Recaps

"So, this is what we know so far," Lucy began, standing in front of the largest television they could find. It was wedged into place using various pieces of furniture and metal. "Ella," and she used a pointer.

A picture of Ella obligingly popped up on the screen. She was smiling and eating what looked like ice cream out of a metal bowl.

"Where did you get that picture from?" Rena asked as she and Aarti turned towards Court who shrugged.

"The one guy who was petitioning to get her released had it." Court responded before trading baffled looks with Jebediah.

"Anyway," Lucy said with a roll of her eyes. "Ignoring weird guy fetishes, Ella was locked up instead of placed with her biomom." Lucy frowned. "We found records that said that they found her in a med ward and that's why she wasn't immediately released. Then she just got 'lost' somehow."

"Probably fell victim to some Amanda Waller crap," Jebediah muttered to Court who nodded in agreement.

"Then," Lucy continued. The picture of Ella shrunk and went to occupy a corner of the screen. "We have Aarti who's on a quest of some sorts to locate a hat." A picture of Aarti and another of a cowboy hat appeared side by side. "This isn't an ordinary hat. This hat has the capabilities to open doors to places we don't want the overlords to go."

Aarti stood up, absently brushing crumbs off of her pants. Since she'd gotten back to the hideout, Rena had talked her into eating more than her fair share of shortbreads. She strode next to Lucy and then turned to confront her peers as Lucy faded to the side.

"As you know, my biomom took me off to Themyscira, the world of mad boredom. While there, some Amazon idiots wanted to make my life difficult for who knows why, and one of them wound up finding me and Sebastian talking." Aarti paused and raised one finger. "Explaining, explaining," she continued.

"I've got a dog. He's sorta one-of-a-kind, but there's a lot of places that need one just like him. There's another girl with a dog who's also one-of-a-kind, and we just need to bring them together a bit and whammo! Puppies!" Aarti stopped at that, looking thoughtful. "Anyways, the way to have this happen is to ask this, um, agency called the 'Dime Store' to bring the dogs together. So, they come, open a door, doggies have a bit of a blast, and boom! Done and over. Only before that happened idiot Amazon girl found us and wound up swiping the hat."

Aarti sighed, fiddling with the newly shorn ends of her hair.

"We were fighting over the stupid hat, and I might have thought that I would like to feed her to my dog to shut her up, but then she got it to activate and it opened entirely the wrong door." Aarti looked off to the side. "They took her and the hat, and that's how they've been taking people ever since. The Dime Store has offered us a reward if we can get the hat back. We just have to have it in hand and trigger this," Aarti held up one of the one-shots she'd been given. "It's a one-way trip to the Dime Store, but they'll send you back wherever you want to go."

Aarti shoved the little device back into her pocket, ignoring Court and Jebediah's sudden perking up. She drifted back to her seat while her set of pictures transferred to another corner.

"Informative," Lucy nodded as she returned to the center of the television. She pulled out her pointer and elongated it. "Next, we have Court who was in jail until I got him out." Court's picture filled the screen. "Isn't he just dreamy?" Lucy grinned. "We were watching all these old movies and ah!"

"Lucy!" Rena said, throwing handfuls of popcorn at her. "Concentrate!"

"Fine, fine, and who's cleaning that up?" Lucy demanded, fending off popcorn with her pointer. "Back to Court then. While out getting stuff, Court got pinched by the law. Instead of being sent off to some easy-to-break-out-of juvey, they instead got infiltrated by bad guys who tried to steal my boyfriend!" Lucy's eyes were starting to spit fire by the end of her explanation.

"Oh, so she went there," Dawnie whispered to Aarti and Rena who nodded silently while Court turned red.

"As such, they should be punished to the fullest extent for laying hands on things that aren't theirs!" Lucy continued. Silently, the picture of Court shrank into another corner and one of the Batman filled the screen instead. "Oh, and him!" She pointed at Batman, jaw working. "I thought—oh, never mind!"

"We also have to add Batman into the mix, and because he's now in the mix, we have to add all the other annoying adults as well. I'm sure people are starting to notice that creche kids are vanishing, at least since we bounced from Bat-custody," Lucy added.

"They weren't exactly being stealthy when they took our friends," Rena grumbled. "It was in plain sight at a mall. I think some of the people thought that it was some sort of play or video filming."

"And then there was the little riot when you rescued Court," Lucy nodded as she turned back to the screen. "Our next question should be what should we do next?"

"We should figure out how they got that stuff for San," Dawnie volunteered.

"And just who is tracing what with those IWA bar wrappers," Aarti tossed in.

"And just how did the Batman trace you guys anyways? You're always so careful," Rena said. She lifted her feet as a little robovacuum swept by. "When did you guys get a vacuum?"

"I think Court set it up," Lucy said with a wave of her hand. She examined the picture for a long second. "He looks so familiar sometimes," she teased.

"Will you cut it out," Aarti said with another roll of her eyes. "I keep telling you, no."

"But still, Aarti, honey," Lucy began.

"No," Aarti said firmly.

"I'm starting to see it," Rena whispered to Dawnie.

"And I'm not, so no," Aarti snarled at them.

The boys gathered in a huddle around Court's rig as the discussion devolved into an argument that involved pillows, popcorn and hair pulling.

"So, when did you have time to get a vacuum?" Jebediah asked, frowning as it disappeared into the shadows.

"I thought you brought the vacuum," Court said. "You brought so much other stuff, you know."

"But I didn't get a vacuum. You don't really have any crumbs or carpets," Jebediah explained.

"Then we might have another issue?" Don said with a tired sigh. He gnawed on another snack bar. "Is it sad that all I want is a giant bowl of calories and no emergencies for a week?"

"Dude, I think that's what every man in the universe wants," Court laughed.