DISCLAIMER: I do not own Batman or its characters. Only Athena and whoever else added to this narrative

Ten:

Back In Session

The Batman was present during this moment. Unmasked and vulnerable, towering over his foe, with a gaze of unbreakable glass, reflecting on this moment as he did with many others. Catching flaws and mistakes—things that would make his foe go tick. Above all, they hadn't even begun fighting yet.

He held his fists behind him, spreading his legs out and inch apart, a trusting stance, although his eyes spoke otherwise. "From this point forward, do not expect me to hold back. Time favors the gentle approach, and time is something we don't have. Your training is going to become extensive and quite frankly, more advanced than you're currently ready for. You'll get used to that." Dad's tone remained the same, yet something about it seemed different, as if his only reasoning for viewing her in a specific light was gone, or he had no reason to hide his truth anymore.

If all of this was noticeable now because of the new found discovery, she couldn't tell, but dare she say that Dad now spoke to her like she was nothing more than a criminal in the streets, needing to be put down.

A week ago, The Batman—not her father, created an endurance and strength regimen that she had to follow, no matter what felt broken. It wasn't just that he would compare her speed to Richard's, but he would also compare her strength to his own. Push and push her to do better than what she was capable of and that— that just aggravated Athena. It was a week of pure hell, which she, for lack of better word, endured because it would always be more tolerable than the hell Malice put her through. The she-demon that physically appeared to Athena, that haunted her dreams, and now corrupted her very mind, willing her useless in her own mind! How that was possible, Athena didn't know, but she would figure it out, she would get stronger.

Athena's eyes flickered to the batcomputer. The screen was no longer divided and cracked like jagged earth, with tiny pieces of glass collapsing out of place. It was replaced with a display that was as smooth as before, it hadn't been any different from the last, aside from the fact that the computer couldn't be used yet. The only image the screen was capable of displaying was a dark void, a sight that many techies recognized as the black screen of death.

When she first stepped out of the makeshift hospital, the computer had definitely not looked how it looked now. Athena was told that there had been worse days and this was right after she was told that the circuits malfunctioning had gotten so bad that a fire had started in the batcave.

The computer itself would be fine, all of the files should have been there once everything was repaired. Tim had understood the circuits overloading, thus making the computer overheat—although that in itself still should have been impossible according to him, the chances of the batcomputer being susceptible to such things was 30/50— but how the screen was cracked to such an extreme nature and how the keys on the keyboard were nearly melted off when the fire shouldn't have spread that far were all mysteries to him.

A small smirk tugged at the corners of her lips. This meant something.

It meant she would get stronger, for the sake of controlling whatever she did. If dad's research had been correct then this meant the ability he was trying to prevent from manifesting was not only never removed from her DNA, but it was still possible for her to use it, and maybe that meant she could still somehow get in touch with that. Maybe, just maybe, her taking these baby steps were the building blocks for her to control it or even to just do it again! Once she was able to do that— whatever it was—then she could continuously do it, until it was time to—

"Understand?" Dad's voice broke through her thoughts, a stone sword against paper.

Athena nodded, a stiff gesture as she looked him in the eyes. A glare devoid of warmth, ironic that it made her palms begin to sweat within the balled up fists that they were. The taste of sulfur soaked into her mouth, and her skin was damp with emotions she'd rather not feel.

"Yes," was all she said, trying to say the least as possible, to withhold the anger brimming in her chest, because she had fallen somewhere low and cold, somewhere that the only thing that could bring her satisfaction would be making his chiseled jaw a bit less perfect and a bit more broken. It wouldn't make him tell her the truth, it wouldn't make her stop living the nightmare, but it would give him some of the pain that she felt and nothing would make her happier than—

Athena's head jerked upwards, she must've looked like a pretty doe in headlights with the way her eyes widened at the sudden large fist inching toward her, as if water pressure was holding it back.

It was only when the cold air from the punch nearly smashed Athena in the face, that she placed her own hand atop his, gripping down on her father's fist, doing so popping the bubble that seemed to protect her from the flow of time everyone else lived through.

