untitled

[Moon]

"That little shit." It was a growl ripped from the throat of the blood son of Batman. The young man growled darkly as he cut through yet another thick layer of wires as the scrappy, scrawny boy eluded him once more. This was their third or fourth such meeting in which the brat had managed to evade the newest Batman.

His father was silent as Damian finally managed to free himself from the Unholy Terror's trap. Green eyes narrowed beneath the cowl lenses as he switched to night vision to get a better trace on the thief. The boy was part of a new-old gang that had been allied with Two-Face.

Since the brat's appearance the gang had been twice as elusive and far trickier then even in their glory days. The brat was like some unholy Robin that made his early days some kind of field trip.

"Damian." his father growled in his cowl.

"Yes, Father?" he whispered.

"The boy isn't worth the focus of the mission." his father, the original Batman, stated.

"Yes, Father." he responded. Damian hated losing sight of a target... however his father was correct. There was always time to re-locate the Brat another night. He did have a date to keep after all.

[Moon]

There was nothing Terry McGinnis hated more then balls, raffles, and especially charity events. The young orphan had been inducted into the events when his house mother had proclaimed his similarities to a certain "Prince of Gotham". It made the pre-teen nearly gag. The mighty Bruce Wayne and his Heir were the very cause of the boy's misery. Their companies had not only employed but housed his family until the day Powers had come along.

Once that happened, his parents had been fired, they lost their home, divorced, and during a visit with his father with both Matt and himself, they'd been attacked. Terry had been able to shield his much younger brother from the Jokerz attack and in his rage he'd lost control...

Terry hadn't seen his mother or brother since he had been released from Arkham Asylum. Terry had quickly been lost to the system. Because of his record, no one took a single chance on him. His roommates were often changed, he was required by the city to keep bi-weekly appointments, and he was on probation until he was twenty-one...

The list went on.

Because a Jokerz was the kid of a politician he was forced into this. Terry made a face when a passing red head twisted to look at him. His scowl darkened and the woman shot him a half smile before moving on.

This was the entire reason he gave Batman hell.

If the vigilante had been around then maybe Terry could have stayed with his father. Or something... anything... would have been better then this farce of an existance. A few minutes later brought the highlight to his evening...

Damian Wayne, heir to the megalomaniac's power and a fop.

The fool probably thought he was doing everyone a favor by being there. Terry narrowed blue eyes on the blood bastard. Even if he went straight back to juvie it would be worth taking the man's arrogance down a peg.

After all, that was why he used that group as a cover to trick Batman. Terry stepped around a gaggle of other boys and slipped behind a potted plant. The dark haired boy was so focused on his target he failed to notice other eyes on him.

[Moon]

Damian nearly choked when the little heathen bumped a tray of jello onto his new suit just as everyone was looking. The green eyed man narrowed his gaze on a pair icy blue that seemed to stare right into him. Eyes that shouldn't belong to that little shit.

"I am so sorry." The hostess said as she rushed over. Her fingers twitched as if she longed to do something to the boy who had made such a mess.

That was when he saw it. Loathing. Outright hatred for him and him alone behind icy blue eyes that should not be in this boy's head. Orphans were brought to these parties by house matrons desperate to make a final pitch. As Batman, Damian had read and memorized everything he could about Naomi Waterlee's bananza and dismissed it out of hand.

This boy, this little brat that so eluded him, was Terry McGinnis. A criminal who had committed manslaughter in rage, defense, and self-defense of his family. Three months in Arkham Asylum had left its mark.

For a moment Damian wondered if he had been given enough time to grieve? His hand reached out and caught Terry's shoulder.

Gasps erupted around the room as Terry's icy stare turned into molten hate. Damian waited. Testing the boy's resolve, his self control, his very strength of character. If he was right, then Terry's future would be in the....

"Mister Wayne?" the hostess whispered urgently.

Terry jerked back the minute he was free and vanished. Damian offered a wan smile in a meaningless gesture.

