Dusseldorf, Michigan.

Often mistaken for its German counterpart, it is a normal sized

city in the upper pinky of Michigan. And though it is not a big city, it is the largest city
near the Doom Manor, and so it is the city that Dr. Niles Caulder, Joan Trainor, Cliff
Steele, and Rodney Rabbit walk though. They have come here in search of a comic
book shop, hoping to shed life on Rodney’s story. They are not joined by other Doom
Patrol Rita Farr and Jane Hodder, due to Rita recovering from her Captain Carrot
induced injuries, and Jane trying to cope with memories of her dead brother Maxwell, a
man who is neither her brother, nor is yet to be born, let alone die (see last issue).
Rodney had proven himself trustworthy enough during his explanation, so they have
allowed him to walk with them freely. But, Niles does have the foam water gun, and Cliff
is carrying around the big pen, just in case. Joan also still has her phone with her, but
she would have regardless. It’s her phone.

Nevertheless, the group walk down Main Street Dusseldorf (and again, that’s
Dusseldorf, Michigan) until they come across Hypno Comics. The four walk in and the
middle aged bald man behind the counter, after seeing the large robot creature and
giant living cartoon, screams and runs out of the room.

“Hmm.” Says Joan. “You’d think out of all people a comic book guy would be cool with
seeing some superheroes walk into his shop.”

“Well, we don’t exactly look like Booster Gold.” Says Cliff, thumbing through an issue of
Brand Echh.

“Who?” Asks Joan.

“I found them.” Says Rodney, standing next to the counter, holding up a comic.

The group meet up with him, where they find a pile of issues of Captain Carrot and his
Amazing Zoo Crew, arranged from newest to oldest. Rodney hands out an issue to
everyone.

“Ah, so it seems the internet was right.” Says Niles.

Rodney reads through a colorful publication of his life with confusion. Not due to that he
is essential a comic book character, he had always had a feeling in the back of his mind
that his world was apart of something bigger. It was the fact the events being depicted
in these comics were wrong.

“This isn’t right.” Says Rodney.

“You saying this aint you?” questions Cliff. “I mean, I don’t blame you. A lot these don’t
make you look the best.”

“Yeah, according to these, you used to be a good guy, but then became a ‘traitor to your
country’. It never goes into detail about exactly what you did, it kind of just uses a lot of
nationalistic buzz words.” Says Joan.

“I found out some stuff about the President, and when I confronted him about it, he
labeled me a traitor.” Says Rodney.

“Wow, it’s like the president’s the one publishing this.” Says Robotman.

“Well, close. Take a look at the company that publishes this.” Says Niles, holding up
one of the book’s covers.

“Reagantastic Comics.” Says Joan, reading out loud. She then pulls out her phone to
look up the company.

“Yep, ok. ‘Reagantastc Comics is an American far-right comic book and manga
publisher. It was founded in 1999 and operates under the’,
oh boy this is a long one,
‘Free Speech and second amendment conservation for rights of the minutemen and
true Americans Hilary for Prison Reusable straws are the devil and I think my son may
be a homosexual he just said he didn’t want to go fishing with me LLC… in cooperation
with PepsiCo.” Says Joan, reading the companies Wikipedia page.

“Awe man I like Pepsi.” Says Robotman.

Niles glares at Robotman.

“Shut up, I used to drink it ok.” Says Robotman, reading Niles’s mind.

“It says here,” continues Joan, “That the company bought the rights to Captain Carrot
and his Amazing Zoo Crew in 2010 and has been the flagship comic for spreading the
‘Free Speech and second amendment---’ you know what I’m not reading that again. The
point is this just far-right propaganda.”

“And it seems when Rodney went against the message the book was trying to put out,
they changed the narrative.” Theorizes Niles, “Rodney, do you remember experiencing
and changes to your world eleven years ago?”

The group looks over to where Rodney once was standing with them, to find him
missing. They then notice that their feet are wet and see about an inch of water. They
look to see Rodney crouched in the corner, clutching his comics, tears flowing out of his
eyes like burst water veins, the knowledge that his friends, his home, everything hes
ever known, has all been manipulated in pursuit of someone else’s agenda, is too much
for him to bare.

