Villains Retreat Part 5
Shego walked in ahead of Drakken and let out a deep sigh. His words, meant to comfort she was sure, had only reminded her of Pandora and the what other thing's she'd shared too soon with others because she had been a fool and trusted. She glanced back at Drakken as he slowly walked down the pathway, his head down and clearly in deep thought. Whatever excitement that had once been there from their victory seemed to have gone. As he got closer she didn't know if sarcasm or sweetness would win over and she didn't want to test it. She looked at her gun and then down the hallways to the arrow that marked Pool area and decided the best thing to do was focus on one problem at a time. She walked passed the gun check-in point and headed down the hallway.
Drakken walked in the café area behind Shego, planning on back peddling his statement and relish in their victory instead. However, as he looked around the place, Shego had gone. No other green equipment sat at the check-in point. His stomach sank slightly, he knew she'd gone off for revenge, reminded by his statement he was sure. He would normally have shrugged it off and gone about his own thing, but it was the fact she'd felt the need to ditch him to do so, didn't sit right. His mind ticked away in its normal array of chatter that usually distracted him as he got a complimentary drink for the players. Unfortunately, it wasn't the ideas of world domination and schemes that won over. It was Shego.
He shook his head, it was none of his business, he knew that, but something about her keeping something clearly important from him made him depressed. He dropped the gun on the counter and sighed, how many times had he indicated interest in her past... a few.. yet she'd avoided it altogether, but Pandora knew. Am I jealous? He shook his head, that didn't make sense, she'd known Pandora well before her life of villainy, and everyone knew you had to watch yourself in the villain world. It made sense Shego was reluctant to share parts of her past, and now he was certain she was even more on lockdown. Still. Aren't we above the secrecy of villainy now? He glared, but his thoughts were short-lived as an arm leaned on his shoulder.
"Good to see you haven't lost all you edge Cuz, seriously," snorted Ed as he sat down, "I appreciate you at least letting me impress the babes for a little bit."
"I saw you scream and fall over a wall, I don't think that did much to impress," said Drakken with narrowed eyes, "Don't you have somewhere to be?"
"Geesh, for someone who just won the game, you're being a major downer, seriously," said Ed as he removed his arm with a raised a brow, "Green annoyed you tried to put moves on her, seriously, that Babe has issues with that."
"I did not put moves on Shego," glared Drakken, he felt his face go warm.
"If ever there was a window, winning and pinning was it, Cuz, seriously," Ed shook his head and smirked, "Probably best, she is a MAJOR Babe, and you know... you're... you."
"Eddie, was there a reason other than being a tool that you came over here," said Drakken, he slid his cup away and got up.
"Whoa, chill it Drew, no need to get all steamed, seriously," said Ed with a glare, "My bad for pointing out the obvious."
"You know Eddie..." Drakken wasn't exactly sure where he was going, and the swishing in his gut made him decide he needed to leave, "See you around."
"Geesh, seriously, what's his problem," scoffed Ed to the café host, who chose to dart to the other side of the counter.
Shego rolled her eyes, of course the one day Pandora wasn't at the pool, Shego was ready and armed for vengeance. She tossed her gun at the counter where she'd picked it up that morning. She supposed with enough persuasion she could find out where she might be? Shego looked at her hands and smirked, but it turned into a glare. That was far too much effort to use for vengeance, she knew that Pandora knew she'd crossed the line, but this would show weakness on Shego's side, that was not happening. She shook her head and decided that maybe catching some sun should be the plan for the rest of the afternoon. Which meant going back to her room and changing, and she was fairly certain Drakken would be in there since the game was over. She supposed she could risk it… She stopped walking back to her room for a second.
Why am I avoiding him? There was absolutely no reason for her to avoid him, they'd kicked everyone's rear at Paintball and…. she swallowed hard as she replayed the image of the two of them wedged shoulder to shoulder hiding behind a one person hiding wall, the adrenaline, the thrill of the game, that devious glint in his eyes, and that fleeting thought of leaning towards him. She'd barely recovered from that thought and then their victorious win by having the other teams take each other out. How had he not noticed that he was pinning her to the ground? Why hadn't she said anything? Why had she not just shoved him off? She had been well aware of their precarious position, and had done nothing? She opened the door to the hotel room and looked around.
