Story: Vanishing Love (all chapters)

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“What did this guy say his name was again?” The blonde man yelled as he dodged a flying manhole cover and picked up a bus to shield several civilians who were trying to get away from the mayhem being caused by the latest threat to Metroville. He was a large man with an impressive physique that was accentuated by his red and black costume. A domino mask hid most of his upper face, concealing his true identity. The stylized “i” on his chest was unnecessary, everyone knew “Mr. Incredible.”

“Grab ‘em, mom!” shouted a young woman in a matching outfit, including a mask that partially hid her face but left her piercing blue eyes displayed to an appreciative public. Less developed than the woman she addressed, she was still mature enough to garner interested glances from the men they were helping and envious looks from the women. She had been dubbed “Invisagirl,” by the press, for her ability to project force fields and render herself transparent. They were converging on a typical downtown intersection. Although, normally, it would have been teeming with traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian, today it was nearly deserted.

“The TrogLuddite, Dear.” The more mature woman said. She was known as “Elastagirl” and watching her athletic form elongating and twisting as she as she stretched across the street to remove a young couple from the path of the speeding villain, the reasoning behind her name became obvious. Apparently the couple she rescued hadn’t been watching TV or listening to the radio, or they would have known that a particularly bloody minded villain had chosen this area of Metroville to carry out his nefarious scheme.

“Block that street with the bus, dad!” The three costumed heroes were members of a crime fighting family known to the public as “The Incredibles.” Today they were fighting without one of their regular team members. The absent member was the youngest. Everyone called him “Speedy.” Speedy’s absence was easily explained but the reason was not public knowledge. He had been caught playing video games instead of doing his homework, and he was grounded from superheroing until next week. But the three of them were more than a match for the misguided madman who was attempting to divert some Transitions from being delivered to the local post office.

“Trog-la-what...?” Mr. Incredible asked as he complied with Invisagirl’s directive. “What kind of name is that?” He sprinted toward the miscreant in question. “What the heck does it mean?”

Invisagirl projected a force field around herself as the TrogLuddite knocked over a telephone pole. “The Luddites were a group of textile workers in mid nineteenth century England.” She said distractedly, “They protested against--NOW MOM!--automated manufacturing machinery during the industrial revolution, usually by blowing up factories with machines in them. C'mon dad, didn't you ever go to high school?”

Elastagirl stretched across the street between two light posts, while Invisagirl and Mr. Incredible worked together to herd their foe in her direction.

He hurled rocks at them as he tried to keep his distance. “I will bury the cursed machines deep in the ground where they will no longer be able to threaten the manual laborer again!” He yelled at them. Unfortunately for him, his attention was focused on the two heroes behind him and he tripped headlong over Elastagirl and fell flat on his face.

“The burying thing... Is that the 'Trog' part?”

“Geez dad! I'm surprised they even let you graduate.” The young woman rolled her eyes in embarrassment.

“Will you two cut the chatter and lend me a hand over here?” Elastagirl demanded, the TrogLuddite was wrapped in her elongated torso but he was struggling quite a bit and had managed to start rolling her up.

“Grab his arm, dad.”

“Speaking of school…” Mr. Incredible said as he picked up the flailing criminal by the ankle.

“Aww, Dad! Do we have to talk about this right now?” She projected a localized force field that constricted around the TrogLuddite’s upper torso and pinned his arms to his sides.

“Well, you’re going to have--Stop struggling, or I’ll drop you on your head--to pick a school.”

“I already picked…”

Elastagirl began the process of untangling the parts of herself that the TrogLuddite had twisted up. “You’re too young to go to some Podunk school on the other side of the country.”

“It’s Stanford, Mom! It’s a great school!”

“Your mother and I just think you should pick someplace closer to home.”

“Metroville University has a good engineering program.” Elastagirl was just about back to normal now. Her short brown hair set off her face nicely, and the domino mask she wore did nothing to hide her shining brown eyes.

Frustrated the young woman threw her hands into the air and took a few steps away from her parents. “I don’t want to be an engineer.” She shouted to no one in particular.

“HA!” The TrogLuddite crowed. “Engineers corrupt our way of life, inventing devices that are used by the government to keep the people chained within-”

“Oh, shut up!”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Ms. Mera...?”

The exquisitely beautiful woman turned from the screen she was studying. “Yes?” She had shoulder length, flowing white-blonde hair and soft green eyes. Her slender frame was tastefully enveloped in Christian Dior, Gucci and Prada. It would be very easy to mistake her for just another fashion model, but doing so would be a mistake. Her name was on the side of the building and she had surprised a lot of people who had thought she was nothing more than a pretty face.

“The news footage you requested…” The messenger timidly held out a small flat package. From behind her large mahogany desk, Chi Mera smirked inwardly, taking great pleasure in the messenger’s reaction. In just over two years, she had gone from being a lackey to owning one of the most profitable companies on the Eastern Seaboard with all the power and respect that entailed. Outwardly, she gave him a kindly smile and gestured for him to set the package on her desk and leave. She turned back to the licensing agreement with Air-Cab. The airplane manufacturer wanted to use a new engine design for which she held the patent, and she wanted them to use it, provided she was well compensated for the use financially. After satisfying herself that her vetting lawyers were getting her as much as they could for as long as they dared, she signed the contract and signaled for her secretary to make sure it was sent out.

Chi watched the young man thoughtfully as he collected the items from her outbox and left unobtrusively. He was quite handsome and well built but he lacked the one thing that really excited her: Power. Something about a powerful man awakened her soul and started her engine. Her last boss had been such a man, intelligent, ruthless, hungry and powerful. Unfortunately he had also been quite insane and in the end, he had treated her poorly, foolishly wasting his power over her by using her in an attempt to destroy a man even more powerful than himself. That man was the subject of the news footage the messenger had brought her earlier today.

She inserted the disk into the player and started the playback. The opening shot was of Mr. Incredible holding up a bus. It looked like he had either just picked it up or caught it. Several people were scrambling to safety while he supported the weight of a city bus with little evidence of strain on his face. She watched the entire nineteen minutes of footage on the disk. The local news would probably run six minutes tonight, and the national news might pick up thirty seconds of it, but she paid well to be able to watch the uncut unedited footage. When it ended, she started it over and watched it again; sometimes pausing it or advancing frame by frame as she allowed that part of her that was stimulated by his power to savor the sight of his prowess. The third time she watched it, she found her gaze drawn to a most unexpected place. As the heroes fought to protect Metroville from its latest adversary, one stood out. Not with displays of strength or physical power, but by her leadership ability and her control of the power of those around her.

Chi started the playback from the beginning, again. This time, she carefully watched as the awesome power of the Incredibles was controlled by a woman. She couldn’t believe it, all this time she had been watching the wrong member of their team. As she watched the action unfold with her newfound appreciation of the true power behind the scenes, she felt a strange sensation in the pit of her stomach and she was somewhat uncomfortable in her chair. Shifting her weight produced an unexpected feeling between her legs and she recognized the tingling sensation of arousal. She stopped the playback and leaned back in her Italian leather chair.

Over the last two years she had been collecting and viewing news footage of the Incredibles as they fought. Today was the first time she had become sexually aroused while doing so. She walked over to her collection of disks and pulled one at random and popped it into the player. It was about six months old, but showed the same situation. He had the power but she had the control and watching it had the same affect on her physically. Had she always been the foundation of his strength? She pulled out a disk from nearly two years ago when they had fought the mole guy. Chi watched her carefully but didn’t see any of the subtle dominance evident in the later fights; she concentrated on her physical response and found none.

Tense and uncomfortable, Chi poured herself a drink and sat down to consider this self discovery. It was still power. She was still attracted to the power, it was just that now the power was wielded by a woman and, somehow, that made it even more alluring. She had left Mr. Incredible alone, content to watch and admire him from afar. She had almost been the cause of a rift in their family once before, and she would not allow her personal desires to contribute to the break up of a family. But this… this was something completely new. She had never felt like this before, even her last boss had not been able to evoke this kind of response from her. And no one could accuse her of breaking up a marriage. She reached for the intercom.

“Daniel, new research project, priority one. Subject: Violet Parr.”

“Yes, Ms. Mera.”

Chi sat back in her chair and sipped her drink. Her smile was full of anticipatory joy. She turned on the playback device and explored her body’s response to the images she watched.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kari was a cute girl, with a full head of red hair and a very nice smile. The problem was that no one ever got to see her smile because she couldn’t shut her mouth long enough to form one. “I was watching a program about babysitting on the Teaching Channel the other day… Well, it wasn’t on the Teaching Channel--a little higher--I had taped it on Vivo, which isn’t really taping at all, its more like saving it to disk, except there’s no disk and you don’t have to tell it to save, it does it automatically--that feels really good--and then you can watch it like a movie, but its not a movie, it’s a TV show.”

“Uhm-hum…” Violet encouraged Kari to keep talking as she kneaded the slender girl’s shoulders.

“Have you ever watched the Teaching Channel, Vi? They have some great shows about babies… and they have shows about rockets too. What kind of channel has rocket shows and baby shows? I mean, you would think--a little lower--that there would be a rocket show channel and a totally separate baby show channel, instead of one channel that has both. Do you think that people who like babies like rockets?”

“Never gave it much thought.” The dark haired girl said absent-mindedly. Kari had just finished a long afternoon of babysitting Dash and Jack, while Violet had been helping her parents stop the TrogLuddite from hijacking and burying a shipment of Transitions headed to the post office of Metroville. Agent Dicker had been delayed and wouldn’t be able to come by and wipe her mind for a few hours, so Violet had invited her to stay for dinner and they were passing time in her room.

“Well, I think it’s pretty obvious that if you like babies you probably don’t like--that’s nice--rockets. I mean, what kind of baby lover wants to see a baby shot into outer space? Not this one, I assure you. But I’m having doubts about Jack-Jack. He was doing some funny things. He disappeared once tonight, I never saw that one before, not like this, I mean sometimes the baby disappears but he’s just hiding under the table, not floating through it--that’s nice too--I mean, I never sat a disappearing baby before.

Violet continued to massage Kari’s shoulders. Last time the young woman had babysat for them; Violet had noticed that when Kari backed into the counter she had stopped talking for nearly five minutes. She had a theory that somewhere on the girl’s back was an ‘off’ switch, and she was determined to find it.

“And Dash was running around so fast he made the books on the table fall off, I’ve seen running kids before but I don’t know what he was eating that--OH!” Kari fell silent. She had been slouched on the floor in front of Violet, letting the dark haired girl rub her shoulders and back. Now she sat up ram-rod straight and Violet silently congratulated herself on finding Kari’s ‘off’ button.

The loquacious girl’s next action caught Violet completely by surprise. In one smooth motion, Kari spun around, rose up onto her knees facing Violet, wrapped her arms around the dark haired girl’s neck, pressed her lips against Violet’s and began kissing her with a relentlessness that matched her oratory style. Violet felt Kari’s tongue lapping at her lips, seeking entrance into her mouth. The babysitter held Violet closely with one arm and began stroking her neck lightly with the fingers of her free hand. Her fingers were soon joined by her mouth and the sensation caused Violet’s breath to catch in her chest. Kari let her hand trill lightly down Violet’s arm to rest on her thigh. Her lips and tongue continued to nip on the hero’s neck and shoulder. The dark haired teen’s breath became short and her nipples crinkled as Kari’s finger tips brushed the side of her breast through her shirt on their way back up to the hollow of her collar bone.

What the hell? Violet asked herself. Kari’s lips and hands were insistent and her reaction surprised and scared her. Some of Tony’s kisses had gone on much longer and his hands hand been in more intimate places, but they never generated this kind of reaction in her and it was freaking her out. She pushed the red haired girl away and stood quickly, trying to put more distance between them. Kari’s eyes widened in fear and recognition, “I’m sorry, Vi… I was just… You were… I…”

“Stay away from me!” Violet hissed. What did she do that for? She smoothed her shirt over her chest and mentally cursed as she felt her hardened nipples poking through the material. Oh, my God! Can she see that? What did she do that for? Her mind raced. Kari sat slumped on the floor, unable to meet Violet’s eyes. She looked up at the dark haired girl and opened her mouth to speak, but before she said anything, Mrs. Parr’s voice came to them.

“Kari… Your ride’s here.”

The red haired girl collected her things in silence, eyes downcast, and gave Violet a wide berth as she exited the room. Violet flopped onto her bed and curled up into a ball. What’s wrong with me?

--

One day, a general or admiral whose pet project had been overlooked would delve into her background out of spite and find out that the owner of ChiMera Industries was Syndrome’s former assistant. She needed some way to protect herself from retaliation, something that would elevate her beyond suspicion, beyond the whiff of controversy. She believed that having one of the Incredibles as a spokesman… spokesperson, she corrected herself… would go a long way toward that. She had been working on a plan to cultivate Mr. Incredible himself, but the emergence of his daughter as a power on the team had changed her mind and caused her to put a year of planning and hard work on the back burner.

Invisagirl had all the prestige and glamour of her father’s name but was young enough to be influenced by the right kind of persuasion. A young woman could be persuaded, directed, manipulated. She paused for a moment to imagine herself in control of the younger woman; the power that others had always been able to wield over her could be harnessed in this youngster and forged into a shield against anything they could throw at her. All she needed was to find a lever, a weakness, a way to integrate herself into Violet’s life and then she could forge an emotional alliance with her and use the girl’s power to protect herself.

Mirage looked over the data her research department had uncovered. Violet Parr had been accepted at every college she had applied to, including; Stanford, MIT and CIT but she hadn’t committed to a program yet. The pattern of her applications indicated an interest in physics and mathematics; Mirage inferred that the girl was probably trying to figure out how her powers worked. All the testing data and application paperwork was free of government influence; the girl had worked hard and earned her place at the nation’s premiere institutions on her own merit.

The young woman spent several hours a week training for and playing sports. She was on several teams at her high school, and was a captain or second on all of the teams she played on. Mirage studied videos of the games that her research team had obtained and looked carefully for indications that the girl was using her powers to maintain her competitive edge. She found several instances where Violet had surreptitiously intervened to prevent an injury to a team mate or an opponent due to a bad spill or a hard collision but nowhere did she see the young woman using her powers to gain a tactical advantage.

Violet had a boyfriend named Tony, but spent as much time with her teammates as she did with him. Her best friend seemed to be Kari McKeen, A talkative red head with a fairly lucrative Baby-sitting business. Mirage was surprised that someone so verbose would be the baby-sitter of choice for a family of supers that wanted to maintain the appearance of normalcy, until she recognized the “Uncle” that always escorted the girl home as agent Rick Dicker.

Mirage made several notes for her research team to follow up on. She wanted to know more about Tony and Kari and she needed to find out if the government had perfected a portable memory adjuster. She put in motion the necessary paper work to have ChiMera Industries sponsor a job fair at Metroville High. It would be a good PR move and allow her to arrange a face to face interview with Violet without raising any suspicions. Kari would make an excellent addition to her sales team, so she included the girl’s psyche profile, as a target of the display planning.

Before she turned in for the night, she sent a coded message to one of her contacts at the Department of Justice asking for information about the portable memory adjuster. She was pretty sure they didn’t have one yet, and it was a technology that she was in no position to overtly offer. But if they were to ask, she was certain that she could come up with something that would interest them. Even with the government-imposed restrictions, that contract would be worth millions. Satisfied, she poured herself a nightcap and sipped it slowly in front of the news.

The blinds blocked out a spectacular view of the city skyline. She spared no expense to ensure the inside of her penthouse apartment was free from surveillance, but when the blinds were open, that security vanished. Anyone with a telescope or a camera could see right in. Even here, in her own home, she was afraid and alone. She looked at the picture of the young woman in her lap. Piercing blue eyes, silky ebony hair, shy smile, and power, power enough to protect herself, power enough to protect her friends… Mirage smiled ruefully, “will you be my friend, Violet?” She whispered to the photograph, “Will you protect me?”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Violet ran up to Tony and threw herself into his arms. “Hey baby, you miss me?” He asked, teasing. She just nodded and enjoyed the feeling of being against his strong body.

This is what I need. She thought. Someone strong and safe. She burrowed into his arms and tried to put the unpleasant experience with Kari out of her mind. But she still felt Kari’s hands brushing against her breast, and Kari’s lips eagerly tasting her neck. She couldn’t get it out of her mind. Tony must have felt her tenseness, “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing.” But her trembling gave her away. He started to ask her again, but she cut him off by grabbing his face with both hands and kissing him deeply. He responded immediately, his lips parted slightly and he wrapped his strong arms around her. She leaned into him, hungrily, searching for the spark. “Hey, Vi, you’ve got to warn a guy first.” He joked as he stumbled backward, thrown off balance by her aggressiveness. She shut him up with her mouth once more, willing her body to react. He responded in kind but his kisses weren’t reaching her. His hands were cold lumps rubbing her the wrong way. There was no passion, no energy and no spark.

“You’re doing it all wrong, you know.” Kari’s voice broke in. “I was watching the Teaching Channel yesterday and they had this great show about kissing techniques and how to kiss a woman. Let me show you.” With surprising strength, she pulled Tony out of Violet’s arms and stepped in before he could stop her. “First you hold her like this and start by nibbling on her neck like this…” Kari’s voice continued, somewhat muffled as her lips reached Violet’s neck. The vibrations of her voice somehow added to the sensuousness of the contact. Violet tried to pull away but lost her balance and grabbed onto Kari’s back, her fingers digging in to the one spot she had hoped to avoid. She saw Kari’s eyes go wide and a sinister smile touched the red head’s lips. “Now you’ve done it.” She whispered. The sound raised the hair on Violet’s arms and sent chills running up her back.

Then Kari’s mouth was on Violet’s neck and her hands were moving randomly over the dark haired girl’s body. Sometimes firm, sometimes so soft that she wasn’t even sure she was being touched, but always moving, always teasing, always exciting. Violet’s breath came in short gasps and her body tingled all over. Kari’s hand cupped her breast, and her breath was hot on Violet’s neck. As she kissed and nuzzled her neck, her nose brushed against the hollow below Violet’s ear and the red head growled softly, sending electricity flowing down the side of Violet’s body. She clutched the baby-sitter tightly. Kari’s hand gently squeezed Violet’s breast and her fingertips brushed across her swollen nipple. Violet felt her hips move of their own volition and a small moan escaped her lips. Kari’s fingers combed through Violet’s hair and her tongue teased and tasted the hollow of her neck, then Kari’s hand was behind her, grasping her neck. And her lips were pressed firmly against Violet’s mouth. Kari’s tongue penetrated Violet’s mouth, and her hand slid purposefully down her stomach. As Kari’s hand pressed down between her legs and she felt her hips arch up into the pressure; her mouth opened and welcomed Kari’s insistent tongue.

“NO!” Violet sat up in bed wide awake and drenched in sweat. The dream image of Kari’s hand was gone but the pressure was still there between her legs and she trembled against it, unable to stop herself from rolling her hips. A tortured groan escaped her.

“Violet?” Her mother’s voice came through the door.

“Mom!” she gasped and the unseen pressure against her crotch disappeared with the tell-tale twinkle of her force-field. Oh! My God! She cried in her mind, What the hell am I doing?

“Are you OK, honey? Were you having a nightmare?” Violet’s mom, came into her room, her faced creased with concern.

“I… I don’t know…”

“Oh, dear, you’re covered in sweat!” Her mom sat on the bed next to Violet and took her gently into her arms. “You’re awake now, honey.” She said as she rocked the young woman back and forth gently. “Just relax and take it easy.”

After Violet’s breathing returned to normal, her mom asked her gently, “Do you want to talk about it?” Violet just closed her eyes and shook her head. “Well, whatever it was, just remember that your dad and I are right here with you, we won’t let anything happen to you.” She began humming a soothing tune and Violet slowly relaxed and fell back into a deep slumber.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“I think we should get her an appointment with a therapist.”

“No kid of mine is going to see some stupid head-shrinker!”

“Bob, she was throwing out force energy in her sleep. If you hadn’t grabbed the couch, she would have put it through the wall.” Helen reminded him. “Who knows where it would have ended up?”

“Yeah.” He replied with a proud smile, “She’s got a heck of a kick when she puts her mind…” He trailed off when he saw the look on her face. “C’mon! Even you have to admit that if she hadn’t been destroying the house it would have been pretty cool.” He exclaimed, “What makes you think she needs therapy?”

“Who can she talk to, Bob?”

“Us…?” He said hesitantly, “You…?” His eyes brightened, “What about that babysitter girl.”

“Your daughter is a seventeen year old girl with super powers and a secret identity.” Helen said testily, “Do you really think Kari has a snowball’s chance to understand anything that goes on in her head? Really, Bob, that girl can’t shut up long enough to eat properly, how is she going to listen to your daughter?” She rolled her eyes, “Besides, Rick wipes her mind every week. What kind of friend can she be?”

“Well, you’ve heard her talk; we can’t just let her blab about Jack and Dash to everyone.”

“All the more reason to get Violet some professional help.”

“She’s not crazy!” Bob shouted.

“I’m not saying she’s crazy, I’m just saying, she needs someone she can talk to.” Helen pleaded. “What if she has a nightmare in Palo Alto… or Boston… and you’re not there to catch the sofa?”

“She’s not going to move that far away…”

“Yes, she is. And there’s nothing we can do to stop her.” Helen stretched out a hand to him and placed it on his arm. “Our baby’s almost completely grown up now, we’re going to have to let go.”

He bowed his head, recognizing the look of determination on his wife’s face. “Alright,” he said, “I’ll talk to Rick, see if the agency can do something for her.”

“Now?” She asked.

“Honey, it’s…” He shook his head at her expression. “I’ll call right now.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Agent Rick Dicker sat at his desk. It was an old desk, covered with loose papers and manila folders. He listened to his visitor with no outward show of emotion. The requests were not unusual, as the young agent claimed, they merely showed that life moved on as it always had and always would. He stopped listening to the man, but let him continue to babble on while he collected his thoughts and made a few decisions.

That ChiMera Industries knew of the memory altering device was not surprising, since the president of the firm had once worked for the man who had invented it. The implication in the query was that either a portable unit was available or the technology now existed that made a portable unit possible. Either of those options was good news for The Agency, and only a fool, fresh out of the academy would think otherwise. Rick checked his memory of the young agent sitting across from him and realized that was exactly what he was facing.

He briefly considered stopping the young man, but he seemed to be enjoying the sound of his own voice, and Rick had long been a member of the “live and let live” society, so he let the kid ramble on about top secrets, industrial espionage and hormonal teenagers with way too much power. That last bit was slightly worrisome to the old man. Young Violet Parr had come of age over the last two years, showing improvement in physical and psychological health as well as emerging as a force in her family’s crime fighting activities. Rick regarded her as a favorite niece and her parent’s report of nightmares resulting in uncontrolled releases of power were disturbing. He went through a mental list of competent and sensitive counselors on staff; it was too short by far. Agency shrinks were used to dealing with shell shock, not teenaged angst. As the young agent wound down, he decided that he’d need to call in some outside help for that one.

“Are you done?” He asked the young man across from him.

“I don’t understand how you can just sit there-”

“Are… you… done?” he asked again, this time spacing the words out.

