Goodbye to you

Goodbye to everything that I knew

You were the one I loved

The one thing that I tried to hold on to

- "Goodbye To You" by Michelle Branch

Kauri was in a surprisingly joyful mood as she drove to downtown Metroville to turn in her two weeks' notice at the university library. She hadn't thought that after getting attacked and almost killed she would be happy; but she supposed that it was the knowledge that she had finally escaped the oppressive life with Eric that was making her so cheerful.

Her smile disappeared almost immediately when she saw the Incredimobile parked haphazardly on the curb, and saw the Incredible Family standing outside a bank. "Great," she muttered. "Somebody broke into the bank, and I don't even have my supersuit."

Bex pulled over and leapt out of the car, and ran to stand alongside the Incredibles. "Hi, Bob," she murmured to Mr. Incredible. "Can I help?"

"Shouldn't you be on Nomanisan?" Bob said from the side of his mouth. "Why're you back so early?"

"I had some unfinished business here," Bex told him quietly. "And I'm sorry I didn't bring my suit. I had some trouble back at the apartment."

"Your suit's in the backseat of my car," Mr. Incredible informed her. "Where's Eric?"

"He got a little electroshock therapy," Bex said with considerable satisfaction.

Bob looked at her curiously, but before he could ask, Bex said, "I'm going to get my Supersuit. Be right back."

"Don't let anybody see you."

"Are you kidding? They're too busy watching you to notice little ol' me."

Bex turned and ran casually down the stairs, past all the spectators who were waiting to see what the Incredibles' plan of action would be. People moved aside for her, but nobody noticed as she climbed into the backseat of the Incredimobile.

She slammed the door shut, turned back to find her supersuit - and gasped. "Syndrome!" she exclaimed.

He smirked. "Weren't expecting me, huh?" he said.

"No, I wasn't, actually," Bex said tersely. "Didn't I tell you that I didn't need help?"

"You look like hell," Syndrome observed. "What have you been doing?"

"Electrocuting my ex-boyfriend. What have you been doing?"

Syndrome's eyebrows shot up. "I," he said, "Have been sitting here watching the Incredibles do their work. I just got into town. I figured I'd talk to them - you know, apologize for all the stuff I did to them. Offer to pay damages to them and all the Supers' families and that."

Bex looked thrilled at this information. "Really?" she said. "You'd do that?"

"Yes," he said with a grin. "For you, I would do anything."

Bex made a face. "That's such an overrated line," she informed him.

He smiled at her. "When you think of something less cliché, let me know."

Bex shook her head and then said, "Turn around."

"Why?"

"I have to change into my supersuit."

"And that's a reason for me to turn around because…?"

Bex rolled her eyes and said, "Fine. Look all you want. But I have to help the Incredibles with these bank robbers, so don't expect to be making out with me for long periods of time."

"I'll save it for when you're not working," he promised.

Bex laughed and changed rapidly into her supersuit. When she had dressed completely, she snapped the visor over her eyes and then leaned over and kissed Syndrome lightly. "I love you," she told him softly.

His eyes glowed beneath the mask. "I love you too," he said.

Bex smiled at him and then pushed open the car door.

She ran nimbly up the stairs and pushed her way through the spectators once again. None of them recognized her. They all moved aside and began to whisper.

Kauri went to stand by Bob. "What's going on?" she asked.

"The robbers are still in the bank," he told her. "We think they have a bomb. We're waiting for them to come out."

"What if they're sneaking out around the back?"

"There aren't any doors."

"They could get out a window."

"What kind of bank has windows in the back?"

"There must be a fire escape or something back there," Bex pointed out. "I just think it's a little suspicious that they haven't tried to sneak out yet."

Bob considered this. "All right," he said. "You, Helen, and Violet go around the back and see if there's an entrance. I'll stay here with Dash and wait until Lucius and Eric get here, and see what happens."

Bex nodded slowly. Before she left, she said, "Just so you know and don't kill him or anything, Syndrome's waiting in your car. No, don't go after him!" She stopped Bob by placing her hand on his chest. "He wants to talk to you. To apologize."

Bob's eyebrows shot up. "I'll believe it when I see it," he said.

"Believe it, buster," Bex said with a grin. "All right, I'm taking the chicks around back. If we're not back in thirty minutes, come looking for us."

"If you don't communicate with us in fifteen minutes, I'm coming in," Bob said.

"All right, all right. Yeesh. Men are so overprotective." Bex walked over to where Helen and Violet were standing. "We're going around back," she informed them. "Just to make sure the creeps in there don't - "

At that exact moment, there was a huge explosion, and one side of the bank came crumbling down into a pile of rubble. Bricks flew in the air and tumbled downwards, smashing into pedestrians, other buildings, and the spectators of the scene. Violet screamed in horror and threw a shield around as many people as she could. After a few moments, Bex noted from the corner of her eye a similar shield, only blue, right next to them. "Looks like Syndrome's leapt into action," she commented.

