I decided to move author's notes to the end, because...spoilers.

Enjoy.

Wayne and Gordon discussed the plan for a long time between them, analyzed possible tactics, and Curare's expertise and thinking as assassin came into play too, improving the plan significantly. First of all, Gordon put some trusted people in undercover to protect families of those officers that will be on press conference - Curare pointed that those families could be used as a leverage, since New League has lots of connections and resources. Second point was made by Wayne - he decided to send Inque inside the building the night the conference will be held to seek out possible explosives and lay low insie it to be a back up. When studying building schematics, Curare pointed out that it had too many entry points for possible assassins and too many windows to make sniper's work easy. Another point was about rooftops and sewer access, but Gordon could only send so many men to cover the main floor and perimeter, maybe a rooftop. After a very intense discussion everyone agreed to send Curare to watch over the building from one vantage point, and in case of attack she will cover backyard of the building, which had sewer access large platform for landing craft. Gordon could send some men there too, but it would not be enough still.

But the main question was about Batman:

- We have to make sure that everyone bought our little lie, - Inque and Curare already left the cave, using Inque's newly acquired black bike. Curare even changed her outfit, painting it in black and used the upgrades Wayne provided for her outfit to get at least some protection while maintaining her agility, and now only Terry, Barbara and Wayne with Max were inside the cave, - We will start moving from here, we have to cross only five hundred meters, - Gordon pointed at the map on Batcomputer, - Approximately at this mark you should appear, and I will send two aerocars to chase you off.

- You have to drop down from Batmobile at this point, - now Wayne started to explain, - While descending. You will have short window to do it, and you have to travel to location without being noticed, while maintaining proximity to convoy.

- Shouldn't be difficult...

- I ordered to sweep area with UV's, - retorted Gordon, glancing at Terry with a slight grin.

- ...now it's difficult.

- When you are inside, start scanning everything and everyone inside the building, - continued Wayne, - And keep an eye on suspicious activity...now about the gear, Curare and Inque had their briefing, now it's your turn.

- I will return to Sam, he is under protection for now, - said Gordon, going to exit of the Batcave, - Guess we have that sleepless night today.

- You forgot our techniques? - asked Wayne without looking at Barbara.

- I didn't, I am just too worried to use it.

Wayne upgraded wrist-blades, so they could be used offensively as projectiles, but that means Terry would lose the ability to block knives, swords and other close combat weapons. New system of spikes and magnets on feet and palms allowed Terry to stick and hold onto some types of surfaces, and upgraded wrist-launcher allowed Terry to shoot capsules instead of batarangs if loaded. Of course, those updates were small, but Bruce promised Terry to show him something interesting when he is done with it. Soon, Terry left the Batcave on the sunrise after short sleep session:

- Everyone, roll call and status report, - said Wayne on the radiolink.

- Batman, on the way to my first position, - Terry switched Batmobile to silent running mode and activated optical camo, carefully flying over Gotham.

- Inque here. I found several explosive devices that were supposed to make way from sewers to ground floor. Got rid of all of them, no other encounters inside the building. Took a very good position inside it and placed a camera in sewers.

- Curare. Watching. Spotted spies. In civilian. They are. Taking notice. Of surroundings...not from League. Amateurs.

- ...should I sound off too? - asked Max on radiolink shyly.

- Next time do that, - said Wayne to her in such tone that Max blushed from shame, - Oracle, keep checking on that camera Inque placed. Curare, how many spies you spotted?

- Six. They surrounded. The building. From multiple. Directions...Taking pictures. Put some video transmitters. Hid them, - she was able to see it all since Bruce equipped both Inque and Curare with gadgets for today's operation.

- They will attack DA on the conference, - said Terry, carefully placing Batmobile on a rooftops of parking lot, - But why? Would'nt it be better to attack him before?

- They want to make the attack public - Sam Young gathered a lot of media and political figures for his speech. Oracle?

- Uhm...OK, so first of all - a lot of supporters of "New Dawn" will come to this conference, and judging by what I found, there will be an open debate with their major supporter - senator Jasper Cald, - Max was quick to dig around, and Bruce's advices helped her to optimize her process of gathering and sorting the information, - ...now that's interesting. "New Dawn's" CEO Alexander Gorky with members of the board will also attend to conference.

