Incredibles/Aberrant- Awkward Times, Interesting Times

“Awkward Times, Interesting Times”

Chapter 1 - Awkward Meetings

Disclaimer: Don’t own Incredibles, don’t own Aberrant (though I wonder if it’s possible to buy the rights since White Wolf discontinued it). Disney owns Incredibles, White Wolf (until someone buys it from them or they just give it up) owns Aberrant.

Author’s Notes: Just posting pieces of my “Awkward Times” fic here to see what kind of feedback I get. Though to be honest, it also gives me a chance to read through and correct any glaring errors I may have missed. Sadly, I don’t spend as much time going over my fics for errors as I do when going through my original works.

However, this fic has been fun to write and, while it’s almost coming to an end (up to 10 chapters over on FFN), I do plan on writing a sequel to it…after all, this fic is meant to be an “opening act”. This story introduces the various characters, the setting, the world they live in, and the crap that’s happening around them. I will warn you, however, this fic, while it has its “funny” moments, has very dark undertones in it. While I’m throwing in some of my own ideas, I’m also taking some ideas from watching the movie (like the possibility that some of those supers Syndrome murdered probably have children who are more than a little bitter about the death of their loved ones). Anyway, enough rambling. I’m just putting the first chapter up. If people are interested, I’ll put up more (including the companion piece. “The Dicker Files”, that provides more information on this twisted little world I’m writing about).

On another note…I was listening “I Am Sound” by the Dandy Warhols for this scene when I wrote it. Don’t why, but for some reason, it sort of fit the mood.


[i]We’ve always seen, heard, or experienced the old term “the past coming back to bite you in the ass” at some point in our lives. In the case of the Adam-X experiment we recovered from Pine’s island stronghold, it could almost be seen as a both a blessing and a headache. Some of my colleagues wanted me to terminate the experiment and turn the remains over to the Aeon Society. However, I never trusted the Aeon Society, not since my own days as a “hero”. Instead of turning the boy over to Aeon, I made sure our agency took custody of him. I had him placed with one of our semi-retired operatives and, while there have been some complications, I do not regret the decision. However, I never expected the boy to do what he did. But instead of coming back to bite me in the ass, my past took a different approach…he simply drove up to the front door of the family his biological father had almost murdered.

-Journal Entry, NSA Director Rick Dicker[/i]


Helen Parr, mother, wife, and occasional crime-fighter looked out the kitchen window and smiled as she watched her youngest son playing basketball in the driveway. Though he was only nine years old and probably the most powerful in the family, Jack seemed interested in “more” important things like basketball, roller-blading, and playing video games.

“Nash has the ball, only seconds to go, but he’s blocked…passes it to Shaq, Yao’s moving in for the kill, Shaq passes it back to Nash…long shot for three points…SCORE!”

Helen shook her head and laughed as she listened to her son’s imaginary commentary. She thought it amusing that Jack, one of the most powerful supers on the planet, was more grounded than his other siblings.

No, she thought, that wasn’t really fair. Violet, at the age of twenty, was starting her second year of college and Dash was about to graduate High School, although he had expressed interest spending more time with the Incredibles team than going to college like his sister.

Except Jack was different…he didn’t seem to be enthralled by the whole “super hero thing”, though Helen wondered if that was because Jack grew up in a family of supers that wasn’t trying so hard to be normal. Helen knew that the boy would probably want to embrace the family tradition as he got older, but for now…he was just a normal, albeit slightly hyper-active kid and Helen was happy with that.

It had been an interesting last eight years since the team made it’s official “debut” in the battle against Syndrome. Supers were starting to make their presence known again, especially after the Galatea incident, though most were hesitant when certain US senators drafted legislation requiring registration. Thankfully, that motion was defeated, but it still lurked around in the Senate…occasionally rearing its ugly head whenever there was an incident involving supers and widespread damage.

However, the Parrs were able to make it work. They were mostly inactive, only going active when a major threat arose, but they kept mostly to themselves. Bob, surprisingly, was made a supervisor at his job and ended up heading a department that investigated insurance fraud. Helen managed to return to college and finish her degree, majoring in psychology and education. She occasionally substituted as a teacher at the local high-school, much to the chagrin of Dash.

Overall, it had been a relatively quiet life…that was suddenly shattered when she looked out the kitchen window and saw a black BMW Mini-Cooper convertible pull up in the driveway, stopping to leave enough distance for Jack continue to shoot at the basket.

It wasn’t the two teens she saw sitting in the car, a boy and a girl enjoying a drive, that bothered her, though the girl’s bright pink and spiky hair did sort of stand out. The young man who got out of the car, Helen figured him to be around 18, was dressed in jeans, but wore a black button down shirt and casual shoes which looked like they were genuine Italian leather. And yet there was something about the young man that made her uneasy.

“Excuse me,” he said to Jack who stopped what he was doing to take a look at the strange car that had invaded his driveway. “I’m looking for your parents.”

“Hey, Mom!” Jack shouted. “There’s some weird guy in the driveway who wants to talk to you!”

The stranger shook his head and laughed as he made his way towards the front door. “I guess that would be accurate,” he said.

Helen opened the front door and froze for a moment as she saw the young man’s boyish grin. His blue eyes had a sort of playful quality…but she saw something familiar…something that sent chills up her spine.

“Mrs. Parr?” he asked.

“Yes,” said Helen, amazed that she was able to act normal despite the strange fear that seemed to be gripping her.

The young man hesitated for a moment, glancing down at his feet for a moment to chuckle nervously before looking back up at her. “I’m sorry…this is kind of hard for me, I figured being direct and honest about this would get it out of the way and make it easier, but…okay…I can do this…if I can face down corporate board members, I can face this.”

Helen’s momentary fear dissipated a little at the amusing moment as the young man took a deep breath before speaking again.

“Sorry,” he said. “I’d been rehearsing this moment the last few days in front of a mirror when I knew I had to deal with you and your family.” He looked around nervously for a moment. “Especially since we both know your husband could probably throw me into the next state…yes, I know who you are.”

The fear suddenly returned and Helen took a step back. “Who are you?” she asked more sharply than she wanted to. Apparently, Jack overheard her because he stopped shooting hoops and watched from the driveway.

“Okay,” the young stranger said. “I had an idea of how this moment was going to turn out…unfortunately, it’s going EXACTLY the way I thought it would.”

“Who are you?” Helen asked again, this time her voice was lower, dangerous. This young man knew about her, Bob, and probably the rest of the family…he was a definite threat and yet there was something about his demeanor that threw her completely off.

“Are you a bad guy?”

That question caught both of them off guard. They both turned to look at Jack who was now walking up to them. Helen could feel herself panicking…she didn’t want her youngest at ground zero if things went sour and a fight broke out.

“Um…sort of…” was the stranger’s response. “Okay, enough with the dramatic beating around the bush. My name is David Pine Flynn. You could say I’m Syndrome’s bastard.”

That’s when it all hit her. The boyish smile, the blue eyes, the reddish-brown hair…then she focused on the black BMW Mini-Cooper and the stylized lighting bolts on the sides…except they weren’t lighting bolts…they looked too much like the “S” on Syndrome’s costume. She could already feel the adrenaline beginning to rush through her body as she prepared herself for a fight to defend herself and her son. And yet…David Flynn still just stood there…non-hostile. For another long moment, there was silence as she and David faced off against each other while Jack stood off to the side.

A face-off that was interrupted by the annoyingly cheerful beep from the BMW’s horn and the pink haired girl sitting in the passenger seat who rolled down the window.

“David! Hurry up…I’m low on my caffeine fix!” she shouted.

“Just a second,” David hollered back over his shoulder before returning his attention to Helen. “Sorry about that, Mrs. Parr. Zoe’s a little cranky today.” He then lowered his voice to a whisper. “She gets that way when she doesn’t get her mocha.”

“I heard that!”

It was a surreal moment for Helen. One instant she was expecting a fight with a being claiming to be the bastard child of her family’s most dangerous enemy, then she found herself trying not to laugh at the young man as he rolled his eyes in annoyance. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a business card and handed to her.

“Look, there’s a Starbucks down the road about a mile out…I’ll be there for the next few hours. Tell your husband that I just want to talk…that’s all, okay?”

Helen didn’t say anything in response. She simply took the card and examined it as David Pine started to walk away. The card read “Syndrome Software Technologies” and had an address for a small business complex that was in town.

Suddenly, David stopped and turned around. “Oh…one last thing…my father…did he really have 80s hair?”

Again, Helen was taken off guard by this young man. What kind of villain was he?

Or is he a villain?

Helen nodded slightly. “Yes,” she managed to say.

The young man shuddered slightly at that answer, unconsciously running his hand through his hair. “Okay…definitely going to shave it all off if it goes that way.” And with that final comment, David Flynn turned and walked back towards his car, pausing for a moment to give Helen a tiny wave before getting inside.

Helen watched the Mini drive off and waited for several seconds…making sure it was gone. She then looked down at Jack who was twirling the basketball on a finger.

“Jack…get inside.”

“Huh?” The boy looked up at his mother, obviously confused by the sense of urgency in her voice.

“Just do it, okay?” Helen said as she half-pulled her son into the house. She then closed the front door and grabbed the phone off the living room coffee table. She hit the button for Bob’s office, glancing out a window as she waited for her husband to pick up.

“Hello?”

“Bob…you need to come home, now!”

“Um…honey, I’m kind of in the middle of an investigation, can it wait?”

Helen kept her voice even. “It can’t wait Bob, we have a problem.”

“Oh…Jack didn’t break something again, did he?”

“What? No…no…nothing like that, but it is one of those kind of problems.”

“Oh…that kind of problem.” There a pause on the other end of the line and Helen heard a door shut in the background before Bob spoke again. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, I’m fine,” snapped Helen. “It’s not every day that someone claiming to be the son of one your enemies shows up on our doorstep.”

“Ah…hon, don’t you think you’re overreacting? I know this is a secure line, but do you really want to talk about the ‘family business’ now?”

“Bob…a young man claiming to be the son of Buddy Pine was just here.”

Dead silence was the only response Helen got for several seconds. “Bob? You still there?”

Bob was still quiet for a few more seconds before finally saying, “I’ll be home in ten minutes.”


“That could have gone a bit better,” said David as he pulled the Mini into the Starbucks parking lot.

“Well what did you expect?” asked Zoe. “I mean, you are technically the genetic offspring of the psychotic mastermind who sold weapons to everybody and killed a bunch of superheroes and nearly destroyed a city and kidnappedalittlekidandwasprettymuchamentallyunstablepsychopathsufferingfromdelusionsofgrandeurandhadaverybadcaseof80shair.”

David looked over at Zoe for a moment, shaking his head at the annoying habit the young speedster had of slipping into high-speed babblespeak. “Okay…that’s it…you’re drinking decaf.”

“You wouldn’t!” Zoe half-snarled/half-laughed.

“In a heartbeat.”

“80s hair,” she giggled, reaching over to mess up his hair. “It’s genetic, better be ready.”

“Zoe!”

“How long before my eighteenth birthday?”

“One year, two months, one week, three days, ten hours, 22 seconds,” David responded, his hyper-intelligent mind processing the question before he could consciously stop it. He hated when the girl did that to him.

Zoe smirked at him, pretending to shudder in terror. “I can’t help but be a little worried about that…”

“Dammit, Zoe! You did that on purpose.”

