Three: The Heck With Capes

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THREE: THE HECK WITH CAPES

"Wearing that bat on your chest might scare off smaller thugs . . . But you're literally asking, no, begging for attention from more dangerous criminals. You're a mark for anyone who wants to make theirs."

- Batgirl, Batgirl Vol. 3 #2

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GRETAL HAD WOKEN UP WITH a new thought in her mind. Its not everyday she wakes up knowing she's a sidekick. She wondered how Robin did it, waking up knowing he was Batman's partner in crime.

The thought didn't last long, though. She quickly got dress, excitement rolling off of her and turning into dread when she realized she still has school to fight through.

Unfortunately, her mom just made things worse. Spitting out questions here and there like she was paid to do it. Gretal was about to explode. She chewed on her Captain Crunch cereal, glaring at the back of her mom's head.

"I still don't know why you were at a friend's house for so long," her mom was saying.

Gretal rolled her eyes. She sent her a text message saying she was going to be home late and what-not. No need to repeat all that in words.

"Why-"

Gretal stuffed her mouth with cereal, dropping her plate in the sink. "Whoops, Mom, I gotta go. Duty calls." She grabbed her bag and made a run for it, almost tripping out the door.

· · · ·

Gretal ignored all comments about Electric and the "mysterious girl from the bank". She never thought of herself as mysterious. It sort of felt thrilling just to have a big commotion over her just because her mom's bank had some seriously shitty camera footage.

Truth is, as of right now she was pretty exhausted. As exhausted as you can be from a super-long gym class. She was the last one to leave the girls' locker room and she grabbed her bag, hoisting it over her shoulder.

She remember seeing Cooper Doyle during gym but she had no idea where he ran off to. And as she past the boys' locker room she heard a shrieking sound. At first she thought someone was being murdered. (When did she start thinking of something so graphic? Like, what the hell?)

She sighed. She already broke so many rules, so why not?

The shrieking continued and it sounded muffled. There's a serial killer in the boys' locker room. I'm going to die. If I can't face a serial killer how am I going to face a criminal? A pause. Life goals.

"Hello?" Gretal called out. She felt awkward. Who in the world would call out to a serial killer? Then again, there was those horror films were the dumb chics went in the basement when their friends obviously told them not to. God, she never wanted to be portrayed as one of them but today's the day.

Though if you really think about it, was Gretal being a dumb chic . . . Or was she being helpful? Either way, she'd probably die.

Gretal has never been in a boys' locker room before. Sure, it was similar to the girls', but she felt way  uncomfortable. And the noise was coming from the showers. Great, she thought, someone's nude.

She closed her eyes and peeked into the shower where the shrieking was.

"Gremymmsmm!"

Gretal opened her eyes. And she was dying. Of embarrassment. This was another Cooper-situation. She wondered how many times the jocks were going to pick on Doyle.

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