//------------------------------// // Father Daughter Chat // Story: It Runs In The Family // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// Scootaloo awoke the next morning to pain beyond anything that she had experienced before, the sheer agony that she felt when she opened her eyes was enough to make her cry out in pain and roll out of her bed as her body spasmed. She clenched her jaw and forced herself to suppress the pain into the back of her mind, sighing as she felt the pain recede for now. Her next order of business, since she was now awake, was to look down at herself and see that she was still in the Batmare suit, minus the cowl which rested on the stand beside her bed. "Last night could have definitely gone better," she groaned, as she scooped up the cowl and headed for the basement of her home, where she kept her entrance to the cave. Everything ached when she moved, and from the way the room was moving, she was fairly certain that she had suffered a concussion. Once again she repressed the pain and pulled out one of the books on her living room bookshelf. Hidden mechanisms moved it to the side to reveal the entrance to her cave. She wrapped her hooves around the pole that descended to the cave and slid down. When she reached the bottom, her hooves gave out underneath of her and she collapsed to the floor, scowling as she got back up. "Come on body, you can't give up on me yet, we still have to figure out what's going on." Scootaloo headed over to the computer to catalogue the information she gained last night before she needed to head out later. Her first order of business was to connect her gauntlet to the computer terminal and start categorizing the names that she had recovered, a process that only took her ten minutes. While she was going through the list of names, she came to a stop on the cloaked figures. She rested her head in her hooves, wondering who these ponies were and why they were trying to destroy the world. The one that she assumed was the leader had told her that they believed Batman to be a demon, and they were using demons to free Equestria in his name, which showed her just how bat crap crazy they were. Batman was a hero to the ponies, whose only goal was to keep all of them safe from any kind of harm, even if he didn't like them or if he disagreed with them. He certainly didn't want the princesses to be overthrown, and there was no way that he would ever want to see innocents killed in his name. "Just another sign, showing me how far gone their minds are," she said with a smirk, as she finally got to the end of the list where the unicorn that she had fought resided, the only information on him being that he was the leader of the whole organization, and a unicorn with only one equal in terms of magical power. Scootaloo narrowed her eyes at his outfit, wondering why it was so similar to the pony that she had caught watching her from a distance so often. She minimized this file and clicked on another one, bringing up the only picture she had of the pony who watched her. It was a silver pony standing on the edge of a building, an image that she had captured after she had beaten a few muggers and only caught her on accident. What had made Scootaloo ponder about her was that she had vanished the moment she had been caught on her cowl's camera, but without the cowl picking up any kinds of magic that was known to ponies. Was she an energy being or a creature that used another form of magic? The pony in the picture was a silver mare of sorts with a similar cloak and outfit, but unlike 'the Instigator' (the criminal name she gave the leader) Scootaloo could see her eyes...to a degree. While there were two eyes from what she could see through the hood, they were both pure white and were flooded with energy. Scootaloo noted that while the cloaks were similar, the silver mare had odd designs on her body as well as her cloak, while the Instigator only had them on the cloak. Could she be the real leader of the 'Demon Spawn' (her name for the group) or was she somepony else entirely? "Gah, this is making my head hurt even worse than before," she growled as she put both hooves to her face, trying to think. She couldn't figure anything out right now, and there were too many questions for her to deal with on her own. She lowered her hooves onto the keyboard and looked to her right at the small stone that sat in the middle of a golden contraption, giving off an eerie aura. 'Should I ask for his help? I'd prefer to do this myself but I'm at a dead end...Besides, it's been almost four months since I last talked to him. Maybe I should ring him up, just for a few pointers.' Scootaloo placed her hoof on the stone and closed her eyes, concentrating on a land far away from hers. She felt her mind traveling across space and time to the other world. A cool sensation ran through her body when she felt the stone make contact with its counterpart, telling her that the connection had worked. "Hello? Anypony there?" she asked into the void, hoping for an answer. She sat in her chair silently for the better part of two minutes before another voice answered her. "Hello there, Miss Batmare, it is nice to hear from you again," a voice with a bit of an accent said on the other line, a voice filled with sophistication and a voice that she knew fairly well. "I take it that you are calling to speak to the master about some urgent news in your world?" "When is anything different?" she asked back with a chuckle, hearing a dry laugh on the other side. "Hold on a moment please. I will go get him." Scootaloo heard the sound of steps walking away, and her nerves started to get the better of her. She wondered how things had changed in his world in the last four months, if anything terrible had happened. The other voice had told her that he was at least alive, but other than that she knew little. In the hero line of work, anything could happen in the blink of an eye. She sat in her seat without making a sound, waiting uncomfortably for about a minute. "Who am I, really?" She nearly jumped out of her chair at the deep voice that seemed to come out of thin air. "Who am