Pathological Vigilante 2 - (The Incredibles x Pixarverse, Syndrome!SI)

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Wu Mai was merely 9 when she arrived to her new home in America.

A little Chinese girl with red hair - that was literally having twice the target painted on her back in the late 40s US. While efforts to ease limitations against Asians had been under way for more than five years now, WW2 had ended two years ago. The hard feelings for the Japanese were high and, while Mai was not Japanese, that didn't mean the illiterate American will mind the difference.

In fact, even our teacher at school, Ms. Perkins, was extremely unsure on how to keep her jovial mood when introducing her to class. It was 'love' at first sight for the bullies - fresh meat that their pops and mams would accept to see hurt in most ways. I could see myself that Mai was growing aware of this, shuddering by the time she was done saying her name and then being told where her seat was.

It was far from mine, but at least it was distant from the worst offenders in the classroom. That didn't stop them from making a move the very moment the first lesson was over. The girls rapidly skirted away from the new one, and the usual 'tough guy', Jeff, walked up to Mai with a scowl on his face. One that turned in a sinister grin and- and then a confused look as I timed my steps, thought of the ideal escape plan with someone on tow, and proceeded to slip through the human perimeter made by morons, grabbed Mai's hand and pulled her away.

"Move, now!"

The girl was stunned, but adrenaline does wonders with kids from war-torn countries. The sharp tone, the sense of fear- Mai was rapidly following after me as we both bolted out of the class with the dumbasses after us. We were smaller and yet faster, while the non-coordinated morons kept on tripping on one another and stop to bicker.

It was something I was accustomed to, and something that helped us getting to one of the safe spots in school. The old chemistry class was devoid of much material, but it had so many boxes that offered cover to anyone trying to find shelter there. Mai squeaked as I pulled her there, and then looked wide-eyed at me as I pulled her close behind several heavy-looking boxes. A finger was on my lips, gesturing to her to keep quiet as the bullies started to look outside of the classroom.

There was a tense but patient waiting phase as the morons decided to ultimately move elsewhere to continue their search. As their voices vanished, I felt myself grow more at ease and then, as I knew that they were truly gone, I sighed.

Mai glanced at me, a hint of distrust flashing from her brown eyes. I patted my chest, smiling. "I am Buddy. What's your name?"

She blinked, for a moment unsure if it was worth it but... she mimicked my gesture, patting her own chest. "Mai. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," I remarked with a smile, and she smiled back with some awkwardness.

From that interactions, I made my first ever friend and, as I was soon to learn, the same extended to Mai. I learned a lot afterward in regard to the girl - her father and her had made plans to leave China well during WW2 after her mother passed away while 'saving them'. I could tell this implied her mother died using her Red Panda form to try and keep the Japanese at bay. Which was cool and sad at the same time.

For a full year, I taught Mai all I knew about this town. How to handle the stares, the annoyances, how to deal with bullies at school, and that-

"Despite how you may feel, trust me when I say that they are not right about you. Don't let them bring you down."

Simple words, but that and a pat by the shoulder gave her a reason to cheer up whenever she was facing bouts of racism. I couldn't change hearts and minds when WW2 was still fresh in mind, but I could a bit harder to get myself economically secure for the next years, and then pull Mai with me in the process.

Still, through the year, no chance came up for Mai to reveal her other form. I thought that it would take a long time for her to get comfy enough and reveal it to me, but what occurred was something entirely different.

It happened during one of those after school breaks. I had been asked by the teacher to help grade some homework (yes, the extra marks would be important in the long run). By the time I was done with working on that, I walked out of the classroom to see a horde of bullies come careening... and running away.

"MONSTEEEEEERR!"

I blinked, frowning at the similar words being hurled around by the morons as they mindlessly rushed to the exit. Then my brain locked onto who may have triggered that panic and I chased after where they had come from. It was the old chemistry classroom. The door had been slammed open, and as I walked inside I could see signs of a confrontation of sorts. In truth, someone had lashed out there, the upset and the anger taking over as signs of claws were all around and... A large mass of red fur sobbing in the corner.

As I got closer to 'it', I decided to test the waters if this was indeed what I think 'it' was.

"Mai?"

The ball of fluff paused, then slowly stood up and turned to look at me. Big brown eyes were burning red with tears as her lower lip quivered as she paused in her crying.

