Next Morning...

"BUZZBUZZBUZZ' Crystal rolled over and groaned. "Oh, it's to early..." she said in a tired voice. There was a small golden blur zooming around the room, bouncing off the walls. "MorningCrystalsorry aboutlastnightsomeguardianbeastIamtheShotCardcouldhavebeenstolenwellat
leastIhelpedAlittlebitwhathappened?" Crystal stared at him. He was still zooming around. "Jade...?" asked Crystal uncertainly. "He's alright." said Jade from the bathroom. She walked out in a Christmas sweater, drying her hair with a towel. "He looked really tired, so I gave him some espresso." said Jade innocently. "A little?" asked Crystal in disbelief. Crystal grabbed her clothes and walked into the bathroom. Crystal came out, brushing her hair. "How did it go last night?" inquired Jade excitedly. "Sorry I fell asleep. Did you get the card?" "Yep." said Crystal. "But someone released it and I had to recapture it." "Who?" asked Jade. Crystal smiled. "Batman." Jade's eye's widened. "Really?" "Yah." said Crystal. She placed a few CDs in her pack and pulled out a snapshot. "We fought the card, then each other. I actually saved his ass. Here, I got a picture of him when I stopped time and pulled off his mask." "Wow." said Jade examining the picture. "He's hot." Crystal smiled and put the picture back in her bag. "Totally. I'm not going to blow his secret. It's not like I know who he is anyway."
Before they left the room, Crystal and Jade took one last look at Kero. He was still bouncing around the room. They opened the door and walked into the hallway, then stared some more. Jade leaned in the room. "Uh...the class ends at one." She said. "We'll pick you up before we go sightseeing." Kero didn't respond. "Right..." said Crystal. As they slammed the door Kero replied. "Javajavajavajavajavajavajavajavajavajava!!!" he cackled, bouncing off the tv and hitting a lampshade.
Crystal flipped the power switch on her computer. "Schway..." she said longingly as the computer booted up and she opened a game. "I wish we had this stuff at our school." said Logan. He and Jade were sitting on either side of Crystal. "I know." said Jade. "These things are awesome!" "State of the art." said the girl next to Logan. She had short pink hair and dark skin, and she was wearing a yellow sweater. "Hi." said the girl cheerfully. "I'm Max." "Crystal." said Crystal. "This is my boyfriend Logan." "Hey." said Logan. "I'm Jade." said Jade, leaning forward so she could see Max. Max guestured to a pretty dark haired girl next to her. "This is Dana." Dana was holding hands with the boy next to her. "And this is her boyfriend, Terry." Terry and Crystal leaned forward. Their eyes met.
"YOU!" screamed Crystal.
"YOU!" screamed Terry.
They both jumped up out of their seats. "Uhh...you two know each other?" asked Dana, raising an eyebrow. "We were...uh...," stammered Crystal. "Penpals..." said Terry. "Yes! In uh...4th grade!" said Crystal. "Jade, how long 'till class starts?" "15 minutes," said Jade, glancing at her watch. Crystal grabbed Terry's arm. "We need to talk. Loads of catching up to do. Be right back." Crystal dragged Terry out of the computer room and into the hall, their collective friends staring blankly at them.
Crystal pulled Terry into a corner. Neither of them were quite sure what they could say that wouldn't give away to much away. "Listen," said Crystal quietly. "I know your uh...you know...secret." "Oh?" Terry laughed nervously. "You mean that I work for Bruce Wayne? That I was in Juvie for 3 months? Um...Heh heh...?" "No." Crystal pulled her picture of unmasked Batman out of her bag. Terry looked at the picture. The color drained from his face. He finally managed to choke out a reply. "Wh-When did you...?" "When I froze time. Did you like the roses?" "I gave them to Dana." said Terry weakly. He regained his composure. "Listen, I'm not afraid of blackmail." He said cautiously. "I'm not interested." she replied, shaking her head. "I won't tell, I swear." Crystal pushed the picture on him. "Here. Just take it. It's a polariod, so I have no copies. The only other person who knows is Jade, but she's good at keeping secrets, if you know what I mean." Crystal lifted her key necklace and showed it to him. "Thanks." said Terry. He ripped open the picture and destroyed it. "Max knows about me to, so I guess were in the same boat." They both stared at each other for a minute or so, not really sure if they could trust each other. "Well, I'm going back to class." said Terry "Yeah, same here." said Crystal.
Class was over before they knew it. Crystal, Jade, Logan, and Matt headed away from class in a group. "Who was that guy?" asked Logan, looking slightly worried. "Oh, him..." said Crystal. "We were penpals in 4th grade. We were going to meet, but we lost touch. I even lost the picture I had of him as a kid." "Oh..." said Logan. Jade leaned close to Crystal. "He looked like..." she whispered. "He was." whispered Crystal. Jade's eyes widedend. She straighted up. "Wierd..." "Matt pulled a map out of his pocket. "We can ride the subway across town." He said, tracing the route with his finger." "Sounds good to me." said Logan.
Terry was walking with Dana to her car. She wrapped her arms around his torso and stared at him meaningfully. "Terry..." she said, innocently. "Who was that girl you ran of with?" "Her?" said Terry. "Well, we were penpals in fourth grade. We lost touch." He saw the look on Dana's face and added: "She was really really wierd. Total dreg." Dana climbed into the driver's seat of her hover car. "Do you want me to drop you off at Mr. Wayne's?" she asked. "Sure." replied Terry. "Thanks."
Terry strode through the door of the batcave. "Find anything on the teen witch?" He asked Bruce. "Not exactly." said Bruce. "Come and look at this." "Well, I did." said Terry as her approached the computer. "Her name is Crystal. She's in my computer class. She took a picture of me, unmasked." Bruce looked alarmed. "Don't worry." Terry continued. "We talked today. She gave it to me, and I shredded it. Said she wasn't interested in blackmail. Plus, she almost kicked my ass." He added, sounding slightly depressed. "So...what have you got?" Bruce put on the news. A glowing, blue, outline of a face was reading off stories. "In Gotham City today, there has been a rash of unexplained attacks on young girls. The marks on their necks indicate strangulation, but they all seem to be in perfect health, despite their comotose state. Gotham police urge anyone with information on these attacks to contact the police department. In sports news..." Bruce turned it off. "Here's a picture of on of the victims." He said. "That's Blaze." said Terry. "Ice Queen, ditz. Going out with Nelson, the jock." "She was the eleventh one." said Bruce. "With our little sorceress friend running around, I looked into magical instences of life sucking." He pulled up another window. There was a picture of a large staff, topped with a metal scythe, and a page of text surrounding it. Terry read it aloud. "Known as the Blade of Death, it is a deadly and immensley powerful weapon. Once it has been charged, it can cut through dimensional barriers. How do you charge it?" inquired Terry. "Read on." said Bruce grimly. "The scythe will charge itself and it's bearer with the life essence of young women. Once it's energy has reached it's peak, the bearer, who must be a powerful sorcerer, can cut into the unknown dimension from which the scythe was formed, giving it's wielder unlimited godlike power." Terry stared at the screen. "Crystal had a staff, but it had a bird head on it. She might have looked more menacing if she was carrying a blade of death." "Find her." said Bruce. He pulled a printout from his computer. "Crystal Talbot and Jade Smith, room 813. I want to talk to her in person." "If you say so boss." replied Terry uncertainly.