#reflux

"Uhmm?" Luke mumbled, lifting an arm to rub his eye and narrowly missing elbowing her, "Bell?"

"Hey," she pressed a kiss to his cheek, "you slept in."

"Whaa-" A yawn, him rolling on the bed and taking her with. Bella unwrapped herself, so she could move to lie nearly on top of him, "what time is it?"

"Uhm," she reached over him, grabbing his phone on the bedside table, "nine thirty."

"Wow," Luke was still slow, brain powering up, He reached in to grab a curl of hers, kinda dizzy and loopy from sleep, "it's late..."

"Please," Bella made sure to let her tone drip disdain about the "late" hour. She squirmed on top of him, smiling devilishly as she could feel a hard on pressed to her thigh, less about him being horny and a whole lot more due to the fact he had just woken up. Didn't matter in her books, a boner was a boner.

Luke blinked slowly, nearly falling right back asleep and she wouldn't have it, so she leaned in and pressed a kiss over his lips, "wakeee uuup, Luke."

"M'wake," he planted a hand on her back, heavy, and slid it up to her nape, fingers curling on her hair as he pulled her in. Although he kissed her back, he didn't initiate anything else and Bella let out a huff, moving her face so she could kiss his neck and then down his chest.

"Wake. Up," she punctuated her words with a little bite pressed to his skin, he had little moles scattered all over his back and chest and she played connect the dots with her mouth.

Luke was ticklish, so Bella smiled as she kissed him near the ribs and could feel his breath hitch, trying to suppress a full body shudder. Her hands curled on the waist of his sweatpants, inching them down to give her more exposed skin.

He wasn't hairy, almost no chest hair — he had to have some flaw, Bella thought with a snort — but there was a bit of peach fuzz that grew between his pecs and went down his normally flat stomach, thickening up under his navel and disappearing into his pants. Fine enough that it wasn't noticeable unless he was freshly showered and wet, the hairs darkening. Bella blew on the soft hair, hands pressed one to each side of him, mouth branding him right next to the navel-

A whine came from his stomach, so loud that Bell pulled back, with a startled chuckle, "oh, wow. Are you hungry?"

She folded her hands over his belly and planted her chin on top of them. Luke, who had scooted up slightly on the pillow, looked a whole lot more awake... And embarrassed too. He shook his head, rubbing his eye with one hand, in a way that reminded her of a sullen teenager, "no... Kinda queasy, actually."

Ah.

"Oh shit," Bella jumped away, so she wasn't all but lying on top of him, "why didn't you say something? I was all over you, that couldn't feel good..."

"You all over me always feels good," he rolled his eyes, "actually, the pressure was kinda nice..."

She had some sort of problem, like a Luke-addiction, Bella decided, because no way he was actually as cute as she thought he was right now. Luke-aholic.

"C'mere, you big baby," she moved so she wasn't fully on top of him, more on his side, but still with a leg dropped over his hip — the boner was gone, bummer — and her right hand could rub his stomach.

It wasn't bloated, but now that she was applying some pressure, it seemed sloshy and achy. Her husband's face pinched with discomfort, frustration too at the derailed morning plans.

"What exactly are you feeling?"

Luke grimaced, rubbing his chest with an uneasy expression that Bella knew well, "is it reflux? You didn't eat before bed." God, they were getting old, she bit down a smile.

"Seems like it," he shuddered, muffling a little burp in his hand, "stomach's just bleh."

"Just bleh, eh?" Bella grinned, stealing a kiss, "you're so adorable, I could chew you like a toy."

He snorted at her wording, then winced as a gurgle went through his belly, right under her palm, "I probably just need to get up and eat something light, to get rid of the acid."

"Hmmm," she wasn't convinced, but Bella didn't voice it. She trailed her fingers down his abs quadrants, faded and soft, he wasn't shredded like he had been in New Mexico and she preferred him like this. Her index circled his navel, nails scratching him, and she pressed on his right side, over the faint scar of his appendectomy. Sometimes she could barely believe that had happened, that whole stretch of their lives where they weren't together seemed like a fever dream.

"Ugh, hold on," Luke sat up on the bed, pushing her hand away from his middle and snapping her out of her thoughts, "gotta burp..." His voice was clipped, with pain or nausea, she wasn't sure, "can you-" a gulp, "thump-"

"Like this?" She thumped the middle of his back in a rhythmic manner and Luke nodded, a hand pressed to his mouth as he muffled a string of watery burps. Bella cringed.

"Baby, those are really wet... Are you gonna be sick?"

He shook his head, "stomach- acid," he shuddered, standing up abruptly and rushing to the bathroom, leaving Bella behind. She took a second to follow, expecting to find him curled up by the toilet, but instead he had spat up in the sink and was now washing the bowl and his pale face.

