The disheartened supers left Nero's office, after tying up the unconscious Vice-Principal. They returned to the jet, which Helen Parr had landed in the athletic field. Helen unlocked the plane and let all the Snow Scouts out.
"You're free to go," she told them. "I suggest you call your parents, and any of you who are going to Prudence Prep should to try to transferred. This is not a good place. Kari, you're also free to go with them."
"I'm not going to forget this," said Kari Melita Spats in an spiteful tone.
"I think you probably will, soon," said Violet. She was remembering how Mr. Poe had erased Kari's memories once before.
They also dropped off 'Uncle' Bruce, though they left him tied up. Though he would admit nothing it seemed fairly certain he was a government agent.
Mr. Incredible untied Fernald. "We found out that all supers are in the same boat," he said. "If you want to join us, you're welcome. If you'd rather take your chances on your own..."
"I'll join you," said Fernald. "Why not? There's nothing for me anywhere else."
"I'm glad," said Fiona, hugging him. "Aye!"
"Let me stay, too. I want to be your sidekick!" said Phil to Mr. Incredible.
"Phil, you really should go back to your parents." Bob said.
Phil looked very disappointed and suddenly Bob remembered how Syndrome began.
"We won't be superheros anymore," said Bob. "We'll be hunted fugitives. If you still want to stay..."
"Being a hunted fugitive sounds great!" said Phil. "Of course I'll stay!"
Helen took the jet up and they flew out over the sea.
"What now?" said Mr. Incredible. "I think we should just get out of the country."
"We need to find out why the government wants to kill us," said Violet. "That means reading the rest of the sugar bowl messages."
"Going to Duchess R. when the authorities will be looking there? Too dangerous," said Elastigirl.
"If there's a big masked ball we could blend in," said Dash. "When is the ball?"
"Tonight," I said. "I have to go there anyway, to save Beatrice."
"Who is Beatrice, Lemon?" asked Duncan.
"Beatrice is Plasmabolt," I said. "She's a wonderful woman who loves the outdoors and shoots energy blasts, and I love her more than life itself. We would have married, but when the Relocation came she said she must keep her secret identity rigidly separated from her former super life. She sent me a book by carrier pigeon, breaking up with me."
"She was the fourth member of the Phantasmics," Macroburst said. "I wonder why Syndrome didn't try to catch her like the rest of us?"
"He must have tried, but if she kept strictly to her secret identity he would have had no clue to find her," I said. "According to the file we just saw, he had to find us on his own. But if she shows up at the ball tonight..."
"It's too risky. We can't go near government agents; they can hypnotize us at will," said KitFox. "Earplugs would be too much of a handicap to communication."
"Not all of us can be hypnotized," said Violet. "Nero said children of two supers can develop immunity. I already have."
"Gimmunty!" said Jack-Jack, which meant "I want to develop immunity too!"
"Dad, do you still have that tape that Sir used on us?" Dash asked.
The children took the tape to the back of the jet. After several exposures, Dash and Jack-Jack were no longer affected by the music.
Bob and Helen Parr were extremely worried by the idea of the children going on this mission, but it seemed there was no better choice to save Beatrice and read the sugar bowl.
"Someone needs to go with them who knows the layout of Duchess R.'s mansion," I said. "Let me go. I've been her guest many times."
"You can be turned against them," protested Mr. Incredible.
"My only super-power is the power to make things sour," I said. "I can't do much harm if I'm caught."
And that's how it happened that the Parr children and I were rowing on the lake that night near the mansion of the Duchess, keeping out of sight among the cattails. I beached the boat and we sneaked across the grounds: Violet invisible with Jack-Jack under her costume, Dash zipping by too fast to be noticed, and myself using V.F.D.-trained stealth skills. There seemed to be guards everywhere, but we eluded them.
I was wearing a bullfighter costume with a red cape, a thin mask, and shiny red shoes with fancy buckles so I could infiltrate the party. The children were in their super costumes, and they hoped to remain out of sight.
"I'm going straight down this hall to the main Reception Parlor where the ball is being held," I said.
"Any idea where the mainframe computer might be?" Violet asked.
"That staircase leads down to the basement level," I said. "Take a left, then go five doors down past the guest bedrooms. The computer room should be just past the last guest room. I never went in there, but I heard the hum of machines when I stayed here before."
"Jack-Jack, you go with The Lemon in case he needs help," said Violet. Violet and Dash both touched Jack-Jack to charge him up with their powers. I carried Jack-Jack under one arm and folded my cape over him.
Inside the Reception Parlor, the costume party was going full swing. Beside the ordinary costumes of Littlest Elves, eagles, and Incredibles' Deadly Vipers, many people had chosen super costumes. I knew most could not be real: Dynaguy, Thunderhead, Gazerbeam, and Stratogale were all dead or elsewhere.
A number of people dressed in scorpion costumes were walking through the crowd, staring at everyone. I guessed they must be government agents on the watch for supers.
Then I saw her, in her super costume which looked very much like a dragonfly: the woman the world called Plasmabolt. She appeared to be alone on the veranda -- the word "veranda" is a fancy name for a porch. I slipped out onto the veranda and tried to give her a warning.
"Beatrice," I cried, just as the scorpion-clad agents spotted me, "Count Buddy is..."
"Don't call me that name in public," she snapped at me, protecting her secret identity to the last.
"Count Buddy is here!" cried Syndrome, rising up on his jet-boots from beyond the balcony. He was wearing his familiar black costume with the "S" on the chest, but his face was a mass of bruises and scars from the mast-harpoon Mr. Incredible had thrown at him.
Before Beatrice could react, he blasted her with a shot from his gauntlet which enveloped her in flame. I ran to her side but there was nothing I could do.
"Now you," he cried, aiming at me. "You V.F.D. fools have stolen my future. Esmé died in my arms after that harpoon attack. I'll kill you all, one-by..."
Before he got out the next word, Jack-Jack, who was close enough the Beatrice to absorb her power, shot him down with a plasma bolt. He died never knowing the woman he was avenging had been his deadly enemy, waiting for the chance to destroy him for killing her husband Frozone.
A stun-beam from one of the agents struck Jack-Jack from behind, knocking him out.
"Looks like Count Buddy's off this contract," said one of the agents to another. "We want these two alive, for now."
He pulled out a small tape recorder and pressed the play button. I was too much in shock to try to cover my ears.