The Once and Future Bat
a Batman Beyond fanfic
by
Mike Yamiolkoski
"The rest, I'm sure you know," Terry said. "I went to the top of the tallest building in town - this one - to see if I could spot Kruger. I saw what he did to the cathedral, and went to investigate, but since there was no sign of you there I assumed you'd gotten away. Then... I was too tired. I went to the closest safe place I could find and passed out. You wouldn't believe the dreams I had - time travel messes with your head."
Bruce waited in silence for a moment.
"I eventually found the tracer Nightwing fired at me, and destroyed it," Terry went on. "I wasn't sure it was a good idea to get in touch with you. I've seen enough cheesy sci-fi vids to know that messing with the timeline is bad. But by now, it's so messed with, it doesn't matter anyway."
"Why didn't you stay and help the victims from the Bank Tower collapse?" Bruce asked.
"I... I thought I should chase down Kruger. I tried to hit him with one of my tracers, but it missed. I thought it was better to stop him from striking again."
"You should have stayed to help the people. The criminals can be caught later, the lives of the people can't be restored once they're lost. I find it hard to believe that I could become so callous in my old age that I would forget to teach you that much."
"But -" Terry's shoulders slumped. "You're right. I'm sorry."
"There will be time for that later. Or, perhaps not. But now isn't the time to dwell on lives lost." His own words notwithstanding, Bruce paused a moment before going on. "Tell me about Kruger's weapon. What is it capable of?"
Terry shrugged. "I'm not sure. I'm not an expert on military plasma cannons. But I know he can only fire three shots before it starts to overheat. And, on a craft of the size he has, he can't have stashed away more than a dozen power cells. He's probably used about half his ammunition so far."
"What's its range?"
"He could burn a hole through a half-inch steel plate on the moon."
Bruce nodded. "You said before he could track me by infrared?"
"Yeah, his helmet lets him do that. He can see in any wavelength. He probably picked out Nightwing on the Bank Tower because his costume didn't block as much of his body heat as yours. Once he learns he didn't get you, he'll probably be more choosy with his targets."
Bruce paused. He had missed the fact that Kruger might assume him dead. Exhaustion was beginning to affect his thinking. "You mentioned power cells. What are they?"
"They're like batteries, but they pack a lot more juice."
"How are they constructed?"
"Superconducting coils with a continuous current running through them, surrounded by a lead/iron alloy. They're about half a meter long and they weigh about forty kilos each. He's probably using up one cell per attack, and by now he's likely gone through one more just flying his craft around."
"Can they be recharged with materials available to him in this time?"
"Probably, but it would take a lot of power. I don't know exactly what sources of power are available in this time, but if I remember my history right, fusion plants are a good ten years down the road. Your cars still run on refined petrol, don't they?"
Bruce didn't respond. Instead, he asked, "How do you intend to return to your own time when this is finished?"
Terry shrugged. "I'm not sure I can. Believe me, I've thought about it. I think I'm stuck here."
"Do you think Kruger would have had the same lapse in judgment?" Bruce asked.
"Hey, I thought it was a lot more preferable to do something about it than sit around and let him muck with reality!" Terry retorted, a little angry. "You taught me that being Batman is about making sacrifices. Let me tell you something about my latest sacrifice, old man. I've lost everyone I've ever known. My parents won't be born for ten years. I had friends, I had family, that are all gone, and now they might never be born because the timeline's been screwed up. The only person I have left in this whole damn world is you, and you seem to hate me even more now than when we first met. You know, I think you should be a little more appreciative of the fact that I gave up my entire life to save yours!"
Bruce waited calmly for Terry to finish. "I simply meant, do you think that Kruger has a way back to his own time?"
Terry's face fell. "Oh. Well, he did seem like the sort of guy who thought things through. I suppose it's likely."
"Then there must be some reason why he hasn't used it already. He must realize that he could return to the future, obtain more powerful weapons and a supply of 'power cells', and then come back to the past to destroy me. He's staying here for a reason." Bruce stood up.
"Where are we going?"
Bruce raised an eyebrow. "We?"
"You need me," Terry insisted. "I know things you don't. And besides, if Kruger has a way back to my time, I can use it as well as he can."
Bruce was silent.
"And you don't have time to try and stop me," Terry finished.
Bruce scowled. Then he went to a closet and pulled out a set of clothes. "These should fit you," he said, tossing them at Terry. "Put them on over that suit."
