Max finds her old man

[moonshadows]

Max took a deep breath and pressed the intercom buzzer.

“Who is it?” demanded an unfriendly voice.

“Maxine Gibson. I’m here to speak to Mr. Wayne.”

“I am Mr. Wayne. You didn’t do your research very well.”

That was the spark that lit her temper on fire. “Didn’t have time. I just came back from visiting my brother in the hospital.” A pause; no reaction. “My brother, Terry.” Still nothing. “Your son.”

“I think you’re mistaken, Ms. Gibson,” the disembodied voice of Bruce Wayne growled.

“Oh yeah? Well I think you’re Batman. The first one. I know Terry’s the current one. Did my research there, figured it out all by myself. But that wasn’t my original goal; he was the first hit on my algorithm to find the other subjects of the Batman Beyond Project.”

Silence for half a breath, then- “How do you know that?”

Victory. A lifetime of stifled outrage boiled up. “What, you didn’t think I wouldn’t figure it out? Just because I wasn’t good enough for your stupid project? I saw my file, Mr. Wayne. I saw my whole life summed up in one word: unacceptable. Maybe because I’m black, maybe because I’m a girl, I don’t know. What I do know is that one word…” she shook her head, forcing the tears back. “That one word doesn’t begin to explain anything. Terry’s in the hospital because everything he is was decided by your stupid project, but everything I am is unacceptable. You know what you did with that one word, Mr. Wayne? You destroyed my family. The man who should have been my dad accused my mom of cheating on her. Had a paternity test done. Didn’t matter what my mom said after that; she’d given birth to some white man’s girl and her husband of ten years walked out on her, on my sister, and on me. I never even got to meet him. My mom hung herself when my sister turned eighteen. I was eight. She was legally required to take care of me, but she never forgave me for breaking up the family. Do you know what that’s like, Mr. Wayne? A lot of kids, their parents split up and they think they’re at fault. Me, I know I was. Four years my sister put up with me, then she got married and moved out. Left me alone in the apartment. I get money every month, but not a lot. Just enough to live. And you…you live in this schway mansion, and you’ve got more money than you could ever spend, and I’ve got nothing.”

Bruce Wayne said nothing for the minute or two it took her to get herself back under control. The fury had burned out, leaving resentment.

“I’ve got nothing but a half-brother who’s cracked because they tried to make him into another you, and the word unacceptable to explain why I’d been abandoned by the project. All my life I’ve tried to live up to someone’s standards. I thought…maybe if I was good enough, got high enough grades, it would get me some kind of praise. Wasn’t until I broke into the Beyond Project files that I realized I’d never be good enough. You didn’t want a black computer whiz daughter. You wanted a white son to be Batman. I’m just a mistake. An oversight, because someone didn’t bother to find a picture of my mom and her husband.” A bark of bitter laughter escaped, and she rubbed her face. “Terry’s folks split up, too. I wonder if it was because he looked like you instead of Mr. McGinnis. If so, that’s two families you ruined to get a new Batman. I don’t know how many other kids there are out there with your DNA…how many other families might be broken because of this. But I guess you don’t care,” she said bitterly. “I don’t matter; I’m unacceptable.”

“You’re wrong,” that growling voice said, but not from the intercom. Bruce Wayne had, at some point, left his mansion and was standing on the other side of the gate. Max closed her eyes and turned away, not wanting to face him yet. “What do you want, Ms. Gibson?”

At that angry demand, the tears she’d been fighting finally overwhelmed her determination not to shed them, burning as they slipped out from under her eyelids. “I want a father, Mr. Wayne,” she told him softly. “I want to know what that’s like, because I’ve never had it. I’ve been looking for my father for years, but when I thought I was close to finding him, I discover that I’m not good enough. That I’ve never been good enough. I want to be something more than unacceptable.”

The gate swung open. When Max made no motion towards him, Bruce Wayne stepped forward and hugged her awkwardly.

“I was so excited to find Terry,” she whispered, not fighting the tears anymore. “He had the other half of my DNA. Your DNA. All I had to do was splice my X chromosome to his Y and run the result through Gotham’s medical database looking for a match, and I’d know who my father, the original Batman, was. But he saved me the time and told me it was you. It’s so obvious. I should have known, I should have crunched the data and run it through my algorithm before visiting him, but I was just so excited to have family even if…”

“I’m not behind the Beyond Project,” the old man said in his gravelly voice. “Whoever took it on themselves to try to create a replacement, they didn’t consult me. If they had…” He released Max and stepped back to look at her, a dry smile playing faintly about his lips. “…they’d know that I’m an equal-opportunity crimefighter, and just as comfortable breaking into computer systems as I am breaking into buildings.” The amusement faded back into his habitual grim expression. “Or I was. Come with me.”

“For what?” she asked hesitantly, not moving as he turned to walk toward the manor house.