"Number one," dad started, eyes flickering to the caught punch, "stay focused, nothing else matters in this fight, but your opponent."

The sudden impact from the punch hitting her palm made Athena double back, struggling to hold a fist much larger than her own. Time didn't seem to take pity on her this time, very glad she prevented him from hitting her face, knuckles to her abdomen propelled Athena's body upwards as she gasped for air. This time doubling forward, resisting the urge to cough up stomach acid.

Dad was stepping backwards, probably reveling in the surprise attack he got on her. "Number two, never get excited, whether you land a hit or prevent one from being landed on you. Always take the next step. Be on the defensive, or take the offensive, depending on your situation."

Athena wrapped her arms around her struck abdomen, in her own way trying to sooth a sensation which felt like she had just projectile vomited.

"That's not fair!" she coughed, standing upwards and using all her strength to not fall to her knees. It was such a powerful blow, she was starting to think the first punch was just to fake her out. "You didn't even give me a chance to hit you, you just came at me again within like—the next second."

Dad gave her a narrowed look, lifting his head upwards, to clearly patronize her. "Joker, Ivy, Freeze… you think any of them care about fair?"

Athena stood up straight, grimacing from the unease that swirled around in her guts. Her teeth gritted, while she tested her own will to hold back from shouting. "What's that got to do with me?" Athena snapped, eyeing the fist that did this to her, a thought of doing something similar crossed her mind, but it vanished as quick as it came.

"What it has to do with you," dad started slowly, letting out a sigh, as if he was getting frustrated as well, "is the fact that they are all human, they'd kill you within the minute."

Athena interrupted, getting an inch closer, "thanks for believe in me." Honestly considering getting a hit in, she stopped.

"And the point is," he continued, his gaze resting on her feet for longer than a second before making eye contact, "Malice, whatever she might be, it's not human. If a human could do it within a minute, imagine what she's capable of?"

For once, Athena stayed quiet. The anger lashing at her chest subsided, only leaving her with the aftermath of the flames.

He shook his head, "start thinking," he tapped a finger to his forehead three times, "and I don't mean in the way where you're constantly in your head, I mean you have to start being more rational about this. I don't know what's gotten into you, but it's not benefiting anything. Snapping at your brother, at me—"

Athena waved her hands wildly to her sides with every word, "he starts with me all the time!" You lied to me, she wanted to yell.

"You kicked open his door, broke the hinges," he seemed to be counting on her fingers now, "you nearly slapped Tim for trying to help you—"

Doubling back, she glanced at the metal floor. Athena wanted to ask, 'I did?' Her doing that completely slipped her mind.

This was when it all started, anyway. When she first found that she was able to move around again soon after she woke up. Tim tried to ask her about the batcomputer and Athena thinking he was blaming her, lost her patience and pushed him out of her way.

"I didn't slap him," she countered, looking back up at her father.

He took some steps toward her, to which Athena took a step backwards. "Look, I know anger, I've had my fair share of it. I know this is frustrating for you," there was a pause, it was brief enough for athena to know the he was searching for something to say.

"Yeah, dad, I get it, you understand. But, I'm fine, I don't need to talk about it, it'll eventually go away. Just like everything does."

He clicked his tongue, flattening his lips before looking towards the ceiling, nodding in a curt motion. "Alright then, let's continue."

With summer break meeting a swift close, the school bells would soon solemnly ring once again, they had yet to this morning with Athena only inches away from campus. More than enough time to kill.

Familiar heat from the past season seemed to sizzle away during the last week of August, allowing for autumn to breeze its way through Gotham, chilling their skin to the bone, as if in preparations for the coming months of a treacherous winter like an omen of terrible things to come. If only omens were kind enough to inform about all events in these simple ways. Often times, omens were wicked and cruel.

Athena stood on the barren block, bright yellow tape, similar to that of a wasp, barricading the area around the establishment just across from Eruditus. Bolded letters appearing like ink blacker than a crime were printed on the tape: Police Line Do Not Cross

Finally, Athena saw Gotham how others did, for a brief moment, that hope inside of her dying once realism shed its light. The world was a dark grey, much like the poster she admired so much as a child. Except in front of her, everything was bleak and she was its only inhabitant, there was no hero. The sun had died and the sky was starless, while the only object that contained a sliver of brightness was the tape preventing citizens from wandering too far into a terrible crime scene.

