Chapter 1 – Scene 1 – Gotham City

In the year 2044 AD Gotham City, it has been 5 years since Terry McGinnis took up the mantle of Gotham City's new Batman and has been mentored by none other than the original Batman himself Bruce Wayne. Recently on the day that Terry wanted to propose to his long time girlfriend Dana Tan, he discovers that he is none other than Bruce Wayne's biological son. Discovered through elderly Amanda Waller's desire to create a new Batman, by using Bruce's DNA in place of the father who raised him's DNA, under the heavy belief that the world will always need a Batman. On a rainy day, Gotham's most prominent figure is dead. Having been assassinated by an unknown assailant and found dead in his own home of Wayne Manor, Bruce Wayne's death shocks the world as it was thought that nothing could kill Wayne even those who knew him as Batman in his younger days. As the priest reads passages from the Bible as they lowered Wayne's casket, Terry is overcome with guilt believing blaming himself for his father's death. The world is left to believe that Wayne died in his sleep as Terry reported a couple days prior.

"Terry. There's nothing you could have done." Dana tries to console her fiancée as he pulls away from her showing he wanted to be alone as everyone who knew him surrounds Bruce's casket including an elderly Dick Grayson AKA Nightwing along with his wife the former superhero and Teen Titan Starfire who's gorgeous flaming colored red hair is now faded with age along. She stands there, beside her husband, in a purple dress that's reminiscent to her superhero outfit in the days of her youth. Their son who has become Bludhaven's newest Nightwing since before Terry was even Batman as of for the last 15 years. Raven, who has barely aged a day due to her demon blood, also stands by along with the other Teen Titan members to show their respects to the man they know as Batman.

"Terry…" Dana says under her breath seeing her fiancée going through this pain. Commissioner Barbara Gordon goes up to Dana seeing her trying to help but to no avail.

"Dana, leave him alone. This is the second father he has lost. I can imagine what he must be going through." She said in memory of when her father Jim Gordon died. As the casket is lowered into the grave, Dick Grayson and Tim Drake both began picking up dirt to start the burial before the shovels of dirt is placed on top. Terry walks away from the memorial service trying to hide the tears from his eyes before muttering to himself. "I swear to you, old man! I will avenge your death" before leaving the service entirely to Wayne Manor to suit up as Batman once again to search out for the one who killed Bruce Wayne.

3 Days Later, Gotham City

"Hello! Terry! Please pick up! I know you're still upset over Mr. Wayne's death but please let me help you through this! I hope you're not doing anything reckless. Sighs….Please call me back, I'm worried. I love you." BEEP! The answering machine at Wayne Manor says after Dana had called for the possibly the 100 time since Terry left abruptly from the memorial service. Meanwhile, Terry's been out in Gotham City day and night searching for Wayne's would-be-killer refusing to pick up any of Dana's calls. Terry had been terrorizing the streets of Gotham beating criminals who might have a link to this. He first started on the Royal Flush Gang before moving on to Shriek and then to Curare. Batman pins down Curare in a fashion that wasn't like him at all completely disarming her and beating her to a bloody pulp.

"Who hired you!? I swear I will tear you limb from limb if you don't tell me who hired you to kill Bruce Wayne as you're one of the only few who knew he was the original Batman!" Terry demanded as he had her pinned to the steel and concrete rooftop of a building with an electro-cuffs holding her wrists and ankles to the floor. She spits up blood breathing deeply.

"I have no idea what you're talking about! As I would never sink so low as to kill the original Batman himself! He was a man of honor!" She told him as she laid there helpless to his fury.

"LIES!" Terry yelled out as he shocked her again making her scream in agony before a couple of bat-a-rang flies out of no where hitting the cuffs on Curare releasing her and one hitting Batman in the face knocking him off her. Curare runs off away from him not sure what the hell just happened but was grateful that it did. Suddenly a voice booms over Terry as he looks around to who hit him.

"You're supposed to be the new Batman!? You dishonor what he has represented for this city when you go off on wild goose chase seeking vengeance! You are a disgrace and don't deserve the honor to call yourself Batman, McGinnis!"

Terry heard as he looked around himself before looking up at a taller building directly next to the one he is standing on. The man was tall, Roughly around 6'2 and was built like Wayne in his prime as Terry recalled from photos he had seen of Bruce during his younger days. He wore a mask similar to Nightwing's but had a black slicked back spiky hairstyle similar to those from the League of Shadows. He wore a black leather coat, what looked to be a tight black shinobi pants, a black pair of combat boots of the 21st century styling, a pair of black fingerless gloves and what looks like a dark blue shirt with a black bat symbol that's remarkably similar to Batman's logo on one of his older bat suits that's in the bat cave.

"Who the hell are you? And what gives you the right to justify if I am worthy to be Batman?! I AM BATMAN!" Terry said to the man before throwing a few bat-a-rangs at him as the man easily cut them in half in a flash with a sword that looks like a shinobi's ninja blade.

