Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 21:59:56 -0800 (PST)
From: Author James <authorjames2002@yahoo.com>
Subject: Return of a Real Dark Knight 36

Disclaimer: This story is fiction.  There are two celebrities who will
appear from time-to-time.  The other characters are fictitious.  Any
similarities to persons living or dead are completely coincidental.

In this story, I have continued the adventures of Batman, my Batman, which
his story first began in "Tales of a Real Dark Knight" in the Boy Band
section of this archive.  It spanned 250 chapters.  You will find many
universes merging, as the above copyrights reveal.  I hope you all enjoy
this.

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.

I don't know for sure if I will use all the above elements, but just in
case, I have myself covered.

I appreciate any feedback that you may want to give.  I do hope that you
enjoy it!!!

Any emails you send, please tell me what chapter and story you are
commenting on.  Thanks.

authorjames2002@yahoo.com

I also have several online messenger services.  If you want to chat with me
in real time, email me and tell me the services you use and I will tell you
my screen name.

Chapter 36 Joined

	The first thing we saw was Joseph as a young boy.  It was the night
I discovered Christine as she lay dying in my arms; the night I found two
little children cowering underneath a picnic table unsure of what the
future held.  Joseph was talking to them on the playground as the sun was
setting in the distance.  Then, suddenly, he stopped, as if he sensed
something.
	"Stay here," he said to Preston and Sarah.  "I'll come back for
you."  He turned and ran.
	All of us felt his footsteps, his heart pounding, and a sense of
dread as he made his way down the streets until he came to a familiar
alley.  He watched as he saw the figure move slowly away from his mother.
The figure, of course, was me as I laid Christine's head gently against the
ground.  She was gone.
	From Joseph's perspective, it would be easy to accuse me of his
mother's murder.  But it could have been easily explained away.  What
happened next explained his vehemence against me.
	The young version of Joseph approached the alley and watched a
shadowy figure, me, holding Christine.  From his perspective, it would
appear that I was feeding off of her.  Sounds came from us but were
inaudible.  I could have been telling her that I would take her children or
I could have been reveling in her death.  Joseph didn't know.  No wonder he
hated me so much.
	Christine's body went limp in my arms and I gently laid her down on
the ground.  Then, I jumped to the fire escape and ascended just as I had
done twelve years ago.
	Joseph stepped closer, but not too close.  He felt that if he
touched her and she didn't move, it would be real.  And he desperately
didn't want it to be real.
	A shadowy figure moved up beside him and placed his hand on the
youth's shoulder.  Joseph didn't budge.
	"She's dead," he muttered.
	"Yes, she is," came the voice.
	Joseph looked up and saw Catman looking down at him through green
lenses.  Reaching up, Catman removed his mask and looked down at him
through green eyes.  Joseph saw a resemblance between himself and the
vampire.
	"I can help you avenge her death," Catman said.  "Come with me.  I
will train you so that you can avenge yourself on the one who took her
life."
	We watched as Joseph and Catman walked to the playground in time to
see me carrying off his brother and sister.  His eyes widened in horror.
We sensed the sadness that welled up in Joseph, along with the anger he
felt toward me.  From what Catman said, I was the reason for his
loneliness.  He watched as I took his mother and siblings from him, leaving
him alone in a dangerous world.  Catman offered to take him in and train
him to kill me.

	The scene faded and switched now.  Everyone saw my perspective of
the events of that night.  They saw as I missed Catman but searched for
Christine.  They watched as I interacted with her, promising her that I
would take her children in and raise them so they would want for nothing.
Then she drifted away from this existence.  Sadly, I couldn't keep my
promise as I missed one child, the one taken in by Catman.

	Everything changed one more time as J'onn entered Sarah's mind to
see what she was telling us about, the dreams and the strange, yet
familiar, man in them.  Everything happened as she told us.  He called to
her from out of nowhere every time.  He spoke to her of her abilities and
where they came from.  The feelings emanated from the dreams were obvious
stimulation of chemicals, designed to enhance eroticism.  We relived the
dreams and the feelings within the dreams.  They were very real, almost
seductive.  It was obvious what was happening, but we weren't quite sure
why.

