Author's note! Followed by a short chapter.
I have to respond to Weather Marmalade's review. Why? Because for one thing, it's a damn good review. For another, there were some valid points brought up which I should address.
1) I admit I've been throwing names about. I've tried to keep this limited to conversations, but I may have slipped up here and there. I tend not to worry about in in conversations because that's what people do- speak in a verbal shorthand that they and a few others understand but leave the rest in the dark. Sometimes it's even unintentional. I'm hereby identifying all the names I've dropped and identifying original characters.. (WARNING- MANY SPOILERS)
Ch1: Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock- The first one everyone should know. Bullock was a cop they created (I think) for Batman: The Animated Series. A fat, loud-mouth slob who didn't like Batman much.
Ch2: Dreyfus, Rosten, DeLacey, Dalrymple, Lydia Voorhies- All original characters. Lydia was invented because there would have been another set of prints on the groceries and I went with this.
Ch3: Lots of names in this one, so I'll do it one by one.
Howard Groote- a recurring character in the series. A friend of Terry's. Stereotypical nerdboy who Terry tries to protect from, well, himself, mostly.
Big Time- formerly Charlie Bigelow. He used to be Terry's best friend and was the reason Terry ended up in Juvenile Hall. (Some friend) When Charlie got out of jail he took advantage of Terry's friendship and position with Bruce Wayne to get inside Wayne-Powers. It ended badly. He appeared in two different episodes, both times trying to use Terry; the second time put him in a high position in the Gotham underworld (assuming he survived, which I do).
Tamara- the little psychic girl from the episode "Mind Games".
Dr. Wheeler- the villain from "The Last Resort". One of the villains who met Terry both in and out of costume. In fact, he saw more of Terry than of Batman and it seemed reasonable that he would blame Terry for his downfall.
Queen- a member of the Royal Flush Gang. Her daughter fell for Terry, which created a set of divided loyalties (even though she didn't know Terry was Batman). The end result was the dissolution of the family, with both Queen and King landing in jail while Ten and Jack tried to go legit.
J-Man- one of the Jokerz. He showed up almost every time the Jokerz were in an episode. His real name was never given, so I created one. The pun (think "Joe Curtis") was purely accidental.
Static- Virgil Hawkins. He and Rich Foley are both from the show "Static Shock", which has been connected to the DC cartoon universe. Virgil knows Batman's identity, and I figured Rich would learn eventually.
Ch4: Emma, Nurse Maguire, Dr. Miller- original characters.
Ch5: Dr. Tikkainen- original character.
Ch6: Dantriss, Sutherland, Caveney, Jensen, Miyazaki, Euresti- original characters. Will appear evetually.
Derek Powers- the man who had Terry's father killed, starting the whole show. He became Blight and is theoretically a puddle of radioactive goo on the ocean floor, although his body was never found. He also used to run Wayne-Powers, having taken Wayne Industries from Bruce in a hostile takeover.
Ch8: The Old Trout- that would be telling...
Ra's- Ra's al Ghul. One of the Bruce's enemies. Some think he was Bruce's arch-enemy, but I disagree. Uses a Lazarus Pit to stay young, and when that stopped working he stole his own daughter's body so he could stay alive. He also tried to steal Bruce's body. I got Dick's nickname for him from Chris Dee's "Cat Tales" stories, I think.
Ch9: Batsgrl- Terry and Matt's cousin Lily, original character. I figured there had to be more family out there somewhere, because while it is possible both of Terry's parents were only children it did seem unlikely. (Sorry if that section was a bit unclear.)
Uncle Ed- Lily's father, also OC.
Roxy Rocket- one of Bruce's villains. Not a serious threat and only showed up twice that I recall. She was in it for the thrills.
Trista McGinnis- Terry's aunt, OC. Just a name on a list at this point.
Lydia Palmer- OC. Will appear later.
Scab and Trey- Jokerz. Scab is part of J-Man's gang. Trey was part of Terminal's (from "Hidden Agenda").
Anti-Mime- OC. One of the Jokerz.
Ch10: Lucy Tan- OC. Dana's obnoxious aunt in Metropolis.
