Author's Notes:

So sorry for the delay of this chapter! Thanks for your continued patience and support. :)

Please read and enjoy...


Fortunately for the young heroes, the building at Main and 57th Street was within a minute away by flight. Silverstar and Batgirl scanned the area for any unusual activity. It only took a few heartbeats for Coba's cobalt blue and copper-flecked eyes to pick up an alarming incident unfolding. Silverstar, investigate where the laser fire came from, and be careful, she thought to him. I'll handle Terry and Big Time. Don't forget to use the device I gave you!

Okay, Batgirl, Silverstar thought back with a nod. Be careful as well.

Coba nodded in acknowledgement, then flew after Charlie and Terry. Turning on her suit's camouflage, she followed them into a dead-end alley, careful to avoid casting a shadow over them. She landed on top of a roof facing east so the setting sun in the west would not reveal her shadow. Coba suppressed a gasp when she saw Terry fall from a wall he was trying to climb to evade Big Time. Oh no!

Without a second thought, Batgirl turned off her camouflage and slammed herself into Big Time as he tried to grab her half-brother. Charlie stumbled into a wall with a grunt. However, he got a second wind faster than she had thought possible. He grabbed her by the neck, then slammed her into a wall and threw her out of the alley. She could not get up in time to intervene again as Charlie readied his fist to strike Terry...

...Only for it to break nearby glass.

"I can't do it," Bigelow said in a conflicted voice. "I don't care if he kills me."

Terry stood back up and looked at his old friend solemnly, secretly worried for his half-sister's well being. "Charlie, you have to go to the cops."

Charlie looked at the younger man. "I can't do that either. They're not gonna be able to protect me once the Major finds out I let you go."

"He doesn't have to know. I know the police commissioner; she's a friend of Bruce Wayne's. She can make it look like the cops caught you right after you left the hideout."

"But then I'll end up back in jail," Bigelow protested.

"What were you expecting? A medal?" Coba had to cover her mouth to stifle a chuckle at her half-brother's statement as she turned on her camouflage and got back to the top of the building. A medal. Good one, Ter.

"I don't wanna go back in, Terry."

Well, too slaggin bad! Batgirl thought ruefully.

"It won't be forever. They'll go light on you." Well, maybe not, Terry thought, considering Coba's got a case against him concerning the attempted murder of herself and her mother, not to mention the attempted rape of Natalie. "While you're in there, the doctors well be working on a cure."

"A cure?" Big Time echoed a bit sadly. He looked down at the glass shards on the ground, seeing reflections of his deformed face. "My dream of getting into the Big Time... kind of a nightmare now, huh?"

"Mr. Wayne has hundreds of scientists on his payroll. The best in the world."

"And he'd do this for me?"

"No. He's gonna do it for me." McGinnis started walking out of the alley. "Now come on: we're running out of time."

Charlie stopped him. "Wait. If something goes wrong, I'll be safer on the outside."

"Nothing's going to go wrong," Terry promised.

"But if it does—" The deformed man paused. "What if I stay here until you come back and tell me they got the Major?"

The teen paused and eyed his friend suspiciously. Seeing his misgivings, Charlie added, "Terry, I'll be here. I swear."

Terry regarded him for another moment, then sighed. "Fine. But you better be, otherwise they'll keep hunting you." He turned and left. As he walked by, he had to fight the urge to look for Batgirl. I can't let Charlie know I'm associated with the Bats. He briefly closed his eyes sadly. Please be okay, sis.

Batgirl frowned when she saw Terry leave Charlie in the alley. Slag it, Terry! Why do you keep believing him? She studied Big Time from where she sat, trying to catch a thought or two from his mind that would tell her exactly what he was up to. I know he's lying to Terry, but why, exactly, is he? "Silverstar, it's Batgirl," she whispered into her com-link when her mental link with the other teen would not work.

"Batgirl! Are you okay?" came Mark's concerned voice. "What about Terry?"

"Calm down, I'm fine," she replied. "Terry's on his way to the cops."

"You got him away from Bigelow, then?"

"Not exactly. It's more like Big Time let him go—or even sent him—to the police to turn in the Major. There's something more to this."

"And you plan to find out what?" Silverstar presumed.

"Yeah." Coba watched as the mutated man started to leave the alley. "Bigelow's on the move," she told Mark urgently. "I'll contact you later. Help the cops if they need it."

"Copy that," Mark replied sagely. "Be careful, Batgirl."

"Likewise." The girl shut off her com-link, not once taking her eyes off of Charlie. After making sure her suit's cloaking was still on, she followed the villain. He's looking around carefully to make sure no one's following him, she noticed. So far, he hasn't found me out. He will if he tries to hurt anyone, though, she thought darkly.

After twenty minutes of walking and hiding to stay undetected from the rare sight of people in the area, Big Time came to a stop as he entered an alley near the bridge. Batgirl landed on the roof of a building nearby that was facing the sun so she would not cast a shadow. Still camouflaged, she used a hand as a sun visor in an effort to keep it out of her eyes while taking in her surroundings. Looks like one of the places Terry said he'd hang out with Bigelow, she thought. He's acting like he's waiting for someone. But... who?

~!~

Back at the Major's hideout, the villain and his group were clearing the room of any evidence that they were there. "Everyone get a move on!" Major barked. "The cops and pointy-ears are gonna be here any minute!"

