*Narrator*
That same night is when Batman returned, even though I didn't learn
about that till later. I had been locked in Juvie for a year and a half.
It would have been longer, but several people came forward and anonymously
told the Commissioner I never shot the gun that paralyzed the T. But
because of my past record I was forced to at least spend some time with in
the barracks. They let Jordan go, because even the Commissioner saw that
he was nowhere near the building until after the whole ordeal. He used the
defense that he was coming to save me. It worked.
Jordan visited me all the time. It was he who told me what happened to him
that night. He said that another group of Jokers began to harass Terry at
a club. They chased him up to Bruce Wayne's place. It was the perfect
diversion while he and the others rampaged the house, only to find that the
man was already dead. It looked like the other Jokers had done the dirty
work. That was hard for me to swallow. I couldn't believe that Jokers
would be evil and villainous enough to actually take someone's life. It
was from then on that I vowed to take crime off the streets. I helped put
it there; I could help take it away.
Another time when Jordan came in, he mentioned that a man was running about
Gothem pretending to be Batman. Jordan had mentioned many times after how
good Batman was, that he was living up to the stories we had heard. It was
then when I knew I what I was going to do. I was going to help Batman
anyway I could. But first, I was going to have to deal with going back to
school first.
*Flash Back*
The day just began to break when my mother Lily walked into my room. She
had a perpetual smile on her face since I had come home. She was happy
that both her children were home, safe and sound, and getting another
chance at life. Jordan had already returned back to school prier to my
home coming. He had lost the green hair, but not the style. He still wore
big baggy clothing; however it only was for intimidation, and nothing more.
I was still restless. I had been home for a week, and yet I still held my
instincts when it came sleeping. Five hundred, forty-seven and a half days
in something that I came to learn as hell, can do that to a person. Always
watching over your shoulders, sleeping in small amounts at a time because
you don't know what might happen if you sleep longer.it wasn't a pretty
thing. On the other hand, with all the time on my hands I was able to tone
my body. I had to admit, I had strength that I didn't have before. It
was, at times, a trip. I glanced over at my clock, it was only 6:51. Lily
however was wide awake, and wanted the rest of us to be just as awake.
"Time to wake up Tyler. You have to be at school in less then a half."
"Yeppy," I replied unenthused. I pulled back my covers and set my feet on
the ground. Everything was just how I left it, except for the mess, and
the inability to see the floor, but it was my room. "I'll be down in a
second."
"Okay, breakfast is already done, so come down when you are ready."
Lily had already pulled out my clothing for the day, but none of it was
something I was willing to wear, and most defiantly not in public. I
pushed them aside and rampaged through my closet trying to find some of my
old clothing. You know, the baggy pants, the tight tank top shirt. It was
hard to find. Lily had packed all that away and bought me clothing she
thought would be more suitable. That meant dresses. Sorry but I never
have been, nor will be a dress person. Skirts were okay, and only ones
that gave me free movement. Being unable to fight back is something I will
never enjoy.
I quickly dressed and ran down the stairs to find a well balanced breakfast
before me. A bowl of cereal, buttered toast, and orange juice, I could get
use to that. "Thanks Li.mom." I glanced at her and smiled. It had been a
long time since I called her mom. Jordan also smiled. We were now a some
what normal family, and it felt great.
It didn't take either of us long to eat, and then we were off. Jordan was
walking to his new job just around the corner of the school, so he decided
to walk me to school. It didn't bother me at all.
"Mom is really happy; it's been a while since I have seen her like this.
It's nice." Jordan said as we walked out the door.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Before that whole incident mom never looked
happy, nor did we though. I guess we both just needed a wake up call."
"You know what, I think you're right." We began our new journey. "You
never did tell us what happened to you while in the place."
"Do I really have to? You know what it was like. The fighting, the
brawls, the arguments with the guards, and the dominancy trips, it was all
there."
"Please tell me you were on the higher end of things."
"No Jordan, I was a meek follower." I replied sarcastically. "I am not
going to say that I was the head honcho but I did have my gurus. And I did
get into a couple of fights, but more of less I just stayed out of things.
