Author's Notes:

Yay! I finally got this chapter done and posted! Hooray for not having as much college work to do! And hooray for my birthday, on the day I post this chapter! :D Whoo-hoo!

October 10, 2040

Coba sat in a booth at a diner with her friends Maxine Gibson and Dana Tan. The small teen's half-brother, Terry McGinnis, was standing in a quiet area, talking to his employer Bruce Wayne—whom was also Coba's legal guardian—over the phone. No doubt talking about the attempted Cerestone heist earlier tonight, she thought, scowling. Even though the villains had not succeeded in getting the Cerestone, Coba and Terry—Batgirl and Batman respectively—were left with no choice but to destroy it when the trailer was disconnected from the truck and fell to the river.

"You okay, Coba?" Max asked concernedly, pulling the small teen out of her thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, just upset about failing the assignment," Brooklyn answered. She worded her sentences carefully in case of someone eavesdropping, not wanting to risk being discovered as Batgirl.

Max nodded sympathetically, knowing what Coba was talking about. "That can get your spirits down."

"You'll get the next one," Dana said encouragingly, also understanding the topic. She decided to change the subject to get Coba's mind off the heist. "So, Chelsea told me about a movie she saw with Ashley the other day..."

Although she did not like gossip, Coba listened a bit, distracted from her own troubles. I'll hear about it later, anyway, she thought, knowing how often Bruce would bring up problems.

To the shock of the three girls, a large young man with blond hair grabbed Dana by her shoulder. "Get away from me!" the raven-haired girl demanded, pulling herself out of his grasp.

The young man did not leave. "Come on, baby," he said coyly, leaning in closer, "I've got lost time to make up for."

Just as he grabbed Dana again, Coba sprang up from her seat and tried to pull him away, her blood boiling with rage. "Leave her alone!" she growled. From the corner of her eye she could see Terry hanging up the phone to come to their aid. During her distraction, the man smacked her away from him, causing her to stumble back into a wall. Coba looked up with a dangerous glare in the works...

...only to falter upon meeting his sky blue eyes glaring back at her. Her eyes widened in shock and horror, her body trembling in terror as time seemed to slow around her. Instead of keeping his gaze on her, he looked back at Tan. "Get your paws off her!" Coba heard Max order as Dana tried again to plead and fight for her freedom.

"Boy, you picked the wrong booth," Terry's voice growled. Brooklyn looked up to see her half-brother gripping the man's shirt in his fist as Terry's other hand prepared to punch his face. Much to her surprise, he hesitated. "Big Time?" he said, shocked.

The man paused, then smiled in recognition. "T T!" he said before hugging Terry happily. McGinnis could only hug back, though it still took him a moment to register that he had been reunited with his old friend. Coba managed to get up, albeit shakily, and get back to the table, though she remained standing.

"Big Time? T T?" Max asked, looking at Dana. However, Dana continued to glare at the man.

Terry became enthusiastic. "Guys, this is Charlie 'Big Time' Bigelow," he introduced. "Charlie was always scheming about how he was going to make it big, and the name stuck."

Charlie grinned pleasantly, though Coba had to suppress an uncomfortable shudder. "And 'T T' is Tiny Terry, cause he was always thinking small," he explained, giving his younger friend a pat on the back.

"Dana, you remember Charlie."

"I remember who he is," Dana scowled at her boyfriend. "Do you?"

The black-haired man's grin turned into a frown at Tan's remark. Before he could say anything, however, Charlie was looking at Coba and Max. "And who are these fine young ladies?" he asked smoothly.

"My friend Max and half-sister Coba," Terry answered as he gestured to them respectively, feeling a bit flared up at Bigelow's remark about them, primarily his own kin.

Max gave a curt nod of acknowledgment to Charlie. However, he hardly noticed as he looked at Coba. She seems familiar, he thought. After a moment, he dismissed his suspicions and turned to Terry. "Come on, twip," he said, leading Terry out of the diner. "What's good to eat around here? You gonna buy me a burger or what?"