“Did not.”

“Did too.”

“Did not.”

“Did too.”


Okay, this concludes my little excerpt. Let me know what you think. Should I put other chapters up here? The next chapter, if posted, involves Bob meeting David. No bone breaking action, but conversation, subtle threats, and talk of dealing with hyperactive speedsters on mocha-smoothies…oh, and dark foreshadowing…gotta’ have that.

Oh…and one thing. While I did cross this over with Aberrant…didn’t have to do too much tweaking (though, I did shift the Incredibles timeline where the events of the movie happened in 1997-1998). This may turn off some of you…and for that, I apologize. As for the rest of you who stick around…hang on, it’s going to be a wild ride.

Woah. That was really good.

I couldn’t stop reading it.

Amazing work, I’m looking forward to some more. :smiley:

Wowee! You’re a really really good writer! Very clear and easy to understand, yet deep and thought-provoking. I remember reading this first chapter on FF! Looks like I’ll have a reason to pick it up again! :smiley:
I love how you expressed the character’s personalities through their actions and mannerisms, the way they talk, and handle themselves.
Rick’s opening diary entry was an excellent way to kick off the story, as well as providing some background info.
I also like how you described how the Supers have moved on since their return. I love the bit on superhero registration and government bureaucracy.
You still get that family dynamic from the movie like when Bob asks Helen whether Jack broke something again, or how Helen shoos Jack back into the house.
I love the riff on Syndrome’s 80s hairstyle, and Zoe’s caffeine-induced rant.
Very engaging, and riveting. Grabbed my attention from the first line and kept me going to the end, something which does not happen a lot with most fanfics I read (I usually stop halfway through a chapter because it was getting too boring or bombastic).
I can’t wait to read more (especially your hint about the children of murdered superheroes taking their revenge!) Please post your next chapter soon! :smiley:

I really enjoyed reading the first chapter. What an impressive way to start off the story. I like it. I wasn’t intrested in this story when I saw it on FF.net, but now, you got me engaged. I can’t wait to read more. I wonder what buddy’s son has to do with the plot.

My only complaint is the time difference. You say this takes place 9 years after the movie? Well, I know for a fact that Yao Ming was not playing NBA basketball at the time. And Shaq at the Suns seems a little too far for 9 years after the Incredibles. But still, not bad. Nash, Shaq, and Yao seems a little too current for TI.

Yeah…I did tweak the timeline a little bit from the Incredibles end…by saying the movie was set in 1997-1998. So this would set the fic around 2006-2007.

I know, the movie looked like it was set in the 70s/early 80s, but the same could be said about the Batman animated franchise from the 90s (where it looked like a 1940s setting, but you had people with cellular phones/internet…and such).

As for the NBA references…hey…maybe Jack was having an imaginary “dream game” with his favorite players.

I PMed you in response to your timeline question. I hope you get it.

i liked it…keep going. The idea of a sibling of Syndrome coming back to try something is always appealing.

Disclaimer: Incredibles, owned by Disney. Aberrant, owned by White Wolf (I think, though it’s been discontinued).

Author’s notes: Yes, some of this content is from the Aberrant core book. I had to tweak very little of that information…especially the “zero point energy” references…which is funny, because Syndrome claimed to be using “Zero Point Energy” fields. Like I said before, it’s very frightening how well these two genres mesh together. Anyway, hope this provides you with enough information to answer some of the questions you’ve had when reading “Awkward Times” (and anything else in this crazy alternate reality).

For those of you not familiar with Aberrant…it’s a semi-dark setting. The world is similar to the Incredibles 'verse in the fact that you have “supers” running around, but you also have some of these organizations controlling them and manipulating world events (yes…very “illuminati-esque”).

As usual, comments, reviews, criticisms (and maybe the occasional death threat) are welcome.

Note…just kidding on the death threat part.

Dicker Files Entry - Novas, Aeon Society, Project Utopia


Novas:

Since the tragic accident involving the Galatea space station in 1998, the world has seen an explosion in the population of Homo sapiens novus, or novas. What many don’t realize is that there were novas before Galatea. With few exceptions, most of the heroes that were active before the incident were novas. It wasn’t until after the Galatea incident that some of the ‘older’ supers were willing to let themselves be examined and their physiologies compared to the novas that had begun to surface around the world.

It was concluded by Dr. Henri Mazarin and Dr. Farah Rashoud that the DNA sequences between the pre-existing supers and those newly erupted novas were very similar. However this knowledge is not known to the general public. What most don’t realize is that Galatea was the second incident and that there was an event that happened much earlier.

In 1922, British Scientist Sir William Hammersmith demonstrated what he called a Telluric Engine, a device that he claimed would revolutionize the world…or so he claimed. Tragically, the device exploded, killing the professor and releasing a wave of “zero point energy” that dissipated around the world. The effects were mostly harmless, but some of the world’s first superhumans appeared shortly after the incident, but not in as great a number as the Galatea novas.

After the incident, Hammersmith’s notes were seized by the British Government and then later turned over to the Aeon Society.

The Aeon Society:

Originally formed in 1923 as Aeon Society for Gentlemen. Founded by survivors who were at ground zero during the Hammersmith explosion, this organization was a loose organization of adventurers who operated world-wide, it could be argued that they were the first group of superheroes, although they were also responsible for many humanitarian acts as well as facing off would-be dictators and crazed madmen. They operated closely with the League of Nations, sometimes offering their direct support or money to humanitarian causes.

The members of this group included founders Maxwell Mercer, Michael Daemon Donighal (Dr. Primoris), and others such as Whitley Styles (Gray Ghost), Anabelle Lee Newfield (Crackshot), “Safari Jack” Tallon, and Benjamin Franklin Dixon.

Shortly before World War II, the society was dealt a severe blow when they were betrayed by Newfield, who died shortly afterwards. It is not known what she had done, though there has been speculation that she was the one who provided the German government with Hammersmith’s notes. Thankfully, German scientists were still trying to construct a prototype of a new Telluric Engine when the Allied forces defeated Germany. Their work was confiscated or destroyed by the Society who promptly became more secretive about their operations and vanished from the public eye. It was during this time that Dr. Primoris left the group.

For the next few decades, the society remained hidden from public view, though they did continue do do humanitarian work, providing funding to various organizations like the Red Cross and the World Health Organization. It wasn’t until after Galatea, that the organization stepped forward and initiated dialog with the United Nations, offering to seek out and study novas. Shortly after that, The United Nations and the Aeon society announced the creation of Project Utopia, a multipurpose private foundation whose goals were to study the nova phenomenon and utilize novas’ abilities to better the quality of life on Earth for all its inhabitants.

Shortly after the formation of Project Utopia, Aeon then created the Triton Foundation, a collective of several dozen smaller pharmaceutical and biological research firms. It is not known to the general public that Aeon is the force behind Triton, which is odd since the foundation has managed to find cures to most forms of cancer and developed an AIDS vaccine.

Project Utopia:

The Project was publicly announced on August 13, 1998, though it had existed for a few months prior. Initially controlled by Margaret Mercer, directorship was transferred to Justin J. Laragione when Utopia went public. Many prominent novas at the time signed up with Utopia immediately, including Antaeus, Steve Debow, Trudy Vandermann, Lightning and Caestus Pax.

On December 8 the same year, the Triton Foundation donated US $10 million to to help fund Mazarin and Rashoud’s future research on novas, following the publication of their seminal paper, Nova Powers and Physiology: Initial Findings and Observations. The first Rashoud facility opened in New York on January 8, 1999. Despite initial fears from some that the facilities are little more than Utopia recruitment offices, the first is successful and many more are built all over the world.

Team Tomorrow were revealed to the world on January 1, 1999 amid a media frenzy, instantly raising Utopia’s public profile; their first operation three days later, capturing the leaders of Islamic Dawn in Iran, is a great success.

In the months following the Moscow Crash, Utopian novas assisted with relief efforts worldwide and eventually come up with a plan to alleviate the financial crisis. Despite this and its work to prevent problems associated with the Millennium bug, the Project starts to attract criticism, with skeptics worrying about its independence, seeming power over the UN and almost perfect public approval rating. Despite this, Utopia’s popularity only rises in the wake of Operation Clean Sweep, a global environmental clean-up in which the Ozone layer is repaired and atmospheric CFCs eliminated.


The following is a private memo addressed to NSA Director Richard Dicker:

To: NSA Director Richard Dicker

From: “Evil Buddy 2.0”

Subject: Okay, now I’m officially scared.

Hey, old man. I know you don’t think too highly of me and, to be honest, I do occasionally pray that you will eventually die and no longer be around to annoy me, but this is serious. After my talk with Bob Parr, I had a minor confrontation with representatives from Project Utopia. Needless to say, it didn’t go well…for them, and yes, it is true, they did have a surveillance satellite in geo-sync orbit.

But that’s old news and not what I’m here for. Here is an attached file containing a couple interesting memos you might be interested in. There’s a shitload of other info I’ve gathered that, if something does happen to me, is going to fall into your hands and the hands of your counterparts of The Directive (yes, I know about that too and believe me, I wish I didn’t, but compared to what I’ve seen…you guys are saints compared to Utopia).


attached file_memo1

UTOPIA STAFF MEMORANDUM

To: All field operatives, clinic staff, and recruitment team captains

From: Michael Hodge, New Personnel Processing Director

Re: Procedural Update

Effective Immediately, all recruitment staff are to cease “snatch and grab” enrollment methods. While this may be appropriate to “organizations” like the Teragen, it certainly out of place with the aims of our organization. Project Utopia takes a nurturing stance on nova development. Although I am not a nova myself, I have seen many of you brought into the organization, and encourage you to remember the trauma of your own first eruptions.

All I’m asking is that team leaders shows a little sympathy. If we adopt the methods of the other groups, we make ourselves no better than they.

Clinic staff, if you have reason to suspect that a newly discovered nova has been treated roughly or unfairly by his recruiter, please notify me immediately.

attached file_memo 2

RE: UTOPIA STAFF MEMORANDUM

To: Michael Hodge, New Personnel Processing Director

From: Bruce McInerny

Re: Procedural Update

Look, I already told you that McKinney kid refused to calm down once he’d already agreed and his parents had signed the release. This job’s already hard enough without some pencil-pushing, third-rate bureaucrat trying to tie my hands even more because he’s got nothing better to do on Project Utopia time.

The more you complicate this, the more difficult it becomes, and the easier it is for these new novas to fall in with other, potentially dangerous, organizations.

Screw you, Hodge. It’s already ridiculous that someone with my capabilities has to file paperwork to keep a tick like you happy, so count your blessings that I haven’t had to “ensure complicity” by knocking you out with a manhole cover.


Yes, these are authentic memos. I take it you remember the Jacob McKinney incident from a few months ago. Project Utopia went to a lot of effort to bury that story, even though it was on most of the world news networks for about a week. I guess with any amount of money and subtle intimidation, it’s easy to make people forget about UN troops gunning down a twelve year old on US soil and members of Team Tomorrow hauling him off. According to “official medical records” the kid was killed by his own power.

Not only that, Michael Hodge, the guy who wrote that first memo, died a couple weeks ago. He supposedly fell to his death while rock climbing.

