Chapter 5: Zero Year 5

Two Months, that was the amount of time it took for everything to change. In two months everything had changed. In two months Dick had lost his job at the police force, In two months they had moved to Gotham, and in two months Mar'i had lost all of her powers. After flight it was her star bolts, and after those it was her super strength, and with her powers went her all green eyes. It was a little poetic, the one thing on her that didn't look human left her when she practically became human. The only thing she had was the superior senses, she could see a little farther, and hear a little better than most humans.

Mar'i and her father moved into a loft in downtown Gotham near Wayne Tower, but still Mar'i ended up at the manor on a daily basis. Her father luckily got a job at with the Gotham P.D. Despite his truancy, Blüdhaven P.D only had good things to say about Dick, also it helped that Dick was good friends with the commissioner. So during the day before Dick went to work he would drop Mar'i at the manor, apparently she needed a babysitter, not that she thought she needed one. And from the mansion she went to the the clocktower, where Oracle showed her everything from how to work a computer, to how to hack into a bank account. Mar'i decided the day she told her father about Ryand'r it was the last day she would ever let something hold her back like that. Instead, Mar'i focused on getting to know the planet she was currently on, and Stephanie loved to help her out.

Oh, the television shows and movies that Stephanie made the girl watch. She said that was because she needed to learn the culture, and that the only way was to watch these movies and tv shows. From teenage Vampire romances to dystopian future zombie movies, all of them in Stephanie made Mar'i watch. And on her own Mar'i read, she read more than one would think capable of reading. The pure look of happiness on her face when Bruce showed her the Library was almost too much to believe. Bruce doesn't believe he's ever seen a child that happy to read books. The Library in the manor was massive and held books from Dr. Suess to the Count of Monte Cristo, now whenever Dick picked up Mar'i at night she would have a new book.

On his days off and after work before patrol Dick taught his daughter acrobatics. In a week Mar'i had her Back-hand Spring down. In another she had both front and back tuck down. By the end of the two months Mar'i knew and perfected moves that only Dick knew and could, one of them being the Quadruple Somersault. All the while Mar'i grew frustrated, her father was teaching her many things but was not even discussing what she really wanted to do.

"I'm not surprised." Barbara said during one of their sessions "Your dad can be very thick at times."

"At times? Most of the time." Huntress said, walking into the clock tower.

"Helena, really?" Barbara said.

"Of course, to this day he has no idea why I refuse to get that pizza with him." Huntress said taking a seat next to Mar'i. Mar'i had meet Helena a few weeks ago, Tim had introduced her as someone who was like family, but only around at random times. According to Alfred, Bruce does recognize her as one of his protégés, but for some reason he doesn't tell her that, but whenever she needs something Bruce is there.

"So, what do you need Captain Oblivious to know?" Helena asked.

"I want him to start training me." Mar'i sighed .

Huntress whistled, "Now that's a big one. For all we know he might not even want to train you, or for you to get involved at all."

"He should know that if he's involved that I'm going to be. I mean did he let Bruce get away with that!" Mar'i said. "Barbara, you understand why I want to do this, right? All of you are risking something, I'm the only one who's a burden, and not pulling my own weight. It's time I start at least training. Then after a little while he can let me come out with him. I mean, I really want to, but I get the feeling he wouldn't want me to be out there. I would be more useful out instead of being here doing nothing, and I-"

"Mary, you're rambling again, but you're right, I'm sure Canary and I can train you." Helena said. "We did train Stephanie."

"Not without her dad's permission, Helena." Babs shut down the idea quickly. "Mar'i, honestly it's going to be hard because honestly I know your dad won't want you anywhere near this life. I wouldn't want my daughter getting into this, but if you can get your dad to agree to let someone train you, then we can train you here."

The idea was nice, but Mar'i knew her father wouldn't agree. They had never talked about it, but she was sure he would still say no. Mar'i sighed as she sat in the manor, it was almost time for her dad to be getting home. He didn't have patrol tonight, and said he had a surprise for her, obviously she didn't know what it was, and her dad had gone to great lengths to keep it from her.

