Batgirl: Welcome to Gotham
Post always thought that Rachel was the only one for him, but shes dead now. What if Barbara, Gordon's daughter, wasn't so young? what if she was 22 and decided that it was time for her to take matters into her own cant do it all...
The narrows, this was stupid, why hadn't she gotten a cab when she had the chance. She heard footsteps behind her and started to walk faster. God she was stupid. She saw an apartment building and walked through the door trying to make it look like she was headed home hopefully scaring the person behind her off.
She heard footsteps on the stairs behind her and she started running up the stairs. The steps behind her started to get quicker indicating that the person behind her was chasing her.
She rounded a corner and ducked behind a pillar.
"well sweetie I know you're up here" she heard a sing song voice of a woman
Her shoulders relaxed a bit. She could take a woman, a man no, but a woman she could probably stand a chance with.
"come out, come out where ever you are" the voice sang.
She stood and started creeping around the piller. She stopped dead, no one was in the hallway.
"boo" the voice said behind her. She turned and screamed then swung a punch missing her target miserably
"sorry sweetie, just following mister J's orders" the woman stepped out of the shadows and then slit her throat.
She fell to the ground blood pouring from her neck a gurgling sound was heard as she tried to say something.
The woman leaned down to hear.
"why" she gurgled and then went limp blood pooling around her.
"Mister J wants to expose the commish and the batman." The woman said pulling white paint from her pocket and then putting it on her victims face. She carved her mouth and then put red paint on it with the blood.
"sorry sweetie" Harley Quinn said as she walked away tucking her knife into her pocket. Mister J would be proud.
Barbara Gordon's sleep was interrupted by a loud
"ladies and gentlemen we are now approaching Gotham city. The local time is 6:10, we will be landing shortly so please place your trays in their upright and locked positions as well as your seats, thank you. A flight attendant will be by shortly to collect any trash"
Barbara slowly opened her eyes. That had been the best sleep she had gotten in nights. She sat up and pressed the button on the side of her seat to put her chair all the way up and then reached forward and put her tray up.
Gotham. She hadn't been back in almost five years, she had left for college and didn't come back for any of the breaks. Barbara was wondering what changes had taken place in Gotham. She had little contact with her family since she had been gone and considering that she had been across an ocean, long distance calls costed too much for her or her family to pay.
When she had left for college Gotham had been corrupt, rotting and falling apart and she doubted that anything had changed. Seriously her dad had told her that he had been promoted to commissioner because the former one, loeb, had been murdered.
But now she was back and she was going to make a difference. She went to England to study criminal justice and had taken up several different types of martial arts. She mastered karate, jujitsu, Taekwondo and a few other Asian martial arts that were hard to pronounce.
She was jolted out of her thoughts when the plane hit the runway and came to a screeching halt. Her dad was supposed to be picking her up. Barbara suddenly got very nervous, she hadn't seen him in five years, what if being commissioner changed him for the worse? What would he think of her? When she had left for college she had been an immature 18 year old who got into all sorts of trouble. Now she was 22, she was about 5'5 and had flaming red hair. And now there was a difference, she was focused, she wasn't that immature 18 year old she had been when she left.
The seat belt light turned off and Barbara realized that they were at the gate. She unbuckled her seatbelt and stood, picking up her carry on as she did so. She reached up to open the overhead compartment when a hand beat her to it.
"sorry" she mumbled stepping aside to let the pushy person get their stuff quickly. They seemed to be in a rush and she wasn't, so she got out of the way. She reached up after they were done and hastily leaving the plane to grab her stuff.
Barbara exited the plane slowly dragging it out, she was nervous and didn't know what to expect. As soon as she exited the gate she began to look for her dad.
There he was standing by the end of the roped off gate hands in his pockets, looking completely out of place. Barbara picked up the pace and sped walked to her dad and when she got close dropped her stuff and hugged the older man.
"dad" she said into his jacket
"babs, your all grown up" he said back his arms wrapping around her in a tight embrace.
They both pulled away to look at each other.
