14. Astronica Ascendant

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The silvery figure stepped into the foyer of Go Tower, causing the dust and smoke from the wrecked entrance to swirl around her legs. She was tall, almost six feet standing, with a long pony tail of blonde hair with a streak of pink through it. What little skin was exposed was tanned, almost orange, and faintly rippled as her muscles seemed to be undulating underneath her flesh. Most of body, however, was covered in a silver-gray – metal, presumably – exposing only her midriff and from her neck to the top of her head. Over her eyes and nose was a V-shaped black piece of glossy material, probably glass, almost like a pair of visor sunglasses only with no contours for the nose. Instead it was smooth and angled down like an arrow pointed at her mouth.

Shego stared, stunned at the change. Cold Stare looked familiar to her when she saw him, the changes mostly internal. Hego had said Hellpike looked even more like he used to, mostly only differing in the power of his weapon and the sudden ability to generate fire. But the woman before her, Astronica, was almost entirely another person. The Astronica Shego knew dressed like a bikini-model and had very bulky machinery on her arms and legs. This woman, however, appeared like she’d been dipped in mercury, if not for the small obvious seams at the joints.

Shego looked to Hego to see his reaction but by the time she turned her head, her brother was already moving.

Hego leapt from Shelly’s side by the monitor and was lunging at the intruder. His arms extended out like a tackle, aiming for her exposed abdomen. Astronica didn’t appear to flinch in the slightest as she took the hit and folded like rag doll. The force of the momentum took the two of them back out the doorway, rolling outside of the tower and out of view.

Shego didn’t hesitated, and leapt from the stairs leading up down to the floor beside Shelly. She grabbed her arm and pulled urgently. “Come on!” Shego yelled. She tugged a little harder. “While she’s distracted!”

Shelly got to her feet at the third tug and stumbled along with Shego as they headed for the stairs.

“But, Hego—“

“Now!”

Shego pulled her up the stairs. She could hear what sounded like someone banging their fist against the outside of a metal barrel, a deep echoing sound that she hoped was Hego’s fist against Astronica’s body. A deep pang of concern twisted her stomach because it could also be the sound of Astronica slamming Hego against the metal tetrapods along the shore. They all needed to get out there and support him as soon as possible.

They reached the residential floor and Shego pushed Shelly to the left while she headed right.

“Get Mego!” Shego said. “I’ll get the twins.”

“Right!” Shelly called out but Shego had already turned away. There was no time to wait for acknowledgement. Hego was likely getting a beating out there.

Shego reached the room to the Wegos and nearly tore open the door herself. “Wego!” she called out.

The scene in the bedroom was surreal. There were probably half a dozen Wegos in the room, running around like crazy. Most of them were dressed in pajamas, but two were being quickly shoved into their Team Go uniform by the other four.

Shego had never seen such a stark contrast between copies of Wego before and it slightly unnerved her. Which ones were the real ones? The two Wegos in uniform? One of the Wegos in uniform and one of the undressed ones? For a second she forgot about the fight outside and boggled.

But only for a second.

“Come on! Astronica’s outside!” Shego pointed out the doorway.

The Wegos froze at Shego’s words and immediately afterwards all the Wegos in pajamas vanished into the two uniformed ones.

“Astronica?” asked one Wego.

“Is she...?” started the other.

“Yeah,” nodded Shego. “Hego’s out there fighting her now. We need to support him.”

“We figured the shaking had something to do with an attack,” said the first Wego.

“Good thing we took time to develop a strategy against her yesterday,” said the second.

“Yeah, well,” Shego shook her head. “I doubt you accounted for her looking like the damn Terminator.”

The Wego’s both gripped their chins in contemplation. “The T-800 or the T-1000?” they asked in unison.

“Or the T-X?” one of the Wegos added immediately afterwards.

Shego frowned and her jaw dropped. “Which one is which?”

“The T-800 was in all three films,” said one Wego.

“The T-1000 was portrayed by Agent Doggett from X-Files,” said the other.

“Actually, the Agent Doggett was portrayed by the T-1000, since Terminator 2 came first,” corrected the first Wego.

“Right,” he nodded. “And the T-X was the chick.”

“Who played Painkiller Jane,” added the first Wego. “And Paige in The L Word.”

Shego’s eyes nearly crossed. “You watch the L— What the hell are you two talking about? Get out there or Hego is gonna be dead!” Shego stomped her foot angrily for emphasis.

