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Batman Before	By : Jessy8 Category: DC Verse Cartoons > Batman Beyond Views: 8886 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Batman Beyond, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Batman Before
- 2-ch 2
- 3-chapter 3
- 4-ch 4
- 5-chapter 5
- 6-chapter 6
- 7-chapter 7
- 8-ch 8
- 9-ch9
- 10-ch 10
- 11-ch 11
- 12-Chapter 12
- 13-Chapter 13
- 14-Chapter 14
- 15-Final
- 11
- 12
- 13
Batman Before
Chapter 12
By Wildfire
      Terry walked around the shopping center, still trying to come up with an idea as to what to get for people. Everything still looked so old-fashioned to him, and he’d been here for almost six months! Shouldn’t he know by now what the “in” things were? And yet he didn’t. God, he wanted the glowing orbs, order phone -- hell, he’d settle for jumping jobbers!
      He picked up a square electronic item. Nintendo GameBoy. He examined the back of it, and realized it was like the games he played on the TV, only smaller. He then looked at the price: $98.95. According to his research, he did not have that much money. In fact, it turns out his previous beliefs were wrong. The coins were less than the paper -- go figure. He pulled out a small peace of paper.
      100 pennies = 1 dollar
      20 nickels = 1 dollar
      10 dimes = 1 dollar
      4 quarters = 1 dollar
      Everything was in dollars, and he certainly didn’t have 98 of them. In fact, he had exactly $92.47 that he had earned for cleaned the pool all of three times. And now he had to buy gifts for Alfred, Bruce, Dick, Barbara, and Tim. So many people with such little money and no idea what they even liked....
      He figured to have had about $18 for each person, so maybe a scarf or a shirt? He let out a long sigh, looking around the large store with exasperation. He never had this problem in his time. He smirked slightly at the thought.
      Bruce paid him very well to be Batman, though he supposed he deserved it, putting his life on the line and everything. What he wouldn’t do for his cash cards.... He shook his head, chuckling slightly to himself. Even if he did have his cash cards, it wouldn’t matter; they weren’t being used yet. They did have something called credit cards, which sounded similar, though unfortunately he had no financial record to speak of and you need something called “credit” to get one.
      Terry smiled as he noticed a penny on the ground, and he gingerly pocketed the coin. It was amazing how much money people threw away in this time -- he almost had a whole dollar just in fallen change!
      A nasal voice broke his thoughts. “Is there something I can help you find, sir?”
      Terry turned to see a short man who looked slightly disgruntled, since he wore a deep frown and didn’t hide his obvious distaste for Terry. He was a shorter man with crooked teeth, and overly bald. Terry could definitely tell why this man was unhappy; he would be too if he looked like that. His eyes moved down to the potbelly and slightly wondered why the man didn’t work out to at least get rid of it. Some things this man could change… right? Nevertheless, though, Terry put on a smile for the bitter man. “I’m Christmas shopping, so I’m looking for something kind of cheap, like under 20 dollars for five people. Any suggestions?”
      The man’s frown deepened, which appeared to be an amazingly hard task. Obviously, he wasn’t expecting Terry to actually need help. “I’d get everyone a $1.50 tie; they’re in aisle 10. Anything else?” he practically sneered out.
      Terry smiled; this was slightly entertaining. “Well, I’m hoping to get a gift that shows I thought about it, or at least spent more than $1.50 on each of them. You know?”
      “Well, with tax it’s almost two whole dollars. How about that? But if you want to put thought into it, wouldn’t it do better to put in your own thought instead of mine?”
      Terry nodded and decided to let the angry little man off the hook. “Sure thing. Thanks for your help, sir.”
      He turned away from the grumpy man and began to search through some videos. Man, the cases were bulky. The items that were called VHS tapes came before the DVDs, which were about three versions old from what he was used to. It was amazing to think of how fast technology moved.
      Terry sighed, realizing that he didn’t even know what movies Bruce had. Why was this so hard? He walked over and stopped at the jewelry counter. He could get Barbara a necklace or something pretty like that. His eyes scanned over some earrings with some jewels sparkling out of them. ‘These look nice,’ he thought as he lifted a pair up. Looking at the back, he saw the price was $10.95. That wasn’t too bad; he could afford that. Plus, if he got her a slightly cheaper gift, maybe he could spend a little more on Dick.
