Authors Note: Hello again. I Say that a lot. Anyway a thanks to JediKendalina and xSapphirexRosesxFanx for your reviews. You people are wonderful. I love you people. I have been caught up in Band camp lately and my computer died at the beginning of the summer so sorry that it took so long to get this out. Well I hope you like this chapter and Enjoy:)
While Maven drove, Samantha stared out the window. Maven was the first broke the silence "This came for you in the mail."
It was a white envelope. Samantha took it and looked at the address in the top left corner. "It's from my family. But they don't know I'm staying with you."
Maven smiled "I took the liberty of sending a letter to them explaining every thing they needed to know."
She placed the letter on her lap and looked outside. She watched through the window as the bustle of the city turned into a city side highway. As she turned onto the Greenway exit the scene outside the window changed again. This time to the calmness of the woods. "Wait, where are we going?"
Maven replied happily "Training." She pulled off the main road and onto a dirt road. After a while Maven stopped the car "This is where we part ways for now." Samantha got out of the car. Maven rolled down the window and tossed Samantha her Kitty mask and belt "I'm going to put your stuff in your room on your bed."
"Um, okay but were am I supposed to go?" She said after she caught the mask.
"Just go strait." Maven rolled the window, backed up and drove away. Samantha watched her leave then put her mask and belt on and went straight into the forest.
"Who knew that a forest this large and dense would be so near to Gotham?" She thought to herself. After a few more steps she walked into a small clearing on trees. As she walked into the clearing she got a strange feeling that she was being watched. Her hand instinctively moved towards her belt. Her finger tips softly brushed the top of her silver horizontal diamond shaped belt. Then a branch snapped behind her. Her head whipped around just in time to see a foot going right towards her face. She ducked out of the way and got into fighting stance. Her attacker landed upright and turning around said "Good duck, but it would have been better if you had grabbed my foot and used my strength and force against me."
Samantha recognized the voice and was shocked "Selina?!" The woman turned around and smiled. She too had her mask and belt on. Samantha stood confused "What are we doing in the middle of the forest and why did you attack me?"
Selina put her hand on her whip "Welcome to training."
"Ohhhhh." Samantha said finally understanding the situation. "That's why we're in the forest, got it. So what shall I learn first Sensei."
Selina put her hands up. "Hand-to-hand combat."
Samantha put her hands up also "I do know some combat mostly Karate, kendo, archery, and knives."
Selina's face twisted into one of confusion. "Kendo, the Japanese way of the sword?"
Samantha nodded a little embarrassed. "Yeah."
"Why Kendo? That's an odd skill to have."
Samantha's face was raw now "One year I asked my dad for a samurai sword. I was a saint all year and he bought me a sword."
"So you decided to learn how to use it and not for show?" Selina inquired
"Well I figured a sword is just a useless piece of metal unless you know how to use it, so I got lessons." Selina shrugged and began to advance on Samantha. Samantha began to back up "Um Selina what are you doing."
"I have to know what you know so I can be your teacher." Suddenly Selina attacked with a punch to Samantha's face. Samantha held her fore arms up in an X in front of her face. Selina went to knee Samantha in her gut but Samantha stepped back sideways and avoided the attack. "Good but you can't just block." Selina said as she rushed towards Samantha. Her "Kitty" instincts rushed in and she blocked Selina's right hand punch with her right arm and punched hard with her left and hit her in her shoulder. Selina backed up and put her hand on her shoulder. "Ouch, nice punch. But you don't have to punch so hard in training."
Samantha's face was red again "Sorry I'm used to punching hard." Selina and her pupil spared more all the while Selina gave tips. They took a break from sparing and sat down in the shade of a tree.
"While we rest I'll show you how to use this." Selina brought out a small square electronic device that had a screen with a map on it and several small buttons. There was a dot on it that was blinking and beeping and another dot that was consistent and small.
"What's this?" she asked turning it over in her hands.
