Batman Beyond 'Fan Fiction Story'
By Tayla Drago
Episode# 17 - Hidden Agenda
A businessman rushes to catch up with a vertical train. Once on board, he is terrified to find a gang of Jokerz are the only other occupants. They begin terrorizing the businessman, then their leader, a man in zombie makeup who calls himself 'Terminal' releases a set of vicious, razor-sharp gag teeth, before the Jokerz exit the train. You want to learn more about the group? Megan's got the scoop. Sometimes she does to appear and so on in this series is all.
Megan: Carter Wilson adopted the identity of 'Terminal' and made himself the undisputed leader of a small group of Jokerz. They engaged in the usual terrorizing of random victims, with occasional asides to Wilson's personal agenda. Members -
Tayko is an athletic girl in Terminal's gang. She was there for fun and liked showing off her athletic skills. She wasn't much of a fighter, but she could defend herself.
At first, Carter seemed to be everything a student could be: smart, handsome, popular, star athlete, class president. Inside, he was morbidly sensitive about his reputation and his sense of achievement; this came from the constant harangues of his cold-hearted mother, who constantly pushed him to be perfect and at the top in everything. At some point, he adopted the alias 'Terminal', along with a frightening costume resembling a weird cross between a zombie and an escaped mental patient. Before long, he had a gang of Jokerz under his personal command whom he dominated through his intelligence and the force of his personality. In part, this may have been his way of rebelling against his mother's strict authority. On the other hand, it was also his unconscious way of lashing out at a world that his mother portrayed as cold and unforgiving to anyone who wasn't 'the best'.
Trey left school at sixth grade to join the Jokerz. Though he had an imposing physique, he wasn't very tough. He helped J-Man in a raid on Club 54 Level, before joining Terminal.
Weasel was known for his high-pitched holler. He was part of Terminal's subgroup of Jokerz, but also attended other gatherings. He was armed with a flail, but also carried heavier equipment underneath his coat.
Now back with our story...As the teeth tear at the businessman's clothes, he is driven to the door and falls out into the sky. Batwoman arrives to stop the sharp teeth toys.
"The teeth have been pulled." she said.
Now for the man to save next for Gwen to alert her partner.
"(Batman! He's fall!)"
Batman narrowly saves him.
"I got him...!" falls down to saving the man in time and knowing who was behind it all. "Jokerz..."
"Not those clowns again..." Batwoman complained.
While leaving the scene of the crime, one of the Jokerz, Trey, makes a sarcastic comment, which Terminal responds to by grabbing him by the necklace and dangling him off the edge of a building's roof. Trey hurriedly apologizes, but even the other Jokerz are taken aback by this cold-blooded display from their leader as Terminal walks away. At Hamilton Hill High School, the results for the standardized test, 'GAT', are posted.
"Looks like our GAT's have been posted." said Terry.
Gwen never heard of the word.
"GAT?"
"It stands for grade average totals."
"I don't want to look at mine..." Dana feels a bit nervous. "But it's not like we have a choice."
The top score, a perfect 2400, goes to Maxine 'Max' Gibson, leading many people to speculate that she is the leading candidate for class valedictorian.
"2400?! That's a perfect score!" Terry was surprised.
"Hey, look." Gwen shows them hers. "I got an average one. I'm doing good."
"Yeah...And mine, I'm use to already." said Maxie.
(Terry's test was left incomplete as he had to leave in the middle of an emergency).
"Business happens when you work with Mr. Wayne a lot."
For Terry and Gwen to leave it like that, Maxis finds it to be odd in her point of view.
"Maybe you two fix it all to make it happen somehow." she said.
Max modestly brushes off the talk, saying the test score isn't a good indicator of intelligence. For Carter Wilson, the class president came second to Maxie to beat him to see the four to be walking along to say something next.
"Hey, Max, good job on the test scores you got back." said Carter.
"It was nothing really."
She was afraid to admit it for this girl.
"It's one way to get you two to the top somehow." Terry makes a joke.
"Something about Maxie is amazing how she can anything for a smart girl." Gwen admired her. "I feel like I should become best friend with her very much so. Like Megan, I can have another girlfriend."
