One or two comments, then the story.
StaplersBreak- Barbara was worried that Terry would never wake up, even though Richie's machine said he would.
myrrdinowl- CJ will appear again, although only occasionally. She lives in Vermont and is visiting family in Gotham. I try to use CJ sparingly, because she's my self-insertion character and as such is used only when I want someone to say or do something that the established characters wouldn't, but I might. And CJ stands for different things in different stories, but is always something awful.
girl-gambit- I'm sure Bruce will think of something to keep Max out of trouble...
gip-k- Well, neither of them got seriously hurt, anyway. Believe me, they did feel it the next day. Some bruises, pulled muscles, that sort of thing. (Although CJ had enough sense to have a nice hot soak when she got back to where she was staying, so she was a bit better off than Max. It's what I'd do.)
As always, *-* indicates thoughts.
**************************************************
*It's dark. Why- oh. Night. Guess I'm still scrambled.*
Terry lifted a hand to turn on a light, then changed his mind. He didn't need it to just lie there and think, and that's what he wanted to do. Besides, if someone saw a light they might come in and do more tests. The last day and a half had been test after test after test; he was sick of it. Not that he'd said anything to the doctors and nurses. He knew they had to find out what needed fixing now that he was awake and could actually tell them where problems were. It was their job and it wouldn't be fair to them if he snarled at them for trying to help him get better. From the sound of it, he'd caused people enough trouble already.
He looked over toward the pictures the little boy- *your brother Matt, twip!*- had brought in that day. He couldn't see them clearly in the light coming in through the window, but he could remember which pictures were where. That fact alone gave him a feeling of accomplishment; he might have misplaced the old memories, but the new ones seemed to be staying put.
There were roughly half a dozen pictures- no studio shots, all obviously taken on the scene. His mother had said Matt had wanted to bring more but they'd decided they didn't want to overload his brain just yet. The closest one was a picture of Terry with a larger brown-haired man, and the two were grinning at each other. He knew the man was very important to him, but he couldn't think why. He wondered if the man was his father, then decided that he couldn't be. After all, Terry had blue eyes. His mother's were hazel and the man in the picture's were brown. He didn't think genetics were his strong suit, but he did know that blue eyes were a recessive trait. No, the brown-haired man couldn't be his father. An uncle, maybe? Whatever they were, Terry knew it was something he'd lost for good. His mother's face when he'd asked if he'd be seeing the man was enough to tell him that.
The second picture was of Terry with a bunch of people his own age. Two of the girls in particular caught his eye: a pretty Asian girl and an attractive black girl with shocking pink hair. Those two were also important to him somehow. He wondered if maybe he was dating both of them; he hoped not. He didn't need to remember anything to know that something like that could get real messy real fast. Anyway, that just didn't feel right. He didn't think he was the kind of guy who'd pull that sort of stunt and he suspected the two girls wouldn't put up with it if he tried.
The third picture was easy: himself, his mother, and Matt. He had a feeling they usually got along pretty well, and this picture was a prime example. Judging from the robe he was wearing in it, he must have just graduated and all three were looking proud and happy.
The fourth was another group shot with his family, the brown-haired man, and another group of people. Terry hadn't had to look at it for more than a few seconds to know that these people were more relatives. There was a faint resemblence between Terry and the oldest man in the picture. Terry had asked his mother if that really was his grandfather and had been relieved to learn that this time he'd been right. He didn't think he'd ever live down thinking Mr. Wayne was his grandfather; Matt has teased him about it as soon as he was sure that Terry wasn't going to slip into a coma again if someone breathed wrong. He knew that the old man in the picture was gone, like the brown-haired man, but he also knew that he'd been particularly close to both of them.
The fifth picture made him wonder. It was obviously another family shot, this time with people who resembled the brown-haired man. He considered the possibility that his mother had been married twice and that the brown-haired man was his stepfather, but it just didn't explain everything. Also, there was something cut off the side of the picture. Or maybe someone. He couldn't help noticing that his smile in that picture had looked a bit forced and that he'd been glancing off to the side with the trimmed-off bit.
The last picture was also a Graduation shot, but this was of Mr. Wayne and himself. Mr. Wayne wasn't smiling- another feeling told Terry that seldom happened- but Terry somehow knew that the old man was as pleased and proud as Terry's family had been.
