[center][img] https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/314245695609503757/319606713223479304/stephbanner.png [/img][/center] [b]Sunset Valley, West Gotham Valley High 12:00 PM[/b] Stephanie made it as far as third period chemistry before missed sleep caught up with her. Given she hadn’t returned to home until five in the morning, barely beating her mother’s arrival, she’d done quiet well: An almost sickeningly cheery breakfast with her mother and she’d even taken notes in English. Not that any of that mattered when Mr. Stroff spotted blond hair fanned across the desk, and just [i]maybe[/i] having heard something that [i]could[/i] have been a snore. [color=7ea7d8] “Miss Brown,”[/color] Stephanie woke, more aware of the silence in the room before noticing nearly all of her classmates eyes on her. [color=DDA0DD][i] Well shit.[/i][/color] She let her head fall to the desk again with an audible [i]thunk[/i] Stroff cleared his throat, and the silence gave way to tittering. Apparently she was past the stage of –troubled new kid gets a free pass- [color=7ea7d8] “Am I boring you Miss Brown?”[/color] Steph lifted her head to rest on her arms and looked to the board, then back to her teacher. [color=DDA0DD][b] “Do you want me to make a joke or can you skip to giving me a detention slip and get back to it.”[/b][/color] Something about waking up in a room full of highschool students didn’t do much for Steph’s temper, or her tact apparently. Whatever amusement that had been lingering in Stroff’s face was gone. [color=7ea7d8] “Beckland’s office. Now.”[/color] He slapped a pink slip on her desk with what was probably more force than needed. Principal or not, at least it was out of the classroom. Steph swiped her notebooks into her open bag, swung it over her shoulder, and winced. [color=DDA0DD][i]Yeah. That's pulled.[/i][/color] She adjusted the bag and began a bee-line to door, but stopped and turned half way there. The class had already begun to settle to its normal ambiance. [color=DDA0DD][b] “Mr. Stroff”[/b][/color] He stopped to look at her again halfway to the front again. [color=DDA0DD][b] "I apologize for any undue sulfering"[/b][/color] She grinned and did a mock salute, ignoring his increasingly annoyed look, and clicking her heels together before turning around to enter the hallway. Getting sent to the principal’s office didn’t exactly instill Steph was fear. If anything a suspension would give her a chance to catch up of sleep, figure out exactly what was going on with Moxie and a dead joker, and finally track batman down and get him to tell her what the hell was going on. Not like that was going to happen, Ms. Beckland cared far to much to work at a public school. The worst punishment to come of meeting with her would be a mandatory session with the school counselor. She considered how that conversation would go as she made her way to the office, rubbing her right shoulder. [color=DDA0DD][i]A wealthy masked man hasn't been inviting me to his basement and training me as much as I'd like so I've had to strike out on my own. Except last time I did that I got tortured and was close enough to dead that I just went ahead and let everyone think I was while I ran away.[/i][/color] Steph couldn’t remember the secretary’s name. Which was just as well, the past-middle-aged woman was muttering on the phone, and barely gave a raised eyebrow. The door behind her, leading to Beckland’s office, was open anyways. She was typing on her computer, and a knock was needed to get her attention. [color=7ea7d8] “Oh, hello Stephanie, is there anything-“[/color] She stopped mid sentence, staring at the pink paper in Steph’s outstretched hand as though it where some foreign object. Steph placed in on the desk in front of her, but did not sit down. The sooner she was out of there the better. Beckland continued to frown at the note as she read it, then sighed, folded her hands, and looked at Stephanie with an expression that would be more appropriate for a wounded puppy. [color=DDA0DD][i]Oh no.[/i][/color] [color=7ea7d8] “Please have a seat Stephanie, I’d like to talk.”[/color] The only movement Steph made was to shift her weight to one hip. Beckland sighed again. [color=7ea7d8]“I have- had asked the staff to grant you some additional leniency, given your… Circumstances; but your behavior has continued to be erratic.”[/color] She displayed her hands outward, the same sympathetic puppy smile on her face. Steph had been more comfortable receiving lectures from Batman. Sympathy just made her unjustifiably angry, and this woman didn’t even know the half of it. [color=7ea7d8]“We are here to help you Stephanie. [i]I[/i] would like to help you Stephanie, to move on from the death in your family and make you comfortable here.”