Chapter 2: "DREAM" HEROES

As LarryBoy and Vogue continued to talk on the rooftop, ThingamaBob, S-Cape, and Ricochet went back to the LarryCave to talk everything over with Alfred.

"So LarryBoy and Vogue want different superhero identities, eh?" Alfred later asked the three heroes.

"Yes, sir. It appears they do," ThingamaBob replied.

S-Cape and Ricochet nodded before the former added, "I wish there were a way to teach them to be fine with the superhero identities they already have."

Alfred thought about that for a moment, then said, "Believe it or not, I've been thinking about an invention that is to be used especially for situations like this. Now seems like a good night to invent it. Give me a few minutes."

Alfred soon returned - after an hour.

"Alfred, you said wait for a few minutes, not a full hour," S-Cape complained.

"Sorry about that, guys. Inventing the contraption I'm about to show you took much longer than expected," Alfred apologized. "However, I figured out how to teach them that lesson. Do any of you remember the story of the Sandman?"

Ricochet smiled and exclaimed, "I do! He's the guy who puts people to sleep with his magic sand!"

"That's right!" Alfred smiled. "And I'm sure all of you know what anesthesia does."

Everyone nodded.

"Well, this is the invention," Alfred said. He pulled what looked like a ray gun out from behind his back. "This is my in-your-dreams machine gun. It's loaded with anesthesia and sand. The anesthesia in the gun will put its target - or in this case, targets - to sleep, just like in a hospital, and the target will stay asleep for two hours."

S-Cape got on top of the table and asked, "What does the sand do?"

Alfred beamed and said, "S-Cape, I'm glad you asked! I tampered with it, and it's no longer ordinary sand. This sand can control the target's dreams. Things will go fine for the target at first, but after a few minutes in the first hour, things will start to get a bit bumpy. The last ten minutes of the second hour will get really scary. The very last minute should hopefully teach the target their lesson. Whether they do or not, when the last minute is up, the target will awaken."

"So let me get this straight," ThingamaBob said. "When that machine gun blasts people with the anesthesia and sand, it puts them to sleep, controls their dream, and wakes them up after a couple of hours, hopefully having taught them a lesson. Are you saying we're going to do that to LarryBoy and Vogue?"

Alfred nodded while saying, "Precisely. Since LarryBoy and Vogue want different superhero identities, while they're asleep, they'll become their 'dream' heroes."

After hearing the plan and the pun, the League was all smiles and laughter. S-Cape soon lost his smile and laughter and said, "Wait a minute. Who's going to fire the machine gun over LarryBoy and Vogue?"

That made the League stop laughing and put puzzled expressions on their faces. After a few seconds of thinking, Ricochet said, "I know."

Then he turned to look at ThingamaBob. Alfred and S-Cape soon followed the gesture. ThingamaBob didn't know why the group was suddenly looking at him in that manner, but he sure didn't like it. Looks like that usually resulted in that someone doing something crazy.

15 minutes later…

"THIS IS CRAZY!" ThingamaBob yelled over the LarryCopter's loud blades.

Just as he had suspected, he had been selected to fire the machine gun at LarryBoy and Vogue.

"Well, Alfred's driving, I don't want to do it, and S-Cape's too lazy. You're the only one left!" Ricochet yelled.

"But I don't want to do this, either!" ThingamaBob argued.

"But besides me, you're Larry's best friend. Aren't you concerned for his superhero welfare?" Alfred asked.

ThingamaBob sighed sadly. It just didn't feel right, putting LarryBoy and Vogue to sleep like this. But there was a slim-to-none chance they'd listen to the lesson while they were awake. He then looked at Alfred and nodded, not sure what else to do.

"We're almost there!" S-Cape yelled.

They continued to near the rooftop where LarryBoy and Vogue were still talking.

"ThingamaBob, you need to fire that thing now or I doubt they'll ever learn that lesson!" Alfred shouted. He sounded extremely worried.

So, with a sad and reluctant sigh, ThingamaBob pulled the trigger on the machine gun, and the anesthesia and sand came out. The wind began to blow it in LarryBoy and Vogue's direction.

"Quick, Alfred, back to the LarryCave! I don't like the thought of LarryBoy and Vogue realizing it was us," Ricochet yelled to Alfred.

"Alright-y! Back we go," Alfred said.

As Alfred drove the LarryCopter back to the LarryCave, ThingamaBob looked out the rearview window. He could see LarryBoy and Vogue's figures still talking.

LarryBoy, Vogue, please forgive me, ThingamaBob thought as the LarryCopter flew on. He sure hoped LarryBoy and Vogue would fall asleep fast so he could have that weight slip from his back.

Meanwhile, LarryBoy and Vogue were talking about what their superhero weapons would be and how they would transform. They also talked about what would happen if they switched costumes. When they finished talking about the latter subject…

"Do you smell something?" LarryBoy asked all of a sudden.

A large amount of stink had gone up his nose - and no, it wasn't perfume.

Vogue took a big sniff, too, and said, "You bet. It's really stinky."

Then they both saw something yellow slowly fall on top of their partner. LarryBoy and Vogue managed to shake it off, but then, something weird happened. LarryBoy suddenly felt lightheaded and felt his eyelids grow heavy.

"LarryBoy, are you alright?" Vogue asked.

"I'm not sure," LarryBoy said before feeling the urge to yawn. He tried to fight it, but it soon escaped his mouth.

"That's exactly how I feel," Vogue yawned.

LarryBoy soon saw that Vogue's eyelids were growing heavy, too.

"I'm starting to think we talked too long. We need to take an actual rest break," LarryBoy suggested. Vogue nodded in response due to being too tired to talk.

He looked around for a few seconds and soon saw that they were on top of a building near the very alleyway where Ricochet threw the snowball at the Fear-Dar in their last adventure. The snow had melted, and there were luckily some boxes stacked on top of each other. Ironically, the width and height of the stacked boxes matched the width and height of a queen size bed.

"How about there?" LarryBoy offered, showing the spot to Vogue.

"Looks good," she said sleepily.

Vogue grabbed onto LarryBoy before he jumped into the alleyway. He felt his eyes get to the point where he could scarcely keep them open. LarryBoy and Vogue scrambled on top of the box as fast as one can when they're extremely sleepy. Vogue put her head on his chest when LarryBoy had made himself comfortable.

He yawned as he wondered aloud, "I can't believe we got so sleepy all of a sudden. Can you, Vogue?"

There was no response.

"Vogue?"

Nothing. Zilch. Nada.

"Vogue?"

This time, he heard slow, peaceful breathing. He chuckled when he saw what had happened. Vogue had fallen asleep with her head on his chest. He put his invisible arms around her shoulder area to try and keep her warmer (it was a little chilly), and she snuggled in just a little. He felt her smile a bit, and he smiled too. Then, his eyelids closed and his head gently fell onto one of the back boxes as he fell asleep.

The two sleeping heroes were lost in a conjoined dream world, about to become their - as Alfred had said - "dream" heroes.