Time Falls Away: A Meet the Robinson and Incredibles Fanfiction

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters are the property of Disney/Pixar. I do not own them but am grateful for the opportunity to use them in the unleashing of my own imagination.

Rating: This story is rated K

Chapter 4

June 7, 2009, 11:34 am

The next day was a little chaotic in the Parr household. In addition to all the unpacking that needed to be done, there was a huge mystery to solve.

Violet listened quietly as her mother asked question after question, trying to piece together an identity for the mystery boy.

"What city are you from?" Her mother asked.

"Todayland."

"Where's that?" Dash wondered.

"Um… in America?"

"Where do you go to school?" Helen continued.

"I don't know"

"Do you play any sports?"

"Yeah! Chargeball!"

"What's chargeball?" asked Dash. He received an exaggerated response.

"What's chargeball?! Only the best sport ever!"

"What's your phone number?"

"569-2417-62-35844-9625"

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"Hey! An answer that actually makes sense!"

Dash received a glare from his mother.

The other boy just groaned and dropped his head into his hands, leaning his elbows on the dining table. The questions were frustrating, not because he couldn't answer them, but because the answers he gave couldn't be true, according to his caretakers. Nothing was fitting together. He couldn't remember much and what he thought he knew, apparently didn't make any sense. His headache, which had been greatly relieved by a dose of extra strength Tylenol, was gradually returning.

"What do you know about time travel?"

Four sets of eyes turned to stare at Bob, who was standing in the kitchen doorway.

"What's time travel?" Jack-Jack asked, peering over the edge of an empty packing box, in which he'd been playing. The grown-ups didn't answer and everyone got very quiet, so the boy went back to playing.

Helen looked at her husband, perplexed. "Bob, what does time travel have to do with anything?"

The man pointed a thumb back toward the garage and directed his answer to the strange young man at his dining table. "I've been looking at that flying contraption of yours. I've never seen anything like it and I've seen my share of advanced technology." He didn't mention that this was because he was Mr. Incredible and, as a super hero, he often had access to the latest and greatest inventions, even top secret ones. "I ran some of the parts through a database and couldn't come up with anything."

"But that could mean anything, Dad." Violet responded. "It doesn't exactly scream time travel."

"I know. I didn't think of it myself, at first. But when he," Bob gestured to the young man. "Said that he was born in 2023, it got me thinking about one of the weird parts I couldn't figure out. Come on, I'll show you."

The family, plus one, filed down to the garage where they stared at a badly mangle body of red metal. In the light, it was much easier to see. It was like a plane… sort of; more like a Smart Car with wings. At least it kind of had wings but one was longer than the other and the engine of the machine seemed to be mounted in the middle of the longer one. The whole machine looked unbalance and Violet couldn't imagine how the thing could fly. She had to admit, she'd never seen anything like it, even in her time as a super hero.

Violet, Helen, and Dash stood staring at the machine with similar looks of confusion and analysis. Bob, however, strode up to it and reached inside to point at some device. "See this thing here has a number pad on it and it seems to be specifically designed to enter in dates and times so…" Before he could continue, however, he was interrupted by their mystery boy who was presently poking in, out, and around the machine, looking very excited.

"Yup! Definitely a time machine. But it's in really bad shape. I must've done a number on it last night. I don't even think it'll fly anymore, let alone travel through time without some major repairs." He was speaking and moving more than he had since he first woke up and the Parr family was momentarily stunned by the change in the boy. Violet smiled.

Bob shook himself from his stupor and asked, "So you recognize it? Can you fix it?"

The boy thought for a moment, with one hand on his chin and the other crossing his chest to prop his elbow. "Nope, and nope." He said finally. "But this tells us a lot. If I came here in a time machine then I must be from the future, which explains why you only have ten-digit phone numbers and you" he pointed directly as Dash with a perturbed look, "don't know what chargeball is – which must be a crime in my time."

"Does everyone have a time machine in the future?" Violet asked.

"That is an excellent question!" He responded, and continued poking around the machine. "I wonder… hmm… no, that wouldn't make any sense. If everyone had a time machine, then the whole time continuum would descend into chaos."

"So why do you have one?" Dash questioned.

"Another excellent question! Obviously, I have a time machine because… um… because I'm a time cop from the future. Of course! That's the only thing that makes sense. I must've been in this time under cover when I got caught in that storm. I've got to try and remember what my mission was so that I can complete it before it's too late."

"Hold on a second, Captain Time Travel." Helen stopped his excited theories, laying a hand on his shoulder. "You are only fifteen and even if you are from the future, I doubt your parents – or the government for that matter – would allow you to travel through time fighting crime." As the mother of super powered children, Helen knew all about the fear that came with letting them fight crime. Assuming this young man was not a super, there was no way his mother would allow him to go anywhere near a villain, time machine or no. "There must be some other explanation."

"Hey, there's a back pack back here." Dash called from the cockpit where he'd begun poking around while his parents talked to the mystery boy. He pulled a huge rucksack from the back seat and tossed it to the ground. "Maybe we can find some clues."

"That's perfect! I bet I brought along Trans time-space communicator that I can use to contact someone back at HQ and let them know that the time machine is broken. Oh, and by 'HQ' I mean 'headquarters.'" The strange boy clarified for Dash.

Dash rolled his eyes. "I know what it means."

"Wow. You're smarter than you look." The older boy shot back.

"Boys, please." Helen scolded. She knelt down to look through the rucksack. "Let's just see if we can find some identification."

