Thanks to Inspector Brown, The Star Swordsman, and RubyVulpix for reviewing. Oh, and the guys (Sam in particular) are going to be a little bit OOC in this chapter, but it's supposed to be like that.
Chapter 5: Back at the Ranch
Brittany was having a lot of trouble getting either Tony or Sam to listen to her. She'd been trying to convince Tony for an hour. Who ever thought being the heroine would be this hard? she thought.
"Please!" she said beseechingly. "You have to believe me, Tony! That's not Violet!"
"Oh, come on," scoffed Tony. "Of course it is. I know my own girlfriend!"
Veronica - doing a pretty good imitation of Violet's voice - chimed in, "I ought to know who I am; I'm Violet! Who else would I be?"
Groaning from frustration, Brittany snapped, "Okay, well, if you're so sure that's Violet Parr, go right ahead and believe it! But I'm going to say it one last time: that's not Violet! The real Violet Parr (AN: Haha, I just realized I inadvertently used my own penname! I swear I didn't mean to do that!) was taken captive an hour ago, and if you don't come and help me rescue her I'll do it myself, because if someone doesn't go find her they'll kill her!"
Tony was beginning to look dubious. "Well...Vi, you have been acting sort of weird tonight..."
"No I haven't! What are you talking about?" Now Veronica was getting nervous, and her imitation of Violet was growing less convincing. "This girl must be crazy!"
At that moment Brittany got an idea. "Tony, if she's really Violet Parr, make her prove it. Ask her a question only she would be able to answer."
"Um, okay." Tony turned and looked into "Violet"'s eyes. "If you're really Violet, you'll know the answer to this question, because you were the only other person around when it happened: When was our first kiss?"
There was silence for a long moment, then "Violet" answered, "Our first date?" but it was obviously a guess.
A look of complete shock flashed across Tony's face. "Who are you and what have you done with Violet Parr?"
For a second "Violet" just looked at him. Then her face crumpled and she began to sob hysterically. As she did her features changed - her hair became blond, her eyes turned a different shade of blue, and the shape of her face changed considerably. "It - it wasn't my idea!" she wailed. "It was Trinity's!"
"What?" Tony looked completely confused. "Veronica Mackintosh? What are you doing? Why..."
She sniffled and choked out, "Trinity said if we got rid of Violet and Mia then I could have you and she'd get Sam."
"Oh no." Tony turned to look Brittany in the eyes. "Do you know where they are?"
"No, but I think she'll tell us." Veronica had stopped crying now and just sniffled occasionally. Brittany asked her, trying to be as gentle as possible despite circumstances, "Where are they?"
"W-with our parents," whispered Veronica. "They were t-taking them to their secret lair. And...I can't tell you where it is."
Brittany frowned in confusion. "Who are your parents?"
"E-Elements..." was all Veronica would say. Brittany strongly suspected the poor girl was having something like a meltdown and wouldn't normally have revealed such crucial information.
"Okay," she said, "thank you, Veronica." She and Tony walked in the direction Sam and Trinity had gone, while poor Veronica wandered off in another direction. She didn't want to be around when Trinity heard her plan had been ratted out.
When they spotted the couple, the sight was so disturbing they almost wished they hadn't. Trinity had her arms wrapped around Sam's neck and was sitting on his lap, and Sam didn't seem to mind in the least. As a matter of fact, he appeared to be enjoying it. Brittany almost threw up when she saw the look on Trinity's face - fortunately she managed to contain herself. Instead of being sick she called angrily, "Trinity! Get off Sam and snap him out of it!"
Turning to face them, Trinity purred, "Now why would I do a crazy thing like that? Sammy's happy here, aren't you?" she asked him in a sugary voice.
"Never better, babe." he answered. Seeing his best friend act so out of character made Tony nearly lose control of his stomach also.
"Listen to me, Sam," he said in an urgent tone, "you have to snap out of this. Remember Mia? Don't tell me you don't."
"Mia..." As he whispered her name, Sam's eyes began to look slightly less glazed over.
Yes! There is a way to break it! thought Brittany triumphantly. "Sam, do you remember when you and Mia first kissed?"
"Yeah." His blue eyes looked almost clear, and he smiled fondly.
Tony added, "You love Mia. You haven't forgotten her, you never could. I remember once you said she was the most amazing girl you ever met. She'd be devastated if she saw you being stupid like this. And if you don't want to lose your girlfriend and your best friend, you'll snap out of this trance right now, because I'm not going to let you make this mistake!"
Sam's head jerked, and his eyelashes fluttered like he saw a bright light. "T-Tony? What's going on?"
"Never mind, we have to go, now!" Brittany grabbed Sam's arm and yanked him to his feet, dumping Trinity on the floor in the process. "Hey!" the blond yelped, outraged. "What do you think you're doing?"
Brittany stopped and stared into Trinity's eyes. "Something I should have done a long time ago. Asta la vista, Trinity, and good riddance!" She pulled Sam toward the doors, with Tony right behind her, leaving Trinity sitting on the floor.
Once they were outside they quickly explained the situation to Sam. "So do you think the Elements have the same old lair?" he asked Tony.
"Probably." Tony's grey eyes were steely. "Come on!"
"Wait, where are we going?" asked Brittany.
"To the harbor!" called Tony as he began running. "We're going to need a boat!"
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Reviews are nice. Please don't flame me, I know it didn't take very long to convince either of them and it probably should have taken more time, but I'm sort of lazy sometimes...and I think I wrote this when it was about 90 degrees out anyway. Sorry if it's too short.
