A/N: Catgrl, sorry I've taken sooo long with this chapter. I knew I had to write it, but I just couldn't find what to write about. Finally, I made myself sit down and concentrate.

Chapter 9

Terry raced inside of the Batcave and found Bruce waiting for him at the computer. "You're late, McGinnis." Bruce replied in his deep voice.

"Yes, and I'm sorry. But, I was preoccupied."

Bruce didn't turn around. "You have duties to this city."

Terry sighed. "Yes, and I was heading here when I was forced to take a shortcut. But, a girl in a vinyl outfit stopped me and told me that I couldn't pass through her territory without fighting her." Terry was lying, but Bruce didn't catch on. Terry was glad that Bruce was naïve enough to the story to let it slide; he'd feared that the story was too lame to be believed.

"That really took you this long?" Bruce asked.

Terry nodded. "She was relentless in making sure I didn't pass into her territory."

"Who was she?"

Terry shook his head. "I don't know; I've never seen her before in my life."

Bruce sighed and decided not to push Terry since his girlfriend had broke his heart the day before. "Just suit up and get to work."

Terry nodded. "Yes, sir."

'I don't understand this boy sometimes.' Bruce thought.

Corinna was in the shower letting the hot water cascade down her back in torrid streams. Her mind was stuck on Terry and how confused her mind was. 'Should I keep him as a lover or just forget it? That's crazy; I can't just forget what happened here tonight.' Corinna thought as she rinsed shampoo out of her hair. 'I'll never be able to rinse that event out of my memory.'

Synthroid took an hour to administer the shots to the runaways, who in return laid on the ground writhing in pain. The shot was taking over an addiction that had become as normal as the setting sun, so there was a lot of pain as the shot ate away at the drugs in the junkies' systems. Synthroid watched, feeling a little emotional, as the kids moaned and screamed from the pain. 'Don't worry, kids,' he thought, 'It'll be much better after this moment.'

Soon, the runaways stopped kicking violently and laid still on the floor. Synthroid let out a breath he'd been holding. "That's better," he said as he walked over to the far end of his laboratory. "Men," he said. "Will you be so kind as to lead these kids to spare rooms. They'll need to rest for a little while."

The men nodded and picked up the runaways off of the floor. Synthroid slowly pulled a cover off of his equipment and went to work on a potion. It was a mixture of tranquilizers and toxins that would knock a person out cold for a nearly twenty-four hours. If he was lucky, he would be able to finish the potion and perfect it into a gas form and fill Wayne Manor with it. Then, he could destroy the Batcave with ease. 'It seems like a nice plan.' Synthroid thought. 'But, Bruce Wayne is smart, even to be such an old man. He'll have me found out before I can use the stuff. But perhaps, I can catch his little Batboy and keep him out of commission.'

Terry was out on the prowl when Bruce's voice came over his headset. "Terry," the voice said.

"Yea." Terry replied.

"There's a joker group heading towards you. They've stolen some merchandise from a jewel store."

Terry located the Jokerz and said, "I'm on them." Then, he dove down and landed behind the Jokerz. He listened in to their conversations.

"Man, did you see that thing that killed Spellbinder tonight? It was super strong. Nothing could have crushed Spellbinder's collarbone that easily. Something was seriously wrong with it. Something unnatural."

"Bruce." Terry whispered.

"Yes, Terry."

"Spellbinders dead." Terry replied as he stared wide-eyed at the Jokerz backs. He'd battled Spellbinder several times, and he was tough. He feared the existence of anybody who could kill Spellbinder so easily. 'How could that be possible,' he thought.

Batman flew over the Jokerz heads and landed on the concrete. "Why don't you all tell me where you're headed."

"None of your business, Bats."

Batman scowled. "I believe it is if you have stolen jewels."

The biggest joker pointed at Batman. "Listen, Bats, you have bigger, better dregs to go after. There's one lurking in this very city that crushed Spellbinder's collarbone tonight. Why don't you go looking for him or it?"

"Because it didn't steal jewels; you did."

"Buzz off, Bats." A smaller, female joker suggested.

"Not likely." Batman replied.

"Okay, fine. Have it your way. You'll regret it."

Batman chuckled. "No, I believe you're wrong again."

The Jokerz rushed for Batman, but he flew out of the way. Two of the Jokerz spun around, including the female. She'd pulled out a ring with the power of a plug-in socket. When Batman flew close by, she punched out and gave him a nice jolt.

Batman fell to the ground and was surrounded quickly, but he kicked, punched, and flipped many of the Jokerz away. Before long, many of the Jokerz chickened out and scurried away. But, the female stayed where she was.

"Wouldn't it be easier just to run away, too?" Batman asked.

The female shook her head. "No, I'd rather take you on than that thing I saw tonight."

Batman stood still. "Tell me about what you saw."