Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 05:03:18 -0700 (PDT) From: Author James Subject: Tales of a Real Dark Knight Chapter 50 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. Star Trek and all related characters created by Gene Roddenberry. Copyright Paramount Studios. 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 you are commenting on. Thanks. Author James Chapter 50 Battle with Bortos "What kind of trouble?" I asked Garrett. The Huntress had called me earlier. She requested I come to Garrett's. She stood by Garrett at his desk as he told me trouble was brewing with Bortos. "I did some research into Bortos. Most accounts of him are very vague. But I did come across one that went into great detail. It seems Lord Bortos is a chaos worshiper." "Chaos worshiper?" "Yes. He worships chaos as any other person would worship a religious deity. His objective has been the same over the past few thousands of years. He would have his followers commit crimes that would lead any investigators astray. From there, he would work on his hidden agenda." "Which is?" "Bringing forth Chaos demons. These spirits would permeate the world governments and cause nothing but chaos." "In short anarchy." "Not really. Anarchy is more of each person being responsible for his or her self. Chaos is when there are no such personal laws. Chaos is pandemonium. And Lord Bortos wants to bring it into the world." "What do we do to stop him?" "That would be the Huntress's job. She has to stop him. But she is going to need help. According to this, Bortos keeps an army of Kailiff demons at his side during the final ritual serving each ritual location." "It must be those places that the symbols were placed." "Yes. And at each one of them he will have a Chaos priest to call forth the chaos demons. They all must be stopped. If one completes the ritual, one spirit or aspect of Chaos will be unleashed. With the ritual locations being so far apart, it will be nearly impossible for the Huntress to stop all the priests and Bortos on Halloween night." "Which isn't too far away," the Huntress commented. "What we need is a small army of our own. But we cannot ask any ordinary person to get involved. They would get killed. We need an army that had power and strength, especially against the Kailiff. You know how strong they are, Batman." I thought back to my encounters with them. They were tough. The only other being that had fought with them, besides the Huntress and myself, was Wolverine. "I got it!" I exclaimed more excitedly than I had imagined. "What?" Garrett asked. "I know who could help us. The X-MEN. They all have mutant powers that could be of use." "You're sure they could do it?" I looked over at the Huntress. "Definitely." "Are you sure they would help us?" "I don't know. We could talk with them." "You know where they live?" "Yep. Let's go." Within moments, we were at Xavier's Institute-West Coast campus. Garrett took his van, the Huntress her motorcycle and I on my motorcycle. We went up to the door and I knocked. Kitty answered the door. "You? W-w-what do you want?" "I need to see the Professor," I replied. "Kitty, who is it?" I heard Logan ask. He came up to the door and opened it further to peek out. "It's you. What do you want?" "We've got a problem, Logan. We need to see the Professor." "What you need our help? We're mutants. I thought you weren't a mutant." "Logan," I heard the Professor say. "Who's here?" "It's the mutant bat." "Let him in." Kitty opened the door and we entered. "What's wrong, Batman?" "Professor, we need to talk to you. We need the help of the X-MEN." A half hour later, I was in their conference room. Professor Xavier sat at the head of the table with Garrett on one side and Cyclops on the other. The Huntress sat beside Garrett and I sat beside her. On the other side sat Jean Grey, Logan, Ororo, Gambit and Kitty. "You can't be serious," Logan replied after Garrett told them what he had told me. "Who believes in magic and voodoo mumbo jumbo?" "Magic is real, Logan," Garrett replied. "In this age of technology and modern science, people have left the old ways behind believing them to be myth. Magic is real. Supernatural forces exist. And one very dangerous force is working to gain control of this world. And I'm asking for your help." "Logan, you saw what Lord Bortos could do," the Huntress replied. "For all any of us know, he's a mutant who thinks he was given a gift by the dark one." Logan looked right at me. "If I'm not mistaken, you thought your gift was an answer to prayer to some God to help you fight vampires." "For all any of us know, Logan," I said, "all mutants could be God's answer to fight against darkness." "I don't believe this," Logan stood up and marched toward the door. "What about the Kailiff?" the Huntress said. Logan stopped. "You know, the demons you fought with us at Bortos' manor? What about them? Could they all be mutants that look the same?" Logan turned back. "I didn't think so." "Logan, please," Professor Xavier said. "Sit down. We need your help. If this is serious, we may be on the verge of losing everything we've worked for. You know Magneto. He would take advantage of a situation like this." Logan reluctantly sat down. Professor Xavier turned to Garrett. "What do you plan to do?" "The Huntress and Batman went and did a thorough search of all the ritual locations. It seems there are four ritual spots and in the center is where Bortos will be. The Huntress and I need to go after Bortos. I would like you and your team, along with Batman, to split up into four groups of two and attack the ritual sites. The objective of each team would be to take down the priest and stop the rituals before they can complete their rituals." "What are these Kailiff demons you were talking about? What are their strengths?" "Weapons," Logan chimed in. "They use lots of old-fashioned weapons. And they are strong. Very strong." "Then lets get