Disclaimers: All characters belong to Warner Brother’s, with the exception of my original characters.
Teaser: While Bruce is out of town, Terry finds something interesting in the BatComputer.
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“So what do you think?” Terry didn’t even glance up at his friend.
“Dusty,” Max replied. “Dusty and old, but interesting.”
Max had been looking around the BatCave at various things Bruce had collected in his “museum”. Terry was sifting through various files on the computer, trying to memorize names and certain facts. Currently he was on old photos of Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, and Barbara Gordon.
Max glanced around the BatCave once more before leaning over Terry’s shoulder. “So is there a picture of this ‘Alfred’ guy in there?”
“You remembered that?” Terry laughed.
“Yeah,” she replied. “And it’s been eating me up. Who is the guy?”
“Well, let’s see…” Terry pressed a couple buttons and brought up a few pictures. “Here.” He accessed one picture.
“He’s a butler!” Max hit a laughing Terry. “Hey, who’s the kid?”
“In the photo, Alfred was standing and looking down at a little red headed girl who was in turn looking up at him. Max and Terry could only see her profile, but she looked familiar.
“I don’t know.” Terry stared at the screen before typing in a few commands.
“What are you doing?”
“Searching for pictures of red heads and excluding known criminals.”
“Well that should narrow the search.” She replied sarcastically.
“Okay then,” he typed something else. “How about we just search the pictures Bruce has?”
“That would be better.”
Terry went over the pictures and selected a few. He asked the computer to identify the girl in the photos, but no name was listed so he downloaded them to a padd and headed towards the BatMobile.
“Where are you going?” Max was confused.
“To ask someone about these pictures. There are two people I know of who probably know who this is. Bruce is in Japan, which leaves me Comishoner Gordon.”
“Gordon? Why would she know about some picture in the BatComputer?”
Terry pointed at the line of old costumes. “Guess which one was hers…”
Max stood there staring. “Oh…”
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Comishoner Barbara Gordon sat at her desk inside Gotham City Police Headquarters. There wasn’t anything special about this night; it was actually relatively quiet for a Friday night. She almost didn’t notice Batman enter her office.
She sighed. “What’s the news?”
“I need to know if you know something.” He replied, handing her the padd. “I was searching through files on the BatComputer and came across these. I was wondering if you knew who the girl is.”
“This one’s me,” she replied, pointing at a picture of her and Bruce. She smiled, remembering the times Bruce had taken her out to various social events.
Then she saw the other pictures. She glanced through them a couple times before looking up at him with tears in her eyes. “I haven’t seen these for a long time.”
“Who is she?” His voice was softer.
Barbara looked down at the last picture. The girl was now a teenager, smiling at the camera in a bikini and giving a peace sign. “This was the last photo of Jessie that I took. She was 17, and it was right at the beginning of summer. A few days before she disappeared.”
“Jessie?”
Barbara glanced up at Batman. “My daughter. Bruce’s daughter. He and I were married once. Jessie’s disappearance pretty much ended it. We couldn’t cope. His personality reminded me of her, and my red hair reminded him. Even Sam doesn’t know. Not many remember.”
“Can you tell me about her?” He leaned up against the wall.
She smiled and flipped back to a picture of Jessie in business attire; a cream colored jacket and skirt accented with a bright pink shirt underneath. “I guess you could say Bruce had her in training to eventually take command of Wayne Enterprises. By the time she was a teenager, she was already heading up different business meetings and conferences. She was good at it, too. Beyond English, she also knew Japanese, Chinese and a little French. Bruce once sent her to Japan on a business trip alone.” She laughed. “I was furious.” Barbara looked up at Batman. “I was always very protective of her. I guess with good reason. I didn’t want her taking any unnecessary risks.” There was a short pause as she turned back to the pictures. “She was a gymnast, like me. Better than me, actually. She won quite a few awards. She could pull off rare and unusual moves, only one of which I could ever pull off, and that’s the one I created. It didn’t have a name, but she always called it the ‘Barbara Gordon’. I thought this was pretty much all fine in itself, but when she was about seven, she spent a summer in Japan and started training in some martial arts program. I can’t remember the name. It was a rare form. Very hard to learn. It took some people forty years just to become a half-master. It took Jessie ten. This vacation we were on,” she held up the beach photo. “It was in celebration of her reaching half-master. She loved to spar. I didn’t want her sparring though. She knew about Batman and everything. Her biggest dream was to become the next Batgirl. Bruce even suggested creating a Batwoman or even and entirely different character. I wouldn’t allow it. I didn’t want her out there fighting. She wasn’t happy. One night she went for a walk and disappeared. She wouldn’t have run away. Someone had to of grabbed her. Bruce and I scowered the city. Even Superman and the rest of the Justice League came in to help look for her. We never hound her.” A tear rolled slowly down her cheek. “If she was even in Gotham City, then she was in a lead lined building. It only got worse from then. It was all over the news. Bruce and I stopped talking and eventually were divorced. Every now and then for ten years there was a follow up story on her disappearance. You might have seen one. The last one I saw was maybe ten years ago. A few of the facts were wrong. Which leads to another reason not many know Bruce and I were married.”
