5:15am: Barbara Gordon opened her eyes slowly and stared at the ceiling for a moment. Babs had never been the kind of girl who needed an alarm clock, or that much sleep. Some times in these early morning moments she wondered how different her life would have been if she was one of those people who was useless without a full eight hours of sleep. Four was more than enough for today though, and she rolled to her side before reaching out for the arm of her chair. Babs pulls herself into her chair which rocks violently but thankfully doesn't tip.
She pulled up the arm close to the bed and locked it into place before reaching down, adjusting her legs into place and then unlocking the wheels and rolling toward the bathroom. From there, Babs rolled into her small kitchen, pouring her cold brew coffee into her French press and making a cup for herself. Cold brew is better for the stomach they say, and she tries to take care of herself.
"Should cut the coffee all together, old girl", she said to no one before opening the laptop on the counter.
She flipped through the top priority messages that came in while she slept. A few things, such as the end of the world, Zsasz breaking out of Arkham, and basically everything having to do with the Joker, are linked to an alarm in her bedroom. However she'd learned a long time ago to not worry about every little thing. The only news from 1am to 5am was a 3:50am report that the Mad Hatter was missing out of his bed at Arkham. Babs sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. After double checking that she was the first one to see this, she wrote up a quick report and sent it to everyone on the "Bat family" internal e-mail list, where it would pop right up whenever they woke up and opened their computers.
With that out of the way, she closed the computer and rolled into the small gym in her apartment. Off of the workout bench she grabbed a number of velcro straps, before she reached down to lock her wheels into place and wrapped the straps around her legs. She made sure they were tightly in place before leaning forward, clipping a cord to the strap around her ankles and then to the one around her hips so her legs were held at a half bend. Resting on one of her hips she reached up to the pull up bar just above her head and grabbed it. She pulled herself up once, twice, three times, over and over. In some ways, this is the best and the worst part of Babs' day lost in her own thoughts. Some days, it's Joker's laughing face when he shot her, and other days it's the bloody mess of his face when she'd knocked his teeth out, but the best days are like today, flying over the city as a 17 year old with 15 year old Dick Grayson flying behind her, the two of them laughing for pure joy.
After 100 of them, she lowered herself back into the chair. As she undid the straps, she joked to no one, "guess I'm skipping leg day again" She wiped the sweat from her face and rolled herself back to the bathroom for a shower.
In a bathrobe and her hair up in a towel, Babs wheeled her way into the central computer room in front of the massive clock as it struck 6:30am. She flipped open the JLA report system and started reading the Watchtower updates. Babs was so glad Ray Palmer, The Atom, had Watchtower duty. His reports were concise and easy to understand, and while she adored Wally West, his reports were a mess and took forever to take apart and read. She noted Ray had picked up strange radiation in Kansas, nothing dangerous, very low level, maybe just Ray being too much the scientist she thought, and moved on. She went through her Father's police e-mail, having built a backdoor into the system when she was a teenager. GCPD was quiet this morning, with no hints about the Mad Hatter or any of the other rogues loses on the streets, nor hints of new players or strange crimes.
She then went through the family's reports from the night before. Dick, Tim and Steph were chatty and lively. Bruce, Damian and Cass all had refused to do video summaries of their reports, which were cold and businesslike. Everyone's reports said largely the same thing: no leads on the big names and a light night of street crime. From there, she checked the Birds of Prey files: an e-mail with requested data from Catwoman, a message from Dinah saying she'll be in town and that they should get lunch, and a message cussing her out from Huntress.
She also found that the trace program she set up for a Luthor shell company finally tracked down the money he was using to fund the Injustice Society. A few clicks later, the fund was shut down, and the money was hers. She wrote a quick e-mail to Clark on the JLA system asking what charity he'd like to send the 800 million dollars to.
When her doorbell rang, she looked up to check the time in the giant clock face in front of her: it was 7:15am. Like clockwork, she thought before she rolled to the elevator and down to her front door and opened it to her father's smiling face.
"Hey sweetie," Jim Gordon said as he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. She kissed him back, with the two of them hugging like that for a moment. Jim straightened back up and handed her one of the two disposable cups he'd been holding and a brown paper bag.
"Green Tea for you since I know you already had at least 2 cups of coffee already," - really it'd been three so far - "and two bear claws for our father daughter breakfast!"
She smiled, as he was probably the only person who could get her to eat junk like this. She turned her chair back toward the elevator and let her dad push her up the hall. Babs didn't generally let anyone push her wheelchair, but it made him feel useful so she let it slide.
