Mr. Dr. Possible had added Kim to the space center's security systems after Motor Ed and Shego had stolen the original Kepler. Kim and Shego shared a half-hearted glare, silent consent not to mention that particular incident which had proven embarrassing for both of them, as they and Ron crossed the same control room in which the confrontation had occurred. The spacesuits were in a room on the far side.

The argument began as soon as they discovered there were only two suits.

"You really want to risk his buffoonery triggering the mushroom cloud, princess?" Shego huffed, a thumb jerking in Ron's direction as the boy took a closer look at the objects of the dispute. "Besides, I've got a score to settle with that cancer factory since I'm the one it crapped up."

"Language! And Ron has always had my back when it mattered!"

"It's what people who work with radiation call it, Possible!"

"Uh, guys?" Ron tried to interject.

His girlfriend ignored him. "That doesn't mean you have to call it that! And why do you even know that in the first place?"

"Cancer cells are green," the villainess snarled. "When the scientists came to check out the comet strike kids, what do you think their first thought was when they saw the green girl?"

Kim blinked, realising that Shego's issues on the subject were much more than a day old. "Well, how was I supposed to know? It's not like you've ever shared your past much, even when we were helping your brothers."

"My past is none of your business anyway, Possible. Whatever Hego told you-"

"The more you fought evil, the more you liked it?"

"Hah!"

The redhead's frown deepened. "Seems pretty accurate to me."

Ron sighed, holding up a suit by the collar in each hand and waving them slightly. "Guys..."

"Consider the source, princess. You spent enough time with Hego before coming to get me, you know how skewed his world view was!"

"Better his skewed world than yours!"

"I see the world for what it is! Not what anyone else thinks it should be!"

"Oh come on!" Ron yelled suddenly, eyes shut and face raised to the ceiling in frustration. "Can we not do the thing where you ignore me until you both yell at me in stereo?"

It took the intake of his next breath to realise he had said it aloud, and half-cringed while opening a wary eye. The girls were both frowning at him, but otherwise... he straightened up and cleared his throat. "Kim," the blond raised one of the suits he was holding by the collar. "This is the smaller one, and it's still too big for you. So there's no point arguing; I'll have to wear it, which means Shego gets the other one."

"I'm going in with the sidekick?" the villainess complained. "A sidekick who's only power is dumb freaking luck?"

"Don't diss the Ron factor! Besides, that's not my only power..." Ron said before his brain caught up with his big mouth and pointed out that he probably shouldn't bring up mystical monkey power around the only bad guy - girl - he knew who could outfight Monkey Fist.

"Spare me your positive thinking," Shego said with a dismissive wave, surprising both teens with her memory of their brief collaboration to return Team Go's powers. "And randomly losing your pants isn't a power, either. Unless..." Shego cocked an eyebrow at Kim.

"What?" The redhead asked, oblivious.

"Myeah, not a skill. You two hooking up makes no sense to me." Shego snatched the larger spacesuit from Ron, causing him to flinch dramatically. "Turn around and close your eyes, cuz I'm not wearing the sweater under this thing." She was already stepping out of the high heels as the boy's eyes widened at the implication, then quickly did as ordered before he suffered any punishment for being too slow.

Kim blinked as the green girl moved to drape the spacesuit over the nearest chair. "What about me?" she asked, her frustration with Shego suddenly twisting into nervousness.

"What about you? You do the locker room thing on a regular basis, with your stupid group acrobatics in short skirts, so it's nothing you haven't seen before. Besides, you seemed to like my body just fine this morning."

Ron's ears pricked up at that - an automatic reaction due to the context - before deciding he should probably busy himself with getting into his own spacesuit before he did anything he would regret. He fished a sleepy Rufus out of the usual pocket before starting to undress.

The cheerleader quickly averted her eyes as her mother's sweater came off the green woman, and tried not to stammer her response. "I told you that was an accident... Shego, if we're not fighting each other today, let's not argue. Can't you just, I dunno, drop the snark? Just for today? For..."

"For what? My brothers? They're dead, princess. They don't give a damn."

Kim frowned at that; she should have known her nemesis had such a bleak view of death. "What, then? After today, you go back to Drakken and it's business as usual?"

"Dr. D is too much of a sap to try and take over the world right now," Shego grumbled, idly wondering if anyone else was coming up with plans that might require an independent contractor.

"...You really don't care that millions of people just died, do you."

