~Shadow~Singer~
By Alexia Goddess
Chapter One
Cynthia McCain gnawed a lip absently, her only outward sign of her
extensive nervousness, as she surveyed the place that was to be where
she would spend most of her next four years.
Hamilton High School.
Life soooo sucked.
So did her parents, for that matter, for plucking her out of he perfect
life and dumping her here. In a *public* school, no less! Ugh!
Not that Cynthia was a snob, no, she just had very...refined tastes.
Drawing in a deep breath and releasing it with a puff, she shook her
head, making her earlobe length silky black hair ruffle into place,
adjusted her books on her shapely hip, smoothed her black mini skirt
with the twin dark, metallic navy blue stripes along the bottom. She
lightly tugged her matching top; a black, form hugging tank top. The
neckline was edged in two twin navy blue, mettallic stripes, and it
sloped upwards into one thick strap over her left shoulder, the only
thing holding the top up; her right shoulder was completely bare.
She took a step, and winced as she nearly slipped; dark blue platform
sandle shoes; not a smart thing to wear when wearing pantyhoes. It was
a good thing Cynthia had an excellent sense of balance. Eleven years of
ballet will do that for a girl.
Taking another deep breath to steel her nerves, Cynthia closed her
eyes, breathed deeply, and when she opened them she took a descisive
step up the stone stairs leading to the front doors of the school. With
a haughty toss of her hair, she pushed open the doors and strode in,
swaying her hips, her long, pale arms elegently looped around her books,
balancing on her right hipbone, her other arm falling leisurly down at
side.
As she expected, every eye turned towards her, and she suppressed a
smirk as she strode confidently down the corridor, as if she owned the
place. Which, very soon, she practically would. Afterall, her father
*was* the newly elected mayor.
And from the look of things, it would be much easier to take over this
public school than her old prestious prep, all girls school had been.
For the first time in a month, the girl let herself smile slightly.
Perhaps life wasn't going to suck as bad as she thought.
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"Hey, Ter, check out miss Queen of the Universe," Max jerked her head
towards a black haired, black eyed, dark -nearly black- cherry red
lipped girl dressed in a cute black skirt and top set. She walked
elegently and seductively, confidently, her eyes twinkling with some
hidden secret. Indeed, it did look as if she assumed she was the Queen
of all.
'Ter,' or, Terry, as he was better known, looked over his shoulder
while still shelving his books. His eyes widened slightly at the sight
Max pointed out. He gave a low whistle, then promptly cried out when
Max jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.
"Ouch!" He protested, glaring at her meaningfully. "I have to use that
rib, you know. And its still sore from...well, you know, still sore."
"Sorry, bud," Max told her best friend distractedly. Terry rolled his
eyes and shook his head, and returned to putting his books away and
retreaving new ones.
He was rather surprised to find himself absently glancing over his
shoulder, spying for the black haired 'Queen.' He blinked, and barely
caught himself from recoiling in surprise when he found him right next
to him, tapping her code into the lock-pad on her locker with perfectly
manicured nails- black, of course. Somehow, Terry was intrigued to
notice, with all that black, she didn't look gothic somehow. No, on
her, it looked simply...elegent.
In a flash, Terry was reminded of an interesting character he had
spotted the night before while 'patrolling.' Soon after he had decided
to stop trailing her -she hadn't done anything, and he was supposed to
be on the lookout for crime- he had gotten a call from his so called
'employer' about a breakin a few blocks again. He had caught them and
returned the nearly stolen goods, but not without a fight. Thus, the
bruised and still tender ribs. Max, still beside him applying lip
gloss, and his 'boss' were the only ones aside from Terry himself that
knew where he, had really been doing last night.
Eyeing the girl beside him once more, he blinked when he found her
looking at him out of the corner of her eye. She looked away quickly,
but Terry spotted the light blush on her pale cheeks. He grinned
slightly, and decided to be 'Mr. Welcome,' for once. Shoving his locker
closed, he turned to her and smiled friendly-like and stuck out his
hand, shoving his other in his pocket.
