Kei Nakajima attempted to catch her breath and punched into the clock on the wall of the Gotham Gazette.

It was her first day of work—and her first job out of college—but Kei had no time to be celebrating. She was late and nervous as hell to boot. Instead of getting there at 8 am sharp like she planned, she arrived at 8:10 in the morning.

However, she had no time to sit down at her desk and take a breath.

"NAKAJIMA!" A familiar, male and gruff voice called from a closed off and frosted glass office, separated from the wide open space set up for Kei and her fellow journalists.

Kei cursed herself and came into the office of her boss, Adrian Robinson, otherwise known as her uncle—not her actual uncle, a good friend of her dad's from journalism school (besides, just looking at Adrian let everyone know he and Kei were clearly not related. A white man of Welsh and Irish descendent would've stood out in a full-blooded Japanese family).

"Sir?" She called out nervously and while puffing on a cigar, Adrian gestured for her to come in with two stubby fingers.

"You were late, Kei. I expect better from you." Adrian says, his accent so thick he was unable to hide where he was from.

As a kid Kei found her uncle's accent to be funny, but once she moved from Central City to Gotham City for college she started to realize that it was a New Jersey thing.

"I know...I'm sorry. I should've managed my time getting here better." Kei replies, looking down at her paisley painted nails as she fiddled with her fingers nervously.

She hears her uncle let out a long sigh and looks up just in time to see him snuff out his cigar in the ashtray.

"Kei...don't be so hard on yourself. It's your first day, honey. And I have a feeling you'll succeed."

Kei smiles briefly, a little embarrassed by her uncle's praise.

"Now," Adrian continues, "I want you to get to your desk and look through some articles I had Gloria stack up on it. Those are all current events in Gotham and it'll give you more of a taste of the city. Choose one you want, research it throughly and then come back to discuss it with me." Kei nods.

"Alright. I'll do that right now."

"There's the Kei I know! Now go out there and give me something good!"

"Yes boss. I'll do my best!"

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

Kei sat at her desk shifting through the pile with great intensity, looking at each paper carefully.

" We ordered information from the woman known as 'The Hacker' and we found ourselves wondering: could she actually be good for Gotham? "

" After an outbreak from Arkham Asylum, several inmates such as FIREFLY, THE RIDDLER, CALENDAR GIRL & THE SCARECROW are on the loose. Citizens are asked to report any sightings to the GCPD immediately and stay alert and vigilant. "

" Oswald Copplepot—formally known as The Penguin—opens up a new Iceberg Lounge in the richest districts of Gotham. But is it worth the price of admission? "

" 'It Is Time For a Change. My Parents' Legacy Will Be About Their Good Deeds, Not Their Deaths.' Bruce Wayne said in response to questions about The Wayne Foundation intending to restore The Monarch Theater and Crime Alley to a more vibrant community. "

Finally, Kei found an article, not yet published, that caught her eye:

" The Court of Owls: A Tale to Scare Children or an Actual Reality? These people say that they've been attacked by The Court. "

Kei's eyes flick over to a sticky note in the corner, addressed to her.

Kei—this was an article proposed by Vale. All her leads dropped like flies on her. Mr. Robinson thinks you're not up to the challenge. I disagree. You want to take it on? Let me know. —Gloria.

Kei was intrigued...but figured her uncle was right. The Court of Owls—as Kei had learned in her time here—a chilling childhood bed story to scare children into behaving (dark sure, but most poems were back in the day. Besides, Kei was expecting nothing less in Gotham City).

She turned it a way and focused on other articles until lunch.

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

Kei came back to the office with an Italian sub from the sandwich shop around the corner when Gloria Lopez grabbed her attention. She had jewelry on her wrists that shook every time she moved her arms.

"Hey Kei! I need to talk to you." Gloria says, coming over with a bright smile.

"About what?" Kei asks curiously, slowly unwrapping her sandwich.

"About the article I put out on your desk! The Court of Owls story? What do you think of it?"

Kei hesitates. "Well, I...I like the article. But I think I agree with Mr. Robinson that it's a big task—"

"Oh don't be silly! He doesn't know what he's talking about! Besides, he's your uncle, right? He'll probably give it to you if you ask nice enough." Gloria suggests with a wink.

"You...really want me to take it don't you?" Kei asks, letting out a nervous laugh.

