"Get ready, sisters. This is going to be one of our biggest challenges yet. Now, spread out!" Jordan was leading his friends to an important challenge. "Chips?"
"Check!"
"Drinks!"
"Check!"
"Grill?"
"Check!"
"Alright! Let's get these up!" They were putting decorations all over Jordan's living room. It looked nice when finished. "Now… it is done. The Fourth of July Cookout is underway!"
It was about sunset when this is happening. It is now the 4th of July and everyone in Metropolis is celebrating. Whether it be through cookouts, poolside parties, or even just sitting at home, everyone in the city is taking part. That included an appearance from Superman and Supergirl, so Kara wasn't there with them at the moment. But everyone else on the team is and prepared, making sure Diana is caught up on what the holiday truly is.
"So remember at school? During history class, when we were taught of the Declaration of Independence?"
"Yes. I do remember."
"Well, today's the day we celebrate it! For 243 years, this country has lived in freedom! Well, almost, since there's also Juneteenth, but the main point, it was when we declared freedom! You know, for the good of the country! But anyway, the fireworks show happens in just a couple of minutes. Everyone ready?" The other Girls were prepared, gathering on his couch to watch the show.
"10 seconds til' showtime! You know, I don't think there is a single thing that can spoil this for us!" Everyone began to countdown, waiting for the show to start...but then the TV glitched. And so did the screens all over Metropolis. They glitched until they turned back on… and someone was standing before them, wielding a cane, in some kind of car.
"Hello, Americans!" He seemed to have a British accent.
"Wait a second… who is that?! Why is he here?!"
"So sorry to interrupt your little "freedom" celebration, but this revolution is one that shall not be televised!" The Girls began to draw game faces. "In fact, it's been outright canceled… as in, it never happened!" Swirling his cane, he made a black-and-white hypnotic spiral appear, prompting Jordan to immediately act.
"Everyone, get down! Don't look at the screen!"
The rest of the city, however, wasn't so lucky. Everyone in Metropolis was almost immediately entranced, something that this mysterious person was happy about.
"You American colonies have been rebellious long enough! It's time to reclaim this city in the name of jolly old England, and you lot had best bow down before your new ruler… King Moddy the First!" Everyone in the city bowed before him as the Girls listened, horrified at how quickly things went south.
"One day, that's all I ask for. ONE DAY to just relax!"
"Do not fret, Jordan. For we shall be rid of this… this…"
"Mad Mod?"
"Yes. That."
As Mad Mod too over, the city seemed to take the appearance of 20th century London cutouts as a Union Jack covers the sky. He started to list off propaganda to the hypnotized citizens as the Girls stayed above, attempting to avoid looking at the screens.
"It looks like every screen in the city has been hijacked." Bumblebee can only look as many citizens stared dormant as the Girls hovered.
"I know! We gotta find this guy and fast! Now, did anyone get to catch the background?"
"Hmm…" Zatanna pulled out her phone to try and look but it turns out that he was able to hack phones too! She quickly put her phone away to avoid the hypnosis. "No luck. He's got phone screens too!"
"Ugh, alright, alright." Batgirl was frustrated since she loves her tech, but she decided to use what she remembers. "If my memories are correct, he seemed to have windows in his location. They had stuff moving rather quickly in a darkened area outside. And the only place where that would seem logical is… the Metropolis Subway!" Everyone quickly flew to the nearest station, with the Toon throwing a bomb onto the pavement to blow it up, revealing the tunnel below.
"Be on your guard. This guy could be tricky." As he said this, a train zoomed past, prompting the girls to follow it. Supergirl flew quickly to it and used her strength to make it come to a screeching halt.
"Nice! Let's get this guy!" The Toon drew a button on the train, which he pressed. It managed to open when he did, allowing everyone to zoom through the train cars until they finally reached the other side.
"Hey! Stop your propagandas immediately! The Toon and Bumblebee went a little close to what appeared to be Mad Mod. When they reached the chair however, they turned it around. It was a decoy.
"Wait a minute… it's a trap!" Katana can only shout in concern as the door behind them closed. Then a gas filled the room, making everyone tired.
"Oh no. Knockout gas… at least it's something different… than usual…" The Toon fell unconscious, with the rest of the Girls following suit after failing to use their separate skillsets. Everyone laid unconsciousness as the real Mad Mod entered.
"Oldest trick in the book…"
Moments later…
Wonder Woman was still stirring awake, the effects of the knockout gas wearing off. She was groggy for a few seconds before jolting awake to see that she was stuck to a chair, bounded by restraints. Everyone else was too. She tried to escape but to no avail.
"No use. We already tried."
"Oh, you're awake. Good."
"What have you done to us? Why are you doing this?!"