      A pit formed in his stomach at the thought of Dick. He needed to end it, he had to go home, and he certainly couldn’t date him then. He’d be older.... Well, if his dad was alive, he’d be older than him. Terry sighed, looking down at the jewelry in the display case. It was all pretty girly. He walked down the cases until he got to the men’s jewelry. He peered in, thinking that jewelry may be overkill.
      “Looking for something for your dad?” a kind-looking woman asked. She was probably a little older than Terry, while her hair was long and pulled into a loose half-ponytail.
      Terry shook his head. “No. Um, my sister wants me to pick something out for her boyfriend. Any suggestions?” He had made the mistake once with this generation and quickly learned that not everyone was as tolerant about two guys being together as Dick was.
      “Mmm. Your sister, huh? Well…” she smiled, “I have a brother that shops for my guy-friend too. You see, he’s a boy that’s my friend and my brother’s lover. Same kind of thing?” She smiles sweetly.
      Terry’s face went red at this. Then again, maybe it was more tolerant than he’d realized. “Yeah, something like that. I don’t have a lot of money, though.”
      She nodded. “Well, we have some rings that just came in. They’re $25.00 dollars each, though.”
      “Actually, that’s right in my price range.”
      “Hmm. Don’t forget a ring doesn’t mean much if you don’t have one too....” She gave him a pointed look.
      Terry grimaced. That was $50 he didn’t have! That only left him with $40 dollars for everyone else. He let out a sigh. “Guess that won’t work, then.”
      She nodded. “Now, I’m not supposed to tell you this, but they’ll go on sale tomorrow. If you were to put some on hold....”
      Terry’s eyes lit up. “How much on sale?”
      “Buy one get one fifty percent off. Wanna see them?”
      “You’re a really good saleswoman. I’m impressed.” So that’d come out to about $37.50; he could afford that. It’d be tight, but he could do it. “Alright. Show me the rings”
      “They’re of Gotham’s super team.” She pulled out a box. “I was just about to put them on display.”
      Super team? Damn, was everything about Batman nowadays? He’d love that in his time.
      She pulled out four silver rings, which were definitely designed for men. Terry picked one up to study it. Unless you looked closely, one wouldn’t be able to tell Batman was on it. On the outside was an engraving of the caped crusader, and on the inside of the ring was the word ‘Batman.’ It wasn’t perfect, hence why it wasn’t super expensive, but they were still nice.
      “Will it turn my finger green?”
      She smiled. “Good question, but no, it won’t. That’s the Batman one, here’s the Robin, and here’s Batgirl. And this one, we don’t have many of, so if you want it I suggest you put it on hold now. It’s Nightwing. He doesn’t usually work around here, but when he does he works with the Bat trio so they added some of him, though not too many as they don’t think he’ll be a good seller. Though I think they’re wrong. I think everyone will want him. He is by far the hottest, at least in my opinion.”
      Terry smiled. The lady did like to talk. He set the Batman ring down and picked up the Nightwing one, a slight smile coming to his lips. Nightwing....
&^BB&^
      [“Come on, Batman. The city’s quiet tonight! Can’t we head in?”] Nightwing’s voice rang over the intercom. But before Batman could respond, though, a female voice came in.
      [“You just want to get home to your little pool boy.”] It was no secret about Dick and Terry’s relationship. Alfred and Tim had made sure of that.
      [“Not agreeing with Nightwing or anything, but it is rather dull out tonight. Do we all need to be out?”] Robin’s voice rang out.
      Batman held in a groan. [“You live in my house; you’re wearing my technology. We will stay out tonight,”] he said rather slowly, making sure that they understood each word.
      [“Come on, Bats! It’s getting close to Christmas, and that freak in the ‘scary’ bat suit hasn’t shown his face in quite some time. Let’s go home!”] Nightwing growled out. This was why he left Bruce’s territory -- he hated being under the man’s thumb. Oh, how he hated it. But for once he found a reason why he wanted to put up with Bruce. Stupid annoying brat of a perfect kid.
      All was silent over the radio for a while. Bruce figured maybe they all had just gone to sulking and would leave him be. His silence was ruined, though, as Robin’s voice rang out again.
      [“Well, Nightwing, I hate to prove you wrong and him right, but I’ve spotted the fraud. He’s over on 67th. And-- He’s spotted me, too. Damn.”]
      Batman shot his grapple out. [“Follow him!”]
