I am faced with a girl about my age, who smiles brightly.
"Hi! I'm Kat!" She blurts out, before suddenly pulling me into a hug. "I live next door, to the left! Well, my left anyway!"
When she lets go I take a step back. She bends down and picks up a box, then opens it. "I brought you a cake!"
The word 'Welcome' had been scribbled along the top. "Oh! Wow!" I get out.
"O-Oh my gosh! I haven't even let you speak- go ahead! What's your name?"
"I'm Hana," I say.
'Kat' balances the cake on her knee and holds her hand out for me to shake. I do, then stand back to allow her in. We are neighbours after all.
"Uh, Dick?" I call down the hallway.
"Wow! You sure got set up fast huh?"
"Yeah, motivated I guess."
"And those sweet cars in the underground garage? They yours too?"
"The jaguar's? Yeah. Green ones mine, blue one's my boyfriend's."
Dick decides to make an appearance then. He walks down the hallway and I experience the oh so familiar 'hot-damn-is-that-man-a-human-or-a-god' look every girl gets when she lays eyes on him.
"Kat," she says, holding her hand out.
"Richard," he answers. They shake hands. Glad she didn't hug him too.
"Sorry to just barge in! Just excited is all."
"Oh?" I ask, offering her a seat on the sofa which she takes. "Why is that?"
"Well, the family who used to own this place moved to Gotham! They were really interesting- I was hoping you'd be as interesting as them!"
"We moved here from Happy Harbour," I say, sitting across from her.
"Where that explosion was? That is interesting!"
"Yeah, we left before the explosion," I lie.
"So did you two grow up in Happy Harbour?"
"No. I grew up in Star City. Richard grew up in Gotham."
"Oh! Where the family went!" Kat points out the obvious. She's very excited.
"Exactly, well, it's a nice place."
"Of course! With the Batman and all!" She decides to hiss like a cat as though she's a bat. Yeah, didn't work for her great. "I think the ex-owners sent their kids to Gotham Academy. Is that where you went to school, Richard?"
"Uh, yeah," Dick says, sitting beside me. "My younger siblings go there now."
I smile, loving it when he referred to Daphne and Tim as his 'siblings'.
"Well they must love it there!" Kat gushes.
"Well, Daphne's the oldest and she's about to finish up there. Tim's got about two years to go yet. But they are enjoying it."
"I grew up in Ellanois," she says, looking at both of us as she delves into a story about growing up there. I begin to zone out when she talks about her little brother having a hog farm.
"What about you, Hana? I'm sorry I never asked!" Kat suddenly laughs. "Do you have siblings?”
I blink in surprise at the question. "Oh! Uh- Just a brother, lives in Connecticut," I say, before I end up yawning.
"Oh gosh I am so sorry!" Kat suddenly says. "You both must be exhausted! Let me get out of hair- ya'll have fun now!"
With another crazy over the top hug, Kat leaves.
I stand in the middle of the room, just slightly stunned.
~
The next morning, Nightwing and Emerald Star head out as Richard and Hanabrie to meet Lucius Fox to discuss manufacturing at Wayne Enterprises.
With Bruce Wayne off world, the responsibilities are left to the company’s next potential owner, Dick Grayson. The two takes his car through Gotham.
“Hey,” Dick leans over and pokes Hana in the cheek, trying to keep his eyes on the road, and his girlfriend who has somewhat fallen asleep in her seat.
“Hana?”
She doesn’t answer.
The gates to Wayne Manor open to allow Dick’s blue jaguar onto the premises. As soon as he is in, he jumps out of the front seat and runs around to her side.
Alfred walks out, noticing his distress.
“Hana? Hana!” Dick wonders if perhaps she is having a second nightmare. “C’mon, wake up!”
When her blue eyes snap open he dodge rolls out of the way, preparing for the mana that normally fires out of her eyes when she wakes from a nightmare.
“Hey, you okay?”
“I could hear you yelling but I…I couldn’t do anything,” Hana says as Dick helps her out of the car. “It was kind of scary.”
“Do you remember passing out?”
“I didn’t pass out though, n-not really. I remember talking about Alice joining the team, then I blinked and couldn’t open my eyes again. I heard you calling out to me. I couldn’t move. It was weird!”
Worried, the two proceed to the manor to discuss ‘business’ matters.
Meanwhile, Misty sits at the table eating Saturday breakfast with her family.
“Now dear,” Mrs Thompson says, “your father wants to know-“
“Who is this boy exactly?” Misty’s father interrupts his wife, who shoots him a glare that turns him silent.