	When we came out of the joining, we looked at one another.  My hand
reached up and lay on Joseph's shoulder giving him comfort.
	"I'm so sorry," I apologized.  "Had I kept the promise I made, you
would be here with us and not carried the hatred all these years."
	Joseph let me comfort him but for a moment, and then pulled away.
"My heart is with my mother, not with you.  Because of you, I will always
see her face etched in my mind, especially of her dying.  Can they say
that?" he asked as he motioned toward Sarah and Preston.  "No," he answered
for them.
	"We still don't know why he's doing this," Sarah pointed out.  "Who
is Catman?  How is he connected to us?  Why did he kill our mother?  Why
did he raise Joseph?  What is his interest in me?"
	"It's simple," I replied as I stood and went toward the kitchen.  I
stopped for a moment, turned my head toward them, and said, "He's your
father."  Then I went into the kitchen.
	From the living room, I heard Sarah's response.  "Ewwwwwww!  My
biological dad has been putting the moves on me in my dreams?  That's just
sick!"
	"So what you are telling me is that our dad killed our mom?"
Preston stated.
	"Basically," Lance answered.
	Preston came into the kitchen as I poured my coffee.  He walked up
to the sliding door and looked out.
	"Are you okay?" I asked him.
	"Not really," he said.
	I walked over and stood beside him, placing my arm around him.
	"Do you know what it is like to have your entire world turned
upside down?  And in such a short amount of time, I've gone from a regular
high school student with a normal family to being a mutant with a Vampire
Slayer for a sister, superhero for a father, vampire for a biological
father, and a brother who wants to kill the only parents I've ever known."
	"I'm sorry your life has become so chaotic.  It wasn't our wish for
all this to happen to you.  Your dad and I wanted nothing but normalcy for
you and your sister."
	"Oh, I know, dad.  I know that you and Pop had nothing but the best
intentions for us.
	"Do you know what the clincher is?  Despite all of this, I'm being
selfish."
	"What do you mean?" I said as I looked at him questioningly.
	"Sarah is a Vampire Slayer.  She has all these powers, so,
evidently, my biological dad sees her as a threat.  Or, someone he wants to
get close to.  Joseph gets raised by him to try to kill you.  Both of my
siblings have his attention.  He wanted to have some form of connection to
him.  He saw them both as a threat and a weapon.  But what am I?"
	"You were the one to bring light to his lies.  It wasn't Sarah who
could remember your past, who could be used to find the link between you,
her, and Joseph.  Without your memory, none of this would have happened.
Joseph may have succeeded in killing me.  Or he might have been turned into
a vampire and been killed by Sarah.  Or he may have killed Sarah.  You
saved us all misery and pain.  Without you, this would have been one big
disaster, and Catman would have been successful in reaching his goal."
	"Still...I wish I could kick his ass."
	"I know.  The question now remains, what do we do?  We know what's
been going on this past decade.  We know who Catman is and why he's been
connected with all of you.  But what can we do?"
	"Why don't we let things go as they have been?" Lance suggested as
he and the others entered the kitchen.  "As long as he doesn't know what we
know, he won't suspect anything.  We can use this knowledge to get close to
him and discover why he killed Christine."
	"I don't know if I want to trust you guys."
	"But you've seen the truth," Sarah answered.  "How could you not
side with the truth?"
	"Because all he's ever known is what he's lived with," I answered.
"You're asking him to believe all he's ever known to be true is a lie.  I
don't think anyone could easily dismiss that."
	Joseph looked at me and narrowed his eyes.  Then he slipped on the
mask.  "I need time to think," he stated as he rushed out the door.

