Disclaimer: Don't own anyone, just doing different takes on once-or-twice-seen characters.

Eighteen Years Later

Elena Monique Renton slowly opened her eyes, her brain pulse alarm clock simply pulling her from unconscious instead of her being jarred by an annoying beep. She sighed, popping the device off of her temple and setting it on the nightstand. She relaxed back into the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

She had relived that night right before waking. The taste of red wine, prime rib, and his lips. The soft glow of the candles and the feel of satin sheets sliding around them like water. The warmth of their bodies and their voices, soft at first, but growing louder and louder as they rocked the hell out of that bed.

Now she was reminded that her bed was a solitary twin, and she hadn't seen the father of her son since that night. She was a suburban single mother living in Middleton, Wisconsin, relatively friendless and the only action in her life being the chance to tinker with elementary electronics that the lab referred to as "advanced cyber robotics". Oh how the mighty had fallen.

She rolled out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom, undressing and stepping onto the mat outside of the tub. The shower automatically turned on, hot, the water at the perfect pressure. She stepped inside.

She knew exactly what she'd be doing at work today; toiling over the alien technology again to try and unlock its secrets. At first it had been a fun challenge, something to devote her energy to. Now it was just an annoyance, a Rubik's cube with half of the stickers peeled off. She couldn't lose herself in her work at a time she desperately needed to.

She toweled off and a preselected outfit concurrent with the mood the bath mat had read appeared before her. The whole house had evidence of her boredom with the mundane present, crawling with useless technology. Useless to her, anyway; she was sure some lazy lackwits would be glad for the mechanical arms grabbing everything out of the kitchen cupboards, the automatic ironer or the A.I. lawn mower.

The coffee was already brewed by the time she came down to the kitchen, and a metallic arm poured her a cup. She picked the mug up, blew the steam off the surface, and stared out the window. It was a bright morning, one that had probably started off as a violent red. The kind she had given birth to Felix during, after an endless night of labor.

He had come too early, nearly three months too early, and the fear of losing him had hung like a fog in the room, shared by doctors and making the pain of contractions almost invisible. But they offered him to her alive during that scarlet dawn, wrapped up so tight he could barely move, a small pale blue cap hiding his dark brown hair. His eyes were open, curious she'd like to believe, and she gazed down into them. They were so much like her own.

"He'll probably never walk." The doctors and nurses informed her. She shrugged them off.

"I don't care, as long as he's healthy and mine."

And honestly, Felix's paralysis had never bothered her much, not when the threat of losing him had been so real. She had simply used her talents to help him be as normal of a kid as he could be.

The love she had felt during that first day with him had never worn off. He was more precious than the world to her, which was quite the statement considering her past.

Her buttered toast came up in the toaster; another mood reading from the bath mat. She took it and nibbled, feeling no particular hunger. Well, not in her stomach, anyhow.

"Morning Mom."

Elena turned at the voice to see Felix coming into the kitchen behind her, smiling cheerfully. She smiled back at him, picking up her cup of coffee in her free hand.

"Good morning, Felix. You're up early for a summer day." She observed.

"Yeah, well, Zita works the night shift now, so I can't sleep half the day." He explained, the robotic arms getting to work on his bowl of cereal.

"So I guess she won't be coming over for dinner for awhile, huh?" Mrs. Renton surmised. He shrugged.

"Maybe on one of her days off."

She moved to sit with him at the kitchen table, making a bigger effort to eat the food in front of her. Zita was a nice enough girl; she had been in Felix's grade and worked at the movie theater. It was cute spying on the pair of them while they played video games and she was proud to see just how much of a gentleman Felix was turning into. He didn't seem to be doing anything with her that would make her blush…

Felix listlessly swirled his cereal around in his bowl, clearing his throat and speaking up.

"So, how late are you going to be working tonight?" The question caught her off-guard.

"I'm not sure, why?"

"You know that motorcycle we were trying to convert?" He asked. She nodded, "I was thinking we could dig that out and get back to work on it. Together."

She grinned.

"That would be great."

Deciding that she had time to spare and seeing how nice it was outside, Elena decided to walk to work. The few blocks were nothing compared to those in the city, but she'd often get odd reactions when she took the time to stroll to Middleton's resident science and technology labs. The labs covered everything from rocket science to robotics to bioengineering (though most had the good sense to stay away from that wing if they liked their genes the way they were). It was convenient enough, anyway; back in Go City labs had been spread out all over the place.

She went through the first half of her shift without incident and quietly slipped into a seat in the lunch room. She had just taken her sandwich out of her lunch bag when a voice addressed her.

"Dr. Renton?"

She glanced up to see a man with slightly graying brown hair, a constant alertness in his facial features. Then again, she supposed one would always be alert if they had twin boys running around like he did. She smiled.

"Please, Dr. Possible, call me Elena." She motioned to the empty seat across from her and he took it, setting down his own brown-bag lunch.

"Elena…" The name tumbled awkwardly from his tongue, "I try to keep my nose in my own business, but you've seemed…a little off the last week or so. Is everything okay?"

Of course she was off, more than James realized. She might've physically been in Middleton, but her heart and mind were miles away in Go City. Hell, she was hardly even herself here; she felt as though her skin was beginning to crack and through the cracks her other self was showing. The electrical villain bent on destroying Team Go and bringing Go City to its knees self. Electronique. But outwardly she gave James a weak smile; it was nice of him to care.

"Yes, I'm alright. It's just…" She trailed off, deciding to be somewhat honest with him, "It's just the fact I only have a month and a half left with Felix before he goes off to R.P.I. Then I'll have to face an empty nest."

