Disclaimer: This story, though maybe not in this chapter but in subsequent chapters, will have celebrities in it. I have no knowledge of their sexuality and this is not intended to imply their sexuality. This is all from my own mind.
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters created by Joss Whedon. Copyright 20th Century Fox.
Batman, and all related characters created by Bob Kane. Copyright DC Comics and Warner Bros.
X-MEN, and all related characters created by Stan Lee. Copyright Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox.
The Vampire Chronicles and all related characters created by Anne Rice. Copyright Anne O'Brien Rice.
Star Wars and all related concepts created by or based on the universe created by George Lucas. Copyright 20th Century Fox, LucasFilms Ltd. and Lucas Books/Ballantine Books.
I don't know for sure if I will use all the above elements, but just in case, I have myself covered.
This story has taken on a life of its own. From its inception a year ago, I had only thought it would last ten chapters maximum. As you can see, it has grown tremendously. Mostly due to readers emailing me and telling me they've enjoyed it or have received help due to certain issues addressed. I've enjoyed writing this story but it would not have been written without men and women reading it and telling me they've enjoyed it. I do hope that you continue to enjoy each new chapter as our hero lives and grows.
I have received many emails from people who have enjoyed it and some from those who do not. I would enjoy hearing from you. Any emails you send, please tell me what chapter and story you are commenting on. Thanks.
authorjames2002@yahoo.com
I also have several online messenger services. If you want to chat with me in real time, email me and tell me the services you use and I will tell you my screen name.
Chapter 12 On The Trail
We looked well into the afternoon talking with people Willow and Xander knew from past experiences who might have some information pertaining to what we were looking for. To my distress, no one heard anything about Mystique. Things were not turning out the way that I had hoped.
The four of us returned to the Magic Box and sat. I was the only one who felt defeated by today's spent energy. Tara had several books open but testified that she had found nothing yet.
"This is like looking for a needle in a haystack," Xander said, "a needle that can look like a piece of straw."
"Don't be so down on your endeavors. These things take time."
"Still..." Xander picked up the newspaper lying on the table and read the headlines. "There was another robbery last night."
"Hmm," Dawn replied. "This is America. Robberies happen every day."
"But this sounds weird. It was a normal day for the bankers. No gun, no threats, no man or woman wearing masks. They counted up the money at the end of the day and found several thousand dollars missing. It must have been one of the employees."
"Or someone who looked like one of the employees," I replied.
Everyone looked at me.
"Meaning it could be the shape shifter you are looking for," Giles stated.
"Correct," I replied. "Where was the robbery?"
"Do you want to go over that way?" Xander asked.
"Definitely."
"Come on."
Xander and I stood up.
"We'll help Tara look for the spell," Willow said.
Xander and I nodded and headed out.
Mystique smiled to herself. She sat back in her motel room and counted her money. The robbery worked perfectly. No one had any idea who stole the money.
"Soon I will have all that I need," she muttered to herself.
Xander and I arrived at the bank. It was open as usual but the security was heavier. I walked up to the teller.
"Can I help you, sir?" she asked.
"Yes, I'm Eric McCoy, Criminal Psychologist. I was called in to view your surveillance tapes and study your employees' applications. Where is your manager?"
"Wait one moment," she replied and she went to the back room.
"What are you doing?" Xander asked. "You're not a Criminal Psychologist."
"I studied psychology and I hope to continue. Just play it cool and I will take care of it."
The teller came back out with the bank manager.
"Back this way," the manager said.
Xander and I went around the tellers and entered in the manager's office.
"Please take a seat," the manager invited. Then he sat down at his desk. "I'm not aware of any Criminal Psychologist being called in to investigate the crime."
"I apologize for that, sir. We at the department want to make sure it wasn't an employee that stole the money. In order for us to give ample determination, we need to have psychological profiles built on each of your employees. Viewing the video tapes will help as well.
"Oh, and keep this quiet. The fewer employees that know the better."
"I understand," he said. He got up from his desk and walked to the door. "If you will follow me."
I stood up along with Xander and we followed him out of his office and down the basement stairs.
"Here are all the videos of each camera from yesterday. There are time sequences at the bottom of the footage. I will have someone bring the employee files to you."
"Thank you."
The manager turned and left Xander and I to work.
"What do you plan on doing with those? Are we going to watch each and everyone?"
"Yep."
I sat down and put the tapes in the machines. Queuing them all up to the morning, I pressed 'Play' and watched as the day unfolded.
"How long is this going to take?" Xander asked. "Each tape is several hours long."
"We need to keep an eye on what each staff member was doing for the entire day. While we do that, look for any anomalies to the behaviors of the employees."
The manager brought in the files I had requested.
