Crash
" Crash. I didn't think the world would end so fast."
"Don't Stop" - Our Lady Peace
Kim took point as they crept through the darkened corridors of the nearly deserted GJ headquarters. She looked back to check on Felix, her overprotective side kicking in. As amazing as the exo-spine was, it was still a strain for Felix to stay upright. Shego had a steadying hand on his shoulder and gently pushed him towards the wall.
Shego glared when she saw Kim's surprised look. Kim rolled her eyes and sent Rufus to check around the corner. And that's when all hell broke loose.
Several hundred twitching GJ agents spilled out of the barracks and quickly started to fill the dim corridor. Many of them were foaming at the mouth or ranting about voices. But the scarier ones looked as if Team Possible was their dinner.
Shego jumped ahead of them and started thinning out the crowd. Kim Pushed Felix in the middle of the offensive triangle as she and Ron took care of the zombie agents that got past Shego's fire.
"We're going to have to move!" Felix shouted in Shego's ear. "We can't stay here, we've got to get to that door," he said, pointing over her shoulder towards the main command center.
Shego fired a wide range of plasma to clear the road as the four of them made their way over to the blast door. Felix worked his magic and it cracked open a foot.
"Inside! Hurry!" He shouted, holding the now closing doors.
Kim looked at the crowd… and at the closing doors. "Shego… go with him. We'll take care of the zombies."
Shego hesitated only a moment before slipping through the narrow crack. It wasn't the most logical choice. In fact, with her plasma covering them, the former hero should have stayed outside with the drugged agents.
But Kim's reasons were sound… none of the agents would be killed if she and Ron took them down. She just hoped that Felix would be okay.
OOO
Shego drug Felix through the blast door just seconds they slammed closed. He sagged against her in obvious agony. Things were much quieter on this side of the GJ base. No Zombies, only henchmen. "You okay?" she whispered in Felix's ear.
"Peachy, I feel like I was hit by a truck," he mumbled softly to her.
"If we run into henchmen, then I'll have to drop you…"
"Yeah, I know. If we can find something for me to lean on, then I'll be okay," he said as he got his feet underneath his body again.
"I have an idea," she said, sneaking to the janitor's closet. She returned to him holding a push broom and she used her powers to saw off the end. "Here. And if you get into a fight, start smacking."
He chuckled slightly and clung onto the broomstick. One thing down, one more to go. She sighed and snuck over to a room marked "Pilots Only" and waited for Felix to catch up. In one fluid motion, she opened the door, swung Felix around and closed the door again. She fused the lock with her plasma and then set off to find out who was behind all of this.
She only took a moment to adjust her bearings before she set off again. This time, she headed towards the central control room at the center of the building.
It only took fifteen minutes of dodging henchmen before she came to the central office… and met with an army of Greek-lettered henchmen.
OOO
Monique tried to make herself small. It wasn't working too well, as she was still tied to the wooden chair. She blinked through the smoke that had gathered in the room. She could hear the battle happening outside. She didn't like it. All she wanted was…
Felix?
Of course she wanted Felix… but was she dreaming or was Felix really running towards her?
This was much different than her normal hero fantasy. First of all, Felix wouldn't be leaning on a... broom? While he was dressed for action, he looked pale, even through the smoke. Even from across the room, Monique could tell that he was struggling to stay upright.
"FELIX!" she called out, regretting it immediately as the thick smoke filled her lungs.
Though, by now, Felix had dropped to the ground and was crawling on the floor towards her. After what seemed like hours, Monique felt Felix's hands tugging on the ropes that bound her hands.
"Try not to talk," he rasped. He was shaking and sweating as he worked the thick knots. She had screamed at him for abandoning her… she had been furious when she thought he was dead. Mourned for him. But this was the moment when she realized exactly why she wanted Felix by her side. Felix had risked his life to her now. He befriended a super villain, faked his own death and now he was using a highly experimental technology in order to-
Her train of thought was cut off by two things.
The first thing was that the ropes around her hands slid off of her.
The second was the thundering shot that rang out in the air…
She turned in sickening slow motion just in time to see Felix buck forward, a pained expression on his face. The device that the super villain sought so much sparked and crackled, sending a jolt of electricity to Felix's brain. Monique couldn't even figure out how she got to his side so fast started to seize.
The seizure didn't seem to last long… but it felt like an eternity before the loud explosion blew off the hangar doors off and let most of the smoke out of the room.
