[AN: All I can do is apologize profusely and hope that this long hiatus hasn't pushed this story from your mind. I hope you like it and if I begin to slack again please tell me to get my ass in gear!]
"Maybe he's part vampire. That would explain why he always calls you at night," Dana theorized. She and Max were flipping through magazines on her bed as Terry crawled under it to find his shoes.
"He goes to meetings during the day D," Max pointed out. "He would've burst into flame ages ago."
"Good point. Maybe he's hiding from someone. The mob used to be really big in Gotham, maybe he got mixed up with them."
"Even if he did, he's loaded. He could pay the mob off five times over and still be rolling in it," Terry said, pulling on his shoe. "He's just always been a night owl. And when you work for him, so are you." He grabbed his bag and headed for the door. "'Night ladies."
"'Night," they chorused.
"I've gotta go too," Max said. "I'm dead on my feet."
"You're on your butt," Dana pointed out laughing. Max rolled her eyes and shoved Dana before standing and stretching. Dana followed suit and headed for her desk. "Hey, before you go look at this for me?"
"What's up?" Max leaned against the desk as Dana turned on the lamp.
"I've been trying to figure out what this says, but it's really small." Taking off the necklace she held the ring under the light.
Max leaned in, trying to read the inscription. She shook her head. "I don't know. I can barely even tell those are words." She held the ring between her thumb and pointer finger and turned it, trying to decipher the inscription. "I could take it home and try to figure it out…" Dana pulled the ring back quickly and wrapped her hand around it.
"That's okay," she said. "I'll figure it out." Max studied Dana for a minute, not missing how defensive she'd become.
"Well if you need help…" she started. Dana nodded.
"I'll call you." She smiled as she changed the subject. "Want a ride?"
Max grinned. "I thought you'd never ask."
[***]
"You there Flyboy?" An hour later Max adjusted her headset as her computer connected with the Batmobile's.
"What took you so long?" Terry asked once his face appeared on the screen.
"We stopped for ice cream."
"Without me? I'm hurt."
"Hey, if you're going to be a hero, you've got to be prepared to make sacrifices." Both of them paused.
"There's a quart in your freezer isn't there?"
"A pint. And half of it is mine."
"Not if I get to it first." A second window popped up on Max's screen.
"Evening Mr. Wayne," Max said.
"Gibson," Bruce said. It hadn't been that long since Bruce had reluctantly welcomed Max into the fold. It took him a while, but he finally admitted that having her around was beneficial. He'd even allowed her to see the Batcave. It had only happened twice, both times with him following her every move and not allowing her to touch anything, but Max still counted it as a victory. "Terry, there's a break-in in progress at the Library, fifth floor. How close are you?"
Max and Bruce heard the Batmobile speed up. "2 minutes away, tops. But it's a false alarm."
"How do you know?"
"Max is the only person I know who's sad enough to break into the library and she's sitting at home."
"Cute. You can patch yourself up tonight," Max said as she pulled up the library's website. "They started that ancient sword exhibit at the library last week, remember? Today is the last day."
"Swords, huh? Could be Curare looking for a new toy," Terry said. "I'm landing on the roof now."
"Assassins tend to stay within their murderous comfort zones," Bruce countered. "What swords do they have?"
"It varies," Max answered. "The collection is made up completely of donations."
"It's pretty impressive," Terry whispered. Max hacked into the library's security mainframe and began flipping from camera to camera until she found what she was looking for.
"Go down the next hallway on your right. There's an empty display case in the second room on the left."
Bruce and Max watched silently as Terry found the room and the empty case. Terry squatted to read the display information. "I should've known," he said standing up.
"Known what," Bruce said.
Max zoomed in on the description and had to chuckle. "May I?"
"Be my guest," Terry said, bending to examine glass from the broken window.
"'Golden-handled Katana sword of unknown date and origin, extensively used. Donated by Bruce Wayne.' How much is it worth?" she asked Bruce.
"Financially not much, which rules out your average thief."
