“Stage 2:Past”

By: Faita

“A camping trip? The whole grade is going on a camping trip?” Bruce asked in the batcave. Emily was walking over next to him. “Yep. It’s a science class thing,” Emily said. “Aren’t you already ahead in that class?” Bruce asked her. “Top of the class” Emily said. “Can’t you get out of this trip? You can’t be gone a whole weekend” Bruce said. “I tried. Believe me I tried. But Mr.Barnes said that the trip is mandatory” Emily said. “Yes well Mr.Barnes takes too many trips to the wine cellar” Bruce said calmly. Emily laughed. “Was that a joke?” Emily asked him. He stared at her coldly. “Stupid question” Emily said to herself. “Miss anything?” Terry asked running down the stairs. “Bruce told a joke,” Emily said. Terry looked at Bruce’s cold expression. “You’re kidding right?” Terry asked. Emily laughed. “We’re talking about that camping trip for school” Emily told him. “Oh that. What a dumb idea. We should be here, waiting for Tenma” Terry said. “Who?” Bruce asked. “Never mind” Emily said. “So what’s up for tonight?” Terry asked.

“We’ll camp here” a tall man with dark brown hair said walking into a large open area. About 60 teenagers all wearing backpacks followed him. It was a bright sunning day and the whole senior class walked into the clearing. “Get with your groups and set up camp” Mr.Barnes said. The kids got into their groups. Terry, Emily, Cassie, and Dana walked over to a corner of the clearing and began to put up tents. Terry was helping Dana, and Cassie and Emily were taking care of themselves. “That is really sad to watch?” Emily said to Cassie looking over at Terry and Dana. “What, you mean Dana with her, Terry help me, please help me Terry, I can’t do anything for myself because I’m so small and precious?” Cassie asked in a higher voice. Emily laughed. “Yeah that” Emily said smiling. “What are you two talking about?” Nelson asked walking over to them. “The frivolity apropos Dana’s conducts facing Terry and her belated femininity” Emily answered. Nelson just looked at her blankly. “For you that’s, how stupid Dana is acting around Terry, that helpless girl attitude” Cassie explained. “Oh” Nelson said and sat down next to Emily. “Sorry Nelson, that space is reserved for, um, my, um, um, oh just move” Emily said. “Ok, Ok, I’m going” Nelson said standing up, “but you know you love me” he said and kissed her on the cheek. “Ew, oh, that’s disgusting” Emily said wiping off her cheek. Cassie laughed. “Is Nelson bothering you again?” Terry asked walking over to the two girls, with Dana hanging on his arm. “Nothing I can’t handle” Emily answered him. Dana frowned. “Come on Terry, let’s go for a walk” Dana said pulling him towards the woods. “Bye guys” he said waving to them with his free hand. Once Terry and Dana were in the woods, she stopped and stepped in front of him. “Ok Terry, what’s going on?” Dana demanded. “What do you mean?” Terry asked confused. “You know, you and Emily, what’s the deal?” Dana demanded again. Terry looked at her shock. “Me and Emily? Are you nuts? We’re just friends,” Terry said. “Then why are you two always walking with each other, sitting together in lunch and spending almost every second with each other? You spend more time with her then you do with me” Dana said. “I don’t know, I guess we’re best friends or something. But Dana, you’re my girlfriend, there is no one else for me” Terry told her, she began to calm down. “Fine. But Terry, do me one favor” Dana said. “Anything” Terry answered. “Don’t talk to her anymore,” Dana said. Terry’s mouth dropped. “Never talk to her? I couldn’t do that if I wanted to” Terry said. “Why not? Because she lives where you work? You could just avoid her,” Dana said. “It’s not that easy,” Terry said. “Well make it that easy!” Dana yelled and stormed off behind him. He thought about what she said then followed her. The two of them walked back to Emily and Cassie. “Hi guys” Emily said. Terry looked at her sadly, but said nothing, just kept walking. This surprised Emily and Cassie, Dana was smiling, and Terry was sad. He wondered if he had made the right choice. His girlfriend, or his partner and good friend. This wasn’t going to be easy. He placed his free hand, by now Dana was wrapped around the other one, and held the medallion with the red bat on it that was around his neck. The one Emily had given him for Christmas. He closed his eyes. ~I’m sorry Emily, believe me I’m sorry~ he thought, then opened his eyes and continued walking. Emily and Cassie looked at each other. “That was weird,” Cassie said. “Sure was” Emily said. ~I hope Terry’s Ok~ she thought. “Ok kids! Everyone get in over here in your groups” Mr.Barnes said. All the kids walked over to him in the middle of the clearing. “Kids. Each group is in a set of four. So the first two people of the group, according to alphabetical order, will team up and explore the woods. The remaining two will stay here and help with the cooking” he said. All the kids went back to their sites. “So I guess that’s you and me Terry” Emily said. “Are you sure?” Dana asked worried. “Well, in order it goes, Grayson, Mcginnis, Tan, Yates. So, yeah I’m sure” Emily said. “It’s Ok Dana, I’ll be fine” Terry said and started walking away. “Bye guys” Emily said and ran over to Terry.

