Adventures of an Employed Planeswalker

(Matt's PoV - Friday, April 14th, 1962. 6:12 p.m. - Above the South Pacific)

"I forgot how much I hate after-operations bureaucracy," Bob grunted, relaxing in his seat and rubbing his temples.

We're flying over the Pacific on a helicopter, after hours upon hours of cataloging, report writing, and evidence gathering. I swear, if I hadn't sped up their process of gathering as many droids as they could in their ships, the process might have taken the whole weekend. Getting all the droids out of here will still take most of tomorrow since they had to ask for more ships, but I don't care enough to stick around anymore.

"You used to do these 'operations' back in the day too?" I ask Bob and Lucius.

Bob nods his head in a defeated manner, while Lucius shakes his in a not-so-sure way.

"He used to do some, back when he was startin' out. Me? Nah, my power is too recognizable for that." Lucius comments, drinking water straight from a coconut.

"They were mostly training missions, but I had to do some before being allowed in the 'Big Leagues'," Bob explains.

I quirk an eyebrow, "How did that work, exactly? If you had powers you just... asked the government to be a hero and they would train you, give you a suit, and throw you out there?"

Bob and Lucius share a look, "A little more complicated, but you got the gist of it." Bob finally says.

"That's so weird... and then when the people started getting upset about you, they hid you away." Both nod. "I still can't believe a guy that was attempting suicide sued you for saving him... and won."

Bob audibly groans, "Don't even start, kid. That day was supposed to be special too, but every time I remember it, that sucker's face comes to mind." Lucius pats him on his shoulder. "If it wasn't for that guy, or bomb voyage, or Incrediboy... maybe superheroes would still be around these days."

"You know it wasn't just you, Bob. Remember Tom?" Lucius says.

Bob's brows crease in concentration, "Tom... You mean Peeping Tom?"

"Yeah, that headcase! He was arrested and sued for perving on women not long after your cases." Lucius comments, his expression a little condescending.

Bob chuckles breathily, "That was just a matter of time and we all knew it."

"Was the guy that bad?" I ask.

They look at me and nod seriously, "The Agency kept him around because his power was rare and very useful for spywork."

"And who did you... spy on?" I ask. Did this world have a World War 2? If so, did supers participate?

"That's classified, even for us," Bob responds. "We were the 'national' kind of superheroes; we operated in the U.S. and followed its guidelines." He scratches his chin. "Now that I'm thinking about it again, they did compartmentalize a lot of information in the Agency."

I wonder if the Cold War is happening or will happen.

"I always dreamed of being as great as the likes of Meta-Man or going international like the Phantasmics! Except on my own, of course." Bob comments, making Lucius shake his head in annoyance, then sadness.

"Hard to believe they're all dead and gone..." He murmurs, staring out at the sea.

"Yeah... I'm sorry about Blazestone." Bob responds, looking at Lucius with sympathy.

Lucius waves it away, "You know that was a thing of the past. It is a pity, though..."

We share a minute of silence, with the heroes mourning their dead colleagues.

"I'm sorry for your loss." I finally say, snapping them out of their grief-induced reverie.

"Thanks, kid. Thanks for taking care of Buddy too." Bob claps me on the shoulder, forcing a smile on his face. "To think I could've been next..."

"According to their database, he was to be next." I point at Lucius, who glances back in surprise. "They stumbled onto you by chance on your escapade."

"You-" He looks at Bob, "I-" Then he looks at me, "...Damn!" And he finally looks down. Lucius can't form words, so great is his surprise.

"Yeah." I nod my head in agreement. Damn, indeed.

"I... don't know if that makes me relieved or worried." Bob finally says, looking at Lucius worriedly.

"I... want to share something with you two..." I say seriously, grabbing their attention. "The spy, Mirage; they had very few files about her identity or background. It only said something about her being recommended by a business partner from Paris." Both grimace at the French city's mention.

"International matter? Damn." Bob says, before turning to Lucius. "Anyone from there, you recall?"

"There was Madame Massacre and Bomb Voyage. The first was thrown into the ocean by Splashdown back in the day and the last has been missing since that day." Lucius recollects.

Bob turns back to me, "Any other mentions of this business partner?"

"None I've seen. My guess is she regularly deleted any files related to him. You think the Association can get her to talk?" I ask back and he nods.

"They know what they're doing, they'll manage." Bob doesn't even seem concerned about it.

"She has powers too, I just don't know what..." I murmur under my breath, tossing my bait.

Bob and Lucius quirk their brows, and share a subtle look and Bob, the closest to me, asks. "She had powers but you don't know what? How would you know she has powers then?"

"Oh, I can sense powers," I say as if it's nothing special.

"Sense powers? How so?" Bob asks, intrigued.

"It's different for everyone. It's like a ping or a buzzing that supers emit. I think it also has to do with how strong their powers are." I don't think, I'm sure. "The stronger the power used, the stronger the buzz. Mirage had a weak, but constant buzz to her."

"Huh... and how do I 'buzz'?" Bob asks.

"Strong and steady." Bob preens. "Lucius, on the other hand, has a weak and constant buzz to him too, but it spikes whenever he uses his ice powers," I explain to them.

"That's hella useful," Lucius comments, putting his hand to his chin. "I'm still curious about that ice, though..." He shoots me a suspicious stare.

I extend my hand and create a little ice sculpture of a man roughly looking like Frozone.

He stares at it with a modicum of jealousy. "How can you use it with brute force and with finesse like this?"

At my quirked eyebrow, he elaborates. "Mostly, people with strong powers can't control them finely like you. I can only freeze things in a crude way, this oaf-" He gestures to Bob, "Sometimes can't control his own strength and crushes things on accident... I only know one fool who had good control over his powers, but they were so complex, the most he could do was a bicycle."

