Scam Chapter 1

"Samantha Crammin", called out the professor.

Samantha sighed in relief as she went to collect her degree. She'd passed. It wasn't a hugely technical degree, it was only media studies after all. It was amazing what the internet and a credit card could do for your finals, but still. She'd passed. Samantha hadn't wanted to do media. She'd wanted to do art. But a piece of art was much harder to find online and pass off as her own, plus the opinions of the teacher and a million other things got in the way, so she'd done media, and she'd passed. Samantha had to pass, she never failed, and she'd do whatever it took to pass, to win.

Samantha walked home from the university. It wasn't far only a couple of blocks. Most people in Gotham preferred the relative safety of trains or buses, but considering how often public transport was targeted by terrorists or costumed criminals, Samantha figured it was safer to walk. Sure there were ordinary muggers, but Samantha was confident that the amount of time she spent in the gym, coupled with the can of mace she carried, would ensure her getting off relatively lived in a fairly rundown area of Gotham, in a small open plan apartment, kitchen bedroom and living room blending together none to seamlessly, it wasn't perfect but she preferred it to the lack of privacy provided in campus dorms.

Samantha threw her bag into a corner and flopped down on the coach. She turned on the TV. A commercial was just beginning.

'Great', Samantha thought rolling her eyes, 'Another idiot telling me how miserable my life will be if I don't buy their product.'

She reached for the remote. Surely there was something better on. Then a word caught her attention. 'Unbreakable'. She turned her attention to the screen.

A tall man with an airbrushed smile and a fake tan babbled on "Yes folks it's true, a vase you cannot break, perfect if you've got small children, pets..."

'Blah blah blah' thought Samantha 'I bet I could break it.' She glared at the screen, she didn't like being told what she could or couldn't do. It irritated her. The man on screen droned on " the vase you cannot break, whether you want to or not." He finished. The TV played on but Samantha wasn't istening. Was the TV deliberately trying to annoy her, she could break that stupid vase if she wanted to. Maybe she should. Just to prove her point. It was like a game really, like truth or dare, they'd dared her to do it. Even if they didn't quite realise it. So now she'd do the dare and win she thought as she slammed out of her apartment, she had some shopping to do.

The vase proved to be a long way from unbreakable, a hammer made short work it. Samantha packaged the shards of glass up and sent them back to the factory, she included a note. 'Oops' it read. after all she reasoned. What was the point of beating someone if they never found out. She had to leave a note or a calling card, a way of gloating. After all, she'd won.