The Incredibles

All's Fair in Love and Glory

Chapter Twelve: Back to Normal

Syndrome entered Mirage's room the next morning holding flowers.

"Good morning, baby," he greeted her, prancing over to her bedside. He leaned down to kiss her slim belly under the sheets. "And good morning, baby."

Mirage giggled. "Don't I get a kiss?"

"If I have to," Mirage responded, with mock annoyance. He grinned and quickly obliged.

"You're too sweet."

"Hey, guess what? Doc says you can come back home today!" he told her excitedly. "So… you should probably get changed.

He closed the door behind him.

"All right," she said slowly.

His eyes danced mischievously and he eyed her body with something comparable to hunger. As Mirage shimmied out of her hospital gown, his eyes immediately latched onto her chest.

"Wow," he managed. "They're…" He searched for the right word. "…huge."

"Look, but don't touch," Mirage scolded. "They're pretty tender."

He looked disappointed.

All dressed, she pulled him out of the room. "Now come on. Let's get busy." She sighed in exasperation at his eager face. "I meant… oh, never mind. Let's go."

"There's so much to do. I can't believe it's been three months since we've worked together—"

"Whoa. What's this?"

Syndrome frowned and examined the phone that Mirage had used the previous night. She sucked in her breath sharply.

"Guards!" he screamed.

The men marched in.

"All right, which one of you was it?" he demanded, pointing at the phone.

No one moved.

"It was me. I called my mother last night," Mirage lied. "I thought it was only fair for her to know. She was so excited." She forced herself to smile, even though she was lying blatantly. She hadn't talked to her mother since she'd been a child.

"Oh. Okay, babe," Syndrome said.

"She lives in Europe. You know, the accent…" her voice faltered.

"Right."

Syndrome did not at all care for his parents, and neither did he particularly care for the direction in which this conversation was going. Her pregnancy was a very large setback for him, personally, and he did not want to discuss it.

"Guards… go away," he snapped.

They quickly obeyed, and Syndrome stalked off. Mirage followed him, since she wasn't sure how to get out of this hospital.

Today, she was going back to work. Just like it was a normal day.

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Violet was feeling safe and secure, having dreamed of Tony. She hadn't had nightmares in months; well, they hadn't had a good battle since then, either. Getting to use her Super powers had been nice, but now that she didn't have to so much, she did feel more normal. After all, who could plan a date when at any moment you'd have to run off with no explanation?

She strolled down to the kitchen for breakfast but there was nothing on the table. She looked at the clock, confused. They only had half an hour before they had to leave for school.

Sneaking into the den, Violet saw her mother on the phone.

"Mom, I'm hungry," she said.

"Not now," Helen mouthed back. "Yes, Honey. Oh, congratulations! That's wonderful! Yes. We're so happy for you. That's great news. I know." Helen looked at Violet and made a face. Honey was infamous for monologueing.

"Honey, I need to talk to Lucius, though. Can you hand him the phone for me?" She paused. "Yeah. Thanks.

"Oh, hey Lucius. Listen, can you come over for breakfast this morning?" She turned away and lowered her voice. "Bring your Super suit."

When she hung up a moment later, Violet grilled her with questions.

"Well, for starters, you are not going to school today," Helen said, in a measured voice. "There are some things we need to take care of. Your father is talking to Mr. Dicker at the moment."

Violet frowned. "What does that mean?"

"It means, sweetie, that we have to start using our powers again," Helen told her quietly.

"Why?" Vi questioned, starting to worry.

Helen took a deep breath.

"Mirage called us late last night. She… Syndrome's alive. And she thinks that he still wants revenge."

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Bob had sat in this room too many times to count. Something about it still gave him the chills.

It was the NSA's old office, and it was now getting back into business. It was hard to believe the Supers were finally being allowed to come out of hiding after all the lawsuits, court hearings, and lectures he'd sat through. And not everyone was happy about it. Still, after Syndrome unleashed the Omnidroid and was unable to defeat it, they had saved the town.

"Rick," he said, his eyes darting about the room anxiously. "How is it possible…?"

Dicker shrugged, calm as always.

"Well Bob, we don't exactly know, but our theorists speculate from the size of the explosion you observed, Syndrome detonated something himself. We don't know how, but he landed safely and got away."

"But you said that when you rebuilt our house, you only found debris—"

"Exactly. No body."

The room spun. This was impossible…

"And he apparently had money worldwide that we couldn't control."

Bob gritted his teeth.

"I just can't get a break."

"Don't worry, Bob. We can take care of this. You don't have to lift a finger."

He decided not to mention the Omnidroid.

"My family's gonna flip," Bob sighed.

"It'll all be fine."

"He's got missiles, bombs, grenades, an army, limitless materials and the mentality of a mad genius."

"He's number one on all the most wanted lists. We can handle an impulsive wannabe."

"HOW?"

Rick showed a rare smile.

"We have a friend on the inside."

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Helen sat with Frozone at the table. He was rather disturbed the fact that it was just the two of them and Bob left – only three supers left in the entire world – and the man who had killed everyone else was trying to hunt them down. What had they ever done to him?

"So," he said slowly. "Just like old times, huh? Ruthless villains out to get us while we figure out what to do. The group's a little smaller now."

"There are only six Supers on the planet. And half of them are children."

"Oh man." Lucius groaned. "I hope our baby has powers."

"It's a fifty-fifty chance—"

"And what about the next generation?" Lucius asked, shaking his head. "We're going extinct. Fast."

"No superheroes means no super villains, right?" Helen asked weakly.

Lucius cringed, not wanting to think about it.

"Let's hope so."

"A world without us – seems so weird."

Just then Bob burst through the door. "Good news. I forgot to tell you, but Mirage has powers. And she's going to help us!"