The Protagonist System

Not surprisingly, my old friend Viper showed up that Saturday and claimed Syndrome's plane as compensation for the government plane I had lost. I thought it was going to be difficult to explain why I had been shot down and the woman listened to my excuses before she laughed for several minutes and then said it was insured and was destroyed while under government contract, no matter who was flying it at the time.

Plus, they added the plane's destruction onto the charges they levelled against Syndrome and levied fines worth twice that, just so they could award me a finder's fee for tracking down a supervillain before they could harm the public.

They had also raided the island's computers and found all of her plans for everything, like world domination, eventually selling her inventions to let everyone have powers, and they found out about all the deaths of the heroes she had hired and murdered. Their families would be heavily compensated using Syndrome's vast wealth, too.

I had barely opened my mouth to ask about that when Viper handed over an envelope with a grin. I had to laugh at her teasing me so blatantly in front of my wife and I handed the envelope right over to Bobbie, whom opened it and gasped. Syndrome had been excessively rich and we would be flush with cash for quite some time.

When it came time for Viper to leave, I told her I heard rumors of another supervillain that was going to target the city and possibly the world. I hinted that if I had an idea about where they were, how hard would it be to find some appropriate search and rescue equipment and maybe some digging machines?

The answer was apparently 'really easy' after a short phone call. Our government liaison named Rikki Dicker, an older woman with her grey hair up in a bun, showed up twenty minutes later and sat down with us to discuss things. They were both associated with a government program whose sole purpose was to do exactly what I was hinting at and were almost ecstatic that I wanted to help.

My previous experience and this latest incident had brought both myself and Bobbie to their attention and they were going to watch us much closer than they already were. The sour look on Bobbie's face was one I would remember for a long time, because she knew she couldn't sneak off with Lucy anymore.

The downside to helping was that we were to never draw the villains out into the public eye, because that would give other people 'ideas'. Bobbie and I exchanged looks and then looked over at the fireplace where we had a large family picture with us and our two happy kids waving at the camera.

“We're in.” Bobbie and I said at the same time.

“Excellent.” Viper said and Rikki smiled and nodded. “Miss Dicker can handle the contracts for you two to sign later.” She said and tipped her mechanic's hat back and rubbed her hands together. “I need you to tell me more about this digging machine you want me to build.”

I laughed at her wanting to get at the important part of the mission and both Bobbie and Rikki rolled their eyes. “It all depends on the available budget and the future utility...” I started to say as I pulled a piece of partially crumpled paper out of my pocket.

It was snatched away immediately and Viper spread it out on the coffee table between us and Bobbie and Rikki leaned in to look at it. They saw a mostly drawn schematic for a two person capsule-like vehicle that had tank tracks on five sides, several spinning corkscrew blades on the front, and scooping arms to pull the dirt away from them.

“This... this is... genius. Pure genius.” Viper whispered and licked her lips as her fingers traced the frame. “The reinforced cross bars should hold up under some pressure... but, if we added hydraulics here and here...” She muttered and a pen appeared in her hand and she started to add in details that went over our heads.

“How long does this usually take?” Bobbie asked and motioned to Viper's hand skipping over the paper like a printing machine, pretty much changing and updating everything.

“She'll be good for another three minutes.” I said, remembering how Viper handled things when we used to work together back in the old days.

“Why only three?” Rikki asked.

“It's only a small schematic and I didn't have time to flesh anything out, like the control mechanisms to steer it or how we would see out of the thing.” I explained.

“Ah, that makes sense.” Rikki said with a nod.

“Got it!” Viper said and held up the thing that barely resembled what I had given her and had a lot more detail.

“How long will it take to built it?” I asked.

“If we include everything and you're there to help me with the little bits using those stretchy fingers of yours for all the tight places this thing is going to have, maybe a month.” Viper answered.

That was two months before the Underminer was supposed to appear, so I nodded.

“I'll be restricted to school hours during the week.” I warned her and then smiled. “Saturdays can be full work days and Sundays are for relaxing, so I'm staying home for that.”

