Story in this comic © Rachael 2003, All Rights Reserved. "Falcon" created by Rachael.
Batman, Oracle, Robin and all of the others are a copyright, trademark, and owned by DC COMICS COMICS are used without permission. I have no intention of make a profit for myself with this story.
Story in this comic © Rachael 2003, All Rights Reserved. "Falcon" created by Rachael.
Batman, Oracle, Robin and all of the others are a copyright, trademark, and owned by DC COMICS COMICS are used without permission. I have no intention of make a profit for myself with this story.
"Falcon #1: I've Got a Clue for You"
Written by Rachael Simmons
My name is Rachael Simmons. I was just an average teen. Another nameless face in the crowd with a boring old plateau of a life....until that fateful night I was sucked into the realm of Gotham. Instead of spending my days reading comics and watching tv this summer, it was spent risking my life against the Joker and training hard under the watch of the Bat. Now, with my training complete, I seek out to do the one thing I could never do in my home world, protect the innocent and bring justice along the side of the rest of the Batfamily as...
The Falcon
--------
Falcon raced through an aray of bullets. Crud. How had she gotten herself into this?
Performing a double handspring, followed by a somersault, she pulled out a bat-a-rang and threw it at one of the nearby assailants, knocking a gun from his hand.
She dodge from left to right as she ran. She couldn't stop. Not now. She seeked out a nearby building that would provide her cover from the dozen or so assassins that were on her tail and made a mad dash for it.
Her breathing was hard and ragged. Sweat poured from her brow as she continued running. She WOULD fight them, but they were all highly trained and more than likely beyond her level... Almost there...
One of the assassins caught ahold of what she was up to and took aim a little ahead of her, waiting patiently.
Just a few more steps...
The assassin shot and a bullet hit her in the leg. Rachael stumbled slightly.
Cripes. Why couldn't this go as planned. On one leg, she went into a handstand and walked/ran on her hands until she was sure they couldn't get at her from their angle. She rolled out of her handstand and sat painfully. She had made it. "Ok . You can end the simmulation now."
The buildings and the assassin around her faded away into the holoroom walls of the batcave and Rachael stood up and looked at the side of her leg where the red paintball had hit. Cripes. That was going to take FOREVER to get out.
-
"You failed." Batman stated in a monotonal voice as he appeared from the darkness.
"What do you mean! I was able to get out of their range before getting killed...er well hit with a paintball in the heart area" Falcon should have KNOWN that she shouldn't have taken him up on his challenge of trying out level eight. It was as hard as heck. She had already survived it for the past hour, she was sure to slow down sooner or later.
"You were wounded. They would have been able to get down from where they were and find you in a matter of seconds if this had been real." He pointed out.
Rachael furrowed her brows together and scowled. She wasn't one to easily admit defeat, she fit in just right with them. "Then...I want to do the simulation again."
Batman stared for a long moment, his expression unreadable, his thoughts unhearable. "Go home. Training was over with a half-an-hour ago."
"But--"
He didn't even give her a chance to argue. He just turned around and left.
Rachael mumbled to herself about him being a jerk, but did as told and left, taking a Bat-cycle. It was late. Since her basic training was over, every night after patrol she had holo-room training. It was already nearing....2 a.m. and she hadn't seen Robin all day. Where was he? He was basicly her only friend, other than Batgirl, and she needed help with her schedule. That's right. Tomorrow was her first day of School at Gotham Heights High. Summer had gone by to quickly. Why did she have to go to school anyway? She didn't even EXIST here.
---
Falcon raced back to the clock tower on the Batcycle. Her mind was filled with thoughts and she only payed half-attention to the roads. Thankfully, her bike was on auto-drive....
It seemed like it was just yesterday that her life had been normal...the summer had gone by in a blink of an eye. It had been just that June that she had arrived and she still remembered it in full detail.
The Bike switched lanes and turned a nearby corner.
She had been in her backyard in her house in Texas when the vortex had opened and she had been hurteled out onto Gotham's slimy streets. She had been saved from a sick group of street thugs by Batman and Robin and ,soon, they learned her story and took her in. No WAY someone with her kinda knowledge should be wondering the streets here. She knew too much.
It was the next night that she finnaly got in on some action. The Joker had escaped ,once again, from Arkam and had kidnapped the Dark knight and the Boy Wonder. "Borrowing" some of Oracle's technology, she had went to save them and suceeded, nearly getting herself killed in the process if it hadn't been for Robin...
Falcon came out of her thoughts as she neared the clock tower, not knowing that she was being watched not to far away...
She pulled into an abandoned alleyway and headed into the clock tower in her civies.
Rachael headed down the halls of the tower, the one place her stalker dared not follow. To risky.