"your hair is gray" Barbara said to her father
"my job is stressful and seems to be aging me more quickly than the president." He said with a small, tight smile. He reached for her stuff but she quickly shook him off and picked it up herself
"I've got it dad, I think you'll find that I'm not that small, weak immature girl I once was" Barbara told her father.
"but your still my little girl" Gordon said looking at his daughter for the first time in 5 years. She had grown a few inches, she was still several inches shorter than him but she was taller. Her hair was brighter than it had been before it was more of a flaming red than the strawberry blonde color it had been. She was definitely grown up. She had matured immensely and it showed in her confidence.
"how's Gotham been?" Babs asked him as they started walking towards the luggage claim
"its slowly improving" Jim said looking over at his daughter to analyze her reaction "about a year after you left for college a vigilante showed up and started causing trouble, but not the bad kind. He reached out to me, singling me out and wanted to work with me. He had said that he knew I was one of the few good cops left. He called himself the batman, and was the one who caught the mob boss falcone" by the time Jim had gotten to this part of his story they were at the baggage claim.
Barbara reached forward and pulled off her suitcase. Setting it down she pulled the handle upward and started to wheel it behind her. She looked to her father for him to continue his story.
"falcone had been shipping in these drugs and had been transporting them to arkham for a man named dr. crane. Batman had discovered that Crane had been dumping them in the water supply. And that's when the terror began. A prototype had been stolen from Wayne enterprises that vaporizes water and it was used in the narrows. All arkham patients broke out and the drug was distributed all over the narrows"
"What did the drug do?" Barbara asked curiously, Gotham had changed a lot, a vigilante calling himself the batman. Next thing she knew her dad would be telling her some story that Bruce Wayne had come back from the dead. This was getting out of hand. This was Gotham, a corrupt city not some weird fictional story.
"it was a hallucinogen that instilled fear into people. Somehow batman got his hands on an antidote that negated the effects of the drug and got a dose to me. We stopped that outbreak together."
They were walking to the car by now and it was starting to rain.
"this batman sounds like he's been doing a lot of good for the people" Barbara said to her father as he put her stuff in the trunk
"he was" Gordon said as they got into the car and he started the engine pulling away from the airport
"was?" Barbara asked " I don't understand, I thought you said he was a good vigilante"
"he was" Gordon repeated "until the joker got to him" Gordon contemplated what he was going to tell his daughter, telling her the truth would compromise her and give her a guilty conscience so he decided that the lie he told the city was for the best.
"the joker?" Barbara asked truly confused Gotham was starting to sound more and more like some fictional comic book or something.
"a few months ago a man emerged. He started killing people and carving his victim's faces, he left a calling card"
"a joker card?" Barbara guessed.
"exactly" Gordon said looking away from the road for a moment at his daughter and then looking back "he started out small just homicides and then he got to the mob. The mob had all pooled their money together with lao a Chinese national. Batman brought lao back to Gotham. We charged the mob on a rico case"
"no way you got them all and charged them all?" Barbara said incredulously she couldn't believe that her dad and batman had gotten the entire mob and majority of criminals off the streets entirely .
"with the help of district attorney Harvey dent and his assistant DA Rachel dawes" Gordon said
It was nice that they had a common ground to talk about considering they were now in the same field of work. Barbara smiled at this she could keep up with him know, she even knew what a rico case was.
"then what happened?" Barbara asked excitedly she was getting into this story
"the joker made his move, he wanted the batman. I was at the mayors office and something swung down and hit the window. It had been a body, dressed up like the batman but with cheap stuff, his face was painted. The man was dead and his face was carved. That night a video surfaced on gcn of when the joker murdered the man. His request was simple he wanted the batman to take off his mask and let the people see who he really was, and if the batman didn't then he would kill people everyday"
"of course the batman didn't give in. did he?" Barbara asked, this batman sounded like a good guy trying to help the police by taking down criminals and locking them up. She should try to get in contact with him
"no he didn't but the DA and assistant DA both were kidnapped and put in different locations with bombs, it was up to the batman to chose who to save. The joker had found the batmans one weakness and exploited it"
"what was his weakness?"
