Chapter 22 - "House Call"

"Dear sister. You never thought you'd see me again, did you?"

Hendrick's voice cut Annalise like ice. The words were cold, emotionless, heartless—the same as they were when she had to face him. When she had to lock him away in abandonment.

Her head was swimming. It ached and throbbed with pain. Slowly, she fluttered her eyes open and took in the atmosphere around her.

No, not atmosphere . . . just a dark abyss. Space without the stars. It was just pure black, with no other offsetting colors. She seemed as if she was at the end of time itself, with nothing ahead and nothing behind.

There was one thing, actually—him. Hendrick. He was standing—or was it floating?—before her, a figure contrasting the dark. He was clad in olive green attire, the kind of clothes he always favored when they were on good terms. He must still have some ties to the old Hendrick.

"Hendrick," Annalise muttered, her voice little above a whisper. "What—where are you?"

"Do you not remember the place you locked me in? The Icelandic castle, fortified with ranks of soldiers to protect me and keep me locked away in peace?"

Annalise's mouth hung agape. Who could have broken in and freed him, cut through the guards?

"Your little band of guardians were rather pathetic, dear Annalise." A wicked smile cut across his handsome face. "They're taken care of. Not much of a threat, really. You see, keeping me locked away has not dampened my skills with a sword—or with magic."

Annalise ignored his words—she knew it was Hendrick's way of boasting of his feats. He did it playfully when they were younger, but once Abolon's spirit took over, it was not playful. Not in the least. "How did you get free? Who—"

"The 'who' and 'why' is of no importance, dear sister," Hendrick continued, his voice suddenly icy again. "My benefactor and ally has enlisted me in a cause that is going to let me achieve my full potential and not be held back in any way by a troublesome meddler's high-minded ideals and morals.

"You felt I was too rough or, daresay, evil, killing to stay alive." His grin was now a shell, funneling out pure evil from within. This was not Annalise's brother—she knew that. What little bit of soul that was still there was shrouded behind Abolon's evil spirit. "My ally does not see things in the same narrow-minded light as you."

His eyes narrowed. "He knows what you're up to, Annalise. And with me, he'll be able to strike true. Your pitiful little band may be enough to fight some gangsters and crooks—" he laughed "—but not us. Not even close.

With a last grin, he added, "We'll meet again, my dear sister. I guarantee that."

And then, he was gone.

"Annalise! Annalise!"

The yelling caused Annalise's eyes to flutter open again, but this time she saw the low, orange-hued lights of Gotham's skyline. She was no longer in disembodied.

"Annalise!" the voice called again. Slowly, she rose to her backside, and found she was on the sidewalk outside the GCPD complex. How long have I been out? she thought to herself.

She glanced up to see John jogging towards her. He quickly got down to one knee beside her. "What's wrong?"

"What?" Annalise asked, deciding to play off his concerns. "Nothing's wrong."

John arched an eyebrow. "Are you sure? Generally, most people don't lie around in the streets when they're feeling perfectly fine."

Annalise gave him a playful grin as she shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not like most people," she said as she started to get to her feet. John reached to her, and she took his hand in hers as he helped her up.

She started to stride for her motorcycle before John wrapped his hand around her bicep softly. "Hey—are you sure everything's all right? You don't look well."

Annalise nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. I'm perfectly fine. I was just headed to meet the others at this house to handle a kidnapping call—"

John snorted, shaking his head. "I'm afraid you're a little late. Dante called Gordon when you didn't show, and he sent me here to look for you."

"Sent?" Annalise countered, glancing to the complex. "Couldn't they have gotten someone inside to check on me?"

A tinge of red touched John's cheeks, and he bit his lip. "Well . . . I offered."

"Aw," Annalise cooed jokingly. "My knight in," she started before glancing to his dirtied, soiled outfit, "not-so-shining armor."

John ruffled his long dark hair, shuffling uncomfortably on his feet. "Erm—what's the deal with this kidnapping?" he asked, hoping to change the subject.

Annalise decided she wouldn't press it. "Not sure. That's what we were going to figure out. Some woman said her daughter disappeared. That's pretty much all we know." She gestured to her bike. "Wanna head over and see what we can find out?"

