Comics, Cookies and Revenge
By Lejindarybunny
A/N: Line breaks were being evil on ffnet when I posted that, so I put 000 in instead. I''ll go back and fix it when the site decides to cooperate.
Disclaimer: The Incredibles, Syndrome, and all related characters and ideas are the property of Disney/Pixar. Sharon/Vexxation, and Mikhail belong to me.
Chapter 8: Setting Up Shop
"All of the doors are controlled by access code," Mikhail told them, as he tapped out a short series of numbers on a panel, opening the elevator doors. "The codes are controlled in the main security terminal, and you can set them all the same, or separately, for different levels of access."
Syndrome was watching him closely, he had the man pegged for a weirdo, and what's more, his stupid accent was already getting on the super villain's nerves. He hoped to be rid of him quickly.
"There are five levels to the base, however, as an extra precaution, this elevator, vhich is the only conventional entrance, only goes down to the first level, the barracks."
Syndrome nodded approvingly. Whoever had designed the place knew what he was doing, it sounded like. They stepped into the elevator, Vexxation following close behind them, and descended to the next floor. Mikhail led them out into a long grey corridor, with doors on both sides.
"These are the vorkers quarters; this floor also has a fully function kitchen and dining hall, gym and recreation room. The elevator," he smirked, "is through the gym."
"Doctor Rasputin was a careful man," Syndrome commented.
"No," Mikhail spat. "Rasputin vas completely paranoid. But he had his reasons."
"You sound like you don't like him much," Vex said.
"He vas a great man, but he vas driven mad by tragedy. I respected him, but I did not like him, no. And I vill be glad to leave this place, vonce my business in concluded."
"Oh?" Syndrome raised an eyebrow, "And vhat, I mean, what business would that be?"
"Vhy, getting you settled of course. The doctor left me vhith strict instructions not to leave until you vere completely comfortable your new surroundings. Unless, that is, you vish to throw me out in the cold."
"Riiight," he nodded. Oh no, he wouldn't chuck the guy out just yet. Not until he'd found out what was up with him.
They came to the next elevator, and Mikhail typed in the same code as before, Syndrome caught the whole thing this time, and memorized it quickly. The first thing to do of course would be to change it.
"The next level down vas the technical laboratories, there is a freight elevator connecting it directly vith the hangar. This floor is almost completely empty at the moment, however, and you may use it as you see fit. The third level vas the Doctor's personal laboratory, it also houses the master suite as vell as the guest quarters. It is the only floor vith another ving."
"Lets see that, then," Syndrome commanded.
"Certainly," Mikhail complied, pressing the button on the elevator. "Oh, it may go vith out saying, but of course all of the floors are monitored by multiple camera feeds, vitch are collected in the security chambers of the command center on the fourth level. Except of course, for the master suite."
"What's the fifth floor for?" Vex asked, speaking up again.
"Ah, that vould be the brig, lady," he replied carefully. "A most unpleasant location."
Ha! Syndrome snickered to himself. So the old doctor had kept a torture chamber huh?
The elevator stopped, and they stepped out into the wide main chamber of the lab. At least, it would have been wide if it hadn't been cluttered with all sorts of scientific apparatus and computers.
"Whoa," Vex seemed stunned. "Why'd he leave all his stuff here when he left?"
Syndrome's eyes narrowed. Good question.
Mikhail was quick to answer. "The doctor is retired; he had no further use for it."
Bullshit, if Rasputin was so paranoid, he wouldn't leave equipment here for the next person. And why would the technical labs be empty, even if he did? Syndrome smelled a rat in his new abode, and he was just going to have to chase it out.
"Oh," Vex didn't sound like she believed it either.
"Vould you like to see the suite?"
"Not just yet," Syndrome said. "I'd like you to show us around security quickly, and then I think we'll go back to my plane to close the deal."
"As you vish," he nodded, and waved a hand. "Of course, please then, just step back inside the elevator."
The first room on the security floor was completely empty.
"What's this space for?" he asked Mikhail.