“I guess so.” The agent said resentfully, “What are we going to do about this?”

“First, you’re going to send word back to ChiMera Industries, indicating we’re interested.” The young man opened his mouth to protest but fell silent when Rick held up his hand in the universal motion for “stop.” “Next, we’re going to find a competent, reliable and above all, loyal, psychologist for young Ms. Parr.” He raised his hand another few inches as the young agent’s mouth showed signs that he was going to start babbling again. “Then, you’re going to write up a report, including all of the reasons why you object to this, and have it on the commander’s desk by ten o’clock tomorrow morning, with a copy for me.” He allowed himself a small smile, “Please make sure my copy is in compliance with form nineteen.”

“But we don’t have form nineteen on the network, I’ll have to write it out long hand.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that.” Rick assured the young man. He watched the kid roll his eyes in relief and waited until he was closing the door before continuing, “I’m sure there’s a typewriter around here somewhere.”

--

---

Violet dropped her backpack on the floor, kicked off her shoes and flopped down on her bed. Letting out a long sigh, she closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, trying to release some of the tension she felt. For the last three days, she had been avoiding Kari at school and it was starting to really get to her. Today, the red head had confronted her after volleyball practice, droning on and on about relationships and what it takes to make them work. Violet had been sure that everyone within hearing distance knew that Kari was gay and thought that they were lovers or something. She totally mortified and pretty sure she could hear some of the other girls snickering. She thought she caught glimpses of them quickly looking away when she turned to look at them. She had never wanted to disappear more than at that moment. She had finally broken away and fled into the locker room where she gave a long, loud speech about how much Kari annoyed her and how they weren’t really friends; the girl just babysat her brothers. But in the end, she had felt really bad about it.

Now she just wanted to lie on her bed and forget about the whole thing. She heard Dash coming up the stairs and reached out with her force field to push the door to her room closed but she was too slow. The little maniac ran into her room, grabbed her disc player and got out before she got the door closed.

“MOM!” she yelled, drawing the word out into two syllables. When she didn’t get and answer, she flung herself up off the bed and stomped out into the hallway. “DASH!” She screamed. “YOU GIVE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW OR I’M GONNA-“

“Gonna what?” He said from right behind her. “Gonna get embarrassed?” He grabbed her bra-strap through her T-shirt and let it go, snapping it painfully against her back and then was gone before she could even turn around.

“MOM!” She screamed again.

“Mom’s not home, Shrieking Violet.” He taunted her, “You’re in charge. Like you can make me do anything.”

She felt her bra-strap being pulled again and concentrated on forming a force field about six-feet behind herself. The strap snapped painfully again but this time the pain was mitigated by a loud thump as Dash ran full speed into her invisible wall. She quickly formed a sphere around her brother and began contracting it slowly. He tried to run but she had already made it small enough that he couldn’t properly move his feet.

“You better let me outta here!” He yelled at her. When the sphere didn’t stop shrinking, he tried a different tactic, “I’m telling mom that you used your powers on me.”

“Like you didn’t use your’s on me?” She asked sarcastically as she continued to shrink the ball he was contained in. Already his knees were touching his shoulders and she was starting to feel some resistance from his body.

“Vi, let me out!” there was a satisfying note of panic in his voice.

“What’s the magic word, Speedy Gonzales?” She asked tauntingly.

“Please!”

“Not good enough.” She retorted, but she did stop constricting the force field.

“Pretty please?” He pleaded. “With sugar on top and whipped cream?”

“Are you gonna behave yourself?” She asked menacingly.

“That’s a very good question Violet Parr.” Her mother’s angry voice came from behind her. “What do you think you’re doing? You let him out of there, right this instant.”

Mentally cursing her bad timing, Violet released the force bubble from around her brother, doing it instantly so he’d fall a few feet to the ground, but her mother stretched out and gathered the brat into her arms, offering him comfort while he stuck his tongue out at her when their mother wasn’t looking. She seethed silently. She knew that if she tried to defend herself her mom would take his side. She’d heard it so many times before, that she could probably give herself the speech. “He’s younger than you.” “You should know better.” “Just don’t let his teasing get to you.” She started to stalk into her room when her mother stopped her.

“I’m not done with you, young lady.” She said sternly. “And don’t roll your eyes at me!”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Violet sat on the couch in the living room, straining to hear her parents voices from her father’s office. Her mom’s voice was easy to hear, “And then I found her squeezing Dash inside one of her force fields and threatening him!” she practically shouted. Her dad said something but just as he was speaking, Dash started running the water and singing in the bathroom, drowning out the words. Frustration caused her to clench her fists and grit her teeth and she was so angry that she considered just going over and beating the brat senseless.

If I’m going to get in trouble for it anyway, She thought, but decided that it wouldn’t net her anything in the long run. Instead she settled for closing her eyes and picturing the little punk’s face turning blue as he gasped for air and pleaded with her for mercy. It was such a pleasant thought that she didn’t hear the door of her father’s office open or her mother approaching.

“Wipe that grin off your face, young lady.” Her mother’s caustic voice penetrated her fantasy. She opened her eyes to see her mother looming over her, hands on hips, wearing a stern expression. “That stupid stunt you pulled could have seriously injured your brother.”

“He stole my disc player and attacked me.”

“He’s twelve!”

“He’s a demon-child!”

“Violet Parr, I will not stand here and listen to you call-”

“You never listen to me!” Violet cried. “You always let him hurt me... and steal my stuff... and fuck up my dates-”

“There’s no call for that kind of language!”

“What…? ‘Fuck?’ I can’t say ‘fuck?’” A small part of Violet really enjoyed watching her mom flinch when she said the word, but mostly, the complete unfairness of the situation just crashed down around her and tears began to stream down her face as she continued shouting. “Demon child spies on me, invades my privacy, steals my stuff and you’re yelling at me because I squeezed him a little and said ‘fuck?’” She pushed her mom out of the way and went to her room. She didn’t notice that she was doing the pushing mentally instead of physically. She gathered up a few things and threw them in a bag then headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” Even in her emotionally agitated state, something in her mother’s voice penetrated into Violet’s heart. Her mom was really upset.

Good, a part of Violet thought. She can be upset! “What the fuck do you care?” She screamed out loud and slammed the door behind her. She didn’t really have a destination in mind, but her feet carried her toward a place where she knew she was welcome, even if she had been being a bitch for the last few days. Along the way, she was so wrapped up in her own grief and pain that she didn’t notice that people were being forced out of her way.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rick Dicker took the call calmly. He listened to the hysterical woman on the other end of the line for a few minutes and silently thanked whatever gods that looked over him for sparing him the trials of raising a daughter. On the other hand, Slick Jr. must have complained to the Commander because now Rick was stuck with the eager young fool. A situation made painfully clear by the kid practically jumping up and down in his office waving some papers. Rick tried to ignore the kid, but like an excited puppy, he just kept getting more intrusive. By the time Mrs. Parr had wound down, Junior G-man was leaned over Rick’s desk shoving the papers into his face.

Rick backed the young man off with a glare. It was an impressive glare, fine tuned by many hours of interrogating suspects and testifying before congress. Skippy didn’t have a chance. I really should learn this kid’s name, Rick thought, especially since the Commander has seen fit to punish me by forcing me to train the little twerp. “What do you have there, Skippy?” If the nick name bothered the younger agent he showed no sign.

“A report that shows where our prodigal child is.” He seemed quite proud of himself.

“And this information comes from…?”

“It’s a brilliant algorithm that I programmed myself.” He said proudly, “Compiling data from neighborhood stop-light cameras and public disturbance calls with satellite-recorded instances of paranormal activities, I can predict with ninety-eight percent certainty the destination of our prodigal child.” He finished with a triumphant smile and spread the sheets of paper across Rick’s desk. Rick glanced down at the papers and their columns of numbers.

“And this tells you she’s going to Kari Mckeen’s house?”

Skippy’s face fell like a ton of bricks. He waved one hand weakly and stuttered for a few seconds before collapsing back into a chair. “How did you know?” he finally asked weakly.

“She’s a teen aged girl that just had a huge fight with her mom.” Rick said disdainfully. “She’s either going to her boyfriend’s house or her best friend’s house. Since her boyfriend is an octopus with difficulty hearing under the best of circumstances…” Rick let his voice trail off and shrugged his shoulders. The young agent sagged even further into the chair, looking totally dejected.

“But… my programs… and predictions… useless… you just…”

“Look, Skippy,” I really gotta figure out what this kid’s name is. “There’s nothing wrong with your computer programs. Just remember that the human brain is one of the best computers there is. Now, go get the car and cheer up, at least your algorithms were right.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chi’s phone buzzed. Annoyed, she looked down at it. She was giving an important presentation to the Air-Cab representatives and she had given strict instructions not to be disturbed. When she saw the number of the caller, she cursed inwardly. “Excuse me gentlemen, ladies, I’m very sorry to interrupt but I have to take this.” She indicated her phone. “Bryant will continue the presentation in my absence, he has my full confidence.” She stepped into the adjoining sound proof room and raised the phone to her ear. “Patch him through, Daniel.” She said to her secretary.

She listened to the excited voice on the other end of the line for a few minutes and broke in. “I’m sure this would be a perfect situation to take advantage of, but we’re not positioned yet.” She said in exasperation. “Get with our man in Bob’s office and have him find out the details tomorrow, and alert Ruby that we’ll want a full report the moment Helen leaves her salon.” She listened as the voice emphatically repeated something. “I understand.” She said in a warning tone. “But if you can’t keep your cool, I’ll have you replaced by someone less excitable. You pulled me out of an important meeting for a report that could have easily waited an hour or two…” She listened again, this time the voice sounded hurt. “Yes, you do have a certain amount of discretion and leeway in your duties, but ultimately, I decide if you are exercising them properly.” There was some hurried reassurance, “I’m sure you will do better in the future.” She replied with a smile in her voice and disconnected the call.

Violet having arguments with her parents and storming out of the house... she cursed silently again. Her field agent was right, this was a golden opportunity, but there was no ground work yet. There was nothing to build on. The Job fair was still ten days away and she wouldn’t be able to introduce herself to Violet for at least two weeks after that. There really wasn’t any point in trying to establish contact now, it would only jeopardize her entire plan. Damn him for giving me this frustrating information! She thought. Violet’s on the outs with her family right now and I’m not in a position to take advantage of the schism… unless…

She eased into the room quietly. Bryant was doing well. He knew the material and he had just the right amount of flirt in his voice. She caught his eye and signaled him to take over completely. When he acknowledged with a nod, he worked it in so smoothly that she didn’t think any of the listeners even knew she had re-entered the room. She eased back out of the room and headed for her car in the basement, calling Daniel for a change of clothes and a current traffic report. If she everything went right, she had a shot at introducing herself into Violet’s life this afternoon. When her secretary joined her, she began shedding her clothes and handing them to him while they were walking to the elevator. She’d look completely out of place in a coffee house wearing that suit, jeans and a sweatshirt was the uniform of the day at the local coffee shop where Violet and Kari hung out. She didn’t bother taking off her hose, she just slid the jeans on over them, socks and shoes too. When the elevator car arrived, no one would have guessed that she was the owner of the building. John handed her a ball cap and an appropriate handbag just before the doors closed. She made a mental note to send her field agent a bonus.

---

---

Mirage paused for a moment to think, but for the life of her, couldn’t remember this guy’s name. He was incredibly cute and sexy, in a Matthew Broderick kind of way. A definite departure from her usual flavor, but just what the doctor ordered for tonight. He had approached her table after Violet and Kari left. She wasn’t sure exactly why she had invited him to sit down; perhaps it was because the “chance encounter” with Vi and Kari had gone so well. A crowded coffee shop had provided the perfect excuse to share their table and a couple of weeks’ surveillance had provided her a few conversation starters. She had surprised herself by really enjoying their company and had ended up feeling an unexpected connection to the younger women. The young man turned out to be confident and very charming, with a sly smile that lit up his hazel eyes, but she had still hesitated. In the end she let him persuade her to accompany him to a house party on campus. Perhaps she was in a celebratory mood, perhaps she was flattered to have someone trying so hard to win her affection without a clue of who she was. The young man had no idea he was flirting with one of the most powerful and influential people on the Eastern seaboard, he just thought she was pretty. In the end, “why” didn’t matter. She was here with him and he was doing that thing with his tongue, again. She encouraged him to proceed and in a short period of time, rational thought just wasn’t possible.  But no matter how fun it was, there was something missing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“What was the fight about?”

Violet looked at the shrink through half-lidded eyes. “What fight?”

“The fight that caused you to storm out of your house and spend the night away from your family.”

“Aren’t you supposed to have some kind of, like, privacy thing, where you don’t talk about stuff outside of here?”

The doctor looked at Violet with a bemused smile on her face. “I can assure you, Violet, that everything you say in here is completely confidential. The only way I would reveal anything that you said to anyone else would be if you told me you were planning to hurt yourself or someone else. However,” she sighed, “because of your unique status in the community, there are certain subjects that have priority when we talk.”

“Like me arguing with my mom?”

“Like you walking around pushing people out of your way using your psi powers.” The doctor’s voice had a hint of reproach in it.

“I didn’t know I was doing it.” Violet replied defensively.

“I know.” She said understandingly, “That’s one of the reasons I’d really like to talk about it.” Violet looked down at her hands uncomfortably.

“I’m really good at controlling my powers, you know.” She said in a soft voice.

Dr. Smith smiled. “We’ve all watched you come into your own over the last few years. We’re all very proud of you, you know.” She matched Violet’s tone and phrasing, eliciting a smile from the young lady.

“Sometimes, I wish I was here, you know, instead of with them.”

“Your mom and dad?”

“Yeah, I get treated like a person here. Everyone calls me “Ms. Parr” and listens to me. She won’t even let me get a word in edgewise.”

“Your mom.” It was a statement.

“Yeah. Whenever the demon child messes with my stuff or messes up my life, which is, like, every day, she always takes his side.” Violet’s voice was bitter and her words sharp. “I can’t wait until this summer… I am so outta there.”

“Have you decided where you’re going to college?”

“Stanford.”

“That’s a long ways away.”

“Not long enough.”

“Why Stanford?”

“I didn’t get accepted into Kyutech.”

“Quetek…?”

“Kyushu Institute of Technology.”

“Never heard of it.”

“Not surprising,” Violet said with a sly grin, “It’s in Iizuka, Japan.”

“So you consider Stanford to be a compromise.” Dr. Smith said with a friendly smile.

“Bingo.”

“Did you tell your parents that you applied for this Quetek college?”

“Nah, mom found the rejection letter though.” Violet rolled her eyes. “I couldn’t believe the shit storm that came out of that. You’d a thought I was going to the moon, the way she carried on.”

“She was upset?”

“She was crying for three days.” Violet’s tone was dismissive. “Every night at dinner that week I had to listen to hour long lectures about the importance of family and what it means to be a team.” She rolled her eyes again, “Like they knew anything about being a team before I stepped up… Dad sneakin’ around trying to be a secret hero… Mom trying to pretend everything was normal… I’m lucky I’m not some whack job out on the streets killing normals for the hell of it.”

“Is that what you were fighting about?”

“No.” she sighed. “Dash was being a little prick, and I was trying to teach him a lesson… She… She just never listens to me.” Violet’s sat back in her seat and let her mind drift a bit. “I’m always doing the wrong thing, you know. It never works out for me.”

“What never works out for you?”

“Everything.” Violet looked down at her hands, picking at an imaginary speck of something on her fingernail. “I’m seventeen, and the only real kiss I’ve ever had was from a girl.”

“Is that why you’re having nightmares?”

Violet studied the doctor intently, looking for some kind of judgment or disapproval. Her gaze was piercing and forceful but the doctor didn’t even flinch. After a few moments she shook her head slowly, “I… I don’t know.”

“Is that what you were arguing with your mom about?”

“You just can’t let that go, can you?” Violet asked. “What’s so important about what we were fighting about?”

“You left the house and used your powers unconsciously on people. You were not in control of yourself, and as a result you were not in control of your powers.”

Violet’s eyes flashed. “That’s all this is about, isn’t it?” She said in sudden realization, “This whole thing where I come in here to talk to you about my life. It’s all a front for The Agency to keep their fingers on the pulse of Violet Parr’s ‘dangerous powers’ and ‘unstable mind,’ isn’t it?” The dark haired girl stood up and advanced on the doctor. “You don’t give a damn about me, you just want to make sure I don’t go crazy and start killing people.” She imitated the Doctor’s voice, “Talk to me, Violet. I’m listening,” sarcasm took over her voice, “as long as I think it will protect the sheeple of Metroville.” She could feel her anger rising up around her and knew the shrink was waiting for some kind of sign that she didn’t have control so they could slap some kind of power damper on her. They had them, agent Dicker was always talking about how they were restraining some rogue super or another. Well she wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of that. She spun around to face the psychiatrist. “You just want me to be in control, don’t you?” Violet walked over to the chair where the doctor was sitting and loomed over the woman, “I’ll show you control…”

Fixing her glare on the woman’s face and pouring all of her pent up anger into it, she reached out with her mind and picked up a marker from the desk. As it floated silently across the room, encased in one of Violet’s force fields, she saw a hint of fear in the doctor’s eyes. The doctor who was supposed to be her friend, supposed to listen to her and keep her secrets was actually just another lackey agent that was scared to death of her and wanted to protect the normals from her. She stopped the marker a few inches away from the doctor’s face and removed the cap, letting it fall to the floor. The marker moved steadily down to the doctor’s notepad and spelled out the word “Incurable” over the notes already there.

“I guess that means we won’t need to meet anymore, eh Doc?” Violet walked calmly across the room, the marker still hovering in the air in front of the doctor’s face. “And you can tell your boss that my control is just fine.” With that, she walked out of the room and released the pen. She couldn’t believe she had ever really thought the doctor was trying to help her. The last week had been going so well, her sessions every few days had generally left her feeling pretty good, but it was all just a set up. They were all just trying to control her. Why were they scared of her? Why didn’t they just leave her alone? She wanted nothing more than to fall down and start crying but she wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction. She held her head high and strode out of the building.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Thanks for meeting me.”

“No problem, Vi.” The tow-headed woman replied with a smile. “You look a little down. Is something wrong?”

“Did you ever find out that someone you thought was your friend was really just using you?” Violet asked. She was looking at her hands, so she didn’t see Chi twitch in surprise.

Chi tried to keep her voice steady when she responded, “Yes.” She said sadly. “Once… Once, someone I cared for very much… someone I thought cared for me very much… He…” She smiled sadly. “It isn’t important, exactly what happened. He just showed me that he didn’t really care about me.”

“What did you do?”

“I walked away and never looked back.”

“Was he… your… um… was he family?”

“I thought… hoped really, that he would be, some day. But it wasn’t meant to be.” She reached out and took Violet’s hand. “Did someone betray you Vi?”

Violet gently pulled her hand away, nervously twisting her fingers together. She knew she shouldn’t say too much to this woman; she was a complete stranger, after all. But there was something familiar, something that felt safe about her and the session with that woman from the agency was still weighing heavily on her mind. “Yeah.”

“I know you don’t know me very well but, do you want to tell me about it?”

Violet just shook her head. “I don’t think so. I can’t really talk to anyone about most of my life…”

“Don’t tell me your dad is a spy or something.”

Violet blushed. “Nothing like that.” She said dismissively. “I just… I just don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well then,” Chi said with a bright smile and a genuine lilt in her voice, “Let’s talk about something else...” She winked conspiratorially, “Do you remember that cute boy with the leather jacket that was looking at us the whole time we were at the coffee house?”

“Yeah…”

“After you and Kari left, he asked me to go to a house party with him, over at M.U.”

“Did you go?”

“Well, I wasn’t sure, at first. He was so much younger than me… But he was so cute and really charming…” As Chi talked, Violet tried to pin down what was familiar about the woman. For some reason she just felt safe when she was talking with Chi and for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why.

That night, Violet dreamed she was back on the island with her parents and her brother. They were trying to get away from Syndrome… No, they were trying to figure out how to launch the rocket when Chi stepped out of the shadows and gave them the launch codes. She woke up in surprise. Why would she think that Chi was on the island? But the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. It completely explained why she would feel safe around Chi, if she was associating her with the woman who helped them escape and stop Syndrome’s plan. What if she’s the same person? She tried to remember the woman’s face, but all she got was the hair and the smile, both of which matched Chi’s. But that could be coincidence, couldn’t it?

Violet clenched herself in frustration. Why does everything have to be so complicated? Why couldn’t someone, anyone just be themselves? Everyone wants something from me; why can’t anyone just want to be with me because they like me? She rocked back and forth on her bed, clutching her chest and praying silently for a way out, wishing she could be normal, wishing she could have a normal life.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Agent Dicker sighed inwardly. “Listen, Skippy,” He said resignedly, “You can’t call Bob and Helen over here and show them a video record of something that happened in their daughter’s therapy session.”

“She’s freaking out.”

“She’s a teenager.” Rick sighed. “She is in a constant state of ‘freaking out.’ It’s what they re best at.” He looked over his glasses at the young agent and pointedly said, “A state that you seem to find yourself in a lot more than is healthy.”

“You saw the tapes of her sessions with Dr. Smith…”

“The completely confidential sessions…? The sessions that are inviolate under federal law…?” Dicker asked sarcastically, “The sessions with the doctor who took an oath to preserve her patient’s privacy…? The sessions that were recorded and analyzed by agents without the knowledge or consent of the patient…? Are those the sessions you’re referring to?”

“Well…”

“Here’s the phone. Why don’t you call up Mr. Incredible and tell him that The Agency violated his daughter’s confidentiality agreement with her doctor. And then, when he asks about his own sessions, you can tell him that his confidentiality was compromised as well.” Rick smiled weakly. “If there are any pieces of you left when he’s done, I’d love to hear how you’re going to explain the whole thing to a federal judge.”

The young agent’s eyes widened, “But, you saw them too… and… and… we’re doing it because it’s necessary… right?” He gained a little confidence, “We have to make sure the supers aren’t a danger to society, right? That they’re controlled and on the right side, right?” He was almost begging.

“Yeah, keep tellin’ yourself that, it’ll help you sleep better at night.”

“What are we going to do?”

“We’re going to find a lever. Everyone has a lever, something that they value above everything else. We need to find a lever to use on Violet, to keep her in line.”

“You mean like blackmail?”

Rick rolled his eyes inwardly and shook his head. “We’re not mobsters. I had hoped this ‘Tony’ fellow would provide a stabilizing force on Violet, but he hasn’t stepped up.” He paused for a moment, deep in thought, “We need to find someone she can relate to, someone who she respects and will listen to and then we need to make sure that ‘someone’ is listening to us. Call Lucius, he might know something that will help us.”

“What about the sessions?”

“What about them?”

“What if he finds out?”