Like I said, Dicker, I may not think too highly of you, but even your group hasn’t sunk this low. As much as I hate to say it, despite most of it’s flaws, the NSA never went that far on your watch. I don’t know what you can do with this information, since Utopia is out of your jurisdiction and can conveniently hide behind the UN, but even you know this is not right.

I know we don’t see eye to eye on things. You see me as a threat and I see you as…well…an annoying old creepy government guy…but you and I both know something has to be done. I’ll try to feed you what information I can, but I have to be careful. Ever since I announced the formation of my company, Utopia has stepped up some of their covert ops. I think they might be trying to get a mole in your group if they haven’t gotten one already. I do know that they are reconfiguring some of their network firewalls…they must have a couple novas helping them, because I’m starting to have some trouble breaking through them.

I’ll keep in touch.


Overview:

Our investigations have led us to believe that David Flynn’s information is accurate. Utopia, or someone inside it, is planning something and we must be prepared.

On another note, after going through the data files we acquired from Syndrome’s island base, we have reason to believe his “Zero Point Energy” technology was based off of the Hammersmith designs. If this is true, that raises the possibility the Pine may have had connections to the Aeon Society before the Galatea incident and Utopia’s creation.

Awkward Times, Interesting Times

Chapter Two: Coffee and Confrontations

Author’s Notes:

Okay…here we go, chapter two of this twisted little story. Not much here, just Bob Parr meeting “Syndrome’s bastard”. We also get a little bit of David’s background here.

Disclaimer: As usual…don’t own Incredibles, Disney/Pixar does. Don’t own Aberrant, White Wolf does (I think). Don’t own some of the other characters that make a brief appearance, Buena Vista/Disney own them.


[i]Nobody knew what to do about the manifesting novas. Their appearance turned science, religion, and society all on their heads. We didn’t even know what an M-R node was. We were baffled.

That’s when the Aeon Society entered the picture. This philanthropic organization had an extensive, if not widely publicized, history of assisting and backing various large-scale goodwill programs, such as the Red Cross, the World Health Organization, and similar projects. These fellows decided that somebody might be needed to stick up for the novas, and it might as well be they. So they started talking to the UN and a possible solution was worked out.

The Zurich Accord of June 1998 -and you had better believe that this will be on the test- declared novas to be human beings. I know, this sounds like a common-sense thing, but there was a very real case they wouldn’t have all the rights and responsibilities that go with being human.

Can anyone name the movement that disagrees with the Zurich Accord? Anyone? Good, Emily – the Teragen. But we’ll get to them later.

Anyhow, Project Utopia was formed in the wake of the Zurich Accord. Its stated goal was “to utilize the vast powers of novas to better the quality of life for all, human and nova alike, on Planet Earth.”

That’s on page 227 – better memorize that. Utopia also had an environmentalist agenda, but people have benefited from that as much as animals and plants have.

The next step for Project Utopia was twofold. First, it began intervention programs, where Utopia would contact newly erupted novas and invited them to Rashoud facilities, special clinics designed to help novas adjust to their new powers. Then Utopia announced the formation of special team of all-nova operatives, Team Tom-

Ah, there’s the bell. All right, people, finish reading chapter 24! Tomorrow, we’re picking up where we left off, and I don’t want to have to quiz you – but I will if I don’t start hearing some feedback![/i]

-From a Social Sciences lecture, Enka High School, North Carolina


David looked at his foe, a cold murderous gleam in his eye as he spoke. “Okay…you’ve caused me enough pain and suffering, you’ve screwed my plans, destroyed my property, and have pretty much been a pain in my ass for the last time.” He stabbed his finger hard on the left button of his lap-top’s mouse. “DIE!” he laughed manically as he watched the multiple nuclear silos on his computer screen launch their missiles.

Across the table, Zoe Kilmarten brushed her pink hair out of her face as she frantically guided the mouse on her lap top and clicked the multiple missile sites she had stashed around the map. “Oh no you don’t.”

Both screens lit up as explosions destroyed military bases on both screens…one flashing VICTORY while the other screen flashed YOU WERE DEFEATED.

“Dammit,” grumbled David as the game shifted to the win/loss screen. “How the hell can someone with attention deficit disorder beat me so easily at this game?”

The pink haired teen giggled wickedly as she got out of her chair and extended an open hand in his direction. “Less bitching, pay up…Need. More. Mocha. Now…gimme, gimme, gimme…”

David sighed as he handed her a twenty dollar bill. “I hate you,” he grumbled.

“No you don’t…”

“Yes I do.”

“Do not.”

“Do too.”

“Not.”

“Too.”

“Not.”

“Too.”

“How long until my eighteenth birthday?”

“One year, two months, one week, three days, seven hou-ZOE!”

With an evil snicker, the pink-haired speedster zipped off towards the counter. David shook his head and laughed. He wasn’t sure what he had done to deserve Zoe, but he had to admit that running into her at Royal Burger was a good thing…even though they both lost their jobs because he had effectively destroyed the restaurant…well…not destroyed, the restaurant was still there but closed during a pending investigation of some of the owners’ questionable business practices (and their manager/nephew’s habit of trying to get into the pants of under-aged teen hostesses).

Two months later, David had managed to recover some of the financial assets that belonged to his biological father along with certain schematics. Of course, that didn’t sit well with Director Dicker of the NSA, but there was little he could do about it. After all, with his ability to mentally link with computers and his ability to build really cool stuff…it wasn’t that hard for David to track down his biological father’s holdings…at least the ones that weren’t confiscated. He was content with just working his way through college, but after the incident at Royal Burger, he decided he was better off striking out on his own. Dicker had repeatedly warned (in other words, tried to intimidate) David into not using his abilities, and that if he followed in the footsteps of his father, the NSA wouldn’t hesitate to bring him down and lock him back up in the freezer they found his body in.

That didn’t sit well with David…he didn’t like being compared to his father. Buddy Pine…aka Syndrome…was a whiny bitch who kept trying to compensate for something. David had no intention of going down that path, but being compared to that loser was what made him lose his cool. Later that night, Director Rick Dicker found himself registered on every on-line gay singles dating service, along with all his contact numbers (both his NSA and private residence) made available to anyone looking for a date. Things would have gotten even worse if David’s foster-father (who David pretty much thought of as his dad) hadn’t convinced him to undo the damage. Besides, having a bunch of black helicopters hovering above and black SUVs surrounding their home at four in the morning was waking up the entire neighborhood.

Dicker would have taken David and tossed him in the cooler then if David’s foster-father hadn’t intervened and informed Dicker that while he may only be a janitor at the local hospital, he still knew how to “clean up undesirable elements and not leave a trace”. That made the government agent hesitate and had David wondering what exactly Neil did before he became a janitor. David asked him about it when Dicker and his task force left and the response was typical from his adopted “Dad”.

“It was a long time ago, we don’t need to talk about it, and you’re grounded for getting me out of bed this early.”

David chuckled at that memory…Neil was a cool for a foster parent. When David’s cyberkinetic abilities erupted, Neil’s reaction was, “Okay…so you have super abilities, that still doesn’t get you out of doing the dishes.”

So when David moved out and relocated to Metroville, he made sure he used some of his newly acquired money to buy his foster-family a new dishwasher.

What surprised David was running into Zoe again…this time working at a Build-A-Bear in the local mall. For some reason, the pink-haired speedster decided to hang out with him…not that he didn’t mind…she was kind of hot…it’s just she was still under eighteen and she had an overprotective uncle who scared the hell out of him.

So…here he was, two months on his own, starting up his own tech firm with money he liberated from carefully hidden Pine Industries accounts in the Cayman Islands. As usual, Dicker was still being an ass and making sure David knew he was being monitored, but David didn’t care. Unlike his father, David wasn’t interested in trying to kill heroes or try to take over the world…although he had toyed with the idea of hacking Apple and arranging it so everyone got free downloads from I-Tunes for twenty-four hours. The only problem was that Metroville was home to a certain family that might try to cause problems later on.

He could have just laid low and stayed off their radar, but he knew it would be a matter of time before he crossed paths with the Parr family. So, he decided to confront that problem right from the start, despite Dicker’s warnings about it being a bad idea. He had hoped the meeting would have gone off without any problems…simply confront the Parrs, tell them what he was going to do, offer them some sort of truce…and then move on. Unfortunately, it didn’t go that way…it didn’t go too badly, but Bob Parr wasn’t home and Helen Parr looked like she was about to rip David’s head off. Normally, David would have been annoyed at that, but he really didn’t blame her…after all, his father did try to kill them, level their city, and try to kidnap the youngest Parr child.

David glanced at his watch…almost three hours had passed since he had shown up on the Parr’s doorstep. He would give Mr. Incredible another fifteen minutes to show up before heading out. In the meantime, it was time to check in with Neil. He pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number.

“Hello?” The voice who answered sounded like he was in the middle of doing some sort of serious labor.

“Hey, Dad…it’s me, did I catch you at a bad time?”

“Davey! How’s it going, kiddo?” There was the sound of something being dropped to the ground followed by someone screeching “Ow!” in the background.

“Um…Dad…what are you doing?”

“Oh…not much, son…Doctor Dorian got a promotion, it got to his head so I had to-”

“Help him regain some of his humility back,” David finished for his adoptive parent. “I gotcha’…you’re not going to ship him via Fed-Ex to his boss again, are you?”

“Nah…got him in a laundry bag and I’m thinking about hanging him off a flagpole, what do you think?”

“Oooh, old-school stuff…sounds cool.” David chuckled again, imagining that pompous jack-ass Doctor Dorian being hung off a flag-pole in a laundry bag. “It’s too bad I’m not there…otherwise, I’d join you and bring my paint ball gun for target practice.”

“Well…you’re only a couple hours away, I could put him on ice for that time and wait for you to get here.”

“Hmmm, as tempting as that sounds, I’m going to have to pass. I’m in the middle of something kind of important.”

“Oh…I take it you’ve gone ahead and contacted them?” asked Neil, his tone shifting immediately from twisted humor to one of concern. “How’d it go?”

“Not too bad, the big guy wasn’t there, but ran into his wife and their youngest son.”

“Really? Did she threaten you?”

“No, though there was a little tension there and I’m sure she talked to her husband after we left.”

“‘We?’ Oh no…you didn’t take Zoe with you, did you?”

“Yeah…though she behaved.”

“You’re not doing anything to her, are you? I can’t protect you from her uncle if you-”

“Jeez, Dad…what is up with you people? You raised me better than that, I’m more concerned about getting my business off the ground than getting laid. Money and cash-flow first…my love life second.” Then David shuddered as he got a mental image of Zoe’s uncle ripping his head off. “Besides, the last thing I need is her uncle dismembering me, feeding me to his pet wolves, and then using my soul as toilet paper.”

“Yeah…I can see how that would ruin your day. Then again, when you talk to Mr. Parr, maybe you won’t need to worry because he may just kill you first.”

“Not helping, Dad,” said David as he returned his attention to his laptop and started to surf local real estate sites. “Anyway…I just thought I’d call and let you know I’m fine for the most part. By the way, I got a sweet deal on some property.”

“I’m telling you, just buy a run-down motel…they’re relatively cheap and use that for a headquarters.”

“I am not buying a run-down motel.”

“Hey, it worked for Microsoft in the beginning, you never know.”

“Well, times have changed, we’re a little bit more advanced now.”

