A/N: This is the first of a 2-part story, which takes place during multiple time lines. The title is subject to change but for now it's staying as it is. It was the first thing that came to mind. There are going to probably be some pronunciation guides along the way. First off is the character Aré Oni. I love this guy to death.
Aré ( are-ay Pronounced like the last part of Curaré. His first name was originally intended to be the middle name for another character in a different fic, but it just kinda stuck to him.) (To see what he looks like, there's a link in my profile to him. He's a little disproportioned but you get the idea.)
Oni ( oh-knee Yeah sure, that works. And it actually does mean Demon in Japanese, a language that I will reference many times throughout this story and its counterpart.)
Chapter One: New Kid
Now: During the Events of Batman Beyond
The night had been long, and nothing was going on. Absolutely NOTHING! Terry was having a hard time keeping his eyes open as he patrolled Gotham. It was strange how quiet the city was that night. He'd been patrolling for the last four hours and there hadn't been so much as a mugging. "Care if we call it a night?" He asked Bruce.
"Tired already?" Came Bruce's voice over the radio.
"Hey, I'm only working on about two hours sleep a night here. Besides, there's nothing going on in the city tonight and I think they can survive one night without Batman." He said.
Bruce sighed over the radio. Hadn't they had this conversation before? "And it's that 'one night' that the psychopaths look for."
Under his mask, Terry rolled his eyes. Damn, still didn't work. So much for an early night, or sleep for that matter. He sighed and continued though the streets. He knew when he agreed to be Batman that a good night's sleep was going to become a luxury that was few and far between. But he could still hope right? Well let's try this then, "Call it quits in an hour?" No reply came over the radio. "Fine, but if I have to repeat my junior year it's your fault."
"Just do one more sweep of the city then come home."
Well he just might get a decent night sleep after all. After making the final sweep he pointed the Batmobile towards Wayne Manor and headed home. He looked at the clock, 10:45. He just might get home before midnight after all. One more day of school then a three day weekend. Not that he was going to tell Wayne that.
Terry got home around 11:20 and pulled out his computer to study, he was asleep before it finished booting.
What is that god awful noise? Terry thought behind closed eyelids. Try as he might to tune it out the buzzing just wouldn't go away. Slowly he opened an eye and glanced at his evil alarm clock. Okay, it's only 7:45... Wait a second... Oh crap! School! I'm gonna be late! Terry shot out of bed, got ready, grabbed his stuff and just about flew to the high school.
Miraculously he made it with just minutes to spare. He quickly made his way to his seat and only hoped he would somehow be able to pass the test. As the last stragglers made their way to their seats Mr. Carson made his way to the front of the class room and waited for the room to quiet down a bit. A young man of about seventeen, maybe eighteen, years of age had followed him into the room. After a few moments Carson tapped on the desk and got everyone's attention.
"Good morning class," he began, "before we begin class today I would like to introduce you all to a new student." He gestured to the boy standing next to him. "This is Aré Oni. He has just moved here from Metropolis and will be joining our class from now on."
Glancing around the room Terry noticed just about all the girls in the room had begun to swoon over the new student. He had to admit the guy wasn't lacking in the looks department. His most striking features were his silver hair and eyes. He wore a long white trench coat that, when closed, would hug his chest and flow out from the bottom. It also would appear black in some areas, depending on how he was turned. His leather pants and boots were black and his navy blue shirt stopped at about mid chest. Oh yeah, this guy was going to be interesting.
"Aré Oni? What kind of name is that?" Terry heard Nelson ask from behind him.
Aré smiled and looked at Nelson. "A very interesting one. It means 'immortal demon.' A name I wear very proudly." He said.
"Well, it's about time we began class." Mr. Carson said. "You can have a seat by Mr. McGinnis." He said pointing to Terry. "Oh and McGinnis," Carson said almost as an afterthought. "Since Aré appears to be in all of your classes, you're going to be his guide through school today."
This should be fun. Terry thought.
Aré made his way to his seat. "A pleasure to meet you…" Aré began, giving the hint he never got Terry's name.
"Terry." He offered. The two shook hands and got ready for class.
If the first few classes had been interesting then lunch was amazing. It seemed to Terry that just about everywhere he and Aré went, scores of women followed them. Chelsea and a bunch of other girls around her were trying to get Aré's attention. The poor guy's not gonna make it out of this room alive. Terry thought. He fought his way out of the line and got to the table Dana and Max were at. He sat down and breathed a sigh of relief. Only half a day left of school and he'd be able to get out of this circus.
"What's with all the girls?" Terry asked his two female friends. "I get the guy's good looking but, geez."
Max looked at Terry and smiled. "Are you kidding? The guy's practically sex on a stick." She said.
Both Terry and Dana gaped at her. Dana then got a sly look on her face. "Now that you mention it I guess I can't argue. I know just about every girl in here is thinking of about a million evil things to do to him." She said.
