Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Moon Princess in Gotham ❯ Jewel inside a Butler! ( Chapter 12 )

I don't own Batman or any of the related characters. They are the property of D. C. Comics and Warner Bros. I also don't own Sailor Moon-and if you thought I did, you belong in Arkham Asylum with whoever wrote the script for The Yellow Submarine.

 

Chapter 11: The Jewel Inside A Butler!

Darien Shields looked through the mist at the girl in the white dress. “Help me Tuxedo Mask,” she said to Darien in a voice that seemed familiar and mysterious at the same time. “Find the Rainbow Crystals, please!”

“Who are you?” Darien called out. “Show me your face!”

The girl turned her face to him, but the mist blurred it. “Find the Rainbow Crystals,” she said again.

“Yes, my pupil.” A man with had come up and stood next to the girl. He was tall and muscular. Though Darien couldn't see clearly, he could tell the man was dressed in some kind of black armor. “Only when you find the Rainbow Crystals will you learn who you truly are.”

“Wait!” Darien cried again. “Who are you-!” Suddenly he awoke to find himself in his bedroom in his apartment.

He looked down at his hands. “Am I-am I Tuxedo Mask?” He asked himself. “And who was that girl and that guy in armor? And why did he call me `pupil?'”

He picked up a small star shaped locket that lay next to his bed. As he opened it, a strange tune played. It was the only thing he'd kept from his childhood-it had with him when he'd been found alone and amnesiac all those years ago in Japan.

“How can I find out who they are when I don't even know who I am?”

 

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” Dottie Sparks spoke into an unplugged microphone-her audience only consisted of about thirty people, “welcome to the Gotham Slapboxing Championship Match here at the Thomas Wayne Memorial Clinic!” Dottie stood up on a crate in her usual makeup, wig, and shoes but wore red overalls with white polka dots and a shirt in matching stripes instead of her usual dress. She held a hand to her right. “In this corner,” she waved a gloved hand to her right, “the champion, La Donna de Trueno!” Out from the shadows stepped a tall girl in auguste clown makeup and green-checkered tights underneath a pink tank top and boxer shorts. Her brunette hair was done up twin ponytails and over her hands were two large oversized pink mittens. She held up the mittened hands and shook in adulation.

“And in this corner,” Dottie held a hand to her left, “the Sweetheart of Slapboxing, the challenger, Moonbunny!” Out stepped the young clown who had helped brighten the day of many patients at the clinic. Like Dottie she had on her usual makeup and shoes but wore tights and mittens like La Donna and her blonde ponytails were done up in loops. When the audience clapped to see her come out, Moonbunny blew them kisses.

Moonbunny and La Donna stood facing each other. “All right ladies,” Dottie said, “I wand a good, nice fight. No hitting below the belt, no pulling out mallets, no-.”

BOP! La Donna whacked Dottie across her whiteface with the back of her glove. “Oh I'm sorry!” She turned her face to the audience and winked. Then Moonbunny slapped her across the face. The two clowns began going at each other, with Moonbunny getting knocked down and `crying' into La Donna's face. La Donna apologized and helped her opponent back up only to get slapped again. Suddenly Dottie managed to get to her feet and tried to make the opponents play fair-and got sent down on her butt by both of them.

The skit continued for another five minutes, with the champion knocking down the challenger who kept getting back on her feet, and Dottie the referee kept trying to keep the fight fair, which only got her slapped and knocked down. The patients and doctors watching couldn't get enough. They all laughed as hard as they could-even those hooked up to respirators managed a couple of giggles.

Finally Moonbunny and La Donna decided they couldn't take anymore of Dottie's interfering. They both slapped her across the face and walked out side door.

“Boy, that sure was a lot of fun!” Lita said as she took off the slap boxing gloves. “I'm so glad you asked me to do this with you and Molly, Serena.”

“So am I.” Serena took off her tank top and slid the boxers off of her tights. “I've been wanting to try some of the skits we're doing tonight for a while, but they take three clowns. Melvin refused to do it; there's no way Raye would have gone along, and Ami-well, she just doesn't have a clown in her. But anyone who's known you for a while can see that you do, Lita.”

