Batman: Beyond Terry Chapter 1, a batman beyond fanfic

22 September 2044.

0530 hours.

Part of Alfred's primary function was to compile news stories and look for connections and extrapolate possible criminal involvement in an attempt to root out organized crime and corruption in Gotham City. One news article after another came across his awareness and was quickly shuffled aside; City Hall commissions slum restoration, Terry McGinnis to donate millions to orphanage, muggings increasing on north end, 135 year old woman is killed by drunk driver. So when he sees a report stating that Batman had been killed by Blight he simply ignores is. After all, the villain responsible may change but the news media always reports that Batman had died. He went back to working on the rendering that Master Terry had asked for.

The jet returned to the hanger just before daybreak, moving somehow less fluidly than it usually did.

"Good morning sir, I hope your patrol went smoothly. I have completed several renderings for your perusal and you asked me to remind you to contact the soon to be Mrs. McGinnis regarding breakfast this morning."

No reply.

"You are being unusually quiet, sir, is everything alright? Do you require medical assistance?"

No answer.

"Sir?" Alfred could not simply access the cowl's video feed because Terry had gone with the original cowl, and it did not have video feed capabilities.

Alfred opened the canopy and a small maintenance droid reported that the cock-pit was empty. Alfred went about his daily routine; supervising maintenance work and monitoring news feeds to look for any correlation that would indicate weather something required Batman's attention. It was not often that Master Terry did not return in the morning but it did happen. Sometimes he would stop at his fiancé's or at the office in order to make a business meeting.

1047 hours.

Beep-beep, beep-beep, beep-beep.

He searches the spectrum of signals that are whizzing about in the cave and homes in on the one going to Terry's cell phone in time to hear the message that is left.

"Terry where the hell are you?" Dana Tan sounds displeased, "I know you place a lot of importance on your work but you promised that as of sunrise yesterday you would leave it behind until after our honeymoon. You're already over half an hour late, if the staff here didn't know us so well they would have already had me vacate the table. Call me when you get this, bye. Love you."

Curious.

Alfred searched the internet for recent news stories concerning the death of Batman.

Search: Batman, death, 22 September 2044.

Searching...

File found...

Accessing data...

Compiling data...

Streaming video feed.

"... was found in an alley this morning. Police are unsure if it is the real Batman or not but insiders report that what remains of the suit is very advanced. Lending credence to the theory that this is in fact the body of the real Batman is the crime scene itself. Investigators report that Blight had fired several blasts of concentrated radiation before finally hitting his target. Autopsy is under way and police report that they aren't even going to try and identify him with facial recognition or dental records, because there is nothing to identify him with. The armour protected the rest of his body fairly well from the astronomical levels of radiation but somehow his headpiece failed to do the same.

Alfred activated the suits homing beacon but his systems reported that it had been disabled and that high levels of radiation were detected immediately before it went offline.

"Oh my." Alfred said before activating the subroutine Oracle to search through the various levels of security surrounding the crime labs mainframe.

Initializing: Subroutine Oracle.

Initializing...

Active.

Target: Crime Lab Mainframe.

Accessing...

First Firewall Bypassed.

Accessing...

Second Firewall Bypassed.

Accessing...

Third Firewall Bypassed.

Search: Morgue.

Search Topic: Batman.

Searching...

Subject Batman Located.

Access: Files Associated With Subject Batman.

Accessing...

Information found.

Configuring Data.

Configuring...

Displaying.

Subject: Batman.

Physical Condition: Exceptional. Subject was above Olympic level athlete, astounding muscle tone and definition.

Notes: Subject has suffered horrific radiation burns to the face and head, making identification by even dental records impossible. Even DNA records wouldn't be accurate due to the astonishing amounts of radiation that his body absorbed.

The suit seems to have protected his body from the radiation far better than his head piece did. Identification by finger prints may be possible.

Access: IAFIS Database Search.

Accessing...

Locate: Print Sample.

Locating...

Print Sample found.

Compare Sample With Cave Records.

Comparing...

Match Found. 100% match.

Subject: Terrance McGinnis.

Status: Deceased.

Bruce had created him specifically to ensure that the Batman lived on throughout the generations. He had even planned for the event that Terry's identity was compromised, or he was outright killed.

Create Back-Up.

Creating...

Back-Up Created.

Transfer To Secondary Location.

Transferring...

Transfer Complete.

Duplicate Archives. Transfer To Secondary Location.

Duplicating...

Duplication Complete. Transferring Files.

Transferring...

Transfer Complete.

Activate: Scorched Earth.

Initializing...

Scorched Earth Initialized.

Self Destruct In 3...

2...

The Napalm charges in the cave began detonating, rapidly engulfing the famed Bat-cave in an inferno that was nearly unmatched in power. The inferno spread to the trophy platform and the charges in the jet exploded, raining bits and pieces of charred metal and electronics all over the subterranean inferno. Alfred opened the Grandfather clock and the inferno raged with new intensity, quickly engulfing the old clock and then the office it sat in. In short order the entire mansion was a raging inferno, a funeral pyre for the fallen hero.

