Disclaimer: Sarah (Under the name Shego at least.) and the Kim Possible characters are all the property of Disney.

This is a story that Sarah has been whispering to me for some time. Ron and Leanne were just supposed to be cameo characters, but they became more while I was writing "Possible Pregnancies". You may also recognize the character of Amy Rice. She was from "A Week in the Pocket". Ron, Leah, thank you so much, and I hope I do you justice.

I would like to thank author and mentor extraordinaire, cpneb. He has kindly consented to let me use parts of his work, namely Blaze-IT and the wonderful pairing that is Jade. You have been a good friend, and a good guide, cpneb. I can never repay that, no matter how hard I try.

It Happens Here Too

Sarah Go was just sitting down to lunch when the principal of Middleton Middle School walked into the staff lounge. She wore a deep frown, which spoiled the youthful appearance she normally sported. Natasha Ryder was in her late forties, but her wide, bright eyes and freckles made her look as if she were in her early thirties, the same as Sarah. Tasha (as her friends and coworkers called her) was one of those eternally cheerful people. Not today.

Tasha walked up to the long table where her newest teacher was sitting. Pulling out a chair she sank into it with a weary sigh.

"Tasha, what's the matter?" Sarah put down the spinach salad she had been getting ready to eat.

"We have a big problem on our hands, Sarah, and I don't know where to go from here. The police have been called, and are going to search every square inch of the school. This sort of thing happens in places like Go City and Los Angeles. Not here!" By this time, the other teachers had gathered around. One had his hand lightly on the woman's shoulder. She had fostered a feeling of family in her school, and now that family was coming together.

"Start from the beginning, Tasha. Why are the police coming? What are they looking for?"

With difficulty, Tasha pulled herself together. She took a deep breath and looked around the table. "One of the students, Jeremy Smythe, is in the hospital. When he went home yesterday afternoon, he was later than usual, and was sweating heavily. At first, his mother didn't think too much of it, that he had just been playing. Then he started having convulsions." She was threatening to break down again, but pulled her shoulders back. "When they got him to the hospital, they found out that he had been taking drugs. Ecstasy. His body temperature was sky high and his system was in shock."

Every one of the teachers was in a similar state, by now. These were very young teens and preteens. How had the world of street drugs gotten into their lives already?

Sarah had known it was going to happen. Her time with the criminal element had taught her that evil often preys on the most innocent. Now it was after "her kids", and she wasn't about to stand for that. Her eyes blazed, and there was the tiniest glow at her fingertips. Quickly, she clamped down on her temper, burying her shapely nails into her palms until they hurt.

"Is the boy going to be alright?" First thing first. 'Journey of a thousand miles...', she thought to herself.

"It was close, but he pulled through early this morning. He told his mother and a police detective that he got the drugs here, in the school yard. He wouldn't give a name. They told him that if he ever said anything, they would find his family, his little sister!" Now Tasha did begin to sob. Her family was being threatened, and it just might be from within. The staff looked around the table at each other, helpless to find a way to fight back.

Reaching into her tote bag, Sarah felt around. Kim had presented it to her just last week, when they had gotten together over coffee. She was a member of Team Possible. The green Kimmunicator (mark III) fit perfectly into her hand.

Pushing the button, she was immediately connected to Wade Load, who was sitting at the terminal in his office at the Middleton Instititute of Science and Technology. Since finally coming out of his room, he had gone to work as a professor of computer sciences. Much to the amusement (and chagrin) of his more "mature" students.

"Hi, Sarah? What do you need?" It was as simple as that. Wade had immediately accepted her as a member of the team, and if she called, he assumed that it was urgent. It was as if her past had been erased from the hard drive of his own memory.

"Wade, I need to meet with the team. This evening. We have a major problem brewing here in Middleton, and I don't think the local authorities are going to be entirely up to it." She looked down at the tiny screen. A year ago, this would have been impossible for her. It would never even occur to her to ask. Now, she had friends and family she could count on. "I need some help, and I know who I can trust."

"I'm on it." The young man turned to his keyboard and started pushing keys at a dizzying speed. "As soon as I have a time, I'll call you back. Do you want to meet at Kim's, or the warehouse?"

