Authors Note: Hello again! And how are you fine people. First off big thanks toLaylacat11 and GeekGeek4u for reading and reviewing. I love it when you guys review, every time I read one it's one of the best things ever! I'm so sorry for the wait, I've been really busy. This is the remastered version, and omg I am not gonna lie I changed Karter's name like 5 times before I just changed it back to Karter. I felt so stupid! XD So, in all please keep reading and enjoy:)
The moon was high over Gotham city. Even most of its citizens had decided to sleep indoors on this peaceful night. As usual in the Bat Cave, Batman was busy researching on his super computer. From a shadowy hallway of steps emerged the Boy Wonder followed in by Alfred. While Alfred went to the side to set down a tray of drinks and dinner Robin walked up beside his mentor.
"Looking into why the Joker went on a Baby-Bombing spree?" Batman nodded not taking his eyes away from the screen. Robin leaned on the key board trying to get a better look, his eyebrows furrowing as if trying to solve a puzzling enigma.
"What did he mean by "Favor"?" He asked.
"No idea. But look." Batman pressed a button and images of newspaper clippings flashed on screen. "While we were fighting the Joker and Harley, there was a break in at the Gotham Institute of Genetic Research."
Robin's eyes widened as the riddle intensified. He took a step back from the computer and looked seriously at Batman. "What was stolen?"
Batman pressed a button and the screen turned off. "Nothing much, just some equipment on tracking mutations within the human genome along with some DNA samples." Batman got up and walked towards the Bat Mobile.
"Who would steel equipment on genetic mutation? That equipment is only used to track things like Down Syndrome."
Batman started the engine and Robin jumped in the passenger seat.
"I don't know."
On the outskirts of Gotham city, the streets were silent. Too far from the busy center, but just far enough that the only signs of life were the occasional car that passed by on the street. One of these cars, a baby blue Studebaker parked in a dark alleyway turning its headlights off. Waiting a few minutes, the car door opened and out stepped two female figures. A car from the street ahead drove by and momentarily flooded the alley with light illuminating the masked faces of Catwoman and Kitty. From the driver's seat Maven rolled down her window and out jumped Isis and Taz. Who landed effortlessly on the cold pavement. "You're about a block away from the Zoo, just travel north from here. Page me when you want me to come back and get you, I'll stay close by."
Catwoman smiled "Thank you Maven."
"Good luck." And with that Maven pulled away and drove out of site.
Catwoman picked up Isis and looked at her apprentice.
"Let's go we have a lot to do." Catwoman took off at a light jog to the end of the alley, and stopped at the brick wall that signaled a dead end.
Kitty nodded and looking down at Taz opened her arms expectantly. Taz jumped up into her companion's arms and they walked to the end of the alley way coming to a halt beside Catwoman. Kitty looked up the wall.
"That's at least 3 stories high, and there's no fire escape." Kitty said more as a statement than anything else.
Catwoman seemed unfazed. "Yep!"
Kitty continued to stare at the wall now slightly worried by her mentor's reaction. "How are we going to get up?"
Catwoman let her golden claws shine. "These aren't just for show and scratching posts. Remember, this excursion isn't just all work. You still have to practice."
Catwoman smiled and drove her gold claws into the stone wall. She then proceeded to climb straight up.
"Oh…" Kitty said "…right." and released her Silver claws.
Mimicking the larger Catwoman she dug her claws into the wall. Kitty felt her muscles contract as she started to pull herself up. It was harder this time, she didn't have adrenaline to help her. As she felt her biceps tense, Kitty silently cursed her arms. They weren't weak, but she wasn't exactly good at pull-ups yet. Understanding this she fought to defy gravity the smart way, using mostly her leg power to push herself up. She may not have been good at pull-ups, but she considered herself a gold mentalist at rock and tree climbing, she knew the importance of using one's legs to climb. About half way up, Kitty placed her foot against the wall to push herself up when it slipped! Pressing her claws deeper into the brick she stopped herself from falling and regained her limited footing. During the climb Taz had moved to Kitty's shoulders and was now looking judgingly at Kitty.
"Meow."
"I'm slow? Well sorry, would you like to carry me up the wall and show me how it's done then, Hmm?"
"Meeeoooowwww!"
"Don't get snippy with me. It was your hurtful comment that provoked my sass."
Finally making it to the top she looked around for Catwoman. Said person was waiting leaning on an air-conditioning unit.
"Not, bad. You'll get used to it. There's a lot more walls to climb." Catwoman winked at her pupil. "Come on, let's go."
The pair began their journey northward. And as they ran jumping across gaps in the buildings and doing acrobatic tricks Kitty began to silently thank her mother for the gymnastics lessons as a child. Her skills on the balance beam apparently were paying off. As she ran after Catwoman she could slowly feel herself getting more confident. This came out especially when she parkoured up two windows to get to the top of the roof. Leaping from one to the other and propelling herself forward with her feet. 'Those days of doing parkour after playing Assassins Creed have finally paid off!' She thought to herself.
