Comics Cookies and Revenge
By Lejindarybunny
Disclaimer: The Incredibles and all affiliated characters are the property of Disney/Pixar. Vex is mine.
Chapter 23: New Inventory
Syndrome leaned on the metal rail watching as below him in the construction bay, Weapon X was being assembled. It was easy to see the progress from day to day. At the start they had assembled the basic endoskeleton, making sure all the joints were in the right places. For the past week they'd been building the 'musculature' of the mecha, weaving wires and cables like sinews and nerve endings. When they finally put the armor plating on it, then it would be time to take that baby out for a test drive.
The red head stood, and swaggered away from the viewing platform and was immediately accosted by a saluting minion.
"Lord Syndrome," the man addressed.
Syndrome fought the urge to roll his eyes. The urge won He had a fairly good idea where that mode of address came from. He wondered idly if he ought to hide the Star Wars movies from Vex. She seemed to be getting a little… obsessive in the past few days.
"Yes, what is it?" Syndrome asked.
"Its one of our ships, sir. Its been captured by pirates."
The redhead stared at his minion in disbelief. "Pirates," he repeated. "You mean Pirates as in eye patches and 'x marks the spot'?"
"Uh, no. Pirates as in seafaring bandits with machine guns and motorboats. They killed the entire crew, sir."
"God damn it. Well, which ship was t?"
"The Banquo's Ghost, sir. An arms shipment to Prince Abachaba."
"Oh wonderful, just wonderful. The bastard probably high jacked it himself," Syndrome grumbled. "Fine, send him a message; tell him it'll be late."
He wouldn't be happy about it, but tough luck. Syndrome made a note to revise his mental image of pirates, which was apparently outdated. Classic, but outdated.
"Is that all?"
The minion nodded. "Yes, my lord."
His eyes rolled again, almost by their own volition. Well, maybe it was better than 'Boss' which smacked of 'Inspector Gadget' and it wasn't 'Herr Docktor' which was a good thing.
"You're dismissed."
Coffee: that was what he needed. And food. And to see what Vex was up to. With that resolve he proceeded away from the viewing platform out into one of the many labyrinthine corridors of the mountain lair. They were lit with florescent tubing that gave the whole place a very sterile, hospitalish feeling. Syndrome thought he was one of the few people that actually liked hospitals, they gave him a feeling of controlled chaos; a space wherein men and women fought to combat the inevitabilities of nature with the weapon of medicine. In a world without Supers, Buddy Pine might have become a doctor. He liked to think he would have been a good one.
But that wasn't how life had played out, and now Syndrome made giant robots and light sabers in order to impress his control upon the uncontrolled universe. It was a little bit more visually impressive than medicine, anyway.
Syndrome was surprised when he didn't find Vexation in viewing room A. For the past few days she had been holed up in there, playing one of the Star Wars video games. He had to admit her mood had improved since he'd presented her with the Parawave Stabilizers, and while only natural, that change for the better please Syndrome greatly. It had been disheartening to see the normally exuberant girl moping about the base.
Well, if she wasn't playing video games, or watching movies, where would she be? Perhaps she was in the computer hub adjacent to his lab checking her email or something. Perfect, if that was where she was he'd have a chance to show her the fruits of his most recent effort.
When he arrived at the lab it was dark, and the hulking equipment cast eerie shadows on the walls that loomed like beasts. He heard from across the room however, the soft tip-tapping of a keyboard. His guess had been correct.
Quietly, without turning on the lights, he crept across the room towards the place where a door was ajar and light spilled out. He picked up the small, cylindrical item from his work bench, and continued his sneak up.
Syndrome smirked to himself as he opened the door without so much as a creak. There was Vex, in costume, her cape detached and slung across the back of her chair, framed in the hazy light of the gigantic computer monitor. He watched her for a moment, typing with that odd fervor, and when she still failed to notice him, walked up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.
Vex yelped and almost jumped out of her skin. Panting, she cast a wide eyed glare at Syndrome, who was shaking with laughter.
"Don't dopooooo that!" she exclaimed.
The red head took a deep breath and leaned heavily on the chair, regaining some of his composure. "Heheh, sorry, you're just too easy."
