«» No Incredible Sparks «»
«» — A.N — «»
An old story slightly reframed. It was "Metroville Chase: Brand" & part of a longer chain of linked fics. Most of those linked fics are now bundled into a single tale but this one wouldn't jemmy into the new format so it has to be a sidebar to the main tale of "No Incredible Family".
o0O¥O0o
Batman sat in the Batcave, glowering over the racks of monitors banked on every side of him: recording, tabulating, computing, feeding him the latest live information and projections of active and potential crime across the city, the county, the state; he was ready to spring into dynamic, heroic action directly. Well, Bob liked the image, but all he had was his den, a laptop and a prickly feeling. Whatever about that, a local public holiday was due and, in the old days, that had always been the stage for troubles.
A local public holiday: the worst event that a modern Mr Incredible could imagine; they were superheroes now and would have to face whatever the day would bring. In the olden, golden, glory days there were heroes and enough for anything. With the likes of Phylange and Wirehead on alert: there were few true surprises; no jack-in-a-box crises. The only event that had caught them out was that one tidal wave of hatred across the country; then the deadly outcome that saw, oh so many of them, finish their lives. It might be some fool error (godly Metaman dead by elevator) or the blind hunger that lead to death by Omnidroid … but the ranks had been more than decimated.
Yes; there was a bright, new crop of superheroes growing (not least his own kids) but they weren't the sure quality of the known and proven teamsters of old. Bob knew Dash was lightning-footed and Violet could defend against whatever came; he too chanced to know that Dash could run across water; that Violet had any number of minor tricks. He nor Helen nor any knew a fraction of the potential of the new forces nearest and dearest to them. It was as if Mr Incredible marshalled his army into battle against a hydra of an enemy while armed only with standard rounds.
New superbeings, villain and champion, alike where blossoming like weeds; Mr Incredible knew, so little about these new forces, even less than the little he knew about his own, Rainbow was the only one he had run into personally (that only as she had sought him out) and he knew more of the taste of her lips and the feel of her body than her range of ability. She come out of nowhere, dived into the headlines, dived into his awareness then dived into one of his missions. They had made an unexpected success of it between them and there had been so little between them that it was like the young Elastigirl come again. Just as Bob could never give up his old life for a home life so to he couldn't give up the old thrills for the sake of his wife. His thoughts came round again and again to that fresh, young heroine.
What chance to get Rainbow to talk about anything;! She'd been keeping a million miles away from him, since they nearly got as close as man and girl could get, but that the shibboleth of Helen had come between them. Sure he is hearing about Rainbow being out, about and active; in the States, on the continent, around the world but never near him. Something had sparked between them in their very first contact: they'd clung to each other so keenly! It'd sparked a flame in him he'd not even known was there. He'd caught a fire he hadn't caught since courting Elastigirl and he'd been ready to dip his wick, at that moment, on the spot. Damn the girl's conscience! It wasn't her life that was wrecked by distant bedmates, by mixed up parents with odd ideas about their kids. No doubt Rainbow didn't have folks so caught in their own lives that they didn't even see others. Oh no! He was sure of it, Rainbow couldn't claim half of the family woes that he could. Blast it! Now all that he wanted was to catch the Rainbow and let them both combust.
More villain than hero in his heart, Mr Incredible can't help longing for a vacation horrorshow tomorrow; one that will force his elusive new love into action with the team, with him and then only with him … in their own secret passions. His desires are hideously, guiltily answered: by a firestorm inferno at the trainyards. It was where Firedrake had been recaptured. Now it seems he had been plotting more than an escape, while he had been lurking there. It is inevitably, the very worst moment: a public holiday, throngs of vacationers, a stockyard full of railcars on downtime.
It would have been infinitely worse, had the superheroes not been primed for instant response, thanks to the foresight of one Mr Incredible. He has even got Frozone to put aside their estrangement for the day. Now is the time for Mr Incredible to brief his forces: Elastigirl and Dash are to pair up for the concourses and platforms, the operational side is for Invisible and Mr Incredible takes the stockyards entirely for himself; regardless of the arguments of Frozone.