I had more on my mind."
"Yeah, I know. But you had nothing to do with that T. You can not
continue to be yourself over it."
"Don't worry; it will only be for a little longer." I forced a smile. I
hadn't told Jordan my plan in finding out who might be Batman. He didn't
need to know. He had to just worry about working and going to College, so
he could get a better job, and a better future. Lily told me to just worry
about finishing out school this year. She figured that because I was
entering in the year late, and with out much of a past in school I would
need to work my butt off just to get decent grades. I was hoping the
opposite.
"Well there yeah go. Enjoy, and don't get into fights okay."
I nodded and we parted.
I walked down the halls as I had before, but the confidence thing was
greatly lacking. I, instead of feeling powerful and feared was afraid and
feeling very inferior. It wasn't a good thing and not a pretty sight
either.
My back was hunched, and I felt like everywhere I went people were watching
me. Trust me I wasn't being a skitzo either. Everybody was watching me,
and talking about me like I was some freak at a side show. They talked
about what I had done, what my past was, and the rumors grew as the day
continued. I had heard parts of the rumors; some thought I was the one
that pulled the trigger that paralyzed the T. Others were about how I had
killed other people, and how I tried to kill my own mother. There were
even more then had been stated on how I scared the Jokers into having me as
their leader, and that I had killed their old leader, thus the name
Trigger. That one hit the hardest out of all. It had taken away from my
greatly held pride. I might have been a power hungry teen at the time but
I never killed anyone and most of all not Travis, who was their former
leader. I hated when they attacked my capabilities. I was the leader
because I was the best candidate for the position, under Jordan, but I
earned it. I never wanted people to fear me. I didn't want them to fear
me because they would have never truly trust to me. I wanted them to
respect me as a leader, and trust me.
As the day went on more rumors grew, but I stopped caring, after the first
class, all that ran through my mind was 'When the hell is lunch,' and 'When
the hell will I be able to go home.' Neither was close at the time. I
pushed my way through the crowds of people to get to my locker. "Three
more classes and then lunch," I said to myself. I had this plan. I was
going to skip lunch and run to the computer center and start searching
through possible candidates for Batman with the information I had acquired
about him.
"Did you hear that she was kicked out of Juvie hall for starting fights and
I heard that she killed some one there."
That was the last straw. Personally I think it was the stupidity of the
people, then the rumor that set me off. "Oh, please people. Think about
what the hell you are saying! If I got kicked out of Juvie I wouldn't be
allowed with in public areas! Not to mention if I killed some one I would
have gone to jail.not Juvie hall!" I screamed.
The hall went silent. I didn't mind at all. I slammed my locker shut
after grabbing my books, and walked away. The hall began to grow with
noise, as I walked past. I reached my next class when some one grabbed my
arm.
"Tyler, you dropped this."
I turned around and saw Terry McGinnis. He had grown greatly since the
last time I saw him. He was tall, with a well-toned body, and pure black
hair. He was hot, but I knew that he and Dana were still a couple. How
sad.
"Thanks." I grabbed a hold of the letter with curiosity, who would give me
a letter, but I smiled hiding my wonderment.
"Don't worry about them. It'll stop after a week. They did the same thing
when I got back from Juvie."
"Thank for caring."
"Look, if anything is wrong, you can tell me."
"And what would be wrong.and no offence or anything, but why would I tell
you. I barely know you."
"We've been through things that are similar, it's always good to talk with
some one who can relate."
I looked at him curiously, "Thanks for the offer." Dana came around the
corner and smiled taking Terry's arm within hers.
"Come on Ter, or we're going to be late." She looked at me and forced
a smile. "It's nice to have you back Tyler."
"Yeah." Terry gave me a weird look as he left with Dana. I wondered whom
the letter was from, and what Terry's problem was. Nothing felt right
about it, nothing. I flipped the letter around but it didn't have name. I
thought maybe that some one had mistaken my locker for another student's.