"Vhy, security, of course," the Russian smirked maddeningly. "For the purposes of your arrival, I made certain to disarm the usual precautions, however. They are set in the main control room, vhich is down this corridor."
Security, when they stepped out into it, quite dim, bathed only in the light of a large number of monitors and screens, lighted control panels and blinking dials and readouts. At a glance Syndrome could see that functionality could be spread out across the terminals so that it took ten coordinated people to operate, or consolidated for a single person.
"You have the access codes for all of this?"
Mikhail nodded. "They vill be given to you vonce the deal is signed."
Syndrome frowned, and glanced at one of the walls, which was dominated by several dozen small screens, each of which showed the live video feed from somewhere on the base. He wanted to get started reprogramming, already! "Then let's go do that. I need to get the money out of my plane."
They had turned to go, and were almost out of the room when he noticed that Vex wasn't behind him. He whirled around, "Hey, Vex!"
She was standing at the camera feed looking concerned. At the sound of his voice, she snapped out of it and hurried to his side.
"Sorry," she said quietly. "I...thought I saw something move on one of the cameras."
The Russian, it seemed, had sharp ears. "Nonsense, ve are the only vones here" he chuckled loudly, "I believe this room is, as you Americans vould say, 'creeping you out', dear girl."
He glared at the man, and then glanced at his lieutenant. She shook her head just slightly, and he nodded. They'd discuss it later.
They made their way back to the large hangar at the surface of the base, where Jared was refueling the plane.
"There's a briefcase under my seat on the plane, go get it," he told Vex.
"Sure," she nodded, and hurried off to get it.
Syndrome stood alone with Mikhail.
"So, I trust this tour has shown that the base vill meet your needs."
He shrugged. "Oh, it'll do just fine after a little tweaking."
"Of course. If there is any vay in vhich I can help you vith these adjustments, you have merely to ask."
"I don't think we'll be needed any help, though I'm sure the doc relied on you for a lot."
"Ah, I am afraid you are wrong vith this assumption."
"Then why'd he leave you in charge?"
"Again, you are mistaken. I am merely a hired caretaker."
"I see."
Vex had returned with the briefcase, and proffered it to him. "Here ya go."
"Hold on to it for me," he instructed.
"Now," Mikhail said with a grin, "Shall ve adjourn to a comfortable location to complete this?"
000
Mikhail's green eyes, Vex noticed, were a study in friendliness and assurance, and, except for that one moment when they stepped off the plane, had been the entire time.
He was completely charming, and it made her wonder if she was just being overly suspicious. She might have accepted that, except for a gut instinct that there was something he wasn't saying. That and the fact that Syndrome definitely didn't trust him.
And of course, the camera, though she could chalk that up to an overactive imagination. It wasn't as if she had seen someone walking around inside the base or anything, but as she was turning to leave, she had thought she'd seen a flash of movement, low to the ground. She wasn't even sure what part of the base that particular camera had been aimed at.
The caretaker had led them down into the near empty tech floor, and into an office, which was furnished with comfortable chairs, a desk, and even a coffee pot, with freshly brewed coffee. It looked so perfectly normal that Vex was taken aback.
"Have a seat, please," Mikhail asked pleasantly. "Vould you like a cup of coffee?"
"Not right now," Syndrome answered quickly, sitting down in one of the chairs by the desk. "Lets finish this up alright?"
"Yes, certainly," he sat down at the desk, and pulled two large manila folders out of it, full of papers. "These are all of the base schematics," he said, pointing to one, "and these are all of the access codes, and other computer related matters."
Syndrome nodded, and then looked over at her expectantly. She set the briefcase on the desk, and he opened it, showing it to Mikhail.
"Payment in full of two point five million dollars," he said, and Vex could hardly believe how blasé he sounded about the figure, "Make sure your boss gets it, okay? I don't want any problems."
"Certainly, certainly," the Russian assured, and offered his hand.
Syndrome took it, and Vex watched them shake hands briefly and roughly.
"Very vell, I vill now return to my quarters. I vould appreciate if you not change the access code to that on me, eh?" he chuckled. "If there is anything that you require, merely page me on the intercom system."
