Truth of Thy Father

Chapter 38


Truth of Thy Father


Amanda Waller's Mansion


Waller had Terry sit down for some tea. She was going to tell Terry everything. It may take a while but she'd speak.


"Laurel! Hurry with the tea!" Waller told Black Canary. "Laurel was Green Arrow's wife before he past."


"I know. Bruce told me a lot about the past League." Terry replied.


"What kind of tea would you want?" Waller asked.


"I don't want tea, I want answers." Terry replied.


"Well then you're going to have to humor me. It's been many years since I've gotten a handsome gentleman caller. Why is it that superheroes are always so good looking?" Waller asked. Black Canary gave her two cups of tea. "I have green tea for you. It's supposed to help you live longer. Drink up."


Terry knocked the teacup out of Waller's hands and onto the floor. "I don't want tea! I want answers!" Waller frowned. Terry cooled down. "I'm sorry."


"It's okay. My grandmother gave me that cup but she gave me many other ones too." Waller stated. "You want answers? I'm hear to give you them."


An automatic vacuum cleaner cleaned up the mess.


"When did you figure it a out?" Waller asked.


"I guess I've always known but a couple weeks ago when CADMUS agents were tracking me down, I found out it was really true." Terry replied.


Waller got out a tray of pills. It was time for her to take her medicines.


"Look at all these. A pill for diabetes, a pill for my spine..." Waller held up a red and white pill, "I don't even remember what this one is for- Oh yeah Alzheimer's."


"Don't pretend you're some dotty old lady who can't remember anything. I want answers and you're the only one who has them now that Bruce is dead." Terry stated. "Or wait, he had them but he wouldn't have given them to me. Once he settles on a course of action he won't stop at anything."


"If you think that, you never knew him at all." Waller said. "Let me tell you a little story."


30 Years Ago, Gotham


Amanda Waller POV


Bruce and a few minor members of the Justice League found themselves cleaning up one of my messes.


I remember Bruce and his team fighting the Royal Flush Game. They had been created by Ace, a little girl who we, CADMUS, had given too much power to. She couldn't control this power.


Bruce and his team took down the Royal Flush Game easily. Taking down Ace though would be harder.


I remember coming in after Bruce's team had defeated the Royal Flush Gang. I need one of them to take down Ace. In more clearer terms, kill her. She had the power to warp reality. She had warped part of Gotham into an Alice and Wonderland type setting.


Ace was dying and when she died, if she didn't change back what she had changed, anyone in range of her warped reality would die along with her.


Hawkwoman had volunteered but Ace didn't know her. She knew Bruce. So Bruce volunteered to do the job. I had a device that would kill Ace quickly and remove everything she had changed. I remember Bruce walking through the nightmare trees to do the job.


Normal POV


Bruce saw a bright playground area for Ace to play on. Bruce saw Ace swinging on a swing set. Ace was a ten year old girl with black, short hair.


"Batman." Ace started to Bruce.


"Ace." Bruce replied.


"Did you have any fun playing with my new Royal Flush Gang?" Ace asked.


"Can say that I did." Bruce said.


"Yeah they aren't any fun at all. I gave them their power to play with me but all they do is ignore me." Ace said.


"Can imagine why." Bruce said.


"When I was little CADMUS used to play games with me. But they weren't fun games. They strap me into their machines and poke wires into my brain, 'Ace can you move this object with your mind?'" Ace said. She made a tree fly into the air. "'Yeah I could move it.' They weren't really game you know. They're were training me, turning me into a weapon. They got their weapon, for justice they said. They got their weapon and I lost my childhood."


"I know what that's like." Bruce replied.


"You do don't you?" Ace said. A moment of silence went by. "You do t have to answer that. I read your mind. That's how I knew you weren't going to use Ms. Waller's weapon on me."


Bruce got the weapon out of his utility belt and threw it away.


"No, I wasn't." Bruce said.


"You were going to try and talk me into fixing everything I have changed... Before I die." Ace said. Two tears came out of both of her eyes.


"Yes." Bruce said to Ace.


"I'm dying very soon." Ace stated.


"Yes." Bruce repeated. "I'm sorry."


"Could you stay with me? I'm scared." Ace said. Bruce sat next to her on the swing set.


Bruce put his hand out and held Ace's hand.


Amanda Waller's POV


I remember everything changing around me back to the way it was before. The Royal Flush Gang turned back into ordinary citizens. The trees and roads turned normal. That's when I was Bruce walking out of Ace's maze, holding her body. He sat with her until her time came.


Present (2045) Day
Normal POV


"That's the Bruce Wayne I came to know over the years." Waller said.


"You think he should mercy?" Terry asked. "Maybe but more likely he already deduced that Ace wasn't really going to hurt anyone."


"He always was two steps ahead of everyone." Waller replied.


"That's right. Even when it looks like it your call it isn't." Terry replied. "Think about it. Bruce wanted a successor and he got one. You and Strange may have started it all, making me a clone-


"You not a clone honey." Waller said.


