Incrediboy vs. Incredigirl

Author's Note: Yeah yeah yeah... heheh Okeyday, this is my first actual Incredibles fic; I have another with them in it, but it's not completely Incredibles and who KNOWS if I'll ever get back to that. haha! ANYWAY, yeah, this deals in a Syndrome andViolet relationship that occurs after the movie, but not exactly. You read the synopsis; you know what I mean! I like the idea, and I hope you will too; sorry if my writing comes across as not that good, but I was really eager to put this up on the internet. Read and tell me what you think, please!

Disclaimer: I'm not smart and creative like those other Disclaimer writers, so I'm just gonna say: Don't sue, I don't have anything anyone would want. I'm not getting any money from this, and Incredibles doesn't belong to me outside of my dreams. Sadly.
Chapter 1: The Epoch
Oh geez.

Violet felt her body stiffen abruptly, her teeth clenched up tight and her mouth drying out from a sudden anxiety.

This can't be happening. Not again, not while I'm out on a date with Tony. It's only been five minutes since we got here; we're even still in line for the tickets! Please! Don't tell me this is happening. It's not fair!

For a moment, Violet's eyes closed up against the white light of the marquee above, her hands balling up into fists as she muttered a focused wish. Please, not tonight. Not tonight.

A split second later, another trilling tone broke out muffled from her purse, and Violet let out a defeated groan. She hadn't been mistaken. It was happening again.

Her cell phone was ringing.

Tony looked at Violet from his place beside her in the ticket line, one eyebrow cocked high on his forehead to show his confusion.

"Um, Vi?" he asked, half-laughing at the still-stiffened pose she'd taken on. "Are you going to answer that?"

Violet glanced at him, but didn't respond right away, letting the question hang in the chilled, night air like some ever-present phantom.

She didn't want to answer it. She really didn't want to answer it. She knew who it was, what it was about, and what she would have to do if she answered her cell phone, and she knew, straight for a fact, that she did not want to answer it.

Another ring.

They weren't going to give up anytime soon it seemed.

Violet let it ring out once more, listening to the long wavering note as it played and faded out, begging for an answer. She knew that they didn't mean to interrupt her time with Tony, and that they wouldn't call for her if something they couldn't handle alone hadn't come up; it wasn't like they hated her or Tony enough to deliberately try to get in the way. Nevertheless, she wanted them to know what importance the evening had to her and just how much she wished she could just ignore the call. The time she could actually spend with Tony was always precious to her, and whenever they had to cut in…

"Vi, it's still ringing you know," Tony said with his usual grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

She looked at him finally, smiling ironically as if to say, "I know that, Captain Obvious, thanks." She flipped her purse open, digging through loose change and Kleenex to grab at her still ringing cell phone. A few seconds later she had it pressed up against her ear, and before she could get a word out, Helen Parr's slightly displeased voice came barreling at her from the other end.

"Vi, what took you so long?" she demanded, the question half-snarled and indignant.

Violet cringed visibly at the sound of her mother's voice. It twanged full of irritation.

"Sorry. I couldn't find my cell," she lied, trying her best to sound sincere in hopes of damming up the rest of her mother's wrath before it could flood into the conversation.

For a moment, it seemed Helen didn't believe her daughter, but for whatever reason, she decided not to jump on the feeling. "Well, now that you've found it, you've got to get going. Get here as quick as you can; we've got a situation."

Violet tried unsuccessfully to withhold a groan. She knew it.

"Mom—"

"We're at the Metroville bank," Helen broke in, her voice quick in what now seemed anxiety. "Shouldn't be too far away; I'll fill you in on the details later, okay, Vi?"

"But, mom, my date—"

"I know, honey, and I'm sorry," Helen replied, her voice softening slightly, coming out half-maternal and half-annoyed.

Sure don't sound sorry, Violet thought with some trace of resentment, her lips pursing together into a pout unseen by her mother. She didn't say anything, though she wanted to. She had a reason to be annoyed, but she found it unfair that her mother would talk to her as if that feeling was wrong.

"I know how much you want to go on a date with Tony, and—"

"It's okay… I understand," Violet muttered, disappointed, obviously (and for good reason), but knowing of her duty. Ever since Syndrome's death and the eventual reinstatement of their crime fighting rights, Violet had undertaken her newfound responsibility as superhero with a strong, though somewhat tentative, determination.