"Maybe you can tell me," Terry called out. Flipping to the external cameras, Max saw who Terry was talking to. A woman was perched on one of the gargoyles that adorned the side of the building, looking down at the streets below her. "That sword you just stole? I'll be taking that back." The woman turned and in the light from the streets below Max could see her green eyes perfectly. The picture blurred slightly as the woman stood up and the light shifted hiding her eyes once again. She was seemingly unperturbed by the fact that the ledge on which she was balanced was 15 stories high. "I'll make you a deal," Terry continued. "You give me the sword and I'll tell Gotham PD that you cooperated. Maybe they'll give you a break on the whole breaking and entering thing."
The woman watched carefully as Terry took a few steps forward. Max studied the woman carefully. "Careful Ter," she said. "Something about her isn't quite right."
"Obviously," Terry muttered back. "She just stole a worthless sword from a library." Suddenly, the woman turned and leapt off the ledge. "No!" Terry shouted. Kicking into gear Terry flew after her, preparing to catch the thief in midair.
"Where is she?" Bruce barked into his ear, breaking his uncharacteristic silence.
"She's gone," Terry replied incredulously. "There's no trace of her anywhere."
"There has to be," Bruce said. "Look harder."
"I'm circling the building now. There's no sign of her." Terry circled the building twice searching for sign of the woman, but there was none.
"Hey, go back to the ledge of the building where she jumped off. It looks like she left something behind." Max zoomed in on the area. "It looks like a piece of clothing or something." Terry made his way back to the ledge and stooped to pick up what Max saw.
"It's a scrap of cloth," he said. "It looks pretty generic but I'll bring it back to the cave for analysis."
"Good," Bruce replied. "Max, figure out everything you can about that sword for now. Tomorrow, you can look in the library here and see what you can find."
"You got it," Max chirped. Bruce's window closed as Max switched back to the Batmobile's camera. Opening a new window, Max connected to Bruce's personal computer. "Find anything?" she asked Terry.
"No. I keep circling the perimeter but she's not here. Could you check the traffic cameras?"
"Sure. And I can't find too much about the sword. It looks like Bruce took it for research and came up empty." Max said.
"He hates it when you hack into his files," Terry reminded her with a laugh.
"I wouldn't have to if he would just give me his passwords." Terry could hear her smile as she responded. After a brief pause she spoke again. "Nothing on the traffic cams. Do you think she went underground? I mean all she'd have to do is lose the mask and she'd blend in on the subway."
"With a sword?"
"This is Gotham. Stranger things have happened."
"I think Bruce has some cameras of his own down there. I'll check it out in the cave." Max resumed searching Bruce's files as Terry circled the library again. She dug through his frustratingly vague notes, typing up what she found in a file of her own. Both worked in silence until Max's phone began to sing from behind her.
"Who is it?" Terry asked as he finally turned the Batmobile back towards Wayne Manor.
"Nosy much," Max joked. She turned and grabbed her phone and scanned the caller ID. "It's Dana," she said with surprise.
"She's still up?" Terry asked.
"Guess so." Max flipped open the phone and put it on speaker. "Hello?"
"Hey. Did I wake you?" Dana's voice was shaky and Max went immediately into best friend mode.
"Nah I was up. What's wrong?"
"I had a nightmare."
"What about?"
"That woman from the carnival. We were walking near Crime Alley and she told me that she needed a favor."
Max wrinkled her forehead. "What kind of favor?"
"I don't remember," Dana said distractedly. "But I do remember saying no. And then she choked me." Dana's voice began to crack.
"I'm going over there," Terry broke in.
No. She'll want to know how you knew. Too many questions. Max sent the short reply and muted her headset. "What happened then Dana?"
"I woke up. But the dream isn't what freaked me out. After I dropped you off I know I went to sleep in my bed. But I woke up in the garage with that stupid necklace tangled around my neck!" Dana sobbed. "Maxie, how the hell did I get out there?"
