Revenant

Terry and Eliana walked through their school's halls and paused when they saw a crowd of students staring at the ceiling. Curious, the teens joined the crowd and looked up to see the school's sports trophies mysteriously embedded into the ceiling.

"How the heck did they do that?" Dana asked out loud. Eliana had to crack a small smile at the prank. Coach Fitz, however, did not find it funny at all. "My trophies! It took me 20 years to win those trophies!" He exclaimed.

Walking away from the distraught coach, Terry spoke up, "Well, someone finally found a way to get to Coach Fitz."You know what they're saying, don't you? It's the work of the ghost, just like everything that's been happening around here," Chelsea said.

Eliana raised an eyebrow, "Ghost?" Since when has a ghost been rumoring around Hamilton Hill High?

Terry seemed to be just as out of the loop as her. The group stopped as Chelsea, Dana, and Max stared at them. "The ghost of Garrison Jacobs. The kid who was killed when they built the east wing," Chelsea explained. "Where have you two been the last two weeks? In a cave?" Dana accused.

Terry and Eliana chose not to answer the question.

"Isn't that just typical. A few strange, unexplainable events, and right away people start talking poltergeist," Max dismissed, grabbing some books from her locker. "How else do you explain the mangled lounge furniture? And the shop teacher's hair?" Chelsea asked. "The wind," Max responded dryly.

They approached the school's social computer as Max searched Garrison's profile. "Well, a lot of people believe it was Garrison, come back from the dead to haunt us," Dana told Terry and Eliana. When Garrison's profile came out, Max let out a low whistle, "That's him? Oh, la la"

Garrison was a fair skinned boy with short black hair and had a gold earring. Even Eliana had to admit the teen was attractive. "Top athlete in three sports. Lead guitarist in a band," Dana read out. "Not to mention drop-dead gorgeous. He can haunt my castle anytime," Chelsea added slyly.

Dana, Max, and Chelsea giggled while Terry looked away awkwardly, making his girlfriend join in on the giggling.

~8~

That evening, instead of focusing their attention on actual potential crime, Terry and Eliana chose to patrol Hamilton Hill. Terry is the most motivated in catching the school's "ghost."

Meanwhile, Dana, Chelsea, and Blade were at the school holding an ouija ceremony to summon the ghost. Eliana had been offered by Dana to join but declined. She had no interest in communicating with the dead.

As they were about to circle the school for the umpteenth time, Bruce voiced his displeasure. "Terry, Eliana, enough of this. You both should be down at the piers looking for smugglers. Not staking out your high school, waiting for petty vandals."

"Just one more sweep. If I can catch this so-called ghost in the act, I can prove it's all a hoax," Terry replied. "You've already invested too much time in this."

Just as Bruce said that, Terry stopped the batplane just outside some windows of the school gym. Flashing lights were coming from inside. "And it just paid off," Eliana said, her eyes narrowing.

The duo burst through the windows just in time to save Dana from getting hit by a flying chair. "Garrison, he's after Nelson!" Chelsea exclaimed, pointing to Nelson, who was being swarmed by multiple flying chairs. Nightwing quickly grabbed Nelson and tossed him to safety.

"Okay, Casper, take it down a notch, will ya," she quipped. "Yeah. I can't believe I'm saying this, but you want Nelson, you're gonna have to me," Batman added. It seemed the ghost was up to the challenge. Some rope flew across the room and tied up Nightwing, while Batman was slammed into the ground by a table.

Nelson got to his feet and ran to the exit in an attempt to escape the ghost, which had a vicious interest in him. The floor beneath him began tearing off from the ground, and it eventually rolled up under Nelson and launched him backward.

Batman jumped over to his partner and used a batarang to cut the rope, keeping her arms pinned. Broken pieces of furniture made a beeline towards Nelson, but he was pushed out of the way by the duo.

Suddenly, the giant tv in the room started to move down from its position on the wall and then towards them. "There's no way out! There's no way out!" Nelson cried frantically. Nightwing surveyed the room looking for something to help them.

