April 10th
Gotham City
0700 EST
"Holy crap, this plane." Deke said, getting a look at the interior of the Wayne Enterprises private jet. Obviously designed to transport executives at the very highest levels, it was decked for comfort, with plush leather seats and a matching sofa, all in a matte gray that matched the carpet, and set off with deep red wood trim. "This is, woah." He added, hanging the garment bag he had over his shoulder on the short rack.
"Right?" Barbara replied, stepping in behind him. She'd seen the plane, hell, she'd flown the plane, so she'd made sure to let him walk in first, just so she could see his reaction. The way he stood there with wide eyed amazement, trying to take every detail in was both amusing and endearing to her. Offhandedly, she wondered if that was how he was as a little boy, before life had dealt the series of bad hands he'd been given.
Setting her own laptop case down, she waved to the airport employees who wheeled the staircase away, before triggering the button which shut the door to the cabin. "We're in." she said after sticking her head into the cockpit, and then turned to her boy. "Have a seat and buckle up, we're about to take off."
"I've never flown in a plane before." He said with a sheepish grin, though he did as she asked and clipped the seatbelt on in the chair he'd chosen. She sat down across from him and did the same thing, though she stretched out more comfortably, and slid her toes up and down his lower leg with a smile.
"You're getting spoiled then. Wayne Enterprises has a thriving aeronautical division. Only place better is Ferris, but that's to be expected." Barbara replied. The pair felt the private jet taxiing along, and shortly thereafter, the whine of the engines reached a high pitch before they were pushed back into their seats. "Take off time." She said, just soaking in his reactions.
Which were nothing short of adorable. He had the look of a little boy who'd just been told he could have whatever he wanted from the toy store. The feeling of inertia, the whine of the engines, the sudden change when the plane lifted off, it was all so exciting. It was also warm, which was something he couldn't say for his own flight. It was certainly fast, but he'd developed that speed out of necessity. The longer he was up, the colder he got, and that cold could get dangerous quickly.
"We're at cruising altitude, you can unbuckle now. It's approximately five hours until we reach Star City so we'll be there on or around nine am, and the weather forecast says low to mid-seventies and rain, so perfect Star City weather." The pilot said, and pulled the door to the cockpit closed. He'd transported enough businessmen to know what happened in the cabin of his aircraft.
"Compared to Zeta lag, this won't be a problem." Deke drawled. "But, you were sketchy on the details babe, what are we doing exactly?"
Barbara nodded, getting out of her seat and heading to the couch. She patted the cushion next to her, and waited for her fiancé to join her before explaining. "About a year ago, Queen Consolidated and Wayne Enterprises began engaging in joint business ventures. Nothing big or dramatic, but enough to test the waters. Since it's gone well, the boards of both companies are interested in going further. We're delivering a vital piece of technology in order to facilitate this."
"Your briefcase?" he asked, gesturing to the plain black attaché case she'd brought with her. They'd stopped by the Wayne building before hitting the airport, just long enough for a bland faced employee in a suit to walk out and hand it through the open window of the limo Bruce had let them use.
"Yep." She said sweetly, booping him on the nose for good measure. She'd slept wonderfully the night before, despite not getting the kind of workout she'd really wanted, and it was showing. "That briefcase holds the Tarrasque. It's a file transfer protocol that renders all digital communication between the two companies invisible and secure. Kris wrote the architecture and I wrote the security, based off of code Dick had written a couple of years ago."
"And we're guarding what I'm guessing is a flash drive, why?" Deke asked. Computers would never be his strong suit. If it wasn't browsing the web, doing homework, looking up porn or playing on social media, he was pretty well lost.
"Because anyone with Tarrasque has complete and unfettered access to the collected information stored at both Wayne Enterprises and Queen Consolidated. You can imagine why that would be a problem." Barbara said, being extra careful not to answer him in a condescending tone. Her boy wasn't a luddite, but he could edge that way.
"That name's bugging me, I've seen it before." He said, racking his brain for the answer. "That D&D book, right?"
