Writing Batman Beyond: A retelling [M -- L,V]

[Dragonboym2]

Batman Beyond: A retelling


I?ve seen the animated spin-off ?Batman Beyond?, on the WB network many years ago. But I had many problems with it. I liked the ideas, and most of the characters, but it wasn?t what I hoped it to be. It wasn?t as dark as I hoped, or as well done as Bruce and Paul?s previous works with ?Batman The animated Series.? That was great show, well written, well designed, and it worked on many levels. But no one ever died. For example, the Joker, a psychotic killer, never killed anyone. As an old co-worker once said ?He?s the Joker! He kills people!? Geeze. At least in ?The New Batman/Superman Adventures?, he talked about doing it, and tried to do it. I?m going to change that. I?m writing a retelling of ?Batman Beyond? how it should have been. Dark, action packed, violent, and it will answer the questions that never got answered in the series. What happened to Dick Grayson? When and how did Alfred die? What about most of the villains? What about the other heroes of DC? Well, have a look, and enjoy. I hope it?s to your liking.


Chapter One part one: Endings?
Gotham City, November 15, the near future

It was another dark brisk windy fall night in Gotham. On the south side of town in a warehouse overlooking the Warf, Jack Lornan lit a cigarette while eyeing his three hostages. Two young women, both tied and gagged on the floor in their underwear, like some kinky bondage film. And a younger man, also in his underwear lying next to them. Lornan smiled. Their old man Mr. Ben Rapstonn was on the richest men in Gotham. He?d pay through they nose for his kids back safe and sound. Besides, he told Rapstonn if he went to the police, he?d kill them both. He wasn?t bluffing. He killed hostages before.
And that?s why he was in Blackgate for those horrible years. But he was sprung on good behavior. Good thing his parole office had a weakness for booze. Got him a years worth of Schnapps, and all was well. He had ten men watching the grounds outside. If anyone came snooping, he?d know. But Lornan was bored stiff. Two hours and not one phone call. One more hour to go, or the kids are dead. He could get the call anytime, now but still boring. He then got an idea. He put out his smoke, and walked up to the oldest of the girls, his cowboy boots thudding on the dirty wood floor. She had long blonde hair, and green eyes. Her faces was round and supple like an apple. And she had powder blue panties, with matching bra. He knelt down, still grinning, reaching for the powder blue panties. He wondered if she was a virgin. Oh, well. Time to have some fun. The walkie talkie on the table squalked to life. ?Boss! We got trouble!? Gun fire echoed in the backround. Lornan got fusterated and ran over to the walkie-talkie. ?This better be goddam important.? He shouted into it. ?Boss! It?s him! He?s..? It went dead. The door swung open, and one of his men ran in white as a sheet.
? It- it?s a bat! A- A giant bat! ? He looked up to see a dark shadow behind him. He went down swiftly, and Lornan got a good look at was behind him. He was six feet tall, with pale glowing white eyes staring at him. A large red bat was stretched across his chest. He was entirely dressed in jet black, with large pointed ears at the top of his head. Lornan froze. ?Y-You?!? He back away, while Batman slowing came toward him. ?It?s over.? He said in a gravely low voice. ?Let the hostages go. You can?t run from me.? Loran pulled out his gun from his faded denim jacket, pointing right at Batman?s chest. There was a black and red blur, and the gun was knocked easily from his hand. Loran?s face met a black fist, and he felt his teeth shatter under the force of the blow. A kick met his gut, sending him flying backward sprawling on the floor. Batman walked slowly toward the hostages. He then suddenly stopped and started coughing and sputtering. He fell to one knee wheezing like a broken carburetor. ?I?m?going..to..get you out..of here..? he gasped. Then, a sharp blow came to his right temple.
He fell over. Lornan was standing above him, bleeding at the mouth from the punch he took, and holding a large crowbar. ?Your dead, you fucking freak!? Lornan snapped. Batman?s right arm felt numb. He tasted blood in his mouth. ?No?? He thought. ?Don?t let it be a stroke.? Batman was too weak to even move his legs. He noticed on the floor near him, Lornan?s gun. It was the only way. No. No guns. Never. But if he died here, Gotham will go to Hell, and these kids will maybe die. And all the other nine million in Gotham, they would be in more danger than ever. Batman used what was left of his strength, and picked up the gun, pointing it right at Loran. Loran?s eyes opened wider in fear. ?No. God, No! Don?t shoot! No!? Loran dropped the crowbar, and ran out the open door. Sirens. The police had come just in time. Batman struggled to his legs, tilted his head at the skylight, and fired his jetboots. The momentum launched him upward and out, and he used the suits wings built into the arms to get him to the awaiting Batmobile that was safely hidden.
Batman landed in the Batmobiles open canopy that he activated my remote control. The canopy closed, Batman removed his mask. ?Home.? He spoke into the computer. The Batmobiles engines roared to life, and sped off into the dark. Bruce looked at himself in the mirror. He was getting to old for this. His hair was steel grey, and he features withered. He was about what, seventy-nine? The Batmobile made it?s way into the dark cavern called the Batcave at last. Bruce got out of his trademark vehicle, and looked around the cave. The computer crays. The crime lab. The giant penny.
The mechanical T-Rex. The giant joker playing card. His weapons lab. The hanger to the Batwing. The underground tunnel to the Batboat. The Robin costume. It was time to let go. He broke the one rule that he never broke. No guns. It was even the same model gun that took everything from him that fateful night. He took off his costume, changed into his evening clothes, and put his suit in a tall glass chamber. He gazed at it. He was once the best hero Gotham has had. Now, he felt that he failed his city. He climbed up the long stone staircase, and took one last look at the cave. ?Never again.? He said, shutting the door behind him.