“Are you going to tell him?” The agent shook his head frantically. “Then I don’t think there’ll be a problem.” Rick watched the nervous young man exit the room with a sinking feeling in his stomach. If this was the kind of recruit they were getting nowadays, The Agency was in big trouble. He shuffled through the stack of papers on his desk and came to the file he had been trying to get his hands on for a few days. After reading the first line, he sat back and laughed at himself and the mysterious workings of the universe. He read the first line again and allowed himself a genuine chuckle. It was nice to know that the universe had a sense of humor, even when he was the butt of the joke. He shook his head once more and thought: No wonder the kid never objected.

---

"Honey… Who’s on the phone?” Lucius called from the bedroom

“Some kid claiming to be from The Agency.”

“Well, what does he want?”

“He wanted to talk to you.”

“Tell him I’ll be right there.”

“Oh no you won’t!”

“Woman…”

“And don’t even go there.”

“What is wrong with you?”

“We’re having dinner with your momma tonight, and we’re leaving right now. There ain’t no way you gonna leave me sittin’ across from that old bag while you’re out pretending to be fightin’ for truth, justice and the American way.”

“It might be important.”

“More important than dinner with your momma? I don’t think so.” She put a fist on her hip and cocked her head to the side, “But I’mma’tell you this, if you ain’t going, I sure as hell ain’t going.”

Violet entered the coffee shop in an excited state and looked around for Chi. when she spotted the slender woman, her grin widened and she waved excitedly. “You’ll never guess what happened today!” she said breathlessly.

“You won the lottery?” Violet’s smile got even bigger, but she shook her head. Chi waited a moment, hoping the girl would just come out and say whatever had her so worked up, but it wasn’t to be. “Um, you found that you’re the long lost descendant of Anastasia Nikolaevna and you’re going to Russia to bring back the power and mistique of the Czarinas.”

This time Violet’s eyes actually glazed over for a second before she exclaimed: “What?”

“Nevermind, what happened?”

“I got a job interview!”

"Really? Where at?”

“Chimera Industries! The Largest Independent Producer of Cutting Edge…” Her voice faltered as Chi chimed in with her.

“…Cutting Edge Aeronautical Technology in the United States.” Chi finished for her.

“How do you know that?”

“Well, it’s not ‘Chimera Industries.’ It’s Chi Mera Industries.” She said, emphasizing the space between her first and last name.

“How do you know…”

She smiled and held out her hand to the young woman. “Chi Mera, at your service.” Violet’s eyes went round and her hand flew to her mouth.

“Oh!” She glanced down at the proffered hand and hesitantly reached for it.

“I don’t bite, you know.” Chi said sardonically. She allowed herself a small inward smile when the girl took her hand and shook it. “Pleased to meet you.”

“Pleased to meet you too… You own Chimera, I mean Chi Mera Industries?” Chi nodded. “Holy shit! You’re so young! You must be, like, super rich, what are you doing hanging out in a coffee shop with me?”

“Rich people don’t drink coffee?”

“I guess so, but…”

“Look, Violet, I spend all day in meetings fighting for the integrity and profitablity of my company, sometimes I just like to lose the corporate costume and be one of the guys. Do you know what I mean?” The teen could only nod in amazement. “No one here knows who I am or what I do or how much money I have. They either like me or they don’t like me.” She guestured around the comfortable shop, “These people are real. What I do in the board room is… different. I don’t know how to explain it, but when I’m here, I feel… normal.”

Violet nodded, a far off look in her eye. “No one to judge you for stuff you never wanted to do anyway.” She said softly.

Chi smiled kindly, “Exactly.” She said. “Look at you…”

“What about me?” Violet asked guardedly.

“Would you and Kari have sat down and talked to me if I ws wearing a buisness suit and shouting into my Blackberry?”

Violet looked pained for a second before she conceded, “Probably not.”

Chi leaned in close to the girl and smiled conspiritorially, “I come in here to just be with people. This way I keep in mind the things that are really important, and every once in a while I find a person who would fit well in my organization that I would have otherwise missed.”

The girl suddenly got a suspicious look in her eyes. She stepped back and crossed her arms across her chest. “Did you do something?”

“It’s possible. I do a lot of things.” Chi said stiltedly, but Violet didn’t get the reference.

“I mean,” Somehow the girl added two syllables to the word ‘mean.’ “Did you arrange for me to have a job interview? You know… pull some strings or whatever?”

Chi studied the dark haired girl far a moment before answering. “I never mentioned what I do. So, I’m assuming that you found out about the company at one of our career day booths, probably at school…?”

“Yeah.”

“Well then, in the strictest sense of the word, I did arrange for you to have an interview. It is my company, and I did approve the idea of a career day booth at local high schools and colleges. But I wasn’t directly involved in setting up an interview for you. I didn’t see your application. I didn’t know you had submitted one.” Chi paused again, “Did Kari happen to submit an application too? She’d do great in sales.”

Violet, who had been relaxing, suddenly sat up straight and the suspicion returned to her eyes. “That’s what her letter said, Sales Department.”

Chi smiled and held up a hand, “Don’t read anything sinister into it, Vi. My recruiters are just doing their job. I happen to think your friend Kari would be a great asset to any sales team, it is reassuring that my recruiters share my tastes. That means I hired smart recruiters.” Chi noticed that Violet’s reaction to Kari’s name was charged with something. She couldn’t put her finger on exactly what, but she was sure there was some source of tension between the girls.

---

“Mr. Best…?” The young man in the ill-fitting dark suit approached the table. “I’m sorry to interrupt your dinner, but-’

“Not as sorry as you’re gonna be, little man!”

“Honey…”

“Don’t you start on me, Lucius, or you gonna be sorrier than him.”

“This is the way you treat my boy? Disrespecting him in public? I told you not to marry her.”

“Momma, Please-”

“Don’t you ‘Momma, Please’ me, boy.”

“Momma Best, you stay out of my business.”

“Honey Chile, don’t you even think to take that tone with me!”

“Lucius!”

Lucius Best looked back and forth between the two most important people in his life. The woman he loved and was trying to build a future with and the woman who had raised him and provided the foundation for his past. They both stood, hands on hips, facing him with pursed lips and waiting expressions. On the one hand, He wanted to tell Honey to just drop it and be nice to his mother, she had made him the man he was today, and Honey had married him, right? That had to mean that on some level she appreciated the results of his momma’s hard work, right? On the other hand, he wanted to tell his momma to just drop it and be nice to his wife. She was the woman he chose to spend the rest of his life with and his momma’s guidance is what brought him to choose her. It was a very tough choice between two unpalatable alternatives.

Lucius did the only thing any sane man could do. He grabbed the young agent by the arm and ran like hell. “You got a car around here, kid?”

“Uh, yessir.”

“Then let’s get in it and get out of here before they catch up!”

“But, but…”

“Lucius!” The combined voices of two very angry women reached them.

“NOW, MISTER!” Skippy Johnson gulped and nodded as he pointed the way toward his car. Lucius sprinted for the vehicle and danced impatiently while he waited for the young agent to unlock the doors. “They’re gonna be here any minute, man. Let’s get a move on!”

“I’m just supposed to make sure you call Agent Dicker…”

“Great, we’ll go talk to him now.”

“But…”

“You’re not married, are you?”

“No, but…”

“Shut up and drive.”

The angry voices of Lucius’ mother and wife reached his ears as he pulled away from the curb. The young agent pondered the thought of a man who had complete mastery of the water in the very air around him and the tried to reconcile the wielder of that kind of power with the frightened man sitting next to him in the car. As far as he knew, neither Honey Best nor Lucius’ mother had any super powers, what kind of threat could they pose to someone like him? He continued to think about it as they rode in silence to The Agency.

Skippy escorted Lucius into Dicker’s office and was about to leave when the senior agent motioned for him to shut the door and serve coffee. It was a little below his station, but he didn’t resent the job, because it meant he would be present to find out what Dicker had in mind for Violet. “How do you like your coffee, Mr. Best?”

“One cream, two sugars, please. And after you saved me from my momma and my wife, you can call me ‘Lucius.” The tall black man replied with a wide smile. He turned to the senior agent, “What can I do for you, Rick?”

“The Agency is concerned, Lucius.”

“About me?” Lucius seemed generally surprised and not at all defensive.

Rick snorted, as close to a laugh as Skippy had ever heard from him. “No. We’re worried about Bob’s girl.”

Now Lucius shot a suspicious look toward the junior agent and looked a little bit wary. “What’s going on?”

“She’s growing apart from her parents. Bob and Helen are worried that she’s falling in with the wrong crowd.” The agent paused to take off his glasses and wipe his face, trying to project an aura of fatherly concern. “She won’t listen to them, and she’s never listened to us,” He smiled, “We, The Agency, were wondering if you would, kind of, take her under your wing.”

Violet sat upright in her bed, legs crossed in front of her, blanket wrapped around her shoulders and her big bear cuddled in her arms. The house was mostly quiet. The murmur of the T.V. penetrated the walls of her room, punctuated occasionally by her dad’s gruff laughter or the twanging tone of a comment from her mother. None of the words were audible but the background noise was soothing. It was normal.

Today, when they found out they had both been picked to interview for intern jobs at Chimera, she had shared a hug with Kari. At first it had just been an enthusiastic happy hug, but after a few seconds, she had started feeling awkward. She became aware of Kari’s breasts pressed against her’s and the thought brought her back to The Kiss. In those short seconds before they disengaged, she traveled a gamut of emotions; fear, excitement, longing and shame, shame for The Kiss, shame for the fact that Kari had no memory of it, shame for the longing. As they parted, Violet saw something in Kari’s eyes, something akin to her own longing and she almost said something right then, but the moment passed and the longing faded. And her life returned to normal. Ha! She thought. There’s nothing normal about me! Having Agent Rick Dicker as an “Uncle,” isn’t normal. Talking to your head-shrinker about controlling your psi powers isn’t normal. Erasing your best friend’s memory after every time she sits your baby brother isn’t normal. Kissing your best friend and really liking it isn’t normal.

Chi’s voice replayed in her mind; I don’t know how to explain it, but when I’m here, I feel… normal… I just like to lose the corporate costume and be one of the guys. Do you know what I mean? Chi was someone who really understood her.

I just like to lose the corporate costume and be one of the guys…

I don’t know how to explain it, but when I’m here, I feel… normal…

I just like to lose the corporate costume…

when I’m here, I feel… normal…

I just like to lose the costume…

I feel… normal…

lose the costume…

feel… normal…

Do you know what I mean?

“Yes.” Violet whispered to herself.

Benjamin Franklin said: “For want of a nail, a shoe was lost...” He went on to chronicle a disaster stemming from that simple omission. He was talking about the need to pay attention to details. Because the details, no matter how small they may seem, are the things that will jump up and bite you on the ass at the most inopportune time.

See the weaver at his loom, guiding the individual threads into a cohesive pattern designed to placate the powerful and enrich the spirit of the weak. See how he deftly maneuvers the clashing colors into a seemingly harmonious and soothing design. He is very talented and his skills have kept the peace between the feared and the fearful for many years. He is the voice of reason, heeded by gods and mortals alike and he speaks to both, insulating them from each other. But sometimes, fate intervenes and something gets out of place. Today, one detail, one thread, has slipped through his fingers and ended up in the wrong place. It’s a small thing, smaller even than a nail.

It’s a single strand of hair, white-blonde and no more than ten inches long. Right now, it’s connected to the head of a slender, green-eyed woman wearing a Metroville University sweatshirt and a pair of designer jeans. She’s talking to a young dark haired woman in a coffee shop. When they say their goodbyes for the evening, they embrace briefly and the single strand of hair is snagged in the watchband of the young woman. They laugh at some private joke and make their way out the door. The young woman feels the tickling of the hair on her wrist and pulls it off of her watchband without consciously thinking about it. The hair floats free for a moment but a stray breeze deposits it on the young woman’s back. She goes home, eats dinner with her family, does some homework, talks to her friends on the phone and eventually says good night to her parents. Perhaps it is static electricity, perhaps it’s just the nature of the fabrics involved, but when the young woman says good night and hugs her father before going to her room for the night, the single strand of white blonde hair attaches itself to his shirtsleeve.

A clever man can stand between the gods and the mortals and smooth over their differences, but no man can stand between two angry gods and live.

“Bob, what’s that on your arm?”

---

From the top of the ACME building, the city looked peaceful. The shadows of night hid the dirt and grime of everyday life and lights of every color dotted the buildings and streets. A light fog shrouded random parts of the Metroville skyline, giving it an almost ethereal feel. Two men stood at the edge of a roof in the easy silence of old friends. They’d met like this several times over the years, providing companionship and a sympathetic shoulder to a friend that no one else could really understand. It was nice to know that someone else, anyone else understood the rigors of your job and the special stresses put upon you by your extraordinary circumstances. It was also comforting to know that even with super powers, keeping your wife happy was, universally, a difficult and sometimes impossible task.

Frozone let out a sigh. “So…?”

“Helen found a blonde hair on my sleeve,” Mr. Incredible shrugged. “Between that and the extra time I spent in Mexico over the last few weeks, she’s convinced I’m seeing Mirage again.” He ran a hand through his hair and pretended to look for crime downtown. “You…?”

“Dicker interrupted dinner with my mom.”

The big man cringed in sympathy, “Ouch.”

Frozone laughed ruefully, “Worst part is there wasn’t a real emergency. If I can point at the news and tell Honey that I was saving the world, she usually calms down, but this time it was just the good old boys getting nervous.”

“About what?”

Frozone hesitated before replying, “Violet.”

Mr. Incredible turned suddenly, “My Violet?”

“I’m afraid so.”

The big man looked angry for a few moments then sunk in on himself with a resigned sigh. “I guess that’s my fault. She’s been having nightmares and losing control of herself while she’s sleeping.” He smiled slyly, “Last week she threw the sofa so hard, it knocked me on my ass when I caught it.” Lucius whistled. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Bob continued, “but Helen was pissy about it and made me call The Agency and ask them to set up a shrink for the girl.” He snorted. “She walked out on the shrink and now they’re afraid she’s going nuts.”

“Nah, they just want her to have someone to talk to.”

“She can talk to us, Helen and me’ll listen…” Lucius’ raised eyebrow stopped him. “I guess not…” He brightened, “What about you? She might talk to you.”

“That’s exactly what Rick said.”

“Numbers are significant.” The corpulent agency director paused and turned back to glare at the two men standing as far away from him as the narrow confines of his office would allow, “Particularly numbers that follow a dollar sign.” He leveled a penetrating gaze at the two men, the younger one was definitely affected but the older one didn’t seem to notice; agent Rick Dicker was legendary for his unflappability. Nothing the big man had thrown at him over the past twelve years had ever gotten a rise out of the stoic agent. He had a feeling that the record was going to fall today. “Ten million, three hundred and seventy two thousand… is the number that brings us to this meeting, gentlemen. It is a large number, worthy of notice in any form, but it is particularly noticeable because this is one of those numbers that follows a dollar sign.” His glare was unrelenting and the younger agent was starting to crack. The fat man could see sweat rolling down his face and a slight tremor in his legs. Dicker still seemed oblivious.

“It is, in fact, an estimation of the costs to repair damages caused by Mr. Incredible and…” the fat man paused to consult his notes, “…Speedy, over the last ten days.” He dropped the papers onto his desk and leaned back against it. The thick oak let out a small creaking protest. “Why?” He asked in a sweetly reasonable tone, “Why is it that our most vaunted Super is destroying Metroville?” His piercing gaze conveyed that he was certain it was all the fault of the men standing before him. The young nearly collapsed under the weight of the glare and began stammering about nightmares and shrinks and imaginary blondes, the fat man ignored him. “Two years ago, I approved a limited program of reintroducing the Supers on your recommendation, Rick.” Was that a flinch? “I have made sure that everyone who knows what’s going on also knows that you were the one who recommended the current course of action.” Definitely a flinch, possibly even a tic. “If this gets out of hand, like it did twenty years ago, you’re going to be held responsible.” He studied his fingernails for a moment, “Again.” He said softly. “And this time, I don’t think they’re going to transfer you. They’ll probably just use your little toy to wipe your mind and put you out to pasture in some nursing home… a government nursing home.”

“We’ll take care of it, sir.” The older agent said calmly, but there was a bead of sweat rolling down his face. Rick Dicker grabbed his babbling partner and dragged him out of the room.

---

“Can I tell you a secret?” Violet asked.

“Of course.” Chi replied with a small smile. “But are you sure you want to tell me?”

“I don’t know. I have all this stuff going on inside me and I want to talk to someone, but…”

“But what?”

“I can’t talk to anyone without telling secrets.”

“I’m not sure what you mean, Vi.” Chi frowned. “Is it someone else’s secret?”

“Isn’t it always?” Violet countered. “Even if it’s my secret too, isn’t there always more than one person involved in a secret?”

“Usually, but maybe there’s a way to tell a secret without telling everything about the secret.”

“The problem is that you’re really smart.”

The blonde smiled widely. “If that’s my only problem, I’ll take it.”

“If I tell you my part of the secret, you’re going to figure out the rest of it and then I’ll have told you someone else’s secret and it’s not my place.” She looked at her hands for a few minutes and Chi let her sit quietly. “Let me give you an example… you know who The Incredibles are, right?”

Chi was startled but Violet was too engrossed in a water stain on the table to notice. “Uh, what do you mean?”

“You’ve seen ‘em on TV, and stuff.”

“Yeah…?”

“What if one of them suddenly took off her mask?”

“I’m not sure what you’re trying to say…”

“What if… Uh, Mrs. Incredible took of her mask and showed everyone who she is? It’s her secret, right? She could just take off her mask and y-we’d all know who she is, right? But then we’d know who Mr. Incredible is too.”

“And their kids.” Chi added.

“Yeah. And their kids.” She glanced over at Chi, “It’s kinda like that.”

Chi reached out to take Violet’s hands in her own. “Vi, I promise you that no matter what you tell me, I’ll keep your secret.” She wondered if the girl would really share the secret of her dual life with anyone outside of her family.

Violet took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “OK, here goes… I think I like someone and I think they like me, but…”

“You think and you think?” Chi asked sarcastically. She had been expecting an earth shattering revelation and instead got a high-school crush.

“I’m not supposed to like them.”

“Why not?”

“She’s a girl.”

That’s more like it. Chi thought. “That does make the secret more interesting.” She said thoughtfully, “Why do you think she likes you?”

“She, uh, kissed me.” The dark haired girl muttered.

“Why do you think you like her?”

Red was creeping up her face. “I really liked it.”

“When you say ‘kissed,’ you mean…?”

“Full on the mouth, tongue and everything.” She couldn’t bring herself to raise her head.

“When you say you liked it…?”

“I really liked it.”

“What did you do?”

“I pushed her away and kicked her out of my house.” Violet chanced a look at the older woman and saw the light go on in her head. But, to her credit, the blonde didn’t even ask. Violet searched her face for some kind of revulsion or a hint of reproach. “Are you going to stop talking to me?” She asked.

Chi almost asked if it was Kari, but she stopped herself just in time. She knew that if she asked any questions about the details, she would be proving to Violet that she couldn’t be trusted. “Because you kissed a girl?”

“Because I might be… you know… I, uh…”

“Because you might like kissing girls?” Violet tried to say something, but couldn’t find her tongue, red-faced, she just nodded. “Are you going to jump on me and kiss me without warning?” Violet blushed an even deeper shade of red and shook her head while chewing on her bottom lip. “Then I don’t have a problem with it.”

The young woman’s face tilted up, relief clearly radiating from her expression. “Really?” she asked.

“Really,” Chi smiled kindly, “You’re in a transitional period right now, Vi…”

“You think I’ll grow out of it?” Her voice was tinged with hope and skepticism.

Chi chuckled. “I don’t think it’s a ‘phase,’ if that’s what you’re asking. I just mean that you’re life is in a transitional period. You’re not a kid anymore, but you’re not really an adult either. Society is sending you mixed signals; you can go to war, but you can’t buy alcohol. You’re allowed to vote, but not to drive after dark. You’re moving from childhood to adulthood and everything is a little confusing.”

“That doesn’t explain why I kissed… a girl.”

“No, but it should help you realize that everything is a little confusing right now. You’re trying to figure out exactly who you are and what you’re like. From the big things like: whether you like kissing boys or girls, or both, or neither, to the little things like: do you want to put a shaggy rug on the toilet seat in your first apartment.”

Violet giggled. “My grandmother had those. I never could figure out why.”

“My last boyfriend had them, black shag carpet on the toilet lid…” She shivered at the memory. “That one didn’t last long.”

“The boyfriend or the toilet cover?” Violet asked and they both laughed. “Chi…?” Violet’s voice was soft and she avoided looking at the blonde woman.

“Yes?”

“Have you ever… I mean… Do you know anyone who…” Violet looked at the floor, her shoes, the table, everywhere but at the blonde. “um…”

“Do I know any lesbians?”

“Yeah.”

“Yes, I do. And I’m sure you do to.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean, I’m sure there are people that you know who are gay that you don’t know are gay.”

“No way.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I’d know.”

“Think about it, Vi. You’re not even sure about yourself, how can you be sure about anyone else?”

Violet puzzled over the question all the way home. Not just of her own sexuality but of her convictions about people and the world around her. A month ago she thought she knew exactly who she was and what she wanted. Today, not only did she not know who she was, she didn’t even know who she wanted to be, all stemming from a surprise kiss and an even more surprising reaction. By the time she crawled into bed, she knew she would have to do something. She didn’t know what, but she knew she couldn’t sit around wondering for the rest of her life.

On her way home, Mirage hugged herself tightly, trying to control the tremors. Why did Violet have to be asking the same questions she had asked five years ago? Why did she feel so drawn to the young woman, so protective toward her? Why did she just want to take her into her arms and smooth her hair, soothe her spirit and promise to make it all right? Why did she care?

Brutally she slammed the barriers of her emotions down around the feelings. She had let herself be ruled by emotions once before and it hadn’t ended well. Now, she was the boss. She was the one in control and she would never give that up. Violet Parr would be manipulated and brought into Mirage’s game as a pawn to be used and discarded at her whim, she firmly asserted to herself. But in the back of her mind, closed off and shut down by her conscious, she didn’t want a pawn, she wanted a queen.

She didn’t notice the unmarked sedan that followed her home.

Hey, Mom, I’m home!” Violet called as she entered the house, Kari in tow. The shout was purely for show. She wasn’t expecting an answer. Dash was supposed to be at soccer practice and Jack had an appointment with the pediatrician. Her mom should be with Jack and her dad was supposed to pick up Dash. If everything went the way it usually did, her dad would forget and make it almost all the way home before her mom called him to remind him to pick up Dash and then he’d have to turn around and go get Dash from the SportsPlex. She figured she had about an hour alone with Kari.

The redhead was off on one of her usual tangents, “So I told ‘em that the phone company didn’t own all of the telephone poles and it hadn’t since the break-up of Ma-Bell in the mid-eighties, but they didn’t listen to me and they kept insisting that it was always AT&T. Do you have any oranges? So I pulled up the Wiki page and showed ‘em the article I had read the night before.” The red-head dropped her book bag on the counter and opened the refrigerator. “I spend a lot of time reading stuff on Wiki. There’s a lot of things that you can learn from there. Did you know that you can just make stuff up and post it?”

“I’m sure no one just makes up stuff and posts it on Wiki.”

