This is not connected to Beyond Knightfall, although one or two things from there (such as the Clarendon) may show up. Also, I am not using the exact same characterizations for some of the less well-defined characters. The overall tone will be different, too- BK is basically serious, but has some humor in it; this saga- I mean story- is basically silly with some serious moments in it. Some very serious moments. Still, this is the series in which no idea is to ludicrous to be considered. Expect a Pokemon crossover about six stories down the road, with permanent repercussions for Our Heroes.
Many thanks to Chris Dee, creator of the godly Cat Tales series, for the use of Big Bad Zogger.
#################################
Ra's al Ghul sat and brooded, once again cursing the fact that Talia had not been the son he desired. Global domination was a man's job. His men did not give him the proper respect when they saw him in this body. And most importantly, if Talia had been his son, he wouldn't be sitting here with these hideous cramps!
It was The Detective's fault. His and that- that boy's. That mere whelp had defeated him; that was an insult that could not be ignored. And now The Whelp- yes, he liked that name- had the nerve to go up against the Joker! The Detective's second greatest foe! And he won! Again!!!
This could not be tolerated.
He toyed with several plans, dismissing them as either more clever than The Whelp deserved or not clever enough. The Whelp was not incompetent, after all, merely unworthy of the mantle that had been passed to him. Granted, he did stop the Joker, but...
The Joker. Oh, now there was an idea. The green-haired fool was well and truly gone now, but his legacy remained. And Ra's al Ghul was a great believer in maintaining legacies.
Ra's generally had little patience with maniacal bursts of laughter, but in some situations it was the only proper response.
Ra's was about to learn why one does not plot grandiose schemes of revenge when one has PMS.
##################################
Bruce sat in the Batcave, waiting for Terry. Today Terry was going to tell Dana the truth. After the Joker's attack last week, the boy had decided that if his family and Dana were going to be endangered anyway then they had a right to know about it and to know the reason why. Bruce had wanted to argue, but he couldn't, especially after Terry pointed out that Matt had been targeted before because of his connection to Batman. He had surprised Terry by agreeing, but he'd also warned the boy that he might not like the consequences. Terry had then decided to tell Dana first, and hadn't explained why. Bruce wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"I will never understand women."
Bruce looked up to see Terry coming down the stairs, a woebegone expression on his face. Not the "fight-with-Dana" look, but the "Max-showed-me-up-again" look.
"So how did she take it?"
"Well, I hauled her aside at lunch- I figured she wouldn't try to kill me if there were too many witnesses. Don't worry, I made sure we were out of earshot. Anyway, I told her, I apologized for lying to her, I apologized for the Jokerz attacking her- and then she called Max and Chelsea over and told them to pay up because she won the bet!"
Bruce was stunned. Of all the reactions he'd been expecting, that one hadn't even been on the list.
"Max didn't-"
"NO. Dana has known for weeks! Ever since I rescued her from Ratboy! And she never said anything!"
"What was the bet?"
"Oh, you're gonna love this- after she figured it out, she went and talked to Chelsea and the two of them confronted Max. Yeah, they guessed that part, too. Max caved. After the fur stopped flying, they decided not to tell me. They wanted to see how long it would take me to cave. Max thought I'd never tell, Chelsea thought I'd wait until after Graduation, and Dana figured I'd keep quiet until someone came after her because they knew she was my girlfriend."
"She really does know you, doesn't she?"
Terry glared at him.
"You're really getting a kick out of this, aren't you?"
"I never would have expected Max to be able to keep one set of secrets, let alone two."
"Thanks a lot." A thought struck Terry. "Wait a minute- all those times she's bugged me to tell Dana- I can't believe this! She- ah, slaggit!"
Terry leaned against the wall of the cave and looked as though he was contemplating bashing his head against it. After a while he looked over at Bruce with the beginnings of a wry smile.
"Hey, Old Man, you know that no-kill policy of yours? Is that a rule or just a guideline?"
"It's a rule."
"Oh."
"Try not to look so disappointed."
Terry laughed.
"Well, I'm not much for the whole signs-and-portents crap, but I'm gonna take this a good omen. Tomorrow I'm telling Mom."
###################################
"I told her."
Bruce looked up at Terry just as he had the day before, but this time he kept quiet. The boy was pale and stony-faced, and obviously not in the mood to talk. He grabbed the suit and was gone in minutes. He barely spoke a word all night.
###################################
"Mr. Wayne, I'd like a word with you."
"Of course. I've been expecting you."