Casually, John shrugged. "Sure. The group kind of dispersed. Renegade got a bit beat up and Gordon tried to get him to go to the ER to get checked out, but he kind of nosed out of it. He headed off to rest, I think. Emily went back to her place—seems that family problems rose up."

"Anything serious?"

"No," John said with a chuckle. "Unless taking care of a little kid is serious."

He and Annalise both laughed as Annalise slung a leg over the bike and John turned to his. As he started, though, Annalise glanced up and eyed him, bit her own lip, and then said, "John." He stopped and looked to her, and she motioned for him to come back.

"What's up?"

Annalise looked around nervously, as if she was going to tell him a secret and didn't want anyone around to eavesdrop. When she was sure no one was around, and she whispered, "Something actually did happen." She nodded to the cement. "To make me fall down, I mean."

John looked around, as if the cause was right there in plain sight. "What?" he asked.

Letting out a sharp sigh, Annalise muttered, "My brother."

"What about your brother?" The look on John's face was one of pure confusion.

Annalise pursed her lips before she finally said, "I guess I'd better go ahead and bring it up. I should've done that back when we all first met, but we haven't really had time to discuss things. And, well, I kind of felt like it was something I'd want to keep under wraps.

"You see, I'm five hundred years old."

John looked like he was the one who was about to wind up on the sidewalk. "F-five hundred?" he asked, clearly doubtful but not quite viewing it as an impossibility.

"Yes."

"Well, I can say you've aged well."

Annalise gave him a quick grin signifying a "thank you," but quickly continued. "It's all too much to get into right now, but my brother Hendrick and I were both subjected to a powerful spell when we were young—almost the age I appear now. He was able to keep from aging, and I had powers to help me control time. Hence why I am able to stop my own aging process.

"The mystic who did this to us—a man named Moras Abolon—tried to hunt us down, but we were able to defeat him. His spirit somehow festered within Hendrick, however, and it slowly ate away until Hendrick couldn't take it anymore and killed himself. That gave Abolon complete control. He then continued gain power until I had to fight Hendrick." She paused, the memories flooding her mind once more. "I was able to confine him into a pocket of time. He's been locked away ever since, in an Icelandic fortress.

"But just now I had some sort of vision, or a premonition. I could feel Hendrick, as if he was right next to me. Then I blacked out and woke up in some realm, where I saw him. And he told me that this new ally had freed him and they had defeated the guards at the castle."

She glanced up, her eyes searching John's. "He said that he and his new ally had no moral code, and that we would meet again. I think he's headed to Gotham."

John stood in silence, absorbing it all, as he stared into Annalise's eyes. The twin forests seemed to drill into him, searching him for some kind of answer or reasoning behind it all. "I—" he started before she cut him off.

"I know, I know. I'm delusional, right, for thinking that I'm five hundred years old and have magic powers and my brother has teamed up with some evil person to kill and dominate? That's what you're thinking, isn't it?"

"Actually," John started, giving her a comforting grin, "no. I was going to say that I believe you."

Annalise raised an eyebrow. "You do?"

John nodded. "Yes. You see, I'm actually over two hundred."

Now it was Annalise's turn to be stunned. "You are?"

John's grin only widened. "Sure am. My powers didn't come from any mystic, though—they come from a dragon deity named Kuaion. He gave me these ice powers that he bestows upon a subject every century. When I was a kid, though, this evil person named Ra's al Ghul came to my village and tried to coerce me into joining this collective with him. I refused, and when I fought back, I was frozen in ice."

Annalise chuckled. "Just like me, except I was only frozen in time. Two peas in a pod, huh?"

John shrugged. "Looks like it. Sorry to steal your thunder by being a couple hundred years old too."

"Eh, don't let it drag you down, kid. I'm still about twice your age."

"Kid?" John exclaimed. Annalise shot a wink at him, and John chuckled, shaking his head. "I'll remember that. When the opportunity comes to make a crack about you being an old-timer, I'll remember that."

"Sure thing, kid." Annalise grinned, clamping her helmet on her head as she revved up her bike. "Just try to keep up."