"Hi, I'm Terry, Terry McGinnis," He said in a friendly tone. Cynthia
looked at him and blinked, as if it were hard to contemplate someone
greeting her so casually and openly. She snapped out of it quickly,
however, and recovered with a dazzingly charming smile. She took his
hand delicately, and Terry mentally noted with surprise that for
looking like a delicate china doll about to break, she had a good grip.
*Very* good, he corrected himself with a slight mental wince.
"And I'm Cynthia," The girl said cheerily, deliberately excluding her
last name, smiling brightly. Terry grinned back as they withdrew their
hands, and he shoved his now free hand in his pocket. She wrapped both
arms around her many books, now against her flat stomach.
"As you can probably tell, I'm new here," The girl went on. "Any useful
information? Like whose a real wiz at math, are there any 'popular'
crowds? Any people I should avoid?" She cocked her head, her eyes
bright and curious, almost like a cat's. Now, more like a playful
dragon, Terry corrected. Something in the back of his mind was ringing
a light warning bells. Dragons could make good friends, but they were
also very, very deadly, playful or not.
"Well, be careful around the jocks; they like to play dangerous stunts
and dares and stuff, and there are a few girls who sometimes let the
nasty side of them show when they're jealous," Terry discreetly pointed
out a few examples. Cynthia listed attentively, and Terry could see her
mentally stowing every piece of information carefully.
Cynthia was about to ask another question, when a familiar arm made its
way around Terry's waist. He smiled down at his girlfriend, Dana.
Lately he had been lucky enough to not tick her off as of late, so they
were enjoying a rare time that she 'wasn't speaking to him,' or 'hated
him for eternity.'
"Oh, hey, Dana," He greeted her with a smile, and she smiled back. Then
she turned her eyes coldly onto Cynthia.
"Hello," The newest arrival said 'friendly.' Cynthia returned the cold
smile, and shook Dana's hand delicately, softly, Terry noticed. Not the
firm one she had used with him.
"Hey, Cynthia, this is my girlfriend Dana. Dana, this is Cynthia. She's
new." Terry introduced the black haired girls, and Dana's cold stare
dissipated slightly when she noted her boyfriend introduced her as his.
"Lovely to meet you, Dana," Cynthia said politely, as a princess would
greet a foreign who was supposed to be a relative. Her manner was
friendly, but both Terry and Dana caught the hidden tone of
dissappointment.
"Likewise," Dana returned the sentiment, and before any furthur
greetings or words could be spoken, the first bell rang, and everyone
scrambled to make it to class. Terry, with a wave over his shoulder and
a cheery farewell, left for science with Dana still at his side.
Cynthia sighed forlonely as she turned back to her still open locker to
retrieve one last book.
"Hey, don't let Dana get to you," A voice said. Cynthia turned slightly
to see a somewhat short, dark skinned girl with hair dyed a reddish-pink,
cut in a short pixie bob.
"Pardon?" Cynthia asked politely as she closed and locked her locker.
Inside, she winced. Had she been that obvious? The girl smiled.
"Dana may declare her 'hate' for Terry twice a week, but she's crazy
about him," The girl went on, and they fell into step heading down the
hallway. "She's aware of how harsh she can be, so when another girl
shows interest in Terry, even only as a friend, she becomes Miss Mama
Wolf." Cynthia laughed.
"I know how that is," She smiled. "Pardon me for asking, but may I ask
your name?"
"Oh, sure, its Maxine, but everyone calls me Max," The dark skinned
girl introduced herself. "And you're Cynthia, right?" Cynthia nodded.
"Thats right," She bit her lip hesitantly. "Um...do you happen to know
if... Well, before we moved her, I've been hearing about a so called
'Dark Knight' in Gotham since I was little. My mother doesn't believe
in him, and my father is downright postive the guy's no good, but I
wanted to ask you..."
"Yes?" Max gave the girl a half-cautious, half amused look out of the
corner of her eye as they neared History class, which both coincidently
had together.
Cynthia blushed in embarrassment. "Well, I was wondering if you've seen
him, and what you think."
