ISSUE #2: Senior's Eleven

ACT I:

V'sori Warlord Krandar drummed his fingers on the desktop. A holographic recording of the breakout at the London holding facility in front of him. He watched, expressionless, as he saw Shego, the green clad cohort of Dr. Drakken, take out five War Spheres with ease. His lack of expression continued as he watched her free the semi-simian martial artist known as Monkey Fist.

He watched them escape in a modified Earth vehicle, which took to the air when it encountered a King Crab land tank. When they boarded a cargo jet and escaped into a cloud bank, he stopped drumming his fingers and clenched his fist, a frown creasing his face.

He turned the holoprojection off, stood up and left his office. He strode down the hallways and turned into one of the research labs in the Tri-City V'sori encampment. His presence was noted by the guards who stiffened up as their commander entered. Krandar ignored them and walked to where a team of V'sori scientists were working feverishly on something. Electronic components were scattered across the workbenches. A robotic head was sitting on one of them.

Krandar walked over and picked up the chrome skull, looking at the lifeless red eyes. One of the scientists noticed him and walked over, saying nothing, waiting respectfully for the Warlord to speak first.

"When will they be ready?" Krandar asked after a moment.

"Unfortunately, Warlord," the scientist began. "While we have been able to reproduce the basic functions and features of the devices, the coordination modules and the autonomy still evade us. Whatever caused them to be the threats they were do not appear to be part of the schematics. I-I'm sorry, Warlord Krandar."

Krandar's lip curled up in frustration, then he tossed the head back onto the bench. "Not your fault. We will simply need to redouble our efforts. Continue the production of the shells. We'll worry about the programming later."

"Yes, Warlord." the scientist said, returning to his fellows. Krandar left the lab and made his way to one of the many interrogation chambers located below the V'sori base. The interrogation chambers below the building were used primarily for those non-super powered dissidents that foolishy opposed the will of the V'sori Empire.

He nodded to the K'tharen guard that stood in front of the door. The K'tharen saluted and stepped aside, allowing the Warlord to enter. He entered the room and sat down on the chair that was in front of the interrogation chair...which was occupied.

The occupant was a handsome middle aged woman with short brown hair and a patch over one eye. Her tattered jumpsuit bore the remnats of the logo of some independent crimefighting organization. What was is called again? Ah yes. "Global Justice." How quaint.

As Krandar sat down, the woman's eye opened. As she made eye contact with him, she snarled, reopening several of the small cuts on her face.

"And a pleasure to see you again as well, Dr. Director." Krandar said. He glanced into a corner and gestured with his hand. From the shadows, another K'tharen moved to stand beside the former head of Global Justice.

"I have a question, Dr. Director," Krandar began, leaning back in his chair, "One that requires your particular expertiese in dealing with so called 'supervillains.'"

Director said nothing, just glaring at the V'sori commander with undisguised contempt. Krandar nodded at the K'tharen, who wasted no time in slamming one huge fist across her face. Director spit a mouthful of blood out on to the floor then glared at Krandar.

"I'm not telling you anything. Least of all anything that makes your job easier." she sneered.

Krandar showed no change in expression, except for a slight pursing of the lips. "In the V'sori Empire, we have little difficulty finding those who don't want to be found. However, I must admit that we haven't quite found a people as...persistent as your race." He stood up and walked over to the interrogation chair. He placed his hands on Director's wrists and leaned forward.

"How do I force Dr. Drakken and his cohorts out of hiding?" he said. Director pursed her lips and spat more blood into the Warlord's face. The K'tharen growled and stepped forward, ready to do something more severe than a simple punch. Krandar held up a hand, stopping the giant in it's tracks. He reached into a pocket an pulled out a cloth.

He calmly wiped his face, pocketed the cloth, then stepped back. "Shame. I was hoping that you'd be more cooperative since this would mean the end of several thorns in your side, but I can see you have no desire to be cooperative."

He pulled a cart from a corner and picked up a long, thin rod. He thumbed a switch on the rod, causing a long blue energy beam to extend from it.

"Oh, look, an alien letter opener," Dr. Director piped up from behind him. "I'm so intimidated."

