Summary: Batman investigates a string of mysterious disappearances near Gotham and soon discovers a link between the disappearances and the fictional "Slender Man." Happy Belated Halloween.
Disclaimer: I own nothing save for a few OCs. I might, perhaps, owe the Slender Man $20.00 (He's not getting it though.)
A/N: I wrote this intending to post it on Halloween but…(sigh) I got lazy and had other things to do so time got away from me and before I knew it, it was November 1st. Oh well. This is my first Batman story so be gentle on me.
In terms of Batman continuity, I'm kind of establishing my own sort of universe (Kinda like how they have a reboot and mix things up by changing character origins, personas, and such). In this universe, Tim Drake is in his teens as Robin; Dick Grayson is Nightwing and working in Blüdhaven. Barbara Gordon is Oracle while Cassandra Cain is slightly younger than Tim and is Blackbat but with a different backstory than her "League of Assassins" one. In this universe, she was born without vocal chords due to a birth defect and her parents were killed in a fashion similar to Bruce Wayne's (Gunned down before her eyes). The full backstory for this version of Cassandra Cain may be the basis of a prequel to this story if this story works out well.
As the title and summary indicates, this story deals with the internet meme and fakelore character the "Slender Man." I only heard about the character after watching YouTube videos of the Indie game Slender: The Eight Pages, and subsequently playing some of it myself. Eventually this story idea came to mind. This story draws heavily from some of the familiar aspects of "Slender: The Eight Pages" so if you haven't played it (or are too scared to) watch some videos on YouTube or give it a download (it's free).
That being said, sit back, relax, and enjoy the story…
1:42 AM
1st of October
Somewhere in the woods to the west of Gotham City
Elaine's heart was pounding as she ran through the woods, dropping her flashlight as she ran. She looked over her shoulder for a brief second, gasping in horror at what pursued her. She kept running, the light of the star lit sky overhead, her only hope of finding her way out. She quickly ran into a small building, a set of public restrooms for a nearby campground, and crouched down into one of the stalls. She didn't know if the restroom she was in was for men or women and at the moment she didn't care. The lights weren't on which only made her breathe more heavily. She quickly pulled out a notebook from her backpack and quickly wrote something on a blank page inside until she heard the sound of strange footsteps on the tiled floor outside the stall. She swallowed nervously as she peeked through the crack between the door and the tiled wall of the stall. She looked hard for a moment but saw nothing. She sighed with relief and began to turn back around when she saw what appeared to be two pairs of long legs covered by black fabric. Upon closer inspection, they were actually one pair of legs and a pair of inhumanly long arms. Elaine's eyes widened and she shook with fear as she slowly looked upward to see an empty face with no eyes, nose, or mouth, "looking" down at her. At that moment, everything went black.
9:33 AM
Wayne Mansion
Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake, and Cassandra Cain sat at the dinner table, eating a late breakfast. The teenaged Tim was silently eating a bowl of corn flakes while the slightly younger Cassandra sat reading a book while eating some oatmeal. Bruce, having finished his meal, was reading the newspaper as Alfred entered with a pitcher of orange juice.
"Am I to assume that you are anxious to begin shopping for your Halloween Costume this year Master Drake?" Alfred asked, refreshing Tim's drink.
"I'm thinking I'd do something classic this year. How's Dracula sound to you Alfred?" Tim asked.
"I find the idea, subtly ironic." Alfred replied, pouring Bruce a glass as well.
"What do you mean?" Tim asked, confused.
"He means that Dracula's a vampire and vampires tend to turn into bats." Bruce said from behind his paper as Alfred moved on to Cass.
"Oh. Does that mean I can go as Batman for once?" Tim asked with a cheeky smile. Bruce merely glared at him from behind the paper.
"You'd have to get in line behind Dick." Bruce replied, Tim mumbling in mock-disappointment. They heard a rhythmic tapping on the table but they knew it was Cass using Morse code to communicate. Tim glanced over at his adopted sister who tapped out her message using the blunt end of her spoon while smirking teasingly at him. Her message translated as "U make great zombie. No brain."
"Very funny, Cass." Tim said, flicking a dry cornflake at her, "I don't hear you coming up with a better idea."
Cass began tapping out another reply, her smirk remaining on her face. "Black Widow, Avengers."
"You don't have the hair for it." Tim replied, sipping his orange juice. They then heard the phone ringing nearby. None of them moved to answer since they knew Alfred would answer and he did.
"Wayne residence." Alfred answered. After a moment, he lowered the receiver, hand over the mouthpiece and turned towards Bruce.
"Miss Gordon to speak with you Master Bruce." Alfred said as Bruce lowered the paper and took the phone from Alfred.
"Go ahead Barbara. What's happening?" Bruce asked, curious to know why the red haired Oracle was calling.
"Bruce, I don't suppose you've heard of the disappearance out at Gotham State Park have you?" Barbara/Oracle asked.
