It had been months since his dad was accused of murder, months since he and his brother joined to hunt the culprit and months since Nightwing and the others realized his dad was innocent. Yet, they were able to do nothing. They could prove Batman was innocent, but not Bruce Wayne. Until his dad’s name was cleared, he refused to return to school. He rather use the time to monitor Gotham and perfecting the video link system on the cowl.
Ace glanced up when he heard the door opening on the upper level. “Master Terry, you have a guest.”
“I know. I’ll be up in a moment.” He answered before clearing his work area. He saw XIII on the monitors long before he even reached the door with his dog. “Ace.” He called to the black hound before ascending the stairs to the manor. The dog followed faithfully behind him.
Instead of going to the living room or the dining room, he walked straight out to the front of the manor. XIII sat at the steps with his dog running about happily. His fellow Cadmus project had a mild case of claustrophobia.
“If he does his business on the grounds, you’re cleaning it.” Terry said bluntly as he stopped a feet away from the other.
Conner chuckled and turned to him. “I’m not the only one with a dog here.”
“Ace is trained to do his business in a specific location.” He drawled. “What are you doing here XIII?”
“I thought I’d pay you a visit.” The super clone chirped. “It’s been a while since I saw you and Tim. I heard you got a dog too.”
Terry raised a brow at the other’s response. “Is that all you came here for?”
“Hehe.” He laughed sheepishly. “You caught me. I missed having either of your around. It’s just not the same with the other Titans.”
“Hmph, you never change on this aspect. Always dependent on others.” Terry said as he watched Krypto zoom towards Ace, trying to engage him in a playful banter.
“Is that really a bad thing?” Conner asked, grinning as he noticed Ace ignoring Krypto’s attempt to lure him into playing.
“You have too much time on your hands.” Terry murmured.
“And you never seem to have any.” Conner retorted.
“Did you come to lecture me?”
Ace finally snapped when Krypto tugged at his tail. He dropped into a low stance with a growl.
“No.” Conner said in amusement.
Krypto barked happily as he jumped away from Ace with his tongue lolling out.
“You trust too easily.” The young boy commented as he watched Ace charge at Krypto.
“You don’t trust enough.” The super clone continued as Krypto dodged Ace’s attack and pounced at him playfully.
“Trust is a fickle thing.” Terry said as Ace threw off the other dog and ran off.
“Not if you find someone that’s worth trusting.” Conner grinned. Krypto chased after Ace gleefully.
“Perhaps.” Terry smirked as Ace rounded a hedge.
“Tim’s trustworthy you know.” He continued. “You can start with him.” The white dog followed.
“It took him weeks to believe dad didn’t kill Fairchild.” Terry snorted.
Krypto let out a loud yelp before Conner stood up. “Krypto!”
Ace walked out casually from the hedges, strolling back to Terry. Conner waited a moment longer before the Kryptonian dog gave a slight growl and burst out from behind the hedges. He hovered sulkily with steel nets still hanging on his body before he glided back to Conner’s side.
“… Did you train your dog in combat?” He asked in puzzlement as he pulled the steel nets off of Krypto.
“I didn’t need to.” The younger boy answered as Ace snorted.
Conner raised a brow. “It’s scary how much that dog is like you.”
Terry found himself chuckling. Conner’s blunt comments were always amusing and comforting.
o.o.o.o.o
“…I need your help.” That one line was what everyone was waiting for. They never thought they would ever hear it from him.
Not long after the message, Terry and Alfred left for Oracle’s Tower. It was uncomfortable for the youngest Wayne to be around such a large group, but his father needed to meet with all of them. And with Oracle’s disability, it was best to meet at her tower.
“I still can’t believe it.” Oracle said happily as Batman stepped out of the Batmobile. She and the others quickly greeted the man with their own excitement at his returned.
If given a chance, Terry would much prefer to stay at Wayne manor and not stand on the sidelines watching the happy reunion. It made him uncomfortable. The only comfort he had was Alfred standing beside him. At least until she spoke with him.
“You don’t want to be here.” Batgirl commented.
“Miss Cassandra.” Alfred greeted before the girl gave him a warm smile, but she wasn’t distracted easily.
“You were the one that trusted him all this time.” She said quietly.
Terry glanced at her silently, what did she want?
“You should talk to him. You’re apart of this just as much as us, if not more.” She was trying to include him.
He glanced at Alfred questionably, unsure how to respond to the girl. The old butler smiled in response. After a short internal debate, he glanced back at the girl before slowly walking towards where his father and the others were.
“Thank you Miss Cassandra.” Alfred said gratefully to the girl as they watched Oracle and the others greet Terry and engaging him into conversation.
“I just thought he could use a little help like how Barbara helped me.” She answered truthfully. “Compared to the first time I’ve seen him, he’s relaxed a great deal. With some more time, I think he’ll eventually get used to it.”
“I truly hope so.” Alfred replied.
