Disclaimer: Me: Hi everyone. Here's Chapter Nine everyone.

Title: Bat of the Future

Author: AnimeGirl 144

Chapter 9: The Flowering Fundraiser

--

Kari woke up with a yawn as she stretched out her arms. A small pop came from the stretch, but nothing too serious. She got out of bed and walked over to her computer. She looked into her inbox to see that Alfred had left her a message. She clicked on it, and read through it. Her eyebrows twitched.

"No, not a fundraiser," she thought.

She sighed and walked over to her closet. If Cosmic Boy didn't like her taking down rookie bad guys, wait till he hears that she has to go to a fundraiser! She took out a black shirt with many white circles that looked like the top-half of a kimono, black sweats with a breathable black mini skirt over it and white dress slippers. She placed a white headband in her hair.

She grabbed her black backpack and placed in her Batgirl suit and her belt inside of it. She grabbed her BatCom and placed it in her bag. She turned off her computer, quickly made her bed, then walked out of the room and down the hall. She turned the corner, and saw Cham. Cham waved at her.

"Morning Kari," he said.

"Morning Cham," Kari said, smiling halfway.

"Where are you going?" he asked, knowing she would be Kari if she was going somewhere.

Kari sighed.

"I have to go to a fundraiser," she said.

He rose an eyebrow.

"You don't like fundraisers?" Cham asked.

"No, I don't mind them. They're for a good cause," Kari explained, "I just hate how long they are."

Cham chuckled a bit.

"Well, hope you have a fun time. What's the fundraiser?" he asked.

"Something about Earth Day," Kari replied. "So it's probably for the enviroment and stuff."

"Sounds cool," Cham said.

"I hope so," Kari said. "Well, I've got to get going. Alfred's waiting."

She walked past him and out of the tower. Cham stopped smiling after she left.

"This is not going to be fun," he said as he walked toawrds the lounge. "She will be very mad."

--

Kari sighed as she took a sip of the juice that was once on the table. She had been here an hour, and it was already getting boring. They dress up some poor guy in an ancient earth costume. She took another long sip of her drink when another person walked over to the table. The person had long light brown hair that went to her waist. She wore a plain green dress. She grabbed the drink and took a sip, then sighed.

"I was hoping this would have wrapped up minutes ago," the person said.

"Same here," Kari said. "I like helping out, but not when it's this long!"

"Yes, but at least all of the profits are going towards saving the rain forest," the person said.

"Thank goodness we didn't screw that up!" Kari said.

"Amen," the person said. "By the way, my name is Rhena Leaf."

"Kari Wayne," Kari said.

"You're well known Miss Wayne for your help with children, animals, and the enviroment," Rhena said.

Kari shrugged.

"I go to any fundraiser that doesn't try to destroy this world," Kari said, sipping again.

"That, I think I can toast too," a new voice said.

The two girls turned and saw a new figure walking up to the table of drinks. She smiled at them.

"Name's Kiley Nats," the new one said.

"Rhena Trust."

"Kari Wayne."

"Nice to meet both of you," Kiley said.

Kari looked back over at the dressed up man and sighed.

"When will this all stop?" she groaned.

"I asked the people running this thing," Kiley said, almost in a whisper, "they said it'll end in an hour."

"Agh! I'm going to loose my hair by then!" Kari said, keeping her voice in check.

She opened her eyes and looked into the shadows. She saw something in it move. She narrowed her eyes, because she swore she saw an antena move. The two girls looked and saw her glare.

"Is everything okay?" Rhena calmly asked.

"Yeah, I just...uh...have to go see something," Kari said, as she quickly walked away.

The two other girls looked at each other and shrugged. Kari walked over to the shadows, and saw that the shadow in it tried to run.

"Stay," Kari growled.

The shadow stopped and stood still.

"Come here," she growled.

The shadow silently, and slowly, walked over to here. She was standing there, her arms crossed. Cham walked out of the shadow and looked up at her with a nervous smile.

"He-hey there Kari," he said.

She glared at him more, and he suddenly realized why the bad guys in New Gotham were suddenly afraid of her.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"Well... this is the largest gathering of orginaztion people and so, we're here to make sure no one will attack it," Cham said.

"You said 'we', making that a plural. Who else is here?" she said, holding in her growl.

He gulped nervously.

"Um... me, Cosmic Boy, Brainy, and Superman," he said, making it sound more like a question rather than an answer.

He braced himself for her fury, but was surprised to hear her turn and walk away. He popped an eye open and watched her walk off.

"She didn't yell at me? This can't be good," he thought.

Cosmic Boy, on top of the nearest building, watched her walk off. Brainy, who was also on the rooftop, noticed she didn't relent her fury on Cham. He knew she didn't like it when people watched her like this, because she said it made her feel like she was being baby-sat.

