Helen, Violet and Dash rejoined Bob and Jack-Jack at the beach. They gave Mr. Incredible the clothes they had taken and he quickly put them on.
"Dad, they called the police," said Dash. "We need to get out of here before they spot us."
"What happened to the tunneling machine?" Helen asked.
"I thought someone might spot it and come to investigate, so I pushed it back underground and buried it while you were gone," said Bob. He said this casually, because it was normally an easy feat for someone with his enormous strength, but he looked a little pale and out of breath.
"I know how we can get out of here," Dash said. "There's a bunch of people getting together to go to Hemoglobin Hospital. We can join up with them. They're called the Volunteers Fighting Disease."
"Won't they recognize you three?" Bob asked.
"The man at the store said they never read the newspapers," Violet said.
"Igno!" said Jack-Jack.
The family mingled with the crowd of people who were getting into vans.
Bob introduced them. "Hi, I'm Bob Smith and these are my wife and kids. We'd like to join the Volunteers Fighting Disease."
The bearded man with a guitar that Bob was talking to held up a hand. "No names in the V.F.D. We're all brothers and sisters here. Everyone's equal."
"Come on, hop in," said a woman who was already in the back of the van.
As soon as the van began to move, the guitar-player began strumming and led the group in a song.
"The Vigilante Fighters Down
Made supers disappear
And now we fight against disease
As happy volunteers!"
There were several silly verses about singing to people who cough up bile and trying to make them laugh. Finally they stopped for some "cheerful conversation."
"Excuse me," Violet said, "What did you mean about making supers disappear?"
"It was before your time, little sister," said the man with the guitar, "But there used to be supers all over the country. We protested against them as the 'Vigilante Fighters Down' and got them banned. Then we wanted to stay together and work for another good cause, so we formed the Volunteers Fighting Disease."
"What did you have against supers?" Dash asked.
"They were terrible," one woman said. "They flaunted their super-powers and made all the ordinary people feel bad about themselves."
"So you think nobody should be better at anything than anyone else?" Violet asked.
"That's equality, sister," said the man with the guitar.
"Bergeron!" said Jack-Jack, which meant, "If everyone was 'equal' that would be a terrible world."
"Supers had to be sued," said another man. "They broke the rules just because they had the power to get away with it."
"I doubt they were that bad," said Dash, but he had a twinge of conscience because he had just used his power to get away with stealing from an old man who had given him a muffin.
"Superheros were the cause of supervillains," said the man with the guitar. "They got into big vendettas and innocent people got caught in the crossfire."
Violet remembered how their last few fights with Syndrome had gotten out of hand, but she spoke up anyway.
"The villains would have done a lot more harm without supers to fight them," she said.
"I can prove that's not right," said the first woman who had spoken. "After supers were stopped the supervillains just disappeared. They had no challenge any more, so they quit."
"That's because of places like the V.F.D.!" said Dash, thinking of the internment camp they had just escaped.
"That's right, little brother, it's because of groups like the V.F.D. that we don't have any heroes and villains anymore," said the man with the guitar. "But now we're the Volunteers Fighting Disease and we need to get real happy before we get to the hospital."
He began to play and sing again, and all the old volunteers joined him.
"Hear our happy tune.
Have a heart-shaped balloon.
Health is why we croon
'Hope you get well soon!'"
The children noticed that their parents had not taken part in the conversation. Bob and Helen were leaning against the wall of the van, looking very ill.
"Are you all right, Mom?" Violet whispered.
"All that time lost at sea... catching up with me..." said Helen weakly.
"Me too..." said Bob.
When they arrived at the hospital they quickly ditched the volunteers and began to look for a place their parents could lie down and rest.
"Attention! Attention! I have an announcement," said a scratchy voice over the intercom, "This is Mattathias, taking over for Babs as the new Head of Human Resources. Babs has resigned effective immediately. She has decided to take up skydiving without a parachute."
"That voice seems a bit familiar," said Dash.
"Gount!" Jack-Jack agreed.
"Ssh!" said Violet. "He just said something we needed to hear."
"To repeat," said Mattathias, "There is a new streamlined admissions policy in effect immediately. We won't take identification and insurance information. Just pop people into rooms and we'll get it later. For example, be sure to admit the new patient who will be arriving in the Burn Ward in a few minutes without asking any questions."
"Perfect!" said Violet. "There's the Exhaustion and Exposure Ward over there. Mom and Dad, you can go in and they'll treat you even without any I.D."
"You'll... be all right... on your own for a while?" Helen asked.
"We've been taking care of ourselves all this time," said Violet. "We'll be just fine."
Had they but known of the horrible dangers of Hemoglobin Hospital, they might not have risked being separated. But as it was, Bob and Helen stumbled off to the Exhaustion and Exposure Ward to check themselves in.
"Now what do we do?" Dash asked the others.