Humble apologies to one and all. I have not updated earlier because

1) i had so much homework, projects (S.B.A) that are a big part of my CXC grade ( Caribbean Examination council) sort of like S.A.T.

2) I was pratising for my two ABRSM EXAMS and got home all 7pm to learn I failed all two

3) I just got gastro and my activities include: slepping, drinking peppermint tea, complaining about how bad my stomach hurts and

4) ideas kept slamming into my head. and I had to find a way to make the story flow

This is a sort of filler chapter. If you get lost with the flow of the story and how things join together. SPEAK YOUR MIND!

I am also going on a cruise!

i do not own...

ZATANNA POV

"Okay I think you've been watching too many reporter investigator shows, seriously."

"You're being to realist, deal with this"

"Tiff, we're crawling in the air ducts, missing class and getting dirty"

"Ohhh getting dirty... Ow!"

"BEHAVE" Zatanna whispered furiously, "besides we're over Mrs. Nicolson's room and you know how strict she is"

"Oh yeah. Wait how do you know that we're above her room anyway huh?"

"I had an incident in middle school when there was a high school road trip thingy. Let's just say it wasn't the most fun field trip"

"Hah, I gotta hear that story"

"Some other day, some other time, right now, we've got work to do"

SILENCE

Then both the girls burst out laughing.

"Shh stop! We're here" Tiff looked through the air vent grill. "Perfect it's empty"

"It's the middle of the morning"

Tiffany had gotten the grill off and was measuring the distance from the vent to the ground.

"It's kind of far so if we jump we might sprain a leg or something."

"Okay" Zatanna said as she moved Tiffany out of the way and jumped down. When she got up from her crouch, she found Tiffany staring at her. Zatanna blushed with embarrassment

I practice stuff like this a lot at home... anyway where the computer or whatever"

"Um... I left my laptop here yesterday and it's on-"

"You left your laptop here. At school in a place filled with 800 plus students"

"Yeah, I have the key for the room"

"So why didn't we just go through the door?"

"I went be Ms. McClean's house to return it, that's the arrangement"

"Oh okay. Laptop"

"It should be on the editor's desk"

"Or in the trash can next to it"

Zatanna heard Tiffany mumble something then sigh

"Bring it up here"

Zatanna grabbed some boxes and chairs and stacked them. Climbing up she handed Tiffany the laptop.

"Hold on"

Climbing back down Zatanna rearranged the chairs and boxes. Then she took a look at the vent and the distance from the ground. Tiffany had begun to lower herself out a little so she could let down a rope.

"Where in the world did you get a rope- never mind I don't want to know"

"I always keep random spare stuff in my little backpack" she said patting it. "Come on like gym class. The rope climb"

ARTEMIS POV

Artemis sighed looking at the clock, only five more minutes until lunch. Damn she wished she could move the clock hands telepathically or something like that. She couldn't stand this class or any of the other classes before this. Everyone was staring at her and still continued to stare. Artemis lost interest in the clock knowing she would only get frustrated and turned to look outside at the cloudless day. How ironic.

"Artemis! Ms. Crock! It's nice to see you paying attention and since you seem so interested why don't you answer the last question we had for homework last night?"

Artemis sighed and grabbed her notebook knowing she was going have to go home to her mother's disappointed face when she got one of those delinquent, disrespectful cards in the mail. She walked to the chalkboard and opened her book. And blinked in surprise. All her work was done, finished, completed.

"Well? Are you going to write Ms Crock or are you going to admit you didn't do the homework?" Smirking at how much fun this was going to be, she picked up the chalk and began to follow the answers step by step. When she was done, her teacher peered at the answer as if she expected to find it wrong. She nodded her head.

"Alright go and sit down. Now, next we BRIIING!" The students packed their bags and hurried for the cafeteria. Artemis lagged behind partly because she didn't want any drama. She hoisted her bag on her shoulder and began to walk down the aisle. She was stopped by her teacher who stood in the middle of the aisle. Not wanting to be rude or reprimanded, Artemis stood and waited for her teacher to acknowledge her and move but after five minutes, Artemis began to think it was done purposely.

"Um Excuse me Ma'am." Her teacher looked up at her. "Can I please have a pass, I have to buy lunch and I don't want to miss out on any of the specials"

Her teacher only looked at her and went back to ignoring her again. Artemis waited another five minutes then her patience wore out, that and she was hungry. So she tried pushing around her only to find her teacher glaring at her with the look the students had famously nickname "death glare".

"What is the matter with you child? Didn't your mother teach you any manners? Last time I checked, you say "excuse me" and wait. Or is that too much for you to do?"

"Ah sorry miss but I said excuse me and you didn't move so, well I just thought I could go around..."

