Comics Cookies and Revenge
By Lejindarybunny
A/N: I want to thank Amanda Quick and her novel 'Wait Until Midnight' for reminding me of the joys of writing serially. It's about a lady writer in the eighteen hundreds who's chapters of mystery/romance are published weekly in the paper. Of course, she gets herself into a mess oddly reminiscent of her own writings. Go read it! (After you finish this chapter that is)
Thank you all for being patient with me. I told you CCR would be back.
Disclaimer: The Incredibles and all affiliated characters are the property of Disney/Pixar. Vex is mine.
Chapter 21: Initially Out of Hand
Mirage got the phone call a little past midnight.
"Hello?" she asked picking it up.
It was Mr. Incredible. "Hello Mirage."
"Did you find anything?" she demanded immediately.
"No, it looks like somebody pulled your leg Mirage."
She pursed her lips. "Nothing?" The man had seemed sincere on the phone, it was hard to believe that he was somehow having a laugh at her expense.
"Not a single thing."
"Okay, well, thank you for looking into it Mr. Incredible."
"Any time."
With a sigh she hung up the phone, and sat on the edge of her bed. She gazed over at the dresser where a large canvas bag sat. Before Mr. Incredible had headed off, she had withdraw quite a lot of money from Syndrome's bank account… just in case. But it looked like she had nothing to worry about.
Maybe she was foolish to think he was still alive. Didn't they say everyone had a twin? The man who had kidnapped that girl just happened to look like her former… 'employer', that was all. And the phone call was someone trying to harass her. Though god only knew how they had gotten her contact information.
000
Syndrome was sequestered in his laboratory poring over Rasputin's files. He'd been in there for hours. There was a half- empty coffee cup beside his elbow, just waiting to be knocked over, and a completely empty coffee pot next to that. His hair was slightly wilted. There were dark circles under his blue eyes, but those same eyes were possessed of a fierce determination.
Syndrome hadn't felt this sleepless intensity on a project in… years. It was something that had been common in his younger days, when he had been inventing like a madman and gaining power a frightening rate. Once he'd actually had that power however, he'd stopped feeling that sort of fervor; urgency replaced by calmness and control. Let other people worry over sleepless nights.
But now the feeling returned in its fullest. It was a sort of half-feral state. No matter how hard the exhaustion pressed in, he would keep going until it was finished, or it wouldn't get done. He stared down at his notebook; scribbles of schematics and remarks covered the whole page, many of them hastily, and angrily, crossed out. But the last one, that wasn't crossed out, it was circled, and underlined many times. The pencil that had done the underlining lay broken in half next to the notebook.
Syndrome sneered at the computer screen. He had beaten them. Beaten Rasputin, and, once again, beaten nature herself. He took a deep breath, and leaned back in his chair satisfied.
Then he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
000
When Violet told her mother she was going shopping after school she immediately felt guilty. It was technically true…sort of. So she wasn't going to the mall… and the clothes she would be getting would be provided as a gratuity…
But she wasn't lying! …not any more than she had to, anyway.
Violet stared out the window of the bus, a few strands of hair falling in front of her eyes. She was lucky; she wouldn't have to walk too far from the bus stop to Edna's mansion. A super suit. She was going to get a super suit in order to interrogate Mirage.
It was both frightening and exciting at the same time. Vi looked around at the numerous people on the bus, quite a few of whom were more than a little creepy looking. What if something happened to her? Her parents wouldn't even know where to look for her… But then again, how likely was it that anything would happen?
And she went doubting herself again. She needed to stop doing that if she wanted to be at all successful in- in what she was doing. And she found, strangely enough, that she did indeed want to be successful.
She heard the bus driver call out the name of her stop, and stood, making her way to the front and dropping her fare into the tin. Stepping down onto the street, she looked around at the ritzy neighborhood. She knew how to get the rest of the way, when she was small, her parents had occasionally taken her and then-baby Dash to Edna's fancy parties. Sadly, fewer and fewer of the ex-heroes had come to attend over the years, until Edna had just stopped. As Violet walked down the gleaming pavement she found that this was the first time that thought had saddened her in a way that didn't involve missing out on party food.
The house, though she wasn't sure such a large structure even counted as a house, loomed before her, with its iron gates rising up and blocking her way. She looked over and found the intercom. She pushed the button.
"Who is it?"
