Ten Years Later…

"Caroline?"

Caroline looked up from the computer console to see her brother looking at her hopefully. "Oh, hi, Jacob. What's up?"

"Dad wants to know if you've found a location for Illusion yet. Says if you have, tell him where, and if you don't, don't bother."

Caroline hesitated. "Illusion? No…no, she's proving rather difficult to locate. And before you ask, I haven't found The Dash either."

Jacob nodded. "Oh, okay. Well, Dad really wants to find them. He says it's surprising that they aren't where they were last time he heard of them…but he won't tell me where that is either," he added with a sigh. "I want to find them too. Look what they did to Dad."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "The last time Dad heard of them, they were still living with their parents, and it was ten years ago. Illusion is twenty-three and The Dash is…nineteen, I think. They've moved out."

"Oh."

Caroline bit her lip and looked at Jacob. His reddish-brown hair flopped in his sparkling brown eyes, hidden behind oval-shaped glasses. He was tallish, slender, smart and serious. The hair was vaguely reminiscent of Bud Pine, but not really. He looked nothing like Caroline, who had pretty green eyes and wavy, honey-blonde hair, or her father. As was fitting; he wasn't really related to her.

He would be eleven come Sunday. She knew it was time to tell him the truth.

"Jacob. Does the name Mr. Incredible mean anything to you?"

Jacob blinked in surprise. "It rings a distant bell, but…should it?"

Caroline suppressed a sigh. "How about ElastiGirl?"

"Nope."

"Violet? Dash? Bob? Helen?"

"Nope, vaguely, nope, and…nope."

This time, Caroline didn't bother covering it up. She heaved a sigh. "Okay, name recognition doesn't work…let's try picture recognition, shall we?"

Turning to the computer database, she typed in MR. INCREDIBLE. A picture flashed up--black-and-white, showing a man in a suit with a lowercase I on the front of it. Location was listed as KNOWN, and a red band across the front of the photo labeled him TERMINATED.

"Okay, that's not right…let's try again." Caroline typed in ELASTIGIRL. A black-and-white picture of a young woman with chin-length hair in a light-colored suit flashed on the screen, location UNKNOWN.

"Jeez, how long has it been since Dad updated these files? Hold on, I've got it now." Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she typed THE INCREDIBLES.

A picture--color this time--flashed onto the screen. A man with a blonde buzz cut, a woman with reddish-brown hair, a young girl with long dark hair, and a small boy with blonde hair, all wearing red-and-black suits.

"The picture's ten years old, but since that'd be the last time you'd have seen them it should be okay." Caroline turned to look at her brother. "Recognize any of them?"

Jacob stared. Something clicked in his head. His hand shook slightly as he pointed to the woman. "Her. I remember her. She was giving me a bath in the sink and telling someone that 'we' had officially moved in somewhere because she'd unpacked the last box." He looked at Caroline. "Is she our aunt?"

Caroline shook her head. "She's your mother, Jacob."

"My mother? What do you mean?"

Caroline cleared the screen and swiveled to face the young boy. "Jacob, Dad…Dad isn't really your dad. He kidnapped you when you were a baby."

"N-no…y-you're lying…"

"Jacob, why would I lie to you? She's ElastiGirl, she's your mother. The man--it's Mr. Incredible--is your father. Those two kids are now known as Illusion and The Dash, but they're your older brother and sister."

Jacob shook his head fiercely. "No! Caro, you're just playing a joke on me. I don't want to be the son of bad people, 'cause I'm not bad!"

Caroline looked into Jacob's brown eyes intently. "They're good, Jacob. They aren't bad."

Jacob backed away from her slightly. "But…but they tried to kill Dad!"

"No, Jacob. I thought they were bad too, but I've been watching them since Dad kidnapped you. They didn't try to kill him…that was an accident. Dad tried to kill them. A good person doesn't try to kill people. Good people respect human life."

"You're lying," Jacob said stubbornly. "Dad is good and they're bad. I know it. I-I'm going to tell him what you told me. He'll tell me the truth."

"No!" Caroline yelped. She jumped out of her chair and grabbed her brother's shoulder. "Jacob, if Dad finds out I told you that, my life won't be worth a bucket of warm donkey spit. Please. If you have to ask him, just tell him…tell him you noticed that you don't look like him or Mom and you wonder if you're really part of the family. Something like that."

Jacob eyed her suspiciously. "Okay, I'll ask him. But you're wrong. You'll see."

That night at dinner, Jacob swallowed what was in his mouth and turned to his father. "Dad?"

"Hmm?" his father said, looking over at him.

"Dad, I noticed…well, I don't look at all like you, and I've seen pictures of Mom and I don't look like her either, so I was wondering…was I adopted?"

His father blinked. "No! No, of course not, Jacob! Whatever put such a silly idea in your head?"

"Well, who do I look like then?"

"Why, you're the spit and image of your mother's cousin's stepbrother's aunt's third cousin's grandfather's nephew's daughter's dog-walker's boyfriend's son from a previous marriage, of course!"

Jacob frowned slightly. "Oh." He shot a Look at Caroline, then finished his meal.

But that night, he pondered it for a minute. Cousin's stepbrother's…wait, then it wouldn't be a blood relative. And the dog-walker's boyfriend's son from a previous marriage…unless he was married to Mom, I wouldn't be related to him at all. Dad was…lying? Oh, my God…

He slipped out of bed and down to the computer room. Caroline had been told to look for Illusion and The Dash some more, but when Jacob went in she was playing Minesweeper.

"Caroline?"

Caroline jumped, clicked out of the program, and whirled quickly, then relaxed. "Oh…hi, Jacob. What is it?"

"Caroline, do you think I could meet my re--the Incredibles? Or whatever their real name is?"

Caroline blinked in astonishment. "Well…I can't get you to talk to them now, but I can show them to you tomorrow if you'd like."

"Please and thank you."