      [“Would, but he’s not running. He’s just standing there, staring at me. It’s rather nerve-wrecking, actually.”]
      [“Maybe he hasn’t spotted you?”] Batgirl threw out.
      Robin up stared at the fraud. Maybe Barbara was right; maybe he couldn’t see him. The pseudo-Batman waved at him, though he still didn’t show any signs of running. [“Negative on that one, and I think he may be able to hear us.”]
      Bruce’s eyes widened at those words. He had their transmissions heavily coded. If this fraud had hacked into that, who knew what else the guy could do! [“Robin, get out of there.”] He knew this might mean losing the stranger, but he wasn’t willing to lose Tim because of his ego. Technically speaking, this new masked man had actually done nothing wrong -- he was just horribly unnerving. The fact that he had broken in to the bat cave and made contact with someone was the most alarming fact.
      Robin hesitated for a second, briefly contemplating staying anyway before deciding he’d rather not wait to see what the fraud had in store for him, so he took off in a run. Shooting his grapple out, he swung onto a fire escape and then continued to climb upward. He got to the roof, only to jump as the doppelganger was standing directly in front of him, arms crossed. Tim swallowed hard and got in a fighting stance. “Who are you?!”
      “Batman,” the fraud answered.
&^BB&^
      Terry leaned over the roof, looking down at Robin. He had been secretly watching him for a while now. Well, actually, he had been as soon as he realized Tim was the age that he had been when the Joker had kidnapped him. He knew he shouldn’t interfere, but he couldn’t just sit back and watch the kid’s life be destroyed. He liked the kid’s happiness. It wasn’t too hard avoiding the kid’s notice, as long as he kept his cloaking on. Plus, as paranoid as Bruce is, he apparently only had two frequencies they talked on, so he could easily hear what was going on.
      He had to admit he liked Bruce better as Batman. It reminded him more of the Bruce he knew.
      [“Come on, Bats! It’s getting close to Christmas, and that freak in the ‘scary’ bat suit hasn’t shown his face in quite some time. Let’s go home!”]
      Terry smiled as he heard Dick complain. Maybe he could liven up his night a little, just as long as he made sure he didn’t reveal anything. Plus, he was rather bored, himself. He knew Bruce wouldn’t approve of him doing this, but hey, he never really did listen to the man. He flipped off his cloaking and stood up, staring down at Robin, just waiting for him to notice him. It wasn’t long before he heard Tim confirm that he’d spotted him. He smiled under the mask as Batman’s voice rang through, confirming he was on his way.
      [“Maybe he hasn’t spotted you?”]
      Terry rolled his eyes. Did they really think he was an amateur? God, if only they knew how long he’d been following Tim. He gave the boy a slight wave, just so the kid didn’t get any ideas on trying to hide on him.
      He held in a yawn. It was getting late and he was ready to go back.
      His eyes widened slightly when he heard Bruce tell Tim to run. Hmm, someone was being over-protective.... Tim hesitated all of a second before taking off. Terry turned on his jets and followed as the boy worked his way onto a roof, no doubt trying to gain more options on where to run. He landed in front of the ladder, waiting for Robin to get up. He had to bite his lip to keep from smiling at the boy’s surprised look.
      “Who are you?!” Robin yelled angrily at him.
      How many times were they going to ask that? “Batman,” he answered again.
      “What are you after?!”
      That was a new question; he wasn’t expecting that. “Nothing,” he answered before he had really even thought about it.
      Tim also seemed slightly surprised by this. “Then why are you here?”
      Terry stared at him. “Tell you what. You trust me, I’ll trust you. Turn off your radio, ignore the billionaire, turn off your transmitter as well, and then come with me and I’ll tell you.”
      [“Don’t you dare!”] came not only Bruce’s strong voice, but also Dick’s.
      Terry had to smile at that. “Noisy bastards, aren’t they?”
      “No, they’re just smart. And I think I’ll take their advice on this one.” He got in a fighting position. “What do you know?”
      “Everything, Tim. I know everything.” He knew he was making himself much more dangerous to them, but maybe they wouldn’t see him as much of a threat if they knew-- No, they would. Too late to back out now, though.
      Tim froze at his name. “Who are you?!”
      “Batman!” he shouted back, still slightly amused.
      Tim seemed slightly shell-shocked. “Why are you following me?”
