Heroic Failure - Chapter 2

"Mommy, are you done yet?"

"Soon, sweetie."

"Daddy?"

"In a minute, Kate."

Kate slumped back into her booth and looked out the window of the diner. She could see the people making their comings and goings, heading to places of work or stores. It only made her wish her parents were done faster so that they could go shopping or something. Anything but just sitting still.

And then Kate saw something that made her heart skip. A bus pulled to a stop and let out its passengers. None of them caught Kate's eye... save two.

Drakken and Shego stepped off the bus and onto the sidewalk. Both wore black trench coats and fedora hats over their usual outfits in an attempt to keep their presence in Go City a secret.

"You'd think a secret organization could do us one better then forcing us to get from Point A to Point B via a bus," Drakken complained.

Shego said nothing and slowly walked away from Drakken, heading into a diner right around the corner.

"Oh, this can't be good." Drakken quickly followed his subordinate into the diner. Shego hadn't said a word during the bus ride from Global Justice HQ and it had Drakken worried. No biting comments, none of her patented sarcasm had been heard of in several hours. Drakken was no fool, he knew why Shego was so withdrawn. It was Go City.

It had been nearly a year since Drakken had learned of Go City and Shego's connection to it. Shego had never told Drakken about her past life; it was only when Kim Possible and Hego came knocking, quite literally knocking the wall down with super strength, that Drakken learned that his sidekick had once been a super hero. Deep down, Drakken had been hurt by the revelation of such a hidden truth, a truth kept secret even in what he had referred to as an 'evil little family.' But that hadn't stopped him from building a robot and running to Shego's rescue when he had heard that Aviarius had stolen her powers.

And now Drakken was prepared to come to her rescue, this time emotionally, once again if need be. He took a deep breath and entered the diner.

"Oh, you're here," Shego said casually as she spied Drakken. "Table for two, please. And keep the tea coming."

Taken aback by Shego's sudden casual manner, Drakken went with her as they were led to a table by the waitress. Sitting down, Drakken eyed Shego as she took a sip of what would be, as Drakken surmised from past experiences, the first in a long line of cups of Irish tea.

"Shego," Drakken spoke up. "Not to pry, but I figured you'd want to get this over with as quickly as possible and get out of town."

Shego looked out the window that lay on the side of their booth, saying nothing.

Dr. Drakken let go a deep breath and slumped into his side of the booth. "Fine. Be that way. If you'll excuse me, I have a phone call to make." Getting up from the table, Drakken made his way to the pay phone situated near the diner's restrooms.

Drakken sighed in disgust at the levels he had sunk as he fumbled for some loose change in his coat. But as he struggled to amass a few quarters, he couldn't help but look back at his life up to the current time. Shunned by his college friends he had plunged himself headfirst into the lifestyle of an evil genius... and much to his misfortune found himself defeated at every turn by the daughter of the very man who scoffed at his ideas in college.

"Mr. Dr. Possible."

How the name tore at Drakken's soul. A man he had once called his friend had mocked his genius. Sure, perhaps creating robot dates for the dance was a bit crazy, but the man once called Drew Lipsky had failed at securing any other possible dates for he and his friends. He hadn't wanted to fail them and had spent days building the Bebe 'bots in time for the dance.

But there was only one person Drakken truly despised. Not Kim Possible, nor Mr. Dr. Possible. At least with them Drakken could call a temporary peace and celebrate something like Christmas. Drakken knew, deep down, he'd rather not be enemies with his old friend... but that was not to be, what with the paths they had both chosen. But Dementor, oh, how Drakken hated him with every fiber of his being.

Ever since becoming a mad scientist, Drakken had found Dementor thwarting his schemes to further his own. Long before Kim Possible had even heard of Drakken and foiled his Nano-Tick scheme, Professor Dementor had been foiling schemes all his own.

For one, Dementor had better resources to work with. Being the son of a billionaire entitled Dementor to much better funding than Drakken could ever hope for, thus Dementor always bought the best thugs Hench Co. could offer, leaving Drakken with the worst of the worst.

But that had changed the day Drakken met Shego. She had arrived at his island lair looking for work, evil work, and Drakken had been more than willing to oblige. And for all her skill, she never asked for any more cash than Drakken's worthless henchman. And she turned the tide for Drakken. Between her skills in many fields and her unique powers, Drakken had finally gotten an edge over Dementor. But ever still, Dementor remained a thorn in Drakken's side... and here Drakken stood, on the verge of confronting his rival once more.

Finally having the change required, Drakken reached for the phone. And even in that one motion Drakken reflected on a past failure... his inability to even use the Teleportal device he had stolen from Professor Dementor a few months back. Pushing that memory away, Drakken punched in a number and listened as the phone rang.

"Hello?"

Drakken sighed. "Ed?"

"Seriously," replied the overly bombastic voice of Drakken's cousin.

"Oh, not now," Drakken said solemnly. "I guess I got a wrong number... would just be my luck..."

"Dude, you just need to chill out," Ed replied. "I mean, seriously, if you wanted to talk to your mom, you got the right number. Momma Lipsky bailed me out of jail after that Doomvee incident you and me were in. I'm just over paying her back and helping her get her car fixed."

"Shego and I tried to get you out of jail when we escaped," Drakken responded. "But I botched that up too."

"Dude, you did your best, that's all that matters. Seriously."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Thanks, Ed. Can you put mom on the line?"

"No prob, bro. Catch ya later."

Drakken listened to the silence as he waited for his mother to get the phone. He could feel a small grin creeping across his face. Good ol' Ed...

"Drewbie?" Momma Lipsky suddenly said. "Ed said you're feeling blue."

"Look it to..." Remembering how an experiment had given him a blue complexion, Drakken sighed at the notion of another failure. "Mom, I'm doing horrible with my job..."

