Batman Beyond 'Fan Fiction Story'
By Tayla Drago
Episode# 16 – Lost Soul
A newscast reports the death of Robert Vance, owner and president of a powerful computer company. Knowing that he was dying from an incurable brain disorder, Vance took steps to safeguard his company's future by digitizing his mind into a computer program, to act as a helpful 'advisor' to future owners. It's like some type of sci-fi thriller movie with this type of thing, huh? With Megan to learn so much from Robert's old work to study a lot to hack from his designs today.
"(Robert Vance...Without his work, I wouldn't never try hacking into things from the very beginning.)" she remembers it well. "(Good times, good times.)" Thirty-five years later, in the present, a young man enters Vance Enterprises and re-boots Vance's program. The young man identifies himself as Bobby Vance, the elder Vance's grandson. Bobby is now the owner of the company, the last member of the family after his father died of a heart attack. Bobby is still young and is not sure he can handle the responsibility. Robert reassures him and encourages Bobby to put his program online, and he complies. I don't like where this is going. From Gidget 'Megan old computer friend to have the data t keep but lost the shell man years ago', get a alarm to set off when the Robert program goes on the loose. She couldn't hack into it so much any more to get so help besides her husband Bruce. "Ah, seriously? I'm going to need some help from someone."
And she does, none other than Gwen to be finishing up from aiding her step-uncle Bruce around the place to get a call from Megan.
"Yes? This is the Wayne Residence, who is this who's calling?"
"Gwen, just the person I wanted to talk to." said Megan.
"Hi, Megan, is there something wrong?" she asks.
"There will be without your help. I'll be right over to teach the ways of hacking to things with yours truly. Because something is about to go down involving a man who put his brain into computer systems all over...I'll explain when I get there."
Once Megan hangs up, Gwen was lost on what she meant.
"Learn how to hack?" question Gwen. "Is it illegal?"
With Megan's help maybe...Elsewhere, Dana and Terry share a romantic night up on the roof of a skyscraper. After they decide to leave, they board an elevator that suddenly starts to erratically drop and rise at a dangerous rate just before they were about to kiss. Terry looks out and sees the entire city being affected in much the same manner. Terry manages to stop the elevator and heads off to see Bruce and Gwen.
"Manual? On an elevator?!" questioned Dana since Terry learn something of emergency shut down manually from elevators from back then.
"I better go find Mr. Wayne and Gwen. Dana, I hope you'll be okay taking the stairs." he said.
"I'll be fine, you better be careful." Dana said and then gets out safely.
Once Terry goes to the Batcave to explain Bruce and Gwen on what's been happening, and for Megan to arrive to help her new friend out so far.
"Hacking into the entire city of Gotham?" Gwen asks Terry. "That sounds scary."
Bruce explains that the program has been hoarding information all over the city's network, causing random device malfunctions.
"its because whoever's doing it, it's causing lots of malfunctions all over." said Bruce.
"Randomness." Terry added.
Still, one can never be too careful even for Megan to say so.
"(If I'm right about who's doing this, then...) I say we investigate this matter at hand before the other parts of the city's machines will put other lives in danger. And the sooner for you, Gwen, to learn the hacking skills from me the better."
Bruce is sure that the program has a hidden agenda and sends Terry and Gwen to stop it.
"We're on it, Uncle Bruce. And yes, Megan, I'll work on the hacking if I need to on what you've taught me so far. I will get my inner self to listen to me." Gwen transforms next. "Burning passion! Batwoman!"
Having the other half to appear for them to use the computer to open the door for the two...Well, nothing was happening.
"Why isn't this working?" Terry/Batman asked.
"The door's not working. I had to shut down the computer when Vance's program tried to get in and thanks to Megan's hacking to place a barrier wall into my systems. If you want out of the cave, you're going to have to do it the old-fashioned way."
They have to go through the metal door to use the lever to lift it up.
"You're kidding."
"Too bad, so sad." Megan made a joke.
"None of the Robins ever complained." Bruce smiled.
For them to do so, Batman and Batwoman take off in the air.
"Anything not plugged in won't get to us in the skies." said Batwoman. "Contact!"
Batman and Batwoman make it to the power plant where the program has taken over and tries to shut off the power. Unfortunately, the program activates the automated defense systems, making it impossible for the power to be shut down except from the central control.
"(A scary robot to have a mind of its own, Batman, we better be careful. Let's go to stealth mode.)" said Gwen.
Going into stealth mode for the two, Batwoman carefully and quietly melts the machines that were trying to kill them as Batman manages to sneak in but a stray cat wander in and alerts the defenses.
"Score one for us, huh Batman?" Batwoman sees the danger he was in. "Ah! Idiot, be careful!"
Batman manages to shut off the power but is too late to avoid being hit by a laser blast.
"(Is he hurt?)" Gwen talks to Terry/Batman. "(Batman, say something! Batman!)"
Batman gets back up to feel fine.
"I'm good. Thanks for worrying about me, Gwen, how sweet of you."
Believing he is not seriously injured, Batman tells Bruce that the trouble is over, and Bruce orders him and Batwoman out on patrol.