---
"Come on Rachael. School starts in an hour and you DON'T want to be late on the first day." Barbara told her as she wheeled into the girl's bedroom and turned on the lights.
Rachael groaned and threw her bed's comfortor over her head to sheild out the light. "Five more minutes." She mumbled and turned to go back to sleep.
Barbara rolled over to the bed and tore the comforter away from Rachael's grasp. "That's what you said twenty minutes ago. Now rise and shine, sleepy head."
"I'll rise, but I WON'T shine." Rachael mumbled as she opened her eyes painfully.
"C'mon! If I have to get up this early, so do you." Barbara said as she rolled out of the room.
" Your evil, Barb." Rachael called out to her as she relunctantly got out of bed and grabbed the clothes that she had laid out the night before.
"How can I be evil? I'm one of the good guys." Barbara shot back from the hall.
"Riiight." Rachael replied and began to get dressed, leaving her room in a total mess. Alfred wouldn't be pleased if he saw it.
-
She raced down to the living room as she tyed her hair back in a ponytail and ate a bagle that she had grabbed from the nearly bare kitchen. "I'm going to be SO late if I don't hurry." Rachael whined as she scuried along.
"I'm rerouting one of the city busses to drive you straight to school. You've got...ten minutes to get downstairs." Barb' told her as she typed away at her computer.
"Your a Godsend." Rachael said as she finished off her bagle and grabbed her purse and a small binder to take notes in.
"Five minutes ago I was Evil, now I'm a Godsend...You REALLY need to make up your mind."
"Later. I'm not even going to make it to the bus if I don't hurry." Rachael opened the front door to the apartment and made her way to the elevator. "Bye!"
-----
Rachael headed down the halls of Gotham Heights High School. She still had...she checked her watch...five minutes to get her class schedule and head to her first period room....Now if she could find the office...
"Hey! Rachael!" A familiar voice called out and she turned to see Tim Drake ,a.k.a. Robin the Boy Wonder, heading her way. "Let me guess...lost?" He raised an eyebrow.
"No...Ok. Yeah, I am. YOU wouldn't happen to know where the office is, would you?" She asked with a desperate look.
Tinm chuckled slightly. "Yeah. I do, I was actualy just heading there myself. So...just follow my lead."
They walked towards the office together, finding it in mere seconds. If Rachael had been looking for it by herself, it would have taken her MUCH longer.
---
"Mmmm" Rachael looked over the schedule she had been handed and groaned.
"What?" Tim asked as he looked over his own paper.
"Look who I have for English." She handed him the schedule and he looked it over while she rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"Lessee...Ms. Burtinellie--whoa." He looked back up at Rachael. "Huntress is your second period teacher." He whispered, wide eyed.
A small dity of 'Its a Small World After All' began to play through Rachael's head. "This is all to wei--"
"Tim! What's up ma--whoa." Ives stopped when he saw Tim talking with the lovely long haired brunnete, Rachael, and he jabbed Tim slightly in the ribs with his elbow. "Tim, are you going to introduce me to your friend ."
"Uhhh..." Tim spaced for a second, but quickly got his cool back. "Ives, this is Rachael. Rachael, this is Ives."
The two shook hands politely with a little greeting between them. Tim just let out a small, relieved sigh.
"Well, nice to meet you. But I've got to get Tim-boy here to class before your late." Ives grabbed his friends arm and dragged him along.
"C-ya Tim!" Rachael called out.
"Um...bye." He said before dissappearing around the corner.
Rachael looked down at her schedule again and blinked. They had forgotten to put her locker number down. "Excuse me, Mame. What's my locker number?" Rachael asked as she showed the secretary the blank spot where her no. was supposed to go.
"Oh! I'm sorry. It is..." The secretary brought something up on her computer. "865"
"Thankyou," Rachael replied as she dashed to her first P.
A dark figure watches the entire scene play out from around the corner and narrowed its eyes as it watches the young girl leave.
----
The cursed schoolbell rang, telling Rachael that she was late for her second class on the first day. Why her? This WASN'T going to give her teacher a good impression of her, ESPICIALLY considering that her teacher was the Huntress, a crazed vigilante who believed in killing some of the murderous scum she went after. She fought her own, personal vendetta on crime.
Rachael finnaly found her classroom and rushed in. "I'm sorry I'm..." Rachael looked round the half empty classroom. "Late?"
"First day of school., almost everyone is late, Miss... " Burtenellie prompted as she filied away some papers at her desk, never raising her head to acknoledge Rach'.
"Rachael. Rachael Simmons." Rachael replied, doing her best to hide her discomfort.
"Well, find yourself a seat Miss. Simmons."
Rachael choose a seat in the back corner and slid into it silently.. It would probably be best NOT to be seen.