People died in Gotham. That was the fact the city was most known for. It was selfish, but Athena didn't let it hit her until now, now that five of her classmates were brutally murdered and it hadn't been some early Halloween prank. Those people who were young and only beginning— just like her—were gone, buried beneath it all, at rest forever.

This bleak world that was her home, a place she's lived for years and to think it would take the deaths of people she knew, people she saw almost everyday since freshman year, people she's heard and spoke to, for her to understand how those outsiders felt. Athena truly was no hero, she wasn't like the family of bats, she was more like a shrewd fox who danced away at the sight of adversity, until her cubs were taken. Only then, is when it meant something.

On this barren, empty strip of cinder block, just across from it was a murder. The distance wasn't much, but even if there a distance, just the simple thought of it reached over and sucked away any and all life.

Athena's ears pricked, small but noticeable bumps forming on her leather clad arms, before a wild gust of wind whirled past her still body, knotting her hair and blinding her vision with a screen of dark waves. The empty sidewalk, didn't quite feel all that empty anymore. A pair of eyes burned into her side, as if they had been staring at her for the very longest, a pest simply waiting for her to turn around. In her peripheral, Athen spotted a small shadow of a person and for once the first thing that came to mind hadn't been Malice. It could have very well been the demon, but down to her bones, she knew that it was not.

She could do nothing but turn in the direction of where the culprit should be standing. And when she did, the only thing taking up that space was the billowing wind. Athena could have sworn someone was standing there, but there was no one that could run away that quickly, it wasn't humanly possible.

The Shoppe took up her attention again, Athena pulled her jacket closer to her chest as a bitter chill crept up her spine. If that had been Malice a few seconds ago, what was she doing here? Taunting her was always an option, but Athena had a feeling that those days were over. The last time they met in her mind—a phenomenon she was still trying to figure out herself—Malice being angry was an understatement, she was ticked off to the point where she invaded Athena's own mind instead of waiting for her to sleep in order to plague it with nightmares.

Hairs on the back of her neck stood, a heat gathered around the small area, as if telling her she was more hot than cold. All these feelings, but there was no sole evidence to lead her to believe that Malice was the culprit— but twelve people, twelve innocent people, including her classmates were killed and the investigation had already taken almost a month, with the Shoppe still closed.

Athena cursed her hastiness to figure out what the Batcomputer held about herself, had the news reports described how the victims died? If it had, maybe there would be some correlation to how Malice attacked Athena.

This was pure and utter madness!

A pulsation from her lower abdomen to the her chest pulled Athena from her thoughts, she spread a warm hand across the knitted fabric. A reminder that all her other wounds had healed perfectly, while the one which was left unseen...

Athena, out of curiosity, lifted the black knitted turtleneck, the light from the paling sun did the sight no justice. Before her, a nasty gash stretched from one end of her waist to the other, much like a crooked grin painted by the hands of a fallen God, corrupted and mad. On any other occasion, Athena might have said it was creatively mad, the way the bruised purple outlined the tear in her abdomen and met with the blackening blue, creating a darker color altogether, reminding her of infections of war soldiers. Dried blood stuck to the bits of skin, clotting together and seeming to be impossible to clear away, even with cotton swabs and rubbing alcohol.
The tear itself, nearly went intestine deep, thin bits of skin stretched across the gash, a half hearted attempt by her cells to cover up such a grotesque thing, it would have been a terrible sight for anyone to see—it was a sight that would have been enough to keep her from the outside world for months, if anyone could see it, that was.
When she took off the smock, she remembered screaming. She didn't scream because of the near gaping hole in her abdomen, but because everything that happened in her mind was real. It hadn't been just a nightmare, why? Nightmares can't harm you in the physical world. She couldn't believe she was being pulled back into the position where Malice could play with her like vermin and she could do nothing.

Of all the things Athena was, she wasn't crazy. Even if her family couldn't see what she saw, she wasn't crazy.

