****

The DCFutures FanFiction Group recognizes that Batman
and all related characters are property of DC Comics.
These stories are written for no profit, but rather
a strong desire to peer into the future of the DCU.
The stories and concepts presented herein, however,
are property of the author. So there.

****

BATMAN: DCF #24

****

Written and Directed by Erik Burnham
darvey@rocketmail.com
With even more additional editing by the mysterious X…

****

BATMAN created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger
BATMAN: DCF created by Erik Burnham

****

"If You Could Only See"

****

There are times in your life when you feel like
someone has punched you square in the gut. You have
trouble breathing, you're queasy as hell, and you're
so dizzy, standing feels like stunt work.

Tim Drake felt like that right now as he stared into
the eyes of his significantly pregnant other.

Had he cried to the heavens 'at least things can't
get any worse' at some point without realizing it?

Must have.

"Tim, I'm sorry… I just thought you should know-"

"I should say so," Tim muttered. "How far along are
you?"

"Two months, Tim but…" Shannon's voice trailed off.

"But what? Wait, don't tell me - it's twins, right?
I swear, my luck…"

"Tim, I don't even know if it's yours!" Shannon
jolted in a panicked tone.

Okay, Tim was sure of it now. He was officially upset.

"There was this man, while I was at a shoot… and he
was so charming, and I was drunk, and I blacked out
and I don't know if we did anything or not but we
could have and I'm so sorry but we didn't know each
other as well at that time and I'm sorry, I'm so
sorry, I-"

"Okay, okay! Enough!" Tim said. "Look, Shan… I
need some time to process this, alright? And you
need some time to calm down. So you go home and get
yourself some sleep. I'll arrange for you to see a
doctor, you'll get some tests done, we'll find out
the hows and whyfores of this kid, and we'll go from
there." Tim hugged Shannon close and kissed her on
the forehead. "Okay?"

"Okay," Shannon finally replied.

"Okay, then. You go on home now and I'll give you a
call tomorrow. Everything's going to be okay,
Shannon. I promise."

Shannon Mitchells smiled through the trails of
running makeup that dominated her face, allowed one
final tear to escape, and walked out the front door.

…At which point Tim was free to pass out on the floor
of the study.

****

Clark found himself subconsciously gripping the
armrest to his right as Alfred floored the Jaguar
XL-Er hovercar past other hovercars and over the
occasional automobile or pedestrian on the highway to
Metropolis.

Clark Kent at last knew fear, and the name of that
fear was: driving with Alfred.

"Master Clark of the white knuckles," Alfred smirked.
"Must I continue to remind you that we are
invulnerable? Well, you are. I wouldn't notice if my
own arm was blown off, but that is beside the point…"

"It's not me I'm worried about, Alfred…" Clark said,
watching the road above and below them like a hawk.
"It's them. What if you hit somebody?"

"Not possible, Master Clark, but I appreciate the
situation. If it will ease your mind, I shall reduce
the velocity of this transport immediately."

"That would be great, Alfred. Thank you."

"It feels good to get out of the house, Master Clark.
I mean that quite literally, of course." It was
still unnerving to see Alfred smile.

"Yes, well. I knew you had an ulterior motive when
you offered to accompany me. After all, I'm sure I
could have made it myself."

"With absolutely no knowledge of the customs of our
time, pardon, very little knowledge of those customs,
less than one-hundred percent faith in yourself and
your abilities, and a very public target? Master
Clark, you'd have attracted enough attention for the
Justice League to take notice of you - which isn't
hard in a city like Metropolis; indeed, the League
boasts more members there than in almost any city on
earth, with very few exceptions. And you are in no
condition to fight seasoned Leaguers, sir, no matter
who you are."

Clark took that into account, absentmindedly rubbing
his jaw where he had been struck by Justice a few
weeks prior. It still ached sometimes.

Perhaps Alfred was right.

"We shall be there in another fifteen minutes, Master
Clark. Is there any place in particular that you'd
like to visit first?"

"Take me to the first place available that existed in
my time."

"Yes, sahib." Alfred grinned as he once again
floored the accelerator. "Your wish is my command."

****

Broad daylight - sometime in the afternoon. What
time? What difference did it make. Tim Drake didn't
care, he had other things on his mind.

Like Shannon.

He couldn't be a father! Not now - hell, not ever.
He was absolutely uninterested in children. Maybe it
was a fear of growing up, the Peter Pan thing. Maybe
he just didn't want to share all his toys.

