Chapter 4

"I'm home~" I said out loud when I walked in.

The first one to notice my arrival was my kid brother.

"Mom! Terry's back." He shouted while still sitting on the couch in our living room.

We live in a good neighbourhood. When dad died, we got to keep the house which was already paid for prior to his death.

"Where were you, Terry! I've been worried sick! You're not hanging around with those boys again are you?" My mom's head peeked out of the kitchen window. She knows about my affiliation with the mutants because of the commissioner. She was even relieved because of it. She still thinks I'm a good kid despite me getting arrested for theft. She blamed it all on my association with a gang. I never once got caught getting into trouble when I was still in school, after all.

"No, I'm not mom. Good morning to you too."

"Where were you then?"

"I crashed into a friend and ended up staying over for the night."

"Ooh~ Is it a lady friend?" My mother teased then chuckled before going back into the kitchen.

"No. I don't have time for that when I got you guys." I walked near the entrance of the kitchen.

I looked at her through the door as she was fixing her stuff.

"You didn't meet anyone at the work Barbara gave you?" She asked.

"No. And it's only temporary anyway." I replied. We told her I was working as a custodian temporarily.

"You're not going today?"

"No. She gave me a paid leave for two days."

"Why?... Did you get fired?" She turned around and looked at me with narrowed eyes.

"No. I promise. She wouldn't tell me why but I just have to be absent for two days."

"Okay. I at least trust her." She said as she finished up and walked out of the kitchen to the living room where my brother was.

I rolled my eyes and thought if only she knew what Barbara Gordon is like without her around.

"Then rest well, honey. We gotta go now. We're already running late."

Mom called my brother, Matt then they walked out the door and drove off as I waved goodbye.

"Haaah..." I heaved out a sigh as I sat on the couch.

The coffee table had a superman action-figure on it. Matt must have left it here.

I stared at it for a minute before deciding to pick it up.

"He's still playing with this?" My brother is almost ten. Eleven years younger than me. Superheroes were as famous as celebrities. Before superman rose to fame, they were nothing more than powerful masked vigilantes. But Batman was always a hero to us Gothamites even before the rise of the Justice League.

My mind recalled the story Barbara told me about Superman dressing up as Batman.

"....Superheroes" I muttered before a chuckle came out of me.

I got up and brought the figure to the shelf. My eyes scanned the shelf before landing at my trophy that I won in a karate competition. My memories about that day flooded my head. That day might be one of the happiest days of my life.

I walked up to my room. My bed looked comfortable but I don't want to sleep. I was afraid. I was afraid of having the same dream I had earlier. Then I looked at my punching bag. I decided to work out instead before sleeping.

I took off my jacket and got changed.

Although I have never entered my old karate dojo ever since dad died because we had to cut our costs, I still didn't give it up.

I continued practicing this art every chance I get. Waiting for the chance that I get to meet the man that murdered my father again. And because of it, I quickly rose the ranks of my old gang.

Wrapping up my hand and feet, I felt my rage rising up. My adrenaline kicked in. The pain from my bruised ankle won't be able to hinder me from practicing anymore. I have had enough rest.

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"Haah. Haah. Haah." I finshed doing my routine workout. Calisthenics to condition my body. A variety of handstand push ups. One-arm pull ups. Hanging sit ups. Then I polished the forms of my kicks and punches. I upped the pace for every repetition. Faster and faster. Stronger and stronger. Until my body went numb and collapsed.

This way, I would have a deeper sleep and not dream. Just like that, I slept on the floor on my puddle of sweat.

I came to regret it when I woke up that evening.

"Am dowwy, Mom."

"Haaah. What the hell were you thinking, Terry? You need to take care of yourself. You're a grown up now." She sighed as she fed my soup while I hid my shivering body under a warm blanket.

I caught a cold.

The next day was uneventful. I just rested to get rid of my cold.

Then the the call from the commissioner came the following day.

-It's time, Terry.

-I'm on my way.

I immediately hopped on my bike and raced until I arrived at Wayne Manor. Or is it Pennyworth Manor now? The name "Wayne" is still above their doorstep so I guess it's still Wayne manor. What a loyal attendant.

Alfred let me in and this time, we went down to the batcave together.

We arrived and Barbara Gordon was already there.

"Hey." I greeted her.

"McGinnis."

"Are you still a hologram?"

"No. I especially took my time to meet you here. Plus I can't just order around the owner of this place when we're the ones borrowing it." She smiled and looked at Alfred.

She turned around and started walking. She gestured with her hand to follow her.

We arrived at a part of the batcave that I didn't get to before. Near the wall there was a large computer. I don't know much about tech but it looked so advanced.

"That's the batcomputer. When he's not outside, most of his work is done there. Alfred operates it or sometimes even me during Batman's missions. In this case, you. I already connected it to my smartwatch so you me and Alfred can communicate when you're outside. I'll be in headquarters waiting for your go signal, Alfred will be here to monitor us both. This has a map of the whole city. It shows our location in real time." The computer showed satellite images and dots indicating our location.

"I get the gist of it. I'll go to the docks and find the "package", find out what it is, then find out where it's going. I'll give you the info then you seize them with the police."

The computer then showed pictures of a warehouse at the docks that were suspected to be owned by the maroni family.

"I told you, you would make a good cop." She said with a smile.

"..."

"I'm serious. You'd make a great detective."

"...This will be hard. It's heavily guarded. If I get caught, I'd be dead." I ignored her last statement and continued.

Barbara Gordon just smiled amused.

"You won't get discovered. Look at the table."

She pointed at the table behind us in the middle of the room. Around the table were chairs for eight people. On the table was a suit. It wasn't a batsuit. It had no bat ears that potruded like horns and it doesn't have the bat symbol.

"You want me to wear that? I know it's black and I will be going at night but there's still a high chance of me getting caught." Since what we're trying to infiltrate is a suspected illegal operation, they wouldn't be turning on all of the lights in the warehouse to not draw attention.

"You're so full of crap, McGinnis. We both know that you can operate in the dark." It's one of Terry's skills as a criminal.

"Sure. Back then, I do. Because I still had my crew!" Terry said furiously. In truth, he could only get away with it if there was someone to draw away attention. They had terry, a getaway car, a lookout, and a distraction. Now, they only have a look out, which was alfred who would be monitoring their moves from the batcave.

"You won't need one. Look." Barbara said as she grabbed the suit and clicked on something. The suit then turned transparent.

My eyes widened in shock.

"Let me remind you again that this tech is top secret. Even though this was just a prototype for Batman's latest one, it still beats what they currently have in the military. From studying Wonder woman's bracers, it should withstand any weapon. By studying the camouflage tech of aliens and amazonian magic, it can turn invisible."

"Holy shit!"

"Watch your language, young man." Alfred said.

"S-sorry."

"Do you still feel like I'm endangering your life?" Barbara confidently asked.

I lifted up the suit and looked at it. The mask covers everything on the head. It was light too, considering it is basically armor.

"I'm ready." I said with a confident smile.