Bit of an odd chapter this time, hope you like it.
I don't own DC, Marvel, or any other comic companies.
I was so glad I got an advanced placement.
High schoolers had turned out to be a lot more immature than I remembered. And I would have started in eighth grade. It was a nightmare that I was glad to have mostly avoided. Doing homework was already going to be a mind-numbing waste of time, so I may as well skip over the worst of it.
The biggest reason I had chosen to go back to school wasn't because I thought I needed the education. Having a high school diploma would be useful, especially for getting into a college or university, but it wasn't really necessary. Honestly, it wouldn't be that hard to get a high school diploma or even a college degree without being trapped among these hormone-filled emotional teenagers, but I was here to become one of them. As unpleasant as that sounded, it would actually be a step up in a lot of ways.
I wanted to go to high school again was because I was an emotionally stunted headcase. It wasn't easy to admit, but I couldn't deny it. The fact that I couldn't show emotion without transforming into the Goblin made that pretty evident.
The way I figured, a social crucible like high school was about the exact opposite of the lab I grew up in. I couldn't exactly go to a therapist, doctor/patient confidentiality or not. I also really, really didn't want to end up in Arkham Asylum. At least at a high school, I would be able to remind myself how teenagers are supposed to act.
It wasn't a waste of time either. The super serum and weird alien artifact boosting my brain made me an awesome multitasker. I didn't have access to the internet, but anything I learned since fusing with the cube would stick in my head. Having an almost perfect memory and a brain capable of advanced calculations as I went about my day made things much easier. I could go over my plans for 'making the world a better place' and figure out the best and most efficient options I could while sitting in class.
Being forced to wait and go over my plans instead of just doing something sucked, but I was still a minor. Getting anything done without jumping through a million hoops and resorting to questionably legal methods was basically impossible. I wasn't going to be able to progress most of my plans until I became an emancipated minor a year from now.
The stares I got as a thirteen-year-old senior were awkward. It was already obvious that I was being sized up by bullies. It might have been better to go straight to college; at least there the people were more likely to act like adults.
The teachers were nice enough though. Most of them were that perfect balance of idealistic and experienced that the best teachers were, and none of the ones I'd met so far seemed jaded. I might find out that they were faking it for the 'prodigy' later on, but I hoped not.
My first few classes hadn't been much of a surprise. It was the usual mix of students who cared and paid attention and the ones who didn't and didn't. Aside from the outfits and body language, I couldn't really guess which cliques everyone belonged to yet.
Lunchtime though, that was when I got a personal introduction to Gotham high's social structure.
"So you're the brat who thinks he's so much smarter than the rest of us?"
When the lanky teen got into my personal space. I blinked blankly and looked over my shoulder before looking back at him and staring.
"I don't even know you, how could I think I'm better than you?"
The bully seemed to stall a moment from my emotionless reaction. Something like that wasn't going to stop him long though.
"You trying to be smart?"
"A little bit, sorry."
There was a crowd now, and the tall teen was suffering from stage fright. I had to revise my opinion of him from 'bully' to 'wannabe bully.' He was probably trying to ascend the social ladder in one of the more unpleasant ways available to high schoolers. I cut him off and stuck out a hand.
"Call me Norman."
"...I'm Rick?"
"Pleased to meet you, I'm heading to lunch, wanna come?"
The poor guy looked like he was suffering from whiplash. He mumbled something and retreated into the crowd which dispersed on its own when nothing interesting happened. The rest of the trip was uneventful. For now, people were content to stare. Only time would tell if I was going to need to deal with more bullies.
I had brought my own lunch. I wouldn't have really been able to call myself a genius if I hadn't. School cafeteria food was not something I wanted to eat regularly unless I had no choice. Whatever Gotham High spent its funds on, actual food wasn't part of it. Even their bananas didn't look trustworthy. I'd rather starve than eat whatever the greyish lump they had labeled 'meatloaf' was.
I plopped myself down to enjoy the last of my beef jerky and an apple that Doctor Isley had given me. The apple was so crunchy and juicy that I had to avoid dripping everywhere. To keep busy I pulled out a history book and opened it to next week's lessons. I almost didn't notice when a trio of teens set their lunches on the table and slid onto the benches.
"Mind if we sit here?"
I nodded and wiped my mouth with the edge of my paper bag. I didn't have a napkin since the wastefulness would upset Doctor Isley. Even if she didn't know I used one, it would feel too much like a betrayal. I looked up at the three and debated forcing a fake smile but decided against it.
"Not at all. Pleased to meet you, please call me Norman."
"I'm Jason, this is Cass, and the brat's name is Tim."
Tim gave the older teen a glare. Jason's response was a smirking grin and a shrug.