The next thing for Maxie to show Gwen, Terry, and Dana her latest spare-time pursuit: she has written a program to discover Batman's secret identity, based on an analysis of his physical characteristics and school demographics, the times and locations of his appearances, etc.
"Wow..." surprised Dana. "I'm amazed that you got this much from the hero of Gotham so far, Maxie. But nothing on Batwoman with the burning fire powers?"
"Well, she's cool in my book. So why bother? Batman is where is at to learn more about him. You can say that I'm his biggest fan for the two crime fighting duos."
So far the field of potential candidates is wide, but every time a new piece of data is added, the program continues to narrow down potential candidates.
"(Wait...Maxie might know who Terry Batman could be and not me as Batwoman?) questioned Gwen. "(This could be very bad for us.)"
"I'm not giving up. This Batman could be a gym teacher, a principle, or a student."
Terry is slightly worried for him and Gwen both looked at each other. It was also from that point for Dana to see something was up between the two than just staying as friends...The GAT's second highest score, just short of perfect, goes to Carter Wilson, class president. At home, however, Carter is berated by his mother, who considers anything short of first place equal to failure. Carter mentions that he would have been first except for Max's perfect score, to which his mother sarcastically responds that that makes him the 'first-place loser'. After she leaves his room, Carter applies make-up to his face, revealing that he is Terminal. He calls his Jokerz to do a job. That's not good! They break into the school, destroying the computers containing the GAT results. Terminal also looks at the school's grade records and finds that Max is indeed the front-runner for valedictorian. He attempts to delete these records, but his access is blocked. The next day, Hamilton High students find the vandalism, complete with Jokerz tagging.
"(What a mess!)" said Gwen's inner self for her and Terry are the only ones who can see and hear the spirit flame look alike. "(You two get the feeling it's all done from the other group of Jokerz calling themselves something...Terminal...I think? Just be on a look out, Billionaire old man Bruce Wayne might say the same thing than just me.)"
"I guess a lot of them try to mess with the GAT screens last night." Dana tells the others.
And Maxie was already aware about the gang.
"Jokerz...Stupid..."
"At least no one was harm, right?" said Gwen.
With a lot of spray paint to say the least, but no one was hurt at all.
As Max, Terry, Gwen, and Dana discuss the crime, Max speculates that the crime appears to have been targeted at someone specific, meaning the leader may be another student.
"They must be after someone from here." Terry took a wild guess. "Who knows who it might be in our school."
"They're students?" question Maxie.
Could be the case, then yes for both Terry to say and for Gwen to have a bad feeling about it.
"At least one of them is."
Maxie soon realizes who the target is when she finds a booby trap in her locker for Gwen to sense out and saves her friend.
"Duck!" she pushes Maxie away. "(And that was a close one...A pie in face with a brick inside of it.) Ah, Maxie...?"
"I'm okay. Wow, Gwen, you're like some type of physic person to know these things to do something about is amazing." she tells Gwen.
A nice thing for Maxie to say to Gwen.
"I just have a strange feeling is all..."
Max plans to adapt her identification program to find out who the Jokerz' leader is. On the next night, the Jokerz appear outside the high school and flee when the Batmobile appears.
"Hi, boys and girls." said Batwoman. "Trick or defeat?"
"Ooh, look who's playing hall monitor!" Tayko said.
For Batwoman to come flying down from her fire power and Batman out of the Batmobile.
"Care to explain what you're doing on school grounds?" Batman demands to know.
"Actually...no!" said Trey to start throwing bad water balloons at the two.
Terry/Batman and Gwen/Batwoman gives chase back into the Batmobile, allowing Terminal to slip inside where Max is working late. Catching up with the Jokerz, Terry and Gwen see one of them wearing Max's student pass and realizes who their target is.
"(This is bad, Batman...)" Gwen was worried about Maxie. "(If we don't save her now, Terminal will do something far more than having pranks left out on her.)"
"Then we better get a move on!"
