So, it was pointed out to me that I have been making some spelling mistakes. Sadly I'm a horrible typer (my fingers seem to love the letter "e" and sometimes I catch it and sometimes I don't), and if the word I accidentally type is a real word spell checker doesn't pick it up. But I have gone through the previous chapter and fixed all I could find. I'm hoping to do a more thorough check through all the chapters soon.

But thanks to SaintAugustana for pointing that out. I really don't like to leave a ton of mistakes in my writing like that!

Chapter 11: Better Abilities

There have been many times I have been surprised by events in my life. It so happened that the day of school just a week before my birthday in April was one of them. Police and cameras were visible outside the cafeteria window if you were brave enough to lift yourself off the floor to look. About a dozen men dressed in black with ski masks were all over the room, demanding money in exchange for all the lives of the students at the school they had just herded into the center of the building.

This was a stupid crime that I was sure I could take care of in a second since all the men seemed quite cowardly and weak to go after children. But instead had allowed myself to be steered into this area by the thugs, and I now stayed on the floor with everyone else. I had to figure out how to handle it intelligently. If I just got up and fought I might as well just let everyone at the school know I was living and training with Batman.

I took a deep breath and made my presence invisible, making sure the black hood of my sweatshirt was up. Then I soundlessly slipped to the edge of the room where the lunch plates were stacked. Not a single student or criminal noticed me while I remained still and silent in my well chosen spot. I had learned from the best how to stay completely hidden, and it was also one of the many reasons I always wore dark colored clothing.

I waited patiently, choosing my moment right. One man with a gun was on the phone demanding money faster and threatening to start killing one child for every five minutes he had to wait. He pointed his gun at Seth, and put his finger on the trigger. I knew it was the right time as everyone's eyes were on the gun.

I quickly knocked over a large stack of plates so they fell and smashed in pieces on the ground. While everyone's eyes were scanning the area around the broken plates I used my speed and fled around the guy guarding the exit, grabbed the door, and opened it. By the time everyone looked at the open door I was already out of the cafeteria. I climbed up to the rafters on the ceiling using the door frame, and as I knew they would, the majority of the gunmen in the room ran out to investigate.

I kept my head down and dropped from the ceiling onto the one right below me, knocking him out as I kicked him in the head. A short but furious battle followed as I swiftly used all my training to knock each of them out before they even got a chance to look at me. Of course with all the noise the rest of the criminals came out, and I quickly saw to it that they joined the others unconscious on the hard school floor.

I turned around and smirked at the dark figure who had just arrived behind me about a minute ago. "Sorry," I said quietly to Batman. "You were too slow to get here, but I have to go back in now." I left him standing still and speechless as I unoticeably snuck back within my peers, so nobody would notice I was gone.

"I'm not in trouble am I?" I asked Bruce sheepishly as he came to pick me up some twenty minutes later. Everyone was going home from school early after what had just happened. "I mean, I didn't go looking for the fight, it came to me, and I handled it."

"Of course you're not in trouble," he said earnestly. "You handled it well and quickly. Police and the media are still very confused about what happened."

"Yeah, but because of that, they're attributing our sudden safety to you," I said with a grin. "It makes you look even more mysterious and legendary."

My success with the hostage situation made me feel very excited and energetic. I even had to be told to quiet down and stop talking by Alfred several times. But I had to be reminded that Bruce was trying to sleep, since the incident at the school had disrupted his usual rest.

It wasn't the only good thing to happen in one day, since later that evening Dick stopped by for dinner. "You came!" I squealed, running up to him. He grabbed my arms and threw me into the air, where I did three back flips while he kicked up to a perfectly balanced handstand. Then I landed neatly on his feet so he could throw me in the air again with his leg, jump to his feet and catch me out my second forward flip.

"I've told you guys to not do that in the house," Bruce growled from behind the morning paper.

"Well you won't let me in the Batcave to have fun," I complained.

"No, and it's a good thing I don't. Surely I would find something broken if I let you down there alone," he said coolly. "You guys still don't need to do that at all. A simple hello should suffice as greeting."

"He's an acrobat, and I'm a gymnast. We have to do things like this in greeting," I argued.

"Yeah Bruce. It makes sense to me," Dick laughed, putting me down.

