JACKIE POV
I feel like the days after that dragged on forever. Every morning my alarm went off at six in the morning, I was in the cave ready for action at seven sharp. Dick was always waiting for me. And we would spend all day going over the best ways to sneak up on someone, a million different vantage points in a million different places. Dick would bring up a three dimensional replica of a random building in Gotham, give me a scenario, then ask me vantage points and how I would handle the situation without being seen. At first I was a miserable failure at it, but after eight days of this I finally was able to answer each quiz question correctly, and could properly take him down in absolute silence without him realizing it nine out of ten tries. And finally he deemed my skills in stealth adequate to move on. He didn't tell me though that Bruce would be in my room at one in the morning telling me I had fifteen minutes to prepare myself and be in the cave.
This is where you find me now; I have been awake without any food and minimal water for the last 26 hours. Dick started out by checking all of my vitals. He checked my weight, blood, heart rate, cholesterol, the whole works. Then he had me out in weights, He had me lift the bar until my arms shook and I almost dropped it on myself. Them immediately moved on to pull-ups, then sit-ups. By six in the morning I thought I was going to black out, but that is when he brought me to the pool and had me swim 20 laps with no stops. I am not in bad shape by any means thanks to gymnastics and years of summer camps, tennis, soccer, and whatever else my Dad could sign me up for, but after the tenth lap my body failed me and I blacked out. The next thing I remembered was Dick dragging me out and giving me some water.
"Come on kiddo, you still have a long way to go" is all he said to me. After a few minutes he had me doing push-ups again then back into the pool. By ten in the morning he had finished working with my body and had me trying to catch him in the Batcave again just as we had been doing for days. Just now black dots keep swarming my vision threatening to blind me and I can't seem to keep my footing underneath me. I was only able to catch him five out of ten times the first try. I was making mistakes that I hadn't made since day one. On the second round of ten I only successfully caught him three times. He didn't let me stop until I caught him eight out of ten times on our fifth round. I think the only reason I managed that much was sheer force of will.
I can barely hold my eyes open by four in the afternoon when Dick sits me down and starts running the three-dimensional quizzes. He gives me a scenario involving Two-face holding Tim hostage in the courthouse, and I could barely keep my head around the idea. After a few minutes of contemplation I managed to find away around the riddle, but the more he threw at me the more my eyes started to droop. And despite my best effort I fell asleep a few times as he spoke. After two times of him forcing me back awake he yanked me to my feet and had me back in the gym running on a treadmill answering his scenarios and telling him vantage points in the more prominent Gotham buildings. Even as I ran I could feel the muscles in my legs twitching and my vision clouding over as I tried to decipher even what Dick was asking me, not only just managing to answer his questions correctly, which I managed only half the time anyway. It wasn't even a mile into the run that I blacked out again and woke up on the floor with Dick holding a water bottle to my lips.
"This is meant to be cruel, Jackie. It is all part of training. You have to be able to handle great stress and exhaustion in this field. Can you handle it?" All I can manage in reply is a slight nod. It is only noon. He gives me a few more minutes nursing a water bottle before going right back to his quizzing and my running.
The day was nearing an end, but Dick showed no signs of stopping the onslaught of testing he was putting me through. He had me lift more weights later into the night. By eleven at night I lost track of my body. It seemed to be running with a mind of it's own. I don't remember thinking at all in the last hours of Dick's terrible trials. I remember my body doing everything he asked. I remember falling over and over again because my legs would barely support my weight as he had me jump roping in place. I remember being excited when he stopped quizzing me as I worked. Mindless work was far easier on me then his quizzing as I pushed my body far further than I had ever had any reason to before. Finally at midnight he had me sit down as he took my vitals again as he had when we started. I remember him telling me I lost eight pounds in one day. I don't even know how that is possible. And I remember when he was done he told me to got to bed and that I had 24 hours to rest up before we did this again. This would be a trend for the next nine weeks.
I didn't even make it up the stairs I assume, I woke up sixteen hours later on the couch in the study in the left wing of the house. The Shakespeare head on the desk was closed and so was the Batcave entrance, but I'm fairly certain it was not my doing. I try to move to get something to eat, but every muscle in my body is locked up and protesting the movements. I force myself up only because my hunger outweighs my discomfort by a million to one. And it all starts again in eight hours. I shudder at the thought the push It from my mind. I can't give up. I will be a Bat if it kills me. Which is a very likely option at this point I think.