In Our Wake

"In a world so unforgiving

You mean more to me each every day"
Flogging Molly – "May the Living be Dead in our Wake"

The group had moved into a suite at the hotel next to the convention center. Kim busied herself by serving coffee and soda to the growing group. Felix was now talking animatedly with Ron and his mother. Shego was pacing the length of the room, sending glances towards Felix and the door. Both Drs. Possible showed up next with Monique, Dr. Drakken and Agent David Renton of the NSA.

"Are we all here?" Kim asked as Agent Renton shut the door.

Most of the occupants of the room were in various stages of shock. Felix had to hold Monique's hand to reassure her that he was indeed still alive.

"Yes, Miss Possible. Everyone that needs to be here is in this room. Now, all of you have been informed of the situation. But let's go over the facts. Because of Felix's invention, certain individuals have come after him. We're hoping that by advertising Felix's presence here today, that we will lure them out of hiding."

"Bait. The word you're looking for is bait, David," Felix said.

"Wait. Why did you have to pretend to be dead?" Monique frowned and put her hands on her hips. "That ain't no way to play a girl, boy."

"I…" Felix stuttered under Monique's fierce glare.

"Now wait just a minute!" Shego stood up and stalked behind Felix. "You have no idea how hard it was to disappear like that! Do you know that the first person he asked for after he woke up was you? Yeah, woke up. There was some fairly nasty head trauma involved in getting him out of that fire, thank-you-very-much!"

"It was just a concussion…" Felix interjected softly… with Monique in front of him and Shego behind, he was feeling a bit claustrophobic.

"Shut up, Renton! Is that even your real name?" Monique demanded.

"Does it matter?" Shego shouted before Felix could get a word in.

"STOP!" Felix shouted from between the two seething women. "Shego, calm down. Monique… I'm sorry, but this can wait until later. There are too many things going on right now."

"I… I guess we should discuss this in private," the young woman said sheepishly before sitting back down.

Shego just huffed and sat on the opposite end of the room.

Felix looked as if he wanted to collapse. His whole world had been turned upside-down due to someone digging up long buried memories.

"When is the lecture?" Kim asked.

"It's not until six Kimmie-cub, why?" her father said, checking the schedule for the day's events.

"Well, I think we should guard Felix and his briefcase in shifts. I mean, it's noon now, we don't all have to wait around in this small room."

"That's a good idea," Felix said.

"Great!" Ron shouted, "Kim and I call first watch!"

"Actually, how about you two come back in a couple of hours with a pile of Nacos?" Felix suggested, glancing at Monique and his mother.

"That works too," Ron said as Kim forced him out the door. Kim noted that Shego left with a little reluctance.

"She- Shelly, do you want to come with?" Kim asked the former villainess.

"I have better things to do, Princess," she said before walking away.

"Wow… what's got her all worked up?" Ron asked his girlfriend. Kim just rolled her eyes.

OOO

Felix loosened his tie and then took it off entirely. He didn't think it was going to be this hard. Monique was still staring him down. Was it getting hot in there? He shrugged off his jacket and placed it over the arm of the chair. He silently cursed the plastic back brace he was wearing; not only did it limit his already impeded movements, it was stifling hot and he kept imagining that it was getting tighter.

"Did you know we buried you?" Monique said. It was more of a statement than a question.

"I… I thought… there was the possibility," he stuttered. He didn't remember ever being this nervous before. This was more nerve-wracking than submitting a scientific paper for peer review.

"And you've been living it up with the woman that kidnapped you while we were –"

"Stop it Monique. There wasn't anything else they could do. It was terrible, but he's back now," his mother said sternly. She, of all people, knew how difficult this situation was. It wasn't so long ago that the two of them had left Ireland and taken up the name Renton.

"I'm sorry that things went down the way they did. But that isn't anybody's fault, except whoever is after that damn case," he said, glaring at the aluminum briefcase containing his prototype.

"I'm sorry I went all CAB on you," Monique said.

"CAB?"

"Crazy Ass Bitch."

"Oh. Well, there are things that you should know. First, my given name is Francis Michael Damsey. I was born in Dublin, twenty-one years ago," he said, taking in a breath. "I graduated high school at fourteen and started working on this." He gestured towards the prototype again. "It is a … it's meant as a bridge over damaged nerves."

"I read that in the pamphlet. What happened?"

"My father was shot in the street while we were leaving the math building at the university where he worked," he closed his eyes as the memory flooded him.

"Why?" Monique asked.

