Authors Note:
First thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy this. This idea has been kicking around in my head for sometime blame my brother for letting me borrow his 24 season's one through three box sets.
Let me explain the setting for this story first:
For Batman fans: this is the Batman from the Batman: Begins movieverse. I chose to use this one because of real world feel of the movie. For those who haven't seen it, shame on you. It is set five years after the end of the movie and time has progressed so he's had a lot more experience and encounters. Plus I've added movieverse versions of comic characters. Also I think Christian Bale is a good real world type of Batman.
For 24 fans: this takes place between seasons two and three, approximately six weeks after President Palmer's poisoning, long before Jack's deep cover mission against the Salazar cartel. We get to see some of the relationship between him and Kate Warner. Chase hasn't been assigned to Jack yet and Kim is in training.
Overall view: In this blended world, superheroes are real but they are just two notches above alien abductions in terms of what people believe. There are sightings but for the most part they are relegated to tabloids. Costumed villains are the same way. Most try to stay off the radar to avoid the undue attention. The world of Superheroes and villains exist beneath our own kinda like the war against vampires in the movie Blade.
Now let's get on with the story shall we. Again I hope you strap in and enjoy the ride.
Batman: Hard Days Night
10:00:00 pm
Captain Emil Roberts yawned deeply as he gazed out the cockpit window. It was a wall of blackness with no defining line between the sky and the Pacific Ocean below. He casually glanced at his instrument panel to confirm his position. Sure enough it read a cruising altitude of thirty-five thousand feet. He stifled another yawn and checked his air speed indicator; four hundred miles per hour, just as he thought.
"You want me to take over captain?" Johnny Davidson asked. Captain Roberts was one of the best pilots with Trans Global Airlines but he was getting a bit long in the tooth.
Emil turned to his dark skinned copilot.
"We'll be near the coast soon." He said fending off another yawn. "I can hold out till LAX, besides these new Airbuses practically fly themselves."
"Then I'll sit back and enjoy the ride." He replied with a smile. The old man had spoken and that was that.
"So how'd you do with that French chick-e-do I saw you with yesterday?" Captain Roberts asked with a grin. The bright lights of Los Angeles appeared like pin pricks on the horizon.
"You know the French." Davidson said with a smile. "They're a very passionate people. But it's impolite to kiss and tell."
"In other words, you struck out." He said with a laugh.
"Like Casey at the bat." He confessed with a smirk.
"Don't feel bad I …"
The plane shuttered violently then stopped
"What was that?" Captain Robert's asked aloud.
"Turbulence, don't tell me you're getting spooked in your old age."
"Hey, watch it or I'll report you the AARP." He said. "I might be a member yet but…"
The cockpit went black
"What the hell…" Davidson yelled
"Go back there and get Tompkins's ass up here." Captain Robert's ordered franticly flipping switches. "How long does it take to take a dump any way?"
Davidson made the Captain's words action as he raced back to the private toilet in the cockpit area. He felt the plane pitch forward under his feet. This was definitely a situation that called for the flight engineer.
"Tompkins, Tompkins." Davidson yelled as he banged on the lavatory door. "Tompkins zip it up we need you at your station."
"I've been trying." He replied with frustration. "The stupid door won't open."
Davidson tried the handle from the outside and it wouldn't budge.
"It's stuck."
"Thank you for that stunning observation, Mr. Wizard." Tompkins retorted.
Davidson's reply was lost as the plane tilted into a full nose dive. Captain Roberts fought valiantly…
Toby Watson held his wife's hand as the airliner dipped. A honeymoon to France seemed like a good idea at the time but now…
"What's wrong?" Merrill asked with eyes closed in fright. "Is it terrorist, is it a bomb, are we going down, are we going to die?"
He wasn't sure which question to answer first.
"I don't know." He replied stoically. "But what ever happens I love you…"
A black F-22 fighter with a shadow outline of bat across the body and wings followed less than a quarter mile behind the Airbus 460. Its pilot thought it frugal to follow in the jumbo jets slipstream, letting it pull him along to save a few pounds of fuel. The sophisticated electronic counter measures of his fighter assured that those on board would never know he was there. Now, however, discovery was the least of his problems.
All systems were dead and the engines were silent. What could cause a system wide failure in a jet as advanced as the Batwing? His mind raced at the possibilities. Then he took a deep breath to calm himself. Theories could wait till he was out of mortal danger. The Batwing couldn't be saved, the controls weren't responding. He'd have to bail out. He looked at the stars then at the horizon, he was still a little over twenty miles out by his estimation.