“Uh, huh!” the redhead insisted, as she pulled out an orange and started peeling it. “Last month there was this thing about how Bumblebee was originally an AMC Hornet but everyone knows he was a Volkswagen Beetle. But some guy just wrote a totally made up paragraph about the Hornet thing and posted it on the Wiki site.”

“Bumblebee?” Violet moved their backpacks off of the kitchen island into the living room and flopped onto the couch.

“Yeah, you know, the Transformers?” Kari grabbed a paper towel and began sectioning the orange to share with Violet. “Anyway, He was always a Beetle and I don’t know why anyone would think that he was ever a Hornet. Besides the guy who wrote it was a total loser, he said that the Go-Bots were better than the Transformers because they had cooler names…”

“Kari…”

“I don’t know a whole lot about the Go-Bots but I think they had stupid names. I mean, really, Leader-1…? Turbo…? Scooter…? Those names are just dumb.”

“Kari…?”

“Optimus Prime is a cool name…” Kari continued as she made her way over to the couch, “and Bumblebee is too—“

Violet stood up and grabbed Kari’s shoulders, “Kari!”

“What?”

Violet held tightly to Kari’s shoulders and leaned in to kiss her. She wasn’t sure of herself and misjudged the distance as the redhead pulled away. They ended up banging their teeth together at first, but she eventually got it right and their lips were pressed together for about four seconds. It was the longest four seconds in her life. Violet gently broke the kiss and released Kari’s shoulders. She took a half step back and waited for the other girl’s reaction. Each microsecond that passed caused her stomach to roil up and tighten; she felt like she was going to throw up. Kari’s eyes were wide in something that looked like fear to Violet and she stilled herself for the redhead to flee in horror.

“You kissed me?” Kari asked, disbelievingly. Violet couldn’t find her voice, she just nodded. “You kissed me?” Kari asked again, this time her tone was surprised, like she was trying to convince herself that it was true. “You kissed me!” The redhead’s tone was triumphant. “You kissed me!” She sat down on the couch, shaking her head in wonderment.

Violet found her voice, “Are you mad?” Kari shook her head, stunned. She looked up at the worried girl and kept shaking her head, for once, completely unable to say anything. “Would you be mad if I kissed you again?” This time Kari blushed bright red as she continued to shake her head violently.

Violet sat down on the couch next to her and gently held her hand. Embarrassed but determined to follow this through, she leaned in to Kari and this time they met halfway. The kiss was tentative and soft but it was stunning because they were both participating. Violet opened her mouth slightly and Kari’s tongue flicked across her lips before they broke off once more and sat back to stare at each other.

“HOLY SHIT!”

They turned to see Dash staring at them open mouthed from the kitchen with his father standing right behind him. In a bizarre twist of fate, Bob had remembered to pick up the boy from practice today and they were home a lot earlier than she expected. Now, he looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck. “Dash,” He said numbly, “Go to your room.”

Violet sat at the kitchen table skimming through the ChiMera Industries’ handbook for new employees. She had just reached the section on sexual harassment when her mom informed her that Kari wasn’t available so she would have to baby sit her younger brothers during the upcoming evening.

“What do you mean?” Violet asked her mother suspiciously.

“I mean, exactly what I said.” Helen replied defensively, “Kari’s not available to baby sit, so I need you to watch Jack-Jack tonight.”

“I heard what you said, mother. I want to know what you mean by Kari not being available to baby sit. She’s always available. Always!”

“Not this evening.”

“And why not?”

“That’s none of your business, young lady.”

Violet stared daggers at her mother’s retreating back while she hit the speed dial button for Kari on her phone. After an unusually long series of clicks and beeps, she was connected to a recorded message. “We’re sorry but the number you have dialed is no longer in service. Please check the number and try again.” She checked the number and tried again, with the same results.

She confronted her mother in the hallway, “Did you guys ‘arrange’ this?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Yesterday, I kiss Kari and today she doesn’t come to school, her phone gets turned off and suddenly she’s ‘Unavailable’ for baby sitting?” She put her hands on her hips and shook her head, “That’s not very subtle, mom.”

“Your father and I had nothing to do with this…”

“The Agency kidnapped my friend? You think no one will notice she’s missing?”

“No one’s been kidnapped, Violet. Don’t be so dramatic.” Helen sighed and drew Violet over to the kitchen table. “Her father and mother both got offered great jobs in Norway; they left this morning to start their lives over there.

“Kari wouldn’t just leave without saying goodbye to me…”

Helen closed her eyes and lowered her head. “Not unless she didn’t remember you.”

Violet felt her stomach churning. “You wiped her mind? Made her forget all about me?” She looked down at her hands, “She was my best friend, she liked me when everyone else thought I was a freak.” Violet stood up and backed away from the table. Helen reached for her but the young woman couldn’t see anything, her brain just wasn’t processing images, it was too busy trying to understand her betrayal. “You took my best friend,” she accused her mother, “stole her from me because I kissed her.”

“No, honey, it’s not like that.”

“What is it like? Huh? What’s it like?” Violet hissed. “’Cause I’m lookin’ around and I don’t see her. She’s not here and you’re the one who sent her away. So, why don’t you tell me what it is like?” Violet advanced on her mom, shaking from her pent up anger. “It looks like there was something out of control and you controlled it. What’s next? You gonna control Tony? Dash…? Jack…? Me…? Who’s next to go to fucking Norway? Huh? Answer me!” She saw the tear rolling down her mom’s face, but somehow it just made her angrier. “If you want to get rid of someone, get rid of me! Send me to Norway, ‘cause I sure as hell don’t want to be here with you! I hate you!”

Violet stuffed all of her papers and handbooks into her backpack and stormed out of the house. Helen sat at the kitchen table and cried into her hands.

“I didn’t have a choice, Rick.” The young man said earnestly. “She kissed that girl and you know how much of a chatter box she is.”

“Ms. McKeen has been baby sitting for the Parrs for over two years. In that time, she has told exactly zero people about the odd things that happen with her young charges and we have had a remarkably effective team of supers residing in suburban Metroville.” His voice was calm, but Skippy Johnson could see a glimmer of anger in his eyes. “You’ve been part of my life for less than four months. During that time, Violet Parr has moved from being a reliable team leader to being a possible threat to national security, while The Incredibles have fallen from being the number one defenders of Metroville to being the leading cause of incidental damage to vital infrastructure.”

“What was I supposed to do?”

“You were supposed to watch and learn.” Rick Dicker pulled a form out of his desk and began filling it out. “From now on, you will sit quietly and watch me. You are not allowed to speak unless I speak directly to you. Also, you will not gesture or otherwise convey an opinion. You may take notes, and at the end of the day you will have forty-five minutes to ask questions about my decisions.” He looked up from his form and caught the eyes of the young man, “You will also never call me ‘Rick’ again. My name is ‘Agent Dicker.’” He paused for a few moments to let the instructions set in. “Is all of that clear, Skippy?”

Anger and resentment crossed the young man’s face, as well as frustration and a little bit of self pity, but he controlled it all and simply said, “Yes, Agent Dicker.”

“Good. Now get this form over to Evidence, we’re going to need some supplies.”

Johnson glanced down at the list of items the senior agent was requesting and his curiosity raged inside of him. But when he looked up at the man behind the desk, he understood that this was a test and he forced his mouth to stay shut as he left the room. On the way out, he passed Lucius Best and had to bite his tongue once more.

Lucius closed the door behind him and went over to the coffee pot. He offered a cup to Rick who declined with a small shake of his head. When he had made himself comfortable, Rick asked him about Violet.

“How’s it going with our problem child?”

“Not good.” Lucius replied, concentrating on cooling the coffee just enough to keep from burning his lip. “She’s pissed at everyone and everything. That includes me.”

“You heard what my idiot partner did?”

“Only for about an hour! She wouldn’t let it go. I barely talked her out of coming down here and trashing the place.” Rick raised an eyebrow. “Listen up, man,” Lucius continued, “You’re lucky she swung by my place first. She was on her way here to demand that you guys bring her friend back and tear the place apart if you didn’t.”

“Where is she now?”

“Honey’s feeding her and giving her a sympathetic ear. Don’t know if Honey’ll want anything to do with Helen for a few weeks.” Lucius chuckled, “I do know that once Violet calms down, my wife might just decide to come down here and tear the place apart herself.”

“Did Violet tell you why the girl was relocated?”

“Yeah, somethin’ about a kiss and controlling her life… Most of it didn’t make sense, but she’s young and easily excited. I figured, you guys ran out of zappy ray stuff or she’s immune to it now, so you had to remove her from the area for our protection…” He trailed off as he saw Rick’s dour expression. “If that wasn’t it, what happened?” Lucius demanded, upset about the proceedings for the first time.

Rick sighed, “How much time do you have Lucius?”

“For somethin’ like this, I got plenty of time.”

“A few weeks ago, the baby sitter kissed Violet. As near as we—“

“Waitaminit.” Lucius held up a hand. “The little red haired girl with the big mouth…?” Rick nodded. “Kissed Violet…?” Nod. “So you sent her to Iceland?” Lucius was on his feet, looming over the agent’s desk.

Rick craned his neck and looked up at Lucius, “Do you really think I would spend the money to send an entire family to Norway over a teenager’s kiss?” He kept his expression neutral until the tall man stepped back and lowered himself into the seat once more. “The Agency is here to make sure you guys don’t go rogue and take over the world. We don’t care who sleeps with whom.” He finally continued. “The kiss troubled Violet. She had a few nightmares and her parents asked us to step in and help. This is where it all went wrong, and it’s my fault. I let my junior partner have too much leeway and he screwed up. First we didn’t choose the right head shrinker, then we failed to pay attention to who she was hanging out with and finally, he sent the one person who might be able to calm our little problem child down out of the country.” He took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “He screwed up royally. That means I screwed up and now that little girl might have to pay for it, Lucius.”

“Can we bring ‘em back?”

“Not convincingly, and even if we do, the damage is done in Violet’s mind.”

“Another psychiatrist…?”

“She’ll never trust another agency psych and we can’t have her talking to just anybody. The potential for compromising all the supers is too much.” He put his glasses back on and leaned forward over the desk. “No, we’re going to have to make a deal with the devil.”

“Which one?”

“You didn’t ask me who she was hanging out with…”

“OK, who was she hanging out with?”

“Mirage.”

Lucius sat back in shock. When he found his voice, all he could say was, “Helen’s not going to be happy about that.” It was something of an understatement.

Bob entered the house cautiously. The last time he had come in, it was to the sight of his daughter making out with another girl on the sofa. This time, everything seemed quiet, so he motioned for Dash to follow him into the house. It was blissfully devoid of any kissing teenagers or rampaging wives. He set Jack down in the living room and headed to his office. Halfway there it struck him; the house was too quiet. Sullen teenagers are usually quite loud in their efforts to express their displeasure over whatever you’ve recently done to embarrass them or piss them off. And, in Bob’s experience, angry wives often clean things at you, also quite noisily, also to express their displeasure at whatever you’ve recently done or forgotten to do. Was it possible that the girls had made up and gone shopping? He deposited his things in the office and headed into the kitchen. If Helen had left him a message it would be on the refrigerator.

The sight of his wife sitting quietly in the dimly lit kitchen startled him. “Helen?”

“She’s gone.” The words were filled with pain and self loathing.

Bob turned on the light and walked over to stand behind Helen. He placed a hand on her shoulder and gently began stroking her hair. “Who’s gone?” He moved to her side and sat down next to her. When he took her hands in his, he felt the sleeves of her sweater were soaking wet. Surprised, he asked her, “How long have you been here crying?”

“I don’t know… she’s gone.”

“Who’s gone…? Violet…?”

“She hates me.”

“I’m sure she doesn’t—“

“Don’t you patronize me Bob Parr!” she snapped, “I know what she said!”

“She didn’t mean it, hon… Kids are—“

“She’s not a kid any more!” Helen sobbed, “She knows what she’s saying and she means it.”

“C’mon, we’ll get in the car and go find her, she’s probably over at Kar—“ He broke off as Helen’s head snapped up at him, “I mean, maybe she went over to Tony’s…? Or that coffee shop she’s always hanging out at…”

Helen stood up and wiped her face absent-mindedly, “I’ll go over and check the coffee house, you drive by Tony’s.” she whispered.

“Um, I think we should stay together.” He said kindly, “You’re in no condition to drive and it’ll be better if we’re together when we find her.” She looked at him questioningly, “I mean for Violet.” He went on hastily, “If we’re together she’ll know we’re both worried about her.” She let it pass and he let out a sigh of relief. “Get your coat, I’ll get the boys and we’ll meet in the car.”

As she got up from the table, One of Violet’s ChiMera Industries brochures fell to the floor. Bob picked it up and set it on the counter. “Hey, what about this ‘Chi’ woman, she’s been talking about for the last few weeks, the one that owns the company she’s going to be working at this summer?” He picked the pamphlet back up and glanced through it. “Maybe there’s a number on here we can call…” he trailed off at the sight of Helen’s ashen face. “What?”

She snatched the brochure out of his hands and turned it around so he could see a panel on the back. Staring out at him with a shy smile was a picture of the owner of ChiMera Industries. He stared at it in disbelief for a few minutes before he realized that Helen was gone. “Helen…?” he called tentatively. “Hon, where’d you go?” He raised his voice, “Dash!”

“Yo!” the boy was suddenly standing right in front of him. A few papers floated gently to the ground from the hallway table.

“I need you to find your mom, and come right back here and tell me where she is.”

“What do I say to her?”

“Nothing.” Bob put on his most serious expression, “Find out where your mom is and then come straight back here and tell me.” He could see the boy’s curiosity was burning him up. “Violet might be in trouble, and your mom is going to try to help her, but she needs back-up.” He explained, hoping the kid would accept the half-truths. As Dash took off to find Helen, Bob called out to his younger son. “Jack, come to the kitchen.”

“’kay, da.” The toddler replied from the living room.

Bob picked him up and headed out to the car. “We’re going to visit Uncle Rick!” he said in a happy voice.

“Yay!” Jack gurgled. “May fire!” And burst into flames.

“Not until we get there, Jack.” Bob admonished him, still using an upbeat tone. “You know the rule, no making fire in the car.” Jack extinguished his flame but started to pout. “I promise that when you’re visiting Uncle Rick, you’ll get to make fire, OK squirt?”

“’kay, da.”

Bob had just finished belting Jack into his car seat when Dash appeared in front of him. “Mom’s on Third Street headed downtown.” He said with out a trace of exertion.

“Great job, son.” Bob kept his happy face on for the benefit of the boys, “Now head over to The Agency and tell Uncle Rick, we’re on out way.”

“Unka’ Rick!” Jack gurgled from the back seat. *Foom*

“No fire in the car, Jack!”

“Sorr, da.” *Moof*

Bob could tell that Dash was concerned, despite his efforts to keep a happy face on things. The boy’s expression was slightly pensive and he hesitated before taking off to The Agency. “Is Vi going to be alright?” He asked.

Bob studied his son’s earnest expression, concern for his sister obvious on his face, and realized the boy was growing up. He probably picked up something in his mother’s expression when he saw her, and he was most likely reading between the lines of his father’s cheerful voice. Bob dropped the forced smile and put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “I don’t know, Dash. I don’t even know if she’s really in trouble. I do know—“

“You know that if she’s in trouble we gotta do everything we can to help?” Dash interrupted.

Definitely growing up, Bob thought and let his pride shine through his face. “Exactly. Now go tell Uncle Rick I’m bringing Jack over for a visit, and then you and me are gonna go help your sister.”

“Right!” Dash saluted and took off at top speed.

“Unka’ Rick!” *Foom!*

“No fire in the car!”

“Sorr, da.” *moof*

Skippy Johnson sat in the break room glaring at his cup of coffee, resentment boiling in his mind and gut. He felt humiliated and he wanted revenge. Four months of catering to the whims of some high strung little bitch that needed a good spanking as far as he was concerned and nothing to show for it except a reprimand? Who found out about the girl’s connection to that known criminal? Who found out about her depraved sexual practices? That bastard Dicker was probably going to pin everything that went wrong squarely on the shoulders of his junior partner. Well, he wasn’t going to sit by and wait for the high mucky-mucks to erase his memories and give him a job at the Department of Motor Vehicles, he still had time to make everything right. It all started with that degenerate girl and her overbearing family. “They think they’re above the law because they’re supers,” he muttered to himself, “well, we’ve got plenty of ways to slap those pompous assholes down to earth, and once I make an example of Invisagirl the rest of them will fall right in line.” He left his cold coffee on the table and headed for the labs. He still had that controlling bastard, Dicker’s list and with a few additions, he was sure the Violet Parr situation would be under control in record time. Twenty minutes later, he left the building with two small items, both still experimental, but perfectly suited to what he had in mind, and headed for ChiMera Industries, dreaming of the commendations he was sure to receive.

Mirage sat quietly on the soft, white, bear-skin rug in the middle of her living room, lost in the interplay of the gas log flames. Her whiskey and coke rested, untouched, in her left hand and the fingers of her right hand stroked her throat absentmindedly. Her calm outward demeanor was an illusion. Inside, her mind raced through the possible outcomes of each and every action she could take and her emotions rolled around in her gut like a boat caught on the open sea during a hurricane. All this time, and she was still a pawn. A single tear of frustration rolled down her cheek.

She looked around her exquisitely appointed penthouse apartment and wondered how she had ever thought it was important. Five years ago it had been her driving ambition. A year ago it had become her reality. Six months ago it had been enough. Now… it was a hollow shell, insulating her from something she couldn’t even define. It was another one of her illusions, another fantasy that she imposed on the world. She stared blankly at her distorted reflection in the polished brass of the fireplace screen. Her right hand fluttered up and touched her features lightly as she watched. The face in the reflection looked at her with questioning eyes. But she couldn’t remember the answers.

There were so many things she couldn’t remember any more. She couldn’t remember his face. She remembered how it felt to need him. She remembered the longing loneliness of anticipating his return, the breathless hope that today he would notice some small thing that she had completed for him, the empty hole in her stomach that she believed only a kind word from his perfect lips could fill. She remembered the sinking feeling of his absent-minded rejection of her embraces. She remembered the sharp pain of his derisive remarks. She remembered the humiliation that could only come from her father. But she couldn’t remember his face.

And when he left her, she had crafted a new persona and gone out to find someone who would replace him, someone who would cherish her presence, praise her efforts and speak her name with genuine affection. Instead she found another just like him; brilliant, arrogant, self-indulgent and oblivious. When that one left her, she swore she would never bide her time again, toiling silently behind the scenes for crumbs of affection. She went out and took what she wanted. She went out and made herself what she had dreamed would bring her recognition. This façade was larger and more intricate than any before. It succeeded beyond her wildest dreams. Now, she had power. She had prestige. She had money. Everything she had been taught was important from her early childhood lay around her within easy reach, no more than a thought or a quick word away.

Her every material need and want was catered to and fulfilled with no more effort than it took to pick up the phone. But there was no one to sit with, no one to appreciate her efforts, no one to share any of it with. Mirage considered the offer The Agency had extended to her, both the benefit and the threat. They thought she had so much to lose, but she was slowly coming to understand that losing it wouldn’t mean a thing without someone to cry to. She looked at the face staring back at her with questioning eyes and wished she could remember what it used to look like.

Honey Best looked at the figure dozing fitfully on her couch. The girl was distraught and, as far as the woman could tell, there was plenty of reason. Lord knew, being married to a super was bad enough; she couldn’t begin to understand the pressures and tribulations that growing up super would bring. Briefly she regretted her resentment toward Lucius for involving himself in the lives of the young woman and her brothers, but she put it aside. It was water under the bridge now, no way to change the past. She might be able to make the future better though. She tried Helen and Bob first, but got no answer. Then she called The Agency. Rick was in a meeting but they put her through to his partner, that annoying kid who had interrupted dinner with Lucius’ momma the other night.

“Johnson here.” He answered the phone tersely.

She put on her biggest smile and sweetest voice. “Agent Johnson, I’m so glad I got you on the phone.”

“Who is this and what the hell do you want?” He sounded preoccupied and annoyed.

She took a deep breath and ignored his rudeness. “This is Honey, Honey Best… I wanted to talk to you or Rick about Violet.”

“We’ve got it all under control, Mrs. Best.” He sounded like he was trying to be reassuring without really trying. “I’m on my way to pick her up right now.”

“You’re coming here?” She couldn’t help her outburst; the idea of that annoying little man in her house just gave her the willies. “I don’t think so!”

“Ms. Parr is at your house?”

Something in his tone set off the alarms in her head, “Maybe I better talk to Rick…”

“I assure you, Mrs. Best, I am fully armed to handle Ms Parr.”

“Armed?”

“Heh, I mean… ‘Authorized.’ I’m fully authorized to handle Ms. Parr.”

“Maybe I should talk to Rick anyway…”

“No need. I’ll be there in a few minutes. I’ll take Ms. Parr off your hands and you can go about your normal business.” His voice was calm and casual, but she wasn’t fooled for a second. As soon as he hung up, she dialed Lucius’ phone and put in their emergency code word. She didn’t know how long it would take for the young agent to get to her house, but she didn’t waste any time. She silently cursed Lucius for not letting her have a gun around the house. He always insisted that he would be able to protect her from any threat. But he wasn’t here every minute of the day and if growing up in government sponsored project housing had taught her anything, it was that God helps them that help themselves.

“Violet, hon… Wake up. We’re going to have a visitor.”

“Jack-Jack!” Rick said with genuine affection. The toddler’s arrival at The Agency was the one occasion where the junior agents and support staff got to see Rick Dicker’s face light up and show some emotion.

“Unka’ Rick!” Foom!

“What’s the rule about making fire in the office?” he admonished the tyke gently.

“Sorr, Unka’ Rick.” Moof!

Rick picked up the beaming tyke and turned to Bob. “Violet’s safe. She’s resting over at Lucius’ house with Honey. Let me get Jack into one of the practice rooms and we’ll talk about the arrangement I proposed yesterday.” He sighed. “I don’t think you’re going to like it. I know Helen won’t, but I really don’t know that we have a choice right now.”

Relief evident on his face and in his stance, Bob turned to Lucius. “Thanks man, I don’t know what we’d a done without you and Honey these past few weeks.”

“I don’t want to hear it, Bob.” Lucius said dismissively. “It ain’t nuthin’ you guys wouldn’t do for us.” He leaned down and patted Dash on the head. “Right big guy?”

“You got it, Uncle Lucius.”

“Dash, why don’t you go help with Jack.” Bob told his son.

“Aw, dad!” Dash pouted. “Why do I always have to leave when you guys talk about important stuff?”

“That’s a good question, Dash, and you’re absolutely right.” Bob replied with a little smile. “You’re free to stay. And I’ll be sure to invite Violet to stay the next time we’re talking about you, OK?”

“Oh… WHAT?”

“Well,” Bob continued, the picture of reasonable behavior. “You’re right, we should include you more often, but fair is fair. Next time we’re discussing your issues… and you know which issues I’m talking about, right?” The boy nodded fearfully. “We’ll be sure to ask Violet for her opinion.”

“I better go see if they got Jack in the fire proof room.”

