Disclaimer: I do not own The Incredibles, Syndrome, Buddy Pine, Mirage, Nomanisan Island, Municiberg, Metroville, the NSA, or any of the Supers and I sadly and unfortunately do not make any money from these writings.

K R O N O S K R O N O S K R O N O S K R O N O S K R O N O S K R O N O S

Chapter Eleven: Search Is Over

"What do you want?" Lex demanded stepping in front of Syndrome protectively and he instinctively wrapped his fingers around her wrist to hold her back just in case she decided to attack her.

"I need to talk to Syndrome, alone." She replied glaring back at her eyeing his hand around Lex's wrist angrily.

"Whatever you have to say to me you can say it in front of all of us." He said firmly stepping forward still not releasing Lex.

"I don't feel the need to be part of us today…" Avian said looking around nervously. "Flee!" He yelled before quickly running off down the corridor and disappearing around the corner. Lex and Syndrome didn't even take their eyes off of Mirage as Avian made his quick exit being so used to his odd behavior.

"Can I please just talk to you in private?" Mirage asked looking rather annoyed.

"You really think I'd go anywhere alone with you after what you did? How stupid do you think I am? I can't trust you, no one here trusts you anymore." He said cruelly. She stared back at him in shock unable to find anything to say. Lex balled and un-balled her gloved hands into fists at her sides attempting to stay calm making Syndrome tighten his fingers around her wrist. "I know what you've been up to, sabotage and sleazing around to cover up your tracks, you…"

"I would never do anythi…" She attempted to deny his accusations but Lex had trapped her in zero point energy cutting her off.

"Shut up you filthy little liar! We know it was you. I recoded all the deleted video files and restored them so don't even try to deny it." Lex explained angrily holding her in place. Syndrome finally released her wrist and began pacing around Mirage's frozen form as her eyes followed him.

"If it wasn't for Lex I never would have known. That's why she's here. I can trust her with everything including my own life. Did you ever notice that everyone who helped you is no longer here?" He continued to pace around her with a devious look on his face. "They're dead, just like you should be. The only reason you're still alive is because you're still useful. If you cooperate with no further attempts to slow my plans then I will try to keep Lex from killing you once my plan is carried out." He promised and Lex looked to him and he nodded and she released Mirage who fell to the floor on her hands and knees and quickly got to her feet. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes…" She looked away from him and down to the floor.

"And just in case you're too stupid to realize this, we're over, we were never even together come to think of it." He put his index finger to his cheek looking up thoughtfully as his expression went from boyishly observant to deviously evil. "I was merely using you to convince myself that I was still angry with Lex. But it never worked… not even in the slightest…" He laughed maniacally and turned to her. "Did I miss anything? Anything else you wanted to talk about?" He asked leaning towards her with his hands clasped behind his back.

Lex watched completely astonished at how dark he was being towards her. She did hate Mirage and wanted her dead more than anyone there, but she was never one to humiliate someone no matter how much they deserved it. Never had she seen him act so incredibly evil perhaps only one other time, but it was very brief, the night of their senior prom.

It was only a week away from senior prom. Lex was seventeen and Buddy was sixteen. They would always get together after school and finish their homework sometimes making it a contest on who could get theirs done the fastest since they had all the same classes together courtesy of Buddy. Once they had their homework done they'd usually work on his current invention or come up with ideas for his revenge.

Lex and him weren't ones to do normal high school things such as sports, dances, and school clubs, but Lex was determined to go to senior prom so she could at least say she did something in high school besides scheme and work on inventions. She dropped Buddy a million hints that she wanted to go mentioning it whenever she could. It was two days before the prom and one of the more popular boys, Jareth, asked her to the prom. She actually said yes finally giving up on the idea that Buddy was going to ask her since the day before he barely acknowledged her when she modeled her dress for him.

