It was another tough day at school, so The Toon Force decided to head over to The Watchtower after school.
"Man, Bliss is just showing off again!" Mo complained. "Atticus, do you still think we should give her a chance?"
"I guess we'll try another plan about her," Atticus replied. "Maybe the old silent treatment. We'll pass it along to the other kids in school probably, but let's go see the others in The Watchtower."
They soon walked on in and passed through the door.
"Besides, it's not like she'll end up being there too." Atticus then said.
The group then gasped in fear as they saw the older heroes like Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman surrounding a certain long-haired girl from their school who sat where Sabrina used to sit when she was apart of The Toon Force as Mystica.
"Hey, kids, good to see you," Superman smiled. "We found a new friend from your school to join the team. Isn't that nice?"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The group screamed as they turned and ran out of the room.
"Huh... I wonder what's gotten into them?" Superman frowned.
"Maybe it's that curl you wear in your hair." Batman scoffed.
The others chuckled a bit as Superman frowned firmly and rolled his eyes. Catwoman looked very concerned before she removed her mask, becoming Selina, then went to go and talk with the kids.
"I can't TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" Cherry complained as she stomped the floor. "Everywhere we go it's been Bliss, Bliss, Bliss! People just don't care about us like they used to!" she then huffed before falling to the floor, pounding her fists and feet on the floor, looking very upset and distressed.
Lionel hugged her. "She does make a good point. Bliss just popped up out of nowhere one day, and suddenly it's like everyone's horny for her." he agreed.
"Oh, come on. People still care about us, you guys?" Atticus replied. "Even if my parents said something about her the other night..."
FLASHBACK
"Atticus?!" Emily called as she came to her son. "I thought I told you to clean this room."
"Sorry, Mom, but training with Superman ran long, and-" Atticus tried to explain.
"Bliss's room is always clean!" Emily tutted at Atticus as she saw her son's untidy bedroom.
END OF FLASHBACK
"I was gonna clean my room, really..." Atticus then said. "But then Mom said that and I felt... Kinda bad."
"Something like that happened to me too." Mo remarked.
FLASHBACK
Mo was walking her dog, Angel, and was about to cross the street until her aunt scolded her by pulling her back and grabbing her shoulder.
"Bliss always looks both ways!" Carolyn scolded her niece.
END OF FLASHBACK
"There weren't any cars around and Angel didn't even hear any cars coming and she would know since she's a dog," Mo then said. "It's like... Suddenly whatever I did wasn't good enough anymore."
"Hmm... I think I have my own experience now that you mention it..." Thor pouted.
FLASHBACK
Thor was about to eat a chocolate bar before Moxie took it away from him.
"Bliss never spoils her dinner." Moxie shook her head at her son.
END OF FLASHBACK
"And I was told about how Bliss brushes her teeth five times a day..." Cherry groaned a bit. "I think Lionel is right... Everybody loves Bliss! ...But why?"
"It's like everybody is brainwashed!" Lionel exclaimed.
"Kitten?" Selina called as she walked in. "Are you kids okay?"
"No, Aunt Selina! Nothing is okay!" Cherry firmly pouted.
"Oh, dear..." Selina frowned at Cherry's outburst.
"Ever since that Blisstina jerk showed up, no one's paid attention to us anymore!" Cherry cried. "It's not fair! It's not fair!" she then cried as she ran over and hugged her aunt/legal guardian before crying into her comfort.
"Wow... I've never seen this side of Cherry." Atticus commented.
"It's good that she's letting it out more instead of bottling it up inside." Thor remarked.
"Oh, Kitten, I'm sorry..." Selina frowned as she stroked the girl's hair. "Superman just witnessed that Bliss had some special and hidden powers, plus we remembered how upset you kids were after your old friend left this world in exchange for a better one... We wanted to surprise you and for you to be happy, but I can tell that we shouldn't have asked her for help."
"Yeah, definitely not." Lionel agreed. "There's been so much of this Blissmania going around, that we've barely gotten to see Srimaya. This whole being compared is kinda making me glad I don't have parents..."
"Oh... Lionel, don't say that..." Selina frowned.
"At least you care about us, Aunt Selina," Cherry pouted. "...You do, right? You're not just gonna say, 'Oh, Bliss never cries in public'... Are you?"