Bob, who had been pulled into Violet's shield, turned to see if this was true and shook his head in astonishment. "You don't think these guys were working for him, do you?" he asked.

"Doubt it," Bex said. "I only left a couple hours ago, and he followed me. I don't think he had any plans to start making himself look like a hero."

"Why'd they blow the bank up?" Dash asked.

"Bex was probably right - they had some kind of escape route," Bob said. "They got out with the money and left a bomb in there. Now we just have to figure out where they went, once all the bricks stop falling and the paramedics clear the scene."

Violet looked around. "It's stopped raining bricks," she said. "Think we can drop the shield?"

Bob nodded, and Violet's purple shield disappeared. Syndrome followed suit a moment later. "Yeesh," he said. "Talk about a mess."

Bob glared at him. "I have no idea what you're doing here," he said, "But you'd better not cause any trouble. We've got a job to do."

Syndrome held up his hands in mock surrender. "I just came for her," he said, pointing at Bex. "I won't get in your way. Besides, Incredible, I've got some stuff to talk to you about. Once you're done, of course."

"Just… stay here," Bob said, glaring at Syndrome mistrustfully. He glanced at Bex and said, "As a matter of fact, Stat, why don't you stay here and keep an eye on him?"

Bex gave Bob the thumbs up and watched as he and Elastigirl ran up the stairs towards the site of the explosion, stopping only to tell their children to stay behind. Violet and Dash came up to Syndrome and Bex, looking dejected. "We never get to do anything cool," Dash said miserably.

"You'll grow up and get to do the 'cool' stuff someday," Bex promised, putting air quotes around the word 'cool.' "And then, trust me, you won't think it's so fun."

"Yeah, right," Dash muttered.

Suddenly, behind them, a woman screamed loudly. Bex and Syndrome whirled around at the same time, ready to leap into action - and then they both stopped dead.

Eric was standing there in his Elemental garb, holding a burning flame in his hand and looking murderous. "You worthless little bitch!" he snarled, and the flame disappeared from his hand. Instead, a whirlwind caught Bex and hurled her down into the middle of the street. A car swerved to avoid her, screeching and slamming into a tree on the opposite side of the road.

Syndrome gasped in horror and ignited his rocket boots, making an attempt to go to Bex's rescue, but Eric suddenly created a gust of air that blew Syndrome in the other direction. He smacked into a building and slid unceremoniously to the ground, groaning in pain.

Bex was on her feet again by this point and had run back to their side of the road. She shot a lightning bolt at Eric and snapped, "You want to kill me? Go ahead. You've been trying for a long, long time, and I'm still alive."

"Not for long," Eric replied, and spit fire at her.

Bex ducked and rolled beneath the spewing flames. "Hey, that's my father's stunt!" she yelled at her former boyfriend.

"It's a good stunt, too," Eric said sarcastically. "Just thought I'd borrow it, since your father's dead anyway."

The street fell away from beneath Kauri to create a gaping pit. She would have tumbled in - but Syndrome was back on his feet, and he dove and pulled her out just before the hole snapped closed.

By this point Violet and Dash had gotten over the shock of seeing one of their allies attempting to kill another of their friends, and they leapt into action. Violet had gone invisible and had sneaked up behind Eric. She trapped him in a shield and held him inside it. Even though he couldn't escape, however, he could still control the outer elements, and he created a wind so strong that it knocked her flat. Her shield dissipated into nothing, and Eric landed on the ground. "I'll deal with you later, Incredible," he spat, and then he leapt to his feet and went after Kauri and Syndrome again.

Syndrome caught him in a zero-point beam and threw him, hard, against a building. "You know, you really need some anger management classes if this is how you deal with break-ups," he called to the prostrate Super.

Eric grinned crookedly at him. "You fucking bastard," he wheezed. "You're gonna pay for this. You really are."

Syndrome snorted and turned his back on his nemesis. "Monologuing," he said disdainfully. "The dumbest thing a bad guy can do."

It has also been duly noted, although Syndrome apparently forgot, that it is an extremely bad idea to turn one's back on one's enemy when he's still alive. Eric could barely move, but he could move well enough. He rolled onto his stomach and raised his hand. A huge mountain of earth split the building he was under in half, and the wall tumbled towards the ground where Syndrome was walking.

There was no escape from the wave of falling bricks. Syndrome couldn't run fast enough to get out from under it and he didn't have time to react with a shield.

But Kauri had time to react. She saw the wall collapsing, and saw Syndrome's imminent doom. He couldn't run fast enough - but she could.

She dove behind him and pushed him out of harm's way, just as the bricks, concrete, and metal smashed to the ground.

Syndrome laid face down on the ground for a moment, dazed, until he heard a sharp gasp from Violet. He rolled over and looked towards the pile of rubble. His eyes widened in absolute horror as realization dawned.

"KAURI!"