Chapter 7
Moments later, the two aliens arrived with the other two boys. "Is everyone okay? Hatty asked, checking on his friends/teammates.
"Define 'okay'," Techno-Tune remarked, deadpanning. "We each got attacked by these odd monsters."
"Monsters, huh?" Four Arms said, giving a playful grin.
"Not monsters. These are clearly extraterrestrial beings who were defending this place from intruders like us and are most likely dads and or uncles of a big family that live here," Mad Hatter theorized, seeing his friends stare at him in surprise as much as the aliens. "...What? It seemed obvious. Especially their little 'interrogation' attacks. They're the same ones my auntie pulls on me."
"By the way, who are you three?" Ultimate Wildmutt asked. "And how exactly did you get here?"
The Gotham Grimtales were still skeptical in telling these aliens who they are. If these guys knew about the three young boys being next generation villains, there's no telling what these aliens will do to them.
"That's a bit of a long story," Hatty said.
After feeling his stomach growl, Scarecrow took a moment to think before saying something. "I don't suppose we can explain things better over with some pizza?"
"Actually, that sounds like a plan," Ultimate Echo Echo said. "I'll let Rachel know."
The three boys were stunned to see that the aliens agreed to the idea and when Rachel heard the idea, she agreed too. "Get ready for some of the best pies ever, guys!" She said.
"Make sure the delivery guy is that one friend of ours," Whampire said, smirking. "I'm itching for a good scare."
"Whampire," Rachel said, giving him a scolding look.
"Just a little scare," he said, smiling. "I know he's a good friend. Plus I haven't had a tickle victim in a while."
Rachel rolled her eyes playfully, but made the call to the pizza parlor, none of them seeing the three misplaced teens watch them in wonder.
"They're actually going along with the pizza idea," Techno-Tune muttered to his friends, very bewildered. "Hatty, did you-?"
"Nope," Mad Hatter answered immediately, whom was equally shocked. "How could I possibly do that? Most of them aren't wearing any clothes for me to work my mad magic."
"I honestly didn't think we'd get this far," Scarecrow responded, not expecting this either...and he was the one who asked.
After the pizza arrived, with Whampire scaring the delivery guy, who screamed, but then laughed a moment later. Rachel paid him for the pizzas and gave him a large tip as thanks before everyone gathered in the living room, with the Gotham Grimtales fully explained that they had ended up at the mansion by total accident.
"We weren't even trying to get into here," Hatty explained. "Seems our coordiantes got changed or we changed course in teleporting."
"Thank goodness none of you were hurt," Four Arms said.
"Yes," Frankenstrike said. "A malfunctioning portal can be quite dangerous. You boys are lucky."
"By the way, Techno-Tune, you asked if Upgrade and I would inject you with Joker venom or poison," Ultimate Echo Echo said. "Has that happened before?"
"Yes," the young man said, looking at his two friends.
"Oh, dear, that was not a good day," Hatty said.
"Oh, man," Evan said, looking down.
"Is that why you freaked out about us doing something similar?" Upgrade asked, making sure to voice the question gently.
"Well, can you blame me? I was really scared of getting injected by something similar to the Joker Venom!" Techno-Tune stated, looking traumatized. "I already got hit once during a fight...and I nearly died laughing because of it..."
"We said we were sorry!" Hatter and Scarecrow replied at once, both apologetic and annoyed.
"You still need to be more careful!"
"It was one time!" Scarecrow shouted in annoyance, pinching where his nose is. "I was using a batch of modified Joker Venom to use for my gauntlets that turned out to be a rejected batch in the end for testing!"
"Yeah, it was an accident," Hatter added, vouching for his scarecrow friend. "That hit was meant for me during our own weapons practice battle. But I dodged where Techno-Tune got the hit instead. I didn't know he was behind me until it was too late."
"Oh, dear," Rachel said, looking sympathetic.
"It was no tea time picnic for any of us. While I didn't have the gauntlets to slash Techno-Tune by accident, my uncle still gave me an earful for testing out that vial on weapons practice without his permission," Hatter remarked, folding his arms. "He freaked out like the Queen of Hearts when hearing out how what happened to Techno-Tune could have happened to me. I know that he cares about my safety, but what do you expect on a weapons practice run? It's not like we didn't have precautions for it."
"You three sound like you are the next generation villains, but yet...portray yourselves differently," Whampire said.
"Well, yeah," Evan said, looking a bit annoyed. "We're not stupid."
"He never said you were," Big Chill said gently. "We're just surprised that you are rather different that what someone would expect a villain to be. Especially when you didn't attack me first. You answered my questions honestly."
"He didn't attack you?" Grey Matter asked.
"No," the moth alien said. "He was actually curious, but then that magic crystal went off and created that illusion, which is not his fault."
Hatty flinched a little guiltily at that. "Yeah, I try not to use that unless absolutely necessary," he said.
"By the way, what led to you three stealing the Batmobile?" Rachel asked.
"Um, that was kind of my fault," Hatty said.
"What do you mean, Hatty?" Evan asked.
"Well, I was going into the bakery to use my mind control chips on the baker, but when I went inside, I came across the crime boss Babyface threatening the baker for his money. I changed my course of action and used the mind control chips on Babyface and the few henchmen with them, making them go rob a bank instead and instructed them to never step foot in that bakery ever again," the boy explained. "The baker rewarded me by giving me the cake I ordered free of charge."
"Sounds like you three aren't bad," Whampire said. "Even if some of your actions are questionable, you seem to have some morals."
The three were surprised no one was judging them. "You're...okay with that?" Evan asked, shocked. "Our pasts and all that?"
Rachel smiled. "We're firm believers in not judging kids for their pasts, or what they are training to do, especially if you've had a hard past," she said. "It's one of the reasons I began taking in kids that were in bad situations because I've had a bit of a rough past myself. I was only able to work through it thanks to my adoptive dad who didn't give up on me."
She took a deep breath. "Plus we'd never talk badly about someone's parental figure to their face as that's not only rude, but hurtful. And if kids are not being mistreated, then I'd see no reason for them to be removed from their family," she continued before smiling. "Besides, your animal companions have been telling me what good owners you are and I can see how much they trust you."
The boys looked at her, shocked she could understand animals. "Are you related to that guy that can make weird animal combos?!" Evan blurted out.
Rachel looked confused, but then shook her head. "If you mean Dr. Animo, then no. I'm not related to that creep in any way," she said. "He hurts animals for his experiments and doesn't care about them."
The Grimtales were confused, but dropped the subject since they could see Rachel didn't know who they were talking about, but they did hug their animal friends closer, something that wasn't lost on the others.
"Don't worry. If he does come around here, we won't let him get your animal friends," Upgrade promised.
"Nor you three," Frankenstrike said as he got up. "Let me see about getting that portal ready to take you three back home."
"Wait," Techno-Tune said, surprised. "You'll...You'll help us get back home?"
"Of course," Four Arms said as Rachel nodded.
"I'll call you when it's ready," the alien scientist said.
"For now, enjoy our hospitality," Rachel said with a smile.
The three boys were surprised, but nodded, accepting their hosts' kindness, but they were still slightly on guard.
Would their hosts keep their word and get them back home?
Looks like though the boys can see their hosts mean no harm, they are still cautious. Will they get home? We shall see. :)
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GoldGuardian2418