That last author's note is a prime example of why I shouldn't try editing things at 2AM and then post them without double-checking...
I have to be honest here- when I labelled this humor/drama I wasn't kidding, as you may have guessed already. The humor will become evident, but not in this chapter.
*******************************************
Terry spent the night at the Manor, but was off to school before Bruce got up. It wasn't the first time Terry had stayed over, but before he had always slipped away without leaving a trace. This time he'd left a breakfast of sorts ready- fresh coffee, orange juice, and applesauce muffins still warm from the oven. Bruce was impressed; finding the ingredients in his kitchen couldn't have been easy. He supposed he'd have to do something about that, maybe update the kitchen as well. He'd have to speak to Terry about it; domestic matters had never been his strong suit.
When he returned home from the office that evening he found Dana's car parked out front, trunk open. Terry wasn't wasting any time.
"Hi, Mr. Wayne. Hope you don't mind my being here, but Terry can't fit much on his bike, so..."
"Not at all, Dana. I'm hardly going to insist on Terry becoming a hermit just because he's moved in here." He wasn't thrilled at the prospect of Terry's friends dropping in on a regular basis, but he meant what he said. He wasn't going to force Terry to give up everything; the job was already doing enough of that. The least he could do was not make things harder for the boy.
"Oh, good. I have to admit, I've always wanted to see this place. My grandmother told me it looked like a place she blew up in one of her movies. That was a compliment, by the way."
"Glad to hear it. Was she an actress or in special effects?" It might not be a bad idea to find out a bit more about his friends either. Especially after hearing about Dana's response to Terry's big confession.
"Kinda both- she was a stuntwoman. I think you might have met her." Dana smiled a little too innocently. "She called herself Roxy Rocket back then."
Bruce stopped in his tracks.
"Roxy? A grandmother? Your grandmother?"
Dana giggled.
"I know, there's no family resemblance. But she is. She used to tell me all sorts of stories about her life as one of your Rogues' Gallery. I kinda wish I could tell her I'm dating Batman- she'd think it was a scream."
"Yes, she probably would. How is she doing? I'm afraid I lost track of her years ago." He wasn't about to tell her he'd never payed all that much attention to Roxy in the first place because she was more a nuisance than a threat.
"She's fine, She's a consultant now and just as wild as ever. I'm wondering if I should tell her about Bloody Mary's latest trick."
Bruce smirked at the nickname and found the mental image of Roxy Rocket taking on Mary McGinnis to be disturbingly appealing. Then the meaning of Dana's remark hit him.
"Latest trick? And why would Roxy-"
"Care? She adores Terry, that's half the reason Dad hates him. The old mother-in-law thing, you know. And the other- I don't have time to say much, but there's a lot Terry hasn't told you that you're going to need to know about if he's going to be living here. It's not that he's hiding it, it's just he doesn't like to talk about it. The most important thing is- watch your back. Terry's, too. You know Terry can be vindictive when he's really mad? Well, he gets it from her, but she's much worse. At least Terry tries to keep it in perspective. She's more the scorched earth type. Like when the divorce was finalized and Terry chose to live with his father- and that's a story all its own- she made sure Terry didn't get to see Matt at all. He didn't see his own brother from the time he went into Juvy until the night his father died. That's what she's really like- she's just good at hiding it."
Bruce frowned and would have asked for more information but Terry came out of the manor before he could. That set the tone for the rest of the week; Terry and Dana would bring over a load of stuff and Dana would make an opportunity to speak to Bruce alone while Terry unpacked. Terry pretended not to notice, but Bruce suspected he knew.
By the end of the week Bruce had a clearer picture of Terry's home life and was amazed the boy hadn't become a screaming neurotic. It certainly explained why he always assumed the blame for whatever went wrong; Bloody Mary had almost programmed it into him. It also put a chilling slant on something she had said at Terry's sentencing.
"...maybe some time behind bars will finally impress on him the consequence of making bad choices..."
