Batman Beyond 'Fan Fiction Story'
By Tayla Drago
Episode# 21 – Rats
An ominous newscast speaks of Gotham's 'secret shame': giant man-eating rats. These rats are blamed for several disappearances. Max states they are nothing but an urban legend and a way for media to get more attention, but Chelsea seems to believe them. Dana however is more concerned with the fact that Terry has stood her up again. And I think we all know why for Dana to learn about him seeing Gwen a lot to make her very jealous. As she was just getting to her studies to still have some issues with Terry to still have trouble deciding...
"Dana?" he sees Gwen to know that he wanted to see Dana instead. "Oh...Gwen, hi. How have you been?"
She just looks sad again to walk away still.
"I'm fine. Sorry to trouble you."
Hard to go through this, huh? Well, Terry had another problem to deal with right now.
"(Still mad at me...Working together, but less hanging out. I missed it.)" Terry sees Dana to talk to her again. "Dana!" Terry arrives and tries to patch things up but she refuses to listen.
Terry apologizes claiming Mr. Wayne needed him again and doesn't blame Dana for being mad. However, Dana reveals she is more than mad as she has tried to be patient with him and while Terry replies she has been great as she has always been there for him, Dana points out that she doesn't feel that way in return as she has only received broken promises and dates, claiming that Terry cares more about his job than her.
"Doing a lot of things for Mr. Wayne. And a lot more closer to Gwen Grayson too."
"We're just friends."
He shouldn't said that to Dana at all.
"Friends, huh? Is that so? Is that why she's mad to try loving her more than me?" she argues with Terry.
"Dana, I have responsibilities now. My mom and brother depend on me. What do you want?" he asks.
"Someone who occasionally will be there for me. Is it me or her?"
Terry reminds her that he has responsiblites now since his father died as his mother and brother depend on him more and asks what does she want. Dana reveals she would like someone who will be there for her and leaves. Terry tries to go after her, but Chelsea advises him to give her some space and leaves.
"Sorry, McGinnis, girl time." Chelsea does over to talk to Dana alone.
Max admits to Terry that it's a shame he can't tell Dana the truth.
"Too bad you can't tell Dana the truth on what you're really doing, Terry." said Max. "And for Gwen, she's still mad at you?"
He didn't want to say too much.
"Afraid she is...I don't know what to do. They're but great, and I have to choose between one of them..."
"Then choose, how hard can that be?" she asked.
"I don't know. Gwen won't talk to me unless we're on night patrol." said Terry. "I just don't know what to do."
When Dana reaches her car, she finds a white rose and a note saying, 'I'll be there for you'. Assuming the rose came from Terry, Dana begins to change her mind. Gwen felt someone was in the area to look around to see no one where the students park their cars, although she does know someone was watching on Dana the most.
"(Who was that...? Some type of dirty stalker...?)" she keeps an open mind from it. "(I better keep my eyes open. Not just for Dana to keep safe from, but for Terry...He probably wants me to because he likes her more. He loves her...And I'm just a friend.)" Gwen looks at a sign to take her anger out on it to be melted in seconds. "Stupid!"
Wow, Gwen was very mad, wasn't she? Later that night at his house, Terry and Matt are relaxing until the phone rings. Matt answers and reveals it's Dana and soon Terry sends him out of the room. Terry and Dana talk, where reveals he didn't expect to hear from her, Dana says the rose changed her mind which confuses Terry, revealing he didn't send Dana the rose. However, Dana doesn't notice and instead arranges a date for them at Rhino's Chili, Terry assures he'll be there and Dana promises to wear the white dress he likes, ending the call. Terry is happily surprised and soon Matt appears and begins teasing him about his relationship with Dana, but soon leaves when Terry forces him out of the room. At Dana's house, she is dressed and ready for her date with Terry. She says goodbye to her father, who believes she is leaving for a study group. When Dana reveals she is meeting Terry, her father disapproves of their relationship as he knows of Terry's past, believing that Dana could be with someone better. Dana assures her father that Terry's trouble is in the past, while also mentioning his job. They are interrupted when they notice a shadowy figure outside, Mr. Tan goes to seek the intruder, but finds nothing. Mr. Tan again expresses his concerns, but Dana assures him and leaves for her date. For Gwen to be following the stranger to not lose sight of the thing for her to alert Megan about it.