"B-Buddy- I-I am not a mo-monster!"

I patted my cheek and frowned at Mai. I didn't mean to be a jerk here, but I really really couldn't see the point of calling her a monster. Maybe if it was a jumpscare and, even then, that would be stretching a bit. Imagine her granddaughter's form, but smaller and rounder. A little chubby Red Panda.

"Monster? Mai, if I may be honest, you look the opposite of one."

She was still sobbing but tensed up as I approached her and... started to scratch at her chin. A shiver, then her posture mellowed.

"H-hm, Buddy~?"

"Yes, Mai?"

"W-What- What are you~- What are you do-o~-ing~?"

"Scratching your cute chin, Mai," I replied with a growing smirk. "Say, can you lie on your back? I wanna scratch that belly too."

She was a bit reluctant on this one, but she complied and soon she had the most blissful look on her face. Her frontal paws were twitching as she brought them up and near her chin while her lower paws were twitching with delight. Her tail was rubbing actively against the floor, wagging at the pure pleasure coming from getting her belly rubbed.

By the time I was done with her, Mai had turned back to her normal form, huffing and... looking pouting.

"I didn't mean to scare them. But they cornered me and-"

"You had to defend yourself," I interrupted, offering her a hand so she could stand up. Mai readily grasped it and lifted herself up from the ground. "Which is a fine thing to do."

"Dad will not think like that. He may want us to move."

"If they make a fuss big enough to make you both leave, yes?"

She nodded and I got a plan. A plan that involved a little invention I had been testing out. What I really needed was a bit of time, which amounted to a day to get everything ready.

I had the 'self-sufficient' toaster out two months earlier and my dad had loved it enough to invest in it. Soon, I had to loan my patent to a few producers interested in the project and I cashed in a percentage of what they made from the product and, while it's been two months at this point, I had expanded my little workshop in the shed expanded with new tools and resources.

So, with my mind, my creativity and the overall mental picture of Mai's cute red panda form, I managed to create her the 'excuse' for what had happened that day.

Her father was invited by the principal at the request of the bullies' parents, but they were all surprised when they saw Mr. Wu enter the office together with my father. What occurred next was something that I can only paraphrase since it was a meeting between adults that was told to me by dad.

The principal had allowed the bullies' parents to air their grievances and trying to pin it all on Mai being a 'Japanese Demon'. Took a whole lot of restraint for Mr. Wu to not jump at such horrible accusation, and yet it was my dad's calm and authoritative tone that struck the hardest.

"Little Mai is Chinese, and to call a harmless child a demon is unbecoming of a upstanding member of this town. The truth is that my son had created a special picture flasher device for Mai. He had searched into cute animals and decided that she would appreciate a red panda. This is a copy of the device, the original having been destroyed due to a... scuffle that your boys are responsible for."

Despite some protests, the device was activated and it flashed a picture of a red doodle that looked like a red panda. I suck at free-hand drawing, sue me, but the end result made the boys jump in fright... while their parents looked very embarrassed by this turn of events. Apologies were handed out, but dad squeezed hard on the principal to have the class 'better-monitored from now on to avoid similar incidents'.

From that day to the end of our time in junior high school, Mai and I faced little to no issue from the bullies. Likewise, dad and Mr. Wu struck a nice friendship and a curious situation happened which worked well for our families: dad had fired his last assistant since he caught her trying to steal some important files from his company, while Mr. Wu had been struggling to land a stable job for a solid year now.

With his skills in English tested out, he was soon hired as dad's assistant, making sure that our families were the closest possible at the time. And during one of my visits at dad's office to check on my current projects' finances, I had the opportunity to speak with Mei's dad.

"...You are a good friend of my daughter. Thank you."

"I am. I love her, even more with that cute red situation."

The man's shoulders went stiff, but he smiled nonetheless before resuming his work with a relieved mood.

For another year, things kept quiet as Mei and I enjoyed relative peace while I worked my butt off to get ready for more trouble but... no one told me that dad had plans to try and expand his business in a place like Genoa, Italy, thus taking us there for a summer trip.

AN

The Childhood Arc is halfway done. We are getting a few childhood friends out of the way before getting into the meat - the vigilantism and the tech-wanking. So, stay tuned for this and more!