School.

What a word.

Even for a hero like Sam Jackson, school was a whole new world for him. Being a hero at night and a regular kid in the morning can be quite the challenge, but with a good cup of coffee, a change of clothes, a red brown t-shirt, jeans, a cloth belt, and a watch to go with two metal bracers he had on, AKA the gauntlets in a condensed form, a pastry from his favorite bakery that just so happened to be near his personal apartment, a long ass wait at the city bus stop, and then a bike ride for 6 blocks, he could cope with it.

But today was different. He knew that as he checked his watch during his bus ride. Something was going to happen... he just knew it.

Sam had finally managed to get to school. Gotham High wasn't exactly the nicest of places. But it was something. Students roamed around the grounds. The bitchy girls in one area and the nerds in another. Typical high school drama. That's when a blonde girl walked by...

"Whoops!"

"Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry! I'm so sorry about that."" Sam replied, stepping away and helped the blonde girl to pick up her stuff. he helped the girl up.

"Yeah." She said nonchalantly. "It's okay." She looked up at him with a puzzled look on her face. "Do I know you?" "Uh... Can't say I know you." Sam said, half smiling. He picked up the last book and studied its cover. "Well! The Arkham City Incident, as told by ex-convicts, officers, and political figures. What's a book like this doing in the hands of a girl like you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" She snapped as she snatched the book out of his hands. "It's none of your business." She quickly shoved the books in her bag as the bell for first period rang. "Crap! I'm late!" With that, she ran off. Sam, being the gentleman he supposedly made himself to be tried to run after her, but she was too damn fast. He sighed, then went off in the other direction, towards his first class, which was Physical Education.

"C'mon Jackson! Don't push the bag, PUNCH IT!" Screamed the squat phys ed teacher. Sam, already in his athletics shirt and basketball shorts, grimanced as he moved around the punching bag, dodging and weaving like it was a actual enemy. With his boxing gloves, he did a one two jab, then a clothesline arm tackle, followed by what he called a combo. He swung his right arm, his fist colliding with the bag, then a left hook, then for the finale, a mock uppercut.

"Good! If you were in kick boxing you would get good grades, but you aren't! Get on the track!" The teacher snorted.

"But coach!-" Sam protested, but Coach waggled a finger, "Ah ah ah, not "Buts" here, Jackson! Now get on the track!" With a heavy sigh, Sam walked out of the weight room and outside, to where the track was.

"Well, we was certainly something." Vulcan muttered as Sam started to jog.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Sam muttered.

"He isn't brutal enough." Vulcan said.

"What!?" Sam mentally screamed. "Say, WHAT?!"

Meanwhile, Sarina Wayne was attempting to finish a term paper in the computer lab. But was having no luck focusing since the track team was practicing just outside the window. She knew all of them by name. Bret Stevens, Thomas Reed and...that kid from earlier? Wait he wasn't on the track team, was he? Nah, Mr. Frit the gym teacher is probably making him run laps or something. Looks like he really doesn't like him. That's when he shook his arms angrily as if he were mentally screaming at someone. Wtf?

"And in any case, you try to work harder, Gauntlet doesn't slack off all the time." Vulcan chided.

"I know, I know-" Sam started to say, but then his eyes locked onto a window. "Oh crap," He muttered, "Someone's looking at us."

Vulcan sat up in his mind. "What!?"

"Yeah! It's the blonde girl from earlier!" Sam said mentally.

"The one with the piercings, the one with the... very large... womanly parts?"

"Vulcan don't-"

"Or the one that you bumped into?" Vulcan continued.

"The one I bumped into." Sam answered.

"In that case, act normal!" Vulcan urdged.

Sam rolled his neck back and continued jogging, like a normal guy. You're just running, nothing to see here, girl, nothing to see... Sam thought to himself as he stole another glance.

Man, he looks really shaky and nervous. Maybe he's hiding something. Ooo! gossip! But seriously though, who the hell is he? How come she had never seen him before? Maybe he was one of those loner tips. And...wait what the hell was on his arms? Metal bracers? This is one weird kid!

