Terry eased himself back against the bed pillows, wincing as the movement pulled on the tender incision across his middle. The brief verbal tussle with Max had tired him. He wondered irritably when this debilitating weakness would go away. He barely had the strength to tend his own needs with none left over to consider doing something productive as the hours slipped by daily. He was loathe to admit to himself that traipsing the four corners of this room and staring out the window was all the productivity he cared to indulge in right now. That and wrestling with the mental demons inside his head. The memories, the
humiliation, the sense of failure and loss.
Sprawled on the bed, Terry gazed dully at the phone lying on the nightstand. He owed his mother a call to keep up the pretense of him being out of town on WayneTech business. While he was missing and in the hospital, Bruce had kept her informed, convincing her Terry was too busy to call himself. As soon as he was able Terry had phoned her. When she noted the fatigue in his voice he admitted he was tired and Bruce was allowing him some vacation time now that the business was finished. He had exhausted himself trying to reassure her when she continued to express worry for him. A promise to call her again in a couple of days finally got her to hang up. That happened two days ago and he was not eager to do it again.
He sighed tiredly and picked up the phone, mustering false enthusiasm to help him act the part of healthy, happy son enjoying his rare vacation. Yes he's getting a tan and boy is the water ever clear and there sure is
a lot to see and.... Terry groaned outloud at the effort and all the lies he would have to remember the next time he saw or talked to her.
Plastering a smile on to get in the mood he pushed the correct numbers on the pad. An answer came on the third ring. Matt's gruff voice muttered an impatient hello. Terry relaxed a little knowing Matt would not want to make conversation and could care less about what Terry had to say. One advantage of the strained brotherly relationship anyway.
"It's me Matt." he said evenly. "Mom around?"
"She's gone out with Tony." Matt replied with the same lack of greeting.
"Tony?"
"Yeah. Tony. The guy she's been dating for the last month."
"Dating?" He clearly heard Matt's derisive snort.
"You remember what that is Terry? When a man and woman make an appointment to see each other and
have a little fun, get to know each other better?"
Terry frowned at his brother's scoffing tone. "She never said anything to me about it. I'm just a little surprised." he defended mildly.
"You'd be even more surprised, brother, by how many things she never gets a chance to tell you because you never bother spending any time with her." Matt remarked with scathing resentment. Terry was silent for so long that Matt said. "You still there?"
Deep weariness dragged at Terry's soft reply. "Just tell her I called, okay?" He did not have the energy to deal with his brother's anger especially knowing it was probably justified.
The pause was on Matt's end this time. Terry was about to end the connection when Matt spoke up quietly. "You okay Terr?" The touch of true concern in his brother's voice triggered untapped emotion in Terry. His throat tightened as he fought a sob that rose unbidden. Forcing himself to respond, his husky words shook.
"Everything is shway with me Matt. Make sure that's the message she gets. We don't want her to worry." He ended the connection quickly. The phone slid from his slackened grip, falling to the carpeted floor beside the bed. Draping an arm across his eyes, he let the sobs come.
***
Soft light bathing the dark room roused Terry from his numb state. A young girl's pained, apologetic voice was saying over and over. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. He gave me no choice. I'm so sorry I had to hurt you. I didn't want to. He's the most evil person I've ever known. I'm sorry Batman. So sorry..."
Terry's eyes adjusted to the sight of a ghostly figure hovering near his bed. Gangly, with long black hair and soft luminous eyes that were shining with unshed tears. "Who are you?" He asked dully, unable even now to work up any feeling of wonder or urgency at the rare sight.
"Oh, I should have known you wouldn't .... This is how you remember me." The translucent figure changed shape before his blurring eyes. The young girl became a child of six or seven, clutching a stuffed doll with antennas coming from its head. Memory of his first dealings with the Brain Trust came quickly into focus.
"Tamara?" he whispered, levering into a sitting position. As the little girl nodded an affirmative her figure was transformed into the older version doing the same. A slight smile came to his lips as he murmured. "You've grown."
Tamara nodded sadly, her voice thick with pent-up emotion. "And all I ever do is cause you trouble you have never asked for. I understand you Batman. Your cause is a noble one. It is that rightness inside of you that drew me to you the first time. I did not realize at that time how much you risked for my sake. And now to repay your kindness I have caused you unimaginable hurt."
"I don't understand." Terry shook his head slowly. "You've done nothing to me. What -- "
"I was there," she interrupted miserably. "I helped him hurt you. I told him the feel of your thoughts.
He used it to hurt you. He knew how to use that information to make you suffer."
