“Oh well, Dr D.,” Shego said with a sigh. “I miss him. Over my entire life, I've been a magnet for incompetent and annoying people, but of all those jerks he was my favorite.” As though someone pushed a button, her sentimentality disappeared. “You got that?”
Washington nodded anxiously, startled by her unexpected question.
“Good. Because that’s the last time you’ll hear me say anything nice about him.” She took a deep breath and sat back. “Well, our first encounter didn’t go so well.”

“Yep, that's right. He owned a private helicopter and actually had competent henchmen back then. Dr. D. was a relative unknown in the potential-world-dominator scene and naturally tried to look as impressive as possible. That's why he surrounded himself with the best and most expensive. Like me.”

“Sorry for the precaution, but you can’t go any further until you clear our security,“ one of the henchmen said.
Annoyed, Shego just crossed her arms and sighed, while another henchman moved some kind of scanner up and down next to her.
“Everything’s okay, you’re fine,” he said. “Please follow me. The doctor is already waiting for you.”
He started walking quickly. Shego caught up with him after a few steps.
“What’s this doctor guy all about?” she wanted to know.
The henchman stopped, turned to Shego, and drew a deep breath. He held up his index finger and opened his mouth, like he wanted to say something. Then he just sighed, dejected, and slouched his shoulders.
“And, that means…?”
“Well, I consider myself a professional, and it would be unprofessional to speak ill of my superior, as I would have to if I were to describe Dr. Drakken..”
Shego and the henchman dart a look at each other and went on.
It didn't take long until they reached Drakken's workroom. The flames from within a huge fireplace cast long shadows on the many books on the shelves.

“Actually I've never seen him touch even one of those books.“

Dr. Drakken stood before the fireplace. The illumination from the flickering fire made him look particularly menacing.
“Ah, you’ve gotta be Shego,“ he said. Drakken pointed to the door. “I wish to speak to her in private. You’re dismissed, henchman.”
The henchman nodded and went to the door. Meanwhile he mumbled silently, “I’ve got a name, you stupid...”
“Please take a seat,” Drakken offered Shego.
“I’ll stand, thank you.”
“Whatever. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Dr. Drakken! And soon the whole world will tremble at my feet!”

“While he said this, he made totally exaggerated gestures with his hands, and his voice sounded embarrassingly theatrical. I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing out loud.“

Drakken continued. “But I can’t make that happen just yet. There’s still one essential thing that’s missing.”
“Inside your head?” thought Shego.
“I need you to break into a secret lab to get it. I would have sent one of my henchmen, but I need every single one here. They may be well-trained, but not to the perfection I expect of them. Taking over the world is no kindergarten game of ‘Ring-around-the-rosy’. There is no room for error, so I’m keeping them here to practice.”
Shego looked up, annoyed, and sighed. “Yeah, yeah. Get to the point.”
The diabolical smirk in Drakken's face sagged. “I see you don’t realize that I expect my employees to show me respect, and never interrupt me during an attack of youthful exuberance!.”
“I'm not working for you yet, so what’s your problem?”
The doctor bit his lower lip angrily and, threateningly, raised his index finger. “I hope you’re really as good as they say and don't owe your good reputation your looks only.“
“Are you thinking about putting your finger down someday? I’ve got a busy schedule, and would appreciate some details. Before the next millennium, if that’s all right.“
Drakken turned around, walked over to his desk and said with an insulted undertone, “Go to Las Vegas and steal the Flux Transmooker for me.“

“The news that I had already stolen it hadn’t yet reach him. He was isolated in his tiny island lair, and word took a little bit longer to travel to him, it seems.”

Shego tried to keep a straight face. “What for?”
“The Flux Transmooker. I need it to--“
“Never mind. It’s none of my business what you do with it, and frankly I don’t care, either. I’m merely on hire to get it for you. Just tell me where I can find it and do I need to know.“
“So, that means you’re in?“
“Yeah, that's right, I'm in.”

“Easy money. The very thing I was supposed to steal was already lying around at my place. So I took a paid vacation of sorts. Three days later, I returned to Drakken's island. That is, I tried to return. His helicopter was supposed to come pick me up again, but it never showed. So I phoned Drakken.“

“Hey, Dr. D., where’s the chopper?“
Drakken clearly sounded nervous. “What...what's wrong with it?”
“It ain’t here. I'm standing at the rendezvous point as I speak, and I should have been in the air at least an hour ago.“
“Maybe you are at—“
“No, I'm not standing at the wrong place! Do you think I'm that stupid to get my directions wrong? I’ve got that piece of junk prototype here with me, and I don't care who gets it. If you don't send me reasonable transportation, like right now, I will just keep my ears open if somebody else needs that thing and get my money from him.“
“No! Wait! Hold on a moment!”

“When Drakken put me on hold, the Muzak on the phone played funky synthesizer arrangements of Christmas carols. In the middle of summer.”

“Are you still there?” Drakken asked after one painfully long minute of 'Jingle Bells'.
“Yes, but don’t think it was because I loved that music.“
“An ...uhm...accident happened. The helicopter crashed on the way to you. Don't worry, the pilot is okay, he’s a professional...”
“I don't care.“
“...but you have to find a way to get here on your own.”
“Don't you have another helicopter? Or a boat?”
“Yes, of course, buuuuuuuuuut they are all being used at the moment. I'm busy getting a complex, worldwide secret operation underway and the plan is so precisely worked out, that I can't send you another helicopter. But whatever you do, please don't give the Flux Transmooker to anyone else. Come to me. Do whatever you have to do. I’ll foot the bill for everything, together with the remaining expenses.”