"Gwen? What's up?" she asks.
"Listen, Megan, I need you to alert Uncle Bruce about a strange rat man to be wondering around Gotham and spying on Dana Tan."
This was news for her to hear the rumors.
"A rat man...? Alright, I'll let him know. But what if he calls you and Terry for another job to do?"
Like she can't refuse not to help out.
"I'll...Save the people for back up and stop the bad guy and then getting back to work." Gwen tells her.
"Okay, I'll keep my eyes open and still let Bruce know." Megan gets to it. "And I thought Dana hates you, is this to earn her trust?"
Then Gwen could only say this type of answer for Megan.
"You could say that. Thanks again, Megan."
Meanwhile, Terry heads out to meet Dana but he receives a call from Bruce alerting him to Mad Stan being on a rampage. Knowing his responsibility must come first, Batman confronts Mad Stan, who believes that Gotham is falling apart due to an information overload, in the library and the two start to fight.
"Keep it down, Stan. We're in a library." Batman makes a joke.
While they were fighting, Mad Stan explains while he was doing all of this madness.
"You think this is a joke? Look around, Batman. Society's crumbling, and you know why?" the villain questions the young Dark Knight.
"Too many overdue books?"
Mad Stan keeps hurting Batman to tell him the real reason.
"Information overload, man. As a society, we're drowning in a quagmire of vid-clips, e-mail, and sound bites. We can't absorb it all." he then places a bomb on Batman's head. "There's only one sane solution: blow it up!"
This might take a while, bummer...As Batman gets hurt after Mad Stan throws him into a wall and he lands on his back on the ground.
"For this, I'm missing a date?"
Batwoman then steps in to stop Mad Stan really quick to be in a hurry.
"You...! Batwoman?!" he hated her too.
"Yeah, me..." Batwoman grabs his gear to set off the bombs to overdrive. "Its them or you."
He removes them in time before it blows up in the air, to send him crashing right into a wall, and he passes out to saving Batman in time.
"Thanks, Batwoman-!" he sees her taking off in a hurry. "Wait! Don't go!"
Too late now.
"Sorry, Batman, but Gweny's too busy to talk to the likes of you. She has other business to take care of. You're ruining your chance. Just saying..."
No kidding. He feels really bad – from being late for his date with Dana and having trouble decided between her or Gwen to love more. As the fight ends with Mad Stan arrested for Batman to do and Gwen investigating the stalker a lone 'and for Megan to tell Bruce about next'...Dana waits in front of Rhino's and eventually decides that she's been blown off again. Angrily leaving the scene, she come across another rose with the 'I'll be there for you' message.
"Terry?" she tries calling out to him. "Terry...?"
As she reads the note, she is approached by two giant rats that slowly advance on her. Gwen arrives to track Dana down to hear her screams to arrive at the area she was in to be in grave danger.
"Dana!" Gwen arrives too late. "No...! Someone is spying on her, she's gone...(Okay, Gwen, you can do this. Megan will let Uncle Bruce know and then Terry-! Wait...I can do this to prove myself more in battle besides Batwoman. I don't care if Dana hates me, I'll take it better than seeing someone close to Terry killed. Like it or not, I never hold a grudge on good people even if they're not a couple, but as friends.)" she uses the tracking device to find Dana. "I have to do this on my own by any means."
Gwen was good to go through anything before planning anything else afterwards, she goes off to find Dana alone. Dana then wakes up surrounded by white roses. Looking around, she finds herself in an underground room filled with shelves of junk items. A rat-like boy greets her and tells her that his name is Patrick and that this is his collection of things that people don't want. Dana soon comes across the giant rats again, but Patrick shows that he can control them and that they are his friends. Megan arrives to let Bruce know what was going on.