"I know what you're saying. I can't believe my little Kimmikub's going off for college either," he confided, then rubbed the back of his neck, "Then again, I also have Anne and the twins at home…"

It wasn't the same. She doubted Kim was the only reason James wasn't a mad scientist, wrecking havoc technologically on a world that had scorned his genius. Once Felix was gone, she'd either have to find another reason to play the goody two shoes role, or return to her old life and come up with a plan to keep Felix in the dark about her exploits. She couldn't bear the thought of telling him about her past. There were some skeletons best left in the closet.

James reached across the table and set his hand on hers reassuringly. She was surprised at the sudden touch, but had the grace not to pull away. As a woman who worked primarily with metal, human touch had always been a shock, the unexpected warmth of it.

"We just have to treasure the time we have left with them…and there's always Christmas break." He reminded her. She nodded.

Hopefully Felix wouldn't have to spend part of his Christmas visiting his mother in prison.

The mediocre day continued, just adding another ordinary date to her calendar of normal. She just had to keep her cool a few more weeks, then she could- Her thoughts trailed off as she noticed something left behind on a desk. She walked over curiously and sucked in a breath.

A gun. A Lowardian ray gun, probably confiscated after the invasion just like the pods. It had been the first weapon she had been close to in years. She glanced around, but as usual she was the last one out of robotics. She shouldn't take it; doubtless it would be missed, and after this spring Betty wouldn't give her any more leeway. But it had been the first weapon she had had access to since Silicon Valley…

She slipped it into the inner pocket of her lab coat and left the building without raising suspicion.

Felix was playing a computer game when she came through the door. She laughed.

"I see you got the virus I put off of it already." She said playfully. He grinned slyly at her.

"You're gonna have to try harder than that, Mom."

She felt a glow inside of her. If she had charted his probable genetic outcomes, taking both parents into account, she would've assumed he'd be smart. But it felt more like his own trait, following in her footsteps with his love of technology (though it was usually for video games). Valedictorian of his class, partial scholarship to a great school, and a gifted athlete… What wasn't there to be proud of?

Viruses were just some of the puzzles they presented to each other, along with riddles, jigsaw puzzles, Sudoku, and anything else they could throw at the other person to try and stump them. He set the laptop down and wheeled towards her.

"I've got my grease monkey clothes on." He announced. She glanced down at herself and smirked.

"Well what do you know, so do I. Go on ahead and get it out of hiding, I'll be right there." She said, making her way to her bedroom.

She slid out a key from her pillowcase and, first glancing at the doorway to be safe, unlocked her closet. She pulled it open, exposing her true self for a moment as she tucked the gun away. She locked and put the key back in its place before going out to the garage.

The idea behind the motorcycle project was to get it to function similar to Felix's wheelchair, at his touch or thoughts. It had been good in theory, but working with an older clunky piece of junk made it more difficult than simply starting from scratch. It cost more to repair the "free" motorcycle than it would be worth, but now it was a matter of principle to get it up and running. Mrs. Renton typed away on her laptop, trying to find a way to downgrade the wheelchair's complex coding, while Felix worked on figuring out a way to have it stand upright even when it wasn't in motion.

"Promise me you won't go crazy when I go off to college." Felix spoke up. Elena's heart lurched as she glanced over the top of the screen.

"What do you mean?" She asked casually. He snorted.

"I might've been little, but that doesn't mean I don't remember," he insisted, frowning as the motorcycle wobbled, "You used to date a lot of bad people." Elena rolled her eyes.

"Just because someone goes to jail it doesn't make them a bad person," she defended.

"I know, I know, but I'm just telling you to be careful with your bad boy itch. I don't want you found dead in the woods somewhere," he scolded. Elena smirked.

"I don't know…I believe my deranged psychopath radar is pretty spot on." She said, deleting a whole line of binary and starting again.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't mind you dating," he verbally backpedaled, "Just…don't go for ones with criminal records."

"But criminal records are sexy."

"Then no assault cases." Elena opened her mouth to make a perverse comment, but decided they were already deep in inappropriate parental conversation territory. Last thing she needed was to scar him mentally.

"I suppose I'll have to tell Motor Ed my son doesn't approve of me dating bad boys."

Elena was answered with an oily rag to the face. She laughed and threw it back at him, the phone ringing just as he caught it.

"That's probably him right now," she teased, getting to her feet and jogging over to the garage's land line. She picked up the receiver, "Hello?"

The other side was quiet for a moment, and then a voice spoke softly.

"Lena…"

Shivers like electricity ran up Elena's spine. Her mouth dried out and her free hand began to shake.

"…how…?" She croaked. He breathed; a heavy breath, as though he was relishing the sound of her voice.

"It's not important. What matters is that I found you, my little spark, and I'm going to take you back."

"No…" She mumbled weakly. She was all too aware of Felix staring at her, but she ignored him for the time being.

"Yes. I've had enough of this game." She could hear him drumming his fingers, "As I see it, you have two options. Step outside right now and give yourself over easily, or resist and postpone my inevitable victory. Which will it be?"

Elena hung up on him. Felix was over to her side in a second.

"Who was that?" He asked, eyes showing his anxiety.

She summoned her best poker face and shook her head.

"Someone had the wrong number," she lied. Felix looked doubtful.

Had he found her? Or did he only have her number, toying with her to keep her on the line long enough to trace her location? How much was he bluffing? Betty had promised her she'd be beyond tracking. Had she stayed in Middleton too long, or was Middleton too high-profile? She was just a few streets away from America's favorite crime-fighting cheerleader, after all…

A true mother would have gone out and surrendered peacefully, pleading for her son's safety. But Electronique had reared her wire-covered head and refused to play into his hands. If he wanted her…and how beautiful that thought was…he'd have to take her down fighting.

III

I figured the prologue was too much of a tease to keep the next chapter too long. I suppose this is what a villain with a mid-life crisis would look like…