She spotted some gym mats propped against the wall and grabbed them. Ignoring Nelson's protest, she wrapped him up in the mats and pushed him out the window. Not even waiting a second more, she and Batman followed in suit, scarcely escaping the crushing tv.

Thankfully, the ghost or whoever was responsible ended their pursuit once they made it out, leaving Eliana and Terry in disbelief at what they just witnessed.

~8~

"It wanted Nelson. It didn't care about the girls or us until we tried to help him," Terry explained to Bruce. "It." So even you believe it's a ghost. Eliana?" Eliana crossed her arms somewhat defensively. "Everybody else does. The guys have even started to dress like him. Some of the girls are wearing black as a sigh of mourning."

"You both aren't everybody else. These people believe anything they can't explain is magic," Bruce stated. Terry smirked, "Naturally, you don't believe in those kinds of things," he assumed. Now Bruce was the one crossing his arms defense, "Of course I do. I've seen it all. Demons, witch-boys, immortals, zombies. But this thing, I don't know, it just feels so...so high school."

Terry and Eliana sent the old man a glare.

~8~

Later that evening, Eliana was over at the Mcginnis household having dinner with the family. The topic of conversation was the ghost at Hamilton Hill. Terry and Eliana told a very excited Matt all about what was happening at the high school.

"So this Ouija board can call out ghosts so people can talk to them? Whoa, that's so schway! Huh, mom?" Mary showed no enthusiasm in the subject but humored her younger son with a careless response. "Yes dear, very "schway."

"Hey, maybe we could hold a séance here, at home!" Matt exclaimed to his older brother. Eliana smiled at the little boy's eagerness. "What for, squirt?" Terry asked, also smiling at his brother's antics.

"To bring dad's ghost back."

The table went silent as Mary, Terry, and Eliana gave the boy sorrowful looks. Eliana pitied the boy. He suffered a loss at too young of an age to understand the full consequences of it. She couldn't imagine the heartbreak Mary would be feeling having to break the news.

"Matt, honey, there's no such thing as ghosts," Mary began softly. "But the board -" "It's a fake." Matt slumped down in his chair, letting his gaze fall to his lap. "Dad is gone, honey. He's not coming back, even as a ghost," Mary finished firmly.

"But I need to see him again. I need to. I'm forgetting what he was like." Matt's admission made Eliana tear up. The little boy before her did not deserve to feel this way.

Mary and Terry exchanged looks as Matt excused himself to his room. Eliana decided to take the weight off of Mary's shoulders and go check on Matt herself.

She found the boy sitting knees tucked next to his bed, swiping away at his eyes, which refused to stop watering. Eliana slowly inched her way into the room as she came to sit softly beside Matt. She patiently stayed silent, giving Matt the time to compose himself and open up when he was ready.

After a couple of minutes, the boy broke comfortable silence.

"I'm scared." Eliana craned her neck slightly to look at Matt, "Of what?" Matt sniffed, "forgetting my dad. What if I never remember him? I don't wanna forget him, Ellie." Eliana wrapped an arm around Matt and pulled him closer.

"You won't," she assured. "How do you know for sure?" As Matt looked at her, Eliana saw a familiar pair of scared eyes reflecting back at her. "Because I was once afraid of the same thing." Matt's eyes widened in shock, "You were?" Eliana nodded gravely.

"I'm not sure if Terry's told you, but I was around your age when I lost both my parents. And for the longest time...I was scared. Scared I'd forget my father's mischievous smile or my mothers warm hugs. But then I realized that I could never truly forget my parents. They are a part of me, always will be. And I am fortunate enough to live with Mr Wayne, who knew my father better than anyone else. So whenever I feel like the memory of my father is slipping away, I get Mr Wayne to tell me stories.

"Matt, you have a loving mom and the best big brother who can remind you all about your dad because they knew him better than anyone in this world. You won't be able to remember everything about your dad, but I promise you, as long as you keep his memory alive, you will never forget him."

