups. Even if I turned over a new leaf, I'd still have to deal with them." Shego sighed. "I made my bed, Kimmie. I gotta sleep in it with one eye open. And when it comes down to it, I kinda like it that way."
"Why?"
"Because I'm an anarchist. If I can't handle whatever comes, I deserve whatever I get. Not that I won't fight it every step of the way, of course." A pause as she chewed her food. "You live in a world of ethical behaviour and social graces, stuff that would go right out the window if the world went to hell. If I was sufficiently motivated, I'd make it happen just to see what you'd do."
"You wouldn't. You'd rather be in my bed than at the top of my shit list."
Shego smirked at Kimmie's language. "You kiss your momma with that mouth?"
"When she lets me," the redhead answered without pause. "It's become a bit of a game, the last few months. A kiss here, a grope there, in the next room or... one time, I squeezed her butt while dad was right there with his back turned. She was so tweaked she woulda grounded me if she could."
"Cheeky girl. And if I did go through with it, I'd have you chipped and in my bed... don't bother arguing Kimmie, we both know you'd enjoy it."
"Without my free will?"
Shego shrugged before speaking with her mouth full, "That's why you'd be free to enjoy it."
"Y'see, it's stuff like that which makes Ron the better choice."
"What, being brutally honest? And I told you, it isn't a choice. You just have to realise what you really want."
"And you think that's you?"
"You had a thing with me. You have a thing with him. Set aside any social bullshit and ask yourself: which are you more comfortable with?"
"I love Ron," Kim insisted.
"But you're in love with me."
The teen hero stared for a long moment, mumbled, "I've gotta think," and walked out.
Shego heard the front door open and close, and hoped she hadn't just fucked everything up.