Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 19:21:00 -0700 (PDT) From: Author James Subject: Chronicles of a Real Dark Knight 33 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 33 Murder on the Hogwarts Express Jayce and I were underway. Jayce drove us to King's Cross Station and we entered. The train station was vast and intimidating. I marveled at the site. We made our way toward the ticket counter. "Which platform is the train leaving from?" I asked as I examined the schedule. "If you are trying to find it on the marquee, you will be looking forever. They do not list it on there. The train is not one you can buy tickets for. Not just anyone can ride this train. This is a special train. "If you will follow me." Jayce walked down the platforms until he reached platform nine. He past two of the brick pillars and came to the third one. "Here we are." I turned to him. "Where?" "Platform nine and three-quarters. If you will just walk through the pillar..." "The what? This is getting more ridiculous with every passing minute." Jayce looked at me disapprovingly. "Fine. If I must go first, then I will." I watched as Jayce walked right towards the pillar and vanish through it as if it wasn't there. I marveled at this display of supernatural powers. Hesitantly, I approached the pillar where Jayce disappeared. I reached my hand out to where he went through and my hand disappeared into the brick. I pulled it out and looked at my hand. I took a deep breath and marched right through the brick. It seemed like I walked through the pillar and came out in a train station that looked similar to King's Cross Station, with one very profound exception. Only one train sat in the station. It gleamed red with gold and black trim and on the sides and front read the words "Hogwarts Express." I found Jayce speaking to the engineer through the open window in the engineering compartment. Jayce nodded to the engineer and walked back toward me. "The engineer will gladly take you to Hogwarts. He says there is a delivery he must make as well. One passenger won't hurt." "Excellent," I replied. "Are you coming along?" "No. There are things I must attend to. You have your instructions in the envelope. Have a safe journey." Jayce tapped my shoulder, turned and walked back through the pillar, leaving me with the large locomotive. The whistle blew getting my attention back to the mission at hand. I turned and boarded the train. I soon found a compartment to rest in. As the train got underway, I relaxed and drifted off to sleep. I wasn't sure how much time had past, but the train lurching woke me up. As my head cleared and I recognized where I was, the train gave a harder lurch. "What the...?" I stood up and went to the door to my compartment. As I opened it, I saw the lady who pushed the food cart come running down the hall. I reached out and grabbed her arm. "What's going on?" "There's...something attacking the train!" "Do you have any security guards?" "No! They are here when we transport students! All of the students are at the school right now!" "I may be able to help. Can you show me where they are attacking?" "You're a wizard?" "No," I replied. My patience was thinning a little. "Show me!" "Aye, sir. This way." I gave the lady focus. She had something else to worry about besides whatever was attacking the train. She made her way down the corridor with me at her heels. The train lurched again and I noticed it slowing. Whatever was attacking the train, it was very powerful. We entered a dining car and I saw what appeared to be a rather large bull ramming the side of the train. The conductor was in the dining car as well, hiding behind a table that was resting on its side. "Blessed be," he exclaimed. "We have a wizard to help!" "He's not a wizard," the dining cart lady said. "But he thinks he can help!" The bull hit the train again and the tables slid with the incline. The two let out a scream. "Go with him," I ordered the lady. She headed over to the table the conductor was hiding behind. I turned to the side the bull was on. The bull ran up and jumped at the car. The wall was already dented in from the previous impacts. As the bull hit, I used my powers to push the metal out. It hit the bull and it flew back. I ran to the window to look out at the bull. It shook its head and ran toward the car again. I turned and headed back to the junction of the cars. I remembered seeing a door to the outside where passengers board. When I got to it, I pulled the door open. Ladder rungs sat on the outside beside the door. I reached out and grabbed a rung and pulled myself up to the roof. When I got to the top, I went to the back to see if there was anything holding back the train. Sure enough, a gargoyle was holding on, flapping its wings and pulling back. "A mutant bull and a gargoyle. Fascinating," I said. Obviously there was something on this train they didn't want to reach the school. My body lurched as the bull went back to hitting the train. I went to the side where the bull was and watched as it charged toward the train for another attack. I used