This story is rated PG for violence.

Disclaimer: The Incredibles is (are?) owned by Disney/Pixar.

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Power Shortage is a sequel to Talons of the Bald Eagle. In the previous story, Mr. Incredible returned home from a victorious battle with the radioactive superwoman Plutonia only to find that his superhuman strength was gone. The winged vigilante known as Bald Eagle called Helen/Elastigirl and warned her that The Solon, a mysterious criminal mastermind, sapped Bob's powers using the Philosopher's Stone, a weapon that can transmute matter. Only Helen knows that Bald Eagle is really Edgar Best, estranged son of Lucius Best, a.k.a. Frozone.

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Once he had recovered sufficiently from his nausea, Bob sneaked out of the bedroom and into the garage, where Helen kept her weight set. (Her difficulty in lifting something as insignificant as a manhole cover had inspired her to work out and build muscle.) He added weights to the bar until it reached five hundred pounds, then lay on his back and attempted to lift. He gasped and strained, but couldn't budge the load even by an inch.

"This isn't really happening," he muttered to himself while removing some of the discs. "I can bench-press railroad engines, for crying out loud."

The weight was down to three hundred pounds, and he managed with great effort to raise it above his chest. He slowly lowered it, but found that his muscles were too fatigued to lift the burden a second time.

He lowered the weight to one hundred and sixty, and started to perform some reps. He had little difficulty, but neither would any normal man of the same size and musculature.

"All right," he thought, "maybe the radiation took away my strength temporarily. But strength isn't everything."

Setting down the weight, he crept from the garage into the kitchen. His wife Helen, who was watering the zinnias in the front lawn, didn't notice his movements.

Pulling the meat cleaver from the wooden knife holder, he rested its blade against the tip of his right index finger. Without bothering to brace himself for the pain, he made a quick slicing motion. "Owww!" he winced. Blood trickled from the incision in his once-bulletproof skin.

"This is wrong on so many levels," grumbled the not-so-incredible Bob as he wrapped a bandage around his bleeding fingertip. Other than deliberately breaking a bone, he could think of no additional way to verify that his powers had completely left him.

He lay down on his bed again, considering the prospect of life as a non-super. The thought of the world losing one of its greatest champions appalled him, but not as much as the complications that would arise within the family. As the only member without powers, he would have to stand and watch as they fought for justice.

He wasn't sure how long he had been napping before Helen woke him. "Honey, Dr. Fitz is here."

Bob rubbed his eyes and looked around. His wife and three children surrounded him, expressions of concern on their faces. He also saw a short, slender man in a cardigan sweater, with a black leather medical bag strapped over his shoulder. The man wore a bushy moustache and a mere wisp of curly red hair on his head, and he spoke with a heavy German accent.

"It has been a long time, Herr Incredible."

With an annoyed groan suggesting that he hated being examined by doctors, Bob sat up and swiveled around on the bed. Dr. Fitz immediately zipped open his bag, and drew out a handheld device with a computer display. "Nice to see you too, Theo," Bob said glibly as the doctor waved the device back and forth in front of his chest.

"What did you do to your finger?" Helen asked him.

"Cut myself shaving," he lied.

After waving the medical device several more times, Dr. Fitz lunged forward and jabbed Bob's arm with the probes attached to the end of the gadget. The man of muscle cried out in pain as tiny, diamond-tipped drills pierced his flesh and quickly retracted. The doctor pulled his device away, and Bob tenderly placed his hand over the miniscule holes in his skin.

"What was that for?" he inquired peevishly.

"Muscle biopsy," Dr. Fitz replied. "I only did zis"--he waved the medical gadget in front of Bob a few times--"to get you to relax."

Bob, Helen, Dash, and Violet waited quietly and anxiously as the doctor examined the readout on the computer screen. Jack-Jack gurgled oblivously.

"Hmm...decreased myostatin levels...lower muscle fiber density..." Dr. Fitz lowered his device and stared at Bob solemnly. "I must perform furzer tests, but it appears zat you are perfectly healty for a man vit no super powers."

Helen gasped. Violet's eyes widened.

"No super powers?" Dash marveled. "We'll have to go on welfare!"

"Is it contagious?" asked Violet uneasily.

"How could this have happened?" Helen demanded.

"Unknown," answered Fitz. "It is highly unlikely, but not impossible, zat radiation took his powers avay in ze same manner zat it gave Plutonia her powers."

"What if we all lose our powers?" Violet mused hopefully. "Then we'll be a normal, everyday family."

"A normal, everyday, boring family," Dash retorted.

"Quiet, children," Helen interrupted. "Everything will be fine. Dr. Fitz will find a way to bring back your father's powers."

"Zere are more possibilities," the doctor continued. "Perhaps an evil scientist created a machine to drain ze powers from superheroes. Destroy ze machine, and Herr Incredible's powers vill automatically return."

"Wait," said Helen as Jack-Jack squirmed in her arms. "What if destroying the machine eliminates all hope of Bob getting his powers back?"

"Ridiculous," Dr. Fitz scoffed. "All evil inventions have a deus ex machina circuit built in."

Helen turned to Violet and Dash, and gave them a stern look. "No one is to know of this," she ordered. "Especially not the Hamiltons. They may be waiting for a chance like this to destroy us."

"Mom, Chris does not want to destroy us," Violet protested.

"That's enough, Vi," Helen snapped. Turning back to Dr. Fitz, she asked, "What other theories do you have?"

"Zere is one udder," replied the doctor as he replaced the electronic device in his bag. "Ze man you see before you may not be your husband."

Bob was angered by his suspicion. "That's outrageous!"

"I think I can tell an impostor from my husband," Helen assured the doctor.

The telephone rang. "I'll get that," she offered, stretching her arm through the bedroom door and pulling it back with the receiver in her hand. "Hello?"

"This is Chief Mason," came a deep, panicked voice. "Are you aware that Mr. Incredible is trashing downtown Metroville?"

Helen nearly dropped the phone.

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To be continued! Please review!