"And then what did you do?"

Bruce had been reminiscing about some old tales from his Batman years to Eliana and Terry while they worked on repairing Terry's suit after an encounter with Mad Stan. The suit had gotten torn from a deadly grenade. Terry was now sporting a bandage around his midriff, which made it incredibly difficult for Eliana not to stare at her boyfriend's shirtless upper body.

"Well, I-" Bruce paused, "What does it matter? It was a long time ago, a very long time," he dismissed. "Don't wanna talk about it, huh?" Terry pressed. "In case you haven't noticed, we've still got a lot of this shrapnel to deal with. You'd think that someone in a suit like this would be able to dodge a simple hand grenade," Bruce commented.

Eliana piped up in defense of Terry, "He did dodge a hand grenade. The problem was that Mad Stan had 2." Terry waved his hand in her direction, "Now come on, finish your story. How'd you know that Robin would get there in time to save you?" Bruce closed his eyes, "I didn't," he revealed. Terry and Eliana were speechless.

"Then, for all you knew, you were walking into a trap with no way out," Terry exclaimed. "Sometimes you have to," Bruce stated solemnly. 'But you could've been-" Terry didn't get to finish his sentence as Ace began barking crazily.

"Ace, boy, what's wrong?" Eliana asked in concern. What she was not expecting was Ace to pounce on top of her and growl directly in her face. In all her years of knowing Ace, he'd never attacked Eliana.

"Ace, off!" Bruce ordered. But Ace just turned to him and proceeded to tackle the old man to the ground. Terry quickly grabbed the dog's collar, trying to yank Ace off Bruce. "Ace, stop it! Stop it!" Ace ignored the shouts from his owners, and it was clear brute strength would not subdue the pet. Terry went over to his suit, grabbed a few tranquilizer darts, and stuck them into Ace.

The effects were instant as Ace calmed down. Eliana helped Bruce from the ground as the three overlooked the now sad looking dog. "What got into him?" Eliana voiced out loud.

Since not even the great Bruce Wayne was skilled in animal anatomy, the ultimate decision was to take Ace to the vet. The tranzilzers were still in effect, but as a precaution, Ace was given a muzzle. Eliana's heart broke when she placed it on her beloved pet.

The animal hospital was filled to the brim with worried owners and their pets. "So it happened to yours, too, huh?" Terry and Eliana looked to see Max holding a cage for her pet cat. "Mine tried to jump a pitbull." The sound of lots of animals drowned out everything else, so the teens had to converse with raised voices.

"You have any idea what's going on?" Eliana inquired. "Nope, I'm just glad I don't live anywhere near the zoo," Max noted.

Oh shi-

Eliana turned to Terry's whose distressed expression matched hers. "Stay with Ace, I'll deal with this," she told him. "Are you sure?" Terry did not want to imagine the potential amount of animals Eliana would have to deal with, by herself might he add.

"Make sure our boy is okay, I can handle this," she reassured, giving his cheek a kiss before rushing out of the hospital.

~8~

Now, if someone told Eliana she'd one day fight an angry elephant, she would've laughed. But currently, in the grasp of the giant animal's trunk made her feelings are different.

After being repeatedly slammed into the ground by the elephant, Eliana decided to blast out of the tight grip. While in the air, she spotted two zookeepers being chased by a rampaging gorilla. She tackled the big ape to the ground, but she lost the upper hand rather quickly. Eliana groaned as the ape pounded his fists onto her.

She quickly pushed her suit's camouflage button and disappeared. At least, that's what the gorilla believed. Eliana used the animal's surprise as a distraction and used her legs to throw the ape over into a metal wall. "Easy big fella. I don't suppose a banana would make you feel better, huh?"

The gorilla recovered and banged its fists against its chest. The animal charged at Eliana, but the girl already placed herself in a perfect position. When the ape charged and leaped to her, she simply dodged and let the animal fall into the waterhole behind her.

Not wanting to continue the lovely wrestling match, Eliana pulled out a grappling batarang and wrapped the gorilla up. She tied the still hostile animal to a pole so it wouldn't escape. Suddenly, the ground began to rumble, Elian looked to her left to see the furious elephant, who she'd just escaped its clutches, coming right at her.

