167 The End Of Us (The Incredibles)
I was shot at when I passed over New York City to check on it, so I looped back around and dropped a different kind of bomb. Yeah, that kind. Watching the top few floors of the Empire State building explode was both spectacular and cathartic.
I dropped a few of the best weed-killer bombs as well, just because I could see a lot of infected moving around, and flew on to Washington DC. I was tempted to bomb them the normal way as well, except I didn't want them to stop taking care of the quarantine zones or stop them from producing food, fuel, troops, and everything else they needed to keep the population safe from the infected.
I did drop a care package of both kinds of weed-killer, clearly marked, and instructions on how to make more. I would let them handle going after any of the places I missed, since I had been flying fairly fast to cover as much of the country as possible while also not contaminating any farmlands or water tables that I could.
I flew back to Colorado and did a fly-by of the hotel, even though I already told them I was coming back, and checked the highway. It was still clear, so I circled around and easily landed and came to a stop. I stored the plane without getting out and dropped to the ground on my feet and a smile on my face.
A few hours later, after following my cleared out path that I had to use magic to cover up again, I was back at the hotel and smothered in hugs and kisses from Sandra. She dragged me to bed right away and didn't let me leave until the next morning. She also demanded that I fix her, because she didn't want to bring any more children into the world.
I reminded her that she didn't have to worry about that with me and she said she didn't care. It was for her own peace of mind and she wasn't going to change her mind. So, I reluctantly removed her ovaries and placed them into an organ shipping package that hospitals used and stored them, without her knowing that, of course. If she did ever express a regret for not having children, I could surprise her with them.
Shockingly, Janine approached me the next day and asked for the same thing. Why they got it into their heads that they needed to take such drastic measures was beyond me; but, both she and Jenkins had the same opinion as Sandra. They wanted to have no chance that a child might be born into the world. So, I saved her ovaries, too.
*
Months and then years passed again, our lives full of our daily routines, our hobbies, and loving each other. It was both safe and satisfying, even as we all grew older. But, time itself could not be denied and our bodies slowed down as age-related aches and pains claimed more and more of our time and we took longer to do the things we normally enjoyed doing.
Almost as one, Janine, Jenkins, and Sandra decided one day that they had had enough and didn't want to end up infected or have their bodies taken over after they died. I knew what that meant and admitted I had already prepared a burial site for us, including the weed-killer and a firebomb to destroy our remains.
I didn't mind kissing Janine on the lips when she thanked me for being so considerate. What I did mind was that I had to fight off Jenkins when he tried to do the same. It made Sandra and Janine laugh, though. We went to just outside the protective barrier where I had a small freestanding single room building with four beds on funeral pyres ready for us.
It wasn't until after I had dosed the three of them with the Draught of Living Death that I realized they were all about one year younger than the age Tammy was when she suddenly died of cancer. I cursed out loud at that, because they had learned the wrong lesson from that mistake on my part, despite me stating that they didn't have any kind of cancer.
There was nothing to be done about it now, though. They had made peace with themselves and with each other and were more than ready to die on their own terms. It didn't matter if they could last another 20 or 30 years before dying of old age, they were ready now and that was that.
I gave their smiling faces one last look before I laid down on my bed and set off the countdown for both the weed-killer to spray us down and then for the firebomb to destroy our bodies afterwards. It was enchanted to burn extremely hot and the small room was set up like a crematorium to contain the heat, so nothing would be left of us.
I downed my dose of potion and closed my eyes, ready to move on from this world. I didn't see, feel, or hear anything as the timer finished and the funeral pyres were lit.
Welcome back!
You have completed this world and ensured the survival of a significant portion of the population that would have perished otherwise. Bonuses for creativity and ingenuity have been granted and a certain levelling system has been adjusted for you.
It took me a few seconds to realize what it was talking about. That's great! I thought with happiness after reading that. How exactly does it work?
Thanks to Fate stepping in and putting in a good word with the higher-ups, she had your Minor Touch of Divinity, that you successfully stole from the goddess Eris when you defeated her, changed into a self-levelling skill.
All you have to do is reach certain benchmarks and you can spend the accumulated Karma Points to increase your base level using your Adventurer Card.
Oh, thank god. I thought. My mind was filled with relief at the chance of being more than just a Level 1 Adventurer forever.
YOU ARE WELCOME.
Owww. I thought and groaned in pain as a massive migraine tore through my mind.
Fate's smaller blue box appeared with the word 'giggle' on it. You need to be more careful when giving genuine thanks and offering prayers to omnipotent beings like that between worlds.
I'll keep that in mind from now on. I thought and waited for several minutes for the pain to lessen enough that my own thoughts didn't hurt to think. Now what?
You have the choice of several options:
Pick an unlocked world to travel to (No Cost Gender-Bend: Incredibles, Worm)
Pick a new world to travel to (Current Total: 2180, Cost: Variable, options available)
Spend Karma Points to create your own story (Cost: 20,000 points minimum)
Buy a Multi-World-Combo package (Cost: 50,000 points, options available)
Okay, that last one is a bit ridiculous. I thought and clicked on it, just to see what the registered options were.
DCEU: Justice League / Young Justice / Batman Family
MCEU: Avengers / X-Men / Spider-Man / Venom
IndependentEU: Invincible / Savage Dragon / WildCATS / Gen13
Multiverse Combos: Justice League / Avengers, Invincible / Young Justice
Wow, that... that's like... completely insane! I mentally gasped. Those options are ridiculous! How in the world am I supposed to survive in any of those combinations?
That would depend on which protagonist you chose to be.
Wait, wait, wait! I can... I can choose? I asked, surprised.
Each of them have group or ensemble protagonists, therefore you can become anyone among the main casts of each. All of them have been close to death, in some form or another, multiple times.
I floated there in the empty space, stunned. I could be anyone in any of them. I thought and tried to look at the huge list of normal worlds, because what I just heard had let me know my options for each one would have multiple roles for me to choose from. It was... it was a bit too much for my mind to ponder after what I had just been through.
Without thinking about it, I chose the first free option presented to me, the world of the Incredibles (Gender-Bend). I needed to relieve some stress and think about what I wanted to do next, so a light-hearted world should let me do that.
Congratulations! You have chosen The Incredibles.
Good luck and have fun blowing up! Don't forget to save the children!
My mind immediately jumped to the right scene and I mentally gasped again, because I had forgotten that was the first scene in the movie where Helen Parr, now Hank Parr, had almost died onscreen as the plane she and her kids were flying in was shot out of the sky by the movie's bond-like villain.
As everything faded to black, I mentally prepared myself for what I needed to do to survive.
*
I came to as I felt the wind rushing by my face and the sounds of an explosion fading away. My eyes fluttered open when I heard screaming nearby. I turned my head to the louder one on the right and saw a teenaged boy yelling his head off, clearly terrified. I turned my head the other way and saw a young girl and she looked both terrified and like she was having the time of her life.
I had mentally prepared for this moment and reached for the both of them at the same time as the information about my current life was eased through my mind. I pulled the kids into my embrace and hugged them tightly.
"Don't worry, Vance and Danica. I've got you." I said, my voice full of warmth.
"You've got us? Who's got you?" Vance asked, his eyes wide.
I had to chuckle at the Superman reference, even though he didn't exist in this universe. "Your mother."
Danica giggled and hugged my arm that was wrapped around her several times.
"Okay, this part's a little tricky. Hold on." I said and started to expand parts of myself as my arms spread out to better protect the kids. I wasn't going to make the mistake Helen made by becoming a parachute and landing in the water right underneath the dropping plane parts.
I changed the shape of my head to give it a point, expanded out my sides into thick swept back wings, and added gliding fins to my ankles and the backs of my feet. The suit's toughness and resilience helped me hold the stiffer shape, so I'd have to send Ed Mode my thanks for making it so versatile.