Shriek- recurring villain. He was in debt to Derek Powers and was blackmailed into trying to kill Bruce. During a fight with Batman, the suit he used (and had invented) to give him his powers was damaged, resulting in permanent deafness. He has met Terry out of costume, but doesn't know it.
His Royal Highness- King of the Royal Flush Gang.
Splicerboy- Dr.Cuvier (from the episode "Splicers")
Tate- "Big Jim" Tate, known briefly (and somewhat unwillingly) as "Armory". His stepson is a good friend of Terry's, meaning he's met Terry both in and out of the suit. He appeared in at least two episodes, the first being the episode that introduced Spellbinder.
Junior- Paxton Powers, Derek's son. As corrupt as his father, but not as competent. He also tried to have Bruce killed, but he got caught at it.
2) I've set this story after the events in "Return Of The Joker". Terry and his friends are in college now. And since I can't think how to work "The Killing Joke" and "ROTJ" into the same universe, I've decided there was no Oracle in this timeline. Barbara has made a reference to having been shot while in costume and that may come into play in the future. This story is very loosely base on the storyline "Knightfall" from the comics. ("Based on" meaning I looked at it and wondered, "Hmmm, now what would happen if Terry was seriously injured?") It also got melded with an idea from another project of mine.
3) I hadn't even thought of writing a bit for Nelson until you brought it up, but now it's opening this chapter. Thanks for the idea!
4) Spellbinder is not going after Terry, although he may come to visit.
5) Praises- Thanks. It took a lot of brainstorming to figure out how everyone might react to something like this and what they might say to Terry if they thought nobody would really hear it. The "Temporary Truce" section was spur-of-the-moment, though; I couldn't resist doing a scene with Bruce coming face to face with the new couple and that bit of World War 1 trivia popped into my head. I figured both men would want to keep Mary from getting hurt again, so that seemed to make sense. And as for the use of history, well... I'm a history geek.
6) Aunt Lucy and Lucy Lane aren't actually connected. I hate to admit it, but I'd forgotten about Lucy Lane. Lucy Tan was named for a person I had to work with on several different shows.
7)It was two weeks after Terry's disappearance that he was found. Halloween happened right in the middle of this time, so there were numerous false Batman sightings. Since he probably isn't seen on a regular basis it would take a while for his absence to be noted. At this point in the story Batman has been out of commission for a full month. Yes, people will start to notice.
Now for the next chapter. It's a bit short, I'm afraid, but that's okay because the Author's Note is a bit long. The second section is from a point of view not often considered; hopefully the names he's given the regular characters won't be too confusing.
= non-human dialogue or thoughts
***************************************************
Nelson Nash looked nervously at the e-mail waiting unopened on his computer. The subject read simply "McGinnis". No clues about whether he was alive or dead.
"Why do I even care? I never even liked the twip," he grumbled. Still, he didn't delete it.
Nelson had decided long before senior year that he wouldn't go to college in Gotham; all he really wanted from that place was a ticket out. Now that he was here in Seattle, he told himself he could forget all about the place. No idiot parents to complain about every little thing he did, no obnoxious sister to be compared to, and nothing to prove to anyone. Especially not McGinnis, that skinny little twip who kicked his butt and humiliated him in front of the entire class back in eighth grade. He'd left almost everyone behind. The only one he was still in touch with was Dave, who had joined the Marines. Occasionally he'd get a note from that little weasel Scott who hung around him all the time, and Blade had written once or twice, but that was it. In rare introspective moments he wondered if he should be upset about how easily his circle had forgotten him, but it always passed quickly.
It was Dave, whose sister was dating Howard Groote, of all people, who had told him about McGinnis disappearing. At the time he hadn't thought about it, but when Dave wrote again the next week and said McGinnis was still missing, Nelson was surprised to find himself worrying. He didn't like McGinnis. He never had. The guy had everything Nelson always wanted- parents who cared no matter what stupid thing he'd done, a little brother who acted like an actual kid instead of Miss Super Genius who must be sucked up to constantly, a job with a living legend, a girlfriend to die for- and he didn't even know how damn lucky he was. And then there was the way he was always helping the losers. People like Willie Watt and Howard Groote, who should have been beneath his notice. He could have been part of the A-list- hell, he was, even with his record. So why did he bother? It wasn't like he was expecting to get something out of it; McGinnis just didn't seem to think that way. And people liked him better than they liked Nelson. Even Blade would have rather had McGinnis. Nelson couldn't figure that out. Nelson was the one who was tall, muscular, a jock, rich. He didn't have a record. He hadn't been kicked off every team he'd joined for fighting. But it was McGinnis the kids looked up to and went to for help if they needed it. Somehow the twip had got himself a reputation for being a hero. And he hadn't noticed that, either. It just wasn't fair.
