Batman Beyond: The End of Batman

Chapter 3

Bruce awoke to a shrill ringing in his ears and looked around. He was alone in an alley and the ringing was coming from his cell phone. He fished it out of his pocket and looked at the number, it was Barbara, he sighed but answered it with a groan.

"What?"

"Bruce, where are you? Mrs. McGinnis has called three times, she said that Terry should have been home from your house hours ago and when she tried to reach you and Terry to see if Terry was staying later at work with you, she got a strange answer from someone she didn't even know. She asked if I'd heard from either of you and I told her I'd see what I could find out…I swear, if you have the McGinnis boy out again and you are just avoiding me..."

"TERRY!" Bruce gasped at the memory and quickly stood up and groaned.

"Bruce, what's wrong, what is going on, where are you," Barbara asked.

"I can't talk now Barbara, I have to find Terry, Powers took him," Bruce replied in a rush. He was dizzy when he stood up, but he would push past it, he had to, for Terry's sake…Who knew what Powers had in store for him.

"Powers? What are you talking about Bruce? You had better tell me what is going on here," Barbara replied annoyed.

Bruce sighed, "Terry has been obsessed with taking Powers down for all he's done…I told him he would have to wait, wait till Powers did something we could pin him for…That's why Terry has been so gun hoe on the Batman thing…But…Powers called me to his office for a "privet" meeting of CEO's and it smelled of trouble…Terry wanted in…He came in the batsuit and watched…Next thing I knew was Powers lead me down to the basement of Wayne-Powers Inc. and Terry was in the batsuit in metal restraints and out cold…"

"Wait, how'd he get down there, Powers didn't know about Terry…" Barbara injected.

"If you'd hold on, I'm getting to that part…Powers unmasked him…He was going to kill us both but that stupid boy stuck his neck out to protect me, swore I knew nothing about his other job, that he stole the suit.."

"Which he technically did…"

"Yes, I know Barbara…Anyways, he said he stole the suit and I didn't have anything to do with it…"

"Which you didn't…" Barbara injected again.

"I know, but he implied I have had nothing to do with it at all, that stupid boy…Powers…Barbara, Powers is Blight…" Bruce added, almost forgetting to share that detail.

"What, are you sure Bruce? We can't just go assuming that a CEO is also moonlighting as a criminal mastermind…"She said with caution.

"Just like you couldn't assume that I was more then what I seemed all those years ago…" He said with a smirk.

"That's not the same thing and you know it," She fired back.

"Anyways, Powers showed his power as Blight…He had the heat energy ball in his hand…He was going to use it on me, to kill me, but McGinnis jumped in, stupid kid, and Blight used it on him…After that I tried to help, that's when something happened to me and I woke up here…"Bruce finished out.

"And where exactly is here," Barbara asked.

"I don't know, I'm in some alley, pretty sure I'm still in Gotham…" He said walking to the end of the alleyway. "Yeah, I'm still in Gotham, I can see the road leading up to my house from here…" Bruce frowned. "If Powers hurts that boy, so help me…"

"Bruce, calm down, first thing is first, we have to get you out of there and we'll have to get you home…After that we'll track McGinnis and we'll call his mother…"

"Why do we need to involve the boy's mother," Bruce asked annoyed.

"Bruce, McGinnis is missing, in the hands of one of the worst villains in Gotham, the same man who had his father killed…Bruce, she deserves to know…"

Bruce sighed, "Fine Barbara, we'll call her…We may also want to call his friend Max, she may be able to help us locate him…"

"How could she…" Barbara started but this time Bruce jumped in.

"Later Barbara, right now we need to…"Bruce trailed off.

"Hey old man, that's a nice watch…Why don't you hand it over and no one has to get hurt," someone said coming out of the shadows, it was one of the Jokers.

"Bruce, what's going on," Barbara asked quickly.

"Later, I have something I have to deal with now," Bruce said with a frown as he snapped his phone shut and turned to face the Joker.

"We were told we'd get a good pay off if we met Blight, but I think I see a good pay off right here in front of me," the joker said as he walked closer, "What do you guys think?"

Four other Jokers and three Harleys, the female part of the Joker gang, came out of the shadows as well. There was a chores of "yeahs," and "got that rights," as the group started to come closer to Bruce. Bruce frowned and held up his cane, the only weapon he had on him right now. Bruce was still weak from the stun gun's hit to fight at full strength, but he was not going to let these low life's take him down. He faced the group, cane raised, when all of a sudden a car pulled up and he saw the McGinnis family, Mrs. Mary McGinnis and her son Mat.

"Come on Mr. Wayne, get in," Mrs. McGinnis called as she opened the back door. Bruce gave one more look at the Jokers, and slowly backed up and got in their car. They quickly drove off before the Jokers could stop them.

Bruce silently cursed the woman for showing up when she did, if she hadn't, he might have gotten more information out of them. They had said they were getting a pay off from Blight, something worth their while, and Bruce had to wonder if it was Terry. Mrs. McGinnis drove quickly up the hill leading to Wayne Manner and stopped at the front door and turned to look at Bruce.

"Mr. Wayne, I don't understand, what were you doing out there by yourself, and why was Terry not with you? Is Terry here in your house," She asked, looking directly into his eyes.

"No," Bruce replied gruffly.

"Then where is he? He didn't answer his cell phone, some man did, and there was so much static, it was hard to understand him, but all I got was that Terry couldn't talk…What is going on here," She demanded. Bruce was about to answer her and tell her just what he was thinking, when his phone rang again and he saw that it was Barbara. He sighed and held his hand up to Mrs. McGinnis and answered it.

"What is it Barbara?"

"What happened Bruce, one minute you were on the phone, the next I hear someone threaten you and you are gone…What happened," She demanded.

Bruce sighed, "I was cornered by some Jokers when Mrs. McGinnis and her younger son Mat pulled up and pulled me in their car and drove off…We're at the manner now…"

"Have you told her yet Bruce," Barbara asked, an annoyed 'you need to now' tone in her voice.

"No Barbara, I haven't," Bruce said with a sigh.

"Well, I'm on my way over now, that should give you time to explain what happened and then we all will work together to find him…I've called his friend Max and I will be picking her up on my way over, so be ready to explain…We may want this meeting in the cave."

Bruce sighed, "I know I know…" He hung up on Barbara and faced Mrs. McGinnis and her son Mat. "Mrs. McGinnis, we have a lot to talk about…Maybe you should follow me inside where we can talk…"