"Its tracker." She pulled out three small flat round discs that had blinking lights. "You put this disc face down on something like a car and as it moves you can track where it goes on the screen." She pointed to the large beeping dot on the screen "This large dot tracks where one or more of the discs are and the small dot tells you were this controller is." Samantha nodded then put the device and seven of the discs in her belt. Samantha leaned back against the tree. Then closes her eyes for a few seconds she took a deep breath and absorbed the knowledge she had learned. When she exhaled and opened her eyes she saw Selina holding something else in her hand. She sat up and realized that it was a small jet black whip. "If you're going to be my protégé you're going to need this." Samantha picked up the whip as if it were a priceless artifact. She stared at it and stood up. Gripping the handle she let the rest unravel. In one swift movement she raised her arm and flicked her wrist. The whip quickly snapped and made a small "CRACK!" "Nice." Selina commented.
"It's all in the wrists, being a drummer pays off." She said as she moved her wrist up and down. Selina smiled. Samantha smiled too but then her mood turned to a thoughtful melancholy. "Selina when I met robin and Batman they acted like it was bad that I work with you like you are a criminal and we did brake in entry at that zoo and commit a federal offence. So what are we criminals or vigilantes?"
"Samantha, I fight crime and do what I think is best for the law while operating outside of the law but unlike Batman I am willing to break the law more for the greater good. We're not on the side of good or bad I just do what I think is best. Sometimes I steal but I'll leave you out of that. We are neither vigilante nor criminal." Selina replied. She went forward and put her hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Maven should be getting back by now let's go." They walked through the trees and dense foliage and made it back to the dirt road and found Mavens car. On the car ride back Samantha continued to stare out the window. That was also becoming a habit.
When they got back Taz was waiting by the door to greet Samantha. Samantha picked her up and kissed her on her head then carried her to her room. Taz jumped from her arms onto the bed. Samantha picked up the letter from her family and set it down on her bedside table. "I need to get my homework done first before I read it." She said out loud to herself. She did that sometimes when she was alone or with Taz. She went over to an old oak wood desk at the other end of the room where she had set up her laptop. She got out her Algebra 1 Honors book and homework. Taz jumped up on her desk and laid down on her closed laptop. "Okay Parabola's Question #1. Create an equation in standard form then graph the equation and identify the line of symmetry." Samantha put her head down and said sarcastically "Step 1: Look at the problem. Step 2: Write the problem. Step 3: Cry" She lifted her head and started on the problem after 5 minutes she finished. And continued on. 20 minutes later she finished her math homework then reached into her bag to get out her science homework. She pulled out a small file of papers her teacher had given her. Most of it was a science book and informational pages to get her caught up but she noticed a small paper that read SCIENCE CLASS TRIP AT GOTHAM HARBOR PERMISSION SHEET her couroustiy sparked she read on This class trip is a hands-on learning experience to show students how the moon effects on earths tides. Student's parents will have to drive their kids to the doc at Gotham Harbor on Friday September 12 at 10PM and pick them up at 10:30 to 11PM. This is an optional trip and will not hurt your student's grade. If your child is going please sign this sheet and return as quickly as possible. She finished reading "Friday September 12, that's tomorrow." She got up and went to find Selina she found her at her beauty table putting in a pair of Perl earrings. Selina noticed her in the mirror and announced "I'm going out tonight so you will have the house to yourself."
"Okay, um would you sign this permission sheet to let me go to a class trip?"
Samantha handed the paper to Selina who took it and read it over "Sure." She took out a pen and signed. "Maven." Maven walked in the room from the kitchen "Samantha's going on a school trip would you mind taking her?" She asked as she gave Maven the sheet she had signed. Maven read it over "Of course." She said and handed the paper back to Samantha. She thanked them both and wished them a good night then walked back to her room. She finished her science, history, writing, and started on the Shakespearean play she had to read in her reading class. A play called "To be, or not to be." It was one of William Shakespeare's comedies and although it wasn't Samantha's favorite one of Shakespeare's plays, that title belonged to "Hamlet", it was still one of her favorites. She looked at the clock 8:50PM. She yawned stretched then picked up her drum sticks, drum pad, and music book. She took out her music she had gotten the snare part of a piece called Afterburn by Randall D. Standridge. She practiced for 20 minutes. Then Taz decided that it was time for bed and knocked her music onto the floor. She crawled into bed and fell asleep instantly.
