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, one of which is this yahoo email address. Some of you know them; however, in the recent weeks I've changed my screen name. 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.
Author's Note: The Boy Band Story Awards is coming up. If any of you would like to nominate my story for anything, I believe the nominations begin October 1st. I got into writing because I wanted to create these characters and tell their stories. I didn't expect the story to grow like it has. If I didn't have readers, it probably would not have lasted as long as it has. Thank you for your support. Chapter 20 It Happens Every Time
"Any suggestions on how to stop these guys?" I asked. "I've been away for a while."
"Let's cut them off," Robin suggested. "Nightwing and I can go around and tie off an intersection with heavy cabling."
Nightwing and I nodded. The two young men split off at the next intersection and went right. I continued to pursue the fleeing car. It was speeding up and I knew I had to slow it down to give Robin and Nightwing enough time to get set up. The question that remained was how to slow it down. Then it came to me.
'I'm a mutant who can control molecules. Why not do something to the car to slow it down?'
I held up my hand and concentrated on a wheel hoping I could make it explode or something. All I could do was cause the tire to swell and deflate a little, nothing more. It was difficult to do since I had to concentrate on driving the motorcycle as well as using my mutation. The car did slow, thank goodness.
As we neared another intersection, I saw Nightwing drive across the road and around the corner lamp post. Robin was on the other side with his motorcycle parked. The car approached the intersection at full speed and drove right into the cable. It was low enough that the impact caused the cable to slice through the tires. The car would not be going anywhere for a while.
The thieves leapt out of the car brandishing their weapons. Two took off across the intersection while three more went after Nightwing and Robin. The crooks didn't have a chance. Robin hurled one his metal birds at a man who was firing upon him. The bird's wing entered the barrel as the thief pulled the trigger. The gun exploded when the man pulled the trigger. Nightwing quickly disarmed the other two by throwing one of his birds and dodging the gun firing and kicking the gun out of his hand.
I sped up and pulled up on the handlebars of my motorcycle. The front tire went up and I hit the back of the car driving up over the trunk and roof. Gunning the engine I jumped into the air and cleared the hood of the car landing on the street. The two thieves headed for the corner building, a hotel. I stopped my motorcycle and climbed off running inside after the robbers.
The lobby wasn't that crowded this late at night. The patrons who were there were shocked and frightened by two men wearing masks carrying guns. I'm sure a man dressed in a black bat suit didn't help either.
The thieves ran to the elevator and hit the button. The elevator was on that floor so the doors opened immediately. They climbed in and hit the "close doors" button. The doors closed and the elevator car started its ascent. I got to the door a bit too late to get it to come back. The next best thing would be to follow it up.
I put my fingers inside the cracks of the door and started pulling. They slowly opened, but it was too slow. I felt my mutation kick in and the doors opened a little easier. Looking up, I saw the car several floors up already. I pulled out my grappling gun and shot a line into the floor. Then I leapt into the shaft. The motor on the gun slowly pulled me up to the floor of the car.
"What the hell is going on?" one of the thugs said inside the car. "Is one of them guys following us? He can't be!"
The elevator bell rang and the car stopped.
"Let's squish this guy," the other said.
I knew exactly what he was doing. He hit the lowest level the elevator would go to and it would squash me if I were to stay underneath. I looked down at the floor beneath us and opened the door with my power. Then I swung my body outward and released a bar on the bottom of the car. I grabbed onto the ledge of the opened door and pulled myself up as the car passed that floor. With that taken care of, I had to get to the next floor up and stop the two thieves. Who knew what patrons they were robbing or taking hostage? I had to stop them.
I arrived to the stair case and threw the doors open. Running as quickly as I could, I ascended the stairs to the next floor and exited in time to see the two thieves running toward the stairwell. When they saw me, however, they skidded to a stop and turned around heading back the way they came. As they neared a room, the door opened. They turned and jumped inside tackling whoever was coming out.
"Oh God, no," I whispered.