Since we were falling fast anyway, I angled myself to catch the wind rushing by and we swooped down near the water in a long arc. Danica laughed and tried to catch some of the sea spray and Vance hugged my arm tightly. I adjusted my 'wings' to pull us up and regained only a quarter of the height we previously had. That was the downside of not having a means of propulsion and only working like a glider.
Still, I used what I had and did my best to catch more of the air currents above the water. I also knew what to look for and slowly banked in a circle to see where the missiles that blew up the plane I borrowed had come from. Oh boy, it was going to be difficult to explain to Viper that I lost the government plane she had let me borrow.
We glided for a fairly long distance towards the island I knew was there and just before we hit the water, I flipped us over and spread myself out like a rubber raft and sat my kids inside. Vance looked surprised at my move and Danica kept laughing.
"Let's do that again!" Danica exclaimed.
I chuckled as the friction of the water slowed us down and we floated calmly on the water. "I am not sacrificing another plane just to give you a joyride, Danica."
"Awww!" Danica pouted and crossed her arms.
How can 10 year old kids be so cute? Was it the blonde hair or the freckles? Or both?
"What do we do now?" The not nearly as cute 14 year old Vance asked me.
"You're going to sit there and look pretty while I paddle us to where we need to go." I teased him and he scowled at me and crossed his arms. I had a hard time not laughing, because he was deep into his teen rebellious phase.
"Ooo! OOO! Can I help? Can I? CAN I?" Danica asked, excitedly.
I barked a laugh and nodded. "Of course you can."
"YES!" Danica yelled and jumped to her feet. "Just tell me what to do and I'll do it!"
I changed the back of the 'boat' to add fins below the water to hold us steady and let Danica dangle her legs behind us. She listened attentively as I told her how to kick her feet in the water properly to propel us forward, like a motorboat. I also warned her to only build up to a good speed and not to her top speed, just because I didn't want her exhausting herself.
I faced forward when we started moving and I expanded my hands into rudders to steer. "Vance."
"Yeah?" Vance asked and I could hear the caution in his voice.
"I'm sorry about yelling at you like I did on the plane. It wasn't fair of me to demand so much of you when I knew you hadn't been practising your powers. I was just scared about losing you and I overreacted." I said and glanced back briefly to see shock on his face.
"It... it's okay. I... I'm sorry, too. I've never tried to make a forcefield like that before and... I just... couldn't." Vance said, sounding defeated and he ducked his head.
"Hey, none of that now." I said and he looked at me through a curtain of dark hair that he had covering one eye. "The sea spray on my face is getting hard to handle, so why don't you practice putting up a small barrier in front of us?"
"R-really?" Vance asked, hope on his face.
I nodded and looked forward again. "Things have changed for us. Our family has been attacked and one of us was kidnapped." I said and my voice went deeper. "We will be getting Bobbie back and we're going to make them pay for taking her from us."
When I felt a hand on my shoulder, I glanced back and saw a determined look on my son's face.
"We'll get mom back, dad." Vance said, sternly.
"Yeah, we will!" Danica exclaimed. "We'll kick butt, too!"
I smiled at the both of them and looked forward again. I saw a flickering blue forcefield appear in front of my face and nodded. "Try for a smaller one and hold it. Don't just hope it'll be stable, believe it will be."
"Dad, I... this is..." Vince said, clearly not confident in himself.
"I know it's difficult, Vance." I said and tried to fill my voice with reassurance. "You have more power inside of you that you realize, though. In fact, it's in your blood to be a hero. Your mother and I used to go out all the time when we were younger to stop crime and to protect people."
Vance was quiet for a minute. "Why did you stop?"
"Propaganda." I said and heard him scoff. "It's true. Lawsuits for property damage, people upset after we saved them and the villains hurt them or they were caught up in the collateral damage from the fight, and the news was vilifying the heroes and forced the government to ban using powers in public."
"They... they banned..." Vance whispered.
"It was the best way to control people with special abilities. If you didn't accept the government's relocation offer and go into hiding, you were arrested and put in jail instead." I told him. "It's why we've been so hard on you and Danica about using your powers. If people saw you, we'd have to move again."
"So, that's why." Vance said as another forcefield flickered in front of my face and stayed there for several seconds. "I always wondered why we had to keep moving."
"It was mostly your mother's fault." I admitted and Vance gasped in surprise. "She's been trying to relive the glory days with your Aunt Lucy in secret and was caught using her powers by our government handler a few times. She's a nice woman, so she covered it all up and arranged for a new job and a new house each time. The last time... well... there was no new job and apparently a villain lured your mother in with sweet words and tons of money."
"Wow." Vance whispered.
"Yeah, that was my reaction, too." I said and turned my head around to look at Danica. "How are you doing back there, sweetie?"
"I'm doing GREAT!" Danica yelled and giggled, her legs moving like blurs.
I chuckled and faced forward again. A small forcefield appeared in front of my face and stayed there for ten full seconds. "Nice one, Vance. Keep working at it."
"Thanks, dad." Vance said and I could hear the pride in his voice.
168 An Incredible Journey
We eventually reached the shore of the island just after the sun set. The cover of night helped hide us from the regular patrols that I was sure would find us if we stayed out in the open. I had warned my kids to be quiet and picked Danica up and carried her on my back.
"We need to find a place to hide and talk about what we're going to do now." I whispered and Vance nodded.
We moved towards where I knew there was a cave, thanks to my previous knowledge of the movie, and I gathered a small amount of wood before we went inside. Neither Vance nor Danica saw me drop the ward stones to block the entrance with an illusion that hid the cave entrance. The small fire was easy to set up, thanks to me coaching Danica on how to rub two sticks together a certain way to start a fire.
"Sooo cooool." Danica whispered with awe.
Vance smiled at her and added a few twigs to make it burn higher. We sat there in silence for several minutes to let our costumes dry out and I thought about the best way to handle things. Again, I was not going to make the same mistake Helen did of leaving the kids alone. They had no experience being in a hostile situation and needed a guiding hand instead of being left behind.
"All right, we need to decide what to do." I said and both of them gave me their full attention. "I'm tempted to leave you here and go off on my own..."
"NO!" "No!" Danica yelled and Vance shouted at the same time.
I chuckled at the interruption. "...and that's a dumb decision, considering I have no idea where to go or even what direction to look to find the main facility where Bobbie is being held."
Both of my kids relaxed after hearing that.
"So, as soon as we're dry, we're making torches, putting out this fire, and exploring this cave." I said, as if imparting great wisdom.
"OKAY!" Danica yelled and giggled as her voice echoed a little.
Vance just gave me a disbelieving look.
"Trust me. I just have a feeling about it." I said with confidence, because I knew the cave was the end of the rocket's exhaust port when it launched and the tunnel would take us right into the facility.
Vince sighed and nodded acceptance.
We stayed there for a few more minutes until I pretended to look around the cave and 'found' some scraps of cloth I had taken out of my inventory. I then showed them how to make longer lasting torches and we started walking through the cave until we found a much smoother surface that was clearly man-made.
"What is this place?" Vance asked and waved his torch around.
I looked at where the flames were moving towards, showing where the air was flowing outwards. "Danica, I need you to jog down that way to the left and stop if you find the outside or a bigger room, then come right back here no matter what you find, okay?" I pretty much ordered her and she beamed a smile at me.
"Don't worry, dad! I'll be right back!" Danica said and zoomed off.
"Dad?" Vance asked me without actually asking me.
"This tunnel isn't natural, so either that way or this way leads to where we need to go." I explained. I also knew the rocket wasn't going to launch until just before dawn and we had lots of time to get there.
Vance looked surprised for a moment, then he understood what I meant and nodded.
Danica was back a few minutes later, slightly out of breath. "There's... this big... rocket thing... down that way." She said between panting breaths and pointed to the left.
"Then that's where we need to go." I said and scooped her up into my arms. Surprisingly, she didn't protest and hugged me instead, so I expanded my back to form a seat. "Vance, do you want a piggy-back ride?"
