Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2005 05:43:45 -0800 (PST)
From: Author James <authorjames2002@yahoo.com>
Subject: Return of a Real Dark Knight 40

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 40 Secrets

	Joseph returned to the secret lair of Catman after ensuring nobody
was following him.  He went straight to his room and sat down on his cot.
Opening the trunk across from his sleeping place, he rifled through the
contents finding old pictures of his life.  He felt nostalgic and
reminisced about his past and all he went through.  He found old pictures
of his brother, sister, and mother.  There were pictures of him and his
mother when she was pregnant with his siblings.  And there were pictures of
when he traveled with Catman around the world learning the fighting
abilities required of him.  To say that he was an accomplished fighter
would not nearly touch the surface of all he acquired in his short life.
Catman took him to many people across the globe to learn ancient fighting
styles.  He learned to handle many types of weapons.  And he learned how to
track from the best.  Not to mention all the escape artists he ran across.
Yes, Joseph was definitely well-learned.  But he would gladly give it all
up to be with his family again, to see and hold and talk to his mother once
more.
	A knock came at his door and he jumped.
	"Joseph, are you in there?  I can hear your heartbeat."
	"One minute," Joseph called back.  He tossed the memorabilia into
the trunk and closed it as he got up.  He opened the door and saw Catman
without his costume on standing outside the door.
	"Is everything okay?" Catman asked.
	"Yeah, everything is fine."
	"Excellent," the vampire stated.  "Come with me."
	Joseph exited the room and followed Catman down the hallway.
	"We are going to get the murderer of your mother and bring him
here."
	"What?" Joseph said.
	"We're going to get Batman and bring him here.  It is time for him
to face you and be faced by you.  It is time he be brought to trial."  When
Catman noticed the look of bewilderment on Joseph's face, he asked, "Is
everything okay?  Isn't this what you wanted?"
	"Yeah...yes, I do.  But, I wasn't sure it was time yet.  It seemed
so far off.  I never thought this day will come."
	"It has, my son," Catman said as he put his hand on the back of
Joseph's head.  "The time has come."

	Oracle beeped a alert and I turned my attention to the screen.
"Have you found the location of 'Mirage'?"
	"Negative.  Receiving an amber alert from the police."
	"Display."
	An amber alert was developed in my home state that rapidly flooded
the nation.  Simply put, it was an alert put out by the police when a child
was abducted.  Everyone would receive this alert, thereby making it much
more difficult for a kidnapper to escape.  The face of the child would be
all over the state.
	"Location."
	The image popped up on the screen.
	"Print all the information available in standard template."
	I turned to Lance who was still sitting at the desk, only now he
was looking up at me.  I walked to the closet, pulled my suit out, and
began to change.
	"Its times like this that I'm so proud of you," he stated.
	I smiled at him as I pulled the mask on.  Walking over to the
mobile, it turned and faced the exit to the cave.  I climbed in, started
the engine, and within seconds was out onto the roads.

	Ryan looked over at Preston with a panicked look on his face.
	"Ryan, are you okay?  You look like you are about to throw up."
	Ryan shook his head 'no'.  Suddenly, his head flew backwards and
this light pulsed knocking Preston, who was standing close, back against
the wall.  When his eyes adjusted again after the light, he found himself
standing face to face with someone he had never seen before.  It was a
full-grown man in a blue suit, cape, and fedora which shadowed his eyes.  A
medallion hung around his neck.
	"Are you okay?" the man asked.
	Preston nodded.  "Are you Ryan?"
	The man smiled and put his finger up to his lips. "I'll tell you
all about it later.  I promise.  Right now, you must keep it a secret."
	"But...but I don't understand."
	"When I return, you will understand."
	The mysterious stranger flipped his cape in front of him and
vanished without a trace.
	A knock came at the door and then it opened.
	"Hey, Ryan, are you..." a voice called.  Clark stepped in and
looked around.  "Hi, Preston, is Ryan here?"
	"He just stepped out."
	"Did he tell you where he went?"
	"No," Preston said, still shocked by what happened.
	"When you see him again, would you tell him to look for us?  Diana
and Arthur had an idea as to how to find Joseph."
	"Uh, sure," Preston said.  As Clark began to pull the door closed,
Preston asked, "What's your plan?"
	"Evidently, Ryan does magic.  The real kind, not what magicians at
birthday parties do.  Diana and Arthur believe that he might be able to do
a spell which would locate Joseph.  We would be able to follow him that
way."
	"I'll let him know," Preston said.
	"Thanks," Clark replied and he closed the door.
	'That's what happened,' Preston thought to himself.  'Ryan can do
magic.  This person is him, like a wizard or sorcerer of himself.'
	Preston left and went to his dad's office.  Sitting down, he typed
in the command to connect with Oracle down in the cave.  Once the
connection was made, he began a search for the image on the medallion worn
by Ryan's alter ego.  Maybe he would be able to figure out exactly what was
going on.

	Joseph returned to his room and closed the door.  He sat back down
on the cot and pulled the trunk closer.  'I can't believe that he's ready
to do this.  I never thought this day would come, and now I'm not quite
sure I'm ready for it to happen.'
	Opening the trunk, he continued where he left off with the
pictures.  The next batch of images were of him in a club in England
dancing with a short, blonde guy.  'Austin,' he thought to himself.  'He
was a great lay.  His ass was so fucking tight, I would almost cum at every
first penetration.'
	The next images were of the two at other clubs.  They had a past,
but it was one Joseph would not allow himself to relive.  That was the
past.  That was his public persona.  Now, all that mattered was the
mission, his mission to avenge the death of his mother.  And that time was
nearly at hand.

