Reversed Roles

Chapter 2

- Two Years Prior -

Violet look at the college before her, just as she was about to leave. She was done here, and she'd gotten over quite a bit, like her broken heart after Tony broke up with her. He hadn't even done it in person, just over the phone. She laughed as she boarded the bus to the apartment she'd been using instead of the dorms. It made it easier to do her superhero stuff that way.

Of course, she had to do it at night, when she wasn't either doing homework or screaming about the nightmares she'd been having from being on Nomanisan. She would be able to go back if need be, but it still haunted her knowing that her father had caused so much pain inside of a human, so much that the person felt he had to get rid of them to be his own hero.

However, it wasn't as bad anymore. She knew how to handle her fears now. She just needed the right medication and she'd be out long enough to where she didn't have any dreams. Just solid sleep, but only if she needed it.

Now, as she was leaving the giant campus, it was clear to everyone she knew there and before she came here, that she was now a full-grown woman. It was a feeling she had to relish. It was the last time she had to look at that school and worry about tests, what her latest grade was, and how she would try to be noticed less without having to use her invisibility.

Somehow, although she was a social butterfly to say the least, she still wanted to be alone if things got bad between her and her friends. They had constantly asked her how she was doing on the Tony front. They gave her "encouraging" speeches on how they would kick Tony's tiny behind for her if it came down to it.

But, Violet always just smiled and laughed it off. However, she was still hurt from it, but only at the time. Now, she really could laugh it off and mean it. It was fantastic, being so content with where she was. It normally played off like she was the insecure one, but she had to smile. She had to be happy for everyone else.

Not anymore. Now she really was happy.

But, it wasn't until she saw the note on her front door that she began to freak out.. Who was it from? There was no signature, but there was something about the slightly holographic typed words that was so familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She was just twenty-two, who could have anything against her to give her a note that they knew would make her freak out?

No, no, this wasn't right. She was okay. She took a deep breath and opened it.

Oh. It was a note about her rent. She sighed and laughed quietly to herself, folding the letter and sticking it into her pocket. Fine, maybe she was still a little jumpy, but it wasn't as bad as before. Before, she would have hidden behind the corner, whimpering at the sight of the note.

Well, no sense in dawdling in the hallway reflecting on the past. She walked inside her apartment, exhaling with pride in her voice. She'd done it. She was finished with long nights cramming for exams. She was done being stuck in boring classes and longing to go home and watch funny cat videos.

Now she was an adult. Now she was free, free from all of those stupid memories of bags under her eyes and snoring in the middle of history. Now it was time to make new memories.

To start, she logged onto her computer and went to her favorite chatroom that she had been using with Kari since she started schooling. She knew everyone in the chat, excluding one person. His handle was SuperRed, and he had only been on there for around a year. He was incredibly intelligent, and really easy to talk to if he was in the right mood. Normally, he was calm and other times, he was irritable. However, every time Violet didn't have homework, or she had just finished it, she always logged on to talk to her friends. Kari and SuperRed, that was basically it.

Sure, it doesn't sound like much, but she thinks of herself as lucky to have the friends she does, no matter how many times she'd had to sit there and watch as Kari whined about exams and how art class was "ruining" her studies in history. SuperRed was always there to tell Kari that art was one of the things that the world was ignoring at the moment.

That night, Kari was celebrating the day after her college graduation as well. SuperRed was giving off the signals that he wasn't quite as cheery. She laughed right away and began to type her greeting.

InvisigirlFan003: Hey guys! Miss me?

MakeUpExpert: OMG you're back!

SuperRed: Hey.

InvisigirlFan003: Hey Red, you okay? You didn't lose your TV remote again, did you?

SuperRed: No, just had some problems at home. I was working on a really important project for work and I got shot down by the bigwigs that had been the ones who had originally wanted to buy it.

MakeUpExpert: Wait, you sell your projects? You don't work at Burger King? That's awesome!

InvisigirlFan003: I thought you just went to school. What happened to that?

SuperRed: No, I don't go to school anymore. I dropped out a long time ago. I started inventing things and selling them, and I can pretty much buy whatever I want.