Back in her kitchen, with their bear claws out on paper plates and sipping drinks, father and daughter chatted idly about their days. Babs mostly lied about what she planned to do; she'd been doing it since she was 17, so now it was second nature.
At about 7:50am, Jim Gordon checked his watch, "well, better get into work. Mad Hatter ducked out of Arkham last night."
Then he looked up and cocked an eyebrow at his daughter, "but I bet you already knew that, didn't you?"
Babs just took a sip of her green tea and arched her own eyebrows. This was part of their game, she never really knew how much he knew and he never told her.
After a good bye hug and seeing her dad to the door, Barbara got back to work. At 8:15am, Clark sent her an email with a list of charities: cancer research, heart disease research, assistance to struggling family farms, and the Boys' and Girls' Clubs of Gotham City. She smiled at the last one, and set to work dividing up the 800 million she'd taken from Luthor between the charities and rooting it around the world so no one would ever know where it had come from.
9:23am: her computer beeped at her a call from the Watchtower, Babs leaned back in her chair and pressed a button. Ray Palmer's face filled the screen.
"Hey Ray."
"Hi Barbara."
"What's up?"
"Did you get my report on the energy readings in Kansas?"
"Yep, they seemed kinda minor, what's changed?"
"They've climbed over the last few hours, still not dangerous, but my full spectrum analyses seem to show that it's extra-dimensional"
"Extra-dimensional?"
"Yeah, could be nothing, but it could be some one like the Crime Syndicate trying to punch their way into our world."
"Okay, thanks for the heads up Ray, I'm gonna send a team out there to look around. You know how these things tend to blow up when you poke them."
"Ha, very true, who'd you have in mind? The JSA and the Titans look to be a little busy."
"I think Young Justice should be able to handle it."
"Gonna get teenagers to do work on a Saturday before noon? Good luck with that"
She laughed and signed off. Checking the time, she'd call in half an hour, Tim should be up by then. At 10am on the dot she picked up the phone and punched the number to the red telephone that Tim, like a totally dork, had insisted on installing in his dorm room.
It rang twice before an unfamiliar voice answered, "um… hi, this is the um 'Robin's Nest' Miles speaking how can we… help you?"
'The roommate' she thought, pressing the button that turned on the Oracle voice modulator as she also made a mental note to mock Tim for naming his dorm room 'the Robin's Nest'.
"Hi Miles, this is Oracle."
"Oh… um hello Miss Oracle ma'am…"
'Ma'am? Boy that makes me feel old,' she though smiling at the poor kid who was clearly freaked out by being on the phone with her
"Is Tim home, Miles?"
"Um yeah but…" there was a loud crash in the background and a burst of laughter, "his um… 'friends' are here too."
"You mean his boyfriends," she said, pressing another button.
In Tim's room she knew a 3D image of the Oracle logo was projecting from the phone now, and in front of her was a 3D image of the dorm room. Miles, with his fluffy afro of hair and deer in the headlights face was closest to her. Across the room on beanbag chairs their backs against the foot of Tim's bed were Superboy and Impulse, each one holding a game controller. Lying on the bed the wrong way so his head hung down between them with a arm over each, and with a goofy smile on his face that Oracle saw as she twisted the image around, was Tim Drake. She mentally crossed off mocking him for the "Robin's Nest".
"Hey Tim," she said knowing she was now on speaker in his room, the results were instant.
He rolled over far too quickly and half fell off his bed before he got up blushing wildly.
"Oh hi Oracle, what can I do for you?"
"Well Tim, I was calling for Young Justice"
Tim let out a sigh, "oh come on Oracle! Not a mission, no we were… hanging out." Superboy floated behind him and did finger quotes while mouthing 'hanging out'.
Barbara rolled her eyes and smirked. Tim could be weirdly shy about things.
"I'm sure you guys can do date night just as well in Kansas as in Gotham," in a blur of motion Bart's face appeared way too close to the camera, "what's in Kansas? I mean other than corn, Oh hi…" he was gone and Babs turned to her left to see him appear in the room with her. "Babs!" he said with a smile and waved before disappearing again and reappearing in Tim's room.
"So whatis in Kansas?" Tim asked.
"Well, according to The Atom up on the JLA Watchtower, extra-dimensional energy" she said, forwarding the data to Tim's e-mail.
"Extra-Dimensional?" Bart said, "are we going to visit that world where I have a total stalker crush on that Blue Beetle kid?"
"Hopefully not," Kon said, "I'm such a stick in the mud there."