"You're talking about .... " Terry found it hard to say the word that his memory played back as torture.
"Yes." Tamara replied softly. "Body and mind he wounded you. And I helped him."
"It was a woman who -- "
"No! He is stronger. He controls the body." she corrected vehemently. Terry ran a hand across his eyes, his sluggish mind refusing to make sense of her words.
"Let me see if I got this right. You know what happened to me. You were there. And the woman who was controlling the situation was actually a man. And this man knew everything I was thinking because you told him." Tamara nodded positive after each of his statements until the last. She corrected.
"I can't read your mind. I don't really know what you're thinking, but I can feel the... emotion behind it.
I also can... change its intensity."
Terry studied her shifting, shimmering form while mulling her words. An obvious question came.
"Why did you help if you didn't want to? Does she- he have some kind of hold on you?"
"My parents." She replied in a whisper. "He threatens their lives if I don't cooperate."
Terry nodded solemn. He remembered talking with her parents. When the Brain Trust had kidnapped her they had been grief-stricken and told Batman everything they knew when they realized he was trying to find her. A spark of righteous anger flared inside and faded. He was through fighting for others. Curiosity persisted though. "Who is this... person? Does he have a name?"
"She calls him, father." That part of the reply was hushed with distaste, the next was softened with fondness. "She calls herself, Talia."
A sinking, dread feeling descended over Terry as he absorbed the new knowledge. "Talia? But..." he looked up at Tamara in puzzlement. "She doesn't look at all like I remember.. her hair had been dark and her skin... " Tamara's head nodded sadly.
"The conflict within that single mind is-- horrible. The body pays the toll for the madness inside. She fights him. You have her to thank that you left that place alive. He would have killed you, but she could not tolerate knowing the disappointment her 'beloved' would feel if you were to die."
Beloved. He had heard Talia call Bruce that more than once when he had witnessed them together years ago. While contemplating all this new information he noticed Tamara's form fading. He reached out an arm as if he could stop her from leaving. "Wait - Tamara - there's more I need to ask you."
"I haven't the strength to stay any longer. Know that I truly did not wish any of this to happen Batman. Forgive me."
The last light of her shimmering form faded and Terry laid back in the total darkness, his mind whirling with all he had just learned.
**************
Vince was beginning to regret the day he was first introduced to her. She treated him like a nobody even though without him her plan wouldn't have a chance of working. He replied dutifully, knowing that any other tone of voice might set her off again. After what happened last time he made sure he was showing the 'proper respect' as she called it. His mind still could not stop replaying the sight of Arnie with his throat slit, all because he chuckled at something she said. Done so smooth and fast by one of her men that no one had a chance to react until after the fact. Probably would happen to him too if he tried to back out of this deal.
"All of our people are in place. When you say go they go."
"You will remain patient. The day will come, but not soon."
****************
Bruce woke from his light doze, gaze focusing automatically up at the monstrous computer screen in the batcave annex. The same information was displayed as before he nodded off. All the clues he had gathered so far. The only peices of the puzzle he had found that would tell him what Terry refused to.
Maxine had not seen the latest information yet and he was reluctant to ask for her input. He doubted she could pull her mind away from preoccupation with Terry long enough to come up with anything helpful.
Pressing a button on the console brought up a different display. With the same kind of instinctive surety that had told him the time he had spent in the Lazurus Pit had slowed his aging or had bought him a few more years of life; he knew Gotham City was being exposed to an unidentified evil. The signs were there. Had been for over a month. Terry's abduction was probably a part of the grand scheme. Perhaps a centerpoint-- 'Do all you can until Batman is out of the way. After he is, the chain of events accelerates to a conclusion'.
What kind of evil? What conclusion? Who had done this to Terry? Who is it that could mock me this way? Who would have the calculated control to want to teach both Terry and I a lesson in humility instead of just destroying us?
Terry's silence had to end now. This went beyond personal. The welfare of Gotham was at stake. If Terry could not see past his own pain then he was not the man Bruce had thought he was.
Bruce entered despite Terry's clear objection. The young man made no protest, just turned his back to the intrusion. Leaning on his cane a few steps inside the room Bruce waited respectfully for a number of seconds before speaking. "We need to talk."
"No, we don't." Terry replied without facing him. Not once had Terry looked him in the eye since his return from missing status. A fact Bruce found disquieting and no longer tolerable. His grip tightened on the cane handle, voice lashing out impatience.
"Look at me when you're speaking to me!"