The meeting was prompt with everyone divulging and pooling all the information they gathered in Batman’s absence. Nothing they did could compare to Batman’s first hand experience. With only the details given by them, the man had concluded who was the culprit for this frame up. It was David Cain—Batgirl’s father. They needed to confront the man before they could go any further.
And so, they plotted. They were going to lure Cain out. If he wanted to hurt Bruce so badly, he would have to show his face. Batman, Robin, Nightwing and Batgirl would go out into Gotham patrolling in open areas, while Oracle stayed in her tower monitoring the whole situation. Of course, she wasn’t the only one monitoring the plan’s execution. Terry was monitoring from the depths of the batcave. His new prototype was installed onto the cowl. The video feed gave him a 360-degree view of the wearer. Unfortunately, it only benefits the person monitoring, not the wearer.
“Nothing here.” Robin reported over the group frequency.
“Nor here.” Batgirl prompted moments later.
Nightwing gave an exasperated sigh. “This is a wild goose chase.”
“There’s a conflict in the northeast section.” Oracle informed the group before they quickly rushed towards the location. Batman was the first to get there and handled the situation.
“Knife at three, pipe at seven-thirty.” Terry murmured as he watched the multiple screens.
He was taken back to the cave via batmobile after the meeting. He didn’t want to sit on the sidelines useless. Even though the cave was broken into before, the openings have been closed the cave was safe again.
“Cleared, still no sign of him.” Robin reported again.
“Keep your eyes open, you never know with the likes of him.” Oracle started, but was quickly interrupted.
“You should take your own advice.” A deep voice vibrated through.
“Barbara!” Nightwing shouted when she screamed. A tense moment crossed the group as they listened to the conflict with their breaths held.
At least until they heard Bruce’s reassuring voice. “I got him, Barbara’s fine.”
There was a collective sigh of relief. Terry was not among them. “Would you like any further assistance Alfred?”
“I don’t believe so Master Terry.” The old butler replied from the private line he had been directing for the majority of the night. The man that was in the batsuit was none other then Alfred.
In order to lure Cain out, they decided to use Oracle as bait. Given to her difficulty in moving about, she made the perfect target for Cain to go after. Alfred had to go about Gotham disguised as Batman while Bruce stayed hidden at Oracle’s tower. The whole show of the batmobile returning to the cave and later Alfred running out was to make Cain believe Bruce had truly left Oracle undefended.
“It seems like Alfred’s doing a great job filling in as Batman.” Tim joked over the line.
“Hopefully, he doesn’t need to fill in for the real Batman often.” Dick murmured.
Silently, they were all worried for Bruce’s well being. It was unnecessary. The dark knight managed the situation expertly. Anticipating Cain’s moves was the major blow to the man’s morale. It took little for Bruce to take the man down in a fight and Cain peacefully turned himself in. He confessed for all his crimes. Lex Luthor had hired him to tarnish Bruce Wayne’s name for disrupting his weapons manufacturing deals.
It was only luck that Luthor had chosen an assassin that knew Bruce Wayne was Batman and had a grudge against him. Cain’s frame up was a test to Batman as a father figure to Batgirl, Cassandra Cain. Revenge had a very small role in the matter. Not long after turning himself in, Bruce Wayne was announced innocent and his name was cleared. Terrance’s Wayne’s existence returned to the public.
If given a choice, Terry would have extracted vengeance from Luthor, but he had no time. His father kept a close eye on him, determined to integrate him to normal society. The following weeks were one issue after another. A lengthy lawsuit started on Sasha Bordeaux’s behalf on being unrightfully imprisoned, but before the case had a chance to reopen, Sasha died from an internal injury in prison. Both Bruce and Terry doubted her death when the report noted a non-existing family member retrieved her corpse.
There was little the father and son could do to find Sasha. No trails were left for them to follow. Sasha was lost to them. To Terry, he would much prefer that she was dead to close off any loose ends, but he knew his father would want otherwise.
At the lost of the bodyguard, his father hasn’t missed the fact he purposely disappeared from the public to assist him. In doing so, he missed nearly a year’s worth of schooling. Not that he needed the education. Terry could easily teach the classes himself, but that wasn’t what Bruce wanted. He wanted Terry to have some semblance of a normal life, to interact with child his age.
Terry found himself grounded and barred from the caves for a month. He could have easily broken in, but that would have infuriated his father. This was probably the first punishment he gotten from the man. The oddest one too he might add. In Cadmus he would’ve gotten a tongue-lashing and an extra workload of menial jobs. Instead, he gotten a warm voice of concern and a long vacation. This was the first time he’s given such a long break.
…
He found himself bored after the second day.
Alfred quickly noticed his boredom, but there was little the old butler can do to alleviate his problem. One can only explore the Wayne property so many times before it lost its appeal. Though Ace seemed to enjoy his long walks with him. Terry had gotten permission from his father to keep him shortly after the man returned from dealing with Cain.
