The audience was getting seated. Syndrome was there, but Jack-Jack wasn't with him. He must be inside the palace somewhere.

Barley and Ian went to the stage. They were the first ones the audience would see, so the plan was to stall on stage for as long as they could. Sulley, Mike, Woody, and Buzz stayed backstage to keep an eye on things, while the others snuck away.

Ian broke out in a cold sweat as the curtain opened. His head spun when he saw all the people in the crowd. He was glad nobody could actually see him.

"Hey, Ian," Barley said. "Wanna hear about my latest 'Tales of the Four Nations' campaign?"

"Sure," Ian said. Barley could go on about "Tales of the Four Nations" for hours. Hopefully it was related enough to the show that nobody would get suspicious.

As Barley started rambling, the others made their way to Jack-Jack's room, led by Dash. Violet didn't like having him in the lead, since any guards would surely recognize him, but he was the only one who knew the palace.

Jack-Jack's room was unlocked. They looked around. The room was empty.

"Where is he?" Violet asked worriedly.

"Maybe he's training," Dash said. "I don't quite know where the training room is, but it's around here somewhere."

He started leading them down a narrow hallway. Violet began to feel claustrophobic. It would be hard to run or fight in here.

"Hey!" A sharp voice rang through the room. They turned to see guards running at them.

A guard pointed. "Prince Dash?"

Luca splashed water at their feet and froze it. More guards ran down the hallway. Alberto leapt forward and started punching them.

"Go!" Luca shouted at Violet and Dash. "We'll fight them off!"

Violet built a ball of air. Dash jumped in and took off down the hallway.

~~~~

Barley was still rambling about his campaign, in excruciating detail. The audience was in stitches, thinking it was a parody of "Tales of the Four Nations" players.

Barley drew his sword and swung it around. "And then, with a slash of my mighty sword, I severed the beast's wings from its wretched body! Then we went to the local tea shop for a celebratory drink."

"Wow, interesting," Ian said.

"But it turned out the tea shop was being run by an evil spirit in disguise! Koh the Face Stealer! So we got ready for another battle…"

Ian could see Syndrome in the front row, leaning on his hand, looking extremely bored. If this went on for much longer, he would probably just leave.

Ian looked at Sulley, who was supposed to give them a signal when the others had returned. Sulley shook his head.

Where are you guys? Hurry up.

~~~~

Dash and Violet slowed down, not wanting to draw attention to themselves. They walked down the hallway at a leisurely pace, hiding when they could and trying to take up as little space as possible.

They stopped when they heard loud screams coming from a room ahead of them. It sounded like a young child screaming.

"Jack-Jack!" Violet and Dash cried.

They ran to the doorway and peered in. Violet gasped.

Jack-Jack was tied to a chair, screaming and crying. Weak flurries of air swirled around him. Randall stood over him, trying to attach wires to his face. The wires were attached to a terrifying machine on the other side of the room. Screws, bolts, and sharp pieces of wood and metal stuck out in random places.

"Stop squirming, you little brat, or I'll give you something to cry about," Randall snapped. He slapped Jack-Jack.

Violet saw red. Dash ran forward, yelling, "You can't do that!" He started running by Randall and punching him.

"Hey!" Randall yelled.

Jack-Jack laughed happily and clapped. "Dash!"

Violet could tell that Randall was about to call the guards. She put her hands out and pulled the air from his lungs. Randall gasped and grabbed his throat. Just like Waternoose, he gargled as he slowly fell to his knees.

Dash's eyes widened. She realized he hadn't seen her do this before. That must be terrifying.

She released Randall. He grasped limply at the wall as he fell to the ground. Violet lunged at the chair and untied Jack-Jack.

"Get us out of here!" she said to Dash, forming a ball of air around them.