Then last week he'd gotten the news. McGinnis was in a coma. Dave hadn't known all the details, so Nelson had been left hanging. He didn't like McGinnis, he kept telling himself. Why should he care? But he did. Just because he didn't like him that didn't mean he wanted something this bad to happen to him. Getting the crap kicked out of him, sure, but this was just too much.
"Hey, Nash. Homework?"
Nelson looked up. His roommate, Darrel Roby, was leaning against the doorframe.
"E-mail."
"Bad news?"
"...I don't know."
Darrel looked at him for a second, then walked over and sat in the other chair. The two weren't friends, but they didn't hate each other either and Darrel was like McGinnis about butting in if he saw someone having a hard time. Darrel looked at the computer screen.
"McGinnis. Friend of yours?"
"Couldn't stand the guy," Nelson said quietly. Darrel looked at him again, then nodded.
"That makes it harder sometimes. There was a guy who used to get his rocks off by beating up us smaller kids. Then the jerk went and shoved an old lady out of the path of a drunk driver. DOA." Darrel sighed. Nelson winced. He knew Darrel had no way of knowing that Nelson had been the one to keep the losers in line, but the description hit a little close to home.
"He wasn't like that. I just didn't like him."
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
"Open it," Darrel finally ordered. "You're going to go nuts wondering if you don't."
Nelson hesitated, then clicked on it. The two read it as carefully as if their grade point average depended on it. When they finished, both sat back in their chairs, grinning.
"Shoulda known that twip would get outa this," Nelson laughed. "Guy's got the wierdest luck. He'll probably be up and running in half the time just to annoy the doctors."
"I'll drink to that- hey, that sounds like a plan. Come on, I'm buying. And you can tell me all about this guy."
"That's gonna take a lotta drinks..."
****************************************************
NONONONONONOPUTMEDOWNPUTMEDOWNPUTME- AAAAAAA!!!!!!
Ace was not a coward. He would fight to the death to protect Pack Leader or The Pup or even Alpha Female who kept trying to stop his pack from defending their territory. He had taken on opponents many times his size more than once. He'd even fought Not Evil back when Not Evil was Laughing Evil. But he knew his limits, and one of them was that DOGS WERE NOT MEANT TO FLY!!!
He'd bitten Smells Wrong when he was first picked up. That had been a mistake; his teeth still hurt. Smells Wrong looked human enough, but biting him was like biting a rock. And now he was being held like a puppy and being carried through the air above the buildings of Gotham and he wasn't in The Pup's car and he was Not Happy.
They were approaching one of the buildings, one with big letters on its roof. He knew this place. He'd come there when Pack Leader's heart had given him trouble and again when Laughing Evil had died and Not Evil had taken his body back. Ace still didn't really understand that- real dogs stayed in their own bodies. He had decided it was a human thing and therefore not to be understood by intelligent creatures. Just because he awarded a few of them the status of The Pack meant he honestly believed they could understand the true way of the world. In some ways they were worse than cats.
A window opened on the side of the building and Smells Wrong flew toward it. Not Evil and Yappy were waiting there.
"Ohmigod, I can't believe this is working!"
"It was your plan, Max," Not Evil laughed. "Come on, you two, get in here before someone sees you. How was your flight, Ace?"
"I don't think he likes flying," Smells Wrong replied. "But I don't think he'll try to bite me again."
Yappy scratched that perfect spot between his ears; the spot that even Pack Leader couldn't always find but she could. It was the reason he put up with her even though he'd never cared for the more terrier-like humans as a rule.
"Aww, poor Ace," she crooned. "Did that nasty Superman hurt your mouth?"