The teenage girls watched them leave. Max looked at Dana and Coba after a few seconds, and was surprised by their different facial expressions; while Dana was worried, Coba seemed to be in some sort of a trance. "You okay, Co?" the pink-haired girl asked when the youngest of the trio did not budge. Not getting a reaction, she gently shook her friend. "Coba?"

"H-huh?" Coba gasped, whipping her head around in shock. "Oh! Uh, y-yeah, I-I'm fine," she stammered, trying to calm down. "A-at least, I think so..."

Gibson could tell the small teen was worked up about Charlie's sudden appearance. After all, it was not every day—actually never, now that she thought about it—that she saw Coba freeze in terror when a close friend was in danger. "Come on," she gently urged, standing up and supporting Coba. "Let's get you home."

Dana stood up as well, then helped her friends as they left as she was lost inside her own thoughts. Oh, please don't get brought down by him again, Terry, she silently pleaded. Even though she knew he was Batman, she was worried that he would be influenced by Charlie to get into trouble once more in spite of Terry's efforts to put it all behind him.

~!~

A couple of hours later, Terry had returned to the Batcave. Coba was sent to bed upon arrival, too jumpy to go on patrol that night, but she could not get to sleep. After Terry left, seeing he was a bit more cheerful than he had been when he first arrived, she went down to the cave. "Shouldn't you be in bed?" the all-too familiar gravelly voice inquired.

"Yes, Bruce, but I couldn't get to sleep," Coba said drowsily. She reached down and pet Ace as he sat down on her blue-slipper-covered feet.

Bruce looked at her concernedly, though there was a hint of sympathy in his gaze. "Are you ready to talk about what happened before you came home?"

Brooklyn nodded, then told him what happened at the diner. "I don't know what came over me," she concluded. "I hadn't felt so terrified since Wheeler's ranch, yet this fear felt more... familiar."

Wayne thought over what she said, then turned to the computer. "I'll see what I can find about Bigelow," he said at last. "In the meantime, try to calm yourself so you can sleep."

"Okay," the girl replied. She pet Ace, then asked him politely—in dog—to let her move. Ace got off of her feet with a confirming whine. Coba went over to the different Batsuits and looked at them, hardly noticing her giant pouched rat, Ed, climbing onto her shoulders. However, her mind was somewhere else other than on the costumes. Bigelow looked so familiar, and he felt the same about me. But, when did we come across each other? What happened?

"Oh my God," Bruce gasped almost inaudibly, pulling Coba out of her thoughts.

"What is it?" she asked concernedly, turning to see the screen.

To Coba's shock, Bruce minimized the window before she could see what had alarmed him. She sensed apprehension coming off of him in waves, something she had never sensed with the hardened man before. "What is it?" she repeated, unable to keep the fear out of her voice.

Bruce said nothing for a long moment. Finally, he blinked the apprehension out of his eyes. "Coba, go pack your suitcase," he ordered firmly. "I'll call your grandfather and have him pick you up."

"What?! Why?" Coba exclaimed. "What's going on?"

"This is for your own good, kid," the first Batman said.

"Bruce, what are you talking about? You're keeping information from me that I either don't know or don't remember. How is this—"

"Coba," Bruce reprimanded sharply. He forced himself to relax, trying not to scare his ward even more. "If you don't remember by the time I figure something out, I'll tell you. But right now, you have to trust me. It's not safe for you to be in Gotham right now. Please, kid, go get packed."

Batgirl could tell it hurt her caretaker to withhold information from her in this fashion. "Okay, Bruce," she said, her voice cracking. She turned and went back up into her room, then packed her suitcase with clothing for herself and food for Ed to last a few days as Bruce called Coba's grandfather, Dick Grayson. Coba wanted to know what had upset Bruce, but she did not have it in her heart to read his mind to find out, since he was so reluctant to say in the first place. I hope this boils over soon, she thought. Although she was secretly excited about getting to spend more time with Dick, she wanted things to return to normal—That is, as normal as they were before, she thought—as soon as possible.