They helped each other up and dressed in silence. Shego stepped into his boxers while Ron slipped her bra over his head. At the same time, they stopped and stared: at the boxers, the bra, and then each other. It wasn't a sign of anything gone wrong, they were Separate, they were themselves. But apparently, they would have to make a conscious effort to remember which one they were, at least for awhile.
They both began to laugh - at themselves, as much as each other.
Once they had both cleaned off the blood and dressed, they stepped out into the main room of the suite again, to be stared at by everybody, including Ko.
Kim was first, “So… uh…”
Josh: “I take it it worked?”
Sheaghen added, “You two okay? You look… weird.”
Shego spoke for herself and Ron, “It was a ‘weird’ experience. But yeah, we'll… I mean, he'll be okay now. And as for me, if I thought I was hungry before…”
Ron finished for her, “I'm starving now. I say we eat!” It was also a ruse, of course, an attempt to stop the questions.
“What about her?” Kim pointed to Ko.
Ko was living a nightmare. Bad enough to be trapped, enslaved by this “Josh”, bad enough to become re-acquainted with Shego and the girl who was apparently her lover… bad enough this Sheaghen, who she couldn't quite make out, somehow. Now there was this Ron person, obviously Josh's lover, which only made both boys all that much more fascinating and… attractive… to her! She couldn't deny the attraction – she'd never had to deal with it before. Nothing in her training had prepared her for this. And her life had been nothing but training. She was not SUPPOSED to be put in situations like this! It could ruin her! Didn't Lee know -
The Pain hit with that thought, and she cringed inwardly. Outwardly, she only blinked.
She returned to her train of thought, slightly modified: Bad enough the two pairs of lovers and the strange Sheaghen. The worst part was how they all interacted with each other. Each one seemed to have his or her place, and knew the places of each of the others. Perhaps, she thought hopefully, this was the information she was put here to gather, perhaps Lee would rescue her from this situation before… before… before what?
What she didn't dare think was: Before she could wonder what she'd missed.
“I imagine she has to eat too. Spawn of the Devil or not” Josh said, and turned to Ko, who still hadn't spoken to anyone but him, “You hungry, Ko?”
“Yes” she replied, safely staring into space again.
“Then it's unanimous. We shall go -” Josh began, only to be interrupted by a somewhat perturbed Sheaghen.
“What am I? Chopped liver?”
They all looked at her awkwardly, then Kim took her hand and Shego's at the same time, and began walking toward the door. “I know you're not hungry, Sheaghen, but you can come, too.”
“I can eat, y'know. And drink an’ everything” Sheaghen said peevishly.
Ron raised a now-undamaged eyebrow, “You can? But… where does -”
“RON!” Kim cried. “We don't want to know! Okay? She can eat if she wants. Can we just go, please, before something else happens?”
When in Venezuela, one ate like Venezuelans did. And apparently, Venezuelans ate a lotof beef. They'd all ordered combo or sampler platters of some kind (Josh ordered for Ko, who professed not to care) and between them, they ended up with what seemed like half a cow at their table. Shego ordered a bottle of Blue Nun for herself (which she shared with Kim), while Sheaghen split a pitcher of beer with the boys. Ko drank water.
They talked – carefully, because of Ko – about work, and then about the various things that had happened to each of them when separated from the others. Kim and Josh tried desperately to worm something out of Shego and Ron about what had happened between them, to no avail. “It was NOT anything sexual!” was all they got. In the friendly conversation, they took turns embarrassing each other. Except for Sheaghen, who simply delighted in embarrassing them all.
Ko sat stone-faced at the end of the table, Kim on one side and Josh on the other. But it was wearing on her, the Ice-Queen act. The five others were enjoying each other's company so much, and she could have too, maybe, if the situation had been different. If she weren't a Slic. That hurt. It was a kind of pain – one amongst many – she'd grown used to, but there were five of them, and they were so… comfortable with each other. They didn't hide anything or try to manipulate each other… they laughed at themselves when the others laughed at them. They traded insults, double-ententres, and blatant sexual-innuendo filled remarks like candy. It was as if… as if they were almost deliberately showing-off what they had, what had been taken away from her by Lee -
The Pain was debilitating this time, and Ko put her hands to her temples in a vain attempt to stop it. Her eyes squeezed shut and tears fell down her cheeks as it went on and on and on…
“Ko?” Kim turned to her. Oddly, Kim felt no animosity towards Ko, though she felt sure she should. It was obvious that Ko was a tool of Lee, that she'd used Shego, played her like a violin. Somehow, though, Kim didn't blame her. After all, Kim was used to dealing with villains doing what villains do. Shego had been a villain.
After what seemed like hours, but was really only 20 seconds, the pain subsided, and Ko was able to open her eyes to find everyone staring at her. She took her hands off her temples and put them on her lap, trying to appear calm. She went back into her stone-faced look because she couldn't think of anything else to do.
Josh felt a pang of guilt about being the girl's “master”. “Ko, you can talk to them too. Not just to me.” Then Josh had another idea, if Lee could make him Ko's “master”, then he could as easily spread the responsibility around, couldn't he?