	Catman made his way throughout the city, jumping from rooftop to
rooftop not paying attention to where he was going; only thinking about
what he has learned.  'Could everything I've just experienced been true?
Or could it all be a lie, merely a trap so that I would betray my memory of
my mother and take on the one Batman created?'
	Catman slowed as he heard a familiar sound, one of screaming.  He
stopped and walked to the edge of the building.  Looking over to see what
was going on, he realized where he was.  Using his whip, he leapt over the
side of the building and swung to the alley.  Both the source of the scream
and the cause of the scream turned to him.  The shadows shrouded his visage
so that all they saw was his silhouette.
	"Batman!" the vampire exclaimed.  He dropped the young man and
fled.
	"Thank God you showed up when you did," the youth said as he got up
off the ground and approached the silhouetted figure.  "You've always been
my hero...." His voice trailed off when he saw the silhouetted figure step
into the light.  "You're not Batman."
	"No," Catman muttered indignantly.
	"You're Catman.  My parents told me about you."
	"What did they tell you?"
	The young man pulled a cross out and held it up.  "They told me you
were a vampire!"
	Catman swung his arm up and knocked the cross out of the youth's
hand.  Then he grabbed the youth by the neck.
	"Tell me more."
	"You'll....you'll kill me."
	"No, I promise, I won't.  Tell me what your parents told you about
Catman."
	"You came out of nowhere and killed my aunt.  Then you killed that
girl in the alley."
	Catman looked around.  He knew what alley the youth spoke of.  The
youth realized it, too.
	"Oh god, you're going to kill me in the same alley you killed the
girl."
	"Do you know the name of the girl?"
	"No...it...it was in the newspapers."
	Catman released the boy, who fell to his knees.  Then he stepped
back further into the alley.
	"Are you a vampire?"
	"No, I'm not.  But the previous one is."
	"Why didn't...why didn't you kill me?"
	Catman didn't answer at first.  Then he turned.  "What do you know
of vampires?"
	"We hear about them in school constantly.  About the war that
happened a few year ago; about how they rose to power quicker than any
minority group in the history of the world.  My parents think there is a
conspiracy about vampires; that they want to take over and make human
beings their cattle."
	"Go home," Catman stated.
	"What?"
	"GO HOME!"
	The youth jumped up and fled the alley fearing Catman may have a
change of heart and kill him.
	Catman wasn't thinking about him any more.  He was thinking about
how is life was changing, almost as abruptly as when his mother was taken
from him.  He walked to the back of the alley and turned to face it like he
did so many years ago.
	"I miss you, mom.  You were so important to me.  You were the world
to me.  You and I were going to raise Preston and Sarah.  You used to call
me your little man.  I was going to take care of you.
	"You were once my one companion.  You were all that mattered.  You
were once a friend and mother; then my world was shattered.  Wishing you
were somehow here again.  Wishing you were somehow near.  Sometimes it
seemed if I just dreamed, somehow you would be here.  Wishing I could hear
your voice again, knowing that I never would.  Dreaming of you won't help
me to do all that you dreamed I could.
	"Passing bells and sculpted angels, cold and monumental, seem, for
you, the wrong companions; you were warm and gentle.  Too many years
fighting back tears; why can't the past just die?  Wishing you were somehow
here again; knowing we must say goodbye.  Try to forgive, teach me to live,
give me the strength to try.
	"No more memories, no more silent tears.  No more gazing across the
wasted years.  Help me say 'goodbye'.  Help me say 'goodbye' to all I ever
knew to be true.  I don't trust Batman.  But if what Sarah and Preston say
are true, he didn't kill you and he was your friend.  I don't think I'll
ever be able to fully forgive him for abandoning me.  But I can forgive him
for your death since he didn't do it.
	"Now, I wonder, what will happen to me?"

To Be Continued...

How does everyone like this storyline?  I haven't heard from readers in a
while.  I know I haven't posted, either, and I apologize for that.  Let me
know if I should continue with future storylines or stop with this.  I have
several storylines in my head but I would like to hear from readers what
they want.

Note: I have a Yahoo Group in which the pictures of the characters are
posted.  Characters which have appeared in this storyline, such as
Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, and the others will be there as well.
The title of the group is RDK_MK.  Put that in a search and it should come
up.  I hope more of you join!