A/N: Thanks to the continued readers and reviews. On with another chapter.
Shego ran her fingers across the ledge of the vaultish door. Finding what she was looking for she inserted the cable of the nerdlingers device into the communication port. Several seconds later it produced a code that she put into the pad beside the small door. With a satisfying click it opened and inside she found the prize. A bunch of bearer bonds as well. She sucked in a breath.
The thief in her really really wanted to snag them, too. With a heavy sigh she passed over the stack and grabbed the device. A blocky internal component to something. The payday it offered was at least as much as the stack could be. She closed the door and pulled off the code finder. Were the buffoon and the nerdlinger rubbing off on her? Pocketing both devices into a sack, she made her way out of the chamber. If they were, they made sure she got her cut. 'You're still getting paid. You're still getting paid.' She kept reminding herself over and over as she silently rushed down the hall to the conference room Ron should be waiting in.
And he was. She caught the chute he hucked at her. As quickly as she could she donned the chute. She nodded to him and with a psyching up huff he leapt out the window. Shego waited the ten count and followed. She could barely make out Ron below and ahead, chute deployed as she pulled her ripcord. Air flooded the chute and she felt for the steering cords and began to control her decent.
The helipad loomed ahead. Ron was coming in hot. And way too close to the camouflaged ship. Shego winced as she saw the tail section catch his rigging and he pendulumed up into the underside of the invisible craft. She slowed and came to a gentle stop some distance away. "You gonna live?" She asked. She trundled up her chute and after doffing the harness began stuffing it into the pack.
Ron shook himself and undid his harness and dropped the foot to the tarmac. "Yeah. Nothing broken."
Shego began helping him get his gear under control. "Good." She clicked off the camo and led the way up into the craft. Tucking away the packs she got into the pilot seat and began spooling up the engines.
Ron buckled into the co-pilot seat. Shego handed him the sack with the device in it. "Not bad for five minutes of work."
"Not bad at all." He pulled out the prize. "Even worth hitting the side of a hovercraft at twenty miles an hour." She looked over to see him grinning at her. It was infectious.
Shego lifted off and set course. She poked on the center console to bring up Wade. "How did it go?" He didn't even wait for her to speak.
Rufus scrambled up from the back into Ron's lap. Ron held up the device. "In and out."
"Nice!" Wade exclaimed. He pecked at a keyboard. "I'll set up the meet to hand it off…" He trailed off and began a more fevered keyboard dance.
Shego's grin faded. "Speak." She stated simply.
Wade's brow furrowed. "I don't know. Something… Hold on." He continued.
Shego heard a faint beeping. Her face turned to Ron who was warily looking at the thing he held in his hand. Shego felt her eyes open wide. "CHUCK IT!" She shouted and she put the hovercraft in a steep climb. Ron didn't waste any time in throwing the thing behind him as fast as he could. She slammed her fist on the aft hatch release and frigid air screamed around them. A vicious crack and her world went white.
Shego didn't know how long she was out, but it couldn't have been long. Groggily she scanned the instrument panel. The howl of wind a distant, muffled thing to her shredded ears. She leveled out the craft as best she could. Draken half assed most things, but he did not like falling. There were redundant systems coming on line and the craft stayed in the air… barely. She looked over to see Ron slumped in the harness and her gut twisted and her words not three days earlier came echoing back to her. 'I'm going to kill him someday.'
Frantically she reached over between Rufus shaking Ron and Ron's throat to feel a pulse. Okay he wasn't dead, yet. She looked at the cracked center display and saw Wade frantically shouting at the screen. Shego grabbed Rufus and stuffed him in her jumpsuit. He wouldn't survive long in the subzero temperatures. She then shot Wade a thumbs up. She looked back at the several small fires behind them in the bay and when she looked back at Wade she turned the thumb sideways and shrugged. She took her other hand off the stick and made a plus sign with her fingers at the screen.
Wade being the super genius he was, nodded with a determined expression and Shego returned her hands to fighting the stick. She caught sight of Ron shaking himself awake. Shego turned to look fully at him. He was shouting and she thought she saw him say Rufus. Shego patted the bulge in her jumpsuit and Ron visibly relaxed. Shego turned to the screen and it was now filled with a guidance arrow. She turned the craft until the arrow was straight ahead and a distance marker popped up with numbers counting down.
Ron ducked behind into the cabin before she could grab him. Looking down she saw the safety cable playing out from the back of the console. He had remembered to tie off. She looked back to see him using the fire extinguisher to put out the few small fires there were. She continued to battle the craft closer to the hospital ahead. Using the remaining undercarriage camera she found an empty section of parking lot by the emergency entrance.
