And You And I

S206 (U2): I get up, I get down

Author's note:

Ok, so chapter two of four. This time we're visiting another prog-rock epic for the title. I get up, I get down, is the name of the third movement of the Yes track Close to the Edge, from the album of the same name. It is also a lyric that is used multiple times throughout the track. In this instance, it is a reference to Shego's state of being. Anyway, enough from me, enjoy.

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Wake up, roll call, shower, breakfast, do nothing. Lunch, more nothing, dinner, even more nothing, lights out. Rinse and repeat. That was how Shego's days passed while incarcerated within the country's highest security prison. Ok, so the nothing part was subjective. She spent time with her cellmate; Bonnie, playing checkers, cards, sitting on the bleachers and generally keeping the girl out of trouble. However, by day three of their association, the former cheerleader seemed to have learned her lessons. Regardless, it was downright boring, but the worst part of it was, Shego didn't mind.

It was now Thursday; day five of her incarceration and the green-skinned woman was still very much bereft of personality. The previous day, Bonnie had figured out that her state was not due to dodgy painkillers, but just assumed that she had been given some sort of antipsychotic to keep her docile. Although, while it had not stopped the girl complaining about how boring she was, Shego hadn't been bothered about that either. She'd listened to Bonnie complain about that, the food, the beds and numerous other things, yet been neither up nor down about it. Had she been her normal self, she would have a) wondered how on earth Junior put up with her and b) threatened green plasma-induced grievous bodily harm against her if she did not shut up.

Shego sat at a round table in the recreation room with Bonnie, Dr Drakken, Professor Dementor and Frugal Lucre accompanying her. This was the first day that Drakken had approached her since they had been arrested; inviting her and Bonnie to join him and the other two villains for a game of Clue. Again, this was another instance where she would quickly have deduced the truth of the matter; that Lucre and Dementor had already started driving Drakken crazy and so he was prepared to forgive her for ruining his last plan, just so he could get some semblance of normality back. Only, in her current state, normality was not at the table.

At the start of the game, Bonnie, who it transpired also knew of the rule that Miss Scarlet went first, had snatched the respective token before anyone else could get a look in; Drakken had not been amused. Shego had ended up as Reverend Green because she was... well, green. Drakken, Miss Peacock for the same chromatic reason. Dementor got to be Professor Plum, as he'd legitimately earned the right to the title. Leaving Frugal Lucre with a choice between Mrs White and Colonel Mustard. He'd chosen the latter, due to Smarty Mart selling the condiment at an unbeatable price.

The game had largely passed Shego by. Sure, she'd rolled the die, moved her token and made suggestions when required, but there had been no strategy to her play. She might as well have been playing Snakes and Ladders, given the linear fashion in which she moved around the board. The others had conversed and she'd answered questions when asked, but she'd contributed little else. Yes, it had been just another day of comfortably numb monotony. That was until Dr Drakken made the following comment, "this version of the game lacks character. Where's the charming, but cunning Dr Lipsky? The death-ray? The active volcano!"

"Like, what on earth are you babbling about?" Bonnie asked. The girl had taken Shego's advice and refrained from referring to Drakken by something derogatory.

"We created a more interesting version of the game, dear Fraulein," Professor Dementor replied in his thick German accent.

"Replacing the boring normal characters, murder implements and rooms with some far more villainous ones," Drakken added gleefully and rubbed his hands together, like the creation of an alternate version of Clue was part of a new take over the world scheme.