The Doom Patrol approach Rodney to console him.

“I need a drink.” Says Rodney.

Rodney gets up to leave but is stopped by a crashing outside.

The Doom Patrol rushes outside to see the across the street the combination
PetSmart/Dusseldorf City Bank has been robbed. Both front windows have been
shattered, and out of the left a peregrine falcon with metal talons clutches bills and
releases them into a large bag in the middle of the street. Out of the right window, a
prairie falcon with metal talons does the same, except with bird seed.

Standing behind the bag is a man in a brown skintight jumpsuit, long white gloves, and
large headpiece cover his head, covered with fur to simulate feathers, large plastic
eyes, and a beak that barely moves when he talks. He is maniacally laughing, and
occasionally violently eating a handful of birdseed from the bag.

“Oh my god!” screams The Chief.

“A robbery!” says Negative Girl.

The Chief looks at Negative Gril surprised, as he had been distracted, “Oh, yeah, but
also, look!” The Chief points to the bird on the right, “That’s a prairie flacon, you can’t
find those anywhere in this part of the country.”

The Chief takes out a small notebook titled All Weather Birder’s Journal and begins to
take notes.

Robotman rolls his eyes and goes out to confront the falcon man.

Robotman walks up to the criminal, in the midst of a maniacal laugh, and slaps him on
the back of the head. The falcon man stops, as his head piece jostles to the side. He
readjusts it and looks over to Robotman.

“Knock it of bird brain. But the stuff back.” Says Robotman.

The falcon man jumps back. “While I appreciate the thematic insult, new rival, I don’t
appreciate your approach. Allow me, The Claw, to show you mine!”

“Show me your what?” asks Robotman.

The Claw pauses, embarrassed, “Show my approach.”

“Oh, well that was not made clear. Also the introduction to your name was clunky, do
better.”

The claw looks down, hurt. “Jesus, man, I’m trying my best.”

“Well if you’re gonna go out robbing banks you better expect to get some criticism. I
mean you don’t even got a claw.”

“Well the claw things is because of the birds.” The Claw suddenly livens up, thinking of
a quip, “Claws of which you shall now become very aware of.”

“6 out of 10 segway.” Says Robotman as the two birds stop their looting and swoop
down to attack.

Their speed makes them near invisible as they swoop from the sky onto Robotman,
metal scraping metal, as Robotman attempts to bat of the pesky birds.
Back at the comic shop, The Chief finally decides to step in. He presses a few buttons
on his panel, it’s spidery legs, and dashes at the claw.

Negative Girl stays in the doorway. She looks back into the shop and sees Rodney
siting against the front counter, tearing pages out of his comic book and throwing them
away.

“Hey, so… you’re still, like, a superhero, right?” says Negative Girl.

“I don’t know. A hero for justice, for good. But am I really fighting for good if somebody
chooses that ‘good’ for me. For years now everything I have done has been for some
corporation that doesn’t where I’m from. I’m not a hero, I’m a puppet. Only now, the
strings have been cut. Is it better for strings to hold you down, if they keep you from
tumbling into the abyss?” Says Rodney.

“So does that mean you’re not gonna help?” asks Negative Girl.

Rodney continues to tear pages. “You’re more of a hero then I.”

“I’m more of an intern.”

“You have the ability to choices as an individual. And even if you’re in my same boat
somehow, by some cosmic divination, you are unburdened by its knowledge.”

Negative Girl turns back to the rest Doom Patrol, hoping they are not in need of
assistance.

The Chief battles The Claw, The Chief’s chair lashing out, striking at every opportunity,
but The Claw, moving deftly out of the way with the grace of a swan, delivering karate
chops with the veracity of bigger swan.

“So did you were raised by falcons?” asks The Chief.

“No, I was raised by my parents in Idaho, but they owned bird sanctuary.” Says The
Claw.

“That explains the prairie flacon!” says The chief, taking out his notepad to note where
the bird came from.
“Yeah, Meena’s been with me for years. You know, if you like birds so much, me and a
couple other featheries were gonna go meet up at Christine’s house, check out her new
suit. We’re always looking for new members.”