"Isn't it obvious. You Americans have always been so rebellious to ol' England. You've all been like this for over 200 years. I'm just trying to make things better for everyone. Oh, but don't worry, everyone else will be converted soon enough. And once I get through your precious city, I'll start converting ALL the cities so everyone can belong to jolly old England."
"'Converted'?"
"The only thing I have to do to ensure my rule over this little place is all of you… time to be re-educated…for the good of the country…" He pushed a button on his cane, dropping them all through trap doors.
Wonder Woman landed in a classroom with a large whiteboard in front of her. Mad Mod's voice filled the room as she struggled.
"Oh, don't struggle, love. Just sit and listen. One of my hypnoscreens ought to keep you concentrated…" He laughed as the same spiral that filled the screens of the city appeared on the Blackboard.
"No… no… can't let him… hypnotize me…" But the pattern appeared on all the other walls as well, which caused her to get affected as the spirals appeared in her eyes. But luckily, she kept her focus. "Must… escape…" With all her effort, she stood up and flipped herself, breaking the chair and the restraints. She was free as she rubbled her elbows.
"Uh, uh, uh! If you destroy school property, school property's gonna destroy you!" A large missile appeared from the ceiling as a countdown began from ten to one, signaling how much time she has to act quickly. Then she remembered: her shield! She quickly took cover just as the countdown ended. The missile bounced off her shield and destroyed one of the walls to the room, allowing an escape.
"Oh you may have escaped, but can you handle the Mod House?" Turns out that there were a lot of illusions designed to keep everyone confused.
"Ugh, what is this trickery!" She was forced to try and pay attention so she can get to her friends. It involved a lot of jumping since there were many floating tiles, but she managed to make it to the next room… which happened to be the auditorium, where Zatanna is being held captive. She was front and center of the chairs, shown a large hypnoscreen before her when the curtains opened.
"No! I will not let you hypnotize me!" She forced herself to move her head and avoid it, but the chair wouldn't let her.
"Oh, don't worry, love, it's for the good of England! And nothing says showing your allegiance like a nice… relaxing… brain-erasing trance…" The spirals appeared in her eyes as she started to succumb to the entrancing screen, but she very quickly snapped out of it as the chair continued to keep her from struggling. Wonder Woman had an idea and snuck behind the screen. With one large jump, she threw her sword right through the middle of the screen, breaking the screen and ending the visuals. Zatanna came back to her senses as the spirals disappeared.
"Wonder Woman? You're okay!" She expressed joy as Wonder Woman cut her free.
"Yes! And you as well! Now, we gotta get out of here before-" The room suddenly illuminated as Mad Mod's voice reappeared.
"I hear ya talkin' but ya can't leave…" One by one, all of the chairs in the auditorium began to drop, leading Zatanna to quickly cast a spell to vanish them out.
"Hsinav!" The two quickly vanished, teleported to the same location where they were being held before. To their surprise, Supergirl and Green Lantern were there as well.
"Supergirl? Green Lantern? How did you two escape?"
"Well, I was in the school's garden in the back when the hypnoscreens appeared. It took a lot of willpower, but I was able to escape and free Supergirl!"
"I was trapped on the football field. The worst part was that there was kryptonite in there! Green Lantern had to seal the thing away just to get me to move." Just as Supergirl finished, Katana and Batgirl reappeared.
"Katana! Batgirl! You two are okay!"
"Yup!"
"So where were you two trapped in?"
"Computer lab," said Batgirl, as she took out some glasses. "I'm not really that fond of these."
"Gym," said Katana. "Screens filled the entire room and Batgirl had to use her Batarangs to even crack them."
"Well, I'm glad we're all okay, but what about the Toon and Bumblebee?"
"Oh, I don't think you'll have to worry about them…" To everyone's surprise, Mad Mod reappeared before everyone, still carrying his cane and wearing a crown.
"Mad Mod! What have you done with our other two friends?!" With a smirk, he snapped his fingers. With this, Zatanna felt a pinch on her back.
"Hey! Watch where you're… picking… at…" All of the Girls turned to share Zatanna's look of horror. The two had spirals in their eyes and were sporting different looks: those resembling English guards.
"Well, it's been fun, girls… but I've got a parade to put on while your friends attack you. Speaking of which, Toon? Bumblebee? Attack them for the good of the country." The two saluted as he left the room. The second he did, the two drew their weapons, sporting angry-looking faces.
"For the good of the country…" The two snarled those words as they launched themselves towards him. It may be the fact that he's got the serum in his blood now, but the Toon was definitely more proficient in combat, as he was doing his thing left and right…and the Girls were too confused and slowed to react. Bumblebee also stung her teammates with her stingers, stunning them long enough for the Toon to get the jump on them.
As they were all stunned, he noticed Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth. With them not reacting, he grabbed it and tied them all up, leaving them too incapacitated to do anything.
