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 5-Peculiar normality

Violet sat in the school cafeteria, picking light at her lunch. She felt terrible; exhausted and ill. She had been so close and he had slipped trough her fingers again. She would get him, she do nothing else until she had captured Shifter. She adjusted a small earpiece, she was listening to a tiny pocket radio. She was listening to the midday news for any word on Shifter. There was nothing on any sightings, but there was something and she wasn’t liking what she was hearing.
“Yesterday a bank in the downtown area was attacked by the villain known as Bombardment. The criminal took four members of the banking staff hostage with threats of exploding the entire building if his demands were not met. Vanisher was the first Super on the scene. Listeners will probably remember Vanisher as the rogue Super who aided the city in capturing Psychewave two months ago after a change of heart. While Vanisher made a valiant effort Bombardment managed to win the upper hand leaving the young Super potentially helpless. Then, in a shocking turn of events the wanted Super Villain Shifter came onto the scene and overpowered Bombardment. Then in a surprise move he threw the criminal over the side of the building leaving Vanisher to capture the criminal in a force field. This has now sparked up rumours that Shifter and Vanisher have begun working together. Agent Price of the Supers Department has refused to give a statement.”

Violet’s attention was drawn from the news report as a friend sat at the table with her. Chrissie sat next to Violet in History class and the jokes and whispered conversations they shared when the teacher wasn’t looking was the only reason that Violet stayed awake against the teachers monotone voice.
“Hi Vi’ are you ok?” She looked concerned, not surprising. Violet hadn’t been able to sleep all night, she had just lay in her bed trying to sleep but the afternoons events had played over her head over and over. She had been so close, he had been right in front of her. She had chased after him when she could have contained him in a force field. He had escaped and she had let him; again.
“Didn’t sleep well, that’s all.” She said, trying to smile bravely. Her exhausted eyes didn’t smile with the rest of her face and she looked very weird, borderline disturbing.
“You look awful.” Chrissie said, seemingly without thinking. Violet frowned, making crows feet and adding ten years to her.
“Thanks.” She said sarcastically. “I’d love to know what you’d say if yu were insulting me.”

Violet pushed a finger under the neck of her top and rubbed at the neckline of her super-suit, being careful that no one would see it. Usually it was comfortable underneath her clothing, almost snug. But today everything seemed to be rubbing her wrong way. The suit felt too tight around her neck, rubbing at the small of her back in an annoying way and felt itchy around her legs. The whole world today was irritating her in similar ways today.
“Sorry.” Chrissie said. “But…well you do look pretty bad.”
“I’ll go to bed early tonight. I’ll be fine.” She said softly, wishing Chrissie would change the subject. As if she sensed the thoughts Chrissie did. Though as soon as she spoke Violet wished she hadn’t.
“Did you hear the news about Vanisher?” Chrissie spoke with the slight eagerness only a fan could have. Vanisher was a popular subject with everyone in the school. Almost everyone guessed that Vanisher was under twenty, but most thought she was 18, very few even suspected that she was actually 16. Because of the Supers young age she was popular with almost all school kids. A PR consultant would say she was ‘in tune with a young demographic.’ Violet often found it weird to talk about Vanisher as if she was someone else. Essentially she was talking about herself fin the third person; in any other situation that would be a sign of insanity.
“I did.” She held up the radio. It was still playing, quietly in one ear but Chrissie assumed it was off; a natural assumption considering they were having a conversation.
“Do you think it’s true what they’re saying about her? Do you think she’s working with that Shifter?”
“NEVER.” Violet growled angrily, attracting a curious look from Chrissie and stares from a few people nearby. Violet quickly composed herself and shook her head. “No, Vanisher would never do that, not after what he did to her.”
“But she was working with him once. With Psychewave.” Chrissie replied.
“She fought against the two of them in the end.” Violet replied.

