Meeting the Teacher:

Kim remembered the man standing in the dojo control room from some brief encounters as he was going in and out of Ron's house, but he'd often seemed to be…well unmemorable. Now she realized that had been an act, as Gray eyes looked at her, evaluated her and greeted her, all without a word being said.

"Kimberly Ann Possible" He said. "Ron's convinced me to let you have some training with other real humans, and not the goo bags." He shrugged, "Tara's significant other's team, in fact."

"Um, thank you."

"Don't think me." He said, "I have some ulterior motives for this, but first a question."

'Yes?"

"If you could, would you join a Special Operations Group?" Kim blinked, slightly flustered. She hadn't expected that sort of question so soon and to be honest, had focused on getting better, rather than figuring out what she would do.

"I-"

"Because it is, honestly, the only way you'll get back 'into the game' as some say." Samuel said, "Freelance will never happen, nor will working with Ron." He shrugged, "I'd have to talk like a Dutch Uncle to get you into a SOG, as it is."

"I… I'm honored, but-"

"But you're currently teaching small children, enjoy it, and have been spending most of your time between the school, here and your apartment with occasional visits to your parents, and the Lipsky's. You spent 45 minutes yesterday conversing with Mrs. Lipsky about her children, while watching Jessica playing at the Middleton central park. 5 minutes of the conversation were about the current political administration, largely non-committal on your part, largely disdainful on her part." He paused, "Shall I go on?"

"You…you're not my parole agent and you spied on me?"

"Yap. If you join an SOG you'll have access to information that is highly classified—you'd actually have access higher than Tara King does, and she's a major who works with SOG units. You'll also have access to occasional sealed orders which could let you order a General to jump with the comforting assurance that his only question will be 'how high'." Samuel paused, closed a data screen and looked at her, "But that comes with a price—if you think you are under observation now, you have no idea what might come. Your house would be bugged, continuously. You'd have an approved list of hotels you could stay in, but it would be expected you'd keep most of your transient housing in military bases. You'd be on 30 minute 'hot call', which means that for nine months out of the year you'd be expected to, no matter the time of day, be available in 30 minutes." He shrugged, "I can go on, but understand, an SOG team isn't a job—it's a life."

"I um…"

"Which assumes you pass my tests…not easy."

"You don't sound too optimistic."

"We'll see—but like I said, I do have some other reasons for this."

"What?"

"Do you know that before your incarceration you were rated as the single highest example of physical skill found in a human since we'd kept records?"

"I-no."

"You were, even through Global Justice's crappy record keeping. Like this: 'Avoided laser beams.'"

"Well I did-"

"Something moving at 186,000 miles per second? Think about it." Kim thought, but she honestly…

"I… I dodged them yes, but I was watching the guns."

"Right—they don't traverse at light speed, but you wouldn't know it from those GJ jokers. Poor Betty, no wonder she's going gray."

"I don't…"

"She was tasked with dealing with the crazies, the mad scientists, the borderline psychics and such."

"Psychics?"

"I'll see about getting you some clearance to read the files." Samuel said, "But let's just say GJ came about also because some sorts were able to… bend the laws of probability in subtle or not so subtle ways. Like Drakken with Erik, for example."

"For example." Kim said, feeling her voice cool.

Samuel grinned. "Boy, I wish I had some of those—sentient, nearly invulnerable to blunt trauma, able to be churned out like play-dough… why, wouldn't any army love them?"

"Well…yeah."

"Except for the fact that Drakken made the one, and there were never any others—and believe me, we've tried. Just about every synthodrone you see is being tele operated from a much larger computer—or has very limited 'brains'. Just like some of Drakken's weapons—he can use them, all day. Hand them to a guy standing next to him, no dice. Some of them don't even make sense when you open them up."

"So that was GJ's job?"

"To some extent, but people got worried—if GJ had access to these crazies and some of their technology could be duplicated… Well, that's a lot of power."

"So what did they do?"

"Saddled Betty with the biggest collection of pains in the asses, brilliant but nuts scientists and unworkable programs that I'd ever seen. GJ had a budget to make a base that had transfer tubs running all through Middleton, but only half the training budget of the FBI… Lot's of toys, nobody to use them."

"I haven't seen her since…" Kim paused. Samuel nodded.

"You kinda put her in a bad position—her fair haired wunderkind runs off and gets herself thrown in prison. CIA and FBI were both drooling at the prospect of getting GJ folded into their own orgs."

"Why didn't they?"

"Same reason GJ had so many hindrances put on it. Would you trust the CIA with a guy who could make…ah, Moodulator chips, even if they only worked when he made them?"

"Um… no."

"Smart kid—separation of powers isn't just for the poli-sci guys. Sometimes you don't want to have all the power under one organization."

"oh."

"Now, for today, we'll be running you with Captain Taggert's unit." He paused, "You're not trained with them, so you'll be operating by yourself—for the purposes of the exercise, you're a 'Kit Carson' scout that is attached with the unit."

"Kit Carson?"

"Vietnam? Former VC working with a South Vietnamese or American Unit?" Kim shook her head, baffled. Samuel shook his head and sighed.

"Kids, these days, no sense of history, I'll give you the whole story on the way to the center."

TBC