A.N. Thank you, Phoenix, C-wolf, MoonDancerCat, Amber and CAT-grl for your reviews, I really appreciate them. I think that there might be one last story from this idea, but its going to be a long one if I ever manage to get it done. It will be a very seperate story too, following months after all of these little insights.
MoonDancerCat: I think that you called it right when you said a new Robin would be too raw and I hope you like this one as much as you liked the last. And about the spinning bat thing, I got the red bat mixed up with something else.. I remembered from the eps Payback and Dead Man's Hand that when Terry remotely connected with the Bat-computer that a red bat popped up, but I didn't remember how it went from a dot to the bat.. which is what got confused. If that made any sense g.
C-Wolf: Thanks for the suggestion. :)
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Disclaimer: Dreaming on...
Description: When Terry drops Matt off in the Cave with Bruce, do they manage to get along?
Matt in the Cave By Marns AKA Bumpkin Rated: PG
"Okay Matt, you can take the hood off now." Terry's muffled voice said and Matt yanked the stifling fabric from his face gratefully. He absolutely hated having to re-breathe his own breath; it always made him feel half suffocated.
Looking out of the red tinted windshield with interest, Matt saw that they were just reaching the end of a long tunnel and that Terry was braking the fast car to settle on a landing pad. The cockpit whooshed open and Terry helped his younger brother out of the fantastic vehicle before leaping out himself and pulling his cowl off.
Terry had to grin at the way his younger brother was gawking around at his surroundings awestruck. His grin turned into a full-throated laugh when he had to physically get the younger boy's attention to motion for him to follow Terry to where Bruce was sitting and waiting for them at the huge computer. Striding confidently, Terry led a shuffling Matt through the cave to Bruce's side at the large Cray computer system.
"It's later," the old man barked at Terry.
Matt was momentarily confused by the abrupt words until he remembered his brother brushing off Mr. Wayne's questions earlier at the apartment. Looks like Terry had some 'splaining to do,' Matt was just glad that it was Terry under fire and not him. Any doubts he had about Wayne being the original Batman were gone since Matt had seen the old man in the vidscreen and been transfixed with that glare. Before that, Matt had only ever really encountered Wayne's 'public' persona he guessed. It could be grumpy and even mean at times, but it never approached the level of lethality that emanated from the old man now. 'Meeting the original Batman – if it wasn't so terrifying it would be very cool,' Matt thought sardonically.
"I never would have guessed that Matt had such the good makings of a detective in him Bruce, I have to say that I'm rather proud of him..."
Matt stood mute as he half listened as his brother told his boss a condensed version of how Matt had figured it all out. To say that Mr. Wayne wasn't impressed with Terry at that moment would be an understatement. Matt cringed as Bruce berated his brother for carelessness, 'Dang, Mom is a powder puff compared to this guy.' Amazingly, none of it seemed to bother Terry in the least. Matt was awed with his brother all over again for yet another reason.
Then he listened with a hanging mouth and even wider eyes as his brother and Bruce Wayne talked about what Terry should look out for while he was out on patrol and other things. He had known that his brother was Batman, but to be provided with such in your face proof... While the information totally kicked, it was also still a bit boggling.
He barely noticed when the conversation between the two men stopped, but was abruptly drawn back to the present when Terry, fully suited up, loped back to the Batmobile and called over his shoulder in lighthearted admonition, "When I get back later I hope to find that the two of you have made friends – or at the very least, that I haven't suddenly become an only child."
At first Matt gulped in fright, Bruce Wayne could make a normal person's bones turn to water with just a glare. His fright quickly dissolved and he had to gulp again soon afterwards to stifle the bubble of laughter that surged up as he heard Bruce growl at his flip young protégé, "Save the clever thinking for when you are facing a criminal McGinnis – it might save you from getting hurt one of these days."
The grin resulting from the suppressed laughter lingered on his face right up until the two left behind could no longer hear the whine of the Batmobile's turbines. That's when the sharp blue eyes of the original Batman fixed themselves on Matt. The felt like they were cutting right through his skin to the soul underneath, assessing and weighing him for any flaws or weaknesses. It felt like an eternity and Matt sighed with relief when Mr. Wayne shifted his attention back to the large computer screen. He guessed that he must have passed or something because he was still breathing and not being subjected to any freaking memory wiping treatments
There's an uncomfortable silence that seems to stretch out for a long time. Finally, not feeling able to dealing with the kid's nervous fidgeting any longer, Bruce broke it. "So..."
Matt forces a fair facsimile of his normal carefree grin, trying to suppress the nervousness he was feeling. "Let me guess, you're really not big on entertaining if you have a choice – are you?"
"No, not really..." he answered shortly with a slight smile. Bruce was enjoying the younger brother's astuteness.