“Whoa,” Batman finally spoke. “Cranky old businessman story really deepens. So this is why he’s mostly a loner?”
“As far as I can figure out.”
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“So?” Max crossed her arms as Terry got out of the BatMobile. “What’s the story?”
“Did you know Bruce was married at one point?”
“Uh. No. Why?”
Terry took off his cowl. “That girl is his daughter And not just his daughter. Gordon’s daughter, too.”
“Shway. So what happened to her? I mean, no one’s ever heard of her.”
Terry shrugged as he walked to the BatComputer. “She disappeared. Kidnapped, I guess, and never found.”
“So are we going to try to find her?” Max smiled.
“Don’t think we can. I mean, it sounds like she disappeared twenty years ago, and even Superman couldn’t find her.”
“Oh,” she stared at the old costumes for a while. “Well we could still try.”
“Maybe,” Terry yawned. “But not tonight. Come on. I’ll take you home.”
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Three nights later, the city was no longer quiet. First the Jokerz attacked the T’s. Then vice versa. Mad Stan decided the police were conspiring against the public.
Batman shook his head as he saw two people lurking in the shadows of an old warehouse. “Here we go again.”
Landing from the BatMobile, he found the intruders had already gained access to the building through a freshly broken door. He peered inside and saw one flashlight beam bouncing slightly as one of the men worked. The other was nowhere to be seen. Knocking the first to the floor with a Batarang, he glanced around the area searching for the other.
He was looking around the far side of the warehouse when the figure landed a solid kick to Batman’s backside, sending him tumbling through the rotten timbers of a previously unnoticed trap door. The figure chuckled to himself before running into the night.
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A few minutes later, Batman woke to find himself tangled among rotten wood. Pushing the wood aside, he glanced around the room which was lit with an eerie blue glow. The room was lined on either side with about a dozen capsules.
“Oh, gross,” Batman frowned.
Inside the first few capsules were what had once been humans. Little more than skeletons now remained. All of the capsules were like this until he reached the last two.
In one was a male in about his early twenties. Blonde hair. Muscular. A red t-shirt floated in the blue liquid.
The other was a red haired girl. She was thin with an almost athletic stance about her. But what caught Batman’s eye was her clothing. Her blue jeans were still in style, though most girls wouldn’t wear them the way she did. Her black t-shirt was slim fitting and barely moved in the liquid. But right in the center was a bright yellow Batman logo. He recognized it from the first costume Bruce had worn.
Batman stared at the girl’s peaceful face. “I know who you are.”
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“You sure it’s her?” Max scowled at the inside of her refrigerator. Nothing was appetizing.
“Matches the picture perfectly,” was the over-the-phone reply. “Same red hair. Same pale skin. She’s even wearing a Batman t-shirt.”
“They make those?”
“Well they used to. It’s an old one.”
“Do you know if she owned one?” She scrutinized a bottle of olives.
“Well her dad was the original Batman. And she was apparently crazy about this crime-fighting stuff. I think it’s safe to assume she had one.”
“So… What are you going to do?”
“That’s the billion dollar question.” He paused for a moment. “You’re acing that one course on experimental technology, right?”
“Yeah…” She stood up. “Wait, you’re not suggesting… I mean, this is a living person, right? And this technology was experimental twenty years ago. Even if it is used even slightly today, it would have been upgraded first, and there are a whole bunch of advancements that would have been added. So it could be completely different from anything we know of.”
