Ch 23

Max woke up in a room that was unfamiliar to her yet all her stuff was in the room. Putting the pieces together of what happened, she sat up quickly in the bed and opened the door to the room to see a guard outside her door. Closing it instantly, she went to find another way out and she spotted the window but as soon as she pushed aside the curtains, she saw another guard standing outside her window. She sighed. "Just great," she said as she sat back down on her bed.

As a knock came to the door, she stood up as James let himself inside the room. He smiled at her. "I'm glad to see you awake Maxine."

"Where am I? Where are we?"

"This is my home in Gotham, but you'll find out that this Gotham is not like the one you know and love."

"Different, how?"

"I've made it so you've never met Terry McGinnis. Your sister and family aren't living in Gotham. All you have is me and our beautiful home that we will share together."

"What about my home?"

"I sold it and moved your stuff here Maxine. This is your life now, and you will get use to it."

"You—you monster!" she yelled.

"Calm down you still have your education at Gotham University. I wouldn't deny you that, but you won't be living on campus, and my guards will keep an eye on you."

"I sound more like your captive then someone you claim to love. This isn't right James, can't you see that? You can't force me to love you."

"I'll show you the rest of the house," said James as he grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her outside the room.

As nice as the house was, this house would never be a home but a constant reminder of her imprisonment. They came upon the last room, and James opened the door, leading her inside.

He smiled. "This will be our bedroom Maxine."

"You must be out of your mind!" exclaimed Max.

"You are my girlfriend Max and someday you will be my wife. It is only right that we share a room together."

"I'm not your girlfriend, and I'll never be your wife no matter what you do to me. You might as well kill me because it's never going to happen."

"Never say never Maxine. You'll see it my way sooner or later."

James walked her back to the room she had woken up in. Leaving her be, she lied on the bed and cried. She couldn't believe this was her life. 'There has to be a way out of this.'

After she finished her classes for the day, she found a bench under a tree and sat down. She could feel James's guards watching her. 'This can't be it, this can't be the rest of my life,' she thought, trying to think of ways to escape. A light bulb came on in her head. 'I wonder since there was a time machine in my Gotham, then maybe there could be one here but where I begin to look?'

"Ace!"

A strangled cry caught Max's attention as she saw someone attacking the black hound. Rushing right into danger, Max knocked the guy to the ground, pinning him down as she looked at the dog. "Are you ok?" she asked the dog as he walked over and licked her face.

The sirens could be heard as the police came and picked up the hooligan but not before getting her statement. Watching the car drive away, she looked to see the eyes of Bruce Wayne, and she felt a sense of relief and loss.

"Thank you young lady for saving my dog Ace."

"It was no problem. I'm Max Gibson, and you must be Bruce Wayne. It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you to Max. It looks like you know how to defend yourself well."

"Thank you. Well I have taken some classes. I couldn't just stand around and let that guy hurt Ace."

"I should really get Ace checked out," said Bruce.

"Oh yes right well I'll guess you should get going," said Max as Ace came up to her and nuzzled his head in her hand.

"You know I've never seen him that affectionate with other people. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you came with us," he said as he noticed Max looking around the campus, fear in her eyes.

"I—I can't. I—

"Are you in danger? Is someone following you?"

"I'll be all right. You should get Ace to the vet," said Max as she walked away.

Once she disappeared, Bruce took out his phone to make a call. "I need you to follow someone for me. She might be in danger. Her name is Max Gibson"

"Where?" asked the voice.

"You can track me from where I am, and she left in the opposite direction. I'd follow her myself, but Ace was attacked, Max saved her, and I'm taking him to the vet now."

"Is Ace all right?" asked the voice.

Looking down at the dog, he looked back in the direction Max went. "He'll be all right Terry, now get to work."

"Right. Batman out," said Terry, knowing the old man was probably sighing and rolling his eyes at the same time.

Max had made it back to James's house. As she made her way inside, she decided to see if she could find where another potential time machine could be located. She had course work to do to, but she was good at prioritizing. It was hours later that she was disrupted by James in swim trunks. "What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy with school work?" asked Max.

"That can wait until later Max. It's a nice night, let's go swimming in my pool."

"Over my dead body."

"I wasn't asking," said James as his guards came into the room.

"Fine, but I don't have a swim suit so—she was handed a bag. Looking inside, her eyes widened. "Um, this isn't exactly my style."

"I wasn't asking your opinion. Put it on and meet me outside."

Max felt totally exposed as she walked out into the backyard in a two piece white bikini that barely seemed to cover her body. She saw James relaxing in the pool, but he spotted her and turned to see her.

"You look amazing Maxine."

"Yeah, well I don't feel amazing," she said as she tried to use her arms to cover her body.

"Come join me in the pool," James said as she hesitantly came into the pool, trying to stay as far as she could from him.

"Why did you want to do this anyway? If you think this is going to lead to something, you're sadly mistaken."

"We need to relax Maxine, start over," James said as he came closer to her.

"There's no starting over James. You lost that right the moment you put your hands on me." Suddenly she felt her body being pressed into the wall of the pool by his. She tried to get out of his grasp when his phone rang.