Terry began to dress.
"One more thing," Bruce said. "I don't know how you and I handle things in the future, but here in the past, I am in charge. You will do what I say or you are of no use to me. The very first moment you step out of line, McGinnis. I will lock you up until this is finished. Got it?"
"Believe me," Terry said as he covered the Batsuit with a starched white shirt, "I'm used to those kinds of rules."
* * * * *
They pulled out of the parking garage in Bruce's Mercedes, drove carefully around the still-smoking pile of tangled rubble that had once been the Bank of Gotham Tower, and cruised off into the city.
"This is one schway set of wheels," Terry said appreciatively. "I mean, the Batmobile's got its points, but this is just classic."
"Quiet," Bruce admonished. He touched a hidden button under the dashboard, which promptly flipped around and revealed a complex control panel. Terry was smart enough not to volunteer any further comments as Bruce punched up a number. Alfred's face appeared on the screen.
"Yes, sir?" Alfred said.
"Alfred, I need you to pull up some information on a Gene Kruger. He's a physicist or physics student, probably between twenty and thirty years old. I need an address, phone number, and the names of any papers he's written or projects he's been involved with."
"Right away, sir." Alfred's face winked off the monitor.
"So that's Alfred," Terry said quietly. "Never thought I'd get to meet him. What about your other partners - Tim Drake, Barbara Gordon? Are they around?"
Bruce cleared his throat. "They're on leave. I ordered them to stay out of this."
"Just you and me then, huh?"
"I'd rather it were just me."
"I'd guessed that. But I have a stake in this. I'm staying."
They drove in silence for a while.
"So," Terry said, "Is there anything you'd like to know about the future?"
"No."
"Okay... but don't you think that might be sort of useful information?"
Bruce shifted in his seat. "Your past isn't necessarily my future, Mr. McGinnis. Enough has changed already. People have died who shouldn't have. I'm afraid that even if we could return you to your own time, it wouldn't be the time you left. You would find your entire world has changed."
Terry looked dejected. "I hadn't thought of it that way. So... I really can't go back?"
"I'm afraid not."
Terry looked out the window at the city going by him. "I'm not sure how well I'll fit into this world. I didn't even fit very well into my own." He sighed. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in another junior partner? Being Batman is about the only skill set I've got."
"One thing at a time, McGinnis."
As if on cue, Alfred's face popped up on the dashboard screen. "Sir, I have located Mr. Kruger. He is a graduate student at Gotham West University. He has collaborated on several projects dealing with the quantum nature of matter, and his doctoral thesis, currently up for review, is entitled 'The Theory of Matter and Energy Displacement and Transference'."
"Good work, Alfred. Do you have his address and phone number?"
"Coming across on your screen now, sir." Alfred paused. "If I may, sir... who is the young man beside you?"
Bruce glanced over at Terry. "He's... my guest."
"Very good, sir." Alfred signed off, leaving the address and phone number on the screen.
"So, what's the plan?" Terry asked.
Bruce turned the car onto a street that would take him to the highway out of the city. "We need information on Gene Kruger. Who better to get it from than the man himself?"
Terry smiled. "Mr. Wayne, can I just say it's a pleasure working with you?"
In spite of himself, Bruce very nearly smiled back.
* * * * *
"I can't tell you what an honor it is to have you here, Mr. Wayne!"
Bruce forced a smile at the excited young man, hoping it didn't look too forced. "Well, Mr. Kruger, your work was brought to my attention by a good friend of mine at the University who felt you might be a valuable addition to WayneTech's research and development team. I admit I didn't understand much of your publications, but the theory seems fascinating."
Reaching Kruger hadn't been difficult. Terry had called, posing as Bruce's personal assistant, and explained that Mr. Wayne had been so captivated by Kruger's work that he'd wanted to meet him personally. An hour's drive later, they were in the Gotham West University physics building, where a bright and eager Gene Kruger greeted them with all due enthusiasm. Terry found it hard to believe that this was the same man who would later try to murder them both several times, cutting down countless innocent lives to do it.
"This is the main laser bay," Kruger was saying as they swept into another laboratory. "We have a fairly powerful setup here. They use it for all sorts of things, but the really exciting stuff started happening here last week. We actually managed to transfer a few hundred sub-atomic particles from one end of the lab to the other! I know it doesn't sound like much, but it's the first time in the history of the Universe that matter has been, shall we say, teleported!"
