Lily had hardly been able to sleep. Usually a few breathing exercises were enough to calm her mind and put her to rest, but the idea of what she was about to do and the sight of her father in such distress kept her up nearly all night. She'd never thought for a moment that a super's secret identity could be so easily bypassed. Granted, Buddy Pine had become far too confident with the power he no longer possessed, and now their entire family was in jeopardy over it. At one time, all she wanted was to get some degrees and become a famous scientist. Now all she wanted was to live to see her next birthday. Would that be too much to ask? Lily closed her eyes for sleep, only to be awakened by her brother. Perhaps her worry had filtered into his own thoughts.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to. We'll find a way to get Dad back." Dakota whispered. Lily sat up quietly, leaning on his shoulder. Maybe it was his powers, maybe it was sibling bonding, but where she now sat had always been the most comforting place in the world. She sighed, pushing bangs out of her face.

"I already agreed to it, and you heard what he said. No tricks." Her brother frowned, blue eyes wandering around the room looking tiredly for solutions. He'd already lost his father, he didn't want his sister to go too! He felt entirely helpless against the psycho that was Viral. The silence between the siblings went on for several long minutes until Lily spoke again, hardly above a whisper. "Do you think that he deserved it?"

"Who?"

"Dad. Does he deserve this? Is this just some kind of karma coming back to haunt all the bad things he's done?"

"Nobody deserves this, Lil," Dakota sighed, leaning back against the cubicle wall that they'd both crunched into. "I thought about it a lot today. It was a really bad thing, what he did. He killed a lot of people and ruined a lot of families. He almost killed mom, too. But she saw something good. Maybe I'll never really get that. Maybe Dad will never be a good guy. But he's always been there for us even if he didn't want to. He makes Mom happy."

"Like that graduation ceremony." The two of them smirked at the memory. Just as Bob had done many years ago, Buddy had pitched a fit at the idea of a ceremony for moving from the fourth to the fifth grade. Regardless, he'd been there, albeit distracted by other things, but that wasn't the point.

"He's a good dad, even if he's not a good person." Dakota nodded.

"The best one, and the only one we have. And that's why I've gotta do it." Lily said resolutely. Dakota hugged her lightly. A light rustling sound had turned both of their heads towards the entrance to the cubicle. Violet appeared there a moment later, caught even if she hadn't been seen. She hated that her children had to grow up so quickly, had to think about such terrible things. Violet couldn't help but smile, though. She shimmied her way in between the two kids, hugging them tightly.

"And you're the two best kids in the world. I love you two.. so much." She sniffled. It was a moment that would've usually caused Dakota to roll his eyes, but not this time. This was serious, and he gave it the respect it deserved.

"We'll be okay. But you have to promise me something, Mom."

"Yes, Lil?"

"Pizza party when it's all over." The poor mother was halfway between laughing and sobbing. At some point the three of them had finally gone to sleep.

When morning came, nothing but a silent dread hung in the air. There were so many things that Violet wanted to say to her kids that spent the majority of the day practicing passing thoughts, but she couldn't come up with anything. She'd never have enough words to describe how proud she was of them.

Mirage sat back with a cup of coffee, quietly contemplating what was going to happen. It was a strange feeling that she had; this was the first of Syndrome's idiotic moments that she would have almost no part in. For the first time, she was completely irresponsible for the outcome. She and Buddy had worked closely for a very long time, long before any of Bob Parr's encounters with the maniac as he was then. Besides Violet, Mirage considered herself one of the few people that really understood what was going on in that head of his, on both sides of the fence. Perhaps she'd only stuck around because she was the only person that could stand to work in close proximity with Mr. Pine for more than a few minutes at a time. Who knows, if reality hadn't hit when it did, I might've been in her place instead.

But then he would've never learned. You were perfect for him, Violet. I might be the only person he can work with, but you're the only person that can keep his feet on the ground and head out of the clouds.

"It's time to go, Mom." Lily peered at her watch, packing up her laptop and whatever Viral might want from her. Dakota was suited up and ready to go, and violet came up behind them not long after. As they were about to walk out the door, her phone vibrated. Violet picked it up, frowning immediately.

