Three years following the events of "Doctor Who and the Marvelous Muppets," the Earth-M universe has become a haven for weirdness and mayhem, which is normal for a world where Muppets, aliens, wizards, and superheroes coexist. However, the sudden ar...
Taking Seana's TARDIS to get there much faster, the Time Ladies arrived across the street from a warehouse at the harbor. Miya's rift detector led them directly inside, although Seana had to use her sonic screwdriver to bypass the padlock. Yes, it was breaking and entering (as well as trespassing), but it was for the right reasons.
"I'm reading two rifts in this area," Miya indicated from her detector.
"Den let's divide and conquer," Seana suggested. "You search one end of de warehouse, and I'll search de odder."
"Copy," Miya acknowledged. "Earpieces in."
The warehouse was the length of a single football field – large and spacious. This search was certain to take most of the night, unless Miya's detector was spot-on in its data. With it, her side of the investigation was much easier, following the blip on the readout like the arrow on a compass. It beeped like a metal detector, and the beeps grew faster as she got closer to the source.
Rounding a corner, she was hot on the rift's trail until she stopped.
Ahead of her was a two-year-old black child in a green hoodie and jeans, sitting on the floor, all alone. Oblivious to what was going on around him, he gazed up at Miya with twinkling eyes that melted both of her hearts. "Aww," she gushed, her parental instincts flaring. This incarnation was more vulnerable to them, presumably due to a massive uptick in empathy. Whatever it was, she didn't care. There was an abandoned child sitting in front of her, and he needed to be cared for.
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"Hey there, lil' man," she sweetly greeted him, taking his tiny hand between her thumb and index finger for a small handshake. "Whatchu doin' here all by yourself?" She knew he couldn't outright tell her, although he was at the age where his speech would be a bit developed. He seemed like a very shy but very curious person. Nonetheless, Miya comforted him, "It's O.K., sweetheart. We'll figure it out together."
"Who ya talkin' to, Pop-Pop?" She heard Seana over their comms.
Finger to her ear, Miya responded, "I found the source of our first rift – a handsome lil' two-year-old boy."
"What?!" Seana reacted. "Where'd he come from?"
"No idea," Miya sighed. "Poor thing's got no one lookin' out for him."
"I know dat voice," Seana said with a chuckle. "Yer gonna take de wee lad in 'til we find his mum and dada, aren't ya?"
"Of course!" Miya verified. "I'm not one to abandon a child in need." She took the boy into her arms, looking him over to see if he sustained any injuries from his trip between dimensions. Fortunately, she found none on him; however, she did find something to identify him – a name written with a black marker on the rear inside of his hoodie collar. "Clifton J.," she read it aloud. Finally able to put a name to the face, she smiled and said, "Nice to meet ya, Cliff. You wouldn't happen to know any Norms, would ya?" Clifton responded with a curious stare. "Yeah, I imagine that's the first Dad Joke you ever heard, huh?"
