Tobias Freeman hated it when the hospital was quiet.

Mopping the floor of the ER, the Navy veteran was all too familiar with the calm before the storm, and that's what Golden View Hospital felt like today. Like they were in the eye of a hurricane, waiting for the walls to be torn away. Possibly literally.

His dark amber eyes glanced up to take in the images channel 3 was showing. Somehow, the supers that lost their shit hadn't managed to kill anyone, yet, but a few folks did end up needing medical attention. All of whom were on the other side of the city, being cared for in the hospitals closest to the capital and the initial destruction.

No sir. So far the most exciting case to hit the floor of the ER today was a tie between a fractured collar bone from a kid falling out of their bunk bed and a forklift driver who twisted their ankle. But Tobias knew trouble was brewing towards them. He just couldn't say what for certain.

Dunking the head of the mop back into the bucket, the janitor inhaled deeply as he heard murmurings going on outside. The curtain was rising just as he predicted. Not wanting to be in the way of the impending arrival, Tobias pushed the mop and bucket out of the middle of the hall to see what fresh hell was making their way to Golden View.

He had seen hell. That's what war was, and the super who ran through the doors looked as though she had just been in one, though he couldn't say if she had won or lost whatever battle she took part in. The man she carried behind her by some form of levitation, however, clearly lost.

"HELP! I NEED A DOCTOR!" she cried and several medical staffers rushed in to assist.

Tobias was quiet as he looked at the sight of the bloodied man who was placed upon a gurney and hauled away as two of the staffers stayed behind with the distraught woman who fell to her knees on his clean tile floor.

"He has to be okay. Please tell me he's going to be okay. He can't die, he just can't," the woman pleaded as the nurse who stayed behind attempted to check over any potential injuries on the woman. There was a lot of blood on her, and there was no way it all came from the man they had just taken away.

She looked like she was bleeding out, but it wasn't blood that was leaving her body. It was hope itself.

...

Seven hours had gone by since Buddy was handed off to the surgeons, but time just stood still for Violet as she sat in the waiting room. She hadn't dared to move from her seat that was directly facing the doors that led to the OR in fear that she would miss anything.

The doors to her left opened, but she didn't look up.

"Kid," came the gruff voice of Rick Dicker, but still she didn't turn her head.

Sighing heavily, the seasoned agent made his way to the lone woman with a spare mask in hand. Even as he blocked her view of the doors, the woman continued to ignore him and his gesturing of the mask.

"Wash up and put this on. We need to leave."

"I'm not leaving," Violet said quietly.

"Kid."

"I said I'm not leaving."

"You went too far this time. I told you not to lose control again, and not only could you not stay on top of that, but you managed to show that mistake on national tv."

"I don't care."

"Violet," Rick urged in a softer tone as he reached out to touch her hand but was given a warning as she flexed her shield preventing any contact. He hung his head lower at the display of power. He used to think her father was the troublesome one, but Bob's fight would cease once the battle was over. Violet on the other hand always seemed to be fighting something.

"You can't help him like this. All you are doing is stinking up the place with the scent of other super's organs and scaring the good folks of this hospital."

"I'm not letting anyone else get near him," Violet growled back.

"How many people are you willing to hurt for him? How many lives will you take over that man?"

"That depends on how many people want to fuck around and find out," she said as she briefly met the disappointed stare of the agent.

Rage boiled in her veins.

How dare he look at her like that.

She didn't tell the whole country shit the NSA used to pull. She kept that secret to herself as much as she hated it. She didn't release Evelyn on some bullshit case of good behavior only for that to blow up in their faces, and she sure as shit didn't tell Leviathan or the others to torture Buddy for kicks.

"You're wasting your time, Dicker. Besides, I'm pretty sure that the NSA has bigger fish to fry than me."

"I'm not here on the agency's behalf. I'm here for you."

"It doesn't feel that way."

"Your family is in town," Rick said, making Violet break the tough act for a moment. "Well, your parents are. Jack is with Lucius and Dash is running point on damage control, so to speak."

