The Horrorverse, Part 2: Together, Forever

Quahog

"Ahhh, this reminds me of the good old days." said Revan Bane, soaring alongside Nolan over the rooftops. "You, me, a whole army of crazy supervillains, trampling the KND one treehouse at a time. You would think, after 23 years, they would've ditched those old things and upgraded to their mother's basements. They're wasting good lumber by not cutting those trees down! Don't ya think?"

Nolan said nothing and kept his sights focused on the school ahead. "Aww, come on, Nolan. Are you still mad about that fight in Final Brain? I don't wanna point fingers, but YOU cut off my legs and threw me off the roof! And I was nice enough to restore the life force in YOUR legs! (Even though I have no idea how that was scientifically possible.) It's kind of romantic when you think about it, though; how my Force Lightning was able to keep you going for this long. And yet, you actually thought you'd gotten rid of me. I think we both know, Nolan." Revan floated up and lay on his shoulder. "You and I… we're connected by a thread of Fate. A thread thicker than the Death Star's outer wall and the Great Wall of Ba Sing Se combined. But hey, at least we don't have a side plot where a former sidekick of yours comes back from the dead and wants to kill you. It was Jason Todd." he whispered in Nolan's ear.

Nolan landed on the roof of James Woods Elementary. He walked toward the edge and hung from it upside-down to view into a window. Students and teachers were furiously tearing at each other. "Affright really has poisoned the school. And it's coming from the vents."

"You don't have to talk verbally to me, Nolan, I can read your thoughts." Revan said.

Nolan climbed back up and used Detective Vision. "There's even armed guards in the hallway. They must've known I would be coming. If I'm going to sneak in, I need to shut off the ventilation system. Nothing the old Sandmobile couldn't do." Nolan used a remote to summon the Sandmobile, watching it zoom automatically from up the street and run down several Nightmares. He began to control it remotely and drive it around the school. He found the ventilation generators and latched the Sandmobile's power wench onto a switch.

"Why does the school have a convenient switch that works with your Sandmobile?!" Revan asked as the car channeled power through it. "It's like somebody had it installed for this VERY occasion."

Once Sandman was finished, he peeked in the window again. "The gas has stopped. It should be safer to crawl through the vents. It won't help the kids' condition, though. But maybe this will." So with that, Nolan leapt off and KICKED through the window. The screaming kids charged at him out of fear, but Nolan's superior reflexes were too much for them. A girl jumped him from behind and choked him, but Nolan hauled her overhead and slammed her headfirst against a boy, knocking both out.

Nolan was able to knock every kid out, but that was when the teacher started throwing staplers at him from the desk. "GET OUT OF HERE, you little turds! I WON'T be stuck here with you, I WON'T!"

Nolan dodged his head as his mask scanned the chalkboard and highlighted it. "Right: I can takedown opponents using the environment around them. Seems like a good place to start." With that, Nolan flipped over, grabbed the woman, and forced her fingernails against the chalkboard. "AAAAAAAGGGGH!" she screeched from the horrible sensation before Nolan SLAMMED her against the board and knocked her out.

Almost immediately, Nolan's wristwatch rang. Thinking it could be Crystal, he was quick to answer. "Yoohooooo! Hiya, Mr. York!" Carol Masterson appeared on his holo-screen.

"C-Carol? You haven't been poisoned, either?"

"I'm guessing that means you heard the news? Vanellope told me everyone at James Woods is going crazy."

"I'm at James Woods now."

"Good; Dillon, Maddy, and some other kids are being held in the auditorium. She's too afraid to fight the guards because they might hurt them, but she's keeping watch on them just in case."

"I'll save them. What about you, is your sector okay?"

"All my teammates reported to be okay; thankfully, none of them stayed at the treehouse. I retreated to a secret hideout the second everything went down. Naturally, I don't stand a chance against those monsters, so the least I can do is help you out."

"It's enough, Carol. I'll keep you posted."

"Hey, this room sounds awfully quiet!" voices shouted on the outside. "I'm gonna see what's up."