Vance looked at the large tunnel around us and then shrugged. He blew out his torch and climbed onto my back and took mine from my hands.
"Thanks." I said and started running. I wasn't sure if it was my new elastic-like nature or what; but, I easily carried both of their weights like they didn't weigh anything and I ran as if I wasn't encumbered by carrying two other people. Had my stats carried over without modifying my new body?
Since I didn't tire from normal exercise after all the working out I did, I ran for two solid hours to reach the rocket launch room and travel the same distance that Danica had covered in minutes. She was dead asleep by this point and Vance wasn't far behind her. He had barely stayed awake and laid his head down on my shoulder.
"Dad, I'm beat." Vance whispered in my ear.
"I'll find you a good place to rest." I promised.
"Thanks, dad." Vance responded and conked right out.
I held in my laugh at that, because his defiance had been the only thing keeping him awake. Since it was just after midnight, most of the base would be asleep by now, too. I made my way over to the scaffold and climbed it as I cast a human reveal spell with my wand. No one was there, so I cast a detection spell and found the closest computer terminal.
I lucked out and found the security station for the rocket launch and remembered the passcode that Mr. Incredible had found in the movie when he hid in the cave. I typed in KRONOS into the console and it gave me the same high level of access. I quickly disabled the intruder alarm and found the closest thing to a room to stay in. It was almost funny that it was the room assigned to Miss Incredible when she stayed there.
Perfect. I thought and memorized the map of the facility for both the apartment and where Bobbie was being held and issued myself a security pass. I also looked at the launch protocols for the rocket and had an evil thought and started digging through the information for what I wanted.
Well, it wasn't really an evil thought, it was just going to be a very bad day for Syndrome and the people she had hired and lived on the island. I set the new landing coordinates for the robot of destruction to right outside the facility and logged out.
I made my way through the facility, taking a route that wouldn't cross any of the night patrols and found the apartment Bobbie stayed in. I put the kids to bed and they cuddled each other, making me mentally 'aww' at the sight, and I locked the door when I left. My next stop was Bobbie's holding area and it didn't take me long to reach it.
Infiltrating the facility in the middle of the night was a lot easier than trying to do it during the day, especially knowing where to go and what to do. I avoided the patrols again and used the security pass to open the room's door. The room was huge and had that weird arch thing and Bobbie was suspended inside it with electricity and those big things covering her hands.
Her head was hung down and even from this far away, I could see the tears dropping from her face. I locked the door again and stayed in the shadows as I walked around the room and reached the stage where the arch was.
"V-Vance... little Danica..." Bobbie whispered as more tears joined their fellows on the floor. "Hank..."
"Yes, dear?" I asked in a whisper and stepped up onto the stage.
"Now I'm hearing his voice." Bobbie whispered and let out a sob.
"I'm talking, so why wouldn't you hear me?" I asked without trying to be quiet.
"Hank?!?" Bobbie gasped and her head jerked up and she stared at me standing five feet away from her. "I thought... they said..."
"Honey, they're villains." I said with a roll of my eyes. "What did you expect them to say? That your family is fine and they're gonna let you go?"
Bobbie giggled and sounded just like our daughter, Danica. It was honestly cute and I gave her a warm smile before I walked off the stage and over to the control panel. I hit the button to release her and she dropped to the floor and landed on her feet as the hand things popped and her hands were free.
"I've stashed the kids in your apartment here and..." I started to say as I turned back to her and I was suddenly pulled into her strong arms and kissed passionately. I kind of melted a little from the great kiss and hugged her back.
Bobbie broke the kiss and beamed a smile at me. "I'm so happy that you're alive."
"Me, too." I said and kissed her again. "We're going to talk later about you lying about everything and falling for a villain's evil plan."
Bobbie winced and sighed. "I'm sorry, I thought I was working for a private contractor and..."
"I said later." I cut her off and took her hand. "We need to grab the kids and then steal a plane or something to get out of here."
Bobbie's expression changed to anger. "Hank, we can't just leave! Syndrome's going to attack Metroville and..."
I pinched her lips together to stop her rant. "She only thinks she is."
Bobbie's eyes widened. "Mham mo mou meam?"
I chuckled at her trying to ask me what I mean with her lips held together. "I reprogrammed the landing coordinates for the rocket to end here on Nomanisan Island."
Her expression changed to astonishment. "Mow mim mou mo mhat?"
I didn't answer her and let her lips go before I ran over to the door of the large room. It wasn't until I reached for the security pass that I realized she had stood there beside the console and hadn't moved and my arm was stretched all the way across the room. I turned back to face her and she looked determined, so I sighed and flicked my arm to extend it more and used it like a lasso and wrapped her up twice and then yanked on it.
"AH!" Bobbie shouted as she flew through the air, clearly shocked at what I did.
I easily caught her, being elastic and all, and used the security pass. I formed my back into a seat like I had for Vance and Bobbie's shocked face didn't change as I held her in place without using my hands and I ran out of the room and down the hallway. I ducked into a supply room and waited for the patrol to pass by, then continued on and backtracked to the apartment.
Bobbie stayed quiet until the apartment door closed behind us and she hopped off of my back. "How did you do all of that?"
I gave her a crooked smile. "I did have a life before becoming your husband." I said, completely truthfully. Watching her mouth open and close like a fish out of water was just a bonus. Instead of saying anything else, I motioned to the bed where the kids were still snuggled up to each other.
"Aww." Bobbie whispered at the sight. "Where's a camera when you need one?"
I gave her cheek a kiss and she turned to give me a kiss on the lips. "What do you want to do now? Let them sleep until morning or escape an evil villain's base with her personal plane before anyone else wakes up?"
Bobbie looked conflicted and then sighed. "I really want to do the first one and I know we can't. If we stick around, we'll definitely be caught."
I nodded. "They'll probably change the security passes during the shift change, too."
Bobbie nodded back. "Then you carry Vance and I'll take Danica."
When we tried to separate the kids, they didn't want to let go, so Bobbie helped put the both of them onto my back. I wrapped an arm around them to hold them steady and we left the apartment to head towards the hangar. As we made our way there, I told Bobbie there was no self-destruct option for the facility or anything explosive for us to set off to destroy it, making her softly curse under her breath.
We made it to the hangar without incident and loaded the kids onto Syndrome's airplane. It was then that I remembered the remote that she used to control the robot and my brilliant plan to unleash the Omnidroid on the facility was dead in the water if she still had it.
"I need to make a quick stop at a security terminal." I whispered and Bobbie waved me away, probably assuming I was going to disable any restrictions on the plane taking off. I left the plane and used my wand to find out where the remote was and it was all the way across the base and I let out a frustrated sound.
The terminal wasn't far away and was thankfully out of sight, so I accessed it and had it show me where Syndrome stored her equipment. It showed an image of the place and I took out my wand again to silence the area. I concentrated on the image on the screen and apparated over there. The crack sound didn't echo in the small room and I unlocked the storage locker.
An overpowered cleaning spell on the remote saw it spark and sputter. I was tempted to test it by hitting one of the buttons and debated it, then nodded. The first button didn't do anything and nothing happened. There was no click, no whir, and no reaction from the large robot stored in the next room.
Of course, that made me wonder if I should do the same thing to the robot while it was dormant, then shook my head. We needed it to land here and destroy everything, like it was programmed to do. I silenced the room and apparated back to the security console and disabled the checks for a plane taking off and opened the hangar doors.
I ran back over to the plane and climbed on and saw Bobbie petting Vance's hair with a look of love on her face. I lightly touched her shoulder as I walked by and she turned that smile to me. I kissed her and went to the pilot area and entered the proper codes and the destination. I also disabled the verbal interaction, just so the kids could sleep uninterrupted.
I set the plane to take off and went back to Bobbie and sat beside her, put my arm over her shoulders, and waited for us to get up into the air. There was no reaction from the villain's base and that was a huge relief, because being shot at again would suck. The flight was also going to be a long one and we had nothing but time on our hands until we landed.