practicing. Halloween is just around the corner." Over the next few days we trained together. Thankfully Professor X had a Danger Room we could use to simulate the ritual sites. From there we could practice strategies. Of course before we could practice, we had to be split into our groups: The Huntress and Garrett, Professor Xavier and Ororo, Jean Grey and Cyclops, Wolverine and Shadow Cat, Gambit and me. Gambit was not too happy being teamed up with a gay man, but he had to deal with it. Halloween day I went to see Lance and talk with him. I wanted to make sure he was out of danger before this thing started with Bortos. He was surprised to see me show up at the hotel, as was the rest of the group. "Hi, Eric, what brings you here?" "Lance, I need to ask a favor of you." "Sure." "I want you to stay in tonight. I don't want you or the rest of the guys to go out." "Why?" Chris asked. "It's Halloween night. All the clubs are having costume parties." "There is something more going on than just trick or treat tonight." "Like what?" JC asked. "Remember Turic?" Everyone got quiet. "There's a demon-wizard who is planning to do a ritual tonight." "And why are you telling us this?" Chris said. "No more lies, Eric," Justin said. I could tell he had his doubts over what happened with Turic. "I don't believe in that stuff. None of us do." "You were under a spell yourself, Justin. You were under a vampire's control and you don't believe?" "For all we know it was you the whole time," JC replied. "You are a psychologist. You could know something about hypnosis. You could have been in league with Turic the whole time. Where's Joshua by the way? I think you hypnotized him and told him to leave town so you could have your own counseling office. You hypnotized him to get to us, to get to Justin, and now to Lance." "I don't believe I'm hearing this!" I said. "You better believe it," Justin replied. Quickly I felt eeriness in the air. Someone once told me I was sensitive to spirits. I knew I was long before anyone told me. I could sense dark spirits and dark forces. That's what I felt now. It was Bortos. The spell had begun. And maybe, just maybe, it was affecting the guys. I turned and left the hotel and hurried over to Garrett's where I could suit up and get my motorcycle. Chaos, disarray, frenzy, it was beginning. First people would begin to change their attitudes and beliefs. Then, once the spell was complete, it would be total turmoil. I got to Garrett's and suited up. On my radio, I called the Huntress. "What's up, Batman?" "It's started, Huntress. I have seen some changes in people already. We've got to get moving now." "Understood." "Tell Gambit I will meet him on top of the library." I arrived at the Library and saw the group of Kailiff standing guard around the perimeter of the building. Some were on the roof. Not too much later, Gambit showed up. "Looks like the party started without us," he said in his Cajun accent. "Sure has. Remember the plan?" "We've got several of them. Which one is you thinking of?" "Then one where we win." Gambit turned and smiled at me. "Hard and fast, huh? Let's do it!" Gambit pulled out a deck of cards. "Good thing I stocked up." Gambit jumped out of our hiding space and ran to the middle of the street. "Hello, boys. What's up?" With that he threw two cards at two of the Kailiff demons. The cards were glowing and, when they impacted the demons, exploded and knocked them into the library wall. Three Kailiff ran out after Gambit. I shot out several of my bat lines and tied their legs. With a hard yank they fell to the ground. I ran out and joined Gambit. "Let's go, Bats." With that we entered the building, and I offered a silent prayer up to God for success. Inside we found it quite quiet. But we knew we had to be on our toes. At any minute a Kailiff could jump out at us or shoot us with an arrow. We found the stairs leading down to the basement where the symbol was placed and the ritual was taking place, and descended. When we reached the bottom, we made our way to the room where the ritual was. The priest was standing in the middle of the symbol. Several Kailiff surrounded the symbol weapons ready. "Do you think you could hit the priest with one of them cards?" I asked. "Sure thing." "Do it." With that I moved down further and around the corner. I had a plan. The Kailiff would see Gambit, not me. That would give me an advantage to get some of them out of the game at the start. I watched as several cards flew out, one hitting the priest and knocking him out of the symbol. The others hit several Kailiff and knocked them back. They were wearing some kind of protection so the explosions did not do as much damage. As they ran toward Gambit, I relaxed and let my consciousness stretch out. I moved a bookshelf in front of the Kailiff as they approached Gambit. There was no time for them to stop in time. They ran, full force, into the bookshelf, knocking them out. Gambit jumped on top of the bookshelf and pulled out his quarterstaff. A Kailiff happened to be wielding one as well. "Looks like I get some action, too." Gambit jumped down and swung his quarterstaff hitting the demon in the mouth. It could be said of Gambit he does not hesitate in jumping into action. The demon swung back and Gambit blocked. Bringing the quarterstaff back towards Gambit's head, Gambit blocked. He then swung the other end around and hit the demon in the mouth for a second time. Then he brought the staff up and knocked the demon's legs out from under him. As much as I was enjoying watching Gambit fight, I had my own job to do. I moved over to the symbol and the priest. He stood as I grabbed his ritual book. He swung his leg up and kicked me. Then, he pulled out his sword. "There's nothing more you can do. You have failed." The priest swung his sword at me. I ducked and rolled behind him. Standing, I kicked him in the back knocking him forward. Then I grabbed a candle and set fire to the