Chapter 13

Hugo Strange

CADMUS Labs

Terry got on his motorcycle and drove off to CADMUS Labs. He looked behind him and saw red and blue lights arriving at the Club him and Dana met at. Three armored trucks showed up to the club.

Terry recognized the trucks. They were the same trucks that stormed his apartments. Terry sped up a little when he saw the trucks arrived at the bar. Thirty seconds later he looked behind him to see if the lights we out of site. They weren't. They were coming closer to him in fact. One of the rogue soldiers must have saw him riding off on his motorcycle.

Terry approached 120 miles per hour. Suddenly traffic appeared ahead. Terry split lanes and almost lost the trucks. The trucks managed to get past the traffic somehow though and approached Terry again.

Suddenly Heretic flew above Terry and swooped down. He destroyed the trucks, killing the soldiers inside and flew away. Terry had no idea who the Heretic was though. He hadn't even seen him yet. It had appeared the Heretic was going to CADMUS Labs too. Terry followed Heretic but stayed out of site.

CADMUS Labs

When Terry got to CADMUS Labs he saw more dead guards like he saw when he first encountered the Red Hood. Terry tried to see if any of the guards were still alive and none were. The Heretic must have killed them.

"Looks like someone else is here looking for something too." Terry thought.

Terry saw a woman at the front desk who was still conscious. She was hiding under the table. Terry, who was not wearing any Batsuit approached her. He grabbed her by the neck and held her up to the ceiling.

"I'm sick of these games." Terry was angry, "Where is Hugo Strange's office?"

"I- nobody named Hugo Strange works here..." The woman said. A bullet traveled through the side of the woman's head killing her instantly. The Heretic shot her.

"Who are you!?" Terry questioned Heretic. He dropped the woman's body.

"I am the Heretic. You will come to know me soon but who I am is not important right now. You look for the man they call Hugo Strange, I know where he is." Heretic said. "Follow me."

Heretic led Terry to an office that was on the fifth floor. When they got to the office, Terry and Heretic saw the Red Hood pointing a gun to a man's head. The man had round glasses and a grey beard. He had to be in his late eighties.

"You brought the boy? Good. I'm done questioning him for my shit. Now it's his turn." Red Hood said.

Heretic pointed to the man Red Hood was point a gun to, "That is Hugo Strange. He knows more about your DNA than you do."

Terry pushed Red Hood aside and punched Hugo Strange in the face. "What do know about me?!"

"I- I don't even know who you are." Hugo Strange stated.

Terry punched him again, "I am Terry McGinnis, the boy you experimented on for Project Beyond."

"Mr. McGinnis?" Hugo Strange stated.

"You sound like you know my name. You should know what I want to know then." Terry said.

"I know now." Hugo Strange said, "You want to know why your DNA is matched with Bruce Wayne's DNA."

"Yeah." Terry said, "Talk."

"You were the only test subject of Project Beyond. Project Beyond was an experiment regarding the future Batman. You see, Amanda Waller, a woman who is presumed dead, wanted a Batman of the future. She knew Gotham couldn't survive without a Batman. Because she couldn't make a clone at the time, she decided to combine your father's DNA with Bruce Wayne's DNA. She your father's doctor call your father to come in for a Flu Shot. Little did your father know though he was getting a shot of Bruce Wayne's DNA. When you were born, you were born with just a little of Bruce Wayne's DNA. The DNA expands though. You see, by the time your 30 years old, you'll be an exact clone of Bruce Wayne. You're personalities would be the same, so would you intelligence levels. But that's not all, your experience in Martial Arts and physical activity would be the same too. You be the perfect Batman of the future." Hugo Strange explained.

"How do you know Bruce Wayne was the original Batman?" Terry questioned.

"Now that's a story your going to have to ask Bruce about clone." Hugo laughed.

"Don't call me clone." Terry ordered.

"Why not? It's what you are, isn't it?" Hugo Strange asked, "You're even the Batman like Mr. Wayne was."

Terry punched Hugo Strange in the face again, knocking out a tooth. "I'm not a clone."

"It's what you will become." Hugo Strange laughed. Red Hood shot the gun at Hugo Strange's forehead. He hit his target. Hugo Strange was dead now.

"He was done talking. There was no more information we could've pulled from him." Red Hood stated.

"Who the hell are you?" Terry questioned.

Red Hood removed his mask. Revealing himself to be Jason Todd. Jason looked to be in his late fifties, early sixties. Heretic removed his mask too revealing himself to be Damian Wayne. Damian was in his late forties.

"My name to Jason Todd. I was the second Robin before the Joker killed me." Red Hood said. "Ra's Al Ghul brought me back from the dead."

"I am Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne's son. I died at the hands of Darkseid the ruler of Apokolips. I was brought back to life on Apokolips by my grandfather, Ra's Al Ghul." Damian stated.

"What do you want from Hugo Strange?" Terry asked.

Jason Todd pressed a small button on the side of his neck. His face turned into the Joker's face. He pressed the button again and his face turned back to normal.

"Hugo Strange split my DNA in half and combined it with the Joker, thinking you would need a Joker someday to fight someday. He can't control my body but his he lives in it." Jason Todd said.

"So you were only here to get revenge on Hugo Strange?" Terry asked.

"No, that's not the only reason. My father has this ridiculous no killing rule. He doesn't understand that this city starts to become less afraid if you don't show them what you are capable of. We are here to show take control of this city like Bruce never could." Damian stated.

"I sent Damian back to help you because it wasn't right you were born into the old man's hands without any possibility of avoiding it." Jason said. "Damian had a chance to avoid him, his mother never told him about Bruce. He desperately wanted to meet Bruce though. But you would've crossed paths with Bruce eventually because you are his clone. One day you would've realized you looked just like Bruce Wayne."

"We are giving you a chance to be more than a clone. Help us." Damian said.

"Together, we can help make this city better." Jason said. "Will you help us?"

"Yes, I will help you." Terry said. He was going to become more than what he was made to be. He was going to be a better hero than the Batman ever could be.