AN: I was really gratified to read that people are enjoying this story.
Leaper182: I'm thrilled that you felt it was like the conversation between Helen and the kids in the cave – that was exactly what I was going for.
Starchild524: everyone has a little brother (or cousin, or at least friend) like Dash. I just projected my little sister into him, and pressed 'fast-forward.' I'll try to avoid the clichés phrases from now on.
Dragon of Venus: We'll see Tony suggest a name in this chapter. I don't know if Violet will go for it, though.
Chapter 3: Competition
The two kids sitting at a small metal table in the Food Court would not have stood out from any of the dozens that swarmed the mall every weekend. The boy was a little taller than average, with that slight gangly awkwardness that comes part and parcel with the onset of adolescence. He wore it well, though, with a confident smile and fashionably messy hair. The girl sitting across from him was exceptionally slender, with slightly tired eyes and a perky grin that seemed at odds with her long black hair and nervous posture.
Violet laughed aloud as Tony finished his story, and Tony beamed at her. Violet thought that the evening was going really well so far – her 'date' had done most of the talking, and was very entertaining. He had even offered to pay for her dinner (which Violet thought was charming, if a little old-fashioned), and seemed slightly disappointed when she thanked him, but paid for herself. She told him he was still paying for the movie tickets, though, which seemed to cheer him back up. Boys.
Tony twirled his chopsticks around his fingertips expertly, then reached across the table and unapologetically stole one of Violet's chicken fingers. "Your dad said that he had a meeting with somebody," he said casually, examining his capture. "What do your parents do for a living, anyways?"
Do NOT panic. Violet briefly froze in the middle of grabbing a forkful of Tony's pork fried rice. "Sorry, what did you say?" she asked, stalling for time.
Tony popped the chicken finger in his mouth, chewed for a few seconds, and swallowed. "I was just wondering what your parents did, is all."
"Oh. Well, Mom and Dad work for the government," Violet said carefully, going with the family's agreed-upon cover story. "Have you heard that they reinstated the old FBSA?"
"The Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs? Your folks work with the superheroes? That's awesome!" Tony exclaimed.
"Yeah, that's why all those government agents were at our house when it got scorched," she said, warming to the story.
"I wondered about that – I saw on the news that your house got damaged when Mr. Incredible fought that Syndrome guy, a few weeks ago. That must have been something to watch," he said excitedly. Then he looked at her apologetically. "I am sorry about your house, though. I'm glad that you all got out okay."
Violet smiled wryly. Boys. "Thanks Tony. That's nice of you to say."
"So, your Mom and Dad work with the heroes, huh. Is that why your dad had to go into the city tonight?"
Violet shrugged. "Yeah, Mom and Dad are working with the National Guard, trying to catch the Underminer..."
"Oh man! You know, that Underminer creep showed up right after you left the track meet on Wednesday. I actually saw Mr. Incredible and a few other superheroes fight him!"
Violet smiled to herself. It's nice to be popular, she thought ironically. "Really? Well, it seems like we missed the excitement. What happened?"
"Oh, man, it was like nothing I'd ever seen. The bad guy had this huge tank that looked like a drill, if you can believe it. He was shouting out on this megaphone how he was going to destroy the city, or whatever, and then BAM!" Tony gestured to give his words more emphasis. "Out of nowhere comes these four supers! Mr. Incredible started ripping up the tank, and then the two girls take on the Underminer himself. The fourth super was running through the parking lot, hustling people out of the way, to make sure nobody got hurt – its weird, too, 'cuz he was little, and had a high voice. Like he was a kid, or something."
Violet knew she had to distract him from that line of thought. If Tony made the connection between Dash the Hero and Dash the Annoying Little Brother, well, the evening could only go downhill from there. "So what did you do?"
"Well, my little brother was at the meet, so I ran back into the stadium and told everybody to stay there until it was safe. It was kind of crazy – people were running everywhere, cars were getting smashed in the parking lot, it was nuts. Dad got out his cell phone and called the police, and I got one of the officials to broadcast over the loudspeakers and tell everybody to stay calm."