Four guards with guns barged into the room, but Nolan had already grappled up to the air duct. Leaving them to hopelessly search the classroom, Nolan began crawling through the ducts. When he turned a corner, Revan was there, facing him and crawling backwards. "You know what, Nolan, I just realized you have a son! You naughty dog, gettin' it on with Danika. Is he a good boy? Just kidding, I can read your thoughts, I know he doesn't give a shit about you, anymore. But don't worry, maybe I can straighten him out."

Nolan reached a vent above a teacher's lounge, where three unarmed thugs were conversing. "Hey, I think the gas stopped coming out of the vents."

"Good riddance. Now we can drink our coffee in peace."

"Well, it's not like it was gonna do anything with those magic cinnamon rolls Mumbo made us eat."

"Yeah, but who knows how long they last. I mean, as long as the kids were gassed, I don't see the point of keeping them-"

Nolan dropped and did a Takedown on the first guy, then his goggles highlighted the microwave on the table, signifying an Environment Takedown. Nolan grabbed the microwave and smashed it over the second guy's head. "AAAAAH!" he screamed from the unbearable heat before Nolan knocked him out. The third guy was actually highlighted green, so Sandman knew he was a Riddler Informant. Nolan grabbed him by the neck and raised him.

"I can tell you work for Riddler. You should know I'm VERY OCD."

"No no, I getcha! Here are some trophies!"

Trophies added to map. "Thank you." Then Nolan knocked him out.

"Oh ho ho!" laughed a foreign guy behind him. "Is funny because you are OC of Depthcharge and it makes OCD!" Nolan whipped around and slammed him against a shelf, KOing him as well. "Ohhhh…"

Nolan peeked out into the hallway. Seeing none of the guards were looking his way, he rolled the Grapple-Cam out, closed the door, and controlled the device safely from the teacher's lounge. He grappled it up above the lockers and called, "Hey, jackasses."

"What? Did you hear somethin'?" a guard asked.

"I think it came from over there." They both approached the area near the Grapple-Cam. With both guards close together, Nolan snuck out of the lounge and slammed their heads together. The four guards from before came back out, so Nolan grappled up to one of many gargoyles near the ceiling.

"How the HELL did you convince the principle to have these things set up?" Revan asked. "'In case something like this would happen,' OH PLEASE."

"Hey, what happened to these guys?" one of the guards asked.

"It must be the Sandman… the boss said he might come here. Spread out and find him." The guards split into groups of two.

In both groups, one guard would be facing backwards while the other aimed forward. "The Grapple-Cam might not fool them like this." Nolan said to himself. "And I doubt these guards are as stupid as in the games. Hmm…" Two of the guards were about to walk by an electric generator. "Convenient." He fired the Shock Rod at it and magnetically drew the guards into it. The generator zapped them and exploded, KOing them.

"Oh God, those two just got zapped!" one of the other guards shouted.

"Don't go help them, that's how he gets ya!"

"He also does this." Nolan threw a boomerang into a fire extinguisher near them and exploded it into a cloud of fog. He was able to drop in and bash their heads together without being seen.

? He's a greater threat than you or me; I pity the poor students of Grade Three. ?

"Ah, right, Riddles. Sigh, I'll do a few just to satiate him." Nolan checked his map and noticed a riddle solution in one of the classrooms. He barged into that room and searched for it. There was a peculiar picture of a 3rd-grade class with Peter Griffin among the students—as an adult. Nolan snapped a photo of the picture, and the solution collected. Nolan then spotted a "?" in a box marked in the location of the lockers. He approached that locker and forced it open, finding a glowing, floating green box. Nolan curiously touched it, and was magically sucked inside.

He landed in a dark-green room on a ledge over a dark pit. Riddler's face appeared on a screen. "Welcome, Sandman, to the first of my many patented Riddle Cubes!"

"You built a magic puzzle box?"

"It is called a RIDDLE CUBE!! And before you ask, as genius as I am, the unexplained powers of magic are beyond even my technical expertise. So, I hired top quality carpenters to build these. With blueprints provided by me, of course. Your task in these Riddle Cubes is simple: find the trophy in the allotted timeframe. If time runs out, you will be forced out of the cube and will have to start from the first room and make your way down again. Your first test starts NOW!"