The twins jerked to attention then quickly ran past Shego out the door. Shego followed them out onto the catwalk then turned to dash to her room.

She didn’t have the luxury of being able to split into six versions of herself to save time getting dressed, but she swapped her clothes as quickly as she could. The black sweats and tank top were exchanged for her stretchy uniform and she was already running out of her room before she finished pulling up her pants.

She ran into Shelly and Mego on the stairs heading back down to the first floor. They were both dressed in their uniforms, Shelly’s still a simple duplicate of Shego’s own. They were going to have to find some way to differentiate themselves at some point.

“Astronica?” asked Mego as they ran.

“Seems that way.” Shego took the stairs two at a time.

“Shels said she doesn’t look at all—“

“Yes, that’s right,” Shego interrupted. “That’s why I’m worried about Hego. More different has meant more powerful so far.”

Mego said nothing in reply and Shego didn’t bother to look back.

They reached the main floor and saw the storm outside had blown in a find dusting of snow trailing from the front door. The trail from about a dozen people looked to have walked across it, meaning the Wegos had gone outside already. The sounds of shouts and some sickly gasps came from outside in frequent bursts.

Shego ran for the door without stopping and thrust herself into the code night. She storm was not as bad as it had been earlier in the night but it was still stinging her exposed skin with its icy touch. The trail of footprints dispersed quickly but Shego could see the cluster of Wegos flinging themselves selflessly at Astronica while Hego struggled to his feet nearby. They were close enough to the shore now that an erstwhile hit from Astronica sent a Wego sailing into the bay. The lone Wego struggled for a moment before vanishing in a burst of red light that trailed back to the group.

Shego started to run again. She could see how badly things were going even from their distance. Astronica was still swinging quickly and with strength but Hego was having trouble getting from one knee back to his feet and the Wegos were quickly diminishing in number. Wesley and Wilbur would feel some of the pain from each of copies when the energy returned to them, which meant that the battle-by-swarm tactic could not be sustained for very long. They were buying time for Hego and the rest of the team with their bodies.

Before Shego could reach the battle, Hego pushed himself back to his feet and turned back towards Astronica. He planted his feet then lunged again, flying high at the enemy’s head. With Wegos clinging to her limbs, she was unable to get her arms up in time to defend. Hego grabbed her by the head, flung his feet up and over her body, then used the momentum to roll her over his shoulder and fling her down the coastline. Wegos dropped from the metal body as it flew and eventually collided into the tetrapods, becoming lodged between two of the beach caltrops and crumbling into their shadows.

Hego was breathing heavily when Shego got to him. “Hego!” she called as she reached out.

As her hands touched him, Hego began to fall to his knees. Shego quickly grabbed him under his shoulder to keep him upright. Her brother sputtered several times, coughing up a few gobs of blood.

“Take it easy,” Shego consoled him. Hego wasn’t light and she was having trouble keeping him entirely upright. She looked back to see if Mego or Shelly could help.

Her teammates were with the Wegos, who now looked to be almost in bad shape as Hego. The red-uniformed twins were breathing heavily and looked brused and battered, but were at least standing upright. Shelly and Mego were beside them, talking too quietly to hear over the wind of the storm.

“Let’s get them inside!” Shego motioned with her head back towards the tower. Door or no door, it did them no good to be in the freezing cold.

A large hand landed on Shego shoulder and she jerked her head to see the source. Hego was pulling on her uniform to get her attention. His teeth were gritted and his face caught in a tight mask of anger.

“Hego-“

“She’s not done yet,” Hego grunted. His eyes slowly moved to where Astronica went flying. The darkness hid most of the detail of the tetrapods, making it impossible to see exactly where she landed.

“You skipped her like a stone across the beachhead, she’s done,” said Shego. She nodded firmly.

Hego shook his head again. “Her skin is like steel. The Wegos and I weren’t doing a thing to her. She’ll be back.”

Shego looked up again to scan the darkness. She couldn’t see anything. “What does she want?”

Hego sighed. He pulled on Shego again and moved his feet to try standing on his own. He coughed several times for the effort. “She didn’t say. Hasn’t said anything yet.” He checked his feet twice before pushing away from Shego. “Get ready.”

“I don’t see any...” Shego started, but then trailed off when she heard the groan of twisting metal. She tried again to find definition in the darkness, but her night vision kept being defeated by the flood lamps over the doorway into Go Tower. Not wanting to take any risks, she lit up her hands in green fire.