"Did they see what happened?" she asked looking up with the guilty eyes he used to see from Bob. He sighed.

"Violet, I don't think there is a soul in the world who hasn't seen what you've done."

Violet turned her gaze to the floor as she began to consider her actions when the OR doors opened. Standing up, Violet moved past the agent to meet the doctor approaching her but she could read the results before he even opened his mouth.

"He's stable for the time being," the surgeon began. "He's lost a significant amount of blood, mostly from internal wounds. It's nothing short of incredible that he survived the surgery."

"Is he going to be okay?" Dicker asked not wanting Violet to be strung along on false pretenses.

The doctor inhaled deeply, trying to find the right way to break the news. A shake of his head was all he could lead on.

Violet felt the ground beneath her begin to crumble. The walls that she had been keeping up were caving in.

"We managed to close the wound that caused his collapsed lung and put him on a ventilator. In a perfect world, he would have full breathing capacity again, but there are too many system failures. His kidneys are going, his liver is failing, and not to mention any internal bleeding we may have missed."

"Then we get him transplants!" Violet pleaded. "I don't care what it costs, he has the money to buy this hospital ten times over- if you need the cash before he wakes I'll rob a bank if I have to!"

Rick nearly growled Violet's name but remained composed at the show of Violet's quickly fading moral compass.

The doctor shook his head, sympathetic to the woman's wants but it wasn't going to work.

"He doesn't have the time to wait on organ donors to show up. And even if the perfect organs did show up on our doorstep he's already lost too much blood to go into surgery again."

"There has to be something we can do," Violet argued. He had bounced back from everything he had encountered. Rejection, abuse, a god damn jet crash, Schmerzen. "He has to live!"

"I'm sorry, but Mr. Pine is living on borrowed time. The only thing we can do is try to make him as comfortable as possible."

Violet shook her head as the doctor attempted to place a hand on her shoulder but she backed away before the contact could be established.

She wanted to fight. She wanted to tear the place apart, to bring Leviathan back if only to kill him again, she wanted so much to go back to that moment Buddy had made the executive decision to lead the supers away and tell him he was wrong until she was blue in the face.

But she couldn't do any of those things.

"What room is he in?"

"Kid, you shouldn't stick around just to wait for him to die. Let's get you back to the hotel, clean you up and figure out what to do from here."

"What room."

"WatchDog," Rick urged again but she was pulling a cord from inside of her tactical suit, a ring hanging from it and Rick shut his mouth.

It was fairly common for supers to stash engagement rings and wedding bands in their suits. Truthfully, he had hoped the relationship between the star-crossed lovers would fizzle out as time went on but that clearly wasn't the case.

"There's nothing else you can do for him."

"He doesn't deserve to die alone!" Violet snapped, fresh tears breaking free again. "I know everyone is going to say that he had this coming, that he's deserved every bad thing that's ever landed on his doorstep, but he doesn't deserve to die alone!"

"Kid-"

"If you can't give him that can you at least let me be there when it's time to say goodbye? Or am I too much of a monster to get that?!"

Rick held his breath. Turning his head to the doctor he reluctantly gave a nod as he handed off the slip-on mask to the woman and walked away without another word.

"I'll take you to him," the doctor said as he turned back to the OR doors and Violet followed close behind, her hand tightly wrapped around the graphene diamond ring.

Walking through the halls, Violet wasn't surprised that people were clearing the way for her. It was like Rick said, there were very few people who were unaware of the deaths of Leviathan, Mother Nature, Capstone, Maestro. The papers back home had given her grief over the destruction of the pier when she had stopped The Triplets Mayhem, but she didn't care what anyone had to say then. The same could be said now, only the criticism was much higher than a ruined summer season.

The talking heads couldn't agree on much when it came to the NSA and the overwhelming response from the super community, but one thing that they did seem to unite on was that she was dangerous. Too dangerous.

