Katherine had opened the door to her apartment. She had found it decorated for a romantic evening. Rose petals had formed a line from the doorway to the dinner table. The table was set up for a lovely dinner. The room was lit by candles set in place all over the apartment. The faint aroma of food poured from the kitchen. She smiled to herself, thinking she had the best guy in the world as she closed the door behind her.

"Hello, honey. Dinner's almost ready," Tom said as he poked his head from the kitchen.

"Sorry, but I don't think tonight's such a good night for this."

"What? It's a perfect night! Neither of us has anything to do. We can spend the whole weekend together!"

"I'm sorry, but there's some unfinished business to take care of. I have to go out of town for awhile. It's personal...family stuff."

"Why now? Can't it wait?"

"No, it really can't."

"You can't do anything, remember? You have to take it easy. Absolutely no strenuous physical activity! The doctor said so. You can't just think of yourself now."

"I know, I know....I don't want to hurt our baby, but this really needs to be taken care of."

"Tell you what, you stay with me and we'll have this romantic dinner. Then you can tell me what needs to be done. I'll take care of it for you."

"Hmmm.....that is a tempting offer......and I am eating for two now."

"Then it's settled! You just let me handle it, ok?"

************************************************** **

Dick Grayson had just been moved out of surgery and into another room close to Barbra's. Bruce decided that he should at least check up on him. He excused himself and left Sam with Barbra. He entered the room and looked at Dick. Iv's and an EKG monitor was hooked up to him. He was breathing through an oxygen mask. Dick was barely awake, but enough to see who was in his room with him.

"What are you doing here?" asked Dick.

"Funny, I was just going to ask you the same thing," replied Bruce.

"I was visiting an old friend."

"Andrea? I'd hardly consider her a friend right now."

"Knock it off, Bruce! She had nothing to do with it."

"How can you be so sure?"

"She told me herself!"

"And you're just going to take her word for it?"

"Yes! There's a lot about her you don't know Bruce! She's changed."

Bruce was about to speak when Terry walked in.

"Hey. I got here as soon as I.....am I interrupting something?"

"No, we're finished," said Bruce.

"One of us is anyway. Is he your new puppet?" said Dick.

"Bruce, who's this?" said Terry.

"My name is Dick Grayson. I'm the original Robin."

"Really??? Cool!" Terry said through a smile.

"Terry, I'm going to check on Barbra once more. I'll see you at home."

As Bruce was leaving, Dick decided to try to sit up. He winced in pain, realizing that he couldn't sit up. His breathing became shallow once more.

"So........you're the new.......bat on the block......"

"Yeah, I am...what were you and Bruce talking about when I came in?"

"Nothing. Ancient history."

"Really? History is becoming my favorite subject."

"It's about a woman."

"Does this woman happen to have a sickle on her right hand?"

"I see you've met her."

"She wasn't all too friendly. How do you know her?"

"A long time ago this woman used to live in Gotham. She had met Bruce in the cemetery, of all places. They dated and had even been engaged..."

"Bruce? Engaged? Are you talking about the same person?"

"Yes, he and Andrea were engaged. He was just starting to wage his eternal war on crime when they met. But since she had come into the picture, he gave it up to be with her."

"Whoa..."

"That's what I said when she told me. Anyway, she left Bruce. She broke off the engagement and forced Bruce to live a life as Batman."

"Why did she leave?"

"Her father was a banker. His clients included gangsters. He had embezzled a fortune off of them, and when they found out, he had to leave town. Andrea's father had paid off the debt eventually, but they wanted him dead for stealing their money. They found out where Andrea and her father were living. The driver for the gang had killed her father. Andrea was brokenhearted. She vowed for revenge and got it by becoming the Phantasm. The Phantasm had killed every one of the gang except for the driver, who turned out to be the Joker."

"No way! He did it?"

"Yes, it seems that the Joker always manages to destroy us every chance he gets. After she killed them all, she had become a mercenary for hire. It took her many years and a stroke to finally put the past behind her. I became friends with her a couple of years ago. I hope she isn't part of this."

"One more question. Why are you here?"

"My lungs were partially destroyed in an ecological disaster. I believe you know of it."

"The one in '09? You were there?"

"Yes, I tried my best to save Ra's Al Ghul...but in the end it just wasn't good enough. His body was too far gone. After that, he was nothing more than a vegetable."

"Well, does Andrea have any relatives or friends that she would have confided in? Maybe one of them is this new Phantasm."

"Andrea has a granddaughter. Her name is Katherine Beaumont. She lives somewhere in the city. She visits Andrea more than I do."

"I guess I'll have to talk to her then. Thanks."

As Terry left the room, Dick looked out of the window. He gasped as he took a harder look. He wasn't sure, but he thought he saw a person out on the rooftop.

************************************************** **

Terry had just put on his helmet when Bruce's voice came over the receiver.

"So, how was your visit?"

"Very enlightening. He told me what happened between you and Andrea. I can't believe that you were engaged!"

"And?"

"And he told me Andrea had a granddaughter named Katherine Beaumont."

"Good work. I'll run the name through the computer and see what I can find. Go home and get some rest."

"But,"

"No buts. That's an order. You've been working hard for the past few days. You'll need your strength for the battle ahead."

"You're the boss."


Terry walked into his house expecting to find his brother jumping out and trying to scare him again. It never worked.
When he entered though, everything was quiet. He thought that they had already gone to bed since he hardly ever came home early anymore. He crashed in his bed and fell asleep.

************************************************** **

Dick had started to get drowsy. The sedative that the doctor gave him was working perfectly. He was about to fall asleep when he heard something. He thought it was his name. No one was in the room though. Then he saw smoke billowing up in front of the window. His eyes grew wide just for a minute when he heard his name again.

"Dick Grayson....Nightwing....."

Dick had begun to reach for the button to call in the nurse, but by then the sedative had kicked in. He was asleep, and knew that he would never wake up.

"Your angel of death awaits."

Phantasm walked up to Dick and saw that he was sleeping.

"I'm sorry that I have to do this. She really did care for you."

Phantasm turned off the EKG machine and then sliced the sickle through the tube carrying oxygen to Dick. Phantasm lowered his head as if he was sorry. He then turned to the window, opened it up and left.

************************************************** **

The next morning Terry woke up. He had expected to see both his mom and Matt already up and getting ready for another day. When he didn't see them, he began to check all of the rooms. When he entered his mother's room, he screamed. All he found was a Joker card neatly placed on one of the pillows.