Hey, guys! How goes it!

*audience glares at her*

Hey hey hey, STOP IT. I CAN FEEL YOU JUDGING ME WITH YOUR EYES. I actually have a legitimate excuse for missing the last two updates... Saturday (when this chapter was going to be posted) was Tech Weekend for my play, as was Sunday... *Snape voice* obviously. And last weekend?

Um, STARKID? BLOODY EFFING STARKID? CAN I JUST SAY STARKID?!

*faints*

Yeah... That was probably the happiest I've ever been... and I'm really not over exaggerating... I think I might've scared them. Maybe it was the fact that I sent them an email a while back... Oh well. It's not like I live close enough for them to see me any time soon.

And speaking of Starkid, TWISTED ON THANKSGIVING! WHOO! YEAH! NOW I HAVE EVEN MORE OF A REASON TO AVOID MY FAMILY! WAHOO!

I'm really looking forward to it, if you can't tell... It looks really good... Perhaps even totally awesome :)

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own. Oh, and Roxanne has recently informed me that I don't even own her, seeing as slavery is illegal here, in the United States, where I live... shit! I've given away my location! Brown, get me outta here!

*helicopter flies in, picks up Always, and flies off*

...

This is an automated message in the event that Always is unable to finish her traditional intro. Please enjoy the chapter, and don't forget that she owns nothing.

Chapter 10

The weekend passed in a haze. I was planning, desperately planning. I wasn't quite sure just what I was planning, but I knew that somehow I would cause the downfall of the Batman.

I just had to figure out how to do that.

By the time Monday morning rolled around, my apartment, usually spotlessly clean, was covered in old newspapers, designs, photographs, and who knows what else. I had hardly slept since Thursday, and had already gone through several six packs of Red Bull. I was simultaneously exhausted and exhilarated, a really strange feeling.

I darted around the apartment, eventually locating a clean outfit, throwing my hair into a braid as I went. The toaster dinged just as I was dumping my coffee into an old mug, and my bagel ended up charred and hard as a rock. I wrapped it up in a paper towel to eat later anyway.

I quickly dumped the remnants of my Red bull into my coffee, too lazy to pour it in the sink, and tossed the empty can in the general direction of the trash. I sauntered through the open door and kicked it shut behind me.

I knew I was running late, but who the hell cared? It wasn't like they could re-fire me. I was only going to the school to raise some hell, to leave behind some kind of legacy. Mostly just to piss Dr. High-And-Mighty Roberts off.

Upon reaching the school, I stalked through the hallways, glaring at every teacher and faculty member I saw. Rumors circulated fast in the rather small school, and I was sure none of the trust-fund baby teachers were sad to see me go.

I threw the door to my class open just as the late bell rang. Unsurprisingly, the kids were laughing, talking, gossiping, and a few were even screaming. They more or less ignored me as I walked to the front of the class. I stood behind my desk for a few minutes, waiting for them to quiet. They didn't, so I decided to try a more... dramatic approach to get their attention.

"QUIET!" I shrieked, and slammed my bag down on the table.

That certainly shut them up.

I imagine my unkempt appearance and the fact that I was twitching from caffeine and lack of sleep probably scared them into submission.
"I don't know if you've been informed, but after today I will no longer be teaching here," I continued, speaking in a more mild tone than before. Some of the kids seemed relieved, and I wasn't sure if it was because I was leaving or because I had calmed down. "Because of this, I've decided we're just going to have a fun day today, all right? We're not doing math, grammar, none of that."

A few students cheered, though the majority still looked a bit frightened. One girl, a redhead named Barbara, or something like that, raised a long, thin arm into the air. I tilted my head toward her, indicating that she could ask her question.

"Ms. Arthur, I hope you don't mind my asking," she said, her voice a bit timid, "but... um, why are you leaving?"

"The director of this school, Dr. Roberts, is a bitch," I said simply. A few of the students gasped at my use of the word, but I really didn't care. "After I had a meeting with a certain parent, she decided that I didn't need to 'sully the good name of the school any more,' or something to that extent. Any more questions?"