With 10 seconds, Nolan used the Line Launcher to zip across the pit—to his left was a platform behind a floating wall, so he redirected the Line Launcher to swing over and grab the trophy on the platform. He then had to zipline back and enter a new Riddle Cube. This next room was divided in nine cracked segments of floor. Nolan quickly sprayed Explosive Gel on each segment to blow them up—the second one thankfully had the trophy, so Nolan snatched it. The next cube brought him to a room with three Riddlerbots, which were painted green with black ?'s, had buff bodies and forced grins. Nolan fought them as fast as he could, but the robots proved too durable, and the 10 seconds were up.

Nolan was spat out of the Riddler Cube. "Aww, what's wrong, Sandman, slowing down in your old age?"

"Ugh… I'll come back for it later." Nolan stated, stuffing the trophies he did win into his coat pocket.

"I hope I don't have to constantly remind you of the vitality of my riddles, Sandman. They are not just to save your friends—or for my own amusement—but they are meant for sharpening your knowledge and your memory. The same way I learned from videogames. You see, I achieved all S-Rank on every Sonic game—I found every collectible in every Rareware game… after hacking Canary Mary to fly with half speed. Perfection is power, Mr. York, and I expect you to realize that by the time you find all my trophies."

Nolan sighed and rushed to the stairs near the end of the hall. Unfortunately, the stairs were destroyed and an electrified pool was looming below. Nolan glided down to the ledge that was still intact, and from there he could see a switch above the doors. He tossed a boomerang at the switch and deactivated the electricity. He could safely drop down, but the door was sealed by a code terminal. Using his Remote Hacking Device, he decoded 'Edutainment' and unlocked the door.

"Students of James Woods, tonight's internal entertainment is brought to you by Affright Industries, sponsored in part by the Holiday Corporation! Stay tuned and we can begin the REAL show!"

"It sounds like Holiday…" Nolan said. He followed the amplified voice down the hall and found the entrance to the auditorium. Crystal suddenly called him on his wristwatch.

"Nolan, I've arrived at Sector V's treehouse. I just checked Haruka's room, but she wasn't there. And it doesn't seem like she's in the living room, either. I'm… a little afraid to go in there. Chris and Sheila are tearing the place apart, and I fear I may be a bit under their level."

"There's a chance that Affright might have kidnapped her already. I know that Caesar Clown works for the Brotherhood now, so he may have told them about Haruka's power."

"Oh, dear… you don't suppose they-"

"I hate to think Caesar would kill his own family. Hopefully, she's just being held captive somewhere. Search Haruka's house just in case, but if she isn't there, come to G.U.N. H.Q.. I'll meet you there after I rescue Dillon."

"Gotcha. Be careful out there, Nolan."

The doors to the auditorium were locked, so Nolan grappled up to a ceiling vent. He made his way through the vents over the auditorium and had a clear view of the situation: Holiday was talking on the stage and 20 thugs were watching over the toxin-induced kids tied to chairs. Among them were Dillon, Maddy, and Zach. Holiday was wearing a Dracula costume with a pumpkin hat. Nolan studied them with Detective Vision. "Carol, tell Vanellope that none of the guards have guns and to wait for my signal before attacking."

"Okay! I bet she's excited already."

"You kids ALL mocked me because I only attacked on certain days!" Holiday continued as Nolan maneuvered through the vents. "You all called me predictable! But now that Halloween is 24/7, there is NOTHING to hold me back! You'll all witness the power that is Brett Jubilee!" Nolan dropped onto the walkway above the stage, directly above the villain. "Mark my words, you'll-"

Nolan CRUSHED Holiday beneath his boots, taking him down. The minions looked his direction with fright, but Vanellope jumped out of Dillon's communicator, zipped around, and kicked them all. "There you are, Dad, I thought you were gonna miss the party!"

