Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 17:32:32 -0700 (PDT) From: Author James <authorjames2002@yahoo.com> Subject: Tales of a Real Dark Knight Chapter 46 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!!! Any emails you send, please tell me what chapter you are commenting on. Thanks. jmsotc@yahoo.com Chapter 46 Time To Talk "Is something wrong, Eric?" "No. Nothing is wrong." "Then why are you acting like this?" "Like what?" "Like you don't care one lick about us." "Us?" I asked. Was he referring to him and I? "About us guys, you know the band. You were such a great help to us, so open and trustworthy. You saved our lives from a bloodthirsty vampire who would not have hesitated to drink from all of us. Now you are acting as if it's something you deal with everyday, like saving someone's life is ordinary. Worse yet, you are treating us like people you don't know. What's up with that?" "Lance, I've been through a lot." "I know you have. I've kept track of you." "But it's not just what I've been through. It's about you guys, too." "What do you mean by that?" "You know what happened at the warehouse, with my mutation surfacing like that. I thought you guys were bothered by it and would not want to talk to me again. Rather than force you guys to tell me you don't want to talk to me, I took the liberty of not calling you. I figured it was easier for you guys if I didn't call or come around. It saved you from the pain of saying it." "But Eric, we wanted you to call. We wanted to understand you and what you were going through. My God, you are our friend. We didn't want to lose that." "I see that now. And I regret how I did things. In my life, I've met enough people who have treated me poorly because I'm different that I found it much safer to just assume they didn't want to hear from me. It saved me heartache and them the discomfort of telling me they don't like me." "That's an awful lot of assuming." "Sure is. Kept me alone most of my teenage years." Lance and I exited the hospital and began walking around the block. It was a nice cool night. "So what do you plan on doing from here?" Lance asked. "With what?" "With us?" "I don't know. I would like to continue being friends. But there is still so much to consider. Justin, for one thing. You say he wants us to be friends, but how can I handle him looking at me and know how he feels about what we did? I don't know if I can." "You are one of the strongest people I've met, Eric. I know you can handle it. And if not, I will be there to help you. That's what friends are for. I consider you a friend, a good friend. And I don't want to lose that, not again." In my mind I kept going over the fact Lance had feelings for me. I didn't want to say anything to him to embarrass him, especially now that I was regaining his trust and friendship, or in my mind "regaining". In his mind, as well as the rest of NSYNC, our friendship never ended. "I don't want to lose it either. But I guess I'm too afraid." "Afraid of losing our friendship?" "Yeah. I've lost a friend already." "Who?" "My friend Hunter. I met him in school. He killed himself because of a psychologist who believed he found a 'cure' for homosexuality." "I'm sorry." We walked in silence. As we walked, my mind went back to Hunter. My loss seemed to well up and envelop me. Tears formed in my eyes and I did all I could to fight them back. I felt a hand on my shoulder and knew it was Lance comforting me. I turned and buried my face into his shoulder. I felt so safe and secure with him. He rubbed my back as I cried. I finally gained control and wiped my eyes. I looked over at Lance and noticed a spot on his jacket where my tears had fallen. "Sorry about the jacket." Lance looked down and smiled. "It's okay." We walked for little bit longer. "Are you hungry?" he asked. "A little." "Come on. We'll get something to eat." "First I need to tell David and Michael. I don't want them to think I've abandoned them." "Okay." We went back to the hospital and up to Michael's room. I knocked on the door. "Come in." Lance and I entered. "Eric, you don't have to knock," Michael said. I smiled. "Guys. Lance and I are going to get something to eat. I'll call you tomorrow to see how things are going." "Okay," David said. Michael nodded. Lance and I left the room and headed for the elevators. "You love them, don't you," Lance said. "Yes, I do. In a way, I feel like a parent over them. I know, it sounds stupid." "No, it doesn't. I know exactly what you mean." I looked over at him and smiled. We got in his car and he drove us to the Taco Bell by my apartment and got out of the car. "Do you want to eat at my apartment?" I asked. "If you want." "We can watch a movie together. I've got lots of movies." We went in and ordered our food. When we got it, Lance drove us back to my apartment. Once inside, I grabbed a movie and popped the tap in. "What movie is it?" Lance asked taking a bite of his burrito. "Clue," I answered. "My favorite movie." "Really?" "Yep." "That is so great! I love this movie, too! I love mysteries and comedies. And comic book action adventures." "I'm not surprised about that." "Why not?" I asked. "You are a mutant. Isn't there a comic book about mutants?" "Yeah." I smiled. I wanted to say "But I really love Batman," but that would have not been tactful. It may lead to some questions about the real Batman. As we sat and watched the movie, I began to doze. It had been a rough day for me dealing with all these emotions others were going through. It was wearing me out. I felt a hand on my shoulder slowly pull me over. The next thing I knew I was laying on Lance's shoulder and the movie was ending. I sat up quickly. "What happened?" I asked. "You fell asleep," Lance replied with a grin. "Why didn't you wake me up?" "You were tired." "I'm sorry for falling asleep." "No need to apologize. It was...comfortable." I realized he enjoyed the fact I slept on his shoulder. I started to feel something more for him that I didn't want to feel, at least not yet. I wasn't ready. And I didn't want to hurt him. I stood up and began cleaning up the food containers and debris. "Did I say something wrong?" "No, Lance. You didn't." Lance looked at me and stood up as I went into the kitchen area. "I must have said something. Tell me what." "Lance, you are a really great guy. And I enjoy our friendship." "So do I." "It's just I don't want to..." "Don't want to what? Date me? Fall in love with me? Jessica told you, didn't she? Damn her." Lance stood up angry. "I thought I could trust her." "You can trust her, Lance. I figured it out myself. You