A/N: Out of order from the last chapter, I know!
It's all very familiar. Mr. Incredible arriving on the scene, revved and ready to save the day. Bystanders poised, waiting for the hero to put a stop to evil. Cue the epic action scene.
But...this time is different. This time, there's more at stake. He swallows his emotions and files them away in a lockbox, to be accessed and dissected later. Or never.
"Wait here and stay hidden," Bob tells his family during one final quiet moment in the RV, before the inevitable chaos begins. "I'm going in."
He slips out of the driver's side, noticing with a huff that his wife has followed him.
"While what?" Helen protests. "I watch helplessly from the sidelines? I don't think so."
Bob is reminded of a particularly bold interview Elastigirl gave some fifteen years earlier, and how the media used that line as a pull quote for just about every mention of her thereafter.
But that was then.
"I'm asking you to wait with the kids," he reasons, not really answering her question.
Helen's brown eyes narrow beneath their mask, and Bob sighs, kicking himself for thinking it would be an easy fight.
"And I'm telling you not a chance," she fires back. "You're my husband. I'm with you - for better or worse."
Does she have to bring their vows into this? Jeez.
"I have to do this alone," he tries.
Well, that was the wrong thing to say.
"What is this to you? Playtime?" she snaps, voice rising in pitch.
"No."
How can he make her understand? A ball of dread forms in his stomach at the thought of putting his insecurities out in the open. There's still so much they have to discuss, and this is definitely not the place for it.
"So you can be Mr. lncredible again?"
Helen's sneered words hurt a bit more than they should, but Bob remembers that his hero complex is what got them tangled up in this mess in the first place, so really, he deserves it.
"No!"
She's fully exasperated now, clearly struggling to read him, but he keeps avoiding her gaze.
"Then what? What is it?"
"I'm not…" He can't say it.
"Not what?"
Bob hangs his head.
"I'm not strong enough," he mutters, haunted by the still-too-fresh memory of thinking his entire family had perished in that missile attack on the island. The mere thought of never getting to see his children grow up, of never hearing Helen's laugh again, or seeing the loving look in her eyes when he does something right...
He says none of this out loud, of course.
"Strong enough," Helen repeats, dumbfounded. "And this will make you stronger?"
"Yes. No!" he replies frantically, unable to form the right words and missing the mark again.
"That's what this is?" she asks, eyes widening as she absorbs the first part of his hurried response. "Some sort of workout?"
"I can't lose you again!" he finally roars, and Helen's mouth falls open.
"I can't. Not again. I'm not...strong enough."
The last words of this admission are almost whispered. There's a beat of silence, and his heart nearly stops as he waits for her response.
How funny that his power is super strength, and yet when it comes down to it, he can't manage anything but utter emotional vulnerability.
And then Helen, his sweet Helen, the elastic love of his life, is tilting his broad chin up with one gloved hand.
He realizes that, like him, she's been awake for at least 24 hours. Up close, he can see that her normally lively chocolate eyes are rimmed with dark shadows. But most importantly, they're pooled with sympathy and understanding.
Bob is shocked when she pulls him in for a kiss, mirroring his own impulsive action in the containment chamber, and he tries to silently transmit an apology. An apology for lying, for sneaking out, for dooming them all, for being insufficient in every sense of the word…
She breaks the connection too soon.
"If we work together," she says, her tone much too forgiving, "You won't have to be."
"I don't know what'll happen," he mumbles, still feeling inadequate.
"Hey, we're superheroes," Helen replies, throwing his words from their wedding back at him.
"…What can happen?"