She hadn't found complete comfort in her new role, but she strove her hardest to discover it. She'd taken time to study her powers, patrolled the streets with her family on their set hours whenever she could…

And she'd made sacrifices.

Apparently, this was going to have to be one of them.

Darn.

"Okay," Helen said finally, her voice sounding more sincere in its remorse than it had before Violet had accepted the mission.

"I'll meet you there," Violet assured her.

"Good. Elastigirl out."

The conversation came to an end with a double beep, and Violet pulled the phone away from her ear and before her, staring at it as if it held some deep and hidden answer to a question she'd been thinking way too much about. But, shrugging her shoulders in defeat, she hung up her end and replaced her cell phone back where it belonged, half buried beneath tissues and other useful things scattered about her purse.

Violet brought in a deep breath, holding it for a moment with closed eyes before releasing it slowly, hoping to calm herself down a bit. Her heart beat hard up against her sternum, riled up from some still lingering disappointment and that recurring anxiety felt at the dawn of some new mission.

She should hurry up and get over to the bank, before something happened. Mom seemed pretty upset. That meant that something important had probably come up, maybe armed fugitives or something like that, that they needed her powers for. Good thing that the bank wasn't too far away from the theatre; she should reach it in good time if she just ran a little fast—

"So, what was that about?"

Violet's heart nearly jumped up into her throat. She'd forgotten something.

She looked to Tony, who stood innocently nearby, hands tucked into his pockets with that grin playing across his face, so charming… and so unknowing. Violet felt herself shrink again inwardly. Guilt flooded into her system, and the plans she'd made in her head fell apart like a to-do list thrown into a bucket of wash-water.

Violet somehow found the courage to look up at him, her mouth curved slightly into an apologetic smile, "Tony…" she said his name awkwardly, trying to gather the right words in her head before she broke the bad news. She'd had to do this so many times already, but the moment never lost its awkwardness or its difficulty. "I—"

Tony's face fell, and his mouth strained into a taught line. "Something's up, huh?"

Violet half-laughed, half-cringed inside. He was that used to it already, huh?

"Yeah," she admitted, embarrassed. She glanced at her bag, where her cell phone now rested peacefully, then turned her gaze back to her boyfriend. She could see how disappointed he felt, with his eyes finding a place to rest everywhere, it seemed, other than on her face, one toe sliding disconsolately against the scratching concrete of the sidewalk in front of the cinema. She bit her lip, her hands writhing uncomfortably as the silence lingered on between them, the backdrop of passing cars and nattering couples seeming no more than an eerily empty backdrop to the awkward but pathetically typical situation they'd found themselves in.

"What is it?" he asked after a moment, shrugging his shoulders as if the question came from some offhand curiosity.

Violet pursed her lips, trying to think up an answer.

She settled for the normal generic.

"Family emergency," she replied, looking down at her hands, which tugged nervously at the hem of her shirt, straightening out a few wrinkles that really meant nothing to her at the moment past something to make her look busy. She could imagine Tony's look of disbelief; she braced herself for his inevitable reaction.

"Again?" he asked. His voice came out strained, like he'd tried to sound mildly surprised in hopes of hiding the doubt he felt. The attempt ended up somewhere between a hiss and a squeak, and even Tony cringed at not only the accusatory tone but the pitiful way he'd said it.

"That's our family for you," Violet replied, glancing up with a smile, trying to sound conversational.

Tony didn't smile back. He managed to look away, shrugging his shoulders again, his face turning up to the marquee as it lit up the night sky that hung above them. Violet frowned.

"I'm really sorry, Tony," she said softly She reached out to take his shoulder, squeezing it with a sorry gentleness.

Tony turned slightly, looking at her with a smile, small and slightly forced, but still characteristic of that Rydinger charm that Violet had fallen for in the first place. "I know," he said. He patted her hand. "I'd just like to spend sometime with my girlfriend. You know, more than five minutes before her weekly family emergency?"

"I know, I know," Violet said. She glanced at her watch, her heart skipping a beat when she noticed just how many minutes had passed since her mother had called. She really had to go, but she didn't want to leave with Tony looking that disappointed.

