PROLOGUE
Gotham City. A large, prosperous place with towering skyscrapers and a serious smog problem, it was home to many thieving gangs, drug dealers, mad scientists, power-hungry men in...well, positions of power, and the infamous Jokerz. Not only did it house the wealthy businesspeople and lowly homeless, it also had many secrets. Secrets that most would be better off not knowing. Yet some were revealed to the public, but for every secret revealed, it was almost no time at all before another took its place. Of course, some secrets were never revealed. And never will be.
*
Where the sky met the earth, the horizon of Gotham, this world and the Parallels (AN: known also as the D/W/U/etc.'s) lie. The Parallels were something like equivalent worlds in the "parallel" universes. They were all connected at a specific point in each of them. Each world, of course, had its own identifying characteristics and special qualities, like being dark and gloomy, having dragons and other creatures of mythological lore, or being the home of those possessing magical abilities. Although the border was designed to keep everything in order (AN: This can be related to the Crossroads) and allow carefully planned trips between the Parallels, once in a while, someone or something leaked through, escaping the notice of the border control. Accidents happen, after all. Sometimes, though, the leak can change the destinies of individuals--individual people or worlds, or of all of the Parallels.
Like the day when one such leak threw a touch of magic randomly into Gotham, granting the gift--or curse--of magical power to a girl named Akira.
Her powers developed and grew underneath her subconscience, became so much stronger that they rivaled Merlin's. She didn't know about any of it, or of the border. Then again, precious few in Gotham knew of the border. It was another secret.
Finally, though, her powers started getting beyond her natural control, showing themselves in a dramatic entrance...
Chapter One
Akira leaned against a locker in the hallway of Hamilton High, checking her schedule for her third period class. The high-spirited chatter of unsuspecting students filled the air, accented by the slamming of lockers and occasional laughter.
"Hey!" She looked up to see a girl with mocha colored skin and pink hair making her way through the crowd towards her.
"Hi, Max," Akira greeted her cheerfully.
Max gave her a sarcastic smile, folding her arms. "First day of second semester. Wonderful, isn't it?"
Akira rolled her eyes. "Of course it's wonderful. I'm absolutely ecstatic to get fifty pages of homework right after midterms."
"Too true. They should give us more time to gather our nerves. By the way," she added, indicating the locker Akira rested against, "Is this yours?"
Akira shook her head. "No. I'm just...here."
"Didn't think so." Max waved at someone over Akira's shoulder.
"Hey, Max." The voice, light and masculine, came from behine and slightly above Akira's head. She turned around. The owner of the voice was tall and fairly muscular, with dark hair and startling icy blue eyes, definitely better looking, to say the least, than most guys. He seemed familiar, as in the "Oh-I've-seen-you-before" kind. (AN: And enter Terry McGinnis...)
"Excuse me," he said to Akira. "Um, you're standing in front of my locker..."
"Oh, sorry." Akira quickly stepped away.
"It's alright." He glanced questioningly at Max as he pulled out a keycard.
"Oh, right," she said with sudden understanding. Now they were both looking at her. "Terry, this is Akira. Akira, Terry," Max introduced them.
"Oh, you're in my English class," Akira said brightly, smiling. "You fell asleep halfway through."
"Nice to meet you, too. I knew a guy with your name once." Terry opened his locker and pulled out a textbook. "Friend of Max, right?"
"Obviously," Max snorted.
Terry grinned. "Let me guess. Also a genius, scored all 1600 points on the test, and working on some extracurricular project, like figuring out who Batman is."
"Um...well, I'm not trying to learn Batman's identity," Akira shrugged.
"But you're right on the other counts," Max added.
"Not exactly," Akira protested. "I'm not a genius. And I'm human. I do make mistakes."
Terry shook his head. "Acing the test is good enough for me. So don't deny it."
Akira laughed. "Right." The bell rang. "Oh, gotta go. See you at lunch, Max."
"Later!" Max called.
~
Akira slipped into her Physics class and took a seat on the wall side of a lab table, wishing class would hurry up and start.
"Hey. Anyone sitting here?"
Akira looked up at Terry. "No, go ahead."
When he sat down, she asked, "So you have Physics, too?"
Terry was about to reply when the teacher walked in and bowed dramatically.
"Hello, class. Just stay seated where you are for now." He spoke brightly and enthusiastically.
"Waaay too much enthusiasm," Akira muttered.
"I'm Mr. Campbell, and I'll be in charge of your education in the wonderful world of physics and the forces this semester," he continued. "So, let's get going! Centrifugal force..."
Akira tuned him out. This was just a repeat of what she already knew from eighth grade. She sank into her thoughts while the tireless Mr. Campbell kept lecturing them about G-forces and such other currently useless ideas.
She was literally shaken out of her reverie by Terry. "Akira. Yo. Did you hear what he said?"
"No. Did you listen?"
Terry grinned. "Not really. But I did hear him say we have a project due-"
"-in four weeks," Mr. Campbell told another student. Then, to the class, "Go ahead and choose partners."
"What kind of project?" Akira asked Terry.
"We have to design a roller coaster with all the forces," Terry explained.
