CHAPTER THREE
I
Terry was in Heaven. He was wrapped in the loving arms of his girlfriend Dana. She gazed into his eyes and he gazed back into hers. Their lips met and hands began to roam. Their embrace broke and Terry held out his arms and held Dana's hands. He smiled. She smiled back.
"There's something I need to tell you Terry", she said. "Something that I haven't told you about myself." She brought her hand up and pulled at the back of her neck. Her face pulled away to show that her beautiful face was just a mask. When the mask came off Terry was staring at the face of the Joker. Not the Joker that Bruce Wayne had once fought, but the old and ragged version Terry had once faced.
"Surprise McGinnis!", The Joker said as he laughed his most maniacal Laugh. "Come on Bat Fake! Let's kiss and make up!"
Terry woke from his nightmare with a start. He was extremely glad that he had woken up before the dream had gone any further.
"Man..", he groaned. "I'm not gonna be able to kiss Dana for a week."
Terry's vision was blurry and his head ached. He couldn't remember where he was or what had happened. Then it all came back to him. He had followed Ra's Al Ghul into the strange vortex. His vision became clear and the pounding in his head slowly subsided. Grabbing onto a nearby ledge, Terry pulled himself up. Looking around he saw he was on a rooftop somewhere and there was no sign of Ra's Al Ghul anywhere.
"Bruce?" Terry got no response from the radio in his cowl. Giving up trying to contact Bruce, Terry pressed the button on his belt that was supposed to summon the Batmobile. But the Batmobile didn't come. Terry guessed that the vortex must have shorted out his suit. He thought about gliding back to the mansion, but if his suit was broken then he didn't want to be flying over Gotham when his wings or the rockets in his boots gave out. He sighed.
"Frag it," he said. "I'll walk" Terry changed into his street clothes, which he had kept under his suit. The suit he now wore under his street clothes. He grabbed the knob on the stairwell door and pulled. It was locked. Terry studied the lock and was surprised to find that it was a really old one. He kicked the door hard and it swung open. As he walked down the stairs he noticed that the building too was quite old.
When Terry stepped onto the street he gasped. He was in the old district of Gotham City. The one Bruce had shown him once. The one where Bruce's parents had been shot. But the area was not as he remembered it. The buildings looked new rather than condemned. There were plenty of people walking the streets. But their clothing style was strange and out of fashion. The cars that rolled by had wheels on them and did not hover off the ground. Terry looked up and for a moment the sun blinded him. Putting his hand up to his forehead blocked the sun from his sight. Looking around he found that he didn't recognize any of the tall buildings that now made up Gotham's skyline. The sky scrappers that he did see looked like primitive out of date designs. They looked like buildings you would have found around 40 or 50 years ago. He slowly walked over to a nearby newsstand and froze. He saw the date on the paper and gasped.
"No way!" he found himself exclaiming out loud. Then everything clicked into place. The third gem that Ra's Al Ghul needed had been destroyed in an earthquake years ago. The doctors he tortured and abducted specialized in quantum physics. That device powered by the two gems Ra's already possessed had sent him…
"Back in time", Terry whispered. His eyes were wide open and a look of astonishment was frozen on his face.
"Hey, youz okay kid?" Terry looked back down to see someone was talking to him. "You don't looks to good." But Terry couldn't talk, he could barely even move. Then he heard some one shout "Look up there!" Terry craned his neck back to the sky and saw what everyone was looking at. Up in the sky was a beam of light caught on a passing cloud. In the center of the light was a shadowy shape. The shape of a bat. The guy who had asked Terry if he was okay started to shake him in an attempt to snap him out of it.
"Hey kid! I asked if yaz was okay. Is there something I can do to help?" Terry slowly lowered his head and met the man's gaze.
"There's only one man who can help me now." Terry turned and bolted down the street.
II
Batman was hanging onto the minute hand of the giant clock on Gotham's Clock Tower. His hands were aching and he was loosing his grip as his feet dangled and his cape flapped in the wind.
"It's time to meet your maker Batman!" called the sniveling voice of Temple Fugate: the Clock King. "The sand in your Hourglass has run out."
