Operation Ragnarok: A Synlet Story

Written by: FossilQueen1984

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned, except for General Pericles, Villa Nova/Vesuvius, Ryujin, Doctor Cerridwen Pinwhiel, and Izanami Eboshi. All other characters are the intellectual and artistic property of Pixar Studios. Izanami will be voiced by Uma Thurman. Bonus points if you can spot the Kill Bill reference. One last note, Violet's undercover name is Sarah Vowel and her official super name is Persephone.

Suggested soundtrack: Message in Rouge- Yumi Arai, The Princess Who Loves Insects/The Chase/An Ohmu Stampede- Joe Hisaishi, Across the Stars/Chase through Coruscant- John Williams

Chapter 2: Persephone vs. Syndrome

The flight to Tokyo was fairly straightforward, Violet's layover in Seattle was only for fifty three minutes before the overnight to Tokyo Metropolitan Airport. She slept the entire flight, and the sunrise glowing of the immaculate peak of Mount Fuji took her breath away. By the time the plane landed, the butterflies in her stomach were now full blown excitement!

Just about everything Tokyo was pure energy. The frantic pacing of the always moving crowds, the constant bombardment of over the top television ads, the wide eyes of anime protagonists, the whole city teeming with life. What did they think about at work, at home, about the world?

She was still musing about this when she checked into the hotel. The suite was on the small side, but it was efficient and nicely decorated. Vi had finished unpacking when the phone rang. It wasn't her parents, or Rick, so who was it? Oh yeah, it was her new boss, Izanami Eboshi.

"Moshi Moshi, Vowel-san speaking."

"Konnichiwa, Vowel-san. I am pleased to see you arrived in one piece. You do not sound at all jet lagged. Did you sleep on the flight over?"

"Yes, I did! I mean… Hai!"

"English is fine, but I do appreciate my associates to attempt to learn some terms to make communication easier. I request your presence at my company headquarters tomorrow morning at 10 am. Until then, my dear."

"Until then. Sayonara."

Violet gazed out of the window and down on the street below. By now, the pedestrian traffic had given way to heavier vehicle usage. There were a number of food trucks parking against the sidewalks. Of course, there were any number or tourists and families, so why shouldn't she? She had the rest of the day to herself.

"No use staying here all day, I want to take in the sights. Might as well play the part of travel writer," Violet mused as stripped in the bathroom. After two flights and sleeping for 11 hours on a plane, she was ripe and a long overdue for a shower. Once she had freshened up, she slipped on her underwear, her supersuit, and then a proper work outfit.

Her work outfit was a fitted white blouse, a navy circle skirt and demure ballet flats. She pulled her hair into an elegant bun, before putting on the smallest amount of makeup. A leather shoulder bag containing her purse completed the look. Feeling ready to take on the world, she held her head high as she exited the hotel and into the mid-morning sunshine.

Violet wandered amongst the myriad of storefronts, interested in just about everything. She came across a cosplay café that also a workshop for drug addicts working their way through rehab. She had sushi and oolong tea at a mom and pop café where they had karaoke every other night. There was the electronics store that was much louder than a KISS concert, not to mention the disturbing lack of warnings on certain manga volumes. Needing to clear her head, she ran down a back alley and happened upon the neighborhood graveyard.

She recalled Edna telling her about Japanese funerary traditions. Whenever you visited a graveyard, you lit an incense stick and prayed to the shrine guardian to remind whoever was buried there that they were still remembered. Walking around to the front gate, she paid 20 yen for a small bundle of sticks. Now, where was she to put them?

The solitude of the graveyard was accented by the chirping of birds and the muffled sounds of street traffic lent itself to the serenity of the place. Eventually she came to a quarter that appeared to have been damaged… the charred mass resembled two clawed hands. What was that symbol, and who could have done it?

She stepped over the yellow police tape and began investigating, when none other than Buddy Pine walked into the graveyard. He hadn't been in Tokyo for a month, when the mysterious signs had begun to sprout, two clawed hands surrounded by utter chaos. It was the mark of Operation: Ragnarok, it just had to be. The cemetery attack in North Shinjuku was new, less than 12 hours old.

He was prepared to see the damage, hopefully nobody had caught sight of the perpetrator, if they did that was really going to complicate matters. He was rounding the corner, when his blue eyes fell on a familiar shape digging around the rubble like Mary Leaky.

Invisigirl? It was indeed Violet Parr, now all grown up. He was very well aware that she had been ogling his backside, in return, he had checked her out himself. Now that she was an adult, Violet Parr was fair game. Besides, his relationship with Mirage had not panned out beyond the occasional kiss or slow dance. Somehow, the Parr represented an ideal, feisty and intelligence, beauty and skill.

Pull it together, Syndrome! She's the daughter of your enemy, and you're here on family business, he mentally chided himself. At the same time, as he watched her, the small ache in his heart grew ever so slightly. Still, this threw a major wrench in his plans. What was she doing her, had the NSA sent her to infiltrate the Eboshi cartel? Either way, this was going to be fun!

"Well, well, well! Who do we have here," he conjectured slyly as he strode over towards her, knowing very well to expect a fight of some kind. He grinned, he wondered what sort of stuff she was made off. Hearing the familiar voice from right behind, it was warm, soothing and horrifying!

Spinning around, her face flushed bright red when she spotted him. The swagger was still there, those impossibly blue eyes, the flame hued hair. He was slightly thinner, but he was standing there, Buddy Pine aka Syndrome. What was he doing here?