"Hey!"
"It's your own fault for being invulnerable," Not Evil said unsympathetically. "Look, Bruce'll be here any second, but Barbara's keeping the doctor busy. At least we hope she is. We should have at least ten minutes."
Yappy stopped scratching and Ace lost interest in her. What had his attention now was a familiar scent- one he hadn't smelled in far too long.
The Pup? He's here? Why didn't they just tell me that's what this was all about? Humans- all that noise they make and they can't be bothered to tell you the important things.
He made his way toward the bed. He knew better than to climb on the bed, but Pack Leader pretended not to notice when he got on most of the chairs. Therefore, chairs were fair game and might help him get a good look at The Pup. He could smell the sharp scent that meant healing injuries but he still wanted to see. A short leap and he was in position.
Son of a cat!
The Pup's mane was almost gone. His skin was all blotchy. And tubes sticking into someone was never a good sign. Ace whined. He'd known The Pup was hurt, but this was something else again. He leaned over, sticking his nose into The Pup's cheek as gently as he could. Nothing.
"Not yet, boy," Pack Leader rumbled from behind him. "He'll be back, though. We just have to wait a while longer."
I hate waiting. Cats wait. I want to bite something. I want him back. He's annoying, but he's Pack. And he knows where to get those little crackers I like. And... he makes you happy when he's around. And who's the stork?
Alpha Female stood in the door, smelling of apologies. Next to her stood a man who smelled of doctor- the stork. He was staring at Ace with one of those unreadable human expressions. Almost everybody else in the room was easier to read, even without the scents to give them away- Yappy, Not Evil, and Smells Wrong looked as guilty as they smelled. Only Pack Leader kept his composure, but Ace knew he was embarrassed. Pack Leader hated being caught doing anything sentimental. Doctor Stork (as he promptly named the new man) suddenly smelled amused.
"Wasn't there, couldn't have stopped them," was all he said as he turned and walked away. The Pack breathed a sigh of relief.
Now there's a doctor I could almost like.
Ace wagged his tail and got back to the serious business of visiting an injured friend.
*****************************************************
Still continuing...
I have to respond to Weather Marmalade's review. Why? Because for one thing, it's a damn good review. For another, there were some valid points brought up which I should address.
1) I admit I've been throwing names about. I've tried to keep this limited to conversations, but I may have slipped up here and there. I tend not to worry about in in conversations because that's what people do- speak in a verbal shorthand that they and a few others understand but leave the rest in the dark. Sometimes it's even unintentional. I'm hereby identifying all the names I've dropped and identifying original characters.. (WARNING- MANY SPOILERS)
Ch1: Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock- The first one everyone should know. Bullock was a cop they created (I think) for Batman: The Animated Series. A fat, loud-mouth slob who didn't like Batman much.
Ch2: Dreyfus, Rosten, DeLacey, Dalrymple, Lydia Voorhies- All original characters. Lydia was invented because there would have been another set of prints on the groceries and I went with this.
Ch3: Lots of names in this one, so I'll do it one by one.
Howard Groote- a recurring character in the series. A friend of Terry's. Stereotypical nerdboy who Terry tries to protect from, well, himself, mostly.
Big Time- formerly Charlie Bigelow. He used to be Terry's best friend and was the reason Terry ended up in Juvenile Hall. (Some friend) When Charlie got out of jail he took advantage of Terry's friendship and position with Bruce Wayne to get inside Wayne-Powers. It ended badly. He appeared in two different episodes, both times trying to use Terry; the second time put him in a high position in the Gotham underworld (assuming he survived, which I do).
Tamara- the little psychic girl from the episode "Mind Games".
Dr. Wheeler- the villain from "The Last Resort". One of the villains who met Terry both in and out of costume. In fact, he saw more of Terry than of Batman and it seemed reasonable that he would blame Terry for his downfall.
Queen- a member of the Royal Flush Gang. Her daughter fell for Terry, which created a set of divided loyalties (even though she didn't know Terry was Batman). The end result was the dissolution of the family, with both Queen and King landing in jail while Ten and Jack tried to go legit.
