Disclaimer: Kim Possible and all related characters belong to Disney.
Oh how she did not look forward to the task ahead of her. Oh how she just wanted to start her little vacation now and not tomorrow. Oh how she just wanted to leave this trip down memory lane behind. If she could just start her vacation, she would be away from Drakken and his inane Drak-Force One scheme; she would be free to just sit back and relax, soaking in some rays in whatever section of the world she could find where the sun shined and the snow was far and away. However, Shego knew she had one little annual event to take care of before she could even get the stupid battery Drakken needed for his master plan and then depart for her vacation. The only thing that could make her truly smile was that said annual event involved some breaking and entering.
Shego sighed as she saw the Go Tower appear over the horizon of the lake. Beyond the tower, atop its rocky perch, she could make out the lights of Go City itself. The green and black clothed woman sighed in disgust at the sight. How she did not want to be back here, but she grinned and bore it. Though if anyone who could see her through the snow that blanketed the night sky as it fell, they could rightly tell it was less of a grin and more of a scowl.
Shaking off any innate irritation she felt, Shego angled her body forward, sending her airboard down as she got closer to the tower. The speed at which she traveled increased, the wind pushinn against her harder than before, throwing her hair back. Shego shrugged it off, intensifying the grip she had on the bag that hung over her shoulder. There was no way, no bloody way, she was going to lose it now and make this trip a pointless waste of time and energy.
The rocky outcrop that surrounded the Go Tower was merely a few feet away when Shego leaned back, forcing the airboard to level out again and come to a stop safely on the land. Shego stepped off the device Doctor Drakken had created for her and took in her surroundings, no matter how well she sadly knew them.
Shego shook her head in an attempt to clear it. The sooner she got this over, the sooner she could be on her way from this town she could not stand thanks to the memories it brought about. The sooner she could finish her year's work for Doctor Drakken. The sooner she could start her vacation and enjoy life to the fullest.
Shego made her way towards the tower. The door was out of the question. No way she could get through quietly via that. Her brothers had to have recalibrated the entrance to not accept and open to her Go Team Glow after she had left. Granted, she could just tear it down with the glow, but that would not be proper. The noise would more than likely wake her brothers up and even by the off chance that it did not, they would certainly know by morning that someone had broken in. No, no, that just would not do.
Shego craned her head back and looked up the tower. No windows were visibly open. Shego sighed. It had been so much easier in years past. She knew what she would have to do, but she did not have to like it. She turned back from the tower and stepped aboard the airboard once more. Slowly, it ascended from the ground a few inches. Shego swung her body around and leaned forwards, the rockets of the board propelling it forward. Quickly, Shego made her way up and around, landing atop the Go Tower. Once more she stepped off the board and surveyed the roof. Much to her delight, there it was.
Despite the level of technology made available to Team Go, her brothers had stayed as low tech as they could as far as daily life was concerned. Hego had gone on and on, preaching left and right that the technology provided to them was not to be used for luxury, but to protect the citizens of Go City. Just another reason Shego had left her family behind, though an infinitesimal one in comparison to her loving to be bad.
However, Hego's desires had finally paid off in her favor. The old fireplace had to be intact, as where there was a chimney, there was a fireplace. Shego walked towards the chimney and looked down. She could see no fire brewing at the bottom. That was certainly good news. Last thing she needed tonight was to be in physical contact with flames not of her making.
Shego held the black bag over her shoulder tightly and jumped down the chimney. As the bricks and mortar flew by her, she could not help but be annoyed by the insanity of her situation. She just wanted to deliver some gifts and be on her way, not end up truly playing Santa to the hilt.
Shego could see the floor rushing up to meet her. She could not slow her fall by driving her clawed gloves into the wall. Again, that would leave some mark of evidence that she had been present. Exactly the reason she had not just climbed down. If her brothers knew she had been around, Shego was sure they would come looking for her, wanting her to rejoin the team. That she sincerely did not want.
Instead, Shego was left to be a little creative. She pressed her legs out, her feet slowly coming into contact with the wall. Timing it as well as she could, Shego pressed hard against the wall, jumping horizontally away from it right before her back slammed into the floor. She shot out of the fireplace's opening and somersaulted into a crouch. Quickly, she stood and looked around the inside of the tower.
Nothing had changed. The place had been decorated for the holiday season, that much was evident. A Christmas tree was front and center by the far wall. The living quarters were the same as always. Just another reason Shego had left. Again and again she had wanted an apartment of her own, but no, Hego would not have that. No way, no how.
"Team Go needs to be around here at all times in case of an emergency. Sis, we have great power and thus greater responsibility. What would happen if one of us was away when the city needs us?" he would say whenever Shego suggested living in an actual home away from super heroics.