Violet wasn't concerned about her own wellbeing at the present moment, but even if she was, who did she have to answer to? The NSA was falling apart, supers were either threatening the government or having their own mental breakdowns, and sure, there was the law and the military to boot, but no one was yet willing to approach her let alone try to slap a pair of cuffs on her wrists, save for Rick.

Coming to the room, Violet stood outside of the door and peered through the window. He no longer looked like he was in pain, but she wondered if he felt anything at all. He was hooked up to several machines, each of them monitoring the state of his organs or doing their work for him.

"How long does he have?"

"Hard to say. A week at most though that is being generous. He could pass before he wakes, and as cruel as this may sound, that might be for the best. I can't imagine the kind of pain he's in."

"He's survived worse things you know."

Sighing as he pulled off his glasses, he nodded in agreement.

"That may be true, but the human body can only take so much trauma. We like to think we're invincible, super or not, but at the end of the day we are only walking balloons of blood and organs," he continued as he cleaned some dust from his glasses and eyed the man in the room.

"I see that he had been operated on before, and endured at least one other hellish encounter…"

"Hell is all he's known," Violet whispered.

"I'm not denying that the man has had it rough," the surgeon cut in as he placed his glasses back over his eyes. "But I would count myself lucky to have someone who cared about me as much as you do about him."

Violet closed her eyes at the compliment, relieving a few more tears from her eyes as she did. She didn't thank him out of fear of releasing another sob if she opened her mouth. Opening the door, she stepped inside and closed the door quietly behind her, as though she didn't want to disturb Buddy from his slumber.

She moved to his side with her back to the door, looking over the broken mess with a heavy heart.

Again, the need to fight rose up in her, but it was weaker than before. She wanted to fight him. To berate him for his plan blowing up in his face or for the mistake of pissing off Leviathan in the first place. Nobody had to die- and it was clear that killing Leviathan and the other three supers was an act done without benefit.

It may as well have been murder rather than defense, but she didn't regret it. What she did regret was that the last words she said to his face were ones born from anger and not of love, or affirmation that he was doing the right thing.

Because he did the right thing. He put himself on the line to help folks he didn't know. That's what heroes did.

Rubbing her eyes again, Violet moved to the other side of him so she could face the door. She didn't think anyone in the world would risk their own life to take his, but she wasn't going to let anyone have a free shot at him again.

…

Helen and Robert Parr laid in the bed of their hotel room watching the news as they waited for their daughter to be returned to them.

She might have been an adult, but she was still their little girl. Even if she was able to kill four people by barely lifting a finger.

"Did you know she could do that?" Helen asked and her husband shook his head.

"No. No, I did not. But I have a feeling that Rick did," Bob sighed as the blurred images of the carnage played again. If it bleeds it leads may be the rule in the news world, but this was overkill even by industry standards.

Violet's actions had essentially wiped Evelyn's stunt underneath the rug, save for the exception that some folks were suggesting that maybe the NSA wasn't so wrong to do what they did. The word 'maybe' was the only thing keeping those individuals from becoming a target, but it was hard to deny the point some of the pundits were making.

Violet was dangerous.

"What I want to know is why the hell would Invisigirl volunteer to be around Buddy Pine of all folks," asked Charles Marr, the 6 o'clock anchor for News 12.

"Heh, you and me both, pal," Bob muttered earning a quick jab from his wife.

"Be nice!"

"What? It's a serious question- of all the people she could have aligned herself with why did it have to be Syndrome?"

"He goes by Buddy now," Helen reminded and Bob pointed to the television with both hands as they played footage of the man in question flying around the screen.

"Clearly he hasn't given up on playing dress-up!"

"He was trying to help!"

"No, he was taking advantage of the limelight and got burned for it. Hell, have we considered that maybe he put Evelyn up to this?"

"That's highly unlikely," Helen muttered as she folded her arms tightly over her chest.

"And what makes you so sure?"

"Because, oh I don't know, maybe it has something to do with Violet?"