The next morning she awoke to the sound of her alarm clock ringing. She looked at the time on her clock 6:30 She sighed and rolled out of her bed. Leaving the warmth of her covers and exposing her skin to the cold air. She put on her uniform and grabbed her bag. She met Maven at the door grabbed a piece of toast and left for school. While in the car Samantha was reading the play when Maven spoke "So did you make any friends and what's this about an enemy."
Samantha looked up from the play and said "She's just a prissy little girly girl that hates me for some reason and thinks that because she's apparently popular she has the power to stomp on me, idiot. But I did make friends with a boy named Karter Jackson."
"That's good." They arrived at the school "Don't forget to turn the permission sheet in." Maven said and she drove away.
Samantha waved goodbye and found Karter waiting for her at the entrance "Second day, and its Friday!" He exclaimed to her. She laughed and walked to their first class. They turned in their history homework then went played a history game where you quiz your friends. Samantha paired up with Karter and won 16 to 7, turns out Karter was pretty bad at the American Revolution. Then she went to second period math turned in her homework got more homework and went off to third. At third period she turned her permission sheet into Mr. Taylor then sat down at a two person desk next to a girl with long raven hair and startling emerald eyes. Her skin was fair and she twisted her full lips into a smiled when she saw Samantha sit down. "Hi, it looks like we're lab partners."
Samantha smiled too "I guess so, but how did you know that?"
The girl replied happily "Mr. Taylor is choosing lab partners to day based on where we are sitting."
"Oh." Samantha said then introduced herself "I'm Samantha Tambrini, it's my second day here."
"I'm Terra Hutchcraft." The bell rang and Mr. Taylor announced that the person you were seated next to would be your lab partner for the rest of the year. During the class each group made a model representation of the moon and Earths. Samantha and Terra's model consisted of a foam ball for the moon and a tray filled with water that you tilted to show the tides. They got an "A". Before the bell rang Mr. Taylor reminded everyone about the trip that night and they all left for study hall. Terra and Samantha walked to study hall together and found Karter. Karter told Samantha that Terra and he were actually friends before they had met Samantha. And that they lived right across from each other. "What are the odds?" She said and they all laughed. But unfortunately Nora Snow walked by the table. Samantha did her best not to make eye contact she had learned a while back that she had what her sister calls a "death glare" but unfortunately Nora opened her mouth. "So you're going on the class trip?" She said in a snobbish fashion.
Samantha looked up and stared right into her eyes "Yes." She said calmly. "Aren't you?"
"No" Nora snapped. "The harbor is dirty and messy beside I have better things to do."
Samantha looked confused "then why did you ask if I was going?" Samantha said puzzled.
"Because loser, I saw your name on the list and I'm curious to see if you really do need the extra help."
Karter's hands rolled into fists and Terra started to get up but Samantha stopped them. "If you read the permission sheet it said it was voluntary Miss Priss, and I currently have an "A" in science." Samantha said as nice as she could. Nora sneered and stomped away. Leaving the trio to themselves. Samantha looked down and noticed that Karter was reading the morning paper very intently. "Anything interesting? Any good crimes or mugs to report." She joked. Karter's eyes didn't leave the page and he didn't say a word. "Karter?" Samantha asked.
"My Uncle Kirk was attacked last night!."
Samantha's eyes grew wide as did Terra's "What happened?" Terra asked
"It says here that he war working late at night when some thugs broke in and started harassing him, asking him questions when Batman swooped in and saved him but the thugs got away. Thankfully Uncle Kirk wasn't hurt." Karter read aloud.