He clenched his teeth then hit the eject button and braced for acceleration but nothing happened. He frowned then opened the manual cockpit control panel to his right; he'd have to do it the old fashioned way. He tried to turn the small metal crank while in the back of his mind counting off the seconds till he reached terminal velocity. The crank wouldn't move. It was stuck. He was stuck. He noticed small metallic beads where the crank shaft met the body of the jet.
"Welds?" He thought as he retrieved some plastic explosive from his utility belt. He rolled the soft, box shaped clay in between his black gloved hands quickly until it looked like a thin, two foot long snake. Then he pressed it into the front seam of the cockpit window.
"This is going to be nasty." He thought as he covered his face with his cape and hit the detonator on his belt.
The explosion of the Airbus 460 blossomed beneath Batman illuminating him against the blue black sky. The cold air of night rushed against his face as he looked up at his parachute. He counted the panels to see how many were present. He had fifteen out of thirty. Half should get down with out too much injury. Then he turned his focus to his landing zone.
It was a mess of fire and debris as jet fuel blazed on the surface. He pulled a collapsible, cigar sized, cylinder from his belt. The device was called a Life Sign Indicator; he'd managed to get one before Wayne Tech put them on the market.
The landscape appeared black when he put it to his eye. What he was searching for were faint pink to vibrant red dots. The brighter the color the more vital signs the person displayed. All he saw was a sea of black. He sighed inside, all those people gone.
"Not acceptable." He thought. "This was no natural occurrence. Someone was responsible for this and they are going to regret it."
His attention returned once again to his own plight. He couldn't land in the inferno below. He'd have to chance releasing the chute and activating his cape glider. But he could see his cape had been torn in the improvised ejection and it was less forgiving than the parachute. If he was going to use it, he'd have to decide quickly while he still had enough up draft to catch.
He mentally calculated the odds but went with his gut feeling and pressed the button on his harness. To his relief his cape went ridged and soared on the rising hot air from the crash. In minutes he was beyond the debris field and headed toward Los Angeles.
He held her close enjoying the scent of her skin. Blonde locks of her hair swept across his face. Her soft hands interlaced with his. Her voice was soothing in the darkness. He was happy. But he couldn't be. He shouldn't be. It felt so wrong to feel this much peace. It was wrong to love her when she wasn't Terri, wasn't his wife. He pulled away like she was composed of acid.
"What is it Jack." Kate asked wide eyed. "Why did you stop?"
"I…I…" He stuttered watching the woman whom lay in bed across from him. She was beautiful. A sight many men would desire. How many times had they started this? How long could she stand being unfulfilled?
The incessant ringing of the phone saved him from answering.
"Jack Bauer." He said with the receiver to his ear.
"Jack, this is Tony." The voice replied. "We've got a situation. You need to get in here, now."
"I'm on my way." He said before hanging up the phone.
"What is it, Jack?" she asked as he got out the bed.
"Tony didn't say." He replied putting on his clothes. He knew the question wasn't about the phone call but it numbed the pain to pretend. "He just said it was urgent. I'll let you know if you and your father should leave L.A."
"Jack." She pleaded draping the covers over her.
"Kate, I'm sorry."
Marten and Tina kissed passionately as the waves lapped against their bodies. Their friends were farther up the beach celebrating. It was Prom night and the entire senior class at Boyar High School decided to do an after hours beach party. It was Marten's idea to get away for some "make out time" but now he wanted more than heavy petting. He wanted to go all the way. Tina didn't know if she was ready for that kind of commitment especially when they would be heading their separate ways after the summer.
"I think we should stop." Tina whispered between kisses. "We're going too far."
"I've got protection." Marten said as he caressed her. "Don't sweat it."
"I don't want to." She declared. "I want to be a virgin when I get married."
Marten laughed as he tried to unbutton her shorts.
"Stop it." she yelped. "I mean it."
"I know you want to as much as I do." He decried. "Stop acting like a little girl."
Then he climbed on top of her and pinned her wrists to the sand. She started to cry. This wasn't how her first time was supposed to be.
"See, this won't hurt a bit…" Marten's reassuring speech was cut short by a black gloved hand around the back of his neck. The next thing he knew he was yanked off of Tina and thrown backward into the sand.
Before he could react he was snatched up by his arm and punched in the face. His shoulder ached as it was wrenched out of socket and he spit blood and broken teeth onto the sand.