She stuck her tongue out at him, crossing her arms.
"Consider it payback for the 'lord Syndrome' thing," he teased.
"What you don't like that?" she giggled. "Anyway, its not like I told them to call you that. They just heard me say it and assumed it was correct."
"Oh is that so?" he raised his eyebrow.
"I can stop, if you want."
"Nah, its fine." He turned his attention up to the monitor. "So, what are you writing?"
"Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic fanfic," she admitted.
"Uh-huh."
"HK-47 gets transferred into a human body as the result of an accident."
"How's that work?" he asked curiously.
"Well, its really more of a psychological piece about how he reacts to it."
"So in other words you have no clue."
"None whatsoever," she said, returning his wry grin, "You're not supposed to put it that way though."
"I'm hungry," Syndrome said, changing the subject completely. "You want to get something to eat with me?"
"Um…" Vex blinked a few times.
"What's up?"
She laughed. "I just realized I haven't eaten in the last seven hours or so."
"I'm taking that as a 'yes'. Eat now, write incredibly bizarre Star Wars fiction later," Syndrome took her gently but firmly by the shoulders, and led her out of the room.
She didn't even argue the point. Well, not very much.
000
Someone was knocking on her door again; Violet bet that it was her mother.
"Sweety, are you all right?"
Yep, she was right.
"I'm fine mom, I'm just doing my homework."
"Are you sure?"
She rolled her eyes. "Yes mom, I am sure."
"Well, if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here for you."
Violet waited until her mother's footsteps were down the hall to let out a tremendous sigh. She was laying on her back on her bed, with her head over the side. The whole room was upside down. Three days ago she'd found out that Tony was cheating on her with Claire. Not only that though, that wasn't the part that made her so amazingly angry.
Later that day she had happened to be in the girls' bathroom, when she heard what she should have known from the start. Tony had been with Claire the entire time he and Violet had been dating. Vi was nothing but a side dish. A joke.
Vi had practically gone nuts. She was humiliated, crushed. But she still couldn't confront Tony on it, not face to face. Everyone would laugh at her. Everyone had apparently known… except her. Well, maybe Claire didn't know either, but even that was suspect.
That day she'd come home and said nothing, just locked herself in her room, without talking to anyone, and hadn't come out for dinner. Then she hadn't gone to school yesterday. Her mom had wanted to know what was wrong, but luckily, she hadn't pressed the issue. Violet knew she'd have to answer soon, but that was going to have to wait until she felt less hurt and betrayed.
Vi had gone to school today though, and done something that she shouldn't have, something that she was ashamed of. She had brought her costume with her, wearing it under her normal clothes, she hadn't known then what she intended to do with it, but she knew she was going to do something.
What had ended up happening was that she had, invisibly, watched Tony putting in the combination to his locker. Later, when no one was in the hallway, she had opened the locker, taken out everything in it, books, notebooks, personal items and all, and dumped it in the trash.
Vi had thought it would make her feel better, it did, a little bit but it seemed so petty in comparison to what he'd done. Just the same she felt guilty about it. Two wrongs didn't make a right after all.
She sighed again and sat up, glancing at the clock. It was only four thirty. It wasn't quite time yet. Still, maybe she should explain to her mother what had happened to make her so upset, before she went skipping off into the night.
She stood up and opened the door. "Mom?"
000
They were in a Mexican restaurant. Well, technically it was a Russian restaurant that served Mexican style food. It was a Mexican restaurant in Russia. Vex wasn't sure if she'd been able to Syndrome exactly why that was so odd.
It was, however, quite nice to get out of the Lair for a little bit, Vex thought. The seemingly endless series of corridors was filled with hazy electric lighting no matter what time of day it was. Granted, a snowy afternoon in Saint Petersburg wasn't exactly sunshine city, but at least there was some natural light. The people in the restaurant were eye-catching now, simply because they weren't wearing face concealing body armor.
"Can you speak any Russian? All the conversations in here sound like gibberish," Vex asked. She was a chronic eavesdropper in public places, and not being able to understand anything was a little unnerving.
