Chapter 31: Eruption
Leaping to her feet, Ultraviolet ran over to the heavy metal door and began impotently clawing at the heavy metal door. After she failed to pry it open with her bare hands, Ultraviolet stepped back and began throwing force fields at the doors, trying to bash the barrier down with wild, desperate abandon. As she did, the rest of the group could only watch in shock, still trying to process what Kaiju had just done.
As the booms of Ultraviolet's force fields continuously slamming into the doors filled the corridor, Elastigirl adjusted Jack Jack's unconscious form in one arm before she hesitantly reached out to her daughter with her free hand and laid it on the young woman's shoulder.
"Mom!" Ultraviolet exclaimed as she spun to look at Elastigirl, causing the older woman to snap her hand back in surprise, "Mom! You have to help me! We have to get in there and help him!"
"Violet, honey," Elastigirl began gently, concern and sympathy in her eyes, "We have to go."
"Go?" Ultraviolet repeated in confusion, "What do you mean go? We have to save him!"
"Honey, he did what he did to save you," Elastigirl argued, "It took everything Jack Jack had to break through a pair of these doors. By the time you batter these ones down…"
"No!" Ultraviolet snapped, rejecting her mother's implication completely, "No, I don't believe that! I'm not just going to abandon him! Not while there's a chance I-"
Ultraviolet was interrupted as a small dart suddenly embedded itself in her neck. Blinking in surprise, Ultraviolet pulled the dart out of her neck with a hiss of pain and examined it for a moment. Then, her eyelids fluttered close and her legs turned to jelly beneath her as she collapsed to the floor.
Her eyes widening in shock, Elastigirl turned to look where the dart had come from and saw Mirage lowering her arm, the rest of the group looking at her in surprise as well.
"What did you just do to my daughter!?" Elastigirl demanded as she took a threatening step towards Mirage.
"It's a mild sedative," Mirage explained calmly, "She'll be fine in less than an hour. You know as well as I do that we do not have time for the hysterics she was about to devolve into. If we want to get both of your children out of here safely, we have to go now."
Elastigirl looked like she wanted to argue for a brief second before she considered Mirage and let out a defeated sigh while nodding her head in acceptance.
"Gru, you'll need to carry her," Mirage ordered as she looked around at the rest of the group, "We have to get moving."
As Mirage began moving down the hall again, the rest of the team followed behind her, with only Gru lingering behind as he scooped up Ultraviolet and carried her in his arms bridal style.
"Yeah, sure, I'll carry ze gorl," Gru grumbled as he trotted in the team's wake, "I feel fine, it's not like I got beat up or anyzing before you all showed up."
A thundering boom from the other side of the heavy doors caused Gru to pause and look back as a troubled expression crossed his face.
"Sorry, kid," Gru whispered before he continued down the hall with the others.
Meanwhile,
Kaiju grunted hard as his back slammed against the dented metal door, fighting to catch his breath as he leaned against the door to keep upright. Lifting his head, he scanned the hall, taking in the sight of the Syndicate members spread out in front of him, offering no avenue of escape. Snarling sadistically, Oni stepped forward and threw a haymaker punch at Kaiju, forcing him to dive out of the way as the giant's fist struck the metal door with a resounding clang.
Landing flat on his stomach, Kaiju desperately tried to scramble back to his feet, but before he could, El Macho ran up and kicked him hard in the stomach, the toe of his boot digging deep into the young man's guts. Gasping for breath as the air was forced out of his lungs, Kaiju was unable to defend himself as El Macho grabbed him by the shoulders and threw the young hero through the air. As Kaiju tumbled through the air, he was met by Rollergrrl as she leapt upwards and hit the hero in the spine with a spinning kick.
Grunting in pain as he landed hard on the floor, Kaiju quickly pushed himself back to his feet, already sensing the villains gathering around him.
