The Incredibles moved stealthily down the stairs to Library of Records. With Dash handling the unlocking they found the right key in a matter of seconds.
"Let's look in the S's first," suggested Violet. "For supers. Here's a filing cabinet marked 'Sunshine to Superstition'."
Dash found the right key and opened the cabinet. "Nope, not in here. What about 'W' for 'Weaknesses'?"
They ran to check. Jack-Jack took a short-cut by morphing to his strong metal form. He climbed over the metal cabinets, using the drawer handles for handholds and footholds. He couldn't read, but he was enjoying the excitement of the hunt.
It wasn't in 'Weaknesses' or 'Vulnerabilities'. They went back to the 'S' aisle to try 'Snippet File', but that wasn't it either.
"It might just be the name of one of the supers in the file," said Violet. "How about 'I' for 'Incredible'?
"Or 'M' for 'Mr. Incredible'", said Dash.
"Do you think secret identities are in there?" asked Violet. "Let's try under 'Parr'."
And that is where they finally found it. It had been a long search and they were starting to feel dizzy with tiredness when they pulled out the folder marked "Super Snippet File."
There was one piece of paper taped inside. It read, "This location has been compromised. The contents have been placed in the s.b. for safety."
"Ohh, how disappointing!" Violet cried. "We don't even know if it was the authorities that got it or not."
"Wait, there's a picture stuck under the note," Dash said.
The picture was a page of black-and-white portraits of superheros taken in the golden age. The Parrs recognized many of them from old clips on television: Dynaguy, Gazerbeam, Everseer, Splashdown, Universal Man, Apogee, Macroburst, Vectress, Phylange, Stratogale, and Plasmabolt. They especially recognized the three that had been circled in red: Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, and Psychwave. Seeing this last picture brought back a horrible memory; Psychwave had gone bad and she had mind-controlled Dash for a while in the guise of Dr. Orwell the optometrist.
At the bottom of the page, also in red, were the words, "At least one more survived."
"At least one more survived what?" asked Dash.
"I think it means they survived Syndrome's plot," said Violet. "I saw most of these people listed as 'Terminated' when I broke into Count Buddy's computer files. He pretended he had an out-of-control military robot and he called in supers to stop it, but the real plan was to kill them and to keep making new and improved robots as part of a revenge scheme against Dad."
"Ommigroid?" said Jack-Jack, which meant, "The robot we fought in the city?"
"That was the last and the best," Violet said, "We only beat it with inside information I found in Syndrome's files."
"And now they're calling it a publicity stunt," Dash said in disgust. "For him it was a stunt to pretend to be a superhero, but we really saved..." He awned, "Saved the city."
"We need to get out of here and get some rest," said Violet. She was starting to yawn, too.
Only Jack-Jack, who was still in metallic form, didn't feel tired. In metal form he didn't need to sleep or breathe.
"I've got to lie down... for a few minutes," said Dash.
"Me too," said Violet.
In a moment both had fallen asleep on the floor. Jack-Jack tried in vain to wake them. He was getting more and more worried.
The door opened and a woman wearing a hat with a veil over her face walked in on stiletto heels.
"All sleepin', Incredibles?" asked Esmé Sansweet. "Good, because I'm gonna kill you." Her voice was muffled by an oxygen mask she held to her face.
"Gooble?" called Jack-Jack, which meant, "What have you done?"
"Oh, the baby's still awake," said Esmé. "I should have waited a few more minutes, but it won't be long before you fall asleep."
"Greeble?" asked Jack-Jack, meaning "Why are you doing this?"
Esmé said, "I came down here to steal the Super Snippet File, hopin' to get evidence to prove Syndrome killed my first husband, Frozone. Instead I heard you rootin' around down here, so I went and stole a cannister of concentrated anesthetic gas and a gas mask. I released the gas into the ventilation system down here, and waited."
"Grobble?" asked Jack-Jack, meaning "How did you happen to come here at all?"
"Syndrome took over the hospital as Mattathias so he could get treatment for the burns you gave him at the V.F.D. village, little one. It was pretty dumb of him to try to stop you in his bare-chested detective disguise instead of his fireproof super-suit. I like what you did to him. But I'm still helpin' him kill you first because I hold you partly responsible for Monty's death. If I get you tonight I can catch him by surprise and kill him too."
Jack-Jack began to run in her direction.
"You can come after me, or you can save your siblings," said Esmé.
She pushed over the filing cabinets near her and they began to fall like dominos. There was a good chance they would fall on Dash and Violet and crush them so Jack-Jack had to run back to them. He wasn't strong enough in this form to stop the falling cabinets so he had to drag his siblings away.
Jack-Jack headed toward the chute where papers came in. He pulled Violet up on a table where she would be in less danger. He grabbed Dash by the collar of his super-suit and climbed with him up the chute to the fresh air outside.
Once Dash was safe, Jack-Jack climbed back down to help Violet. Nothing was left in the room but fallen filing cabinets. Violet and Esmé were both gone.
Jack-Jack raised his voice in the one cry of baby-language that needs no translation: "Waaaah!"