Batman looked down to the street below and then back into the smiling face of the ever arrogant Clock King. He thought if he heard one more clock pun from Fugate he was going to snap.
"You look all wound down Batman!" Batman jolted his head up and gritted his teeth.
"That's it!" He swung forward to build up some momentum and then he swung back in an arc and let go of the oversized minute hand. His feet landed square onto the chest of a Surprised Clock King who went flying back into the tower and hit the opposite wall. Batman landed on his feet in a perfect crouch and turned to face Fugate. He slowly walked over to Fugate who had just risen from the floor. The Clock King lunged at Batman swinging his minute hand sword-cane. Batman ducked and when he came back up he threw a punch at Fugate. His fist landed squarely on The Clock King's Jaw and Fugate went down.
"Well Fugate," The Dark Knight said. "Looks Like I clocked you good."
Temple just groaned and passed out. Batman reached into his utility belt and pulled out a cable with which to tie the Clock King with. As he finished the knot he looked up at the sky and saw the Bat Signal. Putting The Clock king over his shoulder Batman fired his Batgrappler out of the tower and swung out in the direction of the police station.
Terry opened the door to the mansion slowly and stepped in.
"Forty some odd years," he muttered. "And he hasn't changed the locks." He stepped further into the hallway and took notice of how different the place looked. The rooms were brightly lit and none of the furniture was covered in white sheets. There wasn't a speck of dust to be seen anywhere. Terry made his way into the study and noticed that that room was exactly the same. There on the wall sat the painting of Bruce's parents and opposite the painting sat the grandfather clock that laid entrance to the Batcave. He pulled on the pendulum and the clock moved to the side exposing the rocky staircase that led into the cave.
As he walked down the steps Terry looked around the cave. Most of the display items were gone save for the Giant Penny, the dinosaur, and the Grey Ghost costume. The glass cases that displayed the Bat Suits, the Robin suit and the Night Wing suit were gone too. But there was one display case showing what appeared to be Dick Grayson's Robin costume. In place of the Batmobile he was used to, Terry saw an older "wheeled" model instead. There was also some sort of Bat Plane as well. The Batcomputer and other machinery were all still there save for the holographic training simulator. Terry walked over to the chair in front of the Batcomputer and sat down. Sliding his hands over the console Terry exclaimed "Unbelievable."
"Ah Master Bruce I see you've returned from your latest… "business Meeting" shall we say?" Terry spun around when he heard the voice. The accent sounded British and when he did turn around he saw where the voice came from. The man was bald on top with gray hair going around the sides of his head. He had a thin mustache and wore a Tuxedo.
"Oh dear," he said when he saw it was not Bruce. "You are not Master Bruce." Terry smiled.
"Alfred I presume?" Terry could not believe he was looking at Bruce's old Butler.
"Yes I am Alfred, Bruce Wayne's Butler. And I see you've discovered my little secret. Yes, I'm Batman." Terry gave a short laugh out loud.
"Wow. Bruce said you were loyal," Terry remarked. "But I had no idea just how loyal." Alfred raised an eyebrow.
"You…Know Master Bruce?" Inquired the butler.
"Yes," Terry started. Well not yet. But I will know him." He could see the confused look on Alfred's face and realized this wasn't going to be fun trying to explain the situation. "Oh boy, here goes." He stood up so that he was about eye level with Alfred. "I'm from the future. And in this future I'm Batman. Now I accidentally got sent back here with some psychopathic She-male super Villain and I need Bruce's help to stop the guy and to get back to my own time."
"I see," replied Alfred. "Why didn't you say that right away? Is there anything I can get for you until Master Bruce returns?" Terry was very surprised.
"You mean…you believe me?"
"And why shouldn't I? You see, working for Master Bruce over the years I have seen many a strange thing. A robotic Batman Clone, A mutant Man-Bat creature, A frozen bodiless head walking around on spider like legs, smiling fish, A walking talking shape shifting glob of clay, And a man who can turn himself into a demon at will. Just to name a few. So tell me. Why shouldn't a Batman from the future saunter into the Batcave?"
