"Once Upon a Time" / "Dungeons and Dragons Cartoon"

Fanfiction Crossover

When Venger Came to Storybrooke

Disclaimer: "Once Upon A Time" is owned and created by the team of Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. The "Dungeons and Dragons Cartoon Series" is owned by Marvel Productions and TSR Entertainment and Toei Animations. I do not own any of the characters depicted in this story. This Fan Fiction Crossover is the work of a hobbyist having fun with some of his favorite characters, and nothing more. I hope that this is a sufficient disclaimer.

Historian's Note: This story takes place during the First Season of "Once Upon A Time" after Episode 9; "True North" and prior to the events in Episode 11; "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree." Some events in later seasons (for example, Season 2, Episode 17; "Welcome to Storybrooke,") are alluded to, but have been established to have taken place prior to the events in this story.

This story takes place after the Third Season of the "Dungeons and Dragons Cartoon," but before the unmade Last Episode of the series; "Requiem."

As an episode of "Once Upon A Time," the Title Card will depict Venger astride his Nightmare with Shadow Demon hovering to his right in the blue forest setting.

Chapter 1: A New Friend

When school was dismissed Henry Mills went straight to the Storybrooke Town Hall. The first thing he noticed was that two cars were parked in front that he had never seen before; a green Saturn station wagon with Maine rental plates, and a black Ferrari Testarossa convertible with California plates. A well dressed, but otherwise nondescript man stood next to the Ferrari. Though the stranger never moved away from the Ferrari, his eyes followed Henry as he walked up to the town hall's front entrance, giving Henry the uneasy feeling that he was being shadowed.

The moment Henry was inside he heard loud voices coming from the Mayor's Office and went to investigate. The woman who called herself Henry's mother (but who Henry knew was really the Evil Queen from the Fairytales,) watched poker-faced while three people that Henry had never seen before in Storybrooke were having a heated discussion.

A white man and an African American woman in their early 40's were facing a very pale, tall man of undeterminable age. That man stood almost seven feet tall and wore his long, black hair tied in a ponytail that went halfway down the back of his expensive Italian suit. But what really caught Henry's attention was the Bluetooth cellphone the man wore in his left ear, sprouting a red antenna that was at least four inches high. On anyone else, this would look ridiculous, thought Henry. But somehow, this man was able to make it look downright intimidating.

Adding to the intimidation factor was the man's stentorian voice. When he spoke, the room almost shook. "I might have known that you or some of your companions would come to Storybrooke to poison the waters against RealmCorp!"

But the young man and woman were not easily intimidated. The woman said, "If you want to talk about "poisoning waters," Mr. Talionis; why don't you tell Mayor Mills how RealmCorp poisoned the ground water near your plant in River City, Iowa, a few years back."

"Be very careful of leveling false accusations, Mrs. Montgomery," said Mr. Talionis. "Or one day, I shall have you up on charges of slander that even your legal acrobatics will not save you from."

"My wife's "legal acrobatics" were enough to force RealmCorp to pay compensation for the damages your factory caused, Mr. Talionis," said the younger man, his voice dripping with barely restrained sarcasm. "But not nearly enough to pay for all of the suffering you caused by RealmCorp's disregard for the safety of the community. Of course, seeing you in an orange jumpsuit doing real hard-time would have been a start . . . ."

"Do not be so cavalier, Mr. Montgomery," said Mr. Talionis, more to Mayor Mills than to the young couple. "It was simply more expedient for RealmCorp to pay your legal-extortion in a sealed, out-of-court settlement than to fight your baseless charges and be tried in the media. In any event, you had nothing solid to blame RealmCorp for the plight of those unfortunate people, despite your pious pronouncements.

"Mayor Mills, if you would only reconsider my offer to –"

"Henry . . . ," said Mayor Regina Mills, just now noticing her son in the doorway. "How long have you been standing there? I am in a very important meeting right now."