Biting down on her lower lip, Athena pulled down the sweater. Getting a glance at her wrist, her ankles cracked from the sudden movement after standing still. Athena got one last glance at the empty spot behind her, the thought of someone ever being there, pushed out of her mind once she stepped foot on campus grounds.

Eruditus University, or EU or simply just Eruditus as many liked to call it, was not Gotham University, but the two often clashed. This lacrosse team was always better than the other, or these cheerleaders were the hottest. This cohort was the smartest, this was the dumber. All of the arguments could have been up for debate, but now the latter had the cold hard truth against the former. With everything happening in the city, Gotham University has never had five students from their campus murdered in one day.
Much like the block of The Shoppe, the campus stretched for several miles and yet, there seemed to be no one in sight.
The building was composed of stone, constructed to appear like that of a castle, the sun glimmered off of its surface during the day and when it became nighttime, it appeared to be made of moonstone. No matter the time, Eruditus held up its esteemed reputation, but now as Athena stood before it, she couldn't help but see it differently. The blocks of white stone, were sucked of all it's purity, leaving only cracked blocks of sullen gray.
It wasn't until a voice brought her out of this reality, that she realized it wasn't real.
"Miss!"
Athena stopped, turning around to see a short, stubby man sitting inside of a white booth.
"Identification?"
Athena's eyes lingered on the glass of the booth, more specifically on the three flyers delicately taped onto it. A black and white image of what looked like an angel, with scripted letters above and below.

It read:

Passing Ceremony

Please join us for this event on Sept. 7th 6pm

We are urging everyone from friends to

acquaintances to attend this get together in

respect for the dear lives we have lost

The cold nipped at her gash through the thick knit of her sweater. It was only the first day of classes and the student council had already orchestrated a whole event. Did they work fast, or what? The thought nearly brought a smile to Athena's lips.
"Excuse me, miss?"
She looked up and away from the flyer, licking her lips from the winds gathering around campus, reminding her that fall quickly turned into winter in Gotham. Without saying a thing, she dug into the bag draped over her shoulder to pull out an identification card that was taken during her freshman year of college.
Athena took a good look at the small plastic thing. She was smaller then, in the way that was almost bony, although her face was flattered by wavy licorice locks so dark that it made her tanned skin appear paler than it was in actuality. In the photo, she smiled. A smile that was meant for family dinners where you had to show them you cared because you would never see them again until the next holiday, regardless to how happy you were at that point in time. It was a smile that said, "I had to." Under pale blue eyes, were blackened bags, that made her appear anything less than friendly.
Beside the photo was a name. Athena Mira Kyle-Wayne.
Athena looked from the name to the photograph. There was a reason she didn't enjoy looking into mirrors and now, staring at the photo from two years ago, that reason still stood. Mirrors and pictures were supposed to reflect what the person appears to be, but every time she saw those reflections... Athena could have sworn that she hadn't known them at all.
Almost like how she hadn't recognized this school. Showing the guard her identification was the most reluctant thing she had done in awhile, aside from asking her father to teach her how to fight.
Stepping into the halls, Athena was not welcomed by the petty chattering of girls who had nothing better to do in their worlds of fortune and mundanity, instead the polished halls that appeared to be painted with honey were empty and quiet, the chandelier lighting.. dim and quite sad.
On a regular day, she would have just passed by one of the two common rooms, out of the corner of her eye, the burning light from the fireplace crept out into the hall, creating a burnt orange cast that almost made everything appear lonelier. Athena stopped, peering into the room for a second before looking at the time on her phone.
"Hey," she blurted, somehow finding her way into the common room and taking a seat on the velvety loveseat, with fibers upholding the pride colors of the school, midnight blue.
The person sitting next to her continued to stare into the blue-light emitting from the screen of the cell phone, a crinkle in her brow, like whatever she was looking at had been the most important thing. Black hair the color of brambles fell down her back, a long bang covering her right eye. What would have looked mysterious to most… just gave Athena some sense of familiarity. Only one hazel brown eye revealed itself.

When she didn't answer, Athena almost cleared her throat, instead, she took a glance in the direction of the commons exit. This was why she didn't do this sort of thing.

