Disclaimer: Nightwing, Batman Beyond, all associated characters, etc. are the property of DC Comics and are being used without intent to profit.

Author's Note: There's plenty of good 'Max Joins The Team' stories out there, of all sorts - Max follows in Barbara's footsteps as the new Batgirl or Oracle, Max becomes Justice League support staff, Max strikes out on her own at first, and of course there's Selina takes Max on as her successor. It was actually while reading Kyoko Kasshu Minamino's excellent 'Cat-Max' story "Sour Cherry" that I had the following train of thought. Bare with me as it has some weird stops; Bruce doesn't want Max involved, Terry is usually portrayed as agreeing with him to some extent, what if Terry didn't really agree with him, what if he decided 'enough's enough', it would annoy Bruce but it'd be worth it, Max would need a cape alter ego, who would be willing to go along with the idea knowing that Bruce wouldn't be happy, Selina and Dick don't have the same degree of awe and obedience towards Bruce that most do, and there's no way I'll be able to match "Sour Cherry" for a Selina-involved story. Dick it was. Don't expect anything on the same length as some of my other projects, this is simply a one-off written to deal with the plot bunny.

Of course, I had to toss in a small nod, so while it's not 'Sour Cherry', there is a reference to another of Kyoko Kasshu Minamino's stories in here...

"Nightwing Beyond"
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

Apartment Building
Bludhaven, New Jersey

"Penthouse," Terry murmured to himself, "Why am I not surprised?"

The civilian-garbed Batman reached out and pressed the button next to the name and apartment he had been looking for, then waited until the video screen came to life to show a face that made him strangely feel like he was looking at himself in forty years.

"Yeah? Who is it?"

Terry couldn't stop a snicker from escaping.

"What, you think that's funny?"

"No," Terry shook his head, "I'm just a little disappointed. I thought at the very least Gordon would've figured out something was up and warned you."

The other man's expression changed slightly, "You're one of Barbara's officers?"

"Not exactly," Terry answered, "But I work with her at times... and Wayne."

"If Bruce sent you," the words came out in a snarl that was interrupted by Terry's sharp response.

"Hardly," it came out in the low, harsh tone of the Batman, then lightened up to Terry's own relaxed way of speaking as he continued, "I came here because the only person better at doing things that get under the Old Man's skin is living in France at the moment... and this really isn't the kind of conversation you want to be having with me standing out in the open."

"Fine, get up here."

Penthouse Apartment
Bludhaven, New Jersey

Terry only got off two sharp raps on the door before it was opened.

"Get in here."

Following the other man inside, Terry rolled his eyes and muttered, "Hello to you too..."

As they reached the center of the living room, the man turned around to face Terry with a mixture of hostility and curiosity visible on his face, "So, talk."

"Not much to talk about; I'm planning something that's going to send Wayne thermo," Terry answered, causing the other man's eyebrow to shoot up.

The man settled himself in an armchair, "Sit down and tell me more..."

Terry dropped down on one end of the couch and swung his legs up onto it, "Let's just say I'm tired of acting like I agree with the old man on something I really don't, let's put it that way."

"Join the club."

"From what I hear, Grayson, you founded the club," Terry replied nonchalantly.

"You're a smart-ass, kid," Dick's mouth twitched, the ice broken with Terry's comment, "I like that, reminds me of me. So what kind of 'I am the Bat-God' thing is he trying to pull this time?"

Terry rolled his eyes, "Take a guess."

"I'm going to guess, since you came to me and not anyone else, he wants things done his way-period-stop and is ignoring any good reasons why things should be otherwise."

"And you didn't even have to ask for a hint," Terry answered drolly.

"So, what are you planning?" Dick asked.

"Not to give him a choice in the matter," came the blunt answer.

Speaking from experience, Dick's response was a simple one, "He's going to be plenty pissed."

Terry had an observation of his own to share regarding that, "I'm starting to think he actually enjoys it."

"You might have a point there," Dick admitted, "So, what part do I play?"

"Let me borrow your name," was Terry's answer.

"No offense, kid, but you're a little young for anyone to think you're Dick Grayson."

Terry groaned, "I deal with clown-idolising gang-bangers, no jokes, please... Your other name."

"Since you came to me and not Tim, I'm going to guess you're not going the 'Boy Wonder' route."

Terry's eyes twinkled in mischief, "I've been expressly informed that she will not be Robin."

