Disclaimer: I do not own Batman Beyond or JLU; they belong to their respective writers, producers, and so forth. This is simply for fun and not for profit.

Summary: Terry just wanted to get home to his Gotham, not some past one, not some weird alternate dimension one, just home. Who knew time travel and the journey home could be so...troublesome.

A/N: This one may be a two-shot and it's a bit twisted. If anyone would like to take the idea and make a longer story out of it, feel free to. This also heavily implies some adult themes. With love, depressedchildren

Chapter 4: A Twisted Turn of Events

Terry was reeling as he appeared in…this was Neo-Gotham but… He gulped as he stared around at the plethora of buildings marked up with construction scaffolds while others were just… There were literal holes blown into buildings. This was wrong… He had to hurry and check in with Bruce, what if he got sent back too late?!

He changed into his civies and began racing down the streets. If a Batamn showed up then he could feel the sweet relief of this not being his Gotham—unless someone replaced him because he had been gone too long...

Though the debris from the destroyed buildings had long since been cleared up, Terry could imagine what a state Neo-Gotham had been in. Terry could feel his pulse rising with panic and fear. What had happened?! Had he been gone too long? There was no Bat flying toward where he was yet, did this mean this was his world?!

This thought kicked him into gear. Terry had never run so fast in his life, and he didn't even care about the looks he received as he sped down the streets. He jumped over the side of a road and caught a lamp pole which he slid down to the lower level. He slipped and did a recovery roll before hurrying along his way.

By the time he was half-way to the manor, he was panting and could barely breathe. F*** this, he'd put his suit back on and just fly ther—

"You bitch!" Terry whirled around at the yell and saw a girl not much older than him running down an alley toward him while four men chased after her. One of them was giant and had red hair with a matching beard. He also had these metal things at his temples and wore an unfortunate looking blue jumpsuit. What stuck out the most though was his bleeding right eye.

"F*** you Emmick!" the girl yelled back at him as she rushed past Terry.

"You're coming back to Waller!" The red head and apparent leader of the group yelled as he aimed a gun at her.

Terry's eyes widened. He quickly launched himself at the girl to push her out of the way. She scowled at him, and managed to slip out of his grip and do a flip to further distance herself from him and her attackers. Terry quickly went into a flip and then a summersault before ending up beside the girl.

"F*** off, idiot," she snarled. She was panting however and clutching at her stomach, which Terry realized belatedly was protruding.

"You're pregnant and going to take on the four of them?!" he exclaimed, and she just grinned almost maliciously at him.

She got into an alarmingly familiar ready stance, and Terry quickly did the same. This girl…she was crazy.

"Kid," Emmick-guy stated while looking at Terry, "You better run along, this is Cadmus business."

The girl reached into her coat pocket before throwing something at her assailants. Knives. They embedded into two of the men's legs after they missed Emmick. The girl tsked before racing toward he attackers. Oh shit!

Terry rushed them too, but didn't know who he should really be helping right now: the pregnant girl, or the Cadmus people.

"I'm not letting you abort this baby!" the girl raged as she delivered a round house kick at Emmick before ducking under his attack.

Well, that decided things. Terry held off one of the other Cadmus men while Emmick, the apparent leader, took on crazy-pregnant-girl. They were flipping, kicking, dodging, and punching around these Cadmus people in a frighteningly similar way. And then the girl reached into her pocket again, as another guy came at her from her side.

Terry watched in horror as the girl plunged the knife into the guy's side before yanking it out. The smile on her face was…was one of joy.

Terry swallowed and missed his chance to parry a punch. He spun with the movement behind it and ended in a crouch, ready to bull rush his attacker. Should he really be helping this girl? As Terry knocked his opponent to the ground, he quickly punched him in the temple, succinctly knocking him out.

Terry then turned around in time to see Emmick dodge a swipe of a knife from that girl. However, the last Cadmus guy was already calling for back up while he tried to staunch the blood flow from his comrade's wound.

Terry gritted his teeth and rushed Emmick. He knocked the guy's feet from under him with a move akin to a dive in soccer. Emmick hit the ground hard, while his head snapped back with a sickening crack. He was still and undoubtedly knocked out.