"You can't be serious. Helen, he is using her!"

"Bob, they have been a couple for over a year. Let it go."

"AND HE SPENT OVER A DECADE PLANNING TO MURDER ME! Is it really so far-fetched to think that he wouldn't use her to get to me? Remember when he tried to kidnap Jack-Jack?"

"It's not all about you!" Helen quickly retaliated when a knock came at the door.

The pair exchanged worried looks to one another before leaving the bed in their bathrobes to greet their daughter but upon opening the door they only found a tired Rick Dicker.

"Where's Violet?" Helen asked as she stretched her neck out into the hall.

"She isn't coming," he grumbled as he made his way into the hotel suite. "Your daughter has made it very clear that she isn't leaving Buddy Pine alone, but she'll be on her way in due time."

"See, Helen, what did I tell you? The guy is nothing but a freckled cockroach, nothing seems to stop him," Bob said as he closed the door. "Did you see him? The camera crew didn't give us a good look at him but he must have looked a real sight!"

Rick sighed as he moved to a chair that was placed in the corner of the room and loosened his tie. "Actually Bob. Buddy is going to die."

The parents were still at the news. Helen's thoughts were on her daughter, but Bob was filled with relief. He knew that Violet would be torn up, but it was going to be for the best. She'd have to answer for the deaths she caused, but Buddy's death would serve as some buffer potentially.

"Tonight?" Helen asked as she sat at the edge of the bed and Rick shrugged.

"Not sure, though it sounds like it won't be much longer. The man got his comeuppance as they say, but I'm worried about the repercussions of his passing."

"Oh, do you mean Violet? Rick, she'll be okay. We just need to come up with a strategy to make her out to be the victim in this, which shouldn't be too hard, I mean she did help rescue folks before the incident and it was Syndrome after all-"

"Bob. Helen. Did you know that those two are engaged?"

The parents' eyes went wide before finding each other for confirmation on the question. Both equally confused, they shook their heads before looking at the overspent agent again.

Rick hated delivering news, especially when he didn't have the full story himself. These days it seemed like he never had the full picture, but if he knew one thing it was the files on one Violet Parr.

"You haven't seen what that girl can do," Rick started up again as he turned his attention to the world outside. It was night, but given the events of the day, there wasn't any life in the streets.

"So, you have been keeping her abilities away from us," Robert nudged and Rick nodded. The cat was out of the bag and it had shit outside of the litterbox. No point in secrets anymore.

"Everything you heard or read today, it's all true. The killing of kids, taking out high-risk supers. All of it. And Violet pulled today's stunt before. Had I not kept my mouth shut on it the first time, she would have been dead a hell of a lot earlier."

"We appreciate you keeping us safe, Rick," Helen said as she reached out to lay her hand on top of his. "But I know where this conversation is going. Do you believe that Violet is a threat?"

Yes. Yes, he did believe she was a threat. Maybe not intentionally, but Violet "Invisigirl" Parr was far more lethal than most supers he had interacted with. She had a good heart, that he also knew, but even the kindest people in the world could turn on a dime, and with the losses Violet had already experienced it was all the more likely that she was going to tip.

"I'm not sure, Helen. But it doesn't matter what I think anymore. I only know two things. She isn't going to be able to hide anymore and that I would not want to be Evelyn Deavor when Buddy goes."

…

Two days had passed since Buddy was released from the OR.

She had seen Rick again, this time he had brought her a spare outfit. Her old Invisigirl outfit, the dark purple and black suit with the near-invisible 'i' stiched in that Edna had designed for her as a gift for catching The Underminer and starting out on her own super career.

He hadn't tried to take her away, but he did make note that her parents were worried and left her with the information on where they were staying. She didn't take the bait, but she was thankful for the change of clothes, and that the room had its own bathroom where she could keep an eye and shield on Buddy as she washed the blood and dirt from her invisible form.

Two days had gone by since shit hit the fan, and it was still spinning around in the outside world.

