HOME | DD

Description
Please Don't Leave Me by P!nk

The thing I hate most about Go City were the jerks that lived in it. They thought that they could easily pick up every girl they saw when they looked worse than your average hobo. They reeked of booze and cheap cigars, not to mention their tastes in clothing was like they had gotten them fresh from the Goodwill store.

"Hey there, sweet cheeks," one of those jerks said as I passed him and his buddies who were trying to look all bad boy with their bikes.

I stopped in my tracks and adjusted my duffle bag that was filled with my clothes I had brought over with me for the family reunion. Maybe this would be a good time to scratch my itch to fight that I had this whole week.

"What was that, Mr. Noodles?" I asked him. He kinda did look like Mr. Noodles from Sesame Street.

His buddies hooted and laughed and Mr. Noodles began stalking over to me with a haughty stride. I just raised an eyebrow, giving him a bored look.

"You've got some tongue little lady," he said, licking his lips as he checked me out. "But that's what make chicks so hot."

I set down my bag and I lifted one hand that immediately sparked up with the familiar green flames.

"Oh yeah? Well, this chick is about to get scorching."

Without a moment's hesitation, I punched Mr. Noodles straight in his gut. He wheezed as he lurched forward, his face scrunching up in surprise and pain. I grinned broadly. It was about time I got into some action!

"Hey Mr. Noodles!" I said in a cheery voice. "Can you tell us what a pervert sounds like?!"

This time I kneed him between his legs and he let out a screech that sounded like Hego attempting to sing and Dr. D crying like a baby. Despite his pain, he threw a punch, but I sidestepped the shot, placing my left hand on his shoulder and punched him in the gut with my right. I brought my right leg in between his legs and used it to kick the back of his knee while pushing down on his shoulder, forcing him to fall none to gently on his butt.

I jumped up and brought my knee down hard on his stomach and he choked on air at the impact, spit flying out of his mouth. With a grin I pulled back a fist and punched him in the face with a satisfying crack to the nose.

When he didn't get up, I ran straight at his buddies who were pulling out their guns. The blue haired guy pulled out his first and I grasped my hand around his wrist and pulled him slightly forward so that he lost his balance for a moment. I twisted his wrist while I had my other hand on the barrel of the gun, pulling it out of his grasp. He stood there shocked and confused.

"Only low lives use these toys," I told him, burning the gun until it melted.

He only gaped at me as he quivered from head to toe and I pulled back my fist and punched him in his face, making sure to leave a black eye for him. Just as I had did this, my instincts kicked in when I saw another gun pointed at me from the corner of my eye. I ducked just in time when a shot rang out from the other guy and kept on dodging and ducking bullets he wildly shot, shattering car windows in the process and scaring nearby citizens. He kept on shooting until I heard a final click, and that's when he really started to panic.

His hands shook as he unloaded the gun and searched his pockets for more ammo and I took this time to run up to him with my flaming fist pulled back and ready for some face bashing.

"Mercy! Mercy!" he cried with his hands shielding his face.

I halted. He was shaking so clearly I was sure that there was going to be an earthquake and I tried to hold back a laugh. Timidly and scared out of his mind, he opened his eyes and saw that my face was inches from his.

"Boo."

His eyes rolled into the back of his head and his body fell limp onto the ground. I scoffed and couldn't help but smirk when I saw that he had soiled his pants. I rolled my shoulders and cracked my neck and knuckles after what I would call a warmup.

"That felt good," I said, observing my work. "Too bad you chumps didn't put up much of a fight."

Suddenly sirens wailed not too far away and I quickly grabbed my bag and hopped onto one of their bikes, bringing it to life.

"Thanks for the bike Mr. Noodles!" I said, and drove onto the streets with a laugh.

The warm summer wind whipped my hair behind me as I zoomed past red lights and between cars that were too slow against me. I laughed at other drivers who honked their cars at me and I even had the excitement of a car chase, but unfortunately that didn't last long. No wonder why this city needed Team Go, the cops were horrible!

During the whole drive back to Middleton I kept on thinking about how I was going to apologize to Kimmie. Maybe I should let her cool off for a while since she didn't react too kindly the first time. Besides, if I spoke to her now, she would still probably be mad throw me out the window.