Krandar turned, giving her a close lipped smile. "Oh, I think you'll find this device can do more than open correspondance." He thumbed another switch, and Director's eye widened as the beam twisted itself into a sharp looking drill and began rotating, sparking ominously.

Krandar leaned in close to the former crimefighter. "Much, MUCH more..."

The K'tharen chortled as Dr. Director's screams began echoing through the lower level of the base.

---

Senor Senior, Sr. frowned as he looked at the oversized computer monitor in his study. He stroked his chin in thought for a moment, then checked several other open windows on the screen. He sighed and sat back, frowning deeper. It was true then.

He closed out of the web browser and brought up another program, one that kept track of the petty cash he had in the private vault beneath the house. He frowned again. Ever since the invasion, he had been forced to dip into the petty cash reserves to ensure that the island remained off the maps, as the world economy had been thrown into turmoil.

But those reserves were now getting dangerously low, and if what he had discovered online was true, it would make life increasingly difficult for himself and the rest of his...houseguests. Something would have to be done, and quickly.

He rose to his feet, picked up his rosewood cane and began making his way in search of the rest of the Omega cell he had opened his home to.

Senior decided to stop off at the lab he'd set up in this wing of the house first. It might actually get Dr. Drakken and Prof. Dementor to cooperate for a change. He hoped that perhaps, this time, they had managed to work out some sort of compromise over the limited resources available.

As he rounded the corner leading to the lab, he heard a muffled "WHOOMPH!" noise coming from behind the stainless steel blast doors. Senior sighed. So much for that hope.

As he approached the blast doors, they opened, letting out a thick pall of smoke. The automatic vents kicked in as the smoke detectors went off, sucking the smoke into them. From inside the lab came the sound of two voices cursing and coughing at the same time.

"Why in ze WORLD would you think you could mix an acid and a base like zat?!" came a voice tinged with a thick German accent." Did you not take basic chemistry in high school, you POMPOUS TWIT?!"

"Well, it certainly isn't MY fault the boric acid was in the worng cabinet, is it?" a whining irritated American accented voice replied. "I wasn't the one in here last, now was I, Shorty?"

"SHORTY?!" the first voice yelped. "Zat is IT. I can stand no more of this!"

"What are you--PUT THAT DOWN!"

"Prepare to face your DOOOOOM, DRAKKEN!" Prof. Dementor screeched as Senior entered the lab.

It took Senior a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting in the lab. Evidently the primary power had been knocked out by whatever had caused this latest outburst form the two rival mad scientists.

"What on earth is going on in here?" Senior demanded as his vision adjusted. In front of him were the two mad scientists. Dr. Drakken was holding his hands up with a comical expression on his face, as the considerably shorter Professor Dementor held a large bazooka type weapon that, due to the Professor's short staure, threatened to topple him over.

"Pay it no mind, Herr Senior," Dementor grumbled, thumbing a switch on the grip of the weapon. "Ze problem is about to be TAKEN CARE OF!"

The bazooka-type weapon began beeping ominously and yellow nuimbus of energy began to form around the end of the barrel of the weapon. Drakken shirekd and dove for cover. Senior's frown deepend and he stepped forward. His hand flashed as the shaft of his cane koncked the bareel of the weapon upwards, sending Dementor off balance and the energy beam crashing harmlessly into the steel reinofrced ceiling.

Dementor tossed the weapon to his side and drew himself up to his full height. And if Senor Senior, Sr. were not a full head taller than Dementor, it probably would have been a very intimidating sight.

"That was a very unwise thing to do, Herr Senior." Dementor snarled. Senior quirked an eyebrow and gazed disapprovingly at Dementor. The two held the gaze for a moment, before Dementor blinked and looked at the floor.

Senior glared at the two supervillains. "I did not open my home to you so that you could make it easier for our mutual enemies to destroy us. I told you when you came to my island that my resources were limited and you would have to share the lab equally. If you cannot settle the matter like adults, then I will have no qualms about settling the matter for you like children. Is that understood?"

The two scientists look at their feet then at each other. After a moment Drakken reluctantly held out a hand towards Dementor. "Fine. I'm--neergh--sorry."