Once on the ground she hit the emergency kill switch and everything died. She unbuckled and got out of the seat to find Ron had gotten all the fires out. She half walked half slid to him. He was smiling as he undid the safety line. He was saying something. She just shook her head and pointed at her ears. He shouted at her, "ANY LANDING YOU CAN WALK AWAY FROM, RIGHT?"
Shego just shook her head as she shimmied down the deck to the asphalt. She ducked under the ragged steel and out into the night air. She turned to watch him exit and her vision swam and she went down to a knee, dizzy. She took several deep breaths before she felt Ron's hand on her shoulder. He held out a hand and she took it. Once on her feet he put the arm around his shoulders. She suspected he had managed to get his hands up to cover his ears so he didn't have the shredded ear drums she had. All she could hear was muffled screeching. Ron had the communicator out and was talking to Wade. Her hearing was so bad she couldn't make out any of it.
And the periodic bouts of dizziness didn't help matters. Ron held up though and kept them marching drunkenly toward the entrance. Inside Ron held up the communicator to the receptionist and she warily held up the clipboard. A laser shot out from the communicator, neatly filling in the required information. The nurse handed them each a clipboard for them to fill out manually about medical history. Ron led them to the waiting room and settled Shego into a seat.
Once down Shego's world stopped spinning so bad and she could take a full breath. Ron was trying to get her attention. She looked up and he indicated Wade. "Just fill it out, and I will keep it on file so next time you don't have to." She read off the screen.
Shego scowled at him. "What are you HR now too?" She tried to speak at a normal volume. She thought she had.
Ron laughed. "Yes, I am. I will have the HIPAA agreement for you later so I can legally keep the documents." Again she read on the screen.
Health Insurance Portability Agreement Act. Yeah sure. Why not. She just nodded and began filling out the form. When she was done she handed it off to Ron. Her head pounded and her will to care about it faded. She held her head in her hands and groaned.
It was a trap. She should have known, or at least checked. She felt a scurry in her suit and remembered Rufus. She unzipped her suit partially and let the critter out. He was unharmed. A little rattled, but unharmed. She zipped back up and patted him as he sat on her knee. Ron must have returned because the rodent scurried over. She looked over at Ron grinning down at Rufus and that dread sank into her stomach again. She had almost gotten a kid killed. Some naive teenager. She had battled him and the princess so many times, but never got close to killing them. Never tried to kill them. Now without even trying she had almost done just that. She had to look away and buried her face in her hands again and let the pounding beat through her skull.
She sat that way for a while, just breathing deeply trying to sooth away the throbbing and trying not to think about that slumped head in the harness. She felt a soft tap on her shoulder. She looked up and Ron pointed to a man in a nurses uniform with a clipboard. She stood as smoothly as she could and followed. She answered his questions as best she could. He inspected her ears and based on the grimace he didn't think things were good. She already knew that.
"I'm going to give you some meds for the pain, over the counter painkillers. No asparain. For the concussion. Just take it easy and stay away from loud noises for the next few days. The hearing should clear up, your eardrums are inflamed but they're intact. If symptoms get worse come back." She was just able to hear him while he spoke at a normal volume now. She nodded. He shook out two generic painkillers from a bottle and handed them to her and a small cup of water. She downed them. Then refilled the cup several times and drained them too.
She was led out to the waiting room again where she waited for Ron. He was out shortly and together they left the hospital. They approached the carcass of the hovercraft and Ron left her outside as he went in and got their gear bags. The aft end was shredded and crumpled. The explosive must have detonated just after leaving the craft. If the hatch hadn't opened they would have been paste. Rear landing legs hadn't deployed which had caused the craft to sit at such an angle. Scorch marks etched up the sides of the craft, white from the burnt black enamel. Reverse fire up the sides of it. She always had little connection to it, Draken built it after all. But now? Half gutted it had still stayed airborne and gotten them to the ground.
Ron got out and approached. "It stayed up." She just stated.
Ron turned to look at it and he put a hand on her shoulder. "Looked to me to be a team effort." Shego looked at him. "Wade has a flatbed coming to pick her up." He smiled a little bit. "Or was it a him for you?"
Shego didn't have a response. "I never named it." She looked away.
Ron used her shoulder to turn her and lead her away. "Anyway. Got a cab. We'll get it fixed back up. Maybe you should give it a name." As they walked she actually teared up a little. "Trusty Rusty?" She laughed a little as she rubbed her eyes, she hoped, as someone with a headache would. "Ooh or like a pirate themed name like, like…"
He was trying to engage her, keep her out of her thoughts of just about dying. With a sigh she capitulated. "Like The Kraken."
