All My Toys: Mother Has Arrived

Dear Diary,

Life is truly but a dream. My daughter is alive. I have been enjoying this time with Yvie so much. We have been reunited for nearly a month now. We have been experiencing so many wonderful things together. She loves bubble gum ice cream as much as I do. This makes me so proud. She smiles more. But I know there are hidden scars underneath those smiles. It worries me. Bruce and I have been creating the family life we have wanted. I am still not sure what that means for Bruce and myself, but I do love him. I feel it growing more and more each day. However what is most important right now is figuring out what has happened to her. How did she survive the explosion all those years ago? What happened to her wings? Who was taking care of her? I just want to make sure she is all right.

-Miss M

All My Toys

Mother Has Arrived

Miss M: Deanna, I can't thank you enough for coming here and working with Yvie.
Deanna: Of course. She is a lovely little girl. Our sessions have been coming along delightfully.
Miss M: I wanted to talk to you about that. Bruce and I are worried about her, and what she went through. Can you enlighten us at all about what happened to her?

Deanna: Certainly. Most of our sessions have mainly involved play. Yvie is a bright little girl. At times she has verbally discussed a few things, I like to think of them as bursts of memories. They don't last very long. However when she is having those bursts, I sense a great deal of stress in her. Almost like terror.

Miss M: Terror? What do you mean?
Deanna: My understanding is that someone, I do not know a name, but she is a woman in a dark robe, this woman was in charge of her. I don't know how else to describe this, but it seems like this woman tortured her.

Bruce Wayne: Tortured her? In what way?

Deanna: Well you both told me that Yvie had been born with wings. Those wings are now gone. I do not believe they fell off or were changed in some way. They were violently removed. And from the scars you have described, it is as if they were cut. Yvie has also drawn pictures of giant shears.
Miss M: I don't know what any of this means? Why would someone do this to a child?
Deanna: I am not entirely sure. I do feel it is best though that we treat this matter very carefully. Yvie becomes... well... she becomes quite distressed when she experiences these painful memories.

Miss M: Bruce? What happened to her?
Bruce Wayne: I don't know. We will find out though. We will keep figuring this out.

Deanna: I will return in a few days for the next session. I think you are both doing a wonderful job as parents. She loves you both so much, I can sense it in her thoughts very clearly.

Miss M: Thank you Deanna. We will see you soon.

Miss M: Bruce. What do we do?
Bruce Wayne: We just keep loving her. Being there for her.

Miss M: What if that is not enough? What if the love we have for her is not enough?
Bruce Wayne: Hey now. I am supposed to be the gloomy one. We have both faced threats unimaginable and we have survived. You have died and come back, what, twice now?

Miss M: Technically only once. The most recent time was a misunderstanding.

Bruce Wayne: We just need to get you a Jean Grey punch card. Your 5th death and resurrection gets you a free scoop of bubble gum ice cream. (pauses) That was my attempt at humor.

Miss M: Yes. Funny indeed. Oh Chewie! You must be back from your walk. Did you go easy on Alfred?
Chewie: Woof!
Bruce Wayne: Hey boy. Yvie is in the playroom.

Chewie: Woof! Woof!

Yvie: Chewie! Yay! Come here boy!

Miss M: Aww. I love that they look out for each other.
Bruce Wayne: They did bond very quickly. Are you ok?
Miss M: I think so. I just want to make sure Yvie is ok.

Yvie: Ok now don't eat my clay project this time, ok Chewie? You'll get a tummy ache.
Chewie: Woof! Woof!

Miss M: Look at us. We're one big family now. Did you ever think you'd experience that?
Bruce Wayne: Honestly, no. I always assumed I'd be alone. It was always safer that way.
Miss M: Well here we are.
Bruce Wayne: Ya know, I think we need to talk about what is going on between us...

Alfred: Ahem. Master Bruce and Miss M, am I interrupting?

Miss M: No Alfred, you are fine.
Bruce Wayne: Yes. Nothing to see here.
Miss M: How was the walk with Chewie?

Alfred: Miss M, Chewie is quite the lively little pooch. I am actually here though because you have a guest. I shall bring her to you miss.

Miss M: A guest?
Bruce Wayne: Were you expecting someone?
Miss M: I don't think so.

Bruce Wayne: Maybe it is someone from your super hero team.
Miss M: Maybe. Bruce, we do need to talk. Ever since coming back I have begun feeling...
???: Excuse me! I hate to be a bother...

Miss M: (gasps) Oh dear. 

Bruce Wayne: Who is this?

Miss M: That's Cruella.

Cruella: Oh now now, don't be so formal. After all, you can simply call me mother.

Across town...

Billy: Frankenberry, it is nice to see you. Now, what can I do for you?

Frankenberry: I need your help and I figured your team of unnamed heroes would be just the group to fix this.

Billy: Fix what exactly?

Frankenberry: Something has happened to Count Chocula and no one seems to be talking about it. The man in office masquerading as President Chocula is not the real Chocula! We have proof.