"Well, I guess you have to go now, huh?" Tony asked, half mumbling as his eyes found their way back onto the marquee.

"Yeah," Violet agreed guiltily.

Tony looked back, once again trying at a reassuring smile. "Well, see you then."

Violet nodded, starting to turn, her mind almost completely switching over to super-heroine mode when something popped into her mind. She made a swift return to Tony, planting a chaste kiss on his cheek. Tony's attention came completely upon her, his eyes widening in pleasant surprise.

"Tomorrow, okay?" she said, looking up into his eyes. "We can go to a café or something. My treat."

"Well…" Tony let the word trail off, hand finding his chin in mock-consideration, though his mind was already made up. "Well, I think Bobby's going to ask me to go with him to some comic convention in town tomorrow, so…" He tapped a finger on his bottom look, pursing his mouth and lowering his brows like some fabled thinker, minus the pedestal to sit on. Finally, his brows lifted charmingly, a wide grin splitting his handsome face. "I'd love to."

"Great!" Violet half-exclaimed, relieved that Tony hadn't completely started hating her just yet. "I'll meet you tomorrow then. Five o' clock?"

"See you there."

With that, Violet turned down the street, taking the sidewalk with long, purposeful strides. She turned back, waving at an increasingly shrinking Tony, before skidding along a street corner and hurrying towards the bank. That dark canopy of sky stared down at her from between buildings as she made her rush through Metroville's streets, watching as she sped past people, through sidewalks, down alleys, excitement and fear shining in her eyes, quivering through her spine and shoulders. She hoped things at the bank were still doing okay.

She stopped at an abandoned alleyway almost to the bank, pulling off her clothes piece by piece to reveal a bright red suit waiting ready underneath. Bundling them up carefully and slipping them into her purse, she pulled out the last and most important part of her ensemble from a zipped up outer compartment.

Her mask slipped easily onto her face, fitted and perfect, completely her.

Incredigirl was ready.

The moment she arrived, on guard and prepared for a fight, she'd thought that maybe she'd missed the whole ordeal. Smoke trickled out of the bank through its front door, only bare gray wisps that drifted smoky in the cold air. The trees that had once lined the concrete sidewalk lay bent and splintered on the asphalt littering leaves and branches across the street. The bank and surrounding buildings had new cracks rising in jagged ripples across their faces; it seemed a fight had occurred.

A fight that must have ended already.

Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl stood in the center of the scene and did little else than that, once in a while their heads darting back and forth across the way as if they were keeping track of some fly that was buzzing in their ears. There was no sound but the stifled wail of distant but approaching sirens, and the fast and incessant pattering of what she knew to be Dash's running feet.

"Mom, dad!" she yelled, making her approach with a confused face.

The two turned suddenly. "Incredigirl!"

"What…what's going on?" she asked, eyes still glancing over the scene without full understanding. Dash's footsteps continued to echo against the buildings, but Violet couldn't catch any sight of her brother; he must've been running very fast. "Is it over? What happened?"

"It's not over," Helen replied, regaining the guarded look she'd lost momentarily upon Incredigirl's arrival. Violet could see her eyes darting back and forth the way her head had just moments before. "Whoever this guy is, his speed and reaction time are almost as fast as Dash's… we can't get him down."

"As fast as Dash's?" Violet repeated incredulously. She looked up to where her mother's gaze was currently following, noticing now two blurs of pure speed passing suddenly nearby, disturbing her hair as wind picked up around them.

"Yeah," Mr. Incredible replied, taking a sudden swing at the passing duo and cursing as his fist hit empty air. "Dash is pretty much the only one keeping this guy in the area."

Violet felt a slight wave of relief at the news, but Helen cut into her thoughts almost immediately. "But he's getting tired. This guy's got speed, reaction time, and a whole heap of stamina; I don't know how much longer the kid can keep it up."

A loud yell broke through the relative quiet, apparently Dash screaming at the criminal to, "Just give up" because, it was "getting real boring." Again, another blast of cold air shot past the three helpless supers as the two shot along through the street, and Violet watched, now keeping an eye on the chase as her parents had.

"What are we going to do, then?" she asked, keeping a good pace on where Dash was, though he appeared little more than a yellow and red blur, passing over debris and in front of street openings; whoever the criminal was, she could spot him just as easily. A haze of whites and grays, keeping a bare lead over Dash and not showing any sign of wear or desire to stop. She'd never seen this one before; maybe a new super villain come to terrorize Metroville and show what he was worth to the world against the famous Incredibles. So far he was doing a pretty bang up job.

