Rick Dicker observed the giant rock formation in the entryway of the Parr residence without a hint of being impressed. Whoever had designed the place was clearly an asshole. If the buyer was someone different than the architect, that person was a bigger asshole.
Winston bought up the property too, but the guy was just… enthusiastic to put it nicely. Dumb to put it bluntly.
Shaking his head, Dicker made his way to the kitchen to speak with Bob and Helen. This went against nearly every protocol he knew, but if he didn't keep Bob in the know he knew that Mr. Increible might end up contaminating one of the crime scenes, or accidentally putting a suspect into a coma.
The parents clearly weren't sleeping. It had been a week since the last time anyone had seen Violet and the two clearly weren't taking it well. Setting his briefcase down, Dicker wasn't sure where he should start. The bad news or the worse news. So, he just opened his mouth.
"At this time we don't have any viable suspects," Rick started as he dug out the phone call log from DevTech, two red circled around two separate call times. Both calls were made to the number of this house. "Your daughter called the house again a little after 7PM. Was there a voicemail from your daughter?"
The pair paused and looked to one another before returning their gaze back to Dicker, shaking their heads. He thought as much.
"The call on her side lasted less than 45 seconds. Bob, Helen, there is no easy way to say it so I am just going to say it. Your daughter was abducted from DevTech, and I don't think she was taken by a predator."
"What are you saying, Rick's Bob asked.
"I'm saying that I think whoever took your daughter wasn't interested in Violet Parr, or anything regarding her status as a young woman. I think whoever took Violet was actually after Invisi-girl. And I think she was aware that she was in danger."
Buddy had given Violet a recovery day, and being that he was given a direct order from Winston to look after his dog, he decided to do just that. Thankfully the dog was far more personable than he had expected so showing up to the office Monday morning did not look to be a problem.
Sitting outside with his tablet in hand he watched the footage of Violet slicing the droids over and over again as Violet played fetch with Apple. He was about to press the play button again when a slobbery ball was lopped onto his white dress shirt. The look of disgust that he made was soon followed by a snort and a fit of laughter from Violet.
"I'm glad to see you are well enough to push my buttons, Parr," he muttered as he placed the tablet onto the table beside his cup of coffee, the other hand taking hold of the slimy ball, chucking it to the side for Apple to chase after.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself," Violet said, the laughter still lingering. "What are you even watching anyway? You're so fixated by it."
Buddy looked away from the woman and strummed his fingers against the top of the glass table top. He didn't desire to talk shop with her. While he did take great amusement in irking her with the ways that he was using her time in the test chambers this was different. He wanted to solve the puzzle without help. Not that he expected her to tell him how she managed to mutilate his toys. He was so enveloped in his own thoughts that didn't even notice that Violet had swiped the tablet off of the table until she hit play, the audio bringing him back to the moment.
"Ah. I didn't realize you got off on me breaking your stuff," Violet taunted as Apple planted herself between the two, chewing on the tennis ball that was tossed around all morning. "But all anyone at DevTech knows about James Everett is that he is a workaholic."
"You only live forever if you've made a lasting imprint," Buddy started with a shrug. "But yes, It is for work. You know, the second main reason you are here," he said getting to his feet. The comment made Violet look his way again.
"I thought that was the only reason," Violet said as she handed the tablet back to him which he immediately placed into the table again.
"No. Reason number one of you being here is because you are a loose end. Couldn't run the risk of you telling your old man or Dicker about me," he said, stepping around Apple to walk towards the forest. Tonight would mark a week of him taking her though in some ways it felt much longer. She had provided him with enough data as it was to improve his criminal line of products, but there was always room for improvement. Maybe even making something new- but before he even got to work on recreating her force field powers he needed to understand them fully first.
"That saw blade technique- how did you do that?" He found himself asking out loud. He didn't mean to, but it was bugging him. That metal was damn near impenetrable, but she kept on cutting them down.
"Do you want me to show you?"
Buddy blinked at the response and turned to face the super again. She must be pulling his leg, or maybe it was a threat. Surely that was the case. Offer up the chance to observe up close and then she'd just slice his head clean off.
"I think I'm good enough for a round in the chamber today, I know you said you wanted me to rest before putting me back to work but I can show you if you want," Violet mumbled as she shoved her hands into her jacket pockets, her eyes on Apple who had successfully destroyed the tennis ball. No live rounds though- just the broken robots from before. If you haven't scraped them that is," Violet said as she scuffed the grass beneath her feet.