Saying sorry is not in my book nor is it in the villain book. It's practically one of the top ten. "Never say sorry to anyone unless it is in a sarcastic form or a quote." Yeah, there really is a book for villains. And no, I don't own one, Dr. D was reading it and claiming it would help him defeat Kimmie. Hah! I'm the only one who could do that!

Speaking of the blue idiot, I guess this is the time for me to check on him. Sheesh... I feel like a babysitter instead of a henchwoman! I wonder if he's still trying to open that jar. Oh well, I guess I'll find out once I get there.

As usual, the 'secret' lair wasn't so secret. It was located in the mountains of Upperton which occasional mountain climbers or tourist visited. So far it was my least favorite lair because of the time it took to get up there. Driving up a steep mountain in the summer heat was not fun.

Ten minutes after driving up, I found my way to a cave and drove straight into it. I turned on the lights of the bike and kept on heading deeper and deeper into the cave with the roar of the bike echoing off the cave walls. The air was gradually getting cooler as the minutes passed and then finally, a dead end appeared. I halted the bike before the dead end and tapped my foot three times on the ground before pausing for a second and tapping two more times. A beep sounded and a little hole opened in the ground that elevated a camera that beamed a green light on my face, scanning it before beeping again.

"Facial recognition confirmed. Voice and password recognition required."

I sighed. I really hated these things and I always wondered what was the point of a voice and password recognition when it knew my face. But nevertheless, I grumbled the password. The machine flashed red and beeped twice.

"System process failed. Please repeat for voice and password recognition."

I growled. "Just let me in Dr. D!" I shouted at the thing, but it only flashed and beeped again.

System process failed. Please repeat for-"

"I'M A GOOFY GOOBER!"

"Voice and password recognition confirmed."

I grumbled a string of curses as I drove through the tunnel the dead end had opened up. The tunnel had led me to the garage of the lair where Dr. D kept all the vehicles including a couple I had hijacked of myself. I parked the bike in an empty space and headed over to the elevator. It didn't take long for it to open and bring me to the main floor of the lair. I yawned into my hand, back to the same old, blubbering idiot.

"Yo Dr. D, I'm back," I called when the doors of the elevator opened and I stepped out of it.

As always, the main living area of the lair was big, enough to fit a house. Across the room was a huge gun...laser...cannon...whatever it was. Large screens were hooked up against the wall that displayed a blueprint of Dr. D's latest device, but ignored it like I always do. I threw my bag carelessly onto the long sofa and raised an eyebrow at the various trinkets that belonged to Dr. D on the mahogany table.

"Yo Dr. D! You home?" I called out again.

"Sheeeegggoooo..." I heard Dr. D drone.

"Dr. D?"

"Sheeegoo! Help me!"

I ran into the direction where I thought I had heard his voice originate from and quickly dropped into a fighting stance, ready to take on whoever was attacking Dr. D. But the only person I found was the idiot himself.

He was sitting at the table with a major pout on his lips, arms sprawled on the table and chin resting on it too. Under his eyes were dark circles as if he didn't get any sleep and that defeated look on him made it look like someone had broken his train set. Devices of his inventions were scattered about, even can openers, bent forks, and knives were all over the place. In his tiny hands was the can of corn he had called me about.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

After many annoying thanks for finally opening the can for him and stupid stories of how the can wouldn't open no matter what he tried, we sat in the kitchen eating. He was wolfing down his food, stuffing his cheeks so fast that he reminded me of my pet hamster I used to have that stuffed carrots in it's mouth. I shook my head at his table manners, disgusted.

"You're gonna get a stomach ache if you keep eating that fast," I said, eating the last of my meal.

He slowed down for a moment, but it didn't take him long to start eating fast again. I sighed and got up to wash my dishes.

"Where've you been this whole week, Shego? I was worried sick because you didn't tell me where you had gone!"

"I was..." I trailed off. Should I tell him? What harm could that be anyways? Besides, he saw my family before...well at least my brothers and recently my mother. "I was with my family."

"Oh? So did you guys do some fun activities?"

"Yeah," I muttered, recalling every event, everything I did not only with my family, but with Kimmie. "Yeah we did."