« Shake it Big Guy, you've a lot of Tinker Toys to get rolling. I'll give you the big chill; just like the old days huh! »
« It isn't is it Zone, not the old days; all the fire-handlers are gone! Syndrome got them all. You're needed all over. I've gotta get this myself. Can't have you covering my back no more; you go fix the hot spots. »
« I work alone » ... the thought rang through Mr Incredible's head; he'd said it before to a pesky Buddy Pine and then it had been his choice but that pesky Buddy Pine had obliterated so many Supers that the old rules, the old comrades were all dead and gone. It is too raw, to have Frozone back by his side for one battle and then to see the chillster gone again, back to his new life and loving wife.
Mr Incredible stands against the fortress of fire by his lonesome. He pauses, to see what he faces: searing battlements of roaring red and gold surround the trainyard on every side; inside the perimeter the flames seem magnetised to the wagons and incandescent, bonfires tower in every direction. Mr Incredible has to thread this Icarian labyrinth entirely by himself: for a moment, even his heroic heart gives a lurch, but no good comes of hesitating; so he plunges right in … though he knows that, even a Mode Supersuit, will not entirely protect him from this.
Where is he to start? What ought he to muscle out first? There are paints, chemicals, fireworks and all the burnables on earth inside of these wagons and shipment-cubes. Does he go for the riskiest or for the easiest? The blazing fires are encroaching on the rolling-stock at an exponential rate; planning is just a dream. It all comes down to a desperate race to get out anything at all, before it all becomes too hot for him to set hands to any of it. Then there is pressure on pressure, as he begins to hear yells and screams of desperation and terror; it is coming from the one railcar without any wheels to it. The wagon quakes at the seething mass of humanity, panicking inside: all of those hobos; who have taken the inutility of the wagon as guarantee of a safe lodging place. Firedrake's trap has caught them more surely than anyone else, by how the flames have fused the door shut
Help is almost at hand, for the roasting tramps, in the shape of one Mr Incredible; only he cannot find any means to come at the issue. The scorching tramps are bopping about, like overdone popcorn, and setting the wagon a dancing; till Mr Incredible just isn't able to get any sort of traction, can't make any kind of headway. Not, that is, until a soothing, pressing chill settles on the wagon to tamp down the tramps and clamp down the train-car. Mr Incredible wastes not a second in hustling the meat-wagon along the tracks, out of the yard and safely into the hands of waiting rescuers; beyond the burning ring of fire.
Even as he stages this first rescue, Mr Incredible is looking around for the owner of the chill-hand, that is doing so good a job at making his task so cool and easy. Mr Incredible can hardly believe that Frozone has got done with all of his chores already; but cannot stop from hoping for a chance to work with his buddy again. He calls out to Frozone, but gets none of a reply, the glacial skater is nowhere to be seen. In place of the expected ice there is a whirling shimmer of light; one that intermingles with the flames and smoke to knife a cool passage through the blaze. On the ladder of the caboose, by Mr Incredible's right hand, there rises a pair of pale, bare calves, extending up to a brief skirt … from beyond the waistband, there flows a smooth, symphony of skin and muscle, barely covered at the curve of the chest. The all of it is topped by the head and hand of Rainbow, as she gives him a wry salute.
With the wagon off their hands the hero and heroine are clear to face the scorching maelstrom again, which they do with aplomb. They swing into instant effectiveness, as if they've been teamed for years, instead of just the twice it has been to date: Rainbow mounts the struts of the railcar ladders to note and plot the way ahead. Mr Incredible feels such a certain trust in Rainbow that he is happy to go by her word alone and be sure her powers can keep them both safe. Her efforts free Mr Incredible to hustle the wagons out of the yard, by his pure brute force, and not have to fret at all over wayfinding or safeguarding. The duo team are firing wagons out of the firestorm, as if they're shots in a pinball game.
Games there are in plenty: as Mr Incredible takes the lead and steers the girl from target to target. In the fury and roar of the furnace there is little enough point in him thinking to be heard: so he slaps her on the leg and then points ... slaps her on the calf, then the knee and, eventually, up to the inner thigh. If Mr Incredible's adrenalin and excitement hasn't been fired up enough by the heat of the action then, getting the lass he has the hots for right under his hands and in his face, can only send him to boiling point. Rainbow can hardly be more in his face, in the plainest of ways, on those rungs — with the back of her legs, her derriere, her waist and the small of her back all in his eye-line; so close that he can read the texture of her skin.