He observed his protege flinch slightly at his sharp words. Fear? Terry was afraid of him? The young man who, years ago, had no compunction about forcing his way into Bruce's isolated, forbiding existence to demand he solve the mystery of his father's murder and who willfully and boldly stole the batsuit without thought of the consequences was now almost cowering at his presence? He said again, gently. "We need to
talk Terry."
Pivoting slowly in the chair, Terry faced in his direction, but kept his eyes lowered. "I'm through with this Bruce. There's nothing else to say." Though the word 'this' was about as nondescript a term as possible in the english language, Bruce knew exactly what it meant to Terry.
"I'm not here to discuss your future. I need to know about your recent past. And you're the only one who can tell me."
"Why do you have to know?" His suspicious reply was accompanied by raised eyes.
"Because what happened to you is most likely just a small example of what lies ahead for Gotham. I need to know more. If we can come up with an identity or motive for your abduction then it might be possible to understand what this woman is planning."
Terry lowered his gaze to Bruce's feet and the bottom of the cane beside them.
He braced himself for whatever Bruce might say. For the longest time it was nothing and the feet he stared at did not move.
"I'm an old man Terry. Old. I've lived almost four of your lifetimes. Can you imagine what that's like?
Probably not. You see the shell of what I am, but only a small part of what's inside. That's all I wanted you to see. I didn't want to scare you away." He grinned briefly, but Terry did not see it still looking at the
floor. "But now you are afraid. That must be why you can't look at me. Whoever did this to you knows me and has told you things about me that-- "
"I'm not afraid of you." Terry's head came up, eyes meeting Bruce's. "Or of anyone else."
His gaze shifted to the floor again. After a long silence Terry spoke with reluctance.
"I didn't know who she was until the visitor I had last night told me." Terry did not look, but he could imagine the old man's brow's furrowing as his mind ran through the reason's why any visitor to the mansion was not detected by the security equipment. "This visitor didn't come in a physical form. Do you remember a young girl named Tamara Caulder?"
"Yes."
"Tamara was involved in... this. She told me the woman's -- " He stopped himself, brow furrowing, then started again. "He's -- " Terry grimaced and shook his head. "It!" He spat, looking square at Bruce, disgust filling his expression, turning his lips into a half-sneer. "iIt/i - was one of yours. From your past. That freak. The one who -- took over his own daughter's body."
As understanding filtered through Bruce's mind, his complexion darkened with the heat of growing anger. His eyes narrowed, no longer seeing Terry, his mind picturing one of his worst enemies. Without a word or further glance at the young man who was eyeing him intently now, Bruce shuffled slowly from the room.
humiliation, the sense of failure and loss.
Sprawled on the bed, Terry gazed dully at the phone lying on the nightstand. He owed his mother a call to keep up the pretense of him being out of town on WayneTech business. While he was missing and in the hospital, Bruce had kept her informed, convincing her Terry was too busy to call himself. As soon as he was able Terry had phoned her. When she noted the fatigue in his voice he admitted he was tired and Bruce was allowing him some vacation time now that the business was finished. He had exhausted himself trying to reassure her when she continued to express worry for him. A promise to call her again in a couple of days finally got her to hang up. That happened two days ago and he was not eager to do it again.
He sighed tiredly and picked up the phone, mustering false enthusiasm to help him act the part of healthy, happy son enjoying his rare vacation. Yes he's getting a tan and boy is the water ever clear and there sure is
a lot to see and.... Terry groaned outloud at the effort and all the lies he would have to remember the next time he saw or talked to her.
Plastering a smile on to get in the mood he pushed the correct numbers on the pad. An answer came on the third ring. Matt's gruff voice muttered an impatient hello. Terry relaxed a little knowing Matt would not want to make conversation and could care less about what Terry had to say. One advantage of the strained brotherly relationship anyway.
"It's me Matt." he said evenly. "Mom around?"
"She's gone out with Tony." Matt replied with the same lack of greeting.
"Tony?"
"Yeah. Tony. The guy she's been dating for the last month."
"Dating?" He clearly heard Matt's derisive snort.
"You remember what that is Terry? When a man and woman make an appointment to see each other and
have a little fun, get to know each other better?"
Terry frowned at his brother's scoffing tone. "She never said anything to me about it. I'm just a little surprised." he defended mildly.
"You'd be even more surprised, brother, by how many things she never gets a chance to tell you because you never bother spending any time with her." Matt remarked with scathing resentment. Terry was silent for so long that Matt said. "You still there?"
Deep weariness dragged at Terry's soft reply. "Just tell her I called, okay?" He did not have the energy to deal with his brother's anger especially knowing it was probably justified.