[/color] [color=DDA0DD][i]Dying was the first decent thing my father did in 16 years.[/i][/color] Before she could respond, Steph’s phone vibrated in her pocket. Out of apathy for the conversation, or mental exhaustion; she answered it. Beckland’s smile stayed in place, even as the rest of her face strained to keep it there. [color=DDA0DD][b] “Hello?”[/b][/color] [color=F0E68C] “Hi Steph, do you have a minute? I’ve got something that might be important.”[/color] Leslie Thompkin’s voice caught Steph off-guard, and she sat down immediately, ignoring the tapping of Beckland’s pen on the desk. [color=DDA0DD][b] “What’s going on?”[/b][/color] [color=F0E68C] “Well it might be nothing, but we received four patients last night pretty beat up, one was in critical until just an hour ago.”[/color] [color=7ea7d8]“Miss. Brown I really have to-”[/color] Dropping the first name didn’t seem like a good sign. Steph bit her lip and did her very best to look on the edge of tears. [color=DDA0DD][b] “Critical condition? He made it? Will he be okay?”[/b][/color] It got Beckland to back off, but Leslie paused and resumed with audible confusion. [color=F0E68C] “I- well yes he’s fine now. The problem was how they were brought in. Dropped off in a stolen car, no one with them.”[/color] There was another pause on the phone, Steph waited it out. [color=F0E68C] “They’re all saying it was some kid dressed as Robin Steph.”[/color] [color=DDA0DD][b] “What?”[/b][/color] Not, that couldn’t have been right, Tim would never leave anyone at the door of the hospital. Steph glanced up at her principle [color=DDA0DD][b] "Do you think it was?”[/b][/color] [color=F0E68C] “I don’t really know, their stories all match, even though the one was unconscious since they were brought here, and a cut on one of the other could be a shuriken. But all their descriptions say it was a kid, definitely under thirteen”[/color] Well that couldn’t be Robin then could it? Right. Just some other young kid with a red, yellow, and green suit who was able to take out four thugs somewhere in the Narrows. Steph covered her face with her free hand. [color=DDA0DD][i]Damn Bruce and his stupid secrets.[/i][/color] [color=F0E68C] “Steph?”[/color] [color=DDA0DD][b]"I’m here, but I really don’t know what it could mean."[/b][/color] She chose her words carefully, and avoided eye-contact with Beckland. [color=F0E68C] “Well there’s just one other thing, the main problem really. The stab victim, the one that was in critical, Robin stabbed him, in an artery Steph. It was a [i]lethal[/i] strike.”[/color] Steph’s stomach twisted. [color=DDA0DD][b]"An accident?"[/b][/color] Leslie gave a bitter laugh in response. [color=F0E68C] “I don’t know, it’s something of a one in hundred chance to just hit an artery at random, but I’m no detective. I’ve tried calling the cave but no one’s been answering.”[/color] [color=DDA0DD][b]”Of course. I’ll be there as soon as possible”[/b][/color] [color=F0E68C] “What? No you don’t-”[/color] Steph had already hung up the phone and was wiping away fake tears from her stubbornly dry eyes. Beckland offered her a box of tissues, sympathy face plastered right back on. [color=DDA0DD][b] “I’m so sorry Mrs. Beckland”[/b][/color] Steph spoke slowly, as though to compose herself as she took one of the tissues and blew her nose. [color=DDA0DD][b] “It was just- my-”[/b][/color] Her mind raced for a suitable candidate [color=DDA0DD][b]”-Uncle Ross got into a car accident last night, we’ve been waiting to hear about it all day.”[/b][/color] It was probably best not to mention ‘Uncle’ Ross was a failed bank robber she hadn’t seen in two years. Beckland sighed for a third time.[color=7ea7d8]“If your family needs you of course you should go.”[/color] Steph was already standing before she’d finished [color=7ea7d8]“- But I am making you an appointment to see consular Abrams on Monday, over lunch.”[/color] [color=DDA0DD][i]So close.[/i][/color] Steph nodded silently and walked out the door as quickly as she could manage without breaking into a run. -- It was still early noon, which mean Crystal Brown would be sleeping off her double nightshift. While it wasn’t the worst discovery her mother could make, Steph didn’t like the idea of explaining why she was dismissed from school early. So, she climbed the oak tree that hung over the back of the house and leapt to the roof, where she removed her shoes and quietly ran across to her where her own room was located. Her window was unlocked, as always, and she swung in almost silently, freezing when the panel slammed back down into place. When there was no sound of other movement in the house, Stephanie allowed herself to breath again. That would have to be fixed at some point. She gave a longing glance to her un-made bed before rummaging through the laundry in her closet to find the carefully buried Spoiler costume.