A Stranger

[midnighttrudger]

A Stranger

Part 1: If You Can Make It Here

Today is the second of September, all of the trees in Gothom Square have begun to shed their dimly colored leaves as the last stretch of the year comes moves in. But to Gothom, and its unknowing hero, a new evil was about to rise from the freshly fallen leaves, a terror no one thought was possible. Until now…


The Wayne Mansion seems darker on this particular night. All the house is asleep. The wind is cautiously blowing the leaves out of the fence and into the lamp lit street. The night is calm and peaceful as the noise of the wind is joined with the patter of raindrops.

“ Ah the rain always helps,” Bruce says to himself as he slips of into a dream.

Yes the night was calm and quiet, except for the sound of a car carelessly driving down the street. The car brakes just inches short of the manors looming gates. A man dressed in a brown trench coat steps from the car as raindrops bounce off the bowl his hat. He walks up to the call box and taps on the call button a few times.

“What’s going on?” Bruce says as he rolls over in bed.

A few second later Alfred, dressed in pink pajamas, walks into the room. “Master Bruce there is some at the gate. He says he’s from the delivery service.” Alfred turns on the light and walks out of the room. Bruce slowly rolls out of bed and stumbles to grab his robe. He walks out of his room and down the hall.

“OK, Alfred what’s going on?” Bruce questioned.

“There is a man at the gate and he says he has something for you.”

“Alright? You go to bed.”

“Yes sir”

“And Alfred, we’ll talk about your choice of sleep wear in the morning”

“Very well sir. Good night.”

“Good night Alfred. Now what’s going on out here.” Bruce looked out of the window and down towards the street. He noticed a black sedan with a man sitting casually on the hood. He reached for the call button just as the phone began to ring. Bruce walked to the table were the phone lay and cautiously answered. “Hello?”

“Hello Bruce!” came an answer from the other end. “How are you?”

“Fine?” Bruce answered confused.

“Now, I know what you’re thinking?” Said the man sounding like a television salesman.

“Oh you do, do you.”

“Yes, you’re wondering what in hell’s fury is going on, what is anyone doing at my gate at 2:30 in the blasted morning?” answered a laughingly intoxicating British voice.

“Who are you?”

“Now now, there will be time for questions later,” a brief silence fell. “ By now I’m sure your butler has told you that I have something for you.”

“Yes” Bruce said wondering.

“Well do you want it or not?”

“Well that depends…” Bruce said as he peaked out the window. He saw the man holding a small remote.

“Bruce, Bruce no peaking.”

“What do you want?”

“I already told you, questions would come later. Now do you want it or not?” said the rain soaked man, getting quite furious.

“No.”

“To bad,” said the man as he pulled the trigger on the remote. A tremendous explosion shook the ground.

“What did you do?”

“Well right now a block of central Gothom is in flames. And to think you could have saved them. To bad.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well all you had to do was say yes, I do want it and I would have given it to you. But alas you said no, now only God knows how many people got injured, burned, or dare I say maybe even,” a small chuckle came from the man, “died. And you failed them Bruce.”

“What? Why you!”

“Now, now Bruce, breath. They told me if you can make it in Gothom you can make it anywhere. And it looks like I’m off to a good start,” said the man as he hung up the phone. Bruce watched as the man got in the car and disappeared into the night.

“Master Bruce, what in heavens was that?” asked Alfred as he ran towards Bruce.

“It looks like a challenge for Batman,” Bruce said as the bat signal pierced trough the night sky.

“Same old scoundrels sir?”

“No Alfred, I don’t think so.”

[witness]

So, they actually let you become a member here! j/k Nice to see your first chapter is up. You're off to a good start. You've gotten my attention with this. I'm very interested to see what will happen next and who this new villian is. Exciting, isn't it? Hope to see more from you soon!

[Coran]

Very nice MT. It is obvious that this new villian is a very dangerous one. Keep up the good work and post again soon!

[Calico]

Crickey! This guy'll give the Joker a run for his money in the psycho biz!

?And Alfred, we?ll talk about your choice of sleep wear in the morning?

LOL!!!!!!!!

