It started just like any other day.
I was sitting at an outside table at a coffee place, minding my own business, when a giant shadow loomed over me! I looked up just in time to see a giant bird’s head leaning down to stare at me.
“There you are, DQ! Did you forget what we were going to do today?” Big Bird asked me.
“No, I didn’t forget, but I need to finish my coffee first,” I explained.
“But you promised!” Big Bird insisted.
“I know, but in my part of the world, it’ll be a day early. Is it tomorrow on the other side of the dateline yet?” I wondered.
“It’s been tomorrow for several hours,” said a low voice.
The two of us looked around to see Batman on a building above us, leaning on a billboard that advertised NY Comic Con.
“Wow! Look! It’s Batman!” Big Bird said. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m supposed to be here. This time,” Batman said, glancing at me.
“He’s definitely supposed to be here. Hey, Big Bird, why don’t you tell the others to meet at the park and find Johnny?” I suggested.
“Okay, DQ, I will! Don’t be long, okay?” Big Bird pleaded.
“I just need to finish my coffee. Batman, do you want a coffee?” I asked.
“I take it black.”
“Yes, of course you do. Be right up,” I said, going inside long enough to get him a cup before walking across the street and finding my way up to the roof. Carefully I handed it over, then sat down beside him.
“Thanks,” Batman said evenly.
“I know. You’ve been having a rough week,” I acknowledged.
“I’ve had better,” Batman agreed. “There have been a lot of rough patches over the last couple of years in general. Maybe I’m feeling my age,” he grunted, sipping the coffee.
“I am older,” Superman said cheerfully as he drifted by. “Why do you always have to be so dark about everything?”
“Have you seen any of your movies lately?” Batman retorted.
“They’re not as bad as Joker 2,” Superman teased.
“I’m not going there,” Batman said, and Superman continued onto the park. Batman brooded as he contemplated his black coffee.
“I know it’s hard about that other platform, but things aren’t so bad. All of your projects have had their ups and downs, I get it, but today is a day of celebration! Sure, there have been bumps along the way, but doesn’t that give more reasons to celebrate being here, not less?” I pointed out.
Batman sighed.
“Fine, just let me finish my coffee first,” Batman said.
“I’m right there with you,” I agreed, cringing slightly when I realized it was barely warm now.
There was an annoying honking sound coming from below, and the two of us looked down to see Spiderman sitting in the Spider-Mobile, laying on the horn.
“Do you mind?” Batman complained.
“Hey, DQ! Johnny wants his flight helmet back!” Spiderman said.
“Well, he’s not getting it. Does that mean you’ve seen him today?” I asked.
“No, but he’s bound to be at the park meetup. You want a ride? Considering that I have a car here… and you don’t,” Spiderman bragged.
“Technically, it isn’t coming until next week,” Batman pointed out.
“I’m the Spiderman from the comic!” Spiderman explained.
“He is the one from the comic,” I confirmed. “But if we’re riding with him, I’m glad I still have that flight helmet.”
“I have a better idea. I’ll drive,” Batman said, getting up.
“It’ll ruin your image,” I conjectured.
“Hey! Are you badmouthing my car?” Spiderman snapped at us.
“I don’t see any Aston Martins here,” Batman said flatly, propelling down taking me with him.
“Bond’s driving that. Everybody’s going, but I think the car show is already in the parking lot,” Spiderman said.
“Move over. I am driving,” Batman said evenly. After a brief stare-down, Spiderman slid over. “And DQ is riding shotgun.”
“Why does she get to ride shotgun?” Spiderman whined.
“Only girls and Robin act as my shotgun. Do you want to be Robin?” Batman challenged him.
“I’m riding in the back,” Spiderman decided.
“Hey, did anyone invite all of the artists to this thing?” I asked Spiderman.
“Yeah. Deadpool volunteered to do it,” Spiderman said. I stared at him.
“Maybe they’ll keep each other out of trouble,” Batman suggested optimistically as he put the Spider-Mobile in gear.