After about 15 minutes of pretending to be Altair. They a sign that read "It's a Small World Zoo" finally came into view. From the roof Kitty noticed that the entire zoo was indoors and the ceiling was raised and lowered in many places. From above it was clear the zoo was in need of a few repairs.
'I should have taken not of this earlier, I guess my memory's a bit fuzzy from this morning, I did have a head ache.' She thought to herself.
Learning from her adventure with the Boy Wonder she began to look for an opening that was not a ventilation shaft. Hazel green eyes scanned her suroundings before landing on a small open window above one of the hallways. Kitty pointed with one silver claw. Catwoman followed the deadly appendage and nodded.
"Good work Kitty."
Opening the window just a little more Catwoman dropped down. After her Kitty too fell from the ceiling landing silently on the dirty floor of the zoo. Not daring to speak a word Catwoman looked back at Kitty and pointed down the hall to her left. Understanding Kitty nodded and the two separated to investigate their sides of the building.
While scouting for any potential night guards Kitty made not to visit at least some of the other animals in the zoo, she knew that the big cats weren't treated well here but, the other animals were important too. The halls of the zoo were dark and shadowy from the lack of light, and dead silent too. When she passed the Elephant pen, she noticed that the enclosure was formed like a large pit, and she had to lean slightly over the stone railing to look at the Elephant. She was female, and showed no signs of abuse but she appeared to be breathing too hard as she slept. Kitty gave her silent sympathies as she gazed at the majestic creature down in the pit.
The Zebra, enclosure was on ground level with a simple stone wall with about 2 feet of fence on top of it separating the animals from the spectators. The Zebra's themselves looked slightly starved and their pen was way too small but other than that better shape than she thought they'd be in. Turning around she walked across the walk way to the next animal, this one behind glass. The Boa Constrictor, looked perfectly fine and bored. Kitty approached the glass and the snake lifted its head to watch her. 'Figures you'd be fine, snakes don't eat very often and don't leave much of a mess. Don't need a lot of mutinous. I always liked snakes…' She waved a slight hello at the snake as it watched her. It blinked at her. Kitty examined the snake further, remarking on its brown scales and the pattern of the red saddles that adorned its long coiling body. In a way, this boa constrictor reminded her of her snake at home. Glancing at a sign that read "GIRAFFES LEFT, PEINGUINS RIGHT" Kitty decided to leave before she got caught she her hand slightly as a sign of goodbye and left. The Boa Constrictor blinked again before placing its head back down upon a log in its enclosure.
Next were the penguins. In order to see them she had to go through a door. Kitty smirked 'Looks like those days of sneaking out to walk in the woods have also finally paid off, I am on fire today!'
Remembering her old technique of sneaking silently through doors Kitty slowly turned the handle and carefully pushed it open waiting for the sound of the door to squeak. But no sound came. Breathing out a sigh of relief she slowly slipped through the door and grabbed the handle on the other side making sure that the locking mechanism stayed in the open position. Once fully in the room she slowly closed the door. Only when it was fully shut did she allow the handle to slowly turn back into place.
Th first thing she noticed about the room was that it was cold. The second thing she noticed was that it smelled of fish. Looking around the room she saw no one so she walked over to the glass. Placing her hand on the cold surface she checked the penguins. The 5 of them were huddled together in a circle at the right corner of the enclosure. They looked fed enough, she couldn't really tell their fluffy black feathers all sort of blended together in a solid mass which she could only make out the heads from. But upon further inspection Kitty noticed that their food bowls were practically empty. 'Figures.'
Frowning she turned to leave. Moving to the door on the opposite side of the room she read the sign "AUTHORIZED PERSONEL ONLY". Kitty smirked again pulling on the doorknob. To her discomfort the handle was freezing and to her dismay this time the door didn't budge. 'Weird…' Slightly pouting she looked for a lock to pick but it appeared that this door locked from the inside.
'Bad craftsmenship.' Kitty thought to herself. Giving up on the door she returned to the original one she came through.
Continued her exploration of the zoo Kitty made her way back across the animals towards the giraffe's. Wondering where that door lead too and who would lock it from the inside? While passing the Boa Constrictor exhibit again Kitty's heart stopped. From down the hall they heard the muffled echo of a mans voice. Feeling Taz's claws tense on her shoulder Kitty looked around for a place to hide! Glancing at the Boa Constrictors cage she noticed the large snake move its head between her and something behind her. Spinning around Kitty spotted the zebra enclosure and noticed a dip in the fence that she could jump over. Hearing footsteps now she sprinted forward and quickly leaped into the encloser, arousing two of the sleeping zebras and annoying another. Kitty ducked down and tried her best to slow her breathing and be as still as possible.
