It had taken Violet a considerable amount of time to calm herself down that night. All the cookies in her house hadn't been enough to quell the girl's sudden depression. She should've let him die for doing something so stupid but instead she'd jeopardized her own career to bail him out. The whole thing had happened so quickly that within her own mind, she couldn't decide if the action had even been voluntary. The truth of the matter, however, was that she'd done it, rationalized it, argued it. Just like that, she'd turned to the side of evil...without doing a single evil thing. Violet wiped her eyes and took a bite out of the last cookie on the plate as the phone rang for the fifth time in a row.
He'd attempted to call her several times but all had gone unanswered. It hardly mattered since he was already en route to her residence, but the lack of a response was worry-inducing. Wait. He stopped dead, midway down a hallway to take it all in. This was ridiculous! There was a time when he could've just walked away from all of it and felt no worse for the wear. When did that change? It was just another girl, after all. A girl that just saved your stupid life. Congratulations for thinking of someone other than yourself for once, genius. You're really losing your mind now.
He sighed to himself, continuing along the path towards his destination. It wasn't much longer before he'd arrived, knocking the door in until she'd been forced to answer it. He'd already been frowning at the sight of her looking so disheveled, but the frown had deepened as she'd nearly lost it right there in the doorway.
"Go away! This is all your damn fault!" He could only stand there while she made a feeble attempts at beating him down with her tiny fists, calling him every terrible word she could conjure up in her mental dictionary, cursing the ground he walked on until her words were little else but garble and her sobs overtook everything else. Buddy had managed to lightly guide her into the apartment so the tenants wouldn't overhear. There were few times in his life when he'd sincerely felt like an ass, and this was one of those times. Violet had finally lost the will to continue with her already weak battery. "Why.. why does it have to be this way.."
"You're asking the wrong guy, hun."
"It just isn't fair."
"Preaching to the choir, dear."
"Want some pie..." She sniffled, shuffling into the kitchen to fetch her utensils. Buddy stood there for several moments wondering if he even had the right to be there after all that had happened. He'd quietly agreed however, and the two of them had sat on the couch with plates of pie in one hand and forks in the other, looking too miserable to eat. One bite at a time the air had cleared, but the reality of both their situations was still permeating everything. When she'd had the strength to speak again, all he could do was let her rant.
"All my life I've been told to protect people... innocent people. I'm supposed to save the people I care about. I should care about the innocent people, not the guy blowing up half a damn city for the funsies. I'm not one of the villains, I can't be...but I've been lying to everyone for months. I've been sneaking around and worrying my mom and dad sick. I did what was right though... you don't deserve to die. You're an idiot but you don't deserve to die. Why don't you care about your own life?" She'd asked the question while he'd had his fork in his mouth, and he'd paused like that for several long moments. He'd never really thought about it that way. This was the second time he'd put his life on the line, and the second time he'd narrowly avoided death. He hadn't thought about what would've happened if she hadn't saved him, what he would've been leaving behind.
"I don't really know what I care about," He muttered, biting down on the fork while he spoke. Violet kept her eyes on her plate, letting the words sink in.
"Do you care about me?" She whispered, praying with everything that she hadn't wasted months of her life, time in school, her whole superhero-dom. She could feel her chest tighten as a silence crept between them while he looked for the appropriate way to answer. Well, do you care or don't you?
"Enough to know that my hobby isn't worth losing your career over," Buddy replied softly, scowling to himself. Syndrome was a fun little side-project, that was true. It didn't mean nearly as much to him at this time as it did five years ago. He'd only ever existed to prove to the supers that powers weren't everything, that as special as they thought they were, they could be brought down by mere engineering. He'd wanted to teach Mr. Incredible a lesson, and Nomanisan had succeed in that. Now? He was there for his own selfish reasons. It was a good way to blow off steam and remind the other villains that Syndrome was still top dog; they never bothered to argue the pecking order for fear of becomming the next lucky target. "...And neither am I."
Violet turned her eyes upon him sharply. She was unable to comprehend the meaning of his last words. Not long after his words had changed to actions, leaving her to enjoy the moment and forget everything else. Beyond the kisses and sweet nothings, it didn't matter. Violet made her decision when she'd made her mistake and for his sake, she would live with the consequences. She had decided that well before he'd shown up, regardless of the outburst. The feeling was short-lived, though. She'd hardly had a moment to register his whisper of "I'll miss this," before he'd removed himself from her presence. She sat up quickly as he stood up from the couch and let himself out the door, and was quick to follow.
"Wait a minute, what are you talking about?" She'd repeatedly asked him all the way to the street and the question had been obviously ignored. It wasn't until she'd shouted at him as he stepped into his car that he'd finally peered up at her; the distance in his eyes had shocked her into silence.