"At least your uncles okay." Samantha commented.
Karter still a little worried said that he would call his uncle after school to check "But in sure he's fine." Karter said with a smile. The rest of the day went by smoothly. Miss Priss didn't show her face, she had fifth and sixth period with her new friend Terra. And had homework in only two classes. Even the car ride with Maven was very pleasant. When she got back to the house she found Taz waiting for her at the door finished her homework in and said good bye to Taz and Selina as she left with Maven to go to the Gotham Harbor.
They arrived at the doc 10 O'clock sharp. Samantha got out of the car and asked Maven to be back at 10:45. She walked towards the group of people on the doc. It was high tide and she found Karter and Terra at the edge of the doc with Mr. Taylor. 10 kids still hadn't shown up so they had to wait. Samantha sat down on the doc and talked to Karter and Terra. "SO Karter how's your uncle?" she asked
"I called him he said he's fine and the thugs weren't too harsh."
"That's good." Terra said.
"So who is your uncle anyway? I mean he made it into the paper after all." Samantha inquired.
"He's a Zoologist at the Gotham City Zoo, he experiments with Bat mutagen in the hopes of replicating its long life."
Samantha was confused "What reason could they have for going after him?"
"Don't know but they were asking him questions about his work." Karter explained
"They could have been hired by anyone or acting alone either way we all should watch the streets." Terra informed them
"Wait it was just a couple of thugs nothing to fret about." Samantha stated
"In Gotham we have loads of Criminals, like a crazy clown called the Joker, a weird man who's obsessed with birds called the Penguin, and a woman obsessed with plants called Poison Ivy." Karter said.
"Oh." Samantha stated in awe.
"And what city isn't complete without a self proclaimed crime lord and gang boss." Terra added
"Where do they go once there caught." Samantha asked
"To Arkham Asylum most of them. Gotham is filled with certifiably nutcases." Terra answered.
"Do the police catch all of them?" Samantha asked hoping that this question would lead to information on Batman.
"No, Batman catches most of them then delivers them to the police to pass judgment."
Samantha looked down "Oh. Well... wait... how do you know all of this stuff? This doesn't sound like this is public info!?" Samantha asked confused.
"My uncle is a detective for the Gotham City police Department, Detective Harvey Bullock. When I grow up I want to be a scientist but I also want to be a detective and he says the first step in being a good detective is know your enemy, so he tells me everything."
"Oh." Samantha said the fog starting to lift in her brain. "So your uncles a Zoologist, your uncles a detectives, and my uncle...uh...does...does something, but my dads a doctor!" They all laughed whole heartedly.
Two minutes passed by and Mr. Taylor called everyone to gather round. All eyes turned on him as he talked and pointed at the moon showing and explaining how the Moons gravitational pull created the tides. "If you watch the water you will see the tide change from hi tide to low tide." Mr. Taylor said in a gruffly voice. Everyone walked to the side of the doc and intently watched the water. Suddenly two figures burst out of the surface of the water. The students barely had time to duck or jump out of the way before they landed in the middle of the doc. Samantha got up and looked to see who it was who leaped out of the water. There in the middle of the doc Batman was fighting a huge grey lizard skinned man in a battle of strength and Batman was losing. All of the kids stood dumbfounded.
"Give it up Batman, Killer Croc can do this all night." The man said. Killer Croc had Batman pinned under him. By this time most of the students had he sense to call the cops. Samantha new she had to do something when she spotted an anchor on the doc and she got an idea. She calmly picked up the anchor and walked behind Killer Croc. Batman watched as she raised the heavy anchor high over her head and brought it down on the back of Killer Croc's head. Killer Croc went dizzy for a second and Batman punched him in the face. Killer Croc fell over on his side unconscious. Batman got up and tied up Killer Croc with the rope attached to the anchor. Then he looked over at Samantha and said "Thanks."
