Becky says:
If writing a story is really like giving birth, we were in labor for fifty-seven hours before finally shooting this baby out into the world. Was it worth it? Yeah, probably. I really love our Divergent Timeline here and I wanted the story to be told. But I'm digressing. What do you need to know to read this story? 1) We like Dick. (Ha, ha, ha.) 2) We like Terry, but, well, we DON'T like BB's glorification of him. We tried to make him more realistic--ie a kid with a lot of spunk, earning his place in this twisted little family, but not Super Wonderful Genius Ohmigodisn'thesocute!!! Boy. 3) This story takes place after the first season finale--which is when we started writing it. After that, all bets are off. 4) Yes we really do have REASONS for the characters acting like they are. 5) Yes, there will be more. When? Dude, don't ask. I'll just start crying again.
Amanda says:
This story was written - or, painfully wrenched from our psyches, whatever - from August 1999 through June 2000. Because of that timing, we decided to include only the 'canon' that had been revealed up through the first season of Batman Beyond. Which means that, yes, dammit, to our chagrin, that little revelation from 'A Touch of Curare' had to go in there, too. (Amanda says: Puppy love, my ass! *ahem*) We kept some stuff from season 2 - like Max - because we liked it. Our inspirations for writing this were threefold: 1)"Gee, this is cool and all, but, uh, where's Dick?" 2)"Heeeeey... I just had a freaky idea. What if...?" 3)"Puppy love, MY ASS!!!" Okay, that third one didn't inspire this story so much, but I hold grudges. Anyway, we don't like to call this an 'Alternate Universe' because that always seems to connote some radically different set of circumstances, like the South won the Civil War, or hamsters rule the earth, or something like that. We decided to call this a 'divergent timeline' because that's what our timeline did. And then Dini had to go and finally give us the retcon, but by the time 'Return of the Joker' was on its way, we were in too deep, man. So our timeline also 'diverges' in the past. And you know what? Props to Dini, dude, but we like our retcon better. Cuz, you know... Dick. Anyway, call it what you will, an AU, a 'What if?', a hell of a lot of work, here it is, and it's managed to assert its presence in our lives so thoroughly that we have sequels planned. The timeline marches on. ...Eventually. We swear. As always, comments will be given due consideration. Questions will be answered to the best of our ability, unless they are stupid. Flames will be taken personally and crush our fragile spirits. Lavish praise will be printed out, laminated, and placed under our pillows at night.