There was another sound of twisting metal and then suddenly something big a black flew into the light coming directly at Shego and Hego. Hego acted immediately and stepped in front of Shego with his arms wide. The black object struck him squarely and he wrapped his arms around it to hold it tight. Hego grunted loudly.

The black object was a tetrapod, Shego realized quickly, thrown with incredible force given the size of Astronica. Hego slowly turned and dropped the metal construct that looked like a ten foot tall jackstone.

The rest of Team Go came up behind Shego and Hego and stood beside them. The Wegos still looked dead tired but they stared into the darkness with determination. Shelly and Mego stood to the right of Shego and shared a brief glance of concern with her.

The soft crushing sound of snow alerted them all to Astronica’s approach. She was walking slowly towards them just at the edge of the light. She hardly looked damaged at all, the only sign of the last ten minutes of combat being a small crack on the left side of her black visor. As she walked, she cocked her head to the side then cracked the bones in her neck.

“Definitely the T-X,” breathed one of the Wegos.

Shego increased the intensity of the fire between her palms and planted her feet. “Any advice?” she asked, refusing to break her stare with the approaching menace.

“I don’t see any easy openings,” said Hego. “But we can try the tactic we developed.”

“Not in this weather we can’t,” said Mego. He shook his head. “The wind would take me out to sea.”

Hego flexed his fingers. “Then I’ll get up close to her again.”

“The hell you are,” snapped Shego. “She’s likely to separate your head from your body.”

“She already tried.” Hego shook his head. “You have a better plan?”

“How about I try turning up the heat and see if she melts as easily as Cold Stare?” said Shego. She didn’t actually want to have to do anything like that again. It still unsettled her that she was forced to take a life in such a visceral manner, but if it was choice between letting her brothers die or killing again, well, she’d suffer through it once more.

“If we can’t overpower her, then perhaps we should use her strength against her,” suggested Shelly. “She must weigh an awful lot with all that metal.”

Mego grimaced slightly. “I suppose I could trip her a bit, but I don’t know how it’ll help.”

“She probably can’t swim,” offered Wego. “We could throw her out into the bay. She might drown.”

Hego shook his head. “She was soaked when I started fighting her. I think she walked along the bottom of the bay to get here. Either she doesn’t need to breathe or she can hold her breath pretty long.”

“What about the old methods? Nuke her batteries.” Shego looked back to Hego.

“If you see a battery on her, go for it,” said Hego.

Mego’s eyes widened. “Wait a minute, what about going the other way?”

“Other way?” said Shego, confused.

Mego turned to Shelly. “Use her body against her, right? All that metal may be heavy but it’s also conductive.” He looked up at the flood lamps over the sundered door.

“An overload!” the Wegos said together.

“I’ll distract her,” said Shego. “You guys see about getting us some live juice.”

Shego stared down the slowly approaching Astronica. She was only a handful of paces away now but still steadily walking towards her. The air around her hands crackled as the falling snow vaporized instantly upon coming in contract with her green aura.

Movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention, and Shego glanced to either side rapidly. Hego was holding his arms at the ready, having caught his breath for the time being, while Mego was sticking his chest out in a display of what Shego presumed was heroism.

“Go help the Wegos,” said Shego. “I’ll handle this.”

“You need all the help you can get, believe me,” said Hego.

“I’m no good with that electronic stuff,” said Mego. “Besides, there might be an opportunity for plan ‘A’.”

Shego sighed openly but inside her heart warmed slightly. Her family was standing beside her in combat and there was nothing in the world that could convince her that wasn’t the way it was supposed to be.

“Ready?” said Shego.

Hego grunted an affirmative while Mego nodded just inside of Shego’s peripheral vision.

Shego grinned evilly. Her hands pulsed once, glowing brightly for an instant, casting a green light across hers and her brothers’ faces. With a step forward, she swung her fists around and flung two large balls of green fire towards Astronica. The balls streaked through the dark night and exploded violently on contact with the enemy.

“Woah,” said Mego. “Could you always do that?”

The green haze cleared in a few seconds before the wind. Beyond the cloud Astronica was standing with her arm raised slightly before her body but otherwise unharmed. She slowly lowered her arm and began moving faster to close the dozen paces left between them.

“Well, that didn’t work,” groaned Shego. “Plan B.” She began flinging smaller balls of green fire at the ground beneath Astronica’s feet.