After about ten minutes, Bobbie kissed my cheek and laid down beside our son and cuddled both him and our daughter. That was a great idea, so I moved to the other side of them and laid down behind Danica to hug the three of them. Bobbie let out a contented sigh and fell right to sleep and I thought that now would have been a great time for a camera, too.
I laid there and thought about what was going to happen next, which was nothing at all, because the assault on the city wasn't going to happen and 'supers' weren't going to come back out into the public eye and be revealed as existing again. Without the city in danger, there was nothing for my family to save, either.
For some reason, I thought that was for the best. It wasn't until I started drifting off to sleep that I remembered that if the heroes started appearing again, the villains would start appearing as well and would cause more problems for the heroes to fight against. It would eventually throw the world into chaos and that wasn't what I wanted, not anymore.
The plans I had to save my family from having to fight Syndrome and her Omnidroid had inadvertently stopped the resurgence of superpowers in the world. With no one thinking about people with powers coming into the limelight, or the outrageous and sensational news coverage it would have, there would be no reason for any villains to crawl out of the woodwork to fight against their chosen rivals.
The satisfied smile would stay on my face for several days, after hearing from our government liaison about how they saved Syndrome from her own robot and arrested her. It was then that I remembered the Underminer and I would have to do some digging, excuse the pun, to find out where he was and when exactly he was going to appear, since I knew it would be in about three months.
Either that, or I was going to have to start being as bad as Bobbie and start up my own secret vigilante career. I thought about doing it behind her back as revenge and discarded that idea. Bobbie had made that mistake and I wasn't going to give her any justification for it by doing the same thing.
No, if I was going to start hunting future villains down, I would have to include her... and I could probably rub it in her face that we always worked better together than we ever did as independent heroes.
169 Government Work
Not surprisingly, my old friend Viper showed up that Saturday and claimed Syndrome's plane as compensation for the government plane I had lost. I thought it was going to be difficult to explain why I had been shot down and the woman listened to my excuses before she laughed for several minutes and then said it was insured and was destroyed while under government contract, no matter who was flying it at the time.
Plus, they added the plane's destruction onto the charges they levelled against Syndrome and levied fines worth twice that, just so they could award me a finder's fee for tracking down a supervillain before they could harm the public.
They had also raided the island's computers and found all of her plans for everything, like world domination, eventually selling her inventions to let everyone have powers, and they found out about all the deaths of the heroes she had hired and murdered. Their families would be heavily compensated using Syndrome's vast wealth, too.
I had barely opened my mouth to ask about that when Viper handed over an envelope with a grin. I had to laugh at her teasing me so blatantly in front of my wife and I handed the envelope right over to Bobbie, whom opened it and gasped. Syndrome had been excessively rich and we would be flush with cash for quite some time.
When it came time for Viper to leave, I told her I heard rumors of another supervillain that was going to target the city and possibly the world. I hinted that if I had an idea about where they were, how hard would it be to find some appropriate search and rescue equipment and maybe some digging machines?
The answer was apparently 'really easy' after a short phone call. Our government liaison named Rikki Dicker, an older woman with her grey hair up in a bun, showed up twenty minutes later and sat down with us to discuss things. They were both associated with a government program whose sole purpose was to do exactly what I was hinting at and were almost ecstatic that I wanted to help.
My previous experience and this latest incident had brought both myself and Bobbie to their attention and they were going to watch us much closer than they already were. The sour look on Bobbie's face was one I would remember for a long time, because she knew she couldn't sneak off with Lucy anymore.
The downside to helping was that we were to never draw the villains out into the public eye, because that would give other people 'ideas'. Bobbie and I exchanged looks and then looked over at the fireplace where we had a large family picture with us and our two happy kids waving at the camera.
"We're in." Bobbie and I said at the same time.
"Excellent." Viper said and Rikki smiled and nodded. "Miss Dicker can handle the contracts for you two to sign later." She said and tipped her mechanic's hat back and rubbed her hands together. "I need you to tell me more about this digging machine you want me to build."
I laughed at her wanting to get at the important part of the mission and both Bobbie and Rikki rolled their eyes. "It all depends on the available budget and the future utility..." I started to say as I pulled a piece of partially crumpled paper out of my pocket.
It was snatched away immediately and Viper spread it out on the coffee table between us and Bobbie and Rikki leaned in to look at it. They saw a mostly drawn schematic for a two person capsule-like vehicle that had tank tracks on five sides, several spinning corkscrew blades on the front, and scooping arms to pull the dirt away from them.
"This... this is... genius. Pure genius." Viper whispered and licked her lips as her fingers traced the frame. "The reinforced cross bars should hold up under some pressure... but, if we added hydraulics here and here..." She muttered and a pen appeared in her hand and she started to add in details that went over our heads.
"How long does this usually take?" Bobbie asked and motioned to Viper's hand skipping over the paper like a printing machine, pretty much changing and updating everything.
"She'll be good for another three minutes." I said, remembering how Viper handled things when we used to work together back in the old days.
"Why only three?" Rikki asked.
"It's only a small schematic and I didn't have time to flesh anything out, like the control mechanisms to steer it or how we would see out of the thing." I explained.
"Ah, that makes sense." Rikki said with a nod.
"Got it!" Viper said and held up the thing that barely resembled what I had given her and had a lot more detail.
"How long will it take to built it?" I asked.
"If we include everything and you're there to help me with the little bits using those stretchy fingers of yours for all the tight places this thing is going to have, maybe a month." Viper answered.
That was two months before the Underminer was supposed to appear, so I nodded.
"I'll be restricted to school hours during the week." I warned her and then smiled. "Saturdays can be full work days and Sundays are for relaxing, so I'm staying home for that."
Viper chuckled and looked over at Bobbie. "I still can't believe he retired to become a house husband for you and it's been over a decade and a half since then."
Bobbie blushed and her hand took mine, so I turned my head to give her my best smile. "I kind of can't believe it either, and this last thing... when I almost lost him..." She leaned in and gave me a kiss on the lips. "I promised myself that I'd become the best mother and wife ever, because Hank and my kids are my greatest adventure and I never want it to end."
Aww. I thought and gave her another kiss. "I love you, too."
"You're making my teeth ache." Viper said with a laugh and rolled up the new schematic. "We can get this started first thing Monday morning."
I nodded and we wrapped up the meeting, with Miss Dicker agreeing to pop back around later with the contracts and the NDAs we would have to sign. I didn't mind, since I wanted to keep everything quiet anyways. However, I did ask her to bring two more NDAs for Vance and Danica to sign and the old woman looked surprised by that.
"It lets us ensure that both Vance and Danica know what it means to keep things a secret." I said and Bobbie nodded. "We can also talk to them about things and we won't have to hide anything from them."
Rikki looked from me to Bobbie and huffed. "I better bring two renewable contracts for assistants as well, since I'm sure your brats are going to beg to be involved when you tell them you're going to become super secret government spies for us."
I couldn't help but laugh at that as I imagined Danica excitedly screaming to help us. "No doubt."
"Thanks, Rikki." Bobbie said and hugged the old woman.
Rikki grumbled about being too touchy-feely, so Bobbie gave her a kiss on the cheek. The old woman gave her a deadpan stare for several seconds before she walked out of the house and complained about brats of all ages. Bobbie had to cover her mouth to stop from laughing too loudly and Viper saluted us and followed Rikki out.
"I need to get dinner started." I said and started walking towards the kitchen and felt Bobbie take my arm and turn me around. By the aroused look on her face, I knew she wanted a bit more than my cooking right now.
"We're ordering pizza." Bobbie said, her voice firm, and I nodded. She smiled at me with that 'come here' vibe and led me into our bedroom.
I watched as she pulled off her blouse and I admired her musculature. She had worked hard to get herself back into shape and it showed. She still had a bit of a pudge on her belly, which she tried to hide from me, so I pushed her hands aside and knelt to kiss and nuzzle it.
