Terry groaned softly as his eyes opened. Above him a large shape hovered, but he couldn't make it out. Something wet touched his side. He hissed as it burned, and tried to pull away from the pain.

"Easy... Just relax..." A voice above him said. The roomw as becoming less of a blur.

"B-Bruce? Bruce... I'm sorry..." And then exhaustion and pain pulled him back under.

Bruce patted the unconcious young man's shoulder, "It's alright kid, it's alright."

*****************************************

Barbara sighed as she walked away from the crime scene. Two dead bodies, and more questions than answers. Batman probably knew some of the answers but Bruce wasn't answering her calls.

"Commissioner..." A low voice said, a shadowy figure dropped to the ground in front of her, startling her. She dropped her phone.

"Stalker..." She whispered. "What are you doing here? What do you want with me?"

"You know the Batman... Or at least... An aquaintance."

"I don't know what-"

"Please, don't blame games with me. I mean you no harm."

"And Batman?"

Stalker glared at her, "I have a message for him."

"From whom?" She stared him down.

"It doesn't matter- but Batman needs to know. He is in danger. One of The Three has just been killed. They will be looking for him."

"Who? What Three? What are you talking about?"

"The Black Three... Now Two. They will be looking for him. He has been Marked."

"What do you mean- marked?" She took a step toward him, but Stalker stepped backwards.

"He will know- soon. But you must warn him- They are coming for him." And then he slipped away into the shadows, leaving a bewildered Barbara staring around her.

******************************************

Bruce gently cleaned the bullet wound in Terry's arm, where he could tell some kind of bullet had just grazed him. Above it, there was a strange black mark, like a crescent moon. It looked almost like a tattoo, but Bruce could tell it wasn't. What was it?

"Bruce?" Terry's eyes opened again, he tried to sit up, and groaned in pain.

"Careful..." Bruce put a firm but gentle hand on Terry's shoulder to stop him from moving.

"Claire... She... I couldn't..."

"Easy... Easy..." Bruce cautioned him. "You're hurt. Your body needs rest."

"Yeah..." Terry said with a gasping breath, one eye closed against the pain, his teeth gritted with effort. "How bad's the damage?"

"Bad." Bruce replied, brutally honest as always.

"Suit?"

"Going to take some time to repair it."

"Has Barbara called?"

"Yes,"

"Well, Batman did just come out of the subways following an explosion holding a dead girl... I'd imagine that would raise a few eyebrows." Talking hurt, and he winced.

"There will be time... Later, for now you should rest."

"Bruce... I'm sorry. I should have listened. I didn't mean... Things with Claire. They got out of hand."

Bruce took a deep breath and sighed, "So it was you?"

"You already knew that." Terry said. It was a statement of fact, "You think Barbara probably does too..." How had Terry known that? "Bruce..." His blues eyes searched for Bruce's, "Please, you can't take Batman away from me." There were tears in his eyes. "I... I... I screwed up. I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"Rest Terry, there will be time to talk later."