Not having enough time to act, Eliana braced herself for the impending strike. Only, there was none. She looked up to see that the elephant stopped inches before her and was once again calm.

Eliana watched the animals turn around and walk towards the two zookeepers. "Thanks, we got it from here, Nightwing," one keeper stated. The other was busy petting the elephant, "Everything's gonna be okay, Tiffany."

"Yeah, Tiffany."

Eliana's thoughts went to Ace, and she hoped her dog reverted back to his normal self like Tiffany.

Her prayers were answered when she entered the batcave and saw Ace contently chewing on his bone. "There's my good boy," Eliana said, stroking Ace softly. The dog licked her face and whined as if to apologize. "Aw, s'okay Ace, I know you didn't mean it."

"I take it the vet didn't have any explanations," she stated, turning to her boyfriend, who had been watching the scene with a small smile. "Not one clue. How was playing zookeeper?" Eliana sighed, "Ugh, don't even get me started. Let's just say we aren't planning dates there anytime soon."

A gruff voice interrupted, "If you two are finished, I've found a connection." Terry and Eliana rolled their eyes but joined Bruce at the batcomputer. "The disturbances started at midnight and ended at two. At the same time, the military reported interference on certain sonar frequencies," Bruce informed.

"So, we're talking sound here," Eliana remarked. "And you know who that means," Bruce responded grimly.

~8~

"We all done, Shriek?"

Shriek shut off his equipment and turned to his spliced assistant. "For tonight, Ollie. But now that I know my system can blanket the city, there's a lot more for you to do." Shriek started to walk away when Ollie continued.

"Till they pay you mucho creds to ease up, right?"

Shriek turned back quickly, "Credits? After what was taken from me, do you honestly think I care about money," he sneered, getting into Ollie's face. "Ollie, there's a whole world of sound out there that I'll never hear again outside this stinking suit!" Ollie stumbled backwards, "Uh, guess not. So, why are we doing this?"

Shriek didn't answer. He walked over to his television and turned it on to a broadcast about the event at the zoo in which two zookeepers were being interviewed. "Nightwing saved us and the animals!"Yeah, she's incredible. A real hero!"

Shriek paused the broadcast and traced the image of Nightwing. "What I want is to change all of that for both Nightwing and Batman." " What did they do to you?" Ollie inquired. They took his hearing away, stripping him of the precious sense. But Shriek didn't express this to his assistant. Instead, he picked up a pitchfork looking gadget.

"Ollie, it's been a long night. I think you've earned some time with The Fork." Ollie's interest was piqued, "the Fork?"Sound vibrations directly stimulate the brain's pleasure center. Isn't this better than creds?"

Ollie took the gadget, held it to his head, and instantly felt its effects. The teen started groaning from pure pleasure. Shreeve, fishing the sound repulsive, took off his suit's helmet and his hearing headphones. He then looked at the headphones he had to rely on in order to hear and gritted his teeth.

Soon, he'd get his revenge on Batman and Nightwing. He wanted them to know what it felt like to lose something you love.

~8~

After visiting the mental hospital, Shreeve was instated, and Eliana and Terry weren't too surprised the man was nowhere to be seen. Somehow, the manic managed to get himself discharged. Apparently, they "cured him."

When they told Bruce as much, the old man said, "Cured him, huh? Do you both believe that?"Well, given the fact he most likely blames us for his hearing loss, I'd say no," Eliana responded drily.

"It had to have been Shriek, but why?" Bruce pondered, looking down at a lounging Ace. "And how? That suit of his was pretty powerful, but I don't see how it could've affected that much of the city," Terry added.

Bruce turned his gaze back to the teens. "Maybe he found some way to pratish grah geranda." Eliana and Terry raised their brows, trying to comprehend what came out of Bruce's mouth. "What?" Eliana questioned.

"You're not making erseknow. Kory tie itoxin?" This time, Bruce heard the squabble speech from Terry. "Terry, what's happening to you?" The three tried to communicate further, but all that was coming out was incomprehensible gibberish.

