6

HELLO EVERYONE! I'm rewriting Drake's second story, so yes this chapter you've seen, there is one or two changes, but this is an all new adventure. And, hopefully, the bat Clan will expand even more. I know its been forever but I hope this will make you excited. As always, I own nothing, reviews are love, and I hope everyone enjoys.

BRL.

Batman flipped back, dodging gun shots as Nightwing threw three wingdings. The projectiles crashed into the heads of two of the scarecrow-esque looking teens. Wildcat ducked back and came down on her opponent with an over hand right that smashed the teenager into the ground. Batman landed on another with a double foot kick. Nightwing's sticks lashed out, cracking off a ganger like drum sticks before he leapt into the air and came down with an ax kick with sent the ganger head first into the pavement. More gangers were pouring in, firing gas guns. "Gas!" cried Nightwing as he spun, blocking a knife and countering with a stick. Wildcat slammed a taser covered fist into a ganger then leapt back, attaching a gas mask over her lower face. Batman did the same. In the back, resting on his scythe, was Ichabod Crane aka the Scarecrow. This was his gang, the newly formed Reapers.

"Send in the Soul harvesters," snapped the criminal.

Ghoul, his new second in command grinned. "Right boss!" He rushed over to a computer consul and thumped a large button. The warehouse shuddered as two large doors began to open up.

Ichabod grinned. "We're leaving Ghoul."

Ghoul paused. "But boss…what about the others?"

Ichabod looked back, an eyebrow raised. "What about them?"

"R-r-right Boss," stuttered Ghoul as he hurried after Ichabod. The pair left, leaving the Reapers to deal with Ichabod's creations.

Which had appeared. "Son of a bitch," hissed Nightwing as he heard a roar echo throughout the warehouse. They were each 10 feet tall, large mechanical suits with humans hardwire inside. They moved almost like apes, with long arms that balanced their short legs. They didn't seem to have any inbuilt weapons, but the massive arms were more than enough to smash girders and crush humans. The five monsters thundered forward, speakers giving voice to the howls of the pilots, who seemed almost…in pain.

Wildcat smashed her knee into a ganger, followed by an elbow, dropping the idiot, then turned and whistled. "Well…that's something you don't see every day."

Batman was already rushing one. He leapt into the air, boots activating as he power charged into one. The large machine smashed the flying teen aside, sending him crashing into a stack of crates. Nightwing cursed again. "See to Batman, I'll handle Ichabod's parting gift." He rocketed into the sky, sticks alight with electricity.

Wildcat sighed as she ran towards Batman. "You know, maybe I ought to follow Gear's example, rocket powered skates wouldn't be a halfway bad idea."

The Reapers were all running, the Soul Harvesters didn't seem to distinguish who their enemy were, and were lashing out at everyone, mechanical limbs flailing. Nightwing dropped in front of one, three wingdings already flying through the air as he rolled under a large metal hand. "I thought he was a pharmacologist," muttered Nightwing as he came up and attacked the metal hide. "Since when does he do biomechanics."

"Worry later, we got to take them down!" called Wildcat.

Bruce Wayne was away on business so the three new Bat Clan members were on their own. It had been a slow week, with most of Batman's new cadre of villains still locked up, but Ichabod had made a bold move tonight, attacking a military warehouse. Nightwing had actually been excited, bored with just running patrol. Now…he wanted to kick himself for wishing for some excitement. He attached a bomb to one of the Harvester's leg joints, rocketing away as the bomb exploded. The metal behemoth screamed and the pilot clutched his leg, crashing. That left four more. The others were causing a mess. By now Wildcat and Batman were getting in on it. Wildcat grinned as she pressed two buttons on her backpack's straps. Armor exploded outwards and encased her. The mechanized suit had been slimmed down slightly, and the armored cowl looks like a cat, but it was the same battle armor that she used against Achilles. She smashed her hands together and grinned. "Let's do this!" she cried as she charged towards the nearest metal monstrosity.

Batman's jaw dropped. "I thought" he was cut off by a flailing metal arm. He snarled. "You're interrupting my shock!" he snapped as he leapt into the air, boots firing underneath him. He tackled the metal monster only to get thrown back. He landed on his feet. "Hmm." He pulled out a pair of batarangs, setting the projectiles to electric pulses. He threw the charged disks which clanged into the Harvester with an explosion of electricity. The monster struggled before finally slumping, short-circuited. Batman jumped back as it fell. "That's better. Now then." He turned to see Wildcat, in her exosuit, going toe to toe with a Harvester. The former bat armor was more than holding its own against the giant machine, even surpassing it. But that wasn't what worried Batman.

Wildcat smashed one gauntleted hand into the knee joint of one and ripped out a handful of wires. She grinned, jammed her arm back in and activated her tasers. Electricity rippled up the machine, short circuiting everything in sight. Wildcat ripped her arm free in time to dodge the falling mech.

With two left, and one thrashing while trying to fight, the three heroes converged. "Wildcat," started Batman. "We're talking about that suit when we get back to the cave."

