Minutes passed and Violet´s ears finally got used to the constant beeping of the alarm and the mechanical voice that kept repeating –Alert…security breach…alert-
Finally Merida appeared, wearing the black and blue outfit made especially for her, the quiver hanging from her right hip and clutching her bow in her left hand.
Violet was already fully dressed, only her mask wasn´t still in place, neither was Merida´s.
Edna couldn´t help but smile, while she was designing the outfit she had specifically tried to make it look like a perfect mix between the old highland clothing and the modern fashion, false modesty aside she had succeeded wonderfully.
Violet put on her mask and looked at Merida -Let´s go-
The redhead doubted for a second before imitating Violet and walking towards the exit.
They reached the white room where the mini-gun was and heard footsteps, apparently the intruders had come this far.
Violet went invisible while Merida took cover behind a corner; three men wearing black tactical outfits and ski masks with some heavy firepower came into the room. The mini-gun opened fire –BANGBANGBANG! - The three men went down and no one came behind them.
Suddenly the mini-gun seemed to die, the looked behind them, Edna was pressing a switch in the wall. –Go dahlings but be careful!-
Violet became visible again and both nodded before heading outside, Merida heard Edna´s voice yelling behind them –The other button does some interesting things!-
Merida didn´t knew what she meant but really didn´t had time to care, Violet and she had reached the main hall, Violet went invisible once again, the room was crowded with attackers. They seemed to be looking for something.
-This is team alpha- one of them spoke into a radio –team Charlie hasn´t returned and we´re getting no radio response, shall we proceed?-
Neither of them could hear the answer of whom they assumed to be the leader of the intruders but they wouldn´t wait around to find out.
Merida pushed the first button in her bow three times until and arrow attached itself to a smoke pellet. She prepared her shot and fired into the middle of the room. The grey mist filled the room faster than she had expected, she jumped into the middle of the confusion.
-What the…?!- She heard one of the men yell.
-Smoke! - Said another while many of them began coughing.
Violet followed her and both began delivering punches and kicks like there was no tomorrow, some men tried to fire their weapons but Merida was too fast and Violet´s force fields proved impervious to gunfire.
There had been at least ten or twelve enemies and less than a minute later, when the smoke dissipated few remained conscious, the others were grasping some limb in obvious pain. That had been Merida´s job.
-That was easy- Violet commented returning to her visible self, but Merida wasn´t so convinced.
-Is et over? We won? - She talked like she couldn´t believe her own words. She smirked but the smile was wiped clean off her face by a massive explosion. The main door became a shower of splinters that Violet was quick to block. As the dust was settling they saw a figure coming in, it was dressed completely in black but his boots and gloves were white.
-No way…- Violet whispered, it couldn´t be.
When the smoke completely dissipated Violet almost sighed in relief, it wasn´t Syndrome. But clearly she had relaxed too fast. This man was far older than him, thinner and bald too; the enormous white "S" had been replaced by an "X". He was far, far more dangerous than their old nemesis.
-Xerek…- She whispered.
The man approached them, floating a few inches above the ground; clearly he was using some of Syndrome´s old inventions.
-Who is he? - Merida asked clearly confused by Violet´s expression of terror.
The brunette teenager gulped –That man is feared by supers and normal people alike, barely a year ago he designed a plan that ruined my family´s reputation. The people hate us because of him-
Merida didn´t need further explanations, she prepared the diamond-cutter arrow from her quiver, if this guy was as bad as Violet said he wouldn´t be getting second chances.
-Ah, Invisigirl- The man said, finally landing a few feet in front of them –So you are the ones that defeated my men, I must say I´m not impressed, oh and you have a new partner I see-
The man spoke slowly, methodically inspecting Merida.
-What´s your name young lady?-
-Whit is et tae ye? - Merida answered defiantly.
The man didn´t even blink –I usually like to know the name of those I'm going to kill-
Merida looked straight into his eyes before answering –Ae´m the Skylark and that´s the name of the one who´ll put ye behind bars-
Without warning Merida fired her arrow, Xerek moved out of the way by casually tilting his head to the left and pointed his index finger at Merida, firing a blue beam of light that froze her in place.
Violet reacted, becoming invisible and moving out of the way of a similar beam aimed at her.
-I must admit that poor fool Buddy had some very clever designs- He said as he approached Merida.
The energy field around the redhead was becoming smaller every second, in less than a minute she would be squished to death.
-Hiding won´t do you any good girl, now come out unless you want to see how your friend's insides look like-
Merida was struggling with the energy surrounding her but it was useless.
-Who says I´m hiding?- Violet´s voice came from behind the man, at the same time a force field appeared between him and Merida, the energy flux bounced off the purplish wall into Xerek who became trapped in his own weapons beam. The redhead fell to the ground obviously hurt.
-Ae…am really…starting tae...hate force fields-
When she finally managed to get back up she looked at the frozen Xerek closely.
-This fannybawbag was giving ye sae much trouble?-
Violet shrugged –Let´s just say this wasn´t one of his most brilliant plans-
The girls laughed, the police would be here any minute.
But Merida stopped laughing, she was sniffing the air –Whit is that smell?-
Violet could smell it too –GAS! - She yelled, they looked around, the oven in the kitchen had been damaged during the raid, any second there would be a spark and then…
-Run!- Merida said talking the lead, just as the teenagers reached the door a spark ignited the gas inside the house causing a massive explosion that leveled the entire house. Violet and Merida were thrown forward by the force of the blast.
They fell into the grass, rolling and getting hit by debris as they rolled. When they finally managed to get back up, their faces were black with cinder and ash and several cuts ran across their faces and knees and elbows. There was no sign of Xerek and Violet could be plenty sure there would never be again.
But Edna, had she managed to get out? They scanned the burning ruins that had once been a magnificent house until they spotted something tiny moving in the rubble.
Edna's head popped out from under the burnt wood and cracked concrete.
-That…was…INCREDIBLE!- She exclaimed.