"We can't do anything," Elastigirl replied tersely, trying to keep track of Dash's current location with only a stumbling and difficult success. She wasn't as used to watching Dash as Violet was (linked to Violet's deeper familiarity with Dash's speed and the pranks that inevitably would come with the ability).

Violet looked back at her mom and dad, shocked at the news. "What do you mean?"

"We've tried everything, honey," Mr. Incredible replied, looking down at her. He'd given up on watching the race, even less used to that sort of thing than his wife and daughter. "This guy is just too fast for us… your mom and I don't have the right sorts of powers to deal with it. I'm not fast enough to get the guy."

"Neither am I," Helen admitted, her face taking on a fierce look, as if the confession struck her somewhere deep. "He's skipped every trap, dodged every attack. If it weren't for Dash, he'd be long gone already."

Violet blinked in disbelief, trying but unable at that moment to reestablish her grip on her brother's chase. "So, it's all up to Dash?" she muttered. She was almost unable to believe the predicament they'd found themselves in.

Her parents, unable to deal with a villain. That seemed almost as impossible as Syndrome popping into the scene, back from the dead. Mr. Incredible with his can do attitude, Elastigirl with her ever-present grip on the situation. What were they supposed to do if these two, who could do so much, could do nothing?

"Yes, it's up to Dash," Helen answered. Her gaze came from the far end of the street to rest upon Violet, joining her husband's, same in its firm but gentle strength. "But, it's also up to you too, Incredigirl."

Violet ripped her attention from Dash and her thoughts, and turned to face her parents, utter shock slapped on her masked face, topped off heavily with uncertainty. "Me?" she asked her voice high and anxiously skeptical of the situation.

"Yes. You," Mr. Incredible replied calmly, completely understanding his daughter's outburst.

"But, why—what am I supposed to do?" she demanded, eyes wide and begging for an alternative path. "I never dealt with a super villain on my own! I don't know how, I—"

"Don't doubt yourself, Incredigirl," Helen said, putting a finger on her daughter's lips to quiet her. "Look, we need you to do this, or the villain might get away. You've dealt with Dash before; you know how to act in a situation like this."

Violet tried to look away, catching sight of the double blur before Helen brought her daughter's gaze back to her own with a steadily gentle hand. "Vi, we need you. You can do this, we know you can."

Violet looked at her mother, catching the trust so obvious in her face. One quick glance showed her that her father had the same look too. Her eyes drifted to the ground, resting on a crack running up through the black asphalt, that familiar uncertainty muddying her thoughts and eating away at the resolution she'd formed up on her race to the scene. Dash's progressively louder demands began to break through more often; he was getting tired. The only time he would complain like that was when he was losing his lead, falling back into a losing position that he didn't want to admit he had.

Meeting her mother's gaze once more, she stiffened her upper lip and made up her mind.

She turned, searching the scene swiftly, catching sight of her brother seconds later as he passed before the mouth of a connecting street, keeping the criminal from escaping down a byway. From there, she held onto the chase with her eyes, following every movement, every pass, every turn, her back bent in a half crouch, her hands up with crooking fingers, waiting for the precise moment.

The two zoomed past and Violet pushed a purple bubble into existence, blinking against the disturbed air. No… she'd missed. She felt the doubt bubbling up from beneath the cover she'd set up against it, but she did her best to push it back, concentrating on the villain as he continued to run.

Another pass by. Another force field. Another miss.

Violet growled. She'd done this a million times with Dash. She could do this.

Pass by. Force field. Miss.

Dash's yells grew louder. Helen and Bob watched from behind. She could practically feel them cringe every time the field formed and disappeared with nothing to show. She clenched her teeth, setting her jaw hard, her eyes squinting in deeper focus as the villain led Dash around the street, as fast as always.

Again, another miscalculation, only milliseconds late in the chase. She heard Dash let out a startled shriek as he made a slight veer to the side of his path, managing to dodge the bubble before colliding straight into it. Violet felt her teeth rattle as they clenched tighter together. Just then, she'd almost lost her family the villain.

