Bruce is back. This takes place so long after his return it doesn't come up. While Terry is here, most of the other old members of the team are still around just in similar positions as Barabara Gordon was during the Batman Beyond/Batman of Tomorrow show.

The teenager yawned loudly as the Great Dane on the other end of the leash held its head up with its eyes intent and ears perked forward. Terry looked down at the hard lines of the purebred. "Glad you're enjoying this."

Behind them the old man didn't bother trying to keep up. He just attempted to keep both in sight. Ace was the reason they put in the electrified fence at the top. When he smelled, heard, and saw squirrels, Ace was hard to hold back. Even he'd been able to do it when the large puppy first arrived. Now though, it was impossible for Terry. The Dane almost weighed as much as the teenager.

Bruce hated to both block the beloved view and the possibility of hurting Ace. However, the Dane's hatred for squirrels, ability to pull people off their feet, and jump or climb fences made it necessary. They'd kept the voltage of the fence low, making it a dissuasion tactic. All they had to do was convince the dog instead of going over the fence he should go back down the hill in pursuit of his prey.

Terry stopped talking to the dog and spoke to Bruce without bothering to look back at him as he did. "Tell me why we're doing this again?"

"Tradition."

"That's it?"

"For decades this morning walk has cooled the muscles and cleared the minds of Gotham's protectors."

"Hmmmm …"

Bruce smiled. That was Terry. He wasn't enthusiastic like Dick. He wasn't as loud or explosive in his complaints as Jason. He wasn't as compliant as Tim. (He was learning after being ambushed, shocked, or shot at while asking questions.) He wasn't filled with hard-core suggestions as Damian. Terry would rather have things easier.

Terry had a less rosy view of the world than Dick, like himself. Terry could be "creative" in his sarcasm and have explosions of violence like Jason. But his words and actions were more pointed and quickly over … like his. Terry wasn't as good at taking orders without argument as Tim, but did, eventually, take his advice most of the time. He seemed to like frightening his prey by taking slow powerful steps toward them while wearing a smug grin like Damian or himself.

Dick Greyson the trapeze artist fearless of heights, Jason the street-thief fearless of starting fights with those bigger than him, Tim the genius who found reverse engineering extra-terrestrial technology an engaging mental exercise, and Damian the warrior and hunter taught to move silently on shifting terrain and kill with blades of all kinds had prepared him for this. Over seventy years old, with a heart condition, and he wasn't afraid to employ, train, and supervise a teen with a record. The rich friends he still spoke to constantly mentioned to him, Terry had spent time in Juvie. He reminded them it "had" been Terry's crime of trespassing on his land that allowed them to meet. Old friend's from the league tended to instead ask to ask if Terry had indeed stolen the batsuit the first time he wore it. He confirmed.

Many Neo-Gothamites only knew Bruce Wayne and Terry McGinnis by imagined most of these whispered and raised eyebrows while waiting for tabloids to tell of the betrayal, robbery and maybe even murder of an ancient eccentric billionaire by the teen punk he'd unwisely taken under his wing. Most of his fellow retired, or unretired in Clark's case, superheroes had either cheered or cried on learning about terry. They'd expected him to die of heartache or boredom sooner rather than later if he didn't have a child or teen to give wings to. At least, that was how Clark had put it.

Those who really knew Bruce expected Terry to add ten years to his life. There were nights Bruce felt quite the opposite. The kid was going to give him a fatal heart attack. Supervising Terry's time as Batman, too far away to do anything other than by remote, made him more afraid than he'd been in years up here away from the city … the outside world.

They turned the corner of the trail. As Terry walked only as fast as Ace dragged him, they came to the now partially obscured view. Ace stalked a little closer to the fence that rose to about Terry's chest. The Dane stopped, growled, and sat down to stare and sulk. The feel of electricity in the air around the taught wires must have made itself known to his animal senses.

The old man only turned the corner himself in time to see his dog's reaction. He gave a small smile. Sorry Ace …

Terry just stood a little behind and beside the dog. The teen's tall frame hung lax. His head was slightly falling back. From where he stood, Bruce couldn't see Terry's face, but he imagined the teen was blinking sleepy eyes. He hoped the boy's younger brother let him sleep most of the weekend.

Children and teens had lived in Wayne manor as siblings before, but Bruce had never seen two so often with as seemingly normal a dynamic as Terry and Matt. Overhearing their childish insults had given his now temperamental heartmuscle a pain. He wished any two of his children had come to him unscarred enough for such things.

