Okay, Scarlet's eighth birthday party at Chuck E. Cheeses with her surrogate siblings. You guys wanted Eugene from Servpro to make an appearance again, so here he is. Please review!

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Roy muttered.

"It's for Scarlet, Roy- she wants to have a normal party with her real friends, to make up for the huge banquet Bruce has to put on every year."

"So? I'm fifteen, Ollie- I shouldn't have to do... this!" he said, motioning to the building in front of them.

"Stop being such a weenie. You're doing this for Scarlet- who knows, you might even have fun." Oliver said, nudging him forwards.

"Shut up." Roy muttered, pushing open the door to the most dreaded hell hole he'd ever been to- Chuck E. Cheeses.

"Welcome to Chuck E. Cheese, is it your birthday?" recited the chipper woman in a red shirt and black pants, with a radio clipped to her belt.

"No." Roy growled. He allowed the woman to stamp the back of his hand with invisible ink that showed under the flourescent light out front to show they'd been admitted.

The woman unclipped the red rope, as though allowing them access to some exclusive nightclub, and Roy scoffed. Like he wanted to be allowed in the land if greasy pizza and screaming children.

Still, he entered, noticing three eager bodies seated in one of the booths.

"Hey Roy!" Scarlet was wearing a cardboard crown, no doubt because she was the birthday girl, looking excited. They were currently divvying up tokens into cheap looking, rat-themed cups.

"We left you one, Roy!" Scarlet said, sliding a cup over to him.

"Gee- thanks." Roy said, trying not to be sarcastic. Scarlet was turning eight, afterall, she wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheeses. And she was like his sister- and if she wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese's, then by god, they'd go to Chuck E. Cheeses!

The kids all headed to the prize counter, first, checking out the prizes.

"Look- they have a scooter!" Dick said, looking excited.

"But it's 15,000 tickets." Wally said, looking uncertain.

Roy knew they'd never get that amount.

"Come on then- let's get started!" Scarlet said. The ducked behind some of the pointless games, like the water gun race and the prize wheel that was rigged, to the old machine on the back corner. Ski ball.

Wally stuffed in a token and the scrated up, red, wooden balls fell.

"You know people NEVER win these things, right?" Roy asked.

"Everyone, places!" Dick ordered. Scarlet and Wally scrambled up the alley so Scarlet was near the holes where the balls entered, and Wally worked as a middle man. Dick stood at the very beginning of the alley, passing up balls to Wally, who passed them to Scarlet, who dunked them into the 500 point hole.

Roy was actually pretty impressed. Hs siblings had formed a bucket-brigade of sorts, but with ski balls. And they were getting tons of tickets. He allowed a small smile to cross his lips as he watched.

"Need me to do anything?" he asked Dick, who nodded. "Keep putting tokens in, and as soon as I have one hand free, hand me a ball."

And so it went, Roy helping them on their little evil scheme to win in the back corner, while little kids ran around the rest of the place screaming heir heads off.

Barry looked around the place from where he'd been sitting with Bruce and Oliver, looking scared.

A half-nude boy in only a diaper ran around, licking various things, including the play palace. The kid would probably get the ebola virus or smething, and Barry shuddered. Gap-toothed kids brawled over some tokens the man in the rat suit had thrown to them, and a rowdy group of seven year olds attempted to drown one another in the ball pit.

Bruce nodded to them. "We have two choices." he said calmly. "They have a bar here for the parents, to get them drunk enough they don't mind all the... this." he said motionng to the entire establishment.

"Or, we can use this." he set a bottle of extra-strength ibprouphen on the table, and Olvier and Barry nodded.

"Someone has to drive home tonight."

"Dang it, this one's out of tickets." Wally said. They took the ginormous stack they had to the ticket muncher, checking the reciept. 2,341.

"Not bad, for the begining. Come on. Let's run out the next skiball alley." Dick said, and Roy smiled, proud. His siblings sure knew how to work the system.

The animatronic band played in the backround, some purple fuzzy mop thing was on banjo, and the other thing... He didn't even know WHAT that was, was singing backup, while a robot rat that was supposed to resemble Chuck E. Cheese swiveled and lip sinked,one eye practically hanging out if it's head.

A child high on pixy stix and cotton candy raced past, shirtless, and a woman changed a baby's diaper on the table of a nearby booth.

Roy place had really gone downhill. He just had to get them enough tickets for the scooter, and they'd be gone.

They'd just gotten their second load of tickets when Oliver called Roy, and they sat down to a pizza so greasy it pooled ontop of the cheese and soaked through the cardboard beneath the box.

The three youngest grinned and happily ate it, and Roy ate it, as well. It was actually pretty good. The place at least had nice, greasy food.

"You guys having fun?" Barry asked, looking a little traumatized.

Scarlet nodded, before she noticed the beat-up looking rollercoaster simulator.

"Guys! We gotta ride that!"

"What happened to the ski ball racket? I mean tournament." Roy ammended quickly.

"Later dude- it's a ROLLER COASTER SIMULATOR!" Wally yelled, and the three dragged him over. Roy noticed out of the corner of his eye that the thing in the Chuck E. Cheese suit was hanging around in a somewhat creepy fashion, as though stalking them, and took mental note to keep an eye on the thing.