"Wouldn't dream of it!" Nolan leapt down and started punching left and right. He punched one into the air while Vanellope leapt and kicked him away, and after landing, she zipped by another thug and knocked him down. Nolan dealt him a Ground Takedown, then performed a backflip onto another thug to take him down, too.

"Hey, you're not using your wheelchair!" Vanellope beamed, doing a Lickety Split Kick on a thug before he fell. "I told you eating your vegetables would help!"

Nolan smashed another guy's face into a fire extinguisher case, then performed a quick spin-kick against a thug's head. A thug ran up to try and cut him with a knife, but Nolan swiftly dodged his swings, grabbed his arm, and twisted it. With his blood pumping, Nolan flipped and flew around the room, KOing every last thug that remained. Only one was left, so Nolan threw him into the air, and Vanellope glitched below for a midair Lickety Kick before letting him drop defeated.

"DAD!" Vanellope screamed, too late to help him as Nolan was crushed under a giant jack-o'-lantern.

"Well, hi there, Sandman!" Holiday strolled up in a jaunty fashion. "You're just in time! Did I tell you I got a new power? That Caesar guy made me something called a Holi-Holi Fruit. It's a Magic-type Devil Fruit that lets me create decorations based on the current holiday. I think he said it was in the 'Nen' class. I know, science is weird. But it sure helps!"

"HYAH!" Vanellope leapt at him, but Holiday formed a pumpkin around himself to use as a shield. He made the pumpkin explode and blow her back.

"Don't look so down! You're the guest of honor, Sandman." Holiday walked up and pulled his gas mask off. "Or should I say… Darth FERIOR!" Holiday threw a small jack-o'-lantern at his face, exploding into Fear Gas.

"AAAAAaaaahhh…!" It felt as if the very world had molded into the inside of a lava lamp. Colorful goblets of goo rose and sunk. One of them molded into a disfigured form of Chris Uno, stirring something brown. A disfigured Maddy Murphy formed beside him.

"Chriiiiiiiiiis . . . what are you dooooooooiiiiiiinnng…?"

"Maaaaakiiiiing choooocolaaaaate puuuuuuddiiiiiing…"

"Ohhh, Chriiiiiis, you sexy maaaaaan…" Maddy hugged Chris and they molded into a yellow worm that began jiggling vertically. More worms appeared in a line along with it, then more rows appeared. Some rows were yellow and the others were blue. Those rows all squeezed into their respective colors and turned round: the blue on the left and the yellow on the right. They became mismatched eyes. They were Nolan's eyes.

The man pushed up and forced the giant pumpkin off him. Grinning maniacally, he studied his gloved hands and muscular physique. "Boy, that toxin was AMAZING! Ah, and it feels so GOOD to be in control again!"

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Holiday began to untie Dillon, bringing him to Sandman. It also seemed the auditorium turned into an amusement park with a pumpkin-orange sky. "Watch with utter terror as the heroic Nolan York, former Numbuh 2030, murders his own son out of cold-blooded fear." He untied and kicked Dillon forward.

"Well, I did promise to straighten him out." Nolan shrugged, approaching Dillon with malice.

"Nnnngh! No! Vanellope! Not Vanellope! Please!" Dillon squirmed on the floor.

Nolan raised his hand, about to channel psychic, but the hero inside him restrained himself. "Do not… kill…"

"Oh, don't get started with that." Revan stated. "In case you forgot, YOU KILLED ME. IN COLD BLOOD. This is payback, Nolan, now KILL THE STUPID BOY!"

"No! Agh… NO!" Nolan flipped over Dillon and PUNCHED Holiday across the floor.

"So, it wasn't enough toxin." Holiday said, helping himself up. "But you're changing, I can feel it. Perhaps it'll kick in after I beat some sense into you!" He materialized a giant skeleton that raised him skyward, followed by four giant jacks that rotated around the chest. "Enguarde, Lord Ferior! Today, I finally meet our true master!"

Boss fight: Holiday

Nolan dodged the first giant jack-o'-lantern and threw boomerangs up at Holiday, but he easily blocked them with the other jacks. They rotated some more before one flew down again. Nolan flipped back, then grabbed the giant pumpkin as it lifted him off the ground. He sprayed as much Explosive Gel on the pumpkin as he could before it shook him off. When the pumpkins went back to rotating, he waited for the front of the aforementioned pumpkin to get behind the giant skeleton, then he set the gel off and blew up the skeleton's spine.

