Act Two-
Prologue: Come What May
"A shocking twist today in the investigations in to the deaths of Claire and Jonathan Boardener. Just before midnight last night, an arrest was made that turned the tables in favor of the Police Commissioner and her family." The news caster's voice said on the television screen early the next morning, as Caitlyn was taking her morning bath, soaking in lavender and vanilla scented bubbles after the long night the previous day.
She didn't realize she would feel so tired after her first completed mission, with two failed attempts in the get-go. But at least Nathan was behind bars now at Arkham Asylum, apparently in a separate part of the building than his father.
School had been canceled for the next week while the Police Department conducted their investigations on Nathan's arrest, and while the power company worked on restoring the School's electricity since it turned out that the cord Batman used to render Knave unconscious had been the source of the school's power. So the next morning she was to be seen soaking in her bathtub and trying to clear her mind with the aid of the scents of lavender and vanilla swirling around her. She could hardly believe that she was Batgirl, even now a week after she'd taken the suit from her grandmother.
She still missed her parents, but she felt that that pain might never fully go away. At least she still had her friend, Leia, and the remaining members of the Cheer leading Squad. Speaking of Leia... her phone beeped from its designated spot on the floor next to the bath tub, and she picked it up to see that Leia had just sent her a text message asking what time they should meet to go see her Grandma Rosie today.
Caitlyn shot off a quick reply saying after lunch, and set the phone back down. Before sighing, and stepping out of the tub. She dried herself as the bathtub drained, and dressed in a silk-soft purple long sleeved shirt, a pair of dark blue jeans, and decided to put her hair back in a purple headband that day. By the time she had grabbed her phone, and was done getting ready for the day, it was already past ten in the morning.
"Morning slow poke." Said Dick from his spot in the living room when he heard his granddaughter moving around more.
"Hey Grandpa. Nana ever get home last night?" Asked Caitlyn as she looked in the freezer for something to eat for breakfast.
"Yeah, but only enough to get six hours sleep and then head out early for work again." Sighed Dick. It was well known that he disliked his wife's sense of not stopping till the job was finished. "Are you still planning on visiting your friends' grandmother today?" He asked.
"Yep. We're going after lunch." Nodded Caitlyn as she pulled out a ham and mozzarella cheese breakfast hot pocket from the freezer.
After breakfast, she went back to her room to finish an essay for United States History that she had actually procrastinated on. The essay had been due today, but with school canceled due to electrical problems, she had plenty of time to make good headway on it. One of her bad habits was procrastinating on homework, and when she came back to the kitchen for a soda pop and some fresh baby carrots and garden snap peas to snack on, she went back to work on her essay while she had the television playing in the background.
When she got tired of television in the background, she decided to put on her favorite aquamarine haired and pigtailed Japanese voice synthesizer. She had a whole playlist with her songs on her iPod, put on her headphones, and started tapping her foot to the beats that played while she worked on her essay.
Finally after nearly two hours she was free, her snacks had been consumed as she wrote her essay or read articles in her history textbook. Every now and again, she found herself looking up and around, thinking how her father had come in to her room at least once every hour on days when she had loads of homework, to offer friendly words of encouragement, or some help on her math problems that she struggled with. Before she got herself depressed, she would shake her head and get back to work on her essay which was proving to be a doozy.
She stood up after taking off her headphones, stretching and yawning, she felt her joints popping in protest at being moved when she heard her cellphone- now off to the side on her desk where her books were piled- ringing.
"Leia! Hi!" She said.
"Hey! You didn't forget, did you?" Leia's cheerfully upbeat voice came on the phone.
"Oh no. Just spent two hours racking my brains on that history essay our hateful teacher gave us on Friday is all." Sighed Caitlyn as she sat on the edge of her bed.
"I heard that there was a fight yesterday between Batgirl, Batman and the Dee family!" Leia said in a rather exited tone. "At least you weren't involved this time! Thanks for letting me know you got home before anything crazy happened."