my powers and lifted it into the air. It was difficult to lift the creature as it was made out of a material I was not familiar with it. It was some form of mystical creature my powers had not come in contact with. As a result, my powers had to "learn" this new material before I could effectively manipulate its molecules easily. Straining, I carried the bull toward the back of the train. I lifted it above the gargoyle and dropped it on the demonic creature. The gargoyle released its grip on the train and the train lurched forward with the sudden freedom. I tumbled over the back and grabbed the edge. Turning to look back, I saw the creatures tumbling on the ground, fumbling to free themselves from each other. I smiled to myself and pulled myself up onto the roof of the train. As I headed back toward the ladder I came up, I heard the sound of flapping, leathery wings. I saw the shadow of the gargoyle on the roof of the boxcar and I dropped to my knees. It swooped over me and flew ahead of the train. I looked up and watched it swoop around toward me. As it came for me, I created a fireball and hurled it at the creature. The fireball hit the gargoyle's wing, catching it by surprise. The gargoyle shrieked in pain and fell into some nearby trees. Deciding not to take any chances, I turned back to the mutated bull to see what it was up to. The bull was running after the train, slowly gaining on us. I couldn't allow it to continue. Raising my hands, I jumbled all the molecules in the air. The wind had begun to blow furiously. I caused my own molecules to separate a bit so the wind would blow through me, not affecting me. Harder and harder I made the wind blow until the bull lifted up off the ground and flew into a grove of trees. It would take it a long time to get free. Satisfied, I headed back into the train to assess the damages done. As I neared the ladder, several beings came riding up on demonic horses. I looked closer and noticed what they were. "Vampires," I gasped. I did not have a wooden stake, holy water, cross or sword. All I had was my mutant powers. My lips curled into a grin. I could do a thing or two against vampires with my powers. A vampire grabbed onto one of the ladders going up the side of the car. As she pulled herself up, I knelt at the top of the ladder. She looked up at me. "Hello," I greeted. "Need a light?" The vampire snarled at me as I created a small fireball and dropped it on her head. Her body became engulfed in flames. She released the ladder and turned to dust as she fell to the moving ground below. I watched as her ashes blew along side the train, mixing with the dust the train picked up. Several more vampires came up to the boxcars attempting to get on. It appeared as if my igniting of their friend did nothing to daunt their task. It was rather easy for me to use my powers now, except when I'm exposed to new materials, like the genetic make up of the mutated bull. But these were vampires. And this area was made up of material that I was familiar with. My powers were so easy that I could just look in the direction and concentrate on a certain area and manipulate whatever molecules I wanted. The vampires didn't stand a chance. I didn't want to kill all of them. I did, however, want them to know what they were getting involved in trying to assault a place that I occupied. I looked at three vampires riding fairly close together. Without warning they went up into flames, screamed out and their voices turned into the wind as their bodies turned to ash. The remaining vampires were shocked. I noticed their tactics changed, as well. They were coming after me instead of the train. Good. The engineer will have more time to get the train to the school. The vampires rode closer and closer to the train. Suddenly, they leapt off the horses and landed on the roof surrounding me. The one in front of me kicked forward. I blocked his kick, and, at the same time, I kicked the vampire standing to my right. The vampire I kicked flew off the train. Thank heaven for my mutation. It made me as strong as I needed to be. Dropping to my knee, I spun around with my other leg out tripping two of the vampires. I stood up as they regained their footing. Without giving them any chance, I spun around and kicked the face of the first vampire who got to his feet. He spun around and fell to the boxcar roof. The other vampire grabbed me from behind and held her arms around me tightly. She began to squeeze taking the very breath away. "Time for a snack," she said and I felt her teeth sink into my neck. I flexed my shoulder up squeezing her jaw. I felt the bone crack and she released her bite. "Ouch! You bastard!" she exclaimed and pushed me off the boxcar. As I fell, my hand reached out and I grabbed onto a ladder rung. My body flopped against the metal car as it sped faster and faster toward the school. The female vampire walked up to the edge of the boxcar where the ladder was and, pulling out a sword, began to chip away at the metal. Her sword swung close to my fingers as she attempted to get me to fall by any means necessary. A