Syndrome was sitting across from her in a maroon sweater and khaki pants, his hair back in a pony tail. He shrugged. "A few words. The menus are in Engl- well, Mexican… sort of. Well, you'll be able to figure out what the food is, anyway." He grinned.
"How do you pronounce 'Coca-cola' in Russian?"
"I think its just, 'coca cola', babe."
"They're not going to put any alcohol or anything in it, are they?"
Syndrome raised an eyebrow. "Why, do you want some?"
"No, it makes the coke taste nasty. I just always heard that Russians were famous drunks."
Syndrome laughed. "You better hope nobody in here speaks English!"
"Everything I know about Russian I learned from Pavel Checkov," Vex grinned sheepishly.
"Wow, and people used to say I had no life."
"Oh yeah? What stopped them?" Vex shot back.
"Mostly the laser-wielding robots."
She really didn't have a witty response for that. "Yeah… that'd about do it."
"Oh hey, speaking of your rampant fangirliness, I have a present for you."
Vex brightened up immediately, but before she could enquire further, their waitress, a svelte young woman with long black hair and heavy mascara appeared at their table to take their order. Vex, who couldn't make out a word of her 'bizarre lingo' got away with pointing at the menu and hoping she knew what she was ordering.
"So what's this present?" Vex asked curiously as the waitress retreated to the kitchen.
"Well, I had meant to show you while we were still at the lair, but I forgot. So you'll have to wait."
"Bastard," she pouted half-convincingly and crossed her arms. "I want it now."
"Well you can't have it now."
"Why not?"
"Because it's not the sort of thing you wave around in public. Well, okay, not the sort of thing most people wave around in public. And it would be too attention drawing."
Vex raised an incredulous, "Is that an innuendo?"
He laughed. "Not quite."
"Well, tell me what it is then."
"No, then you'll want me to give it to you even more."
Vex thought for a moment. "I'm going to come over there and attack you for it, in a minute."
"I'd like to see you try that," he grinned roguishly at her.
"I just might!"
The waitress set their drinks on the table, along with water, and straws. She said something that Vex again, didn't understand a word of. She assumed it was something to the effect of 'your dinner will be ready shortly'.
Vex took a sip of her coke. It tasted normal. She took a longer gulp to show her approval. Syndrome meanwhile was stirring sugar into a cup of coffee so black Vex was surprised it wasn't drawing nearby planet's into its gravity.
"Tell you what," Syndrome said finally, "I'll give it to you when we get outside after dinner, alright?"
Vex agreed to his terms, and the conversation turned to other topics as their waited for their food.
000
Once again Violet stood in front of Edna Mode's imposing properties. The fashion designer had asked her to come back in a week, and that was how long it had been. Plus an extra day, just for good measure. She pushed the intercom button hesitantly, expecting to be greeted by the imposing security guards. Instead, it was Ms. Mode herself.
"Hello?"
"Helloooo?" the pitched voice of the designer rang out from the speaker. "Oh! Violet my little dahling it IS you! Come in come in come in I have been expecting you!"
The gate swung open, and now security did greet her, with a golf-cart type vehicle that took her up to the mansion. Edna was waiting for her at the door.
"Violet! You must come in! I have much to show you! I triumph! That is the nature of my project, yes! Hmmm, come with me dear."
Vi allowed herself to be led through the halls by the hyperactive little woman, feeling just a little uncomfortable, but glad to know that she wasn't unwelcome. Disarming her security measures Edna led Vi into a small viewing room, where they sat down and Violet was offered some tea.
Behind a glass window there was a mannequin in Violet's size was wearing what she presumed to be her new costume. She had too admit, it was pretty cool looking. It was a mostly black bodysuit with silver highlights around the shoulders, forearms, and boots. There was a belt and a belt-pouch.
Edna pointed to it ecstatically. "Isn't it lovely my deah? High grade, stainless tight weave. Nearly unrippable. Of course like your old costume this one will also disappear with you. And I have elevated shoes to make you appear a bit taller than you are. But, now I will show you the real masterpiece."
Edna Mode picked up from the table a small metal ring, She held it up to the light, and Vi could see circuits around the inside. Then, abruptly, Edna grabbed hold of Violet's hair, and pulled it back. Shocked more by the suddenness of the action than its presumptuous nature, she held still as the ring clasped her hair into a pony tail.
