DISCLAIMERS/NOTES

1. This is a fan fiction based on characters owned by DC Comics. I DO NOT OWN THEM. This is just for fun.

2. As always, I'll point out this was written over a decade ago. Here in the UK, Season 2 of the JL cartoon had yet to air, so Hawkgirl had not been revealed as a spy. And the massive, every-hero-in-the-DCU roster of Unlimited wasn't a factor. My timeline picks up after the Season 1 finale, The Savage Time. All my Wayback Wednesday stories are numbered chronologically, if you get stuck.

3. What's this, I hear you say? A Special? Why, yes! This is an alternate take on my series of Justice League: The Animated Series stories. And... it's a Batman Beyond story! Now, a quick note: as stated above, I wrote this over ten years ago. At that point, the (absolutely stupid) revelation of Terry McGinnis being Bruce Wayne's biological son hadn't happened. As far as this tale is concerned, Terry is simply Bruce's latest protégé. Meanwhile, the backstory to this, erm, story veers off from my Wayback Wednesday timeline before a specific event occurred - you'll see what I mean. Also, because this is an alternate reality to my series, I didn't feel giving it a number was appropriate - hence it being a Special. As for the "real" future of my series? Don't worry, we'll get to that...

4. There are aspects of these stories that, in hindsight, I would change. However, I have kept them as I originally wrote them for history's sake. Not laziness.


PART 1

The train sped across the railway, as it entered the huge collection of corporate buildings known as Gotham City. It went along the track, passing several complexes… among them, the main tower of Wayne/Powers.

The train reached it's stop point, and slowed down until it stopped by the gathering of people waiting to board. The automatic doors opened all along the train, and hundreds of people left the train, while hundreds of people immediately filled it up again.

Among the sea of people, a figure emerged from the crowd. Wrapped in a big coat, with a hood over the face, the figure walked upto the timetable on one of the walls of the station.

She was back. After all these years, she was back.

She sighed, and walked towards the exit. As she went, she saw how little of the city people had changed. Fashions had changed, styles… but the same air of unease and tension was around. People stuck to the light of the streets, in fear of being caught in the shadows and mugged. If someone accidentally bumped into someone, they'd immediately be under suspicion of trying to pickpocket them.

She sighed. So little progress, in so long a time…

But that was not her concern. She had a job to do. And nothing would get in her way.

Not even…

Even…

NOTHING.

She had to find her. She had to block whatever memories this city brought up… and do her duty. She owed it to everyone back home…

But of course, THIS used to be home…

She stopped on the street, and looked down. Why had she come back? WHY did she have to come back here?

She turned her head and looked into the alleyway a few feet away. She sighed. Typical.

She walked into the alley, and looked down at the concrete floor.

There, by a drain, were two white roses.

She smiled. He still did it, even now…

She frowned, and turned around. She had a job to do. She walked out of the alleyway and went up the street.

She had a job to do…

And she had to stay focused.

/

"Look, Mom, I'm sorry, but I just can't! No… no… oh come on Mom, you know what I do is… yes… yes… no… yes… OK. If I have time. But I don't have a lot of credit… what, I can't ask him! He's my boss! He may be a… yeah… yeah, OK… no, I won't… no… don't talk to strangers… OK… midnight at the latest, yeah… yeah… Mom, I've heard all this before. I know the drill. Yes… yes, I'll eat here… yes, I'll be up for school tomorrow. Yeah… yeah… I love you too, Mom. Bye."

Terry clicked the disconnect button of his cell phone. He sighed. His mom had been all over the place ever since she had her promotion. And as a result, so had he. Do this. Do that. Get this. Get that. He thought life was tough before.

He sat up from the step and walked down the staircase. Once down, he went over to the huge computer screen situated at the main area of the complex. The man sitting infront of it kept his eyes on the screen.

"My Mom wants me to go shopping for her," Terry said.

"Don't expect me to pay," the man said.

Terry rolled his eyes. "The POINT is, how am I going to fit that in? Is there a chance I could cut short tonight's patrol."

The man remained silent.

Terry shook his head. "Figured."

"Now I know how Alfred felt," the man said.

Terry frowned.

"I tell you what, I'll sort out your grocery shopping, if you take TWO patrols tonight."

"What?"

The man looked at him. "Take it or leave it."

Terry held his head. "Fine. And let me guess, it's coming out of my pay?"