Bruce knew this was going to be painful, and he was right, as usual. As far as Mary McGinnis was concerned, all that being Batman meant to Terry was a cheap excuse for fighting. She had ordered him to stop. He'd refused, so she came to Bruce.
"I want you to fire Terry."
"I tried that last week. We both nearly got killed."
She glared.
"I could go to the police, you know."
*Oh, yes, Barbara would just love that,* Bruce thought. "That would not only get both Terry and me killed, it would put you, Matt, and everyone else close to us in extreme danger."
"Then he's going to have to choose: Batman or his family."
They heard a gasp at the door; both of them looked up sharply. Terry was standing in the entrance, white with shock. Bruce knew then that things were about to get very ugly. He wasn't wrong. Mrs. McGinnis threw accusation after accusation at Terry. He tried to refute them, but she refused to listen. He begged her not to make him choose, and she just screamed at him. Bruce sat frozen, wishing he was anywhere else, knowing he couldn't interfere. Finally Mrs. McGinnis lowered the boom.
"All right, that's enough! I don't want to hear any more! Is your nightly brawling really more important to you than your family? It's your decision."
"No, it's yours." Terry spoke with an almost desperate calm. "Think about what you're asking- it's not only about the fighting, and you should know that. I'm saving lives out there, helping people. If you make me quit, those people could die. Some of them will. And every time I heard about another death I could have prevented if I'd just been there something inside of me would die too, until I started to hate you for forcing me to make that decision. Is that what you really want?"
There was silence for a few seconds. Mrs. McGinnis' cold expression intensified.
"So that's your choice, then. You're abandoning your family for an old man's obsession and some cheap thrills. I should have known; we never did come first with you. I'm just glad your father isn't alive to see this."
Bruce had thought Terry couldn't get any paler. He'd been wrong.
"No..."
"You have until Sunday night to pack up and get out of my house."
"Mom, please..."
"I don't want to hear it, Terry. You made your choice. You're no better than the Jokerz who murdered your father."
She turned and walked out while Terry was still speechless. Bruce, who could see Terry's face, couldn't think when he'd had a stronger urge to smack a civilian across the room. Ace, picking up on his feelings, started to growl. The sound snapped Terry out of his trance and he also stalked out of the room- but headed in the opposite direction. Bruce buried his head in his hands, trying to think of some way to salvage the situation.
"Bruce, I- oh, my God- has something happened to Terry?"
Bruce looked up sharply. Barbara Gordon stood where Terry had earlier, an identical expression of horrified shock on her face.
"Not what you're thinking, but yes. Terry told his mother."
"So that's whose car I passed."
"Probably. She was just here, telling Terry he had until Sunday to get out."
Barbara stared at him, then suddenly looked uneasy.
"Does Terry know how to access Big Bad Zogger?"
Bruce didn't even get out the first word of his usual objection to the silly nickname for Strategic Self-Mutating Defensive Regimen 4 before he realized what the answer was. He surged to his feet and almost ran to the elevator. He hated using it- it made him feel old- but right now he wanted to get down to the cave as quickly as possible. Barbara wheeled and ran for the clock. By the time he reached the cave, she was already bending over Terry's too-still form. She looked up as he approached.
"Happened just as I was coming down. The Big Bopper caught him and sent him flying. Slammed him right into the wall. I don't think he's seriously hurt, though."
"No, just seriously hurting," came the groggy reply.
"I'm not surprised. Still, three-quarters of the way through Zogger? Which setting did you use?"
"Joker."
Barbara whistled. Bruce looked at the training area and his eyebrows shot up. It was a setting he'd only used three times himself, a brutal, demanding program that he'd struggled to beat. And Terry had gotten three-quarters of the way through it, leaving behind a trail of battered equipment. Granted, the boy's smaller size was a distinct advantage in that program, but it was still impressive. Or possibly worrying. Especially since he hadn't been wearing the suit.
Terry struggled into a sitting position with Barbara's help, wincing. She checked him over a little more thoroughly while Bruce tried to look like he wasn't hovering.
"Hey, Commish? DOn't take this wrong, but-"
"Why am I here?"
"Uh, yeah. Not that I'm complaining- you're a lot gentler than Bruce is." Terry tried to smile; it wasn't one of his more successful attempts. Barbara's was a bit better.
"I was going to warn you about a sting going down, but-"
"You- what?"
Bruce couldn't blame Terry for gaping at her. He wanted an explanation, too.
"Look, kid, whatever my personal opinion is, you're gonna be out there, and if you see what looks like a buy in progress you'll try to bust it up. I'm just trying to save all of us a few headaches. I'm not saying I'm going to bring back the Bat-Signal, but I figure I could at least give you an occasional heads-up, okay?"