ritual book. "NO!" "Yes!" I mocked. He screamed at me and attacked me. I flipped over him and grabbed one of the candle stands. As he brought his sword around, I used the candle stand to block, and then swung the other end back, knocking him off his feet. "It's over." I said. In the center of the sites, the Huntress approached Lord Bortos. The Kailiff guards lay on the ground unconscious by the Huntress's battle. "You can't stop me, Slayer. You can't win." "I already have. Even as we speak, us inferior social outcasts have dismantled your priests and their rituals. All that's left is you." "You won't win." "Try me." Lord Bortos threw a green ball of energy at the Huntress. She rolled to the side and then lunged at him tackling him. As Bortos fell backwards, he stuck his foot in the Huntress's stomach and flipped her over his head. He got up and drew his sword. The Huntress stood and pulled out her dagger. "You think you can beat me with that?" "I don't think I can. I know I can." Bortos swung his sword at the Huntress. She used her dagger to block, then rolled into him, elbowing him in the stomach. He hunched down and she brought her fist up, backhanding him in the face. She turned and punched him in the face with the hand holding the dagger. Bortos swung his sword toward her stomach. She stepped outside of the arch and rolled down his arm ending up behind him. She took her knife and held it up to his throat. "Guess what, Bortos? I won. Drop your sword." "You won't take me alive," he replied dropping his sword. "You're a demon. You are not alive." Bortos swung his head back hitting the Huntress in the face. Then he flipped her over his head. He pulled out a dagger from his robes and lunged at the Huntress. She grabbed his fallen sword and held it up as Bortos fell on his own sword impaling himself. His lifeless body slumped onto the Huntress, his dagger just missing her head. She rolled him off and stood up. Garrett stood at the corner and gave her a smile and thumbs up. She gave him a smile and walked over to him. An hour later, we were all at Xavier's school telling the tales of our battles in saving the world from Chaos demons. "It seems we had a successful campaign," Garrett said. "We should all be proud of ourselves." "Yes," added Professor Xavier, "we all worked well together. I hope this will continue." "This kind of battle?" Kitty replied, "with demons trying to take over the world?" "No," Professor Xavier laughed, "with us working together as a team." "Yes, here, here," Garrett said with a smile. "Unfortunately, I must return to New York. My associate, Henry McCoy, has been running things. But I must return with Jean, Logan and Scott. Ororo, Remy and Kitty will remain behind. I have new students coming, both to New York and here. They should be here within the week. "I hope that you continue training with them, Batman." "I plan to, Professor. Thanks." "You've been training with them?" Garrett asked. "To learn how to use my mutant powers. Training with you and with them makes for a well-rounded person who can fight with everything, Garrett." Garrett nodded and smiled. We took our leave of them and went our separate ways. On my way home, I stopped at one of the tallest buildings in L.A. I looked out at the city and went over the last few months. I had been to several of the locations in the city and have learned part of it very well. There was still so much more of this city to learn, so many more citizens to meet. Part of me, however, felt that a climax had come to this city, a feeling as if I had done all I needed to do here. Was it possible? Was I finished with my work in this city? This city so vast, so full of life, had been conquered? Perhaps not conquered, just experienced. Had I gotten my fill of L.A.? What did the future hold? Of everything I had accomplished, I knew one thing for certain: Batman would continue to have his adventures. Batman would go on. He is a legend, and legends can never die. The End I would like to take the time to thank my loyal readers (well those of you that have emailed me, ha, ha, ha). This list is in alphabetical order. You are all so special to me: Adam, Andrew, Brandon, Chris, Darrin, David, Dennis, Ed, Eugene, Harby, Iian, Jack, Jas, Jason, Jayce, Jayson, Jeremy, Kris, Lucas, The Magic "T" Man, Matt, The ScreamN' Phoenix, Simon, Sky, Stephan, Tat, Thanos, cybberboy. This list is of those of you who have emailed me and supported me. If there are more fans, I would love to hear from you! I enjoy hearing from you. You have all been a great support to me and for me since I first started writing. I didn't think my story would last as long as it did without you. You always let me know if I was right on track or not. As some of you know, part of each character is part of me. In some places it seems very detailed in feelings and emotions. I've gone through them. Our hero's adventures will continue in another volume entitled "Adventures of a Real Dark Knight". I hope you enjoyed the first fifty chapters of our hero's saga. There are still many more adventures to come. Look for the new volume in a week or two. I made it to Chapter 50! I'm surprised that I still have readers! I figured everyone would be bored by now! I'm glad I have support for this story! I can't believe I wrote fifty chapters! The scary thing is that there are still more adventures to come! I'm not even close to the end with the immediate plans I have for this story and our character! Like I said before, this story could go on forever! Wouldn't that be awesome? Or would that be dumb? Batman lasted 50+ years. Now I know Eric McCoy is no Bruce Wayne. He's just an average gay person who happens to be a mutant fighting vampires, demons, super-criminals and the occasional social injustice. Here's to another 50 chapters, Eric! Oh, and if you want to see a pic of our hero that I drew, send me an email. I would be happy to send you an email picture. Yours truly, James