Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2001 21:09:57 -0800 (PST) From: Author James Subject: Chronicles of a Real Dark Knight 12 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. Talamasca, Lestat, Louis, and all related characters created by Anne Rice. Copyright Anne O'Brien Rice. 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 12 Rescue Catwoman landed softly onto the roof of the haberdashery. She wrapped her whip up and attached it to her belt and then walked over to the trap door. Opening it, she entered the haberdashery not knowing what she would find. As she neared the bottom of the ladder, she stopped to listen. No sound was coming from below so she continued her descent. Catwoman dropped into a deserted hallway. She went up to the nearest door and listened. No sound came from it. She tried the door and it opened. Looking around quickly the room was empty and she moved on to the next one. The four guards looked at me. Their eyes were blank. They didn't seem like their minds were on the present situation. I noticed the doorknob turn and the door slowly opened up. To my surprise, Catwoman poked her head around the corner. I turned to look at the guards, hoping she would see where I looked. She nodded and quietly slipped in. Without warning, her foot contacted the back of the head of the nearest guard. He fell unconscious. The other guards attacked Catwoman. Now that I had a moment to act, I manipulated the few heat molecules in the room and burned the rope holding me. With a gush of strength I snapped the rope and stood. One guard turned to me. I swung a fist at him and knocked him down. Catwoman blocked a punch by a guard. She brought her leg up and kicked him in the stomach. Bringing her knee up, she caught him in the face, knocking him unconscious. The last guard grabbed me from behind and he would not let go. I ran forward and ran up the wall. I got over the guard's head and flipped over him, landing behind him. I kicked him, pushing him into the wall. He turned and I grabbed his face and rammed the back of his head into the wall, knocking him out. "Good job," she said. "Thanks. What are you doing here?" "Rescuing you. What else?" "We need to get out of here." "Why?" she asked. "We know this guy is behind the attacks on the Princes' lives. We should stop him before it's too late." "I agree with that, under normal circumstances. These circumstances are anything but normal. I found a computer chip that we need to have analyzed. There may be more going on than what appears." "Okay. Let's get going." Catwoman opened the door and peeked her head out. "All clear," she replied and exited the room. I followed. Within minutes we were back at Buckingham Palace. A quick telephone call to the Council of Watchers and Jayce arrived at the palace as well with a bunch of equipment. "Let me have the chip, please," he asked. I handed him the chip and he placed it in a slot. "This may take a little while. Perhaps you should relieve those watching the Princes so you two can do your jobs." "Okay," I said and I returned to William's room. When morning came, William awoke and smiled at me. "Good morning." "Good morning," I replied. "I'm glad to see you made it back okay." "Me, too." William stood up and his cock was so erect it pointed straight up to his belly button. He smiled at me and looked down. "Part of it is because I have to go to the bathroom." "And the other part?" "I had a dream about you." "Oh," I replied. "You best get that taken care of." "The dream part? Are you serious?" "I meant the bathroom part." "Oh," William said with mock disappointment. "Damn." He grabbed his robe and put it on. By now I was back in normal clothes, so I followed him down the hall to the bathroom. He went in, took care of his dilemma, and I heard the water run for his morning shower. I stood in the hall and Serena came up. "Good morning," she said. "Good morning." After a moment I said, "Thanks for rescuing me last night." "You're welcome. I'm glad I could be available to do it. It's kind of funny. For the past few months you've been stopping me from stealing. I end up saving your butt. I think you owe me." "I think I owe saving your life. Not allowing you to steal." "Damn. It was worth a try." "Have you heard anything from Jayce about the chip?" "No. Nothing yet. He's still hard at work analyzing it." "I think when William is finished with his shower and goes down to breakfast I'm going to see if I can help." "You really think that chip has anything important on it?" "I don't know. But I found it in a hat that was to be sold.. Better to be safe than sorry." "Yeah." "How is Harry doing?" "Pretty well. The doctor thinks Harry can join everyone else for breakfast. That's a good sign. He's getting cleaned up now." Serena went downstairs and ten minutes later, William came out with a towel wrapped around his waist. "Could you grab my robe, Eric?" "Sure." I went into the bathroom, grabbed his robe and headed back to his bedroom. "No," he said loudly. "Get off me!" I grabbed the door to open it to find it locked. "It would take too long to manipulate the lock." With a hard kick, the door flew off its hinges. I stepped in to find William on the bed pinned down. One of the guards had his mouth wrapped around William's dick. "No," William said again. "Stop!" "That's enough!" I said. I grabbed the guard and pulled him off William. He proceeded to go after William as if I wasn't even in the room. I pulled him away again and brought my fist up. The back of my hand connected with his face and knocked him out. "Oh, god," William said jumping up and grabbing me, holding me in a tight embrace. "I can't believe...he just..." "It's okay, William. I'm here. Go ahead and get dressed. I won't let anything happen to you." After a moment, William released me and went to his closet. I leaned over the guy and lifted him up. I sat him on the chair and examined him. He was wearing dark sunglasses. I pulled them off to look into his eyes. To my surprise I found circuitry near the ear hooks of his glasses. It would be about to his temple with the glasses on. Closer examination showed the same pattern of the chip I had found at the haberdashery on the hat. "Great," I said out loud. "What?" William asked as he came out