Batman Beyond 8
Chapter 8: Gone Scratching Postal
Erika lay on her bed staring at the ceiling. "He's a great kisser," she said, stroking Ms Kitty's neck. "All warm and...right" she sighed.
"Are you talking to me or the cat?" Christina asked over the speakerphone.
"Yes"-replied Erika with a sly smile.
"Oi, what happened to you? You're all crazy now...though it's great for the music," she added. "And that last song went down a treat."
"I've got another one called "Alone" and the latest one called "Then we die", I'll send them to you later."
"Is this Terry guy your muse?" Christina cooed with an audible grin.
"Goodbye Christina" smiled Erika with firmness in her voice.
She hit the button on the phone and stared up at the ceiling, she looked at her costume. "And they said a home sowing course was a waist of time" she sighed as she sat up, the cat leaping away and letting her get to her sewing machine.
============================
"Oh my god" Selina gasped. Sketch sat up and stifled a scream as the injury through his side flared in a crimson burst of agony. Terry yelped and staggered forwards as he felt the echo of the pain.
"It can't be...Sketch's mother can't be..." she whispered.
"My mother?" Sketch croaked loudly, he coughed and made his way over to the computer. "What? My mother? Who?"
"Oh" Selina said looking at him. She grabbed him in a huge hug that avoided skilfully touching any of his multiple injuries. "My poor little grandbaby!"
"I'm your what now?" Sketch spluttered.
============================
Delphi paced up and down the line of mercenaries. They were a group of men in dark blue and aqua-green body armour with black visors on their faces and assault rifles across their backs and pistols at their hips. They saluted to her as her heels clicked and echoed in the warehouse.
"The Krauss Triplets are here Ms Cartland" Roma reported.
The triplets entered, the strong Aryan triplets left over from a cryogenic sleeping project for the Aryan forces of the Nazi empire...they'd defrosted nicely.
The Eldest was Karl; he was tall and muscular with a perfectly square jaw and the same bright blue eyes as his siblings. Then there was Stefan. He was shorter but more agile and he had sharper features. And lastly there was Roxanne. She was beautiful, curvaceous and lithe with cold and angular features.
They wore black Kevlar and khaki and stood in stoic silence, waiting.
"Perfect" grinned Delphi.
"I think they'll do the job," Paxton said descending the steps. "And that reminds me, they're to kill Terry McGinnis".
Delphi curled around her beau. "Oh...Pax-y" she whined in a sultry purr (making it possible but not as well as Erika would/could/did). "Why do you want that snot nosed brat killed?"
"If he dies then Bruce Wayne's only possible legal Heir dies and I get the entire company for myself" smirked Paxton. "Then we get hitched and the combined powers of our...Powers-Cartland industries...will take this city and make it ours"
Delphi wrapped her arms around Paxton's neck. "Yummy" she grinned. She looked at the assassins. "Go...kill...something" she yawned.
Roma sighed. "Catwoman and the Orphans partnership ended when Zeiss died...a 30 story drop will do that to a man. However they framed the Batman for terrorism. We will be continuing in that vein. Batman cannot get his standing with the police back, tonight...we frame him for kidnapping and eliminate him."
The dozen men saluted and followed the three leaders out of the warehouse. Roma cast a glance at the pair getting to it in the corner and sighed. She sauntered out of the building.
===================================
"Grandchild" Bruce said dryly. "Helena Kyle is your daughter?"
Selina reluctantly released the stunned Sketch and tapped some keys on the computer. "The Huntress" she said. The image of the cloaked shadow on a rooftop appeared. "She took up the family business," explained Selina. "Crime fighting."
Terry and Sketch looked at Bruce.
"Paris" Bruce sighed.
"Yes, Paris, June and too much champagne" Selina sighed. "Helena was born and ran away...she met this boy and had a child with him."
The image of the boy appeared. "Jared Dent?" exclaimed Bruce. "Harvey's son?"
The boy had blue skin marring his chiselled features on the left side. His hair streaked white and his eyes...sad. "As you can see the burn passed on slightly in the genetic make-up" Selina said. "While he was growing up he knew all about his father activities, and after his father was returned to him he became a surgeon. He met Helena who was a few years younger...and then tragedy. I'd lost contact with her when she moved to Metropolis and then to Keystone...we'd argued about Jared. They had set up as vigilante's and I'd tried to discourage her...she continued and one day a private plane they were in exploded."
