Batman Beyond: The End of Batman
Chapter 5
Bruce slowly led Mrs. McGinnis and Mat McGinnis into the manner. Ace was at the door barking and Bruce frowned. "Down boy, it's okay, it's Terry's family." At Terry's name the dog's ears perked up and his tail began to wag and Bruce sighed, "No boy, Terry's not coming home tonight." At this the dog's ears drooped back down and he began to whimper a bit and then slowly walked to the clock. Mary watched all this with a slightly raised eyebrow and then turned to Bruce, confused.
"I don't understand Mr. Wayne…I mean Terry is suppose to be with you, and he's not…Since he was not with you, I assumed he'd be here, since he is not at home, but he dose not seem to be here either. Where is my son Mr. Wayne, and why dose the dog wait for him at the clock?"
Bruce sighed and gestured to the chairs in the sitting room, "You and your son may want to sit down for this, it's kind of a long story." Bruce sat down and leaned forward, putting his hands on his cane and resting his chin on his hands, watching the McGinnis's. Mrs. McGinnis and Mat both took a seat and looked at Bruce.
"It started back when your husband, Warren McGinnis died…Your son Terry found a disk in his possession that had classified Wayne-Powers intel on it and he believed it was what caused his father to be killed. You see, Terry never believed that the Jokers killed your husband, and he never wanted to accept that it was not his fault, he felt he should have been there to protect him in some way…
"Terry did not fully understand everything on the disk, he only got the gist of it, and he had already met me once, when he and I fought off some Jokers on my property, that part I told you was true, so he came back to me with the disk…I examined it and found that your son was right, there was something rotten in my company. Powers had been using my company to create a deadly virus…He tested it on your husband's friend and it killed him…His friend gave a disk with all the information about the virus to your husband, and that was what ended up causing him to get killed…Your son Terry found the disk and brought it to me before Powers could get his hands back on it…
"Powers did eventually get it back from Terry, when Terry was on his way home from my house, but by then Terry and I both knew what was going on in my company, and we both had a pretty good idea what Powers planned to do with the virus. Terry then chose to take things into his own hands…" Bruce paused as he heard two sets of footsteps coming their way, "and it seems the rest of our party has arrived, hello Max, Barbara…"
Barbara frowned, "Have you told her yet?"
"I was just getting to that part actually, you have perfect timing, as always," he said sounding only slightly annoyed.
"Well Bruce, you better get on with it," Barbara said sternly, not allowing him to procrastinate any longer. Bruce frowned at her and then stood up, leaning on his cane.
"If everyone would follow me, I believe our next stop will clear everything else in the story up completely," and with that, Bruce walked over to the clock where Ace lay and pulled the string, revealing the passage behind, leading down to the cave.
"Is this like your safe room or something," Mat asked, "You know in case pirates or Jokers, or even Blight shows up here?"
Bruce only slightly smiled at the child, "Something like that, yes…Mrs. McGinnis, this is where Terry and I have been working most of our late hours…" Max gasped as she figured out where they were going and silently followed him, figuring she was better off not saying how much she already knew in front of Mrs. McGinnis. They all walked down and Mat and Mrs. McGinnis gasped as they took in the batcave, Barbara only smiled at Bruce, remembering all her days down here as Batgirl, and Max stood around, glancing at everything with silent awe.
"Mrs. McGinnis, when I said Terry took things into his own hands that day, I was not kidding. He found this room by mistake, and as soon as he knew that Powers was the reason for his father's death, he came back here and stole the batman suit to get revenge…We only recently found out what happened as a result…It seems that in destroying all of the virus, so that Powers could no longer sell it to foreign powers as a weapon, Powers had tried to save it, but was exposed to it…It seems he used a radiation treatment to stop the virus from killing him, but it had side effects…It seems that through the combination of the virus and the radiation, Powers acquired powers and became what everyone knows now as the super villain Blight…" Bruce paused to let this all sink in before he continued with his story.