“A friend…”
“A boyfriend?” Her brother Shaun enquires seedily.
“Yes,” she sighs shyly.
“What happened to that Tanner boy, dear?” Mrs Thompson asks.
“Nothing mom. We just ended it is all. Now I’m going in a date with Tim.”
“Who you know from soccer?” Mr Thompson clarifies.
“Yes, dad.”
“And so what does this boy’s father do?”
“Well it’s his adoptive father he lives with. Bruce Wayne…”
A clatter of cutlery hits the plates at the table. The other three members of the Thompson family stare at Misty in shock.
“Are you saying this boy is rich?”
Mrs Thompson bats her husband with his own newspaper. Misty finishes her breakfast, grabs her bag and yells a goodbye over her shoulder, sprinting out of the house and down the road.
When she reaches the Zeta-tube, she enters the code Robin gave her. The Zeta beam lights up. Misty appears in an almost black cave, extremely confused.
After their early morning meeting with Lucius Fox, Dick and Hana had gone to visit Daphne and Tim.
Yet, Dick was not happy with what he found.
“Will you grow up!” Hana scolds him quietly in the hallways.
“Grow up? I am grown up! Th-They are, not!”
“Dick, it’s not big deal.”
“This is a big deal. Daph’s just lucky Bruce isn’t here!”
Hana stops, before something comes to mind.
“Not as lucky as Jaime is,” she chuckles.
He laughs too, before snapping back to his old state. “Hana this is no joke! He has to leave!”
Hana sighs, throws her arms up dramatically and creeps back up to Daphne’s door. She kneels down, turns the handle and pushes it open carefully and quietly.
A small gap allows her to see both Daphne and Jaime fast asleep, together, in the same bed.
“Look, they’re both wearing clothes-“
“Hana, we put clothes on afterwards sometimes.”
She freezes, eyes widening. “You’re an idiot.”
~Hana~
I walk away from the scene. Dick has no choice but to follow me into the dining room, where we find Tim.
“Hi Tim. How are-“ I begin, only to be interrupted.
“How long has he been here?” Dick demands to know.
Tim blinks with wide eyes. “Who?”
“Jaime.”
“Jaime? He’s here?…Wait, with Daphne?”
And so, like his oder brother had Tim shows his over-protective side. They march off down the hallway, discussing a plan.
I growl lowly, turn to the hallway and power my ring up.
“Richard Grayson! Timothy Drake! Get back here right now!”
The two stop as though contemplating their chances of escape. I fold my arms and end up hovering in the air.
The two sigh and walk back.
“Now listen. Do you remember the first time you slept at the mountain with me?” I asked Dick. He scratched the back of his head and squinted for a moment.
“Yeah. We were-“ He stops.
“Exactly. We were fourteen. Daph and Jaime are sixteen.”
“Yes, and?”
This voice is new. I turn to see Daphne standing at her doorway. “Why are you guys yelling? It’s only morning!”
“Jaime still in there?” Dick asks, ignoring what she had said.
“N-No,” Daphne blushes, before ducking back into her room.
~
The Friday afternoon before that, Gotham Academy is being watched.
What an ugly street this school is on. Bland, boring, nowhere near as fun as other places. At least, that’s what the person standing in the tree line on the other side of the street thought.
A bell rings. Students come running out of the establishment mere minutes later. Most climb into their parent’s expensive sports cars or vehicles.
One target is spotted. A fairly tall fourteen year old boy, dark hair, blue eyes, standing on the pavement with a phone in his hand.
He is soon joined by a girl. Long light brown and black hair with large grey eyes. Their forces show clearly who they are. Tim Drake and Daphne Wayne.
The two sit on the garden wall together in their uniforms, until a limo shows up. An old man gets out and opens the door for them.
Wayne and Drake both get in, their classmates watching jealously. The limo drives off and the Watchers eyes follow. The Watcher steps out of the trees, knowing this outcome is a good one.
The Watcher returns home. It is there, that a link is set up with Eleness.
“Did you find them?” Eleness asks the Watcher.
“I did.”
“Good. So our inside source’s information was, correct.”
“It was.” Eleness made the Watcher nervous.
“Do I scare you?”
“You scare all.”
“I suppose I do.”
The Watcher knew who Eleness was, yet, became confused as to why it preferred to be called Eleness instead of its real name.
It speaks with no voice, but the words it needs to say come in waves of knowledge to the Watcher.
“I am glad I have you, Watcher. And I am glad of our inside source too.”
“Yes, the inside source will come in handy.”
“Emerald Star will not know what has hit her.”
~