“Yeah…well…there wasn’t an internet back then either…well, at least not like we have it now.”

David rolled his eyes. “Dad, you’re not going to tell me that your were there when Al Gore supposedly invented it, are you?”

“Of course not,” said Neil. “Gore had nothing to do with it, we ripped the concept off of a starship’s operating system back in the 50s-”

“Good-bye, Dad,” David laughed. He closed his cell-phone and shook his head, Neil’s crazy stories may have sounded like crazed conspiracy theories, but that’s what David loved about his adopted father…especially since there was enough evidence to support most of the claims.

A large shadow suddenly fell over the table, immediately causing his smile to fade. He didn’t even bother to look up as he logged his lap-top off line and closed it. “You know…the whole intimidation thing works on criminals, Mr. Parr…but not me.”

“You were warned to stay away.” The voice was calm, but David could sense the cold threat implied by it. “You should have listened.”

David sighed and looked up at Bob Parr. “I take it you talked to Dicker,” he said as he gestured for Bob to pull up a chair. “Have a seat, Mr. Parr…we need to talk.”

The large man simply stood there, glaring down at David, his right fist slowly clenching and unclenching.

“Oh c’mon,” said David, “I’m not your enemy. I just want to talk and since you’re here, you might as well pull up a chair and have a coffee, I’m buying.” He then lowered his voice. “Besides, the way I see it…I should be thanking you for what you did.”

That admission seemed to have taken the man by surprise. “What do you mean?”

“If it weren’t you and your family, I would probably still be in a freezer somewhere waiting for my sperm-donor to defrost and program me.”

Bob Parr was speechless for a moment. When he was informed about this young man named David Pine Flynn, Dicker only informed him that he was one of Syndrome’s experiments that had gained sentience on his own. Helen was in a panic, almost screaming about how “He walked right up to our doorstep”. He rarely saw her lose it like that…only when the family was threatened did she let her emotions override her thinking. He couldn’t blame her, he felt the same when he heard about the incident.

But, now, here we was confronting what his mind had subconsciously labeled as ‘Syndrome 2.0’ and he was…confused. This David Flynn, while having some of Buddy’s facial features, didn’t seem to match Bob’s mental image. The boy also didn’t seem to have Buddy’s compulsive attitude about trying to impress people.

“What do you mean?” he finally asked after a few seconds of silence.

“Look, can you at least pull up a chair? We’re attracting attention.”

Bob looked around and noticed that other patrons were staring in their direction. Reluctantly, he pulled up a chair and sat down.

“You want anything?” the young man asked again. “I mean…I’m buying and I could write it off as a business expense.”

“No thanks,” Bob replied. “Now…about your…father.”

“Ah, so we’re back to that. Okay, Mr. Parr…long story short, it seems Buddy was in the middle of creating himself a little sidekick using genetic material he had taken from himself and some lady who worked for him. I was aged to about ten years old and living in an artificial reality when you and your family trashed the island. Dicker’s people found me, took me off ice, and placed me with some family.”

“You were on Nomanisan? That was eight years ago.”

“Yeah,” said David as he leaned back in his chair. “Eight years of me being stuck with a foster family…actually, really wasn’t all that bad. Neil’s a pretty cool dad…just don’t borrow his customized tools.” He shuddered as he remembered a near fatal accident with his adopted father’s patented “knife-wrench”.

He suddenly paused for a moment and blinked. “Wow,” he said, “that actually was a lot easier to break down than I thought. I mean, I was afraid it was going to come out as this convoluted drama, but nope…that’s pretty much it.”

“So why exactly do you want to meet with us?” asked Bob.

“I basically want a truce…I mean, it was only a matter of time before we crossed paths and I would prefer it if we got along as opposed to you throwing me into the next state.”

“Well, I have to admit this approach has taken me by surprise,” said Bob. “How do I know this is not a trick to earn our trust before trying to kill us?”

“Aw, c’mon, Mr. Parr…that crap is old and kind of obvious, don’t you think?” A tiny smile formed on David’s lips as he thought of something. Unfortunately, he made the mistake of saying it out loud. “Besides, if I wanted to ‘kill’ you, I’d simply jack in to the IRS and other government databases and list you as ‘Deceased’…or simply erase you.”

Bob felt his anger return. “You’ll do no such thing,” he growled.

“Do you really think I’m that stupid? Dicker would throw my ass back in the cooler and they wouldn’t thaw me out until your youngest son collected his first social security check.”

Despite his anger, Bob couldn’t help chuckling. “Actually, I could see that happening.”

“Look, seriously,” said David as he gently pushed his laptop aside. “I’m not your enemy, I’m not going to try to kill other supers, and I sure as hell am not dreaming of building a legion of killer robots to help me try and take over the world.”

“Do you?” Bob asked.

“Do I what?”

“Have dreams of building a legion of killer robots to help you take over the world?”

David lowered his eyes and frowned slightly. “Not as much, and the therapy sessions are helping.” Then he broke out in laughter. “Just kidding, the only dreams I have-”

“Involve a scantily clad pink-haired speedster and her eighteenth birthday?” piped a female voice. Bob turned his head to see a young woman with pink spiky hair holding a super-sized blended mocha.

“Yeah,” said David before he realized what he had agreed to. “What!?! Zoe!”

The girl called Zoe giggled wickedly as she sat down across from David. It took him a moment, but Bob recognized her. “Wait…I know you, you go to High School with my son.”

“Yeah, and your son’s a jerk,” replied the girl. “He keeps stuffing my friends into lockers…stupid jock. He’s not even a real athlete…using his powers to cheat.”

“Hey now,” said Bob. “He holds back.”

“Maybe if someone slipped some laxative in his Gatorade, it would be fair…Dash Parr, the fastest skid-mark alive.”

“ZOE!” David said sharply.

Zoe merely gave David an evil grin, then went back to drinking her mocha smoothie and surfing the net.

“I take it she’s a super as well?” asked Bob.

David nodded and started to rub the side of his head. “Yeah, for some reason I was cursed with her…don’t know why.”

“Aw…admit it, you love me,” quipped Zoe, not even bothering to look up from her keyboard.

“Do not.”

“Do too.”

“Do not.”

“Do too.”

“Do not.”

“Eighteenth birthday?”

“One year, two months, one week, three days, seven hou-dammit!”

Zoe giggled again, and Bob got the impression that there obviously was some sort of relationship there. In fact this duo was not what he was expecting. He was expecting to meet someone who acted more like Buddy Pine/Syndrome. Instead, he was dealing with two teenagers who obviously weren’t planning anything malicious…at least not intentionally.

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” he said after a few seconds of thought. “I was expecting some sort of confrontation.”

“Oh yeah,” said David. “I still have to get to the whole ‘threaten you if you interfere in my plans’ part.” Then he shook his head. “Nah, too much work involved. Look, I don’t want any trouble. I’m simply trying to make money and I don’t have this super-obsession like Buddy did. He may be my biological father, but that’s it. If you’re expecting me to act like him…you’re going to be disappointed.”

“Eiiiiiiighties haaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiirrrrrrrr…” moaned Zoe dramatically, still typing away on her keyboard. “Flock of Seagullllllllllls…Don Kiiiiiiiiiiiing…”

“Zoe, knock it off! I swear I will go the Lex Luthor route before that happens.”

“Oh! You’re going to loseyourhairinacornfieldduringameteorshower, wreckyourporcshe, alienateyourfriendfromanotherplanetbecauseofanobsessionwithaliens, killyourfather, andtakeoverhisempire?”

Both David and Bob looked at her and blinked for a couple seconds before saying anything.

“Oooookay,” said David as he grabbed Zoe’s half-finished drink. “I think you’ve hit your mocha limit for the day.” He then looked over at Bob. “See what I have to deal with?”

“You can understand that?” asked Bob who was still trying to decipher what the girl had just said.

“Yeah, but this is nothing. You should see her when she downs a couple of Red Bulls after her quad-shot mocha…it’s not pretty.” David extended his hand to Bob. “So, do we have a deal? I’m not asking to be friends or anything, but can we at least be sort of neighbors and not worry about trying to kill each other?”

Bob took a moment to consider the offer. He knew this could be a trick, but there was something about David Flynn that made him certain the boy was not like his father. Oh, he had no doubt that the boy was dangerous and could possibly be an enemy, but he was certainly no 'Syndrome"…he was…different. After a couple seconds of thought, he reached out and shook David’s hand.

“It’s a deal…but if you try anything…”

“Yeah, I know…you’ll throw me into the next state.” David suddenly shuddered at a horrible thought. “Just don’t send me to Utah, okay?”


Outside, sitting in an SUV, two men were watching the conversation between David Flynn and Bob Parr. The man sitting in the driver’s seat was slim, wearing a business suit and had black hair that was slowly starting to go gray, His hawk-like facial features didn’t miss anything as he monitored the conversation that was being relayed to them by one of Project Utopia’s covert surveillance satellites. He frowned as he listened to the conversation. When it was over, Bob Parr, also known as the American nova hero Mr. Incredible, left the building, got into his car, and drove off.

“Is there a problem, Director Lansing?” asked the passenger who, in contrast, was a large man with a muscular build. Unlike Lansing, this man was dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, along with a baseball cap that covered his shaved head.

Jonathan Lansing shook his head. “No, Caestus,” he said. "It’s just that the boy had taken a route that I had not expected. He is not at all like his father…if he was, there would have been a violent confrontation. "

“Which is why you had the UN pull some strings to have me brought here,” said Caestus Pax, well known superhero and leader of Project Utopia’s own super-team, Team Tomorrow. “It would seem we were both disappointed. I was actually hoping for a go at the old man…see if he actually was as good as his reputation.”

“Yes, well, we were not here to start an incident. We were supposed to intervene on the boy’s behalf and offer him citizenship.” Lansing shook his head and smiled. “Apparently, the boy has his own agenda.”

“So what?” asked Cestus. “He’s a hyper-intelligent nova…we have many of those at Utopia. Why worry about this one?”

“Because this one is a level 5 Nova,” said Lansing. He could have gone into more detail, but his supervisors at Project Proteus would have skinned him alive for revealing this information to their pawns in Project Utopia. “And that makes him a threat.”

Caestus Pax glanced from the small dash-board mounted monitor to the window that David Flynn and his girlfriend were sitting next to. “Him?” he said, trying to keep from laughing too hard. “The girl has more ability than he does. He’s an egghead.”

Lansing momentarily looked up at the nova and shook his head. “You really have no idea what we might be dealing with, do you?” He then returned his attention to the monitor and watched as David Flynn put his lap-top back in its bag before pulling out a cell-phone. “What are you up to, boy?”

Caestus was still chuckling. “Probably calling a 900 number so he could get over his obsession with the girl-” he was interrupted by the chirping of his cell-phone. He reached into the pocket of his sweatshirt and pulled out his cell-phone, still laughing when he answered. “Hello?”

“Oh,” said the voice on the other end. “I’m sorry…I must have the wrong number. I’m looking for a certain arrogant skinhead version of Superman who thinks he’s a badass when he’s really nothing but a glorified front-man for Team Tomorrow.”

“Who the hell is this?” Caestus snarled, his amusement suddenly replaced by anger. “Do you know who I am?”

