CHAPTER 2

The bus robber was hiding on a rooftop, rooting through a stolen purse. The crook never saw Mr. Incredible's shadow looming over him.

"You can tell a lot about a woman by the contents of her purse. But maybe that's not what you had in mind," Mr. Incredible said. The crook pulled a gun and backed away from the formidable hero. Whack! A punch seemed to come from nowhere, dropping the thief.

But the punch hadn't come from Mr. Incredible. Mr. Incredible looked over his shoulder. Then he smiled. A dazzling masked woman smiled back. "Elastigirl," he said knowingly. "Mr. Incredible," she replied as she stretched out an arm to lift the thug to his feet. "It's all right," he told her. "I've got him." "Sure you've got him," she said, snapping her arm back. "I just took him out for you." The two heroes stepped back and playfully argued about who would take the bus robber in. "We could share, you know," she said, stretching toward him with graceful ease.

"I work alone," Mr. Incredible said coolly.

"Well," Elastigirl said, looping herself around him in one fluid motion, "I think you need to be more ... flexible."

"You doing anything later?" Mr. Incredible asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I have a previous engagement," she whispered pointedly as she stretched across the rooftops and disappeared.

Mr. Incredible watched in admiration as the beautiful Super woman left. Then he turned his attention back to the bus robber and handcuffed him.

The crack of gunfire filled the air as a black helicopter armed to the teeth buzzed the rooftops, zooming away from something — or someone.

Mr. Incredible looked up. "Frozone," he said with a smile.

Frozone swooped down, traveling on sheets of ice he threw from rooftop to rooftop. A fellow Super, Frozone could create ice from the moisture in the air. Ice bolts shot from his palm as he chased the fleeing helicopter.

Frozone noticed Mr. Incredible as he passed. "Shouldn't you be getting ready?" he shouted.

Mr. Incredible yelled back. "Hey ... I've still got time!"

The sound of a woman's scream caught Mr. Incredible's attention. He turned to see someone pointing to the top of a giant skyscraper. A man on a ledge was about to jump. A crowd was quickly forming in the street.

The crowd gasped as the man stepped off the ledge and tumbled toward the pavement.

Mr. Incredible burst into action with a calculated jump from the roof of a lower building. He tackled the jumper in midair and sailed across the street, crashing through a window. In a shower of glass, they landed in the empty lobby of a bank.

"I think you broke something," the jumper moaned.

"With counseling, I think you'll come to forgive me," Mr. Incredible told him. Then his crime sense kicked in. Something was wrong.

He was taking a look around the bank when suddenly there was a booming explosion. A huge safe door flew through the air and landed on Mr. Incredible, pinning him to the ground. Out of the smoke and rubble stepped Bomb Voyage, a super villain from France. It seemed Mr. Incredible had stumbled into a bank robbery in progress.

Mr. Incredible rolled the safe door aside. "Bomb Voyage!" He stepped forward to stop the villain.

"Monsieur Incroyable," replied the notorious thief.

"And Incrediboy!" said a voice from behind Mr. Incredible.

"Incrediboy?" Bomb Voyage mocked.

Buddy was back. Flashing his homemade rocket boots, he asked Mr. Incredible, "Aren't you curious how I get around so fast?"

"Go home, Buddy," Mr. Incredible told him.

"This is because I don't have powers, isn't it?" Buddy said angrily. "You can be Super without them. I invented these." Buddy lifted one of his rocket boots so Mr. Incredible could get a better look. "I can fly! Can you fly?"

"Fly home, Buddy," Mr. Incredible told him. "I work alone."

"I'll show you," Buddy insisted. "I'll go get the police!"

But Bomb Voyage wasn't about to let either of them ruin his day. As Buddy dashed for the shattered window, Bomb Voyage secretly clipped a small bomb to Buddy's cape.

Mr. Incredible spotted the bomb. He raced after Buddy and grabbed the cape, yelling, "Buddy, don't!" But it was too late. Buddy jumped, activating his rocket boots in a shower of sparks and lifting Mr. Incredible into the air with him.

Mr. Incredible fought to get hold of the bomb as he and Buddy streaked across the sky.

"Let go!" Buddy shouted. "You're wrecking my flight pattern!"

Mr. Incredible reached the bomb and tore it from Buddy's cape. The bomb fell, as did Mr. Incredible. Both landed on the tracks of an elevated train. The bomb exploded. The blast ripped through a huge section of track just as a train was approaching. Mr. Incredible had to stop the train before it came to the missing tracks!

Using his Super strength, Mr. Incredible held his body up against the oncoming train. Screeeeeeeee! The sound of screeching metal filled the air as Mr. Incredible used every ounce of his Super strength to halt the train.