“I wouldn't want to do this all the time like you and Molly, but if you ever need an extra hand I'm there.” Lita sat down and looked at her face in a hand mirror, amazed that the water Serena had `cried' hadn't smeared her makeup. “Boy, you weren't kidding when you said baby powder makes this stay on,” she said, tracing a finger around the face Serena had painted on her. She touched the red sponge ball on her nose. “I don't know how I'm going to get this off. I thought for sure it wouldn't stay on through the Slapboxing skit but that glue you use really makes it stick!”

“Oh that.” Serena had just finished putting her hair under her pink rabbit-ear and ponytail wig. She reached into her makeup kit and took out a small vial. “This stuff dissolves it.”

“Hey girls.” Molly had just come into the room and walked over to where her usual costume lay.

“Is something the matter Molly?” Serena asked; underneath the clown makeup she could tell her friend was upset about something.

“It's nothing,” Molly said dully, “just a personal matter. Now c'mon, we've got a show to do.”

Serena and Molly quickly changed into the clown dresses they usually wore and added nurses' aprons and put caps on top of their wigs. Lita also changed into an old lady dress with a gray wig and granny glasses-for the next skit La Donna was to be a patient at a nursing home with Moonbunny and Dottie as the nurses watching over her.

 

“You have done well, Zoicite,” Queen Beryl actually smiled at her female General. “You've done much better than either of you predecessors Jadeite and Nephrite so far.”

She's in a good mood, Zoicite though with a wonder. Apparently she considered the loss of the Manbulldog youma to be acceptable.

“Of course, it would be better if we hadn't lost the Manbulldog, but the Silver Imperium Crystal is far more important. We have one of the rainbow crystals so far; now we need to find the others.”

Zoicite held up the black crystal. “Black Crystal, show me the next Rainbow Crystal Carrier!” she called. Light flashed from the crystal and an image of a tall bald man with a thin mustache showed.

 

Molly hadn't shown up at school the next day. Or the day after. At first Serena thought her friend had to be sick, then remembered how gloomy Molly had been when they were performing at the clinic. Something else had to be the matter.

She went straight to Crossroads Junior High's best source of information: Melvin. “Oh, it's probably because today's the anniversary of the day her father disappeared.”

“Her Dad?” Serena remembered seeing pictures of Molly's father at the Baker apartment, but neither Molly nor her mother mentioned him. Serena simply assumed he was dead and remembering how painful her parents' deaths had been for her, didn't ask about him. “What do you mean disappeared?”

“When her parents opened their jewelry store three years ago, they had a really hard time getting it going. A lot of times their costs outweighed their returns and desperate for money, Mr. Baker went to a gangster called either the Pelican or the Puffin or something.”

Serena giggled. “Those could be names for a gangster?”

Melvin shrugged. “This is Gotham City; we have all kinds of weirdoes here. Next to some like the Joker or Scarecrow a mob boss naming himself after some kind of waterfowl doesn't seem so odd. Anyway, this guy agreed to launder money through the jewelry store-.”

“Launder money?” Serena asked. “Why would anyone wash money? Wouldn't the bills just fall apart? And why at a jewelry store?”

Melvin adjusted his glasses and sighed; he couldn't believe what a ditz Serena could be. “Serena, when you launder money, you take money that's been stolen or made illegally and use it to fund a legitimate business-like the OSA*P jewelry store. Do you follow me?” Serena nodded, although she only half-understood. “Things were going alright, until someone ratted out to the police. After being arrested, Mr. Baker made a deal with the D.A.'s office. He agreed to testify and serve time in jail, and in exchange Mrs. Baker would be able to keep the jewelry store. Then one morning the police came to take him to jail and he stepped inside the police car. Two hours later the police car was found with the bodies of the two police officers inside and Mr. Baker was gone. And no one has seen him since.”

“That's-that's terrible! And they don't know if he's alive or dead?” Melvin shook his head. “Then right after school, let's you and me go over to her house and try to cheer her up.”

“Okay, sure!” Melvin said. “I've read a million jokes on the Internet last night; one of them is sure to make her laugh.”

Serena glared at Melvin. “You're not telling any jokes!”