With the new funds from the team's benefactor, there was a new headquarters being put together. An old warehouse on the edge of town was in the process of being refitted to serve as the heart of Team Possible. It wasn't as obvious as Go Tower, but had the facilities that the expanded team required. Unfortunately, it was still months away from completion. The walls were up, for the most part, and the wiring was adequate for normal purposes. Of course, nothing about Team Possible was "normal", which Sarah figured was Ron Stoppable's influence.

"Better make it Kim's, Wade. And we need Joss there too, if she can. This is going to involve her one way or another."

"Okay, I'll get things set up."

When the Kimmunicator shut down, there were stares around the room. She had forgotten for a moment just where she had been, and concentrated on what she felt needed to be done. All of her coworkers knew who she had been, and who she now was associated with, but that wasn't the same as seeing that link go into action. She flushed slightly and looked around. It was a little disconcerting, all of this attention.

Sarah turned to the woman in the chair beside her. "Look, Tasha, you do everything the police ask you to. They will try to find the source." As she got up from her chair, a grim look fell over her face. 'I'm going to make sure nobody else gets hurt by the scum!' She walked out of the room, not really sure of just where she was going.

In the end, she wound up on the school yard. The kids were all hanging around in little groups, or playing ball on the football field out back. She watched as they ran around, yelling and screaming, basically being kids. All the while, her mind was racing. Which one was going to be next? Who was giving poison to them, and how was she going to stop them? Again, her fists curled and her eyes blazed with anger. No, it wasn't going to happen again. Not if Sarah Mae Go had any say in the matter.

xx

Sitting across the yard from the door their homeroom teacher had emerged from, three young teens were talking about the latest gossip around the yard. One of their classmates, Jeremy Smythe, had collapsed at home. Rumour had it that somebody had beaten him. Another story was that he had accidentally taken the wrong medicine. The more believable version was that he had intentionally taken something, that he had bought drugs from one of the older students. All three had heard of things like that.

Ron was looking around. Who was pushing the stuff? If he had known, maybe Jeremy wouldn't be in the hospital right now. "Look, guys, we gotta find out what happened. With all the stories floating around, he could just be sick. You know how these things get going." Ron Garvin's parents had taught him to always get the facts before jumping into anything, but to go all in once he did jump.

The blonde girl next to him sighed. "Just how are we supposed to do that? I sit behind Jeremy in Miss Go's second period Geography class. Do I just walk up and ask her if she knows anything?" Amy Rice was still a little intimidated by her green skinned teacher. A couple of years earlier, she had been rescued by none other than Kim Possible and her team when she got lost in Aspen. She hadn't been able to see Miss Go as anyone other than "Shego" for a long time after meeting her. Too much time spent following the adventures of Team Possible.

"Well, it beats the heck out of guessing."

"Look, I'll ask if you want, Amy." Leanne Barton spoke up. She was the more outgoing of the trio, and generally did the speaking for "the three musketeers" as some had taken to calling them. "Ron is right. We can't just go around adding to the stories, and if there is a problem, somebody has to find out." Where Amy was more inclined to look to others for direction, Leanne was always ready to do her own digging. Occasionally this got her into scrapes she hadn't planned on, but since meeting Ron, she hardly ever got hurt anymore.

"Tomorrow, Lea." Ron said, using his nickname for his best friend. "All three of us will ask. That way we know the truth, or at least what 'they' think we should know."

xx

At eight o'clock that very evening, Sarah Go was once more at the apartment door of her former nemesis. Before the invasion that forced the two women to work together, it would have been ridiculous to even consider the possibility of them being on the same team. Then she had hit rock bottom, and realized who she really could count on, who really could do anything, even forgive. If anyone could help protect the kids that she had come to care so much about, it was Kim Possible and her friends.

The door opened within a hearbeat of her knock, and she was pulled in. Strong arms went around her shoulders and almost lifted her off of the floor. It was hard to believe that Ron Stoppable had gone from a scrawny little buffoon to the strong and agile young man who was hugging her. A part of her wanted to draw strength from that embrace, but her pride and independence won the battle. Even as she returned the gesture, she refused to lean into it.