"Yea," agreed Nightwing. "Batman with me, Wildcat can handle that one on her own." The pair charged the Harvester on the right. Wildcat grinned under her helmet and went left.

Wildcat activated her own rocket boosters and did her best impression of a Superman punch to the head of the Harvester. The punch actually knocked the machine down. As she landed, she activated her rockets again to smash a knee into the machine's head again, followed by an over hand left that bashed it back into the ground. Wildcat ripped off the metal plating along its neck and dropped a small bomb into the neck joint. She ran back as the bomb went off, severing the head from the body. The scream that sounded was ear splitting, then went silent. Wildcat's eyes went wide as she raced back to the suit, the body inside…was unconscious but alive. Max let out a loud sigh of relief, horrified at the thought she might have almost killed someone. Her head snapped up when she saw a black body fly before her eyes.

Batman and Nightwing weren't doing as well as she had. Nightwing was currently on the thing, jabbing his sticks into the thing's neck while Batman picked himself up, both hands loaded with batarangs. He rushed forward, throwing the projectiles faster than Wildcat's launcher. The disks dug into the Harvester's metal hide as it thrashed about with Nightwing on top. Nightwing finally managed to pierce the metal neck and shoved both his sticks in, turning the tasers up to full power. Electric arcs raced through it before it finally slumped to the ground. Nightwing rolled off, gasping, as Batman joined him. There were unconscious gangers, five metal giants, and no Ichabod.

On a nearby rooftop, a shadowy figure watched the fight, crouched low on a gargoyle. "They are weak, unfocused. They can do Gotham no good," whispered the voice in the stranger's ear.

He stood up, a hint of crimson flashing briefly as he moved. "No matter," he muttered. "They will be dealt with soon enough."

Back at the fight, Batman and Nightwing were slowly standing up, clearly in pain. "I'm going to kill him," snarled Nightwing.

"We don't kill," said Batman. "Even if we want too. Come on we need to disappear." His grapple shot out and he took off. Wildcat's armor retracted to her back pack. Nightwing just stared at her, then shook his head. He wrapped an arm around her and also grappled up to the rafters. All three raced out of the warehouse as the cops came, each diving to their own vehicle. "Meet at the cave, we're done for the night," stated Batman as they took off.

Nightwing opened a private line to Wildcat as he pulled his lower mask down. "I thought you were only working on that suit in your spare time. And that it was nowhere near ready to be in the field."

Wildcat sighed. "Well…I had been working on it, but I might not have let on how far I was. I was looking to field test it. What's the big deal?"

"The Big Deal!?" snarled Drake. "You know it's dangerous, Bruce almost killed himself when he wore it!"

"It worked when I fought Achilles!" countered Max.

"For about five minutes then started to put unnecessary strain on your body!" snapped Drake. He paused and struggled to keep his anger under control. They were both hopped up on adrenalin from the fight, a bad state to be in when trying to have a serious conversation. "Is it dangerous?"

"No more than the other things we do," replied Max.

Drake took another deep breath. "I don't like it, but…it did come in handy."

"I'll only use it for emergencies ok?" offered Max.

"Damn right you will," said Drake.

"You know, ordering me around, it aint schway," spat Max.

"I don't care, if it means you alive and mad, or dead and happy, I'll take alive and mad," answered Drake as he banked his bike. "That suit puts too much strain in the human body. You're right that using your regular suit underneath it alleviates the pressure, but it's still too much. That suit is too powerful."

"I'm working on it!" argued Max. "With the new servos and my own suit, I've managed to reduce the strain on the body by half, given a bit more time I might be able to reduce it completely! Think of the help it'll be!"

"Terry hasn't needed it. Neither have I," contested Drake.

"We needed it tonight!"

Drake growled under his throat. "We didn't need it, it helped."

"So do our regular suits, Bruce did fine without them for years. Oh wait, the world has evolved. We need to evolve too. What if Ichabod has more of those things, or Terminal. Or someone gets Miraculo again!? We need it!" defended Max. She didn't mention she was already working further, that this was just a test run.

"It's useful," conceded Drake. "But we don't need it. I just…I worry when I see it alright!?"

Max paused, taken aback. Then shook her head and smiled. "Don't worry dummy, I can handle it. I'm Wildcat after all. Im the schwayest babe you've ever seen. I can kick butt and still be home in time to make dinner."

"Poorly," joked Drake. "For a girl who lived on her own you're a horrible cook."

Max frowned playfully. "Oh yea, well you can cook tonight."

Drake grinned. "Good that means you do the dishes." With that he gunned his engine and shot forward.

Max's frown deepened. "I hate doing the dishes," she muttered as she followed.