The grounded boy was quite certain he was going to go mad until that eventful day at the academy. He was hiding in the library when he heard the commotion outside. He peeked out to the corridor and found a familiar young man running towards him. He knew this boy for no more then a month, but he could still recall him clearly standing by Miss Ivy. From the looks of it, the boy must’ve snuck into the school.
“Michael, over here!” He hissed out loudly before the boy caught sight of him and ran into the library.
Terry closed the door behind him as he listened for the guards to run pass. He stayed silent as he waited for Michael to catch his breath. Once he caught his breath, his fellow No Man’s Land survivor turned to Terry wit a wry grin.
“Fancy seeing you here. We thought you were dead or something when you didn’t turn up in any of the orphanages.” He drawled. “Got adopted instead? Looks like you’re doing fine in this fancy school.”
Terry shrugged carelessly. “Wayne Enterprises offers the employees’ children a chance to attend the academy. It’s not all rich families here.”
“So your parents work for Wayne Enterprises.” He shrugged. “I guess that’s not too bad. I hear something about the head guy did something, but wasn’t really paying much attention to it.”
“What are you doing here Michael?” Terry asked.
“I gotta eat don’t I?” The other answered before showing him a bag filled with stolen trinkets. He recognized most of them from his fellow classmates. The ones from rich families in particular, loved to show off their new toys or jewelry their parents bought them.
“Isn’t the orphanage feeding you? Why are you stealing?”
The other boy snorted. “The orphanage barely has enough money to stay open. I’m just stealing enough to feed myself.”
Terry frowned. He had forgotten that most of the funding for these orphanages came from Bruce Wayne’s charity parties and whatnots. With his father gone for the majority of the year, no one held functions to support the orphanages. He doesn’t blame Michael for stealing to survive. He had done it himself in the past.
“You’re going to get caught one of these days.” He warned the other.
Michael gave another snort. “You’re one to talk. You don’t have to worry about not starving to death.”
“I had.”
Michael became quiet for a moment. “That was different! We all had to go through that!” He was referring to No Man’s Land.
“And yet, I some how got here.” Terry added.
“Are you trying to rub it in my face?” Michael growled.
“No.” Terry answered. “I’m just stating you don’t need to steal to survive.”
“Only if you’re lucky.” He grumbled. “You’re not going to turn me in are you?”
“I will if you continue doing this.”
“Che, so this is a warning?” The other boy pocketed his hands.
“It’s advice.” Terry quipped.
“Hmph.” Michael snorted once more. “How do I know you’re not lying?”
Terry pointed towards the back of the library. “There’s an emergency exit there. If you detach the sensor, you can leave without setting off the alarm.”
“…” Michael stared at him. “How do you suppose I do that?”
Terry raised a brow before leading him towards the back and easily disabled the sensors with a mechanical pencil.
“… You never told me you could do that.” He said in surprise when the door opened silently.
“There’s no need for those skills.” He reasoned.
“…” Michael sighed and shook his head. “You’re definitely a weird one.” He grinned cheekily. “But congrats on the high-life.”
Terry was startled by the sincerity of the other boy’s voice. He really didn’t expect the other to respond positively at his advice and help. He was fully expecting it to be ignored or tossed back into his face. He had some doubts when he saw Michael again—the next day—he thought he needed to call the authorities. But to his surprise, he didn’t need to. Michael wasn’t there to steal. Rather, he was there to drag him to the orphanage to see the others. Apparently, they were unable to adapt to normal life and stayed close to one another.
His little action the day prior seemed to have relit their trust and interest on him. Each of the other children was like Michael engaged in juvenile crimes. It was unacceptable. From all the case studies and statistics he went through during his time in Cadmus, children committing petty crime in their youth were likely to continue such activities after they reached adulthood. Ivy had taken in a dozen to two dozen children into her care during the crisis. If he let this continue, the next generation of petty criminals will sky rocket.
Since he was already grounded, it was a perfect way to pass the time. He dubbed this little pet project as the Ivy League. Partially due to the fact they were all orphans in Ivy’s care and the other half was a personal experiment to see if he was able to change these orphans enough to get them interested in actually attending Ivy League colleges in the future. His previously boring schedule was quickly filled up with meeting the Ivy Leaguers.
At first, when he requested Alfred to pick him up at a later time, the old butler was a little skeptical about his activities. However, when he spotted the laughing children Terry was engaged with, he felt relieved and almost excited for his young master. The children were affectionate with him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder or dragging him off by the hand. To the old butler, it seemed like Terry was finally adapting to normal life.
o.o.o.o.o
Meanwhile, Tim was occupied with his own pet project in Terry’s absence. With the other barred from the cave for the month, he was able to work on deciphering Terry’s hard drive without the other knowing. However, after spending days trying to crack the security, he opted to attempt to guess the passwords. Terry had done an excellent job in the coding. It was impossible to access the files otherwise. Fortunately, or unfortunately, there was a hint to the passwords in opening the drive and its files.
The first Tim came across was simply: Ibn al Xu’ffasch.
