Thank you to everyone with your excellent feedback! It's most appreciated. And therefore I wanted to update this as soon as possible. I apologize ahead of time with how huge the chapter is.
Disclaimer: Nothing's mine! Not even Keane's mine. It's disclaimed.
Chapter Two: Everybody's Changing
..."I try to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody's changing
And I don't feel the same." - Keane
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Terry flew through the Gotham night sky in half of a daze. He digested Amanda Waller's words thoroughly and imagined the scene of things before he was conceived and born. Regrettably, whether he wished to or not.
Waller's attempt to create a child the world couldn't live without hadn't come with out consequences and looked as if it had happened out of desperation. Terry needed to come to terms with the fact his life course was already set for him. It didn't exactly make him feel warm and fuzzy inside, though it did give him a fresher outlook on his philanthropist life.
He would have loved to see Bruce's face when he found out he was Terry's father. No he took that back, Terry would have loved to see his face when Bruce found out that Terry's genetic mother was Diana.
He flew up towards a large skyscraper, to perch and scan. A nightly ritual and habit that often was used as a way to de-fragment his thoughts. And tonight was no different. His mind was occupied with thinking about her.
My mother. It felt strange, but right. Like a single fiber in his body always knew all along and the rest of him needed to take the time to catch up.
He knew of her legacy as the Wonder Woman. Heard about her from not just the Green Lanterns, but from Superman himself. She fought for everything that the Justice League stood for. If she could, she would fight to her death defending truth and honor.
She backed her beliefs one hundred percent with will-power and determination. She was very much like Bruce and yet his complete opposite. He chose to use the shadows to his advantage, where as she preferred the upfront approach. Darkness guided his path whereas the light led her.
They balanced each other out. Terry could almost perceive why Amanda Waller was drawn to the two of them. It was perfection to it's fullest. Yin and yang. The dark and the light. The knight and the princess. Mortal and immortal. A man and a woman. It made sense to him. But Bruce gave it up. He was going to die alone because of his own thoughts and actions. As foolish as they were, he knew Bruce would never see it that way.
Terry stood up and scanned the city over. The cloudless sky was illuminated by the large moon that hung faithfully over head.
Gotham was quiet tonight. He flew quietly over to a new spot, glancing around alleys and streets. Oddly enough, nothing perilous or critical was plaguing his city for the time being.
But then he heard something. A series of shots being fired.
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The world was a much different place than she remembered. It had only been thirty years but things changed faster in Patriarch's World than anywhere she could imagine. Technology had spurned on into the next era. The world was more technologically advanced now than she could have thought possible.
But some things never changed. Especially when it came to Gotham City.
Diana of Themyscira had been in the city for a total of twenty minutes, possibly a new record, before she saw a group of low-life's commit a crime. Technically it was a group of low-life's pestering and on the verge of attacking a young couple. It was a crime, no less.
It was near the water front, and the light from the moon reflected off the water in an eerie shimmer. The three had the couple cornered near a grouping of large metal shipping crates. She watched carefully from the shadows behind and walked forward slowly not wanting to alarm them into hurting their captives.
The three moronic young men looked familiar somehow. Each of their faces wore a painted clown mask in a manner that resembled the infamous Joker. A happily evil grin was plastered on their stupidly foolish faces.
They weren't smart like the Joker, though. That can be certain.
"Give us your wallet." The first one said gruffly as he pulled out a gun and pointed it at the two frightened individuals.
His good-for-nothing compatriots egged him on.
"Yeah give us your wallet and you won't get hurt."
The young man stepped in front of his girlfriend. "Ok, I will...Just please don't hurt us."
"All right then, give us your girl too and we'll make especially sure you won't get hurt."
"That's enough." Diana said probably too calm for the situation at hand. She walked forward towards them and the one with the gun swung around and shot at her.
She easily deflected it with her left wrist. The bullet made a soft ping sound as it hit her bracer. The three Joker-wannabes looked like they might wet their pants. The two behind the one with the gun backed away until they couldn't any longer; their backs were now against the shipping crates.
The stupid one with the gun emptied his bullets and she deflected each one just as easy as the last. Within seconds it was empty.
She walked towards the young man. His arm was still outstretched pointing the gun at her.
She smirked. "You're out of bullets."
The one on his left trembled. "Tony, I told you not to bring that stupid antique. Batman would have heard that." He said in a forced whisper.