"Channel 4, turn it on." Helen sighed. Violet turned her back to the front door, seeking out a remote. Lily and Dakota turned around as well. All three were met with the sounds of screaming and a frightened reporter. Viral had already beat them to the Regan building and was terrorizing the citizens with his multi-sized spiders for fun while he waited. The police? They could do little else but hang back and hope that the little mechanical terrors didn't swarm them. Lily's eyebrows furrowed as she realized that her father was nowhere to be seen. Dakota whirled around immediately, heading out the door. The little red-head followed right behind. The drive to the building was only a few minutes, and Viral saw them coming well before they arrived.

"Good afternoon, ladies. Gentlemen. It's a pleasure to meet you personally." He smiled as the three exited their vehicle.

"I've got what you want, where's my dad." Lily glared at him hard. He'd seen the girl in photographs, video from surveillance, but the sight of her in person was enough for the older man to smile giddily. If Buddy were two feet shorter (not including the hair) and female, that's what he'd look like. Same flaming hair, same freckles, same unpleasant expression. It was comedy gold. Dakota on the other hand looked strikingly like his mother with shorter hair. Viral assumed that he might have similar powers as well, but there was no way to tell. Violet flanked the two of them, clearly ready for a fight if she had to have one. Viral shook his head, taking several confident steps towards the group.

"Unfortunately he couldn't be here. Syndrome is far too busy contemplating the importance of his life at the moment, and I didn't think it would be right to interrupt." He smiled as the expressions on their faces changed dramatically. "And that aside, you owe me a completed project, not half of one."

"You can't just finish it yourself?" Lily asked.

"You're the genius here, my darling. I'm just the bad guy." The long-haired villain took a look at Dakota, noting the boy's vicious stare. What a good brother she had. Viral tisked lightly, head moving side to side. With a single twitch of his finger the spiders converged upon the group, removing Lily from the picture. There was no fight, and no struggle. The event had ended as quickly as it had started, leaving the boy and his mother in a panicked street with no sign of the daughter they'd arrived with. For the sake of the people, the two cleared the area of spiders. Dakota attempted desperately to hear the girl who'd so suddenly vanished, but there was nothing. Focus, focus!

Where am I...

The voice had come to him so quietly that he'd had to strain to hear it. The spiders had finally been cleared by that time, allowing him a moment to sit down and concentrate. Incredigirl was off with the press, assuring them that all was well and the day would be saved. How much strength it had to have taken to tell such a lie. Dakota sighed, re-doubling his efforts. Where was she? Did she even know? How had Viral disappeared so quickly! Violet was eventually allowed to return to her son, collapsing beside him and waiting as patiently as she could for some kind of response.

"Welcome to your temporary home, dear." Viral smiled as a troop of spiders dragged the little girl into a cell along with her case and laptop. The light was dim, hardly enough for her to see from one side of the caged area to the other. It was only as the older man tisked and moved a few feet over that she realized her father was in the next cell over. "Still alive, are you? Seems like your bark really is worse than your bite after all."

"I've decided that if I'm going to hell, you're coming with me." Buddy hissed, raising an eyebrow as the gun was removed from his hand and returned to its former place. It wasn't until then that the lights snapped on, nearly blinding both he and Lily. Buddy cringed, attempting to let his eyes adjust. He'd seen only a flash of his daughter, who had seen just about as much of him. Viral removed himself from the CEO's cell, calling the spiders away. Buddy was dropped unceremoniously onto the floor, and for a moment he wondered if he could walk at all after being strung up for so long. He made the effort, however, and dragged himself over to the little girl who waited patiently on the other side of the bars. She reached in and gave him the best hug she could manage, which caused Viral to smirk.

"How happy she is to see the person who's single handedly ruined her life. Such a bittersweet symphony."

"Guess you've never cared about anybody before." Lily leaned back, gripping the bars with a savage glare.

"I care for many things, my dear. One of which you now have 48 hours to complete," He pointed a finger at the girl, shaking it.

"I don't need any gadgets to strangle your skinny little neck-" Buddy began, but Viral cut him off.

"I've done you a phenomenal favor, Syndrome. You're beside your child, and not strung up like a doll. Don't make me re-think my generosity."

"Some Santa Clause you've turned out to be." The man huffed, but a small hand grabbing at his shirt silenced any further words he might've had. Viral raised an eyebrow plaintively, waiting for any further complaint. He tapped his foot gently for a moment, sliding over towards Lily's cell. Several spiders who had been hiding in the shadows clattered in with her. The little girl's eyes widened, and she pushed herself as far against the bars as she could as they creeped close enough to tug at her. Almost immediately Buddy's expression had gone from defiant to shocked and sickened. "You wouldn't..."

