Part 13
"Another dimension?!" Max exclaimed as Dana finished explaining the situation to her.
"Yeah, Mr. Wayne and Terry are both there, I dunno what they're up to, but I hope they come back soon."
"Haha, why? As long as they're gone, you get to keep the suit!" Max grinned and took another look over the sleek skintight Batsuit.
"I know, but…"
"You're worried about Terry… Dana, let me tell you now, you got nothin' to worry about. Ter can handle himself, heck, he even took out the Joker when he came back!"
Dana sighed; she knew her friend was right, if anyone could find a way back to their home dimension, it was Batman. Even so, she couldn't help but get this worried feeling.
"Max, Mr. Wayne said you could help me…"
"Right, your folks, the Commish said your dad was in her office an hour ago right?"
"She did say that, but neither of my folks were home when she dropped me off."
"I know, I know, but if what she said was true, then they were kidnapped in a hurry…"
Dana's eyes lit up, "Which means they must have left clues by accident!"
"Perfect! Lets get moving…" Max stood up, and both girls walked toward the door.
"Wait!" Dana said, grabbing Max's arm.
"What?" She said, turning around.
"What if we run into any of Batman's enemies? I won't have any problems, but you…"
"Ugh, right, the whole 'secret identity' thing."
Dana put her hand on her chin, then smiled. "Think Mr. Wayne would mind if we snuck into the Batcave?"
Max grinned ear to ear, "Nope, not at all!" She lied, seizing the chance to finally see the Batcave.
Batgirl donned her cowl and put Max on her back, jumping out the window. Max was about to scream, when the two purple wings sprung from Dana's back and they took off at high speed.
Batgirl Beyond and Max made it to Wayne manor and found the Batcave behind the old grandfather clock, just as Bruce showed Dana earlier.
"Alright, we go in and look for any suit we can possibly find, preferably a Batsuit, but I can live with a Robin suit."
"You do look good in red!"
"Don't push it Dana."
The two girls made their way to the Bat computer, Max sat down in front of it, one look at her face and Dana could tell one thing; Max was having a computer-nerd-gasm.
"Oh my god, the fastest processor ever conceived by any programmer in the history of the world, right in front of me!" She contained her extreme excitement at this, or at least, attempted not to scream.
"I take it you'd like to-?"
"YES!"
Dana Giggled at Max's response, the two decided that Max was going to do what Wayne did for Terry. Max was the mind, Dana the body.
Terry and Dick returned with the Titans to the old safe house where everyone else was. He pulled off his cowl and walked up to Bruce, "Bruce, this is…"
"Starfire, Cyborg, and The Changeling…" He answered, as Terry thought about how much he hated it when Bruce was right about everything.
"Looks like we're all here, let's get a move on before the others change their minds and try to kill us." Catwoman said, walking to the door, Iron Batman put his hand on her shoulder.
"Selina, it's best that just Terry and I go."
The entire throng of heroes began mumbling to themselves at Wayne's idea.
"Bruce, you're kidding, right?" Selina inquired, shifting her weight to her thigh.
"No, I'm not." Bruce said, Terry walking up behind him.
"Terry, try to talk some sense into him-." Barbara said, pulling her cowl off.
"Barbara, how long have you known him? I don't think anyone could talk him out of changing his mind."
Barb wanted to argue, but deep down she knew he was right, Bruce was more stubborn now than he was when he was young, and that's saying something.
Though some arguments occurred, particularly between Dick and Bruce, they eventually came to the agreement that only the Batmen should meet with the former villains.
As Bruce and Terry exited the building, Terry piped up with a question.
"Bruce, what the slag?"
"What?"
"Why did you come? You know your heart can't take the stress of being Batman, why didn't you just radio me?"
Bruce didn't answer, continuing walking toward their rendezvous point. Terry stopped, and folded his arms.
"Damn it Wayne, we're not going anywhere until you answer me!" He declared, scowling through his cowl. Bruce just kept walking, "Fine, I'll go on my own."
Terry gritted his teeth at Bruce's hard head.
Bruce continued walking until he felt a hard 'klang' against his back, it didn't hurt, but it shook him. He turned around, looking back at Terry, who had his batarang launcher armed.
"Tell me, NOW."
"You wouldn't understand, now come on or get lost McGinnis."
Terry lost it.
"You know, I've been really forgiving of your attitude up till now, your sarcasm, bitterness, god-complex, paranoia, everything! But you know what? I'm done! Call me crazy, but I think everyone in that building back there looks up to you! Hell, they worship you! And you still just slam a door in their faces? No, Wayne, you're telling me why you want us solo on this one, why you even came at all, and why you thought it was a good idea to put Dana in a suit!"
The two Batmen just stared at each other for a moment, then Bruce looked Terry right in the eye, "I want us solo on this because I don't want anyone dying before their time. I came because I wanted to keep you and the rest of these people from dying at the hands of the Joker."
