WHAT IF…?
There Really WAS a Batman & More!
Chapter 1
Robert J. Johns never knew his actual father.
Not until the mysterious man died suddenly, secretly leaving a multi-billion dollar fortune for a bastard son he'd neither acknowledged nor approached at any time during the handsome, green-eyed young man's twenty-odd years of a decidedly doleful life.
Mega-wealthy R. David Morrison made it his personal mission to maintain a secretive perspective on the boy. Especially so since Robert had demonstrated, more than once, that he had the inquisitive IQ of a misunderstood, underachieving, lost-to-dubious daydreams individual.
And daydreams had unalterably led R. David Morrison from the clutch of lower-class life to become one of the few multi-billionaires whom, unlike such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, viciously avoided the blinding glare of publicity.
Choosing, instead, the ability to walk amongst the teeming masses of any major American city…from New York to California and even down into the Deep South!…and not draw any undue attention onto himself.
And, since this ultra-wealthy entrepreneur had never tied the knot of matrimony to legitimize the inevitable birth of a baby boy from one of seemingly endless lovely ladies with whom he had shared his seed…
And as Robert became that biological link such as R. David had denied himself down through the thoroughly long and, at times, exceptionally lonely years…
R. David dedicated his last few years of esoteric existence, as well as, upon his ultimate demise, unbelievably vast assets, to the young man named Robert J. Johns.
Including, incredibly…
"…and this is only one of your more-than-modest homes, Mr. Johns," precisely stated Theodore Algernon III, with a hint of haughtiness usually reserved for the super-rich, though this was basically the life-long, well-paid lawyer of the now dead-and-buried R. David Morrison. "If you wish, you may maintain this one and allow me to liquidate all the other holdings…which would significantly increase your billions by a factor of five by-the-by!…for my standard thirty-five percent, of course."
"Uh, s-sure, M-Mr. Algernon," stammered, slightly, the still-astonished Robert J. Johns. Still reeling from the blessedly impossible situation thrust upon him even as the body of a father he never knew had lain so secretively in state.
In what was almost literally a single, solitary day, Robert had gone from someone who's intellect constantly strained the paltry employment situations such as he had been forced to accept in order to prevent that proverbial wolf from coming to his metaphorical front door.
To a multi-billionaire who could quite literally have anything he ever dreamed of owning and never again agonize about overdue bills like before.
"Now," curtly continued Theodore Algernon III, whilst placing a multi-page endorsable document directly before this brand-new billionaire on an ornate table in the leading drawing room on the grandiose ground floor. "If you'll just sign these papers where I've marked in red…then initial where highlighted in blue…I'll be on my way."
With hands as shaky as his shuddering Inner Self, still in pseudo-shock over the sheer hugeness of his fantastic fortune, Robert did as so condescendingly instructed, then…
"Fine, fine," Theodore said somewhat wearily, as if obtaining billionaires' certified, by him!, signatures was an all-too-common custom. Then, after retrieving a very special cellphone from the confines of a ludicrously expensive briefcase of luxurious leather…
"What's this for?" sheepishly asked Robert, while looking over a clearly costly cellphone as thin and high-tech as any available.
"That's," literally pointed out the too-proper/positively aloof lawyer, "is an encrypted cell that will quickly connect you with one of my own. In case you should need anything. My services are also as per Mr. Morrison's requests via his deathbed bequest. Now…I must make my way back to my law firm in order to properly file away this documentation. Call me if you should need me, Mr. Johns. Good day."
As the closing of the elegant, large front door of the magnificently immense mansion echoed eerily throughout the ground floor of the inordinately opulent interior…
"Why would I need a special cell just to contact an attorney?" openly pondered a still-shocked-over-all-that-had-happened, freshly-enriched Robert J. Johns. His voice, soft-yet-serious, also echoing in the high-ceiling, whole house-sized drawing room. "Probably just wants to see to it he still has a billionaire client. Billionaire. Still seems like a damn dream! Hm. Wonder what the rest of this 'home' looks like?"
Walking through the expensive expanse of a billionaire's dwelling of wealth, surrounded by acres and acres of well-groomed land, Robert wasn't surprised to suddenly run into one of many inherited non-indentured servants.
"May I be of any assistance, sir?" asked a seeming cliché on legs, resplendent in a time-honored tuxedo-type attire. Readily replete with white gloves.
"Uh, yeah, Mister…?" fished this Master of the Manor, whom was still struggling with his instant standing as a multi-billionaire heir regarding a parent he'd never known.
"Just call me Carlson, sir," said, somewhat snootily, this butler extraordinaire.
"Uh, OK," nervously avowed Robert, "a little help in navigating inside this place would be…"
"There is an elevator just down this hallway, sir," Carlson explicated whilst gesturing toward a hallway off to the tuxedoed servant's right. "It can take you to the entire manor house's floors…from ground to the four above and the one below."
"Below?" puzzled a suddenly enlivened, again!, Robert J. Johns as his green eyes flew wide and a smile spread slowly across his handsome face. "What's down there, uh, Carlson?"
It certainly seemed an amused smirk momentarily played upon the otherwise standoffish features of the fifty-something Carlson-the-butler, before he half-bowed and said simply, "I and the rest of the day staff shall be at your service should you require anything at all, sir."
No sooner disappearing, soundlessly it seemed, from the enormity of the ground floor area, than a curiosity that canceled out any and all other overwhelming emotions dominated mind and mien…
As this newest Master of the Manor made his way down said hallway toward the single solitary elevator that could quickly whisk him from floor-to-floor with near-silent ease…
Then, once standing inside the especially opulent elevator, tapping the touch-sensitive button corresponding to a sub-floor section of a vast structure of supreme prosperity…
As the highly-polished double-doors barely rumbled as they quickly closed, followed by a slight jolt that signaled a swift descent into…what?
"Holy…!"
END OF CHAPTER 1