Billy: What kind of proof? We have been trying to prove this for months but have been unable to turn up anything.

Frankenberry: The other monsters and myself have photos, cereal boxes, journals! We have so much to prove that something very bad has happened to the real Count Chocula. We have to work together on this. We must make it all right.

Billy: Ok. Here's what we will do. Gather your friends. Come here with everything you have and we will work on a plan. We will make this work, I promise you.

Downstairs...

Oola: I just can't sleep. Why do you want to know more?
Glitter: Because you are a part of a team and this team needs you. We have important matters to attend to. We have a giant giraffe we are trying to keep safe from a madman.
Brian Farrell: We are also trying to deal with Cobra and a corrupt government. It sucks that you can't sleep but you can talk to us.
Oola: There is nothing to talk about!

Brian Farrell: Would it be helpful if I got us some sour Sloths to eat?
Oola: What? No. I don't need any sour candy.
Brian Farrell: I mean sometimes sour candy makes things better.

Oola: Nothing can make this better! Don't you understand? I am not even supposed to be here! When I saw those people dressed as Jabba the Hutt at that Conference of Evil I was thrown back to a time when I was nothing more than a slave. Chained to a monster for his perverse pleasures. Now I am trying to carve out some form of a life for myself and I don't know that I can. I don't belong here. I don't belong anywhere.

Glitter: But that is not true Oola. You are a valuable member to this group. You strive for justice. You believe in empowerment and have become a warrior.

Oola: I may be those things, but ultimately I will be nothing more than a piece of flesh forever tied to a monster. I am not meant to be alive.

Oola: It is only by a fluke, a weird break from reality that this life of mine is even having the chance it has now. I am not supposed to be here. (Oola storms off)

Brian Farrell: Should we go after her? 

Glitter: I am not sure. My processing unit is calculating different outcomes based on our actions in this moment. I fear we will do no good to her right now.

Brian Farrell: We have to do something though my sweet. She's one of us.

Glitter: I am thinking of something. Something that will help her feel less alone.

Back at Wayne Manor...

Cruella de Vil: My dear daughter, look at you. Living in a mansion. You've changed a lot from those days when I'd drag you to debutante balls while you were screaming that you just wanted to be in your room with comics. I am so proud of you and your come up.

Miss M: There's nothing to be proud of mom. I still read comics and I do not live here. I am merely staying here as a guest.
Bruce Wayne: Which is not entirely true. This can be your home.
Miss M: Bruce! Not now.

Bruce Wayne: Ok, not now. But help me understand, you were a debutante?

Cruella de Vil: A would-be debutante. My daughter fought that title tooth and nail. She also looked very different in those days. The good old days.
Miss M: Maybe for you mother, but not for me.
Cruella de Vil: You seem to be doing just fine for yourself.
Miss M: Mother, why are you here?

Cruella de Vil: My dear, what kind of mother would I be if I did not come for a visit after finding out you were still alive?

Miss M: Was this suppsoed to be the first or second time I was thought to be dead?
Bruce Wayne: Maybe the nice thing is that she is here now?

Miss M: Not now Bruce! Tell me mother, where were you when I died in that sewer explosion nearly five years ago?
Cruella de Vil: Well I mean it was a bit odd that you died in a dank sewer. How does one respond to that? I was busy though.
Miss M: I see. Busy with the fashion elite in Milan? Or was there a Fashion Week going on somewhere that had your name on a front row seat?
Cruella de Vil: I visited your grave! Besides, here you are now! Why do you want to dwell on the past?

Chewie: Woof! Grr.

Cruella de Vil: My goodness, who is this cute precious little beastie. I've never seen a pink poodle before. How exquisite.

Miss M: That is Chewie and this is your granddaughter Yvie.
Bruce Wayne: M and I have a daughter together.

Cruella de Vil: My goodness, you truly are a smart girl aren't you? And here I thought your future would consist of comics and bad food choices. I am proud of you. (looks down at Yvie) As for you, aren't you a quaint little thing?

Miss M: Yvie, this is your grandmother. Now, before we spend some time with her why don't you go play with Chewie. I need to talk with your grandmother privately.
Yvie: Ok!
Bruce Wayne: Are you ok M?
Miss M: Yes. (walks into the other room)

Cruella de Vil: I do think it is great we talk privately. I am not sure I want to be called grandmother. We might need to come up with a different name.
Miss M: We're alone now, no need to play games. Why are you here?

Cruella de Vil: I told you. I wanted to see my daughter!
Miss M: You expect me to believe that? After everything you have done to me? It's been years mother! Years!

Cruella de Vil: Look my dear, I know I have not been the best mother. I made sacrifices. It was all for you though. I wanted you to have a better life.

Miss M: My life is just fine. I don't need you here.

Cruella de Vil: I want to be here though. I've made a lot of mistakes M, but I am still your mother. Let me have a chance to make up for all the unpleasantness.
Miss M: (sighs) I don't even know what to say.

Cruella de Vil: You could say yes. You could say that you want to try. You always had a nicer heart than me. Full of love and goodness.