Cass smiled and moved her hands. It took me a second to recognize that she was using sign language. My brain was too busy trying to tell me something to interpret her motions. Something about those three was strange. They wore slightly baggy that mostly hid the fact that they were all insanely physically fit, but did nothing to hide the the way they moved so smoothly and silently. I shoved the niggling feeling away and lifted my hands to use sign language myself.
{Sorry, what was that?}
The two boys stopped arguing and eyed me oddly for a second. Knowing sign language wasn't actually that weird or uncommon. It was just that the majority of people didn't bother unless they know someone who is deaf or mute. The only reason I knew it was because it was part of the creepy old geezer's wish list of skills that I had to learn. I think he'd been hoping that the muscle memory carried over or something.
Cass smiled a bit wider and signed back at me.
{I was just saying hello, and you don't have to use sign language, I can understand you just fine.}
"Ah, right."
The pause was a bit awkward. We ate a bit to pretend that the conversation hadn't stalled. After a moment, Tim set aside a sandwich and coughed lightly.
"So, did you just move to Gotham?"
"No, I've lived here all my life."
The three of them very pointedly did not exchange glances. I might have missed it if my subconscious hadn't been screaming something in the back of my head. It wasn't how they reacted that caught my attention, it was the way the stopped themselves from reacting. They were subtle, so I almost didn't notice. Jason replied casually.
"Cool, which school?"
"None, I was tutored until recently."
Tim's eyes almost flicked towards Jason at that, though Cass stared at me with mild interest. Jason didn't seem to act differently though.
"So, that's why you are in the senior classes? Good tutors?"
It sounded like he was trying to imply I wasn't smart or something similar. He probably had been trying to get a reaction, but there was no way that was happening. If I could hide my emotions while Allen the security guard smacked me around, then there was no way a little insult was going to do anything.
"School isn't as hard as people think. Most of it is learning how to study and regurgitate facts. Actually learning is harder than getting good grades. Some of it, like a lot of our history lessons, isn't even true."
The three of them gave me a skeptical look so I continued.
"Who invented peanut butter?"
"George Washington Carver."
"Right, except he didn't. The Incas and Aztecs were the first to grind peanuts into a paste, and Marcellus Gilmore Edson was the man who developed the modern version. George Washington Carver was an agriculturalist who created a bunch of peanut recipes as part of his campaign to help the South's economy, which at the time relied on a single export. He introduced a number of methods like crop rotation to prevent soil depletion. His work was vital to the economic development of the South."
They looked at me blankly for a second, but I just shrugged.
"Just an example. It's not really important for most people."
Cass frowned thoughtfully and nodded.
{Who would it be important to?}
"Historians and agriculturalists, mostly."
"And you plan to be one of those?"
"I like to keep my options open."
They exchanged a look and nodded. We continued to make slightly awkward small talk until lunch was over and went our separate ways. It wasn't until I was alone that I got the chance to listen to the niggling voice in the back of my mind.
Jason, Tim, and Cass. They were perfectly normal names, but their behavior told me that they weren't. I didn't connect the dots until I realized that Cass was probably short for Cassandra though. After that, I was fairly certain that those three were members of the Bat Clan.
They were a bit young, and I never expected to meet them in high school, but that had to be them. Cassandra Cain hadn't been able to speak in the comics either, and the odds of another mute with that name living in Gotham is astronomically low. Once I realized it though, it was blindingly obvious. This was starting to get frustrating. As soon as I got out of school, I was going to look up every weirdo in a cape and spandex, not just the villains.
Thank you, everyone, for the reviews. It looks like a lot of people really have an emotional investment in the debate on superhero morality, which is awesome. I should probably make something clear here. I don't particularly believe that the 'DC' superhero philosophy of not killing is wrong. They haven't failed humanity by failing to execute men and women like the Joker, society and the justice system has. The Justice Lords and Injustice Superman are extreme, over-the-top examples of what the Justice League could become if they decided they were above the law, but they aren't exactly wrong.
The reason Norman Osborn is not going to be a hero, despite Goblin's behavior, is because he seeks to be a cure for societies ills. Eventually, I hope to have him talk to Lex Luthor about this, and I'll make his position better known then. Norman isn't going to be another amoral SI/OC that is constantly scrabbling for power and pretending to be a good guy while assassinating villains behind the scenes. He's actually going to be relatively open about his plans to do more than remove the symptoms of the world.
...He may still become a bit more amoral than he originally planned to be though. He's already breaking laws left and right to ensure that he has an identity and he'll keep doing it to help others. The fact that the cube and Goblin are gonna make him a little nutty isn't going to help either. Despite that, he's planning on making as many happy endings as he can, short term and long term.
I don't exactly agree with his approach. The reason I'm writing it like this is because I thought it would be interesting and that it was a good way to show how someone with money, brains, and power could effect some decent changes in a DC universe.