"It's, uh, Violet…"
000
It had been almost three days since Vex had found herself sobbing in Syndrome's arms. A little while later he'd holed himself up in his lab, giving her instructions to monitor the entire goings on in the base while he was occupied. It wasn't a particularly difficult task, she just had to make rounds and make sure that everyone was doing what they were supposed to and not slacking off somewhere. She hadn't really felt like she could enforce her authority at first, since most of the mercs were quite a bit larger than her, but strangely they were quite inclined to do as she said. Most of this was obviously due to their wonderful training, but sometimes they actually seemed to be a little intimidated by her.
There was one incident in fact. A couple of guys were supposed to be on guard duty, and they kept sneaking off to play cards. The third time she'd caught them at it, she'd gotten pretty damn angry. After she'd gotten done yelling at them, after fifteen minutes or so, they hadn't seemed inclined to shirk what they were getting paid to do again. Vex had left feeling rather self-satisfied, but needing some tea for her throat.
Of course, she'd gone to look in on Syndrome every little while, but he seemed quite absorbed in his work and not inclined to make coherent conversation. She'd give her report and he'd mutter incoherent 'uh-uhs'. She was pretty sure he wasn't even listening.
Vex sat at the kitchen table munching on a box of Keebler elves. She stared at the yellow and white-checkered tablecloth.
'Why did Rasputin have a yellow checkered table cloth?' she wondered, just before deciding, 'I'd better go look in on Syn again.'
She sighed, pushing the three-quarters eaten box away, and stood up. She hoped he was alright. She didn't think he'd slept in all that time. She headed out of the living quarters and knocked on the door of the lab. There was no answer.
"Syndrome?" she called.
Still no answer.
She sighed again. He probably couldn't hear her. Well, she knew how that was anyway, her mother had complained about it often when she was writing. Vex tapped out the access code on the control panel, and the doors slid open. The sight that met her eyes frightened her quite a bit.
Syndrome was sprawled on the floor by his chair. His coffee cup was broken beside him.
Vex covered her mouth to suppress a shriek and rushed over to him, falling to her knees and grabbing his shoulders.
"Syn? Syndrome?" her eyes were wide as she shook him, trying to wake him up. He didn't move. Her lip began to tremble.
'Not dead, not dead, he can't be dead.'
'Why the hell would he be dead? Damn it girl think rationally.'
'What should I?'
'Remember those CPR courses? Check if he's breathing.'
Vex cursed herself for being so irrational at first. She placed her hand next to Syndrome's face and was relieved to feel his slow, warm breath.
She breathed a sigh of relief. He was just asleep. The big stubborn doofus had probably passed out, refusing to get up and go to bed.
'See?'
'Yeah, okay, now what? I can't leave him here.'
'So put him in bed.'
'Yeah, how? You think I can pick him up?'
'You do have a point there…'
Vex looked over Syndrome's prone body. She noticed his hands were bare; he'd probably taken them off earlier. Which meant, she grinned. She could use them to pick him up! Vex had been looking for an excuse to try Syndrome's zero-point gloves. She stood, and gazed around the room. They were lying next to the keyboard as she had expected. She picked one up and put it on. It was a little big for her, and heavier than she expected. Now, how to get them to work?
There were a few buttons on the wrist, but from watching Syn use them she knew that none of them activated the zero-beam thing. So that left inside. She felt around the inside of the glove, wiggling her fingers around. But she couldn't find any kind of trigger mechanism. She frowned. It occurred to her that at some point, maybe she should have asked Syndrome how they worked.
With a sigh she took the glove off and set it down again. What now? She'd just have to wake him up. Great. She took a deep breath, and prepared herself. She really hoped he wouldn't be angry.
She knelt down beside him again cautiously, and tried again. "Syndrome. Syn, wake up." She poked him. He stirred, but didn't wake. She poked him again. And again. She rolled her eyes. He certainly could sleep couldn't he?
Well, she could do one of two things. She could either dump water on him, or tickle him. She weighed the two in her mind and wondered which of the two would be wiser, considering Syndrome's fiery temper. She decided water was out. How pissed would he be to wake up sopping wt. Whereas tickling she could stop as soon as he opened his eyes.
She smirked amusing, and wiggled her fingers. She shouldn't be enjoying this. Oh well. She put her hands on his stomach and began to tickle him.
It didn't take long for Syndrome to start squirming and finally wake up with a cry of, "what the hell!"
Vex immediately backed off, though she couldn't suppress a giggle.
Syndrome, sitting up and leaning against the desk, tried to glare at her, but couldn't really manage it through his exhaustion. "Wha-?"
"You passed out," Vex explained. "I couldn't move you, so I had to wake you up. And you were pretty hard to wake up."
