Brick Ballads
Chapter Three: "Between the Present and the Past"

Metropolis, Superman's home city, was no stranger to attacks. It was usually ground zero when it came to alien invasions and metahuman disasters. The citizens had long since learned when and to where to evacuate when trouble came, saving the Justice League the problem of crowd control. Right now, the business district was completely empty, save for the four villains and the heroes that had come to stop them.

"The Justice League," Inque commented. "Just the last people we wanted to see."

"Aquagirl, take Inque," Warhawk ordered. "Lantern, you take Shriek. And Batman…"

"I'll handle Stalker," Matt interrupted.

"All right," Warhawk answered. Matt had known that Warhawk wouldn't want to put him against Parasite, with too much danger of him getting killed without powers to absorb in place of life force. And Aquagirl and Green Lantern were perfect matches against their adversaries: Aquagirl's control over water would help her fight Inque better, and Lantern's ring could generate shields to protect him from Shriek's sonic blasts. That left Matt with Stalker. It was a perfect strategy to try and keep him alive, and no one could argue that he'd planned it that way for his own purposes.

The four League members went into action immediately. Aquagirl brought up water from the pipes beneath the street, using the stream as a shield while trying to shoot it at Inque, who was constantly dodging back and forth. Shriek had attacked Lantern with a sonic wave, but a green energy field had blocked most of the blast. Warhawk, meanwhile, was searching for an opening against Parasite, all the while trying to keep from being drained. Matt, in the meantime, ran toward Stalker, throwing batarangs. The hunter dodged them easily, and then blocked the punches and kicks Matt tried to land.

"Who are you?" Stalker demanded. "You're not the Bat."

"You're right," Matt grunted. "I'm not."

"Then I have no reason to fight you," he replied. "You are not my prey."

"I was once." Stalker's expression hardly changed, but Matt wasn't going to let that stop him. Fifteen years worth of anger was raging in him, and he wasn't going to hold it in any longer. "Fifteen years ago, you kidnapped an eight-year-old boy in order to lure Batman out into the open."

To his credit, Stalker didn't take long to connect the dots, but the realization hardly fazed him. "Ah, the younger one," he answered calmly. Too calmly. Matt wanted to shove a fist in his face. He tried, but it missed, so he settled for kicking him in the side.

"I understand your desire for revenge," Stalker informed, "but you are foolish to fight me as you are now. You are still young and undisciplined."

"So was my brother."

"Which is why I stopped hunting him for several years. I wanted him to mature. I do not hunt cubs."

"You did that night!" Matt shouted, dropping and making a sweeping kick to knock Stalker's feet out from underneath him. But Stalker nimbly leapt in the air and flipped back onto his feet. "You used me as bait!"

"When a cub is in danger, others in the pride will come to its rescue," Stalker explained. "For a hunter, that is the most efficient trap. But of course, protective instincts make the prey even more dangerous, which only makes the hunt more satisfying."

"Sick bastard," Matt growled, throwing two electric batarangs. They missed horribly, so he kept throwing batarangs until he had nothing left. Each time, Stalker avoided them, watching almost in disappointment as Matt continued to attack.

Deciding that conversation was pointless by now, Matt put all of his energy into fighting. And he needed to too—punch after punch was blocked, and then he tried a roundhouse kick to Stalker's head, but his opponent ducked at the last second, throwing him off balance. He fell to the street, smashing his face against the pavement, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. Getting up, he tried a drop kick, which Stalker blocked. However, this time Matt was ready. He used the kick to mask the movement of his left hand firing an anchoring wire around Stalker's ankle. He then pulled it, knocking Stalker to the ground while simultaneously bringing his foot down on the hunter's shoulder. But before he could revel in his victory, someone came up from behind and grabbed him, holding tight. He could feel through the suit his strength fading. His head felt heavy, and he couldn't see straight…

He collapsed to the ground suddenly, the arms having let go. Shaking his head to rid it of the fog, he looked up and saw Stalker standing over him. He tried to lunge up to attack, but he was too weak. Behind him stood Parasite.

