Whop de doop! Hiya! Wow, chapter 20. This is major accomplishment. I'm still alive by chapter 20!
…
It isn't the same without pop tarts.
Bob opened the door after the doorbell rang to find Dean standing on his front porch, holding up a cd.
"You need to see this."
Bob stepped out of the way to let Dean in. "What is it, Dean?"
Dean immediately headed for the computer. "The rodent… rat… robot thing! I hacked into the hard drive the other day (took me forever to find it), and saved everything onto this cd." Dean put the cd into the computer as Bob pulled a chair forward. He wasn't going to admit it, but he understood zilch of all the computer stuff Dean just said. Heck, Bob just had issues trying to get one to turn on.
Dean clicked on the cd icon that popped up on screen. From there a new window opened with three different icons on it. Dean clicked on the first one, and a video started to play. "This is a recording of everything the rat saw and heard from the time he woke up to the time he died." Then he clicked on the next icon. It was the programming, only now it didn't need translating, but as he scrolled through it, different maps and side boxes opened up that Dean had added in. Mostly it was stuff about the actual running of the rat, maybe something to send to NSA for a looking at.
"Here's where it gets weird," Dean said as they scrolled further down. He highlighted the strange part. To Bob, it all looked strange. But then one of Dean's interpretation boxes popped up, and Bob started reading.
This part of the program refers to the 'Robot Rat's target. While most learning robots of this nature are designed for the simple task of destruction, this program differentiates from the norm. (part of the 'weird' part highlighted, another addition on Dean's part) Here, the program refers to the 'Profiles' from a different part of the hard drive. This part of the program directs the robot as to the specific places it is to destroy, the specific persons it is to destroy, and how to get between these places undetected.
Bob leaned back in his chair. "What's so odd about that?"
"Mr. Inc, have you ever faced an enemy with some kind of super robot that targeted only certain people?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Most super villains build robots for one reason: power. And a super villain's favorite way to get power is fear. How do you make people afraid? You destroy everything in your way. Usually people aren't going to be that afraid if only a small part of the population is targeted by a robot. But they will learn to fear those people that are targeted."
"I don't understand, Dean. But what's that part about 'how to get places undetected?'"
"That's another thing. Most super villains with robots that are destroying stuff are pretty upfront about it. They want people to see them. But this thing is programmed like an assassin!"
Bob was thinking about the time he fought these things at the track meet and the movie theater. They certainly didn't act like assassins then.
"So what're these profiles?"
Dean moved the program window out of the way and clicked on the third icon. Two things happened. The computer started to hook up to the internet, and a window with a strange seal (not the animal) on it popped up. Dean clicked on the seal.
It was reliving Kronos, only worse.
When he clicked on the seal, the screen changed to a strange sort of menu with five pictures on it. One for every Incredible. Dean looked apologetically at Bob; he really did not want to do this. He clicked on the first one, Mr. Incredible. The screen changed again so that there was a picture on the left side and one on the right with a profile for each picture. The pictures were of Mr. Incredible and Robert Parr. The profiles gave a complete history of each; from weight and height to previous occupations to favorite color.
Dean exited this and clicked on Mrs. Incredible. She had three pictures, Helen Parr, Elastigirl, and Mrs. Incredible.
Bob slumped back in his chair.
Shadow was Violet. Rapid Fire was Dash. The Flare was Jack-Jack.
Dean turned to Bob. "Those are the profiles. The people the rat was targeting… Bob, there's more." Dean closed the profiles and clicked on the internet link. It was a simple white page with 'A message for the Incredibles' written on it. From the looks of it, the page was only accessible when this cd (or the original chip) was in the computer. A video started to play.
It was the Underminer. "Hello, Mr. Incredible. Or (chuckle) do you prefer Mr. Parr? It doesn't matter. I'm sure if anyone got a hold of my rat's hard drive, it was you. You probably got some punk kid to make sense of it all for you too!" The Underminer laughed harshly. "I wanted you to know, Mr. Incredible, you and your family are in quite a hole at the moment. I know everything about you all! I know about Buddy Pine and your misadventure at Nomanisan Island, I know about Elastigirl's recent offer to model for a home-decorating magazine, I know about all the powers the Flare has, I know about Rapid Fire's allergy to penicillin, I even know about Shadow's boyfriend. I even know your address!" A picture of their home popped up for a moment. "Face it, Mr. Incredible. Your stuck. Can't hardly pay your bills 'cause you can't get a decent job (must be embarrassing. You look for months and find nothing but a mailroom gig while all your wife has to do to get a first-class job is walk into a grocery store). The politicians in congress are against you. It's getting harder and harder to keep your identities a secret, isn't it? Well, obviously, you've gotten too careless! I know who you are!" The Underminer laughed again. "What do you think'll happen, Mr. Parr? Will I sell your 'profile' to the highest bidder on ebay? Will I drill my 'Mole' through your house? Will I kill your kids while they're at school? Will I create enough havoc to ruin the debates in D.C.? But I've got a better question." The Underminer walked up insanely close to the camera so that you could see his frightening eyes under his helmet. "Who sold you out?"
Bob felt like he'd been punched in the stomach.
The Underminer continued. "Ever felt betrayed, Parr? Ever felt like there was nothing you could do? Ever felt all alone? Ever felt like your world was crashing down around you, and there was nothing you could do? And then, even thought your world's ended, you have to keep going? Without your world?…"
A family picture they had taken about a year back by a professional photographer that Helen now had framed on her bedside table flashed onto the screen.
"…Good."
Dean exited all the cd windows.
Bob was rubbing his forehead, his mind swimming in God knows what. "He knows who we are…"
"Sorry, Mr. Inc," Dean said. He put the cd back in the case and handed it to Bob. "Here. You should probably keep it. Give it to some NSA guys." With that, Dean left the house.
'Who sold you out? Ever felt betrayed, Parr? Ever felt all alone? Ever felt like your world was crashing down around you, and there was nothing you could do? …Good…'
What on earth did I ever do to this guy?…
The next month passed by rather uneventfully. Bob decided early on not to mention to the kids that the Underminer knew who they were; no point in having them worry about waking up to a robot rat in their bedroom. He also settled into his job (plus his seventeen year old supervisor left, so he didn't have to put up with the punk anymore). Helen was also bringing home some bacon, and though it did kind of bother Bob that he wasn't enough support, he didn't mind. Violet and Tony "redid" their date; they went to a different theater to see the same movie, and this time the only action was in the film. They also went out to a coffee shop a few times, and Violet found it a great relief that Tony knew about her being a super. He was the first person she'd ever known that she could really talk to about her powers, while she did feel guilty about not telling anyone. Perhaps it was her confidence in him that made Tony able to confide in her as well. Dash wasn't as lucky. He was thoroughly depressed about being unable to run and participate in training (although the Underminer didn't pop up anywhere, so it didn't really matter). His leg was healing nicely, according to the doctor. At school, Dash got closer to both Mickey & his friends and Luke & his pals, and this alliance with both groups seemed to be causing quite a rift in the school community.
Meanwhile in politics, McCormick had recently proposed a law that would restrict supers' activities in public places to keep them from the "temptation" to do super actions. He was later hit by an egg while talking to the press…
He deserved it.
You know, it's really hard to pretend you know what your talking about when it comes to computers and programming crap. Methinks I'm gonna avoid that from now on.
Review…?