They walked in the woods awhile, in silence. Then Emily walked over to Terry and grabbed him by the shoulders. “What’s the matter Terry? You haven’t said anything to me this entire time. What’s wrong? Tell me!” she demanded. Terry opened his mouth to speak, but said nothing. “Fine then. I’m going back to camp,” she said and began to walk the way they had just come. Terry lowered his head and closed his eyes, but did nothing to stop her. Then he heard her scream. He lifted his head up and quickly turned around. He didn’t see her, but he could still hear her screams. “Terry help!” she yelled. He searched the woods as fast as he could. Finally her saw the top of her hands. He ran over to her. She was hanging over the side of a large pit with some kind of sliver pool below. “The hole was covered and I steped into it” she told him as he bent over and grabbed her arms. He tried to pull her back over the side, but he couldn’t. ~If only I had the Batsuit~ he thought. Eventually the strain on his arms got too much, and he and Emily flew over the edge into the slivery pool below.

“Where are we?” Emily asked. Terry said nothing. They were in a small room with clocks everywhere, working, but going backwards. Then the floor dropped from beneath them. They fell down on to a hard ground, the floor of a room. They stood up and looked around. “What on Earth?” Emily said half fear half amazement. They walked around the room. Emily was dragging her hand on dressers and cabinets that filled the room. “I don’t believe it” Emily said. Terry looked at her curiously. She noticed the looked and replied. “This is my room, years ago” she answered. Terry stopped walking and looked at her in disbelief. Then a young girl ran into the room, right past Emily and Terry. She grabbed something off of the bed and ran out of the room. Emily stared at her in shock and then at the door when it closed. Terry walked over to her. “Emily?” he asked worried. “Terry, you’re never going to believe this, but I think that was me” Emily said. Terry’s mouth dropped. “But how?” Terry asked. “Tenma” Emily said angrily. “Stage two, the past” Terry said understanding. “I also don’t think they can see us,” Emily said. “I think you’re right” Terry said opening the door. He walked out of the room and out into the hall, Emily followed. When they were outside Terry stopped and looked around. “How do we get outside?” he asked her. “We don’t, we follow me” she said walking down a hallway. Terry followed her. She walked over to a staircase that over looked a giant beautiful room that showed the back of the front door. Emily ran down the stairs and Terry followed. When they got to the bottom Emily went through one door then another. Then Terry stopped her. “Where are we going?” he asked her. “The back living room. I saw that I grabbed my math book off of my bed. I was probably going to do my homework, and I always do that in the back living room” Emily said and began to run instead of walk. “The back living?” Terry asked himself. Then he noticed Emily was getting farther away and ran after her.