"Oh of course dear, pardon me how could I expect a barbarian bastard like you to know manners"

"I beg your pardon? I really don't mean to be rude but that was rude and inconsiderate and besides you've never talked or acted like this to me so why now?"

"Artemis I know with the type of lifestyle you've lived you don't know any better but if you think threatening me with your mafia mother and father is going to get you special treatment... You're sadly mistaken. I'm failing you for the rest of the semester and with a failing grade point average your scholarship becomes void."

"My scholarship becomes... WHY?"

"Artemis, you're useless. First your parents aren't even important enough to afford this school, you are two assassins daughter with a "missing" sister and you want to be accepted? HAH! Give me a break!" And with this her teacher flounced out of the room.

Artemis just stood there quietly.

'It's alright' she thought to herself 'there are billions of people on this earth. I'm not gonna let one bring me down'

10 minuets later - staff room

The teachers sat around a beautiful, varnished, mahogany, oval table they were besides their selves with self-egotitis. All because of the man sitting at the head of the table next to the principle.

BRUCE POV

Bruce was not amused. It was true that he had nothing to do but that didn't give people permission to call him in for a meeting when he wanted to relax. The meeting got called to order and to his disgust, Bruce saw that more than half the staff had tidied and primed themselves up like a bunch of Barbie dolls. The ones who didn't were some of the more senior teachers and a few younger ones.

"This meeting is now called to order" The principal said quietly but in a voice of authority. He turned and addressed him.

"Mr. Wayne, we apologize immensely for disturbing your day. You are a busy man and I'm sure you have several projects to complete so we will make this quick. As you are wondering why we are here let us elaborate..."

Bruce wondered what was bothering the principal, he was usually a man who hated to waste time and who got straight to the point but now he was stalling?

PRINCIPAL'S POV

Mr. Jackson swallowed nervously

'I must stop this skirting around. It isn't like me and frankly I did see why this issue even arose'

"Mr. Jackson, no offense or disrespect intended but what is the point, the reason why we're here?" What wasn't said was understood immediately. YOU ARE WASTING MY TIME.

"Well you see Mr. Wayne; some of the staff seems to think something you did unintentionally, of course, may threaten the safety and wellbeing of our students and the staff as well"

"Something I did?"

BRUCE POV

Bruce was definitely getting interested in what was going on. And why all the mysteriousness?

"Something I did? And what exactly did I do that has caused the staff to fear for their lives and the lives of the children"

Mr. Jackson looked embarrassed.

"Well you see... it is about th-"

"Sir, pardon me for interrupting but you seem to be skirting the problem and Mr. Wayne is a busy man like you said before." Mr. Jackson nodded thankfully at his secretary and newly engaged fiancée.

"Mr. Wayne, some members of staff think that one of the children you support through your scholarships is a safety hazard to both them and the students."

"This child is?"

"Artemis Crock, sir"

"Why would she pose a threat to the safety of the students and staff?" This time it was one of the other teachers that spoke

"Well sir, her parents and their history it's so obvious that she would be the same, after all the type of environment she was raised in. It reflects who she will become" Bruce only raised an eyebrow.

"The type of environment?"

"Well her parents are assassins, it's only obvious she would become an assassin as well, she probably already is" Bruce saw the secretary, Ms. Stevenson clench her hands into fists out of the corner of his eye.

"Did she make any indication that she is currently perusing or is in the process of pursuing the life of an assassin?"

"No sir, but you know these people are, they don't want us to know, we are their next target."

"Ah I see, so it's the same as saying if she was sexually abused as a child, it's obvious she would pursue the acts of prostitution since that is the environment she was raised in"

"Well since, she would already be used to acting on these sexual acts; it's only obvious that she would pursue prostitution."

Bruce sensed quiet anger emerging from Ms. Stevenson.

"Again I ask did she make any sign, she's pursuing the area of assassination?"

There was silence. Bruce nodded his head.

"Alright then, until you have any solid proof that she-"

"Wait! I just remembered. The other day, I think it was yesterday, she left the school, without any prior notice and without any permission. It's obvious now she probably had a job and today, she threatened me when I didn't move out of the way quickly enough. Is that the type of behavior we want our children to adopt?"

Bruce said nothing. If he hadn't seen that other side of Artemis yesterday and known her whole story, he might have been more inclined to agree with them.

"And how exactly did she get pass the administrative building and security outside Ms. Stevenson?" The secretary looked up quietly.

"What exactly do you mean by that Mrs. Horez?"

"Well, in order to leave the school, the children need to pass the main office which consists of the secretary's work area and the principal's office. If the secretary sees any stragglers, she can inform the guard ahead of time and he can refuse the stragglers exit"

"And?"

"Maybe, the principal and his secretary were a little too busy to notice such trivial thing when they obviously had much more important matters to deal with." She said indicating the couple's matching rings.

