Chapter 3: The Unexpected
"Cheer up, Dawn," Terry said as he got his books out of his locker. "We need to wait on him a little bit...so it's a good idea we don't get him just yet until we actually find out his true intentions."
"....." Dawn said, leaning against a locker.
"Terry! Dawn!" Max called from behind them.
"Hey Max..." Dawn said.
"....Geez, not you too, Dawn..." Max said, putting her hands on her hips.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"You and Terry, both are in the most depressed moods I've ever seen."
"What do you mean? Terry's not depressed..."
"He just caught Dana in the halls yesterday kissing another guy." Max said, filling her in. Dawn looked at her in shock and then gave a glance up to Terry, who's head was down.
"Oh....I'm so sorry. Terry, you never said anything to me...." She said. "Why wasn't I told?"
"Because you really weren't paying much attention to anything." Max replied. "Terry told me last night on the phone when he got home."
"You were so busy with whatever you did yesterday that I never got a real chance to talk to you." Terry said. Dawn lowered her head and was silent.
"......Did you try calling her and talking it over with her?" Dawn finally asked.
"Yeah, I did. All we did last night when I got on the phone last night was argue, and finally decided it was over and that we need to
see other people." Terry said. Dawn then got her book out of her locker and followed the two to Biology class. I didn't even find out until now....She thought. Usually, Terry tells me the first thing about something...I guess I was so caught up with Josh and Vega yesterday that I didn't even stop to talk to him...Some friend I was yesterday. When they arrived to their desks, Dawn set her book down and waited for Mrs. Sandoval to come in. She walked to her desk and explained to everyone that there was going to be a pop quiz. The class groaned. Oh, no! I forgot to study! Terry thought, just realizing it. Dawn looked over at him to see his trouble expression. He forgot to study again....that's typical Terry, she smiled. They all turned on their computers, waiting for the program to start up. Dawn was ready, even though she didn't study. Being very smart comes in handy especially for pop-up quiz. She began her test at a normal speed as she always had done it. Just, a flash of light occurred. Her eyes widened and then she looked around to see that everyone had disappeared.
"Wh, what's going on?!" She asked. Dawn then heard a soft noise of screams and gunfire. "What's happening to me...? Where is everybody?? Max!! Anybody!!!!! Terry, help!!!!" The noises became louder, making Dawn dropping to her knees and feeling a lot of pain go to her head. She put her hands against her ears to block it out, but it became useless. "Please stop it!!! PLEASE!!! Leave me alone!!! ST--OP!!!!!" After that followed silence. She slowly looked up and was in her own room again, but there was another person in there that looked just like her. She was getting beaten on by a few men. Then another flash came and put her into the batcave. She saw Terry on the table, covered in blood and bandages. She shook her head in fear. Suddenly, the floor she was on began to crack and eventually, it fell apart, making Dawn fall through. She fell through an endless hole, until someone came to her and took her by the hand. The face was unclear and it had white angel wings on it's back. She sighed in relief once it put her down.
"...." Dawn said. It suddenly disappeared right after. She looked around to find that she was only back in pure darkness. More noises came to her and they became louder than ever. Once more, Dawn held her ears. "I can't stand this anymore! I'm sick of this kind of thing!"
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While Terry was taking his test, he noticed that Dawn was acting very strangely when he looked over at her. She made out low moans and groans in agony and then finally she stood up and screamed out in more pain. Everyone looked up at her strangely, wondering what the heck was wrong with her. Terry got out of his seat and ran over to her to help her up. Dawn fell to her knees, holding onto the desk to feel like it might help the pain.
"Dawn!!" He said as he got to her. He kneeled down next to her and held her close. "Dawn, what's wrong?!"
"Terry!! Help!!" She screamed.
"Dawn, I'm right here...!"
"Where are you?! I can't stand it!! This pain!!! Terry!!!" Dawn continued. Terry then looked at her strangely.
"Can't you hear me? I'm right here!" He said.
"Max!! Terry!!! SOMEBODY!!!!!!!"
"What's wrong with her?!" Max said as she walked up to Terry.
"I don't know...Dawn! Open your eyes!" Terry said. She then let out one more shout of pain and gave out, falling into Terry's arms.
"Mr. McGinnis! What are you doing over there??" Mrs. Sandoval said as she walked over to him.