"Are you sure?" he asks his wife.
"I'm certain. There's been a lot of kidnappings a lot lately. Even more on some girl I'm looking up on, but I think this is different from the other thing...Gwen is finding Dana now as we speak, she'll be fine."
"You going to let Terry know?"
Hard to say from two girls he's having trouble deciding upon.
"I'm going to, yeah. Gwen's smart and strong even as herself than the other half Batwoman, but she could get hurt." Megan drives to Terry's place. "I got this, Bruce."
Back at Terry's house, Terry calls Dana and apologizes. Soon afterwards, there is an insistent knock at the door. Terry answers, and is soon assaulted by Dana's father who demands to know her whereabouts. Terry is taken aback, but now learns that Dana is missing. Megan then arrives to tell Terry what's been going on lately.
"Megan?" he was surprise to see her.
"You want to know where Dana is at? You want to know where Gwen has gone too that has something to do with Dana?" Megan questions Terry. "Let's talk, pal."
In the sewers, Dana learns that Patrick ran away because people called him 'ratboy' and he sought to quit being teased. Attempting to escape, Dana offers to take Patrick to Rhino's for some chili, but he refuses to let her go and heads off for himself. Gwen finds the place to locate Dana with Patrick who's the stalker.
"(So that's who's Dana's stalker...A Rat Boy.)"
Patrick wanted to get the food for Dana.
"I'll be right back, Dana. Just don't wonder off, it could be dangerous." he said and then leaves.
Once Patrick was gone, Gwen shows herself to Dana to be hiding.
"Dana...? It's me." she said quietly.
"Gwen?" Dana wasn't too happy to see her. "Let me guess, Terry send you to take him away?"
"No...Let's put that aside us, okay? I'm here because I wanted to save you, alright? This has nothing to do with Terry, I came here alone."
She was telling the truth.
"You did? Either way, I want to go home."
"I know, he's your stalker who can't do this to others." said Gwen. "I want to help because you want to be notice by others to be yourself, like I am. I had problems more than you could never guess on what it was. So please, Dana, put your anger aside for today and let me help you."
Dana seems to trust in Gwen to allow it, but they have to plan it out carefully...
Meanwhile, Terry has told Bruce about Dana missing and is out investigating her disappearance. He comes across Rhino's where patrons are escaping in droves. Inside, Patrick is busy ladling chili into take-out containers for him and Dana. Batman discovers Patrick's giant rats and a fight ensues.
"Big rodent problem." he said to fighting the two rats.
Patrick hears them and quickly packs up the chili and escapes with the rats, mentioning Dana as they leave through the backdoor, which Terry overhears, and follows them into the sewers. Megan finds the device to send from Gwen for her to hack into.
"Yo, Terry, I found Gwen's location, she has Dana. She's okay." said Megan. "You need my help?"
"I'll handle this one, Megan, but thanks. (Gwen, thank you.)"
Back at Patrick's hideout, Dana searches through his collection and finds a flashlight.
"I hope this will allow us to see a way out of here..." she tries to get the flashlight to work. "Somehow. But I need more light to see."
"More...?" Gwen had a dangerous idea to do to show her off her powers. "(I'm so going to get into trouble after doing this, but...) Dana, I can make more light."
"How?"
"First, don't panic. I was born having these type of powers, but they're all under control. But it has to stay between you and me...Watch." Gwen shows off her fire powers in a desperate situation like this. "Here it comes."
Her fire powers show under Gwen's control for Dana was shock to say something to her next 'besides having enough fire power to come in handy'.
"No way...Fire powers? You, Gwen? Then you must-!"
"Wait!" she stops her. "It's not what it looks like! (I don't want her to know that I'm Batwoman!)"
But that's not it at all...