As she sped away, John hurried to his motorcycle and climbed on it. As he gunned the engine, he said aloud, "I hope this doesn't become a running joke."

Scarlet was sitting at the desk, on edge. Where was Alex? He hadn't reported back in since he had lost connection with her. For all she knew, he could be lying in a ditch somewhere bleeding, or worse.

Suddenly, she heard a rapping on the window. She spun around and saw him there, gripping onto the edge. She held back a chain of curses as she hurried over, sliding the window open. Alex crawled inside as Scarlet closed the window behind them.

"Where were you?!" she yelled. "I've been sitting here worried for like an hour! You didn't call me back or anything!"

"Shh!" Alex quickly said, placing a hand on each of Scarlet's shoulders. "Be quiet, or someone might hear you."

Scarlet huffed, clamping her lips together as she heatedly crossed her arms, her chest heaving with heavy breaths. She turned at an angle away from him. Alex groaned. "Please, not this again."

"What do you mean, 'Please, not this again'? You could've been dead for all I knew!"

Alex sighed as he removed the domino mask from his face. "I know, and I thought about that. But my radio was destroyed."

"I don't want to hear— What?" Scarlet started, slowly turning to him. Alex stripped the trench coat from his body as he fished around in one of the pockets, withdrawing the remnants of his radio.

"When the giant bat creature slammed me to the ground, the radio got jostled loose and he destroyed it. So I couldn't use it."

"Oh." Scarlet dribbled her fingers on her arm. "In that case . . . oh, Alex, I'm sorry."

She rushed to him and threw her arms around his neck, burying her face into his chest. "I shouldn't have yelled. I'm sorry, it's just that I get so on edge whenever you go out and do these things—I always fear the worst."

Alex slowly wrapped his arms around her back, rubbing it softly. "It's all right, Scar. Really."

She glanced up. "You sure?" she asked. Alex could see the tears forming in her eyes.

He gave her a warm smile. "I'm sure." It suddenly dawned on him how close he was to Scarlet right now. Her, pressed up against him in a hug, and staring up at him. His lip quivered as he slowly began to lean down, and Scarlet backed away quickly.

She let out a nervous laugh. "Your—your uniform is a mess, isn't it?" she managed to say.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Alex muttered, glancing to his outfit. It had a couple tears in it, and some splotches of blood. "I must've been—hey."

Scarlet glanced to him. "What?"

"This blood here—it's a different shade of red than mine." His eyes widened and he snapped his head up to look at Scarlet.

"The Bat's?" she said, vocalizing his suspicions.

He nodded. "I think so. Then that means we can get this to the GCPD's forensic labs and they can try to trace it, find it who—or what—this thing is."

Scarlet grinned. "The master detective."

Alex shrugged. "Hey—I learned from the best."

"What do you mean? Batman's only been around for, what, a year? You couldn't have possibly learned that much from him."

"Well," Alex started, "you've gotta start somewhere."

Emily sauntered into the back room of the hotel. Grace was standing there, garbed in a white-spotted black dress as she was placing a bowl before Jill and sputtering off commands. When she saw Emily, Grace's face—which looked as if she was in the mad rush of an uber-busy Black Friday—became much calmer and more repressed.

"Oh, Emily—am I glad to see you."

Emily grinned. "Glad I was able to break free. We had a bit of an . . . incident."

"Incident? What kind of incident?" Albert asked, entering from the lobby. He was fixing the collar to his white dress shirt. It was still quite a mess.

"Oh, nothing too important," Emily lied. "I'll tell you all about it when you get back. Where are you going, anyways?"

"Dinner with the Batsons," Grace answered, stepping to Albert. She swatted his hand away and he let it fall, huffing playfully. As he struck an indignant pose, she began to straighten out his collar. "Dear, you look like a mess."

"Well, haven't I always?"

Grace held her tongue and grinned at Albert. "As difficult as ever." She shot a glance over her shoulder. "Hard to believe he was even worse in his wild days."

"Wild days? I'm just in the prime of life," Albert said, giving a wink to Emily while Grace's back was turned.

"Oh, is that why you broke your leg on that motorcycle?" Grace asked, arching an eyebrow.