Granted, Shego could see the irony of her pleas then. She had left this life and found herself stuck living in whatever hideaways Drakken could dig up and renovate. At least the Go Tower had been a constant. Then again, Shego knew she could at least hide herself away in her room and thus stay away from Drakken and the henchmen if they annoyed her. Hego, in his overbearing zeal, had no qualms about bursting into her room day-in and day-out for whatever reason. How that had irked her.
Shego shook her head once more, hating her trip down memory lane. She hated the memories this place brought forth, but she had a job to do. Sure, her family drove her off-the-wall insane, but deep down, sad as it was and no matter how much she denied it, she loved them. That and Christmas Eve was Christmas Eve after all.
Quickly, Shego ducked down by the tree and opened the bag she had brought. Moving faster than she would, even in combat with Kim Possible, Shego pulled out the gifts she had brought. As each wrapped gift passed by her vision, she remembered quite well what they were. DVD season sets of the Fearless Ferret series for the Wegos, some M.C. Honey CDs for Mego (Shego could only 'blame' him for getting her to listen to that music), and last but not least some Smarty-Mart brand clothes for Hego. Shego paused for a moment, knowing she had not given much thought when it came to Hego. She shrugged and set the gifts besides the others hef brothers had left for each other.
As she stood, Shego could not help but sigh, if ever-so quietly. She had actually purchased the items with her own cash, no matter how easy it would have been to just steal them. She would steal the battery Drakken needed for his new scheme, but with her brothers it was a different story. Shego cringed. She could not be evil when it came to getting them something for the holidays. How that repulsed her. She was evil, and she knew it, but then this blasted time of the year rolled around. Still, Shego took some villainous solace in what was wrapped with Hego and Mego's gifts. Coal. The Wegos were spared such a 'gift,' as they had rarely, if ever, driven Shego mad, but Hego and Mego, as far as Shego was concerned, deserved it.
The Wegos were young, they would just think this was Santa's work, like they had every year. Mego would not even consider the notion that it was his sister at work; he would just be too obsessed with himself, happy to see gifts left for him. Hego? He was almost more young at heart than the Wegos. He would probably just chalk it up to old Saint Nick as well. Shego would stake her life on it.
Shego's shoulders dropped as she closed her eyes for a minute. Her good deed of the year was done, and now she could enjoy her well-earned vacation somewhere warm. She turned to leave, hoping to find some way back up the chimney if need be. However, her exit was postponed when she heard a voice.
Quickly, Shego leapt across the room and hid around a corner, hoping to avoid whichever brother had awoken to go the bathroom or get a late night snack. She waited for several seconds, the voice continuing to prattle on, but their were no footsteps. Shego listened harder, and could faintly make out just who the voice belonged to.
Aviarius.
Shego knew the bird-brained enemy of her brothers could not have made it into the Go Tower. No, he had to be talking over the screen in the War Room. Shego rolled her eyes. How many times had she told Hego that it was a stupid idea to have the screen made and ready for Aviarius to talk to them through whenever he felt like it? Heck, he had probably used the stupid thing to spy on them and make plans against the team. So obvious, but Hego had always been a master of missing the obvious.
Shego bit her lower lip in sudden realization. Her brother's bedrooms were on the floor above, directly above the War Room. If Aviarius woke them up, she was in it deep. Quickly, Shego made her way to the War Room, keeping out of sight of the screen. She did not need Aviarius seeing her either. The raven haired villainess glanced around the corner could see the villain on the screen.
"And that's my plan, you fools!" Aviarius cackled, his voice as grating as ever as far as Shego was concerned. "While you're all tucked in nice and cozy, waiting for Santa to arrive, I'm going to rob the city's stores blind, free of your interference! It's a shame I'll be reveling in my triumph when you awake and see this message! I'd so love to see the looks on your faces when you realize what I've done! Or perhaps you'll wake up to the sound of my voice and come stop me, ruining your Christmas! Either way I wi--"
A low level ball of emerald plasma struck the switch to the monitor screen, turning it off and silencing Aviarius. Free of the villain's sight, Shego went over and deleted the message he had left. She sneered in disgust, knowing what she had just walked into. The message no more, there was no way her brothers would awake and go stop Aviarius and lose their Christmas to their roles as super heroes. However, if they awoke to find they slept and partied through one of Aviarius schemes, they would be miserable, Christmas Day ruined.
Shego's hands balled into fists, green plasma enveloping them. How she wanted to lash out and just blow something up with her power, but that would awaken her brothers. She scowled worse than before, trying to contain her anger. She knew what she had to do and she was not happy.
Her vacation would have to wait even longer.
Aviarius smiled as he looked upon the empty streets of Go City, the stores around him shut for the evening. The villain turned to the condor that stood beside him and cackled.
