Author: A Markov
Violet and Mirage sat together, intertwined; each in a curious state of a heightened awareness of the other while at the same time, being completely oblivious to the world around them. In their condition, they could sense the instant the other was going to take a breath. Each could discern when the other was beginning to feel any discomfort and shift accordingly to accommodate even the slightest twinge, but the walls could have crumbled in on them and they probably wouldn’t have noticed. A devastating earthquake might have been able to intrude into their consciousness but the ringing of the telephone didn’t stand a chance. Even though it went on for quite a while, punctuated once by the sound of insane giggling and several times by the sounds of frantic yelling from the answering machine, it failed to register in their conscious minds. The pounding on the door almost got their attention, but it too slipped passed them, dismissed as unimportant when compared to the simple act of being together. It wasn’t until Violet felt a stranger’s hand on her shoulder that their idyll was penetrated. As it was, she reacted quite poorly. It probably could have been worse, but she wasn’t really sure how. The refrigerator was easily replaced and once the drywall crew was finished, you couldn’t even tell that there’d been a hole in that wall. The marble mantle piece was completely ruined. The junior agent did recover from his injuries, eventually, but it would be a few years before he got over the emotional trauma and several more before he would be able to touch anyone’s shoulder without flinching. Of course, once Violet was detached from her, Mirage became aware of the squad that had intruded into her home as well. After glancing over at the downed agent, she made a mental note not to sneak up and surprise Violet.
As the recording played, Violet kept her eyes on Rick’s impassive face but held Mirage’s hand in a death grip. Bob was too engrossed in the recording to notice but Dash did some quick mental calculations and suddenly a lot of the stuff his mom and dad had said over the last few months made sense. The five of them were all crammed into Rick’s small office listening to the recorded ramblings and threats of former Special Agent Skippy Johnson. The speech from the tape player was halting and disconnected often punctuated by grating giggles, but the message was clear: Violet was to surrender herself to Skippy Johnson for “reckoning” before the sun rose or Helen Parr would die.
After they had listened to the message a second time, Mirage held a whispered conference with Violet then excused herself and left the room. Only Dash noticed the tender glance that passed between the two women and he was too embarrassed to mention it. He studied his sister closely and tried to figure out what was going on. He knew he should be concentrating on the effort to rescue his mom, but he was a fifteen year old boy. He didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or elated about the fact that his sister was really dating a woman. A woman, who, he couldn’t help but notice, was a total knockout. Despite his efforts not to, he found himself wondering about them. Two chicks kissing was hot, even if one of them was his sister. There was even a small part of his mind that was trying to figure out the best way to ask her for some pointers on picking up girls. He was drawn back to reality by Rick’s voice. For the first time he could remember, it was not even and calm.
“Sit down, Bob!” The Agent said forcibly. “Running off half-cocked is not going to do Helen any good and you know it.”
“Damnit, Rick! Your idiot partner has my—“
“Ex-partner.”
“Don’t you get huffy with me! I’ll tear this building apart!” Bob was looming over the older man, shaking with anger. “That’s my wife he’s got! And so help me, I’ll—“
“Sorry, I’m late.” The timely arrival of Bob’s oldest friend distracted him from whatever threat he had been prepared to make.
“’Zone!”
“Uncle Lou!”
“I came as soon as I heard.”
---
Violet was getting frustrated. They’d been in Rick’s office for more than an hour and it seemed like all the men just wanted to argue. Half the time they weren’t even arguing about important stuff, just trying to pin the blame on someone. Every time she tried to put her two cents in, she was summarily dismissed. It would have been even more frustrating if Dash wasn’t in the same boat with her. The few times he spoke up, they didn’t even acknowledge him. Whenever she tried to give him a sympathetic smile he just blushed and turned away. When Mirage poked her head in and motioned for her to come out of the room, she didn’t even hesitate. With a surreptitious a glance at the yelling men, she poked Dash with a small force field to get his attention and cocked her head at him. He glanced back and forth between the three arguers and his sister a few times before shrugging and following her out into the hallway. “What’s up?” He asked.
“This is Mirage.” Violet said. “She’s my… uh… friend.”
”Well, any ‘uh-friend’ of my sister’s is an ‘uh-friend’ of mine.” He said suggestively and was rewarded with a deep blush from his sister and a giggle from the attractive blonde.
“Never mind that.” Violet said, trying unsuccessfully to cover her embarrassment. She turned to the blonde, “Did you get anything?”