"She didn't yell at Cham," Cosmic Boy said. "That doesn't make sense."

"She's saving her energy and anger for when she sees you," Brainy said.

Cosmic Boy didn't seem to care, as he continued to look around, waiting for anyone to attack. When he looked back at Kari, who was talking to Rhena and Kiley, he swore he saw her glare up at him.

--

"DID YOU REALLY THINK I NEEDED TO BE BABYSAT?!" she yelled the minute the Legion returned to the tower.

Cham, Superman, and Brainy were behind Cosmic Boy and Kari, and Kari was letting him have it. Cosmic Boy looked a little annoyed, but Kari looked ready to kill someone, so the other three knew to keep their distance.

"We weren't there to protect you specifically, we were there to make sure no one attacked any of the fundraisers," Cosmic Boy said calmly.

Kari growled at him. She fought back the urge to hit him, but the siren went off, making everyone look. Brainy ran to COMPUTO with the others following. He typed in. A picture of a green haired woman appeared on the screen.

"Who's that?" Cham asked.

"Don't know, but we'll find out," Cosmic Boy said.

Kari took out her BatCom and pushed the screen.

"Kari, get dress and we'll meet you at the coordniates," Cosmic Boy said.

Kari walked out of the room, quickly changed into her Batgirl costume and got into her Batmobile and flew off to first pick up Lucas, then head to the coordniates where the other members should have been. When they arrived, the two saw Cham get thrown into a wall by a vine.

The girl that was controlling the vines smirked.

"This is all the Legion offers?" she asked.

Superman used his heat ray vision on a vine, making it dry up, but a new one grew in it's place. Cosmic Boy used his powers and moved a steel rod and threw towards the controller of the vines, but a vine came up, grabbed it, and threw it back at Cosmic Boy. He dodged it. Kari took out a batarang and threw it at the girl. It successfully hit her arm, slicing it a bit. Blood came out from it.

"Batgirl," the girl said, turning her attention to her. "So nice to see you. You were the one I wanted to talk to. I would like to inform you and the Legion of my name, Rose Thorn."

"Why's that?" she asked, trying to distract her.

"Well, first of all, I'd wish to know why you fight along side boys? All they do is destroy the enviroment, unlike girls," Rose Thorne said.

Batgirl fought back the urge to give a comeback that would have sounded like 'Kari'.

"Last time I check, men and women aren't so different," Batgirl said.

"Oh but they are," Rose Thorne said. "For one thing, a woman can tell when a man is about to attack."

Batgirl's eyes widened, as she watched the vines hit Cosmic Boy, Cham, and Superman. All of them fell to the ground with an "woomph", and the vines pushed pressure on them.

"Where's Brainy?" she thought.

"You see, I am much smarter than a human would think I am," Rose Thorne said.

"But can you out smart a machine?" Brainy said.

Rose Thorne turned her head, about to defend herself, but it was too late. His shot hit her, making her fly off her vines on the ground. The vines dried up instintly. She got up, rose her hand, but nothing happened.

"My vines?! But... how?" Rose said.

Brainy and Batgirl was standing over the hurt villain.

"I was sure that one day, we might be attacked by nature, so I kept a repel shot in my cannons, just incase," Brainy said. "It should stall your power for atleast thirty minutes."

Before Brainy and Batgirl could do anything, a catarang flew down and hit both of them, making them stumble back. They looked to see Catgirl infront of Rose Thorne.

"Catgirl!" Batgirl hissed.

"As fun as it would be to be here and catch up on old times, I have to get going," Catgirl said, bending down and picked up Rose Thorne and throwing her over her shoulder. "And she's coming with me,"

She took out her catgrapple and shot it to the building she came down from, then took off.

"Should we follow them?" Batgirl asked.

"No, I think they will be gone before we can catch up to them," Brainy said. "Besides, we need to help the others."

Batgirl looked over, and saw Lucas picking up Cham.

"Those vines were that hard?" Batgirl asked.

"More than you know," he said.

She sighed and walked over to Superman, and picked him up, but he was heavy! Brainy smirked.

"Do you want to switch?" Brainy asked.

She glared at him. There was no way she was going to touch Cosmic Boy. She scoffed and dragged Superman to the Batmobile and threw him in the backseat.

"Uh..." Lucas said.

Batgirl walked over to Lucas, slid the ring off her finger, then placed it on Lucas.

"There, now you can fly," she said. "And please don't hit any buildings."

He nodded, and followed after Brainy, though he was having a bit of trouble. Batgirl got into the mobile and took off back to the tower. She heard Superman stir from his sleep. He opened his eyes and looked around. He then looked at Batgirl.

"Where are we going?" he asked, a bit sleepy.

"Back to the tower. Rose Thorne and Catgirl got away," Batgirl said.

"Catgirl?" he asked.

