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.
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
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Other stories in this universe written by other authors: "Tales of a Superhero Band" "Tales of the New Phoenix" "Tales of a Young Mutant"
Chapter 29 Double Jeopardy
The front window erupted with the sound of bullet.
Tina dropped to the floor and crawled to the corner covering her ears and crying.
"Stay down, Tina!" I called out when I saw her huddled by the closet door.
I crawled to the couch and climbed up, slowly peering over the top of the couch and out the window. There at the curb was Mike, or at least what was left of Mike. Half of his face, his left half, was deformed. His right half was as attractive as I remembered. See, Tina wasn't the only one who had a thing for him in our past. It is kind of interesting, if you think about it. The guy Tina was after thought the guy who was after her was cute. How about that for a love triangle?
"Hello, Eric," Mike called out in a gruff voice. He took a few steps forward. "We know she's in there, the whore! She always thought of you when she was with us! She imagined it was you making love to her when we were!"
"We?" I called back.
"Yes, us!"
"I only see one of you out there!"
"Look closer! She didn't realize what damage she did to us! She wasn't the only one, though! Our first wife left us! Two women! Both leaving us for another man! How do you think that rejection settled in us?"
"I know what its like to be rejected, Mike!" I called back. "I know the loneliness, the feelings of not being worthy of anyone's love! I've felt that many times before! I can appreciate your stance! But I know that things can be better! Just let me help you!"
Slowly I stood up.
"Eric, what are you doing?" Lance called to me from his spot on the floor.
"Get her out of here," I said to him. "Take her upstairs and lock the bedroom door."
"What about you?"
"I'll be fine."
Tina wasn't budging. Lance crawled over to Tina and helped her get to her feet. She clutched on to him tightly and he helped her up the stairs.
"Mike," I said. "Please, let me help you."
"We help ourselves, now! We don't want any outside influence corrupting our thoughts!"
"What are you talking about? Who is we?"
"We are Two-Face!" Mike stepped forward aiming his gun at me. I slowly lifted my hands to show him I was unarmed. "To shoot or not to shoot, that is the question before us today." Mike reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin. "Let's flip for it!"
I watched as the coin was tossed into the air. There were two heads on it, one was shiny and clean, the other dirty and scratched. I could only assume that, if the bad side landed face up, I was going to be shot. I couldn't take the chance.
While his eyes were on the coin, I dove out the window and tackled him.
"No!" he called out.
We rolled across the wet grass while the rain came down. I grabbed his wrists trying to keep his aim away from me. Then I swung my knee up and connected with his groin. His face contorted in pain. I rolled us over and then I was on top.
"Stop this, Mike! You're better than this!"
"This is all we have," he said as he swung the gun and hit me in the head knocking me off.
I clutched at the blood that flowed from the cut he gave me.
Mike, or should I say Two-Face, ran to where his coin landed and he groped for it trying to find it.
"We must know how it landed," he said. "We can't shoot unless the coin tells us."
Two-Face searched some more. I got to my knees when he found it. Then he looked over at me and frowned.
"You get to live another day. The coin says no."
Two-Face hauled off and hit me with the butt of the gun and everything went dark.
A few hours later, I came to. My head throbbed with pain. I looked around and found Sheila, Elizabeth and Jack standing around me. Thank goodness one of them was a nurse.
The last thing that happened popped into my mind. "Lance?" I asked sitting up. "Where's Lance?"
"That man took him," Jack said.
"What?"
"The scarred man," Sheila replied. "He took Lance. And that girl. We called the police and told them what happened. They are out looking for them now."
"How long has it been?"
"About three hours. Because we treated you and you kept coming in and out, the police let you stay. But if any more symptoms show up, you should go to the emergency room."
I nodded and thanked them. As I stood up, my legs became wobbly. Jack came over and grabbed me to help.
"Where do you think you're going?" Sheila asked.
"I need to get home in case Lance calls."
Elizabeth nodded. "We'll help you get home. But you should rest."
The family helped me get back to my house. Glass lay on the living room floor and on the couch.
"Let's get you to bed," Sheila said as she helped me up the steps.
"I'll be okay," I said and continued up unaided.
I got to the master bedroom and stopped short. On the floor was a small amount of blood. My heart sank.