- If something happens and GCPD will fail, it will be shown to public...which both senator and CEO will use to their advantage. We have to prevent that from happening, - continued Wayne, - Oracle, dig on Gorky, I will get everything on senator.

- On it.

- Jasper Cald is a typical politician - whoever pays him, he talks what they tell him to talk, but he has the charisma and he is very dedicated to his "work", - Wayne, of course, was way ahead of Max, already gathering information, - Several corruption scandals, but managed to get out of them...journalists caught him on lies and changing his opinions too fast on the same subject, nothing came out of it too...For now, we have nothing to press him with, but should you encounter him, keep pressing and ignore his attempts to change subject. Oracle?

- One second, damned "ice"...Uhm...Alexander Gorky, ex-military, served in Russian army for fifteen years, was promoted to captain, several medals from presidents...later he disappeared, some sources claim he became a "black ops", appeared just three years ago and formed his own "PMC", which was a foundation of "New Dawn"...that guy is serious, T...Batman, - Max was able to correct herself just in time, - Hand-to-hand combat, vast military experience with weapons, explosives, piloted aircraft and exoskeletons...but he is old and suffered some serious injuries.

- Beware the old man in a field where men die young, - retorted Bruce, glancing at Max for a second. That second was enough to make her shiver, - We will keep digging into them and other invited guests. Focus on the tasks.

Now it was the most annoying part of the job - waiting, and if Inque and Curare could wait in peace, Terry was hiding from GCPD aerocars, trying to stay undetected and avoid cameras. The convoy started to move at twelve in the morning, and it was moving on the streets with a support of aerocars and ground vehicles. The convoy was moving towards it's destination point for some time, when Terry looked at navcomputer - it was about time to pull of this trick. Taking a shortcut and decloaking the Batmobile, Terry make his appereance visible to the police aerocars, who quickly turned towards him, shouting:

- Batman, turn down your engines and land, you have thirty seconds to comply.

- Boss, you ready? - asked Batman, turning Batmobile towards some buildings and looking back to see two aerocars already chasing him. Terry turned a bit around and started to descend between two buildings.

- Always, prepare drop in...three, two, one, drop.

The hatch opened, and Batman allowed gravity to take him down, activating optical camo and opening his wings to glide. The Batmobile continued to descend down while police aerocars tried to stop it, following it to lower levels. Of course this won't last long - they will chase it for about thirty seconds, and Terry had to use that time to get away as fast as he can. Slowly gliding across the large open space and maneuvering around, Terry used the wind flow that was generated by air traffic to keep himself gliding. Grabbing the truck's bumper, Terry used it to escape the possible search zone:

- They bought it?

- They did, but aerocars are returning to sweep the area.

- I got away, - Terry released the bumper and used the momentum to launch himself, gliding beside the road, - Got a visual on convoy, UV's are sweeping rooftops and roads.

- Remember the legend?

- Of course. It's not that far from the truth, though..., - Terry carefully glided onto the rooftop and took cover behind large air vent, when UV started to sweep the area, - ...wish they were always that serious.

- Gordon pulled a lot resources, Batman. The police can't make use of those resources everyday...plus the paperwork and clashes with bureaucrats, - said Wayne with a clear disgust to the latter.

- Yeah, I got the general idea on briefings before shipment raid, - Terry rolled to another cover and jumped down, opening his wings to glide towards another position, - Got eyes on the building. Awfully lot of people here.

- Spies. Still there, - suddenly said Curare's device on the radiolink, - Changed clothes. Pretending. To be. Janitors...sending pictures.

- I got it, - said Max on the radiolink, receiving Curare's pictures, - ...alright, that vehicle was clearly stolen just tonight, judging by police report from that company, but they changed vehicle's ID...checking face's...some of those criminals were paroled this year, but some are wanted still.

- Inform Gordon, - said Wayne to Max, - Batman, can you get inside the building?

- Will try to, - Terry carefully glided towards the building, avoiding UV's, and landed on the side of the building. Opening security lock on a window and disabling alarm, Terry got inside, slowly walking to the ground floor, - I am in.

- Good. Because it's about to start.

Terry silently avoided Gordon's guards inside the building and reach the ground floor, where the conference hall was, filled with reporters and powerful figures. Sam Young, Gotham's DA, already arrived with commissioner Gordon, slowly walking towards the hall. And while reporters were streaming the conference and taking pictures, Terry stood up with his back against the wall and jumped along it, fixing his hands first and his feet second to it. He haven't noticed Inque for some time, but suddenly she said:

- In front of you.