"We were being harassed by a certain anti-Catholic group. Sean worked with several law enforcement groups, including Interpol and Global Justice. He was accused of favoring Catholics or the IRA or something just as stupid. Sean would never let his personal beliefs interfere with his scientific work," Alicia said, pulling a worn picture out of her purse.

"We left the country… David got us out, he even sort of adopted us- told everyone that he and mom were trying to give their 'marriage' another shot… But then we moved on again. For what it's worth, I like Middleton a lot," Felix said, giving Monique what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

"It's okay, Felix, really. Why don't you go lay down or something you look PDT," she said with a soft smile. PDT must mean Pretty Damn Tired.

OOO

Shego kicked the stupid punching bag again. She had long since abandoned her business suit for a set of workout clothes. It had been three hours since she left the hotel room. Here in the gym, she could try to collect herself.

"It's nothing. Stop getting so worked up!" She took a deep breath and punched a hole in the bag, the stuffing falling to the floor.

She sighed as she wrapped a towel around herself and hit the sauna. Maybe a nice hot steam will help her get these stupid thoughts out of her head.

It all came down to Felix.

At first he was just an assignment, but now… The past two months had been… enjoyable. No, more than that. Normal. She had had fun living a normal life. She thought it was wild to dye her hair blonde in the bathroom sink and kick Felix out of the door as he went to work in the morning.

She sighed and closed her eyes. Dr. D was never as enjoyable to work with as Felix was. First off, Felix didn't do stupid things all the time. Well that wasn't exactly true.

She smiled as she remembered a few rather interesting moments when Felix decided to take the last can of soda right from under her nose.

But he more than made up for it when he woke up early and made breakfast the next day. Of course it wasn't breakfast in bed, but it was a full spread complete with coffee and juice.

It was fun when she decided to go to a used game store and picked up an old game console and a handful of classic games. They stayed up all night playing an old fighting game.

"You got it bad, Shego," she said to herself as she left the comforting warmth of the sauna.

"Well hello, Shego. I love the new look," said a voice from behind her.

She turned and dropped into a fighting stance, clutching her towel with one hand. "I didn't think you'd be bold enough to show your face in here, Fisk."

"Oh please. If you are angry about that warehouse, I did not cause it," Monkey Fist said as he turned his back politely. "I was trying to get you out of there."

"If your monkey ninja didn't try to kill us, then who did?" she asked, changing into her street clothes.

"Now that's a fun story," the simian master said, leaning on the doorframe.

OOO

Felix was sprawled out on the bed. He hadn't even bothered to change out of his good clothes. Alicia smiled to herself. She sat down beside the bed and untied Felix's shoes and slipped them off.

She couldn't stop smiling. Her son was alive, unhurt and actually eager to work on some scientific research. It was fun when the two of them worked together building his wheelchair. She didn't want to admit to Felix that after he had been declared dead she threw a massive temper tantrum and accidentally smashed his chair into useless chunks.

She sighed. Oh well, the two of them could rebuild it once things settled down.

She felt a "mom moment" come on as she draped a blanket over Felix's snoring form.

'That's odd, he never used to wear a back brace,' she thought to herself. He probably had to go to a doctor for the leg braces, so maybe they decided he should wear the back brace as well. She sighed again. That was going to have to wait until later.

Someone was knocking on the door. It was probably Kim and Ron with something to eat.

"Hold on Ron… I'm coming," she said absently as she unlatched the door.

"Dr. Renton. My name is Will Du of Global Justice," said the young agent. "You should have called us as soon as your son came to you." Something about this agent didn't seem quite right. She couldn't put her finger on it, but it was something about his eyes. He looked… angry.

OOO

"So wait, you're telling me that you hired me to kidnap Felix before someone else did?" Shego said, staring Monkey Fist down.

"Of course. If you hadn't taken him when you did, another agency would have taken him. They would probably have tortured him into adapting the exo-spine into a full suit of super armor," he said calmly.

Shego ran her hand through her hair. It was a disappointing action since her hair was so short now. "But why? You don't have anything to do with this kid?" This was just getting frustrating. Nothing about Felix was simple.

"I owed his father a debt. I suppose that Drakken didn't tell you why he was intent on saving the boy either?" He sat down across from her. "My estate was in a bit of trouble once. Sean- Felix's father- helped me out. I owe him everything. But unfortunately, I was out of the country when he was killed," he sighed. "I and a few 'friends' eliminated his killer, but… Felix and Amelia- sorry, Alicia were already gone."

"What about Dr. D?" she asked.

"Drakken was an intern working for Sean when he was killed. The two of them were close," he said. "Now, I think it's time that you took your turn watching our friend, Felix."