The girl was about to pounce him, but Terry caught her arm and began to run, "They're getting back-up!"

The girl literally snarled in anger but went with him. They ran in a random direction before they finally slowed down and hid in an alley. They were both panting as they leaned back against a dirty wall. The girl slid down it slightly while she clutched at her stomach. Her eyes closed as she breathed in and out.

"Why's Cadmus after you and your baby?" Terry asked after a moment, but he was still panting. The girl looked over at him with a glare, but Terry really couldn't think why a cloning facility would be interested in her.

"Because my fairy godmother's mad I'm having a clown baby," she shot back before laughing almost unhinged.

"What?" he asked, and she laughed a little more before she got up.

"Escort me to my current humble abode?" she asked with a suddenly sweet smile while she held out her hand for him. Terry stared at her with his mouth open. However he accepted the hand and got up while shaking his head slightly.

They began walking quickly down the allies, but Terry couldn't stop from looking over his shoulder every other second. The girl scoffed. He glared back at her, but didn't retort.

The girl was crazy, that was for sure, and what did she mean by clown baby? Was she a part of some Jokerz gang? No…she didn't really look the type even if she was crazy enough. The girl…she looked so familiar for some reason, and he just knew she wasn't some clown.

She wore her hair in a messy bun, and little wisps of hair framed her face along with longer strands that had slipped free of the bun. She had black hair, but her eyes were a steely blue that seemed so familiar. Then there were her nose and cheekbones… Where had he seen her before? Had he even seen her before?

"Do I have something on my face?" she asked blandly as she looked over at him unimpressed.

He coughed and looked away while shaking his head. The girl rolled her eyes.

"Got a name, boy-who-likes-trying-to-be-the-hero?" she asked dryly, and Terry glared back over at her.

"Terry," he gritted out. The only reason he was still walking with this girl was because those Cadmus people might show up, though he was growing increasingly unsure about not helping them.

The girl raised an eyebrow in surprise, "No way, I'm called Terri too."

Terry literally froze as he stared at crazy girl. The eyes, no wonder they were so familiar; those were his eyes. "You're shitting me." He was some crazy, pregnant girl in this dimension?!

The girl tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips, "How am I shitting you?"

"Your last name wouldn't be McGinnis, would it?" at his question, the girl's eyes narrowed and she scowled at him.

"What's that to you?" she asked with her arms folded under her bust.

Terry sighed and wondered if this was one of the scenarios where he should be more cautious of the alternate dimension him? He looked the girl up and down before sighing again because of the facts staring at him. She could fight even if she was pregnant, and she fought like him, like a Bat. "I'm Terry McGinnis too, and let me guess," he paused minutely, "your parents were Warren and Mary, right?"

The girl stared at him for a long moment with a curious look on her face. He couldn't quite read it, but it felt like she was trying to figure out if he was the one lying to her now. He sighed again. "I'm from another dimension," he added, and the girl still looked at him like she was trying to figure him out.

Terry shifted slightly as he looked at the girl; perhaps he was wrong? He coughed slightly, "Warren McGinnis, in my dimension died when he uncovered a disc about a nerve gas—"

"Yeah, same happened to me, and then you met Bruce Wayne, right?" her eyes were narrowed still as she looked him up and down.

Terry nodded and looked away. "I did, and when I got home…dad was dead."

Something clicked for the girl and she began to laugh so hard her body shook. She threw her head back and just laughed like he had said the funniest thing in the world. What the hell was wrong with her?!

"Oh other me," she cooed, "you have so much to learn!" She practically cackled before continuing to move on.

"What the hell do you mean by that?!" he snapped as he grabbed her wrist to stop her from walking away. The girl just smiled at him without any real warmth.

"You didn't grow up like I did," she stated almost glibly. "Mother works for Cadmus, I bet yours doesn't." Terry stared at the girl with his mouth open and she laughed again. "You are so lucky," she flashed a toothy smile back over at him, and began to move on again despite his hold on her wrist pulling her back.