FOILs were flying at the NSA faster than what the remaining staff could pick up, and so for the sake of transparency and sanity, Mirage had given the go-ahead to release every file that didn't affect current investigations or reveal secret identities out to the public. And the press took everything.

Every death orchestrated by the NSA, every MIA super, every plea deal ever made with a villain was now on display. Including Buddy's. The half-life of James Everett had come into play once again, though it didn't catch any headlines.

She had made the mistake of turning on the television to hear what the world had to say about current events, hoping to hear some news about Evelyn being thrown into prison again for massive public engagement, but she was safe as a whistleblower.

No, the segment she landed on was a focus piece on her. More specifically, her relationship with Buddy.

"Forgive me for finding this amusing, Janice, but Invisigirl is a textbook example of Stockholm Syndrome," spouted the supposed expert on super psychology on an interview with News 12's midday anchors Jeff Long and Janice Hughes. "If you saw the files the NSA released on Buddy Pine, you would see that the man had successfully kidnapped Invisigirl, and according to the report, if we can indeed believe them, no mind control was used whatsoever!"

"So, help me understand this correctly Dr. Bloom. Are you suggesting that Invisigirl has willingly sided herself with the man whose claim to fame was killing supers?" the male anchor

"Oh, I'm suggesting more than that! As we are all aware, Invisigirl has been using the moniker of WatchDog this last year and a half or so. We had all falsely presumed that WatchDog was either a robot or a man who was assigned to help keep Mr. Pine in line. As far as we can tell, they have been living together, and given the evidence we have now, I think it is safe to presume that the two were actually in a relationship!"

Violet didn't care that she was outed. She didn't mind the speculations because that's all that they were. Misinformed opinions. But she wasn't going to hop on a call to set the record straight either.

What she wanted to do was for people to acknowledge that the last day he spent on his feet was spent as a better man. The man she knew he could be. He acted not for his benefit, and not even for those who were stranded in the NSA. She didn't see it until she had spoken to Winston on the hospital phone line.

Lillian had asked about Buddy's condition. And that question made her remember the last question she heard from the child. It was Lillian asking Buddy if he was going to help Mirage that made him change course.

He denied it more times she could count, had berated her attempts for pulling him towards a path of possible redemption, swearing up and down that he wasn't interested in becoming anything other than the self-made man he had become.

But for the wide eyes of a child, he had willingly stepped up to the role he had denied himself of pursuing again.

Only two days had passed since she last had a conversation with Buddy, but it felt like two lifetimes since she heard his voice. The things she would give just to hear him say her name again.

...

It was the early hours of the morning when Violet woke with a start. The door to the room opened and she summoned the shield to protect Buddy and herself with one hand and the other at the ready to obliterate anything that came at them.

Entering the room, a black man in a janitor's uniform entered, waving dirtied white rag in surrender over his head as he crossed the threshold.

"Hold up, super. I'm not here to fight," he stated softly as he closed the door behind him but Violet still wasn't lowering her defenses.

"What are you here for then?"

"I came to pay my respect."

"He isn't dead yet," Violet said as she rose from her seat, the chair pushed back to the wall with a thick thud, but the man hardly seemed phased by the show of force.

"I know ma'am, and I meant no offense. Apologies, let me start over. My name is Tobias Freeman, but folks round here just call me Sarge," the man said as he pulled up the lone stool that was meant for doctors, took his seat, and held out his hand in a friendly gesture to shake. "Pleasure to meet you. Seriously, I'm a big fan of your work as WatchDog."

Violet stared at the man with distrust but took her seat again without shaking his hand nor lowering the shield.

"What do you want?" Violet asked and the man across from her sighed.

"Alright, a little rude but I'd likely be too if I was in your position," Tobias replied as he leaned forward. "As I said, I'm simply here to pay my respect, as well as a debt of sorts."

"Listen, I'm not sure how you could owe him money, and frankly I'm not sure if I want to know what shady deals you had with his villain hustle back in the day, but I promise you he doesn't need your coin."