"I just got out of school," said Henry; the "mom" that should have been at the end of the sentence was conspicuously absent. "You told me to come straight to the Town Hall when school was over."

Regina nodded to the man who was speaking when she first noticed Henry. "Son, this is Mr. Alessandro Talionis. He is the owner and CEO of RealmCorp, and he is here to discuss the possibility of opening up a chemical processing plant here in Storybrooke. "

Regina then indicated the other man and woman. "And this is Eric and Diana Montgomery. They represent a group of social activists and have come here to persuade me to . . . do otherwise.

"We'll talk later, Henry. For now, please wait for us to finish in the small meeting room. The Montgomery's son is waiting there for his parents. He is about your age. Why don't you go and introduce yourself?"

Henry nodded and left. A few seconds later, Mr. Talionis raised an eyebrow, and said, "You have a son, Regina?"

"I do," replied Regina coolly. "What of it?"

"Interesting . . . ," said Mr. Talionis. "I did not think that the man existed who could tolerate your presence long enough for you to conceive one . . . ."

The Montgomerys looked at each other wide-eye. Mr. Talionis' statement was hardly calculated to win over the Mayor to RealmCorp's proposal.

"Not that it is any of your business . . . Alessandro," said Mayor Mills. "But Henry is adopted."

"Ah, that explains much . . . ."

Diana said, "I take it that this means that you have given up on your plans to exploit the people and environment of Storybrooke, Mr. Talionis?"

"Yeah," said Eric. "There can be no way that Mayor Mills would accept your offer now after what you just said."

"Just so the two of you know," said Regina. "Mr. Talionis and I have had . . . dealings before. It was some time ago, and in another place. He knew that he did not have any chance to convince me the moment he came in my front door. Which makes me wonder . . . why did you really come here, Alessandro . . . ?"

When Henry got to the smaller meeting room, he saw a boy who had to be the Montgomery's son. He was a little taller than Henry was, a bit on the "chunky" side but not really fat, and had medium brown skin and dark, curly hair. But he was too busy peeking out the window from behind the curtain to notice Henry coming in to the room.

Henry said, "Hi. My name is Henry. Henry Mills . . . yeah, I know: "Henry" is kind of an old-fashioned name . . . . So, how's it going?"

The Montgomery's son snapped his head toward where Henry was, quickly took his measure, and immediately went back to looking out the window, saying. "I don't think your name is "old-fashioned." My Godfather's name is Henry, too. But everyone calls him "Hank." Just be happy that you don't have a name that makes you sound like a character from "Game of Thrones," or something."

"What do you mean by that?"

"My name is Kosar. Kosar Montgomery. Your mom is the Mayor of Storybrooke, right?"

Henry started to say that Regina Mills was not really his mother, but before he could say that or anything else, Kosar continued. "My mom and dad are talking with her right now. They brought me along so my mom – she's a lawyer – could talk to yours "mom to mom," instead of as "lawyer to mayor." She and dad want to warn your mom about what happens to small towns that make deals with RealmCorp, and its CEO, Alessandro Talionis.

"We knew that Talionis was planning to send a RealmCorp representative to talk with your mom, though we did not expect Mr. Talionis to come here in person. But that's a blessing in disguise; at least for me. That's his "car" out there, parked next to our rental. I'm hoping to get a good look at it, this time . . . ."

"The Ferrari?" said Henry. "Well, I have to admit that it is a sweet ride."

"Mom and dad say Mr. Talionis bought it with "blood money," said Kosar. "That he got as rich as he has by criminal means, rather than by really earning it.

"But mom and dad are wrong if they think Mr. Talionis "bought" that car, Henry," said Kosar. "You may call it a "sweet ride." But there is nothing "sweet" about it. In fact, it isn't really a car at all . . . ."

"What are you talking about?" said Henry. So far, Kosar was making no sense. (And for a moment, Henry wondered if this is how he sounded to everyone he tried to talk to about what was really happening in Storybrooke.) "If that isn't a car, I don't know what is . . . ."

