Batman Beyond: Alliances

A/N: Wow, thank you all so much for the reviews! I didn't expect anything to really come out of this fic, but I was encouraged to continue after reading all the nice responses I got. Someone even liked it enough to put it on his or her Batman Beyond site! That is so kewl!!


Chapter 2: New Faces

History was such a bore. No matter how hard he tried, Terry McGinnis just couldn't keep his eyes open as the teacher went on and on about the founders of Gotham City. Of course it didn't help that he had been out all night fighting crime, but Terry preferred to blame his sleepiness on school. Terry's eyelids began to droop. The teenager abruptly shook his head to rouse himself.

Terry sat at his desk, face hidden behind his laptop and arms arranged into a cradle. It was so tempting... His eyelids began to droop again for about the hundredth time. This time, Terry gave into his weariness and rested his head in his arms and fell fast asleep.

"A-HEM!"

Startled by the sudden indignant sound right near his desk, Terry jerked his head up and looked around in confusion. A very stern looking teacher stood right next to where he sat, arms crossed.

"I'm sorry if History bores you Mr. McGinnis, but as long as you're in my class, you will stay awake and listen. That or I give you and F and you can sleep all you want in detention," Mr. Mason said, frowning.

"Detention doesn't sound so bad," Terry muttered a bit grumpily.

"What was that?"

"Er...sorry Sir. I'll pay attention."

"See that you do. Now, class, as I was saying, George M. Gotham was the one who..."

Terry yawned and glanced at the clock. He frowned when he saw that there was at least half an hour left of the class. The next thirty minutes seemed the longest in his life as he waited out the clock in a dazed, drowsy state. Then, finally, the bell rang.

Gathering his books and yawning yet again, Terry failed to notice the feisty brunette saunter up to him. Dana Tan scowled, tugging indignantly at her blue dress and waiting for Terry to turn around and take notice of her. Terry did all right. In fact, he almost ran right into her but stopped abruptly when he realized that his girlfriend was frowning at him furiously.

"Uh-hey Dana," Terry said sleepily.

"Hey Dana? HEY Dana?! Where were you for our date, McGinnis?" Dana demanded.

"Huh? What-oh! Sorry I didn't show up. Mr. Wayne had some really important things for me to do," Terry quickly said, thinking what an understatement that was.

Before Dana could say anything else, a new voice smoothly interrupted. "Oh, it was my fault, Dana. Terry called and asked me to tell you, but I got hung up and forgot."

Terry turned and threw an appreciative glance to the sexy teenager approaching them. It was Max, his best friend and one of the only ones who knew of his secret identity. The ebony-skinned girl with close-cropped pink hair easily entered their conversation and smiled apologetically at Dana.

"I'm really sorry, Dana. It was an emergency and Mr. Wayne really needed Terry to run an errand for him," Max told her in a very convincing tone. Dana looked unsure for a second but then seemed to relax and shrug it off. Terry felt a little guilty for lying to her, but there was no way she could know.

"Sometimes I think you and Mr. Wayne lead secret lives or something," Dana teased and smiled a little.

Max laughed. Terry almost rolled his eyes at the irony of it all. If only you knew, Dana. If only you knew...

"Well, I've got to get going. Blade and I are going dancing later. Are you two going to join us?" Dana said.

"Nah, maybe next time. I've got a project to do for Mr. Julias," Max answered.

Dana looked at Terry. "What about you, Ter?"

"If Mr. Wayne doesn't need me, I'll be there," Terry said even though he already doubted that would be the case. Not with a crime wave going on, anyway.

"Ok, then. I'll see you later," Dana gave him a brief kiss on the lips and then bounded off.

"So do you honestly think Mr. Wayne's going to give you any time to breath tonight?" Max asked dubiously.

Terry sighed. "With what's going on? I'm lucky to get the time off for school."