"Huh… Guess he didn't come back yet?" she sighed and tossed off her gear and looked out the deck window at the beach.
Perhaps some time on the beach would clear her head. She'd spent the last few days on a scavenger hunt, dealing with personal issues, and she needed some time alone. It took her only a few minutes to change and head to the beach down the path. She welcomed the warmth and the peaceful sound of waves. As she fell against the chair and embraced it, she felt her mind melt into the calming bliss of the weather.
Drakken threw his gear down next to where he saw Shego's and looked around the room, she was clearly off doing her own thing, as her stuff was still here. He sighed and flopped on the couch and rubbed his temples in thought. His mind was reeling again, different ideas, different problems, what he should be doing right now back at the lair, like working on the laser they'd stolen. However none of these were winning over, instead, it was Shego and Ed that pushed aside his planning. Ed especially, he glared, couldn't he ever catch a break. He wasn't an idiot, he knew that Shego held zero interest him in that way, he was fine with that, they were friends.. teammates... she still hadn't said anything about partners.
Still, he didn't need someone like Motor Ed pointing what he already knew, out. It was in a small moment of clarity, a puzzle clicked in his head. Shego had chosen not to work with him before because of her image, because of rumors? He'd thought it was because of all his failures, but had it been because of not wanting to be seen working with him at all? There was an ego punch there for sure... What had changed then? She'd come back after all. His mind was derailing and he needed something to focus on... he looked at the microwave.
"That'll work..." muttered Drakken.
"That's what I needed... what's going on?" asked Shego as she walked back into their room to see Drakken had a bunch of parts all over the small table again, "Was that the microwave."
"Yes," said Drakken with a grin, had he packed his safety goggles, "Beach?"
"Yeah, was clearing my..." Shego took parts off her chair and sat down, "Head."
"Did you get revenge on Pandora?" asked Drakken, she watched him continue tinkering.
"No, she wasn't at the pool," sighed Shego as she handed him a screwdriver that he was clearly looking for.
"There's always tomorrow," said Drakken, and Shego smirked as he continued making a mess.
Shego watched him tinker away and sighed. He had no idea how much she wanted to vent right now, but she wasn't going too. Halfway through her sunbathing, she had finally got her head straight. Telling Pandora anything had been a mistake, and while she knew Drakken would never knowingly tell anything private of hers, she wasn't comfortable telling anymore than he already knew. She was about to start telling him about what Pandora had said when he cut in without looking up from his 'project' in the works.
"Shego, what rumors were you talking about earlier?" asked Drakken, he looked up at her, and she shrugged, "Clearly whatever it was bothered you enough to work with Eddie... I simply thought you were sick of me failing, but now I'm not so sure."
"Seriously, what goes on in there," said Shego as she gave a light knock on Drakken's head and glared, "One minute you're going on about me trusting you and you not sharing my secrets and then suddenly we're taking steps backward to something we both moved on from."
"Fine," said Drakken and he went back to his mess, "Can you pass me the blue wire."
"Is this going to be something you bring up in three months?" asked Shego as she did so.
"Maybe... Maybe not," said Drakken with a cheeky grin as he continued working, she snorted.
"Does it matter?" asked Shego with a raised brow, Drakken shook his head, "Okay, good."
"Fine," said Drakken.
"Great," said Shego as she crossed her arms.
"Moving on," said Drakken as she tightened something.
"Glad to hear," said Shego, she glared at little at his calm expression.
"Sounds great," said Drakken, and they fell into silence as he handed his odds and ends as she thought about what might have made him inquire about rumors, Drakken didn't care about rumors.. did he?