"Dana!" Terry said, shocked. That was not something he wanted to hear, let alone imagine. What made it worse was that it came from his girlfriend.
The two girls laughed. "Are you jealous Terry?" Max asked.
"What's to be jealous over? I already have the best woman around." He said to Dana.
"Scored points with that one." Max whispered to Dana.
"Uh huh." Dana whispered back. "Besides," she said in a normal voice, "it looks like popularity is going to follow him."
They watched as Aré got out of line and looked around the lunch room, looking for a place to sit. The obvious choice of the popular table was open to him but to their surprise Aré skipped the popular table and moved towards them. "Got room for one more?" Aré asked, a shy smile on his face.
"Yeah, sure." Terry said.
"Thanks." Aré said sitting down.
Out of the corner of his eye, Terry saw multiple looks of disappointment coming from the girls surrounding their table. "You get this a lot?" He asked Aré.
A little color entered Aré's cheeks as he nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. Bugs the hell outta me." Aré said with a smile. "But, the sea of raging hormones does eventually ebb."
"So, the word is you're from Metropolis." Max said leaning towards Aré. "Isn't that the Man of Steel's base of operations? Did you ever meet him?"
Aré shrugged. "I saw him a couple times. To be honest I was only in Metropolis for a few months. I originally came from New York City. And before that Los Angeles and San Francisco, England, China, Japan. The list goes on and on."
"Wow you really got around."
"Tell me about it. But anyway, back to your original question. I did see Superman while I was in Metropolis. The guy's schway and all but personally I think the Batman is even better."
Max and Terry exchanged a quick glance. That just earned him some bonus points in Terry's book. Max thought. "Why do you say that?" She asked. If only to see what Terry's reaction was going to be.
Terry's ears had perked up at the mention of Batman but he kept all thoughts to himself. He did, however, wonder what this guy thought about his alter ego.
"Are you kidding?" Aré asked with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, think about it. He's the only, quote unquote, superhero without any kind of superpower to call his own. The guy's just a regular human being and he's got to rely on his wits and brute strength to outsmart his opponents. And he's the only one to ever really get the drop on Superman. And from what I've heard about Superman, that doesn't happen very often."
"Good point." Terry put in.
"That's a nice stone." Dana suddenly put in, referring to the emerald choker hanging from Aré's neck.
"Thanks." He said, his voice a little sad. "It belonged to my sister before she died. I wear it so that I can always keep a part of her close by."
"I'm sorry." Dana said.
Aré shook his head. "Don't be. She died a long time ago." Aré then changed the subject. "Perhaps you all would like to come to my place tonight. I could give you the fifty-cent tour of my humble abode."
"That would be great." Max put in.
"I'd like to, but I can't. Mr. Wayne's expecting me right after school." Terry said.
"Wayne?" Aré asked. "As in, Bruce Wayne?" Terry nodded. "You work for Bruce Wayne? How'd you land a job like that?"
Terry sighed inwardly. The last time someone had asked him that he'd ended up hypnotized and had trashed Wayne's house. He was grateful when the bell rang, indicating lunch had ended. "I'll tell you some other time." He said.
"You better." Aré said. "It seems like it'd be an interesting story.
You don't know the half of it. Terry thought. He briefly pictured himself telling Aré the truth. Thing is, I was running from a bunch of Jokerz and practically ran the guy over. We fought them off, I found the Batcave, then my father was murdered, I went back and stole the Batsuit and I'm now jumping across rooftops at night. Why you might ask? Because I'm Batman. Yep, that would sure make for one hell of a story.
"You're late." Wayne said from the computer station as Terry made his way down the steps into the Batcave.
"Sorry." Terry said. "We got a new kid in school and the teachers chose me to show him around. Said it was because we shared all the same classes." Terry continued speaking as he went to suit up. "There was something really weird about the guy though. Well, I guess he wasn't the one being weird, it was all the girls. They were all practically drooling over him." Terry only kept talking just so he could hear something. Bruce's lack of social skills bothered him sometimes. "He transferred from Metropolis. Max asked him if he'd met Superman. Said he'd seen him a couple times but apparently he thought Batman was more interesting than the Man of Steel."
Terry came out adjusting his mask and moved to stand behind Bruce who, from the looks of it, didn't care one bit about what Terry had just said. "So, anything good happening tonight?"
"Nothing that looks like it's been plotted by an evil genius. Unless you count the little get together set up by the share holders at Wayne-Powers."
"You really need to change the name of that company."
"It's in the works." Bruce caught Terry's reflection on the computer screen nod and adjust his mask again.
"I hope Max isn't scaring Aré too much. He invited us over to see his place but I said I had to work. I'll have to ask Max and Dana how it was." Terry jumped in the Batmobile and buckled in. "All right. See you later." With that, the canopy closed and he sped out of the cave.
Bruce sat staring at the computer screen, a hit of shock showing on his features. Aré?
