Ultraviolet

Chapter 5

Messengers

Violet's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe what she just heard, but her father made it clearer.

"Until the end of your school term, you have to come home straight after lessons. All through your winter holiday, you cannot leave the house by yourself, and especially not on dates. You'll have to tell Tony about it. Oh, yeah, that includes any missions too." Violet was about to protest, but her father continued. "If you decide to calm things down, then we may consider..."

"Consider what? Making me a full-fledged Super? Letting me join in the fights?" Violet asked bitterly.

Helen stepped in before it turned into another fight. "Alright, Violet, calm down for a moment and hear your father out. We have your welfare at heart. This is for your own good."

Mr Incredible put in the last word. "You're not going into ANY fight until you learn to value your life, and that's final. Now get into the car."

He stormed off. Helen, however, pulled Violet into a quick hug. "Whatever you may be thinking, your father actually cares for you. I think a time-out would do you good." Violet, with her mother's arms around her shoulder, was escorted back to the car. They drove back to the house, which, though normal looking on the outside, was a wreck inside.

Bob made a quick decision. "I'll sleep on the couch, while your mother will share a bed with Violet. We'll sort things out tomorrow."

The family proceeded to bed, all except for Violet, who went to take a bath. She needed to cool down from what happened that day, from the date to the fight, and now, being grounded. She climbed into the bathtub and washed herself thoroughly. In the comfort of the tub, it took her a few minutes to reach some conclusions about her life. She hated her parents for bring this upon her. Normal teenagers didn't have to deal with losing control of their powers, night missions, or even with death. She threw the bar of soap in her hands at the far wall in frustration. Feeling the tears well up in her eyes again, she brushed them off with her fingers.

Stop crying, Violet, she told herself. This isn't the time to be weak.

There was only one thing for her to do.

She dried herself and put on her clothes. Peeking into her room, she saw her mother sleeping soundly. She tiptoed into her room and grabbed a bag and stuffed a couple of outfits into it. Pausing for a moment, she stuffed her Super-suit in too, along with her mask. Her mind was in a rush, not only because of her hasty decision, but also because she had no inkling of what to do after she had taken the first step out of the door.

What the heck, I'll take anything that comes, she thought, pounding a fist into her other palm.

She crept past her snoring father and opened the door. Turning back, she stole one last look at her father. Maybe she won't return till they found her. Skip lessons and sleep on a park bench. The prospect of the last thought made her shiver. She looked out of the door; the wide world was at her feet, both merciless and at the same time waiting to be explored.

The first step out of the house was indeed the hardest, but the rest came easily enough. Her first instinct was to head for Tony's house. It took a little over ten minutes to walk there. The lights were out, but she had expected it. Who'd stay awake at two in the morning anyway?

She turned away from the house. She had no reason to disturb Tony in the middle of the night, just because she ran away from home. No, she shouldn't drag Tony into this family squabble.

The air around her was tingling with a weird vibration; she sensed movement to her right.

"That's so sweet, visiting her boyfriend at night, I think I'm gonna be touched to tears." The voice came from behind her. Violet stopped in her tracks, not sure if that was real.

"Turn around, Miss Parr, or we may have to make you do so." She heard the sound of a weapon being cocked. Who the hell… Violet thought. Well, they probably don't know about my powers, otherwise they won't be using conventional weapons.

She turned to face the road, where there were four people wearing suits which reminded her of her own, except theirs were completely black, with matching yellow boots and gauntlets. Their masks were the only unique features of each member of the group. A young man, about twenty, who was leaning against a vehicle reminiscent of those flying high-tech cars in sci-fi movies, stood forward. The remaining three stood in a circle around the vehicle.

"How quickly the situation change, Violet, for just a few hours ago another man was in a your position, and you were in mine. Outnumbered, without the powers to match ours, you might as well give yourself up."

In a flash Violet realised who he was talking about. "So… you sent Bloodhound?"

"No, but we were watching him all this while. Now, you have a choice, as always, to come peacefully or resisting. Anyway, it doesn't matter." He pulled out a cylinder-shaped grenade, tossing it a few feet into the air and catching it.

Violet didn't wait. The force field was up long before the pin was pulled and the grenade tossed. It arched over his head, spinning as it went, as it gathered speed on the descent.

"Interesting power. I heard that you used it to get past Syndrome's zero-point energy." As he spoke, a blue orb surrounded the grenade, exactly like Syndrome's zero-point energy. The grenade slid through her force field like a knife cutting through butter, in the same way her force fields could slide through those orbs. Pale green gas spewed from two openings. "Drop the force field, Violet. Gas, in an enclosed area… You should be smarter than this."

Both options were death traps. Violet had no choice. The gas wafted up to her nose. She dropped her force field and scrambled back from the deadly gas, coughing.

"Good. Decisive, but was it the better of the choices? It just means that I have to deploy another trick." He pulled out a rocket launcher, which was slung over his shoulders and took aim straight at Violet.

Violet gasped. Having a handgun aimed at you was one thing, but staring down the barrel of a rocket launcher made your legs wobble. She backed away, but came up against the wall of Tony's house. If he fired a rocket at Tony's house… She didn't want to think of the consequences. She turned invisible and rolled to her right, away from the wall. The rocket launcher trained on her every move.

"Wrong move, Violet." Even as she wondered how he saw him, her entire vision was filled with white light, and she lost consciousness.

Trivia: This chapter is one of the first 'turning points' in the story, the 'running away' mentioned in the summary. Coincidentally, I got the Specialists to attack her just as she ran away. This chapter also has the least words in the story. I know… trivia.