“I’m not sure it’s worth anything.” Mirage said hesitantly. “The recording on our answering machine isn’t very good quality, and the guys haven’t had much time to analyze it…”
“But you’ve got an idea?”
“I’ve got a general area.”
“Waitaminit…” Dash broke in. “our answering machine? You mean you guys really are…?”
Violet rolled her eyes. “Mom’s in serious trouble and all you want to know about is if I’m shacked up with a girl?”
Dash regarded her with a critical eye. “You’ve met our mom, right?” he said sarcastically. “Does the name ‘Elastigirl’ ring any bells? I don’t care what this rogue agent stole from their armory. He can’t do anything to mom, she’ll cream him.”
“Are you through?”
“No, you remember what she did to that Underminer guy?”
“Yeah.” Violet chuckled.
“And what about when she put the slingshot move on that clown from Gotham?”
“He was pretty surprised. I don’t think his moll liked it much either.”
“He had a mall?”
“No, a moll.” She looked at his blank expression. “It’s kind of like a professional girlfriend, but you don’t get to…” Violet blushed again. “Never mind… What are we going to do about mom?”
“I just said—“
“I know, but what if she’s knocked out?”
“…” Dash’s mouth opened and closed a few times. “I hadn’t thought of that.” His eyes got really wide and he kind of collapsed in on himself and started shaking.
“What’s wrong?”
“You must think I’m the most horrible person on the planet.”
”That’s nothing new, what’d you do this time?”
“It’s not a joke!” He shouted. “I thought mom could… and the whole time I was just… but she’s… and I…” He buried his face in his hands. “Vi, I’m such an asshole.”
She picked up his face. “Because you thought mom was strong enough to take care of herself?” She looked at him with her serious face. “Look, you know what mom can do. I know what she can do. Even if she’s out cold, she’s more than a match for Skippy Loop-de-loop.” She smiled reassuringly. “Hell, I kicked his ass without my powers, think about that.” She put her arm around his shoulders and turned to Mirage. “Now, where is she?”
“From the background sounds, he has to be calling from the warehouse district near the North Bay.”
“All right, let’s collect the three amigos and go get her.”
“That area is several square miles and hundreds of buildings.”
“We’ll just have to spread out.” But Violet’s optimism was soon punctured by the infighting between herself and Mirage on one side and her dad and Rick on the other. Lucius tried to mediate, but the longer the discussion went on, the shorter the tempers got.
“…and I’m telling you that there was the sound of a street car in the background, so he wasn’t calling from the marina!” Mirage shouted. She was standing on a table nose to nose with Mr. Incredible. The others in the room would have been in awe over her courage if she hadn’t already pissed them all off by disagreeing with them.
“I’m not listening to some two bit…” Bob broke off and glanced over at his children. “…Uh, manipulating… um… I’m not listening to someone who’s probably trying to send me on a wild goose chase.”
“Mirage, we’ve analyzed the recording and all of our indicators point to the marina as the origin of the call.”
“I told you, Mr. Dicker, I had my R and D boys swing by my apartment and get the recording your psycho left there. They say he was calling from North Bay.”
“He’s not my psycho, and our equipment—“
“Is purchased from my company and it’s about five generations behind what’s currently available on the market. My equipment is two generations ahead of what’s available right now and is—“
“Untested and, therefore, unreliable.”
Mirage let out a frustrated growl and threw up her hands.
Bob broke in, “I’m not questioning the integrity of your equipment.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean, Bob?”
“You know damn well what I mean!” He loomed over her. “First you seduced me into fighting your super robot and now you’re trying to—“
“I seduced you?” Mirage was incredulous. “I seduced you? You were drooling so much every time you saw me, I had to bring a mop with me to keep from drowning.”
“And now you’ve corrupted my daughter!” He yelled.
“I’ve done nothing of the sort!” She shouted back. “You lot treated her like an outcast, a pariah. All I did was give her a shoulder to cry on and a place where she could feel welcome.”
”Well, that’s not what your job was! You were supposed to keep an eye on her, keep her out of trouble, and instead you’re trying to sleep wi...”His voice trailed off uncertainly as he became aware of Violet’s expression. Silence descended on the room. Mirage regarded him through narrowed eyes. Rick rolled his eyes and dropped his face into his hand.
“What do you mean?” Violet asked quietly. Except for Dash and Violet, everyone in the room exchanged furtive glances with everyone else. “What do you mean: ‘your job’?” Violet demanded of her dad. He wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Rick…?” The older agent was intensely studying the floor. “Uncle Lou…?”