"Fire breath!" Kaiju roared as he thrust his chest at the Syndicate members, the costume's mouth belching flames at the villains. As the fire raced towards them, Phantasma leapt into action, shifting completely into a swarm of microbots that stretched out and formed a wall between the Syndicate and Kaiju's flames.
As the fire died down, Phantasma opened up a portion of her form, allowing Enigma to rush through and charge at Kaiju. Desperately, Kaiju tries to blast fire at him again, but Enigma held up his robotic hand and fired a pink chemball at the hero, striking him in the chest, which quickly clogged up the costume's mouth and prevented any fire from being formed. The attack surprised Kaiju and it took him a moment to realize that Enigma was still charging at him, extending his red plasma blade as he came.
Panicking, Kaiju backpedaled as Enigme slashed at him, the blade leaving a scratch across the front of the hero's costume but not cutting through it. As Kaiju retreated, it left him open to a haymaker punch thrown by Perkins from behind, his mechanical gauntlet slamming against the back of the young man's head, knocking him flat on his stomach. As Kaiju tried to pick himself up, Oni reached down and grabbed the hero by the head of his costume and attempted to lift him up by it, but he only succeeded in ripping that part of the costume completely off.
"You look like," Oni observed as he looked down at Fred's face, his blonde hair matted to his forehead by sweat, his cheeks flushed with exertion, "Baby face."
"Spinning double kick!" Fred snarled as he pushed himself back to his feet and leapt into the air, twisting about to hit Oni in the face twice with a pair of powerful kicks, causing the supervillain to stumble back a step.
Glancing to the side, Fred spotted Rollergrrl racing towards him. As she dropped into a slide tackle, Fred hopped into the air and hit her in the chest with a dropkick, sending her flying backwards before she crashed into a wall. As Perkins ran at him from behind, Fred ducked the subsequent punch before hopping into the air, planting his feet against the man's barrel chest and springboarded into the air, the force of the push knocking Perkins hard to the floor onto his back.
As Fred flipped through the air, Phantasma, now reformed into her humanoid shape, thrust her arm upwards and morphed it into a tentacle that quickly wrapped itself around Fred's midsection. Fred could only yelp in surprise as Phantasma violently yanked him downwards and slammed him against the floor. Groaning in pain, Fred tried to push himself back up but was stopped as Oni grabbed the back of his head and slammed it against the floor, causing the young hero to go still.
"Lift him up," Enigma commanded and Oni did as he was bid, holding Fred by his head and letting the rest of his body dangle in front of the Syndicate's leader.
"Fred, right?" Enigma questioned, noting a look of surprise on Fred's bruised and battered face, "Oh, right, secret identity. Sorry to ruin it for you, but yeah, I know who you are. If it's any solace to you, kid, but I don't think it's gonna matter for much longer."
With that, Enigma flicked his wrist and extended his red plasma blade, causing Fred's blood to run cold. Then Enigma thrust his arm upward and sliced right through Fred's suit without touching his body, the material hissing as it was cut apart and sloughed off the young hero like dead skin.
"So what now?" Fred questioned, his voice muffled by the grip Oni had on his head, "Is this the part where you kill me for foiling your plans?"
"Kill you?" Enigma repeated incredulously, a mechanized laugh bubbling out from beneath his hood, "Kill you? Oh no, no no no, I'm not going to kill you. I have much better plans for you."
Those words scared Fred more than anything he had experienced before in his life, made all the worse by how utterly helpless he felt.
"So, tell me, Fred," Enigma continued as he leaned forward, his tone turning eager, "You ever wish you had superpowers?"
Meanwhile,
Reaching the top of the access tunnel ladder, Mirage pushed open the hatch and glanced around, ensuring that the coast was clear. Not spotting any members of the Syndicate or their hired mercenaries, Mirage quickly pulled herself out of the hatch and reached down, taking the still unconscious Jack-Jack from Elastigirl before ushering the rest out, with Gru bringing up the rear with Ultraviolet balanced precariously on his shoulders.