"Then how did I wind up in the sewers?" grated Sketch; a tear trickled down his cheek from behind his goggles. "Did they decide a kid slowed them down?"
"They sent you to stay with Loretta Blake, an attorney, she was attacked and found murdered in the sewers. No doubt she lost you there...it was about...8 years ago? Maybe 9?"
"Yes" Sketch said calmly. "Nearly 9 years ago. I was 8 years old and I can't remember anything before that...not even my parents."
Selina grabbed him in yet another crushing hug. Terry looked at Bruce. He had turned back to the computer and was quietly investigating the screen. "Catwoman will be back..." he stated. "But why she's after Delphine Cartland interests me more"
Selina sighed. "And so again, men demonstrate their total inability to see the way to find a source" she tapped on the keys. "Catwoman strikes randomly across the city but always gets Delphi or steals a priceless artefact...hence there is a connection between terrorism and theft that once we find will lead us to the answers."
"Why don't you just tell us?" Terry asked.
"Because I won't betray a girl I raised," Selina said.
"A surrogate for your own daughter because of Guilt?" grunted Bruce. "You feel bad because you left your grandson to become a street urchin and thief!"
Selina whirled and slapped him across the face. "Shut up Bruce, shut up. You will never understand what happened. You never can" she turned and stalked off.
Sketch blinked and slowly disappeared as the attention was turned on Selina. He strode into the darker recesses of the cave and looked around. There were levels to the cave; rock pillars the formed stairs over the rushing waters below. "God" he breathed.
"Sketch?"
He turned and looked at Terry. "What? Did..."Grandfather"...ask to see me?" he said, pouring venom into the word Grandfather.
"I...no." Terry let out a gasp. "I can't damn well believe it...Bruce is a Grandfather ...he had a daughter...you, of all people, it was destiny that we found you!"
Sketch spun sharply and faced Terry. "He doesn't care about me! No one does! Selina may care now but soon she'll be ignoring me in three weeks after the novelty wears off...and you'll need to arrest me so you can prove your innocence!"
Terry put his hands on the boy's shoulders and looked into the green lenses. "Look, if I do arrest you Bruce will have...like...a way out for you!"
"Why would he care-" Sketch looked up. "About some street urchin?"
He shoved away from Terry and stormed towards a ladder that lead into the darkest regions of the cave. "Leave me alone or I'll zap your brain with so much stress energy you'll wet yourself!"
Terry could hear the tears weighing down Sketch's voice. But he knew it was alone time...he'd imagined that finding a family would feel the opposite to how he felt when his father was murdered...he hadn't counted on Bruce being part of that family.
===================================
Erika picked up the phone and rubbed her eyes. "Hello?" she yawned.
"Hi---Erika?"
"Terry?" Erika sat straight up. "You realize it's not even 6 am"
"Get dressed, I want to show you something" he said, a smile in his voice.
Erika performed a powerful flip off her bed. "On it, what can I expect to see?"
"A surprise. See you out front in 5"
============================
"Dana had your number, I got Max to steal if for me" explained Terry. They were in the car, speeding along a countryside road. "Then I found your number in the book and realized that was pointless because...yeah you were listed"
Erika gave a melodious laugh. "I expect there are a few hundred Arkham's in Gotham..." she grinned at him. Her dark purple streaked hair blowing out behind her.
"Uhhh...not really."
"Technically I should own that place," added Erika pointing at the castle like shape in the distance. "Sadly M-Alice Schrek is in possession of my trust fund and inheritance".
Terry nodded slowly. "That day...in the park. You said you thought they'd been killed...why? Why do you think that?"
"I don't think that," Erika said. "I know it. I read the police reports. They said the break lines had been in disrepair. Daddy and Mother bought that car new that month...I took an investigation of my own up when I was 15...Dana dumped paint in my hair and subsequently on my research- " she sounded distant. "So I punched her..." she smiled. "In case you're wondering Dana and I were in a summer camp together nearly every year since I was 7. I went to Junior High with her cousin and I loathe her to my core."
