Disclaimer: Incredibles, owned Pixar. Aberrant, owned by Onyx Publishing/White Wolf games. Ace, property of DC/Warner Brothers.

Author's Notes: Okay, as usual, I have no beta so any errors are all my fault and I'll correct them as I find them. I had a lot more planned for this chapter, but I cut it out because I want to get things set up so I can continue this story separate from "WoA: Collision". There will be a jump at some point in the next few chapters that will have David and crew coming back. I'll still be writing Collision so I can complete it, but I want to continue with the main plot lines in this fic. When I do that, there might be some minor spoilers for what will be happening in "WoA: Collision", but noting too revealing. I will tell you right now that Ace/Allision will be a permanent addition to this cast (for as long as she lives at least). David, Zoe, Jack, and Bomber will be back in this universe as well in the next few chapters. I hope to get the "separation" done in the next few chapters because I have a lot of shit planned with Buddy, the Church of Michael, Utopia, and other things that have been sitting on the back burner long enough.

Author's Notes II: In regards to Incredibles 2...despite the fact that it's coming out, I don't plan on having it ruin my story or forcing me to abandon it. I've put too much work into it and I do not want to see it go the way of "Year V". Besides, I think it's safe to say that I've veered enough from canon already.

NSA Containment Facility

Metroville, California

Dicker sighed as he entered the room where a squad of heavily armored agents were pointing there weapons at Divis Mal and a formerly comatose prisoner. "Gentlemen, stand down."

"But sir-" one of the men started to say, but he cut himself when he saw the glare his superior was giving him.

"Yes, the prisoner is awake and Divis Mal is here," Dicker said. "Yes, Mal is a threat, but he's not here to cause us trouble. So stand down before I decide to send your asses to Greenland."

"Yes sir," the agent said, though there was some reluctance in his voice as he addressed the rest of his team. "You heard him, stand down."

"And for crying out loud, someone get Carter some damn pants!" Dicker snarled as the soldiers filed out.

A minute later, someone threw a pair of pants in the room that Dicker caught and then tossed over to Carter. The agency head then turned to Divis Mal. "Michael, I assume you have a good reason to be here?"

Mal grinned at him and nodded. "The Endgame is starting, Richard. And if you want it to end with the world not being torn apart, you'll let us go."

"Go where?"

Mal's grin grew even bigger. "The only place we can go to end this mess once and for all."

SST Headquarters

Medical Infirmary

Metroville, California

She remembered pain…

She remembered the stinging in her chest and the coldness starting to rapidly overtake her body…

She remembered feeling the wetness of her own blood as she held her hand to her chest…

Then she remembered talking to someone while standing in a swirling vortex of light.

"David...no...don't do it, don't become HIM."

"It's too late for that, Aly, but I want you to live."

"NO!"

She remembered falling...screaming as she fell through the swirling vortex of light.

"No! David don't do this!" she yelled, opening her eyes as she tried to get up from the bed she was in.

"Whoa...easy there!" She heard a female voice say as she felt hands gently grab her shoulders. "it's okay, you're safe."

Reality suddenly snapped back into focus and Ace realized that she was not at CADMUS, she was not falling, and she was lying in a comfortable bed and young woman with long black hair was there holding her and trying to gently ease her back into her bed. "What? Where-"

"It's okay, Ace, you're safe. Just don't do any sudden movements, Nigel might have been able to patch you back up, but you're still going to be sore and tender for a bit."

That's when Ace remembered that she had made it through the portal, to David's company. No, that was wrong, this wasn't his company...this was his HOME. She also started to remember the information she got when she did a brief telepathic scan on her arrival, allowing her to identify people from David's memories...like the young woman who was standing next to her bedside. "Violet...right?"

"Yeah, though I'm not sure how you know that."

"Telepathic pulse...and from what David told me about you."

Violet Parr couldn't suppress the amused smile on her face. "Not sure if that's a good or bad thing," she said. Ace giggled at that comment before she started wincing from the pain. Violet shook her head. "Try not to laugh for now, it'll hurt like hell if you do. Believe me, I know."

Ace leaned her head back in her pillow and gave Violet a sad smile. "Yeah, you would. Your death would have devastated him."

"I'm sure my death would have devastated a bunch of people," Violet said. "Death tends to do that to a lot of people, not just the one that dies."

"David wouldn't have recovered from it, he was ready to have the people responsible tortured and murdered if you had died."

"Oh, he would have gotten over-wait, what!?"

"Oops, sorry...maybe I shouldn't have said that," Ace said, giving the other woman a smug grin. "And some of the thoughts he has about you...sometimes involving a possible three way with you and Zoe...but I'm assuming that's just a guy thing."