"Ja, ja, I'm sorry too, okay." Dementor replied, shaking Drakken's hand breifly. Senior nodded and his face resuled a more pleasant expression.

"Excellent," he said. "Now, as to the reason I came here. I'm afraid I must call an emergency meeting in the conference lair. We may havea serious problem on our hands. Twenty minutes."

With that, Senior nodded and walked off, leaving Drakken and Dementor to argue over who was going to clean up the mess.

---

"Back! Get back, I say, you harridan!" Monkey Fist cried as he perched from one of the hanging lights in the main salon of the house. Below him, rogue geneticist and overenthusiastic Cuddlebuddy collector DNAmy stared up at him with lovestruck eyes.

"Oh, come on Montykins!" she whined in a way that was meant to be charmingly endearing but turned out like the sound of a cat being pulled backwards through a threshing machine."We're gonna be working together and hiding out here for a while, so why not make the best of it?"

"The BEST of it?" Monkey Fist shrieked. "You've been houding me ever since they brought me here form that bloody detainment center!"

"I was just so worried about you!" Amy continued. "When I thought of you trapped by those icky V'sori goons, I worked day and night to find a way to rescue you."

"Oh, I'm just overflowing with gratitude." Monkey Fist groaned.

"Well, if I had known Dr. Destruction was going to send Shego, Adrenna, and Eddie after you, I would have just waited." Amy replied. She held up her right arm and pulled back the sleeve of her pink sweater, revealing a large armor like device that covered her forearm. A series of tubes filled with multicolored liquid were visible int he top along with a button underneath each tube. "But since I didn't know, I went ahead anyway and built this Instant Genetic Resequencer. I just push the button under the sample that I want and my DNA instantly gets spliced so I can hybridize myself with any animal I want."

Monkey Fist's eyes widened as he realized what that meant. "Any...animal...you...want?"

DNAmy grinned. "Mmmhmmm..." She giggled and pressed one of the buttons on the Resequencer. There was a flash of light and Monkey Fist screamed as a genetic freak with Amy's head and the body of a gorilla leaped up onto the light fixture and began squeezling the lfie out of him.

"I gotcha now, Monty-Wonty schnookums!" Amy cooed.

"GAH! Not again!" Monkey Fist screeched. Then, he heard an ominous creak. He and Amy froze, looked at each other, then up at the support beam the light fixture was hanging from. The thin wire was beginning to fray. They looked back at each other.

"Oh, butterballs!" Amy said, just as the wire snapped and the two simian hybrids crashed into the sofa, destroying it.

As the dust settled, they heard a disapproving clearing of the throat. They both looked up to see Senior standing in the doorway.

"Ah, Mr. Senior," Monkey Fist said getting to his feet. "My apologies, sir. I will of course, pay to for the replacement of the sofa." He glared down at Amy "Get up...get UP!" he hissed through his teeth.

Amy got to her feet as well, tapping a button on the Resquencer and reverting to her noormal human form. "I'm sorry too, Senior. I'll pay for the lamp."

Senior was silent for a moment then waved an hand. "Do not concern yourselves. However, if you could please join us in the conference lair in twenty minutes, I would greatly appreciate it."

Senior walked off. As he left, Monkey Fist turned to Amy.

"I would also greatly appreciate it if you sat somewhere OTHER than next to me, thank you."

---

"OOOW!" Adrenna Lynn cried as she slammed into the thin gym mats on the floor. Across the room, Shego, clad in a black sports bra and sweatpants folded her arms and smirked.

"C'mon, Lynn, get up. You aren't hurt that badly."

"Jeez, Shego, did you have to hit me that hard?" Adrenna whined as she got to her feet.

"Look, cookie, you haven't been up against the V'sori or the Fins one on one yet, and when you do, me or Monty or Dr. D may not be around to save your ass. So, get up."

Adrenna snarled and charged across the gym towards Shego. As she approached, she raised a fist, aiming for Shego's nose. At the last minute, Shego grinned, ducked and executed a foot sweep that caused Adrenna to cry out in surprise and slam flat on her back on the floor.

"Owww." Adrenna moaned. Shego stood over her and frowned.

