"I meant to give you this, Helen…sorry, it's been…weird lately…" She chuckled as she handed her sister a framed picture. "I kept meaning to mail it to you…I just haven't had the time." Helen looked down at the picture with herself, Roxanne, and their parents in a family portrait.
"Wow, this is really old, I remember this."
"Yeah, I've had two copies, so I figured I'd give you one."
"Thanks, Roxie." Helen smiled, pulling her in for a hug then setting the photo on a nearby end table. Roxanne walked over to sit on the couch.
"I saw you've gotten into the reporting business?" Helen said as she passed her with a load of laundry.
"Yep." She nodded.
"I remember you saying you wanted to go into that…do you like it?"
"Yeah, it's really nice. I love all the people I work with. They're all really nice and the hours are flexible."
"That's good. It makes it easier." Helen walked back in and sat on the floor with Jack-Jack and Roxanne slid off the couch to sit eye level with her. Jack-Jack giggled as his mother handed him a cluster of blocks.
"So…Roxanne?" She looked up and Helen smiled with an eyebrow cocked.
"Have the two of you thought about kids?" Roxanne's eyes widened, then looked down self-conciously.
"What? No… I…" She pushed her hair behind her ear, "he's not even human, I doubt it'd even be possible."
"Have you tried?"
"Helen!" Her cheeks flushed a shade of red, "we've not even discussed it-" Helen surrendered her hands, laughing,
"Ok! Ok…it was just a question…" She shook her head, "I'm just saying…having kids can be the most wonderful experience in your life." Roxanne shrugged modestly,
"I don't know, Helen…I'm not so sure if I'm ready…I don't know if he's ready…"
"You'll know if you are." Helen smiled warmly. The sister's eyes snapped up to the muffled shouts down the hallway.
'Dash, give it back!'
'Aww…did Tony Rydinger give you this?'
'Shut up!'
"Dash, stop bothering your sister!" Helen yelled down at them.
"She started it!" The voice yelled back, increasing in volume as he raced into the living room.
"No, you started it when you-"
"Both of you drop it right now or you will sit in your room for the rest of tonight!" Dash's face scrunched up, tossing a small necklace at his sister then folding his arms. She quickly caught it just before it hit the ground.
"Cretin…" The teen mumbled.
"Violet!" Helen scolded back, pointing down the hallway. She followed the direction and walked into her room with Dash not too far behind her and going into his own room. Helen huffed, smirking as she looked over at her sister.
"Couldn't have been better timing, huh?"
"Not a second off." Roxanne smiled.
"But really, Roxanne…there's always going to be hard times, but you can't let that discourage you, there is with everything…and…" She smiled warmly, "…and I've seen the way he looks at you. You guys look like you've been together for ages, it's so natural." She chuckled, shaking her head lightly, "Gosh, that man would sooner jump in front of a falling building to save you rather then himself, I'm sure."
"He has." Helen raised her eyebrows at her.
"Well…ok, it may not have been him…but he saved me from being ran over by a van." She sighed, "and I guess, in a way…we've known each other since highschool. We weren't ever together, back then, but…you know…"
"Wow…well, see…I know these things, Roxanne." She stood up, grinning as she took a precautious step away, "Plus, I think a little blue baby between you two would just be the most adorable thing!"
"Helen!" Roxanne blushed again, pulling off a pillow from the couch then throwing it at her sister. Helen dodged it as she walked over to the kitchen to grab the pot of coffee. Roxanne's giggles slowed to a stop before looking back up.
"So…you aren't bothered that he's…different?"
"Hun, we in this house are the last ones to be calling anyone 'different'." Helen shrugged as she poured the cup of coffee. "Personally, I think he's quite handsome. And smart, too… Gosh, hold on to that one!" Roxanne covered her face with a hand.
"Yeah, don't tell him that or his ego will be sky rocketing like you wouldn't believe."
"Still. He'd be a winner in my book." Helen chuckled as she came back to sit down, but stopped when the kids walked out.
"Uh, mom-" Violet started.
"I thought I told you kids to-" The doorbell went off, and everyone looked up.
"Ah, they must be back. That was quick."
"If this is Bob's house, then why did he ri-" Roxanne began.
"Come on in, boys." Helen called out to them, but the door whipped open, and everyone froze. Literally.
"Honey, I'm home!" The redheaded intruder's voice chuckled evilly as he aimed his zero-point laser at the two groups; the first being Helen, Dash, and Violet, the second being Roxanne and Jack-Jack.
