Chapter 9

Terry was in his room, going over the plans when he heard an abrupt knock at his door. The knock grew more persistent, but Terry was already preoccupied and didn't want any interruptions, but he also had a feeling that this person wasn't going to go away.

"Come in already," Terry said with irritation. The door buckled open and was slammed aside. 'Michael' Although Terry was sincerely surprised to see Michael in his room, especially since he hadn't seen Michael since his advent, he made sure not to let Michael see his shock.

"Hey, Michael, long time no see," Terry said in his usual cocky banter.

In a swift motion, Michael had Terry pinned up the wall. "Hey yourself, you bastard." It was at this moment that Terry started to fret; he had never before seen a look of pure disgust and hatred directed at him… well not from anyone that Terry gave a damn about.

"Come on Mike, it's me Terry 'member," Terry was getting worried in the slightest that he would soon pass out if Michael didn't let go of him.

"Oh yeah I remember, I just thought that maybe you forgot who the hell you are. Huh, do you know who you are? The Terry I knew would have made me proud to call him Cobra, and you are not he. " With that final remark Michael threw Terry onto the other side of the room. He landed right where he had thrown his photograph two months earlier.

After regaining his equanimity he calmly walked over to Michael and in an equally calm voice said, "What the fuck is your problem, since when do you push me around? Where have you been anyway, I haven't seen your face around here?"

Although Michael still had clenched fists he remained sitting on the bed as he said, "Terry, c'mon I've been gone three months and when I come back all I hear is 'guess who's here? Terry you got everyone riled up. Ok maybe some of them are too young to know what you did to us, but I've been here as long as you. For God's sake Terry, you and me, we made this place together. We were best friends and then you left, you didn't tell where you were. Next thing we know you're turning us all in, because you got up one morning and decided to become the fucking Bat. I mean who the hell does that? Since when did you need to go someplace else to feel accepted? You had a family right here? "

"Fuck you!" Terry said it barely above a whisper but the force it was said with was enough to make a grown man tremble. Terry let the room slamming the door in the process. Terry walked towards the main room, when he heard another slam. He assumed that Michael was right behind him, but he was too out it to even care.

He was already well into the main room when he noticed that it was very crowded, he didn't even give Elizabeth a second's glance when he noticed her. He just kept on walking. All if a sudden he was spun around and sent crashing down to the floor. Through the sudden pounding in his head, Terry could hardly hear Elizabeth's cries as he lie on the floor all he could really hear was Michael's sudden proclamation.

"What the hell is wrong with you people? Why would you allow him in here after how he betrayed us? Did you people forget? He was the fucking Bat? Remember the pointy-eared freak that came in here and took a couple of us down to juvie. How can you let him in here?"

"Come on," Jeremy decided to speak up, "Terry is cool with us. He knows he was wrong. He's helping us again, just like old times. "

"What makes you think that we need him?"

"Come one Mike you know things weren't great. Now we got an extra person to help carry the load. And he always had the best strategies. You can't deny that." He then turned to Terry who was still on the floor and said, "Yeah come one Ter, just tell him that the past is in the past, and that it'll stay there."

Terry stood clutching his stomach with his left hand. He knew that the next morning he would wake to find a massive amount of bruises. He turned to face Michael when he heard Elizabeth's voice above all the rest saying, "Terry, please just tell him, I don't want you to get hurt."

'What the hell does she think, that I'm this poor defenseless kid who has to apologize so he won't get hit. Well I'll show her, I'll show everyone.'

"So Terry, you gonna tell me how sorry you are."

"No." With that simple word out in the open for everyone to digest he swiftly swung a punch and took on a defensive stance. If there was one good thing that he had done while under Bruce's wing, it was to refining his fighting abilities.

"Oh, so it's a fight that you want."

"Yeah." Terry prepared himself to fight. He wasn't in a mood to play, he wasn't in a mood to fight either, but he had to. He wasn't going to look like a chicken; like Jeremy had said, "Listen man, you don't show him who's in charge now, then he'll do something stupid and then knowing you, you'll kill him." Only now he couldn't feel anything stopping him from killing the bastard that stood in front of him. Michael had gone to far. He had never wanted to turn in his own, but what could he have told Bruce, 'Sorry, but those are my friends.' That would have made things worse for them… and him.

