Chapter 9: The journey begins…
Finally finding their way to their seats, two young men and very tired men prepared themselves for a long flight. They had just gotten through one of the quickest and most difficult battles of their lives. The fight that they left was not physically the worst they had ever experienced but mentally and emotionally, it drained them.
They had made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare and were pleasantly surprised to find that they would have no more obstacles keeping them away from reaching the US. Till allowed Parasit to take the window seat and soon sat down tiredly in his seat, nearly instantly falling asleep. Parasit was greatly energized from Tier and put on a set of headphones and listened to his favorite extreme metal bands as well as a few other genres of music.
Parasit ignored everything the overly nice flight attendant was saying. No one had the right to be that happy at this ungodly hour! "I wish this bitch would just shut up," he thought to himself. He actually couldn't hear a word she was saying, it was just her presence that bothered him.
After what seemed like an eternity, they began to go down the runway and into the skies. The plane was packed full of people, almost all of them were near sleep or sleeping. A sudden shock of turbulence woke Eis from his slumber; apparently only him. He looked to his left to see his friend fast asleep. He looked out the window and his heart raced. He could see a dirty, hairy, white creature on the wing. He rubbed his eyes furiously and shook his head before looking again.
"Nein.." he shook his head. He was so tired he was hallucinating. He sighed deeply and shut his eyes once more, trying his best to go back to sleep. He slowly felt consciousness lose it's battle with sleep.
As he dreamed, he could feel himself flying. His arms were wrapped tightly and protectively around a small body. A pair of petite arms were wrapped around him just as tight. He could feel the cool breeze bathe his skin; but to him, it was quite warm. He opened his eyes to look into a pair of blue ones. The sight calmed him completely. He felt himself smile and bring his lips to that of the beautiful girl in his arms.
"Gloria…"
The angelic woman smiled and nuzzled his chest. "Till… I have something to tell you…"
"Ja?"
"Ja… Wake up Schwulah!!"
"Huh?!" Eis was utterly confused and baffled. He then felt a pain in his left shoulder and his right cheek. Suddenly, Till awoke violently, gasping a bit.
"Eh! Wake up homo! It's time to go."
The ice conjurer groaned and rubbed his sore and tired eyes. "I hate you man.. seriously.."
"I know.. Now come on! We're in America now, let's get a move on!"
Till sighed deeply and followed his friend out. The overly joyous flight attendant still had that smile on
her face. However, the young man was thinking about another woman's smile. "Gloria… Wo bist du? …Where are you?..."
After catching an hour or two of sleep and filled with energy, Parasit had a spring in his step. He was feeling pretty refreshed given the circumstances. He made his way with Eis behind him to claim their luggage, their two heavily stuffed back packs. They made their way through Customs and security, which took an agonizingly long time. Parasit kept grumbling, which only caused more of a delay while Eis bit his tongue and stayed polite.
Eventually, Till found himself having to wait on his friend. He was questioned quite a few times as why he had such a peculiar name on his passport.
"Para Seat.. Is that your real name sir?" asked the officer.
"No but it is the only name I have." His reply was a completely honest one, he did not want to stay here any longer.
"Para.. Seat?.."
"Parasit. It is the only way I could get people to pronounce my name properly."
"Hmm..," The man was very wary of him. "What's it mean?"
The dark man let out a bit of a sigh mixed with a grunt in frustration. "Parasite."
"Parasite? How'd you get a name like that?"
"Like this" He placed his hand on the side of the
man's neck and created a small needle. It pierced the man's skin
and he began to draw forth his energy. Parasit looked left and right
and helped the unconscious man sit into a chair. Thankful that no one
saw him, he grabbed his bag and rather quickly made his way over to
Eis.
"Let's go-let's go- let's go- let's go- let's go-
let's go"
"Why the rush?..." Till eyed him suspiciously and frowned. "What did you do now?!"
"Hey! Come back here!" three security officers were making their way over to them.
"Scheiße! Para! What the hell?!"
"Just run you faggot!" The mohawked man bolted, causing his friend to do the same.