"You've got potential, I'll give you that. But, you're not faking stunts or threatening lunkhead quarterbacks anymore. You're playing in the big kids' sandbox, and if you can't hold your own, you're gonna get chewed up and spit out. Got it?"

"Yeah...I got it." Adrenna muttered. Shego nodded and held out a hand. Adrenna took it...

And shifted her weight, intending to throw Shego across the room.

Shego didn't budge, but smiled down at Adrenna.

"Basic dirty trick number 32. Nice. There's hope for you after all."

Adrenna returned the smile and used Shego's hand to pull herself up. As she did so, both women heard applause coming from the door.

"A most excellent display, young ladies." Senior said.

"Yeah, she's got a ways to go though." Shego said, grabbing a towel from a nearby bench. "What's up, Pops?"

"I need to ask you both to join the rest of our little band for an emergency meeting. Will twenty minutes be sufficient?"

Shego and Adrenna looked at each other. "Sure." Adrenna answered.

"Yeah, no problem." Shego echoed, "Conference room?"

Senior nodded. "I will see you both there."

As Senior left, the two women headed for the locker room.

"I thought you didn't like him?" Adrenna asked.

"Old Man Senior? He's okay. But whatever he's calling the meeting about, it has to be serious."

"How do you know?"

Shego's brow furrowed. "He didn't waste time with empty complements."

--

The conference lair was dominated by a large oak table, surrounded by plush leather seats. Each place at the table had a laptop computer, while the back wall behind the head of the table was a large video monitor, enabling the chair of the conference to display whatever information they felt was pertinent tot he rest of the room.

The supervillains filed into the room, tension clear from the positions each took in the room. Monkey Fist made a point of sitting as far away from DNAmy as possible, while Dementor and Drakken sat across from each other and glared. The others filled in the rest of the seats as they chose.

After a few moments, Senior entered the room and took his place at the head of the table. he cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Thank you all for coming. I called this meeting because I have recently unearthed some information which will greatly impact our operations, both on our own projects and for the Omega network."

He opened the laptop and tapped a few keys. On the monitor behind him, a display from a very private bank in the Cayman Islands appeared.

"This is the display form one of my accounts in the Caymans. As you can see, it has been frozen. I have also checked several other accounts, as well as my other investments and those too have been frozen." Senior watched as realization dawned on the faces of the other villains at the table.

"Yes, my friends, it would seem that the V'Sori have managed to cut me off from most of my assets. I would submit to you that the same has happened to you. Feel free to use the computers at your seats to check your own accounts. The Internet connection is secure, so you may be assured the V'sori will not be able to find us."

The assembled villains opened the laptops and the conference room was silent for a few moments aside from the clacking of computer keys. Little by little, the clacking eased off.

Drakken broke the silence first. "This is IMPOSSIBLE!"

"Ye can say that again, laddie!" Duff Killigan replied. "They even found my account in Leichtenstein!"

"My trust fund's locked!' Adrenna said. Next to her, Motor Ed looked over at her.

"You have a trust fund?" he adsked. "I thought you had all that TV money, seriously."

"That all went to the damn lawyers." Adrenna muttered.

"I didn't even have all that much and they got it too!" came the voice of Gill, the toxically mutated half fish, half teenager.

"Father?" Senor Senior, Junior asked fearfully. "Did they...?"

"Yes, my son, they found your hair care account."

Junior broke down in a fit of blubbering. Directly opposite him, Monkey Fist made a face and looked at Senior.

"So, I presume this meeting means you have some sort of solution, then?"

Senior nodded. "As you all know, Dr. Destruction has made it clear that we are more than welcome to do as we wish in between the missions that he sends us on. Additionally, since the invasion, the V'sori have largely allowed the infrastructure of the world's economy to stay intact. Therefore, I propose the following..."

He tapped a couple of buttons on the keyboard in front of him and the screen behind him displayed a schematic of First Middleton Bank & Trust.

"A bank job?" Shego said. Senior nodded.

"First Middleton Bank & Trust has become the main financial hub for the Tri-City area." he explained. "It handles all the transactions for the area...including, I might add, the bulk of the salary Warlord Krandar uses to pay their soldiers and the Fin mercenaries on his payroll."