It had taken him hours before he realized it was Romanized Arabic. The ‘al’ within the Ibn al Xu’ffasch hinted there was some connection to Ras al Ghul. He found the translation to be: Son of the Bat. However, that was not the password, but what was the actual password surprised Tim greatly.
“… Damian Wayne…” He said in disbelief when it accepted the password. “… I’m not sure should I call this kid a genius to use the brat’s name as a security password or call his a masochist for using the name of the person that’s constantly trying to kill him.”
There were few people who knew who Batman was and even less were aware that he has a son. It narrowed the number of people that could access the drive immediately, that itself was praise worthy. Of course, much to Tim’s annoyance, that wasn’t the only line of security used. A second password window popped up with the hint: 0715.
After spending so much time on the first password, Tim decided he probably needed assistance. And who better to help him then the person that knows Terry the longest?
“Let me get this straight, you want me to help you crack Beyond’s files?” Conner said in disbelief.
“Yep.” Tim answered.
“Are you crazy?” Conner jumped up from his seat. “If Beyond finds out, he’ll kill me! What makes you think it’s a good idea to steal his drive in the first place? How the heck did you manage to steal it? He never lets that thing out of his sight!”
“Bruce grounded him from using the caves and he left it there before his grounding started.”
“… He’s grounded?” Conner gapped, that was unheard of. Even Cadmus never grounded him.
“Never mind that.” Tim continued. “There’s this recording he has I just have to get.”
Conner raised a brow. “What? He got blackmail footage on you or something?”
Tim smirked. “Nope, he has a recording of him calling Lex Luthor a Superman fan boy with Luthor on the other side of the line.”
The super clone stood stunned with his eyes widened before quickly pounced the computer. “What the hell are we waiting for? Let’s get started!”
“I knew you’d see it my way.” Tim commented.
They quickly plugged the drive into the computer port and got to work. The first password was quickly typed in before the second hint came up for the second password.
“0715.” Tim started. “I know it’s on military time but—”
Conner let out a laugh before his hands glided across the keyboard and the window accepted his password. “Man, I never thought Beyond would use that as a password.”
“… It took me hours to answer the first question. How the heck did you get this one so quickly?” Tim asked in disbelief.
The other continued to snicker. “Simply because you haven’t been around Beyond for most of your life.”
“… What was the answer?” Tim asked.
“Breakfast.”
“… Breakfast?” Tim repeated.
Conner’s grin widened. “0715, is the time we normally have breakfast in Cadmus. I guess something trivial like that would throw off master detectives like yourself.”
Tim scowled at the cheekiness of the other, but quickly returned to the screen. “Enough, let’s just look for that recording.” Unfortunately, there drive was still closed with yet another password in place. “Just how paranoid is he?”
Conner cracked up laughing, he didn’t expect Beyond’s security to be as simple habitual questions. He fully expected questions that would hurt his brain for hours. “What do you expect? A red carpet into everything he knows? You’re forgetting Beyond was once part of Cadmus and his job requires the utmost security.”
Tim sighed. “It’s hard to remember the kid isn’t human.”
“Hey!” The super clone retorted. To call Beyond inhuman was the same as calling him inhuman.
“Sorry.” Tim murmured. “Didn’t mean it that way, but you know what I mean.”
“Yeah…” Conner grinned wryly. “Beyond is no mere mortal.”
“All right, now we’re settled the kid as some higher being trapped in a human’s boy, let’s continue before his holiness gets out of his grounding and smite us.” Tim’s comment only made the other laugh harder.
The next hint was: Love’s Wife.
“… Any idea?” Tim asked when he came up with a blank.
“Uh… I don’t think Beyond knows the concept of love, other than the sociological outcome.” His words made Tim pause momentarily before he went back to his murmurings.
“Then it’s not a Cadmus based question.” Tim sighed in irritation. “Back to researching again… Ugh…”
“What are you two moaning about?” Cassie, Wonder Girl, asked as she walked in.
Tim and Conner looked at one another before they both answered at the same time. “Riddles.”
“Riddles?” She asked curiously. “That sounds interesting, can I join?”
They shrugged, it wasn’t like they were getting anywhere by themselves. “Sure, if you want Cass.” Conner answered. “The hint is Love’s Wife.”
“Oh that’s easy. It’s Psyche.” She answered.
Tim quickly typed in the answer, but it wasn’t accepted. “Sorry Cass, wrong answer.” Tim said dejectedly.
“That’s because you spelled it wrong.” She continued before typing it in herself. “Psyche is Eros’ wife, Eros being love or more commonly known as cupid.”
The answer was accepted.
“Cass, you’re awesome!” Conner said excitedly as he pulled his girlfriend into a hug.
“Great work Cass.” Tim said excitedly as the screen filled with folders, all labeled in shorthand.
“… This isn’t a riddle game.” Cassie concluded as Tim and Conner scanned through the list of folders.
