Dark Knights (Fan Fiction)

Earth Bound

Chapter 10-Earth Bound

Peter Sanders was a normal kid as he grew up in California. Apart from the fact that he couldn't remember anything before the age of ten, the age he was adopted into the Sanders family. He had a lot of friends and did well in school. His life was good. Then one day there was a car accident. On his way home from a friend's birthday party at the age of thirteen another car with a drunk driver had crashed into Peter's vehicle at an intersection. Peter Sanders was stuck between his seat and the one in front. His left leg crushed underneath. In his last known moments he stared out into a gaping crowd panicking at the fire burning on his overturned car. He watched as his parents died out in front of him. He saw people reach out to him, screaming, but all he heard was his heart beat drumming in his ears. Then, all of a sudden the ground beneath him began to quake. It crumbled around the car until there was nothing left to break from, and he fell. His scream echoed into nothing. The day after the car was fished out from the endless hole, as it was stuck in the crevice. His parents remained intact, but he did not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 "Have you figured out anything yet?" Sara asks as she observed trophies on display in Batman's cave.

"I can't determine a pattern from only you two."

"What about the girl Scarecrow tried to kill on the bridge?"

"Jessica Merchant. Nightwing kept tabs on her, but compared to the two of you she's living a very normal life. She's in high school, lives with her parents, an average student, and the attack on her doesn't seem to have affected her. She was probably just a diversion. But from what I know from Bobby is that he was born February sixth in Texas. His parents couldn't take care of him so they put him in an orphanage. This was where he grew up until he was adopted by a couple, the Smiths, but after that there were no records of him until he was eight where he was once again admitted into an orphanage In New York. I've looked up these 'Smiths', but found nothing. There's an eight year gap unaccounted for. Is it the same for you, Sara?"

"What do you mean?"

"Is there a large gap in your childhood you can't remember for some reason?"

"...No."

Batman felt awkward when Sara said nothing else, but remembered something he had completed as a side project. "I'm not going to force you, but there's a suit in the back vault over there," Batman jabs his thumb in the air at an open vault, "I thought it was about time we tested out your skills. See what you've learned this past month."

Suit? Sara wonders as she enters the vault. The room immediately lights up to reveal a mechanical armoured body suit made of sleek pitch black titanium, thin material so it wasn't bulky, and fully equipped with guns and an assortment of other weapons she'd never seen before. All of it stood like a statue behind bullet-proof glass and a metal platform. Sara laughs with an awe at her new discovery.

VOICE ACTIVATION NECESSARY. PLEASE INPUT.

Sara jumps at the sudden voice, and hesitates.

VOICE ACTIVATION NECESSARY. PLEASE INPUT.

"S-Sara."

PROCESSING...PROCESSING...IDENTITY CONFIRMED. MSII ACTIVATED. The machine whirs to life. Its eyes glow bright red. The case hisses letting out a white mist. The glass opens like a door and the suit is lowered from its platform while the arms slowly rise from its sides. The head lowers towards the back and the suit opens up. Perfect fit. Perfect size. Sara steps in.

For a moment it's dark after the suit closed around her body All she could feel was the cold steel pressing against her skin. The sound of her breathing echoed within her helmet. Slowly a soft blue light is emitted before her. Holograms appear showing her multiple things she didn't understand. Sara moves. The suit moves quicker.

"Since you we don't know your abilities yet it would be best to give you something else to work with. This suit enhances everything you do. It should be effective for you in battle."

"You mean...I'm going on missions with you?"

"Me, and the others."

"Why?"

"So you don't get in the way."

Sara smiles as she played around with her new suit. Batman smiled as he turned away to once again find new information.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A man in a tall dark brown trench coat and simple black clothing walked through downtown Gotham, a hellish place of filth and rotting flesh. A stench rose like smoke from fire choking the air. Never had he seen such destruction in one area before. He passes through a back alley. Dark rain clouds rolled in to cover the moon and the air becomes humid. His leg starts to ache making his limp obvious, especially to a few street thugs. some alley way thugs saw him as an opportunity. Slowly they surrounded him. Danny 'Hell hound' Trey steps out in front of him and sneers, spitting at his feet.

"Whatcha doin' out here old man? Dontcha know this is 'Hell hound' territory? You gonna have to pay the toll for trespassing."

The man grunts, glancing at the stupid little teenagers that thought they had a chance aginst him from behind his aviators. "Move aside, I don't have time for this," he replies with a gruff voice.

"Ha! Look at this boys this old man thinks he can tell us what to do. Let's show him who's the boss around here." Danny pulls out his combat knife, something he got off an old veteran who lived an apartment room above his, and died a week ago while sleeping. His groupies followed suit pulling out whatever weapons they had on them. Then all of a sudden...Danny watched as one of his boys went flying into the air and the ground where he stood was a column of cement and dirt that slowly sunk back into the earth. His friend then continued to fall until he hit the pavement with a sickening crack where his skull burst open and brains spilled out and joints were twisted at several odd angles. The man did not move a muscle. Frightened, the other two behind the trench coat man decided to jump him only to be met with a similar fate as their previous friend. A column of brick and mortar shot from a building wall and crushed one of their heads into an opposing wall. A series of cracks sounded like shattering glass. Though his body fell his head remained a red stain on bricks. The other one was slammed into the wall by his back. Danny could hear his spine smash against another wall and see the blood shoot out from his mouth until there was nothing left but gurgle, then watched as his limp dead body hit the pavement. The man still had not moved a muscle.

Shock. Fear. Adrenaline.

He could feel all of this course through his body as he ran. His knife forgotten. Panic as his heart beat like mad against his chest. Then, in his last moments the walls and the ground beneath seemed to close in on him. The space grew tighter and tighter until...

He watched the ball of bricks and cement close in on the wannabe gangster, his blood spilling and body fall out like a crumpled piece of paper. He continued on as the rain began to pour and wash the filth away.

Back in his practically empty little apartment he laid back on his couch where darkness embraced his body. Rain dripping from his long black hair matted to his forehead. In his silence comes a small shuffle from his darkness.

"Who's there?!" He sits up only to feel his forehead met with the cold hard steel of a silenced gun.

"Hello, Peter. It's good to see you again."