"Do not interfere in my hunt again," Stalker warned Parasite. "The Bat is my prey, and mine alone. I have promised him an honorable fight."

"Honorable?" Matt muttered, trying to clear his head. He felt awful: sick and exhausted at the same time. But he had a feeling that if he lost consciousness now, it would be a long time before he woke up. Not far away, Warhawk lay prone, alive but also drained. Aquagirl had managed to subdue Inque and was helping shield Green Lantern with her water while he fired beams at Shriek.

"Come!" Stalker called. "As I've said, this is not worth it." The diluted Inque oozed her way out of the battle zone while Shriek blasted Aquagirl and Lantern one last time for good measure, making them unable to take chase. Parasite joined them, but Stalker looked directly at Matt. "And as for you, cub, my warning also applies to you. I saved you because I find no honor or thrill in killing cubs. Do not interfere again." With that, he ran off.

Matt sat there in the street along with the other battered Leaguers. Warhawk was staring to stir, and Aquagirl and Green Lantern were slowly walking toward them. This was officially the worst night of his life. First the debacle in Gotham, then Shinobi, and now this? He honestly couldn't see how things could get any worse.

"Metro Tower to field team, come in," radioed Superman. Now it was worse.

"This is Aquagirl," she informed. "We read you."

"Return to the Tower. There's something we need to discuss."

"We have two down right now," Aquagirl warned. "We need to stop by med bay first."

"All right," Superman answered. "But as soon as you can, I want to speak to you all, especially Batman."

Aquagirl looked surprised but replied, "Roger."

"Why does he want to talk to you?" Green Lantern questioned, giving Matt a puzzled look.

He sighed. "Trust me, you'll know soon enough."

At med bay, Matt and Warhawk were hooked up to IVs filled with an electrolytic solution that helped replace the energy Parasite took from them. It took half an hour, but Matt finally started to feel strong enough to walk on his own and Warhawk regained full consciousness. Another ten minutes later, they walked to the conference room to find Superman, Green Lantern, Aquagirl, and Shinobi waiting for them.

Damn, Matt thought, not wanting to say it out loud in front of someone with super hearing. He'd known he was in trouble the minute Superman had called them. Having Shinobi there made the problem even worse. The last thing he'd wanted was to bring another person into the Batman Beyond secret.

Should have thought of that before I stormed out of my quarters, his critical side cursed.

"Matt, Rex, sit down," Superman ordered once the door closed. Warhawk looked a bit surprised at the use of their real names, but he complied. Matt just sat down gracelessly in a chair opposite Shinobi, who stared at him with carefully neutral eyes, making him feel like he was dealing with Bruce and Commissioner Gordon. This was not going to be good.

"I called you all here to discuss something important," Superman informed. "This is a highly classified matter, and what is said here is not to be repeated to anyone other than the other parties involved. Those include Bruce Wayne and Terry and Dana McGinnis." Nobody reacted; the rest of the four-man cell was already aware of this, and Shinobi had obviously just been briefed on Batman I and Batman II. "Because of the sensitive nature of this, we have to be on a first name basis with everyone here. Even if you already know who each other are, say your names. We have to be completely honest. It's a matter of trust."

Shinobi was first, slipping down his mask. "Akira Kimura."

"Rex Stewart."

"Merina."

"Kai-ro."

"Clark Kent—Earth name. Kal-el for my Kryptonian."

"Matt McGinnis," Matt answered, but he didn't remove his mask. He still felt a little sick, and he wasn't going to let Akira Kimura see how bad he looked. "Third Batman, though on a temporary basis. The first was my biological father, Bruce Wayne, and the second my brother Terry. The two of us are the result of a Cadmus project called Batman Beyond."

