Comics Cookies and Revenge

By Lejindarybunny

A/N: Holidays suck. Family sucks. The wait between chapters sucks. I apologize.

Disclaimer: The Incredibles, Syndrome, and all affiliated characters are property of Disney/Pixar.

Chapter 19: Who's Afraid of Thomas Wolfe?

Vex lay between the sheets of her massive bed, with the covers pulled tightly around her shoulders, so that only her nose and the top of her face stuck out. She was still in her costume, he cape was tangled up somewhere down there with the rest. She lay there, staring at the wall. Syndrome had sent her there to relax a little but while he worked. How could she relax? How could she possibly relax everything was just dissolving all around her?

She was a super and of course it was what she had always wanted, but what if now Syndrome really did hate her? What if all his care of moments before was just an echo? Or a flat out lie? Should she be afraid that he was plotting something? She didn't want to be thinking that way, but, oh, he had been so angry. And he had hated supers for so long. How could he forgive her, the way he had seemed to? She wanted to accept it at face value, but...

His mood shift had been so sudden. Maybe if he'd have hated her for an hour, she'd believe more that he didn't. But Syndrome was a man of snap judgments.

Vex turned over, burying her face in the pillow, when she found her mask came between her cheeks and its soft satin. She'd forgotten she was wearing it. She pulled it off her face roughly, and the world was plunged into a blurry haze. She tried to remember if her glasses were somewhere in the room. It was a nice feature of the mask, at least, to be vision corrective. She sighed, and set it down on the bedside table, finding her glasses there too, but she didn't pick them up.

The room was all colored smears, like Monet painting of lilies, and Vex didn't want to have the world in such sharp relief right now. She lay back down, and nuzzled her face against the pillowcase, thinking of her room at home, with its comforting familiarity of touch and smell. Her room at home smelled like the cinnamon edge of old cigarettes, since both her parents were heavy smokers, but this room had such an artificial smell. Maybe potpourri and mothballs, both of which she'd probably find if she opened the dresser drawers. She hadn't yet, all of her clothes were still stacked in boxes in the corner.

She missed her old clothes, her heavy, shapeless sweaters with thick, loose knit, softness instilled in their artificial fibers after many, many washings. She missed her faded black jeans strewn over the floor, and her shambled bookcase, and her computer not two feet from her bed.

'Gods,' Vex thought to herself. 'Oh god, I'm homesick. Stop. Stop it I don't want to be homesick. There's nothing I want at home that I want bad enough to go back'

'Hell, you don't even miss people. You miss clothes and clutter. You miss familiar tactile sensations, and that is all. This room is too spiritually cold for you, because you haven't lived in it yet, it's sterile, and it isn't at all comforting. And when you're dying, that is not what you need. Which is why hospitals suck.'

'I'm not dying! I'm not.'

'Aren't you? Piotr died.'

'Not of the disease.'

'Who said it's the disease that's gonna kill you?'

Vex clutched the pillow close. 'Syndrome is not going to kill me.'

'Are you sure?'

She bit her lip. 'It doesn't matter if I'm sure or not,' she hissed back at herself in her mind. 'Because I trust him.'

'He's not trustworthy.'

'I don't care if he's not. Maybe I'm not trustworthy either, and he trusts me.'

'He did. And look what you did with his trust.'

'It wasn't me! I didn't, I didn't mean to. It's not my fault.'

'Isn't it? You wanted super powers. You can't say you didn't.'

'Did. Past tense. After I met Syndrome, it didn't matter.'

'Vex, Vex, Vex...Three days does not a person change.'

'Yes it can!'

'Oh? Let's see. Forgetting for a minute, that they make you sick, would you freely give up your powers, right now?'

'Yes.'

'Oh really? I don't believe you.'

'I don't need them. I can be powerful without having Powers. Syndrome didn't need them.'

'Yeah, well I hate to break it to you, but Syndrome's a hell of a lot smarter than you.'

'Shut up! I was well on my way to being exactly what he is when he interrupted.'

'And you think that's a good thing? My, you really are warped.'

'Screw you!' Vex turned over in bed, and pulled the covers up over her head. This was stupid. What was she supposed to do anyway? If Syndrome was going to kill her there wasn't much way to stop him. He'd killed practically every other that had crossed his path.

'So you're just going to let him kill you?'