Mar'i had hoped that they were going to go somewhere, with her eyes the way they were it was hard to let her go out, but now they didn't have that issue, she had normal green eyes now, and she still hadn't seen a movie in the movie theater. There was a lot of things that she still hadn't gotten to see, but she had read about them at least.

"Mar'i, Come here I've got something for you!" Right on time, her father was home. Mar'i set her book on the table next to her, then ran down the stairs to greet her father.

"You're back!" She screamed as she hugged him. "How was work? Did you fight some criminals? Did you arrest someone? Was it a real criminal, like Riddler or Cluemaster? Did you get hurt? Did someone hurt you? If you're hurt what about the surprise? Please, tell me you didn't get hurt. I Don't think I could handle that after Jason got shot in the arm last month. Are you going to at least tell me the surprise if you're hurt and we can't go. Is it a movie? I hope it's a movie? You know I haven't been to one yet." Dick sighed at the mile that just came out from his daughters mouth. It was moments like this that he was reminded that she was really his daughter. When Mar'i first got here she was so serious and quiet. She had this look on her face sometimes that he was sure was the exact same face Kory had when she wasn't too pleased with him. Hal did say she had his mouth, but honestly he hadn't started to see that until recently. It had taken her at least twice as long to get used to him as it did Hal, but honestly in that time a lot happened, at least she was comfortable with him now.

"Work was fine." He laughed. "Yes, I did arrest someone. No, it wasn't someone like the Riddler. It was for public intoxication, and just because someone isn't on the criminal A-list doesn't mean they aren't criminals."

"I know." She said. "I was just hoping it was someone interesting." She rocked back and forth on her heels as she smiled at him. "Alright, so surprise?"

"Well, This is the first part." For the first time Mar'i noticed that in his hand was a garment bag. He handed it her and motioned for her to open it. When she zipped it open inside was a beautiful satin purple dress with a black sequins band around the waist and a purple bow on the hip. Also inside of the garment bag was a decent sized black bow for her hair, and black gloves for the winter.

"Wow, Daddy, it's beautiful, but I don't have anywhere to wear it to." Mar'i said. Examining the dress, "You remembered that I liked bows." She said as she picked up the bow, and felt it's soft satin and lace.

"I couldn't forget, you do where something in your hair every day. Even when you don't go out." Dick said smiling done at the young girl as she kept looking the dress over. "Also that's the next part of the surprise. Go shower, and get dressed. I'm taking you out tonight." Mar'i squealed in excitement before running up the stairs

"Wait! Wait!" Mar'i yelled as she ran back down the stairs, "I don't have shoes to go with this!"

"I've got you covered, Starshine." Dick handed Mar'i a shoebox, and her smile grew even larger.

"Thank you, daddy." Mar'i motioned for him to lean down, and she gave him a kiss on the cheek before running back up the stairs to get ready.

Dick however remained frozen in the same spot, hand touching the cheek his daughter just kissed.

"What's wrong, Dickface, growing sentimental in your old age?" Jason teased leaning against the wall.

Dick was too happy to even pay attention to his younger brother's teasing remark. Dick just went upstair to get ready for the night ahead himself.

"This isn't your car. Whose car is this? This car is too nice to be your car, Daddy. Not that your car isn't nice it just isn't this nice. So who's car is it really?" Mar'i said as they drove through Downtown Gotham.

"For the last time, Mar'i this is my car." Dick sighed. She had been at this for the passed 15 minutes.

"No it's not. I've seen your car."

"Yes, it is. I have more than one car, you know."

"Then how come I've never seen it?" Mar'i questioned.

"Okay, This car was a birthday present from Bruce. Though it's likely Alfred had bought it with Bruce's money, because Brue tends to forget about birthdays."

"He does?" Mar'i asked with wide eyes, "Isn't that kinda bad?"