Welcome, and I'm looking forward to more

[The Guitar Slayer]

I liked this alot. You've disturbed me with several things:

1. The loss of life
2. The identity of the man (he knows who Bruce is)
3. Alfred's jammies

Like Calico said, LOL! Continue on, and welcome.

[midnighttrudger]

Part 2: At A Glance

The next few nights were unsettling for the dark crusader. During his nightly patrols of Gothom’s dark, yet calm streets, all he encountered was the usual late night gangs and a few drunken pick-pocketers. To Gothom’s nightlife this was not at all uncommon, but for Batman this left him a little uneasy.

“Alfred, I don’t know what going on?” Asked a confused Batman as he climbed from the Batmobile. “After the explosion a few nights ago everything seems to be going along as normal.”

“And what’s wrong with normal?”

“Nothing, I just feel very…” Batman said as he pulled of his mask.

“Are you alright Master Bruce?”

“Yes, but I just don’t know if I’m ready for what’s ahead of me?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“This man, he seamed to appear out of the mist and then just as quickly disappear. But for those few minutes that we spoke, he’s gotten inside my head.” Bruce said as he climbed the stairs leading out of the Bat Cave. “All I can think about is that simple question, with only two answers, yes or no. And I couldn’t pick them both. And when I close my eyes all I see is this man, a blurred outline through the rain.” Bruce gazed out of the window, lost in thought. “Who is he Alfred?”

“Master Bruce, I’ve never seen you like this before.” Said Alfred as Bruce slid into an evening robe. “Come now, it’s almost three. You have a big day tomorrow and you need your rest.” Alfred walked a reluctant Bruce up the stairs and into his bedroom. “Good night Sir.”

“Good night Alfred”

“Oh dear, what has happened now?” Alfred asked himself, closing the door to Bruce’s room.

***

Noon finds our hero at the opening of the Gothom Police Department’s new wing. It is a usual brisk day in downtown Gothom. Many news personnel gathered in front of the huge audience to ask questions about the new addition.

“Welcome everybody to the opening of our new wing,” sounded the voice of Commissioner Gordon turning the entire crowd toward him. “In honor of Bruce Wayne who donated a million dollars to have the new wing built and equipped with the most high tech police equipment we have chosen to name the new wing, Wayne Hall. Now we would like to thank you Bruce Wayne for making all this possible.” The crowd began to cheer. “Stand up Bruce,” said the commissioner.

Bruce stood up and gazed over the countless number of people that had flooded the square in front of the main entrance. Bruce waved his hand and mouthed the words “thank you” a few times then sat back down.

The Commissioner went on to answering the usual question that the media always asked at openings. But Bruce’s head wasn’t on the questions, it was once again on him. Bruce glanced through the crowd wondering if he was there. Though the day was cool, with a breeze in the air, Bruce began to feel beads of sweat gathering on his forehead. He was almost in a panic, then out of the crowd came…

“Do you think that this new technology could have stopped the bomb that went off a few night ago?” Asked an English voice.

Bruce’s eyes tore from their sockets as he skimmed the crowd for the man. He stood up and began to peer into the direction the voice had come from.

“Could you please stand and identify your self?” Asked the Commissioner.

“Yes,” a man stood up just a few rows into the crowd. “I’m just a friendly stranger.”

At that moment Bruce stopped his search and gazed into the eyes of the “stranger”. He wasn’t very big; he wore a striped shirt and pants that matched the color of his black bowler which covered his brown ear-length hair.

“Your accent, your not from around here are you?” Asked the commissioner.

“No sir, from England.”

“And what brings you to our fair town?” Chuckled the commissioner.

“Well they told me, if you can make it in Gothom you can make it anywhere.” At that very moment Bruce’s eyes locked with the stranger’s.

Batman had gotten a glance.

[The Guitar Slayer]

Very good, midnighttrudger. Interesting enemy we have here. To conserve space on the board and keep this all together, I'm going to merge the two threads you have on "The Stranger". From there you can add onto your story by using the reply button.

[Panther]

I agree with Guitar Slayer and Calico - a very intriging villian indeed! Lots of mystery in the air - what's gonna happen next?