XI. BACK TO WORK

Friday afternoon rolled around quickly and the house was buzzing. Dash had finally gotten his mom to let him get up and roam around the house a little; although speeding was still strictly off limits. He wasn't quite back to his old self but even a bruised ten-year-old super had to expend all that cooped up energy somehow. Of course this did not bother Violet who was herself quite busy getting ready for her big date with Tony Rydinger. Without his super speed, Dash would only be a fraction of the pest he normally was. Elsewhere in the house Bob had planted himself on the couch and fallen asleep even though he was supposed to be watching Jack-Jack who had found his own amusement in his playpen. Meanwhile Helen was finishing up a load of laundry. 'I have to admit this machine wash ability in the new super suits sure does make life easier,' she thought to herself. She had just removed Jack-Jack's suit from the dryer which he had soiled on a recent outing. Of course the youngest Parr never fought with the family but the little red jumper was cute, indiscrete, and most importantly made Helen feel a little safer with its bullet and fire proof qualities.

As Helen was in the middle of moving clothes from the washer over to the dryer she heard Jack-Jack begin to cry in the living room. She started to put down the clothes but remembered Bob was watching him. About thirty seconds passed and there was no change in the baby's angry tones. "Bob!" she yelled. There was no response. "Bob!" Helen began walking towards the living room. "BOB!" she changed her tone to match Jack-Jack's as she entered the living room.

"Huh?" Bob startled to life from his slumber.

"Don't you even here your own son?" Helen complained as she walked towards Jack-Jack. She could see his problem. He had thrown his favorite stuffed animal half way across the living room to in front of the couch where Bob was sleeping. His inability to reach it was what left him screaming. Helen reached down to pick it up then stretched it over to Jack-Jack as not to loose any valuable time with which she could scold her husband. The child's demeanor instantly changed as he giggled profusely as she handed it to him. "Darn you Bob," Helen started. "I ask you to watch him for me for just a few minutes and the next thing I know-" Helen stopped abruptly. "Do you smell smoke?" she asked.

About that time Violet and Dash hurried out into the hall. "Mom is something burning?" asked Violet. The family quickly searched the house seeking the source of the mysterious odor.

"Over here!" Bob exclaimed from a corner of the room near Jack-Jack's playpen. The others rushed over.

"Look at that!" Dash said pointing to something in the playpen.

Helen picked up Jack-Jack and handed him to Violet; as her husband removed the object. The item seemed to be nothing more than a jagged scrap of plastic but Helen instantly recognized a distorted but visible picture in the middle of it. "This is Jack-Jack's rattle," she said stunned.

"Don't you mean was," Dash retorted.

"It's been completely melted," Bob said as he examined it further.

Just then the doorbell rang. The whole family walked over to the door and Bob opened it. There stood Rick Dicker the life long family friend and head of the Super Relocation Program with two agents dressed in black suits with very stern looks standing right behind him. "Good afternoon Bob, Helen, kids," he said as he invited himself in, agents at his side.

"Rick? We weren't expecting you," Bob said surprised. His tone dropped, "are we in trouble?" Bob had been concerned about that. Even though the government had eased up on them in the last few months the anti-super laws (ASLs) were still technically in place and recent events didn't seem to be in there favor.

"Do we have to move again?" Dash complained.

"Not this time sport," Rick ruffled Dash's hair at which the boy immediately winced with the pain. "Bob I've got some good news and some bad news for you," he said as everyone but the two agents sat down. "On Wednesday, Congress finally passed legislation to abolish the ASLs."

"That's great!" Bob said with a huge smile. Helen gave him an unsure look.

"Of course," Rick continued, "your family always makes more work for me and Wednesday night was no exception. We spent all of Thursday and the better part of this morning convincing them they hadn't made a mistake after seeing your boy's picture. It took some bargaining but we did get it done."

"Wonderful," Bob said. "So what happens now?"

"Well that's where the bad news comes in and also the reason I'm here. We've analyzed all the data and between Syndrome's genocide and natural causes we've found that your family Bob now totals five percent of the world's total supers."

Helen seemed shocked. "You mean the five us make-"

"Five?" Rick questioned "You mean the baby has-"

The whole family just nodded. "We're not sure what they are," Helen said. "But they're there"

"And I've got a hunch-" Bob added as he glanced down at the melted rattle in his hand.