Syndrome frowned at her, but didn't seem to be able to argue with her logic. He yawned wide, and stretched, trying to get out the kinks from sleeping on the floor for however long he had been there.
Syndrome opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it. The he grinned. "I did it, Vex."
She looked at him questioningly. "Did what?" She realized that she hadn't actually known just what he was working on.
He reached up and groped behind him on the desk until he grabbed the notebook. "It's not a cure," he admitted. "And I have to order some parts, but I've invented a device to stabilize your condition without plating anything in your head and …without obstructing your powers."
Vex's eyes widened with delight and she suddenly leapt on Syndrome and gave him a fierce hug. There were tears in her eyes.
Syndrome, though initially winded by the glomp, put his arm around her shoulder fondly. "Hey, I told you I'd take care of it, right?"
She nodded.
He lifted her chin up with two fingers so that their eyes met. "You doubt me?"
She shook her head. "Not for a second."
He leaned in close and kissed her softly. Vex felt her heart flutter.
Syndrome ran his fingers through her hair. He yawned again.
Vex frowned concernedly. "You oughta go to bed."
Syndrome shrugged. "Yeah."
"Come on," Vex stood up, and grabbed his hand, trying to pull him up with her. He tried to get up, but clumsily slipped back to the floor, pulling Vex down with him. She both winced and giggle as she landed on top of him. Syndrome chuckled as well, and pulled himself to his feet, dragging her up with him.
"Yeah," Syndrome said, finding his balance. "bed would be a good idea."
000
The small, excitable woman ushered Violet into the huge mansion, chattering away all the time, as Violet started around at the place she hadn't seen since she was a small girl. Most places from your childhood looked smaller when you saw them older, but not Edna's. It looked just as big as ever.
"It's wonderful to see you dahling, I have to admit I hardly thought I'd see you coming her all on your own…" at this Edna looked back, and her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Uh, yeah. I wanted to talk to you… by myself," Violet mumbled.
"Yes? Well, come, come, sit, sit. Now, sit down my dahling, please," she tapped her foot as Violet sat down cautiously in one of the chairs.
Vi wiggled nervously in her chair. What if Edna wouldn't do it for her? What if she told her mother what she was trying to do? She gulped. But it was too late now. Edna would demand that Violet tell her why she was here.
"Now, my dahling, what brings you here to my home, hmmm?" she folded her hands on her lap, and peered at Vi, questioningly.
It made her feel distinctly uncomfortable. "I well, that is… I wanted to… see you."
"Oh! So you enjoy my company hmm, I remember when you were a little girl, yes dahling, always just , disappearing in the middle of a sentence, yes? Very amusing but!" Edna's tone of quick but fond remembrance turned suddenly slow and insinuating, "we both know that is not really why you are here…"
Violet's resolve died under her knowing gaze. "I…"
"Well! Out with it! Come, come my dear, I haven't got all day."
Violet didn't say anything.
Edna leapt out of her chair. "What are you waiting for!"
Violet winced. She didn't like being yelled at. "I want a suit," she muttered.
"What was that dahling? I couldn't quite hear you," she said in a sweet, singsong voice.
"I said I want a suit," Vi repeated more firmly, crossing her arms.
Edna grinned. It was almost a sneer. "Oooooh, you want me to make you a suit do you? Well, I don't know what's wrong with the one you already have, unless…" her eyes narrowed again. "Your mother, does she know you are here?"
"Well, no…"
"I thought so! Yoooou want to go into solo work, am I right? Don't try to deny it girl I know my business yes? You're tired of always going out as a team, you want to be your own star!" she gestured wildly.
"Well, that's sort of it," Violet agreed hesitantly.
"I like it!" Edna grinned. "Hmm, lets see, you need a new costume, yes, and you'll want to do something about that hair, much too telling, hmm? But you can't just cut it, that would give you away also. I take it you won't want your parents in on your new identity?"
Violet was shocked at how, not even nonchalantly, but excitedly, Edna was taking her request, which she realized she hadn't even gotten to specifically ask. "Right," she nodded. And Edna didn't have any problem hiding it from her parents! Vi had known the designer had a subversive streak, but this was just too cool.
"That makes it more difficult, yes…But! I am up to the challenge! Now! Shoo! I have work to do! Come back in week, nice to see you bye!" Edna waved at her, all the while leading her back outside to the driveway and to a limo with a tall driver standing beside it. "This is James, my chauffer, he'll take you home, won't you dahling? Oh, but make sure to drop her off a block away, yes?"
A thrill of infectious excitement went through Vi's spine. Things were going better than she ever could have planned. In one week, she'd have her own secret identity.
To be continued…