Terry was at a loss for words.
His trench coat flapped in the breeze of the cold night air. The signal had been up for nearly fifteen minutes and it was beginning to look like Batman wasn't going to show. Commissioner Jim Gordon was perhaps the only man who could claim to be Batman's friend. Long ago Jim had learned that Batman was the best chance Gotham City had for survival against the evil that lurked in the streets below. So he and Batman had formed a strange but comforting friendship. Whenever anything big went down in Gotham it was Jim's instinct to head up to the roof of police headquarters and flash the Bat signal, despite what everyone else thought. A lot of people didn't like the arrangement that Gordon had with the Dark Night. The mayor, The D.A. and Harvey Bullock all thought of Batman as a psychotic vigilante who should be thrown in Arkham asylum with all of Gotham's other nutcases. But Jim New better. Of course what Jim didn't know was that his good friend Bruce Wayne and this Dark Avenger he shared most of his work time with were one in the same. Or that his daughter Barbara was part of Bruce's crime fighting team as Batgirl. What Jim did know was that without Batman, Gotham would fall into total chaos.
Jim had just given up and switched off the signal when the caped crusader stepped out of the shadows. To his surprise a somewhat unconscious Temple Fugate lay over Batman's shoulder. Batman dropped the Clock King at his feet and took a few more steps forward.
"Evening Jim."
"Batman. Is that Temple Fugate?" The Dark Knight just nodded. "Boys," He sighed, "Escort Mr. Fugate back to his cell at Arkham."
The two officers who had been standing at his side grabbed the Clock King and started reading him his rights as they dragged him off.
"What a shame," Jim continued now that he and Batman were alone, "I didn't get you anything." For a split second he thought he saw Batman smile.
"You paged Jim?"
"Actually…I wanted to let you know that Fugate escaped. But apparently you already knew…. before we did. How the heck do you do it?"
"Uh-uh, uh Jim. A magician never reveals his secrets."
"So you're magician now huh? Well, you got the cape for it." The old police commissioner smiled.
"How's Barbara?"
"She's fine. She got a new job working part time for Bruce Wayne. She still manages to aggravate me a little from time to time. You know how kids are. You got a couple of em' left right. At least yours already know what they want to do with the rest of their lives. Anyway, Fugate wasn't the only Arkahm Escapee. The Joker's on the loose too."
"I'll keep an eye out for him. He won't be on the streets for long." After a few moments of uncomfortable silence Jim spoke.
"So… see you tomorrow?" Batman nodded "Same time as always then?"
"12:01. Wouldn't miss it for the world Jim." With that, Batman's hand came out from under his cape and fired a grappling hook on to a nearby building. A second later Batman was gone.
It was nearly four A.M. when the Batmobile pulled into the Batcave. When the door slid open Bruce jumped out of the car and pulled off his mask. As he walked over to the Batcomputer he started to change into Bruce Wayne's clothes.
"Master Bruce…" Bruce put up a hand to silence Alfred.
"Not now Alfred. It's been a long night and I need some sleep."
"But Master Bruce I really should…"
"Alfred. I'm going to sleep." Bruce was startled as the chair in front of the Batcomputer spun around to reveal a teenaged boy.
"Who sleeps anymore?", said the stranger.
"Master Bruce as I was trying to tell you before. Allow me to introduce master Terrence McGinnis." Bruce was at a loss for words as Alfred continued. "He's Batman. From the future of course." Though his mind was now filled with a few hundred different thoughts at once, the boy billionaire only managed to get out a simple:
"Of course."
Bruce was stunned. Terry was gone. It had been twenty minutes since Terry followed Ra's Al Ghul into that strange vortex and disappeared. Ace let out a short whimper as Bruce got up and crossed the cave to the Grey Ghost display. Before the visual cut out, Bruce remembered seeing Doctor Ghight handcuffed in the corner.
"Looks like its time to pay Doctor Ghight and Evers a visit." Bruce opened the display case and took out the Grey Ghost's mask.
"Don't wait up for me," He said to Ace as he donned the Grey Ghost's mask. "I'll be a while."
