There was no hesitation; Shego was aware of that much. By the time she realized what she herself was doing, she found herself speeding down the main road towards the school, Hank left behind to ensure Sophie was still safe. But Motor Ed…Harper…ONE of them would be there. And Shego had lost the chance to interrogate that bitch once before and there would NOT be a repeat of that little incident. Of that, Shego was certain. Hell, if it wouldn't have ignited the gasoline and caused a massive fireball, Shego would've engulfed herself in plasma and become a flaming green comet streaking towards her objective with the intensity of a thousand suns. She'd just cleared the main part of the city when she heard the gunfire and…something else.

"Commander Sherbern," Shego called into her headset. "This is Possible. Do you copy? We've received word that Lihikai Elementary School is under attack. I repeat; Lihikai is under attack by Scarlet Crane. Send whatever troops you can to that location!"

No idea when they could get there but it was better than nothing. "You reading me, Wade?"

"Always, Shego."

"What do you say; ready to poke them in the eye?"

"You know it! I clock you at about eight minutes away. My scans show three custom designed assault crafts, definitely a Motor Ed creation, and maybe eighteen or twenty attackers. Special Reaction is holding strong, mostly because the school seems to be equipped with natural defenses but they don't have long. I think I've found you a good route to let you take a chunk out of the bad guys. You feel like showing off a little?"

Ha…as if he even needed to ask. Shego darted off the main road and began heading down a dirt road along the coast. It must've been some kind of service road. It took her into a forest of lush palm trees, hardly any buildings around for at least two miles. The gunfire had been steadily getting louder and now impact tremors, likely from grenades. If nothing else, she could at least draw the fight away from the school. How could Motor Ed have gone this far down? Attacking a school? Cousin or no, when Drakken found out about this, he'd pull the trigger himself.

"Okay, Shego; they are going to be just over that hill. If my calculations are right, you should coast clear over their vehicles. Lob a couple of plasma balls and you should be able to get their attention. Draw Motor Ed's forces away from the school and I'll contact the SEAL teams and set up an ambush. If what Harper said back in Canberra is true…I'd wager that they won't be able to resist chasing you, especially if Harper is cracking the whip."

Well that was just fine with her! Now…she'd have to do this left handed, not to mention keeping the charge small enough to avoid the school but powerful enough to take a chunk out of the party crashers. The gunfire seemed to be increasing in intensity. No point in waiting any longer now. Shego's hand curled around the accelerator and threw it into gear. 30mph…40mph…50mph…Shego's hand became engulfed in plasma…60mph…she was almost at the crest of the hill…70mph…in one great lurch, she felt the ground beneath her disappear and a blue sky become her entire world. It was always just…indescribable; the feeling of sailing through the air. But in circumstances like this, Shego was in control of herself enough to prevent it from overwhelming her. The scene below her was exactly what she'd expected, assault vehicles surrounding the school and the good guys doing everything they could to keep them back. Well, Shelia Elizabeth Possible could push them back too. With a mighty swing, a ball of plasma erupted from Shego's left hand and collided with the far assault vehicle, igniting the vehicle into a massive fireball. No time to charge another one so before they could react, she ripped out the Beretta pistol strapped at her calve and emptied the clip. By some miracle, upon hitting the ground, she'd managed to hold on to the small firearm and holstered it. She turned in her seat and…there he was! It wasn't much given her time to react but she lobbed another plasma ball in Motor Ed's direction

"You bastard, Ed," Shego barked. "I'm RIGHT here, you piece of shit. Stop shooting at children and come GET me!"

Well…you could certainly say that got their attention. Bullets began whizzing past her head and…yeah, that guy was about to pitch a grenade her direction. Thank God, his goons seemed to have accuracy that rivaled that of Imperial Storm Troopers. The engine fired up once again and Shego skidded onto the road, Motor Ed's impromptu air guitar just a short distance behind. Well…Shego had certainly gotten their attention. That much could be said, at least.

"Okay Wade; I've got their attention. What now?" She lobbed a plasma ball behind her to slow them down.

"Commander Sherbern's forces are massing at the base on Hana Highway, about twenty miles east of your position, preparing an ambush. Keep them on your tail and drawn them in."