"And why did you put Dana in the suit?"
"Because she's as strong and good of a person as you are, the most trustworthy human being in Gotham city, the only suitable replacement for you in absence."
Terry gritted his teeth, then calmed himself, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled."
"I was wondering why you didn't sooner…"
"Hmm?" Terry was surprised at his mentor.
"You had every right and reason to be angry, but you held it in out of respect… I'm proud of it."
Terry couldn't help but smile as they continued walking.
A large group of people walked down crime alley, some of them disfigured monsters, some powerful men. All of them led by a tall red-haired man in a green suit and purple mask. The Riddler.
"You really think the bat's back from the dead?" Asked the Penguin, a short, round, pointy-nosed man in a black tuxedo. Riddler replied, "Not sure of that, but we'll find out soon, won't we Mr. Cobblepot?"
"And if he is?" Asked Basil Karlo, the creature known as Clayface.
"Then things will get very interesting indeed, you're sure it was him Slade?" Riddler turned to the semi-dark masked man walking near to Clayface.
"Certain." He replied coldly.
It was at this point that the villains-turned-resistance saw two black figures with pointed 'ears' on their heads walking toward them. They stopped.
Bruce and Terry were only a few yards away from them when they stopped.
"Batman, is that really you?" Asked the Riddler, stepping forward toward the large, metal man that stood before the crowd of people, Bruce then stepped forward.
"Yes, Nigma… it's me."
"Batman!" Yelled a woman's voice from behind the crowd, it was Poison Ivy.
"Pamela."
She was holding something, Terry ran forward and saw that it was an unmoving, unconscious Tim Drake.
"Robin!" He exclaimed, "What did you do to him Ivy?" Terry gritted his teeth and got 'all up in Ivy's face'
"For your information Brat-man, I saved his ass when he went into the Joker's building."
"I assume Joker has let my identity go viral?" Bruce said as Terry took Tim from Ivy.
"Yes, Bruce." Harvey said from Riddler's side.
Bruce scowled as two-face walked up, then chose to exit his suit, as he saw no need to hide his identity from those who knew it already.
Two-Face stepped forward. "You're so..."
"Old? Fifty years does that to a person... Glad to see you let the city go to hell without me, Harvey."
Two-Face was going to retort, but held his tongue out of respect for his past friendship with Bruce Wayne.
"Alright, Dark Knight... What's the plan, I don't know about you and your, 'so-called' Heroes, but we, the Criminal Underworld of Gotham are just about sick of having to check every corner in fear of a cyanide pie in the face or an explosive wedgie from Joker's little robots.
"You don't do your research very well, do you Nigma?"
Bruce barked, "Have you gotten a good look at the robots Joker's been using?"
"I don't know what you're-..."
"I did." Said Deathstroke, he stepped forward and continued, "The robots aren't new. And they're not Lexcorp as the clown would like us to believe."
Bruce followed up, "They're actually fairly old... Nearly a century."
Terry folded his arms, confused as to what Batman was getting at, but impressed as usual that he could catch this kind of detail.
"The robots were initially designed as the mechanical guardians of an old foe of mine... Ra's Al Ghul."
Riddler hit himself in the face, "OF COURSE!" He exclaimed, "How did I not see it sooner?!"
"See what?" Asked the young Batman. Bruce stared down the crowd. "The Joker isn't really the one behind this."
The entire crowd began to murmur, as did Terry.
"What are you talking about? Of course it's him, we saw him do it, he killed you remember?"
"He may have killed me, taken Robin as his own, and defeated the league using Ace... But there's no way Joker would let anyone else help in his conquering and chaos. Not to mention that as long as I've known him, the Joker has been a psychotic, monstrous, unrepentant, wise-cracking, genius pile of filth... But never a megalomaniac."
Riddler stepped up, "Of course not, we've all met the clown! All he ever wanted to do was create chaos, and make your life a living hell."
"He was good at it too." Bruce retorted, "But what do you think he did after he managed to kill me? Not take over Gotham and half the world. No, the Joker, the REAL Joker wouldn't know what to do... I've seen what would happen to the Joker in a world without Batman."
"And?" Terry asked, the entire crowd leaned in.
"The Joker would kill himself. And, he did. After hearing what happened from Batgirl, it was easy to piece together. After Robin and Harley betrayed him, Joker finally let his insanity get the better of him. He killed himself, even if I don't know how. However, there was someone waiting in the wings. Someone ready to take his work and finish it how they saw fit."
"Who?"
"The man who built those robots.
Ra's Al Ghul."
Line Break
OY... Talk about writer's block, sorry about the intense wait guys! It's a long story, which I will tell at the end of next week's chapter!
If you only knew what I had planned! You'd just DIE!