Batman climbed into the cockpit, listening as the hanger closed over him, concealing him inside. Then he pressed the button that connected to Bruce Wayne back at the cave.
"Okay," he said.
Bruce was giving him one of those looks. Batman recognized it. It was one of those "I'm not pleased with you and you can't keep doing this" looks, but he ignored it.
"He's apparently made some sort of deal with Blite and he's heading over there right now."
"On it."
He started up the plane, both hands on the controls. It was like smooth sailing, having done it million times before. Bruce Wayne was still watching him. His next question surprised him.
"How's she doing?"
"Not too well. She's really sick, got it bad. You should've seen her when I picked her up. She was practically an icicle. High fever, the works."
"What happened while you were at her place?"
Batman gave him a look. "What do you mean?"
"I heard everything."
The look on Batman's face would've been comical if it would've been a different situation. But now Bruce knew better than to continue.
Batman didn't reply for a long moment. Finally he said, "You know, I've been thinking about getting a safety lock on that thing."
"There is."
"Really? Why haven't you told me?"
"That's beside the point. What are you going to do now?"
He paused. "I don't know."
Blite checked his make-up before Tanner came in. He wanted to make sure he looked perfectly presentable. Tanner was an outsider. No use scaring him off before their deal.
He had picked his office at Wayne Powers for the meeting place. Late at night, no one else was there, it worked fine. Now he just had to count on that everything would run smoothly.
There was a knock on the door and he got to his feet. "Come in."
The door opened and Tanner walked in, three of his men following behind. Blite smiled. "Welcome, Mr. Tanner."
"Likewise," was the reply, as the men shook hands. "Where's the stock?"
"It's in here. But first we have a little…paperwork to take care of."
"Of course."
"Now if I have done my calculations correctly…" Blite shuffled through a packet of papers that had both their signatures on it. "You owe me approximately 2,543 credits. All you have to do is hand over the money, and you get your stock."
Tanner reached into his pocket, drawing out the single credit. He handed it across the desk and Blite took it. He ran it through the checking device on the side of the desk to see ho much the card contained. Two thousand, five hundred and forty-three credits complete.
He smiled. "Pleasure doing business with you, Tanner."
"Pleasure's all mine, Blite."
Blite stood and crossed the room to the cabinet on the side. Unlocking it and opening it carefully, he stood aside so Tanner could see the five cans of radioactive chemicals inside. The warlord smiled and rubbed his hands together as his three men stepped forward to get them out.
They hadn't gotten so far when several batarangs spun out of nowhere, hitting all three men. They cried out in surprise and spun around as Batman dropped down from the ceiling and attacked them.
Blite turned and ran, but Batman let him go. It was when Tanner tried to run as well that the Bat released his batwhip (I still don't know what those are called) on him. It wrapped around his legs, causing him to trip and fall to the ground.
Batman fought off the three workers, getting them as far away as possible from the chemicals. He floored two of them when the third attacked him, slamming him into the desk. Batman cringed as he felt the edge dig into his back, despite the suit's protection. The man raised his gun to fire, but Batman released the jetpack at the bottom of his feet, causing him to slam into the man and pushing up all the way across into the wall. The man cried out in pain, then was unconscious.
Batman got to his feet and glanced around the room. The men stayed on the floor, moaning in pain. His eyes rested on Tanner.
Tanner saw the look and immediately started crawling away. He had no weapons, and his legs tied together left him helpless.
Batman walked up to him and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him up off the ground.
"You tried to kill my friend," he growled.
"It's not my fault she was your friend," Tanner replied.
"Wrong." Batman slammed him up against the wall with the same arm. "You don't deserve to be let off easily."
Tanner forced a smile. "What do you mean? You can't possibly hold a grudge against me because-"
He was cut off when Batman dragged him over to the wall window overlooking the city. Opening one side of it, he held the man out over the edge, the only think holding him up his arm.
Tanner looked down and screamed. They were more than forty feet up in the air.
"Unfortunately for you, I do," Batman said.
"Terry."
The voice in his head again. Bruce Wayne was speaking. Batman blinked, but didn't say anything.
"Terry, you can't do this," Bruce said, "put him down."
Batman stared directly into Tanner's eyes, sensing the fear coming from the man. Tanner looked down again, his whole body shaking in terror as he gripped onto the Bat's arm to keep from falling.
"He doesn't deserve to die," Bruce said.
The image of Max coughing and shivering flashed through Batman's mind. He had never felt this angry before with his enemies other than the ones that killed his father.
"He tried to kill her," he finally said.
"Right. Tried. He didn't kill her."
Tanner was watching Batman, somehow sensing that something was keeping him from dropping him right there.
"Terry, you know I'm right, and you know this is wrong," Bruce said.
Batman stared at Tanner, studying the expression on his face. Finally he stepped back, pulling the man back inside the building.
Tanner heaved a sigh of relief and fell against the wall, his legs still tied together. Batman had his back to him and was walking out of the room.
That's when Tanner grabbed the gun hiding underneath Blite's desk and fired.
Batman spun around just as the shot was made and ducked, the bullet flying just an inch above his shoulder. Tanner tried firing again, but the Bat had already grabbed it from his hands.
Now Tanner was afraid. Very afraid.
Batman reached back and decked the mobster across the face as hard as he could. Tanner's whole body spun at the action and fell in a heap on the floor.
Batman looked down at him for a long moment, wishing the guy was more than just unconscious.
Finally he headed for the window and jumped out to his waiting ride below, hearing the sounds of sirens coming in the distance.
When Terry got back to the cave, Bruce Wayne was angry.
"Where's Blite?"
"He got away."
"You shouldn't have let your emotions get the better of you," the older man said.
Terry didn't answer right away. He crossed the cave and to the costume vault. Bruce Wayne stood up, using the cane to support himself.
"That was unprofessional and dangerous of you."
"Oh, so you don't approve?" Terry answered, turning around, taking off the mask and leaving the rest of the batsuit on. "I'm beginning to wonder if you even approve of anything I do."
"I don't approve of what you almost did."
"I didn't almost do anything."
"You wanted to drop him out that window and I know that."
"Right. You would know that. So I guess that means you've done the same when you were Batman, right?" Terry was getting angry now. "So now you can do things and I can't?"
"That's not the point Terry," Bruce said. "I've learned from those mistakes and that's why I'm trying to keep you from repeating them."
"Why don't you let me learn from my own mistakes, huh? Why do I always have to listen to you?"
"Because I don't want you to live the life that I did because of those mistakes."
Terry didn't answer right away. He just stood there, staring at the man. He wasn't really angry, not at Bruce anyway.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay? What I did was wrong and I know it. But you don't have to keep going on and on about this."
"I don't get you, Terry. Max has been in jeopardy lots of times before this. This isn't the first time someone tried to kill her."
"Yeah? Well this is different."
"How."
"How? Do I have to tell you everything now?" Terry was starting to get more worked up. "It's my life, okay?"
"Does this have anything to do with what Max said to you back in her room?"
Terry found it hard to answer. "I-I don't know, okay? Maybe I've had enough with people trying to kill her left and right."
"They wouldn't try to kill her if she didn't interfere all the time."
Terry didn't answer, and Bruce started to feel bad. He just stood there, watching the kid, studying him.
Finally Terry put the mask back on and headed for the plane.
"Where are you going?" Bruce asked.
"I've got something I need to do," Batman replied, hopping in.