Author: A Markov
Title: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Chapter: 14/17
Summary:Sequel to Vanishing Love. Violet thought growing up was hard, until she fell in love. Now she is struggling to build a future in a relationship that nobody, including herself, understands but the past won't leave them alone. Is love strong enough to overcome the sins of the past? Can she find balance between love, family and duty? The resurrection of a sinister Agency project and the return of an irate ex aren't going to make her life any easier.
Rating: PG-13
Warning: This story contains some explicit language and deals with mature themes including consensual sex between adults of the same gender.
Disclaimer: The characters and locations are property of Disney and Pixar. They are used here without permission or profit. You're welcome to sue me, I don't have anything.

Chapter 14: Best Laid Plans

Mr. Incredible dodged a knife-edged bicycle wheel, an electrified ironing board and two dozen exploding bobble-headed dogs that shot out from the tank-like robot's seemingly endless supply of launchers. He'd already jammed at least a dozen pieces of broken concrete and the front bumper of a minivan into the various ports that had opened in the sides of the thing, but it seemed like for every opening he blocked, two more formed somewhere else and each one threw out something even more bizarre than the last. At first it had been simple: cannon balls, lances, nets and an occasional exploding shell. As the fight dragged on, the missiles started getting more random and he was beginning to wonder where it was getting its ammunition from. Unfortunately, dodging the last of the exploding bobble-heads brought him directly into the path of the whirling wrecking ball. He didn't have any time to berate himself for getting distracted by the oddness of the attacks before being caught square in the chest and driven toward a nearby building. He hit the concrete wall hard enough to go completely through it. The impact didn't hurt, really, but getting sandwiched between a speeding half-ton metal ball and a reinforced concrete wall did knock the wind out of him. Laying in the rubble with his ears ringing, Mr. Incredible decided to take a moment to catch his breath and contemplate what kind of twisted mind looked at a dog with a bouncing head and thought "I should stuff that full of explosives and throw it at someone." It turned out to be a bad idea when the rest of the building collapsed on top of him.

"DAD!" Speedy turned sharply and headed for the pile of rubble that used to be a small office building.

Elastigirl used her flexible arms as a slingshot to hurl heavy pieces of debris at the robot. Her chosen method of engagement kept her out of the path of the heavy steel ball whirling around the thing but it was so well armored that her shots were mostly ineffective as they kept bouncing off. At least it was keeping the thing from destroying any more buildings or knocking her husband through walls. "Speedy, go get your brother. I've got an idea of how we can beat this thing!"

"But what about dad…?"

"If your father could be killed by a little building falling on him, he wouldn't have survived our first argument."

Speedy hesitated for a fraction of a second then headed directly for the robot with a high-pitched trilling yell. Helen shook her head and wondered for the umpteenth time why she'd ever thought watching reruns of Xena with her son was a good idea. At the last moment, Speedy changed direction slightly and missed the robot by mere inches. The shockwave from his nearly supersonic passing rocked the thing back and the resulting turbulence prevented it from stabilizing itself for long enough that Helen was able to flank it. She began flinging debris at its treads, but it lowered itself until its protective plating covered the vulnerable point. She sighed. With the thing crouched like that, she couldn't do any damage but, on the plus side, it couldn't move. If she could just keep the pressure on until Bob clawed his way out of the rubble or Dash got back with Jack-Jack, they might have a shot at stopping it before anyone got killed.

Bob wriggled around in the wreckage, trying to orient himself. The dust was clogging his nose and he couldn't see anything at all. As he moved around, the rubble above him shifted and he caught a glimpse of daylight. Coiling himself tightly together, he heaved upward toward the light, exploding from the rubble. Glancing around, he did a quick assessment of their situation. His wife was playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the tank-like robot. She was keeping its attention focused on her by weaving in and out of the piles of debris that now littered the area where their battle was being played out and heaving a steady stream of missiles at its treads.

The robot noticed his presence and a port opened up on the side facing him. Several footballs shot out of it. He ducked under the first two and, in a fit of sudden inspiration, turned and caught the third one as gently as he could. A fourth one exploded against his back and the force nearly knocked him off his feet. He recovered his balance, dropped his shoulder and rushed toward the robot. He ducked under the whirling wrecking ball and powered through a mass of confetti that blocked his vision and stung everywhere it touched him. The robot wasn't moving so Bob just kept pumping his knees, trying to build up as much momentum as possible. He slammed into the side of the tank-like behemoth, rocking it back and lifting the side nearest him a foot or so off the ground. He tossed the football under the thing before it fell back down and grinned as the muffled explosion lifted it a few inches. The wrecking ball caught him in the side and flung him through the air. He hit the ground a few feet away from his wife.

"Nice try, honey." She managed to grunt out between shots.

