Test of the heart.

Englishwitch.
The Incredibles.

Chapter 7- Comrades.
Disclaimer- I do not own The Incredibles, it is a Disney/ Pixar animation motion picture.

Violet's hands hovered over the phone. Was it too soon? Was it too late? What should she say? What *could* she say?
"I can take on criminals without a problem, I just can't make this phone call." She muttered to herself.

Two days ago she and Tony had broken up, and she hadn't been able to say anything to him since. If he saw her coming he would turn and walk away from her. If she tried to stop him he would barge past her and no matter what she said he would feign deafness.

She grabbed the phone and dialled the number before her confidence went on vacation again. She dialled quickly, making no mistakes. One ring. Please be there. Two rings. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Three rings. He's not there, I'm hanging up.
"Hello?"

Violet froze, she'd been expecting him to answer, yet she was still totally unprepared.

"Hello?" She was asked again, angrier this time. Violet snapped out of her trance and found her voice.
"Hi." She fell silent. Say something more you moron, she thought to herself.
"Who is this?"
"Psychewave. This is Vanisher. You said to call if I wanted to meet up." She said nervously. There was a moments silence before he spoke again.
"You serious?" He sounded like he was waiting for the punch line.
"Of course. Just as colleagues, like you said." She said, trying to keep her voice casual.
"Sure. When?" He asked. Violet looked at her watch.
"An hour ok for you?" She asked.
"Sure. I'm free. Where?"
"You know that little park downtown?"
"Yep." He replied. Violet smiled.
"We'll meet there and find a quiet spot."
"Great, see you in an hour them." He hung up and Violet put the phone down a second later.

Since she had broken up with Tony two days ago, Violet had heard nothing but unhelpful advice from her family about how sorry they were and how they understood what she had been going through and how relationships between supers and normal people often didn't work out. Violet had become sick of it all and wanted a slightly more sympathetic shoulder with someone who could understand her situation and look at it from her point of view. Which meant a super, near her own age. Hence Psychewave.

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She pulled up at the park and shifted herself back into visibility. A few people jumped in surprise, other smiled and waved. As she dismounted a small boy, about five, ran up with a pen and notebook in his hands.
"Are you Vanisher?" He asked in awe. Violet smiled at the young man and knelt down so they were the same height.
"Yes I am." She replied. He held out the pen and notebook.
"Can I have an autograph?" He asked. Violet smiled and took the pen and paper.

Superhero life was almost like celebrity life, photo's, fan clubs and lots of people asking for autographs. Usually the photos and the autographs were reserved for fan club conventions because people knew that if you went up to a super in the street you could be interrupting them during a vital mission. Violet had been surprised how quickly a Vanisher fan club had been founded, they had a convention organised in a month in which she would spend the day answering questions, signing autographs and photos. She also would be very careful with any obsessive fans. The last thing she needed was a new Syndrome finding her in fifteen years.

Violet signed the notebook for the young boy and sent him back to his parents. Three other people looked like they were about to step forward with their own pages for signing when-
"Vanisher." Called out a voice above her.

Violet turned just as Psychewave landed, in his familiar blue and white suit with a black P on the chest. He held two Starbucks coffee cups with small packets of sugar in his hands. People stopped coming toward Violet with paper and pens, but they did stay and stare, this was clearly not an ordinary meeting of supers.
"You feel like getting out of here?" He whispered to her as he gave Violet one of the cups. She nodded and pulled back the sleeve of her suit. On her wrist was something that looked like a small black watch, she punched one of the buttons on the side and her moped beeped. She'd just killed the engine so no one could steal it.
"Sure, where to?" she looked around at the nearby building, there were a few fire escapes she could use to climb onto the roof. Psychewave smiled, as if he'd sensed her thoughts.
"Let me show you the way."

Violet felt like a thousand hands, made of air were gripping her body gently and lifting her upward. She hovered off the ground by Psychewave's telekinetic powers. He smiled and floated into the air and flew off toward the city. Violet flew at his side her face wearing a wide smile. She was experiencing the most desired of superhero abilities. She would have traded all of her other skills to be able to fly and now here she was, having it for free. It was like a dream come true.