They came to a small room in the back of the house. A girl with brown hair tied back in a ponytail sat on the couch with a light hanging over her head. She was wearing a pair of small red glasses and was reading the book on her lap. “Hello?” Emily called out to her. The girl did nothing. “Well I can’t hear me,” Emily said. Terry looked confused. “That can’t be you,” he said to her. She looked at him. “Why not?” she asked interested. “The girl’s wearing glasses. You don’t wear glasses,” Terry said. “I do sometimes, when I’m reading. Have since I was 11” she said. Terry looked at her. “I didn’t know that” he said. “There’re a lot of things you don’t know about me,” she said. When she finished speaking they heard the sound of the girl screaming. They looked at her immediately. A boy with light brown hair and looked only a couple years older then her was tickling the back of her neck. She was laughing hysterically. “Stop that you idiot” the girl shouted still laughing. Terry began to run over to her, but Emily stopped him. “Relax, that’s just Pete” she said. “Pete stop that” a young man walking into the room said, Pete stopped tickling Emily. The man had black hair and dark brown eyes. “Is that Dick?” Terry asked her. “No, that’s Eric” she told him. “Are you Ok Emily?” Eric asked the girl. “Fine. Nothing I couldn’t handle” she answered. “Yeah right” Pete said. Emily stuck her tongue out at him, he copied. “So how many brothers do you have again?” Terry asked Emily. “Three. Mark is the oldest, then Eric, then Pete, then I. In our real time Mark is 32, Eric is 26, Pete is 22, and I’m 17. Here, I think Mark is 27, Eric is 21, Pete is 17, and I’m 12. This is five years after Mom died. Dad and Mark are buried in their work, Eric is in college, Pete is failing subjects, and I’m isolated from everyone but Pete and Eric” Emily said. “Nice childhood” Terry said. “Thanks” Emily said. “If it means any thing you were a pretty little girl” Terry said. Emily looked at him. “I wonder how you looked at 12” she said. Then everything around them changed. They were in a small apartment in the main room. A woman with red hair was in the kitchen cooking, a boy sat on the couch watching TV and a smaller boy was running in circles around him laughing loudly. “Know I don’t believe this” Terry said walking around the couch to get a better look at the boy watching TV. The boy had short black hair and blue gray eyes. “Is that you?” Emily asked him smiling. He nodded. “This our old apartment, before Mom and Dad split. I’m 12, so this little boy running around must be Matt at age 4,” Terry said smiling. “He used to run around like that for hours until he got dizzy and ran into something” Terry laughed. “Nice childhood” Emily said. “Thanks” Terry laughed again. “I have a question. How could you live in such a small place, I wouldn’t survive,” Emily said. “That’s the differences between you and me, I lived in apartments all my life, and you lived in huge mansions all of yours” Terry said. “Still do” Emily said. “Well life has been handed to you on a sliver platter” Terry said. “Tell that to my Mom, oh wait, she’s dead, I almost forgot” Emily said cynically. “She didn’t even die like you said either. You told me her family killed her, well when I talked to Pete he said she was just sick. But you couldn’t, I mean wouldn’t, believe that and came up with some bogus story about her being killed. And that no one could tell you different because your mom wasn’t as strong as you thought she was” Terry said. Tears were quietly falling down Emily’s cheeks. She breathed in deeply and slapped him right in the face, and ran out of the small apartment. Terry put his hand to his face; it stung where she slapped him. He thought about what he said and ran out of the apartment too. When he got outside he heard crying. He looked down at the floor and several feet away Emily sat on the ground with her face in her arms, she was sobbing. Terry quietly walked over to her sat down next to her. He placed his arm around her shoulders. She looked up at him, tears staining her red face. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. I guess I just exploded for some reason. Probably because when we get back Dana and I are going to break up,” Terry said to her softly. “Why?” she asked when she stopped crying. “Because she said that I can’t talk to you anymore. That it was either you or her” he sighed. “Is that why you didn’t talk to me?” she asked him. He nodded. “But I couldn’t do it. You’re my best friend and not to mention my sidekick” he said. “Partner” she corrected him. “Partner” he said softly. “Well, you know. We don’t have to tell her,” Emily said standing up. Terry stood up too. “I like the way you think Grayson” he said. “Let’s go find Tenma” Emily said walking back to the apartment. But the scenery changed again. They were in a bus terminal. Tons of people were walking around them. “Where are we now?” Emily asked Terry, almost having to yell above the noise. “This looks like a Gotham train station” he answered, also having to yell. “Terry look!” Emily said pointing to a woman walking towards a train, next to her was a boy with black hair. “That’s me!” he said. They made their way closer to the two people. The train door opened and people got off, walking past Terry and his Mom. A girl accidentally ran into the young Terry, knocking the book out of her hand. He bent down and picked it up for her. “Here you go,” he said handing it to her. “Thanks” she said and smiled. “Let’s go Emily,” a tall man with long black hair said to her. “Ok Dad. Bye” she said to the man then Terry as she walked away. Then Terry’s mom lead him on to the train, Terry was watching Emily vanish into the crowd. The doors closed and the train pulled away. Emily and Terry looked at each other in amazement. “Well what do you know?” Terry said. Then everyone vanished from around them and the train station was silent. “What do you know indeed?” a man said. Tenma appeared floating in the air in front of them. “I was wondering when you were going to show up,” Emily said. “Wonder no more” he said and landed to the ground in front of them. Terry and Emily pressed a button on their belts that they now always wore. Their suits appeared on them, and their weapons came into their hands. “Now how did you learn that little trick?” Tenma asked. “Castigate gave them to us” Batgirl said. “Castigate that little worm, I never liked her,” he said. “Oh you should really get to know her, she knows a lot about you” Batman said sternly and gripped the sword with both hands. Batgirl grabbed her staff. Tenma disappeared from their sight. They relaxed their bodies and looked around. “Where’d he go?” Batman asked. Then he yelled out in pain and fell to the ground. They heard Tenma laugh, but could not see him. He kicked Batgirl in the back too; she held her ground because she knew what was coming. “Nice. But hit me if you can” he said. She swung her staff in the air and hit nothing. She pressed a place on her mask, then looked around. Tenma swung at her with his fist, she dodged it. “How?” he asked in shock. “Heat detection” Batman said and swung at Tenma with his sword. Tenma dodged and Batman almost hit Batgirl. “Watch it” she yelled and dove out of the way. “Sorry” Batman apologized quickly. Batgirl regained her balance and swiped at the outline she saw of Tenma. He dodged her attack too. Then his outline disappeared from her sight. She turned off her heat vision. Batman did to. “I lost him,” Batman said. “Likewise” Batgirl said. “Now you can’t find me at all. My body has no heat now. What will you do?” he asked. “Just because we can’t see you with the bare eye or heat vision, doesn’t mean we can’t find you” Batgirl said and pressed another place on her mask. Batman did the same. Tenma kicked Batman in the stomach. Batman flipped backward and attacked Tenma head on with his sword. Tenma dodged, but Batman swung around and stabbed Tenma in the rib cage. Tenma cried out in pain and fell to his knees. Batgirl ran over to them. “How, did, you, see, me?” Tenma asked pausing between words. “Echo location. A high pitch came from our masks and sent back images of what was around us. If it had shape, we could see it,” Batgirl explained. “We are Batman and Batgirl you know” Batman said. Then Tenma fell to the ground, dead. Then everything disappeared, the station, Tenma, their costumes, and their weapons. They were standing in the middle of the woods. They looked around. “Two down” Terry said. “And four to go” Emily finished. They smiled and walked back towards camp. When they got there only some of the groups had gotten back. They walked over to Dana and Cassie who were standing over a fire. Dana looked unhappy at their smiling faces. “Hello Terry” she said as they got to them. “Uh, Dana. We have to talk” Terry said. “Cas, over here” Emily said to Cassie walking away. Cassie stood up and followed her. “What is it Emily?” Cassie asked her worried. “We ran into Tenma, and defeated him” Emily said in a whisper. Cassie looked surprised. “Sorry I wasn’t there, you should have called me” Cassie said back in a whisper. “We can do that?” Emily asked surprised. “Yes of course,” Cassie said. “Now you tell me” Emily said. “Never mind that. You only have sky, space, death, and future left,” Cassie said. “Yeah I know. Can’t wait” Emily smiled. Terry walked over to them slowly with his head looking down. Emily and Cassie looked at him. “Sorry Terr” Emily said. “It’s Ok. Not like we haven’t fought before,” he said with a fake smile. “She’ll come around. Don’t worry” Cassie said. “Really? How do you know?” Terry asked her hopefully. She looked at him. Emily looked at Cassie then Terry. Terry looked at both of them. “Never mind” Terry said with a real smile. “So what are you going to do the rest of the trip?” Emily asked him. “I don’t know yet. Guys if you don’t mind I’d like to be left alone” Terry said. “We’re going” Emily said as they walked away. Terry took a few steps towards the woods and turned around to watch Emily and Cassie walk away. ~I gave up my girlfriend for her. For Emily Grayson, my partner and best friend. We fight a lot, and never really agree on anything. But I gave up one of the only things that were going right in my life for her. I am losing my mind, I have to be. But I had to pick her. Right now I, and her, are facing a very difficult challenge, I have to talk to her, I had to choose her. If only Dana knew that. All the if onlys in the world can’t help me now. Great, now I’m thinking like Emily~ Terry thought. He sighed and walked back to the camp.

