Greetings to the readers:
Isla: I know he's really Tony Rydinger. But in this AU crossover I'm changing names here and there to match the SOUE.
Who Knows: Kari Melita is a bit of a stretch, but have you seen "Jack-Jack Attack"? When Rick asks Kari why she believed Syndrome when he said he was a babysitter, she yells "The baby was exploding!" That's an angry, selfish side of her I'm tapping for Carmelita. I had to "clone" Tony for Duncan and Isadora, but there's no reason he couldn't have siblings we didn't see in the movie. There are a limited number of characters in the Incredibles movie compared to the SOUE books. I'll do the best I can with what I have to work with. (I have a plan for Jerome and Esme too, but you'll have to wait and see...)
ChoFrog09, Nina Wyndia The Third, visualpurple, and others.: Thank you for the compliments and comments.
Chapter 2, Allies
"What... what happened to Quigley?" Violet finally asked.
"Our house burned to the ground a few days ago. Quigley and Father were caught in it, but we escaped," said Isadora. "We don't know about Mother. She disappeared four months ago."
"Our house just burned down too," said Dash. "Both our parents disappeared right before that."
"Graaa," said Jack-Jack sadly, which meant, "I miss them and I hope they aren't dead."
"We forgot to introduce ourselves," said Violet. "I'm Violet Parr and these are my brothers Dash and Jack-Jack."
"Are your parents named Bob and Helen?" asked Duncan. "I think our parents knew each other before we were born. I remember a picture in their album labeled 'Taken at the wedding of Bob and Helen Parr'. It was dated about fifteen years ago."
"You have a good memory," Violet said. "Yes, those are their names."
"I wonder," Isadora said, "Can your parents do... anything special?"
"Grong!" said Jack-Jack.
"Jack-Jack means Dad is very strong," said Dash.
"Very, very, strong, right? Incredibly strong?" said Duncan.
"Why do you ask?" said Violet. She felt that they were prying too far into family secrets.
"Those were the days of supers, and many were close friends," said Duncan. "Our mother was the Vectress. She could fly and shoot tight beams of energy. And your father must be Mr. Incredible."
"Yes!" said Violet. "And Mother is Elastigirl. But they had to go into hiding with the Super Relocation Program, like all the supers did."
"Was your Dad a super, too?" asked Dash.
Isadora said, "No, Dad was a normal. Mother met him when she saved him from a burning building. They fell in love at first sight."
"But now she's disappeared. There was no-one to save him this time. Or to save Quigley," said Duncan.
Violet blinked tears from her eyes as she thought about Quigley again. She'd never even had the nerve to talk to him and now it was too late.
"Do you have powers? We do," said Dash. "I'm fast, Violet does invisibility and force-fields, and Jack-Jack can do just about anything if he has something to copy from."
"Weak powers, since we're half-super," said Isadora. "I can do minor cantrips."
"What's a cantrip?" asked Dash.
"A little bit of magic. I have to say a rhyming couplet to make it work," Isadora said. "I'll show you:"
"Bring to Dash a knife and fork,
So he can eat his beans and pork," she chanted.
Dash looked down, and saw that a knife and fork had appeared beside his plate.
"Wow!" he said in admiration.
"Geeg!" said Jack-Jack, which means the same thing as "Wow!"
"I didn't create them out of thin air, you know," Isadora said modestly. "The spell teleported them from nearby."
Just then, they heard Kari Melita yell, "Hey! What happened to my silverware?"
They all burst out laughing.
"You'd better wipe those off really well before you use them, Dash," gasped Isadora.
Dash laughed again and said, "You pull better pranks than me."
"It's the only way to keep sane around this place," Isadora said.
Violet asked Duncan, "Do you have powers?"
"I have a photographic memory," Duncan said.
"Is that really a super power? I mean, I've heard a lot of people have that," said Violet.
"I can share them," Duncan said. He touched her arm lightly, and a vivid memory of tossing a football back and forth with Quigley flashed through her mind.
"Ooh," Violet said.
"It comes in handy in this school. They believe in rote memorization and spitting it all back on the tests," said Duncan.
After lunch was over, they went to find the Orphan's Shack.
"Aren't you considered orphans, too?" asked Violet. "Where do you stay?"
"There are also regular dorms," said Isadora. "Vice-Principal Nero was acting pretty weird this morning when he announced you would be coming. He set up this place up especially for you."
"He hates me," said Dash.
They found the tin shack, and it was horrible. It had bales of hay instead of bed, the ceiling dripped with slimy tan fungus, and the place was infested with tiny crawling crabs. The walls were painted a hideous bright green with pink hearts like a tacky valentine.
"He really, really hates me," said Dash.
Violet began using her force-fields to scrape the fungus off the ceiling and throw it to the side of the shack. Dash easily evaded the nippers of the crabs and started kicking them out. The sound of his fast-paced footsteps scared them, but what scared them even more was when Jack-Jack morphed into a giant crab. Isadora joined the fun by cantripping a few of them. Soon the place was almost livable.
"Well, it looks like you have things under control," said Duncan. "We'll see you tonight for dinner and the 'violin concert' that Vice-Principal Nero always gives."
Violet followed the two triplets. She caught up to Duncan, and softly asked, "Would you do me a favor?"
"Sure," Duncan said. "What do you want?"
"Those memories of Quigley... would you give me more of them some time?"
Duncan looked at her for a moment.
"I'd rather give you some memories of me," he murmured gently.
"Duncan, you're nice but it's too soon to think about anything like that. I just found out he's gone. Maybe someday..." Violet said.
"I can wait," Duncan said. "I've already gotten some beautiful memories today."
He turned and walked down the path back to the main courtyard.