Chapter 7 – Inque Alone

Terry woke up on the floor of the storage chamber. The back of his head ached dully, and his vision was blurred. There was nothing from Bruce Wayne. He realised that the building was probably insulated against radio waves.

He started to sit up. There was movement to his left. A hand in the centre of his chest pushed him back down. Someone leaned over him. Fingertips touched his temple gently – his cowl had been taken off.

"Your eyes are glazed," a familiar voice said. "I think there's mutagen in them …" The speaker left him for a moment, then came back with something in her hand. Her free hand held his eye open.

Water dripped into the eye. It stung, and he blinked. After a few blinks, he could see clearly out of one eye. Inque was busy washing the chemicals out of his other eye.

"How –"

"How did I survive being submerged in a whole vat of solvent?" Inque finished for Terry. "They opened the pipe connecting that vat to the new factory next door so they could tap on the solvent supply. I went down there and shut the pipe they opened. I connected the vat to the mutagen supply instead. There's always a reason for a rendezvous point. If you've spent a few years dealing with moneyfaced, power-hungry megalomaniacs, you learn that fast. How are your eyes?"

Terry did not reply. He just sat up and pulled Inque into a fierce hug. Suddenly all the strength went out of her, and she fought back tears. Tears? I haven't shed tears since …

"They killed Deanna," she muttered. "I was too late."

The sound of police sirens in the distance reached them. Terry reacted at once. He snatched up the cowl from where it lay beside him, put it on, and got to his feet, dragging a silent Inque with him. She followed, though, when he ran for the exit. He led her into the alley where he kept the Batcar.

"I'm going, now," she said softly. "Goodbye."

Terry frowned. She had never said bye before. "Going where?" he asked.

"Somewhere," she replied. "Don't look for me."

He reached for her wrist and clamped his hand around it. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Inque replied, "that this it the end. I have nothing now. I might as well go somewhere and continue my life as a corporate saboteur … it's all I'll be able to do. Think about it. I'm not even human."

Terry's answer was to pull her closer and kiss her. She jerked away almost immediately. "Don't be ridiculous," she snapped. "We have no future together." She slipped out of his grip and vanished into shadow.

Inque found her way out of Gotham. She attached herself to the back of a car going out on the highway. As the driver sped along, oblivious, she made herself comfortable and began to think.

She did miss Terry a.k.a. Batman, of course. She missed him terribly, even though she was only few miles from the city. But with separation came a certain sort of peace – he would forget her in the end, and he would find happiness sooner or later. Someone like him … he probably would not end up like Bruce Wayne.

Inque shifted her position. At least she did not have to worry anymore. She had nothing left, and that allowed for a new beginning. Without him. She wondered where she would go. He heart felt lighter the further she got from Gotham. And she smiled serenely. It would never have worked out anyway.