"Let's just say I have a knack for sniffing out trouble and getting
myself into the middle of it," Max laughed. "So yeah, I've seen him.
He's saved this pretty arse of mine more times than I can count." She
winked at Cynthia, and tapped her own behind, and the girl burst out
laughing at Max's antics.
On impluse, Cynthia put her arm around Max's shoulders, and gave her
a one-arm, sideways hug. "I think I'm going to like being your friend,"
She said happily. Max laughed and returned the hug.
"Same here, girl." She replied, and they entered History class together.
(~)*(~)*(~)*(~)(~)*(~)*(~)*(~)(~)*(~)*(~)*(~)
"Found anything yet?" Terry inquired of the slightly bent, wide-set
elderly man sitting at the giant computer console against the stone
wall of the dimly lit, cool temperatured underground cavern.
The man didn't even spare his charge a glance, and Terry rolled his eyes.
"Guess not," He said to himself.
"Why did you want to know, anyway?" The man, Bruce Wayne by name,
inquired skeptically. Terry ran a hand through his dark hair and released
a breath, looking almost thoughtful.
"I don't know, boss," He said after a moment. "It was just really
wierd. *She* was wierd, but not in a kooky sort of way, just...spooky.
Too mysterious to be completely human. No one can obtain *that* sort
of...prescence."
"Hmm..." Was all the billionaire said, almost distractedly, as he
continued searching the database and those of any one else he thought
would be worth looking into.
For the life of him Terry couldn't figure out what was bugging him about
the shadowy young woman he had spotted the night before. And the way
she had discreetly touched that man...and somehow the reactions of the
man and the woman that had been in his arms was just... And the look
the shadow girl had given them...
"Shouldn't you be patroling?" Bruce's voice shook the younger man out
of his reverie.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure," He shrugged, and headed to change and head out.
Bruce, the former Batman, the original Dark Knight, watched his
pupil leave, his dark eyes suspicious and wary.
Something was up.
Something....dark.
(~)*(~)*(~)*(~)(~)*(~)*(~)*(~)(~)*(~)*(~)*(~)
"Life seems pretty quiet tonight," Terry -or rather, the 'Neo Batman'-
touched the small round disk under the cloth of his head covering, near
his ear.
"Its nearly one in the morning." Bruce's voice came back through the
intercom. "Keep looking for another hour, then you can-"
Terry abruptly hushed his 'boss' as his senses pricked.
"What-" Again, Terry cut Bruce off with a sharp hush. His eyes, alert
and quicky, darted to and froe, searching for what could have- There!
Quickly, Terry switched from night vision to info-red. There it was,
slight, and extremely faint. Whoever it was must have had a suit to
keep their body heat signals 'muffled.' But he -or rather, she, from
the faint silhouette- was there, nonethless, hugging the shadows made
by the small survey house on the rooftop that he had made his lookout
post.
Just when Terry was about to demand that the observer come out where
he could see her, the figure moved. It slid out of the shadows like
liquid darkness and grace. Aburptly, Terry's info-red vision snapped
off, as did his nightvision. Suddenly he was seeing through his own
eyes, and his own eyes alone.
"Hello, sir Knight," Came a languid, carefully poised voice. Terry
narrowed his eyes at the slender young woman that stood before him. It
was her...The same girl from the night before, in the same dress. Her
eyes glittered like a starless night, looking at him so piercingly it
was almost as if she could see straight into his soul...
"Thats because in a way, I can." She spoke again, her voice as smooth
as black silk. Terry recoiled slightly at the statement. How had she-?
She laughed.
For a moment Terry thought he'd died and gone to heaven, for the sound
that met his ears when she laughed was purely inhuman, and too lovely
to be from...down there. It sounded like an angel's song.
"An 'Angel's song?'" The young woman repeated his thoughts. "I am
flattered, sir knight." Terry narrowed his eyes even furthur, and
clamped down on his thoughts. As far fetched as it sounded, the only
explanation he could think of was telepathy...
"Very good, my champion," The girl cooed, placing a finger on her chin
almost as if in thought as she regarded him almost curiously. That
confirmed it, and, Terry realized suddenly, itexplained the incident with
the man and woman the night before.