"Glad she's not here then" smiled Terry. He turned down a narrow off road and stopped the car near the river. "Close your eyes" he instructed.
"I'm warning you, I hear your clothes coming off and I'll perform the Nutcracker not-so-sweet on you," laughed Erika as she closed her eyes and let him lead her out into the snow. He covered her eyes with his hands and stopped her on a cobbled patch of ground.
"And I'd have gotten frostbite anyway" added Terry. "Merry Christmas".
He moved his hands. The river had a slow waterfall in the small rock nest that could only be entered by the road they'd taken. Sheer vertical wall on all sides were covered in snow cocooned vines and branches. The snow was swirling, dancing over and into the water.
"Well no one I've ever dated gave me a waterfall all my own" she said. She looked up at Terry, spinning away from his body and taking his hands in hers, leading him to the bench and stepping up on it.
"I've never given one to my past girlfriends"
"Last two name 'em," Erika said as she spun back and forth, up and down the seat.
"Dana and Mel"
"Mel? Ice skater or Air stewardess?"
"Thief"
"Ah"
Erika spun on the snowy bench and lost her balance. Terry grabbed her. She gave a small giggled as she let herself fall into his arms and entwined her arms around his neck. "You, I like" she said. "But you won't always be able to catch me"
She leaned close to him and brushed her lips off his.
"I can try," he whispered.
Erika slipped from his arms and scampered away. "My turn...Brock and Lyle"
Terry followed her to the car in the dark morning light. "Brock? Lyle?"
"Brock was a Texas rodeo cowboy...tight wranglers, lots of other men on long rodeo trips, take a guess how that ended" she said in her dazed, wild voice as she listed off on her fingers. "The Celine Dion should have tipped me off but I was hopeful...and the name, Brock! Hah! Yeah that was a guy for me, that was earlier this year, we met when he was on set for a new advert". Erika slipped onto the hood of the car. "Lyle was a chemistry camp colleague. We were lab partners...then I singed off his eyebrows when he said I was only good a chemistry because it reminded me of cooking like it did to all women...Bunsen burners and accidents happen now".
She spun like a ballerina. "Oh! Then there was Jimmy Bubkirk! In fifth grade, he used to call me Gams all the time after he heard his brother say it" her voice became darker. "He's dead now."
Terry looked at her as he sat down on the bonnet at her side. "You've got a dark side"
"No darker then yours Terry" she whispered as she laid her head on his shoulder. She stifled the urge to purr. "That's the thing though...the so called normal guys always let you down. Sicko's don't scare me...At least they're committed"
"Why are you so sad?" Terry asked as he looked into her eyes. He could see despair and confusion and sorrow and anger and a bitterness he couldn't bare to meet. He held her face in his warm, gentle hands.
"Because I see the world terry, I see what it does to people, good people" she breathed. "And what it will one day do to you...please, don't let it...don't lose yourself because someone says jump, roll over or buy-this- soda-for-a-better-libido."
"Stay with me and I won't"
"I can't promise that," whispered Erika as their lips came closer to each other. "Don't love me Terry"
"It might be to late," he gasped.
"Love is pain"
"Love is what you make it, it's hit and miss. A gamble, a risk and all kinds of danger but if you hit the bulls-eye its so worth it..."
He kissed her and felt the spark run through his body, a buzz, a jolt, a crackle, a burst and so much more! He felt that the side of him Batman lived with, the loneliness... like it wasn't lonely anymore.
Erika gripped her fingers in the arms of his jacket; he slowly slid his arms around her hips. And then she shoved away, tears in her eyes. "We can't do this," she breathed. "I'd only hurt you, our time together would be too short."
"I'd trade a hundred years with ---someone like Dana who'd make me happy when she felt like trying...for a minute with someone like you who...who makes me feel happy simply by existing."
Erika wrapped her arms around his neck. "I want to be with you Terry, but I'm not able to stay. Don't rely on me..."
Terry kissed her neck and felt her warm body. "I want you to come to dinner with my family. Max will be there and my mom, and my brother and...a few friends...I want them to meet you properly...as my...girlfriend?"
Erika leaned her forehead to his chest. "Okay..." she said at last.