“I should have tossed that stupid metal cube into the nearest trash can and headed home that very second. Fortunately I didn't. Okay, 'fortunately' is maybe too positive a word for it. At least for that time. But years later it paid off.”

Flying a stolen helicopter, Shego headed to the coordinates Drakken gave her. When she landed on the roof of his lair she immediately noticed something was different. Instead of a group of well-exercised henchmen, she was welcomed by only one, who also was rather paunchy. Plus he didn't actually welcome her, he was sound asleep on a chair. Even though the helicopter landed right by him, he slept through it all.
Shego got out of the helicopter, looked at the sleepyhead, and kicked his chair. When he landed on his butt on the floor, he finally woke up.
“How? What?” he mumbled. “Cool, a helicopter.”
When he reached to touch the vehicle, Shego slapped his fingers. “No touchy. Where's Drakken?”
The henchman rubbed his hurting hand. “He should be in his lab. The elevator takes you directly to it.”
“Okay. And I repeat: no touching the helicopter!”
“Yeah, fine,“ mumbled the henchman, offended, and sat down on his chair again to continue his nap.
Shego got in the elevator and pushed the 'Lab' button. During the rather long ride down she was pleasantly surprised: for some reason she liked the music, that played softly from the speakers above her, into her auditory canal.
When the elevator arrived, its doors opened slowly. The smell of freshly welded seams intruded her nostrils. From somewhere among the huge piles of scrap electronics and metal stacked in the lab, she could hear an angry mumble.
“Hello!?” she called.
“No, not yet!“ was Drakken's answer.
Thereupon Shego stomped angrily through the labyrinth of scrap. It didn't take long till she found Drakken. He was so into his work, he didn't notice the upcoming danger.
Shego grabbed his collar from behind and pulled him jumpy away from the machine he was working on. Then she threw him to the ground and threatened him with her glowing hands.
“Hey, Blueberry, I went through hell getting this stupid cube to you and 'No, not yet' is anything but an acceptable answer.“
Shaking, Drakken got up and dusted off his clothes carefully. “Oh, uhm, I didn't know it was you.“
“Yeah, right. Whatever.“ Shego held up the Flux Transmooker with ostentation. “Here are the goods. Where’s my money?“
“I’ll transfer it to your account right away,“ the doctor said, while he tried to grab the cube from her, without success.
“It’s cash, or no deal.”
A drip of sweat appeared on Drakken's forehead. Too obviously endeavored to carry it off well, he answered, “Ooookaaaay. But then I would like to have a bill from you first.“
‘There you go.“ She pulled a piece of paper out and swung it around in front of Drakken's nose.
He took the bill and sat down behind a work bench with it. “I'm gonna take a look at it first.“
“Sure, sure. Take your time,“ returned Shego with gnashing teeth.
While he checked the bill item for item, Drakken mumbled something from time to time. Many a time he raised and lowered at least one side of his eyebrow. One time he blurted out, “You want how much for what?“ but shortly afterwards he calmed down again.

“Yes, I gotta admit that my bill was pretty demanding, but I had just gotten off of a very bad week.“

After he had finished the bill, Drakken folded his hands on the workbench, coughed quickly and said dryly: “I refuse to pay this.”
Shego laughed for a moment. “I'm sorry, but I just thought about something different. I imagined you said something funny. . Well, it wasn't really funny. But it was surprising. Unexpected. But I'm sure that you said something completely different in reality. Would you please be so nice and repeat what you said?”
More nervous than the last time repeated Drakken his words: “I refuse to—”
At 'refuse' Shego jumped with a huge leap on the working bench, which subsequently shattered in a thousand pieces. Drakken pressed his back scared against the wall, while Shego came closer.
“Stop! Wait wait wait wait!” he stuttered. “I would pay you, but I can't!”
“And this appeases me, how?”
“A few days ago I would have been able to pay. At least that’s what I thought. But it turned out the perfectly trained henchmen, the helicopter fleet, the headquarters with its own island and everything else were more expensive than I thought. Fortunately the island and the lair were already paid for, but they took everything else back and I had to substitute my elite henchmen with, well, much, much cheaper ones. I'm sorry, but I'm broke. Sometimes it happens faster than a wink. I swear you’ll get your money, but in order to do so I need the Flux Transmooker first!“

“And again I became really angry. This unflashy cube of metal, which I owned for just a few days, seemed to be almost worse for me than all the years with my brothers together. But while I saw Dr. Drakken squeezing himself more and more into the hindmost corner of the lab, I suddenly didn't care about it anymore.”

“Okay.”
Drakken opened carefully one eye, expecting to see something horrible, and asked: “Okay?“
“Yes. I can't kill everyone who tries to con me out of my money. Here.“
Shego threw the metal cube to the doctor. First it looked like he would drop it, but because of some rather interesting-looking gesticulations he managed to catch it anyway.
“Thanks,“ he said, baffled, and ran to the door. “I'm gonna write you an IOU immediately!“
“No need.“
Dr. Drakken knew that now the rub of the transaction would follow. He gnashed his teeth and turned around. “And why is that?“
Shego dusted off the seat of a chair, and with a smile, sat down. “Because I’m going to wait right here until you pay me. And you should pray I don’t have to wait too long.“

“And so that’s what triggered our long-term collaboration. He owed me money and I was on his tail for a long time since. Yes, that's it. A lot less spectacular than you thought, isn't it? But that’s exactly how it happened. More or less.“