When he'd first read the trial transcript the comment had struck him as a bit harsh, but he'd chalked it up to a mother trying desperate measures to get through to her son. Now he wondered what "choice" she'd given him that time.
Friday evening he'd returned a bit late. Terry had gone on patrol, but Dana was waiting for him to tell him of Mrs. McGinnis' stunt of the day. They'd gotten to the McGinnis' place to find Matt in tears; she'd thrown away every last bit of Matt's Batman gear, saying he needed a role model he could be proud of, not a "cheap thug in a Halloween costume".
Bruce was furious- not to mention highly insulted- but at the same time he was a bit relieved. Pulling a stunt like that just before Terry was due to pick up the last of his belongings had to be the expected payback. Now they could relax, and hopefully Terry could put her out of his mind.
Bruce Wayne always opted for quality over quantity, even in his screwups.
********************************************
It was one of those beautiful late May afternoons when nothing could possibly go wrong, which should have been a warning on its own. Unfortunately, Terry failed to realize it and went to pick up Matt as he always did. Monday afternoons had become their time to hang out over the past couple years and Terry had no intention of giving that up. He and his mother could be civil to each other for the few minutes it would take to hand Matt over, he hoped.
It had been a strange week, and one he never wanted to repeat. He'd known something like that had been inevitable, but that hadn't made it less of a shock when it finally did happen. It certainly hadn't made it less painful. He also knew that Bruce was worried about him and that despite what the Old Man claimed, he felt guilty. Bruce, Terry thought with absolutely no sense of irony, had a hyperactive guilt gland.
Of course, there had been some amusing moments, even if he wasn't in the mood to appreciate them. Bruce trying to subtly question him about the kitchen ranked pretty high on the list. Only he would treat home improvement like another case. It had made the transition easier, though; discussing what needed to be done to make the kitchen practical again had distracted them from the awkwardness of realizing they were actually living together. Terry wondered if he hadn't done it deliberately.
The school bell brought him back to his surroundings. Matt would be out in a few minutes and Terry wanted to be sure they didn't miss each other. He stood, getting ready to cross to the school.
"Terry McGinnis?"
"Yeah-"
He didn't get a chance to ask why before the stocky, badly-dressed man drove a fist into Terry's gut. As he doubled over the man shoved him face down onto the sidewalk and wrenched his arm up behind his back. Terry started to struggle but froze when he felt handcuffs closing painfully tightly around his wrists and heard the familiar words: "You have the right to remain silent..."
*...the hell...? *
"That look like resisting arrest to you, Burrows?"
"Yeah, Tully. Gotta defend ourselves, don't we?"
For one giddy moment Terry thought he'd slipped into an alternate universe based on bad cop shows. Burrows' next comment almost convinced him.
"We don't like kidnappers, dreg- especially when they go after little kids. I think you need to learn why it's a bad idea around here."
*Kidnapping?* "Hey, wait a minute-" Terry protested. Burrows- a slightly taller version of his partner- responded by hauling Terry to his feet and slamming him into a wall, again face first. He could feel blood start to seep down his cheek.
"Didn't we say you had the right to remain silent?"
Burrows punctuated to word "silent" with a kidney punch. Terry cried out, which got him spun around and backhanded. His head snapped back, smashing into the wall, almost knocking him out. Burrows caught him as he fell, but only so Tully could get his shots in. Any sound Terry made was answered by a particularly brutal blow until he finally suppressed his reactions out of sheer self-preservation. It didn't help.
Suddenly Burrows dropped him.
"Dammit, who let that kid out here?"
Terry forced his eyes open to see Matt staring at them in horror. A teacher came up from behind and picked him up, but as soon as he did Matt went into hysterics. The next thing Terry knew he was being dragged away to the sound of his brother's screams.
The ride to the station was a relief, since they left him alone for the duration. He tried to listen to their conversation to see if he could figure out what the hell was going on, but they spent the whole drive discussing hockey. When they reached the station, they made it very clear that Terry wanted to waive his right to a phone call and hauled him straight onto an interrogation room.
