Ultraviolet

Chapter 6

18 Levels

Black. It was all she saw…

Violet's eyes peeled open slowly, and she blinked repeatedly after. There was only black in front of her. Was she… blind? Feeling an irresistible urge, her hands inched towards her eyes, trying to convince herself that she hadn't lost her sight. The curvature of her eyelids assured her that her eyeballs were in place. She touched the area around her eyes; it was the smooth felt material of her mask. The familiar sensation of spandex hugging her body… she realised that she was wearing her Super-suit. How come… She brushed that thought aside. Nothing would matter to her if she can't see.

"Rest assured, you're not blind." The voice boomed around her, echoing off what were surely walls. "Welcome to my lair, Violet."

"Who… Syndrome?" Violet voiced out the first thought in her head. "What do you want with me?"

The voice was nothing like Syndrome's mocking tone. It was slow and steady, like a person speaking from experience.

"Youngsters… always so impatient… The 'Syndrome' you speak of is currently missing after he 'died'… As for what I want… I want to see if the children of the legendary Mr Incredible and Elastigirl are any good." The mystery speaker chuckled. "Or are you too weak to live up to her parents' name?"

Violet felt the rage build up inside her, especially after being called weak. Her gloved hands felt the floor around her. It felt like solid steel; at least she wasn't going to fall into an abyss. Pushing against the floor, she tried to get up. She slid to the ground almost instantly, unsure of her feet's position on the floor. She groaned and climbed to a squatting position. Rising slowly, with her arms spread out, she righted herself.

"Good. Now we can start."

She felt movement under her feet, and almost tumbled to the ground. Spreading her legs out to shoulder-width, she raised her hands to her side to her side to aid her balance. Her eyes scanned the darkness around her, cursing silently at the futile results. The very ground under her is moving, though in what way, she did not know.

She formulated a plan: Move towards a wall and feel for an exit. Raising her foot, she took half a step forward. There was a flicker of light to her right; she slammed her foot to the floor hastily. With the side of her eye she caught a glimpse of a man running past her. The light faded in a second; she was in the darkness again.

"So how does it feel like to be invisible?"

The light flicked on again, this time directly in front of her. The light went off before she could register what she saw: Muscular fingers gripping a rifle aimed straight at her heart. She flailed her arms, falling backwards in the process. Her confidence waning, it took her twice the effort to stand up. Violet raised her hands to combat position, ready for any surprises. Still, her heart was pounding, trying to anticipate the direction of the next attack.

Several seconds passed. Violet's head scanned the dark oblivion in front of her, desperate for a sign of any threats coming from her side. She heard a soft click from under her feet; the floor stopped moving.

Immediately her heart skipped a beat. There was someone behind her. Summoning the last of her courage, she whirled around, fist raised, just as the now familiar light shone on a soldier's facial features. In an instant her fist connected with it.

A sharp pain shot up her arm; whatever she hit wasn't human. Violet groped the air around her, feeling smooth plastic. She could have slapped herself. It was merely a plastic statue. She reeled back as a soft beep came from in front of her.

"You're too weak, girl." It took her a second to recognise the voice; it was the snatch theft she tried to stop before she ran away. She felt like a healing wound was reopened, one which had barely healed.

"Why are you doing this to me?" She shouted to the darkness in front on her, even as tears streaked down her face. The answer that she got was not what she had in mind.

Light flooded the room from all direction. Violet shielded her eyes, waiting for them to adjust to the sudden brightness. Her eyes opened by a fraction of an inch, as she got used to the blinding light. She scanned the room around her. She raised her head at the towering plastic statue in front of her. Around her were several others, all in various poses. The dark seemed to magnify Violet's fear, made them seem alive. Now that she could see, they didn't seem too frightening.

She climbed up to her feet, fists clenched. Gritting her teeth, she shouted out to whoever was hiding behind the voice. "When I find out who you are…"

"You'll do what? Kill me?"

"Yes… I will…. I swear I will!" Violet swore, hardly knowing what she was saying.

"That's good, Violet. I'll be waiting for you."

Calm yourself, Violet, she told herself. Losing your cool won't get you anywhere. She took a few deep breaths, inhaling the stale air steadily. A door opened from one of the walls, sliding noiselessly to reveal a passageway. Violet dried the rest of the tears from her eyes and took a step towards the open door, the sound of her footsteps echoing throughout the room. Leaving the previous room behind her, she walked through the short tunnel and into the room beyond.

It was like walking into a control room of sorts. A large screen displayed images of her family members in action; some of her parents' early days as fledging Supers, then to their first mission as a family; them fighting Syndrome, the Underminer and a whole lot of other villains. She even saw herself, often just casting force fields or taking out thugs from behind whilst invisible.