"I already did that!"
"As an extracurricular project?"
Akira glared at him. "In eighth grade."
"Oh. Well, do you want to be my partner? I mean, if you're not thinking of working with someone else...."
"Why not," Akira sighed. "Sure."
*
Terry stepped into the Batcave and was immediately greeted by a deep, but firm, "McGinnis."
He quickly made his way to the state-of-the-art computer console, navigating around the museum display cases and the various forms of transportation he and Wayne used, or had used. "What's up?" A large black dog trotted to him. Terry knelt to scratch his ears. "Hey, Ace."
Bruce Wayne sat in the black swivel chair, looking up at some data graphs on the gigantic screen. "I need you to look into something going on by the ocean." He gestured at the graphs. "There's an unusual radio wave and air disturbance. It doesn't seem like it's caused by any normal things."
"Couldn't it just be that the Jokerz got a new toy to play with? Wait, that could be as dangerous as anything..."
Wayne shook his head. "No. The signal's persistent and too powerfule to be a simple wave displacer or whatever, and too complex." He clicked a button, drawing up a gridded map of Gotham. A red circle surrounded an area of water and land, with green ings spreading out. "And look at the location."
"In the middle of a bunch of skyscrapers," Terry thought out loud. "With open water on one side. If the signal was meant to do damage, they would've used it in an open space."
"Right. Look for anything unusual. Remember, this is a scouting mission. Reconnaissance. No attacking. And try to stay out of trouble."
"As unlikely as that is," Terry murmured.
*
Akira sat in the little coffee shop near the ocean in downtown Gotham, holding a plastic cup of iced cappucino and waiting for Max to arrive so they could "study". At least, that was the reason she gave to her brother.
Study. Ha ha. Right...
She glanced out the thick glass window for the tenth time. A light shadow, just barely discernible in the fading spring twilight, passed quickly over the endless stream of traffic. Leaning closer to the glass to investigate, she peered up and out. High up between the skyscrapers was a dark shape. Akira watched its path for a moment, then grabbed her bag and went outside, dropping some money on the table as she went. She stood there on the sidewalk and watched the shape rapidly become smaller and smaller. Deciding that it was headed for the seashore, she started following its course.
*
Terry, as Batman, was cruising past the buildings, dutifully following Wayne's instructions and looking for anything unusual. Max was with him in an uncomfortably cramped position. She knew better than to complain, though. When she found out about tonight's mission, she had insisted on coming along in the Batmobile in the first place, saying that "two pairs of eyes are better than one". Now she wished that she had decided to follow through with her original plan for the evening.
"Terry," Max said suddenly. "You wouldn;t happen to have a phone here, would you?"
"Actually, I do," Terry/Batman answered. He pressed a button and a handset popped up. "What for?"
"I was supposed to meet Akira at Lola's--you know, that new coffee shop downtown?-" she checked her watch, "--thirty minutes ago."
"She has a cell?"
"I'm hoping she remembered to bring it with her." She punched in some numbers. "Hello? Hi, Bob, it's Max. Is Akira there?" She paused, listening. "She's not? Okay, thanks." She pressed the "off" button and returned the phone to its holder, frowning. "Dammit."
"So she doesn't have it with her."
"Brilliant, Holmes."
"Holmes?"
"This must be why you barely passed the English final."
"I was tired when she was talking about it!" Terry protested.
"So you fell asleep and got detention," Max answered, scanning a gridded screen under her elbow. "Someone's following us."
"Not by air, they aren't."
"On foot."
"What?!" Terry let go of the controls out of shock. The Batmobile stopped abruptly, and would have fallen if the automatic hovering/braking system hadn't kicked in.
"Terry, calm down!" Max tried to pacify him. "I don't see why it's so surprising."
Terry glared at her. Even though in the cowl, he glared at everything. "We're cloaked right now. No one can detect us outside a five-foot radius except Wayne."
"Ah. I see."
"'Ah, I see'?" he repeated sarcastically.
The intercom crackled. Wayne's voice came out. "Terry. Something wrong?"
"Uh, a bird flew at us out of nowhere," Terry quickly invented.
"Are you sure that's all?"
"That's all."
There was a brief silence. "All right. Get going. You're grounded again, arent' you? I can't make excuses for you all the time." There was a click as he cut the link.
Terry groaned. "I forgot."
"Early curfew?" Max asked.
"Yeah."
"I would shake my head sympathetically, but if I did, I'd probably stab myself on your ear."
"I thought you weren't going to complain."
"I'm not!" Max sighed. "Anyway, what are you gonna do about our stalker?"
"Get lower and try to get a visual," he replied, suiting action to words.
"Now what are you doing?" Wayne's voice was more than slightly annoyed.
"Uh, slowing down." He added lamely, "So I don't run into any more birds."
"Terry, it's night."
"Um..."
Wayne sighed and slipped to a more mission-relevant subject. "Have you found anything?"
"Nothing so far," Terry answered, relieved at the change of topic.
"Okay. Contact me when you do."
"Sure." He broke off the connection.
Max nudged him. (AN: Would have elbowed him instead, but with the amount of space in there and all...) "Why aren't you telling him the truth?"