Terry frowned. He couldn't figure Mr. Wayne out at all. The man was as important to him as any of the people in the pictures, he knew that if he knew anything. What he didn't know was why. His mother had said that Mr. Wayne was his boss. Mr. Wayne had confirmed that. But there had to be more to it than that- there just had to! If the Old Man was just his boss, why had he gone to so much trouble? Dr. Tikkainen and Ms. Maguire had told him that Mr. Wayne had scoured the city looking for him when he'd vanished and then arranged for the best people available to look after him. And the Old man- Terry wondered a bit at how easily the nickname sprang to mind- had come to his Graduation. That didn't sound like a normal employee/boss relationship. He'd tried to sound out Mr. Wayne on the subject and had gotten nowhere. The Old Man was good at stonewalling, he'd learned. *Relearned, I bet. Wonder how long that took me the first time? It's a safe bet he's not gonna tell me... Ah, slaggit, now what?*
The door was opening slowly. Not wanting to deal with more tests, Terry closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. The person was trying to be quiet, but using a cane wasn't helping. Whoever it was thumped their way up to the chair and sat with a sigh.
"Hiya, sweetie, it's me again. I hear you woke up, so I'm being quiet so I won't wake you up again. If you saw me here, you'd probably... not even know who I am, since we never actually met. Just want you to know that I'm getting the girls ready to watch things for you. They aren't bad girls- okay, maybe they are, but they got good hearts. I'm so glad they don't take after their grandpa..."
The old woman kept whispering while Terry tried to figure out what was going on. What were "the girls" watching for him? Did he know them? Was this woman someone he should know about, even if he hadn't met her? Deciding he had to know, he opened his eyes.
The little old woman jumped in her chair, stifling a shriek. She stared at him for a few moments, eyes wide, gasping in shock. Then she closed her mouth with a snap and glared at him.
"You young scamp! Scaring an old lady half to death! You've been awake the whole time, haven't you?"
She was still whispering, Terry noticed.
"Yeah. Sorry. Who are you?"
"Uhhhhh..." The old woman looked around frantically. "I'm, uh, a dream! Yeah, that's it. You're just dreaming. I'm not really here. Just a figment of your imagination."
"Right." Terry was starting to enjoy this. The old woman was grinning at him expectantly, but the grin was starting to fade as she realised he wasn't buying it.
"I'm kinda not supposed to be here."
"Figured that. If you were, you'd have come during visitor's hours like everyone else."
"I'm not gonna hurt you."
"That's good to know."
"I just wanted to make sure you were gonna be okay."
"Why?"
The old woman was quiet for a while, but this time Terry didn't think she was trying to come up with an excuse. It was more like the silence that kept falling every time he asked a question his mother and Mr. Wayne weren't sure how to answer.
"Because, see, in a wierd way it's kinda my fault you're here. Mine and Mr. J's."
"What are you talking about?"
"Those punks who hurt you- they're just a bunch of low-lifes who try to steal the thunder of some classic villains 'cause they got no originality. And I was one of those villains for a while."
It was Terry's turn to gape. The old woman hadn't been bragging; if anything, she seemed ashamed of whatever part she'd played.
"And that makes it your fault... how?" he finally managed to ask.
"They'd never have existed if it wasn't for me and Mr. J," she sniffled.
"Yeah, they would. Maybe my brain's still a bit messed up, but I think they'd probably have been dregs even if you hadn't been a bad guy. They'd just have found someone else's shtick to rip off. I'm not saying you should have done whatever you did, but you aren't responsible for other people being jerks. You didn't make them act like you and this Mr. J, did you?"
"No."
"Whose idea was it to imitate you?"
"Theirs." The old woman blew her nose. "Okay, sweetie, I get it. I used to be a psychiatrist, ya know- oh. Sorry."
Terry grinned.
"I have a feeling I'm going to have to get used to that. But anyway, it's nice of you to apologize, but it's really not your fault unless you could have stopped this and didn't."
"I-" the old woman bit her lip. "I should've known about it. I could've stopped it if I'd known."
"And if a frogs had wings it wouldn't bump its ass when it hopped." Terry blinked. *Wonder where that came from. Doesn't sound like the kind of thing I'd say- but then, I'm not the best judge of that at the moment, am I?* But it worked; the old woman giggled.
