AN: I really appreciate all the feedback I've gotten - its the reviews that really make writing these stories worthwhile. I've taken a few guesses at Bob's history here. Also, please note that all of my Incredibles stories take place in the same universe.

Disclaimer: All characters and indica belong to Disney and Pixar, not me.

Chapter 2: My Dad, Mr. Incredible

The sports car cruised through the suburbs in the deepening twilight. Violet fixed her hair, looking in the mirror, fixed it again, and then sat in silence, drumming her fingers on

the glove compartment nervously.

"Dad," she said suddenly. "I need a name."

Bob Parr had been a little distracted, still planning his meeting with the National Guard commander later that evening. "You need a what, Violet?"

"A name, Dad."

Her dad looked at her out of the corner of his eye. Violet couldn't help but notice the old scarring around his right eye, and made a mental note to ask about it later. "What's wrong with the name you've got? You don't like Violet?"

Violet prayed to whomever was listening for patience when dealing with clueless parents. "Not a real name, Dad. A super hero name. You know, like you are Mr. Incredible and Mom is Elastigirl?"

"Uh huh. Well, have you given it any thought?" her father asked. His voice sounded casual, but Violet caught a strange, intense undercurrent. Despite his light tone, her dad was taking this very seriously.

"Well, a little," she said slowly, choosing her words carefully. "I don't want to called 'Little Miss Incredible' or 'Incredigirl,' or whatever. No offense to you, dad – it just doesn't seem to fit me very well."

Her father nodded, keeping his eyes on the road. "Choosing your super identity is a very important part of deciding who you become, you know," he said. "Your real name is hidden away and closely guarded – only your very closest friends, and your sponsor within the government, knows it. To the rest of the world, including most of the other supers, your 'handle' is your only identity. It has to be something that you will be proud to bear, and is should have something to do with who you are, or who you want to be."

Violet wasn't sure she'd ever heard her father speak with such quiet force – she was impressed. "This is a big deal, isn't it?"

"The biggest. Names are powerful – respect them."

"Well, how do I choose, then?"

Her dad was quiet for a minute. "Some people choose their names based on their abilities – your mother, for example, went by Elastigirl because she wanted everyone to know just what it was that made her 'super.' Some people choose them for their personalities or their backgrounds – I knew a girl from Texas who went by Dixie Twist. Never knew her real name. Some people get clever, making little jokes with their names and powers – like Dust Devil, or Gazer Beam."

The red sports car made the turn at the light, heading towards the mall and the Cineplex. "Its more serious for others. Lucius Best was called Chill Out for a little while. When he and I started working together in the late seventies, black people weren't always treated fairly by the public at large, and that went for black superheroes as well. Lucius wanted a name that showed that he wasn't going to apologize for who he was – and so he picked the name Frozone. It was a clever little play on his powers, but it was a statement as well."

"What about you, Dad? Yours doesn't fit any of what you've been telling me."

Her father sighed heavily as he pulled into a parking space. "One thing you've got to understand is that my father was not very supportive of me wanting to be a superhero. He'd been a cop for more than twenty years, and he told me that if I was serious about wanting to help people, I'd join the MPD, and not be some 'tight-wearing self-aggrandizing vigilante.'"

"Hey, that's not what supers are!" Violet said indignantly, unbuckling her seat belt and grabbing her purse.

"Well, your grandfather was a very old-fashioned man. He'd served in the second world war, and come out with a heap of medals. He didn't think that having strange powers was enough to make someone a hero – I don't think he realized that when I wanted to help people, I wanted to follow his example. Anyways, I didn't have a super-identity at the time – after a couple of successful bits of work, the papers started calling me 'the Man of Muscle,' which worked as well as anything else. I was only seventeen at the time, skipping school to go save people..." He paused and looked at Violet with a little grin. "which does not mean you are allowed to skip school to do the same, young lady." Violet grinned cheekily at him.

