AND SO AFTER A BREAK...
"You got it now?" Batman Beyond asked the perky goth.
"Yeah, okay, I'm good to go." Lady Gothika replied.
"Okay, good because we need to get out of here," Batman Beyond then said. "Now."
"Leaving so soon?" asked Ghoul. "You didn't even take any party favors!" And he wound up, throwing his trick-or-treat pumpkin into the air, as it sent out a shower of sparks.
"INCOMING!" The metal-armored hero exclaimed as the sparks rained down, burning through anything they landed upon.
Thanks to Jon's ring barrier, they were shielded... mostly.
"That's not gonna hold." Lady Gothika said in concern.
Soon, the barrier dissipated after too many sparks shot down and hit it, so everyone split up, running off in their own directions. Wonder Woman leaped out of the way and soon looked over to see one of the Jokerz in front of her.
"Where do you think you're going, sugar?" Chucko taunted as he brought out a baton and two lasers came on both ends before he used it to fight the Amazonian woman until she deflected the hits with her bracelets, though every time she hit them, she cried out in pain as they zapped her. He then came closer to her as he knocked her down on the floor.
The three identical girls soon their own leaps and landed on top of each other.
"Oh, look, Dee Dees," The girl on top told the two below her. "Another Green Lantern."
"He's much cuter than the last one we killed." The middle girl nodded.
"I definitely say so, Dee Dee." The third girl agreed and they all soon brought out whips that were unlike regular whips.
"Hmm... one of those girls is not like the others..." Lady Gothika noted to herself.
They sprang at Green Lantern, who blocked their whips with his ring, and knocked them flying... of course, when they landed, the impact split them into two more. "How'd you—" started Jon. Of course, the fifth one leapt at him, kicking him to the floor. Jon suddenly grunted and landed on the ground, very confused and pained.
Dee Dee beamed, about to finish him off only to cry out as a Batarang hit her hand and tossed her whip out of her hand and she was suddenly tackled herself by Batman Beyond. Two other Dee Dees then came out at that and brought out their whips and grabbed onto his ankles before pulling him down and making him drop Dee Dee in his arms and she smacked into the wall before turning into two other sets.
"Seems like the twins are clones like the twins Team Go in Go City." Superboy said to his friends.
"So their power is copying themselves or are they the same brother but he always wanted a twin?" Lady Gothika smirked.
"...yes." Superboy replied, annoyed with that question.
Lady Gothika chuckled until a tentacle came out and trapped her. "Hey! I didn't order calamari!" she then glared.
A girl with braided hair seemed to be there and had tentacles below her waist while she had arms and a human face on top as she grabbed Lady Gothika and attempted to do the same to Bat-Mite, Superboy, and Thunder Boy.
"Time to operate!" Bat-Mite exclaimed as he drew out a pair of hedge trimmers and revved them like a chainsaw. "Release her or I make you a few dozen pounds lighter!"
"Oh, how interesting... someone put a pig in a Bat costume~" The tentacled girl smirked as she grabbed onto Lady Gothika.
"I'm Bat-Mite and you took the woman I love, admire, respect, and above all love and I don't care if I said that twice," Bat-Mite retorted with a bitter glare. "NOW GIVE HER BACK BEFORE I MAKE SUSHI!"
"Boy please~" The girl scoffed and slapped his hedge trimmers out of his hands with a spare tentacle.
"Okay, I tried being nice," shrugged Bat-Mite as he leapt over and started in on tying the tentacles in a knot. "Now Mr. Nice Guy has left the building!"
The octopus-like girl sneered and attempted to fight Bat-Mite at every corner while Lady Gothika tried to get out of the tentacle she was trapped in.
In the meantime, Woof, the literal Team Mascot was tossed aside by the metal armored hero. The mutated hyena hybrid merely laughed even when he was tackled by the metal hero until Woof threw him in the air and then Woof jumped in the air to tackle him next as the stranger brought out glider wings. Woof then threw him to the ground and began to slash at him with claws until he was struck by a bolt.
"That's not very nice!" Thunder Boy glared as he threw thunderbolts at Woof.