============================
Sketch sat at the bat computer reviewing the files. "So studious, like your grandfather" a voice said. Selina descended the steps gracefully. "Bruce is in the study reading up on something or other...Japanese I think"
"Nice, planning a trip is he?"
Selina looked at his hair and gently adjusted it with her fingers. She was shocked when a stifled purr escaped her grandson's throat. He looked at the computer.
"Your mother did that all the time" Selina smiled. "It's a family trait. We're descendants from the warriors of Beti-Ma" she smiled. "I wound up nearly marrying the leader of the Maahes cult actually."
"Well, nice to know where you stand with Gran---Mr Wayne"
Selina moved around the seat and shook her head. "I loved Bruce. I still do, but he won't let me in. I figured out his identity long ago. About the time he figured out who I was...something he did, the way he touched my hands...I knew it was him and I realized that we were more alike then ever...but I never let on of course."
Sketch sighed and relented inwardly. "Tell me about my family" he said calmly. Selina took his hand and lead him up the stairs to the entrance that lead to the living room.
"Come on, I'll get you a tea" she said. "I have some silverware to put back there anyway."
"What was Mother like?"
"Helena loved life, she was always passionate about something, a cause. She loved to paint and design things, clothes, sculptures...she was bored one day and created a Spanish Galleon out of paper clips..."
===================================
Terry was in his house, having dropped Erika home so she could change. He was nervous, he wanted his family to accept the most incredible girl ever... Max and Blade were talking with (of all people) Mel.
Melanie now went under her mother's maiden name of Castle, distancing herself from the Royal Flush Gang. Her brother Jack had moved to Keystone and opened a rather successful Casino. And she was manager of the diner now.
Nelson was showing Terry's little brother Matt how to throw a football.
The doorbell rang and Terry practically fell over his own feet (actually he did but Blade and Max caught him). Still Mary McGinnis made it to the door first and opened it. Dressed in a long white Trench coat with a white handbag and a boutique bag in her hands. Her black hair was tied back by white ribbons.
"Mrs McGinnis?" she said nervously. "I'm Erika Arkham...it's a pleasure to meet you"
Mrs McGinnis smiled. "Come in dear, Terry your friend is here!"
Erika slowly opened her coat as Terry stepped behind her to take it. He nearly dropped it. She was dressed in a shirt of white leather bands going all the way around her hips up to her neck with sleeves made of see through fabric. Her white trousers were tight from her hips to her knees where they loosened.
"Uhh...everyone this is Erika...my girlfriend...officially...as in...schway official"
"Told you Christmas Day" Blade sing-songed.
"Fine here" Max said with a grunt. She and Nelson handed the money over to Blade who tucked it into her purse. "Damn Date-pool".
Erika and Terry looked at one another then at the trio.
===================================
Paxton was wearing his dark blue robe and slippers as he addressed the screen. "Karl, Stefan, Roxanne..." he said calmly. "This is Operation: Ashes, I want you to understand this, if anything goes wrong with this plan I will kill you all."
Delphi was wrapping her grey silk robe around herself as she sauntered from the bedroom. "Have they killed the Cat and the Bat yet?"
"We established a base and patrols," exclaimed Karl sharply. "But the adversaries did not show last night. We construe they were exhausted by the fight on the Balent building."
Paxton sighed and shook his head. "Listen to me carefully. We need this city to fall apart. New Years Day is the deadline...and please remember that Bruce Wayne and his gofer must be dead for the plan to work. They can too easily aid in rebuilding the city after a crisis...or catastrophe."
"Kill them, the cat, the bat and stick to the plan" summarized Delphi as she poured herself a cognac. "Gentlemen this is officially DAY 1!"
TBC:
Wipes a tear well that was touching-- I need a momentokaythatsamoment.
CATgrl: Well? Was this okay? What do you think? Your opinion is pretty potent! Did I surprise you with Sketch's family Details? I amn't sure where it came from ...well actually I do but I'll explain that later.
Okay any thoughts on my OC's... anyone? Any ideas or things you'd like to see? Should Mel have a speaking part? (I'm thinking Mel in my sequel to this one called Batman: Face Off, which is in development like the rest of my Batman Beyond Movies which I intend to have Futurized Enemies.)