"All right, dreg, what did you want with Matt McGinnis?"
Terry hesitated, wondering if this was a trick, then replied, "He's my brother."
Burrows smashed him across the face, knocking him to the floor.
"Wrong answer, dreg. Mrs. McGinnis says he's an only child."
Terry didn't react to the blow; his mind froze up, focussing on one thing: Mrs. McGinnis says he's an only child....
Tully hauled him to his feet. He knew he was being asked more questions, but he couldn't seem to hear them. Tully drew back a fist; at the same time Terry was dimly aware of the door swinging open.
He was on the floor again, even though Tully hadn't finished swinging. Instead the officer had dropped him and was now yelling at whoever had entered the room. Someone with gentle hands was behind him unlocking the cuffs. Unfortunately the rush of pain as the circulation in his hands got kick-started was the last thing he needed. Instinctively stifling a sigh, he passed out.
********************************************
Even at 81 Bruce was intimidating. As he stormed into the police station, people took one look at his face and scurried out of his way. He made it to the captain's office without a single challenge. Barbara was waiting for him outside it looking as angry as he did.
"Dr. Randall's looking him over. She wants us to wait out here until she's done. Bruce, I know an apology is worthless-"
"You have nothing to apologize for unless you try to protect them- and I know you won't."
"Damn right I won't. They'll be lucky if I settle for just firing them. Captain Juarez tells me there have been complaints about them before, but they could never prove anything. That won't be a problem this time- too many witnesses and most of them willing to testify. I just hope Terry will press charges. Well, even if he doesn't we still have enough to hang them. The desk sergeant says he was barely conscious when those two brought him in, they literally twisted his arm to keep him from calling anyone, and they completely ignored his civil rights, proper procedure, and anything resembling human decency. And it gets worse."
"How?"
"They picked Terry up outside of Matt's school. Poor kid was in hysterics- he thought they'd killed Terry."
"Damn that woman," Bruce growled. Barbara agreed.
"I can get her for filing a false report, but that's about it. She's going to get away with this and there isn't a damn thing we can do about without hurting Matt, too. -Good God, what are those three doing here?"
Bruce turned to see Dana, Chelsea, and Max walking toward them, spoiling for a fight. He was glad to see them for Terry's sake.
"Where is he?" they chorused.
"With the doctor. How did you find out?"
"Howard's cousin's girlfriend is a file clerk here," Max explained. "She saw Terry get dragged in and called Howard, Howard called me, and I got the unholy trinity together. How is he?"
"He'll live. Nothing seems to be broken. Other than that, you'll have to wait too."
"What happened?" Chelsea asked. "I mean, other than Terry's mom being a malevolent sow- we guessed that already."
Barbara smirked, then frowned again and glanced at Bruce, who nodded.
"As near as we can figure, Mrs. McGinnis called last night to report someone stalking Matt. She described Terry, even gave his name, and said he was claiming to be Matt's brother but that Matt was an only child."
Max and Chelsea gasped; Dana's eyes narrowed.
"She specifically asked for Burrows and Tully, supposedly because of their reputations for solving cases."
"Shyeah, right," Max muttered.
"And when they arrested Terry-"
"They beat the crap out of him," Chelsea finished. "What are you going to do about it?"
"There's going to be a full investigation and they will be fired. I can't promise more than that."
The girls exchanged a worrying look but didn't say anything. There was a brief silence, broken by the doctor stepping out to meet them.
"He'll live," she said echoing Barbara's earlier statement, "assuming he doesn't do anything stupid. No concussion, nothing broken, nothing dislocated. An impressive collection of abrasions and bruises, including bruised ribs. Is anyone here family?"
Everyone looked at Bruce.
"You're a relative?"
"....Not exactly."
"Right now you're the closest he's got," Barbara said.
