Chapter 7: Terry's Life and Bitter Revelations
Another scene showed up which caused Batman Beyond to flinch.
"Dad..." he said.
Everyone looked over at the teen as he hung his head and stared at his hands. He seemed to be whispering something.
"I'm sorry, so sorry. If I hadn't disobeyed your orders, then I could have helped you fight him. We would've fought them off. I was grounded and I wouldn't listen. I'm such a jerk; I never meant to say those things," he whispered.
He saw that the man had red hair. He also wore glasses and seemed to be mumbling about someone being out of their mind.
"Knock, knock," said a teen.
"Terry, I'm busy," said the man.
"Dad, I got to go out."
"You're grounded, remember."
"I didn't start the fight!"
"I'll hear all about it when we meet with your counselor, again."
"Mom would hear me out!"
"You're not living with your mother!"
"Don't remind me!"
He punched the wall to his right with his left fist hard.
"That's your problem right there!" said the man getting up, "You can't control your temper and you better if you expect to get anywhere in life."
"Yeah, I'll be a big success, just like you. I'm bailing."
They watched as Terry ran out the door and across the street. They also saw a car pull up in front of the house. The screen faded to black.
"Terrance," said a voice, "You need to calm down."
"When did you get here Mr. Wayne?" Batman Beyond asked bitterly.
"I thought we were passed the formality."
"We were 'til I found out that you were keeping secrets. How long were you going to wait to tell me about your other kids? Did you know that I was one of your biological children?"
They saw that his eyes closed as he sighed and said," I had suspicion that we were related when I looked through your mother's record and couldn't access much. It took me a while to look through all the files until I realized that there were hidden encrypted files in her records. I found out that she used to be Selina Kyle's protegé, Catgirl, back when she was Catwoman. Catgirl just so happened to become the 7th Robin when my eldest son, Damian, became the 3rd Batman. I assumed you were their illegitimate child so I decided to dig further into the files but it became rather difficult when the more dangerous villans started to appear and I had to focus on tracking the villans down. I didn't realize that there was a possibly that you could've been my son but then again, no one might have known. Think of it, if she knew that you were my son, then she would have never let you accept my offer. She knew what it was like to fight against crime. I still remember how shaken up she was when she saw her life flashed before her eyes with her encounters with- never mind. Forget I said anything. I'm sure BatMite will mention it later."
"How have you been holding up Mr. Wayne?" asked Green Lantern.
Everyone noticed that Terry stopped drinking his drink as fast he could and looked up at the old man expecting something. They saw the old man gave the teen a smile before looking up at the man who asked him the question smirking.
"With a cane," he said bitterly causing Bart to spit out all of his drink.
Several people were trying to help Bart stop his coughing fit and then the screen displayed a new scene. They saw Terry standing to his back to a gate. He was in a fighting stance and by the way he was in the stance they realized that the teen was no amateur.
"Leave him alone," said a man. "And get off my property. You're trespassing."
Their eyes widened when they saw it was Mr. Wayne besides Terry and the old man himself who just rolled their eyes.
"Oh, is that right?" asked one of the thugs wearing makeup like the Joker's, Harley's, and their thugs.
"It's okay," said Terry," I can handle this."
"Who do you think you're talking to, old man?" said the thug that was dressed a lot like Joker grabbing the old man. "We're the Jokerz."
"Sure, you are," said the old Mr. Wayne.
They stared in fascination as the teen and the old man fought the Jokerz off and watched as they fled.
They saw how the teen tried to help the old man and then the screen turned to black.
They now saw Terry walking and saw his house. He and the others watching were surprised to see that there were police cars outside. Terry dashed towards the door as Batman Beyond hung his head.
They watched as the teen dashed towards a woman he called his mom. She was also had red hair. They saw her try to comfort Terry and tried to keep him from seeing his now deceased father. The screen faded and the Team, League, and the others associated with them started to talk again.
"Hey kid," said Cheshire looking over at Terry. "How did you not know that your dad wasn't really your dad? You two didn't even look a like."
"My mom and dad told us that we got the dominant traits from our family. Apparently, they both inherited the recessive traits from their parents but then again my mom's cousins have red hair and have kids with red hair or maybe they just dyed it that way. My mom's cousin, I think his name is Roy, has a daughter named Lian who my mother doesn't get along with because they apparently used to fight over this guy and he chose my mom over my second cousin. Is that what I call her? I'm not sure but I always assumed they fought over my deceased dad. I hate to admit it but I never really saw what my mom ever saw in Warren. He was dull, strict, and overprotective. My mom was never like that not even now. I never really believed in that whole opposites attract is what got my folks together," he said pulling off his mask and everyone else that had one on followed.
"What is Lian's maiden name?" she asked.
