A/N: Hello all and welcome to chapter 2 of A New Batman! We hope you all enjoy it! We liked this chapter it took us a while because we have a lot of stories to work on together and solo. Anyway we hope you like it.
Disclaimer: We still don't own Batman Beyond or DC we do own Michael Prince though.
It had been three years since Michael's entrance and his old friends reemergence into Bruce's life, and in that time things had gone well. They had continued the young mans training. Now at age 17, Michael was powerfully built, and about as tall as most young men his age.
More importantly to Bruce though; "He's ready." Bruce said turning to Diana as they watched their son go through the obstical/training course.
"You really think so?" Diana asked as Michael leapt over the fist of a Killer Croc bot flipped forwards in the air twice and slammed his foot into it's face knocking it out before dodging the blasts fired by several of the lasers, He pulled out a few batarangs and hurled them at the base of the lasers causing small explosions.
He finished crossing the line and knocking out the last of the bots with a powerful spinning kick to the ribs knocking it backwards, before slamming the Freeze bot against the wall and slamming his fist into the chest of the bot and making it fade away into nothing; "Yes, his combat is more than ready, and all his skills we have taught him are at a high enough level and he'll just improve as time goes on." Bruce said.
She smiled; "That's good, we should tell him soon enough though because school starts soon." She said.
Bruce nodded and rising to his feet cane in hand he made his way over to where Michael was now drinking water and cleared his throat Michael turned to facve him and stood up straight; "Yes dad?" He asked.
"After the last few years of training, and a lot of thinking, I have decided that your ready to take on the mantle, tonight will be your first night of patrol, as Batman." Bruce said and Michael smiled wide; "Thank you dad, I promise I won't let any of you down." He said.
"No, I don't think you will, but for the present you need to get ready for school." He said seriously and Michael sighed, but nodded and went upstairs to get ready.
"You know your taking this really well, I never thought you'd allow anyone else to take up a mantle for you again." Diana said seriously.
"Things...people can change, and I think that he knows what to do and what he's getting into, he'll be alright. Besides he'll have me on the comm if he needs anything." Bruce said as he and Diana walked up after their son.
After Michael got cleaned up and dressed for school, wearing a pair of black jeans, a white T-shirt, a brown aviator jacket, and black and white sneakers, he came downstairs and went to the manor's garage and selected one of the many sports cars that were at his disposal.
He decided to take one of the simpler models, opened the garage door, and revved the engine before driving out the garage, closing it behind him.
After driving down the driveway and going through the gates, Michael pressed a button on the car's dashboard, causing the wheels to turn sideways at a ninety degree angle before activating rockets inside the wheels, causing the car to liftoff the road and into the air, flying into the sky and into the city of Gotham.
As he flew over the city, Michael couldn't help but imagine what it would be like to be on patrol as Batman for the first time tonight. Batman would prowl the shadows again, and Gotham would start to come back from the shadows. He was shaken from his thoughts as he had to decend to Gotham High school.
He parked his car and jumped out heading inside and was immediately met by his best friend Maxine "Max" Gibson. She had dark skin, dyed pink hair with brown eyes, she was built well for her age. SHe had a yellow and black shirt, and black pants and shoes.
"There you are, do you ever decide to not cut it close?" She asked smiling as he laughed;"Well maybe, but where would be the fun in that. After all what's life without a little risk?" He asked
"You got me there, Prince," Max said with a small laugh as they headed for class.
As the day progressed, it soon came time for gym class. Michael was watching from the sidelines as a friend of his, a Terry McGinnis, was wrestling with one of the school's jocks, Nelson Nash. The fight was pretty even at first until Nelson found an opening and caught Terry in a Half-Nelson.
"Face it, slag, I got you beat," Nelson taunted.
"Funny, you remind me of a Joker I beat up this morning. Only he was way prettier," Terry retorted, only for Nelson to spit in his face, causing Terry to break from the hold and punch Nelson in the face.
