When Syndrome had lost his strength and dropped the security guard, the six remaining guards – instead of arresting the now unconscious supervillain like they were supposed to be doing – had all dashed to the edge of the roof to watch in utter amazement as an elasticated superwoman stretched out from the building opposite to save their falling comrade. And it was only by sheer luck that the moment the guards turned their attention away from Syndrome was the same moment Kate came charging up the stairwell and out onto the roof, before darting round the water-tower and falling to her knees beside the unconscious form of Syndrome, lying on his back, dead to the world.

Exhausted from her frantic run up eight flights of stairs, for few moments all Kate could do was sit there and gasp for breath while staring at the fallen villain. After a while, she realised she could feel a strange dampness soaking through the knees of her jeans, and as she looked down she grimaced and shuffled back – she'd been kneeling in a growing pool of blood, seeping out from Syndrome's sliced shoulder.

Kate cast a nervous glance toward the group of guards, but thankfully they were still gathered at the roof's edge. Quickly, Kate removed her backpack and started rummaging. When she'd said she had a first-aid kit she really wasn't kidding; she had just about anything a traveller could ever need in that bag of hers – she'd had the Mary Poppins gag thrown at her more than a few times.

She soon found the item she'd been searching for – a small roll of bandage. This she unrolled and tore in half. One half she folded into a pad, the other half she used to tie the makeshift compressor tightly around Syndrome's shoulder.

The sudden pressure against the sensitive wound caused Syndrome to stir and groan in pain – and catch the attention of one of the guards.

"Hey!" the guard shouted, causing the others to turn round…

Bob, Helen, and the other inhabitants of the room had all been startled by the sudden appearance of the young woman who had rushed to Syndrome's aid. It instantly made things frustratingly difficult for the snipers, who no longer had their clear shot at Syndrome because of the civilian who now shielded him.

"But how do you know she's a civilian?" Helen had argued. "What if it's that blonde woman…what was her name…"

"Mirage? No, it's definitely not her." Bob replied. He was still viewing the events through binoculars, while his wife was having to make do without. "I've never seen this one before…"

"Oh no…" Kate groaned as she saw the guards start stalking purposefully towards her. She shook Syndrome as roughly as she dared, shouting, "Syndrome! Wake up! Wake up!"

"No I don't want that one, I want the other one…" Syndrome murmured deliriously, flapping his left hand weakly.

"I'll buy you both of them if you just wake up!" Kate responded impatiently, shaking him again.

By now the guards had surrounded Kate and Syndrome, and all of them had their guns pointed at the sorry pair.

"Move away from him. Now." One of the guards growled at Kate.

Giving up on trying to wake Syndrome up, Kate grabbed Syndrome's left arm and pointed it at the guards, her finger hovering over one of the buttons on the gauntlet round Syndrome's wrist. She didn't know what the button was for, but hopefully the guards wouldn't either.

"Stay back!" she shouted, brandishing Syndrome's limp arm like a weapon.

And the guards did stay back, wary after having already witnessed the power of those wristbands.

Then, unbeknownst to Kate or even the guards, Syndrome suddenly woke up, his eyes opening wide at the realisation that he had been unconscious. He looked up and saw the girl clutching his arm, looked to the side and saw the line of guards, and reacted immediately – he sat up and shrugged off the girl's hold on his arm, pointed at the guards, and deployed the immobi-ray.

The field of zero-point energy enfolded three of the six guards – Syndrome swung them round viciously and sent them colliding with the remaining guards, knocking them down like bowling pins.

"Well, that worked perfectly…" Helen commented sarcastically, having watched Syndrome take out all six guards with one well-placed swipe of that dratted immobilizer ray. "Now what?" she asked Rick.

"Now we wait, and watch what he does next." Rick replied calmly, much to the distress of the two restless Supers.

Now that all six security guards were lying in an unconscious heap, Syndrome rose shakily to his feet, dusting his hands together in a dismissive manner. Kate stared up at the strange man with some amount of awe – his eyes still held that faraway look, his skin was pale and clammy, he looked exhausted to the point that he shouldn't have been able to stand up, yet still he battled on.

Syndrome took a few steps away from Kate before stopping and looking up, scanning the skies, as if searching for something. Now Kate slowly got to her feet, and cast a disdainful glance at her blood-soaked jeans before she too looked up at the sky, trying to work out what Syndrome was looking for.

