Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 11:51:41 -0800 (PST) From: Author James <authorjames2002@yahoo.com> Subject: Chronicles of a Real Dark Knight 21 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. Talamasca, Lestat, Louis, 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. 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 and story you are commenting on. Thanks. jmsotc@yahoo.com Chapter 21 Fear Attack The Huntress and Mr. Freeze headed off toward the mental hospital where the last victim of this new fear registered himself. The gentleman thought he was going crazy and wanted to stop whatever the problem was before it got out of hand. Though it seemed to be unreasonably out of hand right away. The Huntress approached the front door and walked right in. Hopefully her connection with the police commissioner would gain her access to patients within the hospital wall. "Can I help you?" the registrar asked. "I need to see Leo Mangus. He was admitted earlier today." "I'm sorry, but first time patients must go through a 24-hour isolation from outside connections. Besides, your attire may frighten him further." "Is the attending psychologist available? I have some questions I need answered." "Wait right here. I will call him." The registrar closed the sliding window and lifted the phone. "Any luck?" Freeze asked over the radio system. "The nurse is talking to the attending psychologist. Hopefully I will be able to talk to him and get some answers." The window slowly opened. "Dr. Temor will see you in a moment. Please, have a seat." The Huntress walked away from the window but did not sit. "The doctor agreed to see me." "Good. I don't like these psycho hospitals. Eric and Alan both wanted to be psychologists. How in the world could they work with such whacked out people?" "It's in their nature to help," the Huntress replied. A door opened up and a small, skinny man with a large nose stepped out. He looked at the Huntress. "I'm Dr. Temor. Are you the young lady here to see me?" "Yes." "And your name is..." "Huntress." "Right." The doctor paused for a moment. "Are you a visitor or a patient?" "Visitor." "Right," the doctor said. "Come in then." The Huntress followed the doctor through the door and to the right where his office lie. "Please, have a seat," he offered as he sat down in his chair. "What can I do for you?" "I'm here concerning a patient. Leo Mangus." "I see. I'm sorry to disappoint you but I'm not at liberty to release information concerning my patients to anyone. It would be a breach of doctor patient confidentiality." "I'm trying to find out who is causing this fear, doctor. It seems someone or something is causing fear to rise up in ordinary people. It isn't natural. I'm sure you agree with that." Dr. Temor froze for a moment. He finally answered. "That's true. It isn't normal." "What do you know about it?" "Nothing, really. Police forensic officers were here to draw a sample of blood. They may know more about what is going on." "They haven't shared anything with you?" "No." "Then how are you supposed to treat them if you don't know what's going on?" "They ask me to keep the victims comfortable. That's all." "What were the names of the officers?" "I'm not sure. Smith, I think was one." "Thanks." The Huntress turned and exited the office, then the hospital. She headed out to where Freeze was waiting. "Turns out the police know a bit more about what's going on. Let's go visit the commissioner." I awoke to see the sun streaming through the window. It felt good for the warmth of the sun to beat on my face, even though my face was disfigured. I got up and pulled on the robe Christian left for me. I went to the balcony, opened the doors and exited. The trees looked so full of life from the vantage point of the balcony. They seemed so alive. They brought a sense of happiness and peace to me, a peace I needed to feel since I had no memory of who I was, with the exception of what Christian told me. "Eric," Christian's voice called out to me. I turned and saw him looking around the bedroom. "There you are," he replied as he saw me at the balcony. "How are you?" "I'm feeling a little better, thanks," I answered. "I'm getting used to not knowing who I am." "Yeah," he said. He put his arms around me and gave me a hug. "I'm glad you are feeling better." "Thanks," I replied. I felt something uncomfortable inside me grow with his embrace. What could it have been? It felt like it might have been fear, but why should I fear getting close to someone who cared about me? It was unsettling. "Hey, why don't