Buddy watched her. He had just had this talk with himself the other day, didn't he? To not underestimate her? Well, he liked to think he hadn't, as much as he toyed with her emotional state he was very aware of who he was dealing with. The Super-sleuth some would call her. A regular Sherlock Holmes if there ever was one.
She caught the Underminer when she was still in high school, and he hadn't even committed a crime before she found him either. It came off as a pure coincidence to some of the press coverage but she had actually triangulated his lair through the sinkholes he had left behind. An old rundown cement factory was his base and she found it where the NSA, police, and even other supers had failed. He had the reasons for her being his captive, reason number one was actually reason number three.
He had lied to her the morning she woke up here. Even if Violet Parr didn't show at that merger party, he still would have kidnapped her that night if she maintained employment with the company. Because she wasn't one to wait for a crime to happen, she was proactive. Sought out the trouble before it even happened. A habit she picked up from her mother no doubt.
Reason number one of Violet 'Invisi-girl' Parr being taken captive was because she was a threat.
"I'm sorry, Parr, I'm having a hard time believing that you would just willingly give away your secrets to me," he said approaching her again with his hands clasped behind his back.
"Who said I was going to give it away?" Violet said as she pivoted on the balls of her heels. "I want to make a trade."
"Oh, do you now? And I suppose your mother is that chip on the table?" He asked but Violet shook her head.
"I want you to promise that you won't market any design you make off of my powers," Violet stated.
"You can't be serious-"
"Oh but I am," Violet said holding her hand out. "Syndrome, Mr. Everett, Buddy Pine, or whoever you are calling yourself these days. I will show you my technique if you promise not to sell anything you make based upon my powers. Do we have a deal?"
Buddy stared her down as he unclasped his hands from behind him and they hung at his sides temporarily as he contemplated the deal. It would be so convenient to let the super show him how she managed to tear apart his multi-million dollar battle grade machinery like tissue paper. He raised a hand out toward the super, only to sweep his hand through his slicked back hair.
"I think I'll pass, Parr, besides, you still need to rest up! Can't have you overexerting yourself again so soon," Buddy said with a smirk, turning away as her face went through several stages of disbelief. He picked up the tablet on the table and tucked it underneath his arm as he looked back to the disgruntled super.
"Negotiations, huh. Man, I don't know about you but boy am I starved!" He said before entering back into his home through the dining room sliding door and made his way to the instant meal vending machine he had installed, selecting a grilled chicken salad as Violet and Apple made their way back inside, Violet sliding the door behind her as Buddy retrieved his meal from the dispenser and made his was back to the table settling down to enjoy the meal and slave over his collected data sets. He had a fair amount of information to report to his 'investors'.
Violet scrolled through the meal options she had for lunch. Salad with grilled chicken, beef stew, or a club sandwich. The choices for dinner had those options along with the addition of collard greens as a side or a main dish of fish. Leftovers were one thing, but the house of the future had a menu that operated like her high school cafeteria, offering only certain dishes on particular days of the week. The woman eyed the kitchen which was all in all, a shame. A blatant lie.
"Where do you get your food from?" Violet asked, looking across the room to Buddy who sat with his salad, his attention solely focused on the device in his hand that displayed her fighting the PODs and other droids.
"Hmm?" He responded without looking up from his work, earning a roll of Violet's eyes.
"Your food. You obviously don't make it, so where does it come from?" She asked as she hit the button for the stew and Syndrome peered at her from across the room. Clicking his jaw he set the tablet in his hand down and clasped his hands together.
"What do you mean by, 'obviously'?" he asked pointedly and Violet shrugged back.
"I mean, you don't cook it so do you have it preordered from some catering company, or do you have robots do that too?" Violet asked looking over her shoulder. "Is there anything that you do on your own anymore?"
"Why would I?" He asked, placing a hand under his chin. "I can better apply my time to things that are actually important," he replied, turning back to his work, a hand still supporting his head.
"I suppose you would let a machine read to you too, huh," Violet muttered as she retrieved the bowl from the compartment and walked to the dining room table. Setting down the bowl across from his seat she eyed him as he began writing notes on the pad beside him. "What are you writing?"
"What you just said," Syndrome said sharply and Violet looked down at the pad in confusion again. He had quoted her, but now he was writing out a math problem.
"Uhh, why?" Violet asked as she took her seat.
