Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2023 06:31:51 -0500 From: mr.evan.andrews@gmail.com Subject: Scent of a Hero chapter 1 - celebrity Scent of a Hero Chapter 1: The Nose Knows Evan Andrews 2023 This is a fan fiction. The characters in this story are based on characters belonging to and trademarked and copyrighted by DC Comics and/or its subsidiaries. I am not related to the company and make no claim of ownership over the characters. This story takes place sometime before Dick Grayson becomes Nightwing, when he and Batman were still working together. The gods alone know where the falls in DC continuity anymore, or if it does. This story should in no way be considered a true representation of the sexuality of the characters or of any actors that have played them. The story depicts males in sexual situations with other males. If that offends you, if you are underage, or if reading such is illegal where you are please stop reading now. Thank you. If you enjoy this story, or even if you hate it, please contribute to keeping Nifty going at http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The witching hour found Batman and Robin casing out the iron fence that circled Gotham City's old St. Vitus Cemetery. Recently, somebody or somebodies had entered the graveyard and successfully gained access to the mausoleums of some of Gotham's oldest and wealthiest families, taking away whatever valuables had been buried with these families' dead. Tonight the Dynamic Duo was going to teach these miscreants that Gotham would not submit to a systemic violation of its former citizens. "You ready, old chum?" Batman whispered. "You know it, Batman," his now mature and increasingly independent sidekick said. "Let's go." The pair vaulted the fence and, rising up from their superhero landings, set about looking for the graverobbers. Instead of tomb raiders, they found a crew of men creeping around several of the mausoleums. Not a single one of them, however, was attempting to gain entry. These men, strangely, were either bent over or on their hands and knees, and they were, to a man, rummaging through the herbaceous borders. "Batman?" Robin said, uncertain. "It's still criminal trespass, Boy Wonder," Batman said. "Get `em." With no warning, the Dynamic Duo descended upon the henchmen (you could tell that's what they were from the names blazoned on their jackets: Dee, Eek, Fye, etc.) and buoyed by righteous indignation lay into the men. Biff! Bam! Sock! Kapow! The Caped Crusaders cut a swath through the hired muscle, who hit the ground with satisfying splats. Oddly, these henchmen held their own better than the usual run of minion (Someone was clearly training up a better breed of hirling,) but it didn't take an Einstein to figure out they were outclassed. Abandoning their fallen comrades, the remaining stooges fell back towards the main gate, all the while surrounding what must have been the henchman-in-chief, whose jacket proclaimed his name to be Ky. Biff! Powie! Wham! Uggh! The Dynamic Duo cast last of henches aside and strode towards this Ky. The henchman raised hands from the elbows as they came at him from either side. "Halt!" Batman said. "I'm halted already!" Ky protested. "See? Nothing but halt here!" Batman grabbed Ky by the lapels and pulled him an inch off his feet, and, of course, Robin was right beside him, the way a good partner should be. Knowing he'd not get another chance, Ky clenched fist, and his boutonniere sprayed a fine and pleasantly floral mist into the heroes' surprised faces. The Dynamic Duo waved their hands in front of themselves, trying, flutily, to dissipate the mist, but it was far too late for that to work. They'd already inhaled enough of the knock-out compound. "Holy gasp, Batman!" the Boy Wonder croaked as he fell first to his knees and then full out on his face. "Robin..." Batman managed to reply before he too, feeling the world spinning around him, collapsed face first in the graveyard mold. Ky smoothed out his lapels, and looked down at the precious pair now sleeping off a fat dose of extract of slumber orchid. "Well, now that we've been introduced..." the henchman said, "What am I to do with you?" @@@@@@ Around Ky, the rank and file henchmen struggled back to their feet. Tomorrow most of them would be sporting sore jaws, black eyes, and bruises and contusions miscellaneous, but for now they were still on the clock. "A fat lot of help you all were," Ky accused. "The Batman almost hit me. Me! Hit!" "Come on, Ky," Eek protested, "It was freaking Batman and Robin; what did you expect? At least we put on a pretty good show there for a while, so all that extra training came in handy." "Training, of course. But in the end it fell to me in the end to bring them down. The question now is-- what do we do with them? I'm open to suggestions." The henchmen wracked their brains. They'd never considered ever needing to make such a decision. Having the Dynamic Duo doped out and helpless before you was something outside their imagining. "Back when I worked for him, the Joker'd put them in some ingenious deathtrap," Henchman Jay finally said. "Yeah, and how'd that work out?" Ky demanded, "Big J's sitting in Arkham making macaroni art as part of his court-mandated rehabilitation. Ditto the Riddler, the Penguin, Mr. Freeze, King Tut, and even Egghead!" "So, maybe we should ask the Boss?" Henchman Dee said. He was one of the new generation of henches. Ky nodded, already pulling his phone. "Good idea," he said. "You're my new favorite probationary henchman." It was a sign of the times that Ky had his boss on speed dial. "Uh, hi, Boss? Ky here." Squawk. "Yes, sir. Look we've got a tiny problem down at St. Vitus'." Squawk. "What? No, we got all the flower power you wanted. Maybe even more. No, it's something else." Squawk. "Uh, well, you know that special ingredient you were talking about? For the new cologne? Could you use a couple of donors? Yeah? Who? How about Batman and Robin?" Squawk! "Yeah, both of them, in the flesh." Squawk. "No, sir, I had to give them a snootful of nosegay, and right now they're sleeping off the effects." Squawk. "Both of them? Sure thing, Boss. Can do. Easy-peasy" The man at the other end cut the connection. "Okay, boys," Ky said to his fellow henches, "The Boss wants this precious pair back at the lab lickety-split. They're facing a fate some men would die to get in on. Bag `em and load `em!"