"I think Mister McGinnis was just in a rush. It is getting quite late." he responded. "Please accept my apologies, however I must depart."

Turning on his heel, Damian Wayne returned the way he had come. New thoughts plagued his thoughts. Among them the boy's existance....

[Moon]

"What happened to you?" his father asked the moment he appeared in the study.

Damian twisted out of his suit jacket and tie before sitting in front of the desk. The new Batman studied his father a moment before smirking.

"I ran into a bedraggled bird." he responded. "The kid has a devil of a temper and has eluded me repeatedly never the less I now know his name."

"Explain." Bruce demanded.

"Have you ever considered you might have sired other children, Father? I swear to you I have met a pint sized version of you." Damian started. "He was at the charity..."

"Damian... no." Bruce argued. "You can't possibly be considering..."

"He needs it. Something to focus his rage, someone who can take his hate and give him back hope." Damian countered. "Whatever it was that left him an orphan he hates me for."

There was a long pause before Bruce leveled a nod.

Damian let out a breath. His father would listen. Hopefully, he could see what Damian intended...

"Terry McGinnis has no one. He is just a boy who has become lost in the shadows and one with a wounded heart. At least, giving him Robin, might help him..."

"Can you carry the responsibility of raising him?" Bruce asked.

"The least that should be done is to figure out why he interacts with that gang. Why he hates Batman and our family enough to risk everything for revenge." Damian countered. "He is a threat to himself and others floundering around as he is."

"So you want to help him fly." Bruce finished, without even questioning his heir. How could he? He and every other Batman had found a Robin in Gotham to either save themselves or to save in the process. For Damian, this Terry McGinnis was quite possibly it. His son, Damian, was a shadow unleashed onto the night and had found a kindred spirit.

Was it because McGinnis had eluded him? Or was it something else the boy possessed in temperment? Heroes around the League claimed every Batman had a Robin and every Robin had a Batgirl. The list was endless, really. However his son was determined to both save the boy and harness his talents for Gotham.

Bruce sighed.

Damian stiffened.

The two of them had stood there silently until finally one of them inclined their head in affirmation.

[Moon]

Terry starred the social worker down. Since his fiasco at the dinner party Terry had been in 'lockdown' which accordingly consisted of his being completely stubborn and NOT doing the list of chores, going to bed an hour early, and just being plain annoying about the entire deal. Wayne hadn't complained about his suit and his daddy had still signed the big fat check.

"Big deal." he spat, anger darkening his blue eyes. "What if I don't care about another move. Like everyone has already told me, it'll just keep happening until I'm old enough to get work."

Gotham and her programs were a huge joke. Not the funny kind and certainly not a Joker one.

"You misunderstand, Terry. The home you're being placed in is final. You've been adopted." Mrs. Gibson explained.

So his mother had signed off to... something twisted in his heart and 'hurt'. Terry slammed his teeth together and quickly glanced away. Anything was possible now.

"A car is here for you. You may take the things you want, especially any personal items." she offered softly. "You're going to good people, Terry. Try to get along, hmm?"

Mrs. Gibson was a hard case. The woman never offered comfort and that was how Terry managed to get along with her. Leaving him alone, Gibson wondered down the hall and into the home matron's office.

Terry flicked his gaze to the old photograph of his family. It was tucked neatly into one of Matt's old stuffed animals and served as a frame. A small stack of returned letters were beside it and another part of his spirit crumpled.

Creeping forward he snagged those items and held them loosely as he dug for a bag in the drawers. Pulling one free, Terry thrust his things into it before haphazardly rooting the 'basics'. Every new home had its rules.

Every single person had a breaking point. Terry would have to work out this new one swiftly.

[Moon]

"How did you get custody so fast?" Mrs. Gibson asked the elderly gentleman on the other end of the phone. She only knew to call him Mister Grayson. The man chuckled.

"I'm only the guy who handled the custody case. A friend of mine is the one who adopted Mister McGinnis." he answered. The Bats had closed ranks when Bruce had sent out an inquiry to them all.