The pause was on Matt's end this time. Terry was about to end the connection when Matt spoke up quietly. "You okay Terr?" The touch of true concern in his brother's voice triggered untapped emotion in Terry. His throat tightened as he fought a sob that rose unbidden. Forcing himself to respond, his husky words shook.
"Everything is shway with me Matt. Make sure that's the message she gets. We don't want her to worry." He ended the connection quickly. The phone slid from his slackened grip, falling to the carpeted floor beside the bed. Draping an arm across his eyes, he let the sobs come.
***
Soft light bathing the dark room roused Terry from his numb state. A young girl's pained, apologetic voice was saying over and over. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. He gave me no choice. I'm so sorry I had to hurt you. I didn't want to. He's the most evil person I've ever known. I'm sorry Batman. So sorry..."
Terry's eyes adjusted to the sight of a ghostly figure hovering near his bed. Gangly, with long black hair and soft luminous eyes that were shining with unshed tears. "Who are you?" He asked dully, unable even now to work up any feeling of wonder or urgency at the rare sight.
"Oh, I should have known you wouldn't .... This is how you remember me." The translucent figure changed shape before his blurring eyes. The young girl became a child of six or seven, clutching a stuffed doll with antennas coming from its head. Memory of his first dealings with the Brain Trust came quickly into focus.
"Tamara?" he whispered, levering into a sitting position. As the little girl nodded an affirmative her figure was transformed into the older version doing the same. A slight smile came to his lips as he murmured. "You've grown."
Tamara nodded sadly, her voice thick with pent-up emotion. "And all I ever do is cause you trouble you have never asked for. I understand you Batman. Your cause is a noble one. It is that rightness inside of you that drew me to you the first time. I did not realize at that time how much you risked for my sake. And now to repay your kindness I have caused you unimaginable hurt."
"I don't understand." Terry shook his head slowly. "You've done nothing to me. What -- "
"I was there," she interrupted miserably. "I helped him hurt you. I told him the feel of your thoughts.
He used it to hurt you. He knew how to use that information to make you suffer."
"You're talking about .... " Terry found it hard to say the word that his memory played back as torture.
"Yes." Tamara replied softly. "Body and mind he wounded you. And I helped him."
"It was a woman who -- "
"No! He is stronger. He controls the body." she corrected vehemently. Terry ran a hand across his eyes, his sluggish mind refusing to make sense of her words.
"Let me see if I got this right. You know what happened to me. You were there. And the woman who was controlling the situation was actually a man. And this man knew everything I was thinking because you told him." Tamara nodded positive after each of his statements until the last. She corrected.
"I can't read your mind. I don't really know what you're thinking, but I can feel the... emotion behind it.
I also can... change its intensity."
Terry studied her shifting, shimmering form while mulling her words. An obvious question came.
"Why did you help if you didn't want to? Does she- he have some kind of hold on you?"
"My parents." She replied in a whisper. "He threatens their lives if I don't cooperate."
Terry nodded solemn. He remembered talking with her parents. When the Brain Trust had kidnapped her they had been grief-stricken and told Batman everything they knew when they realized he was trying to find her. A spark of righteous anger flared inside and faded. He was through fighting for others. Curiosity persisted though. "Who is this... person? Does he have a name?"
"She calls him, father." That part of the reply was hushed with distaste, the next was softened with fondness. "She calls herself, Talia."
A sinking, dread feeling descended over Terry as he absorbed the new knowledge. "Talia? But..." he looked up at Tamara in puzzlement. "She doesn't look at all like I remember.. her hair had been dark and her skin... " Tamara's head nodded sadly.
"The conflict within that single mind is-- horrible. The body pays the toll for the madness inside. She fights him. You have her to thank that you left that place alive. He would have killed you, but she could not tolerate knowing the disappointment her 'beloved' would feel if you were to die."
Beloved. He had heard Talia call Bruce that more than once when he had witnessed them together years ago. While contemplating all this new information he noticed Tamara's form fading. He reached out an arm as if he could stop her from leaving. "Wait - Tamara - there's more I need to ask you."
"I haven't the strength to stay any longer. Know that I truly did not wish any of this to happen Batman. Forgive me."
The last light of her shimmering form faded and Terry laid back in the total darkness, his mind whirling with all he had just learned.
**************
Vince was beginning to regret the day he was first introduced to her. She treated him like a nobody even though without him her plan wouldn't have a chance of working. He replied dutifully, knowing that any other tone of voice might set her off again. After what happened last time he made sure he was showing the 'proper respect' as she called it. His mind still could not stop replaying the sight of Arnie with his throat slit, all because he chuckled at something she said. Done so smooth and fast by one of her men that no one had a chance to react until after the fact. Probably would happen to him too if he tried to back out of this deal.