But here Shannon was, pregnant. She was sure of
that, but not if it was his. That's wonderful either
way. It was his and she loved him, or it wasn't and
that was a real plus for fidelity, thank you very
much. Lose-lose situation. Beautiful.

And then there was the situation with the man in the
suit. How did he knock Tim out like that? And for
that Matter, why was Tim's mood so flip-flop? He was
relatively normal until he saw that chap.
Immediately after, he felt… dark. Like he was
wearing a shadow instead of his own skin.

That was about as creepy as things get, to say the
least.

Tim needed a psychiatrist. Just a consultation.

Now, the problem with Tim is that he couldn't go to
just any shrink… there were too many procedures, too
many logs, too many skeletons that would get shown to
too many people. A policy that wasn't agreeable with
a secret identity.

Tim also had this thing about the best - if he needed
something, he wanted the best he could get, rich boy
programming, but hey - good attitude if you can pull
it off.

He researched. There were… discreet specialists all
over Gotham. But there's a difference between
specialists and experts. Tim wanted the latter. Tim
wanted the man with the most training, the most
intelligence, the most ability.

The only problem with that is who the best turned out
to be. After three and a half hours of research, Tim
turned up one name more than any other:

Doctor Jeremy L. Wight III.

The Joker.

****

Clark Kent and Alfred raced out of the Ace of Clubs
and glanced down the street. Sure enough, it was
still there, grazing… on concrete. [***Read
Adventures of Superman: DCF #5 to find out what
Alfred and Clark were doing at the Ace of Clubs!***]

It looked almost like a giraffe. The differences
were slight; pinkish-purple skin, wings, greenish
stripes around it's body.

And of course, the fact that it was actually eating
the street.

"Come on!" Clark shouted, racing toward the beast.
"We have to stop that creature!"

"Stop that creature from what?!?" Alfred returned.
"And how? I… I say." Alfred's eyes widened in awe
as Clark managed to float upwards towards the
creature. Not as fast as a speeding bullet, to be
sure… but Clark Kent flew again.

****

Arkham Asylum had been rebuilt several times since
it's heyday. Rebuilt, destroyed, rebuilt,
redesigned, added-on, condemned, rebuilt. Like a
phoenix, the legendary hospital rose from the ashes
of it's own destruction to rehabilitate the more
unstable of societal elements, and to keep them safe
from themselves.

Jeremy Wight had interned here - well, at a place
with the same name, at any rate - when he was
considerably younger. He found it slightly amusing
that he should now be interred instead.

His living quarters were spacious, befitting his
status. He had access to research materials. He had
access to creature comforts denied the majority of
the other inmates.

He also had a rather painful ESPer dampening field
installed in his room. It was a castoff, a donation
from the Justice League. It was a prototype,
imperfect, ancient compared to the current models.
Wight's powers couldn't be disabled without giving
him a constant headache that varied in it's intensity
from annoying to intolerable.

Wight had pleaded his case directly with Jenna
Holloway, the recruitment director for the League.
His powers were great, he said.

She called them uncontrollable. She disliked his
physical condition. She was unsatisfied with his
attitude. Wight surmised she was afraid of his
abilities; afraid that the League may not be able to
control them to their satisfaction.

Regardless of the reason, Wight was classified 4-F.
Unfit for duties of any kind. Consigned to rotting
his life away - or as much of his life as deemed fit
by the Board of Directors at Arkham, which changed,
it seemed, by the week.

How boring.

"Hey doc," a voice whispered from above. "Got a
minute?"

****

What am I doing here? Alfred asked himself. For
several years, I let this body go unused. Untested.
There has to be some kind of limitations to it.

Limitations, yes. Limitations, some form of glitch
that prevents me from joining Master Clark on that
hopping beast that is more than obviously his
superior in physical strength.

Is fear that limitation? Alfred wonders.

Master Clark has to be frightened as well, does he not?

Yet he fights it anyway. He fights it because he is
Superman, no matter if he's not using the name. He
fights it to make sure that those with even less
strength than he do not come to harm accidentally due
to the thrashings of the wild beast.

Alfred looks at Clark, astride the back of the
Giraffe-Thing, trying to knock the beast out by
cutting off it's air supply. A brilliant plan, and
surely the best course of action, were it not that
Alfred could see, from his vantage point, the
creature wasn't breathing. No outward signs of
inhalation or exhalation.

Master Clark could not hope to prevail in his present
course of action. The best he could do is agitate
the beast and cause himself harm.

Alfred would not allow that.

Feeling another unexpected surge, one that came from
a place beyond his corporeal being - his soul? -
Alfred raced toward Master Clark and the Giraffe-Thing.