Clumps of snow and dirt flew into the air as the ground erupted under Astronica. The hailstorm seemed to catch the villain by surprise, but only for a moment. Before Shego had time to lower her hands the mechanized woman dove through the falling debris and locked the green suited hero in a grapple. Shego became acutely aware of how much stronger Astronica was as the latter began bending her arms behind her back.

Shego jerked in the tightening grasp. “AUGKK!” she yelped as pain sharply burned across her nerves. She started kicking wildly at her attacker, only connecting a couple times despite many attempts.

They both lurched as Hego’s fist connected with Astronica’s side. The metal rung like a dull bell and vibrated up the villain’s arms causing her grip to tremble. Despite the force of the punch, the metal woman was barely fazed, and continued to squeeze Shego in her oppressive bear hug. A second hit from Hego was equally ignored.

Shego grit her teeth and reached out at Astronica as best as she could with her hands. With her arms locked against her sides and partially twisted behind her, she couldn’t get a good angle to fling her fire at Astronica that didn’t risk her own safety. But with Hego’s punches unable to get through the thick metal, and Mego’s useless pulling on her silvery arms, there wasn’t going to be a better opportunity. With only a slight wince, Shego lit up her hands again.

The pain was searing to Shego but most of the green balls of fire were hitting the soft fleshy exposed midriff of Astronica. The villain’s eyes showed the briefest recognition of pain. She then shrugged off Mego’s pawing, and twisted to get a better grip on Shego’s shoulders.

The green hero felt the world lurch beneath her and suddenly she was being whipped through the air as if tied to a spinning top. A split second later she smacked hard into Mego and the two of them hit the ground hard. Shego first struck her brother, her elbow unfortunately finding itself beneath his ribs before she rolled over what felt like his head and into the icy snow. Mego, for his part, yelped momentarily at the intrusive elbow before being silenced with a sickly crack the moment Shego sailed over his face.

The world spun in Shego’s head and she could hear the sounds of someone yelling in pain and someone else grunting in exertion.

“Unggg,” Shego groaned through grit teeth as she tried to center the world again. She heard the yelling nearby to the right, which probably meant Mego, and the grunting to her distant left, which she hoped wasn’t Hego. The blurry images of the night failed to completely focus in her vision, but she could see enough.

Hego had one of his fists above his head as if he were about to punch down on Astronica’s head before the mechanized blonde had caught it in her palm. Her other hand looked as if it had nearly sucker-punched Hego in the gut if he had not grabbed her wrist with his other free hand. They were locked in an intense battle of strength as Astronica tried make her fist connect with his gut while Hego tried to bring his fist down upon her crown. They seemed equally tied at first, until Shego realized Hegos’ face was turning as red as his uniform.

Shego tried to focus again and lit her hands like green flares. She couldn’t hit Hego, she told herself, no matter how blurry things were, she couldn’t let it happen. This mantra, however, didn’t seem to making the scene any sharper than it had been. She swallowed deeply and fired the green balls of fire anyway, hoping for best.

Three bolts flew and struck in rapid succession. Two shots landed just shy of Astronica’s legs, one before the other as if in a line. The last shot, however, hit her knees and then exploded in flame. While there was little there to catch fire, the impact caused the villain’s knees to buckle slightly and that was the only advantage that Hego needed.

The eldest brother stepped forward, pushing forward with both his arms as he did, to throw the heavier warrior off balance. As his momentum overcame her planted position, Astronica was forced to back-pedal or risk falling.

Hego acted quickly and took a long stride forward, weaving his foot behind hers. As soon as her heel got caught on his shin he pulled his hand out of her grasp and punched. The glowing red fist landed in the center of her chest and drove her forcefully to the ground sending up a plume of soft white snow into the air around them.

Hego’s second punch came before Astronica could even try to stand again. This time, the strike was more carefully targeted and hit her in the exposed flesh. A third and fourth punch came with increasing speed. The sound was like a spoon being slapped against pudding as his fist came away with more and more blood on it.

Shego grimaced as the scene was quickly becoming gruesome. She turned her eyes away to check on Mego just to give herself something else to concentrate on. He was holding his nose and squirming on the ground, his cheeks streaked with blood. She suspected he’d broken it.