Director Jacobs swore and slammed his right fist into the palm of his left hand. If she wasn't fighting with her family, his plan was in serious jeopardy. "Are you absolutely sure that she's not there? She can become invisible, you know."

The aide backed away as far as the cramped communications room would allow. "There is no evidence of her presence invisible or otherwise, sir. The team fights differently when she's there, so—"

"I'm well aware of the foibles of this particular group, kid." The director snarled. He paced back and forth, forcing everyone else in the crowded room to flatten themselves against a wall or nearby console or risk getting stepped on. His head snapped up. "Get on the horn to the holding facility. If she's not fighting with her family, she's probably trying to get to Dicker." If he could get to Dicker before she did, maybe he could still get her pointed in the right direction. It was an outside shot but Rick knew the score and he'd play ball.

A trembling technician held out a phone for him.

"You got 'em already? That was fast."

"N-no, sir. Th-they called us."

"And?"

"Dicker's gone, sir. He just disappeared. One moment in his room, the next gone."

"How long ago?"

"Half an hour, sir."

"And they're just calling now?" Jacobs practically tore the phone from the trembling technician's hand.

Rick Dicker climbed awkwardly into the back of a van that he could feel but not see. Violet's gentle assistance and calm, murmured instructions were no substitute for sight. He heard the doors shut and his vision returned abruptly. He suppressed his nausea as best he could and looked around; he was in the cargo area of an empty panel van. The only windows were up front in the driver's section. The cargo area was unfinished and the only other thing there was a large leather satchel. He settled onto the wheel well with his back against the driver's side wall. Swallowing again to try and calm his stomach, he glanced over at his rescuer. She was near the front of the van, holding her girlfriend's elbows gently and murmuring something he couldn't make out. From the tone, it sounded like she was reassuring the blonde. The two young women embraced briefly before Violet pulled away and gently pushed Chi toward the front. As the blonde slipped into the driver's seat, Violet settled down on the floor next to him.

Glancing back and forth between them he asked, "You brought your girlfriend on a prison break?"

Violet laughed. "Yeah, I didn't want to take a chance on us getting separated during this thing." She ran a hand through her hair and Rick glimpsed a moment of worry but the smile was back in place before he could even be sure he saw it. "We're not going back."

"Hm." The van pulled away from the curb smoothly.

Violet looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "That's all you've got? I tell you we're making a break for it and all you can do is grunt?"

Rick considered this for a few moments before answering in a non-committal tone, "What did you expect?"

Violet snorted. "I thought you'd say 'good luck' or 'stay away from Tahiti' or even 'it'll never work, you kids are doomed.' You know, some kind of human reaction that lets me know you've heard and understand."

He frowned slightly and asked, "You're bringing me with you?"

"You're doing whatever you want." Violet reached into the satchel and pulled out a large manila envelope. "Inside is a passport, birth certificate and a bunch of ID papers. There's also some cash and the number of a Swiss account. Chi's contacts can get you anywhere in North America in under six hours, anywhere in the world in just over fifteen. After that, you're on your own." She glanced toward the front of the van. "Chi and I will get you started on your way then disappear into the ether." She shrugged. "What happens after that is up to you."

He looked down at the envelope. "Suppose I don't want to go anywhere?"

"It's your funeral."

Dicker opened the envelope and looked at the name. "Really?" he asked. "What makes you think I want to be Frank Abagnale jr.?"

"For one thing, it's funny."

He began looking through the papers, an entire life's story in his hands, documented properly and looking as though it had seen as many years as he had. "So I'm going to be an infamous confidence man. What about you?"

"I've always wanted to be a pop star."

"How did we get from 'disappear into the ether' to 'become a pop star?'"

Violet grinned like a lunatic, "There are lots of ways to disappear."

Dicker refused to rise to the bait. "Where will you go? California?"

Violet let out an amused snort. "Which part of 'disappear into the ether' did you not understand?"

"You don't trust me?"

The grin vanished. "I don't trust anyone." Violet's eyes flick toward the front of the van.

"Not even her?"

Violet ran a hand through her hair again. "She's… I trust her but I'm worried about her. She's holding something back right now and I think… I think she's afraid of me." She turned away.

"What makes you think that?"

Violet's shoulders hunched in and she sighed. "When I look at her, I see it. I look in her eyes and I see love, I see hope and... I see fear." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Everyone's afraid of me, even my... even her." She dropped her chin to her chest.

Dicker struggled to find the right words. Failing to come up with anything, he laid a gentle hand on her arm.

She glanced down at his hand then raised her eyes to look at him. He could see the tears filling her eyes. "Why?" she pleaded, "What's wrong with me?"

"There's nothing wrong with you, young lady." His expression softened. It wasn't a smile but it was as close as he could come.

"Then why?" Violet's voice took on a strident tone. "Why is everyone afraid of me?"