"Exactly how much are we talking about?" Monkey Fist asked.

"A conservative estimate would place the amount of cash available in the vault and with the tellers at approxiamtely between ten and thirteen million dollars." Senior replied.

"Dude, how much does this Krandar guy pay the Fins, seriously?" Motor Ed asked.

"Eddie, please," Drakken said to his cousin before turning his attention to Senior. "While the take is tempting, Senior, there's still the little matter of getting to the money."

"He has a point." Gill replied. "If that's where the V'sori are keeping their money, you bet the security is going to be pretty damn near impeneterable."

"That is exactly the problem. While I do have the schematics for the bank and the vault, they are dated prior to the invasion."

"Which means, we have no clue what the V'sori have installed since they took over." Shego finished. "Are you trying to get us killed, Pops?"

"Quite the contrary, Miss Shego." Senior replied. "I am proposing a reconnaisance mission to determine what we are up against."

"Zis is a good idea, but clearly, ze V'sori would not be so foolish enough to make their new security measures public." Dementor said, thinking. "Unless..."

"Unless what, laddie?" Killigan said, noticing the thoughtful expression on Dementor's face.

"Two heists." Dementor murmured, lost in thought. As he spoke, and the details of the plan began to form in his head, he began speaking louder and more rapidly. "One designed to fail, and while zey deal with zat we get a complete layout not only of ze security, but ze procedures they use when somezing HAPPENS! YES!"

"Um yeah, no offense, Prof," Shego began, "But that plan has a major hole in it."

"Ja? Und what would that be, Fraulein?"

Shego stood up and pointed at the blueprints. "Let's assume that in place of regular $8.50 an hour security guards, Krandar's put in some of his toadies, or more likely, Fins or drones. The entire heist could go bad if they manage to take out the first team. Not only that, if they get ahold of that first team, the rest of us can be damn sure that the V'sori will be knocking down the front doors in pretty damn short order."

"There's a solution for that." Adrenna piped up.

Shego folded her arms and glared. "Yeah, cookie, and what's that?"

"An inside job." Adrenna answered, returning the glare. "We use the first heist to sneak somebody into the vault, or at least the vents or something leading to the vault. They spend the night setting things up so we can get the money out, even if Krandar's goons go all freaky on the second team."

"And just how, pray tell, do you propose we get the money out of the vault if our second team is taken out by the V'sori?" Drakken sneered. "It's not like we're exactly overflowing with henchmen to set up another team."

"We don't need a full team." Adrenna said. She looked over at Gill. "We just need someone in the vault and Fishface over here."

"FISHFACE?!" Gill roared, leaping up onto the table. The other villains scattered. "Eat slime, stunt girl!"

Gill inhaled deeply and spewed forth a wave of toxic mutating sludge. Adrenna let out an "eep" and dodged to the side, letting her chair take the brunt of the blast. Gill leaped into the air and crashed down on top of Adrenna. Adrenna let out a yelp of pain as Gill grabbed her by her neck and held her up like a kitten.

"WHO'S A FISHFACE, NOW? HUH?!" Gill screamed. Adrenna snarled and swung back a foot and brought it right smack in between Gill's legs. Gill's roar of anger turned to one of pain. He let Adrenna go, leting the former TV star get to her feet. She let fly with an uppercut that sent Gill flat on his back onto the table. Gill choked down the pain and started to rise, when he found the gleaming steel tip of Senior's cane at the base of his throat.

"Young man, I would suggest that you remain where you are for the moment." The elderly villain said, his eyes communicating his displeasure. He shifted his gaze to Adrenna, who was being held back from Gill by Motor Ed.

"Now, Miss Lynn, may we please hear the rest of your idea, without the personal attacks, if you please?" Senior finished.

Adrenna glared up at Ed. "Planning on letting me go anytime there soon, Muscles?"

Ed grinned sheepishly and released Adrenna. "Sorry about that, babe, seriously."