He got up to leave.
"Wait," Vex said quickly, and he turned around, to look at her quizzically.
"Yes?"
"Er, is there anything to eat around?"
Mikhail laughed. "I believe that the doctor left the stores in his quarters quite vell stocked."
She nodded. "Thanks."
The caretaker left, the door hissing shut behind him.
Syndrome, who had been flipping through the top folder, looked up at her now.
"So, what's your take on Mickey there?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well..." Vex considered. "I think there's definitely something he's not telling us. About the doctor. I think."
He nodded. "I think there's a good chance that the doc is dead. That guy probably offed him in fact."
"So, do you think he's got something up his sleeve besides that?"
He snorted. "I intend to find out. That's why I'm not kicking him out right away. We'll see if he slips up."
"Good plan. So we watch him?"
"Like a hawk. Oh, speaking of which, what did you see on that camera?" he narrowed his eyes, looking around, trying to spot where the camera in that room was, Vex assumed.
"It was probably nothing, but I thought I saw something move. I don't know where the camera, but I can point out which monitor it was on."
"Good. We'll go down to security now, I gotta start reprogramming the whole system. Make sure it doesn't have any spyware or nasty surprises waiting for us." He stood up, and she followed him out of the room.
"At least the layout's not too complex," she observed.
"Not a first glance," Syndrome said quirking an eyebrow at her.
"Oh?"
"I was leafing through the copy of the blueprints, and it looks incomplete. I think there's more around here than meets the eye."
"Like secret passages, or rooms?"
"Wouldn't be an evil lair without them," he mused.
Vex laughed.
Syndrome tapped the access code into the panel by the elevator, and the clambered in. A thought occurred to her, as they rode down. "Syndrome, Rasputin used to be a respected scientist, didn't he?"
"That's right."
"Well, then what's with the secret base of doom?"
Syndrome chuckled. "'Used to be' is key in that sentence. You heard what the Russian said about him going nuts?"
She nodded.
"Nobody knows why it happened, but oh, about ten years ago, he just flew off his rocker. He stole the huge sum of money from the government grant he'd been given, and disappeared off everybody's radar, to here, looks like. He popped up every now and again, I think he had some ties to the Russian mob, but mostly nobody's seen him since."
"Geez," she wondered what could have happened to the guy.
The doors of the elevator parted as they reached the fourth level, and Vex started to step out.
Syndrome put his arm in front of her chest, stopping her. "Whoa, whoa. Hold it."
She looked quizzically at him, taking a step backwards.
"He said there were deathtraps in this hallway. It's entirely too possible that they have been reactivated since we were last here, if you catch my drift."
"Oh, right. Thanks. I didn't even catch that," she beamed admiringly at him.
He fished in his pocket and pulled out a quarter Vex watched him toss it deftly down the hall so it skated all the way across the floor until it hit the wall. No lasers fired, no pits of crocodiles opened up. In short, it seemed safe.
"Okay, now we can go," Syndrome said, strolling out ahead of her, "But stay alert."
"Definitely," she agreed.
Syndrome unlocked the door to the control chamber, and Vex adjusted her eyes to the darkness. Weren't there any lights in here? She looked around, but didn't see any evidence of anything.
Syndrome sat down immediately at the main terminal, setting the manila folders down beside him.
"How are you with computers?" he asked, taking off his coat, and draping it over the back of the chair.
"Er, I'm fair to middling, but I'm no 'leet haxor'," she sat down backwards in a swiveling chair, draping her arms over the back of it. "If you tell me what to do though, I can do it."
"Hmm..." he considered, brushing the side of his nose with his thumb.
Vex's stomach growled suddenly, and she blushed.
Syndrome smirked. "Why don't you go up to the suite and see if you can find that food 'Mickey' mentioned. Oh, and why'll you're up there, I left another bag on the plane, get that. Then come back down here, and I'll show you how to go through the database."
"Righto," she nodded, standing up again. "Oh, what's the pass code for the doors?"
"It's 12-34-10," he told her, and then he lifted his left hand, and tapped the wrist plate of his glove, taking off a small device. "This is a two way communicator, if you see anything out of the ordinary, just hit the blue button and tell me."