I ran to the door and heard it lock. Putting my ear to the door, I listened to the commotion inside.
"Please, don't hurt us," a young man's voice said.
"What do you want?" another asked.
"Shut up!" one thief yelled.
"What's going on?" a third young man asked.
"The Bat is after us," the first thief yelled. "And we are going to use you as hostages."
"Please, don't hurt us."
"Shut up!" the second thief yelled.
I heard a thump. He must have used his gun and hit one of the young men. Now the thieves were into assaulting young people. I couldn't let them escape and I couldn't let them hurt any of their hostages. If there is anything that makes me angry, it's someone hitting a child of any age.
I relaxed my mind and stretched out sensing where the hostages were and where the thieves were. The young men were over on the couch checking out their friend who was hit. One of the thieves stood near the door and the other stood at the balcony door. There was a chance I could do what I had in mind.
I stepped back from the door and swung my leg forward concentrating all my energy into the force. My foot hit the door and it flew off its hinges hitting the thief standing near the door and falling on him. I stepped inside and the man at the balcony looked up at me his eyes wide with fear. I walked toward him and he pulled the gun up to fire.
I held my hand up and he fired. The first bullet flew into my hand but did not penetrate my suit. I had stopped it cold. Then the barrel of his gun melted under my power and the second bullet exploded in the barrel.
"Aaah!" he screamed out in pain clutching his hand.
I marched toward him and he stepped back further and further until he was up against the door.
"What do you think you are doing terrorizing these young men?"
"Don't kill me," he whimpered. "I...I didn't mean to..."
I punched him in his mouth and he flew through the balcony door's glass.
"Don't even say it," I replied.
The man underneath the door was knocked out cold. 'Good,' I thought. 'I can concentrate on this guy.'
I stepped out onto the balcony facing the thief.
Robin spun around and kicked the thief in the chest knocking him into the car. The man went to punch him, but Robin blocked and punched. Nightwing threw a rope around him and yanked him to next to the other two thieves and tied him up as well.
"Where did Batman go?" Nightwing asked.
"The hotel," Robin answered.
The two turned and ran toward the hotel.
"Which floor is he on?"
The sound of glass breaking zeroed their gaze onto the balcony and they saw a man backing up to the ledge.
"I think that's it," Robin answered with a grin.
Nightwing laughed. "Let's go."
The two ran to the hotel and headed for the elevator.
"You call yourself a man?" I asked the thief. "A true man does not hit a minor. A true man does not steal. A true man takes responsibility for his life. You are not a true man."
I grabbed the thief and picked him up by his collar. I pulled him close so that we were nose to nose.
"You make me sick."
I turned around and threw him into the hotel room. He landed on the floor with a thump and passed out. I guess the excitement was too much for him. I walked into the room and went over to the young man lying on the couch.
"Where did he hit you?" he asked.
"The face," the young man answered.
He turned his head and I saw the mark on his face. It was a large bruise.
"You should get that looked at."
The young man looked familiar as did his roommates.
One of the men went over to the phone and picked it up. I watched as he dialed 9-1-1. 'Good,' I thought. 'He's on the ball.'
"Get some ice," I ordered.
The dark-haired one went into the kitchen and a few minutes later came out with the bag of ice.
"An ambulance and squad car are on their way," the one who called 9-1-1 said.
Nightwing and Robin appeared at the doorway.
"Everything under control?" Nightwing asked.
"Yes. The police and paramedics are coming. We should tie these two up in case they wake up from their unconscious state."
Robin immediately moved in pulling out some rope. Nightwing helped me move the two together and Robin wrapped them up in the rope tying the ends really tight.
"That should hold them," the Boy Wonder stated.
"Are you going to be okay?" I asked the teens.
"Yeah," one answered. "Thanks."
The others spoke their words of gratitude and the hotel manager showed up at the hotel room with security.
I looked at Nightwing and Robin and nodded. They knew what I was signaling. The three of us turned and ran to the balcony jumping off and shooting lines across the street to lower us to the ground.
