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!!!
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authorjames2002@yahoo.com
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Chapter 41 Bondage
Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and the Flash arrived at my location quickly. Unsure what was going on the fastest of the group decided it would be best to get here the quickest and let the others catch up. However, when they arrived at the location of their mentor, there was no sign of him.
"Oracle," Superman said into the tiny radio transmitter located in his ear. "Confirm my current location with that of Batman's last transmission."
"Location confirmed," Oracle stated after a brief second of scanning.
"He isn't here. Can you locate him?"
"Scanning city now."
Slowly, my eyes opened and attempted to focus. Pain shot through the back of my head and I moaned.
"Ah, you're awake," a voice echoed throughout the room and inside my skull. "How nice of you to join the living? That's such a relative term, isn't it? Living, I mean. What constitutes living? Breathe? Many in this world breathe yet they are considered to not be living, only existing. So maybe my greeting should have been, how nice of you to join the living. I mean..." the voice became clear and knelt down in front of me. "I'm technically not alive, am I?"
It was Catman without his costume. He looked like he could be Joseph's older brother. He was vamped out, but his skin was so pale. Lack of sunshine will do that, you know.
"Catman," I managed to get out through the pain I felt. "How did you find me?"
"Please, you are easy to find. With your little mutation thing, it was easy to track. The Friends of Humanity left some of their equipment here after their little stay ten years ago."
Looking around, the room came more into focus. Posters and symbols of the Friends of Humanity hung on the walls. I realized that I was in one of their holding cell from back in the day when they hunted mutants. The police obviously didn't retrieve all of the F.O.H.'s stuff. Could they be planning to utilize it at a later date?
"What...do you want..with me?"
"You stole something from me, Batman. Something most precious to me. I've been planning on getting it back but had to wait until the right time. Now is that time."
"What are you talking about?"
"My children."
"I vowed to protect them. I promised their mother, Christine, while she lay dying. Remember that? You killed her. As she died, I promised to take care of them and protect them from you and those like you. I'm sorry I couldn't save your other son from your evil, twisted clutches."
"Hm," the vampire muttered. "You think you know it all. You will be here for the rest of your life." He turned and exited the cell, slamming the door behind him.
Once he was out of the room, I relaxed and tried to focus my powers on the chains around my wrists and ankles. Pain shot through my body. When I stopped with my powers, the pain subsided. The F.O.H. left all their equipment here, including neural inhibitors which kept mutants from using their powers. The only way I was going to get out of here was if my league of friends found me.
"Unable to locate Batman," Oracle replied back.
"Damn," Flash said. "Maybe he had to go after somebody."
The sound of motorcycles pulling up below caught their attention. Superman turned and looked through the edge of the building into the alley. "It's Canary. The others must have stayed behind. We should be able to handle this."
A moment later, Black Canary came up the fire escape. "What's going on? Where's Bats?"
"Nowhere to be found," Wonder Woman stated.
"What do you mean?"
"Oracle can't locate him and he isn't here," GL answered. "I say we look around to determine if something happened to him. We can also look to see why he wanted us here. I suggest we search this apartment building first. This is where he was when he contacted us. Perhaps what he needed was us to continue an investigation he started."
"Then we'll start with that," Flash said. "We should also look for any clues that he struggled with someone and maybe chased after them."
Superman nodded. "Let's get to work."
A moving shadow caught my eye and I looked up. "Joseph?" I asked. "Is that you?" Slowly, the youth emerged. `What was he doing here?' I wondered.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"As well as can be expected," I answered. "Catman isn't the greatest host."
"Yeah, he's had that effect on people before."
"He's had people in here before?"
"Not here, but where we used to live. He was very protective over me and had issues when I would bring my boyfriends home."
"You're gay?" I asked, surprised.
"Yeah. I wouldn't think you would have a problem with that, seeing as how you fuck a former member of a formerly famous boy band."
"Well, that is a whole other issue right now. Anyway, what does Catman plan to do to me?"
"I don't know. Sometimes he kills his victims, sometimes he turns them into vampires and sets them free, other times he turns then and chains them outside so the sunlight will kill them."
"Lovely host," I muttered.
"He never did that to my boyfriends, just those who pissed him off in one way or another."
"There's no chance you are going to let me out of here, are you?"
Joseph paled when I said that. "No. If he were to find out, I'd probably be dead."
"You're telling me the man who raised you would kill you if you saved someone's life? An innocent person's life?"
"You are his enemy. If he believes I've helped an enemy, I would then be a traitor. He doesn't like traitors."
"Is that what happened with your mom? Did she try to become something besides whatever she was with him?"
Joseph turned away.