"I like the chaos, but otherwise I don't give a damn one way or another. It's usually only mother nature that can rack up such a high body count in so short a time, though. And you were right, what you said earlier, there's no one to blame. It was going to happen eventually. This isn't man-made, like a nuke, or..."

"Little diablos?" Kim finished for her in an angry tone.

Now in the spacesuit (save the helmet), Shego turned to the redhead with a sour smirk on her lips. "Careful there, Kimmie. Sounds like you're about to start arguing again." Glancing over to see the sidekick still struggling to get his scrawny backside into his suit, she added, "I'll wait for you in the car."

"It's locked."

"At the car, then, whatever." The villainess stalked off without further comment, helmet under one arm. Kim considered following, her instincts telling her not to let the woman out of her sight - or anywhere near the Sloth unsupervised - but instead simply picked up her mother's discarded sweater and shoes.

Waiting silently for Ron to finish getting into his spacesuit, Kim considered Shego's opinion of her relationship with the boy. None of their usual villains seemed to take the fact that they were dating seriously, along with Bonnie and a few other members of their senior class. As for Shego herself, things had never been the same since the diablo fiasco. Colder. Tricking Warmonga into leaving Earth was the only time the villainess had used one of the old nicknames, and it had not been until then that Kim realised she had actually missed them.

Of course, recent events had turned everything upside-down. Shego had been sick and greiving, and now she was apparently trying to make up for her softer behaviour. It was... disappointing, the redhead decided.

"Whadaya think, Rufus?" Ron asked as he twisted and turned, giving the naked mole rat a full view of the suit he had just finished cinching up. The rodent scrutinized everything before offering a thumbs-up gesture and a toothy grin. His owner picked up the helmet and held it upside-down for his pet to jump into. "So what's so special about these suits, anyway?" he asked Kim as they headed back the way they had come.

Kim shrugged. "Wade can brief us on the way."

What they had all thought were oxygen tanks turned out to be folding hydrazine-propelled jetpacks, according to the teen genius. The oxygen supply was threaded throughout the suit, which included tech from the Centurion Project. Any punctures or ruptures would be sealed almost immediately, minimizing atmosphere and pressure loss.

"Same stuff as your supersuit, then," Shego supposed, eyeing the skintight outfit with pointless glowing blue stripes that the teen hero had been planning to wear under the spacesuit.

"Battlesuit," Kim corrected, "Though it's useful in sitches other than fighting you."

"But fighting me is what it was made for, wasn't it, nerdlinger?" the villainess asked the screen in the dashboard.

Wade gulped convulsively before hazarding a diplomatic answer. "Just trying to level the playing field, Shego. You've had an unfair advantage for years."

"And Kimmie survived regardless. Seemed pretty balanced to me, before you forced me to up my game."

"Aw, what's the matter, Sheegs?" Kim teased. "Afraid you'll have to put more effort into getting your biscuit whipped?"

"Biscuit?" the green girl repeated with a mocking smirk. "Just how long have you had this 'eating Shego's ass' fantasy?"

"What? No! I've been calling it that since way before I even met you!"

"It's true," Ron confirmed from the back seat.

"Shut it, doofus. You know you'd watch if we let you."

Kim glanced in the rear view mirror when her boyfriend failed to refute Shego's statement, and saw him nervously rubbing the back of his neck as he looked out a window. "Ron!"

The hormonally-overcharged teenager didn't sound as apologetic as he could have. "Sorry KP, but watching two gorgeous girls do the dirty would be totally hot."

Shego rolled her eyes, ignoring the part of her that appreciated the compliment. "My point is, didn't you ever notice me dialling back the glow, the more we fought?"

Kim thought about it for a long, quiet moment. "I guess," she finally conceded, "And there were times you didn't light up right away, like in the early days."

"Exactly. You're the only enemy worth my time, cupcake. I've said it before and I'll say it again, no one gets to destroy you but me. Not Drakken or Dementor, not Motor Ed or Monkey Fist, and certainly not some she-thing from outer space. Me."

"That sounds a little... obsessive," Wade opined, being the only one safe from immediate harm for voicing what everyone else was thinking.

"Yeah, well, Miss Priss is the only decent competition I've had in years."

Kim couldn't stop the grin spreading across her face. "I guess that's true... so I was right, it's the only reason you've never gotten around to finishing me off."

Admitting the do-gooder was right twice in one day was beyond Shego, so she changed the subject. "How about you tell us what's up with where we're going, nerdlinger."