I, when I'm not wearing the mask?" This was a question that she was asked every time that the two of them talked, his test to see that if she was really the pony that he knew. "You're still the same with or without the mask," she answered with a smile, having answered this question hundreds of times before and never once getting it wrong. True, she had never seen who he was without his mask, but that meant nothing to her. It had been the hero that had saved her, not the face that was worn when he wasn't playing hero. "Speak." "And you even managed to sneak up one me while we're talking across dimensions," she said with a smile, glad to see that he seemed unchanged. "How did you get your stealth skills to such an incredible level." "Years of training. I take it that there was something specific that you wanted to talk to me about? Or did you finally get your cutie mark in 'most broken bones,' like I predicted?" he said with a hint of humor in his tone. "No, I still don't have my cutie mark," she replied with a bit of frustration, but quickly brought her mind back to what she needed to talk to him about. "And yes there is something more specific that I need to talk to you about." "Is it the reason that you sound like a manitcore got a hold of you?" he asked. She froze for a second before sighing with a smile. Even after ten years his detective skills were still as good as she remembered and he could see right through her, no matter how strong a front she put up. "I take it by the silence that you are wounded and you're doing your best to try and hide it from me?" "And you say that you don't have x-ray vision," she said with a smile. "Lately there have been a number of foal nappings that have taken place in cities all across Equestria. At first I thought that it was just a number of random occurrences, but recently I discovered that it is actually a series of pre-meditated murders with a sinister intent behind them. The fillies were murdered as sacrifices in a ritual designed to bring about two demons that at one time tried to rule Equestria, but went to war with each other when they grew tired of each other. If my information is correct, the organization that I'm up against needs only one more filly before they can open the portal to Hades and summon the demons again. And in all honesty, I have no idea where to go from here." She sat in silence, knowing that on the other end a brain far greater than hers was hard at work trying to think of a solution to her problem. "Is there a pattern to the murders, such as they appear in certain areas or at a certain time?" he eventually asked, forcing her to go through a number of her notes on the cases. "No, according to the autopsies, and from the locations of the murders, there is no clear pattern to them. Connecting the cities doesn't form any kind of pattern either. Also, the times of death were completely different; one was said to be at midnight, while the other was in the afternoon. If there's a pattern, I'm not seeing it." "Try bringing up all of the places where the incidents took place on the map of the land and see if there is a pattern. Mess around with it if you have to, but I guarantee you that there is a pattern." Scootaloo nodded as she started to type away on the computer, doing as he suggested and looking at the incidents from a number of different angles. "So...how is the computer I sent you holding up?" "It's a lifesaver," she said. "I don't know how ponies could work with simply paper and quills before. Which reminds me, the ponies I ran across last night had a pretty advanced computer as well as a 'teched-out' base. It makes me wonder if one of them had managed to get into contact with somepony from your world." "That is a possibility that I don't like to think about," he replied. "Speaking of gifts, your birthday is coming up again soon, isn't it? Anything in particular that you want or need?" "I'm sure that whatever you get me will be fine, Dad," Scootaloo said without thinking, finding that there was something strange about the occurrences and where they took place. The did start to form an image...somewhat. "We're speaking while working. Please use my name." "Sorry, Batman, slip of the tongue," she said innocently. "Sorry, no good. There might be a pattern, but it looks to be a weird star of sorts. One more point and it would be a star, but as it is now, it just looks weird." "Then, the answer's simple: It actually is a star, but the final point is missing. And since you told me that they had already killed five fillies, there are five points. But you told me that they need six in order to complete the ritual. So that would mean..." "That the final point is where the last of the rituals is going to take place," she finished for him as she started typing away again, filling in the final point and watching with a frown as the image took on the shape of a pentagram. "That's not good. You were right in saying that there was an image, but it looks to be a summoning circle of sorts." "Did you find where the final filly is supposed to be murdered?" he asked. "Yeah, Canterlot," she said with a sigh. "I'll send this information to the princesses after today, but right now I need to see if I can find out when they are planning their next move. Knowing where it is won't do me any good if I don't know when." Batman went quiet as she continued to look at the computer for any signs that might help her. "Remember, if you ever need my help, Dr. Fate can always-" "-thanks for the offer, but you're needed in your world much more than you are in mine. I remember that during the last time we talked, your cave came under attack. I can manage here." "...So, how are the other ponies?" "They're all doing well. Rarity finally got her fashion line going and is all the talk of the Equestria at the moment. Can't believe that it took her this long to finally do it. Of course, you would know all of this, if you had actually told all of the ponies that you were still alive and not just me." "Like I told you the last time we talked face to face, the fewer ponies who know about the ability to travel between our worlds, the better," Batman