Drake pulled off his hood as he rode. Since the end of Spartoi, the three had really come into their own as the new Bat Clan. While Max and Drake have so far not been introduced to the Justice League, their presence in Gotham gave Terry more freedom to join the JL on missions which required a more delicate hand. Max was coming into her own as an engineer, now designing most of the Bat Clan's own equipment, and was looking at working at Wayne Enterprise over the summer as an engineer intern. Terry, thanks to his experience before his friends, was swiftly becoming the best detective out of all of them, able to track just about anyone. And Drake was starting to develop his strategic thinking. He was the one the others looked to when they needed a battle plan. Separate, they were each formidable, together, unbeatable. Nightwing glanced at the picture on his dash. It was of the three of them, after Spartoi had been caught, smiling at the camera. Next to it was a picture of A'lexx and Kendra, who were God knows where. Drake shook his head as he accelerated his bike.

All three touched down in the cave at the same time. Terry swung down from the Batmobile, stretching. "Gonna be sore in the morning," he murmured as he pulled his cowl off.

Drake nodded as he cracked his neck. "Yea, those things hit hard."

Max smirked. "Which is why y'all should let me make you exosuits, cause I feel," she stopped and swayed slightly.

"Mhmn," grunted Drake. "Get down before you're sick."

Max waved her boyfriend off as she sunk down. "I'm fine," she said.

Drake looked at Terry who just threw his hands up. "Aint my problem. She wants to act like a twip she deals with the consequences."

"I'm fine!" reiterated Max.

"Say that while not looking like you're gonna blow chunks," said Drake.

Max gave Drake a very rude gesture as she got down from her bike. Drake appeared next to her, helping her up. "I'm not saying you're right," she grumbled.

"I know," answered Drake as he helped her.

"However you're very attractive, and nice and"

"Yes I'll make you dinner," interrupted Drake. "Don't worry. Come out of the costume."

Terry was already in his street clothes and at the top of the stairs. "You're making food?" he asked.

Drake nodded. "It's morning, call Dana, we'll have breakfast."

Terry grinned. "Great!"

Max sat heavily on a bench. "Why do you cook so well?"

"Survival training," replied Drake with a straight face.

Max chuckled. "Of course."

"You ok?"

Max nodded as she slung the back pack off of her. "Yea, just a momentary dizzy spell. I need to recalibrate the exo-suit's servos, the left side pulled harder than it should. And I need to repair my regular suit, the exo-suit fried at least one motor."

"And this is why I say it's bad," stated Drake. "But, it did help. And it'll be useful. But machines can be fixed, people cant. We take a lot of risks, no need to add to it ok?"

Max grinned. "Don't worry D-man I'll be fine."

Drake didn't bother to argue. He just kissed the top of her head and went off to change. Max laid down on the bench, closing her eyes as she willed her heart to stop. It was more than a dizzy spell, but it was necessary. And she knew she could fix it, it was too important not to use it. When her head finally stopped felt it was gonna split, she got up, quickly changed into a set of sweat pants and one of Drake's boxing hoodies, then headed upstairs. Drake was already in bed, Terry was on a couch. Max chuckled as she climbed into the same bed as Drake, quickly passing out.

When she came too she was alone in the bed. Groggily getting up she wandered to the sounds of life in the kitchen. There she found her boyfriend and Terry. Terry was dressed in his usual outfit, minus the jacket, while Drake cooked in just a pair of baggy jeans. "Mmm, I don't know which I like better, the sight of coffee, food, or my man making it all topless."

"The coffee," answered Drake as he pointed to a mug of the steaming liquid. "Black with two sugars."

"You're a god," she said as she took a sip. A loud moan escaped her as she tasted it. "Mr. Wayne has the best coffee."

Terry nodded over his own mug. "He really does." The three were quiet as Drake made food. He had several pans going, pancakes in one, eggs in another, and home fries in the third. The domestic scene seemed almost at odds with the three teens, yet all three seemed perfectly content with it. "I should have called my family," murmured Terry.

"I did," said Drake. "You're mom and brother will be here in a half hour. What about Dana?" A ring at the doorbell was his answer. Drake raised an eyebrow. "That was fast."

Terry shrugged. "I was up before you, called her first thing." He went to answer the door as Max came over and rested her head on Drake's shoulder.

"You're so domestic," she giggled.

"You're tired, you're acting like a girl," replied Drake.

Max reared back, smacking him slightly. "I am a lady thank you very much. A schway one at that! Just cause I'm smarter and tougher than you doesn't mean"

"They're fighting already?" asked Dana as she and Terry walked in.

"Nah this is their flirting," answered Terry.

"Hey Dana," called Max.

Drake waved over his shoulder as he flipped a pancake. A large stack was already next to him. He slid the eggs onto a plate, then opened up a package of bacon. Dana grinned. "That smells schway Drake."

Drake smiled as he shrugged. "My aunt thought it was a good idea I know how to cook. Which is good cause these two would live off of takeout if they could."

Dana laughed. "I know, Terry here burnt water once."

"Hey I never claimed I could cook!" defended Terry. The small group laughed as Dana poured herself a cup of coffee, and the four fell into conversation. Soon enough Terry's family arrived and Wayne Manor was home to a lively breakfast for the first time in years.