"It's sweet of you to let me off the hook, but-"
"You weren't on the hook in the first place. Haven't I been saying that?"
"...Yeah. But I'm still apologizing."
Terry stopped himself from rolling his eyes. *Geez, this old woman has some serious stubborn in her!*
"Okay, okay, then I forgive you."
"Really?"
"Yes, really." *Which one of us is the adult here, anyway?*
"Thanks, sweetie! Yer the best!" The old woman popped out of her chair and kissed him on the cheek. "Now don't tell anyone I was here, 'kay?"
"Trust me." *What would I tell them that wouldn't make me sound nuts?*
And the old woman slipped away, leaving Terry still wondering who she was.
***********************************************
"Ow! Zee- my hair!"
It was only just above a whisper, but it woke Terry anyway. He cracked an eye open to see Dr. Tikkainen standing there for a second before disappearing. In his place stood a tall robot with a much smaller blond girl disentangling a strand of blonde hair from where it had caught in one of the robot's joints.
"I'm sorry, Ro."
"Hey, it happens- not your fault. Just don't move for a few seconds, willya?"
"All right."
A few seconds later the girl was free.
"So why are we here?"
"He is a friend of mine. This is why I've been trying to reach Gotham for the past month and a half."
"I didn't know you had any friends before you met me." The girl sounded surprised, and possibly a bit miffed.
"Only two, really. If it wasn't for them, you would never have met me. Or if you had, it would have gone much differently. They were the ones who taught me that I didn't need to destroy to keep my freedom."
"Ohhhhh, I get it. Sounds like you got lucky running into them."
"I did. And if either of them needs me, shouldn't I do what I can to help?"
"Duh. Okay, so I was being a twip. But why didn't we wait until visiting hours?"
"Because he is under very tight security and I could not be sure that I could get in without being discovered."
That was news to Terry. Why would he be under guard if he'd just been jumped by a gang? What wasn't he being told this time?
"Okay, I guess."
"And... I have already taken too long to get here."
"Again- not your fault. We tried to get here and things kept happening. We couldn't let that creep blow up the bridge, right?"
Terry's eyes opened, but the two didn't seem to notice. Someone was blowing up a bridge? What the-?
"Of course not."
"And I guess we had to keep Bucky out of the hands of that freaky woman with the wierd voice. Did you understand half of what she was yakking about?"
"Not really, no. She does seem to have an obsession with Batman, though."
"She does?"
"She called him The Detective, but that is who she was talking about."
"No offense to the Bat, but he didn't strike me as that much of a detective. But then, he's probably not much older than me so I guess he'll learn."
Terry felt oddly insulted, but couldn't think why.
"I hope you're right, Ro," the robot said. "But Terry is awake and watching us, so perhaps it would be polite to talk to him now?"
*Oops- busted.*
The blonde girl- Ro- looked over at him sharply. Terry just looked back. Finally Ro grinned and came over to the bed.
"Hi," she said. "We haven't met, but I'm a friend of Zeta's. You can call me Ro."
"And I guess you can call me Terry," he responded while he tried desperately to remember being friends with a robot. The robot in question was examining the various charts and monitors.
"You seem to be doing fairly well for someone with as many injuries as you recieved," it said after a while. Ro put a hand over her eyes and grimaced. "I'm sorry, was that something I shouldn't have said?"
"I don't think it's usual hospital ettiquette," Terry responded, trying not to laugh. Any worries he might have had about the robot vanished; he suspected it meant well, with all that implied.
"I don't have much experience with hospitals, I'm afraid."
"That's a good thing, Zee." Ro sighed. "If you did, it would mean you'd have had to visit people in the hospital, and nobody ever goes to the hospital for a happy reason."
"Aren't babies born in hospitals?"
The look Ro gave Zeta said volumes about her opinions on that subject. This time Terry did laugh.
"She's got a point-" he hesitated for the barest second, hoping he used the same name as Ro for the robot "-Zee. If I had a choice, I know I wouldn't be here."
"How are you feeling?"
Terry knew it wasn't just an idle comment.
"Well, it's not exactly what I'd call comfortable. It doesn't hurt much, but if I move wrong, believe me, I know it."
"And you really do not remember anything?"
Ro gasped.
