AUTHOR'S NOTE: Guess who's back, gang?
First off, I want to thank everyone who took the time to read my Batman Beyond romance fic, Reunited. And I especially want to thank everyone who took the time to post their reviews.

I say this, because if you are reading this and haven't yet read Reunited...Well, I would encourage you to read it. Because this story is a direct sequel to it, picking up approximately one year later, and detailing the next step in the evolution of the relationship between Terry and Melanie. Note that while Reunited was first and foremost a romance, this story is not; it's more of an action/adventure story.
That being said, if you haven't read Reunited yet, definitely do so. If you already have, well thank you, and I hope you enjoy this next one.

BATMAN BEYOND:
The Second Rebirth
Chapter 1

It was still early evening, and the sun hadn't set yet. But most of Gotham already lay under a deep twilight, and the cars Terry McGinnis saw, far below him, were already driving with their headlights on. Night came early, he thought, in the shadow of the tall steel-and-concrete skyscrapers that made up much of Gotham.

Still, from his vantage point at the top of one of, if not the single tallest building in the city he commanded an amazing view of almost the entire city.

"Funny, how peaceful it looks from up here - especially during the day." He muttered.

- "Looks can be deceiving." Bruce Wayne commented dryly, and Terry nodded. Then he turned away from the window and looked back inside the enormous top-floor office of the Wayne Tower, headquarters of Wayne Technologies, Inc. - WayneTech, in the vernacular.

The office had changed very little over the years, even from the days when it had been the domain of Derek Powers, owner and CEO of Wayne-Powers. With Powers presumably dead and his equally crooked son Paxton in prison, Wayne had, a few years earlier, reacquired ownership of the company at the cost of every single penny of his own personal fortune. Then, over time he had not only led the rechristened company to a height of success it had not known in decades, but he had also completely rebuilt that personal fortune.

Whereas at the time of his return to the company he had no personal money to speak of - all of his assets, except for a modest pension, tied into the company - Bruce Wayne's personal net worth was now conservatively estimated as just south of twenty-six billion. And with the recently-announced merger of WayneTech and its closest business ally, Foxteca, analysts expected that number to continue to rise rapidly.

Terry looked up as the private elevator that led up to the office opened, and two men stepped into the office, heading for Wayne's desk.
The first man - an African-American who looked to be in his mid-sixties, portly and balding, with a thick mustache and a genial expression on his face - was a stranger to Terry.
The second, slightly younger, but with a full head of steel-grey hair, Terry recognized instantly.

"Terry," Bruce announced, standing up and walking around his desk to personally shake the first man's hand. "I want you to meet the two people who are going to be most important to the continued success of the company. Lucius Fox, Junior…and Tim Drake."

Terry stepped forward, and shook Fox's hand.
- "Lucius will handle the running of the company on a day-to-day basis as Vice-President, reporting to me. Lucius, Terry is my…personal assistant." Bruce explained vaguely, and Fox merely smiled.

- "A pleasure to meet you, young man." Fox said jovially. Then he turned to Wayne. "You know, it's really good being back here again."

- "I want to thank you, for being onboard with this merger." Wayne said. "Especially since…"

Fox shook his head impatiently.
- "It wasn't you that fired me, Mr. Wayne, it was that slime Powers." He said. "That's why I started Foxteca - to stay true to what you and my father taught me."

- "Your father always called me by my name, Lucius." Bruce said, and Terry saw that he was grateful to the younger man nonetheless. "I'd appreciate it if you did the same."

- "If you insist, Bruce. Thanks for letting me have my old office back, too."

Wayne nodded. Then turned to the other man and shook his hand too. Terry did likewise.

- "Terry, you've already met Tim." He said, and both nodded. "He's coming onboard to handle the company's security, as well as to manage our computer systems."

- "Good to see you again, kid." Tim said to Terry, who nodded. Then Tim turned to Bruce. "You too, old man."
From anyone else, the expression would've been disrespectful, but Bruce said nothing - he merely nodded.

- "It's good to have you back, Tim." He said quietly, and the three men - Wayne, Terry, and Drake - all understood what Bruce really meant by that statement.

Wayne returned to his seat, and Lucius and Tim sat in armchairs on the opposite side of the enormous desk as they discussed the next step in the integration process of what was now going to be called Wayne-Fox Technologies, Incorporated.

After a while, Drake stood.
- "If that's all," he said, "I need to finish setting up my office."

- "Of course," Bruce nodded, and Drake left without another word.

Terry tuned out for a bit, staring out the window again as Wayne and Fox continued their meeting, until finally the latter stood up, and left after shaking Wayne's hand again.

Once he was gone, Terry stepped forward again, looking back at the closed doors of the elevator.
Then he turned to the old man.

"I'm kind of surprised, Mr. Wayne." he commented. The old man looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and Terry thought to himself that, in the understated opulence of the enormous office instead of the perpetual twilight of the Batcave, he still looked exactly the same, leaning back in a comfortable chair as he surveyed his domain.

- "About what?" He asked.

- "I mean, Mr. Fox I can kinda understand," Terry started, "given that WayneTech and Foxteca are the same company now. But Tim Drake? After everything that went down, I figured he'd never want to get within ten miles of you, never mind set foot inside the building."