"AAAAH!" Holiday fell from his perch, and Nolan quickly grappled him over for a Haki-imbued beatdown. Holiday blew up another pumpkin and forced Nolan off, then he created another skeleton to raise him high. This time, a cloud of bats surrounded the villain and groups of them would swoop down and nip Nolan in the face. "How's THAT for irony, Thinks-He's-Batman?!"

"Ergh! These bats are made of supernatural energy. But if they behave like real bats…" Nolan fired his Shock Rod up at the swarm and zapped multiple ones via connected beams. Nolan repeated the attack until the bats were forced to scatter, and Holiday had been zapped with them. During his weak moment, Nolan tossed a boomerang to knock him off the skeleton, then he ran up to lay the beatdown.

Holiday created some pumpkin armor to protect himself, along with Dracula teeth over his knuckles to draw blood out of Nolan with each punch. "Say, Nolan, how are you walking right now, anyway? I'm sure your legs must be sore as the dickens!" He punched at Nolan's leg, but he jumped back. Nolan dove forward and grabbed both of Holiday's arms, forcing the Dracula-toothed knuckles into their owner's face. "AAAH!"

Nolan flipped overhead and sprayed Explosive Gel on the back of his armor. He flipped back when Holiday whipped around with a punch, then exploded the armor. Holiday fell on his front, so Sandman hopped on his back and pounded his face against the floor. "AAUGH!" Holiday formed three man-sized jack-o'-lanterns and crushed Nolan between them. He willed the pumpkins to levitate with the hero, allowing Holiday to stand.

"There's only one escape, 'Hero'! And it won't be through brute force!"

Nolan BURST with psychic energy and blew the pumpkins off. He flew down to Holiday and grabbed the villain's neck in both hands. "This man threatened your son, Nolan." Revan Bane hissed. "He deserves to DIE for his sins. You've killed before, Nolan, why not kill again, be rid of another foul villain!"

"Aaaaack…aaauuuuck. . . ." Holiday's bleeding face turned blue.

"…" Nolan shut his eyes and kicked Holiday down. When he reopened, the amusement park landscape was gone, and they were back in the auditorium. "Cough…hack…" Holiday rubbed his neck. "Damn you, Affright… killing me wasn't part of the plan."

Nolan grabbed him by the chest and yanked him up. "What plan? What did Affright do to me?!"

"You have his eyes…" Holiday spoke hoarsely through his grin. "It's only a matter of time."

With one more punch to the skull, Holiday was knocked out. Nolan looked to see Vanellope untie Maddy and Zach. "I had to knock them out 'cause they were a bit crazy. Well, crazier. …You looked different for a moment, Dad."

"I'm fine, Vanellope." Nolan went to get his mask and place it back on.

"VANELLOPE!" Dillon attacked his father. "Leave her alone! Don't you dare!"

Nolan sprayed gas from his glove into Dillon's face to put him to sleep. "I'll carry Holiday and Dillon. Midna, use your creepy hair to carry Maddy and Zach."

"You can't talk to the camera!!" Midna shouted.

"DO IT."

"Uuuugh!" Midna floated over and used her twin ponytails to grab the Murphy twins. Nolan propped Holiday over his shoulder and dragged Dillon by the arm. Vanellope glitched into Nolan's wristwatch.

They exited the auditorium door and Nolan summoned the Sandmobile. He strapped Holiday to a chair in the back and set the kids in the passenger seats in front. With that, Nolan began the speedy drive out of town, heading into the darkness of a forest. He spared a glance to his son, squirming in his seat. He still remembered their exciting Halloween three years ago, when Dillon still admired him. His son had grown less dependent on Nolan… but Dillon still needed him.

"This is Sandman to G.U.N. H.Q.. I'm bringing a captured villain and some operatives to your base."

"Sandman? …Y-Yessir. Alright, you're granted entry."