I
Terry was in Heaven. He was wrapped in the loving arms of his girlfriend Dana. She gazed into his eyes and he gazed back into hers. Their lips met and hands began to roam. Their embrace broke and Terry held out his arms and held Dana's hands. He smiled. She smiled back.
"There's something I need to tell you Terry", she said. "Something that I haven't told you about myself." She brought her hand up and pulled at the back of her neck. Her face pulled away to show that her beautiful face was just a mask. When the mask came off Terry was staring at the face of the Joker. Not the Joker that Bruce Wayne had once fought, but the old and ragged version Terry had once faced.
"Surprise McGinnis!", The Joker said as he laughed his most maniacal Laugh. "Come on Bat Fake! Let's kiss and make up!"
Terry woke from his nightmare with a start. He was extremely glad that he had woken up before the dream had gone any further.
"Man..", he groaned. "I'm not gonna be able to kiss Dana for a week."
Terry's vision was blurry and his head ached. He couldn't remember where he was or what had happened. Then it all came back to him. He had followed Ra's Al Ghul into the strange vortex. His vision became clear and the pounding in his head slowly subsided. Grabbing onto a nearby ledge, Terry pulled himself up. Looking around he saw he was on a rooftop somewhere and there was no sign of Ra's Al Ghul anywhere.
"Bruce?" Terry got no response from the radio in his cowl. Giving up trying to contact Bruce, Terry pressed the button on his belt that was supposed to summon the Batmobile. But the Batmobile didn't come. Terry guessed that the vortex must have shorted out his suit. He thought about gliding back to the mansion, but if his suit was broken then he didn't want to be flying over Gotham when his wings or the rockets in his boots gave out. He sighed.
"Frag it," he said. "I'll walk" Terry changed into his street clothes, which he had kept under his suit. The suit he now wore under his street clothes. He grabbed the knob on the stairwell door and pulled. It was locked. Terry studied the lock and was surprised to find that it was a really old one. He kicked the door hard and it swung open. As he walked down the stairs he noticed that the building too was quite old.
When Terry stepped onto the street he gasped. He was in the old district of Gotham City. The one Bruce had shown him once. The one where Bruce's parents had been shot. But the area was not as he remembered it. The buildings looked new rather than condemned. There were plenty of people walking the streets. But their clothing style was strange and out of fashion. The cars that rolled by had wheels on them and did not hover off the ground. Terry looked up and for a moment the sun blinded him. Putting his hand up to his forehead blocked the sun from his sight. Looking around he found that he didn't recognize any of the tall buildings that now made up Gotham's skyline. The sky scrappers that he did see looked like primitive out of date designs. They looked like buildings you would have found around 40 or 50 years ago. He slowly walked over to a nearby newsstand and froze. He saw the date on the paper and gasped.
"No way!" he found himself exclaiming out loud. Then everything clicked into place. The third gem that Ra's Al Ghul needed had been destroyed in an earthquake years ago. The doctors he tortured and abducted specialized in quantum physics. That device powered by the two gems Ra's already possessed had sent him…
"Back in time", Terry whispered. His eyes were wide open and a look of astonishment was frozen on his face.
"Hey, youz okay kid?" Terry looked back down to see someone was talking to him. "You don't looks to good." But Terry couldn't talk, he could barely even move. Then he heard some one shout "Look up there!" Terry craned his neck back to the sky and saw what everyone was looking at. Up in the sky was a beam of light caught on a passing cloud. In the center of the light was a shadowy shape. The shape of a bat. The guy who had asked Terry if he was okay started to shake him in an attempt to snap him out of it.
"Hey kid! I asked if yaz was okay. Is there something I can do to help?" Terry slowly lowered his head and met the man's gaze.
"There's only one man who can help me now." Terry turned and bolted down the street.
II
Batman was hanging onto the minute hand of the giant clock on Gotham's Clock Tower. His hands were aching and he was loosing his grip as his feet dangled and his cape flapped in the wind.
"It's time to meet your maker Batman!" called the sniveling voice of Temple Fugate: the Clock King. "The sand in your Hourglass has run out."