Shego ducked out of the path of a volley of machine gun fire. Keep them on my tail, he says? Wade was a good man and an integral part of Team Possible, both before Shego was a part of it and when she was fighting against it, but the little techie did have a tendency to have his view of the world limited to a computer screen. Not always an attractive quality unless one had an appreciation for extreme irony. "Uh…roger that, Wade; shouldn't be too much of a chore."

KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP

Too much of a chore? Too much of a CHORE? Shego was about ready to go back in time and bitch slap herself for those words coming out of her mouth. Even in her villain days, dealing with Motor Ed, family to Drakken or no, had made her head ache like a hammer to the temple. But one sure fire thing you could count on was that if Ed set his sights on something, if you could make him wake for it, he'd inevitably lose interest. Whether girls or some new kind of tech, the longest Shego had ever heard of him sticking with something was actually getting his Master's Degree…SO WHERE WAS THAT FLIPPING MOTOR ED NOW? She'd been shot at least once, not serious but still annoying, and ol' Eddie wasn't letting up.

…COUGH…COUGH…

No…no…was she…she couldn't be! She glanced down at the gas gauge…God, she was running on fumes. How was that even…she had to have caught a ricochet in the gas tank without realizing it. There had to be a reserve tank…her free hand slid along the bike and…THERE! If there was any common sense in the bike's design, it would be an independent fuel line…but that also meant that she wouldn't have enough fuel to get to the ambush. "Wade…I've got a problem. I think a stray shot must've caught my fuel tank. I've engaged my reserve tank but I don't think I can…"

…BOOOOOOOM…

She was flying through the air again. Only…the bike was no longer between her legs. Something…some kind of explosion…had to be a grenade launcher or RPG…Shego hit the soft ground with a loud THUMP. That definitely wasn't something she'd care to repeat. She blinked several times to get the cobwebs out of her head. Good thing the ground was so soft; Shego barely felt dazed. Jumping to her feet, she looked around for the nearest adversary…and if only she was bulletproof.

"Wade…are Eliza and Sophie secure?"

"Shego…what…yes but…"

"Good…because I'm about to be captured by Motor Ed and his flunkies; I want you to ensure that Sophie and her daughter get to safety, that they get back to Nate and the rest of Leverage. My biometric ID can't be blocked, right? Then use me as a tracking dart!"

"Shego…are you insane? I can't…you've got to…"

"DO IT!"

Sure enough, Harper climbed out of the nearest vehicle, once again looking at Shego as if she were a piece of meat. Well, that bitch could do her worst. Shego could take it and then some. Global Justice and Team Possible had to put a stop to whatever Scarlet Crane was up to and if Shego couldn't find out that information from the outside, then she'd do it as a POW, for this…everything she'd seen on this island, everything they were capable of, this was a war that needed to be fought and won.

"Wade…don't let Kim be the one to come and get me. Promise me that."

KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP

"Kimberly? Dr. Archibald will see you now."

Kim heaved a small sigh and got to her feet, still very conscious of her wrist and shoulder. The girls had doted on the wounded mother, leaving her with precious little to do around the house. Boy, did they ever have some wonderful kids! They'd of course needed to celebrate Gracie's making the basketball team so that had of course meant they ordered Thai food and in light of the celebratory occasion, the Twins got to stay up a little later so the quartet could all watch a movie. But as the girls were dropped off at school and Nicky was left with Mom, Dr. Archibald had burrowed into her mind and wasn't leaving. Fortunately, his secretary had revealed that the Global Justice psychiatrist was free most of the morning and she could come over whenever she liked.

It wasn't her first time but Kim looked around the office as she stepped inside. She couldn't help it but her eyes darted to the far wall, taking note of the degrees from Leeds and Oxford University, as well as the book cases filled to bursting. The good doctor was certainly qualified, no doubt about that. And furthermore, he just had one of those faces, those personalities, that you took one look at him and knew that you were in a safe place.

