All That I'm Dying and Living for – Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I regret to say that I do not own Batman Beyond or the idea of Catwoman, but I do own Celyna.
Authors Note: I know it has taken me such a long time to get this chapter up, and I apologize for that. If you notice any spelling or grammatical errors, please let me know. Also, any suggestions for my story line are welcome.
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It is late and cool outside, and frankly, I feel like climbing the walls. I walk out of my room to go to tell Mom that I am leaving, but then I remember that she said she is working late tonight. When she found out about my late night prowls on the city, she told me to leave a note for her if she wasn't around, so I scribble a quick note saying I am leaving, and the time of departure. I attach the note to the refrigerator with a magnet, and open the door to see if there is anything I could grab and take with me. Scanning the contents, I turn away slightly miffed that aside from milk, juice, some yogurt, and vegetables which definitely needed to be thrown away, there was nothing to eat. Gingerly, I pinched the corner of the vegetable Ziploc bag and tossed it into the garbage can.
Great, there is nothing to eat. Alright, mental note , I have got to get Mom to buy food tomorrow…I can't live on milk and crackers. Oh well…maybe I could stop somewhere and get something to eat.
I open my bedroom window and step out onto the wide ledge. The rooftops of the buildings which surround where I live are all within jumping distance. I close my eyes and let the breeze wash over me. If I ignored the city smell, and concentrated on the combination of the coolness of night and the slight wind,there was a feeling of exhilaration caused by the sense of freedom. Taking a deep breath, I jump out and let myself fall to the next rooftop. I land silently in a crouch and look out over the city.
Maybe I will explore a little more of the city tonight.
I decide to head over to Old Gotham just to have a look around. I had not been there on my previous excursions, so I was going to try something new for a change and jump from rooftop to rooftop headed in that direction. The old section of Gotham is abandoned and has been since around 2020 when the government decided to build a new section of Gotham as the population was growing. Instead of both Old and New Gotham having citizens, people liked the new section much better, and ever since then, Old Gotham was for the most part forgotten. The only people who hung around were gangs, but even then very rarely, or so I've heard. I did know that Bruce Wayne, some old billionaire that was pretty much a recluse from all that I know, made sure that Old Gotham was never torn down like so many people had tried to do. A few times a year, a proposal would be made for the destruction and possible rebuilding of Old Gotham, but Bruce Wayne made sure that it never was passed. I suppose that it held some kind of sentimental value for him. Since the old section and the new section of Gotham were set a little apart from each other for obvious reasons, I would have to get down from the roof I as there were no rooftops close by to jump to. Giving a disappointed sigh, I climb down the fire escape and jump to the ground and look around. Not being above the streets gave me a new perspective.
Boy, I am so glad that I live in a good section of the city. Sheesh, even I would be paranoid to live here back in the day. The me inside my head retorted, "Even you? Of course you would be, you know that you aren't as tough as you try to appear to others. You may have other people fooled with how you really feel, but you will never be able to fool yourself." I mentally glare at myself, but I knew I was right. Rolling my eyes, I think to myself that a psychiatrist would have a field day with me if they knew that I talk to myself all of the time and argue both mentally and verbally quite often. Since I couldn't talk to Max, Terry or Dana about my gift, the only person I could talk to was me.
I emerge from the alleyway and take a look at my surroundings. Trash blows by in the wind, and the buildings look as though they had never seen the hustle and bustle that had once been the main part of Gotham. Old Gotham does look like a ghost town, but it didn't fit in the category of extremely rundown. I turn onto another street, then suddenly freeze when I think I hear a noise behind me. Swiftly, I duck into an alleyway and crouch in the shadows. I mentally count to twenty, then cautiously peek around the corner. The street is empty other than the garbage that seems to be everywhere.
I must be overly jumpy or something, which is somewhat odd for me because normally I would keep walking and if I was approached, would then deal with the situation as needed. For some reason, I couldn't shake the bad feeling that seems to turn my blood cold. A creepy sensation crawls up my spine so I turn around. Nothing there. What is going on here? This is so strange…maybe I'm flipping out for no reason? That must be it. I'm in a weird place, and it must be my imagination playing tricks on me.