"You're the same like Batwoman is...You work with Batman and her. That's why..." Dana thought about it. "Yeah, you having fire powers like her from this Powers person who was Blight to make human clones with elemental powers and you two were one of them. You tell them what to do, that's why. I never knew, Gwen, I thought you were a trouble maker, I'm so sorry."
Okay? We can go with that for Gwen to play along.
"Ah... (Better than not her knowing it all.) Yes, I do work for Batman and Batwoman. Without her, I wouldn't able to control my fire powers."
"I see." said Dana. "So do they know about it besides me too?"
"Ah, you three and Terry. But he helped me out at one time to keep things a secret. He doesn't know what I've been doing at night times. I know when I see him helping Uncle Bruce when I work around the Wayne Manor but that's it. (Please believe in it...)"
Dana thinks that's the real reason why Terry's been busy at work from time to time.
"Now I get it, you were alone and wanted friends. I need to talk to him later once we get out first." she said. "So why are you fighting?"
More on that later for them to get out first.
"I'll tell you more after we get out, but you have to let me help you. I told Batwoman and Batman before I went in. If we leave together, they will find us." Gwen explains. "I know you never liked me a lot, Dana, but still. I'm the only one who can get you out."
With some fire and a flashlight, they could get out now.
"In that case, let's both leave so we can argue together again afterwards. And yeah, your secrets safe with me." she trusts Gwen to stay close. "Adios, Ratboy."
With the light in hand, they search for a way out, passing by several barrels of toxic waste which were presumably the source of the giant rats.
"(I guess that explains the rats growing badly and the kid. Must've got pour with this stuff to turn into one half human and rat person.)" Gwen's other half said to the real one.
The journey through the sewers proves to be an ordeal for Dana and Gwen to keep her safe. Unable to negotiate several obstacles, Dana falls into sewer water and soon finds herself trapped in a pit, along with a huge colony of regular-sized rats. Despite their small size, the rats are aggressive and attack Dana. And Gwen tries to rescue her with some fire power to shoot off at them 'and not in the sewer waters'.
"Back!" she kept on fighting. "Leave her alone!"
Fortunately, Patrick arrives and scares the rats off.
"I told you not to wonder off." Patrick tells his rat friends to deal with Gwen. "Place her into the waters to swim back home."
They do so for Gwen to fall in for Dana was trapped again.
"No, Gwen!"
"Dana!" she drown to be hurting her powers to try to stop from staying in to getting out of the dirt waters alive to try to find some other way to save Dana somehow. "(I can't let her suffer like this from this Rat Boy. No! I won't give up. I fight back and then I'll set in as Batwoman next.)"
She was brave, huh? Later, they return to Patrick's dwelling. Patrick notices Dana isn't eating and asks if something's bothering her, Dana angrily snaps at him for his kidnapping and for having rats as friends. Angered by her words, Patrick now sees that Dana isn't any different from the other people, having believed she would understand him better. Dana then questions if he's done this before. Patrick reveals in the past, he's kidnapped people similar to Dana's problems and tried to give them a home in the sewers. When Dana asks what happened to them, he pulls out a whistle and says 'They don't make fun of me anymore', implying that he murdered his previous victims, and blows on it. The rats, both giant and regular, advance on Dana.
"Oh, my God...!" Dana panics.
Just then, lots of fire comes shooting out for Gwen to appears and she was mad.
"Leave her alone...!"
"You again?" shock Patrick. Patrick grabs her and reveals she shouldn't have made fun of him, but before he can attack her Batman arrives.
"Ever heard of keeping your hands off of others?"
"(Terry!)" Gwen was sort of happy to still feel a bit sad. "(Doesn't matter right now.) Batman, you came. Good! I'll help you out to get Batwoman in here next. She must be nearby!"
Seems for Terry to notice Gwen from releasing her powers to go along with this.
"(Gwen's powers...She show it to Dana?)" he was surprise to see.
"Batman?" Dana sees the Dark Knight. "I guess you do help him and Batwoman out, Gwen, that's amazing! But how did you-?"
Dana tries to question Batman as to how he found her, but he brushes them off and warns her to stay behind him while he fights them off.
"Never mind that, stay behind me." he said. "Gwen, cover me. I need some of your powers. I don't want you handle this one alone."
The rats begin to advance in Batman and soon they quickly overwhelm and from Gwen's fire power as well. Dana rescues Batman as she takes a hockey stick and sets it ablaze.
"He's fine. Hurry, Gwen, find Batwoman and get out of here!" Dana said. "And make sure I see you alive and well when we both get out too!"
That means she does care Gwen a little more now.
"Ah, yes...Good luck!" she leaves far enough to transform next. "(It's payback time.) Burning passion! Batwoman!"
The two manage to ward off the rats long enough to escape.
"Let's blow this mouse house." said Batman.
With more rats coming from Patrick's control...Batwoman arrives to fight back with skills, items to use, and a whole lot of fire power.
"Guess who?! Thanks to Gweny alerting me to catch up to you, Batman, I knew I came to the right place. And it stinks!" she stops a few more rats. "And for you, Rat Boy, how dare you take advantage on a woman who doesn't like you as a stalker. People like you make me sick..."
More of them coming!
"Kill them!" said Rat Boy. "Rip them all into pieces!"
During the escape, Dana drops the lit hockey stick into the toxic waste, causing an explosion and Dana to fall unconscious.
"Incoming!" Batman said. "Gwen, please help me!"
The fire quickly catches up, but Batman manages to save himself and Dana and they safely get back to the surface allowing Batwoman to step in to get a lot of fire to be stopped.
"That's it!"
And it was all stopped to saving the sewers from the fire to spread on the surface to go out in seconds.
"(We did it!)" said the happy Gwen. (And Dana, I...We saved her...I'm glad she's going to be okay.)"
But was Rat Boy and his army dead?
"Ha! Rats to you, man!" Batwoman made a joke. "Seriously though, we all need a bath after this."
Later as fireman and news reporters arrive at the scene, Dana is sitting an ambulance for Gwen checks on her.
"Gwen?"
"Hey, Dana, we made it out. Batwoman showed me an exit for her and Batman to lead the way out and stopped Rat Boy." she said. "(As long as she can keep a secret to sayign the other things to believe in, then it's fine.)"
"Yeah, a close one. And Gwen, you're alright." said Dana. "I guess we both like Terry with a good reason for one of us to love him. But still, you do anything wrong to be fighting with each other right now, I'll be really mad at you. Talk to him and be friends again."
Looks like it was a start, but both Dana and Gwen soon become friends closer than ever.
"I'll try, thanks for the tip." Gwen then sees Terry to take off next. "See you later, Dana, thanks for understanding me." she says this to Terry next before leaving. "Go to her, she needs you right now..."
"But, Gwen-!" he tries to say something to see Gwen looking fine to put a smile on her face. "Look...I know we'll talk more later, I want to. But other than that, thanks a bunch for helping me find her."
For Gwen to leave afterwards back at Megan's place, she does say this to Terry.
"It was nothing, she's a good person. (And for someone to still care like you do, that's good to know you two are good people who understand me.)"
Will Gwen be back to see him more? Hopefully real soon...Terry arrives once she leaves and begins apologizing to Dana for not being there for her, blaming himself for what happened to her. Dana cuts him off, simply saying shut up, causing Terry to slightly worry. However, Dana instead hugs Terry, needing comfort after her ordeal. Terry the begins to take her home. As they walk away, the card with the flower given to Dana by Patrick blows away with the wind. Maybe he was gone...As Gwen reports back to Megan to tell Bruce about it afterwards, all was well. Almost everything for Gwen to still feel a bit upset, to soon have something happening to her – of someone making Gwen Grayson to go missing.
"(Gweny? What's wrong?! Who just hit you? Gweny!)"
With her inner voice calling out to Gwen with no respond, what will happen next? It wasn't Rat Boy or his rat armies doing on this one.