"Kimberly," Despite being educated in London and to Kim's knowledge, working in America the last sixteen years, Dr. Baddon Archibald seemed to have never lost that lyrical accent. He happily offered her a hand and shook it. "Always a pleasure to see you," He gestured to the couch opposite his desk while he pulled up his office chair next to it. "So sorry to hear about your injury; feeling better?"

"Yeah…only thing really damaged was my pride but my wife keeps telling me that too will mend," She replied with a weak laugh.

"Well, let's get down to business then. You said over the phone that you feel that you're having trouble with one of your recent missions? All I remember hearing about it was that it occurred in New Zealand?"

"Auckland, yes," Kim sighed, nervously cracking her knuckles. "It wasn't even really supposed to be a mission. My wife and I renewed our wedding vows this past summer and my daughter and I spent a few days the previous winter scouting locations in New Zealand. A few days before leaving, Dr. Director asked us to conduct a security check of Global Justice."

"And I assume it went bad?"

"Oh Doc; you have absolutely no idea."

KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP

"Well, Kim, it's something no parent should ever have to expect to come to terms with, the thought of losing their child. Believe it or not, this is not that uncommon a thing to struggle with. When I had established my first practice back in Newport, the Second Iraqi War was in full swing and I helped many families cope with the idea of their children going off to fight in that war and Afghanistan. It can be quite hard to deal with, even more so with your family's…unusual circumstances, to say the least. I mean, your daughter is what, almost 16? She's already an accomplished pilot and didn't she survive a plane crash in Northern Canada?"

"She and Shego were stranded in Northern Ontario for nearly a week until the search parties and I found them. Gracie barely survived being attacked by a rabid black bear," What a time that had been, Gracie's Top Gun phase! You'd have thought that an incident like that would've dampened Gracie's desire to fly but…if anything, it had made her want it more. "The following October, Shego and I were in Montreal for a Second Honeymoon when Doctor Dementor decided to go all Under the Dome on the city, and who should show up in an F-22 Raptor? I mean, it's not like we never discussed the possibility of Gracie going on missions with us. Her sixteenth birthday was always the agreement and…despite a few mishaps, we've held to it. But…I've never…Auckland was the first time Gracie almost…that I was truly faced with…is this what Mom went through whenever I would go on a mission? I…I don't know if…I mean I thought I'd be able to handle my daughter following in my footsteps…but I think about her in some of the situations I was in and…it makes me feel like an icy hand is just reaching into my chest and squeezing my heart. I…I can just imagine how Gracie would react if I dared tell her."

"Well, Kimberly, a lot of my patients say that exact same thing. But in all my years of practice, I can say that talking about a difficult subject never ends up being as bad as we imagine it to be. You seem to pile so much responsibility on your own shoulders. But let me ask you something. Were either you or Shego one of those parents that tried to baby-proof the entire house, kept a constant watch on your child so they wouldn't get a scratch?"

"Well…of course not; I always thought that parents like that were half-cracked and projecting their own inadequacies on their kids but we're not talking about a bumped head or a scabbed knee."

"Maybe yes, maybe no," Dr. Archibald countered. "You said something interesting a few moments ago, questioning if this is how your mother must've felt when you were Gracie's age. If you have no objections, I think it might be a great help if your mother were to offer her two shillings about this."

Kim couldn't deny the logic in that. Oddly enough, it hadn't ever occurred to her to talk to Mom about this. What with seeing Nate and the gang again and Shego being taken…Kim's life had been one roller coaster after another. But…more than bring Mom in on these sessions, this session was coming to an end and Kim was seriously considering paying Mom a visit. So the session did indeed come to an end and Kim met with Dr. Archibald's secretary to set another appointment and made her way to the GJ parking structure. A few friends bid her hello and she smiled, returning their greetings, and came to a stop at her car. The Chevy Traverse roared to life and navigated the sea of parked cars, emerging out into the pre-noon traffic.

Coming to a decision, Kim brought up the Kimmunicator and called home.

"Hello?" Mom's voice quickly answered back.

"Hey, Mom; it's Kim."

"Well, hey, Kimmie-Cub. How're you fairing?"

"Uh…up and down, I suppose. Are…are you doing anything for the next few hours?"

"Uh, no, nothing that I can think of."