"We've talked about this before…"

"Yeah, I know." She bit off a sob. "Am I ever going to find someone who… understands?

Rick gave her arm a little pat and pointed toward the front of the van. "For what it's worth, kid, I don't think she's afraid of you. I think she's afraid of losing you."

Violet's nose wrinkled in confusion but before she could ask for clarification, something slammed into the side of the van. Tires screeching. Glass shattering. Metal rending. Dicker felt the side of the van slam into his back and he was flung across the floor into the sliding door. Another impact sent him spinning toward the front. He collided with the passenger's seat and felt the bones in his arm crack. Pain spiked through his body. The world turned sideways, then upside down. He was flailing in the air, his broken arm sending sharp waves of pain through his nervous system, then the roof of the van slammed into him and he felt consciousness slipping away. Violet was screaming for Chi. The smell of burnt rubber and gasoline overwhelmed him.

"Agent Bartel, Grayson from Homeland is on line two. You're going to want to take this."

Joe cursed under his breath. He was supposed to be briefing the Director on his encounter with Invisigirl. He didn't have time to help some pencil pushing newbie from another department navigate the bureaucracy. "Tell him I just stepped out and put him through to Ken down in records."

"He said to tell you that someone you know had to go to the hospital."

Joe stopped short. "What were his exact words?"

The aide bit his lower lip and thought for a moment. "I'm pretty sure it was, 'An old friend is in the hospital.'"

"Shit!" Bartel swore. "I'll take it in my office." He spun on his heel and headed briskly back to his desk. Making sure his office door was shut and locked, he pulled a fist-sized device out of the top drawer of his desk and attached it to the back of his phone. He picked up the receiver and waited for the clicks and beeps to stop before he spoke. "The line is secure, Bartel here."

The voice on the other end was devoid of any regional accent. "Two hours ago, we received credible intelligence that a pocket bomb crossed into the US from Canada and that there is a probability that it will be deployed in the Metroville area. It is most likely one of three Russian devices that went missing from Chechnya sometime in the early nineties during the First Chechen War."

Joe swallowed nervously. "What do you need from us?"

"We've tracked a terrorist cell working out of Croatia called 'Bozji Kocke.' We believe they are going to try to destroy the Metroville Municiple Power Distribution facility."

"That plant provides power for the entire Tri-State area. No telling what kind of chaos..."

"We're well aware of that, Agent Bartel. In addition to disrupting power, there is the probability of flooding and contamination of the region's water supply. That's why I'm calling you. We need to coordinate with your office. Our best guess is that the device is already deployed at the site and that it may well be nuclear."

"When you say 'may well...'"

"One of the three missing devices was nuclear. Homeland needs The Incredibles. Particularly, we need Invisigirl's talents, Mr. Bartel."

Joe dropped into his chair. "There might be a problem with that."

Bob rolled to his feet and dodged behind a Buick. "Where's Speedy?"

Helen continued to sling debris at the partially disabled tank-bot. "I sent him for Jack."

Mr. Incredible promptly forgot about staying in cover and stood abruptly. "WHAT?" A one-eighth scale model of the Liberty Bell caught him on the shoulder and sent him spinning to the ground.

"Bob!"

"I'm O.K. sweetie." He gasped, sprinting for a nearby pile of rubble. "Who loaded this thing and why do you want Jack here?"

Helen ducked under a flying shopping cart and flowed into hiding with her husband. "I think it's manufacturing ammunition as it goes, trying to find something that'll work against us. Judging from what's been thrown at us so far, it's using the online Wall Mart catalogue as a source of information."

"And you want Jack to come and pick out his Christmas present?"

Helen laughed, "No, silly. I want him to recreate his favorite scene from that British science show you guys watch."

Bob's arms shot out with unnatural speed and grabbed Helen's shoulders. Before she could react, he gave her a huge kiss on the mouth. "You're brilliant, honey. I really don't tell you that often enough. You're amazing!" There was a skidding noise behind them.

"Seriously? A giant robot is destroying the city and you guys are making out?"

"I couldn't help myself." Bob grinned. "Your mom is super smart and smart chicks are hot!"

Speedy rolled his eyes, "Whatever."

Bob held out his arms to his youngest child. "C'mere, Jack." He picked the boy up and peered over the rubble at their adversary. "See that tank?"

Jack nodded.

"You remember watching Brainiac last weekend?"

Jack-Jack's eyes grew to the size of saucers. "I c'n thermite?"

Bob grinned ear-to-ear. "You can thermite."

Six seconds later the tank-bot shuddered to a halt, a child-sized, smoldering hole completely through it.

Dash jumped up and punched his fist into the air, "Run through it again!" he shouted. And for the next few minutes the sounds of disintegrating metal and machinery were punctuated by peels of childish laughter.