"Can do boss," she grinned, taking the device and putting it in her pocket. "Anything else?"
"Nah, that's it," he said, focusing his eyes back on the large screen, and typing something out on the keypad.
Vex turned and walked out of the room, back through the supposed deathtrap hallway to the elevator. So far Syndrome had only been asking her to do little things, but it wasn't if there had been much for her to do. Fetching and carrying would eventually be taken care of by minions, and or robots, she assumed. Not that she minded fetching things for him, and she certainly wouldn't ever say 'no, get it yourself', but she did look forward to doing something more important for him, to prove that she could. Well, he'd said that she could help with the computers when she got back, which was a little better.
She road back up in the elevator, honestly glad that she had the little communicator. She wasn't scared, as such, but she was nervous what with Mikhail lurking around, and whatever she had seen on the camera too.
She still needed to point that one out to Syndrome, too.
The elevator stopped at the third level, and she wondered, what had the Doctor needed with a brig anyway? The whole setup was really suspicious in her mind. After all, it was perfect for the uses of an evil overlord, which Syndrome was, and Rasputin, supposedly wasn't. She shook her head, stepping out into the Doctor's lab, and picked her way across it being careful not to trip over any of the many cords twinning their way around the floor like serpents.
There was only one door out of the room, so Vex opened that one, and immediately found herself in a very incongruous setting. It looked like the foyer of an old Victoria manor. There was one door, and a spiral staircase. Opening the door, which rather than being the sterile metal of the rest of the base was a rich mahogany, she found the kitchen and pantry. That was easy. Oh! But she'd almost forgotten the bag from the plane. She should get that first, before she tried to fix anything to eat. But before that, she wanted to see what was upstairs.
She mounted the stairs, which had a thick red carpeting, put her hand on the intricately carven banister, and started up. The hallway at the top of the stairs was long, and lighted by several small chandeliers. The first door she peeked in was a library or study, or both, filled with large, old looking books, all of which, as far as she could tell, were in Russian. There was a large, expensive desk, and several couches and chairs. The next door was a bath chamber, with a large, almost pool-like tub set in the marble floor, and several taps, all accented in gold and crystal. How much money had Rasputin stolen? She wondered, backing out of that room.
The next door must have been the master suite, because it, unlike the other doors, did have an access panel, and the code that she had didn't work in it. The last door was the guest suit, and peeking in on it, Vex wasn't sure how the master suite could be much better. The large bed with its long green hangings looked so comfortable in fact, that she had to hurry herself out of the room. Having slept in an airplane seat that night, even though it had only been an hour or so ago, made her want to lie down and not get up again for several hours. Which she couldn't do on any account. She hurried back down the stairs, and through the lab.
"Hello," said Mikhail with a grin, as the elevator doors parted to let her in, revealing him.
Vex took a step back, startled to see him. "Er, hello." She forced a smile.
"Are you going down or up?"
"Oh, up," she nodded, resting her hand on her pocket, and feeling the small, but reassuring bulge of the communicator.
"You are so on edge, Miss Vexxation, vhat is there that might do to set you at ease."
She frowned. "I'm sorry Mikhail, I don't even know who you are."
"Ah, of course. Forgive me for my intrusion," he nodded, and looked down, then said a moment later, "It is merely in my nature to inquire vhen a lady is in distress."
She laughed. "I'm not in any distress."
"Aren't you?"
"Like you said, this place just sets my teeth on edge. I'll get used to it."
"I see."
The elevator stopped at the second floor, and Mikhail stepped out, Vex followed him. After all that, elevator didn't go to the surface...
Vex walked down the hall, hoping that Mikhail would leave her alone. No such luck. He followed her all the way to the other elevator, but didn't get in.
"Why are you following me?" she demanded, as she punched the button to take her up.
"My name is Mikhail Rasputin, the doctor vas my father," he said, as the doors closed, parting them.
"What? Hey!" Vex complained as the elevator continued upwards to the hangar. If Mikhail hadn't been behaving strangely before, he certainly was now.
