The two ships returned to Beyond City’s shipyards. Everyone departed the ships and were greeted with cheers when the crowd met them. Batman shook hands with Gandalf and they both introduced Wonder Woman and Galadriel to one another. The Elf and Amazon seemed to hit it off. “That rope compels anyone to tell the truth?” Galadriel asked Wonder Woman.
“A gift from the gods of my people,” replied Wonder Woman. “Unfortunately, it’s considered a polygraph and any evidence taken from that won’t be admissible in court.”
“…Sounds rather counterintuitive.”
“Sadly, can’t change a man’s mind that easily, especially when they’re in charge of more than half the world.”
“That IS true.”
As the Elf Lady and Amazon Princess spoke, Batman and Gandalf shook hands. “Thanks for joining up again,” said Batman.
“My pleasure, Mr. Wayne,” replied Gandalf. “So, you and Wonder Woman married and had a child.”
“Persephone, the current Robin.”
“How big IS your family, just out of curiosity?”
“The biggest in Gotham. Gotta say, I think I prefer you in gray robes.”
“I’d feel better if I had my hat, but the only color they had was gray instead of blue.”
Death grinned as she found Bounty. The two Horsemen hugged each other tightly. “It’s been too long!” whispered Death.
“So Vortech’s been beaten, I hear,” said Bounty. “Chaos has been avenged.”
“We had to find a new Chaos quickly, though. Frankly, a little too quickly.”
“Let me guess, it’s someone from the Thanatos line in that universe where everyone has yellow skin and an overbite.”
“She doesn’t look like that anymore.”
“Really?”
“Really. In fact, here she is now.” Lacey arrived and bowed her head to Bounty.
“Welcome home, Bounty,” she said.
“And what was your name, Chaos?” asked Bounty.
“Oh, I still go by my usual name. I’m Lacey Thanatos Atmadja.”
“Really?” Bounty grinned. “You’ve settled in well as the new Chaos.”
“Big shoes to fill.”
“You wear them well.”
“Ah, Lacey, there you are!” called Anansi’s voice. “I just need to-” Anansi stopped when he saw Bounty.
“Of course. The spider has to be involved in the behind-the-scenes work!”
“YOU?!” yelped Anansi. “Lacey, please tell me you aren’t bringing the Horsemen of Flourishment here! PLEASE tell me that!”
“Well, yes. We’ve updated the security of this universe, so we’re bringing them here.”
“If you and your friends had half the sense you pretend to have, you’d get them out of here at once and leave their Sources here! If you like,” Anansi then turned into a giant spider, “I’d be more than pleased to expedite their departure!” Bounty raised her hands as if she were going to fling fireballs.
“Hold on, no one’s leaving!” protested Lacey as she got between them.
“Their presence here,” urged Anansi, “is the biggest security risk!”
“That’s not your decision to make!”
“ANANSI!” called Richard. The spider looked at Richard. “We said we’d get the Sources of Flourishment here, that also included their respective Horsemen. Why didn’t you raise any objections when Life was brought here?”
“Life’s here too?!” asked Bounty.
“She’s at our mansion right now,” explained Lacey. “I can-” Bounty then breezed past Lacey and Anansi in the general direction of the Horsemen’s mansion. “…I guess not.”
“Lacey,” said Anansi as he returned to his human-ish shape, “I REALLY urge you to get her out of here.”
“Your advice is noted, Trickster,” replied Lacey. She then left Anansi to his thoughts.
As he was being congratulated, Richard noticed something odd. “…Somebody’s missing,” he muttered.
“What’s that, Daddy?” asked Kaitlyn.
“I said somebody’s missing.” Kaitlyn then looked around.
“…Where’s Mom?”
“That’s who’s missing!”
“Someone asking for Mama?” asked Kaede as she strolled up.
“Kaede, where’s your mother?” quizzed Richard.
“She’s back home, talking on the phone with Ms. Nonsu.”
“That’s my old boss’s secretary. What does she want with her?”
“Actually, she wanted to talk to you personally.”
“Me?” Richard was a little worried now. “Let’s get home then.” They took Kaede’s car and made their way home. Richard then dashed into the house and found Megumi on the house phone.
“Ah!” she said to the caller. “The man you want to talk to has just arrived.” Megumi then handed the phone to Richard. “Ms. Nonsu for the man of the house,” she said.
“Thank you,” replied Richard as he took the phone. He then spoke to the caller. “Hello, Ms. Nonsu. How are you today? …That’s good to hear. …Oh, I’m fine as well. Just saved a universe as usual. …Yes, I’d like to know why you called. …Oh, that rat’s fired? Good riddance. So, who’s your-? …YOU?! You’re in charge of MNN?! That’s wonderful! …Hold on, that means you need a- …Oh, you have one in-? …ME?! But I was-! …That’s three times what I was-! …Well, if you REALLY think I’m worth that much…all right, I accept! When can I get the additional training? …Well, I just finished a mission and teams without me will be saving other universes for the foreseeable future. …Wednesday morning, it is, then! See you then! Bye bye!” Richard hung up, then punched the air! “HEAD ANCHOR, BABY!” he cheered.
“I had a feeling your luck would turn for the better,” chuckled Megumi.
“Daddy, did MNN rehire you?” asked Kaitlyn. Lisa then came into the room.
“What’s going on?” she quizzed.
“My dears, the matriarch of the house already knew about the details, so it pleases me to fill the rest of you in,” said Richard. “MNN’s board of directors were a bit alarmed at their station’s sudden change from actual news to Khan-centric propaganda, so they went down to the station and fired all of Khan’s supporters and had Ms. Nonsu take over as the one running the place. She hired some new people, even an anchor to fill my old timeslot. The reason for that is because she wants me to be trained as Head Anchor for MNN and, in her words, ‘put MNN’s fact-checking abilities back on track’. This new job comes with a salary triple to what I used to make. To sum up, the one man in this house…is back among the working crowd.”
“And with Ms. Nonsu at the helm, MNN will be the shining example of news broadcasting it once was!” cheered Megumi.
“Thank you all for your help,” continued Richard. “I don’t know what I did to deserve this family, but I thank whatever gods are out there that we’re together now.”
“Well, Emily DID kind of get a bit pushy.”
“Don’t tell her that, she’s got a big enough head as it is.” Richard and Megumi then wrapped each other in a hug and kissed. Kaede opened her mouth to object to how blatant they were being, but Kaitlyn put her hand on her sister’s shoulder, shaking her head and pulling her out of the room.
