ChoFrog09: I like your enthusiasm. I've never gotten so many AWESOMEs before. :) (By the way, I read "My Happy Ending" about a week ago, and I gave it a good review with a suggestion I think would make it better.) Thanks again for the encouragement. I'm glad you liked my changes and the S.O.A.P. joke.
Nina Snicket: Another AWESOME for me? Thank you.
Who Knows: This is action/adventure so I'm pacing things faster, more like the movie than the books. I won't guarantee exact details like the "J.S." in the jam, only things that I can make fit. I might even end the story before that book... though the encouragement I've gotten from the readers has gotten me thinking about how to take it further.
Chapter 5, Escape
Dash, as always, was the quickest to react. He raced down the ladder much faster than it could fall, until he had several yards of slack rope-ladder between himself and his siblings.
Every rung of the rope-ladder was joined onto the main ropes by two small metal bolts. Dash kicked one of the bolts into the wall at super-speed; the wall material was soft enough to hold it in place. With the force of the kick he propelled himself to the other side, grabbing more of the falling ladder as he went. He kicked a bolt in there also, and kept going. In less than half a second he had built a safety net of criss-crossing ladder ropes below his siblings.
By this time, Violet was ready for action. She put a force-field ball around herself and Jack-Jack; it was large enough to brace against the sides and stop their fall.
Esmé looked down into the shaft. "Syndrome was sayin' that wouldn't be enough to kill you. Guess he was right about that."
"Why do you want to kill us?" Dash called. "What have we ever done to you?"
"What have you ever done to me?" Esmé gave a bitter laugh. "I want to take your lives the way Monty was taken from me. He left me a voicemail before he left, said he was goin' on a Frozone mission with you. You led him to his death!"
"But you've working with Syndrome, the man who actually killed him!" said Violet.
"I know it," said Esmé. "But one thing at a time. I'm helpin' Syndrome get rid of you, and then I'll find a way to deal with him."
"Please don't do this!" Violet called.
"Tell me you ain't at all to blame for my husband's death and I'll think about it," said Esmé.
"We..." said Dash, then stopped, remembering the misspelled warning note they had given to Monty.
"I thought so. Now I'll just put the finishin' touch on this little deathtrap Syndrome set up with the Rydingers as bait."
Esmé pressed a remote-control button and a panel at the very top of the shaft slid open, revealing an atomic cannon of the same type that had pierced Violet's force-field at Lackluster Lake. The cannon began firing sharp bursts of energy.
Violet cried out as it struck and weakened her force-field, "I can't hold out long against this!"
"Like I said, goodbye Incredibles," said Esmé. "I'd enjoy stayin' to watch but I have an auction to see to, with a Buddy who calls himself Gunther." She turned and walked away.
Violet's force-field popped from the next shot. She and Jack-Jack landed on the safety net next to Dash. They huddled to the side under a small force field as the cannon continued to fire randomly. A cry from below made them realize how truly diabolical this trap was. If they stayed out of the way or broke through the walls to escape, their friends below would be killed!
Then Violet heard another sound that gave her reason to hope: music. There was still classical music playing in the apartment next to the elevator shaft.
"Dash, Jack-Jack! We could be saved by elevator music!" Violet said.
"Huh?" said Dash.
"Guh?" said Jack-Jack.
Violet created an angled forcefield which deflected the next shot of the atomic cannon into the wall at the spot where the music was coming from. It opened a large crack in the wall and the music came pouring through.
Jack-Jack perked up, energized. "Floatie!" he said again. He rose up like a rocket, kicking back and forth from the sides to dodge the cannon fire. When he got to the top of the shaft he touched the base of the cannon to absorb its power and then destroyed it with a blast of its own energy. Then he came floating back down to them.
"Guh GA wah!" he exclaimed, meaning "Pretty awesome, if I do say so myself."
"Yes it was," said Violet, hugging him.
The Incredibles climbed down the rest of the rope ladder (which was attached to their improvised safety net) hoping to find the Rydingers still all right. Alas, someone had already taken them away, leaving only a CD player repeating anguished cries every so often.
They also found an underground passage leading somewhere unknown.
"Come on," said Dash. "Maybe we can catch up with them."
They set off into the twisty maze of passages looking for Duncan and Isadora.