"Ohmigod, you got amnesia? I didn't know that happened in real life- oops. Okay, now I'm being tactless."
"It's okay. It takes getting used to. But, yeah, everything kinda... well, it's just not there. Except sometimes I get flashes of something, even if there isn't anything obvious to set it off. And if there is something to trigger a memory, it doesn't all come jumping into my skull; I just get bits and pieces so far. Like now- I get the feeling you used to look different?"
"Yes. My original head had been damaged shortly before we first met and I was using a temporary replacement while I tried to locate the proper model. Do you remember anything else?"
"...No. Believe me, I wish I did."
"I wish you did too. And you will someday. According to my records, there is a very high percentage of-"
"No statistics, Zee, please!" Ro cut him off with a grin. "Sorry, Terry, but here's one thing to remember- never let him get started on statistics. I learned that the hard way. But look, it's three in the morning and while Zee doesn't get tired, I do, and you probably do too. So we're gonna go away and let you sleep and come back at a more realistic time next time. Maybe you'll be able to tell me some of Zee's deep dark secrets then. Or at least some really embarrassing ones!"
"Ro, I don't have any embarrassing secrets."
"What about the time you got spray-painted neon-green by that performance artist?"
Terry grinned; that was a mental image and a half. Zeta was silent for a few seconds.
"That was hardly a secret, since it happened in front of hundreds of people."
"If I don't know it, then it's a secret. Now come on and let Terry sleep."
Ro stepped close to Zeta. Suddenly the two of them disappeared, replaced by a single image of Dr. Tikkainen. Terry blinked, then realised it had to be a hologram.
"Goodbye, Terry. We will come back when we can." It even had Dr. Tikkainen's voice.
"Seeya, Ter!" Ro's voice seemed to come from nowhere, which was a bit unnerving.
"Bye, guys. Be careful out there."
"Dr. Tikkainen" gave a cheery wave and left. Terry let his head fall back on the pillow, closing his eyes with a sigh.
*Well, at least I learned something new today- I'm mixed up with some really wierd stuff. I wonder if I should mention this to Mr. Wayne? ...And I wonder why he was the first person I thought about telling...*
*************************************************
Yes, everyone is going to show up sooner or later. Why do you ask?
StaplersBreak- Barbara was worried that Terry would never wake up, even though Richie's machine said he would.
myrrdinowl- CJ will appear again, although only occasionally. She lives in Vermont and is visiting family in Gotham. I try to use CJ sparingly, because she's my self-insertion character and as such is used only when I want someone to say or do something that the established characters wouldn't, but I might. And CJ stands for different things in different stories, but is always something awful.
girl-gambit- I'm sure Bruce will think of something to keep Max out of trouble...
gip-k- Well, neither of them got seriously hurt, anyway. Believe me, they did feel it the next day. Some bruises, pulled muscles, that sort of thing. (Although CJ had enough sense to have a nice hot soak when she got back to where she was staying, so she was a bit better off than Max. It's what I'd do.)
As always, *-* indicates thoughts.
**************************************************
*It's dark. Why- oh. Night. Guess I'm still scrambled.*
Terry lifted a hand to turn on a light, then changed his mind. He didn't need it to just lie there and think, and that's what he wanted to do. Besides, if someone saw a light they might come in and do more tests. The last day and a half had been test after test after test; he was sick of it. Not that he'd said anything to the doctors and nurses. He knew they had to find out what needed fixing now that he was awake and could actually tell them where problems were. It was their job and it wouldn't be fair to them if he snarled at them for trying to help him get better. From the sound of it, he'd caused people enough trouble already.
He looked over toward the pictures the little boy- *your brother Matt, twip!*- had brought in that day. He couldn't see them clearly in the light coming in through the window, but he could remember which pictures were where. That fact alone gave him a feeling of accomplishment; he might have misplaced the old memories, but the new ones seemed to be staying put.
There were roughly half a dozen pictures- no studio shots, all obviously taken on the scene. His mother had said Matt had wanted to bring more but they'd decided they didn't want to overload his brain just yet. The closest one was a picture of Terry with a larger brown-haired man, and the two were grinning at each other. He knew the man was very important to him, but he couldn't think why. He wondered if the man was his father, then decided that he couldn't be. After all, Terry had blue eyes. His mother's were hazel and the man in the picture's were brown. He didn't think genetics were his strong suit, but he did know that blue eyes were a recessive trait. No, the brown-haired man couldn't be his father. An uncle, maybe? Whatever they were, Terry knew it was something he'd lost for good. His mother's face when he'd asked if he'd be seeing the man was enough to tell him that.