 

“Where is Serena?” Raye grumbled. She, Amy, and Lita were standing just outside the Cherry Hill Shrine where Luna had called a meeting. “It'd be just like her to be late again.”

“Won't get any argument from me.”

All three of the girls looked and saw a young boy standing with his back against one of the courtyard cherry trees. He was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, jeans, and sunglasses-and when he pulled those glasses down they showed a domino mask underneath.

“Robin!” Raye exclaimed, she hadn't seen or heard anyone come into the courtyard. “How did you get in here?”

“You really shouldn't be so surprised when you consider who trained him,” Luna said casually. Actually she had told Dick the night before about the meeting, since Dick-or rather Bruce-wanted to know just what the crystal that emerged from Bullock was and how it had turned the slob of a cop into a youma.

“Oh, Serena told me to tell you all she would be late.” All the others turned to Lita. “Molly had been acting kind of gloomy that night when we were performing at the clinic and she said she would be dropping by her house after school. She should be by after a while though.”

 

Serena and Melvin sat on the floor of Molly's bedroom. Molly was sitting on her bed and staring across the room at a large frame picture of herself as a little girl riding on the shoulders of her father.

Serena looked at her friend and tried to think of something to say, but nothing would come out. At least she'd known what had happened to her own parents. Molly had no idea if her father was dead or had abandoned his family or simply hiding to keep them safe. It had to be nerve wracking.

“Say, you wanna hear a joke?” Melvin began.

Serena grabbed the nerdish boy by the collar of his shirt. “No jokes!”

“It's all right you guys.” Molly sat up on her bed and looked at her friends. “I know you're trying to cheer me up, but this time of year just gets to me.” Suddenly she smiled. “Say, I've got an idea. Why don't we all go to town and grab a bite to eat. Then let's go see that new Sailor V movie, okay!”

 

After ten minutes had passed and Serena still hadn't shown up, Luna decided to go ahead with the meeting. “Okay, I suppose you are wondering all about the rainbow crystals and about what had happened to Detective Bullock the other night, aren't you?”

“I suppose this has something to do with that Moon Princess you told me you were looking for,” Robin said.

“Yes, it does. Or rather with her mother, Queen Serenity,” Luna replied. “It all goes back to before any of the recorded histories you've read; back to a time when the entire solar system was populated with life, and all the planets were governed in peaceful kingdoms-or in several small kingdoms such as Earth The greatest of these kingdoms was on the Moon, ruled by Queen Serenity.

“The evil Queen Beryl sought to rule the entire system, and with dark magic created an army of monsters, the youma. With these youma she attacked each of the planetary kingdoms and laid them to waste. The people who submitted to her she either enslaved or drained their energy to create more youma. The greatest and most deadly of these were the Seven Shadows.

“Finally she attacked the Earth, and one by one the various small kingdoms fell to her until the only one remaining was the island Kingdom of Atlantis. As the Atlanteans had long been friendly with the Moon Kingdom, Queen Serenity sent an army to help defend it. In command of this army was her brother, Prince Enyaw Ecurb, a bold and cunning warrior known as the Dark Knight of the Moon. And entrusted to him was the Moon Kingdom's most powerful weapon and greatest treasure: the Imperium Silver Crystal.

“I can't give any specific details because I was not there, but the battle that followed was horrendous. For eight days the Atlantean and the Moon Armies fought side by side against the Dark Kingdom's hoards three times, with the aid of the Silver Crystal they drove Queen Beryl's minions back. However Atlantis's four Generals Jadeite Nephrite Zoicite and Malachite betrayed their kingdom and allies, Atlantis sunk beneath the waves, and Enyaw Ecurb was mortally wounded. As each of the Seven Shadows surrounded him, Enyaw Ecurb shattered the Imperium Silver Crystal into the seven Rainbow Crystals, and trapped each of the Shadows inside a crystal. And with his dying strength, he sent them far into the future, where they were reborn as humans who carry the crystals but have no memory of their former existence.”

“That explains what happened to Renee's partner the other night,” Lita said. “Detective Bullock must have carried one of those crystals.”

“That's right,” said Luna. “These people could be anyone-a friend, a classmate or even a member of your families. Don't worry about your sister, Lita. If she were a carrier Zoicite would likely have known and gotten it from her that night.” She looked at Robin. “Likewise for him and Batman.”