The thing in her pocket beeped, and she pulled it out.
"What was that about?" Syndrome's voice demanded, an image of him appearing on the tiny screen.
"Mikhail accosted me on the elevator," she explained. He must have been watching her on the security cameras.
"I saw that part, what was he saying?"
"Not much. He called me a 'lady in distress', told me he was Rasputin's son, and then ran off."
Syndrome frowned. "I think he wants to tell you something or other."
"Maybe what his game is?"
"Maybe...But it might be anything. You still have the tazer on you?"
"Yeah," she had taken it off to sleep, but both of them were safely in the satchel at her hip.
"Good. If he tries to talk to you again, go along with him. If he tries anything funny you can zap him at your own discretion." Syndrome smirked.
"Okeedokee. But I think he knew you were watching, and didn't like it."
"Good point. I'll look out for camera blind spots, malfunctions and such. You keep this communicator with you."
"You got it."
"Syndrome out," the screen shut off, and Vex put the device back in her pocket.
000
Syndrome sat in the semi-darkness of the security room, distractedly going through the database for bugs. He was more concerned with watching Vex on the security cameras, thinking, if he'd paid more attention to what Mirage had been doing he could have stopped her from ruining his plans. Maybe not from betraying him, but from betraying him effectively.
Not that he wanted to think that Vex was going to betray him. He didn't think so, in fact. He was actually more concerned for her safety than her loyalty. Who knew what this freaky Russian guy was up to? A glance at the monitors to him Vex was in the hangar bay getting the bag, and Mikhail was in the barracks TV room, apparently watching TV...
The computer beeped. The first thing that had annoyed Syndrome was that he'd had to install a Russian translation program on the whole system, though he should have expected it. Now that it was all translated he could comb the files for anything suspicious, or potentially useful. But if was bound to take a while. He'd have Vex go through the actual documents, to see if they could find anything about what was up with the doctor, while he looked for spy programming or viruses.
Vexxation disappeared into the plane for a moment, and then came out again carrying the bag. There wasn't anything particularly heavy in it, just his suit, and his laptop, which would make weeding through the computer much faster. She got into the elevator, and suddenly, five or six of the security monitors went dead, including the ones with Mikhail and Vex were on.
Immediately Syndrome reached to tap the communicator in his glove, but then he stopped. 'No,' he thought, 'let Vex handle it. She'll radio you if she needs help. That's what you told her to do.' If he contacted her now, all he would do was ruin her chance of finding out what Mikhail was doing. They already knew he was Rasputin's kid, or said he was. Why miss the chance to find out more?
Instead, he booted up the security files on the computer, determined to find the source of the black out.
000
The elevator stopped suddenly with a jolt. Vex gasped, and braced herself on the left wall of the elevator, as the wall behind her parted, revealing itself as a door. Something skittered from it into the small compartment with her. It looked like a rat, but with red and orange skin like a newt, rather than fur, and it was the size of a small dog.
Vex bit her lip, backing away, and pulled one of her gloves out of her bag.
The rat-thing hissed at her, as she pulled the glove onto her hand, and it powered it with an electrical crackle.
"He von't hurt you," said Mikhail, stepping out of the shadows to going them. "Nor vil I."
"What do you want?" she demanded, wiggling her fingers inside the glove to reassure herself that she was safe. If he tried anything, she'd zap his ass like Syndrome said.
"You vanted to know who I vas, and I vant to tell you. I merely do not vish , to be avare as vell. See?"
She nodded slowly. "But why?"
"How long have you been vorking vith him?"
"Not long..."
"I thought not. You do not have the look of a hardened criminal." He nodded. "Let us saw for now, that I simply do not like him."
"...I can accept that I guess. Where does that passage go?"
"It is the emergency stairs. They travel all through the base."
"I see. And what it that, thing?"
"A...pet of mine."
"Did your father create it?" she asked, recalling Rasputin's early bio-engineering experiments.
"In a manner of speaking."
"What is it you want to tell me?"
"About my father. You know vhat his field of research vas?"
"Bio-chemistry."
