Becoming a Bat

Chapter 1

           I pace impatiently in my dad's office. Waiting is always the worst.Especially when I'm about to get in trouble. All I want to do was go back to my computers. I hear the angry footsteps of my father coming down the hallway.

          "What were you thinking?" My dad's face looks at me, his eyebrows scrunched together in frustration. 

         "What, Dad? Sorry that I wanted a job? Besides the frickin' librarian?" I throw my hands in the air.

       "You know how I feel about your career choice." He points a dagger finger at me.

        "There's nothing you can do to stop me." I cross my arms over my chest, taking up a defensive position.

         Dad rubs his face."One cop in the family is enough."

         I push past him and grab my coat from the hanger near the door."I'm not even tall enough." I open the door and turn toward him."Thanks for those genes." Slam the door, and leave. As I pull on my coat, I bump into Officer Bard.

        "Whoa, there." He grabs my arms, steadying me."Are you okay?"

      "Yep. Sorry, Officer Bard. Just trying to get home." I fake wiping a tear from my cheek, hoping that he will realize my "feminine weakness" and just let me go.

       He chuckles." How many times do I have to tell you to call me Josh?"

     I inwardly roll my eyes. Joshua Bard has been trying to ask me out, and he is only a few years older than me, 22.

      I brush past him, wanting to drive awhile before going home. "Sorry, got a lot of college work to do."

     "I thought you were done.      

      I pretend not to hear him.

                                            *                                         *                                             *

     I drive to the Wayne Tower. I have the code to get to the top level where nothing is. I used to go there when my mom had just left, throwing pebbles at the people down below me. I would use everything I had to hit them, but only once or twice actually hit my mark. I nod toward the desk lady. They know me here. When I press the button for the top floor, a keypad, hidden behind a panel in the elevator, appears. I type in the code that my dad uses. It always helps being the commissioner's daughter. When the doors open at the 78th floor, the winds blow past,  because there are no walls, just empty spaces where they should be.

     The cement pillars are roughened up by the harsh treatment they've gotten. Snow, rain, hail, sleet, strong winds, my anger, more so after I started a self-defense class. Hours I would spend, taping some padding to the pillars, punching and kicking until the pain throbbed, then disappeared. And hours I would spend, my feet dangling over the side, waiting for my dad to flick the switch on and for the sign to go up in the sky. Then, wait for him to appear. Batman. Only a few years earlier, when I was 11 or 12, did another crime fighter come to the scene.

(FLASHBACK)

   The chicken was done. The vegetables were cooked. Okay.

   "DAD! Time to eat!" Even at 12 years old, I was cooking dinner."So!" I asked, trying to start a conversation, as my dad cut into the chicken,"How was your day?"

   My dad chuckled." Aren't I supposed to ask that question?" He put a piece of chicken in his mouth.

   I stabbed a cooked carrot." Well, you obviously weren't going to, so I took the initiative."

   The GCPD Commissioner rubbed his forehead." Using big words so soon, are we?"

   I rolled my eyes."Just tell me about your day, Dad."

   "Well," he sighed," there's a new member to the Batman crew."

   My fork stopped in mid-air. One person doesn't make a "crew", Dad I wanted to say out loud. "Who is it?"

   "He can't be more than 13. From all I can tell, he helped Batman catch someone so now Batman is..." Dad talked on for the longest time, until I got up to start clearing the table.'...but I'm pretty sure Batman has the kid staying with him. And his name is Robin, really, oh, wait, you don't want to hear all this, do you?"

   I filled the Tupperware containers with the left over  food. Then I turned around and smiled at Dad."No, it's fine. I like hearing about your day. I want to join the police force when I'm older.'

   Dad's face softened, then hardened.

   "BARBARA GORDON!"

   And the rest is history.

(END OF FLASHBACK)

   Ever since then, I've been watching for Batman and Robin. Well, I stopped when I went to Gotham University, and I haven't seen either of them for a while. So, when I sit on the edge, I hope to see a glimpse of the famous Dark Knight and Boy Wonder. I sip my coffee. The black, bitter liquid slides down my throat and warms me up. I glace down at the cars below me. Then a light catches my eye. The famous signal is lit up against the Gotham City sky. I see a lone figure, probably the GCPD commissioner, a.k.a my dad. In a blink of an eye, two more join him. I think about standing up, waving and calling to my dad, but decide against it. I stay put, and watch the conversation unfold form a distance. The moment my dad turns his back to turn of the light, Batman and Robin jump off the roof.

   "So that's how you do it." I whisper to myself. After years of complaints of how Batman never uses the stair, or the door like a normal human being, I some how feel victorious in discovering this. Since the meeting is finally over, I stand up, brush off, step into the elevator, and head home.

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Hey, sorry it wasn't that long... I'm still working on it. Trying to get the feel of what this story should be about. So yeah, vote, and tell your friends, my little minions.

-JellyBean