Barbra sat at her desk, going back over her last problem. That couldn't be right, if f of g of inverse g… stupid negative signs, that's not right. She corrected her work and sighed, putting down the pencil and walking over and opening her window.
"What do you want?" she demanded. The shadowy figure swooped into her room. "I have homework, couldn't you call?"
"This is faster," Batman replied. Barbra waited for him to continue. "Someone new is in Gotham." She rolled her eyes. And he had to come over here?
"I'll be careful," she said.
"I thought you might want to know because they were watching us yesterday."
"I said I'll be careful Bruce," she sighed. "I've got to do my homework now."
"I think maybe you should stay off the roofs for a few nights," Batman continued.
"I can handle myself just fine," she snapped before catching herself. "But I probably won't, I've got a big test coming up." She'd been around him long enough to see relief on his face. He nodded and disappeared again. She sat back down at her desk, staring at her computer screen. She opened up a word processor and began to type:
You really screwed things up, you know that? I get that you wanted some space, but…
What's your problem anyway? You just ditched us… You'd really rather live with a bunch of strangers? We're your family. You can't just…
Don't you understand how much we need you? Bruce is getting way more paranoid… He's always worried about me, and I'm starting to resent it, and… It all your stupid fault. I can't believe you left, we weren't good enough for you of something? I…
He's so worried because you left; he was shut off enough already. He's terrified to lose someone. He's only got me and Alfred; he's shutting himself off from the rest of society. He's barely talking and… Did you ever think of what you were doing to us? I bet you don't even care, do you?
You know what; I don't even know why I'm bothering. It's not like you care anyway-
Barbra paused, looking at her rambling thought process. She sighed.
You know what really sucks? I miss you Grayson. I really, really do. And you don't even care, right? I bet you've forgotten all about me already. Hope you're happy. And don't bother coming back around here, I'd beat you up. And don't even try to kid yourself, we both know I could. I just wanted you to know what you did. Have a nice life.
She surveyed her words. They were pretty harsh, but he deserved it. Honestly, what he really deserved was a good right hook. Barbra sighed and closed the document before picking her math homework back up.
Barbra shoved open her front door, stashing her key back in the front pocket of her messenger bag.
"Dad!" she yelled, slamming the door behind her. Receiving no response, she dropped her bag and walked into the kitchen. "Dad? You were supposed to pick me up today!" She glanced around the kitchen again, noticing a note on the refrigerator.
Barb-
Needed to go to office, be back late, leftovers in fridge.
-Dad
Ps. Please make sure all the windows and doors are locked.
Barbra sighed. Of course. Work. Normally, this is when Batgirl would go investigate. Unfortunately, she'd promised Bruce she'd stay at home for a while. So what was she supposed to do now? She looked around the kitchen, finally settling her sights on the refrigerator. Well, it was Friday afternoon, and the only way she was going to keep herself from thinking was to think about something else. So she opened up the fridge and pulled out some eggs and milk. Then she walked over to the counter and pulled out the popover recipe, pulled out a bowl and started blending ingredients.
Barbra opened up the door to reveal the smiling face of Lieutenant Charles Miller.
"Hello Lieutenant," she sighed, stepping aside to allow him into the house.
"Hi Barbra," he replied. "How's school been going?" Barbra laughed as she closed the door.
"What's wrong now?" she asked, trying to keep her demeanor only partially interested.
"We've just got one of the psychos on the loose," Miller replied, smiling in his strained manner that told Barbra everything she needed to know. Of course, she didn't let it on, instead she fined alarm.
"Which one?"
"Don't worry about it," Miller replied. "You'll be fine; your dad just wanted me to watch you."
"I know," she replied. It's not like this really freaked her out, it used to happen all the time; but usually Batman kept things from getting this far. "I'll just head up to my room. Help yourself to the leftover popovers."
"Thanks Barbra," Miller replied. She flashed him a quick smile and darted up the stairs. They'd been through this enough times to have a system worked out, which was great because he wouldn't be the least bit suspicious if she "stayed upstairs" all night. She walked into her room, closed the door, sat down at her desk and turned on the computer. News… news… Ahha!
Batman inured? She clicked on the link and waited for it to load, tapping her foot impatiently. Batman injured. Reported not fatal, taken to local hospital with police protection. Joker apprehended, accomplice still on the loose… She closed the window and shut down the computer, running over to her closet and pulled out her black and yellow costume. Sure, she'd promised to stay off the streets, but only under normal circumstances. No way was she going to sit by right now. She stuffed her pillows under her bed, and once she felt the lump could satisfactorily pass for her, she turned off the lights and climbed out of the window, shutting it carefully behind her. Then she disappeared into the night.
Barbra zoomed into the Batcave, parking her motorcycle with a screech and jumping off the second it stopped. She ran into the main room of the cave, where she was met by a graying butler.
"Miss Barbra," he said. "I thought you might come soon." She smiled. Only Alfred can make seeing you run into the Batcave feel like showing up for tea.