"You want to have lunch? I'm in the car right now so…I could pick up something?"

"Sure; daughter's choice for food though; but come right over."

"Thanks; see you in half an hour."

KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP

It was the beauty of being a brain surgeon nearing retirement. You could set your own hours. And since her husband's retirement, Anne Possible had gradually been scaling back the number of hours each week, leaving the space open for those that were foolhardy enough to become brain surgeons. It left her more time with her family, especially her darling grandchildren. That is…until she got the ESPECIALLY foolhardy notion of taking a page…quite literally, in this case…from her daughter's book and set about the task of writing a book for herself. The hours were better, there was far less chaos…but Anne felt more overworked than when she was in her prime. She'd been hunched over her computer, over her personal medical library splayed out across the living room floor, for what felt like an eternity…and was she starting to develop a hump?

Her ears picked up the sound of a car coming up the driveway…that'd be Kim…and she looked up from the current volume she was reading through, readjusting her glasses, and spotting her redheaded daughter walking up the path, hefting a bag of what appeared to be a bag of Chinese food. Perfect timing; Anne was starting to get hungry. She hopped to her feet…ignoring the cracking spine as she stretched out her limbs…and marched over to the door as it was opening and…

"Kimmie…what's wrong?"

Kim looked…weary was the first word that came to mind but didn't seem to do her daughter justice. Her eyes were bloodshot…had she been crying? Her daughter just seemed to…stumble…into the house and into Anne's arms. This was…oh God; did something happen to Shego…or Gracie?

"I…I…" After over thirty years, Anne could detect the crack in her daughter's voice, signifying that she was holding back a bought of tears. "Mom, I…I'm so…sniff…SORRY!"

The bag of Chinese food clattered to the ground and Anne could feel her daughter's arms wrap around her, seeking whatever comfort they could find. The woman standing before her may have been a mother of four but Anne embraced her baby girl and held her tight. "Shhhhhh; it's going to be okay, Kimmie. Everything's going to be okay." She guided Kim into the living room, deftly steering her around the piles of books in their path, and sitting her down on the couch. "It's okay Kimmie," Anne leaned over and yanked a handful of tissues out of the box on the coffee table and lifted her daughter's chin, dabbing at the tears. "What is it? Tell me what happened."

Anne didn't know what had…Kim just simply grabbed a hold of her mother and wept into her shoulder for what seemed like a good five minutes. This…if somebody were seriously hurt, Anne would've heard about it by now. Wade would've contacted her…Doctor Director…the Hospital…so what had scared Kimmie so badly? More than that, why was she blaming herself for…something…she'd supposedly done to Anne.

Kim eventually cried herself out of tears and regained a semblance of composure. "Are you okay now?"

"I…sniff…I guess so. I'm…sorry to just lose control like that."

"Oh Kimmie, you should know by now that that's what I'm here for, whenever you need me. Now, what's wrong? What happened?"

"I…I don't even know where to begin. I…I thought I had made…I mean, I didn't think that…I thought that I'd made my peace with Gracie being in her accident but…a few weeks ago, Gracie came home from school and I…now that she was fully recovered, Gracie surprised us with her desire to try out for the basketball team. I don't know WHY I reacted the way I did but…everything just hit me like a ton of bricks. My first born daughter was shot out of the sky and…and nearly…I…I can't even say it."

"Kimmie…your daughter had a horrible accident. I…I don't think you'd be human if you weren't scared or do everything in your power to prevent it from happening again."

"But that's what makes it worse, Mom. I'd just picked up lunch when it hit me. Everything that I'm feeling right now…Mom…how did you cope with this? I mean, all those times I came home bloody and hurt…you and Daddy had to…"

Anne had…wow; she had never really looked at it that way before. Anne could remember the early days when Kim had started as Kim put it, travelling to all corners of the world, helping people and trying to make the world a better and safer place. It really wasn't until Kimmie had graduated college that she'd told Anne that those summers after Camp North Star, supposedly spent at "Junior Achievers Camp", were actually spent training with Leverage Inc, a "business" whose sole purpose was picking up where the law left off. It really wasn't until Kim was seventeen that she'd come home with a knife wound or laser burn. But…Kim had come home…happy. More than that, Kim had always COME home. Anne had spent a great deal of soul searching during those times, James as well, but…from the moment she was born, anyone with eyes could see that Kimberly Anne Possible was destined for greatness. The Possible family motto had always been "Anything is possible for a Possible". Kim had…Kim had actually made Anne believe it.