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"I was surprised to get your call." He said, taking a sip of coffee half way through the sentence. Violet sighed and nodded.

They were on the roof of a tall office building, from their height they see most of the city. The sun was beginning to set and providing a wonderful view.
"I just needed someone to talk to. My family just don't understand, then I remembered I had your number." She said, she sat down and rested her coffee on the ledge and added sugar. Psychewave sat beside her, resting his hand close to hers.
"What's wrong?" He asked. Violet sighed and stared out at the city.
"It's my boyfriend. No...it's me. We broke up because of me." She sighed and turned to him.
"So you and your boyfriend broke up." He said in an understanding tone. "Why do you think it's because of you?" She looked down at her suit.
"Because of this. I promised I wouldn't do any super stuff for the weekend. Just one weekend, so I could spend time with him. But I couldn't keep that promise. You know that robot insect that attacked the city a couple of days ago? I saw the report about it on the news. Other supers were handling it, everything was under control, but I still grabbed my suit and took off anyway."

She didn't want to tell Psychewave she was thinking about him when she was trying to have sex with Tony. And how that was part of the reason she had grabbed her suit because she had been so freakd out she took any excuse she could find to leave and not confront the problem.

Psychewave nodded and stared at the view for a few minutes before speaking.
"We are superheros. Helping others isn't just our job, it's an instinct. Something we just do, like a fish swims or a bird flies. It's a part of who we are and if we can't do it then we are going against our nature." He put his hand onto hers and after a second of hesitation, Violet gripped it lightly.
"That's really eep, where'd you pick that up?" She said, looking right into his eyes. He nodded gently and smiled.
"My mother used to say it to me, she was a super too. When I was little, I would always worry when she went out. But when she said that to me I always understood and felt better. It helped her let her do her job then and it help me do my job now." He stared out at the view, the sun was almost gone, casting the last of its golden rays over the horizon. Violet stared at him, she sensed that she might be approaching a sensitive subject, but her curiosity was too strong.
"What happened to your parents?" She asked tentatively.
"My dad was normal, when he found out my mum was a super he took off leaving her with me. Because he knew my mum's secret identity the government made him sign some kind of secrecy form. He did it under the condition that he have nothing to do with my mother or me ever again." He sounded bitter and angry and for a moment Violet was afraid she had approached too sensitive a subject. But a Psychewave continued his voice began to calm down.
"I sometimes wish I could track him down; even if its just to tell him how much I hate him. But he walked out, I'm not going to be the one to go crawling to him.

"My mother tried to adapt to civilian life, but she slipped occasionally. But was never caught."

Violet nodded in understanding. Not a lot of supers adapted to civilian life too well. Her own father used to go out three or four times a month and performed secret hero work. It was the reason that they had to move around when she was growing up. When she was six, when she was eight and again when she was twelve. All because he couldn't stop doing hero work. When syndrome destroyed their home the government had rebuilt it for them so they didn't have to move. The neighbours had accepted the cover story of a gas leak. Easier to believe than a super villain stealing a baby.
"About a year ago my mum got this call, asking for her super services. She never came home. She was killed by syndrome, by one of his prototype omnidroid's. When superhero's were allowed to do their duty again I took her name as a tribute." He sighed and turned from her, sounding upset.

Violet remembered reading on a list that a hero called *Psychwave* had been killed by syndrome. So Psychewave was her son. A slight difference in the spelling made him a new hero but was still a fitting tribute to the mother he loved.
"That's wonderful. Really beautiful." She said to him. He turned back to her, a smile on his face. He reached up and pulled away his mask. Revealing his true self to violet. Short blonde hair, so pale it almost looked white. With his blue eyes and chiselled looks. He was handsome and everyone would admit it.
"My name is Richard King." He held his hand out to her.

This was a big thing, revealing your true identity to anyone, even another super was a dangerous thing, it always ran the risk of your identity leaking out which was dangerous for you and anyone who knew you.

Violet hesitated for a moment and pulled her own mask off.
"Violet Parr." She shook his hand.

The two supers stared at each other in silence. Still clutching each others hands. An unspoken understanding seemed to have fallen between them. A connection that transcended words and knowledge. A mutual respect. Or perhaps the beginnings of something more?

To be continued.