'Hell no! I'm not suicidal.'

'Would you kill him?'

'What?!'

'If it were his life or yours.'

'I- I don't know. And I hope I never have to find out.'

000

The plane ride did not feel like 'no time at all' to Violet. It felt like five hours. Which was not cool. Luckily, the plane ride had been completely uneventful. This also meant it had been completely boring, and Violet had spent most of the time just staring out the window at the mostly cloudy skies.

It didn't feel like they were going all that fast, but she definitely felt it when they started to slow down. She looked down at the vast, snow covered expanse that they were centered on, and saw mountains approaching in the distance.

She looked over at Dash, who was playing a gameboy, and then over at her father.

"So what's the plan, anyway?" Violet asked.

"Well, your mother will fly us over the coordinates, and see if we can find anything. If we do, we go from there."

That was what she had figured. Her dad was a real 'touch and go' kind of guy.

"So we're close, right?"

He pointed out the window. "You see those mountains? That's the general area we're aiming for."

So they were really close. Violet peered harder at the mountains. Was Sharon down there? Was Syndrome? Vi glanced around the plane. All of them were sitting there calmly, as if moments from a possible fight for their lives. What with how close they were, mom had probably been sitting up in the cockpit for the last half hour reliving the nightmare of the last time they had flown close to Syndrome's base.

Vi tensed herself with the realization that yes, they might get shot at again at any moment, and she would have to be ready. Not like her failure last time.

It wasn't a failure that Violet would repeat. She might not know exactly what she wanted to do with her powers, but at least she had the confidence to use them where appropriate. And, whatever else, using them to save her life, and the life of her family was appropriate.

Still conscious of possible danger, but more at ease, Violet sighed, and watched out the window again. It would almost be strange if they weren't shot at actually.

000

Vex was awoken from a deep sleep by the insistent buzzing of the com-panel by her door. At first she thought it was her alarm clock, and she ended up slapping the bedside table several times before she realized that it wasn't, and stumbled out of bed, to the panel.

She pressed the button. "H'lo?" she yawned.

"Vex," Syndrome said, his face appearing in the small screen. "I need you down in the control center."

"Okay," she nodded, trying to wake up, and wondering what could be wrong.

"Make sure you put your mask back on," he urged. "Syndrome out."

The screen went dark.

It took Vex a minute as she grabbed her mask from by the bed, to remember all that was wrong with the world; that she was one sick super. Great.

She set her mask in place, and with a swish of her cape, thanked Maurice that the outfit she'd been sleeping in was wrinkle-proof. Who would be intimidated by a sleep-rumpled villain?

She ran her fingers through her brown hair, shaking it out, and hurried from the room, forcing the sleep away from her mind. Something was wrong, if Syndrome needed her right away.

This thought was cemented by the fact that as soon as she stepped out of the private apartments she was greeted by harsh, blinking yellow lights. Yellow alert. The base was on yellow alert. 'How very Star Trek,' she thought, taking the elevator down to the control room.

The doors parted, and she saw some of the mercs sitting at various terminals, Syndrome standing in the middle of the room.

"What's wron-" she began to ask, but stopped, when she saw what was displayed on the main screen; a strange, high tech plane in their airspace. "Oh. Who is that?"

Syndrome shook his head. "We don't know; they haven't attempted contact yet."

"Do they know we're here?"

One of the mercs spoke up. "They shouldn't be able to detect us within the mountain."

"So we're all set then, right?" she asked Syndrome. "I mean, they might just go away."

"They might," he agreed. "We'll have to wait and see. Come over here."

Vex stepped toward him, a bit leery. Did he think she had something to do with the plane?

But he put his arms gingerly around her shoulders and asked quietly, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," she said, nuzzling her cheek against his arm. "I was napping."

"Sorry to wake you."

"It's okay, it was important."

Standing in his arms, she watched the pane as it came very close to where the hangar entrance was concealed, but if flew past. Vex breathed a sigh of relief. But before Syndrome could issue an all clear, the plane turned around for a second sweep.

"It looks like they're trying to spy or something," Vex observed.

"Yeah," Syndrome agreed, frowning. "Yeah it does."

The look on his face said he was considering his options. Vex was wondering what he was going to do as well, when she was caught off guard by the plane doing something decidedly not normal. It was hovering over the foot of the mountain. Hovering. And then it landed, straight up and down.