"H-Hank..." Bobbie whispered, her face red.
I nibbled on her a little and then kissed my way down to the bush she had there. A moment later, she moaned as my extended tongue plunged inside her and licked her all around. I found her spot and wiggled the tip of my tongue over it.
"GAH!" Bobbie gasped and came right away. "Hank!"
"By the way, I learned a new trick recently." I said and stood as I pulled off my shirt and pants.
Bobbie's eyes dropped down to my erection and her eyes widened as little fleshy nubs appeared all along my shaft. "Ohhhh, Hank." She moaned and pulled me in for a kiss and then picked me up to throw me onto the bed.
I held myself up straight for her and she jumped on without hesitation. She slid right down to the hilt, burying me deep inside of her, and her loud sexy moan echoed off the bedroom walls. I was really glad that the kids were staying over at Vance's friend's house today, because there was no way they wouldn't have heard her if they had been anywhere inside the house.
Bobbie had a look of love and affection on her face as she stared into my eyes. She slid herself up and nearly off of me and then back down, her movements slow enough that she could adjust to the extra feelings that my enhancement was giving her.
"I... love you... so much." Bobbie whispered and then laid down on my chest to kiss me deeply.
I hugged her tightly and we made love like that for a very long time.
*
On Monday morning after dropping the kids off at school, I had to admit that it was a great feeling to have when one of my half-baked ideas, that I had only mostly drawn out on paper, was brought to life before my very eyes.
Viper lifted her welding mask briefly to grin at the look on my face. "Having fun?"
"Goodness, yes. I really missed doing things like this with you." I admitted and she laughed.
"I missed having you around, too." Viper said and flipped her welding mask back down. "It's so much better doing things like this with someone to share it with."
I chuckled. "We sound like an old married couple."
Viper laughed as well and started welding again. After another minute, the welder sparked a few times and sputtered out.
"I got it." I said and reached over from where I was, my arm stretching way out, and I checked the pressure gauge and tapped on it. "Either it's leaking pressure or it's nearly out. The gauge isn't working."
Viper grumbled about just replacing the damn valve and slid backwards on the mechanic's dolly that was called a creeper, and she rolled over to where the other tanks were. She pulled one down onto her chest and held it.
"Hank, I need a hand!" Viper said and I could hear the smile in her voice.
I chuckled and slipped my arm around the secured tank and extended my hand all the way over to her and grabbed the shoulder of her coveralls.
"Weeee!" Viper let out as I pulled her across the workshop, acting like the kid she was definitely not, and made us both laugh.
The tank was changed out, as was the valve and the gauge, and I pulled her back over to the partially built monstrosity we were working on.
"So." Viper said and started up welding again. "How did the talk with Bobbie go?"
I sighed. "We argued a lot about her doing hero stuff behind my back and endangering us again." I told her. "It was pretty loud and we made sure the kids were out of the house when we had it."
Viper stopped welding and lifted her welding mask. "I take it she wasn't sorry?"
I scoffed. "More like she was all gung-ho for it until getting caught, and even then, she still got away with doing it a lot more than I ever realized."
"And Lucy?" Viper asked and I sighed again.
"She tries to keep discouraging her, only she loves her too much to let her do it alone." I said.
"Ah, because she was going to go out and do it anyway." Viper said with a knowing nod.
"Which just made my argument better and her more obstinate." I responded. "It didn't help."
"Well, what woman ever wants someone to tell her that she's wrong, especially when it's the truth?" Viper asked me with a crooked smile before she flipped her welding mask back down and started welding again.
I huffed a laugh. "It's the hypocrisy I don't get. We've lectured Vance and Danica so many times about not using their powers and she just doesn't understand that it was supposed to apply to her, too."
"Oh, she understands." Viper said and paused welding. "She just chose to ignore it, because she's an adult and your rules only apply to your children and not herself."
I grumbled about that not being fair in this day and age and Viper laughed and laughed. It has struck her as extra funny, because this day and age was in the 1960s. There were no cell phones, home computers, or a lot of the more modern conveniences that we should have had.
The age of superheroes had somehow delayed or stilted the growth and the ingenuity of the more scientific-minded people as they investigated powers instead of other things. It was a heavy thing to discover, I admitted to myself. I had many ideas that could be used to make the world a better place, I just needed a lot of money, time, manufacturing facilities, and the know-how to market and sell things.
In other words, it was not going to happen anytime soon.
"Do you have any advice?" I asked, just because I could.
"Yeah, forget about it and move on." Viper answered me.
"What?" I asked, surprised.
"Winning or losing that argument? It doesn't matter. You lose." Viper said and patted the last metal bar of the framework, showing me it was finished on her end and I let mine go. She slid out from underneath the thing and stood up to weld where I had been holding it in place. "Being right or wrong also doesn't matter. You lose."
I thought about what she said and sighed. "Fuck."
"Yep, you finally get it. Don't apologize and don't bring it up again. Just ignore it and so will she." Viper said and patted my shoulder. "Now go over there and start cutting out the first metal panel for the underside of this thing. The measurements are on the sheet by the cutting machine."
I nodded and walked over to the thing and read them, marked them off on the piece of steel, then took the measuring tape over to what we were building. I laid down on the creeper she just stood up from and I slid underneath to measure everything again.
"Smart man." Viper said with a chuckle and started welding.
I didn't bother to ask if she meant about taking her advice or checking the measurements, since I was pretty sure she meant both.
170 Not What You Expected
Viper's advice actually worked. I kept my mouth shut when I went home and Bobbie didn't say anything about our previous argument. She started smiling the very next day and was soon giving me random hugs and kisses over the next few days without prompting.
It bothered me that Bobbie never apologized for endangering our family; but, apparently it was only a problem for me, so I had to be the bigger man and let it go. Even the kids were happier that we weren't fighting or were about to fight at the drop of a hat.
I also managed to put the idea into Rikki Dicker's head about investigating the dealings of the Deavor Family and to track them down. I couldn't remember much about the second movie, except that the brother and sister pair had an obsession for people with powers since they were kids and their parents had been murdered in a home invasion.
Of course, with everything gender-switched, it would be the sister that would adore the thought of superheroes making a comeback and the brother that would hate them for not showing up to save their parents after the government had banned the use of powers.
Over the next few weeks as Viper and I built the digging machine, a scandal was reported in the news about several people being arrested and some of them were caught using their powers in public while resisting arrest. It was a scandal that was blown out of proportion, which was what the news always did, and everyone was talking about it.
I did my best to not look smug when Bobbie watched the details of the story on the television and the kids looked properly chastised. It was one thing to be told it was against the law to use powers and another to see concrete proof. Thankfully, my ruse worked and my wife never found out that it was me that turned them in.
The digging machine was soon finished and we dropped the kids off at Ed Mode's place for the weekend, so Bobbie and I could have a date night. The short man was enigmatic and pretty funny, so our families had been friends for a long time.
Ed really enjoyed it when I visited and hung out with him, even though he was always busy, and I was very thankful that attitude extended to my wife and kids. I did have to promise him to have a guy's night soon to return the babysitting favor and he looked quite happy about that.
Bobbie drove us to where Viper's workshop was and we went inside the large garage to see a large transfer truck where the digging machine was being loaded into it. Bobbie whistled at the sight of the thing and Viper spent the next 20 minutes telling her all about it, like she was a proud parent sharing information about her favorite child.
I held in my laugh as they shared a motherly moment of mutual sympathy about letting a child leave the house for the first time. Rikki Dicker had no such restraint and was highly amused about the whole situation and grasped them by their collars.
"Come on, come on, come on." Rikki's voice rasped as she easily dragged both women away from the digging machine. "We need to work out where to launch this thing without wrecking the city's infrastructure."
We gathered around a table with various city maps on it. One was street level, one was pipes and power lines, one was sewer lines, and the last was an old mineral survey map before the city was built. It was the last one that gave us the best information for both where to launch from and where to dig to.