"What the hell are you going on about?!" he practically growled out the words.

The crazy girl dropped her smile and stared at him. He took an unconscious step back because…he wasn't sure why. Her look was intense and yet…almost haunted. "You may be me in another dimension, but you are nothing like me," she whispered before he features dipped down into another scowl. She scoffed and looked away from him before yanking her arm out of his hold.

Terry just stared after her as she walked away, but then she slowed her walk and stared back at him as if an idea had come to her. "You saw the old man's…lab, right?" He narrowed his gaze at her but nodded. She made an amused hum as she looked him up and down. "Grayson is going to have to whip you into shape, but you'll do as a replacement."

"Excuse me?" he stared at her and she laughed at him like he was an idiot.

"I can't keep on with the job while I'm carrying this," she rubbed her stomach, though as she looked down at it…well, Terry wouldn't say it was love on her face but rather some sick joy she got out of being pregnant. She flashed a toothy smile up at him and added, "Then fairy godmother will stop sending men out to try and abort it."

Oh…oh… "I don't want to mess up any events or-or learn too much about the future!" He looked around a bit uncertain, "I'm assuming this is the future?"

The girl scoffed and shook her head, though she was clearly amused by him. "You didn't know who Grayson was, so…" she scrunched up her face in mock thought, "I'd imagine you are," her sarcasm was not needed.

He glared at her more and was half tempted to tell her she was on her own. However, for whatever reason, this crazy girl wanted that baby and so would be out of commission, which would leave Gotham without a Batman.

"How far along are you?" he wasn't happy with this, but even this dimension did not deserve to go without a Batman—though perhaps it was best to not be in this crazy-him's hands.

"Eighteen weeks." Damn…how had she been able to fight like that and not lose the baby? "I'd imagine it'd take until my due date to get you home anyways," she added offhandedly, and Terry sighed as he nodded his head in agreement.

He was worried how much time was slipping by as he waited to be sent back to his own dimension—at this rate he'd be into his twenties by the time he got back! The first time had been quick, but there had been so many scientists helping from the league. The second time there was Drake who was just amazing with technology and had a more open relationship with some of the old heroes. The last time…well, that had taken nearly three months. If some Grayson person was in charge here then it might even take him longer—pending this guy's ability with creating dimensional hopping things, and his connections to the League.

The crazy girl smiled at him like she had won, which she admittedly had. He sighed but agreed. She smiled more broadly and they continued walking, though she pulled out her ear-piece phone.

"Hey Grayson, I have a replacement for me until I get this little clown-bat out." She paused for a response and scowled before opening and closing her mouth inaudibly as she mocked the speaker. She rolled her eyes but jumped at what was likely her first opportunity to speak, "He's me from another dimension, but, like, stable; though he's shit at fighting and you'll have to work with him on that."

Terry stared at the girl affronted, but she ignored him while this Grayson guy talked to her. The girl rolled her eyes again and said loudly, "Yeah, yeah. I got it. Just go get laid with your cat lady already!" she hung up promptly after that.

"I don't want to know, I don't want to know," Terry murmured again and again as he just kept walking. The crazy girl laughed and quickly caught up to him while looping their arms together. He wanted to shudder slightly. She was so…unhinged, what made her that way?

Terry kept wondering, why? Why did this "fairy godmother," who likely ran Cadmus, want the girl to abort the baby? She even sent men after her, likely to force a miscarriage or stillbirth—he didn't know what it would be this far along in her pregnancy. Did Cadmus care about Batman's ability to fight crime? And why did their mother in this dimension work at Cadmus? What did this girl know that he didn't? Who was she?

"Watch it, hero-boy," the girl drawled. "You might just have an aneurism thinking so hard," she flashed that damn smile at him and all he could think was, that bitch!

"I can't believe you're me," he gritted out as his hands clenched tightly into fists. This girl was just…just so—ugh!

"What?" a voice spoke up incredulously, and Terry froze when he realized he recognized the voice. "Did you ensnare someone else?" Dana…she was walking toward them with her arms folded under her bust. Terry also realized they were walking through her apartment complex.