"Do you see anyone?" Terry asked, sidestepping the question. Truth to tell, he wasn't sure himself. Just a weird feeling...
"No, I don't, and you didn't answer m- woah!"
"That's good, right?"
"Not exactly. Some idiot is gettign himself into deep shit with the Jokerz--he--or she--is surrounded by what looks like a good twenty or so of them."
"I don't have time for this," Terry muttered under his breath. "Maybe I should shoot lasers at them or something..."
"Aw, crap," Max whispered.
"Bad thing?"
"Akira's down there!"
*
Just when it had seemed like she was gaining on the dark shape, Akira found herself circled by a crowd of leering, painted faces with ridiculous hats and hairstyles.
The Jokerz were also rapidly closing in, making a quick escape impossible.
"Damn," she muttered to herself, more annoyed than anything else. Looking up at the Jokerz, she smiled brightly. Or what she hoped was bright enough to deceive them.
"Fancy meeting you around here," she said cheerfully. "This isn't your territory, is it?"
"We're on a special mission today," one of the Jokerz said, sounding more confident than he looked. "Don't matter where we are." He peeked over his shoulder nervously.
"Really? Please enlighten me."
"Let's get this over with. I have a bad feeling about this," another guy mumbled, just barely audible.
What are they so jumpy about? Akira wondered.
"Look, sweetheart," the first Joker interrupted her thoughts. "Let's cut to the chase. Just come with us, peaceful-like, to that warehouse over there."
Akira pretended to consider. "Hmm...and if I don't want to?" Of course she knew the answer, but why not get the most fun out of the situation that she could?
"You got no choice. If you don't come out of free will, then we'll have to force you." So predictable. But even as he and the others moved in closer, some glanced back with nervous tension in their eyes.
Weird, Akira thought. Are they looking for someone they don't want to see? They're being...cautious...I guess there's always Batman. She smiled wryly to herself.
Someone suddenly grabbed her wrists and twisted her arms behind her back. Her immediate reaction was, "What the hell--"
"I told you, we're doing it the hard way," the Joker hissed in her ear.
She struggled against his painful grip. "Well--I don't want--" she kicked backwards hard, and was rewarded by a yelp, "--to come--" her hands were free, although strangely tingly and warm, "--at all!"
There was a blinding flash of light. Akira blinked, trying to get rid of the colored spots in front of her eyes. When they cleared, she saw Jokerz lying scattered everywhere around her, some groaning, others completely unconscious. The air around her sparkled. She grabbed at the ice-blue dust motes--or whatever they were--and felt a warm, tingly sensation.
Like her hands had felt before.
"Oh, my god," she whispered.
Did I do that?
*
Terry had stopped the Batmobile again. If he had been in a Looney Tunes cartoon, his mouth would be hanging down to his knees. (AN: Nah, he's not in a cartoon at all...just an animated TV series...)
"Did you see that?" Max squeaked.
Terry nodded dumbly, speechless for the moment. Akira was standing frozen--presumably from shock--staring at her hands. One instant before, she had been outnumbered something like twenty to one, apparently about to be kidnapped; the next, the would-be kidnappers were lying around, spread out like the debris from a supernova explosion.
Akira looked up abruptly.
"Terry? Did you find something?" Wayne's voice brust through the awestruck silence like a pin popping a balloon.
"I--uh-" Terry was still recovering.
"Or did you stop for fear of hitting more birds?"
"He's dropping me off, Mr. Wayne," Max said quickly.
"This isn't where you live," Wayne pointed out.
"I've got an appointment to keep. Terry is going to escort me like a gentleman, right?"
Bruce made a noise of exasperation and signed off.
"Come on, Terry, move the Batmobile behind that building," Max ordered.
"What are you doing?" Terry asked.
"I'm gonna get out, run from behind it to Akira, act all surprised and concerned, and get her attention away from you."
"Huh?" (AN: Terry looked confused...wait, that's the monkey's job.)
Max tapped the back of his head. "Do I have to explain everything to you? Look down. What do you see?"
"Um...Akira."
Max rolled her eyes. "What is she doing?"
"Looking up...at us...oh."
"Yeah."
*
Akira blinked. The Batmobile had disappeared behind a building. What was that all about? she thought curiously.
"Akira!"
Akira turned around to see Max running towards her.
"Are you alright?" Max had a worried expression on her face, which slowly changed to horror and shock. "Oh my...what happened?" Akira was looking at something behind Max. Max followed her gaze to see...nothing. It must be the Batmobile, she realized. "Um, hey, Akira...?"
Akira took a breath. "I...um...don't know what happened." She faced Max. "But, anyway, I'm fine. Where were you? I was waiting for you in the--"
"I got sidetracked. Come on, let's go. This isn't--" she glanced around at the unconscious Jokerz, "--the best place to be seen right now." She steered Akira back to the busy main street, chatting about everything, anything to keep Akira away from looking for--or thinking about--the Batmobile again. Not that it would work, but it was worth a try.
AN: So, do you like it so far? Review in the Guestbook on the Fanfics page, please!