"Good enough for me," The doctor sighed, handing Bruce a small bottle of pills. "Make sure he takes one of these tonight and stays in bed tomorrow. He'll be feeling them more then, believe me. If he looks like he's in pain, make sure he takes one no matter how much he argues. There's enough there for three days at maximum safe dosage. You look sensible enough to call for help if complications occur, which they shouldn't. That takes care of his physical condition. What worries me is his mental condition: he hasn't said a word since he woke up. It's like he's withdrawn inside himself, not that I blame him."
"That's how he reacted when his father died," Dana said. "It's one of the few times Bloody Mary acted like a human being- oh! You don't think-?"
Max nodded.
"They told him. He was already pretty messed up because of last week, and now he gets beat up by cops and told his own mother was behind it and denied knowing him? That's gotta cause some issues."
"More like a subscription," Chelsea agreed.
"You could be right," Dr. Randall agreed. "Of course, I'm not a psychologist, but it does sound plausible. Does the boy have a counselor or a therapist? Someone professional he can talk to?"
There was another brief silence.
"He's... been to a few," Bruce admitted.
I know of at least three," Barbara said with a wince. "Ira Billings, Doctor Stanton over at the youth center, and Toria Stratton. I was there for the arrests."
"Arrests? Plural? -Wait. Ira Billings... isn't that Spellbinder's real name?"
"He was a counselor at Terry's school. Tried to use the kid to rob Wayne Manor, but Batman put a stop to that. Stanton was Payback's father, and Stratton- I don't know where to begin explaining her, but McGinnis was lucky to survive that one."
"Don't forget Dr. Padgett," Dana said. "He was Billings' replacement. He hit on me, Blade, Chelsea, Terry-"
"He never mentioned that," Bruce said a little too quietly.
"Probably didn't want to worry you. Besides, we handled it. The lot of us went to Nakamura and complained. Padgett got fired and lost his license. He said he'd get us all, but never actually did anything."
Randall was gaping by this point.
"Has he had any positive experience with therapists?"
I think he liked Dr. Minai," CHelsea mused. "She was the counselor he had to see after he got out of Juvy."
"Why did he stop seeing her?"
"She was killed by a drunk driver."
"I'm picking up on a theme here. This kid has no luck."
"Can we see him now?" Bruce asked trying unsuccessfully not to sound impatient.
"All right, but for God's sake be gentle with him."
Bruce didn't dignify that with a reply. Instead, he entered the captain's office, took a look at Terry, and froze. It wasn't the bruises or the raw-looking scrape on his cheek; Bruce had patched up much worse than that. What stopped him was the utter lack of expression on Terry's face contrasted with the bleak look in his eyes. Once again Bruce felt an overwhelming urge to smack Mary McGinnis across the room. The policewoman who had been waiting with Terry slipped out of the room to speak with Barbara. Bruce approached Terry slowly, wondering what to say, finally settling on the basics.
"Terry, we're taking you home."
Terry looked at him for a few seconds, then nodded carefully. As he stood up the girls swarmed around him to make sure he could stay on his feet. Barbara waited for them at the door.
"I have some business to take care of before I can leave, but I want to tell you I'm sorry this happened, Terry. There is no excuse for this, and I want you to at least think about pressing charges. I'll get your statement as soon as you feel up to it, all right?"
Terry nodded again and they left, with Barbara escorting them to the front door. Just as they reached it, they met Mary McGinnis coming in. The girls immediately closed ranks around Terry; Bruce and Barbara stepped in front of him.
"You're actually letting him go after what he did? Matt is deeply traumatized by Terry's actions- he'll have nightmares for months!"
Bruce heard the girls gasp and saw Mrs. McGinnis take a step back, but it was Barbara's grabbing his arm that made him realize he'd been about to strike the much younger woman.
"Bruce, losing your temper is not going to help Terry. And as for you, Mrs. McGinnis, I think we need to talk. There's a little matter of false charges-"
"I was only trying to protect Matt."
"At Terry's expense."
"Terry made his choice. I still have a chance to make Matt a son I can be proud of."