I being the curious teenager opened the letter. That's when my curiosity
turned to fear. All it read was 'Hanger.' I didn't need subtitles or such
thing. I knew exactly what it meant. Who ever wrote the letter wanted me
to meet them at the old hanger. However, from what I heard from Jordan,
after the attack on the T's, the hanger hand long since been deserted. It
didn't make since at all.
"Terry?" I said aloud. Was Terry a Joker? Was he the one that wrote the
letter? "No Terry maybe have a different attitude then everybody else
around here but it's not the attitude of a Joker, its something else."
Maybe he was the one that wanted me to meet him at the hanger, not because
he was a Joker but because he thought I still was. Maybe he held a grudge
against me because of his father's death, and he thought I had sent some
Jokers off to do it. "This is just freaking great!"
I glanced at the letter again, the words didn't change, I hoped I had read
it wrong, but that was improbable. There was nothing else to do. I had a
study hall so I ran up to the Computer center. I had to try and figure out
what was going on, and I had to do this with out involving Jordan in on it.
That had always been a problem or down fall of mine. I could not back down
from a challenge, even though at this moment in time I didn't need to get
into any fights. If it was Terry, then I had to explain to him what
happened that night, and if it was another Joker, well I don't think I have
to tell you what I was going to do, but I promised myself I was going to
help take gangs off the streets, and I was going to need Batman's help.
The Center was not as packed as I thought it would be. Actually it was
bare. There were only maybe a couple of students, people that had been
secluded from the real world of teens. I didn't think it so bad.
"Are you here for the period young lady?" asked the Attendant.
"Yes." I showed her, my school ID.
She just nodded and left me alone. I quickly looked around for an open
computer. It wasn't that difficult. The computer system although very
technologically advanced was still slow. However it was fine for the kind
of program I needed. It wasn't hard to manipulate a program the computer
had for looking up different religious characters, and other language
characters, of certain criteria, to search for a person with certain
criteria.
I thought about all the information I had gathered over the past few months
about Batman. Information from newspapers, documents, and word of mouth.
So far all I had was that Batman was between the ages of sixteen and
eighteen. Anyone older wouldn't be able to pull off the stunts. It was a
man, obviously, and he was strong, he had great speed, and was about six
feet tall. Of course the guy was from Gothem, which meant that he was
probably still in school, and from what I heard he had to have been,
because he only came to play at night. And lastly, he had to have been
rich, or at least know some one with money; because the suit that he wears
is so technologically advanced most haven't heard of it, or so I read.
After I had entered all the data, and hit enter, I received the weirdest of
messages. ."What does it mean replace document? There
aren't any saved Documents dealing Batman.are there?" I was dumb-found.
Maybe someone else had been trying to look for Batman as well. So I did
was most people would do, I opened the document. It listed a bunch of
names. And the Top on the list was Terry. My jaw dropped.
How could Terry be Batman, or maybe it was a fluke of some sort. I
couldn't believe it. I was so confused, and baffled. Who would be looking
for Batman, and why was Terry at the top of the list. This was so weird.
I glanced at the name who saved the Document. "Maxine! Max was looking
for Batman?"
A whisper of hushes came my way. I glanced around and all the nerds were
basically telling me to shut up with all their stares. I quickly gathered
my things, but before that; I ran through the entire system, and deleted
anything dealing with Batman. I even deleted the entire program to find
him or who ever for that matter. No one could have the hint that some one
had been looking for some one.
I hit 'enter' to say okay to the delete, when something caught my eye. A
file that was being deleted was dealing with Jokers. I quickly stopped the
delete and restored the Joker information. My curiousity grew again, so I
opened it.
Another list of named popped up. It was the same list of named as before,
but they all were dealing with people who could be Jokers. Either some one
had saved the file to two different names to confuse some one, or two
different search were done, and the people that were most likely the good
guys were just as capable as being bad guys. And the weirdest of all, is,
it was possible, the good guys and the bad guys were always the same, it
just depending the choices the person made. So it was quite probable.
The only way to know that full truth would be to take to the person that
saved both the files. Max. I continued the delete, and when it asked my
to empty the trash bin, I clicked enter. All was going to be deleted.
When the little icon told me all had been done I nodded with security and
left, my new mission, find Max.