"Actually, I'm not here for Syndrome, but rather for James Everett."

Violet lowered her gaze. That was a name she didn't expect to hear again.

"Well. I'm sure he'd appreciate any praise you would have for Kronos Incorporated, but any debt you have with the company should be paid through DevTech now."

"Never said I owed him money either," Tobias said and he began to roll up his right pant leg.

Violet was half expecting the man to pull a knife or some other weapon, but instead, her eyes came upon a metal prosthetic leg with the Kronos logo etched in. He then rolled his left pant leg partially to show the same Kronos logo, only the limb was lost at the shin rather than the knee.

"I lost them while I was on tour with my unit. The EOD team missed a mine and I had the unfortunate displeasure of finding it," Tobias said, shaking his head, his corkscrew curls bouncing at the movement. "I was pretty messed up when I woke up to the medical discharge papers, even more knowing I wasn't going to be able to walk out of there."

Violet lowered the shield at long last and relaxed her muscles.

"Sorry you lost your leg to begin with, but I appreciate you sharing this with me. I know he had the company do charitable things, but I've never seen any of it first hand," Violet whispered as she got to her feet again and moved closer to the head of the bed, tacking another regret into her book of 'things I wish I did'. "If he could, he'd likely tout about it just being for tax purposes or some other excuse, but I think he really did care about progress for common people."

"Well, this really improved my standard of living, that's for sure," the vet said in return as he got to his feet again and pulled Buddy's chart from the foot of the gurney. "I had enlisted as a corpsman to help people, and when I lost my legs I felt like I couldn't even help myself, let alone others," Tobias stated as he leafed through the doctor notes. "I realized later on that what I was really missing wasn't a limb but rather a sense of purpose, and these new legs gave me a chance at trying again."

Violet swore that she had no more tears left to give, that she was tapped dry, but hearing from someone else that he had helped them, her heart ached. A broken sob came out and she buried her face into Buddy's chest, using his hospital gown to muffle her cries. He had been able to help others like she had believed all this time. It couldn't bring back those he had killed, nor would it clear his slate, but she had to wonder what other unsung good deeds was he responsible for? How many other small acts had he done that made life better for others?

"Thank you," she said as she straightened herself out again, a shaky hand combing through Buddy's hair as the other swiped at her eyes. She turned her head back to Tobias who was too consumed by the medical file to hear her.

She continued to comb his hair, thinking of all the things he had tinkered with. Had he more time-

"Oh yeah, I've seen worse than this," Tobias suddenly announced as he snapped Buddy's folder and dropped it back into its slot. He swiftly moved next to Violet, rubbing his hands together. "It's been a while since I've had a challenge, but still, this is in the bag," he said motioning his hand underneath the blanket but was prevented by an invisible shield.

"What do you think you're doing?" Violet asked with her guard up again.

"Paying my debt," Tobias said simply but it was clear the super wasn't buying it. "Oh, right, right, right. I guess you want a demonstration first, huh?" he suggested as he moved around her and observed the man's bruised face and hovered his hand over Buddy's swollen and purple cheek. "May I?"

Violet swallowed at the request but nodded stepping back to give the janitor more room and took down the shield.

Tobias smiled in appreciation and faced the broken man, laying his hand over the side of his face. Breathing out, the man closed his eyes and began to hum to the beat that Violet recognized as Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys. Violet was confused at the display before her until she caught sight of change.

The swelling in Buddy's face wasn't just going down, it was healing.

"How?" Violet breathed as she looked up to Tobias again and he chuckled as he finished.

"Well, the papers say you're a natural super sleuth. Can't you tell?"

Violet's face burned in embarrassment. She did know, but she just asked the wrong question.

"You've got powers too… But why? How come you didn't just heal your leg? Why are you hiding out here as a janitor? And why are you helping him?"

"Woah, slow your roll there ma'am. First of all, there ain't nothing wrong with being a janitor!"