The second picture was of Terry with a bunch of people his own age. Two of the girls in particular caught his eye: a pretty Asian girl and an attractive black girl with shocking pink hair. Those two were also important to him somehow. He wondered if maybe he was dating both of them; he hoped not. He didn't need to remember anything to know that something like that could get real messy real fast. Anyway, that just didn't feel right. He didn't think he was the kind of guy who'd pull that sort of stunt and he suspected the two girls wouldn't put up with it if he tried.
The third picture was easy: himself, his mother, and Matt. He had a feeling they usually got along pretty well, and this picture was a prime example. Judging from the robe he was wearing in it, he must have just graduated and all three were looking proud and happy.
The fourth was another group shot with his family, the brown-haired man, and another group of people. Terry hadn't had to look at it for more than a few seconds to know that these people were more relatives. There was a faint resemblence between Terry and the oldest man in the picture. Terry had asked his mother if that really was his grandfather and had been relieved to learn that this time he'd been right. He didn't think he'd ever live down thinking Mr. Wayne was his grandfather; Matt has teased him about it as soon as he was sure that Terry wasn't going to slip into a coma again if someone breathed wrong. He knew that the old man in the picture was gone, like the brown-haired man, but he also knew that he'd been particularly close to both of them.
The fifth picture made him wonder. It was obviously another family shot, this time with people who resembled the brown-haired man. He considered the possibility that his mother had been married twice and that the brown-haired man was his stepfather, but it just didn't explain everything. Also, there was something cut off the side of the picture. Or maybe someone. He couldn't help noticing that his smile in that picture had looked a bit forced and that he'd been glancing off to the side with the trimmed-off bit.
The last picture was also a Graduation shot, but this was of Mr. Wayne and himself. Mr. Wayne wasn't smiling- another feeling told Terry that seldom happened- but Terry somehow knew that the old man was as pleased and proud as Terry's family had been.
Terry frowned. He couldn't figure Mr. Wayne out at all. The man was as important to him as any of the people in the pictures, he knew that if he knew anything. What he didn't know was why. His mother had said that Mr. Wayne was his boss. Mr. Wayne had confirmed that. But there had to be more to it than that- there just had to! If the Old Man was just his boss, why had he gone to so much trouble? Dr. Tikkainen and Ms. Maguire had told him that Mr. Wayne had scoured the city looking for him when he'd vanished and then arranged for the best people available to look after him. And the Old man- Terry wondered a bit at how easily the nickname sprang to mind- had come to his Graduation. That didn't sound like a normal employee/boss relationship. He'd tried to sound out Mr. Wayne on the subject and had gotten nowhere. The Old Man was good at stonewalling, he'd learned. *Relearned, I bet. Wonder how long that took me the first time? It's a safe bet he's not gonna tell me... Ah, slaggit, now what?*
The door was opening slowly. Not wanting to deal with more tests, Terry closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. The person was trying to be quiet, but using a cane wasn't helping. Whoever it was thumped their way up to the chair and sat with a sigh.
"Hiya, sweetie, it's me again. I hear you woke up, so I'm being quiet so I won't wake you up again. If you saw me here, you'd probably... not even know who I am, since we never actually met. Just want you to know that I'm getting the girls ready to watch things for you. They aren't bad girls- okay, maybe they are, but they got good hearts. I'm so glad they don't take after their grandpa..."
The old woman kept whispering while Terry tried to figure out what was going on. What were "the girls" watching for him? Did he know them? Was this woman someone he should know about, even if he hadn't met her? Deciding he had to know, he opened his eyes.
The little old woman jumped in her chair, stifling a shriek. She stared at him for a few moments, eyes wide, gasping in shock. Then she closed her mouth with a snap and glared at him.
"You young scamp! Scaring an old lady half to death! You've been awake the whole time, haven't you?"
She was still whispering, Terry noticed.
"Yeah. Sorry. Who are you?"
"Uhhhhh..." The old woman looked around frantically. "I'm, uh, a dream! Yeah, that's it. You're just dreaming. I'm not really here. Just a figment of your imagination."
