Try Again.

SCANNING…IDENTIFICATION COMPLETE. ENTER CATHERINE TODD-STORM, CHILD OF JASON TODD & BIOLOGICALLY ARTEMIS BANA MIGHDALL. CODENAME: ROBIN.  A 21 YEAR OLD FIRST YEAR ENROLLED IN THE SUPERHUMAN TRACK. INTEL SHOWS THEY ARE DEDICATED, BUT CAN ALSO BE ANGRY. ABILITIES INCLUDE AMAZON PHYSIOLOGY. FACIAL RECOGNITION MISTAKES THEM FOR MADISON BAILEY.  

Peter snorted softly as he looked over at Cat. “I’m not gonna drug him, Cat,” he said. “I definitely don’t think that would do much to help my grade.” Though the corners of his mouth tugged down as he spoke about it. It wasn’t like he’d gotten a bad grade, let alone failed, but getting a C this early in the semester was discouraging for him. He considered for a moment. “Bugging his office is kind of tempting,” he admitted. “But we probably shouldn’t do that either. It’s not like we’re gonna catch him conspiring against me or anything.”

𝐂𝐚𝐭 - 𝐏𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫

         “Why not?” She huffed at the blond. “It would be so easy and the least messy way to give me a chance to break into his office.” There was very little that Cat wouldn’t do for the people she loved. “Tempting?” She raised an inquisitive brow in Peter’s direction. “Should we bug it? What if we do though? Ya never know.” 

Emrys’s eyes narrowed with irritation when she tried to tell him that she did fool him. As if he was someone easily fooled. His head cocked as she repeated her words. Insisting that it was a fantasy. Diminishing all the time they spent together. It was ridiculous. She was ridiculous. How could he have ever fallen for someone like her? “I know what’s real.” He told her lowly. Her timid voice filled his ears and his features softened for a moment. His grip loosening on her face. Considering pulling back from her… until she snapped at him again. She told him he was crazy but she was the one driving him there. Emrys grit his teeth. He was furious at her but he was leaned in so close. He wanted to hurt her for that but how could he? When he was breathing the same air as her? Channeling his anger into something else, his hand moved to the back of her head and he closed the space between them and placed a forceful kiss on her lips instead.

𝐂𝐚𝐭 - 𝐄𝐦𝐫𝐲𝐬

         There was a temptation she toyed with to instigate him, to push things further, to see how far she could go until he snapped. Cat liked the feeling it gave her when they fought. The thrill of it was intoxicating; she couldn’t get enough of the way her heart pounded in her chest, or the way her breathing grew rapid and it felt like she couldn’t get enough air in her lungs. But she decided against it. What they had was real, maybe it was too real and that was the problem. The train of thought was abruptly ended as Emrys’ lips crashed into hers. There all thoughts stopped and her body took over as she kissed him back, putting all her emotion into it. The anger turned to passion, the frustration turned to eager.

Mar'i flipped through her magazine, trying her best to push back the awkwardness between her and her cousin. After all, she was the reason things in their family had fallen apart. She thought she was doing the right thing. Her head snapped up, hair glowing brightly at the prospect of Cat wanting to spend more time together. “Oh yes please! That would be great I’m starving!” she smiled. That was a lie, she’d eaten about an hour ago. But she could eat more if it meant hanging out with her family. “Where do you want to go? Here or off campus?” she asked. “I could fly us?”

𝐂𝐚𝐭 - 𝐌𝐚𝐫'𝐢

       Cat was trying her best not to hold grudges like she had been known to in the past. She wanted to be better than her dad but admittedly it was a struggle. She understood better now why Jason always struggled with his relationship with Bruce. She was struggling to keep up one with Mar’i after everything that had happened. She had torn the family apart, intentionally or not and pulled Cat’s best friend from her. Now Bruce was blacklisted. He was a criminal. “I don’t care.” She shrugged. “Are you craving anything?”