Bruce looked up long enough to glare, then disappeared behind his paper again. Bruce scolded us for flipping in the house every time Dick came for a visit. He had been visiting a lot since December, and each time he came was a surprise visit. I had been hoping today would be one of them after what happened in school that morning.

During dinner I chattered about the morning, and gave Dick and Bruce every detail about how I stopped the school hostage scene. "I was able to knock most of them out with just one punch," I said very fast as we finished our dinner. "I think the ones who actually caught a glimpse of me were going to wet themselves too. I was able to sneak up on each and every one of them."

"You are animated tonight," Dick muttered calmly. Bruce just continued eating, having already heard the story three times during the afternoon.

"I just love having the chance to save all my classmates at once and make a difference like that. I don't like all the crime in this city," I took a deep breath, and there was a short silence," but they were knocked out by one of my punches," I continued more loudly and excitedly. "It shows just how weak those guys were."

"Actually I don't think they were that weak. It's more because you are also more skilled than you think," Bruce said quietly.

"Yes, you're a very skilled and competent fighter," Dick agreed. He gave Bruce a significant look.

I felt like I was missing something between Bruce and Dick, but I was too excited to care. It was later than usual when I finally settled down and decided to go to bed. I slept well that night after what felt like when I of the best days of my life.

Unfortunately training the next morning still wasn't going great. My long stand still in my training was the reason I felt so weak lately. I had not made even the slightest progress in the last two months, and it was frustrating for both me and Bruce.

"You need to be able to run at least another mile in the next seven minutes," Bruce said firmly as he continued running and I stopped to catch my breath.

"But I can't go anymore," I complained.

Bruce stopped his treadmill and went to the bench press. "If you're not going to run the extra mile, then I do want to see you lift this," he said, adding extra weight.

I gaped. "There's no way I could lift that."

"That's because you're doubting yourself. Just come over here and lift it," he snapped.

I groaned but stomped over anyway. I took a deep breath and struggled, but nothing was happening. I caught my breath, steadied myself and tried one more time before I dropped my arms and gave up.

"Bruce sighed. Fine, lets end this part of training early and go spar," he said in a defeated tone.

I stood across from him eagerly, and prepared for my favorite part of training. As we began, I could tell Bruce was waiting for me to attack first, so I gave my best feint, jumped to his side, and attempted my best jump kick.

Bruce easily caught my foot, held onto it, and suddenly had me face down and tucked under one arm. I felt a hard sudden swat, and I jumped. My heart sank. I hadn't expected to find myself facing this much displeasure from Bruce.

Everything seemed to almost stand still for a couple seconds, while I closed my eyes in aggravation. Then I was suddenly struggling and complaining. "This isn't fair!" I yelled accentuating each syllable. "Let me go!"

"It is time you got a little more serious," he growled calmly, holding my struggling body still. "I will hold back only slightly, and if you can't win against me then you can expect to find yourself in this position."

I saw this as an opening to potentially get away. I used one of my best escapes and was able to slip away, only to find Bruce in front of me again. I had to dodge, kick, jump, punch, and use every other skill I possibly could to get away.

A few times I thought he had me, and managed to get me pinned down and landed one to two painful swats, but I was able to get loose each time. One particular close call was when I wiggled away just as he threw me to the ground and pinned me down. I had to dig deep and use every ounce of strength I had to push him off me and backhand spring several feet away.

"Good, that was definitely more than one hundred and fifty pounds of force you just used," Bruce approved. He wasn't charging after me, so I hoped it was finally over. The avoiding-Bruce-and-his-hard-hand-match had been going on for over half an hour.

"Are you done chasing me then?" I asked hopefully.

"Not quite," Bruce smirked. Then suddenly there was a puff of smoke and he disappeared.

"That's not fair, you can't use weapons," I yelled to the seemingly empty cave. But I knew I couldn't complain now if I wanted to avoid sitting uncomfortably for breakfast. I had to concentrate, think, and listen to anticipate Bruce's next move.

I heard the faintest of noises to my right, and my well trained ears pinpointed the spot. I pretended I hadn't heard though, but I was ready for his attack. I waited to jump out of the way until just before he caught me, because otherwise he would have aimed his attack to where I moved to dodge.