Matt flung his arms around Eliana's neck and buried his face in her shoulder. Eliana hugged the boy tightly and stroked his back soothingly. Peering from the doorway, Terry looked upon the sight with a small smile.

~8~

At school the next day, Eliana and the other girls were in the locker room, getting ready to shower. Still wrapped up in a towel, Eliana went over to a shower and turned it on to a warm, comfortable temperature. She stuck her hand in and basked at the refreshing feeling. Suddenly, the temperature dropped drastically, and Eliana withdrew her hand with a hiss.

"Very funny. Who turned up the cold?"

Blade went to answer but gasped when the towel wrapped in her hair was torn away. Just then, all the showers in the room started to go haywire. Soon water was bursting from the walls, and the showers were spraying water everywhere.

Eliana and the girls shielded their eyes and covered their ears. "Someone turn the power off!" Chelsea yelled out. Dana quickly ran over to the main controller and managed to shut off the water. But after a brief period of calm, the showers reactivate with the hot water pushed up to the max.

The room began to dangerously steam up. Eliana took the initiative and led the girls to the exit. Max was outside waiting for Eliana and startled when the girls piled out from the locker room in a fright.

She rushed over to them and asked what happened. "Something's in there!" Chelsea exclaimed. Max gave her a lopsided smile and crossed her arms, "Not your phantom menace." Dana and Chelsea exchanged looks. "You think?"Sure, I mean, we're the ones that raised his spirit. It's logical he'd wanna contact us."In the showers," Dana teased.

Eliana rolled her eyes as the girls started to giggle as if what happened didn't matter. She was going to reprimand their behavior when she noticed Blade wasn't with them. "Where's Blade?"

"Oh my god! you've gotta see this," Blade's voice interrupted from the locker room.

The girls burst into the room but stopped in their tracks. Written in the steam condensed on the mirror was the message, "I still love you."

Cue all the girls, minus Eliana, swooning over how romantic it was. But all of them wondered just who the message was for.

When Terry heard about what happened, he was deeply concerned for his girlfriend. "You're okay, right? You didn't get hurt?" Eliana smiled at her boyfriend's reaction, "I'm fine, just want an explanation for all this."

"The girls have been trying to figure out who Garrison's girlfriend was before he died, so they can give her the message." The teens went over to the school's social computer to do some research. "You said Blade was the last in the shower?" Terry inquired. "Yeah, she saw it being written. Do you think the message was for her?"

Terry pulled up Nelson's and Blade's profiles. "First, our so-called ghost tried to kill Nelson. Then it left a love message for Blade. Now, what connects them?"They're not connected, at least not anymore. They broke up after the thing at the pier. Oh!"

"It all fits," Terry murmured. "The message, Nelson, the shop teacher, the coach. He hated them all. It's no ghost, babe."

"It's Wille Watt," Eliana filled in, analyzing Willie's old profile displayed on the screen.

~8~

"Welcome to juvenile hall," a guard greeted gruffly. "Be advised that all your activities will be monitored from this point on. You'll have 15 minutes for your visit with inmate 7725."You both here to see Willie?" The guard asked as he led them through the facility.

Eliana picked up the hint of surprise in the guard's voice. "Yes, why?"Nobody ever comes to see Willie," the guard informed. "Not even his old man?" Eliana asked sadly. You'd think the man would've attempted to make amends with his son.

"No one. Not in all the time he's been here. Nobody calls. Nobody writes. It's creepy. But then again, so is Willie. Everyone here is a little afraid of him." "Afraid? Of skinny Willie Watt?" Terry inquired skeptically.

The guard opened Willie's cell door, and Terry's skepticism couldn't be more wrong. Gone were the nerdy glasses and slim physique. It was clear Willie had been working out during his duration at juvie as the teen was very muscular.

"Terry, Eliana! What brings you two to this dump," Willie greeted happily? Swallowing down their shock, Terry and Eliana sat down at the table set up. "Just wanted to come see how you're doing," Eliana said warmly. They needed to keep this conversation under the pretense of a friendly visit.