"Ugh," Luke said as she leaned against the door, drying his face with the hand towel, "I feel like crap."

"You don't think it's a bug?" Bella stretched a hand ahead of her, he was just close enough she could trace invisible patterns on his back with the tip of her nails.

"Don't think so," Luke braced against the sink, staring at the bowl, "my stomach hurts."

Bell stepped closer, pressed her mouth to his shoulder and slid an arm around his middle, knuckled brushing softly over his belly, "I think you're just old, Captain."

It earned her a huff, that pinched expression fading to give away to a boyish smile, "yeah, maybe," he blew out a burp under his breath, then grabbed her wrists and pulled her closer, arms crossed over his chest and her front pressed to his back, "I love you."

“Your brother’s going to be fine.” Violet turned and looked at Robert, at Mecha Man, “We’ve got people we trust watching him and, even if he does have the issue that Track Star has, it’s early enough for us to figure out a fix.”

Violet gave him a meek nod, she knew that all her classmates, including Tony, would kill to have Mecha Man, the powerless Superhero, talk to them. But, with what Dash could be at risk of, she found it difficult, and having the urge to throw up wasn’t helping either.

“Your parents,” Said Robert, sitting down across from her, “said you have a few… problems.”

“L-like what?” Asked Violet, looking at the man.

“Your teachers have told them that you stutter,” Said Robert, “and your Mom has said that your force fields are hit a miss at times, especially if you’re feeling pressured. In fact, the only power you don’t have a problem with is turning invisible.”

“I-I j-just want t-to be normal.” Violet tried to sound less like herself, since this was Mecha Man she was talking to, the only hero with enough bravery to go out without powers and do the right thing.

“Violet,” Said Robert, “you are normal, having powers, not having powers, neither of those things choses what normal is. I’m going to tell you, what I told one of my team, you don’t have a stutter or a problem controlling your powers. You have a confidence issue.”

“H-how a-am I s-supposed to be con-confident w-when I-I’m l-like t-this?” Asked Violet, getting a sigh from Robert.

“Violet, to be confident, you need to be comfortable with yourself,” Said Robert, “so, I want you to tell me one thing that you want to do, that you’re scared of messing up.”

Violet blinked, before her mouth moved on its own, “Prism’s autograph.”

Robert froze, before slowly nodded, “Okay…, I thought it was going to be something a bit more risky, but, hey, Prism loves having her ego stroked.”

“Hey!” Prism called over from the other side of the floor, “Fuck you, Roberto!”

“She’s joking.” Said Robert, getting to his feet, “Alright, let’s—”

One of the computers started wailing, cutting Robert off. Obviously recognising the tone, Robert paled and bolted to the computer.

“W-what’s going on?” Asked Violet, as Prism rounded the office space and guided her out.

“Don’t worry about it.” Said Prism, obviously knowing what it was, “Let’s go to the gym and other recreational shit.”

Robert, now with Mandy and Brainbook joining him.

“Who is it?” Asked Mandy, as Brainbook looked over Robert’s shoulder.

“Waterboy,” Answered Robert, as Brainbook frowned, “his vitals just spiked, then they stopped.”

“They stabilised?” Asked Mandy, glancing at Robert.

“No,” Corrected Brainbook, “they stopped. As in, the monitoring system isn’t detecting anything to monitor.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Said Mandy, frowning.

“It’s the same thing that happened with Pom-Pom, Bullet Train, Quake and Inferno.” Said Robert, turning his chair around, “I’m going to check on Phenomaman, see if he can find Waterboy.”

“I’ll handle that,” Said Brainbook, “you keep trying his comm, the monitoring software could simply be damaged.”

Robert frowned, before nodding and turning back to the computer.

I

“Sweet Talker, Pom-Pom, Bullet Train, Thunderbolt, Echo, Quake, Inferno, Boomerang, Waterboy, and, now,” Robert tried not to wince as Daniels listed off their MIA heroes, “Phenomaman. All missing in action, after being sent to an island in the middle of nowhere.”

“It’s near the Easter Islands,” Said Evelyn, resting her goggles on her head, “but, given that their vitals spiked and then, just as quickly, stopped, we may be looking at a trap situation.”

“We’ve also failed to contact Universal Man, Psycwave, Blazestone, Downburst, Vectress, Blitzerman, Apogee, Phylange, Everseer, Macroburst, Gazerbeam, and Hypershock,” Sighed Robert, “we managed to recruit Tradewind, but he went AWOL.”

“But, we have found Gamma Jack, Stormicide, Frozone and the Parr family.” Stated Mandy, “We also have leads on Plasmabolt and Fironic.”

“Two of your… ‘additions’ are children.” Said Daniels, raising an eyebrow.