Chapter 8: Gone Scratching Postal
Erika lay on her bed staring at the ceiling. "He's a great kisser," she said, stroking Ms Kitty's neck. "All warm and...right" she sighed.
"Are you talking to me or the cat?" Christina asked over the speakerphone.
"Yes"-replied Erika with a sly smile.
"Oi, what happened to you? You're all crazy now...though it's great for the music," she added. "And that last song went down a treat."
"I've got another one called "Alone" and the latest one called "Then we die", I'll send them to you later."
"Is this Terry guy your muse?" Christina cooed with an audible grin.
"Goodbye Christina" smiled Erika with firmness in her voice.
She hit the button on the phone and stared up at the ceiling, she looked at her costume. "And they said a home sowing course was a waist of time" she sighed as she sat up, the cat leaping away and letting her get to her sewing machine.
============================
"Oh my god" Selina gasped. Sketch sat up and stifled a scream as the injury through his side flared in a crimson burst of agony. Terry yelped and staggered forwards as he felt the echo of the pain.
"It can't be...Sketch's mother can't be..." she whispered.
"My mother?" Sketch croaked loudly, he coughed and made his way over to the computer. "What? My mother? Who?"
"Oh" Selina said looking at him. She grabbed him in a huge hug that avoided skilfully touching any of his multiple injuries. "My poor little grandbaby!"
"I'm your what now?" Sketch spluttered.
============================
Delphi paced up and down the line of mercenaries. They were a group of men in dark blue and aqua-green body armour with black visors on their faces and assault rifles across their backs and pistols at their hips. They saluted to her as her heels clicked and echoed in the warehouse.
"The Krauss Triplets are here Ms Cartland" Roma reported.
The triplets entered, the strong Aryan triplets left over from a cryogenic sleeping project for the Aryan forces of the Nazi empire...they'd defrosted nicely.
The Eldest was Karl; he was tall and muscular with a perfectly square jaw and the same bright blue eyes as his siblings. Then there was Stefan. He was shorter but more agile and he had sharper features. And lastly there was Roxanne. She was beautiful, curvaceous and lithe with cold and angular features.
They wore black Kevlar and khaki and stood in stoic silence, waiting.
"Perfect" grinned Delphi.
"I think they'll do the job," Paxton said descending the steps. "And that reminds me, they're to kill Terry McGinnis".
Delphi curled around her beau. "Oh...Pax-y" she whined in a sultry purr (making it possible but not as well as Erika would/could/did). "Why do you want that snot nosed brat killed?"
"If he dies then Bruce Wayne's only possible legal Heir dies and I get the entire company for myself" smirked Paxton. "Then we get hitched and the combined powers of our...Powers-Cartland industries...will take this city and make it ours"
Delphi wrapped her arms around Paxton's neck. "Yummy" she grinned. She looked at the assassins. "Go...kill...something" she yawned.
Roma sighed. "Catwoman and the Orphans partnership ended when Zeiss died...a 30 story drop will do that to a man. However they framed the Batman for terrorism. We will be continuing in that vein. Batman cannot get his standing with the police back, tonight...we frame him for kidnapping and eliminate him."
The dozen men saluted and followed the three leaders out of the warehouse. Roma cast a glance at the pair getting to it in the corner and sighed. She sauntered out of the building.
===================================
"Grandchild" Bruce said dryly. "Helena Kyle is your daughter?"
Selina reluctantly released the stunned Sketch and tapped some keys on the computer. "The Huntress" she said. The image of the cloaked shadow on a rooftop appeared. "She took up the family business," explained Selina. "Crime fighting."
Terry and Sketch looked at Bruce.
"Paris" Bruce sighed.
"Yes, Paris, June and too much champagne" Selina sighed. "Helena was born and ran away...she met this boy and had a child with him."
The image of the boy appeared. "Jared Dent?" exclaimed Bruce. "Harvey's son?"
The boy had blue skin marring his chiselled features on the left side. His hair streaked white and his eyes...sad. "As you can see the burn passed on slightly in the genetic make-up" Selina said. "While he was growing up he knew all about his father activities, and after his father was returned to him he became a surgeon. He met Helena who was a few years younger...and then tragedy. I'd lost contact with her when she moved to Metropolis and then to Keystone...we'd argued about Jared. They had set up as vigilante's and I'd tried to discourage her...she continued and one day a private plane they were in exploded."
