AN: Apologies if I get anything wrong. Hope you enjoy it anyway. To those who are reading, sorry it took so long and I still need a beta/editor.:AN

The freshmen class met in the schools small theater and Alex could already see who was who and there they went. He was coming into this group of students in the tenth year of their schooling together and the cliques were written in stone. All they had to do was figure out where he went and then it would be business as usual. When he thought about it moving to a new school wasn't that big of a transition. The few friends he had were really accomplices in his cyber outings and that was really it. He had a few crushes and an ex-girlfriend, but starting over wasn't that big of an adjustment.

He thought mainly on what had happened on the train. Something had awakened inside of him, not just on the train but before then. He felt the same thing when he was reading about Bruce Wayne and when he remembered his father. He was only half listening to the speaker, he wasn't sure if it was the principal or the vice principal, but was awake enough to follow the line to get his schedule. Then the class was split into groups and given a tour guide. His tour guide was a girl whose name tag labeled her 'Max".

"Welcome to the school," she said in an upbeat tone. "My name is Maxine but everyone calls me Max, I'm a senior here, and today I'm your tour guide."

Alex noticed someone standing by her looking somewhere amused. He was a bit taller than her and looked kind of familiar, after a moment Alex recognized him as Bruce Wayne's assistant. He thought his name was Terry or Barry, whatever his name was he recognized Alex and nodded.

"This is my friend Terry, who is your other tour guide," she patted him on the shoulder. "Unlike me, he is only doing this for the extra credit that he will need later in the semester."

Terry grinned. "Ready to get started?"

The two led the group around the grounds. The school had plenty of computer terminals, which didn't appeal to him as much as it used to, a decent library, and a rather large gym. The commentary was sparse throughout the tour, it was pretty self explanatory. Before long they were back at the auditorium and waited for the others to show up. While they waited Terry came over to him.

"Hey, Alex, right?"

"Yeah," He nodded. "I didn't know you went here."

"It's my last year finally. Working for Mister Wayne is really a full time job." Terry nodded to Max. "If Max didn't help me out I wouldn't be graduating."

They stood in silence for a moment as the people around them separated into their prepackaged groups.

"Listen, freshman year is the same every year. It's separated into four blocks of ninety minutes for each class, five if you count lunch but it is only an hour. Two of the blocks are elective. You get an entire year of health and fitness, in other words you do Monday and Wednesday in classroom learning about the human body and the rest of the week you are in the gym. The other is a free period that you can either have an elective for or just study hall. Study hall though is a serious study and they are pretty strict about it." Terry leaned closer as they spoke, almost like he was sharing an escape plan. "After winter break all the classes except for your gym period are switched to something different."

"Thanks," Alex nodded.

"I've got a crazy schedule, with school and work, but if you need someone to talk to you can drop me a line. Send me an email or the off chance you can catch me in person." His voice was almost a whisper now. "I know what you are going through." He looked Alex in the eye.

Alex wanted to say something but he couldn't. His hand grasped into a fist and he looked at his feet.

"Sorry," Terry said patting him on the shoulder. "It took me a long time to be able to talk to people about it. I didn't mean to ambush you."

"Don't worry about it," Alex managed. "It's like I can't be happy about anything because the only reason it is happening is…"

"I know." Terry's voice hardened. "That goes away, eventually."

"I want to do something about it. The entire thing just isn't fair." Alex looked at Terry and recognized the far off look in his eyes. "Not just for me, for everyone. You, me, Mister Wayne, and those I don't know, no one should have to feel like this. When I look at this city, I just see so much loss and pain and the only person I see that is doing anything about it is Batman. It makes me wonder what happened to him."

Terry looked at him, something played behind his eyes that Alex could not decode. He could tell Terry was about to say something else but they were interrupted as the rest of the freshman class came into the auditorium.

-- -- --

Standing with a few others waiting for the train Alex thought back at what he had seen in Terry's eyes. It puzzled him, there was something that he needed to know but did not. He was pulled from his thoughts as his entire body tensed and an intense tingle told him there was something wrong, just like earlier on the train before. Turning to the right he saw a group of Jokers advancing on the waiting crowd, he recognized two from earlier in the morning.

There were four in total. The one with brass knuckles and the one with a chain for a belt were scanning the crowd. Behind knuckles and chains there was a broad shouldered joker with his face painted like a mime who stood almost a foot taller than the rest and another joker decked out in a full jester costume.

Alex ducked as the tingles became stronger, this was no place to fight and definitely not the time. As the train pulled into the stop he boarded it, staying with the crowd. He watched as the four continued to look, glad they hadn't seen him. As the train pulled away he realized something, if he was going to do anything about those creeps he would need a mask. Just a little tussle that morning had brought them looking for payback, but if they didn't know what he looked like, then things would be interesting.

He waited as patiently as he could as the train neared his stop. Finally when as the doors opened he shot out the doors and raced to the apartment building. He rushed to the elevator and pressed his floor. As it went he began to formulate a plan, Batman wore a mask, so would he.