She supposed he might be worried that people were wondering about their particular relationship. It made sense, he was always so clear cut with contracts and titles. Perhaps he did that to prevent anyone thinking that she was more than just his sidekick. While women worry about being labeled a Villain Hopper, did Villain's worry about getting labeled too. A whole new window of confusion found her, this was something she had never considered. It would explain why he was so keen on labeling their current teamwork, her bring partner might combat any rumors he was hearing. She'd stopped trying to figure out rumors, because they changed like Lucre clipped coupons. Her thoughts swirled for longer than they usually did, trying to figure out multiple things at once, then she stopped and glared at Drakken. His insanity is freaking contagious, I swear. She shook her head and looked at the mess instead.
"What are you making?" asked Shego as she looked at the clumps of metals, wires, and various items.
"Honestly," said Drakken, Shego nodded, "No idea."
"So.. just a mess," said Shego, Drakken nodded and she sighed, "I'll go swipe the microwave next door."
"Thank you," said Drakken as he shoved the hunk of mess into the trash, "I don't even know where I was going with that."
"He's not even funny," groaned Shego as she and Drakken sat at this evenings event, stand up comedy.
"Did you say something?" asked Drakken as he began to drift off, Shego glared at him, "What? I didn't hire him."
"You better not fall asleep and leave me to deal with this," said Shego, she moved a water glass towards him, "If you do..."
"That prank doesn't work, Shego," smirked Drakken.
"Who said where I was putting the water," said Shego with a smirk, Drakken snorted and looked at the comedian, "This is stupid."
"Agreed," sighed Shego, she looked around, "Maybe we could sneak out... oh wait, you were adamant we sit in the center."
"Yeah well, I didn't know he was going to be terrible," said Drakken, he glanced around at his peers and froze, "Not as terrible as what Camille is wearing."
"Camille... is that a tutu?" asked Shego with wide eyes, she smirked, "Her cat has the same thing on."
"So many questions," said Drakken, he sat up and looked at the cat.
"Oh no, wait for it," said Shego as she leaned on Drakken's shoulder as the comedian glanced at them, "Look at the table to the left."
"Who wears fur these days, what is he a pimp?" asked Drakken, Shego snorted.
"I think that's a woman," said Shego as she squinted.
"Can't be," said Drakken, he squinted, "You might be right."
"She's wearing a dress," said Shego with an eye roll.
"Anubis wears a skirt," said Drakken, Shego opened her mouth and then snorted, "He can call it a sarong all he wants, it's a skirt."
"At least he accessorizes them with sandals," said Shego, "those boots are terrible."
"Don't forget the bracelets," said Drakken, "Who wears white gloves with black?"
"Oh the necklace too, you know the cursed one he wears," said Shego, "What's with her mask?"
"Germaphobe," said Drakken as he looked in the shadows at the person in fur.
True there was something feminine about the person, but something seemed masculine, dark stretched eyes seemed to stare past him to where he'd become aware Shego was leaning on his shoulder. Then to him, he knew they hadn't been too loud, so there was no way the person knew they had been talking about them, but they were clearly looking at the two of them. He felt Shego stiffen and her nails dig into his shoulder and he looked towards her, when had she gotten that close to him. He'd had moved or stated something, but the wide-eyed look in her eyes caught him off guard.
"Shego," asked Drakken in a low whisper.
"It's Dr. Botox," said Shego in a low whisper, his eyes darted back to the figure as they stood.
"Are you serious?" asked Drakken, he stiffened and there was a sudden sense of concern regarding the last time they were brought up.
There was not much time to dwell on this or ponder its meaning. While it was a villain's retreat, that didn't mean all villains came to such a thing. It was also an ideal place to find other villain's you may have a beef with or disturbing interest in with some. Drakken hoped to chalk it up to the fact it was probably a bad vacation coincidence, but from what he'd ever heard about old-world villain's... he seriously doubted that. The doubt became certainty as smoke swarmed the room in a thick masking. The sound of everyone yelling and making noises of aggravation erupted with coughing. Everyone blaming someone or another or assuming it was an accident or prank. Drakken and Shego both stood and began moving towards where an exit was, this was intentional and they both knew it. However as the clouds became pitch, the exit was no longer an option. Drakken felt Shego's hand grab for his, and he moved closer to her as the last of the lights went out.
Oh Dear Me... →