The Path of Redemption

The Incredibles: The path of redemption.
Englishwitch
Disclaimer: Disclaimer- I do not own The Incredibles, it is a Disney/ Pixar animation motion picture

Chapter 11-Darkness rising.

The Parr family were sitting down at the dinner table, sitting next to Violet was the unwelcome guest.. Michael, who was better known as Shifter, stayed quiet as he ate his meal. He was starving, he hadn’t eaten properly in such a long time, yet he couldn’t bring himself to eat too much of it. He hadn’t lost his appetite, but he wasn’t too willing to do anything about it. The source of his tension was the rest of the family. No one was talking, no one wanted to talk. They couldn’t think of anything to say. Bob and Helen were looking uneasily at each other and Dash kept throwing dark looks at Michael. Violet kept her eyes on her meal. She had felt much better since she knew she had Tony’s trust and support in her decision to help Michael. The mood of the house of course couldn‘t help but get to her a little but the thought of Tony stopped it affecting it too deeply. Only the babbles of Jack-Jack provided any sound. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife. It was a blessed relief when the doorbell rang.

Bob actually gave a sigh of relief as the noise rang through the house. “I’ll get it.” He said with obvious happiness. The same smile didn’t return with him as he came back into the room. “Violet. I think these visitors are for you.” He stepped aside and Violet saw Agent Elizabeth Price and Agent Rick Dickers himself. They were looking very grave.
“We’re sorry to disturb you during dinner.” Agent Price said, sounding seriously.
“But we thought the situation needed to be brought to your attention immediately.” Rick interrupted.
“What’s wrong?” Helen said, rising from her chair. Rick and Elizabeth looked at Violet and Michael. Whatever the news was it related to them the most. Bob and Dash offered their chairs and the two government agents sat down.
“There has been an incident.” Mirage began gravely. “Earlier today, in broad daylight, a secure military facility was attacked. There was a lot of damage and many of the facilities personal were injured.”
“In all the devastation, only one prisoner was freed.” Rick interrupted.
“Who?” Helen jumped in. She was looking from the agents to her daughter and back again.
“Richard King.” Elizabeth price said with gravity. The gravity was lost on Bob, Helen and Dash. But on Violet and Michael their jaws dropped.
“Who?” Bob asked. Richard looked at him but Violet got there first.
“Psychewave.” She muttered. She and Michael shared a look. Twin expressions of fear were in their eyes.
“Psychewave?” Helen shouted. She clenched her fists and glared at Elizabeth, violet was forgotten now. “How could you let this happen?”
“I wasn’t there personally.” Mirage snapped back in a cold tone.
“Psychewave was sealed inside the highest maximum security cell ever designed. Over a dozen men were hospitalised defending the corridor alone. Three times that were hurt through the facility as his jail breakers came in an out.” Rick said loudly, interrupting the argument before it could get started. He turned his attention to Violet and Michael. “One of the reasons we came here for was information.”
“What?” Violet muttered. She glanced confusingly at Michael and then to Rick. “You can’t think we had anything to do with this?”
“We don’t know who did this.” Mirage said. “We really have no information at all. All the security camera’s were smashed before a clear image could be recorded and all those who may have seen the invaders are in the hospital in no condition to talk. We don’t even know how many of them there were. We all know it’s a long shot but it’s all we have; the two of you were in Psychewaves company for a while, we need to know, did he mention anything at all about escape plans in case he was captured. Even in passing did he say that he had hired someone to free him.”
Violet shook her head. She hadn’t stayed long enough with Psychewave to be given the details of anything more than his immediate plan. She hadn’t learned anything about any back up plans at all.
Michael shook his head too, making everyone’s heart drop. “Psychewave never had anyone but me and Vanisher working for him.” He muttered quietly. Everyone heard him, they were being so quiet that a pin drop would have been deafening. “He thought his idea couldn’t fail. He never thought about prisons or anything like that.”
“That makes this much worse.” Agent Price said solemnly. “If it was someone working with Psychewave we might be able to track them down but rogue villains will be impossible to predict.”
“Which, unfortunately brings us to the second reason for coming here.” Said Rick in a tone that wouldn’t be out of place at a funeral. Violet and Michael felt as if they were at one; their own.
“What reason?” Bob pressed. Rick looked around the room, taking in each face of the Parr family and Michael’s too.
“We fear that Psychewave will try and take his revenge against both yourself and Shifter. You foiled his plans and he must know that Michael would turn against him once his influence over the boy had faded. Certainly Shifter never even attempted to rescue him.”
“Can you at least wait until I’m out of the room before you talk about me as if I’m out of the room.” Michael mumbled. Over the sound of Ricker’s voice the quite mutterings were lost to everyone but Violet. Under the table her hand found his and clasped it tightly. Her heart was doing a mile a minute, god only knew what was going on in his head. She wanted to let him know that they were in this together.
“Psychewave almost killed you the last time you faced him.” Elizabeth said. Looking at Violet. “And we have no idea what he might be capable of now with his new friends. For your own safety, we want you to come with us to a safe house. Its outside the city, in the mountains, far away from any danger. This is entirely your decision Violet, Michael. But I urge you both to take the offer. Let us keep you both safe until we’ve captured him again.”