"I don't pay you."

"Don't I know it."

Terry walked away from the computer and went to a cabinet. There, in a glass casing, was a sleek black costume. He opened the cabinet and took it out.

"I want you to pay special attention to the corner at 5th and 2nd," the man said. "There have been some skirmishes there as you know, and I don't think they'll stop anytime soon."

"Is your job description, 'taskmaster'?" Terry asked. "Because you sure like giving orders."

The man smiled. "No, it says, 'Bruce Wayne, socialite'."

Terry finished putting on the costume. "Must be a typo."

"Anyway," Bruce said, "Can you take it a little easy tonight? You almost scratched the car last night."

"Oh, I'm sure that really set you back a lot," Terry groaned. He walked back up to Bruce. "You know, for a millionaire, you're a real skinflint."

"Just think that next time a bullet is stopped by your high Kevlar mail bodysuit," Bruce said flatly. He turned the chair around and stood up. "Just take it easy out there."

Terry raised an eyebrow. "Didn't know you cared."

"I was talking about the car."

Terry shook his head, as he pulled for the headpiece behind his neck. He then pulled it up over his head, and placed the cowl in place.

"Does your mother want sandwiches? And what have you had tonight?" Bruce asked.

Batman smiled. "Yeah, she'll want some. As for me, I'll get drive-thru."

/

The Batmobile sped through the Gotham skyscrapers. At one point it came within feet of clipping a side of a building as it leaned in close on the corner.

"You're doing that on purpose, aren't you?"

Batman smiled. "Just trying to see how much you do care about the car."

Bruce Wayne's voice came on over the commlink. "Cute."

Batman passed the main offices of Wayne/Powers. "OK, so I've kept my end of the bargain. I've done two complete sweeps of the city. Can I call it a night – or rather, early morning – now?"

"Just take one more run at 5th and 2nd," Bruce said. "I want to be sure nothing's happening there."

Batman groaned. He had hoped for an early night tonight. And that was before he was asked to go shopping for his mother. Now, he would be lucky to make it to school in the afternoon. "You better have got some good sandwiches," he said.

The Batmobile reached 5th and 2nd, and came to a halt above the block's tallest building. It hovered above, as Batman pointed the vehicle's exterior cameras down at the area. "See, nothing. Satisfied?"

Bruce remained silent.

"I'll take that as a grudging yes," Batman said. "I'm on my way ba…" Suddenly something on the screen caught his eye.

A figure, wrapped in a coat and hood, walked past the area. However, from the side of the screen appeared a gang of Jokerz. They quickly stopped in the figure's path and blocked her way. "Hold that," said Batman. "Time to save the day."

Batman opened the cockpit of the Batmobile, and activated his boot jets. He flew out of the car, and dove down to the street. As he neared, one of the Jokerz raised some kind of club in the air, about to strike the figure…

Batman landed on him with all of his weight. As the Joker groaned in pain on the ground, his companions ran to help. However, Batman leapt into the air and two of them crashed into eachother. He then threw out a batarang and took out another. However, as Batman landed on the ground, several more Jokerz appeared from the shadows.

"You ain't stoppin' our fun, Batfreak," a well-built one said. He swung a chain above his head.

"A word of advice," Batman said. He quickly threw a batarang high, and it caught one of the loops of the chain. It sent the chain – and the Joker – flying backwards through the air. He went crashing into the brick wall. Batman shook his head. "Never wrap a chain around your hand so much that you can't let go of it in time."

Another Joker crept behind him, but Batman could hear him coming, and quickly flicked his arm up and punched him in the face. Another Joker lunged, and managed to take Batman down. However, Batman rolled into the tackle, and kicked the Joker off of him. The Joker landed in a heap on the ground.

Batman stood up, thinking that they were all gone. However, a Joker managed to take him by surprise, and smacked him hard with a club. Batman went down hard, and shook his head, trying to clear his head.

The Joker went up to the figure in the coat. "I'm takin' my prize while I got the chance," he said. "Give us your credit, dreg." He put his hand on the figure's shoulder.

The figure looked at his hand, then looked up at him. It spoke, in a feminine voice.

"You stupid little man."

Suddenly, the figure grabbed the Joker by the shirt, and hoisted him up in one hand. It then threw him into the air, and he crashed into a wall.

The Jokerz who Batman had taken down got to their feet and looked at the figure. They were shocked.

