Chapter 2: Suicide Rescue

By: Galadeidre

Batman jumped out of the way of a flying hunk of metal. "Bonk, just give it up already! Hand over the chip!"

"Make me!" He grabbed another large metal tank and threw it at him. Batman narrowly missed it. The tank landed on top of the mainframe computer board in that lab room.

"Bonk, watch it!" Ghoul shouted from the other end. "This place is filled with deadly explosives and new weapons! We don't want to kill ourselves on the job!" He finished decoding the password and the door nearby slid open. "We're in! Let's go! Bonk! Chucko! Make sure he doesn't follow us! DeeDee! Come on!"

"On the double!" the DeeDee twins replied. They did a few somersaults and ran through the newly opened door.

Bonk grinned. "You're all mine now, Batfreak!"

"We'll just have to see about that," Batman muttered. He ran towards Bonk and landed a punch square in the gut.

Bonk backed away for a moment and looked up just in time to see Batman come in with a kick on the face. He fell on his back, unconscious.

Batman quickly ran to him and patted him down, searching for the small chip. "Great. Wayne, it's not here."

"He must have thrown it to one of the others," Old Bruce Wayne spoke through the Batsuit intercom. "Careful. There's some deadly stuff in the other room."

"No prob…" He gagged. Bonk had just woken up and was choking the life out of Batman. "You're not getting that chip! It's ours now!"

"We'll…see…" Batman choked some more before Chucko came with a long metal pipe. He swiped and hit Batman in the head hard. Batman fell to the ground dazed for a few moments.

"Terry! Are you all right?" Bruce asked.

Batman shook his head a few times before everything came back in focus. He held his hand to the left side of his head. "Ouch." He slowly stood up and was punched in the face by Bonk. He fell back again and watched as both Bonk and Chucko slowly advanced to him.

"Terry, you've got to hurry! If Ghoul has the chip and activates several of the programs in there…well…we could say goodbye to Gotham City as we knew it."

"Give me a sec." He shook his head a few times.

Both Bonk and Chucko lunged at him. Batman had gained enough sense to jump out of the way. The two goons crashed into each other, and both fell back, dazed.

"I'll see you two later," Batman gave a grin and ran towards the door which Ghoul and DeeDee had gone in.

He had just ran into the room and gotten a glimpse of Ghoul typing in some commands when he was kicked on the back of the head. He groaned and slowly looked up to see one of the DeeDee twins coming to him with a twirling type of kick. Batman rolled out of the way and onto his back, just in time to see the other twin come flying at him. From his peripheral vision, he noticed the first DeeDee twin running to him. He jumped and flew up into the air before either twin reached his side.

"Terry, you had better hurry," Bruce warned.

"I'm trying that." He spotted Ghoul and jumped down to him, catching the villain off guard. Ghoul hit the wall with a loud thunk and lay there, unconscious. Batman ran to him and checked his pockets.

"Bingo." Batman gave a grin as he felt the hard square chip in his fingers.

"No!" Bonk had seen it all. "DeeDee! Don't let him get away!"

The twins ran towards Batman, determined looks on their faces.

Batman gave a grin. "Maybe some other time. Try staying out of trouble." With that said, he flew up into the air and through a skylight.

Bonk gave a roar in fury and punched the wall several times.

Ghoul had regained consciousness. "Stop it, Bonk!" He looked up to where Batman had flown away. "Looks like we're just gonna have to tell the Doc that the mission was a failure. Come on. Let's get out of her before the cops show." They all followed Ghoul out the back doorway.

The Batmobile flew back into its hideaway where Wayne was waiting. It landed smoothly and softly. Batman immediately got out and walked towards Bruce, holding out the chip in his hand. "Special chip delivery comin' up."

Bruce took the chip and walked over to the Batcomputer. Batman followed as he took off his helmet to reveal the young Terry McGinnis.

"Well," Terry remarked as he watched Bruce put the chip into the computer and start typing a few commands. "I'm off. Got a date with Dana tonight. Goin' to take her out to dinner then go take a walk or something. Have fun with that chip." Terry grabbed his bag and started to walk up the stone steps that led to the Wayne Manor.

"Terry, wait."

Terry stopped and turned. "What?"

"This isn't the chip."

At this, the young teenager turned his full body around. "Say that again?"

"This isn't the original chip. It's a backup file."

