10
"You were a talented child. You came to live in our town. We never bothered to scream when your mask went on."
- Time Will Crawl by David Bowie
"I shouldn't really be speaking to anyone. My lawyer advised against it."
Camilla kept her cool, collected voice, even with two threatening men leering at her. They were poised threateningly, but in contrast she was very much relaxed. She kept her fingertips touching, and looked them dead in the eyes.
Her statement did not sit well with Robert Parr. "My daughter is in danger. I know you know something about what's going on."
"I've answered all the questions the authorities have asked me." She picked up her cup of coffee from the edge of her desk and took a sip. Her relaxation only served to irritate her interrogators.
"Who are you protecting?" asked Bob. "Mick Boswell? No, that doesn't sit right well me. I've asked around, and he had a poor reputation around here. No, you're hiding a much bigger secret, aren't you Miss del Sol?"
"I've heard the corporate conspiracy drivel many times, Mr. Parr," she refuted. With her cat-like gaze always staring them down, she did her very best not to reveal any sign of weakness. "I dislike Mick Boswell as much as the next person. If I knew anything about what he'd done with Miss Violet, I would have said so. I'm just as concerned for the safety of our CEO. There are real criminals out there, Mr. Parr. You're better off looking for Boswell than wasting your time trying to get information out of me."
Lucius narrowed his eyes. "How do we know you're not involved somehow? What if you're working with Boswell. Since Violet's gone, you're the acting CEO. What if this has something to do with a power grab?"
"Corporate conspiracy drivel," Camilla repeated, but harsher this time. "Power grabs are done in far more subtle manner. How do you know that Mick Boswell isn't in just as much danger as your daughter is?"
"About that..." Bob reached into his coat pocket, and produced the bloodied piece of paper they'd found in Mick Boswell's apartment. He set it down on the desk in front of Camilla. She leaned in and stared at it coldly, with scrutiny.
"What is this?" she asked.
He knew that they'd have to admit to breaking in to a crime scene, but nothing was going to stop him from gathering information about Violet's potential whereabouts. "We found this at Boswell's place."
For a moment, he thought he saw a flash of fear on Camilla's face. This one act of emotional betrayal gave Bob a chance to react and grab the upper hand. "So you do know something," he growled. He slammed his hands down on the desk, though he was careful not to smash it. "Tell me what you know."
"You shouldn't have been in his apartment. I might have to call the authorities," Camilla stated flatly. She had almost immediately regained her cold composure.
Anger and frustration arose in Bob. He lunged forward and grabbed Camilla by the throat. He could hear Lucius protesting, but he ignored it. "You tell me. You tell me right now. My daughter could be hurt, or dying right now. She could be being tortured by some psychopath."
Camilla choked, and she put her hands out. "Stop. I'll tell you..."
He let her drop to the ground.
"Damn, now we're going to be felons. You just attacked the acting CEO of a huge corporation, Bob!" Lucius yelled.
"It's alright, I understand. I've tried to hide this for a while. I was scared. But you... you're incredible," she let the word slide out with hinting. She knew who he was. If she was going to change sides, she wanted to be the side of the most powerful. It was between two goodhearted supers and her psycho ex-boyfriend... she chose the former. "In exchange for what I have to say, however, you must promise me complete protection."
"Anything, just tell me what you know!" demanded Bob.
She sighed, rubbing her throat. "It's Buddy Pine."
"What?" Bob knew this couldn't be right. Everyone knew that Buddy Pine was dead.
"The bastard faked his death. He's got some huge plan up his sleeve. He wants to bring back the golden age of superheroes, but he's killing off all the old ones first. Your friends... maybe even your family members... if they died mysteriously, it was because of him, I can almost guarantee that." She almost hesitated while she was speaking. She was still slightly unsure about betraying him, but it was too late to turn back now. "He has Violet, and I'm sure he has Boswell also. He's trying to cover his tracks by tying Boswell to the kidnapping. They go missing at the same time... you understand."
Camilla cringed as Bob turned around with rage and knocked many priceless pieces of art in the office to the ground. "He's going to pay for this. Tell me where he is."