Terry stirred uncomfortably. He could see now the resemblance between the animated youth and the manic, insane old man from the future. Even his choice of words was disturbingly similar. Perhaps the line between brilliance and madness was thinner than he would have liked to believe.
"That is fascinating," Bruce said. "Tell me, do you think it will ever be possible to teleport a larger object? Something like, for instance, a person?"
"Conventional thinking says it'll never be practical," Kruger said, shaking his head. "But that's where I disagree with existing theories. I've done some work - purely theoretical, but so far experimentation bears me out - that shows that it may be possible to transmit objects of any mass for any distance in any direction! That's what my thesis is all about."
"Yes, I was able to get a copy of it," Bruce said. "Most of it was way over my head, but if you have the patience to try and explain it to someone who only took college physics as an elective, I'd really like to hear more about it."
"Absolutely, Mr. Wayne!"
* * * * *
Having found an empty lecture hall, Kruger spent the next hour explaining as much of his theory as he could. Bruce asked questions along the way, things that even Terry could have given the answer too, just to keep up the illusion of a tech company CEO who had found a noteworthy item of passing interest. Terry sat in silence.
"So, as you can see, the necessary power goes up more or less exponentially as the mass of the subject increases," Kruger was saying. "In other words, it takes, say, four or five kilowatts to transport a baseball, but to send a person anywhere would require more power than Gotham produces in a month. But that's just an engineering problem, and those can be fixed as long as the laws of physics say it can be done."
"I see," said Bruce. "So, in theory, I could be transported to a meeting in New York, stay for a while, then be transported back that same afternoon and attend a meeting here in Gotham?"
"Well, not exactly," Kruger said. "See, my equations show something interesting. Once an object has been transported, it loses a certain amount of molecular cohesion."
"What?" Terry asked, suddenly looking very nervous.
"The transport process messes with the basic forces that hold matter together - we call them electromagnetism, gravity, and the strong and weak nuclear forces, but in reality they're all manifestations of the same basic force, in much the same way that ice, water, and steam are all different forms of H2O. These forces are apparently weakened with the displacement process; it's entropy, the tendency of the universe to run down and disorganize, and it's a fundamental law of nature that we can't do anything about. That might be something that makes teleportation practical only for inanimate objects - I'd hate to think what something like this would do to a person's brain. Could scramble the eggs, if you know what I mean."
Terry looked as if he might faint.
"So then, once something's gone through a transport, it can't do so again," Bruce observed.
"Well, maybe. After all, the strength of the four forces is also a fairly fundamental rule. My theories indicate that over time, cohesion could return to normal, and then the object could be safely transported again. But who knows how long one would have to wait; it could be seconds, it could be billions of years. You have to understand, Mr. Wayne, that this is a theory in its infancy, not a truly practical system. With a lot more experimentation, and some more minds working on it, I'm sure we could eventually do something real. For the moment, we're just teleporting electrons."
Bruce smiled - it was obvious that the young man was trying to open some purse strings. He glanced over at Terry, who was still white as a ghost. Bruce couldn't blame him. "One more thing, Mr. Kruger, and I hope it doesn't sound crazy. Is it possible that this process could be used not only to displace an object in space, but in time? I seem to remember reading that time can be viewed as just another dimension."
The smile dropped off Kruger's face. He glanced nervously around the empty lecture hall and then stepped close to Bruce. "It's odd you should say that," he said in a whisper. "I once tried plugging time variables into my equations once instead of distance variables. They all balanced the same way. I have no idea how it could be made practical - but everything I've got says it might be possible. I haven't dared to publish it, and I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't say anything. If I came out with a theoretical time machine, I could be discredited. Matter transference is already considered a pretty ludicrous idea. If I said I could transmit objects through time as well, I'd end up a laughingstock."
Bruce smiled. "No chance of that, Mr. Kruger," he said. "I'll admit that I still don't understand much of your theory, but I like your enthusiasm and you're obviously a very intelligent and capable young man. Once your doctorate is complete, I'd be pleased to welcome you at WayneTech. You'd be a very valuable addition to my team."
Kruger's jaw dropped. "Mr. Wayne - sir - I don't know what to say!" He held out a trembling hand, which Bruce shook warmly.
* * * * *
"You seem nervous, McGinnis," Bruce said as they got back into the car.