"Hi Alfred," she replied, walking over and sitting at the computer.
"I'm assuming you would like a summary of today's events?" Barbra nodded as she began to type. "Master Bruce was addressing a problem with the Joker, but was apparently jumped by Jokers new accomplice. Between the two, it appears Master Bruce has been injured rather badly. Regardless, we have a villain on the loose. Master Bruce said that I should tell you to open the most recent document."
"Thank you Alfred," she said, noting with irritation that she had to recover the most recent document from the hard drive as it had been deleted.
"I trust you have things under control?" Alfred asked. Barbra smiled. "I would appreciate it if you could help Master Bruce get home once you're done."
"Of course I will," she replied, finally finishing bringing back the document. She heard Alfred leave the room as she read the list of possible secondary hide-outs, which was of course exactly what she'd come to the Batcave to get. How does he do that? However, she simply printed the list, deleted the document once more, and hurried back to the motorcycle bay.
She pulled up outside the third warehouse on Bruce's list. She knew she should have checked the other two first, but they seemed almost too predictable. Sure enough, she heard movement inside the large building. She climbed up onto the roof and peaked through the skylight.
A black and orange figure stood in the middle of the dark warehouse, barely illuminated in the light of the nearby streetlight pouring in through from above her. She leant closer to the warehouse, ensuring she didn't cast a shadow, while she watched him pace around the floor, talking angrily. She rolled until she was lying next to an open window.
"Now really Commissioner, I don't see what the problem is here," he purred. "I'm simply asking to talk to Batman for a while." He stood still for a while, then threw up a hand in exasperation. "Really now, I don't see why you insist on protecting him from me." Another pause. "Isn't he technically a criminal anyway?" Barbra smiled as she heard her father's angry mutter from the phone. "And what proof do you have that I intend him any harm?" She'd heard enough. She opened up the window the rest of the way and swooped down into the warehouse, landing softly in the shadows.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe something about how you and Joker put him in the hospital," she quipped. The orange and black guy turned to her, his eye narrowing.
"I'm sorry Commissioner, but it appears that we have an interruption," the guy announced, walking back over to a small table. "We can continue this conversation later." With that, he pressed a button on the small triangular device on the table.
"No need to hang up on my account," Barbra said.
"A female bat?" the man asked. "Well this is interesting."
"So who are you supposed to be, Halloween-Man?" The man chuckled.
"Well aren't we spirited," he remarked. "Awfully familiar."
"You here to talk?"
"You want me to attack you already?" Halloween-Man asked. "But we were just getting to know each other."
"I'm just curious," Barbra replied. "You have just shown up in my city."
"My city." The man seemed amused. "Well now, isn't this the Batman's city? Aren't you just another of his sidekicks?"
"If you're going to be all cryptic, you should at least tell me your name," she retorted.
"Hm. Not very prevocable. I guess Batman picked a good replacement," Halloween-man stepped closer, but she didn't retreat.
"Why don't you just get out of here, and we can have this discussion over a phone?"
"Everything's better in person," he purred again. Barbra rolled her eyes. He threw a punch right at her head, but she ducked out of the way and rolled into a handspring, landing on the table.
"I don't know where you came from, but you'll have to do better than that," she replied, grinning at Halloween-man, who was still standing on the opposite side of the room. He lowered his arm and gazed at her. "You want some advice? Leave Gotham before you find some enemies."
"Nice trick, but I'm not quite done yet," Halloween-man replied, slinging another punch at her and knocking the table over. Barbra leapt from the table, pushing off of his shoulders and landing behind him. She whirled around, knocking his feet out from under him. He fell, grabbing her leg as he fell and twisting it, sending her spinning across the room. She pushed herself back up to her feet, facing him once more. He lunged, and she ducked and rolled into his legs, causing him to fall on top of her. Then she threw him off her. He skidded into the wall as she jumped to her feet.
"Very good," he commented. "Clearly you've been taught well."
"Clearly you didn't know what you were getting into," she snapped back. He lunged, dodging her counter attack and grabbing her arm and throwing her into the wall.
"Oh I think I did," he replied. "You still have quite a bit of learning to do." Barbra didn't reply, remaining motionless on the ground. "Well this has been fun, and very educational, but I'm still trying to talk to Batman." He started to walk away, but then she heard him come back over. "I wonder…" She grinned internally. That's it; maybe he wants to protect the sidekick.
As soon as he started to reach down, she pulled out her Bat-cuffs, whipped them around, locked them onto his extended wrist, yanked him down and looped the cuffs around a pipe in the wall and locked them around his other wrist. She pulled off his utility belt and rolled to her feet. She turned around to face a very surprised Halloween-man. Well, he doesn't exactly look surprised, but she spent enough time with Bruce to tell.
"Do I look so green now?" she asked, walking over to the wrecked table and finding the phone from earlier. "Commissioner, I think you should get over here."