Terry walked over to Bruce's side. "But…how's that possible? I thought it was the chip…"

"It's not. I don't blame you, though." Bruce leaned back in his chair and looked up at the data that was filing out on his computer. "This was just to lead us in a wild goose chase. The Doc probably already has the chip in his possession. He just wanted this one, because it has all the backup data of the original saved onto it. This one's almost as important as the original. Only difference is that the original, when plugged into a specific software could probably wipe out a good deal of Gotham's firewalls and vital computer programs."

"That doesn't sound at all…pleasant," Terry muttered. "Look. I'm really sorry about the mix up."

"Don't be." Bruce got up and placed a hand on the young Batman's shoulder. "Go on to your date with Dana. There's nothing much we can do tonight. I'll try to track down the Doc's wherabouts, but it might not do us any good. Just have some fun tonight. And get some rest, too."

Terry smiled. "Sure thing. See you later." He hoisted his bag onto his shoulder and ran up the steps.

Bruce watched him and then turned back around to the computer. He took out the chip and looked at it. There was a symbol on the top of the chip. It looked like a square J and C that were fused together to look like one symbol. Bruce stored that in the back of his mind and sat back down in his chair to think.

"Terry, I'm glad you didn't have to work all night tonight."

"So do I."

Terry and Dana walked hand in hand around the Gotham harbor. It was a dark, starry night with a full moon and not many people were out. Terry noticed a young couple at the railing talking softly, a mother with a young toddler boy walking around, a dark figure that was masked in shadow nearby the toddler and his mom, a gang of boys that were quite a ways away that were talking, and a harbor patrol that was pacing back and forth nearby one of the piers.

Dana continued on with her lecture. "I mean, Mr. Wayne's a nice guy and all, but he makes you work too hard at times. That's what I think at least. I'm glad he let you go early."

Terry smiled and held her close. "I wouldn't have missed this night for anything." Well, depending on the 'anything' that came up, he thought to himself.

Dana smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm glad of that." She leaned close for a kiss.

Suddenly, the little toddler boy that Terry had noticed earlier spoke, catching both Terry and Dana's attention.

"Look, Mommy. That girl's standing on the railing. Is she going to swim in the water, Mommy?"

Terry turned his head just in time to see the dark figure that had been masked in shadow jump off the railing and plummet into the waters below. He had also noticed that she had thrown an anchor down before she had jumped. The anchor had been tied to her ankle.

"Terry," Dana whispered in fright. "She's gonna kill herself." Terry ran to the railing as Dana followed and noticed the ripples in the water. The other people there that had heard the little boy were also crowding around the railing. The patrol man was running as fast as his fat legs would carry him towards them.

Terry acted on instinct. He took off his jacket and jumped into the waters.

"Terry!" Dana called out to him.

Terry plunged into the water and immediately noticed how cold it felt. He was grateful for the bright full moon that was out and began to search around underwater. He spotted the anchor on the ground and followed it up to the ankle where it was attached. The dark figure wasn't moving. Their face was in shadow.

Terry didn't waste any time. He swam toward the ankle and glanced at the chain. Slowly, but efficiently, he unwound the chain from the ankle. He choked. He was running out of breath. Stay calm, he thought to himself. He soon finished unwinding the chain and grabbed the figure. Immediately, he started swimming for the surface. He was practically out of air. He also felt as if the figure's weight was pulling him down, but didn't think much of it, considering he needed air badly.

He broke the surface and gasped for breath. The others that were watching from the railing cheered and applauded. Once he had regained his air supply, he looked down and the still figure.

It was a young girl. She was not more than thirteen or fourteen years of age. Her hood concealed most of her face, but he noticed how pale it was in the moonlight. He quickly swam to the nearest pier and was helped up onto the dock. The harbor patrol leaned beside Terry and asked, "Are you all right?"

Terry nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Terry!" Dana ran to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I was so worried. You're shivering, Ter. C'mon. We'd best get you a change of clothes somewhere. I'll drive you home."

"Wait." He crawled over to where the girl was lying on the dock, still and silent. She wasn't breathing. Terry felt her pulse. It was there, faint but there. "She needs to get to the hospital."

"It's already been taken care of," the patrol answered. "You're crazy, you know that? Going into that water at this time of night and with the chill. Crazy, but a hero." The others that were there, clapped.

Terry smiled. He could hear the ambulance in the background.

"C'mon, Terry," Dana replied. "You should change before you catch a cold."

"I need to see how she's doing, Dana." He didn't know why, but he felt an obligation to take care of this kid, whoever she was.

Dana sighed. "Tell you what. You'll go home and change and then I'll come by your house later on to pick you up to see her. How's that?"

Terry nodded. "You're the best, Dana. Thanks."

Dana smiled. "Come on, then."