- ...a painting? - Terry could'nt believe his eyes, but Inque was pretending to be some sort of painting, which was thematically correct with other art pieces. She used her main colors to from some strange and organic painting, which Terry couldn't even try to describe because of sheer complexity.

- It's better than be a sculpture, but I am not so sure what am I - a color field or lyrical composition?...take a picture of me and we will discuss this later, because it's starting.

San Young started the press conference with some short talk with various journalists, just to "have an appetizer" for the main event - his speech, and Terry had some time to check on guests and transfer images to Max. Slowly, it all came down to the topic at hand - crime in Gotham, GCPD and PMC's. But while DA was about to get to it, Wayne started to talk on radiolink:

- Gordon arrested those who were spotted by Curare, they were monitoring the area with camera's and used the equipment inside the van to transmit it elsewhere.

- ...spotted vehicles, - suddenly said Curare, - Approaching cordon...breached, - Terry looked outside to see that police aerocars were losing control for some reason, while some trucks rammed through the cordon, approaching building very fast, - Going to. Backyard...another vehicle. Truck.

- Cover the backyard, - said Terry, seeing that Gordon already stood up and started evacuation of conference hall further inside the building, seeing truck coming right into building on ramming speed.

When the truck hit the building, nearly everyone in the hall let out a short scream, and this only got verse when people were coming out from the back of the truck. The GCPD already took positions to cover the main hall when thugs walked inside. Terry never saw this gang before - they had armored suites and those cursed weapons from train-wreck, but what made them distinctive was the large "U" on their chests and backs. And truck loaded a bunch of them, clearly rivaling GCPD and taking advantage of the situation with civilians being not still evacuated further inside. Thugs spread out from both sides of the building, keeping distance from GCPD, and suddenly a voice started to come out from the truck's loudspeakers. It was clearly a male voice, but it sounded computer generated:

- I hoped that our entrance would be less dramatic, but first pancake is a lumpy...now, let's start talking. Right now my men are closing this building off from all sides, even the sewers. Your GCPD forces have failed you, and even your "New Dawn" wouldn't change the outcome. I suggest to all of you to drop your weapons and...

- Backyard clear. GCPD. Holding it, - said Curare on the radiolink, - Someone. Got inside. Pursuing.

- Terry! - suddenly yelled Max on the radiolink, - One of the reporters doesn't streaming this conference, while others keep streaming! It's the one from "GCB"!

- I don't think it's something...oh, - Terry quickly found the reporter with "GCB" shirt, who was standing right behind the DA, slowly turning his camera towards his head. Before he acted, Batman managed only to say, - Inque, front!

He threw a batarang towards the reporter and threw flashbang capsule to thugs. Batarang hit the camera hard and laser shot passed DA without harming him, but it hit a police officer right in the neck. With a flashbang detonated, everyone were confused for some time, that allowed Inque to throw every single thug to outside with an immense force. Terry dropped down on fake reporter before he could point his weaponized camera at DA again, quickly delivering a blow right into his nosebridge to knock him out. Suddenly Terry saw Barbara in front of him, pointing her pistol to someone behind Terry and pulling the trigger, killing yet another fake guest who was trying to shot Sam Young. The panic was insane, but some reporters kept streaming, taking cover in the corners of conference hall.

- Gordon! - Terry got up, covering DA and searching for other possible threats while he helped him to reach Barbara, - Curare said someone got inside, she is after him, but backyard is clear.

- I know, - she said, taking cover from the fire that was coming inside the building from time to time - Inque was outside, helping GCPD to take down thugs, and judging by screams and people flying around, she got that. - Someone tried to take some officer's families hostage, no single one was taken...you have to stall them here, - she pointed towards the ceiling that was being cut by laser, - I will evacuate Sam.

- Got it. Get your people outside.

- First unit, outside! Move it!