"This is Mirage, calling on all channels," Mirage said, speaking into her watch as she glanced around, looking for any pursuers, "We've successfully extracted Jack Parr but we're a man down. Enigma and most of the Syndicate are here. We need to move in now!"
"We're reading you loud and clear, Agent Mirage," Ramsbottom's voice came back over her watch, "Our forces are enroute now, though you should be getting some assistance any-"
Before he could finish, a whooshing sound came from the direction of the water as a blur of motion came racing up to them. A moment later, Dash skidded to a halt in front of the group in a cloud of dust.
"Mom!" Dash exclaimed as he looked down at Jack Jack in Elastigirl's arms, "Is he-"
"He's alright," Elastigirl answered as she held Jack Jack out to his brother, "He's just exhausted. I need you to get him to safety."
"Of course," Dash replied as he took Jack Jack into his arms, before doing a double take as he noticed Gru carrying Ultraviolet, "Violet! What happened to her?"
"Dash, I need you to focus," Elastigirl snapped, grabbing her son's face by the chin and turning it to look at her, "Get Jack Jack to safety. That's the one and only thing I need you to do right now. Let me worry about Violet, okay?"
Dash hesitated for a moment before glancing down at his younger brother and nodding his head.
"Now go," Elastigirl ordered and Dash raced off without another word.
"Didn't want to tell him I'm the one who knocked out your daughter?" Mirage questioned as quirked an eyebrow at Elastigirl.
"I can kick your ass over that later," Elastigirl replied, raising her gaze towards the night sky as she watched a dozen of the AVL's aircraft move into view, "Right now, we have a job to do."
As the aircraft touched down on the island's rocky beach, Mr. Incredible slid open the door on the side of the vehicle, allowing AVL agents and a number of his fellow heroes to pour out. Spotting Elastigirl as she and the others ran up to the aircraft, he quickly hustled over to her.
"I sent Dash ahead," Mr. Incredible explained as he reached Elastigirl, "Is Jack Jack…?"
"He's alright," Elastigirl interrupted, "I gave him to Dash and told him to get Jack Jack to safety."
"Oh thank god, I was so worried some-" Mr. Incredible began to say but cut himself off as his gaze fell on Ultraviolet in Gru's arms, "Oh my God, Violet!"
Running over, Mr. Incredible all but shoved Gru to the side as he took his daughter into his arms.
"What happened to her!?" Mr. Incredible questioned as he looked towards Elastigirl.
"She overexerted herself," Elastigirl explained, "She'll be okay as well."
"Well damn, seems like this whole rescue operation turned out well for everyone," Missing Link commented with a chuckle, not noticing the disheartened expression on Elastigirl's face.
At that moment, Big Guy touched down next to the group with Excelsior clinging to his back. Excelsior grinned as he hopped off of Big Guy's back, but it slowly slid off of his face as he looked around at the group.
"Guys," Excelsior said, dread filling his voice, "Where's Fred?"
A few minutes later,
The thick steel doors that blocked the hallway the heroes had escaped down stood dented but firm. Suddenly, heavy banging came from the other side a moment before two pairs of hands reached into the seam of the door and slowly began to pry it open. A few seconds later, Mr. Incredible and Big Guy yanked the doors open, allowing the rest of the superheroes and the AVL agents to swarm in, with the other members of the Big Hero 9 at the forefront. Charging down the hall, the group entered the large chamber that held the gene resequencer and were shocked by what they found.
Absolutely nothing.
The room was filled with nothing but rubble, much of which was from the battle that had taken place not long before. Along with it were chunks of concrete that were laying scattered on the floor, which had apparently been churned up when something punched the gaping hole that now sat in the center of the room. Running up to the lip of the hole, Excelsior's eyes widened as he saw that the hole was the end of the tunnel that burrowed into the volcanic rock and disappeared from view.
"The Underminer," Excelsior whispered to himself.
"How the hell did this happen?" Lazerblade questioned from Excelsior's right, "How'd they get away?"
"I'm guessing it has something to do with them having a guy with a giant drill tank on their team," Torque quipped as she rolled up to Excelsior's left.
