Inner Man Theatre

    “Well then,” says this faker, “maybe I am Elfie.  I could be your son in disguise or I could be that loser from a decade ago.  Does it really matter when I’ve crushed you like ants?  The fact of the matter is I stopped trying to worry about who I really am long ago.  When my loving Gramps betrayed me and sent everyone I loved into the Drawing Board, I gave up being Cat, at least from whatever storyboard it used to be before I stopped caring.  Like Abbie said, you were a second-rate fill-in who had that taken away from you after you did everything asked of you, only to be left in the dust…and then…on top of that…you find out that every bit of this doesn’t matter, because you’re in a mirror universe, a duplicate of a duplicate of a duplicate, and when the original was tired of competing, the rest of us were scrapped.  I was never the original Catherine Sky, just a pitiful imitation, birthed as the result of extra universes.  SO, I decided I’ll be whomever the worlds I choose on any given day, and today…I choose to be your destroyer.”

    “Wow,” Mercy says, in a concentrated state, distracted enough to have her bop her robot opponent to expiry in one straightforward blow, “that actually makes sense.”

    Doug ponders this, “So, everything we learned about Cat was true after all, only it went one step further in depriving her of existence by throwing her universe away as an empty shadow of the real Cat who was the rejected middle-man.”

    “Ya know, if you keep that up, Doug, I just might let her kill you before I beat her hind end,” Cat says in fit of annoyance.

    “Hushing now.”  Good Doug.

    “By the way,” Abbie says to Cat, “your message to the others was received, and they were able to secure the safety of the other galaxies.  As long as we can whomp her now, we should be done for the day, and still in time for the party.”

    “Oh, yeah!” Cat says.  “I was so busy with this freak, I forgot it’s Keb’s other birthday!  I think I’ll go as her ‘evil mother’ from when Jekel was messing with her mind, just so she’ll throw fruit punch on me.”

    “That’s not the only punch she’ll throw for that insult.  I might even join her, that’s so offensive.”  Abbie says this with a huff.

    “Ah,” Doug dreamily basks in this sound.  “Hearing my kitty and her sister arguing is a luxury I was afraid I had lost, but I knew there had to be some reason for all of this.”  Doug stops, ignoring the world around them and takes his wife by the hands.  “As I stood against her, I recalled what a wonderful, wise woman you are, and what a great mother my children have.  I was staring into a face ready to betray us all, and yet, I knew it wasn’t you.  For all the pain and feeling of betrayal you may feel, the strength you have is one I’ve never doubted for a moment.  Thank you for proving me right.”

    Yeah, there’s a kiss, but they’re married, so it’s all good.  Now, let’s finish the fight.

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