He doesn't feel the least doubt that she is as aware of it as he is; she hasn't rebuffed him at all. He dares to raise his hand higher, at every opportunity, till it has insinuated itself under her skirt, at the very edge of her undergarment. That is a far as his courage can carry him: he stalls, afraid that any further intimacy will receive a dismissal. Rainbow may almost be reading his mind: as she reaches down and eases his hand away; and then impels him to lower his head, to sink his gaze. Now Mr Incredible can only eye the flank of the wagon that he is propelling. He sees the caboose and a scrap of black that drifts down from above; into a puddle of fire, where it flares into ashes. Whatever about having his head bent down and his hand sent back: Mr Incredible has to see whatever has happened above and raises his eyes to discover virgin territory overhead.
Rainbow has burnt the shield between them; now the game and his hand both rise to new heights. From here on. when Mr Incredible signals her, his hand can clasp and enfold the swell of an unveiled derriere. Rainbow seems quite content, if his two hands slip beneath her skirt to grip her hips and ride her across to the next railcar. Elsewise, he lifts her onto his shoulder: to sit her there like a little child, as they look for which rail to work on next, the hand that braces her up finds a way under her skirt; to the inside of her thighs and the sweet promise nestled there.
Mr Incredible deeply hopes that all of these overtures of passion will crescendo in the near future; for now they've fireworks enough to face ahead of them. The iron wagon, with the combustibles for the festival, has got up to such a heat that the minor gunpowders are exploding and shaking the railcar almost off of the tracks. Rainbow springs onto the caboose ladder and whips up her pathway of cool light. Mr Incredible puts his shoulder to the back of the wagon and pushes with all of his strength. He means for it to go flying along the track; instead, it stays exactly where it is, only rocking slightly. This jumping-bean of a railcar is dancing about so much that it is barely staying on the track. There is just no way to get the traction needed to nudge the wagons along, not, at least, at first; not till Rainbow has anchored it down by a weaving of light. Mr Incredible is turned sideways, his shoulder against the is little in his vision except the rungs of the caboose and the lower limbs of Rainbow. The two heroes are meshing well together: Rainbow uses her powers to press the wagon into place on the rails: letting Mr Incredible get the grip he needs to get the wagon rolling. All of this achievement doesn't come without a price: for a while now the heat around them has been rising and their cool pathway vanishing away.
The rising heat is not yet hot enough to burn anyone, but Mr Incredible is sweating, even inside of his supersuit; he steps up the pace, to try and race out this one jolting wagon, before the temperature alone defeats them. He is afraid it will all be too hot for human flesh to handle. The worry is gone as soon as it came, as is the flame cooked air; everything is tame again. There seems to be a petit cyclone enclosing himself and the wagon; it spins out the heat and spins in the cool. Gazing up to Rainbow, Mr Incredible lifts his hand, to get her attention and to give her thanks. Instead, of that, he gasps and drops his hand, thunderstruck by the sudden knowledge of what she has done: Rainbow has harnessed the air into a current that presses down on the railcar then swirls to ground-level, where it curls back and up and away. This lifts all of the combusted air skywards and highwards; to build a cool-zone at track-level, at his level. For all that, Rainbow is no magician for all of her powers; the scorchness may move onwards yet it still has to go somewhere. That place is above and around Rainbow her ownself
Mr Incredible chills inside; at the shock of how Rainbow is exposing herself to getting burnt alive. She has left herself nothing except superheated air to breath. All of this is for his benefit, for his safety! Rainbow has put herself in most terrible peril; yet Mr Incredible can't help appreciating the aftereffects. Her skin is moist and radiant with perspiration, that glows and shines in the firelight — even as it dampens down her costume into a second skin, that moulds itself around her form, immodestly and enticingly. Perspiration gathers in the hollow between her legs, before rolling lower, in a languid and gelid slide down her thighs; one that catches his eyes — as he imagines another kind of heat there and whiter trails trickling down,
However, the idea has hardly begun to play itself out in his mind, before they are at the perimeter and handing the wagon over to be hosed down, even as they dive back into the inferno. There are many more wagons to shift but the worst of them are gone; there are no more hazard cargoes but only engines, fuel and the matchwood of the empty wains. These still form a risk; yet it is only a matter of persistence and endurance: to switch from track to track, and power the railcars out, before any of them can overheat, combust, detonate. Thanks to the close link between Rainbow and Incredible, none of the ignitions that Firedrake sparked in the trainyard have escalated into combustion; none at least of the railcars — sparks aplenty are flying between hero and heroine.