"Hmmm...Strange..."
Megan tries to find to where Robert was at to have trouble hacking to all of the areas he could be in or trapped in, but she found nothing.
"Megan, what's wrong?" Bruce asks his wife.
"I'm not so sure, Bruce, but I can't find Vance to be found from the trapped systems after Terry and Gwen shut down the machines, he was in." she explains.
"What do you mean?" he asks her again.
Megan shows Bruce what she couldn't find from her computer.
"Yeah, that's the thing. It's like it disappeared somehow, but Vance work can't do that unless he hacks through into another program closes to him. But I'm having trouble finding it. I got nothing."
Now that could be a problem. Out in the city, a gang of thieves are attempting to steal from a powerless ATM and Batman and Batwoman manage to stop them.
"You steal, you get a whopping." Batwoman said to let out a little steam.
However, before the two can continue, Batman's suit starts to malfunction.
"Hey! Something's wrong with the suit!"
Batman had trouble moving and such, for Gwen and her other self didn't know what it was since they can't feel out machines, only human or living beings' life force.
"(Batman, what's the matter with your suit?)" Gwen checks on her partner.
"Either that, or he finally has broken down to your love, Gweny."
Now's not a good time be joking around.
"(Not now please!)"
Soon it refuses altogether to respond to Terry/Batman's movement, and communications with Bruce are cut off.
"I can't contact Terry." Bruce was having some trouble.
Some rescuing must happen next...
"(What in the heck is going on here? Terry suit can get damaged up from the laser hit he just took.) Maybe you can't, but i can with Gwen."
This might take a while...
"Alright, seriously...Why is your suit going all weird-like? Huh?" Batwoman wonders.
Instead, Terry hears Vance's voice downloaded into the suit by way of the laser blast. Under Vance's control, the suit walks into the ocean, Vance telling Terry along the way that he intends to download himself into a new body.
"And now, I'm in control." he said. "I can do whatever I want with this suit."
This was bad, as Megan contacts Gwen/Batman to do something about it next.
"Gwen, it's me Megan." said Megan. "Listen, whatever is happening to Terry's suit, its a virus of the man Robert Vance has taken hold of it all."
"(Robert Vance?)"
"A while back when he was still alive, he taught me emergency hacking, yes. He own a big computer company to pass away from old age to make things to do so much to hack into anything he can, the laser was the trigger that done it all. I've been wanting to teach you my skills to fight back. Because his grandson's responsible for this mess to set his grandfather loose, if we don't put him away or shut the program down...Then him controlling Terry's suit will hurt others or himself." said Megan to explain everything. "If we're going to save him with the suit, we need to stop Vance right away with your help, Gwen. Bruce, hit the switch!"
Bruce had no other choice to see through Gwen's suit.
"I guess I have no other choice."
Realizing something is wrong, Bruce hits the Batsuit's kill switch, preventing Terry from drowning, but leaving him immobilized in the water as the tide comes in. Gwen had to do something to go into the waters to like her fire abilities if she does go all the way in.
"(Terry!)" she was horrified.
"Stop, Gweny, you'll die from the ocean's waters!"
"It's better than seeing my friend die this way..." she jumps in to feel the pain. "I have to...until Uncle Bruce and Megan arrive to save us...both!"
Just after it covers Terry's head, Bruce arrives personally in the Batmobile and rescues him.
"Real them up, Bruce, we got them." said Megan.
Bringing them back up safe and sound for Gwen to be really hurt to save Terry's life to get air and not drown to his doom was still scary to do, for he was shocked on what she has done.
"Gwen!" Bruce was worried.
"Oh, my God. Gwen!" Terry helps her out to get dried up. "Please be okay."
A bit weak and wet all over, but she'll live to go back to normal for now.
"(Reckless, you know that?)"
"I'm good, Terry, I'm glad you're alive and Vance is out of your system." she said with a smile to then have Terry hug her. "What are you doing?"
A sweet way to save each other.
"Saving you for saving me, we'll both keep each other warm." said Terry.
Back in the Batcave, Bruce talks about reprogramming the suit, but he and Terry decide to leave the task until later. Megan will try to do something about it in a bit.
"Since fire won't stop it, Gwen, its up to us hackers to give it a go...Somehow."
As soon as they leave, however, the suit gets up by itself and leaves. Night falls and Bruce, Gwen, Megan, and Terry discover the suit missing.
"(Ah, people...we got a problem. The suit's gone.)" said Gwen's other self.
"Look, we get it." she said. "I can't use my powers right now and Terry's suit is gone with the kill switch no good...The only thing we need to do is to hack through it like you said, Megan, I learn everything you've taught me and I can't stop Vance without destroying the suit completely."
Terry is determined to stop it, but Bruce tries to dissuade him the same with Gwen, saying they are not powerful enough to do it. Donning Nightwing's old mask, Terry explains that he had always wondered to himself what makes Batman: is it him in the suit, or is it the only the suit and the abilities it gives him?
"Sometimes I ask myself, is Batman just the suit, or is the man inside?" said Terry.
