Chapter 4 -- Max finishes her search, and Terry eavesdrops.
Ok ok, I'm behind schedule. Max won't find out about Terry until next chapter. Batman Beyond and related characters are owned by DC comics (yay!).Hamilton Hill's senior prom is tonight. Terry and Dana are shoe-ins for King and Queen. Not that Terry would be interested in being King, or even going to the prom, but it is a dream of Dana's. And Terry really would do anything to make her happy, that includes wearing a white suit with pink trim.
"You look like a snowman" Matt teases Terry as he walks into the living room.
"Shut up twerp," Terry advances towards his little brother.
"Yea, Matt, leave Frosty alone" I say from the couch.
A pillow sails across the room toward me.
"Hey, leave Max, alone! She didn't make you wear a stupid suit!" Matt comes to my rescue.
"It's not stupid, Matt. He looks rather handsome." Ms. McGinnis returns home from work just in time to see her eldest off to the prom. "I just wish Max was wearing something just as-"
"I think Max would explode if she ever wore anything-" a pillow catches Terry in the mouth before he can finish "What was that for?" Terry looks at me.
I shrug, "I didn't do it"
"Stop talking about Max!" Matt yells out.
"Matt, what did I say about throwing things?" Mc McGinnis says with arms on her hips.
"He started it!" Matt tries to rescue himself.
"And I'm finishing it," Ms McGinnis throws Matt a "shut up or else" look.
Matt flops on to the couch defeated. I can't help but smile at how cute he is trying to protect me from Terry.
"Let me take a picture," Ms McGinnis runs into the kitchen to get her camera.
"Mom, please-"
"Come on, Frosty. It's just a picture," I egg him on.
He moves besides me and places an arm around my back and on my shoulder. He turns to face his mom and with a smile of victory, "okay mom, snap away!"
Ms. McGinnis manages to get three shots before I realize what is going on.
"Max, at least try to look happy," She says as she prepares to snap again.
I look around the room for a way out, and I see Matt on the couch, arms crossed and making angry faces at Terry, and I smile.
Ms McGinnis gets her pictures.
Terry rushes out to pick up Dana and start his night. Soon after, Ms McGinnis leaves for her own date. It is just me and Matt for the rest of the night. To me, that's better than any prom.
After putting Matt to bed, I pull out my laptop and begin my search for Batman again. I hadn't been able to do much with it lately – just in put some more character traits and expand the database to include men living in the surrounding suburbs. Tonight, however I planned on finishing this. Thirty minutes later, and I had narrowed down my list of possibles to ten men. One of which was Terry, "there's no way Terry could be Batman," I laugh to myself. Now I'm down to nine. A little more tinkering and there's only one man – Justin Greene.
Greene is a former police officer who served on the Bludhaven PD for five years, before becoming obsessed with the splicing craze. Initally, he was concerned with getting spliced criminals off the streets. Soon he began to splice himself, mostly temporary visual and strength enhancements. He retired at the young age of 26 after brutally beating a murder suspect – the force didn't have enough evidence to hold the suspect, so Greene decided to take justice into his own hands. He had moved to Gotham quickly after that, but was unable to find a job on the police force, for obvious reasons. He must be the new batman. He has the physical skill, thanks to splicing, and the experience to handle the job. Max you are a genius.
After some thought, I decide to e-mail Justin Greene. I need to be 100 sure he is Batman. I'll send him a test e-mail, and only give him my e-mail address as a contact. If he isn't Batman then he won't be able to track me down. If he is Batman, then I just solved one of times greatest mysteries.
Terry returns home at 1:00am, wearing his signature leather jacket and jeans.
"You're early. What happened to the hotel?" I ask as he enters the room.
"Wayne called me away last minute. Dana told you?" He sounds surprised and annoyed.
"Yea, why shouldn't I know? Dana must be pissed."
"She is, but winning King and Queen made it a little easier to swallow," he slings his jacket over the back of the couch.
"My best friend is King Frosty now?"
"Was it really that bad?" He slides down onto the couch next to me, barely turning his face to ask me.
"It bought out your eyes...did Dana punch you?"
"What? No," he closes his eyes, half asleep now.
"Did Wayne?"
"The old man? Of course not, what's wrong with you Max," he reopens his eyes, there is an air of anger around him. His temper must be at an all time low tonight, he won't put up with my questions too much longer, but I'm worried about him.
"Your right eye is a little dark. Come to think of it, you have been getting a lot of bruises lately."
He thought to himself that even though he had been having sex with Dana for about a month, she never mentioned any bruises, but Max always did. "I got bruises a lot when I was on the wrestling team, you never said anything then."
"Well, I knew what you were doing then. Now, I'm not so sure."
"Does it matter?" He's tired of talking, if he had the energy, he would walk away, but he's too tired to move.
"I don't know. When you go to sleep at night are you still Terry? Because if you're someone else, then it matters a lot."
His eyes softened on me, "As long as the people I care about are safe, it doesn't matter who I am when I go to sleep."
Getting a full blast of those blue eyes, so soft and sincere was murder. "Terry, I'm just-"
"Forget it, Max, are you ready to go home?"
Weakly I answer, "yes." I decide to leave my laptop, packing it up would just give Terry time to fall asleep. Besides, it's not like I can't pick it up tomorrow.
The Monday following the prom, I skip school. Not that I'm too tired to get out of bed, I just don't feel like hearing anymore congratulations about winning prom king. So I made up some lie about being sick and stayed in bed. It is a welcome rest. The past few weeks had me hectic. First, I run into Dr. Cuvier's pet project Chimeras who has been trying to kill me at least twice a week. Even though the guy told me he was connected to Dr. Cuvier, Bruce and I have not been able to track him down yet. So I've just been hanging in there, getting beat up twice a week. That was a bad thing – good thing, Dana seems to have adjusted to my mysterious night life and decided we should take our relationship a step further. It was amazing…everything about her is perfect. Sometimes I can't believe how lucky I am. It's been five days since we were last together. Prom night was supposed to be a big night for us, a hotel room with a fancy jacuzzi, but I was called away to be beaten by Chimeras. It left me tense and craving for a release. Then there was Max, she had been acting strange. I catch her staring at my butt and chest somedays. I would like to think she was just admiring me, but she always points out some new bruise. I have managed to avoid going into details about the bruises up to date, let's hope it stays that way.
Its noon, I roll out of bed and head for the shower. After cleaning up I go to the kitchen for some food. As I pass by the living room I hear a small ding. "Right, Max left her computer Friday. I was supposed to bring it to school today. Guess I'll drop it off after she gets home, but while it's here." I fall into the couch and start to wonder through Max's laptop. Her e-mail client is open, and she has just received a new e-mail from a Justin Greene, with the subject: re: meet me tonight. "Hmm…Max has a secret boyfriend? Tsk, tsk, you know I have to screen all your boyfriends."
Quickly reading through the message replies, I see that the two lover birds will meet tonight at the pond in Gotham Park to discuss Justin's work. A little too romantic for a business date, but it was a little to business for a romantic date. "Who is this Justin Greene?" I search Max's computer, for any listing of Justin Greene. There was one finding inside a folder named possibles. I try to open it, and get a password prompt. "Password protection? Max what are you doing?"
I type in the word "9ink3v3" it has been Max's password for things since she was 12, you think a girl with pink hair would change that. The folder opens. Inside is a document titled "JG," I open it. It's a bio on Justin Greene, the man Max believes to be Batman. "Slag, it Max, I told you stop."