OOO
"Sir! We're… all the units. They're gone, sir. The GJ agents are all unconscious. We're down to twenty men… Sir… we have to leave!" The panicked henchman, Phi, tugged on his employer's arm to make the man leave. Desperate fingers implored the iron-willed man to budge.
Gemini could only stare out the window of the office, the smoke spilling out through the hangar doors. "The boy… his technology was neutralized?"
"What? Sir, I don't understand…"
"The cripple… he is dead, right?" Gemini finally stood and faced the terrified henchman.
"Sir… the boy meant nothing to our plan in the long run… that was just…" The poor man never finished his sentence. Gemini slapped the man so hard, his head collided with the corner of the late Dr. Director's desk.
"I know your game, little sister… I know it… I know…"
OOO
Shego slid through the hangar doors and rolled under the curtain of smoke. She skidded to a halt when she heard Kim and Ron run up the other hallway.
"How did you two get here?" She asked in surprise.
"We used the other door," Rom said with a shrug.
Shego only rolled her eyes. Typical Stoppable. Now the only thing they needed to do was find Gemini and rescue Monique. All other thoughts were pushed from her mind as she focused on her goal.
"Where's Felix?" Ron asked, looking around. I dumped him in a closet when –"
"Help! Oh God… somebody help!"
"Monique!" Kim shouted and sprinted forward.
The trip arrived to a sick scene. Monique was kneeling on the floor, Felix's head in her lap. The young man was bleeding from a few minor wounds, but what really bothers them was the growing puddle of blood on the floor.
"Kim Possible. You thought you were so mighty. But now look at you."
They all turned to look at Dr. Director's office. Gemini was standing at the broken window, standing on the ledge as if he were out on the sidewalk.
"I knew you were in this too. First my sister, then the boy and now you… comspiracy unwinds before me… I have new eyes."
"What the fuck does that mean?" Shego snapped.
Kim did a scan with her communicator. "Oh no! The crates are full of the brain wash toxins, we have to get out of here!"
"I'm with you there, Princess." Shego knelt down beside the horrified girl on the floor. "What happened?"
"I… I don't know… he untied me and… somebody shot him," Monique gasped out.
Shego just nodded and scooped the young man into her arms. "Let's go people. Do your best not to breathe, we're exiting stage left!"
With Kim in the lead, Ron took Monique by the arm and lead her to their hasty exit.
"I won't let you win. Not now. Not ever," the crazy man shouted. "Hold on, little sister!"
Shego turned her back on the sickening wet smack that followed. She tightened her grip on Felix's limp body and followed the teenagers to their waiting jet.
OOO
That night, several things happened: GJ headquarters blew up,Shego seemingly vanished from the face of the earth, and Felix Renton was declared not dead and admitted to Middleton Hospital. In the following week, reporters showed up at Dr. Renton's home. The school was full of rumors of Felix's mysterious resurfacing. Kim, Ron and Monique stayed quietly in the background.
Felix opened his eyes on the seventh day in the hospital. He panicked for a moment when his chest felt heavy and his arms seemed pinned down. But as he became more aware of his surroundings, he realized where he was. His left arm was full of tubes, where his right arm was tucked under a mass of wavy black hair. He gently pulled his arm our from under the sleeping woman's head and wrapped on his chest with his knuckles.
Thin fingers hit the paper gown and the thick plastic brace he wore. He cautiously lifted his head, trying to get a better view of the hospital room and Monique's face. He smiled a little when he realized that part of the reason he felt heavy was because the girl was both using him as a pillow and clinging to him like a teddy bear.
"H-hey…" his voice came out as a cracked whisper as he gently placed his free hand on Monique's cheek.
The young woman jerked up and stared at Felix with wide eyes. He felt a pang as those deep brown eyes filled with tears.
"You… you've been asleep for a week," she blurted out.
It was then that a large group of people entered the room through the crowd of reporters. Dr. Renton had actually spilled her coffee on the floor upon seeing Felix awake. Friends and family members bombarded him with questions until a rather authoritative nurse (she was probably related to Steve Barkin) ushered most everyone out of the room.
"Oh Felix… we were so worried… you were shot," his mother said as she embraced her son. She had almost lost him twice now.
"The bullet hit the ESG and you got a shock," Monique filled in the rest, though he suspected that there was more to the story than that.
"ESG?" he asked.
"Electronic Spinal Gizmo," Monique filled in.
Felix only smiled a little. The visitors were once again ushered out of the room as Felix's eyes started to droop.
"I'll be in later, honey. Rest now," Dr. Alicia Renton said, kissing her miracle child on the forehead.
Felix woke during the wee hours of the night to a strange sound at door. Suddenly, a familiar shwdow fell over him.