"Harper, I think. She changes last names like almost as often as her best friend changes clothes," he said "It's as if she's always hiding from someone. Her dad has this schway tat' that never seems to have an end since he adds more every single time she brings her family over and ask us to let her family stay for the night. I personally think he's insane since he's been put into Arkham several times after his daughter and wife died which makes no sense since they are both alive."
"So you think I'm crazy?" said Red Arrow getting up to sit in the seat right behind him with his daughter in his arms and Cheshire and Arsenal following.
Terry turned around to see the man dead on.
"Crazy enough that the cops and the commissioners of several big cities have to escort you from Star City to Gotham, check every item you have over, confiscate your weapons, and issue a warning to all the cities that you drive through that a man that's escaped out of several prisons and detention centers is passing through the city and that they shouldn't be outside. Not to mention that the commissioners stay in our home to make sure you don't do anything insane. They were given orders from the President to shoot you down if you fell out of line!"
"Damn! What'd I do to flip so hard?" he asked.
"You were asked by the President at the time to retire," he said looking away before looking back at him. "He was Lex Luthor."
"You can't be serious!"
"It's true," said Mr. Wayne, "I was there. You tried to assassinate him several times but failed since the Justice League don't permit murderers in their group. They didn't understand how important it was to get rid of him. Well, only one did."
"Who?" asked Arsenal.
"Superman," he said. "At first, he allowed Luthor to rule until not too long after the nearly fatal disappearance of the third Flash. We were too focused on saving him that we decided that Luthor could be delt with another day."
"Then Luthor seemed to cross the line when he sent Superboy and Supergirl on missions that they didn't come back from. No one knew that Superman was the one to end his life and didn't feel any remorse. Wonder Woman and I asked how he felt and he replied that he never felt better. Lots of things happened after that which will probably be explained later."
A scene played on the screen. They saw Terry sitting at a desk in the front row.
"Each of your egg babies has a built-in computer that registers the amount of care or lack of care it's given. These readings will determine your grades," she said.
They heard one of the so-called egg baby giggle.
"As you can see, the babies exhibit a wide range of expressions of needs. It's your job to fulfill those needs."
"Ms. Pinto, what happens if we drop it?" asked a student.
They watched as she dropped the egg baby in her hands.
"You fail," she said.
The girl next to him nudged the egg baby that was on her desk and it rolled off. Terry gasped and caught it before it hit the ground. He thrusted it away from him when it started to cry.
"They're babies, Mr. McGinnis. You must be gentle with them," cautioned the teacher.
"Him! He wasn't the one trying to make scrambled egg baby!" said a voice at the back of the theater.
Tigress was the first to look back. She smiled when she recognized the man standing in the back of the theater with a giant bag full of popcorn and a large soda. It was Wally.
"Wally!" they shouted running up to him.
"Ow!" shouted Wally looking over at Tigress who punched him," Don't beat up the Wall-man! He's very delicate from not eating for so long."
They saw how he flinched when he saw Artemis in her Tigress suit as a set of twin boys who were faster than the other speedsters ran, grabbed him, and hauled him to sit close to the elderly Bruce Wayne.
"Ah!iMas, Menos, uh, esperate! Me ,uh, va a teirare mis palomitas. No es bueno. Tengo mucho- you know what I'll just ask Blue. Blue Beetle can you translate to the twins to slow down cause they'll make me drop my popcorn."
"Sure thing. iMas y Menos! iTu nesecitas a dejar Wally a caminar o no va a tener palomitas!" he said looking at the twins.
The two let Wally sit down a seat away from the elderly Bruce and they grabbed hands before running towards Jaime.
"Hablas espanol?" asked the twins.
When the two stopped they saw they had a strand of red hair sticking out of their mostly white jumpsuit. They had yellow goggles and a red target with a white symbol on it. One had a plus and the other had a minus on it.
"iHola! Yo soy Blue Beetle; pero tu puedes llamarme Jaime. Como estas Mas?" he asked looking at the boy with the plus then the boy with the minus,"Y tu, Menos?"
"Estamos bien pero no pienso papa va a dar nos poquito de es palomitas. Sabes donde garamos las palomitas?"
Popcorn appeared in their hands along with sodas. They smiled and ran to sit in the seat between Wally and the older Bruce. They waved at him and returned a smile as they pulled down there cowl and goggles. They saw that they looked a lot like Wally.
"How's Linda and your kids?" asked Bruce who was now ruffling the boys' hair. "I heard Iris runs faster than all of you, boys."
"Better than I anticipated. It's not easy having a wife as a news reporter. I'm glad my uncle knows that feeling. Yeah, Irey is faster than the boys and took it upon herself to become Kid Flash, so I decided to come out of retirement as Quickster."