"Nice. 'What is dead may never die'." He used a mock serious tone.
She looked over her shoulder at it, almost proud on its one landing leg. She thought back to trying to pilot it, its little nit picky needs. "Stubborn Bitch." She just stated.
Ron sucked in a breath. "That is perfect." He patted her shoulder as they stopped. He opened the door of the cab. "Don't you worry. We'll get the Bitch airborne again." Shego got in and Ron closed the door as he shimmied in. He gave the driver an address and they took off. "How's your head?" He asked.
Shego took a deep breath. "Better. Gonna be ringing for a while."
"Yeah, I got my hands to my ears so I can only imagine." Ron used a hand to rub his eyes. Again she saw that slumped head and she had to look away. The drive wasn't that long and it was in silence. Shego spent most of it massaging her head at the fading throbbing with eyes shut tight.
The cab stopped and Ron handed over a bill and got out, and just stood there door open. Shego looked up at him. "What?" She asked. She was continuing on, wasn't she?
"Yeah, no. Severe concussion? No way are you gonna go to sleep in the woods by yourself. I have a couch." She just scowled at him. "If I have a seizure tonight someone's gotta call 911. And vice versa. Besides, I have pie. Come on up and have some pie."
Her scowl faded. "I do like pie." They were downtown, not the suburbs. "Got a place of your own?" She asked as she got out and closed the door.
Ron shouldered both their gear bags and led the way. "I work down the street and its within walking distance of Upperton U." He used a key to open the walkup door and held it for her. "Besides, the parents just adopted a little girl and I don't get any sleep as it is."
Shego chuckled a little. "Maybe I am rubbing off on you. Bailing on the parents for more sleep."
Ron chuckled. "I was going to move out eventually, Hana just made it a more pressing thing." Ron let the door go shut. "They needed a nursery for her. Besides, I'm not completely bailing on them. I still have to go to school so I sleep there when I just have school and no work. I babysit for them. But when I have work too, I can sleep here." He led the way down the hallway and opened one of the doors. "Mi Casa."
Shego ducked in after him. It wasn't a big place by any means, but it was neat. "You must have just gotten it."
Ron set the gear bags next to the door as he pulled off his boots. "Why?"
"I don't see 'batchelor pad' yet." She also began getting her boots off.
He looked around at the living/kitchen/dining room. "What like swimsuit posters and bean bags and crap?" He shook his head. "Do I seem like a nudie poster type of guy to you?"
Shego just shook her head. "No, you don't." She said simply. Ron crossed the room and entered one of the two doors on the far wall. Again that dread came hurtling back at her. A kid just figuring out living on his own. And they were stealing from bad organizations. What did you think was going to happen? It was only a matter of time before retribution came calling.
Ron returned with some sweats. "They're clean and should fit." He patted his soft midsection. "You'll probably swim in 'em. Bathroom is in there." He indicated the other door. "Fair is fair."
She hesitated reaching for them, but only momentarily. The smell of burnt electrical wafted up urging her to take the offer. The bathroom was sparse, again she reminded herself this was a bachelor pad. Shampoo covered all the bases, no need for the three tiered regimen she normally used. As she rinsed off that clinging smoke smell the thought came to her. She had to call it quits. Endangering herself was one thing. She was leading these two kids into this, and tonight had proved it was just too dangerous. She towelled off and he was right, she about swam in the sweats. She wrapped up her hair in a towel to dry.
She exited the bathroom holding her gear at arms length. Ron hopped up from the couch and opened her gear bag for her and she stuffed it in. He pointed at the coffee table. "Made some hot cocoa, too." She saw a slice of pie alongside a cup of steaming cocoa. Before she could protest he was already away to clean himself.
She just sighed as she sat on the couch. He had gotten a blanket and pillow for her and it sat on the arm. Rufus curled up beside the stack. She lifted the mug and sipped. She had half the apple pie slice gone before he finished. "Much better." He stated and he hucked the gear into his room.
He sat in the recliner with his mug and smiled. Shego set the pie down and clasped her hands. "I'm out." She just said. He looked at her confused. "We almost died tonight." She paused and he nodded like it was just a normal thing. "You do understand that right?"