“That's a relief,” sighed Lita, “but how are we find these carriers?”

“That's where the Crescent Moon Wand comes in,” Luna said.

“The Crescent Moon Wand?” asked Amy.

“I thought is was for turning those monsters back into people.” Lita added.

“That is just one of it's purposes,” Luna said. “It also has a detection system for locating the people who carry Rainbow Crystals.

“Are you sure you should trust Serena with that thing then?” Raye asked. “She's not what you'd really call responsible. “She'll probably use it for a nutcracker or a hammer!”

Robin had a sudden mental image of Serena using the wand to smash open her piggy bank. The thought amused him; Serena never saved enough money to make her piggy bank WORTH smashing. Then he imagined her using the wand to smash HIS piggy bank and wished he hadn't.

“And the wand is more than that,” the cat said again. “It also symbolizes Serena's position as the leader of the Sailor Senshii.”

The last sentence brought out laughs from both Robin and Raye. “Her?” Raye exclaimed. “That ditz couldn't lead sheep.”

“Still, I think the responsibility would be good for her,” Luna said.

“I'm with Luna,” Lita said. “Serena's got the makings of a good leader. She just need to shape up.

“Then how come she isn't here?” Raye asked.

Lita reached inside her jacket and took out the communicator Luna had given her. “Serena, earth to Serena. Come in please.”

Serena's face appeared on the little communicator screen. “What's up, Lita?”

“Well, we're at the meeting and were wondering when you'd be showing up?”

Serena shook her head. “I'm sorry Lita but Melvin, Molly and I are going to go see the new Sailor V movie!”

As soon as she heard those words from Lita's communicator, Luna burst out into sobs.

 

But the three weren't at the movie house. On their way over there they happen to pass by a graveyard and Molly insisted on walking through it by herself. “I'll be back in a couple of minutes!”

As she walked among the stone slabs, Molly thought so many graves for the people who died in this city, and yet my Dad won't ever be among them. Where was her father now? His body had never been found and he only had the suit of clothes with him when the policemen came for him. He couldn't still be alive-she knew her father would never desert his family. Was he secretly buried in cement in some building? Did that mob boss he'd gone to feed him to the leopard seals he was rumored to keep? Had his carcass been ground up and sold as hamburger? (Has some fanfic writer been watching too many episodes of The Sopranos?)

Suddenly she bumped into someone who had been busy placing flowers in front of a mausoleum. “Oh excuse me,” she said, and then noticed the man she'd run into. “You're Mr. Pennyworth! Bruce Wayne's butler!”

“Yes, that is who I am,” the English manservant gave his small smile. “Please, call me Alfred. And you're Molly Baker, Miss Serena's friend, are you not?”

Molly nodded. She then noticed the names inscribed on the mausoleum: Dr. Thomas and Martha Wayne. “These were Mr. Wayne's folks?”

Alfred nodded. “Yes. Every Wednesday I come down here and give their grave some attention.” His smile turned down a little. “I feel it's the least I could do. Dr. Wayne and his wife were more than just my employers-they were also my friends.”

“I heard about what happened to them,” Molly said. “It must have been hard on Mr. Wayne when they got shot.”

“It certainly was,” Alfred agreed. “Losing your family at that age is indeed a terrible thing. Like with your father.” Seeing Molly's shocked look he added, “I read about it in the papers when he disappeared. Very sad.”

“He couldn't have just abandoned me and Mom,” Molly was surprised that she was opening herself to this man, whom she rarely saw except when she visited Serena at Wayne Manor. “He may have done a bad thing by going to that person for money, but he did it for our sake, and he was willing to spend time in jail as long as Mom could keep the jewelry shop. But if he hasn't, then that means he's-.” She stopped, unable to continue.

“If he was the kind of man you say he was, he wouldn't want you to be sad forever, would he?”

“No.”

“When is Molly going to get back here?” Serena sighed as she sat on the bench next to Melvin. “The movie starts in five minutes!”

“Hey Serena, why don't we go to supper after the movie?” Melvin asked. “I know this Chinese place where they make a great Peking Duck!”