“Yeah right,” Buttercup said as the Power Puff girls flew overhead. “He’s debating whether he wants to decorate the park with Donnys or Cthulu Statues.”
“Tell him Donny!” I ordered worriedly.
“But there’s not enough Donnys,” Blossom complained.
“Well, suggest using Unicornos then!” I suggested quickly.
“Yeah, he might buy that,” Buttercup agreed.
“To the rescue!” Bubbles giggled, and the three girls flew off.
“This is going to get completely out of hand if we let this go on for too long,” Batman observed, responsibly stopping at the red light so that a parade of Labbits could cross the road.
“Tell me about it, and not everyone there is necessarily friendly,” Spiderman said. “Personally, I don’t want to spend all morning trying to fight off Alien invasions or cleaning up after Jurassic Park dinosaurs.”
“Oh… uh… I didn’t think of that,” I cringed, wondering what I got myself into.
“Don’t worry! I’ve already handled it,” said someone above us, and we saw Iron Man meeting our speed. “We’ve been chucking them all through the Star Gate every chance we get.”
“Won’t that create unforeseen problems on the other side?” Batman pointed out.
“As long as it gets us through this meetup, I don’t care,” Iron Man said. “Don’t worry, we saved you a parking spot between KITT and the Ecto-1. We can start once you get there.”
“But where is Johnny?” I asked. “We can’t do this without him, you know.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll find him,” Iron Man promised, and shot off ahead of them.
“We’d better park and get this over with. I don’t trust who else might show up today,” Batman said grimly.
“It could be practically anyone,” Spiderman agreed as we pulled into a spot.
As it so happened, Bruno was waiting in front of the parking spot reserved for the Spider-Mobile.
“DQ! DQ, I’ve had a vision! I’m supposed to tell you about it!” Bruno informed me. “I’ve been waiting here nearly half an hour for you to arrive!”
“You deal with that. I’m going to make sure the Joker, Harley Quinn, and the Penguin aren’t here,” Batman said, hopping out of the car.
“I’m going to go find Gwen and Miles,” Spiderman said, leaving me with Bruno.
“What did you want to tell me, Bruno?” I asked.
“I had a vision about what might drop on VeVe next year!” Bruno said. “And for once, it’s good news!”
“Oh, yeah? What did you see?” I asked with interest.
“I saw many things swirling about me that I couldn’t quite make out, but those mysterious drops, I saw very clearly that you will be getting lots of stamps and posters!” Bruno declared.
I stared at him.
“And maybe some pins,” Bruno added, sensing I was not very impressed with his divination.
“Yeah, well. Thanks, Bruno, but I need to make sure Deadpool isn’t causing trouble. I don’t suppose you know where he is?” I asked.
“Maybe Wolverine knows. I saw him hanging out by Oscar’s trashcan,” Bruno suggested.
“Okay,” I said slightly confused as I stepped into the field where collectibles and comic book characters gathered.
Wolverine was easy to spot, although I had to walk around the edge of the lake to get to him. Bubbles popped from under the surface as Mermicornos played with Ariel. Wondering if that was seawater, I shrugged it off and went over to where Wolverine stood with his arms folded and claws retracted.
“Hey, I’m looking for Deadpool. Have you seen him?” I asked.
Wolverine made a fist and came down hard on the top of the trashcan, knocking twice. The lid popped open, and Oscar appeared.
“Scram!” Oscar shouted over loud music that was coming from inside the trash can.
“I’m just looking for Deadpool,” I shouted back.
Pushing Oscar down, Deadpool popped his head out of the trashcan wearing a Santa Hat.
“What? I thought you told me to keep all of the artists occupied,” Deadpool asked shortly.
“We’re having a Rave, heh heh,” said Oscar. “It’s great! They’re all tagging my walls!”
“They’re all down there?” I asked.
“Most of them, anyway. Some of them are a little strange. They make me contemplate my existence and wonder about my sanity… and maybe my eating habits,” Deadpool said.
“Don’t you kind of wonder about that anyway?” I asked.
“Not my eating habits,” Deadpool replied. “I invited an IF too, I hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course I mind, this is a VeVe party! We don’t have IFs on the app!” I pointed out.