"But this was supposed to be a surprise attack," Ms. Chemistry observed from behind them, "Even if they fought some of the infiltration team, how could they get out so fast?"
"They couldn't," Excelsior observed, a look of realization passing over his face, "Not unless they knew we were coming this whole time."
"Director Ramsbottom!" Excelsior shouted as he brought a hand up to the side of his helmet, automatically opening up a communication channel with the man in question, "It's a setup! The Syndicate knew we were coming!"
"What, that's impossible!" Ramsbottom exclaimed in confusion over the channel, "How could they know we were coming?"
"The how doesn't matter!" Excelsior retorted as he signaled for the others to follow him back the way they had come, "You need to order your men to pull back before-"
Excelsior was interrupted by the sound of a distant boom, accompanied a moment later by a rumble that shook the floor beneath everyone's feet. The rumble subsided a few seconds later, and the gathered heroes looked at each other in confusion.
"Excelsior, we're detecting some kind of seismic event happening directly below the island," Ramsbottom stated, clearly trying to hide the worry in his voice, "Can you confirm?"
"Yeah, I can," Excelsior answered grimly, "Pull your people back, Director."
"Big Guy," Excelsior continued as he cut off the communication line and looked at the robot, "What just happened?"
"My scans indicate that a sudden major seismic shift has occurred beneath our position," Big Guy explained, pausing as another quake shook the room, "It would appear that it has set a chain reaction in motion."
"A chain reaction?" Missing Link questioned from across the room.
"This base is built in a volcano," Doctor Cockroach explained, "An active volcano."
"This volcano is going to erupt!?" Torque asked aghast, "Now?"
"The Underminer must have set up some kind of explosive," Excelsior elaborated, "One that would cause the volcano to go active when it was set off."
"What are we doing standing around and talking about it!?" Mr. Incredible shouted as the room began to shake once again, "We need to get the hell out of here!"
With that, the group rushed out of the room, the rumbling of the ground causing a few of them to stumble as they ran. In the halls of the complex, the superheroes ran into the AVL agents that had joined them on the assault, now in the middle of a hasty retreat. As they all ran for the base's exit, another, massive quake shook the whole building.
Cracks quickly raced along the floor and ceiling of the wall, breaking off massive chunks of the concrete that made up the building's structure, sending them tumbling down onto the heroes and agents. Leaping into action, Mr. Incredible, Big Guy, and Ginormica quickly ran forward and caught the largest chunks of concrete before they could crush anyone else. As smaller pieces continued to rain down, Laserblade deployed his weapons and leapt forward, slicing through a few chunks with quick, clean strokes that rendered them harmless.
As more debris continued to fall, Elastigirl reached out and wrapped her arm around the waist of an AVL agent before yanking them clear of a chunk of concrete as it smashed in the spot where they had been standing a moment before.
"Someone needs to secure that ceiling or we're not getting out of here!" Elastigirl shouted, watching as Missing Link charged forward and tackled another pair of agents out of the way of falling debris.
"On it!" Miss Chemistry declared as she quickly entered a combination into her purse, creating a trio of pink chemballs that she hurled up at the ceiling. As the chemballs struck the cracking ceiling, they exploded into pink goo that quickly filled in the cracks and held the pieces in place.
"Wow!" B.O.B. exclaimed, "Great job! You know, we're really lucky that nobody got-"
B.O.B. was suddenly cut off as a piece of concrete broke free from the ceiling and slammed down on top of him, the blob completely disappearing underneath the debris. A stunned silence fell over the group as they watched a small cloud of dust rise from the debris and then dissipate. Then, the debris moved slightly before B.O.B.'s bulging eye squeezed out from under the concrete, followed shortly thereafter by his head.
"I'm okay!" B.O.B. declared as he wiggled his way free, causing the rest of the group to sigh in relief.
Before everyone could get moving again, an even bigger rumble shook the building. As he regained his balance, Excelsior noticed an alert flashing on his visor, warning him of rapidly rising temperatures.