"he was in love with the assistant DA or we can only assume that was the case" Jim said pulling into his garage. Gordon turned off the car and turned to look at Barbara.
"did he get her in time?"
"the joker switched the locations, he thought he was going after Rachel, but he ended up saving Harvey. Rachel died I wasn't quick enough to get there. And in his rage batman killed Harvey and the cops and other people responsible for Rachel's death" Gordon felt horrible lying to his daughter but he decided that it was to protect her.
"no" Barbara said "that can't be, if he never killed anyone before in his life how did he murder all those people" she said finding a flaw in the story. No one else had ever questioned it, not even Ana rameriez, who knew it was a lie.
"now if the batman is seen its shoot on sight or arrest" Gordon said gravely
"I don't believe it" Barbara said as she got out of the car.
Her dad walked to the back of the car and pulled her stuff out of the trunk.
"what happened to the joker?" she asked
"batman caught him and left him for us to lock up".
Barbara followed her dad into the house and set her stuff down.
"Jim is that you?"
Her mother rounded the corner into the kitchen and her eyes landed on her. Their previous conversation was forgotten.
"mom" Babs said, dropped her stuff and hugged her tightly
"hi honey, you've grown"
"not that much" Babs said looking around for her little brother
"where's jimmy?" she asked
"he's in the other room, but hang on dinners ready ill call him in here" Barbara Gordon said stopping her daughter.
"jimmy dear come see your sister she's home" Barbara called into the other room
Moments later jimmy came running into the room and jumped at Babs.
"hey Babs its been ages" he said dramatically
Jimmy had bleached blonde hair and he was about 9 years old. This was a large gap between his 22 year old sister and himself.
They all sat down around the table for dinner as Barbara served them food.
"how's college been" Barbara asked her daughter
"it was great, my first week there I met this girl named penny and well shes a bit crazy, she had me get into all these martial arts classes with her…"
Barbara was interrupted by a ringing. Everyone looked to Jim who grabbed his phone immediately and stood up
"Gordon" he said into the phone
Sir it happened again, you better get down here right away, we found another body with a joker card pinned to it
" have you called arkham yet?" Jim said into the phone
This sparked Babs interest, arkham that's where her father said the joker was
"yeah we just called and he's there and locked up, he seems to be just as confused as we are, but you know how the joker can be"
"yeah I do know how the joker can be, I'll be right down" Jim said closing his phone and turning to his family.
"Jim" Barbara said warningly "your daughter just got home from England of all places and you're going to leave as were just starting dinner"
"actually" Babs cut in "I kind of want to go with dad you know see how the whole crime thing is going down in Gotham, I mean this is the field of work I'm getting into" Babs said to her mom and dad
Barbara sighed "ill put your dinners in the fridge" she stood and walked around the table. She reached for Babs and hugged her tightly and then turned to Jim and hugged and kissed him. "be careful you two" she said
"we will mom" Babs said following her father out the door to his car.
Once in the car her father picked up his phone and called the guy who had called him earlier
"Stephens, where are you at I'm headed over now." Jim talked into the phone. And Babs looked out the window
Well now is a good time to start her experience. She needed to get a job and get her own place. She was planning on getting a job at the mcu and buying an apartment near the heart of the city. Logically her dads story made sense, until he had gotten to the part about the joker getting away with an arkham sentence and Harvey dent being murdered by the batman. Wouldn't the batman take out his rage on the person responsible for Rachel's death. Harvey wasn't responsible for her death so why would he murder him. Or did he murder him. There was a hole in her dads story and she was going to find out the truth.
She looked up as she saw flashing lights they were in the narrows and pulling up to an apartment building. Her dad parked the car and got out motioning for her to do the same. She opened her door and pulled on her jacket following her dad.
Gordon walked up to the cops at the police tape and flashed his badge.
"commissioner" one of the men said respectfully "and who is this?" he said out of protocol
"this is my daughter shes with me" Gordon said to the men.