"HA! Good old Downburst. He'd be a good lad if it weren't for his obsession with Blazestone." Bob complements.

"As I was saying," Lucius sends a venomous look at Bob, "Few people can do both and the ones that do, become outliers."

"Like Meta Man and Universal Man..." Bob murmurs pensively.

"And even that prick Universal Man died to the droids. Earlier versions of it, too!" Lucius puts it into perspective and soon both are staring at me with a new look.

Bob eventually says, "You were holding back a lot in our spar, weren't you?" I nod sincerely and he sighs. "Yeah, I'm getting old and maybe... maybe a little out of shape." Lucius gives him his best 'really?' stare and I laugh out loud.

"Fifteen years would do that to you. I'm up for some super exercise if you want, as I said."

Bob shakes his head. "I have some... personal issues to attend to before I can think about exercise."

Right. Because he didn't do Syndrome's job, he doesn't have a stable form of income or any excuse to keep himself active. He needs to get a job.

"Hm... How would you two like to own an insurance company?" Their confusion was palpable and delicious to look at.

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(Matt's PoV - Monday, April 23rd, 1962. 4:00 p.m. - Metroville, Parr Family House)

With the NSA's contacts and a card with virtually unlimited funds, I snuffed Gilbert Huph's incoming lawsuit and bought his company, InsuriCare. I put it under Bob's name, with Lucius being a shareholder partner as he wanted to keep his own job.

Bob, Lucius, and even Rick were surprised when I followed my promise. Bet they didn't think someone as young as I am would have that kind of money to spend. I'm sure Rick is trying every trick in the book to track me and the mysterious account I have back to its origins. To be fair, I hope he finds something; this thing is so OP, there has to be some flaw to it, other than its spending ceiling.

Gilbert still wants to be a nuisance, but that's NSA's problem now.

Today was the day all the papers were signed and the company now belongs to Robert Parr. I came to his house to personally hand him the papers, so he could show his wife he's the responsible husband he promised he would be.

I knock on the door of their house and wait. Power Sense pings me someone running from place to place inside the house, another ping coming from an apparently empty window and a constant buzz coming from further inside.

"Coming!" A woman calls out from the house.

Helen Parr, or Elastigirl, opens the door and takes a look at me. I'm dressed in a casual, but 'serious' manner; beige straight dress pants, a faded red polo shirt, and a black cardigan on top. I think I look like I'm here to sell encyclopedias with a briefcase to complete the set, but I digress.

She rocks that mom bod even with the simplest clothes known to man: a plain red shirt and ankle-length beige pants.

"Hi, can I help you?" She asks.

I smile and lift the briefcase, "I'm here to talk with Mr. Parr, have him sign some papers, revise the documents. Work stuff."

She slowly nods, "He told me he was expecting you. He also told me about what happened..." She looks somewhat displeased but soon shakes it away, opening the door for me.

"Excuse me." I enter the house and the pings from before shift. The one running around stops at the living room sofa and the one on the window stops, revealing a black-haired teenager sitting on an armchair.

Helen leads me to their dining room table and yells Bob's name. He appears from his man cave and greets me at the table.

"So, you really did it?" He asks as soon as he sits down. Helen seems content to lean on the kitchen aisle listening to the conversation from there.

I place the briefcase on top of the table and get the documents inside spread in front of him.

"These only lack your signature in a few places and it'll be officially on your name," I say. He takes a pair of reading glasses from his chest pocket and spends a few minutes reading the papers.

As he reads, I explain a few other reasons why it took so long.

"I took the liberty of buying and merging all the insurance companies in Metroville into one." His eyes widen, but I keep going. "I thought about naming the new one Incredibly Sure," Helen snorts from her place, earning a smile and wink from me, "but I decided to keep InsuriCare for now and let the naming decision in your hands."

"So, they're all..." He takes a few more documents and reads them. They detail the latest value reports of the insurance companies and how much it would be to have them sold. I had to go through a few meetings and stuff to get it all worked through, but as always, the gears of bureaucracy can be greased with the right amount of money.

Bob looks at me strangely, "I told you already, but... you don't need to do this. I can find work someplace else."

"I'm sure you can. But who better than a hero to insure people's belongings?" I smirk. "Paying for the damages done to people might also make you think of solutions that don't destroy the whole city, blockhead."

"I'll have you know I only do- did the absolutely necessary to catch villains! They are the ones who destroy everything!" He exclaims in mock outrage, though I notice a tinge of guilt.

"But seriously Bob, this doesn't cost me anything substantial and it'll make a world of difference to you and your family." I pat him on the shoulder. "Now, finish reading and get to signing!"

He sighs, but pushes his glasses back up and gets to reading.

Now with a moment of quiet, I take a look around the house. It's a simple and spacious house. Decent dining and living room, sizeable front and backyard, four bedrooms, one bathroom in the couple's suite and a general use bathroom, a laundry room, and Bob's man cave.

Helen, ever the watchful host, offers me a cup of coffee which I gratefully accept. I'm not a coffee person, at all, but I can accept and appreciate the courtesy.

"So, Bob told me you dealt with the island problem... and that you possibly saved his life," Helen comments, glaring at Bob. He's oblivious to it, concentrated on reading the fine print.

"You could say that, yes. I think he's..." I glance at him, mincing my words. "Feeling caged, perhaps. He is a big, strong guy that had to fit in a mold too small for him."

Helen breathes in to say something, but I put up a hand to stop her. She looks mildly displeased but waits for me to continue.