“Don’t worry, it’s Keith. Nobody will notice that he’s here,” Deadpool said. “I think I’d better keep them occupied during your Number of the Day thing so… if you don't mind…”
“Wait, have you seen Johnny?” I asked.
“Try asking his sister. Sue and Electra have been sitting over by the lake with a bottle all day comparing models and consoling each other. Women, eh?” Deadpool said.
“Hey!” I protested.
“By the way, Johnny wants his flight helmet back,” Deadpool said, grabbing the trashcan lid.
“I’m not going there,” I said as Deadpool and Oscar disappeared into the trash can.
“DQ! DQ!” Big Bird said, rolling over on his skates. “I found Johnny!”
“Finally! Where?” I asked.
“He was over by Cookie Monster trying to keep Dash from taking all of his cookies,” Big Bird said. “It’s not very nice for him not to share!”
“Johnny’s not likely to stop Dash. Why didn’t he ask the Flash for help?” I wondered.
“Oh, the Flash said he’s not up to speed yet on what is going on so he’s having coffee with Howard the Duck,” Big Bird said.
“I’d better go meet Johnny before things get any weirder,” I decided, following Big Bird over to where Cookie Monster had set up his oven.
Quite a number of people were waiting in line, but any time they thought it was going to be their turn, the Cookie Monster attempted to gobble them up.
Near the oven there was a sudden blur. Anna stepped out of the line, holding up a cookie.
“Big Bird, it’s Cookie Monster that’s not sharing! Dash is just trying to save some to give out to those in line,” I explained.
“Hey!”
I looked over to see Johnny Storm standing in front of us with a cookie in his hand.
“When are you going to return my flight helmet?” he demanded.
“You’re not going to cuss like you did in that one movie, are you? Because I keep a pretty clean blog here,” I warned.
“I’m not going to cuss in front of Big Bird! What kind of monster do you think I am?” Johnny asked me.
“A cookie monster, apparently,” I said, pointing out the cookie, which Johnny immediately scarfed down. “You’re going to do the thing, right?”
“The Thing’s over there,” Big Bird said.
“Not that Thing,” I told Big Bird.
“I’ll only do it if you give me back my flight helmet,” Johnny said.
“Look, if I tell you where it is, will you do it?” I compromised. He squinted.
“Okay, where is it?” he asked.
“It’s in Adventures in VeVe #6, The Spiderman Adventure,” I replied.
Johnny rolled his eyes.
“That doesn’t count!” he protested.
“It does too! It’s the last time I saw it,” I replied evenly.
“I found Johnny, DQ! Does that mean it’s time for the Number of the Day now?” Big Bird asked impatiently.
Johnny sighed.
“Fine, I’ll do it. But I’m doing it for him, not you,” Johnny said, pointing at Big Bird as he walked away. “Get a good spot by the lake.”
“I think Batman is saving us a spot,” I agreed.
“I think I saw a whole bunch of Batmans over there, DQ,” Big Bird said. “I didn’t want to go over there by myself, though, some of them are scary!”
“It’s okay, Big Bird, let’s walk over together,” I offered.
Sure enough, the Batman that had driven us to the park had made room for us, and we all got settled by the lake. Steamboat Willie looked up from the Q boat, while Ariel and the Mermicornos surfaced to watch.
“FLAME ON!” Johnny shouted, bursting into the Human Torch and taking to the sky. In front of the excited crowd, he took to the sky above the lake, using his heat to burn a number four into the sky.
“It’s here! The Number of the Day is Four!” shouted Big Bird.
“So it is,” I said with a smile. “Happy Anniversary, VeVe. May there be more numbers to come.”
“And Happy Anniversary to all of the OG’s who have been riding shotgun since the beginning,” Batman added.
The three of us stared at the number four thoughtfully when I happened to think back on our previous conversation.
“Did you just call the OG’s Robin?” I asked Batman.
“Just enjoy the moment,” Batman suggested.
“Not a bad idea,” I decided, before getting up to beg for a cookie.