One Bad Day

In the same church that her parents had gotten married in, Violet Parr stood facing her fiancé, their hands grasped together with a wide smile across her face as the joy shone in her eyes as the last moments of her life before she becomes a married woman pass like heartbeats.

The Priest smiled at the happy couple and looked past them to the families and friends gathered together for such a joyous occasion. "First, I am required to ask anyone present who knows a reason why these persons may not lawfully marry, speak now, or forever hold your peace."

"I do."

Everyone turned to look at a tall and thin man with almost black sunglasses, who was standing with a device clutched tightly in his grip.

"Tony?" Violet whispered in confusion at the sight of her old teenage boyfriend who she hadn't seen in years and had definitely not invited to the wedding.

Tony smiled and turned slowly so that everyone could see the device he was holding, "Now, before anyone gets excited, I want you all to know that I am currently holding a detonator with a dead mans switch and a local transmitter. If the transmitter attached to my heart stops transmitting or is out of a very short range, the bombs detonate."

He gestured around him with his free hand, "You should also know that each seat in this church was covered in a material designed by the late Edna Mode that will act as a trigger. If anyone stands or simply moves mass away from them, boom. if they get multiple signals of their location, boom. if the signal is moved from this building or simply stops, boom. Each pad will detonate a bomb in a randomly generated location and no, I won't tell you where they are other than it will be messy. Very messy."

He stepped into the aisle and began to walk to the front of the church, in an almost feminine manner, leering at Helen in a way that she immediately recognised, "Screenslaver!" she gasped in horror.

Tony chuckled and tipped an imaginary hat at Helen, "Helen, how nice to see you again, I must say the years have been very kind to you. But please hold any questions for now."

He shook his head as he continued down the aisle, "Only 2 other people here today do not have a trigger, one is the groom, the other the blushing bride." He stepped up to face the priest and chuckled, "If my link to this vessel is stopped, all the bombs go off as one. Does anyone wish to provide an example?" He looked around the angry and afraid guests. "No? Good. Lets get on with this shall we. Oh, and make sure you keep any children in place, we don't want any accidents happening do we?"

With a chuckle at his own joke, Tony continued, "There are only two people in the entire world who can stop all this, I am one, the other..." He slowly turned to face Violet, "Is you." He reached out to the paling woman, taking her hand and placing a normal pistol in her grip. "You have your mothers eyes. Now, you have the lives of thousands if not millions in your hands. To save them all, you just need to pull. the. trigger."

He stepped back and moved to stand behind her, looking at the groom over her shoulder, "All you have to do, to stop all this, is to aim and shoot your fiancé, or the bombs stay armed, one life for millions. I'm already recording life signs from him, if they do not end, then a bomb will detonate every minute, but I'm not a monster, so, the first minute is free, call it a wedding gift. Oh, and congrats on the baby, by the way, glad this wasn't a shotgun wedding, then this would just be awkward."

Violet looked around at her family looking for a way out, trying to figure out a way to escape and not take the shot, to have a future with the man she loves without this weight hanging over their heads. For her child they had found out about last week to know its father. Her hands shook as she struggled to think of a way out of this, thinking if she could use her powers to make it look like he was dead.

As the clock ticked on, the groom smiled sadly at seeing the panic growing in her gaze. In that moment, he knew that she wouldn't do it and it would destroy her. Either way, there was no choice. With a sudden surge of motion, he grabbed her hand with the pistol and forced her to pull the trigger, the bullet hammering into his ribs and he felt the strength leave his limbs.

Violet screamed as she grabbed him, dropping to their knees as he coughed the little air that remained in his lungs and crimson stained the shining white of her dress. She began to weep and sob as she felt the life leave the man who she had given her heart to.

While Violet screamed and wept at her pain, Tony cocked his head in surprise, "Huh, I honestly did not expect that. Turns out he was a true hero. Anyway," he smiled as he dropped the detonator, "I lied."

-o-o-o-o-o-

The Traveller coughed as he felt his ribs creak under the strain of the strength behind the young mans grip. "You can't."

Revenant stepped out of the shadows, the armoured figure moved with a menacing prowl like that of a great cat as she moved to the controls of his greatest work, "I assure you, I can."

Traveller struggled as he heard the screams of pain and torn metal continue outside, "No. You can't. If she doesn't exist, then this reality will collapse in a paradox."

