visualpurple: Duncan and Isadora will probably be seen soon, but as for a rescue, it's hard to say...
Nina Snicket: Thank you for the encouraging reviews.
Who Knows: I was debating between her and Mirage, giving Mirage shape-shifting/disguise powers, but Mrs. Frozone strikes me as a bit more shallow (as in putting her dinner plans over saving the city), and so I think she's a better match for Esmé. I think we've gone round enough on Kari Melita. Kari was a nicer person in the movie than I made her in the story, but there were hints of character flaws -- and I like the way her name fits, too. I have plans for the Vile Village; wait and see. As for the V.F.D... read on.
Chapter 2, Entr'acte
Now it's time for a brief entr'acte, a French word which here means "an interlude between two acts of a drama," or in this case "a short chapter in which the author covers a little back-story before plunging ahead."
Quigley Rydinger was hiding out in Monty Best's apartment. After the terrible fire which had destroyed his own home, and as far as he knew killed his father and siblings, Quigley was no longer sure who to trust. The government was no friend of the supers.
There was a room in which reptiles had been kept, but someone had cleared it out before he got there. There was also a room with acoustic tiles on the wall and shelves of rap CD's that appeared to be undisturbed. But the most interesting room was the library. Quigley had spent several days here researching, trying to learn what he could about the mysterious organization that went by the initials V.F.D.
Quigley was so involved in the book that he didn't hear the man coming through the doorway. The man stopped when he saw Quigley, somersaulted into the room, did a standing high jump onto the bookshelves, and demonstrated uncanny climbing skills by hanging from the ceiling above Quigley's head.
"What are you doing here, kid?" demanded the man. "Who are you?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Quigley said. "My name's Quigley Rydinger, and I'll tell you more if you tell me."
"My name's The Jock," said the man. He back-flipped from the ceiling and landed on his feet in front of Quigley.
"Jacques what?" asked Quigley.
"The Jock. Supers don't go around blabbing their secret identities, kid. You shouldn't either. I knew your mother, The Vectress, and I bet you have super-powers too."
"I guess you could call me Mapmaker," said Quigley. He tore a blank piece of paper out of his notebook on the desk, moved his index finger back and forth across it, and held it up to Jock. "I do mind-maps, and this is a map of the underground passage from my house I followed to get here."
"That's not much good in a fight," said Jock. "Maybe I could train you to box and wrestle. My power is that I'm a natural at any athletic skill."
"I'll pass on that, thanks," said Quigley.
"What was that you said about a secret passage?" Jock asked, looking a little put out at being turned down.
"My house burned down a few days ago. I was trapped in a room with no exit, and then suddenly the wall opened up and there was a sliding pole like firemen use. I slid down it into a hidden cave with spare costumes and equipment that looked like my mother's," Quigley said.
"The Vector-Cave. A lot of us had caves in the old days," said Jock.
"There were many interconnecting passages down there. I mapped them out and eventually found my way to the ladder that led into this apartment," said Quigley.
"Since you found out so much on your own, I think you'd make a good recruit for the V.F.D.," said Jock.
"What is the V.F.D.?" asked Quigley.
"Volunteer Freedom Defenders, an underground supers organization," said Jock. "Our motto is 'World -- be quiet, you hear?'"
"Why should I join an illegal supers group?" asked Quigley.
"You could help a friend of yours from school, for one thing," said Jock. "Her name's Violet Parr."
Quigley's heart jumped. He'd seen Violet around school; she was shy and hid her face behind her long hair. He'd wanted to ask her out for a long time but hadn't worked up the nerve.
"Why does she need help?" asked Quigley.
"A supervillain named Syndrome is after her and her brothers," said Jock. "He's killed a lot of other supers, tricking them into fighting his killer robot. He tried to get my siblings and I, too, but we knew our powers were too weak to fight something like that so we just went deeper into hiding."
"Violet's a super, too?" asked Quigley in surprise.
"A good one. She and her brothers have fought Syndrome to a standstill more than once, but he's still after them. I'm on their trail to give them a hand. You could help too, but you need V.F.D. fight training."
"I do have an offensive power but I'm never supposed to use it," said Quigley.
"Times are hard and you have to use whatever you've got. Ok, I'll come at you and you try to stop me!" said Jock.
Jock charged at him. Quigley fired an energy beam from his finger like the one that made the map, but much more intense. It sliced toward Jock, who cartwheeled away from it. When Jock reached the far wall, the beam cut into the shelves above him and dumped a load of books onto his head.
"Pretty good, kid. I think you nicked me with that beam," said Jock, shaking his head groggily. He looked down at his costume and saw it was slashed across the chest, but his skin was unbroken underneath.
"It doesn't cut living flesh," said Quigley.
"It'll do," said Jock. "Welcome to the V.F.D.!"