“Good lad.” Bob said to the empty spot where Dash had been.

When Rick returned he commented on Dash’s eagerness to assist with his younger brother.

“Don’t give him too much credit, Rick.” Bob laughed. “He just doesn’t want his sister to know he walks around with a boner most of the time.” After a short rueful laugh, Bob turned seriously to Rick, “Now, what’s this deal you made that I won’t like?”

The agent briefed Bob on what he referred to as a deal with the devil. When he finished, Bob sat for a while just mulling it over and finally said quietly, “You’re right, I don’t like it. But I think you’ve seriously under estimated Helen’s reaction. She’s not going to dislike it; she’s going to hate it with every fiber of her being.” He shook his head ruefully, “She’ll fight against it tooth and nail.”

“You’re probably right, Bob.” Rick said solemnly. “But if she fights too hard, The Agency might cut off your funding and support. Sure, it might take a few months, maybe as long as a year, but when it was all over, you’d be on your own.”

“You can’t do that to them.” Lucius chimed in. “After everything they do for this city… Heck, after everything they’ve done for this country, you’re gonna just cut ‘em off completely over this?” He dropped his head into his hands. “Helen’s going to go ballistic, and Honey’s going to be right behind her.”

“Why would—“

“If you can do this to them, you can do it to me and Honey too!”

“You know this deal or something like it is necessary to maintain public support for the program.” Dicker said softly. “You guys help us out with the real nut jobs and we help you out with finances and protection from litigation. But if one of you goes rogue, we have to step in, or the public will eat us alive.”

“She’s not a rogue. She’s a confused little girl!”

“I know that. You know that, but she’s not so little anymore, Bob, and Joe Average won’t be able to tell the difference between rogue and confused. He’ll come to us and demand that we do something and if we don’t…” Rick shrugged.

“If you don’t… what?” Bob growled.

“No more Agency, no more support, no more money.”

Lucius crossed his arms indignantly, “I’m doin’ fine, Rick. I don’t need your money.”

“Maybe not, but where would you be if that guy from the bank had sued?”

Bob jumped up. “You know damn well that he didn’t cause that roof to cave in—“

“Of course I do,” Dicker interrupted, “and The Agency intervened with the judge, and the suit was dropped.” The agent motioned to the chair, “Sit down, Bob.” Dicker took a deep breath. “Guys, you know we’re here for you. No one wants to cut off the support you get from The Agency.”

Bob knew the old man was right. He didn’t do well in the corporate world and he’d never be able to protect his family from the consequences of one mistake. He remembered the trial of the jumper and the pressure brought on him to reveal his identity. Without the support of The Agency, he would have been exposed then and either spent the rest of his time doing scut work for mercenaries or traveling with the circus freaks. Maybe he could talk Helen into…

He bolted upright. “Helen!” he gasped.

“What?” the startled Lucius demanded.

“She’s on her way to save Violet from Mirage. If she doesn’t find Violet there…” He trailed off ominously.

“Let’s, go!” Lucius chided him. “We can figure out all this stuff later.”

“Uh, thanks, Lucius.”

“Try not to bring down any buildings.” Rick said evenly, but Bob didn’t hear him.

They made it about a block before Lucius’ pager went off.

Skippy Johnson checked the electrical connections once more before energizing the harness. It wouldn’t make him immune to the affects of Violet’s force fields, but it would dampen their effect considerably. He double-checked the tranquilizer darts in the clip of the gun. He had two types, one was a power inhibitor designed to interfere with a super’s ability to generate their powers. The other was a basic tranquilizer. Finally, he patted his jacket pocket to reassure himself of his ace in the hole then he walked up to the door and knocked gently. “Who’s there?” he heard from the other side.

“It’s agent Johnson, Mrs. Best. I’m here to escort Violet downtown to The Agency.”

“Is she under arrest or something?”

“No.” He replied hesitantly. He could hear whispering from the other side, but couldn’t make out the words.

“Then she’d prefer to stay here.”

“I’m afraid I have to insist.” He tried to put some authority in his voice. He’d been taking classes on crowd control and negotiating and he knew that a command given in an authoritative voice was usually followed. Apparently, either Honey Best hadn’t attended any of those classes or his authoritative voice needed work.

“You can insist all you want, she ain’t goin’ anywhere with you.”

He racked his brain for a solution. He knew that Violet was considered borderline at best. Bringing her back to The Agency would prove he was ready for solo assignments and stick it back in Dicker’s face. That second part was more important to him, he was still stinging from the insult the old man laid on him. If he brought back the girl, he would be out from under Dicker and probably get a decent promotion to boot. Since she was borderline rogue, it probably didn’t matter what condition she was in when he brought her in. Mrs. Best was another story. He wasn’t supposed to injure or hurt civilians, but she was married to a super, so she wasn’t technically a normal.

OK... Kick in the door… tranquilize the civilian… neutralize the super… return to The Agency… get promoted. At least that was the plan. It was a pretty good plan and it went well right up until he kicked in the door. The door hit the end of its travel and bounced back into him, throwing him off balance. Honey was on him in an instant hitting him with a table lamp and screaming for him to get out of her house. He finally got two shots off from the tranquilizer gun and she slowly collapsed onto the sofa. He looked up into the wide eyes of Violet Parr and raised his gun again.

His first two shots at her were deflected then he felt his arms being pushed into his body by an invisible force.

Violet glanced frantically back and forth between Honey’s still form draped over the sofa and the intruder. “Who are you and what do you want?” She screamed at him.

“I’m from The Agency, I’m here to take you into protective custody.” He snarled at her.

An invisible fist struck his face. It surprised him because he didn’t know she could do that with her powers. He wondered briefly what other little surprises she had in store but dismissed his worry. If she were capable of anything that could get through his defenses, he would have been briefed. Several more blows struck his head and body while he waited for the harness to find the right frequency to counteract the field pinning him to the wall. When he raised his arm to aim the dart gun at her, it gave him a thrill to see the fear in her eyes.

She barely managed to deflect the next dart he sent toward her. Confident now, he moved deliberately forward. He could still feel the effects of the force field she put up in front of him, but the harness allowed him to move through it. He felt resistance as though walking through water. Each step he took closer to the young woman increased her fear and panic. She kept throwing field after field at him, but with each one, his harness adapted and he was able to move more easily. The harness didn’t affect the darts though, and she was able to deflect them with relative ease.

Suddenly he was gasping for breath. He glanced sharply around and saw the telltale sparkle of a force field concentrated around his head. He almost panicked when he realized she was cutting off his air. A frantic glance at her face showed she was in deep concentration, moving the force field with him and making it impermeable. He raised his gun and took another shot at her. A welcome rush of oxygen followed her yelp of pain immediately.

“Got you now!” He gloated. “That was a power inhibitor, in about two minutes, you’re going to be a normal and I’m going to bring you back to The Agency.” She fell back against the kitchen table and covered her face. “When I walk in with you, they’re going to put that old goat, Dicker, out to pasture and I’m going to be the number one agent on the east coast.” He allowed himself a satisfied chuckle. “Not so tough without your powers, are you?”

Her eyes narrowed and the world caved in on him.

Author: A Markov

Mirage’s quiet introspection was shattered when her front door blew inward and slid across the polished marble floor into her vestibule table.

“VIOLET!” Helen shouted.

“She’s not here, Mrs. Parr.” Mirage tried to be civil, but the sight of Helen standing in the shattered remains of her hand-carved oak door brought a sarcastic, challenging tone into her voice.

“You, shut the hell up!” Helen snarled. “How many times do I have to tell you to stay away from my family?”

Mirage had known this confrontation would come eventually. She had prepared a series of responses and reasoned arguments to persuade Helen of her benign intentions. But being invaded in this manner just twisted her panties into a bunch and she couldn’t stop herself from replying sarcastically. “I’m trying to, but they keep following me home like stray puppies. Maybe you’re not treating them right.” She was expecting the physical attack that followed but still found it difficult to avoid.

“VIOLET!” the intruding woman shouted again while keeping Mirage busy avoiding her elongated, twisting attacks.

“I told you she’s not here!” Mirage said in frustration.

Helen stopped expending energy looking around the penthouse apartment and narrowed in on Mirage. She pinned the blonde woman against a wall and got in her face. “Where are you hiding her?”

“I already told you she’s not here. How am I supposed to know where she is?”

“You’re tricking her!” Helen accused. “Messing up her mind and turning her against me.” She wrapped herself tightly around the slender woman and began to squeeze. “Now you tell me where you’re hiding my daughter or else!”

“Or else what?” Mirage gasped. “You’ll crush me?”

“You’re damn right, sister.” Helen hissed. “I want my daughter back right now, or so help me, you won’t ever take another breath.”

Mirage struggled for air. “I don’t know where she is.”

“Don’t lie to me!” Helen screamed. “Where else would she go?”

“Yeah,” Mirage forced out, “You sent her other friends away, where else would she go?”

“I had nothing to do with that!” Helen insisted, but she loosened her grip enough for Mirage to take a breath. “That wasn’t my idea!”

“You didn’t oppose it, though.” Mirage’s green eyes burned with righteous anger.

Helen dropped her gaze and murmured distractedly, “Violet is having nightmares about stuff. She won’t talk to me. She won’t listen to me… What was I supposed to do?” She asked.

“I don’t know; maybe listen to her without being a judgmental bitch?”

Helen turned her full attention back to Mirage. “Is that what you did, you home-wrecking whore?” She began to squeeze again. “Did you pretend to be Violet’s friend while you worked to destroy my family? Did you ‘listen to her’ while you tried to figure out how to screw my husband?” Even though she was looking right at the blonde woman, Helen’s eyes were unseeing.

Mirage struggled to find a position where she could draw breath but Helen’s flexible form crushed in on her from every direction making it impossible. Shortly the brown haired woman’s hateful visage began to fade as Mirage lost consciousness. Just before she passed out, she thought she heard Mr. Incredible coming to her rescue, but she dismissed it as a hallucination from her oxygen deprived brain.

Lucius Best had spared no expense when he purchased a sofa for his living room. It had recliners at both ends and retractable cup holders in every place that you might want to set a cup. It was well constructed, with a solid wood frame and heavy-duty hardware. It was a marvel of modern comfort and ergonomic engineering. It was also a hell of a thing to get hit in the back with. Even a glancing blow from the sofa was enough to knock the wind out of Johnson and send him careening across the room. Violet tried to lift it for another shot at the agent threatening her, but the effort caused pain to shoot through her skull. She scrambled over to where Honey lay on the floor. The woman was breathing but unconscious.

“What do you people want from me?” Violet screamed at the recovering agent. With her mind, she reached for another piece of furniture to use as a missile but the shooting pains in her head returned. She ran across the room to where Johnson was trying to get up and began kicking him. “What’d you do to me?” She screamed.

The kicks were strong and quite painful. Johnson timed the next blow and blocked it off to one side, trying to get a grip on Violet’s waist. She eluded the counter attack and skipped backward from him. Not fully recovered, but feeling able to handle a desuper-powered teenaged girl, the agent rolled to his feet and assumed a fighting stance. He was very surprised to see her take up a classic defensive position and back warily to a more easily defended spot in the hallway.

“You think you know how to fight?” he asked her derisively. “You think you can take on a trained agent without your powers? I’m takin’ you in girl and there’s nothing you can do but delay the inevitable.”

“I don’t know who you think you are, but if you come over here and try to take me anywhere, I’m gonna unleash a can of whup-ass on your sorry butt.” She sounded defiant, but there was a tremor of fear in her voice.

It took less than a minute for Johnson to establish that she knew what she was doing when it came to fighting. She had taken up a position that made it tough for him to get at her and she defended well. He tried enticing her out of the hallway to a place where he would be able to bring his superior strength to bear, but she wasn’t going for it at all. He tried to power through her defenses but ended up with a few bruises for his efforts. She seemed unassailable, but there was still fear in her eyes and he couldn’t figure it out. He made a few more feints and backed off to study her. He watched her eyes flicking back and forth from him to another point in the room; she seemed poised, almost ready to run out from her defensive position. Puzzled he took his eyes off of her for long enough to glance at the places where she had been looking and silently cursed himself for being a fool.

Violet noticed his realization and made a desperate move for the tranquilizer gun but he was faster and slid across the polished hardwood floor to where it had fallen a few minutes earlier. He came around, homing in on her defensive position, but she dived behind the broken sofa and started lobbing anything she could put her hands on in his direction. A heavy glass serving dish caught him on the shoulder. He stifled a cry of pain and retreated a bit further from her hiding place. His retreat brought him in contact with the sleeping form of Honey Best. He grabbed the knocked-out woman and called out, “I’ve got Mrs. Best, Violet. It’s time for you to give yourself up.”

“I thought you said you were from The Agency.” Violet called, trying to catch her breath.

“So?”

“So, aren’t you supposed to be one of the good guys?”

“I’m taking you in.” He said forcefully, “and if this so-called innocent bystander gets hurt in the process, it’s going to be on your head.” He cocked the pistol and put it to the unconscious woman’s neck. “It’s not a bullet.” He explained. “But at this range, it’ll still tear a hole in her throat.”

Helen Parr’s fear and rage consumed her. She concentrated her energies on the source of her problems and worked to squeeze the life out of her. The blonde’s face was turning a nice shade of purple and Helen was betting herself that she could actually make it blue.

“Helen?” Bob’s normally confident voice was filled with confused concern.

“What?” She snarled at him.

He entered the room and gasped at the scene before him. “Helen, Stop!” He shouted.

“Stay out of this, Bob!”

“You’re killing her!”

“And if you stay out of it, you won’t be an accomplice!” She yelled at him. “If you stay in it, you’ll be next!”

“Helen, listen to yourself!” he pleaded.

“She’s got my baby!” The distraught woman cried. “She stole my baby from me and I’m going to kill her!”

“Violet’s at Lucius’ house, Helen.” He reasoned with her. “Let Mirage go and we’ll go get her together.”

Helen turned swiftly to face him. “That’s what you want isn’t it?” She was beyond reason now. “You’re just trying to save your girlfriend’s life.” She accused.

“I haven’t seen her since we all left the island, Hon. I swear!” Bob asserted, “Let her go, Helen, Violet is waiting for us at Honey and Lucius’ place.” He walked toward her slowly, keeping his eyes directly on her’s. “Let her go.” He pled.

“Let her go!” Violet shouted.

“Why would I do that?” Johnson laughed. He inventoried his remaining items and cursed silent at finding the null point energy generator broken.

“I said, ‘Let her go!’” Violet shouted again.

“What’s in it for me?”

“Well, for one thing, you get to live.” Lucius Best’s calm voice did nothing to mitigate the threat his words carried. Johnson started and spun to face the open door. Lucius’ eyes burned with anger and a frost was forming in the air around his tall frame. Johnson’s eyes darted from the entry to the sofa and back. He heaved Honey’s limp body toward the seething man and brought the gun to bear on his chest. Before he could pull the trigger, the hand holding the gun was incased in ice up to the elbow and Lucius was sliding across the room directly toward him. So scared by the sight of his swiftly approaching doom, he didn’t even hear Violet behind him.

Lucius caught Honey and looked over at Violet, who had collapsed to her knees holding the remains of a floor lamp in her hands. Agent Johnson was laid out face down on the floor, a trickle of blood running down the side of his face. Lucius went to Violet’s side and, holding Honey in one arm, drew the shaking girl into a close embrace with the other. He let her sob for a few minutes and when she calmed down, he said sternly, “That lamp cost two hundred dollars.” Then he broke into a friendly grin, “It was worth every penny.” and gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head.

Helen looked down into the face of the woman who had caused her so much pain and uncertainty. She could hear Bob’s pleading in the back of her mind, but she kept playing Violet’s last words over and over in her head. Suddenly she realized what she was doing and released the blonde. Mirage fell limply to the floor.

“Oh, Bob! What’d I do?” Helen sobbed. For a split second Bob was torn between comforting his distraught wife and tending her injured victim. He was spared the necessity of making a choice by the timely arrival of an Agency medical team. They tended Mirage while he gathered Helen into his arms and held her while she cried.

“It’s going to be OK, Helen.” He told her calmly. “Everything is going to be OK.”

"My baby’s gone.” She sobbed. “She hates me and she’s never coming back.”

“I’ve been trying to tell you, Violet’s safe. She’s over at Honey and Lucius’ house.”

Helen looked over at the crowd of people attending Mirage. The blonde looked shaken and there were ugly red welts across her face and arms. When, she raised her eyes, Helen looked away. “I can’t face her.” She whispered to Bob. “Get me out of here.” Bob glanced across the room to where Mirage was sipping water under the attentive care of the medical team. Her eyes narrowed when they met his. He smiled, apologetically, and hurried Helen out of the apartment.

Mirage watched the Parrs slink out of her home and grabbed one of the attending medicos by the arm. “You get Dicker on the phone.” She hissed through her abused throat. “And tell him my price just went up.”

Bob and Helen were agitated when they got to The Agency. Helen’s frustration was only made worse when she was told that Violet wouldn’t see her. The girl was fine physically and the Agency shrink said she was emotionally stable so Helen couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t want to see her own mother. But it was the news that Rick gave her that put her over the edge.

“You agreed to what?” She shouted when he finished telling her the details of his deal for Violet.

“It’s the easiest way to make sure that Violet is closely supervised.” The elder agent deadpanned.

“Well you don’t speak for me, and you sure as hell don’t speak for my daughter.” Helen was on her feet, looming over the old man’s desk. “How dare you make a deal like that without even consulting me?”

He cleared his throat. “Technically, Violet speaks for herself.” He said looking at his hands.

“Well, I’m not going to stand for it! I’m going up the chain of command and I’m getting my baby back!” She stretched out and poked the stoic agent in the chest, “And not you or anyone else is going to stand in my way!”

“Helen, I think you’ll find that this decision is backed up to the top levels of The Agency.” Rick said tiredly. “If you fight it, they’re just going to cut off your support.”

She turned to her husband, “What about you, Bob?” She asked. “Are you all right with this? You’re happy to hand over our daughter to that home-wrecker?”

“It seems like the best way to keep an eye on her while letting her have some freedom”

Helen glared at him for a few minutes then turned her disapproving eye on Rick for a little while before turning her back on both of them and stalking out of the office.

The next few months were hard on Bob and the kids. Helen spent all of her time assailing the various government officials and directors, trying to get someone to overturn the decision. Her attempts were usually met with polite refusal but she was treated with hostility and contempt often enough that she began to understand that her kind wasn’t universally loved and respected. Even her attempts to sabotage the whole thing by revealing the plot to Violet were for nothing. Her daughter still wasn’t speaking to her or listening to her. By the end of the third month she was ready to admit defeat and return to her life, such as it was.

Violet spent most of the summer testifying before investigating committees and undergoing psychological evaluations. She was informed that she had completed the requirements for graduating High School and that her diploma would be mailed to her. It was unnecessary for her to attend any ceremonies. In fact, she was discouraged from leaving the Agency’s complex at all. At one point she confronted Rick about the grilling she was getting from the investigators.

“They’re treating me like a criminal!” she complained. “Keeping me cooped up in here, questioning everything I did and everything I say. It’s like they want me to be screwed up so they can punish me, or something.”

“Violet,” Rick took a deep breath. “You have to understand, these people fear you.” He picked up a piece of paper from his desk and began to crumple it up. “You could literally crush them with your mind. They’re scared to death.”

“But, I’m a good guy.” She protested. “I don’t do things like that!”

“I know, kid.” He smiled kindly. “But it doesn’t matter. You can do things that normal people can’t and everyone is going to react in one of three ways. Some will suck up to you and try to win your favor. Some will be as nice as they can to you so that when you do go over the edge and start killing people, you’ll spare them. And the rest…” His voice trailed off and he looked away.

“What about the rest?”

“They’ll try to control you, manipulate you, use you for their own personal designs.”

She digested that for a while and asked him in a quiet voice, “Which kind are you?”

He wouldn’t meet her eyes. “I’ve never lied to you, Violet.” He said evenly. “Would it help if I reminded you that my personal goals are to maintain peace?” Now he met her eyes and saw the suspicion prevailing in them. “That’s the feeling, Violet!” He said intensely. “That feeling of fear and disbelief that you have for me right now, that’s the way they all feel about you!” He put his hands on her shoulders and looked directly into her eyes. “Remember this feeling every time you interact with them… with us.” Including himself in that group was a level of honesty and openness she hadn’t expected and it took her by surprise.

“You’re afraid of me?” The words caught in her throat and she could feel the tears welling in her eyes. He didn’t speak, but the sadness in his eyes was answer enough.

Cleared of wrongdoing by the investigators and released on her own recognizance, Violet stood on the sidewalk in front of The Agency. She had never felt so alone in her life. She felt like a woman without a country. She didn’t want to face her mother and put herself back into that stifling environment. She realized she had nothing. Kari was gone, she had never really been close to anyone else at school and her home was a minefield of emotions that she couldn’t bear to face. Her world had been astonishingly small, now it felt overwhelmingly big and frightening. She called the only person she could think of who might listen to her and be willing to help.

The phone rang.

“Dicker.”

”She’s here.” The voice was flat and emotionless.

“Good.” The agent allowed himself a ghost of a smile. “You know the deal--”

“I know.” The expressionless voice interrupted. “I’ll be a good little girl, and I’ll make sure she’s a good little girl and you’ll keep your grubby little hands off of me and mine.”

“There’s no need to be so cynical about it.”

”I just want you to know one thing, Rick.” A tiny quaver crept into her words. “I’m not doing this for you. I’m not doing it to keep my company or my money. And I’m sure as hell not doing it for Helen Parr. I’m doing this for her.” Mirage slammed the phone down, cutting off the call.

Rick listened to the dial tone for a few seconds and gently placed the receiver back on its cradle. The stoic agent pulled out his handkerchief and dabbed the moisture from the corner of his eye. “That’s what I’m counting on.” He whispered.

Author: A Markov

Violet ran the full gamut of emotions on her way to meet Chi. Mingled in with her relief that the woman would take her call and see her was the fear that there might be some underlying selfish motivation that she wouldn’t be able to figure out until she was betrayed once more. When she finally arrived at the coffee shop and saw the blonde woman, she was overcome and couldn’t stop herself from running to her and throwing herself into the familiar woman’s arms. The older woman held her with surprising strength and intensity. The emotional embrace erased Violet’s feelings of insecurity. For the first time in months, she felt safe and at peace with herself. “Oh, Chi!” She whispered. “It’s good to see you.” In the back of her mind, Rick’s warning haunted her. She wondered how Chi would feel if she knew that the woman hugging her was a super. Would she react in fear as Rick predicted? Would she dismiss it as unimportant and accept it as just another part of her? She put those thoughts out of her mind and reveled in the feeling of security she found in the woman’s embrace. Someday, she would reveal her secret and Chi would prove the cynical agent wrong.

Violet spent the next few days vacillating between gushing gratitude and crying her eyes out. The girls spent hours doing nothing but talk. Well, mostly Violet talked and Chi listened attentively without passing judgment on anything. It was the first time Violet had a confidant who wasn’t trying to tell her what to do and the experience was having a profound affect on her mentally and emotionally. She found herself wanting to open up even more. A few times she barely caught herself before blurting out her secret. The thing that held her back was that she knew that telling Chi about her double life would reveal her family as well. While she wasn’t too happy with her mom at the moment, she didn’t want to put Dash or Jack-Jack in any kind of jeopardy.