"Uh...Yeah." Caitlyn said in a falsely chipper voice, having tensed when Leia brought up the news reports going around. What Leia didn't know, wouldn't hurt her, and she certainly did not need to know that she was Batgirl, and had been in the thick of all that fighting. "So I'll be having lunch, and then we're meeting at that flower shop right?" She changed the subject rather quickly to avoid awkward questions.
"Yep. See you in about forty five minutes or so!" And Leia hung up.
Catilyn sighed in relief, having avoided being put on the spot again as her stomach grumbled rather rudely. Sometimes she cursed having a large appetite. At least she was able to work off her food with her hobbies, and her career as Batgirl.
When she finished her lunch, she grabbed her jacket, cell phone, and tote bag- at the insistence of her grandfather since she always put her Batsuit in it.
"You should never go anywhere without it, Caitlyn. If something were to happen or someone were to attack, you never know if you are going to need the suit." He lectured her.
"Ok, ok! I've got the suit in my bag! Don't need to got on your soap box about it... yeesh..." Caitlyn pecked her grandfather on the cheek before heading out the door to meet her friend.
Leia was waiting on the corner of the street with her purse, waving impatiently at her friend to hurry up.
At the flower shop, the girls were poring over the roses, since that was Leia's grandmother's favorite flower.
"What's your grandma's favorite color again?" Asked Caitlyn as the florist was helping them figure out what would be best for a hospital room bouquet.
"She loves the dark colored roses, but she also loves the double blooms... OH!" Leia exclaimed, how about these guys!" She pointed at the double bloom deep violet roses in a rather large crystal vase.
"That'll be too heavy though... how are we gonna be able to carry it all the way there?" Asked Caitlyn, staring at the size of the vase itself.
"I'll get a chumpette to help me." Grinned Leia, rather evilly as she pulled out her cash card from her purse.
Caitlyn stared with a sense of foreboding after Leia as she paid the cashier and the florist prepared the vase for transport.
"And the vase has a wonderful feature as well," The Florist was explaining to Leia. "It changes its color and pattern randomly, with over a hundred designs and patterns."
"Sweet! Grandma will love this!" Leia said as she handed the vase to Caitlyn, who was wondering if this was some kind of cosmic payback for all the times they'd had to be split up while hanging out, or she had to bail because of her duties as Batgirl- not that Leia knew she was Batgirl.
Next thing Caitlyn knew, she was set with the task of hauling the twenty pound crystal vase filled with double bloom, deep colored roses to the hospital room that Leia's grandmother resided in.
She sighed in annoyance as Leia led the way to the hospital rather cheerfully, taking great pleasure in bossing her best friend around. The hospital was a tall apparently all glass window building that towered over Gotham, which guaranteed that the patients inside had magnificent views on all sides of the building. After signing in at the welcome desk and making sure her grandmother was still in the same room, Leia- and a rather grumpy Caitlyn- went to the elevators to the right of the desk and took them to the fourteenth level.
Caitlyn loathed elevators, particularly the elevators at the hospital because of the speed which they moved upwards and down. During the five second journey, the vase had changed from a transparent crystal color to a pastel pink, and a pastel violet shade.
"Oh! Almost forgot... Gotta grab Grandma her soda and candies!" Leia exclaimed when the elevator stopped on their level and opened up.
Luckily there was a soda machine with a candy machine right nearby her grandmother's room.
She picked out a diet Pepsi for her grandmother, herself and Caitlyn, and a Three Musketeers bar for her grandmother who always expected the Pepsi and candy bar when Leia and Caitlyn visited.
Leia's Grandmother was in a single bed room, so there were no curtains to go around.
"Grandma?" Leia said quietly as she opened the door.
"Is that my little girl and her friend?" Asked the elderly woman in the bed next to the window.
"We brought you a little something Grandma Rosie." Smiled Leia, showing the vase to her Grandmother as Caitlyn struggled to hold it up for her to see.
"They're lovely!" Said the tweedy woman with a bright smile.
Grandma Rosie was a tall, thin woman wearing a purple blouse and slacks as she sat up in the bed to better see what it was that her granddaughter and Caitlyn had brought her. She had pale skin like Leia, and shoulder length blond hair that had gray streaks which emphasized her age. A book was laying open on her chest, and it looked as though the elderly woman had fallen asleep reading.