"Well done," Bruce said without stopping.

"Then can we please stop for the day?" I pleaded as I continued to dodge and avoid him. He ignored me, and I took that for a no.

The match just seemed to keep going. I was almost at my limit for endurance, and Bruce wasn't making it easy. He never let me take a break, and most of the time kept himself at a distance so I always had to be on guard for an attack.

"Bruce, please stop," I asked again as I struggled to avoid a near grab from him. "I can't go much more." There was no school that day, and I was worried how long Bruce might make me keep this up for.

Then he managed to grab my arm, and I was flipped over and placed on his lap while he sat on the bench press. I panted and tiredly tried to escape. But my exhaustion made anything I might have been able to do to get away impossible. I tried one last possibility I knew I might have to get free. "Dad? Please?" I asked very quietly. "I didn't do anything to deserve this."

I felt a hard swat, and I jumped. "Good try," Bruce growled, "But well played using what would by my weakness in this situation. You almost stopped me." He swatted once more. It was true that I hadn't been referring to him as "dad" since the time I got in trouble. The switch from Bruce to dad was still a big one for me to change to out loud, and almost felt a little awkward for me. I had been hoping it's use would soften him enough to get him to stop.

I groaned and kicked in frustration and defeat. "Why are you spanking me!?" I demanded. "I thought I fought really well."

"You did, but there were some mistakes." Bruce swatted again.

"You spent too much time complaining about the difficulties rather than focusing on fighting, you are lacking stamina, and you definitely need to remember an enemy who is trying to kill you will not fight fair. But most of all, I'm angry with how little effort you have been putting into your training lately. With a little incentive to do well, you nearly doubled your abilities from what you've been showing me. I ask for well over one hundred percent effort at all times."

He thankfully only gave me one more swat before releasing me. I wasn't in too much pain thankfully, and I didn't feel like I had actually been in trouble. He had really not even punished me, and I now saw he had really wanted to show his point. I couldn't deny what he had said. I even had to admit I had been feeling moody and trying to make myself feel even angrier than I actually was lately, and not putting in as much effort because of it. I sighed with relief and pushed myself up. I went to get a long drink of water, then returned to Bruce and glared.

"I know that was an extra hard training session, and I was really hard on you, but I wanted to be sure you were truly ready," Bruce said gently. "Now hopefully with a better reason to train from now on you'll work this hard every day."

My eyes got wide as I began to realize what Bruce was saying. "Do you mean-" I began slowly.

"Yes. I have come to realize you would be a great help to me with my work at night in the city. I know we have both had difficulties in our past, that although very different, have brought us to have the same goals. I can also see you need a purpose to your training, and more pride in yourself for the abilities you have, it does seem like a shame to let your skills go to waste." Bruce truly smiled now. "I am going to train you to work with me as my partner," he finally said.

I gasped and jumped onto his lap to hug him with excitement. "I won't let you down. I'll train even harder than today. I promise I'll be a big help to you out there," I squealed excitedly. "I knew you would let me one day. I just didn't know it would be so soon."

"You won't be coming out as my partner for a while still," Bruce said seriously, looking into my eyes. "Now your training will change. We will be adding in things like specific scenarios and weapon training. You're looking at a couple months until you can observe a light crime night from the batmobile, and a few more months after that before you can join me fully with a costume."

"What about my name? I don't want to be Nightmare ever again."

"You have lots of time. That is something I will leave to you to think about," he smiled again and we both stood up to go upstairs. "You're very clever; I know you can think of a good name and costume design when you have time to think about it."

I nodded as we both walked up the stairs. I would put a lot of thought into my alias this time. And I would someday get to return to saving people and stopping more criminals. Only this time I would have the permission and more extensive training. I was definitely extremely excited and motivated to get stronger now.

I beamed at Alfred as we entered the kitchen. He looked questioningly at Bruce who then nodded slightly. "You know Ms. Jayden, that announcement was going to be your birthday present, but I see Master Bruce got a little ahead of himself," he said, obviously fully understanding the source of my excitement. He gave me a warm smile, "But happy early birthday all the same."

I grinned happily, not sure what to say. I had never had birthday presents throughout my childhood, and this was certainly the best one I could have hoped for.