"Damn Terry." Michael said joining the group of people that pulled the two apart and pulling Terry away from Nelson; "Calm down you tred thin enough ice as it is, besides it's just Nelson he isn't worth the effort, or at least wait until schools out." He said as the couch ran over.
"McGinnis! That's it get your clothes and get out!" THe couch shouted.
"But he just..." Terry started, but the couch cut him off; "But nothing I saw YOU throw the first punch, out!" He said seriously. Michael glared at Nelson who smirked.
"Tell you what Nelson, why don't you take me on?" Michael offered stretching out his muscles and cracking his neck and smirking.
"Think you can take me on pretty boy Prince?" He asked squaring up to Michael who was much closer to Nelson in body build; "One way to find out isn't there?" He asked as they both prepared to wrestle and the couch blew the whistle. Michael quickly dropped and took Nelson down and to his back.
Nelson rolled out and tried for the same Half Nelson on Michael who slipped out of it picked his legs and slammed him to the ground again using a small amount of his strength and getting a quick pin; "I thought you had skill?" Michael said smirking as Nelson growled.
Up in the stands three girls were smirking slightly over the whole situation.
"And thus, Terry's pride was avenged," Max said with a smirk.
"I'll go see if Terry's doing okay," An Asian girl, Dana Tan, said, leaving Max and the short-haired blonde.
"Do you know if Michael's dating anyone?" The blonde girl, Bobbi "Blade" Summer, asked.
"What about you and Nelson?" Max asked, still smirking.
"After that display, my guess is that Michael's way better at 'wrestling'," Bobbi said, smirking back at Max.
"Yeah he probably would be and...no he's not dating anyone." Max said after a slight pause though she seemed a bit off.
"Maxine Gibson, is that jealousy I detect?" Bobbi asked smirking at her again.
"What, I no of course not he's free to date or not date whoever he wants to, I don't have any say." She said carefully avoiding Bobbi'so gaze.
"Uh huh, well then maybe I'll see if he's interested. " She said looking back at the group of boys as they headed to the locker room.
Michael and Terry were headed out of the locker room when Terry spoke up; "You know, you didn't have to do that,I didn't need you to stand up for me." He said.
"Yeah I know, but that's the thing that wasn't to stand up for you somuch as it was fun for me to put Nelson in his place, like you wanted to just within their rules. You know you would have won had you not thrown a punch right?" Michael asked.
"He spit in my face, at that point he's lucky punching him was all that I did." Terry said seriously as Dana, Max and Bobbi approached them; "While that is gross, there are other ways to get back at the guy, now your da's going to blow his stack, you might not get to come out tonight." Dana said sounding dissapointed.
"Nah, don't worry about it, he'll let me go." Terry said.
"That or Terry will slip out anyway." Michael said casually smirking; "What about you Michael, you going to make it out tonight?" Bobbi asked pushing her platinum blonde hair out of her eyes and batting her eyelashes flirtatiously.
"Not tonight I have to cram for a test tomorrow in physics and then Mom wanted to take me to dinner." Michael said
"I'm sure your mom would understand if you said you had other plans," Bobbi said with a pouting lip.
"Sorry Bobbi, can't ditch my parents. If I did my dad would kill me," Michael said with a shrug.
"You mean Old Man Wayne?" Max said with a smirk, "Oh yeah, he'd clobber you good."
"Yeah, either that or just give me an earful."
"And he's not that old Max." He added as if in an after thought.
"Yes he is, got to be in what his mid to late 60's early 70's really how bad could he be if you flaked?" Terry asked as they left the building.
"Believe me Terry, with my parents it's better not to ask that kind of question,and you'd be surprised what the old man can do with a cane. Max, want me to drop you off on my way home?" He asked stopping beside his car.
"Yeah, sure beats the bus any day." Max said as Bobbi shot her a jealous look from behind as she and Michael got in the car; "See you all tomorrow. " He said before taking off.
