It has been some time since the attack at the orphanage. The head minister of the place, as well as most of the children, survived with little injury and burns. The boy was taken to the Metroville Hospital for Supers to have his injuries tended, and the captured cultist was taken in by the police and taken to a maximum security prison where he'll be interrogated for information about the cult.

The Incredibles are now in their new home – since the last one was destroyed by Syndrome – just doing their normal stuff. Mr. Incredible, now known in his secret identity as Bob Parr, reading a newspaper, a section about the attack 2 weeks before. He very well remembered what the owner of the orphanage told him.

*Flashback*

"Okay, miss. I just need you to tell me specifically; do you know who dropped off the boy at this orphanage?" asked Mr. Incredible. The owner looked at him, her strawberry red hair a bit frizzled and blackened by the ashes. She shook her head as she took in a deep breath.

"Uh, no. I don't know who exactly dropped off the boy, b-but there was a note that was with the boy when I saw him." The woman said. "I-I think I still have it with me, assuming it didn't get burned." She murmured as she fished something out of her pocket from her shirt. She pulled out a slightly burnt notecard, with one edge burnt off completely. Mr. Incredible inspected it, and it read;

Look out for this boy,

There is a cult after him. They call themselves "The Resurgence", and they want this boy for whatever they need for their agenda. As for the boy himself; I've discovered that this 'super' is NOT like any other super we've documented. Everything about him, from his powers, even his DNA is strange. I've taken a sample of his DNA for study so that while the boy remains in hiding, I can study his physical and physiological attributes.

However, the cult is very sophisticated and widespread, for it seems like some of our workers seem to know the Resurgence very well. I overhead a conversation between one of the workers and another Resurgence member, and so I had to take the boy to hide him in a quiet part of Metroville until the heat dies down, and I have enough samples to study them. Until then, the boy must now remain in your care; he cannot know of his powers for his safety.

Rick Dicker.

"Rick Dicker?" Mr. Incredible murmured to himself. The owner nodded. "The boy was dropped off before the Superhero Relocation Program was shut down. I think…I think he might have some knowledge of where the boy came from." She explained. Mr. Incredible nodded in understanding. "I know Rick Dicker personally…I think I may need to make a call soon." He said, before giving back the note to the owner before returning to his family.

*Flashback ended*

And so he did, but unfortunately, he wouldn't pick up the line, so he had to place a voice message through the call. He was able to wait…for about 3 days, before having to call again, forcing him to drop off another voice message. Lather rinse repeat for two weeks.

Now, he's just reading the newspaper about the attack specifically. "The attack here sparked conspiracy theories amongst the populace." He read silently to himself in a whispering voice, briefly wondering what those theories are. "The type of super this boy is, remains unknown, but judging from the destruction of the orphanage and surrounding area, as well as the potential range of his purple beam, which scientist that have discovered leave a strong trace of photons, makes the boy a possible radioactive super. The other children that were inside the burning building before they got out were also infected with small doses of radiation." He finished, placing the paper down, before burying his face in his hands once more and groaned. "What am I gonna do?" he asked himself.

As he wondered, he felt a loving hold on his hand. He moved one of his fingers away from his eyes and saw his wife, Helen Parr looking at him with concern. "Are you alright, Bob?" she asked after a period of silence. Bob shook his head. "It's this boy…I'm a bit worried of what will happen." He said. Helen smiled. "Don't worry, he's safe in a highly secure part of Metroville. Nothing will get to him." She assured. But Bob shook his head.

"It's not that, though I AM worried of that as well…I'm more worried about what will happen if WE'RE the ones looking after him. You…you saw what that boy did at the orphanage; he started the fire there once the cult attacked." He said, worry in his voice.

Helen understood where he was going, but she wasn't the one who would assume the kid is an immediate danger because of his abilities. "Honey, he was panicking. He's 7, what else was he supposed to do?" she asked.

"I understand that, Helen. But it's the fact that his beams and fire breath have a far range; they could easily reach for dozens of miles. Plus, from what they've discovered, the beams and fire breath has traces of photons within them. You know what photons are, right; tiny bursts of light waves?" he explained as Helen nodded at his question. "I know what a photon is." She replied.

"With the radioactive beams and fire breath…I just don't know if I can trust having the boy in my care. Heck, the boy HIMSELF could be radioactive. I'm not sure if it's of a health concern for someone like yourself; it's been weeks and you don't seem to be affected in any way for some reason, but what about our kids? The kids of the orphanage are also affected by the radiation." He explained as he pointed to the newspaper. Helen looked at it and frowned at seeing pictures of the hospitalized children at therapy. "Granted, the doses are small and most of them are feeling better thanks to chemotherapy. But they were in pain in the meantime. I'm sure the kid didn't mean to, but…I'm not sure if it's worth keeping him here with us."

