I do not own Batman Beyond, Justice League, or X-Men Evolution.

Chapter 01: Rebirth

In the darkest part of Gotham in the deepest shadow, a pair of eyes glowed lightly; patiently waiting for those to whom the eyes belonged expected to show. Nothing else in the shadow could be seen as the figure remained absolutely still in an almost unnatural way. If any eyes had been able to break through the shadow and see its form, most would assume that the black clade figure was merely a gargoyle statue from an almost ancient time. Others would figure it nothing more than a figment of their imagination.

The manufacturing plant that held the glowing eyes strict attention, bordering the edge of what remained of Old Gotham, sat dark and almost innocent in the late night haze. Noise and the ragged cacophony of a city in constant bustle echoed off the other buildings, making it hard for even the most adept listener to identify their precise source. None of that mattered to the grim guardian that waited, his eyes held only on the plant that remained as still and silent as he. He knew it wouldn't last. There had been several reports over the last several years under his watch of break ins of high end manufacturing equipment, plastics, explosives, electronics, and construction equipment all over this broken country but very few had ever been recovered and even fewer arrest had been made.

Above him, a gentle whooshing sound barely broke over the noises of the city, but sophisticated tracking software made the source easy to spot. As Warhawk swooped into view, attempting and failing to spot the dark protector of Gotham on his home turf, Terry McGinnis stood up, the light that managed to break over the creases and edges of the building he had chosen for his stake out backlit the unmistakable tall ears and imposing silhouette of Batman. The act also allowed just enough light to reveal the black suited figures symbolic red bat that splashed across his chest nearly from shoulder to shoulder. Around his waist, only the barest of a glint reflected off of Batman's utility belt even in direct light.

Warhawk immediately caught sight of his ally and banked to land next to him. Unlike Batman, Warhawk had always cared far less about subtlety or stealth as outlined by his shinny grey and black armored suit. Steel clawed gauntlets encased his hands and ended above his forearms. Shoulder guards picked up the suit after leaving his upper arms bare and stretched across his chest, waist, and boots with a black ultra-fitting gel composite suit filling the gaps for movement and flexibility with red highlights occasionally breaking up the blackness. A thin layer of black armor covered the gap on his upper body that fit the hawk head shape cut out on the chest.

Two large metallic wings stretched out from his back that ran nearly the fill length of his body and a matching helmet that gave a strong reminder of this man's famous mother. Perhaps that in and of itself explained Warhawks more straight forward and violent tendencies that was the hallmark of Shayera Hol-Stewart.

With a grace that few would have expected from the larger man, Warhawk landed lightly next to Batman with little more than a soft clink and they both ducked into the darkness and out of sight.

"Anything yet?" Warhawk asked, his voice carrying his ever present mixture of deep voice and rasp.

"Nothing," Batman answered. "It's only a matter of time. This is the only plant that hasn't been hit in Gotham that fits our suspects MO."

"And what exactly are their MO?" Warhawk asked sardonically. "From what I understand, we have no idea behind these unknown people's motive or who they are. Even you and the old Bat admit that those who had been caught with similar MO's are most likely unassociated with the real thieves."

Terry gave Warhawk the 'Bat look', one that he had learned to perfect almost as well as his predecessor, Bruce Wayne, and returned his attention to the plant. "I have long since stopped second guessing his conclusions," Terry answered. "Besides, the logic is pretty sound. It's not like any of the gang members arrested are capable of something this well planned and thought out."

"Could be that someone is coordinating them," Warhawk said.

Terry gave Warhawk another look. "Can you think of anyone able to coordinate with that many gangs at the same time?" Terry asked.

"It's not impossible," Warhawk said.

"It's more likely that they were acting on their own," Terry said. "Most of those that had been caught were because of poor planning in their escape route. The ones that were identified but got away had more to do with bribery or incompetence by the cops rather than brilliant strategy like the rest the mysterious groups."

"One could argue that bribery and incompetent officials is what makes the plans work," Warhawk said. "But I'm not arguing it," he added as Terry shot him another look.

"Good," Terry said and touched a button on the side of his mask, cycling through the options in his heads up display on his visor inside his mask and checking that all of the motion trackers he had placed earlier were still active and undisturbed.

"You really have come a long way since you first joined up with the League," Warhawk said, watching Terry work.

"Thanks," Terry said emotionlessly as he continued to check his traps.

"I mean it," Warhawk insisted. "I was going back through the records over the last 25 years to the Age of Mutants before the two World Wars. You're as good now as the old Bat was then."