But right now he was fighting against his best friend, his former best friend. Even though he was throwing the punches and kicks, he could still feel a nagging that wouldn't stop telling him that what he was doing was wrong. This was still family, but he just couldn't forgive Michael's comments, even if they were misinformed. He had to let him know that he was worthy of the Cobra title. Terry had no doubt in his mind that in this fight he would come to be the victor, after all he had come up against tougher opponents before.

In the one moment that Terry had foolishly let his guard down he took a punch to the stomach. That succeeded in intensifying his pain tenfold, but Terry wasn't about to back down. It was as if everything was riding on the outcome of this fight.

All he had to do was remind himself of the ludicrous remarks that Michael had made and all the rage he felt erupted in that one final blow that resulted in Michael falling to the floor in what appeared to be unconsciousness.

Terry looked around to look at the spectators for the first time since the fight and noticed that Elizabeth was nowhere in sight. He didn't even give it a thought and before he even knew where he was headed he was at his door. Inside his room he found the plans he had completed and decided to post them outside his door. A few minutes later he locked his door and sat at the foot of his bed. He took out his med kit out of his new black bag for which he had discarded his old beige one.

He carefully, albeit painfully took off his shirt and sure enough there were already three bruises forming. Like a curious and naïve child he decided to touch one of the bruises and was rewarded with a flood of pain. Terry soon got to work with the disinfectants and bandages. He couldn't help but wonder what condition Michael was in.

After finishing up with the bandages he got up ever so slowly and walked up to his desk. He sat down and started rummaging through his belongings. He found a picture, which had a boy with riley black hair wearing shorts and a black t-shirt standing next to a taller boy who had adventure in his eyes. The latter had sleek hair and had an air of mischief about him. Terry smiled as he looked at the picture of himself and Michael, which had been taken when they were still best friends. He remembered with a smile how it had taken hours to convince him to wear black, because he feared that it would make him appear gothic. It had, but Terry had never admitted it to him.

Terry couldn't help the way; his life could get so screwed up at the worst of moments, right when things were starting to go well. Maybe his mother had had the right idea: just stop caring. He thought he had family to go back to, but Michael had ruined his chances for that. He should just go, but then that would just be proving Michael right; that he was a coward. Well maybe he was.

No, he wasn't about to run away, not after he had come so far. Even though he had the means to leave, he didn't want to. He had finally arrived home, it shouldn't matter that it wasn't as friendly as he remembered it. It wasn't really late, but the fight had exhausted him, and as loathe, as he was to admit it he had to say that he had become a little dependent on the suit. He turned off the lights and headed towards bed.

It made him want to laugh at the idea of having a fight with Nelson at school the next day. He wasn't even going to wake up the next day, much less go to school. Then he remembered that the next day he had to make up a mid-term. The next day Nelson and he would most likely meet up during gym, for which they had both taken wrestling. He would have to fight since if he told Coach Letts that he was hurt he would have to answer a lot of questions. He just couldn't risk that. Meanwhile if he got hurt during the wrestling match, the wrestling itself could account for the other bruises.

Although Terry was already in bed with the lights turned off, sleep wouldn't come easily. He lay there for the next hour or so listening to people outside talking about the fight. He never once heard Elizabeth's voice. He started wondering where she was until he heard a key jingle and someone quietly open his door. He feigned sleep but was acutely aware that Elizabeth was retrieving her pillow and sheets surely to take back to her room. When she left she left her set of his keys on his desk and closed the door behind her. Terry couldn't help but feel that, even though he knew that he didn't really love her, that this was yet another testament of how unstable and messed up his life really was.

The next morning he woke up to hear knocking, he stood up abruptly and realized too late that the knocking was actually a pounding headache that had just intensified.