When officers left the building, Terry was left alone to face his new enemy that dropped from the ceiling - makeshift exoskeleton, simple one, but deadly still. It was towering Terry by one head, but the guy who piloted it quickly engaged in combat, pointing his gun to Batman and releasing a stream of bullets. Terry was quick and agile while exoskeleton was a bulky and slow to turn. Using this advantage, he tried to roll to the side and close distance to do...something, but exoskeleton suddenly smashed him into the chest with another hand, sending Terry right into the wall with a short grunt. As thug pointed his gun to Batman, he suddenly was hit by a truck's bumper that Inque threw in the meantime of fighting with thugs outside of the building. Bumper hit thug right into his helmet, making him dizzy and leaning to the right side, spraying projectiles that missed Batman completely. Coming back to his senses, Terry took out a batarang with an electrical discharge and made several quick flips forward to see the exposed back of the exoskeleton. He threw the batarang right into what looked like battery, and it worked - the exoskeleton powered down and now the thug was trapped inside it for a long time. But Terry heard the shooting upstairs - that meant that other thugs managed to land of the roof and were fighting with GCPD. He quickly flew inside the hole of the ceiling and ran towards the shooting, preparing flashbang batarang.

Meanwhile Gordon and Sam Young, along with other officers, were going through the corridor towards the backyard, when suddenly they were cut off by suppression fire. Gordon managed to take cover, but she took three shots while trying to evade fire. She grunted, slipping against the wall with pistol ready, trying to carefully look behind the corner to see a black figure silently approaching a group of thugs from behind. In just mere seconds, a flashbang capsule detonated under that group, and soon the whole group was lying on the floor, screaming from pain because of broken bones - that figure broke knees and wrists for each thug, and when it was done, the figure looked at Gordon with a familiar yellow eyes. Taking out a sharp batarang, Curare threw it in Gordon's direction only for batarang to pass Gordon by and hit the thug that appeared in the other end of the corridor right to his knee. Curare ran past Gordon and rolled towards the thug, grabbing his neck with her legs and throwing him to the floor, strangling him for enough time to render him unconscious. After that Curare walked towards Gordon and helped her to get up, nodding towards the exit to backyard.

Inque was on a rampage. The thugs got the electrical weapons to fight with her, and that added some challenge to situation, especially considering friendly fire from GCPD - she was really fast, and sometimes cops hit her, but that wasn't on purpose...still, irritating and painful. To fight with this new threat, she had to be fast and brutal, while sticking to "no kill" motto, and it was really hard. Luckily, Inque got practice from previous encounters, but suddenly tables turned when last remained thug managed to grab one cop as his hostage, pointing pistol at officer's neck and taking steps backwards to aerocar:

- Alright, freak, don't freaking move, or this one gets the slug!

- Do it, - Inque suddenly said, shocking everyone around her.

- ...what?! You want him dead, huh?!

- You are pointing at his neck, idiot, he is still got his helmet on, - Inque slowly reformed herself from massive conglomerate to her "Bat" form, taking slow steps towards the thug, - You can shoot right through his neck, and when you pull the trigger...I will close the distance and break you in pieces, - she narrowed her eyes to "bat-glare" effect, - And when I am done - it won't be long - I will keep this cop alive before ambulance arrives...to change your pistol position to threaten his life, you need to take at least two seconds, and I need just one. So...do me a favor and shoot him or try to change pistol's position, I want to break more things.

- ...f-fine! - thug suddenly dropped his weapons and raised his hands into the air, releasing the officer - I surrender, just don't let that freak~ hmph! - he muffled in terror as Inque suddenly extended her arm, grabbing him by his mouth and neck with her tentacle arm, and pressed thugs back against the aerocar.

- Wise choice. But call me freak again - and you are not going to walk ever again, - she quickly released him, letting officers arrest the last remaining thug. She heard footsteps approaching her from behind and sighed, - If you want to arrest me too...

- Thanks, - she heard suddenly something that she was not expecting. Inque turned to face the one captive officer she just saved, and he looked familiar to her. Other cops nodded to her, - You saved many lives today.

- ...didn't we met before?

- Yeah, - the cop smiled sarcastically, - You took my as a hostage when you broke out from cryo.

- ...oh, - she widened her eyes, remembering that episode of her life, - ...and I used you to...you know what, I think I call it even, you are fine with that?

- It's not like we can do anything about you anyway...but I agree, now it's even.

- So...what does Batman does at this point?

- He usually disappears when everyone is distracted, - said one of the cops, while others supported him with a short laugh.

- ...also, Batman? - she turned towards the building, - How's inside?

- Fine, just took down the last one, - answered Terry, - Curare helped on her side, Gordon and DA are evacuated.