	I drove down the street as Oracle listed the names of potential
kidnappers of the little girl.  These were men and women who either knew
the child or were registered sex offenders living in any area Amanda, the
little girl, would have passed through.  The first on my list was a young
man by the name of Trevor.  He had been accused of kidnapping and murder,
but nobody could find the bodies.  There were plenty of ways he could have
done that so he wasn't ruled out.
	I pulled into the alley and parked the car.  This was one of my
pre-planned parking places where I could activate the cloak and nobody
would notice any difference.  Climbing to the roof, I turned in the
direction of his apartment, approximately two blocks from my current
location.  The sun was setting and I wanted to hurry so as not to worry the
girl's parents any more.
	When I got to the apartment building, I climbed down the fire
escape to his apartment floor, the third floor.  Slowly, I opened the
window and climbed in.  The building was run down and shadowy, as only a
few of the light fixtures even worked.  The smell of urine and feces
reached my nose despite the fact it was covered with my mask.  I could only
imagine the smell if my nose were exposed.
	Looking from room to room, I found his apartment.  I tried turning
the knob but it was locked.  'You can bust this lock,' I told myself.
'Just concentrate.'
	Laying my hand over the lock, I reached out and manipulated the
metal to unlock the door.  With a final click, the doorknob was unlocked.
Turning it, I pushed slightly and found the chain lock firmly in place.
The apartment was filled with noise as the television was turned on.
	"Ow, it hurts!" a girl screamed.
	No time for subtleties.  I pushed the door and the chain lock
snapped off the frame.  I looked to assess the layout and found the
bathroom and bedroom lay to my right passed the kitchen.  I ran through
noticing on my way three plates of food.
	'The bastard probably has another child in here, or an accomplice.'
	I came to the bedroom door and flung it open to see the most
horrible sight I could.  The man lay on the bed with his dick inside the
pre-pubescent girl's vagina.  Blood dripped out of her.  Sitting on the
headboard was a little boy, whose penis was in the kidnapper's mouth.  The
girl I immediately recognized as Amanda.
	"Oh, fuck," the guy said as he pulled off the boy and out of the
girl in a hurry.
	"Ow!" the girl called out as the unnaturally large penis tore her.
	"You motherfucker," I said as he ran to his dresser and fumbled
with the drawer.  "How the hell could you do something so sick?"
	"I can't control it," he said as he successfully opened the drawer
and his hand went in.
	Knowing he was reaching for a gun, I ran up to him and slammed the
drawer on his hand.  "Aw, fuck!" he exclaimed.
	"Yeah, you're going to get fucked," I said as I grabbed him and
threw him against the wall.  My powers, as before, kicked in beyond my
control and he flew through the wall into the hallway.
	The boy climbed down with the girl and they wrapped themselves up
in the smelly blanket.
	"Don't move," I said.  I climbed through the fresh hole in the wall
and watched him run down the hallway.  Pulling out a metal bat, I prepared
to throw it when a hand tapped my shoulder.  I threw off and the bat hit
the wall as the guy climbed out onto the fire escape.  "Look what you did!"
I said as I turned around and saw the mysterious man.  "What are you doing
here?"
	"I came to help," he said.
	"You can start by getting the children out."
	"There is more going on than you think."
	"Let me catch this asshole and then you can tell me what this is
all about."
	"Very well."
	I took off down the hall and dove out the window.  Flipping in the
air, I positioned myself upright.  Using my cape to catch and slow my fall,
I descended into the darkened alley.  I saw the kidnapper running down the
alley.  Pulling another bat, I flung it down the alley.  It connected with
his head and knocked him unconscious.  I walked up to him and handcuffed
him.  "Sick son of a bitch," I mumbled.

	Forty minutes later, the mysterious stranger and I stood on a roof
after having witnessed the children being taken care of as well as the
kidnapper.
	"What's this about something more going on?" I asked.
	"Come close," he said taking a step toward me.  I stepped back
unsure of his intentions.  "Relax, I won't bite you...unless you want me
to."
	Realizing he was being goofy, I stepped close.  He waved his hand
and the two of us were instantly in the apartment of Trevor.  I tensed at
being back at this place.  To think someone would be so cruel, so horrible
to children...he's lucky the police came when they did.
	"Follow me," Stranger said and walked to the back of the apartment.
He entered the bedroom and we looked around.  "Do you see anything out of
the ordinary?"
	After looking a bit, I realized that the room had no pictures on
the walls.  There was a large mirror at the foot of the bed and at the
headboard.
	"Oh my God," I realized.  "The fucker was recording everything."
	"This is part of a child pornography ring in the area.  It is up to
the bat to crack it.  Otherwise, more children will be the victims."
	"Up to the bat?  What is that supposed to mean?"
	"I give messages and help out when I can.  That is the message I
was to deliver."
	"Who do you work for?"
	"Beings higher than us."
	I reached into my belt and pulled out my radio.  "Batman to Oracle.
Patch me through to the other heroes."  A second later, I heard a beep
letting me know they were receiving my message.  As I walked, I told them
what was going on.  "I came across a child pornography ring.  I need as
many of you that are available at my location.  Get the directions from
Oracle.  And hurry."
	I got outside and suddenly everything went dark.

To Be Continued...

Only 10 more chapters to go and this storyline is finished.  I know much
has happened and there is still some to go.  I'd love to hear what you
think of all that has occurred.