"Anyways, I had just come home late one afternoon, all bruised up and covered in rubble. There was a villain who called himself California Bedrock, who could turn himself into stone – we got into a fight. I'm sorry to say I came out second-best, and Bedrock escaped when the police arrived." Violet sat in the darkened car, listening in awe. Her dad never talked about his heroics before he met her mother. She knew that he and Lucius had been friends, but all this was totally new.

"Well, I came home, my dad was getting into uniform – he'd been called to do an extra shift, because Bedrock was causing so much damage. Well he takes one look at me, and lays into me for showboating and being irresponsible. It was the loudest fight we'd ever gotten in to – and it continued until I got so angry that I punched a wall. Punched a hole clean through it. 'Well, I guess you are happy just going off and being some kind of Mr. Incredible,' Dad said, and he buckled on his gun and left." There was a long silence. It seemed to Violet that her dad was fighting very hard to keep his voice under control.

"Looking back, I think he was just worried about me, and didn't really know how to express it. That evening was the last time I ever spoke to him. Later that evening, I heard on the radio that Bedrock attacked the police station and destroyed it. By the time I got there, it was nothing but rubble – I tore the station apart looking for him, but it was too late. He had been crushed."

"Oh my God, Dad, I had no idea..."

"I found Bedrock later that night. When it was all over, the police collected him. As far as I know, he's still rotting in Roswell Superhuman Prison. Someone asked me who I was, why I had risked myself to stop him... and I knew that I needed a name. I decided to take the name Mr. Incredible, in memory of my father – so I would always remember that you didn't need to be super to be a hero."

"Wow. I had no idea it was such a big deal," Violet said uncertainly as she exited the car. "I guess I'll give it some more thought." She watched a little apprehensively as her dad seemed to shake off his reverie, and then smiled down at her.

"You got me talking too much, Flower. No need to look so serious!" he said, gently chucking her on the chin. "I'm sure that whatever you'll decide will be perfect."

Violet rolled her eyes again. "Dad, I think I outgrew that nickname like six years ago. Anyways, there's no rush, right? I've got plenty of time to think it over!" Actually, all thoughts of being a superheroine flew out of her mind about three seconds later. "Oh look, there's Tony!" she squealed, waving enthusiastically.

Tony Ridinger spotted them, and jogged over. He was wearing blue jeans, sneakers, and a black long-sleeved shirt which Violet thought looked very nice on him. He still needs a haircut, she thought, and had to stifle a giggle.

"Hi Violet," he said, smiling nervously. "Hi Mr. Parr," he said, deepening his voice and trying to look as mature and responsible as he could. He stuck out a hand.

"Hello, Tony," Bob said, taking Tony's hand in a massive fist and shaking it seriously. Turning to his daughter, he handed her a small red phone. "You two have a good time. Violet, if there are any problems, you can call your mother on the... on her personal cell phone, and she'll send someone to pick you up, ok? I've got to meet the Colonel, and your mom and I might have to work late tonight." Violet raised her eyebrows at her dad. She knew he was about to say on the Incrediphone, and caught himself at the last minute. That her parents were working late was one of the prearranged codes – it meant that Mom and Dad, and possibly Dash, would be on an evening patrol.

"Alright, Dad. Good luck with your meeting, and Tony's mom will give me a ride home, so don't worry!"

As her father zoomed off towards the city, Violet looked at Tony. There was a short but awkward silence. "So," Violet said, too brightly, "how about we go grab some dinner, huh?"

"Uh, yeah! Yeah, good plan," Tony said. The two of them set off through the mall, going generally towards the food court at the far end. If they stayed a little closer than they normally would, and "accidentally" bumped each other every couple of steps, no one objected.

"So you said there was a good Chinese place around here?"

"Yeah, its great! Lemme see if I can find it..."

"Hey, look at the toy store! I didn't know they were making Mr. Incredible action figures! Wow, he is so cool. I'd love to be a superhero..."

Violet thought briefly of her dad, driving off to a meeting, trying to keep the city safe. It was nice to be super, she guessed, but it was also kind of nice to be normal for a while. Just a normal girl on a night out.