"That's good!" he said happily and came over to help with the dishes, washing his own. "That gives me an idea."

"Oh great," I grumbled.

"What? My ideas aren't so bad!"

I gave him a look.

"Okay, sometimes they don't always work, but this is different!" he said as I handed him a plate to dry. "We should have an evil family party!"

The cup I was washing almost dropped from my hands. "Oh God no! No more family stuff!"

"Aw come on Shego! It'll be fun! We'll have all the henchmen gather around and we'll go bowling, cherry picking, and we can't forget karaoke night!"

"But we do karaoke night every Friday!" I complained.

"Not with the henchmen we don't! This time everyone will get to go. I think this will boost up everyone's morale after failing to open the cans."

I rolled my eyes and continued washing the dishes. "Why not just stop buying canned food?"

"But there was a discount at SmartyMart!"

"Use your brain for something reasonable for once! Don't buy canned food you can't even open!"

"Alright, fine. But I'm still going for that evil family party!"

I shook my head and handed him the last dish to dry as he hummed a song with a cheery smile on his face. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye and couldn't help but notice that gray hair was making itself comfy on him.

Time flies by so quickly and it felt like yesterday I had been first employed to this man. First my parents, my brothers, now Dr. D. Time was taking it's toll on everyone. But what about me? As I wiped my hands dry and I stared at them. They weren't wrinkly and old like Arty's or my father's, they still had the smoothness and the youth in them. I smiled. I had to remind myself that Dr. D and my parents were at least thirty to forty years older than me. I still had a long life ahead of me. I still had a lot of time.

"So whaddaya say, Shego?" he asked, breaking my thoughts.

I sighed. "I vote no."

He whined like a little kid who wanted a toy. "Pleeeeeaasseee?"

"No!"

There goes that pout again. It was a good thing that his out didn't have the same effects as Kimmie's. "How about just one karaoke night with the henchmen and I'll never drag you to another one again?"

I weighed my options. If I went for this one, that meant I would get to have every Friday to myself with no ear piercing singing from Dr. D. Hmm, maybe one night wouldn't be so bad...

"Im going through a tunnel, stuck in a canyon, in an elevator. Do you even listen? No, no no no, no no noo! Whoa whoaa! Hello, hello, hello? Can you hear me now?"

I knocked back my drink and swallowed hard. Why did I agree to this? Never mind agreeing, why was I still here? I was sitting at a table surrounded by the henchmen who were surprisingly enjoying Dr. D's singing! A few of them were already drunk with their arms over each other as they swayed to the music, singing out of tune, and the rest of them were chatting amongst themselves and I groaned.

"Thank you! Thank you!" my employer bowed before leaving the stage and heading to our table. "So whose next?" he asked since no one had gotten up to the stage yet.

The henchmen shook their heads, saying that they all had gone. I hid my face behind the menu, hoping that he wouldn't notice me or worse, pick me.

"Shego!"

Oh great...

I slammed the menu down on the table causing the ice in our drinks to clink and everyone flinched. Despite the dim lighting of the karaoke bar I could see their scared faces clear as day.

"I am NOT going up there to make a fool of myself!"

"Oh come on Shego! You'll be fine!" Dr. D said.

I crossed my arms, defiant. There was no way he was going to make me go up there and sing in front of everybody!

"Please!" he begged.

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No!"

"I'll give you a raise!"

My frown eased. A raise...now that he put it like that...

"And extended vacation time."

He pouted for a second at my added bonus before nodding. A raise and extended vacation time just for singing? Hah! This guy seriously didn't know how to make a real deal! Even if I didn't really want to go up there I thought of how much I wanted a vacation and a tan to help me walk up onto the stage.

Dr. D waved at me encouragingly and I stared at the little touch screen song list with the mic in my hand. Not wanting to keep the crowd waiting, I pressed the 'Random' button and a guitar started playing. The title: "If I were a Boy" by Beyonce, popped up on the screen and the lyrics began.

"If I were a boy."

God, this was embarrassing... Maybe I should have picked a song.