"Kimberly Anne Possible, you listen to me and listen well," Anne took her daughter's chin in hand once again. "We, your Dad and I, never in your entire life did we ever feel anything but proud of you. The times when you…when you got hurt…weren't exactly easy but…Kim…never ONCE did I ever consider asking you to stop or forcing you to stop."

"But…Mom…how…WHY didn't you or Daddy ever try; I mean, if I'd have known how you felt…"

"Which is exactly WHY we didn't tell you, Kimmie-Cub; never ONCE did your father and I ever consider forcing…or even ASKING you to stop; don't kid yourself. It IS possible to stop even the Great Kim Possible from doing something. Kimmie…you have this natural desire to…to take what she sees in the world and make it better. You are in every definition of the word an Optimist. While yes, your chosen profession was…let's just say less than traditional, I realized very early on that this was no different than if you wanted to ride motocross bikes or take up snowboarding…all of which you've done anyway. You're smart, you're careful, and you have an army of friends at your back who are ready at a moment's notice to stand beside you. And what's more, Kim, is that you and Shego have trained your daughter to be exactly like you. My granddaughter is…well, quite simply, she's a force of nature. All you can do is prepare her."

"I just feel like…like I'm failing her as a mother…"

"Now Kimberly Anne Possible, you banish those thoughts from your head immediately! You are a wonderful mother. Gracie and the twins…and likely Nicky too when he gets older…they adore you and you'd die before letting anything happen to them, emotionally or physically. Gracie is a happy, well-adjusted, all-American teenage girl and it is all because of the wonderful parents she had."

"Well…I guess I learned from the best, Mom."

"Darn right, you did," That finally brought a laugh from her daughter. "Kimmie, every parent goes through times when they question if they're raising their children right or screwing them up for life. I wish I could tell you that it gets easier but all you can do is the best you can. You may end up making mistakes but…why do we fall?"

"'So that we can learn to pick ourselves up'," Kim parroted back as sarcastically as possible. "You've been watching too many Fearless Ferret movies with Gracie, Mom."

"Now…I'm starving. What do you say we start digging into that Chinese food?"

KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP

As she got off the bus and entered the "hardware store" on the corner, Gracie couldn't help but shiver in anticipation. The twins were being picked up by a friend's Mom and Nicky was with Mom and Grandma so the minute Basketball practice came to a halt, Gracie made a bee line for the nearest city bus station. The rain was coming down in torrents, what Grandpa always called "Duck Weather" which unfortunately nixed her flight time today…but provided her the perfect opportunity to test out the simulation she'd designed. Thank goodness it was free today. She marched past the "cashier" with a wave hello and entered the elevator, pressing the button for the third floor, light jazz coming over the speaker.

Man, Aunt Betty really needs to invest some better tunes. This stuff was out of style even in Grandma's day.

The doors dinged open, allowing Gracie access into the vast network that was Global Justice headquarters. Gracie flagged a passing transport and requested a drop-off at the flight simulator. The driver quickly agreed and George popped out of Gracie's duffle as she settled in for the ride.

"This is going to be so spankin, George," Gracie sighed, patting her long-time rodent comrade on his pink back. "I've been working on this sim for weeks; Supermarine Spitfire in the Battle of Britain during storm conditions. The Luftwaffe are planning a low-level bombing raid, thinking the British would never expect it in bad weather, but those Krauts haven't ever tangled with us, have they?"

"Booyah," George gave a squeaky laugh and began imitating machine gun fire.

Gracie thanked the transport driver when he came to a halt outside a set of double doors marked "Simulator Training". The two guards out front checked her ID, long since a formality given how frequently the daughter of Kim and Shego Possible had trained, and compared the card to their list. They bid the teenager goodbye and ushered her in. Gracie could still remember the first time she'd set foot in this facility and saw all the next gen computers that could simulate literally any form of combat, hand-to-hand, armed, land combat, etc. Man, she had to have looked like Em and Zoe whenever they pestered Mom and Momma enough to take them to Candy Mountain up in Erie. Now? Now the seasoned operator walked through the lines of simulators without batting an eyelash.