“Hi Ace” Emily said as she placed her bags at the front door and bent down to pet the dog. Bruce walked up in front of her. She looked up at him and stood up. “How was your trip?” he asked her. “Let’s say it went better for me then it did for Terry” she answered. “I’ve been working on something,” Bruce said walking towards an entrance to the cave. Emily followed him. They walked down the stairs and over to the computer in silence. Bruce pressed a button, and a holographic image of an elderly man with white hair appeared besides Emily. She looked at it in shock, and smiled. “You got the VA to work!” she said as she inspected the hologram. “I got it to appear, but I still need to make it able to speak” Bruce said. “Can I help you?” Emily asked him eagerly. “Of course” Bruce said. Emily smiled and steped up next to him at the computer, she started typing at the controls. Bruce sighed. “What?” Emily asked him. “It’s nice to have a Grayson here again,” Bruce answered. Emily laughed. “Maybe Mark’s son Tom will be here someday” she said. “How old is he?” Bruce asked. “Interested in the family?” Emily asked amused. “I have some catching up to do” Bruce said. “Fair enough. Mark and Pat are still married and Tom is now two. Eric has joined a law practice as a partner. Pete is still in college studying Greek mythology when he’s not being turned down by girls. Dad is caught up in his work and only comes out on certain occasions, and I am currently living with my surrogate grandfather in Gotham, taking on a legacy” Emily said. “What about Tim?” Bruce asked. “I lost track of his family. I can’t do everything,” she said still typing. “Me too” Bruce said. “If we create a link from the memory boards to the program directly it might work” Emily said. “Try it,” Bruce said.