"Oh, wow! I caught you at the greatest time, didn't I? The husband's gone, you're all ready to go to bed…when all of a sudden, Syndrome shows up! And oh-" He pulled in Roxanne and Jack-Jack. "Who is this, now? A friend of the family?" He caught a quick glance of the framed picture with the two young brunettes and their parents and walked over to pick it up.
"Is this…? Oh, I can't believe it! Elastigirl has a sister? I did not see this one coming." Syndrome shook his head in disbelief, tossing the picture to the ground and cracking the glass.
"Well, cool! The more, the merrier." He shot a hole through the ceiling once again to reveal a black plane hovering a good distance above the house. The jets beneath his feet pushed off, and he headed up towards it. Two large sliding doors on the side of the plane slid open, and he angled the frozen supers and Roxanne in as he landed as well. The doors shut behind him, and men with large, metallic bulky gloves and suits began to encircle them. Syndrome began to point them out by nodding his head.
"This one and this one-" He pointed to Helen and Dash, "Can go in the magnetic confinements." He released the group with Helen and groups of people swarmed on them. "These-" he gestured toward Violet with his free hand and Jack-Jack, "I want in the steel, reinforced cages." He angled Roxanne and Jack-Jack towards a small cage and just as he released them, the people put Jack-Jack in his cage. He looked over to Roxanne as she laid on the floor then rolled his eyes.
"Her we can just tie to a chair. I don't think she's a super and I'm not going to waste money on getting her in a concealment." Roxanne cocked an eyebrow irritably as two or three men grabbed her, and another brought out a chair to tie her to.
After everyone was put in the right place and it was set up, they felt the plane move forward, and Syndrome walked up to face them with Helen and Dash in front of him, Violet and Jack-Jack to the left, and Roxanne to the right. As they dispersed from around her, she huffed, rolling her eyes. 'Really?'
"So! We're all together again! Oh, well, other than your husband, of course. I'm sure he'll join you soon, too." He glanced over at Roxann with a smirk, "So…? Who is this little fox? Aren't you going to introduce me?" He moved closer to Roxanne's face, and she pulled back in disguist. With her arms behind the chair, she angled herself just right to haul off and headbutt him straight in the forehead. Syndrome recoiled back, but whipped around when he heard the snickers from the supers behind him.
"She's a trained kidnappee, just so you know…" Helen managed to say through a laugh.
"Is that so?" He said as he stumbled back dazedly. Roxanne shrugged.
"That trick usually works better when the guy's head is twice the size…" As soon as Syndrome's vision refocused, with a hand still on his forehead, he pointed at her.
"Hey…hey, you do look familiar…You're that reporter in…oh…where is it…" He snapped his fingers at a man sitting at a desk of controls.
"It's like Metroville…Metro City! Yeah, there was a super over there, too."
"Metro Man…" Roxanne rolled her eyes.
"That's right…wasn't there another one over there, too? That fought him…I heard he finally won." Roxanne's eyes flashed over to the rest as if to say, 'I'll explain, later.'
"Yeah, I'd like to get a few tips from him. Though I admire his work, he has nowhere near the resources I do. Megamind I think, wasn't it?" Roxanne glanced over to the family again, then cautiously nodded. Syndrome snapped his fingers again, narrowing his eyes playfully, "But you…what was your name…" He looked over to the man again.
"Look up 'reporters in Metro City.' There has to be something there." The man glanced down at the screen in front of him, pressed a few buttons, and some results popped up. He matched some different images to names before coming up to Roxanne's.
"Roxanne Richi, sir."
"Yeah, I remembered it was something with an R…" He walked behind Roxanne's chair with his hands held behind his back.
"So, Roxanne…a trained kidnappee, huh? That Megamind must've kidnapped you before…you did say headbutting works better when his head is twice the size, am I right?" Roxanne nodded irritably.
"Well, good. I won't get the obnoxious screams and flailing that comes with normal kidnapped pedestrians."
"I guess not." Roxanne spat back, and then Syndrome clapped his hands together in return.
"Well, I gotta' go talk with the pilot about our destination point. I'll be right back. Tom, you watch them while I'm gone. If they try anything funny, you know what to do."
"Right, boss." The man gave him a thumbs up before Syndrome vanished through another set of sliding doors on the front of the plane.
I am slowly but surely making my way through these…xD
I would've liked to add a little more between Helen and Roxanne…but I couldn't think of anything else. lol