"You got my Pepsi and Candy bar?" Asked Rosie from her bed as she put her bookmark in her novel- which Caitlyn noticed was another romance novel, and nearly gagged at the sight of the cover that faced her.
"Yes, lovely book, isn't it?" Rosie misread Caitlyn's reaction as the girl went to set down the vase on the table next to Rosie's bed. She even had a purple fleece blanket that Leia, Caitlyn and Melody had put together for her before she came to the hospital.
One thing Caitlyn had never been able to quite get over was Rosie's liking for romance novels for adults.
"I've heard that there's been quite a bit going on in Gotham City this last week." Rosie inquired with a look that quite plainly said this wasn't a request but a demand to know the truth.
"Well, you could say the week ended with a bang..." Leia said as she helped her grandmother take a drink of her soda before opening her own.
It wasn't the most entertaining of visits with Leia's grandmother, who listened raptly to all the details of how the Dees turned out to be about as mad as their parents, how Caitlyn's own parents had really passed- since Rosie was close friends with Claire and Jonathan- and the gate crashing of the Night Club party.
"At least you'll have plenty of stories to tell the kids in the future." Smiled Rosie at the end of the tale. "I mean... how many people can complain when they've been saved by none other than Batman himself?"
"I can..." Coughed Caitlyn in to her own soda, earning a sideways glance from Leia.
Rosie smiled serenely at the friends.
"Now... what's this I hear about my granddaughter not going to the Spring Fling coming up?" Rosie turned on Leia next.
Both girls choked this time.
"Grandma! It's not that important!" Leia said indignantly, nearly spilling soda on herself, but catching her can before it tipped too much.
"Really now? In my day, I went to every dance I could. You're not a baby forever, might as well live it up while you can." Smiled Rosie in a mischievous sort of way. "Leia, how come you aren't going?"
"Well... Cate's not going, and I didn't want her to be left all alone on that night, without any friends to talk to or anything to do." Leia shrugged. "We WERE planning on having a movie marathon night, you know... watching the seven movies about the boy wizard versus the moldy snake lord?"
"Ah, that one? You like your classics... Why not something like a documentary about the Justice League? That would be more informative." Rosie had a hand on her chin as she thought.
"Nah, we're not THAT in to history." Leia decided to keep Rosie on the subject of movies since it seemed to keep her from the topic of the dance coming up.
Rosie wasn't that easily distracted, however.
"But really, I can't see how hard it would be for you two to find dates. I know that one smart kid in your class has always had a crush on you, Leia." Rosie went on to say as though they'd never deviated away from the main subject, and Caitlyn and Leia sighed, looking at each other. They both knew they were thinking the same thing.
Why did grandparents have to be so sharp?
"And Cate, I heard that Mr. Wayne and his assistant paid you a visit. Why not go with Mr. McGinnis, he always seems like a good kid when I've seen him." Rosie went on to say as she took another sip of her soda.
Caitlyn was saved answering when Rosie's nurse came in to the room, knocking quietly before entering.
"Ah, Pearl! So glad you're here tonight instead of that Leslie!" Exclaimed Rosie at the sight of the silver-haired woman in her late fifties, wearing a purple nurses' outfit. It was common knowledge that Rosie was not a fan of her Morning Shift Nurse. But Leia and Caitlyn both knew that the more Rosie complained about something, the more likely it was good for her. Particularly the morning routine.
"Rosie, so good to see you. And you've got visitors!" Smiled Pearl as she set about administering Rosie's medicine.
"Time for medicine?" Rosie said with a hint of dread in her voice.
"Yes, Mrs. Bushnell. Medicine time." Smiled Pearl, as she prepared a nasty looking gel tablet for her to take. "Gotta make sure your blood pressure stays low after all."
"Crap cakes... I hate that pill." Grumbled Rosie as she drank it down with some water rather than her Pepsi.
