Lost in Thought

Drakken groaned as he rubbed his head, the tingling feeling of his whole body aching keeping him alert and numb at the same time. He looked up at his beautiful and very angry assistant. He really couldn't blame her. Her face was contorted in a way that would make the strongest man alive beg for mercy. Her hand grabbed him by his coat front and yanked him up to face her. He could pull away or fight back, but what was the use.

He slammed his eyes shut and mentally yelled at himself. She was about to destroy him. What had he been thinking, honestly? Using a mind-control device test on her to make her nicer to him...all because he had a crush on her. What was wrong with him? He'd roll his eyes right now, but she'd probably just kill him without warning, thinking it was geared towards her rage. Why didn't he think about this? Had he really thought she'd not remember being under mind control? It wasn't like he'd done anything. He would never do anything odious. No. But he supposed making her cook, clean, and be sweet to him against her will was definitely an issue... He looked at her angry eyes. Definitely.

"Shego, I'm very sorry..." He was cut off. Her eyes narrowed at him and there was something else behind them. "I never..."

"This is why I don't do long term," she growled and shoved him away from her, glow extinguished. She looked on edge. Her body language was off. "Do you even know...uhg. No. No. I'm out."

"Shego, I was just testing..." He stopped as her hand ignited. "I'm sorry, and it will never happen again."

"You're right, it won't," said Shego as she turned on her heel and left.

"Shego?" asked Drakken weakly, but he heard her slamming her apartment door.

Drakken slumped against the wall, his body still aching from her plasma blasts, but his head hurt for a whole other reason. He wasn't very good at empathy sometimes, so he tried his best to look at it through her eyes. He'd simply used her to test a new invention.

Without her consent.

Scientists did that all the time.

To strangers. She was his assistant and essential henchwoman.

You are her boss.

He may have overstepped boundaries.

No shit.

He heard Shego returning and got up slowly, preparing for more words and violence, but he froze as he saw her large bag over her shoulder and her hand holding papers.

"I'll send for my things," said Shego. She held up the papers. "Section 12, Item 6. No experimentation is to be done on a person without direct consent. If you try and say that testing and experiments are two different things, so help you..."

"Wait. Shego! I'm sorry, it won't happen again." He darted as a blast flew at him. "Can't we talk about this? It was a silly little mistake, and nothing happened..."

"Good luck taking over the world, Dr. Drakken," replied Shego. Drakken darted towards the door and blocked her.

"Wait. Wait. I'll give you a raise, more money, better vacation pay. Just...can we talk?" said Drakken. He felt a surge of panic. His mind was a mess of thoughts and chaos as she looked at him. Her eyes were different somehow.

"I don't work with creeps," said Shego, and with a swipe, he was tossed into the wall.

Shego walked behind her new boss, Big Daddy Brotherson. He liked games, smelled of bratwurst, and it was an easy month-long contract. All she had to do was nab a few things for him and keep his new henchmen in line while he found someone more permanent. She was glad this was a quick job; she had gotten too comfortable with Drakken. That had been the mistake—trusting someone. She'd started to let her guard down, and look at what happened.

They were walking through Brotherson's 'Collection Room' where he kept all his high priced thefts and swindles. He was talking to one of his henchmen when she noticed a glowing green crystal.

"Is this a carbon-sealed ultraviolet gemstone?" asked Shego. She looked at it in shock. "Are you working on a light-bending laser?"

"What? That? I don't know. I acquired it because it gives nice light in here," said Brotherson. "Come Shego, I have a list of things for you to gather."

"Do you know what you could do with that?" asked Shego, her mind falling back to one of Drakken's personal scrapped designs. "Those are so rare, you could sell it and make a killing."

"I have no need for that, but thank you for your comment," said Brotherson with an agitated look.

"I know someone who would..." She trailed off and glared. She was not thinking about him today.

