Part 9

Dana knocked on the door of Mary and Matt McGinnis' home, she knew and had confidence that Terry's mother trusted her and would let her in. Mary opened the door and sighed, "Dana, oh, thank god it's you…"

"Hey Mrs. McGinnis… Were you expecting someone else?"

"Never mind sweetheart, come in."

Mary lead Dana into the house, she looked around for anything that would have Terry's DNA on it.

"I'm sorry for asking, but have you seen Terry, Dana?"
"No, actually, that's why I'm here Mrs. McGinnis."

Mary raised an eyebrow, "Oh?"

"Mr. Wayne and I talked about Terry's disappearance, he's concerned too… And he told me he has connections that could help us find him faster!"

Dana's thoughts raced as she lied, she hoped Mary would buy it; otherwise she'd have to tell Terry's Mom about his secret.

"Really? Thank god for Bruce Wayne! What does he need?"

Dana sighed in her head in relief, "He just needs a DNA sample, hair maybe?"

Mary got up and went straight for Terry's bedroom, she came back and handed Dana Terry's pillow.

"There, I haven't washed that in weeks, it should have plenty of Terry on it."
"Gross!" Dana giggled, Mary did as well.

She waved as she left Terry's home, and she held the earpiece that she had on.

"Alright Mr. Wayne, I have the DNA sample… Any idea where I might find bits of the Batsuit lying around?"

Bruce spoke through the earpiece, "Alright, excellent Dana… Come back to the Batcave, and bring the sample."
"Alright."

Bruce sat at his computer, restlessly searching for a clue as to where Terry might be. He was broken from his focus by the footsteps of Dana behind him.

"Here you go Mr. Wayne."

Dana handed him the pillow, he placed it in a console and closed the door behind it. The computer screen flashed for a moment, scanning the pillow for DNA, and coming up with four sets of it.

Skin particles from Dana, Matt McGinnis, and Mary McGinnis, and hair from Terry.

"It worked, now let's see if we can… Ah, good."

Dana watched Bruce type in something and the screen changed, showing a planet that looked similar to Earth… Very similar.

"Bruce, this is saying Terry's still on Earth."
"Yes and no, he's on Earth alright, just not ours."

Dana was about to ask, but then she realized she wouldn't get it anyway.

"Let's home in on his genetic code, and…"
Bruce's eyes widened at the sight before him, the computer was showing him Terry's vision. He saw Tim Drake on the ground in front of Terry, hurt, but alive.

Bruce stood up and walked toward a door in the back of the Batcave. Dana followed, confused.

"Mr. Wayne! What are you doing?"

Bruce didn't answer, but hurriedly opened a case that held a bulky, metal, black armor with a silver bat symbol across the front.

"What is that?"
"My second most recent Batsuit… For me in emergencies only."

"Your second?"

Bruce nodded, he pointed to another Batsuit in the room, in the light, she could see that this suit was built for a woman. The bat on the front was Violet, and the cowl's back was cut, obviously to allow hair outside it.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You want me to-?"

The elderly Bruce nodded and stepped inside the large mechanical Batsuit.

"Will you at least explain why? And what about that part of Terry's suit you need?"

Bruce groaned in disdain, but explained to her what he had figured out.

"This is far bigger than a regular kidnapping into a separate dimension, somebody has been planning this, and I have a feeling I know who it is."
"So we're going to travel to this other dimension?"

"No, I am."

Dana scowled, "What?"

"Gotham needs a Batman at all times; I've let too much crime go out in the last three days. How far along are you in your training with Terry?"

"He's been training me since the Ratboy incident, so about a year and a half in… Honestly, those lessons were the most fun things I ever did with him... But I still don't know if I can replace Batman!"
"You can, with what you say you know now; the suit will amplify your strength and skill tenfold... I've made certain even the greenest rookie could work that suit."

"Isn't that a little unsafe? What if-?"
"I have a failsafe button
Dana took another look at the Batsuit, and took a deep breath.

"Alright old man, I trust you because Terry trusts you…"

Dana left quickly to change into the Batsuit, while Bruce stepped into his. The mechanical suit whirred and wrapped itself around Bruce's aging body. He stepped out into the batcave. Inside the suit, Bruce could see everything, perfect vision and mobility. He never wanted to use this suit; he felt it was cheating to use such powerful machinery rather than his own body…. But he was too concerned about Terry to care about that now.

Dana examined herself in the mirror of the Batcave's changing room, she loved the skin-tight suit, she felt stronger, taller, and more confident than she had in three days! Then she examined her wrists, pressing an invisible button that dispensed a violet batarang. She smiled and stepped out of the room, and to her surprise, she saw the eight-foot Iron Batsuit[1] sitting at the computer with a wire connecting it.

"Dana, once I leave, I will have a radio link to both you and Terry, if you need assistance, do NOT hesitate to ask… I don't want you getting killed."

"I won't, believe me, but I'll still ask a 'Q' if I need to!"