"It's horrible." Dick agreed. "One year, he just plain forgot it was Tim's birthday. I think that was the year or the year after he adopted Tim, either way he had to have known when Tim's birthday was. So the day came and Alfred didn't speak to him all day, finally when Tim came home from school and went down to the Batcave to help Bruce with a case. Tim didn't even say anything till Alfred came downstairs with a birthday cake. Bruce apologized, but boy did Alfred let him have it. To this day Bruce makes sure that he checks to see when one of our birthdays are coming."

Mar'i giggled. "That sounds like Alfred, but can you really blame Bruce? He is really busy."

"I've never forgotten a birthday, and I work just as much as he does." Dick said with pride.

"That's good to know. So, I can ask you when everyone's birthday is."

"Yup, I know everyone's birthday. Tim and Jason are summer babies. Damian's was born in april. And Bruce and Babs in February. Okay, actually Bruce remembers Barbara's birthday because it's the day before his." Mar'i giggled as they pulled up to their destination.

"Kane Theater?" Mar'i read. "Like a movie theater, or a play theater?" Mar'i asked.

"A play theater, but we aren't seeing a play." Dick stopped the car got out and handed the keys to the valet.

"It's good to have you back in town, Mr. Grayson." The valet said as Dick opened the passenger door to let Mar'i out. When she got out she was amazed. Crystal chandeliers, and a red carpet, women in elegant gowns, and the men looking dashing in tuxedos and suits, and the cameras were flashing bright lights danced out capturing every moment the gotham socialites did.

"Woah, what is all this?" Mar'i asked.

"This is the annual Gotham Showing of the Nutcracker. It's a ballet they show every year around Christmas time. Bruce took me once as a kid. He hated it, but I loved it. I've been coming every year since. "

"Oh wow." Mar'i said taking in her surroundings.

"I thought you might like it. Most of gotham's elite show up, but surprisingly not a lot of paparazzi. I thought this was a good opportunity to introduce you to our other world before you start school next semester and the paparazzi are following you around." Dick said over the clicking of the cameras.

"What was that all about?" Mary asked once the we're inside the building.

"Paparazzi, they like to take picture of famous people for money. Come on, our seats are in the balcony." They climbed the theater stairs up, and were lead by an usher to their seats. They were supposed to be alone in the balcony instead found a woman of short black hair occupying one of the four seats.

"Selina?" Dick asked. Yes, it had to be Selina because in her lap was was a cat, Selina's cat, Isis. "What are you doing here?"

"What can I say, Isis loves the ballet. I heard you had booked balcony seats, and I couldn't help myself. This is my favorite time of year." She said as she petted the cat on her lap. "So is that her?" Selina asked. "The big man told me a little about her. He was right she is gorgeous."

"Mary, this is Selina. She's Bruce's... Girlfriend?" Selina snorted.

"If that's the right word for it." Mary didn't greet Selina like she did others instead her gaze was fixed upon the cat in Selina's lap. "This is Isis, do you want to hold her?" Selina asked.

Mary's head jerked up. "Could I?" Selina nodded and handed the cat to the young girl. The cat immediately took a liking to mar'i.

"Wow, she likes you. She just doesn't like anyone you know. Isis is real picky about the people she likes, she'll let anyone pet and hold her, but you can tell who she really likes. "

"I love cats. Damian has one, but he never lets me play with Alfred says I'll spoil him." Mar'i said sitting down to play with the cat.

"Then I'll visit often. Cat lovers should help each other out, right?" Selena said. Mary's head nodded in agreement. "Have you seen a ballet before, Kitten?" Selina asked. Ma'i shook her head. "Oh then you'll love this. Look the show is starting."

In twenty minutes Mar'i was in love. The dancing was quite mesmerizing, she loved the fluidity of the motions, the grace of the dancers and the beautiful music. She couldn't get enough. It was amazing how they told a story through now words, no lyrics, only movements. By the end Mar'i was sure she would love going to the ballet then going to see a movie. The movements didn't seem hard, in fact Mar'i was sure if she learned she could do it.