“Well, we were kinda worried about…” Her glare was unrelenting and he trailed off and looked at the ceiling.
There was one more person in the room who could probably explain it, but Violet didn’t want to look at her. She couldn’t look at her. After the revelations and emotions of the last twenty-four hours, she couldn’t believe she was still being lied to. She didn’t want to believe it. “Chi?” Her voice cracked. She couldn’t bring herself to look at the other woman.
“After your fight with Mr. Johnson, people were concerned about your welfare, so agent Dicker contacted me and made me a deal I couldn't refuse.”
“He hired you to watch me?”
Mirage nodded. “I didn’t—“
“Did he pay you extra if you pretended you were my friend?” She snarled as she turned and started to walk out of the room.
“Violet…” Rick's calm voice stopped her. “You're making things hard for yourself again.”
She stood stiffly at the door. Telltale shimmering surrounded her as she tried to control her temper. “Am I? Am I really making it harder for myself, Rick?” Her voice was a knife, cold and sharp. “My mom is being held hostage by some lunatic that wants to kill me because I like to kiss girls. My father doesn’t trust me or my...” Her voice cracked and she cut off the sentence. “My government is only concerned with controlling me. My brother is a little pervert who wants to…” She took a deep breath and her voice softened a little bit. “My brother is scared and confused and no one, not even me, has taken the time to reassure him. My friend… my best friend… my… whatever I thought she was… whatever I thought she might become… is my keeper?” The pause lasted a long time. “You sit in your rooms and decide the fate of the world. You move people around like pawns on a chess board and sacrifice them for your own personal goals.” She tried to keep the tremor out of her voice, but they all knew her well enough to know that she was unsuccessfully trying to hold in her tears. “What could any of you possibly say that could make me believe my life might be easier?”
Helen sat perfectly still concentrating on the way her body felt. Skippy had informed her with great confidence that her powers were completely blocked, but she didn’t want to take his word for it. While he’d been in the room, it had been hard for her to concentrate with all the insane giggling and barking laughter. Now he was gone for a while, and in the welcome silence, she was trying to figure out what he’d done to her. Stretching wasn’t something she’d ever had to concentrate on. It just came naturally, easily. Now that it wasn’t working, she was trying to figure out what was different. She tested each of her limbs, one by one but came up empty. There was something different, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Frustrated, she strained at her bonds and felt her arms start to stretch. But the elongation was accompanied immediately by stabbing pain in her head. The pain was so intense and unexpected that she instantly normalized. Breathing slowly to try and mitigate the pain, she noticed the bonds on her arm had shifted. Not much, but enough that she could feel the difference. She concentrated and strained once more. Again, her arm elongated slightly and again the pain shot through her skull. It might have been worse, it might have been about the same, either way, it left her gasping. But her bonds had moved again.
She was steeling herself for another go when her captor returned. She tried to ignore his rambling tirade but since most of it was aimed at her daughter, it was hard to shut it out. She did pretty well until she heard him mutter. “…not suffer a witch to live.” Then she turned her full attention on him.
“… and my wrath shall wax hot… …will kill you with the sword… …and your children fatherless. Or in this case, motherless.”
Helen felt her frustration rising. Now that she wanted to hear what the guy was saying, he kept muttering under his breath. He finished whatever preparations he was making and began walking toward her. “…seven days it shall be with its dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it unto the lord.” His sadistic grin was wide and his eyes were shining with an unhealthy glow. “Seven days it shall be with its dam: on the eighth day thou shalt give it to the lord.” He repeated. When he reached her, he crouched down next to her and giggled again. “I’m not sure I can draw it out for seven days, but if that’s what god wants, I’ll try to give it to him.” He touched the side of the knife blade to her cheek. “I can sure try.” He began laughing again and danced around the room humming tunelessly and occasionally cackling.
Helen closed her eyes and prayed that she’d get a chance to escape.
Violet waited an eternity at poised in the doorway, hoping for someone to say something. The second or so that passed seemed like forever but, just when she’d given up hope, they all spoke at once. “We all care about you, kid.” “I love you, Vi.” “We all love you, Sweetie.” A rustle of air was accompanied by a hand on her arm. She looked down into Dash’s eyes. “I don’t know where you’re going, Vi. But you’re not going alone.” He said, and then they were all with her, holding her, hugging her, murmuring reassuringly to her.
“Do you mean it?” She whispered and they all talked over each other in a rush to assure her that they really did. But the only voice she heard was Mirage’s.
“With all my heart.”