"You got a lot to learn, little Brother…" He said under his breath before he threw a few bat-a-rangs himself at Terry. The man's bat-a-rangs were more in the styling of Batman's classic bat-a-rangs and were sharp as knives. Terry tried to fly off to dodge them with ease but the man threw another couple more at him directly hitting the bat suit's jets on his feet causing one to malfunction and explode causing him to fly into a wall nearby. As he laid there trying to keep himself conscious, the man walks to him sighing to himself. "You're reckless, McGinnis…." He said to him before Terry passed out from the combination of exhaustion and being beaten down by this mysterious man.

Bat Cave, an Hour Later

After his brief fight with the mysterious man, the man had brought Terry to the Bat Cave letting him lay on the table behind him as he was working on the Bat Cave's computer searching through files and databases as numerous faces of criminals and newer super villains came up on the screen. Terry woke up surprised that he was back at the Bat Cave and this stranger was working on the computer.

"Huh? HEY! How'd the hell you get in here!? No one knows of the Bat Cave except a select few!" Terry demanded as he got up realizing his mask was off and in the chair nearby.

"I see you're awake. I guess I am one those few." The man said to him as he turned the computer chair around as he was unmasked with a face remarkably a spitting image of Bruce Wayne himself but with deep green eyes. "Damn you are just like Father. So territorial and possessive." The man said to him commenting on Terry's attitude towards him. Before long, Barbara Gordon came downstairs with a few glasses of tea for them but one of them being green tea for the mystery man.

"You're lucky I called Damian, Terry! Your fiancée is worried sick about you and what's worse is that you haven't eaten or slept in days given by your appearance!" Barbara reprimanded before she continued. "Damian here was the only one who could track you down as not even the new Nightwing, Dick's son, isn't as strong as you are. What were you thinking rampaging all over Gotham like that? That was not the way to deal with things, McGinnis. Bruce, I mean, your father taught you better when you made you Batman!"

Terry grunted under his breath without saying a word reverting back to punk ass kid persona that he was before his first father died as he listened to Barbara's scolding words.

"So who is this Damian? And why does he preach about my worth being Batman!? He insults me just for assuming as he doesn't know who and what I have fought over the last 5 years!" Terry said with a spiteful attitude. Barbara looked at McGinnis with a stern look but was forgiving of his attitude having known him for the last 5 years or so since Bruce took him under his wing.

"Damian is Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghoul's son. He was the second Robin before Tim Drake took over. And he knows the worth of being Batman more than anyone else other than Bruce himself and, so far since your Father's death, you have lost all that made you worthy of carry that mantle. You've let vengeance consume you and if I didn't have Damian look for you, you would have either dropped dead out of pure exhaustion or worse!"

"So he's supposed to be like my big brother? What is he now? 40 years old? You're a bit old yourself, Damian, to be Batman if you think you're a better candidate."

Damian ignored the insulting attitude as he looked at his brother as given by his training by both his father Batman and his grandfather Ras al Ghoul in the League of Shadows.

"At this moment I am the better one suited for the job. And no I am not 40 years old. I'm still in my 30s. You're still too much of a child. When I was your age, I was one of the world's greatest warriors. You got a long way to go to prove that you can handle being the Bat!" Terry didn't say much in comment as it was probably much deserved as he has been catching hell from both Damian and the Commissioner.

"So what happened to you all these years? Did the old man run you off too or something?" Terry ask assuming the reason why he hasn't heard about Damian or anything regarding him was because there must have been some bad blood between them which isn't surprising given how Barbara and Dick and Tim have all left him in the past.

"As you know I am Talia's son and the eldest son of Batman. After a few years when I turned 15, I decided to rejoin my mother Talia in assisting her in rebuilding the League of Shadows after Deathstroke's attack on Nanda Parbat. Little does father know, Mother managed to barely resurrect grandfather with the Lazarus Pit. From then on, grandfather kept his existence a secret making father believe that he was still dead at the hands of Deathstoke. From then on you can guess what became of him since you fought him along side father a few years ago. I left the League have learning what grandfather had done to mother in his greed to remain immortal as the Lazarus Pit began to reject healing his body and keeping his body young. I've been here and there ever since. Traveling the world and helping Gotham when I am needed or even the Justice League." Damian sighed as he recalled the story before continuing on. "Mother loved father very much. Often affectionately referring him as her "beloved". After Deathstroke's death off the coast of Scotland, they married in secret before she left off to rebuild the League." He said finishing his story as he looked at the golden band in his hand that had been Talia's wedding ring when she married Bruce. Barbara was kinda surprised that Bruce married Talia as she even never heard of the wedding. She had always wondered where Bruce's ring came from during her time as Batgirl.

"Well he is now with Talia wherever lies on the other side." Barbara commented before sighing to herself before her cell phone went off as the caller ID showed to be her husband and she walked away from them. Terry went upstairs to take some rest properly after listening to Damian as he felt he didn't have much energy to speak anymore as Damian resumed his research into finding Bruce's killer himself on the computers.

End of Scene