The footsteps increased in volume and a moment later she heard a deep gruffly voice.
"Yeah guard duty here can be boring especially now since the zoos been' put on probation an' stuf' but just stick through it. It' the side job that's nice."
Kitty felt her ear twitch when she heard this 'Side job?' her body tensed as she heard another voice reply to the gruff one.
"How nice?"
This voice was also male, but it sounded like he was coughing on air. Like he had been a heavy smoker for a long time.
"Reeaal nice." The first voice replied.
The two guys began chuckling to themselves, completely oblivious to their unintentional eaves dropper. Kitty remained completely still as she felt adrenaline pump through her veins. When she could no longer hear their voice's, she counted to herself.
"One…Two...Three…Four…Five."
After 5 seconds, she knew they were gone, only then did she leave her hiding place.
"Few that was close." Kitty sighed. "I don't think we should follow them right now though."
Taz nodded in agreement. Before heading on their way Kitty turned towards the 3 zebra's she disturbed and whispered, "Sorry about that."
The Zebra's, the ones that were awake anyway, just eyed her and went back to sleep. She then turned to the Boa Constrictor. She bowed her head and whispered, "Thank you." Before running off. With her head, down she had missed how the giant snake had bowed its head as well before watching the cat clade girl leave.
As Kitty and Taz looked through the rest of the building they decided not to visit the Giraffe's, for fear of running into those two guards again. Instead they opted to travel in the opposite direction. On their journey, they noticed a door that had the words Storage Room written on it in big bold letters. They're curiosity aroused she turned the handle and let out an exasperated sigh.
"Locked. Again."
Taz pawed Kitty's shoulder as if to signal something and Kitty noticed a small keyhole below the handle. Kitty smiled.
"And this lock can be undone."
She reached into her Silver belt and took out 2 thin metal tools. Then dropped to her knees and proceeded to pick the lock. After 3 frustrating minutes of trial and failure, Kitty finally got a stroke of luck and she heard the euphoric "click".
Taking a deep breath Kitty slowly pushed the door open, reusing the skills she demonstrated earlier at the penguins. Silently Kitty and Taz ventured into the darkly lit room. It was pitch black, and Kitty felt around for a light switch. In the dark Taz decided to help and leaped from Kitty's shoulders, landing on the ground. Being that she was a cat she found the switch easily and jumping straight up she used her paw to push the switch, flipping it in the up position. To Taz's, and Kitty's dismay, no lights turned on. Thanks to Taz's attempt at helping though Kitty was able to find the switch. She flipped the switch again but no lights turned on. She flipped it some more and still nothing happened. After a short period of periotic flipping of a light switch she gave up.
"You would think they could at least fix a light switch." Kitty complained.
Taz meowed and Kitty decided to pull out a small flash light from her belt. Turning it on she directed it on the loads of boxed and crates that occupied the room. Kitty walked towards each one and read the contents of some of the boxes. They contained things like food, water, habitat décor, a lot of medical supplies, and some extra industrial Cooling Systems.
"Not surprising, those things are expensive, probably best to have a few spares in case one just goes out. But they have all the stuff to take care of all these animals, so why then are they in such bad shape?" Kitty asked herself this before looking to Taz for an answer, Taz only shrugged.
Moving on they walked through the storage room guided by Taz's eyes and the flashlight. While passing some more Cooling systems Kitty noticed a garage door at the back of the room almost hidden behind a wall of boxes. "Well that doesn't seem right…"
As she moved closer Taz jumped up onto a crate and meowed "What is it?"
Kitty walked over to the crate and Taz jumped onto her shoulder. Originally trying to see what was inside she wrapped her gloved fingers around the top of the crate and pulled. The top didn't budge. Kitty looked again and noticed that the box was nailed shut. Knowing that she couldn't leave any trace that she was there she looked for some other way to figure out what was inside the box, eventually deciding to take a picture of the information slip on the side. Pulling out a small camera Kitty took a picture of the crate and the rest of the storage room before looking at Taz.
"We should get back to Catwoman and Isis, we've taken probably too many pictures as it is." Kitty suggested.
Silently agreeing with Kitty, Taz hopped on Kitty's shoulder as she left the storage room. Knowing that Catwoman was investigating the office side of the building. After investigating rooms that had desks, and others that had filing cabinets for walls Kitty and Taz finally came to a room they recognized as Mr. Kane's office. Kitty scowled at the thought of the man. Luckily it was in this room that Kitty found her mentor. Catwoman was sitting at Mr. Kane's large desk hacking his laptop. Kitty's eyebrows furrowed as she silently came in and locked the door.
"What are you doing?" she whisper-yelled.
"I'm going through Mr. Kane's e-mails."
Kitty took a step back her eyes widened. "Isn't that a federal offence?"