pulling on a shirt. I didn't answer. Instead I grabbed the guy and put him over my shoulder. I marched out the door with William following behind me. I reached the bottom of the stairs and turned. Serena met me. "What are you doing?" she asked. I didn't answer here, either. I marched down another flight of steps to the same floor Jayce was working. I entered the room and saw Jayce sitting at his computer staring at the computer screen. He heard me come in and he turned. "Eric. I still haven't...what are you doing?" "I think I know what that chip does." "Really?" "Yes." I tossed the guy onto a table and walked up to Jayce pulling out the sunglasses. "Look at the arm. There is micro-circuitry. It looks just like the chip I found in the hat." "So?" "So, this man forced himself on William. He was much stronger than normal, too. I think the chip in some way controls peoples minds." "Do you have any more proof than him? Everyone knows about William and his...endowment. Most men want to see it, just like women." "In Orlando the night of the reception for the Princes an attacker appeared wearing the black concealing outfit. He was someone I recognized from last summer. He was my boss. "The day he left work he had received a strange phone call. It may be that he was outfitted with a chip and the telephone call activated it." "It's very likely. But why?" "To make an army of attackers that no one would suspect. Chances are these people are working for the Mad Hatter against their will." "Mad Hatter?" Serena asked. "What kind of stupid name is that?" "A name the guy behind this is going by. And he's not stupid. He had the technological know how to design this along with the brains to put it to work." "Great. How do we stop him?" The guy who attempted to rape William slowly came to. "What? What's going on? Where am I?" "He doesn't remember," Serena said. "They are all doing this against their will," I said. "It might be a good idea to catch all those under his control and free them first. If they are under his complete control, the consequences could be even more disastrous than the Princes murders," Jayce said. "Good idea," I replied. "The sun is coming up. If we get over there and follow the people who leave, we might be able to catch them and remove the circuitry." "Get over there right away. I'll summon Christine and Jessica to join you." Serena and I took off outside. She climbed in the driver's side and started the engine. "You are a good detective," she complimented. "Thanks," I said. In no time we were back at the haberdashery. We watched as people started to filter out and go their separate ways. "He may be controlling them until they are back at their homes," Serena said. "That way when they come to they will be in familiar surroundings." "Good call. The only question is how do we get them all?" "Leave that to me." Serena climbed out of the car. I followed suit. She reached into her purse and pulled out a tazer. "I'll stun them and you put them in the car. If we fill up the car, hopefully Jessica and Christine will arrive so we can fill up theirs." I smiled at her. We got to work stunning and packing. When our car was nearly full, Christine and Jessica showed up. They took our car back to the castle of the Watchers and Serena and I continued filling up the other car. When no more came out of the haberdashery, we went back to the Watchers. "Where are Christine and Jessica?" I asked Jayce. "They are at the palace watching over the Princes. In case you forgot, this Mad Hatter isn't our only concern." "You move awfully fast in getting set up, Jayce. I forgot that about you," Serena said. "Yes, well, the palace would not be an appropriate place to have all of these people tied up and examined." "Have you found anything?" I asked. "I've studied two so far. It seems the chips were surgically implanted in the victims, probably unbeknownst to them." "Can you remove them?" "Yes, given enough time our doctors should be able to remove them without any permanent damage." "Good." "What do we do about the Mad Hatter?" William asked. "We go after him tonight," Serena replied. "Batman and I. Probably right around sunset. There's no telling when he will activate the chips and call his minions to him." I yawned real big. "I'm going to bed. Wake me just before sunset." I headed up to my room where I stripped down and lay down. In no time I drifted off to sleep. Slowly I returned to consciousness. I stood, pulled on a robe and showered. After I showered I dressed in sweats and a t-shirt and went down to the dining room. It was empty. I went to the kitchen where a cook was cleaning up. "Do you have any food?" I asked. "Of course. Go sit down. I will bring it out to you." "Thanks." After I ate, I suited up in all but my mask. I went down to check on those who had their chips removed. I found Joshua, my former boss, lying on the table. I decided it didn't matter if he saw what I was wearing. He was probably so out of it from the surgery, he wouldn't notice it anyway. I walked up to his bed and slowly he opened his eyes. He looked at me narrowly trying to focus his eyes. Realization came to him. "Eric? Eric! Where...where am I?" "London, England, Joshua." "How in the world did I get here?" "You don't remember any of it, do you?" "Remember what?" "You've been under someone's control." "What?! That's impossible." "It's true. Someone implanted a chip in your brain and controlled your will." "My god. Did I hurt anyone?" "No." "Thank heaven." He looked down at my clothes. It was difficult to tell because my suit was all black. "What are you wearing?" "Eric!" Serena's voice came from the doorway. "It's time." "Got to go, Joshua. Take it easy. I'll be back soon." I turned and went over to join Serena, who was in her costume as well, except for her mask. "You ready?" she asked. "Let's do it." To Be Continued... The secret is solved, at least as far as Joshua's disappearance. Many of you probably remember him. He disappeared toward the beginning of our hero's adventure in "Tales of a Real Dark Knight". I had intended for this to happen, for him to resurface later in the story. Did you like how I did it? Let me know what you think. Also, I would like to know how you are enjoying "Chronicles". There is much more to come. Keep reading!