YET I FEEL MY HEART IS ACHING

“March – anyway, I bet if you ever ended up in Mechanicsburg, you’d be the one person who could produce a better cup of coffee than Agatha Heterodyne’s famous machine,” Emily added.

“Oh, I wouldn’t dare presume–”

“Don’t you pretend to be modest now,” Alice interrupted them, smirking. “It doesn’t suit you.”

Smiler laughed. “To be fair, none of you have started going on about how perfect your teacups are yet, so...”

“Who cares about the cup when you’ve put such a miraculous liquid into it?” Richard demanded, taking another sip before flopping back in his chair with a deep, contented sigh. “Oh yes...whenever you decide you’re done imposing on the Van Dorts, just come over to my place – Emily and I will find a bed for you.”

“Victoria and I have a spare room available too,” Christopher added, causing Victoria to shake her head with a fond eyeroll.

“I’ll consider it,” Smiler told them both, giggling. “Though I have to say, I’m quite happy at the Van Dort house.”

“We’re happy to have you,” Victor assured them, smiling warmly. “It’s nice to have a fellow Touched around to help with my experiments – even if your focus is chemistry, not biology.”

“And someone who can watch Chester in a pinch,” Alice added. “He really does like you.”

“I like him! He’s very cute. And hey, it’s all chemistry in the end,” Smiler added to Victor with a wink. “You’ve got a pretty good working knowledge yourself, honestly.”

Victor shrugged. “I had to learn to get the results I wanted.”

“Most Touched end up pretty well versed in a lot of different branches of science,” Doc agreed, taking a sip of tea and smiling brightly. “Mmmm...you never know what you’ll need to get a project off the ground.” He leaned over to grab a biscuit. “When did you develop your interest in chemistry, Smiler?”

“Oh, back when I was a child,” Smiler explained, also grabbing a biscuit. “Stole my father’s books on the subject all the time. Growing up in X Sector was pretty lonely, and–”

“X Sector?” Marty interrupted, eyes wide. “The place with Dr. Kelman?”

Smiler froze, biscuit halfway to their tea cup. “Uh...”

“Dr. who?” Victor asked, blinking.

“Kelman – a truly rotten example of a psychology-focused Touched,” Doc elucidated, scowling. “Advertised himself as a leading expert in the field of ‘social compliance.’”

“Which was a fancy way of saying he basically tortured people into doing what he wanted,” Marty said bluntly. “Weird chemicals, isolation, hypnosis, brain surgery – lots of brain surgery, from what we heard.”

“Mmmm – his ultimate goal was to make people happy to be compliant with the whims of whoever the local authority was,” Doc picked up, shaking his head. “His actual results included roughly equal amounts of traumatized patients and braindead ones.”

“Bloody hell,” Alice said, eyes wide. “He sounds like a total monster.”

“Please tell us he’s not still hurting people!” Emily added, stunned.

“Don’t worry – he’s very dead,” Marty assured her. “Got the old pitchfork-and-torches treatment a few years back – pretty sure right before we accidentally dragged Victor back here.”

“I believe you’re right – the local townsfolk had enough of his nonsense, stormed his ‘Sanctuary,’ and killed pretty much everyone inside,” Doc ndoded. “Which did unfortunately include the patients – and Dr. Kelman’s son, Marmaduke.”

“What – Marmaduke?” Victor blurted, then blushed. “I – oh, I-I know that’s the least of Dr. Kelman’s crimes, but – who names their child Marmaduke?!”

“The nobility, usually – my parents are Finis and Maudeline, remember?” Victoria said, though even she looked a little dubious.

“Well, he wasn’t Lord Kelman, so I don’t know what his excuse was,” Alice said, shaking her head. “That poor boy, though...having horrible parents is no guarantee you’ll turn out the same way.”

“Exactly,” Victor nodded with feeling. “I don’t blame the townsfolk for wanting to stop Dr. Kelman once and for all, but did they really need...to...”

He paused as he noticed Smiler staring into their teacup, biscuit laying forgotten on the plate beside it. “Oh – I’m sorry,” he said softly, absently tugging at his tie. “I didn’t think...did you know Marmaduke?”

Smiler lifted their head, sporting the world’s most awkward smile. “Um – yeah, you could – you could say that,” they replied, rubbing the back of their head.

Victor stared for a moment, confused – then the penny dropped, along with his jaw. “Wait – you’re–”

“Not anymore,” Smiler said, holding up a hand. “I wanted to leave that name behind me long before the townsfolk stormed the Sanctuary – trust me, no one knew better than me how horrible Kelman was. Though if you really want to know who names their child ‘Marmaduke’ – someone whose own first name is Kellard. And who turned his own wife into a vegetable before she could object.” They shrugged. “I assume, anyway – never met my mother until I found what was left of her in the basement.”

“Great Scott,” Doc whispered as the others looked on in shock. “I’m so sorry...but – how did you survive? Every report I saw was quite adamant that everyone in the Sanctuary had been killed.”

Smiler’s smile somehow turned more awkward. “Uh – interdimensional being of pure joy saved my life in exchange for me going around making people happier?”

There was a long silence. “...what?” Victor eventually said, for lack of anything better.

Smiler pointed to their glowing yellow eyes. “Surely you guys didn’t assume I was born with these?”

“No, but Touched modify themselves in bizarre ways all the time,” Alice responded, leaning forward with an expression that was equal parts bafflement and concern. “And given I’ve left you alone with my child, I’d like to know all about this ‘interdimensional being’ and your deal with it post-haste.”

“Yes, I think we’d all appreciate you explaining what the hell you’re on about,” Christopher added, glancing nervously at his cup.

“Well, I knew it was going to come out sooner or later...” Smiler had a fortifying sip of tea, then clapped their hands. “Okay, so, there’s a few different planes of existence beyond this one...”

--

Yeah, so, I've had the idea for "Smiler ends up at the Dodgson tea table and absolutely stuns everyone with their tea" ever since I finished the Christmas fic -- it just felt like a natural place for this little miniseries to go after that one ended on Smiler offering to make tea for the Van Dorts! And I always enjoy writing someone being wowed by Smiler's skill at making drinks. XD I then turned it into the "this is how Victor and company learn Smiler's pre-'Smiler Alton' identity" story while coming up with my previous post detailing how Victor, Alice, and any other relevant people learn Smiler's birth name is Marmaduke, as it seemed as good a time as any for that to come up (especially since I figured SOMEBODY at the table had to have heard of Dr. Kelman) --

This story centers around Bizarro, his origins, and his perspective on past and present events with his teammates, Jason (Red Hood) and Artemis.

Like previous stories, I loved seeing the brotherly relationship between him and Jason. It was also nice to see how and why Bizarro was just as fond of Artemis despite her showcasing a hard exterior in the earlier parts of this series.

My favorite thing about this fic was how seamlessly it fit Gotham heroes (ex: members of the Bat Family) and villains (ex: Dr. Pyg) into each of the chapters/mini stories.

Speaking of chapters/mini stories, this didn’t feel as cohesive as the previous parts of the series and left so many aspects of the main story unanswered. Therefore, this is probably my least favorite part of the series so far.

Nevertheless, this was still very enjoyable and has become one of my favorite comic series ever.

Links to book:

Kindle: https://amzn.to/4gTaf7k

Paperback: https://amzn.to/4eGOBSm

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