Violet nodded. "That was smart of you," she said. She remembered being grateful that there weren't more innocent bystanders at the time – it was a good thing that people had kept a level head when the Underminer had shown up. "I bet you really helped those supers out, Tony."
"You think so?" he asked, pleased. "Well, my little brother decided to be an idiot, and climbed up to the top of stadium so he could watch. Said that he wanted to see the superheroes in action. I went up to get him and bring him down, but while he was up there he was almost hit by a flying car!"
"Oh my god! Really?" There is no way that idiot was Tony's little brother, was it?
"Yeah – luckily, Miss Disappear was right there, and threw up a some kind of wall that knocked the car away." Yep, that was him – wait, what did he call me?
"Wait, what did you call m- uh, her?"
"You mean that superhero girl? Um, I called her 'Miss Disappear.' I guess I just heard it from someone..."
"Miss Disappear, huh? That's got kind of a nice ring to it," Violet mused.
"Yeah, she was awesome. She disappeared again before I could get a good look at her, though. Anyways, I brought James – that's my brother, by the way, have you met him yet? – back to Mom and Dad. He is so grounded right now," he added with a grin. "Once the police arrived and told us everything was ok, we found our car and went home. Luckily, ours was still intact – I know a bunch of people had their cars smashed up."
"Well, I'm glad you're okay..." Violet said, only to be interrupted by another girl, who had walked up to their table.
"Tony!" Sarah Satterlee squealed. Violet forced back a scowl – it was well known that Sarah had a thing for Tony, like half the girls at Metroville Middle School. Can't she see that I'm on a date, here?
"Um, hi Sarah," Tony said, his eyes darting from her to Violet and back again. "Sarah, you know Violet Parr."
"Oh, hi there, Shrinking Violet," Sarah said in a falsely sweet tone. "Didn't see you there."
"Hello," Violet said through gritted teeth. She glanced at her watch pointedly. "Well, it's been nice talking to you Sarah, but time does fly, doesn't it?"
"Oh, do you have somewhere to go?" Sarah said venomously. Tony shifted uncomfortably in his seat, glancing at the two girls like a trapped animal. He cleared his throat, opened his mouth, and then words seemed to fail him and he shut it again.
"Yes, Tony and I have to catch a movie at seven o'clock," Violet said, leaving no doubt as to her meaning.
Sarah fixed her a glare before turning on Tony. "What a coincidence," she exclaimed. "I was just heading there myself! Oh, Tony, why didn't you tell me that you were going tonight? See, Tony and I go to the movies together all the time, don't we?"
Violet looked on in horror as Sarah smoothly hijacked her date. She felt her anger rise up to choke her, but she kept it down. I refuse to sit back and simply let this happen, she told herself, rising up from her seat pushing her chair back in with more force than was strictly necessary.
"Um," Tony said eloquently before being physically hauled from his seat by Sarah. He kept looking at Violet helplessly, only to see her staring holes into him in return.
The three of them headed towards the movie theater. That is to say, Sarah frog-marched Tony towards the movie theater, while an incensed Violet stalked on Tony's other side. She grit her teeth ever time Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but the worst was when the girl cooed "Ooh, Tony, I heard you talking about how you helped out against the Underminer. Tony, you were so brave... I don't know what I would have done..."
Violet was almost stiff with anger. Sarah wasn't going to get away with this. Violet had faced evil on a scale that Miss Satterlee couldn't comprehend – and if Sarah thought she could run roughshod on quiet, shy Shrinking Violet like she used to, she had another thing coming to her.
AN 2: For those of you wondering, Sarah is based on the extremely, ahem, 'well-developed' middle school girl who giggles and waves at Tony when we first meet Violet, and who Tony's friends tease him about. The name is taken from a girl who was mean to my little sister on her first date.