Catwoman looked up at her. "Technically, yes, but how else are we supposed to see what he's up to? Besides, he had it coming."
Kitty felt conflicted for a moment. She didn't like the idea of going through other people's mail, but she guessed given the circumstances it would be fine. She sighed, nodded and went to check the other lap top.
'What was the name of the kid who worked here? Oh right, Jim' Kitty took a moment to remember the details of the morning. The good thing was that apparently Jim didn't keep a password, the bad thing was that Kitty literally found nothing on the laptop.
"It's like all this kid does is play Ghost Hunter. He has no e-mail, no Facebook, or anything on his laptop except the game and his top score sucks! Ugh!"
Resolving to show this kid up Kitty then began to beat his high score in Ghost Hunter. After a few minutes, she had already passed his score.
"So, found anything actually useful?" she asked nonchalantly.
Isis meowed "Hey Kitty look at this!"
Kitty ended the game, entered in the name "U SUCC" as the top score, closed the laptop, got up and walked with Taz over to Catwoman. "What?"
"Apparently Mr. Kane has been exchanging lots of e-mails with someone by the name of Mr. Snow." Catwoman said.
"Mr. Snow? Who the heck is that?"
"I don't know…" Catwoman said thoughtfully.
Kitty thought for a moment and reaching into her belt pulled out a small grey flash drive.
"Here." She said and handed it to Catwoman. "Download it on to the flash drive."
Catwoman the small object from Kitty. "Good idea."
She plugged the flash drive in and began downloading. A progress bar appeared on the screen. For a long time, it was quiet as four sets of eyes starred at the screen as the number slowly rose testing the patience of all in the room.
10%...
21%...
45%...
67%...
99%...
100%.
Kitty pulled the flash drive out "We got it! Now we can -."
All of a sudden there was a loud banging at the door and then a loud Gruff voice spoke.
"Is someone in there?! Open up!"
Kitty froze, that was the same voice she and Taz had heard back at the Zebra enclosure, that means that that guy is back.
"Hey, you in their Boss?"
Isis and Taz sprang into action jumping onto their master's shoulders. Catwoman quickly pressed a button on the keyboard and erased the laptops memory turning it off. Kitty looked around the room and pointed.
"There!" Just above Jim's desk there was a large air duct.
Catwoman pulled it open and they climbed in side. Kitty closed the duct just as the two security guards burst in. Both females sat completely still as they listened to the men inside the room. Neither could see the two, so they strained their ears as much as they could.
They heard a second voice from down below, one Kitty recognized as the second man from earlier.
"Eh, no ones in here!"
The gruff voiced man huffed "Humph, Mr. Kane probably left the light on again."
"But what about the door?"
"The lock must be broken, now come on. We don' got al' 'night ya' know."
From below Catwoman and Kitty heard the sound of footsteps leaving the room, a light switch being flicked, and the door closing.
Letting out sighs of relief, together they climbed through the complex maze of ducts guided by their small feline companions until they eventually found a vent that lead outside to the roof. Kitty pushed the panel off and climbed out of the small space. One out in the fresh night air she stood up and stretched her legs. Catwoman tapped her shoulder and quickly dashed across the roof leaping to safety on a nearby roof top. Kitty followed just in time to avoid the flashlights of the two guards, who had apparently followed them outside. Still running Catwoman and Kitty made their way across the several roof tops on the way to the alley where they would meet Maven. Finally coming to a stop at the top of the same wall Kitty had climbed just a few hours ago they sat down, the adrenaline leaving their bodies, making them exhausted. Catwoman took a small device out of her belt and pressed a button. It beeped and she put it away.
"What did you find out on your search?" Catwoman asked still out of breath.
Kitty steadied her breathing to reply. "You mean besides the fact that Jim's high score was 296?" Kitty slumped against the dirty alley wall "On my trip through the zoo every animal was in poor condition. When I was passing the Zebra exhibit I heard two guards talking about a side job. And I looked in their storage room. The only odd thing I found was a door that's locked from the inside and maybe a few extra cooling systems.
Catwoman nodded and put her head back. "Good."
After a moment, she eyed the young girl sitting next to her.
"I know I haven't had time to train you very much yet, but you're doing very well." She said. Kitty smiled sheepishly and her cheeks became tinged with pink.
Ten minutes later a baby blue Studebaker pulled into the alley. Rising from her position Catwoman spoke, "Let's get out of here before Batman comes." She then began the climb down. Using her claws. Kitty sat up on her knees and looked down still breathing heavily.
"You got to be kidding me." She breathed.