"Right." Terry was starting to enjoy this. The old woman was grinning at him expectantly, but the grin was starting to fade as she realised he wasn't buying it.
"I'm kinda not supposed to be here."
"Figured that. If you were, you'd have come during visitor's hours like everyone else."
"I'm not gonna hurt you."
"That's good to know."
"I just wanted to make sure you were gonna be okay."
"Why?"
The old woman was quiet for a while, but this time Terry didn't think she was trying to come up with an excuse. It was more like the silence that kept falling every time he asked a question his mother and Mr. Wayne weren't sure how to answer.
"Because, see, in a wierd way it's kinda my fault you're here. Mine and Mr. J's."
"What are you talking about?"
"Those punks who hurt you- they're just a bunch of low-lifes who try to steal the thunder of some classic villains 'cause they got no originality. And I was one of those villains for a while."
It was Terry's turn to gape. The old woman hadn't been bragging; if anything, she seemed ashamed of whatever part she'd played.
"And that makes it your fault... how?" he finally managed to ask.
"They'd never have existed if it wasn't for me and Mr. J," she sniffled.
"Yeah, they would. Maybe my brain's still a bit messed up, but I think they'd probably have been dregs even if you hadn't been a bad guy. They'd just have found someone else's shtick to rip off. I'm not saying you should have done whatever you did, but you aren't responsible for other people being jerks. You didn't make them act like you and this Mr. J, did you?"
"No."
"Whose idea was it to imitate you?"
"Theirs." The old woman blew her nose. "Okay, sweetie, I get it. I used to be a psychiatrist, ya know- oh. Sorry."
Terry grinned.
"I have a feeling I'm going to have to get used to that. But anyway, it's nice of you to apologize, but it's really not your fault unless you could have stopped this and didn't."
"I-" the old woman bit her lip. "I should've known about it. I could've stopped it if I'd known."
"And if a frogs had wings it wouldn't bump its ass when it hopped." Terry blinked. *Wonder where that came from. Doesn't sound like the kind of thing I'd say- but then, I'm not the best judge of that at the moment, am I?* But it worked; the old woman giggled.
"It's sweet of you to let me off the hook, but-"
"You weren't on the hook in the first place. Haven't I been saying that?"
"...Yeah. But I'm still apologizing."
Terry stopped himself from rolling his eyes. *Geez, this old woman has some serious stubborn in her!*
"Okay, okay, then I forgive you."
"Really?"
"Yes, really." *Which one of us is the adult here, anyway?*
"Thanks, sweetie! Yer the best!" The old woman popped out of her chair and kissed him on the cheek. "Now don't tell anyone I was here, 'kay?"
"Trust me." *What would I tell them that wouldn't make me sound nuts?*
And the old woman slipped away, leaving Terry still wondering who she was.
***********************************************
"Ow! Zee- my hair!"
It was only just above a whisper, but it woke Terry anyway. He cracked an eye open to see Dr. Tikkainen standing there for a second before disappearing. In his place stood a tall robot with a much smaller blond girl disentangling a strand of blonde hair from where it had caught in one of the robot's joints.
"I'm sorry, Ro."
"Hey, it happens- not your fault. Just don't move for a few seconds, willya?"
"All right."
A few seconds later the girl was free.
"So why are we here?"
"He is a friend of mine. This is why I've been trying to reach Gotham for the past month and a half."
"I didn't know you had any friends before you met me." The girl sounded surprised, and possibly a bit miffed.
"Only two, really. If it wasn't for them, you would never have met me. Or if you had, it would have gone much differently. They were the ones who taught me that I didn't need to destroy to keep my freedom."
"Ohhhhh, I get it. Sounds like you got lucky running into them."
"I did. And if either of them needs me, shouldn't I do what I can to help?"
"Duh. Okay, so I was being a twip. But why didn't we wait until visiting hours?"
"Because he is under very tight security and I could not be sure that I could get in without being discovered."
That was news to Terry. Why would he be under guard if he'd just been jumped by a gang? What wasn't he being told this time?
"Okay, I guess."
"And... I have already taken too long to get here."
"Again- not your fault. We tried to get here and things kept happening. We couldn't let that creep blow up the bridge, right?"