"My molecules have been put through the wringer, my brain's been scrambled, and I could evaporate into a cloud of subatomic particles at any moment! You bet I'm nervous!"
"I don't think you have cause for concern. If Kruger's right, and there's plenty of evidence to show that he knows what he's talking about, the effects of transport fade with time. If you were going to evaporate, you'd have done it when you first arrived."
Terry nodded. He still looked apprehensive, but some of the color was coming back into his face. "So, now we know why Kruger - the older Kruger - hasn't returned to the future," Terry said. "He can't go safely until his atoms go back to normal."
"Very likely. Of course, we have no idea how long that takes. It could be any moment, or it could be years."
"If it helps any, I still feel pretty lousy. I don't know about him, but I'm sure as hell not up for another trip yet."
Bruce once again came close to smiling. He was beginning to see what his older self must have seen in McGinnis. The boy had definite potential, much like Tim Drake or Dick Grayson. He felt a pang of sadness, then a rush of rage as he thought of his fallen protégé. The younger Kruger had likely been averted from a life of crime, but the older one still had much to answer for.
"So, where are we going now?" Terry asked.
"I have a few things I need to check on back at the house," Bruce said. He reached above the visor and pulled out a small pill, which he swallowed.
"The Batcave? Schway! I've been curious to see it in its prime, you know."
"Get used to disappointment," Bruce said. He opened the armrest next to him and pressed a small switch. A puff of gas jetted briefly into Terry's face, and he slumped sideways against the doorframe.
* * * * *
"Are you sure it was wise to bring him here, sir?"
"I don't think we had much choice, Alfred. I had to bring him somewhere, and this way we can keep an eye on him."
Terry heard the voices, but they didn't make much sense. His eyelids felt like they had lead weights attached to them.
He felt a small poke in his arm, and with a sudden rush his consciousness returned. "Hey!" he shouted. Looking up, he saw Bruce Wayne, dressed in his Batsuit from the neck down, holding a small injector. Behind him was a slim, impeccably-dressed older gentleman with a look of concern on his face. Terry tried to stand up, and noticed his hands were secured to the chair. "What..." he shook his head. The initial rush from the antidote to - whatever it was - was wearing off, and a lingering fogginess settled back on his mind. Terry fought through the haze and felt it clear somewhat. "What gives? I thought you believed me!"
"Mr. McGinnis, everything about you indicates you're from the future like you said," Bruce said. "That doesn't necessarily make the rest of your story true. You seem to know a lot about me, but I know next to nothing about you. I don't intend to blindly trust you with only your say-so to go on."
Terry's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.
Bruce stepped out of the small room - for the first time, Terry noticed he was in some kind of holding cell. "I'll be back in an hour, perhaps a bit more. In the meantime, I think you'll find that Alfred is an excellent chef." The door closed between them, and at the same moment the restraints popped off his wrists.
Muttering, Terry got up and had a look under a silver cover on a tray next to him. Despite himself, he almost smiled. Bruce hadn't been kidding about Alfred's culinary talents.
* * * * *
It wasn't quite an hour when Terry heard the door open. He looked up to see the familiar face of a man he'd never met. "Hello, Alfred," he said.
"Good evening, Master Terry," Alfred said in a voice that betrayed no surprise at having been recognized. "I apologize for the accommodations. Normally, I try to be a little more gracious to our guests."
"You haven't had a guest like me before," Terry said. "I guarantee it."
Alfred said nothing, but simply busied himself with Terry's supper dishes.
"Has he told you my story?" Terry asked.
"He has."
"Do you believe me, Alfred?"
Alfred looked at Terry. "In all my years of working for Mr. Wayne, I have learned that the unexpected is to be expected and that the inexplicable is par for the course. I have also learned that things are seldom what they seem. You, my young friend, are certainly an enigma, but not more so than others I have encountered in my years."
"So, you don't believe me then." Terry sat back and sighed in a disgusted manner. "I don't know why I expected any different."
"That having been said," Alfred continued, "your story, as you call it, is absolutely preposterous and completely impossible. That would seem to indicate that it must be true. Either that, or you are insane. No one tells an impossible story and expects it to be believed unless they themselves believe it."
Terry blinked.
"Would you care for some tea, Master Terry?" Alfred asked, as if they had been discussing the weather.
Terry chuckled. "You know, Alfred, if nothing else, I'm glad for the chance to meet you. That alone has made this entire trip worthwhile."