No one here spoke to Athena. Really spoke to her. All of them were known to throw the word 'friend' around carelessly, but the truth was the rich had no clue what the word even meant. This was especially true when the people here pick and choose who they associate with according to their familiar ties.

Sons and daughters of important, powerful people such as the mayor, businessmen, crime bosses, even. Athena coming from the richest family in Gotham City only put her at the very top of the hierarchy, that was… if she fed into any of the nonsense.

Even she knew, at the bottom of the Mount Olympus, were the sea of small fish. The people who actually deserved to be here, who earned their places through much more than money, but as far as Athena could tell, even after freshman year they were still trying to earn those places.

Athena rubbed her thighs with her hangs, slightly grimacing at the thought of staying seated.

With pressed lips, she then started tapping her thighs, "Hey, Evie-" she repeated, this time reaching out the touch her.

Evie looked up from the phone, yanking the earbuds out of her ears. "Athena?" She pressed her phone into her lap, her one light eye widening and making her face seem smaller than usual.

A feeling, Athena hadn't noticed until it left, eased inside her stomach. Earbuds. Evie couldn't hear her in the first place, she hadn't just been ignoring her. This was all real, happening before her eyes. Athena was actually here and people could in fact, see her.

Bringing her arms around her chest and allowing her lips to curve into a smile, briefly looking to the side. There was a point to sitting down here and bothering this poor girl, clearly.

"Heeey, what were you watching there? Looked interesting."

Not the point.

Once Evie settled within the idea of someone coming over to talk to her, Athena expected the look of something similar to fear to disappear, keeping eye contact with everything but Evie, always to return within a couple of seconds.

Evie didn't want to be looked at. Athena guessed she more than wished she had a second bang of hair to bury her other eye underneath.

Before she spoke, someone else did and it caught Athena's attention so quickly, she didn't think to catch herself for looking at Evie's phone so abruptly.

"The investigation at hand has so far had no leads, but rest assured, we will find whomever is responsible and we will bring them to justice."

Evie must have pressed the pause button because the voice of the commissioner cut out and there was nothing but white noise after that point. Athena looked up from the phone.
"What do you want?"

Smiling again, a small curve as she tilted her head, softly moving it to the side. "I can't check up on a friend? I thought it might be nice to see how your first day back was going, knowing we might not see eachother much this year."

Evie slowly blinked. All of this looked familiar. Evie didn't pay attention to the clothes she wore, never attempted to fit in with the posh chic or whatever the hell the snobbies were calling what they wore nowadays. She spoke to no one, she wasn't apart of any clubs. It was just straight back to her dorm. All of that was well and good, but now there was something different.

She seemed to clear whatever had been stuck in her throat. "I mean, you're one of them, so I wouldn't have expected you to come say hi to someone like me." The grip on her cell phone got tighter as she moved a bit further to the other end of the loveseat.
"Them?"

"Yeah," she scoffed, "the rich kids."

"Eves, what are you talking about?"

Evie flinched. "Don't call me that, please and thank you." Her tone stiffened along with the rest of her body, "and don't act like you can't see it. Everybody here, acting all broken and bruised when all those kids who died in that place meant nothing to them—just like me."

The kids at Eruditus could very well be like that, and Athena knew it.

"Evie," Athena started, reaching out a hadn't toward the girl who stood, before her finger were even close.

Evie shook her head, revealing her other eye for a second, waving her hands. "You don't have to say anything, don't start being a friend now." For the anger in her voice, her eye didn't portray the same sentiment, it followed suit with the next statement. "For the best anyway, everyone I love and care about seem to die on me, so—"

There was a brief second of silence before she walked away after that, clutching her phone to her chest as if someone could steal it from her in those moments. Evie scuttled away, in what looked like a storm to the other students in her path, old shoes scuffing the polished floors, atleast that was the most she could probably do to get her frustrations out.

Athena pulled her fingers over her mouth, in a thinkers position, letting out a breath. The bell rang and the first class of the day began, but not even the bases of cyber forensics could keep the girl out of her mind.

R&R, at your leisure!