"Uh, Syn?" she looked at him concernedly.

He nodded to the mercs. "Ready the base defenses, and raise to red alert."

And then something more troubling happened, and Vex felt Syndrome's whole body tense. Four people descended from the plane, all in matching red suits and black masks.

"Oh holy..." Vex breathed.

"Do we have laser cannons out there?" Syndrome growled.

"We do, sir," the merc confirmed.

"Then ready the-"

Vex put a hand on his shoulder. "Syndrome, do you think it's a good idea to attack just yet?"

"Of course it is!" he snapped. "We'll catch them off guard. I'll finally have him."

She saw his blue eyes getting that icy hardness again.

"But the base isn't even at full strength," she insisted. "Look at them. It doesn't look like they know we're here. I don't know why they're here, but unless you want to jeopardize the whole base..."

"You're daring to tell me what to do?"

Vex breathed in deeply, half-afraid of his wrath, but this was one thing she was going to hold firm on. "No, Syndrome. I'm giving you my advice. Listen, Evil Overlord list number 17. 'When I employ people as advisors, I will occasionally listen to their advice.' They shouldn't be able to detect us, why let them know we're here? Why attack impulsively now, if they give you the chance to prepare everything perfectly to crush them? But that's just my opinion. I don't think you should initiate combat unless absolutely necessary, but it is certainly your choice if you think it's a good idea."

She saw his eyes shining with anger, and his chest puffed up arrogantly, but he diffused. "Fine. But if it even looks like they know we're here..."

She nodded, amazed that she'd actually been able to get him to agree with her. Of course, a logical argument helped, but she'd expected his temper to get the better of him. Maybe he'd used up his temper for the day. Gods she hoped so. Was it still today? She wondered, or had she napped all the way into tomorrow? She'd have to check later.

She watched the Incredibles closely on the screen. Just like she had seen briefly in the paper a week ago, it was Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl (though Vex privately thought she ought to be Elastiwoman by now) and the two kids. A stick thin girl with dark hair, and a little blond boy. She watched the four of them speak together briefly, and then split up slightly, as if they were looking for something. Vex saw the little boy disappear suddenly, and a track of snow was kicked up. He must have super speed.

But it was the girl that had caught Vex's attention. There was something oddly familiar about her... But what? She watched her carefully through a tense five minutes as Syndrome stood beside her, obviously itching to blast the shit out of the family.

He didn't get the chance though, as the foursome soon reconvened, spoke a moment more, and then boarded the plane.

Vex had to bit her lip, resisting the urge to say, 'I told ya so,' to Syndrome.

They watched for another few minutes as the plane took off and flew away.

"End red alert," Syndrome said, sounding disappointed, "I want those tapes gone over with a fine toothed comb. I know there are no voice recorders out there yet, so I want them installed, and in the meantime, see if you can piece together anything they said by lip-reading."

"Yes sir," the merc nodded.

"You can go back to your room, Vex," Syndrome told her dismissively.

"Actually," she said, "Do you mind if I take a look at the tape too?"

There was something really familiar about that girl, and Vex was going to figure out what it was.

To be continued...

RavensHaelo: I hope I keep you and your crystal guessing. No, things aren't looking especially bright between Vex and Syn, are they?

Artymas: Quicker isn't always better, you know. But you'll have to see what happens with Vex and the disease.

WormmonABC: Yeah, I really wasn't very good back then. Well, it got better as I wrote it, but it still wasn't great. Yay!! You got my Scar reference!! I love that whole scene. Interesting theory you have there.

Maya Beebop: Yes, it is loose/loose, isn't it? Heheheheh. How will they get along now? Well, we'll just have to see. Thank you for all your praise, it makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

Nini The Electrocuted Sheep: I'm glad you decided to give CCR a chance. I know the premise sounds bad. It's been done to death in every fandom, but I hope I'm doing an okay job.

VegetandAru: Aw, I'm sorry things are rough. I'm glad you're still reading. Remember, Syndrome wants you! To read CCR...lol

I really don't think there will be as long a gap between chapters as over the holidays, but just remember, most fanfics don't even get updated once a week. I try my best but sometimes things beyond my control get in the way. I am not going to quit CCR, so just be patient, and the story will continue. Hopefully in the next two days.

Love ya all.