Helen kept looking at the paper. She kept looking at the poor children being treated while they were lying in pain. She then sighed to herself as she closed her eyes. Her husband's got a point; the boy, whether he intends it or not, could be a danger to others around him…and if he does lose control of his powers, then her children could be in risk; Violet, Dash, and even Jack-Jack could be lying on the ground either sliced up from the photon beams, or writhing in agony over the intense burns. She looked at him with a gulp. But at the same time, her maternal instincts also wouldn't allow such a lonely child to be at risk with the cult…in her mind, she doesn't want the child lonely in general; she knows he needs a family. But she kept that to herself so she doesn't sound selfish in front of Bob.

"I…I believe you, Bob. But…I don't want to leave him alone with those people out for him…besides, what would happen if he's by himself and the cult comes after him in a public area, and he decides to use his powers." She said, voice growing sad.

Bob just sighed as he looked at his wife. He had to admit, she also had a good point; if they don't take him in, other families would get hurt as well. Weighing his options carefully, he took in a deep breath and approached her. "Helen," he began, placing a hand on his wife's cheek. Helen looked at him, and she saw him give a soft smile.

"I'll tell you what; I've called up Rick Dicker, because he may know something about this child more than anyone else. If he thinks it's safe enough to have us look after him, then we'll take him in…at least until this drama with the cult dies down." Bob explained with a smile. Helen grew a soft smile, along with a soft chuckle. "You've tried that numerous times before, and he never picked up." She reminded. Bob nodded with a sigh, but he took in a deep breath.

"I know, but…what else can I do? All I have to do is simply call him repeatedly until he picks up, or for some reason, comes to our house personally." He said with a shrug, making Helen smile. Then her eyes briefly picked up something from behind him, and she gave a chuckle. "Uh…you may want to eat up your words now." She said with a smirk.

Bob raised a brow before he turned around…and saw a familiar face standing next to Dash, who was holding Jack-Jack. "Oh…speak of the devil." Bob murmured to himself as Helen and Dash laughed. Rick Dicker himself shook his head with a small smirk. "Sorry about not picking up your calls, I was out on holiday with my family. Your kid here let me in." Rick explained as he walked in, gesturing his head to Dash, who was smiling.

"You're welcome." He said before he ran upstairs to his room. Bob just chuckled. "Hey, at least I know now you're alive. *sigh* It's good to see you again after all this time, Mr. Dicker." He greeted as they shook hands. Helen approached Rick. "Yes, it's wonderful seeing you again." She greeted as they both gave each other brief hugs. "It's great to see you both as well. I'm grateful to see you two and your children out fighting crime once more, just like back in the glory days with you two." He said, reminiscing of the days back before supers became illegal, as well as helping other supers in the Superhero Relocation Program before it was shut down.

After the brief greetings, Rick cleared his throat. "So, I guess you want to discuss something about the boy with me. Is that why I've been called?" he asked, even though he knew the answer. The two adults nodded.

Rick then took a seat in a nearby chair and began to open his briefcase. "So you may've heard, or read, from the owner of that orphanage, about how I myself was the one who dropped the boy off when he was four." He began. Bob and Helen listened. "Of course, I actually still have the notecard with me. You said you and your workers inspected his DNA." Bob said as he pulled out the card for Rick to see. "Hmm…ooh, it was burnt." He murmured to himself as he inspected the card before he placed the card back on the table.

"Okay, not onto business; there's something else I think you should know about the boy; about how the Program got ahold of him before it was shut down," Rick Dicker began.

Upstairs, Dash was playing a giggling Jack-Jack when he heard the conversation going on downstairs about the boy from earlier. Dash's interest perked up; he liked the idea of a fire-breathing super, it sounded INCREDIBLE…pun not intended. So with an excited look, he approached the stairs, and leaned closer to the walls, intending to listen to the conversation.

"-and after some testing, our scientists have found that the boy's DNA is NOTHING like any human that we've studied. Not even any supers have DNA so complex like the child's. There could even be a chance…that the boy may not be completely human." He heard Rick explain.

"Dash, what you are doing?" he heard Violet ask. He turned and saw his sister looking at him with confusion. "I'm listening to them talking about the boy from a few weeks ago. Mr. Dicker is saying the boy may not be human." He confided. Violet raised a brow, not expecting what he was saying. "Not human?" she asked, walking over to him and kneeling down to his level. Dash nodded. "It's a mutant. Cool!" he whispered, trying so hard to contain his excitement. Violet quickly, yet silently hushed him.