You heard Batwoman, let's move on out! At the school, Terminal appears on the monitors, taunting Max, and the school's cleaning robots are reprogrammed to attack her, spraying deadly acid. Batman and Batwoman arrive back just in time to save her to leave next to helping out Maxie.
"Batwoman? Batman?"
"Heads up, kid!" said Batwoman.
What a close call that was, huh? The next morning, Max is surprised when the program comes up with a list of six names: one of them were Gwen and Terry.
"Wait...Gwen was here? When? And Terry...? A Joker?"
Max becomes even more suspicious when Terry catches up with her and tells her that she should abandon her investigation, though he is actually speaking out of concern for her safety.
"Let's go, Terry." Dana pulls her boyfriend to get to class.
For Terry to relay Gwen a message that something was on Maxie's mind.
"Gwen, try to watch on her in case the Jokerz come back."
"Got it." she said. "Say, Maxie, did I ever tell you how cool you are?"
"Who me?" said Maxie. "I'm just me is all. With a lot going on to put me in a tight spot like this."
"It'll be fine whatever happens next. With Batwoman and Batman around with friends like us too, what do you got to lose? (Still, I feel some confusion coming from Maxie's feelings about Terry. Does she know?)" worried Gwen. "(I better see she might be mistakenly thinking about...)"
The next night, Maxie emails Terry, telling him that she knows his 'secret', and ordering him to a meeting in the park. He had to tell Gwen about it to be on high alert.
"Gwen, we got a problem. Get ready to become Batwoman if the Jokerz show up again to hurt Maxie." he said.
She understood to be ready for them this time.
"I'll be right there, Terry."
"(I kinda saw this part coming of this Max girl knowing about you two soon enough. She's good.)" said Gwen's inner self.
Seeing the message, Terry dons the Batsuit in a panic and flies to the park for Gwen to rush over there too once she transforms into Batwoman.
"Burning passion! Batwoman!"
At the park, Max is confronted by Terminal and his Jokerz. Now Terminal plans to kill her. She calls him 'Terry', and he laughs it off. Realizing she was wrong, Max tries to run, but they catch her.
"Nowhere to run off now, Maxie, who do you think will save you?" Terminal questions her.
"Me." Batman kicks Terminal.
With some fire coming out to stopping the other three, Batwoman also arrives.
"And me too!"
Batman and Batwoman both made it just in time and fight off the Jokerz. And Maxie stopping one of them on her own.
"Come out, come out, wherever you..." Max is right there, and hits Trey over the head with a garden pipe - unfortunately, only breaking the pipe). "Why, you little...!"
With Batman stopping Weasel and Batwoman doing the same against Takyo to do well together. However...Terminal is a handful for the two-crime fighting duo.
"Did you two Bats forget about me? You got Max, Trey?"
He has her trapped.
"(Maxie!)" Gwen panics.
"I got her." he said to is boss.
And now...It was Maxie's turn to save their lives after saving hers since Maxie knows of Batwoman was weak to water.
"Batwoman, heads up! Water ball coming down!" Maxie warns the super heroine hero.
As Max breaks free of her captor and shuts down a nearby fountain, causing the ball suspended on top to fall and roll, knocking Terminal into the fountain and scattering the rest of the Jokerz.
"Wipe out." said Batman.
"Thanks for the warning, kid, I like you." Batwoman helps the others pull Terminal out of the waters. "Let's see who you really are, you freak!"
Terminal's makeup washes off, revealing his true identity.
"Carter...?" shock Maxie. "Carter Wilson?"
With that, Batman and Batwoman leave for Maxie to call the police next.
"(Carter Wilson will not be president of the high school now after trying to kill Maxie.)" said Gwen to tell Terry something else next. "(Ah, Terry, I think she might know who we are...We might have to tell her. She's smart, strong, and I think she can keep our identities a secret. Wouldn't you say?)"
Maybe so, for Maxie to be smart enough to do so. She was trustworthy. The next day, the students discuss the news of Carter's arrest. Terry speaks to Max in private with Gwen joining in too. She says she was wrong, a mistake in her programming led to the computer spitting out the wrong name—to her chagrin, Carter wasn't even on her list of possible Jokerz—but she reveals that he was.