"That wasn't my fault."

"Don't say it's mine!" Grace exclaimed.

"It wasn't." He nodded to Emily. "It was Emily's."

"What?!"

"Oh, come now, Albert. Quit picking at Emily."

"Okay, then. It was Jill's fault."

Jill's eyes narrowed as she glanced up to her parents. "What's my fault, Daddy?" she asked, her fingers coated in cheeseball dust.

"Nothing, sweetie," Grace said as she shook her head. Emily fought to hold back the laugh that Albert was trying oh so hard to draw out. "Come on, we'd better hurry or we'll be late."

"Have fun," Emily called, stroking Jill's hair.

"Thanks," Grace replied as she reached for her purse. "There's some food in the fridge—you can fix whatever you and Jill want. We might be home a little late, so if it gets to Jill's bedtime, just put her to sleep."

"Will do."

They both went for the exit before Grace turned on her heel. "And if anything comes up—"

Emily chuckled. "I know, I know, don't hesitate to call. I'll remember."

Albert wrapped an arm around Grace's waist. "Come on honey, we'll be late if you keep giving out instructions."

She nodded and glanced back to Emily and Jill. "Love you guys. See you later."

"See you later. Love you too," Emily answered, while Jill yelled out, "Bye-bye Mommy! Bye-bye Daddy!" and waved ecstatically.

Once they had left, the door slammed shut and Emily crossed her arms. "So, Jill, what do you feel up to doing tonight?"

Jill shrugged her shoulders as she popped the last cheeseball into her mouth. "I dunno. Something fun. I don't feel sleepy at all!"

Emily rolled her eyes. It was the same thing every night. Within an hour of saying that Jill was already falling fast asleep. "Let's make up stories."

Emily shrugged. "If that's what you want to do."

John came to a stop behind Annalise. As they both got off their bikes, they saw Mia moving quickly towards them. Annalise quickly shot a glance to John. "Do you mind keeping the whole thing about Hendrick under wraps for a bit? I want to let them know myself—and in my own time."

John was a bit taken aback. "Wait? But why? I'd think Hendrick being loose would be something rather important."

"It is," Annalise began, "but I can't just throw it out there when there's no cause for alarm. I'll tell Gordon. Maybe he'll have an idea what to do about it."

John nodded. "Whatever you feel is best." Annalise gave him a thankful grin as Mia stopped near them.

"Where have you been? What happened?" Her voice was demanding and seemed to be a mesh of concern and stoic, grounded no-nonsense. "I thought you were right behind us."

"I was," Annalise began, searching for words, "but then I felt a little woozy." She gestured to John. "He stopped by and helped me regain myself."

Mia slowly nodded, flicking her eyes to John. "Oh. Okay. Just . . . glad your all right."

"So," John cut in, breaking the tension, "what's up?"

Mia thumbed to the house. It was a two-story building with tan paneling and burgundy shutters. It looked to be your average, everyday home. "This lady—Mira Jennings—said that her daughter Carrie, who's fifteen, was going to meet some friends at the mall. The friends called and she's a no-show."

"Does it seem . . . I don't know how to say it. Up our alley?" John asked.

"Not really. The girl just headed for the mall and never showed up. The mom's to death—she's adamant it's a kidnapping. She won't believe it's anything else."

"Did you ask if Carrie's the type who might bend the rules to have some fun? Maybe go hang out with some friends she wouldn't want her parents to know about? Boyfriend, something like that?" Annalise asked.

Mia shook her head. "No. Apparently Carrie's always been a model citizen. Never done anything too crazy or out there. Rebellion would be out of her MO."

"Kidnapping does rise up as a possibility in those circumstances," Annalise said. "But we can't paint ourselves into a corner. Where's Gordon?"

Mia gestured with her hand. "Inside, talking with the parents. The dad left work early to be with the mom. She's borderline hysterical."

Annalise glanced to John, then back to Mia. "Let's get in there."

Emily was right. Within an hour, Jill was asleep.

The "making stories" game was one Emily had done out of boredom once before. There was nothing really fun to do, so she and Jill would pick out people walking by and make up stories about their lives. Most involved some outrageous life, like that of a spy or something.