“Psst! Serena!” Serena looked to her left and Luna standing among the trees. The cat indicated with her chin that she wanted to talk to Serena.

“Excuse me Melvin, gotta go to the little girls' room!” Serena got up from the bench and walked over to the cat. As soon as she was sure Melvin couldn't see her she whispered, “What is it?”

“It's about the Crescent Moon Wand.” Serena reached into her backpack and took out the said wand. “If you had come to the meeting like you were supposed to-wha-!”

Serena looked at the wand too; the small red ruby underneath the crescent moon was blinking like a Christmas light. “What's going on, Luna?”

“It's the detection system!” Luna exclaimed. “There's a Rainbow Crystal carrier nearby!”

Serena groaned. “Does this mean I have to miss the Sailor V movie?”

 

Molly had never felt so relieved in her life. She'd never been able to talk with anyone about how her father's disappearance had affected her, not even her mother. “Thanks, Mr-uh, Alfred,” she said, remembering to call him by his first name. “You're such a good listener.”

“In my profession, you get a fair amount of practice,” replied the butler.

“Well, in your new line of work, you won't have to do any listening.”

Alfred and Molly both looked up and saw a woman in a gray military style uniform, her blonde hair tied back into a loss ponytail, floating above them.

“And who are you?” Alfred asked casually, as if he saw floating women maybe every third day.

“Just someone who wants something from you,” the woman replied.

“And just what might that be?”

The woman shot her hand forward and in front of it floated a black crystal. “This!”

Serena held the Crescent Moon Wand in front of her as she and Luna raced through the graveyard. The ruby was blinking faster and was now making a strong clicking sound. “The signal is getting stronger!” Luna cried. “The carrier must be close by!”

And sure enough, they came upon the Wayne Mausoleum. “Molly!” Serena cried. “And Alfred!”

Luna started to tell her it was time for her to change but for once Serena was already on it. “MOON PRISM POWER MAKE UP!”

Zoicite had nearly pulled the Rainbow Crystal from her target when all of a sudden she heard a voice call “Stop Right There!”

Zoicite looked where the voice had come from. “Oh, it's you,” she shrugged.

“How dare you violate the sanctity of a graveyard where people have buried their loved ones to rest!” Sailor Moon cried out. “I am Sailor Moon, and in the name of the Moon, I shall punish you!”

“Okay, if you want to play it that way-ZOI!” Zoicite sent a blast of cherry blossoms at the sailor-suited girl, who just barely managed to dodge. Turning back to Alfred she said, “There's a much easier way to deal with this,” and aimed her black crystal back at him.

The black light hit Alfred square in the chest and a purple jewel emerged. The crystal flew out towards Zoicite's hand-…

And was knocked out of the air by a rose.

A caped figure in a tuxedo and top hat stood on top pf the Wayne Mausoleum. “Tuxedo Mask!” Sailor Moon cried out.

“So, the great Tuxedo Mask arrives.” Zoicite cackled sardonically. “I was wondering when I'd meet you.”

“Enough talk. I'm here for the crystal.”

Light swirled around Alfred, then faded. In place of the butler was a creature about the same height but covered with purple-blue scales. Around the edges of it's baldhead grew purple-gold feathers that stretched down it's back into two powerful wings. Its fingers were tipped with birdlike claws and it's legs ended in a bird of prey's talons. The face resembled Alfred's with a longer pointed nose and when it opened its several small pointed teeth glistened.

Zoicite threw back her head and laughed. “I'm afraid you'll have your hands busy with Tengu the Birdman!”

The creature that had been Alfred stretched its wings and flew off into the air. “TENGU!” it screeched. As it hovered it flapped its wings long pointed feathers fell down in a deadly shower. “TENGU!”

 

Robin had left the Cherry Hill shrine and headed for the nearest subway station. He planned to take the subway to Wayne Tower and meet up with Bruce as he left the office. Bruce certainly needed to know what Luna had just told the girls. Idly he wondered if Batman might try to get his hands on one of those crystals himself to use as a bargaining chip with the senshi-and maybe then learn just who they were.

“Uh, Robin?” Robin turned and saw the girl Lita was right behind him.

