Disclaimers: This film doesn't belong to me. It belongs to ACADEMY AWARD WINNER BRAD BIRD! Congrats, Brad and all the crew at Pixar! You deserved it!
Notes: If you hadn't noticed by now, I changed some of the things in the previous chapters (from ten years to eight, dividing bars for scene switches, ect.). I think the year change is the biggest difference, considering I just found out that Dash was ten in the movie (I thought he was eight...). Just a few adjustments. Should I give age clarification?
Dash - 18
Violet - 22-23-ish
Jack - 10
Helen - ageless :)
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Return to Nomanisan
By Sean Montgomery
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It's been nearly half an hour.
Helen drummed her fingers on the arm of the couch, staring a faded stain on the carpet. Violet had called and said she had wanted to talk to Dash about what had happened that afternoon (though what that meant was beyond her) and had yet to show up at the door. She looked into the kitchen past her son's shoulder, found the microwave, and stared down the green digits.
It's been a half hour! Where is she?
As much as he tried to ignore it, Dash gave in to the urge to look at his mother when she looked at the clock. His eyes didn't leave her when she continued to drum on the couch's arm, her eyes glazing over.
"Are you okay?"
Helen turned to Dash. She glanced down at her slippered feet and sighed. "Dash, it's been a half hour since your sister called. She should be here by now."
"Should, but you know how she is. Maybe she caught one of her friends on the way out and is engaged in conversation."
He watched her looked worriedly out the window. "I hope so..."
"Nothing's wrong with her, mom. She's Illusion. She can become invisible if something goes wrong."
"But what if she didn't have enough time to...?"
The question hung in the air, bringing Dash out of the world of math and into reality, his mother's eyes slowly filling with worry. His eyes hardened, determined to not worry so she wouldn't be more afraid. "She's fine. She's a responsible college student. It's only a few blocks anyway."
That seemed to calm her down for the moment. Her shoulders, once stiff with anxiety, relaxed. "You're right. Conversation is one of the things Violet does best. She'll be here in a while."
Those words seemed lifeless an hour later. The house was quiet and Jack had gone to bed, but Dash and Helen sat side by side at the table, staring at his closed books stacked on each other. Dash looked at the clock. It was nearly eleven.
"You know, at first I thought you might have been overreacting when you said she should have been here, but now I think you have good reason to."
"She would have called us if she went back. She always does."
"She's pretty good about that. If not home, it's the only place she could be."
"Unless she's with Tony."
If she tried to hide the hope in her voice, Dash didn't notice. He almost hated having to tell her the truth. "No chance. He's out of town."
Helen sighed. Dash looked out of the corner of his eye and saw her brown gaze staring at him intently. "Would you like me to look for her?"
"I'll go with you. Two Incredibles are better than one."
Dash pulled his jacket tighter over his shoulder, his gaze locked on the sidewalk before him. The darkness poured over his vision, blinding him to areas of the street he wished he could see. Violet wasn't known to randomly hide, especially when she was planning on meeting people. As he moved his head back and fourth, the dread within him grew. Where was she?
"Have you found her yet?"
He raised his eyebrows when he heard his mother's voice above him. He glanced at a tree and saw her shape bent around its form, her head, stretching over a branch, scanning the street.
"No. Nothing. I'm going to head over to the university and see if she went back there. You go on home and I'll be right back."
"Don't blow your cover."
Dash looked up at the head that was hanging out of the tree. "Don't blow my cover? With all due respect, my head isn't hanging out of a tree."
"Go Dash."
When Dash had found out that his Dad had been kidnaped and his Mom was going to save him, he figured that meant he would never have to worry about any f his family members ever again. After all, if you're supers, and you were able to find some way out of a deserted island, you could pretty much handle anything, right?
He was taught a harsh lesson only a few months later. Life, no matter what, can always prove you wrong somehow.
When he made his way back to the house after searching the university and questioning Violet's friends, the last thing he expected to find within him was rage. He could feel it, that boiling sensation deep down that threatened to overcome him if he didn't find out what was going on. He had lost one family member - he wasn't planning on losing another.
The house was dark when he opened the door. The only assurance he had was the light streaming in through the hallway. He followed it, it's path leading him to his parent's room. Helen was sitting on the bed, the morning paper in her hand. She seemed to be cross... or upset. He couldn't tell which.
"I couldn't find her. Her friends knew she left, but she never came back to the university. As far as they knew, she was over here."
Helen tossed the paper on the bed. The headline, bold and large, caught his eye.
Family feud within the Incredibles?
The rage within grew stronger. The headline wasn't enough, it seemed; there was a large picture of Alternator and The Dash from earlier that day. Their faces said everything needed to support the story.