Whatever about the chemistry; duty comes first: with the trainyard safe, Mr Incredible mikes around the team and quickly finds that everything is under control. That leaves him free to pursue his longing for Rainbow; this time he has no intention of letting her go or hearing her say « no ». It might as well be billboarded that the two of them want to grind together and he will make it happen. Mr Incredible indicates a lone, unburnt and ignored railcar in a far corner of the yard; plainly the spot for an in-depth investigation between him and her.
The fever-heat that has burnt between Mr Incredible and Rainbow since there first meeting has soared even higher as they fought the mundane fire. Perverse or not it is a truth that superheroes often find passion amidst missions. This looks to be as true for this hero and heroine as any; except that a chilly wall of white interposes itself. Here is Frozone: sliding, gliding in on a wintery wave, a barrier of ice and calling out:
« Yo, Big Man! I've iced and aced all them fires; figured I'd come, eyeball how you're doing. Doing okay I see! Are you going to introduce me to this lovely lady? She sure is easy on the eye; lucky dog, seems you're best buds already. Not the little lady though, not Elastigirl in new threads. Guessing this is the Rainbow girl that's been lighting up the town and it is so cool to meet you in the flesh, chickadee. Sweet, sweet flesh! »
She nods, gives a little bow, says nothing, lets Frozone continue.
« Strong, silent type; huh! Hey now, let your bod do the talking I say; gal like you is coasting on looks. Back in the day, every superboy in town would have been knocking at your door and yours truly would have been first in line. For one smoking-hot kiss from those lovely lips; me and the Big Guy could have turned arch-enemies. Could have! Not no more, we're both of us safely, happily married.
Frozone turns to Mr Incredible an delivers a playful blow on the shoulder; much as hospitals deliver shocks to bring folks round to their good senses.
« Right Big Guy! Got us our honeys, homes and families. We're not those young studs no more; can't go chasing the tail these days; no, no ... not even as fine a one as yours. Don't you go leading us astray now, you hear. Hey, but listen to me; spout. I'm not made to be your guardian angel; you're grown folks. See you around and remember ... be good. »
Frozone is gone in one swift, glacial ride but he's left a frost behind him, between the twosome;. it isn't nearly enough, nothing like enough of a frost to counter the inferno burning between the pair. In moments they are at the caboose door; yet Bob's hand has barely has a chance to seize it. A long leg elongates itself over the wagon and down in front of them. They hardly have time to break apart, before the rest of Elastigirl has coiled into sight, to stand between them. The veteran heroine doesn't waste words, whatever it might be she has seen or thinks she has seen. She explains her needs.
« Frozone told me you were here; you're Rainbow, I know, I've heard plenty about you. Though I hadn't thought you'd be so young; you could just be my girl's older sister. Looks like you and My Husband have bonded fine but I need you to work with me now. We've all got lives to save and no time for anything personal.
Helen gives Bob a speaking look then continues.
« Rainbow, you've got some kind of personal radar, right? We need it. All the workers hid in the sheds along the North Wall and they've just gone up in a flash. More of Firdrake's traps. Me and mine can save them but we can't find them. It's a prefab jungle and no time for a door to door trek. You good for this?
Just as with Frozone, Rainbow says not a word, but she nods agreement. The trio race off to the North Wall and make their base under a water-tower, being where Helen had left Dash. Rainbow emanates a gossamer, silver mist that spreads through the complex like any normal fog. There is nothing ordinary about how it tells her where all of the humans are or how she can pass the knowledge on, through the Incredimike she has been lent. Bob. Helen and Rainbow mesh like cogs in a machine, understanding each other at an intimate and elemental level. Violet hasn't yet shown from her task; the only one of the Incredibles not yet seen alongside Rainbow. Dash is there; but he is kept well out of the hazard zone. He is given the job of pointing the rising tally of the saved in the direction of the emergency services. It is the kind of rapid and seamless conveyor belt of a rescue that can only be achieved by superheroes.
