Time for the newest chapter
Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics
David was relaxing at home, he was doing some stuff in one of his puzzle books while watching TV.
"Well Angelo, today is a great day, there hasn't been a single crime in a week" said David
"I guess the criminals are scared of Red Ryder" said Angelo
"Hey wait, look" said David, pointing to the TV
A news report interrupted the show that David was watching
==News Report==
"Just hours ago, a plane leaving the Ambrose City airport crashed on it's was out of the country, the only casualty was Dr. Jacob Crow, a high ranking scientist in Ambrose City, most known for his research on Human Fear, Jacob Crow was a well loved man in Ambrose City and I know that he will be missed" said the news reporter
==End of News Report==
"Oh no, as I recall, Jacob was a close friend of your father" said Angelo
"Yeah, Jacob was a great guy, he was like an uncle to me" said David
==That Night==
Red Ryder was in the Ryder-Wing, he was scouting the city looking for any criminal activity, so far nothing, suddenly, he received a communication from the commissioner.
"Commissioner, what seems to be the problem?" asked Ryder
"Red Ryder, we need you at Rollins Asylum" said Francis
"I'm on my way" said Ryder
Ryder flew the Wing to Rollins Asylum, when he arrived, he entered, he searched the asylum for Francis until he found him on the 2nd floor.
"Commissioner" said Ryder
"Red Ryder, glad to see you could make it" said Francis
"What seems to be the trouble?" asked Ryder
"Well, it's some of the inmates, over the past number of weeks, some of them have appeared to act scared of everything they see" said Francis
"That's it?" asked Ryder
"Well, at one moment they seem fearless, they could break you in half, next moment they act like everything around them could kill them" said Francis
"That actually does seem odd, I'll check it out" said Ryder
Ryder flew to Rollin's Asylum, when he arrived, he spoke to the commissioner, who handed him a file on the case.
"Over the last few weeks, tonnes of inmates have went to sleep acting like their normal selves, but the next morning, they seem scared of everything, like the smallest thing could kill them, we have no leads" said the commissioner
"Luckily on the way over here, I thought of an idea, maybe one of the other inmates saw something" said Ryder
"Not the worst idea" said Francis
==Later==
Francis was sitting in his office, Ryder stood in the corner. Officers wheeled in the person that they decided to interview on a dolly, it was none other than Ryder's first ever enemy, the serial killer, Vance Roland, for safety precautions, Roland was tied to the dolly, officers placed him in a straight jacket and he was wearing a muzzle.
"Vance Roland, long time no see" said Ryder
"Nice to see you too Ryder, it's been a while" said Roland
"Listen Vance, we need to ask you, have you seen anything regarding the strange events involving the criminals over the past number of weeks?" asked Francis
"Funny you should mention that, because I have seen something" said Vance
"What have you seen?" asked Ryder
"Now, now, my words are not free, you scratch my back and I scratch yours" said Roland
"Vance, we are not releasing you from the asylum" said Francis
"Don't jump to conclusions commissioner, that wasn't what I was going to say, I have 2 small requests, I know 2 things, each time you agree to a request, I tell you something I know, does that seem fair?" asked Roland
"Very well" said Ryder
"First request, I want to be transferred to a new cell, in my current one, there's no one to talk to, I would like a cell in a more public section of the asylum, so I can chat with other inmates" said Vance
"Seems fair enough, alright, we agree to that Roland, so what do you know?" asked Francis
"In my current cell, I have noticed a shadowy figure passing by every night at 10PM, then, the same figure returns at Midnight, when the figure arrives at 10PM, there is a green mist coming off of them, but when they return at midnight, it's gone" said Roland
"Alright, what's your second demand?" asked Ryder
"My trophies, my collection..." said Roland
"You mean the thumbs" said Francis
"Yes, the thumbs that I have taken from the zombies, I want my collection back, I want my thumbs back in my possession" said Roland
"That's crazy, you're not getting the thumbs back" said Francis
"You've got a deal Roland" said Ryder
"What?" asked Francis
"Roland, you can have the thumbs back, provided you don't try anything with them" said Ryder
"Very well" said Roland
"What else do you know?" asked Ryder
"The shadowy figure, I always notice it coming from the 5th floor" said Roland
"The 5th floor?" asked Francis
"Yes, exactly" said Roland
"Thanks Vance, I think we have enough, officers, take him back, Roland, you can expect to get your new cell soon" said Ryder
The officers wheeled Roland out of Francis' office.
