Violet Parr had experienced relatively few instances where her force fields could not protect her. The first time with the plane was due to her fear. The second time against the Omni-droid was primarily due to her inexperience fighting such adversaries. The third time she was under sustained assault and protecting an entire theme park. But even under those circumstances, where her powers failed, her super suit or friends and family protected her. Now however she was alone facing an opponent capable of piercing both her force fields and her super suit. The blood seeping from the gash in her arm mingled perfectly with the red of her suit but clashed furiously with the black. Weighing her options Violet figured if her force fields couldn’t protect her maybe a more direct application was necessary. Extending her arm Violet created a form fitting force field around her doppelganger unlike the malleable one she had used on herself however, she had made this one far more restrictive. The young woman didn’t want to take any chances with a mage so not only could her counterpart not move her arms, she couldn’t even move her jaw.
“Evil cultists, magic, and an alternate me, just what the hell is going on?” Knowing that the figure encased in her force field couldn’t possibly respond to her rhetorical question it came as a bit of a shock when she heard a response anyway, followed by a sharp pain in her neck. Upon feeling the pain Violet immediately concentrated on forming a solid wall of force behind her and pushed it in the direction of her adversary. A grunt of pain told the young super that her attack had found purchase, quickly sparing a glance up at where her containment force field should have had her restrained double she saw that it was in fact empty. Quickly placing her hand to her neck while she turned to face her alternate self, Violet’s breath caught in her throat as she saw the empty syringe in her doppelganger’s hand, various scenarios playing through her mind in moments each more horrible than the last. “W-what did you do to me?” Violet said hoping the light headedness was just her over active imagination.
“An experiment.” The doppelganger said as she untangled herself from the chair she was thrown into, seemingly oblivious to the various beakers and tubes spilling their contents onto her robe. “And yes that was an illusion you had trapped, not exactly my forte but it got the job done.” Violet tried to concentrate on her double’s monologue hoping that she would give up some valuable information as these villains always do, but the nausea she was currently experiencing was making it quite difficult to stand let alone listen. “You see I came from a world where you were too weak to protect her… too weak to protect anyone.” The double than grabbed Violet cupping her face in her hands, and while Violet was glad she had something steadying her the depths of madness she saw in her double’s eyes quickly dissolved anything even resembling confidence. “But everything is going to be okay you will see, everything will be all better soon.”
Violet tried to keep standing. She did not want to be left at the mercy of this thing’s insanity, despite being in no condition to defend herself, alas as soon as her double released her darkness enveloped Violet before she even hit the ground.
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Mirage had always subscribed to the view that skill and finesse could outmatch brute strength any day of the week. Her battle with Shifty did nothing but reinforce this mindset. The super spy had no idea why Shifty’s shape shifting power was currently so unstable, but then again so long as it continued to work to her advantage she didn’t much care. While Shifty’s bulk in his monstrous tyrannosaurus rex form gave him the initial advantage, Mirage quickly deduced that since where ever she shot him another rex head would appear all she had to do was repeatedly shoot him in the legs. And so far her theory had proven correct, for every failed lunge that Shifty attempted Mirage would shoot him in the legs, and for every shot to the legs another head would sprout. This kept going until Shifty had so many dino heads growing from his legs that could longer bend his knees let alone attack Mirage, and with a resounding boom Shifty’s monstrous form came crashing down. “Greatest crook ever huh?” Mirage snidely asked as she leveled one of her pistols at the horror’s snout.
“Please… don’t it hurts, everything hurts…” Having a mutant t-rex beg for pity would probably give anyone pause, out of shock if nothing else. Unfortunately for Shifty since he had been trying to eat the super spy alive a few moments prior so Mirage was fresh out of pity for his “plight”.
“If you don’t want to see how many heads I can make you grow start talking. You know the usual; why are you here? What your evil plan is. The works.”
“I do believe you may not have time for that.” Mirage without taking her eyes off of Shifty immediately pointed her secondary pistol at what she believed was the head of the person who spoke. “I see you are indeed not just a pretty face, able to target me using the sound of my voice and my reflection off of Shifty’s eyes.”
“Let’s keep this simple as I am beginning to run out of patience…”
“The Fairy Morgana that is the code phrase should you and Invisigirl encounter a shape shifter, correct? Is it not a little obvious?” Genuinely startled and beginning to worry for Violet’s safety, Mirage started to back up so that she could keep both the newcomer and Shifty in her sight. The newcomer seemingly aware of her intentions calmly strode into view, revealing a man in a tattered robe its formerly immaculate white marred by stains of blood. His bizarrely covered head cocked to the side briefly as if in amusement. “The blood is not Invisgirl’s, but there is indeed need for worry.”
“If you did…” A raised hand cut off any threat Mirage was about to make in response to the man’s cryptic words.
“Please Miss Mirage you are in no position to make threats. For that matter there is also no need, for I propose a trade.” The man then gestured toward the passage that both Shifty and herself had used to escape from the collapsing ceiling. “The complex, thanks to my companion’s poor judgment has reconfigured, that passage will take you directly to Invisigirl and while you retrieve her I can tend to Shifty. And although I know there is almost no point it saying this you can trust me in this particular instance.”