Hego’s fist struck metal again as the sound changed once more. Shego turned back to look in time to see her brother hesitate and look down at his enemy with surprise. The two seconds of bewilderment was enough for Astronica to recover. She quickly raised her leg and kicked at Hego’s shin, causing him to scream in pain and fall to his knees. Astronica’s hand lurched out like lightning and grabbed his wrist as her other arm pushed her back to her feet. With a twist of her hips she yanked him into the air like a ragdoll and flung him back at the tower. He flailed as he spun through in the air then struck the side of Go Tower with a crunch. The stone facing of the tower cracked visibly as he landed in a heap.

Shego felt a pain in her chest at the sound. Hego was tough, but there was a limit to how much he could endure. She wanted to run towards him and whisk him away to safety but there was no chance. As soon as she turned her back to Astronica she would be upon her, and there was nowhere to run. With the freezing cold and snow the ferries were stopped and there was no place else to run to unless the bay froze over completely.

The green hero looked back at Astronica. She was standing again and walking towards her, the same determined pace and stoic face. Her abdomen was a bloody mess with just the hint of silver shining through.

The skin had to be just for show if there was more metal beneath it, Shego rationalized, a convenient target for unprepared heroes to waste time focusing on. She cursed whoever this Creator was for planning this out so well. With the bad weather, the ferries were stopped, and there was no other way off the island. They were trapped. Either they had to find a way to defeat Astronica, or sprout wings to fly out over the bay.

Shego paused and considered that thought. The weather was bad, but not the worst she’d ever seen. Could she fly the Go Jet in it, perhaps?

Lighting up her hands, she faced her enemy but slowly started backing up towards the tower. “Mego!” she called over her shoulder. She didn’t want to take her eyes off Astronica.

“Nng,” came the reply.

“Get up!” Shego said. “We’re not gonna win this.”

“Whab was yub first crue?” Mego’s voice was pinched and slurred.

“Get back to the tower.”

“Sis, Ib feel luk—“

“Do it!” Shego snapped. She knew her brother was in pain, they all were, but that wasn’t a good enough reason to lay down a die.

More grunts followed by a quick, but uneven, footsteps faded away behind her. She couldn’t afford to turn and look, she just had to hope he was doing was she asked. Astronica continued to step menacingly forward.

Then the flood lamps went out.

Shego intensified the fires in her hands instinctively. The light they gave off was nothing compared to the flood bulbs, but she had to keep Astronica in her sights. The darkness just seemed to invite the villain to attack.

Shego waved her hands around slightly to try and direct the light and see more of the area around her. She still couldn’t find Astronica in the blackness. Squinting, she peered deeper, hoping to catch the glint of metal in the swirling snow.

The faint scraping of metal on metal reached Shego’s ear and she turned just in time to see the glint she was looking for only a quarter second before it was attacking her.

There was nothing Shego could do to avoid the hit, but as Astronica’s metal fist struck her face, the hero turned her body to absorb the impact as much as possible.

There was enough force in the punch to shatter her skull if she hadn’t acted fast, but it was barely enough to keep her from breaking her neck. As Shego spun towards the ground, her neck ached in pain from the whiplash. A moment later she had a face-full of snow.

A firm grip then yanked on the back of Shego’s uniform, pulling her thrashing form out of the snow and into the air. The snow fell away quickly, leaving only her burning cheeks. She looked back at her captor to see her winding up for the finishing strike on Shego’s spine.

This is it, Shego realized as she saw the readied fist. There was much she could recover from given her unique physiology, but a direct hit from this powerhouse to her back was above and beyond her power. She reached out wildly find the arm holding her and yank herself free. It was little hope, but she had to do something. She couldn’t just let herself go quietly.

The fist started to move in a blur and Shego felt herself impaled at the waist and then get covered in an encompassing feeling of cold.

“Shego!”

Shego picked her head up and looked to see the barely lit face of Shelly kneeling beside her.

“Get up! We gotta run!”

Shego looked back to see Astronica holding her hand up but nothing in her grip. She was looking at in a perplexed manner then turned her head slowly to look at her and Shelly.

“Shego!” yelled Shelly.

Oh, right, not dead yet.

Shego jumped back to her feet and took Shelly’s arm to run. They bolted straight for the tower and the only remaining source of bright light within. Shego shook her head to dislodge the snow again and wondered how many times she’d gotten so close to death before.

The heavy pounding of running footsteps began again but the door to the tower was only a few steps away. Astronica was too far away this time, they would actually make it. Of course, there was no door on the doorway anymore, so it wasn’t really going to keep anyone out.

“Duck!” yelled Shelly as they got to the threshold.