Diana raised a brow at the comment. Batman?
"Look lady, I-...I don't know what kind of freak you are but you better get out of here before we take you down."
So apparently the one with the gun was cocky. At least his words were. His sudden increase in sweat production and his uncontrollable shakiness was a give away. He just emptied a gun at her point blank without hitting her once. What did he expect?
"Right." She said with a curt nod. Instead of commenting further she pulled out her lasso quietly.
"What are you doing?" One of them asked, wide eyed.
This middle one dropped the gun and kicked it out of the way. The young couple took that as their cue.
"Th-thanks, lady." The young man said as he and his girlfriend took off.
"Look, babe," The middle one said hardly paying any attention to his surroundings. "You can tie me up anytime."
He gave a snorted laugh and his cronies nervously giggled with him.
"Thanks, but I don't need your permission. Besides you're not worth wasting time on beating anything into you."
All three winced at that and watched as she twirled the rope over head once and then tossed it around them. With one swift yank, all three where securely anchored to each other.
Instantaneously, something flew overhead. She looked up and saw the undeniably black suit. And yet, it was different. The suit was now cape-less and the Bat-decal was a blood red. She also couldn't help but notice that he was in one way or the other shocked to see her.
"Need help?"
"Just need to know where you drop the garbage off." She said callously.
"Here ...replace your lasso for one of these." He quickly threw a bolas at the three, cinching them tighter. "It's not indestructible, but they're not going anywhere."
She slipped the lasso off and wrapped it back up.
"Oh c'mon. Give us a break! We promise to be good."
Diana gave them a look and they suddenly grew quiet.
"They're Jokerz. Just stupid criminals, blindly following a dead idealist."
"I see." Diana retorted. "Just going to leave them?"
"There's a police dispatch not far from here. I radioed them, and they should be here shortly."
A low "awww, man..." came from the three tied up.
Wonder Woman followed the new Batman as he flew upward. She smiled inwardly when she noticed that Batman could fly freely on his own. She could imagine that was something Bruce wanted to upgrade. Batman would no longer need a free-ride from any meta-humans.
"We can talk freely here." He said stoically as they landed on the roof of the tall skyscraper. Diana touched down and glanced at the view over looking the city. She was still astounded at how much everything was still the same and was yet a far cry from what they were thirty years ago.
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"So you can imagine my shock finding you here..." Terry said interrupting her thoughts.
"Oh, right. Forgive me if you consider it an intrusion."
"No, why would I?"
"Oh... Br-," She stopped considering even if they were up high, she should still take precaution. "The first Batman didn't like others interfering with Gotham's problems."
Sounds like good ol' Bruce.
"Ah, I see." Terry said and that was it. He wanted to say so much to her. Ask so much. He couldn't form his thoughts right, everything felt so muddled. What were the chances of him learning about his true origins and getting to speak with the main person at hand in the same night?
"So, you are his successor?"
"Yes."
She gave him a small smile. "Well, I'm glad to have met you new Batman..."
She turned and took in another scan over the city. He stared at her, wondering exactly what she was thinking about. She really was beautiful. Not just physically, but everything about her exuded a unearthly genuine quality that was hard to find in anyone. A powerhouse of brutal strength with soft compassion to back it up. She was truly a contradiction in all sense of the word. But he felt immediately safe around her. Even drawn to her.
She was even out of her typical Wonder Woman regalia. He remembered the red and blue outfit from pictures he'd seen of the first Justice League. And now she was wearing a more Themyscirian-appropriate white warrior style dress. It had gold detailing, with gold calf-length boots. Her cuffs were the same. Along with the lasso.
Immortality could also dumb-found him. The pictures he had seen were taken over forty years ago. Nothing about her had changed, other than the outfit.
Regardless, it was his first time meeting her. He wanted to hug her at least. He wondered how that would go over.
"So -uh, how is he?" She asked. Her voice lost a bit of its assurance and the fiery presence in her eyes was replaced with acute worry and sadness.
He knew right on, her query alone spoke volumes. Terry knew exactly why she was here. Diana sure knew how to pick nights to go old-flame visiting, he had to hand it to her.
"Dying, really." He winced at his own words. He really didn't mean to put it so bluntly.
Terry also hated the look on her face as soon as he spoke. She clenched her jaw and nodded.