"So you saw that, eh?" She cocked her to one side. Terry suppressed a
growl. This was getting annoying. Again, the girl laughed, and this time
Terry kept his thoughts about the sound in check.
"My, you learn fast," The girl told him approvingly. Terry tried to hide
his confusion, but it was too late, and from the smile on her face, he
knew she had 'heard' the thought.
"I was referring to your quickness to learn to shield your thoughts from
me." She told him, almost conversationally. She took a few steps
forward, her lips twitching in an amused grin as Terry stiffened. The
smile was almost immediately gone, however, and she simply, and leisurly
approached the cement wall that boarded the edge of the roof. She sat
on it, one leg bent and laying on top of it, her other leg dangling.
Sitting there, with the wind blowing her hair almost lazily, she looked
quite-
"Aurgh!" He cursed under his breath. What was she? A siren?
"Enough of this," He growled before she could state his opinion on
those last two thoughts. "Who-"
"Who am I, what is my name, how can I read your thoughts, and why am I
here," She said. All previous amusement was completely gone from her
tone and face, making her voice sound like a mournful hymn. She was
silent for a moment, and Terry carefully shielded whatever stray
thoughts happened to cross his mind. Apparently he did a good job, for
some of them weren't all that kind or innocent -hey, he was still a
teenage boy!- and she didn't make any comments.
"Who am I..." The woman said. Terry shielded his confusion. Her tone
sounded almost as if she were asking herself rather than repeating his
unspoken question.
"Lets skip that question, shall we?" She said, almost cheerily. Something
in the back of Terry's mind clicked, but he didn't quite connect it.
"Fine." He said stonily. "Then how about how you can read minds?"
"That, young hero, I do not know. I suppose I was created with it right
along with all of my other...talents." Her tone somehow ended that
trail of questioning, and, thoroughly annoyed, Terry continued after
stowing that specific piece of info about her saying that bit about being
'created.'
"What about what you're doing here and what you want?" To Terry's
surprise and slight shock, she giggled, almost girlishly. Her eyes
dancing, she sprang up, and stood on the cement wall, her arms casually
held out to her sides as she traced the line that went along the
center of the top of the cement blocks.
"I believe, sir knight, that that question can be answered in tune with
the answer as to what my name is." She looked at him, her lips quirking
in amusment, and completely without warning, she sprang into the air,
and admist wind fluttering satin and silken hair, she backflipped up
and backwards, into the night air and over the side of the wall.
Terry, after his initial cry, sprang into action almost without thinking.
and did a running leap over the side. He balled his fists, flared his
arms, and jammed the button for his rocket boosters on his feet, and
soared downwards after the girl's black -and therefore rather hard to
spot during the night- quickly falling form.
Faster, faster he flew, until he was close enough to see her amused
grin on her face. Shoving aside his bubbling annoyance that was
quickly turning to anger, he scopped her up into his arms, princess-
style, and came to a screeching halt in midair, and abruptly reversed
his heading and burst upwards.
"My hero," The girl laughed, kicking one leg up and bending the other
almost seductively around the arm that was just below her behind.
She loosely placed her arms around his neck, and leaned forward to
whisper in his ear, like the whisper of a shadow.
"Tadaima sueni, goshujin shozoku kojinteki taikyokuken onteki. Aima
Kumori, Kumori Shinga." With that, she lightlt kissed him on the
cheek, and with a twist of her body, she was loose. Terry made a move,
even through his shock, to catch her again, but suddenly he realized
that she was...gone.
No, not gone...there was a slight curl of pitch black smoke just before
him...and out of that smoke twinkled two night-sky eyes that winked
at him, then vanished, as did the smoke.
To Be Continued...
Well? How is it so far? PLEASE review and tell me!!!!!! And don't
forget to check out my other fics!
Oh, and yes, that is Japanese. I got it from a translating site, and
I had to do it word by word and sometimes they didn't have the right
word, so if you speak Japanese or are Japanese, I know its really
rough.