"He lost himself in his nostalgia and they struck in a moment of weakness. I'm not defending him, however. What he has here," I gesture to her, the house, and the two little kids watching from the kitchen and living room. "Is enviable and he needs to cherish it. If you'd allow the comment, Mrs. Parr, anyone would kill and die for a life like his, a family like his, a partner like you."

Helen remains pensive for a while, following my gestures and finally looking at Bob, who's starting to sign the papers now.

"You two need to have a talk. I'm only giving you the tools, you have to use them to fix the broken trust in your marriage." I touch her shoulder in a show of comfort, my aura makes it slightly less weird than it would otherwise be. "Heavy talk aside, can I talk to Elastigirl for a moment?"

The question takes her by surprise, but she smiles and nods.

"Did Bob mention the spy and Syndrome's business partner?" I ask. This is what's bothering me the most: I don't remember any mentions of this shit in the movies and at least one more Anomaly is still out there.

She frowns, thinking. "He did mention it... I didn't act internationally much, but I did have some years of training in Europe... I remember a few villains from back in the day, but most died during superhero confrontations." She taps her own chin with a finger, thinking further.

As she thinks, I slowly start changing myself to include her power in my powerset. She shivers minutely, shaking her head as if chasing away a bad memory, and then turns to me. "Yeah, the ones I know are dead."

"I see... if you remember anything that could help, don't hesitate to tell either Bob or me... preferably me, okay?" I grin and chuckle.

"Yeah, I'll keep him on a tighter leash after all." She turns to Bob with a smile that screams of affection and exasperation.

"That said..." I look to the kids' 'hiding places'. "Who are those two listening to our talk?"

Helen groans and rolls her eyes, "Come out, kids!"

Dash and Violet Parr come out of their respective places and stand before her, glancing at me, Helen, and Bob's stack of signed papers.

"Are we in trouble? Is Dad in trouble? Are we going to have to move again!?" Dash starts questioning his mom, fast.

"W-who is this?" Violet quietly says, looking at me with a slight blush, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"No! We are not in trouble, Dad's not in trouble and we are not moving again." Helen answers Dash and addresses Violet. "This is Matt, he did a huge favor to our family and is here now to finalize it."

She then turns to me, "Matt, these are my daughter Violet and my oldest son Dash. We also have our little boy Jack-Jack but he's..." She looks at Violet and Dash, then at Bob. "He should be with Violet... where is Jack-Jack, Violet?" Helen asks with rising concern in her voice.

She doesn't even wait for the response and starts running to a room. "I left him with Dash!" Violet loudly says, turning to Dash who shrugs.

"I only left him to see what was happening here!" He defends himself quickly because of course he's not at fault.

As Helen rushes off, Bob notices the commotion and throws me a questioning look. "Helen's going to check on Jack-Jack. I met your kids; pretty lively, aren't they?" I take the opportunity to mess up Dash's hair and slightly squeeze Violet's shoulder. I let them go and sit at the table again.

"Oh, you can say that again! I didn't know they had this much energy during the day!" Bob comments, looking at his kids with parental pride and exhaustion.

"That's just how it goes at this age. Focusing that energy into something productive is important for their development." At least The Sims 4 taught me that much. I turn to both kids and ask them. "You two have anything you like to do?"

"I want to get on the school's track team!" Dash excitedly says, but then deflates. "But my parents won't let me..."

Bob groans, "If it was up to me, you'd be on the team already but..." He looks in the bedroom's direction, where baby noises are coming from. "You know what your mom thinks about it."

"Despite his speed, I don't think it'd be bad for him to get on the team." Bob's eyes pop out when I mention his kid's power 'without having seen them'. I turn to Dash, "Can you control your powers well?"

He nods his head, "Yeah!"

"Can you really control them well?" I ask again, smiling.

"Yeah, I can!" He nods his head at a faster speed.

I turn back to Bob, "See? He's not ready, but with some training, he might be." Dash yells 'Hey!' but I ignore him. "Besides, they need to learn to control their powers before an accident occurs."

Bob considers it for a moment, "You're right. I thought about it, but Helen was always so against it... maybe I can convince her. Maybe you can convince her!" He points at me in realization.

"Me? Why would she listen to me?" I ask in genuine confusion.

He gets up from the table and grabs my shoulders, "You're young, but you're as strong as me! You do a bunch of incredible stuff" Ha! Incredible pun, "And I don't even see you sweat! You must have trained a lot to get this level of control over your powers!"

He shakes me slightly, "If you can talk to her and convince her that teaching them how to control their powers is the better choice, I'm sure she'll listen!"

"I'll listen to what?" Helen comes back to the living room holding little Jack-Jack in her arms. As soon as Jack-Jack sees me, he giggles and reaches for me. Bet my aura is working wonders on the little guy. I wave at him with a smile that makes him giggle again. "Looks like someone liked you, Matt."

I wave it off, "I'm sure he's just curious. Hi, little guy!" He jumps and laughs in his mother's embrace.

"Cute baby aside," I comment, much to Bob and Helen's delight, "We were talking about training the kids' powers."

"I'm not a kid!" Violet quickly corrects me, though she averts her eyes once I glance at her. Oh no, is she...?

Helen frowns slightly, "Despite what you did, supers are still very much illegal, Matt. We can't do that."

"Although that may be true, think about it, Helen. These powers, they're who we are! Part of us! Even to keep them hidden, we need to know what we're capable of." I get a sly look on my face, "Besides, it's not like you don't do it already, right?" Despite her and Bob's alarmed look, I shrug. "You're not doing anyone any harm, so why should you be punished?"

"Yeah! You always say we shouldn't be ashamed of our powers, but you don't even let us use them outside!" Dash jumps on the opportunity to plead with his mom, causing her to glare at him.