Deciding not to go the slow way she instead walked to the corner of the alley and hung herself from one side of the wall. Then she kicked herself off the wall towards the other side of the corner catching herself with her claws and jumping to the other side. She did this the whole way down until her feet reached the sweet, sweet ground. Once there she collected herself and got in the back seat of the car. Once the coast was clear Maven drove out of the alley. Still tired and breathing heavily Kitty pulled her mask off. She leaned back in the seat before noticing a small pile of folded clothes next to her on the seat, she eyes them suspiciously. From the driver's seat Maven spoke up.
"Those clothes are for you, you can change in the back seat."
Sam nodded and mumbled a small thank you before starting to change. The clothes provided were a simple nice dress and some nice shoes. After she changed she noticed the car stop. Selina had already changed out of her Catwoman outfit and was using her purse to hide the fabric. Sam decided to do the same, only hid it under her dress. As soon as the doors to the car opened Isis and Taz had left and ran around the side of the building, much to Sam's panic. But luckily Selina put her hand on Sam's shoulder and whispered, "Act natural."
It was now that Sam realized what was going on. They needed to look like normal citizens coming back from a late dinner party to go up to the pent house! Now the dress made sense! As they walked in the building and took the elevator up, no one paid them any mind. Once inside the penthouse however Sam simply mumbled a good night and went to her room. Closing the door, she took the dress off and tossed it to the hamper on the wall. She was just finishing putting on her night shirt when she heard a tapping at her window. Pausing Sam stared at it for a while before walking over and opening the curtains. Sitting on the window sill was a beautiful black cat with Golden eyes, in the light that her room provided Sam could see the ghost shade of new spring leaf green that tinted the golden orbs.
"TAZ!" Sam shouted shocked.
"Meow."
The girl imminently opened up the window and pulled the cat in. hugging the ball of fur for a moment she shut the window and moved back to her bed. She hides her Kitty outfit under her sheets and climbed into bed. Before turning off the lights she kissed Taz's head and whispered. "Good night Taz, sleep well."
The next morning Sam was woken up by the feeling of Maven shaking her arm. Sam groaned and rolled over she opened one of her eyes and stared at her cat clock. The hands read 6AM. Sam groaned again.
"Why are you waking me up on a Sunday?" Sam complained and buried her face into her sheets.
"Because it's Thursday, and it's your first day at Gotham Middle school." Maven protested.
Sam stopped all indications of annoyance, "Oh. Well in that case."
Sam forced her tired body to tear away the warm blankets that invited her to stay in bed and sleep. Sam, sat up in bed and yawned outstretching her arms. When she was finished she glanced back over to her clock and- "Wait a minute." Sam's eyes suddenly got wide and darted back to the clock. "When did I get a clock? I don't have a clock? Where did it come from?"
She voiced her confusion out loud as she stared at the piece of clockwork currently siting on her nightstand.
"O-oh…" Sam's head jerked up when she heard Maven's shy voice, "… I bought that for you when you and Selina were out the other day. I noticed you didn't bring any alarm clock of your own so I got you one. It's a welcome home present. Do you like it?"
Sam looked back at the clock. It looked like an antique clock. A porcelain Siamese was laying down curled up around the face of the clock, it looked like it was cuddling the clock in its sleep. Sam smiled.
"Yes, Maven. I love it. Thank you so much!"
Maven smiled and started to walk out of the room, be sure to wear your uniform and come down for breakfast.
Sam watched as she left the room before she got up and went to her closet. On a black hanger hung her uniform. A dark blue jacket, a white shirt, red tie, black shoes and worst of all a skirt. Sam's eyes narrowed in annoyance, she was never fond of wearing skirts and of course this one was short. She looked at the red and gold crest on her jacket as she looked in the mirror. Something was off. Sam took the shoes off and replaced them with a nice pair if lack boots that stopped 2 ½ inches above her ankle. She then went to her suit case and began rummaging around for a thin string of leather she would often tie around her neck as a choker.
"Man, I really need to unpack." She scolded herself as she struggled to find what she was looking for. "Ah!"
From her suit case, she pulled out the string and a black headband with a black feather on the side. She put both on and admired her reflection. Taz meowed in agreement of the new additions, rolled over and went back to sleep. Samantha smiled at her cat and picked up her black school bag checking to see if she had everything packed. When she was sure it was good she left her room.
Arriving in the kitchen Sam looked around for any sign of life. Maven wasn't there so she made herself a piece of toast and sitting down at the table waited. The toast was the perfect degree of crispy and to pass the time she started to look around the room. Noticing a newspaper on the opposite end of the table she picked it up and read the headline.
"Break out at Arkham."
Interested she read on.
"Known perpetrator Victor Freeze, more commonly known as Mr. Freeze, was discovered missing from his cell at Arkham Asylum last Tuesday by his psychiatrist. Just how he escaped is still unknown, Commissioner Gordon had this to say on the matter. "We are currently investigating how the break out occurred, we have our top detectives working with the Arkham Asylum staff to solve this case. As for the whereabouts of Victor Freeze we can't be certain. But we do believe he is currently still within Gotham City. Exercise extreme caution." Former scientist Victor Freeze was last apprehended three months ago by Batman while attempting to steel fuel for his subzero suit. Be on alert and call the police if you spot him…"
Sam stopped reading there. "Victor Freeze?"