"Oh, little Dana!" the crazy girl cooed.

All color blanched from Dana's face. "Don't you call me that," she stated in a tight, frightened whisper.

Terry watched in horror as psycho-him smiled slowly and cruelly. "Why? Make you think of your brother?"

Dana's teeth gritted together and she clenched her fists so hard her arms were shaking. "Shut up!"

Crazy girl tsked, "Is that the grief talking? Or the guilt?" she asked with another cruel smile. She pulled away from Terry to come closer to Dana in a taunting fashion.

Dana gasped and looked like she had been struck, and crazy girl was taking some kind of sick joy out of it. No, this was too wrong! "Stop it! You psycho!" he jerked away from this dimension's him and stepped protectively in front of Dana. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

She stared at him before laughing and shaking her head. "You wouldn't get it, hero-boy," she stated, and Terry just felt so much anger toward this girl. On top of that, he could practically feel Dana's distress, which only made him angrier.

"L-look!" Dana spoke up as she moved beside him and set a hand on his arm. His knees nearly buckled under him at the familiar weight of her hand. Dana steadied herself as she took a deep breath, "This is just between us; don't get yourself any more involved than you are."

Crazy-him laughed derisively and shook her head. Dana shot a glare at her, "I can't believe I ever fell for any of it, and just so you know, my mother doesn't buy it anymore either."

The crazy girl laughed at Dana like she was an adorable child. "Oh Dana," she sighed and shook her head as if Dana was endearing. Terry moved back in front of Dana slightly and glared down at the other him.

Dana scowled at the other him too, "Well, your mother's here to take you home and she's convinced my mother it might be best you lost the baby."

The crazy girl raised an eyebrow in amusement before smiling, "Wonderful." She then walked toward them and grabbed Terry's arm. He tried to jerk away, but what the crazy-him said threw him so much he couldn't fully extract himself from her. Crazy girl smiled viciously at Dana, "Your place isn't the same if Doug isn't there to f***."

"Doug…" Wait…brother…crazy-him had said something about Dana having a brother, and Dana's dad was definitely not named Doug. "Oh my god!" he jerked away from this dimension's him in time to stare at her in disgust. What the f*** was wrong with this crazy girl?!

Dana was crying now, "Just go talk to your f***ing mother and leave me alone!" she screeched and Terry stepped closer to Dana as if to comfort her, yet he still did not reach out because she wasn't his Dana. The crazy girl scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Hero-boy, just come with me. Mother needs to meet you; otherwise, consider yourself murdering my baby." He swallowed and stared at his other self. He shook his head slowly in disgust.

"What could have possibly made you this way?"

She laughed and shook her head, "You really want to know." Her gaze flickered over to Dana and she shrugged. "Cadmus made me this way, my mother," the crazy girl smiled slowly again, "she made me just like fairy godmother wanted, but…" she laughed slightly and shook her head. She sighed and shrugged while keeping that demented smile on her face, "But I'm sick of being the good little girl, and just want to f*** them all over," her smile fell for the latter part of what she said. She then proceeded on toward Dana's apartment.

Terry stared after her with his mouth open, and Dana looked to the side. "I don't understand…"

Terry didn't either, so he just pulled Dana against his side. She tensed at first, which made him grimace, but then she relaxed into the embrace. "You should let it die," Dana whispered after a long moment.

Terry froze and looked down at Dana with his mouth open, "What?!"

Dana looked up and pulled away from him. She wiped at her tears and shook her head. "My brother was the Joker King," she said it like the title should hold significance. Joker King…her brother was a joker…had been a leader of them somehow? He swallowed and looked back over at where crazy him had gone.

"Doesn't mean the baby will become him," Terry began feebly, and Dana laughed without mirth.

"Both of them are—were" she amended with a flinch, "obsessed and psychotic." She shook her head and looked away from him as she moved toward the railing of the walking way. She looked out at the city and grimaced at the sight of all the destroyed buildings and construction work. Had her brother done all of that?

