Buddy Pine, or rather James Everett, was back in his office before the sun even hinted at casting its rays over the shining city. Anything to escape having to deal with his 'guest'. He would have thought that revoking Violet's privileges would have corrected her behavior, but if anything she had become more aggressive. Next step would be to convert one of the locker rooms into a padded cell and just confine her to a singular test chamber until he saw fit otherwise, but that was to be a last resort.
Taking a sip from his travel mug, Pine surveyed the documents before him concerning projects that were coming due, in the works, and what was being brainstormed. A side project that Winston seemed to have a lot of notes on was a device that would be strictly marketed to supers and the NSA first. A nifty radio system that could fit into the head of a super-suit and allow them to call anyone in the NSA or fellow supers in their contact database with voice activation. It was ambitious but would do terrible things for his personal life. He made a red circle around it to make sure he would do everything humanly possible to sabotage or at least delay the project.
A knock on the door came and before he could even grant permission to enter Winston was already halfway into the room. Buddy was already regretting his decision to come in early given how peppy his co-CEO was, but it was either deal with or the tornado that was Violet 'Invisi-girl' Parr.
"I need to talk to you," Winston started and Buddy held back a sigh.
"Good morning to you too, Winston," he said as he leaned back into his chair as Mr. Deavor took the seat across from him.
"Good morning, yes. Sorry. Hey, so remember how you said you wanted to be kept in the loop about Violet?" Winston started again. Buddy nodded as he took up the mug again waiting for Winston to finish his thoughts. "Well, it's not looking good. I can't give you all the details, but authorities are already on the case and there is a list of suspects… including everyone who attended the party."
Buddy tensed at the comment. He had not considered that the investigation would have advanced so quickly, nor that his work persona would end up on any lists.
"Well, almost everyone. You and Mrs. Summers are cleared," Winston said, rubbing the back of his neck, missing the look of relief his partner was expressing. "I'm really sorry that your first week with us is looking like a disaster, I swear this has to be the week from hell! Well, it wasn't nearly as disastrous as the time my sister hijacked a bunch of supers in an attempt to make them illegal forever, but it's getting pretty darn close!"
Pine stared blankly at the distressed man across from him, unsure how to proceed with the conversation but his better instinct was telling him to not mention Evelyn.
"So, about Violet. Do the authorities have any leads?" He asked as he crossed a leg over the other from behind his desk.
"There might be a boy involved in her personal life," Winston answered but shook his head and jumped to his feet. "Wait, no, I've already said too much! I just wanted to be courteous and let you know that we might have some law enforcement folk sniffing around but hopefully this is just a really bad hangover case or a last-minute road trip with some friends that we can all laugh about in the coming weeks," Winston said with genuine optimism.
"Well if there is anything I can do, I would be more than happy to help," Buddy lied, hiding his giddiness that Violet might have someone other than her family to dangle in front of her face. A potential lover at that.
"Well, there is one thing," Winston pondered. "I know you two have only just met briefly, but you two seemed to really hit it off… Did Violet say anything to you? Anything that may have stuck out?"
Buddy shook his head and picked up a file on his desk, not even bothering to look up from his work.
"Violet seemed perfectly ordinary to me."
Stepping into the kitchen, Violet noted that it was the second morning in a row that Syndrome managed to slip out before she woke. The evidence of that fact was taped onto the robot she dubbed as The Nanny. Approaching the droid, Violet ripped the paper off of its cold exterior and read the note he left behind for her today.
Challenges for the Day:
Chamber 5: Battle Grade POD
STAY OUT OF TROUBLE
Violet scoffed before crumpling the paper and tossed it across the room, knowing fully well that one of Syndrome's little droids would dispose of it later. She couldn't even make a mess in this place, what trouble was there left for her to make? Ordering a cup of coffee and scrambled eggs through The Nanny, Violet knew she should have felt some sense of victory for Syndrome not being present to mock her in the morning but the relief was outweighed by the fact that she was now under extreme house arrest.
Violet considered going back to bed and forgoing the test out of spite, however, Violet couldn't just stop- could she? While she hated to admit it, Syndrome was playing softball for the time being. If she continued to push him he might decide to kill her, her family, and even though she didn't have friends there were still people she cared about. Winston, Lucius, former classmates- hell, Syndrome could dangle a complete stranger or even someone who had wronged her and she would be guilted into submission.
