The Protagonist System

168 An Incredible Journey

We eventually reached the shore of the island just after the sun set. The cover of night helped hide us from the regular patrols that I was sure would find us if we stayed out in the open. I had warned my kids to be quiet and picked Danica up and carried her on my back.

“We need to find a place to hide and talk about what we're going to do now.” I whispered and Vance nodded.

We moved towards where I knew there was a cave, thanks to my previous knowledge of the movie, and I gathered a small amount of wood before we went inside. Neither Vance nor Danica saw me drop the ward stones to block the entrance with an illusion that hid the cave entrance. The small fire was easy to set up, thanks to me coaching Danica on how to rub two sticks together a certain way to start a fire.

“Sooo cooool.” Danica whispered with awe.

Vance smiled at her and added a few twigs to make it burn higher. We sat there in silence for several minutes to let our costumes dry out and I thought about the best way to handle things. Again, I was not going to make the same mistake Helen did of leaving the kids alone. They had no experience being in a hostile situation and needed a guiding hand instead of being left behind.

“All right, we need to decide what to do.” I said and both of them gave me their full attention. “I'm tempted to leave you here and go off on my own...”

“NO!” “No!” Danica yelled and Vance shouted at the same time.

I chuckled at the interruption. “...and that's a dumb decision, considering I have no idea where to go or even what direction to look to find the main facility where Bobbie is being held.”

Both of my kids relaxed after hearing that.

“So, as soon as we're dry, we're making torches, putting out this fire, and exploring this cave.” I said, as if imparting great wisdom.

“OKAY!” Danica yelled and giggled as her voice echoed a little.

Vance just gave me a disbelieving look.

“Trust me. I just have a feeling about it.” I said with confidence, because I knew the cave was the end of the rocket's exhaust port when it launched and the tunnel would take us right into the facility.

Vince sighed and nodded acceptance.

We stayed there for a few more minutes until I pretended to look around the cave and 'found' some scraps of cloth I had taken out of my inventory. I then showed them how to make longer lasting torches and we started walking through the cave until we found a much smoother surface that was clearly man-made.

“What is this place?” Vance asked and waved his torch around.

I looked at where the flames were moving towards, showing where the air was flowing outwards. “Danica, I need you to jog down that way to the left and stop if you find the outside or a bigger room, then come right back here no matter what you find, okay?” I pretty much ordered her and she beamed a smile at me.

“Don't worry, dad! I'll be right back!” Danica said and zoomed off.

“Dad?” Vance asked me without actually asking me.

“This tunnel isn't natural, so either that way or this way leads to where we need to go.” I explained. I also knew the rocket wasn't going to launch until just before dawn and we had lots of time to get there.

Vance looked surprised for a moment, then he understood what I meant and nodded.

Danica was back a few minutes later, slightly out of breath. “There's... this big... rocket thing... down that way.” She said between panting breaths and pointed to the left.

“Then that's where we need to go.” I said and scooped her up into my arms. Surprisingly, she didn't protest and hugged me instead, so I expanded my back to form a seat. “Vance, do you want a piggy-back ride?”

Vance looked at the large tunnel around us and then shrugged. He blew out his torch and climbed onto my back and took mine from my hands.

“Thanks.” I said and started running. I wasn't sure if it was my new elastic-like nature or what; but, I easily carried both of their weights like they didn't weigh anything and I ran as if I wasn't encumbered by carrying two other people. Had my stats carried over without modifying my new body?

Since I didn't tire from normal exercise after all the working out I did, I ran for two solid hours to reach the rocket launch room and travel the same distance that Danica had covered in minutes. She was dead asleep by this point and Vance wasn't far behind her. He had barely stayed awake and laid his head down on my shoulder.

“Dad, I'm beat.” Vance whispered in my ear.

“I'll find you a good place to rest.” I promised.

“Thanks, dad.” Vance responded and conked right out.

I held in my laugh at that, because his defiance had been the only thing keeping him awake. Since it was just after midnight, most of the base would be asleep by now. I made my way over to the scaffold and climbed it as I cast a human reveal spell with my wand. No one was there, so I cast a detection spell and found the closest computer terminal.

