The Stand: Wingate

A Story by Abishai100

A strange hotel-lobby chess 'stalemate' might draw future-Earth ideations of alien design.

A fun summertime Batman-media fanfiction featuring the Predator. Enjoy,

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A stranger wandered into the Wingate hotel in Chicago and sat down at a table during a special comic-book gathering inside the hotel-lobby coinciding with a nearby conference for fans of Batman (DC Comics) media.

STRANGER: I shall sit down at the lobby table-chairs area and read a newspaper and wait for a special man with a chess-set.

HOTEL-MANAGER: There'd been nothing unusual that day inside the Wingate hotel lobby and we'd anticipated normal traffic!

However, on that day inside the iconic Chicago Wingate hotel-lobby, during the nearby comics-conference linked social gathering of Batman (DC Comics) media-fans preparing to head to the special meeting, a real-life United Stated underground blood-diamond operationalist with Interpol-office(s) relations, a real-life 'vigilante' who (incidentally!) went by the 'street-alias' Batman, wandered into the very-same lobby as the mentioned/referenced 'stranger' with a special red-case with him.

BATMAN: I have in my red-case here a special wood-crafted chess-set which I shall use to play a 'random' lobby pedestrian!

STRANGER: I'll play you in chess, dude!
BATMAN: Awesome, friend...I'd been hoping to find a willing lobby-pedestrian/traveler for a winding chess-match today.

STRANGER: You look 'unusual' today, dude; I'm guessing you're one of these Batman comics media-fan 'geeks' for the meeting!

BATMAN: Maybe I am...or maybe I'm an actual underground super-hero (ha!); in any case, I'm enticed by peace-chess now.

STRANGER: Cool, dude.

BATMAN: What if we draw a 'cool' stalemate here in this Wingate lobby, friend?

STRANGER: All the better, dude; 'tis the season for comics-spirits and nonviolence, right (ha!)?
BATMAN: Sure, sure, friend.

There'd been some zesty goat-meat Indian curry-food served in that special/iconic Chicago hotel-lobby during that Batman comics/media gathering coinciding with the nearby-building conference, which drew the hunger of the stranger and Batman already engaged by their stirring game of style-differentiated smarty-chess, with one playing knight-queen combos and the other employing diagonal bishop-rook play for a more 'libertine' styled-offense. The two got up and got themselves a little dixie-plastic bowl of goat-meat Indian curry to 'spice' their game which steadily/inevitably drew to a 'peaceful' stalemate (yummy).

STRANGER: Let's toast this 'delicious' stalemate with a nice double-glass of champagne, dude!
BATMAN: Sounds ideal, friend...I'll head to that Batman comics-conference afterwards.

STRANGER: I guessed you'd been some kind of Batman media-aficionado...or perhaps...the real Batman (ha!).

BATMAN: Sure, sure, friend.

Turns out that mysterious chess-playing affable Wingate hotel-lobby visiting pedestrian 'stranger' was an alien from Mars disguised/transformed to look like a humanoid traveler who wished to find and challenge this 'Batman' blood-diamond operationalist to a chess-stalemate IQ prior to the Batman comics-media conference nearby, hoping to mark/target the underground monitoring 'officer' as a human worthy of the hunt! This alien-Predator was considered a universal marksman but was stirred to peace by the goat-stalemate curry-game wits of the Wingate experience that day, ironically, and returned happily/peacefully to Mars!

STRANGER/ALIEN (Predator): Who knew a chess 'stalemate' invokes a special 'daydream' about wrought/consensual peace?

Years, later we find this 'real-life' Batman married and with daughter ('Ezzy') dealing in the Chicago underground with a potent/poisonous new millennium alien-invasion tribulation involving a 'host' of slimy aliens attempting to deform Earth-civilization and destroy all-manner of human street/customary activity (Facebook-IQ).