He sat back down, and felt like he had a hangover even though to the best of his knowledge he had not had a drop of liquor the night before. Although a drink right about now would have eased Terry's mind, and he knew it as he reached into bottom drawer and retrieved a small bottle of white wine, the only type of alcohol he let enter his body. He drank just enough to quell his headache but not enough to make him appear tipsy.

He collected himself before exiting his abode and entered the bathroom and took a bath careful not to disturb the bandages. When he exited, he avoided all the stares he received and went back to his room to get his bag. While in his room he collected all of the necessary textbooks and a batch of bandages should the occasion arise.

He headed out the door, when Jeremy stopped him.

"Hey, Cobra aren't you gonna wait for us...are you leaving?" Jeremy asked looking Terry square in the eye.

"Listen to me 'cause I am not in the mood to repeat myself, I am not leaving, nor would I because of a stupid quarrel. If you want me to wait then I'll wait. Hurry up," said Terry sternly, feeling full of rage, thinking he should have had more to drink.

"Fine, just give us a minute, " Jeremy seemed unfazed by Terry's obvious irritation, but only because he knew to give Terry his space. Everyone who had ever been in the gang when Terry was there had seen their share of Terry's temper and pride, but no one had seen Terry throw punches like the one he had thrown the night before. Everyone had been informed that Terry had been the former Batman and obviously learning new fighting tactics came with the territory, but no one who had seen the fight could doubt that there was something else flaming in Terry's eyes. His eyes held a look no one had ever seen on Terry, after all Terry was the cocky leader that could always cheer them up, no matter what was happening. They just knew that something had happened to Terry, something bad.

In a matter of moments everyone was out the door, walking towards Hamilton High. No one mentioned the night before, nor did anyone tease Terry about his relationship with Elizabeth, or lack thereof. Terry noticed this and was slightly grateful that their trip to school was in silence. He was also grateful that no one had noticed his injuries, or perhaps they had, they just hadn't cared.

"Take care," Terry said as they all went separate ways heading to class. His first class that day was History. He had to take his mid-term and walked into class to find his teacher already there with his examination in hand. He took it politely and received a smile from his teacher, who like all the others had changed their opinion of him after ironically he had joined his former gang.

He couldn't help but wince when he sat down in the small chair. He was relieved when his teacher didn't take notice in the least. Soon enough the room was full of other teenagers taking naps. Terry finished quickly and was quite confident that he had passed. He could have left the moment he finished but decided against it and instead decided to take advantage of any resting time he could get.

Sooner then Terry would have liked the bell rang, which meant that it was time for Terry to head downstairs to the locker room to change for gym. Somehow he knew that the day was only going to get worse.

In the locker room he changed in such a manner as to not allow anyone to become aware of his injuries, and as soon as he was done changing, he headed out towards the gym. As soon as he entered he was paired up with Nelson as usual for the physical. Coach Letts looked at Terry and then told everyone to give them room and step back. The others did so and waited in anticipation for a gruesome fight that was sure to come.

Terry wasn't in the mood to play and wanted to get this over with. He quickly made his decision together math over with a few quick moves. He did so taking Nelson by surprise when in a few seconds himself on the floor unable to prop himself up. The room erupted with cheers, which Terry didn't bother acknowledging. He took his place in the crowd as the next two teenagers stepped up to fight. Terry took a moment to relax and soon found himself dozing off.

"Attention!" Coach Letts' voice resounded through the gym, and it startled Terry out of his nap. "I have an announcement," he continued, "we have a new student, just arrived today, and I thought that we should show him how it's done in wrestling. So everyone please welcome our newcomer, Michael Rhines." Terry couldn't see Coach Letts as he was sitting down while everyone else was standing, but when he heard that name his head instinctively shot up.

"So who wants to show Rhines here how wrestling is really done. Terry could have killed the bastard who suggested him to be the one to fight, but soon enough everyone was shouting, "Terry, Terry!" Soon enough even his teacher was saying, "Yeah McGinnis, show him how it's done. "

"Sure whatever," Terry conceded, he figured that if he had beat him the night before, then surely he could do it again.