After some time and running, the two found themselves by a road. Till was out of breath and heaving loudly. He was sweating quite a bit, he was hunched over with his hand on his knees, his chest expanding as much as it could to take in air. He looked up at Parasit and glared.
"What the hell?!"
"What?"
"What the hell Para?!"
"What?" He was rather confused as to why Till was so upset. He raised his hand to flag down a taxi and put his and his friend's bags in the trunk. Parasit was glad that he always carried at least 3 large bills of different nations' currency with him. However today, he had two thousand dollars with him, he could get the two of them around no problem.
"Where to?" asked the Gotham City cab driver.
"Hmm.." Parasit looked at his friend, "the train station?"
Till nodded. "Ja.."
"Alright.." The driver pulled our back onto the road and occasionally looked back at his passengers. He could tell by their accents that they were foreign but he could not pinpoint where they were from. Seeing no harm, he decided to ask. "So.. where you guys from?"
"Germany." They body answered at the same time.
The man nodded. "So what's it like over there this time of the year?"
"Kalt- Cold..," Eis corrected himself. "But not cold enough."
Parasit chuckled a little. "You little ice sickle, you'd never be bothered by the cold.. little queer," he added causing Till to just shake his head as he looked out the window.
"Hey man," called the cabby, "You don't sound German, where you from?"
"My father's testicles." Parasit answered plainly.
Trying to not take offence or to offend, the man forced a laugh. "No really; what country?"
The dark man smirked a little and began to speak. He seemed to speak forever in a heavily accented voice. The cab driver had long stopped listening but he continued to speak in a language the man did not understand. Till sighed and closed his eyes before opening them again.
"So this is where Batman lives right?" the young man in white asked, his friend in black continued to speak in what seemed like a gibberish made up of all the languages he knew.
"Hmm? Oh yeah! He's the baddest! You NEVER want to cross paths with him unless his savin' your sorry ass! I hear for every crook he spares, he takes five more back to his cave to torture for his own pleasure, that way he can let off some steam he builds up by playing a goody, goody."
"Really now?" Till knew the man had no idea what he was talking about but it was passing time and took his mind off of his problems and Parasit's multilingual ramblings.
"You bet! I heard that the reason why we got most of this super villains is cause he experimented on them and they escaped! That's why he does what he does, to clean up his mistakes.." The man said everything like his was completely assured of himself. In reality, he knew close to nothing about the Dark Knight but he saw no harm in having fun with a foreigner.
"If that were true my friend then Batman would not really care about your city or its people. It seems to me that he has suffered a traumatic experience when he was young. This probably caused him to
become obsessed with fear and justice. Perhaps the only reason why all these super villains are here is due to random circumstances and escalation.." Till began to speak different theories and ideas to the man but he had long stopped listening.
How dare he question him? This was his city, what did this dumb foreigner know? Nothing. He was just a prick like his friend. He was tired of this little adventure. He was not far from the train station, they could make it. Driving into an alley, he parked the car and reached under his seat. Both men in the back seat stopped speaking and stared at him.
"Hey fag, why'd you stop?" Parasit was quite irritated.
The cab driver turned around and pointed a snub nosed revolver at his face and cocked the hammer. "It's been fun and all but- give me your money!" He was completely sure of himself.
"You don't want to do this," pleaded Eis. "You really don't"
"Oh I do.. and I'm gonna enjoy it. Now… GIVE ME YOUR DAMN MONEY!!"
Parasit began to feel something rise within him. A force of air that caused his stomach to jump and his vocal chords to quiver. A chuckle. He began to laugh, it slowly became more and more pronounced until he was laughing so hard small tears formed in his red violet eyes.
"What the fuck is your problem?!"
"You!! HAHA!! You're so damn-HAHAHA!! Pathetic!" The man clad in black kept laughing until the barrel of the gun was pressed against his head.
"I'm gonna ask you one last time…"
"And I'm going to have to call you a Schwulah!" The dark figure grabbed the gun and twisted it, breaking the cab driver's grasp on the weapon. He then formed a long glowing knife and stuck it to the man's throat. "I think you need to learn a lesson." He smiled wickedly.
Eis put his hand on Parasit's and pulled it away from the man's throat. "I think he already has.. Let's go.."