Until next time! Ja ne!
-Alexia Goddess
*ALL STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY*
By Alexia Goddess
Chapter One
Cynthia McCain gnawed a lip absently, her only outward sign of her
extensive nervousness, as she surveyed the place that was to be where
she would spend most of her next four years.
Hamilton High School.
Life soooo sucked.
So did her parents, for that matter, for plucking her out of he perfect
life and dumping her here. In a *public* school, no less! Ugh!
Not that Cynthia was a snob, no, she just had very...refined tastes.
Drawing in a deep breath and releasing it with a puff, she shook her
head, making her earlobe length silky black hair ruffle into place,
adjusted her books on her shapely hip, smoothed her black mini skirt
with the twin dark, metallic navy blue stripes along the bottom. She
lightly tugged her matching top; a black, form hugging tank top. The
neckline was edged in two twin navy blue, mettallic stripes, and it
sloped upwards into one thick strap over her left shoulder, the only
thing holding the top up; her right shoulder was completely bare.
She took a step, and winced as she nearly slipped; dark blue platform
sandle shoes; not a smart thing to wear when wearing pantyhoes. It was
a good thing Cynthia had an excellent sense of balance. Eleven years of
ballet will do that for a girl.
Taking another deep breath to steel her nerves, Cynthia closed her
eyes, breathed deeply, and when she opened them she took a descisive
step up the stone stairs leading to the front doors of the school. With
a haughty toss of her hair, she pushed open the doors and strode in,
swaying her hips, her long, pale arms elegently looped around her books,
balancing on her right hipbone, her other arm falling leisurly down at
side.
As she expected, every eye turned towards her, and she suppressed a
smirk as she strode confidently down the corridor, as if she owned the
place. Which, very soon, she practically would. Afterall, her father
*was* the newly elected mayor.
And from the look of things, it would be much easier to take over this
public school than her old prestious prep, all girls school had been.
For the first time in a month, the girl let herself smile slightly.
Perhaps life wasn't going to suck as bad as she thought.
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"Hey, Ter, check out miss Queen of the Universe," Max jerked her head
towards a black haired, black eyed, dark -nearly black- cherry red
lipped girl dressed in a cute black skirt and top set. She walked
elegently and seductively, confidently, her eyes twinkling with some
hidden secret. Indeed, it did look as if she assumed she was the Queen
of all.
'Ter,' or, Terry, as he was better known, looked over his shoulder
while still shelving his books. His eyes widened slightly at the sight
Max pointed out. He gave a low whistle, then promptly cried out when
Max jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.
"Ouch!" He protested, glaring at her meaningfully. "I have to use that
rib, you know. And its still sore from...well, you know, still sore."
"Sorry, bud," Max told her best friend distractedly. Terry rolled his
eyes and shook his head, and returned to putting his books away and
retreaving new ones.
He was rather surprised to find himself absently glancing over his
shoulder, spying for the black haired 'Queen.' He blinked, and barely
caught himself from recoiling in surprise when he found him right next
to him, tapping her code into the lock-pad on her locker with perfectly
manicured nails- black, of course. Somehow, Terry was intrigued to
notice, with all that black, she didn't look gothic somehow. No, on
her, it looked simply...elegent.
In a flash, Terry was reminded of an interesting character he had
spotted the night before while 'patrolling.' Soon after he had decided
to stop trailing her -she hadn't done anything, and he was supposed to
be on the lookout for crime- he had gotten a call from his so called
'employer' about a breakin a few blocks again. He had caught them and
returned the nearly stolen goods, but not without a fight. Thus, the
bruised and still tender ribs. Max, still beside him applying lip
gloss, and his 'boss' were the only ones aside from Terry himself that
knew where he, had really been doing last night.
Eyeing the girl beside him once more, he blinked when he found her
looking at him out of the corner of her eye. She looked away quickly,
but Terry spotted the light blush on her pale cheeks. He grinned
slightly, and decided to be 'Mr. Welcome,' for once. Shoving his locker
closed, he turned to her and smiled friendly-like and stuck out his
hand, shoving his other in his pocket.
