Batman Beyond: The New Dynamic Duo

Mind Games

It was a dark and stormy night over Gotham as Batman and Nightwing patrolled the city. Max was on the other line quizzing them on a history test they had the next day.

"Ford Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton..."

"Yeah?"

I don't know," Terry said. "Come on, Clinton was the fun one, then came the boring one," Max urged. "They're all boring," Eliana joked. There was a strong bang of thunder accompanied by a bright flash of lightning.

"Woah. Sounded close." "Yeah, we're in for it," Terry responded. Just then a car, which had been struck by lightning and caught on fire, flew past them. It was about to crash and kill whoever was inside. "Gotta go Max," Eliana said quickly.

Terry piloted the batplane, chasing after the car until they were above it. Eliana pushed a button that released two metal clasps from under the batplane. They grabbed onto the burning car as Terry directed them down to the street making a safe landing. A family of three exited the car.

The heroes popped open the batplanes hatch and made themselves known. "Are you alright?" Nightwing asked the family. "We're fine, thank you for your help. We can take it from here," the father said.

As rain started pouring down, the family turned and walked away. The little girl craned her neck to stare at the heroes. Terry and Eliana couldn't help but shudder at the sad disturbing look the little girl gave them.

~8~

The next day Terry and Eliana were in history class about to take their test. "Ten short-essay questions. You have 30 mins, I suggest you not linger on any one of them" their teacher said. Terry turned to Max and frantically asked, "Who was the boring one?" "Quiet!"

During the test, Terry looked towards the door and was surprised to see the little girl from last night standing there. "You have to help me," the girl pleaded, hovering towards him. "I don't wanna go. I refuse to go. Please help me." "What?" Terry mumbled. Eliana heard her boyfriend and looked over at him and was also startled when she saw the girl.

"Please, I don't wanna go. Please help me," the girl repeated. "I don't understand," Terry answered. "Mr Mcginnis, what don't you understand?" The teacher asked sharply. "Uh, nothing, sorry," Terry stumbled.

Max gave them a funny look but returned back to her test. The girl had disappeared. Eliana shook her head and Terry closed his eyes. Then the girl reappeared and kept repeating the same thing over and over throughout the class.

"Please, you have to help me. I don't wanna go. I refuse to go. Please help me. Please."

~8~

"Help me. Help me." Over and over again, like a broken disk," Eliana complained to Bruce. "And then she vanishes?" Bruce inquired. "Yeah," Terry said. While Bruce contemplated the information, Eliana and Terry turned around and froze. They both sighed exasperatedly. Even Ace perked up in alert.

"Guess what," Terry said. "She's here," Bruce answered. "Yep. Right there, asking for help again," Eliana responded, pointing across the room where the little girl was standing. "Talk to her," Bruce urged.

"Who are you?" Eliana implored. "Tamara." At last they had a name to match the face. "What are you doing here?" "I need your help." "Yeah. We got that. So where are you?" Terry asked. Tamara shut her eyes in concentration and stuck out her arms.

Terry and Eliana marveled at how their surroundings shifted into that of a living room. Despite the change, the teens were still physically in the batcave and could still hear Bruce. "Wow," Eliana breathed out. Tamara had extraordinary mental powers.