"Did you enjoy it?" Selina asked at the end of the ballet.

"Oh very much so! I adored it. I've never seen anything so spectacular in my entire life. Daddy, can we seen another?" Mar'i asked.

"Sure, I'll look up when the ballet is in town again."

"Thank you thank you!" She said. "Selina, thank you for letting me hold Isis the entire time." She handed the women back the cat.

"Selina." Dick said. "WHy don't you come by the manor later tonight? I'm sure Bruce would love to see you." Selina gave Dick a weird look, who only stared at her in return.

"Okay, I'll be there. I've got some things to take care of first, but make sure you tell the big man."

"We will. See you later, Selina." Dick said.

"Goodbye, Selina." Mar'i called out as the woman walked out. Selina only waved a hand in response. "I like her, she's really nice." Mar'i commented.

"Most of the time." Dick said under his breathe. He gathered the 8 year old up in his arms and together they left the theatre.

Mar'i licked her ice cream cone. "The ballet, and ice cream in one night? What's going on? Why are you being so nice tonight?" Mar'i asked. They were on their way back to the Manor. It was about seven O'clock, and Mar'i said she wanted to go back to the manor to tell Stephanie all about the ballet.

"I'm always nice to you." Dick said evenly. "What I can't do something nice for you once in a while?" Mar'i narrowed her eyes, but softened her gaze.

"Well, I guess you can." she said finishing off her ice cream.

They pulled up to the manor, and Mar'i dashed out of the car. "Hey do you think Tim or jason will go with us next time?" Mar'i asked.

"Tim maybe. Jason definitely not, he's hated stuff like this since he was twelve. Stephanie would defiantely go with you next year, if her classes let her."

"You think?" Mar'i asked

"I do." Dick then opened the door and they were greeted by the of Kazoos and other party whistles.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARY!" Mar'i jumped in surprise. What? She almost couldn't compute what was going on, But everyone was there from Bruce to Helena wishing her a happy birthday, and the thing was she had forgotten today would be her birthday. Well forget isn''t the right word. Days run differently on Tamaran so it was hard to keep track of how they corresponded with earth days. Mar'i admitted she really hadn't thought of it, but who would in her situation.

Mar'i blinked, "How did you know today would be my birthday?" She asked. "Even I didn't know."

"It wasn't me." her father admitted. "It was your mother. Kory put the day your birthday would be on earth in the letter she wrote to me when you came here. She must have done the math."

"Come on, Mar'i. You look like you need cake." Stephanie plucked the girl from her father's side and steered her over to the table of cake.

"Don't forget presents. " Jason added.

"We all agreed, that since this is your first year on earth, we should let your birthday be extra special." Tim said.

"We've been planning this for about two weeks." Barbara said. "I'm not going to lie. I almost spilled the beans, but Helena covered for me."

"I sure did. Happy Birthday, Mary. You earned it." Helena said with a smile.

"Great!" Stephanie yelled "Now let's all eat cake before we have to patrol tonight. I want a nice sugar rush while I'm kicking criminal butt."

"Sounds like a nice idea, Brown." Jason agreed.

"You can't even go on patrol, Todd." Damian reminded, "You got shot in the arm two weeks ago."

"I've kicked ass with less." Jason said.

"No, you won't." Bruce said giving a scolding glare to the younger man. Jason pouted and glared at the young Damian.

"Come on, Mar'i. Don't pay them any attention." Tim said. He sat her down in a seat and handed her a gift carefully wrapped in silver paper. "Open my present first. You'll love it."

Mar'i opened the gift, and on the inside was seven book, a series of books actually titled Harry Potter.

"I noticed how much you like to read." Tim said. "And I also noticed you seem to enjoy the fantasy one's more than the other, so here is one of the best stories known to man, Harry Potter."