"Because it was a good idea," Syndrome said a little less quickly, not looking up from his hand. "Not a robot that reads, that is, but a program that transcribes words out loud. It'd actually be incredibly convenient for work. If I can come up with a prototype for DevTech there might actually be a pretty solid bonus in it for me as well- to sell on the market anyway." Syndrome mumbled as the hand that was under his chin was now in motion, practically talking for him. "Chances are the thing won't really make the company any money, not initially anyway, but it wouldn't have to for us to lose out on revenue. Government programs, nonprofit organizations, learning institutes, they'd all be lining up to get this into their places. I mean that could be a big game-changer for folks that can't read due to impairments or injury," Buddy said looking up to Violet again who was staring at him with astonishment. "What?"
"I- I'm confused," Violet confessed, the spoon in her hand swirling the stew but she had yet to actually eat the meal. "You would consider making something that would help people?" The man smirked as he set his pen down and reached for his glass of water.
"I help people all the time, Parr. It's what I do," He said, his eyes never leaving her. "Technology is progress, it's just a matter of who is able to access that tech that gives the means to improving life. I understand it's difficult to process for you, but I don't mind helping people, I'd venture to say I actually enjoy being the source that will help enable people to be able to obtain the best versions of themselves."
"I'm having a hard time believing that given that you actively killed people," Violet said as her hands were placed on the table. "All those supers you killed, the citizens on Municiberg- I suppose you believe that you were helping them, huh?"
"Actually I know I was helping the supers," Syndrome said with a casual tone, Violet's eyes widening at the boldness of the statement. He laughed and shook his head leaning in closer to her. "You know what those supers were doing before my pet project landed on their doorstep? They were miserable. They had been living the lifestyle of hero for so long that when they were forced to go into incognito mode permanently they just snapped! The government didn't put up any safety nets for them, there was no reintegration program, no comforting transition into civilian life. The NSA would just provide a couple of relocations and mind wipes for their best sups and that was it!" Syndrome said shaking his head, a chuckle emitting from his throat as he leaned back in his seat, his arms becoming more animated. "I'm not going to deny that I played a part in their demise, but for every super that died on my island, the government failed tenfold of that. The omnidroids took out 37 supers, but I gave them the one thing they had been desperate to have again."
"Oh? And what would that be?" Violet asked as she placed her clenched fists onto her lap.
"Purpose," Syndrome said and shook his head. "They at least died doing what they loved. Being a super- why, I could pull out the reports from all the interactions my team had with the supers- including the ones that we couldn't reach due to premature deaths done by their own hands. Drug overdoses, suicide, reckless endangerment- Tell me, Parr, had I not given your old man the chance to relive his glory days, do you think he would have survived living his lie much longer?"
Violet rose from the table, loathing the look of self-righteousness Syndrome was wearing. Her appetite was gone, replaced by fury for the narcissist across from her.
"You don't get to play the bigger person here," she said bitterly. "You manipulated people when they were at their lowest. You could have made some meaningful changes to their lives, created programs to help them thrive after their years of service, employed them to help solve other problems in the world but instead you turned those people into lubricant for your murder robots!" Violet shouted. She expected him to rise to the occasion of the fight here but Syndrome's expression was placid and for some reason that infuriated the woman more but the statement she had made sunk in.
She was going through the same motions as the supers he had eliminated from Nomanisa. They at least had blissful ignorance for their short time with Syndrome's toys. She was all too painfully aware of the improvements she was delivering and while she could decide to stop she would be signing her family's death certificate as well.
"Do you not feel the slightest bit guilty?" Violet asked. "Do you truly think yourself to be such a gift to the world? Hell- you must think you own it."
Syndrome contemplated the question briefly before shaking his head. "No. I know I'm not special," Syndrome said, getting up from the table and placing his palms onto the table as he leaned in across the tabletop. "But I'm having a good time proving that supers aren't that grand either. I'm just playing the oldest game on earth. Survival of the fittest, and I think I have a chance of winning… don't you?"
Violet didn't answer the question. Instead, she picked up her untouched meal and set the bowl on the floor where a patient and grateful Apple was waiting to be rewarded with some edible compensation. Violet quickly evaded from the room, and the man couldn't help but chuckle at the super's temper. He had no desire to antagonize her further. Checking the time he had a virtual meeting to prepare for anyway.
Leaving the dishes behind for his house bots to look after he returned to the digital lab and got himself comfortable for the meeting with his more 'sinister' clients. It never ceased to amaze Buddy to see the real villains of the world. Sure, yes, the bank robbers and small-time outlaws were bad, but compared to himself and those he preferred to handle business with, those masked criminals were saints.
It was dangerous to deal with such high-profile rollers but with any reasonable gamble, you have to risk everything to gain anything. His clients of course had risked working with him as well, and there was only one rule to this elite club. Don't give up each other's secrets. Inside hit jobs was fair game given their line of work, but handing their information over to a super or the NSA? That would result in a hefty punishment. As long as no one had outed him as the CEO of Kronos Incorporated he would keep his mouth shut on those he associated with as well.
