Note to Readers: Hey bat-fans. This is just a story I made up after becoming quite recently addicted to the DC comics animated "Batman" show made from like 1992 - 2001. It's kind of a Batman - Batgirl romance story. It's a light story with sweet romance in it, no inappropriate situations. I got fed up with looking for Batgirl/Batman stories and finding only crap so I wrote my own. Hope you really enjoy. Please R&R, I'm wondering what response this story will get.

XOXO--

Ginge

DISCLAIMER: Aww man I hate to have to type in this boriiiing disclaimer. I don't own or have any affiliation with Batgirl, Batman, or Robin. Blah-blah. They belong to DC Comics, I assume. (Although I do contact Yvonne Craig of the original 1960's batman TV show! snort)

Story: A Fuse

Subject(s): Batgirl, Batman, Robin

Chapter: One; "Doctor Fuse Takes a Punch"

Written By: Ginger

Barbara Gordon collapsed into a chair in front of the bat computer. The bat cave was cold and dark and different beeping noises could be heard from various machines and computers all around, but she barely even heard them. Her deft fingers pulled off her gloves and mask as she laid back into the seat. Being Batgirl wasn't as easy as it had seemed at first.

Tonight had been a rough night. It was 4:45 am and Batman and Robin still hadn't come back from scouting the city. Batgirl herself wouldn't have been back here yet, if Bruce hadn't insisted upon her returning. She was a little worried about leaving them by themselves after all the crime they had fought earlier. Of course, she knew that they had been fine by themselves before she ever joined into the team, but going back home left her feeling uneasy.

She had just begun to fall into a whirling dream when a screechingly loud buzzer started ringing though-out the bat cave. She managed to moan and sit up, opening her eyes as she heard the quick steps of Alfred's feet from a little way off in the distance.

As the faithful butler switched off the noisy sound, Batgirl stood up and walked a few steps toward him, in the direction of the main bat computer. She yawned and raised a hand to her forehead: "What is it, Alfred? Why the beeping?"

"I believe that the bat computer is sending up an alert of some kind, Miss Gordon. I'm quite sorry it woke you." he replied. "Oh… it's alright. I guess someday I might end up getting a little sleep." Barbara said, pressing a few keys quickly on the keyboard.

Alfred walked about twenty feet away to continue his duties as Batgirl waited for the system to load. When it did, the message that popped up on the huge wide-screen made Batgirl groan. Pulling her cowl and gloves back on and walking toward her bat-cycle, she called: "Alfred, I'm going out again. If Batman or Robin should come in before I return, tell them I'll be back soon." "Very good, Miss." Alfred smiled with sincerity.

Once the twenty-year-old girl had reached the highway, it was at least five o' clock. Batgirl wished longingly for dawn as she passed the lurking, dark shadows of the inner city. But still there was a long time before the sun's kind rays would even begin to peak through the lurid black clouds. The girl had a slightly nervous aspect to her outlook as she listened carefully to the night. The only sound was the wind and the hum of her purplish-blue motor-bike.

Finally, when she approached her destination, she reluctantly put the parking brake down on her vehicle and looked up, at the Gotham Scientific Museum. The bat computer's trouble alert had pinpointed from this place. Batgirl walked up to a window and peeked in. Using a bat-a-rang, she quickly scaled the two-level building and picked the lock on the skylight window. As she dropped down into the silent, dark museum and started to walked across the huge reception room, she began to wonder if the bat computer had was a bit too over-worked. "Then again," she thought, "If I could get in, so could somebody else."

Suddenly a flicker of light in a door way caught her attention. Wandering to it, she inadvertently gasped when she saw a man in a metal-plated suit kneeling toward the floor with a three foot wide box. She quickly realized that the box was a huge bomb, big enough to blow half of the extremely large building away. She also realized that the man had looked up and spotted her in the door way. She stared at him with a cold look: "What do you think you're doing with that?" "Who are you?" he growled, brushing aside her question. "Who do I look like?" she responded. "You get out of here, now." he sneered.