J-Man- one of the Jokerz. He showed up almost every time the Jokerz were in an episode. His real name was never given, so I created one. The pun (think "Joe Curtis") was purely accidental.
Static- Virgil Hawkins. He and Rich Foley are both from the show "Static Shock", which has been connected to the DC cartoon universe. Virgil knows Batman's identity, and I figured Rich would learn eventually.
Ch4: Emma, Nurse Maguire, Dr. Miller- original characters.
Ch5: Dr. Tikkainen- original character.
Ch6: Dantriss, Sutherland, Caveney, Jensen, Miyazaki, Euresti- original characters. Will appear evetually.
Derek Powers- the man who had Terry's father killed, starting the whole show. He became Blight and is theoretically a puddle of radioactive goo on the ocean floor, although his body was never found. He also used to run Wayne-Powers, having taken Wayne Industries from Bruce in a hostile takeover.
Ch8: The Old Trout- that would be telling...
Ra's- Ra's al Ghul. One of the Bruce's enemies. Some think he was Bruce's arch-enemy, but I disagree. Uses a Lazarus Pit to stay young, and when that stopped working he stole his own daughter's body so he could stay alive. He also tried to steal Bruce's body. I got Dick's nickname for him from Chris Dee's "Cat Tales" stories, I think.
Ch9: Batsgrl- Terry and Matt's cousin Lily, original character. I figured there had to be more family out there somewhere, because while it is possible both of Terry's parents were only children it did seem unlikely. (Sorry if that section was a bit unclear.)
Uncle Ed- Lily's father, also OC.
Roxy Rocket- one of Bruce's villains. Not a serious threat and only showed up twice that I recall. She was in it for the thrills.
Trista McGinnis- Terry's aunt, OC. Just a name on a list at this point.
Lydia Palmer- OC. Will appear later.
Scab and Trey- Jokerz. Scab is part of J-Man's gang. Trey was part of Terminal's (from "Hidden Agenda").
Anti-Mime- OC. One of the Jokerz.
Ch10: Lucy Tan- OC. Dana's obnoxious aunt in Metropolis.
Shriek- recurring villain. He was in debt to Derek Powers and was blackmailed into trying to kill Bruce. During a fight with Batman, the suit he used (and had invented) to give him his powers was damaged, resulting in permanent deafness. He has met Terry out of costume, but doesn't know it.
His Royal Highness- King of the Royal Flush Gang.
Splicerboy- Dr.Cuvier (from the episode "Splicers")
Tate- "Big Jim" Tate, known briefly (and somewhat unwillingly) as "Armory". His stepson is a good friend of Terry's, meaning he's met Terry both in and out of the suit. He appeared in at least two episodes, the first being the episode that introduced Spellbinder.
Junior- Paxton Powers, Derek's son. As corrupt as his father, but not as competent. He also tried to have Bruce killed, but he got caught at it.
2) I've set this story after the events in "Return Of The Joker". Terry and his friends are in college now. And since I can't think how to work "The Killing Joke" and "ROTJ" into the same universe, I've decided there was no Oracle in this timeline. Barbara has made a reference to having been shot while in costume and that may come into play in the future. This story is very loosely base on the storyline "Knightfall" from the comics. ("Based on" meaning I looked at it and wondered, "Hmmm, now what would happen if Terry was seriously injured?") It also got melded with an idea from another project of mine.
3) I hadn't even thought of writing a bit for Nelson until you brought it up, but now it's opening this chapter. Thanks for the idea!
4) Spellbinder is not going after Terry, although he may come to visit.
5) Praises- Thanks. It took a lot of brainstorming to figure out how everyone might react to something like this and what they might say to Terry if they thought nobody would really hear it. The "Temporary Truce" section was spur-of-the-moment, though; I couldn't resist doing a scene with Bruce coming face to face with the new couple and that bit of World War 1 trivia popped into my head. I figured both men would want to keep Mary from getting hurt again, so that seemed to make sense. And as for the use of history, well... I'm a history geek.
6) Aunt Lucy and Lucy Lane aren't actually connected. I hate to admit it, but I'd forgotten about Lucy Lane. Lucy Tan was named for a person I had to work with on several different shows.