"Don't mention it but you should probably go." The police cars pulled up and everyone's eyes turned to the sirens. Samantha looked back and Batman was gone.
The police did their usual thing took the bad guy, questioned people, and called everyone's parents. Samantha found Terra and Karter who looked at her shocked "That was amazing!" Terra told her
"It was nothing I was just thinking clearly in a bad situation." She defended.
"But how did you know that would knock him out?" Karter asked astonished.
"I didn't know. I just saw something big and heavy and grabbed it."
"Well, you're going to do fine here. But it's not a good idea to have anything to do with the criminal master minds in this city, if you anger them they'll find you and maime you." Terra warned.
"Alright." Samantha reassured them.
"My uncles going to be here in a minute and he'll probably want to ask us all questions." Samantha and Karter nodded. They heard the sound of car tires and turned their heads to see three news vans pull up. Samantha got nervous, the last thing she didn't want the press asking her questions.
She looked at her friends "Hold on a moment I need to call someone and exercise my constitutional rights." She got out her phone and dialed Mavens number.
"Hello?" Maven asked
"Hi Maven, it's me I need you to park as close as possible I need to leave fast." She said as fast as she could with Maven being able to understand her.
"Yes." Maven replied then hung up.
Samantha put her phone away and then turned to see Summer Gleeson of Gotham Insider starting to ask some people about what happened. Not taking her eyes off of Summer she said good bye to Terra and Karter and then worked on disappearing by hiding in plain sight. Her plan worked for two minutes until a fellow student ratted her out and then pointed her out through the crowd. "Crap" she thought to herself but then her salvation arrived. She saw the familiar blue of Mavens car. And casual and as fast as she could walked to her car and got in "Drive."
"Should I ask what happened or should I just wait and watch the news?" Maven asked her.
"Wait besides I have a bigger problem, reporters will want to interview me."
"Good job saving the Bats." Selina said. Samantha slumped down on the couch.
"What do I do now? Do I use my freedom from the press or do I play along." She put her hand on her face and Taz sat on her lap.
Selina got up "Play along, no one will suspect if you play along."
Samantha was slightly shocked but it made sense "So do I call her or…" She asked
"No shell find you." Selina said then started for bed "You're probably tired you should go and get some rest." Samantha agreed then started for bed with Taz at her heels.
When she got in her room she Taz jumped on her bed and laid down. Samantha layed flat on her bed stareing at her ceiling. She wasn't tired, on the contrary the ordeal left her wide awake. She turned to look at her night stand and saw the letter her family had wrote her. She picked it up and went over to her desk. She opened it with the letter opener on her desk. She reached inside and took out the letter, she recognized the neat handwriting of her older sister, Abby.
Dear Sami,
We have so many questions to ask you. How are you? How are things in Gotham? How's school? Haven you made any friends? We would prefer you write in letter because of the cost of long distance calls. We have been notified of your housing arrangements and are glad it worked out. Mrs. Selina Kyle seems nice. Things are fine back home although the rest of the animals are wondering were you and Taz have gone. We miss you and can't wait to hear your reply. We miss you.
Love,
Mom, Dad, and Abby
P.S. We saw this in the paper and were wondering if Mrs. Kyle would be interested. Miss you. Bye
Samantha Reached back in the envelope and took out the newspaper clipping. It was about the endangered Florida Panther and how it's becoming extinct and how the BIG CATS organization is working to help the panther population. She put the clipping down "I'm sure Selina will be interested."
