saga/title/fandom: Identity chapter 7 (Batman Beyond)

author: Girl_Gambit

rating/genre:(PG-13) - Drama/Romance

warnings: violence, language

summary: Terry hasn't had time for himself lately, things seem a bit of a mess. It's a T/M fanfic - but i don't hate D

comments/disclaimers: I don’t own any of the characters, they were the creation of DC comics. This is a fanfic inspired by the Batman of the Future series, credit to the creators.Author’s note: This is my first Batman fanfic, it’s quite a daunting task, but I look forward to any constructive criticism on improving my writing as I’m an amateur at this. I haven’t been watching the show that long but it made an impact on me enough to want to write something. I apologise for any mistakes.

Chapter 7 Get The Girl

“My name’s Mischief, what’s yours? Oh that’s right, your Batman…how about a game of explosive tag?” Mischief rode towards him throwing out some explosive marbles, which Batman dodged by a series of flips, before setting his jets to fly after him.

“Catch me if you can!” Mischief goaded, as he showed off some complex tricks on his hoverbike.

“I can, and I will!” Batman soared faster, to get closer to hook Mischief’s hoverbike with his grappling hook. Once hooked on, Batman attempted to slow the hoverbike down with his weight. Mischief looked round to see Batman hanging off the back of his hoverbike.

“Tag,” Batman said, smiling arrogantly.

“I hate losing…” Mischief called back as he headed towards some trees.

Batman climbed along the line up to the hoverbike. He looked up to see they were going straight for a large oak tree. Is this guy suicidal? He freed himself from the line only to see Mischief had changed his course at the very last minute, weaving skilfully through the group of trees. Mischief chuckled manically, looking around to see Batman was no longer on the back of the hoverbike. He slowed down, to see if he could see an injured Batman anywhere. Batman was nowhere in sight. Mischief slowed the hoverbike down further, baffled by Batman’s sudden disappearance. He landed the hoverbike, and dismounted. Taking a folding knife out of his belt, he treaded anxiously.

“Looking for me?” Mischief looked up just as Batman swung round a branch of the nearest tree, coming back into visible mode as he kicked him forcefully so that the knife flew out of Mischief’s hand and his hat was thrown off.

“The other kids never did play nice with me,” mumbled Mischief as he tried to get up. Batman walked over to him.

“Where’s Max?” Batman took out a Batarang and shot him a menacing look.

“Max?”

“You attacked her in the alley near The Web didn’t you? So where is she?” Batman stood over him, ready to beat the information out of him if he had to.

“Oh…her…the babe? That was one slinky little black number she wearing…”

Batman came over and grabbed Mischief by the neck to look directly at his masked face, half covered by his green hair. “I don’t know what your problem is, but you’re going to tell me where she is.”

“You play rough, but the real Batman would probably be torturing me by now, I hear he was a real hoot… ” Mischief smiled.

“What would you know?” In the short space of time he had known this character, Terry already felt like he had a lifetime of hatred for him.

“If you want the girl to live, you’ll let me go.”

“If you want to live, you’ll tell me where she is.”

“Tough talk…I can’t guarantee she’ll make it, who knows what the others are doing with her without me there to keep them in line.” Mischief kept talking, to buy himself time.

Batman slightly tightened his grip on Mischief. They heard the distant sound of police sirens.

“So what you gonna do? Hand me over to the cops and hope they find Max? They won’t even know where to start looking, and neither will you…maybe not for days…and by then it could be too late.”

Batman tried to stay calm, feeling the rage welling up inside of him and also the agonising concern of where Max could be and what could be happening to her.

“Terry, the police will be there any minute, just keep him there until they arrive.” Batman half listened to Bruce’s voice. He hadn’t turned on his vid link so Bruce couldn’t see what was going on and he knew this afforded him the opportunity to handle the situation in various ways.

“If you let me go, maybe we can make a deal. It’s within my power to stop them hurting the girl.” Mischief found toying with Batman thrilling. It was a power trip, having control over Batman. Mischief felt a rush of adrenaline at the thought of perhaps succeeding where his father had failed in really getting to Batman, although at this moment he wasn’t sure how things would pan out.

Batman was glad that Bruce couldn’t see the indecisiveness in him, being preoccupied with thoughts of the girl he loved being tormented by Jokerz. Seeing Mischief reach into his pocket, Batman got ready to restrain him but stopped, seeing he was holding a small device.

“I wouldn’t try anything, what I’m holding could kill or save her. I just need to press the button to signal the others, and they’ll finish her.”

