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 14- Bad to worse.

Violet paced slowly and quietly down the hallway of her house, listening intently. She could hear sounds coming from the bathroom. It was a good place to hide, the place was small, private and had a lock, all in all a safe place to be. She had known this fact quite well and taken advantage of it during her quieter, less confident, days. Almost a lifetime ago.
Violet pressed her ear up to the bathroom door. She could hear Michael inside, crying but trying to stifle the sounds. He was upset but didn’t want to destroy the image that ‘boy’s don’t cry.’ The door was locked but that wouldn’t stop her. Violet knew how to open it; there wasn’t a lock in the house she didn’t know how to pick. From her pocket she pulled a card. It was a business card that Rick Dickers had handed to her earlier that day. It held his number in case she changed her mind about the safe house, now it would be useful in a different way. She slid it between the door and the frame and slid it up and down and jiggled it slightly. She could feel everything moving the way it was supposed to and with a satisfying CLICK the card slid lock back into an open position. Violet hurried into the bathroom before Michael could realise what was going on and lock the door again. She closed and locked the door behind her and stood in front of the door, blocking his escape.
She had left him for almost an hour, now was the time to talk. Personally she would have preferred to avoid the subject for a little longer, and he looked the same. But these were desperate, dark, times and they stood a better chance as a team than as two embarrassed solo supers.
Michael had jumped to his feet when Violet had entered the room but Violet’s reactions had been too quick for him to reach the door and run again. Now he just turned his back to her ad sniffed deeply, fighting against more tears. “Go away. Leave me alone.” He said in a hoarse voice. Violet didn’t budge, she didn’t even blink.
“We need to talk.” She said, trying to sound stern. But in truth she was very nervous. She held her hands behind her back and could feel them trembling. “We need to talk about what happened.”
“What happened?” Michael burst out in a rush of intense emotions that were all blended together. There was anger, sadness, desperation, even hints of self loathing; and those were just the ones Violet managed to pick out. There were more in there that escaped her ear. “I made a complete fucking fool of myself. That’s what happened.”
Violet was shocked that he would use such language, she couldn’t even guess that he even knew swear words. She stayed silent and Michael continued to rant.
He put his head in his hands and growled in frustration. “I can’t believe I did it. I can’t believe I thought you wouldn’t mind. I’m so fucking stupid. Why? Why did I do that?” He turned and looked at her, shaking his head violently. “I was just so stupid to think that you would actually like me.” He collapsed onto the floor, his strength seemed to have left him. Violet waited a couple of seconds in silence to make sure he had finished talking before kneeling down to the floor in front of him. She reached out a hand and touched his on the shoulder. “I do like you.” He glanced up at her, almost hopefully. It was heartbreaking to continue the sentence. “Just not in that way. The only person I really feel that way about is Tony.” The poor boy looked so crestfallen it hurt her. “You are a good person Michael. But I’m almost seventeen and you…you’re only twelve. Young enough to be my brother. And I like you as if you were my brother.” She sat down properly on the floor, the kneeling was starting to hurt her knees. She sighed before continuing. “I had no idea you felt like that about me.”
Michael stared at the floor, in silence, for several minutes. When he spoke, he still couldn’t meet her eyes. “I guess.” He muttered. “I didn’t know either. I just thought it was the right thing to do. I didn‘t even think about anything else.”
“Why?” Violet pressed as gently as she could. “What did I do to make you think like that? I thought I was just being supportive, showing you that we’re a team in this.”
Michael didn’t answer and just became absorbed by something on the floor. “I don’t know.” He muttered slowly. “I guess because you were so nice to me.”
Violet was stunned into silence. She had showed him kindness and he had misread all of the signs. Probably because he hadn’t had too much experience with compassion over the years. Her heart went out to him in sympathy.
“I was nice to you because it’s what you deserved.” She said in a sweet tone. “Because you needed someone to be nice to you. Because you…are my friend.”
Michael fell silent and was overcome with guilt at what he had done. He still couldn’t believe that he had kissed her. One little event had thrown their fledgling partnership into total chaos. “I…” He began unsurely. “I would like things to be the way they were before.”
“Nothing can ever really go backwards.” Violet said in a soft voice. “But I guess we can try. Friends?” She held out her hand and Michael glanced up and stared at it. Slowly but surely he reached out ad grasped it.
“Friends.” He said, doing his best to sound happy. A friendship was better than nothing.

Suddenly there was a mad battering at the door. Violet and Michael jumped in shock and stared at the door. “Open the door.” Yelled her mothers voice. Violet climbed to her feet and opened the lock. The door was pulled open and Helen looked desperately at her daughter. She didn’t even question why Violet and Michael were locked in the bathroom together. Something serious was on her mind, Violet could instantly tell by the look on her face. “Get your suits. Both of you. NOW.” She turned and moved down the corridor. Violet moved into the hallway and chased after her.
“What’s going on?”
Helen turned and looked at her desperately. “It’s Edna.” She said desperately. Violet froze and looked at her in disbelief. Helen rushed on to her bedroom to grab her suit. Violet looked at Michael, he looked at her just as shocked.
“Get your suit.” She told him coldly. She raced down the hallway to her bedroom.