"Hi, I'm Terry, Terry McGinnis," He said in a friendly tone. Cynthia
looked at him and blinked, as if it were hard to contemplate someone
greeting her so casually and openly. She snapped out of it quickly,
however, and recovered with a dazzingly charming smile. She took his
hand delicately, and Terry mentally noted with surprise that for
looking like a delicate china doll about to break, she had a good grip.
*Very* good, he corrected himself with a slight mental wince.
"And I'm Cynthia," The girl said cheerily, deliberately excluding her
last name, smiling brightly. Terry grinned back as they withdrew their
hands, and he shoved his now free hand in his pocket. She wrapped both
arms around her many books, now against her flat stomach.
"As you can probably tell, I'm new here," The girl went on. "Any useful
information? Like whose a real wiz at math, are there any 'popular'
crowds? Any people I should avoid?" She cocked her head, her eyes
bright and curious, almost like a cat's. Now, more like a playful
dragon, Terry corrected. Something in the back of his mind was ringing
a light warning bells. Dragons could make good friends, but they were
also very, very deadly, playful or not.
"Well, be careful around the jocks; they like to play dangerous stunts
and dares and stuff, and there are a few girls who sometimes let the
nasty side of them show when they're jealous," Terry discreetly pointed
out a few examples. Cynthia listed attentively, and Terry could see her
mentally stowing every piece of information carefully.
Cynthia was about to ask another question, when a familiar arm made its
way around Terry's waist. He smiled down at his girlfriend, Dana.
Lately he had been lucky enough to not tick her off as of late, so they
were enjoying a rare time that she 'wasn't speaking to him,' or 'hated
him for eternity.'
"Oh, hey, Dana," He greeted her with a smile, and she smiled back. Then
she turned her eyes coldly onto Cynthia.
"Hello," The newest arrival said 'friendly.' Cynthia returned the cold
smile, and shook Dana's hand delicately, softly, Terry noticed. Not the
firm one she had used with him.
"Hey, Cynthia, this is my girlfriend Dana. Dana, this is Cynthia. She's
new." Terry introduced the black haired girls, and Dana's cold stare
dissipated slightly when she noted her boyfriend introduced her as his.
"Lovely to meet you, Dana," Cynthia said politely, as a princess would
greet a foreign who was supposed to be a relative. Her manner was
friendly, but both Terry and Dana caught the hidden tone of
dissappointment.
"Likewise," Dana returned the sentiment, and before any furthur
greetings or words could be spoken, the first bell rang, and everyone
scrambled to make it to class. Terry, with a wave over his shoulder and
a cheery farewell, left for science with Dana still at his side.
Cynthia sighed forlonely as she turned back to her still open locker to
retrieve one last book.
"Hey, don't let Dana get to you," A voice said. Cynthia turned slightly
to see a somewhat short, dark skinned girl with hair dyed a reddish-pink,
cut in a short pixie bob.
"Pardon?" Cynthia asked politely as she closed and locked her locker.
Inside, she winced. Had she been that obvious? The girl smiled.
"Dana may declare her 'hate' for Terry twice a week, but she's crazy
about him," The girl went on, and they fell into step heading down the
hallway. "She's aware of how harsh she can be, so when another girl
shows interest in Terry, even only as a friend, she becomes Miss Mama
Wolf." Cynthia laughed.
"I know how that is," She smiled. "Pardon me for asking, but may I ask
your name?"
"Oh, sure, its Maxine, but everyone calls me Max," The dark skinned
girl introduced herself. "And you're Cynthia, right?" Cynthia nodded.
"Thats right," She bit her lip hesitantly. "Um...do you happen to know
if... Well, before we moved her, I've been hearing about a so called
'Dark Knight' in Gotham since I was little. My mother doesn't believe
in him, and my father is downright postive the guy's no good, but I
wanted to ask you..."
"Yes?" Max gave the girl a half-cautious, half amused look out of the
corner of her eye as they neared History class, which both coincidently
had together.
Cynthia blushed in embarrassment. "Well, I was wondering if you've seen
him, and what you think."