Bruce nodded curtly - the kid had a point. It had taken a lot of persuasion to convince Tim to come aboard, but he'd first reached out after the Joker debacle three and a half years earlier, and slowly had tried to mend things - a first, for him.

This - coming here, to WayneTech - Wayne-Fox Technologies, now - had been the hardest part.
"Other than Barbara - and maybe your friend Max - Tim is the best there is where computers and security systems are concerned." Bruce said firmly. "Better than anyone I've ever seen - and for Wayne-Fox, I wanted the best there is."

'Oh, where security systems are concerned, I can think of one person who might be better even than them.' Terry thought to himself, hiding his amusement behind an impassive mask.

"Okay, fair enough." He said. "But how'd you even get him to agree to come onboard - I mean, last I talked to him, it sounded like he hated you."

- "I agreed to pay him double what he made at his previous job, and to put his kid through college." Wayne replied gruffly. "I also gave him stock in the company. And I promised him he would never have to go anywhere near anything with a cape."

- "What cape?" Terry joked, and Bruce just shook his head without replying. Terry understood perfectly well what he'd meant, and they both knew it.

"But man…If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were getting sentimental in your old age." Terry continued, tongue-in-cheek to the last. "I mean, the merger with Foxteca - bringing back Mr. Fox; now bringing in Tim Drake. Next thing you know, you'll be mending fences with Dick Grayson, too."

- "Maybe…" Bruce commented. He hadn't reached out to Dick yet. He knew Dick, like Barbara here in Gotham, had risen to command the Blüdhaven P.D.

But there had been so much bad blood between them, and their last parting had been…to call it bitter would be massively understating it. But maybe Terry was right. Maybe it was time to mend things with him, too.

Soon afterwards, Wayne stood and intimated to his "assistant" that it was time to leave. Terry followed half a step behind the old man until they reached the parking garage, where a sleek, low-slung dark blue limousine waited. Terry opened the car's rear door, and Bruce eased himself in with only the slightest difficulty.

Then the door was closed, Terry got into the driver's seat, and pulled the car out of its spot with a practiced ease that said he had done it numerous times before.

Once they were out of the building, he gunned the powerful car down the street and drove them through and out of the city, until they reached the gates of Wayne Manor.

The gates opened noiselessly as the limousine approached. A quarter of a mile later, the car was parked, and the two were on their way in.

"Need anything else tonight, sir?" Terry asked.

- "Keep your phone close by." Wayne said shortly. "I'll call you if I do."

"Yes, sir." Terry replied, and he left, taking a moment to pat the 150-pound Ace affectionately on the head before making his way out the door to the sleek, powerful motorcycle he rode.

He retrieved the same helmet he always wore, put it on, and started the bike, which came to life with a deep, rumbling growl. Then the single powerful headlight snapped on, and the bike roared down the quarter-mile drive and out the reinforced steel gates, which slid noiselessly shut behind him.

As Terry rode, he kept his attention on the road in front of him and the cars around him. Nonetheless he found himself thinking about the old man, and the undercurrent of tension that persisted between them.

It had all started the previous winter, when he and Melanie reconnected. Wayne didn't trust Melanie, didn't trust that she had changed, that her previous life - as Ten of the Royal Flush Gang - was over. They had argued a couple of times, but the worst one had been when Wayne had learned that Terry had told Melanie the whole truth about who and what he was.

The old man had been livid, and so angry...rarely had Terry seen him get that pissed off. But Terry stood his ground, as he had before when the subject was mentioned. After that day, Wayne had never mentioned the subject again, but things were still tense. Terry chose to leave well enough alone.

One day, he hoped, Wayne would understand. Not that he'd ever admit to having been wrong, Terry thought ruefully.

As for Melanie, the two of them were now living together on the Gotham State University campus, and she was now attending classes full-time. This meant, of course, that she had to work more often nights and week-ends. But that was all right. And then once a month, his mother still held their usual family days, and Melanie was always there.

Tonight would be the first time they had an evening to themselves for nearly a month, and Terry had made plans accordingly. Which is why he was now heading not for his mother's or the university, but for Deckard's Kitchen, where Melanie still worked. They had agreed to meet there, and would leave once she had finished her shift for the day.

He was almost at his destination, and slowed down as he neared an intersection. The light turned green as he approached, and he gunned the bike through the crossing.

That was when the car hit.

Terry didn't see it, didn't realize what was coming until he heard a sudden screech of brakes, as a car ran the red light and tried to swerve to avoid the bike that was still just crossing the intersection. Too late, and too close.

Terry felt sudden, agonizing pain in his leg as its fender slammed into the back third of the bike, and he screamed in pain.

The momentum of the collision shoved the rear wheel out to the side, nearly snapping the rear axle off and completely throwing off the bike's balance.

Incredibly, its own momentum kept the bike moving forward for perhaps another half a second, even as it keeled over sideways, throwing off Terry as it fell. The bike slid a few feet down the asphalt with a grinding of metal until it finally stopped.

Terry hit the ground hard a few feet from the twisted remains of his bike, and felt a sudden, sharp pain in his head before everything went black.

TO BE CONTINUED...