“That’s why I need you, Max,” Batman grinned. “You’re the best one for the job.”
Click.
Max shook her head, dial tone in her ear. “Thanks Terry. You owe me dinner now.”
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“Seems pretty basic to me,” Max regarded one of the remaining operational units. She had been picked up shortly after the conversation ended and still had a kink in her back from riding in the back of the BatMobile. “Okay… Let’s see here.”
Wiping the dust off the console, Max accidentally hit one of the buttons. A shrill beeping filled the air followed by a hiss of air escaping from the unit she was looking at, which contained the red headed girl.
“Oh, man, what did I just do?”
“Can you stop it?”
“I don’t even know what I did! How am I supposed to stop it?”
“Well can you at least get it to shut up?” Batman was almost yelling as the beeping got louder.
Max hit a few buttons, but the noises only continued to grow in intensity. Exasperated, she finally slammed her fists down on the consol, which unexpectedly put a halt to the obtrusive sound.
“Right…” Max glanced up at Batman.
He wasn’t looking at her. “Is it just me, or is that liquid stuff draining?”
She followed his gaze to the chamber, and sure enough, the bluish liquid was slowly disappearing, revealing an very wet looking girl. As the level dissipated, the clear cover slid down with it.
“I think this is the part where she’s supposed to wake up.” Max slowly inched closer to her. “Um… I don’t think she’ll react well to your costume, even if she is a Batman fan. Better let me talk to her.”
“Hey, since you volunteered.” He motioned towards the red head, who was now taking slow, shallow breaths.
“Right. Stand back.” Max stood directly in front of the girl. “Hey, um, are you awake?” No answer. Max put her hand on Jessica’s shoulder. “Excuse me…”
The girl’s eyes shot open as she grabbed Max’s hand and gasped for breath. “What is going on?” she spoke in a raspy voice.
“I think we just woke you from the mother of all naps.” Batman stepped into her view.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Maxine,” Max spoke softly. “And this is, well, Batman.”
“He’s not Batman.” Jessica began to remove small devices from her face and arms. “I know Batman. I’ve met him. And you’re no Batman.”
Batman laughed. “I’m the new Batman.”
“’New Batman’?” Jessica’s voice was getting stronger. “You expect me to believe that?”
“If you don’t believe me, just ask Commissioner Gordon.”
“I’ll agree to that. Grandpa knows Batman, too.”
Max laughed. “Boy, are you in for a shock.”
“Yeah, well, we’ll shock her later. What about this guy? Can you get him out, too?” Batman motioned to the other unit.
“Well, I don’t even know what button I pushed.” Max started.
“Here, let me.” Jessica stepped out of her unit and took a moment to balance herself. “Yikes, how long was I in there?”
“We’re guessing around 20 years.” Max said.
“Whoa, 20 years?” she laughed. “So you’re saying I’m almost 40? Dude…”
“’Dude’?” Max glanced at Batman.
“Okay,” Jessica had made her way to the other consol. She laughed and hit a few buttons, sending the same shrill beeping into the air. After a moment, the sound faded away as the blonde was entered into the same waking process. “This guy’s Tony Smitz. He’s in my Chemistry class. A year ahead of me. Took my best friend to Prom last year and then tried to convince her to stay in a hotel with him. What a winner, huh?”
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After breaking the news to Tony that he was about 20 years out of place, Max took him and Jessica to Police Headquarters as they were closely trailed by Batman.
“Excuse me, I need to talk to Commissioner Gordon,” Max said to the brunette seated at the head desk.
“The Commissioner went home for the night,” she replied curtly. “You’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”
“Okay, put it this way,” Max began. “These two guys,” she motioned to Jessica and Tony behind her. “were kidnapped and put into some experimental cryogenics lab. Two guys broke into the building, and Batman showed up. I thought I might be able to find something out about Batman, so I followed him and somehow kinda woke them up. So… what are we supposed to do?”
The woman looked behind Max at Jessica. “You look familiar. What’s your name?”
“Jessica Wayne.”
“Any relation to Bruce Wayne?”
“He’s my dad.”
The police officer gave her a skeptical look. “Well, have a seat. I’ll have someone get to you in a minute.”