'How did he find us?' I thought. 'There was no way he could have found us.'
The door closed downstairs and I waited a few minutes to be sure they left. New strength flowed into me as I became agitated at the idea of Lance being hurt. I turned and walked down the stairs. Waving my hand, the glass flew back into the window and sealed up as if it had never been broken. Then I head to the cave.
"Greetings, Batman," Oracle said when I entered the room.
"Hello, Oracle."
"What can I do for you?"
"Access surveillance cameras aimed at the front yard and street. Run from approximately three hours ago.
The computer pulled up the files and played them in several windows. I watched as the car pulled up.
"Stop. Zoom in on the license plate and focus."
The screen changed as the license plate was pulled up and adjusted.
"Search the DMV database for that number."
After giving Oracle the license plate number to search, I sat back and my mind drifted off to when I was going to church and met Tina. She had been interested in me, according to Matt. I freaked at first when he told me. I liked boys. I was trying not to, but I did. After a few weeks of thinking about how not to like boys, I decided to give dating her a chance. She was my last ditch effort at going straight.
Then I noticed one service she was sitting with Mike. When I met her to do something, she told me he was just a friend who was divorced and needed some support. I was fine with that. As time went on, he was hanging out with her more often and not just in service. I knew that he wanted to date her. She would act like it was nothing. I stopped calling her and, a few months later, accepted the fact that homosexual was my orientation.
It had really hurt me that she did what she did with Mike, continued to see him even though he wanted more and she was interested in me. You might be wondering why. Knowing that I'm gay would have caused problems later. At the time, I hadn't thought of it. I wanted to be straight and she gave me that opportunity. I poured all I had into it, my heart and soul, and ended up getting hurt. I was a gay man who got up into a heterosexual drama.
"Search complete," Oracle announced bringing me out of my reverie.
"Display, please."
The monitor blinked and the information I needed came up.
"Save to file and transmit to motorcycle onboard computer."
The computer did as requested. Then the phone rang.
"Computer, trace call."
Once I was sure Oracle was tracing, I picked it up.
"Hello?" I said.
"Hello, Eric," Two-Face said. "We have them both with us."
"What do you want?"
"We want you, too."
Then the line went dead.
"The bastard," I said hanging up the phone. "Computer, is the transmission complete?"
"Transmission completion confirmed."
After changing into my bat suit, I climbed on the motorcycle and headed down through the tunnels. As I exited onto the road, I accessed the onboard Oracle and had the computer display the address.
"Feed address into the map and give me directions to the house. Also, triangulate Lance's cell phone signal and give me the location of that as well."
The computer worked and then displayed a map of the address the DMV had on Two-Face's license plate. It also displayed the location of Lance's phone. They were in the same place.
"Good," I thought and revved the motorcycle up.
"You bastard," Lance said to Two-Face. "You're going to lure him into this trap."
"Yes, we are," Two-Face said.
"Swearing won't do any good," Tina said to Lance. "It won't get us out of here."
"It might not, but it sure as hell relieves the anger I'm feeling."
Tina became quiet and Lance could hear her whispering quietly. She was praying for help.
"Go ahead and pray," Two-Face said. "God doesn't care. He doesn't care about us and He doesn't care about you. You went after a man who is in love with another man. We, at least, go after straight women. You, however, loved a gay man. Perhaps that is the reason God won't save you. Your abomination is worse than ours."
"Shut up," Lance said. "Being gay isn't a sin. Eric and I love each other. God is love. He is happy that we found each other."
Two-Face backhanded Lance. Lance felt the sting on his lip and knew that Two-Face split it. He spit some blood on the floor.
"Keep your blasphemy to yourself," Two-Face stated. "We don't want to hear it. We don't want to hear anyone's corrupt beliefs. We only want our truth. And that we can't get from anyone else."
I drove through traffic nearing the place the computer said Lance was. 'How dare he take my husband?' I thought. 'If he harms one hair on my lover's head, he's getting is ass kicked up one side of Orlando and down the other.'
A block before my destination, I stopped the motorcycle and parked it.
"Oracle, connect with the 'mobile, place on auto-pilot and dispatch to the cycle."
"Request received. 'Mobile being sent to motorcycle location. E.T.A. fifteen minutes."
I headed toward the house, Lance, and Two-Face.
To Be Continued...