"Ryder, are you sure about giving that murderer back his thumbs?" asked Francis
"Why not? What's he going to do with them?" asked Ryder
Ryder left the office and went to the fifth floor, he took a file with him, when he noticed something, the first person affected by the series of events' initials were AA, the person after that's initials were AB, then AC, AD, AE etc.
"Huh, I guess that must be the culprit's method of selecting their victims" said Ryder
Ryder walked through the floor, all the criminals that had been affected by the series of events were being kept in a sort of storage cell behind a pane of bullet proof glass.
"So these are the people that have been targeted by this" said Ryder
At that second, one of the criminals jumped out at Ryder, but couldn't get past the glass.
"Get me out of here!" begged the criminal
==Later==
Ryder returned to the Commissioner's office, he needed to tell him what he found out.
"Red Ryder, have you discovered who's behind this?" asked Francis
"Not yet, but I know how to catch him, as it turns out, the culprit selects their targets in alphabetical order of their initials, first was AA, all the way to ZZ" said Ryder
"Nice one Ryder, so we figure out who the culprit is after next and catch them when they try" said Francis
"Exactly, but who is next?" asked Ryder
"Well, the last person who was affected was Damien Derek" said Francis
"So the next target must be someone who's initials are DE" said Ryder
"I think I know who, a bank robber called Dash Elliot, he's on the 3rd floor" said Francis
"So tonight, we stake out his cell, we wait for the culprit, and when they strike, so do we!" said Ryder
==That Night==
Officers were keeping guard of Dash Elliot's cell, Ryder was inspecting the area from the ceiling, if he had looked closer, he would have noticed a shadowy figure walk past the door to the area.
Throughout the whole night, the culprit doesn't strike.
==The Next Morning==
The next morning, the culprit still hadn't struck.
"Well Ryder, so much for that" said Francis
Another officer approached the commissioner.
"Commissioner, another victim of the strange events has just been found" said the officer
Francis and Ryder went to the fifth floor to see another inmate be taken to the cell where all the other affected inmates had been taken.
"What was his name?" asked Ryder
"Daniel Eddie, he's a serial rapist" said Francis
"Initials DE, the culprit must have anticipated out plan and targeted someone else" said Ryder
"Well, we're going to leave you to this, let us know when you have a plan" said Francis
Francis and the other officers left, leaving Ryder alone with the inmates behind the glass, Ryder looked around the area and noticed a shadow.
"What's that?" asked Ryder
Ryder followed the shadow, until he found himself at a dead end. Ryder punched the wall in frustration, and noticed a peculiar sound, as if the wall was hollow.
"What's this?" asked Ryder
Ryder took a few steps back and grabbed his grappling hook, before firing it at the wall, 3 claws shot from the launcher and Ryder pulled back, completely pulling the wall off, revealing a secret tunnel.
"Interesting" said Ryder
Ryder snuck through the tunnel, on the walls were the words 'Fear', 'Scream', 'Terror', 'Fright' and 'Scare' all written in what appeared to be blood. Ryder reached the end of the tunnel and found himself in a small area, he noticed the commissioner through a chain-link panel near where he was standing.
"Commissioner?" asked Ryder
Without warning, something snuck up behind Francis and grabbed him before dragging him away.
"Oh no" said Ryder
Ryder noticed a ventilation duct and snuck through it, when he reached the end, he noticed the commissioner sitting in a hallway, unconscious, or worse.
"Commissioner? Are you okay?" asked Ryder
Ryder checked the commissioner's pulse, but there was none, he was dead.
"No, this can't be" said Ryder
Ryder closed the commissioner's eyes, when he noticed a shadow across the hallway. He tried to contact Angelo.
"Angelo, the commissioner's been murdered, whoever's behind this, they just made it personal" said Ryder
"We're sorry, the number you reached is unavailable, please check and try again later" said a voice on Ryder's communicator
"That's odd" said Ryder
Ryder walked through the hallway, following the shadow. When he reached the corner, something weird started to happen, it was like the corridor has turned slightly, also, another shadow appeared at the end of the corridor. Ryder approached the shadow's location, finding himself facing a double door, he opened it up and found himself inside what appeared to be a morgue.