"You talk a lot more than I thought you did," said Brotherson. Shego fought the urge to snap at him and resumed her silence. "As I was saying, my team has made a list of needed things for trade and Henchco has been looking for new inventions."

"You make the inventions for Henchco?" Shego was impressed.

"Oh, no my dear Shego," scoffed Brotherson, "I hire people to do that."

"So, you don't sell or trade, or invent. What is it you do?" asked Shego a raised brow. He looked annoyed.

"I employ. Like I employ you to get the things I need and not ask questions. I thought ninjas were silent," said Brotherson. Shego slammed her mouth shut and bitterly followed her new temporary boss.

Three weeks in and Shego was counting down the days until she could be done with the contract. The pay was good, the suite she stayed in was probably one of the nicest she'd ever stayed in, the missions were quick and painless, and best of all—she had her free time back. She was no longer babysitting someone to make sure plans were completed, no longer listening to whining... She got paid a lump sum versus week to week, she didn't clean anything, she didn't... She didn't...do anything. She slumped in her seat and looked out over the beach from her balcony. She could go down to the casino, that might be fun...

If she was back at Drakken's lair she would be stuck sitting in her chair and monitoring some hair-brained scheme she herself knew was going to fail, trying to convince Drakken to give up and listen to her suggestion... Or better yet, listen to a great plan and stop listening to the flaws because it was interesting...or eating horrible Chinese food... She shook her head and grabbed her purse. Casino it was.

She tossed her purse down on her bed and headed to the kitchen angrily whilst hanging up on the delivery man she had called for food. She looked over her contract again in the light, blatantly stating that while under employment she was not allowed to be seen on any property of Brotherson's. She felt like she was under some sort of house arrest.

It wasn't like it wasn't standard.

She grumbled; it was the usual. Most mercenary jobs had to be discreet, because no villain wanted any ties to who might work for them.

Drakken didn't care.

She shook her head.

He also put me under mind-control. Creep alert.

She opened her freezer and was glad she at least had ice cream.

"You got too comfortable," said Shego to herself as she pulled out the ice cream. "This is why, month contract tops."

Shego began pacing her room. She could go somewhere else and take one of the many cars provided to her. She could go shopping... Maybe a new outfit for dancing. She rolled her eyes. She wasn't in the mood for dancing right now, nor was she in the mood for shopping. She was bored. Her mind played the past few weeks over. Brotherson liked games. He liked meat. He liked people to stay silent unless instructed to speak. She had no problem with that, she could talk to other people. It wasn't like they were teammates. She was a hired hand, her opinion didn't matter.

He could at least listen, some of those things Drakken would pay big money for.

She thought of the glowing green stone. He would have probably asked her to swipe it if he knew it was there. What was the light-bending laser for? A doomsday thing...? She should ask him... No! She was mad at the idiot.

"He put you under mind control," she stated aloud as she took a bite of her wine float. She glared at it. "He made you look for a dodo bird."

She stabbed at the float angrily and sat at the bar of her hotel room. She needed to focus. She'd worked for creeps before, she just needed to shake it off.

He didn't try anything.

That was beside the point. She poured more wine in her float.

He only did what you suggested.

She was not a henchman, she was his assistant—big difference. She sat in silence and pondered what she should do. She had less than two weeks left and then she could find another contract, it wasn't hard to do. Though she'd have to list her contacts again as she had changed them to prevent Drakken from reaching her. She pondered if she should have at least heard him out, but she shook her head and heard a knock at her door; Chinese food had arrived.

"One order of spicy lo mein, two dumplings, and rice?" asked the delivery person, handing her the bag. She gave him the money and wordlessly closed the door. She wasn't in the mood.

She sat down and opened up her food in silence. She should have put on music or something, but she didn't. She let her mind wander to her next move, a little annoyed by how slow her mind was working on it. There were plenty of options to choose from, but it was a matter of getting her name back out there. Sure she hadn't worked for Drakken too long and it would be easy, but the fact was she couldn't choose where to go next. Only a few months ago it would click without question.