“Dammit.” Mirage swore under her breath as she ran towards the passage hoping that Violet was okay and that she wasn’t running head first into a trap.
After watching Mirage quickly retreat back into the complex the robed man turned to Shifty who had slowly and painfully begun to regress into something that almost resembled a humanoid form. “My my, Shifty just what are we going to do with you?”
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Violet hated being sick, and not simply because being sick usual meant the leaking of various fluids. No, the thing that Violet hated most about being sick was that she couldn’t push herself too hard with physical activity and that equated, in her mind at least, with being static. The young super never wanted to simply sit back and let events unfold around her, no, after the events of Nomanisan Island Violet always wanted to either be there when events unfold or help cause them. A sentiment that on more than one occasion clashed with her hatred of unnecessary messes but no one was perfect. Needless to say waking up in a hospital room was somewhat disheartening although considering her previous situation it was an improvement. Looking around the sterile white room at all the high tech equipment, far too high tech for a mere hospital, equipment that she herself had helped either move or assemble further eased the tension that was rising. Dr. Sunbright, it was one of the hospital rooms of the man who had delivered her and her brothers when they were born. Often he was called by the N.S.A. or suppers themselves when they needed a doctor more accustomed to the more fantastic needs of supers. All these thoughts of course faded into the background when she noticed the platinum blonde in the white spy suit standing in the doorway with a concerned look on her face.
“How are you feeling Vi?” Mirage tentatively asked as she moved closer to Violet’s bed.
“Wait!” Violet nearly screamed as the nausea and memories of what happened returned. “I was injected with something. I-I don’t know what it was I…”
“Vi it’s okay, you’re going to be okay.” Mirage said as she placed a hand on Violet’s cheek. “Dr. Sunbright was able to figure out what you were injected with some form of the alien virus from a few years back. From he could tell the virus has undergone some mutations and he wants to keep you under observation, but you’re not contagious and you are certainly not going to grow a second head or anything.” Much to Mirage’s delight and relief that last bit caused her girlfriend to laugh.
“A pity, there would be twice of me to annoy Dash with.” As if on cue a sudden gust of wind announced her brother’s entrance into the room. It never ceased to amaze Violet how much one could grow as person while still simply looking like a taller version of when they were younger. For all the patience and foresight he gained throughout his teenage years, Speedy a.k.a. Dash Parr was still quite recognizable with his red and black Incredible suit and slicked back blonde hair.
“HeyVioletyouokayIcameassoonasIheardDocsaidyouweresickbutnotcontagioussoyoualrightohheyMirage!” Then again maybe he didn’t change too much. Violet merely shook her head in bemused silence as her brother caught his breath.
Recovering from her fit of giggles Mirage was the first to answer. “Yes Dash Violet is fine just a little sick and yes she isn’t contagious.”
“Yup, apparently I got hit with a dose of that alien virus.”
“The one that boosted our powers a few years back?!” Dash asked incredulously to which Violet simply nodded enjoying the frustration and disbelief playing across her brother’s face. “That is SO unfair!”
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but Dash…” Mirage took a deep breath before she continued hoping for once that she wasn’t going to be walking away from the coming encounter with a bruise. Then again their rapport with each other had been steadily improving the more they worked together. “Is your mother you know…?”
“Mad at you?” He finished for her to which the super spy simply nodded. “Nope.”
“Really?!” Both Mirage and Violet said in unison.
“Yeah I was surprised too but apparently she was more pissed off at Uncle Rick and the National Supers Agency for splitting us up for these missions anyway. So no worries about being slapped or anything.”
“Mom’s been getting along with Mirage a lot better over the past few years, besides I had a nice long talk with her about it a few months ago.” Violet said calmly before groaning a little and turning a slight shade of green before calming once again.
Mirage handed Violet a glass of water that had been sitting on the nearby table, and after Violet had taken a sip the super spy voiced her concern. “Everything’s okay then?”
“Yeah…” Violet said before a wry smile appeared on her lips. “Only one piece of furniture was destroyed during the conversation.”
“What!?” It was Mirage and Dash’s turn to speak in unison this time.
“I got you guys this time.”
“Anyway…” Dash continued hoping his sister was in fact just kidding. “Can we please go back to the whole you having souped up super powers thing?”
“I am afraid it may be a bit more complicated than that bubbeleh.” A voice said from the doorway. Turning toward the doorway revealed that both Mr. and Mrs. Parr, also still in their red and black super suits, had been joined by the diminutive form of Doctor Sunbright himself. However before the good doctor could continue he was interrupted by a green faced Violet flailing her arms violently.
“I got it!” Helen shouted as she stretched her arms to grab the small garbage bin and bring it to her daughters.