But she couldn't let him win either. Destroying his droids was one thing, but the reality that he was analyzing her? Going to make weapons based on her powers? It struck her differently. She didn't want to be responsible for any more innocent deaths. But if she didn't cooperate with his schemes her family would pay the price. She'd have to find another way to spoil his victory but escape wasn't possible, and there was only so much damage she could do to his property now.
The Nanny rolled up to the table and set out her breakfast tray. Violet stabbed at the eggs on her plate and then it hit her. It was a gamble. One that regardless of the outcome there would be hell to go through and hell to pay, Violet gave a sigh of resignation before she headed down to the testing sites.
A knock on James Everett's door came. Lifting his head, Pine was greeted by a man with blonde hair and horn-rimmed glasses. Clifford, the head of Personnel, had come to give a tour around DevTech.
"Should we start from the bottom up or top-down?" Cliff asked as Buddy abandoned his desk. "If we start on the bottom we could grab a cup of coffee from the lobby, or if we start up top we should be able to finish in time for happy hour. Can you guess which my favorite option is?"
Buddy faked a smile, keeping pace with Cliff as they made their way to the elevator. His eyes distracted by a flashing red light flickering in the window's reflection and then he realized it was an alert on his watch. The first thought in his mind was 'what did she do now?
Placing a firm hand onto Cliff's shoulder Buddy took a step back as the HR manager turned in his direction.
"I think I hear my phone ringing and I'm actually expecting an important phone call, give me two minutes and I'll meet you at the elevator," Buddy said quickly before he retreated back to his office, clenching his jaw tightly. Did he need to attach a droid to the super to keep her in check, or would he have to resort to more unsavory methods?
Once in the safety of his office, Buddy opened the alert, half expecting Violet destroying the gatekeeping bot he had frankensteined together but instead he bore witness to a live video feed of Violet Parr in chamber 5 taking on high damage from the Battle POD. Damage that she could easily prevent, but wasn't. Damage that could kill her if she didn't put up a fight.
"No!" He growled and summoned access to the chamber's intercom system through his device. Had he believed her to be suicidal he would have stuck her on taking down defense systems for the rest of the week, the POD was meant to be an outlet as well as an additional means of punishment. Yet the super found it another way to be a problem.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?!" Pine asked, outrage coming over him as he heard a strangled laugh emit through the speakers on his watch.
"I'm doing my own test," Violet answered back as she allowed the POD to ensnare her in its claws. "Which matters more to you; witnessing your little revenge plot play out bit by bit, or expanding your criminal empire?" Violet shouted, forcing Buddy to lower the volume on the device.
"You'll die if you keep it up," he warned, watching as Violet struggled to get to her feet again.
"Because I had high hopes of getting out alive anyway," she snapped back before the droid delivered a blow to her stomach that forced her to double over.
"Your family is as good as dead," he hissed, nervous that someone might be within earshot. Violet laughed again, and while the footage was in shades of gray, Pine knew there was blood coming from the mouth of the super.
"I don't think so, at least not right away," Violet mumbled as she flopped over. Buddy stared at the screen in disbelief. What the hell was it going to take to make her see that he was not one to piss off? She kept talking instead of taking care of the droid.
"That's not fun for you. You crave more than that," Violet continued. You've spent your childhood admiring him, your adolescence hating him, and early adulthood wanting to become him… You don't want to simply murder my dad, you want to beat him. To utterly destroy him in every possible way. Blowing him up, poisoning, any form of assassination doesn't achieve what you want. Not really," Violet muttered as her eyes managed to find the camera that was currently displaying her image to him. The POD's mechanical claw grasped Violet by the throat. The phrase 'Violet, you're turning violet' echoed in his head, but still the woman resisted any motion to save her own life. What could be her last breaths were spent on him. "I believe you will try to kill him, and eventually you may even succeed, but you'll want him to know it was you. You are so much of a narcissist that you need to be there when he takes his last breath. I don't think of myself so highly, but I think you'd want to be around for mine too."
Buddy Pine stared at the female super with more loathing than he had ever felt for another human being, including her father and Mirage. He was furious because of the simple fact that she was right. He cursed out loud as he ordered the POD cease and desist. He hesitated on also summoning the medical droid to get to her but he quite literally could not afford to lose her.
"If you are a religious person, I suggest you start praying," he stated plainly before cutting off the transmission and rushed out of his office and towards the elevator. Visibly upset, Buddy managed to make Clifford stand aside without asking.
"Is everything alright, sir?"
"Oh, just peachy keen," Pine lied as he hit the up button on the elevator. "Something has come up at home. Gas leak. Authorities need me on site right away."