“Nope, it’s something better.” Conner said giddily.
“Which folder would it be under?” Tim muttered.
“Why don’t we try XIII, he’s sort of related to me, right?” Conner suggested.
“Who? Superman?” Cassie asked. “What are you guys talking about?”
“Shush!” Conner said quickly as the folder opened without a hassle. Many of the files weren’t protected in the XIII folder, but none of them were the file they were looking for.
“No, this folder is solely your information.” Tim murmured before they hit a locked file.
“Paranoia?” Cassie read curiously before a hint popped up. “The king?”
“I don’t think this is the file.” Tim started, but Conner quickly interrupted.
“But I want to know what this file is! Nothing else in my folder was password protected. I want to know what’s so special about this one.”
Tim gave a sigh. “But there are so many kings. We can spend hours or days on it.”
“Then let’s get started!” Conner chirped stubbornly.
For the next twenty minutes, they’ve tried one name after another. From King Solomon to Henry VIII to Elvis, none of the names worked. The irritation was starting to build with each failed attempt.
“Argh… why is this one so hard?” Conner whined.
“Sup? What’s hard?” Bart asked as he zoomed into the room after zooming pass just seconds earlier. The trio groaned in defeat before he glanced over to the screen. “Hmm? A riddle? The king…” he grinned brightly. “Burger King!”
“You can’t be…” Tim started, but trailed off when the password was accepted. “Are you serious?”
Bart blinked innocently. “What’s wrong with Tim?”
Conner laughed sheepishly. “I think he’s finally cracked.”
The file opened to an audio recording, with a familiar scream of panic.
“…Are you okay?” Tim’s voice came through.
“He’s been like that since he came back.” Bart’s voice came next. “I think I preferred him depressed.”
“That little snot bugged me!” Tim said in disbelief as they listened to the repeat of Conner’s psychotic episode.
“Ha! I was right!” Conner said in triumph.
“Who the heck managed to bug Tim without him knowing? That’s some skills there.” Bart commented. Tim was going to respond, but a calm commentary interrupted him.
“After two weeks of no stimulants, subject XIII reacts negatively in a state of paranoia. However, when exposed to the stimulant, such as the RSS, subject flees in fear. The experiment… mmhhmm, haha!” The bellow of dark laughter sent chills down their spines.
Conner whimpered pathetically as he hid behind Cassie in fear. “Turn it off! Turn it off! Make him stop!” He wailed.
Tim closed the file as the dark laugh died and the speaker gave an amused murmur on someone being early.
“Oh my god! Who the hell was that?” Bart squeaked.
“Was that… the Beyond Conner speaks about so often?” Cassie asked, still trying to shrug off the chills from the dark laugh. “He sounds like a child devil.”
“Creepy!” Bart agreed.
“Dude! Where’s the evil dude that broke in?” A green parrot flew into the room in a panic before Garfield changed back in its place. “I heard the evil laugh all the way down the hall!”
“I believe it was a recording.” Raven’s dark voice entered the room as she stepped in. She was with Garfield when they both heard it.
“You don’t want to know.” Conner murmured quietly.
Raven raised a brow. “What are you guys doing in here anyway?”
“Dunno it looked like they were doing riddle or something.” Bart answered.
“But it’s not a game, at least with what we’ve found so far.” Cassie added.
“Do you want to join?” Conner chirped cheerily. “So far, all the answers are weird.”
The two agreed to stay and help before Tim closed the XIII folder and went to the next, the JLUN folder. They guessed it was shorthanded for something that involved the Justice League. The hint was: Knitting the Night Sky.
“Seven Goddesses.” Raven answered after a moment. The group paused waiting for an explanation. “It’s a Chinese mythology, the blanket of night is knitted by seven goddesses, but one fell in love with a mortal and strayed from her duties. Eventually, the world suffered from days of heat and drought until the mortal she fell in love with told her to return and she and the other goddesses continued their duties to knitting a new blanket of night every night.”
The password was accepted. Inside of the folder were files on how to neutralize each and every one of the Justice League members. Some went as far as killing the league members. Garfield lost his lunch halfway before they decided to choose another folder.
“That is sick.” The changeling murmured. “What are you guys doing with information like that?”
“… Conner… his job in Cadmus… was it…” Tim was hesitant to ask.
“His job was to plan for any threat the Justice League might turn out and neutralize it.” Conner shrugged. “Not something he particularly enjoyed, but a job’s a job.”
“… Let’s just move to the next folder.” Tim murmured.
The next folder they chose was BMLIN and the hint for the folder was: Batman’s Love Interests. The group stared at the hint in disbelief.
“… Batman’s love interest?” Bart said in disbelief.
“Dude, your boss is human?” Garfield said before Raven knocked him over the head for being stupid.
“I think that’s yours to answer Tim.” Conner said.
Tim flushed in embarrassment as he quickly connected to the batcave’s computer. “How the heck did this kid find out of this information?” He murmured before quickly hacking through Bruce’s files and counted the list of love interests he had as Batman. “25…”
The guys in the room gave a whistle. “Man, your boss gets around.”