"Sshhh. I don't want mom and dad to hear us." She said. Dash just scoffed, but Violet clasped his mouth with her hand. "I mean it this time. We'll listen in, but we have to pretend we didn't hear. Last thing we need is to have them on our backs." instructed Violet. Dash nodded after a brief period of silence, allowing Violet to slowly remove her hand. Jack-Jack just giggled at their banter before Violet crawled next to them and listened in as well. The conversation was going on, but the kids caught onto what their mother said.

"So, you say his genome is EIGHT to TEN times that of a human?" Helen asked, quite in disbelief as she looked at Rick's papers showing the results. Rick nodded. "Correct. None of us are completely sure of how he got them, but it's not just the genes themselves that interest me, but also their effects on the boy altogether." He said, a slight smile growing on his normally stone cold face. Bob and Helen looked in interest.

*Flashback*

In his office, Rick was sitting in his desk by himself, his desk lamp illuminating his desk in an otherwise dark room. He was looking over some notes and activities regarding the supers in hiding.

As he takes a sip of coffee, he heard footsteps coming from his office. He looked up and saw the silhouette of the little boy walking past his front door. Rick sighed to himself; the boy was past his bedtime and walked over to follow him.

He followed the boy until he arrived in the kitchen. "Kid?" asked Rick. "It was one time when he was three. I saw the little boy walking to the kitchen, apparently hungry. Once I called out for him," The present Rick explained. The young boy can be heard gasping before he turned around to look at Rick. Rick widened his eyes and dropped his coffee in shock; where the boy was standing, he saw two glowing lights looking straight at him. "His eyes…they were glowing like wolf eyes. He had never had this the last time he went out past his bedtime." Present Rick explained as the boy gasped.

*Flashback ended*

"I was shocked myself when I saw that, I practically dropped my coffee and ruined my good pants," Rick explained as Bob and Helen widened their eyes in shock. The kids were also agape at hearing such news. "Woah…he's like a werewolf now?" asked Dash silently. Violet rolled her eyes at her brother. She would've been skeptical had it not been for the attack earlier.

"Night vision for the boy? Interesting." Bob said as he imagined being in Rick's position. Rick nodded. "Yep. And there's another instance where the boy displayed new powers." Rick explained.

*Flashback*

The boy was sitting by himself while Rick was preparing some lunch for him. He was just turning four at this time and was just lying on the couch watching cartoons. The boy took in a deep breath, only for his eyes to widen. He lifted his head up, and sniffed around, apparently looking for something. He stood up, and quickly walked across the hallway, and opened the door leading to the backyard.

Rick was ignorant at first before he heard the backdoor open. He looked at the boy and raised a brow at seeing the panic in his boy's face. "H-Hey, where are you going, kid?" asked Rick as he turned off the oven. He followed the boy as he went outside. The boy turned around and waved his hands forward, wanting Rick to follow him. Rick grew confused, but he followed the child across the backyard and into the neighbor's yard. "Oh no, kid. We can't go into the neighbor's house, especially when it's empty." Rick instructed before he too picked up a scent coming from inside. It smelled like…something's burning.

"The boy's senses are impeccable. He smelled a small fire coming from the neighbor's house." Present Rick explained as the boy pointed to the fire coming from the oven. Rick widened his eyes as he rushed back to his house to call for help.

*Flashback*

"Enhanced senses?" asked Bob. Rick nodded. "Correct. And the strange thing like with the eyes, he never had such good senses before. I'm not sure why though; he almost never tells me…not that he talks much anyways." Rick explained, sighing to himself. Helen looked with concern. "So he's a shy one." She pointed. Rick shook his head. "I wouldn't say shy…just secretive." He corrected. "But…but how did he get those fire breathing powers?" asked Bob. Rick shook his head. "Considering I was at work a lot of times, I usually have someone else looking after him, so I can't know what influenced him to 'evolve' such abilities," he began, the term evolve causing Bob and Helen to raise a brow, and the kids to perk up even more in interest.

"but, I learned about such an ability…the hard way." He said, voice growing gloom. "What happened?" asked Bob.

*Flashback*

There was a fire enveloping the house, as well as various other houses nearby, along with trees, mailboxes, and any other surface the fire could cling onto.

*Flashback ended*

"The boy was having a nightmare. I can tell because I heard him screaming. Next thing I knew, there was a fire going through the woody infrastructure. Before I knew it, I had to save the kid from the fiery hellhole, waking him up in the process." He explained. Helen flinched as she thought of what would've happened. "Wait…so, were you…infected by the radiation the fire emitted?" Bob asked, growing a bit concerned.