They had their first argument ten days after Violet moved in. Chi was encouraging her to contact MIT and apply for late fall admission. She offered to use her influential position to push it through the administration but Violet didn’t feel like she was ready to face the world yet and for some reason, the idea of being away from Chi caused her an anxiety she couldn’t define. In the end, Chi agreed to help her apply for late admission for the spring semester and make the summer internship that she had missed at Chi Mera Industries available until then.

That evening they watched a movie together curled up on opposite ends of the couch. When Violet stretched out, Chi accepted her feet onto her lap and gently massaged the tops. That night Violet’s dreams were vivid and filled with tension but when she woke up in the morning, she couldn’t remember any of them.

The first week they both went to work, things didn’t go very well. Every time Violet tried to see Chi at the office, she was unavailable. Chi also worked late into the evening each night and the third night Violet called to ask about dinner, the CEO pointedly reminded the girl why she was having to make up time. Friday night as they sat down to dinner, she offered to help Violet find an apartment near the Metroville University campus so she could be near the research laboratory where she was going to be working most of the time. Violet’s sullen response confused Chi and she asked, “Is everything OK?”

“Fine.” Violet replied in a tone that indicated nothing could be further from the truth.

Chi pulled on her lower lip with her teeth and regarded the girl for a moment. “You don’t sound ‘fine.’”

“How would you know, Ms. Mera?” The dark haired girl responded defiantly.

“Well, I thought we had become close over the last few months… these last weeks especially.”

“Yeah, me too.” came the sullen reply.

“Then why won’t you tell me what’s bothering you? And when did I become ‘Ms. Mera?’”

Violet studied the tabletop and twisted her cup around on its coaster. “All week, you won’t even say ‘hi’ to me and all of a sudden on the weekend we’re best friends?”

Chi looked at Violet sadly. “I thought you were smart enough to know that when we’re at the office, I’m Ms. Mera. I have to be.” She watched violet’s blue eyes shift from side to side. “In fact I’m sure you understand why I can’t be chummy with you at work, so why don’t you tell me what this is really about.” Outwardly she was calm, but her stomach was tied up in knots.

“Are you…?” Violet’s voice broke and she couldn’t go on.

Please don’t ask about The Agency. Chi thought. “Am I what?” She waited a few minutes but Violet didn’t continue. “C’mon, Vi, I can’t answer the question if I don’t know what it is.” She tried to take Violet’s hands in her own but the girl pulled away.

Finally, the dark haired girl choked out the question that had haunted her all week. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”

“What?” Chi was genuinely surprised and quite relieved.

It was the right response because Violet brightened immediately. “You mean… you’re not?”

“Not what?” Chi was still trying to figure out what Violet was talking about.

“Y’know, setting it up so I can be on my own. I’m not, like, some charity case, and now that I’ve got a job, you’re going to help me find a place to live and stuff…” She trailed off. Suddenly she looked Chi straight in the eyes. “You’re not going to stop being my friend?” Her eyes were filled with anxiety. “Are you?”

Relief flooded through Mirage’s body. “I’m never going to stop being your friend, Vi.” She covered the young woman’s hand with her own. “Never.”

“Really?” The question was torn from her. “What if--”

“I promise you,” Chi interrupted, “there is nothing that you could tell me that would stop me from being your friend.” She was trying to be reassuring. Violet’s response startled her. The young woman burst into tears and ran from the room.

“Hello, Helen.” Rick greeted her in a pleasantly bland voice.

“Look, Rick,” Helen began in a reasonable tone, “I know we’ve been over this a few times—“

“Twenty-three.” He deadpanned.

“—but I’m still not understanding…” She looked up in confusion, “What?”

“What?”

“What do you mean, ‘twenty-three’?”

“Helen, you’ve contacted me every day since Violet was released on her own recognizance to have me explain The Agency’s position on this matter. It’s been twenty-three days.”

Unhappy and feeling like she was being made fun of, Helen snapped. “That woman tried to kill Bob! She helped kill at least five other supers and who knows how many civilians and she was part of a plot to take over the world!” She loomed over his desk. “Tell me why she’s allowed to breathe, much less live in a penthouse apartment with my daughter!”

Rick let out a deep sigh. “Mirage has her uses. One of which is to keep your daughter focused and under Agency control. Believe me, Helen, we’ve got a surveillance net around her that’s so tight, we know what foods upset her stomach.” When Helen opened her mouth to protest further he continued, “We’re monitoring them both twenty-four, seven and we’ll be able to respond to trouble in no time at all.” He heaved another sigh, “Someday, Violet is going to be one of the most powerful people on the planet and it’s my job to make sure that power is used for good.”

“That’s just the point!” Helen exclaimed. “She under that woman’s influence every day, and you’re just letting it happen!”

“You’re free to speak with her…”

Helen stormed out, unable to face the reminder that her daughter refused to acknowledge her at all.

“Helen, you know I’ll call you if she comes by.”

“Or calls?”

“Or calls.” Honey was a little exasperated. She decided to try one more time to get through to the distraught woman. “You’ve got to give her some room, Helen.”

“That woman tried to—“

“I know. But when the chips were down, she did the right thing.”

“Only ‘cause she wanted to sleep with my husband!”

Honey sighed and reminder herself that Helen was afraid her family was being torn apart. She forced a smile into her voice, “I promise I’ll call you as soon as I hear anything from Violet, OK?”

“Thanks, Honey. I’m sorry to be such a nuisance, it’s just that—“

“Sorry, Helen. Gotta go.” Honey interrupted. “Lucius’ momma is on the other line…”

Chi stood by Violet’s door and listened. It sounded like the girl was packing. She knocked softly. “Vi… sweetie… are you OK?” The packing noises stopped but she heard a sharp intake of breath and Violet began sobbing again. “Can I come in?” She opened the door without waiting for an answer. Violet had a carrisak on the bed and most of her belongings were stuffed into it. Chi looked at the crying girl lying on the bed next to her bag and asked, “Going somewhere?”

“I can’t do this.”

“You can’t do what?” Chi asked. “I’m a little confused, Vi. A few minutes ago you were worried that I was trying to get rid of you, and now that you know I’m not… you’re apparently running away…”

“You don’t understand.” Violet wailed and turned over onto her stomach.

“You’re right. I don’t understand. Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?” Chi sat down and tried to stroke Violet’s hair but the girl moved further away. “Is this about my promise?” Violet let out a slightly off key sob and Chi took it as a yes. “You think there’s something that I might find out about you that’ll make me stop being your friend?”

“Yes.”

Chi fought a brief but intense internal battle. Finally she asked, “What if I told you that I already know what your secret is?”

Violet’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What are you saying?”

“What would you say… if I told you… that I’ve always known what your secret is?” Chi stood up and paced the room. She stopped at the far wall facing away from Violet. “Would you hate me?”

“Would I hate you?”

“If I told you that I’ve known your secret from the beginning and I arranged to meet you because of it... because I wanted to use you… because I wanted you to protect me... because… because I wanted to be close to you.” Chi closed her eyes and took a deep breath, “Would you hate me then?” She whispered. “Would you stop being my friend?”

“You know who I am?” Violet was incredulous. Chi nodded. In the mirror, Violet could see the tears streaming from her closed eyes. “You’ve always known who I am?” Chi nodded again. Her arms came up and she hugged herself, still not opening her eyes. Violet still couldn’t wrap her mind around it. They had always guarded their identities jealously. How could she have found out, unless she worked for The Agency? “I want to hear you say it.” Her voice cracked. “I want to hear you tell me my secret.”

“You’re Invisagirl.”

Even expecting it, Violet was still stunned by the words. Rage boiled up inside her and she struggled to keep it in check. “You tell Dicker that I’m coming for him and when I get there I’m going to tear his ass apart!” She hissed.

“What?”

“Tell your low-life scum of a boss that I’m done with his stupid mind games and his bullshit manipulation. I’m my own fucking person and if I have to tear his goddamn building down to get him out of my ass, I got no fucking problem with it!” She picked up the phone and threw it across the room to where Chi sat stunned. “Well?”

“What?”

“CALL HIM!”

“I don’t work for Dicker.” Chi sat quietly, tears running down her face.

“Then how in the hell do you know who I am?”

“Research.” Chi said simply.

“My secret identity isn’t available on the web, you’re gonna have to do better than that.”

Chi shook her head, “Vi, you forget that I run a multi-billion dollar company.” She explained. “I have contracts and contacts with every government agency in the United States and several overseas. When I ask the local television channel or a local official for a favor, they jump to it, because I spend millions of dollars every year in this city.” She stood up and began to pace. “I’m the third largest employer in Metroville and I sponsor research facilities on every campus in the county. Every university in this state has or is erecting a building with my name on it.” The formerly contrite woman radiated confidence and power. “When I want something done, it gets done. When I want to know something, I find out. And when I want to have something, I take it.”

Chi’s quiet assessment of her power and calm demeanor cooled Violet’s rage. It was with some fear that she asked her next question. “What do you want from me?”

The blonde’s features softened. “Something I can’t buy or bully or take.” She reached out a hand, “I want a friend, Violet.” She said sincerely. “And you’re uniquely qualified.”

The answer stunned Violet. “Huh?”

“When you’re a rich and powerful woman, it’s difficult to make friends.” She sighed. “Everyone you meet has an agenda; they want something from you, power, money, sex… You… you’re smart, I can talk with you. You’re powerful enough in your own right that you don’t have to be intimidated by me. You’re a woman, so I don’t have to deal with raging hormones and wondering weather the only reason why you’re here is to get into my pants. You’re not rich, but when we met, you didn’t know I was either, so I’m pretty sure you’re not hanging around me for my money...”

Violet mulled this over for a few minutes. “But, you said you were using me… Um, that you wanted to use me…? because of my powers?”

“Not exactly… I don’t want to control your powers. I don’t want you to go out and use your powers for me. I think that your powers put you on my level.” Chi motioned for Violet to sit down and took a seat herself. “I have political and financial power, you have physical power.” She held out her two hands at an equal level. “If I have this power and you don’t then we can’t interact as equals. If you have this power, and I don’t, it’s the same situation. Do you see that?”

“I think so.” Violet said slowly. “You came to find me because you thought I was your equal.” She looked up, “But I’m sure there are lots of people who would love to be your friend…”

“I could never be sure of them.”

“How can you be sure of me?”

“When I told you who I was, it didn’t change your attitude.” Chi smiled, “I was so happy, when I realized you didn’t care about that. Then, you disappeared for a few months and I thought I would never see you again. I was devastated.”

“You missed me?”

“I had my people everywhere looking for you, trying to figure out what had happened, but I couldn’t find out anything. When you called me, I…” Chi’s face broke into a huge grin. “I almost fainted, I was so happy.”

Violet was torn. She really wanted to believe that Chi was being honest but something was nagging at her subconscious and her head was spinning from all the surprises. “I don’t know…” She said hesitantly. “I… I want to believe you…”

“But…?”

“But, I don’t know.”

“It’s tough to know that someone else holds your secret.” Chi said kindly. “You’re worried about whether I’ll expose you and put your family in danger. But I don’t want you to feel obligated to pretend to be my friend, so I’m going to remove the sword of Damocles from over your head and tell you something that might even the scales.” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Up until a couple of years ago, I went by the name ‘Mirage.’ I was Buddy’s… um, Syndrome’s assistant on Nomanisan Island.”

“You’re the woman from the island?” She asked. Mirage nodded. “You gave us the launch codes for the rocket…!” Her eyes widened and her mouth formed an ‘o.’ “You tried to sleep with my dad…!”

“Well…”

Mirage sat slack-jawed, trying to formulate a response to Violet’s assertion. “Well…” She stammered, “…no.”

“But mom said you were a…” She cut off the sentence and reddened. “Um… that you were, um, trying to… uh, you know.” Her face was beet red now and she couldn’t even look in the general direction of the blonde.

“I know what it must have looked like from her perspective, but… I, uh…”

“Oh! My! God!” Violet suddenly sat upright and spun to face Mirage. “Does my mom know who you are? I mean, if she knew who you were and she knew you were here, she’d probably try to kill you!”

Mirage rubbed her throat absentmindedly and considered her next words very carefully. “Your mother and I spoke a few months ago, just before you disappeared. I, uh... I kinda thought that was why I didn’t hear from you all summer.”

“You talked to my mom and she didn't kill you?” Violet sat back down in stunned amazement. She didn't see the look of panic that appeared fleetingly on Mirage's face. “You helped that psycho guy trick my dad into fighting that robot thing...” She shook her head, as if to clear it. “Why are you telling me this?” She didn't wait for an answer, “You could... I could... I... I don't understand.”

“Lies and secrets make for poor… friendships, Vi.” Mirage said quietly. “I... I've come to… care for you a great deal over the last few months and I don't want to have something like this festering between us.”

“Why would I want to be friends with someone who... did that to my dad?” Violet looked at the blonde with searching eyes, “I don't understand why you told me this.”

“I would rather you know the truth about me and leave than for you to remain here under false pretenses.” Violet sat, still stunned, occasionally looking around as if to find an escape route. Her mouth moved but she didn't say anything. After a few moments Mirage continued, “Look, you don't have to figure this out tonight. I'll get a hotel room for the next couple of days and you can call me when you feel ready to talk.” She stood and started to walk out of the room.

“Wait!”

“Yes?”

“You mean... you're just going to let me stay here until...” Violet looked around in confusion. “You aren't afraid I'm going to… do something...?” She groped around mentally for some way to complete the thought and finally gave up.

Mirage walked back and crouched down until she was at eye level with the dark haired girl. Violet shied away as far as the chair would allow. “Trust is a funny thing, Vi.” Mirage said with a sad smile. “If you want it, you have to give it. This is me giving you trust, and giving you space to think about it.”

“How long...?”

Mirage smiled a little wider, “If I don't hear from you in a few days, I'll check in. If you're here, we'll talk, if you're not...” She sighed, “Well, if you're not, I guess I’ll have your answer and I'll let you be.” She caught Violet's eyes with her own, “But even if you're not here, when I come back, it doesn't mean that you can't come back whenever you want.”

Violet watched her leave the room, and then sat there until she heard the front door open and close about half an hour later. She was chasing the thoughts around in her head trying to make sense of them. Try as she might, she couldn’t wrap her mind around the implications. Chi was the same woman who had helped them on the island… OK, she got that part. Chi was the same woman who had tricked her dad into going to the island in the first place… OK, something might have happened on the island to make her change her mind about being evil. And she was the same woman who had listened to her when everyone in her family had turned their back on her… So that proves she wants to be good, right? She had searched her out and tried to befriend her… Also good. But she admitted that she was trying to use her… Not so good… in fact, not good at all. But if she’s really just trying to use me, why would she tell me about it? Violet’s mind couldn’t sort anything out. Every time she went down a logic path that showed her she needed to get away from Mirage, it took her breath away and she got nervous. The whole situation was too convoluted and too painful. It was a long night and when the sun touched her toes she felt like she hadn’t slept at all.

She staggered into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. She needed to talk to someone, but the only person that she wanted to talk with about this was Chi… Mirage. She stared at her coffee for a long time. Finally, she rummaged through her purse for her cell phone. Just as she was pulling it out it rang and she was so startled that she dropped it. It took her a few moments to finally pick it back up and she hit the answer button without checking to see who was calling.

---

At four in the morning on Saturday, Mirage admitted to herself that she wasn’t going to get any more sleep so she might as well get up and get some work done. She hadn’t gone to a hotel. Chi Mera Industries maintained several efficiency apartments in her building downtown for visiting VIPS. There were a couple empty ones, so she availed herself of her own hospitality and figured she’d get some extra hours in over the weekend. By five a.m. she was behind her desk looking over a proposal for a manufacturing process improvement.

By six, she admitted to herself that she wasn’t actually getting anything done and she was spending more time looking at the phone, trying not to call Violet to check in than she was reading her papers.

By seven she realized she wasn’t going to be able to work at all and tried to take her mind off of the girl by working out. That plan failed miserably when the local news channel ran a special interest feature on The Incredibles’ contribution to Metroville’s tourism industry. She turned off all the TVs in the gym, and tackled the toughest face of the rock-climbing wall. That worked until about nine o’clock when she finally gave in and picked up the phone.

---

“Dash!” Bob yelled up the stairs. “We’ve got twenty minutes before we have to leave! You need to make sure all your gear is in the car!”

There was a stiff breeze and the sound of a car door slamming. “Done!”

“Are you sure you can’t come with us today, Hon?” Bob asked his wife. “The meet should be over by two and you and Jack can go to the playhouse then.”

“Learning Center.” Helen corrected him. “It’s called the Learning Center and Jack needs to play with normal kids.” The words had become a mantra for her over the last few months. As if she believed that by surrounding her youngest child with normals, she could avoid whatever had turned Violet against her.

“Dash needs you too…”

“Track and field is your thing, Bob.” She said, exasperated. “Besides, Dash doesn’t want his stuffy old mom pinching his cheeks and hugging him in front of all his friends anyway.” She demonstrated by pinching the boy’s face.

“MO-O-OM!” The boy managed to fit three syllables into the word.

“See? You two have fun, and tell me all about it tonight over dinner.” With that, she gathered up Jack-Jack and slid out the door.

When she had pulled away, Bob picked up the phone and dialed. “Please pick up.” He repeated over and over to himself. “Hello!” He shouted when the line was answered. “Don’t-hang-up-sweetie-its-dad.” He blurted out.

“Dad?” Violet asked then went on suspiciously, “Did mom tell you to call me?”

“No,” Bob reassured her. “She doesn’t know.”

Sudden concern gripped Violet. She wasn’t fond of her family right now, but they were still hers and she didn’t want anything bad to happen to them. Well, maybe her mom, but nothing too bad. “Is everyone alright?”

“Yeah… yeah, we’re fine. We really miss you though.”

“We’re not going to get into that.” Violet said briskly. “Why’d you call?”

“I know its short notice, but Dash has a track meet today and I was wondering if you’d come by…?”

“Is mom going to be there?”

“No. Just me and Dash, and maybe Uncle Lucius.”

“What time?”

“Eleven o’clock.”

“Maybe.” She said shortly. “We’ll see.”

“We really do miss you, sweetheart.” He said sincerely. “All of us miss you.”

Violet considered it for a minute, she really missed them. Even though she was pissed off and didn’t want to see them at all, she really missed them. Finally she said, “O.K. I’ll see you guys there.” And hung up the phone. The idea that she’d be seeing her dad and brother later in the day actually choked her up a little bit. She calmed herself with a series of deep breaths threw out the remains of her coffee and headed for the shower.

---

“Let go of me!” Dash squirmed out of Violet’s grasp and scrubbed his cheek with the heel of his hand to wipe away the feel of her kiss. “Geez! You’re as bad as m--” He cut off his sentence when he saw her stiffen. “Mandy!” he tried to cover. “You’re as bad as Mandy, always kissing on me and gloming on me and… stuff.” He looked over to see if she was pissed, but she just smiled and tried to hug him again.

As Dash ran off to talk to his friends, Bob put his hand on Violet’s shoulder. “You’re welcome to come home for dinner…” He said hopefully. The afternoon had gone so well he believed that if he could just keep it going, there was the possibility that everything would work out all right.

“Maybe some other time, Dad.” She smiled.

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Can I tell your mother you said that?” He teased.

“Yeah…” And tell her I miss her too. She didn’t add, omitting a hug. Instead they stood awkwardly staring at each other for a few minutes until Bob said, “Well, we’ve got to go…” He shuffled backward toward the parking lot with a rueful expression. Finally turning completely away from her. She maintained her composure until the car with her father and brother pulled away and then sagged against the handrail that ringed the field. Watching them walk away and knowing she could go with them had been a lot harder than she had expected.

She wandered about halfway up the bleachers and sat down while the crowd thinned down to nothing and the sun set. She let the stresses of the day drain out of her and follow the waning light. She had enjoyed the day a lot more than she thought she would and the only thing lacking was someone to share it with. Several times she had found herself turning to point something out or share an observation with Chi and remembering at the last moment that she wasn’t there and her name wasn’t “Chi.” Violet wasn’t sure how she felt about the way she’d been manipulated, but what ever name the blonde went by and what ever her past actions, she was now an important part of Violet’s life and however it turned out, however it had been formed, she didn’t want to throw away the bond they had now. After about half an hour she became aware that she wasn’t alone. She glanced down and saw Rick standing at the foot of the bleachers apparently waiting for her to notice him. “What can I do for you, Agent Dicker?” She called out.

“May I join you?”

She snorted, “Like I have a choice.”

“There is always a choice, Ms. Parr.” He said evenly.

“You’ve never given me one.” She said sullenly.

He sat next to her and shook his head. “Just because you don’t like the choices you’re presented with, doesn’t mean you don’t have any choice.”

“Isn’t that profound. You got something important to say or did you just swing by to play Svengali?”

“Hmph.” Rick shook his head again. “You certainly know how to make things hard on yourself.”

Violet frowned and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I came here to apologize to you.” He said matter of factly. “But you’re giving me enough attitude that I don’t really feel like it any more.”

Violet didn’t know whether to be flattered or suspicious. “What did you want to say you were sorry for?”

Rick sighed. “The Agency made a huge mistake with your friend Kari…”

“No shit, Sherl…” Violet trailed off when she noticed Rick’s raised eyebrow. “Sorry.” She said quietly, “you were saying…?”

“We made a couple of mistakes and I made the first one.” He paused for a moment and turned away from her. “I put my trust in someone who didn’t deserve it. I allowed agent Johnson too much leeway and the end result was that you got hurt.” He faced her again and put his hand on her shoulder. “I just want you to understand that it was my mistake that caused you pain and not your mother’s.”

Violet searched his eyes for some sign of duplicity or ulterior motive and found only honesty. “Why tell me this now?” She asked bluntly.

“Because I want you to make peace with your family.”

It was Violet’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “And…?” She prompted.

Rick smiled ruefully, “And… because, without you to lead the team, your dad and your brother are destroying my town.”

“Fair enough.” Violet said with a laugh. “What’s in it for me?”

That rocked Rick back a little bit. “You want money?”

“Of course not, but I’ve learned over the last few months that nobody cares for my butt more than me. So, if I make nice with my mom and start fighting crime with the team again, what are you going to do for me?”

The agent thought about it for a few minutes and turned back to the dark haired girl, “What do you want?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

---

Mirage hung up the phone without leaving a message… again. She glanced over at the clock: 7 p.m. After finally giving in to her desire to hear Violet’s voice, she was bitterly disappointed when there was no answer at their apartment. Stung that Violet had made up her mind so quickly and made the choice that Mirage dreaded, the blonde spent the rest of the day in a series of internal struggles and emotional extremes, occasionally convincing herself that she’d dialed wrong the last several times and she should try again only to have her hopes dashed once more by the same halting recorded message. Mentally and physically exhausted, she headed for home, with the painful knowledge that it would be empty, festering in her stomach like a sour apple.