"And T-" he asked before he was interrupted.
"Tigress?" Wally asked not seeming to care. "She still wants to murder me in my sleep but lately she's been after Linda but she doesn't know that my wife is staying put in Supey's Fortress of Solitude until we get Tigress in Arkham. Got Miss M filling in for her and Manhunter is watching over her until you know."
"And Beast Boy?"
"Don't know."
Everyone stared at who they thought was Wally as he looked over at Terry. The man was nothing like the Wally they knew and loved. When he smiled they recognized him and knew that he was without anymore doubt Wally. That is, until he spoke.
"Hey, Ter! Didn't see ya. That's one schway suit. You Batboy?" he asked snickering. "Where's Batman?"
"I am Batman!" he said.
"Yeah, sure, whatever. Heard you went to that Batman musical. Also heard it was schwarbage," he said.
"It was schway! It took me weeks to snag tickets for the show."
"Why do you hate Bruce so much? Do you think he wants to see morons who don't know a damn thing about the Dark Knight, run around in tights singing off-key about shit they don't even know?"
The screen now showed Batman Beyond pulling a basket away from his egg baby that was in a dumpster bin before flying away. The two men watched as the teen flew away.
"Was that Batman? Dumpster diving?" asked one of the two guys.
"A fella's got to eat," said the second man.
A new scene appeared. They saw Terry walking down a street holding hands with a dark-haired girl who had dark eyes and was wearing a blue dress. She kissed his cheek as she ran up the front steps to her house and got in.
Terry sighed and started to sing," I feel like, I would like to be somewhere else doing something that matters..."
He kicked a rock down the street and walked down an alley.
"And I'll admit here while I sit here, my mind wastes away and my doubts start to gather..."
They watched as rain started to fall down on his head. He pulled an umbrella out of his backpack as he headed to the entrance to a school. They saw as he headed towards a boy with black hair and blue eyes who was wearing a green shirt. He was standing inside the building not daring to go out in the pouring rain. Terry handed the umbrella to the kid.
"How was school twip?" he asked. "Not getting picked on anymore?"
"Nope. Not since I flipped him. It was funny. He tried to tell on me but since they didn't see anything that would point to me actually doing it, I was in the clear," he said.
"Matt, please promise me that this will be the last time you try to solve your problems with violence. I don't want you to go to juvie like I did. You're a lot smarter than me. It's my job as an older brother to make sure that you don't make the same mistakes as I did."
"Like working for Mister Wayne?"
They watched as the boy continue to walk and Terry stop dead in his tracks.
"What did you say?" he asked. "What exactly do you mean, twip?"
"You used to be a good big brother. You used to take me out to movies and we used to go to arcades when mom and dad got divorced. You used to help me with homework and defend me against bullies but ever since you started to work with Mister Wayne, you changed. You could care less about what happened to me until I was kidnapped by that maniac only because you knew that mom would yell at you for letting me out of your sight. We hardly ever see you and it drives mom insane. Especially when you disappeared and we had to find out from Mister Wayne and he somehow found where you were in no time."
"If I didn't care enough about you, then why would I go out of my way to make it up to you when I have to bail? I know that he drives you insane by making me cancel our plans but if you got to know him then he'll become more lineant. At first, I hated to work for him and I felt no matter what I did or didn't do that I'll never live up to his standards. Later on, he cut a lot of slack so if I made a mistake that it wouldn't matter as long as I learned from it. He is actually more like a father to me than dad ever was. Dad was like a stranger trying to be a father of a son that wasn't even his. Did you know that the old man asked when I was going to bring you over? He said that it would be nice to have someone to talk to while I went out to do errands. Unlike Powers, Wayne actually cares about what happens to us. He always considered people that he works with apart of his family. Wayne can be nuts from time to time but he's all alone now. All the kids that used to run around his manor grew up and had a family of their own. He has no one anymore and I'm going to make sure that this man sees his family again. When I get the chance, I snoop around his house trying to figure out the names of the kids he used to have. So far I know that the kids Dick, Barbara, and Tim lived there. I just hope they'll want to come visit."
"You really do care about me, Ter?" asked the boy.
"Matt, you're family, of course I do. When you were kidnapped, I asked the old man to let me borrow his guard dog to find you and eventually I ran into Batman who found you."
They saw the boy smiled as he ran in the now drizzling weather towards a house.
"Sometimes I think that I'm not any good at all and sometimes I wonder why... Why I'm even here at all..."
Matt ran back to Terry and gave him a hug.
"You're the best Terry. Better than Batman and don't you forget it."
Terry watched as the boy ran all the way to the home and got in. A smile pulled on Terry's lips as he continued his walk home.