"Well, Grandma, it's getting late, we'd better head back." Leia said when she realized that they'd spent two and a half hours visiting with her grandmother.
Rosie looked disappointed that they couldn't stay longer, but nodded all the same.
"You'd better get along then, thanks for coming by dearies." Rosie waved a little solemnly as the two girls left.
"I didn't realize you weren't attending the dance either, Leia." Blinked Caitlyn once they were well down the hall and out of earshot of the elderly woman. She didn't recall ever talking about it with her, then again, talking about things in depth with her friends was one of her downfalls in social lives.
"Well, I decided it would be a damn sight better if you had someone to watch movies with than sitting alone in your room." Smiled Leia as the got in to the elevator once more.
"Just because I'm not going doesn't mean you don't have to go!" Caitlyn protested. "Besides, Grandpa was planning on keeping me busy with work of some kind, it wouldn't be that much fun!"
The part about her Grandfather keeping her busy during dance night was true. He had planned on using that night for a training session in the Batgirl setting.
"I'll have to have a word with that old fart..." Grumbled Leia.
"Erm... Is that really necessary? I mean, you could still go and have fun without me at the Dance." Caitlyn looked rather nervous at the thought of her friend telling off her Grandfather, who was now one of two of her legal guardians according to her parent's wills.
The two of them argued all the way out of the hospital and down the street, to the yogurt shop they frequented where they stopped arguing to order their frozen yogurt cups and pick seats. Finally Caitlyn won the argument, because she felt she needed the training, and Leia needed to be with the rest of the troupe that night than being cooped up in a room watching movies all night.
"Ok, ok... I won't go on the warpath. I guess this means Grandma got her way in the end." Leia sighed as she took a bite of her kiwi and strawberry frozen yogurt, topped with nuts, and crumbled chocolate candy bars.
Caitlyn had her usual pomegranate and vanilla frozen yogurt bowl with berries and chocolate candy bars crumbled on top.
"I wonder if anyone's ever thought of reactivating that old Bat Signal..." Leia said randomly. "You know, the one your Great Grandfather used back in the day to summon the first Batman?"
"Yeah... Somehow I don't think Batman of today needs a Bat Signal. He seems to find his way around the City just fine when trouble strikes." Caitlyn wondered how her friend can focus so much on one thing. Then again, Leia tended to hyper focus a lot of the time.
"What a wonderful ray of sunshine you are." Kina's voice came from the other side of the gate that wrapped around the outside seating portion of the restaurant, and Caitlyn and Leia turned to see their red-haired co-cheerleader leaning against it with a broad smile on her face.
"You seem to be doing well, Kina." Caitlyn and Leia returned the red-head's smile. "Considering your boyfriend was the one who was caught and arrested." Caitlyn went on.
"Well, it's clear he wasn't as good a person as he appeared to be." Shrugged Kina. "I mean, ordering his sisters to kill someone because of some stupid reason no one knows about? Come on. I can do better than that."
"Glad to hear it. Why don't you come join us?" Asked Leia brightly.
"Nah, can't. Don't have the time. My parents are having a family night this afternoon." Kina had a look of pure dread on her face as she said this. "Wish I could though." She waved and walked away, her brilliant red hair shining in the Gotham City sunlight as hover cars zipped by on the roads.
"Heh... Her loss. Oh well." Leia shrugged. "At least we're still able to-"
She was interrupted in her sentence as Caitlyn's phone started ringing. Caitlyn gave an annoyed sigh as she reached in to her tote bag and pulled it out. After checking the Caller I.D. on her phone, she groaned.
"Grandpa." She said to Leia, who put her hand to her forehead in response as Caitlyn answered, knowing she couldn't ignore a call from her grandfather. "Yeah, Grandpa, what is it?"
"You need to come home right away. No arguments." Said Dick.
At to her, he sounded rather angry about something.
"Grandpa! I'm hanging out with Leia today! I told you that already!" Caitlyn protested rather loudly as a young man walked past that caught Leia's attention momentarily.
"I already said no arguments. Now come home." Dick snapped, hanging up before she could protest some more.