"Uh, guys!" Excelsior shouted as he turned the alert off.
"Let me guess!" Torque replied, "The lava is here."
A moment later, an ominous red glow began shining from down the hall as the temperature quickly became uncomfortably hot.
"New plan!" Mr. Incredible shouted as he chucked the piece of debris he had been holding down the hall in a vain attempt to slow down the lava, prompting Ginormica and Big Guy to do the same, "Ginormica, you need to bust us out of here!"
"Right!" she replied before motioning the others to stand aside, "Everyone, get back!"
As the others made room, Ginormica steadied herself before pressing the button on her watch, causing her to be surrounded in an aura of energy before she began to rapidly grow in size. As she quickly grew too large for the hallway to contain, Ginormica braced her shoulders against the already crumbling roof and pushed. With a roar of exertion as she continued to grow, Ginormica burst through the concrete and bedrock and stood up in the fresh, island air. Looking up, Ginormica could see the angry red halo that surrounded the top of the volcano as it belched smoke and fire into the night sky.
"Come on!" Ginormica called as she reached down and scooped up some of the agents, helping them up onto the surface.
Quickly the group, assisted by the stronger and more agile among them, reached the surface, and made their way to the beach where transports were waiting to evacuate the would-be invaders. Seeing that everyone else was clear, Ginormica lifted her leg to step out of the hole she had made in the ceiling, but as she put her weight on it, the ground suddenly broke beneath her foot and it plunged into another section of the underground base.
Yelping in surprise, Ginormica regained her balance after a moment's struggle and then attempted to pull her foot free from the rubble. Grunting in effort, Ginormica yanked her foot loose, but the effort unbalanced her and she fell backwards against the ground, smashing through it and destroying another section of the base, doubling the size of the hole she now found herself trapped in. Groaning in pain, Ginormica pushed herself into a seated position as a loud explosion caught her attention. Looking up at the volcano through the hole she had made, Ginormica watched as the peak exploded in a cloud of fire and ash, causing glowing hot lava to begin rushing down the mountainside towards her like a burning avalanche. At the same time, the lava that was already seeping through the ruins of the Syndicate's base drew ever closer, the growing heat causing Ginormica's skin to start blistering.
"Okay, okay, don't panic," Ginormica whispered to herself, "Big isn't working, so let's go small."
Pressing the button on her watch, Ginormica shrunk down to her normal size, before digging herself out of the rubble and standing up. Looking up at the hole she had torn in the ceiling, Ginormica squatted before leaping upwards, her super strong legs sending her shooting up and out of the ruined base. Ginormica sailed through the air for a short moment before she landed on the ground with a crash, her heavy mass creating a small crater beneath her.
Smiling in satisfaction, Ginormica stood up and moved to join the others evacuating the island. Before she could move, however, the ground suddenly began shaking beneath her feet, causing Ginormica to lose her footing. As she tried to regain her balance, a massive series of cracks formed beneath Ginormica's feet, reaching up and down the beach, and then with a terrible, final rumble, the ground gave way beneath her.
Screaming in surprise, Ginormica fell with the earth below her. Grasping wildly, Ginormica managed to grab hold of the edge of the newly created crevice, the rock holding steady despite her bulk. As she dangled, Ginormica looked down and gasped as she saw more bubbling lava dozens of yards below her, which, to her horror, was slowly rising towards her. Focusing her gaze upwards, Ginormica attempted to pull herself out of the crevice, but as she did, the outcropping gave way and she fell a few terrifying feet before she grabbed hold of another chunk of rock and stopped her fall. Ginormica managed to then scramble back up to the edge of the crevice and pull her head up above the lip.
"Help!" Ginormica called, struggling to keep her grip on the edge of the crevice, "Someone help!"
Hearing her cry, a number of the heroes who were busy evacuating from the island turned their attention to the crevice Ginormica was trapped in.
