Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2003 06:43:03 -0700 (PDT) From: Author James <authorjames2002@yahoo.com> Subject: Judgments 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. 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. Star Wars and all related concepts created by or based on the universe created by George Lucas. Copyright 20th Century Fox, LucasFilms Ltd. and Lucas Books/Ballantine Books. I don't know for sure if I will use all the above elements, but just in case, I have myself covered. Other stories set in this universe: "Marvel Knights" "Tales of a Young Mutant" (no new postings in a while) "Tales of a Superhero Band" "Tales of the New Phoenix" 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. 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. If anyone has artistic talent and/or design capabilities, check out the "Real Dark Knight" Contest. Chapter 21 Bird of Prey Kane leapt at Robin, who jumped into the air higher than humanly possible. Kane spun and landed on the bar. Robin landed on his feet and did a somersault grasping a pool cue. When he landed on his feet, he saw Kane standing with two bottles in either hand. He smashed the bottles on the edge of the bar and attacked. Robin ducked under the first swing, then leaned backwards to avoid the second. Planting the pool cue on the floor, he kicked outwards connecting with the vampire's face and flipping backwards. He swung the pool cue around several times and prepared to defend himself. Kane swung the bottles again attempting to cut Robin. But Robin was ready. He hit the ends of the pool cue on Kane's wrists stopping his attack. Then he ducked and swung the pool cue up hitting the remaining glass and shattering it. Kane lost his weapons. Then Robin hit Kane in the side of the head. He jumped in the air and kicked Kane in the head as well. Kane grabbed Robin as he spun around again and threw Robin into the wall. "See, boy, it won't work for you." "It helped this far," Batgirl said. "Let's see what I can do." Kane grabbed her shoulder. She grasped his hand and pulled it off, swinging a fist at his head. The vampire blocked and swung back. Batgirl blocked and threw her leg up. Kane caught it and swung her around. When he let her go, she flew toward a wall but grabbed a metal pole and spun back around changing her direction. She headed right for Kane and kicked him in the torso. Kane flew into the air and landed on the stage. Robin came to and stood up ready to join Batgirl. Nightwing swung his sword at the vampire as it zoomed at him. He ducked and swung the sword around cutting the vampire's leg. The vampire howled in pain and turned after him. Nightwing flipped backwards and kicked the vampire in the chest as it zoomed overhead. He landed on his feet and spun around swinging the swords. The blades decapitated two vampires and he continued on after the winged vampire. Freeze stood at one end of the room and a winged vampire hovered at the other end, staring each other down. They both went into action running toward each other. As they neared, Freeze smiled. He blasted his freeze ray at the floor creating a large ramp. He jumped onto it and his momentum carried him up into the air. As he flipped over, he swung the sword at the vampire and cut its head off. Both body and head hit the ice ramp and slumped to the floor. Freeze came down with a thud and swung his sword. A smile came to his face and he turned to see a vampire heading for Kara. "Nightwing!" he called out. Nightwing looked in his direction. Freeze pointed toward Kara and Nightwing nodded. The young masked man sliced off a vampire's arm and ran toward Kara. He knew he wasn't going to make it so he hurled his sword at the vampire. It hit the vampire in the chest and knocked it back. Because the sword was not made out of wood, however, it only slowed down the vampire. But the slowing was enough for Nightwing to arrive. He jumped into the air and came down on the hilt of the sword with his foot. The impact sent the sword further into the vampire causing it a tremendous amount of pain. Nightwing grabbed the sword, twisted it, and jerked it upwards. The blade slid up and cut the upper part of the vampire in half at an angle. Its head still remained intact on one side. Nightwing swung his sword around and cut off the vampire's head, watching it at as it turned to dust. Freeze smiled at what Nightwing did. The distraction enabled a vampire to try and bite him. The metal was too strong for the vampire's teeth and the fangs snapped. The vampire stepped back in pain clutching at its mouth. Freeze swung his hand back and backhanded the creature over his shoulder. Then he spun and decapitated it. Two vampires tackled Mr. Freeze and started pounding on his suit. Even though the suit was strong and amplified his strength, it could not withstand the demonic strength of the vampires. He tried to fight them off but the vampires grabbed his wrists and held them down while continuing the assault on the man. "Nightwing!" Freeze called out. Nightwing, who had just flipped backwards and kicked a vampire, heard Freeze's call and turned and saw what was happening to Freeze. The youth swung the sword