"And Barbara's still too close to Bruce for 'Batgirl'," Dick noted the feminine pronoun and leaned forward, "So, if you know Bruce isn't going to like it, why don't you become Nightwing and her Catwoman so you can cut ties if you need to. I'm sure Bruce has some kind of protocol in place if Batman goes rogue."

"I've just heard stories about Ms. Kyle, you actually knew her... Max doesn't do things halfway, she'd do everything she could to make the original proud if she became Catwoman; do you really want to unleash that on an unsuspecting Gotham?"

"...If I said 'yes, just to see people's reactions', would that be too much?" Dick admitted, "Besides, are we talking about unleashing a new Cat on Gotham or on you?"

"Unlike Bruce, I'd probably give in at the first meow-kiss," Terry admitted, "Still getting used to the whole 'my best friend wants to date me' thing, hardest part is dealing with the fact that it's kind of mutual."

"Not hard to see the difference; when women threw themselves at him, he just stepped over them."

"So he told me. To the other part, the first time I wore it, I stole the Batsuit," Terry said with deadpan delivery and watched as Dick's eyes widened.

"Holy highway robbery, Batman," Dick joked, "I don't know whether to report you to the cops or crown you prince."

"The cops already know, at least Barbara does," Terry answered, "But keep the crown in mind for my birthday. My point is, the Batsuit has a killswitch."

"Which means you go out there with a partner, he kills the suit and leaves you to take the lumps. Typical."

"Same thing he did when I stole it the first time. Although..." Terry smirked, "Who do you think repairs the suit now anyway?"

"What did you do?"

"I slipped in a manual override of his killswitch."

"Oh, God," Dick laughed, "This is like something out of 'Spy vs. Spy'!"

"What?"

"Before your time," Dick answered, shaking his head, "You've stolen the suit before, you can override his override, you're sure you don't want to be my sucessor instead of his? Whatever he's paying you, I'll find some way to double it."

Terry shook his head, "How about I just get you a copy of the Cave's security tapes after the new Nightwing makes her first appearance?"

"Come on," Dick insisted, "I'll even let you drive my old bike."

"I've got a flying car," Terry countered.

"I had a fansite."

"The dog actually tolerates me."

"What dog?"

"I'll give you a hint; if Ace and Bruce are in a room, Ace is the one with four legs," Terry joked, "And he's better at dealing with people. Sure he growls at them, but he's got an excuse, he's a dog... I think."

"You... think... he's a dog.

"Believe me, you meet him, you'll understand what I mean."

"What makes you think I'll meet him? Wait, don't tell me... Bruce is going to try to divide and conquer just like we were a pair of criminals and not his partners."

"Did you expect him to change?"

"Not really. Me, Roy and a few others used to joke that he'd outlast Superman."

"We've met," Terry noted, "I was a little herostruck at first, but by the time it was over with and I had saved the entire active-duty League's collective butts, I wasn't impressed with any of them - least of all the guy that gets mind-jacked by the alien starfish to begin with."

"Sounds like a story. Give, give, you know ours."

"Why not?" Terry knit his hands together behind his head and relaxed as he began, "You remember about a year, year and a half ago when all the news reported Warhawk died only for him to turn up alive a few days later? Well, there was a lot going on that they didn't know..."

Gotham City
One Week Later

"Watch it, McGinnis. If he wants to claim he's Killer Croc's son, he might try to fight like him, which means he'll try to get you into the nearest water - avoid it."

From behind Batman, over the monitoring systems, Wayne heard a voice that made him grind his teeth.

"You know, the only woman I know of that ever got that close to Croc was Mary Dahl... and that brings with it certain connotations that I don't even want to begin to think about."

'Gibson...'

Batman's response was short, succinct and gave Bruce a small feeling of pride that he'd only admit to three days after he was dead, "Nightwing, you're late."

He called her Nightwing, which told Bruce there was another party involved that he was going to have to make suffer, 'Dick...'

"Traffic was terrible," Gibson - no, Bruce corrected himself mentally, Nightwing thanks to Dick - answered, "You'd think people in this town had never seen anybody wearing a costume before."

"They're out of practice," Batman answered with practiced drollness.

"Uh-huh," even though he couldn't see her do it, Bruce just knew that Nightwing had folded her arms at that - he recognised the tone from both Batgirl and Catwoman, "Four years, Bats, you've been back for four years, that should be enough time."