They had made initial investigative efforts as a favor, however, the more they uncovered, the more the case seemed to be cobbled together. The family had been broken on purpose simply to separate the boy Terry from his family.

The League of Shadows had for once worked willingly with the Bats and Birds to learn everything they could. Fast.

The first lie uncovered was the entire reason for every last one of their teams involvement.

Terry McGinnis was born to be the next Batman.

He was not the only replacement. He was the youngest and sadly the one deemed a failure.

An assassin has been sent to kill his family when he was younger, but a sudden bout of nerves canceled the attack, A few months later he became an older brother. When Matt McGinnis was four another attack was arranged.

This time the interloper used a new technology recently developed to destroy the family.

Terry Mcginnis believed his father dead, his mother abandoned him, his little brother forever lost to him, and he was a murderer.

His entire life in the last three years had been a lie.

As for the McGinnis', they had moved on. All three of them in the belief they had buried a child. Mister McGinnis had a new job in Metropolis working at a Cadmus Research and Development center. Mary McGinnis worked for the League's aero-space nerve center and little Matt McGinnis was the top of his class.

Terry had been so broken by Cadmus and Spellbinder's lies he would never fit in with the little world his family had become.

Bruce Wayne's temper had blown and Damian Wayne had nearly resorted to old methods to extract revenge. Especially when 'their' so called involvement was revealed. When Powers had taken over fifty percent of Wayne Corporation neither of the Bats had blinked. It had reduced the time they needed to be away from the Cave and Damian had been solidifying his power of the Al Ghul legacy.

Bruce blamed himself for their moments of distraction. Damian had decided to use his grandfather's powerbase to rectify the situation at home. An immediate and very hostile buy out had begun on his end. By mid-morning Damian Al Ghul-Wayne had procured seven percent of Powers share in stocks.Bruce retained forty percent of his company while the remaining ten percent had been bought out by Richard Grayson, Jason Todd, and Timothy Drake.

Powers it seemed had come out of nowhere until they took another look. Their League based allies Oracle and Question had done their homework. Like the League of Shadows, Cadmus had crafted two programs. Beyond and Rebirth.

Project Rebirth was considered the ultimate agenda with Project Beyond getting all the scraps.

Derek Powers was the pinnacle of Project Rebirth, a man clone of Lex Luther and Bruce Wayne. He was everything Damian had been groomed to destroy. Project Rebirth was designed to take over Gotham and provide a brighter future.

Terry had been slated for extermination by the rival group. Luckily, the youth had gotten away with his life. Yes, he was damaged but not beyond recovery.

Damian would take him in and guard his life from the shadows. Eventually, they would be able to re-introduce Terry to his family.

[Moon]

Derek Powers growled at the young man's photo as he scanned the contents. Inque had done her work well. Shriek was set to drive his rival back to Arkham until this Damian al Ghul had shown up. The boy was the only acknowledged blood son of Bruce Wayne and had seemed content to leave his father's business to him.

Project Beyond had to have caught his attention somehow if the photo was any proof. No one knew which Bat was that scums biological base, not that it really mattered. He was soon to be dead now that he was located.

"He's a demon." Powers spat out as he flipped back to the shared donor.

Bruce Wayne. Father of them all...

"... and you are a Blight on all mankind." Inque responded. They had been together for far too long.

Derek Powers smirked. "My dearest spy. What have you learned?"

"The little bat has a guardian shadow. The Phantasm had him placed in a rather sloppy mess guaranteed to get attention. She used everything she had to get the Waynes to notice her pet project. Waller had no indications that Project Beyond was even still alive and now he's the center of the League's attention." she responded.

"All that means what?" Powers narrowed his glare.

"Batman wants a Robin." There was a joke there and it was almost Joker worthy.

Powers recognized the subtle suggestion that had been made. So be it. Of the Waynes wanted to play had ball then they would play.

"I'll need something special. Something Wayne and his boy don't have." Blight aka Derek Powers started. "They will have of course followed the pattern of nature and found McGinnis."