"I'm not sure," she said, and this was the truth. He had been very vague with his location. "However, before you press me for more information - which I assure you, I don't know - I will tell you that it's all on his computer."
She gestured towards the blank holographic screen that was projected in the middle of the room. All it read was, 'type password'. "I don't know the code," she mentioned. "Good luck getting in. I have a board meeting to go to. I trust that our deal will be kept, and that you will not let any harm befall me."
"You have my word," Bob said through his teeth.
Camilla gave him a curt nod and left the room with a dignified walk.
"I don't know anything about hacking into computers," Lucius grunted. "What are we going to do?"
"Look around. Look through the filing cabinets. Find some word or words that stand out!" commanded Bob Parr. He began to practically tear the office apart, looking for some hint as to what the password could be.
"Sure we can't just use the 'forgot password' tool and see if we can guess the answer to his secret question?" joked Lucius. He walked over to one of the cabinets and began scanning through the papers. "This is all business shit. Nothing important."
Bob shook his head. "Keep looking. We've got to keep looking."
"I gotcha. Time is of the essence." Lucius continued to speed-read through the files. "Wait a moment, I think I've got something. Lots of these are old checks made out to 'Project Kronos'. Think that's got anything to do with it?"
"I'll take anything. Let's type it in." Bob rushed to the computer. His fingers flew across the keys as he typed in 'Project Kronos'. Disappointment hit him like a wave when it showed up as incorrect.
Lucius stepped in front of him. "Wait a minute, before you get all discouraged, let's just type in the second word."
Kronos.
The computer sprung to life displaying charts, and blueprints, and all of Buddy Pine's dirty little secrets. "Bingo!" yelled Bob Parr with triumph. "We've got the son of a bitch now."
He clicked through until he found the location of the place where Buddy Pine would most likely be hiding out. It was on the edge of town, an old company warehouse. It had been renovated into a supervillain's dream lair. It had a spanning, enormous underground bunker beneath it.
Bob Parr was astonished. "How could he do all this without being noticed?"
"Rich people get away with a lot. He probably just paid people off to keep quiet," Lucius suggested.
"Print it out, we'll need these blueprints," Bob said. He waited by the printer, and grabbed the map. "Let's go."
"We've still got it," laughed Lucius.
Bob nodded and echoed, "We've still got it!"
-x-
Syndrome sat in his desk chair, sleeping soundly as the glow from his surveillance monitors washed over him. His head was buried in his arm. He sniffed every once in a while, and snored lightly.
An alarm sounded, waking him up. He opened his eyes drowsily and swallowed. He looked up at the monitors. It took him a moment to spot anything, but that's when he saw him.
The strangest mixture of dread and excitement washed over him. "He's going to kill me. Oh my god, wait until he sees me. Wait... no... I have to maintain... no, how did he get here?" Syndrome was flipping between delight and panic. "How much does he know? Play it cool, buddy-boy."
He rushed down the stairs towards Violet. "Violet, baby!" he exclaimed.
"Yes?" she said.
"Big daddy's here. You be on your best behavior. Nothing is out of place, not a thing. This is a one hundred percent innocent operation, got it, hot stuff?" he exclaimed. He was flailing his arms and trying to cover the more conspicuous pieces of machinery. He even threw a tarp over Mick Boswell, who was crying himself to sleep.
Syndrome kicked him in the side. "Shut up, Mickey," he snapped. "I can't have you sobbing and ruining everything." He grabbed a needle full of tranquilizer from a nearby medical tray. He bent down and stabbed the company vice president with it, driving it in with sadistic delight until Mick Boswell collapsed unconscious.
Violet just watched through vacant eyes.
"I really hope you don't act like this when your father gets here," he sighed, shaking his head. "I can't believe I broke you. Try to be normal, alright?"
"Anything for you!" she exclaimed.
He rolled his eyes. "Right... Why don't you just only agree with everything I say?"
Violet smiled. "Okay."
"Good girl."
Syndrome turned, his cape swishing behind him. He was practically skipping down the hall, but all the while he was trying to remain calm enough to function in case of an emergency. He was the one with the science. He could triumph in any fight, over any super. He repeated this mantra to himself.
Double doors slid open in front of him, and he passed through them before freezing in place. Two figures were approaching.