Shego did as she was told, and they ran half bent forward though the doorway. As they ducked through, she felt something fly just over her head and she turned back once they were in the foyer.

“Now!” yelled Shelly.

The doorway had been hastily wired in the last five minutes, exposed cabling making a messy web over the top half of the doorway. The wires were small enough that it was barely visible from the outside looking in, but from where Shego stood now, she could see it as a lattice of silvery cords over the blackness. One of the Wegos was standing to one side of the makeshift net and quickly jabbed a thick bundle of the wires wrapped in a towel into an exposed conduit.

And then Astronica came running through.

The wiring caught her by surprised and nearly garroted her with the speed she was moving. Either the wires weren’t attached strongly or her neck was made of the same metal her midriff was, but the crisscrossing lines quickly dislodged from the wall and tangled around her. Then the current kicked in and the metal wires lit up like neon and crackled and smoked as the current surged across Astronica.

The villain’s body immediately began to convulse as arcs of electricity danced across her body and her mouth locked up in a silent scream. Smoke rose from the twitching body where the wires touched her exposed hair and skin, and her eyes rolled up into her sockets just before the conduit the wires had been connected to sparked and exploded ending the perverse show and shutting off the rest of the lights inside the Tower.

In the blackness, Shego smelled smoke and burning flesh. It was revolting, but she slowly made her hands burn with green fire anyway. She had to know if they were still in danger.

The green hue slowly revealed the scene. Herself, Mego, Shelly, and several Wegos propping up an unconscious Hego were there in the lobby and looking down at a smoking body on the ground. Many of the wires had disintegrated when they got hot, leaving diamond shaped patterns across the exposed shoulders and neck of Astronica, but otherwise she looked the same. Except she wasn’t moving.

Shego knelt slightly to look at the woman’s face. She was unsure if whether she’d be able to tell if the villain was dead by simply looking, since Astronica had been oddly devoid of expression throughout most of the fight. If it was still unclear she’d check for a pulse, though whether that would still be in the right place anymore was also unknown.

Astronica’s mouth was still locked open but her eyes had closed, hiding the whites that Shego presumed were behind them. There was no sound of breathing that she could detect and the body wasn’t rising and falling as a normal living person would do. All signs pointed to death, but they had to be sure.

Shego slowly reached out her hand.

“Sis, don’t...” whispered Mego.

Her hand slowly dimmed and eventually went out so she could touch Astronica without trying to cook her. Her other hand brightened its flame slightly to compensate. Shego’s fingers extended slightly and she reached for the pale neck of the mechanized villain.

Her fingers came in contact with skin and she felt gingerly around for where a pulse would be. She could feel very little.

“I don’t feel anything,” Shego said. She checked again, more underneath the jaw and towards the front. “But who knows if she even has—“

Astronica’s eyes shot open and immediately focused on Shego. A metal hand quickly snapped out like a whip and closed on Shego’s wrist.

“Aah!” yelped Shego, startled at the movement. She tried to pull her arm free again but the woman kept a vice-like grip on her. “Let go!”

Astronica began pulling Shego down as she tried to get up onto her knees. The Wegos immediately launched an assault, kicking wildly at the villain everywhere they could without kicking their sister by accident.

The metal woman reached out rapidly with her free hand and swatted a pair of Wegos away. Then she put her hand down started pushing herself back up to her feet. Shelly then jumped in and swept the woman’s legs, knocking her back to the ground and freeing Shego from her grasp.

Shego grit her teeth at the pain in her wrist. She wanted to rub it but doing so would force her to extinguish the only source of light they had. Instead she looked towards the slightly bent staircase leading up.

“Go!” She pointed towards the staircase. “To the hangar!”

Astronica slowly started moving again and Shego began throwing as large balls of green fire at her as she could. The concrete flooring cracked and splintered as some of the wild shots missed their target.

“Go!” Shego yelled again when she noticed Team Go still standing around. “I’ll be right behind you.”

This time the team moved and headed for the stairs. They were moving slowly due to being forced to carry the unconscious Hego, but after a minute they were out of sight. Shego reigned back on her fireballs and looked down.

Astronica has her arm up to block but it had done little good. Her metal skin was charred and blackened and much of the skin on her face and shoulders was charred and showing signs of metal beneath. What was left of the metal woman’s face looked up at Shego angrily.

“Can you even understand me anymore, Astronica?” asked Shego, sympathetically.

Astronica ignored the question and tried to stand again.

