Batman Beyond the End of Batman

Chapter 13

Terry didn't know how long he had been out, but when he woke up, he saw he was in a fair-sized hospital room. He looked around and saw his mother asleep in a chair nearby his bed. Also, in his room, he saw his brother Max staring up at the TV with a serious face. Terry was expecting to see cartoons on the TV, the ones his brother always watched, but instead he saw the news on and it was covering a story about him and his family. This was just great, now all of Gotham knew he was the Batman and no one he knew was safe. He had always known the risks to himself when he put the cowl on, but he'd never planned on his family getting pulled into this too.

Terry had planned on closing his eyes to give his family as much rest as they could get, after all, they both looked like they hadn't slept in days, but his plans were shot when Mat looked over to him. "TREEY!" Mat exclaimed with worry as he ran over to Terry's side and hugged him. "Terry, I was so worried about you! You've been out cold for like four days now!"

Terry's brow furrowed, four days? Had he been hurt that bad? "Shhh, Twip, we don't want to wake mom," Terry said gently nodding over to their sleeping mother.

Matt looked over to his mom as if noticing for the first time that she was asleep, "Yeah, she's been awake most of this time and right by your side. We were both worried about you. Commissioner Gordon herself is outside guarding the door, not wanting any of her other good men getting hurt. She said she felt like this was her fault because she let you be batman…And by the way…You're BATMAN," Matt said in awe.

Terry couldn't help but smile, though it put a little strain on his lips from the forced smile Joker had cut into his face. "Yeah Twip, I'm Batman. You didn't think your big brother could be a hero, huh?"

Matt smiled and hugged Terry, careful of all the bandages and casts trying to protect his frail body. "I've always looked up to you, I just never wanted to let you know that. Can't have you getting a big head on me," Matt joked with a smile, though it was not the same as it use to be, the tension was still very thick in the air.

Terry chuckled, despite himself and winced as it jostled his broken ribs, "Well, I'm just glad we were able to save you."

"And save you too," Matt added with a smile. "Which reminds me, you know the Justice League!"

Terry twitched a small smile, "Yep, I'm a reserved member of the Justice League, there for consult. I didn't want to be a full-time team member, though I was offered it. I wanted to stay close to Gotham, be able to watch over our city." Terry looked up at the TV and sighed, "Guess my secret is out, hun? How much damage did it do?"

"The reporters are all outside of the hospital. They've all been wanting to get in here to get an interview with the Batman, but Commissioner Gordon has kept every one of them back and out of the hospital. She only lets me and mom in here, and Mr. Wayne."

"Bruce!" Terry suddenly realized. "Is he okay? Blight wanted him dead too!"

"Ter, calm down, we're all okay, thanks to you," Matt added trying to calm Terry. It was at that moment their mother woke up.

"Oh thank God, you're awake," his mother said, relief clear on her face. "I was so worried we would lose you!" She hugged Terry and Terry smiled.

"I'm alright mom, I go out and risk my life like this every night, it's part of being a hero. I was just glad I could save Matt, I was worried that Blight would hurt him," Terry said honestly.

Matt shook his head, "Blight hardly touched me, you were the one who faced all the abuse, you are the one who almost died." Tears pricked at the corners of Matt's eyes and Terry hugged his little brother closer to him, ignoring the slight pain in his ribs, only wanting to comfort his brother.

"I'm okay Twip, it takes a lot to take me…" Terry trailed off as the door of his room was kicked open and Barbara was thrown at the wall by "Big Time," Terry's old friend.

"Hey Tiny, you know it's so hard to see an old friend when he's holed up at a hospital. Then again, maybe I shouldn't call you "tiny" any more, maybe I should just call you Batman now." Charlie said with a smirk and Terry frowned and pushed Matt and his mother behind him to protect them. "I figure me and my friends should finish what we started at the Ranch."

With that said, Charlie stepped aside and the two Dee Dees and a couple of Jokers came in and Terry frowned. Before much more could be said or done though, "Batman" came through the window of Terry's hospital room.

"Before you attack the innocent kid, you ought to get your facts straight Charlie, that kid looks nothing like me," Batman said from the window in Terry's exact Batman voice.

"Look, I don't know who you are, but you can't be Batman, Blight unmasked him in front of us. You can try to change our mind, but we know the truth!"

"No Charlie, you're not smart enough to know the truth. This kid was what he said. He stole my suit to avenge his father's name. I had not had the chance to take it back before you fools captured the wrong person. Then there was the matter of tracking this kid and his brother down and saving their life. I knew you would eventually come back to finish the job, so all I had to do was stake out this hospital room and wait for you to make your move. So if you want to continue to look like a fool, then by all means, attack an innocent kid again, but then I will just have to kick your ass even harder," "Batman" challenged and Charlie looked pissed.

"So you were being a coward by hiding in the shadows when we attacked my old friend, sounds like you're the fool, not me," Charlie growled.