Rick put a hand to his forehead. "You Incredibles are always making my work more difficult. Very well then, I'll make the changes just as soon as I get back to HQ."

Bob's mind drifted as he ran the numbers in his head. Four at five percent times twenty meant there were only eighty-one known supers world wide including Jack-Jack. In the glory days there had never been less than five hundred active at any time.

"Anyway, like I was saying, as you know this means much more responsibility will fall to you with fewer supers around."

"We understand," Bob said as he put one hand around his wife and the other on his daughter's shoulder.

"Yeah, we can handle it," Dash chimed in.

"Hold on there a minute sport," Rick said. "There are a few things you need to know. As I said there was a lot of bargaining to get this thing done. First there's the new agency. The Super Oversight Agency or the S.O.A. is a government run bureau that will direct all super activities. They'll give you a lot of running room to work with but you can't work as independent entities anymore. I have been hired to run the whole shebang that's why I have Smith and Jackson here now." He gestured to the two agents. "So if you need anything, anything at all, I'll have a direct line to the President. Second everything you need and all your intelligence will be provided by the Super Oversight Command Center or SOCC. You can connect to them through these wrist communicators." The two agents handed what appeared to be glorified watches to Bob and Helen. "Use these to report in any time you plan to take action. You can also turn them off for stealth in battle. Also we've hired an old friend of yours to run the center. I'm sure you remember Mirage." Bob and Helen both looked at each other unsure as they took all the information in. "SOCC is located on Syndrome's old island Nomanisan where all the newest technology can be implicated. Of course all the old necessities will be brought back too. Edna Mode is back in business designing the super suits and Helen, your old friend Snog is chief mechanical engineer overseeing new project designs to make crime fighting more efficient. Also we've reopened the Super Medical Hospital in back of the Metroville florist again. Use the old pass codes to get in. In fact I'd like you to bring Dash down to the SMH as soon as possible just to be sure he's ok."

"I'll bring him tonight," Helen said.

"There is one last thing," Rick said.

"What is it?" Bob replied.

"As I said we had to bargain after the incident." He paused. "There can be no children."

"WHAT!" Dash exclaimed.

"You're not serious?" questioned Violet.

"No children," Rick repeated. "Only willing adults over twenty-five can volunteer."

"No way!" Dash pouted and ran into his room at full speed slamming his door behind him.

"I'm sorry," Rick said as he got up to leave. "It was the only way we could make this happen." He started out the door followed by Smith and Jackson. "Oh I nearly forgot, the Incredibile will be returned to you this evening."

Bob's eyes got wide, his suped up car had been taken away from him via the ASLs and now she would be a classic. And he was getting her back."

"Also," Rick continued. "Someone will contact you in the next few days about a job; of course you will be receiving a generous salary from the government, but we have to keep up appearances you know." He winked at them and headed for a waiting helicopter.

Bob had enough trouble explaining away yesterday's limo to the neighbors, 'how will I ever explain this,' he wondered.

"Goodbye," Rick called as he waved a hand at them.

"Goodbye," Bob called back enthusiastically. Helen, still quite unsure of the idea, just waved. They retreated back into the house and shut the door where they were confronted by a very angry Violet.

"What does he mean I can't work with you anymore? I thought we were a team; I thought we were family!" Jack-Jack stared at his unusually upset sister from his playpen.

"Vi honey we are family and we are a team," Helen said. "We'll just have to find new roles for you and your brother. Besides, this is going to open up a whole new world of responsibility for you having to take care of Jack-Jack and all."

"I don't want to take care of Jack-Jack!" she yelled. "All I ever do is taking care of Jack-Jack!" She ran upstairs to finish getting ready for her date and slammed the door behind her. Her harsh tones upset Jack-Jack and set him to crying again.

"There, there now she didn't mean it," Helen told the boy as she lifted him from his playpen. "Well, there both pretty mad at us," she told Bob as she calmed the Baby down.

"Well at least you're not mad at us," Bob bantered at Jack-Jack as he rubbed what little hair he had.

That wasn't quite the response Helen was hoping for. She thrust the baby in his arms. "Here you take him. I swear that child's getting heavier by the minute," she said. "Besides, I have work to do." She smiled and headed off leaving the pair of Parrs a little time for some father son bonding.