“Shelby Eisenfaust, aka Caestus Pax, super jarhead with an IQ that is one-third Jennifer Landers’ bra size.” There was a pause. “And don’t even think of getting out of the car, Pax. The UN approved Project Utopia’s request for you to covertly monitor me, make yourself public here and there WILL be an incident.”

Caestus looked back at the window and saw David Flynn now standing up and looking at the parked SUV through the cafe window. “Now, be a good little mindless stormtrooper, switch to speakerphone, and let me talk to your master who is sitting in the driver’s seat.”

“Listen punk, if you think-”

“Okay, that wasn’t a request, so let me make my point…please look at your monitor.”

Caestus did as he was told, then watched as the satellite image they were receiving suddenly went black and the message “signal terminated” flashed across the screen.

“What the hell?” said Lansing as he tried to get the image back. Then he looked up at Caestus. “The signal’s gone…it says that it was taken down at the source, but that could only mean the satellite was destroyed…” Lansing’s eyes widened in realization. “That’s him on the phone, isn’t it?” he asked.

Caestus nodded and hit the speaker button on his cell-phone. “I’m going to kill that punk.”

“Unlikely,” said David Flynn. “Mr. Lansing, I’m assuming that’s you in the SUV, keeping Utopia’s favorite pet gorilla in check?”

“Yes,” said Lansing, trying to keep his composure. Obviously, he too had underestimated the boy. “We were sent to monitor you in case of an incident.”

There was a sigh at the other end of the line. “When we talked last week, Lansing, I said the answer was ‘no’. Guess what, the answer is still ‘no’. But apparently, you thought it was cool to ‘illegally’ bring one of Project Utopia’s satellites in a low orbit to monitor me…big mistake.”

“You can’t prove anything,” snapped Lansing.

“Oh, I know I can’t prove it, especially since I just blasted it out of orbit.”

“How could you have done that?” asked Lansing. “The only way you could do that was-” His eyes widened in horror. “No!”

The young man on the other end of the line chuckled and it chilled Lansing to the bone. “You know, I wonder what certain nations will think if they knew Project Utopia had fully functioning experimental weapons platforms in geo-sync orbit over certain regions?”

“What’s he talking about?” Caestus’ anger had faded somewhat at this revelation. “What weapons platforms?”

“Oh…I’m sorry,” said David. “He doesn’t know about those, does he Lansing? Or do those belong to someone else? Not that it matters…it’s really not my concern. But what you should be concerned with is the fact that the FBI, CIA, and NSA now know you’re here. You’ve got about two minutes before the initial group of cops arrives. However, that will be nothing compared to the media scrutiny you’ll be enduring. So if you want to avoid that, be somewhere else.”

“This isn’t over, boy,” growled Lansing as he started the SUV and began to drive away. He then reached over and snatched the phone from Caestus, switching it back to it’s regular setting. “You’ve made a big mistake here, Flynn.”

“Smart move, Lansing, switching the speaker off, because I know two words that will make you reconsider whatever action you take against me.”

“Really, and what might those be.”

“Proteus revealed. And no…that’s not a bluff. You try anything, and evidence is going to land in everyone’s laps. Imagine the media coup that could be pulled off if someone like…say…the Teragen got their hands on this stuff. Hell, Divis Mal would have a field day and might even do the happy dance on live television.”

“You wouldn’t dare…”

“And I won’t…but if you try anything, you’ll have a war on your hands. Sure, you might kill me, but I can promise you that Project Utopia won’t survive it when the shit about Proteus is revealed. Just think about that the next time you try coming after me.”

Then the line went dead.

Lansing calmly handed the phone back to Caestus. “We’re leaving,” he said.

“You sure?” asked Cestus. “I thought you said he was a level five threat.”

“He’s not Utopia’s problem,” said Lansing, keeping his voice as calm and neutral as possible.

No, he’s not Utopia’s problem, he’s our problem now. Flynn, you want a war with Proteus, you got it…and it’s going to cost you everything.


Okay, thus ends chapter two. Next chapter, more information on “Proteus” and a certain former sidekick/annoyance makes an appearance…[spoil]well most of him anyway…that turbine did chew up an arm[/spoil].

Disclaimer: As always…don’t own Aberrant or the Incredibles. They belong to White Wolf and Disney/Pixar.

Author’s Notes: Okay, so Firewing isn’t exactly a “new” character to the Incredibles 'verse, but one thing I liked about Aberrant is that they had people who were real jerks to begin with end up getting super powers and they made for interesting antagonists. Needless to say, Kari McKeen is one of those people.

As some of you noticed, I’m mixing various entries of my other fic, “The Dicker Files”, in between chapters of “Awkward Times”. It will give people some background information on this twisted little fic.


Dicker Files Entry - Firewing (Kari McKeen)

Name: Kari McKeen

Age: 21

Known Contacts and Affiliations:

Richard McKeen (Father)

Susan McKeen (Mother)

Project Utopia

Team Tomorrow

Powers: Elemental Control- Fire, flight.

Personality: Kari McKeen is perhaps one of the least intelligent members on Team Tomorrow, which is not meant as an insult, but a statement of fact. Though she is altruistic and means well, she is prone to impulsive actions that tend to put people in unnecessary jeopardy or make a situation worse. Sometimes this is accidental, other times it is intentional. Since her eruption and joining Team Tomorrow, her support of Project Utopia almost borders on fanaticism. Unfortunately, while she is a cordial person and outwardly friendly, she harbors a deep distrust towards the NSA and the Parr family. Sadly, her hatred is not unwarranted.

History:

Kari McKeen used to be a friend of Violet Parr and would regularly babysit Jack Parr during the family’s occasional “assignment”. Unfortunately, there had been a few instances when Kari had discovered the family’s secret and we had been forced to alter her memories accordingly.

Kari had always been an awkward girl and would probably have gone on to live a normal and unassuming life, until an incident at the local shopping mall caused her eruption as a nova two years ago. A battle between the American Crusaders and the super-villain known as “Molt” ended up spilling into the Metroville Mall. Knowing that he was outnumbered, Molt decided to go out fighting and proceeded to melt down the mall’s superstructure in an attempt to bring the entire complex down.

Kari attempted to escape but found herself trapped under some rubble in front of the villain who decided to burn her alive. That was when she erupted…her body seeming to absorb the fiery blasts, flames dancing around her body. Instinctively, she lashed out at Molt, sending an even more powerful burst of energy that literally ripped the monster in half before completely disintegrating him. Frightened and distraught, she fled the scene, but was later taken into custody by Team Tomorrow who took her to their Rashoud facility in New York for training.

In those two years, the awkward young woman had become the hero known as “Firewing”. Her life story, or at least a marketable version of it, had become a best-selling novel. Her public ID and popularity makes her the perfect front-woman for Team Tomorrow in the US.

However, we have recently learned that her eruption has restored all of Kari’s memory and she has made it clear that we are to stay away from her.

Power Evaluation:

Elemental Control (Fire) – Kari has the ability to create fire and control it. She can assume a fiery “elemental” form made completely out of fire as well as cause an area to suddenly erupt in flames. Likewise, she can also absorb fire, as demonstrated at one point when she walked into a burning building and the fire almost instantly died down.

Flight – Kari’s ability has also given her the ability to fly. Most of the time, when she is airborne, she is bathed in a faint cocoon of flames. However, when she goes “elemental” she can travel farther and faster.

Energy Blasts – Kari can project fiery blasts at her opponents or she can concentrate and convert the fire into a solid force-blast that can both burn an opponent as well as knock them off their feet. As demonstrated when she fought Molt, she can fire a focused burst of energy that can burn through just about anything.

The following is an excerpt from an interview with Novax! Magazine, a British based magazine devoted to Novas:

[i]Novax!: Kari, there have been some rumours that you have taken an anti-American stance…is that true?

Kari (laughs): Of course not, I never said I was anti-American. I love my country, it’s just that I don’t feel it’s going in the right direction.

Novax!: Care to elaborate on that?

Kari: Sure…it’s like this. America is a great country, but its politicians, and certain agencies within want to take the country one way when, in fact, the people clearly want to go the other way. You want an example, let’s talk about how they deal with novas. They have this shadowy agency, it’s called the National Supers Agency that pretty much registers any one with special abilities.

Novax!: That doesn’t seem too bad…after all, you’re registered with Project Utopia. How is that different?

Kari: Very different. For one thing, the NSA prefers to keep a tight lid on who they have on file, but not only that, only one man has knowledge of who they are. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the fact that some creepy government spook has that kind of power and tends to abuse it.

Novax!: Don’t you think that’s exaggerating things a little bit?

Kari: I wish I was exaggerating, but it’s the truth. If you don’t believe me, ask for a guy called Dicker. Chances are if you push too far, you might just forget the whole thing.

Novax!: You mean we won’t find anything?

Kari: No, I mean that you will forget…literally. Apparently, it’s standard policy of the NSA to alter the memories of those who accidentally discover something they shouldn’t.

Novax!: Do you have evidence to back that up?

Kari: Yeah, I do…does recovering your lost memories count? Because we got a couple telepaths at Utopia who can back me up on this…[/i]

Overview: Kari McKeen is a security risk. Her bitterness towards us for wiping her memories have made her an avid supporter of Project Utopia. While she has not publicly come forth with the knowledge, we suspect that the telepaths at Utopia who helped her regain her memory may know what she knows. If that is the case, we must assume that Utopia knows about the Parr family, but have so far refused to act on that knowledge or disclose it to the public.

Disclaimer: As usual, don’t own Aberrant…don’t own Incredibles…wish I did.

Author’s Notes: Just so you know…the item eufiber is from the Aberrant RPG. Here’s the description for it:

Eufiber is an organic polymer-esque substance was originally created by a nova who had the ability to alter his cellular structure and that of living organisms. A synthetic version was later created from living colonies of the fibre. This material has many uses, including Opnet cables and clothing. But living eufiber is greatly prized by novas as the materials’ genetic and quantum pattern conforms to that of the nova wearing it. This means that the eufiber can store a limited amount of quantum energy giving it durability and a natural defence for itself and it’s wearer. Also, through this bonding eufiber clothing becomes immune to the nova’s powers, making it extremely useful for many novas. It is possible, with careful attuning, for a nova to gain limited contol of an eufiber colony, allowing them to manipulate it as if it was part of their own body.

Then again…almost makes you wonder what those costumes Edna made were REALLY made out of…doesn’t it? :sunglasses:

Anyway…hope you like this version of Violet Parr. She older, a little bit more serious about getting on with her life, and (believe it or not) she plays a major part in this story eventually.


Dicker Files Entry - Violet Parr

Name: Violet Parr (Spectrum)

Age: 20

Known Contacts and Affiliations:

Robert Parr/Mr. Incredible (Father)

Helen Parr/Mrs. Incredible/Elastigirl (Mother)

Dashiell Parr/Speed Demon (Brother)

Jack Parr/Random (Brother)

Incredibles

American Crusaders

Powers: Invisibility, Force-Field projection/manipulation.

Personality: Violet tends to be level headed and more down to earth than her brother, Dash. During her younger years while in “relocation”, Violet tended to be shy and withdrawn. Since becoming the hero known as Spectrum, she has become less introverted and more outgoing. However, she is still a little temperamental when it comes to two fairly recent events in her life. One of them involved the disappearance of her boyfriend, Tony Rydinger. The other involved the eruption of Firewing and the falling out she and McKeen had when it was revealed that the NSA had wiped McKeen’s memories. Since the incident with Firewing, Violet has become a little more withdrawn from her family and the NSA. While we are certain she understands that it was necessary, she is still wary of the actions taken by our agency.