"Hold still so I can pound ya!" Bonk shouted as he threw a trash can.
"Yeah, that's what I'll do." sneered Static as he slashed the can in half.
Meanwhile, Batman was fending off Ghoul, who turned his right hand into a circular saw and began slashing at him. Catwoman hopped down to help out Batman, lashing out her whip as Ghoul glared and swished his blade to slice it into pieces.
"Duck!" Batman told her as he tackled her to the ground as Ghoul sliced a pillar behind them and it came crashing down.
Catwoman and Batman ended up on top of each other and seemed to smirk, though Batman was blushing bashfully while Catwoman seemed more eager.
"Two for the price of one." Ghoul smirked as he brought out his saw hand, making them get up and run off again.
Bonk chased after Static on the ground before turning his hand into a giant hammer and jumped onto Static's saucer and smashed him off of the saucer and Static landed on a car below. Bonk came flying down with his hammer hand only for Static to zap him away. Static jumped back down onto his saucer as Bonk went flying onto another car across the street and Static came right after him.
Lady Gothika looked around, getting ready to fight until a short kid sped all around her, running in circles. "Stop! You're gonna make me sick!" she then complained, unable to get out as the kid sped all around.
"Tough luck, Grandma!" The speedy teen smirked.
"I got 'im!" Bat-Mite exclaimed as he wriggled his fingers and zapped the ground underneath the short kid, turning the pavement beneath him into quicksand. "Bummer for you, Zippy!"
Lady Gothika soon leaned over and was breathing heavily.
"Uh, you okay?" Bat-Mite asked her in concern.
"I'll be fine, just need to sit down for a few minutes if I can..." Lady Gothika replied wheezily since that kid made her feel dizzy.
Bat-Mite picked her up in his arms. "Then by all means," he said. "We can sit once we ditch these yahoos! I get the feeling we better find an exit!"
"I'll say." Lady Gothika replied, quite dazed as her eyes were swirling in her head.
Bonk then approached Static with a grin as he absorbed the static shocks through his hammer hand. In the meantime, the Dee Dees had Batman Beyond tied up in their electrical lasso and shocked him as he screamed out. Superboy saw that and soon saw three trashcans before stacking them up on his head, showing off a bit and then threw them onto the girls' heads.
"Hey! What's the big idea?!" One Dee Dee complained before she tripped over Batman Beyond's body as he stood up and broke himself out of the ropes.
"You shouldn't ought to have done that." The Dee Dees taunted as three sets of a bunch of others came toward him with their lassos, looking very restless, robotic, and overall creepier than regular twins or triplets.
Batman Beyond then flew up in the air with his jet shoes. "We're getting out of here now!" he then told the others.
"Not a chance," insisted Warhawk. "Hold the line!"
"He's right, we're the Justice League!" Wonder Woman agreed as she blocked Chucko's energy blades. "We don't run from a fight!" And then she got knocked back into a wall.
"If this is a pride thing, I might as well say it," said Bat-Mite. "Pride doesn't exactly matter much if you're not alive to enjoy it!"
"I don't remember putting this up for a vote." Batman Beyond nodded as he took out a remote and pushed the button to bring out a portal overhead.
Chucko then tossed his baton at Batman Beyond, causing him to drop the remote and it short-circuited from the energy and electricity. It then crackled and exploded, making the mortal shut before anyone could go in it.
"Keep your head in the game. There's always a way," Green Lantern advised him before calling out to Static. "Virgil! I need some cover."
"Well, at least it's not magic..." Lady Gothika commented. "No offense, but we rely way too much on magic to solve our problems."
"More often than not," said Bat-Mite with a shrug. "Mea culpa!"
Static charged up an energy ball and threw it skyward, casting a massive light burst. When it cleared, the group had taken off.
"They're gone, Dee Dee!" exclaimed one of the Dee Dees.
"Bet I know where they went, Dee Dee," responded another, looking towards a big green maze.
Everyone looked through that way and decided to go that way after the Justice League and Toon Force.
"After 'em!" Bonk commanded the others.