The Sandmobile passed through an invisible blue force-field, revealing the fortress in the middle of the woods. Nolan steered toward the left as a hatch opened in the side, bringing Nolan down a slope to the basement. He came to a park outside a door labeled Prison Wing, climbed out, and grabbed Holiday out of the back.

The villain was fit with a shock collar and pushed into a force-field cell. "Throwing me in here don't change a thing, Nolan. Affright will win and I'll be out of here before the night is over."

"By the time this night is over, this cell will be full." Nolan assured.

"Then it's a bet." The villain smirked.

A soldier approached Nolan and saluted. "Sir: the Commander would like to see you in the Communications Room. Also, Ms. Wickens is there, too."

Nolan followed the soldier upstairs, and Crystal was eager to meet him outside the room in question. "Nolan, you made it! I'm sorry, but Haruka wasn't at her house, either."

"Don't worry, Crystal. We'll find her."

"I know, but… w-wait a minute. How are you walking?"

"I… used the Formula Q."

"What?! I thought you'd gotten rid of the stuff!"

"I kept it in case of emergencies. Don't worry, I had Haruka make adjustments to it a while ago."

"Sigh… your wife's going to kill you."

"Better her than Affright."

The two entered the control room. Commander Gunkan overlooked his officers at their computer desks. They were viewing the large screen on the opposite wall: at Sector MG, Oliver was trying to blast spells at Phil's mouse form and Romeo was setting the place on fire. The screen switched to Sector IC, where Miyuki was cutting herself and Lola was sucking on her blood.

"I can't believe Affright was able to bring down the Kids Next Door in a single night." Gunkan said.

"We're still here, Brett." Nolan stated. "We can save them."

"But what about the Galactic Kids Next Door? There's no way Affright could have gotten to them."

"I really don't know. We'll just have to work with what we've got for now. Can you bring up an image of Affright?"

"You heard him, men."

"SHYAH!" Revan SLICED Gunkan's head off with his lightsaber. "Take THAT, you mismatched-eyed son of a bitch!"

"There." Gunkan's head said on his control pad when Affright's image came up.

Nolan rubbed his eyes so that Gunkan would change back to normal. "Ahem… Horror's Hand. That's what Affright's wearing on his hand."

"According to the data, Horror's Hand is an ancient artifact that used to be the left hand of King Darkrai the First himself. The legend reads that he sealed all of his fears into his left hand and chopped it off, so that he could never be afraid of anything. That left hand was hidden in the Underworld… that is, until Affright found it." Brett added.

"The Underworld… I wonder if the Grim Reaper knew anything about it."

"But the Grim Reaper is dead. Er, I mean he was already DEAD, but now he's… er… what happened to him, exactly?"

"Well, that thought aside, I can think of someone who would know: Mandy McKenzie."

"The Pirate Emperor? Nolan, you can't possibly mean to speak with her. The Four Emperors are some of the biggest names in the criminal empire. They control hundreds of towns and even small nations! And ever since the World Leaders' fall, their numbers have been growing. Going to Mandy would be suicide."

"Why not? We used to be friends. Well, sort of. And frankly, she would be a valuable ally to have, given the circumstances."

"Well… you aren't wrong. But how will you convince her to lend us her aid? Hell, I'M not convinced."

"I'll find a way. I can be pretty persuasive. He taught me that much."

"Who?"

"Re-…W-Wesley Dodds."

"Mmm… Well, if you insist on going, you should take the Chi-blocking Gauntlets from my office. That way, she couldn't affect you with her Logia bending. Then again, chi-blocks don't seem to be helping the operatives, either." Brett viewed a camera on his terminal, showing Dillon, Zach, and Maddy inside their own cell.

"Affright's Nightmare Toxin wasn't made with bending." Nolan said. "But Chi-blocking Gauntlets could help. By the way, I'm going to need to borrow your network."

"On it!" Vanellope jumped out of his watch and into Gunkan's computer.

"H-Hey!" Gunkan yelled.

"I'm into GUN's network!" Carol said.

"Excellent. Use their satellites to locate Mandy's pirate fleet."