“Tell me what’s going on,” said Shego. “Please. Who is this Creator and why is he after us? How did he do this to you?”

Astronica got to one knee and shifted her weight to get back on her two feet.

Shego sighed. “You didn’t deserve this, you were a thief, not a monster.”

The metal woman got back to her feet and stared at Shego. Her jaw opened slightly.

“Revenge,” came a strangely modulated voice.

Shego’s eyes widened. “Revenge? Whose revenge? Yours or the Creators? Did we fight him before? Is that what this is about? We threw him in the lockup and now he’s out to bring us down?”

Astronica closed her mouth then took a heavy step towards Shego and began reaching out.

Shego looked down. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. Then she pointed her hands at the cracked floor beneath Astronica and unleashed a wide beam of fiery green plasma that tore at stone, sending some of it flying and the rest began to melt.

As second later the ground split and chunks started to rapidly sink. Astronica looked down as the earth opened beneath her and she fell. Her hands reached out for the stone around her but they crumbled in her massive grip before following her into the darkness below.

Shego had leapt to the side as the ground opened up and was hanging onto the metal staircase leading upwards. She lit up her hands again to look but could see nothing beyond the lip of the black hole in the ground. She shook her head, then quickly climbed up and started ascending the stairs.

When she was halfway up the stairs to the rooftop hangar the stairs and, to Shego’s surprise, the whole building around her seemed to lurch then rumble. She clung to the steel railing for support and stared around in wonder. The tower rumbled loudly again.

“What the hell?” said Shego.

“Sis!” a voice from above called as a beam of white light searched around from above.

Shego held tight to the railing and climbed faster.

When she arrived at the top the building was shaking like crazy and the rest of Team Go was standing around the jet, half of them with flashlights to light up the large hangar.

A second later one of the steel beams in the walls creaked loudly then burst form the wall, jutting out into the hanger at an odd angle. Some of the stone supported in that corner of the large room fell and exposed a bit of the night sky and the swirling wind and snow.

“What the hell is going on?” asked Shego loudly as she tried to keep herself from falling.

Mego ran to the staircase and pointed his flashlight down. He gasped and then turned back to the rest of Team Go. “She’s bringing down the whole tower!”

“What?” yelled one of the Wegos.

“The whole tower is twisting and bending! She must be messing with the foundation!”

Shego grimaced. “Whoops, I guess that wasn’t such a good idea.”

“We got to get out of here!” said one of the Wegos.

“Get in the jet,” said Shego as she ran towards the dark fighter plane. She was heading towards the nose of the jet to pull the blocks.

“How are we going to open the hangar doors without power?” asked Shelly. She was running to the jet the same as the others but was looking uneasily at the dark metal doors.

Shego pulled the blocks from the jet’s wheels then turned towards the hanger doors. “I’ll see what I can do,” she said. She flexed her fingers, which were starting to get numb from how much she’s had to use her power at full force this evening. Generating her flame put an increasing amount of stress on her body the more she did and it and she was reaching her limit. She couldn’t back out now, though, just one more obstacle.

Lighting up her hands one more time, Shego pointed her arms towards the doors. With a deep breath, she turned up the intensity of the fire then fired two large balls of light towards the hangar doors. They exploded in a brilliant burst of light leaving a gaping hole in the center of the two doors. As the tower rumbled loudly again the doors pulled away from their tracks and fell outwards into the night.

Shego nodded to herself then quickly climbed into the jet. She checked that all of Team Go was inside before closing the canopy. The shaking was getting intense and more of the steel beams in the hangar were starting to fall. If any of them clipped the jet they’d be stuck so she had to move fast.

“Hang on!” yelled Shego as she ignited the jet’s engines and immediately pulled back on the throttle.

The jet exploded from the hangar and quickly climbed into the sky from the crumbling tower. The intense winds immediately buffeted the small plane and she struggled to keep the craft under control and climbing.

“I have to get us above the clouds!” said Shego through her grit teeth as the G-forces pulled on her and the rest of her passengers.

The intense winds were making it hard to safely climb and Shego fought against the stick the entire time. Just before they reached the first layer of clouds, she risked a glance back out of the dome-like cockpit. Her chest tightened as she saw Go Tower begin to crumble and collapse in on itself, producing a huge cloud of debris as the giant letters ‘G’ and ‘O’ fell into the bay.

“Damn,” Shego said as they finally entered the clouds and could see no more.