History:

To say that Violet Parr had a difficult childhood would be an understatement. The first twelve years of her life, her family had to live in secrecy and it almost became too much for her. Then the incident with Buddy Pine in 1998 happened and everything changed. Supers were once again allowed to operate in the public, even more so after Galatea and more supers/novas began to appear. Over the last eight years, she has operated with her family though she has focused more on her college degree in the last two years.

She has recently changed her costume from the familiar red and black, adopting an indigo colored eufiber suit and the codename “Spectrum”. She has also been involved with the American Crusaders as well as The Incredibles, though recent events involving the psionic super-villain Breakdown led to her associate membership with the Crusaders being suspended.

Power Evaluation:

Invisibility – Originally, Violet was able to make herself invisible to the human eye, but was easily detected on other settings (such as infra-red or ultraviolet sensors). Over the last couple years, she has been able to perfect her ability to become invisible to visual, infra-red, and ultraviolet detection. In combination with her forcefield projection, she has even managed to mask any sounds her movement might make.

Forcefield Projection – Violet is able to project forcefields that emit a faint purple glow, though she has begun to conceal that, making them completely invisible at times. Before, her forcefields manifested in spherical shapes that varied in size, but she has since learned to manipulate them into radical shapes in sizes. She can also use this ability to generate a field around her that will allow her to “float” through the air, but she cannot actually fly. Another recent development with her powers was her ability to create solid force objects and project them at high speed for a limited ranged attack. Though this last ability is relatively new, it seems to reflect some of the more “aggressive” tactics Violet has been using against her enemies recently.

The following is an excerpt from an interview with N! network:

[i]N!: “So what’s it like, having a secret identity as opposed to being openly recognized like the Utopia sponsored novas?”

Spectrum: “Actually, it’s not that bad. Yeah, it sucked when I was a kid and my family wanted to keep our abilities quiet. But I can appreciate the anonymity I now have when I ditch the mask and eufiber.”

N!: “Now you were around before the Galatea incident, as were others. Do you see yourselves as different from the novas who have surfaced after Galatea?”

Spectrum: “You know, I never figured out how they came out with the term ‘nova’…I guess they don’t like using the term super. And no, I really don’t see people like me being different from the novas that showed up after Galatea. In fact, recent research has revealed that there really is no difference between those who ‘erupted’ after Galatea and those who were around before.”

N!: “But you have to admit that there were relatively few super-humans since before the incident.”

Spectrum: “True, but it seems to me that the only distinctions between us members of the ‘previous’ generation and those of the the current generation are the ones being created by certain groups who want to ‘cash in’ on the phenomenon.”

(The N! Reporter gives the camera a nervous look, then clears his throat before talking again)

N!: “Well, you have to admit that it’s not just the media that is to blame for that. After all, it is novas like yourselves and others who were active before Galatea who have mostly not registered with Utopia.”

Spectrum: “We already are registered. There’s this group called the National Super-human Agency…you might have heard of it? They were around long before Utopia.”

N!: “That may be so, but they aren’t a UN sanctioned agency like Project Utopia.”

Spectrum: “So what’s your point?”

N!: “The NSA is a division of the American government and, as you may know, your country’s government isn’t always in agreement with the UN. In a way, they too are adding to the ‘separation’ of the two groups.”

Spectrum: “That’s your opinion, and I’m sure others feel that way. On the other hand, I like the fact that my identity is mostly secure and not in the hands of some UN sanctioned moron on an ego trip.”

N!: “So I take it that you do not care for Project Utopia.”

Spectrum: “I didn’t say that…but I can’t help but feel suspicious of a group of people that requires all ‘novas’ who have erupted to register with them and train at their various facilities around the world to learn to control their powers. Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of having someone there to help a person learn how to use their abilities, but when you have just one organization operating what is basically a monopoly on most of the super-powered beings on the world…do you really think they have the best interest of the world in mind?”

N!: “Well, Utopia has done a lot of good.”

Spectrum: “Oh, I have no doubt about that…but one can’t help but wonder if there’s something going on behind the scenes.”

N!: “Now you’re starting to sound like one of those paranoid whack jobs.”

Spectrum: “Like I said, that’s your opinion. Just one thing…what kind of benevolent organization does a snatch and grab on a kid…and decides to gun him down when he resists being ‘brought in’?”

N!: “The incident with Jacob McKinney was an accident.”

Spectrum: “Oh…I see…so if you and your family don’t play ball with Utopia, it’s an accident?”[/i]

Overview: Violet Parr, despite her flaws, has proven to be a capable young woman, both as a superhero and as a civilian. Though she is wary of the NSA, she displays a bigger distrust of Project Utopia which may help us in the long run. Suggest further monitoring and having her flagged as a possible recruit for the Directive.

This was a very well written profile and interview of Violet. I love the idea of her maturing. I don’t see a lot of fics where they depict an older Violet the right way. This is definetly an excellent way to write up Violet as a woman instead of a young girl.

Seems like this profile foreshadows events to come huh? I love it. I can’t wait to read more.

:smiley: I’m excited to read more

Wow…this is really getting full…phew. This should be a great story the way its going so far. Multiple view, opponents, and the poor super heroes stuck in the middle.

Disclaimer: Don’t own Incredibles, don’t own Aberrant…wish I did…because this was a twisted and cool idea. Still can’t believe I’m writing it. “Armagideon Time” is owned by the Clash.

Author’s Note: Okay…this little chapter sheds a little light on Project: Utopia and some of the dark secrets behind it. I have tweaked some things in both genres to make it work, partially because I don’t have all the Aberrant sourcebooks, so I have to go by what little info I have from the core book and other Aberrant fan sites.


Awkward Times, Interesting Times

Chapter Three - Of Shadows and Oncoming Storms

[i]Director Thetis:

We have a problem, it would appear that Lansing’s report was not an exaggeration. Someone did indeed break into our network and downloaded massive amounts of information. What is disturbing is that they literally cut through our systems’ firewalls with ease and then had the audacity to rebuild them before leaving. We also confirmed that one of our orbital weapons platforms did indeed destroy a Project Utopia surveillance satellite. Again, we cannot confirm where the order came from. Whoever did this was very thorough in covering their tracks.

We were also forced to lock down all Team Tomorrow bank accounts that funded their operations in the Americas. Whoever hacked our systems, leaked out information on the accounts’ access codes and also made sure the bank account numbers were easily located by every search engine on the 'net.

I do not need to tell you how serious a threat this breach of security is. If this young man, according to Lansing, is truly that capable, this does not bode well for us and our future operations.

Ozaki[/i]

-Encrypted communique


[b]Addis Ababa, Project Utopia (formerly Ethiopia)

Proteus Council Chamber[/b]

Though he had been part of Proteus for a few years now and was a well respected operative, moving about in the true circles of power that controlled Project Utopia, even Lansing felt a little unease as he stepped into the dimly lit chamber. He stepped up onto the small dais and placed his hand on the small scanning pad built into the rail that partially surrounded the tiny platform.

“Identity Confirmed…Lansing, Jonathan…Director, Project Utopia International Operations.”

The female voice sounded cool and comforting, but Lansing took very little comfort from it. As much as he loved technological advances, the Proteus AI bothered him. And while he was a “Director” of Utopia’s International operations, he was nothing compared to those he was about to meet with.

Around him, seven separate circles of light lit up, surrounding him in a semi-circle…each circle illuminated a dais similar to the one that Lansing stood on, except the light was not bright enough to illuminate the facial features of those that stood within those dais’. In front of each dais was a roman numeral ranging from one to seven, the number of those who made up the Proteus Council, the true power behind Project Utopia. He did not know the names of the others, but Lansing knew who occupied dais number one…then again, everyone in Proteus knew who she was. He bowed his head slightly in respect in her direction.

“Director Thetis, members of the council, I appreciate your granting me this audience.”

“I trust you have good reason for summoning us,” said one man, sitting behind dais number three. “We’re still trying to cover up the mess involving the weapon satellites being revealed.”

“Easy, Three,” said a young man at dais six. “We didn’t know what the boy was capable of. In fact, we were informed that David Pine was a low level threat. Apparently, our moles in the NSA didn’t do their homework.”

“A level five nova is not a low-level threat,” said Director Thetis, her tone thoughtful. “However, I must admit that his rapid response and retaliation was impressive, though it did cost us a little bit of our anonymity.”

“My apologies, Director,” said Lansing, praying that the cold fear he was experiencing did not creep into his voice. “I had no idea that he was that capable.”

“You shouldn’t have provoked him,” said another woman, this one sitting at dais four. “If he is anything like his father, he may decide to come after us.”

“Be that as it may, Four,” said Director Thetis, looking in the direction of dais four. “This unintended revelation has shown us a potential threat. The question is…what should be done about it?”

“I say we leave the boy be, for now” said Six. “We go after him directly, who knows what he’ll try to pull. I’ve gotten reports that someone had leaked out bank account information for all US accounts that were set aside for Team Tomorrow operations. Hackers everywhere had helped themselves to nearly seven million dollars before we were able to secure the accounts.” Then he chuckled. “And someone had placed Caestus’ name and personal numbers on several gay singles websites throughout the world.”

A few other members laughed for a couple seconds, finding the situation amusing, but the laughter gave way to a darker mood as they all realized what this meant. An eerie silence filled the chamber for a few seconds before Five spoke up.

“Amusing as it is, it’s frightening that this young man can easily circumvent our security and get sensitive information. He’s already made it clear that he is aware of our existence and seems to have no problem with revealing it to the rest of the world.”

“Only if he’s provoked,” said Four. “If we go after him, there’s no telling what he could do.”

“You overestimate him, Four,” said Three. “We have many novas at our disposal who could take him down. We could kill him before he became a threat and I’m certain we can undo whatever damage he could do to us.”

“Maybe we won’t have to,” said Lansing. “Not if we used a third party that is not directly linked to us.”

All seven heads turned in Lansing’s direction, he wasn’t sure, but he could have sworn number Four’s eyes glowed for a moment.

“What do you propose?” asked the cultured voice of number Two.

“We have the boy’s father,” said Lansing who felt his confidence returning. Obviously, they saw David Pine’s threat level as being more important than his screw-up of antagonizing the boy. “If anyone stands a chance of taking him down, it would be Syndrome. After all, it is his ‘son’ we’re dealing with.”

“Hmmm, that would be interesting,” said Three. “Almost poetic.”

“I wouldn’t advise it,” said Four.

“Nor I,” said Seven who, up to this point, had been silent through the whole meeting. “I do believe there is an old saying…let sleeping dogs lie. And I also believe that if we kick this dog, he may just rip our collective legs off.”

“Which makes sense to use another rabid dog to take him out.” Three then gestured with an arm. “I propose we take a vote and I’ll start it off. I vote that we neutralize this threat. Two?”

“Reluctantly, I concur with that vote,” said Two. “We must maintain our secrecy at all costs.”

“Alright, that’s two in favor…Four?”

“I vote no, we’re asking for too much trouble.”

“So noted…Five?”

“I agree with Two. As much as I hate targeting the young man, he has proven hostile intent and I would rather deal with him now than let him become a bigger threat in the future.”