"Shoot! She saw the bracers! Quick! turn into metal chain link bracelets!" Sam mentally said hurridly.

"But, It takes too much of my power!" Vulcan protested

"JUST DO IT, WHEN SHE ISN'T LOOKING! WHICH IS NOW!"

Sam passed the media center, and as they made the turn, the bracers churned and shrunk to form metal chain link bracelets. It was the perfect moment, since at that moment, they were already making the final lap and already in full view of the media center.

Wait... they're bracelets now?

Huh.

Sarina's mind must be playing tricks on her. She really should've gotten more sleep last night. After that whole thing with Gauntlet she didn't make it to bed until midnight. But she swore. She knew that kid from somewhere. Just as she tried to study him more carefully, the bell rang and She hurried off to second period.

Gym after that went by quickly, second period for Sam was English, and while he walked down the long halls of Gotham High, people would stop and stare at his shadow, then walk away like it was a trick of the light, for he had two, instead of one. Second Period passed by like usual.

Then Third

Then Fourth

But Lunch was different.

Sarina was so ready for the day to be over. And it was only lunch. She grabbed a smoothie and a sandwich for lunch as she sat down next to some of her girlfriends. The conversation was bland and boring since she already heard this gossip two days ago. She didn't have much interest as she stared off into space. Out of the corner of her eye she began to notice someone looking at her.

Sam elbowed his friend, Tom, as he stared at the blonde chick. "Tom, you know she's out of your league." Sam said, laughing.

"Aw, C'mon Sammy!" Tom laughed, "She saw me, and she likes the goods!" To prove his point, he flexed his already bulging muscles that he worked on with the weights. "Put those things away, dude! The ladies are running away than coming to you." Sam laughed

"Yeah right." Tom laughed.

"It's true..." Sam said knowingly.

Really? He's pulling the whole muscle thing? Oh and now he's winking! Sarina groaned at his failed attempts to get her attention. That's when she noticed the guy sitting next to him. Hey! That's the guy from earlier! As soon as their eyes made contact he quickly looked away. He picked up his tray and headed out of the cafeteria. Okay. what was this guys problem?! She was determined to find out.

Sam walked out of the cafeteria and down into the long hallway that led to the gardens. He knew that the chick was following him, so he pretended not to notice. He led her out into the large courtyard and put his tray down on a bench. Good, no one was around. He whipped around, and caught the girl off guard. "Why are you following me? If you really wanted to be friends, then you could have asked in the cafeteria!"

Sarina was a little taken back, she thought she was being so stealthy. All those years of Batman training weren't working on this guy. "Look dude, I'm just wondering what's your problem with me." She explained. "You keep looking at me funny all day and I don't exactly appreciate it."

"I've been looking at you funny? YOU'RE the one who's been stalking me." Sam retorted.

Sarina tried to say something, but Sam cut her off. "Okay, yeah. I admit it! I was looking at you funny, but that was in response to your peeping, Tommy. Or is that your name? Come to think of it, I didn't really catch it..." Sam trailed off and then he stared off into space.

"It's Sarina Wayne, btdubbs." She elaborated. "But that's not the point! I...I have no idea who you are either." That's when she got all quiet as she stared at her shoes. This whole thing just seemed ridiculous in retrospect. Sam straightened up. Okay, he made things awkward. Time to get himself out of this mess.

"Look, let's start over." He said, putting his left arm on his hip, letting his right arm dangle.

"My name is Sam Jackson, and it's a pleasure to..." He started to say, but then a loud voice bellowed in his head.

"I can't hold it!"

Before he knew it, the chain link bracelets started to glow orange, and then glow with a fiery brilliance.

His eyes widened and he took off, running past fellow students, hands on chest, and off school grounds.

"What the hell!" Sarina shouted annoyed. What was this guy's problem? Did he have to run to the bathroom or something? What a weirdo! He wasn't even running towards the school. He was just running down the street! Sarina sighed. Sure he was odd. But she was determined to figure out the deal behind this guy. Sarina groaned to herself as she ran after him.

