Chapter 14: Future Bat

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"...Um, excuse us for a minute please," Doc was the first to say after the awkward dead silence. He motioned for me, Link, Susan and B.O.B. to come over where he was. We all huddled up and started whispering to each other.

"Do you think she's telling the truth?" Asked Doc. I nodded. "I can hear her heartbeat," I said. Link gave me a look. "How does that help us know she's lying or not?" Susan lowered her head close to him.

"When someone is lying, their heart rate quickens, Link," she said, defending me. Link placed his hands up in defeat. "Allright allright. I didn't know...I mean...for all we know it could be October." I blushed and shook my head.

"It's...not October..." I said.

Everyone looked at me. "How do you know it's not October? Does he have two hearts or something?" asked Susan. I shook my head again. "No...October is in...one of my classrooms...pretending to be me," I answered.

Link burst out laughing. Susan and Doc gave me looks.

"Bat. That's not right," Susan said.

"Making an alien shape shift to look like you and pretend to be you while you are here? That is unacceptable," Doc said, but I still saw him pull out his notebook and write something down. Link was still laughing, but stopped when Susan glared down at him with her huge blue eyes, and he cleared his throat.

"Yeah, Batsy that's not cool," he said, but his eyes said otherwise. We all turned back to the other me, who had taken off her backpack and was checking inside it. She looked back up at us and shouldered the backpack back on. I'm sure she could still hear us.

"So, what now? You gonna throw me some questions only the "real Bat" would know?" She asked. Doc silently crumpled up one of his notebook pages and pocketed it. "Of course not, my dear."

We ended up all deciding to take her back to the base with us. Doc said he had an advanced computer that could read off who she was. Butterfly met back with us. Her eyes doubled in size when Link told her that there were two of me now. She stared down at us. Not making a sound. Future me just stared back. Butterfly breathed out of her nose and looked away. We arrived back at the base with future me.

She walked in and looked around for a moment. "Been so long since I stepped back in here..." she muttered under her breath, but I was the only one who heard her. We headed over to Doc's room where he pulled out his "computer" which was just a couple pizza boxes, TV antennas, paint cans, Bobby pins and all other sorts of junk with a ton of cables snaking out from it.

"Ok!" He said excitedly as he came up to future me and held five wires with plastic suction cups at the ends. "Put these on please," he said. The possible future me winced as she took the suction cups, then carefully stuck them to her forehead. Once she did that, Doc turned on his computer. It even made the Windows turning on sound. He began typing on this makeshift keyboard.

One of the buttons was an actual button you'd have on your clothes. As well as a rubber duck, Nintendo buttons, and one that said Panic! His mouse was a literal mouse. I thought it was dead until it squeaked. Doc slapped B.O.B.'s hand away when he tried pressing one of the silly fun buttons on the keyboard. After that, Doc began to read off what his computer was typing out.

"Allright! Here we go:

Real name: Classified information.

Monster name: Bat.

Sex: Female

Race: Human and Arcipoid. That must be October's species...

Height: 5,6"

Weight: 116 pounds

Age...Thirty"

The future me's eyes widened in complete shock after hearing her age. I was puzzled at that. Why did her age suddenly shock her?

"Your real name is Classified information? Wow, that's a pretty name," B.O.B. said. Link chuckled. "No, B.O.B., that's not Bat's real name..." he said. Everyone was quiet for a minute. I don't think my friends knew my real name.

Doc continued reading down the list of information. When he was done he looked back down at the monster who says she was from the future. "She is who she says she is. This is Bat...from the future," he said. Future me ripped off the suction cups from her forehead and cheeks. Her frown still permanently worn on her face. Doc hesitated to touch her wings or to examine her robot arm. Instead, he asked:

"How did you get here from the future?"

Future Bat silently reached behind her back to her backpack. We all tensed up. The Future Monster ignored us and pulled out a toaster with strange junk attached to it: five small tubes of plutonium, four tv antennas, three alarm clocks, two cans of energy drinks and a burnt piece of toast in one of the toaster slots.

"Jesus. Looks like something Doc would make," Link pointed out. Future Bat nodded. "Actually it is." Doc's mouth dropped open in complete shock. "No. Way!" He came up to her and took the machine away, turning it around in all angles. "This is my invention?! I can't believe it! And it works-?"

Future me was glaring at him. "Sure. It "works," she said sarcastically. "I've been going through time for thirteen years. Everytime I push buttons to go to let's say...2012, I end up going to the Jurassic period and getting chased by a T-Rex," she added. Everyone could feel the acid tone in her voice. She...er...I have been through a lot.

Doc apologizes for it, but Future me ignores him as she puts the time machine back in her bag. B.O.B. tries talking to the future cyborg monster. "Excuse me, Miss Classified Bat?" He asks. She turns her head to him, then glances at me before glancing at the rest of the monsters.

"You can call me Future Bat...just so it doesn't get confusing around here...what B.O.B.?" she asked. B.O.B. got excited when she says his name. "So are you and Bat the same person?" Future Bat nods. "Yes. We are the same person. Standing in the same room, which you, Doc, told me not to do...so far nothing has happened...but I'm not gonna take any chances touching Bat." She turned to me. "Don't get near me or touch me." I nod.