"Even just for a day. I'd roll outta bed in the morning and throw on what I wanted then go. Drink beer with the guys, and chase after girls. I'd kick it with who I wanted and not get confronted for it, 'cause they'd stick up for me."

I looked up from the lyrics and saw that the people were smiling and nodding their heads to the song. Dr. D seemed happy too. I turned my attention back to the lyrics, feeling a bit more confident.

Maybe I take this time as a break from my dramatic life. I needed a little free time where I didn't have to worry about how I was going to apologize to Kimmie, and at that single thought of the redhead, I couldn't stop thinking about her.

Why was I thinking about her all of a sudden? It was as if she was a black hole and once I thought about her, she sucked me into the black abyss. I guess it was my fault anyways and I was taking it's effects. The way I managed to claim those lips of her, the way we kissed each other at the park in front of everyone. I held back a shiver and tried focusing on the screen. Damn it. Get out of my head Kimmie!

But no matter how hard I tried, no matter how many times I tried to focus, her face, her lips, her voice kept invading my mind. She was like a drug I was addicted to, just one taste and I was hooked forever. Thoughts of Kimmie suddenly turned bitter. I remembered the fight we had, the way her slap stung my cheek for the rest of the night.

"Why are you doing this to me?!"

I snapped back into reality as the song ended, gradually tuning out until it was drowned out by the cheers of the crowd. But even as I descended from the stage, their compliments and cheers could not block out the sound of Kimmie's voice.

I bounced lightly on my feet, keeping balanced and focused my eyes on my opponent. My heart was racing with adrenaline and my arms were burning from the two hours of punching and jabbing. With a quick move and a sharp, exhaling breath, I threw two punches with my right hand and one with my left like a boxer before bringing them back to to shield my face. My opponent didn't give a single grunt, but the man who was holding it from behind was cowering.

"Do you really need me to hold this- AH!"

I silenced his next words as I delivered another set of quick jabs at the punching bag whose chain jingled and clanked with each blow. The blue man pouted at me and I rolled my eyes, stopping to wipe the sweat from my brow.

"Fine. We can stop."

He let out a sigh of relief and released the punching bag and I could see that he was sweating bullets even though he wasn't the one who had been working out for two hours.

"Any plans for today?"

Dr. D pursed his lips in thought before frowning. "No. Unfortunately I have evil plot block."

I scoffed as I unwrapped the wraps on my fists. "Maybe you're just getting too old and finally realized that you tried everything."

He didn't say anything and I looked up at him, wondering if I had hit a soft spot with my usual teasing. Instead of looking hurt as I expected him to be, he looked as if he had come to terms and realization with something.

"Doc?"

He snapped out of his reverie and blinked a couple times as if seeing me for the first time.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine," he said, waving his hand dismissively. "And you're right."

"Look, I was just teasing."

He just smiled. It wasn't that usual crazy smile he had plastered on his face when he came up with a new invention, it was just a regular smile.

"I know, but you're still right. I am getting old," he sighed as if he remembered a good memory, probably reminiscing on the past. "Time sure does fly, doesn't it?"

I punched his arm. Even though I didn't punch him too hard he still rubbed the spot, muttering a small 'ow.'

"Don't go all sappy on me now, Doc."

"I'm not being sappy!" he huffed.

"Suuuree. Whatever you say," I said, walking over to my water bottle I had sat on the floor, taking a big gulp.

"Shego, can I ask you something?" he asked tentatively.

Uh oh. He sounded...serious? No, not so serious, more like...unsure or something like that. Whatever it was he intended on asking me, I had a feeling I didn't really want to answer it. I never liked the question game.

"What is it?"

He wrung his hands the way he always would in a nervous manner and pursed his lips, avoiding eye contact. Yeah, this wasn't good.

"Do you...do you ever wonder about retiring?"

In raised an eyebrow at him. "Where'd that come from?

"I was just wondering. You know, with most of the other villains gone in either jail or on the good side over the past years, now Kim Possible planning on retiring..."

"Kimmie's not retiring," I said, my words not only surprising him, but also me.