I lucked out an found the security station for the rocket launch and remembered the passcode that Mr. Incredible had found in the movie when he hid in the cave. I typed in KRONOS into the console and it gave me the same high level of access. I quickly disabled the intruder alarm and found the closest thing to a room to stay in. It was almost funny that it was the room assigned to Miss Incredible when she stayed there.

Perfect. I thought and memorized the map of the facility for both the apartment and where Bobbie was being held and issued myself a security pass. I also looked at the launch protocols for the rocket and had an evil thought and started digging through the information for what I wanted.

Well, it wasn't really an evil thought, it was just going to be a very bad day for Syndrome and the people she had hired and lived on the island. I set the new landing coordinates for the robot of destruction to right outside the facility and logged out.

I made my way through the facility, taking a route that wouldn't cross any of the night patrols and found the apartment Bobbie stayed in. I put the kids to bed and they cuddled each other, making me mentally 'aww' at the sight, and I locked the door when I left. My next stop was Bobbie's holding area and it didn't take me long to reach it.

Infiltrating the facility in the middle of the night was a lot easier than trying to do it during the day, especially knowing where to go and what to do. I avoided the patrols again and used the security pass to open the room's door. The room was huge and had that weird arch thing and Bobbie was suspended inside it with electricity and those big things covering her hands.

Her head was hung down and even from this far away, I could see the tears dropping from her face. I locked the door again and stayed in the shadows as I walked around the room and reached the stage where the arch was.

“V-Vance... little Danica...” Bobbie whispered as more tears joined their fellows on the floor. “Hank...”

“Yes, dear?” I asked in a whisper and stepped up onto the stage.

“Now I'm hearing his voice.” Bobbie whispered and let out a sob.

“I'm talking, so why wouldn't you hear me?” I asked without trying to be quiet.

“Hank?!?” Bobbie gasped and her head jerked up and she stared at me standing five feet away from her. “I thought... they said...”

“Honey, they're villains.” I said with a roll of my eyes. “What did you expect them to say? That your family is fine and they're gonna let you go?”

Bobbie giggled and sounded just like our daughter, Danica. It was honestly cute and I gave her a warm smile before I walked off the stage and over to the control panel. I hit the button to release her and she dropped to the floor and landed on her feet as the hand things popped and her hands were free.

“I've stashed the kids in your apartment here and...” I started to say as I turned back to her and I was suddenly pulled into her strong arms and kissed passionately. I kind of melted a little from the great kiss and hugged her back.

Bobbie broke the kiss and beamed a smile at me. “I'm so happy that you're alive.”

“Me, too.” I said and kissed her again. “We're going to talk later about you lying about everything and falling for a villain's evil plan.”

Bobbie winced and sighed. “I'm sorry, I thought I was working for a private contractor and...”

“I said later.” I cut her off and took her hand. “We need to grab the kids and then steal a plane or something to get out of here.”

Bobbie's expression changed to anger. “Hank, we can't just leave! Syndrome's going to attack Metroville and...”

I pinched her lips together to stop her rant. “She only thinks she is.”

Bobbie's eyes widened. “Mham mo mou meam?”

I chuckled at her trying to ask me what I mean with her lips held together. “I reprogrammed the landing coordinates for the rocket to end here on Nomanisan Island.”

Her expression changed to astonishment. “Mow mim mou mo mhat?”

I didn't answer her and let her lips go before I ran over to the door of the large room. It wasn't until I reached for the security pass that I realized she had stood there beside the console and hadn't moved and my arm was stretched all the way across the room. I turned back to face her and she looked determined, so I sighed and flicked my arm to extend it more and used it like a lasso and wrapped her up twice and then yanked on it.

“AH!” Bobbie shouted as she flew through the air, clearly shocked at what I did.

I easily caught her, being elastic and all, and used the security pass. I formed my back into a seat like I had for Vance and Bobbie's shocked face didn't change as I held her in place without using my hands and I ran out of the room and down the hallway. I ducked into a supply room and waited for the patrol to pass by, then continued on and backtracked to the apartment.

Bobbie stayed quiet until the apartment door closed behind us and she hopped off of my back. “How did you do all of that?”

I gave her a crooked smile. “I did have a life before becoming your husband.” I said, completely truthfully. Watching her mouth open and close like a fish out of water was just a bonus. Instead of saying anything else, I motioned to the bed where the kids were still snuggled up to each other.