"That was so cool! You totally suffocated that guy!" Dash said as they ran away. "I wanna learn how to do that!"

~~~~

Barley was still talking. Ian snickered to himself at the gobsmacked look on Sulley's face when he glanced back at him again. The depth of Barley's enthusiasm and lore knowledge must be shocking for someone who hadn't lived with him his entire life the way Ian had.

Syndrome stood up. "Get on with it!" It had been half an hour of this nonsense.

Sulley suddenly started waving at Ian from backstage.

"Sorry, everyone," Ian said, cutting Barley off, "but it looks like we're having, uh, technical difficulties. We'll be back shortly."

He pulled Barley off stage. They ran back to the airship, where Violet and Dash were waiting with Jack-Jack.

"Let's get out of here!" Ian said.

"Wait. Alberto and Luca aren't back yet," Violet said.

They heard footsteps outside. They didn't sound like Luca or Alberto. Violet quickly hid Jack-Jack in a cabinet.

The stagehands came in. One of them stormed over to Barley. "What was that?! Why did you screw up our show in front of the Firelord?!"

"Uh…sorry, I got nervous and forgot all my lines," Barley said.

"You never forget your lines," the stagehand said, narrowing his eyes.

"Well, it's not every day you perform for the Firelord," Barley said.

"True…but still," the stagehand said. "You wasted a lot of time and made us look like idiots!"

"Sorry," Barley said.

Jack-Jack banged against the cabinet door. Dash and Violet stood in front of it. The stagehands looked at them suspiciously.

The stagehand looked around. "Why are you hiding in here? The show is still going on. Get back out there."

"In a minute," Barley said. "You go. We'll be out soon."

Alberto and Luca ran up.

"Did you get Jack-Jack?" Luca asked.

The stagehands looked at him. "What?"

"Uh, I mean…" Luca stammered.

"Hey, you're not Amy. You're a boy!"

Luca panicked and attacked them with a water tentacle. The stagehands stumbled back, terrified.

Violet pushed them out the door with a powerful gust of wind. Alberto slammed the door shut, and Luca froze a thick layer of ice over it.

Barley was already firing up the engine. They took off.

The stagehands alerted some of the guards. They shot fireballs at the airship, but Mike and Sulley redirected them.

"We did it," Violet said as the palace disappeared from view. "We did it!" She couldn't believe it. It felt like a dream.

Dash opened the cabinet and took Jack-Jack out. Violet hugged them both. Finally, they were all together again. Finally, she could start to rebuild.

~~~~

Syndrome stared at the guard who had approached him. "What do you mean, the performance is canceled?"

"The actors just…left," the guard said.

"Oh, well," Syndrome sighed. "The performance was shit anyway."

He stood up and went inside. It was time to check on Boggs and Jack-Jack.

"I need some good news, Boggs," he said as he walked into the room. "Did the machine work?"

He stared at Randall's body on the floor. Randall was staring at the ceiling, eyes wide with terror.

Rage and panic flooded Syndrome's body as he noticed the empty chair. "Where's the Avatar?!"

Randall mumbled something incoherent.

Syndrome grabbed Randall and yanked him up. "Boggs! Where. Is. Jack-Jack?!"

"The girl and your rotten son came and took him," Randall said.

"NO!" Syndrome shook Randall violently. "How did this happen, you moron?!"

"Calm down," Randall snapped, pushing Syndrome away. "We can still use the machine on other prisoners and give you all the elements."

"That's not the point!" Syndrome hissed. "As long as Jack-Jack is alive, he can still fulfill his destiny as the Avatar and destroy our great nation in the name of peace!"

Randall scoffed. "He's a child. With your new powers, you can easily kill him. He's never even accessed the Avatar State."

Syndrome supposed that was true. "Fine."

"I was prepared for this," Randall said. "So I brought some prisoners with me from the Boiling Rock."

He had three prisoners brought in. Ercole, Miss Fritter, and Edna were led in in chains. Edna was unsteady on her feet. She'd been pumped with a steady flow of tranquilizing poison to keep her from escaping again.

Randall put Edna in the chair first. He attached the wires to her face.

Ercole's eyes popped out of his head as he stared at the machine. "What is that?!"

Miss Fritter looked around, despair rising up in her chest as she wondered how to stop this. The room was entirely metal. There was nothing she could do.

She pulled on the chains, thinking maybe her sheer strength alone could free her. But the chains were too thick.

Randall pulled a lever on the machine. Edna gasped and stiffened.

Ercole's voice rose to a panicked squeak. "What's happening?! What are you doing to her?!"

Edna twitched, then started convulsing. Miss Fritter and Ercole watched in horror as her mouth opened, and a beam of light shot out. It slowly shrank down and began spreading, down the wires in her face and into the machine.

Edna stopped shaking and slumped forward. Completely still. Barely breathing.

A slow, malicious grin spread across Randall's face. "Who's next?"

After taking all of their powers, Randall turned to Syndrome. "So what do you think?"

"Impressive," Syndrome said. "But I'll need a firebender too."

Randall looked confused. "But aren't you already—"

Syndrome snapped his fingers. Two guards stepped forward and grabbed Randall.

"Not me!" Randall yelled as they forced him into the chair and attached the wires to his face.

"Come on, Boggs. Aren't you always saying you're the best? You can take this as a compliment." Syndrome pulled the lever.

Randall screamed, a splitting shriek of terror and agony. Syndrome smiled as Randall's body spasmed and shook, then went still.

Syndrome put his hand on the machine. He could feel the energy emanating off of it. The ability to destroy the world, it was right here in his hands.

He unplugged the wires from Randall's face and shoved his limp body off the chair. Syndrome sat down in the chair. Finally, he would be able to bend. Finally, he would know the power of the Avatar.