Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2001 06:59:16 -0700 (PDT) From: Author James <authorjames2002@yahoo.com> Subject: Adventures of a Real Dark Knight 25 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!!! I have received many emails from people who have enjoyed it and some from those who do not. I would enjoy hearing from you. Any emails you send, please tell me what chapter and story you are commenting on. Thanks. jmsotc@yahoo.com Chapter 25 Venus' Fly Trap Robin and I split up now looking for two people: Poison Ivy and Nightwing. As safe a bet as it would be to search for Nightwing (we knew that he was searching for Ivy), I preferred searching for Ivy. She had her son. Who knew what all she planned for him? When dealing with a psychopath, caution is the best way to go. 'Perhaps she went back to her greenhouse,' I thought. But how could I be sure? And why would she go back to someplace that we already knew she hid? It was the only lead I had. I looked for Robin and when I found him told him of my plan. He agreed to stay in town and look. Unfortunately we had no way of contacting each other in case we found her. It was too late to worry about that now. We had more pressing issues to concern ourselves with. I headed for the greenhouse, but moved slowly enough to give a quick observation of buildings I was passing. As I moved, I relaxed my mind. It was feeling strained at the moment. To my surprise what happened with a patient in Los Angeles was happening again. I felt my mind stretch out and brush other minds, other feelings to be more precise. I could sense surrounding emotions. There was a prostitute who was worried about making enough money to eat. I could sense a man's concern for contracting AIDS. I felt the sadness of a teenager afraid of...afraid that her parents would find out she was a lesbian. I wanted to stop and comfort them. I guess that's the nurturer in me, wanting to take care of others. I decided to use this to an advantage. I would have to analyze later how I did it...but for right now, I had a missing child to find. I kept moving, sweeping out a little further, searching for a thought of fear of a parent or authority figure. I did feel several emotions surrounding authority figures, but they turned out to be duds. One was a person fearing police officers and one concerned sexual bondage and sadomasochism. As I moved closer to the greenhouse, I began to sense on the fringes of my mind fear and sadness and loss. Those were certainly things that Jack would be feeling. I slowed down my movement, trying to pinpoint the location. I wish I had a way to contact Nightwing and Robin. It would have been a plus to get their help. The location of the feelings was a little house a block from the greenhouse. I made my way to the greenhouse and found it dark, save for one light coming from the basement. I peered into it and saw Poison Ivy and her son Jack. He had been crying as his face was streaked with tears, and he looked at his mom, if she could even be called that, with a look of terror. No child should have to go through something like this. I moved quickly to the front door and tried to open it. It was locked. I tried to force it with a kick, but it held fast. I stepped back and held out my hand. It began to glow red and a concentrated ball of fire formed. I threw it at the door and blew it off its hinges. So much for the sneaking in part. It was now force my way in, punch my way through. I stepped in to find the place heavily populated with plants: trees in pots, ferns in hanging baskets, and flowers growing out of anything that would hold a decent amount of dirt. I smelled a strange odor in the room. Perhaps the plants were germinating. I felt the room spin as I became dizzy. Whatever the odor was, it was some kind of knockout drug...and if I didn't act fast, I would soon be unconscious, at the very least...dead at the most. I reached out and began to manipulate electrical molecules. Little lightning bolts were forming at my fingertips. Volts of electricity stretched out and surrounded me. I saw the shocks, like a bug zapper, arc out and hit whatever was in the air. The dizziness was fading. I walked toward the kitchen where doors to basements usually resided. And sure enough, that's where I found it. The electrical field faded and I tried the door. It was unlocked. Poison Ivy obviously didn't think that anyone would get past the knockout pollen. I stepped into the dark dank basement...and fell with a thud on the hard concrete. Vines immediately wrapped around me and picked me up. "Look at what the fly trap dragged in. Tell me, how did you find me? I left no clue as to where I was going." "I just took a chance that you would be heading back to your greenhouse. It was sheer luck that I investigated the lit basement window." I didn't want her to know the truth. "Congratulations. You are the luckiest bastard I have ever met." "And you are the most insane person I have ever met." "Oh, I doubt that. My