And so the Jokerz escaped through the maze but it was all just an illusion made by none other than The Green Lantern before he took off after the others. "I think we lost 'em." he then told everyone else.
"So where are we going?" Catwoman wondered.
"Yeah, The Watchtower?" Wonder Woman guessed.
"Not exactly." Batman Beyond stated dramatically.
"He reminds me of a certain someone," Lady Gothika smirked at her Batman. "This must be your son."
"Take this seriously." The original Dark Knight told her wearily.
"Heh... who says she's not?" Bat-Mite asked.
They soon met over at a high school so that they could talk about what was happening. Static slammed open the doors and led everyone else inside as the school was rundown and long abandoned with graffiti all over the lockers and rats scurrying around the hallways with flickering lights.
"This is Justice League headquarters?" Batman asked, unimpressed.
"For now," Static replied as he turned on a computer. "We're all that's left of the League."
"What do you mean?" Catwoman wondered.
"You've traveled about 50 years into your future." Batman Beyond explained.
"Last time I saw you, you were too young to drive," commented Jon. "...you look good for a man your age."
"The miracles of modern medicine," said Static. "65 is the new 30."
"And the Watchtower...?" Batman inquired.
"It's gone," Batman Beyond responded. "We lost a lot of good people that day."
"Yeah?" Superboy frowned in concern.
"You mean Superman, J'onn, all the others?" Wonder Woman asked.
"Wonder Twins?" Thunder Boy added.
"Yeah. You too." Warhawk stated as he removed his helmet.
"And the Bat Cave?" Catwoman wondered.
"This is all we have left now," An elderly voice from the shadows replied. "Deal with it."
And from out of those shadows emerged Old Man Bruce Wayne. Batman approached, awed.
"Surprised to see me?" Old Bruce asked.
"A little," responded Batman. "Mostly surprised I lived so long."
"Guess you're too stubborn to die." Thunder Boy commented.
"You have that in common with my father." Lady Gothika smirked.
"Batman, Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne, Batman," Batman Beyond smirked between the two men. "Or have you met?"
"Not now." Both men told him rather firmly.
"Great. What did they used to call it?" Batman Beyond shrugged and went away. "Stereo? I mean even Uma laughs at my jokes half the time when she's in a good mood."
"Who's Uma?" Lady Gothika smirked. "That your girlfriend~"
"Erm... something like that." Batman Beyond said sheepishly.
"This is a little weird for everybody," Warhawk said before shaking Green Lanter's hand and decided to get down to business. "I'm Warhawk. Rex Stewart."
"Your mother. Who is she?" Green Lantern wondered as they shook hands.
"Kind of obvious, don't you think?" Warhawk retorted as he gestured to his wings and having "Hawk" in his name.
"Even if it isn't, leave it be," Batman advised. "You don't wanna know too much about your future."
"Trust me, you really don't." Batman Beyond agreed.
"Shayera was one cranky pregnant lady," Static remarked with a small shrug. "Although, to be fair, if I'd laid an egg that size..."
"He's kidding, Dad," said Warhawk. "Not that I understand why you'd think this is something to joke about."
"Because we already won!" Static responded. "Think about it; if Old Bruce is here, that means he already lived through this as Batman!"
"Flawless logic," scoffed Old Bruce. "Except I don't remember anything of what happened here today."
"Those historical buildings we saw in the street," pointed out Batman. "The timeline's been polluted."
"So polluted that history itself is becoming fluid!" Bat-Mite exclaimed.
"We'd better compare notes." advised Wonder Woman.
Nov 22, 2024"Agreed." Superboy nodded.
MEANWHILE...
A much younger David Clinton was shown with a woman, both looking rather dressed up as they were on a very expensive and luxurious ship. "Enid, I have to say that I'm vexed. Yes, vexed is precisely the word for it." he said to her.
"You shouldn't let yourself get upset, David." Enid advised.
"You're right, dear," David nodded before glancing in front of them to see a certain group. "But here we are."
The Jokerz bowed their head, feeling slightly ashamed of their defeat tonight.