Max smiled sympathetically. They rounded a corner and someone slammed into Terry and dropped a bunch of books. Instinctively, he held up his hands in self-defense. He lowered them when he realized it was only some girl now sitting on the floor with her books strewn about.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I should have been watching where I was going and I wasn't and-" the girl chattered quickly.

"Whoa! Whoa! Calm down, it's okay! Are you okay?" Terry said as he helped her pick up her books and looked up at her face. He didn't recognize her but already, he could tell she was a nerdy or brainy type. She had blond hair pulled back into a sloppy bun and a few wisps falling on her forehead. Pretty brown eyes looked at him behind thick, black-rimmed glasses. She was dressed in a bright orange dress with green zigzags all over it and penny loafers. Where was this girl from? Some other planet?

"Yes! I'm fine! I'm used to falling down so much. As you can see, I'm a really big klutz. I can't go anywhere without running into someone or something and then falling over and knocking things down. It gets really frustrating but I usually turn out okay," she babbled so quickly Terry almost didn't catch everything she said. "My name's Raine. Raine Deluca, by the way."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Max and this is Terry," Max replied. "Are you new here? I don't think I've ever seen you around before."

Raine nodded, smiling brightly. "Sure am! I just moved here a few days ago. I-yikes! Is that Mr. Mason, the History teacher?"

Terry turned and saw his History teacher walking out of his classroom. "Yea, why?"

"I have to talk to him! Sorry, it was nice meeting you, but I have to go!" With that, Raine ran off in Mr. Mason's direction. Terry watched as she went too fast, slid, and crashed right into the teacher. Both of them ended up sprawled on the floor, their things all spread out around them. Raine began apologizing profusely to the now irate teacher.

"Weird girl," Max remarked dryly. "What is she wearing?"

"You're not kidding," Terry answered. He was about to go help the two on the floor when his cell phone rang. Terry groaned as he reached for it. "Oh brother. Yeah?"

"There's trouble. Suit up and get out there. The Bat Mobile is on its way," Wayne ordered immediately.

"Already? But it's still daytime!" Terry cried, reaching automatically for the Bat suit.

"Tell that to the criminals," Wayne simply said.

Terry sighed. "I'm on my way."

He clicked off his phone and turned to find Max eyeing him sympathetically. "Duty calls?"

"Crime never sleeps in this city," Terry mumbled, imitating something he'd heard Commissioner Barbara Gordon say once. "I got to go. I'll talk to you later Max."

"Be careful, Ter!" He heard Max call after him as he dashed away.


Across town, a black limousine smoothly slid to a stop in front of a tall apartment building. A pair of large men dressed in chic black suits and dark sunglasses stepped out from the two front seats and walked around to the back door. One opened the door and waited.

Slowly, a leather clad woman with a cold, deadly expression on her face slid out of the limousine and quickly took in her surroundings. A pudgy man, clinging onto his long trench coat as if it would protect him followed her. Then a final figure emerged from the vehicle.

He was a tall, middle aged man. Broad shoulders and a strong muscular face framed by dark black hair were the most distinct features about him. His odd yellow tinted eyes scanned the place and brought a small, almost evil, smile to his lips.

"Well now, what do you think?" He asked softly.

"It's kind of...quiet. It must be dull," the woman commented.

"Life here must be boring. I say we spice it up a little!" the man said excitedly.

The lead man smiled, seemingly pleased with their answers. "The Boss will be very pleased with this place. You two are right. Since this place is so dull, we'll do the honors of making things a little more interesting."

"What about Batman? He might be a problem," the woman asked.

The lead man looked at her. "Batman? Forget about him. He's not the one we need to worry about."

"Who then?" the other man asked.

"Who else would I be talking about?" the lead man asked, and watched in amusement as the two exchanged nervous glances. "That's right, she's here...in Gotham."


A/N: Sorry if it's a little confusing right now, but I'm still trying to get everything together. Anyway, I hoped you liked it! R/R!