****

"Stay away from me! Guard! GUARD!" Jeremy Wight
had never known fear like he knew it now. The dark
monster that had invaded his dreams since the time of
his incarceration had come for him at last to finish
the job started in the Gotham City Police Department
HQ; the Bat-winged angel of Death had finally come to
take him the rest of the way to Hell.

Not that Wight couldn't have found Hell himself, it
was just down the hall.

"The guard can't hear you, doc. I took the liberty
of slipping him a little unconsciousness." The mask
stretched into a smile. Wight was afraid he would
lose control of his bodily functions.

"What are you doing here?"

"We need to have a chat," the Batman said, taking a
seat. "Okay, doc? Sit down."

"I'll stand," Wight replied, backing as far away as
he could.

"Fine. Look, I won't mince words here, doc. I don't
like you and I really don't regret the beating I
threw you. But right now, I need your expertise."
The Batman rose and seemingly floated to within
inches of Wight, who was trying unsuccessfully to
shrink into the wall.

"And you will help me."

****

Alfred made it to the scene of the battle just as the
Giraffe-Thing bucked Clark off. With a frenzy in
it's eye, the beast raised it's hoof, meaning to
crush the dazed hero's head.

"No!" Alfred cried, leaping at the monster,
simultaneously releasing the liquor he held in his
inner liquid storage tanks from the hidden release
valves on his wrists. The result was a creature that
went from rage to startled confusion. The beast
hesitated, allowing Clark to get his bearings and
roll away from the danger zone as the hoof crashed
down, six inches into the concrete.

Alfred was sent flying, knocked out of the air by the
creature's wing.

"Alfred?" Clark yelled, looking for the robot.
"Alfred!"

Praying with all the faith he had at his disposal,
Clark searched around him with X-ray and telescopic
vision. The picture was fuzzy, but he found Alfred
laying under some rubble in the alley. He couldn't
tell if the Droid was still alive.

…And the creature was still angry, pawing at the
pavement, preparing to charge.

****

Tim sat with Jeremy Wight for a good three hours,
telling his story. Parts of his story, anyway. He
let the good doctor in on a good deal more of his
inside than even Clark knew.

How did that phrase go? "…Keep your enemies closer?"

It was like that.

Wight was more than a little jittery, and Tim was
surprised at how much he enjoyed the fear he made
this man feel. It's only fair, after the pain he had
put Tim through. The framing, the headaches that had
only just began subsiding, the death of a man he had
come to admire.

"Have you ever heard of hypnotism?" the doctor
finally spoke up.

"Gee, whiz doc, what's that?" Batman drawled
sarcastically.

"I was merely looking for a frame of, erm,
reference." Wight shrank. "Your… experiences,
especially the unconsciousness after one word from
the 'mystery man' strongly suggest posthypnotic
suggestion."

"Yeah, I clearly remember sitting still for the
pocketwatch."

"Please, remember the technology available to us…"
the doctor sighed, fear lowering his natural
indignation at having to explain something so simple.
"These suggestions could very well have been
implanted before your birth, or shortly thereafter.
It doesn't take much, and it would certainly explain
your violent mood swings - I feel you're fighting
your programming, and it is destroying your ability
to function normally. If you think back, some of the
things you've told me about your past, your
predilections towards certain areas, I'd say this
programming has permeated your life in more ways than
you even care to realize, all from square one.
Affecting decisions, delivering inspiration, so on
and so forth. Bear in mind this is just a hypothesis
based on available information. There is an
alternative."

"And that is?"

"You're completely insane." Wight laughed. And
laughed. And laughed.

Batman left the room quietly as the fear continued to
explode from the doctor in the form of nervous
laughter, pausing to leave a note for the nurse
outside the door - 'Patient needs heavy sedation.'
Signed, 'Dr. Chiroptera.'

****

Shannon Mitchells left the offices of Dr. Daniel
Ben-Zvi, tears running her makeup to hell and back.
She couldn't tell Tim that her manager had already
booked her an appointment with the doctor
specifically to see if there was some sort of market
angle behind her pregnancy.

If it was Tim's, the kid was worth a fortune to the
scandal rags, hell, to the legitimate press. Also,
it upped Shannon's value - mother to the Drake
legacy. Boom, she'd sell more product. And the
kiddie companies'd drop a huge wad of credits to use
her.

But if she was just knocked up, no famous father, no
famous kid, she'd be worthless pregnant and pressured
into a termination. The thought horrified Shannon.

She was lost in thought as she walked to the parking
garage. She didn't hear the hover car whisper it's
way close behind her and stop.

