Abigail had me sit down, and she looked straight into my eyes as she told me, "Your name is Wade. Wade Wilson." She paused a second, then said, "You were born in Edmonton, Alberta-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. There's a fifty-first state?"
Abigail shook her head. "No. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. But you moved to the US as a teenager, and you met me at the University of Florida. You played wide receiver for the Gators for four years. We married while we were both in college. Do you remember any of that?"
"No, but now I want Canadian bacon," I quipped. Turning serious again, I asked, "Do we have any kids?" I added "Eh?" to keep the Canadian humor alive.
She nodded and produced a photograph of me, her, and three children. "Those two are Tommy and Alexis. They're twins- eight years old," she said. "And this is Anna. Four."
I stared at the picture. This is my life. This is my family.
"Where are they now?" I asked.
"Spending the night at their grandmother's house."
"Would that be my mom or yours?"
"Mine. Yours lives in Manitoba."
I wanted to see my children, but right now I had to find out more about myself. "What did I do for a living?" I asked.
Abigail took out an identification card of some sort. "This is my work ID. I work for the Special Weapons, Operations, and Reconnaissance Division. It's a US government agency dedicated to eliminating terrorist threats before they happen."
I put the acronym together in my head. "SWORD…are they connected to SHIELD?"
Abigail nodded. "A sister agency. It used to be a quasi-independent branch of SHIELD, in fact. But here's what I wanted to show you." She handed me another card. It was the same type as hers, a SWORD ID card, but instead of Abigail's name and picture, there was another.
Mine.
"I work for SWORD?"
"We were a crack team. Two of the best covert operatives in the world. Terrorists feared the Wilsons. But then you went to Weapon X. I tried to warn you, I tried to stop you, but you went anyway, because you wanted to help your new country. The decision to participate in Weapon X was ill-advised, but it was out of a desire to protect people. So whatever you learn about your past, I want you to always remember: You are not whatever people are saying. You are Wade Wilson, and you are a hero."
There was a long silence. For several minutes, I said nothing but just pondered, Is this real? Is this really who I am?
I couldn't get over what Tyler had told me about myself. It was all I knew. And now, suddenly, there was this woman, supposedly my wife, telling a completely different story.
But I remember Abigail. I remember this life she speaks of. Slowly, stuff is coming back to me. And Tyler's not a very trustworthy person, to say the least.
I wanted so bad to believe Abigail. But I wasn't sure. I didn't know what to do.
Finally she said, "Could you tell me what's happened with you that you remember?"
So I did.
