At Leone Middle School, a girl with light brown skin, purple hair, green eyes, and wearing a purple jacket, green and white striped shirt, and silver and black shoes was walking in with her backpack. She was looking for room 309, which would be her homeroom. Eventually, she came across it and was about to enter it before one of the teachers, Mrs. Lupita, stopped her and said she would introduce her to the class. Once the bell rang, the two of them walked in together while all the other students were sitting at their desk.

Mrs. Lupita said "Good Morning Class. Today we have a new student joining us. I'd like all of you to say hello to Zaira Rivera."

Zaira said "Nice to meet you all."

"Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself, Zaira."

"My favorite color is black, I like rock and classical music, and I have a pet cat named Manuel. I look forward to getting to know all of you."

"Those are wonderful facts. Why don't you sit over there near that window seat?"

Zaira headed for her desk so she could sit down. As she's about to sit down, she notices some thumbtacks on her desk and picks them up quickly so she doesn't hurt herself. She looked around to see who placed the thumbtacks on her desk and noticed three delinquent girls sitting in the back seats, covered by the shadows of the back row. She could tell that they were trouble but decided to deal with it later.

After class was over, Zaira went to her locker and placed her books inside of it while also some stuff, like pictures of her and her parents, dozens of pictures of her pet cat, a poster of a movie called "Pet Graveyard 3" and a poster of mariachi singer Maria Moondragon. As she is about to close her locker she is greeted by Frida Suarez. Zaira remembered her because she had blue hair and she remembered how she got that math problem in class wrong; she thought 2x2 was 22.

Frida asked "So Zaira, how's Miracle City treating you?"

"It's exactly how my mama and papa described it. Although my dad was wrong about the smell. I can't say I have many memories of it."

"You used to live here? Frida inquired.

Zaira explained "Yes, I was born here. But after I was born my parents moved away due to the chance of their business starting in one of the far away towns; a building for their business opened up and they had to take it as soon as possible. Also, they wanted to raise me in a safe environment.

Frida questioned "Yet you all moved back here? This city is known as a spicy cesspool of crime and villainy. And I should know since my parents deal with it all the time; my father is a cop and my mom is a judge, who is going to be running for Municipal President one day."

Zaira said "My parents needed to move back to set up their third store, which was originally a store they wanted to start at but couldn't due to it being expensive at the time, and part of a deal they made with their parents, my grandparents.

Frida asked "What store do they run?"

Zaira explained "A bakery-art gallery. My father is the baker while my mother is the artist. It's called the Grapefruit Gallery."

"Oh, I've heard of that place; my mom purchased sweets there and brought them back for my family. I don't suppose you have any on you right now?" Frida said with an excited voice, getting closer to Zaira.

Zaira said "Not today. But I might have some in two weeks if you can remain patient."

Frida said "I don't have that kind of patience but I'll make an exception for you."

Zaira didn't know what to think of Frida at first; she thought she was nice but she was also very loud too. However, since she was the first friend she made and the first person to really talk to her she decided to stick with her for now.

For the next few hours, Zaira would attend school like normal while Frida would show her around too; she gave a run down on all the best places to hang out and sometimes cut class. At the same time, Zaira would find herself being targeted with pranks, ranging from simple whoopie cushions to a bucket filled with water or slop from the cafeteria, but she managed to avoid them all. She noticed that some of the other students were doing this but she also saw the fear in their eyes as well; the fear was not directed at her but three other girls, one with red hair and tattoos, one with blonde hair and a skull eye patch, and one with a mohawk hair and holding a chainsaw. They looked at Zaira menacingly but she showed them no fear whatsoever and walked away.

Zaira asked "Frida, who are they?"

Frida said "Those are the bad girls of Leone. Patches, Chainsaw, and Tattoo. Watch out for them, they're vicious."

Zaira asked "Why don't any of the teachers do anything about it?

"They're too afraid or they're paid off." Frida said, pointing out how some students and teachers are in fear of them in the very parts that they are standing at right now.

Zaira said "I see. I guess they were the ones that were attempting to prank me in class."

Frida said as she and Zaira walked away from them "Not directly. They always use other students as their proxies; it's so they can avoid trouble whenever there's a teacher they can't bribe or when they want to see someone stoop to their level. Although, you managed to avoid all their pranks against you. How'd you manage to pull that off?

Zaira said "Let's just say, I know every trick in the book when it comes to pranks and how to avoid them; it's all thanks to a special friend of mine who taught me all the tricks."