"Then how did I wind up in the sewers?" grated Sketch; a tear trickled down his cheek from behind his goggles. "Did they decide a kid slowed them down?"
"They sent you to stay with Loretta Blake, an attorney, she was attacked and found murdered in the sewers. No doubt she lost you there...it was about...8 years ago? Maybe 9?"
"Yes" Sketch said calmly. "Nearly 9 years ago. I was 8 years old and I can't remember anything before that...not even my parents."
Selina grabbed him in yet another crushing hug. Terry looked at Bruce. He had turned back to the computer and was quietly investigating the screen. "Catwoman will be back..." he stated. "But why she's after Delphine Cartland interests me more"
Selina sighed. "And so again, men demonstrate their total inability to see the way to find a source" she tapped on the keys. "Catwoman strikes randomly across the city but always gets Delphi or steals a priceless artefact...hence there is a connection between terrorism and theft that once we find will lead us to the answers."
"Why don't you just tell us?" Terry asked.
"Because I won't betray a girl I raised," Selina said.
"A surrogate for your own daughter because of Guilt?" grunted Bruce. "You feel bad because you left your grandson to become a street urchin and thief!"
Selina whirled and slapped him across the face. "Shut up Bruce, shut up. You will never understand what happened. You never can" she turned and stalked off.
Sketch blinked and slowly disappeared as the attention was turned on Selina. He strode into the darker recesses of the cave and looked around. There were levels to the cave; rock pillars the formed stairs over the rushing waters below. "God" he breathed.
"Sketch?"
He turned and looked at Terry. "What? Did..."Grandfather"...ask to see me?" he said, pouring venom into the word Grandfather.
"I...no." Terry let out a gasp. "I can't damn well believe it...Bruce is a Grandfather ...he had a daughter...you, of all people, it was destiny that we found you!"
Sketch spun sharply and faced Terry. "He doesn't care about me! No one does! Selina may care now but soon she'll be ignoring me in three weeks after the novelty wears off...and you'll need to arrest me so you can prove your innocence!"
Terry put his hands on the boy's shoulders and looked into the green lenses. "Look, if I do arrest you Bruce will have...like...a way out for you!"
"Why would he care-" Sketch looked up. "About some street urchin?"
He shoved away from Terry and stormed towards a ladder that lead into the darkest regions of the cave. "Leave me alone or I'll zap your brain with so much stress energy you'll wet yourself!"
Terry could hear the tears weighing down Sketch's voice. But he knew it was alone time...he'd imagined that finding a family would feel the opposite to how he felt when his father was murdered...he hadn't counted on Bruce being part of that family.
===================================
Erika picked up the phone and rubbed her eyes. "Hello?" she yawned.
"Hi---Erika?"
"Terry?" Erika sat straight up. "You realize it's not even 6 am"
"Get dressed, I want to show you something" he said, a smile in his voice.
Erika performed a powerful flip off her bed. "On it, what can I expect to see?"
"A surprise. See you out front in 5"
============================
"Dana had your number, I got Max to steal if for me" explained Terry. They were in the car, speeding along a countryside road. "Then I found your number in the book and realized that was pointless because...yeah you were listed"
Erika gave a melodious laugh. "I expect there are a few hundred Arkham's in Gotham..." she grinned at him. Her dark purple streaked hair blowing out behind her.
"Uhhh...not really."
"Technically I should own that place," added Erika pointing at the castle like shape in the distance. "Sadly M-Alice Schrek is in possession of my trust fund and inheritance".
Terry nodded slowly. "That day...in the park. You said you thought they'd been killed...why? Why do you think that?"
"I don't think that," Erika said. "I know it. I read the police reports. They said the break lines had been in disrepair. Daddy and Mother bought that car new that month...I took an investigation of my own up when I was 15...Dana dumped paint in my hair and subsequently on my research- " she sounded distant. "So I punched her..." she smiled. "In case you're wondering Dana and I were in a summer camp together nearly every year since I was 7. I went to Junior High with her cousin and I loathe her to my core."