Miss M: Mother...

Cruella de Vil: I'll let you think about it. I am staying at the Four Seasons. I will await your call, and if I hear nothing I will leave.
Bruce Wayne: Wait one second. As nice as the Four Seasons is you are more than welcome to stay here in my home. You are family. I may not know what has happened between you two but family is important.

Cruella de Vil: My goodness Bruce Wayne. What a gentleman. I can see why my daughter loves you.
Bruce Wayne: Excuse me?
Cruella de Vil: There is much for me to catch up on with M, but I know her. I know when her heart is a aflutter.

Bruce Wayne: Very well. If you say so. I can have Alfred prepare a room for you. Some of our rooms are a bit bare but we have been purchasing more furniture and things since the remodeling was complete.

Miss M: Bruce. What are you doing?

Cruella de Vil: He's being hospitable dear.

Cruella de Vil: Oh how lovely. I'll go retrive my things now. I am just thrilled. I am going to be getting to know my daughter and her new family. How lovely.
Miss M: Yes. Lovely.

Cruella saunters out of the mansion.

Bruce Wayne: You ok?

Miss M: No. I am not. You just invited my mother to stay here and you did not even ask me.
Bruce Wayne: I know and I am sorry for that but it felt like the right thing to do. That is your mom. Besides I can just put her in a wing on the other side of the mansion, she won't even have to interact with you much.
Miss M: Bruce, you don't know what she is capable of.
Bruce Wayne: Maybe so. But she is still your mom. I am not trying to guilt you but I don't have my parents. Call me crazy for being a bit sentimental and wanting to have some kind of familial ties with our daughter.

Miss M: This is a familial tie you do not want.
Bruce Wayne: Ok. So tell me. What is so bad about her? Besides her sending you to debutante balls?

Miss M: Oh Bruce. I don't even know where to begin. We had very humble beginnings. My parents were struggling to survive. My dad had put everything he could into his own business and my mom was a seamstress for the wealthy people in town. Somehow she ended up coming into money. A lot of money. She started her own fashion empire. A global brand. My dad's business skyrocketed too. We went from living in a small apartment to a glamorous house. My parents put me in this private school when I was young. I was surrounded by all these rich kids and I just felt out of place. I was a dork. I liked playing with my Barbie dolls and reading comics. I just couldn't fit in with the kids at Cheshire Academy.

Bruce Wayne: You went to Cheshire Academy? I was there too. I wonder if we ever crossed paths?

Miss M: Maybe we did, but I did not end up staying there long. My mother had been involved in a financial mess involving stolen money. My father took the fall for her and went to jail. To avoid the embarrassment and find a way to thrive she sent me to live with other family members. I went back to a normal life while she jet set herself across the world with her fashion empire. She's never really been in my life, but when she does come into my life, it is because she wants something.

Bruce Wayne: I am sorry M. I did not know. I can ask her to leave.
Miss M: No. You've already invited her to stay. I just hope it will be a short visit.
Bruce Wayne: What about your dad?
Miss M: He got out early. I mean with everything happening now with the prisons shutting down he would have been free regardless but he served his time and got out. They are still married but rarely see each other. He focuses on his work and maybe gives me a call here and there.
Bruce Wayne: Well I am here for you now. I am your family. Yvie and Chewie too. Oh and Alfred. Can't forget about him.
Miss M: Thank you Bruce. Poor Alfred. My mother is going to drive him insane.
Bruce Wayne: We'll get through it.

Across town at the police station...

Commissioner Gordon: Now what the hell was I supposed to do?

Commissioner Gordon: (startled) Oh excuse me. Can I help you?
Barbarocious: Of course you can. Are you the Commissioner?

Commissioner Gordon: I am, yes. Do you need help?

Barbarocious: You are a hard man to track down. I need your help looking for someone. Her name is Moth Lady. And I believe you know where she might be. In one of your jails perhaps?

Commissioner Gordon: I am afraid that since President Chocula made the executive order to close down all prisons and jails I do not have anyone held at this station.

Barbarocious: Is that so? Any idea on where those who were held here might be?

Commissioner Gordon: Sorry ma'am. I wouldn't be able to give away that information. (stammers) I have to get to a meeting, have a good day.

Barbarocious: Yes. Good day indeed.

Dragon Queen: Did you find anything out?
Barbarocious: No. But he knows something.

Dragon Queen: What do we do now?
Barbarocious: We wait. I firmly believe he still has Moth Lady.

Dragon Queen: But all the prisons and jails are empty. Why would he still have her locked up?

Barbarocious: Very simple. He's working with someone. They have her. Come on now, we are going to find her. I want my little pet back.
Dragon Queen: Fine. Let's hurry though. This has been going on for far too long.

Back at Wayne Manor...

Cruella de Vil: My goodness Sour Grapes was right. I am thrilled that I listened to her and came to town for this.

Cruella de Vil: That rare pink poodle is just divine...

Cruella de Vil: And he is going to make quite the ensemble for my 2019 Spring collection.

To be continued!