Frida said "Then you're going to be fine here. By the way, me and my bandmates are going to the arcade after school. Do you want to join us?

Zaira said "That would be cool but I can't. I have to run a few errands before I go home today. Maybe some other time."

Frida said "If you say so." Then the bell rang. "Come on, we better get to class. Only two more hours before we can get out of this place." She and Zaira would head for class together.


Inside the Rivera family home, which was a two story tan house in a neighborhood called Magnifico Garden, were Zaira's parents, Rodolfo and Carmelita Rivera. The two of them have been busy with personal renovation projects on their house ever since they moved in. At the same time, they've been preparing their shop together by deciding which art pieces to display along with what desserts to serve.

"Which one is better, Mother Crow or Laughing Donkey?" Carmelita said, showing two paintings to Rodolfo; one was a mother crow surrounded by three of her chicks and the other was a donkey laughing maniacally on a mountain.

Rodolfo said "I would go with Mother Crow. I still think Laughing Donkey is too creepy for the shop."

Carmelita said, rolling her eyes "I guess you're right. I'll save it for Halloween, or if some eccentric person is looking for something weird. How's your menu coming along?"

"It's almost done. I'm still adding the basics but some of them I'll have to take off for now until we can have a safe supply chain that comes into Miracle City." Rodolfo said as he looked at a page on his menu, filled with cakes and pies.

Carmelita took a look at the menu and asked "You're not taking off the cream puffs, are you?"

"No, those are still on the menu; I just haven't put them on here yet . I would never take those off the menu, knowing that you and Papi love them." Rodolfo said before Carmelita gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Carmelita asked "Speaking of Papi, have you heard from him?"

Rodolfo said "Not yet. He said he was going to be out of town for a few days; something about a villain convention in Canada."

Carmelita rolled her eyes and said "Oh,I know the one you're talking about. It's not a real villain convention, just a week-long villain's party called Villangasam. It's a sex party."

Rodolfo asked "How do you know it's that kind of party?"

Carmelita said "Because my mother and I went shopping two weeks ago and she needed my opinion on some swimsuits, underwear, and pills. She didn't tell me explicitly it was a sex party but I could tell because she name dropped Don Baffi and Comrade Chaos a few times. She's not exactly subtle about things when she's trying to keep a secret."

"That is true. Remember our wedding day when she said she didn't give us a bomb as a wedding gift but it turned out to be an actual bomb?" Rodolfo said, looking at a photo of his and Carmelita's wedding; he was wearing a black suit with a black hat; she's wearing a green wedding dress and a veil on her head. He then looked at another photo of them on their wedding day with a big wedding cake but an egg bomb was in it.

Carmelita giggled and said "I do. Although, that bomb was there to make sure you actually went through with our wedding; the average bombs she threatens you with or gives you for any gifts are either duds or not as powerful as her real bombs despite her threats."

Before they could talk about this any further, they noticed the mail truck arriving sooner than expected. The mailman got out of his truck and dropped off a package at their door. Neither one of them was expecting a package, so Carmelita ran upstairs and grabbed her helmet and scanned the package to make sure it wasn't boobie trapped. She ran every scan available to see if there was anything to worry about, such as poisons or a bomb, but found nothing. Rodolfo decided to open it to see what's inside of it but not before putting on his gloves. Inside the package was a "Welcome Back" card signed by "TT" but there was a message in red that said "I'll be keeping my eye on you two."

"Of course, he would find out we're back." Rodolfo said, recognizing that "TT" stood for Titanium Titan, his former sidekick.

Carmelita scoffed and said "Does he really think he can threaten us?"

Rodolfo said "Given how much he's improved over the years, I wouldn't put it past him. We need to prepare for him in case he comes for us, both legally and illegally."

Carmelita said with a worried tone of voice "What about Chief Suarez? We both know it won't be long before he comes into the picture, especially when his daughter and our daughter go to the same school."

Rodolfo said "We're going to have to work twice as hard to prepare anything against him. We should move our training schedule to this weekend."

"I agree. But what about Zaira? She's supposed to go out tonight after homework. Should we tell her to hold off until then?" Carmelita suggested.

Rodolfo said "Normally I would say yes but we shouldn't. We've given her more than enough training and we did promise her that as soon as we moved here we'd let her go out on her own. Until Chief Suarez and Titanium Titan cross her directly, we should treat this as our problem. Although, I wouldn't be opposed to knowing where they are so we can intercept them before they come into contact with Zaira."

"There might be a way to do that but you might not like it." Carmelita said with an even more serious tone of voice.