"All of our people are in place. When you say go they go."
"You will remain patient. The day will come, but not soon."
****************
Bruce woke from his light doze, gaze focusing automatically up at the monstrous computer screen in the batcave annex. The same information was displayed as before he nodded off. All the clues he had gathered so far. The only peices of the puzzle he had found that would tell him what Terry refused to.
Maxine had not seen the latest information yet and he was reluctant to ask for her input. He doubted she could pull her mind away from preoccupation with Terry long enough to come up with anything helpful.
Pressing a button on the console brought up a different display. With the same kind of instinctive surety that had told him the time he had spent in the Lazurus Pit had slowed his aging or had bought him a few more years of life; he knew Gotham City was being exposed to an unidentified evil. The signs were there. Had been for over a month. Terry's abduction was probably a part of the grand scheme. Perhaps a centerpoint-- 'Do all you can until Batman is out of the way. After he is, the chain of events accelerates to a conclusion'.
What kind of evil? What conclusion? Who had done this to Terry? Who is it that could mock me this way? Who would have the calculated control to want to teach both Terry and I a lesson in humility instead of just destroying us?
Terry's silence had to end now. This went beyond personal. The welfare of Gotham was at stake. If Terry could not see past his own pain then he was not the man Bruce had thought he was.
Bruce entered despite Terry's clear objection. The young man made no protest, just turned his back to the intrusion. Leaning on his cane a few steps inside the room Bruce waited respectfully for a number of seconds before speaking. "We need to talk."
"No, we don't." Terry replied without facing him. Not once had Terry looked him in the eye since his return from missing status. A fact Bruce found disquieting and no longer tolerable. His grip tightened on the cane handle, voice lashing out impatience.
"Look at me when you're speaking to me!"
He observed his protege flinch slightly at his sharp words. Fear? Terry was afraid of him? The young man who, years ago, had no compunction about forcing his way into Bruce's isolated, forbiding existence to demand he solve the mystery of his father's murder and who willfully and boldly stole the batsuit without thought of the consequences was now almost cowering at his presence? He said again, gently. "We need to
talk Terry."
Pivoting slowly in the chair, Terry faced in his direction, but kept his eyes lowered. "I'm through with this Bruce. There's nothing else to say." Though the word 'this' was about as nondescript a term as possible in the english language, Bruce knew exactly what it meant to Terry.
"I'm not here to discuss your future. I need to know about your recent past. And you're the only one who can tell me."
"Why do you have to know?" His suspicious reply was accompanied by raised eyes.
"Because what happened to you is most likely just a small example of what lies ahead for Gotham. I need to know more. If we can come up with an identity or motive for your abduction then it might be possible to understand what this woman is planning."
Terry lowered his gaze to Bruce's feet and the bottom of the cane beside them.
He braced himself for whatever Bruce might say. For the longest time it was nothing and the feet he stared at did not move.
"I'm an old man Terry. Old. I've lived almost four of your lifetimes. Can you imagine what that's like?
Probably not. You see the shell of what I am, but only a small part of what's inside. That's all I wanted you to see. I didn't want to scare you away." He grinned briefly, but Terry did not see it still looking at the
floor. "But now you are afraid. That must be why you can't look at me. Whoever did this to you knows me and has told you things about me that-- "
"I'm not afraid of you." Terry's head came up, eyes meeting Bruce's. "Or of anyone else."
His gaze shifted to the floor again. After a long silence Terry spoke with reluctance.
"I didn't know who she was until the visitor I had last night told me." Terry did not look, but he could imagine the old man's brow's furrowing as his mind ran through the reason's why any visitor to the mansion was not detected by the security equipment. "This visitor didn't come in a physical form. Do you remember a young girl named Tamara Caulder?"
"Yes."
"Tamara was involved in... this. She told me the woman's -- " He stopped himself, brow furrowing, then started again. "He's -- " Terry grimaced and shook his head. "It!" He spat, looking square at Bruce, disgust filling his expression, turning his lips into a half-sneer. "iIt/i - was one of yours. From your past. That freak. The one who -- took over his own daughter's body."
As understanding filtered through Bruce's mind, his complexion darkened with the heat of growing anger. His eyes narrowed, no longer seeing Terry, his mind picturing one of his worst enemies. Without a word or further glance at the young man who was eyeing him intently now, Bruce shuffled slowly from the room.