"Glad she's not here then" smiled Terry. He turned down a narrow off road and stopped the car near the river. "Close your eyes" he instructed.
"I'm warning you, I hear your clothes coming off and I'll perform the Nutcracker not-so-sweet on you," laughed Erika as she closed her eyes and let him lead her out into the snow. He covered her eyes with his hands and stopped her on a cobbled patch of ground.
"And I'd have gotten frostbite anyway" added Terry. "Merry Christmas".
He moved his hands. The river had a slow waterfall in the small rock nest that could only be entered by the road they'd taken. Sheer vertical wall on all sides were covered in snow cocooned vines and branches. The snow was swirling, dancing over and into the water.
"Well no one I've ever dated gave me a waterfall all my own" she said. She looked up at Terry, spinning away from his body and taking his hands in hers, leading him to the bench and stepping up on it.
"I've never given one to my past girlfriends"
"Last two name 'em," Erika said as she spun back and forth, up and down the seat.
"Dana and Mel"
"Mel? Ice skater or Air stewardess?"
"Thief"
"Ah"
Erika spun on the snowy bench and lost her balance. Terry grabbed her. She gave a small giggled as she let herself fall into his arms and entwined her arms around his neck. "You, I like" she said. "But you won't always be able to catch me"
She leaned close to him and brushed her lips off his.
"I can try," he whispered.
Erika slipped from his arms and scampered away. "My turn...Brock and Lyle"
Terry followed her to the car in the dark morning light. "Brock? Lyle?"
"Brock was a Texas rodeo cowboy...tight wranglers, lots of other men on long rodeo trips, take a guess how that ended" she said in her dazed, wild voice as she listed off on her fingers. "The Celine Dion should have tipped me off but I was hopeful...and the name, Brock! Hah! Yeah that was a guy for me, that was earlier this year, we met when he was on set for a new advert". Erika slipped onto the hood of the car. "Lyle was a chemistry camp colleague. We were lab partners...then I singed off his eyebrows when he said I was only good a chemistry because it reminded me of cooking like it did to all women...Bunsen burners and accidents happen now".
She spun like a ballerina. "Oh! Then there was Jimmy Bubkirk! In fifth grade, he used to call me Gams all the time after he heard his brother say it" her voice became darker. "He's dead now."
Terry looked at her as he sat down on the bonnet at her side. "You've got a dark side"
"No darker then yours Terry" she whispered as she laid her head on his shoulder. She stifled the urge to purr. "That's the thing though...the so called normal guys always let you down. Sicko's don't scare me...At least they're committed"
"Why are you so sad?" Terry asked as he looked into her eyes. He could see despair and confusion and sorrow and anger and a bitterness he couldn't bare to meet. He held her face in his warm, gentle hands.
"Because I see the world terry, I see what it does to people, good people" she breathed. "And what it will one day do to you...please, don't let it...don't lose yourself because someone says jump, roll over or buy-this- soda-for-a-better-libido."
"Stay with me and I won't"
"I can't promise that," whispered Erika as their lips came closer to each other. "Don't love me Terry"
"It might be to late," he gasped.
"Love is pain"
"Love is what you make it, it's hit and miss. A gamble, a risk and all kinds of danger but if you hit the bulls-eye its so worth it..."
He kissed her and felt the spark run through his body, a buzz, a jolt, a crackle, a burst and so much more! He felt that the side of him Batman lived with, the loneliness... like it wasn't lonely anymore.
Erika gripped her fingers in the arms of his jacket; he slowly slid his arms around her hips. And then she shoved away, tears in her eyes. "We can't do this," she breathed. "I'd only hurt you, our time together would be too short."
"I'd trade a hundred years with ---someone like Dana who'd make me happy when she felt like trying...for a minute with someone like you who...who makes me feel happy simply by existing."
Erika wrapped her arms around his neck. "I want to be with you Terry, but I'm not able to stay. Don't rely on me..."
Terry kissed her neck and felt her warm body. "I want you to come to dinner with my family. Max will be there and my mom, and my brother and...a few friends...I want them to meet you properly...as my...girlfriend?"
Erika leaned her forehead to his chest. "Okay..." she said at last.
