A/N: I hope this story progresses smoothly. I think I know what I want to happen, but changes always happen, you know? Thanks for the review, if you made one! I don't wanna constantly ask for reviews, but I would like to know what's going through reader's minds when they read what I write. I'm open to criticism, and more than welcome compliments, of course, lol. If you ever feel like saying something (nice, please), feel free to do so. I also welcome any tips. I'm not the best writer in the world, by far, and appreciate the help. :D
Chapter 5: The Course
Jack fell for half a second before rising up in the air as he flew. He got a glimpse of the bottom floor five feet below, which would've left him bruised if he had fallen onto it. Not a second later, he had to do a flip in order to dodge a small dart aimed at his head.
Another dart, followed by many more, and in quick succession, all aimed to hit him. The room was forcing him to move ahead with the obstacle course. He could feel his blood pumping faster than it had ever done, and could tell his reactions were getting quicker with his focused attention. Angela didn't mention anything abou piercings.
Seeing ground after a few more flips and dodges in the air, Jack hit the ground running. He had limited experience in executing evasive flying, and wasn't too confident he could dodge any more darts without losing his sense of direction. A little ways ahead, he saw the floor opening and barely managed to dodge the net shot at him by a machine. Barely a second later, another net from his right shot towards him, which he easily passed through using his powers.
He saw a door ahead and quickly ran through, shutting it behind him as fast as he could. The room was eerily quiet and much darker than the room before. The feel of the room made his neck hair stand on end. He couldn't see more than six feet in front of him from lack of light. The glass, he noticed, was not see-through anymore. It had probably not been see-through since the first obstacle room he had entered, now that he thought about it.
He cautiously made his way further into the new room; hopeful that travel in a straight line would lead him to another door. Just after his tenth step, his left foot started sinking into the floor as if the solid cement suddenly transformed into a pit of quicksand. Almost immediately, he could tell he couldn't move his feet or legs an inch if he tried. He phased out of the sink hole, moving swiftly on, but colliding with the door leading to the next room.
Quickly recovering, he grasped the handle, already knowing what was on the other side as his hand caught aflame. Opening the door, Jack stepped into the wall of fire that greeted him. He thought of how Angela would know he could be on fire, then quickly rushed passed the thought when he remembered erupting into fire when Kari was babysitting him, and when he had helped his family get out of the strange wire when they were captured by the Clock. Dicker would have informed her about both.
Jack took a brief pause to silently thank Edna for creating his suit. Otherwise, he'd be naked by the end of the course if he had regular clothes on.
Jack looked around the room, noticing certain squares were on fire, including the one he stood on. As he took a step forward and onto a square that was fire free, the ground shook and the pieces of floor that were normal fell. Intense heat shot up, making Jack know something that hot could only be made by Mother Nature.
Sure enough, when he looked down, a big pool of lava was stirring in a huge metal container Jack was only able to catch a glimpse of before a fountain of the molten material shot up. Jack looked across the room, seeing a trail of fire from the squares that remained. The course was going to make him jump from square to square in order to get to the other side.
Jack concentrated on a panel of fire three squares away before teleporting to it. Another shot of lava erupted behind him, making him grateful he could be on fire for the heat he felt even though he was inflamed. He had a feeling lava would scar him, even with his powers.
Jack thought a scar was better than being dead, and counted himself lucky. He stood on the flaming panel, waiting to see if there was a pattern to the bursts of lava. This was an obstacle course, which someone controlled. He knew the government was too afraid to use the learning machine technology that Syndrome used to kill Supers. This course, then, had to be planned and executed in a way that tested him, but not kill him. A delicate balance depending on the abilities of the Super. A trip or overestimation of a leap or jump and he could be, if not nearly killed, at least in the danger zone of life and death.
It only took about twenty seconds to discover the rhythm of the erupting lava fountains, and Jack used it to teleport past several panels of flame at a time. He finally saw the door two panels ahead. He would have to jump and phase through the door since the last panel didn't reach the actual door.
Flying would probably be more cautious, but he couldn't chance the possibility of a burst of lava erupting and hitting him. Quickly jumping from one to the other, Jack leaped off the last panel and phased through the door and into another room.
Jack Somersaulted onto the ground to lighten the impact, and quite the flames since the new room didn't contain either lava or flames. Since nothing attacked him immediately, he realized his breathing was rapid from the course and found, to his delight, that he was enjoying the challenges.
The room's ceiling was higher than Jack could see; it was obscured in darkness. Before he took a step forward, a section of the floor morphed up and launched itself around Jack's left leg.
Jack tried phasing through it, but found that he couldn't. Was the floor embedded with the wire his family was captured with?