"Sorry, I didn't mean it that way, it's just that-"

"I could be doing something bigger?" Tobias asked for her and Violet gave a guilty nod. He laughed it off however and shrugged. "Yeah, I get that. Sure, I could be out there, running in the streets in some loud spandex unitard, but I think this is the best place for me to be. I can help those who need me most without running around like a mad man or subjecting myself to all that super drama. Plus the benefits are way better than what the NSA could offer."

Violet couldn't argue with that. Just asking him in the first place made her out to be a hypocrite. She went to school for five years for a piece of paper that she'd likely never be able to apply to the job market where he actually helped folks every day.

"As for the leg, well, I can only manipulate cells so much. I'm not like a lizard who can just regrow a whole leg, at least, I don't think I can," he said looking up in thought. "I'd give it a shot, but I think folks would get a little weirded out if I walked in with new flesh, you know?"

"Sorry," Violet mumbled looking away but Tobias just waved the apology off.

"It's all good," he said as he moved back to place his hands on Buddy's abdomen and felt around for the organs that needed rejuvenation. "Now I'll admit, I have no love for Syndrome whatsoever, and I probably wouldn't care too much for Buddy Pine either, but I owe James Everett my life. So I figure now is a good time as any to repay my debt."

"Thank you," Violet whispered, hardly able to believe Buddy's luck once again, though this time it might have been Sibyl's direction that allowed the luck to take place. As the only one spared from her outburst, Sibyl told her that Golden View hospital was Buddy's best shot at life. She must have seen some possibility of this, right?

"Mind you, I'm not going to fix everything. Can't blow my cover in here, but a small miracle or two won't hurt. Just going to patch him up enough to give him a real fighting chance but he'll still be out of commission for a little while."

Violet wanted the full recovery but she couldn't ask for anything more than what he was offering.

"Sorry I was a bitch earlier."

"Again, no worries. Normally I get to work my magic without anyone standing by as a witness. Thought for sure you would have packed it in eventually, but you really are his sentinel, and not just to keep him in check either, am I right?" Tobias asked as he nodded to the ring around her neck.

"I'd like to think he keeps me in check too," Violet answered as she felt at the laboratory-made stone.

Pulling his hands free again, Tobias moved to check the monitors, paying particular attention to the ventilator.

"I'm going to have to leave him with the bad lung, that would be a dead giveaway something fishey is up if I fixed that. Same goes to the rest of his scrapes, those bad ribs, the kneecap, wrist and that missing tooth, though I'm sure he can afford a dentist with that. He should recover in a few months, so long as he doesn't run his mouth to the wrong folks or serve as a punching bag again."

"I really don't know how to thank you," Violet said quietly, watching as Tobias was already letting himself out of the room.

"Well, as I said, I owed him one and would like to keep this as our little secret. But if you are so inclined, when Mr. Moneybags does wake up, you can tell him his savior is partial to cognac and would not mind a free pass to that island of his for a couple of weeks. The winters here can get pretty brutal."

Violet quickly nodded with a tearful smile which was returned with a smirk and final wave from the miracle worker.

Alone again, Violet felt some of the tension in her chest release, like a valve had been opened to dispel all the woe she had held in her. Taking a full breath, Violet looked to the face of possibly the luckiest man on earth.

She wondered if all his near-death encounters just encouraged the world to try that much harder to put him into the grave. She could worry about future potential threats later, because there was a future again.

Sitting back down in her chair, Violet felt a shimmer of optimism for the first time in days. Settling her hand on his recently healed cheek, she shook her head.

"How many lives have you got in you, Buddy Pine?"

…

…

…

Waking up was never something Buddy enjoyed. At least not the initial drag back to reality. He might have been trained to be an early riser by his mentor, Major Metal, but there were points where he'd sleep forever if he could.

In his dreams, he could push his own creative limits, and most of his rough drafts for tech came to him while he was asleep. Nobody could bother him in his head, and even his own biases were shut down in the state of rest. He could just create without question or worry of failure.