“You expect me to believe a masked lunatic like you? How do I know she isn’t already - ”

“I don’t think you’d want to take the risk Batman.” Mischief’s thumb hovered less than an inch above the button on the small device.

Terry’s thoughts were coming thick and fast, Max’s suffering, not being able to see her, how he would manage without her, how he would never be able to tell her that she meant so much to him, more than she knew. The thoughts made him feel sick. Just knowing that they could be hurting Max right now, and he couldn’t do anything about it …or could he? He clenched his teeth, knowing what he was about to do would break the rules. He let go of Mischief and walked towards the hoverbike. Mischief grinned at his triumph, seeing Batman had accepted defeat.

“The cops are on their way.” Batman stood by the hoverbike. Mischief dusted himself off and walked over to the hoverbike, still holding the device in his hand.

“You did the right thing,” Mischief said gleefully, the words grating Terry’s conscience. If the situation hadn’t been so delicate, Terry would have beaten him senseless by now.

“What’s the deal?” Batman kept his composure, but Mischief could feel the heat of his fury.

“Meet me tomorrow, in the multi storey car park near Gotham Shopping Mall, at 11pm. I’ll have the girl. Any cops and she’ll get it. All you have to do is let me go…I think that’s a good deal.”

The thought of Mischief setting a trap came to mind. Terry thought of the risk of letting Mischief go and what Bruce would say when he found out… but the thoughts were fleeting. His feelings for Max were overriding his reasoning.

“Catch you around Batman,” Mischief called as he mounted the hoverbike.

It was too much to handle. Terry was seething with anger at the possibility of Max being helpless against a gang of Jokerz but to let this messed up misfit have the satisfaction of getting away was pushing Terry to the limit. I need to get to Max. He made a dash at Mischief, hoping to catch him off guard. He jumped onto the front of the hoverbike and leaned over to grab him but as he went to punch Mischief, Mischief held up the device in his hand.

“Don’t even try it Batman.” Mischief started the hoverbike and in a swift and sharp take off, he knocked Terry off the hoverbike to make his get away.

Fortunately it hadn’t been a high fall but the way Terry had fallen had been bad. Terry sat up, now feeling a shoot of pain in his leg. He watched in anger as Mischief rode away, basking in his mini victory. He tried to stay calm, thinking about what his plan was going to be. With the leg injury he wouldn’t be on top form to take on a whole gang of Jokerz right now. He’d managed to put a tracer on the hoverbike but even if he could tail Mischief now, Mischief would know and could still signal the others to do something to Max on seeing Batman hadn’t kept his end of the deal to let him go. It was just a matter of telling Bruce so that he could trace the hoverbike from the computer. He wondered how he was going to explain letting Mischief go to Bruce. Bruce would never understand. Terry had felt exhausted before but now it felt like a heavy load had been dumped onto him on top of that. All he could think about was Max.

He could hear the police getting nearer. He managed to stand up just long enough so that he could turn on his jets and extend his wings to fly out to where the police cars were coming. He flew down, seeing one of the cops get out of the car with the handcuffs to arrest Mischief.

“He’s not here, he got away.” Batman’s voice was cold and certain, but the a few cops still went ahead to look for Mischief or clues to his whereabouts.

“Damn juvenile clowns, they’re always wrecking things,” grumbled an officer as he followed the others into the park.

Batman watched, knowing they wouldn’t find anything. It was up to him to sort this mess out. He said a silent prayer for Max, hoping that she was still alive. Not wanting to face the music just yet, he refrained from flying back to the Batcave. Instead, he made a detour, flying towards Max’s house. Whenever things got too much, Max’s house was the first place he’d go to. Terry hoped he’d find some comfort and inspiration from being at Max’s house. It was the closest thing to having Max around right now. He thought about maybe not going to Bruce, maybe finding Max himself. He knew he wouldn’t be able to avoid Bruce for too long though, when suited up, he wasn’t alone. Time was of the essence and Terry was feeling more on edge.

As he reached Max’s house, he noticed something strange. The lights were on inside. Maybe it wasn’t so strange. Her family were never there but Terry figured they had to come home once in a while. He flew round the corner to find that Max’s bedroom light was on. He shrugged it off. Maybe it was Max’s sister in the room. He peered into the window briefly but had to stop flying. My eyes must be playing tricks on me. He came back to the window to confirm his trail of thought.

His heart almost stopped. His breath was caught in his throat on finding his eyes hadn’t deceived him. Max?

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