RESURGENCE CHAPTER 1, a batman beyond fanfic

RESURGENCE PG-13

Summary: A young woman discovers Terry and Bruce's secret but *gasp* she doesn't want to be another crime fighter. She wants something else entirely.

Disclaimer: WB and DC Comics own Batman Beyond. I am using the characters without permission, but will not be profiting. This story is my own; please request permission before archiving.

A/N: This is my first Batman Beyond fic. It's got a little comedy, a little action, and a little drama, and I hope it's at least a little enjoyable. Please read and review (kindly!) ;)

RESURGENCE: A continuing after interruption; a renewal; a restoration to use, acceptance, activity, or vigor; a revival.

Batman, aka Terry McGinnis, was just completing his first nightly patrol of Gotham City when he noticed an armed man approaching a young woman on a deserted side street, below him. He glided to the ground several yards beyond them and was approaching the scene with the intent to stop a crime in progress when he heard the would-be mugger respond to something the woman had said.

"Don't give me any lip you stupid bitch, unless you want your brain fried." He held the weapon up for her inspection.

"What did you sat to me creep?" she cried in disbelief, at the same time turning her body to the right. The guy grabbed her upper left arm roughly. At his touch she uncoiled herself, propelling her hand, palm out, towards his face, using the momentum of her body to connect with the man's nose with a meaty 'thwack'. The man jumped back holding his now bleeding face and screaming, "I ose! I ose!" Though he had stumbled back when she hit him, he'd managed to keep his footing. She then raised her left leg, as if about to perform a Rockette kick, but instead brought it down full force on the man's kneecap, causing his leg to fold back in a very unnatural and painful position. He finally fell to the ground cradling the two nests of pain on his body and crying pathetically.

"That's what you get for calling me stupid, you brainless twip!" she spat out, then turned and walked five steps into the solid chest of a character wearing a skin-tight costume, all black except for the red, vaguely bat-shaped symbol on its chest. He was even wearing a mask with pointed ears. She was a tall girl and for a moment the two looked eye to eye. Taking a step back she gave the figure a once-over. "Oh, did I sleep through Halloween again?" she asked with a mocking grin and a cocked eyebrow.

Ignoring her jibe, he looked over at the crying mess behind her. "I guess you won't be needing my help. I'll call the cops and have him hauled away."

"Don't bother," she waved him away. "I think he's been punished enough, don't you?"

Terry blinked at her. She had coppery blonde hair and vivid blue eyes. She seemed to be in her early twenties. "That was pretty impressive, but you still need to be careful walking around alone."

She crossed her arms and smiled at him; Terry's heart skipped a few beats. "So tell me, Masked Dude, are you the real Batman, or just some geek wannabe?"

"The real thing," he replied with an involuntary grin.

*Terry!* the voice of Bruce Wayne sounded in the comlink in his cowl. *Enough chitchat, you've got work to do.*

"I know," Batman muttered back.

"Huh?" the girl looked confused.

"Don't worry," he said to her. "It's just this nagging friend of mine. Look I gotta go. Can you get home ok?"

"I can take care of myself."

"Great. Well, see you."

She started to walk past him, then turned and regarded him with a fingertip on her lips. "So, does Batman have a social life?"

He stood gape jawed for a moment at her bold question. "That wouldn't be very practical" was the only response he could muster.

She laughed. "No I suppose it wouldn't be." Unbelievably she continued on. "What about the guy under the mask? Does he ever get out by himself?"

"Well…"

*McGinnis!*

"…I'm afraid that wouldn't be a good idea, either."

"Sure I understand," she said. "Anyway, thanks for almost helping me. My name's Kendra Baker by the way." She held out her hand. He returned the handshake.

*Terry!!*

"Bye."

"Bye. Maybe next time you can actually save me," she said with a wink as she walked away.

"What did you think you were doing out there?" Bruce Wayne demanded after Terry had changed back into his street clothes.

"What do you mean?"

"This isn't the dating game."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I stopped to help a mugging victim. Although," he continued in an awed voice, "She handled herself just fine on her own."

"Simple self-defense," the old man grunted. "More women should learn it. You shouldn't have been flirting with her."

"Look, I wasn't… Besides, I know for a fact you didn't exactly lead a monastic lifestyle," Terry challenged.

"This isn't about me." He turned back to his computer console. "I thought you had a girlfriend. How would she feel about you flirting with another girl?"

"I wasn't flirting!"

"You were."