Terry swallowed thickly and moved toward the railing too. "What do you mean, exactly?" he asked in a low, almost wavering, voice. Did he want to know, was this pushing things too far?

Dana swallowed and held her hands tightly together. "Doug had always been obsessed with the Joker, and he was…was sick," she managed to get out. Terry frowned but let Dana take her time. The girl took a deep, shaking breath before continuing, "I thought Terri was my friend, and she was always so nice, but then…" Dana looked sick and she closed her eyes as she shuddered. "I saw them…going at it in an alley," the girl swallowed thickly, "and they kept talking about how much they wanted to kill each other."

Dana covered her face and shook her head violently, and Terry felt a bit green at what he could infer from that. That crazy girl, who was supposed to be him, got pleasure out of threatening and maybe even hurting Dana's brother, who got the same enjoyment out of doing the same to the crazy girl. Worse, it was all probably to piss people off for crazy-him—Batman and a Joker screwing around; it made Terry sick.

Dana took in a shuddering breath. "She knew he was behind all of the Jokerz coming here, but she didn't do anything about it; she-she reveled in him being-being some monster!" Dana shook her head again, and Terry felt a bit faint.

"Worse of all," Dana whispered out as she tried to get control of her breathing, "They acted like some lovey-dovey couple around my mom, and she thought…" Dana trailed off and shook her head in disgust, "She thought Doug was getting better by having a normal, healthy relationship," she said the words mockingly.

"Slag…" Terry whispered as he stared out at the city. "This is so messed up…"

Dana's composure was back, but she was shut off now. "The baby's his and hers. It shouldn't live because if it became like either one of them…" Terry swallowed thickly at the implication.

"The baby should still have a chance," Terry murmured feebly, and Dana looked over at him while shaking her head.

"She'll twist the baby, and then it won't be a baby anymore; it'll be a monster like them." Terry swallowed thickly and shifted in unease at Dana's haunted stare. He felt so conflicted…

Dana then brushed past him, and he was reminded that he was a stranger to her…just some guy crazy girl had brought with her. He bowed his head but followed Dana to her apartment. Mrs. Tan was sitting on the sofa and she looked uneasy. Mr. Tan stood near a wet-bar and was nursing a glass of scotch, though Terry was alarmed to see part of his head had been shaved—as if for surgery. Both adults were looking at the guest bedroom's door, which Terry realized might have been Doug's room when he had been home—he understood completely that Doug was dead now, and he had a feeling Dana was partly responsible for it, though he imagined it was just an accident.

Dana moved to sit next to her mother, and the woman almost robotically held out her arm to encompass her daughter in a hug. Terry swallowed thickly again. The Tan family shouldn't look like this. He moved toward the guest bedroom and was prepared to knock, but then he heard his mother's voice rising in reprimand.

"This is not how you should be behaving Beyon—"

"Don't you call me that!" crazy girl hissed, "what if someone overhears?"

His mother scoffed and Terry felt like the world was tilting sharply off its axis. "We should just freeze you and leave Gotham to the Nightwing clones."

Crazy girl scoffed, "And that went so well when one escaped. Her voice then turned sharp. "It nearly blew up Gotham!"

"You nearly let the same happen. You knew that man was behind the Jokerz pilgrimage and was planning something—you should have killed him or taken care of him as Batman," Terry's mother reprimanded, and Terry felt like he was going to collapse. His mother knew about Batman, worse yet, she-she had encouraged crazy-him to kill.

Crazy girl made an annoyed noise. "I tried but he had people waiting for him, and I wouldn't have an alibi."

"You could have made it look like a mugging," the cold way Mary McGinnis spoke made Terry actually stumble back against the wall. He blinked and realized the Tans had seen him eavesdropping, but they hadn't said anything, perhaps too stunned or troubled to comment.

The door immediately swung open to reveal what should have been his mother, but her face was pinched together in displeasure and there was this air about her that felt…off. She looked him up and down before huffing and motioning him to come in. He did so almost numbly while she continued to appraise him.

Once the door closed after him, she spoke. "You're Batman from another dimension?" She did not sound impressed. Crazy girl exhaled in derisive amusement.