Terry's eyes opened, but the two didn't seem to notice. Someone was blowing up a bridge? What the-?
"Of course not."
"And I guess we had to keep Bucky out of the hands of that freaky woman with the wierd voice. Did you understand half of what she was yakking about?"
"Not really, no. She does seem to have an obsession with Batman, though."
"She does?"
"She called him The Detective, but that is who she was talking about."
"No offense to the Bat, but he didn't strike me as that much of a detective. But then, he's probably not much older than me so I guess he'll learn."
Terry felt oddly insulted, but couldn't think why.
"I hope you're right, Ro," the robot said. "But Terry is awake and watching us, so perhaps it would be polite to talk to him now?"
*Oops- busted.*
The blonde girl- Ro- looked over at him sharply. Terry just looked back. Finally Ro grinned and came over to the bed.
"Hi," she said. "We haven't met, but I'm a friend of Zeta's. You can call me Ro."
"And I guess you can call me Terry," he responded while he tried desperately to remember being friends with a robot. The robot in question was examining the various charts and monitors.
"You seem to be doing fairly well for someone with as many injuries as you recieved," it said after a while. Ro put a hand over her eyes and grimaced. "I'm sorry, was that something I shouldn't have said?"
"I don't think it's usual hospital ettiquette," Terry responded, trying not to laugh. Any worries he might have had about the robot vanished; he suspected it meant well, with all that implied.
"I don't have much experience with hospitals, I'm afraid."
"That's a good thing, Zee." Ro sighed. "If you did, it would mean you'd have had to visit people in the hospital, and nobody ever goes to the hospital for a happy reason."
"Aren't babies born in hospitals?"
The look Ro gave Zeta said volumes about her opinions on that subject. This time Terry did laugh.
"She's got a point-" he hesitated for the barest second, hoping he used the same name as Ro for the robot "-Zee. If I had a choice, I know I wouldn't be here."
"How are you feeling?"
Terry knew it wasn't just an idle comment.
"Well, it's not exactly what I'd call comfortable. It doesn't hurt much, but if I move wrong, believe me, I know it."
"And you really do not remember anything?"
Ro gasped.
"Ohmigod, you got amnesia? I didn't know that happened in real life- oops. Okay, now I'm being tactless."
"It's okay. It takes getting used to. But, yeah, everything kinda... well, it's just not there. Except sometimes I get flashes of something, even if there isn't anything obvious to set it off. And if there is something to trigger a memory, it doesn't all come jumping into my skull; I just get bits and pieces so far. Like now- I get the feeling you used to look different?"
"Yes. My original head had been damaged shortly before we first met and I was using a temporary replacement while I tried to locate the proper model. Do you remember anything else?"
"...No. Believe me, I wish I did."
"I wish you did too. And you will someday. According to my records, there is a very high percentage of-"
"No statistics, Zee, please!" Ro cut him off with a grin. "Sorry, Terry, but here's one thing to remember- never let him get started on statistics. I learned that the hard way. But look, it's three in the morning and while Zee doesn't get tired, I do, and you probably do too. So we're gonna go away and let you sleep and come back at a more realistic time next time. Maybe you'll be able to tell me some of Zee's deep dark secrets then. Or at least some really embarrassing ones!"
"Ro, I don't have any embarrassing secrets."
"What about the time you got spray-painted neon-green by that performance artist?"
Terry grinned; that was a mental image and a half. Zeta was silent for a few seconds.
"That was hardly a secret, since it happened in front of hundreds of people."
"If I don't know it, then it's a secret. Now come on and let Terry sleep."
Ro stepped close to Zeta. Suddenly the two of them disappeared, replaced by a single image of Dr. Tikkainen. Terry blinked, then realised it had to be a hologram.
"Goodbye, Terry. We will come back when we can." It even had Dr. Tikkainen's voice.
"Seeya, Ter!" Ro's voice seemed to come from nowhere, which was a bit unnerving.
"Bye, guys. Be careful out there."
"Dr. Tikkainen" gave a cheery wave and left. Terry let his head fall back on the pillow, closing his eyes with a sigh.
*Well, at least I learned something new today- I'm mixed up with some really wierd stuff. I wonder if I should mention this to Mr. Wayne? ...And I wonder why he was the first person I thought about telling...*
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Yes, everyone is going to show up sooner or later. Why do you ask?