Disclaimer: I don't own Batman Beyond, the Flash, or any of the D.C. universe.

Resurrecting the Red

Chapter 3: Night Time

"Any news on our French guy yet?" Terry asked. The old man at the computer console didn't bother to make any sign of acknowledgement as he opened up a file.

"His name is Fernand Debray. Word has it that his "toys" are stolen technology from Sevron Enterprises. He's a former employee."

"Sevron Enterprises?"

"It's an European based subsidiary of LexCorp," Bruce Wayne answered.

"Sounds interesting."

"It gets better. LexCorp reported a security breach in their networking system two days ago. They're reluctant to say what was stolen."

"You think there's a connection?" Terry asked. Of course there is McGinnis, otherwise he wouldn't even mention it. Bruce eyed him intently as he swiveled his chair around to face the teenager.

"With LexCorp there's ALWAYS a connection."

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"I'm heading out Uncle Evan."

"Just be back by eleven. You've got school tomorrow."

David stuffed a few creds into his pocket as he grabbed his favorite green jacket. Underneath he wore black pants and a dark blue muscle tee.

The teenager decided not to take the bus and instead opted to walk. He'd spotted a video arcade on the way home from school. Not having anything better to do, he'd decided to check it out.

Just as he rounded a corner, two brightly colored figures stepped out of the shadows. A young man and a woman, both dressed as clowns. The tall clown flipped out a knife as he stepped in front of David.

"Give us our tribute Dreg," he smirked. David gave him a confused look. Tribute?

"Yeah, this is Jokerz territory," the girl said. "You wanna pass through, you give us money." She held out a hand in front of his face. David looked at her for a moment, then at the other Joker, and then back again. Then he stuck his hands in his pockets and grinned.

"Sorry," he quipped. "But you two aren't my types, especially him." David pointed up at the male Joker. "Go play street hookers somewhere else." The two Jokerz reddened indignantly at the smirking teenager. The tall Joker grinned suddenly as he caressed his blade.

"A funny man huh? Well I'm not laughing Dreg. Make me laugh." The Joker swung his knife at the teenager, but David easily sidestepped out of the way. He then stuck his foot out and tripped the clown like he'd done earlier to Nelson.

"Hey!" the girl yelled. David turned just as she whipped a metal chain at him. The metal whip seemed to move in slow motion for the young speedster, so he simply reached out and grabbed it. Then he gave it a hard jerk.

The female Joker came tumbling forward in surprise and David took the instant to wrap the metal chain around her several times. As she struggled against her bonds, the man tried to get back up. David planted a foot into his back.

"Stay down Bobo and be a good boy," he said. He then kicked the clown's knife away before sauntering calmly down the street. The two would be thieves stared after him in bewilderment.

That had been interesting, but now to find the arcade.

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A dark shadow crept along the rooftop of the tall building. It jumped over the side and landed on a narrow ledge. After a quick survey of its surroundings, the figure leaned back against the building and touched the side of its head.

"You sure he'll come here?" Terry asked. He was currently perched on the side of the Wayne-Powers research facility.

"No," came the stoic reply. "But there's a good chance he will. While I personally never had anything to do with LexCorp, Powers unfortunately wasn't of the same opinion. He and Alexandra Luthor were both business rivals but they traded information under the table. I'm sure Paxton has kept up the practice."

"Maybe, but I don't see...wait a minute..."

"Our friend?"

"Yeah."

"Follow him McGinnis, but don't engage him just yet."

"Gotcha." Terry turned on his camouflage mode and swept down near the burly European. He was dressed in simple black clothing, but his cybernetic implants easily caught the dim light. The Frenchman, Debray, held out his false right arm. Twisting wires emerged from his fingers and attached themselves to a control panel. After several long seconds they finally hacked into the program and bypassed the security system.

Debray walked quickly inside and Terry padded silently behind him, instincts at full alert. He needed to be careful and make sure he wasn't noticed.

This should be interesting.

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Whoa...cool.

David looked around him in approval. It was even better than he had thought. He didn't even know where to start. He decided to check out one of the VR (virtual reality) games. Let's see, Doom Racer, Budukai Warrior, Elf Kingdom...

"Hey! David!" David turned around at the voice and saw Max coming toward him. He froze briefly in surprise but quickly smiled in reply.

"Hey," he said. The pink haired teenager grinned at him as she walked up.

"Watcha doing?" Max asked.

"I saw this on the way home, thought I'd try it out," David said. "But I'm not sure where to start." The girl grinned at him and grabbed an arm.

"There's a slammin' game over here called Gear Wars, want to play?" she asked. Max didn't wait for a response and proceeded to lead the red head toward the game in question. David grinned to himself.

The night was turning out better than he thought.