Batman was in a bitterer mood than normal. His glider lost lift and he had to swim the last mile to shore. He was almost thankful to find a potential rapist to vent on.
"Never treat a woman like that again." Batman barked as he weighted his words with a kick to the chest. Then he turned his eyes toward the girl.
"Are you alright?" He asked. His voice was gruff, cold and frightened her.
"Y…yes." Tina replied. She looked at her dark savior. He was clothed in black body armor with a pointed eared cowl and black scalloped cape. His blue eyes told her he was human but he radiated an air of fear like something otherworldly.
"Relax; I'm not going to hurt you. Can you walk?" He said extending a hand to her.
"Yes, sir." She stammered.
"Did you two come here alone?"
"No, there's a bunch of us down the beach."
"Then go." He ordered.
"What about Marten?" She asked as she peered back at her prone body of her boyfriend.
"Don't worry about him." He said. "A few aspirin and he'll be fine."
She hugged her self and started the trek back to the beach party. Batman looked down at his right gauntlet.
"Time." He said and the blackened display lit up. It read: 10:40:03 a.m.
Jack pulled his black Chevy Blazer into the parking lot of the C.T.U., the counter terrorist Unit of the CIA. He gave himself the once over in the review mirror. He'd just been cleared back to duty after six week leave. It wouldn't do to look manic on the first day back. He tucked his blue tee shirt into his jeans, smoothed back his brown hair, and retied his shoes.
No less then ten cameras tracked his walk from the parking lot to the innards of C.T.U. There's a certain feeling that comes with knowing you're under constant surveillance. It was a necessary evil since organization had been compromised by one of its own. He past the final guard and enter the heart of CTU. Tony Almada was there waiting for him.
"Welcome back, Jack." Tony said shaking his hand. "You look rested."
"Thanks." Jack said taking in the redesign of the place since the bombing. "Everything looks great."
"We've been busy since you went on vacation. I'll have somebody show you to your office later right now Chappell will bring you up to speed in the briefing room." Tony replied.
"Lead the way." Jack replied.
When they got to the glass walled room two other people were sitting around a large oval conference table.
Jack nodded his hellos and took his seat.
"Glad you could join us, Jack." Ryan Chappell said sarcastically as the disturbance. Then he returned his attention to the drop down viewing screen at the end of the room. "As I was saying, an Airbus460 went down tonight at approximate ten fifteen of the coast of Los Angeles. We have reason to believe it was a terrorist act, as of right now no one has claimed responsibility. We have teams in route to investigate."
"What was the planes origin?" Jack asked.
"Paris, France." Ryan answered. "Jack, as soon as the field team reports back, I want you and your team processing that info. Until then you and Tony pool your resources, I want to know the son of a bitches responsible before they know themselves."
"Alfred, I'm not coming home yet." Batman said as he glided across the night sky. "I need you to do some things for me. First, have Fox send his nephew's deep sea salvage team to the coordinates I'm sending you, I need the jet recovered."
"I take you had a bit of an accident, then." Alfred inquired.
"No, accidents just happen, this was deliberate." Batman explained. "I got out alive but the people on the airliner I was trailing did not."
"Good Lord, what happened?"
"I'm afraid I don't have the time to explain." Batman said. "I need you make reservations for Bruce at the Ritz-Carlton and have a full wardrobe delivered as well. Has the new Tumbler been finished?"
"Yes, Lucious called this morning and said he even finished the improvements you ordered."
"Excellent. Have him place a fresh suit in the trunk then load it onto to the suborbital delivery system that Wayne Tech has been testing. Have him call me when he's ready and I'll send him the landing coordinates."
"Is there anything else, sir?" Alfred said with a hint of sarcasm.
"No that'll be it, for now." Batman replied in an equal manner.
"What's that?" Jack asked looking over Tony's shoulder at the time lapsed satellite images of the airliner's path.
"What's what?" He asked.
"That black dot to the rear of the plane."
"I don't know, probably just atmospheric interference." He replied. "But let's see if we can get a cleared image. I'll have Kerri see what she can do."
The he pushed the call button on the phone sitting on his desk next to his computer.
"Kerri,"
"Yes, Tony." Her voice replied over the intercom.
"I'm sending you a sat photo of our plane before it went down." He explained. "There appears to be something trailing it or it could be interference, can you check it out either way?"
"No problem."
He coughed himself awake. Sweat beaded on his dark skin and soaked his bed. He sat up and his body ached with a constant burn. He wasn't a well man. He reached over to his night stand for his pills then poured himself a glass of water to take it with. He swallowed hard finishing the whole glass before the aching subsided. Then there was only the ever present pain of his right hand.