"We can use the old subway tunnel here on the outskirts of Fifth and Vine." Viper said and tapped the mineral map and then the street map in the same spots. "The new lines had to be built for the heavier traffic and the single tunnel just wasn't good enough anymore."
Bobbie nodded. "If the mineral rights map is right, there's not much there in terms of ores, so the digging machine should make short work of it if you head off this way."
"That's my thinking, too." Viper said and traced her finger along the best route that avoided the larger metal deposits. "It can handle digging through the thicker ores just fine. It's the occasional gem deposits that might screw things up or jam the gears."
Bobbie nodded. "I'll let Hank handle the driving while I keep an eye out for any hazards we have to avoid." She said and gave Viper a pointed look. "How are we supposed to see out through solid rock, anyway?"
Viper gave her a huge grin and clapped me on the back. "Hank gave me another brilliant idea about how to do that!"
Bobbie blinked her eyes several times as she processed that statement. "What do you mean?"
"We're going to use ground sonar!" Viper said, excitedly.
"Ground what? Sonar? How can that work on land?" Bobbie asked, confused. "It's only supposed to work in water."
"I thought that, too." Viper said and gave me a look that would have meant something different if I wasn't married. At least, I hoped it meant something different. "Let me show you how it works."
Rikki and Bobbie watched, stunned, as Viper showed them how depth charges could be set off and the vibrations could be read and recorded through the dirt. If there was something already giving off vibrations, that could be tracked, too. The sensitivity was reduced when the digging machine was moving, so we would have to slow down to set one of them off to receive an updated map of the area in return.
"Hank was the one to give you this idea?" Bobbie asked, surprised.
"Hank has tons of ideas in that big beautiful head of his!" Viper almost shouted and gave me a hug. "He won't let me yank out his brain to mount it in a jar to keep harvesting them, though."
Bobbie snatched me out of the other woman's arms and hugged me tightly. "I like his brain exactly where it is, thanks."
Viper laughed and waved her away. "Don't worry about it. Rikki said the lab boys haven't been able to make their artificial amniotic fluid work for more than a few hours before it runs out of oxygen."
Of course, I was an idiot and started talking without thinking about what it meant. "I'm sure that if you added an air purifier and pump into the bottom of the tank, the constant bubbles of air would keep a normal level of oxygen infused into the amniotic fluid."
Viper, Bobbie, and Rikki stared at me with their mouths hanging open.
I then realized I had probably just ensured a lot of human experimentation to see if different parts could survive living in a jar of amniotic fluid. "Uh, forget I said anything."
The old woman's raspy voice was the first to speak. "No, I don't think I can." Rikki said and gave me a searching look. "I thought Viper was joking about you being a genius."
"I kind of was." Viper said, her voice soft. She was also giving me a similar look.
"But, I'm not a genius." I said in my defense.
Bobbie let me out of the hug she had me in and her gaze matched the other two women. "What about that portable phone idea you told me about?"
I opened my mouth to refute that and stopped when Viper's hand grasped my arm.
"Are you holding out on me?" Viper asked, her eyes narrowing. "I haven't been able to get the tech for sending and receiving phone calls smaller than a foot wide and only a car's engine has enough juice to pump the carrier signal through the airwaves."
I didn't answer and frowned at Bobbie instead. "I told you that in confidence."
Bobbie shrugged. "You didn't say I had to keep quiet about it."
"Yes, I did." I almost growled, my anger rising.
"I don't remember that part." Bobbie responded.
"I said it just before that!" I shouted. "Why don't you ever listen when you're supposed to?"
"EXCUSE ME?" Bobbie yelled back. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You always ignore me when I say something important!" I exclaimed.
"No, I don't!" Bobbie shouted.
"No? Then when's Vance's date with that girl he likes?" I asked.
Bobbie's eyes widened. "Vance has a date? SINCE WHEN?!?"
"SINCE LAST WEEK WHEN I TOLD YOU ABOUT IT!" I yelled as loudly as I could and all three women winced as my voice echoed off the walls. "For fuck's sake, Bobbie! How many times do I have to get it through your thick head that you never pay attention when it matters?"
Bobbie looked angry now. "How dare you call me stupid!"
"You're still not listening! I didn't call you stupid!" I said and lowered my voice. "I called you ignorant and slow to learn."
A second later, her superpowered fist buried itself into the left side of my face. Even with my current elastic powers, it still really hurt as she smooshed my eye into paste and my skin and bones rippled around the impact like water.
A bit of blood sprayed out as my head snapped back from the force and flew partway across the room. My neck stretched out until it reached the limit and partially dragged my flopping body through the air like a wet noodle before I fell to the floor in a heap.
"HANK!" A woman's voice yelled as I lost consciousness and everything faded to black. I couldn't tell if it was from Bobbie or Vance, though. Wasn't that funny?
World Paused.
You have caused a pivotal event to occur in the middle of the story and your choice here can change how things progress. Will you let your mutual anger at the situation cause a rift in your family that can never be mended or will you continue to take Viper's advice and ignore what happened?
Current choices:
Pick an unlocked world to travel to for a break.
Leave this world behind and head to a new one. (Current total: 2888)
Resume this world and see how things turn out.
I let out a mental sigh, because I had let my simmering emotions run my mouth and I didn't realize Bobbie would physically retaliate instead of yell at me like usual. I had underestimated how she would react and I paid for it. Now I just had to decide if I wanted to go back there to face her again or if I should accept the break.
I floated there in the emptiness and thought about it. Did I want to go back and confront her? Our relationship was great when I chose to ignore how much she irritated me with her behavior, her dismissive attitude, and how she handled both of those things when the kids were around.
Viper's advice had worked, that was true... but... was that the right thing to do? The last fight was quite the doozy and almost sprang out of nowhere, because I really couldn't just let it go that Bobbie never apologized. Now? Now she would apologize for hitting me and not for what she should apologize for. That didn't sit right with me and I spent a very long time floating there as I made my decision.
Resume world option chosen. Unpausing world.
I came to inside a hospital room and could only see out of my right eye. That was not a good thing. Not at all. I was also strapped down to stop me from moving, so I extended my sole working eye up and glanced around. The nurse call button was on the nightstand and I stretched my wrist to have my hand reach for it and pushed it. I brought my hand back and dropped my eye back inside my head.
The door to the room opened and a beautiful nurse entered the room. "Mister Parr? Are you awake?" She asked with a voice that sounded like an angel. Her long blonde hair and the tiny hat that looked like a halo added to the vision.
"Hoow arrre youuu sssoo appealling?" I slurred and my sole eye widened. "What'sss goooing onnn? I donnn't feeeel like I'm on drugsss."
The nurse's face showed shock for a second and she gave me a very fake smile. "The doctor will be very glad you're awake, Mister Parr. I'll go wake him up right away."
I watched her flee my room like her ass was on fire and what she said registered. It's either nighttime or he was waiting around for me to wake up. I thought and wondered how long I had been unconscious.
After about fifteen minutes, an older man wearing a lab coat entered the room with the beautiful nurse behind him.
"Ah, you stayed awake this time. Excellent." The man said and walked around my bed and put his stethoscope in his ears and blew on the metal end to warm it up before he placed it on my chest. "I need you to take some deep breaths, please."
I pulled in some air and let it out. He nodded and moved the end and I took another breath. He slid it down the left side of my chest to below my ribs and nodded at me. I took another breath and let it out.
The doctor stood up straight and took the stethoscope out of his ears and hung it around his neck. "Mister Parr, I heard from your friend Viper that you like people being upfront and honest with you, so I won't beat around the bush." He said and folded his hands in front of his waist. "I have good news and bad news to tell you. Which do you want to hear first?"
"The bad newss." I said and the nurse winced.
The doctor sighed. "Your left eye was crushed and the orbital socket shattered. That alone wouldn't have been too bad, since we can make some very nice prosthetics these days and there are thousands of people that live with monocular sight without trouble."