However, twenty-five was not the actual answer, it actually took a moment before he realized there were zeros in front of twenty-five and the number of zeros corresponded with the number of women Terry actually recognized. Like Damian Wayne, this was a good choice. Only those who had access to Batman’s past love interests would be able to answer it. The content of this folder was very much like the JLUN folder. They figured the N in the end stood for neutralize. In the folder were a file for each of Batman’s previous love interest and twenty ways to kill them or deal with them if they return from the dead to harm Batman.
“… I’m starting to think he’s the fan boy here.” Tim murmured before they continued onto the next folder. They really don’t want to know how half these women would die if they ever cross Beyond.
“Oh man… Ms. Lane is there too.” Conner gapped
The next folder was BBEP and the hint was: Little Red.
“Embarrassment?” Garfield guessed, but was quickly interrupted.
“Sex.” Everyone stared at Raven. “It’s probably in connection to little red riding hood and how the red symbolizes temptation and what the wolf ultimately wants in the end.”
“… Conner! What kind of friend is this Beyond?” Cassie said heatedly when the password was accepted. “Some dirty old man?”
“… Dirty… old… man…” Conner’s shoulders shook with mirth.
“What’s so funny?” Bart asked, but that only made Conner laugh even harder.
“… I don’t think a dirty old man can pass off being a girl…” Raven murmured as she glanced through the files over Tim’s shoulder.
“… When he said he’s trained in espionage… he wasn’t kidding.” Tim murmured. “He even has down what brand and shade of makeup that suits his complexion.”
“Wait what? Beyond cross dressing?” Conner jumped out of his seat and rushed to the screen, but pouted when he saw only text. “Aw… no pictures?”
“I don’t think he’s stupid enough to keep incriminating pictures of himself cross dressing.” Tim commented dryly. “It’s not in this folder either.”
The others didn’t ask what he was looking for. From what they’ve seen so far, they reasoned it was important. This Beyond character had so many questionable files and many was disturbing. The next folder was labeled DWAG, the hint was: Golden Arches.
“Golden arches…” Cassie pondered. “Would that be the Doges Palace in Venice?”
“No way, it’s McDonalds!” Bart argued.
“As disgusting as the last password was, this Beyond character is definitely well educated, why would it be a stupid fast food restaurant?” Cassie argued.
Bart grinned. “But he did use Burger King earlier.”
Cassie paused before glancing over to Tim, who was typing the answer in. “Bart got this one, its McDonalds.” He answered.
“YAHOO! I got it right!” Bart cheered while Cassie scowled.
“There seems to be a pattern here…” Conner murmured.
“Pattern?” Tim glanced up to the other in surprise.
“The passwords we’ve encountered so far seem to follow a difficulty pattern.” He said seriously.
“… Conner… We chose which folder to open.” Tim said dryly.
“I know.” He whined. “But the probability of the difficulty level follows the same pattern!”
“… So what’s your point?” Tim asked.
“Beyond is an ASS!” Conner said vehemently with a pout.
“…” Tim was silent for a moment returning his attention returned to the screen. “Conner, you’re an idiot.”
“Hey!” The other protested but Tim ignored him and quickly went through the files in the new folder they opened. It seemed the entire folder was dedicated to the hell spawn, Damian Wayne. There were multiple video recordings of the brat triggering traps and expertly moving around them afterwards.
“Subject DWAG is improving tremendously. Locks C-21 to C-29 have been bypassed.” Terry’s voice rang through the room with amusement as he noted on his findings.
“Sick.” Garfield said in amazement. “This kid is going through all these security precautions like nothing! How can this guy just talk as if it was nothing?”
“…” Tim remained silent, he could think of plenty of reasons. The main one being Terry was not the least bit terrified of Damian and followed closely by their morning game of tag.
Bart gave a whistle. “Man, this Beyond guy is quite a character.”
“It’s not here either.” Tim murmured quietly, but the group’s attention was caught. Despite how interesting Damian’s abilities were to them, they’re curious to what Tim was looking for. The next folder they chose was labeled PJBB. Surprisingly the folder was not locked, but what they found was shocking. “This is…” Tim whispered.
Conner glanced over Tim’s shoulder before a quiet smirk touched his lips. “Beyond’s evaluation files.” The group was captivated. After hearing so much about the great Beyond, they were finally able to see what he can do.
“His physical abilities are average, but… he can shoot accurately 490 out of 500 …” Tim became silent. Not only Terry was skilled with a gun, his aim was meticulous, there was little chance he would miss.
“I told you he emptied five rounds at me without blinking an eye.” Conner muttered.
“Ten Digits, Spider Down the Drain?” Cassie read out loud curiously. “What’s with these odd titles?” It turned out those files were cases Terry solved when he was the Voice. There were even records of him working with the Royal Flush Gang before they defected from Cadmus. Each file only served to impress the group. They were anxious to know more until they reached one file in the folder that was locked.