"Mutants are still abundant, Rex," Terry said, finally turning to look at his teammate again and managing to dodge the compliment. "Half of those wack-jobs we deal with these days are mutants. The rest are self-made."

"Tell me about it," Warhawk said sourly. "I just had a fight a couple days ago with a bunch of Jokerz off your turf. That splicing stuff with other animals to give you some of their characteristics is crazy stuff. Whoever created that idea should be locked up or strangled."

"He is," Terry answered. "Jokerz don't usually get too into that stuff but I have seen a few of them go through and get it done."

"Hyena," Warhawk said and rubbed a fading scar on his face. "If I ever see that one again-"

"Hold on," Terry said, lifting a hand and cutting Rex off in a way that Batman knew the other man hated. "We've got motion on the south side."

"Who?" Warhawk asked.

Terry didn't answer right away as he cycled through his visor options again and pulled up his planted camera's. His fist tightened in anger and he bared his teeth. "Jokerz," he answered. He stood and spread his arms. Glider wings sprang into place and Terry took off with a muted burst from his feet mounted thrusters with Warhawk right behind.

The Jokerz had just managed to break the reinforced pad lock, joking and pushing each other like high school kids when Terry and Rex landed with a purposeful thud behind them.

"Isn't it past your bed time, kids?" Terry asked, taking note of the fact that beneath their white make-up and dyed hair these were exactly what he had figured; high schoolers. No surprise there. After all, when Terry had taken up the mantel of the Bat, he had been in high school himself and had been dealing with this gang ever since. But Terry had faced the real Joker once before and these clowns had nothing on their namesake.

"It's the Bat," one of them shouted, startled and nearly falling over himself.

"Get him!" another shouted and the group of twelve Jokerz rushed them.

"What am I?" Rex muttered irritatedly.

"My turf, remember?" Terry said. "It's me who keeps them up at night."

Terry launched himself at the first Joker, tackling the man and striking down hard at his face. The man squealed in pain and his back arched in reflex as Terry got off of him and moved to the second. That one went down nearly as quickly as he ducked swing with a pipe and struck first at the man's ribs then his temple. Before he could move on, one of the bigger Jokerz grabbed him from behind, lifting him off his feet and squeezing. Terry didn't even bother to struggle, simply lifted his feet up and ignited his boosters. They both flew backwards and into a brick wall with a devastating crash. With another quick flare of his boots, this time pointing at the man's own leg, he released Batman, falling to the ground and grabbing his scorched leg in howling pain. With one quick kick, Batman silenced that one.

Rex was having just as little difficulty as Batman, grabbing hold of one Joker, kneeing him hard in the stomach and tossing him to the ground hard enough that he remained still. Before the groans had even started from the last one, Rex was onto a female Joker, her face painted white with rosie red cheeks as she swung spiked rubber chicken by its head at him. He blocked the attack with his forearm guard and head butted, the armored helmet the easy victor in the contest and she lay still on the ground.

Batman finished up two more with little effort and turned to face the last of them. This one looked the most like the Joker, if only in appearance. He worn an old time purple suit and his hair was dyed green and slicked back. He also had pulled out a machine gun from somewhere. Terry caught a glimpse of a discarded pink bag that must have belonged to the girl Rex had taken out lying off to one side and immediately had to duck into the shadows as he opened up.

Rex took to the air, holding his arms in blocking position to cover up the vulnerable spots in his armor. Just as the Joker switched targets to find Batman, Rex swooped around and dove at the Joker but Batman beat him to it. Sliding out from the shadows with one razor edged batarang in hand, Terry cut the gun in half with his right hand and grabbed hold of the Joker's throat in his left. The Joker squelched as Terry and his strength enhanced suit easily lifted the man off the ground and held him up.

"Lie to me," Terry said, his voice dark and full of venom. "Who's behind this."

"I don't know… what you're talking about," the Joker managed to say. "…Initiation…"

Terry grimaced and looked around. The Jokerz all lay moaning on the ground but only a few of them looked familiar. The rest all looked as though they had just hit puberty.

"Why here?" Terry asked, turning his terrifying glare back to the Joker.

"They…have chemical explosives...," he said, his eyes beginning to unfocus and roll slightly. "T's… attacked us and… we know where their hideout… is now."

"The T's aren't what you should be worrying about," Terry said and pulled the man a little closer. "I am."With that, Terry struck the man in the throat and lower jaw with his other forearm the dropped the unconscious man to the ground.

"Dang, Bats," Rex said, looking at the man. "I'm all for a good fight but that was a little much, don't you think?"