"D, you need to breathe okay? Come on, take a deep breath." Max listened as Dana took a slow and shaky breath. "Good. One more time. There you go. Now listen, I know this is freaking you out but sleepwalking is pretty common, as are nightmares. Together they're admittedly pretty scary but they're normal." There was silence on Dana's end of the line and Max answered Dana's next question before she could ask. "Do you want to stay over here tonight?"
"I'm already heading for the car."
Max laughed softly. "You know if I didn't know any better I'd think we could read each other's minds."
"I think that kicks in at the 15 year mark. We're only at the 10," Dana joked back weakly. Max heard her door close. "I'll be there soon."
"Drive safe." They hung up and Max turned her attention back to Terry. "I'm back."
"How common is sleepwalking really?" Terry inquired.
Max hesitated. "Pretty common."
"Uh-huh. You sound convinced."
"Sleepwalking is common, but it's rarely more than just walking to a different room. She went downstairs and outside, which is more dangerous."
"There's something else you're not saying."
"She was really…protective of that necklace. But I remember she took it off before we left."
"She could have put it back on before bed."
"Yeah," Max replied. "But when we were kids my sister told us this story about a girl who slept with a necklace on and was strangled in her sleep. Neither one of us has done it since."
"Maybe Dana got over the story before you did."
"Maybe," Max echoed. But something still doesn't feel right. "She'll be here soon. I should make this room look less like that of a vigilante's assistant."
Terry chuckled. "Fill me in tomorrow?"
"Don't I always? Good night Ter."
"'Night again Max." She hung up and turned off the computer and the headset, then put both back on her desk. She spread out her history homework and locked her window just as she heard a knock on the door. She opened to Dana who looked sad and small, her eyes still red and her frame dwarfed by Terry's jacket, her overnight bag slung carelessly over her shoulder. She stepped inside and Max closed the door behind her.
"Lock it," Dana said in a hoarse but frantic voice. Max did so without argument and then turned to look at Dana.
"Come on," she said. "I monster-proofed my room."
"That's not funny," Dana said with a small smile.
"It kind of is. But you probably won't think so until tomorrow." She gave Dana an encouraging smile and led the way to her room. Once in Max's room, Dana dropped her bag in front of the closet, kicked off her boots and headed to the bathroom.
"I look a mess. Sleep hair and crying face should not mix." Max laughed and turned towards the bathroom, but her response caught in her throat.
"Dana, honey, what happened to your leg?" Dana looked down at her leg and was surprised to see drying blood.
"I-I don't know. I must have scraped while I was sleepwalking." Max grabbed the first aid kit as Dana took a closer look. "It looks like it happened on stone or something."
Max shook her head as she handed Dana an antiseptic pad. "It could have happened on anything D."
Dana sighed as she began to clean her leg. "You know I haven't had a nightmare in ages. I've never walked in my sleep and I never sleep with jewelry on. And tonight all of these things happen at once. You want to know what I think?"
"What?" Max replied, noticing that Dana was still wearing the necklace. You'd think after what happened she'd keep the thing as far away from her as possible.
"It's the universe's way of punishing me for skipping school. Watch. Once you fall asleep all hell will break loose for you too."
Max snorted, glad that Dana was regaining her sense of humor. "If that's true than Nelson must sleepwalk all damn night."
"Hell, he sleepwalks during the day."
"Until Blade walks by," they said together. They laughed as Dana finished bandaging her leg and turned to lean beside Max on the counter.
"I haven't called Terry," Dana said softly. "He works so hard. I didn't want to wake him."
"It can wait until tomorrow," Max said back gently. "Besides, if you look pitiful enough maybe he'll buy you something."
Dana smiled. "This is why I love you. Want to watch crap TV until our eyes bleed?"
"Absolutely." They exited the bathroom and Dana began looking for the remote, not noticing as Max stopped in front of her window. "She's okay Terry, go home. We'll see you tomorrow," she muttered. Outside, Terry removed his fingers from the glass and smiled. He tapped the window gently to signify his departure and took off. As he flew over Max's driveway he didn't notice the oblong bundle partially hidden in Dana's backseat.