Biting her quivering lower-lip and finally spoke. "I figured as much." She forced a laugh, but the look on her face was pained. "In all seriousness, I'm surprised he lived this long."
He was shocked to see how her outward presence changed so drastically when it came to talking about Bruce. Terry could imagine the Amazon warrior having an iron grip on her emotions. And yet, she looked as if she was going fall apart.
Love really did suck sometimes.
"He's too stubborn to die." He said a bit more light-heartedly.
She smiled."Well, that sums up Batman entirely."
His inner-voice kept propositioning him to tell her things. Maybe she should know. He could just imagine the scene. 'Nice to meet you, Diana. By the way, you're my mom. Thanks for hearing me out...'
"I need to-... um," Terry stammered abruptly. "I mean, er... yeah..."
Diana raised a brow and looked over at him. "You what?"
"We need to talk."
"Isn't that what we've been doing?"
Terry shook his head. "Somewhere more private. I know just the place. Follow me." He stood up and flew off in the opposite direction.
Diana, suddenly confused by his cryptic tone, once again followed him into the night.
Within minutes the two were at a large apartment building in a more secluded suburban area. Terry made sure she followed as he tucked around a corner and flew up to a large sliding glass window. Diana followed and gave him a look. He could imagine her thinking his ways were a tad unorthodox when compared to the Batman she remembered.
"Do you live here?" Diana asked in a low whisper.
Terry shook his head as he rapped quietly on the glass. Momentarily, he had forgotten how early it was, but he knew that Dana would be up soon to get ready for work.
Sure enough, the face of his fiancée peeped out from behind the curtain and seemed half surprised to see him standing there. Especially since Terry was standing there with another person.
Dana opened the slider and Diana followed Terry inside.
Terry immediately threw back his cowl and seemed relieved to have it off. He quickly gave Dana a kiss as soon as they were both inside.
"Hey, I'm surprised to see you... and your superhero friend of yours." Dana said, giving them a sleepy grin. "You caught me just as I was rolling out of bed."
Terry turned towards Diana.
"Diana I'd like for you to meet my fiancée, Dana."
Diana seemed surprised by the whole thing. Terry knew that her Batman never acted so unconventional, but then again he wasn't exactly the Batman she was going to remember.
"You had me worried there. I actually thought you had come back to call off the engagement." Dana said.
Terry realized that he had just proposed to Dana maybe only eight hours earlier. He also realized something else.
"Oh by the way. My name's Terry." He said giving Diana a small smile.
Diana returned the smile. "It's a pleasure to meet both of you."
Dana seemed confused now, even in her sleepy state. "You're just meeting her too? For a second I thought this was the sister you never told me about or something."
Diana turned to look at Terry and couldn't help but agree. The dark hair and pale eyes weren't just the half of it.
"Dana, Diana is Wonder Woman."
Dana raised a brow and regarded the woman once more. "Wow! I always thought she was a myth. Er, she meaning you... I can't believe you are really an Amazon!"
"Myth...?" Diana asked quietly. And then she shook her head. "I'm sorry, I guess I've been gone from Man's World too long."
"Man's World?" Dana asked with a grin. "You actually call it that? That's awesome."
"Actually, I'm here so we can talk." Terry said almost sternly. He had a motive in taking Diana here tonight. He just hoped deep down that it wasn't too soon. He also hoped that Diana wanted to know the truth. Amanda Waller's words resonated in his mind: 'Some people are better off not knowing everything.'
"Does Diana need to catch up on latest of 'Man's World'?" Dana asked with a laugh, interrupting Terry's thoughts.
"I'm sorry... I don't even know where to start." Terry said softly.
Diana caught on right away. "Terry, are you ok? Is something wrong?"
Terry wasn't sure how to go about any of this. If Diana was going to see Bruce, then Terry wanted to speak to her first.
"You two take a seat on the couch, I'll start some coffee." Dana said as she moved past them to get into the kitchen. Diana's face seem to light up when coffee was mentioned.
Terry walked into the living room and flopped down on the sofa. Diana snickered a bit.
"What?" Terry asked when he saw Diana's face.
"Oh it's just that I never thought I would see the day where Batman came to someone's random apartment to only sit on the couch and wait for coffee."
Terry thought about that for a moment. It would be actually be a sight when he considered the old Batman.
He smiled a bit but then regained his composure. It was time to cut to the chase. Here goes: "Diana, do you remember Amanda Waller?"