"Let's just say I have a knack for sniffing out trouble and getting
myself into the middle of it," Max laughed. "So yeah, I've seen him.
He's saved this pretty arse of mine more times than I can count." She
winked at Cynthia, and tapped her own behind, and the girl burst out
laughing at Max's antics.
On impluse, Cynthia put her arm around Max's shoulders, and gave her
a one-arm, sideways hug. "I think I'm going to like being your friend,"
She said happily. Max laughed and returned the hug.
"Same here, girl." She replied, and they entered History class together.
(~)*(~)*(~)*(~)(~)*(~)*(~)*(~)(~)*(~)*(~)*(~)
"Found anything yet?" Terry inquired of the slightly bent, wide-set
elderly man sitting at the giant computer console against the stone
wall of the dimly lit, cool temperatured underground cavern.
The man didn't even spare his charge a glance, and Terry rolled his eyes.
"Guess not," He said to himself.
"Why did you want to know, anyway?" The man, Bruce Wayne by name,
inquired skeptically. Terry ran a hand through his dark hair and released
a breath, looking almost thoughtful.
"I don't know, boss," He said after a moment. "It was just really
wierd. *She* was wierd, but not in a kooky sort of way, just...spooky.
Too mysterious to be completely human. No one can obtain *that* sort
of...prescence."
"Hmm..." Was all the billionaire said, almost distractedly, as he
continued searching the database and those of any one else he thought
would be worth looking into.
For the life of him Terry couldn't figure out what was bugging him about
the shadowy young woman he had spotted the night before. And the way
she had discreetly touched that man...and somehow the reactions of the
man and the woman that had been in his arms was just... And the look
the shadow girl had given them...
"Shouldn't you be patroling?" Bruce's voice shook the younger man out
of his reverie.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure," He shrugged, and headed to change and head out.
Bruce, the former Batman, the original Dark Knight, watched his
pupil leave, his dark eyes suspicious and wary.
Something was up.
Something....dark.
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"Life seems pretty quiet tonight," Terry -or rather, the 'Neo Batman'-
touched the small round disk under the cloth of his head covering, near
his ear.
"Its nearly one in the morning." Bruce's voice came back through the
intercom. "Keep looking for another hour, then you can-"
Terry abruptly hushed his 'boss' as his senses pricked.
"What-" Again, Terry cut Bruce off with a sharp hush. His eyes, alert
and quicky, darted to and froe, searching for what could have- There!
Quickly, Terry switched from night vision to info-red. There it was,
slight, and extremely faint. Whoever it was must have had a suit to
keep their body heat signals 'muffled.' But he -or rather, she, from
the faint silhouette- was there, nonethless, hugging the shadows made
by the small survey house on the rooftop that he had made his lookout
post.
Just when Terry was about to demand that the observer come out where
he could see her, the figure moved. It slid out of the shadows like
liquid darkness and grace. Aburptly, Terry's info-red vision snapped
off, as did his nightvision. Suddenly he was seeing through his own
eyes, and his own eyes alone.
"Hello, sir Knight," Came a languid, carefully poised voice. Terry
narrowed his eyes at the slender young woman that stood before him. It
was her...The same girl from the night before, in the same dress. Her
eyes glittered like a starless night, looking at him so piercingly it
was almost as if she could see straight into his soul...
"Thats because in a way, I can." She spoke again, her voice as smooth
as black silk. Terry recoiled slightly at the statement. How had she-?
She laughed.
For a moment Terry thought he'd died and gone to heaven, for the sound
that met his ears when she laughed was purely inhuman, and too lovely
to be from...down there. It sounded like an angel's song.
"An 'Angel's song?'" The young woman repeated his thoughts. "I am
flattered, sir knight." Terry narrowed his eyes even furthur, and
clamped down on his thoughts. As far fetched as it sounded, the only
explanation he could think of was telepathy...
"Very good, my champion," The girl cooed, placing a finger on her chin
almost as if in thought as she regarded him almost curiously. That
confirmed it, and, Terry realized suddenly, itexplained the incident with
the man and woman the night before.