"Look, I'm a Gothamite, Kei. We've all wondered at one point and time if they're real. And you want to get ahead in your career, don't you? This is the perfect way to do it!"

"...alright. I'll do it."

"Great! Okay, I'll leave you alone now. Enjoy your lunch!"

"Thanks Gloria, you too!"

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

Kei knocked on Adrian's office door an hour later.

"Come in!" He glances up as Kei enters.

"Hey, Kei. Did you look at the articles?" Kei nods and unfurls her hands which were behind her back to reveal the Court of Owl's article.

"This one? You sure?" Kei nods again, her heart beating nervously as she worried that he would say no—not that she blamed him.

"Alright. It's yours!" Her uncle says a minute later and Kei freezes, blinking at him.

"...really? Why?" Adrian smiled wryly.

"Well, if I'm being honest, I was going to give it to you anyway. Give you something to show what you can do."

"Um...alright. Thank you."

"Mm-hm. Now, get out there and get to work."

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

Kei spent the next hours researching and asking Vicki for her notes and witness list.

"I wouldn't bother trying if I'm being honest." Vicki Vale explains as she hands Kei a list of the people that had wanted to speak with her.

"Why did they drop out?"

"I'm not sure...I assume that they were threatened? That's usually the cause. Maybe it's a bit odd for a group that supposedly doesn't exist but," she shrugs, "I took whatever I could get."

"None of them match." Kei observes as she looks at the names listed in alphabetical order followed by job occupation and other information that Vicki had asked them.

One was a counselor, another a salesman. Some were connected with Arkham Asylum or Gotham's underworld.

They couldn't be more different... so how could all these strangers be connected?

"I don't know," Vicki interrupts Kei's thoughts. "It was very weird. Do you think you're up to the task."

"I'm gonna try my best." Kei replies and Vicki smirks.

"You're very optimistic. I like that, reminds me of when I started out."

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

Finally, it was 5 o'clock and time to leave. Kei walked out the door and felt a cool breeze up her spine and wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck.

Thousands of thoughts bounced around Kei's skull so she took out a folder of notes she had gathered and skimmed through them as she walked towards her bus stop.

As she walked, she hadn't noticed she had turned a wrong corner and ended up on 'the wrong side of town'.

"You look lost."

And Kei swung around to find herself face to face with the cat burglar Catwoman.

Author's Notes

IT'S HERE!

This opening chapter is a bit different from Midnight Visits...but I don't hate it.

I think it works since Kei and Heidi's worlds are very different from each other.

Does the Gotham Gazette's office space make sense? Probably not. Honestly, it sounds like a layout I'd make in Sims 3 which is not a compliment :)

Gloria's reasonings for why Kei should do the report probably don't make sense either and don't line up with the description for this book at all but that's what happens when you make details on the fly...and I'm also too tired to fix it.

Also, Adrian Robinson is sort of a stereotypical reporter and may or may not be accidentally inspired by J Johan Jameson but that's neither here nor there—

Anyway, enough about that, what do you all think of Kei? I know it's a little early to tell but I'm always interested in people's thoughts <3

You can tell me what you think about Gloria too or any of the other characters if you want lol (also I think I subconsciously thought of Gloria from Superman: Dawnbreaker when I was writing her character)

Oh! And I included references for characters to come in this series like I did in chapter 1 of Midnight Visits (you may have noticed that I referenced Kei in that book).

Anyway, how are you all? Me? I'm tired. I went to a good musical last night but then I had to stay up til 12:40 this morning working on a theater paper on said musical (because my paper was late and I was going to do it on something else but my mom pointed out that we were going to see that musical so I did that instead).

Excuse the rant, but today was my first day back at school after four weeks and it reminded me that I hate math. A lot. Because it makes me feel stupid :)

DO NOT recommend having an algebra class first thing in the morning!

Oh and I have a test on Wednesday because of course I do. Probably going to fail like the last one even with my all the help I have🙄

I did have creative writing in the afternoon though so at least that's something (I watched a video about show vs tell, so that might've reflected in my writing lol)

But...this chapter is done and I get to see all your lovely comments so that'll give me something to smile about (like for real, the support on this book and Midnight Visits is amazing. Also you guys actually like my aesthetics which?? Thank you???🥰🥺)

Okay, that's all I have. Just had dinner and watched a show so I'm probably going to chill, I've rambled enough for the night.

Chapter two will be out soon (I hope).

Bye!

BatgirlGeek❤️