The look on Diana's face was enough of an answer.
"Yes. Why do you ask?"
"I just spoke with her."
She raised a brow. "Oh really? I'm also surprised she's still alive."
"The point is... she told me things. Things that you should know."
"Oh, is she sorry for turning the Ultamen into a bunch of insane super clones? Or did she finally realized that Project Cadmus is the work of insanity?"
Terry didn't realized that would be a touchy subject for Diana. "Actually, that's not it really. Well Cadmus, you could say, has a part in it."
Diana stayed quiet, allowing him to continue.
"I was born to and raised by Mary and Warren McGinnis. Typical Gotham family, nothing out of the ordinary and I was found by Bruce 15 years ago..." Terry paused thinking about the night he showed up at Wayne manor. "One thing led to another, soon I became the next Batman."
He paused for a second and looked over at her. "Sounds normal, right?"
Diana nodded, she didn't seem sure where he was heading but she at least agreed. "Yeah, I believe so."
"Turns out Bruce Wayne is my father." Terry spoke those words utterly deadpan. The words are a lot easier to say than except.
"I see." Diana said quietly. "What an interesting turn of events. But how is that possible? Unless he and your mother-..." She trailed off and then stopped.
Dana poked her head around the wall separating the kitchen and living room. "What?"
Terry looked at both of them. "That's not that half of it."
Dana still was in shock. "Bruce-... Bruce Wayne? Did your mom have an affair? Is that why your parents divorced?"
"Whoa... I'm not done yet."
"Terry, please go ahead and finish." Diana said sincerely.
Terry inhaled a large breath and let out a sigh. "It's Cadmus technology, that's how it happened. Waller wouldn't let the world go without a Batman. So..--"
"She cloned Bruce." Diana said bluntly. Terry could see she didn't have much respect for Amanda Waller. He couldn't blame her, really.
"Yes, and no. You see I am his son technically. Warren and Mary,or rather my parents I grew up with were more just templates of a family. My father's DNA and mother's DNA were not theirs. They just raised me. Cadmus technology does wonders apparently. No doubt why it's illegal."
Dana couldn't keep from speaking up. "So Mary isn't even your real mom?"
"No."
"Who is she then?" Dana asked.
Terry looked over at the other woman in the room. Diana's face suddenly became unreadable. Damn, she caught on fast. Mother's intuition perhaps.
"Wh--" She started to say something but then stopped. "How...? I don't understand."
"It was a surprise to me too. Bruce knew already."
"Bruce knew too? For how long?"
Terry shook his head.
"Wait a minute! Just a minute..." Dana held her hands up in the air making sure they would stop to look at her. "Are you saying Diana is your genetic mother?"
"Yes." Terry said with a nod.
Diana looked dazed and confused. Terry could imagine the mixed emotions coursing through her mind.
"Wonder Woman is going to be my mother in-law?" Dana asked, sounding somehow rather excited.
"I guess, technically." Terry said impatiently. He really was wondering how Diana was taking all of this. He wasn't sure what she was thinking about, but all he hoped is that she wasn't going to fly into some crazy Amazon rampage. Not that she was known for such things, but still Terry couldn't be certain. He would just hate to be Amanda Waller right about now.
To his surprise Diana soundlessly walked over to Terry and pulled him into a hug.
At first he was taken aback at the gesture but he quickly returned the hug and they stood there for the next few moments.
Diana broke away for a second and looked at him directly. "Terry, just so you know... you are all I ever wanted."
Next: Can You Read My Mind?
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A/N: Dana, Diana, Diana, Dana... those names are too close. Hope that wasn't confusing.
A-non-eee-mous- Cool, thank you!
Annonymous Reader- Thanks for the review, just wait to see what happens!
Camelotlady- Glad you think so let's just say we all agree this happened after the original episode. :)
Rangerfan58- Thanks, I'm not sure about the league but we might see a few people.
Panissah- Thank you! Twists are fun aren't they? Diana should have a conversation with Amanda, that would be interesting. Glad you enjoyed!
Gamine- Wow, thanks! Bruce's life does need to be happier.
Ein- lol!! Thanks for the review.
Quick question, what is with DC comics and the black hair/blue eyes combo? It's not just the Big Three that have it, but a lot of others do. Just found that interesting.
Feedback is welcome, so please tell me what you think! Thank you again. :)
