A/N: Hey, here's this long chapter you were dying for. I had a lot of fun trying to figure out the perfect predicament, and this was the original focal point of the story, but I really like the direction it's heading. Oh, and I really do want to say that I'm sorry, I was wrong. It's schway, not shui, although that could work, considering it means water or something like that. And water's cool! Okay, so I'm really stretching it…I think my wastebasket is in my thinking area…(sorry…bad joke…I'll stop). And, (one more thing) if I get anything wrong, I'm sorry. It doesn't seem right, but I went to the X-men: E site and it said Ororo Munroe, so I guess that's it. Enjoy!

Chapter Three (the long one)

Terry woke up with a start as he heard the door slam and the familiar voices of his family. As he stiffly got up, he glanced at the digital clock on his nightstand: it read five o'clock. As the black haired boy emerged from his room, he saw his mother taking off her jacket and his brother already sitting entranced before the vidscreen.

"Welcome home. Where did Matt go this afternoon?" Terry asked, indicating his brother.

"Well, he went over to a friend's house after school and I got out of work a little early so I swung by to pick him up. How was your day, Ter?" she recounted.

"It was fine. Some friends invited me over for dinner tonight, can I go?" Terry said. His mother never really expected to get much of an answer about Terry's school days: he was never forthcoming with the information. Mary, however, was excited that her son had made some friends.

"I'm so glad you've found a niche already! This is good. Of course you can go, unless, of course, you'll be in danger," she looked at him, mentally pleading he wouldn't get into trouble.

"Mom, you know me better now. I would never do that again." He said it with such confidence that Mary had to believe him. She turned away from her eldest son and started washing her hands in the kitchen sink, where the two had wandered.

"What are these friends like?" Mary asked.

"Uh," Terry began. He didn't really know what to say. "They're normal, I guess. Nothing spectacular about them from what I've gathered," he finally managed to say.

"Oh, that's nice, Ter. I'm glad you have some friends. What time are you expected at their house?"

"I dunno, I have to call them now," Terry said and then he left to do so. When he called the number someone he didn't know answered the phone.

"Hello?" he said in a quite gruff, unfriendly voice.

"Um, hey, is Scott Summers there?" Terry asked, mentally noting that he really hadn't needed to add the last name.

"Yeah, hold on a second," the guy said into the phone. Terry then heard his distanced voice calling out. "Scott! Phone!" It was all quite unceremonious.

"Hello," answered Scott.

"Hey, it's Terry," the boy said. "Is it still okay about dinner?"

"Yeah. Is it alright if you come over around seven-ish?"

"That's fine. How do I get to this institution of yours, anyway?" Directions followed and the two got off the phone. As Terry hung up, he saw that his little brother had weaseled his way into the room.

"Was that a new girlfriend?" he asked playfully.

"No, twip. Did you go to your girlfriend's house this afternoon?" Terry quipped back.

"No!" Matt said, disgusted at the suggestion. Terry tackled his little brother and the two ended up on the floor laughing so hard they had stomachaches.



Terry faced the huge building in front of him. He glanced at the address he had written down and matched it with the one on the pillar-like gate. As Terry approached the building, he noted how extravagant everything was, like the fountain in the middle of the turnaround and the tall oaken doors. Terry cautiously rang the doorbell and a tinny sound came from the other side. Terry heard footsteps and someone answered the door.

"Hey," Kitty said, holding open one of the big double doors. "Come on in. Want me to take your jacket?" Terry answered affirmatively and stepped into the house. Well, it wasn't quite a house; it was more of a mansion. Kitty led him through the big, open hallway into what apparently was the living room. Everyone he had eaten with at lunch was there, along with a few adults.

"You remember everyone, right? Scott, Jean, Evan, Kurt and Rogue," Kitty said, indicating each. Then she moved on to the adults. "This is Mr. Logan and Professor Xavier." Logan nodded and said 'hey' and Terry automatically registered the voice as the one who had answered the phone. Professor Xavier spoke.

