Eclipse - The Incredibles

8. Eclipse

Vivian felt awful.

By now, they'd been through one more Omnidroid, now at version three. Soon, Hyper Shock would be arriving. Meanwhile, Vivian had spend most of her time in her room, or at the medical ward. For the other workers, not much different than the past weeks. But for Vivian, this was life changing.

She'd lost her baby. The doctors said that it was normal, it can happen to anyone. But in the back of her mind she wondered that if she hadn't gone on comms that day, if she'd still be pregnant. She should've listened to Syndrome, and not have been so stubborn. 

Speaking of Syndrome, the loss of his baby hit him hard too. But unlike Vivian, who locked herself up in her room and pretended that nothing ever helped, this spurred him into rage. Not anger directed at the mother, but directed at supers. He'd convinced himself that it were the supers that stressed Vivian out to the point of miscarriage, that they somehow knew how vulnerable she was and purposefully made their job even more difficult. It was a super that had broken his spirit before, and now it was supers that prayed for his downfall again. 

If he wasn't out for revenge before, he definitely was now. And that judgement would cloud him in the future. 

Looking back, Vivian wished she would have talked to him about it, about them. Maybe, the series of events that followed would've been avoided, if only they weren't so afraid of confrontation with anything real. Emotions, feelings, and deeper hints of trauma were something they both avoided to a constant. Instead, they pushed their feelings into blame; blame on supers. Something Vivian wouldn't realise until it was way too late. 

It took another week for Vivian to regain the confidence of being Eclipse again. Now, without the added pressure of going through a pregnancy, she was even more determined to get the job done right. Slowly, she'd go back to what she was doing before, working as Syndrome's agent. 

Eclipse went back to work as if nothing had happened, and no one had the courage to ask - if they even noticed. Theories would arise between the workers; she was on a secret mission, she and Syndrome had a fight so she left, or - one that stung the most - she'd gotten pregnant and got it terminated. She was thankful for Mirage's, the only other person to completely pretend that nothing was wrong. But even then, Eclipse could tell that she wanted to ask, but had the decency not to. 

Even if Eclipse pretended that nothing happened, Mirage would notice that she was touching her necklace a lot more often, as if cradling it for comfort. She always wondered why...

---

A year later, Mirage was send on an important mission.

They were so, so, so close to the finish line. The latest defeat of Gamma Jack had proven it. Syndrome was convinced that version ten was ready for a better super, but they'd yet to find the one he truly wanted. But Mirage had found a close second, Frozone, in a small town in Chicago. A man called Lucius Best, married but without children, living comfortable in a luxury apartment. 

 "Any progress so far?" Eclipse questioned through her earpiece. 

"Not really." Mirage sounded, and the disappointment was clear in her voice. "The fat guy's still with him, they're just... talking."

Eclipse sighed. With civilians this up-close and personal, they'd never be able to lure the super in. They needed to get to Frozone at a low point in his life, and if necessary they'd bring him there themselves. Wouldn't be the first time they wormed themselves into someone's home, family, or even job. Whatever was needed to get their hands on the desperate supers.

At this point, Eclipse was willing to do anything.

It didn't take too long for Mirage to call again.

"Permission to switch target?" Was the first thing Mirage asked. 

This took Eclipse by surprise. "Depends on your reasoning..."

She could practically hear the smirk in the blonde woman's voice. 

"Trust me." Mirage spoke, before clicking on the button of her sunglasses, sending her footage over. "This is the one he's been looking for."

Bibbers switched the screen over to Mirage's send footage, skipping through the hours of zero activity to the point of action. With wide eyes, Eclipse watched as a big burly man wearing a mask burst through a brick building in the alleyway Mirage was hiding. The man running behind him, much slimmer in figure, was obviously Frozone. But now Eclipse knew what she was on about.

It was him. The man who ruined her life, who murdered her father with carelessness, and broke the spirit of her partner all those years ago. Mr. Incredible, in the flesh. Man, he'd gotten fat, but it was without a doubt that it was him. No one else could burst through a building like that.

"Permission granted." Eclipse spoke. "You did well, Mirage."

Turning off her intercom, Eclipse leaned back in her chair, letting out a deep breath. She couldn't believe it, after all these years, they found him. Holding her hand up to her earpiece, she transferred herself over to Syndrome.

"I need you in my office, as soon as possible." She spoke in a serious tone. "I've got some... interesting news."

It took Syndrome twenty minutes to arrive. 

"This better be good." He mumbled, obviously having been pulled away from something very important. "What's this so called, interesting, news?"

Eclipse turned around in her chair, a smirk on her face as her hand hovered over the spacebar of her keyboard, the video footage wide on screen. "See for yourself."

Letting the video play out, the watched Syndrome's face as it morphed from confusion, to recognition. Finally, his eyes widened at the familiar voice sounding in his ears, the brute force and power radiating from the man, and when he pulled off his mask, Syndrome's face morphed into a wide grin.

"My, my, my." Syndrome giggled. "If it isn't Mr. Incredible."

Eclipse squealed as she was suddenly yanked to her feet, as Syndrome pulled her into his arms. Lifting her up, he twirled her around as he laughed, gleeful vengeance in his tone. 

"Finally!" Syndrome cheered. "After all these years, and at the perfect time too!"

After being put on her feet again, Eclipse smoothed down her blazer, straightening her necklace. "I assume that you want to start the preparation process?"

"Duh." Syndrome smirked, laughing again before twirling on his heels, going to leave the room in a rush. "This is going to be great!"

Vivian smiled, glad to see him so happy. She figured he would be. Squeezing the round moon-shaped pendant in her hand, her finger rested on the lock, but decided against opening it. Instead, she gave the moon a kiss, a promise that soon they'd be in a new world, a better world. 

---

It was nearing six o'clock when Vivian got an abrupt phone call, from an unknown number. She knew it would happen eventually, Mirage had made sure of it. But she didn't expect it to effect her this much. Her heart beat rapidly, letting out a deep breath before answering.

"Hello?"

Without hesitance, a voice so familiar sounded through the speaker. Confident, as if putting on a heroic act. So disgustingly familiar that it made her want to hurl.

"This is Mr. Incredible." He spoke. "I'm in."