“Look at me, Ko.” She turned her eyes to Josh. She knew what was coming, and it terrified her.
“I order you -”
“Josh! Stop!” Ron cried. “Don't do it!”
Josh looked at him in surprise, as did everyone else.
“Think about it, Josh” Ron explained, “she already has two masters. Lee may be letting you pretend to be her master, but he could always take that away. Whereas I doubt that you could order her to not to obey Lee anymore. Anyway, she doesn't need five more. I… it's just something I feel. I think Ko is… I think she's been conditioned. She's not just your ‘slave’ out of devotion to Lee or because it's her ‘job’ to obey or anything… I don't think she can help it.”
“Mind-control?” Shego asked with a subtle shiver. Ever since Drakken's Compliance Chips, she'd developed an intense distaste for anything that smacked of this.
Ron went on, “Uh, not… well, yeah. But different from the Compliance Chips. I mean, under the control of the Chips, we could still think our own thoughts, right? We couldn't help our actions, but our inner selves were still safe. She's been conditioned, or brain-washed… whatever you want to call it. She can't think her own thoughts. Or at least, not without going through what we just saw happen.”
Ko closed her eyes simply because she couldn't bear to keep them open anymore. The rest of the group looked at her with pity. Even Shego.
Ko began to cry, Ice-Queen no more.
“Uh, let's get you to the ladies’ room, okay?” Shego said scooting her chair out.
That broke Ko out of herself, “No! I mean…”, she knew someone would have to watch her, she knew she wasn't trusted. She knew she shouldn't be trusted. “Could… could Sheaghen go with me?” Sheaghen was the one member of the group she couldn't figure out, and that kept her distant, and that was a good thing.
Five pairs of eyes – well, four pairs of eyes, and two optical-sensors – exchanged glances. Sheaghen got up. “Sure, sweet-heart, I'll go with ya. C'mon.”
Sheaghen put Ko in a stall and stood waiting outside, listening to her cry. I wonder why she asked for me?
The dark-skinned teenage woman cried for quite a long time. Four times other women came in, were greeted with dirty-looks and sarcastic remarks from Sheaghen, and promptly left.
“You about done in there, Ko?”
She could hear sniffles, toilet-paper being un-rolled, a nose being blown. “Yes, I think so.” Ko hoped Sheaghen wouldn't ask her what she was crying about, because thinking about it would bring the Pain again. She'd let herself cry specifically so she wouldn't think about why.
Ko opened the stall door and went to the sink to wash her face. Sheaghen sat on the counter next to her, swinging her feet.
“So, Ko… why'd you want me to come, anyway?”
“Because something is different about you. You're strange, somehow… and I just… I just felt more comfortable with you than with… well, one of them.”
Sheaghen frowned, “That's actually a little insulting, but I'll letcha get away with it. I'm a machine, Ko. A ‘syntho-drone’. Y'know, like Data, or the Terminator… HAL 9000 with tits. But I like to think no one can tell. At least, I used to like to think that.”
“Data? Terminator? I don't understand.”
“God, you have led a sheltered life, haven't ya? Well, you know what a ‘robot’ is, right?”
“Yes.”
“Okay then, I'm a robot.”
“Really?”
Sheaghen's frown became a grin. She jumped down, pulled down her slacks and hopped back on the counter, spreading her legs. There was absolutely nothing to see, of course, which is why underwear would have been just silly. “Yeah, really. Believe me now?”
Ko was actually speechless, both inside and out. Her face had an expression that would have belonged on a 5-year-old boy, in similar circumstances.
Sheaghen laughed hard. “God! That was SO cool! I wish I could do that more often! Absolutely priceless, it was!”
Ko remained as before.
“Calm down now, sweet-heart. I know it's a shock. Truth is, I'm thinking of doing something about it, one of these days. Think I should?” Sheaghen smiled evilly as she waited for a response.
“Uh…”
Sheaghen laughed continuously as she pulled her clothes back up, and led Ko back to the table where the others were waiting.
Ron, as befitting his new role in the group, led the questioning. Kim, Shego, and Sheaghen were on the couch. Josh was in a normal hotel-room type of chair, while Ron stood. Ko, the center of the show, had the other hotel-chair, at the end of the living-room. Ko was serene and comfortable. They were going to ask her questions, and she had been ordered to answer. This would be easy. This was a relief.
“Why do you work for Lee?”
“Because He is my Master.”
“How did he become your ‘master’?”
“He has always been my Master.”
Okay, dead line of questioning. Either she doesn't remember or she was too young… Ron let that line of thought drop, too awful to finish.
“Why did you become involved with Shego?”
Shego hung her head down. She knew it would come around to her, eventually. Kim put her arm around her shoulders and give her a squeeze. “It's okay, sweet-heart” she whispered.
“Because I was ordered to.”
“By Lee?”
“Yes.”
“I see. Did you succeed? Was he happy with your work?”
“Yes, I did succeed. I do not know if he was ‘happy’ with my work.”
“Did… do you enjoy your work?” Ron was trying to lead up to questions beyond “yes” or “no”.
“I take pride in my work.”
Ah-ha! There's something. “But did you enjoy it?”
