Eclipse - The Incredibles

1. Daddy VS Bibbers

"Daddy, daddy! Bibbers is broken, you need to fix her!"

In came a distraught Vivian Hugh, who'd ran downstairs in a hurry. Bibbers, the cow colored robot cat, sat silent in her little hands. Unusual, for a toy so annoyingly difficult to turn off.

"Oh dear, batteries dead already?" Tim sighed, his brow raised as he gently took the toy from his daughter's hands. "Well, I'll get him some new ones."

"Her" Vivian corrected.

Tim smiled, his voice gentle as ever. "Sorry, her."

The AA batteries were easy to find, as well as the small box of tiny screwdrivers next to it, all together in the 'emergency box' as Tim liked to call it. Specially put together, for moments such as these.

Vivian watched with nervous eyes, as her father put Bibbers down on the operating table (dining room table) to begin the operation (replacing the batteries).

But even with her batteries replaced, Bibbers was still lifeless.

"Huh, that's strange." Tim mumbled before noting his daughter's worried gaze. "But not to worry, we'll get her fixed in no time."

And so, Tim got to work, preparing himself for the operation of a lifetime. He'd put all of the necessary tools in the table; scissors, sewing kit, screwdrivers, extra screws, batteries and duct tape. As soon as he turned on his headlight, it was game on.

So, thirty-five dollar robot cat from 'Toys 4 All'. You want to break and force me to buy another one of those crappy plastic mishaps for my distraught child, only for me to end up in a loop of breaking and buying? Ha! Not on Timothy Hugh's watch.

They never accounted for their client's dad to be an extremely petty engineer.

...

Timothy had a confession to make; there was no way he could fix Bibbers. The quality of the original product was poor, designed to be flawed and cheap. The perfect combination for over-consumption. A small, mass produced thing that would make the company billions whilst investing little to no money. 

So, with the scatters of broken plastic on his work bench, and his daughter asleep in her bed, Timothy was filled with determination.

Ain't no way he was buying another plastic toy again.

The lights of his workshop were strong and eye-burning in the middle of the night. He thanked whatever god there might be for being divorced, or else he'd never be able to work this late. Would he regret this during the morning shift? Most definitely. But he'd do anything to fix Bibbers.

His daughter's happiness was the most precious thing in his life. After losing his friends, his job, and wife, she was the glue that held his shattering heart together. 

If he couldn't fix Bibbers, he'd make a new Bibbers. 

As the clock struck six o'clock, he wondered if he should've become a toy maker instead. Bibbers 2.0 turned out magnificent, especially for the short time frame. Still wrapped in her old 'fur', Tim had reused as many aspects of the old robot that he possibly could. He figured it wouldn't take long for the cat to break again, but next time he'd be prepared, with new materials and a better workplace. 

To say that he was exhausted would be an understatement. His lower back was begging for relief and his shoulders felt like a bar of wood stabbing into his back. But everything was worth is when Vivian saw Bibbers again, alive and jumping.

"Bibbers!" Vivian cheered, tears in her eyes as she hugged the robot tight. "Thank you daddy, I love you."

Her small figure jumped up on his lap, her arms swingen around his shoulders as she gave him the tightest hug imaginable. Truly thankful.

"No problem, sweetheart. I love you too."

Turns out he was right, as Bibbers managed to break a little over a month later. But this time around, he had everything to make a complete new and produced Bibbers. Thank the lord it was Friday, or else his coworkers would've asked him about the protruding bags under his eyes, and he really couldn't handle another 'sleepless night' joke. 

Vivian had been upset, again, begging her father to fix Bibbers. Obviously, Tim agreed, but this time they'd do it together.

"Alright, so we put the red wire in here, which will make her eyes move. Then, we move the blue wire here, which can make her eyelids close and open." Tim guided, a watchful eye over his daughter's shoulder. "Almost, just move the red one square up."

"Oh!" Vivian cooed as the robotic eyes started to move. "Cool!"

"I know, it's very cool." Tim chuckled. "You see, the electricity stored in the source is able to travel to the desired location via these metal threads. By using the different colors, we can track which source goes where, so they work the way we want to."

"Are we doing this for Bibbers' whole body?" Vivian asked, intrigued. 

"Sort of, I suppose not completely." Tim thought. "Anything you want Bibbers to be able to do, we'll try."

Vivian's dark eyes started to shine, as a wide grin appeared on her face. "I want her to have laser eyes!"

"...Okay so maybe not anything."

With a lot of begging, Vivian did get her laser eyes. But instead of actual lasers, they were little pointed lights that activated whenever she pleased.

Fixing Bibbers together would forever be one of Vivian's greatest memories.