Find the Edge Pieces
Batman surveyed his situation. He had taken the people - the beings - he thought needed protection with him. He found an empty castle. It was a perfect base of operations. It would keep out the demons or whatever they were. Batman didn’t know, nor did he care.
Although he was sentencing all the others he left behind to death, Batman somehow recognized the fabrication of this entire scenario. The whole thing seemed artificial. Time travel was crazy enough, but just happening upon an empty castle and a village full of witch-burning citizens was a bit far fetched.
Batman didn’t even know off hand if they still burned witches at this time period. But they certainly didn’t live in straw huts. Maybe even the very castle he was residing it was out of place. And out of time.
Batman had found some quarters to retire to and was sitting at a desk thinking. A white hand fell upon his shoulder. Batman didn’t move but his muscles went rigid.
“You are the mortal known as Bruce Wayne?” the man white asked.
Batman was startled at his name being used. “Call me Batman. What do I call you?”
“You can call me many things, mortal,” the Sandman sneered. “Dream will do.”
“Very well, Dream,” Batman complied. “Why are you here?”
“I need to tell you something, Batman,” the Sandman pronounced the name with contempt. “The other creatures; Spawn, and Darth Maul; are killing innocent villagers. I understand you are a protector. Are they above your protection?”
“I’m not even sure they are real people.”
The Sandman’s lips formed into a thin smile. He quickly wiped the emotion away in the blink of an eye. “Protect the people, protector. If the menace is not stopped they will come for this castle.”
“We’ll see,” Batman turned away from the Sandman’s face. “Dream.”
The Sandman disappeared as quickly as he appeared. Leaving Batman with a decision.
Fight or flight?
*
Spawn grabbed a villager by his head and it exploded in a hail of green energy. Darth Maul used his double bladed lightsabre to behead two other villagers. Jonathan Doe followed close behind the two slaughters and rubbed his hands together with glee. The Sandman appeared beside Doe.
“How goes it?” Sandman asked.
“Oh, very good, Morpheus,” Doe replied, not taking his eyes off the killing spree. “The sinners are quickly reaching their full potential.”
The Sandman started to walk towards them. He called back to Doe, “Very good.”
Maul saw him and lowered his blade on Sandman’s head. Impossibly fast, Morpheus’s hand caught the saber. Light crackled and shot out from the spot where both connected. Maul’s eyes widened. He tried to force push Sandman away, but he raised his free hand and the Force went back to Maul, throwing him back.
“Don’t do that again,” Sandman warned. Maul got to his feet, evidently satisfied. Sandman also, now, had Spawn’s attention. “You two want to get home?”
“Yeah,” Spawn sneered. “What do you have to do with it?”
“You see,” Sandman began, “you’re playing a game. There are two teams. You two. And the others. Only one group can return.”
“How do we win?” Spawn asked.
Sandman smiled, this time he kept it on. “You must kill them all.”
Spawn turned to Maul, who nodded. Spawn replied, “Show us where they are.”
“With pleasure.”
*
Buzz Lightyear knew it was best to keep a low profile for now. He had revealed his liveliness earlier to his allies, but as Batman allowed some peasants to come and hide in the castle Buzz decided he would appear to be just a simple toy before them.
Buzz realized the error of his ways the moment a dirty hand closed around his body. It was the hand of a child. A child who had just stolen him!
Buzz tried to wriggle free, but it was no use. The child didn’t seem scared he moved and talked. Oh, did he talk to her. Words he shouldn’t have known being owned by a little boy. The child took him to his room in the dungeon Batman had turned into a shelter.
Buzz thought as least the child would be grateful of having a toy to play with. Maybe he’d found a respectful owner, at last.
Instead, Buzz was instantly thrown at the bars of the cell. His plastic finish scuffed with filth.
Then the boy brought more of his friends to play. And Buzz was used as a kick ball for a few minutes. The last kick shot him up through the bars of the prison. His shoulder collided with the steel bar and ripped it off. Buzz continued to fly through the window and into the muddy, murky moat.
With one arm, Buzz slowly tried to climb up the edge of moat. After ten minutes, Buzz had not gotten any farther up.
*
“The talking toy is missing,” Wolf told Batman, who was the self-appointed king of the castle. Wolf needed his permission to go look for Buzz, among other things. “I want to look for him. No one in the castle has seen him.”
Batman considered this for a moment. “Okay, Mr. Wolf, be careful.”
“I can take care of myself,” Wolf replied. He reached for his holster inside his coat for reassurance. It was still as empty as it was when he came here. Something didn’t want him shooting people.