Ron sighed. "I do. What I also know is being concussed is a bad time to make any decisions." He was right, but she started to protest. He stopped her with a hand. "I'm not going to tell you you're wrong. I'm just saying, sleep on it. I'll make us breakfast and with a full belly we'll figure it out. Maybe it'll hit me and I'll see it your way, maybe not. We don't have to make any decisions right now. It'll keep." He took another sip of cocoa and smiled. "The only thing we need to decide right now is if we want another slice of pie or not. Okay?"
She lifted the pie and settled back on the couch. She couldn't really argue. He was right. He was wrong, but he was right. "I think one is plenty."
He nodded. "I am hitting the sack. I think a concussion has earned a hooky day from school." He turned on the small lamp between the couch and chair and proceeded to turn off the rest of the lights. "Night." He said as he closed the bedroom door.
"Night." Shego responded. Rufus scampered over to curl up in her lap. "Why is the buffoon hitting me with solid advice?" She asked him quietly.
Rufus stared back at her and shrugged. "Neither do I." Shego finished her pie and cocoa and arranged herself to sleep. She clicked off the lamp and felt Rufus hunker down atop the small of her back. She was out pretty quickly.
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Shego snapped awake from the nightmare to a throbbing headache. Not nearly as bad as before, but still unpleasant. Looking at her watch it was just shy of five in the morning. She had only been asleep for a few hours. As she shifted, Rufus got himself clear. The streetlight provided enough illumination to see as she sat up. She picked up Rufus and settled him down on the pillow and almost immediately he fell asleep. She silently got up and filled the mug from the kitchen tap. Retrieving a small bottle from her gear bag she downed a couple more pain killers. She stood there staring at the closed bedroom door.
If it came down to her trying to convince him to stop doing this, he was just too naive. She wanted to say stupid, but that wasn't true. He was dull when you put him up against the people he hung out with. Literal super geniuses, just geniuses, and experts. But he wasn't dumb. No he was young and still thought himself immortal. Maybe she was getting old, too. Mortality shadowing every dumb mistake making it visible for the death it could have been. No she had to do the responsible thing. Getting a kid nicked for a crime was one thing. Getting them killed was completely different. The smell of burnt electrical as she donned her pack just enforced the decision. She grabbed his keys and found the two for the door and took one. She'd give it back. After things quieted down. She left and locked the door. She slid the single key into her pack and pulled out her phone and called a cab.
They pulled up to her place and she was greeted by the Bitch sitting proudly nose in the air on the pad. Wade did not screw around. When he was going to do something that was all he did until it was done. She paid the cab and walked into her empty place. Dropping the gear bag by the door she went to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. She looked at the phone in her hand. She took a deep breath and dialed.
It rang. And when it picked up a groggy female answered. Shego began. "Hello? Mrs. Stoppable?"
After the phone conversation she settled in the living pit and clicked on the TV. Her phone rang. Ron. She declined. Ron. Declined. Ron several more times. Declined each time. Wade's face appeared on her television to her surprise. "You are god damned lucky I wasn't nude."
"I'm good, but I can't install a camera in your tv over the internet. Audio only. What the hell?"
Shego shrugged, then his words sank in. Maybe she was still a little foggy. "What the hell, what?" She responded.
"You called his mom?"
Shego sighed. "I did. We almost died Wade. I saw him slumped in that seat. I'm not going to be the one who gets kids killed. Not you, not Ron, not nobody. I wasn't going to convince him. So I called in the artillery. I'm out, Wade. I'm out."
Wade took a deep breath. "We do steal from some bad dudes."
Shego smiled. "See now why can't everybody be so quick on the uptake."
Wade grimaced. "We are going to have to make some refunds."
Shego sighed again. "No, I'll clean up what we have on deck. But it's going to be solo." Wade nodded. "It's been a trip, nerdlinger."
Wade smiled. "It has at that, Shego. Just hit me up when you're feeling better. I'll get the gear you need to get them done."
"You bet." Shego's voice actually cracked Wade just nodded and the tv reverted back to the local news. Again she had to rub her eyes.
A heavy nocking jerked her head toward the door. She sighed. "OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR SHEGO!" Wow. He was pissed. She waited. More nocking. "I'M NOT GOING TO STOP!"
Shego just sighed. "IT'S NOT LOCKED." She shouted at the door.
The door opened and Ron came through. "You called my Mom?!" Just powered through not checking the door.
"Yes I called your mom. I thought maybe she could talk some sense into you." Ron squeezed the back of the couch, clearly not pleased. "It would appear not."
"We had one bad job…"
She interrupted him as she shot to her feet. "ONE BAD JOB?!" She could feel her jaw tighten. "You didn't have to see some nieve kid you dragged into that mess slumped over looking fucking dead. I'm not a killer. I'm not going to be the kid killing villain, Ron." She shook her head. "I'm a lot of things, but that is never going to be one of them. Not going to happen."