"Elaine Williams, College student at Gotham State, majoring in medicine. Went camping with some friends yesterday evening, Reported missing this morning." Bruce rattled off. Tim and Cass both knew that something was up but remained silent.
"Yeah well my dad's investigating and I heard him mention over the police radio that they've found some evidence that doesn't make any sense. He's calling it some elaborate prank." Barbara said.
"Abduction is never a prank." Bruce said, folding his newspaper and setting it down on the table.
"Abduction? I never said anything about…never mind, I assume then that you're taking the case?" Barbara asked.
"Keep listening for chatter regarding the case. I'll pay a visit to the Commissioner tonight." Bruce said as he stood up.
"Will do." Barbara replied before Bruce handed the receiver back to Alfred.
"Does that mean you won't be attending the Museum Gala tonight, Sir?" Alfred asked as he hung up the phone.
"I just came down with a cold." Bruce replied as he walked towards the secret lift to the Batcave.
10:46 PM
GCPD Headquarters – Rooftop
The night sky of Gotham was illuminated by the light of the Bat signal. Commissioner Jim Gordon stood on the roof, checking his watch as he waited. Finally he happened to glance over his shoulder and saw, the outline of a familiar cape flapping in the wind standing near the access door to the roof.
"You're not going to believe this one." Jim said as he flipped the switch on the Bat signal, turning it off.
"And I always do. You're investigating the disappearance of Elaine Williams, who vanished from Gotham National Park early this morning." Batman said as he emerged from the shadows. Jim nodded and held up a piece of crumpled and slightly weathered notebook paper with strange writing on it inside of a clear plastic evidence bag. He handed the paper off to Batman who examined it carefully.
"We found this on the men's room wall at the Campgrounds. Her friends found the paper in the bathroom and alerted us. What do you make of it?" Jim asked, Batman continuing to look the page over. The page read simply "Don't look, or it takes you!" but the line covered the entire page.
"Aside from the writing, it was written in a panic in the dark." Batman said, activating of his cowl's multiple vision modes to scan the paper for any evidence invisible to the naked eye.
"The dark?" Jim asked, curious.
"She wrote the words thicker than normal so she could see it better in the limited light she had available to her." Batman said as he handed the paper back to Jim.
"Well it's still a mystery to us. Our only witness is no help at all so I called you." Jim said.
"Who was the witness?" Batman asked.
"A friend of the victim's. Roberto Ramirez, a computer nut. He was with her and two other friends when they went camping. He was the one who found the paper and led the others to report her disappearance. He has an airtight alibi in that he was with the rest of his friends when Elaine went to take a walk." Jim said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a recording device.
"And his statement?" Batman asked. Jim chuckled lightly, shaking his head in disbelief as he handed Batman the recorder.
"Listen for yourself." Jim replied as he stepped over near the bat signal and pulled out his pipe. Batman looked the recorder over before pressing play.
"Tell us what happened, Mr. Ramirez, nice and easy. You're safe here." A woman officer, Renee Montoya as Batman recognized, said gently as the sound of a shuddering male voice could be heard in the background.
"No I'm not! I'm not safe! He's still out there! He's gonna get me!" Ramirez said in a panicked tone.
"He? He who?" Renee asked.
"He's got her. I saw him and he knows I did! He's gonna come after me, I know it! I just know it!" Ramirez ranted insanely.
"Who was it Mr. Ramirez? Someone you know?" Renee asked.
"He was from the game! The game! Find the pages, you win! If he catches you, you LOSE!" Ramirez continued to rant.
"Pages? You mean like the one we found at the scene?" Renee asked.
"YES! The pages! I need to find them! Find them fast! He's coming, I can hear his footsteps!" Ramirez ranted, his rants beginning to dissolve into sobbing.
"No one is going to get you here, Mr. Ramirez. Now who took Miss Williams?" Renee asked. Ramirez continued to sob for a moment before he managed to regain a degree of composure but not completely before answering.
"It was…it was the man…the Slender Man." Ramirez replied in a fear filled voice. At that the recorder stopped. Batman mulled over the recording for a moment as Jim approached, holding his pipe in his hand.
"Poor kid. We had to put him in a straightjacket just to keep him under control. It's still not much to go on though. That's the only description he'd give us before we had to sedate him." Jim said.
"What about the other campers? What did they see?" Batman asked as he handed Jim the recorder back.
"Their story's slightly different. They were together, Ramirez and another camper, around their campfire when they heard a scream coming in the direction of the public restrooms. They both ran to investigate, one stayed outside to keep watch while Ramirez checked the restrooms. That's when Ramirez screamed and the other friend found him holding onto the men's room wall in fear." Jim explained.
"You say they found this paper in the same men's room?" Batman asked.
"Yeah. The forensics boys didn't find anything else in the men's room though." Jim said as Batman put a hand to his right ear.
"Oracle, is Dr. Crane still locked up in Arkham?" Batman asked. Jim, unable to hear anything, waited patiently as Batman listened to Oracle's reply.
