"It's a trick," Fernald said. "You haven't aged a day from fifteen years ago. You're not Fiona. I know, you're that shape-changing baby!"
"No, it's really me. If I were Jack-Jack, would I know I got this scar on my wrist from fighting you over a teddy bear when you were five?" said Fiona.
Fiona explained about the time-jump she and Captain Widdershins had experienced. Finally, Fernald was convinced.
"Now how am I going to make the Parrs talk? I can't drown you too!" Fernald said.
"We don't have the sugar bowl anyway," said Dash. "We looked for it in the grotto and it wasn't there."
"He's telling the truth, Fernald," said Fiona. "Aye! It was our mission, but we failed."
"So putting you in the brig was pointless!" the hook-handed man said angrily. "What am I supposed to do now?"
"Fernald, why don't you come with us and join the good side, the V.F.D.?" asked Fiona.
Fernald gave a bitter snort, "The V.F.D.? There's no good side between the V.F.D. and Syndrome."
"How can you say that? Syndrome murders people!" Violet said.
"Fiona, you remember my super power?" asked Fernald.
"You can shoot flames from your hands," Fiona replied.
Fernald held up his hooks to the window. "Not any more."
"The V.F.D. did that to you?" Fiona gasped.
"I found a newspaper article that says you burned down Anwhistle Aquatics and killed Gregor Anwhistle," said Violet. "But I still can't believe the V.F.D. would punish you like that!"
"You should have seen that fire," Fernald said. "From a distance it looked like the whole sea was burning."
"You must have been proud of what you did," Fiona said bitterly.
"Proud? It was the saddest day of my life. There's a lot more to the fire than that. The Daily Punctuation doesn't tell the whole story. The V.F.D. can do something villainous, and Syndrome can do something noble. Even the Parrs' parents -- Enough! I don't want to talk about it any more."
"Fernald, we left Jack-Jack back in the Quohog dying of poisonous mushrooms. You've got to let us go back there and try to help him!" Violet said.
"I will, on one condition," said Fernald. "Take me with you. If Fiona could find that time-warp again, we could skip another fifteen years and nobody would be looking for us."
"I don't want to skip fifteen years," said Dash.
"We'll drop you off someplace first," said Fernald, but his eyes looked shifty as he said it.
"What about our stepfather?" asked Fiona. "He's missing."
"Splashdown? I don't care a fig what happens to him," said Fernald coldly.
"Where are our par-- I mean Hugo, Colette, and Kevin?" asked Dash.
"The Man With a Beard and No Hair has them," said Fernald. "He said it would be safer that way. They just let me and half the Snow Scouts go with Syndrome."
"Oh," said Dash in disappointment.
Fernald opened the cell door. "Hurry up, I'll take you back to the Quohog."
They passed back through the rowing room. Kari Melita was still trying to sing, but she had turned off the boom box. Dash zipped through, snagging the boom box on the way. Violet stripped off her wet suit and went through invisibly. Fernald and Fiona tried to sneak through, but Esmé spotted them.
"Fernald, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be interrogating prisoners in the brig?" Esmé asked.
"Umm, I came to borrow your whip," said Fernald.
"Why do you have one of the cakesniffing prisoners loose?" Kari demanded.
"She's not a prisoner. She's my sister Fiona, and she wants to join Syndrome," said Fernald.
"That's a funny mask, Fiona," said Kari. "I think we should call you Triangle Eyes."
Meanwhile, the Parrs had gotten back to the Quohog. Jack-Jack was still hanging on, but he was having great difficulty breathing.
"I read that mushrooms like damp, enclosed places," said Dash. "If Jack-Jack could morph he could flame-on and the mushrooms would be killed."
Violet turned on the boom box and placed the speaker next to the helmet. "Does this help, Jack-Jack?"
A muffled "Floatie!" came from inside the helmet. Jack-Jack passed through the helmet in desolid form, leaving the mushrooms behind.
Violet put a force field around him in case of spores. Dash rushed to the galley and came back with a burning match, which he held near the force field. "Flame-on, Jack-Jack," he said.
Jack-Jack morphed to flame form and burned up any remnants of mushrooms and spores still clinging to him. Violet dropped the force field and hugged Jack-Jack.
"Savedme," said Jack-Jack.
"You saved yourself with your own powers," said Dash with a big grin.
They were all so happy they didn't notice Count Buddy sneaking up on them. Once again he caught them with a zero-point beam.
"What a touching family reunion," said Syndrome. "Hee heh hee-hee hic! Oh blast it, hiccups again!"
But what horrified the Incredibles the most was not Syndrome, but the person standing behind him. Fiona was now wearing a black wet-suit with a big letter "S" painted on the chest.