"I'll explain another time," she said.

"So, where did they go?" he asked.

"Who knows," she said, looking off into a space a bit.

--

Catgirl landed on a rooftop and placed Rose Thorne down. Rose Thorne looked up at her with a small glare.

"Where have you taken me?" she demanded.

"You might want to take in a deep breath," Catgirl said, completely ignoring Rose's demand.

Before Thorne could ubject, clay began to form around her and Catgirl, forming a ball around the two girls. In a second, the two appeared in the dimly lit room, and the clay returned to the form of Clayface. Catgirl stepped back as Rose Thorne stood up. She looked around with a glare.

"Welcome my dear," the figure said.

"What do you want?" she spat.

"I wished to invite you to the Legion of Doom," the shadow figure said. "This is where we can all meet together and... plan the way to destroy the Legion of Superheroes."

Rose crossed her arms as her face continued with the disgusted look.

"Why should I take orders from you?" she asked.

"Because..." he said, leaning in closer.

His smirk made her want to stand back because of how evilly scary it looked.

"...I am the only one who is strong enough to take them on," he continued. "Once the Legion of Doom expands, we'll be able to take them on... and CRUSH them!"

Rose Thorne took a step back, before closing her eyes and nodding, actting as if she had no other choice.

"Okay, I'll join," she said, not daring to look into his eyes.

He smirked.

"Good, my dear," he said. "You have made a wise choice..."

--

Cosmic Boy woke up to see himself facing the ceiling. He blinked before sitting up. Brainy was by him at the nearest computer, typing something in. Superman and Lucas were on some chairs nearby, discussing about the game soccer. Kari, her mask off, was wrapping white bandages around Cham's arm; just above the elbow, but below the shoulder. During the fight, a vine wrapped itself around his arm and caused it to bleed, but it wasn't something the Legion couldn't take care of.

He looked down to see his shirt was off, reaviling his bare chest and 4-pac abs, though a bandage was wrapped around the abs, so you couldn't see it. He blushed a bit, considering that Kari was in the room. Of course, she didn't seem to care, or notice for the matter.

"Good, you're awake," Brainy said.

Cosmic Boy looked from Kari to Brainy, who's lip was in a line. Cosmic Boy nodded. Superman and Lucas looked over to see that he was awake. Cosmic Boy looked out of the corner of his eye to see that Kari hadn't even looked. She didn't even look like she cared. He placed a hand on his bandages, knowing that probably none of the other guys in here could do this. Still, he had to ask...

"Who-?" he began.

"Kari bandaged you up," Brainy answered.

Cosmic Boy blushed when he realized she had been touching his chest. Lucas started laughing, and Kari must have picked up on what Lucas was laughing about because he laughed like that when she was blushing that way. Cosmic Boy could tell she was mad because as she was holding the bandages tightly. He feared she would snap it in half. Now he wouldn't admit it, but when girls were mad, he was deathly afraid of them. Around the tower, it was rule #1: Don't mess with the angry girls! Brainy rolled his eyes, and Superman looked a bit confused.

Kari stood up quickly, almost knocking the chair over, and slammed the tape on the bed, but not hard enough to make it bounce or wake up Cham. She turned and walked towards the door. Cosmic Boy saw the pink blush tinted on her cheeks. She was probably pissed off because they were making fun of her, a little. She walked to the door, and was about to walk out when...

"Kari," Cos said, making her stop. "Thanks."

She didn't turn to look at him, but he swore he saw her mouth wordlessly: "No problem." She quickly walked out of the room and down the hall to her room, her cheeks returning to their color. Cosmic Boy smiled a bit, which confused the others.

"Why are you smiling Cosmic Boy?" Lucas asked.

"Oh! No reason!" he said quickly.

Brainy rolled his eyes again, knowing why he smiled, because he can read lips too! He just decided to not tell anyone about. He shooed Superman and Lucas out of the medbay and told Cosmic Boy that he could leave if he wanted to. Cosmic Boy sat in there a few more minutes then looked over at Cham. He wasn't too damaged, but he could see bandages on Cham's right arm, stomach, and left leg. Before Kari got to the fight, Cham did his best, but was hurt. He laied back down, too exhasuted to leave the room. Before he closed his eyes, he swore he saw a pair of red eyes looking at him...in the shadows.

To be continued ...

--

Me: Yeah, I finished my nineth chapter. Sorry if I'm making Kari sound mean and stuff! I'll work harder to not make her that way. Now, something's starting off. And if you don't like who I'm pairing Kari up with, then next time... tell me who she could have gone with! Red eyes... shadow... ice cream... woops! Sorry, I've just been craving some ice cream! Now, who are Catgirl and Rose Thorne? I've given you hints, but along, you must give me the villains I based them on! Please continue to read, and please, please, please review.