Terry looked at her. then nodded with a slightly more realistic smile.
"Thanks."
"Sure. But I guess it's a moot point, since I doubt you'll be going out tonight."
"I won't?"
He looked ready to argue. Bruce happened to agree with Barbara- Terry should not try to patrol in the state he was in- so he deliberately twisted one of the boy's earlier complaints.
"Your own rule McGinnis: if you can stand up and walk across the room unassisted, you can patrol."
Terry glared.
"That wasn't a rule," he grumbled, "that was me whining."
Bruce didn't respond verbally, but with a challenging glare of his own. He knew Terry wouldn't have recovered from a Zogger beating that quickly, and sure enough, Terry couldn't even stand up without Barbara's help. She hauled him to the chair by the Batcomputer and shoved him into it, ignoring his protests.
"Shut up, McGinnis. Now, the two of you need to talk, so I'm leaving." She headed up the stairs, but paused partway up to rake the two of them with one last glare. "Don't let your ego get in the way of your common sense."
There was a brief period of silence before Terry asked, "Which one of us was she talking to?"
"Knowing her, probably both of us. Terry-"
"I don't know." Seeing Bruce's raised eyebrow, Terry explained. "You were going to ask what I planned to do now, right? Well, I don't know. I guess I'd better start apartment hunting. Maybe the Clarendon. I can crash at Max's for a few days if I need to."
"Or you could move in here."
Terry gave him a suspicious look.
"Bruce..."
"It's not pity, or charity. You need somewhere to stay. I have more room than I need. It would also make your job easier if you didn't have to commute."
"You've thought about this, haven't you? I mean, before today. Did you think she'd react like that?"
"I knew it was a possibility." Bruce struggled with himself, then forced himself to say the last thing he wanted to say: "Maybe it's not too late. Let her cool down, then try to talk to her again. I can't ask-"
"You didn't," Terry snarled, ice-blue eyes blazing. "You heard what she said- do you think I could just go back there and act like it never happened? Forget it."
The silence was a little more uncomfortable this time. Once again it was Terry who broke it.
"All right. I'll move in- on one condition."
"What's that?" Bruce decided that, Zogger-headache or not, if Terry tried to insist on paying rent...
"I do the cooking."
"Done."
##################################
Comedy will ensue eventually, I promise. After all, Ra's has a Master Plan- this has to get silly at some point!
I'm not discontinuing Beyond Knightfall, I promise. This story is already finished; I'm just grabbing it chapter by chapter from the site where I originally posted it.
Many thanks to Chris Dee, creator of the godly Cat Tales series, for the use of Big Bad Zogger.
#################################
Ra's al Ghul sat and brooded, once again cursing the fact that Talia had not been the son he desired. Global domination was a man's job. His men did not give him the proper respect when they saw him in this body. And most importantly, if Talia had been his son, he wouldn't be sitting here with these hideous cramps!
It was The Detective's fault. His and that- that boy's. That mere whelp had defeated him; that was an insult that could not be ignored. And now The Whelp- yes, he liked that name- had the nerve to go up against the Joker! The Detective's second greatest foe! And he won! Again!!!
This could not be tolerated.
He toyed with several plans, dismissing them as either more clever than The Whelp deserved or not clever enough. The Whelp was not incompetent, after all, merely unworthy of the mantle that had been passed to him. Granted, he did stop the Joker, but...
The Joker. Oh, now there was an idea. The green-haired fool was well and truly gone now, but his legacy remained. And Ra's al Ghul was a great believer in maintaining legacies.
Ra's generally had little patience with maniacal bursts of laughter, but in some situations it was the only proper response.
Ra's was about to learn why one does not plot grandiose schemes of revenge when one has PMS.
##################################
Bruce sat in the Batcave, waiting for Terry. Today Terry was going to tell Dana the truth. After the Joker's attack last week, the boy had decided that if his family and Dana were going to be endangered anyway then they had a right to know about it and to know the reason why. Bruce had wanted to argue, but he couldn't, especially after Terry pointed out that Matt had been targeted before because of his connection to Batman. He had surprised Terry by agreeing, but he'd also warned the boy that he might not like the consequences. Terry had then decided to tell Dana first, and hadn't explained why. Bruce wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"I will never understand women."
Bruce looked up to see Terry coming down the stairs, a woebegone expression on his face. Not the "fight-with-Dana" look, but the "Max-showed-me-up-again" look.
"So how did she take it?"