Soon, most of the other students began to arrive. Rachael cringed as some of them used every explitive in the book. Were schools in Gotham REALLY this leniant? Gratitious violence, she could handle; But she couldn't STAND a foul mouth.
Ms. Burtenellie got up from her desk and stood in front of the class once she saw that most of the people that were supposed to be there, were .
"Good morning, and welcome to English 2. I have only a few rules. If you can follow those, I'm sure we'll get along just fine." She stood in front of the lecture podium. "First off, I'm not taking any slack. You do your work and we wont have any trouble. You're teenagers, not babies. I shouldn't have to treat you like one, but if I have to, I WILL." She eyed the sea of of students and waited a minute before continuing.. "Second, I will not tolerate lying. If your not telling me the truth, whether it be about why you're late to class or why you don't have your homework. I WILL find out and the consequences will be severe. An angry glint caught her eye.
Rachael gulped and shrank lower into her seat. Why, oh why couldn't she have a normal teacher?
-----------
Batman sat in front of the Crays Computer, contemplating the best course of action in his head. Rachael would be home from her first day of school soon. He had better do this quickly.
He expertly set up a connection with Oracle. He would need her help in this.
"What is it, Bruce? I was right in the middle of helping Dinah out with a mission in Indonasia, so this had bettter be important. " Barbara's face came up on the computer screen. She, too, was having a rough day, if not a busy one.
"I think you'll find it important enough." Batman replied in a monotonal voice and paused for a brief second. "I need you to do something for me, concerning Falcon.."
------------
"We know he's up to something, we just can't figure what." Commishener Akins handed Batman a collaged letter. Batman, Commmishener Akins, and Falcon stood on the roof of the roof of the G.C.P.D. Prestinct H.Q. Falcon had been told, since this was her first time to assist on an actual case and the first time to be along with Batman on a visit to with the Commishener, she should just stay back in the shadows and listen.
"He hasn't commited any crime yet, but according to this Riddle, he soon will." Akins added as Batman scanned the letter.
"What has hands that canot hold and a face that does not see." Batman read the riddle that was attached to the letter aloud.
"A clock.," Falcon piqued in. The riddle was WAY to simple. Akins turned to face the young girl in amusement as she spoke, but Batman remained emotionless.
"Another kid, huh. Where's your usual teen sidekick?" Akins pondered.
"Robins working on anouther case." Batman responded, handing the riddle and the letter back to the new commishiner.
Akins looked down at the letter again. Something just seemed...odd about it. "Y'know, I don't know what it is about you guys and your..." He looked up to see that the duo was gone. "Sidekicks?" Akins sighed.
"How did Jim deal with these guys without having a heart attack."
-------
"So what now?" Falcon asked as she hopped into the backseat of the Batmobile.
"We head for Nigma's apartment and wait to see what he's up to." Batman told her as he reved up the BM9 Batmobile.
"So...basicly a stakeout, right?" She went over the riddle and the answer in her head. It couldn't POSSIBLY mean Oracles clocktower...could it?
Batman nodded silently and the Batmoble sped down the abandoned alleyway.
---------
"A stakeout." Rachael spat grumpily. For five hours, FIVE HOURS, she had been watching the Riddlers place and NOTHING was happening. Batman had left four hours ago to attend to another, probably more intresting, case and left her with 'The Safe job'. She was almost bored to tears. She had wanted some action. She would even take a simple assult case right now over this.
Barbara laughed on her side of the com-link. "Awww. Poor you." Barbara stifled her laughter to a mere snicker. "So, he hasn't made a move yet, huh."
"No! All he's been doing is sipping a glass of cheap wine and gathering ideas from some book." Falcon came out of the crouch on the side of the building she was perched on to sit cross-legged and slumping as she continued to stare into the apartment window of Edward Nigma across the street. "He probably never even SENT that letter to the G.C.P.D. It must have been some kind of setup."
"Somebody obviously needs a nap. It's nearing one.Why dont you just head on back here."
"I can't. At least not until Bats tells me to call it a night." She yawned. Bed didn't sound to bad just about now.
"Yeah. Well. Whoever WROTE the letter, sure had--" a small beep came up on Barbara's side of the line.
"Someone else is trying to reach me. I'll have to call you back. Oracle out."
"Kay. Falcon out." then the line went dead and Rachael went back to seeing how long she could stare at the nearby building without blinking. Thats just how desperate for entertainment she was.
-------
Falcon was getting sleepy, VERY sleepy. Her eyes drooped dangerously low as she still stared into the now dark apartment window. With her head propped onto her left hand, she yawned.
"Go home. He obviously isn't making a move tonight." Came an emotionless voice from behind.
Falcon stood up drowsily. "Night? It's morning for Pete's Sake! Four a.m. to be exact. Enigma went to bed at three."