"I didn't see anything on my way back." Helen said, holding her arms over her chest. "If you can't find her and her friends don't even know where she is, there's only one thing we can do."
His eyebrows raised, Dash watched his mother walk over to the closet. Helen emerged moments later with a small device in her hand that Dash couldn't recognize. "When Edna first made our suits, she added a homing device so we could know the precise location of each other at all times." She held up the remote. "This might be our only way of finding her."
Dash leaned over his mother's shoulder as she pressed the large black button. The screen came to life, first locating Dash, Helen and Jack in Metroville, then made it's way across many miles while Dash's stomach dropped. A small yellow signal pulsed over the ocean, slowly making its way to an island.
"Is that what I think it is?" He whispered.
"Nomanisan," Helen said. Her hand shook while she held the remote. "Impossible. Syndrome is dead. There's no way..."
Dash swallowed heavily, running a hand through his hair. "It can't be Syndrome. It's gotta be someone else."
"But who? Who else would know the location of Nomanisan Island?"
"I... I don't know." He paused, waiting a moment to try to take everything in. Syndrome couldn't be alive. It was impossible! But who else would know about Nomanisan?
The rage gave way to sorrow, and he could feel the lump in his throat getting bigger. He took a shaky breath and met her gaze. "I'll find her, Mom." He put a hand on her shoulder. "I'll find her and bring her back. No matter what happens, I'm not going to lose another member of this family. Not if I can help it."
Despite her sorrow, Helen grinned. "I knew you'd say something like that."
"It's the truth."
"I completely agree. But you need to do a few things before you rescue Violet." With her grin still in place, she walked to her dresser, fishing through a few articles of clothing, a shirt here and a sweater there, before pulling out a worn piece of paper. "I knew this would come in handy someday. This guy is very reliable if you need a jet. His name is Snug. I've been going to him for years and the man has yet to be unreliable."
"This is how you got the jet to Nomanisan?"
"Sure is."
"I had wondered about that."
"You'd be amazed at how we got around in the old days." She picked up a pencil and wrote another number down on the paper. "This is Edna's phone number. Edna Mode. You've never met her, but she's the genius behind our super suits. I'd suggest seeing her before you and Jack leave."
"Jack? You want Jack to go with me?"
"Of course, Dash! Don't you remember all the traps set on Nomanisan? You're going to need all the help you can get."
"No, I meant..." he sighed. "You're not coming?"
Helen stopped. The concern in his voice was unmistakable. She returned to his side and put her hands on his shoulders. "Of course I'm coming. I was thinking of coming a little later."
"Come with us. I'm gonna need all the help I can get, right?"
Her grin returned. "Right."
"There's only one problem - the last time we flew to Nomanisan our plane was shot down. Do you really think it's a smart idea to return to Nomanisan the same way we went there?"
"It may not be the smartest thing to do right now, but understand that we're not going to enter the island the same way we did last time. Snug could fly you near the island, but you would need to parachute off and land on the ocean before you get anywhere near Nomanisan. Can you do it?"
He looked at the homing device. "Tread dangerous waters in order to return to a God-forsaken island so I can save my sister?" He returned her grin. "Piece of cake."
One thought quickly lead to another. Dash's eyes brightened and he laid a hand on Helen's shoulder. "Mom, why didn't we think about this before?"
"Think about what?"
"The homing device! If we use it to locate supers, then why didn't we think to use it to make sure Dad was alive?"
Every expression from Helen's face dropped. Her face, now blank except for eyes swimming in sorrow, stared back into his hopeful face. He honestly hadn't expected that reaction.
"Mom?"
"I thought about that, too." she answered, returning to the closet. "The very night of the crash I took the remote with me to see... to see if he were still there." She returned a moment later, a folded piece of red cloth in her hand. "I didn't want to tell any of you. It would hurt too much to see you with so much hope only to fade when you learned he wasn't alive." She took one of his hands and placed the cloth on it. Dash smoothed it out, a lump forming in his throat when he saw the familiar insignia. It was burned at the edges, no bigger than his thumb, and the homing device stared back at him.
"Was this the only..."
"I found that and a few more pieces; part of his glove, more of his suit. It was when I saw that," she pointed to the cloth. "that I knew he wasn't alive."
It was part of the dot for the 'i', he realized.
"You'll leave in the morning, then." Helen continued. "Whoever took Violet might not be willing to wait for long. I'll contact Snug before you see him, so visit Edna first. I'll catch up with you later."