"Thank you, Tim." Mar'i said. Jason snorted.

"You would give the kid something boring like books, Drake. Let me show you a real gift." Jason rolled in his gift. It was a blue and silver scooter. "I tweaked with it a little. Now, it goes much faster than all the others they sell in the store." Jason grinned.

"Should I even ask how fast." Dick said. Jason just looked at him. "I guess not."

"My turn! My turn! My turn!" Stephanie pushed around the crowd to get to the young princess. "This is a music player. You can download all the games and music you want on here, everything will be charged to Tim's card so thank him for two gifts!" A shout from Tim went ignored. "And a cute pair of purple headphones to match. I do love a girl who loves purple." Stephanie handed the items to the girl and dashed off before Tim could get to her.

Alright, I guess I'll go." Barbara wheeled forward. "You're going to need your own Laptop for school, so I bought you one. I played with it a little, you won't get any viruses, and unless someone with skills better than mine tries to hack it, you shouldn't be hacked."

"Thanks, Babs." Mar'i said with a smile she did want her own computer.

"Mary," Helena started. "I noticed that you have your ears pierced yet you don't wear any earrings. It is my firm belief that a female of any age who has their ears pierced must have at least one pair of diamond Earrings, and these, my dear, are your's." Helena handed a little velvet box to Mar'i inside were diamond earrings in the shape of two little stars.

"Wow, way to show us all up, Helena!" Stephanie called from the floor where Tim had tackled her and now held her in a headlock.

"Please." Helena said with a flip of her hair. "We haven't even gotten to Bruce yet." Every nodded sheepishly in agreement. Whatever he was going to give the girl was going to be more expensive then all of their gifts combined.

"Damian, your turn." Jason called as he pushed his little brother forward.

"Here. Mini Grayson, it isn't much." He handed her a wooden box that wasn't even so much as wrapped. Inside was about fifty butterfly shapped throwing stars. The were all black or silver, and very beautiful.

"I don't know what to say, Thank you." Mar'i said. "but I don't know how to throw them." Damian snorted.

"That's easy to amend. I'll just teach you."

"Why is giving lethal weapons as a gift a norm in this family?" Dick cradled his head in his hands. "We were almost normal."

"Don't cry, Dickface." Jason said with a pat on the back. "Don't you realize we'll never be normal."

Dick sighed, "Bruce just go. I can't right now. I'm so done."

"...I really don't see the issue, but okay." Before Bruce could give her the present the doorbell rang. Bruce raised an eyebrow, "Who could that be?" Bruce went to go answer the door and was greeted by the sharp green eyes of Selina Kyle.

"Selina!"

"Heard you were having a party. Seems my invite was lost in the mail, don't worry Dick took care of it." She kissed the cheek of the man before her then strutting into the room, hips swaying.

"Hey, Selina." "I didn't know you were coming." Was the general consensus.

"I heard it was someone's birthday, so I ran home and got a gift that I knew she would love. " She knelt down in front of Mar'i reached into her handbag and pulled out a small grey and white kitten with green eyes. "Happy 9th birthday, Mary."

"OMIGOD!" Mar'i squealed as she plucked the kitten from selina's hands. "Thank you, Selina. Just one question I just meet you today how did you know it was my birthday?"

"Well, your dad told me on the sly. You were right there I'm surprised you didn't notice. He did a real good job not tipping you off, that hint was so vague I almost missed it."

"Okay, that clears up my confusion." Bruce said. "You were at the ballet. Good intentions I hope."

Selina grinned a toothy grin, "Baby, I always have good intentions, but we can talk later. Right now is about, Mary." Selina turned back to girl. "So what are you going to name him?"

"It's a boy then...Hmm." Mary pondered for a moment. "I'm going to name him, Hal!" Mar'i said once she decided on a name. "He looks like a Hal."

"You're going to name your cat after Green Lantern?" Tim asked.