"W-Wait a sec'!" Gunkan protested. "If you wanted us to find her fleet, you could've just asked!"

"These two will get things done a lot more quickly. Besides, if the Brotherhood does something to jam your network, they'll be able to help."

"B-But…"

"Thank you, Commander. Start sending your soldiers to the treehouses and rescue every operative you can." Nolan left the room on that note. Crystal grinned sheepishly at Gunkan and followed. Brett sighed.

? Who could forget this monstrous man who once tried destroying Ocean Land? ?

Nolan entered Brett's office and saw the gauntlets on his desk. There was also a glass display with crystals inside. He recognized them as Rourke's remains and snapped a picture to solve the Riddle. As Nolan approached the desk, the chair swerved around and revealed Revan sitting in it. "You know, chi-blocks won't prevent me from taking over. I'm already inside you, Nolan. Deeeeeep insiiiiiide…"

Nolan ignored him and took off his gloves, fitting the Chi-block Gauntlets on. They were a blackish-blue and the symbols on the palms were white.

You got Chi-block Gauntlets! These can stop the powers of element bending enemies for a time. Only by contact of the palms can you do so.

Quahog, Rhode Island

Nolan and Crystal returned to Quahog to fight more monsters on the rooftops, and they used the Sandmobile to blast the ones on the ground. Still waiting for Carol to report with Mandy's location, they decided to explore town and search for Riddles. There was one in an alleyway where Crystal had to use her staff to light all the torches with fire (in a certain order). There was a switch in a restaurant that triggered eight Green Coins to appear around the room, and collecting them in five seconds would open the trophy cage. There were a couple trophy cages that seemed to be connected to graffiti markings, such as an "M", but they had nothing to get those, yet.

"There's nothing scientific about half these puzzles." Crystal stated, the two perched on a roof. "Riddler must be hiring wizards to design them. 'Guess he's not as smart as he thought."

"Yeah, he… hey." Nolan heard the jaunty tune of an ice cream truck. He looked down at the street to see a truck park beside an excited boy in a Cheren Uno costume. Suddenly, a buff Ice Cream Man grabbed the boy, tossed him in the back, and drove away. "That's a Brotherhood Ice Cream Man! Let's get him!" The two flew down to the colorful truck, which continued playing its alluring music.

The truck drove at a slow enough speed to where the heroes could catch up and land on the roof. Nolan got above the driver's seat, reached in, and yanked the driver out. The car crashed against a building and Nolan punched the culprit senseless. With that, Crystal climbed down and opened the trunk, helping the dizzy boy off. "You could have parked better." Crystal told Nolan.

"Hey, kid, are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah… sigh, that's the last time I skip school for early trick-or-treating."

"I like your Cheren outfit." Crystal chuckled.

"Ya do? Hehe, I'm a big fan of him!"

"We are, too." Nolan said. "But you should get home. The streets are swarming with monsters."

"Yeah, I guess so. But, the Kids Next Door are gonna beat all the monsters, right?"

"Of course they will, don't worry."

Nolan's wristwatch rang, and Carol displayed on the holographic screen. "Guess what, Mr. York! We found Mandy's fleet! They're in the Gulf of Mexico, close to a town called Port Rivera. Apparently, they control the town."

"Then it's time to set sail. Crystal, take that kid back home."

"Aren't I coming with you?"

"I want you to stay here and help GUN manage this town. If something happens, call me immediately. Besides, Mandy might be a little too dangerous for you."

"And not you?"

"She has a soft spot for old acquaintances. She's just too proud to show it."

"Sigh, you worry me sometimes, Nolan, you know that. Alright, then. Call me soon." With that, the witch let the boy onto her staff and lifted off.

"Holy crud, you're a real WIIIIITCH!" the boy cried as they sped off.

Side Quest: Ice Cream Kidnappers: Rescue children that have been captured by rogue Ice Cream Trucks.

Nolan summoned the Sandmobile and hopped into his seat. He switched into Sandwing Mode and went skyward as well, leaving Quahog behind. "Next stop: Mandy's Fleet."