“One of whom has the same problem Track Star did.” Added Evelyn, leaning back, “I fitted an inhibitor cuff to him, until we can figure out a fix.”

“So,” Said Daniels, frowning, “more bad news.” He glanced at Mandy, “Any more for the second round of the Phoenix Program?”

“Yes,” Mandy seemed to be more than eager to change the subject, “We’ve managed to collect Bulbox, we offered placement for his daughter at a school not too far from here.”

“He’s a super?” Asked Daniel, getting a nod from Mandy, “What about this… daughter?”

“She’s…, got powers,” Said Mandy, after a moment, “She’s roughly the same age of the oldest of the Parr kids, Violet.”

“Two flowers,” Mused Daniels, “is there going to be a third for this ‘bouquet’ you’ve started to build?”

“Oh, I didn’t mean,” Mandy tried to cover, “I just thought that they might make good friends.”

“Might be worth seeing about organising lessons, for them,” Suggested Robert, “teach them how to control their powers, just as a precaution.”

Daniels sighed, “Which means we will have to do a Psych-Eval on them. Speaking of,” he pulled a file from his desk, “I have some concerns about one of the dispatchers you’ve brought in.”

“If this is about Gamma Jack’s… opinion, we’ve already taken that into consideration.” Said Mandy, sitting up, “He didn’t allow it to colour his opinion on the training simulation and—”

“It’s actually about Robert Parr.” Interrupted Daniels, “It took a while, but Cummings managed to get him relaxed enough to talk. Parr has some deep-seated fears about keeping his family safe, believing that if he isn’t strong enough to protect the public, he would not be strong enough to protect his family.”

“Shit,” Swore Robert, leaning forwards, “I can talk to him, see if I can help.”

“While that is noble, Robert,” Sighed Daniels, “you are not an officially licensed psychologist or counsellor, which reminds me, CSPP need an address to send your diploma to.”

“You went to university?” Asked Mandy, looking at Robert.

“Started, I only finished recently.” Answered Robert, before looking at Daniels, “Bob might be more open to me than anyone else, he was able to figure out my identity within thirty minutes of meeting me outside of the mask.”

Daniels frowned, but said nothing.

“There also the issue of how we’re going to address nine of our heroes suddenly going missing.” Added Evelyn, “I mean, if I was trying to erase heroes from the world, I’d ruin their reputations to the point of all of them giving up.”

“We don’t need you to run another Screen Slaver program, Evelyn.” Said Daniels, glancing at her, “But, you do bring up a good point.”

“Let me bring up Waterboy and Phenomaman with the Z-Team,” Said Robert, getting up, “they’re both part of the Z-Team and, if anyone else were to tell them…”

Daniels sighed, before nodding, silently dismissing Robert and Mandy.

“Well, if they’re going,” Said Evelyn, getting up, “I’m going to pick apart that piece of tech that Robert brought back from that Kronos gang bust.”

Daniels nodded, before looking at a file, “Evelyn, while you’re at it, see if you can find Buddy Pine.”

I

Helen blinked at the heroes in front of her, she’d been given six heroes as her ‘dispatchees’, as Robert called them, the first one was Voyd, a young woman who could create portals, she reminded Helen of Violet, with the confidence issues she had, the second was He-lectrix, a musician that could control and absorb electricity. Krushauer, the third hero assigned to her, had telekinetic powers that allowed him to ‘crush’ objects, he also had superstrength and superhuman durability. The fourth hero, Brick, was similar, as she also had superhuman strength and durability, she could also jump large distances and her file said ‘metamorphosis’, whatever that meant, Brick’s main problem was that, while she was a strong as a sack of bricks, she was as smart as a sack of bricks. Screech, Helen’s fifth dispatchable hero, could fly, see in the dark and release a supersonic screech, although he also seemed to be nocturnal, which was something to work on. Reflux, the last hero Helen had been assigned, had a molten stomach and regurgitation, which more or less translated to that he could throw up lava and not get hurt.

“S-sorry if I-I was too, y’know, over eager,” Voyd tried to laugh, “b-but you’re… you, a-and I-I’m me, s-so…”

“That’s… alright, Voyd.” Nodded Helen, “It’s alright, you don’t need to apologise.”

“Yeah,” Snickered He-Lectrix, “leave that for Reflux.”

“It’s a genuine medical condition.” Said Reflux, just as Mecha Man ducked his into the room.

“Hey,” Mecha Man’s voice of everyone’s attention, “it’s past clocking out time, so you can all go home for today.”

“Why’re you suited up?” Asked Helen, getting up.

“Press conference,” Answered Mecha Man, looking around, “the uppers think I’m a safe bet, since I don’t have powers, so the crowd might listen to me more than the others.”

Helen blinked, “Okay, good luck, I guess?”