- I think we are done here. Have fun with paperwork, - Inque jokingly saluted to cops and dropped from the platfrom, forming a winged cape out of her mass to glide through the city.

The press conference moved to GCPD HQ, and was held this very evening. There were lesser guests and reporters, but major figures there. Sam Young finished his speech and now it was time to debate:

- We shouldn't be afraid of crime lords attacking us, we should be afraid of allowing third-party forces to wage war for us, - that was one of the DA'a allies from the Senate, senator George Gorvan, - GCPD today demonstrated their competence - no, zero civilian casualties and surprisingly not so many wounded.

- This "competence" was provided by vigilantes that appeared out of nowhere, - it was senator Jasper Cald, who was grinning all the time after Sam's speech, - And if not them, the GCPD would not be able to protect us.

- The so called vigilantes were part of GCPD plan to provide an edge in today's operation, - Gordon took her word now, staring at impudent and smug face that Cald had, - They appeared because of the plan we developed to protect everyone, and it worked.

- So you just confirmed that you are working with Batman and his crazy sidekicks?

- That is not the po...

- It is the point! The police is working with vigilantes because of the sheer corruption of your, commissioner, department! - Cald pointed his finger at Barbara in a threatening way, - And if you can't do anything to fix this and resort to use vigilantes, it is because you can't control the situation! That is the reason we need PMC's and private security forces in general, formed out of professionals, to keep piece in our time! They have no connections to criminal world, they can push back, and they will not call some costume errand boys to help them!

- That is the reason why GCPD budget is cutting off and why there is an aggressive campaign to turn my men join "New Dawn"? - asked Gordon as calm as she could.

- You cut was a consequence of this failed raid, commissioner, it was the first warning for you to start! - Cald smashed his fist on the table several times, - Work! Hard!...as for your men, I can understand their wish to flee from sinking ship if you can't hold it together...or even a part of a problem.

- I am sorry, - suddenly came a voice from outside of the camera, - But I want to have a word.

- That's talking table only for selected one's, but I'll just going to pretend I care, - Cald turned to a woman with a smug face, - Please, introduce yourself.

- Janet Van Dorn, former Gotham DA.

The whole press conference went crazy, and the smug smile from Cald face quickly disappeared. Van Dorn slowly walked towards the table - old, gray-haired, but with that cold and determined look in her eyes that she had in her prime days. Gordon quickly found her a chair with a microphone, helping Van Dorn to sit near table. Janet nodded to Barbara and shook hands with Sam Young.

- And what former Gotham DA can tell us about the current situation? - Cald recomposed himself and attacked her right away, - Because you were not...

- Shut up, - she frowned and looked at him with a cold glare, - I can interrupt too, and right now, senator, you will listen, because you said enough, - she took some seconds to concentrate on her thoughts, closing her eyes for a moment, - Once I was a Gotham DA, and I made a mistake - I was not able to see the importance of original Batman's work, I even thought that he created the plague of so-called supervillains, when in reality he was created by them...and even not by them directly, but from evil that we allowed to grow.

- That's what I was talking abo...

- And this evil, - Van Dorn interrupted senator again, - Was done by men. New Batman was born in same way - we allowed evil to grow to the point where it cripples those people into fighting for us against what we nurtured by our apathy, corruption and greed, - Van Dorn took a pause, asking Sam Young for his glass of water, and soon enough she continued, - After events of Arkham Asylum, both me and Batman made a promise that we will make Gotham a place, where Batman will not be needed anymore...and we failed. I failed, - she closed her eyes, and took off her glasses, trying to hold her emotions, - We were never able to do this, and even worse, we allowed another Batman to be born, - she let out a deep sigh, opening her eyes and looking straight at senator Cald, - More to it, the forces that helped Batman in his crusade to protect people of Gotham are now crippled, crippled because you are so God damn stupid and corrupt, that you are pushing that PMC initiative as something that will change the situation.

- Careful there, Van Dorn, I can take this as an insult, - Cald said, narrowing his eyes at her.

- Do it, sue me for being honest, but the truth will not be buried under lies and misconception, - she answered even more firmly to him, - Because the truth is simple - as much as Batman helped us, we also were helping him. James Gordon was a good man who tried to do his best, and he saved lots of lives...and you are now sitting here, in your hundred thousand credits suit, talking about using the PMC to protect the city?

- They will perform be...

