A/N: Yes! Another chapter! Woo! And in less than six months. I am on a roll!
---
Tony smiled. Mr. Parr had scared him out of ten years of his life, but that was behind him. And ahead of him... dinner and a movie, the old tried and true dating strategy. With Violet. At that thought, he glanced at her. She was dressed casually, in a blouse and jeans, and he thought he noticed just a touch of make-up. She looked... really, really good. He shared that bit of information with her, and she blushed becomingly.
That was a bit more like the shy Violet he was familiar with, not the confident aggressive girl he'd come to know in the last day or two. ... Not that there was anything wrong with either Violet. Which prompted the mental image of two Violets. Down boy.
Now speak. Arf, arf.
"So," he wondered. "What type of movie do you want to see?"
"What's playing?" his date wondered aloud. His date. Heh. Awesome. Tony launched into a description of what was playing at what time and what he knew about it - he'd memorized them earlier - before trailing off in mid-word. "Uh," he commented. His earlier nervousness back at the Parn house was back. And it had brought friends. How nice. "We seem to be being followed. By an armored car."
'Armored car' wasn't far off; it had the basic shape of a car, but with steel plating covering the entire thing, and with a great big 'G' emblazoned on the hood, criss-crossed with two lightning bolts. "Dad," she muttered. What did Mr. Parr have to do with...?
---
The Gauntlet, a technological mastermind of a superhero, didn't want to be spending his night following two lovebirds around. Unfortunately, he owed Mr. Incredible a favor, and what kind of superhero doesn't pay his debts?
"Can't you go any faster, Ron? Are you a superhero or somebody's grandma?"
The Gauntlet took it back. No matter how many times Incredible had saved his life, nothing was worth this...
---
"So..." Tony tried to think of something interesting to say. The food was delicious, but the lanky black man in the corner was staring at them with disturbing intensity, and had been all night. It was kind of freaking him out. "I noticed you were out for a week. Were you out sick?"
Violet considered. "We visited a few family friends - sort of a vacation. Edna Mode and Mirage are very nice." Tony scratched his beardless chin in thought. "Edna Mode... where have I heard that name before...?" he mumbled.
"She's a fashion designer," Vi explained. "For models or something. Pretty famous, I guess."
"And this... Mirage?"
"Sort of a family friend. I think she's got a crush on Dad, which is way creepy because he's forty and she's like twenty-three... and..." she trailed off, her eyes trained on the black guy in the corner. It was probably the first time she'd seen him, since he wasn't in her direct line of vision. She placed a hand over her eyes. Tony looked over at her, concerned. "Vi? What's wrong?"
His date muttered something under her breath that sounded sort of like 'trombone'. "I don't believe it," she hissed. "I don't want to believe it."
Tony shot her a questioning glance over his linguine. "It's my uncle," she explained. "Well, not really my uncle. He's dad's best friend. They... work together." The pause was barely noticeable.
She looked at the black man rather angrily. "And I bet he's following us." She got up and marched over to his table, placed her hands on the flat surface, and attempted to loom over him. Since she was only a few inches taller standing than the seated guy, it sort of ruined the effect.
She looked ready to chew nails, but the black man looked unruffled. He was even smiling a little. Tony acknowledged Vi's uncle as a braver man than himself; if Violet had turned that look on him, he'd probably be cowering. Or hiding. He didn't notice the man's calm was a little too studied to be natural, and the hand on his wine-glass was just a bit white-knuckled.
"So, are you following us, Uncle Fro'?" The question was voiced sweetly, at odds with the little thunderbolts dancing on her brow (metaphorically speaking, but then, who knows with the Parrs?)
The bald man took a sip of wine. "Why Violet! I'm shocked at you. Shocked. I happen to like this restaurant. What a surprise, meeting you here?" Tony, still back at their table, applauded him in his head for the attempt. 'Uncle Fro' might have been carved of ice, he was so calm. "Focacsia bread?" he offered.
Vi looked ready to do violence. Then she turned without a word and went back to their table. Tony saw her uncle let out a silent breath, and go back to his meal, very studiously not looking in their direction. Tony, with all the caution of a man sharing a cage with a lion, started up some harmless conversation. "So how 'bout them Yankees?"
Violet gradually loosened up again as dinner progressed. By the time the check arrived, she was smiling and animated again. When they left, she cheerfully ignored the man in the corner.
---
"All right buddy. Hand over the wallet nice and easy, and nobody will need to get hurt." Stock, clichéd dialogue. But when delivered over a switchblade, very persuasive. Tony slipped a bit more solidly in front of Violet. Thus, neither he nor the thug noticed the purple sparks running along Vi's hands. "Okay, no problem, man. Stay cool. Let me get my wallet." If the guy didn't have that knife... but he was no Super, and further, he was no fool. He wasn't going to jump a guy with a knife for the forty bucks in his wallet.
Tony was still reaching for his wallet when a red-and-blue blur slammed into the nameless thug. The blur resolved itself into a man in red and blue spandex with a large black spider on his chest and great big googly, reflective eye-pieces.
"Hey Vi. How's the date going?" he asked conversationally as the thug was wrapped in webbing and tossed over a shoulder.
"Holy crap," Tony said wonderingly. "It's the Amazing Spiderman."
The Spiderman gave the impression of a grin under his mask. "Hey, always nice to meet a fan. You two have a good day now." He gave a little salute, and was gone, Super and thug both. "... Wow. I mean... wow." Tony was very nearly speechless. "You know Spiderman?" There was a touch of awe in his voice. Violet was watching the direction the superhero had gone, a baffled look on her face. "I.. don't think I do..."
---
TBC
A/N: For anyone that's interested, Ronald the Gauntlet is an OC, though there is a Gauntlet in an excellent piece of Teen Titan fanfiction, whose name escapes me at the moment. Frozone and Spiderman are, of course, not mine. Next up, the movies, and some more random superhero cameos for no reason at all.
Thanks go out to HORSELUVER101 for catching that little naming error.