Revenant snorted in annoyance, "That's the point. Without her, this wouldn't have happened at all."

"Without her, we would all be dead." Traveller struggled to say as his bones flexed to the edge of their limits.

"Titan, let the man speak." Revenant commanded with a curious tone. She stalked across to him and crouched beside him, turning his chin to look her in the eyes using only the point of a claw, ignoring as the blood began to run from the point down the purple energy, "Explain. and be succinct."

He coughed as air rushed into his lungs, "I looked. I formed a schrodinger point where Evelyn Deavor dies in the robbery with her father. I then followed the path to see if I could stop all this happening."

He grunted in amusement and pain, "In a way, she saves us. Without her, we stay underground, hiding. Winston Deavor is tormented by the event, his mother dies a few months later, having lost her will to live. He is alone and soon his admiration twists to disgust. He feels that the Supers are weak and he will make them into the heroes they should be so that what happens to him doesn't happen to others. As he becomes an adult, he meets a passionate young lady called Elizabeth Mirage and soon marries her."

He nodded at her flinch at the name, "Thought you might recognise her. She introduces him to her old college friend Buddy Pine. They get along great and Buddy convinces Winston to become President of America. Its a landslide victory and Pine becomes Vice President. President Deavor starts a project to gather Supers and train them into what he thinks they should be, Buddy suggests using Supertech to use normals in that role instead. Elizabeth suggests merging the plans, Supers as the hammer to the tech supported normals as the anvil. Spies from China and Russia discover the plans and ally, gathering all their Supers and training them as quickly and quietly as they can."

He sighs in pain, "Then comes the day it all falls apart. Winston is at an event to open the first of a new factory to make the super tech, beside him are the first Supers team to complete their training. The moment he cuts the ribbon, a bombs kills him, the Supers team and destroys the facility. In the confusion, Russia invades and conquers half of Europe before anyone can do anything. China takes most of Asia for itself starting with Japan, then they launch an attack into America. Russia soon follows through Alaska. The military conscripts every Super they know of and others they find. America loses the west coast but manages to hold the line. A new Reich rises from the ashes of Germany, a bunch of the old Ubermensch and their children take control. The UK falls when a family of Supers kill the royal family and claim dominion, they slaughter any who stand before them and invade Europe, allying with the Reich to hold the Russians back. Rapid breeding programs are begun if they haven't already. Within 15 years, the next generation of Supers is unleashed and the world burns in their wake."

He coughs for a few moments and wipes blood from his lips and then chin from where her claw has cut him, "Some of us resist, but it goes badly. Too few, too spread out, not enough resources, no friends to hide or gather us. My alternative was killed in a raid, he wasn't even resisting, they just shot him for being in the way. I saw you and what they did to you. Your little brothers powers were too much to ignore and if your mother could produce that, what could you do? What Pine did to your family in the programs was a nightmare, and you weren't alone."

He struggled to breath for a second before a racking coughing fit shakes his body and he whimpers in pain, "So, you can't kill her. If you remove her, then this will be a nightmare world of pain, war and suffering."

Revenant nodded at that, "Fair enough. Those are good reasons for me not to kill her as a child. But tell me, did you try another point later on?"

"No." He coughed, "I'd seen enough, this is the better option. I won't let you make that world again."

Revenant nodded, looking over at a girl floating to one side, "Did he lie?"

The girl shook her head, "No ma'am. He collapsed the point to clear the paradox and prevented it from branching."

Revenant stood up and brushed dust from her knees, "Did you get enough to use the tech?"

The girl nodded, "I can use it, but I'll need him to do it, he's genlocked a lot of the tech, he needs to be involved or it dumps the user to witness the end of the Dinosaurs."

Revenant sighed at that, "Pity." She gestured to the man holding Traveller, "Go get ready, and get your sister. We don't have long." She turned to the girl, "The moment we're gone, you know what to do."

The girl smiled, "I do ma'am, thirty seconds after you are gone, I self destruct the facility."

Revenant stroked the girls hair, "Thank you Voodoo, I will miss you."

The girl shuddered in pleasure at the touch, "You'll make the voices stop, that's all the thanks I could ever need."

-o-o-o-o-o-

In the middle of an open field a burst of static suddenly arced through the air, it was silent for a few seconds before another arc appeared, then another and another, until a storm of energy erupted in a perfect sphere above the field. With a crack of air and static, three bodies fell to the ground.