*************

The building was a picture of devastation. Thick black smoke still rose out of one of the giant gaping hole that had once been a wall of glass. The thick wall that had once run around the property had been knocked down in a spot, leaving the laser field at the front gate completely redundant. The grounds had been churned up, grass and mud everywhere, showing signs of an obvious and brutal struggle. There were a few security members still around, but they looked like walking wounded. Their suits were dirty, covered in mud, dust and blood, and the men were covered in bandages, cuts and bruises. They had fought hard to protect Edna, but it had not been enough.
Violet looked with horror as her father drove the whole family up the long driveway in the Incredimobile. Even Jack-Jack was present, sitting on her lap and dressed in his own small Super suit. The young boy was strangely quiet, as if he could understand the gravity of the situation. All of them wore the same shocked expression. Who could do this and why? And yet thee didn’t need to ask the question, all of them knew, this was Psychewave’s doing.

There were others on the scene already. A black unmarked car just said government vehicle. But there was also a red and gold car with a large red G on the bonnet. Violet had never seen the car before and didn’t know who drove it.
Rick Dickers came out of the building to greet them as the family came out of the car. He looked at them all with gravity. Michael stayed close to Violet, now dressed in his Shifter suit, red with a large black S across the torso. Bob stepped forward and spoke to Rick.
“What happened here?”
Rick looked ill. Violet almost instantly became quite aware of just how old he was looking. Rick shook his head and turned back toward the house. The whole family followed behind him.
“We think it’s the same group that broke Psychewave out of our facility. But we can’t confirm it yet. Any of the guards that saw the invaders aren’t in a position to talk and the security cameras only caught blurred images. We only think it was them because of the similar styles of entry. The way they smashed down everything in their path.” They came out of the entrance hallway and into the main room. It was large and bright. The walls and floor were white with a large Greek mural on the wall behind them. Two of the walls had been made of glass that opened up onto a large patio area outside. There was a Koi fishpond that was half in and half out of the home. Usually there was a giant golden statue that sat in the pond; but now it was sitting in the middle of the living room in several large pieces. It looked like it had been used to break down the large glass wall. The Japanese style furniture had been reduced to firewood. The marble flooring had even been turned to crazy paving.
There were three other Supers already present in the living room, observing the devastation. One of them Violet instantly recognised as the long time family friend Frozone. The other two she had to think hard to remember their names.
One was a man, close to her fathers age. He was dressed in a red and gold suit with a black G on the chest, obviously it was his car outside. He’d only come to the city recently, having moved from L.A. His powers made him like a living version of one of Edna’s suits; bullet proof, fire proof, practically indestructible. He even had rapid healing, at least faster than a usual Super. He simply called himself Guardian. Violet didn’t think it was great name, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. After Psychewave a couple of Supers had moved to the city to help the people feel more protected.
The third super was another who had moved to the city just a month ago. She looked old enough to be a college student. She was tall, thin and blonde but despite that she did look formidable. Probably in her civilian clothing she looked like she wouldn’t be out of place standing around in a mall with a cell phone in one hand and a designer coffee in the other with a gaggle of friends around her. She was dressed in red and white with a W on the chest. Wondergirl. Violet didn’t really know her powers, but knew one was flight.
These three Supers looked at Shifter with confusion, clearly they hadn’t been informed about Vanisher and Shifter were working together now. They said nothing, but took note of how close to Violet he stayed.
“The attack took place about twenty minutes ago. It’s obvious they came in by breaking down the east wall.” Rick said, grabbing everyone’s attention. “Immediately afterwards the panic button was pressed and an armed response team was sent out straight away. It’s important to protect someone who has done so much to help both Supers and the Government. By the time we got here they were already gone. From the evidence we can guess that Edna took shelter in her laboratory. But even her personal security system failed to keep her safe. The titanium door has been turned to scrap. The laboratory had been turned upside down.”
“She put up a fight.” Helen said, looking to Bob, they both shared a reassuring smile. Edna wouldn’t go easy.
“We think so. But the point is that they have her and we have no idea why.”
“The clothes make the man.” Shifter muttered. Everyone heard and turned to stare at him. Shifter kept his eyes on Violet and that gave him the ability to keep talking. “Psychewave said that the first time he put on his Super suit. He liked it, a lot. Psychewave will want a new suit before he does anything and his suit will have to be the best.”
“So you think Psychewave got his new companions to break in here just to collect Edna to make him a suit?” Bob said. Rick let out a deep sigh and shook his head gently.
“If this is true then this group is willing to do everything to aid Psychewave in his plans. He’s going to be more dangerous than ever.”