Mecha Man nodded, before leaving the room. Looking at the clock, Helen sighed, “He’s got a point, let’s head home and resume tomorrow.”

I

Courtney carefully spooned some mashed-up apple and banana into Robin’s mouth, the baby, caught mid-giggle, gummed on the food, just as she heard the front door open and close.

“How’d the press conference?” Asked Courtney, looking towards the door.

“The less said, the better.” Grumbled Robert, hanging his coat up, “Mandy’s making sure Sansweet’s still alive.”

“The asshole behind the lawsuit that made heroes illegal?” Asked Courtney, twisting to look at Robert, “Why was he there?”

“No idea.” Sighed Robert, before focusing on Robin, “Now, why do you let Mommy feed you, but not Daddy? Huh?”

Robin squealed and knocked her bowl to the floor, laughing as she reached for Robert.

“Sansweet’s not going to sue.” Mandy’s voice from the door made them look up, “Brainbook and Daniels somehow managed to convince him not to.”

“Daniels probably offered to throw him off the roof.” Said Robert, picking Robin up, with the baby grabbing his nose.

Mandy looked around, “Where’s Bertie?”

“BOO!” A small boy appeared behind her, making her jump, “I gots you, Momma.”

“Yeah,” Laughed Mandy, picking him up, “you did.”

“He’s managed to get turning invisible down,” Said Courtney, getting up, “especially when it’s bathtime.”

Bertie, freezing in Mandy’s arms, looked at his mother, and vanished, turning Mandy invisible in the process.

“You do realise I’m going to help bathe you, right?” Came Mandy’s disembodied voice, before the bathroom door opened and the two of them reappeared, with Courtney joining them. Robert, not for the first time, wondered if Bertie and Robin liked having two Moms.

I

“An SDN press conference went awry last night, after Oliver Sansweet, a former president of the Municiberg Bank, who sued Mr Incredible for quote-unquote ‘saving’ his life fifteen years ago, tried to go head-to-head with Mecha Man, who’s last press conference ended with him throwing a journalist out a window.”

Helen reached over and turned the TV up.

“As the footage shows, Mr Sansweet brought up Mr Incredible’s actions against him, as well as bringing his lawyer with him.” Said the news caster, as Sansweet and his lawyer stood and postulated, “Mecha Man had this to say;”

“For someone who was suicidal,” Mecha Man’s voice was his signature mix of cold and dry sarcasm, “you really found the will to sue a guy, when you could have done us all a favour and gone back up to the roof and thrown yourself off.”

“Mr Sansweet then threatened to sue Mecha Man for harassment and slander, which produced this response;” Helen watched as Mecha Man sauntered off the podium and up to Sansweet, and punched him square in the face, before dragging him to a stairwell and returning without him a second later, “SDN has already closed it’s ranks, with the rehabilitated villainess Prism ‘offering’ to ‘flash’ Mr Sansweet, which is what she calls blinding someone. SDN has also refused to cover Banks, Insurance Firms, and Chain locations, with Mr Gilbert Huph protesting the decision, claiming SDN had ‘poached’ Insuricare’s employees and customers.”

Helen didn’t find that surprising, since Bob had mentioned the Insuricare often refused to pay out on their policies, which was why Bob had been temporarily seconded by the SDN upper management to help set up the SDN insurance office. Allison and Jack had gone with him, since Allison was good with computers and Jack was, somehow, very proficient with legal paperwork. He’d suggested that he go into SDN Legal, since he was a fully licensed attorney, which was a shock to the rest of them.

“You’ll never guess who turned up to work today.” Bob’s voice made Helen look towards the door.

“Sansweet?” Guessed Helen, making Bob shake his head.

“No, Gazerbeam.” Bob put his brief case on the table, “Apparently, he heard that SDN were looking for him.”

“Jack must’ve told him.” Reasoned Helen, looking at the folder with her heroes files in it.

“No, Jack was as surprised as we were,” Said Bob, “but he’s on board, which I think is great.”

Helen looked at Bob, since starting at SDN, he’d started to lose weight, and he seemed much happier in himself.

“How’s getting to know your team going?” Asked Bob, making Helen sigh.

“Voyd’s a lot like Violet, if they were closer in age, I would suggest they spend some time together,” Said Helen, “He-Lectrix seems a bit haughty, but he’s a guitarist in a band, Reflux seems nice, but I wouldn’t put him out on… heavy calls, you know? Krushauer can, well, crush things, but he can’t reverse the damage, which could be a problem. Screech is, well, interesting, to say the least, but he’s primarily nocturnal, meaning he’s more or less useless in the day, and Brick’s… she’s…”

“As dumb as her name implies?” Violet’s voice made them jump, before she appeared at the table.

Violet looked different, the main difference was that she had her hair tied back, but she seemed to be slightly uncomfortable.