"I was just about to say the same to you, Mister …eh?" she stalled, walking toward him. "Doctor Fuse -- thank you." he snarled. "Batgirl." she smiled, extending a hand and then after a quiet moment flipping the man on to the floor: "Call me 'bad news' for short."

"I see you think yourself quite witty, little girl. How old are you? Nine? Ten?" "Look, are you going to come quietly or must I use force?" she said, defensively. "What? You can't tell me you're actually old enough to arrest somebody? I could have sworn you were on your way to go trick-or-treating in that Halloween costume, little girl." the tall, muscular man said. Batgirl looked him up and down and wondered if she'd be able to handle him. He looked very, very strong and his words were already making her feel upset.

"You're not scaring me." she answered, defiantly. "Of course I am, liar. I can see the fear in your eyes. But I'm not here to deal with kids trying to ruin my plans. So I'll have to get rid of you…" The muscle-bound man began to get closer and closer. Batgirl started to panic and then suddenly he swiped his hand down. If she hadn't jumped out of the way, he would have smacked her right in the ribs. "This guy isn't playing!" she thought quickly as she ran away from him a few feet.

After fighting for about two minutes, Batgirl began to think she was winning but the she gasped when he pulled out an object from his metal suit. She scurried away fast enough to avoid being hit with a fiery beam from his gun. He missed her two more times and with a quick, final movement, he aimed and shot at a barrel of chemicals behind her.

"You really think she's here, Batman?" Robin asked as the two stood next to the skylight on the roof of the museum. Suddenly an explosion blew the skylight off and a girlish, blood curdling scream was heard. "Does that answer you question, Robin?" Batman exclaimed, dropping immediately into the room below. Robin frantically dropped in after him and looked around at the surroundings.

Fire covered most of the room, making everything a reddish-orange color and wood from the roof began to spark and fall to the floor. Batman suddenly realized that the huge bomb was still sitting in the middle of the floor. A metal-clad figure raced from the room before either of the caped crusaders could catch him. "Robin, find Batgirl! I have to get this bomb out of here before the fire gets to it and the whole building blows up!" shouted Batman to the boy wonder.

Robin threw fiery, flaming wood aside in search of the third member of their team as Batman quickly ran the bomb out of the vicinity and placed the whole thing in a large pipe of water, so it wouldn't be able to ignite itself. After he was sure he had rendered it useless, he returned to the flaming reception room.

"Batman!" Robin called to his partner, in a horrified voice. Batman rushed over to where Robin stood and the sight that beheld him made him gasp; "Batgirl!" The girl laid on the floor, unconscious, with her cheek to the floor and her scorched cape wrapped around her torso. "…Robin, go wait for the fire department to get here, outside. I'll take care of Batgirl." Bruce managed to say with shock still left in his voice.

Robin dashed outside and Batman knelt to the floor. Turning Batgirl over, on to her back, he saw that her costume singed in several places on her arms and legs. She was breathing, but she needed help fast. Just as Batman picked her up to carry her outside, the sirens of the fire trucks squealed in the air.

Once outside, Robin spotted Batman with Batgirl dangling limply in his arms and he rushed over to help carry her. Batman set her in the bat mobile and Robin followed behind his partner on Batgirl's cycle.

Batman glanced at the frail girl lying in the passengers seat and picked up the cb-radio. "Robin," Batman said into the small microphone.

"Yeah, Bruce? What's up?"

"Call Alfred and tell him to have the oxygen mask ready when we get there. She's gonn'a need some immediate medical attention. Copy?"

"I got ya'. I'll call him right away. See you there. Signing off."

"Ten-four." Batman replied, putting the radio down and letting out a deep breath.