insanity has some vague reasoning behind it. There are others more psycho than I." "I'm sure there are. But I was referring to beings I've met. And I've met all kinds of beings: vampires, demons, mutants...but you take the top." "Anyways," Poison Ivy said, blowing me off. "You're here and I get to kill you." She turned to her son. "Looky, Jack. Look at the bad man. Do you know how I can tell he's bad? He wears the color of bad people, black! Your mommy wears green! The color of life!" "You're not my mom. I have two moms and you are not either one. I want my mommies!" Jack began to cry. "I'm your mother!" Poison Ivy yelled. "They are not! They are evil! They destroy the world by their actions!" Jack jumped at Poison Ivy's loud rampage. It had to end. No more fear for him. I manipulated electrical molecules and bolts of lightning shot out at the vines, shocking them, cooking them, causing them to release me. I fell to the floor and stood quickly. Poison Ivy turned to me. "NO! You cannot stop me! You will not stop me!" "Consider yourself stopped." Ivy pulled out a knife. "I can fight, too, big boy, in case you forgot." "No, I didn't forget." Poison Ivy swung her knife at me. I ducked and she kicked me in the face. I fell backwards. She swung her knife around and brought it down toward my chest. I rolled away at the last minute and stood up as she brought it up at me. I stepped aside and grabbed her wrist. I brought my hand down on her hand, hoping to dislodge the knife from her grip. She dropped the knife. I threw her arm to her side and backhanded her in the face. Then I threw her into her plants. "Fool! My plants work FOR me, not AGAINST me!" Poison Ivy moved her arms out and vines snaked out toward me. I manipulated heat molecules and shot out small rays of heat. The lasers hit the ends of the vines, scorching them. They shriveled away in pain. "Try again, Ivy." "Oh, I intend to." Poison Ivy pointed her wrist at me and an arrow flew out at me. I ducked as it flew over my head. I rolled forward and kicked her knocking her back. Then I flipped up. Poison Ivy recovered from my blow to her stomach and pulled out a vine. She whipped it at me. I hit me and I hunched over in pain. Then she swung it again and wrapped it around my throat. She pulled and my air was cut off. "Prepare to die!" I heard a crash as glass was being broken. "Get Jack out of here, Robin!" I heard Nightwing call. "It's over, Patricia!" "You don't get it, do you, Robby?! He's my son, damn it! I am his mother! I will raise him!" "Raise him to do what? Hate? Despise? Seek revenge?" I slowly loosened the vine as her grip had relaxed the vine's hold. "I will raise him to believe in my ideals, my principles! Not yours!" "In case you've forgotten, your principles brought him into the world! You were twenty-four when I was fourteen! You seduced me to having sex with you!" "Your hormones were raging, too, Robby! And I didn't have to do much! You loved me!" "That may be. But I didn't know you were this corrupt, this evil. I don't want my son around that." "But you want him around your example? To be with someone ten years his senior?" "Patricia, once he is old enough to understand love, age won't matter to him. And in case you didn't notice, he's not living with me." "He's living with two frickin' lesbians! What are they going to teach him?" I pulled the vine away and stood up quietly. "Love, Patty. Those two women are going to teach him unconditional love. They are going to love him regardless of what he is. They are not going to force any ideals on him. They won't require him to be anything more than what he is. They will teach him respect and decency. Something you and I could not give him, especially by our example." "Bastard," Poison Ivy said turning toward me. I jerked the vine and pulled her to me. "I'm not going to let you get away this time." "This is not for you to decide, Batfink." Before anyone could react, Poison Ivy shot an arrow at Nightwing and hit him in the stomach. He doubled over in pain. "Stop me or save him. Your choice." I release my grip on Ivy and ran over to Nightwing. I examined his wound. A doctor I was not. But I knew enough not to pull her arrow out. If it went deep enough, it could have punctured an internal organ. If I pulled it out, whatever damage it did would have its full affect. Poison Ivy blew me a kiss and grabbed a bottle from off a table. She used a match and lit it. "Sorry, babies. I have to kill the rodents or they will destroy all of us." Poison Ivy threw the bottle down and ran up the stairs. The flames quickly ignited the plants. "Are you okay?" I asked Nightwing. "I will be. This hurts." "I'm sure it's no picnic. Can you walk?" "I'll try." Nightwing stood up and then tumbled. He needed to get to a hospital desperately. I picked him up and ran up the steps. When I got outside, Poison Ivy and her car were gone. I looked for Robin. He came out of the shadows. "Where is the nearest hospital?" "About five blocks that way." "Get Jack to his