The Modern Four

Chapter 37

Dinner went smoothly. At least, for Penny and Hiro it did. For Wilbur and Violet, it was basically world war three. The only communication they had throughout the meal was glares. Eventually, the four ended the meal and walked to the school, which was about two blocks away from the restaurant. They headed into the school building, and Violet shot another glare Wilburs way, and Wilbur glanced away, pulling out his tickets and showing them to the person who was greeting them. The woman smiled at them, and told the four to have a great time. They smiled back- even Violet did, for the first time in what felt like months. But, as soon as they reached the gym, the act broke, and Violet returned to her usual grumpy self, and pushed past Wilbur as he held the door open for her.

"Can you stop that?" Wilbur asked, now clearly extremely annoyed.

"Stop what?" Violet asked breezily, rolling her eyes.

"Acting like a total -" Wilbur cursed, crossing his arms.

Violet gasped, her eyes narrowing. "I can't believe you'd even call me that!" She yelled, glaring at him, her eyes on fire.

Penny looked at Wilbur, shocked. "Wilbur... you can't just."

"Penny, I'm not putting up with this anymore! I've been nothing but nice to her, but what do I get? Nothing but the cold shoulder. At least, if I'm lucky, that is!" He glared back at Violet. By now, a group of students had gathered to watch, and many others were listening in from their spots on the gym floor.

"Yeah well maybe I should give you much more than that if you're going to treat me like this!" Violet gritted her teeth.

"Go ahead! At least then you'll finally be paying attention to me, instead of treating me like yesterday's garbage!"

"You're worse than yesterday's garbage Wilbur. Much, much worse! At least I know yesterday's garbage wouldn't call me such rude things!" She shouted. "You know what, that's it. We're through, Wilbur Robinson." She stated calmly, her voice eerily unattached. With that, she turned on her heel, and began to walk away. She paused, and walked back, only to give Wilbur a stinging slap. Then, she left, all eyes following her out the door.

Wilbur stood in shock. "What have I done...?" He whispered to himself.

Violet marched through the streets with a purpose. Next week at school, there was no way she was seeing her old friends again. She would find a new group, someone who didn't treat her, well, like-

A sound on the wind stopped her dead in her tracks. She could feel someone watching her, but when she turned around, she saw no one there. She frowned, and took another step forward. There! It sounded like... like footsteps! She gasped, and started running, trying to get away from the steps as fast as possible, but they just kept following her. She turned down a side street, hoping to loose them. Dead end. She had no choice. She squeezed her eyes shut, and pressed her charm, quickly turning invisible. A man laughed. Her eyes widened. There was someone following her!

"Good try, sweetheart, but we know your tricks. You can't hide from us." A man's voice said. Suddenly, black bugs started to swarm her. Wait- not bugs, more like- like robots! She felt her body encompassed by them, and she slowly lost her state of invisibility. A man with green eyes and a scar stepped out of the darkness, followed quickly by another man, who was wearing a mask. "You failed us, Violet." Violet's eyes widened. They knew her name? How..? "You were supposed to kill your pathetic little friends. I suppose our serum isn't quite so perfected after all. Or, perhaps, you're just much too attached to those little friends of yours."

Her friends! Oh no, what has she done... She tried to scream out, but the bots had bound her mouth, along with her hands and feet. Slowly, they were overtaking her vision as well.

"No matter, we'll just take them out ourselves. Perhaps the Syndrome will finally feel the revenge he's been craving. Of course, we'll save you for him. He'll be delighted to take out an Incredible. After all, that's what this whole thing was about. Your families. All of your families. The little superfreaks thing is just a side attraction. Well- look at, Yokai. I think our guest has fallen asleep on us. Load her into the van."

This was last thing Violet remembered.

Wilbur stood, staring after Violet. Penny and Hiro stood close by. By now, the crowd had dispersed, talking amongst themselves. "Shouldn't... Shouldn't he go after her?" Hiro asked, looking at Penny, who shook her head.

"No... she's too mad for that. He should just.. Leave her alone. And try to enjoy the dance." Penny sighed, looking down. So much for the perfect night. Hiro frowned and took her hand.

"Hey... listen, we'll find a way to fix this. I promise. I'm sure they'll be back together in no time."

Penny shook her head. "I don't know, Hiro. This is pretty broken. I just- I don't even know if we'll all stay friends after this..." Penny sighed.

"Well, you'll always have me. Even if we break up. I promise."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, a promise is a promise. We'll stay friends, don't worry." Hiro said. Penny smiled a little. "C'mon, let's go dance." He suggested, trying to get her mind off things.

"But- Wilbur..."

"Probably just wants to be alone right now." He lead her to the dance floor, leaving Wilbur to himself.

Wilbur could hear his friends. He knew they were talking about him. Heck, the whole school was likely talking about him. And they weren't saying very good things either. He closed his eyes, shaking his head. He couldn't believe what he had done, what he had called her-! He deserved this. He deserved every last bit of this...

In an abandoned building far across town, a redheaded man sat at a desk, a smile curling across his face. The incredible girl was gone. 1 superfreak down. 7 more to go. Syndrome, better known as Buddy Pines, laughed. This will be all too easy. And much too much fun.