Each whimpered and shivered in the cool air as a cold gel evaporated off their forms.

The first to rise was the eldest female, she struggled as her limbs spasmed in pain and shock but she floated off the cold ground, her cold gaze surveying the area as her experience allowed her to push away her pain. Her hair was long and black, scars covered the right side of her body where she was missing an arm. As she recovered, she floated down to the ground and an arm formed from slightly purple energy from her scared joint.

The next up was a young man, heavily muscled and nearly seven foot tall. At a quick glance, you would have thought him a very young Mr Incredible, except for his black hair.

The young woman stood up next, a younger version of the woman beside her, except with her hair cut short and a lither build, like that of a swimmer. She shivered in the cold and tiny red shards like crystal appeared around her, covering her from the wind like clothing.

The man nodded and turned around to suddenly look away, "Mom!"

The older woman snorted in amusement before her body turned invisible, leaving only her head and limbs on display, "Better?"

The man nodded, "No offense mom, but I do not need to see either of you naked. I'm messed up enough as it is."

The young woman snorted, "No offense bro, but we aren't that sort of family."

He laughed at that, "Definitely, now can one of you get this stuff out of me, I feel like I need a major shit and its driving me nuts."

The older woman sighed in annoyance before her purple fingers turned into long claws and she cut open the mans gut, quickly pulling out the bag of items inside.

He grunted in shock and pain, shuddering at the sensation before he sighed as his flesh began to heal.

"Sorry." The woman said as she shook the blood off the plastic.

"No worries mom," the man said with a cough, "I'll live."

His sister snickered and pointed down, "When you said you had problems, I wasn't expecting that."

"Fuck off," he snarled, "You see how you react to pain when everything else is numb. At least you can feel the wind on your skin."

As his sister looked away in embarrassment, the woman snapped at the pair, "Enough." From the bag, she pulled a bar of gold, an old pistol and a necklace with two gold rings and a diamond one which she immediately placed over her neck. "Okay, we gather clothes, transport and supplies first. We find out where and when we are, then we get to work."

The man nodded, "Where's the start here? Metroville?"

The young woman snorted in annoyance, "Bro, seriously, do you even listen to the plans?"

Before another fight could start, the older woman began to talk, "Municiberg. We get there, set up a base. Gather intel and resources. Scout potential allies and targets. If we're when we should be, finances won't be a problem once we deal with the Underminer."

The man nodded, "Cool, so which way do we go?"

The older woman looked around before stopping when she say an old farm house on the horizon, the lights coming on in the dark as people were woken by the lightshow they had caused. She pointed at the building, "There first."

The young woman winced, "No witnesses?"

The older woman sighed, "No witnesses."

-o-o-o-o-o-

Rick paused as he was about to take a bite of his sandwich when his phone rang, reaching across, he put pressed the button to put it on speaker, "Rick Dicker speaking."

The voice was a little sharp as it answered, which made Rick frown, "Rick. We have reports of three unknown Supers causing problems. Serious ones."

Rick paused as he put down his sandwich and gave the voice his entire focus, "How so?"

The voice on the other end of the phone explained, "Revenant, Titan and Shatterstorm are the codenames that we have acquired from witnesses and recordings of them talking. They seem to be a well trained team, three members, highly violent and quick to react. We would have termed them vigilantes except for the fact that their targets are more than just criminals, we've had a couple of business men and politicians attacked as well. They also have a habit of killing and maiming their opponents. Although they don't seem to go too far when the cops try to arrest them. Other than in one instance, the worst they did was bruising and a few broken bones."

Rick paused as he made a few notes on a pad, "The instance they didn't?"

"The cop was corrupt. An open secret in that town, they displayed their disgust with him over 3 street lights."

"What do you mean?" Rick asked in confusion, "They ripped up 3 street lights and hit him with them or something?"

"No," the voice answered a tone of sickness in his voice, "The lights weren't moved, parts of him were spread across three lights on the same side of the road."

"Christ," Rick muttered as he wiped his palm over his mouth in disgust as his mind tried to provide the image to him, "Anything out of state on them?"

"Nothing that we can find so far."

"Damn, the feds won't get involved then. Not unless they do something major." Rick snorted in disgust, "Guessing they don't want to ruin their suits now they have authority over this sort of thing."

