Losing Strength
Set after Mirage confirms the destruction of the jet which was carrying Helen, Violet and Dash, but before she tells him they all survived. Bob's thoughts.
Disclaimer - I don't own Incredibles.
"We have a confirmed hit... Target was destroyed."
"Target was destroyed."
Destroyed.
Helen destroyed.
Syndrome laughing. Footsteps. Silence.
And all he could do was breathe. Silence enveloped him and he was alone. Beads of ice meandered down his neck and he shuddered involuntarily, shaking the shackles he was ensnared in.
He could feel the life draining out of him, through his eyes, moist and heavy. His vision started to blur and he felt the tears slowly meandering down his face and off his chin, and the next one, and the next one.
Helen; his wife. For better and for worse and he'd just killed her. He may as well of been holding the gun to her head.
As long as we both shall live. No matter what happens.
Lying, deceitful, unfaithful.
She had always been there. Strong, intelligent, beautiful. She could have been anything she wanted, had anyone she wanted, and she had chosen him. He had been the luckiest guy in the World.
And he had let her down, when it really mattered.
He had been late then too. He could see her now, perfectly posed underneath her vale of white lace, waiting for him. Had she waited for him as she saw the missiles speeding towards her? As she stretched her arms out to her children, a last monument of a mother's love? Protected when she needed protecting herself?
The thought of her, crying out for him with her final breath was enough to kill him. He shook the shackles with all the strength he could muster. The gentle hum of the technology was the only thing to receive the cries of a heartbroken hero.
He slumped, defeated. Weakness wrapped itself around his powerful body, sturdy as elastic.
She'd be there when he stepped through the door at night, held him as he lost a piece of his soul having spent the day sat behind a desk. When he'd lied to her face; "I'm going to a conference..."
He'd felt like a God, nothing on Earth could bring him down; he was fitter, smarter, wealthier.
Blind.
And he had cost him everything he'd ever held dear to him. How could he be so stupid!
He was just a middle-aged man chasing a twenty-year-old fantasy, a mirage of the glory days passed. He was blind to what he had; what she had given him. A family. Happiness. When Mirage had first contacted him, he felt reborn, a fresh start. How quickly that had turned stale.
He would go away for days, leaving her to climb into bed alone at night and wake without him every morning. She hated sleeping alone. The pain and betrayal she must have felt pounded at him, stabbing harder than the Omnidroid. The loneliness must have mirrored his own, so why didn't you tell her that? How much she meant to you?
If only he had declined their offer, been content with the hoards he already had. But he was selfish, inconsiderate and Helen had paid the price.
If only he could control his damn strength.
Everything he'd created for himself had been snatched away in a cruel thirty seconds. Fifteen years taken in thirty seconds.
How could he live knowing what he had done? That he had killed his own family?
If Syndrome was merciful, he'd kill him, and let him be with his family again.
He wanted them to come back; Syndrome, Mirage. While he still had the strength to kill them, he would. He would crush each and every bone in their weak bodies and would feel no remorse.
He would kill to see her approaching him, hips swaying, face lit up like a candle at just seeing him. He prayed this was all dream, that she would walk past now and free him from his binds and tell him none of this was real. The only thing that was real was him and her. The gentle curl of her auburn hair framing her face, the feel of her body against his. It was real.
He remembered the first time he saw her. Unsurprisingly, the first part he had seen was her fist as it made contact with his face.
"And how was I meant to know that you were Mr Incredible?"
He had fallen in love with her then, as Elastigirl. My love. He loved her as Helen Truax and has Helen Parr. His wife. When they'd had children, he pondered everyday how he could love her more, why his heart did summersaults every time she walked into a room, holding baby Vi, or Dash.
Abort! Abort! There are children aboard, say again, there are children aboard!
Oh my God.
The kids.
A sob tore from the back of his throat, his heart bled. They were kids! My children,
Beautiful Violet, joyful Dash, baby Jack.
He'd always swear he would be like his own father, loving and supporting but somewhere along the way, he'd let himself down. Let his children down. There was always tomorrow to amend his poor fathering. And now...
The greyness of his prison engulfed him, his tears blurring any detail that may have existed and all that remained was a dull mesh of grey.
He'd avenge them. He beautiful, innocent children. How must they have felt as they cowered at the back of the doomed jet? He could see them, younger, and weeping at the monsters under their bed; that he could handle.
They must have been so scared...
He always swore he would die before letting his children come to any harm.
Click. Footsteps. Platinum blonde.
Mirage was swaying toward him, as though as a skater on thin ice, her platinum hair framing a face containing charred beauty.
Why has she come back? If she takes one more step, I'll crush her. Snap. Like a toothpick.
He bit back burning tears, letting them die in the back of his throat.
Desire for revenge overwhelming he snarled at her, "Why are you here? How can you possibly bring me lower? What more can you take away from me?"
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