“Could have fooled me.” Emrys said back, her words stung him but one hurt in particular. She spat the word at him like it was venomous. His shameful little secret. The one that made him more of a liability than a leader to his crew. He turned his whole body to face her and leaned over the table so he was as close as he could get. “Say it was a fantasy,” He argued. Reaching a hand towards her to push back her loose curls. “Why would you ever let a crazed criminal like myself anywhere near you? You got a death wish?” His fingers grazed the soft skin of her cheek before he abruptly gripped her chin. “Don’t call me that again.” 

𝐂𝐚𝐭 - 𝐄𝐦𝐫𝐲𝐬

        “Clearly I did fool you.” She retorted, unwilling to waver on the position she had taken in this disagreement. Cat watched as Emrys drew closer, her heart racing faster as he closed distance between them. “It. was. a. fantasy.” She repeated, enunciating each word individually as she attempted to drill them into his brain. “Maybe.” Her voice was softer this time, more timid than it had been before. Reality came crashing back as he gripped her chin and her anger came rushing back. “Or what?”

       "We deserve the opposite of pain.” Cat didn’t know what had possessed her to speak her most inner thoughts, but there she was whispering them to her childhood friend. They had been through so much; individually and as a school. 

“So I’ve been told.” Valentina said with a little shrug. It didn’t stop her from continuing to grab the remote and change it to the show she’d been watching every Sunday. “House of the dragon comes on in 5 minutes. So shut up and watch or get gone.” she told Cat her hand waving dismissively. “Oh and toss me a soda would ya?” See? She could be nice.

𝐂𝐚𝐭 - 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐚

       “Maybe you should work on fixing that flaw since you’re already aware of it then. Oh wait, I almost forgot people like you don’t know how to grow as humans. You stay stagnant which is exactly why you get caught and throw in Blackgate, or Arkham Asylum, or this rehabilitation program. Because you’re incapable of change.” The program was a joke to Cat. Villains were who they were. Bruce had become who he was. There was no changing them. “No, get your own soda. I’m not doing you any favors.” 

“I didn’t even do anything. Is this about how I left you on read during break? I get busy sometimes. Get over it.” Emrys replied just as sharply, stopping the tapping he’d been doing against the table. “It’s not my fault you’re still in love with me.” That was definitely too far but he didn’t care all that much at the moment. She was irritating him just as much as he was bothering her. Emrys shot her a quick glare before folding his arms in front of him. 

𝐂𝐚𝐭 - 𝐄𝐦𝐫𝐲𝐬

          It was definitely about the way he left her on read during break, but was she going to admit to that? No. Emrys only added fuel to the fire by telling Cat to get over it. She had been over it for the most part up until he told her to. Now she wasn’t over it. Maybe she never would be. Who knew? Not her. She never knew anything when it came to him. “I am not still in love with you. In fact, I was never in love with you.” Her anger rose to dangerous levels - nuclear levels. “How could I ever love someone like you? You’re crazy. You probably made that up in your head or something. What a sick fantasy.” 

         "You’ve got really bad timing.” Cat stated, unamused by her roommates timing. Clearly she was being punished for something. For what though, she couldn’t say. There would probably a number of things karma was waiting to get back at her for. 

       “Some find that ridiculously annoying.” Cat reminded him with a snap. They were always so back and forth, on and off, and right now they were off. When they were like this she found every little thing he did to be the most annoying thing in the world. He could breath wrong and she would reprimand him for it. There was no winning when she was upset with him like this.

        “Feel like grabbing dinner?” Cat asked her cousin, letting the moment of silence that had fallen between them go. Things had been weird between her and her family since Bruce’s betrayal and trial. She was still figuring out where she fit in the family without him there. 

        “Let’s bug his office. He’ll never know. We’ll be in and out. Or...” A thought came to Cat as her lips formed into a mischievous smirk. “You could bake some of those chocolate chip cookies you’re famous for and we lace them with my sleeping pills and make things even easier.” She was pretty sure he wouldn’t go for that plan, but it was worth a try. 