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In a dark room, hidden within a forgotten city, underneath a remote island somewhere in the Antarctic, a lone woman gazed at a swirling mass of colors floating above a pedestal. The pedestal although made of marble and crafted to remind one of Auguste Rodin’s “The Gates of Hell”, was relatively unimportant. No what was important to the lone woman still draped in her torn and stained grey robe was the cacophony of colors that to most would hold little meaning. To those savvy to such things the chaotic mass of colors vaguely forming a swirl would be more important than thousands of lives. But of all the colors dancing across her vision one in particular, a small almost unnoticeable blood red stain was far more important than the others.
“Veral…” The alternate Violet turned upon hearing her name. Having long since abandoned her birth name she took solace in being called by her new one. It certainly helped distance herself from her- no they weren’t her failures, they were Violet’s and she would pay for her incompetence. Looking over her longtime ally she noted that he had yet to change out of his blood stained robes either, nor had he taken off his mask, but then again that was expected at this point.
“Grigori are you sure you don’t want to rest or change first?”
“No.” Grigori than purposely strode over to the pedestal gazing at the colors, the telepath’s helmet hiding any thoughts that his face might betray. “I am more concerned about you, seeing the Violet of this universe couldn’t have been easy let alone seeing Mir…”
“She’s naïve and weak.” Veral sharply stated cutting off her companion.
Sighing Grigori briefly considered holding his tongue lest he further infuriate his friend, but all things considered this information was too urgent not to bring to Veral’s attention. “I have some unfortunate news… Phage has entered this universe as well.”
“What is he doing here?” Veral did nothing to hide the growing rage within her.
“Aside from giving every telepath within one hundred thousand light years a migraine when he entered this universe, he doesn’t appear to be causing too much trouble. From what I’ve managed to gather he is merely lying dormant for now although his influence may spark a minor war or two somewhere in the world.”
Veral weighed her options; Phage was an annoyance but not one that caught her unaware. An instigator of conflict if there ever was one Phage despised anything that was static. It wouldn’t be long before Phage grew bored and decided to interfere.
“Would you like me to leak this information to the N.S.A.?”
“No leak it to Global Justice. I’d rather have the N.S.A. and The Incredibles focused on us while Global Justice can hinder whatever it is that Phage is ultimately planning.”
“As you wish.” Grigori said with a slight bow. “Is there anything else?”
“Yes… how’s Shifty?”
“He is recovering, we gave him a dose of the virus that you gave to Violet so hopefully when he is one hundred percent again he will be even stronger.”
“Thank you, you are dismissed Grigori.” As her companion left the room Veral turned her gaze back to the pedestal of swirling colors. It took her a moment to find Phage’s influence a small golden light almost insignificant in the Aether of magic that overlapped the Milky Way. “Phage for once you and I might just have a common goal, pity we don’t have common patrons.”
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Cleaning the mess Violet had made all over her mother’s fore arms, heedless of whether or not it got on his lab coat Doctor Sunbright continued. “So you see while it looks as though the virus is similar at glance it is quite different now from when I was studying it all those years ago.”
“So what’s the worst case scenario Doc?” Bob Parr asked nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot. Despite his tremendous strength and heroic disposition when all was said and done he was still a father worried for his only daughter’s well-being.
Doctor Sunbright shrugged as if this situation was the stuff of everyday for him, since it in fact was. “The worst case scenario is highly unlikely so I really think there is no need to worry about it.”
Helen brought herself down to the diminutive man’s eye level and firmly but softly asked; “Doctor… please?”
Dr. Sunbright sighed before finishing up his cleaning of Helen’s arms. “As you all know Violet’s powers, unlike the rest of the family, barring Jack-Jack, Violet’s powers are based off of her mental faculties rather than the physical. Too much stress to her force fields and it can overload Violet’s brain and render her unconscious. The altered virus has seemingly mutated Violet’s entire nervous system to compensate for this deficiency, allowing Violet to once again use her force fields with greater intensity and allow for a much broader use in offense.”
“You haven’t mentioned how this might be dangerous for my daughter.” Bob stated slightly annoyed to be led on like this.
“A yes my apologizes bubbeleh. You see while the virus seems to have given a useful mutation her nervous system has yet to acclimate to it. Should Violet use her force fields before her body is completely ready she runs the risk of coma… or death.”
“Garbage please!” Violet demanded as the color left her face again. As Mirage handed it to her this time and Bob looking like he would need his own garbage bin soon, Helen took the opportunity to add her two cents.
“So it’s simple Violet won’t go on anymore missions until she is capable and she will even stay her so you can run whatever tests you need sound good?”
“Mom I can make these decisions myself!” Violet whined reminding everyone in the room of when she was younger.
“She knows that sweetie, she’s just worried like the rest of us.” Mirage then handed Violet the glass of water again.
“But this doesn’t make any sense.” Dash pointed out his face uncharacteristically serious. “Why would the bad guys go through the trouble of powering up one of the good guys?”
“A test run perhaps?” Bob put forth as he ran his hand through his hair. “Test it out on someone else before they risk it on their own?”
“Well… the alternate me said…” Before Violet could continue everyone immediately stopped what they were doing.
“Alternate you?”
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