Sam, being unfamiliar with most of the villains in Gotham, was confused. But before she could ponder the subject more Maven came in the room with her car keys. "Ready to go?" She asked.
"Uh, Yeah." Samantha said stuffing the newspaper in her bag.
She followed Maven out the door, to the elevator, down to the first floor, out the front doors, and to the car. This time the vehicle being driven was brown. Sam chose to sit in the front seat. Setting her bag down at her feet she lifted her hand so that her chin rested on her knuckles as she windows stared. Maven started the car and the engine roared to life. As the car started moving Sam watched the streets and buildings of Gotham city roll by. Unintentionally, pointing out the ones she had visited on her nights out as Kitty. "When you know the way enough you could start walking to school if you like. But that might have to wait until you've been here a little while longer." Maven said as she interrupted Sam's building counting.
"I actually like walking, that might be really fun. I'll have to start memorizing the path for the future."
Maven smiled. A moment of silence passed before Maven spoke again. "Do you like being Kitty?"
"O-of course. Even without training, I'm it's a lot of fun. And what better way to see the city than to climb up its builds, walk on its roof tops, and do some breaking-and-entering."
Maven gave a halfhearted smile "You don't really approve of some of what you're doing, huh."
Samantha looked down "I see my subtly is not 100% in the morning." Sam sighed. "It doesn't bother me that much. I mean breaking into buildings, I'm surprisingly fine with that, and it kinda feels like urban exploring anyway. And anything else we do we do for a good reason I don't really mind either…" She paused for a moment, "…But it's fine, I don't really let myself be bothered by that."
Sam said no more, not wishing to burden Maven with the uncertainties of some of the job, and instead returned to window starring. Maven looked at her sympathetically then made a left turn. Two minutes passed and Samantha watched as her new school came into view. Her eyes widened, the school was huge, it looked like an elite school, which it was. The grounds surrounding the school seemed to stretch on for miles behind and around the school. The grass was lush and green, the front of the school was decorated with a large sign that said Gotham Academy. Surrounding the sign was a presentation of colorful flowers. Dotting the grounds were a variety of students all dressed in the same uniform, with various little differences in the uniform. As Maven pulled up to the front and drop her off, Sam felt a pang of sickness in her stomach. Opening her door, she stepped out and grabbed her school bag before closing the car door. Turning to Maven through the open window she spoke, "Good bye Maven."
"Have a good day Samantha I'll pick you up here after school, Oh and here is your schedule." Maven replied. Maven stretched out her arm through the window holding a sheet of paper. Sam reached through the window and took the piece of paper. She stood there for a few moments watching Maven drive off. She turned to face the school and sighed.
'Yeah, have a good day. It's only the first day of a new school year, at a new school, thousands of miles away from anyone I actually know. Yes, this will be a fantastic day.' Sam though sarcastically to herself. As she stood in front of the school she heard a large bell. As soon as the bell sounded all the students started walking to their classes. she looked up at the giant clock on the front of the school. It read 7:40, time for students to head to class. Samantha looked down at her schedule. It read different thus.
A-day:
1st block History
2nd block Calculus
A Lunch
3rd block English
4th block Spanish
B-day:
1st block Philosophy of Knowledge
2nd block Marching Band
A Lunch
3rd block Biology
4th block Study Hall
To the side of each period it had the time and the teacher name. But at that point in time Sam didn't care what time the class was or what teacher she had. All she cared about was that the schedule in no way told her where these classes where! 'Where am I supposed to go?!' She thought to herself.
She was just about to start walking and hope that she found a staff member to help her when she heard a voice behind her say, "Hello". Sam turned around to see a young boy about her age in a navy-blue uniform with black pants. She looked him over he was about 5'8" in height, with a thin frame. His hair was blonde and seemed to hug his head. This color stuck out considerable against his dark skin, his bark brown eyes seemed curious.
"Hi." She said back.
He looked her over, "You new?"
She smiled "Oh, is it that obvious?" she asked.
He smiled "Naw, just haven't seen you around before."
She laughed. "I should think so, I'm actually from Florida. I just got the Wayne scholarship to come here."
He chuckled "Yeah, that would explain it."
Awkward silence passed between them.
"I…I'm Karter, Karter Jabari Jackson." He said and held out his hand.
"Uh, Samantha Stebbins, but most people just call me Sam." She replied shaking his slightly calloused hand.
"So, earlier you were looking quite lost."
"That would be because I was."
Karter smiled, "Maybe I could help, who do you have for first block?".
