"Dash, slow down! Wait!" Violet yelled out to the blur of blonde hair and red super suit in front of her. Someone should really keep track of how many times people have told the boy to hold a steady pace so others could keep up.
Dash skidded to a stop, his boots scraping the surface of the terrain as he did so. He looked back at his sister with an impatient scowl. "Hurry up then! You've got long legs!" He looked down at the giggling toddler squirming in his arms. "And I'm the one carrying Jack-Jack here, you're the one who should be ahead."
The fourteen-year-old rolled her eyes. "I'm not the one with super speed, moron." She held a firm grip on his shoulder to prevent him from racing off again. "We need to stay together."
"No way!" Dash argued, struggling to keep their little brother secure in his grasp. "We need to hurry up and find a way to get to Mom and Dad!"
"No," Violet retorted in a reminding tone. "Mom said if we ever got separated from them that we find somewhere safe, stay there, and they'll find us." Then she scoffed and shook her head. "You never listen."
"Alright then, oh wise leader," Dash jeered. "What do you suggest we do?"
"Exactly what I said: find some place safe and stay there." Thanks to the tracking devices in their super suits, it should be a breeze for their parents to locate them in this massive area. The teenager took Jack-Jack from her brother's arms and continued the way down the path. "Come on, let's find somewhere to rest." With that, the kids resumed their trek among the wilderness.
Earlier that evening, the family had been called on by the redeveloping National Supers Agency to assist in a clean up mission on a remote island. A mad science experiment gone wrong; the Parr's discovered that the enemy was a group of vicious, mutated creatures which took the forms of a range of animals local to the ecosystem. The scientist responsible had yet to be located. Unfortunately, the parents and kids had been separated by a ravine that carved its way into the jungle floor. Now the young supers waited anxiously for a rescue or to prepare for a battle against one of the monsters that roamed the place.
Jack-Jack, hunched over Violet's shoulder, amusingly watched his older brother who was treading just behind them. Dash kept making funny faces at Jack-Jack which made him laugh and try and imitate the same face. But soon, Dash started to get annoyed at the multiple bugs, branches, and plants that constantly got in his way.
"I can't believe we're stranded in some stupid jungle again." Dash complained after walking for about half an hour. The scenery hadn't changed all that much, just tree after tree, vine after vine, and occasionally a small swamp or two. At this rate, walking at a speed lower than thirty miles an hour, Dash would rather fall asleep standing up than continue on with their journey to...somewhere. And with the way the sun was setting, getting some sleep was sounding like a very pleasant idea.
"I'm tired!" the boy whined and he took a seat near the closest tree his masked eyes could spot (it wasn't really hard, there were tons of them around). "Let's take a break."
Violet paused mid-walk to turn around and glance at her brother. "Dash, not now. We need to keep moving." She jerked a thumb behind her. "Let's go."
The middle child just glared back, preparing himself for yet another one of their infamous squabbles. "Nuh uh. I'm staying here!" He put on one of his signature pouts and folded his arms as he sat motionless beneath the giant plant.
'Looks like I'm gonna have to do this the hard way,' the girl thought to herself. Setting her baby brother down on a rock, she smiled at him and said: "Just stay here for a moment, okay? I gotta go deal with this little pain for a second." Her soft smile quickly turned to a grim scowl, one that could be identical to their mother's, as she focused her attention on Dash.
She stormed towards the boy, yanked him to his feet roughly and glared into his, now terrified, blue eyes. "I am not in the mood to play one of your childish, rebellious games. We're losing daylight, and I'm not gonna let all three of us become live bait just because you don't want to listen to me." Violet backed away slowly, still eyeing the young speed demon who looked like he had just been caught with both hands in the cookie jar.
Violet picked up Jack-Jack, who was now starting to yawn and rub his eyes. She knew that was a good sign at the most. Jack-Jack was an unpredictable bundle of energy these days, one that could possibly rival Dash. However, when all of that energy had been burned out, the toddler slept like a rock. The girl began to inspect the trees that surrounded them, glancing up at the towering branches to see if one could hold all three of them.
Suddenly, the kids heard a massive roar far in the distance. Jack-Jack began to whimper, and Violet wasted no time in finding a tree that would be suitable to hide in. Frantically, she pushed her brother near the large oak. "Up the tree. Now."