reminded her. "If more and more ponies knew that it was possible to travel between our worlds without an energy explosion, then they would constantly try to get to my world. And once the people, or more specifically villains, of my world found out about the power you and your kind wield, they would stop at nothing to get it. And I don't know if the other members of the Justice League and I could protect all of you if they did." "I'm sure you're just being paranoid," she said. "How long do you think you could keep Twilight out of my world?" Batmare sighed, knowing that Batman had used his logic on her once again. "Point taken," Batmare said with a smile. "But then, why bother revealing to me that you were alive if you weren't going to tell anypony else?" "...Because you needed me to be alive. What about your student? Still having problems with her?" "Like you wouldn't believe," Scootaloo said, her smile turning into a frown. "Sometimes, she's her own worst villain. She thinks that she needs to defend her family name at every turn for all the crap she gets. Speaking of villains, how's the old bag Morgaine doing?" "She still doesn't remember a thing about Equestria, but she's still evil," Batman answered. "Just a month ago she tried to take over the world by mind-controlling Superman. That was not a fun a time, although we did manage to break Superman free and arrest her again." "Ha, she'll never learn, will she?" "What about Trixie? Have you heard anything from her?" Scootaloo sighed at that, memories of ten years ago flashing through her mind. Trixie was a braggart that let her jealousy get the better of her, and she allowed herself to become a pawn in the plan of Morgaine Le Fay, being taught magic so powerful that she defeated all six of the Elements of Harmony by herself. But Scootaloo had managed to reach through the pain and jealousy to stop her before she could kill any of the ponies. And in the end, she had been the final piece needed to help defeat Morgaine when she used her magic to destroy the dimensional stone that Morgaine planned to use to bring her army of darkness to the land. "She's still been silent after all these years, huh? Do you think that she's-" "Trixie single-hoofedly brought down all six members of the Elements of Harmony and beat the Element of Magic at her own game, not to mention that it was she who destroyed the stone and foiled Morgaine," Scootaloo reminded him with a sad smile, knowing that Trixie was probably still alive. After Morgaine's fall, Trixie had been blamed for being a cohort for trying to overthrow the princesses and had been exiled by her fellow ponies even after the princesses forgave her. The last time Scootaloo had seen her was five years ago when she visited Ponyville on a trip, but she barely stayed long enough to talk to any of the ponies. She had only spent about five minutes talking with Twilight before she had left, but that had been enough time for Scootaloo to see that she still had the same sad-filled eyes that she had, when she left after the massive battle ten years ago. "My money says that she's still alive somewhere." "If you say so," Batman said, preferring actual facts to a hunch. Then again, the ponies had shown him that sometimes their hunches could be more accurate than all his detective work. "How's the job going? Are you still working at the gym that you told me about?" "Yeah, but only Celestia knows why Snowflake hasn't fired me yet, with me constantly being late and showing up looking like a living punching bag," Scootaloo said with a sigh as all of her searching yielded no results. Nothing to tell her when the Demon Spawns would attack next. "From what you've told me about him, he probably cares about you despite all of your slip ups." Scootaloo sighed again and looked at her clock in the corner of her computer, her eyes widening when she realized that is was almost time for her to get to work. She quickly sprung out of her chair and raced over to where she kept the suit, taking off parts of it as she ran. "Scootaloo, what's wrong? I thought I heard-?" "Sorry, but I'm going to be late for work again if I talk any longer!" she yelled back as she tore off the suit and threw it on the ground, grabbing her utility belt and racing to her armory to put it all away. "And If I'm late one more time, Snowflake might have me clean the gym bathrooms, and that's something I can't face even with my training!" Once everything was put away, she rushed back over to the computer, putting it into sleep mode before turning to the small dimensional stone. "Bye, Dad, talk to you later," she said quickly as she turned it off and raced up the stairs, praying that she would make it in time to her job. On the other end of the line, a dark figure sat in his chair in front of a massive computer screen. He rested his chin on his hands as he thought long and hard about what he had been told. Scootaloo was in danger again, but this time it was similar to the danger that he had barely prevented so long ago. Bruce looked down at the small stone that sat on his desk, the only item in the cave that kept him connected to the world he wished to turn Earth into, and wondered if he should go help her despite her refusal. Normally he didn't like to get involved in the business of his partners unless they asked, but Scootaloo was...special to him. "Are you worried about her sir?" his faithful butler, Alfred, asked him as he sat brooding silently. "Yes, Alfred, I am. She is determined to follow the life that I have chosen, but I'm worried that this life will destroy her...just as it has done so many others." Bruce snapped out of his thoughts as the alarms on his computer started to blare and he spun out of his chair, heading for a glass case that stood beside the computer. Inside the case was the batsuit. "Alfred, I'm going. If she calls back, make sure you write down what she says." "Of course, Master Bruce," Alfred said as Batman tossed himself into the batmobile and drove off, leaving the butler alone with his thoughts. "I say, not since Master Grayson has he ever cared so much for another. I wonder who this Scootaloo is?"