Sam looked down at the sheet of paper in her hand, "Mrs. Whitewell" She said finally.
"Sweet, she's my first block teacher too. Come on, let's go before we're late." Karter turned and started walking towards the front doors of the school.
Sam began to follow him into the school a smile on her face, 'Maybe this won't be so bad.'
Karter lead Sam through the school as she worked on memorizing the path. They reached Mrs. Whitewell's classroom just two minutes before the bell rang. The room was a normal sized classroom with about 21 students inside. Karter took a seat near the front and motioned for Sam to sit next to him. She moved forward and set down her things. As she started getting out her materials and laying them neatly on her desk Karter decided to make some small talk.
"So how good are you at history?" Karter asked her.
Sam turned her attention to him and said. "Pretty good actually, good enough to get in this school at least."
Karter nodded and put on an impressed face, "Not bad, not bad."
The bell rang and the classroom got quiet. The door closed and the teacher walked in Mrs. Whitewell, a short stubby blonde woman in a pink dress and high heels, came in and sat down at her desk. "Hello class, I hope you've all had a great summer. Today's going to be really, simple. We're just going to be taking notes so you should all get out a piece of paper and a pencil or pen." The class moved almost in unison as everyone reached in their bag for the required materials. Sam grabed a stack of paper from her binder for this class and a pencil. Setting them on her desk she prepared for a long day.
1st block history went by slow, but Sam was looking forward to her second block. When the bell finally rang Karter looked up at Sam, "What's your next block?" He asked.
"I have Calc. with Mr. Soma." Sam replied.
Karter nodded and grabbed what appeared to be a from out of his bag.
"Here, I probably should have given this to you earlier." He handed her the paper and she gazed at it.
"It's a map of the school…", he went on, "…to get Mr. Soma's room you just take a left from this class go down the second staircase and just keep heading right until the end of the hall."
Sam smiled "Thanks Karter, See ya."
"Bye."
The two went their separate ways as Sam found Mr. Soma's room. When she approached the door, she saw the same basic set up as before. Average sized classroom with about 21 kids in it, only this time, she knew absolutely no one. Mr. Soma came in and class started. Not one for math Sam found she liked this teacher he was cool. His black hair and Asian appearance didn't faze her, she had begun to learn that Gotham was more diverse than she thought. His lesson was filled with jokes and Star Wars references, she didn't realize she was having so much fun until the bell rang signifying lunch.
Leaving the room, she set off to find the lunch room. After some difficulty, she had made it not to the lunch room, but instead to the library. 'Great.'
She was just about to leave when she heard Karter's voice calling her name. Turning around he found him already sitting at a table within the library eating lunch. Entering the doors, she walked over to him and sat down. "So, how's your first day going?" He asked.
Sam sighed. "So far, you're the only friend I've made and in all my classes I've taken notes, so in other words good."
Karter frowned slightly, "I'm gonna have to introduce you to Nat."
Sam looked up at him confused, "Nat? Who's Nat?"
Karter paused before waving his hand in the air and saying "Never mind, I'll tell you later. Anyway, how bad was Calc.? I have that tomorrow and I don't want it to be hard."
Sam smiled slightly "Calc. was actually fun. I like Mr. Soma, he will give you home…work…though…CRAP!"
Karter jumped when she yelled, "What?!"
Sam got up suddenly, "I'll be back, I forgot my Calc. text book in Mr. Soma's." She said and got up from the table.
"Wait why do you need it?" Karter called after her.
"Cause that's what the homework's in!" she shouted back.
Sam fast walked all the way to Mr. Soma's classroom. Luck was on her side as the door to his classroom was open. She went in and grabbed her book on her desk. As she ran out the classroom her eyes widened as she came within six inches of bumping into a girl. Acting on instinct, Sam leaned slightly on her right foot before using that momentum to leap out of the way, twisting her body to avoid the girl.
"Hey, watch where you're going new girl!" Sam looked back at the girl whom she had just managed to avoid hitting.
"Oh, sorry, my bad."
"What are you blind?" the girl yelled back.
Sam, now greatly annoyed, glared back at her. She was tall and thin with strawberry blonde hair, her skin was fair, complementing her black eyes. Her uniform was very form fitting, her skirt was very short, and she wore red heels. Sam was pretty sure that was against some dress code.
"No, but you might want to get your eyes checked if you think that skirt follows dress code." Sam replied without thinking. 'Nice going Sam, why would you say that?'
The girl's crystal eyes flared, she didn't like that remark. "Uh, I would watch my words if I were you Tom-boy."
Sam's eye began to twitch, taking a deep breath, she replied. "Look I said I was sorry." the words came out in a semi-sarcastic manner.
The girl was not impressed with her answer as was evident when she said, "I can change your life here, I have connections and I would hate for you to make an enemy on your first day."