It was late when Helen got home. Jack-Jack was cranky from eating junk food all day and missing his nap and she was just generally tired and upset with herself over how long they had stayed at the learning center. She had tried to get away several times but somehow ended up being drawn in to a conversation or an interesting activity every time she headed for the door. All she wanted to do now was get Jack into bed and follow his example as soon as possible. The greeting she got forced everything out of her mind.

“Oh, honey, you just missed her.” Bob said unhappily.

“Who?”

“Violet.” He said as he took Jack from her and began trying to cheer the toddler up. “She just left. We tried to call you, but –“

“WHAT?”

“I said, we tried to—“

“No, before that…” She interrupted, advancing on him. “Vi was here?”

Bob, strategically held Jack between himself and his wife. “Yeah, I invited her to Dash’s thing today and—“

“You invited her to Dash’s track meet?” Helen’s voice was getting noticeably shrill.

“Yeah, I thought she’d like to see us and—“

“You figured that if she knew I wasn’t coming, she would?”

“Yeah… NO!” he hastily amended. “I mean, I thought she might come and then—“

“How could you do this to me, Bob?” She screamed.

“What’d I do?”

“You know damn well what you did!” Helen hissed. She turned on her heel and stormed out of the house.

“I tried to call you…” Bob called out to her. “It’s not my fault you didn’t pick up your phone.” He mumbled to himself as he shut the door she had left open on her way out. Jack-Jack burst into tears and for a moment he resented the fact that she’d left him with the overtired toddler, but when he compared the task of quieting Jack to the task of soothing Helen, he whistled a happy tune and went about getting the kid ready for bed with the joy of a man who knows that his wife’s ire will be vented on someone else.

Violet walked slowly toward the apartment trying to get a grasp on the day’s events. Mirage’s confession last night made her question how secret her secrets really were. She wondered how many people actually knew her name and her history and if she was just fooling herself by thinking that a domino mask and a flashy outfit would hide her identity from the world. She needed to seriously consider changing her look, either as a hero or as a civilian. Maybe she should just drop the secret identity all together like that cheerleader over in Middleton.

Attending Dash’s track meet had been a lot more fun than she had thought it would be and she was glad she’d accepted her father’s invitation to join them for dinner afterward. It had been really simple, stir fry chicken and veggies over rice, but somehow it was every bit as satisfying and tasty as the meals she’d shared with Chi (Mirage, she corrected herself for the umpteenth time) at the Astoria. The time spent with her dad had been a bizarre combination of awkward and comforting and she still wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that her mom hadn’t answered the phone that evening.

The information she was able to pick up at The Agency after the meet and before dinner was still rattling around in her mind too. She had asked Rick to give her access to all the records they had on Mirage and he had complied. She had poured over several files detailing the blonde’s recent history, both business and personal. Her claim that she was looking for an equal to be her friend rang true. She seemed to be just what she represented herself as in her confession to Violet: a lonely woman, trying to start over. When she was ready to leave, Rick insisted that she was welcome to use The Agency’s library and files for research on any subject any time she wanted. She wasn’t sure how true that actually was and even if it was true, she wasn’t sure how much leverage he expected to gain over her by giving her that kind of access.

Now she was anxious to get back home so she could call Mirage and talk to her. No matter what the woman’s past held, after a day like today, Violet knew she wanted Mirage to be part of her life. She wanted to be the friend that Mirage needed. Pausing outside the apartment building, she decided that it would be better to surprise her in person than call her on the phone and immediately headed downtown to do just that. Besides, she wanted a hug too. She jumped into a cab and gave the driver the address to Chi Mera Industries downtown headquarters. In the back seat, Violet wiggled in happy anticipation of the look on Mirage’s face when she showed up.

Mirage wasn’t sure how long she’d been standing in the foyer. She was trying to get up the nerve to walk to Violet’s room and see with her own eyes that the girl had abandoned her. Several times she started to move that way, but each time she hesitated. So she remained standing in the entryway, afraid to walk through her own home. Finally she took a deep breath and forced herself to take a few steps toward Violet’s room. When she reached the door to the kitchen, she made a hard left and poured herself a drink. She told herself that it was to help calm her nerves but deep down, she knew she was trying to avoid the inevitable. She wasn’t even sure why she was reacting this way. What had she expected from Violet after telling her that she’d been deceiving her for months? Why did this rejection hurt so much anyway? She barely knew the girl. It wasn’t like they were life-long friends suddenly torn apart by forces beyond their control. And yet, here she was; afraid to face up to the fact that she was alone, again; afraid to face tomorrow without Violet’s shy smile and sympathetic ear; afraid that the empty space in her gut would grow large enough to consume her. If she stayed out here, she could pretend that Violet was in there. Perhaps sleeping, perhaps reading, but definitely there. Tears ran silently down her cheeks as she tried to force herself to face up to reality. But still her legs wouldn’t obey her and she stood in the kitchen, numbly sipping her drink, trying to imagine that she heard some sounds of life from down the hall.

Violet paid the cab driver and skipped up to the side entrance of Chi Mera Industries. “Hey, Gil.” She called out to the security guard on duty.

“Hello, Miss.” He replied with a smile.

“Oh, come on!” She exclaimed playfully, “I’ve been working here a whole week and you still don’t know my name?” She teased him, holding out her badge.

“Well, Miss Parr, I’m usually pretty good with names, but you’re just so pretty, I guess I never got past your picture when I looked at your ID.” He smiled kindly and waved her in.

“Which apartment is Ms. Mera in?” she asked.

“Hold on a second…” Under the guise of looking up the information Violet asked for, Gil checked the security list and found her name. He was surprised to find that someone so new to the company was cleared for direct access to the owner, but he didn’t make the rules, he just made sure that everyone followed them. “She’s staying in the blue suite. Would you like me to call up?”

“No, I want to surprise her.”

That caused an eyebrow to rise. “All right, but let me get you an escort.”

“Huh?”

“We’ve had a couple of undesirables sneak into the building lately and Mr. Kane instituted a new policy.” He said smoothly, with a reassuring smile. “After business hours, all guests and employees are to be accompanied by a member of security while in the public areas of the building.” It was a lie, but it allowed him to make sure that the company CEO wasn’t going to be in any danger. Even if the girl was on the all access list, you could never be too careful.

“OK.” She agreed, but it was with some impatience. Now that she was in the building she was getting really anxious to see Mirage again and this latest delay was really irritating. After what seemed like an eternity, but was really less than three minutes, a young man dressed in the same uniform as Gil arrived. “Jake” was embroidered on his shirt over the left pocket and he accompanied her to the blue suite. When they knocked, there was no answer. Jake flatly refused to let her into the suite without authorization. Authorization could only come from Gil so back down to the lobby they went. Gil flatly refused authorize it, but he did offer to call up and try to speak with Ms. Mera by phone. When he didn’t get an answer, Violet asked him to try Ms. Mera’s cell phone but the call wouldn’t go through. She tried to call from her cell also, dragging Jake to several different areas inside the building and a couple outside as well. Jake was clearly getting tired of following her around, but she insisted on roaming around to see if she could find an area where her call would go through. As a last resort, she tried calling Mirage’s cell from a public phone but that call didn’t go through either and she got dumped into voice mail. Gil regretfully informed Violet that she’d have to either go to her designated work area or leave the building. She managed to convince him to let her hang out for a few minutes in case Ms. Mera listened to the message and called back. But after twenty minutes, he politely kicked her out of the building.

Violet stood on the sidewalk for a few minutes wondering what to do. She tried her cell one more time, to no avail. Finally she decided to just head for home and hope that Mirage would call her the next day. Frustrated and disappointed, she was almost crying when she got in the cab.

Helen stalked down the street trying to be angry at Bob, Violet, Rick and anyone else who wasn’t her. For a while she focused her anger on Jack for keeping her busy later than she wanted at the Learning Center. But that played out quickly. Then she tried to get angry at Bob, but her cell phone wasn’t working, and that wasn’t his fault. She tried to be angry at the cell phone people but by then she was confused about why she was angry in the first place. Violet’s words still burned in her gut like hot coals. I sure as hell don’t want to be here with you! I hate you! Even months later, she could see the anger and pain on her daughter’s face as she accused her mother of willfully destroying her life over something as picayune as a kiss. Violet had been betrayed and Helen hadn’t done anything to stop it. Guilt for feeling relieved about the Keen family being relocated ate at her as well, fighting for top spot in the inner turmoil that had become her lot since that day. For a while she wandered aimlessly, vacillating between anger and despair unable to keep anything straight in her mind. Something broke into her reverie. Something wasn’t right and as she looked around trying to find it she recognized her surroundings. Even though she hadn’t been thinking about where she was going, her subconscious must have kicked in. Still trying to pinpoint whatever had interrupted her train of thought, she found herself staring at the apartment building where Violet was staying with that woman. For several minutes she warred with herself about whether to intrude or not. She couldn’t bring Kari back. She probably couldn’t have stopped her from being sent to Norway in the first place. But if that woman hadn’t been around, Violet would have come to her mother for comfort instead of going to that home-wrecking bitch. If she wasn’t around anymore, Violet would come home. They could talk about Kari and The Agency and anything else Violet needed help with.

Forgetting about the sense of wrongness that had broken her internal musings, she started for the building determined to end this business once and for all. She wasn’t sure how it was going to happen exactly, but she’d confront that woman, and take Violet back home where she belonged. She was so focused on her goal that she didn’t notice the outlandishly dressed man point a gloved hand in her direction.

The short taxi ride deepened Violet’s gloom and she dragged herself into the apartment building. She hesitated in the lobby. She was feeling seriously conflicted. For some reason, not being able to get a hold of Chi made her feel abandoned. She really didn’t want to go back to an empty apartment. Whatever crap her mom would dish out had to be better than spending the night alone and worried about where Mirage was. Only the realization that she had no toiletries at her parent’s house forced her upstairs into the penthouse apartment. Running through the list of things she’d need for an overnight stay, she thought about the way she’d been snubbed tonight and briefly considered just taking everything. The sound of sobbing chased everything else out of her mind.

“Chi…?” She called out hesitantly.

“Vi…?” Hope and disbelief mingled in the strangled cry. It was accompanied by the sound of breaking glass.

“Are you all right?” Violet asked as she ran toward the kitchen. She spotted the blonde woman coming out of the door and threw herself into her arms. Blinded by her own tears of relief and joy and overwrought by the emotional rollercoaster she’d just been on, it took her several moments to realize she was babbling incoherently while hugging and kissing the older woman with abandon. She pulled away slightly but couldn’t bring herself to let go of the woman entirely. Her new position gave her a new perspective and she noticed the look of shock on Mirage’s face.

“I’m so sorry.” Violet whispered.

“Why?”

Laughing and crying, Violet sputtered out: “I promised you I wouldn’t jump on you and kiss you…”

Mirage’s eyes sparkled. “I remember.” She whispered. Her green eyes burned into Violet’s soul, pinning her in place. “But I think what you said was that you wouldn’t jump on me and kiss me… without warning me.” Mirage’s voice was suddenly very husky.

The words touched off an unexpected whirlwind of physical and emotional feelings. Violet’s stomach dropped and her mouth went dry. Joy and relief morphed into something a lot more complex and confusing. Her world seemed to be spinning. She tried to keep her balance but she was being drawn in to those sparkling green orbs. “Consider yourself warned.” She breathed and leaned in. “Last chance to run…” But Mirage wasn’t going anywhere. Their lips met and suddenly they were kissing with an urgency that surprised them both. It was a long time before either one of them was aware of anything else.

Skippy Johnson realized he was laughing maniacally and suppressed it. Then he looked over at the unconscious woman and realized no one could hear him so he started up again, first as just a little giggle, then growing into long drawn-out fits of uncontrolled mirth. The unnatural slut would surely come to rescue her mother and then he would destroy her. He looked at the sleeping form of Helen Parr and savored the feeling of power that he held over her life. He checked through the gizmos he had lifted from the evidence locker and wondered which one would be best for killing the little pervert and her mother. For now, he would keep the mother alive. It would be so much more effective to kill her in front of the girl. It would probably make it easier to kill the little pervert too.

He looked at his reflection. The tights didn’t fit very well, but he didn’t care. They were packed with electronics and weapons invented by their previous owner and he could always claim that the “S” stood for “Skippy.” Once again he indulged himself with a maniacal laugh. After he killed the women, Jack Parr would crumble… He could take over The Agency, bring the city to its knees and soon enough Rick Dickhead would be fetching his coffee and filling out forms long hand. He sat down to compose his message. It would have gone a lot faster if he could have controlled the giggles.

Author: A Markov

Violet and Mirage sat together, intertwined; each in a curious state of a heightened awareness of the other while at the same time, being completely oblivious to the world around them. In their condition, they could sense the instant the other was going to take a breath. Each could discern when the other was beginning to feel any discomfort and shift accordingly to accommodate even the slightest twinge, but the walls could have crumbled in on them and they probably wouldn’t have noticed. A devastating earthquake might have been able to intrude into their consciousness but the ringing of the telephone didn’t stand a chance. Even though it went on for quite a while, punctuated once by the sound of insane giggling and several times by the sounds of frantic yelling from the answering machine, it failed to register in their conscious minds. The pounding on the door almost got their attention, but it too slipped passed them, dismissed as unimportant when compared to the simple act of being together. It wasn’t until Violet felt a stranger’s hand on her shoulder that their idyll was penetrated. As it was, she reacted quite poorly. It probably could have been worse, but she wasn’t really sure how. The refrigerator was easily replaced and once the drywall crew was finished, you couldn’t even tell that there’d been a hole in that wall. The marble mantle piece was completely ruined. The junior agent did recover from his injuries, eventually, but it would be a few years before he got over the emotional trauma and several more before he would be able to touch anyone’s shoulder without flinching. Of course, once Violet was detached from her, Mirage became aware of the squad that had intruded into her home as well. After glancing over at the downed agent, she made a mental note not to sneak up and surprise Violet.

As the recording played, Violet kept her eyes on Rick’s impassive face but held Mirage’s hand in a death grip. Bob was too engrossed in the recording to notice but Dash did some quick mental calculations and suddenly a lot of the stuff his mom and dad had said over the last few months made sense. The five of them were all crammed into Rick’s small office listening to the recorded ramblings and threats of former Special Agent Skippy Johnson. The speech from the tape player was halting and disconnected often punctuated by grating giggles, but the message was clear: Violet was to surrender herself to Skippy Johnson for “reckoning” before the sun rose or Helen Parr would die.

After they had listened to the message a second time, Mirage held a whispered conference with Violet then excused herself and left the room. Only Dash noticed the tender glance that passed between the two women and he was too embarrassed to mention it. He studied his sister closely and tried to figure out what was going on. He knew he should be concentrating on the effort to rescue his mom, but he was a fifteen year old boy. He didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or elated about the fact that his sister was really dating a woman. A woman, who, he couldn’t help but notice, was a total knockout. Despite his efforts not to, he found himself wondering about them. Two chicks kissing was hot, even if one of them was his sister. There was even a small part of his mind that was trying to figure out the best way to ask her for some pointers on picking up girls. He was drawn back to reality by Rick’s voice. For the first time he could remember, it was not even and calm.

“Sit down, Bob!” The Agent said forcibly. “Running off half-cocked is not going to do Helen any good and you know it.”

“Damnit, Rick! Your idiot partner has my—“

“Ex-partner.”

“Don’t you get huffy with me! I’ll tear this building apart!” Bob was looming over the older man, shaking with anger. “That’s my wife he’s got! And so help me, I’ll—“

“Sorry, I’m late.” The timely arrival of Bob’s oldest friend distracted him from whatever threat he had been prepared to make.

“’Zone!”

“Uncle Lou!”

“I came as soon as I heard.”

---

Violet was getting frustrated. They’d been in Rick’s office for more than an hour and it seemed like all the men just wanted to argue. Half the time they weren’t even arguing about important stuff, just trying to pin the blame on someone. Every time she tried to put her two cents in, she was summarily dismissed. It would have been even more frustrating if Dash wasn’t in the same boat with her. The few times he spoke up, they didn’t even acknowledge him. Whenever she tried to give him a sympathetic smile he just blushed and turned away. When Mirage poked her head in and motioned for her to come out of the room, she didn’t even hesitate. With a surreptitious a glance at the yelling men, she poked Dash with a small force field to get his attention and cocked her head at him. He glanced back and forth between the three arguers and his sister a few times before shrugging and following her out into the hallway. “What’s up?” He asked.

“This is Mirage.” Violet said. “She’s my… uh… friend.”

”Well, any ‘uh-friend’ of my sister’s is an ‘uh-friend’ of mine.” He said suggestively and was rewarded with a deep blush from his sister and a giggle from the attractive blonde.

“Never mind that.” Violet said, trying unsuccessfully to cover her embarrassment. She turned to the blonde, “Did you get anything?”

“I’m not sure it’s worth anything.” Mirage said hesitantly. “The recording on our answering machine isn’t very good quality, and the guys haven’t had much time to analyze it…”

“But you’ve got an idea?”

“I’ve got a general area.”

“Waitaminit…” Dash broke in. “our answering machine? You mean you guys really are…?”

Violet rolled her eyes. “Mom’s in serious trouble and all you want to know about is if I’m shacked up with a girl?”

Dash regarded her with a critical eye. “You’ve met our mom, right?” he said sarcastically. “Does the name ‘Elastigirl’ ring any bells? I don’t care what this rogue agent stole from their armory. He can’t do anything to mom, she’ll cream him.”

“Are you through?”

“No, you remember what she did to that Underminer guy?”

“Yeah.” Violet chuckled.

“And what about when she put the slingshot move on that clown from Gotham?”

“He was pretty surprised. I don’t think his moll liked it much either.”

“He had a mall?”

“No, a moll.” She looked at his blank expression. “It’s kind of like a professional girlfriend, but you don’t get to…” Violet blushed again. “Never mind… What are we going to do about mom?”

“I just said—“

“I know, but what if she’s knocked out?”

“…” Dash’s mouth opened and closed a few times. “I hadn’t thought of that.” His eyes got really wide and he kind of collapsed in on himself and started shaking.

“What’s wrong?”

“You must think I’m the most horrible person on the planet.”

”That’s nothing new, what’d you do this time?”

“It’s not a joke!” He shouted. “I thought mom could… and the whole time I was just… but she’s… and I…” He buried his face in his hands. “Vi, I’m such an asshole.”

She picked up his face. “Because you thought mom was strong enough to take care of herself?” She looked at him with her serious face. “Look, you know what mom can do. I know what she can do. Even if she’s out cold, she’s more than a match for Skippy Loop-de-loop.” She smiled reassuringly. “Hell, I kicked his ass without my powers, think about that.” She put her arm around his shoulders and turned to Mirage. “Now, where is she?”

“From the background sounds, he has to be calling from the warehouse district near the North Bay.”

“All right, let’s collect the three amigos and go get her.”

“That area is several square miles and hundreds of buildings.”

“We’ll just have to spread out.” But Violet’s optimism was soon punctured by the infighting between herself and Mirage on one side and her dad and Rick on the other. Lucius tried to mediate, but the longer the discussion went on, the shorter the tempers got.

“…and I’m telling you that there was the sound of a street car in the background, so he wasn’t calling from the marina!” Mirage shouted. She was standing on a table nose to nose with Mr. Incredible. The others in the room would have been in awe over her courage if she hadn’t already pissed them all off by disagreeing with them.

“I’m not listening to some two bit…” Bob broke off and glanced over at his children. “…Uh, manipulating… um… I’m not listening to someone who’s probably trying to send me on a wild goose chase.”

“Mirage, we’ve analyzed the recording and all of our indicators point to the marina as the origin of the call.”

“I told you, Mr. Dicker, I had my R and D boys swing by my apartment and get the recording your psycho left there. They say he was calling from North Bay.”

“He’s not my psycho, and our equipment—“

“Is purchased from my company and it’s about five generations behind what’s currently available on the market. My equipment is two generations ahead of what’s available right now and is—“

“Untested and, therefore, unreliable.”

Mirage let out a frustrated growl and threw up her hands.

Bob broke in, “I’m not questioning the integrity of your equipment.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean, Bob?”

“You know damn well what I mean!” He loomed over her. “First you seduced me into fighting your super robot and now you’re trying to—“

“I seduced you?” Mirage was incredulous. “I seduced you? You were drooling so much every time you saw me, I had to bring a mop with me to keep from drowning.”

“And now you’ve corrupted my daughter!” He yelled.

“I’ve done nothing of the sort!” She shouted back. “You lot treated her like an outcast, a pariah. All I did was give her a shoulder to cry on and a place where she could feel welcome.”

”Well, that’s not what your job was! You were supposed to keep an eye on her, keep her out of trouble, and instead you’re trying to sleep wi...”His voice trailed off uncertainly as he became aware of Violet’s expression. Silence descended on the room. Mirage regarded him through narrowed eyes. Rick rolled his eyes and dropped his face into his hand.

“What do you mean?” Violet asked quietly. Except for Dash and Violet, everyone in the room exchanged furtive glances with everyone else. “What do you mean: ‘your job’?” Violet demanded of her dad. He wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Rick…?” The older agent was intensely studying the floor. “Uncle Lou…?”

“Well, we were kinda worried about…” Her glare was unrelenting and he trailed off and looked at the ceiling.

There was one more person in the room who could probably explain it, but Violet didn’t want to look at her. She couldn’t look at her. After the revelations and emotions of the last twenty-four hours, she couldn’t believe she was still being lied to. She didn’t want to believe it. “Chi?” Her voice cracked. She couldn’t bring herself to look at the other woman.

“After your fight with Mr. Johnson, people were concerned about your welfare, so agent Dicker contacted me and made me a deal I couldn't refuse.”

“He hired you to watch me?”

Mirage nodded. “I didn’t—“

“Did he pay you extra if you pretended you were my friend?” She snarled as she turned and started to walk out of the room.

“Violet…” Rick's calm voice stopped her. “You're making things hard for yourself again.”

She stood stiffly at the door. Telltale shimmering surrounded her as she tried to control her temper. “Am I? Am I really making it harder for myself, Rick?” Her voice was a knife, cold and sharp. “My mom is being held hostage by some lunatic that wants to kill me because I like to kiss girls. My father doesn’t trust me or my...” Her voice cracked and she cut off the sentence. “My government is only concerned with controlling me. My brother is a little pervert who wants to…” She took a deep breath and her voice softened a little bit. “My brother is scared and confused and no one, not even me, has taken the time to reassure him. My friend… my best friend… my… whatever I thought she was… whatever I thought she might become… is my keeper?” The pause lasted a long time. “You sit in your rooms and decide the fate of the world. You move people around like pawns on a chess board and sacrifice them for your own personal goals.” She tried to keep the tremor out of her voice, but they all knew her well enough to know that she was unsuccessfully trying to hold in her tears. “What could any of you possibly say that could make me believe my life might be easier?”