"Care to test that theory outside," "Batman" asked, flying past Charlie and out into the hall. Charlie and the Dee Dees and the Jokers looked really mad and took off after Batman.

Terry looked totally confused and so did the rest of his family, "Terr, I thought you said you were Batman," Matt asked stunned.

"I…am…" Terry said blinking in total surprise. The figure in the batsuit was not the same build as Bruce and moved too fast to be Bruce so Terry didn't know who it was.

As if an answer to his question, Bruce appeared in the room, looking grim and serious, "Are you alright McGinnis?"

Terry nodded, "Yeah, but…who was that? I'm the Bat, and obviously it's not you, so…who?"

Bruce gave a weak smile, "My son Damian is in the batsuit. We all thought it was best to lead the villains away from you. Damian has been away leading the League of assassins, taking over for his grandfather, which I believe you met shortly. Ra's Al Ghoul is his grandfather, Talia is his mother, so when I refused to let Ra's take over my body, Ra's had to find a new leader to take his place. Damian had been training on his own and was honored to take his grandfather's place since he never got to take my place. However, when my boy Jason heard about the trouble we were facing here, he called in the whole family, Damian and Dick came with Jason to help look for you and Damian decided he would put on the cowl to throw the villains off your trail until you got better and fully recovered."

Terry blinked in surprise, "I…I didn't know you had a kid…"

Bruce shrugged, "Barbara was my Batgirl, you already knew that, and Tim Drake was my Robin. Well before Tim, there was my first Robin Dick Grayson, he was my ward. He worked the circus and when a crime lord caused his parents' death, I became his guardian and I raised him so he became the first Robin. After Dick grew up, he left to become his own hero, Nightwing. I was on my own for a while but then Jason came along. He was living on the streets and I found him trying to jack the wheels off my batmobile, so I took him in as a ward and taught him how to be Robin."

"After a while Jason found his real mother and he wanted to go after her. I warned him against it, but he still insisted and when I said no, he didn't listen and went out on his own. He found his mother and told her about his being Robin and she turned around and told Joker. Joker ended up beating Jason bloody with a crowbar and then blowing him and his mother up in a where house before I could get to them.

After him came Tim Drake, which you knew about. He was captured by Joker as well and tortured to become JJ. It took Tim a long time to recover from that and he eventually went in as Red Robin for a while, fighting crime on his own, that is until he started his own family. That leaves Damian. You see, Ra's wanted an hair, but since I refused to take over for him, he had to get creative. His daughter Talia was in love with me, but I didn't return that love. So, out of desperation, and her father's order, she drugged me and we had one…um…emotional night and eight years later she showed up on my doorstep with Damian, my son. I did the best I could to train Damian as my new Robin. He did well with it too. But like everything else, there is a time for everything and Damian decided it was time to give up Robin because he was too old for it and that is when I went solo and was solo for years until I myself had to give it up. And of course you know how you became the Batman."

"Yeah," Terry said with a smile, "I remember that."

"And you were a stubborn boy, told you being the Bat brought trouble," Barbara groaned out as she finally shook herself out of unconsciousness. She sighed, "Are you alright McGinnis? I kept them back as long as I could, but I'm not as young as I use to be."

Terry smiled, "I'm fine commish, what about you? Looks like you took a pretty nasty hit from Charlie."

She shrugged, "I've had worse, trust me kid."

Terry looked at Bruce with a serious expression, "What about your kid Damian? Will he be alright with Charlie and all the other villains chasing him?"

Bruce smirked, "Terry, he's the head of the League of assissains, I don't think you have to worry about him, he'll be able to shake them off no problem, and it will give them a chance to take the suspicion of you being Batman. They really will think that you just stole the suit to chase after Powers to avenge your father."

Terry nodded and winced as he shifted in his bed, "Yeah, well, I don't think I will be working for you for a little while…"

"No, you won't, in fact, you aren't working for me at all! I almost lost you and I won't let that happen again. When you recover, you will go back to the life of a normal teenager."

"No offense Bruce, but I have never been a normal teenager, and you should know that ordering me to not be the Batman is just going to result in the same situation where I became Batman in the first place. I am not going to give this up, Gotham needs me and for once I finally feel like I am worth something. Batman makes me a good person. Batman makes me a better person. Batman makes me worth while."

Bruce shook his head, "Terry, it isn't the batsuit that gives you worth and it isn't that that makes you worth while, it's the other way around. Now, get some rest and we can talk about this later," Bruce ordered. "Dick, Jason, and Barbara are going to be outside guarding this time and Superman and GL will be outside your window guarding you to make sure you and your family stay safe. All you need to do is concentrate on getting better. I'll be back in the morning to check on you."

Bruce turned to leave and then Terry held up his not broken hand, "Bruce wait…" Bruce turned back to face Terry, "Thanks for saving me and my family."

Bruce actually smiled for real, "I'll see you in the morning kid."