At the School

After Karen and Helen returned from their visit to Arkham, the two of them had already taken up their duties at school again. Karen left Helen and after changing within seconds she entered the gym just in time. The class had already started and was waiting for her. Today it was her task to teach the senior class. Half of the class consisted of normal students who had no idea what the real purpose of this school was. The other half was the older generation of sidekicks from different heroes.

"Welcome class." Karen smiled at the students. The youngest of them was 17 and the oldest was 18, although one could not be sure how to convert to Martian years. "Today we will be taking the annual exams for the sports badges. But before we get to that, you're gonna run 20 laps!"

No sooner had she said that than a groan went through the class as the students started to move. While some of them had no problems with the rounds, others were not in such good shape. Raven had always relied on her magical powers and was not in such superior physical form. The competition was very important for Mia Dearden, while Kid Flash, aka Wally West, stayed comfortably at the end of the running group. Karen stood in the middle of the gym and strictly supervised that each of them completed the prescribed 20 laps. After everyone had finished, she smiled and went into the ring.

"Today we will start with advanced techniques. So, I have asked a junior to help me," she said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. In her wide karate outfit her stature was a little better hidden, but still her bust was impressively visible. Grinning, she realized that the initial attraction to compete with her in close combat had faded away. Meanwhile the young students had realized that they hardly had a chance to take advantage of the close combat training to make physical contact with her.

Shortly afterwards Jason Todd entered the ring. The young pupil of Bruce was always ambitious and wild. He also strove for ever greater perfection. While he had already mastered the art of fighting, he was now in the process of expanding the remaining arts. Karen stood motionless in the ring while Jason went into fighting position in front of her. Karen had to grin inside. This boy had been far superior to her in close combat for a long time. He was an excellent fighter, only Helen was superior to him here at school. However, it was impossible for him to defend himself against a Kryptonian. As soon as the signal was given, he went on the attack. For a human he was incredibly fast and immediately tried to get his teacher off her legs. However, for Karen, he was just moving in slow motion. The attack was precise and perfectly executed but Karen rammed her foot into the ground and leaned her body on the supporting leg. Jason felt as if he was kicking granite.

"Always watch your footing!" Karen smiled and grinned down. "Martial arts uses your opponent's strength and Weaknesses against himself. But once you understand this, you can counter many classic techniques. Show weakness once and you've lost!

Even though some of the students wondered why a junior was here, they could quickly see what extraordinary talents Jason had. He could have taken part in national championships without any problems. But the teacher was always one step ahead of him. The movements of the two became faster and faster and more and more dangerous and still Jason did not manage to land a single stroke.

Jason however did not let up. He jumped up and now went into close combat. "Stupid cow! If she weren't a fucking alien I would have defeated that stupid bitch long ago," the exceptional young fighter thought and kept getting more and more involved in the fight until he finally landed in a choke hold and whispered in Karen's ear.

"You show too much! Enough!"

Jason's eyes widened when he realized she was right. He had started using techniques he had learned from Bruce and almost revealed that he could fight on a much higher level. But before he could think these thoughts through to the end he was already lying on the floor with one arm twisted on his back. Karen used the leverage of her elevated position and in this position her superior strength was no longer necessary to keep him on the ground. He might have got out of here by dislocating his shoulder blade, but that went too far here. Angrily he tapped the floor several times to show that he was giving up. Karen immediately let go and then went back to the center of the ring.

"Now Jason will help me demonstrate some new holds and techniques. "This will allow you to defend yourself on the streets of Gotham in an emergency. So, pay close attention. Since the number of knife attacks has increased recently, I'm going to show you how to defend yourselves against such attacks. But please remember that a knife fight is only a last resort. Such attacks are hard to fend off and can go wrong very quickly. Even an experienced fighter can get hurt very easily.

During the next hour Jason and Karen showed the others how to defend themselves against knife attacks and where the weaknesses of defending with bare hands lay. While Karen and Jason supervised the movements of the others, each of them practiced the movements repeatedly.

After the training Karen grinned and pointed to the pool.

"Time for a bath! You stink!" she grinned and went to the pool.

Meanwhile, in another classroom.

Helen stood in front of the class and was about to teach them the high art of Sun Tzu. The students should not only enjoy the classical lessons, but also learn from the past. Helen had had to learn early on that sometimes-raw talent or a specialization did not help. Only when knowledge from as many sources as possible was tapped could one rise above oneself. As she tried to teach the young people what this 2000-year-old book was trying to teach them, she thought about what Doctor Quinzel was offering. A new lecturer would not be wrong and as she knew Bruce would do a full background check. As far as the boys were concerned, she didn't care. Just another idiot to raise.

She thought it was just a pity that she couldn't let the men and women in front of her tie them all up like a parcel and put gags in their mouth. That would be fun.