"I'm fixing this."
"Fixing wha- wait!" The car tires squealed on the pavement, leaving Violet behind to stare after the tail-lights. Just like that, a night of anger turned to fear of the unknown. She had no idea what he was on about. Without thinking she'd hopped into her own car and sped after him. He wasn't going home. Throughout the trip she couldn't help but recall that look that sent a shiver up her spine. It wasn't long before the path before her had suddenly becomming obvious; they were making a bee-line to her parents' house. Buddy's car had come to a stop in front of the Parr residence. Violet was still several blocks behind and hadn't seen him remove something from his car and walk up the driveway, ringing the doorbell and coming face to face with Dash.
"Mom..."
Helen had come to the door to greet whatever guest may have appeared. Buddy let himself in while the two of them stared at the man who looked entirely too business-like. He had moved himself over to the family couch by the time the realization that he was there hit her. A briefcase sat precariously upon the coffee table, and he spoke before she could react towards the scene in front of her. Bob had walked in the second he'd opened his mouth.
"A girl saves a man from death and is punished for it. Tell me how that's fair, Parr." Buddy directed his question towards Bob who, if he hadn't been so shocked by his presence, would've already beat him into a fine pulp all over the carpet. Violet's father stood there, eye to eye with his self-proclaimed nemesis, and could think of no response. "I've gotta commend you on your excelent parenting and upholding the finest of double standards."
"Where's Violet, you basta-"
"I'm right here." she appeared in the doorway. Helen ran immediately to embrace her daughter and Bob remained suspicious.
"In a perfect world, mom and hubby would stay the hell out of my way, and there wouldn't be such a thing as 'good' and 'evil', not in such broad terms," Buddy continued, commanding the room's attention. "Unfortunately, no such place exists outside of a tiny island on the east coast. It's clear that I'm not allowed to have what I want, so I'll do everyone a favor and make it right for at least one of us."
"What are you on about, Pine." Bob took a threatening step forward and Violet nearly attemted to leap out of her mother's arms to keep him at bay.
"It's simple, Parr. I quit. Syndrome is dead."
"Wait, what? No!" Violet shouted, but Buddy wasn't paying her any attention at all. At Bob's clearly skeptical expression he had reached forward to click open the breifcase, exposing its contents to all surveying. All pieces of his outfit were laid out neatly, ready to be taken away.
"And what makes you think I'd believe this." Bob growled. Buddy sighed quietly, removing one of the electronic gauntlets and hitting Bob with the zero-point energy at point blank range. Hellen shouted towards her husband. The red-head raised an eyebrow at the person he'd caught. He rose to his feet, moving until he was merely inches away from his rival. The super could do little else but stand there, frozen, while Buddy finished his monologue.
"This is one-of-a-kind equipment, Parr. Everything here has been modified, re-invented and updated, but never duplicated. I'm giving you my greatest invention along with half a life's work and a lot of damn good memories. Do you still have the audacity to call me a liar?" He hung on the last words, staring the super down with a seriousness that Bob had never seen. He finally released the energy, replacing the device to its proper place in the case. Violet's father hesitated on revolting against the 'attack'.
"You're not going to do this!" Violet demanded, and her voice was finally acknowledged.
"You're right about my work. It's not worth doing if this is what it does to me."
"That's not what I meant!"
"Under normal circumstances I would've left the sappy last words to somewhere more private than this, but I've got places to be. I've caused you nothing but misery for the last few months, and it was stupid of me to expect a super-hero to understand the complexities of my life or my work. You're here to save people who deserve to be saved, Violet, and I'm not one of those people."
"Don't talk like that..." She argued weakly, but what he'd meant about missing her earlier was finally starting to make sense.
"You're serious, then." Hellen confirmed.
"Consider this our 'official breakup'," Buddy muttered. Violet wanted to find the words to argue, wanted to say something, anything to keep him there with her for just long enough to change his mind. Unfortunately before she could find those words he had removed his phone from his pocket, dropping onto the floor and smashing it underneath his heel. "The proof that I gave a damn is in the PSA's possession. Lose my number."
"Buddy..." Her words fell on deaf ears however. Buddy Pine had removed himself from the home and gotten back into his car, speeding off towards whatever meeting he was expected at, assuming he'd even told the truth about that. Violet was left to stare at the smashed phone on the carpet in front of her, tears welling up in her eyes. Almost half a year had been wasted on a relationship that ended in less than an hour. Both her parents and her brother embraced her tightly. She was secretly happy to have her family and her life back, but the feeling would forever be bittersweet.
Things were back to normal now. The day was saved... but nothing would ever be the same. For now, anway.