Chapter Text
Terry stared at the world infront of him, he was breathing through his mouth unable to handle the smells that came through when he inhaled through his nose—he wasn't sure how he got here, he was fighting a villain he had never seen before the guy knocked him out he was expecting to wake up in some basement but no. This was a completely different city, this wasn't the Neo Gotham he knew—he would usually try to figure out where he was however he was more focused on trying to get air in his lungs, his breath stuttery and shaky. He tried breathing through his nose again, there were so many smells mixing together—smells he didn't understand his eyes scanned the area nothing was really around him that could possibly cause so many scents, there were a lot of people near him but even if everyone was wearing strong perfume it shouldn't have been that intense.
He ran off, trying to get away from the people away from whatever was invading his nose—where was he? Where was he going?? Being taken and kidnapped and tied in a basement was one thing, he would've figured out how to escape; he was Batman, Batman always figures it out—but this was completely ridiculous, he doesn't think this is even his town, how was he supposed to get home if he didn't even know if he was in Neo Gotham anymore? He took another breathe from his nose and was hit with that invasive scent once again, he was in some random alleyway now—he had no idea where he even ran all he knew was that he wanted to get away from these people. Terry ran into someone and ended up completely tumbling down, the person he ran into stopped and hesitated but after getting a look of Terry they ended up walking away, probably thinking he was on drugs or something.
He was trembling so terribly, he could hardly get himself back to his feet—even the breaths he was taking through his mouth felt like he could still smell it, he nearly gagged; it was so much, it wasn't a necessarily bad scent but it was like being stuck in a room full of hundreds of people wearing incredibly strong perfume and you were an asthmatic—Terry didn't have asthma but he could sure imagine this is how it felt. He gasped and panted having himself propped on his knees and an elbow as the other hand attempted to push himself up; the moment he got himself up on his feet he was running again, his lungs burned in retaliation of not getting enough air—he was running into multiple people, the stares of people nearby burned into his skull as he continued to run. He found himself in another random alley, the alley itself felt familiar in a way but it was nothing how he remembered it.
His chest burned and his stomach had a pit buried in it, he bit his lip in hope of stopping the wave of nausea—he dropped to his knees and attempted to catch his breath, he planted his palms on the cold hard concrete; coughing a little until he realized that he could breathe through his nose without that invading smell, he managed to stabilize his breathing now that there wasn't ten things trying to invade his nose. The sound of footsteps approaching caused his head to snap up and a low growl leaving his throat, wait, wait, did he just growl? Whatever, that was a worry for later, whoever was approaching quickly sped up their steps and Terry bared his teeth before looking up—the stranger just looked at him funny and walked past him quickly.
Terry's breathing was immediately off again, he pushed himself up once again and ran—he wasn't sure why he was so hellbent on constantly running but this whole place was freaking him out and he couldn't handle being still, he felt like prey with every passing gaze like someone was going to pounce on him and tear his throat out if he looked at anyone for too long—tears welled in his eyes as he searched for any kind of place to stay or a sign to tell him where he was, why did this place have no street signs?? The smell of everyone began invading his nose once again, his throat tightened and his eyes frantically searched around him his heart jackrabbiting so hard his chest ached—he just wanted to go home, he just wanted all the smells to stop, he should've never fought that stupid new villain.
Terry didn't notice he was still running until someone shoved him down, he fell flat on his knees, the sting should've been sharp but his mind couldn't focus enough to fully process it, he must've been running into people so much that someone just decided to shove him before he ran into them aswell—he looked up to whoever shoved him and growled at them sharply, again what was with him and growling? He forced himself quickly back up, ready to throw hands—ignoring how sharp his trembling was, the man who shoved him just laughed when he had realized Terry's trembling; "What a pathetic pup, thinking he's all big and tough." The man said in a condescending tone. Irritation shot through him, not only was this man mocking him but he called Terry a pup. Never in his life had he been called a pup, Terry's punch was fast and hard, the crunch under his hand made him cringe he was mad but he didn't think he was gonna break the man's nose.
The scream from the woman next to the man had garnered more attention than the punch had, was she always there? Terry wasn't quite sure anymore, the man swung at him but he ducked before it connected—people were starting to surround them and Terry decided the last thing he wanted right now was to be surrounded so he booked it before the circle of people could fully close, now that there was more people around the invading scents were back—he couldn't make any sense of it all, he was still hung up on the fact that the guy had called him pup, I mean what kind of insult even was that??