"Without Hal I couldn't have even had this cat, or even know all of you besides. The green eyes on this kitty scream Hal. I have to name him that."

"Okay Mar'i, but you have to take care of the cat." Dick said.

"Oh I promise!"

"Good, Bruce I believe it's time for your gift." Dick said.

Bruce fished around his pocket and pulled out a phone and handed it to the girl, "It's the newest generation smartphone. When you need an upgrade tell me I'll get you a new one."

"Huh and I thought Bruce was going to beat us all in the gift department." Jason said. "Looks like I win for best gift."

"No, you don't." Stephanie said. "If anyone won It's either Barbara or Helena."

"Not so fast." Selena said. "Mary, can I see the phone for a minute." Mary nodded and handed the phone to the woman. "God Bruce!" Selena said in shock.

"What, Selena?" Jason said.

"This smartphone has been on my christmas list for a long time now. It's a gold and diamond encrusted smartphone. Made by one of my favorite Jewelers, the home button alone has about 6.6 carats of diamond, the corners of the phone are white gold, and there are approximately 138 diamonds around the edge. All together I believe this phone cost about 2.4 million dollars." Jaws dropped as Selena finished.

Jason threw his hands in the air, "That's it. I'm done." And he just walked out.

"Why?" was all stephanie could manage to say.

"Actually the one I wanted to get her was actually about 15 million, but they couldn't get it here on time so I just settled for that one. I thought it was cute enough for a little girl."

"My god." Helena whispered. "Batman just said the word cute." She whispered to Barbara, but only received a pointed glare from the dark knight himself.

"Wow thanks Bruce." Mar'i said as she took the phone back from Selena.

"Yeah thanks, Bruce." Dick spat. "Now my gift is going to look crappy."

"What? It's only like 2 million?"

"Don't even." Dick said with a sigh. "Now Mar'i, my gift isn't as overly extravagant as Bruce's but it was a lot of meaning. " He dropped a gold necklace into his daughter hand. "This necklace was my mother's. It's birds flying out of a cage. My mother always said if there was one thing she taught me, its was to be free, and be myself. Now I hope I can teach you the same thing."

Mar'i pulled her dad into a hug, "Thank you, daddy. I love it. I'll wear it everyday." She pulled her long black hair up for him to put the necklace on her.

"Thank you all for the wonderful gifts. I don't think I could have survived here without each and everyone of you." Mar'i said. "On Tamaran you usually do not see such kindness unless it's from your own family."

"Hey, we are your family," Jason said coming back into the room.

"Yeah, we might not be related, but we are family." Tim said. "We had the hardest time getting Damian to understand that. Don't tell me you're going to be the same way, too."

"Yup, if there's one thing you can count on it's us to be there for you." Stephanie said. "I can't count how many times Bruce, Dick, Tim, Jason, and even Damian have dropped whatever it is they're doing to help me out, and I would do it for them in a heart beat."

"Thanks, really. Thank you all."

"Daddy," Mar'i called out she was about to go to sleep and Dick had come in to check on her. "Can I ask you for something before you go out on patrol?'

"Sure, anything." Dick said.

"Daddy, I'm tired of being helpless, and a burden to you all. I wasn't going to ask this but the party changed my mind. Dad, I want you to train me to be your partner, like the robin to your batman. I want to be out there helping you." Dick froze. He wasn't going to lie, he knew this day was coming. He just didn't expect it to be here so quickly. He remembered being in her shoes, asking Bruce to be able to help him, and Bruce never said he wanted him out there but still supported him being out there. Now that it was with his own child, his daughter, Dick didn't really like the sound of her fighting side by side with him in a kevlar outfit similar to his own. In fact he didn't like the idea at all.

"Mar'i, I'm going to be honest about this. I don't want you in that kind of life. I don't want you anywhere near it, in fact."

"But-" Mar'i tried to protest but she was cut off.

"No buts, we'll talk later." And Dick left the room. Mar'i had the feeling that even if they did talk later he father would not be changing his mind.