Gotham City: Wayne Plaza

"I... am so humiliated right now." Vulcan muttered

"No shit." Sam muttered.

He looked down at his hands, which were covered with the Gauntlets of Vulcan. He couldn't believe that even a god had limits, even being as a chain bracelet took a lot of energy, apparently, but just letting go like this? Why?

He slowly sunk to the ground, sliding his back down the brick alley wall and sighed.

Can this day get any worse?

Yes it can.

Of course that idiot had to run to Wayne Plaza. If Bruce caught her here during school hours she would be so dead! Where on earth could he be hiding. Thankfully she always carries some Wayne Tech around with her. She pulled out her new detective vision sunglasses and scanned the area. Looking for any abnormalities. Soon enough she detected the body heat of someone in the alley leaning against the wall. Wait...this can't be right. His body heat was through the roof. That's not humanly possible!

Sarina walked towards the mass. If that was him. He was going to have a lot of explaining to do. Just as she was about to confront him, she saw Bruce step out of the Wayne enterprise building. She quickly darted out of his field of view and landed on Sam's lap. He was about to speak when she quickly covered his mouth.

"Shh!" She said. He looked at her, completely confused. "Jeesh! You're burning up." That's when it hit her. "What exactly is going on?"

Sarina's protests were muffled by Sam's hand over his mouth. He tried to get it off, but as soon as his armored hand wrapped around her wrist, did things become weird. And uh, yeah, things did get weird from below as well, as the lilac perfume of Sarina got the better of him.

"Uh... Sarina... could you... get off of me?" He asked, his cheeks and ears turning bright red.

Sarina's eyes widened as she quickly got off of him. She glared daggers at him. "What the hell is going on?" She questioned. She was thoroughly confused and freaking out. The last few seconds that transpired didn't exactly help Sam's story as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

"Okay, first off-" Sam raised his hands, already regretting the choice he made. "What is up with your arms?!" Sarina screamed, and Sam quickly put his hands over her mouth, and dragged her deeper into alley.

As soon as she calmed down a little, Sam took away his hands from her mouth. "Look. It's a really long story." He said.

"I've got time." She grumbled. "I mean... you only dragged me into the middle of the city! Do you know what my dad's gonna do to me when he finds out I'm playing hookie with some...weird...arm...freak...thing?"

"Really. I don't think you would understand." Same replied. Sarina rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Try me." She growled.

"Alright, well." Sam said, sitting down. "Before I came to Gotham, I... well, I was a New Yorker. But I ran away because of my abusive parents, both mom and dad were drunkards, so I ran away. I lived on the streets, then in the sewers."

"Wait, you lived in the sewers?" Sarina asked, "For real?"

"Yeah, i did. I only lived in a dry area, though, in case you were wondering." Sam reassured her. "Anyways, I found others in there, people like me, runaways", He explained. "But..." He started to shiver, "There were men, lots of them. They took everyone. I was the only one left, and a small handful of others..." Sam curled himself up in the fetal position and started to rock back and forth, the memories starting to take hold.

Whole families taken.

No survivors if they rebelled.

Only five kids escaped

Everyone, with tears on their faces.

Sarina's eyes widened as she gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, it's okay." She said. Immediately regretting this whole thing. "I'm sorry I asked."

"No." Sam said, looking up. "It's fine." He really didn't look okay, more like he was a poor guy.

"Come on. Let's get out of here? Wanna...I dunno...get some ice cream or something?" She tried.

Sam smiled a bit, and stood up. The gauntlets disappeared, becoming chain link bracelets.

"Sure," Sam smiled. "I'd like that... Batgirl."

Sarina's smile quickly faded as she gripped his jacket and slammed him against the alley wall. "Who the FUCK told you that lie that I have never heard in my entire life?" She growled. Her nose was practically touching his. Her mouth twisted into and angry snarl. Sam got a good whiff of her lilac perfume as he tried to calm her down.