"Whoa! Hold on, a three way?" Violet shrieked.

"Huh, this is not the kind of conversation I was planning to walk into." Violet and Ace turned to see Lucas Zemke standing in the doorway holding the breaching device Ace had brought with her. "And you, young lady," he said, look at Ace, "are way too young to be talking about things like that, even if this the twenty-first century."

"Dammit, Lucas, how do you manage to sneak up on people like that?" Violet asked.

"I don't," Lucas replied. "It's not my fault that most people are focused on their primary task at the moment whether it be working on a project or holding a conversation and tend to ignore their surroundings. I just happen to take advantage of that opportunity."

"And it adds more to the mysterious image you project to your clients along with the fact that you constantly wear those mirrored goggles," Ace said. "The fact that you are quiet and shy adds to the image of being cold and collected professional in the public which you use to your advantage."

Lucas tilted his head to one side and studied the girl for a moment. "An actual deduction or are you basing that on information you got from David and my own mind?"

Ace gave him a tiny smile. "All of the above. I also know that David is one of the few people you consider to be a friend despite what you claim."

"He's a client, nothing more," Lucas stated coldly, a neutral expression his face.

"A client that keeps you on retainer just to keep him in check? A client who wants you to kill him if he ever becomes like his father?"

Violet couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Whoa, wait, hold on! Lucas, is that true, David wants you to kill him?"

Lucas shrugged his shoulders and nodded. "Yes, Violet, he wants me to kill him IF he becomes 'Buddy Pine 2.0' or 'Syndrome the Sequel'," he said dryly. "What, did you really think David never had that fear about himself? I think it's safe to say the thought of becoming a second Buddy Pine scares the hell out of him more than it does you or everyone else."

"But David is nothing like Buddy Pine," Violet said, shaking her head.

"No, but he can be much worse," Ace interjected, "especially when it comes to defending those he cares about."

"She's right, Violet," Lucas said. "You saw what he did to Utopia when they came after Zoe, you, and the others. Then there was the incident with Brandi Miller; he could have taken her down quietly, but he publicly crucified her in the media spotlight. When you were shot, he was prepared to have the people responsible brutally tortured and killed if you had died. And finally, you saw the footage of what happened when those people attacked SST; he went all-out psycho on them and probably would have slaughtered them if he hadn't been shot in the back."

Ace leaned up again on her elbows. "Violet, David is a good guy, but when others hurt or kill those he cares about, he doesn't believe in balanced retaliation. He believes in brutal overkill and, if they're lucky, he'll kill them in the end." Then she glanced down for a moment. "And in this case, he's on the verge of snapping and I think he's willing to burn an entire world just to pay those people back for what they've done here. He may not have Buddy Pine's personality, but he did inherit the man ruthlessness. Unlike his father, however, he's more than willing to get his hands bloody instead of having others or his 'toys' do it for him."

Violet's eyes widened when the realization hit her. "That's what you meant when you were screaming for David not to do something...to not become HIM."

Ace silently nodded and sunk back in her bed.

Violet turned to look back at Lucas. "We need to get that damn portal open as soon as we can."

"That's why I'm here," Lucas said as he held up the breaching device, showing the dimly lit LED display. "As you noticed, it's doing a countdown and has been since she arrived yesterday. We have about one hundred forty-two hours...less than six days before it activates. Apparently, David programmed it before he sent Ace through."

"Why would he do that?" Violet asked.

Lucas gave Violet a knowing smile. "Think about it, Vi. Though you've only known him a few months, you've worked closely with him and seen how he operates. You've gotten a feel for how he acts in a situation. Why would David set a timer to this device?"

Violet thought about it for a moment before answering. "He's planning something," she said. "David's only concerns in that world would be Zoe and dealing with those who did this to him. My guess is that he made that last minute change with the timer when Ace got shot." She looked back at the young telepath. "He was originally planning to come here with you, wasn't he?"

Ace nodded, wincing slightly as she remembered being shot. "He planned to bring me here and assemble a group to go back and get Zoe and the two men who are causing trouble in Arkham. When Waller shot me, he immediately changed plans. He..."

The girl shuddered slightly, unable to fully explain what happened in that moment.

"I could see it in his mind, it was like someone flicked a switch in him," she continued. "His primary concern was getting me to safety and getting help. The moment I got shot, it all changed; he still wanted me safe, but he was consumed by a rage that wanted to burn everyone there in that facility."