"Well, I hauled her aside at lunch- I figured she wouldn't try to kill me if there were too many witnesses. Don't worry, I made sure we were out of earshot. Anyway, I told her, I apologized for lying to her, I apologized for the Jokerz attacking her- and then she called Max and Chelsea over and told them to pay up because she won the bet!"
Bruce was stunned. Of all the reactions he'd been expecting, that one hadn't even been on the list.
"Max didn't-"
"NO. Dana has known for weeks! Ever since I rescued her from Ratboy! And she never said anything!"
"What was the bet?"
"Oh, you're gonna love this- after she figured it out, she went and talked to Chelsea and the two of them confronted Max. Yeah, they guessed that part, too. Max caved. After the fur stopped flying, they decided not to tell me. They wanted to see how long it would take me to cave. Max thought I'd never tell, Chelsea thought I'd wait until after Graduation, and Dana figured I'd keep quiet until someone came after her because they knew she was my girlfriend."
"She really does know you, doesn't she?"
Terry glared at him.
"You're really getting a kick out of this, aren't you?"
"I never would have expected Max to be able to keep one set of secrets, let alone two."
"Thanks a lot." A thought struck Terry. "Wait a minute- all those times she's bugged me to tell Dana- I can't believe this! She- ah, slaggit!"
Terry leaned against the wall of the cave and looked as though he was contemplating bashing his head against it. After a while he looked over at Bruce with the beginnings of a wry smile.
"Hey, Old Man, you know that no-kill policy of yours? Is that a rule or just a guideline?"
"It's a rule."
"Oh."
"Try not to look so disappointed."
Terry laughed.
"Well, I'm not much for the whole signs-and-portents crap, but I'm gonna take this a good omen. Tomorrow I'm telling Mom."
###################################
"I told her."
Bruce looked up at Terry just as he had the day before, but this time he kept quiet. The boy was pale and stony-faced, and obviously not in the mood to talk. He grabbed the suit and was gone in minutes. He barely spoke a word all night.
###################################
"Mr. Wayne, I'd like a word with you."
"Of course. I've been expecting you."
Bruce knew this was going to be painful, and he was right, as usual. As far as Mary McGinnis was concerned, all that being Batman meant to Terry was a cheap excuse for fighting. She had ordered him to stop. He'd refused, so she came to Bruce.
"I want you to fire Terry."
"I tried that last week. We both nearly got killed."
She glared.
"I could go to the police, you know."
*Oh, yes, Barbara would just love that,* Bruce thought. "That would not only get both Terry and me killed, it would put you, Matt, and everyone else close to us in extreme danger."
"Then he's going to have to choose: Batman or his family."
They heard a gasp at the door; both of them looked up sharply. Terry was standing in the entrance, white with shock. Bruce knew then that things were about to get very ugly. He wasn't wrong. Mrs. McGinnis threw accusation after accusation at Terry. He tried to refute them, but she refused to listen. He begged her not to make him choose, and she just screamed at him. Bruce sat frozen, wishing he was anywhere else, knowing he couldn't interfere. Finally Mrs. McGinnis lowered the boom.
"All right, that's enough! I don't want to hear any more! Is your nightly brawling really more important to you than your family? It's your decision."
"No, it's yours." Terry spoke with an almost desperate calm. "Think about what you're asking- it's not only about the fighting, and you should know that. I'm saving lives out there, helping people. If you make me quit, those people could die. Some of them will. And every time I heard about another death I could have prevented if I'd just been there something inside of me would die too, until I started to hate you for forcing me to make that decision. Is that what you really want?"
There was silence for a few seconds. Mrs. McGinnis' cold expression intensified.
"So that's your choice, then. You're abandoning your family for an old man's obsession and some cheap thrills. I should have known; we never did come first with you. I'm just glad your father isn't alive to see this."
Bruce had thought Terry couldn't get any paler. He'd been wrong.
"No..."
"You have until Sunday night to pack up and get out of my house."
"Mom, please..."
"I don't want to hear it, Terry. You made your choice. You're no better than the Jokerz who murdered your father."
She turned and walked out while Terry was still speechless. Bruce, who could see Terry's face, couldn't think when he'd had a stronger urge to smack a civilian across the room. Ace, picking up on his feelings, started to growl. The sound snapped Terry out of his trance and he also stalked out of the room- but headed in the opposite direction. Bruce buried his head in his hands, trying to think of some way to salvage the situation.
"Bruce, I- oh, my God- has something happened to Terry?"
Bruce looked up sharply. Barbara Gordon stood where Terry had earlier, an identical expression of horrified shock on her face.
"Not what you're thinking, but yes. Terry told his mother."
"So that's whose car I passed."