Edna held up a mirror. "Now, look, look my deah."
Violet stared into the mirror, shocked. Instead of just seeing herself in a ponytail, the face that looked back at her was… older, and didn't quite look like her.
"What do you think?" the designer chirped.
"Its… wow. How did you do that?"
"Oh, a little of this, a little of that. Nanotechnology, 3-d image generation. Its only a miracle of modern science and fashion dahling. It can also reconfigure your hairdo as well. Look!" Edna was holding a simple black domino mask, but it seemed to control the metal band somehow, because when the side of it was pressed, Violet watched in amazement as her hair seemed to creep up her shoulders, until it hung Cleopatra-esque around her chin.
"I look like a totally different person…"
"Impressive, no? Now you will not have to worry about even your parents recognizing you!"
"Its amazing! Thank you so much!" She turned around and hugged the diminutive woman.
Edna almost seemed embarrassed, despite her gregarious personality. "Well, I am only doing my duty to fashion and the world dahling, but I am so glad you like it. You will make me proud, right my little dahling?"
"Oh of course, I promise!"
"Now, let me show you just how it works and we will see you off home. Though I doubt you will be staying there so very long tonight, hmmmm?"
000
"Check please," Syndrome asked the waiter in Russian. Well, vex assumed that was what he said. For all she knew he could be propositioning the woman. But seeing as they were shortly brought a bill for their meal, it was probably about the check.
"I'm full," Vex said. "I had no idea Russians could make decent Mexican food."
"It's a niche market," Syndrome replied, as the waitress handed him back one of his dozen or so credit cards. "So, I guess you're going to wanting that present in a minute, huh?"
Vex sat straight up in her chair. She'd almost forgotten about that. "Yes, definitely!" she exclaimed.
"Well then, let's be on our way." He offered her his hand, and pulled her up and into his arms. He kissed her on the nose.
Vex giggled and followed him out into the snowy streets of the city. It was twilight, and the last shards of daylight were clinging like embers to the hem of the horizon. They stood under a street lamp that winked on as they approached it.
"Now, I worked hard on this, so you better like it," Syndrome said with a grin.
"Well, by the way you were hyping it, I'm sure I will. Now gimme," she demanded good naturedly.
Syndrome reached into the pocket of his long coat and produced what appeared to be a metal cylinder, about ten inches in length.
Vex stared at it for a moment before realizing what it was. Her mouth practically fell open. "A lightsaber! You built one! Does it really work?"
Syndrome nodded. "Mostly anyway. Its not actually a contained energy beam, because there's no practical way to cut the laser off like a sword, it just keeps going. When you switch it on, a metal rod, like a filament, quickly telescopes, and produces light, heat and electricity, creating a combined burn/shock to anything itcontacts. It won't actually cut anything, but it's a real weapon and it looks exactly light a lightsaber when it's on."
"Can I see? Can I turn it on?"
Syndrome handed her the hilt. "You can find the on/off switch, I'm sure, just make sure its pointed away from you or me."
Vex was grinning like a maniac as she held it in her hand. "Its heavy," she commented. "A good weight."
Vex pressed the button, and a beam of deep blue energy seemed to erupt from the hilt of the weapon. It even made 'the lightsaber noise'. She stared at it, entranced as it hummed and lit up the cold, dim air. It was like she was holding a real lightsaber. She waved it back and forth.
"Its beautiful," she gasped.
"Deadly, too," Syndrome added. He looked quite pleased with himself. "You'll have to practice with it in the gym. I built in a stun/kill setting also."
She played with her new 'toy' for another minute or so, and then shut it off. She tackled Syndrome with a giant hug.
"Thank you! Thank you so much! This is the best present ever!"
He smiled. "I wouldn't have done it for anyone else, but for you…"
"I absolutely love it!"
It was just a whisper in her ear. Barely audible, but she knew it was real. "I absolutely love you," Syndrome said.
To be continued…
A/N: Again, I'm really sorry for the long wait between chapters everyone. I've been having a hard time juggling my new life, working and living on my own, but I think I'm starting to get the idea. Hopefully I will be able to write more often, but no promises.