The class was silent once more. I thought I saw a flash of realization and what may have been anger cross Dick's face. Ah, so he knew about my meeting with Bruce. Seemed he wasn't satisfied with the result.

"No questions? Good. To the chem lab it is, then." The students seemed a bit surprised at these instructions, but followed them anyway. Most of them were loud and rowdy on the way to the lab, though a bit more subdued than usual. I made no effort to quiet them until we were all standing in the lab, clumped around one of the tables.

"Everyone, find a partner. I don't care who," I announced. "Pick wisely. There could be a reward for whoever does best."

The students scrambled around, several of the smarter kids being yanked into the madness, pulled at from all sides. Only Dick and the girl from earlier were able to escape the fray, clinging to each other as if they believed they would be attacked if they let go. It was pretty damn entertaining to not only watch the children fighting over the remaining smart kids, but also to watch the few people who had paired with a friend glare at every approaching classmate wanting to split up the group. After five minutes or so, groups were settled and a pair sat at every lab table.

"The object of this class is to have fun and experiment with some new chemicals," I informed them. "Nothing deadly has been given to you - at least, nothing that is deadly on its own - and your goal is to make the largest, most impressive chemical explosion you can." A smile tugged at my lips when I saw the astonished looks on their faces. "No one has enough to blow up anything major. The only rule is that no one may deliberately injure, kill, or otherwise incapacitate another student. You may steal or trade chemicals with other groups, sabotage other mixes, anything to help yourselves to win. You have at least an hour. Go."

A few students were still looking at me strangely, but most had already sprung into action. I pulled out the chair from under the desk and plopped down, grinning, as I watched the chaos unfold. The kids were mostly focusing on stealing from others, rather than protecting their own supplies. As a result, almost nothing was getting done.

The only two groups accomplishing anything were Dick and Barbara and a pair of stronger but significantly dumber kids. They were sitting at tables directly next to each other, and it seemed they had worked out a kind of agreement. The two stronger kids were fending off other groups while Barbara wrote out a formula and Dick experimented with the chemicals like the little mad scientist he was. Clever kids, those two.

I didn't have quite as long as I had hoped to enjoy the show. Before long, there was a muffled boom from the back corner of the room. I glanced over to see smoke and the four kids in the corner covered in filmy, iridescent material. I began to clap, and the other students tentatively followed my example.

"Well done," I said, grinning. "Really, well done. I shouldn't be surprised that you succeeded first." I poked my head out the door, checking for teachers, and noticed a few people looking around in confusion at the noise of the explosion.

"Come on," I said, herding the kids out the door and back to the classroom. "I'll pick out a prize in a bit. I think we've been spotted."

I casually strolled down the hallway, letting the kids run ahead, acting nonchalant, as if we hadn't just caused a pretty major explosion in the chemistry lab. I had to admit, it have me a huge rush - even though I wasn't directly responsible for the destruction, it felt amazing to get revenge.

A girl could get used to this.

So I think I've more or less decided how she's gonna become a super_. I know there's gonna be a party with _, where she sets her eyes on _'s _ and ends up taking it, which leads to the formation of her costume. I've got a lot planned, like _'s escape, _'s kidnapping, and a probable relationship between both _ and _ and _ and _, but no one's gonna know who's who until _ starts to work with _ and everything falls to shit when _ finds out who _ is and when _ finds out who _ is...

Yeah, I can't say any more. If you wanna count the individual underscores in each of those blanks to determine what names would fit and make sense where, well, have fun with that and kudos to you. If not... I just gave away half of the major plot points so you're probably better off not knowing.

Also, please check out my profile for my new story! It's a Batman Begins/Dark Knight/Dark Knight Rises fic that I'm not gonna start posting until I'm finished with this one. If you want to PM me about it, feel free. I have a short little sample you can read if you want. Let me know what you think of the idea!... even though I really didn't write much on here...

I'll try to post Saturday, but it might not happen until Sunday or Monday due to the school musical.

Please review! Reviews make me feel all bubbly and happy inside... Plus they kinda force me to write faster.