The mohawked man was annoyed and shot Eis a glare. "You're no fun." He slowly reabsorbed his blade and pocketed the revolver after un-cocking it and putting the safety on.
The two exited the vehicle and retrieved their bags from the trunk. As they closed the door to the trunk, they saw the cab driver swing a tire iron at them. Quickly, Eis fired an icy blast at the man. He stopped what he was doing and shivered as the ice collected onto his body.
"Just stop it.."
Suddenly, there was a black blade flying through the air. It hissed through the air and embedded it self into the wall in front of them. The two men turned slowly to see a dark figure standing on the top of the building behind them. In an instant, the black shadow of a creature leaped off the structure and plummeted to the earth. It seemed to lay on the ground, completely spread out before rising to reveal a tall human form.
Eis swallowed hard as he looked into the white coverings over the being's eyes. This was what he heard so much about, this was the protector of Gotham City. This was the Batman.
The energy vampire next to him clinched his jaw shut, trying his best not to give away any sign of emotion but his eyes did that for him. His eyes were wide and worried. He could feel his heart beat speed up and his hands shook a bit. He clinched his hand tightly to stop the tremors; only to have a large glowing sword to appear.
"Scheiße.."
After staring down the two men in front of him, the Dark Knight moved, closing an 8 foot gap in a blink of an eye. He pushed Parasit against the wall before tossing him over his shoulder and over the taxi. As the man flew in the air, Batman turned his attention to the other man. He made a sudden movement which caused Eis to stumble backwards.
Till looked up at Batman. He could see him reaching
for something in his belt. He did not know whether it was handcuffs
or a weapon but he did not want to wait to find out.
"Batman!
Stop! Bitte! This man tried to rob us, we have done nothing
wrong!"
Batman stopped and looked into the man's eyes. Eis felt like he was being watched by a mixture of a knight and a demon. Completely sure, the Knight put away his hand cuffs and pulled his arms back to his body. His cape draped over him and covered his body completely.
Eis slowly stood, he could hear Parasit slowly standing as well. Parasit made his way slowly to his friend's side. Any other man he would beat down and attempt to kill but this was not a man that could be easily defeated. The dark blade wielder knew that he would be nothing to Batman. The cab driver stayed where he was; fearing for his life. He just watched the three in front of him.
The Dark Knight stared at Eis, awaiting his explanation. Till began to tell Batman the whole story. He told him about their friends and the reason why they had come here. Batman listened to everything. All the while, watching the two very closely, making sure that they were telling the truth. "So you see sir.. that is why we need help.."
Suddenly Batman's head turned and he looked over his shoulder, the cab driver had made a run for it. One quick movement by the Knight brought the man down. He threw two bolas around him, one around his torso, the other at his legs.
"Well," started Batman in a gruff voice, "I can't help you.. the Joker is back in town and the Outsiders are on a mission."
"Then what about the Justice League?" asked Eis.
Batman just looked at him.. "That is not a big enough problem for the Justice League."
Till sighed heavily and dropped his head and shoulders.
"But.. I do know someone that can help you."
Eis's, with hope in his eyes, brought his gaze right back to Batman.
"The Titans.. They are the perfect team for
the job."
"And what if the punks say no?" interjected Parasit.
"Then you show them my.. card…" Batman took the Bat-a-rang from the wall and threw it at the feet of the two men. "How do you expect to get to their city?"
"Train" they answered at the same time.
"Then I'll make sure they get the message in a couple of days as well.." the Dark Knight drew his grappling gun from his belt and aimed it up at a building.
"Wait! You're not going to give us any other help than that?"
"…No" And with that, Batman fired his hook and in a instant, he was out of sight.
Parasit sighed greatly. "Well that is just great! He didn't give us anything!"
"Yes.. he did.." Eis picked the Bat-a-rang off the ground and stuck it in his backpack before throwing it over his shoulder. "Let's go.."
Parasit grunted in frustration and picked up his back pack before following his friend. Unbeknownst to them, they were still being watched. Batman had heard a report of a man at the airport that matched a description of someone he was looking for. He had to track a certain pale skinned clown but he could send Robin to the Titans. Raven could heal the rest of his injuries and he could use some time in the gym to build his muscle mass back up.