She walked over to her window balcony and gazed at the stars. She was thinking of her family and if they would approve of her being Kitty. Sighing she looked down at the city and noticed a man breaking into a building across the street. She put on her costume and opened the window. She looked back and saw Taz in a deep sleep she left her to sleep peacefully and jumped out of the window. And using her claws climbed down the wall into an alley. She found an old over coat and put it on. She walked across the street and walked into another alley way to take it off. Then found the building were the man broke in. She climbed in through an open window and found the man busily trying to open a safe with a power drill. "Stupid lock." He said frustrated. He was making so much noise he didn't even hear her come in. she walked behind him and tapped his shoulder. He turned around and his face collided with her fist. He grasped his right eye in pain and got up. "What the? Hey you're not Batman? Who are you?" Kitty was silent and unshaved her claws. He lunged for her but she side stepped and karate chopped him at the base of the cranium as hard as she could. He went down out cold. She looked at him and smirked now all that was left was to leave him were the police would find him. She walked over to his uncousouse body, grabbed his legs and pulled. He was heavier than she thought. She tried to move him but she wasn't strong enough. So she took his jacket off and tied him up with it, then she called the police and told them. When she heard sirens she climbed to the roof. And watched as the police entered the building. While she was watching this she heard a dark bruiting voice behind her say "Why?" She spun around and saw Batman and Robin standing behind her.
"Why what?" She asked him
"Why did you do that?" Batman asked "Why do you two do that." She replied matter of factly.
Batman's eyes narrowed "What do you want?" Robin asked her
"I'm new to this place and I want to know about the people here, particularly you and people like the Joker and Mr. Freeze."
Batman was the one who answered "The Joker and Mr. Freeze are criminals who are crazed and are put in Arkham Asylum along with others like the Penguin."
Kitty nodded "and you fight these people along with anyone else who does crime." She asked
"Yes" Kitty filed that information away. "Now why do you work with Catwoman?" He asked her.
Kitty sensed that now would be a good time to leave. "Look Batman, Robin you can relax I'm not a criminal and I'm not your enemy. Bye" and with that she jumped off the building and onto the fire escape. She ran down and found Batman waiting at the bottom. She unsheathed her claws "I don't want to use these." She said he took a step forward she backed up but saw robin appear behind her. Kitty was surrounded. She was debating giving up when a black cat landed on Robins shoulder distracting him. Kitty ran forward and passed him. The cat jumped off of him and climbed up a down spout while Kitty jumped over the fence at the back of the alley. Robin started to run after her but was stopped by Batman. "But-" He started to say before he was cut off "We need her to trust us first or she won't talk." Robin nodded and followed Batman out of the alley."
Kitty ran as fast as she could through streets filled with traffic over fences and garbage cans and around buildings until she finally rounded a corner and stopped. She slouched down on the ground and sighed heavly. A white calico alley cat walked up to her and started purring while rubbing against her legs. Kitty smiled and petted the stray then got a snack out of her belt and fed it to the tomcat. "Here eat this" she said. He eat it happily and gave a delighted "meow" and licked her. Kitty chuckled "Well now that we're friends I guess I should name you." she thought for a moment "What do you think of... Felix?" Felix must have liked his new name because he jumped up and licked her nose. "Okay Felix it is." She smiled and returned to petting him. Suddenly Felix's head turned towards the street, his ears moved forward then without warning he bent them back. Kitty knew what it meant and closed her eyes to listen. After a few seconds she heard the faint sound of a car. Kitty opened her eyes and looked at Felix. "I need your help." Felix turned and coked his head towards her as if to say. "What do you need?" "I need you to show me the fastest way out of here." Felix sat up strait and puffed out his chest. Then he trotted to a small hole in the side of a building and went in. Kitty followed him through the hole which was about the sized of a doggie door and up three flights of steps to the roof three stories up. Once there Felix walked across two old wooden beams that connected two buildings. Kitty stepped in the beams, crouched low, and put her arms out to keep balance on the unstable beam and started to walk across. But once she took her third step the Beams decided to give out and they broke beneath her feet while she was three stories up in the air. To startled to say a word she fell.
Authors Note: Hello again! What an ending huh? I wonder what will happen to our beloved heroine? I guess you'll just have to keep reading and find out, because I could just kill her off. Hey my story. I'm making you wait, yes I am. Anyway I really hope you've enjoyed this. Please comment/review. I start high school in a few weeks so it might be harder to get chapters out but I will manage. Until next time. Bye:)