Chapter 2

The first thing Terry saw as his vision cleared was the depressing emptiness of the abandoned building he was in - that, and that the suit's systems were booting up as if he had just started wearing it.

“What the hell?” He swore. The last thing he remembered before being blinded by the intense light was being inside a blazing inferno, trying to stop that alien doodad thingamajig from blowing up the entire city block.

//Main flight mode offline; glide mode available; thermal force shield offline; slight damage to stealth camouflage; ghost mode offline; aqua mode offline; astro mode offline; limited standard active force shield available; slight sensor damage; limited cyber-link available; stunarangs offline; homing batarangs available; all minor and backup systems available. Current suit power levels at 45%. Activating suit repair nanobots, estimated time to completion: three hours, twenty minutes, and 18 seconds.//

“Slag it!” Terry fumed. At least he should feel lucky that the radiation and that weird energy the thing gave off hadn't fried him. Speaking of which, he couldn't find the damned thing anywhere. What the hell what was that thing in Star Labs supposed to be anyhow? And furthermore, where the heck was he?!

//Puzzling. Intercepting old-style police transmission formerly used between late 20th and early 21st centuries. Transmission states: Weapons fired at New Gotham Industrial Yards, immediate assistance needed.//

“Get into the city computer map grid and plot me a course!” he said as he took the stairs four steps at a time. “Do I have maximum thrust capability with the glider systems?”

That's good to know, he thought as he kicked the door to the roof open. It's gonna be like wearing the first suit he swiped from Wayne when he went after his Dad's murderer. But when he got his first look outside, he was stunned.

//Map obtained. Notice of current location does not compute, however, target location acquired.//

//Thirty degrees to the left and four miles ahead. ETA at maximum thrust: 2 minutes and 10 seconds.//

“Let's do it!” Activating the cybernetic wings into glide position, he dove off and caught an updraft, then fired his boot jets. Normally, his new wings had their own propulsion system when activated - but it was for emergencies like these that he still kept to the original design as backups in case something went wrong.

Even the view of the city from up here was disconcerting. It was like watching an old-style movie come to life.

Nearing his target, he barked out a couple of orders to the A.I.: “Give me a thermal body count, I want to know how many I'm up against and what type of weapons they're using.”

//Scanning. We have a total of sixteen readings present. Fifteen males and one lone female. Eight of the men are presumed unconscious due to their supine position, the female - possibly meta-human - seems to have a slightly higher heat reading. In-depth bio-scan offline until repairs are completed. Weapons scan matches late 20th century firearms.//

//Possible. Assumption: uncertain. Since I've never been tested in that area yet - however, I am 100% certain that the suit cannot withstand a prolonged assault in its present condition. Caution is strongly advised.//

“Wonderful. Let's see what we got here.” He peered over the window where Helena had made her entrance and went in using stealth mode. He found her jumping all over the place as she fought against the thugs surrounding her. “Hmm, not bad looking - and it looks like she can take care of herself. Whoops, spoke too soon.”

He finally noticed the bruises and her torn “costume”. He nearly gasped as she caught a bullet in her right leg and went down. She tried to stand as the remaining goons gathered around her, closing in for the kill.

“Now that's no way to treat a lady!” he intoned as he shut off the stealth mode and descended from above them like an angry god.

The succeeding battle was unmercifully brutal - yet brief. Those that were able to catch a glimpse of him descending could have sworn it was a ghost.

The leader would later say at an arraignment that it was the devil himself. None of them were granted parole and bail the moment they were convicted for their crimes.

As the dust settled once all of them were down and out, Terry went straight to the unconscious woman who had valiantly fought them. “Damn,” he muttered to himself, taking in her beaten figure. “They sure really worked her over.” Where do I take her? It's plenty obvious that she's a vigilante of some sort.

“Hello, what have we here?” The suit's A.I. had spotted a cleverly concealed communications device disguised as her earring with the microphone and transceiver hidden inside the choker around her neck.

The line was still open. Working on a hunch, and not wanting to alarm whoever was listening, he punched in a preprogrammed command asking the A.I. to make a trace.

Great, Terry thought, now we're getting somewhere. Gently picking up the injured woman, he headed outside just as the sounds of approaching sirens drew nearer. Activating his cybernetic wings once more, he blasted back into the air, carrying his burden to wherever the signal might lead him.

“I hope you're friends are like bats.” He muttered to his unconscious passenger. “Because company's coming.”