"So, Michael you know that Bobbi was hitting on you, or I trying to right?" Max asked as they took to the sky and headed towards her home and Michael smiled.
"Not really, but that would sort of make sense, she seemed so determined to get me to go out. Speaking of, will you be going with them tonight?" He asked glancing over at Max who smiled; "You kidding, I'm not one much for clubs and you know it especially when your not along. Dana says I need to get out more or I'll be bored alone all the time." She said.
"I don't think so, you just need a guy who's amazing enough for you." He said and she turned pink a bit and laughed; "Thanks Prince you do know how to flatter." She said smiling.
"I only speak the truth." He said and she blushed; "You know if you mean that I..." She started before he pulled up in front of her house; "Well I gotta go Max, but we can talk tomorrow okay?" He asked and she nodded a bit glumly, but smiled giving him a brief hug before getting out and watching him fly away.
'I have got to work on expressing myself here.' She thought.
After dropping Max at her home, Michael made his way back to Wayne Manor, turning off the car's flight mode and reverting back to four-wheels driving. After parking the car in the garage and closing the door, he made his way to the living room where he found his father reading the news with Ace lying next to him.
"Is it time yet?" Michael asked Bruce.
"Not yet, but soon," He answered.
"I'll get some rest in the meantime."
"Good idea; you've a long night ahead of you," Bruce said as Michael went back to the foyer and up the main staircase to his room.
-Meanwhile, at the McGinnis Household-
Warren McGinnis, father to Terry and employee of Wayne-Powers Enterprises was looking through a disk that a friend of his had given to him before he was taken away by Wayne-Powers security. As he looked through the files on the disk, his heart sank at it's contents.
"Powers can't be serious," He whispered to himself just as Terry walked into the room.
"Hey dad, I'm going out," He said, putting on his brown jacket.
"Your grounded remember?" He asked.
"I didn't start the fight!" Terry said indignantly; "Yes, I'll hear all about it when we meet with your counselor...again." Warren said still staring at his computer screen and going over what he had found.
"Mom would hear me out!" Terry said and that got Warren to look up; "Your not living with your mother!"
"Don't remind me!" Terry shouted punching the wall as Warren stood up; "That's your problem right there! You can't control your temper and you'd better learn if you expect to get anywhere in life!" Warren shouted.
"Oh yeah, I'll be a big success just like you." Terry said with cold sarcasm as he pulled his jacket on; "I'm baling." He said heading out as Warren sighed and headed back to his computer, what neither of them noticed was the car that pulled up in front of the house as Terry left.
Terry headed out and after several blocks of walking came to the line in front Club 54; Dana, Chelsea, and Bobbi were all in line wearing Blue Orange, and red small dresses respectively; "Boo." Terry said coming up behind Dana who smiled.
"I thought you were going to be in solitary?" She asked hugging him.
"I gave myself time off for good behavior." He said smiling; "I'm glad." She said kissing him.
"Michael really called it with you didn't he?" Bobbi asked smirking before Terry could respond to her Nelson pulled up in a nice car and got out smirking at the whole line Terry growled and made to take a step at him, but Dana stopped him; "Whoathere we don't want any more trouble right now Terry." She said.
He nodded just as they all heard a clown horn honking at them, and turning they all saw a gang of Jokers. "Great just what this night needed." Terry growled as they started circling around Nelson and hitting his car.
"Hey my car!" He said only to be hit by one as they rode by; "Knock it off!" He demanded.
"I would if you'd hold still." the female Joker said hitting him with a rubber chicken that had metal spikes sticking out of it.
"Stop it!" Terry said running forwards; "No Terry!" Dana said chasing after him only to be scooped up by a Joker who looked close to a good knock off of the original; "Aw come on Hotness smile." He said tickling her.
"Haha- Stop that- Haha- Now!" Dana said forcefully through her laughs as the Joker Knock-Off came to a halt, letting Dana go as Terry caught up to the Joker and knocked him off the bike with a drop kick.