“I only enjoy doing a job well.”
“And you did. You did do your job well, is that right?”
“Yes.”
Ron thought about that. Then he had an astounding insight, “Are you attracted to Shego, Ko?”
“No.”
Shego's head lifted to stare at the girl in bewilderment. She wasn't? She sure seemed…
“Are you attracted to women at all?”
“No.”
Shego's mouth dropped open.
“Have you…” Ron paused. He was onto something, if only he asked the right questions… Or, no. Perhaps the questions were the problem!
“Ko, please describe the kind of work you do.”
She did. It took fifteen minutes. During her answer, the word “Slic” slipped in.
“Now, tell us what a ‘Slic’ is.”
She did that, too. And as she did, Shego left the room with Kim chasing after her. Sheaghen watched them both with strange interest.
Ron considered his next question. He hoped it wouldn't hurt her. Despite his suspicions, he was beginning to feel truly sorry for the girl.
“What happens to you when you disobey Lee, Ko?”
“I do not disobey Lee.”
“Well, what would happen if you did?”
“I would experience the Pain.”
“What kind… uh, tell us about the pain, Ko.”
So she described it as best she could. Part of it was physical, like razor-blades of ice in her skull. But part of it was worse, because it wasn't physical. It was mental, it was made of vague but foreboding feelings and inarticulate terrors that had no explanation. A kind of pain that could make her feel insane. Truly insane people didn't know it, and were thus spared at least that. But to know your mind was sick, or damaged, that king of pain was unbearable.
Ko explained it all calmly, as if reciting a badly-memorized poem. Ron could feel the truth of it, but couldn't figure out how she could describe it so… detached.
At this point, Josh, too, left the room. Josh had a particular loathing for torture, mental or physical, and didn't want to hear more. He joined Kim and Shego in their bedroom, un-self-consciously.
Ron continued questioning. Yes, he felt pity for poor Ko as well, and yes, many of her answers hurt him deeply. But he was beginning to see how it could be undone. He could undo the Devil's handiwork. How impressive would that be?
But it might be… hard. He asked Sheaghen to leave, as well.
“No” she said.
Ron looked at her intensely, both angry and surprised by her flat refusal. No? Why not? What did the affairs of us “meat-bags” matter at all to her, anyway? Still, she had said “No”. Ron realized his pride might be getting the better of him, and did not press the matter.
He went on with the interrogation.
They all heard Ko scream, but no one got up to do anything about it. Sheaghen and Ron were still in there, and none of them were quite brave enough to intrude on whatever it was Ron was doing. They just hoped he would stop.
Apparently, he did, because within a minute Sheaghen was leading a staggering Ron into the bedroom where they'd all gathered. Josh was on his feet in a second, taking Sheaghen's place at his side.
“What happened? We heard her scream…” he said.
Ron looked into his eyes for a long time before answering, “I can do it, Josh. I know… I know how I can break her conditioning. I could set her free. Josh… I could…”
Josh could tell there was more to it than that. Ron's condition was not that of someone who'd just achieved a success. “But…?”
“But… I'd basically have to do to her what Lee did in the first place. All over again. She… she could stand it, I can tell, and afterwards, she'd be free. Josh! Can you imagine? She wouldn't have to obey anyone anymore!”
“You'd have to… do what Lee did to her?” Josh asked, to be sure he'd heard right.
“Basically. I'd have to take his place, I'd have to… to think like him… wouldn't that be something?”
The pieces fell into place in Josh's mind. THAT was why Ko was here! THAT was Lee's reason! She was a bomb, all right - more like a missile - and the target was Ron!
“You can't do it Ron! I see it now! That's why she's here! That's why Lee gave her to me! He's playing on your weakness, Ron! We'd all be impressed, wouldn't we, if you could set poor Ko free… You… you want that, don't you… for us to be impressed…?”
“I… my weakness? You mean I'd… do what he wants… in order to impress…?” Ron, already shocked, got another one.
“Look at you, Ron. Even I can tell that whatever you've been doing to her has… is changing you. Can't you feel it? How much would it affect you if you were to, uh, ‘break her conditioning’?”
Ron looked down. Will I NEVER get the chance to make him proud of me?“You're right, Josh. It would change me… I can see that. And I would have done it, just to impress you -”
“Well, I was thinking of ‘us', as in all of -”
“No, Josh…” Ron interrupted. It was true. It was all true, and he'd have done it too, if Sheaghen hadn't stopped him, suggesting – insisting - he take a break and talk to them. But he didn't really care that much about impressing all of them…
“You. I'd have done it just to impress you. I would have. You're… you're sure that was his plan?”
“It fits, Ron. That's… um, that's all I can say. You were the target…”
“Then that's good enough for me” Ron said, still shaky and now ashamed of himself as well.
Josh was still thinking out loud, “… which means he thinks you're dangerous. Dangerous enough to expend a weapon like Ko to kill – or damage, or render harmless… whatever.” He looked at Ron in a new light. “You already impress me every day, Ron. You don't need to worry about that. I don't know how else to say it… But… why would he think you're so… such a danger?”
“I may have a idea about that” Shego said from the far corner of the bed.