Helen sat perfectly still concentrating on the way her body felt. Skippy had informed her with great confidence that her powers were completely blocked, but she didn’t want to take his word for it. While he’d been in the room, it had been hard for her to concentrate with all the insane giggling and barking laughter. Now he was gone for a while, and in the welcome silence, she was trying to figure out what he’d done to her. Stretching wasn’t something she’d ever had to concentrate on. It just came naturally, easily. Now that it wasn’t working, she was trying to figure out what was different. She tested each of her limbs, one by one but came up empty. There was something different, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Frustrated, she strained at her bonds and felt her arms start to stretch. But the elongation was accompanied immediately by stabbing pain in her head. The pain was so intense and unexpected that she instantly normalized. Breathing slowly to try and mitigate the pain, she noticed the bonds on her arm had shifted. Not much, but enough that she could feel the difference. She concentrated and strained once more. Again, her arm elongated slightly and again the pain shot through her skull. It might have been worse, it might have been about the same, either way, it left her gasping. But her bonds had moved again.

She was steeling herself for another go when her captor returned. She tried to ignore his rambling tirade but since most of it was aimed at her daughter, it was hard to shut it out. She did pretty well until she heard him mutter. “…not suffer a witch to live.” Then she turned her full attention on him.

“… and my wrath shall wax hot… …will kill you with the sword… …and your children fatherless. Or in this case, motherless.”

Helen felt her frustration rising. Now that she wanted to hear what the guy was saying, he kept muttering under his breath. He finished whatever preparations he was making and began walking toward her. “…seven days it shall be with its dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it unto the lord.” His sadistic grin was wide and his eyes were shining with an unhealthy glow. “Seven days it shall be with its dam: on the eighth day thou shalt give it to the lord.” He repeated. When he reached her, he crouched down next to her and giggled again. “I’m not sure I can draw it out for seven days, but if that’s what god wants, I’ll try to give it to him.” He touched the side of the knife blade to her cheek. “I can sure try.” He began laughing again and danced around the room humming tunelessly and occasionally cackling.

Helen closed her eyes and prayed that she’d get a chance to escape.

Violet waited an eternity at poised in the doorway, hoping for someone to say something. The second or so that passed seemed like forever but, just when she’d given up hope, they all spoke at once. “We all care about you, kid.” “I love you, Vi.” “We all love you, Sweetie.” A rustle of air was accompanied by a hand on her arm. She looked down into Dash’s eyes. “I don’t know where you’re going, Vi. But you’re not going alone.” He said, and then they were all with her, holding her, hugging her, murmuring reassuringly to her.

“Do you mean it?” She whispered and they all talked over each other in a rush to assure her that they really did. But the only voice she heard was Mirage’s.

“With all my heart.”

Author: A Markov

Violet tried a new tactic. She crossed her arms and turned her back on her dad.

“I already told you, sweetie,” He said plaintively. “Rick says the guy’s calling from the Marina... we’re searching the Marina first.”

“But Mirage’s R and D guys said—“

He cut her off with a raised hand. “I know you two are… uh… friends, but… I’ve got to go with experience on this one. This is your mom’s life we’re talking about.”

“But—“

“No ‘buts.’ We’re leaving in about ten minutes.”

“You mean, you’re leaving in about ten minutes. At least let me help.”

“We’ve gone over that too. Sweetie.” he said with some exasperation. “This guy wants you dead. He’s got some nasty little devices that he stole from The Agency and the psyches are worried that if he sees you, he might set one of them off and take out the entire neighborhood just to get you.”

“Duh! I can become invisible!”

“Please, Violet,” Bob said with a sigh. “Stay here where these guys can protect you from him.”

“Who’s going to protect me from them?” She shouted to the door as he closed it. He either didn’t hear her or ignored it. She suspected the latter. She really didn’t care what lame excuse her dad came up with to keep her away from the action, locked in a tiny office with two guards posted outside the door was not the way she intended to spend the time until her mother was safe. She began checking the room, trying to find an unobtrusive way out. She needn’t have bothered. Less than five minutes after her dad walked away, she heard two muffled thumps followed by the door crashing open to reveal Dash standing in the open doorway between the unconscious forms of the two guards.

He motioned her to follow him out. “Hurry up! They think I’m on my way to search the cannery buildings at the Marina.” He said with an impish grin. “Your girlfriend…” (Violet wasn’t sure she liked the way he emphasized the word.) “…is waiting for you near the east side entrance. When I’m actually done searching the cannery, I’ll meet you guys over at North Bay after I check in with dad.”

“Why—“

He grinned again. “Dad and Rick and Uncle Lou say they don’t trust the technology, but I think they just don’t trust your girlfriend.” (Now she was sure. She didn’t like the way he was emphasizing the word, but this wasn’t the time to call him on it, he’d just saved her a lot of time by breaking her out.) “We need to be checking everywhere mom might be, not just where the so-called experts think she is.”

“Thanks, Dash.” She caught him off guard and gave him a big hug. Embarrassing him was almost as satisfying as hitting him.

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Violet glided through the warehouse as silently as she could, looking for signs of a recent or current occupation. Even limiting the search to abandoned buildings, they were making slow progress. The size of the buildings meant that to check each one thoroughly took her nearly twenty minutes. She also kept her dad’s warning in the back of her mind. If Skippy’s main goal was to kill her, she didn’t want to give him an excuse to set off whatever he had lifted from The Agency’s weapons locker. Of course Dash was able to do it a lot faster, and even though he was splitting his time between the two groups, she was really pinning her hopes on him finding the right place. Still every place she looked was one more place her brother didn’t have to. When the call came, it wasn’t from Dash as she expected but from one of Mirage’s security men. As she made her way to the scene, the blonde’s wry comment came back to her. “One of the best things about being rich is that you can afford the things that other people might not be able to. Like your own private army.” And Violet wasn’t inclined to turn down any kind of help. Dash beat her to the scene, of course, but he waited until she got there before he did anything.

“OK, you know the drill, Speedy.” She used his public name for the benefit of the people standing around at the gathering point. Mirage and everyone in The Agency might know who they were, but she didn’t see any reason to use their real names in front of Chi Mera’s security guards. She held Dash’s eye, trying to impress the seriousness of the situation on him. “You stick right next to me, so I can keep you out of sight. It won’t be a hundred percent, but it’ll be better than nothing. It’s going to be hard for you because you’re going to have to slow down to my speed until we confirm that this is the right place and we figure out how to take him down.” Violet turned to Gil. “Thanks for all your help. Now you and your men should retreat to a safe distance and let us handle this.”

The security chief looked uncomfortable. “I don’t like the idea of two kids, even if you are supers, heading into a situation like this alone, Ma’am.”

Violet grinned. “I appreciate your concern, commander, but Speedy and I can take care of this.” In truth, she wasn’t sure what would be said once they confronted the rogue agent. He seemed like a monologuer and she didn’t want anyone outside of the family to listen in on what he might have to say.

“It’s just ‘Gil.’ At least take a radio, we’ll be right here if you need us, Ma’am.”

“Thanks, Gil, and you can just call me Invisigirl; ‘Ma’am’ is my mom.” She shared a small laugh with him and then turned to enter the building with Dash. They used a variation of their oldest combination move, she projected a force field bubble big enough for both of them and he rolled it around like a hamster in a ball. This time, though she put some extra effort into it and she was able to partially mask Dash as well as herself. Neither of them was completely invisible but they were hard to make out in the shadows of the warehouse.

“Cool!”

“Keep your voice down, we don’t want anyone to know we’re coming.”

“Right.”

As quietly as they could, they crept toward the room where Skippy was holding their mom.

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“We’ve got a location, Mr. Incredible.”

“Positive ID?”

“No positive ID yet, sir. But the boys have a probable. Agent Dicker said you’re to head over while we’re waiting for confirmation.”

Bob sighed and headed toward the address. It was the third “probable” tonight and he was hoping it would be the right one this time. Rick was on scene when he got there and he took it as a good sign.

“We’re pretty sure this is the place, Bob.” The older agent said quietly. “And you might like to know that Mirage’s private goon squad is combing the North Bay area.”

“Really?” Bob asked, surprised. “She really put her guys on the street looking for Helen?”

“Near as we can tell, it’s all legit.” He paused and considered his next words carefully. “We’ve even set up a liaison with her head of security… guy named Gil Aguirre... and…” The agent paused again, looking uncomfortable.

“What?”

“Invisigirl was spotted with one of their squads.”

“What? How’d she get out—“

“Of an office with a couple of grunts posted outside the door?”

“Hm, you’ve got a point.” Bob looked around. “Where’s Frozone? I thought he’d be here by now.”

They were interrupted by a messenger. “Two things, sir, one; Snoops confirm target is not located in this building. Two; Communication from Frozone indicates positive ID of target. Sir.” He finished his rapid fire report, saluted and fell into a parade rest stance.

After a few seconds Bob grabbed him and yelled, “Well?”

Confused and a bit frightened, the messenger choked out, “Well what? Sir.”

“Where the hell is my wife?”

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Dash moved forward silently. From the open door he could hear a high pitched cackling and an occasional muffled word. Thinking that the lunatic must have gagged his mom led his too active imagination down the wrong path. Abandoning any pretense of stealth he accelerated quickly toward the room. Violet, caught off guard, lost control of the force field and dropped both the protective sphere and their camouflage. A high pitched scream came from the room as she tried desperately to regain her balance and follow her brother in. By the time she got there, the screams had subsided. She needn’t have approached cautiously. Inside the room were several bums, gathered around a barrel fire. They were all looking at her brother in astonishment. He was kneeling over an unconscious form.

“What happened?” She demanded.

“I didn’t do anything! He just fainted when I came in, honest!”

“Did you see anyone else here?” she asked Dash.

“Nah, just these guys.” Dash said with a vague wave of his hand toward the group gathered around the room.

“What happened?”

“Like I said, when I came in, this guy fainted and I asked him...” he pointed to someone on the other side of the barrel.

“I’m a woman.”

Dash gaped. “Really?”

“That’s not important.” Violet said impatiently. “Where’s mom?”

“She’s not here. He… I mean… she, said they’ve all been hiding here for a couple of days. Mom’s not here!” Dash was interrupted by the radio Violet was carrying.

“We’ve intercepted a communication from Frozone to The Agency’s coordinator. Elastigirl has been located and identification is positive.” On her way to the location, Violet asked one of the security men to bring blankets and some food to the bums her brother had just about scared to death. She figured it was the least she could do.

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Helen bit her lip, trying to keep from crying out in pain as she stretched once more. Her head was throbbing painfully and she was pretty sure she’d just bitten through her lower lip but she told herself firmly that it would take only one more push and she’d out of her bonds. She ignored the small voice in the back of her head that insisted on reminding her that she’d thought the same thing the last three times she’d stretched. This time she was certain it would only take one more effort. Ignoring the shooting pain in her skull and the taste of blood in her mouth, she stretched once more and was finally rewarded with a free hand. Her relief was so great; she couldn’t keep from letting out a small shout of triumph. She bit it off and suppressed it as soon as she could but the damage was done. Skippy burst into the room and ran a critical eye over her.

“What was that?” He demanded. He looked around suspiciously and moved toward her.

She quickly hid the slack of the rope inside her hands and groaned. “I… I tried to stretch and… it hurt…” She said in a whimper, keeping an eye on him, hoping she wasn’t overdoing the acting. Actually, she didn’t have to do too much acting. Her head was really hurting.

He let out a sniveling giggle and leaned down to put his face just a few millimeters from her’s. “Try it again, bitch and it’ll hurt even worse.” He straightened up and turned away, still laughing. Helen threw the rope around his neck and, ignoring her own stabbing pain, climbed onto his back. She tightened the rope around his neck and drove him into the ground, bearing down on the small of his back with her knee. She kept twisting the rope tighter and tighter until he passed out. Then she tied hogtied him and went in search of a phone and an aspirin, not necessarily in that order.

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Invisigirl and Speedy arrived at the scene in spectacular fashion. About a block away, Dash had misjudged his speed over a dock ramp and they had ended up getting a lot more air than either one had been ready for. Violet was able to modify her force field and make it more bouncy but that just meant that they didn’t have any control over where they were going. As a result, they ended up bouncing into the encampment of officers and landing right on top of one of The Agency’s crack S.W.A.T. teams. For the second time in less than four hours, Violet found herself apologizing to an agent and adding up damages in her head. Fortunately, they were all professionals and they handled the disruption with a minimum of noise and fuss. The same could not be said for Mr. Incredible.

“What the hell are you doing?” He said through gritted teeth. “You’re supposed to be back at headquarters out of sight in case this lunatic decides to blow us all to kingdom come as soon as he sees you!”

“I can stay out of sight if I have to.” Violet practically yelled. “I know how to be discrete.”

“Oh? Like falling out of the sky in a shimmering bubble and knocking over a whole S.W.A.T. team?”

“That’s not fair, we were trying to get here and—“

Bob cut her off. “You’re putting everyone in danger by being here.”

“And you’re putting everyone in danger with your big mouth! Keep your voice down.”

Lucius stepped between them. “Bob… Violet… both of you calm down.”

“You stay out of this, Lou. You’ve got no idea what it’s like to watch your kid throw away her life with bad decisions.”

“I’ve made some pretty good decisions over the last few months without your help.”

“Good decisions like shacking up with Mirage?”

“What’s your problem with her, dad?”

“I’m sure you think the two of you are good friends but she’s using you! She’s gotten inside your head and turned you…” His voice trailed off.

“Turned me what?”

Bob didn’t answer. He wouldn’t even meet her eyes.

“Turned me what? Is that what this is all about? I’m gay? She didn’t turn me gay, dad. That’s not how it works. We talked about this at dinner yesterday; you said you were OK with it.”

“I am!” He said hastily, “OK… I’m not! You’re my little girl. I’m supposed to be protecting you from boys. I don’t know what to say to your girlfriend!”

“You could start by saying ‘hi.’” Mirage’s voice came from behind him.

“Oh, great! How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough.”

“Well, I’m not taking back anything I said. I meant it all.”

Violet poked him in the chest. “You’re going to apologize to her right this instant!”

“The hell I will!”

Lucius tried one more time. “Aren’t you two forgetting something?”

“What?” They snapped at him.

“Is this a private argument or can anyone join in?”

“Helen!” “Mom!” Helen stood unsteadily near the entrance to the building she had recently been held prisoner in.

“We were coming to rescue you…” Violet said as she ran to her mother.

“I got tired of waiting so I rescued myself.” She welcomed Violet’s embrace and a smile lit her face. She winced when Dash plowed into her, but put her arm around him too. “Careful,” she admonished him, “that lunatic did something to me, and I’m not feeling too good right now.” Bob picked them all up gently and carried them away from the building to the triage tent.

“We were just getting ready to come in and…”

“I could see that.” She said with a wry smile and a cocked eyebrow. But the tenderness with which she touched his cheek took the sting out of her words. She found Rick with her eyes. “Your prodigal son is on the second floor near the north end of the building. I didn’t touch any of the stuff he had rigged up. I wasn't sure what most of it—“ Her voice cut off when she spotted Mirage. “What the hell is she doing here?”

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From her vantage point outside the medical area, Mirage watched as three agents muscled the struggling form of Skippy Johnson into the paddy wagon. He shouted and cursed them all, going on about complacency in the face of evil and bringing down the righteous wrath of god on all heathens. He tried desperately to get away, twisting and turning, searching his surroundings with his eyes, trying to find some means of escape. When he saw Violet, he stopped screaming and struggling. He was quiet for a moment and then began laughing. It wasn’t the laugh of a madman; it was a laugh of relief. As though a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders and he had found peace. He raised his face toward the sky and started yelling, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.”

Mirage watched him intently. He seemed to be looking back and forth between the building and Violet. As he continued quoting from Genesis she grabbed Dicker’s arm. “We have to get everyone out of here!”

“Helen needs medical attention and we need—“

“—to get everyone as far away from here as possible! Don’t you see?” She pointed at the ranting man. “He’s playing for time… As soon as he saw Violet, he started this long-winded diatribe.” Frustrated, she grabbed the aging man and shouted at him. “He’s talking about mass destruction!”

Realization dawned on him. “You’re right.” Moving faster than she thought possible for a man of his age and demeanor, Rick began rounding up his troops. “Every body move out! Fall back to the outer perimeter and clear that building!”

The words were barely out of his mouth when the warehouse exploded.

Bob swatted aside several large hunks of detritus and piled a couple of rescue vehicles on top of each other to shield the triage area. Then, with a glance at Helen to make sure she was all right, headed out into the maelstrom to help where he could. Violet initially tried to put up a field around the entire building, but she wasn’t able to contain the blast, so she set to deflecting debris or encapsulating people who were in danger. Within seconds, the main danger had passed and they fell into a search and rescue routine with Speedy finding victims and Mr. Incredible digging them out while Invisigirl provided extra support to areas under threat of collapse.

“Two more right here!” Speedy called.

“What do you think, Sweetie?” Bob asked Violet as they surveyed the pile. It was nearly fifteen feet high and

“Looks like most of the weight is supported on that beam right there, I’ll brace it from this side, when you take that out… It should divert any loose rubble off to that side and I can probably hold it up for a good thirty seconds.”

“Plenty of time for me to get in and get them out. Speedy, get two oxygen masks and let the medics know where these guys are.” As Dash sped off, Bob turned back to Violet. “Ready?”

“Ready to die!” Skippy Johnson emerged from behind an overturned car. He pointed a clear glass rod at her and a beam shot out.

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Mirage shook with frustration. The problem with being blonde and beautiful was that no one seemed to take her seriously. By the time she finally got the message through Dicker’s thick skull it was too late. The building exploded and she dived behind Mr. Incredible as he worked to protect his wife from the flying debris. She narrowly avoided getting her head smashed in by a flying cinderblock but didn’t move fast enough to keep from getting her arm slashed open when a piece of plate glass spun by her. She turned toward the medical area but thought she saw someone skulking behind a partially downed wall. She shook off the attending medic and looked around for Skippy and his escort. She couldn’t find either.

Realizing there was no one attending the psychopath, she began running around trying to find him. No one else seemed to be interested in the prisoner or in good enough shape to do anything about him, if they were interested. She finally spotted him sneaking around behind some overturned cars. He looked like he was stalking something. When she heard Violet’s voice coming from the direction he was looking she began running as fast as she could.

Suddenly he stood up and pointed a glass rod at Violet. “Ready to die!” he shouted.

“No!” Mirage screamed and threw herself in front of Violet. She grabbed her and tried to push her out of the way. Pain seared through her back and legs. She looked up into Violet’s face and saw fear.

Violet instinctively threw up a force field, but somehow, the energy from Johnson’s weapon penetrated her shield and struck Mirage. Somehow it seemed to flow through the blonde woman and into her chest. Gasping, she shot out a solid force into the rogue agent’s chest, knocking him off balance. The pain mercifully stopped and she looked down into Mirage’s eyes and saw the life draining out of them.

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When Mirage opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Helen Parr. She closed her eyes again. She wasn’t sure exactly what she’d done wrong in her life, but she was pretty sure she’d been sent to hell. It didn’t sound like hell, though. It sounded like a hospital room. It smelled like a hospital room too. Maybe she was in a hospital and just having a bad dream about Helen. She opened her eyes again, hoping to see something different, but was disappointed. A quick glance around, showed her that she was in a hospital room, and Helen was in it with her. The woman didn’t seem to be injured. She was wearing street clothes and sitting in a visitor’s chair. Mirage tried to tell her to get out of her room, but no sound came out of her mouth.

“Awake?”

The voice was different. She sounded concerned and somehow contrite. Mirage worried about what was going on, she wanted to call the nurse, there was obviously something wrong with her medication. She tried to call for the nurse but, again, nothing came out.

“Don’t try to talk.” The voice was still filled with concern. She was feeling more awake now. But she couldn’t shake the feeling of wrongness. Why wouldn’t her voice work? What hospital was this? Why was Helen acting nice? Mirage tried to get up but her body wouldn’t respond properly. She felt panic rising in her chest.

“They’ve got a nerve block on you. There was extensive damage to your back and legs, but you’re going to make it.” There was relief in the woman’s voice now and she was advancing on the bed. Mirage was panicking; her eyes darted around the room trying to find an escape route. Suddenly the blonde woman found herself encased in a heartfelt embrace. Something warm and wet was dripping on her neck and she realized Helen was hugging her and crying. “I’m sorry.” She whispered. The embrace was strong now, with a slight tremor. Mirage decided she really needed a nurse now. Helen had obviously gone off the deep end.

Helen released Mirage and pulled back to look at her. Her green eyes were wide and full of fear and confusion. “Do you remember what happened?”

Mirage shook her head.

“Skippy tried to fry Violet with some super weapon they had at The Agency and you protected her.”

Mirage looked around frantically.

“Don’t worry. She’ll be fine.” Helen said soothingly. “You’re going to be all right too, even though you took the main brunt of the blast. Violet got some of it, but you took most of it. You lost a lot of blood… uh… fortunately there was a donor with your blood type nearby...”

Mirage looked at her sharply, sensing there was more to it than that, but unable to speak or even move her arms. She looked around again. This time more slowly and pointedly.

“Violet’s upstairs.” Mirage’s face must have given away her distrust because Helen continued. “You saved Violet’s life. No matter what I think of you, no matter what our past, I… It’s not about me. It’s about Violet.” Helen turned away, unsuccessfully trying to hide her tears. “Look,” she finally said. “Now that you’re awake, they’re going to come in here and throw a battery of tests at you. When they’re done, Violet will be allowed to come in and see you. I pulled some strings to get them to let me thank you in private for saving my little girl’s life.” She started crying again and hurried out of the room. As soon as the door closed behind her it opened again and for the next hour, people in scrubs came in and took samples of her blood and hair and saliva and other things she didn’t want to think about. They poked her with sharp things and hit her lightly with dull things. They shined lights in various cavities and exchanged meaningful glances with each other. There was a lot of “hmm”ing and a few arched eyebrows, one snort and possibly a cough or two. Finally one of the doctors stood next to her and gave her his full attention.

“We’re really happy with your progress Ms. Mera. You’re recovering nicely and we should be able to remove the nerve block and restore you to full mobility within the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours.” He smiled and jumped up. There was another flurry activity and for a short time it seemed as though every doctor and nurse in the hospital was in her room. Then, suddenly, they all filed out and against the wall was… It was she! Mirage’s heart leaped in her chest and she wanted to jump out of bed and run to her.

Instead the dark haired beauty glided across the floor and, eschewing the visitor’s chair, sat down on the bed next to her. Violet gently embraced her and instantly Mirage felt that all was right. Violet made to get off the bed and move to the chair but Mirage shook her head.

“You want me to stay here?” The girl asked. “Are you sure it won’t be too uncomfortable?” With a smile, she curled up next to the blonde and within minutes the dark haired girl was snoring lightly. Mirage wanted to stroke her head but her arms still weren’t working correctly. She settled for rubbing her cheek against the girl’s hair. Most of the night’s events were still a blur. She tried to sort it all out but couldn’t really get a handle on anything. Every time she tried to go through what had happened, it got all mixed up. Finally, she just closed her eyes and inhaled the younger woman’s scent. Tomorrow was time enough to sort out the past. Right now, she had the love and companionship of a beautiful girl. Everything else was inconsequential.