Just then, Kate heard a strange whooshing noise behind her, and whirled round just in time to see the strangest of aircrafts pull up neatly alongside the roof – the side closest to where Syndrome was currently standing.

"Whoa! Looks like you were right, Rick!" Bob exclaimed, almost dropping his binoculars as he dashed towards the window to get a better look at the aircraft.

Rick, still grimly calm, instructed the snipers, "Get ready to fire on my command. Syndrome isn't going anywhere…"

The aircraft was a small, impossibly sleek jet, with space for two passengers at the most, Kate guessed. Its exterior was a glossy black, with a translucent hatch over the cockpit. It hovered perfectly still, making little more than a low humming noise, though it seemed to have no visible turbine engines or propellers. Its wings were short-spanned, wide, and vaguely triangular; rather than jutting out, they blended sleekly with the body of the aircraft. It was almost like some sort of alien spaceship, and had Kate not been in such a hurry to think up a plan of action, she could have spent ages marvelling at it. It didn't take a genius to realise that Syndrome had called for this jet, and was now about to make his getaway in it. And the last thing Kate wanted was to lose Syndrome after having only just found him – somehow, she needed to find out where he was going.
But Kate was still oblivious to the team of agents lying in wait in the building across the street, ready to blast Syndrome's only means of escape out of the sky…

A moment after the strange aircraft had become stationary, the glass hatch had slid open, and while Kate had begun to frantically rummage through her bag, Syndrome strolled past her, approaching the edge of the roof, then stepping off it and sliding into the pilot's seat.

For a few moments Syndrome just slumped there – even the mere action of stepping from one platform to another had been exhausting for him. He could not even muster enough strength to take the controls. So instead, he began resetting the auto-pilot co-ordinates to take him back to Nomanisan. As with most of the aircrafts he'd invented, the automated pilot was considerably more advanced than that of standard airplanes – as long as the jet didn't encounter any major obstructions, it would return to its hangar on the island base with no trouble.

Meanwhile, Kate seemed to suddenly find what she'd been searching for. She stood up straight, dropping her backpack and taking a deep breath to gather strength. Then, while Syndrome was still busy pressing buttons, she began to run forward, charging straight towards the hovering jet…

Now sharing the pair of binoculars, Bob and Helen both let out a gasp of surprise as they saw the girl suddenly charge forward, leap out from the roof, and land on the back of the jet.

Rick, who had just raised his hand to give the signal for the snipers to open fire on the jet, now bellowed out, "Hold your fire!"

Bob and Helen continued to watch anxiously as the girl immediately lost her footing on the sleek surface of the aircraft, before – to the watching Supers' relief – dropping to a low crouch.

"Is she crazy?" Helen exclaimed, trying to tug the binoculars away from her husband in order to get a better look.

"Are you crazy?" Syndrome shouted, having turned round in his seat after hearing Kate make her clumsy landing.

Kate, not daring to move out of her huddled crouch, raised her head and met Syndrome's sharp eyes with her own equally intense gaze.
"I expect a lot of people could ask you the same question!" she shouted back to him over the jet's continuous hum.

A strange staring contest followed that comment, as the two unusual characters – the bohemian girl and the wild-haired man – glared at each other challengingly. Eventually, though, it was Kate who relented – glancing away from Syndrome as, despite herself, she found herself unable to stare into those cold, wild eyes any longer.

Syndrome smirked at her, then made his intentions clear by slowly, purposefully, reaching out and pressing a button to close the hatch.
"Get off, or you fall off." He said to Kate fiercely as the clear hatch began to close over his head. However, the threatening moment was then ruined as Syndrome had to hastily duck down to avoid getting his fiery hair caught in the hatch as it slid shut – the sight caused Kate to grin widely. But the amusement soon left her face as she realised it was time to move, fast. This man would not think twice about suddenly taking off and letting her fall to her death, Kate knew – she could see it in his eyes.

Kate rose from her crouch as quickly as she dared, and before vertigo could overwhelm her sense of balance, she started forward, skidding down the jet's left wing and jumping the small gap between the jet and the building. She landed, on her feet, on the solid safety of the roof. And not a moment too soon – her feet had barely touched the ground before she heard a sudden loud whoosh as the jet hurtled away from the building at incredible speed. Within a few seconds it was a mere dot in the sky.