Viper chuckled and looked over at Bobbie. “I still can't believe he retired to become a house husband for you and it's been over a decade and a half since then.”

Bobbie blushed and her hand took mine, so I turned my head to give her my best smile. “I kind of can't believe it either, and this last thing... when I almost lost him...” She leaned in and gave me a kiss on the lips. “I promised myself that I'd become the best mother and wife ever, because Hank and my kids are my greatest adventure and I never want it to end.”

Aww. I thought and gave her another kiss. “I love you, too.”

“You're making my teeth ache.” Viper said with a laugh and rolled up the new schematic. “We can get this started first thing Monday morning.”

I nodded and we wrapped up the meeting, with Miss Dicker agreeing to pop back around later with the contracts and the NDAs we would have to sign. I didn't mind, since I wanted to keep everything quiet anyways. However, I did ask her to bring two more NDAs for Vance and Danica to sign and the old woman looked surprised by that.

“It lets us ensure that both Vance and Danica know what it means to keep things a secret.” I said and Bobbie nodded. “We can also talk to them about things and we won't have to hide anything from them.”

Rikki looked from me to Bobbie and huffed. “I better bring two renewable contracts for assistants as well, since I'm sure your brats are going to beg to be involved when you tell them you're going to become super secret government spies for us.”

I couldn't help but laugh at that as I imagined Danica excitedly screaming to help us. “No doubt.”

“Thanks, Rikki.” Bobbie said and hugged the old woman.

Rikki grumbled about being too touchy-feely, so Bobbie gave her a kiss on the cheek. The old woman gave her a deadpan stare for several seconds before she walked out of the house and complained about brats of all ages. Bobbie had to cover her mouth to stop from laughing too loudly and Viper saluted us and followed Rikki out.

“I need to get dinner started.” I said and started walking towards the kitchen and felt Bobbie take my arm and turn me around. By the aroused look on her face, I knew she wanted a bit more than my cooking right now.

“We're ordering pizza.” Bobbie said, her voice firm, and I nodded. She smiled at me with that 'come here' vibe and led me into our bedroom.

I watched as she pulled off her blouse and I admired her musculature. She had worked hard to get herself back into shape and it showed. She still had a bit of a pudge on her belly, which she tried to hide from me, so I pushed her hands aside and knelt to kiss and nuzzle it.

“H-Hank...” Bobbie whispered, her face red.

I nibbled on her a little and then kissed my way down to the bush she had there. A moment later, she moaned as my extended tongue plunged inside her and licked her all around. I found her spot and wiggled the tip of my tongue over it.

“GAH!” Bobbie gasped and came right away. “Hank!”

“By the way, I learned a new trick recently.” I said and stood as I pulled off my shirt and pants.

Bobbie's eyes dropped down to my erection and her eyes widened as little fleshy nubs appeared all along my shaft. “Ohhhh, Hank.” She moaned and pulled me in for a kiss and then picked me up to throw me onto the bed.

I held myself up straight for her and she jumped on without hesitation. She slid right down to the hilt, burying me deep inside of her, and her loud sexy moan echoed off the bedroom walls. I was really glad that the kids were staying over at Vance's friend's house today, because there was no way they wouldn't have heard her if they had been anywhere inside the house.

Bobbie had a look of love and affection on her face as she stared into my eyes. She slid herself up and nearly off of me and then back down, her movements slow enough that she could adjust to the extra feelings that my enhancement was giving her.

“I... love you... so much.” Bobbie whispered and then laid down on my chest to kiss me deeply.

I hugged her tightly and we made love like that for a very long time.

*

On Monday morning after dropping the kids off at school, I had to admit that it was a great feeling to have when one of my half-baked ideas, that I had only mostly drawn out on paper, was brought to life before my very eyes.

Viper lifted her welding mask briefly to grin at the look on my face. “Having fun?”