Buddy merely shrugged when she had told him who was taking her and continued to work on his designs for a new invention. She had made plans to meet up with Jareth and his friends before prom for dinner. It was the night of the prom and just as she was getting ready to leave Jareth had surprised her and picked her up at her parents' house. Luckily for her, her parents were both at work making her able to avoid the embarrassing questions from them.

He opened the door to his truck to reveal a brunette wearing a green glittery dress sitting there laughing hysterically. It was Sarah his supposed ex-girlfriend. It was all a set up. Lex was so upset she ran inside crying.

"Haha you really think anyone would want to take your nerdy ass to prom? Not even your weirdo best friend Pine will take you!" Jareth laughed before driving off. Lex grabbed her scooter and rode it to Buddy's house still in her dress with her hair up and makeup running with her tears. By the time she got to his house she was no longer sad but angry and had convinced herself that she didn't need to go to a stupid prom anyways.

When Buddy answered the door he was didn't seem at all surprised to see her in the state she was in. "He set you up didn't he?" He asked and all she could do was nod angrily. "I had a feeling he would."

"Then why didn't you warn me?" She yelled following him upstairs to his room while taking her annoying heels off.

"Because I was hoping I was wrong so you could go to prom and enjoy yourself! You've been going on about it for the past month, but I was wrong. I'm sorry…" He explained as they stopped outside his bedroom door. "Um… you can't come in."

"What? Why not?" She demanded.

"I'll show you in a minute. But first go wash off that hideous makeup." He said making a face at her Lex glared at him for a moment before disappearing into the bathroom. She mumbled angrily to herself as she washed off her makeup. It had only run a little bit but it didn't look that bad. At least she didn't think so.

"Stupid Buddy doesn't know what he's talking about. The one time I wear makeup he says I look hideous." She huffed at herself in the mirror as she dried her face. After re-evaluating herself in the mirror she knocked on his door.

"Give me a minute!" He yelled through the door. Lex put her ear to the door to try and figure out what he was doing in there with no luck. She stood impatiently outside his door and five minutes later he finally responded. "Ok I'm going to unlock the door and let you in but you have to promise to close your eyes and not peek until I tell you to." He instructed.

"Ok… closing my eyes now." Lex did as he requested completely confused as to what he would be up to. She heard his door unlock and open and was surprised when his warm hands led her into his room by her shoulders and sat her down on his bed. So many things were going through her mind of what he was going to unveil to her but she was definitely not expecting what he had in store for her.

"Alright now you can open your eyes." He said and she set her eyes upon Buddy in a blue tux that matched her blue dress with his usually messy hair spiked up. She was so surprised by seeing him dressed for prom that she didn't even notice the box that he held out to her. "Here." He put the rectangular box in her hands. "This is for you." She looked down at it and shook herself to make sure she was seeing things correctly then opened the box to reveal two metal chopsticks. "I know it's not a corsage but it's perfect for you." He took them out of the box and placed them in her hair. "I'll show you how they work later." He said deviously and she looked up at him in a daze.

"I'm confused…" She admitted eyeing him up and down in his tux.

"Well… I knew you really wanted to go to prom, I was going to surprise you. But then Jareth asked you. Before I heard that it might be a set up I was already planning on showing up at your house to surprise you." He laughed. "I figured if you were going to go you had to go with me… I mean why go with some random asshat you barely know?" He smiled and Lex looked to him in complete shock. He had actually gone out of his way to make sure she would go to the prom no matter what. She didn't know what to say.

"When did you…" She began then trailed off taking in how good he looked and he smiled at her and locked her in his blazing blue eyes.

"So, how do you want to get there? I can drive us or… fly us…" He smiled deviously eyeing his newly enhanced rocket boots sitting under his computer desk. All she did was stare back into his eyes unable to process much. She finally shook herself and took in everything he said.

"Fly, who in the hell drives anymore?" She laughed nervously knowing that meant she'd be extremely close to him the whole way there and back. He grabbed a few things before they left and gave Lex a trench coat to wear so she wouldn't freeze to death.

