The jet taxied to a stop at the airstrip on the southern beach of Nomanisan Island. To the Parr's surprise, no guards came rushing up, weapons drawn. There didn't seem to be anyone around.
Before they ventured out, Violet took a look in the box Monty had packed. She was pretty sure he had brought equipment for a rescue, not just herpetological equipment as he had told Stephano. The box contained nets, a few small cages, and a microscope. Underneath a tarp at the bottom of the box, she found Frozone's costume. Clearly he had wanted to go into action with them to rescue their parents. She sighed, wiped away a tear, and folded the costume to carry with her.
"Why are you taking that?" Dash asked.
"I'm protecting his secret identity," Violet said. "If the costume is found with him, people will know he was Frozone and that could be hard on his wife. And she may want the costume to remember him by."
"Googh," agreed Jack-Jack sadly.
Suddenly there was a loud sound from the front of the plane. It was the jet's radio.
"Calling the Incredibles! Calling the Incredibles! Do you read me? Over."
The children rushed to the radio. Violet pressed the transmit button.
"This is the Incredibles. Is that you, Mr. Poe?" Violet said.
In answer came a horrible, chilling laugh. "Mwah, hah, hee, hee! No, this is your old Buddy, Syndrome. I survived, no thanks to you. I slowed my fall with carefully-timed bursts of zero-point energy. Then I called my people on the Island to come pick me up."
"You're coming here?" Violet asked with a sinking heart.
"I've changed my mind. After all you put me through I decided you're too much trouble to be my sidekicks."
"You're letting us go?" asked Dash in astonishment.
"Now what kind of vengeance would that be?" sneered Syndrome. "I told my troops to set the self-destruct charges before they left. The whole island is a volcano and I rigged it to erupt if I ever needed to wipe out the evidence in a hurry."
The children heard a loud rumbling outside the window. Sure enough, the island's volcano was blasting smoke and ash into the air. Lava was beginning to pour down its sides.
"Where are Mom and Dad?" Dash demanded.
"You're hoping to find them and share some tender last moments? The family who fries together, dies together, and all that? Sorry, I had my people remove them to a safe distance. After they watch your destruction, I can complete my revenge by killing them, too."
"Grragh!" said Jack-Jack. In his rage he morphed to monster form and crushed the microphone.
The children rushed from the plane. A stream of lava was already flowing onto the beach, cutting them off from the rest of the island!
"Pwane?" asked Jack-Jack, meaning "Can we fly the plane out of here?"
"I don't know how to work the autopilot," said Violet. "The runway's partly cut off by the lava, too. Dash, if I make a force-field ball, can you run us across that lava stream?"
"It's too soft to run on," said Dash. "We'd get stuck."
"Frzz," said Jack-Jack. He tried to call on the Frozone powers he had absorbed before, but all he could do was make a few icicles.
Violet said, "Here, try touching Frozone's costume. It may help you recharge the ice powers."
Jack-Jack held the costume and concentrated. He took Frozone's helmet and put it over his head. Suddenly he morphed into a little Frozone again.
The three got into position. Jack-Jack created an ice-bridge over the lava, Violet formed a force-ball around them, and Dash raced the ball over the bridge before it could melt!
"Hurry," said Violet. "We've still got to find a way off this island before the volcano blows up completely. There's the base ahead."
In their rush to evacuate, Count Buddy's henchmen had left the doors open. Dash ran every which way, finally coming to a system's control room overlooking a rocket launching platform.
Violet went to the console. "I sure hope the password hasn't changed." She typed in "ZEUS" and the control screens came to life. She hastily worked through a few menus.
"That rocket down there is a spare for launching the Omnidroid. It's set for the same trajectory into the city as the rocket this morning," Violet said.
"How can we use that? Send a message for help? It'll be too late," said Dash.
"There's a big spherical space at the top of the rocket for the Omnidroid. I can fit a force-field ball into it, and it'll carry us back."
"We're not as hard as the Omnidroid. We'll be going too fast when we land and it'll crush us," Dash objected.
"I'll think of something," Violet said. "Let's go! I've set it to launch in five minutes. We don't have much more time before the island blows."
Dash ran them to the rocket and they managed to get into place before it launched. Violet found this the most difficult force-field to maintain yet. Jack-Jack formed bits of ice, and Dash rubbed them on her forehead to keep her conscious as she fought to keep the force-field intact against the strong air pressure.
Violet remembered her game of skip-the-waves as they were coming in toward the city. She pulled the force-field ball smaller, enough to come loose from the rocket, while they were still over the water. The ball skipped again and again, slowing a little each time. By the time they reached the beach, the ball had slowed enough that Dash was able to maneuver it to a safe stop.
Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack collapsed in the sand, exhausted. All of a sudden, the "i" insignias on the chests of their costume began to beep. They jumped up, unsure what to do.
Just then, a limousine pulled up near them. Driving it was a very short woman with thick round glasses, wearing a business suit. She was sitting on a stack of pillows to enable her to see over the dashboard.
"Ah, zere you are dahlinks. I haff activated the tracers in your costumes to try to find you."
"Who are you?" asked Violet.
"I am Josephine Edna Mode, but call me 'E'. I like ze middle name best. I am most famous fashion designer, costume maker for ze zupers."
"You're the one who made these cool costumes?" asked Dash.
"But of course, who else?" said E. "But you look like you haff been through a lot, dahlinks. Best you come home with me."
The three Parrs jumped into the limo, more than a little uncertain if this new guardian would be able to protect them from Count Buddy... an uncertainly which was most certainly correct.