"Oh great, that's just great. He got away!" Helen exclaimed crossly, flinging her arms up in frustration and turning away from the window.

Everyone else in the room was aghast – not only at the uncanny speed of the aircraft, but at their failure to prevent Syndrome's escape due to that girl's inexplicable decision the leap onto the jet at the last moment.

"What did that girl think she was doing…" Helen continued to mutter angrily as she stalked straight out of the room, heading to the elevator.

Bob watched Helen exit the room. He started to follow after his wife, before pausing to glance back at Rick, but the weary agent just sighed heavily, looking even more sullen than usual. So Bob turned away, and headed out of the room.

Helen, meanwhile, had already reached the ground floor. Still fuming, she headed straight out of the building, and stalked down the street for a few paces… before suddenly pausing as she saw Kate emerge from the building across the street, jog down the steps, and head over to a parked car.

"Well, that was interesting…" Kate said to Mitch, who had rolled down his window and stuck his head out as she approached.

"Yeah, nice stunt you pulled back there. But what were you actually doing? Trying to hitch a lift or something?"

Kate grinned slyly. "Nope."

"Well, unless you fancy explaining everything to the authorities, I think it's time we got out of here."

Kate looked to where Mitch was now pointing, turning round to see one of the Supers standing and watching her from across the road. Though there was a good distance between them, Kate could see the look on the woman's masked face – she seemed to be studying Kate intently, with an expression that was more questioning than angry. But Kate was still wary, and did not take her eyes off the Super as she asked Mitch,
"Is that 'Elastigirl'?"

Mitch nodded. "Without a doubt. I could see her stretching herself around to save that guard who fell off the roof – it was pretty cool. And that's Mr Incredible just coming out of the building over there..."

Kate nodded slowly. She was interested in the Incredibles, of course, but she was currently much more interested in Syndrome, and Mitch was right – it was time to leave.

For a moment longer, Kate and Helen continued to stare at each other - both seeming wary of what the other might do - until Kate finally got inside the car and shut the door.

As Mitch pulled away from the curb, he asked, "So, what are we going to do now? It's going to be impossible to find out where Syndrome's gone…"

But Kate smiled – a secret, knowing smile – and said, "Remember that tracking device Jeff gave me last week?..."

"But he has nowhere to go, right?" Bob had asked Rick as the agent emerged from the building to join the two Supers. "The government must have taken control of the island by now…"

"If the government had taken control of the island, then he wouldn't have been able to call for that aircraft." Rick replied solemnly.

"…Oh. But, that means…"

"The thing is, Bob, turns out that the only military unit around here that would have been powerful enough to take out the island are actually Mr Pine's clients. They're just a few of many clients around the world. This guy makes his money by selling his weapon designs to the highest bidders."

"Oh no…" Bob groaned as the realization hit him. He recalled Syndrome saying how he'd become rich by inventing weapons, but Bob had never given much thought as to who he had sold them to…
"But you said you'd frozen his assets…"

"Well, we thought we had, but that was before we discovered what we know now."

"But…surely…He's killed people, Rick…"

"The world is a corrupt place, Bob. The long and short of it is – if we were to catch Syndrome here, then we would have the authority to arrest him. But for as long as he stays on that island, he claims sanctuary."

Helen, who had been watching as the girl got into a car and drove away, now turned round and called to Bob and Rick,
"Now the girl's gone too. Should we be doing something about that?"

"It's alright, Mrs Parr." Rick called back. "We can track her down." He then added in a quieter voice, "I've got a feeling I know who she is…"

Bob blinked. "Wait a minute – you know her?"

"I think I know of her. If she is who I think she is, then she's a researcher for some sort of independent paranormal agency…. But anyway, Bob, as I was saying - if you want to bring Syndrome to justice, you're going to have to do it yourself."

Bob fell silent as he thought about this. Again, his feelings were mixed. On one hand, he wanted so much for Syndrome to pay for what he'd done, and knew that the villain's 'defective qualities' were something he couldn't be blamed for. And yet, there was always one nagging thought in the back of his mind – maybe it was his fault that Buddy had become such a tyrant in the first place. And maybe, just maybe, even Syndrome deserved a second chance.

Finally, Bob said quietly, "Let him run. If he knows what's good for him, he'll start a new life for himself, like I had to. But if he ever shows his face in this town again, I'll be waiting for him."