"Hello, Terry, have a seat," his voice was kind and Terry just figured the kids had told him his name.

"Thank you," Terry responded as he took the proffered seat next to Kurt.

"Hey, does anyone one want anything to drink? Terry?" Kitty asked. Everyone threw out various drink orders except the professor and Logan. Kitty took Evan and the pair went to get them.

"So, Terry, I hear you're from Gotham. What brings you to Bayville?" Xavier asked.

"My mom's job. She got promoted and transferred. My brother Matt seems to really enjoy it here; it's a better environment than the city. I think Gotham is a little too dangerous for kids, what with all the gangs and stuff, but I enjoyed it there," Terry replied. He did really enjoy his life in Gotham, when he wasn't risking it or too tired to function.

"What of your father? What does he do?" the professor asked, attempting to be nice.

"My dad? Oh, my dad died a while back," Terry said remorsefully. No matter how much he tried to distance himself from the image of his father, Terry still felt partly responsible for his death. That's what being Batman had been good for, until…

Kitty and Evan broke the awkward silence by coming in with the drinks.

"So, Gotham," Kitty started. "That's the Batman City. I hear this guy is superhuman or something."

"Yeah, and he's really strong," Evan put in. This got the entire circle in a big debate, aside from four people. Xavier and Logan didn't join in the conversation, Terry didn't know what he would've said, and Rogue was sitting on the outskirts, not really doing much of anything aside from sipping her orange soda. Terry noted that Rogue was a little different than the rest of the gang; she was quiet and distant. Terry didn't have time to finish his thoughts as Kurt said his name.

"Terry, have you seen Batman?" Kurt asked, obviously enjoying every minute of the conversation.

"Me? Um, no," he lied. What was he going to say, that he was Batman?

"That's too bad," Kurt said. Then he changed the subject. "Is dinner ready yet? I'm starving!"

"You always seem to be starving, Kurt," said Jean. "Let me go check." The food was ready, and very good. Hamburgers and Veggie Burgers (for Kitty) were being passed around. Throughout the dinner conversation, Terry learned that Evan had an aunt who was also living here, Ororo. It was pleasant eating with all of these people, because even though there were so many of them, they all got along. Professor Xavier sat at the head of the table with Logan on his right. Aside from that arrangement, there seemed to be no particular order in which the kids sat. Finally, everyone was full, the idle chatter was continuing, and no one had quite seemed to notice that Evan was gone. Terry leaned over to Scott, who was sitting next to him.

"Hey, Scott, can you tell me where your bathroom is?" Terry asked.

"Oh sure. You go out into the hall, go up the staircase and it's right in the middle of that hallway, on the left," Scott said, visibly trying to recall the directions. Terry attempted to organize those thoughts as he got up to go, but it was virtually impossible. He was suddenly relieved he didn't live in a mansion: too much to remember. Terry found the bathroom easily enough, but when he was finished, he honestly didn't know which way to turn. The ends of both hallways looked the same and he was turned around. He remembered Scott saying something about left, so that was the way he tried. That was the first mistake. As he went down the stairs, he realized that it was the wrong way, but something kept him from turning back: he heard a voice and it sounded like it was yelling. Terry continued down the alien hallway towards what seemed to be the source of the cries until he came to a big, metal door.

It was stated that Terry's first mistake was turning down the wrong hallway. His second mistake, though, was more force-of-habit than anything else. Upon hearing the cries from behind the door, Terry pulled out the little explosives he had a tendency of keeping on his person even though he had, on multiple occasions, denied that he would ever be Batman again. He also produced some compact Batarangs he subconsciously wore just in case something unpleasant was on the other side. Placing the explosives inside of the lock, Terry rushed away from the door to shield himself from the oncoming blast. The little explosives did their job quite effectively but as soon as the door was breached and alarm system set off.