- They will not, - Van Dorn interrupted him again, - Those PMC's you want to make Gotham's protectors are not protectors - they are hired guns, and will operate as well as you pay them...and you know what? You will pay them a lot, - Van Dorn took out a data-pad and small projector device, connecting one to another and showing the hologram of the "New Dawn" price-list, - It's all there, their official page in the web. You will drain the budget to hire less men and women to protect this city by paying them at least - at least, I repeat - ten times more, - she narrowed her eyes, looking at senator Cald firmly, - While you are the one who presses to cut the GCPD budget. For such money, you could hire more people, get them advanced gear, training specialists, but you are fixated on this PMC, and only this one...which make me think you have a personal interest.

- Gordon made GCPD into a nest of corruption, that's why we need outside force to deal with everything she allowed to grow! - Cald even rose up in his chair, raising his voice at Van Dorn, - And this PMC has the best specialists and equipment world can provide!

- And why this never was the issue, say, six months ago?...year ago?...twenty, forty years ago? - she retorted back, - You think the problem is that Gordon allowed the corruption in her department? No, senator, the problem is that you, and other people before you, are making everything in your power to make this fight against the corruption as hard as possible. James Gordon fought for his department, I fought for mine, and our hands were tied by men and women of your power and position, and still we managed to do something, - she took a pause, glaring with a cold fury in her eyes at Cald, - You do not want to fight the corruption, otherwise you would offer Gordon help she needed. You do not want to keep Gotham safe, because you only want to find a reason to press on Gordon and cut the police budget, while promoting an outside mercenaries with questionable history and funding, because I couldn't find their legit sources of income, - she took a pause, but Cald, surprisingly, had nothing to say back, - That is why Gotham needs Batman, you all know what happened when original Batman retired, and we feel the results of his retirement even to this day...that's why we need new Batman, but he can fight only so far if GCPD will not help him...but even GCPD will not be able to help if we will not change the system and laws, because they stopped working back when I was a DA, and I doubt this is working now, - Van Dorn smiled predatory to Cald, because she knew how to finish it, - If you really wanted to help Gotham, you would press laws that would allow us to turn criminals into everyday civilians, to allow us to fight back, to press the corruption not just from the bottom, but from the upper levels too. All you do is a small talk, a juggling of words to your favor without taking serious steps to treat the disease, not the symptom.

- ...this meeting is over, - Cald stood up, and reporters, that were silently observing and streaming this meeting, suddenly remembered how to breathe and how to attack, trying to get answers for their questions, - No commentary.

- Senator Cald, - Van Dorn stood up, and reporters quickly silenced each other, turning camera's to former DA, - I have a blood on my hands. Every citizen that died, every child that lost their parent, every family that buried their offspring, every person I failed - I can feel them still, and I know that they want it to finally end. You don't want this to end, and you have even more blood on your hands because you do not care, you do not act...Go on, senator, be useless somewhere else.

- ...wow, - that's the only thing Terry could say when streaming ended, - Just...wow.

- She just steamrolled him, the Senate and everything, - Inque was lying on the carpet, watching closely the stream on TV along with Ace.

- She gained. New enemies, - Curare was sitting near Inque in lotus pose with her eyes closed and with a cup of hot tea on her head. Max was sitting nearby with an opened laptop, constantly tracking news on several sites.

- But we won...at least this one, - sighed Terry, trying not to disturb his chest area that was bandaged...as his other body parts, since last fight was a fierce one.

- Winning a first battle will not guarantee winning this war...but it's a start, - said Wayne, sipping tea casually, - A good start.

- You never mentioned her, - said Terry, looking at Wayne.

- Van Dorn was believing in system, as Barbara tries to believe now, - Wayne looked at Terry back, - But as time went on, we never saw end of it. She started to see, what was really wrong, and her idealism and beliefs slowly...eroded, culminating in her retirement.

- Just like you, - Terry remarked.

- ...in a way, - Bruce nodded after some consideration, - I kept tracking her, since she was incorruptible and strong willed person, but as she retired, I let her have some peace in her life she deserved, - Wayne sighed, sipping his tea again, - I asked her to fight again, and Van Dorn agreed almost instantly, but she wanted to know one thing.

- Your secret identity? - now Max asked.

- I provided it by myself...no, she wanted to know if you can make a difference, - Wayne glanced at Terry, and then he looked at Inque and Curare with Max, - If you all can make a difference.