parents, now. I'm getting Nightwing to a hospital." Robin took off with Jack in tow. I looked down at Nightwing and realized I would have to strip him of his suit to protect his identity. Poison Ivy already knew who he was so that wasn't an issue. I figured out who he was, and his secret was safe with me. I moved him to the shadows and grabbed at his mask. His hand went up and grabbed my wrist. "No," he said. "Nightwing, I'm doing this to keep your secret safe. I have to get you to a hospital. If I don't, you could die. I don't want that to happen. I need you out here with me. Please, trust me." Nightwing relaxed his grip and then removed his hand from my wrist. Quickly I disrobed him. All he had on was a pair of boxer briefs and socks. Thank goodness the night was not too cool. I carried him to the hospital, moving faster than normal, thanks to my mutant ability. I got to the hospital and barged into the ER. The doctors and nurses stared at me in shock. "This man needs help. He has a small arrow in his abdomen." A doctor ran over to me. He looked at Robby. "Sit him on the girney. How long ago did this happen?" "Around five or ten minutes ago. There may be poison on the arrow, but I'm not sure." "At least you didn't yank out the arrow. That would have done more damage than anything." The doctor turned from me to one of the nurses. "Nurse, get the OR prepped for emergency surgery." I took the opportunity of him being turned around to disappear out of the hospital. I headed back to the house and found it in flames. Poison Ivy did her damage. Her house was up in flames, probably nothing left to examine, no way of determining any other hideouts. She got away. But at least her plan to take her son was stopped. The Penguin walks into his office at the Iceberg Lounge. He takes off his overcoat and sits his weapons on the table. The telephone rings and he presses a button. "Percival Gwynn. Who may I ask is calling?" "This is Talia, Percy. Did you accomplish your task?" "No." "No? Father will be most displeased." "I could give a rat's ass about what your father thinks. You didn't tell me he was a mutant. Had I know that, I would have been better prepared." "Then prepare for next time." "Next time? If you want me to go after a mutant, you are going to have to pay me more. Mutants are more dangerous." "How so?" "Some of them have built-in weaponry. Obviously this guy does. I am going to have to take extra precautions." "Done." "You haven't even heard my price." "If you are as good as you claim, it is enough. If you fail us, father will not be very happy with you at all." "Whatever." Percy pressed the button hanging up on his caller. "Who would have thought a singer would be dating a mutant superhero? Hey, it could happen. I guess it did." I crept into the house through the back so as not to be seen from the streets and the cops at Beth and Sheila's. I had met with Robin briefly and told him Nightwing was at the hospital being taken care of. He informed me Jack was with his mothers and the police were investigating the crime. I told him to go that I would keep an eye out for a little while longer and he left. I stripped out of my suit and found Lance sleeping in the bedroom. I showered and hopped into bed. I put my arms around Lance's side and stomach. I killed him on the back of the head and he turned opening his tired eyes. "Hey...how was it tonight?" "It was okay." "Did you stop whatever you were trying to stop?" "Yeah. It was rough...dangerous, even." "Were you hurt?" a new concern appeared in Lance's voice. "No. I'm fine. But I could have been. Someone else was. He's at the hospital now." "Was it Robin?" "No. There's another guy. Nightwing." "Where in the world do they come from?" "Don't know. Everyone has their reasons for being out there, I guess." "I'm glad you weren't hurt. I don't know what I'd do without you." I leaned in and kissed Lance on the lips. "I'm not planning on going anywhere. Not for a long, long, long time." "Good. Cause if anyone hurts you, I'll have to suit up and kick their butts!" "I'm glad I have you for my knight in shining armor. You are so good to me." We fell asleep in each other's arms. To Be Continued... Poison Ivy is defeated. Jack is safe. We get some interaction and facts between Nightwing and Poison Ivy. What do you think? Yes, Poison Ivy is still at large, but she may not appear for a long time. She was defeated. She needs time to recuperate. More good stuff to come! Keep reading! Oh, do you like the idea of the Penguin being a tough guy hit man? Let me know! Also, this is the halfway mark in the saga of "Adventures of a Real Dark Knight". Let me know what you think of this series. Did you like it better than "Tales of a Real Dark Knight" or did it come up lacking? Only 25 more chapters to go before this set of 50 closes out. But don't worry. When it closes out, keep an eye out for the third set of 50 chapters titled "Chronicles of a Real Dark Knight". I've said it before, this series could go on forever!