Terry and Eliana quickly suited up and were soon zooming across the city in the batplane. The only way for them to communicate with Bruce properly was through messages.

It's happening all over the city

Eliana looked out the window to see many people getting into angry disputes. Everyone is going nuts, and she typed back.

Shriek must've found a way to interfere with the vibrations of air molecules

Terry typed: Huh?

Air molecules carry the vibration of human speech

'That's what I get for sleeping through physics,' Terry thought.

Trouble made itself known when a lift operator could no longer understand the spoken instructions of a landing director and subsequently crashed into a crane. The duo arrived at the accident just in time. A piece of crane was in the process of free falling. Using the grappling cable on the batplane, the heroes were able to attach the craft to the crane to slow its descent.

When the crane safely landed on the street, Terry piloted the batplane back up to the tall building. Eliana quickly fired missiles to destroy the lift operator's aircraft before it crashed into them. They then noticed the lift operator was also falling. Terry opened the batplane, stood out, and caught the man.

The rest of the crewmen cheered, seeing their co-worker alive and well. Although the rescued operator could not express his gratitude with coherent words, he hugged Batman tightly.

~8~

In her office, Commissioner Barbara Gordon was already aware of the speech interference and was trying to unravel the mystery of it. All she could do was sit and hope the event would be over soon. Just then, her assistant, Dave, came running into the room. He tried to alert her of something, but his words came out as gibberish. Barbara put her hand up to stop him, "That's not gonna do any good, Dave."

She continued speaking until her words suddenly became comprehensible, "And I've alerted the newspapers to print emergency instructions."Wait a minute, I can understand you," Dave interrupted. "And you're making sense now, too. As much as you usually make anyway," she teased.

Her telephone rang, and Barbara picked it up to answer, "Gordon." But the person on the other line was not who she expected. "It's Shriek. I shut off the interference so you could hear this. I'm willing to give the city back its sanity permanently in exchange for the lives of Batman and Nightwing."

The demand was impossible for Barbara to commit. "There's no way I can -" "Tonight. Midnight. Hill Square. If they're not there, things will get even worse." Barbara stood from her seat sharply, "You're out of your mind." "Duh," Shriek responded before cutting the call.

Barbara looked at the clock. 6:00pm.

Next came the hard part, telling Bruce.

~8~

After stopping some other accidents throughout the day, Eliana and Terry settled down with Bruce to figure out where the interference was broadcasted from. Currently, they were overviewing the skymatics of Gotham.

"He's using a jamming signal. I'm sure of it. The problem is finding out where the signals are coming from. Here are the places where the effect was most severe. But it's still gonna take some time to isolate -" An incoming call interrupted Bruce's speech. Commissioner Gordon's face appeared on one of the BatComputer screens.

"Bruce, the truce is only temporary," Barbara informed. "That isn't exactly surprising," Eliana responded drily. "We're mobilizing, but even if we're lucky, hundreds will die. Maybe thousands," Barbara said grimly.

Eliana and Terry narrowed their eyes on the old woman. The way she averted her gaze as if she were ashamed. She was hiding something. Bruce spoke up again, "We're trying to find his transmitter, and once we do -"

"He wants Batman and Nightwing. That's his price."

There was an awkward silence.

"What are you saying, Barbara? That I should just hand Terry and Eliana over to Shriek?" Bruce asked coldly. His fists were clenched so tight they were turning white. Barbara shook her head, "No. Give them to me. I'll figure out something. I had some pretty good teachers, remember?" Her attempt at lightening the mood failed.

"I remember, but you work for a mayor who'd sell out the kids at the drop of a hat." Barbara did not appreciate the dig, Look, if you've got a better plan -" "All I know is this. Terry and Eliana have done lots for this city. It's time for the city to do something for them," Bruce defended strongly.

"We're trying, Bruce, but we've only got to midnight. What, then?" Barbara's gaze lingered on Terry and Eliana for another moment until she ended the call. "We've got to figure out where it's coming from," Bruce said, but there was no response. He spun his chair around to see that the teens had vanished.