When he saw his idol, his hero, walk down the corridor; his eyes lit up with the joy of a kid on Christmas.
"Mr. Incredible!" he yelled, practically running towards him.
"Buddy." Mr. Incredible's voice was flat, disapproving, and harsh. It was taking all his willpower to keep from reaching out and snapping Syndrome in half. First of all, he had to confirm what Mirage had said.
"Yes, it's me! Look at all of this? I'm a superhero, just like I told you!" Syndrome stretched out his arms, waving them at all of his technological inventions and the whole of his hideout.
Mr. Incredible looked at Frozone, anxiety in his eyes. His gaze switched back to Syndrome. "You haven't changed a bit."
"I know!" he exclaimed. "Mr. I., what are you doing here of all places?"
"Where's Violet?" growled the superhero.
"Oh... Violet... Huh, I was kind of hoping you had come here for me, but of course you came here for Violet." He clenched his fists and turned away, the expression on his face concealed, but judging by how his body had tensed it was probably one of frustration.
"Listen, Buddy," said Mr. Incredible. "I'm not going to play games with you. You show me Violet, alive and unharmed, and I'll consider listening to any side of the story you might have to this."
Syndrome smiled. "I wouldn't ever do a thing to hurt her. We're dating."
Crack!
He buckled over when Mr. Incredible's fist made contact with his jaw. He could tell that the punch had restraint. Mr. Incredible could have killed him in one blow if he wanted to. This was just a warning. Pained tears were welling up in Syndrome's eyes, and he winced and struggled to get to his feet.
Punching me in the face must run in their family, he thought.
"Take me to Violet," the superhero commanded.
Syndrome slurred, still reeling from the blow, "Right away."
Running over his plan and his next moves in his mind, he thought, I'm going to ace this test with flying colors. I'll just make up an amazingly convincing lie. I'm so very good at that.
He led them both down his halls, until he reached the center point. Violet was standing there. She still looked out of sorts, and slightly out of her mind. Mr. Incredible rushed towards his daughter and grabbed her, picking him up in his strong arms.
"Violet, you're alright!" he cried out in relief.
"Thank god," Frozone breathed.
Syndrome tilted his head and smiled. "Happy family reunion." He noticed Mick Boswell's foot sticking out from under the tarp and he casually wandered over to kick cover it up. "I wouldn't hurt anyone. That's not my style. All I am is the former CEO of Syncorporated, but I've taken my life in a new direction."
"You faked your death... so that you could play superhero?" Frozone asked, shaking his head. "You're messed up."
"This doesn't explain what happened to Mick Boswell. Where is he?" demanded Mr. Incredible. "He left us a note, and it's a note that points to your involvement in all this. But that's the least of the questions I'm going to ask you. Your acting CEO provided us with a lot of information, and your computer records." He hadn't exactly looked in the computer records to confirm what Mirage had said, but he hadn't had the time.
Syndrome tensed up, "Mirage said what?" he choked.
"Who's Mirage?" Mr. Incredible asked suspiciously.
"Oh no... I mean... Camilla," he sighed. Putting one hand on his head, he paused for a moment, thinking. "I never thought she'd pull a stunt like this, just to take over the company. I told her that I'd be gone for a while and to run the company in my absence. Violet wanted to come along with me, so I let her."
Mr. Incredible seemed intrigued, but not terribly convinced yet.
"So I left her in charge of the company. She must have offed Mick Boswell and tried to pin it on me. Worse yet, now she's trying to get me in trouble so that I can't ever come back to work at my company. She doesn't want anyone pulling the strings, she wants to run the show. Don't you see?" Syndrome explained.
Frozone sniffed. "Right, more of this corporate conspiracy stuff now. She told us this was all bullshit."
"Right, because that is exactly what she would say," Syndrome pointed out, stressing his words.
"It's all true."
The three of them turned to see Violet standing there. Syndrome seemed slightly surprised for a moment, before he remembered the orders that he had given her. He nodded in agreement. "Violet knows. She knows everything, give or take."
Violet nodded. "What he's saying is true. Anything you've heard, it's just Camilla del Sol's plan to take over the company. She's got to bring down anyone else could potentially get in her way before she can do so. It's the darker side of the politics pertaining to multibillion dollar companies."