Making his way out of the pool, he took the call. "Hello, yes I see, all right, bye. Well there's something I have to take care of. I'll be back later."

Max felt relieved as she started to relax in the pool. She did some laps and eventually felt tired as she made her way to the edge and got out of the pool. Grabbing a towel from one of the beach chairs, she sat down on the chair, looking up at the sky, wondering what would have happened if James didn't get that phone call.

Deciding she had enough of the pool for one day, she got up but before she could make it inside, she heard a sound behind her. Turning around, she was surprised to see a familiar face. "Ba—Batman?"

"Max Gibson, right?" he said as he walked towards her.

"Ye—yeah," she said realizing it was still Terry under the mask. She felt her heart racing.

"Come with me," Batman said as he reached out his and to her and without hesitation, she took it as they flew off into the night.

Inside the bat mobile Max remembered riding in it with Batman when they were going after Curare. It was still cramped as she remembered, standing in the back while Batman worked the controls. She couldn't reminisce for long because she started to wonder what his plan was.

"Where are you taking me exactly?" asked Max.

"The police, from what I can see you're being held against your will on that house. You'll be safe there until I can gather enough evidence to put him away."

"I can give you what you need about James Wilson, but we'll have to find evidence to put him away."

"We?"

Max smiled, remembering all the times she invited herself into his world and how many times he said it was too dangerous. "Yes, you're not going to take me to the police just yet because I know your secret."

"Oh, what is that?"

"I know Bruce Wayne was Batman, and I know you are Terry McGinnis," she said as she felt the bat mobile come to a screeching halt. "You can turn your head to face me and try to convince me otherwise, but I can explain myself to you and Bruce. I'm not here to expose your secrets. I'm here to keep them. I promise, but I need both your help."

Batman didn't know why, but he felt he could trust this girl with anything. He was even surprised that she knew he was going to turn around and try to convince her that he wasn't who she thought he was. There was a connection between them. He could tell, but he didn't know what it was yet.

Turning the bat mobile in the other direction, he headed towards Wayne Manor. The ride was quiet for a while until he decided to speak. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"You could say that."

"What does that mean?"

"It's going to sound crazy."

"I'm a guy in a bat suit fighting crime," he smirked, "it doesn't get more crazy then that."

Max smiled. "I guess not," she said as he risked a glance back at her. His heart began to race as he turned back around.

He had seen the bruises on her arms from where James held her forcefully in the pool. He remembered feeling angry, even enraged. He did wonder where it came from and hopefully he could get answers from the pink-haired girl in the back of his bat mobile.

"He hits you, doesn't he?" asked Batman.

"Yes, he's always been a controlling person. I thought I'd finally escaped him, my ex-boyfriend, but he came back into my life and destroyed it. I've been trying to fight and escape ever since."

"It's going to be all right Max. I'm going to help you," he said as he swore he saw her smile.

Following Batman into Wayne Manor, she felt a little exposed in his home as she tugged the white towel tighter around her bikini. He told her to wait in the living room as he briefed Bruce about what was going on.

Sitting on the couch, she made her way close to the fireplace to get warm. Beginning to relax and feel safe, she felt a presence next to her and looked to see Ace joining her on the couch. She watched as he lied down next to her, resting his head in her lap. She smiled as she scratched his ears and ran her fingers through his fur.

"He really does like you," said Bruce as he came into the room with Batman.

"I—I'm sorry. I didn't know where else to turn. I know the police will probably think I'm crazy, and I assure you that your secrets are safe with me. I won't tell anyone."

"I trust you," said Bruce. "If you can get Ace's trust and Terry's, then that's good enough for me," he said as he sat on the couch across from her.

Batman sat beside Bruce, removing the cowl from his face to reveal his raven hair and baby blue eyes. "So, how can we help?" asked Terry.

"My ex-boyfriend James Wilson is a dangerous guy that knows dangerous people and somehow he got his hands on a time machine. That's how I got here. I believe he pinpointed a place in time and removed it from the normal part of history. He told me it was me. He changed history in that I would never meet Terry."

"Why does that matter?" asked Bruce.

"I became his best friend when I find out he was Batman. I was there to help and support Terry thought all this, to keep his identity a secret from everyone, even his friends, family, and his girlfriend Dana. I got to eventually meet you and become a part of your world Bruce. I want to correct this, set things back to the way they were, and put James back in jail where he deserves to rot. He took away my life when he forced me to leave everything I cared about to be with him."

"And you still think this time machine exists somewhere in Gotham?" asked Bruce.

"Well I hope so or else I'm stuck living this way forever," she said as she felt Ace raise his head to look at her. She smiled once again and stroked his head before he found another spot on the couch, curled up, and went to sleep. "Well," said Max, "I think I should be getting back. I'm sure he knows I'm gone by now. He'll have his men try and look for me."

"You're can't go back to that guy Max, it's suicide," said Terry.

"If he finds out where I am, he'll send men after the ones you love. I can't have that on my conscious," said Max.

Bruce got up. "Well then I have a call to make to the commissioner to put police on Terry's house. You'll be safe here Max, don't worry. Terry will be here."

"I—

"Come on Max I'll show you to your room," said Terry as she followed him upstairs.

"Thank you,"