Rick nodded. "Yes. Thankfully it didn't last too long. But dear LORD was it painful in the meantime." He said, rubbing his forehead.

"So, we had to move to a new apartment. The boy was feeling super guilty for the whole thing and promised to learn how to control his powers. Ever since the fiasco with the double agent cultist, of course, I had to drop him off at that orphanage, but I gave him my phone number to call me every now and then." He explained before he grew a smile.

"And that boy was determined; when he called at one point, he was so excited like a kid on Christmas morning when he learned to control his fire breaths when he had another nightmare." He chuckled as he shook his head. Helen gave a warm smile while Bob just sighed in relief. The kids also looked at one another in amazement. Then, Rick just sighed to himself.

"Well, I believe that's all I would have to say, aside from the fact that, well the kid's doing fine now." He said. Bob and Helen then perked their heads in interest once more. "He's alright?" asked Helen, concern in her voice. Rick nodded.

"Yes. Apparently, while he was unconscious, his entire throat and mouth area healed over the two weeks. He's awake now, but still in his room. I'm on my way to check up on him." Rick explained as he stood up. "Can we see him too?" asked Helen, a bit abruptly. Rick looked at her, a bit surprised at her abruptness.

"Please…I just want to see if he's alright." She pleaded something she was not known to do. Rick looked at her, then at Bob, who was also looking at her with shock. Rick then nodded with a smirk. "Of course. You can follow my car if you'd like. I'm…I'm sure he would like to see you as well." He said as he began to walk away. Helen smiled, but then a thought came into her mind,

"Wait…I know I should've asked this earlier, but…does this boy have a name?" she asked. Rick nodded with a smile. "Yes; his name is Donovan." He answered with a prideful smile. Helen smiled and nodded. The kids looked at one another, Violet looking interested, but Dash with a raised brow.

"Donovan? What kind of name is that?" asked Dash. Violet looked at him. "It's a good name for him. It means 'good fighter'." Violet replied. "How did you know?" asked Dash. "I've learned Irish in my high school," Violet explained. "Hmm, nerd." Murmured Dash. Violet growled at him and was about grab his hair when,

"Kids! Can you come down? We need to tell you something." Bob called. Violet and Dash looked at the direction of the noise, then at each other. After making sure Dash won't say anything, they came down their stairs quickly. "Yes, mom?" asked Violet, feigning a smile.

"Well, after talking with Mr. Dicker here, we've decided; Helen and I are gonna visit that kid from earlier. Apparently, his name is Donovan, and he's a lot better now." Bob explained, adding the last part with a smile. "Cool," Dash hopped up, excited to see him. "Can we come too?" he asked, pulling Violet closer, and holding Jack-Jack up, who was giggling at his older brother. The parents looked at one another, a look of worry in their faces.

"Well, here's the thing; this boy has been through a bit lately, and I think he may be a bit on edge. So…for his concern, I think it's best if it'll be just the two of us, to show him that we mean no harm." Helen explained.

This made Dash groan. "Aw, mom." He replied. Violet shook her head. "Dash, listen to your mother." Bob said. Dash was about to protest some more, but upon seeing their faces turning stern, he just groaned and slumped forward. "Fine…I'll be upstairs, waiting for…how do you say his name again?" he asked. "Donovan," reminded Violet. "Right, Donovan." He corrected, before dashing up the stairs. Violet then looked at her parents.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, if we ARE keeping him here?" asked Violet, now a bit unsure, especially after listening to what this boy can do. Helen and Bob just looked at one another and shrugged.

"Maybe, Vi. I never specifically mentioned we're taking him in, but if we do, then…we'll just have to deal with it until everything dies down." Bob explained. Violet raised a brow. "I'm not sure…" she said. Helen smiled.

"Everything will be fine, Vi. I'm sure he'll be a good boy. Right, Rick?" she assured, turning to Rick. "Donovan is a very well behaved boy. Likes to keep to himself, but well-behaved nevertheless. I'm sure he won't cause any problems." He explained.

Violet was still unsure, but she caved in with a shrug. "Okay, I believe you. I already have ONE pest to deal with," he pointed to the stairs, referring to Dash, who called back, "Hey!" "TWO if you include Jack-Jack and his cookie drama. I'm not sure if I can deal with another one." She bluntly stated, before turning around and walking back to the living room to watch some television. Helen and Bob just sighed; sometimes their daughter can be so blunt.

"Well, shall we head off?" asked Bob, gesturing Helen to the door. She just laughed as she nodded in agreement. Soon, all three adults soon left the house to the Metroville Hospital for Supers.