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Violet dropped her backpack on the floor, kicked off her shoes and flopped down on her bed. Letting out a long sigh, she closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, trying to release some of the tension she felt. For the last three days, she had been avoiding Kari at school and it was starting to really get to her. Today, the red head had confronted her after volleyball practice, droning on and on about relationships and what it takes to make them work. Violet had been sure that everyone within hearing distance knew that Kari was gay and thought that they were lovers or something. She totally mortified and pretty sure she could hear some of the other girls snickering. She thought she caught glimpses of them quickly looking away when she turned to look at them. She had never wanted to disappear more than at that moment. She had finally broken away and fled into the locker room where she gave a long, loud speech about how much Kari annoyed her and how they weren’t really friends; the girl just babysat her brothers. But in the end, she had felt really bad about it.
Now she just wanted to lie on her bed and forget about the whole thing. She heard Dash coming up the stairs and reached out with her force field to push the door to her room closed but she was too slow. The little maniac ran into her room, grabbed her disc player and got out before she got the door closed.
“MOM!” she yelled, drawing the word out into two syllables. When she didn’t get and answer, she flung herself up off the bed and stomped out into the hallway. “DASH!” She screamed. “YOU GIVE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW OR I’M GONNA-“
“Gonna what?” He said from right behind her. “Gonna get embarrassed?” He grabbed her bra-strap through her T-shirt and let it go, snapping it painfully against her back and then was gone before she could even turn around.
“MOM!” She screamed again.
“Mom’s not home, Shrieking Violet.” He taunted her, “You’re in charge. Like you can make me do anything.”
She felt her bra-strap being pulled again and concentrated on forming a force field about six-feet behind herself. The strap snapped painfully again but this time the pain was mitigated by a loud thump as Dash ran full speed into her invisible wall. She quickly formed a sphere around her brother and began contracting it slowly. He tried to run but she had already made it small enough that he couldn’t properly move his feet.
“You better let me outta here!” He yelled at her. When the sphere didn’t stop shrinking, he tried a different tactic, “I’m telling mom that you used your powers on me.”
“Like you didn’t use your’s on me?” She asked sarcastically as she continued to shrink the ball he was contained in. Already his knees were touching his shoulders and she was starting to feel some resistance from his body.
“Vi, let me out!” there was a satisfying note of panic in his voice.
“What’s the magic word, Speedy Gonzales?” She asked tauntingly.
“Please!”
“Not good enough.” She retorted, but she did stop constricting the force field.
“Pretty please?” He pleaded. “With sugar on top and whipped cream?”
“Are you gonna behave yourself?” She asked menacingly.
“That’s a very good question Violet Parr.” Her mother’s angry voice came from behind her. “What do you think you’re doing? You let him out of there, right this instant.”
Mentally cursing her bad timing, Violet released the force bubble from around her brother, doing it instantly so he’d fall a few feet to the ground, but her mother stretched out and gathered the brat into her arms, offering him comfort while he stuck his tongue out at her when their mother wasn’t looking. She seethed silently. She knew that if she tried to defend herself her mom would take his side. She’d heard it so many times before, that she could probably give herself the speech. “He’s younger than you.” “You should know better.” “Just don’t let his teasing get to you.” She started to stalk into her room when her mother stopped her.
“I’m not done with you, young lady.” She said sternly. “And don’t roll your eyes at me!”
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Violet sat on the couch in the living room, straining to hear her parents voices from her father’s office. Her mom’s voice was easy to hear, “And then I found her squeezing Dash inside one of her force fields and threatening him!” she practically shouted. Her dad said something but just as he was speaking, Dash started running the water and singing in the bathroom, drowning out the words. Frustration caused her to clench her fists and grit her teeth and she was so angry that she considered just going over and beating the brat senseless.
If I’m going to get in trouble for it anyway, She thought, but decided that it wouldn’t net her anything in the long run. Instead she settled for closing her eyes and picturing the little punk’s face turning blue as he gasped for air and pleaded with her for mercy. It was such a pleasant thought that she didn’t hear the door of her father’s office open or her mother approaching.
“Wipe that grin off your face, young lady.” Her mother’s caustic voice penetrated her fantasy. She opened her eyes to see her mother looming over her, hands on hips, wearing a stern expression. “That stupid stunt you pulled could have seriously injured your brother.”
“He stole my disc player and attacked me.”
“He’s twelve!”
“He’s a demon-child!”
“Violet Parr, I will not stand here and listen to you call-”
“You never listen to me!” Violet cried. “You always let him hurt me... and steal my stuff... and fuck up my dates-”
“There’s no call for that kind of language!”
“What…? ‘Fuck?’ I can’t say ‘fuck?’” A small part of Violet really enjoyed watching her mom flinch when she said the word, but mostly, the complete unfairness of the situation just crashed down around her and tears began to stream down her face as she continued shouting. “Demon child spies on me, invades my privacy, steals my stuff and you’re yelling at me because I squeezed him a little and said ‘fuck?’” She pushed her mom out of the way and went to her room. She didn’t notice that she was doing the pushing mentally instead of physically. She gathered up a few things and threw them in a bag then headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” Even in her emotionally agitated state, something in her mother’s voice penetrated into Violet’s heart. Her mom was really upset.