"Susan!" Missing Link shouted as he went racing towards his endangered friend, B.O.B. slithering behind him. As they raced towards Ginormica, Ms. Chemistry noted the wave of lava bearing down on the crevice, and found herself leaping into action, trailing behind the other heroes.
Skidding to a halt at the edge of the crevice, Missing Link grabbed hold of one of Ginormica's hands, and used his surprising strength to hold on to her, while B.O.B. wrapped most of his bulk around her other arm, the pair of them doing their best to keep her from slipping further into the crevice. As they struggled, Missing Link looked down past Ginormica, his eyes widening as the lava came rushing up towards them. Before the lava could reach them though, Miss Chemistry ran up behind them, a trio of pale blue chemball's in her hand. With a grunt of effort, Miss Chemistry threw the chemballs down past Ginormica, which exploded in a fog of light blue chemicals that quickly hardened into a solid wall of ice.
"Come on!" Miss Chemistry yelled as she gestured at the others.
Nodding in understanding, Ginormica planted her feet against the quickly melting ice and used it to boost herself out of the crevice and, laying flat on her belly, managing to scramble away from the crevice. Finally reaching stable ground, Ginormica shrunk herself down and rose to her feet.
"Thanks," Ginormica said as she gave Miss Chemistry a small smile.
"No problem," Miss Chemistry replied with a shy smile of her own.
"Hey, this is real cute and all, but I think we've got another problem!" Missing Link shouted as he pointed at the flood of lava that was surging down the mountainside towards them.
Before the heroes could so much as turn and run, the lava reached the crevice that Ginormica had been trapped in and immediately jumped over it, looking to engulf the quartet in liquid hot magma. Before the deadly substance could reach them, however, the lava seemed to slam into an invisible wall, splashing against it like a wave crashing against the rocky shore. Blinking in surprise, the heroes turned around and spotted Ultraviolet hanging out of the door of one of the airborne transports, holding herself in with one hand while the other was outstretched towards them, her face pale and strained.
"Come on!" she yelled over the sound of the transport's whirling blades, sweat forming on her brow, "Move!"
Snapping out of their shock, the four heroes quickly ran towards the beach where a few transports were still waiting, prompting Ultraviolet to drop her force field with a grunt, causing the lava to surge forward once more. While Miss Chemistry, B.O.B. and Missing Link hopped on one of the transports, Ginormica ran right past it towards the ocean.
"Where are you going!?" Miss Chemistry questioned in concern and confusion, one foot in the transport as she leaned back to call out to Ginormica.
"They can't lift my weight!" Ginormica explained as she began wading into the surf, "Don't worry, I've got my own way out of here!"
With that, Ginormica tapped her watch and shifted into her giant form, before she walked further into the ocean like someone wading into a pool.
As the last of the transports took off, another violent earthquake rocked the tiny island as the top of the volcano exploded in another cloud of fire, smoke and ash. On one of the transports, Elastigirl held the sleeping form of Jack-Jack in her arms, the rest of her family gazing out at the erupting volcano as they were carried away from the island. Ultraviolet kneeled in front of the transport's open door, the exhaustion of the entire ordeal beginning to overtake her, her long, raven hair whipping in the wind as she stared at the island forlornly.
"Dad?" Ultraviolet asked, turning her head to look up at Mr. Incredible, who stood protectively behind her, "Do you think the Syndicate took Fred with them?"
"I'm…I'm not sure, sweetheart," Mr. Incredible replied honestly, a stricken look on his face.
"Did we just leave him there to die?" she asked again, not taking her eyes away from the burning mountaintop.
Mr. Incredible said nothing, for he didn't know the answer. In response, Ultraviolet put her face in her hands and began to cry, the remains of the villainous volcano base fading into the distance.
A/N: And here we have another chapter that ended up getting away from me. Honestly, I was trying to get to a completely different point in the story, but I kept having ideas to add and, well, I guess we'll get to that point next chapter. As usual, feedback and critiques are always welcome, so please review! Later!