Prom was being held only a few blocks away from his house. It only took ten minutes to get there but it was the longest ten minutes they ever shared together. He held her tightly to his chest and locked her feet onto the top of his boots admitting that he had added that feature just for her making her blush. They were both silent the whole way there enjoying just being close to each other for the first time since before Incredible was so horrible to Buddy.

The rest of the evening was unreal. Buddy and Lex danced and snacked on the food. Lex had to stop him from spiking the punch with a drug that would make everyone fall asleep. They had fun making fun of people's awful dress and tux choices. The two were even surprised when a few people actually said hi to them and complemented how well they matched. It was almost the end of the night and Lex and Buddy had been avoiding dancing to any slow songs together. Then the DJ announced that it was the last slow song of the night and they stared at each other contemplating until Buddy stood and bowed to her offering his hand and she hesitantly took it.

The song 'Is This Love' by White Snake began to play. He lead her onto the dance floor and he wrapped his arms around her waist and she wrapped hers around his neck and since she had abandoned her shoes early in the night she stood on top of his boots almost making them eye level. Their hearts were racing the whole time as they seemed to get closer and closer to one another until their lips were only an inch apart. They were both trembling lightly afraid to move any closer as they eyed each other's lips longing to kiss. The song finally ended and transitioned into a loud base filled techno song but they still stood there afraid to lose what they had.

Buddy began to lean in making Lex close her eyes when suddenly a loud obnoxious voice interrupted them. "Hey the super dweebs made it after all!" Jareth laughed with his friends only a few feet away from them. Lex and Buddy both released each other at the same time and glared at him. Buddy looked around to make sure there were no teachers nearby and with a gloved hand pulled one of the chopsticks out of Lex's hair.

"Wanna know how these work?" He smiled and she slowly nodded a bit worried as to what they did exactly. "Don't worry it won't kill him." He whispered into her ear before heading towards Jareth. He took a step back when he saw Buddy coming at him.

"What do you think you're going to do huh King Nerd?" Jareth taunted as Buddy hit the chopstick on a nearby chair. Lex could hear a small whirring coming from it now and her eyes went wide realizing that he was going to use it on Jareth.

"I may be what you call king of the nerds, but you are king of the imbeciles. How could you waste your night with a girl who probably has less than half the amount of brain cells than you over someone amazing likeher?" He said motioning to Lex making her blush despite the fact Buddy may very well end up killing or hospitalizing him. She had never seen him so angry and defensive before.

"She looked better before she took her makeup off." He shrugged and looked to the chopstick in his hand. "What are you going to stab me or something?"

"No but I will gladly knock your idiot ass out." He said darkly and Jareth looked him up and down.

"Oh please you probably don't even…" Jareth never got to finish his sentence as Buddy simply touched the chopstick to the side of his neck and he convulsed for a few seconds before falling to the ground unconscious. His friends ran off afraid and Buddy hit the chopstick on the chair again and placed it back in Lex's hair as she stared wide eyed at the unconscious Jareth on the floor.

"You just…" She said still unable to take her eyes off of Jareth.

"Come on let's go get us some dinner." Buddy said taking her by the hand and she let him lead her out of the prom and he flew them to a nice restaurant. They ate and talked about his new ideas for his ultimate plans for Incredible and afterwards he flew them back to his house. They sat together on his bed and Lex fell asleep during a movie he had put on. When she woke up the next morning she was still in his bed but he was already awake and working on one of his inventions. That was the last time they were ever close until they came to Nomanisan. After prom he seemed to distance himself from her and started to change his personality until he became Syndrome.

"I plan on taking the list of names I have of the supers secret identities and finding each of them. I can't just look them up someone will notice eventually." Mirage explained struggling to keep back her tears.