“Featheries?” asks The Chief.

“Yeah, we’re like furries but for birds.” Is this funnier with or without the explanation
Jason asking?

“I am almost certain you will be in jail by then, and if if you are not, I very much would
not like to do that.”

And with that, The Chief continue to match each other hit for hit, but in awkward silence.

Meanwhile, Robotman is not having a good time with those birds. Due to their, he has
been unable to catch them, and their metal talons have started to expose wires. He
stands with back against a wall, throw rocks, and only hitting the windows of the
neighboring building.

“I FUCKING HATE BIRDS!” yells Robotman.

Negative Girl sees that Robotman needs help and shouts, “Chief, can you help
Robotman?”

“I’m a little busy.” Yells The Chief, as The Claw starts to get the better of him.

“Can’t you shoot the guy with the Jell-O thing?” asks Negative Girl.

“He’s too quick, I wouldn’t be able to hit him.”

One of the birds swoops down and leaves a large scratch through Robotman’s face.

“Well somebody needs to help me!” Shouts Robotman

“Can’t you at least shoot the birds?” asks Negative Girl

“I can’t!” replies The Chief.

“Why not?” asks Negative Girl.

“Well perhaps you should help, hmm? Perhaps you shouldn’t just stand there? Perhaps
you should use your powers!” says The Chief in a tone he has only taken with few
people.

Negative Girl begins to hyperventilate, looking around for some magic door to get her
out of the situation. She sees Rodeny, who stopped is moping, and walks outside. Only
to walking into the grocery store next door, long abandoned since the fighting began.

The falcons land on Robotman and start pecking at his exposed face.

“MY EYES!” yells Robotman.

The Chief looks at Negative Girl, hyperventilating, unable to help. He looks to Robotman
and sighs. He takes out his gun and fires at the birds.

The two birds are stuck with small bits of green gelatin. Confused they start to pick at it
and eat it. The gelatin grows, and completely covers the two birds with gelatin.

The Claw looks over in horror.

“No!” shouts The Claw, running to his bird companions. He throws his headpiece to the
ground and scoops the birds our of the cube that Robotman has wiped off of his face
and onto the floor.

The Claw holds his two falcon friends in his arms, motionless, lifeless.

The Chief and Negative Girl walk over.

“What happened?” asks Negative Girl.

“Jell-O contains a high amount of Xylitol , which is an artificial sweetener. It also a very
deadly poison to birds. This is why I said I couldn’t shoot the birds. This is why you had
to help.” Replies The Chief.

“I know I should have helped but I couldn’t.” says Negative Joan.

“No, Joan, you could have---”

“Let’s just drop this for now.” Says Robotman, interrupting The Chief and for once being
the calmer mind. “We can talk about this later, after Chiefs patched me up.”
The other two silently agree as Rodney exits the store, holding a pack of hard cider, and
a bushel of carrots.

As they walk away Negative Girl looks back at The Claw, who slowly rises to his feet,
tears still streaming down his face, and walks the other way.

Elsewhere

A pale green light flood a dimly lit high-tech laboratory as Alley-Kat-Abra, Yankee
Poodle, and The American Eagle walk out of the comic book and into the large glass
container. They look around this unknown place, assessing their surroundings. The
American Eagle pounds on the glass, but it doesn’t budge.

Before anyone has a chance to question, two figures enter the lab. One figure is the
same we’ve been seeing, but they are not joined by the large figure we had seen
before. This figure quite shorter, almost half the first figure’s height.

“Do not be afraid, I can be a friend, if you will let me.” Says the first figure. He then
gestures to the second figure, who approaches a panel under the glass container. A
wire extends out of the figures body and plugs into the computer. A second later the
container drops away.

The Zoo Crew step down from the platform they stood on, but continue to listen,
curious.

“You seek a Captain Carrot. And you will find him, because I will help you. He is with a
group known as the Doom Patrol. And it is here where our stars align. I will give you the
location of Captain Carrot, and will allow you to take your only way home, with you, and
return you will take care of the Doom Patrol. So, are we feeling agreeable?”

Alley-Kat looks at her teammates, who both nod. Alley-Kat extends her paw, willing to
make a deal.