and cut off the vampire's arm. Then he pulled out his grapple, shot a line to the rafters and jumped, wheeling himself up a bit. Gravity took over and pulled him into a swing. As he reached his low point and started on the upswing, Nightwing kicked his legs out and knocked the vampires away from Freeze. Freeze immediately lifted his arms and blasted the two creatures, freezing them to the floor. "Thanks," he said as he got up and staked the two vampires. "No problem," Nightwing replied swinging past him and heading back toward the vampire he was fighting. He swung up and kicked the vampire, knocking it back. Then he flipped over when he released the rope and landed on his feet, swinging his sword and decapitating the vampire. Batgirl and Robin both attacked Kane. Kane blocked Batgirl's punch and leaned backwards as Robin tried to punch him. He punched at Batgirl, who in turn spun sideways away from the vampires attack. Robin brought his leg up and kicked the vampire in the stomach. Then he swung his leg upwards without missing a beat and kicked the vampire in the head. As the boy swung his fist around, Kane grabbed his wrist and flipped the boy over. Then he kicked Robin and Robin flew across the room and into the wall. Batgirl swung her leg up and kicked at Kane. Kane flipped backwards and landed on the stage. Batgirl jumped into the air, opened her cape. She came down at Kane feet first. He was ready, however, and caught her in mid-air. He spun her around and threw her through the curtains into the backstage area. Robin stood up and brushed himself off. He looked up at Kane who was smiling down upon him. "Nice try, bird boy. Perhaps you've realized you cannot defeat a vampire after all." "Whatever, fang face. You might have done this shit to thousands of others. But there is one thing that is on my side that you haven't dealt with yet." "Oh? And what is that?" "I've seen the Matrix a gazillion times. I know exactly how this mind stuff works." "Really? So far you haven't shown me anything others haven't tried before. What can you do that no one else has ever done?" The corner of Robin's mouth curled up. "Do you really want to see?" Kane nodded. Robin leapt into action. He landed right in front of Kane and his arms swung at the vampire so fast he looked like he had several arms connected to him. His fists impacted the vampire in the head, arms, sides, torso, anywhere and everywhere. Batgirl came to and looked over amazed at Robin's abilities. After several minutes of beating him, Kane hunched, hands on knees. Bruises formed on him and started to fade almost immediately. In the penthouse apartment, Kane's loyal followers looked upon the bruises appearing on their master and became frightened. Something was beating him. "Master," one whispered. "Who could have done this?" After a moments pause, the answer came to his mind like a whisper. "The Slayer." With resolve, the vampire turned to the rest. "We must help the master. Down we go to face off the Slayer and her band of rabid beasts." "But shouldn't we stay behind and protect him in case one or two get in here? It only takes one to set him aflame if his consciousness is still in his mind." "Fine," the vampire answered. "You stay and guard him. Don't get slain if one does come up here." The demon nodded and the rest headed into the secret elevator shaft and descended to the basement of the building where they engaged two of the Slayer's friends. Freeze, seeing the new arrivals coming through the elevator shaft, shot a beam and sealed it up with ice keeping the rest at bay. "We might be good," he called out to Nightwing, "but we aren't that good." Nightwing ducked a punch and staked a vampire. "Speak for yourself." "Okay, then. I'm not that good, hot shot." Nightwing and Freeze laughed and continued with the battle. Both felt the fatigue of their activities, but they couldn't stop now, nor could they let up. Kara, Batgirl and Robin needed their protection. "How goes the mind battle?" Nightwing called out to Kara, who was half in reality and half in the mind. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she replied with half a smile. "Be sure to give us a play-by-play when this is over." "I would be happy to," Kara replied. "Do you understand why your punk ass couldn't stop me, Kane?" Robin asked as he walked around the hunched over vampire. Kane shook his head. "No, I do not. I have always been the master of the mind, the master of illusion. It does not make sense for me to lose, especially to a puny human such as you." "This puny human has something that all your past rivals didn't have." "Oh? And what is that?" "Two words for you: video games." Kane appeared confused by Robin's answer. Noticing his confusion, Robin decided to clear things up. "See, I'm a teenager. I've had my share of playing video games. I can honestly say that when it comes to fantasy, I rock. My mind has been programmed, no pun intended, to think in virtual reality. I know all the moves, what can and can't be done. So you see, when it comes to the mind, this is my turf." "But," Batgirl said as she joined her young friend, "video games have limits on what they can do. Characters can die in video games. The