Tim Drake was having a good time seeing his old friends again. A few years ago, he left Batman?s side to join a new superhero team in San Francisco called ?The Teen Titans.? The cybernetic powerhouse Cyborg. The green skinned animal morphing joker of the group Beast Boy. the mysterious psychic Goth, called Raven, and his girlfriend. The alien princess Starfire. They had many adventures together. Tim remembered the time they saved the Japanese pop rock duo Puffy Ami Yumi from British super villain Mad Mod, who wanted sixty million pounds for their safe return. The girls were so grateful; they even recorded a theme song for the Titans, to say thanks. And Yumi kissed Beast Boy. He brings that up as much as he can. ?Go Beast boy! Who got kissed now? Who?s a Japanese chick magnet? I got kissed now! Get funk-key!? He?d sing. That drove Raven nuts. The Titans were growing up, and changed their name to just ?The Titans? in that case.
Tim was out for lunch with Starfire, enjoying Star?s favorite Earth food, double pepperoni pizza. Tim saw a familiar motorcycle pull up to the curb of the restaurant thought the window where he was sitting. ?Hey!? Tim smiled again. ?What is it, Rob..I mean Tim?? Star said. The door to the café opened up, and a tall dark haired man walked in. ?Dick!? Tim said. ?Hey, Tim. How?s it going? Star?? Star smiled. ?Dick Grayson! My heart is a float with a million Gojubs in a Famitar to see you!? She laughed. ?It?s good to see you too, Star.? He looked at Tim. ?Can I see you for a minute, Tim? In private?? He led Tim outside. ?What?s up, Dick?? Dicks face became deadly serious. ?It?s about Bruce.? ?Why? What?s wrong?? ?It?s over Tim. He?s given up.? ?What?! Are you kidding?! But he?s?? Dick shook his head. ?It?s over. He broke rule number one.? Rule number one. Everyone who worked with Batman knew that rule.
No guns. Even picking one up and pointing it was unheard of. ?Did he fire it off?? ?No. But still.? Tim sighed. Even since Alfred died many years ago of old age, Batman changed. He became more and more obsessed with his holy mission. He would go for days without sleep to get work done. He pushed himself too hard, even made many mistakes that nearly cost him his life. Barbra got fed up, and left. Dick went to Gorham?s sister city, Bludhaven to make a name for himself there. Tim continued his time with the Titans, while Batman forged on. ?Hey, Dick?? ?Yeah?? ?Remember the time Bruce, Babs, and you teamed up with the Titans to stop Slade?? ?Oh,yeah.? Dick said grinning. ?Beast Boy nearly wet himself when Bruce showed up.? ?He has that effect on people.? ?Yeah.? Dick leaned against his motorcycle. ?He beat the living shit out of Slade. And unmasked him.? He turned to Tim. ?I thought you were gonna do that.? Tim looked into the café, and Star smiled and waved back at them. ?At least I disarmed that bomb Slade planted saving the city. That was just as important.? Dick nodded.
?And a year later, The Teen Titans, and the Justice League.? Tim laughed. ?That was cool. BB, and Vic bowing down to Wonder Woman, calling her a walking work of art.? Dick looked up at the night sky. ?And Superman. You guys acted like you met Jesus, or something.? Tim lowered his head. ?Yeah. Does Clark know?? ?He knows.? Tim felt like crying. ?He..can?t?Oh God.? Dick knew how he felt. ?I think you should stay with the Titans, Tim. They need your strength and leadership. Dick?s pager went off. ?Uh-oh. Trouble. Gotta go. Say goodbye to Star for me, okay Tim?? Dick placed his helmet back on head, and leapt onto his motorcycle. He gunned the motor, and sped away into the dark night. Tim turned around, and went back inside the café. Star just got the check. ?What is it, Tim? You look like a Golvian Toople that got his sv?mn cut off by a Golok.? Tim pulled out his wallet, and paid for the check. ?It?s Batman. He quit.? Star?s eyes widened. ?No..Oh my God.? Tim stood up. ?Let?s head back to the tower. We have to tell the others.? Star was just as saddened by this news. Batman did more for them than anyone knew. His guidance, his teachings helped forge Tim into a great leader, a great friend, and a hero. The news will be taken hard.