Wow, she's being articulate for someone I might have lobotomized by accident, Syndrome thought. He knew that Mr. Incredible would listen to his daughter. Once he knew that everything checked out here, and the very moment he let down his guard... Syndrome had a deadly surprise awaiting him, and his friend, too. Ugh, but I've got to kill Mirage now, too. She should have kept her mouth shut.
"So you were telling the truth," said Mr. Incredible, still eyeing Syndrome as though he thought he was still going to jump him at any second.
"Of course I was. Camilla is like... ninety percent evil, ten percent hottie," Syndrome exclaimed. "Sometimes vice versa..."
"This is who your daughter decided to date?" Frozone said with disapproval.
Mr. Incredible shrugged. "She's an adult. She can date whomever she wants." He looked Syndrome straight in the eyes. "Even a lunatic businessman who thinks he's a superhero. Don't think you're going to get off scott free with this craziness. You know that superheroes are banned. I'm going have to tell the NSA about you."
You won't make it out of here to tell the NSA about a damn thing, Syndrome thought. But he just smiled. "I perfectly understand, in fact I was going to check it out with them, myself. Hey, I know supers are banned, but that's got to end somewhere." It's going to end when I show them how much they need heroes; especially me.
"We'll be back then, later, with the proper authorities," Mr. Incredible said. "In the meantime, I expect you'll take good care of Violet."
"You have my word, Mr. Incredible," Syndrome said, grinning.
As they walked away, Syndrome could hear Frozone mutter: "I don't trust him."
"Rightfully so," the supervillain chuckled to himself.
With the push of a remote button, he could send out dozens upon dozens of killer robots to attack Mr. Incredible. With all that out of the way, his revenge plot, and one very important detail of his master plan would completed.
He could barely contain his manic glee. He flipped open a panel on one of his utility gauntlets. His fingers tapped the buttons on the keypad. "Goodbye, Mr. I," he chortled to himself.
We could have been great together.
-x-
"There must be something else going on here. Camilla del Sol said that Buddy killed off the superheroes. However, Violet claims that he has nothing to do with anything... Camilla del Sol has nothing to gain from killing them, but Buddy Pine - he clearly does," Bob Parr said, halfway thinking aloud and halfway talking to Lucius.
Lucius frowned. "You think maybe Violet just doesn't know about that?"
"That could be. I don't trust him for a second. Pine's a crazy son of a bitch. I think he should be in an institute," snarled Bob.
With a nod of agreement, Lucius spoke, "If we can figure out if he did it or not, we can see that it happens - he'll be in an institute for criminally insane in no time."
"If it turns out he did it, it might take an army to restrain me from killing him."
He paused. Bob Parr thought for just a moment that he heard something. It was almost a shuffling or scuttling noise. He looked around. "Did you hear that?" he asked.
"Hear what?" asked Lucius, looking around. "I don't have that super-duper-hearing-sense that you have."
Worriedly, Bob assumed a fighting stance. "Something's coming this way, be ready to fight."
Lucius opened the palm of his head and blew a wave of snowflakes into the corridor. "I'm always ready."
The automatic doors slammed in the hall, trapping them inside a small section of it. Out of the ceiling popped many little round bots, all beginning to fire their lasers. It was all the two ex-superheroes could do to prevent from being shot. In such close quarters there was nowhere to hide, and nowhere to run.
Bob reached forward and smashed several of the robots. He was almost certain he was gaining the upper hand when he heard a voice come from an overheard speaker.
"Go ahead. Break them. I've got hundreds. Even if I can't kill you with these, I have a thousand other ways for you to die, Mr. Incredible. Am I good enough for you now? I'm so much stronger than I was before, and I have you to thank for that in a way."
"Goddammit, he's monologuing!" gasped Lucius in exasperation as he use his ice powers to freeze the bots in place so that Bob could smash them.
"I mean, if it wasn't for you, where would I have got all my ambition? Now I'm going to lead in another golden age of superheroes. That means out with the old and in with the new. I had many, many supers to get out of the way. Now I can just brainwash all the young, impressionable ones who are just discovering their powers. I'll be a godsend to them, and they'll worship me. Everyone will worship me. I'm super without superpowers, Mr. Incredible, and I believe that is more of an accomplishment than having them."
