Prologue

Written By: Morpheus Dreamerfall

Began: October 25, 2002

Finished:

Disclaimers: I don't own “Birds Of Prey”, don't got nothing to do in creating them - although I would love to have those girls shacking up with me in my room forever and a day! And alas, neither do I own “Batman Beyond”. I do however own this little piece of insanity I call my imagination.

Timelines: Give or take several months into the “Birds of Prey” TV timelines, and a year after the Bruce Wayne of the Batman Beyond continuity passed away. This is a crossover, NOT A FUSION! Some background knowledge of Batman Beyond might help.

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IN THE FUTURE OF GOTHAM

Terry McGinnis looked out over the canyons of his city, reveling in the cool night air.

His city.

His Gotham.

Even now, a year since the old man had passed away, Terry still had a hard time calling it "his" city. It had always been "Bruce's City" from the beginning.

Bruce Wayne; the original Batman, who had fought against all odds and won as the caped crusader, had finally fallen to the enemy that claimed all life in the end: death. You can only cheat it for so long. He didn't go down in a blaze of glory - oh no - he went quietly out into the night as he slept the sleep of the just. Terry was just glad that the violence that seemed to have taken so much from him in life did not do so in death. He had at last found the peace he deserved.

He was also more than shocked to find out that he had inherited it all, the manor, the cave, and surprisingly: major control over Wayne Enterprises. After Powers had been exposed, the company had reverted to its original name. Years of crime fighting and teachings from Bruce gave Terry the necessary education to be on equal. Terry was amused, due to Bruce's twisted sense of humor; also made his friend, Maxine Gibson, Vice President and department head of WayneTech. Bruce had left a holo-recording for him in the cave, passing on to Terry the legacy and the responsibilities that came with it. He swore over Bruce's grave, as Bruce had once sworn over his parents' graves, that he would carry on Bruce's work to the best of his ability.

“Rest well old man.” Terry swore, “I'll take care of them, I promise! I won't let you down.”

He was now, and forever: THE BATMAN.

He even made changes to the suit, updating the technology with Max's help.

That's why he was here now, flying above the city, testing the new suit to its limits. Since his former mentor was no longer around to help him via the cave, he and Max had recently designed a super microcomputer A.I. and integrated it into the new suit. The A.I. was filled with enough pertinent information to help him with virtually almost any situation. The only unnerving thing about it was that it sounded way too much like Bruce whenever it spoke to him.

An explosion sounded in the distance as he landed on top of a nearby skyscraper, and the suit's A.I. immediately spoke up.

//Accessing emergency band 0942: there's an out of control fire at Star Labs on Fifth and Main; three scientists are reportedly trapped on the 27th floor. The fire department has been notified, but further assistance may be required.//

I'm on it.” Terry dove off the building he was standing on and activated the suit's flight systems as he jetted towards his target. “Activate thermal force shield, I'm going in.”

//Activating,// the A.I. replied. //Be careful.//

The Tomorrow Knight tried to shake off the feeling that Bruce was still somehow watching his back as he plowed through the hard plexi-glass window and started scanning for the scientists.

“Anybody here!” Batman yelled as he sifted through the fire and debris. After ten minutes of searching, he came across one of them and then airlifted her out of there. As he landed and gave her to the nearby medic, she grabbed onto him and spoke.

“You've got to help them stop it,” she said, coughing through the smoke. “Dr. Carter and Dr. Phelps were trying to study an alien artifact in the center room before I got out. They must've set if off by accident. Please, help them!”

“What does it look like?”

"Its small and circular, stacked like a miniature stepped pyramid.” she said, “With a large blue-green gem embedded in the center. Hurry!”

Batman nodded and blasted back towards the building. Scanning through the flaming wreckage once more, he zeroed in on an armored room, the walls of which seemed to have been blown outwards by a particle cannon.

//Warning: dangerously high levels of radiation and unknown energy beyond current suit's standards detected. Thermal force shield at highest setting will remain impervious for only four minutes!//

“Damn!” Terry cursed. He had just found the remaining scientists' burned corpses, but was too late to save them. Then he saw it.

The alien artifact lay on the floor and was giving off large amounts of radiation and whatever else that came along with it. The fact that the suit's A.I was having trouble analyzing it worried more him by the minute. How the hell did you shut off this thing?

Then he noticed that the gem at its center was pulsing brighter and brighter, ominously. He had to do something fast or God knows what would happen.

As he started reaching forward, his whole world turned white.

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SOMEWHERE IN NEW GOTHAM

Helena nearly crowed with barely controlled excitement. She trailed the leader of the group of scum she had been hunting for over a week. He headed over to their hideout, acting completely oblivious that the Huntress was closing in on her prey.

Feeling that an easy victory was at hand, Helena crashed through the skylight windows of the warehouse the perp had gone into.

“Hello, boys.” She smiled as she landed. “Don't mind if I drop in.”

“Actually,” the leader replied. “We do.”

Her eyes widened at finding herself surrounded by more than a dozen men than the usual five Oracle's intel had provided.

“Ooooh $#@*!!!”

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