A quick change into her flight suit and Gracie was ready. "Hey, Chief Zamborelli," She waved to the technician in charge of the five simulators devoted to flight. "How're they purring today?"

The gray-haired woman looked like she'd been around to fly some of the craft they simulated here largely for fun but Gracie quickly learned that Sandra Zamborelli, apart from being a very skilled software engineer, was also renowned among the training staff as being a walking encyclopedia when it came to aircraft, which drew Gracie to her almost immediately upon beginning her training. This woman was…she could coordinate all five simulators, keeping them running at full capacity, and the participants couldn't even tell the difference. It looked, though, like Gracie was the only participant at the moment. "Afternoon Gracie; how was basketball practice?"

"Compared to Momma's Kendo training?" Gracie replied, handing the external hard drive containing her sim to the Chief. "Actually pretty close second; but we're definitely gonna be ready for our first game against Oak Bluffs."

Gracie climbed into the nearest machine, securing the safety straps, and sealing herself in. The interior was a silvery metallic material, kind of reminding Gracie of a leather couch. As usual, she pulled on the neurotransmitter band that would turn this little bubble into the cockpit of, in her opinion, one of the greatest planes to come out of the age. A tickling sensation spread across her skin under the band, forcing Gracie to close her eyes…and the moment she opened them, she was no longer in chilled and rainy Middleton but in VERY rainy and stormy Gatwick England, now surrounded by the cockpit of a Supermarine Spitfire. Through the peals of thunder and the hammering of raindrops, her ears picked up the sound of an emergency siren. She looked down and thanks to the band, she could've just stepped out of the movies. The RAF uniform was perfect!

With a practiced precision, Gracie brought the engine to life and felt the familiar thrill as she taxied onto the runway and took off. 100mph…150mph…200mph…and she was off!

"All fighters report in as soon as you're up," She breathed into the headset.

One by one, the fighters in her wing got into formation and set out for Dover England. Radar stations had detected a squadron of Heinkel He 111 bombers with a Me109 escort enroot to Maidstone; well NOT while Flight Leader Gracie Possible was in the air. As heavy as Spitfires were, they were making good time. They were to rendezvous with a squadron of Hurricanes in the skies over Maidstone and if they could keep up this pace, they could head the bombers off before they could make landfall. If the Nazis got through, the city and thousands of people were doomed. The moment her squadron passed the outskirts of Maidstone, the Hurricane Squadron leader, voiced by none other than Mary, radioed in and formed up on her left…now all they had to do was find those bombers.

"Red leader, I've got enemy bombers, bearing seven-six-six."

There we go! The twenty four fighters moved like a flock of birds towards the coastline. "All wings, get above the bombers. I want to drop in on them like locusts! Red Two, follow me in!"

Her Spitfire went up in a climb and like it was being pulled, she plummeted towards the planes determined to hurt all those innocent people. Her thumb crept to the triggering mechanism. Four Browning Mark II cannons, 1400 rounds of ammunition; every ONE of those was going to count…

Without warning, the entire simulation vanished.

"What the…what's going on, Chief?"

The seal crack and light flooded the chamber. Where Gracie had expected to see Chief Zamborelli, materializing in her vision was…Aunt Betty? What was…uh-oh; her hearing was still adjusting to normal but that was definitely an ACTUAL emergency siren she was picking up. Gracie hauled herself out, looking to the older woman for some clue as to what was going on but…Gracie knew that look. She knew it all too well from when Aunt Betty had shown up at the house to inform them that they'd lost contact with whichever parent was currently on mission. Momma had to be in trouble!

Author's Notes:

I went through several drafts trying to get this right, especially Kim's therapy session and confrontation with Anne so I hope it works. But with Kimberly trapped on an emotional roller coaster, will Gracie be able to save her plasma-flinging mother? Tune in next time, same Kim-time, same Kim-channel.