- And what did you say? - Inque turned to Wayne with a clear curiosity in her eyes, while Curare only opened her left eye with the same question in mind.

- I said that I don't know if you can...but I know that you already did, - Wayne said with a small pause, sipping his tea again, - And if we keep this up...there is hope. There is always hope, - Wayne put his cup of tea to the side, - We still do not know many things and the real motives of New League, and this new "Unity" gang is extremely dangerous force...but with four of you, we can fight back. For now you all can rest - Gotham will be quite for this week, maybe two.

- How can you te...oh, right, - Max wanted to ask a question when she realized, from whom she asked in the first place.

- But our training will continue, especially with you, Maxine, - Wayne grinned at her, and Max just sighed in response.

When their meeting was over, Curare and Max returned to cave with Wayne and Ace, while Terry and Inque left the manor, going for their bikes:

- You know...it felt good, - Inque suddenly said, taking a seat on her bike and crossing her legs together, - Saving people, breaking bad guys...of course the payment is nowhere near, but I'll manage, - she grinned, looking straight at McGinnis, but she saw that he was somewhat distressed, and her grin quickly disappeared, - You alright?

- I should be cheering for us, but something tells me it's too soon for it, - Terry shook his head, putting helmet on, - And considering what Wayne said about the war...I can't get my mind off it.

- And you should...visit my club whenever you want to go and relax, maybe with Maxine, I'll put her on the list too.

- Yeah, thanks for the offer...and Inque, - he said before she could start her bike, and she turned to Terry with surprised expression on her face, - ...you did great today.

- I know...But that wasn't exactly what you wanted to tell, - she smiled slyly, starting bike's engine as she formed a helmet with sharp ears.

- ...yeah, it wasn't, - admitted Terry, closing the visor, - Tomorrow night?

- Dance, talk, both?

- Depends on how it goes.

- Sounds fine for me, - she made engine roar, and soon enough she dusted off towards the city. Terry followed her only ten minutes later.

When he was on the road towards Gotham, driving on almost empty highway, he was thinking about what he was doing. Sure dating mature woman, who happens to be one of the most dangerous former enemies, is not the best idea in the universe...for some people is, but Wayne told him to keep her close enough to be able to distance himself. Nothing else goes beyond dances and talking for now, there's no harm in that. Sure there is...something going on between them, that was going from the very first clash up to this day, but Terry couldn't understand what exactly. But his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a call, that he took with a push of a button on his helmet:

- McGinnis here.

- Terry, it's...me. Dana.

- You alright?

- Yes, I am OK...look, I wanted to talk with you, in person. How about we meet tomorrow after college on a parking lot?

- Of course...you sure you alright?

- It's just...nevermind, we have to talk, that's all I ask.

- I will be there. I have some free time for now.

- Figures...until tomorrow, bye.

- Bye.

Despite how calm McGinnis was during conversation, there was a large pulsating thought in his head, that was screaming about how this one call just made things even more complicated than they were before. And no matter how he tried to push that thought away, it's still was here, not letting him go.

This is the end of the first story arc. Probably I should take some time to rest, play some games, watch Twilight Zone (original one) and write my main magnum opus, because the temptation to write further could lead to burning myself from the inside.

There is now a reason why we need new Bat-family - as with BTAS, the threats are escalating, and Batman can't fight them alone. There are some ideas about several other characters that could join the newly founded Bat-family, some of which were in the Batman Beyond, BTAS and Justice League.

Of course, I know how it will end. I have a strict vision, and I have a freedom to not make any compromise while moving to the end.

Sure the M rating, which I wasn't using as much as I wanted, is not just for mere violence, drugs, slavery, corruption and other nasty stuff, but it's there because if I want to put something shocking and nasty, I can freely do it...and also because the story is far more complicated.

Putting Dana in was comic-book style decision - the Hero tries to move on with his life, when his past life's crush suddenly returns. Adding the sexual tension between Terry and Inque, and voilà - we have a dramatic arc of overused "Live Triangle" cliché. But do not worry, I know what I am doing.

In the next ark there is going to be some aspect, that was thrown out of the window in Batman: Beyond, while it was present in Justice League and JLU, but I will tell you nothing more - you probably guessed already, so let's keep it as a secret between us.

As always, feedback is welcomed and appreciated. Even needed.

I will see you in the next chapter.