He is determined to find out once and for all and seeing that there is no stopping him, Bruce gives Terry his old utility belt.
"This should come in handy for you, Terry." Bruce gives on to him.
"And Gwen, here." same with Megan to give her the hacking bag she needs to hack through with a mask on with eye contacts to hide her looks. "This could be good to use to hide your identity. Better than nothing. I leave the rest of the hacking to you."
The two were all set to go.
"I like like a whole different person."
"It's going to work, Gwen." said Terry. "Try not to use your powers a lot unless you really need to and don't forget..."
"Yes, hacking is all that matters." she says the rest. "We can do this, Terry."
Acting through the suit, Robert finds Bobby in the Vance Enterprises building and injects him with a sedative. On the roof, Terry and Gwen break into the air shafts and makes their way to Vance's lab. He watches as Robert wires Bobby to a machine, explaining that he plans to download his mind into a living body: Bobby's; the process will erase Bobby's mind, but that hardly matters. That's mess up! For Gwen gives the hacking a try out to find one weakness with Vance, he won't work around magnetic parts.
"Magnet." said Terry.
"Yes, that's his weakness." said Gwen. "If we don't stop him right now, he'll be become his grandson forever. (We can't allow for this to happen to take another life from some machine. Vance is me now, but without a soul who needs to be shut down for good. I can do this without using my powers on this one.)"
While examining Bobby, Robert accidentally catches his arm in an electromagnetic field and temporarily loses control of it. Terry and Gwen notice this and now has a plan of attack.
"Please don't do to me..."
"It'll be over soon enough." said Vance.
The transfer begins but Terry and Gwen interrupt it.
"Go into hacking!"
Once Terry said that to Gwen, she puts her skills into the test of hacking into the system on her own.
"Be careful!" she said. "I'm going in."
However, Terry's melee attacks are ineffective against the suit and it activates its stealth mode, then attacks with an exploding batarang that triggers explosives in Terry's belt. Terry hurls the belt at Robert and manages to disable its stealth mode. Terry and Robert fight for a while, but the suit is much stronger and nearly invulnerable to damage. So much to keep him busy while Gwen does the rest of the work.
"(Gweny, go for a fire wall.)" said her other half. "(That should work somehow!)"
However, Terry manages to get hold of a sharp steel rod torn from the wall and wraps a power cable around it. But thanks to Gwen's plan to put the suit overheat like to overload slowing it down...
"No...! What's happening?!"
"A fire wall, nice!" said Megan on the other line. "(I wish I would've thought about that part.) Okay, Gwen, take it away!)
She starts it up to use the strong rod connected to the plug.
"Finish it off!" she said. "(Please let this work. Come on, Terry...)"
This allowed Terry to jam the part into the suit and plugs it into a power outlet, overloading the suit and erasing the program. For Vance's dying words was a sad one to sound like he was reverse aging.
"See ye." said Terry.
The nightmare sci-fi like movie was all over.
"Five hundred megs! A thousand kilobytes! Pi "R" squared! Two plus two equals four. Me first! I wanna play. One potato...two potatoes...Mama Mama...Mama!"
And from there, he was gone for good and Bobby was saved.
"Thank you..." he said in relief.
"Yes, we did it!" Gwen was happy.
Megan and Bruce hears the news.
"A close one that was huh, Bruce?"
The two hugged and kissed.
"I think Gwen's ready to be another you." he made a joke.
Nice joke there. Later, a newscast announces that Bobby has sold his company to some outside investors. Asked whether he has reservations about giving up his family's company, he responds that he's decided to let his grandfather rest in peace.
While Bruce is reprogramming the suit with Megan's help, Terry asks hopefully whether this means he can have a few nights off.
"This could be a while...Anyways, Gwen, great work."
Another new move for Gwen to learn on her own besides fire power.
"It was nothing, I think I'll get the hang of it real soon." she said. "Anyways...What do we do once the suit gets fix?"
"It'll take some time for Megan and me." said Bruce.
That means some nights off for both Terry and Gwen to hang out.
"I guess we'll be having some fun." he said. "Let's go do something, Gwen."
A date here? Oh, boy...
"Ah...I do want to get out for a while. Okay, Terry." said Gwen.
Bruce, who has upped his estimation of Terry's abilities, states that while the suit is currently out of commission, Batman is not.
"Terry, it's only the suit that's out of commission, not Batman."
He's right for Megan to nod like 'I just go with the flow' type of saying...For Terry to smile for Gwen and him to walk together, for Terry to start to care more than a friend towards Gwen than Dana a lot.
"Ah, Terry..." she was confused.
"You still need to get warm for your powers to get back, for you to rescue me in the waters...I got scared for almost losing you. But you're all right. Thank you."
He does care to do well without his suit today, same with Gwen to get healed up.
"You're welcome..."
A nice team work to do more than being Batman or Batwoman. For it doesn't matter it's man or machine, but what you really are to put a stop to it afterwards if Megan didn't teach Gwen so much on what do and she did. Cool, huh? For Bobby to not be like his grandfather, he made a very right choice after being saved.