"Uh... I heard a rumor!" Sam quickly protested, "That you were Batgirl, and... uh... She and you got the same hair and-" His eyes widened as he pieced together the puzzle. "oh my god, you are her!" Sarina punched Sam in the face. "Don't yell that." She hissed, "Or else you'll wish you didn't find that out!" "hey! It's okay! I'm a superhero too! See?" Sam quickly pulled motorcycle goggles from his jeans pocket and put them on. "See?! Superhero! Could you put me down?! Now? Please!?"

"No...you're..." Sarina said, not believing what she was seeing. "Shauntlet?"

"Gauntlet." He groaned. Sarina instantly let go of him.

"Well what do you know. Small world huh?" She replied. "I should've known by that outfit."

"Funny." He mumbled.

"I know." She said with a smirk.

"And the arms didn't give it all away?" Sam said, waving the chain link bracelets, which expanded into the gauntlets.

"Well...Um...you see...I didn't get a lot of sleep last night after our whole incident with...him...and..." Sarina blurted out, trying to cover up her naivety. "Hey don't worry about it." he replied.

The gauntlets shrunk back to chain link bracelets, and Sam lifted the goggles and set them on the top of his head.

"Besides, I can understand that. after all, fighting crime takes a lot of not sleeping, doesn't it?"

Sarina dumbly nodded.

The demigod chuckled and stretched out his hand. "C'mon," he said, "It's already sixth period. We should get back."

Sarina laughed as the young demigod lead her out of the alleyway. As the continued walking out of the plaza towards the school she heard a familiar voice.

"Yes Lucius. I'll have the reports for this quarter faxed to your office immediately." Bruce Wayne said into his cellphone. He was leaning against the office building just a few yards away from the two. Sarina quickly ducked behind Sam.

"What is it?" He asked, looking back at the blonde cowering behind him.

"It's my dad." She said. "If he catches me out here I'm toast!" Sam looked over at where she was pointing.

"Wait...Bruce Wayne is your dad?" He questioned. "I thought-"

"Adopted dad." She snapped. "Help!"

Sam nodded. "My apartment's close to here, I can get you there, then we wait for a few minutes, then get back to school. How's that?"

"Sure, fine. Just get me out of here!" She said, panicking. She really did not want to deal with Bruce's wrath when she got home! She stayed close to Sam,hiding behind him as he lead her to his apartment.

Sam quickly led her out of the plaza, and onto Main street, Carefully walking around and over Bruce's senses. After walking for a couple of blocks, They reached a very dirty looking open air marketplace. "This is new." Sam muttered as they walked by. After getting past that roadblock, they finally reached... A chinese restaurant.

"This is a joke, right?" Sarina asked, just staring at the out of place new looking brick building

"No joke!" Sam said, smiling.

He led Sarina through the restaurant, dodging waiters and waitresses, occasionally saying hi to one of them before opening a bamboo door, which led to the entrance of the apartment complex. After walking a few flights of stairs, they reached to floor 15-17. They stopped at 17 and Sam produced a small key, which he used to unlock the door and they went in.

The place had a oriental feel to it, Not like Chinese Samurai, but it had that feel. The room opened up to a living room, with a tv, a retro video game system plugged in, with a sliding door balcony connected to it. A overstuffed chair and couch were set in that large room. The kitchen was small, but the stove was massive, and that was connected to a oven, with the cabinets above the massive stove. A table was pushed to the side, with three chairs set around it. A small hallway lead out to the bedroom and bathroom, both with the same feel. Although... the fake jade tiled floor was a bit too much... at least the living room had carpeting.

"Nice setup you got here." Sarina commented.

"It's home." he replied as he plopped into the chair. "Knowing Bruce Wayne he'll be off flirting with some woman in no time. Then we can head back."

"Don't talk about him like that!" She screeched. He looked up at her, startled.

"Okay, sorry." He apologized. Calming her down. She sighed as she sat down on the couch.

"It's all right." She replied. The two of them sat in silence for a few moments. "So...some day huh?"

