Good evening MistFits!

Those of you are members of my Facebook group have known about what I'm dubbing the NEW SEASON, but those of you readers who don't follow my group DON'T know so I'm going to take a moment to break it down. I'm tired of starting stories and posting them and never getting the chance to update them frequently. I already have a TON of stories already ongoing because of that. So, I've decided that any new story that I begin will not be updated until it is either fully completed on my computer, or at least half way so. Why? Because this way I can begin doing something amazing.

WEEKLY. UPDATES. Yes, you read that right. I'm going to start weekly updating my NEW stories. So where do the old stories fit in? Well, since I'll have the new fics either fully completed or halfway, that gives me a chance to spend more time on my current ongoing stories that havent been updated in forever. Also, I always stretch myself thin when it comes to having multiple stories up so to make life easier, it is my intention now to try and work on only one to two current stories at a time and FINISH them before moving on.

As it is right now, all of my current ongoing stories are on the back burner so I can finish one of my most popular fics: THE ENEMY'S HEART (Alien vs Predator/Scar and Lex). As it's projected now, TEH has about another 3-4 chapters left before completion. I have a ton of new fic ideas laid out for the New Season, and I want to get TEH wrapped up so I can get to working on the sequel. I'm also hoping to do some "what if" stories for another Batman Beyond story you all seemed to like, QUEEN KOBRA. These stories may consist of Max's life on the run as the leader of Kobra, raising her daughter, OR if Zander hadn't died! IF ZANDER HADN'T DIED?! THEY'D STILL BE MARRIED! SHE'D STILL BE EVIL! AHHHHHH!

Anyways, here is my newest fic. Look out for updates every Monday. If something comes up and I can't update, you will be informed via an uploaded commentary chapter. Until next time!

Pipe Bomb

One: TERROR

A chocolate brown hand reached up and whipped through the pink hair of its owner dramatically in exhaustion. "Ugh! Seriously, I'm pegged…" groaned out Max Gibson, the curvaceous and beautiful brain of Hamilton Hill High, as she walked down the street towards her apartment building. Walking diligently at her side was the girl's best friend – none other than the vigilante Bat himself – Terrence McGinnis. It was a cool, autumn day, and the two friends relished in the subtle silence of her block. While it was still often times busy, it was nowhere near as noisy or boisterous as further in towards downtown Gotham. The residents had petitioned to make the street a little more inviting, somehow managing to do something most other residential spots in Gotham had failed to…they got an influx of trees put in. While it was definitely strange to have so much greenery about the street, Max's favorite season was the fall; and having the trees turning their beautiful shades of reds, oranges, browns, yellows, golds, purples and more, quite frankly took her breath away.

McGinnis studied his best friend with a crooked smirk as she yawned and stretched her arms up above her head. "Did you really have to go in early and stay late to fix HaHFS?" Hamilton Hill Faculty System – known as HaHFS – had apparently been giving the faculty some problems for the past couple of days. The company responsible for running and maintaining the system was incapable of coming to assess and make any repairs until the following week, and the staff was desperate to access their information – student and personal. Of course Max had pointed out the stupidity and recklessness of keeping everything on one sole database, but that hadn't been none of her business…until yesterday after school when she'd been approached by the principal.

Max sighed, waving to a group of elderly residents sitting at a small park like area that had been added right across the street from her apartment complex. The block definitely still had its rough and callous corners, but with most of the younger residents gone or locked up and the remnant majority being the elderly and families with young children, all had been done to brighten up the place – maybe even attract some new residents. So far, it was working. Fact of the matter was ever since the long missing Batman's resurgence and rising victories against the city's criminal campaigns, Gotham obtained a bright ray of hope once again. Max loved that – and she loved Terry even more for being the source of that hope.

"You kiddin', McGinnis?" questioned the gamer girl incredulously as the pair turned inside of her complex and headed towards the elevators. "Principal Nakamura personally asked me to get the system up and running until the company could come and officially fix the problem." Max added with a scoff of playful cockiness, directing a mischievous gaze at McGinnis who smiled all knowingly, "As if they'll need to once I'm done!" They both laughed. "Anyways, he offered a homework free week. And if I didn't-," continued Max with a disgusted shiver, "-I'd be spending every Saturday for the next two months in detention. It was absolute blackmail! I'd be fool either way. So I figured missing out on a few hours of sleep and getting home late was a better punishment." Nakamura may have been an ass and total dreg – but he knew how to get his students motivated; even cruelly so.

Terry chuckled, the elevator closing on them and their ascent beginning. "Yeah, well," started the raven haired heartthrob, knowing she was right, "thanks for inviting me along to 'help' you fix the system."

