This story is rated PG.
Disclaimer: The Incredibles belong to Disney/Pixar.
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On Friday evening, the Parr family sat down to a peaceful dinner of meat loaf. Violet, who typically picked at her food, was eating heartily on this occasion.
"I'm glad to see your appetite's returned, Vi," remarked Helen, her mother.
"She thinks it's Marvin loaf," joked Dash, referring to the mysterious boy who had asked Violet for a date on Saturday.
"Mmmm," the raven-haired girl mumbled wistfully. "Marvin loaf."
Helen was carefully feeding strained carrots to baby Jack-Jack, who gurgled contentedly. The infant suddenly let out a joyful squeal.
"What's he so happy about?" Dash wondered.
In an instant, Jack-Jack transformed from a wriggling baby into a cloud of green vapor. He swirled and bubbled for a second, then flashed back into his usual form.
"It's gas," Bob observed.
"I wonder what else he can turn into," said Violet.
"Nothing poisonous, I hope," said Helen.
The doorbell rang, and Bob answered it. Standing in the doorway were an old friend and his wife--Lucius and Honey Best.
Upon seeing the African-American couple, Dash prepared to hurl the contents of his water cup into the air. "Ice THIS!" he challenged Lucius.
"No, Dash!" exclaimed his mother. "Don't make Lucius use his powers. The neighbors might see it."
"Oh, yeah," said Dash, peering warily in the direction of the house where the Hamilton family lived. "The neighbors."
"What about the neighbors?" asked Honey.
"They're, uh, very inquisitive people," said Bob, not daring to inform him that the Hamiltons, a.k.a. the supervillain trio Triple Threat, were aware of the Parrs' secret and had agreed to mutual silence.
"There's plenty of meat loaf," Helen invited the visitors. "Help yourselves."
"Hurry," Violet joked, "before it...gets cold."
"If I had a nickel for every time I heard that line..." Lucius mused.
He and Honey gladly joined in the meal. "We haven't talked to you for a few months," said Bob. "How are things in Municiberg?"
"Same old, same old," Lucius replied. "Some disease got out and turned a bunch of people into zombies, but we held 'em off until a cure arrived. Dynaguy and Magicadabra have come out of retirement, plus there's a new kid who can turn into a tornado. Calls himself Spin Doctor."
"And how's Edgar?" Helen inquired.
Honey spoke in a somber tone. "We haven't seen hide nor hair of him. Soon as he turned eighteen he bought a car and took off, without leavin' so much as a forwardin' address."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"You all know how bitter he was," said Lucius, "growin' up with a super dad, havin' to move around all the time, but with no powers of his own."
"Gosh, that's even worse than what we have to go through," Violet reflected.
The telephone began to ring. Helen, carving a slice of meat loaf with one hand, stretched her free arm and brought the receiver to her ear.
"Hello?" She listened for a moment. "Oh, dear. We'll get on it."
While she extened her arm to hang up the phone, Bob inquired about the nature of the call.
"It was Police Chief Mason," Helen related. "Remember the guy in the bird costume who single-handedly shut down a crack house?"
"Yeah, I remember," said Bob. "By the time the police got there, he'd tied up all the dealers. They caught a glimpse of him just before he disappeared into the shadows."
"He's been sighted again," Helen announced, "at the Metroville National Laboratory."
"Oh, man, that ain't good," Lucius remarked. "He could bust into one of the facilities, and get his hands on some seriously radioactive stuff."
"Which is why I'm going to investigate," said Helen.
"Alone?" said Bob with alarm.
"I'm guessing he's one of those masked vigilantes who operate outside the law," said Helen as she stretched her arm to retrieve her super suit from the closet. "I should have no trouble with him."
"I'll wash the dishes," Violet offered grudgingly. "Again."
"Be careful, Helen," Bob urged his wife. "If you need backup, use the homing signal."
