Ron turned back to Barkin, confusion mixed with apprehension on his face. Taking notice of his pointed looks at the two others in the room, he motioned for Hirotaka and Yori to wait outside. They looked at each other, shrugged, and exited.

"Despite all I've said this morning, I must say I truly am proud of you, Ron." Noting the dumbfounded look on the boy's face, he couldn't help but chuckle as he approached the bookshelf behind him. "Having been to my office so many times in the past, I'm sure you've noticed the pictures I keep behind my desk," barely waiting for a nod he continued. "I was in Vietnam back then, and they were my team mates. At least, that was how those outside the struggle would see it. To those of us on the front lines, they were brothers. Watching people you knew getting cut down in firefight after firefight, or taken by traps, or even killed without a sound in the very tent they slept in. Seeing all that, it's easy to see why we came to regard each other as family." He wiped a tear from his eye before it could fall very far, then turned to Ron. "Watching you that day, in the heat of battle, reminded me of my 'brothers' and I want you to know it does this man good to see such spirit in the newer generation."

Ron, near fainting from this unprecedented praise, finally spoke up. "I'm...I'm glad to help...but, I have one question." receiving the nod to continue, "Why did you choose to take a somewhat minor role in this? Surviving a war like Vietnam, leading a group of men like that into countless battles...Wouldn't you be comfortable closer to the front?" He wasn't sure what kind of response he was gonna get and, after a lengthy silence, feared it would be a painful one. He was to be surprised yet again.

"What, are you trying to get me killed, Stoppable? Surely detention wasn't that bad." Sweatdrop. "Like you said, I survived that war. It wasn't just on bravery and skill in battle, it wasn't purely on the coat tails of luck, that let me do so. It was learning to pick my fights. I had to learn, sometimes rather harshly, that it's vital to know your limits in a battle situation. This, quite frankly, is out of my league. I'm too old to be doing something like this, and besides, this situation requires warriors, not soldiers. Do you know what the difference between the two is?" Seeing Ron shake his head, Barkin continued. "It's reliance. A soldier relies on the other members of his team. Each is a link in the chain of military might. A warrior? He's a chain all by himself, relying only on his own abilities and experiences to get him through. You, and your two friends outside, are three chains to my one link."

Ron, nodding in understanding, turned to leave but stopped at the door. Looking at Barkin, he gave a quick salute, which was returned with something approaching a smile, then left.

The evil community in and around Middleton was on fire. Monkey Fist, probably the most capable of them in terms of physical prowess (1), beaten within an inch of his life by Kim Possible's sidekick? Killigan, the Seniors, Dementor...even Drakken, they just laughed it off. DNAmy was torn, one side wanting to go after the boy and make him pay for showing her 'love' up, the other wanted to go to said 'love' and console him in his time of need. Shego, it seemed, was the only one asking how he did it.

So here is where we find Shego, sitting on a motel bed staring at the wall. She'd persuaded (read bullied) Drakken into letting her have a little vacation whilst he tinkered away on another premature failure. She planned to get to the bottom of this with what little time she had, though somehow without getting the princess involved. Tough? No more than ususal.

Lunch rolls around, things almost back to normal. People were no longer riveted to Ron's every move and he hadn't been stuffed into any lockers yet, much to his pleasure, but they still gave him a pretty wide berth. Looking around the table at the girls surrounding him, he had to wonder if that was really so bad.

"So where are Hirotaka and Yori?" Kim couldn't help but comment on the absence of the two ninjas.

"They're around, KP," Ron said somewhat dismissively as he took the first bite into his burger. "They show themselves when the need to." He'd told them to secure the building and watch for any threats, but the others didn't need to know that. And they definitely didn't need to know the two were packing.

"So, what did Barkin want with you this morning? Can't have been too bad, since you're still in one piece." A round of nods.

"Nothing important, gals and guy. Just a talk about the incident," he shrugs, seemingly ignoring the faltering chatter around him at the mention of the fight. "There are more important things to worry about right now," he went on, sending a glare around the table as if building the suspension. He succeeded.

"Now, we have to plan for the next problem to rear its head." They look on, practically falling off their seats they're so close to the edge.

"How are we going to return taste to this dismal imitation of beef?" Sweatdrops, facefalls, and death glares came his way with nary an affect, for he'd gone back to prodding his lunch with his fork. This, it appeared, was the final straw for the group. Ron soon found himself being dragged out of the cafeteria, through the halls, and unceremoniously dropped into a chair.

"What is with you today?" Kim started, eyes hard. "It's like you haven't a care in the world, and you're dodging our questions about what happened with Barkin today. I want answers, and I want them right now!" Several girls nodded behind her.

Still taken aback from being dragged away in the middle of his lunch, it took him a moment to focus. Once he did, he looked up at her and said, quite simply, "No."

Now it was their turn to be taken aback, not expecting such a straightforward answer. A chorus of 'what' and 'why' met his ears as he sat there stoically, waiting for them to finish. Once they had he took a deep breath and let hit go slowly before answering them.

"Because you don't need to know the details." He held up a hand before they could interrupt again and pushed on. "Could any of you have handled Monkey Fist the way he was the other day? Can you assure, at the risk of your very lives, the safety of this school were it to be attacked again in such a manner?" He looked each one dead in the eyes. "Could you take a life if the situation got out of hand?"

Most of them opened their mouths then closed them again, unsure of where to go. Kim, though, replied with a shaky voice. "I believe I could do it."

"Believing isn't good enough, KP." His voice was tired, barely raising above a whisper which forced the others to strain their hearing a bit. "You have to be sure you can do it, and you have to be sure you can deal with the consequences of such an act. It's not as easy as 'hes dead, everyone else is alive' or any other black-and-white view you may have about it." Remembering his last dream as his shoulder started to burn, he meets their baffled stares with a look of helplessness even he can't fully understand. "It's about your enemy's blood running hot down your arm and getting progressively colder. It begins to dry, pulling at your skin as it hardens. What you don't realize is that blood doesn't wash off. It stains your spirit, the sight, smell, and taste of it permanently marring your senses as the gravity of the act drags you all the way to hell."

Silence met him, no one knowing what to say. Taking that as a sign that they were done with their arguments, he stood up.

"None want things back to normal more than I do, but it's just not in the cards. Gonna have to get used to it." With that he left, letting the door close itself on his way out. He started towards his next class when someone fell in behind him.

"We need to talk."

Author's Note: Well, it's not much but it's something. Hope you enjoy it ; To be honest, though, I could use some beta readers to speed up the process a bit. I'm getting pretty picky about the story, and it's slowing me down so I figure a few different angles on the subject would help. Any help would be appreciated, and thanks ahead of time.