"What's going on?" asked Ryder
"Fear!" said a creepy echoed voice
"Who's there?" asked Ryder
"Get Out!" said the echo
Ryder didn't listen, he searched the morgue, but found nothing, suddenly, he heard something on the other side of the door he came in from, being cautious, he approached the door, before slowly opening it, walking through the door he found himself in the same morgue, like he hadn't left.
"What's going on?" asked Ryder
Ryder noticed a difference in the morgue this time, there were 3 body bags on carts in the middle of the room.
"This is getting creepy" said Ryder
Ryder approached the 3 body bags, he unzipped the first one and inside was the body of David Young's father, Edward.
"Dad?" asked Ryder
"Why son? Why would you let this happen?" asked Edward, in a creepy voice
Ryder approached the second body bag and opened it, revealing David's mother, Lauren.
"Mom?" asked Ryder
"Help us, Dave! Don't let us die!" said Lauren, in a creepy voice
Suddenly, the bodies of both David's parent's disappeared, Ryder looked at the final body bag.
"If my father was in the first bag and my mother was in the second, then who's in here?" asked Ryder
Ryder slowly unzipped the body bag, suddenly, a creepy man wearing a burlap sack over his face jumped out at Ryder, his eyes glowed orange and a puff of smoke was puffed in Ryder's face. When Ryder regained his composure, the body was gone, he turned around and was creeped out by what he saw, the wall of the morgue was gone and several platforms made from pieces of the morgue were hovering over some sort of tornado.
"What is going on?" asked Ryder
Ryder approached the scene, jumping from platform to platform, when he was close enough to the centre of the tornado, 4 blades wrapped around the wall next to Ryder like fingers while a scary laugh could be heard, Ryder peeked around the corner and finally got a good look at the adversary, a skinny man with grey skin dresses in brown tattered clothes with a hood, with a burlap sack over their face with a rope around their neck like a neck tie and a Freddy Krueger glove over their right hand, also, the enemy had grown to 50 feet in height.
"You cannot hide from me Ryder, YOU'RE IN MY WORLD NOW!" said the creepy enemy
Beams of light emerged from the enemy's eyes like flashlights, the creepy adversary started slowly spinning in place. While the enemy was rotating, Ryder started moving from platform to platform, making sure to stay hidden and keep out of sight, later, Ryder noticed a stage light on a far away platform and got an idea.
"You cannot escape my gaze forever Ryder, you will surely die here" said the enemy
Ryder kept moving, staying hidden, during a flash of light, Ryder looked at himself, for a split second, he swore he looked like the enemy that was looking for him, but just as quickly, he changed back. Ryder moved forward, and faced a giant wall, it was structurally weak, Ryder sprayed his explosive slime on the wall and quickly hid before detonating it, the sound of the explosion alerted the enemy and he looked towards the sight of the explosion, he searched behind the walls but couldn't find Ryder, as Ryder had went back before detonating and was hiding behind a different wall, when the enemy looked away, Ryder made a run for it.
"Where are you little Red?" asked the enemy
Ryder continued to run, he reached the stage light and aimed it towards the giant enemy, the brightness of the light caused the enemy in the middle to explode like a vampire to the sun. The explosion caused a bright flash of light that blinded Ryder for a split second, but when his sight returned, he found himself back in the morgue, which was back to normal, also, the figure that Ryder fought in that weird dimension was laying on the floor, but quickly got back to their feet.
"Who are you?" asked Ryder
"I am what every human fears when they sleep, I am the terror of Ambrose City, I am your worst nightmare, I AM NIGHTMARE" said the figure
Nightmare grabbed something from a pouch that he was carrying and threw it at Ryder, causing it to explode in a big puff of smoke.
"Damn smoke bomb" said Ryder
When the smoke cleared, Ryder noticed that Nightmare had disappeared. Ryder exited the morgue and searched for him, but he was gone. Ryder went back through the hallway, he saw the spot where he found the commissioner's corpse, but this time found a normal police officer.
"It wasn't the commissioner? Of course, the second morgue, the corpses of my parents, the creepy dimension and the fake commissioner, they were all illusions created by Nightmare, but how is he doing this? And more importantly, WHY is he doing this?" asked Ryder
Sorry for the wait, I hope you people enjoyed.
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