Really, it was fun for Emily only in times of boredom. But for Jill, it was as if she had found the best game on earth. She always wanted to do it. And it drove Emily crazy.

But now Jill was asleep, curled up in Emily's lap with her arms wrapped around Emily's torso and her head buried up into her chest. Emily didn't stir; she didn't want to disturb her.

She sat there, softly rubbing her head, when she heard a soft yet firm voice. "Excuse me."

She nearly jumped out of her skin. She glanced back and saw the young man who she had seen in the lobby a couple of days ago. How did I not notice him come close? She glanced down to Jill. Thankfully, she was still fast asleep.

"How . . . how can I help you?" Emily asked. She suddenly felt uncomfortable. She didn't quite know the time, but she felt as if it was getting rather late. Not generally the time customers are asking hotel staff questions. But, all the same, she had to be polite.

He gave her a grin, charismatic as the one from before. "My name's Eric Halstead. I've been staying here the past few days."

"Yes. I know."

Apparently, the awkwardness didn't seem to dampen his spirits. "I was just checking to see what exactly I needed to do to lengthen my stay here. I think I'll be staying on a few days more. Do I just give you the money or wait until your mom gets back? That was your mom, wasn't it?"

"Adopted, yes," Emily said slowly. She began to feel a tingling feeling. This needs to be over with quickly, or else . . .

Eric slowly nodded. "I got you." A few moments of silence passed before he added, "So . . . which is it?"

"What?"

"Do I pay you or wait for her?"

How did he know she was gone? "You can just wait for her."

He nodded again. "All right. I just wanted to check and make sure." He flashed another grin before giving something of a farewell salute. "Thanks."

He turned and strode off, and Emily nodded. "You're welcome." That was strange. As he started up the stairs, Emily stood up and held Jill snugly. "Time for bed," she muttered to herself before turning tail and moving quickly for the suite that she and the Langdons shared.

Once she entered, she locked the door behind her. After the encounter with Eric in the lobby, she felt a little unsettled. Besides, Albert and Grace had a key themselves. No one else needed entry back there.

She slowly carried Jill to her room. She began to stir, and Emily whispered, "It's okay, honey. I'll just put you in bed."

Jill began to coo softly in her sleep, and Emily grinned as she drew back the covers. She didn't turn on the room's lights—no sense in bothering Jill any more than she needed to. Slowly and softly, Emily settled her down into the bed and pulled the covers back. She then bent down and kissed her on the cheek before she turned and left the room.

Emily entered her own room and flicked on the light. She got onto her bed and rubbed Vivi for a bit before she booted up her computer. As she settled down, she heard something in the hallway. She began to sit up, a bit on edge, when she saw the knob begin to turn. Her eyes moved to the pillow on her bed, underneath which lied her stun gun. She slowly reached when the door finally opened, and Jill walked in.

"Jill!" Emily exclaimed, sighing. The six-year-old rubbed her eyes. "What're you doing?"

"I'm scared," Jill muttered, sounding very much so. "I think I had a nightmare."

Emily pattered the bed next to her. "You can stay in here with me if you want."

Jill nodded, but didn't move. Emily slowly got to her feet. "Jill—what's wrong?"

Jill began to shake as tears slowly rolled down her cheeks. "Aren't you going to go check? It was right there."

Emily let out a light chuckle. "Check what? What was right there?"

Jill sniffed and wiped her face. "The bat. The giant bat."

Emily froze, stiff as a board. And that's when she heard it. A low, guttural noise filling the air, coming from behind Jill, from the door, from the hallway . . . and from Jill's bedroom.

It was the Bat.

A/N: Hello everyone! Here's chapter 22. A bit of a cliffhanger ending, huh? Next chapter will see a showdown with the Bat. And don't worry, this isn't becoming a habit. Things will come to a head with him very soon, and, as you can see, there are other things to fill the team's time. Any thoughts on what might happen? Thank you all again for your support and for being faithful. As I've said before, feel free to PM me with any ideas, suggestions, questions, or whatever, just to shoot the breeze, and leave your thoughts on the chapter in a review. Until next time!