"Now, look at it from my point of view," David continued. "I go to the trouble of taking over the whole city, so I have a nice place to keep my collection."
"And it's a beautiful collection, David." Enid reassured her husband.
"I was gonna say the same thing, boss," Chucko agreed. "For instance, this is a really nice boat. Big."
"Suck-up." The octopus girl scoffed.
"Cthulhu Cunt." Chucko retorted quietly.
"Don't patronize me, Chucko, and especially, don't interrupt me." David told Chucko firmly.
"I'm sorry." Chucko said softly.
"Sorry what?" David prompted and glared at the villainous teenagers. "Everybody?"
"Sorry, Lord Chronos." The Jokerz all said together.
"It doesn't seem right. I go to the future. I get the technology that gives you all your new super-powers. I let you run amuck in my town in return for the occasional security job," David collected and then faced them all again. "And what do you do in return?"
"Um...?" The three Dee Dees all paused in thought.
"Rhetorical," David suddenly told them. "My point is, I give you an easy job: take care of Batman, Wonder Woman, Catwoman, and Green Lantern and their little Toon Force friends. It should have been 10 minutes work."
"But the JLU showed up," Bonk defended. "They got in our way."
"Yes, they did. And the question arises: Who told them where and when our targets would arrive?" David continued. "I mean, I told you. And I only know, because I'm the undisputed master of space and time"
"I'll look into it, Boss," said Chucko. "I'll find out where the leak was."
David smirked. "Don't trouble yourself, Chucko," he replied as he leaned over. "...I already know~" He pressed his belt a few times, and behind him it revealed an image of Batman Beyond handing off a charge card to someone. "Somebody's getting a pay-off... yes, he is~" David crooned as he saw the traitor was, in fact, Chucko. "Chucko, Chucko, Chucko... you've been a very bad clown~"
"Sorry, buddy~" One of the Dee Dees told him ominously as she backed up along with the others, giving David and Chucko some space to themselves.
David grabbed Chucko and then brought him right inside a portal in the time of the dinosaurs and pushed him over a mountain to ensure he couldn't easily get back up and try to fight back. "Enjoy your stay~" he then smirked and disappeared with the portal.
"SHARPTOOTH!" A group of kid dinosaurs screamed as they ran by along with a couple of cave kids.
"What's that?" Chucko wondered before he turned around and saw a giant T-Rex right in front of him which then roared at him once it set its sights on him, but he wasn't afraid. "You think I'm scared? I'll be running this dump in a few y-" he then challenged the velociraptor as he brought his baton back out. However, something was flying right over his head and right down to the ground which was a comet that told Chucko one thing. "Oh, phooey."
And so caused a historical life-changing, Earth-shattering kaboom.
Shortly afterwards, David emerged from the portal. "Do you know what killed the dinosaurs?" he asked.
The Jokerz were befuddled.
"Uh... no...sir?" responded Bonk.
"Well, Chucko does," David hissed. "And unless you want to find out first-hand, you'll go finish off the Justice League."
"And the Toon Force?" The third Dee Dee asked sheepishly.
"Well, of course The Toon Force," David scoffed and explained. "That is, if you want to make sure your parents will be all right where I left them."
"Where are they? Where have you put them?" The third Dee Dee demanded. "My mother is pregnant! You have to tell me!"
"Don't tell me you're backing out of this Jokerz deal already~" David warned. "Maybe she needs a reminder~"
"No! Please, I just want to know they're okay wherever they are." The third Dee Dee begged, almost crying. "Please."
"Oh, careful, Dee Dee, you'll smudge your make-up," David chuckled. "I think you know that's confidential, along with important people in your life that feel like family members when they really aren't."
"Estella was the closest thing I ever had to a sister." The short boy pouted quietly to himself.
"Quiet, guys! He wants this." The braided tentacle girl hissed and reminded them quietly.
"Well?" asked David. "Time. Is. Money. So get to it!"
And on that note, the Jokerz took off since they pretty much had no other choice than to do so.