Once on firm concrete, we pulled our lines in and headed back to the motorcycles. The lights could be seen in the distance as they came closer and closer to the hotel. Nightwing quickly untied the cable and wrapped it up. Robin mounted his cycle as Nightwing and I mounted ours. Then we drove off into the night.
We stopped a few blocks away.
"That was amazing," Robin said. "It's good to have you back."
"It's good to be back," I answered.
"What happened?" Nightwing asked. "Why has it been so long since we've seen you?"
"There were many complications in England," I told him. I went into the story as vaguely as I could since I didn't want them to put together that Batman and Eric McCoy were one in the same. The two seemed very interested at what transpired. Nightwing seemed very interested in the events leading up to the death of Batgirl, Christine, at the hands of Macai.
We finished our discussion and went our separate ways. It had been long enough I was away from Lance. As much as I enjoyed stopping villains in their tracks, nothing compared to the arms of the man I loved.
I pulled up by the wall to the pool and jumped to the top. I then lifted the motorcycle with my powers over the wall to the poolside and jumped down. After propping the bike up against the wall, I went over to the house and opened the sliding doors.
Lance and JC were sitting in the living room. Lance saw me and got up and hugged me.
"How was everything tonight?" JC asked.
"Adventurous," I answered. "There was a robbery at a store and the thieves fled to one of the hotels downtown. Two took hostages but they were taken care of with minimal damages to innocent bystanders."
"Your life amazes me sometimes," JC said. "I'm going to head out now."
"Thanks for staying with me," Lance said to JC.
"You're welcome. Thanks for letting me."
JC shook my hand and left.
I pulled my mask off and kissed Lance.
"You are going to have to do something about that goatee," Lance said with a smile. "I don't like hairy faces."
"If you want me to shave, I can shave. Not a problem. I do have another problem, though."
"What's that?"
"Batman has a motorcycle and needs a place to keep it."
"Let's take it downstairs for the night. We can figure out something more permanent later."
I went to the back and got the motorcycle being careful not to mess up the kitchen floor. We took it to the basement door and I careful took it down the steps. It would be fine there for the day, but tomorrow night when I would go out on patrol, I would have to bring it back up.
After closing the basement door, Lance and I went upstairs. I changed out of my costume and hopped in the shower. When I got out, Lance had the entire house locked up and everything ready for the night. He was sitting in bed flipping through a book when I came out with a robe on.
"What you said a little while ago was true," I said.
"Oh?" Lance replied putting his book down. "What's that?"
"We need to come up with something more permanent for Batman. I can't keep coming here in the suit, and I can't store Batman's things here. This isn't his domain to be perfectly honest."
Lance placed his bookmark in the book and sat it on the nightstand. I walked over to the bed, took off my robe and climbed in beside him.
"I know how you feel about Batman, Lance. You have suffered a great deal because of his existence. Had it not been for Batman, we wouldn't have been separated for so long, you wouldn't have been abused. As much good as Batman has done, hurt has been caused by his existence."
"I wouldn't think of asking you to not be Batman, Eric. It is part of who you are, for whatever reason you feel you need to be him."
"But I shouldn't bring it home. I shouldn't put it in front of you. I shouldn't expose you to the torturous memories he brings."
"Eric, you are Batman. And Batman is you. I could never harbor the pain that has been caused. I love you. Always and forever. Nothing will change that."
I smiled and kissed him. "We'll figure something out for Batman. He can have his own place. I don't want to share this with him."
I curled up next to Lance. My mind went back to what he said, "I could never harbor the pain that has been caused". 'I could,' I thought. 'I like being Batman. But every time I pull the mask on, my mind will always think of the harm caused to you, Lance. And that is unforgivable in my eyes.'
Slowly I drifted off to sleep listening to the beat of Lance's heart.
To Be Continued...
I still need a Batmobile design. Is there anyone with design and artistic talent willing to give it a shot? Anything and everything will be looked at.
Next up: "The Cave"