"Oh, dear condor, I've been a naughty boy this year. There will be no gifts for me this evening. Thus why I must go steal my own. And with everyone asleep, no one shall stand in the way of Aviarius!"
"I wouldn't say that," a voice called from the shadows.
Aviarius' laughter was cut off by the voice and he turned toward the alley it had originated from. "Who's there?"
From the shadows stepped forth a woman completely clad in black, her face completely covered as well, merely revealing eyes.
"What are you, some kind of ninja?" Aviarius asked, befuddled.
"No, just a concerned citizen," the woman replied.
Aviarius knew this was nothing good for his plight, and he responded in kind. "Condor, attack!"
The bird took off and flew towards the mysterious woman, talons ready to tear flesh from the bone. The woman, ninja or not, was quick to the punch and leapt into the air. She delivered a spinning kick to the bird, throwing it to the ground in an unconscious heap. Aviarius was horrified. Whomever this woman was, she had taken out his prized and feared pet in one blow. The villain turn to run in terror, not confident in his ability to fight such a foe on his own.
However, his pathway to freedom was cut off as the woman leapt over his head and right in front of him.
"Looks like it's time for you to go back to your bird cage," Aviarius heard the woman say right before she sent him into blissful unconsciousness with one solid punch.
Shego pulled the mask off her face and let her hair flow free as she looked down at the defeated Aviarius. "Bird cage?" she sighed in disgust, knowing that was the very same horrid pun Hego had used whenever Aviarius had been defeated. "This stupid town really is rubbing off on me again."
Shego knew the disguise and lack of using her powers had been necessary. Now there was no way Aviarius could tell her brothers that she had been around. That was all she wanted.
Not wasting time, Shego slipped the mask back on and laid Aviarius and his condor atop her airboard. Then she took off into the night air, planning to dump the villain and his pet off at the Go City Prison.
Shego felt her body growing tired. It had been a quick fight, yes, but this day had been a nightmare for her. When she returned to Drakken's lair she was going to just take a nice long nap. The good doctor's battery for his Drak-Force One would have to be stolen tomorrow. After that was done, however, her vacation could begin.
Finally.
"Come on, Hego, wake up!"
Hego's eyes fluttered open slightly at the dual sound of the Wegos' voices. He had grown quite used to it each and every year. After all, he could not blame them; he had been just as excited Christmas Morning when he had been their age.
"All right, all right, I'm up," he said as he sat up from his bed. "You two go go get Mego; I'll join you all in a minute."
Hego smiled as he watched his two younger brothers run out the room. How he remembered the days when Shego and he had had such a bond, waking up early Christmas morning and getting everyone up to join them so they could open up any gifts right away.
Then the smile faded, Hego realizing once again that those days were long gone. Shego had left the team, left the city, left her brothers behind. Hego shook his head. It had been hard to keep the team together since her departure, he had practically given up on it since. Rarely did they fight crime together. No, they had drifted apart since that day, doing their own things. The only thing the remaining members of Team Go had left was living in his tower. That, and days like this, where the holiday spirit overrode all other feelings.
Hego let that spirit do so, forcing away any sadness clouding his heart. He stood up from his bed and threw his bathrobe over his blue pajamas as he headed downstairs. He could see the Wegos and Mego were already there, waiting patiently.
"Can we open one?" the first Wego asked, a child-like grin covering his face.
"Go ahead," Hego replied.
Things always went they way they did, one opened gift turned into two, turned into three. In mere minutes, chiefly due to their ability to make copies of themselves, the Wegos had opened their gifts. However, all the copies seemed overtaken by one gift, season sets of some show Hego did not quite recognize.
"What is this?" Mego exclaimed in surprise.
Hego turned to see his brother holding a piece of coal in one hand, the torn wrapping and some CDs in another. Hego raised an eyebrow. Surely Mego was a little conceited, but there was no way that arrogance overrode the heroic things he had done in Santa's eyes enough to warrant receiving coal. Hego brushed the thought off and turned to his pile of gifts. He reached out for the one on top. He opened it to find a box of clothes. However, what truly got his attention was the coal that was packaged with them. He picked the coal up and looked it over, wondering just what he had done to get on old Saint Nick's bad side.
"Wegos, did you get any coal?"
"No," they both replied.
Hego stared at the coal for a few moments, recalling memories of years gone past. Mego and I have gotten coal every year, while the Wegos never did. Hego knew it had not always been like that. Every year since Shego... left...
Hego's eyes went wide for a brief moment, realization overtaking him. Slowly, the super hero looked towards the DVDs, the CDs, and then back to his clothes. The pieces fell together for once.
Hego knew, deep down, his sister still cared. As far as he was concerned, that was the greatest gift he had ever received.
The end.