"That's fine…" Syndrome said. "But don't come back until you find Incredible." He said threateningly and she nodded before quickly running off. "At least that'll keep her away from here for awhile." He said turning to Lex his facial expression quickly changing back to his boyish grin.

"Good." Lex smiled up at him glad Mirage wouldn't be there to provoke his bad side any more than she already had. The two of them walked hand in hand to the break room together to have some lunch.

A month had gone by and Mirage would report in every days and send them the location and name of each super she found. Syndrome wanted her to send him more supers to test the Omni-Droid on but the supers she was finding wouldn't have lasted long against it and he waited until she found more powerful ones.

A few months went by and a few supers had faced the Omni-Droid not lasting very long. Lex had the feeling he was starting to have supers come just so he could watch them get destroyed by the Omni-Droid. She did her best to ignore it and kept telling herself it was because he didn't want any supers left to ruin his plans once they set in motion.

Lex, Avian, and Travis were working on a new containment unit for the next month or so that Syndrome wanted in case he needed to hold Incredible there. Metal balls would go over your hands and feet and you would be held in place by the high voltage and static electricity. It had a dial to enforce large amounts of electricity into whoever the prisoner was. It also would close up and leave the prisoner suspended face down for when there was no one to stand guard or to put them into solitary confinement.

It was morning and Buddy opened his eyes to find Lex still asleep next to him and quickly reached over her to turn the alarm clock off before it buzzed and pulled her closer to him. She barely stirred and snuggled into his chest. He decided that they would have the day off and spend time together outside of the lab. Lex stirred after a few moments and looked at him with one eye open.

"Go back to sleep." He whispered resting his head on the pillow next to her. She closed her eye and smiled kissing him on the lips then snuggled up closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her and they both drifted back to sleep. They woke up a few hours later.

"Hey how did we sleep in so late?" Lex asked quickly getting out of bed.

"I turned the alarm off." He said grabbing her by the arm as she rushed to the closet for clothes.

"Why?" She looked at him suspiciously. Buddy laughed at her suspicion and threw her onto the bed and crawled on top of her.

"I decided we both need a day off." He smiled down at her making her grin back and pull him into a kiss.

The two of them spent the day on the beach. Avian and Travis joined them after awhile. Lex was chasing Buddy around trying to get him to take his eye mask off around Avian and Travis. They all had a sand castle building contest and Avian won. Everyone was enjoying themselves and they all had dinner together each of them in charge of cooking a different part of their meal. Buddy wished that they could have more days like this, it made him remember that his final plan, if it worked the way he was hoping that it would be hard to do these kinds of things.

He still hadn't told Lex on what he had planned after Incredible was out of the picture and didn't know how to tell her. As they made their way to his room for the night he tried to come up with the words to tell her. Before they made it to his room head of security came running up to him.

"Sir, Mirage called. She said she's found Incredible." He reported.

"Are you sure she wasn't lying?" He asked a bit skeptical.

"She said she sent you all the information." He said and ran off to return to his post.

"You go ahead and look over everything. I'll be waiting for you." Lex said knowing it was something he should do alone and kissed him before heading to his room. Syndrome quickly made his way to the main computer.

He opened the email from Mirage and watched all the videos she sent. It really was him. It pleased him to see that he had a miserable normal job as an insurance agent. After going over everything she had sent him at the bottom of her message she wrote that she had already given him the message about the Omni-Droid and that he would possibly be there within a week. After reading that he quickly made it back to his room to get some sleep.

Lex had already fallen asleep exhausted from a day in the sun. He pulled the covers over her and wrapped his arms around her. He wished he could have told her about his plan tonight. Now he didn't think he'd have time to tell her, or even time for her. Incredible would be coming soon and there was more than enough work to do to keep everyone busy.

K R O N O S K R O N O S K R O N O S K R O N O S K R O N O S K R O N O S

So yay finally got Incredible! Finally to the events of the movie in the next chapter! And yay flashbacks are fun!