"Between you or Gwen, there was one of the options."
The two looked at each other to worry again.
"Come on, Terry, it'll be fine." Gwen said. "(Please trust us, Maxie, I really want to become friends with you.)"
Surprised, Terry asks does she really think that and although Max admits she did at first, she reveals that she now knows that Terry is really Batman.
"Wait, Max, you don't think-!"
"I thought to be wrong of the first part, but now I know..." she does the bat ears. "I knew it was you, Terry. And you, Gwen, from the fire powers you have as Batwoman and your body to withstand any heat, I found out a long time ago."
And for that, Gwen shows off Maxie her fire powers for show very carefully.
"(How did she know...?)" shocked Gwen's inner self. "(Again, I like her.)"
"Alright...Look, Maxie, I want for us to hang out. But if you want to say we are them..." she does a fire trick. "Keep this a secret from others to not knowing please."
Nice skills!
"Wow! I knew you have something special about you, Gwen! Tell me more."
And she does with Maxie to learn all about it.
"And...What are you going to do about us?" Terry asks her next.
Apprehensive, Terry asks what she's going to do. Max reveals she'll keep his secret, while deciding to cover her tracks so that no one else well will discover the truth. However, Terry assures her the situation is taken care, revealing a 'friend' has helped cover their tracks. Being Bruce Wayne himself and Megan backing him up.
"Oh, thanks...But how?"
"A friend with another who are in love are good at keeping things covered up." Terry said. "If you join us, Max, this will change everything."
"Maybe it's a good thing." said Maxie.
True, but she still needs to be careful about it all.
"If you know what you're doing, Maxie, to help us out...Then please do so." Gwen advises her friend on a good tip to remember.
Terry points out these changes everything between them, but Max believes it's for the better as now he has someone he can talk to that knows his and Gwen's secret and mentions she can help them whenever they need it.
"I'll be careful, Gwen. For you and I to hang out a lot to get to know each other and your powers...I like this." Maxie said with a smile.
Looks like Gwen was alright with all of this for Terry to know of his friend was right about things that are not bad. Terry is confused until Dana arrives angry as they had plans to meet the previous night.
"Okay, Terry, talk! Did you get hold up by Mr. Wayne with Gwen yesterday or was it all a lie?"
She believes that Terry simply forgot again, but Max covers for him, 'revealing' it was her fault as she was supposed to babysit Matt but had to cancel so Terry had to instead.
"Sorry, Dana, it was my fault." Maxie comes up with something. "I was supposed to babysit Max, but I had to cancel for Terry to do it instead for Gwen and I had a project we're working on."
This eases Dana, understanding that family comes first and assures Terry, they can make it up and gives him a quick kiss before moving to her computer.
"Oh, that's okay. Family comes first." Dana kisses Terry on the cheek. "We'll make it up somehow."
Wow, Maxie was good.
"Nicely done, Maxie." Gwen was amazed on what she can do. "Welcome to the team."
And for Bruce and Megan to learn about Maxie, how and why Terry became Batman, and Gwen telling her all about her powers and such to catch up to now know everything afterwards to be helpful for them both.
"You're right, Gwen, this could work out for us with her help." Terry sounded happy. " Terry is now assured of the situation, now seeing this can work well, however Max informs Terry that she has only one condition: if he calls her Robin, she's out. He agrees and calls her 'Alfred'. Maybe this could work out after all."
Just one thing, McGinnis: You ever call me "Robin", and I'm out of here." she makes a joke.
"I don't think it'll be a problem." Gwen said to her new best friend.
Nah, not for her to be Robin that's for sure.
"No problem...Alfred." then Terry makes a joke right back.
This made Gwen laugh in a good way.
"Alfred?" Maxie was lost. Another new member to back Terry and Gwen up to help them at times from them as Batman and Batwoman, things will work out nice to make things easier to get through the day. Even for Maxie to learn something from the two. "(Now I see...Terry loves Gwen more than Dana. Now this I got see how it all turns out.)"
Max Gibson is awesome!