After changing into her costume, Helen, now Elastigirl, stepped into the back yard and made sure that no neighbors were peeping over the tall wooden fence. She then twisted her body into a giant compressed spring, and bounced hundreds of feet into the air.
By traveling in this rubbery fashion, she reached the laboratory in less than five minutes. The sky was growing dark, and only a handful of scientists remained in their offices. She saw no evidence of suspicious activity, so she increased her scope of vision by stretching upward like a pole.
The dozen or so buildings comprising the lab were surrounded by a security fence. Security personnel were wandering about, having been alerted of a possible intruder. Elastigirl chose to make her presence known to the officers by back-flipping over the fence and landing in their midst. Six of the officers whirled and drew their guns as she molded back into human shape before them.
"It's Elastigirl," said a guard. "She's okay." The security officers lowered their weapons.
"What's the story?" the stretchy heroine inquired.
"We received an anonymous tip that a bird man would try to steal materials from the lab," the same guard told her.
"What kind of materials?" asked Elastigirl.
"We can't tell you. It's a matter of national security."
"I understand."
Elastigirl lended her aid to the security forces by bouncing from one region of the lab to another. Her keen eyes spotted no signs of intrusion. Night fell, and soon only the moon and the lab lamps provided illumination.
As she scanned the ground from atop one of the buildings, she sensed a disturbance in the blackness. A shape not unlike an enormous black bird whipped past a light pole. Elastigirl stretched her legs and somersaulted toward the spot where she had seen the mysterious form descend.
The area was well lit, but shaded areas remained in corners and behind bushes. The bird-like figure was either hiding, or had flown back whence it came.
She stretched her neck around the edge of a wall, and there it was, slinking through the shadows. A dark being the size of a man, with broad, tapered wings sprouting from its back, a bald pate, and a hook-like beak extending from the center of its face. Its feet made no noise as it crept along.
"You, there!" she called out. "Stop!"
Startled by her cry, the bird man vaulted into the air and quickly vanished around a corner, floating on its wings. Elastigirl pursued with vigor, shooting a rubbery arm toward the fleeing intruder and wrapping her wrist around his foot. She then wrapped her other arm around his wings and torso, and flipped him over so that his front faced her.
A black Kevlar suit covered the strange man's body, except for his head, which was partly covered by a hawklike cowl. He wore a belt and wrist straps to which numerous electronic devices were attached. He was clearly African-American, and quite young.
"Who are you?" Elastigirl demanded.
The man spoke calmly and without malice. "I'm the Bald Eagle."
Attracted by the noisy confrontation, several security guards ran toward the scene with guns drawn.
"I'm here for the same reason you are," Bald Eagle claimed. "Now let me go."
"No way, Jose," said Elastigirl, tightening her rubbery grasp on the costumed young man.
Just as the guards surrounded him, Bald Eagle bent a finger and pressed a button on his gloved palm. A staggering surge of electricity tore through Elastigirl's body, breaking her grip and repelling her several yards away. She collapsed in a distended, semi-conscious heap.
Gathering her wits quickly, she retracted her stretched appendages and leaped to her feet. Several incapacitated guards lay on the grass before her, and the winged man was nowhere to be seen.
"He can't have gone far," she told herself. Indeed, she needed only one spring bounce to spot the hovering intruder in a darkened alley.
As she plunged toward him with outstretched hands, Bald Eagle raised a gloved fist and fired an energy bolt which she narrowly dodged. She was almost upon him when one of his boots belched flames, hurling him from her clutches like a booster rocket. A fierce struggle ensued, as Elastigirl stretched her arms and legs wildly in hopes of seizing the bird man, who dodged and counterattacked using his uncommon agility and stun weapons based on electricity and knockout gas.
"Leave me alone!" he insisted. "We're on the same side!"
Deaf to his entreaties, Elastigirl charged him again. Unbeknownst to her, a strange, oozing mist was passing through the security fence onto the lab property...
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Next chapter coming soon! The excitement continues!