"Great McGinnis, you know the drill, shake hands then begin. "

'What the fuck ' When he finally laid his eyes on Michael he became beside himself with rage at the fact that Michael didn't even have a scratch to account for the previous night. Neither said a word to each other as they shook hands, but it was still painstakingly obvious to everyone in the room that the two teenagers had history. And with Terry, it wasn't nice history, more like world war three.

Without any notice Michael swung a punch in Terry' s direction. Terry ducked. Soon they were both fighting with all their might. All the apprehension that Terry had felt had quickly seeped out of his system. Neither one was holding an ounce of strength back. Letts was beginning to get worried that perhaps this wasn't the best idea, but neither seemed to be getting extremely hurt. He also couldn't deny that he was wondering who would be the victor.

Neither opponent was showing signs of weakness or exhaustion. Each was stubborn enough to let the fight last for hours but both also knew that there was only thirty minutes left to class Terry, however, was determined to end the fight before then.

Suddenly Michael smirked and in a split second, sent Terry spiraling down to the floor immediately after his fist connected with Terry's bruises that had hardly started healing. As if his rage prevented him from feeling any pain he stood back up and with a look of pure odium he lunged himself onto Michael knocking him to the ground and proceeded to throw punches at him. He stopped when he heard Michael mutter a sentence. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, he stopped the beating long enough to hear what his friend turned adversary was saying.

"So, Ter, guess you're making up for yesterday," he said and then added what sounded like a chuckle.

"What d'ya, mean?"

"Well, I mean you punched me, and thought I had actually given up. I mean you're lucky that Jeremy actually told me to leave you alone. You won't believe what he told me, well let me tell you, he told me that you were holding back, because he knew you and said you could kill me if you wanted to."

At that point everyone in the room, even Coach Letts was listening intently as though in a trance.

Terry didn't even bother to hide his shock and let go of Michael. He looked at Michael and said, "I don't care what the hell you think you've changed. I came back because I was looking for a family and instead I got you. Of all the people I thought you would have understood."

Michael grabbed Terry's collar and brought him up to his face, "Don't you dare give me that crap, McGinnis. You don't even know what family is; if you did, you wouldn't have given it up."

Michael found himself on the floor pinned there by Terry who for once since the whole ordeal had a smile on his face. He looked at Michael dead in the eyes, and said, "Are you down now, or are you just pretending? Oh and by the way, don't you tell that I don't know what family is, I I abandoned you, you abandoned me first, and you know it."

With that Terry stood up and started walking towards the exit, heading for the locker room, when Nelson showed up beside him, "Hey McGinnis that was a good fight and"

"Fuck off," and with that Terry shoved Nelson, landing him next to the bleachers. The bell rang, and the rest of the guys were walking away when Coach Letts blew his whistle signaling them all back. He looked at them square in the eye when he said, "I don't want this to leave this gym, if I hear anyone talking about this anywhere I will personally see to it that you repeat this semester. Got that?" He told them to leave but motioned for Michael to stay behind, "Hey Rhines, if you got something with McGinnis, settle it, because I don't want trouble."

"Fine Coach, I gotta go clean up."

"Hey, do you need the nurse."

"No I'm fine."

Michael walked back to find Terry had already gone. Terry was actually in the bathroom changing his bandages. He stayed in there for the next twenty minutes, wincing every once in a while when he touched his bruises which were swelling. When he finished, he resolved to go the nearby pharmacy and get more disinfectants.

On his way to Computer class he suddenly had a thought, 'Wait, hold on a second, didn't Michael say that hi had left without telling anyone where. Didn't he know that I was in juvie, didn't everyone know? Didn't he know that my father had died? Didn't the bastard know that if I could've I would've gone back to them, but that my mother never left me out of her sight. That if I was seen in as little as a group of people that looked menacing I would have been thrown back in juvie.

'No, that's all a lie; I would have risked everything to go back to my family, so why didn't I? Oh yeah, that's right they couldn't have been bothered to visit me in juvie. That was when I really a family, but those bastards were nowhere to be found.

'Why did I even come back? Oh yeah ' cause even when times are rough and you hate your family, they're still your family. Yeah and look where it's gotten me…'