Could she do this?

She watched Dash scramble to regain the lost distance, his struggle slightly visible as the constant beat of his boots against the pavement fell into a different, slightly staccato rhythm, lasting for moments before returning.

Violet set her jaw harder, teeth scraping against teeth, so determined they could crack.

She could do this.

"Stop!" Dash yelled.

She could hear how tired he sounded, his bare pants as he forced himself to continue running.

"Come on, you chicken, give up!"

He wasn't going to make it. He'd been at it for too long; the villain was going to beat him.

"Stop!"

They were coming closer… Violet could hear Dash… closer, more desperate, more tired.

"STOP!"

Nothing but blurs. Approaching.

Closer…

Force field.

There was no pass by, no miss, no wind kicked up by superhuman speed. Only the buzz of a barrier and the sudden metallic bang of someone knocking up against its rounded walls. Violet's eyes opened slowly, after closing just as she made the force-sphere, and she saw, her heart skipping in her chest, a purple-tinted blur running frantically along its edges.

Dash jogged to a stop nearby, his breathing hard and wheezy, hands clutching at his knees as he bent over in exhaustion. Behind her, she could hear the sounds of her mother and father whooping in celebration, the ground rumbling beneath her as Mr. Incredible jumped up in down in pure joy.

"Way to go, Incredigirl!" Bob yelled. He was laughing hysterically, punching the air as if he'd just won the biggest game of the century.

"We're so proud of you," Helen added in, smiling.

"Yeah," Dad agreed breathlessly. He fell onto the ground with a slight thump, breathing still harsh but slowly beginning to calm. "Took you long enough," he managed to add, sending her one of his saucy looks from his bed on the asphalt.

"Shut up, insect," Violet snapped. She was only half-joking.

Violet looked at her hands, fingers bent and quivering from excitement. She felt the crackle of energy prickling not unpleasantly through her fingers, the usual sensation felt whenever she conjured a barrier.

Her eyes rose to the force field.

She did it.

She'd actually done it. She couldn't believe it. She watched as the blur inside began to decelerate, forming finally into a visible figure banging fists against her field and screaming out demands to be set free.

Violet certainly hadn't seen this villain before. Scrawny in a stereotypically nerdy way, his back was crouched slightly, as if bent from a lifetime of trying to support his unusually large head, which was helmeted with a visor hiding his face. His stick-like forearms were wrapped in thick, white guards, adorned with a stylized "e" which could also be seen emblazoned wildly in bigger form across his thin chest. His wrists held matching white watches, and random numbers and clock faces decorated his gray body suit and boots in a painfully obvious (and hideous) theme.

He would've made Edna Mode vomit from disgust.

And then possibly push her to the point of murder in a fit of fashion, bad pun intended and all.

"Let me out of here!" he shrieked, his voice high and perfectly fit for whining over weather conditions and allergies. "I demand you set me free!"

"Like that's gonna happen," Violet said, her resolve reset, eyes rolling behind her mask. Violet maintained the field, bringing the squealing villain closer for a better look.

Violet examined him once more over to make sure she didn't know who he was, and she looked over her shoulder at her father and mother, who seemed to be doing the same thing.

"So… you know him?" Violet asked.

Both of them exchanged a glance and shook their heads.

"Never seen this one before," Mr. Incredible said, walking over to the bubble and leaning in to give the criminal a good perusal. "Nope… I think I would remember this one," he said, wrinkling his nose and chuckling goodheartedly at the decorative costume.

"I was almost beat by that?" Dash had arrived, still a little out of breath but back to his normal self. He pouted almost indignantly at the homely and pathetic being that continued to bang and rave inside of the impenetrable bubble, arms crossing against his chest. His eyes ran over to his insignia. "What does the 'e' stand for?"

The man inside spat disgustedly, bony, gloved hands pressed up against the field. "You Incredibles, thinking you're better than all of us because of your superpowers and matching outfits. Ha! You're not, you know!"

The family passed each other a glance, and almost simultaneously rolled their eyes.

Here we go…

"What does the 'e' stand for?" Dash asked again, as if trying to interrupt the man before he got started.

"I've watched from the television these past few months, those actions and moves you thought were so heroic. I couldn't believe the lot of you, flaunting yourselves and your powers in your expensive red outfits, kicking down people just because they could."

