Chapter 70

"I heard from your coach..." Nate was greeted by these words from his mother as soon as the door opened. "What happened to your face?" She furrowed her brows angrily as she grabbed her son's face and turned it. "You got in a ring again?"

"No, mom..."

"Who's this with you?" The lady gestured at the young man with dark hair standing behind Nate.

"Good evening, Ma'am. I'm just Nate's schoolmate. I accompanied him here because he wasn't fit to fend himself alone in these streets." He smiled widely.

Nate's face just twitched. "L-Let's go inside and talk, Mom." He was pushing his mom inside the house before he faced Damian to shoo him away. "Thanks. You can go home now."

"Hey, wait a minute." The mom pushed away her son's hands. "Why aren't you inviting your friend in?"

"He's not my friend."

"Well, he was acting friendly towards you, wasn't he?"

Nate sighed.

"Would you like to have dinner with us...?" The mother asked popping her head in to Damian's view because she was behind Nate.

"It's Damian, Ma'am. And sure, I would love to." He smiled.

Damian followed Nate and Mrs. Murtaugh inside their apartment.

"You can sit down while I prepare dinner." Mrs. Murtaugh said as he headed to the kitchen "Where do you live, Damian?" Nate's mother asked as she proceeded to the kitchen which is visible from their living room through a window.

"I..." Damian glanced at Nate who was acting uninterested. "I live upstate, Mrs. Murtaugh"

"Please, Ms. Maria or Maria is just fine." She said as she grabbed her ladel.

"Upstate, huh?" Nate said as he plopped on their couch. He already knows where he lives, but couldn't help but react at Damian trying to hide the fact that he was living in the Wayne Estate.

"Your parents live with you?" Maria asked.

"Uh..." Once again, Damian was asked a difficult question. "My father is already deceased. My mother is... always working so I rarely see her at home."

"You hear that, Nate? You're pretty lucky to have a mother like me that's always present you get." She chastized her son for no reason.

"Yeah? He must be so unlucky to live in a mansion with no parents around, then." Irritated, Nate blurted out the fact that Damian was rich.

"What are you talking about?" His mom furrowed his brows at him.

"He's a Wayne, mom."

"A Wayne?" On top of her furrowing her brows, she narrowed her eyes too. "Quit joking around, Nathan. All of Gotham knows Bruce Wayne didn't have a kid."

"Who's this kid, then, going to school in a luxury brand car?" He pointed at Damian with his open palm.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hide that fact." Damian awkwardly laughed. "It's just a difficult subject to talk about with anyone."

Cling clang clang.

The spatula that Maria was holding dropped on the floor along with her jaw.

"It's a bit of a long story. My mother and father weren't married. They separated just before my mother knew she was pregnant with me." Damian added

"Did she ask for child support afterwards?"

"No. My mother is very independent." He chuckled.

"Where did you leave before you moved here?"

"Somewhere in asia..."

"Your mother was asian? From what country?"

"Erm..." Damian scratched his cheek. "She was also mixed. Middle easter, Asian, Caucasian, a little bit of african. It's because of our family's history that loved to travel."

"Like a circus?"

"S-something like that."

Nate was suspiciously eyeing Damian the whole time as him and his mother talked about Damian's roots.

Just then, the door to their home opened.

A girl walked inside. She was a little bit older than Nate and Damian.

"Allie. How was work?" Maria asked the girl that just entered their home with familiarity.

"It was okay. Nothing interesting." She looked at Damian who was looking at her curiously. "Who's this?" She asked.

"He's-"

"He's Nate's friend from school." Their mother cut Nate off.

"You made a new friend? That's good. Anyone's better than those trashbags you used to hang around with." She said as she plopped down on the sofa next to Damian. "So, what's your name?"

"Damian... Damian Wayne."

"Wayne? Like the Waynes? How's it feel to have the same surname as them?"

"Allison..." Nate looked at his sister in the eyes. "He is them."

She blinked multiple times. "For real?"

Nate just nodded in reply while their mother was busy setting up the food on the table.

Now, Allie was the one staring at Damian with curiosity.

"What is it that you do, Allison?" Damian suddenly asked.

"What? Oh, um, I work at a grocery store."

"Hmm..." Damian looked at Allie's hands and her face alternately.

"Wha-What is it?"

"Nothing." Damian replied.

"Dinner's ready, you three!" Maria Murtaugh called on the three young adults to the table.

As they all sat down on the table for dinner, Maria served the guest first.

"I don't know what you're used to eat at home, but I'm proud of my home cooking." She said.

"I'm not a very picky eater. This all looks very appetizing to me."

The mother served Damian some Arroz con Gandules which is Puerto Rican rice and a piece of meat called Bistec encebollado.

After dinner, Damian said his thanks and goodbye to the family and Nate walked him to the door.