"Deja vu…"
"Don't know what sort of thoughts you had thinking of defying King Moddy… but it's better this way…" Bumblebee clapped her hands, making hypnoscreens appear on two sides. The Girls could only struggle as the screens covered them all, entrancing them…but Wonder Woman wasn't facing a screen, prompting her to try to appeal to them.
"Jordan! Karen! Please, this is not like you two!"
"Yes, it is. It has always been! We are doing this for the good of the country!"
"But… attacking your friends? Trying to conform your friends? Is that really for the good of the country?"
"Of course it is!" The two noticeably tumbled over their words before continuing. "This is what our government stands for: punishing those who don't view the way the leader does!" At this, Wonder Woman did a short breath take before continuing.
"No, it is not. If there is anything that I have learned from History, it is not about punishing those in the wrong or being inconsiderate to others that think differently from you. It is about compromise. Learning to listen to one another, hear how other people want to run things, and have the strength to look towards a brighter future. Do you really want to follow someone who is going to erase all of that? Is that truly good for the country?" The two froze at this and closed their eyes, raising their weapons as she braced for impact… but she heard screens cracking. All of them. Then she felt a hug from the Toon AND Bumblebee, back in their normal attire and no longer sporting the spiral-eyed look.
"Thank you so much! I honestly thought I'd never had to do that again since Hospital Arc!" The Toon then took note of the state of the other Girls and drew another button. One press and water came down on them all. They all coughed as they regained their senses.
"Don't worry! We'll escape… wait? Toon? Bumblebee?"
"Glad to see you all again too!" They all hugged him and Bumblebee, glad that they were back to normal before Zatanna made a note.
"Oh, and Toon?"
"Yes."
"The water thing. You're gonna have to make up for that. Got it?"
"Fair enough. Let's just stop this guy."
"Wait, siblings! I believe I have an idea…"
Meanwhile…
The parade was still going on as Mad Mod presented himself to his hypnotized subjects, who just stood mindlessly.
"That's right, me duckies! You love King Moddy! You love being Brits! Silly old America's a thing of the past!" He then noticed something in the sky. "Hmm… what's that invading the clouds…" It came closer to him, revealing the Toon and Bumblebee, back in their guard barbs, holding the captive Girls, tied in the Lasso of Truth and hypnotized.
"Ah, I see you two managed to make them docile." The two saluted and dropped them all on the ground.
"Excellent! Now there's only one thing left to do…" As he walked closer towards them, the Toon and Bumblebee eyed his staff and prepared to set the plan into action.
"Ready," he whispered.
"Yup," she whispered back. She then lifted her arm when he wasn't looking, setting her stingers to stun. Then she blasted him, stunning him to the ground and leaving them enough time to grab his staff. Mad Mod was surprised at this.
"What the-? But how? You were hypnotized by my screens!" The Toon held his staff as he revealed he was actually wearing glasses: the very ones that Batgirl was given and had spirals painted on them. He lifted them up and said:
"Oldest trick in the book…" With a heavy wham, the Toon smashed the cane to pieces, leading Mad Mod to breakdown.
"No! My cane! My power!" The cane's destruction led to the shutting down of the hypnoscreens, which released everyone, including the Girls, from their trance, and reverted Metropolis back to its original form. "My beautiful colony!" He then found himself surrounded by everyone as they took their stances.
"So this can go two ways: we can either go through a curb-stomp battle, or we can just ship you back to where you came from and behind bars. I'm hoping that you pick the latter option…"
He picked the latter, thrown into jail until a ship arrives to send him back. After all, this is said and done, the Girls flew back to Jordan's house, glad to be back home to watch the fireworks because after what they went through earlier, they need to rest. But it was fun though, as they didn't move from that one spot until Wanah came home.
"Long day?"
"Eh, kinda."
"I know what you mean, son. Like, I was downtown to watch the fireworks, but I blacked out right before it started. Luckily, they started when I came back, so no harm done!"
"Cool. Are you gonna do anything else tonight?"
"Well, I might go out later tonight. Hey, if you'd like, I can call your folks and ask them if you can all stay over here! If that's okay…" The Girls were joyed at this, and not just because they were kinda tired. They, well, the more expressive ones, nodded yes giddily as she went on the phone.
"Hello, Mr. Zatara? Yeah, I am…"
AU: So because this is Black History Month, I decided to do an episode centered around the 4th of July, with the spotlight mainly on the two predominately African-American members of the team: Jordan and Karen. So this is more of one of those "A Very Special Episode" episodes, but the message may come different to some more than others. Also, surprise sleepover at the end! I have been waiting to do this since forever! Also definitely going to be a breather because my next major multiparter is coming up soon. It may seem familiar to those who stuck with the story in terms of reviews…
Well, as always, leave a review! Never hurts to help!