hero loses." Kane's demeanor changed at that. He stood up, bruises completely healed, no longer feeling beaten by the young boy. He smiled and balled up his fist ready to strike a fatal blow to the boy's head. "But you forget one thing," Robin said facing Batgirl, not seeing Kane behind him. Kane's fist flew right at Robin's head. Kane smiled at his ease of victory, especially for someone who challenged him so. His victory was short-lived when Robin's hand flew up and caught Kane's fist mere inches from the attacking blow. Batgirl looked upon Robin in wonder and awe. "God mode," Robin replied with a smile. "What?" Batgirl said. "What?" Kane said. "In almost every video game, there are some kinds of codes that give you ultimate strength, unlimited weapons, and invulnerability. Most of us just call it God mode." Robin turned to Kane and squeezed on Kane's fist. The vampire's fingers and knuckles cracked and buckled. Kane could not believe the boy's strength. "I've been fighting villains like you ever since I could pick up a controller. I've beaten so many guys like you I've lost count. You are just one more video game villain with a devious plot." Robin let his fist fly and it penetrated Kane's chest. Robin felt something and pulled out Kane's non-beating heart. Kane and Batgirl looked at the scene and were affected by how surrealistic it was. Robin released his grip on Kane's fist and walked over to the bar where he grabbed a match. "Say goodbye, Kane. Your number's up." Robin jabbed the wooden match into Kane's heart. At first, Kane fell over screaming in pain as his body started to decompose. Then, the screaming subsided and he slowly stood up. "Idiot child that you are. Wooden stakes do not harm me." "No, but fire does." Robin lit the match. The fire journeyed down the wood and into Kane's heart. His body burst into flame on the stage and he screamed. The vampire standing guard over their master's body could not believe his master was combusting spontaneously. Never had that happened before, although he read about how the vampire Queen willed for hundreds of vampires to burn. Thankfully they weren't his species. Still, the fact that it was happening before his eyes unnerved him. Flames consumed the body and all that stood in the middle of the room was a pile of dust. The vampire stared wide-eyed for a moment, then turned and ran through the curtains to the balcony. It didn't realize that it was still broad daylight out and burst into flames turning to dust which dissipated in the wind. Robin walked over to Batgirl smiling. Her countenance, however, was less than thrilled. "So, how did I do?" Robin asked. "Creative, but ewww." "We can't all be neat like Slayers." "Are you two ready?" Kara asked standing in the middle of the club. The two jumped down off the stage and walked over to her. "You bet," Robin said with a grin. "I'm dying to slay a few more vampires in real life." "Don't get cocky," Kara replied. "In reality, you don't have God mode." "That's fine with me." Kara reached up and touched both of their heads. Batgirl and Robin opened their eyes and Kara became more alert. Robin smiled, pulled out a wooden stake, and hopped off the table to go after some vampires. "If they are here," the vampire leader said. "Then your boss is dead," Freeze replied as he staked the vampire. "Oh, shit," the vampire said as its mouth turned to dust. Batgirl, Robin, and even Kara joined in the fray of battling the undead. Within a short amount of time, all the demons were dusted and the five sat rubbing their aching muscles. Robin told the story of what happened while in Kane's mind. Nightwing and Freeze's attention was rapt on the young man's exploit. When he finished, both congratulated him on his defeat of a vampire they thought undefeatable. Nightwing turned to Kara and said, "I could have done that. Why didn't you let me help Miranda?" "Because, as young as you are, you would have had your mind in reality and what you could and could not do, whereas Ryan has shown remarkable skill at thinking outside reality, even though it normally does not suit his purpose. In this instance, it saved us all from being killed and Orlando being taken over by the vampires." "Any word yet on what is going on anywhere else?" "I believe San Francisco was hit hard but is coming back. Columbus, however, was at war last time the Council talked with the Watcher there. Vampires were attacking even in the day time." "But how?" Freeze asked. "Keeping to the shadows. There are many large buildings where vampires can stay out of the sun and still have countless victims. We are grateful here that the vampires decided to attack us first before going after the populace." "Are they doing okay?" "Not sure. The Watcher was going out to help his team at last communication." "Do you think they might need our help?" Freeze asked. "I don't know," Kara replied. "Maybe, we should drop in for a visit?" Kara winked at her team and everyone smiled. To Be Continued... What do you think of the defeat of Kane? Were you surprised that it was Robin who defeated this very powerful vampire? If you want to find out if they help the team in Columbus, check out Marvel Knights: Apocalypse 10.