"You don't recognize me, do you?" the psychic asked Mr. Incredible. "Neither does Syndrome."
The psychic unclasped a metal collar around her neck. The Incredibles blinked as her face seemed to melt and shift. Now they saw a man with a high forehead and piercing eyes.
"Everseer?" asked Bob in surprise.
"Indubitably," said the man with a chuckle. He spoke in an educated voice without a trace of the accent he had used as Madame Lulu.
"Relax, everyone," said Bob, standing up from his hunched position. "He's an old friend from the golden age of supers."
Dash hopped down from Violet's back and became visible. Jack-Jack morphed to normal form.
"I thought you were dead," said Mr. Incredible. "Your name was one of the first on Syndrome's 'Terminated' list."
"As Mark Twain once said, the report of my death has been greatly exaggerated," Everseer said. "As a matter of fact, Syndrome completely failed with my super-team."
"The Phantasmics?" Helen asked.
"Yes. That is, myself, Macroburst, and Psycwave," said Everseer. "We kept in touch after the Super Relocation Act went into effect. Plasmabolt broke off contact with us."
The children gave a little start when the name Psycwave was mentioned, but Everseer was intent on his story and didn't appear to notice.
"Syndrome must have found one of us and then tracked down the other two," Everseer said. "He offered us the opportunity of a lifetime, a chance to return to action secretly and stop an out-of-control military robot."
"He fed me the same line," said Mr. Incredible bitterly. "It was a deathtrap."
"Precisely," said Everseer. "It was his first robot and it had serious design flaws, but it was still more than a match for two mentalists and a young man whose only power was wind blasts. But Syndrome made the mistake of getting too close so he could watch the action in person."
"You picked up his thoughts?" Helen asked.
"Indeed, and I instantly came up with a plan which I relayed to the others by telepathy. We retreated toward one of the many lava flows on Nomanisan Island. The robot wheeled after us..."
"Weel?" asked Jack-Jack, which meant "It has wheels, not legs?"
"This first robot had wheels, a mistake I believe Syndrome corrected in later designs. Macroburst gave it an extra push with a wind-burst that rolled it into the lava. Psycwave and I beamed an illusion into Syndrome's mind that the robot had grabbed the two of us in its two metal arms and dragged us down into the lava."
"The one I beat was lava-proof," said Mr. Incredible with a touch of pride.
"Another design flaw he corrected, no doubt," said Everseer.
"We met Psycwave," said Violet. "She said she created the mental illusion and escaped alone."
"Protecting me, no doubt," said Everseer. "She's a fine woman; she was my partner in psychiatric practice before we founded the Phantasmics."
The children shuddered, remembering how that "fine woman" had mind-controlled Dash and tried to kill them.
"I sense you had a bad experience with her," said Everseer. "She did become a little bitter after that ordeal, and we've been out-of-touch ever since."
"What happened to Macroburst?" Bob asked.
"I read from Syndrome's mind that he was going to rebuild the robot and call Macroburst back for it to kill him, so I planted a post-hypnotic suggestion. We stowed away on The Kid's return plane..."
"The Kid?" Dash asked.
"I still call Macroburst 'The Kid' sometimes; he used to be my sidekick," said Everseer. "When The Kid got the call-back he was carrying a hypnotic device of my own invention. As soon as Macroburst arrived he triggered it and it made Syndrome fall into a trance and hallucinate that his second robot had succeeded in killing Macroburst. The Kid flew under his own power to where I was waiting with a boat. And that was that."
"That was that?" Bob asked. "Why didn't you defeat Syndrome and turn him in? It would have saved a lot of lives."
"My dear sir, remember we had broken the law by working as supers again. We had no wish to go to a prison camp," said Everseer. "No, our only recourse was to pretend to be dead, to go into hiding and make new lives for ourselves. As I have with this carnival, as Madame Lulu. And, I believe, as you also wish to do."
"Only temporarily, until we can clear our names," said Violet.
"Of course, of course. Now, I gather from your disguises that you wish to be freaks?" Everseer asked. "I've done well as a medium. With my mental powers and psychiatric background, it's easy to give people what they want. But the carnival desperately needs more freaks."
"How many do you have now?" asked Helen.
"One. You'll meet him in a little bit. But first, your disguises really need some assistance. Your faces are too well-known."
"What can we do?" Bob asked.
"I suggest you use my Virtual Facial Disguises. They're my own invention. They project mental illusions of a new persona. It's how I look like Madame Lulu."
Everseer reached into a drawer and pulled out several metal collars like the one he had around his neck.
"Here, put these on and focus on the person you wish to appear to be," Everseer said.
The family reached for them, and Everseer backed up, waving them off.
"Ah-ah-ah! Don't touch me with those dirty hands. Germs, you know. I can sense germs and they terrify me. Here, I'll set the rings on the table and you pick them up."
Mr. Incredible put his on. "I'm Hugo the Hunchback."
"Yes, you are Hugo, sad and beaten down by years of mockery because of your misshapen form," said Everseer in a hypnotic voice.
Before their eyes, Bob's face began to transform. He had a sad, beaten expression. His back hunched over. He looked nothing like himself.
"Now me," said Helen. "I'm Colette the Contortionist."
"You are Colette," said Everseer. "People hate and fear you because of the ways you can contort your body. You have become hardened to their disgust."
Helen's face became sharper, her eyes harder. Her hair looked coarser. She also looked very different from herself.
"Now you two children, assemble yourselves," said Everseer.
Violet and Dash put on the rings and got together as they had been when they entered the caravan.
"I cannot ask you to believe you actually have two heads," Everseer said. "But you have been mistreated, homeless, hated, chased from place to place because you are different."
"You've got that right," said Dash.
Both Dash and Violet felt the reality of these words sink in and their faces appeared uglier, scarred, and with a hunted expression.
Everseer looked down at Jack-Jack. "I don't have a ring to fit you," he said. "But your morphed disguise is already very good."
"Glootch!" said Jack-Jack, meaning "You'd better believe it."
Jack-Jack morphed back into a hairy monster. "Chabo!" he said, and growled.
"Chabo the Wolf Baby," said Dash.
Everseer re-clasped his own Virtual Facial Disguise ring. "And I am Madame Lulu, a poor old woman blessed and cursed with psychic vision, please. Always I give people what they want."
Madame Lulu pressed the button on an intercom on the wall. "Come to the main caravan, Freak Kevin, please."
"Who is Kevin, really?" asked Violet.
"Oh, didn't I tell you? He's Macroburst, please" said Madame Lulu.
A young man with unkempt hair and an unhappy expression entered the caravan from the back door. He looked very unlike Macroburst, who had always tried to keep his hair perfect in spite of the gusts of wind he generated. There was a ring around his neck also.
"Kevin?" said Violet in a deep, disguised voice. "You don't look freakish. What's your problem?"
"I'm the worst freak of all," he said sadly. "I'm ambidextrous."