Babs took it all in as they walked up the steps. The narrows, a sketchy place in Gotham where only the stupid went. Especially alone it was just asking for it. As they reached the floor where the girl was murdered there was more caution tape. Stephens was waiting for them.
"commissioner" he said nodding to her father and then he turned to her "and Barbara?" he said questions in his eyes
"back from college" she said holding out her hand to shake his. He gripped her hand and shook it. He looked like being a cop in Gotham had aged him as well. There were bags under his eyes and his hair was almost as gray as her father's was. "I majored in criminal justice and I'm planning to get a job at mcu soon" she said to him
"well, we'll be lucky to have another Gordon down at the mcu." He said with a smile. He then turned to Gordon "the victim is 20 she was murdered around 7 this evening and shes carved up like the others have been" he said leading them to the spot.
As they neared the body Barbara prepared herself, gore had never bothered her before but the stench of dead bodies did bother her some. Her dad leaned over and pulled the sheet back from the girl's body.
The girl was young, as Stephens had said she was around 20, just two years younger than Babs. Her face was white with paint and a smile was carved into her face.
"just like the others" Gordon said
"the joker is still in arkham, hasn't broken out" Stephens told them
"either someone is working alone on this trying to live up to his legend or someone has contact with the joker and is doing this on his orders" her dad concluded
"did they find any evidence?" Babs asked
"besides the paint on her face and the card pinned to her, none" Stephens said to her
"now would be a time when I wish I had the batmans resources at my disposal" Gordon said staring at the girls face.
"to bad he had to go rouge and kill all those people" Stephens said. He had always known that something fishy had gone down that night but he had never questioned Jim.
"who else was murdered this way?" Babs asked
"there was a man in his thirties, another woman in her twenties and then another man who was in his twenties. So its not a serial killer because there is no connection between the victims. that and the victims are not connected in any way so its not someone who they all knew who was out to get them" Stephens said.
"has forensics seen this yet?" Jim asked Stephens.
"no they are on their way up right now" he responded.
"do you have any gloves?" Babs asked Stephens.
"yeah" he said and pulled out a sanitary pack. Babs opened them and slid them on leaning over the body. She picked up the joker card looking closer at it
"look at this" she said pointing at the head of the joker. All three of them looked closer. Two small pigtails were seen drawn in, it was very hard to tell that they were hand drawn, they looked like the card had been made like this.
"did the other cards have hair drawn onto the joker?" Babs asked Stephens
"I don't remember why?" Stephens said
"because if this person was killing these people for the joker, they would want some say to differentiate from the joker to make it look like he did it but so they could have their own private claim on the victim, I think it's a woman who is killing these people" Babs concluded putting the card back down
"it does make sense, all the victims were killed quickly, majority of women don't like to see people or animals suffer so they murder quickly. Some men like the joker kill their victims slowly. All of the victims were killed with a slit above their jugular." Gordon said smiling at his daughters quick thinking.
"smart one you got there Gordon" Stephens said smiling
Barbara lay in bed that night thinking. Her thoughts kept coming back to the batman.
Was he really guilty of murdering those people? Babs didn't think so, the facts didn't add up.
There was a light thud outside her window. And quiet murmurings. Barbara walked quietly to her window and cracked it. She looked down to her porch to see her father and a large dark shape. They were talking to each other, peacefully.
"another murder, carved up like the last ones" she heard her dad say quietly
"what about the card?" said the batman, his voice was harsh and made Babs jump slightly it was like he was forcing a rasp into it to disguise his voice.
"my daughter seems to think it's a woman murdering these people and she's working for the joker"
"your daughter?" batman rasped
"back from college she's going to join up with the police soon" her dad said looking to the batman.
Batman was perched on the rail but when she looked down at him she realized that his eyes were on her. She gasped and jumped back from the window. She stood by the curtain and peeked out at them.
"here" Babs watched with wide eyes and her mouth hanging open as her dad handed the only evidence they had to the dark knight.
That one gesture confirmed Barbara's thoughts. Batman was innocent.