7)It was two weeks after Terry's disappearance that he was found. Halloween happened right in the middle of this time, so there were numerous false Batman sightings. Since he probably isn't seen on a regular basis it would take a while for his absence to be noted. At this point in the story Batman has been out of commission for a full month. Yes, people will start to notice.
Now for the next chapter. It's a bit short, I'm afraid, but that's okay because the Author's Note is a bit long. The second section is from a point of view not often considered; hopefully the names he's given the regular characters won't be too confusing.
= non-human dialogue or thoughts
***************************************************
Nelson Nash looked nervously at the e-mail waiting unopened on his computer. The subject read simply "McGinnis". No clues about whether he was alive or dead.
"Why do I even care? I never even liked the twip," he grumbled. Still, he didn't delete it.
Nelson had decided long before senior year that he wouldn't go to college in Gotham; all he really wanted from that place was a ticket out. Now that he was here in Seattle, he told himself he could forget all about the place. No idiot parents to complain about every little thing he did, no obnoxious sister to be compared to, and nothing to prove to anyone. Especially not McGinnis, that skinny little twip who kicked his butt and humiliated him in front of the entire class back in eighth grade. He'd left almost everyone behind. The only one he was still in touch with was Dave, who had joined the Marines. Occasionally he'd get a note from that little weasel Scott who hung around him all the time, and Blade had written once or twice, but that was it. In rare introspective moments he wondered if he should be upset about how easily his circle had forgotten him, but it always passed quickly.
It was Dave, whose sister was dating Howard Groote, of all people, who had told him about McGinnis disappearing. At the time he hadn't thought about it, but when Dave wrote again the next week and said McGinnis was still missing, Nelson was surprised to find himself worrying. He didn't like McGinnis. He never had. The guy had everything Nelson always wanted- parents who cared no matter what stupid thing he'd done, a little brother who acted like an actual kid instead of Miss Super Genius who must be sucked up to constantly, a job with a living legend, a girlfriend to die for- and he didn't even know how damn lucky he was. And then there was the way he was always helping the losers. People like Willie Watt and Howard Groote, who should have been beneath his notice. He could have been part of the A-list- hell, he was, even with his record. So why did he bother? It wasn't like he was expecting to get something out of it; McGinnis just didn't seem to think that way. And people liked him better than they liked Nelson. Even Blade would have rather had McGinnis. Nelson couldn't figure that out. Nelson was the one who was tall, muscular, a jock, rich. He didn't have a record. He hadn't been kicked off every team he'd joined for fighting. But it was McGinnis the kids looked up to and went to for help if they needed it. Somehow the twip had got himself a reputation for being a hero. And he hadn't noticed that, either. It just wasn't fair.
Then last week he'd gotten the news. McGinnis was in a coma. Dave hadn't known all the details, so Nelson had been left hanging. He didn't like McGinnis, he kept telling himself. Why should he care? But he did. Just because he didn't like him that didn't mean he wanted something this bad to happen to him. Getting the crap kicked out of him, sure, but this was just too much.
"Hey, Nash. Homework?"
Nelson looked up. His roommate, Darrel Roby, was leaning against the doorframe.
"E-mail."
"Bad news?"
"...I don't know."
Darrel looked at him for a second, then walked over and sat in the other chair. The two weren't friends, but they didn't hate each other either and Darrel was like McGinnis about butting in if he saw someone having a hard time. Darrel looked at the computer screen.
"McGinnis. Friend of yours?"
"Couldn't stand the guy," Nelson said quietly. Darrel looked at him again, then nodded.
"That makes it harder sometimes. There was a guy who used to get his rocks off by beating up us smaller kids. Then the jerk went and shoved an old lady out of the path of a drunk driver. DOA." Darrel sighed. Nelson winced. He knew Darrel had no way of knowing that Nelson had been the one to keep the losers in line, but the description hit a little close to home.
"He wasn't like that. I just didn't like him."
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
"Open it," Darrel finally ordered. "You're going to go nuts wondering if you don't."
Nelson hesitated, then clicked on it. The two read it as carefully as if their grade point average depended on it. When they finished, both sat back in their chairs, grinning.