Alfred regretted allowing the house to burn as it was but the fire was dying out and he needed it to burn up the cases of costumes. Bruce would be very displeased if Richard, Tim or Barbara were to be discovered as retired vigilantes through their connection to him.

Finally the last set of charges activated, this time in the very walls of the cave itself.

****

Firefighters had gotten word that the old Wayne Mansion was going up in flames but by the time they had been informed and made the trip, the darkly beautiful old estate was totally beyond salvation. At this point they couldn't even begin to quell the flames, let alone extinguish them so they opted to stay on scene and ensure that the raging inferno didn't spread to the surrounding forest.

They didn't think that the fire would be put out until it had burned through all of the available fuel but they were wrong. Because they heard sharp cracks! Followed by a deep rumbling and the mansion and the cliff it sat on crumbled and slid into the ocean below.

Two Weeks Later

"Mrs. McGinnis, thank you so much for allowing us to do this interview."

"You're welcome." Mary said, she had aged remarkably well but since the death of her oldest son she had begun to look a great deal older than her forty-two years deserved, especially considering all of the anti-aging products that were so readily available.

"By now it's no secret that your son was Batman," the interviewer began. He sat out of the camera's view but directly in Mary's. He was a fairly tall man with a head of immaculately styled auburn hair and a stylish blue suit that had been provided by one of the news stations sponsors, his face was far gentler than his words would suggest.

"That's right."

"Wow, umm OK. So there has been speculation that Bruce Wayne was the original Batman, given his relation to your son and his vast wealth this theory seems plausible. Do you have any comment about this?"

"Not really. So far as I know Bruce Wayne was a drunken womanizer until he became too old to continue that life style. Then he just secluded himself in his home. Truth be told I never really thought very highly of him until he employed Terry as his personal assistant."

"That seems to lend credence to the theory that he was the original Batman, possibly the person who trained your son."

Marry laughed, "Mr. Wayne was many things, but he was not in good enough shape to train Terry for something like being Batman. Mr. Wayne was not the type of person to get involved directly, he chose to help people through charitable donations."

"So you don't think that Bruce Wayne was the original Batman?"

"Don't get me wrong he was a very intelligent man, but I doubt he could compare to the rumours I've heard about Batman."

"Fair enough. So how did you find out that your son was Batman?"

"He told me." Mary said plainly, "During his senior year at Hamilton Hill High School."

"Really? Just like that? He came out and said 'I'm Batman'?"

"Not exactly like that. I'd been yelling at him about falling asleep in class again and my mother's intuition suddenly kicked in and I was able to work it out of him." Marry sighed sadly, "I didn't believe him at first, I grounded him for lying to me."

"When did you first come to believe that he was Batman?"

"It wasn't until after Terry had inherited most of Mr. Wayne's fortune. The first thing he did was move Mathew and I to a nice suburb on the outskirts of Gotham. He provided for us financially and ensured that Mathew would not be tempted or influenced by drugs or gangs."

"That was very nice of him." the interviewer said.

"I thought so to, but he didn't think much of it. He said that looking out for his family was worth more than the cost of the house and everything. So we were walking back to the hotel when a group of Jokerz walked right up to us. I knew that they roamed around but I always thought that they just preyed on people who walked into alleys and stuff. I never expected them to come right onto the street in the wealthy districts.

"Well what do we have here boys?" a sadistic sounding voice asked as a group of deranged clowns wandered out of the alley and surrounded them.

Terry immediately moved himself between Mary and Mathew and the approaching gang. Mary couldn't be sure but he seemed different somehow; despite the situation he was eerily calm and totally confident very much like his normal self but somehow more dangerous. Marry almost fainted when he spoke.

"Keep moving dregs." His voice was an ice cold growl and the spliced hyena hybrid growled in response and lunged toward him. Terry sidestepped and drilled several punches into the beasts face and body, leaving him to stagger a short distance before collapsing to the pavement.

"Get him!" the clown in the purple suit yelled.

Mary caught a glimpse of his face as he danced around the Jokerz, it was hard and dangerous and showed no fear about stepping into a confrontation with the feared gang. He seemed to be picking them apart at will, soon they fled, limping and carrying each other into the ally, there had been six of them.

******************

"Terry didn't back down or even flinch. He just glanced over his shoulder long enough to make sure that Matt and I were alright before he jumped right in there. When they fled I even had to stop him from giving chase."

"And that's when you knew?"

"Yes. It was still my son there, all his mannerisms and courage but Batman was there to, despite the suit being nowhere in sight."

A/N: As always, I hope you enjoyed this update. And please leave comments and critiques.

Peace,

-Kobez2.0- 01/16/2010