That same night is when Batman returned, even though I didn't learn
about that till later. I had been locked in Juvie for a year and a half.
It would have been longer, but several people came forward and anonymously
told the Commissioner I never shot the gun that paralyzed the T. But
because of my past record I was forced to at least spend some time with in
the barracks. They let Jordan go, because even the Commissioner saw that
he was nowhere near the building until after the whole ordeal. He used the
defense that he was coming to save me. It worked.
Jordan visited me all the time. It was he who told me what happened to him
that night. He said that another group of Jokers began to harass Terry at
a club. They chased him up to Bruce Wayne's place. It was the perfect
diversion while he and the others rampaged the house, only to find that the
man was already dead. It looked like the other Jokers had done the dirty
work. That was hard for me to swallow. I couldn't believe that Jokers
would be evil and villainous enough to actually take someone's life. It
was from then on that I vowed to take crime off the streets. I helped put
it there; I could help take it away.
Another time when Jordan came in, he mentioned that a man was running about
Gothem pretending to be Batman. Jordan had mentioned many times after how
good Batman was, that he was living up to the stories we had heard. It was
then when I knew I what I was going to do. I was going to help Batman
anyway I could. But first, I was going to have to deal with going back to
school first.
*Flash Back*
The day just began to break when my mother Lily walked into my room. She
had a perpetual smile on her face since I had come home. She was happy
that both her children were home, safe and sound, and getting another
chance at life. Jordan had already returned back to school prier to my
home coming. He had lost the green hair, but not the style. He still wore
big baggy clothing; however it only was for intimidation, and nothing more.
I was still restless. I had been home for a week, and yet I still held my
instincts when it came sleeping. Five hundred, forty-seven and a half days
in something that I came to learn as hell, can do that to a person. Always
watching over your shoulders, sleeping in small amounts at a time because
you don't know what might happen if you sleep longer.it wasn't a pretty
thing. On the other hand, with all the time on my hands I was able to tone
my body. I had to admit, I had strength that I didn't have before. It
was, at times, a trip. I glanced over at my clock, it was only 6:51. Lily
however was wide awake, and wanted the rest of us to be just as awake.
"Time to wake up Tyler. You have to be at school in less then a half."
"Yeppy," I replied unenthused. I pulled back my covers and set my feet on
the ground. Everything was just how I left it, except for the mess, and
the inability to see the floor, but it was my room. "I'll be down in a
second."
"Okay, breakfast is already done, so come down when you are ready."
Lily had already pulled out my clothing for the day, but none of it was
something I was willing to wear, and most defiantly not in public. I
pushed them aside and rampaged through my closet trying to find some of my
old clothing. You know, the baggy pants, the tight tank top shirt. It was
hard to find. Lily had packed all that away and bought me clothing she
thought would be more suitable. That meant dresses. Sorry but I never
have been, nor will be a dress person. Skirts were okay, and only ones
that gave me free movement. Being unable to fight back is something I will
never enjoy.
I quickly dressed and ran down the stairs to find a well balanced breakfast
before me. A bowl of cereal, buttered toast, and orange juice, I could get
use to that. "Thanks Li.mom." I glanced at her and smiled. It had been a
long time since I called her mom. Jordan also smiled. We were now a some
what normal family, and it felt great.
It didn't take either of us long to eat, and then we were off. Jordan was
walking to his new job just around the corner of the school, so he decided
to walk me to school. It didn't bother me at all.
"Mom is really happy; it's been a while since I have seen her like this.
It's nice." Jordan said as we walked out the door.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Before that whole incident mom never looked
happy, nor did we though. I guess we both just needed a wake up call."
"You know what, I think you're right." We began our new journey. "You
never did tell us what happened to you while in the place."
"Do I really have to? You know what it was like. The fighting, the
brawls, the arguments with the guards, and the dominancy trips, it was all
there."
"Please tell me you were on the higher end of things."
"No Jordan, I was a meek follower." I replied sarcastically. "I am not
going to say that I was the head honcho but I did have my gurus. And I did
get into a couple of fights, but more of less I just stayed out of things.