"I expect a report on it later. Go home and catch up on the few hours of sleep you have left."
Falcon, REALLY wanting to go to sleep, nodded drowsily. She pulled a grapnel from her belt and swung in the direction of her temporary home. She was NOT going to want to get up in a few hours.
-------
Rachael was MAD! Not at anyone in particular, but she was still peeved. She had gotten only two hours of sleep and her face showed it. She couldn't WAIT for the weekend to come so she could just sleep in again. She was usualy the nice, sweet, and shy girl who never rocked the boat. Today, however, that wasn't the case. Hey, lets just see how YOU deal with just two hours of sleep a night! Besides, she wasn't much of a morning person...
She was at her locker when it happened, shoving her newly boughten school supplies into her small, dinky locker. She yawned and laid her head against her locker door when a well-built, highschool football jock with sandy blond hair and a smile that said he could have any girl he wanted, approached her and leaned a hand against a neighboring locker.
"Hi there." The jock said flirtatiously.
Rachael just grunted and peeped through her half open eyes tiredly. She finnaly brought her head off of her locker and went through her school supplies again, trying to remember what it was she needed for her next class.
"I'm Brian. And you are?"
"Not." She yawned tiredly as she pulled out a three subject spiral. "Intrested." She then shot him a glare that screamed 'back off'
"Aww. C'mon. A girl like you could go far with a guy like me." He OBVIOUSLY couldn't take a hint and reached over and grabbed her butt.
That woke Rachael up in an instant. Any other day, she would have just told him to get the heck away unless he wanted to be sued, but today she REALY wasn't in the mood.
She grabbed his hand and twisted it, making him fly over her shoulder and land flatt on his back on the opposite side of her of where he had been. A simple hopkido joint lock and twist. He let out a small yelp and the kids around them begin to laugh and point at the fallen 'Brian'.
"Whats your problem!" He boomed.
"TOUCH ME AGAIN AND I'LL DO MORE THEN BREAK YOUR FRAGILE MALE EGO!" She spat in disgust. At least she had showed enough restraint to not break anything.
"Young lady, just WHAT do you think you're doing!" A teacher made his way towards Rachael and the Jock. Uhohh she was in it DEEP. Rachael groaned.
"Principal's office... NOW!" The teacher bellowed out. Rachael hung her head in shame and made her way to the principal's office, escorted by the small wirey teacher.
The students who had seen the scene, just watched on as the girl left, but 'Brian' growled as he stood back up as the others laughed at him. NO ONE made a fool out of HIM.
-------
Rachael sat in the Pricipal's office, silent. She stared down at her hands nervously and the Principal stared at HER sternly.
Rachael wasn't nervous, nor intemidated, by Pricipal Huster. She wasn't scared of D-hall either. He was the LEAST of her worries. No, what she was scared of was what Batman and Barbara would do to her once they found out.
"Miss. Simmons, you are supposed to behave like a young lady. YOUNG LADIES don't start fights." Pricipal Huster began his lecture.
"But Sir! I was defending myself! He sexualy harassed me! Isn't HE going to get in trouble?" Rachael argued, not in an angry manner but as someone pleading their innocence.
"I think Brian has been punished enough." The principal commanded her a glare.
"But--"
"No buts, Miss. Simmons. You broke the rules and now--" He was interupted by his secretary.
"Excuse me, Principal Huster?" The elderly secretary poked her head in through the office doorway. "Theres a...situation out here that I think requires your attention."
"Coming Ms. Smith." Principal Huster got up from his seat behind his desk. "Stay put. I'm not done with you." he told the young girl before leaving abruptly.
Rachael sat in the office for twenty minutes before the Principal returned. What could take him this long?
"Sorry." The Principal reentered the office in a rush. "Now. Where was I." He looked over at Rachael, who had taken back to starring at her hands. "Ah. Yes. You are here by suspended from school for a week. Gather your stuff from your locker and please LEAVE."
Rachael nodded and got up from her own chair and left. 'That chuavanistic, sexist PIG!' Racahel thought to herself as she stormed out of the office and towards her locker.
She swung open her locker once she reached it and got her backpack out. Thats when she noticed something. The seam. There was a hidden compartment in her backpack in which she kept her Falcon costume and the hidden seam of it...was open! She opened it even further and searched it for her costume.
Her eyes widened. Oh no, it was GONE! Instead, there was a small collaged note inside. Rachaels face paled as she read it,being careful only to barely hold the edges so as not to leave any fingerprints.. She stared blankly ahead for a moment before reading it again, She read it over and over. One thing was for sure, this wasnt good. It read:
I know your secret.