"So today I got an email from Powers saying he wanted a meeting with me, a privet meeting, and it seemed a bit fishy. Terry came along as Batman to make sure nothing happened, but unfourtently something did…It seems that Power's right hand man Mr. Fixx captured Terry and Powers took me down t o unmask Terry…Powers was going to kill us both, but Terry stuck his neck out for me and Powers spared me, but took Terry, which is why you are here Max…"
"Me," Max asked surprised, "What can I do?"
"My batcomputer is one of the best technology has to offer and I figured that while I was trying to contact Terry through comm. link, you could try to track his signal so we can try to find him…"
"I will help in any way I can sir," Max replied, worried about her friend, especially now that she knew he was in the hands of one of the worst villains in Gotham.
"You mean to tell me that all this time my son was out risking his life as a hero and you never told us," Mary asked surprised and a little upset, "and now my baby boy is out there somewhere with the worst villain in Gotham, and we don't even know if he is alive!"
Barbara walked over and put a hand on her shoulder, "Mrs. McGinnis , Terry made the choice for himself, Bruce tried to talk him out of it, but Terry wouldn't hear of it, he wanted to help people, and that's what he has done."
Mary McGinnis buried her face in Barbara's shoulder, trying not to show tears in front of Mat, "But I've already lost his father, I cannot bare to lose him as well…"
"You won't, not as long as I have anything to say about it," Bruce replied tapping a few keys on one of his computers as Max began to work hard on the other to try and find Terry. "I have no intention of losing him…I've already lost one partner, and after that I promised myself I would never lose anther again, and I won't. We will find him, I promise…" Barbara looked up at Bruce with sad eyes, trying to tell him, yet again, that Jason's death was not his fault. Bruce sighed and began to type something on his computer again and then began to speak.
"McGinnis, McGinnis, can you hear me?" He paused and waited, but all he got was static, "McGinnis, answer me! McGinnis! McGinnis, report," Bruce demanded in a growl, but once again all he got was static. "McGinnis come in now, that's a direct order!" Everyone in the room expected to hear static again, but this time, there was a slight move in the static and Bruce raised his eyebrow. He adjusted something on his computer, moved a few knobs and then played the static back.
"Bruce…They've got me….They want to unmask me again to a group, not really sure who…You have ta keep my fam…"That was all they got of the message before it broke up, and even that message was not very clear. Bruce tried to contact Terry again, but this time he got nothing, not even static, then he heard Max.
"Mr. Wayne, I think I've got something, some sort of transmission coming in, seems to be broadcasting to all of Gotham…"
"Pull it up," Bruce ordered. Max did and when she did, they were greeted with an image of Terry as Batman, still in his costume, mask and all, with Blight standing next to him. Mrs. McGinnis gasped and Barbara had to put her arm on her shoulder to reassure her.
"Good evening Gotham…We all here wanted to tune you all in to the most important event in all of Gotham, the unmasking of Batman…"Mrs. McGinnis gasped, but Bruce just leaned forward on his cane to watch. Slowly Blight lifted the cowl off of Terry's face and what it revealed was shocking. Terry's eyes looked wild, they must have done something to him, he had not even fought Powers when he took Terry's mask off. Bruce said nothing, but judging by Terry's body language, it had been some form of psychological torture, but of course he didn't say anything. Barbara must have been thinking the same thing because she gave Bruce a knowing side glance then quickly went back to trying to comfort Mrs. McGinnis.
"Now my dear friends, and fellow viewers, I'd like you to all join in and watch with me as we witness the slow and painful, DEATH OF BATMAN," Blight said in a menacing tone. Mary McGinnis could no longer hold it together and Barbara had to wrap her arms completely around her as she collapsed in her arms and began to cry. Mat began to get tears in his eyes and Max went over and picked him up and carried him to her seat and tried to comfort him. Bruce was the only one unmoving, his eyes glued to the screen, staring into Terry's eyes the whole time and trying to plan a way to help the kid.