She did notice the two large men who were suddenly
standing in front of her. And she most certainly
recognized the man that was standing behind her.

"It's been a while, Shannon." He smiled.

The man nodded to the goons, and the world went black
for Shannon Mitchells.

****

Split-second decisions had been his forte, back in
the old days. Of course, when he could travel from
New York to Seattle in just under four minutes,
split-second became second nature.

Clark Kent was faced with a new decision - continue
to fight a losing battle with the Giraffe-Thing,
which would only agitate it further, going on past
experience… or go to his friend, who could be dead or
dying.

It was not a decision Clark was comfortable making…
so he thanked the Lord when he didn't have to.

Of course, salvation came from a completely
unexpected avenue.

The Giraffe-Thing was charging Clark. Clark braced
himself to take the blow, simultaneously screaming to
the crowd that had gathered behind him. What was
wrong with them? They could be killed! And, they
were the in the Giraffe-Thing's path, the prime
reason Clark couldn't dodge.

Why did they have to make it so difficult? Why
couldn't they move?

Clark saw why.

A bolt of blue-and-red blurred from the heavens,
taking the giraffe thing off the street and back into
the sky.

Clark saw the oh-so-familiar "S" shield. The unruly
forelock. The steel-blue eyes, paradigms of
resolution.

He had found the man he had come to see... and that
man could wait. Alfred needed his help.

****

Once again, Tim Drake lazed through the
Clock-entrance to Wayne Manor. The sun was just
starting to set outside, but Tim didn't feel like
anymore bat-heroics. He was tired. He was
overloaded. He was… obviously not alone.

"Clark?" Tim ventured. No answer. "Alfred?" Again,
no answer. "Shannon?"

"We'll give you partial credit for that one." That
voice. Tim knew that voice. His smiling face
appeared in the door to the study.

"Although, she is presently indisposed." The man's
smile grew wider. It looked artificial,
manipulative.

Frightening.

"I don't believe we've been properly introduced," the
man continued. "I'm Alucard Holmes. And you, Tim
Drake, you are my Batman."

****

END!

****

NEXT ISSUE: Let's just say that Issue #25 isn't going
to be pretty! Hee hee hee. Alucard Holmes, Tim
Drake, and MORE!

****

GOING BATTY

****

Letters! Here we go! (Keep 'em coming!)

From:ArsenaI@aol.com
Date:Tue, 24 Nov 1998 19:52:09 EST
To:darvey@rocketmail.com
Subject:Batman DCF #23


Man oh man. I love this stuff!!! I just want to say
thanks for the
excellent
read!! I look forward to reading Batman DCF as I do
to going to my
comic shop
and getting new comic books. You have succeeded in
creating a
wonderful cast
and world for the new Bat to work. I can't wait to
see who the
"superman" is
and I can't wait to see more development of Tim's
split personality.
Penguin
is very interesting and Batgirl was great. Shannon
is prego? Damn, I
hope
Tim's in the clear. I am definitely a fan of your
work on Batman DCF as
well
as the other people who work on DCF. Keep up the
great work. I'm on
the edge
of my seat waiting for the next issue. We are out
here and we are
loving
this!!!

Ryan

PS. Any idea on where the hell Robin is?

****You look forward to this as much as going to the
comic shop? Am I reading this right? COOLNESS! I'm
happy that you think my stories are on par with the
big boys. Or maybe it's just 'cause mine are free
and come out with the frequency of a Clinton Scandal.
Ah, well - in a group with guys like Tippitt, Bush,
and Hancock, I'll take what compliments I can still
get. (; Tim's personality was speculated upon in
this issue by Jeremy "The Joker Killer" Wight, who's
edging closer to insanity himself… but how did he
figure it out? Well, to paraphrase Steve Buscemi in
Armageddon "He's a genius." Tim's not liking the
possibility that his entire life's been a
manipulation - and with all that frustration, you
KNOW he's gonna what to take it out on somebody!
Perhaps… Alucard? (Mark will love issue #25, I'm
sure.) As to Robin, well, J5 expressed some interest
in continuing the series, but then disappeared again.
My guess is he just changed his mind… in which case
Robin will be going in quite a different direction!
(Read: a certain villain gets his mitts on the Boy
Wonder and decides to remake him in his own image!)
Hope these little teasers whet your appetite, Batman
#25 will be a big issue! Big! I hope. (;****


Date:Fri, 20 Nov 1998 19:10:40 -0500
To:darvey@rocketmail.com
From:Matthew mervson@users.qual.net
Subject:Batman:DCF #23


On the Road, a Hope and Crosby Road show.
This should be interesting. I really enjoy getting a
frequent release of
Batman, but please take it easy. I would rather see
it once a month and
not
have you get burnt out on it. I am thrilled that
people can share this
world of the future and enjoy it together. I have a
job school a wife
and
a son. So I need a little escape every once in a
while. So thanks for
Tim
and Alfred and Clark, and all the rest.
Matthew
Ps I can't wait for the Cover.