Jack turned both his hands metal and twisted the floor the opposite direction it had wound itself onto him. Once he freed himself, he felt something grasp his right leg, and the next thing he knew he was dangling upside down.
Looking at what caught his leg, he saw a wired claw made of the same material that he had freed his family from when they were fighting the Clock. The device had been hid in the darkened ceiling; a surprise attack.
Trying to calm the rising unease of not being able to escape from a material that could potentially render him powerless now that it had direct contact with his skin, Jack thought of possible solutions. The claw rising up in the darkness did not help.
The last time he had broken the wire, he remembered, was by using both heat and his metal ability.
Turning himself completely metal, Jack was pleased to see that even his captured leg turned as well. He heated his metal hands and leg, grabbed two of the three claws, and pushed the third with his leg. The wired claw gave way slowly, then suddenly opened. Jack fell, not knowing which way was up.
As he fell, Jack was unable to escape from the panic that arose from suddenly dropping with no sense of direction. He heard the voice of his mother from a distance.
"Bob, THROW ME!" came his mother's voice colored with panic and fear of losing her baby as he, Jack-Jack, fell. It was after, he recalled, escaping someone that was stealing him away from his family. He couldn't fly when he had nothing to focus on. He was free-falling without balance being established.
As Jack came back to his sense, but with his mother's panicked voice still in his head, he forced himself to fly while simultaneously setting himself on fire. He quickly observed his surroundings, both in order to orient himself and to make sure he reacted with enough speed to escape potentially fatal danger.
"Enough."
Jack startled at the voice of Angela, completely forgetting that she had been observing everything he did. Now that he remembered that she could control everything that happened in the course, he felt silly that he reacted so violently to free-falling after his escape from that wired claw.
But he did hear his mother more frightened than he had ever remembered. Was what he heard a long lost memory of when Syndrome tried to kidnap him? He knew he remembered some parts of that episode, but for the life of him could not retrieve it at the moment.
"But I was ready to fight after falling this time," Jack mumbled to himself as Angela opened a hidden door and walked a few steps in.
"Why are you here?" Angela asked, the silver frames of her glasses making a stark contrast to the dark color of blue her eyes were, which were made more noticeable by the fact that they were entirely directed at Jack. He caught a very brief flick of suspicion in her eyes just after she had asked the question.
"What do you mean?" he asked, somewhat taken-aback, yet still curious why she would ask such a thing. Why was she suspicious of him? He was just here to learn how to enhance his powers and acquire useful skills, right?
"Aren't I here to learn fighting techniques and strategies?" he asked, voicing his thoughts.
"You fight like a veteran," Angela stated, giving a small, irate huff that he could tell wasn't directed at him. She quickly turned and started pacing.
Jack was puzzled by her reaction, and by Angela herself. He didn't realize how much respect she commanded using just her eyes. Her gaze wasn't impolite or hostile, just straight-forward. He avoided the thought that she looked cute as she puzzled over something. Pushing that thought aside, Jack clearly got the impression that she knew what she was doing.
"You've seen a lot of Super veterans in action?" he asked, truly curious as to how she got to see their fights.
"Yes and no," she responded.
"You don't fight with your family, the Incredibles, right?" she asked before he could ask what her response meant.
"Right," he answered, watching her as she still paced the floor.
So she knew he was related to his family, which begged the question of her suspicion.
"Follow me, please," she said, turning towards the door she had just entered through and walking towards it.
Confused, Jack followed her, hoping to get some answers.
"Yes and no?" Jack asked, referring to her seeing and not seeing veterans fighting.
"I've watched videos," she said, opening the door and walking through it.
The room had an upstairs and a hallways leading to another closed door. Jack was sure the staircase lead up to the observation room Angela had been in. Was it just her doing observations?
"I didn't know Supers were being taped," he said as they made their way closer to the door.
"They're videos that belonged to Syndrome," she responded. "Behind this door is the main hall of the school."
He got the message. If they were to talk of anything where students would be in earshot, it couldn't be of what went on behind the scenes of "school" life.
Angela grasped the handle before she yanked it back as if she'd been burnt.
"What's wrong?" Jack asked, jumping ahead and grabbing the handle, but was then confused when he felt nothing near warm from the knob.
"Oh, it's nothing dangerous," Angela quickly said, a bemused look on her face that lit her features, making her look the age he suspected she was.
She took off her silver framed glasses and tucked them into the pocket of her white lab coat before taking it off and hanging it on the hook beside the door. It was only then that Jack realized she really did look like other students at the school.
"So, you are a student here?" he asked, not knowing for sure.
