A/N - I don't own The Incredibles. Please let me know what you think.
Bob Parr stared at the photos printed in black and white, and a few in colour, showing him, Helen, Dash, and Violet fighting against the robot Buddy or Syndrome had come up with to become a Super himself.
He knew if his family or indeed Lucius or one of his other friends were here now, they would assume he was over the moon a desire that was breaking and crushing his spirit had finally come true.
Supers were back.
But no.
That wasn't what he was thinking.
His thoughts were bittersweet as his mind reflected on the weeks and weeks he had spent working for Buddy to fight off against the different robots that improved upon the original designs, taking the place of other heroes who, presumably like himself, had been utterly bored with living an ordinary life and desperate to be a Super once more.
But thinking about what had happened to so many of them….
Bob closed his eyes, reflecting on the selfish way he had put his own needs to reignite the old glory days and how his family had paid the price so many times, even before he had gotten upset after seeing that mugger attack somebody. Bob had known he could have prevented it, but instead, he had thrown Huph through those walls when the little bastard made that snide crack.
They had been forced to move so many times, frustrating the government department which had been dreamt up after the avalanche that was caused by Bob rescuing that man, Oliver Swansweet, who hadn't even wanted to be saved in the first place and had ended up being sued, who needed to spend a fortune cleaning up the mess.
In the years since while Dash and Violet had grown up, Bob and Helen had argued under so many different roofs about his inability to let go of the past, but as he sat in his den and looked at all the framed newspaper articles and posters, Bob would sit in there with a mug of cocoa or coffee and think about what if.
What if he had never been near Swansweet?
Would supers have been sued the world over for perceived or genuine incidents?
Would their statues have come down, or what?
Would they be forced to hang up their suits and capes (although after seeing what happened to Syndrome, Bob had no intention of going anywhere near a cape)?
But now, Bob was forced to accept that a lot of the last mess was mostly his own fault. His pride had made him go out with a police scanner most nights, where he or if Lucius was willing, which he wasn't most nights, and they'd thwart robberies or rescue people from fires. And his commitment made him mentally pat himself on the back multiple times whenever he had shown one of Insuricare's customers loopholes to get what they needed who were always so unfairly treated due to Huph's desire to appease the stockholders and make a profit rather than help anybody which led Bob to assume insurance was just a nice little con.
The shameful thing was nobody cared.
Bob was almost convinced the Super Relocation goons had shoved him in there because they knew about Huph's mindset and felt the whole thing would crush him mentally and physically until he died.
Inevitably Bob's thoughts turned to Syndrome. He had met young Buddy on the very night he was getting married to Helen. The boy was his greatest fan, but all he did was annoy and frustrate Bob because he got in the way and caused more harm than good. And all it did was transform Buddy into Syndrome, a villain who wanted to become a Super himself and had made use of technology to come up with a plan where he would be seen as a Super.
Bob had to admit it would have worked. A powerful and near indestructible robot unleashed on a city, nobody having the power to stop it…only for Syndrome to appear and stop it. And should anybody ask any awkward questions then he'd likely have come up with a plausible story.
But Syndrome had gotten under Bob's skin, especially when Syndrome revealed who he was, reminding Bob of the bright-eyed, eager little boy he had once been, only to be bitterly rejected and humiliated. Bob had never forgotten that night or the events leading away from it, but he had pushed it out of his mind, but it had never occurred to him that Syndrome could have gone to become a dangerous threat.
The worst thing that Syndrome did was when Bob was held prisoner on the island. Helen, Dash, and Violet had been flying to the island after picking up enough clues something was happening and they were attacked. Bob and Syndrome had immediately believed them to be dead, and in a moment of intense rage, Bob had lashed out and would have killed Syndrome's assistant, the lovely Mirage (nothing happened between them), but Syndrome called his bluff sadistically and Bob had let her go, too heartbroken over the damage he had caused in his own family to care. He had forced them to move so many times to avoid being harassed only for the same thing to happen over and over again while people were bribed and had their memories erased to prevent any more persecution of Supers.
But in Syndrome's base, Bob had realised his Super life was just not worth it. When he had escaped with Mirage's help and reunited with Helen and the kids and made their way back to the robot, Bob was just relieved they had gotten through the whole mess. Yeah, he was pleased with the fact Supers could now return, but at the same time, he wondered whether or not it was worth it. Only time would tell, but he planned to be there for his children and for his wife.
Bob only hoped and prayed it was not too late. There were times he wondered about where he was in his family's lives if he was a husband/father or just a stranger.