"But then you assure me, I'm a little more than useless and when I think that I can't do this," he sings as he enters his home and hangs his soaking wet jacket up by the door. "You promise me that I'll get through this and do something right. Do something right for once."
He entered the kitchen as he finished that line and saw that his mother was there setting the table and dinner on the table. He noticed that there was one for him. He also noticed the way his mom was looking at him.
"More than useless by Relient K," she said. "Have you been looking through my CDs again, Ter?"
"You got to admit that today's music is terrible. It makes that Justin Bieber girl sound amazing," he says before taking a drink out of his glass.
"Justin Bieber was a guy," she says causing Terry to spit out his drink in poor Matt's face.
"Gross," said Matt grabbing a napkin to clean his face.
They laughed as Terry's mom tried to help Terry with his coughing fit and clean off her youngest son's face. The screen faded to black yet again.
"It's okay, Terry. We all thought Justin was a girl 'til we found out from a Bieber fan," said Wally.
BatMite appeared and said," This next scene is happening right now in Terry's and the elderly Bruce Wayne's timeline."
Another scene appeared. They saw Terry's mom talking to an old woman. The name tag on her desk said 'Commissioner Gordan' on it.
"I need you to talk to Bruce, Barb. I'm afraid that Terry is going to end up roadkill like-" she started.
"You almost did," finished the older woman. "Carrie, I would love to talk to Bruce as much as the rest of us but you know how stubborn we've become with Bruce. Besides what am I supposed to say? Terry chose this life that we chose and just like the rest of us he'll have to find his own way to quit."
"First of all Barb, don't call me Carrie. I haven't been Carrie since I killed the commish before you. Second of all, you've told my son to butt out of police business as Batman Beyond and as Terry. Third of all, if we all went to visit him then maybe he wouldn't be that shell of his former self. It wasn't just because Joker got the last laugh and tainted us with despair and compromise. It was because two of Bruce's rays of sunshine disappeared that day and it wasn't Superman's, Joker's, Red Robin's, or anyone else's fault but that stupid commissioner's. Bruce only reminded us of what we and Terry really are and were. Criminals. Have you even talked to the others besides Mister Broody and Tim? Jason comes to visit when my cousin visits."
"You just had to remind me that Roy is your cousin, didn't you? No, Carrie, I haven't talked to them in a long time. Not since Damian's and Helena's funeral... You still have it don't you? You know, your engagement ring?"
"Yeah," said the woman taking her necklace off and on the chain was a ring. "I refuse to get rid of the last thing I have of my first fiancée. He was my whole world and I was his. It's funny actually. Remember that stupid Justin Bieber song that would play at the high schools when the schools started their tragic love stories units?"
"You mean 'Stuck in the Moment'?"
"Yeah, it was the first day of our unit when he came back and asked me to go with him to his sister's banquet that his father was attending. We actually danced to this song and sang along to the song since it seemed appropriate for our relationship."
"Did you two ever fooled around?" the older woman asked feeling uncomfortable after asking. "Terry doesn't have any resemblance to Warren. I also noticed at that party that you two weren't dancing very... appropriate..."
"No, he said something about not being able to take my maiden head before taking my maiden head, whatever that means."
"He meant that he wouldn't take your virginity before making you a member of his family which in this case meant to change your last name. Didn't you and Lian fight over him all the time. You wanted your babysitter/friend to hang out and Lian wanted the guy she claimed was her 'boy toy' just because you wanted him."
"I'm still trying to figure out why Terry's hair is black. I'm also curious as to why their eyes are blue."
"Do you think there's a slight chance that Damian and Helena are alive? Helena just disappeared and Damian disappearing during a patrol in Gotham and was found in the burnt down Wayne Manor when the items and objects in them were taken to a different location to rebuild the manor is a little suspicious. Do you think it has anything to do with Talia?"
"Not Talia, Ra's. Talia came to me years ago, asking me to help find her son Damian and to save his half-sister Helena but before she could give me information Talia's clone attacked us and she was forced to leave without giving the info to find them. She did call later on this year and told me that it was better to not have given the info to me because Curare and her clone would've gone after my family for the info. She said that it wouldn't do my children any good if I was killed by Curare like my deceased ex-husband Warren did by one of Power's goons. Terry and Bruce fell into one of Ra's traps. He pretended to be Talia but he didn't know that the body he swapped was a clone she created to make her escape from her father. Talia refused to use the Lazarus pits because she wanted to be alive as long as Bruce was because that's who she put her trust in. She trusted Bruce with her son to show him how to actually live. She truly loved Bruce and sacrificed so much to find a way to bring true joy in his life."
Suddenly, Terry's mom's phone rang and she dug through her purse to find it. She clicked speaker as a just in case.