Touching where his ear was, the Knight opened up his communication channel with his information expert.
"Oracle.."
A female voice came over the ear piece. "Yeah Batman?"
"I need you to run a check on this two." Batman began to send the former Batgirl the video his cowl took of the encounter he had with the two men.
"You got it. Talk to you later Bru-" Batman cut the signal.
The knight pressed a button on his belt and readied himself. In a moment, the thunderous roar of an engine came from the street. Without hesitation, the man leaped off the building and fell into the vehicle awaiting him, the Batmobile. Turning on a screen in the car, Batman spoke a simple command. "Robin"
In an instant, Tim Drake's unmasked face came on the screen. "Yeah Batman?"
"Pack your things, you're heading back to the Tower."
Any sensible person would protest about their broken bones, but the children of the Bat knew to just obey their 'Father.' "Alright. That all?"
"Prepare for a mission. Batman out." The screen with blank and Batman continued to drive across
town. The Dark Knight kept pondered where the Clown Prince of Crime was and what he was up to. Then, as quickly as it went off, the screen came back on.
"Batman."
"Oracle..."
"I have some info for you and boy are you gonna be surprise about that one guy Bruce!"
--
After spending yet more of HIS money, Parasite followed Eis to their seats on the train. It had cost them quite a bit of money but at least they would not be as easy to track on the railways. Sitting down, full of feelings left over from the encounter with the Knight of Gotham, the blade wielder looked at his friend.
"So.. think these kids can help?"
"…ja… I do." He did not sound one bit convincing.
The train began to roll, blowing its horn. More time to be spent traveling, more time to do nothing but think. Thoughts that no one wanted to remember about things they could never forget. The scenery outside of the windows slowly began to change after an hour from the city to the open country.
"Are you going to go asleep again?" asked Parasit.
"Hmm? No. I've slept enough. ..why?" Till raised an eyebrow.
"No reason…. You Schwulah" The mohawked man put on his earphones and stared off into nothing.
Pushing a feeling down, Eis peered back out the window. He wondered if this journey would ever end, if he would see Gloria again, if he could finally feel safe once more, if Parasit could turn up his music any friggen louder, and if the Titans were as good as Batman thought they were for the job. So many questions ran through his mind but very few answers could be processed. "Just have to wait and see.."
--
A lone wolf sniffed the ground, searching for his prey. Scars of different sizes where on his body and face and his fur was a dirty white. He sniffed the ground once more before slowly moving his bones and muscles. He slowly stood up on two legs, a white antique looking coat fell to his ankles. The man scratched his beard with his claws of fingernails and thought for a moment before his concentration was broken by a small ringing. He sighed heavily and drew a small communicator from his pants pocket.
"Ja?"
"Tier. Welcome to Amerika you dirty bastard" the voice was female and filled with an unnerving humor.
"Thank you Spazz.. you freaky bitch" he smiled, this was how they were. Their insults were just
friendly exchanges from one to the other.
"Do you know where you are?"
"Ja."
"Do you require any assistance?"
"Nien.. I found some people that knows the area pretty well."
"Well then, I shall see you whenever I see you dog breath. Spazz out"
Tier pocketed his communicator once more and turned to the people helping him. "Shall we go?"
"When-nevah you're ready wolfie," the voice was from a woman clad in red and black, her face was painted pure white with dark red lips and a small black mask concealed her eyes. She was leaning against a rather nice looking dark purple car, a giant chuffer hat over the jester hat she was already wearing.
After getting inside the car, Tier looked in the mirror above him to the backseat. There was a thin man with a pale face and a large smile. Two laughing hyenas sat on either side of him, they seemed to have just been fed and were laughing softly. "So.. you know quite a bit about," He looked at the sign they were passing, "Gotham?"
"Yeah.. you could say I have.. quite.. a history here" He chuckled.
"Isn't this where Batman lives?"
"For the moment.. But you can always hope for change…haha..hehehehahahahahahHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!" The man burst into an insane laughter. Tier was surprised but for some reason he could not help but chuckle a little as the man's female companion laughed as well.
--
Tell me what you think.