"Tempt me, dear cohort." Viral's eyes narrowed dangerously and for the first time since Buddy's arrival, he'd slowly and unwillingly backed down. The act caused the villain to nod with approval. "As difficult as it is for you, Syndrome, I implore you to stay on your best behavior. For her sake. Though it surprises me," Viral tilted his head slightly. "Torture of children never bothered you much before. What makes this so different?"

"What's he talking about..." Lily muttered quietly, still pushed against the bars while the little spiders taunted her. "Perhaps I should let you two have a little family time. You've got a lot of catching up to do, as I understand it." The older man gave the two of them a long glance, hoping to get some kind of a reaction that interestingly enough did not come. Buddy sat back silently, eyes spacing out elsewhere. There was no way to explain how different things really were. This was family. The only family he had. This was different.

It was true that the Syndrome Viral knew would have been having a hell of a time with this situation. He would've gone through with it just to see the tortured face of the audience. But this person sitting in the cell.. this wasn't the same Syndrome that existed then, and it nearly drove him out of his mind sitting there, thinking that anybody would be cruel enough to want to see it again. Buddy leaned against the bars heavily as Viral finally made his exit, sighing as the spiders finally moved away from Lily. The girl sat beside her father, peering at the back of his head.

"Now's a better time than never, I guess."

Dakota was beating himself up all the way back to the PSA office. Despite Violet's attempts at consoling the boy, there he sat with a look of anger that couldn't be described. He'd lost her. He'd lost his sister, the person he'd promised to protect. Their father was still missing, and it was only a matter of time before Viral came back for more, he was sure. The situation had been explained to Mirage who could only shake her head.

"There's nothing you could have done, Dakota." Mirage put a hand on the boy's shoulder, but he swiped it away in a rage.

"There's always something I could've done! I could've gone after him, I could've even stopped him! I let him go, and now she's gone and it's all my fault!"

"No, honey, it's not. We'll get her back, I promise."

"I made a promise, mom... and now I've broken a promise." The raven-haired boy paced around the room. All he wanted to do was sit there and cry, to break something, to go after the bastard that took away his family and cause him as much grief as possible. Every emotion in the world had bottled up within him, and there was nowhere for it to go. She was gone. He collapsed into a chair heavily, and almost as quickly jumped out of it. Violet focused upon him completely as a tear came to his eye.

I'm okay, Kota...but I don't know where I am. Dad's here too. The voice was weak, and frightened.

Lily! What does the place look like! Maybe we can find someone who knows, holy cow, you're alive... I'm so sorry! I should've done better, I-

You're here now, that's all that matters. It's dark here, I can only guess that we're underground. Kind of reminds me of a sewer, there's cells down here. Lots of spiders around, it's really scary here. I just want to leave already...

We'll get you out, I promise. I promise!

Thank you, Kota.

"She's okay, mom, she's okay!" He nearly shouted in elation, jumping into Violet's arms. "They're underground somewhere, she said it's like a sewer. Do you know anybody like that?" He asked immediately, eyes shifting between both Violet and Mirage. It was the foreign woman who's eyes narrowed immediately. Suddenly it all made sense. That night Buddy had called her. He'd asked for a very specific person, and that very person was now supplying Viral with the tools to do her co-worker in. Violet turned towards the woman, and immediately her suspicions were confirmed. Simultaneously, they named their captor.

"The Underminer."

Immediately they began on a plan. Not only did they have to find the exact location of their fugitives, but Violet had to sneak her way in and make a delivery to her fairly helpless husband. She knew full and well the kind of destruction he'd be capable of with a bad mood and nasty gadgets. That was of course assuming that his aim was still as good as it used to be. Not that it mattered. Nothing would be left standing if he had his way, especially against someone as lowly as "Miney". Violet was perfectly alright with the idea of letting her ex-villainous lover wreak havoc upon his own kind, at least this time.

Dakota meanwhile had sat back, keeping Lily quiet and calmed with occasional conversations. She worked quickly on her project, taking very little time to talk to the man in the other cell. After the last conversation she'd had with him, it was all she could do to hold herself together. She didn't want to tell Dakota the things she'd found out, what kind of brutal honesty she'd just been given by someone who was sure he was done for. A long silence had finally fallen between the siblings. It wasn't until twenty minutes later that she'd spoken to him again.

Kota.

Yeah?

Remember when you asked if Dad deserved what he was getting?

I thought I went over that already.

I know we did.. Kota... but now I'm not so sure anymore.