"Yeah. Are you?" Atticus added.
"No, Kitten, I won't do that to you or any of your friends," Selina reassured. "I know how you feel."
"And for that I am grateful." Lionel replied.
"You know how we feel?" Thor asked.
"Oh, yes," Selina nodded. "When I was young, there was a girl named Patience Phillips who was pretty much Little Miss Perfect too. She seemed to do everything better than I could in school, especially for plays or other activities, but I try not to let her get to me."
"Hm... Interesting..." Cherry commented.
"So, who's this friend Srimaya?" Selina smiled. "Why don't you tell me about her?"
"Oh. Well, she might become a new superhero," Cherry shrugged. "We were thinking of doing Toon Force patrol and seeing what she could be made of as a superhero in the making for that Bono dude."
"Yeah," Lionel nodded. "It's like she's at least humble and down to Earth about this sorta dealio."
"Well, then you should be able to see her," Selina smiled. "I think you should go after her then."
The Toon Force smiled back a little bit.
"I'll take care of things over here," Selina replied. "Maybe I can try to get through to the other heroes, especially Batman," she then smirked slyly. "I have a way with working things around with him~"
"Good luck with that!" Lionel replied. "In the meantime, let's go visit a friend!"
"You kids be careful out there," Selina warned before she hiked her mask back on. "I'll take care of things around here."
"Thanks, Aunt Selina," Cherry nodded before looking at her fellow members in The Toon Force. "All right, people, let's go."
"Speaking of which... Where's Patch?" Thor asked.
"With Krypto and The Dog Star Patrol at the moment." Atticus replied.
"Ah, okay," Thor then said. "Let's go!"
And at that, they left The Watchtower and went to go into the streets as it was getting dark.
Srimaya now wore her new superhero outfit which was mostly purple and black and came with a black mask, though it looked more like someone attempting to cosplay at Comic-Con rather than a professional superhero's outfit.
"Bono, I think this might not be a good idea," Mary spoke up as they rode over to the local supermarket, though there seemed to be a robbery in process. "She's just a child."
"She'll be fine," Bono reassured. "Besides, she's the perfect Valentine and she will be just fine. Trust me on this."
Mary sighed and just shook her head, looking very doubtful. "I hope you're right..." she muttered.
Eventually, Wawan and Srimaya left the car and came to sneak into the market. The Toon Force sat on the roof and peeked down to watch Srimaya.
"Okay, if she needs any help, we'll jump in and help her," Lady Gothika suggested. "That oughta get Bliss off our minds."
The others nodded in agreement.
"Sri... Sri, Sri..." Wawan called, reaching out for the girl before glancing over as she wasn't behind him anymore and he looked for her before coming into the supermarket with his camcorder, flinching at the thieves in the market.
"HURRY UP! Give us the money!" One of the men called out sternly. "COME ON! Where's the rest of it?!"
"This is all there is!" The clerk explained nervously as Srimaya sneak around behind the stocked shelves, trying to be very quiet.
"HAND IT ALL OVER!" The man sneered. "OPEN IT! Just take it all!"
"Wan! What the hell, man?" Srimaya whispered to the cameraman.
"Fight 'em!" Wawan whispered back.
Lady Gothika hid with Thunder Boy and Bat-Mite while Nature Girl and Saiya Man took the rooftop.
"Please, no!" The clerk cried out.
"Whatever! I just want food!" Srimaya whispered to Wawan, using hand gestures so he would understand her if he couldn't hear her.
"Eat that!" Wawan replied, tossing her a pack off of the display next to him before hitting her accidentally. "Get 'em!"
Srimaya sighed before mustering up some courage as she dashed over out in the open. "HEY!" she then called out, getting the crooks' attention.
Three crooks swarmed in and soon began to fight Srimaya, only for her to fight them back with her martial arts skills. Luckily, Wawan held out his camera and began to film Srimaya in action.
"Wow... She's good..." Lady Gothika remarked to Bat-Mite and Thunder Boy.
"Boy, I'll say," Bat-Mite agreed with a nod. "Such agility and speed!"
Thunder Boy winced as one of the crooks flipped Srimaya onto a chip display. "Ooh... I hope that didn't hurt her too badly..." he remarked.