Wade blinked at her abruptness, then shrugged and started calling up plans of the nuclear power station. The rest of the flight was spent comparing that with the latest satellite imagery and going through the most probable scenarios resulting from the earthquake. Kim kept an ear open as she focused on her flying, letting Shego take charge of the discussion.

"Sounds like the best bet is to tunnel straight down next to where the reactor is now," the villainess eventually decided, "And take it from there."

"Can you do that?" Kim asked. "I mean, your glow won't cause any wierd reactions with the radiation in there?"

"It hasn't yet."

"You'd better be careful in any case," Wade warned. "Remember, this place was being used for medical research, not power, and I haven't found any info on what they were actually doing there. Kim, you'll be landing where the company set up their emergency outpost; Ron and Shego can fly in from there."

"Just keep the buffoonery to a minimum, sidekick," Shego huffed.

Kim had to land on the flattest stretch of available ground, since there wasn't an intact length of asphalt remaining to act as a landing strip. The outpost was little more than a large tent full of technical equipment, populated by men in lab coats and suits. Ron was ready to go before Shego, who had to tuck all her hair in before she could lock her helmet into place; Kim helped, without comment from either of them. Ron took the opportunity to test the jetpack, managing to hover for a few seconds before dropping again. The controls were twitchier than he was used to, but there was enough force for flight in Earth's gravity.

Once the villainess had her helmet secured, Kim was forced to watch as her boyfriend and archfoe took off in the direction of the ruined station. Once they were out of sight, she headed over to the tent as Wade set up communications between the four of them.

"I'm recognising a few surface features," Shego was saying, "But you better let me know when we're directly over the target site."

"You're not far now," the young genius replied. "Head right fifteen degrees and continue on for about a hundred feet." He watched the pair of blips on his screen and was impressed by how accurately Shego altered course. "Okay, almost there. Get ready to hover when I give the word, and then we'll fine-tune your position.

It only took another minute for Shego and Ron to touch down on the bullseye, the former checking the display on her sleeve while the latter looked at the rubble around them. The suit was registering the increased radiation, but it hadn't raised any alarms yet.

The boy's voice was subdued when he asked, "I suppose it's like this up and down the state, huh."

Shego nodded. "Or worse. And this is just one little reactor. Think about all those active power stations that fell into the ocean with the old coast."

"Oh, man," Ron grimaced. "How bad d'ya think it is?"

"With the tsunami... hell if I know."

"Guys," Kim's voice interrupted, "Judging by how the building has sunk, the engineers here aren't sure if the reactor is where it should be in relation to what we can see from the surface."

"So if we drill straight down, we might end up right on top of it?" her boyfriend clarified.

"Exactly."

"Evil's easier," Shego muttered, before continuing in a clear voice. "They got any seismic doohickies in the ground?"

"Around the perimeter of the contaminated zone, yeah," Kim answered after a moment of half-heard conversation.

"All plugged into a single machine?"

"...Yeah."

"Then hook your watch up to it, so your nerd and I can paint a picture of what's down there."

"I get it," Wade said enthusiastically, already typing up a frenzy. "You hop around sending weak concussive blasts through the rubble and I can render a 3D image of the results."

"Woah, wait!" Ron cried as Shego knelt and placed both palms flat against the broken slab of concrete she was standing on. "Won't that make things worse?"

The villainess shrugged as the glow flared to life around her hands. "Maybe. You ready, genius?"

"Almost... okay, give it a try."

"Keep an eye on the radiation levels, sidekick," Shego said before focusing on what was underneath her and letting off the lightest, widest blast she was capable of into the rubble. The concussive force was enough to make the smallest stones shift, but otherwise there was no further effect. After a moment, Ron relaxed with an audible sigh of relief.

"It's packed pretty solid from what I can see," Wade informed everyone. "Think you can go deeper?"

Shego sent a stronger, more directed pulse through the debris, cracking the slab and causing the ground to shudder in a manner more akin to an aftershock than a collapsing wall.

"Conical. Nice... it looks like the reactor isn't anywhere beneath you for at least twenty feet. It's definitely not where they expected it to be."

"Grid search?" Kim suggested.

"Yeah," Shego agreed, counting her steps as she walked forward before kneeling back down and sending another pulse through the ruin, then working in a clockwise direction around the starting point that Ron was now standing on. Nine points later, the green girl had come full square with no result and was forced to expand the search, but it took only three more pulses for the scientists and engineers to recognise enough of the facility to make an educated guess.