"Do you happen to have the schedules of the employees, too?"
"Sure. I'll be right back."
"Why is that?"
"If there is someone who is not supposed to be here today, that would be the person Mystique impersonated."
Xander nodded and we continued to watch the videos.
When the bank manager came back, I thanked him and sent him on his way. Then I took the schedules and looked them over with the list of employees.
"Go up and look at the employees. Find out which ones aren't here then come back. I'm going to need your eyes and your mind to tell me who to watch."
Xander nodded and went up to the main floor. After about ten minutes, he came back down. I had each of the employees present on the screen.
"He isn't here and she isn't here," Xander replied.
"Are any of the people on the screen not here today?" I asked.
He looked at the screens closely. "I didn't see her," Xander replied.
"Then we will focus on her."
I sat back and pressed 'play' watching for the female worker. As the footage unfolded, there were several times she moved to different areas of the bank. Nothing out of the ordinary occurred until close to lunch time. Five minutes before lunch, she headed back to the bank's vault. The footage of the vault, however, showed nothing happening at that time.
"How did she do that?" Xander asked. "The footage doesn't show her in the vault. Or maybe there is a room off to the side she went to, like a bathroom or something."
"The only thing next to the vault is the breaker system for the bank. I noticed it when we passed the vault going to the manager's office."
The footage continued to unfold of the vault. The female employee had yet to return.
"See, still nothing going on," Xander replied.
"Wait a second," I said. I paid closer attention to the video. There was a slight jump after several seconds of footage. "The video has been looped. Get down her address."
Xander wrote it down from the employee file.
"Come on."
We stood up and left the basement at a run. The manager turned to us as we burst onto the main floor.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I think I know what happened! No time to talk now!"
Xander and I ran out of the bank and jumped into his car. He started it up and away we went toward the employee's residence.
As we pulled up, an ambulance was sitting in the parking lot. The paramedics were bringing the body down the stairs on a stretcher. Several patrol cars were in the parking lot with the officers interviewing residents of the apartment complex.
We walked passed the officers and headed up the stairs. It was obvious which apartment the lady lived in. Officers kept neighbors away and yellow tape hung in front of the door.
"Apartment Four-Cee?" I asked.
Xander looked at the paper. "Yep."
"I wonder how she was killed."
"Does it matter?"
"Not really," I replied. "They will probably determine that death happened sometime yesterday morning."
"What are you going to do when you find this Mystique?" he asked.
I looked at him then looked away.
"You really don't like her, do you?"
"Less and less every day."
When we arrived back at the Magic Box, we were greeted with some excitement. Willow and Tara had completed the spell and put a magic potion in a bottle for us to use to reveal her.
"All you have to do is throw it down and if she is within thirty feet of the impact, the spell will reveal her."
"Thanks," I replied. "I appreciate all your help."
"Did you find where she is?" Anya asked.
"We figured out who she impersonated. The lady is dead."
"Oh, no," Giles said.
"Don't worry. I'll find her tonight."
The sun set on Sunnydale and I readied myself for facing Mystique. I pulled on my Bat-suit in the back training room. Everyone had gone home for the evening so I had enough secrecy to do my thing.
Once I was suited up, I headed out to the apartment complex where the woman was murdered. The place was quiet as if the entire complex were in mourning for the fall of their neighbor. I respected that.
Quietly, I entered her apartment and looked around for some form of evidence the police may had overlooked. Her answering machine sat on the table. 'Maybe someone left a message'. I hit 'play' and listened. A familiar voice spoke into the machine.
"Hello, this is Margaret Manning, from the Sunnydale Travel Agency. I'm calling to confirm your reservations to Switzerland aboard British Airlines. Please call me back at..."
I wrote down the number and extension. Then I picked up the phone and dialed *69. The phone number given was not the same. Mystique left the phone number to keep the authorities off track. I called the number given to me by *69 and a gruff voice answered.
"Sunnydale Docks Motel. This is Earl. How can I help you?"
"Where are you located?" I asked.
The manager of the motel gave me the address to the motel and I headed over. After persuading the manager to remember if anyone had checked in just before the mysterious robberies started and recently checked out, he told me the room number.
I went to the room and, at first glance, it seemed vacant. But I took my time going over everything that I could, desk drawers, nightstand drawers, anything that could be a place to hide information. A small trashcan sat in the corner hardly noticeable. I went over and looked inside. There was a small piece of paper crumpled up. Reaching in, I pulled it out and opened it to find an address. It was the address of the Magic Box. Was she keeping tabs on the demon-fighting group in town or was this her next target? There was only one way to find out.
I ran out the motel room, climbed on my motorcycle and headed back to the Magic Box. When I got a few stores down, I parked the bike and quietly walked down the rest of the way, not wanting to tip Mystique off to my presence.