Wolf didn’t really have any interesting in finding the animated toy. It honestly gave him the creeps, so he just needed to get out of the castle and find some other sort of weapon.
And even more importantly Wolf was looking for that man that refused to join them when this all started. After he was out of the faze of the moment, he realized that he should in all respects fear for his life like the rest of the normals.
But if he knew something the others didn’t, it would make more sense. And Wolf had learned the most likely conclusion was the correct one. Most of the time.
So Wolf was out to find this man, who’s name he didn’t know. For now he would think of him as a John Doe. But once he found him, Wolf hoped to learn his name and his secret.
After a half hour of wandering through the still standing areas of the village, Wolf found an armory. It was deserted, yet full of all sorts of weapons. Wolf decided on a quiver of arrows, a bow, and a sheathed sword. Wolf donned some light chain mail, then decided it pointless.
Chain main wouldn’t stop those light swords or that green energy.
That’s when Wolf heard the two monsters coming. He hid behind a hut, and luckily they didn’t burn it to the ground.
But Wolf was left wondering why he survived.
*
The partners approached the castle; the key to their return, they were assured.
Maul easily used the Force to break the chain holding up the drawbridge. It clattered down across the moat before they reached it.
“Nice work,” Spawn commented, walking on the bridge.
Maul nodded.
The two allies didn’t notice their follower, John Doe, did not go into the castle behind them. He waited outside.
They quickly found the main hall of the castle, where Batman was currently brooding. As soon as he saw them he knew his earlier dilemma was decided for him.
The Hurricane rose to his feet as he saw them. Batman threw him a sword he had found and drew his own. Spawn formed a sword of green energy. Maul removed his lightsabre from inside of his cloak, but did not ignite it. He waited silently.
Spawn and Batman approached each other. Batman’s sword caught Spawn in the arm before his own sword of energy slashed down on Batman’s. The wound healed within moments and Batman’s eye widened in surprise.
The Hurricane ran towards Maul, who remained perfect calm until Hurricane was within striking distance. The Hurricane brought his blade down, hoping to bury the blade deep into Maul's shoulder. But Maul ignited one side of his lightsaber and the metal sword was shorted to a handle within a second.
Hurricane stared at the handle of the sword in awe. Maul brought the lightsaber up, on a diagonal, and halved Hurricane. He jumped over the corpse before it had fallen over completely.
Batman was slowly being worn down by the sword fight. Spawn always slipped in a blast of his hellish energy here and there to further weaken Batman. With a swift blow from his energy blade, Batman’s grip on his sword loosened to the point where it flew out of his hand.
Spawn raised his sword of energy above his head, as if to cut Batman in two. Batman fired his grappling hook up at the stone ceiling, and was half way up the roof before Spawn could bring the blade down.
Maul used the Force to boost his jump, and caught Batman’s foot. Batman lifted his legs perpendicular to the rest of his body. Maul decided it was the perfect angle to slash Batman with his lightsaber. As he ignited the blade, Batman straightened his body out again and Maul was thrown into the wall. The stones loosened a little and Maul threw his lightsaber up at Batman, using the Force to guide it.
Batman grabbed the handle of the saber and wrestled for it’s control with an unseen force. Batman was wobbling on his grappling cord as the blade swung to and fro, trying to get a chance to slice it and the man holding it.
Spawn, by this time, was looking at the mural depicting the Kingdom of Hell. He had no interesting in the man who took the mantle of the bat, and he knew Maul could take care of him. He hoped so, anyway.
Batman, while holding the saber, used his other arm to hook the end of the grappling cord to his belt. Batman grabbed a batarang from his utility belt and threw it straight at Darth Maul’s face. It sunk into his temple, beside one of the horns. Maul yelled out in rage and ripped the batarang from his head.
The force, whatever it was, that was controlling the unruly lightsaber subsided when Maul’s concentration was broken. Batman flicked the blade off and stashed it on his utility belt. Batman continued to hang from the roof by his belt, knowing full well that the grappling hook was probably slowing cutting into the stone of the castle.
He couldn’t stay up there forever.
*
Jonathan Doe waited outside the castle for some time before Morpheus appeared before him.
“What took you so long?” Doe demanded.
“I was busy with some other matters,” Sandman replied. “This isn’t the only world of it’s kind you know. I rule them all.”
“Yeah,” Doe said. “You explained all that. Are they fighting inside?”
“I don’t know, Jonathan Doe, isn’t that your end?”
“I don’t want to be killed before it happens, Morpheus,” Doe sneered. “Remember why I am here and what I ultimately want.”
