Disclaimer: Own only Felina. That it. And a few more invented people, but concerning Batman Beyond – just Felina. That it. Thank you, and good night. No, wait – don't go. Read on. Yeah, that's it! Ha ha!
Felina
Chapter Four: A Wonderful Day
Felina entered the small apartment through the window, the same way she left. It was time for her to go back into hiding and rest, until tomorrow night. It sucked that she only had six hours a night to be free, and the other eighteen she had were just resting. But Adrian seemed to like it when she was hiding. She seemed to like it almost too much. Like she hated Felina or something.
Felina groaned and held her stomach, hating all these pains she always went through. Every time she woke up and went to sleep she went through this, and as much as she loved being out and being who she was, she hated the men that did this to her. She wanted nothing more than to kill them for it.
The only problem was, she never had enough time to hunt them down. Never. And even now, she couldn't dwell on it. She was going to sleep now, and nothing could prevent that, and she couldn't fight it. She had no say in how long she stayed awake, and on top of that, this night was particularly hard on her.
First it was just running from Batman, and then the fight with those eight, and then a group of Jokerz attacked her after she got away from Batman. And then there were the muggers; they'd never leave her alone. But she liked being able to catch the guys that deserved to be in jail. It made her feel a little better to know that she was helping make the streets a little safer, a little cleaner.
Now if she could only stay awake longer, do a little more a night. . . Yeah.
If only.
-- Next Morning at School --
Adrian found several more people that she still had to thank and gave them their gifts all day long, as well as jotting down more sketches from each of the new people she met. She ran into Dana before school, too, and had a little chat.
Every part of her was refreshed and ready to take on anything that came her way, and that's just what she did. Every time a teacher asked her a question she gave a fully explained answer, leaving out no detail. Because of that, she heard a guy mutter "Brains and beauty, a deadly combination" during her third hour. A lot of people at the school were starting to hate her for either her smarts, looks or attitude, which were in fact mostly women.
A lot of them kept trying to corner her, and a few tried to get her to fight them in hopes she'd be blamed and kicked out. But then, Adrian never took the bait. Nothing they did or said fazed her, and nothing they threatened her with got her scared. She just knew better. After living through high school once, you learn who's to be taken seriously and who's just bluffing, and this was the second time she went through high school. She knew all the things every junior should, only early. She had a major advancement over the other students walking around.
During lunch she climbed up a tree and watched all the people walking around. Yes, she brought a lunch for herself, but at that point she wasn't that hungry. She herself was surprised that she steeled up for school so fast, but seeing as how the students of this school were particularly tough, it was no wonder she had to. She caught a few girls still staring at the portraits she drew for them, still amazed and flattered.
After a while of just looking, she sighed and leaned back, closing her eyes. It was a really nice day. She could smell fresh air for the first time in years, could hear birds in flight and singing. And to top it off, a light breeze was gently guiding fallen leaves to another resting spot. DL: Geez, I keep this up and I'll want to go to that school! It felt like a perfect day.
She zoomed in on her hearing, listening to every sound to come by. Leaves brushing against each other, students laughing and telling secrets to one another, a group of boys playing tricks on each other, and, beneath it all, the heartbeat of every person within her hearing. Some fast, some paced, some nervously thumping. . . She loved life. Felina would probably agree with her that today was a wonderful day.
But then, Felina hasn't ever seen the day. Not once in her entire lifetime.
There you go again, Adrian berated herself. Thinking about her to ruin your day. Now you've gone and done it. Sighing, Adrian gathered her things and jumped down from the tree, nearly landing on someone, too. Great work, she mentally hissed at herself.
Adrian berated herself. Sighing, Adrian gathered her things and jumped down from the tree, nearly landing on someone, too. she mentally hissed at herself."Oh, I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" she said quickly.
"No, I'm alright," the person said.
Adrian blinked as the voice registered. "Terry?"
Said person looked up. "Oh, hey Adrian," he laughed. "You act like a cat, sitting up in that tree," he pointed out as he stood. "Especially with that landing."
Adrian laughed, a little unnerved by his perceptiveness. "Yeah, well, you could learn a lot by watching cats. They're very graceful."
"I guess a person could learn the same thing by watching you," he replied, and then they both blushed and looked away. That didn't come out so well.