Wawan continued to film while ducking and hiding during the fight. Srimaya soon got right back up before taking one crook down by his shirt collar and punched him down.
"Looks like she's back and better than ever." Lady Gothika commented.
Srimaya soon took the crook down on the floor and tied his hands behind his back before she took out a phone and made a special call. "Hello, police? Police?!" she then cried out.
Another crook suddenly punched her face, making her drop the phone.
"Ooh!" Thunder Boy winced again for Srimaya.
The next crook then continued to punch Srimaya until she punched him back and put him on the floor next, tying his hands up behind his back next. The clerk was shown to be trembling behind the counter until Srimaya came over to see him.
"Uh, buddy? Buddy?!" Srimaya called out to the poor man before she flashed him a small smile. "You should call the police. Okay? Thanks!" she then looked over to her friend in the store. "Wan! Let's go!"
"Still needs a bit of work, but not bad for a first try." Lady Gothika approved.
"Aye," Bat-Mite agreed. "A bit of a shaky start there, but otherwise, I think that went swimmingly."
"Let's go tell Saiya Man and Nature Girl." Thunder Boy suggested.
Bat-Mite nodded before sending them back up on the rooftop.
"Looks like they're leaving." Saiya Man said once he saw Srimaya leaving with Wawan.
"They don't look hurt either." Nature Girl noted.
Srimaya and Wawan rushed back into the car with Bono and Mary.
"How was it?" Bono asked excitedly. "What happened?"
Srimaya and Wawan shared a wide-eyed gaze at each other before cheering and smiling together. "Yeah! We did it! We did it! We did it! Amazing! Yes!" they then both laughed together.
And at that, the van soon drove back over to "headquarters".
"LG, did it go okay for you guys?" Saiya Man asked his friends once they came back.
"That was pretty amazing," Lady Gothika replied. "That girl's got moves for a café waitress."
"Solid 8/10." Bat-Mite nodded.
"So she isn't hurt?" Saiya Man then asked.
"Well, maybe only a little bit, but the day was won," Lady Gothika replied. "It was quite an impressive feat."
"Well, then, I guess we should head back home," Saiya Man said. "At least Bliss couldn't ruin something for us."
The rest of the Toon Force laughed as they went back home as Srimaya and Wawan rode off with Mary and Bono.
MEANWHILE...
"Holy shit, Wan!" Bono gasped as they watched the footage from the supermarket.
"Well, it's not my fault," Wawan scoffed. "Obviously, I wasn't born for this. I'm no cameraman, I'm a stylist, remember?"
"Nor are you a good stylist," Srimaya retorted. "That cape is useless! It almost choked me to death!"
"You cannot blame all this on me," Wawan glared at her. "Why didn't you tell me you were gonna punch here and there that fast? Everything n fast forward, my hands couldn't keep up! You know, you were like everywhere!"
"Or maybe it's because your mask keeps sliding off my face!" Srimaya glared back at him. "And I'm bruised up because nothing's protecting my arms, my knees-"
But then suddenly, there was a news report on the TV in front of them.
"Two robbers were apprehended by a woman in a mask," The reporter informed her viewers as she stood beside the store clerk. "Sir, can you tell me about what happened here last night?"
"Yes, ma'am," The clerk nodded as the footage was being shown about Srimaya's efforts as Valentine. "I was opening the register..."
"And it was then that overnight, Valentine was going to be known to the world," Cherry's voice then narrated. "But of course, she would need a little extra help, especially with her outfit for having more armor on it."
"Yep; it was then she was due for an overhaul," agreed Lionel. "She needed a more professional look, and one that would actually be able to fend off attacks so she could retaliate."
"Yes, she looked a lot different than she does in your book," Cherry said as she pointed to Valentine's image on the front cover. "It was kind of a Comic-Con cosplay compared to what it is now."
"Oooh..." The kids reacted with awe.
"So Bono decided to arrange an update in Valentine's new look, but that wouldn't be the last we would hear of her," Cherry then said. "Especially with what happened when we got back to school. Valentine needed to find a way to take those guys down faster and we decided that someday, we would decide to help her find that way."
Back in the story, Cherry yawned as she woke up before looking around. "No breakfast?" she then asked before pouting. "...Fine. I guess I'll make something for myself." she then shrugged and decided to cook breakfast since it was time to eat, but Selina didn't seem to be around right now.
"Morning," said Lionel as he popped in. "Are we making breakfast...?"
"I guess so," Cherry shrugged. "You wanna help me out?"
"Sure do!" Lionel replied as he landed on the ground. "So, what're you in the mood for today?"
"Hmm... Well, how about some cinnamon rolls for a change of pace?" Cherry suggested. "I showed you what cinnamon rolls are, right?"
"I think so!" Lionel nodded.
Cherry cracked a small smile and soon cooked breakfast with Lionel. Lionel smiled back while helping her out a little. There was a small yelp heard and suddenly, someone was heard to be in the same room as them as they tiptoed around before making it over to the kitchen.
"Oh... Aunt Selina," Cherry said once she saw her legal guardian. "We thought you weren't home."
"Oh... Uh... I slept late?" Selina grinned bashfully as her hair was more messed up than usual and she wore her robe, though didn't seem to have pajamas underneath.
"...Riiiiight," Lionel replied. "Anyways, we were just making cinnamon buns."
"Oh, that sounds nice," Selina smiled. "Be sure to leave some for me."
"Yeah." Cherry nodded.
"Okay." Lionel added.
Selina then went to get some canned tuna, using the can opener as they cooked in the kitchen and soon put the bowl down next to a saucer of milk for Isis. Suddenly, Cherry and Lionel heard the shower which made Selina grow wide-eyed.
"Aunt Selina? Why is your shower running?" Cherry asked suspiciously.
"Oh... Uh... I guess I forgot to turn it off?" Selina grinned nervously. "I'll get that momentarily after Isis gets her breakfast."
"...Ooookay," Lionel replied. "Alright, that just got even MORE suspicious..."
Selina grinned nervously before she pushed them into the kitchen and clutched her heart nervously. Cherry and Lionel gave Selina weird glances before they began to tend to breakfast.
Eventually, the shower turned off, and out came Bruce, wearing nothing but a towel and some water dripping from him before greeting Selina with a kiss to the cheek. "Hi, Selina," he said with a small smile. "Last night was great. Good thing the kids weren't home."
"I suppose she had a busy night... With Bruce." Lionel smirked as he got back to making more cinnamon buns.
"Yeah," Cherry smirked back. "You wanna tell us about it, Aunt Selina?"
Selina grinned nervously at the two.
"Oh!" Bruce gasped before backing up once he saw the two. "Cherry, Lionel, I thought you were out with your friends and were gonna spend the night. Uh... Excuse me." he then said before going off to his bedroom a bit quickly before he came back out in a few moments, now wearing his pajamas.
"I guess the cat's out of the bag," Selina said bashfully. "...No offense, Isis."
Isis lifted her head, meowed in response, and continued eating her breakfast.
"I guess you guys were havin' a sleepover." Lionel snickered.
"Yes... A grown-up sleepover..." Selina replied.
"Guess that explains why Damian isn't here." Cherry remarked as she plated the food with Lionel.
"Ah, yes," Bruce nodded. "He's having a sleepover at his own."
"Noted." Lionel replied as he went to wash his hands after the preparations.
And so, everyone sat down to have some breakfast. Cherry and Lionel narrowed their eyes during breakfast though.
"So that Bliss girl certainly is impressive, isn't she?" Bruce commented. "She has electric generation, telekinesis, and even teleportation."
"Uh-huh..." Cherry and Lionel replied dryly.
"Bruce... I think we should change the subject..." Selina whispered and nudged the man beside her.
"Huh? Oh, sure, Selina," Bruce replied. "What should we talk about then?"
Cherry blinked with wide eyes. "...Well, you know who's gonna be very impressive someday? A new girl I think is named Valentine." she then said, trying to help Valentine become a thing.
"Valentine? Pretty sure February was last month." Bruce replied.
'Note to self: inform Bono to workshop the name,' Lionel thought to himself. "Actually, she's an up-and-coming crimefighter in training, and she's making some great progress." he spoke aloud.
"Is that right?" Bruce asked.
"Uh-huh," Cherry nodded. "We saw her in action."
"Do you have any footage, Kitten?" Selina asked.
"I'm sorry, but not right now, but soon we will, especially with... A special source of information puts it out," Cherry reassured before smirking. "We did some special Toon Force patrol and she's a heck of a lot better than that old Blisstina chick."
Lionel agreed. "Yeah; good riddance to bad rubbish and whatnot!" he chimed in.
"Hmm... Well, if you get footage on this Valentine, I guess you and the other Toon Force could show us in The Justice League," Bruce suggested. "Does that sound good?"
"Oh, for sure," Cherry replied before nodding. "There's no doubt going to be stories about her very soon, especially in school, cuz news travels fast in a school hallway."
"I know that's the truth." Selina nodded in agreement.
"Speaking of school, we'd best get ourselves together," said Lionel. "I mean, if we have school today."
"Ya know, it's a weekday." Cherry reminded.
"Right..." Lionel groaned. "Let's just get this over with."
Cherry nodded as she went to get dressed in her room as she got her backpack ready. Lionel soon did the same and began to join her.
"Have a good day!" Bruce and Selina called out to them.
"Thanks!" Cherry and Lionel called back as they were on their way to school.
"Chapter 4: The Tower," Cherry began to read from her book to Lionel on the way to school. "Our Savior, her long-lost father the prince, The Evil Queen, and the pirate continue their search for The Wicked Witch she, in turn, is planning a dark surprise for the prince, and her prisoner is powerless under her watch as she plots her next course of action against the townspeople."
"Whoa...!" Lionel exclaimed quietly while he ate a bag of chips. "This is gettin' good."
"I always loved The Wizard of Oz as a kid, so I'm pretty excited to see more in this book," Cherry said. "All the twists and turns... Henry Mills is a very genius author. I wonder if he based any characters on anyone he knew in real life?"
"Well, that's usually the best way to get inspired," Lionel replied. "Maybe we could team up to do a story like that; fantastic adventure, but with characters and situations based on people we know in our lives! Like you did for that class paper a few months back!"
"Oh... Uh... I dunno..." Cherry said bashfully as she played with her glasses a little.
"Come on, I've seen you in action when it comes to stories," Lionel replied. "You're amazing with them! Heck, even the English teacher's afraid of you when you did Creative Writing around Halloween and you wrote that poem inspired by The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."
"Well, that is one of my favorite stories." Cherry remarked.
"Cherry belongs in Sleepy Hollow. It's a creepy place with creepy people, she'd fit right into Creepy Hollow." Cheryl Blossom smirked as she walked by, passing by the two in the hallway.
"Stuff it," Cherry glared. "You shouldn't provoke an impressionable author."
"Or her boyfriend!" Lionel added, glaring literal daggers [at least until he concentrated and made them vanish].
"Pfft... Whatever." Cheryl rolled her eyes before walking away.
"Man... And I thought old Skunk Stripe Alexandra Cabot was a pain," Cherry huffed. "Don't worry though... It'll be soon at a time that we'll never have to see her ever again."
"I sure hope so." Lionel replied in agreement.
"School went pretty normal for a while," Cherry's voice narrated. "Until time went by a bit and soon, something new and exciting began to happen."
Time went by for Srimaya as she was given better martial arts training and faced more and more bad guys she could and Valentine was even given a better costume and something more with armor so she wouldn't get hurt too easily.
"Hey, guys!" Thor called as he rushed over to his friends as he had a tablet in his hands. "You gotta see this! This is the most incredible thing ever! And we got to see it first! And it's right here in Riverdale, but it's a secret! We can't let anyone know?"
Cherry blinked. "...Then why are you shouting?" she then asked him.
Thor looked around to see other students looking at them awkwardly before he grinned bashfully. "Meet me in Study Hall," he then told his fellow Toon Force. "This is incredible."
Lionel nodded while patting Thor on the head silently.
"Sorry..." Thor smiled sheepishly before backing away awkwardly.
Some other students laughed at Thor before Cherry snarled at them, scaring them away.
Eventually, some time had passed, and everyone met with Thor as promised and planned.
"All right, Thor, what's up?" Cherry asked. "You got accepted into The Rocky Harbor Culinary Resort's summer cooking class?"