"You know that to contest Wayne's custody of McGinnis you'll have to prove a blood connection." Inque stated.

"They'll have that."

"Those men will hesitate for the boy's sake." she argued.

"I need something more then blood." Powers barked. "Blood isn't going to solve this. No."

Was this what the Phantasm had intended? To flumox anyone trying to gain control of the boy?

[Moon]

Damian was waiting in the driver's side of the car beside his father as the two of them watched McGinnis leave the building beside his case worker. Bruce was examing the way the kid carried himself, ignoring the expressions when an eye brow lifted at the single plastic bag.

"He's going to be stubborn." Damian commented.

Bruce knew better.

A few years ago and too many to count before that he had seen that expression on a few too many faces. Terry McGinnis was without hope and would fall without someone to keep him stable.

Was Robin really the way though?

By the time Terry had reached the car Bruce was sure. The kid was far too independent to be Robin for long, but he lacked the skills for anything effective.

Would Damian be able to mold his will into a child that hated them and even Batman?

"There is no going back." Bruce stated, "Damian, you're still young yet for the kind of responsibility you've taken on. Before you introduce him to our world, take careful measure that he will indeed flourish."

"Terry will be fine." his son responded.

"The kid's here." Dick Grayson said from the backseat. Everyone fell silent at the statement as Terry slipped into the back seat. He kept his bag firmly in his lap as he glanced at Richard Grayson.

"I'm acting on behalf of your guardian." the man introduced himself.

Terry's eyes flicked to his hands. Then back to his face. "No one told me who that is. From all the secrecy and speed this was done in I'd say that person is acting suspicious or wanted something special from me. As for you, Mister Grayson, I've seen you on the news with the Waynes and your other brothers. So that gives me both a who and a why. I really don't give a damn about the rest."

Damian rubbed a hand through his hair as Dick Grayson nodded. The two Waynes continued to watch the video feed as Terry rolled his shoulders under the brown jacket he wore. Black hair hung around his face, blocking any real glimpse at Terry's cheekbones. However his blue eyes were hard not to pay attention to.

He had the same glint in his eyes as Bruce did during his days as Batman.

"Look, kid, Damian saw something in you and...." Dick began to explain when Terry cut him off in the same tone as Batman had once used on a long ago side kick.

"Enough." Terry snapped.

Bruce grinned. Oh, yes. It was time Damian learned what being a parent was all about.

"No one, especially one of you, can replace my family." Terry McGinnis snapped out, rage blinding him nearly to the sudden silence that deafened the car. Slowly, Damian turned in his seat to look at the boy he intended on asking to one day act as Robin.

[Moon]

"He's been successfully integrated with the Batman." A woman said softly into her phone. The elderly woman glanced once at her watch before standing, listening to the instructions her boss had for her.

"Yes, ma'am. Your orders will be carried out immediately."

[Moon]

Mutual levels of grim determination had provided scant relief for anyone caught in what could only be called Gothams battiest moment. Damian's sharp widows peak of a hair line clashed terribly with Terry's messy locks, and Bruce Wayne curse him, was finally laughing at his son's expense.

... more like smirking.

"Why did you adopt me?" Terry called out. Of all the people... How and why?!

"Let's save the questions for another time." Bruce declared. A moment later Damian pulled away from the curb leaving Terry fuming silently in the back.

Thinking.

'Why was everyone just... doing what these men wanted?'

'I know for a fact how long it takes to gain final custody in an adoption. No one is just going to hand over someone like me or anyone else easily. Unless... unless they had planned something from the start.'

Terry's scowl slowly went blank. The twelve year old boy leaned back in his seat going over everything he knew about the Waynes from news clippings to rumors. The gossip mills all claimed Bruce Wayne had financed the Batman for years and that his son wasn't quite human.

Could it be that Batman had found out who he was and arranged for this?

No. Batman may have gone missing a while back but he wasn't like the Jokerz or T's. He wasn't a criminal. There was no way Terry had earned his personal attention with a few tricks.

'I can be patient.' he thought. 'Very patient.'