He lowered his sunglasses, showing the edges of his mask. “Did you just follow me?”

“Yeah.” Now Lita looked nervous. “I kind of want to ask you a favor.”

“What kind of favor?”

“Batman taught you everything you know, right? How you fight, how you're able to sneak up on people without them knowing, how you swing among buildings like through monkey-bars?” Dick nodded-although his acrobat background had him halfway-trained already it was Bruce who figured out the best ways to adapt his skills into fighting maneuvers and how to react without choreographing ahead of time. “Well, I was wondering if you could arrange for him to teach me some of that too-I'd be much more effective against the Dark Kingdom that way.”

“I'll have to talk with him,” Robin replied. “We might be able to arrange somthin-.”

Suddenly Lita's communicator bleeped. “She took it out and a very frightened Serena appeared on the tiny screen. “Lita! You've got to come to the Gotham Memorial Graveyard quickly!” Behind Serena Lita heard what sounded like stone breaking and a screech, “TENGU!”

 

Sailor Moon bleeped off her communicator. She'd wanted to contact Amy and Raye too, but she didn't have time. A barrage of feather-darts had streamed down at her and she clumsily dodged out of the way. “TENGU!” the youma screeched.

Serena saw Molly just standing there, paralyzed with fear. She shouldn't be here, Sailor Moon thought. Then she saw Tengu swoop down at her friend, it's razor sharp finger talons stretched out toward her. “TENGU!”

Just before Tengu reached her, something had grabbed Molly and forced her out of the way behind a gravestone. She looked and saw it was Melvin who had rescued her. Then she noticed his right arm was bleeding.

Robin and Lita had just come into the graveyard. Luna spotted them. “Lita! Robin!” The two looked down at the talking cat. “That monster you see is Alfred Pennyworth-Bruce Wayne's butler! He carried a Rainbow Crystal!”

Robin took off his sunglasses and pulled off his sweatshirt-he was wearing his costume underneath. “I've got to go in,” he said as he removed his cape from the sweatshirt's hood and attached it to his back.

“But you can't do anything to that creature!” Luna cried.

“Maybe not, but I sure can distract it.”

As Robin ran off, Luna turned to Lita. “We need Sailor Jupiter!”

Lita nodded and held up her transformation pen. “JUPITER POWER MAKE UP!”

 

Sailor Moon sighted with relief as she saw Molly was safe for the moment-then saw the bird-youma coming straight for her. “TENGU!”

Sailor Moon cringed as the youma came at her-and was lifted off her feet. “Wha-!” she said as she saw it was Robin who had swung down from out of nowhere and had grabbed her. “How did you-?”

“No time to explain.” Robin pressed a button that cut his grapnel line and they fell to the ground. Robin took a few paces from his sister and shouted. “Hey buzzard face!” The hovering Tengu turned its head to the Boy Wonder. “Why waste your time with a clumsy meatball head like her? Why not try for a Robin instead?”

“TENGU!” The youma swooped down at Robin, who, bracing himself, leaped just before it could touch him. Quickly he managed to fire his grapnel into a tree and wrap the other end around Tengu's legs. The youma flew up and squawked as it couldn't go any further.

Sailor Jupiter came out to where Sailor Moon and Robin were. She looked up and saw the tethered youma pulling its bond. “JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!”

The youma screamed as it took the electric barrage. “JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!” The second jolt of lightning caused Tengu to go limp and it floated to the ground.

Sailor Moon whipped out the Crescent Moon Wand. “MOON HEALING ACTIVATION!” she cried. Tengu blurred and faded; leaving Alfred Pennyworth lying down on the ground, his legs still tied up by Robin's grapnel.

Zoicite ground her teeth as she watched the fight. Another of the Seven Shadows was lost to her. “At least I can still bring that other crystal-WHAT?!”

She looked down to see Tuxedo Mask smiling and waving the purple crystal. “I've got the second crystal!” Zoicite angrily grimaced as she prepared to blast him, but suddenly a burst of smoke appeared around Tuxedo Mask. When the smoke cleared he was gone.

Zoicite shook her head as she disappeared in a swirl of cherry blossoms. Queen Beryl was not going to be happy about this at all.