"While I understand your point, I think it's too risky." Her expression tells me something more, something she is hiding.

"If your worry was the risk of anyone finding out, I can help. I was already planning something with Bob there, your family can use the same place to do these tests. I have this deal on a big warehouse that's just too nice to pass up."

Helen and Bob look at me strangely, "Big warehouse? High ceiling, detached from big city center... maybe separate power supply?" Helen asks.

I raise an eyebrow before Spoiler connects the dots, "Oh... oh! Well, if it was used as a criminal hideout someday, it wouldn't matter. I'll clean up the place as soon as I finalize the purchase." I wave my hand to dismiss the subject. "Anyway... have you been in contact with the NSA recently?"

"Not any more than usual. Why?" Bob asks, Helen nodding as well.

I glance at the kids, "Little squeaks, this talk now officially cannot include you." They look defeated, mainly Dash, but a look from Helen sends them away into their rooms. "Don't worry! I'll still plead your case!"

As soon as they close their room doors, I turn to Helen and Bob. "The NSA is making bolder moves now: asking heroes for help moving prisoners, moving old pieces around. They're dusting themselves off, looking into everyone who supported Syndrome. From what I gathered, until now they only found arms dealers and governments that bought Syndrome's weaponry. The thing is: heroes are active again, just out of sight."

A little detail: while the government did the whole hero relocation act and the heroes disappeared from the public, they kept working for the NSA in the shadows. Particularly when other countries weren't in that boat yet. I mean, having a guy who can turn invisible not spying on a potential enemy is a wasted opportunity.

Helen and Bob mull the information over, Bob in particular with a bitter expression on his face. "And why did they not call us? Call me?" He asks.

I nod, "I can't say for sure, but you were two of the most famous heroes here in the U.S. People would recognize you easily."

Helen nods, understanding, while Bob scoffs and shakes his head in obvious disappointment.

"This means things are going to change," I speak seriously. "Most supers didn't want to go under and if the NSA plays their cards right and exposes this Syndrome problem internationally... superheroes might make a comeback soon."

That puts a smile on Bob's face, to nobody's surprise. I guess I took away the character development he had during the first movie... though that didn't really show any way in the second movie, so I won't feel too bad.

"However that makes you feel, it means the old game of cat and mouse might be starting again. That's why you'd better be caught prepared for it, rather than be unaware. That applies to every super." I stress that part looking at Helen, then glancing at the room the kids were in.

"If what you said is true..." She bites her lip, pondering it. Is it bad that I felt a twinge when she bit her lip...? It's hard thinking with the blood trying to rush someplace else. "I'll think about it." She nods to me resolutely.

I take a deep breath to re-center myself, take the signed papers, and organize them in the briefcase again. "Good. I'll take these with me and send you a copy later this week." Bob nods and we both stand up to shake each other's hands. "Just remember: take good care of the people; they pay you for it!" I smirk and pat his shoulder, making him wince in pain. Yeah, feel how that goes on that side, buddy.

I turn to Helen, smile and nod, and start moving in the door's direction. The baby does not emanate any power frequency... I think my meddling messed up with something and Jack-Jack didn't awaken(?) to his powers yet. The only thing I can think about would be the incident by the end of the movie. Even without that grab bag of powers, today's haul was good. I'm looking forward to super speed the most.

Speed is the biggest diff-maker in battles, after all.

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(Winston Deavor's PoV - Tuesday)

Another meeting, another disappointment. Can't these people see that we'd be much better off with our heroes back!? They keep buying weapons, bombs and training normal people to deal with the villains that remain yet it always leads to the same result: the villains either get away or are captured with heavy losses. A pyrrhic victory is no victory at all!

I shake my head, sitting in my office and looking out the window, contemplating the big city of Metroville.

'When are they going to swallow their damn ego and rescind that stupid law?'

My thoughts are interrupted when someone gets into my office. "Daydreaming again, little brother?" The unmistakable slightly hoarse voice of my sister comes from my office's entrance.

I sigh, shake my head to chase away my headache, and turn to her. "I wish, Eve. No, I'm just mulling how stupid these councilors and chancellors must be to keep insisting on the same mistake over and over again."

Evelyn smiles her 'I'm-too-lazy-to-smile' smile and rolls her eyes at me. "This charade has been going on for the last two years, Win. Are you sure it's not time to... give up?" Her eyes glint in a way I can't quite place, but I shake my head in denial.

"No, Eve. If anything, I need to press them further! They might be resisting with all they've got, but making supers legal again is not only good for national and international security, it will also remind people of better times..." I spread my arms wide as the vision of it all comes to my mind. "Better: It will create better times, now! Superheroes inspire people to be better, to reach for what they thought impossible! If I want to save the ones who save us, I need to be as strong as they once were."

She rolls my eyes at my speech, as she usually does, and puts the stack of papers and documents on my table. "Your ambition aside, Win, these are the new designs I finished this weekend and there's this envelope for you." She squints her eyes, looking over the envelope. The unassuming manila envelope does the opposite of not drawing suspicion when it has literally nothing written on it.

"Thank you for bringing it to me, Eve. I need to revise some files and your designs and maybe take a pill or two for my headache." I say with a tired smile. She huffs a bang out of the way of one of her eyes to send me a mockingly unamused glare and leaves the office.

Stacking the papers on my table, I take the manilla envelope and open it. Inside, as I thought, is an information packet from one of my newest allies. 'They are making moves over in Europe...'

As I thought, the NSA has been active all this time and the reason they finally responded to my contacts means they plan on doing something. "But if it's something international, then it might be something big indeed..."