I had more on my mind."
"Yeah, I know. But you had nothing to do with that T. You can not
continue to be yourself over it."
"Don't worry; it will only be for a little longer." I forced a smile. I
hadn't told Jordan my plan in finding out who might be Batman. He didn't
need to know. He had to just worry about working and going to College, so
he could get a better job, and a better future. Lily told me to just worry
about finishing out school this year. She figured that because I was
entering in the year late, and with out much of a past in school I would
need to work my butt off just to get decent grades. I was hoping the
opposite.
"Well there yeah go. Enjoy, and don't get into fights okay."
I nodded and we parted.
I walked down the halls as I had before, but the confidence thing was
greatly lacking. I, instead of feeling powerful and feared was afraid and
feeling very inferior. It wasn't a good thing and not a pretty sight
either.
My back was hunched, and I felt like everywhere I went people were watching
me. Trust me I wasn't being a skitzo either. Everybody was watching me,
and talking about me like I was some freak at a side show. They talked
about what I had done, what my past was, and the rumors grew as the day
continued. I had heard parts of the rumors; some thought I was the one
that pulled the trigger that paralyzed the T. Others were about how I had
killed other people, and how I tried to kill my own mother. There were
even more then had been stated on how I scared the Jokers into having me as
their leader, and that I had killed their old leader, thus the name
Trigger. That one hit the hardest out of all. It had taken away from my
greatly held pride. I might have been a power hungry teen at the time but
I never killed anyone and most of all not Travis, who was their former
leader. I hated when they attacked my capabilities. I was the leader
because I was the best candidate for the position, under Jordan, but I
earned it. I never wanted people to fear me. I didn't want them to fear
me because they would have never truly trust to me. I wanted them to
respect me as a leader, and trust me.
As the day went on more rumors grew, but I stopped caring, after the first
class, all that ran through my mind was 'When the hell is lunch,' and 'When
the hell will I be able to go home.' Neither was close at the time. I
pushed my way through the crowds of people to get to my locker. "Three
more classes and then lunch," I said to myself. I had this plan. I was
going to skip lunch and run to the computer center and start searching
through possible candidates for Batman with the information I had acquired
about him.
"Did you hear that she was kicked out of Juvie hall for starting fights and
I heard that she killed some one there."
That was the last straw. Personally I think it was the stupidity of the
people, then the rumor that set me off. "Oh, please people. Think about
what the hell you are saying! If I got kicked out of Juvie I wouldn't be
allowed with in public areas! Not to mention if I killed some one I would
have gone to jail.not Juvie hall!" I screamed.
The hall went silent. I didn't mind at all. I slammed my locker shut
after grabbing my books, and walked away. The hall began to grow with
noise, as I walked past. I reached my next class when some one grabbed my
arm.
"Tyler, you dropped this."
I turned around and saw Terry McGinnis. He had grown greatly since the
last time I saw him. He was tall, with a well-toned body, and pure black
hair. He was hot, but I knew that he and Dana were still a couple. How
sad.
"Thanks." I grabbed a hold of the letter with curiosity, who would give me
a letter, but I smiled hiding my wonderment.
"Don't worry about them. It'll stop after a week. They did the same thing
when I got back from Juvie."
"Thank for caring."
"Look, if anything is wrong, you can tell me."
"And what would be wrong.and no offence or anything, but why would I tell
you. I barely know you."
"We've been through things that are similar, it's always good to talk with
some one who can relate."
I looked at him curiously, "Thanks for the offer." Dana came around the
corner and smiled taking Terry's arm within hers.
"Come on Ter, or we're going to be late." She looked at me and forced
a smile. "It's nice to have you back Tyler."
"Yeah." Terry gave me a weird look as he left with Dana. I wondered whom
the letter was from, and what Terry's problem was. Nothing felt right
about it, nothing. I flipped the letter around but it didn't have name. I
thought maybe that some one had mistaken my locker for another student's.