She wanted to add that she hadn’t been in her right mind during the whole Psychewave incident, but that wasn’t public knowledge, as far as most people knew the young Super had made a mistake and changed her mind at a later date and fought against Psychewave to correct that mistake. But even the brief step to the dark side had seen a drop in popularity. In the last two months there had been no new memberships to the Vanisher fan club, and many people had actually revoked their membership.
“I guess.” Chrissie continued. “But if she worked with him once maybe she’s still working with him in secret.”
“No. Violet said firmly. “Vanisher isn’t like that.”
“How do you know?” Chrissie asked with growing curiosity. Violet tried to think hard of an excuse. ‘Always have an excuse ready’ her father had taught to her.
“I…I…met her a couple of times.” Violet said, saying the first thing that came to mind. “Keep a secret…” She leaned in close. “I’m a member of Vanisher’s fan club. I’ve seen her at a few meetings. She’s a nice person. Trust me, she wouldn’t have anything to do with Shifter ever again.”
“You’re a member of Vanisher’s fan club?” Chrissie asked, almost looking amused.
“Fully paid up member. I left my membership card at home.” Violet said, relaxing as she realised that Chrissie was accepting her lame excuse.
“Oh my god. You actually get membership cards?”
“With your name, number and picture on and everything. You should come to one of the meetings, we have a good time.”
“But what do you do at those things?” Chrissie asked, unable to believe that a good time could be had a Supers convention. Violet was slightly at a loss, she had only been to the conventions as Vanisher who sat at a table signing autographs and answering questions for four hours. She usually ducked out after that. She made an effort for her tired mind to think at what things she had seen at the meetings when she had looked around from her chair at the autograph table.
“Well, there’s merchandise…like tee shirts and stuff. Mostly we get an autographed picture and ask a few questions to Vanisher.”
“So Vanisher will be there?”
“That’s why there are only a couple of meetings a year. It has to be arranged with Vanisher. I hear that someone at the Supers department actually calls her to book the days.”
“Yeah…as if.” Chrissie laughed, little realising that Violet had just spoken the truth. Someone from the Supers department did call her and book a day for a fan club meeting. Nothing except another omnidroid attack on the city would be an excuse for not turning up. The whole event was run by the supers department, even the profits from the merchandise sales went to the government; it was how they could afford to pay for all the expenses a Super made in their lives. Every bill from mortgage payments to a new tee shirt was paid for by the governments Supers account. Even Violet had her own credit card, something she knew made her friends jealous, which was paid for by the Supers account. Her friends thought her family was rich and she didn’t feel the need to correct them.
“Yeah I know, it sounds a bit farfetched. But you never know. The government and the Supers are supposed to be close to each other.”
“I guess. But come on Vi’ do you really think there’s some guy in Washington who’s job is just to call Supers in, wherever they live, and see if they have a date free in their diary?”
“No, I guess not. When you actually say it, it sounds stupid.” There were several people actually, each person had access to a limited number of Supers names and phone numbers. The guy who got in touch with Violet and her family was named Brent, they even exchanged Christmas cards. Violet obviously wasn’t going to spill that secret.
“So when is this next meeting anyway? I’d love to see Vanisher up close. Get an autograph, ask a question.”
“This Friday. It starts at four, Vanisher should arrive around four thirty.” Violet quoted. She had asked to skip the meeting, she wanted to concentrate on finding Shifter. She was sure there was a pattern emerging to his movements. But Brent had insisted and talked her into it; she needed all the publicity she could get.

Violet’s attention was interrupted by a voice in her ear interrupting the music.
“We interrupt for a special news report. The wanted Super Villain known as Shifter has been sighted in the downtown area. Shifter was sighted running away from the scene of a crime after preventing a brutal battle between members of two rival gangs. Early reports say he did this in a violent manner but all the gang members only received minor injuries. Police are working hard to track to renegade…”

Violet heard enough. She pulled the tiny speaker out of her ear and clicked the radio off. She got to her feet and abandoned her partially eaten lunch.
“Excuse me for a moment, I need to go to the bathroom.” She rushed off before Chrissie could say a word. Violet pushed her way past the tables, chairs and pupils out to the hallways. Shifter was sighted; this was her chance and she was going to get him this time. Turning sharply she walked into her old friend; a toilet. She rushed into one of the stalls and began to pull at her clothes. A wave of nostalgia came over her; she had done this so often before she had become Vanisher and she used to strip and run into the boys changing rooms to watch them shower. It was there she had discovered why Tony was so popular with the ladies. Violet smiled at the memory but the seriousness of the situation drove it away. She stripped down to her Vanisher uniform and pulled the mask out of a hidden pocket in her suit. She folded her clothes neatly and placed them on top of the toilets water tank. If someone glanced up they would see the clothes, there was no way to truly hide them, but as a quick hiding place it would do.

She shimmered out of sight and hurried out as quickly as she could. Taking as much care as she used to when enjoying a free show from the boys.

She rushed out of a door and onto the school grounds. There were a few pupils around, nowhere safe to do it. She pulled back the invisible sleeve of her suit and felt a device that felt like a wristwatch. She pushed the face of the device and heard a quiet beep. It was a signal device, calling her Vanisher cycle to her. The trouble was the machine would be in full sight until she sat on it; everyone in the school grounds would see it arrive; but there was nothing that could be done about that.

Almost a minute went by before Vanisher caught sight of the vehicle. It raced around the corner at a speed that would have thrown a rider and most likely killed them. The sight of Vanisher’s motorcycle grabbed everyone’s attention. There were gasps and mutters and a lot of stares.
‘It can’t be avoided.’ Vanisher thought. She shimmered back into visibility and heard gasps of shock and awe. What was such a hero as Vanisher doing here at their school? Vanisher didn’t hang around to give them an answer and leapt onto her bike as soon as it parked by her side and raced off. It occurred to her halfway along her journey to the downtown area that she could have run down the street and been relatively out of sight when she mounted her vehicle and caused less surprise and rumours; retrospect was a bitch at times.

To be continued.