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Terry peeked around the corner. So far Debray had done nothing more than hack into the main computer system. He couldn't really tell what he was looking at, but he did catch the words 'Cadmus.'

He walked quietly toward the Frenchman, intending to surprise him.

Unfortunately, as Terry had begun to learn, plans do not often work as they should.

Despite being in camouflage mode, Debray somehow saw him.

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"David! Behind you!" Max yelled. David twisted around and shot the mechanic warrior that had dropped behind him. He and Max were currently in the middle of Gear Wars. They were both currently fending off a small hoard of giant Mechs.

His virtual self dropped to a knee and quickly fired off a series of blasts that destroyed the remaining enemy machines. The two teenagers played for about another fifteen minutes until the game ended.

Max pulled the VR helmet off her head and pumped her arm in triumph.

"Oh yeah! We were slammin'!" she exclaimed. Then she turned to regard the smiling red head at her side.

"You know," Max grinned, "You've got quick reflexes. Terry and I played that last week and even we didn't get that far." Strangely, a very brief expression of alarm crossed his face before disappearing. Max blinked at that, but it was gone. It must have been her imagination.

"Come on," she said. "Let's go play Doom Racer."

David let her lead him to the next game. He really needed to be careful about his speed.

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"Uh..." Terry grunted as he was thrown against a wall. How had the creep seen past his camouflage mode? It must have something to do with the cybernetic implants in his eyes. Damn...

"McGinnis, go after him," Bruce said.

"Yeah, don't need to tell me twice." Debray had bolted from the building and was trying to escape. Terry raced outside and opened his wings as he took to the air. He barely dodged a few energy shots from the escaping European.

"Damn," Terry muttered. He threw a batarang down at him, but it only grazed his chest. Debray fired another few shots before taking off towards the downtown area.

Slag it, he was fast.

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Max and David were standing in line for Doom Racer when they heard people yelling outside. They were looking curiously at the exit when they heard someone yell 'Batman.' Without a second thought Max was racing outside, with a curious David following close behind.

David pulled Max out of the way just as some strange, half machine guy came tearing down the street. He heard the pink haired teenager gasp as a random energy shot from the stranger blasted through one of Batman's wings.

Batman.

Despite the danger, David stared at him in fascination. So this was Batman, huh? Schway. The young speedster looked around and saw that a small crowd of bystanders was beginning to gather. Damn it, this wasn't good. These people could get hurt.

Apparently Batman had come to the same conclusion, because he yelled for everyone to get out of there. That was right before the strange cyborg guy smashed through a car.

Okay, this definitely wasn't good.

The cyborg picked up the car and threw it at the darkly garbed vigilante. Max gasped again and seemed on the verge of yelling at Batman. But then she glanced around her and up at David for some reason and closed her mouth.

David understood her anxiety, or at least, he thought he did. Batman wasn't doing very well against that guy and...what the...

Was he talking with a French accent?

Oh well, didn't matter. The point was, Bats was in trouble. Cyborg guy had him pinned under his right arm. Several weird wires had emerged from his hand and had connected to the Bat suit. He wasn't sure, but it looked like electrical energy was being drained from Batman's suit.

Damn, he should do something. David looked around, but everyone's attention was focused on the fight. Max even seemed to have forgotten he was there. Good.

David zipped over to the destroyed car. Several pieces had come loose, including the drive shaft underneath the vehicle. David grabbed it and raced past the fighting duo and swung the long metal pipe at the cyborg's head. Still going at full speed, David stuck the drive shaft between his legs and flipped him onto his back. Then he zipped back to Max's side, as if he'd never left.

All anyone had seen was a quick green blur.

Terry stared up in confusion, but quickly took advantage of the situation. However, Debray seemed to have changed his mind about fighting Terry and instead took off. The teenager made to go after him, but found that he couldn't. Most of the energy had been drained from his batsuit; there wasn't enough to give chase.

Fortunately, he'd managed to stick a tracer on the Frenchman's clothing.

Terry rubbed his head as he looked around. He gave a start as he realized that Max and Red Hair were in the crowd. A piece of metal by his foot drew his attention and Terry looked down. A long, twisted metal pipe was lying at his feet. He picked it up and examined it before looking around.

What the hell had happened?

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Max gave a sigh of relief and suddenly remembered with a start that David was next to her. She looked up at him, but he was only staring after Batman. A strange expression of wistfulness crossed his face and she couldn't resist asking.

"What?" she asked. David looked down at her in surprise before replying.

"Nothing, just wondering what it'd be like, that's all," he said and nodded in the direction Batman had gone in. "Dumb huh?" Max smiled at that.

"Not really," she said. David looked at her for a moment before eyeing his watch. It was already 10:28.

"Hey, I have to be home by eleven," he said. "I guess I'll be going." He waved good bye to Max and walked down the street. As soon as he was out of sight, he ran the rest of the way home.