Hmmm… Everyone's getting really impatient about who the mysterious woman is, but since I'm not yet ready to reveal her secret all give you all a hint- she is a character of my own creation and not from the BB universeand yes she is connected to Claire. There, that was two hints!

Thanks everyone for the great reviews!

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"So Batman looks like a hero… and I have NOTHING! You promised me results!"

"No way lady, my men did what you told them to do. You just weren't counting on Bat Boy having a little extra juice."

The woman's hazel eyes flashed angrily, "will your men be ready for another operation or not?" She snapped.

"They're ready, they're ready," The Joker said, annoyed as the woman doubted his Jokerz once again.

"Right, we strike again tomorrow. Hopefully Batman won't have recovered enough to use that new trick of his." The woman grimaced, annoyed. This was taking far longer than expected. Batman needed to die, and she needed to get out of Gotham.

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"You're not seriously considering going out there!" Bruce said, as he watched a very sore Terry dress in the Batsuit.

"I'm fine, I've gone out in worse condition," Terry told him, stretching his arms.

"I think the city could spare you for one night. Even those two new vigilantes took a night off," Bruce gave him a wry smile, which Terry didn't return, he just grimaced.

"Yeah," Bruce shot Terry a curious look, but Terry ignored him and pulled on his gloves. His arms hurt every time he bent even a finger.

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"Quiet night…" Terry said, feeling antsy.

"You'll jinx it,"

"Good," Terry growled.

Bruce sat back in his chair, and tapped his fingers together, staring at the screen as he watched Terry drive the BatMobile around, far too fast. He thought that Terry had gotten over whatever issues he'd been having. One moment the boy was completely there, the next he was a thousand miles away, unreachable, unreadable, and worse, unpredictable. Bruce knew he was guilty of many of the same things, but he would never have hurt someone on purpose. He was worried how far Terry might go. Terry was Batman, not those two people who went out at night just to hurt others.

Last night Terry had been Batman. Tonight, he was an enigma. An enigma in a very powerful suit, even hurting, he was a dangerous force.

"Why don't you just call it a night? And come back here for some training?" Bruce suggested mildly.

"If I'm too hurt to fight, how can I train?" Terry snapped.

"There is more to training than just strengthening the body," Bruce replied softly, feeling suddenly like he was dealing with a caged tiger, "And if something comes up I'll send you back out."

"Right," Terry wasn't happy, but he turned the plane around and headed for the Bat cave.

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Bruce watched his young protégé who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, his face calmer than Bruce had seen it in weeks. Bruce could almost feel the peace settling around the boy as he sat calmly, hopefully his mind as quiet as the cave.

The meditation had been a last ditch effort on Bruce's part, he had done it himself often enough and felt that Terry could benefit from it. If anyone needed peace of mind, it was the boy. Secretly Bruce was kicking himself for not having taught the boy these techniques sooner. How much else was there that he had never taught the boy? That he had never had time to teach him? With the others it was different. For one thing, he had been out there on the streets with them. And it had always felt like he had more time, with Terry there was never enough time. Maybe he hadn't had enough time with the others, but he hadn't known that of course, until it had been too late. Still, the others had never been through half of what Terry had been through.

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"You came home early tonight," Claire smiled at him.

Terry just shrugged, her words seemed a thousand miles away as he struggled to snap out of the trance he had been in, "Yeah, I guess."

"Up for a little action?"

"Wha-?" Suddenly the calm inside him snapped, he remember the rage, the helplessness, the need to do something, anything, the need to hunt down the bad guys, "Yeah," his voice became gruff. "Jokerz or Tees?"

"Jokerz!" Claire said quickly, maybe too quickly, but Terry didn't notice.