He flexed the unruly member. It was slightly stiff and calloused but what could he expect. It was ground zero in the attempt on his life. Attempt, no, when you're president they call it assassination. He'd been poisoned when he shook hands with an assassin. Thankfully, due to some timely intervention, the plot failed and those responsible were brought to justice.
"Mister President." A voice said as there were knocks on his door.
"Come in." President Palmer replied.
"Sir, you're needed in the command room." The Secret Service agent requested. "It's urgent."
'Very, well." He said putting on his robe over his blue and black striped silk pajamas.
He followed the agent down the hall and into the command room. He heard the announcement as he approached.
"By now you know that Flight 227 from Paris bound for Los Angeles International has been brought down. We are Next Nation and we have the ability to bring down any plane anywhere over United States airspace. Your president will be faxed our demands shortly and will have two hours from receipt to comply or another plane will be brought down."
President Palmer entered the room as his staff sat watching the red floating, Klan style hood on screen. He got a feeling in the pit of his stomach that he was in for another long day.
"By now you know that Flight 227 from Paris bound for Los Angeles International has been brought down. We are Next Nation and we have the ability to bring down any plane anywhere over United States Airspace."
The men and women of CTU stood looking at the display monitors stunned.
"Jack, Tony." Ryan called. "I've been called back to division. You two make sure you get this taken care of, now."
"We're on it." Tony said as Chappell left. "Alright everyone I want focus. I want to know everything about Next Nation and I want it yesterday."
With that everyone returned back to their stations.
"Ever heard of these guys, Jack?"
"No." Jack said shaking his head. "They've got to be pretty deep to commandeer the airwaves to make their announcement. I'll call President Palmer to see if he's got the demands yet."
"Good, we'll continue to work things from this end."
"Tony." Kerri called.
"Yeah." Tony answered.
"Can you come over here and take a look at this?" She asked staring intently at her computer screen.
"What is it?" He said as he walked to her.
"Looks like Jack, was right." She said as Tony leaned over her shoulder. "There was another plane trailing our, it was smaller, probably fighter sized, in the Airbus's jet stream."
"Did it shoot down the Airbus?"
"I don't see any exchange of fire but watch this." She said advance the time of the image forward. "It appears this plane went down too."
"Update the field team with this and see what you can get on this other plane." He said. "Run it against military and civilian flight logs, I want to know what it was doing there."
Batman stood on the balcony outside the master bedroom of the Ritz-Carlton presidential suite. He watched as bellhops loaded designer suits into the walk-in closet. When they were done he picked the lock and walked in. His first stop was the bathroom where he shed his waterlogged suit. Before he jumped in the shower he pulled an electrical cord from his utility belt and plugged in an outlet. Small heaters inside the suit would have it dried out in a couple minutes.
Bruce Wayne, the dark haired man in Batman, sighed deeply as the cascading warmth washed the salt water from his skin. Then his mind switched back to business. He began sifting through the events of the crash now that he was out of danger.
"Welds." He whispered recalling when he tried to use the manual crank. He let the thought play out in his head. Had the entire frame been fused? That would explain the frozen controls and the dead engines but that was impossible wasn't it? Then he thought of all the things he'd seen in the last five years as Batman. Impossible was a word he seriously considered removing from his vocabulary.
A chirping from his cowl disturbed his thoughts.
"What is it Alfred?" Bruce said holding Batman's face to his own.
"I think you should turn on the television, sir."
"What channel." He asked exiting the bathroom.
"I think any of them will suffice." He heard Alfred say as he pushed power on the remote. He clenched his jaw as he saw the floating red hood on screen.
"Your president will be faxed our commands shortly and will have two hours from receipt to comply or another plane will be brought down."
"Alfred, I've got to go." Bruce said suddenly. Then he called up another number in his cowl communicator.
"Clark Kent, speaking, how may I help you." The happy go lucky voice replied.
"Clark, its Bruce, have you seen the news?"
"I was on my way to see our friends; we were going to look into it."
"I'm already here out here, I'll deal with it." He said toweling off. "And tell that other organization too."
"Steve might not listen." Clark said. "He's possessive when it comes to homeland security."
"Then tell him and them to stay out of my way." He ordered getting dressed as Batman once again
"I'll be sure to pass that along." He said with amusement in his voice.
"Good." Batman said leaping off the balcony.
10:59:58
10:59:59
11:00:00