?Yo! Tim! How did the date go?? Cyborg asked when Tim?s motorcycle pulled into the Titans Tower headquarters. Tim got off the motorcycle, taking off his helmet. ?Cyborg, get the others together. I have some news to tell all of you.? Star took off her helmet, and followed Tim upstairs. Cyborg didn?t like seeing Star sad. She was always so upbeat, and cheerful. This must be bad.

The Titans living room overlooked the ocean, and was breathtaking all the time. But tonight, it seemed melancholy. Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and their newest members Speedy, and Aqualad were all there to join Tim and Star. ?So, what?s this all about? I was getting the high score on F-Zero FX3.? Beast Boy said. ?Speedy was working on his arrows, Aqualad was swimming laps, Cyborg was working on his wheels, and Raven was brooding. You know she hates it when someone interrupts her brooding.? Tim slumped in a chair next to Star. ?It?s about Batman. He..He..quit.? The room went silent. They all remembered meeting Batman for the first time. He came out of the shadows like a ghost. He stood with a commanding stature. He took no crap from anyone. He even seemed to have darkness and shadow follow him everywhere. Beast Boy nearly wet himself when he just showed up in Titans Tower. Raven won?t admit it, but even he scared her.
?Dude??
?No..?
?Impossible.?
?It can?t be..?
?Un-freakin-belviable.?
Tim nodded. ?Yes.? No one must of spoke a word for about five minutes. Cyborg put a steel hand of Tim?s shoulder. ?Is there anything I can do?? Tim just sat there silently. ?He was like a father to me. They were all like family to me. Losing one was hard enough but..? Beast Boy spoke up. ?C?mon, Tim! We?re your family too, ya know! We?re here for ya, you know that! Your not gonna give up, are you?? Tim put his head between his hands. ?Well? Are you?? Tim sat up. ?No. No I?m not. He may have quit, but I have not. We?re going to have to work extra hard now. Titans, we will carry on. We have to do this. For me, and for him.? ?Amen to that.? Cyborg said.
?We?re with you!?
?We rock!?
?It will be an honor.?
?CAKKO-NI-DO!?
?I agree.?
Tim smiled, but he couldn?t ignore the pain he was feeling. ?Thanks, guys.? He stood up. ?But, I need to be alone for awhile.? Tim left the living room, to the darkness of his room. He had a lot of work to do, and he knew it was going to be a long hard trip for all of them.


