I haven't been very involved in the BB community in quite some time… as those of you who know me or have read my fanfiction know all too well. I am working on more songshots for IBtL, but I was just distracted when I saw RotJ on Cartoon Network and nearly had a heart attack. Thank God for Tivo, let me tell you. :)
So, until those of you who still love me, despite the fact that I can never finish anything I start, see something for IBtL, you'll have to settle for this little… something.
$4$
It feels like something got in the way
And maybe I had something to do with it
There's not much that I can say
But there sure is something I got to prove to you
- "Give It to Me" by 3 Doors Down
Terry McGinnis was not Bruce Wayne. He was not Dick Grayson. He was not Tim Drake. He was not Barbra Gordon.
He was Batman, but he was not the Batman.
Terry McGinnis was nothing like anything Gotham had ever faced against or wholly supported. He liked it that way.
That didn't mean there weren't days when he wondered why he pretended to be Batman at all. He was better off starting fresh, becoming an entirely new entity, not just a fake Batman.
Sometimes he was able to work his disparity between Wayne to his advantage. The Joker- The Joker operating in Tim Drake's body- had never expected Batman to have a sense of humor, much less fight dirty. He liked to talk, like to distract bad guys and piss off villains with his wit and never-ending quips.
He met Wonder Woman once- the original one, Diana. She didn't like him at first. She assumed what everyone else who knew the Batman personally assumed. Terry was a cheap copy, a little boy playing dress up. That is, until he stopped Mad Stan from blowing up a monorail full of innocent bystanders in Metropolis. Superman was away in Blüdhaven, helping out the new Nightwing and the rest of the Justice League were on various trips around the world, leaving Batman and Diana. She changed her tune pretty fast when she saw him throw himself in front of a family about to get blown sky high by one of Stan's hand grenades.
Terry was not the Batman. He knew that, and would always know that. He did not rely solely on his on himself, did not prefer to work alone, did not encourage sidekicks. Max knew that.
Maxine Gibson was his best friend, and the only person other than Wayne and Ace to know his secret identity. She joked sometimes about becoming Batgirl, or sneaking into the Batcave, but he would die before he let her become another sidekick. He knew what this job did to the sidekicks. He knew what this job did to Batman. He cared about her too much to let her become yet another victim.
Wayne never stopped any of his sidekicks. He may not always have approved, but never once did he stop them from taking on their individual mantles. The only person he ever stopped was Terry, first when he found out about the Batman and stole it to avenge his father's untimely death, and later on when the Joker-copy came back. Even then, that didn't stop Terry from plowing through and doing what he wanted to, anyway.
Terry wasn't like that. He saw what Batman did to people- to the people that cared the most- and he wasn't going to let that same fate fall to the ones he cared the most.
That was what set him apart from the Batman. They say hindsight is 20-20, and he never truly appreciated that saying until after he became Batman. He saw all the things Wayne did wrong, and saw all the reasons why his ex-sidekicks hated him so much. He knew he couldn't let that happen, not again.
Max didn't understand that, not yet. She would. She was his best friend. She was going to stick around for a while, even if everyone else didn't, even after Wayne eventually died. He was going to eventually, even if, despite all appearances, it seemed like it was never going to happen.
Max would meet the old sidekicks at some point. She'd met the Gordon once or twice already, but she wasn't yet aware the one and only Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department was actually the one and only Batgirl. If and when she ever met Dick Grayson, she'd understand why he always got so angry whenever she mentioned the S-word.
The other Supers and Vigilantes thought he was too new, too reckless, and too trigger-happy. The older Supers and Vigilantes thought he was too young, too inexperienced, and too different. Villains didn't take him seriously, half the time. Neither did the press.
But the longer he was Batman, the less he cared.
Terry McGinnis was not the Batman. He was Batman.
He wouldn't have it any other way.
$4$
This is just sad. This isn't even a oneshot. This is less than 1,000 words. From a girl who just posted something that was 5,000-something words, this might as well be a vignette.
It's a slight Terry/Max, more than I had initially intended.
I like it though, considering I wrote it in only a half-hour. I miss writing Terry, and I miss this community. I'll probably get around to posting some more BB stuff, I just need to find the time to sit down and write about it.