Peeling her eyes from the screen, she looked around the room. In the centre of the room was a single armchair. Hesitating, Violet walked over to the armchair. She frowned, thinking of any possible traps from this seemingly innocuous chair. Oh whatever, she thought. If he had wanted to kill me, he had plenty of chances to do so.

She settled into her seat, hands planted firmly on the armrest, and raised her head towards the screen. The pictures of her family reminded her of why she had wanted to run away from home in the first place.

"Thinking of your family?"

"How did you…" Violet stopped mid-question. For a person powerful enough to engineer this set-up, being able to read minds was no big deal to him... or maybe it was a lucky guess… Violet couldn't care less.

"So haven't you wondered why they aren't looking for you?"

It didn't occur to Violet yet. Her Super-suit had a built-in tracking device. They would be able to find her with a click of a button… so why hasn't they?

"No need to ponder over it, I think the video speaks for itself."

"What? They're here too?" Violet cried as she turned her attention towards the images on screen, which Violet assumed were other rooms in the base. She gave a cry as she saw an unconscious Dash being dragged into an indoor racetrack. "Dash! Can you hear me?" Violet knew that it was futile; this was probably a pre-recorded footage.

Violet watched as Dash raced against a robot similar in build as him. The camera played the race in slow motion; Dash seemed to have lost by several milliseconds. Violet knew that Dash had too much pride in his powers to be able to handle a defeat such as this, especially when his opponent started taunting him. Through other short video clips, mixed with garbled screams and voice-overs, Violet could make out her mother and Dash in several other situations. She slammed her fist on the cushioned armrest and demanded, "Where's Jack-Jack?"

"See for yourself."

Jack-Jack was in a playpen, engrossed by a few of his toys. These guys may be mentally sick, Violet thought, but at least they left Jack-Jack alone.

"Yes, I admit it. I have a soft spot for young children, but rest assured that he will have his time… soon."

"What about my father?"

Violet's jaw dropped, her eyes widened at the scene that unfolded in front of her eyes. Her father was enjoying a candle-lit dinner with another woman. Though her back was facing the screen, she was unmistakable: Silvery-white hair, simple but elegant dress and slender arms… She was…

"Mirage?" Violet cried, gripping the armrest and feeling her nails penetrating the woven fibres. She thought Mirage was serving time in a woman's prison, far away from her life, but this video was a sledgehammer blow, shattering what was left of Violet.

Once their dinner was finished, they brought the dishes to a kitchen of sorts, returning several minutes later, Mr Incredible's beefy arm wrapped around Mirage's pencil-thin waist.

"Enough!" Violet roared, as the video cut off. There was a chuckle; Violet resisted the urge to smash up the screen in front of her. "What are you laughing at?"

"Don't you want to do something about this? How could he break your family apart? While your mother is suffering, he's enjoying himself… Right this wrong, Violet…"

"I want to… but I can't… He's my father…"

"Was he thinking about you when he did that?"

The question seemed to stir the dormant monster in Violet. She sprang up from her seat with alacrity as her boots almost dented the metallic floor. Adrenaline, now familiar to her, filled her bloodstream as she stormed off towards the newly opened exit. Inside her mind, wild fantasies of what she would do to her father spawned from her imagination. With a cold, emotionless whisper, she growled, "Whatever you're doing with me, make it quick. I want to get my hands on him…"

Violet stepped into the next room, eyes hung low, oblivious to her surroundings. Each footstep landed slowly; she only stopped when two elongated shapes came into view. Staring slightly quizzically for a minute, she realised that they were boots. Her head snapped back and she assumed combat stance. Staring back at her were blank eyes that were set on an expressionless face. Even more stunning was how it looked like her. Black spandex, yellow gloves and boots over a mannequin, not unlike that of Edna's when she made Violet's Super-suit.

Violet knew where she had seen it before: the villains who kidnapped her in the first place. Her eyes hovered over the logo; a stylised 'V' surrounded by a purplish pink sphere, which Violet recognised as her force field. 'V'… for Violet. This means that they wanted her to…

"Join us, Violet. We could do with a talented individual like you… You see what family can do to you… you're much better off with peers; siblings even, who understand you… I'd be glad to let off your family if you wish. Of course, what you want to do to your father lies in your hands…"

Violet reached out to touch the suit; it felt so much like hers. As her fingers ran down the suit, a single thought came to her mind.

Drastic times call for drastic measures…

Trivia: In ancient Chinese legend, it's said that there are eighteen levels in Hell, and the eighteenth level was for offenders of the worst crimes, like murder, or offending the gods. Those put there had to relive their worst memories several times a day, suffer torture and were never to reincarnate (had to stay there forever, in other words). Of course, there were a select few who got out in the end…

I tried to design eighteen rooms for Violet to pass, but that would be ridiculous, having to go through all of them. So Dash and Elastigirl each had five rooms, one for Mr Incredible and another for Jack-Jack. That left six for Vi.