The figure grabbed the front of its coat, and threw it off. Batman looked up and caught sight of it.

There stood the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

She was tall, with long, black hair. She was wearing red, blue and gold attire, and had silver bracelets on her wrists.

The Jokerz ran at her. "Get her!" However, the woman effortlessly kicked one of them in the stomach, and punched another in the face, sending him cartwheeling backwards.

The other Jokerz looked shocked, and turned to run off. However, the woman unhooked a lasso from her hip, and swung it over her head. She then threw it in the air, and it wrapped around the Jokerz, stopping them in their tracks. Before they knew it, they were yanked off their feet and pulled back towards the woman, who caught them all and pushed them into the wall. They all slid to the ground in a heap.

Batman stood up. Clearly, this woman could take care of herself. He watched as she put her lasso back on her hip, and pushed her hair behind her ears. She truly was gorgeous.

She looked at him, a puzzled look on her face. "Batman?"

"You pass the eye test," Batman said. "And you are?"

The woman frowned. "You're… a new Batman, aren't you?"

Batman blinked. He had gotten used to hearing that shortly after Bruce gave him the suit, but had been around so long that no one ever said it anymore. "You know of any other?"

"Where's the original Batman?" the woman asked. "Is he still alive?"

Batman was confused. Did she know Bruce in his prime? She looked far too young to be around during his time, even if she were just a baby.

He waited for Bruce to talk to him over the commlink. Perhaps he could shed some light on the subject.

But there was silence.

Of all the times… if he had taken Ace out to do his business…

"Why don't you tell me who YOU are?" Batman said. "You're clearly not the usual kind of girl who walks these streets."

The woman smiled, and went up to him. "Of course," she said. She stopped a foot away from him, and held out her hand.

"I'm Diana."

/

The side of the mountainside opened up, revealing a huge tunnel within. The sleek vehicle flew in, and the mountainside closed up behind it.

The Batmobile flew through the tunnel, then reached its landing pad. It slowly came to a stop, and lowered slowly to the ground. The lights went off, and the cockpit opened.

Batman stood up out of the Batmobile and looked around. There a few hundred feet away was the central computer, with his boss' chair infront of it. From his vantage point, Batman could not tell if he was sitting in it. However, he did notice that Ace was not sitting next to it.

Batman hopped off the vehicle and walked towards the chair. When he reached it, he removed his mask and ran his hand through his hair. No, Bruce was not there.

He looked around the Batcave, and noticed the doorway at the top of the staircase was open. Bruce must be up in the house.

After changing out of the costume, Terry walked up the stairs and walked through the grandfather clock passagway into the Manor. He looked around. The lights were out. What was going on?

Terry walked along the corridor, and noticed a light on at the far end. He went briskly up to it and opened the door to the room.

There, in the main lounge, sitting infront of the window, was Bruce.

He had his back to Terry. He appeared to just be sitting there, staring. Terry went up to him.

"Hey, what happened to you?" he asked. "Were you listening in earlier on? I could have done with some help. There was this girl… she said she knew you… knew the original Batman. But, she was only in her early thirties, max. How could she know you? Was she some loon? Did you know her?"

Bruce remained silent.

"Hellooooo, Earth to old guy," Terry said, waving his hand infront of Bruce's face. "You're being quiet, even for you."

Silence.

"Look, I thought we'd got past this secret stuff," Terry said, folding his arms. "If you don't know her, just say. But if you do…"

"Bruce."

Terry spun around at the sound of the female voice.

There, standing in the doorway, was her.

Diana.

Terry darted his head from her to Bruce, dumbstruck. How had she gotten into the house? How did she know TO come the house? How did she know Bruce? How did she know Batman? Terry had not been this confused since Commissioner Gordon turned up in the Batcave.

Diana looked nervous. "It's… good to see you again, Bruce."

Terry looked at Bruce. His gaze had not moved from the window.

Terry held his head. He tried to speak, but he was too confused to form words.

"Bruce…" Diana said quietly… "Aren't you going to say anything?"

Suddenly, Bruce slowly began to stand up out of his seat. He got to his feet, and leaned against his cane. Then, slowly, he turned around and faced Diana.

He stared at her.

Time stood still.

Then he spoke.

"I have nothing to say to you. You're not welcome here. Get out of my house. Now."

TO BE CONTINUED