Bruce knew both the principal and the secretary had steel lined backbones and that a snippy insult like that would not go unnoticed and he was rewarded when he saw the insult register in Ms. Stevenson's eyes.

"Mrs. Joseph are you indicating that Mr. Jackson and I don't have a high level of professionalism? Do you really think we would stoop so low as to bring our private business into our workplace?"

"Well I don't mean to sound rude but, it was just the beginning of the day so what reason could both of you have for missing out one child?"

Ms. Stevenson opened her mouth to reply but Mr. Jackson stopped her.

"We are all aware this happened around 9:00 right? At that time I was in a meeting with the board of directors of the school. We were having a meeting about the finances of the school and the proper relocation of these funds"

Ms. Stevenson continued "Around that time I went to the supply closet to restock the paper for the copying machine because I needed to have all the forms about the PTA meeting which is two weeks from now."

There was an awkward pause in the room. Bruce checked his watch, it was almost lunch….

"Well thank you so much for telling me about all these concerns and suggestions but you have no evidence that Ms. Crock is a threat. It is true that you have told me about these little instances but for all I know, you could just want the child out of the school so until I have solid evidence, she stays at this school."

The teachers smiled and stood up and shook his hand and excused themselves but it was all fake. Everyone but Bruce, the secretary and the principal left the building. Bruce sighed, feeling like if a huge weight had been lifted.

"I don't see how this has suddenly become an issue," he said addressing the principal and the secretary.

"I discuss all scholarship possibilities with the board of management and all the staff. It's true they were uneasy but during the test dinner, they said Artemis was polite, a bit witty and uncomfortable with the attention given to her during her during the dinner so why are they protesting now?"

"It may have to do with the fact that a student found out and she unintentionally caused panic throughout the students without knowing the whole situation. Perhaps the teachers feel that if the students go home and tell their parents, the parents will begin to take their children out of the school unless Artemis is removed." Ms. Stevenson said beginning to stack up papers.

"This is why I say people should never jump to conclusions until they know the whole story and even then…" Mr. Jackson sighed, the stress showing in his eyes. Ms. Stevenson returned to the head of the table and put in her two cents

"Up until now, neither the students nor the staff has complained for Artemis and even now the office has received no complaints or any scared children asking for protection or anything like that. The unfortunate thing about that is that children, when left to their own devices can be extremely cruel"

And with that depressing note the adults got up and began to file out the room.

ZATANNA POV 12:00

Zatanna and Tiffany were currently outside of school lunching at an outdoor café. Zatanna was eating a grilled chicken Caesar salad and Tiffany was eating a BLT club sandwich. Both of them were drinking water as it was healthier.

"When we're finished I'm gonna make that call to the tech pro I was telling you about, he's really good"

"Sure but are you sure he's trustworthy?"

"Yup definitely"

5 mins later

TIFFANY POV

Tiffany watched as Zatanna picked up her phone and dialed a number.

"Hello? Hey Dick um is this a bad time?"

DICK POV

Dick cradled his phone between his shoulder and his ear as he concentrated on Zatanna's voice.

"Not at all gorgeous, what's up?"

"I have a friend who needs help hacking into a computer"

"And I should help because?"

"It's hers and if you do I might I don't know… agree to that pizza date you've been hinting about?"

"Hmmm… I don't know I mean if it's only a computer and it's worth so much. Tsk tsk what kind of bribery is this?"

"I'm stuck at ground Ville remember?"

"True… it's a deal. Time, place all that doush"

"Doush?" she said laughing

"Yes doush" Dick was aware of a pricking at his neck and when he turned he saw Bruce looking at him with his eyebrow raised. Dick turned red.

"Right Zee um, I gotta go, my dad is here at my school, talk later?"

"Sure. Wait! This evening about 4:30ish, at 40th ave Cantabile Lane okay?"

"Yeah that should be good, see you there" The connection ended. Dick looked up from the phone to his dad's smirking know it all face.

ARTEMIS POV

Artemis was glad that Bruce Wayne, the ultimate millionaire star was at the school. Everyone's attention was off of her and they were to busy kissing up to the millionaire and his son. The Dick kid. Artemis phone ran startling her; thankfully no one heard it because of the entire racket they were causing.

"Hello?" she whispered into the phone.

"Hey Arty, doing all right at school?"

"Wally!" she hissed quietly into the phone. "It's Artemis not Arty"

"Yeah, yeah what you doing?"

"Lunch"

"Ooooh can I have some?"

"No"

"Arty….."

"Stop whining"

"Like my bracelet?"

"No, it's annoying"

"Remember to keep it safe"

"You idiot, I told-"

"Bye! Gotta do labs or else I fail. Miss you to Arty"

"Wai-" The line was cut off and even though the conversation with Wally wasn't really a conversation, the sound of his voice brought a smile to her face.