Susan's eyes widen and she quickly pulls out a piece of paper. "Future Bat...F.B." she said in a low voice. Future Bat gave the giantess a look. "What?" She asked. Susan showed Future Bat her piece of paper.

"Link, Butterfly and I went to West Virginia a while ago. The mothman wanted to help us with something. We met a man named Indrid Cold. These were the list of things he told us," she said. I looked at the list as well:

Bagel

1142

10312009

Go right not left

He is still alive

Say Hi to Bat and F.B.

"Indrid Cold is the Mothman, Susan," I tell her. I looked over at Future Bat. Future Bat is creeped out. Her red cyborg eye and alien eye are wide with terror. "...There was never an encounter with the Mothman from when I was Bat's age," she admitted. "The mothman is known to predict horrible tragedies. Lives lost. He was the prophecy of death. he knew when horrible things are going to happen, and they come true."

The whole room went quiet from Future Bat's words. Everyone's hearts had picked up speed. They were now struck with terror.

"So what do we do then?" B.O.B. asked nervously. Susan pulled out her giant pen and crossed off the last thing on her list. "We figure out what Mr. Cold...The Mothman was trying to tell us. Figure out his coded message and stop John from doing whatever that he is doing," she said.

Future Bat nodded. "That's why I'm here. To stop John," she said. Link looked over to her. "You mean we don't win against John in the future?" He asked. Future Bat stares at Link for a long, silent moment. She turns her head away from all of us and silently shakes her head.

The silence breaks when we all hear the sound of a jetpack, then the sound of footsteps. I turned my head and felt my blood run cold. It was Monger. Uh oh. Monger saw me and stopped in his tracks. Double uh oh. He checked his watch then back at me. The times I wish I could turn invisible.

"Bat! What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in school," My eyes widened. Oh shit! October! I was so thrown off by future me being here I completely forgot about October!

Monger saw my expression and glared. "You ditched class?! Why?" He stopped for a moment and looked at the other monsters before looking back at me. "You went to go fight the alien with them didn't you," he said. Not a question. I was screwed

I opened my mouth. "But-" Monger interrupted me.

"You can't just ditch your classes to fight a nearby alien! You aren't in anima!" It took me a moment to figure out what he was talking about.

"You mean an anime?" I asked.

Monger stuttered. "I meant anime! ...I may or may not have a granddaughter who may or may not be the same age as you and may or may not be into anime with girls who go to high school; always asking to be excused from class so they can get transformed into skimpy inappropriate outfits and go off to fight evil."

I blinked in surprise. "Which anime is that?"

Monger growled. "It doesn't matter! You are evading the subject that you ditched class to go fight aliens!"

I placed my hands up. "Ok. This looks bad I know, but something has just happened-"

"Oh? You mean like you getting grounded?" Monger threatened. I shook my head. "No. I apparently came from the future," I said. Monger shook his head once in disbelief. "That's the worst excuse I've ever heard. Next you'll be saying aliens are your homework!"

I pointed over to the Monsters. The monsters parted and the future me stood there. Still wearing that frown. Montero's jaw dropped for a moment. "...That's...you sure that's not that alien guy? The scientist you called him?"

"October?" B.O.B. asked. Monger gave him a look. "Yes, B.O.B. This month is October." I shook my head. "No, he means October the alien. That's what we named him." Monger gave me a puzzled look. "You named the shape shifting alien after the month?"

"No. His name is too hard to pronounce, but the first part of it sounds like October," future me responded. Nobody spoke as Monger looked over at future me and then back at me. "Go stand near her, Bat," Monger ordered. I did.

"Not too close, we cant touch," Future Bat warned. Monger looked back and forth at me and future me. He still wasn't convinced. Future Bat showed him the time machine. He asked her to prove it, but she didn't want to since if she did, she might not be able to come back to this time correctly. Monger was still suspicious of Future Bat, but let it slide.

"You've got a robot arm and a satellite dish for an ear, and a cyborg eye. I guess that's pretty futuristic for me," he finally concluded. Future Bat rolled her eyes. "I could've used my sonic screech on you and sent you flying. October and his kind can't do that. Only me."

Monger nodded, but had a smirk on his face. He was real excited about this time travel stuff. I guess this was something new for him. Then his smile faded when he looked down at me. "Get back to class, Bat. Have Patrick drive you back. I don't want any citizens seeing you flying around," he ordered.

"What about future me? Er...Future Bat?" I asked.

"She'll be fine here. She will help the monsters figure out how to take down John."

"I thought that was what I was supposed to be doing."

"Nope. You are grounded now. That also means in the flying way. No flying, no fighting aliens, no John."

My mouth dropped. "What?! That's not fair!" Monger frowned. "I'd say that it's pretty fair. You blew it Bat." I bared my fang. "I want to help!" I shouted. Monger pointed to the elevator. "You can help by getting your butt to school. Now march!" He ordered.

I had the sudden urge to scream at Monger. My alien eyes flickered over to future me. She slowly shook her head. I balled my hands into fists. My eyes glaring at both Monger and future me behind my sunglasses. Then turned and marched away.

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