Good, a part of Violet thought. She can be upset! “What the fuck do you care?” She screamed out loud and slammed the door behind her. She didn’t really have a destination in mind, but her feet carried her toward a place where she knew she was welcome, even if she had been being a bitch for the last few days. Along the way, she was so wrapped up in her own grief and pain that she didn’t notice that people were being forced out of her way.
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Rick Dicker took the call calmly. He listened to the hysterical woman on the other end of the line for a few minutes and silently thanked whatever gods that looked over him for sparing him the trials of raising a daughter. On the other hand, Slick Jr. must have complained to the Commander because now Rick was stuck with the eager young fool. A situation made painfully clear by the kid practically jumping up and down in his office waving some papers. Rick tried to ignore the kid, but like an excited puppy, he just kept getting more intrusive. By the time Mrs. Parr had wound down, Junior G-man was leaned over Rick’s desk shoving the papers into his face.
Rick backed the young man off with a glare. It was an impressive glare, fine tuned by many hours of interrogating suspects and testifying before congress. Skippy didn’t have a chance. I really should learn this kid’s name, Rick thought, especially since the Commander has seen fit to punish me by forcing me to train the little twerp. “What do you have there, Skippy?” If the nick name bothered the younger agent he showed no sign.
“A report that shows where our prodigal child is.” He seemed quite proud of himself.
“And this information comes from…?”
“It’s a brilliant algorithm that I programmed myself.” He said proudly, “Compiling data from neighborhood stop-light cameras and public disturbance calls with satellite-recorded instances of paranormal activities, I can predict with ninety-eight percent certainty the destination of our prodigal child.” He finished with a triumphant smile and spread the sheets of paper across Rick’s desk. Rick glanced down at the papers and their columns of numbers.
“And this tells you she’s going to Kari Mckeen’s house?”
Skippy’s face fell like a ton of bricks. He waved one hand weakly and stuttered for a few seconds before collapsing back into a chair. “How did you know?” he finally asked weakly.
“She’s a teen aged girl that just had a huge fight with her mom.” Rick said disdainfully. “She’s either going to her boyfriend’s house or her best friend’s house. Since her boyfriend is an octopus with difficulty hearing under the best of circumstances…” Rick let his voice trail off and shrugged his shoulders. The young agent sagged even further into the chair, looking totally dejected.
“But… my programs… and predictions… useless… you just…”
“Look, Skippy,” I really gotta figure out what this kid’s name is. “There’s nothing wrong with your computer programs. Just remember that the human brain is one of the best computers there is. Now, go get the car and cheer up, at least your algorithms were right.”
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Chi’s phone buzzed. Annoyed, she looked down at it. She was giving an important presentation to the Air-Cab representatives and she had given strict instructions not to be disturbed. When she saw the number of the caller, she cursed inwardly. “Excuse me gentlemen, ladies, I’m very sorry to interrupt but I have to take this.” She indicated her phone. “Bryant will continue the presentation in my absence, he has my full confidence.” She stepped into the adjoining sound proof room and raised the phone to her ear. “Patch him through, Daniel.” She said to her secretary.
She listened to the excited voice on the other end of the line for a few minutes and broke in. “I’m sure this would be a perfect situation to take advantage of, but we’re not positioned yet.” She said in exasperation. “Get with our man in Bob’s office and have him find out the details tomorrow, and alert Ruby that we’ll want a full report the moment Helen leaves her salon.” She listened as the voice emphatically repeated something. “I understand.” She said in a warning tone. “But if you can’t keep your cool, I’ll have you replaced by someone less excitable. You pulled me out of an important meeting for a report that could have easily waited an hour or two…” She listened again, this time the voice sounded hurt. “Yes, you do have a certain amount of discretion and leeway in your duties, but ultimately, I decide if you are exercising them properly.” There was some hurried reassurance, “I’m sure you will do better in the future.” She replied with a smile in her voice and disconnected the call.
Violet having arguments with her parents and storming out of the house... she cursed silently again. Her field agent was right, this was a golden opportunity, but there was no ground work yet. There was nothing to build on. The Job fair was still ten days away and she wouldn’t be able to introduce herself to Violet for at least two weeks after that. There really wasn’t any point in trying to establish contact now, it would only jeopardize her entire plan. Damn him for giving me this frustrating information! She thought. Violet’s on the outs with her family right now and I’m not in a position to take advantage of the schism… unless…
She eased into the room quietly. Bryant was doing well. He knew the material and he had just the right amount of flirt in his voice. She caught his eye and signaled him to take over completely. When he acknowledged with a nod, he worked it in so smoothly that she didn’t think any of the listeners even knew she had re-entered the room. She eased back out of the room and headed for her car in the basement, calling Daniel for a change of clothes and a current traffic report. If she everything went right, she had a shot at introducing herself into Violet’s life this afternoon. When her secretary joined her, she began shedding her clothes and handing them to him while they were walking to the elevator. She’d look completely out of place in a coffee house wearing that suit, jeans and a sweatshirt was the uniform of the day at the local coffee shop where Violet and Kari hung out. She didn’t bother taking off her hose, she just slid the jeans on over them, socks and shoes too. When the elevator car arrived, no one would have guessed that she was the owner of the building. John handed her a ball cap and an appropriate handbag just before the doors closed. She made a mental note to send her field agent a bonus.
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