"Like a Cyclopsss?" I asked and the doctor smiled sadly as the nurse made a distressed sound.
"The trouble happened when several blood clots travelled directly to your brain and caused a large blockage." He said and unfolded his hands to put one on my shoulder. "You had a massive stroke and have been unconscious for two months."
I blinked my only working eye at him and thought about the timeline I had been working towards. He must have see something on my face, because he patted my shoulder.
"Your mission was completed successfully and nothing untoward happened." He said and I relaxed. "Back to the bad news, you have lost feeling in most of your left side and your lungs and organs are only working at about 60%. Because of your physiology, a lot of our techniques to fix some of the damage didn't work."
I didn't care about that, since I had potions to help. I was sure they could regrow my eye, too. Hopefully. I've never had to do that before and I didn't know for sure. "Isss that allll?"
The doctor and nurse exchanged worried looks.
"Jussst ssspillll it." I said, getting frustrated and eager to get out of here.
"As I said, your left side has lost feeling and that includes a particular area used for reproduction." The doctor said and the nurse turned away and wouldn't look at me.
"What'ss the goood neewsss?" I asked, unconcerned. I couldn't reproduce without spending the points anyway.
"You're not a vegetable or a completely different person. After suffering severe brain damage, personality shifts are quite common as the victim's priorities change."
I blinked my eye at him and thought about that. "How can yooou tellll?" I asked and then realized what he called me. "I'mm a victimm?"
"You're cognizant and you're following the conversation, so I'm reasonably sure you're going to be fine. As for the victim part..." The doctor stopped talking and looked over at the door to my room.
"The only reason your wife wasn't arrested and thrown in jail for assaulting you with her powers and nearly killing you, was because of your children and as a favor to me." An old woman's voice said.
"Rikki?" I asked and stretched my right eye up and looked over towards the door.
"Hello, Hank." Rikki Dicker greeted me and walked over into my normal line of sight.
I dropped my eye back into my head. "What happened?"
"We had to go ahead with the mission, even with you out of commission, so Viper and Miss Incredible followed the plan to find the target." Rikki said. "Your innovation for ground sonar worked even better than we thought and they found the Underminer's main lair without any trouble at all. They disabled his enormous digging machine that looks like garbage when compared to the one you and Viper designed and built."
I immediately heard what he didn't say. "Bobbie did something to the Underminer, didn't she?"
Rikki sighed and rubbed a hand on her forehead. "She blamed him for causing what happened between you and didn't hold back at all."
I closed my sole eye and sighed as well.
"We sent several follow-up teams through the tunnel the digger made and dismantled everything the Underminer had built. We took it all and filled the entire cavern with concrete to stop it from collapsing or causing a sinkhole or something." Rikki said.
I opened my eye and looked at her. "What happens now?"
Rikki looked at the doctor and the man nodded, so she reached down and picked up my left foot and pulled on it to stretch it like taffy, and turned it around a few times, and pretended to tie my ankle in a knot before she let it go. The four of us watched it as it very slowly started to retract and I didn't feel anything at all.
"Fuck." I said and she nodded. I wasn't going to be walking anywhere until I healed myself up, assuming I could. Like the doctor said, my physiology was quite different than a normal person and regular procedures didn't work on me.
Rikki patted my right foot. "Viper's looking forward to having you stay over, so it's not all bad."
My sole eye widened and I opened my mouth to speak, only nothing came out.
"Your wife tried visiting you a few times. The last time she did, you kind of woke up at the sound of her voice as she yelled at you to wake up. You were completely incoherent and half-paralyzed, so it wasn't a pretty sight as you flailed around." The doctor said and the nurse nodded. "She started crying and apologized before she left."
"And never came back." The nurse added.
I looked at their sad faces and sighed. My chance at relaxing with a happy family in a fun and easy superhero world had disappeared after a single punch to the face. I really missed having my Blessing of Fortune active and I definitely needed to do something about that as soon as possible.
171 Getting Out
Despite being awake and having my full faculties, the doctor still kept me there for a full week to perform as many experiments as he could. On the plus side, Viper visited as much as she could and kept me in a good mood about it.
On the seventh day and before Viper's scheduled visit, I called the doctor out on his bullshit when he started using the little hammer they tapped on someone's knee to check their nerve stimulation reactions. He was using it on every one of my joints, including my fingers, and that was too much!
The smug bastard chuckled. "It's about time you objected, Hank. You're free to go."
I blinked my right eye at him, letting him see my disbelief, and he laughed.
"I was just wasting time until Viper managed to work out everything for your new accommodations." The doctor said and put the little hammer away.
I sighed and let out a groan as I concentrated to not slur my words. Speaking slowly also helped. "Why couldn't you just say that instead of being so annoying?"
The doctor patted my right shoulder. "It's part of my outpatient treatment strategy. The more annoying I am, the less patients want to hurt themselves and return to my tender care."
Okay, I had to admit that was a very effective strategy, because I sure as hell didn't want to come back here for a very long time.
The doctor looked amused at my expression. "I'll go get Viper and a wheelchair."
"She's already here?" I asked, surprised.
"I had her wait out in the hallway while I conducted your final physical exam." The doctor joked and walked around my bed and over to the door.
I stretched my eye up out of my head to look over at the open door and caught my breath, because Viper wasn't wearing her trademarked coveralls or her baseball cap. She wore a bright blue sundress and her brownish blonde hair was brushed out from her usual ponytail and hung down over her shoulders. She didn't even have a small streak of oil on her cheek after absently scratching her nose.
"Who are you and what happened to the grease monkey?" I asked, my words slow and careful.
"I ate her and she was delicious! Mwahahaha!" Viper said with a fake evil laugh that quickly devolved into silly giggles.
I made a snort sound and laughed, too. "You're supposed to pose dramatically when you laugh like that."
Viper walked into the room and over to my bed with a huge smile on her face. "I'll remember that for next time."
I let my eye sink back into my head and smiled back at her. "Thanks for taking me in, Viper."
"I'll be right back with that wheelchair." The doctor said and shut the door behind him.
Viper's smile dimmed slightly. "Hank, about what happened..."
I shook my head to stop her. "Whatever you're going to say, it would have been better coming from Bobbie."
Viper bit her lip and looked conflicted. "No, I don't think so." She said and sighed sadly. "It's all my fault."
I barked a laugh. "No, it wasn't."
"Hank, it was my advice that..."
"No, that actually worked." I said and her eyes widened. "That first week was like we were newly married and it was great. We were happy and I tried to keep quiet about things; but, she made a stupid comment about how she would have handled her rescue better than I had. I commented right back about having the kids with me and she argued that it was my fault I didn't check to see if they were around..."
"Oh, that idiot." Viper said and sat down as she took my right hand.
"We started shouting and that was the first of many arguments we had. When I calmed down and later tried to talk to her about her behavior, unfortunately ignoring your advice, she threw my previous silence right back in my face and we argued again..."
"You don't have to tell me everything." Viper said as her thumb caressed the back of my hand. "I saw the end result."
"Yeah, the doctor said the punch alone wouldn't have done much." I said.
Viper's grip tightened on my hand. "No, Hank. Don't justify it. Even if she thought it wouldn't hurt you, she never should have punched you." She said and her other hand reached over and lightly caressed the left side of my face.
I felt my face heat up at the tender touch, that I could barely feel, and the caring tone of her voice. "Viper, I... I'm still..."
Viper smiled sadly and her hand lightly touched the side of my nose and then slid down to move her fingertips along my lips and stopped when my lip twitched. "Bobbie knows how much she screwed up, Hank. I doubt it will be long before she asks for a divorce."
"A... a divorce?" I asked, surprised.
Viper huffed and pulled her hand away from my face. "She can't even look at you without crying her eyes out. I tried to talk to her about it over the phone and she hung up on me. I even went over to your house as soon as I heard you woke up and she wouldn't open the door."