"I see." Batman said as he turned back to Jim.
"You think Scarecrow's behind this?" Jim asked.
"Not anymore. He got shanked yesterday evening by Zsasz and is in Arkham's medical ward under guard. He's not the one we're after and it doesn't fit his usual M.O. This is someone else entirely." Batman replied as Jim turned away slightly at the sound of a police siren in the distance.
"So if Crane's not the abductor then who is it?" Jim asked, but when he didn't get a reply, he turned back to see that Batman had disappeared once again.
"One of these days, I'm gonna find out how you do that." Jim said with a smirk as he put his pipe in his mouth and headed for the doors.
11:59 PM
Batcave.
Bruce had just parked the Batmobile and was walking towards the computer, pulling his hood off his head. As he entered, he saw Tim in his Robin suit but without his mask, while Cass stood nearby wearing her Blackbat suit, also without her mask. Tim was sitting at the computer, hammering away at the keys.
"What have you found?" Bruce asked as he stood over Tim's shoulder.
"Given what little we have to go on, somewhere between diddly and squat." Tim replied, bringing up social network profiles on the victim and her two friends from the camping trip, including Ramirez, as Cass tapped out an explanation with a small clicker in her hand.
"BFFs from High School. GSU (Gotham State University) diff majors." Cass explained.
"Yeah, they're each good students. Elaine, the victim, is studying medicine, parents are divorced, has an older sister in the Military, a younger brother at Gotham Academy, lives with her mother, works part time as a desk clerk at the Gotham Hyatt, and enjoys Horror films. Ramirez, the witness turned drooling lunatic, is studying software programming, makes video game mods, works part time at McDonalds, obsessed with the paranormal, and one of your fans." Tim said, motioning to a list of Ramirez's likes which included Batman. Bruce silently looked over the other pages before narrowing his eyes in frustration.
"The only other connection to each other that stands out is something called GGC. Their text messages and online correspondences indicate that they were members or heavily involved with this group." Bruce said but both Tim and Cass scoffed.
"GGC. Gotham Game Club" Cass answered.
"Gotham Gamer's Clan, Cass. It's a city wide club that exchanges all the latest news in video games. They also tend to band together in MMORPGs." Tim explained.
"They play video games a lot?" Bruce asked as Tim nodded.
"Hardcore. Ramirez complained in one of his texts that he felt like he was getting carpel tunnel. They spent seven hours one night playing Halo." Tim explained. Bruce was quiet for a moment, studying the information.
"Where does the camping trip come in?" Bruce asked.
"From what we can tell, they referred to something called 'the Tradition' in some of their messages and how they were looking forward to it. It apparently was supposed to take place last night but one of them couldn't make it." Tim explained.
"Who couldn't make it?" Bruce asked, curious. Tim proceeded to bring up the profile on a sixth person.
"Tyrone Green, a.k.a. TitanX2. Closet gamer, plays basketball for GSU, dad's in jail for armed robbery, keeps his nose clean, never been arrested or suspected of anything, volunteers at his local church, nice guy." Tim explained.
"Broken leg." Cass added.
"Yeah, the reason he couldn't make 'the tradition' was due to that injury." Tim explained.
"There's nothing that stands out. We need to take a look at the scene of the abduction." Bruce said as he pulled the cowl back over his head. Tim and Cass both put their masks on, Tim pulling a black hood over his head and Cass pulling on a mask that covered her entire head. Before they could make a move however, the Batcave computer started beeping. They turned and saw that it was a phone call from Oracle. Bruce/Batman paused and pressed a button on the computer console.
"Go ahead, Barbara." Batman instructed.
"Bruce, there's a lot of chatter over the Police scanners. Another person's been abducted near the abandoned farm on the edge of town. My dad and some of his officers are heading there right now." Barbara/Oracle said over the radio.
"Thanks, Barbara. I'm heading there now. Robin and Blackbat will investigate the scene of the first abduction in the meantime. I need you to try and find a connection between our two victims." Bruce instructed.
"Will do." Barbara replied before ending the call.
"You got that?" Bruce asked the two teenagers, both of whom nodded in agreement.
"We're on it, Batman." Robin replied as he and Cass ran for the R-Cycle and Batman to the Batmobile.
End Chapter 1.
Please R&R…
I'm envisioning the Arkham Asylum/Arkham City costumes for Batman and Robin (namely the hood for Robin. I thought that was a nice touch). Cassandra's costume is her Batgirl costume but she uses the Blackbat name instead of Batgirl. Why, will be explained in the prequel…if I decide to write it.
I chose to use Cass simply because I find the notion of a mute superhero/super-heroine rather intriguing. I like the idea.
Also, don't mistake my use of the Slender Man as the villain in this story for dislike of the character. I actually find it interesting and the game doesn't scare me at all ("Hey Slender Man! Come at me bro!" – my battle cry when playing "Slender: the Eight Pages.").