When I got to the shop, I looked inside the window and watched as Anya was taking the cash out of the drawer and placing it in a bag. Anya was stealing from Giles? 'No,' I thought. 'That isn't Anya. It's Mystique.'
I jumped in the air, grabbed the top of the window and swung my legs forward. I smashed through the glass and landed in the front of the store. As I stood up, I looked over at 'Anya' and saw her looking back at me.
"Batman!" she said. "What are you doing here?"
"Don't be coy with me, Mystique. I know who you really are. And I've come to make you pay for what you did to me in L.A."
"Don't be silly," she replied. "I'm not that crazy mutant."
I pulled out the bottle Willow gave to me and threw it into the middle of the room. It burst open and a cloud dissipated amongst the table and shelves. Slowly, Mystique reverted to her true form.
"Nice try," I said.
Mystique looked at her arms and legs then up at me. "Damn you!" she replied. She flipped over the counter and stood in a defensive stance.
"You never told me why you did it," I said. "Why frame Batman for murder?"
"You have to ask? You betrayed Magneto. You started to help us and went back on your word. You did a half job. So you got a half payment. The man you were totally against, Dr. Israel, would be taken care of as payment. But at the price of your freedom. How do you like your repayment, Batman?"
"I want my life back, you bitch."
"Come get it."
I leapt at Mystique enraged at her. The anger that had fueled me in finding her, the anger I felt toward her for what she did in L.A. surfaced and took over. She reached up and used my own momentum to toss me onto the table. She reached into her belt and pulled a knife.
"No doubt the knife you used to kill the bank employee."
"No doubt the knife I'm going to use to gut you, too," she replied as she brought it down toward my chest.
I rolled away as it came down into the wood. I spun my legs around and kicked her, knocking her back away from her weapon. Then I slid off the table and walked toward her.
"This is for the bank employee." I punched her with a left hook. "You didn't ... (punch)... give her ... (punch) ... a chance. And this is for fucking with my life." I did an uppercut with my right arm. Being so angry, my mutation was in full affect. She flew into the air and smashed through the front door.
As I stepped out, Giles was pulling up in his red car and two police cars were arriving with their lights on but sirens silent.
Mystique took advantage of my distraction and took off running. I pulled out a bat with a rope attached and threw it around her legs. Yanking hard, she tripped and fell on her face. Two officers ran over to her and handcuffed her.
Giles walked up to me. "Thank you for your assistance," he said. "California has not seen you in a while."
"Kind of difficult to be in a place where the people believe you are a murderer. She framed me for a crime I didn't commit and I've been searching for her."
Giles's eyes changed. He knew who I was with that statement.
The police put Mystique in the back of the squad car and two officers approached me.
"How did you know she would be here?" they asked.
"I've been following her. She confessed to the crime spree in Sunnydale." I handed them a cassette tape which I used to record our conversation in the Magic Box. "She is also responsible for the murder of Dr. Israel in Los Angeles which she confessed to, as well. The police there will want to talk to her."
"Thanks," they said as they took the tape and went to their squad cars.
I turned to Giles. "My work here is done. Tell everyone I had to go."
Giles nodded.
"I hope you find peace in your heart, Mr. Giles. It is difficult to go on without having that one person who is close to your heart. I've done it for three months. The man I love is still alive and well. But he thinks I'm dead. I guess it's time to prove him wrong."
I shook Giles's hand and shot a line into the air. I was going back to Orlando and to Lance. If I could fight hard to win back Jessica's trust, I would fight hard to win back Lance. Or at least give him the decision to come back to me.
The police car drove down the road toward the Sunnydale police department. The officers were glad they finally had their local mystery thief.
"People like that make our job so much easier," the officer driving said.
"Yeah," the other office replied with a smile.
Suddenly, their patrol car slammed into something. The officers jerked hard, disoriented at the sudden impact. Slowly, they climbed out to see what they hit. Before the car stood a blue and red being standing over six feet tall with a white face and blue lips. His hair was black and short and his eyes a deep blue.
"Who the hell are you?" one asked pulling his gun.
"What the hell are you?" the second amended pulling his gun as well.
"Weaklings," the being said in a deep voice. He swung his hand out and grabbed the guns from the officers. He then reached down and picked up the officers by their collars. Then he threw them over his head. They landed twenty feet away with a crash.
The being walked over to the passenger's side back door, grabbed the door handle and ripped the door from the rest of the car. Mystique looked up at him with terror reflecting in her yellow eyes.
"What are you?" she asked.
"I have need of you, Mystique. You are to be one of my horsemen."
"And you are?"
"Apocalypse."
To Be Continued...