Batman looked down to the street below and then back into the smiling face of the ever arrogant Clock King. He thought if he heard one more clock pun from Fugate he was going to snap.
"You look all wound down Batman!" Batman jolted his head up and gritted his teeth.
"That's it!" He swung forward to build up some momentum and then he swung back in an arc and let go of the oversized minute hand. His feet landed square onto the chest of a Surprised Clock King who went flying back into the tower and hit the opposite wall. Batman landed on his feet in a perfect crouch and turned to face Fugate. He slowly walked over to Fugate who had just risen from the floor. The Clock King lunged at Batman swinging his minute hand sword-cane. Batman ducked and when he came back up he threw a punch at Fugate. His fist landed squarely on The Clock King's Jaw and Fugate went down.
"Well Fugate," The Dark Knight said. "Looks Like I clocked you good."
Temple just groaned and passed out. Batman reached into his utility belt and pulled out a cable with which to tie the Clock King with. As he finished the knot he looked up at the sky and saw the Bat Signal. Putting The Clock king over his shoulder Batman fired his Batgrappler out of the tower and swung out in the direction of the police station.
Terry opened the door to the mansion slowly and stepped in.
"Forty some odd years," he muttered. "And he hasn't changed the locks." He stepped further into the hallway and took notice of how different the place looked. The rooms were brightly lit and none of the furniture was covered in white sheets. There wasn't a speck of dust to be seen anywhere. Terry made his way into the study and noticed that that room was exactly the same. There on the wall sat the painting of Bruce's parents and opposite the painting sat the grandfather clock that laid entrance to the Batcave. He pulled on the pendulum and the clock moved to the side exposing the rocky staircase that led into the cave.
As he walked down the steps Terry looked around the cave. Most of the display items were gone save for the Giant Penny, the dinosaur, and the Grey Ghost costume. The glass cases that displayed the Bat Suits, the Robin suit and the Night Wing suit were gone too. But there was one display case showing what appeared to be Dick Grayson's Robin costume. In place of the Batmobile he was used to, Terry saw an older "wheeled" model instead. There was also some sort of Bat Plane as well. The Batcomputer and other machinery were all still there save for the holographic training simulator. Terry walked over to the chair in front of the Batcomputer and sat down. Sliding his hands over the console Terry exclaimed "Unbelievable."
"Ah Master Bruce I see you've returned from your latest… "business Meeting" shall we say?" Terry spun around when he heard the voice. The accent sounded British and when he did turn around he saw where the voice came from. The man was bald on top with gray hair going around the sides of his head. He had a thin mustache and wore a Tuxedo.
"Oh dear," he said when he saw it was not Bruce. "You are not Master Bruce." Terry smiled.
"Alfred I presume?" Terry could not believe he was looking at Bruce's old Butler.
"Yes I am Alfred, Bruce Wayne's Butler. And I see you've discovered my little secret. Yes, I'm Batman." Terry gave a short laugh out loud.
"Wow. Bruce said you were loyal," Terry remarked. "But I had no idea just how loyal." Alfred raised an eyebrow.
"You…Know Master Bruce?" Inquired the butler.
"Yes," Terry started. Well not yet. But I will know him." He could see the confused look on Alfred's face and realized this wasn't going to be fun trying to explain the situation. "Oh boy, here goes." He stood up so that he was about eye level with Alfred. "I'm from the future. And in this future I'm Batman. Now I accidentally got sent back here with some psychopathic She-male super Villain and I need Bruce's help to stop the guy and to get back to my own time."
"I see," replied Alfred. "Why didn't you say that right away? Is there anything I can get for you until Master Bruce returns?" Terry was very surprised.
"You mean…you believe me?"
"And why shouldn't I? You see, working for Master Bruce over the years I have seen many a strange thing. A robotic Batman Clone, A mutant Man-Bat creature, A frozen bodiless head walking around on spider like legs, smiling fish, A walking talking shape shifting glob of clay, And a man who can turn himself into a demon at will. Just to name a few. So tell me. Why shouldn't a Batman from the future saunter into the Batcave?"