"Probably. She was just here, telling Terry he had until Sunday to get out."
Barbara stared at him, then suddenly looked uneasy.
"Does Terry know how to access Big Bad Zogger?"
Bruce didn't even get out the first word of his usual objection to the silly nickname for Strategic Self-Mutating Defensive Regimen 4 before he realized what the answer was. He surged to his feet and almost ran to the elevator. He hated using it- it made him feel old- but right now he wanted to get down to the cave as quickly as possible. Barbara wheeled and ran for the clock. By the time he reached the cave, she was already bending over Terry's too-still form. She looked up as he approached.
"Happened just as I was coming down. The Big Bopper caught him and sent him flying. Slammed him right into the wall. I don't think he's seriously hurt, though."
"No, just seriously hurting," came the groggy reply.
"I'm not surprised. Still, three-quarters of the way through Zogger? Which setting did you use?"
"Joker."
Barbara whistled. Bruce looked at the training area and his eyebrows shot up. It was a setting he'd only used three times himself, a brutal, demanding program that he'd struggled to beat. And Terry had gotten three-quarters of the way through it, leaving behind a trail of battered equipment. Granted, the boy's smaller size was a distinct advantage in that program, but it was still impressive. Or possibly worrying. Especially since he hadn't been wearing the suit.
Terry struggled into a sitting position with Barbara's help, wincing. She checked him over a little more thoroughly while Bruce tried to look like he wasn't hovering.
"Hey, Commish? DOn't take this wrong, but-"
"Why am I here?"
"Uh, yeah. Not that I'm complaining- you're a lot gentler than Bruce is." Terry tried to smile; it wasn't one of his more successful attempts. Barbara's was a bit better.
"I was going to warn you about a sting going down, but-"
"You- what?"
Bruce couldn't blame Terry for gaping at her. He wanted an explanation, too.
"Look, kid, whatever my personal opinion is, you're gonna be out there, and if you see what looks like a buy in progress you'll try to bust it up. I'm just trying to save all of us a few headaches. I'm not saying I'm going to bring back the Bat-Signal, but I figure I could at least give you an occasional heads-up, okay?"
Terry looked at her. then nodded with a slightly more realistic smile.
"Thanks."
"Sure. But I guess it's a moot point, since I doubt you'll be going out tonight."
"I won't?"
He looked ready to argue. Bruce happened to agree with Barbara- Terry should not try to patrol in the state he was in- so he deliberately twisted one of the boy's earlier complaints.
"Your own rule McGinnis: if you can stand up and walk across the room unassisted, you can patrol."
Terry glared.
"That wasn't a rule," he grumbled, "that was me whining."
Bruce didn't respond verbally, but with a challenging glare of his own. He knew Terry wouldn't have recovered from a Zogger beating that quickly, and sure enough, Terry couldn't even stand up without Barbara's help. She hauled him to the chair by the Batcomputer and shoved him into it, ignoring his protests.
"Shut up, McGinnis. Now, the two of you need to talk, so I'm leaving." She headed up the stairs, but paused partway up to rake the two of them with one last glare. "Don't let your ego get in the way of your common sense."
There was a brief period of silence before Terry asked, "Which one of us was she talking to?"
"Knowing her, probably both of us. Terry-"
"I don't know." Seeing Bruce's raised eyebrow, Terry explained. "You were going to ask what I planned to do now, right? Well, I don't know. I guess I'd better start apartment hunting. Maybe the Clarendon. I can crash at Max's for a few days if I need to."
"Or you could move in here."
Terry gave him a suspicious look.
"Bruce..."
"It's not pity, or charity. You need somewhere to stay. I have more room than I need. It would also make your job easier if you didn't have to commute."
"You've thought about this, haven't you? I mean, before today. Did you think she'd react like that?"
"I knew it was a possibility." Bruce struggled with himself, then forced himself to say the last thing he wanted to say: "Maybe it's not too late. Let her cool down, then try to talk to her again. I can't ask-"
"You didn't," Terry snarled, ice-blue eyes blazing. "You heard what she said- do you think I could just go back there and act like it never happened? Forget it."
The silence was a little more uncomfortable this time. Once again it was Terry who broke it.
"All right. I'll move in- on one condition."
"What's that?" Bruce decided that, Zogger-headache or not, if Terry tried to insist on paying rent...
"I do the cooking."
"Done."
##################################
Comedy will ensue eventually, I promise. After all, Ra's has a Master Plan- this has to get silly at some point!
I'm not discontinuing Beyond Knightfall, I promise. This story is already finished; I'm just grabbing it chapter by chapter from the site where I originally posted it.