No sooner than I rationalized my fear, than did a net with lead weights drop on me from above. I collapse to the ground under the weight and try to lift the net off me. I hear raucous laughter and now realize that I had been targeted by Jokerz. "You have got to be kidding me", I mutter under my breath as I struggle to stand.
"Well, well, lookie at what we have here", sneers the one I assume to be the leader. "Hey sweetheart, want to come play with us?"
My lip curls in disgust. "No dreg, I wouldn't."
He turns back to his buddies and laughs. "Did she just say no to me?! Boys, we need to teach her a lesson, don't you think?" The other Jokerz give a roar of agreement and start towards me.
I finally manage to get the edge of the net and throw it off just as they decide to do their version of a football tackle. I feel a sharp pain in my side as I struggle to move underneath of the Jokerz piled on top of me. Okay, calm down and think. The only way you are going to get them off is if you go for whatever is going to hurt them. Alright, that sounds like a plan. After all, it is better than being stuck here and raped by these freaks. There is no way that I am going down without a fight.
Wriggling a little to get my arm where I could use it, I jab one of them in the eye and he yelps in pain. "You stupid bitch, what the fuck did you do that for?" he yells as he struggles to stand while covering his eye. I pinch the inside of another's leg and he moves off me. I went to knee the leader in the groin, but he shifted and hit me in the stomach. I exhaled sharply as the pain spread from my ribs across my stomach. I start to panic as the two I had either jabbed or pinched, held my arms as the leader straddled me. There is no way I am going to let this happen without a fight. I close my eyes and concentrate on forcing my emotions aside and letting the logical part of me take over. I open my eyes and look at the leader while bringing my knee up sharply. His eyes widen in pain as he topples to the side. The Jokerz holding me down loosen their grip as they stare at their leader and I seize this opportunity to yank my wrists away. I get to my feet as quickly as possible and start to run away, but the leader grabbed my ankle. I turned and stomped on his wrist then start running.
Where do I go now? The rooftops. I spot a fire escape ladder close to the ground and jump up to grab it. Hoisting myself up while hissing with pain was not exactly the easiest thing in the world. I must have a cracked rib or something. I try to mentally block the pain as much as possible and scramble up to the roof. Taking a deep breath, I take a running leap and jump to the next roof. No sooner do I land on the next rooftop, then do I hear voices yelling "Hurry up man, boss says we got to bring back the bitch now. Damnit, get your foot out of my face!".
Great, here they come. I run across rooftops and jump to others for what seems like forever while the Jokerz are following close behind. I reach the end of a rooftop and realize that there isn't another rooftop close enough to jump to. I start to climb down the fire escape, but I am grabbed from behind. I try to struggle but my efforts are futile. "We got you now, girlie", a voice growls into my ear. I am being dragged over to the edge away from the fire escape. My eyes widen as I realize what they were going to do and I start to struggle more. One of the other Jokerz picks up my legs and I try to kick him in the face, but either don't have enough strength left to do so, or he is too fast to move out of my way. Since there is an arm around my neck while carrying me, it's a little hard to see anything other than the Jokers arm holding me to my left, or the night sky above me.
They stop at what I can only guess is the edge of the roof and the one holding me says, "Well boys, lets see how far a bitch can fly". Suddenly, I feel myself hoisted, then thrown over the edge and unable to scream, I gasp and reach for something, anything to grab onto, but there is only air. Oh goddess, I'm going to die. Mom, I'm so sorry… That is the last thing I was able to think before everything went black.
Author's Note: I know that this was short, but I have been trying for a long time to try to get something written, so I figured that something short was better than nothing at all. I see that my stats page says that I have received almost 200 hits for chapter one. To all of my readers, please, please review because the more reviews I get, the happier I am, and the faster I update.