============================
Sketch sat at the bat computer reviewing the files. "So studious, like your grandfather" a voice said. Selina descended the steps gracefully. "Bruce is in the study reading up on something or other...Japanese I think"
"Nice, planning a trip is he?"
Selina looked at his hair and gently adjusted it with her fingers. She was shocked when a stifled purr escaped her grandson's throat. He looked at the computer.
"Your mother did that all the time" Selina smiled. "It's a family trait. We're descendants from the warriors of Beti-Ma" she smiled. "I wound up nearly marrying the leader of the Maahes cult actually."
"Well, nice to know where you stand with Gran---Mr Wayne"
Selina moved around the seat and shook her head. "I loved Bruce. I still do, but he won't let me in. I figured out his identity long ago. About the time he figured out who I was...something he did, the way he touched my hands...I knew it was him and I realized that we were more alike then ever...but I never let on of course."
Sketch sighed and relented inwardly. "Tell me about my family" he said calmly. Selina took his hand and lead him up the stairs to the entrance that lead to the living room.
"Come on, I'll get you a tea" she said. "I have some silverware to put back there anyway."
"What was Mother like?"
"Helena loved life, she was always passionate about something, a cause. She loved to paint and design things, clothes, sculptures...she was bored one day and created a Spanish Galleon out of paper clips..."
===================================
Terry was in his house, having dropped Erika home so she could change. He was nervous, he wanted his family to accept the most incredible girl ever... Max and Blade were talking with (of all people) Mel.
Melanie now went under her mother's maiden name of Castle, distancing herself from the Royal Flush Gang. Her brother Jack had moved to Keystone and opened a rather successful Casino. And she was manager of the diner now.
Nelson was showing Terry's little brother Matt how to throw a football.
The doorbell rang and Terry practically fell over his own feet (actually he did but Blade and Max caught him). Still Mary McGinnis made it to the door first and opened it. Dressed in a long white Trench coat with a white handbag and a boutique bag in her hands. Her black hair was tied back by white ribbons.
"Mrs McGinnis?" she said nervously. "I'm Erika Arkham...it's a pleasure to meet you"
Mrs McGinnis smiled. "Come in dear, Terry your friend is here!"
Erika slowly opened her coat as Terry stepped behind her to take it. He nearly dropped it. She was dressed in a shirt of white leather bands going all the way around her hips up to her neck with sleeves made of see through fabric. Her white trousers were tight from her hips to her knees where they loosened.
"Uhh...everyone this is Erika...my girlfriend...officially...as in...schway official"
"Told you Christmas Day" Blade sing-songed.
"Fine here" Max said with a grunt. She and Nelson handed the money over to Blade who tucked it into her purse. "Damn Date-pool".
Erika and Terry looked at one another then at the trio.
===================================
Paxton was wearing his dark blue robe and slippers as he addressed the screen. "Karl, Stefan, Roxanne..." he said calmly. "This is Operation: Ashes, I want you to understand this, if anything goes wrong with this plan I will kill you all."
Delphi was wrapping her grey silk robe around herself as she sauntered from the bedroom. "Have they killed the Cat and the Bat yet?"
"We established a base and patrols," exclaimed Karl sharply. "But the adversaries did not show last night. We construe they were exhausted by the fight on the Balent building."
Paxton sighed and shook his head. "Listen to me carefully. We need this city to fall apart. New Years Day is the deadline...and please remember that Bruce Wayne and his gofer must be dead for the plan to work. They can too easily aid in rebuilding the city after a crisis...or catastrophe."
"Kill them, the cat, the bat and stick to the plan" summarized Delphi as she poured herself a cognac. "Gentlemen this is officially DAY 1!"
TBC:
Wipes a tear well that was touching-- I need a momentokaythatsamoment.
CATgrl: Well? Was this okay? What do you think? Your opinion is pretty potent! Did I surprise you with Sketch's family Details? I amn't sure where it came from ...well actually I do but I'll explain that later.
Okay any thoughts on my OC's... anyone? Any ideas or things you'd like to see? Should Mel have a speaking part? (I'm thinking Mel in my sequel to this one called Batman: Face Off, which is in development like the rest of my Batman Beyond Movies which I intend to have Futurized Enemies.)