It all goes so well that Rainbow is nearly ready to declare the complex empty but one last sweep finds one more hut. This is different from anything before; it was hidden deep in the complex and only came to light as the other buildings around it crumpled. More than that too: this shed has only two minute and grilled windows, while the door is securely locked from the outside. Rainbow can tell plenty of detail on the crowd of people but it is not enough and not a rescue; nor is even an Elastigirl able to save them. One glimpse of her serpentine form (eeling through the barred and glassless window) and the entire throng inside go into a paroxysm and attack her in every way they can.
It seems that these are every wetback employee on site. They've been hidden away, locked away and left to burn. They've no way to open the coded door of their prison and won't take help from any superhero. Being as ignorant of the States as they are, they've no idea of what a superhero is. The sight of a Mr Incredible or an Elastigirl in action only stirs a rampaging mob frenzy.
Elastigirl withdraws in disorder, to the watertower, to confer with her confederates. Rainbow has the solution: she reaches out and touches Elastigirl intently: the elder superheroine is still herself but now under a range of smokey hues. In this disguise Elastigirl has no trouble to blend her sinuous form with the curling smoke and free all of the immigrant employees. The door code was there, clear and plain, but in words not numerals and no use at all to those weak in the English tongue.
Elastigirl reports all of this to her team, as she rejoins them and gets back her normal pigmentation. With that done, Rainbow no longer has to divert any of her power to Elastigirl, and is free to make a last and sure check of the hutments. Rainbow pours all of herself into this final search until she is able to say for certain nobody else at all is at risk. Nobody is at risk, except Rainbow herself, who lost touch with her own surroundings, as she went almost entirely out-of-body on her last scan of all. The cost is that Rainbow has managed to brand her leg with the brand of the water-tower. Making contact with an overheated stanchion, Rainbow collects up a souvenir of her first appearance with The Incredibles. The insignia of "Vortex Water Parts" is seared onto her calf for good and ever. It is meant to be a sea-swirl but appears as more of an abstract sun or star than any welded whirlpool.
Violet is still out of the scene and Frozone is nowhere in evidence. He must still be uncomfortable around his old comrades, since the row that cooled their friendship. Dash is there but only a kid with his own concerns. it means the two adult Incredibles are the first to notice and to worry over the damage Rainbow has taken. She is as yet too much in the zone to be aware of mundane hurts. The first Rainbow knows of it is when she finds the superhero husband and wife fretting over her and wanting to lay hands on her. Rainbow wants none of that, she has far too many secrets they must not discover.
Dash really has no time at all for any of this adult panic; he wants to see Rainbow do her chameleon trick again. The young superheroine is more than happy to oblige, as it takes the attention entirely off from her. She makes the biggest of fusses (in her silent mime fashion) of slashing Dash over with tiger stripings. The moment he catches a sight of himself, Dash becomes the speediest, bounding, pouncing big-cat ever; to the appreciation and amusement of all the others. Happy at having fought down the fire and enjoying the aftermath in each other's company; they indulge Dash completely.
The Incredibles speedster wants to have the disguise of every racing animal he fancies. At the last he ends up as a cheetah. It is the big finish, so far as Dash knows, only Rainbow has a final touch to add; one that leaves Dash indignant. He is fuming and almost steaming in the tortoiseshell decor that Rainbow has put on him. Yet so, the others are fit to collapse, with the joke of it and the sight of his face.. Moving on from that: Rainbow draws all of the Incredibles into a huddle; drapes her arms about them ... then stuns them all with a corona blaze, that leaves them blinking. When their eyes clear: all of the markings are gone and so is Rainbow; gone as if she had been no more than a mirage.
Violet only arrives after Rainbow has left and so the two young heroines have yet to be seen together. For all of that, Violet is only good to be an audience here. The star of the moment is Dash, the lively boy who has to make everyone hear over and again how it was so cool what Rainbow did to him. All that his sister can think is.
Lucky! That was so lucky. Powers I've got now, folks only get to see what I want them to see. Yeh they never see Violet but they sure do see Rainbow. Way to throw the new mask though; get a trademark scar n enough attention that folks stop seeing the mirage. Yeh mom n pop if you ever stop to look n think your jaws are gonna fall off. Go Dash! Keep 'em all blind.
Not on eye flickers off Dash to see his big sis rubbing the welt on her calf.