Waking up also became harder over time. Not because he'd get wrapped up in his creative process, but simply because he was getting older. While the average man might groan at the aches of sleeping on the wrong side of the bed, he was dealing with the consequences of living on the wrong tracks of life.

Injuries really liked to flare up in the first moments of consciousness. Shot joints from his labor, a damaged rotator cuff from one of his first robots, having a goddamn luxury car chucked at him, and the rain of shrapnel were just some of the pains he had learned to deal with. The scars that Schmerzen left him with were mostly flesh wounds, but some of his nerves would still cry out every now and then.

He didn't remember ever injuring his knee though, and of all the things his body was currently feeling, that was the one that made him wake.

'Fucking hell,' he attempted to mumble half-asleep, but something was painfully blocking his throat. He tried to bring his right hand to his face, but instead of feeling his flesh, he was slapped with the hard and porous texture of a cast. Then it all came back to him.

Lillian, The Ox, The Eighth Wonder, Evelyn, Mother Nature, Leviathan, Violet.

Violet.

Opening his eyes, Buddy tensed at the feeling of tubes inside of him. He motioned his left hand to take the endotracheal tube out of his mouth but his hand was in a hold, not from a cast, but Violet's hand.

She was asleep, but she held onto his hand as though her grip on him was the only thing keeping him alive.

Maybe it was.

Turning his head back to rest on the pillow, Buddy motioned to close his eyes again, knowing he was safe with her at his side but the sound of breaking glass struck the fear into his system again.

Snapping his head in the direction of the sound he came into eye contact with Rick Dicker, Elastigirl, and Mr. Incredible, all of whom seemed as equally shocked as him. There was broken glass on the floor and a few flowers in the mix. Daffodils and daisies littered the floor with shards of broken glass.

Violet awoke to the sound as well and she was ready to attack until her gaze met her parents. Relaxing her body once more, she turned her attention to Buddy's face and froze seeing his bright glacier eyes on her.

Forgetting how to breathe, Violet flew from her seat and was right on him, incoherent sentences leaving her mouth as she smothered his face with kisses, her hands holding his face. Buddy was powerless to stop her or to return the affection, but he was able to drink in the delicious expression of his childhood hero looking livid as hell.

He'd laugh if he could. He'd like to do more than that actually, but he was content with suffering the chaos of Violet Parr's love.

Maybe waking up wasn't so bad after all.

…

"I thought you said he was on his deathbed."

"That's what I was told, Bob," Rick replied as he took his seat behind the wheel of a rented black sedan. "Doctor's all said he had a day or two in him at most the other day. They all seemed just as shocked as us."

"I doubt that very much," Robert growled as he folded his arms in the back of the car, ignoring the look his wife was giving him.

"Can't you just be happy that he had the stuffing damn well beat out of him?"

"No, Helen, I can't. I was hoping to have his body stuffed and put into a museum actually. I'm sure Syndrome would enjoy that too."

"Oh for god's sake- Do you want Violet to drop off the face of the earth again, or did you forget how she took Tony's death?"

"What happened to Tony was a tragedy, but you know she'd get over him too eventually. God, I wish she could just find some other super to be with, you know? Like Leviathan!"

"Leviathan? Leviathan as in the Leviathan she had imploded?" Helen asked and Bob flinched at the memory.

"Alright, bad example."

"Very bad example," Rick agreed as he turned his head over his shoulder. "For one, the only reason he was in the capital was that the agency wanted to keep a closer eye on him as an at-risk super, but I assume you picked him out because of his take on Buddy, right?"

"... Maybe."

"Well, Bob, now that Buddy is on the road to recovery, maybe you can talk to him about what started their national feud."

"Can't you just tell me?"

"I could, but I just got notice that the agency is letting all non-essential personnel go. This time next week I'll be officially retired, for good, and I am done playing messenger," the man pushed back as he turned back around and turned the engine on. "You can figure things out for yourself."