"Yep, that sounds like David," Lucas said, sounding more like he was talking about the weather than about someone going on a murderous rampage. "Hurt someone he cares about, you're lucky if you end up on a morgue slab."

"And the timer on the device?" Violet asked.

"To give us enough time to put together a crew. I'm willing to bet the coordinates are tied to a specific time and place over on that world and I'm sure he's using the time we got to prep things." Lucas paused for a moment as he thought about something. "He probably didn't know we had one of those devices which is why he sent this one back with Ace here."

"Um, Lucas, putting together a crew won't be a problem. I think it's safe to say everyone here at SST wants to go."

"I realize that, Vi, but I get the feeling that we're not dealing with just some little organization from over there," Lucas said. "That guy you captured, he was US Air Force...just not OUR US Air Force. That tells me that we're dealing with at least some branch of the government from over there."

"CADMUS," Ace said. Though she was trying to keep from deliberately telepathically scanning their minds, it was impossible to ignore the hyper activity coming from Lucas' mind. It operated similarly to David's but wasn't multi-tasking all at once on separate projects. Instead, Lucas' mind focused on the current topic, but then it would start to compartmentalize various subjects related to the topic while coming up with and rapidly discarding theories while looking for a solution to the situation.

"What?" Violet asked.

"They're called CADMUS. They're a shadow-ops group funded by the US government that centers around controlling and neutralizing the threat supers pose to the world."

"Okay, that really doesn't sound good," Violet said. "In fact it sounds a little too much like here at home."

Lucas was about to say something when Jake Peters tapped him on the shoulder. "Lucas, I think you and Violet better get down to the main lobby. We got visitors."

"Let me guess, Utopia or PRIMUS are finally knocking on our door to threaten us," Lucas said, not bothering to hide the disgust in his voice.

Jake shook his head, trying to hide the smirk that threatened to form on his face. "Um...no, not exactly."

"Then who," Lucas said as he tapped his goggles to bring up a live video feed from SST's security camera. His disgust gave way to surprise. "Well, I certainly didn't expect THEM."

Violet gave Lucas a questioning look. "Lucas?"

Lucas chuckled and shook his head. "You better come with me to check this out, Vi. I don't think you'd believe me if I told you."

"Who is it?"

The young man gave Violet an evil grin that looked a little too much David's when he had too much caffeine and had a sudden brainstorm. "Come with me and find out."

Jonas Kincaid, also known as the nova Kikjak from Detroit, looked around at the damaged grounds in front of the SST building and shook his head. While it was obvious that major repair work had been done to main complex, the front lawn and parking lot were still damaged from the attack. There was a small trench in the middle of the parking lot that went several yards that looked like something had been slammed into the ground and then dragged. The burned out remains of what appeared to be a classic Ford Mustang had been set off to one side of the parking lot. A few SST employees, at least those that were not working in the main building at the moment, were outside cleaning up the area and doing repairs.

Next to the parking lot, some sort of dome-like structure about three stories tall and maybe couple hundred feet was being being quickly constructed by various novas. Most of them had super-strength, but he noticed a few others using different abilities to do the work that didn't require heavy lifting. He also noticed all off them were wearing clothing or jumpsuits that had the "Sefton Salvage and Repair" logo on them somewhere. A few workers spotted him and nodded in greeting which Jonas returned, he also noticed there were other workers look at him and his companion with suspicion.

Can't say that I blame them, Jonas thought to himself. I may only be loosely affiliated with Utopia, but that's enough for them to be wary of me...especially because of who came with me.

"I don't know about this, 'Jak," said Andrew Parker who was doing his best to not look nervous. "I can understand them being a little suspicious of you because of your loose connections to Utopia, but I think you're inviting trouble just by dragging me along."

"Relax, Skew," Jonas assured him. "We're not doing this for Utopia, just remember that. We're helping out a friend."

"No, you're helping out a friend," Andrew corrected him. "Everyone knows 'Kikjak' as the nova 'who told his Utopia masters to back off' when Violet Parr was shot. Having me tag along makes it look like I'm the T2M/Utopia appointed thug keeping you in check."

"Actually, we like to refer to you as the 'funny crazy guy who makes up for Pax's jackassery and Firewing's pompous attitude," spoke a new voice behind them. Both men turned to see Null misting into existence behind them. He stumbled slightly when he became fully corporeal and winced. "Shit, still hurts even though it's been a week."

Jonas was immediately at the Native-American's side, gently grabbing the man's arm to keep him balanced and upright. He then frowned as he noticed the bruising and fading cuts on the man's face. "Fuck...Null...who did this to you?"

Null nodded in appreciation, as he took a couple steps. "Okay, I'm good right now."