"Hi, Ron. Thanks for the hug, I needed that." Sarah looked into chocolate brown eyes. They were so expressive. Right now they were filled with concern.

"Sarah, in the years that we've known each other, you have only ever called for help twice. Once when Drakken was taken by the Lowardians, and when you came here. If you need to call, you have to be upset."

They walked into the living room from the foyer. The place was already crowded. Wade was at the kitchen table with Jim and Tim Possible. All three boys were staring at the computer screen as if hypnotized. Joss, Monique and Zita Flores were on the couch. They were in an animated debate over the latest designs that Club Banana had out.

Kim walked out of the kitchen and met her new friend.

"What's the sitch, Sarah? Wade asked us all here, and said that there was a problem, and you thought the team was needed." She guided Sarah to a comfortable chair, and everyone gathered around, taking whatever seating was available.

"One of my students almost died last night, because somebody has been selling drugs on the school grounds. The police have been called, but I don't think they are going to be able to do much. The scum threatened to hurt the kid's family if he gave names." She looked around the room. There were expressions ranging from shock to anger. All of them looked concerned.

"What would you like us to do, Sarah? Granted, we aren't official detectives or anything, but the team is not without resources." Wade looked over to Joss. "Blaze-IT has already done some work with the Montana authorities and the DEA. I could call in some favors and get extra attention put on the case."

"He's right, ya know. With the stuff in the bunker back home, we kin track the stuff to make the junk, and even the fella's that are tryin' to transport it. All we need is to know where it ends up, and we might be able to track it back to the source." Joss was still fighting the accent of her childhood. Being around Wade had eliminated most of the western drawl, but not all of it.

"I just want to find the guy who sold it to Jeremy. I want to make sure he is never able to do anything like that again, to any of the kids I teach." Sarah's eyes blazed, and her hands had begun to glow. There was a deep growl in her voice. It was like Shego had returned, and was intent on doing some serious damage.

"Sarah." Ron spoke softly and put a hand on the woman's shoulder. "I can understand that you are angry, and that you want to protect the kids. This isn't the way to do it. This is vengeance, not justice." Ignoring the heat, and radiating his own blue energy, he reached for her hands. "Think about it for a moment. Do you think that hurting one person on the bottom of the ladder is going to stop the drug trade?"

For all that he spoke softly, his words reached into the very core of Sarah Go. She thought back to the time she had spent working for the mob in Go City. There was a definite pecking order, with the real heads of the organization always hidden in the shadows of phony companies and legal red tape. She had never met anyone above mid level of the food chain. For all that, she still wanted to take out the legs of this particular spider.

"I can't let another child get hurt because the police can't get at these people." She looked down to her hands. They had stopped glowing, but Ron's were still there, radiating a faint blue light. It was calming. "I want to do what is right, but I don't know if I can."

Kim stood up. "You will do what you have to, Sarah. I know that you are a good woman, and that you care about these kids." She frowned. "The problem is that we haven't been asked to help. If we step on the wrong toes, we could be charged with interference in an investigation. That isn't how Team Possible works. We have to wait to be called."

"But I'm already there, I'm asking for help!" Dismay took over Sarah's pale face.

"Yes, but you are a member of the team now. It's a conflict of interest." Wade was up to date on all of the legislation, and had a bit of a run in with the authorities in Montana after charging his way through the DCI computers. For a while it had looked like he would be spending time in a correctional facility.

"Look, Sarah, you kin look around the school and try to find the varmint that is bringin' the stuff in. You get us that, an' we kin get the rest of the organization." Joss was more than eager to stop the drug trade, but she wanted the entire group, not just the dealer.

"Alright, I'll keep my hands out of it. I just hope you find them before I do." She knew that the team was right. She had just spent so much time doing for herself, as she wanted. Now she had responsibilities. "I can't promise not to act if I see somebody threatening one of my kids."

Kim held one of Sarah's hands. Ron held the other. The entire team gathered around the trio.

"We have your back in this, Sarah, but you have to play by the rules. Same as the rest of us."

There it was. The collective hands of Team Possible were tied. She would do what she could. It might put a rift between her and her new friends, but she would try her best to work within the limits of the team. Something had to be done, and it had to be done soon.