Date: Thu, 23 May 2002 06:11:13 -0700 (PDT) From: Author James Subject: Chronicles of a Real Dark Knight 36 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. Scary!! People actually get a glimpse into my 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. Harry Potter, Hogwarts, and all related characters created by J.K. Rowling. Copyright Scholastic Press, Inc. I don't know for sure if I will use all the above elements, but just in case, I have myself covered. In this story, which has been floating around in my head most of my life, you will find many universes merging, as the above copyrights reveal. I hope you all enjoy this. I appreciate any feedback that you may want to give. This story doesn't deal so much with sex, sex, sex, but more of my feelings that I struggled with and am starting to come to terms with. Part of his background is mine. I do hope that you enjoy it!!! Any emails you send, please tell me what chapter and story you are commenting on. Thanks. jmsotc@yahoo.com Chapter 36 Resting Up Jayce and I walked into the sitting room along with Quentin and Hyppolyta. I pulled off my mask and sat on the couch, Jayce sitting next to me. Quentin sat in one of the high-backed chairs and Hyppolyta sat in the other. "This is Hyppolyta," Quentin introduced, "Queen of the Amazons." "Pleasure to meet you, your royal highness," I said. "Hyppolyta, this is Eric McCoy. He has been helping us fight the demon." "You have amazing strength," Hyppolyta commented. "How is that so? Are you a descendent from the hero Hercules?" "No," I replied. "I'm a mutant." "Ah. I've heard of such beings. Fascinating." "You are amazingly strong as well. Where does your strength come from?" "The Amazons were made by the goddesses. They gave us great strength." "Interesting." The doors opened and young Harry Potter entered. Everyone turned to the doors. "Am I interrupting anything?" he asked. "Not at all," Quentin said. "Come in and join us." Harry entered and came over by me. He looked at my strange garb then up at my face. The question was easily readable in his eyes. "It's a costume to hide my identity, Harry. With my abilities, as well as the work I do, I need to keep my family safe by hiding who I am." "It's okay. I understand why people wear masks." Harry looked over at Quentin. "What were you talking about?" "We were introducing Queen Hyppolyta to Mr. McCoy." "Oh. Sorry." "It's alright, young Harry. Please, have a seat." I moved my cape over a little and Harry sat next to me. I smiled at the young boy and turned to Quentin. "Will it be possible to get a message to Lance? At the very least to Jessica?" "I'm sorry, Eric, but no communications are going out except those that are absolutely necessary. We don't want Macai to think we are operating against him. It would ruin any surprise attack against him." "Who is Lance?" Harry asked. "Your brother?" "No. My lover." "Your..." "Yes, I said 'lover'." Harry's eyebrows went up in shock. "You mean...you're a poofter?" "Now now," Jayce said. "We don't need to say such words." "Poofter?" I said questioningly. "Is that like the word 'faggot'?" Harry's eyes widened in shock at hearing an adult say such a word. Then a fearful look came over his countenance as he realized this might stir up some anger. "I'm sorry, Mr. McCoy. I didn't mean...it's just I never..." "I'm going up to bed," I said. "It was nice meeting you, your majesty." "You may address me as Hyppolyta. One warrior to another." "Very well. Please, address me as Eric, except, when I wear the mask. Then call me Batman." Hyppolyta nodded in agreement. I stood up and headed out of the room and up the stairs. I went up to my room and pulled off the suit. I hopped in the shower and washed off quickly. Afterwards, I pulled on clean boxers and a robe and stood at the window. As I looked up at the clear night sky, a knock came at my door. "Come in," I called. The door slowly opened and Harry poked his head inside. "Yes, Harry?" "May I come in for a moment?" he asked. "Sure." When he closed the door, I offered him a seat by the window. He sat down. "What can I help you with?" "I wanted to apologize for calling you a poofter. I haven't really met any men who liked other men before. Kids at school always made fun of other kids who didn't act manly." "I can understand why you said it like that. I guess now is a good time to get educated about gay people." Harry and I sat up all night talking about homosexuality and love. He said he never had sexual feelings for a boy but a little bit for a girl. I told it was natural at his age to start developing those feelings as hormones began to operate and such. Some teenagers developed feelings for the same sex and some for the opposite. Some even developed feelings for both sexes. This surprised Harry. Harry also shared with me the homophobic comments that went around schools these days. Even before children had any sexual ideas, they were being trained that homosexuals were different and abnormal; that it is was wrong for a man to want to be with another man and a woman to be with another woman. "I wonder who is responsible for this type of attitude." "I don't know," Harry answered. "The only people I've ever been taught by were my aunt and uncle." Harry became quiet. I noticed the look on his face was one of distress and pain. "What's wrong, Harry?" "Nothing," he replied wiping his eye. "Are you crying?" I knew he was. "What's wrong?" "My aunt and uncle...they lied to me about how my parents died. When I found out, they called my parents freaks. Everything that I have known was found out to be a lie. I have to unlearn the things I was told and learn knew." "I can understand your position, Harry. It was just a few days ago that I regained my memory from an accident I was involved in three months ago. I woke up not know who I was. The world was very scary." "What happened?" "There was an explosion that would have killed an ordinary person. But because I'm a mutant, my mutation saved my life. It had to repair my body piece-by-piece, nerve-by-nerve, until all the damage was fixed. Eventually it fixed my mind and I remembered everything." "That must have been wonderful to remember all the things that make you who you are." "It was. But it was also scary. When I awoke, a young man was there to help me. I fell in love with him and considered building a life with him. But he helped me remember wrong. When my