I was stunned to hear that. It was only one little fight and we could work things out if we just talked about things.
"No, stop thinking like that." Viper said as she stared at my face. Her tone of voice was stern when she continued. "Rikki was serious about having her arrested, Hank. She broke the law and she would be in prison if she wasn't taking care of the kids."
"But... but..." I mumbled.
"You know she is going to fight as hard as she can to retain custody of Vance and Danica, if only for the sole reason that they can keep her free and on probation." Viper informed me.
"They arre nnnot bargaining chipsss!" I said, losing my concentration on keeping my speech even.
"No, they aren't." Viper said and her other hand rested on mine to hold it with both of hers. "But, you know as well as I do that Bobbie is going to hold onto those kids as hard as she can." She looked down at my left side and then back at my face. "You're also in no position to either take care of them or to provide for them."
I couldn't even argue that I'll get better quickly, because I didn't know if that was true or not. I had been under constant surveillance and hadn't had the chance to drink a potion or two. If there hadn't been a camera on me the entire time, I would have taken one right away, just to see if it would fix something.
The room's door opened and the doctor was there with the beautiful nurse and she pushed a wheelchair into the room. The straps holding my body secured were released and I was carefully lifted from the bed and sat in the wheelchair. I couldn't feel myself sliding or flowing over the left side of the chair until more straps were added to keep me sitting up and my slack left arm was kind of pooled into my lap.
I held in my sigh at seeing it and felt Viper's hand on my shoulder before her thumb softly caressed the side of my neck. It had been the same thing she did while holding my hand and I fought down the blush that tried to form. Viper took over control of the wheelchair and pushed me out of the room and we went to the nurse's station down the hall.
The doctor signed me out and both he and the nurse wished me good luck. I thanked them and Viper pushed me over to the elevator, which we rode down a single floor and across the lobby and out into the sunshine. Before I could wince at the brightness after being inside for so long, a pair of aviator sunglasses covered my eyes and I tilted my head back to look up at her face.
"I didn't wear my hat." Viper said, as if defending herself.
"I don't remember seeing sunglasses or a purse anywhere. Where did they come from?" I asked her.
Viper smirked at me and leaned over to give me a view of her modest cleavage. "Take a wild guess where I could hide something like that."
The blush I was trying to fight off came rushing up my neck.
Viper softly laughed and stood up straight to push me across the parking lot to where she parked a nice red sedan. Instead of trying to undo all my attachments that held me in place, she hit a button on the side of the back door and it folded back and out of the way as a ramp slid out from the floor.
"Nice." I complimented her workmanship.
"Thanks." Viper said and pushed me inside, then she turned me around to face the front and tied the wheels down on the floor to secure me in place. "Just don't start making any jokes about me being your chauffeur."
I chuckled. "You do know me well, Jeeves."
"Uggghhh." Viper groaned with a smile on her face. She patted my right arm and stepped out and hit the button to close the ramp and the door. She walked around to the driver's side and climbed in, then we were off to head to her place.
The drive wasn't that long from the government hospital to Viper's garage and I couldn't resist commenting about it.
"I'm not sleeping on one of your workbenches, no matter how comfortable they are." I joked.
"No? Are you afraid you'll get worked on or used for parts in my next project?" Viper joked right back and parked the car.
"How many rubber bands do you need?" I asked with a laugh. "No, wait! You're making the world's biggest slingshot and need me to launch the ammo!"
Viper laughed and shook her head. "There was no room to convert the long set of stairs that go up to the loft apartment on the side of the building, so we installed an elevator inside the shop to cut down on the space needed for renovations."
I realized then that she must have worked her ass off between visiting me, working for the government, and fixing up her place to give me access. "Viper, I really appreciate..."
Viper waved my thanks away before I could express it. "Don't worry about it, Hank. I was planning on putting in a lift anyway. You just gave me an excuse to do it and I charged the government for it."
I knew she wouldn't like me trying to thank her again, so I changed tactics. "Were you starting to get too lazy to go outside to walk up the stairs?"
"Yes! Finally, someone understands my plight." Viper said with a grin. She hopped out of the car and walked around to the back passenger side and hit the button to open it up and the ramp deployed. She bent over to free the wheels and gave me another great view down her dress, which I couldn't help staring at.
I mean, I had noticed Viper was a woman a long time ago and we were great friends; but, this was kind of the first time she had gone out of her way to dress like a girl and act like it. She was very eye catching and I was pretty sure she knew, because I lifted my gaze from her cleavage to see her warm smile and she didn't move away.
After Viper waited and let me look at her for a few more moments, which I shamelessly did, she climbed in to take the handles of the wheelchair and turned me around to pull me back out of the vehicle. She hit the button to close the car up and we went over to the garage where we both did the security check to enter the government regulated workspace and entered the garage.
Off in the far corner was a tall circular tube that was two storeys high and went up into the ceiling. It looked both brand new and like it had always been there, making me whistle at the great work.
"It came out great, didn't it?" Viper asked me and pushed me over towards it. It opened for us as we approached and she brought me inside.
There were no buttons and I wondered how to operate the thing.
"Home." Viper said and the doors closed.
We lifted up in only five seconds and the door opened inside her living room. I had visited her place a bunch of times for meals and to hang out after a long day at work, so nothing was new to me, except for the elevator itself. She really had outdone herself to include it into the room's aesthetics and it didn't stand out like you would think an elevator should.
Viper pushed me across the living room and into the kitchen. It was an open concept, so there were no worries about me being in a wheelchair and unable to get around. Doing it myself was the only problem.
I was parked at the kitchen table and Viper went over to the oven and grabbed three oven mitts. She put two of them on and took out a foil-covered ceramic dish from the low heat oven. The smell of the dish flowed through the kitchen and over me, making my mouth water.
"You didn't." I whispered.
"I did." Viper said and brought the dish over to the table and set it down on the third oven mitt. She posed dramatically before she pulled off the aluminum foil. "Ta-da! Grand-mama's famous seven layer meat-lover's three cheese lasagne!"
I kind of drooled, on purpose this time, and I didn't care. It was going to be the first real food I had eaten in months and it was perfect. "You're the best, Viper."
"Don't you know it." Viper said, her smile beaming, and she served me a huge portion.
Despite being really hungry, I took my time, because I didn't want to waste any of it. I carefully chewed each and every bite of it and savoured the flavor and the texture. It really had come out perfectly and I pretty much wallowed in it and didn't stop myself from moaning with pleasure every few bites.
I didn't notice Viper's red face until I finished eating and she looked very happy. "Heh heh, I'm sorry about acting like that. It was perfect and I got carried away enjoying the first real food I've had in a while."
Viper gave me a look that I had never really seen on her face before. At least, it was never directed at me. Desire and longing. "Hank, you never have to apologize for anything you do. We're best friends. You can act however you want around me."
My eyes unconsciously dropped to her cleavage and she let out a little giggle.
"Now that you're done eating, I can show you to your room." Viper said and stood up, again giving me a great view down her dress, and she walked around the table and took control of the wheelchair. She pushed me out of the kitchen and across the living room to a small hallway.
I knew where we were going and I raised my hand in a stop motion. "Viper, no."
"Viper, yes." She said and went to the door on the right.
"You can't give that up." I said, a little desperate. "You can't. Not for me."
"Hank, you know this used to be my old parts storage and play area. What you don't realize is that I would give up a lot more than that to make sure you had a place to live."
"Viper..." I tried to deny it, I really did.
"No, it doesn't matter if you're hurt or not. You'll always be welcome here." Viper said and opened the door to reveal a lavish room that would put the best hotels to shame. All of her little tinkering projects, her ideas pile, the maps, the hand-drawn schematics, and even her large work table and racks of tools were gone.
Tears came to my eyes at her giving up so much for me.
Viper leaned down and placed a tender kiss on my cheek, catching one of my tears just as it fell. "Welcome home, Hank."
I let out a sob and she wrapped her arms around me as I cried.