“First, confirming the DNA match. Then you can show me how you found the Beyond Project data before I did. And after that…” The faint, dry smile came back as she began to follow him. “After that, well, I’ve been known to take in orphans before. As far as everyone else is concerned, that’s what I’ll be doing with you. Or, if you prefer, I can hire you, with room and board as part of your salary.”

“Hire me to do what?” This was going better than Max had hoped.

The old man stopped as if he hadn’t thought that far ahead. “…can you cook?”

“A little. I can learn.”

“Hmph. We’ll call it ‘assistant’ and you can yell at people on the phone for me.”

Max smiled a little. “And take your fleeting moments of joy away from you?”

He ignored her.

“So what will I really be doing?”

“Whatever I need you to. Sometimes that will be making appointments for me. Sometimes it will be making sure Terry doesn’t fail his classes. Mostly, it will be learning everything I can teach you.” He stumped grimly on for a few more steps before saying, “I won’t live forever. Terry’s going to need you when I’m gone.”

They reached the door, and Max waited until they were inside and introductions to the dog had been made. “What if Gotham doesn’t need Batman anymore?”

Bruce Wayne stared at her as if looking into her soul for a long, somehow-threatening moment. “I didn’t say anything about Batman. Terry is going to need you. I know what happens when a person’s entire support system is older than they are. It’s not pretty.”

“You’re talking about you,” she blurted.

He ignored her, instead leading the way to a standing clock and activating the mechanism to open it. He waited while Max examined it, then stumped down the stairs and into the Batcave. “You can look at everything later,” he snapped as she oohed and aahed, his voice echoing back from the darkness of the cavern. “Come over here. I need three drops of your blood and a strand of your hair.”

Max obediently pricked her finger and squeezed, then bent her head so her probable father could pluck a strand. They watched in silence as the sequencing ran, the tension between them only shifting when the computer beeped and displayed the word MATCH.

“A black computer-whiz daughter, eh?” He didn’t look pleased, but he didn’t look angry, either. “I’ve never raised a girl.”

“I’ve finally found my old man,” Max breathed, blinking back a second round of tears.

Bruce Wayne snorted. “Old man is right. It’s been decades since I was last entrusted with a minor.” He scowled at the monitor. “Somewhere along the line, I seem to have lost the knack and Terry’s the one suffering for it. I’m counting on you to speak up when I’m out of line or pressing either of you too hard. I had problems with that even when I was raising Dick – the first Robin.”

Max’s eyes lit up. “Can I be-”

“No.”

“But-”

“Not until I’ve decided you’re ready. I’ve never liked young people risking their lives the way I did.”

“But Terry-”

Bruce Wayne fixed her with a very stern look. “Terry already knew how to fight, discovered the Batcave accidentally, and managed to sneak in and steal the suit without alerting me. You, Maxine, are not going out in a suit until I’m confident in your ability to hold your own in hand-to-hand with multiple opponents. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Mr. Wayne,” she answered in a small voice. So this was that mysterious ‘parenting’ thing other kids complained about. “Do I still get to live in the schway mansion?”

He sighed. “You still get to live here. I’ll arrange for legal guardianship, as well as that salary. I also want your school and medical records. You’ll be enrolled in a Driver’s Ed course as soon as possible, and once you’re settled you’ll be taking lessons in a dojo run by an old friend of mine. Any questions?”

Max held her hand up. “When can I move in?”

Bruce wondered if he was going to regret bringing her into his life like this, but part of him knew he’d regret it more if he didn’t. “Tomorrow. If you can pack everything and have it ready. I’ll pick you up from school-”

“-and take me to the hospital so I can visit Terry, like I told him I would,” she interrupted, chin raised slightly, silently challenging him with her eyes to disagree.

He nodded. “And afterwards, to your apartment.”

“Hey,” she said in a more demure, almost hesitant voice. “What do you want me to call you? When we’re not in public, I mean. Dad? Father? Pops?”

“I’m too old for any of that,” he growled as he stood up.

“Grandpa?”

“…that makes me feel even older. Just call me Bruce.” He sighed as her face fell. “…and, if you can falsify some fertility treatment records to my satisfaction, when you turn eighteen you can change your last name to Wayne.”

With a squeal, Max threw herself into hugging him, then released him just as suddenly and did an impromptu little victory dance. As he watched on in bemusement, she grinned broadly and hugged him a second time. “Thank you, Bruce,” she said in a much younger-sounding voice. “This is the best day of my life.”

After a moment, his astonishment thawed enough that he returned the hug with the hand not holding his cane.

“Come on,” he said gruffly as they separated again. “I’ll drive you back to your apartment. You’ve got a lot to do.”

Still practically floating with happiness, Max followed her father. Strike that, he was right, he was too old for that. Max followed…her old man. Batman. She was Batman’s daughter.

Totally schway.