“Goodness, yes. I really missed doing things like this with you.” I admitted and she laughed.

“I missed having you around, too.” Viper said and flipped her welding mask back down. “It's so much better doing things like this with someone to share it with.”

I chuckled. “We sound like an old married couple.”

Viper laughed as well and started welding again. After another minute, the welder sparked a few times and sputtered out.

“I got it.” I said and reached over from where I was, my arm stretching way out, and I checked the pressure gauge and tapped on it. “Either it's leaking pressure or it's nearly out. The gauge isn't working.”

Viper grumbled about just replacing the damn valve and slid backwards on the mechanic's dolly that was called a creeper, and she rolled over to where the other tanks were. She pulled one down onto her chest and held it.

“Hank, I need a hand!” Viper said and I could hear the smile in her voice.

I chuckled and slipped my arm around the secured tank and extended my hand all the way over to her and grabbed the shoulder of her coveralls.

“Weeee!” Viper let out as I pulled her across the workshop, acting like the kid she was definitely not, and made us both laugh.

The tank was changed out, as was the valve and the gauge, and I pulled her back over to the partially built monstrosity we were working on.

“So.” Viper said and started up welding again. “How did the talk with Bobbie go?”

I sighed. “We argued a lot about her doing hero stuff behind my back and endangering us again.” I told her. “It was pretty loud and we made sure the kids were out of the house when we had it.”

Viper stopped welding and lifted her welding mask. “I take it she wasn't sorry?”

I scoffed. “More like she was all gung-ho for it until getting caught, and even then, she still got away with doing it a lot more than I ever realized.”

“And Lucy?” Viper asked and I sighed again.

“She tries to keep discouraging her, only she loves her too much to let her do it alone.” I said.

“Ah, because she was going to go out and do it anyway.” Viper said with a knowing nod.

“Which just made my argument better and her more obstinate.” I responded. “It didn't help.”

“Well, what woman ever wants someone to tell her that she's wrong, especially when it's the truth?” Viper asked me with a crooked smile before she flipped her welding mask back down and started welding again.

I huffed a laugh. “It's the hypocrisy I don't get. We've lectured Vance and Danica so many times about not using their powers and she just doesn't understand that it was supposed to apply to her, too.”

“Oh, she understands.” Viper said and paused welding. “She just chose to ignore it, because she's an adult and your rules only apply to your children and not herself.”

I grumbled about that not being fair in this day and age and Viper laughed and laughed. It has struck her as extra funny, because this day and age was in the 1960s. There were no cell phones, home computers, or a lot of the more modern conveniences that we should have had.

The age of superheroes had somehow delayed or stilted the growth and the ingenuity of the more scientific-minded people as they investigated powers instead of other things. It was a heavy thing to discover, I admitted to myself. I had many ideas that could be used to make the world a better place, I just needed a lot of money, time, manufacturing facilities, and the know-how to market and sell things.

In other words, it was not going to happen anytime soon.

“Do you have any advice?” I asked, just because I could.

“Yeah, forget about it and move on.” Viper answered me.

“What?” I asked, surprised.

“Winning or losing that argument? It doesn't matter. You lose.” Viper said and patted the last metal bar of the framework, showing me it was finished on her end and I let mine go. She slid out from underneath the thing and stood up to weld where I had been holding it in place. “Being right or wrong also doesn't matter. You lose.”

I thought about what she said and sighed. “Fuck.”

“Yep, you finally get it. Don't apologize and don't bring it up again. Just ignore it and so will she.” Viper said and patted my shoulder. “Now go over there and start cutting out the first metal panel for the underside of this thing. The measurements are on the sheet by the cutting machine.”

I nodded and walked over to the thing and read them, marked them off on the piece of steel, then took the measuring tape over to what we were building. I laid down on the creeper she just stood up from and I slid underneath to measure everything again.

“Smart man.” Viper said with a chuckle and started welding.

I didn't bother to ask if she meant about taking her advice or checking the measurements, since I was pretty sure she meant both.