Caitlyn glared at her phone as she shoved it back in to her tote bag.
"Hey, Terry!" Leia waved at the young man who was walking by. It was only when Terry stopped to see who shouted that Leia saw there was a younger boy trying to pull free of his older brother's hand. "What are you doing on this end of town?"
"Eh, Mom wanted me to spend some quality time with my brother today." Terry said in a rather regretful and bored tone of voice.
"You have a brother? I never knew!" Leia rushed over as Caitlyn put the lid over her frozen yogurt treat she'd barely gotten halfway through. "Hey little guy!" Leia was saying to Matt, who was distracted for a moment at the sight of the cheerleaders from Gotham High School talking to him.
"Dude! Aren't you like, one of the cheerleaders from the school?" Asked Matt.
"Yup. That's me. Nice to meet ya!" Instead of shaking hands, Leia ruffled the little boy's jet black hair. "Oh! You're heading out Cate?"
"Yeah, I couldn't get the Grandfather unit to let me hang out with you longer." Sighed Caitlyn, putting a hand on Leia's shoulder in apology. "Hate to have to bail on you again."
"No worries. You kept your promise about seeing grandma today at least." Smiled Leia, though she wondered if it was at all possible to have a word with Barbara about letting her friend have a bit more freedom than the did.
Caitlyn decided not to be rude for once and gave a brief wave at Terry.
"Hey McGinnis." She said as she walked away.
"The name's Terry. I'd appreciate you use it for a change." Said a rather annoyed Terry as she walked past.
"Hey bro," Said Matt, still plainly within ear shot of Caitlyn. "Why don't you date one of those two girls? Having a girlfriend might make you less of a grump!"
"What did that little twerp just say?" Snapped Caitlyn turning around and nearly spilling her frozen yogurt all over the place.
"I'm just gonna have a word with him. See you ladies later!" And Terry dragged Matt away from the cheerleaders before he said anything that might result in violence from either of the girls.
"Hey! What's that for?" Asked Matt as he was pulled around the corner.
"You really need to learn not to speak what you think, bro." Said Terry, keeping a firm grip on his brother's wrist as he pulled him upright again. "Those two girls we were talking to might be cheerleaders, but one of them could do some serious damage if you're not careful."
"Hey, having someone to keep you in line might make things more bearable for me." Grinned Matt rather evilly.
Terry sighed, wishing his mother hadn't ordered the 'brothers bonding' afternoon.
"What is it that was so urgent, Grandpa?" Caitlyn bellowed through the door as she came in rather moodily to the house.
"I'm in here!" Dick called from the just-open door down the hall that led to the Command Center.
Caitlyn grumbled as she closed the main entrance to the house, and went in to the Command Center down below after pulling out the Batgirl suit from her tote, having the feeling of what this might lead to.
"What is it?" She asked begrudgingly.
"About time. There's a theft under way at the Gotham City Bank." Dick said, showing her the scenes on the computers mounted on the wall.
"Bank theft? Isn't that along the lines of police work, or at the very least, Batman work?" She asked.
"All Super Heroes- and in this case Heroines- have to start out somewhere. And for you, this is it. You need to get practice, and besides... The robber is a rather unique figure." Dick pointed at the centermost screen.
"Huh?" Blinked Caitlyn.
"You'll see." Dick played the scene, and she indeed saw the man change form right before her very eyes in to a security guard, before walking over to the entrance of the bank and waving a card before the security at the entrance and walking in.
"Shape shifter?" Stared Caitlyn as she was getting in to the Batgirl suit while making sure Dick was looking at the screens in front of him.
"Yeah. He was apparently a splicer, and got spliced so much his genetics became unstable. But he was able to find a way to control how he can transform, by using some form of genetic enhancements to his DNA. You'll have to be careful in figuring him out before attacking." Dick explained. "His name is James Roth. You might remember him."
"Yeah, I do." Caitlyn said as she put on the last piece of the suit, the Batgirl mask. "He was a classmate of ours up until a year ago."
"Then get to it. Make sure no one knows who you are." Dick nodded as she left.