"Hey. I wanted to ask you something about your sister since earlier."

"You better not be interested in my sister."

"No." Damian firmly rejected the idea. "Does she box too?"

"She and I were taught by our dad when we were kids. Why?"

"I don't think she's working at a grocery store. She's been fighting."

Nate furrowed his brows at Damian and glanced back where his sister was helping their mom. "I don't know where you got that idea from, but just leave it at that."

"Check the callouses on her hands. Ask her."

"I said leave it."

Damian sighed and waved as he turned his heel towards the stairs.

Nate made sure he left before closing the door and glancing at his sister again before heading into his room.

-----

"Uhhhh..." Terry carefully opened his eyes as light entered his sight.

He moved his head like he was about to get up but couldn't. His body was attached to a machine. Laying his head back on his pillow once again, he recalled what had happened before he got knocked out.

"Talia..." He muttered the name of the woman who put him in this state.

"Terry?"

Tak tak tak. The familiar voice was followed by the sound of a cane hitting the floor and footsteps.

Terry turned his stiff neck slightly.

"Alfred?" Terry replied.

"Dear boy. Thank goodness you woke up again."

"I-" Terry clenched his teeth. "I couldn't stop her from killing them."

"It's okay." Alfred assured him by touching his shoulder.

"No... It's not. If only I was just..." Terry paused because he couldn't continue what he was about to say.

"Stronger?" But Alfred continued it for him.

Terry's eyes were downcast.

"They were a bunch of criminals anyway."

Terry snapped his head towards Alfred. "What did you just say?"

"Well, it's true, isn't it?"

"What's true?" Terry narrowed his eyes at him.

"That they're evil and they should be killed."

"What are you saying, Alfred?" He couldn't believe what his teacher and friend was saying.

"You heard me." Alfred had an ominous expression on. "If you had just gotten along with what she wanted then you would have saved everyone you love."

"Every... What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean?" Alfred sniggered. "Everyone you loved is dead because you weren't strong enough to kill those criminals. If you had just killed them in the first place, then Talia wouldn't have had to come here."

"You're not being you, Alfred. You know what the Batman stands for." Terry chastized him.

"The Batman..." He sniggered again. "You don't have to be Batman anymore. You have no more people to protect. No more Gotham city."

"Wha..." Terry's face contorted "What the hell are you saying? How long have I been unconscious?"

"You've been stuck here for a year."

"A year... What happened to everyone? Mom? Commissioner Gordon? Dana?"

"We're all dead..."

"We?" Terry furrowed his eyebrows.

Right then, Alfred started bleeding from his clothes until he collapsed.

"ALFRED!"

He shot up from his bed without his restraints anymore and immediately ran next to Alfred.

Terry looked around to find first aid, but all he saw was a burning Gotham city and he was right in the middle of it. As he continued to look around, he saw his mother, his girlfriend, the police commissioner, his friends, and the rest of the citizens of Gotham. They were either mutilated or wounded somewhere on their body.

They were all lying there in front of him dead.

Terry lost all his strength in his legs and collapsed on his knees. Tears started to roll down from his eyes. He was devastated and angry. The first time that he felt that he couldn't do anything about his current situation.

No. This wasn't the first time.

The first time he felt like this was when he lost his father.

His instincts were telling him to let his rage consume him and lead the path of revenge.

"My, my. You're still alive."

He widened his eyes and immediately lifted his head to where the voice came from.

In front of him was his target. Talia Al ghul, hovering over the ashes and the rubble, proud of the destruction she's caused.

And beneath her, was her son, Damian.

Both of them were smiling and looking down on him.

"Kugh..." He clenched his teeth so hard that he felt like they might break.

----

"Uhhh..."

"Terry?" Dana who was sitting beside an unconscious Terry was alerted by his sudden Groan. She smiled and called for Alfred immediately. "Alfred! I think he's waking up!"

"Let me have a look." Alfred, who was outside using the computer, replied.

The delighted Dana turned her head back and saw Terry's face contort.

"Terry? Hey!" She nudged him a little bit to wake him up.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

The heart monitor was suddenly beeping so fast and alerted Dana.

"Alfred! Something's wrong!"

Alfred who just entered the room looked at the monitor.

"He's going into shock. Take the syringe in the drawer next to you and inject it into his IV line." Alfred said maintaining his calm but there was still a sense of urgency.

Dana frantically opened the drawer next to her and searched for a syringe.

"Is this it?" Dana said, shaking.

"Yes. Now, slowly inject it."

She immediately removed the cap of the needle and started aiming the point of it into the IV line. Slowly, because she was shaking out of nervousness from losing her significant other.

As Dana was about to inject the syringe, her hand was grabbed by Alfred.

"Wait." He said. "He's stabilizing."

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Both of them sighed out of relief.