visualpurple: I made Esmé's Incredibles identity a bit of a mystery for fun. Glad you enjoyed working it out.
ChoFrog09: I'm glad you enjoyed the "floatie" part. There's a bit more of that in this chapter.
Chapter 6, Excitement
The tunnel was dark, twisty, and had a low ceiling. Violet was able to create a little light by making a small force-field bubble that she held in one hand, but the dim purple glow didn't pierce the darkness very far. There is a saying that it is better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness. Since the Parrs didn't have a candle, Violet's one small force field was better than nothing.
They could tell they were moving under the streets of the city by the traffic noises overhead. The sounds grew quieter as the tunnel continued into the suburbs. Finally, they came to what seemed to be a dead end.
"What do we do now?" asked Dash. "Did we miss a turn?"
Jack-Jack, still in a "floatie" mood, levitated up to the top of the tunnel.
"Doa!" he called, which meant "Hey, there's a trapdoor up here."
They pushed at the trapdoor, but it was locked. No doubt Count Buddy had locked it behind him when he took the Rydingers out.
Ashes sifted down on them as they pushed. When they touched Jack-Jack, it reminded him of his fire-morph.
"Gngwhey!" he yelled, and his two siblings backed up down the corridor.
Jack-Jack morphed into a human fireball and levitated himself against the trapdoor. In a moment he had burned through. He lifted out -- and was so shocked at what he saw that his fire and levitation both went off at once. Violet caught him in a force-field as he dropped.
The Incredibles emerged at the site of their old home, burned to ashes. It was a shock, but they didn't have time to think about it.
"Esme said she was helping a Buddy who calls himself Gunther, Count Buddy of course, with an auction," said Violet. "Yesterday she told us about the big 'In' Auction at Vulnerable Hall. We've got to get there and find out what he did with Duncan and Isadora."
"Shall we do the usual hamster-ball formation?" asked Dash.
Violet nodded. She picked up Jack-Jack and cast a force-field ball around herself and Dash. Dash ran inside it, whisking them back into the city to Vulnerable Hall. They nearly crashed through the fine door with a crystal doorknob which had won the coveted Door Prize, but Dash stopped in time. The Rydingers were still hostages and the Incredibles didn't want to attract attention until they knew exactly where they were.
The ornate room was full of the cream of society, a word which here has nothing to do with cows, but instead means "those who consider themselves to be at the very top of things." On one side of the room, under a huge banner that read "InAuction", stood Count Buddy at a microphone, disguised with a monocle in one eye. He was announcing the items for sale in a phony accent.Esmé stood beside him.
"Lot #49," called Buddy (or Gunther, since that was the name he was using at the moment). "Is giant metal red herring statue, please. Herring in, red in, big metal statues in, so big metal red herring statue very in, please."
Dash found an auction catalog that someone had carelessly dropped to the floor.
"Look at what's coming next!" he said. "Lot #50 is V.F.D." He pointed to the side of the room where a large wooden box stamped V.F.D. was sitting.
"Duncan and Isadora must be in there," said Violet. "Syndrome must be planning to sell the box to an agent who will smuggle it out of town,"
"Ah, there you are, children," called the familiar voice of Jerome Sansweet. "Esmé told me you were having too much fun entertaining yourselves at home to come to the auction, but I'm glad you changed your mind."
"The 'entertainment' got a little too exciting, so we came here," said Violet dryly. "Jerome, would you do us a favor and bid on item #50 for us?"
"The V.F.D. mystery item? Certainly I will. They won't tell us what's in there, but whatever it is, it's 'in'."
"Do you really think they'll let him buy it?" said Dash to Violet. "They'll just keep bidding higher."
"I know, but if the auction takes longer it gives us more time to sneak up and break the Rydingers out," Violet said.
Dash went first, zipping behind the box too fast for anyone to see. Violet found a private alcove to take off the clothes over her costume, then moved invisibly to the box. She carried Jack-Jack under the front of her costume so he was also invisible.
Meanwhile, the Rydingers, who were actually concealed inside the red herring statue, were desperately trying to send the Incredibles a message, but so far they had not been in range.
"Doily, stick to Dash's shirt, Warn him so he won't get hurt," Isadora chanted softly.
This time, the spell was a success. The doily with the message Isadora had written on it, instantly transferred to the front of Dash's costume. Unfortunately, the Parrs were too intent on the auction to notice.
The auction on the red herring finished and men were carrying it away to the buyer.
"Next is bidding on number 50, please," said Gunther. "Contents so in, we will not be telling you what they are, please."
"One hundred dollars!" Jerome bid.
"Two hundred!" bid someone on the other side of the room.
Dash started trying to open the box from the back. Suddenly an alarm went off! Syndrome pivoted and fired a zero-point beam, paralyzing Dash and Violet behind the box.
"Hee hoo!" cried Syndrome in his normal voice. "I got you Incredibles this time! I set up that box of Very Fancy Doilies as a red herring to throw you off track."
"Esmé, what's going on?" called Jerome. "Is our auctioneer some sort of maniac?"
"Yes, Jerome," said Esmé in a cold voice, "And I'm workin' with him to trap the Incredibles. You've served your purpose and I won't be needin' you anymore."
"Now to finish them off at last!" said Count Buddy, aiming his other gauntlet to fire an explosive blast at the trapped heroes.
What Syndrome and Esmé didn't realize was that Jack-Jack had levitated up into the "InAuction" banner above them and was in the process of setting it on fire. They didn't realize it, that is, until the flaming banner dropped onto their heads.
"Gaboom!" said Jack-Jack.
Syndrome, flailing wildly, broke off the zero-point beam. Dash immediately pulled Violet out of the way, getting clear just before Syndrome fired his blast at the box, smashing it and sending doilies flying everywhere.
Unfortunately, the Very Fancy Doilies were also Very Flammable Doilies. They ignited as they passed near the flaming banner. Flaming doilies shot out into the crowd, which was also slipping on more doilies underfoot.
"This is bad," said Violet to Dash, "It's turning into a panic. People will be crushed if we don't do something."
"If we stop to help them, Count Buddy and Esmé will get away!" protested Dash.
"You know what Dad always said. Protect the innocents first," said Violet.
Violet scooped doilies out of the air with force fields while Dash snatched them up at super-speed and blew them out with the wind of the motion. Jack-Jack incinerated burning doilies to ash before they could land on anyone. The crowd was saved, but as Dash had predicted Buddy andEsmé took the opportunity to get away.
"There's a doily stuck to the front of your costume, Dash," said Violet after things had calmed down.
Dash pulled it off and saw it had writing on it.
"Not V.F.D., we're in GHOTI," he read. It was another magical couplet communication from Isadora.
"Ghoti?" said Dash. "What does that mean?"
"I heard that somewhere," Violet said. "GH as in 'enouGH', O as in 'wOmen', TI as in 'emoTIon'. It means 'FISH'."
"Fish!" said Dash, "The red herring! That's where they are!"
They ran out to the parking lot, but the truck that had taken the red herring sculpture was long gone.
Jerome Sansweet came out of Vulnerable Hall looking sad and discouraged. He nodded to the children.
"We should all go overseas and forget this ever happened," Jerome said. "If Esmé wants to leave me, I won't argue with her. But I want nothing more to do with superheros and villains in my life."
"Sorry, Jerome," said Dash. "We've got to stay and help our friends."
"Then I'm afraid that's the end of the adoption," said Jerome, and he walked away looking even more sad.
"Isadora must have sent that doily message even before I tried to open the box," said Dash. "I blew it!"
"We'll get them free next time, for sure," said Violet.
"Gope," said Jack-Jack, meaning, "If we get another chance."