****The cover will be coming next issue - that I
promise! And believe me, I'm glad I can provide you
with some escape - everybody needs it, and it does my
heart good to know I'm helping in some small way. As
to me getting burnt out, that's not exactly the case.
Sometimes I just set up stuff that takes me time to
figure my way around, or get shoved stuff in life
that prevents me from writing Bats as I'd like it -
otherwise, an issue a week would be NO problem
because I'm completely enthralled with this little
city called Gotham! Of course, the fact that the
story surprises me as I write it is a big help…
continue to enjoy! (And this is the first time I've
seen my guys compared with Hope & Crosby! Heh.)****

From:MSR77@aol.com
Date:Fri, 20 Nov 1998 15:08:39 EST
To:darvey@rocketmail.com
Subject: Batman: DCF #23 Comments

Erik,

Again another great issue of Batman DCF. I
especially enjoyed seeing
Alfred
as in fact more then a computer, any plans on keeping
Alfred in droid
form? I
also liked and was suprised to see Shannon is
pregnant, I have to
wonder by
whom. Anyway, keep up the good work and I'll be
looking forward to the
next
issue!

Mike Rehor

****Alfred's going to be staying in droid form for a
little while, to say the least. Shannon's pregnancy…
well, once again, read issue #25.****

From:"R. B. Sizemore" <Ben_Reilly@t-three.com>
To:"Erik Burnham" darvey@rocketmail.com
Subject: Batman: DCF #23
Date:Fri, 20 Nov 1998 11:02:26 -0500

Erik,

This letter is just to tell you that I'm blaming
you if I fail out
of
college. I got Batman #23 JUST as I was about to
turn my computer off
and
go to class, and now I've missed it because I had to
read it twice
(there're
#### few comics or ANYTHING that I take the time to
read twice
anymore...)
and because I had to write this letter (Various
reasons -- your
melodramatic
attempt at inspiring people to write letters, my
desire to find an
excuse to
miss this class... y'know, the usual.) Anyway, on to
the more
pedestrian
matters...

Shannon's pregnant? I saw this coming from the
first scene in the
book, but I was still shocked (almost like reading
the Thunderbolts --
the
twists shock you less than the rare times you guess
right about what's
to
come). "There's more to it than [we] think?" Is it
possible it's not
Tim's
kid? Could it be a meta? Could the child be Batgirl
(after she grows
up,
she comes back in time to help her dad)? Guess
you're gonna pull a
Busiek
here and say "wait and see," huh?

Alfred and Clark are going to investigate
Superman? I have my
doubts
about Alfred's assertion that Clark couldn't survive
a trip to
Metropolis
and back. I think it was all a ploy to get out of
the house. Could
ALFRED
have been the one with cabin fever? Will he want to
go back to being a
house/computer/butler?

Anyway, excellent work (and I'll be writing to
other writers when I
need
another excuse to skip class).

Robin "Trekker" Sizemore

****I wasn't sure if I should have put the first
paragraph in - because it was a surefire giveaway to
the pregnancy. But hey, seeing as how keeping it a
secret would have probably been a smart idea, I
didn't do it. Heh. As to the kid… possibly a meta?
Wait and see. Batgirl? No. Timequake (coming soon,
honest!) will be it for time travel in this book. As
to Alfred's assertion, read the second scene in this
book to see what's up there. Beyond that, keep a
reading, and glad to see you're still around!
Weeha!****

THE LAST FEW PARAGRAPHS OF THIS ISSUE WERE WRITTEN TO
THE FOLLOWING CDS/SONGS:

THE BLENDERS - (I AM IN LOVE WITH) THE MCDONALD'S GIRL
SUGARHILL GANG - RAPPER'S DELIGHT
SOUNDTRACK - CAN'T HARDLY WAIT
THE REPLACEMENTS - ALL SHOOK DOWN
GARTH BROOKS - DOUBLE LIVE
GREEN DAY - NIMROD

I KID YOU NOT.

And with that, I bid you adieu until next time!

-Erik

VISIT GOTHAM:
http://www.geocities.com/area51/chamber/9727/gotham.html
VISIT THE DCF DISCUSSION BOARD:
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=6074