Mulling over the information gathered here, I grab the device left for me to contact them. I'll look further into it and see how I can help them.

"The Super's might make a comeback after all... they must!" Pushing the button on the communication device, I firm my belief to make my dream a reality once more.

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(Matt's PoV - Friday, April 27th, 1962. 3:00 p.m. - Metroville, Matt's New Warehouse)

I clap my hands, making a loud sound echo throughout the place. "All right, people! We are here to train and to exercise! Who's excited?!"

If my voice is as obnoxious as I heard it and my exercising spandex is as ridiculous as I think, they should all be very not excited.

"ME!!" Dashing my expectations comes Dash, yelling at the top of his lungs. I guess he would be, considering he never got to use his powers much.

Violet is avoiding my eyes with a light red dusting on her cheeks and Bob rolls his shoulders, trying his best not to laugh at my attire.

Can't blame him, this does look ridiculous.

{But this way they can see how strong you are! They can see how your muscles twist and turn~! I bet the girl is enjoying it...~}

Let's not get into that, shall we? She's like, 14 or something.

{Well, I enjoy it~}

Hey! Stop making it tighter around my dick-

"So, what do we do?! Do I just run around the place?" Dash excitedly asks!

"Yes! And no. You will run, yes, but not around the place." I say, gesturing towards him with my hand. I make a hamster wheel around him and lift him in the air. "Try running now."

He gasps when he realizes he's floating, but excitedly nods and starts running. This is as much exercise for him as it is for me since I have to keep the wheel intact despite the various super-fast taps I feel in it. Also, I might try gauging his speed, but I don't know how accurate I might be.

"HAHAHAHAHA! DAD, LOOK!" Dash laughs his ass off as he can, for the first time in a while, accelerate to his heart's content. Honestly, it's pretty impressive for a kid his age to be so powerful, but I guess his genes were just too good.

Surely I don't mind, seeing I got his powers for free.

Though... huh, he's slower than me?

Dash's powers give him superspeed and super-fast reaction times, along with increased endurance and strength to handle the strain of using said powers. My reaction time was already inhumanly low, now it is even more so. After that bonding time with Cyndy it was 30 ms according to Caby at the time, but running some tests now, it's roughly 10 ms.

My guess is that it got lower when I fused with Meshra Kai (since I'm now kinda half-alien computer too) and now I have a power for it.

It does seem to be giving diminishing returns, though. Thought for later.

Back to his powers: He has this very fast reaction time, but it doesn't quite go to the point of being a 'frozen in time' experience. He's a speedster, sure, but one of the honorary ones.

As for why he's slower than me, my only guess is his age. When I got Mr. Incredible's power, I got roughly as strong as him (a bit more, but that difference is not so noticeable for now, especially in our spar since he's much bigger than me) and with Frozone, I have the same output as him, I think. The main difference we have is stamina.

I can keep myself in the fight... indefinitely, now that I think about it.

I have very high stamina by getting the genes of these superpowered people, toughness that is out of whack for my own weight level, can use my powers infinitely, and, with biological control, I can make any exhaustion or fatigue go away, as well as injuries. That mutation that makes my powers much more efficient sure is clutch...

So, our strength is the same for now, but my control is leagues better and my stamina is infinite. Oh, and the strength thing? As long as I keep training, that thing will go up.

I can't keep the smile from my face, which is misinterpreted by Bob and Violet as pride for Dash.

...That works too, I guess. The boy's doing good. 'Though keeping his clothes from burning is going to be another headache...'

"Great job, buddy!" I say out loud, encouraging him. He is doing a good job indeed, despite the laughing he's giving it his all. "Let's see how long you can keep your top speed, which is... damn! 200 mph! (~320 km/h)"

"Yeah!" Bob says, clenching his fist in pride.

Even Violet raises her eyebrows in surprise at her brother's speed.

I make the wheel a passive process and turn to them. "Now that the little guy is already deep in training, we'll start yours." Violet, again, looks at me and avoids my eyes, but Bob nods and stretches a bit more.

"Don't worry, Bob. If you feel anything odd, just call me and I'll be right there to right your back, ok?" He gives me a somewhat nasty look but nods anyway. "Your training will be simple; see those weights?" He looks over to them and they are... normal weights. He looks back at me, deadpan.

"You'll need better than that for me, champ." He snarks.

"Trust me and get to pulling that iron!" Although not very enthusiastic, he goes over there and picks it up over his head easily. "Now, be careful of the weight!" And I coat the weight he's grabbing with my telekinesis and start pushing down, hard.

It doesn't get him by surprise because of the warning, but he does take a while to get used to the weight. "Ha! This ain't so bad, after all!" And then he starts pumping the iron.

"I left a few magazines on proper techniques over there! Take a look at those, we want to work all the muscles!" Since I'm only pushing the weight on the same vector as gravity, I don't need to pay attention to this process at all, so another one goes passive. Later on in his training, I do want to make the same 'gravity training' thing I do to myself, but I'll give the guy some time to get back to the swing of things first.

"Now... you. Violet." I look at her slowly, making her cheeks light up even more. I can't help but sigh internally. "You said you can turn invisible and create purple - sorry - violet forcefields. Is that right?"

She nods shyly, looking at me briefly, then away again.

"Let's start by invisibility. You said it's very easy for you, right?" She nods again. "Let's try using it in a stressful situation, then. Turn invisible and try to remain invisible until I say otherwise."

She turns invisible and I start giving her pushes here and there with telekinesis. At first, they are weak pushes, like a friend pushing you when you say something embarrassing about them. But soon it turns into full-blown pushes that shove her around and I stop increasing the intensity at around weaker than a teen's punch.