"Actually, time is the nonspatial continuum in which events occur linearly, usually in the direction of increased entropy, but the clowns seem to relate better to the money thing," David then said before he sat down on the couch and grabbed a hold of Enid and pulled her down onto his lap. "Oh, Enid, look at what I've done. And you always said I wouldn't amount to anything. I guess I showed you~" he then laughed along with her. "Now I've taken over Gotham, which gives me plenty of space to store my antiques. Did you notice I took that stuff out of the garage? You can park there now if you want to."
"Thank you, David. Heh," Enid said with a smile. "David, uh, didn't you tell me it was dangerous to take important things from the past? That it could damage time somehow?" she then asked out of concern.
David narrowed his eyes to that. "Don't you think I can handle it?" he then sneered.
"O-Of course I do," Enid nodded and soon got up and decided to soothe him with a massage. "Dear?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you know what would make me happy?" Enid rhetorically asked before answering her own question. "If you let my mother out of the thing, like you promised. We'll see. Rub my neck."
"It's just that... it seems cruel to keep her there so long." Enid explained calmly.
"Your mother was the one who always said I'd never amount to anything," David suddenly said and then glared sharply. "And you agreed with her. Whatever I do, whatever I accomplish, it'll never be enough for you, will it? I just wanted you to love me! I'm sick of this! I'm sick of you!" he then added before storming off.
"Wait, baby, please. Isn't there anything I can do to make things right?' Enid called out to him.
"I sincerely doubt it." David scoffed coldly in response.
A blue-haired teenage girl was shivering as she was inside of a closet and seemed to overhear everything.
"And you stay out of this if you value your fragile, young life, Pageant Princess Blueberry." David told Evie sternly as he got in her face.
"Yes, sir." Evie whispered with wide eyes looking like a poor mother doe in headlights right before being struck down by a cruel hunter.
BACK AT THE HEADQUARTERS...
"We still don't know much about him," Batman Beyond said as Old Bruce was using the computer to look up data on Chronos. "Obviously he's a time-traveling warlord who's littered the streets with buildings he's stolen from other time periods."
"He's not a warlord," said Wonder Woman. "At least he wasn't at first. When we chased him to the Old West, all he was stealing was historical trinkets."
"Well, looks like he's been moving up," commented Bat-Mite.
"He's causing severe damage to the space/time continuum," Old Bruce told the others as he typed away on the computer. "The degradation is increasing exponentially."
"I've got something. When we were in the Old West, I got a good look at his time belt," Batman informed them as he stepped over and brought out a disc. "I've written a program that should disable it."
"If we can get close enough to upload it." Warhawk remarked.
"If we can get our hands on the belt, maybe we can stop this from happening in the first place," Wonder Woman suggested, though she started to sound funny, almost like she was fading away from existence. "We could even undo the death of your friends..."
"Guys, we've got a Back to the Future on our hands." Thunder Boy told the others.
"How do ya mean, TB?" Superboy asked.
"LOOK!" Thunder Boy pointed out urgently as Wonder Woman was suddenly transparent before disappearing into nothing.
"Diana!" Superboy panicked for one of his motherly figures aside from his own birth mother after finding her after so many years later.
"...she never left the island." said Old Bruce.
"That, or she was never born." responded Batman.
"Time is running out," Batman Beyond commented, as he saw a white wave moving further ahead, sweeping over the ocean.
"Kid, you're not just whistling dixie!" Bat-Mite remarked. "We need to find that Chronos guy, and pronto, before another of us goes toodle-loo!"
"How? Static wondered. "He could be anywhere."
"Sometimes the old ways are best." Batman said as he decided to go out and patrol.
"It's not gonna work," Batman Beyond suggested. "You don't know your way around. A lot of things have changed."
"Are criminals still superstitious and cowardly?" Batman then asked his teenage counterpart.
"No doubt." Superboy replied
"Good enough for me." Batman said, taking that as his cue to get going.
"I'm rather fond of that man~" Catwoman smirked.
"We know." Lady Gothika and Bat-Mite replied.
"By the way, you two, before I go out there, thank you." Batman Beyond said to the two of them.
