So after rereading Norstrilla to help me get ready to the 'Grander' arcs of the Neozoic Tales in Norstillia on Earth, particurally in Earthport City characters frquently use 'Dropshafts' which have basically replaced elevators, Underpeople have to use seperate dropshafts from humans, while in them magnetic belts are worn apparently how it works is using artificical gravity to move free floating passengers or freight, (Had to Google it, because the book doesn't do a great job explaining it) if the magnetic belt were removed from a passenger they would fall to their death...Here my 'Air Elevators' are a bit more like the transportation tubes of Futurama and that moment in one of the Spy Kids movies where the kids are gently floated down to a secret lair in a volcano with air
The Humanimal Workers came foreward to sniff Donatello so they could know his scent, Don also knew to expect this but he was also still a little uneasy abiut it, he grimmicaed slightly as the various different Humanimals touched his all over with their noses.
"Brother..." Said the Black Rhinceros-Man "...Why do you smell of stale dung?"
Don sighed "...In the world I come from, I lived nearly all my life in the sewers hiding from mankind, obviously I clean myself every day but years of having to walk through raw sewage, fortunatly it's not too noticable to most humans."
"It better." The Rhino-Man said "You can't go certain places if you stink too much. Fortunatly that's not an issue where you're going." The Rhinoceros seemed to be the leader of this group as he snapped his fingers and said "Gilbert."
The orange tabby cat-man stepped foreward with his head bowed
"Take this Turtle to the Downdeep-Downdeep." Said the Rhino-Man
The Cat-Man merely bowed his head again and led Don through several back doorways the Humanimals took to lead him to the Air Elevator, he pushed the down button and Don and Gilbert found themselves floating down into the the dark depths beneath the city where no human would wish to go.
"How does this air elevator work?" Don asked fasinated by the device.
"Pretty simple." Gilbert said "Stronger puffs of air push us up, where gentler puffs of air safely lower us down."
"Other worlds I've been to would just use regular elevators..." Don said thinking of the Triceratons.
"It is the humans' laziness and decadence." Gilbert said "They like not having to stand for a few moments, you see there are ramps everywhere because the humans have come to believe it is against their human dignity to use stairs, the common people think that the Royal Family are a bit wiser and understand the importance of physical discipline.
"Huh..." Don said "...It's amazing more humans here aren't morbidly obese..."
"Oh they have the answer to that as well." Gilbert said "Calorie purger pills."
"Geez..." Don sighed he could see this society would collapse under the weight of its own decandance if something wasn't done soon, really theseWrangler humans should thank the Federation for this intervention, saving them from themselves!
Meanwhile Edward Nygma was finding out for himself that there were near constant moving walkways on the many levels of the city, on the paths exclusivly for humans or only if a Humanimal Slave was traveling with their personal owner. Edward really was finding he wished he could be in control of his own walking, with theese moving walkways he could easily miss his stop if he wasn't paying attention. His Son had instructed him where to go after dropping off Donatello, a certain bathhouse would be a safe place until Don had lowered the first layer of defenses and thus the next step of the plan could proceed.
When Edward came to the Bathhouse decorated just like an Ancient Roman Bathhouse, he checked himself in, the Clerk, a Saluki Dog-Woman asked what services he wanted, a little flustered Edward said "I don't know yet, really I just want to sit and rest for a few moments while I gather my thoughts."
While he went over to sit at a bench to the side, the Dog-Woman narrowed her eyes, he spoke incredibly politly to her for a someone who was dressed as a Seller of Slaves, and everything about his body language screamed he wasn't a merchant...She knew she had to watch him closely.
As Edward sat on the bench and closed his eyes, he thought back to memories that had been brought up in previous family therapy sessions.
Thinking back to the years on Plnaet Alderbaren, doing something he never imagined in his wildest dreams, living the domestic life with his wife Brenda, their daughter Pandora, in a simple rural town.
He remembered that for years he suffered violent nightmares every night, because the stunt he pulled with the virtual reality machine got his mind trapped in it for sometime, evertually a team of scientists and techincians got his mind out, but at the cost it seemed he could never be able to have a good dream again, the virtual reality machine seemed to have permenantly damaged his brain chemistry, it was on ly when a Mutant Animal with psychic powers accidentially fixed his brain chemistry by using her power of hynotic suggestion on him, that obviously wasn't her intention she didn't know about his nightmare problem, but what the best thoery was on how that worked was Nygma just needed to let his mind relax a little, in essence let himself be 'stupified' if only for a little while to let his brain chemistry fix itself and go back to normal.
Looking back those years though, Nygma felt some of those nightmares helped him become a better person, taught him to be more empathetic and to be more patient with people who weren't as smart as himself, he remembered when Pandora was a toddler he began to snap at her for being loud and pestering him, but then his mind would flashback to the dream he had the previous night of his father having his violent outbursts and beating him, and with that jolt of fear reminding him of what it was like to be small and helpless, his anger then melted away and instead he asked Pandora what it was she wanted of him.
This particular memory was when Pandora was six years old...It was a particurally dark and stormy Autumn night...
FLASHBACK
Edward snappped awake, sitting up in bed looking around wildly, in the dream something cold and slimy was reaching out to grab him, when he heard a voice say "Dad?"
He looked down and saw Pandora, she had inherited his red hair and green eyes and so she really did seem like what he would have been if he had been born a girl, she was wearing her plain wool nightgown and clutching in her arms her favorite rag doll, Edward was quickly realizing the cold slimy thing in his dream was his daiughter cool little hand touching his own hand.
"I...I had a nightmare..." Pandora began to say
"Oh my gosh..." Brenda groaned from her side of the bed "...Just go to sleep Pandora!"
"Brenda!" Edward chided, as he was becoming more patient he was finding his wife was becoming less and less patient with their daughter for reasons he couldn't fathom.
"It's all right," Edward said trying to soothe his daughter "...I...I was actually having a nightmare too..."
He tooked out the window the wind and rain rattled the window and there was the distant boom of thunder.
"...And it is a terrible night isn't it?" Edward sighed as he rubbed his own arms thinking the storm might have been making his own nightmares worse than usual, he thought about Jonathan Crane, it had been a few months since the Rogues had, had their last get-together and it would a be a long while before the next one, but Edward could imagine Jonathan's lecture about Humanity's long history with 'the terrors of the night'
"So actually I'm happy to see you..." Edward said as he picked his daughter up and put her in his lap.
"What were you dreaming about?" Pandora asked
"It...Doesn't matter now." Edward said "...What's impotant is they're only dreams and they can't actually hurt, it might seem if you are actually being hurt in your dream, but it's not real and it will all vanish the instant you wake up."
Pandora smiled and Edward felt his younger self was incredibly foolish for thinking he would never want children...
Brenda is the name of the Brunette Woman who filrts with Riddler in the episode Riddler's Reform she's never named in the show but apparently the credits list her as Brenda and the virtual reality machine was from the previous Riddler episode 'What is Reality' Riddler getting chronic nightmares from being trapped in the virtual reality is my own invention but it would explain Riddler's extreme temper in Riddler's Reform