Infinite DC Journeys: The Gotham Grouchfest

Part Four

It had been hours since Erica had been out of it. Alan carried her to one of the available bedrooms in Wayne Manor and sat bedside, waiting for the moment when she regained consciousness. To pass the time, Alan watched an old video recording – captured on his smartphone – of himself and Candace celebrating his 6th birthday. Candace was behind the camera, whereas little Alan was front and center with his triple-layered, purple-and-yellow birthday cake.

It was a time that he wished he could have gone back to, before his mother's regeneration. Conceivably, he could. He had the TARDIS – a ship capable of traveling anywhere and anytime. He watched his mother operate the controls enough times to know how to fly it. All he had to do was go back to the docks, get into it, and stop the moment Candace was shot to prevent the regeneration.

These thoughts – whether they were flickers of wishful thinking or not – were sideswept as soon as he heard Erica awake with a gasp. "Take it easy," he soothed her. "Everything's O.K."

"Did I really see that...that...thing a second ago?" the uneasy detective asked.

It took Alan a second to realize what "thing" she was talking about. "You mean Elmo?" He chuckled over the circumstance. "Yeah, that...that was something I'm still working on believing myself. But I'll get used to it – and so will you."

She frowned as she detected the calmness in his voice. "You talk like you've been through something like this before. Where are you from, man? Because I'm certain it ain't Gotham or anywhere else on Earth."

Alan momentarily hesitated before he decided to go into a full-blown explanation, not holding back on the details: "I'm from Earth, just not your Earth. Turns out that we live in an infinite number of universes, each one different than the other in some way, no matter how big or small."

"You're talkin' about the multiverse," Erica scoffed. "That don't exist."

"Did you or did you not just see Elmo before yo ass passed out earlier?"

Erica nodded. "Point taken." She then realized, "Wait. Does any of this have to do with that bull you fed me yesterday about your Asian mom being a white lady before she got shot?"

"Yeah," Alan petulantly confirmed. "Her real name is Neas, though most know her as 'The Gladiator of Gallifrey' – Gallifrey being the planet she was born on before she was raised on Earth. In her original body, she went by the name my grandparents gave her: Candace. Now, she goes by 'Sonia'."

Erica got a headache trying to keep up with all of this. "And...you and her...pick up all these weird characters between traveling the multiverse?"

"Sometimes we do," Alan said. "Sometimes they just get lost and we help them get back to where they came from. That's what we're doing for Elmo and the other Sesame Street characters that are here in your world."

"I don't believe this. I mean, I do. It's just... Your Asian mama really was once a white blond woman."

"To be honest," Alan sighed, "I'm not sure if she is my mother anymore."

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Ear to the closed bedroom door, Sonia eavesdropped on the conversation between Alan and Erica, as did Bruce Wayne, Alfred, Mystery Inc., and the Sesame Street friends. When she heard Alan doubting whether or not she was his mother, Sonia was hurt and offended.

Of course, she wasn't the only one affected by certain facets of the conversation.

"Elmo's not a thing," he sniffed. "Elmo's a person."