The voice was quiet for nearly a minute before Ricks fax machine started its usual wailing, "We do have one issue with them though that is causing confusion. I'm sending you the images now."

"Oh?" Rick said as he got up and watched the image print out.

"The first photo. That's the one called Titan. Notice anything about him?"

"Damn." Rick exclaimed as he picked up the fax in surprise, as the next picture began to print out. "If I didn't know better I would have said it was Mr Incredible."

"Yeah," the voice continued, "if Incredible was about 20 years younger and had black hair."

Rick frowned, "What are his powers?"

"Strength, toughness and rapid healing. And not small levels of those either. Ignoring the body armour, we've reports of him ignoring small arms fire to the face, we're not sure he even realised it had happened when he was shot in the back of the head. Only thing that's caught his attention so far was when SWAT caught him with a sniper rifle. He just grinned at the impact and laughed. By all accounts was shouting about them doing it again, but was pulled into cover by the girl."

Rick shook his head at the dangers of facing someone like that in the field, "The others?"

"Shatterstorm is a flyer with red energy shards that she uses as weapons and armour. She can cut through anything we have so far, its just a matter of time and concentration. We managed to catch her with a flashbang once, looks like she may also have enhanced senses, but we're not entirely sure on that, she needs to be aware of her surroundings to use her shards effectively. She just went turtle until she recovered. Small arms breaks the shards, but she can generate them fast enough to fill the gaps. She hasn't been hit with automatic fire so far, so we don't know how she'd handle that. Titan got in the way before SWAT could get a good shot at her. From that we presume that she lacks his toughness"

"They a couple, partners or family?" Rick asked as he glanced between the photo's while the third was printing.

"Family we believe, likely siblings, some of the recordings suggest the possibility that they may be fraternal twins. Revenant is older than them, likely their mother. Or at least a mentor figure they heavily respect."

"Oh?" Rick asked as he waited for the fax to finish, "so old guard then? We have her on file already?"

"That's the thing. We don't. No ones used that name that we are aware of. Taking a rough estimate of the younger pairs ages and presuming that they are her children, at a guess, we have a likely age of mid thirties to early fifties. No-one that matches her appearance or power set in that age bracket, and she's had training. Good training at that."

"She'd have been old enough for the War?" Rick asked as he placed the 3 pictures that had been taken from a single original, on the table to look at them side by side, frowning as something was familiar to him in how they were displayed.

The voice continued, "Definitely, she would have signed up as well by what I can tell. No record of her on the American side, I have some friends in Europe checking there as well, but her accents American, born and bred, not far from you either."

Rick frowned as he made more notes, "Black Ops or Russian Spy?"

The voice chuckled, "Possible, but unlikely, why blow cover like this if they were? No, this Screenslaver situation triggered this, otherwise, why wouldn't they have been doing something before now. They don't seem to be the type to have held themselves back for so long. Can you reach out, see if anyone knows something or recognises them, they're probably trying to recruit as it is."

Rick jotted a few more lines down as he nodded, "Sure, I know who Ill call to start with. I'm not aware that Mr Incredible had any other family, but he might have a cousin we missed or something, Ill start with him for Titan, might give us a few leads to look into."

"Thanks Rick," the voice said with a relieved sigh, "Look, I owe you for this, don't risk yourself and let me know what you find out. I'm going to be there in 3 days, we're gathering a team to deal with them either way. They're upsetting Washington right now."

Rick reached out to the phone as he answered, "Ill give you what I have when you get here. Ill update you if I find anything urgent."

The voice was calmer as it answered, "Good. Thanks for this Rick, I owe you. Talk later." With that, the line cut and Rick hung up on his end.

He looked over the image of Revenant again, "Why are you so familiar?"

-o-o-o-o-o-

AN:

Another fragment I dug up in my old folders. This one began from a RPG game where we wanted a supers game but didn't want to do Marvel or DC. I decided to see how long it would take for them to realise what setting they were in. I gave them the distinct impression it was the Worm setting by Wildbow until one of the players realised the dates involved and recognised a few of the obscure names.

Im not sure how I would progress this to be a good story as I wrote this to give me a feel for how Violet Parr could be classed as a badguy on the level of Magneto in xmen and what would have had to happen to bring that about. Then I ran with it a bit and had this. I may come back to it later, but probably unlikely at the moment. Again, if people want to carry it on, let me know so I can read what you do with it :)