"Mrs. Sandoval, Dawn just collapsed." He said.
"Take her to the nurse then..." She said. He picked her up and walked out of the room, but then heard Mrs. Sandoval say from behind, "Stay with her for a little bit..you can make up you quiz tomorrow."
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"Mr. Tilmitt, how is she?" Terry asked in his concerned tone.
"It's nothing more than anemia..." The nurse sighed. "She should be all right, but she must go home now in order to get some rest. I'll call her guardian to pick her up..." Just as he went to the phone, Terry stopped him.
"Wait...her guardian can't do it. He's a very old person and wouldn't have the strength to drive here. I'm his assisstant. So, would it be okay if I brought her back to her house?"
"Mr. McGinnis, you're still in school if you haven't forgotten...but...it is tenth period. So, you get your things together and I'll write you both a note." Mr. Tilmitt said. Terry got all of his books and some of Dawn's as well, and went back at the Nurse's office to go pick up Dawn. He picked her up from the bed and walked out to his motorcycle. He carefully put her in front of him so that she wouldn't fall off and drove away from the school.
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"They said it was because she's anemic?" Bruce asked as Terry placed Dawn into her bed.
"Yeah...But Dawn isn't anemic. There's no way that could be. I just don't buy it." He replied. "She was fine before but then when we were taking our test, she just went out of control. I was right next to her and she was calling for me, as though I wasn't even there. I told her I was right with her, but it seemed like she couldn't hear me.....I dunno, Bruce. There's been something goin' on with Dawn lately. This is almost the like last time where she said she had those visions. She was seeing things that no one else could."
"I agree." Bruce said. "These 'visions' that she might be having.....we better be careful with her. It might be Vega whose behind it.....Let her sleep for a little bit so that she can rest up for tonight." Bruce said and walked out. Terry followed but then notice that book that Dawn had yesterday on her dresser. He looked at it and turned to the marked page in the book; where Dawn had it. Terry glanced over at her and then back on the book, walking away with it. Later on, while he was in the living room, he looked over the page a few times and then brought out the batsuit.
"Okay, let's try this..." Terry said.
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Dawn awoke, but she never left her bed. She had a tight grip onto her pillow, still feeling a little shooken up from the vision. Terry was standing by the doorway, watching her. He looked over at the counter of the dresser to find one of her very old stuffed bear. He grinned a little and snuck himself in as he got the bear. Dawn felt like she was about to cry, with tears forming, but then, she saw something pop out of the corner of her eye, from the bed. She looked up, to see that her little bear was in front of her, holding a flower.
"Please don't cry, my beautiful lady..." It said. "If you look sad, this rose will wither up and die.....Here. It's for you." The bear handed her the rose, and she wiped away her tears and gave a smiled. "That's better...Don't forget that I'll always be there for you...Did you have a bad dream?"
"More like a nightmare..." Dawn replied, as she sat up.
"Why?" The cute little bear asked.
"I had something happen to me in a dream at school..."
"Oh, I heard about that. A very handsome man with black hair named Terry McGinnis saved you."
"Handsome?" Dawn repeated.
"Of course! Why, I think he's the best-looking guy in the school...." It said, with Terry then getting up from the floor.
"Hey.." He said. "Bet you wouldn't of thought that was me in a million years..."
"Oh, I never would have guessed.." Dawn said in her sarcastic, but amused tone. "Thanks for cheering me up."
"You're welcome." Terry said. "Do you need help getting up?"
"No, I'm okay..." She said as she stood up weakly, but she was able to walk and follow Terry out of the room. They walked down the stairs, with Dawn wobbling down because of feeling a little weak. She then went down into the batcave and found Bruce down there.
"How are you feeling?" Bruce asked.
"I dunno....okay, I guess." She said as she held her head.
"What did you see?" Terry asked.
"What do you mean, 'what did I see?'" Dawn asked.
"Back at school. What happened?" Bruce said.
"....I was taking my quiz just like any other person, and all of a sudden, the room becomes all black and not a single soul was in it...except me.." Dawn explained. "I heard a lot of screaming and shooting, but I never saw it happening. It kept getting louder and louder, and before I knew it, I was in my room, seeing someone that looked like me getting beaten up, and then...." She trailed off. "I can't really say...They were just really powerful."