Barbara decked her.
***********************************************
More to come. Soon.
I have to be honest here- when I labelled this humor/drama I wasn't kidding, as you may have guessed already. The humor will become evident, but not in this chapter.
*******************************************
Terry spent the night at the Manor, but was off to school before Bruce got up. It wasn't the first time Terry had stayed over, but before he had always slipped away without leaving a trace. This time he'd left a breakfast of sorts ready- fresh coffee, orange juice, and applesauce muffins still warm from the oven. Bruce was impressed; finding the ingredients in his kitchen couldn't have been easy. He supposed he'd have to do something about that, maybe update the kitchen as well. He'd have to speak to Terry about it; domestic matters had never been his strong suit.
When he returned home from the office that evening he found Dana's car parked out front, trunk open. Terry wasn't wasting any time.
"Hi, Mr. Wayne. Hope you don't mind my being here, but Terry can't fit much on his bike, so..."
"Not at all, Dana. I'm hardly going to insist on Terry becoming a hermit just because he's moved in here." He wasn't thrilled at the prospect of Terry's friends dropping in on a regular basis, but he meant what he said. He wasn't going to force Terry to give up everything; the job was already doing enough of that. The least he could do was not make things harder for the boy.
"Oh, good. I have to admit, I've always wanted to see this place. My grandmother told me it looked like a place she blew up in one of her movies. That was a compliment, by the way."
"Glad to hear it. Was she an actress or in special effects?" It might not be a bad idea to find out a bit more about his friends either. Especially after hearing about Dana's response to Terry's big confession.
"Kinda both- she was a stuntwoman. I think you might have met her." Dana smiled a little too innocently. "She called herself Roxy Rocket back then."
Bruce stopped in his tracks.
"Roxy? A grandmother? Your grandmother?"
Dana giggled.
"I know, there's no family resemblance. But she is. She used to tell me all sorts of stories about her life as one of your Rogues' Gallery. I kinda wish I could tell her I'm dating Batman- she'd think it was a scream."
"Yes, she probably would. How is she doing? I'm afraid I lost track of her years ago." He wasn't about to tell her he'd never payed all that much attention to Roxy in the first place because she was more a nuisance than a threat.
"She's fine, She's a consultant now and just as wild as ever. I'm wondering if I should tell her about Bloody Mary's latest trick."
Bruce smirked at the nickname and found the mental image of Roxy Rocket taking on Mary McGinnis to be disturbingly appealing. Then the meaning of Dana's remark hit him.
"Latest trick? And why would Roxy-"
"Care? She adores Terry, that's half the reason Dad hates him. The old mother-in-law thing, you know. And the other- I don't have time to say much, but there's a lot Terry hasn't told you that you're going to need to know about if he's going to be living here. It's not that he's hiding it, it's just he doesn't like to talk about it. The most important thing is- watch your back. Terry's, too. You know Terry can be vindictive when he's really mad? Well, he gets it from her, but she's much worse. At least Terry tries to keep it in perspective. She's more the scorched earth type. Like when the divorce was finalized and Terry chose to live with his father- and that's a story all its own- she made sure Terry didn't get to see Matt at all. He didn't see his own brother from the time he went into Juvy until the night his father died. That's what she's really like- she's just good at hiding it."
Bruce frowned and would have asked for more information but Terry came out of the manor before he could. That set the tone for the rest of the week; Terry and Dana would bring over a load of stuff and Dana would make an opportunity to speak to Bruce alone while Terry unpacked. Terry pretended not to notice, but Bruce suspected he knew.
By the end of the week Bruce had a clearer picture of Terry's home life and was amazed the boy hadn't become a screaming neurotic. It certainly explained why he always assumed the blame for whatever went wrong; Bloody Mary had almost programmed it into him. It also put a chilling slant on something she had said at Terry's sentencing.
"...maybe some time behind bars will finally impress on him the consequence of making bad choices..."