After making sure everyone was out on patrol Mar'i wandered down to the Batcave, and found Jason working in the gym.

"Hey, Stella." Jason called from the bench press. "I thought you were asleep." Jason always preferred to call her by her middle name. He was the one to choose it after all.

"I had too much on my mind." Mar'i admitted to her uncle.

"Sounds like you need a good sparring session. What do you say, Little Star? How about a spar?" Jason asked.

"I don't know. I haven't fought since I had my powers."

"Then this is a good time to see where you stand. Come on let's go." Jason walked over to the sparing mat and got in a good steady position. Mar'i got ontot he mat as well. "You attack first." Jason said. Mar'i nodded and jumped into a punch, but Jason caught her elbow with ease stopping it.

"You attacking like you still have powers, "He said. "Had you had your super strength, then you probably could have gotten away with that." Jason let go of the girl's elbow. "Again." he ordered. This time She spun into a roundhouse kick which he caught again and flipped her onto the mat. Mar'i recovered quickly using all her arm strength pushed of the floor aiming a kick to Jason's chest which he side stepped.

"Good, now you're thinking." He said. "Again." Mar'i threw her elbow at him as expected he caught it. She then kicked at his side, which he caught as well. He flipped her again though instead landing on her face again. Mar'i used the flip to throw herself into a front handspring and landed in front of Jason. He smiled at her as she jumped into the air in order to kick him, but the attempt failed as he just side stepped her again.

"That's enough." Jason said. "You're really good for a novice." He praised.

"What are you talking about I couldn't even touch you."

"Yeah, but I've trained most of my life so people wouldn't be able to touch me." Jason said as he helped her off the ground. "I can see Kory trained you a little, but not enough. Honestly, if it wasn't for your pure natural talent, and you acrobatic ability that short fight would have ended long ago."

"Natural talent?" Mar'i echoed.

"Yup, honestly Dick should start you training immediately, " Jason said. "You were born with his natural talent for fighting. Getting it down won't be as hard for you as it was for me when I first became Robin. "

"Too bad, He says he won't train me." Mar'i said with a pout.

"Your dad is a moron. Not using such potential would be a waste. Not using you in the field would be a big fat waste. If he knows what's good for him he'll train you." Jason said.

Mar'i sighed. "I've already asked. He said we'll talk later, which is a translation for nope." Mar'i sat down on the ground. "I want to be able to help you all out there, but if he won't train me I'll only keep being a burden."

"Then how bout I train you." Jason said. Mar'i jerked her head towards him. "Yeah, I could train you."

"But what about my dad?" Mar'i asked. She was all for anything if she got to help everyone out.

Jason smirked, "I guess we better keep it a secret then." Mar'i smiled. This could actually work.

Final Notes:

Final word count: 5828

I am so fucking sorry. Firstly I'm sorry that this chapter took me 3 friggin days to write. I won't lie I was procrastinating. Secondly, I want to apologize for this shit long chapter. I honestly never wanted this chapter to be this long, but I wanted to end it with Jason agreeing to train Mar'i and in order to get there, all of that other stuff had to happen. Honestly, I ended up taking a lot out of this chapter. I originally wanted Mar'i and her father the day after her birthday go see haly's circus, but by the time I got to the point I wanted to write that I was at about 4000 words. I also edited out a lot of the random talking and character cameos. Vicki Vale had a cameo I was forced to take out, but honestly it wasn't needed.

Thanks again to Victory Goddess for her lovely review, and to random guest who just said, and I quote, "MOOOOOOOOOOORE". You two have my love eternally.

Don't forget to Favorite/Follow/Review. Like always it feeds my muse, and helps me work!

P.S next chapter is the last of this arc, which if you couldn't guess is titled Zero Year. Next arc Mar'i really gets to work, gets a life of her own outside of her family, and makes her way as a vigilante of Gotham.

Love always,

Miyu K. ~June 20, 2014