you get cleaned up and we can take a walk through the woods?" Christian suggested. "Okay." We went inside and Christian left the room. I showered and put on a change of clothes that hung in the wardrobe. Then I went downstairs to find Christian waiting for me. "You look nice," he said. "Thanks. It feels weird not being in a bathrobe." Christian smiled. "I packed us lunch. Are you ready?" "As I'll ever be." Christian offered me his arm and I took it. I needed the support. This was my first time going outside since I awoke. I was very disoriented. Having Christian support me made it a bit easier. We walked into the woods. I breathed in deeply, letting the cool crisp air clean my lungs. The fresh air charged me with new life and I felt free, even through the confines of the wrappings. We walked for about ten minutes until we came to a clearing. Christian opened a blanket and we sat down to eat. Christian unpacked the lunch and handed me a plate of food. "What do you do for a living, Christian?" I asked. "I'm a musician. I sing." "Really? Can you sing me a few lines from one of your songs?" "Sure." Christian cleared his throat and began to sing: Baby set me free From this misery I can't take it no more Since you went away Nothing's been the same Don't know what I'm living for Cause here I am so alone And there's nothing in this world I can do Until you're back here, baby Miss you, want you, need you so Until you're back here, baby There's a feeling inside I want you to know You are the one and I can't let you go "That's beautiful," I said. "Do you record your music?" "I have a few albums." "Wow! That's amazing. I'm surprised, though." "Oh? What surprises you?" "That someone as attractive and talented as you are should take time in helping someone like me." "What do you mean? We're friends." "I guess," I said. "You know what I think? I think we should go out tonight." "Go out? Where?" "Just out on the town. Let me make some arrangements and we'll do it, okay?" "Okay," I said with a smile. Something inside, however, was holding me back. Miranda exited the small room suited up in her Batgirl suit in the cave underneath the hotel. Kara sat at the computer monitoring the communications device. "Nightwing and Robin will be with you as you patrol tonight. It's a good idea to keep them with you until you have the lay of the land," Kara said. "They can show you around." "Quite right," Miranda replied as she pulled on her mask. Kara was a bit surprised at Miranda's adherence to her orders. She was happy Miranda wasn't rebellious like many Slayers turn out. Batgirl walked over to the motorcycle and climbed on. She looked at the control panel for a moment and found the buttons she needed to start up the engine. Off she went through the tunnel and out onto the city streets. Moments later she arrived at the spot where she was to wait for Nightwing and Robin. She climbed off and stood watch. The two young men swung down to alley level. Nightwing looked over Batgirl closely. "So you are wearing the suit?" Nightwing said. "Yes. I thought it appropriate that I wear the costume to keep the image going and to keep in the tradition of Christine. In it's own way it is a tribute to her memory. Granted it is different than the costume the previous Batgirl wore, but..." Batgirl noticed Nightwing turn away. "I'm sorry if it bothers you, me wearing the suit and all. That's why I suggested to Kara that we change it a bit." "It's fine," Nightwing responded softly. "Are you sure? Because if it's a bother, I can..." "I said, IT'S FINE!" Nightwing pulled out a grappling gun and shot a line up to the rooftop. "Don't mind him," Robin replied. "You know he and the previous Batgirl used to date?" "Yes, I know. I wish I could do something to help ease his mind." "I don't know if there is anything anyone can do. He needs to deal with this on his own, really." "Yeah." The two masked crime fighters shot lines up to where Nightwing was waiting and joined him. "Let's go," Batgirl said. Huntress and Freeze pulled up in front of police headquarters. Huntress pulled out her grappling line and it pulled her up. Freeze, however, used his freezing gun and made a pillar that grew with his continued squeezing of the trigger. The pillar formed under him and lifted him up to the appropriate window. Huntress knocked on the window. Moments later the commissioner opened it. "Yes, Huntress." "I was just at the mental hospital concerning Leo Mangus." "Why don't you two come in?" the commissioner invited. The two heroes climbed in and the commissioner closed the window. "What did