Seeing this, the other Jokers began to circle Terry as the lookalike got back to his feet, rubbing the spot where Terry had kicked him.
"You're gonna regret that, party pooper," The lookalike said, drawing a knife from his coat pocket.
"Yeah, put a smile on his face!" One of the other Jokers yelled.
"I'd put that knife away if I were you, you two-bit Joker Knock-off," Came a voice from behind the group, catching the lookalike's attention.
He turned and gasped at what he found; "N...No you can't be he's gone!" He said.
"I'm back." The other man said in a slightly altered voice as he stepped forwards, he was dressed in an all black suit with a silver belt with a red dot in the center, and a Large red Batsymbol on his chest as he stared at the Jokers gang with with white his mouth staying in a glare.
"Is that Batman?" Bobbi asked in shock having only ever heard the legend of Batman.
"I think so." Dana said as she and Terry came back over to stand beside her staring as the gang came towards the new arrival and the leader regained his composure; "Isn't it a little early to be dressing up for Halloween?" He asked laughing as did the others.
"Well, look who's talking." Batman said casually the man growled and threw the first punch. Batman dodged catching the mans fist and flipping him over his shoulder and into the female Joker member. The three others charged towards him, Batman leaped into the air kicking the smaller man in his and shifting in mid air and wrapping his legs around the biggest members arm.
He spun in that position flipping man over knocking down his friend and slamming the bigger man to the ground. With a sharp twist he broke the mans arm and he screamed him pain before he was knocked out; "And here I was wanting a challenge." Batman said
While Batman was distracted, the Joker lookalike got up from the ground, rubbing his head in pain before looking to see his friends down for the count. Seeing this, he ground his teeth together as he reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a revolver.
"You son of a bitch!" He yelled, getting Batman's attention. Just as he turned around, the lookalike pulled the trigger and instead of it firing off a bullet, a small red flag popped out of the barrel with the word "BANG" written in bold letters.
Everyone in the crowd looked at the Joker quizzically as he began to go into a laughing fit before re aiming the gun and pulled the trigger again, this time firing the flag like a harpoon out of an air rifle right at Batman's chest.
However, to everyone's surprise, rather than dodge out of the way or get hit by the projectile, Batman, quick as a flash, moved his hand in a sweeping motion across his chest, catching the flag mid-flight, shocking everyone, the lookalike especially.
"Your going to need some new tricks." Batman said bending the flag, jumping towards the man and slamming his fist into the Jokerz gut and then uppercutting him and spin kicking him down as he started locking up the other Jokers with cuffs as people started to clamor towards him.
"Stay, back these people could still be dangerous!" Batman said and the circle of people closed around him a little allowing the lead Joker to get to his feet and escape on his motorcycle, and head out into the city. Batman growled turning to face the way the Joker had headed; "Wait! Who are you?" Terry asked.
"I'm Batman." Batman said simply enough before activating his jet boots and taking off into the sky to catch up.
-Two Hours Later-
After the team-up with this "New Batman" and spending some time at the club with his friends, Terry made his way home. After the crazy night that's happened, he needed to lie down. When he turned the corner onto his street however, what he found shocked him.
Instead of a calm street filled with nothing but parked cars and street lamps, Terry found cop cars surrounding his house with police tape lining off the perimeter.
He ran over to the door and slipped past the police officers and into the house where he found his mother talking to police she gasped when she saw him; "Terry! Oh thank goodness your safe." She said hugging him.
"Mom, what happened?" Terry asked
"It was a robbery they think it was the Jokers, they surprised your father." She said.
"Wait, what where is he!? Mom where's dad?" Terry asked she placed a hand over her mouth a tear coming to her eye and looked at the ground not answering him; "No, no Dad! DAD!" Terry screamed so loud it echoed as he shoved past the police and found his father laying dead in the room behind them his neck bent at an odd angle.