"Good . . . ," said Kosar; but more to himself than to Henry. "Mr. Talionis' "Personal Secretary," Mr. Damon, is finally coming inside. Now I have a chance!" Kosar rounded to Henry. "Is there another way out of here; one where they won't see us going outside?"

"Uh, sure . . . ," said Henry. "It's out back."

"Well, show me!" said Kosar. He took a digital camera out of his pocket. Henry noticed that it was a little bigger than normal cameras and was a desert tan color. "We have to go now! We may not have a lot of time to work with!"

Henry led the way. Once outside, Kosar started to sprint to where the Ferrari was parked.

"I tried to get the "Ferrari's" number the last time I saw it," panted Kosar as he broke into a run. "Got several pictures with my iPhone in Iowa before Mr. Damon almost caught me, but the pictures didn't come out!

"So I got this camera on eBay a couple of weeks ago. It's military surplus, and it's supposed to be "pulse-hardened." Maybe it will work against the defenses that Mr. Talionis has in place!"

"You don't need to get a picture!" said Henry, struggling to keep up. For a "husky" kid, Kosar sure moved fast. "I saw the license plate on my way in. It says "NGTMRE."

"Not the license plate, Henry," said Kosar. "I want the VIN; the "Vehicle Identification Number." I'm betting that it either does not have one, or that it won't match anything on the California DMV's database!"

"Why do you think it won't . . . ?"

"I'll explain later, Henry! When we're done and back inside before anyone notices!"

When the boys got close to the Ferrari, Henry could see that it was no ordinary car, even by Exotic Italian Sports Car standards. For one thing, the this Ferraris looked subtly larger than the Ferraris that Henry had seen in magazine photos; and it would have to be to accommodate the large man currently speaking with Mayor Mills. Henry was certain that if a stock Ferrari Testarossa were to be parked next to this car, it would be noticeably smaller.

And unlike most Ferraris, (which came in any color you wanted, so long as it was their special brand of red,) this one was painted a mile-deep glossy black with (non-Ferrari) red trim.

Though not a car-freak, Henry knew that Ferrari did not make a Testarossa convertible. If a customer wanted one, they had to buy the factory-stock car and take it to a customizing shop to have it modified; a job that could cost nearly as much as the car itself.

As Kosar began taking pictures through the windshield on the left side with his "pulse-hardened" camera, Henry went over to the front and noticed the badge on the hood. It looked like the standard Ferrari emblem, at first glance. But when you looked closer, the prancing horse on the shield looked . . . different.

No, thought Henry. "Different" is the wrong word. The horse on the shield looked vicious; maybe even demonic . . . .

Suddenly, the headlights came on, catching Henry by surprise. He moved away from the car, to where Kosar was, and was even more shocked to see the Ferrari's front wheels slowly turn in his direction as he moved. Henry knew that something was not quite right with Storybrooke. But at least the cars here did not act like they had a mind of their own. "K-Kosar . . . ?

"Uh, yeah . . , it will do things like that sometimes, if you get too close," said Kosar matter-of-factly. He pocketed the camera and took out a small notepad and a pencil and handed them to Henry. "Now, I'm going to read off the VIN, and I want you to write it down, in case this camera also doesn't get a picture that we can use."

Kosar began to read-off the Ferrari's VIN, one letter or number at a time. He got up to the third digit when Henry felt a firm hand on his shoulder. Henry looked behind him, and saw the man Kosar called "Mr. Damon." I didn't hear him coming at all, thought Henry. How did he sneak up behind us so quietly . . . ?

"Attempting to vandalize my employer's car, are we boys?" said Mr. Damon. "I think that the law will be very interested . . . ."

"The law is indeed very interested," said a voice from behind Mr. Damon, who was surprised in turn to see a young, blonde woman in a red leather jacket with a badge hanging from her belt standing behind him. "I'm Sheriff Emma Swan. Now let go of my son."