TO BE CONTINUED
Please R&R ;) I'll be sure to personally thank those who do review in my story. So, pweeeeeaasse. Its that nice little pretty button in the left hand corner Thats right, just one little review ;)
Batman, Oracle, Robin and all of the others are a copyright, trademark, and owned by DC COMICS COMICS are used without permission. I have no intention of make a profit for myself with this story.
Story in this comic © Rachael 2003, All Rights Reserved. "Falcon" created by Rachael.
Batman, Oracle, Robin and all of the others are a copyright, trademark, and owned by DC COMICS COMICS are used without permission. I have no intention of make a profit for myself with this story.
"Falcon #1: I've Got a Clue for You"
Written by Rachael Simmons
My name is Rachael Simmons. I was just an average teen. Another nameless face in the crowd with a boring old plateau of a life....until that fateful night I was sucked into the realm of Gotham. Instead of spending my days reading comics and watching tv this summer, it was spent risking my life against the Joker and training hard under the watch of the Bat. Now, with my training complete, I seek out to do the one thing I could never do in my home world, protect the innocent and bring justice along the side of the rest of the Batfamily as...
The Falcon
--------
Falcon raced through an aray of bullets. Crud. How had she gotten herself into this?
Performing a double handspring, followed by a somersault, she pulled out a bat-a-rang and threw it at one of the nearby assailants, knocking a gun from his hand.
She dodge from left to right as she ran. She couldn't stop. Not now. She seeked out a nearby building that would provide her cover from the dozen or so assassins that were on her tail and made a mad dash for it.
Her breathing was hard and ragged. Sweat poured from her brow as she continued running. She WOULD fight them, but they were all highly trained and more than likely beyond her level... Almost there...
One of the assassins caught ahold of what she was up to and took aim a little ahead of her, waiting patiently.
Just a few more steps...
The assassin shot and a bullet hit her in the leg. Rachael stumbled slightly.
Cripes. Why couldn't this go as planned. On one leg, she went into a handstand and walked/ran on her hands until she was sure they couldn't get at her from their angle. She rolled out of her handstand and sat painfully. She had made it. "Ok . You can end the simmulation now."
The buildings and the assassin around her faded away into the holoroom walls of the batcave and Rachael stood up and looked at the side of her leg where the red paintball had hit. Cripes. That was going to take FOREVER to get out.
-
"You failed." Batman stated in a monotonal voice as he appeared from the darkness.
"What do you mean! I was able to get out of their range before getting killed...er well hit with a paintball in the heart area" Falcon should have KNOWN that she shouldn't have taken him up on his challenge of trying out level eight. It was as hard as heck. She had already survived it for the past hour, she was sure to slow down sooner or later.
"You were wounded. They would have been able to get down from where they were and find you in a matter of seconds if this had been real." He pointed out.
Rachael furrowed her brows together and scowled. She wasn't one to easily admit defeat, she fit in just right with them. "Then...I want to do the simulation again."
Batman stared for a long moment, his expression unreadable, his thoughts unhearable. "Go home. Training was over with a half-an-hour ago."
"But--"
He didn't even give her a chance to argue. He just turned around and left.
Rachael mumbled to herself about him being a jerk, but did as told and left, taking a Bat-cycle. It was late. Since her basic training was over, every night after patrol she had holo-room training. It was already nearing....2 a.m. and she hadn't seen Robin all day. Where was he? He was basicly her only friend, other than Batgirl, and she needed help with her schedule. That's right. Tomorrow was her first day of School at Gotham Heights High. Summer had gone by to quickly. Why did she have to go to school anyway? She didn't even EXIST here.
---
Falcon raced back to the clock tower on the Batcycle. Her mind was filled with thoughts and she only payed half-attention to the roads. Thankfully, her bike was on auto-drive....
It seemed like it was just yesterday that her life had been normal...the summer had gone by in a blink of an eye. It had been just that June that she had arrived and she still remembered it in full detail.
The Bike switched lanes and turned a nearby corner.
She had been in her backyard in her house in Texas when the vortex had opened and she had been hurteled out onto Gotham's slimy streets. She had been saved from a sick group of street thugs by Batman and Robin and ,soon, they learned her story and took her in. No WAY someone with her kinda knowledge should be wondering the streets here. She knew too much.
It was the next night that she finnaly got in on some action. The Joker had escaped ,once again, from Arkam and had kidnapped the Dark knight and the Boy Wonder. "Borrowing" some of Oracle's technology, she had went to save them and suceeded, nearly getting herself killed in the process if it hadn't been for Robin...
Falcon came out of her thoughts as she neared the clock tower, not knowing that she was being watched not to far away...
She pulled into an abandoned alleyway and headed into the clock tower in her civies.
Rachael headed down the halls of the tower, the one place her stalker dared not follow. To risky.