Why had I said that like that? As if I was so sure, so dead serious and so confident! It's been two weeks since Kimmie had announced her resignation and three days since I had last seen her at the reunion. Between those times I haven't seen nor heard her in action. So how could I be so sure? How could I be sure that she truly hadn't retired even if I tried to convince her? And not only that, I didn't get the straight truth out of her. I didn't ask her if she was sure that she wanted to go through the retirement. Not once during our time together.

"She's not?" he asked.

Was she?

"Why did you ask me if I wondered about retiring?" I asked, shifting the subject a bit. "Don't tell me YOU want to retire!"

He didn't answer, the fidgeting with his hands increased and I could see the sweat glistening on his forehead despite the cool room.

"You're kidding right?"

He frowned and his eyebrows furrowed so that wrinkles formed on his forehead. "After the alien invasion, everyone treated as heroes, looking past our criminal ways after we had helped Kim Possible and the buffoon, and... I liked that. We were good guys back then and I have to admit that being a good guy...wasn't so bad. During those few months of pardon crimes and the life we were maintaining, people stopped viewing us as criminals after we had saved everyone. They didn't threaten to call the cops anymore nor did we have to worry about Kim Possible. I liked being treated like that."

"So you're telling me that you want to retire?" I asked in disbelief.

He nodded his head slowly, flinching in advance in case I would snap, but I didn't. I just stood there in shock.

"Are you serious? I mean, after all these years you're giving up now?" I shook my head. "And if Kimmie does retire, that means you have a better chance at taking over the world!"

Everything he had said, I had to disagree on. I liked, no I loved being a criminal. It was all I ever wanted ever since I left Team Go. The freedom, the ability to do everything and anything I wanted at my own free will without having the law hold me back. And Kimmie was the best part of it. When I first met her I never felt so...alive so exhilarated! I finally had a good opponent who could fight me for a long time without ever stopping. I had found the only challenge who could put up with me, someone who was on my level, though I declare myself higher than her. But she was one of the reasons why I kept on being a criminal. For the fighting, for the excitement.

"I know you may not like my idea, but Shego, think about it!" my employer said, snapping my out of my thoughts. "We could live a life where we wouldn't have to worry about going to jail and getting stuck in cell block D and making plots to take over the world that always failed! We could live like normal people!"

"YOU may want that, but I don't!" I said, and he finally flinched. "Listen to yourself Doc. This is reality! They're not just going to pardon our years of criminal activity like that! We tried to take over the world numerous times, we threatened peoples lives and scared the wits out of them! We're EVIL! They're not going to trust us that quickly after all we did."

"But after the invasion-"

"That was AFTER the alien invasion! AFTER we had helped Kimmie save the world! And don't you remember what we did AFTER that? We returned to our old ways even though we were pardon for our crimes. Sure we lived normally for a while, but that while was short lived. We threw our chance away, Dr. D."

His lips trembled as he tried to come up with another tactic, another loophole, but I knew that there was no other way out. There was no way that we could be forgiven quickly after everything we've done, after we turned traitor on the world to return to our evil ways.

"Why do you want to retire anyways?" I sighed, easing my anger.

"I'm old and tired, Shego."

My lips tugged down in a frown. Why had those words sounded so familiar? And then it came to me. Right, Kimmie had said that too when she was planning on resigning.

"I'm just... I'm just tired of the hero thing."

And just like that day when all of this started, I quoted the same words I had asked her.

"That's it? You're 'tired?'"

"And old..." he muttered.

I growled in frustration, throwing my hands in the air. "I don't care if you're old Dr. D! Everyone gets old! Hell, I'm going to get old! And does it look like I give a rat's ass? No! And what are you so tired of? Losing to every time? Are you tired of not creating a great device to finally take over the world? Are you tired of me and my sarcastic remarks? What are you tired of?!"

I wanted to ask Kimmie those same words. What were you so tired of, Kimmie?

Hearing that Dr. D wanted to quit this life reminded me at how much the villain community was shrinking by the years. The only real villains who were not in jail or converted to the good side were Professor Dementor, Jack Hench, Gemini, and ourselves. Why was everyone quitting? Why was everyone tired? Was I the only one who had the guts, the strength to go on?

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "No, don't be. It's your choice. Do whatever you want."

And even though I truly didn't want to leave it at that, I left the room and my employer for who knows might be for the last time as an evil family.