`Damn, this wasn't helping any. Sure, Catman may kill me. I wasn't worried about that. What worried me was the child pornography ring that the Phantom Stranger told me of. Who knew what was going on this very minute? I couldn't reach the team to tell them anything. But I couldn't just sit idly by and do nothing.'
"How do you feel about children?" I asked.
Joseph turned. "What do you mean?"
"How do you feel about children?"
"They are okay, I guess. Why do you ask?"
"Because I was beginning an investigation into a child porn ring here in the city when Catman took me. I don't know how many more children are being victimized and I can't stop it unless I'm freed."
"There's no way I can free you."
"Don't you care about what these children are going through? Don't you care what will happen to them?"
Joseph stood for a minute contemplating my words. Then he looked up at me. "Where were you when he took you?" After telling him the address, he said, "I'll see what I can do." Then he disappeared leaving me alone in the cell.
"He must have been pissed," Flash said looking at the large hole in the wall. "I wonder if they caught the guy."
"They did," Canary said as she listened over the ear piece. "Jessica is feeding me information about this area. The guy who was probably thrown through the wall was having sex with minors. And when I say minors, I don't mean teenagers. These were children who were pre-puberty."
"The fucker," Flash said when he noticed the blood on the sheets. "Damn, that son of a bitch. He better be thankful that he was caught by the police. I can imagine what all of us would do to him if he were here right now."
"We have to learn to work within the law," Superman said. "We can't take the law into our own hands."
"We do that every day," Canary said. "As long as we don these costumes, we are saying the system doesn't always work."
"But we don't kill. Humanity has evolved. We believe that people can be rehabilitated. We don't want to leave criminals alone, helpless, unable to find a better way."
"But you aren't even human," Flash stated.
Superman turned, his eyes glowing red.
"Enough," GL stepped in. "I don't have my powers from a human origin, but does that mean that who I am is anything less. Superman was raised on earth as a human. This world has become his adopted home. He is human in spirit, even if he isn't biologically."
"We need to solve this," Diana stated as she looked around.
"If they caught the guy, then there really isn't a need for us to look here. We need to focus on finding Batman."
The rest agreed and returned to the roof. After strategizing what to do next, they split up to search the city. Once the dust settled, a motorcycle pulled up into the alley and a mysterious figure climbed off. The silhouette looked familiar to people as it traveled to this spot, however, the details were much different. The being's cape fluttered as both feet were planted firmly on the ground. Then it entered the building and, within a few moments, arrived at the apartment where the child rape scene occurred.
"Not a bad costume," Joseph stated as he looked in the mirror at the newly designed bat suit he created. The ears were longer, the mouth and eyes were open, and a bat image covered his entire chest and went over his shoulders.
The young man chose this costume for many reasons. The first, and most conscious, was to conceal it was him doing this work. He didn't want it to get back to Catman that the younger Catman was continuing an investigation in which Batman begun. The second, and more subconscious reason, was his experience in the alley when the would-be victim of a vampire along with the vampire believed him to be Batman. He felt the fear the creature had and the sense of relief the victim had at just seeing his image. And he knew what the real Dark Knight must feel every time he thwarts an attack on someone. It felt good to wear the bat costume, liberating, freeing. The suit, the image, the symbol was very empowering. It was the first time he felt that since he first donned the Catman costume. It represented a purpose, a reason to go into the darkness and protect or avenge. The wearer of this current costume had lost something, had a reason to avenge.
Batman turned and, immediately, noticed the walls were plain white. No decorations were present making it difficult to link any location or person to it. The next thing he noticed was the large mirrors opposite each other. He went to the one across from the foot of the bed and ran his fingers around the edges. At first, it appeared to be solidly mounted on the wall. But he found a latch which caused it to swing open. On the other side was a camera mounted on a tripod. Beside it were several VCRs no doubt to capture all the images. VHS tapes sat at the mouth of the VCRs showing they had been filled with video and were ejected. He pulled out one of the tapes and took it into the living room where he popped it in to watch and see what happened.
The image appeared of a man performing oral sex on a young girl while a young boy was performing oral sex on the older man's dick. It looked overly large compared with the youthfully small mouth.
"Sick," Joseph muttered. He hit fast forward to see if he could see the man's face. A scene came up briefly where he got a good look at the molester's face. Shortly after that, the man pushed his dick into a place it was unnatural for it to go, that of a young girl's prepubescent vagina. She screamed in pain but he did nothing to comfort her. Grabbing the boy and placing him on the headrest of the bed, he began oral sex on him. Not too much later, the man pulled out and screamed something. Then Batman appeared, the first Batman. In a brief amount of time, the Batman tossed the man out of the frame. Then another man whose eyes were hidden entered and spoke with the children comforting them. The police arrived a short while later and took the children away and investigated the room. Sadly, they did not search the room very well.