How all three kids managed to squeeze themselves into the simulator was beyond Roy, but even more astonishing was the fact the he managed to keep the greasy pizza down as the simulator went on. He finally stumbled out, trying not to gag. God, that'd been awful. The kids couldn't have decided to go on that BEFORE they ate?

Just then, he heard Scarlet's terrified scream. He looked up to see the Chuck E. Cheese suit lumbering towards them. Roy narrowed his eyes. Why had tha thing been FOLLOWING them? I was like it was a creeper or something...

"Roy! Roy HELP! It's a FURRY!" She yelled, taking off.

Dick and Wally were with her, apparently, and the jerk in the suit thought it was funny to chase the terrified trio down.

Not long after, though, the jerk had them cornered by the ski ball machines. Roy grabbed a basket ball from a nearby game, throwing it at the rat's head and suceeding in knocking him over.

"Come on!" Roy yelled. He and his siblings lit out across the godforsaken place, diving into the ball pit and dissolving into the crowd of other screaming, yelling kids in there.

The all panted, clinging to one another.

"Roy... saved us." Dick said, looking surprised. Roy swallowed the greas pizza that was threatening to make a second apperance and shrugged. "I was nothing. How do you guys even know what furries are, anyways?"

"Some freaky furry busted into Gotham Academy, had the whole school on lock down for hours. Afer hat we had a 'furry awareness day'." Dick said simply.

"And you, Wally?" Roy asked.

Wally shrugged. "There are some weird people in Central City, okay?"

The nodded, catchng their breath.

"Let's just get the tickets, and get out of here." Roy said calmly. Thankfully, the furry in a Chuck E. Cheese suit was gone, and they crept back over to the ski ball machiene. Their ticket grabbing opperation stopped only breifly from there, when some sugar-intoxicated kid ran over and barfed in the lane next to them. And even then, they were unstoppable.

Finally, they got enough tickets, and they grinned as they were given the scooter.

"Great. Can we leave this place, now?" Roy asked.

Just then, something huge grabbed him from behnd. It was... Chuck E. Cheese himself, the rat.

"The furry got Roy!" Wally yelled, grabbing the scooter from Scarlet and proceeding to beat the crap out of the man in the giant mouse suit.

Roy could've stopped it, but he was proud- the jerk was getting what he deserved. Who did he think he was, sneaking up on him and hugging a kid who obviously didn't want to be near him?

Somewhere in the middle of it all, though, the man's mouse hat/helmet thingy came off, revealing a middle aged man who looked shockingly familiar. Roy gaped, shocked. It was Eugene- the guy from Servpro.

Instantly every kid in the establisment was crying, because they knew Chuck E. Cheese wasn't real, and Eugene was begining to go on anothe rampage...

Oliver gabbed Roy by the collar, hauling him and his siblings out of there. They didn't speak until they were on the highway, headed back towards Gotham.

Bruce spoke first. "We will NEVER speak of this, understood?"

Everyone nodded, and Roy smiled happily. It had actually been a decent night, snce, after tha incident, they were sure to get ther pictures on the wall and be banned from every Chuck E. Cheese in the state.

Scarlet beamed. "Best birthday ever!" she whispered excitedly, giving him a gap-toothed grin. Roy couldn't help but smile.

MAILBAG

Brainy girl, chapter 68

This was such a sweet chapter. Wow I feel like I'm in Harry Potter again. So sad...both of them. He is really a good man. Everyone has issues. Especially me, yeah my sister still hasn't forgiven me for that scissors accident. I was amaing for the wall! I'm so glad it didn't hit her. Ugh I'm a horrible sister

If it makes you feel any better, I once wrapped my older brother up in a vacuum cord and pulled it tight, so he fell and hit his... parts... on the couch and started crying. I also managed to incapacitate him with a well-aimed potato when I was eight. Still- I'd really like to head about the scissors incident. Hope you're both okay and nobody got seriously hurt!

RedScotch444, chapter 68

Good job! I love the way you portrayed the characters!

Thanks! I've read a lot of OC stories that just don't... fit right. I don't know- I just tried my best and really thought over how I'd have Scarlet act, and how her relationship with the other characters develop. So thanks- I'm really glad you think my characterization is accurate! :)

Guest, chapter 68

I luvvvvvvvv u! The thing i luvvvvvvvv most about u is your stories they are soooooooo thought provoking they really make u think 'bout who u make the Graysons and Bruce out as I luvvvvvvvv how u make them out! I luvvvvvvvv u! Again!

Thanks. I know there's two sides to every conflict- and perspective is what really makes a good story. Which is why to make a story plausible, sometimes you even have to pity, if not like or understand, the villain. That's why I wrote the arch with Wally's father the way I did- a good man succumbs to his mental illness and severely beats his son. Why? Because he had to forgo buying his medication to lay rent for his home. It gives you all, as the reader, sympathy for him. It's no excuse for his actions, but it helps you understand that at that point he wasn't thinking rationally.

So thanks- I try to make perspective a major element in my stories, and i'm glad you enjoy it! :)

Thanks so much for all the reviews. I wish I could respond to them all, hut unfortunately... Highschool. Know that even if I didn't respond to your review in mailbag, i most certainly did read it, and appreciated not only your encouraging words but the constructive feedback you've given me. Thanks and Godbless! :)