His legs burned and his running fizzled out into a slow walk, taking in his surroundings trying to figure out what was going on—okay so he was kidnapped and thrown into a city, which he still has no idea what the name of the city was, everyone in this said city is hellbent on smelling good and all of them wear strong perfume, a guy called him pup as an insult, and he broke said guy's nose… Yeah that all sounds really bad when he thought about it like that, he finally took a second to assess if he was still wearing his Batman suit or not—thank goodness he wasn't, but that raises yet another question; where is his suit? Terry was pretty sure he was wearing it when he had fought that villain.
He sighed realizing what a mess this whole thing was, he knew he was probably going to have to start asking people questions like where he was or where the nearest place to stay was; he didn't really want to do that so he kept walking around as he thought. Did he even have his wallet? The thought shot through him like a bullet, if he didn't have his wallet or if he had his wallet and had no money where the hell is he going to stay? Are the motels even going to be safe? Does this city even have motels? The questions circled his mind as he fished his pockets, he was in his Batman suit before he was taken and now he wasn't in his suit so of course his pockets were empty. It really shouldn't have surprised him yet it freaked him out all the same, he didn't know what to do.
His knuckles ached from the punch he threw, his legs burned from all the running, and now he had no money to get a place to stay—the pit in his stomach was starting to make him nauseous or maybe it was the exhaustion he wasn't quite sure. The back of his neck had begun getting warm, how odd.. He ignored it for now, beginning his walk and mental preparation to talk to a stranger—it was easy to find people in this city and he wasn't quite sure if that was a good thing or not, "Uh, hey." Terry tried to start a conversation with this girl, "I'm not interested." She dismissed incredibly quick, Terry paused he didn't even think about coming off like that. "Oh uh no, I have a girlfriend—I was just wondering where we were." Terry said quickly awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, the girl gave him a funny look before answering, "Diamond District? How do you not know where you are." She scoffed and tried walking past him, Terry felt bad but he side stepped her stopping her from walking past him, ignoring the judgment in her voice. "Is there anywhere to stay? Like for free? Or a library open all night?" He questioned desperately, not noticing how stopping her from walking past him was probably giving him a bad look—for the record he didn't know the kind of street Park Row was. "I don't know. There's a library over there but I wouldn't know if it was open all night." She rolled her eyes and narrowed them into a glare as she pointed to a building, "Yeah okay, thanks." He said, as he began walking to where she pointed.
Well that could have gone worse, the burning in the back of his neck was worsening but he was ignoring it, he continued to walk and saw the library—he sighed hoping it was open late, he walked into the library and looked around It wasn't busy but it wasn't empty probably because of how late it was already, atleast Terry was pretty sure it was late—he didn't know what the actual time was. The people in the library seem to all be getting up or packing up, and his heart sank. The person at the front desk furrowed her brows and looked at him sympathetically, "Sorry kiddo, we're closing." Terry wanted to cry right then and there but he didn't, "Do you know where I can stay?" He asked desperately, needing an answer before he risked his life sleeping on the streets—"There's a motel but there's a fee to stay there and it isn't really the safest." She answered in a soothing voice that reminded him of silk, "Is that really the only place?" His desperation beginning to etch his tone, she softly nodded with a frown forming on her face.
Terry was quick to leave after that, tears pricking the corners of his eyes, he tried to swallow the lump in his throat but it didn't help—he was really screwed wasn't he, outside still had that overwhelming invading smell that's been driving him crazy ever since he woke up, he hated this stupid city and whatever was wrong with it. The panic from earlier had returned and his breathing was off for what felt like the tenth time this night, he walked instead of ran while he freaked out—his legs having a mind of their own, he found himself in another alleyway; how many of these alleyways is he gonna be in. "Hey pup." A man said, snapping Terry out of his daze—he was would've been angry with being called pup a second time this night but he was too busy freaking out to fully focus on that, it was like Terry heard it but it didn't register entirely.
"Kid." The man snapped in Terry's face, "Y'there kid? You're looking quite pale." The man tilted his head like a puppy and Terry's head snapped up from staring at his shoes, "I'm fine." He said quickly and snippy. "Yeah, yeah sure. You need any help?" The man asked, it was obvious Terry's breathing was off he was more surprised someone didn't ask him about it earlier—this was the first guy checking up on him. "Why don't you come a little closer?" The man's stance changed slightly. Terry looked at the man, confused. "Why?" His brows furrowed and a smile spread over the man's face, "Actually don't worry about it." The man said, hey wait—did the man's arm move or was he always standing like that? Terry opened his mouth to reply, his eyes glancing down to his bloodied shoe. "Whatever.." Terry muttered before—huh, when did his shoe get bloody?