"So you saw that, eh?" She cocked her to one side. Terry suppressed a
growl. This was getting annoying. Again, the girl laughed, and this time
Terry kept his thoughts about the sound in check.
"My, you learn fast," The girl told him approvingly. Terry tried to hide
his confusion, but it was too late, and from the smile on her face, he
knew she had 'heard' the thought.
"I was referring to your quickness to learn to shield your thoughts from
me." She told him, almost conversationally. She took a few steps
forward, her lips twitching in an amused grin as Terry stiffened. The
smile was almost immediately gone, however, and she simply, and leisurly
approached the cement wall that boarded the edge of the roof. She sat
on it, one leg bent and laying on top of it, her other leg dangling.
Sitting there, with the wind blowing her hair almost lazily, she looked
quite-
"Aurgh!" He cursed under his breath. What was she? A siren?
"Enough of this," He growled before she could state his opinion on
those last two thoughts. "Who-"
"Who am I, what is my name, how can I read your thoughts, and why am I
here," She said. All previous amusement was completely gone from her
tone and face, making her voice sound like a mournful hymn. She was
silent for a moment, and Terry carefully shielded whatever stray
thoughts happened to cross his mind. Apparently he did a good job, for
some of them weren't all that kind or innocent -hey, he was still a
teenage boy!- and she didn't make any comments.
"Who am I..." The woman said. Terry shielded his confusion. Her tone
sounded almost as if she were asking herself rather than repeating his
unspoken question.
"Lets skip that question, shall we?" She said, almost cheerily. Something
in the back of Terry's mind clicked, but he didn't quite connect it.
"Fine." He said stonily. "Then how about how you can read minds?"
"That, young hero, I do not know. I suppose I was created with it right
along with all of my other...talents." Her tone somehow ended that
trail of questioning, and, thoroughly annoyed, Terry continued after
stowing that specific piece of info about her saying that bit about being
'created.'
"What about what you're doing here and what you want?" To Terry's
surprise and slight shock, she giggled, almost girlishly. Her eyes
dancing, she sprang up, and stood on the cement wall, her arms casually
held out to her sides as she traced the line that went along the
center of the top of the cement blocks.
"I believe, sir knight, that that question can be answered in tune with
the answer as to what my name is." She looked at him, her lips quirking
in amusment, and completely without warning, she sprang into the air,
and admist wind fluttering satin and silken hair, she backflipped up
and backwards, into the night air and over the side of the wall.
Terry, after his initial cry, sprang into action almost without thinking.
and did a running leap over the side. He balled his fists, flared his
arms, and jammed the button for his rocket boosters on his feet, and
soared downwards after the girl's black -and therefore rather hard to
spot during the night- quickly falling form.
Faster, faster he flew, until he was close enough to see her amused
grin on her face. Shoving aside his bubbling annoyance that was
quickly turning to anger, he scopped her up into his arms, princess-
style, and came to a screeching halt in midair, and abruptly reversed
his heading and burst upwards.
"My hero," The girl laughed, kicking one leg up and bending the other
almost seductively around the arm that was just below her behind.
She loosely placed her arms around his neck, and leaned forward to
whisper in his ear, like the whisper of a shadow.
"Tadaima sueni, goshujin shozoku kojinteki taikyokuken onteki. Aima
Kumori, Kumori Shinga." With that, she lightlt kissed him on the
cheek, and with a twist of her body, she was loose. Terry made a move,
even through his shock, to catch her again, but suddenly he realized
that she was...gone.
No, not gone...there was a slight curl of pitch black smoke just before
him...and out of that smoke twinkled two night-sky eyes that winked
at him, then vanished, as did the smoke.
To Be Continued...
Well? How is it so far? PLEASE review and tell me!!!!!! And don't
forget to check out my other fics!
Oh, and yes, that is Japanese. I got it from a translating site, and
I had to do it word by word and sometimes they didn't have the right
word, so if you speak Japanese or are Japanese, I know its really
rough.
Until next time! Ja ne!
-Alexia Goddess
*ALL STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY*