I would like to point out one of my pet peeves is people who just rush to the end of the chapter or story because they don't have the patience to find out what happens. Please respect the efforts the writers put into their stories and take the time to read the whole thing instead of just skipping parts or trying to find spoilers. Once again special thanks to LookIntoTheAbyss for his support!
"NO!" Gordon shouted.
Saunders fell back into the water.
SPLASH!
Immediately Saunders felt his muscles spasm as the boat continued to speed away. The pain was all over his body. It was ten times worse than the minor bullet wound he had given himself in the shoulder. His body began to convulse uncontrollably. This was it; he was going to die now. A part of him felt hope that maybe he had one last jump in him and he would end up not to far from the present so he could get the League or Batclan to help him. But as water began to fill his lungs while his body felt like it was on fire, he knew this was the end. The End of All Things.
He felt himself sinking. If he was healthier, he would've been able to swim back to the Gotham Bay with ease. But he wasn't healthy; he was dying. The boat he left Gordon tied up was long gone. It would take awhile for Gordon to break free and turn the boat around.
"MMRRRGGGHHH!" he screamed unwillingly in pain as another spasm hit him. Either the energy build up from his time traveling would kill him or he would drown from nearly being paralyzed while under water. He began to choke on the water as his eyes rolled back. A suffocating darkness began to envelope him and he saw no more.
Gotham City-2046
"What a dump!" Lobo complained.
The three were standing at of the outskirts of Gotham City. Terry wasn't sure if the city looked depressing because it was now in ruins or if it was originally meant to look that way. Many of the still standing buildings looked like dark towers from a horror movie. The roads were completely upturned. The polluted, gloomy sky made it almost impossible to tell if it was day or night. The bay meanwhile resembled a black liquid that looked like tar.
Terry sighed. This was their roots; the old stomping grounds to their heritage.
"Remind me why we're here Kid?" Lobo asked bitterly.
"My name's Terry!" Terry snapped. He was getting tired of Lobo calling him "Kid". He was eighteen years old, not just some kid.
Terry then looked to Matt who as usual, stared blankly in the air. The past two months as they made their way to Gotham, Matt had not spoken a word. Terry was worried about him and usually spent at least two hours every night trying to get Matt to eat and drink. Although Terry would always end up succeeding, Matt never ate much. Terry was worried his brother would die of malnutrition. Hopefully coming to Gotham and staying in one place for awhile would finally get Matt able to talk again.
"Well no use standing around here. Come on!" Terry ordered. "Let's take a look."
"Are ya crazy? They probably got guards and everythin'!"
"Well lucky for us, we got the Main Man," Terry shot back sarcastically. "Come on Matt."
Terry grabbed his brother's hand and led him down to the city with Lobo following them. They spent about twenty minutes traveling through the outskirts of what Terry assumed was the Western district of the city. Even though he didn't dare show it, Terry felt apprehension; he was now beginning to realize that this visit to Gotham was a stupid idea. Also the fact that the ghost city was unnaturally quiet didn't help.
"Yo geeks!" Lobo bellowed. "I hear somethin'!"
"Shut up Lobo! Keep your voice down!" Terry hushed.
However Terry's ears began to pick up a faint sound too. Something was coming. Something big.
"Hide!" Terry whispered and headed toward a pile of rubble of what used to be a bank, dragging Matt with him. Lobo followed and jumped behind the pile clumsily. The three remained hidden behind the rubble as the sounds got louder. It sounded like someone or something was marching.
KLUNK! KLUNK!
Within a few seconds two giant machine looking things appeared down the road they were just on. Terry realized they had searchlights and were scanning the area. Terry felt his buried rage growing. Those machines were just like the ones that attacked the bunker. As the two exo suits walked down the road, Terry saw they were much more armed and larger than the ones they had encountered on their journey. They seemed to be doing a routine patrol.
"Fragger…" Terry heard Lobo whisper and saw him pulling out his gun. "We can take 'em."
The Czarnian then made to stand up.
"No Lobo!" Terry snapped and pulled him down. "There might be more around!"
Lobo cursed silently as they watched the two sentries continue to walk along the road and turn left. Terry and the rest waited a good five minutes until they were certain they were gone. Terry let out a sigh of relief. He looked at his younger brother who was still staring into space.
"We should get outta 'ere…" Lobo muttered.
"What?" Terry asked.
"This was a stupid idea to come 'ere," Lobo complained. "Ya see those weapons those geeks had? Took me awhile to realize it because I hadn't been payin' attention but that ain't Earth weapons."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talkin' about these Sector Geeks havin' armies with weapons not from 'ere! They must have some black market deal goin' on with some other planet! We need to get outta 'ere!"
Terry was about to argue but realized Lobo had a point. It was a big mistake to come into the heart of Sector 1 when all they had was one blaster pistol as a weapon.
"Fine," Terry agreed reluctantly. "But not until we get some supplies. We're low on rations."
"What the hell are we gonna find 'ere?"
"There's always something. If this is Sector 1's capital, he has to have some food around."
For two hours, the three had explored deeper into the city. And the deeper into the city they went, the more frequent of patrols they ran into. Often they almost got caught due to the difficulty of trying to hide a large and loud alien while dragging a nearly comatose boy at the same time. With every step that got the trio closer to the center of the city, the more their luck was pressed. Even Terry was questioning his own decision. Getting closer to Sector 1 was suicide. But they needed rations and supplies and they didn't have much of a choice. Terry was about to give up when they overheard one of the exo suited sentries that Lobo called "Klunkers" mention a supply train a few blocks away. Relying on his good sense of direction, Terry had led the group over to what he had hoped was the road the Klunkers were talking about.
They were currently hiding in the shadows waiting for something to come by to indicate they were in the right place.
"I don't get it," Lobo complained. "The whole fraggin' planet is destroyed, why would they have supply trucks?"
"Armies need to eat," Terry muttered. "It's rumored that most of the Sectors have lots of fields and crops to grow food but Sector 1 has none because Sector 1 refuses to grow any. He relies solely on his fellow leaders to supply him food."
"Then why do those Sector Dweebs follow him then?"
"He controls Brother Eye," Terry explained.
"Brother Eye? What the hell is that?"
"Shhh!" Terry shushed when he saw some movement in the distance.
They watched as two figures moved out of the shadows and onto the main road. Terry immediately noticed they were a lot smaller than the Klunkers. He also noticed they seem to be covered in rags and they were hiding something.
"What the hell?" Lobo muttered. "What are those?"
"We're not alone," Terry whispered in surprise.
At that moment, one of the ragged figures slipped on the ground.
BAM!
The mysterious figure had been carrying a crate which had slammed onto the ground. Miraculously, it didn't bust open.
"Ungh!" grunted a voice as the figure turned around and hissed in pain, forgetting the dropped crate. At the moment the rags around the head slipped off, revealing the figure's face.
"Hot damn..." Lobo muttered with a bemused expression.
To Terry and the alien's shock, the injured figure was a girl. A girl no older than Terry. Terry couldn't help but notice despite her face covered in mud, she was beautiful. She had dark hair and eyes and slightly tanned skin. Terry never had really seen a girl his age before other than pictures and videos from his studies in the bunker. In fact he never even ever really thought of girls at all. It was always training in the bunker with Waller. No time for a social life.
"Dana!" cried the other figure. Terry realized the other ragged figure must be a female too based on her voice.
"Are you alright Dana?" the other girl asked.
"I'm fine," Dana winced and got to her feet. "We need to get going Max…"
ZAP!
BOOM!
"Aiih!" Dana cried as a blue light zoomed by them and blasted the street, missing them by about ten feet.
"Stand Down and Surrender!" spoke a cold and robotic voice as a Klunker emerged from the shadows. More began to appear as well surrounding the two girls. Terry counted at least six.
"You are in violation of the Registration Code!" the voice spoke. "You shall be punished accordingly!"
"We got to help them!" Terry snapped.
"What?" Lobo asked, sounding slightly offended.
"They're going to kill them!" Terry snapped.
Lobo grunted.
"Aw frag…fine! But only 'cause one of those dames is pretty."
Terry then turned to Matt.
"Stay here!" he warned.
Matt didn't respond at all. Rolling his eyes, Terry looked at Lobo.
"Are you coming?"
Lobo grinned and pulled up his pistol.
"Let's go!"
The Czarnian and Terry then ran into the open with Lobo shooting his pistol.
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!
"Come and get me bastiches!" Lobo called.
The Klunkers turned around, totally surprised by Lobo firing at them. Terry took advantage of the distraction Lobo provided and ran around to the side. He quickly slid under the legs of a Klunker that started to head towards Lobo and ran to the two girls.
"Come with me!" he ordered.
ZAP! ZAP!
BAM!
"That hurt!" Lobo complained.
The two girls looked at Terry with surprise and fear.
"Who…?" the other girl, who had very dark skin, asked.
"Not now! This way!"
"Kiss my ass!" Lobo complained.
The two girls made to get up but Dana then turned around.
"The box!"
"Leave it!" Terry snapped as he helped the other girl to her feet. He then made to help up Dana.
"You don't understand, we need it!" Dana protested.
"It's not worth your lives!" Terry ordered and forced Dana up, still gripping on her arm tightly. "Follow me!"
The two girls followed Terry to the other side of the street where he had left Matt.
"LOBO!" Terry called. "Let's go!"
Lobo had managed to take out two Klunkers. Unfortunately four were still active and firing.
ZAP! ZAP!
"Ya don't need to tell me twice!" Lobo shouted as he began to run to Terry and the rest.
ZAP! ZAP!
"There are more of them!" one of the Klunkers shouted and began firing at the fleeing group.
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!
Terry on instinct ducked as he led the two girls with Lobo in the rear.
"Go around the corner!" Terry barked and then jumped over the mound where Matt was hiding.
"Come on Matt!" Terry snapped a little angrily. Again Matt didn't respond.
"Oh I'm getting tired of your shit Matt!" Terry complained and forcibly dragged his brother to his feet.
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!
Terry thought he heard his brother wince in pain but he ignored it. It was life or death at this point.
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!
"Frag-frag-frag-frag-frag-FRAG!" Lobo swore as the blasts were shot at him. Terry, Matt and the alien ran around the corner where the two girls had disappeared earlier. When they began running on the new road, they could see that the girls were already halfway down the road into the next block.
ZAP!
"Ga-AWWWR!" Lobo groaned as a blast hit him and he fell to the ground. Terry stopped and turned around to see Lobo had collapsed to the ground. Smoke emerging from his back. Terry already knew about Lobo's healing ability but also knew the alien could still be hurt or stunned with the proper weapons. Terry hesitated as he looked over his shoulder. The two girls had already abandoned them. In the meantime, Terry still was dragging Matt around which was slowing him down. Terry knew if he hurried, he might have a chance to escape with his brother. But that would be abandoning Lobo, and not even the foul mouth alien deserved that. Making up his mind, Terry let go of Matt and angrily started running towards the semiconscious alien.
BOOM!
A Klunker emerged around the corner while pointing its blaster gun arms at Terry.
"STAND DOWN!" the Klunker ordered.
Terry relying on instinct still kept running and without even thinking, picked up a discarded pole and chucked it like a javelin.
CRASH!
ZZZSSSSKKK!
"I've been hit!" the mindless human in the Klunker cried in cold surprise as the pole was embedded in the suit which began to zap electricity.
Terry paused for a second and looked at his hand with amazement. He had done some crazy stunts in the simulator in the bunker, but he never accomplished something like this in real life.
"Ooooh…that's a nasty hangover," Lobo moaned, reminding Terry of his original purpose. The young man ran to his alien friend and helped him up.
"Come on Lobo!"
ZAP!
"Halt by order of Sector 1!" one of the Klunkers shouted. The rest were catching up.
"Let's go!" Lobo shouted and with a surprising second wind began to take off, outrunning Terry. Terry shook his head at the Czarnian's lack of gratitude and ran to his brother who seemed to just be staring at the approaching Klunkers.
ZAP!
Terry without even slowing down ran by and grabbed his brother by the arm, dragging him along.
"I swear Matt if you weren't family I would kill you myself!" Terry complained as he ran with his brother in tow. Lobo was still far ahead. The Klunkers kept shooting at them. After running on the other end of the block Terry was trying to form a plan but he couldn't. He had no clue where they were and he knew more Klunkers would close in on them soon. He and his brother just ran around the corner when he heard a voice.
"In here! Quick!"
Terry stopped dead in his tracks and saw in the ruins of an old building was one of the girls they just had rescued. Terry hesitated.
"There's a way out in the basement, come on!" the girl encouraged.
Terry looked and saw that Lobo was still running like crazy.
"Lobo! This way!"
"I knew that!" Lobo complained and headed towards them.
For a while no one said anything as Terry, Matt, and Lobo followed the two girls. The girls first had led them to a basement in the building that had a hole that connected to the sewers. They then quickly resurfaced on a road a few blocks away from where most of the Klunkers were looking for them. Terry tried to keep track of where they were going but Gotham was like a maze. Terry wasn't sure if that was how the city was designed or the fact that half of it was still in smoldering ruins. But right now, he was a stranger in a strange land and the two girls were his only way of survival.
"Why are we following those dames?" Lobo whispered to Terry as the two girls led them to a street that was covered with collapsed buildings.
"They have a better grasp of this city than we do," Terry explained,
"Never trust a pretty dame too long," Lobo warned.
Terry ignored the alien. His mind was on something else. He was thinking back to when he had killed that Klunker. It still shocked him despite the training he had he was able to improvise and cause that much damage. But what surprised him the most was how he felt afterwards. During that split second before he started worrying about Lobo's safety again, he had felt something else. He had felt rage and bliss. He got satisfaction from killing that Klunker. His parents were killed by them. It was payback. Terry shook his head. He knew he always had a habit of letting his emotions take control, but he couldn't afford to do that anymore, he promised Dad to protect Matt.
Meanwhile the girls looked both ways on the road and began to cross it, climbing over and under the destruction around it. The girl named Dana turned around to look at Terry.
"Usually they never come this way because most of the buildings here are destroyed," she explained. "But it doesn't hurt to always double check before crossing the street so they don't see us here."
"Where is 'ere?" Lobo muttered.
"This is the road where the GCPD once stood," the other girl explained without looking back.
"GCP what?" Lobo asked with a dumbfounded expression.
"Gotham City Police Department," Dana answered.
Lobo snorted at the word police.
"Frag the police!"
"Shut up Lobo!" Terry snapped as he saw the girls disappear down a giant crack in the road. Terry hesitated before sliding down underground as well with Matt and Lobo behind him. Before Terry's eyes could adjust to the darkness he heard Dana whisper.
"This way; it's just up ahead."
Terry followed the sound of their voices and after traveling about fifty feet stopped when he heard a slight tapping sound.
Bing! Bing! Bing!
Terry paused at that.
"What is this place?" he whispered nervously.
"Most of the GCPD during Brother Eye's attack was destroyed. However the basement levels, holding cells, labs, parking structure and foundations still stand, buried underground," the other girl explained. "This is our home…"
The door suddenly opened and light appeared, blinding Terry.
"Dana?" a worried voice asked.
"I'm alright Donald," Terry heard Dana respond as he tried to adjust his eyes again. "Max is here too."
"You were late! We were worried."
Terry by then had realized the newcomer at the doorway was a young man about his age. He was tall and slightly thin with brown eyes that seemed to show glimpses of paranoia. He had messy dirty blonde hair about shoulder length. Before Terry could study him further, the young man seemed to notice Terry standing in the distance.
"Who are you?" he demanded suspiciously.
"I uh…" Terry stuttered, completely off guard by the tone of the question.
"None of yar fraggin' business," Lobo complained, stepping into the light. Terry noticed the man immediately backed away in surprise and fear.
"What…what is that?" he asked while stammering.
"It's alright Donald," the other woman who Terry assumed was named Max. "He's with us."
"Ya heard the chick, let us in!" Lobo complained and stepped forward inside, uninvited.
Terry sighed and followed Lobo, dragging Matt behind him.
"So let me get this straight Terry, you lived in a bunker your entire life until now?" Donald asked.
They were in Donald's "office" at the moment which was an abandoned one in the GCPD. After their sudden intrusion, Donald demanded to speak to Terry in private. It was not every day not only did you see a new face but meet an alien as well. Currently Dana and Lobo were also present. Terry had left Matt in what was considered the main room. He didn't want to retell their parents' death in front of his younger brother. Terry had just finished telling their story with a few interruptions form Lobo.
"Yes," Terry nodded before smiling sheepishly. "This is the first time I've been in the outside world."
"And seen some attractive dames," Lobo butted in.
"Quiet Lobo!" Terry snapped. He briefly made eye contact with Dana who was blushing for a stiff second.
Terry thought he saw Donald's eyes narrow slightly but the young man was already speaking in a calm voice.
"Well I'm glad you guys brought Dana and Maxine back to us safe and sound," Donald said with gratitude but Terry felt it was forced.
"What were ya two chicks doin' out there anyways?" Lobo asked.
"We were trying to get food," Dana explained. "We live by scavenging a stray box when Sector 1's cronies get too careless."
"And not only did we not get a resupply today but we are still really low on our own rations," Donald cut in sternly. "Which is why you guys will need to leave."
"What?" Terry asked in shock.
"Donald!" Dana cried.
"Shoulda let ya bitches die," Lobo muttered.
"I'm sorry everyone but we are low on food. We can barely keep together the fifteen of us hiding out here."
"We can help you," Terry offered. "I'm sure we can help gathering food. And I think the Klunkers won't be too much of a trouble for me…"
"Because you were trained to be a weapon by the old American government. All the more reason for you to leave. Sector 1 might be looking for you and we don't need him to start searching around here."
"Sector 1 isn't looking for us!" Terry snapped; his temper was growing as he took a step forward to Donald.
"Everyone just needs to calm down!" Dana pleaded.
"Oh I think we're beyond the stage of calm Babe," Lobo muttered as his hand gripped his pistol tightly.
"I'm sorry but I'm in charge here and I have to make decisions for the greater good," Donald said while crossing his arms.
"So that's how it's going to be?" Terry snapped, stepping even closer to Donald. "Just throw us out to fend for ourselves?"
"Somehow I don't see you as a totally helpless considering you and your brother have your own alien bodyguard who is armed with a blaster gun."
"And I'm just as willin' to point it at yar face right now Geek," Lobo grinned evilly.
"All of you stop right now!" Dana snapped, raising her voice which caused the three males to stop and stare at her.
She first looked at Terry and Lobo.
"Donald is trying to do what he thinks best for all," she pointed out.
"I wasn't much into authority anyways," Lobo began to mutter before Terry elbowed him. Dana meanwhile turned to Donald.
"But Donald, you don't make the call on who stays or goes. She is still in charge."
"Dana," Donald complained. "Her mind is on the fritz…"
Dana crossed her arms this time.
"She founded this place, she is still in charge. She has the right to decide," Dana reminded.
Donald glared at Dana and Terry thought for a second he was going to snap but then Donald seemed to have calmed down.
"Very well," Donald accepted reluctantly. "You can ask her if you want..."
"I'll take them," Dana interrupted before Donald could say anything else. She then looked at Terry and Lobo.
"On second thought maybe Terry should just come with me," Dana suggested.
"Why?" Lobo demanded.
"Because you'll run your mouth and probably say something crude and offensive," Terry explained and got up to follow Dana.
"Since when do I do that?"
Dana and Terry ignored the alien and exited the room.
"Her room is just down the hall…" Dana told Terry as she walked down the half buried basement of what used to be the GCPD jail cells.
"Who is 'her?'" Terry asked curiously.
Dana didn't say anything and for a second and Terry wasn't sure she heard him when she suddenly began to speak again.
"She's Lois Lane," Dana said sadly. "Have you heard of her?"
"Can't say that I have."
"She was a big time reporter before the Day that Evil Won."
"You mean the Apocalypse of '09?" Terry asked.
"Oh is that what you guys called it?" Dana responded as they continued to walk down the hallway. "I felt Apocalypse was too much of a misnomer."
"How so?" Terry asked.
"After the Apocalypse, good is supposed to triumph over evil," Dana replied sarcastically and stopped walking.
Terry didn't know whether to laugh or not at the remark. Thankfully however Dana began speaking again.
"Anyways, Lois was a reporter for the Daily Planet in Metropolis. She managed to get out of town before the bombs that Brother Eye launched hit it."
"How?" Terry asked.
"She had a heads up. You see, she had close ties to the Justice League especially Superman."
"Really?"
"At least that's what my parents said. Lois doesn't like to talk about her past. Too much hurt and regret."
"Wait, you had parents? Where are they?"
"Dead," Dana said quickly that it almost surprised Terry. "Dad got sick with something and my mom got killed one day trying to find food before we moved here."
"I'm sorry," Terry apologized.
"It's okay," Dana assured. "All of us here are orphans. Lois is the only one of us over thirty. She raised most of us by herself until the dementia started setting in…"
"Dementia?" Terry asked.
"About five years ago her mind started going funny. She's almost eighty years old so what do you expect? Anyways it's been getting worse. She sometimes thinks she's still a reporter. We mostly keep her in here."
Dana then beckoned to a jail cell that had obviously been converted to a room due to the thick sheets covering it.
"But she's still in charge and gets the final call for things like whether to accept or banish newcomers."
"And what about Donald?" Terry asked with a little sense of bitterness in his voice.
Dana sighed.
"Donald runs mostly the day stuff around here. He filled the role when Lois couldn't be always available to organize things."
"And he seems to enjoy it," Terry muttered with bitterness.
Dana shook her head.
"Look, I know he can be a little bit standoffish around people sometimes but he is under a lot of pressure. He's been in charge of taking care of us. And he's been through a lot."
"We all have."
"But he saw his own family tortured to death by Sector 1's concubine personally. They made him watch."
Terry's eyes widened in surprise by that. He was always grateful that he and Matt managed to avoid witnessing most of the massacre that killed their parents.
"How did he survive?"
"Sector 1 let him live. The sick man hoped he would go mad or crazy having to remember that for the rest of his life. It still bothers Donald in his sleep. I hear him muttering when we're in bed."
Terry felt his heart stiffen for a second; they shared a bed together!
"Uh, I'm sorry to hear that," Terry apologized uncomfortably, trying to change the subject.
"It's alright," Dana said as she pushed the curtains and opened the jail cell door. "Let's go talk to her."
Terry followed Dana and had to do a double take in the room. It was littered with papers on the floor. walls and even some were somehow on the ceiling. Terry was looking around and saw most of the papers had random scribbles on them. The ones that had some coherent messages on it oddly enough read like newspaper articles. But then again, Dana did mention Lois was a reporter.
"Lois," Dana spoke softly.
Terry looked and saw Dana was heading towards the occupant of the room he didn't see earlier. She was an old woman with grey short hair. Her eyes were closed at the moment. She was sitting in a chair chewing on what looked like a pen and muttering under her breath.
"I'll call Jimmy and see if he can come out with me. We'll meet Clark there…"
"Lois," Dana said again, a little louder than the first time.
Lois bolted up and opened her eyes and Terry saw that they were a vivid shade of piercing violet.
"What is it sweetie?" Lois asked looking at Dana.
"We have a guest…" Dana explained and stepped away so Lois could see Terry. Terry saw the old woman's eyes began to size him up as they widened in shock.
"It can't be!" Lois cried as tears began to fall down her face. "Bruce, you're alive!"
"What?" Terry asked in confusion. Who the hell was Bruce?
"Bruce! Oh I have to tell Clark! He'll be so excited! And the others as well! I knew it! You were always too stubborn to die!"
"I didn't die," Terry answered uncomfortably.
"Uh Lois," Dana interrupted while gripping the older woman's hand. "This is Terry McGinnis. We met him out in the streets today."
Lois seemed to understand that as the joyful look on her face began to fade with grim realism.
"I'm sorry," Lois said with more lucidity. "As Dana probably told you, my mind and memory aren't the sharpest right now. You just look like someone I use to know a little."
"It's okay. I uh, get that a lot."
"So what brings you here Terry?" Lois asked, gazing at him with those sharp violet eyes. Terry was beginning to understand how she ended up being a reporter.
"My brother and an er-associate of mine are what remains of a group of survivors who had been living in a government bunker the pass thirty something years. We came to Gotham, trying to see if we could find somewhere to stay."
"Well you came to the safest place on Earth!" Lois replied sarcastically. She then began to scribble on the paper again.
"That sounds like a new headline. Gotham City, Safest Place on Earth."
"Lois," Dana interrupted. "We came here to ask if Terry, his brother, and 'associate' can stay with us, considering they have no place to go."
Lois looked up and stopped her murmurings.
"Stay here?" she asked curiously. "What did Donald say?"
"Uh…"
"It's alright sweetie," Lois assured. "I don't like that arrogant prick anyways…"
Terry tried to not smile at that remark.
Lois looked at him.
"Sure you can stay. The more the merrier."
Maxine sat in the corner to herself. Dana, Donald, Terry and the strange alien Lobo were still in their meeting. They were taking forever and knowing Donald, he was probably being rude and arrogant to Terry. Maxine was glad she chose to sit out on that meeting. She probably would've punched Donald in the face. Right now she was fiddling with a knife and cutting a piece of wood she had found during their botched scavenge mission.
"He hasn't said a word at all."
"He's a freak I tell you. And what's with that funny hat?"
Maxine looked up as she heard two of her fellow survivors murmuring to each other. She had a feeling who they were talking about. Sitting in the middle of the main room with his eyes staring blankly in the air was Terry's little brother, Matt. He was still wearing a battered cowboy hat and gun belt which Maxine found weird. Most of the fellow survivors were keeping their distance and occasionally whispering and pointing at the child. Maxine didn't blame them. The little boy hadn't said a word at all and just kept giving a blank stare, creeping everyone out. Terry did mention in passing about his brother being in shock after witnessing their parents' deaths.
Maxine watched as Matt with his dark eyes continued to stare blankly ahead. It wouldn't have been hard for someone to convince Maxine that he was already dead. Sighing to herself, Maxine got to her feet and began to walk over to him.
"Mind if I join you?" she asked politely.
Matt didn't say anything and continued to stare at nothing.
"I'll take that as a no then," Maxine replied and sat down. She then looked at the boy again.
Up close she could see he was really thin and looked ill fed. Something told her he hadn't been willing to eat. His eyes meanwhile still had the empty dark look to them.
"You hungry?" Maxine asked compassionately.
She still got no response from him. It was time to pull out the big guns…
Maxine looked around before looking back at the boy.
"Can you keep a secret?" she whispered.
Matt's eyes slightly darted to her. Good, she had his attention. Never underestimate a child's curiosity.
Maxine looked around again for show and then whispered in a hushed voice.
"Do you like apples?"
"What are apples?" Matt asked curiously.
Maxine smiled.
"They are rare now. We luckily managed to snag a box from Sector 1 once. I was going to be saving mine for later but I guess you need it more since you've never had one."
And with that Maxine produced a green healthy looking apple.
"Try it," Maxine encouraged as she put it in his hand. Matt looked at her unsure.
"Go ahead, it's yours. This will be our little secret."
Matt stared at it. Maxine sighed, thinking he had gone comatose again. But then slowly the little boy put the fruit to his mouth and took a bite. Then another. Then another. Maxine smiled to herself as the little boy began to pick up the pace as he devoured her apple. He must've been famished.
"Don't eat the seeds or the stick," Maxine warned. "Don't want you choking now."
Within seconds, Matt had completely devoured the apple. Maxine was beaming to herself. No longer did he seem like the scary lonely creepy child anymore.
"Th-thank you…" Matt replied nervously.
"It's Matt isn't it?" she asked.
Matt nodded.
"I'm Maxine. That's a nice hat and belt you got," Maxine pointed out, trying to keep a conversation going.
Matt blushed and unconsciously felt his hat.
"This was Jonah Hex's," Matt said proudly.
"No kidding!" Maxine said in fake shock and admiration. She had no clue who Jonah Hex was.
"Yep. He fought off two hundred men with the Black Ranger wearing this!"
"That's impressive," Maxine noted. "What was your brother and friend's name again?"
"Terry and the alien's…"
"Yo Kid!" a booming voice shouted. "The squirt's finally talking!"
Maxine and Matt turned around to find Lobo with Terry, Dana, and Donald in tow. Terry however was looking at his little brother in shock.
"Matt?" Terry asked in amazement.
"Terry, this is Maxine," Matt said pointing to his new friend. "She's cool. She has apples."
Terry looked at Maxine and their eyes made contact. It was then Maxine had realized how handsome Terry really was when she wasn't distracted by getting shot at. Looking at his piercing blue eyes and shoulder length black hair that framed his boyish face was making Maxine unable to say anything.
"I guess we weren't properly introduced. I'm Terry," Terry said offering his hand to shake.
"I'm Max!" Maxine blurted out nervously. "Or Maxine. Either one is fine!"
"Can we stay here Terry? Please?" Matt asked hopefully.
At this moment Donald stepped forward.
"You are more than welcome to stay with us as long as you want," Donald said proudly with a smile. Terry caught Lobo flipping Donald off and making a face in the background.
"But in the meantime it has been a long day and we should all get rest," Donald noted before walking back and wrapping his arm around Dana. "Maxine will show you to where you'll all sleep."
"I don't want to sleep with Lobo," Matt complained. "He smells!"
"Hey! I didn't just get shot in the ass to 'ere some snot nose squirt sass me!"
Terry looked at Maxine who was still awkwardly smiling at him.
"He hasn't said a word for months. You finally got him talking," Terry explained. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Maxine said with a smile.
1 Year Later-2047
"I'll tell ya Squirt when I find the Hog and get outta 'ere, the whole world's going to know! They'll be fireworks lightin' up the sky! Every one of ya sorry geeks will know that the Main Man's finally free when the sky lights up!"
"What are fireworks?" Matt asked. Maxine, Matt, and Lobo were outside on the destroyed street looking up in the sky. They were trying to watch the stars but weren't having any luck at all. There was so much smog, overcast, and pollution they couldn't see the stars.
Lobo chuckled.
"Man ya kids have been missin' out!" Lobo taunted. "How is it ya two geniuses can repair my gun but don't know what a fraggin' firework is?"
"I'm still having a hard time seeing the stars," Matt complained, squinting into the dark sky.
Lobo belched.
"Damn Sector Geeks are behind it somehow I tell ya. I can't wait until I go up to space again with my bike and leave this damn rock! The sky's freedom Squirt, I'm telling ya! They can take everythin' they want, but they can't take the sky from me!"
"As much as I hate to interrupt Lobo's surprisingly beautiful poetry, Terry and the others are here. I suggest we give them a hand moving the stuff in like we are supposed to," Maxine reminded them.
And she was right. Appearing out of the night smog emerged Terry with three other people around his age carrying two big crates. They were clearly straining from the weight of it.
"I don't see why I couldn't come to help," Lobo muttered.
"This one required stealth," Maxine reminded the Czarnian. "And if I recall, you blew the last stealth mission because you stubbed your toe."
"It hurt and I cursed! What do ya expect?" Lobo complained as he stepped forward and with ease took the two crates and headed towards their underground hideout entrance.
"We heard you swearing all the way over here!" Maxine taunted back. Matt snickered before looking at his brother and the three others.
"What took you so long?" Matt complained.
"We stopped for lunch," Terry shot back sarcastically before looking at one of the other men who helped him. "Nelson, go make sure Lobo doesn't eat all the food. Make sure he distributes it out like he's supposed to."
Nelson nodded and headed over to the hideout. The other two guys followed, leaving Maxine and Matt with Terry.
"That was way less than what we were hoping for," Maxine noted grimly.
"You see how heavy it was?" Terry complained. "We barely could carry two. And mind you, we had to sneak around as well."
"Maybe you need to start working out more. I'm sure Dana would like that," Matt taunted.
"You know, I liked you better when you didn't talk, can we go back to that?" Terry shot back and lightly pushed his brother down.
"Hey!" Matt complained as he lost his balance.
"You'll live," Terry noted before leaning in to whisper to Maxine.
"We know the real problem is. We can't send Lobo because he's too loud and Donald won't let us send any more than four people on a search party."
"It's his call," Maxine warned.
"It's a dumb one," Terry noted angrily and began to walk away.
"What are you doing?" Maxine asked with apprehension.
"I'm going to have a little talk with Donald. This is stupid! We should be trying to get more food out of one trip!"
Terry stomped inside not really paying attention as he passed Nelson wrestling the one chocolate flavored ration bar from Lobo at the moment. He needed to talk to Donald right now. For a whole year Terry did his best and behaved. He held his tongue and didn't say anything to Donald, despite the latter's arrogance and single mindedness. But the urge to punch Donald in the face was always there for Terry. Hell if it weren't for Dana Terry was pretty sure Donald wouldn't have a nose anymore. Without even knocking Terry stormed into Donald's "office."
"Terry!" Donald cried in shock. "You're supposed to knock…"
"Cut the B.S. Donald!" Terry snapped. "We need to talk!"
"You don't have to use that tone with me!"
"I do because every time someone tries to suggest an idea you shoot it down before they can finish it!" Terry reminded. "We need to change how we send out food search parties!"
"I already told you," Donald shot back. "Two to four at a time. A small group…"
"Can barely bring enough food back to last us a week!" Terry complained. "It takes two people to carry a box of those! You're better off sending at least eight at a time! We can double our intake or have people provide security at least! Safety in numbers."
"No! We don't want to risk losing half our numbers at once!" Donald warned. "It's too dangerous…"
"More dangerous than sending four guys to carry two boxes with no one else to watch their backs? Do you know how hard it is to fight back or sneak around when everyone's too busy carrying the boxes to be paying attention?"
"Well I guess you're the expert then aren't you?" Donald muttered with venom as he stepped closer to Terry. "They trained you how to steal boxes of food in the bunker, didn't they?"
"No, it's common sense!" Terry snapped. "Something you've seemed to be lacking lately."
Terry then noticed the glowing computer sitting at Donald's desk.
"And why do you leave that on all the time?" Terry complained. He and Lobo almost got captured the other week while on a search party trying to find a new power source for Donald's precious computer.
"To get in contact for help!" Donald snapped. Terry saw Donald's fist clenching. He was half hoping Donald would punch him. It would make him feel less bad when he would punch Donald back.
"You need to watch your place here, McGinnis. Don't forget, I took you and the rest in against my better judgment. If you don't like how I run things, you can pack up and leave!"
"You didn't let us stay here," Terry sneered. "Lois gave the okay, not you."
"Lois may be in charge, but it's been me, not her, and especially not you, that has kept everyone here alive these past years," Donald whispered in contrast to the rising voice he had earlier. "Who do you think they will follow? Me or you?"
"Honestly, me," Terry said with smug arrogance. "Considering I'm the one actually going out on your little search parties for food and stuff while you hide here in your cozy office."
"What about Dana then?" Donald whispered. "Do you think she would follow you over me?"
Terry's eyes narrowed. Donald was going for the low blows. Terry's hands were clenched in rage so tight Terry thought he could feel blood oozing into his fingernails.
"Nnnrgggghhhh!" Terry grunted angrily and turned around and stormed out of the office, not bothering to look back. If he had to look at Donald's smug face again he would probably have broken it.
Terry stormed down the hallway for awhile before he finally let loose.
BAM!
"Owww!" Terry cried in pain after he had just punched the wall in anger. The old GCPD walls still were surprisingly strong.
"Are you alright?" a voice asked.
Terry turned to find Dana running up to him with a worried look.
"What are you doing here?" Terry asked, still with bitter resentment in his voice.
Dana's eyes widened in surprise by Terry's tone of voice towards her. Terry quickly realized his mistake.
"I'm sorry," Terry quickly apologized, trying to not groan in pain. His hand still hurt like hell.
"Let me see your hand," Dana offered.
"I'm fine," Terry lied.
"Terry…"
"I'm fine," Terry reiterated.
Dana frowned.
"Why did you punch the wall then?" she asked.
"It's nothing," Terry muttered. "Just got mad over something stupid."
Dana sighed.
"You fought with Donald again, didn't you?".
"We may have had a disagreement or two."
"Terry. I know you and Donald have your differences, but you promised me you wouldn't provoke him. Donald's got a lot of stress."
"Well then he shouldn't try to micromanage things!" Terry snapped.
"And you need to stop trying to pick a fight in every situation!" Dana fired back.
Both of them began to eye each other angrily. Finally Terry's soften as Dana began to look embarrassed.
"I'm sorry," Terry replied. "I'll apologize to him tomorrow."
Dana smiled.
"Thank you Terry," she said and leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "For everything."
Dana then walked away leaving a confused and blushing Terry rubbing his cheek.
Two Years Later-2049
"Get him on the table!" Terry cried. He and Lobo were carrying Nelson who was bleeding badly.
"What happened?" Maxine asked as she led them to the morgue in the ruins of the GCPD. There was an operating table there.
"Fraggin' Klunkers shot at us when we were tryin' to find more batteries for that fraggin' computer!" Lobo complained. "Geek took some metal in the leg and ass!"
"Oh my God! He's bleeding out!" someone called.
"Get out of the way!" Terry snapped as he pushed some people out of the room. "Maxine! Get these people out!"
"Ungghhh…" Nelson groaned.
"Hey!" Terry yelled as he grabbed Nelson's face. "Stay with me buddy!"
"What's going on?" Matt asked as he rushed in.
"Not now Matt!" Terry snapped.
"I can help!" Matt protested.
"God frag it! He's bleedin' on my jacket!"
"We got this!" Terry shouted while looking around desperately to find tools.
"Sure you do…" Matt muttered under his breath.
"I'm taking charge here!" Maxine announced as she stepped forward. "Terry I want you to grab all the tools you can find. They should be in the cabinets. Matt I want you to help Lobo in putting pressure on the wound…"
"I'm not touchin' his ass!"
"Do as I say Lobo!" Maxine ordered. The surprised Czarnian shut up and followed Maxine's request without complaint. Matt meanwhile began to place his hand on a barely alive Nelson. He could see the metal sticking out of his side and leg.
"Cool," Matt whispered quietly even though he knew he shouldn't have said that.
"Okay, here we go…" Maxine said nervously as she pulled out some operating tools.
Maxine sighed as she and Terry washed off the medical tools. It took her two hours but she managed to get the shrapnel out of Nelson and sew up the wound. He lost a lot of blood though so his chance of survival was currently fifty-fifty.
"That was…impressive…" Terry complimented awkwardly.
"What?"
"What you just did. You saved Nelson's life."
Maxine sighed and looked over her shoulder. They had given Nelson what few medical supplies they had to knock him out and try to help heal his wounds.
"I might have just temporarily stopped him from dying. If that leg goes septic, he'll be in a lot of trouble."
"Where did you learn to do that?" Terry asked curiously.
"When you live in a post-Apocalyptic world, you got a lot of time to kill. You read or research whatever you come across. What's left of the Gotham library is not too far from here."
"They tried to teach us basic medical skills in the bunker. Except I was never good at that. Matt was more of the smart one."
"Yeah I've noticed that," Maxine agreed with a joking smile. "I've been lending him my books to read."
BAM!
All of a sudden the doors had swung open and Terry and Maxine found themselves staring at an angry Donald. The young man looked at Terry and Maxine and sneered slightly before looking at Nelson.
"Is he alive?" Donald demanded.
"Yes, no thanks to you!" Terry answered, not bothering to hide his contempt. It was Donald's fault they were in this mess.
"Is he going to make it?" Donald asked, ignoring Terry while looking at Maxine.
"Well I, uh, it's fifty-fifty…"
"Oh I see," Donald nodded bitterly. "And how much medicine did you use?"
"What?" Maxine asked.
"I don't see how that's relevant," Terry countered.
"It's relevant because she just used up half of our scant supply of medicine and we're not even sure if he's going to pull through!" Donald shouted back.
"Not using it would've killed him!" Terry shouted back.
"Terry," Maxine warned but Terry ignored her and stepped closer to Donald.
"And if he dies, we would've wasted it!" Donald replied. "But you're not in charge McGinnis, so you don't understand thinking for the greater good."
"Don't get all 'greater good' with me Donald!" Terry complained. "It's your fault he's dead!"
"My fault? You were the team leader of this mission if I recall correctly!"
"We went on this failed mission because you needed your stupid computer on every freaking hour! And I kept telling you we should send more people out in a team but you wouldn't listen!"
"Terry! Donald!" a voice cried. Both men looked to see Dana rushing in looking worried.
"What's going on? We can all hear you outside! Is everything alright with Nelson?"
"He's alive, no thanks to Donald," Terry explained.
"Terry!" Dana complained.
"It must be so easy for you Terry," Donald shot back. "To criticize, complain, and bitch without ever taking the burden of responsibility. Must hurt to have all that training by the government but be incapable of leading the next American Revolution."
"Donald!" Dana warned.
"Stay out of this Dana! This doesn't concern you!" Donald snapped. Dana's face widened in shock.
"I think it damn well concerns her!" Terry cried angrily. "Hell you forget it concerns all of us! You may think you have power over us, but you're not in charge of everything Donald!"
"That's what you want isn't it?" Donald snapped, his eyes narrowing with jealous anger. "You want a mutiny against me, don't you Terry? You've wanted to be in charge the minute you got here."
"I didn't at first but now the idea is starting to look more pleasant by the minute!"
"Well you can't! I'm in charge here! Not you! Not Maxine! Not Dana! And especially not that alien! I'm the leader and my authority stands!"
"ENOUGH!" a voice shouted.
Maxine had forced herself between the two hot headed young adults.
"Nelson needs to rest right now and you two going at each other's throats isn't helping!" Maxine complained. Terry began to soften his facial features, feeling guilty that he wasn't being considerate to those around him.
"So whatever feelings you may have towards each other, I suggest you get it off your chest now before I kick you both out," Maxine warned.
Donald and Terry still glared at each other, both begging for the other to throw the first punch and start the fight.
"It's not worth it," Terry muttered reluctantly. "I'm done talking to you for the day."
"Same here. Finally something we can agree on."
Donald then looked at Dana.
"Come on Dana," he ordered and turned around to leave. However Dana didn't follow him. She was still looking at Donald with the mixed look of surprise and fear she had when he snapped at her.
Donald turned around.
"Dana?"
"She's a person," Terry replied wickedly. "She doesn't have to listen to you."
Maxine elbowed Terry.
Donald's eyes flashed towards Terry angrily. It looked like he was about to shout again but instead he turned around and stormed out of the room.
Terry listened to the sounds of Donald's footsteps fading before speaking again. Sighing with relief, he looked to make eye contact with Dana.
"Well that went better than…"
SMACK!
"OW!" Terry cried as he felt his right side of his face. Dana was glaring at him with tears in her eyes. Maxine meanwhile had closed her eyes and shook her head.
"What was that for?" Terry cried. Dana had a surprisingly hard slap.
"Why do you both have to be such idiots?" she asked as more tears fell down her face. Before Terry could answer Dana stormed out of the room as well.
"Dana wait!" Terry protested and ran out as well, leaving Maxine by herself.
Maxine sighed and fought the urge to let a few tears fall down her face like Dana.
"Men…" she muttered angrily and went back to check on the unconscious Nelson to take her mind off things.
"So word in this dump is many geeks are talkin'. They heard 'bout ya and that dweeb's latest fight and now people are thinkin' ya might be better off in charge than him," Lobo explained.
"I'm not interested in starting a coup Lobo," Terry replied grumpily. He was sitting in a corner with his brother and the alien. It had been a day since he and Donald butted heads and so far Terry hadn't seen or talked to either Donald or Dana. It didn't help that people would stare at him and whisper when they thought he was out of earshot as he walked by them.
"He's not interested in taking charge, Lobo," Matt explained before putting a teasing smile. "He's still thinking about Dana,"
"Not now Matt!" Terry warned. Despite now being a teenager, his little brother could still be very immature. It didn't help Lobo was there to encourage that sort of behavior.
"The dame that slapped ya? Heh-heh, ya like me then kid. I always like a woman who plays it rough."
"She'll probably beat him up," Matt chimed in chuckling.
"Drop it both of you!" Terry snapped angrily and turned to face the other way.
"Ya know, ya ain't half bad Squirt," Terry heard Lobo mutter to his brother. Terry sighed. He wished he could take back what happened yesterday. Even though he did believe Donald was in the wrong, he could've gone about it in a better way. Now not only was he on the brink of a civil war between Donald and himself, but Dana seemed to be as disgusted with him as much as she was with Donald. If only Nelson, who's life still hang in balance, hadn't gotten shot…
"Terry," a stern voice commanded.
Terry looked up in surprise to find Donald staring down at him.
"Donald!" Terry cried taken aback. Usually when they fought, Donald would just lock himself in his office and not talk to Terry for a few days. Terry then scrambled to his feet. He didn't like the idea of Donald also literally looking down at him.
"Hey man I just want to say yesterday that I'm sorry about what happened. With Nelson getting shot I was a little…"
"You don't need to apologize," Donald assured with a comforting smile. That made Terry feel a little unsure. Donald never smiled.
"What?" Terry asked in confusion.
"You did bring up some good points. We need to change how we send food and scavenge parties. In fact I'm going out to scout for some more food right now and I want you to come with me…"
"What?"
"Well you're always going on about finding new areas to look for food. Why not try to explore some new areas?"
"Well I…"
"Come on Terry," Donald interrupted with an uncomfortable laugh and weird look in his eyes. "I'm actually taking you up on one of your suggestions. Don't back out now. Besides, you always say I should get out as well and not just hide in the office."
Terry tried to think of something else to say but couldn't. Donald had caught him off guard, probably on purpose. He made sure to do it in front of everyone as well. If Terry turned Donald down, he would probably lose credibility in his suggestions. Terry shook his head. Something smelled wrong about this but he had no choice.
"Sure," Terry agreed reluctantly. "Lead the way."
Donald smiled and began to walk out towards the entrance with Terry cautiously following him. Terry was preparing himself to be ready when necessary. If Donald tried something funny he would be able to take him down. They didn't have any weapons other than Lobo's pistol so Terry was confident he could easily kick Donald's ass.
Meanwhile sitting in the corner with dumbfounded looks on their faces were Matt and Lobo. Lobo was scratching his head in confusion to what they had just saw. Finally the Czarnian looked at Matt.
"He's gonna try to kill him ain't he?"
"Yep."
"Ya wanna follow them?"
"You bet," nodded Matt as the two simultaneously got to their feet.
Two Days Later
Terry stood on the Southern outskirts of Gotham. Mostly it was just what remained of abandoned storage units, power companies, and factories far away from the central hub of the ghost city. No Klunkers would be there. But despite that, Terry was still pacing back and forth nervously. According to the Bat, the rendezvous point was right here.
"I still don't understand," Maxine muttered. She, Lobo, and a few others had accompanied Terry to help him carry these supplies the Bat promised but to also be ready to help him escape if this was a set up. Not that it would do any good. Other than Lobo, they were all pretty much powerless against any weapons.
"This thin' stinks," Lobo growled.
"I think that's just you," Terry retorted quickly. "Don't try to hitch a ride out of here Lobo. Remember our deal, you can't leave the planet until you find your…"
"Bike. I know! I know! Ya don't need to remind me Kid. Besides ya think I would leave the Hog?"
"Who is it we are exactly meeting?" Maxine asked trying to get back on topic. She wasn't too keen that Lobo would be staying with them and not leaving the planet yet.
"Look I don't know!" Terry snapped. He was getting tired of the questions.
"All the Bat said was this Mister Miracle was going to arrive by a 'Boom Tube' which according to Lobo is a pretty cool…"
WWWWWWWHHHHHHHIIIIIIRRRRRR!
A roaring sound was heard followed by a flash of light. Terry and the others had to shield their eyes as the light grew brighter. They could feel a sudden wind being pushed against them.
ZZZZIIIIPPPPP!
The light, wind, and noise all evaporated at once and Terry found himself staring at a few strange crates with a tall humanoid looking figure who was wearing a strange costume.
"Who are ya?" Lobo demanded and pulled out his pistol.
The humanoid looked unimpressed.
"My name is Mister Miracle and judging by your shocked expressions, I take it that this is your first time seeing a Boom Tube."
"I've seen a Boom Tube ya geek! Answer the question!"
"Are you in charge?" Mister Miracle asked in surprise. "You aren't a human."
"No, I'm the Goddamned Main Man!" Lobo snapped. "The name's Lobo!"
"Ah Lobo! Yes I've heard of you!" Mister Miracle said with a bemused expression. "They say you're a bounty hunter. A violent sociopath who has caused more death and destruction than required by his profession."
"Thank you," Lobo replied, obviously flattered.
"What are you doing here?" Mister Miracle demanded suspiciously.
"I got stuck in traffic court," Lobo muttered sarcastically.
"Lobo shut up!" Terry ordered. He didn't like being out in the open for awhile like this. The tall humanoid alien looked at Terry.
"Are you the one in charge of this Bat Knights cell?"
"Uh…yeah, I guess," Terry said as Maxine pushed him closer. "What are you?"
"I'm from New Genesis, that is all you need to know," Mister Miracle explained curtly. "Now I have three crates for you. Thirty plasma rifles, twenty ion pistols, and a few dozen energy grenades. We've been calling this a starter package. We left instructions in your language so you know how to use them."
"Uh thanks…" Terry replied uncomfortably.
"Well that will be all. If you start gaining ground, my people will start giving you more of our experimental technology…"
"Just who are you?" Maxine asked in confusion.
"What?" the alien asked.
"Who are you?"
The alien sighed.
"I'm a New God from New Genesis. A long time ago I was on the Justice League along with my wife and another of my race. We were unfortunately away at New Genesis when that tragedy happened forty years ago."
"So why are you here now?" Terry asked with bitterness in his voice. The Bat had already told him Mister Miracle used to be on the Justice League. Terry was more curious to why the former Leaguer had abandoned Earth.
"A war has broken about between my people and our enemies from Apokolips. They've been the ones who have been supplying the tyrannical Sector rulers with experimental weapons and equipment. Apokolips benefits from this by having their weapons tested and receiving human slaves from the Sectors. When our ruler, Orion, heard of these resistance movements known as the Bat Knights, he decided to send our support…"
"So we can be your side's guinea pigs?" Terry finished angrily.
"So you can take your planet back! Believe it or not, this planet was a second home to a few of us and we were on the Justice League once. We do still have an attachment to it and what remains of the human race. Due to the war, we cannot give as much support as we like, but we still give what we can."
Mister Miracle then turned around.
"That does not absolve us from the decades of inaction after the Sector Leaders took control, but it's better than continuing to sit by and do nothing."
The humanoid then threw an object on the ground.
WHHHHHIIIIIIIRRRRRRR!
The blinding white returned and Terry saw it was a strange white portal. Mister Miracle's back was still turned to them.
"I would offer all your people to stay with us but New Genesis is no longer a paradise with this war. I wish you all good luck."
And before they could say anything, the New God walked into the white portal which began to close on him until he disappeared.
"That was cool…" Terry heard someone behind him remark.
"That guy needs an attitude adjustment," Maxine muttered.
"Ya see I quit the League because of dweebs like that," Lobo remarked bitterly.
Four Years Later-2053
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!
BBAAAP! BBAAAP!
"Today's just not my day," Terry muttered angrily. He and those with him were pinned down. They went to ambush an outpost of Klunkers on the Southeastern side only to discover the outpost was larger than they thought.
"I guess you can say we got bad intel!" Maxine shouted from the other side.
"Terry! They're coming up from the six!" Nelson cried. "They're going to surround us!"
ZAP! ZAP!
Terry ducked to avoid the blasts.
"My six or your six?!" Terry shouted back.
Terry then looked at Maxine.
"We really need to start establishing a procedure on designating the cardinal directions!"
"Shit!" someone cried. Terry turned and saw Blade was firing back at two Klunkers who had appeared. The Klunkers were surrounding them.
"Do we have any bombs? Grenades? Anything?" Terry demanded in desperation, hoping to find a way out.
"We would've if someone hadn't got all excited and used them all in the last raid we did!" Nelson called back angrily.
Terry growled and looked around trying to find that someone. Where was that psychotic Czarnian?
"They got us pinned!" Howard complained. The situation was getting worse by the second. The Klunkers had superior fire power and had by now, surrounded the Bat Knights. There had to be a way out…
"I'm right 'ere fraggers!" a voice cried. "Come and get me!"
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!
"Lobo don't lead more of them here!" someone cried.
"Ya want a piece of this? Come and get it!"
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
ZAP! ZAP!
Everyone looked to see from the twelve came Lobo running and carrying what looked like a machine zap gun that he had torn off from a Klunker.
BAM!
"Woohooo!" Lobo shouted with delight and slid into the middle of the Bat Knights.
The alien then looked around.
"Why yar all hidin' like a bunch of bitches?" Lobo asked.
"Because some of us aren't hard to kill!" Nelson snapped angrily.
"Not to mention we're surrounded right now, no thanks to you!" Terry reminded. "Why do you always use up all the explosives?"
"Wait we're surrounded?" Lobo responded, ignoring Terry's question. "Don't worry, the Main Man's gotta plan!"
The Czarnian despite the massive amount of fire going all over the place stood tall with the heavy machine gun at his hip. Terry's heart sank. He knew what the alien was going to try to do.
"It's Spin Move time kids!" Lobo shouted.
"Lobo no!" Terry warned.
"Spin Move! Spin Move!" Lobo chanted, ignoring Terry as he began firing from the hip while rotating around.
"EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" Terry cried.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Every one of the Bat Knights hit the dirt and lied as flat as they could while Lobo wildly spun in a circle, shooting the massive gun from the hip. Terry out of the corner of his eyes saw much of Lobo's shots barely flying over a whimpering Nelson.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Lobo laughed manically as he still kept spinning and shooting. Terry was cursing his luck right now. Out of all the super powered aliens they had to have on their side, they were stuck with him.
"There ya go, that should keep them back for awhile!" Lobo shouted proudly as he stopped firing. Terry wanted to chew him out for his reckless behavior but knew they only had a small window now.
"Everybody get up! Retreat!"
"Whew, that was fun!" Lobo remarked as he sat down.
"Fun?!" Nelson asked angrily. "Are you insane?"
"What? I gave us a way out."
"Not all of us are an indestructible alien!" someone else complained.
"Hey those Klunkers can still kill me too," Lobo pointed out. "It just takes more effort because I'm the Main Man."
"No, it's because you're an alien with healing powers!"
Terry sighed as he heard Lobo and the others bicker. Lobo was a loose cannon, but he had a point. He did save their asses.
"Hey bro," a voice greeted.
Terry looked and saw his seventeen year old brother coming up to him. Matt had hit a growth spurt and was almost as tall as Terry.
"What's up Twip?" Terry taunted.
"Look at this," Matt said proudly and showed Terry what looked like a flash drive.
"What is it?"
"Remember that stray Klunker that still had a functioning computer when it broke down instead of deleting its files like they usually do? Well Maxine and I were able to look at the programming inside it and were able to reverse engineer the analogue signaling…"
"English."
Matt rolled his eyes.
"We basically made a virus out of it. If you plug it into the back of a Klunker by the neck port they use to share data manually…"
"You can shut it down," Terry finished while feeling impressed. "Schway."
"Thanks," Matt said proudly. "It was mainly Max's idea. She got it from…"
"The time the second Batman defeated the robot Batman. Yeah I've heard the story. It's her favorite Batman story. Can you make more than these?" Terry asked hopefully.
"Sure. If you somehow manage to catch a full operational Klunker computer that doesn't automatically shut itself down permanently like they are supposed to do. Or we can just walk up to the Iceberg Lounge and ask Sector 1 nicely."
"So we can only use this once?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Well, hold onto this," Terry ordered. "Even if we only got one, this might come in handy. Never know when you might find yourself weaponless in the field and a Klunker just happens to leave his data sharing port exposed."
"Speaking of the field," Matt said hopefully, letting Terry know he really wanted to talk about something else. "Don't you think…?"
"No."
"Come on!"
"We had this discussion before Matt," Terry reminded. "You're one of our smart guys. We need you back here designing viruses and what not."
"Maxine's one of the 'smart guys' and you let her go out in the field!"
"But she's over eighteen," Terry corrected.
"Which I'll be in a few months!" Matt complained.
"Doesn't matter. You're not going out in the field."
"I know you promised Dad…"
"We're not discussing that!" Terry warned and got up to leave.
Matt glared at him.
"You're such a dweeb!" Matt complained as his brother walked away. He wanted to go after him but he knew it would be no use. Terry would not budge on this subject.
"Family troubles?" a voice asked. Matt looked around and saw Maxine watching him with a sympathetic expression.
"You don't know the half of it," Matt complained.
"You know your brother loves you."
"Well I wish he didn't sometimes so then he would stop treating me like I'm a child!"
"Matt!" Maxine cried in shock by that statement. Matt immediately looked guilty for his remark.
"I'm sorry. You know what I meant."
"He's just trying to take care of you like a good brother," Maxine reminded.
"But I'm too old for him to still be taking care of me now!"
"I'll go talk to him," Maxine promised and headed towards the direction Terry left moments ago.
"So this is the new logo?" Terry asked Dana while looking over the arm band. It was black except on one side it had a red bat logo and the other side, the old American Flag.
"Lois designed it. It was her idea. She thought it would be cool because…"
"We're the Bat Knights of America, yeah I get it. It's great."
Dana smiled.
"Hey Terrence!" a voice called. Dana and Terry turned to see Maxine was standing in the hallway with a slight frown on her face. "Got a minute?"
"I uh…" Terry answered uncomfortably.
"I'll go tell Lois you like them," Dana offered and exited the room before Terry could say anything. For a few minutes Terry and Maxine just awkwardly stared at each other until Terry spoke up.
"So…"
"What's your problem?"
"What?"
"Your little brother!" Maxine explained. "Why do you keep him cooped up here?"
Terry groaned.
"So Matt went complaining to you?" Terry noted. "How mature of him."
"He's not a little boy anymore Terry."
"No but he's my brother. I don't want him out in the field until maybe when he's thirty."
"You're being ridiculous."
"I promised my dad I would look out for him!" Terry reminded angrily.
"You can still look out for him when he's in the field. So can I, Dana, Nelson, Lobo…"
"This is my decision! It's final," Terry ordered.
Maxine was a little taken aback by that before her eyes narrowed again.
"Do you realize who sound like? You're starting to sound like Donald!"
Terry's face stiffened at that insult. For a second Maxine thought he was going to clam up and explode on her but instead he sighed and ran his hands through his hair.
"Goddamn…" Terry swore and he took a seat in the chair behind him.
Maxine realizing the diplomatic approach was more suitable and walked around behind him so she could place her hands on his shoulders.
"It's okay Terry, it's okay. We know you got a lot of stress…"
For awhile the two didn't say anything and Maxine was afraid to break the silence for fear she might cause Terry to snap again. Thankfully Terry decided to speak again.
"'Family is more important than anything,'" Terry muttered.
"What?"
"My dad used to say stuff like that all the time. No matter what, family mattered the most according to him. I guess I've been so worried about keeping Matt safe because he's the only family I got left."
Maxine smiled and walked around to get on a knee so she was eye level to Terry.
"Matt's not the only family you got Terry. Face it you're stuck with us. We're your family, even Lobo."
Terry looked at her questioningly.
"Well maybe he's the crazy uncle no one likes…"
Terry smiled at that.
"Thanks Max."
"So you'll let Matt start going out in the field?"
"I guess, on one condition."
"What?"
"He's now Uncle Lobo's permanent battle buddy. You saw how he was today; he needs someone to stop him from going too crazy on us."
Four Years Later-2057
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!
"Dana! Fall back!" Terry shouted.
They had just finished a raid and where in the middle of their retreat when they had ran into a large contingency force responding to their attack.
BAM! BAM!
ZAP! ZAP!
"Come on let's go!" Lobo complained.
Dana was a little behind the group. She was shooting back at what remained of the enemy.
"She needs to get her ass over here or we're toast!" Matt complained.
ZAP!
"YIAAAHH!" Dana cried while clutching her arm as she fell back. Her weapon hit the ground before her.
"Shit!" Maxine cursed.
Terry meanwhile froze in fear. Not Dana, not her. She couldn't die like this. It should be him first!
Thankfully a few seconds later Terry saw that she was still moving, she was alive. Terry reloaded his weapon and stood up.
"Cover me!" he shouted and ran into the fire.
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!
Terry began to fire angrily at the enemy while walking towards the injured Dana.
"Terry wait!" Matt cried. "Wait until we have suppressive fire!"
ZAP! ZAP!
Terry ignored his brother and angrily fired and shot at the enemy, not caring that the blasts were barely missing him. He finally reached Dana who was still groaning in pain.
"Are you alright?" Terry asked.
"I'm fine!" Dana cried as she clutched her arm.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Terry and Dana looked up and saw Lobo was using the biggest gun they had to provide covering fire.
"Don't got all day ladies!"
"What were you thinking?" Matt complained as he and Terry walked down the hallway.
"Never leave a man behind. Or woman," Terry said, justifying his actions. "That's our rule."
"Yeah but that doesn't mean walk into the open without any cover fire!" Matt complained. "You're going to get yourself killed if you keep doing that!"
"I had to make a call Matt!"
"You could've waited for five minutes! Dana's wounds weren't mortal!"
"What's done is done!" Terry ordered. "We're not discussing this."
"Hell yeah we're discussing this! You can't just get all angry and let your temper fly off the handle every time Dana gets shot! Remember what Dad used to say? Your temper would get us both in trouble?"
"I got work to do Matt!" Terry snapped and entered his office.
SLAM!
Matt growled in frustration.
"If we weren't related I would've shot you in the leg to stop you from being an idiot!" Matt complained before storming off.
Terry began to type at the computer to send his report to the Bat.
We managed to destroy about half their weapons at the cache sight. Unfortunately more came so we had to retreat.
I told you retreat was not an option. This cache needed to be completely destroyed.
Well we had a lot more enemy than expected. I didn't want to lose anyone.
Damn it Terry! This is war! You have to accept the fact there will be casualties! You can't play it safe and expect to get results! You have to take risks!
Terry growled. First his brother was telling him he was being too reckless and now the Bat was telling him he was being too cautious. Everyone's a critic these days.
We don't have an army! I don't want to risk losing what limited manpower we have.
You have more manpower, you just don't use it.
What are you talking about?
I know you've expanded your numbers to about a hundred scattered around Gotham hiding in their shelters.
Yeah well a lot of them are kids or elders.
You'd be surprised how young some people were when they went to war. In some societies a boy would become a warrior by the age of twelve.
I'm not using children! I already told you! If you don't like it you can find someone else!
Terry in anger then shut off the computer. He wasn't in the mood to talk to the Bat right now or any of the other Bat Knight cells he was in charge of across Sector 1. Lately the Bat kept trying to get him to lower the age limit for his Bat Knights. But Terry refused to do that, even if their kids who wanted to fight. Terry wasn't going to let boys and girls who just hit puberty fight. He wasn't a monster.
"Terry?" Nelson called from the other side of the door. "Max wanted to let you know Dana's alright!"
"Thanks Nelson!" Terry called and got to his feet. Finally someone was telling him some good news instead of berating him.
"You should be able to change your own bandages…" Terry heard Maxine explaining to Dana as he walked in.
"Terry!" Dana cried when he entered. Maxine turned around to look at her friend.
"Oh hello boss," Maxine joked. "You've come to inspect the wounded?"
Terry smiled.
"I'm here to give her a war medal," he joked back.
Maxine laughed.
"Well I'll be back. I'm going to get more bandages for her."
Maxine then walked out, leaving both an embarrassed Terry and Dana to themselves.
"So…." Terry began uncomfortably.
"I'm fine," Dana assured. "Max called it a flesh wound."
"Well good," Terry smiled and turned to leave. "Glad you're alright."
"Terry," Dana called out before he could exit. Terry turned around.
"We need to talk," Dana explained. She had a serious look in her eyes.
"About?" Terry asked, feeling himself beginning to sweat a little with nervousness.
"About how you almost got your head blown off going after me!" Dana snapped.
"I had to make a call..."
"You know the rules!" Dana shot back. "You never just go running around in the open like that, even if we have a casualty! That's how you get more unnecessary deaths!"
"I know the rules. I came up with them!" Terry reminded Dana, feeling a little bit insulted. "That rule couldn't be applied to the current circumstances at the time."
"Current Circumstances? Would you've done the same if it was Howard? Nelson? Blade? What about if it was you who was hurt instead? Would you want me running out in the open to get you like that?"
Terry remained impassive and stone faced, frustrating Dana even more.
"I'm a big girl Terry. I can handle it. I don't need to be treated like I need a handicap," she said angrily and turned around.
"It's not that," Terry explained.
"Then what is it?" Dana asked while she turned around.
"It's not that I think less of you. I know you're just as good if not better than most of the people we got in Gotham."
"Then why did you throw everything out the window to give me special treatment?"
Terry sighed.
"Alright, I'll admit that was stupid. It was impulsive and rash of me and I wasn't thinking straight. I'm sorry, it won't happen again."
Terry was about to turn around but he felt he needed to say one last thing. Sighing he took a step closer to Dana.
"It's just when I saw you out there I uh…"
"What?" Dana asked questioningly as she took a step forward. Terry couldn't help but find himself doing the same thing again.
"Dana…" Terry whispered softly.
"What is it?"
Terry sighed. He had never opened his heart to her. After what happened to Donald he couldn't in good conscience take advantage of her. But now he found his heart cornered. He couldn't keep it a secret anymore.
"I…uh…care about you Dana…" Terry explained. "A lot. A lot more than just as a friend."
Dana was still watching him curiously.
"I guess just the thought of me losing you made me go a little crazy…" Terry explained. "Because I don't know what I would do without you. Ever since I met you, I can't imagine a day without you…"
"What are you trying to say Terry?" Dana breathed heavily. Terry noticed her tone of voice was different.
"I-uh, oh fuck it!" Terry swore. "I love you Dana! I've always…Mmmmph!"
Dana had pulled Terry into a kiss, taking him by complete surprise. Terry didn't know what to do. He never kissed a girl before. Finally Dana broke away.
"What took you so long?" she asked. There were tears of joy in her eyes.
"Whoa," Terry said a little dumbfounded. He didn't care that he was a few years shy of thirty and just now having his first kiss.
"What's wrong?" Dana asked, now a little worried by Terry's reaction.
"I'm sorry," Terry apologized quickly. "That was my first kiss."
"Yeah I noticed. You need practice. Come here!"
Dana pulled Terry in for another kiss, unaware someone was at the door and saw them lock lips again.
Maxine shuddered at the sight. She began to crush the bandages she had brought over in her hands. She was about to make her presence known but didn't find the strength to speak again. In fact she didn't even have the strength or the will to watch the sight before her. Instead she turned around and walked away unnoticed. She began to head back to her room, still carrying the bandages in her hands as tears began to fall down her face.
Her heart was now a pile of broken pieces that could never be put back together.
Two Years Later-2059
"Look at it!" Lobo cried proudly at his latest prize he snagged from a supply train. It was a large crate. A very large crate that Matt was surprised even Lobo with his super strength was able to carry it. He had brought it to Maxine and Matt in their "lab".
"Well?" Lobo asked.
"What is it?" Matt asked.
"I don't know, it was with a lot of geek stuff we lifted from that convoy with those fancy blue prints today!"
"Blueprints?" Maxine asked curiously.
"Yeah some blueprints for some complicated machine or somethin'! I don't know! Terry's sendin' some copies to the Bat!"
"I would like to have a look at those later," Maxine noted. "Matt can you…?"
"Already ahead of you," Matt finished and was already trying to pry it open with a tool.
CRASH!
Lobo had impatiently used his strength to rip the lid off.
"I'm glad you're here to help," Matt muttered sarcastically.
"Oh neat! A battle suit!" Lobo cried, ignoring Matt's remark.
"What?" Maxine asked in confusion and ran over.
She and Matt looked in the crate to find Lobo was telling the truth. It was large battle suit. It was about the same size as Lobo but slightly larger. It had a sickly green and purple color scheme to it.
"This doesn't look like the Klunkers," Matt noted.
"No it came from a S.T.A.R. Labs base around here," Maxine reminded as she got on a knee to look closely at the crate. "I'm so glad that Sector 1 uncovered that base so we can steal stuff like this from him."
"Well it's too small for my muscles but I'm sure one of ya geeks can use it!"
"I call dibs!" Matt cried raising his hand.
"Ya think Terry's gonna let ya?"
"Just don't tell him!" Matt complained. "Besides Max and I've been working on a little project for him as a gift. I say it's my turn to get something cool!"
"I know what this is!" Maxine cried excitedly.
"What?" Matt asked.
"This is Lex Luthor's battle suit!" Maxine explained, still looking inside the crate at the suit.
"Who?" Matt asked.
"Lex Luthor!" Maxine cried. "Superman's enemy!"
"I knew that…" Lobo claimed. "Me and Supes go way back. I'm sure I've had to kick this Luthor guy's ass once or twice…"
"Then you'll know that when he fought Superman and the Justice League, he made a battle suit that not only kept him alive but used the kryptonite radiation in him to power it."
"How do you know all this?" Matt asked in confusion.
"It's on the report right here," Maxine explained, revealing a file that she had pulled out of the crate.
"Oh…" Matt muttered sheepishly.
"Cool," Lobo muttered. "Well let's get this baby runnin'. That way I don't have to do all the work !"
"There's a problem," Matt noted cynically. "We don't have any kryptonite. Got any in those pockets of your leather jacket?"
"It was just an idea, ya don't have to be a little bastiche about it…" Lobo muttered.
"Well I'll still keep this around. Never know if we come across some kryptonite," Maxine joked. "We do appreciate the effort Lobo."
"Ya welcome," Lobo grinned proudly and walked away, leaving Matt and Maxine to themselves.
"We better call it a day soon. Dana's cooking tonight."
At the mention of Dana's name Maxine unintentionally dropped the tools she was carrying.
"She is?"
"Yeah. Why don't you eat with Terry and me anymore? Is it Lobo? We promise we'll tell him to not talk during meals."
"No it's not Lobo. Or your brother," Maxine muttered angrily.
"It's Dana isn't it?" Matt asked sympathetically. He was starting to get an idea why Maxine was bitter. If only his dense older brother Terry noticed the way Maxine had looked at him all these years.
"No it's not even her,"Maxine muttered before realizing she was talking about something really personal.
"I'm sorry…" she said in embarrassment.
"It's okay, you can talk to me," Matt encouraged. "I won't tell."
Maxine sighed. If it was anyone else she probably would've refused to talk. But since it was Matt, her own lab partner, she felt it was safe.
"It's just do they have to be together all the time?" Maxine complained. "I mean the holding hands, her sitting on his lap, always flirting with each other. Did they ever hear of PDA? Some of us don't like seeing that all the time."
"Well Terry's never had a girlfriend before her," Matt offered. "He doesn't really understand that not everyone needs to see them kiss all the time."
"I know I know," Maxine said while shaking her head. "I'm just being petty."
"No you're not."
Maxine laughed.
"I just think I'm bitter because I don't have anyone right now."
Matt shifted uncomfortably at that remark. Was that a window of opportunity for him? Should he take it?
"But then again, I don't got time for a relationship right now. My work is too important. Especially because of that little surprise we got planned for Terry."
And they were back to Terry. Matt frowned. Everything was always about Terry.
"You're one of the most amazing women I've ever met Max," Matt explained while trying to find a way to steer from the topic of Terry. "You don't need anyone but yourself."
Crap what did he just do? He just slammed his window shut.
Maxine snorted.
"I suppose you're right. I guess I shouldn't be getting all mad at Dana and Terry."
"Yep," Matt replied not even paying attention anymore. He was mad at himself.
"That being said, I guess I should start eating dinner with them again. They are both my friends after all."
Maxine then looked at Matt.
"Thanks for listening Matt."
"No problem Max. Just letting you know that if you need someone to talk to, I'll be there."
Maxine smiled and patted him on the shoulder.
"You're a cool dude," she complimented. "See you at dinner."
Matt was a little dumbfounded as she walked out of the lab. He didn't know whether to be frustrated or satisfied with the tender moment he had shared with Maxine.
"Well at least she doesn't call me kid anymore," he muttered in sarcasm.
Few Days Later
"A time machine?" Maxine asked Terry. "Are you sure?"
She, Terry, Matt, Lobo, and Dana were all eating "breakfast" together in a private area in their hideout.
"That's what the Bat said," Terry explained. "I met with him last night."
"Wait ya got to meet with the Bat?" Lobo asked. "All me and Squirt did was find a stupid necklace that said friendship."
"Love," corrected Matt.
"Whatever!" Lobo snapped. "He gets to meet with the Bat and I'm dumpster divin' with this runt."
"Why didn't you tell us you were visiting the Bat?" Dana asked. "Or that there is a time machine around the corner in Sector 1's hands?"
"Yeah we could sure use one," Lobo complained. "Stop myself from crashin' on this rock ever again."
"The Bat said it wasn't working right now anyways," Terry reminded. "He said we should wait for 'someone.'"
"Who?"
"I don't know!" Terry snapped.
"Ah screw waitin'! I say we go to that lab thingy, raise some hell, and fix the time machine!"
"I'm still having a hard time believing in a time machine," Dana said skeptically.
"Says the woman having breakfast with an alien that travels by a space bike," Terry retorted. Dana hit him.
"I was actually thinking of taking a closer look at it myself," Terry explained. "But scout reports concluded that Sector 1 has placed about half his army there. I guess he got tired of us attacking his convoys transporting all the technology from that lab."
"Do you think he knows about the time machine?" Matt asked nervously.
Terry shrugged.
"From the blueprints, it's underground and protected by some blast doors that are allegedly impossible to destroy. You need a key to enter which I doubt Sector 1 has."
"And don't forget even if he tried to destroy or tamper with the time machine he could unleash an explosion ten times the amount of a nuclear bomb," Maxine noted. "Time machines require a lot of energy and I doubt we have any technology in this world to power it. Perhaps Mister Miracle can give us something."
"So saying we find this key and somehow a way to power it," Dana asked. "Could we go back in time and change the past?"
"Yes but you want to be careful about that," Maxine warned.
"Why?" Terry asked.
"Well first off changing the past could lead to any of us not ever existing," Maxine warned. "You would just disappear forever."
"Oh," Terry answered while feeling uncomfortable. "I didn't think about that."
Matt was shifting uncomfortably as well. Dana was noticing the looks the two brothers were giving. They were created because the world was destroyed. If they changed the past, would they even exist? Dana felt herself unconsciously grabbing Terry's shoulder. Maxine and Lobo didn't seem to notice.
"Doesn't matter for me. I was around before the Justice Dweebs got their ass kicked! What if I want to go back and stop me from comin' 'ere?"
"That's another problem," Maxine explained. "At least based on the current technology that S.T.A.R. Labs had at the time, you can't go back to a space of time you already occupy in. Some say it can even lead to a paradox that will tear a hole in the universe."
"That sounds lovely," Matt remarked. The feeling of hope everyone had after hearing about the time machine was being squashed by Maxine's knowledge.
"And don't get me started on the Butterfly Effect. Changing the past can cause ripples not just in a physical sense but on the quantum level..."
"Alright so the time machine plan's bogus we get it!" Terry snapped. "I got to go plan the next mission."
As Terry got up to leave, Dana followed him while leaving Maxine with Matt and Lobo.
"Did you guys also know if given enough energy, time machines can theoretically send people to other universes as well?" Maxine asked, unaware that Dana had also left.
"You okay?" Dana asked as she had finally caught up to Terry.
"I'm fine," Terry lied. Dana didn't even buy it for a second.
"Look Terry, I know..."
"That we might at one point have to decide whether to wipe me from existence or let the future continue to rot?" Terry bitterly. The Bat knew of this all along. He was being set up.
"Terry don't say that..."
"It's true Dana!" Terry interrupted. "Matt and I were born because Waller needed a Batman. She'll have no need for one if we save the world in the past."
"You might not be the only one affected by it. For all you know I could cease to exist as well," Dana pointed out. "It's not always about you!"
Terry ignored her and Dana sighed.
"Terry, we all decided to risk our lives fighting for a better world. How is that any different than us willing to risk our existence if it meant actually achieving our goal?"
Terry didn't say anything and kept walking. Dana finally stepped out in front to stop him.
"Besides," Dana whispered and leaned in to pull him in an embrace. "I know you Terry. You're too stubborn that not even fate itself would stop you from existing."
Terry slowly pushed himself out of Dana's arms.
"What's wrong?" Dana asked. Terry was never usually this cold to her. She noticed he wasn't even looking at her.
"Nothing," he said although Dana thought she could hear anger in his voice. "I just got a lot of work to do."
"Terry..."
"I'm fine!" he snapped angrily.
Dana scoffed and stomped away.
"Let me know when you decide to stop being an ass!" she cried back, leaving Terry to himself.
Terry didn't say anything and continued to ponder. He was promised to lead mankind into freedom again. Now he was being duped into becoming a lamb of slaughter. The Bat tricked him. Everything was a lie. Or perhaps the Bat didn't plan for the time machine until recently and had grown tired of watching Terry. Maybe the Bat had lost faith in Terry's ability. Terry wasn't getting the results the Bat wanted.
"NNNAAAARRRRGGGH!" Terry shouted and pounded his fists against the wall.
BAM!
Terry didn't even notice the sharp pain going through both his hands. He was too angry to feel pain. He had failed. The Bat had betrayed him. He had promised to keep his brother safe and now he had just given the Bat knowledge of a time machine. Matt and his existence were in jeopardy now. Well he would show the Bat. No longer would they be cutting and running. They would be going on the aggressive side now. He would show the Bat he could win this revolution without a time machine. They wouldn't need to wait for "someone" to save them.
"Terry you alright?" a voice asked. Terry looked and saw it was Nelson.
"I'm fine," Terry said curtly. "What's the cut off age for children again?"
"What?"
"What's the age that we say is the minimum to be able to fight?"
"Eighteen. Although seventeen in some special cases."
"Well we're lowering it!" Terry explained. "I want everyone who is capable of carrying a weapon able to fight, even if they are ten years old. In the meantime get me in contact with the other cell leaders. It's time we changed a few strategies."
Few Months Later
"Let's go! We don't got all day!" Terry barked.
Many of the Bat Knights were scrambling around as their leader yelled at them.
"Nelson I said have them ready in five minutes ten minutes ago!"
"I'm sorry Terry..."
"Don't apologize, get it done!" Terry ordered. "Where the hell is Lobo?"
"Terry!" a voice called.
Terry turned around and saw Matt staring at him angrily.
"What is it now Matt?" Terry asked in an annoyed voice.
"Everyone's tired. Half of us in this cell literally just got back from a long mission..."
"And Sector 1 is having the largest supply train coming into the city today! We need to hit it!" Terry snapped and turned around.
"Where the hell is Lobo?"
"Terry!" Matt complained. "I'm not done!"
"Well I am!"
"Terry!" Matt cried and ran ahead of Terry to block him.
"Look lowering the age limit was one thing..."
"And you out of all people is complaining over that?" Terry asked. "If I recall, you kept bugging me about joining the fight when you were underage."
"But you're now forcing people who are underage to join!"
"We need all the manpower we can get. Look we got Sector 1 finally taking us seriously. We finally got him on the ropes. He's weakening."
"He still has Brother Eye and we have no means of destroying that!"
"Quit trying to change the subject! We're going on this raid! Are you coming or not?"
Matt growled and Terry thought for a second he was going to explode.
"Of course I'll come! Someone's got to be around to cool your hot head when it boils over!" Matt complained and stomped away.
Terry closed his eyes feeling regret that he and his brother had yet another fight when he heard someone behind him.
"What's the mission?" Maxine asked with anticipation.
Terry smiled. At least someone was excited.
"We're going to hit a major supply train coming into the city. The biggest one yet."
"Doesn't that mean more guns?" Maxine asked.
"All the more reason to hit them hard and fast," Terry reasoned.
Maxine sighed.
"I don't know Terry. Still seems risky..."
"Every day is a risk to us," Terry shot back.
"Yeah I guess," Maxine agreed although she didn't sound completely sincere. "By the way, Dana's coming as well."
"You've talked to her?" Terry asked, dropping the serious face he had been carrying. He and Dana had stopped seeing each other recently. Or more like Dana had just altogether had been avoiding him. She wouldn't even talk to him.
"She's my best friend, of course I do," Maxine reminded.
"Can you tell her...?"
"Nope. She won't even listen to me if I bring up your name. Besides, I don't believe I should be playing messenger with you two. You got to fix this yourselves."
Terry grimaced. He really did miss Dana but he had been busy with his duties. He would have to try to work things out later.
"We got to get going or we'll miss the hit time. Try to find Lobo for me..."
"Yo Terry!" a voice called. Terry turned around to see Lobo carrying a bunch of weapons and grenades in his arms.
"Squirt said ya were lookin' for me?"
"What are these?" Terry asked.
Lobo looked confused.
"Uh, they're weapons. Ya know guns, grenades..."
"I know what they are, I'm asking why you're carrying a whole armory with you."
"Well ya said it was the biggest mission yet and I couldn't decide so I decided to bring them all..."
"Pick two and go!" Terry snapped and turned to leave. "And no grenades!"
"What?" Lobo cried.
"We don't get another shipment until two weeks. We need to save them and you keep wasting them!"
"But it's the biggest mission!" Lobo cried.
"This is a quick hit and retreat!" Terry explained, still walking away. "As long as we catch them off guard and hit them hard, we won't need any grenades.
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!
ZAP! ZAP!
BAM! BAM!
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"Oh crap we're surrounded!" Lobo cried in a mocking voice. "Let me just get my grenades, oh wait that's right; we didn't need them!"
Terry was fuming mad not at Lobo's gloating insult but the fact things were falling out of control. At first it seemed to have been going well. They did hit the convoy and they did catch the Klunkers off guard. Unfortunately the convoy was larger than they had anticipated. They had attacked only the front of it, allowing the rest of the convoy to react and flank around them, putting them in their current predicament.
"Terry we need to retreat!" Matt cried.
"I know I'm working on it!" Terry snapped. This was probably the worse pickle he had been in. Usually they never attacked so close to the center of the city where most of the Klunkers patrolled. Attacks meant big noises and the closer they were to more Klunkers, the less time they had to escape. Terry knew they had a few minutes, maybe even seconds to retreat before being overwhelmed by reinforcements.
"Terry..."
"Not now Matt!" Terry snapped. He was trying to find Maxine.
"Maxine!" he cried.
ZAP! ZAP! BAM! BAM!
"Frag!"
"Right here boss!" Maxine shouted about five yards away. Terry realized Dana was next to her.
ZAP! ZAP!
"Terry..."
"Take your guys and shoot in the middle! Nelson will help you with his! I'll take the rest and we'll start a bounding..."
"TERRY!"
"WHAT MATT?!" Terry snapped angrily.
"Do you hear that?!" Matt screamed back.
Terry stopped to listen. He at first couldn't hear anything between all the explosions, shooting, and shouting going on. But then he heard something out of place.
There was a faint whistling sound. For a second Terry thought it was artillery but realized it would've impacted by now. The whistling sound kept coming, getting louder by the second. More of the Bat Knights were noticing it too.
"What the hell is that noise?" Lobo complained.
BRNNRNNANANANAWWWWWWW!
"Argh!" Terry cried covering his ears. All the Bat Knights followed suit. Even the Klunkers were trembling at the large sound.
"Look!" Maxine cried weakly but no one heard her.
The area in front of them seemed to be shaking and distorting. Almost as if the No Man's Land between the Bat Knights and the Klunkers was a two dimensional paper being slowly bent and crumbled.
"What's happening?" Dana cried.
VVVVRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!
The distortion seemed to stop for a second after the loud humming and it looked like everything was going to be alright.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The explosion happened right at the center. The shock waves it sent tore up the ruined streets in the area. Terry and his Bat Knights felt themselves being pushed violently to the ground by the force. Even Lobo had the wind taking out of him. For a second Terry blacked out.
Terry opened his eyes and realized all he could hear was a faint ringing. His hearing! He lost his hearing! He slowly got up to his feet even though he was feeling dizzy and nauseous. He could see Lobo and Maxine were the only ones other getting up. The Klunkers and the convoy had stopped firing back as well. They had probably been taking out by the explosion as well.
"TERRRRAAAAAHHHHH..." Terry saw Lobo yell at him slowly and could faintly hear his name being called.
"Terry!"
"Nah!" Terry snapped in pain. His hearing had come back.
"Terry!" Maxine called. "Now's our chance!"
Terry knew she was right. That random explosion had provided them the distraction they needed to retreat.
"What was that?" Terry asked.
"I don't know but we need to get goin'! Those geeks will be gettin' up soon!"
Terry nodded and began to shout at his Bat Knights.
"Don't worry about your hearing or wounds! Get up! We need to retreat! Nelson get your squad up there with Maxine's..." he began to command.
"Terry!" Maxine cried.
"What?"
"There's a man out there!" she called back.
"What?" Terry asked.
"There's a man!" Terry looked ahead and saw what Maxine said was true. In the center of the battle was a man on his hands and knees. If Terry thought he had it bad, this man had it worse. He was retching and coughing up water. Worse he was naked and seemed disoriented. There was a wound on his arm.
"Why is he naked?" Lobo asked.
"Better yet how the Hell he ended up here?" Matt asked looking over.
"Don't worry about him," Terry warned. "He's a Klunker..."
"No he's not!" Maxine snapped. "You saw it too. He came from nowhere!"
"It doesn't matter we need to get..."
"Sir!" Maxine cried. "Over here!"
"What are you doing Max?" Terry demanded.
"I'm not going to just ditch an innocent man to die!" Maxine shot back. "Sir this way!"
The man looked up confused. It seemed he tried to get up but tripped on his feet.
"This way Sir!" Maxine cried again before biting her lip in frustrating. "Oh to Hell with this!"
Maxine then got up and began running towards the man.
"Max! What are you doing?" Matt cried.
ZAP! ZAP!
Blasts had started to return from the Klunker side. They were getting up.
"Cover me!" she shouted back.
"EEEECCCCKKK!" Bruce coughed out the water from his body. Some of it was still in his lungs, he felt like he was choking. Not to mention his body was on fire. His ears in the meantime were ringing and his vision blurring. He tried to get up only to find himself slipping. The sharp pain in his arm had returned as well. Maybe shooting himself in the arm wasn't a good idea after all. He thought he could a faint voice calling for him. He closed his eyes and shook his head. But the ringing was still there and the pain in his body wouldn't go away. He closed his eyes and grunted.
"Come on Bruce fight it..." he yelled in his mind.
ZAP! ZAP!
He willed his vision to clear and saw himself staring at first what looked like a light show. Rays of light were shooting over him. However he quickly realized with the sounds of shouting and war in the background something more sinister was at play. It was then he realized where he was. He recognized it right away. He was on Main Street in the center of Gotham. But this wasn't Gotham. It couldn't be. He was in a nightmare. He had to be. This didn't make sense. His own city was a war zone which he was in the middle of...
"Sir!" a voice called.
Bruce turned around startled to see a young African American woman with short hair and a strange looking gun running towards him.
"Sir I need you to come with me!" she shouted.
Bruce looked at her unsure. What was this place?
The woman looked impatient and reached down to help him up. Bruce noticed she had a black armband around her arm. It had a red logo in the shape of a...
ZAP!
BAM!
"YYYYYIIIIAAAH!" the woman cried as a ray of light went right by her side. What happened next felt like it was in slow motion. The woman cried in pain and dropped her rifle while falling forward. Bruce realized half of her left side was gone. The ray of light didn't completely cauterize the wound. Blood drops slowly headed towards his naked body and hit it before she collapsed on top of him.
"NO!" Bruce cried as time sped up again. He struggled to get to his feet, ignoring the shots going on around him. He had to save her.
He began to put pressure on her wound. Her eyes were rolling back, indicating she was blacking out.
"Stay with me!" he cried to the woman.
"GET DOWN GEEK!" shouted a familiar voice.
"OOOMPH!"
Bruce grunted as he felt something with the force of a charging bull knock him down. He almost blacked out for a second when they impacted the ground. He could hear his assailant who was on top of him firing back at the side that shot the woman. Bruce groaned and managed to pull his head back up to see who was on top of him. When he realized who it was his jaw almost dropped in shock.
"Lobo?"
"How do ya know my name?!" Lobo cried angrily, suddenly ignoring the enemy he was firing at.
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!
Both Bruce and Lobo looked behind the alien and saw reinforcements had arrived, shooting at the enemy, creating a large amount of suppressive fire. Bruce then noticed a very young man with another woman was helping up the one who got shot in front of him.
"Oh my God..." the woman gasped.
"Come on Max!" the young man cried. "You're going to make it!"
"Nelson keep that suppressive fire!" another familiar voice commanded. "Matt! Get her out of her!"
The commander then turned around and Bruce for a second thought he was looking at a mirror. And then Bruce realized where he was. He was in the future. Or at least a future of Gotham.
"Terry!" he cried in shock.
"How do ya know his name too?" Lobo asked suspiciously. "I think ya a spy Geek!"
BAM!
Before Bruce could say anything Lobo lightly jabbed him in the face, knocking him out.
"Give me that!" Howard cried nervously as he and Dana desperately tried to treat Maxine's wounds. With Maxine injured and incapacitated, Howard was the new acting medic. Howard's efforts weren't doing much good though. Maxine already lost a lot of blood and was going into shock. Meanwhile Terry was in there watching. Lobo and Matt were in there as well only because Terry was unable to force the two of them out of the room.
"What about some of that tissue regrowth medicine Mister Miracle gave us?" Matt cried desperately.
"That wouldn't work as fast to save her! We need to stop the bleeding!"
"Well stop it then!" Lobo demanded.
"I'm trying!" Howard cried back, sweat pouring down his face. Terry meanwhile sat in the corner brooding. His face was in a permanent frown but he was panicking inside. He didn't know what to do. This was all his fault. Maxine was dying now because of him.
"Come on Maxine..." he whispered to himself, trying to prevent himself from crying. "Live!"
Meanwhile Matt was pacing frantically. He was on the verge of breaking down.
"I'm her blood type!" Matt shouted deliriously while rolling up his sleeves. "Let me give her blood!"
"It does no good if I can't stop the bleeding!" Howard cried, looking like he was on the verge of breaking down himself.
"Matt shut up or I swear to God I'll have Lobo throw you out!" Dana snapped. Howard was already a wreck and Matt wasn't helping.
"Mmmmm..." Maxine began to groan.
"Max?" Dana cried with worry and looked to her friend.
"Max?!"
"Uhh..." Maxine groaned, her voice getting fainter.
"Come on sister stay awake! Don't pass out on me!" Dana shouted while gripping onto Maxine's hand tightly.
"T-Terry..." she moaned.
Everyone froze in the room at that. Even Howard who had his hands drenched in blood.
"T-Terry..." she muttered again.
Dana looked at Terry. For a second the two made eye contact with each other and froze. It was the first time in months the two had looked at each other in the eyes. For a second neither didn't know what to do. But then Terry got up and rushed up to Maxine's near lifeless body.
"I'm here Maxine," Terry said softly. He didn't notice that in the background Matt was clenching his fists in rage.
"It's not your fault..." Maxine weakly whispered.
"Don't worry about it," Terry sobbed as he gripped her other hand. "It's going to be alright."
"Save him," she whispered.
"What?" Terry asked, stopping the tears for a second.
"Save him Terry. Save us all..."
"Maxine what are you..."
BEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPP!
Terry on reflex turned around and looked at the source of the noise. The heart rate monitor was showing a flat line.
"No!" Terry cried and looked back only to find Maxine's eyes had gone blank.
"No!"
"Terry get out of the way!" Howard shouted.
Terry was sitting in the corner while burying his face in his hands. Maxine had passed away fifteen minutes ago but no one had bothered to leave the room, except for Howard who after his failed attempts to restart her heart exited the morgue to deliver the bad news to the rest. Terry didn't know what to do. He had been lately willing to risk casualties, but not his friends. It should've been him on that table not her.
"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" a hysterical voice shouted.
BAM!
"MATT!" Dana shouted.
Terry fell backwards clutching his nose in pain. He was pretty sure it was broken. Matt was standing over him with murderous eyes and fists still in the air trembling with rage.
"YOUR FAULT!" Matt cried again and dove on top of Terry.
BAM! BAM!
Matt began to pummel Terry with such ferocity Terry couldn't block the blows. Not that he was trying anyways. He wanted Matt to beat him to death. He deserved it.
"I warned you not to go! I told you it was risky! And now she's gone!"
"Matt stop!" Dana protested.
BAM! BAM!
"She loved you and you never loved her you selfish bastard! She's gone forever and it's your fault!"
"That's enough!" a booming voice shouted as two large white arms wrapped around Matt.
"Let go of me!" Matt cried.
"She's gone Squirt! She's gone!" Lobo shouted back as he struggled to restrain Matt. Dana ran to help Terry up.
"Oh my God you're bleeding!" Dana cried.
"I'm fine!" Terry snapped and stormed out of the room before Dana could stop him.
Few hours later
Terry sat in his office brooding. Maxine was dead. Her blood was on his lands both literally and metaphorically. His brother was right, it was all his fault. And she loved him this whole time. He never noticed the subtle signs until now. The small smiles, the flashes of pain whenever he was around Dana, the private moments they shared. And his little brother loved her. No wonder Matt wanted to kill him. Terry didn't blame him. He had failed his father's promise. The McGinnis family was no more. He had destroyed their family.
"I send my sympathy..." an iron voice spoke behind Terry, causing the young man to jump up in fright.
Behind him was a grey figure shrouded in smoke with a skull like mask.
"What the hell?!" Terry cried. "What the fuck are you doing here?"
"The hidden cameras, remember?" the Bat reminded. "I saw everything that happened the past few hours."
"How did you get in?"
"That's not important. What matters is we have work to do."
Before Terry could protest the Bat began speaking again.
"Where did you take the prisoner?"
"What?" Terry asked.
"The prisoner that you brought in. The one that was unconscious. Where did you take him?"
"One of the lower interrogation rooms. We chained him to the wall. Why?"
"We need to talk to him," the Bat said curtly and began to exit the office.
"Wait what?"
Bruce felt a pain in his head when his eyes shot opened. He was in a dark room. It wouldn't be long before his eyes adjusted to the dark. He could hear faint water dripping and thought he heard rats. That was when he realized he was chained to the wall. He then remembered what had happened. He had jumped to the future but somehow it was a nightmare. Lobo and Terry were fighting on one side in the streets of Gotham...
Gotham, he knew where he was!
He recognized the stench to the room. Even though it was decades ago, it still had that mildew smell. He was in the GCPD building! His mind began racing. What had happened? Did Gotham become a war zone? What was with all the fancy weapons and Lobo? Where was the rest of the Justice League? Suddenly things started making sense to him. How could he forgot the person who sent him into the past?
"Darkseid..." he muttered angrily. Darkseid had won! Darkseid had defeated the League. The New God tyrant then must've took over the world or destroyed it. That was why Gotham was in the midst of a civil war.
"Wrong on that my friend," a deep muffled voice called, echoing through the dark room causing Batman to look around.
BING!
A bright light turned on, blinding Bruce.
"ARGH!" Bruce cried.
"Your eyes will adjust, Bruce," the voice said menacingly. Bruce looked up with interest. How did the stranger knew who he was?
"Who are you?" Bruce demanded as his eyes began to adjust as he saw someone stepping towards him.
The first thing he noticed was the smoke. It was thick and grey and very, very familiar. He then realized standing in the smoke was someone very tall in a grey and black hood and cloak. The shadowy figure had a familiar scythe on one hand with a hooded iron skull mask with blank white eyes glaring at him. Never in his life did Bruce thought he would see this sight again.
"Or should I call you Batman?"
The Phantasm spoke menacingly as it kept stepping forward to a shocked Bruce. When the Phantasm was about two feet away from Bruce, the former playboy's mind began to turn on again and put all the facts together. Something was wrong. This was a trick or illusion. This wasn't the Phantasm. It didn't make sense! Terry looked about thirty at the moment. If the Phantasm was Andrea, she would have to be very old, too old to walk. But nonetheless his heart kept telling him it was her. Especially when he noticed the golden heart shaped locket around the neck. Their heart shaped locket.
"Andrea?" he asked even though he knew there was a decent chance it wasn't her.
"Guess again," the figure spoke and took off the hood and mask, revealing a male face.
The first thing Bruce noticed about the face was the eye patch on the man's right eye. That was why Bruce didn't recognize him at first and the wrinkles and grey hair and beard also didn't help. But after the initial shock had passed Bruce did recognize that face. How could he forget it? Bruce could see the one good eye still glaring at him like a wild animal that caught its prey. Bruce was looking into the face of Vandal Savage. An older Vandal Savage.
"You!"
"Hello Batman. I need your help."
Is Savage Good or Evil? Can one good deed redeem a thousand lifetimes of sin? The story of Savage will finally be revealed. Savage attempts to recruit a broken and distrustful Bruce to his cause but can the former immortal be trusted? More importantly, can Bruce find the will to fight again? Meanwhile the McGinnis brothers break up and Sector 1 has a dream with a warning from the pits of Tartarus.