Violet didn’t want to hear anymore. There was nothing that could really be done now anyway. Rick had probably called everyone here to see the situation and explain to every Super, as a group, what had happened to Edna. So they could discuss options and ideas on what to do when Psychewave arose.
Violet paced quietly around the room, walking around the debris and through a door. Stairs led downwards toward, what most people might think was a basement. But this was a basement only a mad genius would have.
Edna’s security system had failed. There were large guns lying on the floor in pieces of twisted shrapnel. Mechanical arms hung limply from the ceiling, powerless. The thick metal door looked like it had been broken through by a battering ram. Tables were turned over, pieces of electronic equipment had been demolished and thrown around the room. A tornado could have come through the building and it would have looked the same.
Vanisher walked further back into the lab, the place was just as large as the house above, only it went below ground, into the hill upon which Edna’s mansion sat. The lab had several room, some were rooms for making suits, others for constructing gadgets, others storage facilities for parts and materials and so on. None of the other rooms had been touched. Edna had obviously made her last stand in the main laboratory. She looked through the door of one room, it was as big as a football field, at least three floors high and stocked with endless rows of material in every colour that could ever exist. Violet saw the material in the same shade of purple as her suit. She wondered if it had been cut from the same cloth.
In another room she saw tailors dummies standing in their own individual cubicles. From the neck down the dummies were perfectly fine, but from the neck up they were covered in bullets holes, or burns, and other kind of damage. Edna must test some of her suits, it looked like her designs worked. Violet moved on. In the next room she found a garage. There were tools scattered about on small tables and sitting in the pit was the half repaired Vanisher cycle. The cover was gone exposing the machine below. Where the frame had broken it had been replaced with shining new metal, waiting to be painted. Vanisher wasn’t a mechanic but she could see that most of the engine was missing. Edna hadn’t finished repairing it when she was kidnapped. Violet didn’t care about that at the moment though. She stepped over to the work station and looked at the blueprints. Drawn by Edna’s hands from her mind. She’d had some ideas to increase the strength of the metal and the fuel efficiency of the engine. Practically everything else would remain the same.
“Looking around?” A voice interrupted. Vanisher whirled around to face the door. Wondergirl was standing in the doorway, looking at Vanisher curiously. Vanisher nodded and glanced at the half constructed motorbike.
“I just can’t believe it. Edna of all people.”
“Yeah.” Wondergirl said sadly She leaned against the wall and sighed. “All this because he wanted a suit.”
Violet looked at her, it was more than obvious who he was referring to. It was also obvious where she might steer the conversation. Violet tried to change the subject. “So you’ve met Edna?” She said, trying to sound casual. Wondergirl nodded and put a hand on her chest, indicating her suit.
“When I let the government know I was a Super they flew me out here to get a suit made.”
“Where are you from anyway?” Violet jumped in. “I can’t place your accent.”
“San Francisco.” Wondergirl said in a nostalgic tone. “When I graduated from high school I got into a bunch of colleges, one of them was here. So I was asked by a guy from the government if I wanted to be a Super in this city. I said yes and took my place in East Metroville college.
“You live on campus?” Violet asked in wonder. Wondergirl nodded her head and smiled a little.
“I keep my suit in a box under my bed, when I‘m not wearing it. I have to keep it locked to make sure my roommate doesn’t find it.”
“You ever have trouble?” Vanisher asked. “Balancing your lives? Keeping up your super life and keeping up with your friends?”
Wondergirl laughed in relief, the look in her eyes showed that she had been believing that she had been the only one. “God yes.” She said with a gasp and a slight smile. “I pissed my pals off so many times because I’ve had to run away to save the day. Thank god for the government account paying the bills; apology gifts cost a lot.”
Vanisher nodded and leaned against the table. “I know. My boyfriend tries to understand but I know it’s hard on him.”
Now Wondergirl looked at her with wide eyed shock, her jaw dropped. “You have a boyfriend? How the hell did you manage that? How do you find the time for a relationship?”
Violet shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. “I have no idea how we manage, we just do. Somehow.”
Wondergirl smiled and looked at her in awe. Here was a girl barley past seventeen and she had managed to get her life together in a way she hadn’t. A boyfriend was something she could only dream of in her life. She had a hard enough time just keeping her friends on speaking terms with her. Amazing. Truly amazing.
Violet sighed and looked back at the unfinished bike. The conversation had served as a good distraction but the present situation had to be looked at eventually. Vanisher didn’t know what to do. She hadn’t a clue where to start. The only way to rescue Edna was to capture Psychewave and for that they had to wait until he surfaced again.
But if Violet knew Psychewave like she thought she did, he would only surface when he was strong enough, when he was ready to start his war and strike back against all who had opposed him.

To be continued.