Terry maneuvered his way through the hospital, making sure to use the elevator and the more populated halls. He had to make sure he was seen in order to get them to believe that he had been here a lot longer then he really had.
Though he still didn't like leaving his mom and Matt, he felt better knowing Matt was ok. He didn't envy his little brother; having two cracked ribs and a concussion was not going to be fun, but at least he was ok.
Terry stopped when the glass double door entrance and mob of reporters on the other side came into view. Terry sighed, though the few police officers that were stationed outside were managing to keep them out of the hospital, it was obviously not going to be easy to get past them.
"Don't answer any questions, just push your way past them if you have to," Wayne's instructions rang through Terry's mind. Ok… here goes nothing, he thought, as he walked over to the doors.
He had never had to deal with reporters before… at least not on this scale, maybe one or two here and there, but never mobs at a time… well other then this morning and that didn't really work out the way he wanted it to.
Terry pushed open one of the doors and stepped though. Within seconds one of them recognized him and that was all it took.
"Terry McGinnis, can I ask you a few questions?" she asked.
The entire mob around him quickly turned to him. Before he even got two feet out the door, they had surrounded him and camera lights had flashed in his eyes so many times it nearly blinded him.
Terry blinked trying to get the bright glowing lights, blocking his vision, to go away, but it did little to help.
"Terry McGinnis, is your bother here because of the attack?" a different reporter asked.
"Is he in serious condition?" another reporter quickly added.
"Was the attack your fault? Were the Jokerz and the Ts there for you?"
"What are you going to do now that your identity as Batman is known?"
"Do you have any plans for catching the escaped prisoners?"
All of the reporters shot question after question at him, not even giving him any time to answer one question before another reporter would ask something else. "No comment," Terry said, as he tried to maneuver his way out of the crowd, though they left him little room to do so.
"Why did you become Batman?"
"Do you have any idea who released the recording?"
"How many more innocent people have to get hurt for you to stop your dangerous vigilante crusade?"
Dangerous vigilante crusade? I'm trying to help! he thought with annoyance. "No comment," he repeated with a hint of annoyance, as he squeezed in-between and around reporters and cameramen.
"People are saying the jailbreak is your fault; do you have anything to say about that?"
"What?" Terry couldn't help but blurt out as he turned to the reporter who had spoken. My fault? Why would they think I had anything to do with it? he wondered in disbelief, as silence fell around him.
The reporters stared expectantly at Terry as they held their microphones in his direction.
You need to keep moving, he reminded himself. He briefly glanced at the camera aimed directly at him, before turning back to the reporter. "No comment," he finally replied, as he tried to make his way out of the mob again.
The barrage of questions continued, as the reporters moved with him, making it nearly impossible to break free of them.
After walking the agonizing length of the entire block, he finally managed to ditch the last reporter. Finally, I thought he'd never leave, Terry thought, as he ducked down a dark alley. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one was following, before he crouched down next to the dumpster.
He slid his backpack off his shoulder, before peering around the corner of the dumpster, to once again make sure no one was nearby. I hate doing this here, especially since I'm trying to prove I'm not Batman. The last thing I need right now is for someone else to catch me in the Bat-suit, he complained, as he opened his backpack.
Terry slide off his jacket revealing the long black sleeves of the Bat-suit underneath his clothes. Well, it would take an hour to walk home from here, just to have to fly back to get the Bat-mobile. That's an hour I don't have. The escapees have had enough time to disappear, I don't need to give them another hour on top of it, he thought stuffing his jacket into his backpack.
It wasn't long before he was out of his street clothes and back in the Bat-suit. "Boss?" Terry said, tapping the earpiece in his cowl, as he flew, cloaked, back to the hospital. "Sorry, that took a little longer then I thought it would have," he added, hoping Bruce wasn't going to blow up at him for being over two and a half hours late.
"…Actually, I wasn't expecting you for another hour," Bruce replied.
"What? But I said…"
"Given the injuries from the attacks at both the school and the prison that the hospital is dealing with, I'm surprised it didn't take longer," Bruce explained.
Terry nodded then frowned slightly. "You knew that before I went in, didn't you?" he asked knowingly. And you let me go anyway, knowing that I wouldn't be back on patrol for at least two to three hours.
"Most of the escapees have been caught or have gone underground; the police can handle the rest. You should come back; we need to start focusing on the real threat," Bruce said, continuing on without answering Terry's question.
Inque, Shriek, Spellbinder, and Mad Stan, Terry thought, knowing exactly who Bruce was referring to. "On my way," he replied, more then ready to haul their butts back to jail.