they have to say?" "Dr. Temor told me that two forensic officers were in earlier to collect a blood sample from Mangus. Their instructions were to keep Mangus comfortable, nothing more." "Really? I'll have to check reports to see if someone lower in rank ordered that done. I don't remember issuing that order, but that doesn't mean it wasn't issued. That's why there are people lower than me with command ability. They can make those types of decisions. "Tell me, did Dr. Temor remember any of the officers' names?" "He believed one was named Smith." "Let me check." The commissioner typed a number in the phone. "Forensics. Henderson speaking." "Henderson. This is Commissioner Simonson. I want the blood sample report for Leo Mangus. Check Lieutenant Smith's log and tell me if he was at the hospital today." "Understood, ma'am. I'll call back in a few minutes." Nightwing, Robin and Batgirl walked along the rooftop examining the street below. Nightwing walked ahead of Robin and Batgirl. He was still very upset about what happened to Christine and could not believe the Council replaced her so quickly. "What's wrong with him?" Batgirl asked Robin. "Why is he so angry? I can understand it to a point. His friend died. And the Council replaced her quickly. But that doesn't explain his animosity being so great." "The previous Batgirl was his girlfriend. They started to date before she went to England. And now she's gone." "Oh," Batgirl said. She continued her watchful eyes on the street looking for any signs of trouble. But her mind was also on what her new friend was going through. The sound of running footsteps caught everyone's attention below. They all turned and saw a young man running from three women. "Fun time," Robin said. He jumped from the roof and knocked over one of the women. Batgirl shot a line into the corner of the building and jumped out. The tautness of the rope pulled her into a swing and she kicked the second woman. Nightwing pulled out his grapple gun, shot a line to the streetlight and swung down kicking the third woman in the back and knocking her down. The young man kept running. The woman rolled away from Robin and stood. Robin noticed she was not a regular woman but a vampire. "Great," he said reaching for his wooden stake. As the woman that Batgirl kicked stood up, Batgirl saw her demonic face and pulled out a wooden stake. "This should be fun. I haven't slain in a while." Nightwing, hearing the other two, did not wait for the assailant he tangled with to vamp out. He pulled out a cross and wooden stake and approached her. She turned to scare him only to be met with the cross being placed on her face. She screamed in pain as smoke sizzled from her skin, the cross burning her. Nightwing plunged the wooden stake into her heart and she turned to dust. The vampire lunged at Robin. He jumped into the air and flipped over her. The vampire ran into the wall. Robin jammed the stake into her heart from behind and she turned to dust. Batgirl spun and kicked the vampire knocking her into the wall. The vampire swung her fist at Batgirl and hit her. Batgirl rolled with the punch and rolled along the vamps arm. The stake went into the vampire's heart and turned her to dust. Batgirl turned to see Robin and Nightwing looking at her. "Nice moves," Robin said. "Thanks." "We should find out what was going on with the vampires. Why were they after the young guy." "Let's go looking for him," Batgirl said. The three ran off in the direction the young man went. "It doesn't make sense, Commissioner. There is no reason why these people should be reacting the way they were. It's not a natural fear." "I know, Huntress. It's all too weird." The phone rang. "Simonson's office...Yes, Henderson. What have you found...I see...Do you know how to counteract it...Keep working on it." The Commissioner hung up the phone and turned to Huntress and Mr. Freeze. "It seems that someone knows chemistry. Forensics found trace elements of foreign chemical compositions that stimulate the body's natural chemicals for fear." "I want a list of all the victims, where they were when the fear kicked in and who they know. They have something in common with this master of fear and I want to know who he or she is." To Be Continued... Nightwing is really taking things hard with the new Batgirl. And it seems the Huntress has returned to her job with a greater fervor. And what about Eric? He's not dead, but he's suffering from amnesia. Poor Christian. He's thrust into a position where he can act on obvious desires he has, but what about his conscience? More to come!