Batman stopped the tape and went to search the other mirror. It worked just like the first, only this time there were no VCRs inside the secret area. "Maybe they are in the other room," he wondered out loud.
Leaving the apartment, he went down the hall to the next room. He knocked but no answer came. He stepped back and let his foot fly breaking the lock on the door. He entered and looked around. The apartment was sparse. He went to where the secret room was and saw a large painting hanging over that section of wall. Removing the painting revealed a doorway. Opening that, he saw many VCRs and another door, only smaller, which opened to the camera. He pulled out one of the tapes and tried it in the television in this apartment. The same scene unfolded before his eyes, only this time it was from the opposite view. When the man plunged his dick into the girl, blood didn't just run out, it burst out as if she were impaled. True, it was an impaling. Who knew how much internal damage he did to the poor girl?
Batman ejected the tape and looked around. He went through the dressers and found a piece of paper, a receipt for a store down the street. The receipt was for 12 video tapes. "Now I know who your supplier is," he said as he placed the paper in his belt.
"There you are," a voice said from the doorway.
Batman turned to see the man whose eyes were hidden on the video. "I saw you on the kiddie porn. Who the hell are you?"
"A friend. I am called the Phantom Stranger."
"What exactly do you do?"
"I give information from those higher up than humans. I'm told what is going on and I give the information to those who are to receive it."
"And you are here because?"
"Because I was told that Batman was to tear down this child pornography ring. He, however, had been disposed of, though I don't know how or why or by whom. Again, I'm on a need to know basis. Then, when you showed up, I realized that the Batman before you was merely the first Batman. It could be you who is to bring down this porn ring."
"Okay. Is there anything else you can do to help?"
"Not really."
Batman nodded. "Then, if you will excuse me, I've got work to do." He walked passed the Phantom Stranger and left the apartment.
Because the store was right down the street, Batman decided to leave the motorcycle put. He exited the side and went down the back alley, which ran the stretch of the block. When he arrived at the store, he tried the back door. It was unlocked. He entered and made his way to the front.
The clerk was ringing up a customer. Once finished, he turned to go back to the store room and found himself face to face with Batman. He jumped. Batman put his hand on the man's mouth and pulled him into the back.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he said. "I need your help." Pulling out the piece of paper, he asked, "Do you know the name of the man who purchased these VHS tapes?"
The man looked over the receipt. The date was for two days ago. "I think so. It is easy to remember something like 12 videocassettes being purchased. I normally do not have that many."
"Has he used credit to pay before? I could use his information to find where he lives."
"One moment. Let me check my records."
The clerk went to a nearby room which turned out to be the office. He sorted through the files and found one for a few days before the last receipt. The same amount of tapes was purchased. The clerk saw on the receipt copy that the purchaser indeed paid by credit card. The customer's name was printed across the bottom.
Batman looked at the name and memorized it. Then he asked for a phonebook.
"I haven't spotted anything," Superman said as he flew through the city and scanned every building with his x-ray vision. "Nothing is coming up."
"Maybe we should return to the apartment and look through it again," GL stated.
"I'm close by," Canary reported. "I'll stop back and start searching."
As she turned into the alley, she saw a figure walking down the alley.
"I think that's him," she said to no one in particular. She pulled up and called out, "Batman."
Batman turned and she realized the mask was different. Getting a better look at the costume, she realized it was someone completely different. Jumping off her bike she ran up to him.
"Who the hell are you and where is Batman?"
As she tried to pin him against the wall, he used her momentum, grabbed her arm, and spun her around into the wall.
"You're going to pay for that."
She snap kicked forward and he jumped aside. Spinning around, his leg nearly swept her off her feet. She, however, flipped forward to avoid it. He brought his fist at her and she grabbed it, kneed him in the stomach and tossed him backwards into the wall.
"You have a lot to explain. I'm looking for Batman."
As she came toward him, he rolled across the ground and pulled something out of his belt. Realizing she was too strong for him to fight, he hurled something at her. It turned out to be a bolo and it wrapped around her legs tying her up. She tried to step forward but instead fell forward.
Not wasting any time, Batman climbed onto his motorcycle and took off down the alley.
"Just great," Canary said out loud. "Bested by someone who doesn't have any powers. How do I explain this?"
The Flash ran up to the scene and saw Canary as she untied the cabling around her ankles. "What happened?" he asked.
"Batman, only this guy wasn't ours."
"You mean an imposter?"
"Sort of. I'm not sure why he was here, but he was."
"Which way did he go?"
Canary turned and the Flash took off running.
To Be Continued...