"Thank you, Matt," Kent replied. "I've already explained Batman Beyond to Akira, and as I said before, it's highly classified. Bruce only found out about it fifteen years ago, and Terry and Matt three months ago." Matt nodded. "Project: Batman Beyond happened without our knowledge, or else we would have prevented it. The second Justice League saw very similar projects: Galatea, Doomsday, and the Ultimen. Cadmus officially began as an offensive against the League after we revealed to the government what our counterparts in another universe, the Justice Lords, had done and what they were planning to do to our world. But even before that, Cadmus existed in the form of much smaller projects, some sanctioned by the government like the Royal Flush Gang, and others done privately. They started to unite after Darkseid brainwashed me in the late 1990s, concentrating on how to take me out if necessary. After the Justice Lords and the Thanagarian Invasion, they turned their attention to the entire League. We tried to build a case against them after the Flash defeated Luthor, but hardly any evidence could be linked to them, and the United States Government denied any knowledge of Cadmus. Still, the court ruled in favor of putting strict controls over Cadmus technology and research, and we were granted the right to see the research done on us—especially in the clonings. About ten years later, the governments of the world made all Cadmus technology illegal."

"It wasn't enough, though," Matt added. Everyone looked to him for an explanation. "It was around that same time that Amanda Waller started Batman Beyond. She must have known that they were going to outlaw her tech, so she made sure she had a loophole. Even if she applied it in the future, she used it before it was illegal. And who could prove that she did it anyway?"

"That's a big accusation," Kai noted.

"Are you sure you're not just jumping to conclusions?" Merina agreed.

"I talked to Terry and Bruce," Matt replied. "Both of them had that figured out within ten minutes of learning the whole story."

"Part of Batman Beyond was supposed to recreate Bruce Wayne's family life, right?" Akira questioned. Matt squashed his dislike for him and nodded. "He never had any siblings, and his parents died when he was very young. How do you fit into the equation, and why were your parents alive?"

"That's a good question," Kent admitted. "Terry didn't mention anything to me when he explained all this."

"Not to me either," Matt confessed. "He's probably holding back information, but I'm not sure. I don't know what my part in all of this is. Maybe I was meant as back-up if something happened to Terry? I don't know."

"I'm sorry for leading this off-topic," Akira apologized, catching Matt off-guard. Had he noticed that easily how uncomfortable he was with the subject? "Kal, continue."

"Thank you, Akira," Kent answered. "The reason I called you here wasn't to discuss anything more of Project: Batman Beyond, though all of it has to do with Matt. When Terry and Dana announced their wedding three months ago, we slowly got to work setting things up for him. At the time, we thought we had six months to do it, so we didn't worry about a timeframe. Unfortunately, they were forced to move up their wedding date after the press started to try and get their way into the service. We knew then that we had a problem: almost nothing was ready for Matt. Even though he was only supposed to be doing this for a couple of weeks, we all needed to make it look like he'd been here forever. We managed to set up his JLU account in secret, but we didn't have time to add many files."

Matt nodded. "Terry loaned me his account for anything else I needed to study. I've also been reading up on things in the Batcave."

"Terry was ready for all of this, apparently," Kent continued. "He typed up a bio on Matt made accessible to his account, Matt's, and mine. As leader of the Justice League, I was supposed to read through it and make sure that I understood aspects about Matt's life that would conflict with Justice League duties. To be completely honest, I made a huge mistake. I assumed that I would have the chance to get to know Matt the same way I got to know Terry and then judge for myself what restrictions if any I would put on him in addition to what Terry has. I also thought I had a good idea of what he was like from what Terry told me in passing." Now, he looked at Matt. "I knew that you'd lived a very normal life. You were raised by your mother, and you were a pretty good student and never got in trouble in school or with the law. But what I'd forgotten was that there are darker, more personal things that people don't like to share—something that Terry must have picked up from Bruce." Rex, Merina, and Kai leaned in slightly, very interested in what Kent had to say. Matt and Akira, on the other hand, maintained blank, neutral expressions. "It happened when Matt was eight—or, Matt, maybe you'd better tell it. It's your story."