Ron inhaled and exhaled slowly. Shego sat back down and picked up her mug of coffee. "Letting you get arrested is one thing. Getting you killed is another."
Ron rounded that section of couch and sat down. "Okay." He took another breath. "One. Eighteen now so legally not a kid. Second, you say I'm naive. I am sure as fuck not that." Shego jerked her head around at, she was pretty sure, the first time she had heard him curse. "I am painfully aware how dangerous this work is. I spent years behind Kim and she is the most reckless person alive, probably wouldn't be alive for very much longer if she wasn't busticated out of being a hero. I know, I know how dangerous this stuff is. You don't think I see it when you check the gear? Then I check the gear, then you check it right after. Both of us is abundantly clear about the danger."
He stood and she watched him as he made his way to the kitchen. "My eyes are wide open on that front, Shego." He poured a cup of coffee and sat back down. "We both fucked up. Sooner or later we'd hit someone who would rather kill us than let us get the mark. And we should have figured out how to counter that. And if I get hurt on one of these, I don't believe, I know you did everything you could have done to prevent it. I know that." He sipped the coffee and set it down. And he smiled. "As damn weird as it is to say it, I trust you. I shouldn't, but I do, at least with my life." He chuckled. "Not with my money, of course." And she actually cracked a smile. The ass was playing her and she knew it.
"You're right is is weird to hear it." He nodded. "But risking life and limb for a payday? It's just not worth it, its not."
He scowled. "Fuck the paycheck, fuck it right in the ear. I don't want to keep doing this for a paycheck." She could feel the confusion on her face. "Someday you might have kids…"
She sat back away from him. "That's not going to happen."
"You don't know what the future is going to bring, maybe. I know I'm going to. I'm going to have kids and I know that before I do I'm going to do my damndest to make sure I give them a world at least a little bit better than I found it. And what we're doing…" He moved over to sit on the coffee table facing her. "We are making a real, tangible difference in the world for the better."
Shego leaned away shaking her head. "With stealing?"
He nodded. "Yeah, with stealing. A scientist spends decades working on their life's work and some asshole villian just steals it from them, or another government. Before CAR there was absolutely nothing they could do. They were screwed. Now… Now it doesn't matter if it's another nation, villain, or united nations sanctioned international force. They can get it back. There are scientists now who will be naming their firstborn Shego if they knew who did the job. That's not even an exaggeration." He covered one of her hands with his. "To me that's worth it."
She brought up his hand and pushed it back at him. "Your life. Worth your life."
He sighed and returned to the couch. "Well, I don't plan on rushing into crossfire to do it. I'm not an idiot." He again took a drink. "That's why we need you, Shego. You are the best at it." He grinned at her. "And you can't tell me you don't love it." He was right. "And I know for a fact you are not going to throw your life at it. You're going to keep refining that plan until every unnecessary risk is carved away. Until you have that solid, beautiful plan that has us out scot free and they have no clue what happened."
Shego scrubbed her face with her palm. He was right. The planning, the drilling, and the thieving. She loved every part of it. Her brow furrowed. "My brothers wanted me to be a hero, fight crime." She looked at Ron. "Are you trying to con me into being a hero?"
Ron took a deep breath and let it out. "The last thing I want is for you to not be you. I am not asking you to be a hero. I just want to keep making the world a better place. So little Shegos and Rons can have a better world. So they can be what they want to be." Shego had to look away. "I don't wanna say I'm using you to fight injustice, but that's kind of exactly what's going on. And I know it's probably really stupid to admit it, but I am. If you want to crack me for it later I'll understand."
"At least you admit it." She looked out the window, just now getting light out. "The other day you left here and I said to the closed door, 'I'm going to kill him some day.'" She looked back at him. Ron grimaced. "I didn't mean it." She couldn't help the crack in her voice.
Ron sat next to her and he just rubbed her back. "I'm sorry." She didn't really care anymore she let the tears come.
She didn't know how long it was, but she felt so much better. She cleared her throat and took a drink of coffee. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it." He sat for a second or two. "And I won't mention it." He stood and looked down at her with a smile. "I rather like not being gelded." He beckoned her up. "Why don't you show me that lair of yours?" Trying to change the subject.
"Ron, I don't…"
He laughed. "You called my mom, and I hung up on her. I have to lay low for a few hours. That murder will be on your head." She shook her head. "You think I'm joking. Her favorite line to me growing up was, 'I brought you into this world, I'll take you out.'"
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