Seating himself before the monitors, Buddy rolled his neck and began to set up the video monitors and pulled up the compiled video data he wanted to share with his friends. At the stroke of 1800 hours, Buddy started the meeting, and the squares began to light up, some were allowing video feed on their setups, others were either in on call or were a bit more camera shy. It didn't matter to Buddy if he could physically see them or not. He knew the details on everyone anyway and if he needed to he could hit each of them where it hurt the most. Their wallets.
"Good evening gentlemen," Pine started as he stared at the silhouetted figures and displayed folks on his screen. "Thank you for joining me this evening, I have some exciting updates to share, but before I begin is there anything anyone wants to share?"
"Is there a reason why Sardonic has been blacklisted? We received notice of this the other day and before we engage in any business with the criminal in question we want to know if he is a liability we should be made aware of," inquired a man with a heavy french accent, informing Buddy that he was being addressed by John Pierce LeBrock, a former fashion designer for villains, though the man did still produce some outfits from time to time.
"You have nothing to worry about if you don't mind only getting paid half of what is due," Pine replied as he looked upon the gaunt and pale Frenchman. "Anything else?"
A round of murmurs and some head shaking gave him the notice to proceed, which he did by sharing a clip of a blurred out Invisi-girl using her powers in one of the containment chambers.
"I am happy to announce gentlemen, that the Super Antidote Device is a success," Pine gloated. "According to my data, Invisi-girl rates in the top 10th percent on the Super Power index, and I'm confident that if it can contain her, it can contain any super," Pine said while interlocking his fingers together, ready to bask in the praise that was to come. And come it did.
Gasps, claps, and some lackluster cheers came from the audience giving Pine a reason to grin. There was no reason to be modest at this moment. He was among friends so to speak, though truthfully he wouldn't be caught dead in the same room with any of these men. Not just for business sake, but for his personal sanity.
"What an astounding specimen," came the British parliament member, Peter Ashbury of the evil executive group. Aside from Pine, Ashbury had the most to lose if he was ever discovered to be involved in this nefarious affair, though it would not be the most surprising news event of the world. Ashbury was one of the few politicians of the world who was against reinstating the rights of supers.
Someone began to say something in Japanese, making Pine turn his head to a new monitor. Foreign language was never an arena Pine could grasp, but the personal translator for the Yakuza crime boss asked when they could expect to see the cuffs on the street. Buddy was more than pleased to answer with the expected due date but LeBrock spoke first.
"Nevermind that, how much do you want for it?"
"I'd like to continue to test the limits of the device before I go commercial with it," Pine started as he began to play with one of the jagged scraps of metal on his desk, rolling the piece over his fingertips. "The pain simulators work for her without much of a problem but there are a few supers out there who might not be as affected by electric pulses so I-"
"No, no, no-" snapped LeBrock. "Not the toy, the super! I simply must have her!"
"Bullshit," came the gruff voice of the oil tycoon Paul Colton Jr. "I will be damned if I let some Frenchman soil an American super."
"Thank you, Paul," Pine said with relief. But the relief came too soon.
"I'll give you 2 million for her," Colton Jr. stated, and the bidding war commenced. Numbers pouring from all nine beings. Pine was so focused on the voices that in his outrage he hadn't even noticed that he had punctured his forefinger and thumb on the shrapnel he had pulled from one of the chambers that he inspected of Violet's handy work.
This was why he didn't play well with others. People tended to lack the foresight to take stock of what was important. What had the potential of changing things forever. Buddy once naively presumed that it was just those born into positions of wealth, be it gifts of power or those who came from backgrounds that never had to worry about keeping their heads above water, but over time he realized that people were all the same.
Self-indulgent idiots.
"The super isn't for sale here alright?!" He shouted, dropping the bloodied piece of metal back to the pile with the rest of its siblings. "With this device, you can catch your own damn supers and-"
"Don't be ridiculous Pine," muttered the voice belonging to the Argentine scientist known only by their villain name, Doctor Schmerzen. Buddy sent his narrowed eyes to look at the tanned man with a shaved head and dark brown eyes. "Everything and everyone has a price, including yourself. Or are you forgetting who you owe your success to?"
The figures on screen all nodded in agreement with each other and the doctor continued.
"We could very well take on the task of collecting supers ourselves, but why do that when we can just pay you to do it for us, yes? Now I am fascinated with this super, so care to tell us where the bidding starts?"