"All right," he agreed. Everyone's attention shifted to him, so he took a breath to keep from breaking his detached façade. "When I was eight, Terry had just started being Batman. Stalker arrived in Gotham to hunt him. He somehow discovered Terry's identity and kidnapped me to lure him into a trap. We both got out okay, and I was still excited about the fight I'd seen, but I wound up with nightmares for months about that." He lowered his gaze to the table, and his voice lowered. "It got worse each time I saw Batman fight Stalker on the news, especially if Terry came home injured from one of those fights. I suddenly started worrying that something would go wrong and I wouldn't have my big brother anymore. I kept remembering that night, and each time, I couldn't help but think of what could have gone wrong. My mom knew what had happened and had me talk to the school psychologist for a while. Eventually, I got over it; but tonight, when I heard that Stalker was attacking, everything came back in a rush. I was too young to completely understand it then, but I do now, and I realize just how bad it could have been. I don't blame myself or anything—I was too young to have done anything to begin with—but I can't believe how stupid I was not to realize the danger. I was so caught up in the moment that I didn't think of what would happen if Terry died. When he fought, I only saw Batman, and I knew he never lost." There was silence for a minute before Rex spoke up:

"You're not the only one here that has to deal with ghosts of the past." Matt was suddenly reminded of Rex's problems with the Thanagarians and felt even stupider than before. "You should have just told us about it. Even if I couldn't help, Kai or Merina could."

"There was a warning in the middle of Matt's bio, and because I didn't read it carefully, I completely overlooked it," Kent added. "It said that I couldn't send Matt in a mission against Stalker. Akira found it on Matt's computer after he'd told him I wanted him to head out. By then, it was too late to stop him." Matt noticed this version of the tale neglected to mention that Akira had in fact tried to stop him and wound up locked in a spare room. He shot a glance toward Akira, who very slightly shrugged in response. Maybe he'd have to rethink his opinion of the ninja.

"Matt, if you knew, why didn't you tell us?" Kai asked. "We would have sent another team or we would have gone alone. The Iniquity Collective doesn't always face Batman, so it wouldn't have looked suspicious."

"I wanted revenge," he confessed. "I wanted the chance to finally confront him after all these years. I don't even believe in revenge, but I was willing to throw all of that aside."

"I'm sorry for letting this happen," Kent apologized. "If I'd read that bio, I would have sent another team to handle the problem. Matt, whatever injuries you sustained are my fault, and be sure Terry and Bruce know that."

"No use blaming yourself," he argued. "I knew I wasn't supposed to go, and I didn't say anything. I didn't think."

"In any case," Kent interrupted, "we'll deal with whatever happens when it does. Matt, go home. There's nothing else you need to do tonight. Get some sleep. If there's something that I think I need to consult you on, I'll let you know. The same goes for you, Rex."

With that, the meeting was over. Secret identities settled back into place as they walked out of the conference room. Matt shut everything down in his quarters before heading back to his apartment. His roommate, David, was asleep so he was careful to be quiet as he hid the suit before he headed for the shower. The mask stuck to his face with sweat, and when he finally pulled it off, there was a bleeding scrape on his cheek. He shouldn't have been so disturbed by it—it was probably just the result of hitting the pavement during his fight with Stalker. But still, he had to admit that he was feeling too comfortable wearing that mask. It was starting to become a second skin.

Major, major thanks to Tatsu no Houou for his help in coordinating the Matt/Stalker fight scene. While the fighting techniques were my own, his suggestions contributed to the dialogue and the results of the fight. When it comes to fighting techniques, there are quite a few that are real, and those I usually ascribe some name to. They're usually white or yellow belt tae kwon do moves, which I know better than anything else. Most information on Project: Batman Beyond that wasn't explicitly revealed in "Epilogue" comes from interviews with Bruce Timm and Dwayne McDuffie on Toonzone. If there are issues with characterization, it's because it's been an extremely long time since I've seen these episodes. I have a pretty good memory, but I might have forgotten some things. My friend Digizane managed to get me the first season and I think my characterization of Stalker was pretty close, but if it wasn't, I apologize.

And because Tatsu wanted me to explain this a little further just in case: Why did the group in that last scene reveal their names? It is nearly impossible to be in on the Batman Beyond secret without knowing at least three people's identities: Bruce, Terry, and now Matt. They need to be able to trust everyone who has to know their secret, and the best way to show you can be trusted is to reveal your own identity—something that I'll admit was taken from Justice League: Starcrossed. And I apologize for the symbolism starting to appear—if it drives anyone nuts, just let me know.