"Awwww," Bart whined, "I have soooo many good jokes to make me uncomfortable, that Blue kid looked like he was gonna just die when there were two of us, it was great!"
"Come on you guys," Tim barked, "let's load up the supercycle."
"Can you hold down the fort without us?" he said, resting his hand on Miles' shoulder.
He looked up at Tim, "Dude having the place to myself? Sounds a lot better than spending the day listening to the three of you make out."
"DUDE!" Tim squawked and Babs hung up before bursting into laughter at his face.
She got back to work tracking the finances of half a dozen crime lords, taking down deep web drug dens and searching social media for hints of at large criminals. At noon, her doorbell rang. Checking the front door camera, she saw Dinah Lane-Queen leaning against a black convertible.
Going downstairs and rolling outside she looked at her friend, "Hey Dinah."
"Hey Babs, I came to pick you up for lunch, did you forget?"
"Honestly a little, thank you for saving me from work."
"No problem girl," she helped Barbara out of her chair and into the passenger seat before folding the chair up and storing it in the tiny back seat.
"Nice car by the way," Babs said looking at the leather interior, "but where's your bike?"
"Ha, Bruce let me park it at the cave; this is his car"
"Ha, that explains the color and the price tag. So where're we going?"
"How's Japanese sound?"
"Amazing."
They pulled up in front of a little bento place. Dinah helped her out of the car and into her chair before wheeling her to an outdoor table. The two of them speared their food out of their bento boxes with expert chop stick movements.
"So how's work?" Babs asked.
"It's okay. I don't know, I think this solo work is starting to wear on me, you know?"
"Not really."
"Oh yeah, you're on the JLA, run this city, and our little team thingy, least solo person ever."
"Ha yeah, I like keeping busy."
"Also known as being a workaholic, sweetie."
"I guess so… So, are you thinking of joining a team? Who'd you have in mind?"
"Don't get me wrong, I love working with our mob, but we both know it's mostly solo field work with you in my ear, which is fun, but it'd be nice to go out there with someone who isn't Ollie."
"No, I totally get it."
"But to answer your question, I have standing offers from the JSA and the JLA, but I haven't chosen. I mean the JLA can be so intense, saving the world ever week is stressful, you get burned out doing that work, and I'm not sure I'm up for it. The JSA is a lot more relaxed, and Dr. Mid-Nite and Mr. Terrific are really joys to work with. I really like a lot of people on the team, especially Power-Girl-" the two shared a smile at that "- and it'd be great to catch up with Captain Marvel. I haven't seen much of him since the last time we were both on the League together. All that said, a more relaxed atmosphere tends to lead to people bring their personal shit onto the team and I don't need that. I just want to get out there and kick some ass, and that's the League all over. "
Barbara nodded as Dinah shrugged.
"So how's Ollie, Connor, Roy and the gang?"
"Connor's good, sweet kid keeps me young. Honestly, Dick sees more of Roy than I do so you'd know better than me, and Ollie is…. Ollie. How's Dick? Bruce seemed okay but who can tell with him? How's the rest of the Bat Mob?"
"Dick is… Dick, the rest of the gang is okay, I'm feeling a little bad for breaking up Tim's time with the boys this morning. I sent them on a mission and I didn't know it was date day or whatever. Damian is a holy terror, Alfred is, well I'm sure you saw him, everyone else is okay."
After some more small talk, Dinah drove her home, dropping her off.
"Babs, you should take a few days off and come see me some time."
"Sure Dinah, I'd love to." Both friends smiled knowing it'll never happen.
She was back to work till 2pm, when her front door intercom buzzed "Congresswoman Gordon? Um I'm your driver for the Library opening at 2:30pm."
She checked her camera, and sure enough, a skinny kid in a black suit with a black Lincoln town car was waiting at the curve in front of her building.
"Be right down," she spoke into the intercom and wheeled herself to the elevator.
The young man - was he even 20 yet? - held open the back door, but she pulled herself into the back seat and walked him through collapsing her chair to put in the trunk. They drove in silence to Gotham Central Library, a massive gothic stone building. The driver set up her chair and she pulled herself into it, before handing him a $20 and telling him to go get himself a coffee and be waiting in 30 minutes.
She wheeled herself past the massive stone staircase at the front, where she once had bound up the steeps two at a time, to a small side door that she went through. She then went down a hallway to a service elevator going up to the main floor, where she found a painfully thin woman in his early fifties waiting.
The woman turned toward her and gave a bright smile, reaching out her hand, "Barbara, it's so good of you to come."
Babs reached up and shook her hand, "I wouldn't miss it Janet. It's really great of you guys to do this."