Alfred couldn't help but smile, but quickly covered it up. "Thank you, Master Terry. Now, if you'll excuse me -"
Bruce came in, his mouth a grim line.
"So?" Terry asked. "Do I stay in here and rot, or join you both for tea?"
"No time," Bruce said, tossing the black Batsuit at Terry. "We have a problem. Join me by the computer as soon as you're dressed. Alfred, we'll be leaving shortly. Pack only what we absolutely need."
* * * * *
Terry stared at the main computer screen and tried not to retch at what he saw.
"It's him, all right," Bruce said tonelessly. "Someone managed to sneak a camera into the city morgue and sneak out with some pictures. Pictures of Nightwing unmasked."
The body was bloodied, broken, the way one might expect him to look after having been caught in a collapsing skyscraper. However, fate had determined that Dick Grayson's face had come through the disaster more or less intact. He was bruised, and the picture was at an awkward angle that made him visible only in profile, but it was enough.
"Has anyone recognized him yet?" Terry asked.
"No, but the picture is popping up all over the internet. It's only a matter of time. We have hours, if we're lucky, before Kruger sees it. When he does, he'll come here. Or worse, he may choose to stay in hiding until he can safely transfer again, then come back and kill me more easily with his new knowledge to guide him. He could destroy me as a child, or kill my parents before I'm conceived."
"I don't think so," Terry said. "This guy strikes me as the sort who wants to do things more directly than that. He deliberately led me to his machine so I could witness his plan in action. I think the only reason he's attacking you with long-range weapons is that he's scared to come any closer."
Bruce nodded. "That thought had occurred to me."
Terry didn't smile, but inwardly acknowledged the rare compliment from his mentor. "So, why the change of heart about me?"
"I assumed your suit had a video camera, or the equivalent. I was able to isolate the circuits that housed its memory and plug it into the batcomputer. The video matched your story. For the time being, and to a certain extent, I'm willing to trust you."
"I could have faked the video."
"Not the parts I was in. I think even a time traveler would have difficulty with that. But that's beside the point. Your video was valuable in other ways." Bruce clicked up a few images on the computer. "This is footage from the future - my future, to be precise. It's where you were right before you came to the past."
"I remember it well, thanks."
Bruce pointed at a section of the screen, which enlarged as he did so. "This seems to be the control panel for Kruger's displacement machine. The detail isn't great enough to let us read it, or even make out individual controls, but it's obvious that he's using it to conduct his experiments for these 'Cobras'."
"So?"
"So, take a look at this footage a few moments later."
Terry watched as events that he had witnessed a few days ago scrolled by on the screen. He saw his bombs activate, with the same mixed results he remembered. Bruce fast-forwarded to the point where Kruger flew his hovercraft toward the machine. It entered the spinning field with a white blast, and then Terry followed it shortly afterward. A second white blast followed, there was a few seconds of static, and then the view from the bottom of the crater in the alley.
"It was a little more exciting than that to live through," Terry said. "So, what's the point?"
"I remember you saying that Kruger boasted that your bombs didn't destroy his controls, though they obviously did destroy the ones he had used before. He must have known he would only have a few seconds to use his machine before you destroyed the rest of it. He was a careful man who planned things out in advance. So his second set of controls would be -"
"On the hovercraft!" Terry exclaimed.
"Precisely," Bruce said. "And it therefore stands to reason that, if he has a way home, it's integrated into his ship. The hovercraft itself may also be able to work as a time displacement device. Perhaps it can't transfer itself, but he has likely built a small portal on board that can transport him personally."
Terry nodded. "So, what do we do now? I take it that staying here isn't an option."
"On the contrary, it's the only option. Kruger is bound to attack Wayne Manor once he learns that I and Batman are one and the same. We wait for him here, and hope that we have time to catch him before he's ready to -"
CRACK!
A violent thunderclap shook the chamber, followed by a low, rumbling blast of collapsing stone. Slabs of rock plummeted from the ceiling as the entire Batcave quaked with some overhead impact. Alarms went off almost immediately, followed by sprinklers and emergency lights.
Terry quickly got to his feet, and ran to assist Bruce, whose knee had buckled under him. "I think we have company," Terry said.
The painfully brilliant red shaft of Kruger's laser sliced through the roof of the cave, racing toward them with terrifying speed.
TO BE CONCLUDED...