Chapter 13

Bad Habits (The Beginning Of The End, Part 5)

Somewhere in Go City, a crime happened again.
Even if Team Go did its best to prevent crimes, most of the time they couldn't. They were just five and despite of all efforts, the criminals of Go City still had superior numbers.
This time, a purse snatcher not only managed to snatch the bags of four old ladies at once, he also was so speedy and seemed to know every short cut and blind spot of the city that our heroes had real problems trying to catch him. Nevertheless, they didn't give up.
Not even when he escaped into the smelly tunnels of the sewers.
„That's how I love to spend my friday evenings,“ sighed Shego, when she jumped together with her brothers into the sewage. „Ankle deep in...“
„Calm down, sis. Crimefighting is not always a clean business.“
„I'm just happy that our suits are waterproof,“ said Mego, while holding his nose shut. „But I hope that we’ll be able to get the smell out of them.“
Hego lifted his hand.
„Would you please be quiet for a moment?“
His siblings became silent and listened. They could hear somebody quickly running away, not too far away from them.
„He is over there. Let's go!“
The team began to run and faced an immeadiate problem at the next turn. The sewer split itself in three different directions.
Hego didn't think for too long.
„The twins and I go left, Mego goes through the middle and Shego goes right. We keep in contact by radio. Go!“
They ran immediately into their designated directions.
„This is Hego,“ he said into his walky talky that was inbuilt into his wrist band. „Tell us if you have found the delinquent. Over.“
Shego replied sarcastic as usual. „Do we have to? Isn't it funnier if I hide him somewhere else and you have to find him then?“
„Oh Shego, why do I have to tell you every day to take our business more serious. And you forgot to say 'over'. Over.“
„Then stop reminding us every day of the most obvious things. And I'm not talking about the 'over'. Over.“
„I just want everything to work fine. Over.“
„You are a control freak. Show us that you have faith in us. Over.“
„I have faith in you, but ,--“
In that moment, Hego got interrupted by a short scream from his sister.

„The rogue that we were chasing ambushed me behind a corner and attacked me with an iron bar. He didn’t hit me very hard, but my radio set went west. So I showed him that it is a bad idea to break my toys.“

As the villain went to hit Shego a second time, she split the bar with one glowing stroke into two parts. While her enemy still looked surprised at her, she pulled him over to her and rammed her knee in his stomach.
„So you are the reason why I'm running through the sewers of Go City?“
She lifted him up and threw him at the opposite wall. When he wanted to get up again, Shego kicked him.
„I don't like sewage. How about you?“
With these words she pushed his head into the cesspool and held it several moments under water. Meanwhile she ransacked his pockets.
„Hey, where's your theft?“ she asked, while she pulled his head up again.
„It,--“ tried the robber to answer, but his head got pushed under water again.
Suddenly Hego came around the corner and caught his sister in the act.
„Shego! What are you doing?“
A little bit scared, she pulled the gangster's head out of the water again and released him.
„He...attacked me. I just defended myself.“
„By drowning him in slop?“
„What has...“ „...she done?“ asked the twins, who came in that moment around the corner.
„I didn't do anything! He attacked me with an ironbar and we began to fight. He wanted to kill me from behind!“
„And that's why you try to do the same to him?“
Shego's victim was coughing, which caught the speaker's eye.
„I've swallowed something. Something, that has been in that water. And there are some very bad things in the water.“
„And now we should have pity on you?“ asked Mego, who came at last around the corner.
„She held my head under water!“
„Yuck. Why did you do that?“
„We fought each other. He jumped with an ironbar out of a dark corner and wanted to beat my head to puree, but just because he swallowed some dirty water, he is suddenly the victim? I think I missed something.“
Hego sighed deeply.
„Mego? Can you and the twins bring the man outside? I have to talk with our sister.“
„Okay, but I would like to point out that me and the twins are also her brothers and we have the right to witness this telling-off.“
„I heard you, but I won't be telling her off.“
Disappointed, Mego and the twins brought the purse snatcher back to the ground level.
„What is wrong with you?“ asked Hego and put his hand on his sister's shoulder.
„Nothing. Why do you think that?“
„You seem to be a little agressive lately. I mean, even more than usual.“
„Hm.“
„In the last few weeks the crooks seemed to be, if you caught them without our help, kinda...well...they seemed to be very bruised.“
„They put up resistance. None of them goes voluntary to jail.“
„Yes, I see. Although your brothers and I manage to bruise them not so badly.“
„I'm even a girl and I have to fight three times as hard as you.“
„Yeah right. We both know that you are the best fighter of all of us.“
„Yes,“ said Shego with a proud smile, „this is true.“
„But I also got the suspicion that everytime, when nobody is watching, you kick the villains who we have just caught.“
Shego breathed deep with a shock.
„What? Me? Never.“

„Sometimes. But really only if nobody was watching.“

„Listen sister, you know that you can come to me whenever you got a problem.“
She looked to the floor and mumbled, „Yes, yes.“
Then Hego got a suddenly a horrible suspicion.
„Or am I the problem?“
His sister looked up to him and straight into his eyes.
„No,“ she said. „Everything is fine.“
„When you say that? Come on, let's bring the bad guy to the police.“
„Can I go home yet? I really need a shower.
Hego smiled at his younger sister.
„Of course. Go ahead and tell your brothers, we’ve quit for today. I’ll bring him away by myself.“
„Okay.“
Shego ran to the next ladder and climbed back to the surface.

„Of course I lied to Hego,“ Shego told the film team. „Nothing was right. And he was part of the problem. Why didn't I say anything? I don't know! Usually it had always been easy for me to confront my family or anybody else with their mistakes. Well, the problem was that my family annoyed me more and more. Their neuroses became stronger. It was easiest to see when we fought Aviarius again. He came up with a new plan almost once in a week. We brought him to jail, then he escaped, made a new plan and so on.“
„Reminds me of someone,“ said Julian with a smile.
Although she tried, Shego couldn't hide a smile on her part.
„We must have annoyed her a lot. But whatever. Maybe it was the constant repetition of the Aviarius-factor that caused the break-up, although one could think that constant repetition makes you smarter.“