~8~

Terry and Eliana had a very difficult choice to make. Surrender themselves to Shriek or find another way. Either way, their discussion was rather time sensitive. As much as Eliana wanted to talk to Bruce, she knew her guardian would never agree to Shriek's demand. So they went to another friend.

"Thousands, huh?" Max stated somberly. "Yeah, thousands. All balanced against the lives of two people; us." Terry confirmed impassively. He felt his girlfriends slip into his and give it a squeeze. "You know, there are other kinds of losses," Max said lightly. Eliana raised a brow, "Like what?"

"Like a guardian losing their ward. Like a mother losing a son. Like Matt losing a big brother and an unofficial big sister so soon after his father. Then there's Dana's loss, not to mention my own. You're gonna do that to us?"

Sacrificing oneself for the good of humanity was, at least to Eliana, what being a hero meant. She just wished family members wouldn't have to endure the suffering that came with it. Instead of answering, Eliana picked up the t.v remote and turned on the news.

"Midnight's fast approaching, and Shriek, the sound genius with the unsound mind, doesn't appear likely to lift the deadline for his rendezvous with Gotham's vigiland Nightwing If the vicious vigilantes don't show, we'll all get another dose of Shrieks babel, and this one'll be lethal. Reporter Latonya Choi has been sampling public opinion at the galleria."

Eliana was saddened to see the two zookeepers she saved from the zoo incident turn against her. "Sure, Shrieks crazy, but there's two sides to every story," one keeper said, "You don't go around provoking a madman, and that's what Batman and Nightwing did Shriek just wants a little justice, " the other concluded.

Max was appalled on her friends' behalf. "That's who you two are thinking of sacrificing ourselves for?" In spite of everything Terry and Eliana did for the city, the citizens hated them.

Terry stood from his seat and held a hand out from Eliana. She curiously took it, "Where to now?" "A walk. I don't know about you but I could use some fresh air."

The fresh air did help, albeit somewhat, as it gave the duo a chance to clear their heads. But after some time, Eliana noticed they were approaching a very sensitive location. Warren Mcginnis' former home, otherwise known as the place Terry found out his father, had been murder by Derek Powers.

As they stopped just across the street from the home, Eliana closed her eyes in prayer before looking up at her boyfriend, who seemed to be in a trance. 'No doubt thinking about that night,' Eliana thought sadly, hugging Terry.

"My dad always wanted me to become a better man, but I never took his words to heart back then," Terry stated, breaking the melancholy silence. "You are now Terry. Look how far you've come -" "How we've come," Terry interrupted, pulling her closer and resting his chin on her head.

Eliana smiled, "Okay, how we've come. No matter how they view us, this city will always need Batman and Nightwing. We can't just give up on the thousands of people counting on us, even if that means giving up our own lives. It's what we signed up for, isn't it?"

Terry pulled away to meet Eliana's eyes. "When did you get to be so wise?" Eliana smirked, "I guess it's just a part of my charm," she teased before giving him a short but passionate kiss.

~8~

Bruce watched in disgust as the news continued to interview more people who slandered Eliana and Terry. "Spineless fools," he growled. Suddenly, Ace barked, and the old man looked over to the caves entrance to see Eliana and Terry in their suits.

"Terry! Eliana!" Bruce exclaimed in shock. "You sound surprised," Eliana joked. "You two aren't thinking of handing yourselves over to him, are you?" The teens turned their gazes to the computer trying to go over Shrieks' interference they had yet to solve.

"That's not our first choice, no," Terry answered. "I wouldn't blame you both if you stayed home. Not after what all those ingrates have been saying," Bruce said bitterly. "We didn't get into this for gratitude. And we both know you didn't either." Bruce didn't say another to contradict his wards statement because she was right. He didn't become Batman for the purpose of fame and glory.

"That's it! That's how he's doing it!"