I make the area of impact big, so there's no bruising, but it still pushes her around a lot. After a few pushes she couldn't keep herself standing up and fell to the ground, losing concentration and turning visible again.

Of course, I could see her the entire time with ultraviolet sight and also because she is wearing clothes that don't turn invisible, but those are details.

"You alright?" I extend my hand to her, which she grabs with a thankful nod. "Keep your stance centered and your concentration sharp! Even if you fall or when you're injured, you should keep your invisibility at all costs, ok?"

"Ok..." Despite her tone, she does seem to get it and is eager to try.

I keep training them all like this until 6 o'clock, with breaks in between. Unsurprisingly, Bob was the one who needed breaks the least, pumping iron, running in my invisible hamster wheel, and eventually going for the gravity training all in one afternoon.

Goes to show his monstrous stamina and determination to get back to his prime, or as close to it as possible.

While helping them all train, I did some training myself. Or should I say, have been training, since I was under the same gravity training Bob was going through except the whole day. Unfortunately for me, getting that super strength meant that this training is not that effective on me anymore; it does make my musculature more defined, but I can't apply pressure enough on myself to effectively increase my strength.

It's like wondering if you're strong or weak when you hit yourself in the arm and feel pain.

... I think? I think that's an apt metaphor, anyway.

I'll have to do the 'gravity' thing with already heavy things to see an increase.

Training montage start aside, they left at 6 o'clock with promises to return tomorrow. From Dash's slow blinks, I think this will be one of his best nights' sleep in a while.

Now... what the hell do I do?

{You wanted to look into that Deavor guy.}

Yeah, I know, it's just... what do I say? 'Hey, dude! So... your sister is kinda crazy and wants to mind control people and I came here to stop her...'

{... yes?}

It can't be that simple, right?

{...}

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

It wasn't that simple.

{You did exactly what I said, besides showing proof to him and now she is being dealt with by the government guys.}

... ok, maybe it was simple. It's not my fault her technology didn't work on me.

"Apex! Thank you for showing me this. I never thought my sister would do something like this, after all I did... what our father did." Winston Deavor walked up to me with admiring eyes, before they turned cloudy.

"You are a fool, Winston!" Evelyn yells from where the NSA agents are handcuffing her. "You and everyone who believes in supers are fools! Sheep! You can't wait to have someone else to push the blame onto!" Even without the anomaly making her kind of megalomaniac, she's still very angry.

"You just love to sit around and do nothing for yourselves! Only waiting to be saved by some spandex-wearing freak." Yikes, careful with the lingo there lady.

Some agents (notably the ones with powers) frown, but other than some rough handling, they don't do anything other than push her into the transport. Winston only shakes his head, his disappointment visible to all.

"Thank you, kid. It seems I'll still have to postpone arresting you. Where are these guys popping up from?" Rick, the NSA coordinator, asks.

I shrug, "Maybe all these years with no supers gave them the time they needed to develop these crazy technologies." I look at him suspiciously. "I do believe you will handle it with the care it needs, right agent?"

Rick nods, before sighing deeply. "Yeah, kid, we will. It's a pain in the ass, but it comes with the job. Thanks again." He says, pats my shoulder, and climbs onto the NSA transport.

After the NSA rolled out, it was just me and Winston at the reception of his building.

"Apex! Would you like to come up? Or maybe we could have a dinner nearby?" Winston starts with a genuine smile on his face.

I control my expression to be concentrated, then apologetic. "Sorry, Mr. Deavor, but duty calls. Maybe another day." I start levitating and though he seems sad, he resigns himself and smiles instead.

I know the guy is just a huge superhero fan and all, but that sentence was so weird it gave me chills.

{Maybe he really wanted to get you out to dinner~!}

No.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Matt's PoV - Friday, June 15th, 1962. 8:50 a.m. - Metroville, Parr Family House)

It's been almost two months since we started our training.

Helen was skeptical about it at first, but when Dash, Violet, and Bob said they liked it (Despite complaining about being tired after) and that it was safe, she relented. I bet it helped that Dash always got home too tired to bother her.

She was so curious she asked me what we did and after explaining it, she asked if I had any tips for her too. Even if she couldn't go every time, since then every Friday she asks a Kari to take care of Jack-Jack and trains with us.

I eventually said what I could do; that I could not only sense powers but also 'copy' them. They were surprised for a while and I even asked if they wanted me to 'erase' their powers from my repertoire. Of course, I would just not use them in front of them, but they wouldn't know.

Surprisingly though, they let me keep their powers. Dash was excited to have someone as fast as him around, Violet didn't seem to care much, Bob was a little jealous but eventually got over it and Helen just wanted to know if it was safe and if it didn't leave them any lasting damage or if it weakened their own powers.

Dare I say, Helen was by far the one with the most control over her powers, outclassing Bob by a large margin. She could change the shape of her body at will and keep it even while sustaining considerable damage, she is resistant to most types of damage and has increased endurance and strength too.

Seems like a pattern here that every super has some sort of enhanced endurance and strength and the way they manifest themselves too... they really seem like secondary 'mutations', meant to be there to handle the 'weight' of the core powers. I do love how the biology of these different Worlds keep to one rule: make sure it works somehow!

Training with them all became even better once the kids got a basic handle on their powers. Using Violet's powers along with telekinesis I could make visible constructs, of different colors too since I have the mutation Subtlety. At first, it didn't quite work, but with enough trial and error, I managed to do it. That meant I could actually create scenarios for them to train in.

We did regular fights the most, varying the terrain and types of enemies, but we also did infiltration missions, recon missionsand rescue missions.