---
"Come on Rachael. School starts in an hour and you DON'T want to be late on the first day." Barbara told her as she wheeled into the girl's bedroom and turned on the lights.
Rachael groaned and threw her bed's comfortor over her head to sheild out the light. "Five more minutes." She mumbled and turned to go back to sleep.
Barbara rolled over to the bed and tore the comforter away from Rachael's grasp. "That's what you said twenty minutes ago. Now rise and shine, sleepy head."
"I'll rise, but I WON'T shine." Rachael mumbled as she opened her eyes painfully.
"C'mon! If I have to get up this early, so do you." Barbara said as she rolled out of the room.
" Your evil, Barb." Rachael called out to her as she relunctantly got out of bed and grabbed the clothes that she had laid out the night before.
"How can I be evil? I'm one of the good guys." Barbara shot back from the hall.
"Riiight." Rachael replied and began to get dressed, leaving her room in a total mess. Alfred wouldn't be pleased if he saw it.
-
She raced down to the living room as she tyed her hair back in a ponytail and ate a bagle that she had grabbed from the nearly bare kitchen. "I'm going to be SO late if I don't hurry." Rachael whined as she scuried along.
"I'm rerouting one of the city busses to drive you straight to school. You've got...ten minutes to get downstairs." Barb' told her as she typed away at her computer.
"Your a Godsend." Rachael said as she finished off her bagle and grabbed her purse and a small binder to take notes in.
"Five minutes ago I was Evil, now I'm a Godsend...You REALLY need to make up your mind."
"Later. I'm not even going to make it to the bus if I don't hurry." Rachael opened the front door to the apartment and made her way to the elevator. "Bye!"
-----
Rachael headed down the halls of Gotham Heights High School. She still had...she checked her watch...five minutes to get her class schedule and head to her first period room....Now if she could find the office...
"Hey! Rachael!" A familiar voice called out and she turned to see Tim Drake ,a.k.a. Robin the Boy Wonder, heading her way. "Let me guess...lost?" He raised an eyebrow.
"No...Ok. Yeah, I am. YOU wouldn't happen to know where the office is, would you?" She asked with a desperate look.
Tinm chuckled slightly. "Yeah. I do, I was actualy just heading there myself. So...just follow my lead."
They walked towards the office together, finding it in mere seconds. If Rachael had been looking for it by herself, it would have taken her MUCH longer.
---
"Mmmm" Rachael looked over the schedule she had been handed and groaned.
"What?" Tim asked as he looked over his own paper.
"Look who I have for English." She handed him the schedule and he looked it over while she rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"Lessee...Ms. Burtinellie--whoa." He looked back up at Rachael. "Huntress is your second period teacher." He whispered, wide eyed.
A small dity of 'Its a Small World After All' began to play through Rachael's head. "This is all to wei--"
"Tim! What's up ma--whoa." Ives stopped when he saw Tim talking with the lovely long haired brunnete, Rachael, and he jabbed Tim slightly in the ribs with his elbow. "Tim, are you going to introduce me to your friend ."
"Uhhh..." Tim spaced for a second, but quickly got his cool back. "Ives, this is Rachael. Rachael, this is Ives."
The two shook hands politely with a little greeting between them. Tim just let out a small, relieved sigh.
"Well, nice to meet you. But I've got to get Tim-boy here to class before your late." Ives grabbed his friends arm and dragged him along.
"C-ya Tim!" Rachael called out.
"Um...bye." He said before dissappearing around the corner.
Rachael looked down at her schedule again and blinked. They had forgotten to put her locker number down. "Excuse me, Mame. What's my locker number?" Rachael asked as she showed the secretary the blank spot where her no. was supposed to go.
"Oh! I'm sorry. It is..." The secretary brought something up on her computer. "865"
"Thankyou," Rachael replied as she dashed to her first P.
A dark figure watches the entire scene play out from around the corner and narrowed its eyes as it watches the young girl leave.
----
The cursed schoolbell rang, telling Rachael that she was late for her second class on the first day. Why her? This WASN'T going to give her teacher a good impression of her, ESPICIALLY considering that her teacher was the Huntress, a crazed vigilante who believed in killing some of the murderous scum she went after. She fought her own, personal vendetta on crime.
Rachael finnaly found her classroom and rushed in. "I'm sorry I'm..." Rachael looked round the half empty classroom. "Late?"
"First day of school., almost everyone is late, Miss... " Burtenellie prompted as she filied away some papers at her desk, never raising her head to acknoledge Rach'.
"Rachael. Rachael Simmons." Rachael replied, doing her best to hide her discomfort.
"Well, find yourself a seat Miss. Simmons."
Rachael choose a seat in the back corner and slid into it silently.. It would probably be best NOT to be seen.