"Shoulda known that twip would get outa this," Nelson laughed. "Guy's got the wierdest luck. He'll probably be up and running in half the time just to annoy the doctors."
"I'll drink to that- hey, that sounds like a plan. Come on, I'm buying. And you can tell me all about this guy."
"That's gonna take a lotta drinks..."
****************************************************
NONONONONONOPUTMEDOWNPUTMEDOWNPUTME- AAAAAAA!!!!!!
Ace was not a coward. He would fight to the death to protect Pack Leader or The Pup or even Alpha Female who kept trying to stop his pack from defending their territory. He had taken on opponents many times his size more than once. He'd even fought Not Evil back when Not Evil was Laughing Evil. But he knew his limits, and one of them was that DOGS WERE NOT MEANT TO FLY!!!
He'd bitten Smells Wrong when he was first picked up. That had been a mistake; his teeth still hurt. Smells Wrong looked human enough, but biting him was like biting a rock. And now he was being held like a puppy and being carried through the air above the buildings of Gotham and he wasn't in The Pup's car and he was Not Happy.
They were approaching one of the buildings, one with big letters on its roof. He knew this place. He'd come there when Pack Leader's heart had given him trouble and again when Laughing Evil had died and Not Evil had taken his body back. Ace still didn't really understand that- real dogs stayed in their own bodies. He had decided it was a human thing and therefore not to be understood by intelligent creatures. Just because he awarded a few of them the status of The Pack meant he honestly believed they could understand the true way of the world. In some ways they were worse than cats.
A window opened on the side of the building and Smells Wrong flew toward it. Not Evil and Yappy were waiting there.
"Ohmigod, I can't believe this is working!"
"It was your plan, Max," Not Evil laughed. "Come on, you two, get in here before someone sees you. How was your flight, Ace?"
"I don't think he likes flying," Smells Wrong replied. "But I don't think he'll try to bite me again."
Yappy scratched that perfect spot between his ears; the spot that even Pack Leader couldn't always find but she could. It was the reason he put up with her even though he'd never cared for the more terrier-like humans as a rule.
"Aww, poor Ace," she crooned. "Did that nasty Superman hurt your mouth?"
"Hey!"
"It's your own fault for being invulnerable," Not Evil said unsympathetically. "Look, Bruce'll be here any second, but Barbara's keeping the doctor busy. At least we hope she is. We should have at least ten minutes."
Yappy stopped scratching and Ace lost interest in her. What had his attention now was a familiar scent- one he hadn't smelled in far too long.
The Pup? He's here? Why didn't they just tell me that's what this was all about? Humans- all that noise they make and they can't be bothered to tell you the important things.
He made his way toward the bed. He knew better than to climb on the bed, but Pack Leader pretended not to notice when he got on most of the chairs. Therefore, chairs were fair game and might help him get a good look at The Pup. He could smell the sharp scent that meant healing injuries but he still wanted to see. A short leap and he was in position.
Son of a cat!
The Pup's mane was almost gone. His skin was all blotchy. And tubes sticking into someone was never a good sign. Ace whined. He'd known The Pup was hurt, but this was something else again. He leaned over, sticking his nose into The Pup's cheek as gently as he could. Nothing.
"Not yet, boy," Pack Leader rumbled from behind him. "He'll be back, though. We just have to wait a while longer."
I hate waiting. Cats wait. I want to bite something. I want him back. He's annoying, but he's Pack. And he knows where to get those little crackers I like. And... he makes you happy when he's around. And who's the stork?
Alpha Female stood in the door, smelling of apologies. Next to her stood a man who smelled of doctor- the stork. He was staring at Ace with one of those unreadable human expressions. Almost everybody else in the room was easier to read, even without the scents to give them away- Yappy, Not Evil, and Smells Wrong looked as guilty as they smelled. Only Pack Leader kept his composure, but Ace knew he was embarrassed. Pack Leader hated being caught doing anything sentimental. Doctor Stork (as he promptly named the new man) suddenly smelled amused.
"Wasn't there, couldn't have stopped them," was all he said as he turned and walked away. The Pack breathed a sigh of relief.
Now there's a doctor I could almost like.
Ace wagged his tail and got back to the serious business of visiting an injured friend.
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Still continuing...