Adrenna looked up at him and rolled her eyes. "Freaky." She walked up to the head of the table and clicked through the blueprints. "I noticed this earlier. The vault at the bank is about twenty feet above the sewer system. There's nothing between the vault floor and the sewer except for twenty feet of solid rock. We set--" She shot a dirty look at Gill. "--the guy with the bad attitude up down there, while our guy in the vault spens the night tunnelling down. Then, when the second team hits the bank--"

"Ooooh! I see!" Junior squealed. "Instead of just one team acting as a distraction, BOTH teams act as distractions, allowing the Gill person and whoever is in the vault to make off with the money!"

There was a moment of silence as the villains thought about what Junior had just said.

Shego was the first to speak. "That's not a bad plan."

"It does have merit." Monkey Fist replied.

"Oh yes, just brillaint," Drakken said sarcastically. "There's only the small matter of TWENTY FEET OF SOLID ROCK to get through."

"Oh please," Dementor replied. "You und I both have had lairs carved out of mountainzides! IT IS NOT ZAT BIG OF A DEAL!"

"Actually, there's another problem besides getting through the rock, seriously." Ed said.

"And what would THAT be?" Adrenna said, shooting the dirty look in Ed's direction.

"Whoa! Take it easy, babe. The plan is solid, but we gotta figure out how to get somebody into the vault, seriously."

"That, at least, won't be too terribly difficult." Monkey Fist answered. He turned to the far end of the table, where DNAmy was idly staring off into space. "Dr. Hall?"

"Hmmmm mm mmhmm hm.." DNAmy said, humming along with the music coming from her ear buds, clearly oblivious to the chaos that had been going on in the room. Monkey Fist groaned and smacked a hand to his forehead.

'DOC-TOR-HALL!" he screamed. Amy blinked and took out the ear buds.

"Oh, sorry, I just thought I'd wait until everyone stopped screaming at each other before coming back to the conversation." she said, grinning. Monkey Fist's groan was echoed from around the table.

"Ahem," the monkey martial artist said, regaining his composure. "Dr. Hall, about that Genetic Resequencer of yours..."

"Yeeeeeessss, Montykins?" Amy cooed.

"Montykins?" Drakken hooted, his sides shaking with laughter.

"Ach, she's got ye whipped, laddie!" Killigan echoed, elbowing Monkey Fist in the ribs. Monkey Fist responded by kicking the mad golfers chair out from under him.

"ACH!" Killigan cried as he disappeared under the table.

"As I was saying," Monkey Fist continued. "Dr. Hall, that Instant Genetic Resequencer of yours, would it happen to have a sample of rodent DNA, by any chance?"

---

Krandar was reading reports in his office when the door opened. He didn't bother to look up.

"You are late." he said.

"I was busy." A deep raspy voice replied, mocking the Warlord's tone. Krandar put the report aside and looke dup at the massive, forest green K'tharen that had entered his office.

"We DO have an agreement, Commander K'lutch." he said quietly.

"An agreement," K'lutch replied. "Yes, we have an agreement between our people. Doesn't mean I'm going to kowtow to you."

The two warriors looked at each other, each striving for dominance in the conversation.

K'lutch repulsed Krandar. The K'tharen in general made the Warlord nauseous. The very idea of the V'sori's supereme emperor, the Overmind, capitulating to these...savages made him physically ill. Thousands of races, all across the galaxy. All had fallen before the V'sori war machine. But the K'tharen...

They fought. They slaughtered. They bathed in the blood of the V'sori forces. They barely met the qualifications for intelligent life, and yet these...primitive amphibians had managed to force a truce with the Overmind.

The Overmind promised them the blood and spoils of a thousand worlds if the K'tharen would fight under his banner. The K'tharen readily agreed, wishing to prove their might to a larger universe. And while the conquests came faster andwith more ease than ever before, Krandar felt that the victories had become hollow and meaningless.

Well, that would change once Dr. Drakken was in his hands. And, even though K'lutch was crass and a boor, he was very good at finding people. Krqandar had been taught not to ignore any resource when up against an adversary.

"I have an assignment for you." Krandar stated, not letting his gaze waver from K'lutch's own. "One suited to your...talents."

The Warlord passed a data tablet over to the Commander. The K'tharen took it and used one massive thumbclaw to scroll through the data.

"Who are they?" he asked.

"Supervillains." Krandar responded. "Ones unique to the heroes who used to inhabit this area."