"Umm – well, I could get out of your hair for a while and entertain myself. If you didn't mind me wandering around over there that is." Matt's hand waved vaguely in the direction of all the museum-style displays of Gotham's past criminals.
To answer, Bruce leaned forward and started hitting switches on the large computer in front of him, remotely lighting the overheads of the indicated area up. "Go ahead," he rumbled. "Just keep one thing in mind at all times." He locked eyes with his young guest and Matt learned just where Terry had acquired that new intent stare of his. "Touch nothing. Understood?"
Matt nodded solemnly, hoping that the betraying clacking of his knees shaking didn't betray how unnerved he had become, yet again, in an instant. He wandered into the now brightly lit area containing the colorful and deadly remnants of the past, trying to figure out how he felt about meeting one of his idols and being subsequently terrified by him.
Coming to the first display he forgot everything but what was in front of him. "Oh man, it's the Riddler's suit! Edward Nygma, the super genius puzzler. Never did find that ultimate riddle did ya buddy?"
He glanced over to the next display. "Schway! Victor Fries' Mr. Freeze gear, except I don't see the freeze gun – weird. Hmm, I wonder what the real story was back when I was eight and he disappeared after getting made all normal again... " Matt shrugged and looked over the top of the domed helmet.
When he did, he saw the distinctive red and black pattern of Harley Quinn's suit. "The clown princess of crime, Harleen Quinzelle, brilliant psychoanalyst seduced to the dark side by the Joker. A woman with seriously strange taste in pets, as well as in men."
Matt wandered on to the next exhibit that caught his eye, talking out loud the entire time; not realizing that everything he was saying had been very distinctly heard by the other occupant of the cave.
Bruce knew that his young guest didn't know his every word was being so clearly overheard due to the way that things echoed in the subterranean chamber. He found himself amused and intrigued as he listened to Matt recite the history of each costume and artifact in brief, with relatively few inaccuracies.
As Matt kept going though the exhibits without any pauses in pace or recall, Bruce found himself even reluctantly impressed. 'This kid sure has some historical acumen,' he thought to himself as he made careful mental notes of the few things that Matt did get wrong as well as things that were skipped over. He waited patiently, listening as Matt finished his self- guided and narrated tour, for the young history buff to rejoin him at the computer.
As soon as the young man did, Bruce fixed him with a gimlet stare. "So – you fancy yourself a historian for Gotham do you?" he asked and Matt blushed.
Matt blushed. 'Damn, I shoulda known that nothing would happen in this place without him knowing about it. He must have heard everything that I said.' He groaned, wondering how much he had gotten wrong.
Then the old man surprised him by saying in an offhand manner. "I was quite impressed by both, how much you knew, and how much you actually got right." Matt could feel himself inflating like a balloon with the praise being bestowed on him by the retired hero. Mr. Wayne wasn't done yet though,
"But there were some things that you got wrong, and of course there are the things that you have no clue about." 'Whoosh!' Matt felt like his balloon self had been pricked with a very sharp pin.
"Oh... Sorry about that. I didn't mean to offend you." He offered up quietly.
"You didn't." The old man's tone was brusque. "There's no way that you could have known about some of it, and for the rest – unless you had been told by a member of the 'Bat'-clan it would have been impossible."
Matt blinked. "Oh... umm, okay then." He had to bite his tongue very hard not to ask all the questions that immediately sprang to mind at that little nugget of information, but he managed. 'Even if my curiosity is going to kill me, I won't ask.' He resolved to himself, but then Bruce surprised him again.
"Would you like to know?"
Matt's eyes bugged and he nodded. Bruce guessed that he didn't trust his voice at the moment. He gave the younger McGinnis a small half smile and said, "You know it's funny, you seem to know more about my history in Gotham than your brother who – as too many are unfortunately aware of now, including yourself – is the current Batman."
Matt startled Bruce this time by laughing. "You might not know Terry as well as you think Mr. Wayne. Most of what I know is from the books that he left behind when my parents split. Before Terry got involved with – " He hesitated for a moment, not knowing if Terry's criminal past was a taboo subject or not with Mr. Wayne. Shrugging off his concern – he had no doubts that the old man had forgotten more about Terry's official record than Matt had ever known – he finished. "– the gangs, he was quite the 'Bat' history buff."
Surprised, Bruce stared at Matt for a moment as incidents in the past sprung to mind. The first time they encountered Inque, as well as the second. All the times that Terry had deflected him from a lecture by asking him what he would have done in the same circumstances... Then Bruce's eyes narrowed, and he got a very nasty little smile on his face.
Matt winced, 'Ooops, I guess that I got Terry in some kind of trouble...' Then he stops for a moment and chuckles, 'a little brother's work is never done!'
End.