"I'm pretty sure most of 'em were doing something illegal," Violet mumbled unhappily.

"What does the 'e' stand for?" Dash asked again, his tone more insistent.

The man continued, ignoring the both of them. "Well, I decided you needed to be knocked down a few pegs. Just because you're supers doesn't mean you're better than the rest of us, you know. We got police; they can take care of crime and bank robberies. You needed to be stopped by someone, showed that you weren't undefeatable, Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, Incredigirl, and the Dash." He said their names with a bite to his voice, a familiar action taken by the monologuing villain that supposedly added menace to their speeches. Sometimes that was true, but not right now, from a man who was sneering helpless from inside Violet's force field, seeming like some malnourished, rabid hamster trapped inside a plastic play-ball.

"What does the 'e' stand for?" Dash pouted dangerously, but was ignored.

"I decided I would be the one to show you! I, the master of time!"

"What does the 'e'—"

"—who could move through a world slowed down so that I appear nothing more than a—"

"—'e' stand for?"

"—who nearly defeated—"

"WHAT DOES THE 'E' STAN—"

"THE EPOCH!"

"—stand fo—oh."

The Epoch punched the air with what would've been a triumphant fist if he wasn't so far at the mercy of the group of supers, who, at the moment, where raising their eyebrows and trying their hardest not to laugh.

"Yeah, he's a newbie," Mr. Incredible said with a shrug of his large shoulders, scratching at the back of his head.

"The epoch?" Dash muttered the name over, making a face. "What the heck's that supposed to mean?"

"It means an era in time or something like that," Violet replied, glancing over to her brother and raising the force field off the ground as the sounds of approaching police cars grew louder from proximity.

"That's stupid," Dash said, hands on his hips. "Why do they pick names that have nothing to do with their power or anything?"

Violet shrugged, walking over to meet the police van and cars as they zoomed into the scene, holding up the purple force field before her. The Epoch, now seeing what future he had made for himself from whatever stupid "peg-knocking-down" he'd attempted to accomplish that night, had began fighting in a new fit of desperation, and even started to beg for his freedom. Violet only cast him a cold smile before guiding the field into the open van doors of the police truck, only releasing her hold when they had him shut and locked in securely.

"You can't keep me in here, I'm a good guy at heart!" he yelled from inside, his hands grabbing at the barred window set into the heavy-metal twin doors. "I mean it. I only blew into the bank to get their attention, honest!"

Violet shook her head, watching with a smile as the policemen proceeded to tell the supposed "super villain" to shut up and get away from the bars.

Mr. and Mrs. Incredible came up from behind, their two fellow supers, smiling with such pride and warmth that Violet could feel her temperature rising, a deep red blush coloring her pale face.

"You two did a great job," Helen congratulated them, stretching her arms out to bring them toward her and enveloping them in a loving hug. Mr. Incredible joined in, his muscled arms wrapped tight around the whole family.

"Sure did," the large man agreed, picking the family up off the ground for a moment in a momentous bear hug before setting them back on the ground again and ruffling Dash's hair. "We're proud of you guys."

"Your first villain beat without our help," Helen said, looking like a mother whose child had just taken their first steps. "I don't believe it."

"Came a lot sooner than we expected, didn't it, Elastigirl?" Bob said. He draped over her thin shoulders in a light and friendly embrace, looking over his kids so intently it seemed he wanted to concentrate the scene into a memory he would be able to remember for a lifetime.

"Our little superheroes are growing up."

Dash seemed to explode with pride and excitement. "Does this mean that we can start having our own missions soon?" he asked, jumping up and down. He began to race around his parents in a childish circle, blue eyes staring up into their faces with the expectancy of a hungry puppy.

"Now let's not be too hasty," Bob said, his face falling a bit at the thought. "We've still got a bit of growing to do."

Dash continued to run, though his expression dropped into an indignant frown. "Oh come on, dad!"

Helen laughed, grinning at the two as a little argument started over exactly what growing was needed and whether or not Dash was as great as Mr. Incredible was already. Her husband answered, "Close but no cigar," an answer Dash didn't seem to be too happy with, which he showed by speeding off and yelling something about the man's waistline that rang a little too insulting for the older super's liking. This ended up with a light-hearted chase, fueled more by the adrenaline rush of a win than by real anger.

