"What were you thinking?" Dick shook his head as Pennyworth injected my leg with another painkiller so he could finish stitching me up.
"You know what I was thinking." I rolled my eyes and re-watched the video from my mask. "Man, that stuff really amps them up.; triples their strength at least, maybe more."
"Probably more, but I won't know until I run some more tests." Bruce sat at the computer in the Batcave with steepled fingers. "I shudder to think what this would have been like if an entire city would have been infected with this."
"I can see how visibly disturbed you are." Pennyworth said in his flat tone but causing me to giggle.
"Was that a joke Pennyworth?"
"You just broke your leg Lissa, please handle this situation seriously." Dick slammed his fist onto my cot
"Dick, calm down. She will be fine in a few days; the healing serum will increase the healing in her leg. Her break should be fixed by Wednesday. I'm more worried of how they manufactured this stuff and where it is coming from."
"I could swing a late-night mission in Sterling city." I said as I strapped a temporary cutting-edge technology brace over my left calf.
"Absolutely not" Dick stood up
"Dick is right, you don't need to be fighting if you can help it until you're healed. Too much pressure could damage you further. Besides, the muscle damage won't put you at one hundred percent. No, Dick and I will go out tomorrow night after the board meeting."
Dick groaned and sat heavily in his chair. "I forgot about that. Why do I have to go?"
"Because you are the first in line to inherit this company. When I die I want to make sure you will be able to handle Wayne Enterprises without having to rely on the board."
"Why not just sign over your share to Mr. Fox?" I asked
"Because, while I trust Lucius, I would very much like to keep my share in my parent's company. You two should get to bed, you have school tomorrow."
"Alright Dad." I laughed and slid from my cot. A small amount of pain twinged through my leg when I put weight on it but it was nothing I couldn't handle. Bruce kissed my cheek and Pennyworth gave a smile as Dick and I went upstairs.
"Are you sure you're going to be alright?"
"You know I'll be fine. It's just a little break. I've had worse."
"Still, I don't want you going to gymnastics for the next few days. I'll tell them you pulled a muscle or something."
"Oh come on Dick." I stopped in front of my door. "I'll be fine, and I'll need to stay limber if I won't be fighting for a week."
"No, Bruce may think this is nothing but I don't want you hurting yourself more than necessary. You are staying home. Work more on your aim and tech skills this week."
"Fine, but next week I get to take that advanced workshop."
"Deal." He kissed the top of my head and moved down the hallway to his room.
I slipped into my pajamas and lay across my bed, pulling out my phone and checking my messages. I had a few from my friends and one from an automated messaging company reminding me off my test tomorrow in Trig. One message stood out from an unknown number. A quick trace told it belong to a certain Roy Harper in Sterling City.
Are you alright?
I smiled, knowing I had just met the real Speedy. I'll be fine. May I ask how you got this number?
Felicity owed me a favor. Curiously, she said it isn't linked to any name besides Batgirl. How is that?
She isn't the only one who knows her way around a keyboard. So Roy Harper, how was your evening?
Alright. Met this girl I thought was kinda cute but I don't know; seems like she has a bit of an attitude.
Well, would you rather a soft, submissive girl or a fun, fiery girl?
Soft girl aren't so bad. They don't cause any trouble.
But they're so boring.
Well then why don't you show me how an exciting girl lives once that leg is healed.
Aright. How does next weekend sound?
How can you be exciting in crutches?
I won't be in crutches.
What?
Next Saturday; meet me at the Gotham City amusement park. Wear comfortable shoes.
I smiled and turned off my phone, shutting my eyes and quickly falling asleep.
My alarm woke me up at 6 am. I showered and dressed, doing my makeup as I inhaled a muffin and some eggs Benedict. Dick sat next to me buried in his psychology book for his master's course exam today. Pennyworth called for us when the driver arrived, who promptly took us to the Wayne Academy for Academic Excellence. I walked in and was quickly surrounded by my friends who dragged me away from Dick and towards the library; refusing to let me leave until we had gone over the study material twice. The bell rang the moment we passed number 25 again and I was then pulled to our class on the fourth floor. I did moderately well on the test and I knew Bruce would be pleased with my performance. I completed the technology homework in 5 minutes and spent the rest of the class researching Roy Harper.
