A/N: Holy crap, I'm alive! Yes, after god-knows-how-long (seriously, I can't even remember), I return! Been reading a lot of fanfiction lately and hit on inspiration to start this baby back up!

Chapter 9:

Hope

As a blue man who had at one time been sucked into a television and another time gotten into a fight with killer snowmen straight out of Calvin and Hobbes, Drew "Drakken" Lipsky thought that he had already experienced the most bizarre events of his life.

He had to amend that particular presumption.

There he sat, in his mother's den, drinking an admittedly very good orange-mint tea whilst seated across from Paradigm and Shego, who'd introduced herself as Persephone. Paradigm had removed his mask, and Drakken was struck by how utterly average the man looked. His dark brown, short-cropped hair was nevertheless shaggy and was sure to end up a mess of epic proportions were he to let it grow out. His eyes were the muted blue of acid-washed jeans. His face, while decently handsome, was in no way stunning nor model-like. His nose was narrow, lips thin, chin slightly pointed. And he was currently taking delicate sips from Mrs. Lipsky's tiny china tea set.

"This is very good tea, Mrs. Lipsky," he said, actions greatly subdued now that he didn't have to act through a mask.

"Oh please, dear, call me Maureen. And your name was Trent, right?" she looked a little embarrassed and adjusted her glasses, red hair bobbing as she giggled in an attempt to diffuse what she thought was tension caused by her forgetfulness. "I'm so sorry, sweetie. I'm terrible with names."

He smiled and nodded. "That's right, Maureen. And please, don't trouble yourself. It's more than enough that you invited us in and gave us tea." He set down his now empty glass and gingerly motioned that he was finished before folding his hands in his lap. "Now then, we do have some business we'd like to discuss with Drew, if that's alright."

Maureen eagerly nodded. "Oh, of course! I'll just clean up–"

Shego cut her off. "Oh please, Maureen. Don't bother," she smiled at the elderly woman. "It's not like Drew has any big secrets to hide."

At this, Drakken turned an interesting shade of violet, flushed with embarrassment, guilt and nervousness. Before he could speak up again, Shego interjected. "First things first: the Li'l Diablo scheme." The scarred man's eyes shot to his mother who was, oddly enough, not reacting in the slightest.

Maureen caught him staring and just gave him a gentle smile. "Oh please, Drewbie. Did you really think I was so dotty that I wouldn't realize you and Eddie weren't up to strictly legal things?" His jaw must have been on the floor at this point. "I thought it was so sweet of you to try hiding it from me, sparing me the worry. I have eyes, though, and I do get the local news. Doctor Drakken and Motor Ed, aka Andrew and Edward Lipsky..." Maureen sighed and sank into her chair. "You get it from my mother, I'm sure of it. She was always sure she'd change the world, but just couldn't do anything helpful." Maureen leaned forward again and rested her hand on top of Drew's. "Drewbie, you're a smart boy, and you care about me enough to know I wouldn't approve. Why are you a criminal? You could make such a difference in the world with your inventions."

That finally got Drakken to speak again. "Mother, the world doesn't want my help! They laugh me away and refuse my inventions, calling me an idiot! I tried to help people but was turned away at every opportunity! If I can't fix the world with my inventions, then I'll use them to change it!" By this point he'd leapt to his feet and was seconds away from an evil laugh.

"By building machines to kill people?" His mother's sad, matter-of-fact tone cut through his monologuing. He looked around the table to see three disappointed faces staring back at him. "N...nothing else was working," he tried to defend, though it sounded half-hearted even to his ears.

"People will never accept you if you just use force and killing to get your way. You'll only end up with no friends and countless enemies, Drewbie." At this point his mother had toddled over to him and was holding his hand. "You can't keep doing this."

Shego stood as well, walking a little closer but remaining out of reach. "You betrayed my trust, Drew. Twice. You broke your promise to me." She locked eyes with him, emerald meeting onyx. "I'm the first friend you lost with this latest plot." And with that, she turned to leave.

Before he knew what he was doing, he'd already thrown out an arm. "Shego, wait!" His voice cracked. "I...I'm sorry. Please, what can I do to make it up to you?" He let his arm drop. "I know I don't deserve your forgiveness; I'm not even really asking for it. But, but I do think of you as family. I screwed up, but I can't lose you." He could feel the presence of Paradigm now, looming over his shoulder.