"Yeah. It's been some day alright. I thought it would just go on as any normal day, but no," Sam laughed. "I had to run into Batgirl, and I gave away my identity... yeah... All I want to do now is get my homework and just, y'know, pretend that these events didn't happen."

"But they did." Sarina said.

"Yup." Sam said, chuckling.

"I wish I could pretend things didn't happen." Sarina sighed. "But no use dwelling on the past!" She picked up the remote and turned on the TV. Instinctively flipping to Bugs Bunny cartoons.

"What do you think was the deal with the robbery last night?" Sam questioned.

"Why you know who distracted us to get the goods transported? Dunno. Probably has something to do with a plan of is. Bombing schools or hospitals. Whatever it is, we'll stop him." She replied.

"Hopefully. Because I don't want explosions on my doorstep." Sam said.

"No one does." Sarina replied.

Silence.

"So...fire powers huh? Cool." Sarina said, trying to break the tension.

Sam straightened up. "Its not that cool, almost every hero has it." He said, embarrased.

Sarina gave him a glare. "Wanna trade?" She questioned.

"Nope!" Sam quickly said, his hands raised.

"That's what I thought." Sarina chuckled. She glanced down at her watch. "Should we head back?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, we should probably do that."

After a glance outside the balcony to make sure Bruce wasn't there, they sprinted to the bus stop, just as soon as it was pulling out. They rode it together in silence, staring out the window.

Sarina whipped out her phone and looked at the time. School was practically over by now! She might as well make a last minute appearance for the last period. That way Mrs. Cravedie wouldn't cause a spectacle the next day. She looked back over at Gauntlet. So he was a normal kid at school like her? Huh. And she thought she and Robin were the only ones. Oh yeah! Her and Robin had 5th period together. I wonder what he thought when she didn't show up?

Tim tapped his foot outside the front doors of Gotham High, as he waited for Sarina. What's taking her so long? Usually she would come outside at this time, but now...

Wait, there she is! ...and who was that guy she was talking to?

Sarina and Sam were chit chatting as they walked towards where Tim was standing.

"Oh Hi Timmy!" Sarina giggled as she hugged him tightly! "Who's this guy?" He asked, motioning towards Sam. "Oh, uh, hello. You must be Tim." Sam said, smiling and putting his hand out. "I'm Sam, a friend of Blondie- Uh, I mean, Sarina." He quickly corrected as Sarina gave him a playful death glare.

"I saw you earlier today, why weren't you at 5th period?" Tim questioned. "Well...uh...you see... it's a very complicated story. I'm..." Sarina started. Trying to defend herself.

"We were on a lunch date." Sam quickly interrupted. Sarina looked taken aback, but she didn't complain. "We went to... uh... what was that one place you wanted to go again?" Sam asked, "I can never remember restaurant names, even though I live next to one!" He asked, then chuckled.

"Oh yes! Of course! We went to...uh...yeah...That Bistro on the corner of third...Lorenzo's I think it was." Sarina replied. "Yes! That's it!" Sam replied. "Look like we were a little late in getting back to school."

"A little? Lunch was three hours ago." Tim stated, matter of factly.

"Yeah, traffic was bad." Sam said, "We city bussed it, and that was probably the worse mistake that we made..." He chuckled again and scratched the back of his neck. "Huh. Well Okay." Tim said, nodding. "You ready to head home Sarina?" "Yeah sure." Sarina replied as she followed Tim towards the parking lot.

"Bye Sam!" Sarina called to him.

Sam raised one hand in a goodbye wave, and watched as the two walked to the corner, only to disappear and then reappear with a motorcycle. He watched as Tim revved the engine and drove off, with Sarina squealing.

"Show-off." He muttered, walking to the bike rack to unchain his bike.

Yeah. what a show off. He thought,

"Well, this day was... eventful." Vulcan said, choosing his words carefully.

"Not now." Sam said, hopping on his bike and kicking the kickstand up.

"Well, we made friends with Batgirl!" Vulcan said optismistically.

Sam sighed and shook his head, smiling.

"Yup." He said. Then he pedalled down the hill, to the bus stop.

"We sure did."