By this point Sam had had enough and dropped all filters in her head for politeness "I missed the part where I cared, sorry princess." She remarked. The girl's cheeks went red as she huffed, turned on her heel and left. Sam sighed and shook her head. That encounter reminded her of the bullies that would target her sister. Disappointed by that fact she continued on her way down the hall to the library. Once inside she found Karter at the table and sat down. Her body language gave away her encounter with the girl in the hall. Karter was reading his history book and was already in chapter 8 when he looked up, "That took longer than expected. You get lost?"
Sam sighed. Sighing was becoming habit of hers of late. "Do you know a girl with long strawberry blonde hair, a tight uniform, mini skirt, heels, and a habit of being rude and annoying?"
Karter thought for a moment "Does she have black eyes?" he asked
Sam raised an eyebrow, "Yeah."
"Her name is Nora Snow."
Sam knit her eyes together, "Nora Snow?"
"Yeah."
Sam continued the think on it. 'Nora Snow, why does that sound familiar?'
And then it clicked 'SNOW! That's the name of the person MR. Kane was exchanging emails with!' She made a mental note.
Glancing at Karter she thought about asking him for more information. 'No Sam, it's not the right time.'
Opening her newly retrieved textbook she started doing her math homework 'Derivatives, great' She thought to herself. Half way through her homework her ears picked up a kid at the table next to theirs talking to his friends.
"Yeah dude, the Joker was caught two days ago. Batman got 'em though in an abandoned factory."
The guys buddy replied bored "Oh come on Lance, Batman is the only one who ever catches him."
Hearing this made her remember the factory, and more importantly it reminded her of the article in the paper that morning. "Hey Karter."
Karter looked up from the middle of chapter 8. "Yeah."
She paused, "Never mind."
'On second thought, I'd get more information if I asked Catwoman or Robin.' She thought to herself.
Karter looked unsure, "You sure?"
Sam smiled "Yeah."
Karter shrugged and took another bite of his lunch before returning to his book.
The rest of her day went by smoothly. She took notes in every class, got home work, the usual of what she was expecting. Before she went to meet Maven though she found the band room and talked to the band director. She did a quick test and was now in line to being accepted into the drumline as 1st bass. After this shot encounter she went to the front of the school and waved goodbye to Karter as he began his walk home.
"Bye Sam!"
Sam smiled and waved "See ya, Karter!"
After she stopped waving her initial excitement at seeing her only friend wore off, she now realized she was alone. Deciding to wait for Maven on a bench on the front lawn of the school. She took out her history book and had just started to read the girl from earlier, whom Sam now knew as Nora Snow walked up. Only this time she had a posy of about 3 other girls. They all seemed to dress the same, or at least to same they did. She saw no individuality with their outfits.
Sam kept her head down as she approached, secretly hoping Nora wouldn't be so annoying as to bother her. But alas she was once again out of luck.
"Awe, looks like new girl doesn't have a ride home."
Sam looked from chapter 7 of her history book and frowned, "Oh, it's you." She said unimpressed.
Nora smirked at Sam's lack of sass, "What got nothing to say when my friends are around?"
"Look I think, we started off on the wrong foot…" Sam closed her book and set it in her lap, "…my name's Sam.
"Oh, thanks. Because that's why I don't like you. I didn't know you name. but now we can be best friends! Loser!" Nora snapped. Her "friends'' giggled. Sam tolerance level of this girl was slowly decreasing out of Nora's sheer annoyance, normally it wouldn't really bother her but she was tired. She was just about to say something she probably would regret when she stopped. Her hand drifted to an old-fashioned key that she always wore around her neck. She gave it a squeeze and took a deep breath before she turned to Nora and smiled nicely before saying, "Thank you for making your feelings of hostility known Nora."
Sam scolded herself mentally, 'Dang it, that still came out passive aggressive. Stupid Sam stupid!'
Nora suddenly stopped laughing "How do you know my name? I never told you-" She asked.
'crap, uhhhhh, just role with it!' "I have my ways." Sam said as nice as she could, cutting Nora off. 'wow, nice one Sam, you should write a book'. Just then a saving grace known as Maven pulled up. Sam looked at the car and almost sighed in relief 'Oh thank god!'
Sam then turned to Nora and said "Goodbye, have a nice day." Then walked to Mavens car in the calmest manner she could possible muster.
Once inside Maven looked at the group of girls still by the bench and asked, "New friends." Sam buckled up, "No."
Maven pulled the car away her brow furrowed, "Enemies?"
Sam brought her hand to her chin and thought for a moment.
"Annoyances."
Authors Note: Hello again. Once again sorry I took so long to get this chapter done. I had lots of testing at school. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review (all criticism welcome). And hit me up with any suggestions. Literally, ANY suggestions, new element in the story, character name, new idea for a chapter, anything! Until next time. Bye :)