Chapter 11: I fight with Batman

"Um not that you don't look nice, but the Batcave is that way." I pointed in the opposite direction of where Terry was headed. I was making my dinner when Terry walked through the kitchen in a way retro suit.

"You think I look good?" Terry asked, totally missing my point.

"You look fine." I sighed. "Why the fancy clothes?" I tried again.

"Going to Jared's mom's wedding." He finally explained.

"Have fun then. Maybe you'll run into 'Spellbinder'" I grinned at the cheesy name the news had given Gotham's newest villain. Since Spellbinder's little trip to the museum last night, the police reopened the case. Turned out Chelsea wasn't crazy.

"That would be nice. Then I could forget this guy. Bruce wants me to find out who he is. Hey do you who D.G is?" Way to be random McGinnis. I gave him an incredulous look.

"What?" He asked.

"Think about it McGinnis." I told him, pointing to myself as a hint. It took him a second.

"Oh. That explains the look Bruce got when I asked." I rolled my eyes, something I seemed to do a lot around Terry.

"Just go to your wedding." I waved him off. He laughed and left.

I decided that since Batman was taking the night off, I would too. So now that I had free time, some extra time in the gym wouldn't hurt. I hadn't been spending as much time there in favor of working in the cave. I finished eating and made my way to the gym. Being the daughter of an acrobat had it perks, one being that Dad had taught me a lot of the Flying Graysons routines. I went through what I remembered of the routines. It had been about two hours before I noticed Bruce standing at the door watching. I didn't mind, I liked having an audience. I jumped from the rings into a back hand spring, and landed facing Bruce.

"Ta-Da!" I exclaimed, giving a mock bow. Bruce gave me one of his very rare smiles.

"You move like he did." Bruce commented. I beamed. Any complement comparing me to Dad was great. Coming from Bruce was the best.

"I would hope so. He did teach me everything I know." I said, taking a drink of water. "Is there something you wanted?" I asked, doing cool down stretches. Bruce never came around just to chat and because of the manor's fancy security system, he knew where I was.

"You need to make more public appearances." Bruce said out of nowhere.

I stopped mid stretch. "W-What?" I sputtered.

"As granddaughter of Bruce Wayne, you've instantly been thrown into the media's attention. Especially since you're a Grayson. They loved Dick and they'll expect you to be just as charismatic. As soon as this Spellbinder news has calmed down, they will start asking about you. " Bruce warned. I was still trying to get over the fact that Bruce expected me to be charming. Had he met me? I was sarcastic and snarky, not charming. My attitude was what got me suspended most of the time.

"What?" I repeated.

"Derek Powers is throwing a charity dinner this Saturday and you'll be joining me."Bruce informed me.

"Thanks for the warning." I mumbled.

"If I had told you sooner, you would have found a way to convince Dick to let you come home early." Bruce said voicing my thoughts. Damn him for being able to read people.

"Well can you blame me? I know you don't exactly enjoy being in public either. I didn't sign up for this." I complained.

"No, but your behavior lead you to this. Part of living here means you have to make sacrifices to appease the media." Bruce said sternly.

"No one asked you to take me in. I sure as hell didn't. I'm only here because Dad made it my only choice. I had made peace with going to military school. Do you even see me as family? Or am I just a person you think you can use to repair ties with my father?" I snapped. Part of me knew I was being irrational, but my anger had taken over.

"You're probably just pity case like Jason Todd or your dad" I thought. That didn't help my mood.

"Very funny." Bruce said. How was this funny?

"I'm being serious!" I exclaimed. Bruce held up a hand to silence me. It was then that I realized that he was talking to Terry through a com-link. I guess Batman didn't get the night off after all. I followed Bruce down to the cave, intent on getting an answer from him. I would not let him avoid me on this.

Bruce settled himself at the computer, while I stood behind him.

"Turn on your vid-link. Let's have a look." Bruce instructed. Terry did so and we saw who had to be Spellbinder on a hover bike. Terry flew up and landed on the bike giving us a good look at Spellbinder. He was dressed in orange and black with a spiral pattern in place of his face. Spellbinder held a hand up with what looked like an eye on it and then flashed. When the flash cleared, Terry was standing, looking over the edge of the bike down towards the freeway. Terry took a deep breath and he then jumped! What the hell was he doing?

"McGinnis! What are you doing?! Terry! WAKE UP!" Bruce shouted. Nice to know he cared about one of us.

Terry snapped out of it in time to save himself, but not without sliding across the pavement and into a bus stop.

"The next thing I knew I was standing over a waterfall, ready to jump in." Terry was back at he cave, explaining what he saw after Spellbinder flashed his weird eyeball thing. "Ow! Be careful!" He complained as I cleaned a cut.

"Get over it. I'm a robotics student not a nurse." I told him, purposefully slapping the last bandage on him. He frowned at me.

"Alfred wasn't either and he never complained." Bruce commented.

"Alfred was probably considered family." I grumbled, glaring at Bruce.

"Alfred earned my respect, which is something you have yet to do." Bruce shot back. So the old man did have a temper. That was interesting.

"Did I miss something?" Terry interrupted.

"No." Bruce and I said in unison. I glared at him again.

"Forget I asked." Terry mumbled. "Any ideas on Spellbinder?" He redirected the conversation.

"The vid-link captured that flash of light just before your little vacation." Bruce pulled up the footage on the computer. "So I took a closer look." He rewound the vid to right when Spellbinder flashed Terry. "Somehow, this information was sent directly into your brain, where it then played back before your eyes. " The vid played the scene Terry had described with the waterfall and him jumping.

"I swear I could smell the water." Terry claimed. I believed it.

"With such advanced technology and his knowledge of the human psyche, this madman should be considered very deadly." Bruce warned.

"Now what?" Terry asked.

"You go home and get some rest." Bruce instructed.

Figuring I wasn't needed anymore I turned to leave with Terry.

"Jamie, you can start looking up where someone could get technology similar to Spellbinder's." Bruce told me. I kept walking towards the stairs.

"You gonna stop?" Terry asked me.

"Nope." I answered shortly. He walked in front of me and stopped. I side stepped him and continued. He stepped in front of me again. I knew Bruce was watching. I could feel his eyes on us. Why did this feel like a test?

"McGinnis, I swear to God, if you don't move I will kick your sorry ass." I threatened. Terry just stubbornly crossed his arms. I sighed, not really wanting to hurt him after he had just kissed the pavement. I tried to side step again, but Terry blocked me.

"Fine." I sighed. I grabbed his arm, pulling him downward where I thrust my knee into his stomach, and used that momentum to flip him over my shoulder, slamming him onto the cave floor. He laid there with wide eyes, trying regain his breath. I bent down next to him.

"Learned that from fighting a kid twice my size. You're not the only one who can fight dirty." I hissed. I stood up, and left the cave without looking at Bruce. I needed a drink.

"Ow." I moaned, not bothering to lift my head from the desk I had just hit it on. I was sitting in statistics waiting for class to start.

"You okay, Jamie?" Max asked.

"Totally shway." I lied. Truth was I had a slight hangover. After I embarrassed Terry in the cave I went on a hunt for Bruce's liquor stash. It took me all of ten minutes to find. You would think he would have thought to hide it better with a troubled kid like me living with him. I went straight for the whiskey and spiced rum. I grabbed two shot glasses and hid on the balcony attached to my room. I don't know how much I drank, but there was significantly less alcohol in both bottles by the time I crawled into bed. Thanks to my dad trusting me to be home by myself often, I had built up quite the tolerance to alcohol leaving me to only wake up with a minor hangover. The bright lights still hurt though.

"Are you drunk?" Max accused. I turned my head to face her.

"More like hungover." I admitted.

"Why?" Max sounded annoyed.

"Because I live with an ass." I pouted. Okay, maybe I couldn't hold my liquor as well as I thought.

"What happened?" She pressed. I really didn't feel like explaining the whole thing to Max.

"Bruce is making me go to dinner." I summarized. She looked at me confused. I sat up and groaned, rubbing my eyes.

"He told me that I have to start making public appearances because I'm his granddaughter and I told him I didn't want to. But he's making me go to this charity dinner on Saturday and I have to be pleasant and charming for the media which is so not me. Have you met me? I don't do charming." I elaborated.

"And that upset you enough to drink?" Max questioned.

"Not really. I asked Bruce if he even considered me family and he hasn't answered. He acts like I have an obligation to the Wayne name, but also acts like I'm not part of the family. I'm just sick of not knowing where I stand with him." I admit. Max gave me a sympathetic look. "And I also beat up Terry because he tried to interfere." I added sheepishly. Max shook her head at me.

"You're just full of surprises." Max laughed.

"You wanted to see me?" I stood in the doorway of Dr. Billings office.

"Come in Jamie. You forgot your notebook the other day." He told me, handing it back.

"I've been meaning to get that, but I've had a lot going on and that I kept forgetting." I turned to leave.

"Would you like to tell me about it?" He gestured to the seat in front of his desk.

"I really shouldn't. I have to get to chem." I told him. Not that I was looking forward to sitting in another class with Terry glaring at me.

"I insist. It isn't good to keep it to yourself." He pushed.

"Ummm," I looked towards the door.

"Jamie sit!" He commanded. I obeyed out of shock.

"Now," He said, rummaging in his desk. "What's on your mind?" He found what he was looking for and faced me.

"Well," I was hesitant to say anything. He was acting strange.

"Let me stop you right there." He held up a hand with a glove that had an eye on it? No! Wait! Billings was Spellbinder! I have to tell Bru- the light flashed and I lost my train of thought.

"Try not to be so forgetful next time Jamie." Dr. Billings lead me to the door.

"I'll try" I said, disoriented. I headed to class without much more thought.

I took my time getting home that night. I really didn't feel like dealing with Bruce and I only had a limited time left before it got too cold to ride my bike. I opened the door from the garage, but it wasn't the manor I stepped into. It was the carnival Dad used to take me and Anni to when we were little. Something in the back of my mind told me this wasn't right, but more of me was ecstatic to be back there. I don't know why but I started weaving through the crowds taking prizes that I had always wanted, but could never win myself. I grabbed some cotton candy, saving it for when I got home. Suddenly one of the bears escaped its cage and ran right towards me. I ran in the opposite direction, but what good was running from a bear going to do? The bear finally caught up to me and tackled me. My head hit the ground snapping me out of it. I looked to see that the "bear" was actually Ace.

"Ace! Get off of me!" I shouted, trying to move his paw off my arm. I only succeeded in making him loose his footing and he fell on top of me.

"Ace...move." I struggled to breathe. He only whined in response. I gave up trying to move him and looked around, hoping to see Bruce near by. I noticed a bunch of valuables like vases and small crystal statues on the floor around me.

"Ace!" I heard Bruce call. Ace obediently got up. I took a deep breath and sat up.

"Look like I'm not the only one." Terry commented.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, rubbing my head.

"You two, follow me." Bruce ordered. Terry and I shared a look, shrugged and followed.

Writing angry Jamie is so much fun.

Fun Fact: I think Spellbound is my favorite Batman Beyond episode and thats why this part is so long.