“That’s three for elimination, one against.” Three didn’t bother hiding the smile that obviously accompanied his voice. In fact, Lansing could almost swear he heard the man chuckle. “Six?”

“As much as I like the whole father versus son drama that seems to work wonders in movies and on television, I don’t think I want to see it in real life. Syndrome’s a delusional psychopath, yeah…but we haven’t even seen what the boy is truly capable of, and I really don’t want to find out. I vote No.”

“Fine,” Three almost growled. “Seven, surely you must see reason.”

“What you’re proposing is murdering someone who was apparently goaded into action by the sanctimonious actions of Mr. Lansing. Were it under other conditions, I would vote in favor of killing the boy, but I really don’t see him as a threat. I vote against the proposal.”

“I see.” Three didn’t bother hiding his disappointment. “We’re at a tie, which leaves the final decision to you, Director Thetis.”

Again, silence filled the room as everyone waited for their leader to cast the final vote. Seconds gave way to minutes as Thetis simply stood there, obviously contemplating the arguments for and against until…

“Yes,” she finally replied. “While it is regrettable to lose someone with such potential, he has already proven to be a threat to us and must be neutralized.” She then looked in Lansing’s direction. “Mr. Lansing, you are authorized to have Syndrome released, but once he has accomplished his mission, I want him terminated as well, is that understood?”

“Yes, Director Thetis,” said Lansing.

“And if, for some reason, you screw this up,” added Director Thetis, “you will be dealt with as well. It is because of your actions that we are in this mess. If we are compromised, I will see to it that you will be the sacrificial lamb to take the fall.”

It took all of Lansing’s effort to not shudder at that threat. “It will not happen, Director, you have my word.”

The seven dais’ suddenly disappeared as the lights shining down on them cut out, the holographic projectors having completed their task. The members of the Council were not really there, they were actually in various locations around the world, using the holo-emitters to virtually project their appearances at their designated dais. And while Lansing knew that he was indeed the only actual flesh and blood being in the room, he was still fearful of what those people would do to him if he failed.

But I’m not going to fail, he thought to himself as he walked out of the room. Free the boy’s father, let the father kill the boy, and then kill the father…fairly simple.

The door to the chamber closed and dais’ one and four lit up. Contrary to what Proteus operatives were told, not all the Council members appeared via holographic projection. Some members would actually attend the meeting, especially when it involved a decision like this one. In this case, Director Thetis and Four had attended the meeting.

“I suppose I should owe you an explanation,” said Director Thetis.

Four gently brushed her platinum-blonde hair aside as she looked at the Director. “I didn’t ask for one, Director.”

Director Thetis actually laughed. “Oh come on, Mirage, I know you and I know who and what the boy is. Surely, you must know why I agreed to let them kill your son.”

“He’s not my son,” said Mirage, though there was a hint of emotion her voice. “I was not even aware of him until it was too late.”

“And yet, you fear for him,” said Thetis. “You may come off as cold and calculating, my dear, but I know you actually care for the boy…I would have done the same in your position.”

“Then why agree to this plan?”

Thetis smiled at her protégé. “Because I have faith, like you, that the boy is not like his father.”


The prisoner sang…just like he always did at this time. Ironically, in the last five years since they imprisoned him here, his singing voice had improved…at least in his opinion. It was always the same song, and always sung at the same time, every night after dinner and lockdown.

[i]"Stay around don’t play around

This ol’ town and all…

Seems like I got to…travel Oooonnnnnnn!"

"A lot of people won’t get no supper tonight…

A lot of people won’t get no justice tonight…

The battle is getting’ hotter…

In this iration…Armagideon time…"

"A lot of people runnin’ and hidin’ tonight…

A lot of people won’t get no justice tonight…

Remember to kick it over…

No one to guide you…Armagideon Time…"[/i]

“Shut up, 342!” snarled one of the guards. “Or we’ll see how well you scream under shock treatment.” The guard brandished his shock-prod, holding it up in front of the open view-slit in the door.

Prisoner 342 only laughed at him. “Oh…really…please tell me another one. After five years of being locked up here, do you really think I’m intimidated by a mouth-breather with only a tenth-grade education?”

“Oh, you want intimidation, 342?” The guard started to punch in the code to open the cell-door when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Easy, Simms, he’s simply trying to goad you,” said another guard. He then gestured with his head at 342’s cell. “Besides, do you know who that is?”

“Should I care, Morgan?”

“That’s Buddy Pine…Syndrome, he’s the guy who designed most of the equipment we use.” Morgan then looked at 342. “So, how you doing, Pine?”

“Oh, not so bad,” said 342, formerly known as the villain Syndrome. “You know how it is, me being locked up except when let out to work in that pathetic place you refer to as a workstation. In my spare time, I think up ways to kill you.”

“Oh…business as usual, then?”

"Pretty much…so how about you, Morgan? "

“Oh…just another day in the life of ‘Guarding the psycho mega-genius who wants to destroy the world’.” Morgan was about to say something else when he suddenly stiffened to attention. Simms, the other guard, also stood at attention when Director Lansing entered the corridor carrying a briefcase.

“Sir,” said Morgan. “I was not aware that you would be coming.”

“That’s quite alright, Mr. Morgan,” said Lansing. “I’m here to talk to the prisoner.”

“Are you sure, sir?” asked Morgan. “We’re under strict orders to keep him iso-”

“I’m sorry.” Lansing glared at Morgan, venom slowly filling his voice. “Last time I checked, I had clearance to talk to this prisoner and you were just a guard. Maybe you should be reassigned elsewhere…like Greenland, perhaps?”

“Oh, no sir,” stammered Morgan. “It’s just that 342 is-”

“I am aware of what Mr. Pine is capable of, Mr. Morgan…now if you would be so kind as to open the cell and let me in.”

“Yes sir.” Morgan ran the key-card through a wall console then tapped in the code for 342’s cell which swung open. “Door’s open , sir.”

I can see that, moron.

However, Lansing kept his disgust hidden behind a false smile and nodded at Morgan before stepping inside the cell. A couple seconds later, the door shut behind him, leaving him alone with 342. He then turned to look at the view slit. “And I want some privacy,” he said. The slit closed and he pulled a small disc out of his jacket. He placed the disc against the door, pushing a small button.

Confident the jammer was now working, Lansing returned his attention to the prisoner.

“Hello, 342…or should I call you Mr. Pine?”

Buddy Pine looked up at Lansing through the long hair that hung over his face, not even bothering to get up off his bed. “Director Lansing…now what would bring such a fine upstanding individual to my little corner of the dungeon?”

“What? An old friend can’t visit his former employer?”

“You’re full of it,” snapped Buddy Pine as he sat up on the bed. “You were never my employee. I suspected someone had infiltrated my group, but I did not realize Project: Utopia had managed it…although, Utopia wasn’t founded back then. Perhaps your masters…your real masters, Lansing…who are they?”

“You are paranoid, Pine…I have no masters.”

“Everyone answers to someone, Lansing.” Pine gave Lansing a tiny smile that hinted as if he knew a secret. “Team Tomorrow and that super jar-head answers to you, you answer to your superiors…but who else do you answer to? It’s an interesting riddle, isn’t it. I may be paranoid, but I’m not stupid. Utopia is the excess shell of sugar coating covering the darkest piece of crap that has the potential to stain mankind for generations.”

“Wow,” sneered Lansing. “Getting philosophical, are we? Interesting words coming from an unstable psychopath.”

“A psychopath I may be, but I’m hardly unstable,” said Pine. “And I never found the need to hide my intentions.”

“Oh no, of course not,” Lansing shot back. “You only murdered a bunch of supers and then tried to pass yourself as a hero under staged circumstances. That failed, you tried to kidnap the son of your enemy, were defeated by a toddler, and nearly got sucked into a jet engine. You know…I almost wish your emergency force-field didn’t work. It would have saved us a lot of trouble.”

“Oh, I’m sure it would, but then Utopia wouldn’t have made most of those ‘technological advances’ they claim to have made.”

“We have others.”

“Maybe, but you don’t have them locked up.”

“No…they’re easy to control and not likely to try and kill us.”

Pine folded his arms. “So what is the purpose of this visit? Come to taunt me?”

“In a sense, yes.” Lansing gave the prisoner a smug grin. “You, Buddy, are in danger of becoming obsolete…by your own design.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Buddy, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“Eight years ago, after Mr. Incredible and his family stopped you, the National Supers Agency raided your island base of Nomanisan. They got a hold of most of your holdings, including some of your projects…one of them being an ongoing project simply designated ‘Adam-X’.” He then shook his head. “Talk about sloppy, Pine. Leaving what was possibly your greatest creation online and unguarded.”

At the mention of ‘Adam-X’, Buddy’s eyes widened. “Impossible, I left that test tube project on stand-by…who could have…” He stopped in mid-sentence when he realized what had happened. “Mirage…she must have put him online.”

“Well, unfortunately,” said Lansing, “we don’t know where she is. She disappeared eight years ago, but I have to admit, you two made quite the child…though I’m certain she wasn’t happy about you taking her DNA and combined it with yours to create the little punk. I know you wanted a sidekick, but trying to ‘manufacture’ your own son? Talk about crossing moral and ethical lines.”

“And what is the point of all this, Lansing?”

"Well, it would appear your boy has grown up. When they found him in that chamber, he had been aged to ten years. They placed him with a foster family…surprisingly, he’s actually quite stable compared to you. " Lansing opened the briefcase he brought in and pulled out a laptop which he opened and gave to Pine. “This computer contains the latest media coverage for the last few months, you might want to see what your little boy is up to.”

“And why would I be interested in that?”

“Because the boy is everything you are not, Pine. Unlike you, he doesn’t have your pathological obsession with supers and his abilities surpass yours.”

“And you intend to replace me with him?”

“No…you are going to kill him.”

Wow…it reminded me of the Joker Teaser Trailer…i could just make out the funnyness in the story as well as the horror and scaryness. Riviting for me…

Keep it going man!!!

Disclaimer: Don’t own Incredibles, don’t own Aberrant.

Author’s Notes: Okay…in case you haven’t figured it out, the Teragen are similar to Magneto’s crew from X-Men. However, with the way they were portrayed, they were a lot more interesting and not quite the evil organization they were painted as by Project Utopia.

Chapter 4 - Talking to the Devil


[i]…The members of Homo sapiens novus (also referred to as “novas”) are a species separate from Homo sapiens. Regulations and laws enacted for the good of Homo sapiens are too easily subverted and misinterpreted to abuse the rights of novas, who are required by destiny to fulfill their full potential – a goal impossible while abiding by strictures set by beings who are not one’s peers and who cannot accurately judge what is “ethical” or “moral” for anything other than their own species. As such, the laws and governing bodies established for the purpose of governing Homo sapiens must be considered inapplicable to Homo sapiens novus.

Until a common governing body, composed entirely of novas qualified to hold authority, is recognized by the majority of the nova population, then it is the duty of every Homo sapiens novus to govern himself or herself as he or she sees fit. Just as it is preposterous to ask humans to abide by the strictures of chimpanzee society, any attempt to force a nova to abide by the laws of human society must be seen as an attack on the right of the individual nova…[/i]

Excerpt: The Teragen’s “Null Manifesto”


Metroville, California

Syndrome Software & Technologies Headquarters

(…formerly known as Carrington Junior High School…still being renovated)

Zoe Kilmarten looked down the corridor of the now abandoned school hallway and shuddered. “Okay, this place has too many bad memories,” she complained. She zipped through a couple of the empty classrooms before stopping next to David who was looking at some blueprints. “Now tell me again…why did you buy this place?”