"Shego?" he asked softly.
"Yeah… it's me. I don't have much time," she said, sitting down at the edge of his bed. She had her back to him.
"Why don't you work out a deal like Drakken and Fisk?" Felix asked, struggling to start an already difficult conversation.
"I… have some things I have to take care of first," she said in a strange tone of voice.
"What sort of things?" He asked.
Suddenly, Shego was sitting on him, her hands pinning his shoulders back to the hospital bed. "Felix… I just want you to know… that I enjoyed working with you."
Felix could only stare as his weary mind tried to interpret her words and actions. It took a few precious milliseconds for his medicated brain to comprehend the rather heated kiss that Shego bestowed on him. On autopilot, he returned her gesture until she finally pulled away.
"Don't expect me to save your skinny ass anymore," she said as she gracefully stood and crept towards the door.
"Well don't expect me to give you any references for your next job," he said just after she slipped through the door.
Felix was soon asleep again. In the morning, he wasn't sure if the event had actually happened, or if he had just dreamed it.
OOO
Monique sighed as she leaned against the door to the dressing room at Club Banana. She should have just called in sick. Felix was due out of the hospital and she was stuck with a half hour left in her shift. If she was lucky and could escape on time (for once) then maybe she could race over to Middleton General to meet him. That is, if she could get out of there.
"Excuse me," a voice said as a triple extra large, olive green sweater was practically shoved in her face. "Does this come in any larger sizes?"
Monique just blinked; the shirt was so huge she couldn't see whoever was holding it up. She was about to tell the moron off when she heard laughing. She snatched the shirt away to see Felix sitting in front of her. "Hey babe," he grinned. Kim and Ron were standing behind him, smiling.
"Felix! I thought you weren't getting out for a couple more hours!" she happily got over her shock and made sure that her man was okay. He still looked a bit too thin and shaky, but yes, he was going to be alright. Aside from the seizure and some minor scarring, Felix wasn't hurt by the surge of his prototype. She wished that they could say the same for the device. It had been fried, and Felix didn't seem too thrilled about making another one.
"Yeah well, Mrs. Dr. Possible pulled some strings and got me out early. We're going for some celebratory nacos. How long is your shift?" he asked.
"I can take off now," she said, not even caring about her manager. She ran to the back to grab her purse and punch out. A quick confrontation with her boss and his surprising approval of her actions didn't delay her any longer. Soon, the four friends were piled in Monique's station wagon (with Felix riding shotgun, of course) and on their way to Bueno Nacho.
OOO
"There's one thing that I don't understand," Ron asked, his mouth full of cheese.
"Only one thing?" Felix ribbed.
"Ha ha, funny. What happened at GJ? I mean, the drug bomb thing going off at headquarters made all the agents go nuts… but what was Gemini trying to prove?"
"He wanted his sister to need her, 'Big Brother', Ron," Kim started, "He was psychotic. What I'm wondering is why GJ had an extensive file on you, Felix."
"Well, my dad- my real dad- worked with all the security agencies. I assume that they kept tabs on me because they thought that they owed him the favor or something," he shrugged and ate some more of his naco. "I honestly though we were done with all that bullshit years ago."
"Okay, next question, what about school?" Monique asked her boyfriend.
"Well, technically, I already graduated high school, so I don't think I'll be going back to school with you guys… unless something screwy says I have to," Felix stated with a shrug. "I am two years older than you guys."
"If you don't spend senior year with us, then what will you do?" Ron asked, slightly upset that his best buddy (aside from Rufus) wouldn't be around as often.
"I don't know, college maybe, things sort of need to slow down first before I can even think of that. I mean, I haven't even been home yet…"
"Your room is mostly the same," Monique answered the unspoken question. "Super chair is gone though."
"Yeah, I figured. No big."
"Dude, no big? What are you talking about?" Ron asked, his mouth agape.
"Well, really, I think that robotics and such are really awesome. I've always loved mom's stuff, but come on… a rocket chair with cybernetic arms? Nobody in the science community would take me seriously. I'll stick with this one, thank you," he said, patting the wheels of his new manual chair with one hand.
"Hey Kim?" Felix started after a moment. "Whatever happened to Shego?"
"Oh, nobody knows. Wade did a search… she really knows how to disappear. Not even Drakken knew where she went this time," Kim said, finishing up her soda.
"Hey. It's the middle of June, it's a nice day, and nobody is in mortal danger. I think this is the start of a great summer," Felix smiled.
The group toasted that with their soda cups and continued with their meal.
End