"I wasn't." He threw his hands up then crossed them over his chest. "Dana's about had it with me anyway; we had a huge fight today in school. I guess this Batman doesn't get a social life after all."

Bruce replied unsympathetically, "We all make sacrifices."

With a harrumph of disgust Terry headed home.

"Terry? Terry honey, are you going to sleep all day?"

"Sounds like a good idea," he replied groggily. Then he sat up alert. "Am I late for school?"

From his doorway Mary McGinnis replied, "No dear, it's Saturday, remember?"

"Oh, that's great," he said with relief, head dropping back to the pillows.

"Terr, I need you to take Matt over to his friend's house; he's spending the night."

"Mom," he complained

"Please dear? I've got a ton to do around here. And while you're out why don't you go visit Dana? Things haven't been great between you, have they?"

Climbing out of bed and following her into the kitchen, he asked, "What makes you say that?"

"Because she called last night and said to tell you that you're a stupid los-er," the singsongy voice of his kid brother came from behind.

"Matt, that's not nice. Are you all packed and ready to go?"

"Sure am, Mom, just as soon as loser boy gets going."

"Can it twip." Terry returned to his room to dress, trying to figure out how to get Dana to forgive him yet again.

"Let's go Matt," he hollered, putting on his jacket. The little kid came running out, bag slung over his shoulder, stopping to kiss his mother goodbye.

The two brothers left their apartment and headed to the elevated transport station, Matt chatting away happily about his friend, Samuel, who he'd met at summer camp the previous year. "He's even got an older sister who's almost as annoying as you." He ducked the hand that flew up to swat his head. "She goes to college, but she still lives at home."

They had reached the street Samuel's family lived on. "Pretty nice neighborhood. Your friend's family must have lots of money. Try not to break anything we can't afford to replace."

"Loser," Matt retorted running up to the door, ringing the bell as Terry joined him.

The door opened and a young woman with coppery blonde hair stood there to greet the newcomers. Terry's eyes popped open and he blurted, "Kendra?!"

"Excuse me? Do I know you?"

"Uh, no…I'm Matt…No, I mean he's Matt…I'm dropping him off," he blathered incoherently.

Looking down at the young boy, she smiled brightly. "You must be Sammy's little friend."

"I'm not that little," Matt replied dourly.

With a chuckle she looked over her shoulder and called out, "Hey squirt, your little brat friend is here!"

Preceded by the sound of a stampeding elephant, a small boy streaked down the stairs and up the entrance foyer, coming to a stop within inches of smashing into the back of his sister. Samuel's hair was lighter, but his blue eyes mirrored hers perfectly. "Hey Matt," the boy cried breathlessly. "You've got to see my new vid game! It is totally shway!"

Without a look back, the two boys raced back up the stairs. "Have a good time twip," Terry called out before they disappeared out of sight. Looking back at the girl holding the door open, he said, "Looks like you'll have your hands full."

"Not me. This was my mother's idea; she can take care of the little rug rats. How did you know my name?"

"Um, well, Matt was talking about you on the way over and…"

"Sorry Charlie. You acted like you knew me, but we've never met before." She narrowed her eyes. "Or have we?"

"No! Definitely not."

"Hmmm." She put a hand on his shoulder and leaned forward. With a satisfied smile she stood back. "You've been using your mom's shampoo, haven't you?"

"Well, yeah. I ran out a few days ago and haven't had a chance to buy any more. Why?"

"I love the smell of lavender. Your mother has great taste. Of course the mask covered up most of the scent last night, but it still smelled wonderful."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you do," she lowered her voice to a conspiratory whisper, "Batman." He stood staring at her dumbly. "C'mon, let's go for a walk." She grabbed his arm and shut the door behind her.

Terry was shaking his head as she led him to a nearby park. "Really, Kendra, I don't know what you're talking about."

She pointed to a bench, several meters away from the gaggle of children playing among the holo-graphs and non-tech equipment. Taking a seat she said, "I'm not a dumb blonde, so don't play me for one."

"I didn't mean that."

"No, I'm sure you didn't, however you're not giving me enough credit. Your voice is a little different, but there are definitely some identical intonations that you couldn't disguise. And that smell, very unusual for two different men to be sporting it. Relax, I've got nothing to gain from this. I'm just a sophomore at Gotham U, it's not like I'm going to be out for blackmail, and I certainly don't need to be more popular, not that anyone would care anyway. All I'm asking for is the truth.

"So am I going to be forced to call you 'Matt's Brother' for the rest of my life? Or I could just call you Batman?"