"I know, hard to believe," she commented.

This dimension's Mary McGinnis shot a sharp look at the girl before looking back at Terry. "He doesn't have the edge of a killer, true, but perhaps that makes him more Batman material than you are," she murmured, and Terry stepped away from her.

"Of course I wouldn't kill anyone; we have no right to," he stated without thinking.

Crazy-him shrugged, "They're criminals, and they never reform in Gotham."

"Quiet," Mary snapped back before sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose. Crazy girl rolled her eyes and leaned against a dresser in boredom. Her eyes roved the room with an almost fond look to them as she rubbed her stomach.

Terry shuddered slightly and felt like his whole world was turning upside down. This was just wrong. Why did Cadmus have a clone of Nightwing? Was…was crazy him somehow a clo—No! No! Because that would mean…that would mean he…

Terry could feel his heartrate picking up, and he wondered, why? The redhead him… of course he'd have red hair, why didn't Terry?! Unless…unless he was a clone…But…but no! What about Terrance and Asiah? They weren't clones were they? But then, they didn't match Warren McGinnis, so what did that make them? What was he? What were any of them?

Terry realized his breathing was coming in shorter more rapid bursts, and he felt like he could barely breathe. He jerked when this dimension's Mary started to rub his back and instruct him to breathe slowly, while crazy girl just stared at him with a cruel smile.

Terry somehow managed to calm his breathing after several minutes, but one thought kept going through his mind. I'm a clone, I'm a clone, I'm a clone…

Terry numbly realized he was being guided to a bed, and he sat down heavily. He was a clone… no…She was a clone, yeah…somehow she was a clone, and he…he…what? Wasn't the evidence all in front of him? His hair, his eyes… He closed his eyes tightly. He didn't want to believe it; he couldn't because…well, what did that mean? He and this crazy girl, they were the clones, weren't they?

Crazy girl sighed and squatted in front of him. "Whatchaya thinking?"

Terry blinked a few times and looked away. The girl blew air up her face as if to get hair out of her eyes. "Look, you can sort out your revelation, or whatever," she waved her hand dismissively, "later, but right now I need an answer."

She made him look at her, and after blinking several times, he finally focused back on this psychopath him. If he hadn't been raised in a normal Mary and Warren McGinnis' home, could he have turned out like her? If he grew up in Cadmus, would he have learned to kill and enjoy it? Would he have wanted to rebel against his owners? No wonder she wanted that baby, no wonder she slept, repeatedly, with Dana's brother—a man who epitomized everything Batman was against.

"I'll cover for you," he whispered without really processing his own words.

The girl's eyes widened in genuine surprise. "Really?" she whispered, clearly taken aback.

"What?" Mary asked loudly and a bit repulsed.

"I'll cover for you," he repeated as he nodded his head. The girl looked at him amazed and Terry wondered if this was such a rare thing for her? Someone willing to help her, to give her one small joy, and Terry saw hope for her in that moment. She quickly hugged him and hid her face, but Terry could feel her trembling slightly as she tried not to cry.

Mary scowled and looked away from them, but Terry tentatively wrapped his arms back around her. Maybe he could help this girl, help her become less damaged? She was like him after all; they were just clones meant to become Batman, weren't they?

"Thank you hero-boy," she whispered lowly. He just tightened his hold and glared defiantly up at this dimension's Mary McGinnis. The woman pursed her lips in displeasure, but said no more.

Yeah, he'd help this him. He'd help this damaged girl because well, maybe she was the sister he kind of always wanted (though obviously less unhinged) and she was having a baby. Maybe he could help her destroy all the expectations everyone seemed to place on her and the baby? Yeah, he'd do just that.

TBC?

A/N: I originally was not going to let it end on this hopeful sort of note for Cadmus-Terri, but it felt right as I was writing. This is also why it will be a two-shot. Again, anyone is welcome to write with this premise, frankly, I love the concept of a femTerry x Joker King (Doug Tan); I could even be cool with Terry x Doug or Doug x Terry, but in general the pairing is sooo messed up.