"Don't hurt him!" Mr. Incredible pleaded. "Don't hurt my son!"
Seeing that the man of muscle was at her mercy, Anna Konda gestured with her free hand for her companions to follow her. "Don't do anything stupid," she warned Mr. Incredible. "I can crush him with a thought."
Still holding the semi-conscious Dash high above her head, the snake woman walked deeper into the alley, accompanied by Impregnable Man and The Transfixer. Desperate for his son's safety, Robert Parr made no attempt to intervene as they passed by him and eventually disappeared from view.
Elastigirl and Violet shook their heads. "Oh, no," the rubbery heroine moaned. "He did it to me again."
"And me," her daughter lamented.
Helen Parr looked around the alleyway. "Where's Dash?"
The roar of a rocket engine hit their ears. The same flying vehicle which Triple Threat had used to escape after the bank robbery, was now floating into the sky above them.
"They won't get away this time," Elastigirl vowed. "Bob! Throw me!"
Before Mr. Incredible could decide on a course of action, the canopy of the rocket vehicle split open, ejecting Dash. The boy plunged toward Earth, screaming, while Triple Threat jetted away to the horizon.
"Throw me NOW!" shrieked Elastigirl.
He didn't need to be asked a third time. Wrapping a hand around his wife's waist, he heaved with all his strength, sending the woman on a direct course toward her plummeting son.
At the same time, Violet raised her hands and concentrated. An energy bubble formed around Dash, slowing his descent--just in time for Elastigirl to reach the spot and collide head-on with the bubble.
The impact dazed her and shattered Violet's force ball. Now Dash and Elastigirl were both falling helplessly toward a canyon between two buildings.
"Put another field around them!" Mr. Incredible urged Violet.
"There's no time!" the girl wailed.
Just as death seemed certain, Elastigirl regained her wits and expanded herself into a trampoline, grasping the ledges of the two structures. Dash landed on her back and bounced high into the air. He performed several more bounces before coming to a rest.
"Awesome!" he enthused. "Let's do that again!"
Mr. Incredible shook his head in disappointment. "That situation called for a bit of advance planning."
----
Minutes later the Parrs, having changed into their normal clothes, were discussing their latest defeat while driving through a residential area.
"Well, we learned a little more about The Transfixer today," Bob remarked. "Next time we'll be prepared, won't we?"
"Imagine that," Helen mused. "Being able to switch between male and female at will. Even I'm not that flexible."
"Mom, Dad," said Violet in a nervous, hushed tone, "when The Transfixer was a girl, she looked a lot like Chris Hamilton."
"A lot of girls look like Chris," her mother pointed out.
A shocking realization entered Dash's mind. "Uh-oh..."
"What is it, son?" asked Bob.
"When Chris showed me her face," Dash recalled, "I couldn't look away from it."
A pall descended over the family. No one dared speak what they suddenly knew.
They pulled into their driveway at the same time that the Hamiltons arrived in their station wagon. The two clans left their vehicles, and the Parrs began to glare distrustfully at their neighbors.
"Why are they looking at us like that?" Chris asked her father.
"I...don't know," replied Mr. Hamilton.
Then, as he carefully regarded the suspicious family before him, the truth struck him like a bolt. "Oh, God, no..."
For a moment that seemed like an hour, the Parrs and the Hamiltons only stared at each other wordlessly. Not one of them could think of a way to defuse the uncomfortable situation.
Finally Mr. Hamilton spoke up. Extending a hand to Bob, he said, "I propose a truce. We give up crime, you stop fighting us, and we keep each other's secrets."
"Deal," said Mr. Parr, shaking the man's hand.
The neighbors cemented their peace agreement with a barbecue.
"Just how many supervillans were relocated under this program?" asked Bob as he munched on a hot dog.
"I'm not at liberty to divulge that figure," replied Mr. Hamilton, who was turning over a chicken patty on the grill.
"What's it like, being able to turn into a boy any time you want?" Violet asked Chris.
"I've pretty much taken it for granted," the blond girl answered. "I've had the ability since I was a kid. What's it like being stuck as a girl?"
The next day Chris invited Violet into her circle of shallow friends, and they got along swimmingly. Even though they were on opposite sides of the law, Violet was grateful to know someone her own age who understood the complexities of growing up super.
After school had let out, Violet was once again approached by Marvin, the boy who had taken her number the previous day.
"Hi, Marvin," she said coyly. "What's up?"
"Same old, same old," the boy replied. "School, chess club, music practice."
Violet smiled sympathetically at him.
"Hey, are you doing anything this weekend?" Marvin asked her.
----
Coming up next: Talons of the Bald Eagle!