The homing device's signal grew stronger once she made her way through the tall grass. The signal, clearer now that interference was out of the way, pulsed with life near the heart of the crash. The hope that had flooded within her began to fade. If the signal was still at the crash that meant he hadn't moved. Maybe he only broke his back...
She reached a small grove of trees. Her arms stretched out and tangled in branches, pushing herself fast through the air than she had ever been on the ground. The clearing came quickly and with it the small of charred wood. Smoke still rose in faint wisps and she could finally hear the signal. The nose of the passenger jet was twisted towards the air while one of the wings would provide a semi-safe place for her to momentarily stand. The body was the plane was twisted open and easily accessible.
With a gulp she slowly made her way down the wing, one hand clutching the branch now a few feet above her head. She blinked back tears once the smoke threatened to block her view. It was dark anyway and no more distractions were needed.
"Bob?" she whispered faintly. She suddenly realized how foolish all of this seemed, her hanging by one arm out of a tree to see if her husband was still alive. Most women would wait out the night with hope fading away. However, she believed that since her husband was Mr. Incredible there was no reason to believe he wouldn't be alive right now.
Only, he would have been home by now.
She stopped and listened for the slight 'beep' in the air. She was able to get a little further into the plane, but she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary; no red uniform, no patch of blonde hair, no pale peach of flesh...
She froze. A light was blinking in front of her.
"Bob!" she whispered furiously. She used her other arm to brush some smoke out of the way. Two seats were pushed together with a faint light shining between them. Unable to see, she used her arm and stuck her hand through the hole, relaxing when she felt the homing device... and something solid beneath it.
"I'm gonna get you out of there! I promise! Just hang on!" Positioning her body, she moved her head forward through the smoke and peered through the hole. Her stomach dropped.
The homing device blinked happily before her. The solidness she had felt was nothing more than the seat of the chair. Red and black fabric hung around it but it didn't matter. She could see it. Her tears threatened to fall but not from the smoke.
Grabbing the device, she made her way out of the wreckage, hid in the safety of the trees, and sobbed.
Boy, putting these charcters in this spot is tough! I mean, I love 'em all so much! Ah, well. So, I made it just in time for my March/April update. Sorry about that - I got my wisdom teeth pulled at the end of March and found that writing and pain meds don't mix. Needless to say, this story had to be put on hold. Thanks for your patience, though!
Review Responses:
Soccergurl1990 - You never know how something will do unless you're bold enough to do something with it. Give it a chance and let me know how it goes. Thanks for reading!
Animeinsomniac - Good job, Beta:) It's great to have a second opinion. I really do appreciate you including me in your busy life. It lets me know that there are people that really do care about writing and letting the author get better at what they do. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Tanukigirl22 - Guys don't tend to express what they feel unless they really are emotional. From what little experiance I have with them (emphasis on 'little') I've found that to be true. Kinda hard for us girls to understand, huh? Thanks for reading!
Quiet Infinity - I'm glad you can identify with the charcter's struggle right away. That let's me know I'm doing my job as a storyteller. Hopefully the rest of the story can be believeable- the truth has an amazing ability to be stretched and poked as far as the author likes when they write something that isn't theirs (I hope you understood that). You've already gotten these characters under your skin, so taking tons of time to develop them isn't needed because the reader knows them from the movie (that was my attempt to explain my last sentance.) Thanks for reading! (that was a really long answer...)
Scary Vampiress - Hey, who gets the autographs here? Well, if you feel the need to kidnap me, I guess you would, wouldn't you...? Thanks for reading!
Alias - Emotions were tugged on from the last chaper? Yes! I love hearing that! One thing I try to accomplish in every story is, if nothing else, to create a real enough secenario where the reader identifies with the characters. For some reason, character development means more to me than plot. Maybe that's why half the stories I've written aren't on this site... I hope this chapter makes up for the cliffhanger from the last! Thanks for reading!
SelbidercnI - Nope. No 'return from the dead' bit. Mr. Incredible really is dead. It was hard to kill him because I loved his character so much, but I wanted to do something a little different from what I had seen on this site already. Thanks for reading!
MollyTheWanderer - Why, thank you! I'm thrilled that you enjoy it so much. Killing Bob was the twist that started this whole thing, actually. I was thinking about how their lives could be affected, and the very first line in this story popped into my head: "Mr. Incredible was dead." It all took off from there. As for their names, I had to get an opinion from others on what Jack's name should have been. It took a while, ranging from 'Change Artist' to 'Car Jack' (but that one was never seriously considered :)), but 'Alternator' fell into the mix and... the rest is history. Thanks for reading!
NSW - Thanks for stopping by! I hope this chapter keeps your interest running!
See you all on the next chapter!