"Like hell you are," Jonas snapped as he reluctantly released his grip. "Should you even be up and about?"

"According to Nigel, probably not," Null replied. "As for who did this, we're not sure except she was short, blond, and hits like Geryon or Caestus Pax on steroids. I do know David managed to hurt her badly before one of the invaders shot him in the back."

"Whoa, wait, back up," said Andrew, shocked Null's revelation. "Flynn was shot in the back? Is he-"

Null shook his head. "No, he's not dead and we're not covering up anything. From what we saw of the video footage, it was in the shoulder and it was meant to incapacitate him. They wanted him alive. As soon as he was down, the bitch recovered and thrashed the front of the building before vanishing into a glowing portal with her crew...just like the others."

"Wait, others?" Jonas asked as he and Andrew followed Null towards the SST building, walking past the dome structure. "And what's with the dome?"

"Yeah, others," Null confirmed. "From what we gathered, there were four strike teams. Three of them hit random locations surrounding our area, but we found out it was a diversion for their fourth team that hit us hard. As for the dome, you remember when David bought the Biosphere project from University of Arizona?"

"Yeah, that's got a lot of people talking back home," Andrew said, his own curiosity getting the better of him. "You mean to say he intends to relocate it here?"

Null shook his head again and laughed. "No, this is just us trying to create a portable structure using modified tech based on what we reverse engineered. The real Biosphere two is being rebuilt elsewhere." He then gave Andrew a more pointed look. "And, to be blunt, Parker, we're not disclosing that location to anyone other than to those involved directly with the project."

Andrew nodded in agreement. "I get it, I'm with T2M and you see me as the enemy."

"You, not really," Mull corrected him. "But Psyche and a couple others, yes. Especially since that bitch tried to sneak in with Slider and Laragione when they visited here last." Then he gave Andrew an evil grin. "Needless to say, she didn't succeed in her mission."

Andrew's eyes widened in horrified realization. "You did that to here? We were told that she was intercepted by a Teragen team dumped in Disneyland with her memories wiped."

Null shrugged. "Hey, it was the least harmful of the ideas we came up with. David was tempted to rewrite her memories and dump her in a white slavery ring in the middle-east for what she had done. Apparently, she did some nasty things to him in Redfield and he still hasn't gotten over that."

Andrew was about to snarl something in response, but stopped when he heard the town of Redfield being mentioned. A couple seconds later, the town registered. "Wait, you mean that small town in Oklahoma? They said it was a natural gas pocket that exploded and wiped out the town."

"That's one story," Null said as he led the two men through the front entrance of the SST building. "The problem is that story was first given to the public eye by N!Channel...the other networks almost immediately followed suit a few days later. A few days later, that story was history and pretty much gone within a week. Hell, you can try to Google it and, if you're lucky you might find a couple links that talk about a gas explosion and that's it."

"Okay, that's fucked up," Jonas said as he pulled out his cellphone and brought up Google. A few seconds later, he arched his eyebrow after looking at the search engine's results. "Well, fuck me sideways..."

Null smiled at the man's shock. "Yeah, pretty fucked up, isn't it? What's more fucked up is that the general public doesn't care. And Utopia's put in a lot of work to make sure the 'sheep' forget about something like that."

"Hold on there, they can't be that bad," Andrew said. "Yeah, some people in Utopia are douche-bags, but there's a lot of good people there as well."

"Maybe so," Null said, "but I bet you that they don't have any real power when it comes to deciding what departments of the organization actually do."

Jonas shook his head slightly. "I don't know, Null. I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but that sounds a little like conspiracy/tinfoil hat brigade stuff."

"I realize that, Jonas, but look at it this way. If Utopia is meant to be beneficial to all, how come they tend to only support some places instead of others that could also use their help. Example, Mexico City. When the quake hit in 2001, it wasn't just Mexico that got hit. Whole cities on the US/Mexico border got hit. Instead, they focused on Mexico City, choosing to make it their 'Jewel of the Americas' while the other cities that got hit in the region were pretty much left to survive or die on their own. Quite a few of them became ghost towns or have become havens for Cartels who managed to work their way into the city government...if you want proof, look at Phoenix, Arizona."

"Shit, he's right, Jonas," Andrew muttered. "I've read some of the routine reports they relay to T2M and places like Phoenix and San Diego are listed as 'secondary priority' objectives. And when Mexico got hit, they all but ditched-"

"They ditched Detroit in favor of their precious 'jewel'," Jonas finished, shaking his head in disgust. "I'm starting to see why David really hates these bastards."

