The Path of Redemption

The Incredibles: The path of redemption.
Englishwitch
Disclaimer: Disclaimer- I do not own The Incredibles, it is a Disney/ Pixar animation motion picture

Chapter 25- Black afternoon.

Elastagirl collapsed on a rooftop as the last twelve days of constant fighting finally caught up with her. Vision blurring, light headed, starting to get the shakes. She had used herself up, pushed herself too far. Just a little rest and she would be fine. She sat on the rooftop out of sight of the public, couldn’t, no, shouldn’t let anyone see her like this. The hope of the city was frail enough already without seeing the Supers ready to break. She needed so badly to just stop and rest for a little while. But there were still too many enemies loose on the streets and the most dangerous ones were still free. She had no choice but to force the weary body to press on and keep going. She tried to rise up to her feet but couldn’t manage it; every last bit of her strength had been robbed from her. She sat still, unable to move, but unable to rest her mind, she looked out to the city and felt like weeping.

The sky was blackened with rising smoke from many fires. Down in the streets there were many abandoned vehicles, mostly cars, some had been burnt out to twisted shells while the others had been broken into and picked clean by thieves. The air was alive with the noise of endless sirens from all emergency vehicles; they never stopped. The police were working just as hard as the Supers, there were some cops Helen had spoken to briefly who hadn’t been home in days; grabbing an hour or so of sleep every now and again at the stations. Helen hadn’t been home well over a week now; ever since this whole mess started. She hadn’t seen Bob or Dash in all that time. She didn’t know anything about her husband or son, were they safe? Were they injured? How were they coping with this? She prayed they were doing better than she was. She hadn’t even seen Jack-jack six days. It had become too dangerous to take her baby with her, even if he did have Super powers. It broke her heart to do it but she had left him with some government agents who worked in Rick Dickers department. She longed to know about her family; how was Dash? How was Bob? She would have loved to have heard something about how Violet was doing. But there was nothing. She could have been all alone and she would have no idea. She hadn’t even seen another Super in twelve days; not Frozone, Guardian or Wondergirl; at this moment she wouldn’t have minded meeting the strangers or her old family friend.

The exhaustion finally took her and she collapsed into a deep sleep.

***********

It was only an hour later when Helen woke but she felt all the better for it. She was still exhausted and every part of her body was sore right down to the bone but her will to act was restored. She fought hard against all of her sore limbs and found her way to her feet. The concrete roof had not been kind to her body, which had begun to forget what a bed felt like.

As usual the sirens were ringing out loud and clear, she only had to pick a direction and she would find a crime easily enough. Helen didn’t know how many criminals she’d personally put away but more and more were coming out of the woodwork every day. It had been hardened criminals at first but recently she had been capturing people who were just taking advantage of the spike in the crime wave. People who might seem normal and live regular lives but were now taking total advantage of the dark opportunities presented to them. It was sad that people would do dark things in troubled times rather than try and fight for what was right.
The sirens were suddenly cut out with a deep roar within her ears, the sounds of shouts and screams. Helen rushed and looked over the edge of the building she had rested upon. There on the horizon, and approaching quickly down the street, was a large mob of people. A full scale riot was breaking out. A fire burst out, a Molotov cocktail was thrown into the street. She hadn’t ever known they really worked.

Helen jumped from the building, grabbing the edge and stretching her arm to swing down. The crowd saw her but the presence of a super did not have the effect it used to and as she swung over their heads Elastagirl was pelted with missiles, bricks, stones and all manner of solid objects. A brick hit her on the side o the head and she fell down, stunned, into the crowd.

Fists and kicks, aimed at head and body. Someone hit her back with a plank of wood as she tried, in vain, to climb to her feet. It was chaos around her, there was nothing but shapes and noise pummelling blow after blow. She screamed, but the cry was lost in the noise of the crowd.

**************

Mr Incredible skidded the incredible to a halt and leapt out. He didn’t even pause for a second and raced into the crowd. His powerful arms knocked them out of the way effortlessly. His wife was somewhere in this mob, he had seen her fall.

Someone hit his back with a baseball bat, he felt the pain but also the snap of the wood as it broke against his body. Bob swung an arm and sent the guy flying through the air. He never even saw his face. “MOVE.” He shouted at the top of his lungs. “MOVE OR I’LL KNOCK YOU ALL DOWN.”

There! A flash of a red suit. Bob swung his fists, knocking more and more of the rioting people out of the way. Helen, there she was, lying on the ground. People had dropped her as soon as he approached. Her nose was bleeding and her face bruised. Her hair was messed up and Bob thought that some of it might be missing, torn out, but he couldn’t tell. He felt such rage then, he wanted to knock down all of these people and every building around them. But he held himself back, only just, he had to care for his wife right now. He scooped her up in his powerful arms and raced for the car. The crowd had reached it, they were trying to smash and break it with everything they had, but Edna had built that car, it would take a lot more than a few bricks and bats to even dent that machine.
“MOVE YOURSELVES. GET OUT OF THE WAY.” He bellowed, with such anger that people actually jumped away from him.

Bob jumped pulled open the car and pushed Helen onto the back seat. He beet away a barrage of kicks and fists that tried to take advantage of him as he was bent over, putting Helen into the car. He knocked them back and leapt into the drivers seat and powered up the engine, tearing away as quickly as the car and crowd would let him.

***************

Helen sat in a hospital bed, unconscious but stable. This was no ordinary hospital she rested in, it was an emergency medical centre set up by the Supers department in the secure underground bunker they had within the city. They had set up the hospital in the wake of Psychewave’s escape, knowing that chaos was ahead and regular hospitals could be trusted with security from attackers if a Super or Agent got injured.

Bob sat at Helen’s bedside, tears rolled down his face. This was the first time he had seen his wife in twelve days and it broke his heart to see her like this. A hand rested on his shoulder and Bob glanced to look at Rick Dickers. Bob had never seen the man looking so haggard, not even in the days of the Superhero relocation program.
“The doctors said she’s going to be fine, it’s mostly just exhaustion.” He said in his gruff voice. Bob nodded and wiped his eyes.
“We’re all tired. This is too much Rick. We just can’t cope anymore. The criminals were bad enough, but now citizens are rioting in the streets. This city is going to Hell and we can’t stop it.”
“I know Bob. I know.” The old man agreed. “I’ve got every agent under my power out there aiding the police with their law enforcement but it’s not enough anymore. I don’t think it was enough to begin with. I think this has been Psychewave’s plan from the very start, let this situation snowball until we’re at breaking point.”
“Then break us.” Bob muttered angrily. Rick nodded, though he wished he could counter what Bob had said, try and show him there was some hope left. But he couldn’t see any.
“These riots have taken things to a crisis point. As a result there are new developments.” He sighed. “I’ve been on the phone to the white house. Just so you know, he called me. Martial law has been declared Bob. I’ve been ordered to pull all my agents out of the city and let the military handle it. I you want, I might be able to evacuate you and your family. Jack-Jack is already here and I’m sure we can find a way to get a message to Dash. It’s not just you, we’ll get all the city Supers out, if they want to go. But you’ve done your best Bob, No one can ask any more of you than that. There would be no shame in letting the military handle it from this point.”

For a moment Bob was tempted. They had done so much, pushed themselves beyond their limits. He just wanted to keep his family safe, could anyone really blame him for wanting to do that? But then he had to ask himself, if he ran away now, just because things were hard could he look at in the mirror after that and call the person he saw a Super? This was his duty and he was sure that his wife and son would agree with him.
“Thank you Rick, but we’re staying. With things as bad as they are the military is going to need all the help they can get.”

To be continued.