InvisigirlFan003: I doubt you can buy anything. There's a lot of things you can get for free that are just as good as money.

SuperRed: What do you mean? I can have anything I want with the snap of my fingers.

MakeUpExpert: Well, you didn't buy us, and you're here every time we are.

InvisigirlFan003: Yeah, see? I also think I'm gonna change my handle tomorrow. Do you think something like Wallflower would be alright?

SuperRed: Not my choice. You do what you want.

MakeUpExpert: I think it's pretty besides the fact that it's not true.

InvisigirlFan003: What do you mean "it's not true"?

MakeUpExpert: You aren't a wallflower, honestly. You keep saying that when you know it isn't really what you are. You have so many friends.

InvisigirlFan003: I have you two.

SuperRed: What, is there something wrong with me?

InvisigirlFan003: Nothing except for the undeniable truth that in reality, you are a person behind a keyboard talking to two people you've most likely never met in your life. I know MakeUp, but that's it. You two are all I have by now besides my family.

SuperRed: I'm pretty sure I've met MakeUp as well. I'm not completely sure, though.

MakeUpExpert: I don't remember meeting anyone like you, Red.

SuperRed: I almost hope not.

MakeUpExpert: *Mock offense* Rude!

SuperRed: I need to go to bed now. I guess I'll be able to talk to you two tomorrow. Bye.

SuperRed HAS LOGGED OFF

MakeUpExpert: Yeah, it's getting pretty late. I need to hit the hay.

InvisigirlFan003: Okay, I'll talk to you guys again tomorrow.

Violet shut her laptop closed and looked around, leaning back in her cheap yet reliable office chair. She'd gotten the thing when she moved in, and she was sure it wouldn't last a month. She then began to trust it after four years of abuse from heavy textbooks and a thin twenty-something flopping onto it day after day.

She then got up, walked to her bathroom, took a shower, and went to bed. She dreamed about meeting Red, what he looked like, how he sounded, everything. If all else failed, she could always kick the crap out of him if he tried anything on her. It'd be easier now that she'd gotten some experience. She was also licensed to carry a gun in almost any state. She knew how to handle it if it was needed.

But, she probably wouldn't need it anyways.

-Nomanisan-

Buddy Pine sighed and shook his head as he closed the lid to his laptop, the small electronic machine folding easily. He ran a hand through his fiery locks, looking around the small area that was his workspace. Glancing at the failed blueprints, the ones that were supposed to get him millions more in his bank account. But, of course, his inventions that were so clearly clever in both use and design were becoming "stale" to the black market.

Sometimes he wondered why he was still trying to lay low in Metropolis. It was clear that he could literally get away with anything at this point, because no one remembered him. He was easily forgotten, and that was a tool he could use to his advantage. If you aren't remembered, no one can say anything about his return.

But, alas, he got lonely at times. However, no one could be trusted. Mirage had betrayed him, so not it was no one. Just him on his island, excluding his guards that had originally been there and were on equal terms with their boss. They get paid, do what was asked of them, and they wouldn't be killed. It was easy enough to get, and Buddy knew they would never betray him.

However, it wasn't enough to keep him from staying awake for days at a time, obsessing over plans and poking around online. It wasn't just a year ago when he found the chatroom, and began talking to MakeUp and InvisigirlFan003. Some nights he found himself longing to find out who InvisigirlFan was, no matter what the consequences were. But, he always had to remind himself that he can't trust anyone.

It didn't matter whether or not he enjoyed their long discussions online, or if she was one of the nicest people in the whole world that could loosely be called the greatest thing to be invented in this generation, the Internet.

However, he had to admit, he sometimes looked forward to talking to the person that was nothing but a female behind a keyboard to him. But MakeUp usually ruined it, with her creepily cheery way of speaking to anyone. It reminded him of the odd babysitter, Kari, he had met before the "Jack-Jack Incident." She was crazy, and it had given him a good look at what he was supposed to be dealing with.

But, IF003 was one of her favorite people to talk to these days. Then again, she was one of the only people. he talked to now. Yet again, he had those leftover trust issues. Somehow, though, he felt like he had to meet her somehow. He had to know she was real, as completely stupid as it sounded.

END OF CHAPTER