Andrew was about to say something, but was cut off by a low growl.

"Whoa, since when were Utopia assholes allowed here?"

Andrew and Jonas turned around and saw a large reptilian creature with a snake like lower body instead of legs glaring at them. Beside him, was a red headed woman with green eyes dressed in leather, her eyes glowing slightly.

Andrew, recognizing these two immediately went on the defensive, his body levitating a few feet off the ground as he was about to summon any nearby metal to do his bidding.

"Whoa!" Jonas stepped between the two Teragen members and Andrew. "Andrew, ease off. These two wouldn't be here unless they had good reason."

"That's Leviathan and Shrapnel," Andrew said. "He almost killed me last year."

Leviathan just shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Dude, I wasn't trying to kill you. I only knocked you out."

"And left me in the water to drown." Andrew countered.

"Okay, first off, there was no water until some jackass burst the damn pipes as he made his dramatic entrance to save the fucking day and get it on camera," Leviathan shot back. "You want to blame someone for flooding the complex, blame Pax."

Allison "Shrapnel" Hughes smiled at Andrew, her heavy Irish accent bleeding through as she spoke. "If yer pissed off at us bein' here, then yer not gonna' like who else tagged along," she said.

"What," Andrew snorted, "I suppose Geryon is lurking around here, somewhere."

"Well, funny you should say that, mate," chimed a male British accent. Everyone turned to see an Englishman with light brown hair wearing an overcoat walking towards them, a mocha in one hand and a scone in the other. He paused to take a bit out of the scone before continuing to talk. "Oh yeah, that Ashley girl sure knows how to bake."

Andrew and Jonas stared at the man with matching surprised looks.

"What, did you expect me to walk out in my monster form all the time?" James Booth asked before he took a sip of his drink.

"Oh man, you should see the look on your faces right now," Leviathan chuckled. "Someone got a cellphone? Because I got a get a picture of this."

"Okay," Jonas said, "this is truly a 'What the fuck-' moment."

Andrew, after realizing the Teragen members weren't attacking, dropped back to the ground. "This is getting too weird for me. What's next? Is Divis Mal going to-"

He paused in mid-sentence as he saw three men come through the front entrance of the building, one of them being the aforementioned Teragen leader.

"Oh, c'mon! Seriously!?"

Nigel Morgan sat in his office/room that was down the hall from the infirmary as he looked over the latest data on his computer. Even with his ability to diagnose and heal people, he was still limited to what he could do. The only way his "healing abilities" could improve would be if he actually studied medicine. Yes, he could heal broken bones and even mend muscle if there wasn't any major extensive damage, but even that went so far.

Four years of studying medicine, the human anatomy, and continuing to study allowed him to extend his power's capabilities, but what he was looking at now was way beyond what he could fix. Oh, he understood that his powers had limitations, but he was able to use them to at least provide a major "band-aid" that would stabilize a patient's condition before getting them to a proper medical facility for treatment. One example of this would be when Violet was shot; while she had extensive damage to her spine and muscle tissue, Nigel was able to sew up her lung and keep her from bleeding to death or drowning on her own blood.

But this...this was beyond him.

Oh, he could understand the genetic manipulation, but what was done to this young girl...it made him sick to his stomach and angered him to the point that he was toying with the idea of joining Lucas' excursion to that other Earth, hunt down the people responsible for what they they did to his patient, and accelerate the deterioration of a few vital organs by a decade or two.

Ace...what the hell did they do to you?

He tapped a couple keys to zoom in on a blood sample he had taken from the girl. After running a few identification protocols on key protein tags, Nigel leaned back in his chair as he read off the analysis results. And once again, he found himself trying not to lose his temper.

Those...fucking...assholes!

He took a couple deep breaths to regain his composure, his mind already going over the possibilities of what to do. By the girl's own admission, she had no idea what was entirely done to her, but the results didn't lie. Ace's body was going through some sort of forced evolution and it was killing her.

I doubt she even knows how old she is...those fucking bastards!

After a couple more minutes of contemplation, Nigel logged off his computer and stared at the screen saver. He had come to a decision, he just hope Violet and Lucas would approve of it. As he got up out of his chair, he remembered that one rule in medicine that was practically ingrained in him since his pre-med days.

First, do no harm.

But right now, he mentally kicked that rule out aside. First, he would do what he could to stabilize Ace's condition, then he was going to find a way to cure the young woman's condition. As he exited the room and made his way down the corridor to the infirmary, he only had one goal in mind.

Someone over there has a cure, he thought to himself. And if I have to give someone a fucking aneurysm to get that cure...so be it.