I liked what I saw. He had started out on the wrong side of the law and had been arrested many times for 'unprovoked assault'. But three years ago Roy Harper cleaned up his act. He got a job at Queen Consolidated as a branch manager, unusual for a person with no previous business experience, and he got accepted in the Twin Oak Private Academic Facility in Sterling City. He was in his last year of studies and was placed adequately in his class at a modest 15 out of 100. He had received star reviews from his instructors at the semester evaluation and was now off of parole. He still seemed to have a bit of a temper, he had a minor assault incident in his second year but the issue was settled and no charges had been pressed. His school picture was incredibly attractive, and my friend Stacy Wracky who sat next to me caught a glimpse.
"Is that Roy Harper?"
"No, finish your work." I closed out the picture and made a face at her. She shrugged and turned back to her monitor. I shut out all my pages and played solitaire for the rest of the class. But she didn't let the issues drop and quickly told the other girls as soon as we were in the hallway.
"How do you know Roy Harper?" I asked her
"He's only the best wrestler from Twin Oaks, he creamed our guys last week at the meet. Plus he is the youngest businessman in Sterling City history. How do you not know about him? Oh wait, you never know about anything."
"Hey, so I'm not as up-to-date with some irrelevant current events."
"You never answered the question, why were you looking at his picture?"
"He texted me last night."
She nearly fell off the stairs along with Courtney Cox and Alec Hurera, my other friends. "He texted you?!"
"Yeah." I shrugged, smiling at her expression.
"How do you know him?"
"There was a huge party a week ago for Queen Consolidated and Dad was invited. I got to come along and we spoke for a bit. I guess he just got around to texting me."
"You are so lucky. My Dad never lets me meet anyone that cute. All of his oil partners are from Texas or some Middle Eastern country and don't speak English."
"Southern boys are cute." I argue as we entered our AP Biology class and settled in the front seats. I listened to them give me every detail of Roy's personal life they knew. He had dated Thea Queen, the youngest of the Queen children. Her brother Oliver ran the company at the moment but Roy and she had split about 6 months ago. His branch continued to thrive and the Twin Oak's wrestling squad was now number one in the state.
He had been named the sexiest businessman for 5 consecutive months in 12 different magazines as well as received multiple business awards for the work his branch was doing in chemical research. Every business heiress had their eye on him and they assured me any interest between the two of us would come at a heavy price of my social life with them (like I cared). By the time I had learned everything from his birthday to his favorite color school had dismissed and our driver, Bartolomeu, had come to pick us up. Dick was already in the car, scrolling on his phone.
"How did you do on your master's test?"
"Well, although I am pretty sure my professor will disagree on my stance of Freud's theories. "
"I'm sure he will give you full marks, as usual." I punched his shoulder and propped my leg on the seat across from me
"How are you feeling?"
"Fine, just a little swollen. I'll do some stretches tonight to keep the muscles loose and then I plan on finishing that Trojan horse I've been working on."
"News around the school is you and Roy Harper, the young businessman at Queen Consolidated, are an item."
"No, he texted me last night a bit but that was it. My friend caught me doing a background check."
"You realize I'm going to have to check him out now, right?"
"Always the overprotective one." I pulled a granola out of our stash in the backseat. "I came up with nothing besides he has a bit of a temper and a bad habit of putting our wrestling team to shame."
"Regardless, I'm going to do a more thorough search."
"You aren't going to like what you see."
"Why not?"
"You never do." I sighed and closed my eyes, running attack combinations in my head for the rest of the drive. Pulling up to Wayne Manor I notice Mr. Fox's car parked in the driveway. Entering, he and Bruce were seated in the office and talking over a large building plan. I rushed in and hugged Mr. Fox who gladly returned it.
"Hello sweetie." his deep, slow voice washed over me
"Hello Mr. Fox." I smiled. "It's good to see you again."
"But not as good as it is to see you. What did you do to your leg? I'd notice one of titanium leg supports any day."
"Some druggie up in Sterling City snapped it. I'll be fine in a week or so."
"Healing serum too? Bruce spoils you." He laughed and hugged me again. "Well your father and I have some important business to handle but I shall see you at dinner."
"Yes sir." I nodded to Bruce and exited, closing the door behind me.
I stretched and worked at the computer in my room until Pennyworth called everyone to dinner. We ate a lovely meal of Mr. Fox's favorites: chicken pot pie with assorted vegetables, cinnamon apples, carrot soup, buttermilk biscuits, and baked Alaska for dessert. He left right after that and Bruce ordered me to bed to rest my leg.