Every Saturday, her father came to have dinner with her. Today was no different. He came exactly on time like Comissoner Jim Gordon always did: 5:30 on the dot. Barbara opened the door for him and they embraced. She kissed him on the cheek with a smile.
"Hey dad, how is life treating you?"
"Same as last time, sweety." He was tired. She suspected it was due to the stress the emerging crime lord, Red Hood.
That warrented the raise of her eyebrow.
Dinner was soon laid out on the table. Her dad made his famous casserole and served it on some paper plates he found in his daugter's cabnits.
"So... the Red Hood?"
He sighed. "Always curious, aren't we?"
She smirked. "I'm a detective's daughter."
He chuckled. "Yes, yes. I know. How ever, we don't know much. All we know is that he has some-what of a moral code-" he scoffed at that "-and that he has it out for some of the crime lords, especially the Joker."
She hated that name. "Ah. Well, it sounds like a job for Batman."
He nodded thoughtfully, being interupted by his phone. "Gordon." His eyes widened. "He blew up... a building? Any casualties? No... I'm on my way." He hung up with a huff. "Sorry baby girl. Duty calls," he waved his phone in the air.
She was a little sad but still managed to smile warmly. "I understand. I love you daddy."
"I love you too." He kissed her forehead and rushed off.
Now she was alone in her apartment. Once again. She grabbed her laptop and checked her emails, turniturning on the newso to run on the background. This would occupy her time for the next couple of nights as Bruce had side lined her, once again. The news was very focused on the Red Hood situation, most likely bored with the old, reacurring villans they had reported on for years. She wondered half-hazardly when she would hear about someone dull like the Riddler again. She saw that the building her father was talking about was exploded with Batman and the Joker in there. A blurry picture flashed on the screen.
"What a handsome devil," a voice called from the corner of the room.
Barbara grabbed an old batarang from the pocket of her jeans and it wizzed past the intruder, sticking in to the wall, springing up from her spot on the couch.
She locked eyes with her intruder as she ran towards him, tackling him to the ground. She held another batarang to his throat.
He grinned mischeviously. "What, you don't recgonize me, Babs?"
She had to admit, he does look familar.
Yellow, green, and red danced through her head. The funeral. The sadness. The memories of her dear friend. The recent news of a certain anti-hero after the Joker. She sucked in a short breath as she came to her conclusion.
"...Jason? How on earth?!" She embraced her old friend. She wasn't sure how he was here, and she knew she would probably be enlightened in a moment, but the important thing was that he was here. After five, very long and very hard, years.
"Its me," he grunted, obviously in pain.
Barbara got off of him. "God, you're a mess," she muttered.
She helped him onto her couch, grabbing her first aid kit along the way. "Take your shirt off," she commanded.
Jason oblidged, mumbling "I know you're forward but already? It's been five minutes and you already want to-" he was cut off by a rather sharp smack to the head. "Ow!"
Barbara went to work without saying anything. She put ice on bruises, stiches in cuts, and removed building shrapnel when needed. When she was done, she got some Gatorade and handed it to Jason.
"Drink up, you need the electrolytes."
"Don't you have something... stronger?" He gulped it down quickly when he saw the ginger's sharp glare.
"So, how are you here, Red Hood?" she questioned.
He sighed. "Ra's Al Ghul threw me into the Lazerous pit shortly after I died and I-" he stopped with the wave of Barbara's hand.
"You've been alive for the past five years?" There was a certain bitterness to her voice. She got up from her seat and walked over to her window, staring outside. "You let us believe you were dead all this time?"
Jason followed her up, grimmacing from the pain. "You guys would have stopped me. I couldn't let you do that."
"Stop you..? Shit, Jason. I wouldn't have cared about that! Especially since you were trying to kill him!" She cried.
"What? Are you saying you would have helped me kill the Joker?" He could see the tears well up in Barbara's eyes in the reflection of the window. "Barbara, you have to be pulling on my leg. I'm the only one here that has what it takes to kill."
She liftlifted the back of her shirt up. "You see that? " His eyes were drawn to some scare tissue in two places in her spine. "The one on top is the exit wound for the bullet the Joker used to paralyze me. The one of the bottom is the device they implanted two years ago so that I can walk!" She cried. "Without my legs, I couldn't be Batgirl! If you kicked me in the shins right now, I wouldn't be able to feel a thing because-"
There was a knock at her door. She turned to look at it, turned back, and Jason was gone. She sighed, walking towards the door, using the sleeves to wipe away here tears. She opened the door to Dick Grayson. All the Robins are visiting me, tonight, she mused to herself.