Incredibles

Starburstia, this is for you (there's also a note for you at the end)

As she stood, tapping her fingers in contemplation, her captive growled in frustration.

"This is just what I needed."

Tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear, Violet raised an eyebrow behind her latex mask, unsure of how to respond to the expression of self pity on the boy's face.

"Look, whatever you think you're going to gain from this," he said, his eyes imploring and desperate, "you can't believe it—he's just manipulating you!"

"Oh, okay, I believe you then, 'Public Enemy Number One,'" Violet said in a falsely cheerful voice with a roll of her eyes.

Her sarcasm could have been a slap to the ghost's face with the look of shock he gave her. "What? The media's got it all wrong! You can't actually believe them—" He broke off with a frustrated chuckle, but almost instantly sobered. "Oh, suffering spooks."

Violet had seen too many faces of captive criminals set with that same grim determination not to know what her ghostly captive then planned to do; he was going to try to fight his way out.

He threw one hand back as if he was going to throw a baseball, but when he thrust it forward, what appeared was much more deadly. A powerful green blast beat against Violet's purple shield. And then another, and another, and another until she was forced to reinforce it with draining concentration.

Between each blast, the ghost drew closer to the shield, growling between clenched teeth, "Let—me—out—of—here—!" The force of the blasts grew stronger with each step closer he took.

Fourteen year old Violet would have cowered at the mere sight of a challenge like this, but the Violet of today was much more practiced, ten times more confident, and so, so much more powerful. With a slight flick of both wrists, the purple dome encasing the ghost pulsed violently, and he was thrown back. He let out a gasp of surprise as he fell. He was quick to his feet, however, and Violet sighed when she realized that he wasn't going to make his capture easy for her.

She prepared herself for another onslaught of energy blasts, but her captive was, for the moment, curiously still. It took a brief pause on her part to notice his furious, furrowed eyes and bared teeth. He took a step forward, raising both hands, and Violet unconsciously took a step back.

"I am so not in the mood for this today," he said, anger seeping from his voice.

A smaller green replica of her own force field encased him, and he pushed it away from him with great force so that it hit the inside of hers. It was the strangest feeling, trying to shrink her force field against a growing one, and for a moment, it was strictly a battle of the most powerful. Leaning forward with her whole body, Violet smiled through her grimace when she felt her shield begin to bend his—she was clearly the more skilled when it came to shields—but her stomach sunk when she gazed into the ghost's eyes. Not only were they not glowing the neon green they were supposed to, they were shining a dull, icy blue. Sharp, agonizing coldness registered throughout Violet's entire body before she heard her shield crack and burst with a horrible keening sound and she was thrown back in a freezing explosion of blue. She vaguely felt a dull pressure on the back of her head and her vision grew hazy before it faded into darkness completely.

--

When she opened her eyes, it could have been seconds, minutes, even hours later, Violet wouldn't have been able to guess. She had to blink several times before she could even see shapes, and the ghost's rounded face slowly appeared before her eyes. He was gazing down at her with an expression that could only have been guilt.

"Oh, man, are you okay?" he said, his voice so much louder than it had been before. Violet could feel that he was uncomfortably close to her. She tried to tell him to back off, but her mouth wasn't working.

"I mean, your shield cut off my ghost sense, so I thought for sure you were a ghost, and…you aren't. What…what are you?" Here, he stopped himself. "What an awkward question to ask," he chided himself, glancing up for a beat before returning his worried gaze to her. "What I mean to say is, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Get back, villain…," Violet managed to sputter through the agony coursing through her brain. She let out an involuntary groan as she attempted to force her eyes to focus and ignore the acute pain pulsing at the back of her head. Her arms felt slightly numb, and she was more grateful than ever at the reinforced ribbing that Edna had insisted upon.

Phantom's expression soured, but he remained just as close. It was then that Violet became vaguely aware of her hair flying loosely around her face. When her brain finally began to process properly, she started. She was being held, very, very high in the air—the ghost was kidnapping her!

She gasped and began to flail her limbs about desperately. The back of her gloved hand hit the ghost in the side of the face, and he nearly let her go.

"Stop it!" he said, exasperated.