"No." He muttered falling to his knee's and bursting into tears. He was not sure how long he sat there crying over his fathers body and refusing to be moved what he did know was that when he heard a rustle near the window he looked up and found Batman standing there; "I'm sorry for your loss." He said gently as he stepped into the room.
"I can't believe that the Jokerz found me, I should have come home I could have been here I could have done something to save him." Terry said his own voice shaking in his ears.
"This wasn't the Jokerz." Batman said quietly surprising Terry; "What do you mean of course it was look around." Terry said gesturing to the many HA's and smiles on the walls.
"No, it wasn't I chased the Jokerz to the other side of town and left a few of them bound for the police, no someone wanted us to think it was them though. Why is the question...was your dad acting odd at all lately?" He asked inspecting the room.
"No, not that I could tell." Terry said.
"Hmm, interesting I'll havve to look into this further Batman said finding blood other than Warren McGiness' on the floor and taking a sample he headed for the window; "Wait, I want to help." Terry said getting up and heading towards him.
"No, you would be in danger." Batman said.
"Whoever did this they killed my dad, if you don't let me help I'm just going to look into it on my own." Terry said.
Batman turned and seized his shirt lifting him off the ground; "You want to get yourself killed!?" He demanded.
"No, I want justice for my father!" Terry said not backing down.
Batman narrowed his eyes for a moment, and then set him down before handing him a comm like device; "Fine, if you see or find anything you think will help you can reach me with that, but only in those cases got it?" He asked and when Terry nodded he turned and left vanishing into the shadows as Terry walked out of the room.
Over the next few days, the air around Terry and his family was that of gloom and forlorn. After his father's funeral, Terry had moved into his mom and brother's house. A few days later, Michael was busy helping Terry move his stuff into his new room.
"Thanks again, Michael," Terry said, setting down a few boxes on his desk.
"No problem. Happy to help, Terr," Michael said, carrying twice as many boxes as Terry.
"You sure you don't need any help there?" Terry asked.
"No, I got i-Whoa!" Michael said, tripping against a chair and dropping the top box, spilling picture frames across the floor, "Sorry about that, Terry," He apologized.
"It's no problem. Told you there were too many boxes," Terry said as he and Michael picked up the various framed photos.
And then within the frame of the family during happier times a disk fell out; "What's this?" Michael asked picking it up and looking at it closely as Terry came over.
"I don't know, looks like something from work." Terry said.
"Yeah, but if that's the case why hide it in the frame?" Michael asked and Terry stared taking the disc from him; "I don't know, but let's check it out." Terry said going over to his computer and sliding the disc in, the first words told them both that this was something serious as Terry read them; "In the event of my death or disappearance?" He said stunned.
"Well that's not what I was expecting from this day." Michael said as Terry nodded going over some of the disc and knew who he had to call; "Listen Michael can you not tell anyone about this? I have some things to do now." Terry said seriously ejecting the disc.
"Sure, I have some things I have to do anyway, meet up later maybe?" He asked and Terry nodded as they both left the house and headed in opposite directions
After Michael was out of sight, Terry took out the communicator that Batman gave him and activated it. A ringing came from the other end of the line before it sounded like someone picked it up.
"McGinnis, you found something I take it?" A deep voice said on the other end of the line that Terry knew to be Batman's.
"There's something that stinks in Wayne-Powers. I found something on a disk that my dad was working on. I would go to the police, but you know how cozy they are with Powers... I need your help," Terry said.
"This may sound like an odd question, but where do you live?" Batman asked on the other end of the line.
"The apartment building on the corner of Fifth and Galavan," Terry replied.
"Meet me on the roof tonight. I'll help you get back for your father. End transmission," Batman said before he hung up the communicator. Terry looked down at the communicator for a second, processing what Batman had told him when he gasped and dropped the device when the communicator burst into flames. It self-destruct.
"Huh, apparently that's a thing," Terry commented before headed on his way.
A/N: Thus ends chapter 2! We hope that you enjoyed the story so far leave a review if you would like, check out our other stories as well. See you all next chapter!