When he'd first read the trial transcript the comment had struck him as a bit harsh, but he'd chalked it up to a mother trying desperate measures to get through to her son. Now he wondered what "choice" she'd given him that time.
Friday evening he'd returned a bit late. Terry had gone on patrol, but Dana was waiting for him to tell him of Mrs. McGinnis' stunt of the day. They'd gotten to the McGinnis' place to find Matt in tears; she'd thrown away every last bit of Matt's Batman gear, saying he needed a role model he could be proud of, not a "cheap thug in a Halloween costume".
Bruce was furious- not to mention highly insulted- but at the same time he was a bit relieved. Pulling a stunt like that just before Terry was due to pick up the last of his belongings had to be the expected payback. Now they could relax, and hopefully Terry could put her out of his mind.
Bruce Wayne always opted for quality over quantity, even in his screwups.
********************************************
It was one of those beautiful late May afternoons when nothing could possibly go wrong, which should have been a warning on its own. Unfortunately, Terry failed to realize it and went to pick up Matt as he always did. Monday afternoons had become their time to hang out over the past couple years and Terry had no intention of giving that up. He and his mother could be civil to each other for the few minutes it would take to hand Matt over, he hoped.
It had been a strange week, and one he never wanted to repeat. He'd known something like that had been inevitable, but that hadn't made it less of a shock when it finally did happen. It certainly hadn't made it less painful. He also knew that Bruce was worried about him and that despite what the Old Man claimed, he felt guilty. Bruce, Terry thought with absolutely no sense of irony, had a hyperactive guilt gland.
Of course, there had been some amusing moments, even if he wasn't in the mood to appreciate them. Bruce trying to subtly question him about the kitchen ranked pretty high on the list. Only he would treat home improvement like another case. It had made the transition easier, though; discussing what needed to be done to make the kitchen practical again had distracted them from the awkwardness of realizing they were actually living together. Terry wondered if he hadn't done it deliberately.
The school bell brought him back to his surroundings. Matt would be out in a few minutes and Terry wanted to be sure they didn't miss each other. He stood, getting ready to cross to the school.
"Terry McGinnis?"
"Yeah-"
He didn't get a chance to ask why before the stocky, badly-dressed man drove a fist into Terry's gut. As he doubled over the man shoved him face down onto the sidewalk and wrenched his arm up behind his back. Terry started to struggle but froze when he felt handcuffs closing painfully tightly around his wrists and heard the familiar words: "You have the right to remain silent..."
*...the hell...? *
"That look like resisting arrest to you, Burrows?"
"Yeah, Tully. Gotta defend ourselves, don't we?"
For one giddy moment Terry thought he'd slipped into an alternate universe based on bad cop shows. Burrows' next comment almost convinced him.
"We don't like kidnappers, dreg- especially when they go after little kids. I think you need to learn why it's a bad idea around here."
*Kidnapping?* "Hey, wait a minute-" Terry protested. Burrows- a slightly taller version of his partner- responded by hauling Terry to his feet and slamming him into a wall, again face first. He could feel blood start to seep down his cheek.
"Didn't we say you had the right to remain silent?"
Burrows punctuated to word "silent" with a kidney punch. Terry cried out, which got him spun around and backhanded. His head snapped back, smashing into the wall, almost knocking him out. Burrows caught him as he fell, but only so Tully could get his shots in. Any sound Terry made was answered by a particularly brutal blow until he finally suppressed his reactions out of sheer self-preservation. It didn't help.
Suddenly Burrows dropped him.
"Dammit, who let that kid out here?"
Terry forced his eyes open to see Matt staring at them in horror. A teacher came up from behind and picked him up, but as soon as he did Matt went into hysterics. The next thing Terry knew he was being dragged away to the sound of his brother's screams.
The ride to the station was a relief, since they left him alone for the duration. He tried to listen to their conversation to see if he could figure out what the hell was going on, but they spent the whole drive discussing hockey. When they reached the station, they made it very clear that Terry wanted to waive his right to a phone call and hauled him straight onto an interrogation room.