Ignoring the irritating siren, Terry stepped into the room and within seconds was caught up in the horror of it all. Evan was in there, obviously out of breath and bleeding, clothes torn. To an outsider, it would seem that the room was attacking the bleach-haired boy; and, in fact, it was. Lasers popped out of the wall and shot at the boy, and other implements of destruction weren't far behind. A long snake-like structure managed to smack Evan in the back just as he was shooting spikes at it. With the other boy down, Terry didn't know quite how to react. Without thinking he took the Batarang poised in his hand and threw it at what seemed to be the core of the metal snake. The machine stopped, but the rest of the room didn't.

Before he could react again, Terry felt something hot hit his cheek. When he put up a hand to check, it came back with blood. He looked across the room and thought he saw, just at a glance, something black and shiny. The boy didn't stand in awe for long: he was forced to jump aside as another laser targeted him. Trying to watch his back, Terry didn't see the quite blue, fuzzy thing until after he had teleported into the hallway. Once out of the room, Terry leaned back against the wall, trying to soak up all of what had happened. He heard the sounds of the strange room die down and had barely issued a sigh of relief when rough hands picked him up by the collar of his shirt.

"What the HELL do you think you were doing in there?!" The growling voice barked. Terry smacked his head against the wall in a vain attempt to get away from Logan's snarling features.

"I-I don't know," he managed to sputter. "I heard someone yelling so I went to check it out. Who knew you had a death trap in this place!"

"Logan, set him down. There may be more to this than meets the eye," Professor Xavier said, wheeling up. Rogue walked up to the distraught Terry, reached out a handkerchief and faltered a bit before placing the cold cloth on his face. Terry looked up to survey the people standing there. Evan was sitting up a little bit away while a woman Terry didn't know cleaned up his wounds. Rogue was right next to Terry and a fuming Logan was standing a ways off with Professor Xavier creating a wall between Terry and the rough adult. The boy saw Scott, Jean and Kitty standing away from the commotion, but Kurt was no where to be seen. Down the hall a little distance Terry could see the door to the Death-Trap room looking quite mangled. Without even looking up, Terry could tell the entire congregation was looking at him. He got frustrated.

"Hey, look, I didn't know you had some kind of 'secret society'. I heard someone in trouble and came to check it out," the boy said rapidly, desperately searching for material to defend himself with.

"Okay, slow down. Start from the beginning. What happened?" Xavier said soothingly. Terry took a deep breath.

"I got up to go the restroom and when I came out, I got confused. I guess I took a wrong turn, but I heard someone yelling." His head was throbbing and his cheek hurt, but he continued on. "I saw that there was that big door. The yelling was coming from the other side and I wouldn't have done anything, but it was frantic. I pulled out the…um, means to open the door and I did." Terry was cut off.

"And just where did you get these 'means' of yours?" Logan asked sharply.

"Wait your turn, Logan. Let the boy finish." Professor Xavier had a tone that kindly, but firmly, punished impatient little children. "Continue," he said, prompting Terry.

"So I go into this room and the whole damn- oh, sorry, the whole room is attacking Evan here, so naturally I help. The snake-thing slices me and Evan attacks it with spikes while I use my Batarangs to fight. Then, just as I'm about to be fragged, I end up out here with everyon-" Terry cut off, letting the words of his sentence sink in. He saw the many furtive glances bounce around and he looked at Evan. "Spikes?" He tore his glance away from the ashamed-looking boy to Professor Xavier and repeated himself. "Spikes." Professor Xavier held up an object that had gone unnoticed until that point.

"Yes, it seems we all have things to discuss. Shall we take this upstairs?" The group did so: Evan with the help of his aunt and Scott. Terry kept his focus straight ahead, not bothering to notice Kurt bringing up the rear, his little fuzzy tail dragging along the ground.

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So, you all likey? Thanks for all your reviews so far, I feel so loved! And your comments really help, so I hope you enjoy it! Hmmm…What can the significance of that shiny figure Terry saw be? Oh, and is everyone up a creek with stick this time! You keep reading, I keep coming!