"Well, where's Dana and Max?" Arian said to keep a silence from descending.
"Off doing something girlish. They wouldn't tell me what."
"Yeah, well, how much could a guy get about girlish stuff?" she quipped.
Terry laughed. "Good point."
"You're in pretty good spirits this morning," she pointed out.
"So are you."
Adrian just shrugged. She opened her mouth to reply but at that moment the bell rang. "Oh, darn," she muttered. "See you later," she said to Terry as she ran to her next class.
"See you!" Terry waved back as he took off too.
The rest of the school day went by without any type of problem. No meetings with angry/jealous women, no perceptive men picking her apart, no nervous/awkward silences, just a normal quiet day. By the time she left for her apartment she'd gotten back to every person on her good list - checked it twice, actually - and managed to keep her smile. It was a good day to be alive, it truly was.
-- Wayne Manor --
"Tell me again. Why am I here so soon?"
"Terry, I'm not going to repeat myself," Bruce snapped back. Ace went up to Terry and licked his hand.
"That's right, Ace," Terry said and knelt down to pet the dog. "You don't think this is nice either, do you?"
Ace made a sound like a moan and went to lay down on a rug.
"Traitor," Bruce grumbled. "Let's go, Terry," he said and went down to the bat cave without waiting to see if he would follow.
Terry sighed and obediently followed the old man. Sometimes he just wished he never took up this job. It was really cutting into his life. Like sleep. He missed that.
"Watch her movements," Bruce ordered. He played back what Terry was seeing when he was fighting Felina, though that didn't last long. And then everything Terry saw when she fought those eight guys in the broken subway system.
"I'm watching," Terry muttered in monotone. He'd seen it once before, so why would he need to see it again? He watched it over as Bruce instructed four times before something else caught his eye. "Wait - rewind that," he said to Bruce, who hadn't even left the controls. "Play it back."
Knowing Bruce, he'd already seen what Terry was just now catching, and was waiting for Terry to see it too. He played it in slow motion, and Felina's moves slowed considerably, but were still fast. "There!" he said, and Bruce paused it.
Felina was midair. She was kicking one of the guys, and her hand was claws out towards a girl. But that wasn't the thing. The girl was wincing, and Felina was, too. She looked very reluctant to hit the girl.
"So she isn't one of the bad guys," Terry observed. "Another vigilante?" he asked to no one in particular.
"Perhaps," Bruce said. "She might just be out to make a name for herself."
"But there were no cameras around in there," Terry pointed out. "Nobody could see what she was doing. It's like. . . Like she wants to make things better from behind the scenes."
"That doesn't make what she does right."
"Well, Batman's exactly the same," Terry countered. "A vigilante that was accepted by the people and the police."
Bruce grumbled something and played the scene again, reluctantly giving in. Terry was right, and he knew it, but he's always been the teacher. When the student bests the teacher is when the student goes off by himself, and knowing Terry, he'd get himself killed before he learned all he needed to know about being by himself. Which meant Bruce had to always find a way to be right, to prove that Terry still needed to be taught.
"Do you think she'll show up again tonight?"
But then, Terry seemed to know just when to say something to make him feel like the teacher again. It was a strange circle, but it never failed to work. "I'd bet my identity on it," Bruce said back and stopped the film. "For now, you have some free time."
"Yes!" Terry crowed and ran out before Bruce could say one more thing to him. He hadn't made it to one date with Dana in two months, and now he had his chance. He could surprise her and make her smile. She had such a beautiful smile.
Dana was home, doing the last of her homework when he called. It took her less than a second to agree and about half an hour to get ready, and Terry was there a second after she was finished.
The two of them went to a nice dinner and dancing place, making it through the date entirely - without interruption - for the first time since he started being Batman. Dana seemed just as happy as him; she smiled all through dinner and their three dances. She couldn't have been happier, and neither could Terry.
It was really a great day to be alive.
:End Chapter:
Lovely, no? Sigh Thank you Bruce! Giving him extra time for once! Those two. . . sigh What lovebirds, huh? Well well, here's good news. I have the Adrian/Felina picture up on my site now! If you want to see it, I have my site on my bio page. Go for it! Although I did get the description of Felina a little wrong. Oh, well. Can't be right all the time.
See ya!