Tanner was sure he wasn't going to have any more interruptions.
The guard had already called in confirming they had deserted the girl just a couple of miles from where he was. He nodded his reply. Good.
He started making scans of his computer programs, making sure they were in check for when he got the stuff from Drake. Then he checked what time he had left.
Things were running fairly smoothly.
"All ready," he spoke into the microphone, broadcasting his voice to all his workers throughout the warehouse. "We should be fine as long as you keep out for the Bat."
"Too late for that." The voice came from directly in front of him, but there was no one there.
He stepped back, but before he could shout a warning, a black blur appeared right in front of him, feet kicking him in the chest. Tanner flew back, sliding against the ground.
Batman dropped down off the console to the ground. Guards came rushing in through the door, and with the flick of his hand and a squeeze of his glove, batarangs went flying through the air, blocking them off.
The guards that managed to get through attacked him, and for a brief moment found himself in hand to hand combat, fighting them off.
Less than a minute later, all the guards were on the ground unconscious.
Batman eyed the door. He knew it wouldn't be long before more came.
Tanner was crawling away, getting to his feet, his eyes wide. Must have never seen Batman before.
Batman walked toward him menacingly, arms out.
"Stop!" Tanner shouted, "you don't want to do this to me!"
"I don't?" The Dark Knight sounded even meaner than he looked.
"If you do, you'll never find out where your friend is!"
He froze. "Friend?"
Tanner was sweating as he eyed the door. Where were those damn guards?
"I-I don't know if she was with you or not, but she was here right before you! I don't know her name, she was sneaking around and I had her dumped a couple miles from here-"
Batman had a familiar, sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"She was African-American with bright pink hair and-"
Batman's eyes widened, but before he could say or do anything, a loud noise erupted from down the hall and twice as many guards rushed into the room.
This time they all carried weapons.
Tanner was grinning now. "Whatcha gonna do now, huh Bats?"
Batman stepped backward, eyeing his attackers, than at Tanner. Choices, choices. He could tell the Mob King was thinking the same thing.
Finally the Dark Knight reached into his belt and threw down three small pellets. They erupted in thick smoke just as the guards ran to attack him.
The smoke threw them off, and they stood there for a moment, confused.
When the smoke faded, Batman was gone.
Bruce sat in his chair, hands crossed, resting on his cane. He was watching the screen, and through it he could see everything Terry was seeing.
And right now, Terry was running from the battle.
"What happened?" he demanded.
"Max is in trouble," Terry's voice replied, coming in loud and clear through the speakers.
"You should've stayed and taken care of Tanner."
Terry was now in the Bat plane, starting it up and flying it away from the warehouses. All he could see was white snow below.
Even though Bruce wasn't saying anything, Terry could hint the disapproval in the silence.
"I don't care," he said, "I need to find Max. I'll deal with Tanner later. Think you can find his location then for me?"
Bruce sighed.
Max was beginning to lose feeling in her body. The cold was making her shiver even harder now, and now snow was starting to fall from the sky.
She was so weak she couldn't even get up. She just lay there, shivering, hugging herself, trying to get warm.
How long has she been out here? It seemed like ages. Was she going to die? What if nobody found her? She was far from anywhere, if no one found her soon…
She started when she heard the faint sound of an engine as something landed close by her. The cold was blocking out her hearing though, so she wasn't sure.
Then she heard snow crunching under footsteps and a faint voice calling her name.
"Max! Max!"
She tried to answer, but her teeth were chattering so hard that she couldn't utter a sound.
Then she felt strong arms around her and lift her up. She leaned against the chest of whoever was carrying her, and recognized it as Batman's.
"T-t-t-t-t-t-t-", she chattered.
"Shh," his voice was gentle as he started running back to his ride. "I've got you Max, everything is going to be okay."
She wasn't so sure about that, but now that Terry was there, she felt better. She tried to lift her arms to hug him, but she couldn't even do that. She just stayed huddled up in his arms, trying to get warm. She never felt so relieved to know he was with her.
Max's house was empty and dark. It didn't take long for Terry to get inside and carry her to her room. Her parents were gone, leaving no one else in the house.
"T-t-terry," Max stuttered, as he lay her down on the bed.
"It's okay Max," he said, "we'll just get you warm."
"It's s-s-so cold, so cold…" She didn't have any energy to huddle up.
He pulled back the covers of her bed and lay her under them, then realized that with her wet clothes on the blankets wouldn't be much of a difference.
"Uh…Max, I'm going to have to…"
She didn't reply. She continued shivering, eyes cold.
Gingerly, and looking away at the same time, he started pulling off her shirt. He knew this was Max and everything, but it just didn't feel right looking at her in that way, no matter how he felt.
He hung the shirt over a nearby chair and contemplated what to do with her pants. Finally, keeping his eyes averted, pulled them off, put them over a different chair, and pulled the blanket over her body all the way up to her chin.
"It's okay Max, you'll be warm now," he assured her.
"Terry…" she murmured, her eyes still closed, her head rolled to one side.
"Don't try to talk," he said, "you're burning up and you have a fever. I don't know how long it will last."
"Terry…"
"Shh, I said don't talk. You'll be talking deliriously right now so you should stay quiet and get some rest. I'll go turn the heater up."
He turned to find the thermostat, keeping his face still masked.
"Terry, don't leave me," she said, her eyes still closed. She curled up into a little ball underneath the blanket.
He turned and looked at her, then reluctantly walked back, sitting beside her.
"I'm so sorry," she murmured, "I'm really sorry."
"Don't worry about it, forget it."
"No, I'm really sorry. And I wanted to say…I wanted to say thank you, thank you for s-s-saving me."
"Don't worry about it-"
"And if something happens to me-"
"Which it won't."
"I wanted to say that…" she opened her eyes now and looked right at him. Her eyes looked glazed. "That you look good, real good in that Bat suit."
He rose an eyebrow. "Uh…thanks Max…."
"No, I mean really good, it's always nice to see you in that."
He wasn't exactly sure how to respond.
"Max, do you know what you're saying?"
She smiled up at him. "Not really…but really, you look really hot in the suit. I like you too. I like you a lot."
His eyes widened.
"No, I mean I really like you a lot. A whole lot, you know what I'm saying?" Now she snuggled up and closed her eyes, curling back up in the ball. "A whole lot…"
She seemed to have drift off to sleep, but he remained there, watching her.
He was surprised to hear what he had heard, but at the same time he liked it. He had always wanted to hear it.
Then he had to question himself. She was delirious. Most people in her state didn't know what they were talking about, they just blabbed on and on.
But still…
"Terry."
The voice was in his head, low and stern.
"Yeah," he replied, still looking down at Max.
"Where are you."
"Max's."
"What are you doing over there?"
"She's really ill, Bruce. They dumped her in the snow without any protection for who knows how long."
"Keep her warm until morning."
"Doing that."
"I've got Tanner's next location."
"Okay. Let me get back to you."
Bruce's voice went away and Terry stood up. He glanced at Max, then turned to leave the room.
"Terry."
She was still awake. He turned at the sound of her voice. She was moving beneath the covers, turning toward his direction. Her eyes were still closed.
"Yeah?" he said.
"I love you."
The words stunned him for a moment, quiet but sincere. He stared back at her as she slowly drifted out of consciousness.
Then he smiled.
She coughed suddenly, surprising both him and her, and she had to shift her position. He ran over to her and held on to her as she continued coughing. When she finally stopped she lay back down, shivering.
He narrowed his eyes. Tanner was going to pay for this.