"What is he on about?" Bob said, initially. Though, when Buddy mentioned the fact that he had been the one to murder so many of the older superheroes, rage began coursing through him. "No!"
He began smashing the robots even faster than he had before. Lucius was feeling the same rage. These were the people they had worked with side by side, and their friends. Now most of them were dead, but there were still more they knew who could be next if Buddy Pine wasn't stopped immediately.
"I am Syndrome; and I'm your worst nightmare."
The only thing that Bob could think, just for a moment was, I did this. This is my fault. They would all be alive if it wasn't for me. He created this monster, and now he was going to have to set things right.
With all his strength, he rushed to one of the doors and broke through it. He heard a bewildered, "Huh!" come through the intercom. It was followed shortly by, "Oh shit..."
Another wave of robots was coming, but Bob knew he needed to head back into the main room. He could then find wherever Buddy Pine was hiding out, and make sure that he was never able to harm another person. It was going to take one of two things... finding him and taking him into custody, or if worse came to worse, killing him.
He had to admit he almost felt a rush from all of this, no matter how much it pained him.
He almost felt like Mr. Incredible again.
-x-
"Ahh!"
Syndrome came running into the main room with his hands in the air, trying to salvage what he could of what he had. "Come on, we're getting out of here. I've got to get to my private island. This isn't going to work for the time being!" he shouted.
An army of small robots was helping him move things onto his jets that he had lined up in a row. After making sure that everything was in check, he rushed to go find Violet.
He overestimated how much his gloating was going to make Mr. Incredible angry. Those doors... even with his super strength he shouldn't have been able to open them! I reinforced them with everything I could think of!
Violet was sitting down by some of the medical science equipment Syndrome had set out. One of the robots grabbed her chair from beneath her, letting her fall to the floor. He reached down and grabbed her by the hand.
"Hey, we're getting out of here. I miscalculated some things or something," he muttered. "Come on, to the plane."
He let go of her hand and kept walking. He heard a sudden loud thud, and noticed that as the robots were rushing to clear things out, they had accidentally knocked over a pile of crates... directly on to Violet.
Slightly horrified, Syndrome ran towards her. She was laying there, with no visible cuts or bruises, but unconscious. He picked her up. "Nothing is going right today," he grumbled. "Please don't be dead or anything."
He put one of his gloved hands on her forehead. He then touched her cheek. "Wake up, sleeping beauty," he sighed. He pushed back some of her hair and noticed that she actually did have a very nasty bruise on her head. "At least nothing's broken... as far as I can tell... I'm a scientist, not a doctor."
Syndrome let out a long sigh as he carried her to the plane. He was almost surprised about how concerned he was for her safety. He didn't think he cared that much. He climbed into his jet and set her down gently. "You really need to wake up soon. You don't need more brain damage."
He climbed into the pilot's seat. He could see Mr. Incredible and Frozone approaching quickly. He turned on the engine, and it started up somewhat quietly, but powerfully. He grabbed the radio transmitter and tuned it to his intercom.
"Maybe I didn't get you this time, but I'll get you next time, Mr. Incredible... next time!" he exclaimed with a cackle. I have always wanted to say that.
The ceiling opened up, and his jet hovered like an alien spacecraft momentarily before he took off into the sky at mach three.
Mr. Incredible and Frozone arrived just in time to hear his message, and watch him take off.
"He's got Violet!" Mr. Incredible shouted, looking up at the sky with frustration and parental fear. "That's it, we can't do this on our own. We've got to go to the NSA, they're the only ones who can help us."
Frozone nodded. "Agreed. We're lucky to be alive right now. Come on, it's time to pay them a visit."
But a sudden announcement rang out in a robotic voice. "Warehouse will auto-destruct in thirty seconds."
Mr. Incredible turned to Frozone in panic. "Run!"
A/N: I apologize for being the worst updater in fanfiction history. It should not take months for me to write these chapters considering the fact that I usually write them in about two days give or take. College is really getting in the way, but again I apologize.