"Put me down this instant, Phantom," Violet said, the ghost's name reluctantly rolling off her tongue. She began to struggle even more and somehow managed to knee him in the chin. "Let me go! Let me go!"

With a yelp, he tightened his grip on her legs and upper arms. "Calm down!" the ghost yelled angrily, through clenched teeth.

"Let me go!" she cried again even louder, squirming in his grip.

"Sure about that?" the ghost growled, motioning for her to look down with his eyes.

But Violet didn't care that they were flying several hundred feet in the air—she had survived worse. Unfortunately, it was then that she noticed a menacing figure not too far in the distance behind them, following them through the clear sky.

"Who's following us?" she said with alarm.

The ghost only frowned and, with a glance over his shoulder, said, "He's gaining on us."

The figure behind them, snarling with pointed teeth, lifted a hand in a way that was very familiar. He was going to shoot at them!

"Duck!" she squealed, just as a red blast flew from the figure's fingertips. Her stomach flew up into her throat when they suddenly dropped in a wild arc and then swirled around sideways to regain the height they had lost. It was like being on a roller coaster. A really fast and deadly roller coaster. Five more blasts were suddenly aimed their way and Phantom gasped, swooping and twirling in the air, trying to avoid them all.

"Ah!" her captor gasped in pain when a red blast singed the back of his shoulder, unnervingly close to Violet's head. The two of them were pushed forward from the blast, and Phantom almost stopped flying for a second before starting back up at a much slower speed, as the blast had taken away his momentum. The white clad figure was now dangerously close, his hands glowing a blood red.

It was only when things seemed very grim for the two of them that Violet suddenly decided to help. She struggled to gain leverage in the ghost's arms and brought her hands together over his shoulder. A wall of a shield formed behind them and with only a flick of her wrist, she pushed it back at an incredible speed. The figure behind them not only ran into a wall; it smashed into him, and his energy blasts died out in his hands as he dropped like a stone from the sky.

Phantom laughed, relief rolling in waves from his body and he doubled back to watch the figure fall.

"That was awesome!" he said, grinning widely at Violet. But Violet was not as pleased.

"Now take me down!" she commanded. "Or I'll make you."

The ghost rolled his eyes, but she felt the direction of the wind on her face change and knew that they were sinking lower.

When they reached the ground somewhere in a public park, she leapt from his arms. Her feet wobbled when they touched the ground, and her brain was pounding against her skull, but she managed to give him a good glare. But the look disappeared from her face when, without warning, she was suddenly encased by dull green dome.

"What?" she cried, running to the wall of the force field and pounding on it with two fists. "Are you serious? You can't do this!"

The ghost's green eyes fixed on her masked ones and he smiled triumphantly. "It's only a couple of questions."

Violet drew back, the irony of the situation almost literally killing her. She said nothing. Phantom crossed his arms, covering up the stretched DP insignia on his chest, and Violet swallowed a growing lump in her throat.

"How are you affiliated with Masters?" was the first question thrown her way. Violet frowned, crossed her own arms, and tossed her head haughtily, with no intention of responding.

She was spared by a small beeping jingle from the ghost's watch. Phantom's face fell, and for a beat, a look of realization flashed across his eyes. "Oh no," he said, looking down to check the time. He glanced back up at Violet and for a moment he looked utterly confused, but the look soon melted into a resolute frown.

"Ah—uh…," the public enemy faltered before the snap of a twig made him jolt to attention. He gasped when a deep throaty laugh reached both their ears.

A man clad in a suit, luxury dripping from him like glistening water from a fountain, approached them, a huge, charged weapon dangling loosely in one hand. He had flowing silver hair, a perfect Slavic olive complexion and cold, calculating eyes to match. Hoisting the heavy weapon into the crook of his arm and aiming it at the ghost, he announced, "The great Danny Phantom, finally caught." The whine of the gun startled the ghost, and he threw his hands up in immediate defeat, simultaneously dropping the shield around his captive.

Violet, on the other hand, almost swooned with relief when she recognized her employer's voice. "Mr. Masters!" She could not remove the grin from her face.