“Because it was cheap and it has enough work space for whatever projects we’d be working on.” David then looked at Zoe. “Beside, this school’s been closed for over a year…and it’s been over two years since you were last here.”

Zoe shuddered again and shook her head. “Please don’t remind me,” she said. “Wait a minute…projects ‘we’ would be working on? Excuse me…who’s this ‘we’?”

David grinned at her and turned his attention back to the blueprints. “Anyway, we got enough class-rooms that can be converted into workspaces, storage, and maybe even a couple living quarters.”

“Living quarters? Who the hell would want to live here?”

“Well, for starters, I was kind of hoping to move into a bigger place.”

“Yeah, but a school? This one!?!”

“Hey, it’s only fitting that a person of my unique abilities would choose a place like this to call home.”

“What about the condo?” asked Zoe. “You giving that up?”

“No, I’ll still be keeping it,” said David. “Although certain people seem to be claiming it as their territory already.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, it seems that a certain person who shall remain unnamed committed the vile act of drinking all the coffee in the kitchen.”

Zoe glanced back and forth self-consciously, putting on a look of feigned innocence. “I don’tknowwhatyou’retalkingabout,” she managed to stammer.

David laughed and shook his head. “You know, you have a home. Aren’t your parents kind of worried about you hanging out with me?”

“Not really,” said Zoe. “Dad’s too busy with the Crusaders and Mom’s teaching at Arcadia…don’t think they care so long as I’m there at breakfast time, doing well in school, and in bed when they check up on me.” There was almost a hint of sadness when she spoke, but it suddenly disappeared behind a false smile and an evil giggle. “Besides, Dad can always have the Crusaders show up and trash you if you hurt me, as can Mom. And then there’s Uncle Nathan…”

“Stop right there,” said David, managing to suppress a shudder at the mention of Zoe’s uncle. “We don’t need to talk about him. I remember what he did to Clarence from Royal Burger for trying to sleep with under-age teens.”

“Yeah…Uncle Nathan is a little protective.”

“Zoe, your Uncle Nathan is a necromancer serving as a front man for a heavy metal band that happens to be considered ‘potentially hostile’ by most countries.”

“Yeaaaah, he’s such a sweetie,” said Zoe. “And he actually likes you.”

This time, David didn’t hide the shudder. “So long as I don’t do anything to you,” he mumbled under his breath.

“I’m sorry, didn’t catch that.”

“Nothing…never mind.”

“Eighteenth birthday?”

“One year two month-dammit! Stop doing that!”

Zoe only laughed and ran off down the hallway, leaving a gust of wind that actually slammed some doors shut. David only shook his head and grumbled.

“Why me?” he asked, momentarily looking up to the heavens as if he were expecting an answer. Then he refocused on the blueprints. A couple seconds later, his cell-phone went off, causing him to grumble some more as he pulled it out of his pocket. “What?”

“Hey, David…I’m at Mojo Mocha on the other side of town, you want anything?”

“Zoe, there’s a Starbucks down the street, why go to the other side of town?”

“Because it’s double-punch/free-flavor day.”

“Oh…um, yeah, get me an iced latte.”

“Okay…can I get the-”

“No, Zoe, we discussed this. You are not to exceed the thirty-two ounce size…so no, you can not get the sixty-four ounce ‘Brewhouse Bravo Bomber’.”

“Aw…c’mon…Daviiiiiiid.”

“No,” David said firmly, praying that Zoe would actually listen to him. “Order a Bomber and I will freeze your expense card for two weeks.”

“Spoilsport,” Zoe whined before hanging up.

David closed his phone and sighed. “Okay, crisis averted…super speedster nova is only getting half her usual caffeine intake.”

“You act as if you have actual control over the young nova,” said a cultured voice.

David spun around and saw a tall man with brown hair wearing a business suit and an overcoat standing there. It took him a moment to register who was talking to him, but the realization made his blood run cold for a moment. However, he was able to keep his tone even.

“Actually, Zoe answers to nobody except maybe the person who controls the caffeine.” He then cocked his head to one side, a curious look on his face. “No offense, but you always seem a lot more intimidating on television or whenever the Teragen have a press conference.”

Divis Mal actually laughed. “Well, it pays to have a PR department that is as good at their job as I am at mine.”

“So,” said David after a moment of awkward silence. “Why would the leader of the Teragen be bothering with a low level nova like me?”

“Well, for one…you’re not really a nova, but you aren’t a baseline either.” Mal smiled at David as he extended his hand. “You are unique, but after overhearing your conversation with Director Lansing of Project Utopia and your claim of possibly making me…and I quote you on this, ‘do the happy dance’…I had to meet you.”

David shook the man’s hand, not so much out of respect, but more out of fear. Divis Mal was not a man to be trifled with. “So, is this a social call or are you going to ask me to join your cause?”

“From what I’ve learned about you, David Flynn, we consider you to be more of an ally than an actual threat.”

“Wow, that’s reassuring. So if I’m not a nova…then what am I exactly?”

“To be honest, we really do not know, David.” Mal walked up to a nearby bench that was up against one of the walls and sat down. “Your father…your biological father, was a nova…a level three, possibly a four. We are unsure of what your mother was. However you…are something else, I would say a level five almost on par with myself.”

“Um…last time I checked, I don’t have nigh-godlike abilities and an organization of supers following me.”

“Yes, well…not many novas can mentally link themselves to computerized networks, make lightning fast mental calculations, and create advanced gadgets.”

“Well, you can blame my dad…the one that took me in and raised me.”

“Ah, yes, your foster parent.” Divis Mal smiled as he mentioned David’s foster-father. “Quite an odd man, even for a baseline.”

“Hey…he may be a baseline, but he’s cool.”

“Perhaps,” said Mal. “But he is still merely one of the mortals…unlike us.”

David rolled his eyes. “Oh please…I hope you’re not going into the whole ‘god among insects’ thing. It worked well in the X-Men books and the movies, but please stop sounding like Magneto.” He then paused as he thought about something. “Besides, if I actually bought into that stuff, I don’t think you’d like the role I’d play in your re-created pantheon.”

“And what would that be?”

“Prometheus.”

Mal laughed again, obviously amused by the comparison. “You do know what happened to Prometheus as punishment for his crime against Zeus, right?”

“Yeah, tied to a rock and an eagle got an all you-could-eat buffet in the form of his constantly regenerating liver. The problem is, we’re not really gods, you’re not Zeus, and I’m not Prometheus.”

“No,” said Mal. “However, I could shut your powers down.” Even though his tone was friendly, the implied threat was still there."

“Yeah, you could,” said David. “You could make me one of the ‘mortals’, as you call them. But I’m not the kind to cry too much about that.”

“That’s an odd reaction.” Mal actually seemed confused by David’s response. He could sense the boy was telling the truth…losing his powers really wouldn’t bother him…but why? “Others would be wary of me, why aren’t you?”

“Because you’d be doing me a favor, Divis Mal. You said it yourself, I’m not even really a nova…I was born in a test tube.” There was just a bit of bitterness in David’s words as he spoke. “I’m a manufactured product…complete with a shelf-life and an expiration date.”

“What do you mea-” Mal cut himself off and his eyes widened in realization. “Your power…it’s killing you, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, imagine that,” said David, giving the super terrorist leader a sad smile. “And my power is always on…always part of me. On the other hand, you know the old cliché…live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse.”

“How long do you have?”

“I figure about 10 years, maybe a couple more if I subject myself to some severe shock treatment that knocks my power off-line for a little bit.”

“Perhaps I should shut your powers down.”

“Maybe, but you won’t.” There was a cold gleam in David’s eyes that once again surprised Mal. “Not now anyway.”

“And what makes you so certain?” asked Mal.

“Because we both know what’s coming and you don’t seem like the kind of person who will throw away a potential ally and useful tool just because their power is killing them. I may not agree with your group on everything, Mal, but I know what’s out there.”

“Proteus.”

“Yeah…Proteus. You may think yourself a god, Divis Mal…but these people believe it and have gone to great lengths to shore up their power base. And I blame you for that.”

"Me? "

“Oh, come on, don’t play dumb. The Galatea satellite explosion, it’s payload of radiation raining down on the world below.”

“It was not my intention-”

“To create a whole new generation of super-powered beings world-wide? Probably not…but you did. Unfortunately, you didn’t count on someone stepping up and forming their own little empire so quickly, did you?”

“You have quite an active imagination, boy.”

“Maybe I do and, to be honest, I wish it was all my imagination. Your attempt to play God motivated others to get in the game. And now…we’re all gonna’ pay for it.”

“And the media says I’m being melodramatic,” chuckled Mal. “Yes there’s a war coming, it’s inevitable. The question is, when are you going to wise up and take a side?”

“I have taken a side, Mal…mine. While I do see novas being the next step in human evolution, I don’t see us dominating the mundanes like we’re gods.”

“So you’re willing to let them control you?”

“No.” David slowly shook his head. “I may just be a punk kid, but I’m not that naive as to think that they’ll be willing to play nice. Hell, the director of the NSA would love nothing more than to throw my ass back in the cooler. Until then, I’ve got to play nice until I take care of some things.”

“What kind of things?”

“My father…my biological father…had a lot of assets and I’m trying to get a hold of them. I managed to track down most of his accounts, but I haven’t been able to get the jackpot.”

“And what might that be?”

“Let’s just say it’s a real estate deal that is still in progress. Once I get a hold of that, we’ll be talking again.” David stopped to look at an empty classroom, imagining what it would like once he converted it to a workshop. “But for now, I’ll have to be happy with this set-up.”

“You do understand calling your organization ‘Syndrome Software &Technologies’ is just asking for trouble, right? Your biological father killed a lot of people.”

“Yeah, he did,” said David. “But my Dad, the guy who took me in and raised me, taught me to not hide who I am. Sure, I’m taking a risk, but at least people know who I am and where I stand. Even you can appreciate that.”

Mal was silent for a moment before he nodded in agreement. “I do…and while your foster parent is a baseline, he apparently taught you the right lesson.” He extended his hand towards David again. “You may not side with us, but you are clearly not a threat to us, David Flynn. Perhaps we can do business in the future.”

David shook the man’s hand again. “I’d like that. Just try not to be so theatrical.”

“But that would take the fun out of it,” chuckled Mal. “Until next time, Mr. Flynn.”

David watched the other man walk away and disappear through the exit at the other end of the corridor. He was actually surprised how well the meeting went. He had expected a meeting with the Teragen, but he didn’t think it would be so informal. On the other hand, he wasn’t fooling himself, he knew that while Mal was being friendly, the Teragen leader was sizing him up and assessing the threat level. David actually respected that…because he would have done the same thing.

But that still didn’t stop David from shaking his head and laughing.

“Oh yeah…definitely not Sir Ian McKellen.”

Hey, keep up the great work.

Wow…can’t wait for the next chapter.

Well…if it helps…Violet will be showing up in the next chapter.

Hope you don’t mind how I portray her…a 20 year old college student trying to work her way through college.