'Hardly,' Bruce thought to himself, remembering how long Batman wasn't even considered an urban legend, just a panic-induced hallucination of criminals.

"Hardly," Batman answered his partner.

The self-proclaimed 'Son of Croc' roared and half-charged, half-lunged at the two crimefighters, only for a metal pole to sweep his legs out from under him and then rap him on the head after he hit the floor.

"You mind? We're in the middle of a conversation," Nightwing snapped at him.

"You might want to leave now," Batman added, "She's in one of her moods again - just looking for someone stupid enough to take it out on..."

"And since you can't tell a crocodile from an alligator," Nightwing continued, "That makes you stupid enough to qualify."

"Urh, rip, rend, tear your flesh from your bones and by morning I will be king of Gotham," Son of Croc snarled as he climbed to his feet.

"Why doesn't anyone ever remember that Gotham has a mayor, not a king?" Nightwing rolled her eyes, "I mean, if you want to be in charge that bad; run for office instead of robbing banks, causing trouble and talking about monarchies."

"He's read a thesaurus, Nightwing," Batman answered flatly, "Give him that much."

"Do not mock me!" Son of Croc roared, throwing his arms out to the side as his cry echoed in the room.

"Hey, cowboy boots," Nightwing waved a hand in front of her face, "Two words; breath... mint..."

Son of Croc took that as a signal to charge the female vigilante again, only to be met by Nightwing spinning around as she lept into the air and slamming her staff into the side of his head before landing in a low crouch and using the momentum from her spin to power her staff as she swept his legs out from under him.

"Feel free to jump in, Batman," Nightwing remarked as she stood up.

"And ruin your fun?" Batman asked sarcastically, "I'll pass."

Son of Croc started moving, so Nightwing hit him over the head again, "Stay down. Just... stay down."

"He'll probably end up with a concussion at this rate," Batman observed.

"Then why don't you try some of those fancy Bat-Cuffs or something to restrain him with?" Nightwing asked in annoyance.

Rolling eyes hidden behind his mask, Batman knelt down beside the stunned Son of Croc as he pulled a set of heavy-duty restraints from his utility belt. Based on the designs originally created to deal with Bane and the real Killer Croc, these were made from modern materials and refined designs that would make it difficult for the self-proclaimed 'future King of Gotham' to escape, but for good measure Batman pulled out a small aerosol bottle of knock-out gas and sprayed it in his face. The Son of Croc struggled for a moment, then passed out before Batman returned the gas to its place in his belt and stood up.

"So," Nightwing asked, "Do we call Gordon and the cops or maybe animal control instead?"

Batman, unfortunately, didn't get a chance to answer his partner before a third part interrupted.

"McGinnis!" Bruce barked in the infamous 'we can do this the easy way or the hard way, but one way or another I will have answers' tone that had made Batman so feared.

Unfortunately for him, his successor and said successor's new partner were either brave enough or stupid enough not to fear it.

"Yes?" Both Batman and Nightwing answered together.

"I think he meant me," Nightwing continued.

"No, that's his tone for me," Batman corrected.

"He said 'McGinnis'."

"Which isn't your name," Batman pointed out.

"Yet," Nightwing countered.

"...McGinnis..." This was the low, threatening tone in which such classics as 'I am vengence, I am the night, I am Batman' had been spoken.

"What?"

"We will be discussing this."

Batman was unbowed, "Have your personal assistant make an appointment."

Considering Terry's 'official' position, Bruce wasn't amused, "You're not funny."

"This is Gotham," Batman reminded him, "Nobody's funny. Be glad I'm not a clown."

"Uh, boys," Nightwing tapped Batman on the shoulder, "Not to interrupt this meeting of the Bat-minds, but Gotham's finest just pulled up and those of us physically present might want to, you know, not be."

"Sorry, old man," Batman shrugged even though Bruce couldn't see the gesture, "Guess you'll just have to yell at me later."

Bruce pressed the button to cut his end of the communication channel and closed his eyes, dredging up meditation techniques he had learned during his training almost half a century before.

"Dammit, Waller, one son like that was bad enough, now I've got two and one of them has a partner..." he muttered, then groaned, "...is it wrong for me to hope Matt takes after his mother?"

Author's Note; I had actually hit a block on the second half, then Max's line referring to the New Adventures of Batman episode where Baby Doll and Killer Croc team up popped into my head and it just kind of came together.