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Act VII ------
"Twenty-seven seconds," Alfred announced as Derek completed the course for the eighteenth time.
The six children and the elderly butler had been in the now-eerily-quiet Watch Tower for the past seven hours and they were just now getting to the point they needed to be at. The quickest of them had finished in 22 seconds only 30 minutes ago. Derek had been the last to complete their goal.
"Now can we break for dinner?" Lisa asked. "It takes a lot of energy to run as fast as I do."
"You sound remarkably like your father, Miss." Alfred stated, leading the kids out of the training area. When they had reached the kitchen, the six sat down at the table and he started cooking.
"Hey, Alfred?" Michael called, from his place between Mattie and an empty chair.
"Yes?"
"What are our parents really like?" Superman's son wondered. "I mean, it's like they have these whole other lives that we're not apart of."
"You are as much apart of their lives as heroes as you are apart of their lives as civilians." Alfred stated, smiling to himself as he started chopping vegetables. "They fight to make the world a better place for you."
After a long, quiet moment, Ara spoke up. "Can you still tell us about them? It'd be nice to know how they act from your point of view."
"I'd be honored to, Miss Ara." He replied. "Mrs. Stewart, in my opinion, can be a bit brash and slightly hot-tempered, but she'd do anything for her friends. She's had her share of... disagreements... with the others, but she always came back. The love she shares with the Green Lantern of our quadrant was something neither of them could ever deny for long. Master Stewart, while stern and strict on the outside, actually has quite a jovial streak in him now. I judge that Master West has had something to do with that. He always has been rather good-humored. When he was younger, Master West was extremely impatient, but his time with the League has helped him grow quite a bit."
"My dad? I don't think I've ever heard him crack a joke." Lisa stated, disbelievingly. "Are you sure we're talking about the same guy?"
"Well, I suppose he takes a different role with his family. In the League, he's more of the 'younger brother'." Alfred responded, adding the carrots to his stew. "Which brings me to Mrs. Adams. If Master West is their younger brother, she is most definitely their younger sister. When she first joined the team, she was quite the party animal. She's sarcastic, fun-loving, and adaptable; the complete reverse of Master Adams. Captain Atom has always been stern and set in his ways. Needless to say, we all learned the meaning of 'opposites attract' when they announced their engagement."
"I always thought Supergirl had blonde hair?" Derek asked. "My mom has brown hair."
Alfred smiled. "Mrs. Adams learned how to keep a secret identity from the best." He turned on started adding spices to the almost finished stew. "Master Clark has always felt it necessary to keep his real name a secret to protect his family. He is an overly-caring person. Everything you would want in a man can be found in him. Once, we thought him to be dead and the entire planet went into mourning. It really was rather amazing that one man could have touched so many lives."
Alfred began pouring the food into bowls for the children. He put one in front of each of them before getting one for himself. "Mrs. Wayne, as you may have figured out, is the princess of Themiscyra and comes with all of the characteristics befitting royalty. She is noble, out-going, caring, and has the stubbornness of Batman himself; especially when it comes to dealing with Batman." He smiled fondly. "From the moment I met her I thought she was a good influence on him. Master Bruce has always been rather dark and intimidating. Even now, after so many years of being married with four children, he continues to be his unemotional old self when he's in his uniform."
"Man, it sounds like you're talking about another person altogether, not our dad." Tommy said.
"I assure you, it's your father." Alfred stated, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
"Well, Alfred, when do we go after our parents?" Michael asked after a moment.
"Soon, Master Michael." Alfred replied. "Very soon."
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Act VIII ------
After they had come back through the transporter, Alfred instructed them to prepare to leave while he readied a plane. Tommy, Michael, and Ara had went to see if they could help him, Derek and Lisa seemed content watching TV, and Mattie went to talk to the younger children.
When she entered the playroom, the newly proclaimed Marvel Gal called the four little kids to her.
"Guys, me and the others are going to have to go soon." Mattie stated.
"Why?" Kyle asked.
"We're going to go save our parents." She replied.
"Why?" Carrie wondered.
"Because all of the other adults are too lazy to help us." The older girl said, sounding very bitter.
"Why?" Kyle asked again.
"I'm not in the mood to play, guys." Mattie said. "I need you four to promise you'll behave while we're gone, okay? This is really important."
"We promise," the older two of the four responded. Andrea and Joey weren't even looking up from their toy town, so no answer could really be expected from them.
Mattie hugged each of them before going back out of the playroom. She lingered a moment at the door, silently watching them play, before disappearing out into the hall. She went over to a wall, leaned against it for a moment, then sunk to the ground, her knees pulled up to her chest.
"Are you okay?" a voice to her left asked.
Looking up and taking a deep breath, she saw that it was Michael.
"Yeah," she replied, wiping her eyes as he sat down next to her.
"You don't have to be so brave, you know." He stated.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Mattie said, getting up and turning away from him.
Michael put his hand on her should after standing up, too. "Okay, if you say so. But if you need someone to talk to, I'm here."
"I know." She said, smiling at him and starting back toward the others. "You coming?"
"Yeah." Michael replied, shaking his head and smiling. He caught up to her easily and they walked the rest of the way in silence.
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Act IX ------
"Are you all ready to go?" Alfred wondered once all the older children were near the plane.
"Yep." Tommy replied.
"Yes," Alfred corrected.
"There's no time for that, Alfred." Mattie responded.
"There is always time for proper grammar, Miss Martha." The elderly man stated, opening the door to the plane. "The coordinates are set into the auto-pilot."
"You're not coming with us?" Michael wondered.
"I'm afraid I must stay behind and take care of things here." Alfred stated. "You should be fine, but just in case you should come into any trouble..." He held out six small black things. The kids each took one.
"What are these?" Derek asked.
"These are two-way communicators with three functions. Talking one-on-one with each other, making group announcements, and contacting the house. Place them in your ears." The butler instructed. They did as he said. "Now, you'd best be going."
Mattie hugged Alfred and the six of them boarded the plane. The door closed and they waved through the windows before it took off.
"Good luck..." Alfred whispered as the air vehicle flew out of sight.
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Sorry, this has actually been done for a month, but we forgot to post it here.We posted it on the other site and forgot we hadn't put it here. Oh well. See the website on our bio for an updated list of our stories.