Ten minutes later, the entire contents of the back pack were spread out on the garage floor. It was a strange mix of camping equipment, clothing, and comic books. But there was no wallet. The only money was stored in a clear plastic bag which looked something like a zip-lock bag except that it was missing the zipper. There was no ID.

"Shouldn't you have a driver's license or something?" Dash asked.

"Hey, I only turned fifteen last month. I was probably too busy with finals at school to go out and get my permit yet."

"It's no wonder you crashed the time machine. You're not even supposed to be driving."

"I crashed the time machine because I flew into a storm."

"Leave him alone, Dash." Violet butted in, tired of the argument. She shoved a stack of comic books into her brother's hands. "Here, why don't you read these or something?"

"Huh? I don't want to re…" his eyes flew open as he looked at the book on top of the stack. "Whoa! TMNT 2030 Issue 17! This hasn't even been written yet! Awesome!" A moment later, Dash was sitting in the front seat of the time machine with his nose buried in comic books.

Violet rolled her eyes and smiled at the mystery boy. "I figured that would work. He loves comic books. They're about the only thing he ever reads."

"So it looks like you were going camping." Bob said, twirling a marshmallow roasting stick around his finger. "And not alone either; two sleeping bags, two marshmallow sticks, two mess kits. Either you were meeting someone here or someone was supposed to join you later. Meaning, hopefully, someone will come looking for you.

"What I find strange though is that, other than the comic books, there is nothing in this pack that indicates you're from the future. Heck, some of this is even old school by today's standards." He held up a folded map. "Most people have GPS on their phones these days."

The mystery boy shrugged. "I was probably trying to avoid contaminating the timeline." He sighed. "Well the back pack wasn't much help." He seemed to wilt, his previous energy leaving him almost as quickly as it came. He hung his head and laid a disappointed hand on the time machine. "I don't know who I am. And the time machine is broken, so even if I do remember I have no way of getting home. I'm stuck here… without a family, or a home, or even a name. What am I gonna do?"

In that moment, Helen's heart went out to the boy and she asked herself how she'd want her own children to be treated if the somehow became stranded in a strange place with no memory. With that in mind, she met her husband's eyes. He seemed to be thinking the same thing. They'd have to be careful about not revealing their super powers, but they were responsible for this boy now. Heaven forbid knowledge about a time machine and its teenage driver should fall into the wrong hands.

Bob nodded and Helen smiled. Reaching down, she tilted the boy's chin up so that she could see his eyes and looked at him, reassuringly. "You'll stay with us."

His eyes grew wide as he acknowledged her words. "R-really? I can stay here? I mean… would that be alright. I don't want to be a bother or anything and you've already done so much to help me…"

"It wouldn't be a bother at all." Bob said, coming around to stand by his wife. "Besides, we're going to need some extra help with all the unpacking we need to do, if you don't mind some physical labor."

"No – not at all. I'd be glad to help in any way. Thank you. Thank you so much."

Dash, still buried in his comics, took a moment to realize what was going on. "Wait! You mean he's gonna stay here?!"

Time falls away but these small hours, these small hours still remain.

June 7, 2009, 7:23 pm

"Milo?"

"No"

"Hogarth?"

"No way!"

"How about Basil?"

"That's not a name. It's an herb."

"Phoebus?"

"I'm going to assume you're joking."

Violet laughed. She'd stopped suggesting serious names half an hour ago. His reactions were too funny. Sadly, she was running out of ideas unless she wanted to start suggesting animal names like Pongo and Simba.

"Well, we've got to call you something." After a long day spent unpacking and talking about the future, Violet and the mystery boy had retired to the observatory dome to wait for dinner. After talking for awhile, she'd started throwing out suggestions for his name, hoping maybe she could spark a memory with one of them. It hadn't worked but after awhile it became something of a game and she kept going just to see what he'd say.

"How about 'Captain Time Travel?' Your mom called me that."

"No, too long." Violet thought for a moment. He was a time traveler so he needed a time traveler's name. Herbert George Wells sounded too old. So did Dr. Emmet Brown. But that made her think about something else. "How about Marty?"

"Marty?"

"You know, like Marty McFly from Back to the Future."

"What's Back to the Future?"

"It's a movie, about time travel. I can't believe you haven't seen it."

"If it was made in this time, it's probably in the archives back in my time."

"It was made in the 1980's."

"Yeah, definitely archived." The boy stood up from his seat beside Violet and wandered around the domed room, occasionally glancing up at the evening sky through the glass ceiling. "You know, there's something really familiar about this place. It almost feels like I've been here before."

Violet shrugged. "Maybe you have, in the future." She shook her head. "That's just weird, talking about something in the past tense when it's in the future."

"Told you, my life is weird. And I don't even remember most of it. Your life seems so normal. I could probably get used to normal. I might have to, if I can't find a way home."

He seemed sad for a moment and Violet wanted to make him smile again. Standing, she stood beside him where he was staring off into space through the dome. She reached up and flicked his cowlick to get his attention. "Trust me; my life is pretty weird too. You just don't know me well enough yet."

He quirked an eyebrow at her and suddenly she felt self conscious. She had to resist the temptation to pull her hair in front of her face. Swallowing, she asked hesitantly, "Is… is weird okay?"

"Of course. Weird is perfect." He smiled and her fears vanished.

"So… Marty?"

The boy shrugged. "It'll do, I guess."

"Marty it is then."