"Good, now here are some places I need you to go…" Bruce handed Dana a holographic disk that had several addresses on it, "… They're links to people who may know something about Terry's transportation. I've informed the Justice League and they are doing all they can as well."
Dana nodded and looked up at the old man, then hugged him in the suit.

"Thank you for everything Mr. Wayne… I won't let you down, just bring Terry home."

With that, Bruce nodded and the suit glowed for a split second, and then vanished all together. Dana looked down at the disk in her gloved hand, and grew a look of determination. She rushed out of the batcave, kicked off the ground, spread the violet wings on her back and took off. She was surprised at how easy flying was with the help of her jet-filled soles. She then re-focused her thoughts on finding things in the current Neo Gotham; she looked at the disk and saw the first address was to an apartment building near the outside of the city. She looked at the name next to the address.

"Amanda Waller… Who could that be?"

BATSUIT: The name Bruce Wayne gave to this last-resort suit. Its abilities include: massive strength increase, near-unlimited supply of explosive batarangs, jet-propulsion with bat-wing stabilizers, night vision, situational cloaking device, synchronization to the bat computer, radio connection to all suits on its frequency no matter where (Or when) they are, and impressive increase in weight, over 1000lbs of steel. This suit is the larger, heavier version of Terry's suit.

Terry walked out of the old diner, leaving Raven to tend to Tim, he then took off quickly, jetting toward the Joker's giant building, he swore he saw a flash of lightning in the distance, but he figured it was just a storm coming in. Then he heard a loud crash coming from that direction, and was conflicted as to whether he should go check it out or go ahead with his planned search for Ace.

"Oh… Slag it!"

Batman turned and headed straight for the sound, he could hear an army of Joker synthoids nearby so he knew that Joker knew about that sound as well.

He stopped in the shadows and couldn't believe his eyes when he saw what it was. It was a massive, black robotic suit, and it was launching huge explosive batarangs and was taking out about ten robots at a time!

"Terry, I know you're there, stop gawking and help me out…"

Terry couldn't believe it when he heard the old man speak into the radio again; his sweet growling voice was music to the young Bat's ears.

"Wayne! That giant suit is yours? You're here?"
"I'll explain once we get these robots off of my back! Now get over here!"

Terry dashed out and launched a giant grappling hook, it wrapped around the majority of the synthoids and pulled them together into one group. Bruce took the cue and shot a large Bat Bomb at them, blowing them to kingdom come.

Once the dust settled, Terry walked up to the eight foot tall Iron Batman.

"That you old man?"

The Iron Batsuit's cockpit opened and lifted Bruce down. The original Dark Knight stood solemnly, leaning on his cane.

"Of course it is, only I could give you a run for your money."
"I had a great teacher." Terry complimented, Bruce smirked.

The Batmen walked down the street, Bruce explained to Terry about how crime had risen and that his disappearance was affecting everyone. He wanted to find Terry as soon as he disappeared, but he didn't trust anyone else to become Batman besides himself and Terry.

"So, who'd you get?"

The old man looked at Terry icily, "Dana."

Terry's eyes widened intensely, then he felt fear and rage at the same time.

"You… WHAT?"
"I did what I had to protect Gotham. Dana is everything you say she is and more, and with the new Batsuit I gave her… She may be able to top you."

Terry was bewildered, he had only been teaching Dana defensive techniques, how could she be as good as him in that short of time?"

"Dana can handle herself, but if she does need help, I can contact her through this suit at any time."

Terry stopped, and Bruce did as well.

"Let me talk to her, I need to tell her something."

"Very well."

Bruce typed something into the Iron Batsuit's arm, "Alright, I patched your radio frequency to hers…"

Terry lifted his hand to his ear, and gulped.

"Dana?"

"Terry?"

"Dana, are you alright?"

"You worry too much McGinnis, I'm fine, I'm worried about you! Where are you?"

"Bruce said he told you…"

"Oh, right..."

"Look, about the secret… I'm sorry I didn't tell you…"

"I know, I know all about it Ter, and don't worry about it… All you wanted to do is protect me."

"And you wound up involved anyway…"

"Hey, this is MY choice. I'm not mad that you didn't tell me… However…"

"However?"
"We're going to have a serious talk about why Max knows and I didn't!"

"I was afraid you'd say that."

"Anyway, did the old man find you yet?"

"I'm right here," Bruce interjected, "and get a move on. Waller's home isn't that far."

"Right, I'd better go."

"Wait!"

"Yes Terry?"

"In case we don't see each other again… I love you."

"I love you too Batman…"

"Heartwarming, now get on with it."

"You don't have a romantic bone in your body do you?"
"Romance is overrated, especially when a madman is threatening a country."

"Right, Joker…"

Terry pointed out Joker's building, "He's there, probably just waiting for Batman to come so he can kill him twice…"
"Twice?" Bruce asked, and Terry looked at the ground.

"Terry, there's something you're not telling me."

The young Batman looked at his elder sympathetically, and explained to him that this dimension… Was a world without Batman.

(Did this at midnight last night! So, go easy with the REVIEWS! )