Soon, most of the other students began to arrive. Rachael cringed as some of them used every explitive in the book. Were schools in Gotham REALLY this leniant? Gratitious violence, she could handle; But she couldn't STAND a foul mouth.
Ms. Burtenellie got up from her desk and stood in front of the class once she saw that most of the people that were supposed to be there, were .
"Good morning, and welcome to English 2. I have only a few rules. If you can follow those, I'm sure we'll get along just fine." She stood in front of the lecture podium. "First off, I'm not taking any slack. You do your work and we wont have any trouble. You're teenagers, not babies. I shouldn't have to treat you like one, but if I have to, I WILL." She eyed the sea of of students and waited a minute before continuing.. "Second, I will not tolerate lying. If your not telling me the truth, whether it be about why you're late to class or why you don't have your homework. I WILL find out and the consequences will be severe. An angry glint caught her eye.
Rachael gulped and shrank lower into her seat. Why, oh why couldn't she have a normal teacher?
-----------
Batman sat in front of the Crays Computer, contemplating the best course of action in his head. Rachael would be home from her first day of school soon. He had better do this quickly.
He expertly set up a connection with Oracle. He would need her help in this.
"What is it, Bruce? I was right in the middle of helping Dinah out with a mission in Indonasia, so this had bettter be important. " Barbara's face came up on the computer screen. She, too, was having a rough day, if not a busy one.
"I think you'll find it important enough." Batman replied in a monotonal voice and paused for a brief second. "I need you to do something for me, concerning Falcon.."
------------
"We know he's up to something, we just can't figure what." Commishener Akins handed Batman a collaged letter. Batman, Commmishener Akins, and Falcon stood on the roof of the roof of the G.C.P.D. Prestinct H.Q. Falcon had been told, since this was her first time to assist on an actual case and the first time to be along with Batman on a visit to with the Commishener, she should just stay back in the shadows and listen.
"He hasn't commited any crime yet, but according to this Riddle, he soon will." Akins added as Batman scanned the letter.
"What has hands that canot hold and a face that does not see." Batman read the riddle that was attached to the letter aloud.
"A clock.," Falcon piqued in. The riddle was WAY to simple. Akins turned to face the young girl in amusement as she spoke, but Batman remained emotionless.
"Another kid, huh. Where's your usual teen sidekick?" Akins pondered.
"Robins working on anouther case." Batman responded, handing the riddle and the letter back to the new commishiner.
Akins looked down at the letter again. Something just seemed...odd about it. "Y'know, I don't know what it is about you guys and your..." He looked up to see that the duo was gone. "Sidekicks?" Akins sighed.
"How did Jim deal with these guys without having a heart attack."
-------
"So what now?" Falcon asked as she hopped into the backseat of the Batmobile.
"We head for Nigma's apartment and wait to see what he's up to." Batman told her as he reved up the BM9 Batmobile.
"So...basicly a stakeout, right?" She went over the riddle and the answer in her head. It couldn't POSSIBLY mean Oracles clocktower...could it?
Batman nodded silently and the Batmoble sped down the abandoned alleyway.
---------
"A stakeout." Rachael spat grumpily. For five hours, FIVE HOURS, she had been watching the Riddlers place and NOTHING was happening. Batman had left four hours ago to attend to another, probably more intresting, case and left her with 'The Safe job'. She was almost bored to tears. She had wanted some action. She would even take a simple assult case right now over this.
Barbara laughed on her side of the com-link. "Awww. Poor you." Barbara stifled her laughter to a mere snicker. "So, he hasn't made a move yet, huh."
"No! All he's been doing is sipping a glass of cheap wine and gathering ideas from some book." Falcon came out of the crouch on the side of the building she was perched on to sit cross-legged and slumping as she continued to stare into the apartment window of Edward Nigma across the street. "He probably never even SENT that letter to the G.C.P.D. It must have been some kind of setup."
"Somebody obviously needs a nap. It's nearing one.Why dont you just head on back here."
"I can't. At least not until Bats tells me to call it a night." She yawned. Bed didn't sound to bad just about now.
"Yeah. Well. Whoever WROTE the letter, sure had--" a small beep came up on Barbara's side of the line.
"Someone else is trying to reach me. I'll have to call you back. Oracle out."
"Kay. Falcon out." then the line went dead and Rachael went back to seeing how long she could stare at the nearby building without blinking. Thats just how desperate for entertainment she was.
-------
Falcon was getting sleepy, VERY sleepy. Her eyes drooped dangerously low as she still stared into the now dark apartment window. With her head propped onto her left hand, she yawned.
"Go home. He obviously isn't making a move tonight." Came an emotionless voice from behind.