Max playfully nudged his arm. "I thought it would only be fair to share the gift I was blessed with, with someone subdued with your…schedule. You could use a break from worrying about balancing, well, your entire life…"

McGinnis snorted, understanding completely what the brain was insinuating. With all the work McGinnis had to do at home, for Wayne, and put in on the streets of Gotham as its newest version of the Caped Crusader, a week without homework was just the weight lift the kid needed off his shoulders. Of course, Terry was absolutely no help to Gibson whatsoever in purging the HaHFS system. If anything, he just sat on a nearby desk handing the divinely favored melanin Queen whatever materials she needed (most of which he couldn't even recognize, causing her to step in and get them herself). By the time they'd finished, nearly three hours passed before the kids could leave. Still, even though both teens were mentally worn out, they still had plans and had no intention of canceling: a night on the town at the VRROOM! Vid games, pizza, and music – for them, there was nothing better.

The elevator reached its desired floor and the couple of teens made their way for the apartment. Max had been positive that Terry would want to reschedule their playdate for another time given the circumstances, but McGinnis was desperate to indulge in this rare moment of peace while it lasted; plus he'd been promising Max some recreation for a while now – and the lad hated breaking his promises. Besides, his best friend deserved some fun too, and Terry wanted nothing more than to keep that infectious, beautiful smile on her face.

Max scanned her access card and the door unlocked, sliding open with a barely audible *whoosh*. "You sure you're okay with this, Ter?" asked Max with a twinge of guilt in her voice. "I'm sure you'd much rather spend this time catching up on sleep-."

"Max, stop," whined Terry with exasperation. "We've been over this all the way here. And seeing as how my bike is getting repairs and we had to transit and walk – it's been a long conversation."

Gibson tossed her backpack on the kitchen counter and bit her lip. "I know, I know," she chimed in before holding herself tight in that vulnerable way of hers. "It's just. I don't want to be a burden or anything…You do so much important shiz. Sometimes I feel like I'm just making things harder on you. I don't want to get in the way-."

She didn't have time to finish. As if he'd even let her. Before the pink haired dame could even process the rest of the words to complete the sentence, Terry was standing in front of her – a hand extended and gently rubbing his best friend's arm. "Max. Don't." Things had been hard on the youngest Gibson over the past couple of months. Her sister got a second apartment in Neo-Marina, California where she spent most of her time, so Max was missing her elder sibling a little more than usual. Her mom was remarrying some guy half her age that was old enough to be an older brother rather than a stepfather – so naturally Maxine was beyond unhappy with that development, and things between the mother and daughter were dangerously strained. And the icing on the cake? Her father had recently been diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer, and things weren't exactly looking the best for the Gibson father. Fact of the matter was, all of this unfolding drama had Max second guessing herself quite often. She hardly ever left the house. Her sister hardly ever called because life kept her busy, and when her mother did – Max didn't want to answer the phone because the conversation always went left. Max visited her father so much, that he made her promise not to come visit for a couple weeks out of concern for his daughter's mental and emotional wellbeing; and even though she swore, not being able to do so hurt the teen a lot. Even still, through it all the teen did everything possible to remain "strong" – or at least keep up the appearance that she was. Terry beat himself up constantly; he had been so busy with everything else that he couldn't even tell for the longest time that his best friend had been going through hell. He felt as if he'd let her down.

He had.

He wasn't going to continue that.

Terry cocked his head to the side, matching his winter blue eyes with her own to help the girl grasp how serious he was. "Max, there's nothing in this world I'd rather do than spend time with you," McGinnis assured her, gently pulling his Oracle into his large chest for a comforting embrace.

Max sighed. "…Thanks, Ter…" Her arms instinctively tied themselves about the boy's back, and they remained thus for what felt like an eternity.

Max rotated her head, burying her face completely into his shirt as she softly murmured: "I love you…" And then suddenly, a charge of electricity surged through McGinnis's chest, sending his heartbeat skyrocketing out of control. Flutters overtook the teen's stomach as he bit his lip and pulled back a little to look at her face. Shit. Not again.

This had been happening to McGinnis for a while now ever since after telling Max the time he revealed his face to a kid to save his life, and the events of Max's kidnapping by KOBRA right after that. Terry always was aware of the shway connection that developed and strengthened every single day between he and Max due to his secret, but somewhere along the way that connection morphed and transformed into something Terrence hadn't noticed until recently – and still couldn't quite get a handle on. It became all the more worse the moment he realized that these feelings had been present…all along. The problem was now they were stronger than before. Often times the vigilante found himself thinking about Max and looking at her in a completely different light, and the more time they spent together, touched each other, it became harder to ignore. It was absolutely crazy…wasn't it?