"All right, dreg, what did you want with Matt McGinnis?"
Terry hesitated, wondering if this was a trick, then replied, "He's my brother."
Burrows smashed him across the face, knocking him to the floor.
"Wrong answer, dreg. Mrs. McGinnis says he's an only child."
Terry didn't react to the blow; his mind froze up, focussing on one thing: Mrs. McGinnis says he's an only child....
Tully hauled him to his feet. He knew he was being asked more questions, but he couldn't seem to hear them. Tully drew back a fist; at the same time Terry was dimly aware of the door swinging open.
He was on the floor again, even though Tully hadn't finished swinging. Instead the officer had dropped him and was now yelling at whoever had entered the room. Someone with gentle hands was behind him unlocking the cuffs. Unfortunately the rush of pain as the circulation in his hands got kick-started was the last thing he needed. Instinctively stifling a sigh, he passed out.
********************************************
Even at 81 Bruce was intimidating. As he stormed into the police station, people took one look at his face and scurried out of his way. He made it to the captain's office without a single challenge. Barbara was waiting for him outside it looking as angry as he did.
"Dr. Randall's looking him over. She wants us to wait out here until she's done. Bruce, I know an apology is worthless-"
"You have nothing to apologize for unless you try to protect them- and I know you won't."
"Damn right I won't. They'll be lucky if I settle for just firing them. Captain Juarez tells me there have been complaints about them before, but they could never prove anything. That won't be a problem this time- too many witnesses and most of them willing to testify. I just hope Terry will press charges. Well, even if he doesn't we still have enough to hang them. The desk sergeant says he was barely conscious when those two brought him in, they literally twisted his arm to keep him from calling anyone, and they completely ignored his civil rights, proper procedure, and anything resembling human decency. And it gets worse."
"How?"
"They picked Terry up outside of Matt's school. Poor kid was in hysterics- he thought they'd killed Terry."
"Damn that woman," Bruce growled. Barbara agreed.
"I can get her for filing a false report, but that's about it. She's going to get away with this and there isn't a damn thing we can do about without hurting Matt, too. -Good God, what are those three doing here?"
Bruce turned to see Dana, Chelsea, and Max walking toward them, spoiling for a fight. He was glad to see them for Terry's sake.
"Where is he?" they chorused.
"With the doctor. How did you find out?"
"Howard's cousin's girlfriend is a file clerk here," Max explained. "She saw Terry get dragged in and called Howard, Howard called me, and I got the unholy trinity together. How is he?"
"He'll live. Nothing seems to be broken. Other than that, you'll have to wait too."
"What happened?" Chelsea asked. "I mean, other than Terry's mom being a malevolent sow- we guessed that already."
Barbara smirked, then frowned again and glanced at Bruce, who nodded.
"As near as we can figure, Mrs. McGinnis called last night to report someone stalking Matt. She described Terry, even gave his name, and said he was claiming to be Matt's brother but that Matt was an only child."
Max and Chelsea gasped; Dana's eyes narrowed.
"She specifically asked for Burrows and Tully, supposedly because of their reputations for solving cases."
"Shyeah, right," Max muttered.
"And when they arrested Terry-"
"They beat the crap out of him," Chelsea finished. "What are you going to do about it?"
"There's going to be a full investigation and they will be fired. I can't promise more than that."
The girls exchanged a worrying look but didn't say anything. There was a brief silence, broken by the doctor stepping out to meet them.
"He'll live," she said echoing Barbara's earlier statement, "assuming he doesn't do anything stupid. No concussion, nothing broken, nothing dislocated. An impressive collection of abrasions and bruises, including bruised ribs. Is anyone here family?"
Everyone looked at Bruce.
"You're a relative?"
"....Not exactly."
"Right now you're the closest he's got," Barbara said.