The Parr Family showed a level of cooperation few would ever achieve, and that only increased with time. From what I've heard from Bob and Helen, the training was doing good for the whole family. Not just power-wise.

They understood each other better, Dash and Violet are getting along better (despite the continued sibling rivalry), Bob's been happier overall - if busier during weeks - and the family dynamics are smoothing out.

The day they came to me and said that and to thank me for doing it, I was surprised and... very happy. I only offered this to have a convenient way to get close to them, study their powers, and maybe make sure Bob didn't get himself in trouble, but knowing the actual impact my actions had on their life was strangely rewarding.

Sappy shit aside-

{Ownn, you're embarrassed~!}

Sappy shit aside, these two months were very productive to them and to me too, somewhat.

Dash and I would race around deserted places and I still remember seeing his face when first ran on top of water. I figured a way to use his speed for different purposes, but so far I can only trigger it for physical actions. I can exercise super fast, but I can't stay put in the same spot and speedread.

Violet can now consistently use her barriers and can shape them in either bubbles or walls, along with controlling their movement after they're already active. Her barriers are very strong too. I was quite proud of her when she used the hamster ball trick in one of the simulations by emulating what I did to Dash on her own. Her invisibility is now almost second nature to her too; according to her, she can even sleep the whole night with it active, though it does mean she's tired when she wakes up.

Bob's like a new man; his posture is straighter, his prominent belly is no more, and his arm, leg, chest, and abdominal muscles are more defined. For his training, we went to a nearby trainyard to pull some train cars and stuff. We also sparred frequently, but now that I knew how to fight leveraging all this strength - and also, I know exactly how Bob fights and he's not very creative in hand-to-hand combat - I never lose. Doesn't mean it's not educational, though. After a few fights I stopped trying to understand how he fought and how to counter it and thought more about what I was doing and how I could do it better.

I had to filter some self-destructive parts out of Bob's fighting style that, while not immediately harmful to me or him due to Super Durability, I decided to trim, just in case I fight something that can hurt me in the future. That does mean the fighting style had some gaps; it was created with recklessness as its core and I took that away from it.

Maybe I shouldn't be messing with what I don't understand... Nah! Then it wouldn't be me.

Helen was a delight to train with; she actually also gave me a few tips! Some very useful visualization tips for shape-changing the body. She offered some tips about concentration and creativity, but I had that in spades already. The most I could help her with was finesse and proprioceptive sensitivity without visual or hearing aid. I had that in spades with Paranoia, after all. I became closer to her too, considering her and Bob my friends.

Which made my budding crush on her all the worse. Well, what can you do...

As for me, I made some progress, as always. Haven't tried any junkyard stunt yet but the steady progress is good too. I wish I got in contact with some other supers too, but the most I could do is ask Bob about the doings of NSA - which, he didn't know much - and maybe talk to Deavor.

... Then again, maybe I shouldn't talk to that guy.

{He's just a fan! Are you afraid of him, Matt?}

No, Synthia, it's just... weird.

Back to reminiscing; My ceiling is rising, slow and steady. At this point I have to stop my muscles from growing constantly, since if left unchecked JugerNog makes them buff out like crazy. Telekinesis and Forcefield manipulation were a match made in heaven, complementing and pushing each other to new heights. That little miniature town I used to make? I can make a whole-ass little complex inside the warehouse now. And that too, with the right colors and all. All that lacks is the texture and the heat to make a lifelike replication.

It does make my tummy hurt, though.

{... no comment.}

You better.

Now I am in the Parr House once again. They called me because of an emergency. I knock on their door.

"COMING! DASH TAKE A TOWEL AND PUT IT OUT!" I hear Helen's voice coming from inside. Now that I'm paying closer attention, it does seem like there's a constantly shifting buzz inside the house.

As Helen opens the door, disheveled hair and singe marks on her clothes, I connect the dots.

Jack-Jack just got his powers.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Helen Parr PoV - Friday)

It was just a normal Friday, like any other. I was making breakfast for Bob and the kids, thinking about what to make for dinner since I have to get that ready extra early on Fridays.

Dash was running around, anxious for the training in the afternoon and getting all his stuff ready for a school presentation he had today.

Violet was quiet - as always - but she's also excited for the training later, I can tell.

Bob came out of our room, messing with his suit tie again. I stretch my left arm up to him and each of my fingers stretch as well, messing with his tie until it's almost perfect. I like giving the final touches personally as I see him off.

"Thanks, honey! What's breakfast today?" Bob asks, getting ready on the table and wishing good morning to the kids.

"I made pancakes!" I say loudly and everyone cheers, even Jack-Jack. I smile, seeing how this simple thing can make my family so happy these days.

After I put the pancakes on their plates, I sit down with them and we all have a wonderful family breakfast together. Bob even offers to give Jack-Jack his baby food, giving me a break. He's a lot more thoughtful these days...

As we finish our breakfast I smell something burning. I crease my brow because I don't remember leaving anything on the cooker.

"Dash, can you check if the oven is on?" I ask, he nods quickly and dashes there and back, shaking his head no.

"Bob, do you smell that too?" I ask Bob and see him trying to get the last bit of baby food from the little jar.

Looking a little bit to his left I see Jack-Jack... ON FIRE?!

"BOB!" I yell, getting up from my seat and startling everyone on the table. Even Jack-Jack seems surprised and, apparently only now notices his arms on fire. He giggles and starts waving them around.

Bob looks up at me, follows my gaze and his jaw drops to the floor. "Jack!?"

The kids notice it too and after gasping in shock, Dash yells out "COOL!" and Violet, like me, notices the burnt smell.