"Thanking us?" Lady Gothika wondered. "What for?"
"Let's just say you really helped me see who I'm meant to be once I got old enough to find what my career should be." Batman Beyond replied vaguely.
"Ey, no problem, dude!" Bat-Mite beamed. "Glad we could be inspirational."
Batman Beyond smirked and nodded and then went after the older Dark Knight.
"I feel concerned about some of the kids involved with those Jokerz." Lady Gothika remarked.
"Really? How come?" Superboy wondered.
"I don't know," Lady Gothika shrugged. "They just didn't seem all that comfortable about what they were doing."
"You mean like they were being forced?" Bat-Mite queried. "But...if that's the case, maybe there's something we could do to help."
"Yeah, unfortunately I can't be sure, but something about them seemed like a cry for help." Lady Gothika nodded.
"Well, I dunno about that, Cherry, but if you really wanna give them a chance, I guess we'll see what we can do about that." Superboy shrugged.
"I do," Lady Gothika admitted. "They may seem like juvenile delinquents, but I see innocent children being pressured into a life of crime they don't want."
"Then we have to do something, at least," responded Bat-Mite. "At least while the adults are busy. It'll give us something to do."
"Yeah, probably," Lady Gothika nodded. "If they don't mind."
"No, Kitten, do what you must," Catwoman advised. "I wish you a lot of luck and to be careful because those kids seem very dangerous."
"Well, we knew the job was dangerous when we took it," replied Bat-Mite, removing his mask for a bit.
"That's true." Superboy admitted.
"It hasn't been easy, but we gotta do something," Lady Gothika said softly. "It's for the future and this universe overall."
MEANWHILE ON THE ROOFTOP...
"You're supposed to be the real Batman, right?" Ghoul scoffed as he approached the old Caped Crusader. "I mean, the first one. We've seen history cubes about you. Hard to believe somebody stupid as you ever beat The Joker." he then added and smirked.
"Maybe I'm smarter than I look." Batman retorted.
Ghoul grinned darkly and lifted up his arm as his saw hand came down and Batman avoided it. The octopus girl was just about to trap Batman with her tentacles, only for them both to be zapped by Static, sending them down to the ground suddenly.
Ghoul groaned slowly and looked up to see he was in company with the Justice League and Toon Force. "Oh, great." he then grimaced at them.
"Trying knots again?" The octopus girl scoffed and crossed her arms. "Do you even know my name?"
"...Uma?" Batman Beyond whispered as he overheard that.
"Focus," Batman told him, ignoring that for now. "You and your cephalopod sister have some information we need." he demanded to both Ghoul and the octopus girl.
"You won't find me the talkative sort," Ghoul remarked dryly before Batman pulled him to the edge of the roof and dangled him.
"Where's Chronos?" Batman asked. "My arm is getting tired."
Old Bruce scoffed. "I can't believe I was ever that green," he remarked before he tossed Ghoul onto the roof, knocking him into Uma. "...this is how you interrogate someone," he said as he approached them both.
"I remember." Lady Gothika said to him.
"So what made you think it was okay to sass him that one time?" Thunder Boy asked her.
"Eh, I was just acting out because I missed my parents," Lady Gothika defended and admitted. "It hasn't been the same since I came home to visit and Mom showed an interest in her old high school friend."
AND SO...
"And we've got 9,453 active Jokerz organized into about 200 smaller groups," Ghoul suddenly spilled his guts to Old Bruce without skipping a beat. "We don't know where Chronos is. He contacts us."
"Spends every night in a different one of those old buildings," Uma added. "There's no way of knowing ahead of time where he's gonna be."
"And that's everything we know." Ghoul concluded.
"Everything...?" Lady Gothika asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked like a stern mother for a moment.
"I wet my bed until I was 14." Ghoul said.
"I've always wanted my own Seapony!" Uma added.
"Losing my patience." Old Bruce glared as he leaned over them with his cane.
"I can't control my friend here much longer," Batman advised the troublesome teenagers. "You better give us something we can use."
"His wife. I know where his wife is." Ghoul then said.