Terry shook his head, not really sure how he'd get around this one. "Terry. McGinnis. And you're Kendra Baker, who can take care of herself, right?"

Her eyes lit up at the unspoken confession. "That's right! This is really great. Are you going to be ok?" she asked, momentarily concerned at the sick look on his face.

"My, uh, boss is going to be a little upset when he finds out I let the cat out of the bag."

"Your boss, is that the guy you were talking to last night?"

"Yeah, that's him."

"Who is he?"

"Well, if you think of me as Batman junior…"

"Oh!" She grinned at him. "You are kind of young to be the original. What's he like?"

"You don't ever want to find out."

"Ok, I'll take your word on that. So, what do you do when you're not saving the city or carting your little brother around?"

"Trying to graduate from Hamilton Hill High School. It's not as easy as my night job."

"Listen, I'm going to a party on campus tonight. Would you like to go with me?"

"You don't quit do you?"

She hunched a shoulder. "When I see something I like, I go after it."

"But you didn't even know who I was last night?"

"Last night I was talking to Batman. Now I'm asking Terry McGinnis."

"Well, I don't know."

"Why?"

He thought of Dana. He was going to go over to her house today and try to apologize to her. Kendra was looking at him so intently. She wasn't as beautiful as Dana, but she had a charisma that was undeniable; Terry wondered if it was worth the effort to make it up with Dana one more time. What would it hurt to check out other options? "I just, well, I'll have to patrol tonight, but maybe I could stop by for an hour or so?"

"Super. I'll meet you in front of the student lounge on campus at 8 o'clock, you know where it is?"

"Yeah, I'll be there." They stood and walked back to her house in silence. "It was nice meeting you Kendra," he said as she turned up the walk.

"You too, Terry. Don't worry about Matt, he'll be fine. See you tonight."

He waved to her and she went into her house, then he walked home.

The music was loud and the partygoers obnoxious. Terry stood aside as the older college students milled about with cheap watered down synthahol in cups, the bass thump of the latest dance tune vibrating the air around them. He smiled slightly as Kendra walked up to him, but he couldn't help feeling he should be anywhere but here.

"You don't look like you're having a good time," she shouted into his ear. He shrugged and gave a half-hearted grin.

"I need to get some air." She nodded and led him outside. As they stood together the whoops and hollers from within were heard over the still audible music.

She turned to him, head cocked, hand on hip. "You've got a girlfriend."

"How did you know?" he asked, shocked by her intuitive statement.

"It's written all over your face, McGinnis. You've been miserable for the last half hour. What, did you two have a fight?"

"Something like that."

"You going to make up?"

"I don't know. If she'll even have me anymore."

"But do you want her anymore?"

Terry looked over his shoulder through the windows and saw the couples gyrating on the dance floor. With a sigh he said, "Yeah, I do."

"It's all good. We can still hang out right? I don't want to pressure you."

With a grin he said, "Yeah, that's fine. Besides I've got to keep you close. Who knows who you'll talk to."

"And don't you forget it."

"So, what do you study here?" he asked trying to get the conversation on more neutral ground.

"I'm a business major."

"Why?"

"Because of my father," she replied curtly. "He wants me to follow in his footsteps. It's pretty boring and I'm barely passing most of the classes, but at least I'm getting an education out of it." She turned to him. "I've got this lame project to do, I have to find a successful businessperson and interview them about how they made it, philosophies, work ethic, etc. It's total garbage, but you know who I'd really love to meet? Bruce Wayne! Wouldn't that be great? I'd so get an A then." She shook her head miserably. "Fat chance though, that guy doesn't talk to anyone."

Terry's head was spinning. "You want to interview Bruce Wayne?"

"Well, him or the President, but I think chances of either happening are slim and none."

"Don't be so sure of that."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't hold your breath, I can't promise anything, but I actually work for Mr. Wayne as an assistant/gopher/whatever. I may be able to get you in to talk with him."

"You're kidding me. That's not very funny!"

"I'm serious. I'll ask him tomorrow and let you know when I pick Matt up in the afternoon, ok?"

Kendra just shook her head. "You're too much Terry. Does he know that you're, ah, you know?"

"Ah, no, he doesn't know anything about that. Keep that between us, ok?"

"Mum's the word." She made a motion, as if locking her lips with a key.

Terry looked at his chrono. "Listen, Kendra, I should get going on patrol."

"Sure. Take care out there."

"Thanks." He bent forward and kissed her cheek before walking up the sidewalk.

She watched him walk into the night and rubbed the spot where his lips had touched. "Goodnight Terry," she whispered.