Violet looked from Mirage and Dickers to her parents. It was obvious which decision all four of them wanted her to make. Violet didn’t know what to do or say, the only thing she could think of was- “What about Tony? He messed up Psychewave’s by bringing me back. What if Psychewave comes after him?”
“We’ve already thought of that.” Dickers said gently. “As soon as we’re finished here we’ll be going to take him to safety. His parents know that he had some involvement in the town hall incident but they don’t know entirely what. While we’ll try and persuade his parents to let him go freely by saying it’s just a safety precaution. But I must warn you, if we have to, we’ll tell them the truth if we have to. The entire truth about yourself and why Tony’s life is in serious danger. Not only did he destroy Psychewave’s plans by helping restore your mind, but Psychewave may attack him to get to you.”
Violet nodded, all of Psychewaves revenge plans had occurred to her. Dickers telling Tony’s family the real truth hadn’t come to mind however. But she didn’t say a word of complaint; whatever was necessary to get Tony to safety was acceptable in her mind. Now that her boyfriends safety was assured, she was sure Tony would take the offer of the safe house. He was brave but not stupid; he wouldn’t hang around for a psychopathic Super Villain to find him. Violet’s thoughts were moving back onto her own situation. She had suffered so much the last time she had met Psychewave, an experience she was not too willing to repeat. She had picked up many physical and mental scars because of it. But, at the same time, another part of her, probably the hero side, was saying how she had defeated him once before and she could probably do it again. He was a deadly opponent and Violet knew her experience would be necessary to help bring him down. And since she had brought him down before the public would look to her to defeat him again. She had placed all of the newspaper reports and put them into a scrapbook. VANISHER: SAVIOUR OF THE CITY. Had been the headline she had taken the most pride in. She didn’t know what to do; fear and caution were telling her one thing but her sense of duty was yelling another. Psychewave could destroy the city if he wanted to, she had to try and take him down. But he had almost killed her, what if the next time he actually succeeded? She almost wanted her mum or dad to step in and make the decision for her, it would have just made it all so much easier for her. This was too big a choice for a teenager to make, Super or otherwise. But her mum and dad knew that because she was a Super and because of what she had been through, only Violet could decide what to do.

“I’m staying.” Muttered a voice at her side. Violet whipped her head around to stare at Michael. Every one else in the room followed suit, which only made Michael more nervous. It had taken a lot of courage to speak up and say just those two words. He continued talking, but in a quieter voice. “I can’t let Him go free. I can’t let Him do to someone else what he did to me. I can’t. He won’t hurt anyone else. He won’t.” He clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Violet put a hand on his shoulder and he looked at her, tears were in his eyes; tears of anger. Violet felt a flutter in her chest; here she was so worried about what would happen to here and here was Michael who had suffered as much as she had, maybe more, and yet he was ready to jump in and fight. Violet looked at Rick and Agent Price.
“If Michael stays then I stay.”

Helen leaned over the table and grabbed her daughters attention. “Vi’ please, think hard about this.”
Violet nodded. “I have. I’m staying. I have to.”
“You are no longer bound by the 8:15.” Agent Price said, as if that would change Violet’s mind. “You don’t have to stay just because Michael has decided to.”
“It’s not about that.” Violet jumped in. “It’s about doing what’s right.”

Her mum and dad looked at her with a mixture of concern and pride; the dominant emotion was shifting between the two every second. Elizabeth and Rick looked at each other with concern but knew that there was nothing that could be done to change her mind. Rick pulled a card out of his suit pocket and placed it on the table. “If you change your mind at any time you can contact one of us at this number. We can have an escort to you in less than an hour.”
Violet looked at the card but didn’t touch it. She didn’t want to think about escaping at this time.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” She muttered.
Elizabeth and Rick nodded and rose from their chairs. “Well.” Began Rick. “I suppose all that remains is to speak to Tony’s parents and get him to safety.”
“Don’t take ’no’ for an answer.” Violet demanded. Rick and Elizabeth nodded before they left the room.

Michael looked at Violet with admiration and gratitude. “Thank you.” He said. Violet waved her hand in a dismissive way.
“We’re both just doing what we have to.” She said.

To be continued.