"Oh no! Your talk radio career is failing apart?"

"... Yes." Drakken bit his tongue. He never wanted to tell his mother that he had grown up to be a mad scientist. It may have been what he wanted in the end, but it would break her heart. And now he was lying to her. It didn't do his heart any favors. "I can't get anything done right."

"Now, Drew," Momma Lipsky began, her tone becoming more serious. "You know it doesn't matter in the end. You're trying your best."

"That's what Ed said..."

"Ed's a smart boy, just like you."

Drakken recalled the Etch-a-Sketch incident. "I think I'd have to disagree, mom..."

Momma Lipsky was quiet for a moment but continued as best she could. "Son, I know you have your quirks. We all do. But that's life. It's what you do despite those quirks that matters. Listen, Drew... you're helping people, helping them through their problems with your talk radio station. And for that, I'm so very proud of you."

Drakken felt a small tear run down his face, past a scar long ago gained from a confrontation with Professor Dementor. She was proud... of his lies. "Mom, what if I told you..."

"Drew?"

"... It's nothing, mother. Thank you."

"Drew, No matter what you choose to do in life, I want you to be happy."

Drakken felt his heart stop for a moment. She... she knows.

"And if what you want to do in life is marry that Shego woman you're living with, that's okay by me. Be nice if you two were legally together, you know. Bye, Drewbie. I love you."

"Bye, Mom. Love you too." Drakken's breathed a sigh of relief as he heard his mother hang up on her side of the line. Phew, she doesn't know I'm a mad scientist, that's goo-- I told her we were just business partners!

A faint smile tugged at the corners of Shego's mouth. So long had it been that she could see the city of her birth without the distractions of saving the world or going against it. Looking out the window at the buildings across the street, watching the general hustle and bustle of the Go City community, she tried ever-so hard to savor the moment, knowing it wouldn't last.

And it was then that Shego could feel the unnerving feeling of someone's uneasy and quiet presence. Shego turned to confront Drakken, only to find a little girl, roughly the age of twelve and with her hair pulled back in two pigtails, standing by the table. Shego's brow ruffled slightly, as if she were trying to remember where she had seen this kid before. She seemed familiar enough.

"Hi," the little girl said softly. "My name's Kate. You're Shego, aren't you?"

Wonderful disguise, Shego frowned. Couldn't even fool a kid...

Kate continued. "I, uh, just wanted to thank you."

Now Shego was generally confused. "For what?"

"When you and your brothers were fightin' that bird guy... Aviator or somethin', I was watchin'. But... I wasn't watchin' the road. A car was gonna hit me and you... you left the fight to save me."

Shego's eyes went wide. Now she remembered the girl clear as day. Out of the corner of her eye, Shego had seen the car coming and had ran as fast as she could, pushing the girl to safety.

"So, uh," Kate continued. "I never got t'say thanks." And then she leapt up and hugged Shego. "You're my hero. I wanna be just like you when I grow up."

Shego bit her lip and feigned the best happy-go-luck smile she could. "Please don't wish that," she whispered so slightly even the child could not hear it.

Kate let go of the hug and ran back to her parents at their booth, happy as could be.

Shego slumped back into the booth and reached for her tea, trying desperately to shake the cold feeling that encircled her heart.

"That was.. beautiful," Drakken said, wiping away a few loose tears as he returned. "Simply beautiful."

Shego could hear it in Drakken's voice. No sarcasm, all honesty. It was his way, not hers. "Shut up," Shego answered, looking away and taking a small sip of her tea. The flavor of the tea settled in her mouth and Shego realized she was hardly in the mood for any more of it. She quickly stood and made her way to the cashier and paid. Stepping out the door and back onto the street, Shego waited for Drakken to catch up.

"This town is full of surprises," Drakken said, catching his breath. "First your brothers don't know you work for me and neither did that kid... did they cut this place off from the rest of the world?"

Shego took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment. "Go City doesn't play by the rest of the world's rules. The heroes are always good, the villains are always stupid and the citizens are always in need of saving. I don't fall under any of those categories, now do I? That is why I never fit in." Shego paused. "Now, let's just get this stupid mission over with..." Shego began walking.

Drakken knew this would be a downer of a day if he didn't do something, anything, to break the series of depressing events thus far. "You know, we're gonna need codenames..."

Shego stopped. "What?"

"I mean, we're practically secret agents!"

"Not with you screaming it out like that."

"Now that's the Shego I know," Drakken said. "The trademark wit has returned."

"Right," Shego replied. "Anyway, let's get going."

The duo began making their way down the street, heading for the precise coordinates that Dr. Director had given them.

"So how does Double-O D and Solid Shego sound?"

"No," Shego answered. "Just no."

Suddenly, Shego stopped. She grabbed hold of Drakken by the wrist and darted into the street. In one swift motion, she flung open a manhole cover and tossed the good doctor into the sewer. Shego then followed, closing the manhole on her way down.

"You could have warned me we were at the right spot!" Drakken complained as he wiped the sewage off his trench coat. "Now look what you did to my coat!"

Shego cast hers aside, standing in her trademark costume of Team Go, the black and green a sharp contrast. "The stealth's over, Dr. D. Now we go in and bust some heads." Shego turned to the brick-lined sewer wall. "Now where is it?"

"I believe it was on the other side, Shego," Drakken said, removing his ruined coat, standing in his trademark blue labcoat and black gloves.

"Nope, found it." Shego pressed in one of the bricks and the wall slid open, revealing a hidden passageway.

"Wrong again," Drakken said to himself. "No surprise there."

And thus Dr. Drakken and Shego stepped into the well-hidden lab, prepared to face whatever would come their way.