"What about the last time? What was in that?"
"I saw Vega....and then I saw Josh....and my parents getting killed...."
"What do you think it all means?" Terry asked Bruce. He scratched his head.
"I couldn't tell you what any of this means because none of it makes any sense...."
"No kidding..." Dawn said as she sat on the table. "It's also painful at the same time."
"What should we do about it?" Terry asked.
"For the time being, there's nothing we can do." Bruce began. "We don't know what's causing these visions for Dawn and we still don't know what Vega's really after. We have to find it out soon before he does anything else."
"Right." Dawn agreed. "I just wish I knew what to do so then I can....end this. It feels like this thing has been going on for way too long." A signal got onto the screen saying that Vega was roaming out in Gotham again.
"He's at Hamilton High." Bruce said as he looked at the coordinates. "Better get out there now."
"We're on it." Terry said as he went to go get his suit, with Dawn following. He secretly used the dousing technique and it came on real easily. He made sure that Dawn wasn't looking so she wouldn't arouse any suspicion. Dawn put her suit on the normal way, thinking that it was completely useless to use her dousing technique and came out to find that Batman was waiting on her.
"Let's get going." He said. Batgirl nodded her head and followed him out of the Batcave.
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"Man this has been boring.." A man groaned as he searched through lockers. "All we've been doing these past couple days has been LOOKING for things! I want to actually do something! This is going to take us forever to find out who the sacrafice is."
"Just shuddup, Shesta....We're not too far from getting the rest of what we need. It's all worth it in the end for where we're going to be..."
"Hurry up!" Vega growled. "It might not be long before Batman comes around. I want to get this done as soon as possible." A window shattered and out came Batman.
"Did someone mention my name?" He asked.
"Get em'!" Vega said. Batgirl came in after Batman and got behind him for back-up. He went right after the men and started to beat the snot out of them. One punch after another, he never showed any mercy. Batgirl tried to help, but he pushed her away, telling her mentally that he could take care of it. He beat them severly, worse than usual. Batgirl was surprised and then held his arm back from doing anymore damage.
"Batman!!" She shouted at him. "What are you doing?! What is wrong with you?!"
"Terry, stop it!!!" Bruce commanded. "Do you have any idea what you've just done?!"
"Stay outta this! I've got some business to take care of..so either help or get out of the way!" He said as he went for Vega. Batgirl frowned but then ran after him to catch up. "Bruce, what's wrong with him?? He's not acting...right." She asked Bruce through her communicator.
"I...I don't know..." Bruce replied. Once Batman found Vega running away, he used his agility to catch up with him and kicked him hard in the back. He fell hard on his masked face.
"Going somewhere, Vega?" Batman asked.
"Go away! You have no right-!" Vega said.
"As a criminal punisher...yes...I do." He retorted. Batman then attacked him, in a forceful manner, trying as hard as he could to attack him. Even with the extra power that was given to him from the dousing wasn't enough. Vega seemed too fast and too powerful for him. They continued to battle until, Vega didn't want to keep up with it, so he made himself transport himself out of the building. Batman clenched his fist in anger. "Damn!" He cursed. Batgirl finally caught up with him and looked over at him.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?! Vegas' mine, remember?? It's not your fight!"
"It is if it has anything to deal with you. I have the power to take him out and-!" He began and suddenly he saw two people ahead of
him. It was the same two men that he had beaten, but they looked like ghosts.
"We won't let you kill Vega." One said.
"Wh, what?! How is it possible??" He began.
"He's the one that's going to lead us to our bright future. Don't interfere with him or his plans!" Shesta added.
"Batman...are you okay?" Batgirl asked, for she didn't see the ghosts.
"Stop it!" He shouted at them. "I will defeat him and will stop him whether you like it or not!"
"Terry, who are you talking to?"
"He's our leader, you see...so....get outta the way!" They said as they began to fly around him constantly. They chanted words over, and over again. Batman looked around and began to become afraid. "Stop that! Cut it out! AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" He shouted and suddenly, his suit became pure black so you couldn't even see the bat sign on his chest. He fell over, fortunately for Batgirl to catch him in time.
"Batman! Wake up! Batman!" She said in fear. Could he...? She then finally thought. Did he use the dousing technique? NO.....She picked him up and put him into the batmobile, hopefully to get him back to Bruce.