I being the curious teenager opened the letter. That's when my curiosity
turned to fear. All it read was 'Hanger.' I didn't need subtitles or such
thing. I knew exactly what it meant. Who ever wrote the letter wanted me
to meet them at the old hanger. However, from what I heard from Jordan,
after the attack on the T's, the hanger hand long since been deserted. It
didn't make since at all.
"Terry?" I said aloud. Was Terry a Joker? Was he the one that wrote the
letter? "No Terry maybe have a different attitude then everybody else
around here but it's not the attitude of a Joker, its something else."
Maybe he was the one that wanted me to meet him at the hanger, not because
he was a Joker but because he thought I still was. Maybe he held a grudge
against me because of his father's death, and he thought I had sent some
Jokers off to do it. "This is just freaking great!"
I glanced at the letter again, the words didn't change, I hoped I had read
it wrong, but that was improbable. There was nothing else to do. I had a
study hall so I ran up to the Computer center. I had to try and figure out
what was going on, and I had to do this with out involving Jordan in on it.
That had always been a problem or down fall of mine. I could not back down
from a challenge, even though at this moment in time I didn't need to get
into any fights. If it was Terry, then I had to explain to him what
happened that night, and if it was another Joker, well I don't think I have
to tell you what I was going to do, but I promised myself I was going to
help take gangs off the streets, and I was going to need Batman's help.
The Center was not as packed as I thought it would be. Actually it was
bare. There were only maybe a couple of students, people that had been
secluded from the real world of teens. I didn't think it so bad.
"Are you here for the period young lady?" asked the Attendant.
"Yes." I showed her, my school ID.
She just nodded and left me alone. I quickly looked around for an open
computer. It wasn't that difficult. The computer system although very
technologically advanced was still slow. However it was fine for the kind
of program I needed. It wasn't hard to manipulate a program the computer
had for looking up different religious characters, and other language
characters, of certain criteria, to search for a person with certain
criteria.
I thought about all the information I had gathered over the past few months
about Batman. Information from newspapers, documents, and word of mouth.
So far all I had was that Batman was between the ages of sixteen and
eighteen. Anyone older wouldn't be able to pull off the stunts. It was a
man, obviously, and he was strong, he had great speed, and was about six
feet tall. Of course the guy was from Gothem, which meant that he was
probably still in school, and from what I heard he had to have been,
because he only came to play at night. And lastly, he had to have been
rich, or at least know some one with money; because the suit that he wears
is so technologically advanced most haven't heard of it, or so I read.
After I had entered all the data, and hit enter, I received the weirdest of
messages. ."What does it mean replace document? There
aren't any saved Documents dealing Batman.are there?" I was dumb-found.
Maybe someone else had been trying to look for Batman as well. So I did
was most people would do, I opened the document. It listed a bunch of
names. And the Top on the list was Terry. My jaw dropped.
How could Terry be Batman, or maybe it was a fluke of some sort. I
couldn't believe it. I was so confused, and baffled. Who would be looking
for Batman, and why was Terry at the top of the list. This was so weird.
I glanced at the name who saved the Document. "Maxine! Max was looking
for Batman?"
A whisper of hushes came my way. I glanced around and all the nerds were
basically telling me to shut up with all their stares. I quickly gathered
my things, but before that; I ran through the entire system, and deleted
anything dealing with Batman. I even deleted the entire program to find
him or who ever for that matter. No one could have the hint that some one
had been looking for some one.
I hit 'enter' to say okay to the delete, when something caught my eye. A
file that was being deleted was dealing with Jokers. I quickly stopped the
delete and restored the Joker information. My curiousity grew again, so I
opened it.
Another list of named popped up. It was the same list of named as before,
but they all were dealing with people who could be Jokers. Either some one
had saved the file to two different names to confuse some one, or two
different search were done, and the people that were most likely the good
guys were just as capable as being bad guys. And the weirdest of all, is,
it was possible, the good guys and the bad guys were always the same, it
just depending the choices the person made. So it was quite probable.
The only way to know that full truth would be to take to the person that
saved both the files. Max. I continued the delete, and when it asked my
to empty the trash bin, I clicked enter. All was going to be deleted.
When the little icon told me all had been done I nodded with security and
left, my new mission, find Max.