"Oh, I am very sorry to hear that Mr. Everett, is there anyone in the house that's in danger?" Cliff asked.
"Only a pet, and pardon my French, but I would prefer to not put the bitch down just yet," Pine replied as he stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the roof. "Please inform Mr. Deavor when you can and that I'll be in contact once the situation is resolved."
"Of course, feel free to call my office when you want to reschedule the tour," the man urged as the doors closed.
Alone again, Pine looked to his watch to analyze the status of Violet's condition. The medical droid had yet to arrive on the scene but the nifty bracelet that resided on her wrist told him that her blood pressure was low and only dropping more with each minute. He wasn't sure what he was going to do when he got to her, but he was confident that he was going to make her existence more miserable than ever.
Violet seethed in pain as she curled up into the fetal position on the astroturf. While she was in a great deal of pain, and likely to see a world hurt in the near future, she couldn't help but smile to herself. She might not be getting a job with her criminal psychology degree, but it did come in handy.
She had played Syndrome like a fiddle but if she had gotten it wrong, if she had read him wrong, it wouldn't have just been her own life she had thrown away. She knew from this point forward she couldn't push him again, he was unstable as it was, but there might still be room to negotiate on her end. Violet didn't dare dream of the possibility of getting out of Syndrome's hold at this point, but she might be able to at least buy her brother's off the table. As well as terms on her trademark powers.
"The things I do for love," the heroine mumbled as she closed her eyes. She just hoped that her punk baby brothers didn't throw away her sacrifices.
Violet didn't open her eyes to see the medical droid enter the room, nor did she wake when Buddy arrived an hour later which might have been the best-case scenario for the woman.
He was normally very fond of kicking rivals when they were down, but Violet Parr was not currently categorized as an enemy. She barely registered as a person in his eyes thanks to the SAD. She was an asset, a tool to advance his agenda.
A real monkey wrench was what she was turning out to be.
Crouching beside the woman he didn't bother observing her wounds. The droid reported that nothing life threatening had been done, but there was the chance of a nasty concussion along with some other injuries that would keep her out of the testing chambers for the foreseeable future. He picked her up and held her bridal style, her head slumping against his chest. His heart was threatening to burst from his boiling blood. It was like she didn't know who she was dealing with.
Yeah, the NSA and every other government agency buried as much as they could on him. Uncle Sam would never survive the shame of having made multiple million-dollar deals with him, and the NSA's failure to protect those who depended on them most? He didn't have to lift a finger to erase his old life- the government did it with him asking or paying for it- but surely her father would have explained who the notorious Syndrome really was at some point. Right? The super in his arms clearly wasn't afraid of him, and she had just practically laughed in the face of death. Who the hell does that?
'You know, Pine. People who've survived death.' He thought to himself.
Once up top, Buddy moved up to the second floor and for the bedroom she occupied. A cage in sanctum was becoming far more appealing to him now but for the time being she would have to rest in her quarters.
He laid her down, gently. He wasn't worried about waking her, it just seemed instinctual to handle the sleeping woman with care. It was a funny thing to him, seeing the super in this state. Vulnerable. Which, given the circumstances he had built, she always was, but now more than usual. Invisi-girl was not the second-string super he had taken her for. She was an absolute force of nature. Potentially the most effective weapon and form of defense he had ever witnessed and here it was, packaged into the form of a frail, young woman. He didn't consider the female gender to be the 'lesser' sex. On the contrary, he held a great deal of respect for women because they were so effective in the field. Nobody ever suspected what is perceived as an object of sex to be capable of criminal intent. Men, in particular, could be stupid like that, letting their guard down to a pretty face and a nice pair of legs. It's what made Mirage so damn good at bringing in supers.
Buddy scolded himself. The woman had been on his mind more often than usual, but of course there was a connection between the Parr's and Mirage.
As he pulled up her blankets, he checked her vitals again. Her outlook had improved. At least in terms of her medical state currently. Her overall outlook on life was bad and heading for worse at the rate she was actively pissing him off.
"Tony," she whispered, catching the man off guard.
Buddy turned his attention to Violet's face and expected her to be on the verge of consciousness, but she was still asleep, and she looked to be in more pain than ever. A nightmare, he assumed, and smirked.
Was this 'Tony' fellow the boy Winston carelessly brought up earlier? A weak link in her chain that he could break to prove he was no longer playing games. He smiled wickedly as he left the room. Whenever it was when she woke, that little nightmare of hers would become a reality.