Her eyes were still wide in astonishment, he walked over, retrieved some sort of sample… and kissed her! Still in shock, he called over his shoulder, "Call me sometime." She was still sitting on the ground, when the weight of the situation finally came about.

Syndrome did not die that day, he somehow survived. He was here in Tokyo and he had kissed her! WHY? It was obvious he had something from the site, and he had gotten away with that.

She was okay with that, sooner or later their paths would cross, and as far as Violet was concerned, that was okay. She needed to reconsider her options now that a known felon, who was very familiar with her and the rest of the family Parr was going to take some planning.

Mulling over it, she decided to go see a movie. That would settle her down, right? Wrong! The movie she bought the ticket to was an anime flick, The Castle of Cagliostro. It was a pretty good film, considering she didn't understand anything the characters were saying. However, she enjoyed the story and music. The characterizations were well fleshed out and as the lights came on, she was still left with a feeling of romantic melancholy.

By now, the sun was setting and the streets were again filled with people, moving at a constant speed. At this rate, it would be impossible to grab a bite to eat. She did manage to get a table at a sushi bar, and the wait staff was friendly. The food was tasty, but Violet wasn't too keen on the raw squid kebobs. As the evening wore on, more customers strolled through the door and Violet sat quietly, observing them. She even jotted down notes on her notepad. After all, she was a travel writer-if only in name.

It was only after paying her bill, Violet wandered down towards Central Shinjuku and onto the wrong back alley. Cursing her bad luck, she decided to ditch the street clothes. No sooner had she slipped on her mask, she heard heavy footfalls behind her. It was Syndrome. God above, had he always been that handsome? Grinning cheekily, he inquired, "You must've liked the kiss. Miss me?" That did it!

Fuming, Persephone launched a quick left jab and shouted, "Missed you? I hardly missed you at all! I thought you were dead." Syndrome chuckled, when Violet managed to land a blow and send him back into the concrete wall. Syndrome sat up cross-eyed. He had not been expecting that. He grinned, now this was where the fun began.

"You'll have to catch me, Invisigirl," he taunted from the poorly lit stairwell. Dashing up after him, Violet retorted that she was Persephone now. Even as they ran and chased, the bantering continued.

"Persephone, eh? Suits you, being named after the Greek goddess of the dead. A little dark, don't you think- considering your Ma and Pa Kent family background."

"Well, I like mythology, thank you…"

By the time he left her speechless, they were both on the roof level of an empty office building. Neither of them were especially tired, and Persephone was getting tired of the game. "Give it up, Syndrome. I know what you were doing in the graveyard." This got his attention, how did she know what he was doing.

"How could you? It's personal business."

"Hardly! You blew it up to scare the locals, and that's low even for you." She continued to monologue, failing the notice the angry, dark glint in his eyes. Persephone frowned when noticed the silence…Syndrome grabbed roughly by the shoulders and pushed her up against the wall. When their eyes met, he began speaking.

"Be careful what you say, Persephone. You just crossed a major line and since I'm in a forgiving mood, I will partially enlighten you as to why I'm here in Japan. I'm investigating a U.S. army project known as Operation: Ragnarok and the only way to get any criminal intel is to be part of a criminal cartel. I've made into Eboshi's inner circle, so watch yourself." To make his point, he kissed her passionately and left her there, watching the moon rise over the city scape.

Violet was inwardly cheering, her secret crush kissed her TWICE in the same day. Yahoo! He had at least convinced her of his innocence in the graveyard attack, but what on Earth was Operation: Ragnarok? By now, the commotion had alerted Tokyo police, so she went invisible and made her way back down the stairs…to see a woman in a yellow bodysuit with black stripes and a motorcycle helmet peel away on a motorcycle with Syndrome yelling at her.

She couldn't help but laugh, stealing from the villain was just too hilarious. Syndrome scowled, "Are you going to laugh at me all evening, or are you going to help get my motorcycle back?" After taking a breath, Persephone decided to assist Syndrome in getting his ride back.

After grabbing a rental motorcycle (Violet paid for the time used), they sped off. Syndrome was driving, and Persephone sat in the sidecar. No sooner had they caught up to the thief, than she started to open fire. Not missing a shot, Persephone formed a force field around them, and Syndrome revved up the speed.

Once they were side by side, the phantom pulled out a katana blade and began slashing at the mismatched duo. Syndrome and Persephone didn't budge an inch, he kicked the wheel and sent the motor bike spinning. Out of control, both driver and bike spun wildly before crashing with a terrific speed into some bushes.

Pulling over, Syndrome assisted Persephone out of the side car and they ran over to apprehend the perp, but she had disappeared into the throngs of teenage cosplayers. They clapped in enthusiasm, these American cosplayers were really good!

Waving them away, Syndrome kicked at the motorbike and muttered, "There goes $5,000 I'll never see again." He felt a soft hand on his shoulder and Violet cooed, "A busted motorbike isn't the end of the world. Whoever that was, they had a pretty distinct costume. Besides, that chase was fun. I never felt alive like that before." She smiled at him.

Syndrome smirked, "I'll see you later. We work well together, too bad you're a super." It was here squad cars pulled up, and they parted.

Back at their respective abodes, both Violet and Syndrome were confident they were the victor and couldn't wait until the next entanglement.