Sailor Moon ran over to where Tuxedo Mask had been, but saw no sign him anywhere. She looked down and saw a star-shaped piece of metal. She picked it up. A locket?

Alfred Pennyworth came to. He looked around and saw a bunch of the tombstone had been smashed or defaced, although the Wayne Mausoleum and been spared. Then he saw his own legs were tied up by what appeared to be one of Master Bruce or Dick's grapnels. What had just happened?

 

Alfred had just dropped Melvin off at his house and now was driving over to where Molly lived. Serena and Molly were in the back seat of the Bentley talking to each other.

“You know, I'm not going to let Dad's disappearance get to me anymore,” Molly said. “He sacrificed everything he could for me and Mom so we could have a good life, and even though he's gone, I know somewhere he's still watching over me.”

Alfred parked the Bentley by the OSA*P jewelry store. “Here we are at your place, Miss. Baker.”

“Thanks, Alfred!” Molly stepped out of the Bentley and smiled at Alfred. “It was great talking to you. Mr. Wayne sure is lucky to have you around!”

As Alfred drove away, he thought about what Serena and Molly had told him when he came to. They said that floating woman had turned him into some kind of monster, but that Sailor Moon, Robin, and Sailor Jupiter had appeared and managed to turn him back into his old self. Master Bruce will certainly want to know about this, Alfred thought. I just hope he doesn't take the cost of fixing those tombstones out of my salary.

Alfred then heard some strange tune coming from the back seat. Looking into the driving mirror, he saw Serena with an open star shaped locket that was the source of the tune. “That locket, Miss Serena,” he said, “I've never seen it among your effects before. Was that a gift from someone?”

Serena nodded. “Yes Alfred.” She looked at the locket; she had added a picture to the lid. It was the night of her first performance as Moonbunny. She was standing in full makeup and costume with her parents right behind her. Also behind her and to her right was Dick holding up a sign with an arrow pointing at her and the words MEATBALL HEAD. “From long ago.”

“Here we are.” Robin took the blindfold off Sailor Jupiter.

She looked around. They were in a large and dark cavern, stretching out farther than she could see. Off to her left on a turntable leading to a bridge to an exit was the Batmobile. Tied to a small dock in the stream below was the Batboat. And only a short walk away was a large computer. And all around bats were flying.

“I can't believe it,” Sailor Jupiter exclaimed. “I'm actually in the Batcave!”

“Here, we just call it the Cave.” Robin and Sailor Jupiter both started to see Batman step out from the shadows. “Robin tells me you wish to be my student.”

Sailor Jupiter nodded. “Yes. I want to learn how you fight, how you sneak up on people and keep them from sneaking up on you.”

“Robin still needs to work on that last one,” and Robin blushed under his mask, “although where swinging on a rope or aerial tricks are concerned he surpasses me.” The eye slits in Batman's cowl actually seemed to narrow as he stared at the senshi. “Are you prepared to work harder at this than you ever have for anything in your life?” Sailor Jupiter nodded again. “Are you willing to push yourself as far as your body allows? To occasionally go even farther?”

“Yes.”

“Then first you must de-transform.” At Sailor Jupiter's shocked look, Batman went on, “If you train at your normal strength and stamina, your abilities will be greatly enhanced when you become Sailor Jupiter, making you that much more effective.”

“But that would show you who I-!”

“I already know who you are, Lita Montoya.”

End of chapter eleven

Okay, how did you like that chapter?

The next Rainbow Crystal carrier is that D. C. hero I talked about earlier. He's someone who has no powers of his own, but has something that will at first protect him from Zoicite's crystal at first. And the first half of his name is also the color of the jewel he carries inside him. (Plus he's not the version you've seen on Justice League, but the one years earlier on Super Friends)

Now Lita begins her training under Batman. How good a student do you think she will be?

That Atlantis mentioned in this chapter is the very same one now ruled over by King Arthur I, AKA Aquaman. And Endymion was a prince of Atlantis. Want to see any conections explored? (And am I the only one who's noticed that his name is Arthur and he's a king?)

In the next chapter you'll see Barbara Gordon-not as Batgirl, but simply a friend and classmate of Dick's. And when Tuxedo Mask looks at her he gets this strange feeling…