Batgirl felt her eyes open and the darkness slipped away. She tried to sit up but someone pushed her carefully back down: "No, don't try that yet." Batman's voice chuckled at her. "Bruce…? What… what happened to me?" "An explosion. At the Scientific museum. How do you feel right now?" "Okay, I guess. But… so tired. How did you find me? Why did you come?" she asked him. He walked a few steps away from the couch where she was laying to get a glass of water. "We came back from our scan of the city to find you gone. Alfred told us about the message on the bat computer so we looked it up and followed you. When we found you, you were unconscious and banged up pretty bad. You might still feel you have some trouble breathing at times from all the smoke you breathed."

"You mean like right now?" she said in a choppy voice, gasping for a breath. Robin hurried to her side: "Here, breath deeply." he said, placing the oxygen mask over her nose and mouth. She took two or three breaths and then removed it from her face: "I'm okay, now."

"Got any ideas on who that guy clad in metal, running away was?" Batman asked, leaning on the wall and taking his cowl off. "He calls himself 'Doctor Fuse'. Did you see his bomb?" she asked quizzically.

"Let's just say he won't be able to use that one anymore." Bruce grinned: "Did he say anything to you?" Batgirl's spirits sank when she recalled the conversation. "Yes." she said solemnly. "…Well what was it?" asked Dick. "He told me I looked like a little girl. And that I shouldn't even be a crime fighter because I don't look old enough." she withered.

"Aww, Babs, you're not going to let a psychotic freak obsessed with blowing things up make you feel bad, are you?" Dick asked. "Well, I try not to but it still depresses me." she sighed.

A moment of silence passed. "But hey, Bruce! I almost forgot to thank you for saving my life! If ya' hadn't gotten me out of there, I'd have died in the fire." Bruce flushed a little and laughed: "Hey, what's a Batman who can't even keep his sidekicks alive?"

A loud squeal emerged from the bat computer. Batgirl looked over and automatically started to get up to check it, but then laid back down upon realizing that she couldn't stand. Batman walked over and clicked a button.

The whole screen lit up with the image of Supergirl. "Kara? What is it?" asked Bruce, grabbing his cowl and giving himself and Batgirl time to get theirs on before turning on the web camera. "Batman, we need major backup over here. There's a lunatic giving Superman a really tough time with a huge chunk of Kryptonite. He's got two robots with Kryptonite beams built in. Luckily they haven't found me yet. Please come." "Of course, Supergirl. But I'm afraid Batgirl is in-disposed of momentarily. She had an accident with a new maniac who calls himself 'Doctor Fuse'."

"Doctor--who!" Supergirl stuttered with an overwrought look on her face.

"Fuse. Why?" Bruce asked.

Super girl sighed: "That's the guy over here in Metropolis!"

"What? Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"You stay where you are, Supergirl. I'll be there in ten minutes. Don't let those robots get to you."

"Okay, Bats. Over and out." the teenage girl said, as the screen went dark.

"Batman, I thought it took like a half hour to get to Metropolis." Robin asked, quizzically.

"You thought wrong." Bruce said, jumping into the bat-jet-plane. "Coming or do I have to fend off these metal monsters myself?" Robin ran and jumped in: "I'm in, I'm in! Geez!"

As the ultra fast jet tanks started up, Batman yelled to Batgirl before the plane took off: "You take care of yourself! And don't get into trouble! No leaving that couch." With that, the two crime fighters were off.

"Ugh… 'no leaving the couch'." Barbara muttered in a mocking tone when she was by herself.

The more she laid there, the more she felt that she had to get up. After all, she should get to pay back that creep from blowing up part of the museum and trying to blow her up too. And anyway, without Superman's help, how would Batman and Robin ever be able to defeat the robots by themselves?

She slowly rose from the table and in desperation, looked around her. She was sure that Bruce must have put a detection beam around the couch so she couldn't leave.

She saw nothing but taking no chances, she gathered all her strength and flipped across the room, landing in the bat mobile. Laying against the seat she managed to murmur and "Owww…" before she started the vehicle.