“Yes, I do. I know, of course. They are fighting. The mortal known as Hurricane is dead.”
“Pride,” Doe murmured.
“Yes,” Sandman said. Then he disappeared.
Doe was very annoyed at his benefactor’s indifference. He didn’t seem very interesting in what Doe was doing anymore. He looked at him like he was an experiment or an insect. Doe had to remind himself that he was some sort of god, it was normal to do that. Or was it? He couldn't know. He wasn’t a god…yet.
Doe’s thoughts were disturbed by a man behind him drawing a sword. Doe turned to face him.
“Who was that?” Wolf asked.
“Ah, Winston Wolf,” Doe acknowledged. “What are you doing?”
“Killing you if you don’t tell me what I want to know,” Wolf brought the blade to Doe’s throat.
Then, out of thin air, a gun appeared in Doe’s hand. He pointed it at Wolf. “Actually, I think it’d be best if I only answer what I want to.”
Wolf grinned. “Very good.”
The two put down their weapons and talked.
*
Sandman appeared in the main hall of the castle as Maul was trying to jump up to reach Batman.
“Darth Maul, Spawn,” he got their attention with his mere presence. “The game has changed. Only one of the eight can return home. Don’t waste your time on this Batman. You are both the strongest here.”
Spawn and Maul, once allies, looked at each other and saw an enemy, now. Maul was without his lightsaber, but was starting to throw objects at Spawn with the Force. Spawn blasted them all away with green Hell energy.
Sandman glanced up at Batman, his grappling hook almost completed clawed through the stone above. “Run, Batman,” Sandman sneered. “If you want to live.”
Batman needing no more goading, released the grappling cord from his belt and dropped to the floor.
Moments after he fled the cord was caught on a table Maul was Force-throwing at Spawn. It ripped keystones out of the roof down on the two combatants as it came away. They still fought furiously, knowing full well that the roof was soon to collapse.
*
Outside of the castle, the remaining peasants gathered around the moat. They did not dare to go in. A little child played around the edge of the moat, his parents were not worried, the moat was just a little muddy. The child saw a fleck of something white, contrast against the brown mud. He touched it and discovered something was submerged in the mud. He pulled it out, and in his hand was an one-armed Buzz Lightyear action figure.
The child did not know what this was, of course, but he was grateful for the toy anyway. He went to a nearby lake to wash his newfound toy, but on his way he encountered a man.
“Where are you going, little boy?” asked the man.
“To wash me toy, sir,” the boy replied.
The man chuckled. “No, m’boy, you’re going to hell.”
“Excuse me, sir?” the boy asked. The man drew a gun to the boy’s forehead and blew his brains out onto the grass by the lake. He picked up the muddy body of Buzz.
“What have you done, Mr. Wolf?” Buzz asked as Wolf picked him up. “And were did you get that gun?”
“I got it from a friend,” Wolf grinned. “Now, let’s get to the castle. My friend tells me something big is about to happen.”
*
Batman ran into the giant foyer. He could see the drawbridge lowered, see the outdoors. Batman ran to get away from Maul and Spawn. He needed a quiet place to figure out what was going on. He did not notice Wolf and Buzz enter moments before he exited the castle.
On the drawbridge, blocking his path was the man that had refused his protection before. Batman dodged him, but the man moved in front of him again.
“What do you think you are doing?” Batman asked, grabbed the man’s collar and lifting him off his feet.
Doe ignored his question and asked his own. “Where are you going?”
“I’m getting out of here.”
Suddenly, the muddy moat became an endless pit. The pit wasn’t just a few yards wide, either. It was as far as the eye could see. The remaining villagers plunged into the darkest, screaming.
Doe grinned. “You’ll find there’s nowhere to go to, Batman.”
The bridge was slowing shortening and Batman dropped Doe and ran back inside. He offered his outstretched hand to Doe.
Doe put his hand up in denial. “No need.”
The bridge disappeared right out from under him. With nothing but air under his feet, Doe walked into the castle.
Batman stared at him, his mouth agape.
Doe motioned for the main hall. “Shall we?”
*
The Sandman appeared in the hall again, just as Darth Maul was running out of things to throw at Spawn.
“Stop!” Sandman boomed. They both complied.
Wolf brought Buzz into the main hall, which was full of rubble that had once been the roof. The dark sky was visible. Lightning crossed it every few seconds. The thunder was instantaneously heard.
Finally, Batman, in the wake of Jonathan Doe entered the main hall.
Sandman nodded in the direction of Doe. “You may begin, Jonathan Doe.”
Doe smiled, faintly. “Thank you.”
)