The Watchtower. Headquaters of the Earth?s greatest heroes, the Justice League of America, AKA The JLA. The Watchtower was in Earth?s orbit, constantly watching for trouble of any kind, from anywhere on Earth. The technology on board was like out of a science fiction movie. With teleporters for each member of the League, that could teleport them aboard in a matter of minutes no matter where they were on Earth.
The Flash was on monitor duty today. Or was it tonight. Flash would lose track of time because of the endless night sky stretched before him. He looked at his watch. Ten thirty PM Eastern slandered. Flash put his hands behind his head. Will midnight ever come? He was looking forward to watching The Tonight Show. The Flash or Wally West wasn?t the most patient of the JLA. He was the fastest man alive, regardless of all the other speedsters out there. The JLA was now about eight members these days. There used to be many, like almost every Meta human in the world worked for them. But some died, some retired, some made their own super teams, and others went solo. Oh well. At least it?s quiet now. Especially with out those losers, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, and the Englongated Man. He liked to call them ?The Super Dorks.? Booster hated that.
Who was on the team these days? Him, Superman, Green Arrow, Batman, Green Lantern, J?onn J?onez, Plastic Man, and Hawk Girl. Wonder Woman left the team a while back, because of what happened to her people. And wouldn?t you know it, she blamed Clark for the League not being there in time. Very sad what happened. And Diana was hot too. SMOKING hot. Oh, well. That?s life for a super hero. The emergency light meeting light on the control panel lit up. ?Finally!? Wally thought out loud. ?Some action!? He was in the meeting room in 2.4 seconds.

The JLA was all assembled in the meeting room, except for Batman, but he always popped up when you least expect it. Flash took his seat next to Kyle Rahner, the current Green Lantern, who was drawing away on a white note pad. Kyle was an artist, and he loved to draw, but he didn?t do this much at meetings. Superman cleared his throat, and everyone looked right at him. ?I have some bad news.? He said sounding disappointed. Wally didn?t like this. He looked like Darkseid destroyed Metropolis or something. ?About Bruce.? He lowered his head. ?Huh? What?s up Big S?? Plastic Man extended his head to Superman?s side. ?Why the long face?? Plastic Man made his face four feet long to follow up the pun. ?Eel, Please.? Hawk Girl interrupted.
?What happened? He?s not?? ?No.? Superman finished. ?He?s not dead. He quit.? The room went silent. It was hard to news. ?Did you try to talk to him?? Kyle said. ?Yes. But his mind is made up. He quit because he broke rule number one.? ?No killing?? Hawk Girl asked. ?No.? J?onn answered. ?No guns. Besides, Bruce is getting old, as most of us are. But a lot as happened to him in the last thirteen years.? Superman stood up, and walked to the window overlooking the Earth. ?First Diana leaves, and now Bruce quits. We have to carry on our mission to protect people.? He turned back toward the JLA. ?We have to carry on. Bruce was one of the best we had. With out his mind, we will be in for a tougher time. But we must and will prevail. We don?t have much time to dwell on this loss. Times will be tough. Shifts will be longer, and we may have to call the reserve members more often. We will get though this. God knows we have before.?
Five minutes of silence passed.
Everyone got up, and went back to their duties. Superman stayed behind to look out at the Earth. J?onn came to his side. ?Do you need some company?? ?No, J?onn.? Superman sighed. ?I need some time alone.? J?onn nodded and left the room. Superman looked at Batman?s empty seat. ?Sorry Bruce.? He said silently.

END PART ONE.

[Cambrian_Explosion]

Cool, we're on the same page concerning the Batman Beyond series. I loved the idea, the new gagets were great, and I liked some of the new villains. However, I wasn't at all impressed with the show overall. I'm glad someone is filling in the gaps the WB left hanging open (even if it is a fanfic).

I'm glad you stuck with the original opening, and added the reactions from other heroes. But what was Barbra's reaction? I was kinda hoping to see that. And you might want to break up the dialog into more paragraphs, a couple times I got confused who was speaking. Other than that, its a decent story, and the mood is dark as promised (good job).

[Dragonboym2]

[COLOR=Blue]Thanks very much for the complaments. I'm working on chapter one, part two. But I need to get a look at Batman Beyond to describe the technolgoy and stuff. Does everyone have hover cars? Or still drive on the street? I made the Jokerz a threat, and not a running gag. And there are going to be many flashbacks to Bruce's heyday. I hope that you will like the next part. Oh yeah. I was a little dissipointed with "The Return Of The Joker". It was good but...it had flaws. I'm going to redo that too. Did you see my new thread on "What I've been working on part two" yet?
BTW, get this. I found a live-action Batman Beyond short film done by High School/College Students on a DVD of Batman short films I found at a con. Alot of the films were very good. But the DVD is bootleg so your not going to find it at Tower Records.
Again, thanks for the comments.

"KAMEHAMEHA!"

Dragonboym2[/COLOR]