"Well, juvie's not the worst place in the world, just kinda boring," Willie shrugged nonchalantly, kicking his feet up on the table. "You've been hitting the weight machines," Terry noted. Willie flexed, "It helps past the time. And I found out that I like being strong."

"Besides, with good behavior, I'll be out in less than two months." Willie picked up a glass of water and gestured to a toast. Terry and Eliana played along and raised their glasses. "Just in time for junior prom," Eliana mentioned, hoping Willie would slip and provide some information.

And he did. "If they'll have the gym repaired in time." Terry's smile slid off his face as his tone turned serious. "How'd you know about that?"Someone from school told me," Willie dismissed. "Who?" "What is this, Mcginnis, 20 questions?"

"The guard said no one ever comes to see you or calls or writes," Eliana interjected. Willie avoided eye contact but kept a dopey smile on his face. "What're two you saying that I sneaked out of juvie and paid a visit to the school?" "In a way."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Eliana swished around her glass, "I'm sure," she said drily and threw it at Willie. Willie gasped and lifted his hands to shield his face. The glass stopped and hovered in mid-air.

Eliana raised from her seat, "The incident at the pier, it left you with some kind of psychokinetic ability, didn't it?"A gift from my friend the Golem,' Willie smirked proudly. "Everyone thinks you're a ghost. It's all they talk about."

Willie toyed with the glass, "I know, I'm the hero of the school. And that's not half of what I can do."Then why don't you just bust out of here? Do what you want," Terry asked. "Cause everybody would know. In two months, I'll be gone from here. "I'll have all this power and a normal life. If you both don't trip on me." Willie got up and sauntered over to their side of the table and sat upon it.

He was trying to assert his dominance. But Eliana and Terry would not be intimidated. "We know how to keep a secret." They all stood up, and Willie held out a hand. "You better, I know where the two of you live," Willie threatened lightly.

Terry and Eliana went to shake his hand when they were interrupted by a group of guards busting in with handcuffs. Willie looked widely around the room until his eyes settled on the camera in the corner.

"Nice job, Mcginnis, Grayson," Willie smiled wickedly. "Face down, Watt! Hands behind your head! Now!" A guard barked. Willie refused and instead put his hands forward to throw the guards back. "Willie, you have to stop, or they'll never let you out!" Eliana exclaimed. Willie ignored her and lifted the table to smash open the glass roof.

"You should've stayed out of it, Eliana, Terry. It would have been better..for everybody. Terry and Eliana watched grimly as Willie flew out of juvenile hall.

~8~

Bruce wasn't exactly thrilled when he heard about the predicament with Willie. "What did you think was gonna happen?"

Okay, so maybe going to visit Willie and provoking him wasn't the best idea they had. "I don't know. We just had to make sure it was him," Terry argued feebly. "We get it, we messed up," Eliana confessed, rubbing a hand over her face with a sigh.

"Then you can make it up." She caught the tranquilizer gun Bruce tossed to her. "One shot, and he'll be out for hours." "If he shows up," Terry pointed. "Oh, he'll show up. He's drawn to the school. It's an obsession," Bruce said.

"Your area of expertise," Terry teased. Bruce sent him a glare, finding the remark offensive. Eliana looked down at her gun, "So we just have to get close enough to use it." It sounded easier than it was.

They notified Barbara about Willie and convinced her to appeal to Hamilton Hill's principal to close the school. Principal Nakamura was not cooperating smoothly as hoped. "If I close to close based on your hunch, and he doesn't show up, I'm going to have the school board looking over my shoulder."

"This is a court order. If you don't close the school, you'll have me looking over your shoulder in the county jail," Barbara threatened. She slammed her hands on the principal's desk to back her warning before leaving the office. Terry and Eliana wwe just outside listening to the whole conversation.

Just then, Principal Nakamura spoke over the P.A, "This is Principal Nakamura speaking. Classes will be suspended until further notice. Please proceed to your home rooms, where you'll be dismissed in an orderly fashion. Thank you."