The hint was: KHConner.
“This one has your name in it, so I guess it’s yours.” Tim murmured.
“… But Beyond doesn’t call me Conner. He calls me XIII. I don’t know what KH stands for.” The other answered.
Tim gave a sigh. “Then the hint is KHXIII… Ideas anyone?” Most of the group remained quiet, save for Bart.
“… By any chance does this Beyond guy play games?” Bart asked.
“I don’t think—” Tim paused as he recalled his room having a game that is initialed KH.
“He told me he was trying to blend in with the younger group last time I chat with him.” Conner commented.
Bart grinned. “I think the answer for this one is Roxas!”
The password was accepted.
“… I wonder why this file was so important.” Tim murmured before his body froze at the first line in big bold words. “… Project… Batman… Beyond…”
“Oh Hera…” Cassie covered her mouth.
“He’s a Batman clone?” Tim said uncertainly as he quickly skimmed through the rest of the file, Terry wasn’t a clone, not an exact clone. He definitely had half of Bruce’s DNA, but the other half was from genetic alterations the file went in detail of how he was to be brought up and what routine he should be following.
“I thought you knew.” Conner said cheerily.
Bruce probably did. Tim thought, but if Bruce trusted the kid enough, there shouldn’t be much for him to worry at all. He started laughing quietly before he became a full-blown laugh. While not as dark as the one they heard earlier, Tim’s laugh was not less scary for the Titans. “All this time, it’s been two bat spawns we’ve been handling.”
Trying to distract the group from Tim’s laughter Raven glanced through the content of the file before raising a brow. “… This Beyond is a kid. He’s not even twelve yet.”
“No way!” Bart said in disbelief.
“Ugh… I need a bathroom break.” Garfield said as he walked out of the room with a hand to his head. “Tell me what I missed when I get back.”
Once Garfield left, Tim mellowed out and left the PJBB folder and decided to scroll to the bottom of the page. It was going to take forever if they continued at this rate. Once at the bottom, he noticed a media file with no name on it. He felt his heart jump in excitement. This might just be the file they’ve been looking for the whole time. He quickly clicked it and… another hint popped up.
“… What the hell is that supposed to be?” Bart asked. The hint for this password was strange glyphs of some sort.
“Got anything Cassie?” Tim asked.
“… Nothing I recognize.” She said truthfully.
“Raven?” He turned to the other girl.
She shook her head. “Nothing magical about them.”
Tim made a quick crosscheck with hieroglyphs and other known languages even then nothing came up.
“Hold on a sec, I’ll go get Kori, it might be something alien!” Bart darted off before anyone can retort. He returned minutes later with the orange-skinned alien.
“Is there something you need my assistance with my friends?” She asked sweetly as she flew into the room after Bart zoomed back.
“… Well… you’re good with languages right Kori? Do you recognize these glyphs?” Tim asked.
Kori bent over and studied the screen for a moment before shaking her head. “I do not recognize this writing. It is nothing I’ve encountered before.” She glanced over to the teen wonder. “Is it important?”
“Not sure yet.” He sighed.
“What’d I miss?” Garfield asked when he returned, but paused when he spotted the hint on the screen. He gave a big grin before shoving Tim’s chair out of the way and typed in the password in triumph while Conner caught Tim’s spinning chair.
The password was accepted.
“… I didn’t know you could read glyphs Garf.” Conner said curiously.
“Hehe, I’m just that awesome.” Garfield said cheekily.
Raven raised a brow. “All right, what are these glyphs?”
Garfield snickered. “They’re Unown. The hint said Push, but the actuality is Pull. It’s a very funny commercial.”
“Ah… TV should’ve guessed.” Raven commented dryly.
“Hey! My days in front of the TV were not wasted as you can see.” The other retorted.
Tim shook his head as he clicked on the file. It wasn’t the audio he was looking for. Instead it was a recording of that night Bane attacked the manor. The group watched in horror as the two kids fought against a monstrous man like Bane. However, Tim and Conner were the only two that was the least affected. By now, they’re fully aware of what Terry was capable. Bane wasn’t a threat compared to the kids.
“All right…” Tim closed the file before it gotten to the point where the two brothers beat Bane half dead over the head with pipes. “… We’re going to try one last file before we quit…” He was feeling guilty. He intruded in more than what he planned.
The last folder they chose was WSF, the hint on the folder was: Both Men’s mother and interestingly enough, this was probably the easier ones for Tim and Conner. Between the two of them, they figured the hint referred to none other then Batman and Superman’s mother.
“Martha.” Tim murmured as he typed it in. the folder was filled with mainly media files. He clicked the SM file first.
“And who’s it to blame to why the city would need such funding to repair itself yearly? The city would not even need half that amount yearly if you and the other so call heroes took the structural integrity of the cities you fight in, into consideration.”
“… Did this person just scold Superman?” Kori asked curiously.