vampire's sick sense of humor, I guess. She wanted to see me in pain by cutting off my fingers. Never mind that she could have tried to chop off my head or jab the sword into my skull. Thank goodness for small favors. I decided to use the wind that was whipping me back to my advantage. I kicked my legs back and up getting into a slight swinging motion, which was difficult with all that wind whipping around. As I kicked out, I released my grip on the ladder rung. The wind carried me back and I flipped up onto the boxcar. The vampire turned and looked at me. "Clever." I noticed she was the only one on the roof. The others must have climbed into the train. I couldn't waste too much more time with her. Lives were at stake inside. "You are going to pay for hurting me. Of course, I'm all healed now. Bones don't take long to heal. Neither do wounds." She swung her sword at my head. I ducked down as it whizzed by. When I stood up, she jabbed the sword at me. I fell backwards to avoid the deathblow. She then brought the sword up ready to thrust it into me. As she brought it down, I rolled backwards and the sword dug deep into the metal boxcar. That thrust would have went completely through me had I not moved. I stood up and tackled her, the impact pulling the sword out of the boxcar. We rolled across the boxcar and I released her. She stood up over my head and smiled down on me. I brought my legs up over my head to flip up and, when I kicked out, I kicked her face and flipped up. She stumbled back with the impact, but quickly recovered. "You are good," she replied. I noticed a tree that was rather bare would be coming up alongside the train and an idea formed in my mind. "You give me quite a workout," she continued. "As much as I'm enjoying this, I have things to do." The vampire thrust the sword at me. I rolled along the outside of the sword and grabbed her from behind. She elbowed me in the stomach and swung the sword around as she spun around to face me. I ducked for the second time to avoid the blade's attempt at decapitating me. I stood up and grabbed her firmly by the shoulders. The tree was coming up and I only had one shot at this. Lifting her up off the boxcar I positioned her. "What are you doing?" she exclaimed. I pushed as hard as I could tossing her off the train. I watched as her body was thrust onto a sturdy branch impaling her. The branch had pierced her heart and the vampire turned to dust. Taking a moment to savor this victory, I had more to do. Running over to a ladder I climbed down and inside the train. Quickly and quietly I made my way toward the engine checking rooms as I went. The dining car was up ahead where I had left the dining cart lady and the conductor. They were cowering in the corner looking ever terrified. Rushing over to them I asked, "Are you okay?" "There are vampires," the dining cart pusher said. "I know. Did they bite you?" "No," the conductor replied. "They went ahead." "What are they after?" "I'm not sure." Not one hundred percent believing them, I had no choice to debate. I had to stop the vampires. I walked over to a fallen table and snapped off two wooden stakes. "Best to go prepared," I thought, and headed into the next car. I saw some rustling through the doorway. They were looking for something for sure. I quietly opened the door and heard one say, "It's not here. They probably moved it earlier." "It disappeared from Gringott's just before the robbery. They might have withdrawn it." Not really caring what they were looking for since it was safe elsewhere, I attacked. Taking the first vampire by surprise by jabbing the stake through his back into his heart. He turned to dust and I went on to the next one. I spun and kicked him, knocking him into the wall. I thrust forward and staked another vampire. The one I kicked into the wall grabbed me from behind and threw me into the wall. "I don't know who you are," he said, "but your interference is coming to an end." "You're right," I said. "Because there won't be any of you to interfere with." I jabbed the stake at the vampire. He blocked it and pushed my hand down. With the other hand, I punched him...once...twice...three times. After the third punch, I brought my fist back and backhanded him. I grabbed his head and brought it into a headlock, only his head was at my back. With a snarl, he bit me in the side. I could feel him attempting to drink from me. With an upward thrust, I shoved the stake into his heart and he turned to dust. Clutching my wounded side I headed up to the engineer who was perfectly safe. After searching the rest of the train thoroughly, I headed back to the two train workers and told them it was safe. They set about restoring everything. I headed back to my cabin and pulled the door shut and the blinds down. I pulled off my shirt and looked at my wounds in the mirror. They were already healing up thanks to my improved powers. I was still weakened, however, from the blood loss and the wounds of battle so I sat down on the bench, kicked my legs up and relaxed. Soon the train would arrive at Hogwart's. To Be Continued...