"Okay," Wade eventually said, "Everyone's agreed that you're standing on the right spot now. Straight down."

The villainess only grunted in response as she punched through the solid chunk of rubble in front of her, blasting pieces in all directions. Dismissing her power, she relied on her unnatural strength to pick up and throw the larger pieces of debris while the boy came over to help with the smaller pieces.

As Ron worked, he was increasingly getting the impressions that he was quite useless for this part of the mission compared to Shego, but at least she wasn't griping at him about it. He thought back to his fight with the Yamanouchi ninja that had chosen to serve Monkey Fist and the brief flow of power he had experienced that quickly finished the confrontation.

Perhaps it was dangerous, but if the reactor was as far down as they had said... that mystical monkey powered foot stomp had travelled along the surface and cracked an overhanging array of hanging icicles, resulting in an unconventional prison for the wayward ninja. Deciding to give it a go, he did his best monkey impression before slamming a boot onto the debris.

Nothing happened.

"What the heck are you doing, sidekick?" Shego asked, as she paused to scrutinize the blond.

"Oh, nothing," Ron sighed, "Just trying to get all monkey kung fu on this rubble."

"That's based on chopping wood with your bare hands, not cracking stone with your feet."

"Really?"

"...Ugh. For a moment, I had a glimmer of hope for you." The villainess went back to work, leaving Ron to ponder her comment.

"How about I just get back to the smaller bits while you deal with the big stuff."

"If you can handle it," Shego muttered. All his panicked running around lairs in the last few years may have given him decent legs, but his arms still looked like noodles. "Don't forget to lift with your back, monkey boy, or you might sprain something important. Kim would have to live without your 'tender ministrations' for a while."

To her surprise, Ron did not respond to the sneer she put into the metaphor, clamping his jaw shut and getting to work.

Not far away, Kim was blushing as she sat in the Sloth with one leg out of the open door, watching their progress on the dashboard monitor which displayed a live satellite feed. Her boyfriend's silence made her think twice about berating the antagonistic woman; in fact, the more she thought about Shego, the more she wanted to talk to her privately. After a moment, she realised there was a way to do that right now. She tapped out a message on her wrist kimmunicator, watched Wade's eyebrows rise as he read the request, but he fulfilled it without question.

"Shego, this is a private channel. Just the two of us."

"Why?" the villainess grunted.

"I want to talk... clear a few things up, maybe."

On screen, the image of Shego let off another blast of green energy into the fledgling shaft, causing Ron to yelp and cower. "I'm kinda busy."

"You can multitask."

"...Fine."

The teenager struggled to begin. "Things haven't been the same between us since your last stint in prison."

"Very observant."

"Bueno Nacho... the roof... I'm sorry for what I said. What I did. I mean, we both... but I don't expect an apology from you, or anything..." A sigh. "My point is, we've never really hurt each other like that before, have we?"

"Guess not," the green girl admitted, wondering if Kim was referring to what had been said, or what had been done. The kick to the chest and the electrocution had been pretty bad, and she'd never walked away from a fight with the girl as bloody as she had after the transmission tower had collapsed; but in retrospect, the hate was worse. "You got your first taste of being evil that night," Shego eventually added.

"I didn't realise how wrong it was until I really thought about it," Kim told her. "We'd gone to the prom, then home to bed... Ron called in the middle of the night after dreaming that I was a synthodrone... and I couldn't get back to sleep, after. Everything kinda caught up with me. In that moment, I really did hate you - you and Drakken had gotten ferociously personal, and I would have given up if not for Ron - but I didn't have to kick you into that tower to stop you, just..."

"Fight," Shego finished, "For my freedom. That's what I was expecting, but you..."

Kim swallowed. "I'd finally beaten you, completely, totally and utterly. But it was revenge, not justice. And maybe what bothers you most is that I went right back to being a goody two-shoes after that night - maybe like it bugs me that you didn't stay down after all, in the long run - but for whatever it's worth, I'm sorry Shego. Even if we go back to being enemies after this... I just... I wish it could be how it was before."

Shego huffed, and the redhead could hear the slab of concrete land wherever the superpowered woman had thrown it; but if Shego had a response in mind, it was interrupted by a sudden, steady beeping. "What's that?" Kim asked.

The villainess checked the readout on her forearm, confirming her suspicion. "Radiation spike. We're close."