"This is exactly why I have to keep moving," sighed Shego to herself. She dumped out the dumplings and stared at them. The look turned into a glare. "I ordered two?"

She tossed out her float and the dumplings. She wasn't hungry anymore. It wasn't late, she could still go to a club and go dancing... The last time she'd gone was when she and Drakken had been looking for a metal... It was Friday night, which meant Ladies Night.

Drakken's probably at karaoke.

Shego felt a hint of rage at herself. What did she care where he was? The green stone came back to her mind and she smirked. She would love to waltz into the lair and quote him an obscene amount for it, and then not give it to him. She looked at the trashcan and smirked to herself.

"What is with you and that stone," snapped Brotherson as Shego inquired about selling it. He sighed and looked at his watch. "I have a meeting with someone of interest shortly. I need you to act as my voice."

"Excuse me?" asked Shego, looking confused.

"You don't seem to have trouble talking, just say only what I tell you," said Brotherson. Shego sighed but stood still as a grubby looking man came in.

Shego stood as stoically as she could as the man prattled on about needing a loan or something. She didn't care. Her mind was on that stupid stone and finding a way to stick it to Drakken. This man talked forever anyway. She zoned in on the man talking. He wanted to make a robot assistant or something.

Sex bot.

Shego smirked a little to herself. This man didn't seem like he needed an assistant, he was vague about his job? Did he work for Brotherson? He needed it for household things?

Oh yeah, sex bot for sure.

The fact the man was here asking Brotherson for finances for it resulted in it taking all her strength not to make a snide comment. Brotherson waved his hand and she leaned towards him.

"Ask him how he plans to repay me," said Brotherson. Shego wanted to say he wasn't, but sighed.

"How do you plan on paying him back?" asked Shego. She bit her lip as the guy eyed her up and down, and nervously looked at Brotherson.

"I will after I make my assistant. I know others will be in need of one, and it won't take long to get others to pay twice as much for custom ones," said the man. He glanced over at Shego and back to Brotherson, who made another gesture.

"Ask him what function it will serve," said Brotherson. Shego rolled her eyes so hard it actually hurt.

"Okay," Shego looked at the man. He looked uncomfortable and she smirked. "He wants to know what functions apart from being a sex toy will it serve?"

"I... I..." The man looked bright red and looked at his feet. Brotherson glared, but Shego smirked all the more.

Drakken doodled away on his papers. He had no idea what he was drawing at the moment. He had loads of sketches of an idea for a new cloning device, or modifying it to create a series of synthetic humanoids or robots... He wasn't sure. He could maybe make a decent assistant if he programmed them right this time... Who was he kidding. He spun in his chair. He had tried calling Shego, but she'd blocked his number or was screening his calls maybe. Perhaps she had actually gotten a new phone. He didn't know. Despite all her snarky comments, digs, sass, eye-rolls, and plasma threats...she did keep him focused.

I don't need a babysitter!

He internally yelled at himself, but as he looked around his lab still in disarray...maybe he did. He sighed and rested his head on his desk. He missed her. He lightly hit his head against the table trying to figure out what to do next.

"This might be why you have trouble focusing... Brain damage." Drakken nearly fell out of his seat as he looked at Shego's normal chair. There she sat, idly flipping through a magazine. "But by all means, don't let me interrupt your process. Don't tell me you're stuck on the color again?"

"Shego?" asked Drakken. He was confused as she drank her soda and turned another page. "When? What? I thought..."

"I got bored," she said, shrugging as she flipped a page.

"But..." Drakken looked around as if waiting for her to blast him. He cleared his throat. "So...you're back?"

"I want a new contract," said Shego, closing her magazine and crossing her arms.

"Okay," said Drakken. He wasn't about to miss an opportunity. "Office?"

"Office," said Shego as she got up and waited for him. "I'm still angry by the way."

"Naturally," said Drakken as they walked, but he felt a smile tugging at his lips.

Contracts you say →