Max blinked, her face growing red from the way he was staring at her. One of his palms rested on the small of her back, and the female's spine practically flew out of place at the shiver that raced down to her feet…adding a strange pressure elsewhere between her legs. Max always had a crush on Terry. Always. But no one ever really seemed to notice. After all, both teens could be hella flirty, and they both were the kind of people who exercised physical contact as a means of bonding (i.e. hugging, holding hands, cuddling). For all Max and anyone else knew, their reactions together was just another day of the week. And yet for nearly a year, Gibson swore that there was now something more in their banter and touches; especially after Dana and Terry broke up a while back because Tan and her family were moving to China for her father's promotion at his job. Dana had even been eyeing a prestigious college there and knew she didn't want to risk missing such an opportunity to come back here. The former couple had said if they were meant to be, they'd find their way back to each other somehow…

"Ummm," Max coughed, taking a step back and swiping a piece of her neon pink hair out from her eyes. "I have to go in my room and get something. Then we can head on, okay?"

McGinnis took a step back and shoved his hands into his pockets to resist the urge of touching her again. "Okay, I'll just wait at the door." He could feel his hands clawing at the fabric in an attempt to be set free from their temporary prison and taste the freedom of Max's curves.

The Brain turned around and headed down the hall for her room, only stopping for a moment to take a deep breath; placing a hand on her chest in an attempt to steady her galloping heartbeat. "Breathe, girl!" she whispered, chastising her emotions and trying to bring them in line. Finally calming down, Max opened up the door to the closet, humming quietly to herself, and eyed the brown leather jacket hanging up inside. "I'm just going to change real quick!" she hollered into the living room.

"Awww c'mon, Max! You don't have to change," called back Terry with a shake of the head.

Max rolled her eyes. "YOU'RE not the one who scuba dived straight into an ocean of dust under that desk!" She kicked off her pants and top, slipping on a pair of tan cargo pants and brown turtleneck crop top with exposed shoulders hanging right at the front of the closet within seconds. Reaching down and grabbing a pair of brown combat boots, Gibson quickly slipped them on one at time while hopping towards the dresser to give herself a spritz of fragrance and touch up her lipstick.

But once her hand touched the dresser and her gaze focused, Max froze. She hadn't noticed it at first when she entered the room, but now her attention had been forced to it. Her dresser had been completely trashed. Her lipsticks and glosses, spare foundation, lotion, jewelry, and more, had been strewn across the top messily and covered in some kind of web spray. Gibson's brown eyes filled with confusion as they looked up at the red writing on the mirror that read: "HA HA HAHA HA! WHO'S SECOND PLACE NOW?!"

Just then, a soft beeping sound reverberated from within the closet and Max turned slowly. "Terry?"

Hearing something wrong in her voice, McGinnis rushed back to find concern covering his best friend's countenance, and her dresser looking like a hurricane had hit it. "Max! Are you okay?"

She ignored his question, and instead asked one of her own. "Terry? What's that sound?"

McGinnis turned where she was facing towards the closet then… just then he registered the strange beeping. Cautiously he approached the closet, pulling back the clothes to reveal an unlocked and partially open black box. Taped on the wall above the box was a small note with a smiley face drawn on it. Swallowing the rising bile in his throat, McGinnis opened the note with one hand, and the box simultaneously with the other. The beeping sound sped up, and Terry dropped the note with a horrified gasp before turning on his feet with a holler and heading straight for Max just as the eerie beep held out into a single note. The inside of the paper had a skull drawn on it…a skull with pink hair. And the words? The words on the inside had read: "BOOM".

"Terry, what?!" cried out Max as McGinnis never stopped running, lowered his shoulders a bit, and slammed right into Gibson's stomach, snatching away the girl's very breath.

"BOMB, MAX!" he yelled.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Max could feel the force of Terry plowing into her stomach as her feet went out from under her and her body became captive to him. She was up in his arms, digging her nails into his shoulder as she watched the closet with a maddened expression. He never stopped moving, and Gibson understood completely why. There was no time to head out the way they came. There was only one way left out now…

The beeping suddenly cut off. There was a short click, and Max watched in horror as an explosion of smoke followed by fire was destructively birthed out of her closet and came rushing straight towards them. The heat began to catch up as Max felt her face grow overwhelmingly hot. "TERRY!" she screamed in an ungodly manner, sure that they wouldn't escape the flames soon enough. McGinnis squeezed her tight, grit his teeth, and leaped full force into the glass of the bedroom window. The shards of glass cut at his body and flesh as he felt hot liquid rushing from out of various parts of his and Max's body from their cuts. They fell over the ledge just as the fire and smoke darted out of the entire apartment. As the flames fell back and the smoke oozed from the floor like a disease, Max and Terry plummeted from the level towards the ground. Max's hand extended for what remained of her home before gripping tight to the body of her best friend, closing her eyes, and welcoming the harsh reality of the concrete below…and death.

TO BE CONTINUED…