"Nope! ...But that would be awesome to meet Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis," Thor shook his head before he took out his tablet to play them a video. "Check it out! Someone we recently became friends with is now appearing everywhere!"
The video soon played to show Srimaya in action as she had gotten a lot better at fighting and catching bad guys as Valentine.
"Hey... This is blamtastic!" exclaimed Lionel as the video kept going.
"She's really improved since the last time we saw her." Cherry remarked.
"Guys, I know we all really miss Sabrina, me especially when my uncle and I visit the Spellman house for Sunday dinner," Thor smiled softly before looking at them. "But... I think we might have found a new Toon Force member, if she would like to join us."
"I definitely don't doubt it," Mo agreed. "Although I can't help but wonder about Darla. What about her situation?"
"We promised that we'd help her," Atticus added. "Thor? Any progress on finding Darla's family?"
"Oops... I guess I forgot about that..." Thor said bashfully.
"Thor!" The others complained.
"Sorry, guys, I guess I was just trying to look for a silver lining in our situation, especially since that Blisster Sister is ruining our good time with her perfection up to Mary Sue levels," Thor replied. "I'll get on that though."
"It's alright, big guy; it's hard to keep focused with so many things happening all at once," Lionel replied. "I should know, I've tried."
"I'm sorry about that," Thor said. "But I'm sure that my uncle can find Darla's family. He can find just about anyone, even Sinbad and I don't mean the sailor! Turns out he was abducted by aliens some time ago and met some schmoe named Jeff Fischer." he then added.
"That's... Very random, but hopefully it works," Cherry replied. "I just hope it's not gonna end up being false hope. I saw a documentary about a drag queen performer who traveled with a kid on the streets since her mother was a drug addict and was trying to find her grandfather, only for him to be a lost cause and a lie." she then added.
"Dang... That sounds brutal," said Atticus. "But anyways, let's just try to keep focused, alright?"
"Yes, Atticus... Sorry, Atticus." Thor replied.
"Good boy." Atticus beamed.
Soon, it seemed like every kid around the world was hearing about, watching videos of, or either talking about Valentine like she was the hottest thing ever. The Toon Force smiled at each other knowing more about Valentine than everyone else did in school, but kept it to themselves of course. The police would even come to find criminals already handcuffed and waiting for them to take them to jail as it was Valentine's doing as that seemed to be her trademark as crime began to get a little more cleaned up among Riverdale so far.
Bliss soon came over with a bunch of art projects on one pile as she saw the student body in the computer lab of school, watching videos of Valentine in action and smiled innocently, trying to impress them. "Look, guys, I made some art projects!" she then told them. "Here's the Mona Lisa made out of macaroni, here's Michelangelo's David made out of clay, and there's even bamboo sticks built into The Eiffel Tower and I did all of this in under an hour! Isn't that impressive, guys?!"
"...Any of you lot hear something just now?" asked Lionel, smug.
"Must've been a pesky fly or something though." Cherry remarked.
Bliss narrowed her eyes at the group. The group smirked smugly before they continued to ignore her.
"So yeah, I think I'll go to my uncle's office as soon as possible and then see if he can do a special reading." Thor said to the group, though still spoke in code even if they were ignoring Bliss.
"That's great, buddy!" Lionel replied. "It should be a neat one for sure."
"Yeah!" Thor smiled. "I'll see what he can do. He should be able to have an answer, right?"
The others nodded as that sounded like a good idea. The group then walked right by Bliss and even made her drop her art projects.
"I'll make you pay for that," Bliss narrowed her violet eyes. "Especially with what's planned for you later."
"Tell it to someone who cares, mysterious disembodied voice!" Lionel called.
"Oh, don't worry... Things will all go according to my ultimate design." Bliss smirked before walking away with a chuckle.
"Gosh, you guys... You think Bliss might be up to something sinister?" Thor asked in concern.
"In a word? ...Yes." Mo replied.
"We should probably keep an eye on her too." Thor suggested.
"I'm not too concerned about her, but we probably should," Cherry agreed. "Let's just focus on Valentine for right now. She's the real coolest thing in school right now, even more than Alexandra Cabot getting a perm with that skunk stripe of hers."
Lionel snorted, before turning his attention back to the screen.