"GET HIM OUT OF HIS CHAIR! IT'S BURNING!" I yell again, hoping to wake Bob up from his stupor. He shakes his head and nods, looking around for something before just taking his suit off and grabbing Jack-Jack with it, smothering the flames.

I sigh in relief when the bundle in Bob's hands suddenly gets smaller. He notices it too and when he looks into it, Jack is gone.

"Where did he-"

"Dadada!" We all hear above us and there he is, looking at us while on the ceiling. Apparently, all of us looking at him at the same time was funny, since he started giggling and started going up and into the ceiling.

"Bob, we don't have a second floor..." I mutter, then look at Violet.

She understands my look and gets out of the table, heading towards a nearby window, opening it, and extending her hand up. A few moments later, Jack-Jack comes through the window in a bubble of Violet's power, still floating.

"Jack-Jack has powers!" Bob half-exclaims half-laughs, the incredulity of it all getting to him.

Seemingly affected by his father's enthusiasm, Jack-Jack laughed and clapped his stubby hands, before phasing through Violet's forcefield like it wasn't even there, floating in the air towards us.

Once he got close to the table the pancakes got his attention and I swear I saw him lick his lips before he turned into a red furry monster and started eating the pancakes.

"HEY! THAT'S MINE!" Dash said, rushing over and getting a pancake the Jack-monster had in it's hands. After a quick tug-of-war, Dash got his pancake back at the cost of losing the bit Jack-monster was holding onto.

"Bob, we need to get him! Calm him down!" I say, walking over to Jack-Jack, who's very upset by losing his pancake. "Easy there, Jack. Mama can make you more pancakes..." I make as little sudden movements as possible, trying to look non-threatening. He looks at me, and turns his head to the side in curiosity before he goes back to being 'baby form?'. As I get him and start rocking him on my arms, he yawns and starts to blink slowly.

I sighed, but that made the smoke rising from Bob's suit jacket go to Jack-Jack's nose, making him sneeze and vanish from my hold.

"WHERE IS HE?!" I yell again and we all start looking for him. Before things get completely out of control, I tell Bob to call Matt. He has many powers too, maybe he can help?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Matt's PoV - Friday, June 15th, 1962. 9:00 a.m. - Metroville, Parr Family House)

"After that we spent a while looking for him, only to find him in the basement, going through walls." Helen finishes recounting her tale.

As soon as I got into the house I saw Violet making several bubbles around a floating Jack-Jack and Dash using a towel to smother something that apparently caught on fire.

"Ok, I'll see what I can do," I say, getting closer to the floating baby.

"Hey, Jack!" I call out and he slowly floats around to face me. He smiles as soon as he sees me, just as always, and reaches his hands out towards me.

I nod to Violet, who nods back and releases the forcefields, audibly sighing in relief when she does.

"How you doing, buddy? You making a mess?" I get close to him and he grabs one of my fingers. I feel the grip as tight as a grown man's strongest attempt at crushing something, but I pay no mind. "Yeah, baby, you're pretty strong! Wanna see something cool?"

He giggles and excitedly starts clapping. I raise my hand and make an ice sculpture of him floating. He makes excited baby noises and claps again. I reach for him mid-air and grab him in my arms. He giggles once again and his hair, nose and eyes change to look like mine.

"Ohoh! This baby recognizes beauty when he sees it! Look at this little handsome fella!" I cheer, getting him up and down a bit, to which he just throws his arms upwards.

"Ok, Jack, now let's play a little bit." I sit down on the sofa with him on my lap and start making forcefield constructions of cartoon characters and toys, making them move by themselves. Jack-Jack is ecstatic and changes his form a few times, trying to get out of my grasp to get them, but I can actually take anything this baby can dish out.

Helen slowly creeps up behind me and touches me on my shoulder, looking over Jack-Jack and the little theater I arranged. I turn to her and nod mouthing 'I'll give him to you in a bit'.

Needless to say, Jack-Jack's powers just awakened and it seems like many of the major changes are still settling. Powers in general in this World are very connected to willpower and emotions, with Bob losing control over his strength when excited, despite his extensive training.

Jack-Jack has 10- no, is that... 11. 11, he has 11 concurrent powers and they are all still developing. The most developed one is definitely his Molecular Manipulation or Polymorphism, which he uses to change himself into Fire-Baby, Monster-Baby, Metal-Baby, and so on. Despite his young age, his infant mind can conjure up creative ways of using his powers... perhaps exactly because he has little to no sense of what is and isn't possible. He doesn't constrain himself.

Good news is that, as his powers are developing, I get to learn how these powers evolve and change in real-time. Bad news is I can't get the powers for myself yet, as they aren't stable enough. I could try to copy them onto my own genetic make-up, but it is already a mess of differing powers - that I took time to organize, but it is still a lot of mutations at the same time - and introducing a foreign and unstable element to the mix can't be good.

Maybe it would teach my body and power to adapt to the strain, but why do it now?-

Damn. Am I getting complacent? I know there's no pressure right now, so in theory, I don't need to risk myself as much, but this is a unique opportunity.

I can either be a coward-

{Smart*}

-and wait until the powers are stable enough to be copied or I can take the risk of creating the same unstable variation within myself and possibly end up with a bigger reward.

{Or dead. Or without powers. Or crippled-}

I get it. Still, Syn, I have no pressure now, but what about the future? What if I get blindsided by something I can't oppose?

{Then you'll have the tools to push yourself against that something! I'm still here and I can help you! I just don't get why you push yourself to your limits for seemingly no reason!}

... You'd understand this about myself sooner or later, Syn. After the life I had, settling for the safe and beaten path... it's not for me anymore. I promise this much.

In this life, I fear stagnation more than death.