This was exactly why Pine hated these men. It was hypocritical of him to be critical of the way that they conducted their business being that he was also guilty of buying people off, but they were missing the point of it all. Or maybe he was the one who was missing the point.
"As I said, she isn't for sale," Pine muttered, a laugh emitting from the man with a western accent.
"Sounds to me like Pine is keeping all the good stuff for himself again," Colton Jr. drawled from the comfort of his estate. Pine made a very poignant note in his head to start spitting out his solar power inventions through DevTech first thing Monday morning.
"Mister Shinota would also like to place a bid on the super, but the price is negotiable based upon the super's purity," the translator stated, making Pine turn his direction to their screen.
"Jesus is everyone deaf or is my mic just muted? I've got dibs on the super okay, I need her for work, and for the record, she is a full-blooded super, I can guarantee that," Pine said, throwing his hands up. "Not like you lot would need her anyway- I mean what would she be, an invisible fashion model? Someone to contain oil spills?" He asked as he rubbed his temples.
"We apologize for the miscommunication but that was not the form of purity Mister Shinota was referring to," the translator came again.
'Oh yeah, Buddy, you missed the point big time,' Pine thought to himself as he sat up and began clacking away at his keyboard as the business meeting swiftly turned into locker room talk. Hitting the final key Pine pushed the chair out from behind him and placed his hands onto the desk before him as he leaned closer to the camera.
"Gentlemen, if you would all kindly check your transfer accounts with me you should be able to see that there is a refund for the assets that you fronted me for this project specifically," Pine said, ignoring the facial expressions his criminal associates were delivering to him now. "It is with immense regret that I inform you all that the SAD prototype was a complete failure."
"Pine, are you really going to throw away this fruitful arrangement over a single super?" spoke Julian Watts, a land developer who was best known for marrying some actress. Other than being a part of this club, his most secretive deed was paying off hitmen to kill land activists in the rain forests. "I know it's a silly thing, but it isn't every day that a super is easily available at this capacity. I think you should take one of these men up on their bids."
"No Jules, I don't think I will. And I'm not throwing this relationship away over a super," Pine stated plainly. "I'm trashing this arrangement for the principal of the matter. I invented something that could solve your super problems in a few short weeks if you planned it out right. Make things easier in the long run, and what do you all focus on instead?" Pine asked, pulling his hands off of the desk and aligned his hands with his temples. "You hyper fixate on the super. This is behavior that I would expect out of some rookies- not seasoned 'masterminds', though realistically only three of you actually worked for the pedestals you currently sit on." Pine muttered as he pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand as the other hovered over his keyboard. "I gave Sardonic the benefit of a second chance, but this clearly isn't going to work out."
"Pine, you are making a mistake," Doctor Schmerzen urged. "We can work out a deal that can benefit you handsomely," the doctor said gently but Pine shook his head.
"I assure you gentleman, there isn't an offer that any one of you can make that will make me reconsider," Pine grumbled with disgust before cutting the transmission off.
Taking a deep breath Buddy Pine drummed the fingers that were still on the keyboard as he contemplated his next move. There was no doubt that this was the most expensive blunder he had created for himself but he had survived worse. Much worse.
He dug into his pant pocket to pull out his pillbox and took out two of his codeine pills, biting into the bitter chalk colored tablets. He didn't need them at the moment, but he found that the pills quelled the bad temper that would fuel him to make decisions that would flare up old injuries.
Making his way back up above ground, Buddy observed Violet as she sat in the living room with a book in hand, Apple laid on the couch as well and Buddy was prepared to lay down the ground rules of no pets on the furniture but the rule would likely go unnoticed anyway. Violet had yet to take notice of his presence, but given their last conversation, he believed that the super would ignore him unless prompted otherwise.
"I'd get some sleep if I were you, Parr. You've got a long day ahead tomorrow," he said as he walked behind the couch. She sat up and gave him one of her infamous death stares, triggering the dog to also sit up in alert, but Apple took his presence with a more positive outlook, jumping down to seek his attention. Buddy stopped to provide his uninjured hand to scratch the bull terrier mix behind her ear as his eyes met Violet's again. He had certainly won her attention now. "You're going to be working some overtime this weekend."
"Are you aware that you are bleeding on your carpet?" Violet asked as she snapped her book shut. Seeing that she was in the mood to fight, Buddy opted to move again before she could consider getting closer to him.
"We start at zero eight," Buddy answered back as he trudged the staircase to his room, silently noting to himself that Violet Parr was now undoubtedly the single most expensive thing he oversaw and that he'd have to start managing the estate like a museum under the assumption that someone might steal the priceless art from him.