"Then what am I!?" Terry questioned. "Why did you do this!?"


"Strange's files lied to you. You're not a clone. I did this because I realized that the world would be a living hell without a Batman. Before you were born, Bruce and I were enemies. The Justice League was easily the most powerful force on Earth. As you know, I was the leader of CADMUS along with Hugo Strange. Over the years I came to respect Batman." Waller said. "Even trust him."


"I guess the wall of average says somebody would have to." Terry said.


"Did you know I was the Government liaison with the Justice League for a while?" Waller asked. "I met some extremely extraordinary people on that job but none of them were the equal of Batman."


"Right, who could be?" Terry asked.


"Right, not my point. I saw him save the day dozens of times, with nothing but his wits, body, and will. But j saw something else with the years past. Bruce was growing older, slower. Soon he'd have to retire, or more likely someone would have finally gotten to him. Like the Joker and Jason Todd." Waller said. "The thought of a world without Batman would be unacceptable. So I decided to make a new one. I used my old CADMUS connections to gather the technology necessary for Project Beyond. Joker got a hold of some of this tech to make his nanites. That's another story to tell though on a different day. Bruce's DNA was easy enough to obtain. He left it everywhere. That's remotely what I needed. Then I found a young Neo Gotham couple. With the psychological profiles almost identical of Thomas and Martha Wayne."


"You're father thought he was getting a flu shot. Actually it was the nano tech that Joker used, just a less cruel one. It would change his reproductive material so it would be exactly like Bruce's for one offspring." Waller said.


"A little over a year later, your mother gave birth to you. A child sharing not one hundred percent of Bruce's genetic material but seventy-five percent and twenty-five percent of your mother's genetic material." Waller said.


"But when you're making a Batman. Genetics is only part of the story. The rest is tragedy. Stop me if you've heard it before, you're eight years old. Your parents have just taken you to see a rousing adventure film. The movie was loved by all. But unknown to you, a mysterious figure rides in the shadows." Waller told. "My plan was simple. The killer would leap out at you but would kill your family. The trauma would put you on the path to becoming Batman. One problem my assassin wouldn't pull the trigger. I argued with her but deep down I knew she was right. People say Batman's obsessive, that he'd do anything to achieve his goals. But he'd never resort to murder. So if I was to honor all he stood for, neither could I."


"And yet my dad ended up getting murdered anyway. Don't you get it no matter what you did or didn't do I was going to end up being Bruce's carbon copy, his clone. It was fate." Terry said.


"You know the Lord's been a great comfort to me all these years. Try not to look so surprised. Yeah I've got a lot to answer for when I meet him but I'd like to believe that for all the harm I've caused I've also done some good." Waller put her hand on Terry's shoulder. "Maybe the Angels need a sharp sword too. Like the Good Book says, 'he moves in mysterious ways, his plan is a mystery but here's what isn't, he gave us free will. We choose our own fate for good or for ill' I've known Bruce Wayne for over 50 years. He's known me longer the he has Superman and I've been keeping an eye your whole life. You're not Bruce's clone, you're his son. There are similarities mind you but more than few differences too. You don't quite have his magnificent brain for instance. You do have his heart though. And for all that fierce exterior, I've never met anyone who's care as deeply for his fellow man as Bruce Wayne except for maybe you."


Waller walked to her bedroom. "You want to have a little better than Bruce? Take care of the people who love you, or don't. It's your choice. Did you see his final message?"


"No, I got angry." Terry replied.


"No worries he gave it to me too. Remember he always was two steps ahead of everyone." Waller said. She tossed Terry a hologram player. Terry played the holographic video.


"Entry two. Today, Terry had just traveled across the Multiverse. I'm proud of him. He was able to take down Lord Superman without any knowledge of him. Something I probably could never do." Bruce said. The video ended. A new video played. "Entry three. Final entree. I'm dying. Jason has came back and so has Damian. Worst of all the Joker is back. Terry, you're going to see this message wit Dick's help. If you're watching this then you have figured out the password to this file is 'Beyond.' This final entry won't be long since Neo Gotham's citizens are being controlled by the Joker. Terry, I'm so proud of you. I have just learned you are my son. I won't be telling you this in the battlefields but I'll tell you it in this video. Seventy-five percent of your DNA is identical to mine. It's not one-hundred percent like you originally thought but seventy-five percent. I am proud to have you as a son Terry. You weren't like Damian where you were a train assassin from the start. You were like me, you were born into a wealthier family. You're father got slain down by an assassin. Know this though, you're not a clone, you are my son. And one day, when you grow to have kids, you will realize how much I... Love... You... Batman out."


Terry turned to Amanda Waller. "Thank you." Tears were running out of his eyes.


"You're welcome Mr. McGinnis." Amanda stated. Waller went off to bed and Terry went back to the Wayne Manor.

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