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Tony was able to contact his younger sister, who broke down crying when she saw him and Jessica. “I was at your last hockey game,” she sobbed to Jessica. “I was sitting right behind the goal when that one guy flipped you into the air, but you made the goal anyway. It was amazing.”
“Uh… Thanks.” Jessica blushed as Tony rolled his eyes.
With Bruce still in Japan, Terry showed up a half hour later and convinced the police to let Jessica go with him.
“See, I have pictures of her right here that came off Mr. Wayne’s computer so I know she’s telling the truth.” Deciding it would be better than her staying at the police station, they finally allowed her to go with him.
“So you work for my dad at the house?” Jessica asked as she put on Terry’s jacket, which he had offered to her because of the cold night.
“Yeah,” Terry replied. “I’m kinda staying there right now because he’s in Japan.”
“Well, that’s one of the places that Daddy goes a lot.” She zipped up the jacket before climbing on Terry’s motorcycle behind him. “Let me guess; he’s there either on personal business or he’s setting up an alliance with another company.”
“Uh… more like personal business.”
They were halfway to Wayne Manor, when Terry’s mom called him.
“Mom, I’m kinda already on an errand here… Can’t milk and bread wait for another half hour?”
“Terry,” Jessica could hear her voice through Terry’s helmet speakers. “If you don’t get it now, you’ll forget. And I’m not leaving Matt and his friends alone in the house.”
“Twip has friends?”
“Terry…” her voice became agitated.
“Fine, mom, I’ll pick up some stuff for you, but that means you’ll have more company for a while…”
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After picking up a few groceries for Mary McGinnis, Terry and Jessica arrived at Terry’s house.
“Here, better take your coat back.” Jessica held out his coat. “I’m getting a little warm anyway, and I don’t want anyone getting the wrong impression.”
“Uh… right…” Terry took his coat as she grabbed the grocery bag.
Terry led her up a couple flights of stairs and into his home. His little brother, Matt, was sprawled on the living room floor, flipping through an old magazine and absently changing channels on the tv. A friend of his was playing a VidGame on the couch.
“Oh, there you are Terry.” Mary called from the kitchen. “I was wondering what was taking you. What type of errand would you be on tonight anyway? Mr. Wayne isn’t in town; you told me so yourself.”
“Actually, he was just taking me home.” Jessica spoke. “It would have been a long walk if he didn’t.”
Terry and Jessica walked into the kitchen and found Mary sitting at the table, typing something into a laptop. Her legs were crossed and her foot with the little heart tattoo was steadily bouncing up and down. Jessica stared at it for a moment as realization appeared to light in her eyes.
“GoGo?”
Mary froze and slowly looked up at Jessica. “What did you just say?”
“You have a little red heart on your ankle…” she started. “My best friend has one just like that and on the same ankle… I used to call her ‘GoGo’. When we were in kindergarten, our favorite thing on the playground was the merry-go-round, and my friends name was Mary so I called her GoGo, like a merry-go-round. She and I got our tattoos on the same day; a little heart for her and a Batman logo on my left shoulder for me.”
“GiGi?” Mary looked as if she were about to cry. “Oh, my god, it’s really you!!”
Terry had to duck out of the way because his mother immediately got up and hugged Jessica.
“Somebody want to tell me what’s going on?” Terry looked from his mother to Jessica and back.
“Jess was my best friend in high school, Terry,” Mary grinned. “We did everything together. She’s the one that introduced me to your father after he moved here from Central City. I was up at Wayne Manor almost everyday and even went on a couple vacations with them.”
“How come I never heard any of this?”
“Well, when Jess disappeared, Bruce took it hard. After a while, I decided it was best not to remind them and just didn’t go there anymore, but I did talk to Barbara every now and then. She seemed to cope a little better, but I know she must have been torn up inside. Eventually, I just didn’t talk to them. When you got that job from Bruce, I thought maybe he might say something to me about the past, but I wasn’t about to start anything. I’m sure he knows who I am… or was… Warren was at Wayne Manor almost as much as I was…”
“Where is Warren?” Jessica asked. “I’d love to see how much he’s changed.”
Mary frowned. “He… died.”
“Jokerz got him.” Terry said, bluntly. “He knew something that someone didn’t want him to know.”
“Oh…”
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