All students exited their classes happily. "You're a hero to my people," Terry joked to Barbara. "You two better be right this one," Barbara stated seriously before leaving.

~8~

Twirling his keys on his way out of school, Nelson hopped into his car and drove off. He heard a whistle close by and looked around only to hear a thud on his car. Standing on the hood, Willie gave Nelson a malicious smile and then used his powers to force the car back to the school.

Nelson jumped out of his car right before it crashed into the school. He looked up at Willie, who was hovering for all to see. "I never understood why you liked to pick on the weaker kids, Nelson. Until now."

Nelson stood up defiantly, "It's not fair. You have powers. I don't stand a chance." Willie didn't appreciate being called out in such a way. "Okay, if that's how you wanna play it. Mano-a-Mano. No powers."

Willie landed on the ground only to take a hard punch right in the face. The two teens brawled for some time, but Nelson managed to gain the upper hand with his experience. So Willie went back on his word. "Well, maybe just a little power," he said, launching Nelson onto the roof of another car.

Dana, Blade, and Chelsea came running out of the school. Soon, Blade felt herself being lifted from the ground by Willie. "Willie, please," she begged. "Please, what? You were interested in me when you thought I was a ghost." He brought her as close to his chest and leaned in for a kiss.

However, the kiss was inetcetped when Nightwing grabbed Willie by the collar and slammed him onto the ground. She went to inject her tranquilizer but was prevented by Willie's power. "Almost let down my defenses, and just for a kiss," Willie laughed.

Nightwing was tossed back. The gun was forced out from her hand and exploded. Willie flew up into the air and used his power to grab some benches and throw them at the hero. Batman landed in front of his partner and sent out batarangs to blow up the benches.

Willie spotted the school's flagpole and tore off the flag. The duo blasted upwards and tried to avoid being tangled, but Batman was caught. Nightwing went to free him only to be hit like a ball by the flagpole.

"You know what I learned in juvie Batman, Nightwing? You don't kick a man when he's down!" Willie shouted, tearing the giant emblem of Hamilton Hill out from the building. Nightwing acted fast and threw a batarang at Willie, which radiated a bright flash of light in the teens face. Willie fell to his feet, disoriented.

Nightwing took advantage and held Willie from behind. "Get away!" Willie lost his temper, which caused a tornado. The dangerous gust of winds blew everything around. No one could focus on their surroundings, not even Willie, who didn't see a tree coming right for him.

"Willie, look out!" Nightwing warned, but she was too late. The tree hurled directly into Willie, knocking the teen unconscious.

Willie returned to Juvenile Hall not long after, now fitted with a device on his head that prevented him from using his powers. Once again, he found himself alone, without visitors.

~8~

In the living room of the Mcginnis household, Terry, Eliana, and Matt were sitting around a bunch of scattered photos. After what happened last dinner, Terry realized he needed to step up as a bigger brother and help Matt deal with his dad's passing.

With some loving encouragement from his girlfriend, Terry asked his mother for all the family photos so he could go through them with Matt. And the idea seemed to be working well.

"Hey, I remember this trip. It was great. You fell in that hornets nest!"

Eliana laughed, picturing the image of young Terry being chased by hornets. Terry looked at the photo, which included him and Matt with their dad. Matt was on top of his father's shoulders with a big grin. The photo was nothing short of beautiful.

"I remember it, too. But not as fondly as you," Terry chuckled. "Dad warned you to watch where you were going. He knew about that kind of stuff," Matt replied.

Terry placed a hand on Matt's shoulder, "See? You do remember him. And he'll never be gone as long as you keep him alive in here," Terry said, pointing to Matt's head, "And here," he pointed to his heart.

Eliana smiled warmly at the brothers. "What about here?" She joined in point to Matt's arm. Terry took the hint and began peppering his brother with pokes while Matt laughed. "Or here? What about here, Eliana?

"Oh yes, definitely there."

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