"Oh man, I hate climbing," Dash grumbled as he clawed at the bark trying to pull himself up. He found a solid web of branches where all of them could rest and be free from any danger (unless one of them were to fall out of the tree, head first). "How are we gonna get Jack-Jack up here?" he yelled down at his sister. Violet didn't respond. Instead, she formed a force field around the youngest super and levitated him up to where her brother was perched.
"Catch him!" She yelled as she popped the plasma field above Dash's head. Jack Jack landed in his arms, giggling and clapping his small hands together in enjoyment. The older brother smirked; a happy Jack-Jack was better than an emotional Jack-Jack. Violet eventually climbed her way up the tree and joined her brothers.
Dash, still grumpy over his sister's earlier outburst at him, set down Jack-Jack in a nest of leaves and branches and went to sulk on another branch, opposite of his siblings. Violet leaned back into the crook of the thick branches, Jack-Jack slowly starting to fall asleep by her side. She softly rubbed the small child's back in order to assure he'd sleep through the rest of the evening. Jack-Jack smiled contently, sucking on his thumb as he drifted off in slumber.
Satisfied that one of her brothers was safe and relaxed, Violet peered over to the other one who was pouting on another branch away from them, but not too far out of sight. She wasn't unfamiliar with the whole silent treatment schtick. In fact, it was more often than not her who was delivering it. She knew what it was about; wanting a certain person to know that you're upset with them or hurt, and sometimes you can't express how you really feel, so just saying nothing at all makes it astonishingly louder.
Silently, the teenager stood up and turned invisible. If she had to talk with her pain-in-the-neck brother, she figured she'd ought to have some fun first. Creeping up behind the moping ten-year-old, she started poking at his head until he brought up a hand to brush the invading force away. After a few more attempts, the kid finally snapped. "Violet, cut it out!"
Instantly, the girl turned visible and put a gloved hand over his mouth. "Shut up!" She hissed. "You'll wake up Jack-Jack!"
He batted her hand away. "Then leave me alone," Dash retorted back in a harsh whisper.
Violet took a seat next to him and scoffed. "Oh come on, are you just acting like a brat because I yelled at you? I yell at you all the time."
The boy shook his head. "I'm sick of you bossing me around!" He growled. "You always get left in charge it's not fair!" It was true. As soon as Bob and Helen deemed Violet old enough to babysit, she's always been the one left to watch over her brothers when they were left alone. At first Dash didn't mind at all, it just gave him another reason to annoy his sister. But sooner or later, he got tired of it. Why couldn't Mom and Dad leave him in charge for once? He could prove that he was mature and somewhat responsible enough.
"You think I like being in charge of you guys?" She questioned him. "I never get to do things on my own because I always get stuck with babysitting you dweebs! You think that having this responsibility and authority would be a total blast?"
"Yes!" Dash exclaimed softly, careful not to wake his sleeping brother a few feet away. "What's not to love about bossing others around and making them do stuff?"
Violet wanted to hit her brother in the back of the head. Clearly he wasn't understanding the downside of being in charge. If they had been at home, where they had walls and security, it would've been a whole other story. "What's not to love?" she scoffed at his ignorance. "How about the people you're in charge of not wanting to listen to you? What about the fact that as supers, we're constantly thrown into danger and one wrong mishap could end horribly? And if it did end horribly, guess who the blame's on? You."
Dash remained silent as Violet continued. "And if you guys got hurt or even worse..." She paused when she heard the soft whining of Jack-Jack from behind. The child was fussing and kicking his feet in his sleep, possibly the result of a nightmare. Violet got up to go calm him down before his powers could start to go haywire. Dash followed behind her.
Cautiously cradling Jack-Jack in her arms, Violet leaned back against the trunk of the tree. After his fussing had reduced, she gently placed him next to her side, a protective arm around him. Dash settled in next to his sister and she ruffled his blonde hair as a sign of goodwill.
"I'm just doing what Mom always tells us to do. Keeping us safe."
Dash respected that. Never in a million years would he admit it out loud, but deep down he looked up to Violet. He didn't really know why, maybe it was just a thing every younger sibling goes through; having a secret reverence for those older than you.
"Sorry I didn't listen to you," Dash mumbled and leaned into his sister's arm, using it as a pillow.
"Sorry I yelled at you," Violet apologized back. Both kids finally closed their eyes, but after a moment Dash opened them again. "What if the monsters come and get us while we're all asleep?" He worried.
The girl just smiled as her eyes remained shut. "Then we'll just have to kick their butts."
"All three of us?" Dash asked skeptically.
"Yeah. All three of us," she confirmed.