"What is it?" Rodolfo asked with a concerned tone of voice

Carmelita said "Remember when I confessed my worries about how I thought you were cheating on me with Sandra and how I almost placed a spy device on you to gain proof but decided not too because of how stupid it sounded in my mind?"

Rodolfo responded "Yes."

Carmelita explained "Well I say we use something like that on them. But unlike a regular tracker we use a bio tracker; they wouldn't see it coming since the technology is new and they haven't taken into account bio trackers like this."

Rodolfo asked "Let's say I agree to this idea, how would you suggest we place a bio tracker in them?"

Carmelita said "We wouldn't but my mother knows someone who could. She won't tell us who but she'll make sure it can happen. But like I said, if you don't like this idea I won't do it."

Rodolfo thought about it for a minute and said "I'll meet you in the middle. We find proof that they're planning, if not already,to spy on us. We have proof the Titan is going to be spying on us but I'd like to have proof Emiliano is too. I'll try calling Papi later tonight, see if he knows anything or can find out something."

"Alright, we have a plan." Carmelita said with a calm voice.

"And we only deal with Emiliano. Lets leave his wife and daughters out of this." Rodolfo said with an adamant tone of voice.

Carmelita said "I'm fine with that. Now come on." She then grabs Rodolfo by his tie, dragging him downstairs to the basement.

"Carmelita, where are we going?" Rodolfo asked.

Carmelita said "Downstairs to spare. After a long day of planning and having a tense conversation I need to unwind and I need your help to do that."

Rodolfo said "But Zaira will be home soon."

Carmelita said "She's running a few errands for us after school so we'll have forty five extra minutes before she comes home. Besides, we never got to finish our sparring match during date night last week because of those bikes."

Rodolfo said "Well that's true."

"And you promised me that we would add to our list of dance-fighting techniques. Come on, Big Panthy, please." Carmelita said before she showed off puppy dog eyes to Rodolfo.

Rodolfo relented and said "I can't say no to that beautiful face.". The two of them gave each other a kiss before heading downstairs.


After school was over. Zaira left for the grocery store to pick a few items off a list her mother gave her. She then made a minor detour to the music store to see if the new Maria cd was available but she found out it was sold out. She did notice a promotional flier that said she was coming here for a concert in two months and tickets would be on sale in a month.

Eventually she arrived at her house and went inside.

Zaira said "I'm home."

"Mija, how was school today?" Carmelita asked after she gave her daughter a hug.

"It was fine. I even made a new friend." Zaira said, as she and Carmelita headed for the kitchen, bringing the groceries that she brought and placing them on the table before she quickly placed everything she brought in the fridge, pantry, or the freezer.

"That's good to hear. What's her name?" Rodolfo asked as he's chopping vegetables. He stopped for a minute to give his daughter a hug too.

Zaria said "Frida Suarez. She showed me around school, introduced me to a lot of new people."

Rodolfo asked "Do you think she'll be your new best friend?"

Zaira said "No. Technically my best friend is Manuel. And my best human friend is still Lola; we promised that wouldn't change no matter where I moved."

Rodolfo said "Ah yes, the loyalty of friendship is a very important thing, mija, both for new friends and old. Never forget that."

"I won't forget, father." Zaira said as she's about to head upstairs.

Carmelita then said "Dinner will be ready in an hour and a half. Get as much of your homework done as possible before then, especially if you plan on going out tonight."

Zaira shouted "Yes, mother."

Rodolfo said "And remember, the curfew is 10pm."

Zaira said "Yes, father."


In Zaira's room, she's working on her homework while Manuel is sitting there on the table. Zaira pets her cat while looking out her front window. She says to him "Yes Manuel, I think this will be a wonderful adventure for us. In fact, we're going to have plenty of fun together." She then decided to get up from her desk to stretch her legs a bit , go into her closet, and opened a locked box with a combination lock and inside of it was a CD, a pack of trading cards, an egg bomb, a purple visor, and her family's El Tigre belt. She went in and grabbed it.


(A few hours later)

Somewhere in the streets, the Bad Girls are shaking down two kids for their lunch money. Before the kids could give them their money, a shadowy figure appeared behind them. The figure was wearing a purple cat costume with black claw markings on the side of her costume, black gloves with a silver star on it, black boots with mini motors on it, and a dark purple jetpack

Tattoo asked"Who are you?

"I am Grifa de la Sombra. But you all can call me oof." She said with a distorted voice

Chainsaw asked "Oof?"