Falcon stood up drowsily. "Night? It's morning for Pete's Sake! Four a.m. to be exact. Enigma went to bed at three."
"I expect a report on it later. Go home and catch up on the few hours of sleep you have left."
Falcon, REALLY wanting to go to sleep, nodded drowsily. She pulled a grapnel from her belt and swung in the direction of her temporary home. She was NOT going to want to get up in a few hours.
-------
Rachael was MAD! Not at anyone in particular, but she was still peeved. She had gotten only two hours of sleep and her face showed it. She couldn't WAIT for the weekend to come so she could just sleep in again. She was usualy the nice, sweet, and shy girl who never rocked the boat. Today, however, that wasn't the case. Hey, lets just see how YOU deal with just two hours of sleep a night! Besides, she wasn't much of a morning person...
She was at her locker when it happened, shoving her newly boughten school supplies into her small, dinky locker. She yawned and laid her head against her locker door when a well-built, highschool football jock with sandy blond hair and a smile that said he could have any girl he wanted, approached her and leaned a hand against a neighboring locker.
"Hi there." The jock said flirtatiously.
Rachael just grunted and peeped through her half open eyes tiredly. She finnaly brought her head off of her locker and went through her school supplies again, trying to remember what it was she needed for her next class.
"I'm Brian. And you are?"
"Not." She yawned tiredly as she pulled out a three subject spiral. "Intrested." She then shot him a glare that screamed 'back off'
"Aww. C'mon. A girl like you could go far with a guy like me." He OBVIOUSLY couldn't take a hint and reached over and grabbed her butt.
That woke Rachael up in an instant. Any other day, she would have just told him to get the heck away unless he wanted to be sued, but today she REALY wasn't in the mood.
She grabbed his hand and twisted it, making him fly over her shoulder and land flatt on his back on the opposite side of her of where he had been. A simple hopkido joint lock and twist. He let out a small yelp and the kids around them begin to laugh and point at the fallen 'Brian'.
"Whats your problem!" He boomed.
"TOUCH ME AGAIN AND I'LL DO MORE THEN BREAK YOUR FRAGILE MALE EGO!" She spat in disgust. At least she had showed enough restraint to not break anything.
"Young lady, just WHAT do you think you're doing!" A teacher made his way towards Rachael and the Jock. Uhohh she was in it DEEP. Rachael groaned.
"Principal's office... NOW!" The teacher bellowed out. Rachael hung her head in shame and made her way to the principal's office, escorted by the small wirey teacher.
The students who had seen the scene, just watched on as the girl left, but 'Brian' growled as he stood back up as the others laughed at him. NO ONE made a fool out of HIM.
-------
Rachael sat in the Pricipal's office, silent. She stared down at her hands nervously and the Principal stared at HER sternly.
Rachael wasn't nervous, nor intemidated, by Pricipal Huster. She wasn't scared of D-hall either. He was the LEAST of her worries. No, what she was scared of was what Batman and Barbara would do to her once they found out.
"Miss. Simmons, you are supposed to behave like a young lady. YOUNG LADIES don't start fights." Pricipal Huster began his lecture.
"But Sir! I was defending myself! He sexualy harassed me! Isn't HE going to get in trouble?" Rachael argued, not in an angry manner but as someone pleading their innocence.
"I think Brian has been punished enough." The principal commanded her a glare.
"But--"
"No buts, Miss. Simmons. You broke the rules and now--" He was interupted by his secretary.
"Excuse me, Principal Huster?" The elderly secretary poked her head in through the office doorway. "Theres a...situation out here that I think requires your attention."
"Coming Ms. Smith." Principal Huster got up from his seat behind his desk. "Stay put. I'm not done with you." he told the young girl before leaving abruptly.
Rachael sat in the office for twenty minutes before the Principal returned. What could take him this long?
"Sorry." The Principal reentered the office in a rush. "Now. Where was I." He looked over at Rachael, who had taken back to starring at her hands. "Ah. Yes. You are here by suspended from school for a week. Gather your stuff from your locker and please LEAVE."
Rachael nodded and got up from her own chair and left. 'That chuavanistic, sexist PIG!' Racahel thought to herself as she stormed out of the office and towards her locker.
She swung open her locker once she reached it and got her backpack out. Thats when she noticed something. The seam. There was a hidden compartment in her backpack in which she kept her Falcon costume and the hidden seam of it...was open! She opened it even further and searched it for her costume.
Her eyes widened. Oh no, it was GONE! Instead, there was a small collaged note inside. Rachaels face paled as she read it,being careful only to barely hold the edges so as not to leave any fingerprints.. She stared blankly ahead for a moment before reading it again, She read it over and over. One thing was for sure, this wasnt good. It read:
I know your secret.
TO BE CONTINUED
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