"Ah, but that vas not his original field, no. He originally studied as a simple medical doctor, but, vhen my elder brother vas born, he became...othervise interested."
"Why?"
"Because my brother vas a cripple! He vas born vith a terrible disease, like a cancer, that spread from within his body. Numerous surgeries vere preformed many by my father himself, but none of them vould help. Eventually my father located the source of the disease, and created a treatment to correct it. My brother vas finally fully alive, oh how my father doted on him. He sent him abroad to study to travel, to become great! But, in the United States, only months after my father had cured him, my brother vas brutally murdered!"
"That's terrible..."
"Yes. It vas my brother's murder that drove my father insane, and who can blame him? His favorite son vas lost, after so many years of keeping him alive."
"Were you, jealous of your brother?"
"Of course I vas! And angry, especially after he died. Vith him traveling, my father had finally begun to value me, but vhen he died, my father retreated here, obsessed vith his vork. He vanted to clone my brother, and bring him to life, strong and full. He vas no longer my father."
"Did you, kill him?" she asked cautiously.
"Vhat do you take me for, I monster, like your boss? He vas killed by his own experiment, several months ago. Disgusted, I planned to sell this base, and use the money to find and kill the person that I truly hate. My brother's killer."
"Is that what you're going to do?"
Mikhail laughed. "Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, before I could even find a buyer, I found myself robbed of my revenge. My brother's killer had been slain by another. It seemed I would have to be content with living my life a rich man."
There was a crazy, triumphant kind of glint in Mikhail's eyes that made Vex worry. "So, everything's fine then?"
"It soon vill be," he said with a smile.
The lights flickered.
"Ah, it must be beginning," he commented.
"What? What's beginning?!" she demanded. She grabbed the communicator from her pocket and switched it on. "Syndrome? Syndrome!"
There was no response.
"Please do not be alarmed, lady. I mean to spare you from this." He moved forward to touch her.
Vex balled her fist and swung at Mikhail. He didn't even bother blocking, thinking such a weak little girl couldn't do any damage. He got a face full of tazer. Electricity crackled, and the Russian's hair stood on end as he collapsed to the elevator floor, unconscious. Vex though she was safe, but then the rat-thing strange at her like a rabid bat out of hell.
She screamed and swung Syndrome's heavy bag at it, knocking it out of the air. It hit the wall of the elevator, but rebounded, leaping at her a second time. This time she caught it with her tazer glove, the creature shrieked and fell to the floor, lifelessly.
Vex scrambled over the two bodies to the stairs at the back of the elevator, and sped down them, through the near darkness, taking as many steps at a time as she dared without falling. She only hoped that she would get to Syndrome in time.
To be continued...
Yes! Hahahahahahha! Evil cliffhanger of DOOOM!!!
Maya Beebop: It's okay, I forgive you! hug Okay, I will keep going with Vex as she is. (I didn't really want to change her) I certainly don't want her to end up unlikable. Heheehe. About mad butt kissing skills, don't worry, she doesn't plan to abandon them! Hmmm, I donno, Syndrome does like getting praised, maybe he could take 24 hours of it! Lol. As to if Vex has any powers, I can't give away the plot of the story, but like I said, I know what's going to happen all through the story. I think you'll like it. And I think it will surprise you.
Shadow Fox Forever: Actually, I am neglecting my family and real life boyfriend to get the story up this quickly. The sad thing? I don't care.
Megan The Vampire Slayer: Good to see you again! You know, I think they actually do make Syn plushies...I have to go to KB toys. ...But what if I like pushing myself!?
VegetandAru: Is this soon enough for you? I am able to write the chapters this fast, simply because I am completely obsessed/divinely inspired, and am letting the fic eat my life. I literally have not done anything except eat, sleep, go to work, and write this fic since the first say I started writing it. I am so glad you like the way I write Syndrome, isn't he wonderfully callous? I'm so glad I inspire you. Love and hugz babe.
I'm so glad everyone likes how fast I'm updating. This way, it's kinda like a TV show, eh? Except you can't really miss an episode.
Tomorrow: The Piper and his Payment