Terry was at a loss for words.
His trench coat flapped in the breeze of the cold night air. The signal had been up for nearly fifteen minutes and it was beginning to look like Batman wasn't going to show. Commissioner Jim Gordon was perhaps the only man who could claim to be Batman's friend. Long ago Jim had learned that Batman was the best chance Gotham City had for survival against the evil that lurked in the streets below. So he and Batman had formed a strange but comforting friendship. Whenever anything big went down in Gotham it was Jim's instinct to head up to the roof of police headquarters and flash the Bat signal, despite what everyone else thought. A lot of people didn't like the arrangement that Gordon had with the Dark Night. The mayor, The D.A. and Harvey Bullock all thought of Batman as a psychotic vigilante who should be thrown in Arkham asylum with all of Gotham's other nutcases. But Jim New better. Of course what Jim didn't know was that his good friend Bruce Wayne and this Dark Avenger he shared most of his work time with were one in the same. Or that his daughter Barbara was part of Bruce's crime fighting team as Batgirl. What Jim did know was that without Batman, Gotham would fall into total chaos.
Jim had just given up and switched off the signal when the caped crusader stepped out of the shadows. To his surprise a somewhat unconscious Temple Fugate lay over Batman's shoulder. Batman dropped the Clock King at his feet and took a few more steps forward.
"Evening Jim."
"Batman. Is that Temple Fugate?" The Dark Knight just nodded. "Boys," He sighed, "Escort Mr. Fugate back to his cell at Arkham."
The two officers who had been standing at his side grabbed the Clock King and started reading him his rights as they dragged him off.
"What a shame," Jim continued now that he and Batman were alone, "I didn't get you anything." For a split second he thought he saw Batman smile.
"You paged Jim?"
"Actually…I wanted to let you know that Fugate escaped. But apparently you already knew…. before we did. How the heck do you do it?"
"Uh-uh, uh Jim. A magician never reveals his secrets."
"So you're magician now huh? Well, you got the cape for it." The old police commissioner smiled.
"How's Barbara?"
"She's fine. She got a new job working part time for Bruce Wayne. She still manages to aggravate me a little from time to time. You know how kids are. You got a couple of em' left right. At least yours already know what they want to do with the rest of their lives. Anyway, Fugate wasn't the only Arkahm Escapee. The Joker's on the loose too."
"I'll keep an eye out for him. He won't be on the streets for long." After a few moments of uncomfortable silence Jim spoke.
"So… see you tomorrow?" Batman nodded "Same time as always then?"
"12:01. Wouldn't miss it for the world Jim." With that, Batman's hand came out from under his cape and fired a grappling hook on to a nearby building. A second later Batman was gone.
It was nearly four A.M. when the Batmobile pulled into the Batcave. When the door slid open Bruce jumped out of the car and pulled off his mask. As he walked over to the Batcomputer he started to change into Bruce Wayne's clothes.
"Master Bruce…" Bruce put up a hand to silence Alfred.
"Not now Alfred. It's been a long night and I need some sleep."
"But Master Bruce I really should…"
"Alfred. I'm going to sleep." Bruce was startled as the chair in front of the Batcomputer spun around to reveal a teenaged boy.
"Who sleeps anymore?", said the stranger.
"Master Bruce as I was trying to tell you before. Allow me to introduce master Terrence McGinnis." Bruce was at a loss for words as Alfred continued. "He's Batman. From the future of course." Though his mind was now filled with a few hundred different thoughts at once, the boy billionaire only managed to get out a simple:
"Of course."
Bruce was stunned. Terry was gone. It had been twenty minutes since Terry followed Ra's Al Ghul into that strange vortex and disappeared. Ace let out a short whimper as Bruce got up and crossed the cave to the Grey Ghost display. Before the visual cut out, Bruce remembered seeing Doctor Ghight handcuffed in the corner.
"Looks like its time to pay Doctor Ghight and Evers a visit." Bruce opened the display case and took out the Grey Ghost's mask.
"Don't wait up for me," He said to Ace as he donned the Grey Ghost's mask. "I'll be a while."