"Call it in," Terry said. "Let Commissioner Gordon know what happened." With that, Terry opened his wings and took off into the sky. Two hundred feet away, the hovering Batmobile sailed into view with a deep rumble and picked Terry up and whisked him away leaving Rex alone with twelve unconscious Jokerz.

"You seem more aggressive than usual today," Bruce Wayne said, sitting in front of the large Bat computer as Terry parked the Batmobile and hopped out through the sliding hatch. Ace, a black Great Dane mix, lifted his head silently from his masters side as Terry pulled the mask off and walked toward them both. "Is everything alright?"

"Fine," Terry said, tossing the mask down onto the computer keyboard lightly and starting on the rest of the suit. "You know," Terry said suddenly, filling in the silence the Bruce had left on purpose. "It would be nice if just once, the bad guys just turned themselves in on their own. Or just stopped all together. Just for one night."

"That will never happen," Bruce said, leaning back in his chair and rotating it slightly to face the large screen again. "Humanity doesn't have it in them to stop cheating and stealing whenever they think they can get away with it."

"You're as droll as ever," Terry said as he finished pulling off both of his gloves and started work on his boots. "You been taking your pills, old man?" Next to Bruce, Ace barked once.

"Relax dog, it was a joke," Terry said and gave a deep sigh. "Look, I get that after everything that happened with the invasion of Earth and all the death that you saw you can get a little messed up. Especially with how we went on to have two World Wars after all of that but you really need to believe that humanity is better than that."

"I don't need to believe anything," Bruce said. "I saw a world pull together despite all their differences. Aliens, humans, and mutants, and then immediately go at each other's throats again once the danger had passed. I saw crime shoot through the roof as people were being hunted, raped, murdered, died through plague, I lived through it all. You didn't. After the third World War, I saw the United States break into three and fall from power. You have no idea what any of that is like."

"Yeah, we talked about it in history class," Terry said, finally succeeding in getting out of the suit and back into regular cloths. "United States of America, American Empire, and the Russo-American Alliance. Blah blah blah."

"It's no joke," Bruce said, his tone icy with strained frustration. "You kids have no idea. Someday, you will see the truth."

"If nothing else, I have a little more faith in humanity than you do," Terry said. "By the way, I won't be going out tomorrow night. Dana and I have a date that I cannot miss this time."

"Criminals don't take vacations," Bruce stated without turning to look at him. "Neither can you."

"If only I could take a vacation," Terry said sourly. "I can see it now. Palm trees, fruit drinks by the ocean, and Dana in a bikini."

Bruce raised his eyebrow slightly but didn't inquire further. "At any rate, tomorrow night we will hit Longhorn Chemical. Not much has happened to that place in some time and it fits within the MO of our quarry."

"It's our anniversary, Bruce," Terry said. "7 years we've been dating."

"Sounds as though there will be more of them," Bruce said. "Gotham needs Batman."

"There won't be if I miss tomorrow," Terry said. "And Gotham can fend for itself for one night."

"Terry-"

"Night, old man," Terry said, swinging his backpack that contained the folded Batsuit onto his back and walking up the stairs to the huge Wayne Manor above them.

Beside him, Ace stood up and stretched hard and looked up at his master. With a sigh, Bruce reached over and grabbed his cane. With a grunt of pain and effort, he stood up and the two walked up stairs as well.

Terry dug his hands deep into the pockets of his coat as he walked through the back end of Gotham Harbor to the more populated area where he was to meet Dana. Like always, his backpack rested on his back, now fingerprint secure, as was all the craze for school kids now. That suited him just fine. Now he had to be at least a little less conscious about carrying around such damning evidence as to his night job.

"Hey you," Dana said, running to him and jumping into Terry's arms and kissing him hard before he could react. "You're late."

"Give me a break," Terry said, wrapping his own arms around her and swinging her around. "You wouldn't believe what I had to do to get this day off from Mr. Wayne."

"Let me guess," Dana said, removing herself from him with a sly smile. "Fight off a dozen bad guys as they tried to rob him, and then give him a bubble bath to calm him down?"

Terry blinked, wondering briefly if Dana had finally managed to learn of his alter ego, then immediately dismissed it as the vision of Mr. Wayne in a bubble bath burned itself behind his eyes. He squeezed them shut but the served to only make the vision more vivid.

"Serves you right," Dana said. "Maybe this will help. What do you think?" she asked, giving herself a single twirl and showing Terry the new dress she had picked up for the occasion.

