I'm the son of rage and love
- "Jesus of Suburbia" by Green Day
Syndrome hovered slightly above the rooftop of the apartment building (originally an abandoned warehouse) watching as three robots (smaller than the Omnidroid line, but of a similar design) attacked Metroville in three separate areas. The supervillain smirked slightly. That'd give the Supers some work to do this afternoon.
He was waiting for Bex. He knew she would appear, and he knew she would be looking for him. She wouldn't waste time on the robots if she could. To kill an animal, you had to cut off its head. Bex was the one who had taught him this philosophy; undoubtedly, it was still one she used as she fought evil under the guise of Static.
Syndrome reached over to a pot of flowers put there by the owners of the top floor apartment and plucked one. Static. It had been her super name as a girl. It had been the reason he had searched her background, and discovered just how cruelly she had betrayed him.
Or was it how cruelly he had betrayed her?
Syndrome crushed the flower in the fingers of his pure, snowy white glove. His rage showed only in the ice blue depths of his eyes, and in the slight reddening of his face. From a distance, no one would have known how angry and hurt he was at the moment, thinking of Bex and every rejection she had ever thrown at him.
Maybe he had deserved it. But he didn't think he deserved to be rejected again.
He dropped the crushed, bruised petals of the flower onto the ground and turned to stalk off. He was startled to find himself staring into a deep black visor. He stepped back slightly and took in the whole form. "Static," he said through clenched teeth.
Static bent and scooped up the flower petals. She studied them carefully, turning them over delicately with her fingers, as though terrified to damage them more. Syndrome was startled to see a tear slip from beneath the visor. "I feel like this flower, sometimes," she said softly. Syndrome had a feeling she wasn't talking to him, really, or to anyone.
"Bex," he said in a low voice, reaching out to touch her cheek. Maybe, just maybe, she trusted him…?
But she stepped back from him and pushed his hand away. "Not now," she said coldly.
Syndrome's eyes hardened. "Of course," he snarled. "You're the hero now, aren't you, little Bex? You can call the cops on me, beat me in front of the public, get my ass arrested, and you can just forget that I'm the only one who ever really cared for you."
She might have been looking at him; with the visor over her eyes, Syndrome couldn't tell. "We aren't the same people. Not right now."
Syndrome's eyebrows shot up. "No?" he questioned.
She smiled slightly. "You yourself told Mr. Incredible your name wasn't Buddy," she pointed out. "While you're in that suit, you're not Buddy Pine. You're Syndrome, and Syndrome has no attachments to Kauri Bexer, or Static, for that matter. And Kauri Bexer doesn't exist right now, either. There is only Static, and Static sees Syndrome for the menace he is."
It was creepy how icy her voice became as she said that, how detached, how calm, as though that was the way things should have been. Syndrome didn't like it. It might have been true, but even he allowed some of Buddy Pine to leak into his Super life. "You can't ever be wholly separate from the other half," he replied.
"Can't you?" The simple words told Syndrome that Bex was, in fact, dead while the body she typically occupied wore that suit. Static had taken her place. It was disturbing - like someone with split-personality disorder.
"You know, sweetheart, it's not healthy to have two personas like this," Syndrome informed her, leaning casually against the wall.
She shrugged. "Nobody knows but you and I," she said evenly. "But we're wasting time." She pointed to the robots. "Shut them off."
Syndrome raised an eyebrow. "And if I don't want to?"
"I don't care what you want or don't want."
"So I gathered." Syndrome stretched and yawned slightly. "Well, unfortunately, I'm not really in the mood to shut them down - they've barely been in operation for an hour, after all. I'd like to keep them going, thanks very much."
Static raised her gloved hands. Electricity sparkled brightly around her fingertips. "Would you like to keep your life?" she said threateningly.
Syndrome laughed, a cold, wicked laugh. "Now you're threatening to kill me," he said bitterly, shaking his head. "Dear God. Who woulda thunk it? Going from high school sweethearts to mortal enemies. Not the typical story that makes the news for warm fuzzies."
"The only time you'll be making the news is when I've put you behind bars," Static hissed, and a burst of lightning shot from her hands in his direction.
He flicked a finger casually, and a blue shield leapt up and surrounded him. "One of my more ingenious ideas," he said in a bored tone. "Got the idea from Mr. Incredible's daughter."
Static attempted to fire more lightning in his direction. He blocked it again, and then zero-pointed her. "You know, really," he said, dropping her to the ground, "You shouldn't be this easy, Bex. People will talk."
This comment obviously enraged her. She bounded to her feet and leapt at him. She knocked him over the edge of the building, but she flipped off along with him.
Syndrome was vaguely aware of the wind in his ears as he and his nemesis plummeted downwards. He reached out and zero-pointed her, and then ignited his rocket boots. It took a moment, but he rapidly stabilized. Hanging in midair, he glanced at Static, who was still frozen in her original falling position, her hair still swinging upwards and her arms reaching desperately towards the now-distant roof of the apartment. "All I would have to do," he said softly, "Is let go, and you would be dead."
He turned and dove towards the ground, with Static still caught in the beam. When he had safely landed, he disengaged the beam and allowed her to fall to the ground, much more lightly than she would have had she free-fallen all the way from the roof.
She laid there a moment, her brilliant red hair hanging in her face and her whole body trembling. She rose shakily to her feet and then slowly removed the visor hiding her eyes. "You saved me," she said disbelievingly.
She was Bex again. Static had disappeared without a trace.
Syndrome shrugged slightly and approached her carefully. "You didn't expect me to let you fall and die, did you?" he questioned.
"I don't know," she murmured. "It's just… you're just so… you hate us…"
"Not you, Bex. Never you."
He reached out and tilted her chin upwards. She stared back at him. There was such confusion in her eyes… she didn't know what to think… she seemed almost lost…
He leaned over and brushed his lips against hers. She responded, but only slightly. He made to deepen the kiss, but the sound of a police alarm shattered the moment. He jerked backwards and glanced over his shoulder. Bex suddenly seemed to remember what she was supposed to be doing and stepped backwards from him, her hand rising as she put the visor back over her eyes.
Syndrome didn't waste time. Bex would let him run. Static would hand him over without any compunction whatsoever.
There was the brief sound of rocket boots igniting, and then Syndrome shot into the sky like a dark streak of lightning. Static could not follow him. Instead, she stood and watched him disappear.