"Wow. Batman playing good cop." Static commented to Green Lantern, impressed.
"Everything's relative." Green Lantern shrugged.
"Thank you for playing along, Uma, but I'm still baffled," Batman Beyond said before removing his mask to show her a face she could trust and rely on. "Why did you do this Jokerz business?"
"Terry, I'm sorry, but... I had to do it... for Santiago." Uma sighed and explained to him, sounding very quiet and ashamed in contrast to sassy and confident she was when they were fighting.
Terry raised a brow. "...who?" he asked, confused.
"...this conversation doesn't leave us." Uma said before crossing her arms.
"Of course." Terry nodded as he sat down with her.
The Toon Force was about to join in until they were stopped.
"Please, let me talk to her," Terry told them.
The Toon Force looked at each other and then decided to give the two teenagers some privacy.
"So, who is Santiago?" Terry asked Uma.
"...he's a kid I look after sometimes," Uma sighed and admitted. "One day he just came into Mom's restaurant, he said he had money and asked for a burger and fries. I wondered why he was alone, but I was just annoyed that I was needed for the Night Shift when I could've gone to the arcade with Gil and Harry. We just sorta, I dunno, clicked."
"...and let me guess, Chronos threatened to do something to him if you didn't follow along?" asked Terry.
Uma nodded.
"Dang, that sucks..." Terry scoffed. "I'm sorry that happened to you though." he added softly.
"It's not just me though, it's a lot of us kids who live in Auradon Heights." Uma replied.
"What's Auradon?" Superboy wondered.
"Sounds like a Fairy Tale Kingdom." Lady Gothika shrugged.
"Who else is involved?" Terry asked Uma.
"Carlos and Evie last I heard," Uma explained. "I heard Chronos tried to go after Mal and Jay, but no one's seen them so they've probably left town and ran away to Hermie Bing's family circus by now."
Terry quietly clenched his fists. "...whatever we can do to help, we will," he responded.
"I don't know if that's a good idea." Uma warned him.
"Hey, I'm here for ya like Gil and Harry oughta be," Terry advised. "What happened to them?"
"I don't know, I haven't seen them since before the school shutdown," Uma explained. "I sure do miss them, they're very good to me even if Harry wants to 'hook' you if you hurt me in any way, physical, emotional, or verbal."
Terry winced. "...I'll keep that in mind," he responded.
"I'm sorry though," Uma frowned. "About all of this."
"Well, I guess LG was right that you guys were forced into this." Terry said to her softly.
"Yeah, I dunno what got everyone else into this, but I was told to do it for Santiago or else." Uma shrugged and then added.
"Come on, guys," Cherry said suddenly as she came between them. "As strange as this sounds, we have a pyramid to visit."
"...right," nodded Terry. "Let's go. So, are we bringing her?"
"I guess she might as well," Cherry shrugged. "You got a family, kid?" she then asked.
"Yes, but I haven't seen my mother in a while and she doesn't really talk to me..." Uma replied softly and looked dismissive, but pained on the inside as she talked about her mother. "Not unless she needs someone for the night shift or to make a special delivery to Aunt Morgana who takes advantage of family discount."
Lionel grunted under his breath. "...every kid deserves a parent," he muttered. "But not every parent deserves a kid."
"True..." Atticus sighed and nodded.
"My dad's a great guy, but... he doesn't always understand me." Thor said with a bit of a sad smile.
"He didn't really like the news when you came out to them." Cherry agreed softly.
"Uh, are you gay or something?" Uma asked Thor.
"Bisexual actually, but Lionel and I are very close," Thor explained. "Dad was pretty cool with Cherry, but ever since Lionel came to visit for dinner, it's been different, Mom says the worst is over, but we're not really sure."
"No matter what, we'll stick by him." Lionel declared confidently as he got on Thor's shoulder.
"Thanks, man," Thor said with a sad smile as he patted him on the head. "You ever feel that way about anyone, Uma?"
"Yeah, I guess I have." Uma admitted bashfully as she and Terry shared a bashful look with each other.