visualpurple: Charles is one of the "cooperative cogs" from Insuricare that we never saw on-screen.
Chapter 4, Menace
That night, after lights-out in the barracks, Violet sneaked out invisibly. She was holding Jack-Jack, who was also invisible because he was tucked under her costume.
They moved stealthily to the next building and into the room where Sir was sitting. He was arranging pencils on his desk so that they lined up exactly with the lines on his desktop calendar.
"Charles? Is my dinner ready yet?" Sir called.
"Yes, Sir, it's just prepared," said Charles obsequiously, a word which here means "like a cooperative cog."
"While I'm eating, set up the VCR tape from the monitor cameras in the main yard. I'll watch it as soon as I'm done. Then go iron my shirts."
"Yes Sir, it's wonderful being your partner and getting to help you run things this way," said Charles.
"Then get to it," said Sir.
Sir went into the next room to eat. Charles came out, popped a tape into the office VCR, and then rushed off to do the ironing.
Violet and Jack-Jack approached the VCR, still invisible.
"We have to figure out what happened, Jack-Jack," whispered Violet, taking him out from under her costume. She was prepared to shield him again if Sir or Charles came back into the room.
Violet fast-forwarded through the tape until they came to the moment before the accident. Sure enough, they found one blurry frame in which Dash was standing at the controls of the lumber pincher, pushing a button.
"This is bad," said Violet. "Why did he do it? We have to destroy this evidence before Sir sees it."
"Goopo glank," said Jack-Jack, which meant "Leave it to me." He touched the VCR and became a miniature one himself. Violet popped the VCR tape into his mouth and Jack-Jack erased the whole thing with a pulse of electromagnetic energy.
"Maybe we should sabotage the recording monitor, too, so it'll get the blame for the blank tape," Violet suggested. "I'm starting to feel guilty for covering up for Dash so much, though."
"Gonsience," said Jack-Jack, meaning, "Me too, but we've got no choice."
They sneaked into another room where a monitor was showing what was going on in the yard right now. Suddenly, Dash appeared in the doorway of the barracks. He blurred off at high speed and it was hard to tell which way he went.
"Where's he going?" asked Violet.
"Goptomtrist?" said Jack-Jack.
"That's it! Everything happened after he came back from the optometrist. He's probably going back there because someone forced him to. We've got to go help him!" Violet said.
They had heard from the other workers during the afternoon that the optometrist, Doctor Orwell, worked at the building that looked like a giant eye. Violet ran there, but carrying Jack-Jack made it hard to go fast.
The building looked even more spooky by night. An eye-shaped sign by the front door said "Orwell Optometry. Big Sister is Watching You."
Violet went invisible again and they sneaked to the side of the building where there was an open window. Jack-Jack made himself invisible using power he had absorbed from Violet, so Violet held him up to the window and they both peeked in.
In the room was a tall blond woman with a jeweled cane, another large woman they couldn't see well because her back was to them, Foreman Dubcutondy, and Dash. Dash was standing in the center of the room, staring into space.
"What went wrong, Dubcutondy?" asked the woman with her back to them in a strange falsetto voice.
"Somehow the log missed the little brat, boss. But we'll get someone next time. But please stop wearing that creepy disguise. Surely you don't need it anymore."
"I'll decide how long I need it. So keep calling me Shirley," said the boss harshly. Suddenly both children outside realized that this was Count Buddy disguised as a woman.
"We must get him to kill someone to cement my control," said the blond woman. "It will break down his inhibitions and he'll be mine for good."
"Mine, you mean, Dr. Orwell." said Syndrome.
"Yes, yours. All I want is the money you promised," said Dr. Orwell.
"It was a great stroke of luck finding you here when I was tracking down the kids," said Syndrome. "I'm rather glad you weren't killed by the Omnidroid version X1 after all, Psycwave."
"I go by Big Sister now," said Orwell/Psycwave/Big Sister. "I'm through with the hero business. What did those ungrateful normals ever do for me?"
"It's still geeking me out that you escaped," said Syndrome. "I saw you die with my own eyes."
"I made you think you did so you'd shut off your killer machine and I could get away," said Big Sister.
"Very sneaky. Now finish with little Dash here and we'll be even," said Syndrome.
Suddenly, Orwell gave a startled glance at the window. Jack-Jack's costume wasn't like Violet's; he couldn't make it invisible along with himself. Orwell had caught a glimpse of the bright red costume!
"Dash, Big Sister is Watching You. Attack the intruders outside the window and knock them out!" said Big Sister in a voice of command.
Dash came flying at them through the window so fast there was no time to react. Both Jack-Jack and Violet crashed to the ground, unconscious.