Stella examined her nails, rolling her eyes at the words from one of the little bats’ offspring. She probably lived on the good side of Gotham, where people aren’t killing each other over a simple look. It’s easy to preach the good of the world when you don’t see the daily horrors.

She crossed her arms, cocking her head to the side. “Are you gonna tell me love can fix me? Or better the POWER OF FRIENDSHIP,” she raised her voice, mimicking a fairytale princess voice. “I’m taking a walk, on school grounds where I’m allowed to be, and it’s not past curfew.” If there was thing she could say she inherited from her father, it was the ability to argue. “Have I forgotten anything?”

.

      “No,” she scoffed at the very idea of something so cliché. Love - romantic or platonic - rarely fixed anything especially in reality. That was a stupid movie trope that made no sense even in the bounds of its fictious world. “Why would either of those fix you? Do you know something I don’t?” Cat asked. The small rocks made a crunching noise under her foot as she tapped rhythmically against the gravel paved pathway, her impatience growing.

     “Maybe if you looked down every once in a while you would realize you forgot your tie which is an automatic write up if a member of staff notices.” She stated, eyes moving to the vacant spot in the middle of Stella’s chest where the tie should have been. “Easy mistake but it’ll cost you a lot. Sorry for trying to help, won’t happen again.” 

“about a screaming mask?” he asked as he raised his brow at her question. “i don’t think so– but if you need me to hold your hand just say so.” he joked before taking a few popcorns into his mouth. 

.

      “Oh, so I have to ask to hold your hand? I can’t just reach out for it if I get scared?” She joked back, reaching for a piece of popcorn and tossing it towards him, aiming for his nose. Walking to the couch, she sat down, patting the spot next to her for him to sit. 

“No, an entirely different Finnick” she rolled her eyes gently. Cat was only asking to help, but Riley had been feeling particularly defensive since she had seen him that day on the elevator. “Yes, Finnick. My ex, the Atlantean with the purple eyes is here at this school and it’s making me feel like I want to throw up”

.

      “Oh, that make sense.” Cat nodded, trying not to get annoyed by her sister’s blatant sarcasm. Although she didn’t think that she knew everything that had gone on between the two, she knew it hadn’t ended well and Riley’s reaction only made that all the more obvious. “Do you want to talk about it?” She asked carefully, not wanting to cross any boundaries. 

Alex? That was a different story. He saw them together from time to time but never approached them. He saw how close they were. How they spoke to one another. An ugly, green feeling came over him and his hands moved together in an anxious gesture. “I’m sure I’d-” Be okay with it. He couldn’t even say it. Especially not without any trace of venom in his tone. Emrys swallowed. “As long as you don’t like her. It would be fine.” He said, although he was clearly bothered by the idea. She asked him what kind of things he felt and he finally felt his cheeks heat up. Instead of answering right away. His eyes darted to her drink she left on the table. Taking one step back from her to grab it and drink from it. Deciding he needed to be a little bit intoxicated if he had to describe it. He placed the empty cup back on the table and then turned to her. “I don’t know… Like you’re- I really um- Fuck. Okay, fine. I can’t be bought, but I can be stolen with a glance. I’m worthless to one, but priceless to two. What am I?” 

.

      She waited, hanging onto his words for something she wasn’t sure she would even get. She was filled with hope though, a trait she inherited from her dad. Swallowing the lump in her throat that had formed in the absence of talking. The answer he came up with deflated her. There was no winning. Emrys had to be right even when he was wrong, or at least that was how it felt. She was too stuck in her own frustration to notice his change in demeanor. Watching as he moved away, she thought this might be it - that they were officially calling it off for good. That was until she downed the drink and placed the drink back on the table.  

      I can’t be bought, but I can be stolen with a glance. I’m worthless to one, but priceless to two. What am I? A riddle. There was a moment of surprise, brows pulling together to form a crease in the middle of her forehead. Emrys had never really been one for riddles. Thinking back on his words, she tried to unravel the mystery. “Love.” She finally said, breaking the silence that had settled in the room.