memory came back, I remembered the truth and this man whom I had loved had lied to me. I was devastated. I was glad that I remembered but saddened that I loved someone who lied to me. "I left him and came back here. Knowing what I have lost both before and after the accident, I want to get back to my real life. But I can't right now. I have many things to deal with first." "Macai." "That's right. Macai." "Do you know how you are going to stop him?" "Hopefully all of us working together will be able to stop him." I looked at the clock and saw how late it was. "You better get to sleep, Harry. It will be time to get up in a few hours." "Can I sleep in here with you? I'm not used to such a large room to myself." "Sure you can." I looked around but there was no place for him to sleep other than with me on the bed. When I suggested this to him, he was fine with it and so we climbed into bed. I lay there thinking about how much I missed Lance. Harry rolled over and placed his arm around my stomach. I looked at his peaceful closed eyes and something in me sparked. I realized that I would like to have children one day. With the thought of Lance and me raising children, I fell asleep. A knock came at the door and woke up me up. The knock came again followed by a voice, Jayce's voice. "Eric! Get up! Harry is missing! WE think Macai kidnapped him!" "What?" I said, not quite awake. "Harry Potter is missing!" "Oh. Hold on, Jayce." I stood up, pulled my robe around me and opened the door. "He's sleeping in here." Jayce looked in on the bed and saw young Harry asleep. He looked at me with questioning eyes. "Don't even go there, Jayce. I'm not in the mood. He and didn't do anything." Relief covered Jayce's face. "We were all concerned when Professor Dumbledore discovered Harry not in his room. I'm glad he's safe with you. "Please, get dressed and come downstairs. We have a plan that we want to finalize before Marius gets here tonight." "I'll be down as soon as I shower and dress." Jayce nodded and left. I came out of the shower to find Harry up and looking out the window. His hair was even messier than when I first met him. "How did you sleep?" I asked. "Very well, thank you. I appreciate you letting me stay in here tonight. You are the first person to treat me like..." "Like what?" "Like a father would treat his son. I never had that." "I'm glad I could be there for you. Professor Dumbledore thought you were kidnapped when they couldn't find you. I told them you were here with me. You better get back to your room, showered and dressed. Everyone is waiting for us downstairs." "Okay." Harry climbed out of the bed and left the room. I dressed and went downstairs to find everyone sitting around the table eating breakfast. "Good morning, everyone," I greeted. "Good morning," Professor Dumbledore, Quentin and Jayce replied. "Greetings," Hyppolyta said. I nodded and returned the sentiment. "Harry will be down shortly. He's getting cleaned up and dressed." I grabbed a nearby newspaper and read the headlines. It seems a meteor had landed in Smallville, Kansas. Authorities said the rock burned up completely after entering the atmosphere. There was no evidence other than a crevice caused by the impact. "Interesting," I thought and continued my breakfast. As we ate, Harry came down and joined us. He sat next to Professor Dumbledore. The meal went by in silence for a little while. Then Quentin broke the silence. "Professor, I would like you and young Mr. Potter to research the spells used on Macai last time. Then perhaps practice them. There will be no room for error once the confrontation begins." "Of course, Mr. Travers." "Hyppolyta, it may be best to have you and Eric practice sparring. We would like to see if his reflexes are up to par what with his accident and all. Also, Eric, you should work on using your powers. You haven't gauged what you can do, although it seems to use them is much easier than before." I nodded to Quentin and noticed his wording while addressing each of us. With Professor Dumbledore, he was polite. With Queen Hyppolyta, he was suggesting a course of action, giving her the proper authority. With me, it was more of a command. I found it interesting that, even in such dire circumstances, the social standards were still observed. It wasn't we were all in the same boat of dying and should be treated equally. It was we were still in our social classes and needed to stay in them, regardless of what the situation. Much like what happened on the Titanic. We finished eating and Quentin directed Jayce to escort Queen Hypolita to the training grounds. I was to attend them. Quentin, in turn, led Professor Dumbledore and Harry down to the lower levels of the castle for their research. "I must change first," Hyppolyta said. And she went up to her room. "She seems like a nice woman." I replied. "She is very kind and very stern. She is an excellent ruler." Hyppolyta came back down in a few minutes wearing a rather tight, revealing suit. She had white boots with gold trim that went up to her knees. White stretch pants covered her legs up to her waist where a gold belt wrapped around. A golden lasso hung on one side. A white shirt with gold armor went up to just above her breasts. Her shoulders and upper part of her chest were revealed, but sleeves continued from under her arms down covering her hands. Two large gold bracelets went from her wrist to her elbow. On her head she wore a golden tiara with a red star in the middle. From the looks of it, her suit would give her great flexibility to fight with whomever she needed to fight. "I am ready now, Mr. Haverhill." "Yes, your highness. This way." Jayce walked to the door and I walked beside Hyppolyta. "Nice outfit," I replied. "Where is your suit, Eric?" "Oh, the Bat-suit. I try not to wear it during the daytime. It would be much easier to spot me if I had it on." She nodded to me. To Be Continued... By now, everyone should know who Hyppolyta is. And now Eric reads of a meteor crash in Smallville, Kansas. Does anyone see what I'm setting up? Next chapter, we see the training and coordinating of these characters. Chapter 38 Marius will show up and in Chapter 40, the showdown between Batman with his league of justice and Macai and is legion of doom. (Okay, I'm really doing a play on words here. Let me know if you get the puns and the connections). Comments and questions are always welcome!