The man glanced at her. "Ah, you must be Miss Violet," he said. With a wry chuckle, he added, "What a pleasure it is to finally meet you, though I could have sworn that you said you had captured him, and not vise versa."

"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Masters," Violet replied weakly, blushing.

"Ghost, I order you to remove yourself from the premises," the mayor said smoothly, his voice full of power. Phantom hesitated, his eyes darting between the man and the girl. The man's finger found its way to the trigger, prompting the ghost further. "You'd better leave now," Mr. Masters taunted. "Surely you can find somewhere more important to be until I hunt you down again."

Violet did not understand why he stressed this part of the question, but Phantom definitely did. The ghost glanced at the watch on his still raised wrist. He glanced once angrily at Mr. Masters and then guiltily at Violet before leapt into the air. "This is far from over, Masters," he growled as he vanished, speeding into the sky.

Mr. Masters let the gun drop and he made his way over to Violet. Violet squirmed under his scrutiny, wondering just what kind of compensation, exactly—if any at all—she was going to receive for her troubles. Her gaze fell to her feet.

"I'm sorry—I must have kept you waiting," she said.

She was surprised when Mr. Masters chuckled. "Don't worry, my dear," he said, startling her with a strong clap on the shoulder. "I caught the whole thing. I saw that you had him captured in the beginning."

"Yes, sir," Violet said, looking up into his face, hope beginning to well in her chest.

"However, I would have been more than happy to give you your earnings," Mr. Masters continued, "had I not seen the unfortunate overpowering of your shield. But seeing as our public enemy still roams the city, I would feel much better if we could work out something else, hmm?"

Violet felt her heart drop dead into her feet. All the money, the education, her future—gone. Mr. Masters must have picked up on her feelings, however, because he gave her a comforting smile.

"Come, now," he said. "I'm not trying to swindle you out of your reward. If you would care to join me for some afternoon tea, I would love to discuss your payment in length."

--

She had joined him only because he had mentioned payment. Otherwise, she was so full of conflicting emotions that she would have loved to have just disappeared and left the man hanging.

In retrospect, she was surprised by how forgiving and generous the man was. She realized after she had time to cool off and collect her thoughts that his offer was actually a good compromise. If the man had been anyone else, she knew she wouldn't have received anything for her struggle. This man, Vlad Masters, had offered to pay for her long term employment. When he learned that she needed money for school, he immediately agreed to pay by semester. Ever semester she worked for him, he would pay the school. All she had to do in return was attend the state college, remain in the nearby area to protect the town, and attend scheduled bi-monthly meetings with him. She was also told something that surprised her: she had a coworker, the Red Huntress. She was not to know the Red Huntress' identity, and the Red Huntress, in return, was not to know hers.

Mr. Masters implored that she view the Red Huntress as an equal helping hand when they were keeping the city safe, but his statement of "I encourage you to view her not as competition" fell on deaf ears. Violet knew she would only see this girl as competition.

She was provided with anti-spectral weaponry and debriefed on the town in general. He gave her a key to an apartment he already owned near the college of her dreams.

It was hard to fight back tears of joy when he showed her the door and told her to "take care." This was everything she had been hoping for for the past two years: an education, a career, and a flat of her own. The only thing left to do was tell her parents the wonderful news.

A/N: Oh, no...whatever will happen to Violet? Where did Danny need to be so badly? I can tell you right now that I do not know. Ooh, sorry if I'm a little rusty. While I would love to say that I'm back... I can't. I miss you guys though. I just don't really like writing anymore. Especially this type of writing. I've done some growing and reflecting, and I believe that my life is much better without me spending a crapload of time on the computer. This chapter is in honor of the most unique review I've ever received. I mean, come on, I couldn't not respond to it. I used this chapter both as a means to thank Starburista, and as a way to say thanks to all you guys for supporting me. Oh, god, am I getting emotional up in here?

Note for Starburstia: Starburstia, you're cool. Like really cool. I logged onto my email for the first time in months to see your review and I knew that if I didn't respond to your review, that would be super lame of me. I hope you don't mind that I took snippets out of your continuation and used them as inspiration for this chapter. I cringe at the fact that only several months ago I used words like "moolah," but otherwise, thanks so much for your review. Hope you enjoy this chapter! :)