Janet waved her hand, "it's nothing, we all really loved her around here and this is the least we could do."
Janet walked and Barbara wheeled in silence to a large room near the back of the library. It had wide open double doors leading into a white painted room with sturdy reading tables and high windows that let in plenty of natural light.
'She would have liked this,' Barbara thought.
Janet walked past, grabbing a wireless microphone off a table and addressing the 25 or so well dressed older people in the room.
"Hello everyone, I'm Janet Withers, chief librarian here at Gotham Central. I'd like to thank you all for coming to this, the dedication of the Sarah Gordon Memorial reading room."
Polite applause filled the room.
"Before I introduce our special guest," Janet went on, "I would just like to say a few words about Deputy Commissioner Sarah Gordon. A lot of things have been said about what a hero she was and how much she meant to the community, but I'd just like to touch on what she meant to us here at the Gotham Library. Sarah was a big part of our community outreach reading program. She never missed a Sunday to read to kids who didn't have any one to read to them. The kids really adored her, and she helped instill a love of reading in hundreds of children over the ten years she volunteered with us. So it's an honor to tell you that from now on, the children's reading hour will take place here in Sarah's reading room."
There was more polite applause.
"Well, without further delays, it is my great pleasure to introduce former US Congresswoman, and current President of the board of trusties for the Gotham Library System, Sarah Gordon's step-daughter, Barbara Gordon." Babs took the mic and rolled to the center of the room.
"First, I'd like to thank Janet and the Library for doing this, it means a great deal to me and my father. I'd also like to thank you all for coming here today for this dedication. My step-mom, Sarah, was one of those people who was always reading. She always had a book under her arm, reading a few pages in down moments at the station. I think she would have really loved this room. I think this room and moments like this are what gives life in Gotham meaning. Sarah Gordon knew that this city had its dark side, its demons, you don't live in this city without knowing that, and one of those demons took her from us. However, the spirit of this city, a spirit she embodied, is to reject despair, to find and to build beauty and light where you can, because this city isn't just for them, for those who live in darkness, it's for all of us. So thank you all so much for coming and making this possible."
She clicked off the mic and smiled, shook hands and nodded at all the right people and got out of there as quickly as possible. Back home and back to work till 7pm, when the shadows were long and the last of twilight was dying out.
She heard the window in her bedroom slide open. There were only a few people who'd visit her like that, Tim was out of town, Bruce and Cass both liked sneaking and wouldn't be so loud. She rolled into her kitchen in time to watch Dick Grayson in his full Nightwing uniform stepping out of her bedroom holding a plastic grocery bag.
He pulled off his mask and lifted the bag, "I was thinking spaghetti and meatballs?" he said and Babs saw spaghetti, ground beef and spaghetti sauce in the bag.
"Sounds great, Dick."
He walked over, kissing her on the cheek and putting the food on the table before reaching down and getting her stand mixer out. After mixing the meat with egg, tomato juice and bread crumbs they rolled the meat balls together. She smiled up at him, remembering the first time they did this, when he was smaller than her, an awkward and gawky 15 year old with a smile too big for his face and the devil in his eyes.
"What're you thinking about?" he asked, popping the tray of meat balls into the oven and starting to boil the water.
"What a dork you used to be."
"I'll have you know I'm still a dork!"
"I know, I can see what you're wearing."
"Hey, I thought you liked this one!" he said looking down at his black and blue uniform
"Dickie, anything is better than the disco collar from hell."
"I'm never gonna live that down am I?"
"Nope, never ever."
"You hear what happened to Mad Hatter?" he said, changing the subject. She had, but she shook her head wanting to hear it from him
"Damian happened, guess Tetch kidnapped every blond girl from the 6th grade class of Gotham West Middle."
"Oh, bad plan"
"Oh yeah, should have hired bigger goons for Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum"
"Well, it's got to be hard to find twin goons who aren't on retainer for Two-Face" she said with a laugh.
"True, so what's up with Tim?"
"Oh, I sent him and the boys off on a mission. I feel bad, I didn't know he was spending quality time with them"
"Oh he'll get over it, they always have the most fun together on missions. How's it going?"
"Don't know - he went missing a couple of hours ago."
"Oh?"
"If they're gone for more than 8 hours I'll start to think they're just having a roll in the hay, if they're missing 12 hours I'll send someone to go looking."
"Ha, okay, as long it's not me", Dick said, setting down a plate of spaghetti down in front of her before sitting himself.
"Pass the parm, Babs."
"Sure, Dickie."