Dick had been a much more attentive and emotional oldest sibling to the others than Terry. Stephanie had been too fearful of upsetting anyone at first and then perhaps too starved for such attention to resent it. She just glowed under his or anyone's love. Tim had quietly worshiped Dick at first, and then stoically put up with the distraction his teasing and questioning and offers of fun were from his own work. Tim had even more quietly longed for Stephanie's attention and presence. Bruce had tried to keep them both supervised when together or physically far apart for that reason. Cassie had seemed at first confused by, but then had also drunk up love silently from anyone. Damian had either been coldly or hotly holding himself back from saying or doing something regrettable unless he went ahead and did it for the first several months. Afterward, he seemed a bit more tiredly resigned to receiving loving words and actions, much like Terry was about these walks.

Bruce supposed … Dick and Jason's dynamic might have been the most like Terry and Matt's, but reversed. Dick had poked and prodded his younger sibling until Jason fought back, but that time had been so short ...

Terry turned his head back to him. "Is it always like this?"

Bruce raised his head a bit putting a little more weight on his cane. "Like what?"

Terry looked back over the forest coming to life with the usual nature sounds of dawn causing Ace to shift and growl a bit. The teen meanwhile looked back at Bruce again with a still much more relaxed stance and replied "I don't know … 'nature-y' .."

Ah. Of course. If Damian had been steeped in the ways of nature and new at technology and the modern world. Terry was the opposite being a Neo-Gotham native. Though, this bit of pigeon-holing he was doing with his new apprentice was challenged when Terry spoke again.

"Kinda reminds me of when Dad took Matt and me fishing."

Bruce tilted his head to the side watching the teen now seemingly more focused on the scene before him. "Did you enjoy those outings?"

"Sometimes. Sometimes I caught a fish, and sometimes I got a hook in my thumb. Mosquitoes could be really bad some years."

"And the better times?"

"It was nice … to just be guys with Dad, even if Matt could get really annoying. I remember we went one year just 'weeks' after I got out of Juvie. I was sure what with the divorce being finalized and me being a family disgrace it'd be canceled. But about as soon as she picked me up, without dad, mom was telling me to be thinking about what to pack. Dad came and got me and Matt a few weeks later. He took us for about a week. Mom was polite about it. They … did fight less after the divorce."

"But it still hurt."

"Yeah, it still hurt."

Bruce thought one of Terry's problems and blessings was having been raised by mild-mannered, prosocial, rule-following parents. Both his living mother and deceased father seemed to love or have loved him dearly all his short life. They never gave up on him, but also didn't seem to have understood or now understand his temper or lack of respect for rules. No, "the system:" school and courts had apparently been more successful in disciplining Terry, when he had stepped too far outside of the lines.

Terry had admitted himself the night they met he'd been ignoring his father's punishment of grounding him by being outside their apartment. Terry would probably always regret that led to his father being alone, when his murderer came to the door. Terry had told Stephanie seeing his father's body after, now topped his parents' divorce as the most painful event of his life.

Bruce whispered to the young man as the sunlight reached him trying to let warmth also emanate in his voice. "And it still hurts now."

"Yeah, it does …"

Bruce rocked his weight back on his heel and raised his cane, making Ace take his eyes off dog-paradise, tempting him beyond the electrified fence, to look back at his master. Bruce pointed the cane tip toward the fence. Even Terry glanced back at him as he did. Bruce was glad to know he was listening fully. "Does the view make it better or worse?"

"Better? Worse?" Terry's tired mind had to process a moment before understanding the question. Then he straightened a moment, sagged again and looked back with a shrug. "I don't know … I just … kinda both I guess. It reminds me of the good times, but … those times are over. Dad's gone. And even if one of the guys who hurt him can't hurt anyone else, the other guy responsible is still free, running a huge company, and causing all kinds of problems. And we haven't been able to nail him for anything yet, not really …"

"Keep training, keep learning, keep watching him and we may be able to do something soon."

Terry turned back to the view. His expression had gone hard. "Yeah. Sure …"

There was that bleak outlook … Sometimes he really wished the younger ones were more like his eldest than him. But, times had gotten so bad in Gotham even Dick had lost most of his optimism if not his sense of humor.

Terry yawned again. Ace looked up at the teen. Then Terry raised his head higher. "I think Ace is tired as me about hearing all this birdsong and squirrel chatter and just having to sit here or get zapped."

"It was necessary."

"The zapping or bringing us both up here to suffer?"

"Both."