"Yes and no," was the response. He was sure he'd have to get used to that answer.
Angela took her hair down, which fell in loose curls, and began digging into the other pocket of the hanging lab coat.
"Rick Dicker trusts you and your family, Jack," Angela said, turning to look at him as she said it.
Jack wasn't sure why, but he looked away, embarrassed. He tried to ignore the fact that he thought she looked really pretty.
"I trust you, too," she went on, putting on a black mask that was the same that every student wore at the school. The protection of identity was the first lesson everyone was taught.
"Come on, Guardian" she said, giving him a small smile before opening the door and walking out into the hallway. "You can call me Gen. Short for General, but only you know the full name. Guys at this school have been looking for a male student who already took the name before they got the chance. Nobody's figured out that my name is short for it. Probably think I'm stupid enough to use my own name, even though we aren't allowed to."
Jack was impressed with her disguise. If he hadn't seen her before she had changed, he never would have thought she was the Super named General now leading him down the hallway.
A few shouts of hello to "Gen" came from different directions as they walked down the hallway. Clearly, Gen was well known around the school.
Jack wondered if it would be the same for him now that he was around people with hidden identities and powers. It didn't really dawn on him that he didn't make many friends in his short 15, almost 16, years of life. Was it because of his desire to not draw attention to himself and, therefore, help his family keep their identity a secret? He never really thought about it until now.
"I already called Dicker to meet us here," Angela said, after seeing the puzzled look Jack had on his face when they stopped in front of the principal's office.
Realizing she was waiting for Jack to open the door after she had knocked and there was a response from within, he opened the door and stepped into the spacious office. Dicker was already sitting in one of the two chairs in front of a large wooden desk that a dignified looking woman sat behind. She wasn't at all old, and dressed as any other principal in a regular school would. She had brunette hair, and had smiling green eyes.
"Guardian," Rick said, pleased that he made it unscathed from the obstacle course.
"Hi, Dicker," Jack said, then turned to the principal, whose name he saw on the door. "A pleasure to meet you, Principal Elea."
"Jack Parr," the principal said, a smile on her face, "the pleasure is all mine. I'm thrilled that you're here."
"Excuse me, Ms. Helen," Angela said politely, "I would like to talk to Dicker and Jack about why he's here before we go any further. It appears that Dicker has been keeping some information to himself."
"I would like to know myself," Principal Helen said, leaning back in her seat and waiting for Dicker to elaborate.
"Well," Dicker started, clearly not perturbed at the stern look Angela sent his way, "Jack isn't here to just be a student. He's going to help the organization in fighting Apophis."
"He's awfully young to be doing such a thing," Principal Elea said, concern coloring her face.
"What else?" Angela asked, refusing to meet Jack's eye when he looked at her as she asked the question. He wondered what else she was asking about.
Dicker sighed a little before answering. "He's going to be one of the first Supers from this nation to face them when they come."
Angela cast a worried look at Jack before turning back to Dicker. Jack now knew why she had looked suspiciously at him before. She hadn't known he would be helping against the new threat Dicker was worried about.
"How long do we have?" Angela asked, clearly troubled by the confirmation of her earlier hypothesis.
"At least a month," he responded.
"Mr. Parr," Principal Elea said, making Jack turn to her, "are you sure you want to do this? It's very dangerous."
Jack didn't have to think about the answer to that.
"I've never been surer about anything in my life," he answered in a firm voice.
"Do you have any idea where the Clock got that wire?" Angela suddenly asked him. Jack had the feeling she wasn't asking him because she thought he knew the answer.
"No," he said, "but I don't think he made it. Someone gave it to him."
Jack could tell she wasn't expecting that answer by the surprised look on her face. Dicker let out a loud laugh.
"Jack is more than the skill he's shown with his powers, General," Dicker said, "He's very smart as well."
Angela blushed at her reaction to Jack's answer.
Cleary, Jack reasoned, she wasn't expecting him to deduce that Clock wouldn't have had the knowledge or skill to make such a device. His previous knowledge about the man helped in his deduction, sure, but he thought even without that information, he would have figured it out.
The whole scene with the Clock didn't make sense at all. Jack thought he would have had a better plan than what he did when he took his family captive. Taking him down was easier than it should have been, if Clock was really serious about getting rid of his family. Being a former Super would have helped in his plans, but Jack didn't see anything of the sort when he later reflected on it.
"Speaking of Clock," Dicker went on," there's something you need to see, Jack."
Jack could only guess what could be in store.
A/N: Ok, guys, I can't post any more of this story in good conscious before I finish my Dramoine story. It was supposed to be done long ago, and I feel horrible for neglecting it. Wish me luck!