were very subtle about it. It took me just until a few days ago to figure it out." Lance looked at me. I could clearly see a look of disappointment on his face. "I should go." "Lance, wait." Lance stopped at the door. He turned and looked at me and I could see the rejection in his eyes. "I don't want you to think I don't care for you. I do." "Don't tell me, just not in a boyfriend kind of way." "Lance, you know how I want relationships to develop. Through friendship." "I agree one hundred percent. And we are friends." "Yes, we are. Good friends. I'm just not ready to fall in love again. I'm not ready for a relationship. I don't want my issues to come between us. I don't want them to become issues for you to deal with. And I'm afraid if something gets started before I'm ready, one of us will end up getting hurt. I can't bear to be hurt and I can't bear to be the cause of your hurt. Please, understand me." Lance looked away for a moment. Then he turned back. "I understand." He gave me a smile that was kind of ironic. I went up to him and adjusted his collar. "You don't have to worry. You still have a chance with me. In fact, like I said a few months ago, if I didn't have a boyfriend, you would be the only one on my list." Lance smiled. "Call me tomorrow after you get done with school. Maybe we can go out for dinner." "Okay." I closed the door once Lance left. I was falling for him. But I was still too timid and hurt to allow my feelings to flow. I looked forward to the following night. The telephone rang. "Hello?" "Eric, this is Jessica. Meet me at the Iceberg Lounge." "I've never been there. What's by it?" "The county library." "I know where that is. I'll see you there in fifteen minutes." "As soon as possible." I suited up and within moments of time arrived at the Iceberg Lounge. As I looked around, I saw the Huntress waiting. "What's up?" "We've got some more Kailiff." "Beautiful." "Not really." The Huntress looked over at me. "Your mind is on something else." "Can you tell?" "Sure can. What is it?" "Lance and I had dinner tonight." "Really?" The Huntress smiled at me. "Congratulations." "We are just friends. I'm not sure I'm ready for a relationship." "I'm happy for you both." "Thanks. What's going on here with the Kailiff?" "That's what I'm trying to figure out. Too bad we don't have more muscle with us." I heard rustling behind us, as did the Huntress. We turned. "Wolverine," I replied. "Batman." The Huntress looked at me. "Is he one of your mutant buddies?" "Yep. Huntress, Wolverine. Wolverine, Huntress." "Is she anything like you?" Wolverine asked. "No." "Good. She and I might get along fine." "What brings you here?" "I saw some weird guys moving around. Figured I would drop in and say hello." "They are Kailiff demons," the Huntress told him. "They are very strong and very dangerous." "Sounds like fun," Wolverine responded. "We have to be careful around them." "Careful is not Wolverine's style," I said. Wolverine brought out a set of claws. "You want to say that to my face, bub." I turned and stepped up to his face. "As I said..." "Hold on, boys," the Huntress stepped in. "Get off your testosterone high horses. We've got work to do. If you can't get along with each other, I will do it myself and leave you two to your pissing contest." I tried as hard as I could not to laugh. The Huntress can come up with some pretty funny metaphors. I stepped back from Wolverine. "Truce?" "Truce." "Good," the Huntress said. "Now, let's get down to business. We've got four Kailiff in there. We have to find out what they want in the library. Stealth is what we need, not both arms swinging. Understood?" Wolverine and I both nodded. The Huntress shot out a line and swung down to the street level, as did I. Wolverine, however, jumped down. We approached the library carefully and quietly. The Huntress went in first. "Are you sure she should be going first?" Wolverine asked. "Look at her. She doesn't have much meat on her bones. Are you sure she should be going up against some demons?" "She's a vampire slayer. She was born to fight demons." "If you say so." We followed her down a flight of steps toward the basement where they keep the archived documents. Down the corridor a light shown from a room. It was the ancient manuscripts room. They were after something very old. As we neared the room we heard talking. "Lord Bortos wants both documents." "But he does not need them both. Only the one contains part of the spell." "The other one is to throw the slayer off. If two separate documents are stolen, she will have a hard time finding out our Lord's plans." "Let's go, you two." The Huntress looked at me. "Ready?" I nodded. I looked at Wolverine and he nodded as well. "Now." We jumped in the doorway. The demons turned to face us. "You!" one exclaimed. I recognized him as one we fought before. "Why do you torment us?" The Huntress spoke up. "You are up to no good. I want to know Lord Bortos' plans. You will tell me." The Kailiff smiled at her. He nodded and his friends attacked us. Wolverine, surprised as he was with the demons' appearance, did not hesitate to extend his claws and get into fighting one of them. I readied myself for the demon that attacked me. He swung his fist at me. I ducked, and then punched him in the face. You have to be careful hitting these guys. With those spikes lining their jawbones, a fist in the wrong place can hurt you more than hurt them. I hit him in the nose. His head jerked with my punch but it did little to hurt him. He swung his fist back and backhanded me. I flew across the room and up against the wall. The impact knocked the wind out of me. Wolverine was fairing much better than I was. At least he had his regenerative give that kept him healed. Please that Adamantium endoskeleton gave him some weight behind his punched. He stuck one of his claws into the Kailiff's side. It hurt him tremendously but did not kill him. The Huntress kicked the Kailiff leader between his legs. He hunched over and she rolled over his back. She grabbed the two scrolls he placed on a shelf, and then turned only to be grabbed by the throat. "That hurt," the Kailiff said. "Now I make you hurt." To Be Continued... Eric admits he has some feelings for Lance. I don't blame him. I wouldn't mind curling up to Lance on the couch to settle in and watch "Clue". Who wouldn't? Ha, ha, ha. Hopefully the Huntress and Batman will be able to figure out who Lord Bortos is and what his plans are for Halloween in L.A. Of course, do you think Wolverine will be helpful? He and Batman squabbling don't help the Huntress much, does it? More to come!