Bruce was startled, "How? How's he doing it!?" But Terry and Eliana didn't explain how they managed to figure out how Shriek projected his interference over such a wide area of the city. Instead, they ignored Bruce's question and ran to the Batplane

They climbed into the plane's hatch and placed it on their masks. "I'm sure of it. He's found a way to adapt the kilmery sway fercama." Bruce frowned at Terry's gibberish sentence ending. "What? He must've started the interference again. I can't..."

Eliana gestured to the computer before they took off out of the cave. Bruce turned to the computer and alzayed the images displayed further. His eyes widened when he saw it. "The towers. He's using them as a giant tuning fork!"

~8~

Once they arrived at the fork tower, Batman and Nightwing climbed up and pressed a finger to one of the windows. Their suits transmitted the strong frequency waves coming from within. Out of nowhere, a sound blast sent them tumbling to the ground. They fortunately stopped themselves right before the end of the building.

Shriek sent another blast that pushed them over the ledge, but they managed to hang on and throw batarangs that, unfortunately, were destroyed by the villain. But the blast given to destroy the weapons sent dust up around them, and when it cleared, the duo had disappeared.

Shriek grunted when a force hit his side. He collapsed to the ground but used his suit's claws to slash at the heroes. Batman and Nightiwng gasped as the front of their suits were damaged. After lot's of dodging on their part, the duo landed on a scaffolding.

"Kaffa ramin nafta!"

Batman and Nightwing titled their heads in questioning. Shriek realized the interference was still on and pushed a button on his suit to end it. "This isn't how I wanted it. You two were supposed to give yourselves up to me!"You should've gotten it in writing," Batman quipped. "Funny. See how funny you think this is."

Shriek cranked the switch on his suit, and the fork tower transmitted the highest frequency. Batman and Nightwing yelled in excruciating pain and clutched their ears. It felt as though their minds were being ripped apart. The frequency carried through their coms, making Bruce cry out.

Shriek got into the building's elevator, which took him up to Batman and Nightwing level. He had taken off his helmet and his hearing headset, so he was unaffected by the dangerous frequency. "Now I've got the advantage!" The duo hazily saw Shriek about to strike and quickly threw down some gas pellets.

While the villain was swatting and coughing, they used the distraction to enter the building. The frequency was only outside, so they were safe indoors. They ran over to the main controls, but before they could even touch them, Shrieks assistant Ollie tackled them. They threw the spliced man off them, and he crashed into a control panel, damaging it.

Sparks circuited from the panel, and Ollie ran over in an attempt to fix what was broken. The splicer panicked, "I can't shut it off! The whole frequency vibration, it's gonna knock down the towers!"

The three ran out to the streets at ground level as the towers began quaking. But Shriek was waiting for the heroes and blasted them. They saw Shriek standing right under the towers and tried to warn him, "The towers are falling! Get away from there!"

Except since Shriek had taken his hearing headset off, he was unable to hear the alerts and the sound of his impending doom. "No use pleading. You're dead!" That was the last thing Shriek said before the towers crushed him.

The force of the debris slammed into Batman and Nightwing, and they, too, were caught under the weight of some of the wreckage. Not long later, emergency crews were surveying the scene looking for survivors. The only trace of Shriek was the switch belonging to his suit.

They jumped when a piece of rubble was moved but calmed when they saw it was Batman and Nightwing. The crew moved to help only to receive cold stares. Maybe the treatment was unfair, but just hours before the people of Gotham were all too willing to sacrifice them.

Maybe they'd forgive, but Terry and Eliana would never forget.

~8~

Terry and Eliana found themselves experiencing deja vu as they, along with Bruce, were working on repairing Terry's suit. "By the way, thanks," Bruce spoke. Terry paused as he and Eliana gave the old man a curious glance. "For what?" They questioned simultaneously.

"For reminding me why I got into this. It's been so many years now," Bruce answered, looking at his suit display. "But you never really forget, do you?" Terry responded. "No, you don't. Tell me, what if you two hadn't figured out how Shriek was using the towers? Would you have handed yourselves over to him at midnight?"

Terry and Eliana exchanged looks. "In case you haven't noticed, we have a suit to repair," Eliana answered evasively.