“Aww.” Bobbie whispered at the sight. “Where's a camera when you need one?”

I gave her cheek a kiss and she turned to give me a kiss on the lips. “What do you want to do now? Let them sleep until morning or escape an evil villain's base with her personal plane before anyone else wakes up?”

Bobbie looked conflicted and then sighed. “I really want to do the first one and I know we can't. If we stick around, we'll definitely be caught.”

I nodded. “They'll probably change the security passes during the shift change, too.”

Bobbie nodded. “Then you carry Vance and I'll take Danica.”

When we tried to separate the kids, they didn't want to let go, so Bobbie helped put the both of them onto my back. I wrapped an arm around them to hold them steady and we left the apartment to head towards the hangar. As we made our way there, I told Bobbie there was no self-destruct option for the facility or anything explosive for us to set off to destroy it, making her softly curse under her breath.

We made it to the hangar without incident and loaded the kids onto Syndrome's airplane. It was then that I remembered his remote that he used to control the robot and my brilliant plan to unleash the Omnidroid on the facility was dead in the water if he still had it.

“I need to make a quick stop at a security terminal.” I whispered and Bobbie waved me away, probably assuming I was going to disable any restrictions on the plane taking off. I left the plane and used my wand to find out where the remote was and it was all the way across the base and I let out a frustrated sound.

The terminal wasn't far away and was thankfully out of sight, so I accessed it and had it show me where Syndrome stored his equipment. It showed an image of the place and I took out my wand again to silence the area. I concentrated on the image on the screen and apparated over there. The crack sound didn't echo in the small room and I unlocked the storage locker.

An overpowered cleaning spell on the remote saw it spark and sputter. I was tempted to test it by hitting one of the buttons and debated it, then nodded. The first button didn't do anything and nothing happened. There was no click, no whir, and no reaction from the large robot stored in the next room.

Of course, that made me wonder if I should do the same thing to the robot while it was dormant, then shook my head. We needed it to land here and destroy everything, like it was programmed to do. I silenced the room and apparated back to the security console and disabled the checks for a plane taking off and opened the hangar doors.

I ran back over to the plane and climbed on and saw Bobbie petting Vance's hair with a look of love on her face. I lightly touched her shoulder as I walked by and she turned that smile to me. I kissed her and went to the pilot area and entered the proper codes and the destination. I also disabled the verbal interaction, just so the kids could sleep uninterrupted.

I set the plane to take off and went back to Bobbie and sat beside her, put my arm over her shoulders, and waited for us to get up into the air. There was no reaction from the villain's base and that was a huge relief, because being shot at again would suck. The flight was also going to be a long one and we had nothing but time on our hands until we landed.

After about ten minutes, Bobbie kissed my cheek and laid down beside our son and cuddled both him and our daughter. That was a great idea, so I moved to the other side of them and laid down behind Danica to hug the three of them. Bobbie let out a contented sigh and fell right to sleep and I thought that now would have been a great time for a camera, too.

I laid there and thought about what was going to happen next, which was nothing at all, because the assault on the city wasn't going to happen and 'supers' weren't going to come back out into the public eye and be revealed as existing again. Without the city in danger, there was nothing for my family to save, either.

For some reason, I thought that was for the best. It wasn't until I started drifting off to sleep that I remembered that if the heroes started appearing again, the villains would start appearing as well and would cause more problems for the heroes to fight against. It would eventually throw the world into chaos and that wasn't what I wanted, not anymore.

The plans I had to save my family from having to fight Syndrome and her Omnidroid had inadvertently stopped the resurgence of superpowers in the world. With no one thinking about people with powers coming into the limelight, or the outrageous and sensational news coverage it would have, there would be no reason for any villains to crawl out of the woodwork to fight against their chosen rivals.

The satisfied smile would stay on my face for several days, until I remembered the Underminer. I would have to do some digging, excuse the pun, to find out where he was and when exactly he was going to appear, since I knew it would be in about three months.

Either that, or I was going to have to start being as bad as Bobbie and start up my own secret vigilante career. I thought about doing it behind her back as revenge and discarded that idea. Bobbie had made that mistake and I wasn't going to give her any justification for it by doing the same thing.

No, if I was going to start hunting villains down, I would have to include her... and I could probably rub it in her face that we always worked better together than we ever did as independent heroes.