"We gonna leave without Big Time?" a dark-skinned woman with blue hair asked, slinging a bag over her shoulders.

"He's a big guy," Major said dismissively as he entered the elevator. "How hard can it be to find him again?"

Once the last of his thugs entered the shaft, the elevator doors closed. Within a minute, they had reached the main floor of the building and were already piling into a car. Upon exiting the garage, however, a disconcerting sight greeted them: several cop cars were lined in a semi circle around the entrance!

"No way they would've sent this many cops to see about some laser fire," Major said. "Someone must've told them we were here."

"Big Time?" the blue-haired woman asked.

Major turned to face her, his rage amplified. "He would never do that to me!" he exclaimed. "Never!"

"What are we gonna do, boss?" the blond haired muscle man who kidnapped Terry earlier that evening inquired.

The crime lord pulled out a pistol. "I'll tell you one thing: surrender ain't an option." Major turned and started firing at the cops, his followers copying him. In the confusion, however, he crawled away like the coward he was, letting his people get shot. He stopped as a pair of boots stepped in his path. Looking up in alarm, he recognized one of the people he had feared the most:

Commissioner Barbara Gordon.

Major glared and began to raise his gun at the commissioner. In response, Barbara smacked him with the loudspeaker, knocking him back down and rendering him unconscious. That takes care of one problem, Gordon thought as she stood looking at Major's limp form, waiting for her men to come help get him.

The clicking of a gun caused her to turn to see another thug aiming at her. Before either could react, a black, lean silhouette came down and kicked the thug aside, knocking him out. Gordon looked at the newcomer in surprise. Is that Batman? No, it can't be. Terry's right over there, and he's as shocked as I am. Could it be Dick filling in for the evening? However, he disappeared before she could question him. She looked at the two villains lying on the sidewalk while the other cops came to help.

~!~

A tall, muscular cloaked figure stepped into the alley a few minutes after Major was taken in by the cops. Although he was smaller than Charlie, Coba could sense some fear building up in the brute. The newcomer looked at the mutated young man. "Is everything coming along as planned?" he asked in a deep, scratchy voice that strangely sounded more normal compared to Big Time's.

"Even better," answered Bigelow, masking his unease.

"Better how?" the other man challenged.

"The cops are on their way to the Major's to arrest him. Or they're already there or wrapping it up."

The newcomer seemed to raise an eyebrow beneath his hood. "Your plan to bring your friend in didn't work."

"Not as I'd hoped," Big Time confessed. "but he's the one telling the cops. He thinks I'll turn myself in if he does, the fool."

You're the fool, Coba thought.

An uneasy silence settled in between the two men. The cloaked man looked around at the roofs as if it was instinct. In spite of still being cloaked, Coba instinctively ducked before he could look her way. "This plan had better work, Bigelow," she heard him growl, "or you'll wish you'd never left prison."

Retreating footsteps followed, telling Batgirl that the man was leaving. She lifted her head to see Big Time clenching his fists. "We'll see about that," he muttered. He leaned back against the building's wall, folding his arms over his chest.

Batgirl was dismayed as she saw a familiar figure come in a few minutes later, but she stayed hidden and pressed something on her cowl. "What happened?" Terry demanded his old friend, entering the alley. "Did you chicken out?"

Charlie looked at him smugly. "I was never going to go to the cops. I only said I would so you could get rid of the Major for me."

"What?!" the young man exclaimed in shock.

"I was originally going to bring you and some other guys in, gradually push Major out. When you ran off, I thought of a faster way to do it. You see, the Major's got men all over the city. Now they're my men, and they don't even know I helped take him down."

"The commissioner knows," Terry pointed out.

"Do you really think they'll trust a cop?"

McGinnis was enraged by his former friend's confession. He aimed a punch at Big Time, who caught his fist and threw him out into the street. "You think you got it all figured out," Terry said as he stood up, his breath winded from the impact. "But you've forgotten one thing: the cure!"

Bigelow was even more amused. "Why would I want that? I like the way I look. Everyone gives me the respect I deserve."

"So even that was a lie," Terry murmured, looking down.

Oh, now you figured it out, Coba thought disdainfully as she watched on, though she felt bad for him. Although every part of her screamed for her to save Terry, she knew she had to wait for the right moment to strike.

"Yeah. Oh, there's something else I lied about." Charlie grabbed Terry by the front of his shirt and lifted him off the ground, pulling his free arm back to punch Terry. "When I said I couldn't kill you, I just didn't want to do it then. But now..."


Author's Notes:

AAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDD another cliff-hanger. :Big surprise... NOT! :P I didn't want to add the final battle, since it's not finished yet and I wanted to get something posted tonight.

A few important questions to remember for the remainder of the story, though at least one will be revealed next chapter:

What device did Batgirl give Silverstar?

Who impersonated Batman while Terry was without his suit? (Something that got me about the episode is the fact that the villains weren't worried about Batman showing up. Plus, wouldn't it have seemed weird that Batman wasn't around while Terry was around?)

Who was Bigelow talking to in the alley?

What exactly did Coba do when she touched her cowl?

Stay tuned for the next chapter! It's gonna be explosive. :P Maybe not literally, though. XD In the meantime, review! I enjoy reading those. :)