Elastigirl watched for a few minutes, smiling, before noticing her daughter watching soundlessly as the policemen continued their attempts at shutting the Epoch up. He wasn't too good a villain, to be truthful, but, even though he didn't know when it was really appropriate, he was actually pretty good at monologuing. She didn't know whether or not he recognized this, but it sure would explain why he just kept going on and on…

"Hey, Incredigirl." Helen's arm found a place around her daughter's shoulders, and she could feel a slight jump of surprise from Violet at the contact.

"Hey," the girl responded, tucking a wandering lock of hair behind one oversized ear.

"You did a good job today."

"Well…he wasn't that great a villain anyway," Violet said modestly, trying to act calm and offhand, like the victory hadn't meant anything special at all.

But Helen knew it really did. Violet had yet to completely become comfortable in that super suit, in a metaphorical sense; the moment she had the Epoch trapped in her field, she could see the pride in her daughter's face that came flowing out from behind the preliminary shock.

Her squeezed Violet's shoulder's lovingly. "Be proud, Incredigirl. I sure am."

Violet was quiet for a long moment, as if contemplating her mother's words. Then, it seemed to click in her brain, and the happiness she felt came so intense that Helen could almost feel it bounding out of her in waves. Their eyes met, and their smiles widened. They hugged.

"Thanks, mom."

Mr. Incredible stood with the policemen beside the black van that now housed the Epoch, the rest of the super family already having left for home.

He was explaining exactly what had happened that night, leading up to the villain's eventual capture.

The Incredibles had been on their rounds; they shared a nightly patrol with several other supers that Metroville happened to house, broken up by hours. They'd passed by the bank at the tail end of their shift and had managed to catch the Epoch as he'd blown through the bank. Elastigirl had stopped him from entering, and the villain had made an attempt to escape, stopped easily by Mr. Incredible. At that moment, the Epoch had reached for his wrist, and that was when what seemed superhuman speed came into play. Lucky for them, Dash was up to the challenge, and met every attempt at escape, stopping the criminal from disappearing from the scene. He'd run a full twenty minutes straight at full speed before Violet had arrived to save the day.

"So, a new villain?" one of the cops asked, gesturing to the van with a slight smile and a raised eyebrow.

"Isn't it obvious?" Mr. Incredible asked with a grin. The group shared a collective laugh, which caused another fit from the villain, who seemed to not only be taken by monologuing but complaining as well.

Banging on the side of the car and not getting much of a change in the stream of protests other than a slight interrupting squeak that was quickly drowned out by another flood, the policemen did little more than sigh, shake their heads and decided that now was the time to go back to the station.

As the vehicles started up, the police force thanked the superhero in unison. Soon enough, they began to disappear down the road, van trailing the rest of the group, with the Epoch yelling from the inside. Mr. Incredible groaned, seeing that he had yet to completely give up, the white gloved hands and wrists hanging out through the bars making fists and other gestures at the superhero as they drove away.

Mr. Incredible was about to leave, when he noticed something lying on the ground where the van had been. It shone white on the black asphalt, glowing a slight yellow from the dim light of a nearby streetlamp.

"What the…?"

He leaned down to look at it.

It was a single white watch with a digital face declaring the time, shining metal buttons gracing the outer rim that glittered in the streetlight. It was one of the Epoch's, he realized suddenly. The band had snapped; probably during one of his little scenes at the van's doors.

He tentatively picked it up, looking over the contraption closely.

"Doesn't look too damaged… could make a good wristwatch," he mumbled to himself. He didn't see anything wrong with it apart from a few scratches, a scuff or two barely visible on the digital screen. Looking around himself as if he were about to do something naughty, he tucked the watch into his side, and made for home.

Helen would probably yell at him if she found out that he'd taken home the watch. Especially since it'd come from a criminal.

But, the way he saw it, it was just a watch, and it would just be a waste leaving it down there. And who knew who else could pick it up and do evil with it? All that Mr. Incredible wanted to do with it was maybe fix up the band and use it for the time; if that didn't work he could stuck it under a glass case and showcase it as a visible memory of that night's landmark. No harm in that, was there?

"Anyway," he muttered to himself, racing off through Metroville's quieting streets, "there's nothing wrong with taking home a little souvenir."