      Terry stayed quiet for a while, contemplating his answer. “You won’t like the answer, so I’d rather not tell you.”
      “Nothing you will say will make me like you any less than I already do, so what difference does it make? Why did you follow me?!”
      “I don’t want you to get hurt,” Terry answered truthfully.
      A slight thud was heard as Batgirl landed beside them. “Well, thus far you seem to be the only threat to him.”
      “Careful, Barbara. I know who your daddy is. It’d be a shame for him to find out what you really do at night.” Terry looked over at her, eyes slightly narrowed. He didn’t know why, but she really pissed him off sometimes. When did she get normal, like the Barbara he knew? Why was everyone so different right now?
      Unlike Tim, she stayed strong. “It would be a shame, but I’d survive it. What about you? Can you survive Arkham?”
      “Oh, and what--?” He was cut off mid-sentence as the earth gave a great rumble and the whole building shook. An earthquake? In Gotham? The building made another loud groan. Terry’s eyes widened, realizing with a start that the building was falling. He clicked his jets on, flying upward somewhat. Suddenly, he felt the urge to look back to the two below. They realized that they could move to another building with their grapples, but who’s to say that they wouldn’t fall, too?
      Tim struggled to get his footing while trying to shoot out a grapple, but he couldn’t aim. The building was going to fall and it was going to take him and Barbara with it. He was going to die. Tim grunted as someone grabbed him around the waist. He blinked as he looked down to see Barbara holding on to a cord, so he looked up. The fraud Batman seemed to be struggling to stay up.
      Terry tried to keep them up. The jets were meant to support him and maybe one other person, but two just wasn’t working. He had to keep them up, though, until the earthquake stopped. They were only supposed to last a minute or two, right? He could keep them up that long... right? A minute? His jets didn’t seem to think so.
      His eyes stayed glued on a lamppost, waiting for it to stop shaking. He halfway heard the building that they had been standing on fall. Was it an apartment building? Were there people in there? He looked down at Barbara. He flicked the cord, slowly winding it up. He needed her up here. She couldn’t die; he needed her in the future too much. There was no way he could deal with Bruce without her. Suddenly, he could feel the power leaving the jets. They were going to fail soon just as Barbara was almost to him. If he could get her up, then he could possibly glide them down to the ground.
      No such luck, though. His jets failed... and the three started falling. He grabbed Barbara as they fell, pulling the two of them closer to his chest while trying to protect them as much as possible as they hit the ground. He grunted as the suit hit the ground. The suit took most of the shock, but his visor blacked out, leaving him in the dark. The ground shook for a few more moments before it stilled, and the visor flickered in and out. Robin walked over to him, snapping his fingers. He slowly sat up. “You two okay?”
      “You’re the one we landed on,” came Barbara’s smart-ass comment. “How are you not dead?”
      “Suit... absorbed most of the hit. Was designed that way.” Ohh, what he wouldn’t do right now for Bruce’s reassuring voice telling him he had done good and the jet would be there in a second to get him. Then the visor flicked out again. Great. If this were going to be a permanent thing, he’d be screwed. Bruce did all the fixing on the suit, so he didn’t have the slightest idea on how to fix it.
      “Can you stand?” asked Tim’s worried voice.
      Terry had to smile slightly at the boy. “Don’t you hate me?” He rolled over, moving onto his hands and knees and sitting up. He smacked his head slightly and smirked as the visor’s vision came back on. “I need to get going.” He stood up fully, firing his own grappling hook; it’d take his jets a while to recharge.
      “Hey, you’re not Batman, but thanks anyway!” Tim called out as the fraud swung away. He let out a sigh, looking at Barbara. “You okay?”
      “Yes, thanks to that freak.” She sighed heavily. “You think he’s good?”
      “I think so, but that doesn’t mean he’s not making bad choices -- just look at Freeze. Good intentions with bad ways to do it.”
      Batgirl nodded. “You’re a smart kid. My radio’s out. Yours?”
      “Yeah, mine’s out, too. You think they’re okay?” Tim looked out at the city, whose buildings were crumbled and falling. “That was an intense earthquake.”
      She nodded. “If anyone can come through that unharmed, it’s those two. I’m sure they’re fine. Let’s get back to the cave. They’ll be there waiting for us, I’m sure.”
      He nodded and started the slow walk toward the cave with Batgirl by his side.
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Batman Before