Terry turned around with a grin. "Can I now take this chained squirrel-slayer back down the hill?"

"Yes."

Knowing he'd have a little more leash, literally, on more even ground to pursue his prey, Ace spun and pointed his nose back down the hill as Terry both turned and took a step in that direction. Terry once more had to keep up. Bruce stepped aside to let them pass. Then he ambled after them. He had to admit he had exercised body and mind more after the dog came into his life. Now, he did so even more with Terry in it too.

Terry was … Well, each child that had come into his life had been unique. Terry was no exception, but had also come at a very unique time. Those who still cared had reason to worry. Before Ace, he'd only gotten out of bed in the morning, eaten, and ambled around out of habit and to tell others he had. Then Ace came.

A dog needed to be walked, fed, trained to come on command and stop barking or biting at the same. Once he was his, Bruce told himself he'd try to outlive the dog. Now, Terry was here most days and nights too.

Terry needed income to help his mother, little brother, and himself live in a city with high living expenses after the passing of his dad. Terry needed to know just cause he had a record didn't mean he'd have no future. Terry needed to know his temper partially came from a strong sense of justice that could be refined from violent outbursts to concerted effort and a continually kept promise to not stand by and do nothing when justice went unserved. Terry might have already had purpose with his mother, brother, and girlfriend, but more than that he needed hope or he could have gone down a very dark and illegal path both to bring justice for his father and income for his family. Even his mother might not have been able to control him and pay for his and his brother's needs. Also, both as a Batman and personal assistant, Terry did a raw, but respectful job … most of the time.

As they entered the manor again Terry said, "How bout I call my mom, eat a bowl of cereal with you, Ace can have his dogfood in the kitchen with us, the whole gang together, and then I just go to school from here?"

"As long as you stop back at your mother's apartment after school, do some homework, and eat dinner with her and your brother before coming here tonight."

"Yeah, yeah …"

"And see if you can take a nap."

"Oh yeah, homework makes a great pillow. Really puts me out."

He decided to just snort at that one. He knew he was running the boy ragged. There was a reason he'd only let the Robins accompany him on weekend nights and summer nights while they were in school. But there had been no Batman for years, and crime was higher than it had even been right before he became Batman. Bigger city, bigger population, and laxer laws in some ways with Powers passing money around politicians. Of course, one couldn't discount the Joker's influence on hundreds of teens in the city even decades after his death. The Jokerz were known for being far more loose-cannons than the gangsters of his time had dreamed of being.

He didn't envy Terry. He really didn't. But he had to be tough on him to help him survive, and help others survive the streets of Neo-Gotham now.

Clark had asked on a visit shortly before Terry showed up if he was okay. With genuine surprise he'd asked the concerned Krytonian dealing with delayed aging and all the problems that came with that, from maintaining a secret identity to outliving those you love, what he meant. Clark had specified whether or not he felt like he hadn't made the lasting impact or left the legacy he'd wanted to after spending so much of his life trying to Lower Gotham's crime rate and make a it a safe beloved home for people only for Neo-Gotham to consistently be rated one of the worst cities in the country to live with crime, crowding, and limited job opportunities.

Bruce had tried to give the question the thought it deserved letting moments of silence stretch between them. Then he'd tried to give the question the honesty it deserved. "I certainly don't regret all of it. And bad as the city has become, my family is the real legacy … What I did right for both my city and family, I don't regret, I can't regret. The failures I made with both, I find myself regretting the ones that concerned those closest to me the most. My family's blood, not just mine, stained the streets of Gotham. If Gotham can't appreciate that years later … I still do. I'm more proud of my kids than the whole city, now. But Gotham isn't entirely bad outside of them either … even now …"

Terry proved that. A sound made Bruce come out of his thoughts and look up from his cereal bowl. After finishing all his own breakfast in a way that would shock Bruce had he not eaten with teenagers before, Terry had literally fallen asleep on the table and was snoring. Ace was looking up and whining at him. It was truly amazing. As much as Terry talked about how the hound still treated him coldly, the Dane had accepted (though not celebrated) his presence within a few days. Maybe he'd noticed the help Terry gave his master?

Bruce sighed, rose, and went to his phone. "Barbara, could you send the self-driving car for Terry and then make sure it gets him safely to school? Right. I'd do it myself, but I'm not as young as I used to be and obviously it was a long night for us both … Mhmmm … Right. He needs his sleep … Yes, we already took our walk …"

What do you think?

God bless

ScribeofHeroes