Conner held his sides laughing. “Oh man, he never told me about this one.”
A commentary followed shortly after the recording. “Despite of my brash reasoning, Cadmus had opted not to punish me even though I revealed my existence to the man. Instead, they seemed amused. I did not understand at the time, but my hypothesis was that they were amused at my inexperience.”
Bart was the first to laugh. “Oh man, he just pwned Superman and he thinks they think it’s because he was childish?”
Tim couldn’t help himself but grin as well. There were times where Terry is so naively innocent. The next file was another commentary.
“… For some reason, the guard found it amusing that Cindy had slobbered over my cheek. He didn’t divulge the reason, but I’ll assume it’s not important unless it comes up again…”
“… Four years since the last incident, there seems to be a repeat of a similar incident with the girls within the Academy to what has occurred with Cindy. XIII had expressed a similar amusement from the girls attempting to tackle me in the hallways.”
By then a good portion of the Titans lost their composure as they kneeled over laughing at how adorable Terry was. All thoughts of horror and amazement from earlier have all but disappeared. Even so, it didn’t stop them from laughing at the final file.
“Batman, we have a situation.” Green Lantern’s voice came through.
No one was left standing in the tower that day.
o.o.o.o.o
The day Terry’s grounding was up, he had gone down to the cave and found his drive missing. A cold chill stabbed at his chest before he crawled about the cave looking for it. He was going to run to Alfred and ask the old butler if he’d seen the thing, when Tim came back into the cave by his motorcycle. In the hand of the older boy was the drive he was searching for. He glanced up at the other’s eyes and for the first time, he let horror cross his face. Tim got into his drive, he knew.
“Ah Terry, I—” Tim started to explain, but Terry grabbed the drive and dashed up to Damian’s room before pulling up all the security.
There were very few times where Terry was afraid. He could count all those incidents in one hand alone. This time was probably the worse for him. He still remembered the first day he came to the manor, he heard the conversation between Dick and Tim on how his father’s spawns are similar to hellions. He could care less for their opinion of him, but what he was worried about was that Tim would tell his father.
Terry was content with having the man think he just adopted him like the rest of them. Thinking he was just another orphan. He didn’t want to risk the man knowing he was a project created just to kill him. Now that Tim knows, it was likely he’d tell his father and everything he enjoyed so far would be nothing more then a memory.
He didn’t dare go to dinner that night.
“Is Terry okay?” Bruce asked during dinner when Terry didn’t appear.
“He’s locked himself in Master Damian’s room.” Alfred replied as he served the man his food.
Bruce raised a brow. “Why did he do that?”
A look of guilt crossed Tim’s face. “I might have something to do with it.” He mumbled. “I’ll say sorry to him later. I really didn’t mean to.”
Bruce sighed. “As long as you two get this thing settled, I won’t ask.”
Tim didn’t get a chance to speak with Terry that night. Terry kept the security levels at max, giving him no chance breaking in without wasting a good amount of sleep, but by then the other boy would’ve been asleep and waking him would be pointless.
“Master Terry, are you all right?” Alfred asked the next morning on the drive to school.
“I’m fine.” Terry said quietly.
“Did something happen between you and Master Tim?”
“…” Terry became silent.
“He tried apologizing to you last night, but couldn’t get through your security.” Alfred added, still the other didn’t speak. “Are you mad at him?”
“… No…” Terry mumbled.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“… No…”
“Will you at least talk with Master Tim later? He’s sincerely sorry for what he’s done.” The old butler said gently.
“… Tell him to pick me up later then.” Terry said after a moment of silence.
“Very well then.” Alfred said with a smile. “I do hope the two of you will get this through peacefully.”
Terry gave a weak smile. “I’m sure it won’t turn out like anything similar to being like Damian’s.”
The old butler chuckled. “I hope not. Have a nice day at school, Master Terry.”
“Bye Alfred.” Terry murmured as he left.
For the rest of the day, he couldn’t concentrate. The only thing he could think of was how to confront Tim. He ended up answering everything correctly from his lack of attention. By the time midday came, he didn’t feel like thinking or wanting to do anything.
“Terrence Wayne, someone’s here to pick you up.” An administrative woman came into the classroom two periods before school ended.
He didn’t say a word as he quietly packed up and followed her to the office. However, halfway to there, the woman covered a cloth over Terry’s face. He tensed as he recognized the scent on the cloth—chloroform—by then, it was too late. His vision became hazy as the office lady lugged him over her shoulder and ran off. He didn’t even have the strength to protest as his grip on his bag loosened and dropped in the middle of the hallway.
Two hours later, Tim found Terry’s backpack with its owner long gone.
o.o.o.o.o
XIII= Conner
JLUN= Justice League Unit Neutralize
BMLIN= Batman Love Interest Neutralize
BBEP= Batman Beyond Espionage
DWAG= Damian Wayne Al Ghul
PJBB= Project Batman Beyond
WSF= What’s so Funny?
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