"Supervillains," K'lutch snorted. "A bunch of upstart shaved apes with faulty genetics and idiotic toys. Why, exactly, should I waste my time with these--" K'lutch stopped and held the data pad out to Krandar. "This one is practically ANCIENT." he spat with disgust.

"That is Senor Senior, Senior. And do not let his age fool you. He is highly intelligent for a human, resourceful, posesses remarkable physical prowess for a man of his age, and, until recently, was one of the five wealthiest humans on this mudball."

"Recently?" One of K'lutch's rubbery green brows shifted upward. "What did you do?"

"After extracting some reluctant advice from the leader of one of this planet's former global crimefighting organizations, I have had Mr. Senior's accounts frozen, along with those of the others in that file. We believe they are working with Dr. Destruction and his Omega network."

"And what does this have to do with me?" K'lutch asked. "You know we have standing orders to capture or kill any of these 'supervillains' we run into. You only need me when you...ahhhh." The K'tharen commander's lips curled up in a smile, showing nearly all of his razor edged teeth.

"You want them alive and intact." he finished.

"Only one of them." Krandar replied. "The blue skinned gentleman known as Dr. Drakken. I beleive he is working with the others in that file. I felt you should be informed as to who he is currently in contact with."

"Hrmmm." K'lutch rumbled. He thumbed through the other files. "Ah, now isn't this one the female who escaped form you a few weeks ago?"

"Yes. She is. She is also Dr. Drakken's bodyguard. Do not underestimate her." Krandar said, his voice level. K'lutch grinned again.

"Like you did?" he chortled.

Krandar ignored the jibe. "As I was saying, thanks to the information we extracted from another prisoner, we've managed to freeze the assets of Dr. Drakken and his cohorts."

"And you think this will flush them out of wherever they're hiding." K'lutch said.

"Actually, I KNOW this will flush them out. I've received word from one of our Omega plants that they have informed Dr. Destruction that they will be unavailable for the next two weeks. Odds are they are planning on robbing one of the banks in the area."

"Why not somewhere else?" K'lutch said. "There's plenty of banks on this planet for them to hit."

Krandar smiled. "Because the same Omega plant also managed to report that they entered Middleton early this morning. Now, if you were a supercriminal being hunted by an alien invasion force and suffering financial diffculties..."

K'lutch's grin returned, wider than before, showing even more jagged teeth. "I would hit the bank with the payroll of the invasion forces' soldiers."

Krandar nodded and returned the grin. He pressed a button on his desk and a three dimensonal hologram of a bank appeared above the surface.

"This is the main branch of First Middleton Bank & Trust. We are reasonably certain they plan on 'hitting' it, as you put it, in the next few days."

"Why not take them out beforehand?" K'lutch asked. "Give me a few hours and I'm sure I can find them."

"I would prefer to catch them in the act." Krandar replied. "It will demoralize the other Omega cells that are operating aroud the globe when the news is broadcast, as well as discredit Omega with the rest of the populace."

"Seems a little egotistical to me, but..." K'lutch rose and stretched his mammoth arms out to his sides. "..you ARE in charge. I assume you want this Drakken person alive?"

"Alive and reasonably intact." Krandar said. "At the very least, try to keep his head undamaged. He has information I need."

"And the others?" K'lutch asked.

"See if you can keep a few alive for questioning."

K'lutch smirked and saluted. "As you command, Warlord Krandar." The K'tharen began making his way to the door. As he opened it, Krandar's voice came to him.

"Oh, and Commander K'lutch?"

K'lutch turned his head back to Krandar.

"If you can, please bring the woman called Shego back as well." Krandar finsihed. "She and I have some...unfinished business."

K'lutch chortled through the gill slits on his neck. "I'll see what I can do."

Krandar nodded and returned to the reports. K'lutch left the office and began making his way to the entrance of the base. As he did so, he brought the datapad up and flipped through the images loaded onto it. He stopped when the image of a young blond woman with short hair cut in a flip style appeared. He grinned again.

"Hope you don't mind if I have a little fun with one of these other 'supertwerps,' Krandar."

K'lutch refrained from laughing out loud, but he sniggered all his way to the exit.