"Good enough for me," The doctor sighed, handing Bruce a small bottle of pills. "Make sure he takes one of these tonight and stays in bed tomorrow. He'll be feeling them more then, believe me. If he looks like he's in pain, make sure he takes one no matter how much he argues. There's enough there for three days at maximum safe dosage. You look sensible enough to call for help if complications occur, which they shouldn't. That takes care of his physical condition. What worries me is his mental condition: he hasn't said a word since he woke up. It's like he's withdrawn inside himself, not that I blame him."
"That's how he reacted when his father died," Dana said. "It's one of the few times Bloody Mary acted like a human being- oh! You don't think-?"
Max nodded.
"They told him. He was already pretty messed up because of last week, and now he gets beat up by cops and told his own mother was behind it and denied knowing him? That's gotta cause some issues."
"More like a subscription," Chelsea agreed.
"You could be right," Dr. Randall agreed. "Of course, I'm not a psychologist, but it does sound plausible. Does the boy have a counselor or a therapist? Someone professional he can talk to?"
There was another brief silence.
"He's... been to a few," Bruce admitted.
I know of at least three," Barbara said with a wince. "Ira Billings, Doctor Stanton over at the youth center, and Toria Stratton. I was there for the arrests."
"Arrests? Plural? -Wait. Ira Billings... isn't that Spellbinder's real name?"
"He was a counselor at Terry's school. Tried to use the kid to rob Wayne Manor, but Batman put a stop to that. Stanton was Payback's father, and Stratton- I don't know where to begin explaining her, but McGinnis was lucky to survive that one."
"Don't forget Dr. Padgett," Dana said. "He was Billings' replacement. He hit on me, Blade, Chelsea, Terry-"
"He never mentioned that," Bruce said a little too quietly.
"Probably didn't want to worry you. Besides, we handled it. The lot of us went to Nakamura and complained. Padgett got fired and lost his license. He said he'd get us all, but never actually did anything."
Randall was gaping by this point.
"Has he had any positive experience with therapists?"
I think he liked Dr. Minai," CHelsea mused. "She was the counselor he had to see after he got out of Juvy."
"Why did he stop seeing her?"
"She was killed by a drunk driver."
"I'm picking up on a theme here. This kid has no luck."
"Can we see him now?" Bruce asked trying unsuccessfully not to sound impatient.
"All right, but for God's sake be gentle with him."
Bruce didn't dignify that with a reply. Instead, he entered the captain's office, took a look at Terry, and froze. It wasn't the bruises or the raw-looking scrape on his cheek; Bruce had patched up much worse than that. What stopped him was the utter lack of expression on Terry's face contrasted with the bleak look in his eyes. Once again Bruce felt an overwhelming urge to smack Mary McGinnis across the room. The policewoman who had been waiting with Terry slipped out of the room to speak with Barbara. Bruce approached Terry slowly, wondering what to say, finally settling on the basics.
"Terry, we're taking you home."
Terry looked at him for a few seconds, then nodded carefully. As he stood up the girls swarmed around him to make sure he could stay on his feet. Barbara waited for them at the door.
"I have some business to take care of before I can leave, but I want to tell you I'm sorry this happened, Terry. There is no excuse for this, and I want you to at least think about pressing charges. I'll get your statement as soon as you feel up to it, all right?"
Terry nodded again and they left, with Barbara escorting them to the front door. Just as they reached it, they met Mary McGinnis coming in. The girls immediately closed ranks around Terry; Bruce and Barbara stepped in front of him.
"You're actually letting him go after what he did? Matt is deeply traumatized by Terry's actions- he'll have nightmares for months!"
Bruce heard the girls gasp and saw Mrs. McGinnis take a step back, but it was Barbara's grabbing his arm that made him realize he'd been about to strike the much younger woman.
"Bruce, losing your temper is not going to help Terry. And as for you, Mrs. McGinnis, I think we need to talk. There's a little matter of false charges-"
"I was only trying to protect Matt."
"At Terry's expense."
"Terry made his choice. I still have a chance to make Matt a son I can be proud of."
Barbara decked her.
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More to come. Soon.