Shego turned around. "Alright, y'know what? I can think of a few things." She held up a hand, fingers outstretched. "First," she ignited her index fingertip, "no more killing. Anything more dangerous than a weather machine, I'm hogtying you and leaving you to Global Justice. Second," the middle finger now, "no mind control or cloning. Because ew. Third," the ring, "show me and Trent your backlog of inventions. Maybe we can come up with something to change the world or, possibly, help people and get you accepted. Finally," her pinky joined the other three, "Trent and I are working on a new plan, something that will most definitely change the world. You're going to help us with this."

As Shego extinguished her fingers, Paradigm spoke up. "Get this clear, though: Persephone and I are in charge. You start acting like you're the boss, we're back to the hogtying. Got it?" he bit out the last question.

Drakken could only nod. "Thank you. And for what it's worth, She-, um, Persephone, I really am sorry. I got so obsessed with beating Kim Possible..."

Paradigm chuckled from behind him. "I understand obsession, Doc. Seph, you want to brief him while I help Maureen clean up?"

– – – – –

Ron woke up shivering. It felt like his bones were on fire and his skin was freezing. His head throbbed like an enormous subwoofer was pumping out bad dubstep through his cerebrum. And...he was naked, save for a heavy sheet over his body.

Despite being already covered, Ron still yelped and shot a hand down between his legs in an attempt to hide himself. A noise from his left made him look over to see Yori lying on a sleeping mat just a few feet away, eyes fluttering open from his shriek. "Mmf? Oh, good morning, Stoppable-san. Are you feeling better?"

"Why am I naked?" Not for the first time, Ron cursed his lack of an internal filter in the early morning. He would have liked to have said hello, asked what she was doing there, where he was, but sadly... "And where's Rufus!?" That was what he'd forgotten. How could he have forgotten his little buddy?

Yori giggled, giving Ron a smile that he recognized from Kim's own face. "Your little naked rat is fine, Stoppable-san." She rolled onto her side, supporting her head with one hand. "He was a little injured when you fell, so we nursed him back to health. I am sure he is happily being fawned over by the younger students. The more important question is, how are you?"

At that question, the pain seemed to redouble in intensity. "I feel worse than when I was in the hospital after that guy beat me and KP up." He shifted around, careful to keep the sheet up to his neck. "How long have I been out?"

"A little over a day. Master Sensei determined that I was unprepared for the vision, especially since he was assigning me to care for you." She edged closer. "What did you see?"

The blond grabbed his head and groaned, as if the very act of remembering was painful. "It...it was a nightmare. Armageddon. A huge, ragged monster with red eyes was destroying, well, everything." He spoke in a near-monotone, eyes staring into infinity as if in a trance. "And everything it broke got sucked into it, making it bigger and stronger. People, buildings, everything... Then it looked right at me, and its eyes glowed green before I, I started to burn alive." He startled, realizing that Yori was sitting behind him, holding him tight. And that he was shaking like a leaf.

"Master Sensei has determined that this vision is of the greatest threat Yamanouchi may ever face, greater even than the legendary spirit of destruction, the Yono." Yori ran her fingers through his hair. "He has determined that your training must be accelerated. I am to be your senpai, to help ensure that the magics do not overwhelm you." She lowered her voice. "Stopp... Ron-kun, I will be there for you."

– – – – –

"What do you mean, there's been no sign? A town was melted, Kim Possible's father taken hostage, and now there's nothing? How does a living H-bomb just vanish!?" Elizabeth Director barely resisted throwing the nearest thing in reach, her coffee mug.

The intelligence agent, a pretty young auburn-haired woman named Carter, barely flinched as Dr. Director pretty much pitched a fit in front of her. "We don't know, ma'am, but the fact is she's gone, as is Paradigm. They haven't been sighted in nearly a week. As for other villains," she tapped the collection of folders on Director's desk to straighten them, "Fiske has apparently commissioned Amy Hall to genetically enhance his monkey ninja; Killigan has been helping with the Myanmar relief effort, oddly enough, because the government has promised to build a new golf course in exchange for his technical knowhow. Um... Lurman, better known as Frugal Lucre, is actually using Kickstarter for his later villainous scheme..."

Director cut her off. "Carter, except for Fiske and Hall working together, these are all below-Z-list villains. What about the bigger fish?"

The agent shrugged and set down the folders. "No clue. Villains all across the globe have been going dark. It started with the Seniors, then Brotherson, then the Mathter of all things."

Betty quirked a brow. "The old numbers-themed enemy of Team Go? The hell would anyone want that imbecile for?"

"I couldn't say, ma'am. But Brotherson going to ground means one of two things."

GJ's leader finished the thought for her: "Either someone's offing the villains and he's hiding for his own safety...or there's a scheme so big that he's fine with shutting down his network to get in on it."

"And the last time that happened..." Carter continued.

Betty nodded. "...Was the Li'l Diablos."