"Yes, as in…" La Grifa used her jetpack and launched toward them, punching them all at the same time and into a nearby wall.

All three of them said at the same time "Oof."

After that punch, Patches, Chainsaw and Tattoo grabbed their weapons and ran toward Grifa. Chainsaw tried to wave her chainsaw against La Griffa but she blasted it out of her hand with a hand laser. She then let out chain claws, wrapped her around it and threw her in a dumpster. Patches tried hitting La Griffa with a mallet but she kept dodging every hit that was swung at her. She then fired claw darts at the mallet and they exploded, destroying the mallet. She then grabbed Patches by the hand, lifted her up, and slammed her to the ground numerous times before throwing her into the same dumpster and Chainsaw. Tatto grabbed a nearby metal chain and quickly combined it with Chainsaw's chainsaw and started attacking La Grifa with it. She flew into the sky to avoid the weapon but Tattoo was close to reaching her. La Grifa then grabbed a hidden egg bomb from her back and threw it at Tattoo, releasing a smoke that blinded Tattoo from using her weapon against her. La Grifa swooped in and grabbed the weapon from her before she continued to smoke to deliver scratch marks on her body before she decided to kick her in the stomach, sending her flying into the dumpster on top of Chainsaw and Patches.

La Grifa then used the chain that Tattoo fought with and tied up all the bad girls and hung them upside down on a nearby lamppost. She then took their wallets from them along with the rest of their cash that happen to fall to the ground

"Now then, I've heard you've been bullying students and taking lunch money. Tell me, is this all of it?" La Grifa said in a menacing tone of voice.

Chainsaw said in a scared tone of voice "Yes but so is our money. You're not going to take that, are you?"

La Grifa said "No. I'm taking the money you stole from those students and returning it to them. As for your money, I'm donating it to my favorite charity."

"To yourself?" Patches asked with a scared tone of voice.

La Grifa stated "No, an actual charity. I doubt girls like you know that there are people in need that could use this money. You can also consider this your warning. If I ever find out that you're bullying anyone I'll come back and I won't hold back this time."

"Got it." Tattoo said as she's about to cry.

For the next two hours, La Grifa would go around fighting crime and helping people wherever she could from the shadows. She stopped a group of robbers from stealing from a small business; she saved people from a burning building by flying into the building and using her enhanced strength; she helped an old lady who was looking for her pet dog and found it for her with her x-ray visor; she noticed a music truck being stolen but she saw that it was filled with jug band music and decided to let the police handle that one since she knew how her dad felt about that kind of music.

La Grifa noticed that it was 9:25 and decided to head home for tonight; luckily she was only five minutes away from home so it didn't take long for her to get back.

Unbeknownst to her, she was being watched by three supervillain teens, Jr., Ensign Che of the Zombie Town Militia, Django of the Dead.

Dr. Chipotle Jr. said "So, it looks like we've got a new hero in our city."

"Let's take her down, now." Ensign Che said with clenched fist

Django said "No. We need to know more about her and how she operates."


(A month later)

At the Miracle City Dome, Zaira was getting tickets for a Maria Moondragon concert for herself and Frida. After waiting in line for three hours, she was about to head for tonight until she saw on one of the televisions that Giant Robot Sanchez is ramping downtown. She left the area and found a dark, isolated area to change into costume.

When she arrived on the scene, she was about to use her claw dart-explosives when a portal opened in the sky and someone crashed into her, causing both of them to crash into a nearby furniture store.

The person said to himself "Now where am I?"

La Grifa got up and pointed her lasers at El "Who are you? And why did you…" Before La Grifa could finish, she noticed that the person who crashed into her was dressed like one of her ancestors, El Tigre. She then said "Why are you dressed like my ancestor? What's your name?

"Manny Rivera. I'm El Tigre from another universe." El Tigre said to La Grifa.

Before La Grifa could say anything, she pointed her palm at El Tigre and stunned him with an electric shock blast.

I finally completed Griffinverse. As you can see, this is an AU where Rodolfo married Carmelita Aves; they never broke up when they were teenagers and stuck with each other up to the present. This one was somewhat of a challenge to write since Zaira is sort of meant to be a combination of Manny and Zoe but at the same time I tried making her an original character of sorts and sometimes that takes longer.

As for that last ending, it was not meant to be random. While I have stated that I may not be able to do a full story of Manny traveling the multiverse, I can show off some part of what a story like that would look like. In this case, Manny would arrive in Zaira's world; it wouldn't be the first world he visited but it would be one of them.

What are your thoughts on this AU? What do you think of it?