"We found Dicker and the girl, sir."

Jacobs looked up from his desk. "And…?"

"She's being taken to the cooler."

"What about Dicker?"

"Uh… Special Agent Dicker is dead, sir; the result of blood loss from multiple gunshot wounds."

"What the hell happened?" Jacobs' massive frame shot up from his desk. His chair skittered away behind him. "Who the fuck authorized the retrieval team to shoot? I want the squad leader, the platoon leader and the fucking commanding officer in my office five minutes ago!"

"It wasn't our guys, sir! Our retrieval team followed up on a 9-1-1 call and found them in an abandoned warehouse in the Marina." The agent swallowed and looked a little green. "It wasn't pretty, sir."

"Death never is, kid."

"Sir, I think you should look at the pictures of the scene…" He held out a folder to the director.

Jacobs frowned at the young agent's pallor before glancing down at the first photo. He felt the bile rise in his throat and swallowed several times to calm his stomach. "What did that?"

The reporting agent cleared his throat. "From what we can tell, sir, she did."

"You're telling me, Invisigirl brutally dismembered half a dozen men?" Jacobs shock and disbelief were evident in his voice. "How?" He looked up at his aide. "Why?"

"As to the 'how,' preliminary analysis shows the men were heated up from the inside until they exploded or were penetrated and dismembered with beams of coherent light. We can't speak to the 'why' yet."

"Do we know who these men are?" He glanced down at the photo again, "...were."

"Mercenary group out of D.C; we're tracking the money right now to find out who hired them."

Jacobs studied the photos for a few more minutes. The attackers weren't from the Agency. He could use that to get the girl back on track and regain control of the situation. He'd have to go through the seer, but he could still salvage the entire operation. "I want eyes on Mirage."

"Sir?"

Jacobs let out a sigh. "Mirage! I want to know where she is."

The agent consulted his PDA. "She was injured at the scene. Right now, she's on her way to Metroville Memorial, sir."

Dicker dead, the seer injured, this was rapidly shaping up to be a very bad day. "What's her condition?"

"Sir?"

Jacobs' hand slammed onto the desk. "Goddamnit!" He yelled, "You get on the goddamned phone and find out her condition! Send an Agency medical team with a fully equipped triage truck to the hospital and tell the lead doctor that if Mirage dies, he's not going to outlive her by long."

"Sir?"

"DO IT!"

"Yessir!" The agent dived for the door.

Jacobs picked up the phone. "Get me the cooler." The next few seconds seemed like an eternity. His gaze kept dropping to the photo on the desk in front of him. The charred, dismembered bodies were very troubling. How had he missed this? The girl was completely out of his control and in less than 12 hours, all hell was going to break loose and he wasn't going to be able to contain it. He glanced at the clock. The bomb had probably already crossed the border. He needed a plan 'B' right now.

He mentally took inventory of his assets and began formulating alternatives. Best case scenario: He was able to convince the girl to play the part he'd already mapped out for her and she became the Agency's most powerful weapon. Worst case: Everyone in Metroville died and the area was uninhabitable for several half-lifes. He forced himself to look at the photo once more. She might be calm now but if her girlfriend died or the agents at the cooler set her off or… His frustration level was increasing by the second; the list of ways this could end up as the "worst case" was far too long.

The timing of everything was very suspicious. Particularly this unknown mercenary group, hired by an unknown source… Was it possible that someone was deliberately working against him? But who? And what could they gain? His thoughts were interrupted by a voice coming from the phone.

"Cooler, Manfield speaking."

"This is Director Jacobs, code omega-delta-three. A retrieval team is on its way to you with Invisigirl. It is vital that she be treated with the utmost respect and deference. She is an honored guest and no one is to engage her."

"Sir?" The word was choked out in disbelief.

"You heard me, Manfield."

"Report from the team is that she just ripped apart a bunch of mercenaries and-"

Jacobs cut him off with a curse. "Let me make this perfectly clear. No one is to approach her in any way that could possibly be construed as hostile. That little girl is the single most dangerous thing in the world right now and if I fuck this up, everyone is going to die." Jacobs reached took a deep breath and blew it out noisily. "And when I say 'everyone,' I mean everyone on the planet! If she's willing to stay there, fine; if she wants to leave, don't get in her way."

"Got it."

The Director hung up the phone and hit the intercom. "I need an emergency session. Get me the Pentagon, the White House, M-I 5, Beijing, the Kremlin, and Bono."

"Yes, sir."

"And find out where Bartel is. God help us, he might be our best chance."

Next Time: Trial and Error

Author's Note: I'd like to thank King in Yellow and Luna Rei who helped make this happen by spending some of their free time making sure I filled in all the plot holes, dotted the I's and crossed the T's. (Spoiler alert: The mother dies and Ted ends up with Robin.)