To Terry, Dana was nothing less than the most gorgeous being to have ever existed. The short black dress she wore now that hung from her shoulders and clung to her body perfectly only affirmed his assessment. Her black Asian-American styled hair flowed down her neck and over her back in a way that Terry knew had probably taken her several hours to perfect. Even still, that one long lock of hair that she had always complained about hung across her face just the way he liked it. Secretly, Terry felt a little ashamed of himself for not putting in that kind of time to impress her. He knew though that Dana would have laughed herself sick had he tried and then would have messed him back up to the way she had learned to love anyway.

"Stop it," Dana said, pushing him teasingly. "I know what you are thinking."

"I was just thinking that I had been wrong all these years and that you can look even more beautiful than the day I met you," he said, blinking hard to snap himself out of his daze.

"Good save, McGinnis," Dana said and kissed him once more. She reached out and took Terry's hands in her own. "So, this was all your idea. What's the plan?"

"It starts with you closing your eyes," Terry said.

"Oh boy," Dana said but did as instructed. "This will be good."

"You bet," Terry said. He turned her around several times, then walked her back toward the harbor. Carefully, he maneuvered her onto one of the many docks and came to a stop.

"Keep those beautiful eyes of yours closed," Terry said and squeezed her shoulders.

"Ok," she answered and remained still.

Terry watched her for a few moments just to make sure she wasn't peeking, then turned to the man that waited patiently with a knowing smile on his face. Terry lifted a hand and put one finger to his lips and shook the Captains hand. With a motion of one hand, the Captain invited them on to the ship. With a nod, Terry turned back to Dana.

"Keep them closed," he reminded her once more, then picked her up in both arms.

"Terry!" Dana yelped but managed to keep her eyes closed. "This dress is way too short for this-" she cut herself off with another squeal as Terry leaped upward and onto the ship. He landed with casual ease and set her back down on her feet.

"Ok," Dana said, turning to face the direction she figured Terry was in. "I don't know what you're planning here, McGinnis."

"Trust me," Terry said as the Captain came aboard and readied the sales.

"With my life," Dana said.

Terry kissed her on the forehead just as the Captain gave the sails one final adjustment and they set off. Carefully, Terry walked Dana over to the side of the ship where the sun just starting to make its way downward, reflecting a thousand shades of orange and yellows over the rippling water.

"Ok," Terry said, resting his hands on both of Dana's shoulders. "You can open your eyes."

Dana did so and her mouth fell open. "Oh Terry," she breathed out.

"Happy anniversary, babe," he said. "Now it's just you and me until the sun sets out here."

"Don't forget about me," the Captain shouted back with a bellowing laugh and a wink.

"I could never forget you, Captain Crunch," Terry shouted back with a salute to which the Captain laughed again and turned his attention back to his steering.

"His name isn't really Captain Crunch, is it?" Dana asked with laugh.

"For as much as I paid him, he'll be whoever I wanted him to be," Terry retorted amusedly. "And once we get out a little further, I have one more little surprise for you."

"Terry McGinnis," Dana said and leaned in close. "I love you-"

Off to the port side, an explosion blew apart a piece of Gotham, sending a geyser of superheated smoke billowing upwards into the sky. Seconds later, the shockwave slammed into the side of the boat, rocking it nearly forty five degrees in the waves and sending a shower of water pouring over them all. Dana and Terry hung onto the railing with everything they had with Terry using his body to keep her from falling should her grip slip.

"Is this your idea of a second surprise?" Dana shouted up to him as she shook her head to try and clear her face of her now sopping wet hair. "I have to say, I have seen you do better!"

"My surprises don't usually blow up a piece of Gotham," Terry shouted back. "That looked like the warehouse district."

Slowly, as if took tremendous effort, the ship rolled back, nearly toppling the other direction before resettling itself in its natural position and the two stare in horror at Gotham's Warehouse District. Fire danced high above the shorter buildings in the area, sending their own shades of oranges and reds to cut across those sent from the sun. Sirens began wailing and the sounds of screams could be distantly heard across the water.

"Oh. My. God," Dana breathed as black smoke clouded the sky above them.

To be continued…

Hello loyal Dragon Sagas fans! My, does it feel good to be back.

I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of this continued story. The first of many, to be sure. I have quite a few surprises in store in this entire series and I cannot wait to reveal them.

Just as a clarification for those who may ask: This series will not be incorporating anything from the new Batman Beyond comic, although I am sure there will be a few unintentional similarities.

I look forward to seeing you again on the next episode!

The Dark Prince