Barbara's face split wide in a grin. Since donning the cape she hadn't had a chance to sit down and roll some dice at all. That he recognized the name and where it came from gave him hope. It meant she only needed to convert Ash and another couple of people. "Very good." She said, turning on the sofa to rest her legs on her boy's lap. "So, we're meeting the security detail from Queen Consolidated, and together we're delivering Tarrasque to the company. That's why we had to bring suits. There's one other thing though."
"What's that?" Deke asked, sensing a slight shift in her emotions. She wasn't sad, or upset, or worried, but something had taken her positively beautiful mood and brought it down a notch.
"There's a case in my bag, if you could please?" she asked, pointing to her suitcase proper. With a simple gesture, it slid across the floor and into a standing position beside her. She opened it up and produced a small black plastic case, and handed it to him. "This job needs to go off without a hitch, so no powers unless people are absolutely about to die. This has to be your first line of defense."
Deke opened the case and saw a compact pistol nestled into the foam, with three fully loaded high capacity magazines sitting next to it. The brass was simple and plain, but the projectiles themselves were a dull black. "What kind of ammo is this?" he asked, having never seen similar.
"You ought to be familiar with them, they're non-lethal rounds, real next-gen stuff that's being developed for law enforcement. You can handle this, right? I saw your dad's guns, well, your guns I suppose, but they were rifles and shotguns." She said, watching him look over the firearm in the case.
With a shrug, he took the pistol out of the case, drew back and locked the slide, gave it a quick inspection, and then dropped the slide back before thumbing the de-cocker switch. "Yeah, last time I went shooting was around last Thanksgiving though, when I asked your dad for his blessing. I thought you hated guns though."
"Bruce hates them. I'm not the biggest fan of them, but being the daughter of a self-professed grunt turned cop, I know they're not the evil artifacts Bruce makes them out to be. I wouldn't keep one in the house, but they have a place in the right hands." Barbara said thoughtfully. "Why do you keep those guns of yours anyway? It's not like you need them for self-defense." She asked out of genuine curiosity.
"Well, aside from target shooting being a hell of a lot of fun, I keep them for hunting. I mean, I ain't been in years, but if I got to kill something for food, I don't want to use my powers. Call me weird, but that just doesn't really feel right to me." Deke explained with an almost uncomfortable look on his face. "And it certainly ain't fair either."
Barbara smiled warmly at her boy. While he'd had difficulty in explaining his position, she understood where he was coming from. "Well, I hope we're never so bad off that we need to go hunting for food, but that makes sense."
"Actually," Deke began, his hands absently sliding up and down her shins under her long skirt. "I told Ingrid I'd take her up next hunting season. She mentioned she bow hunts, and Kentucky lifted a law a couple years ago that was stopping hunters from donating meat to shelters. I figured I'd fill a couple of tags, take a bit for myself, and donate the rest."
"That's thoughtful of you, but could you maybe spare the details of how you got it, when it comes to that?" Barbara asked, relaxing from the way his hands were sliding on her smooth, toned legs. She understood where her food came from, but understanding it and getting gory details over dinner were miles apart. Her job was disturbing enough after all.
"Well sure. So, we've got a couple of hours, you maybe wanna join the Mile High club?" he asked, winking at her as his hand slid further up her skirt, his fingertips resting on her thigh.
"Cowboy, you are a truly persuasive soul, and you're offering exactly what I'd like right now, but let me counter-offer with the return trip. I've still got a lot of stuff to go over, and we both need to know the primary and backup routes we're taking." She said, though she made no move to shoo his hand from her thigh. At the moment the warmth of his touch wasn't a turn on, it was a simple affectionate comfort, and there was no good reason to put a stop to that.
"I could handle that." He said while brushing her leg with his hand. Truth be told, ever since Ash had offered to handle Babs' personal grooming, her legs had never been silkier, except maybe when she'd gotten them waxed, but he wasn't about to ask her to put herself through that again. "So, homework now, lovin' later, got it. Uhm, you said this paid, by the way. I'd have done it for free, but rent's due and all."
"Oh yes, both Wayne and Queen are paying us, as well as the two security attachés meeting us at the airport. We've got rent and bills covered for the next two months easy, probably a little left over for us to go out somewhere really nice too. I hear Star City has some wonderful restaurants." Barbara said, digging her tablet out of her bag.
With a few flicks of her fingertip, Barbara cast the routing data up and onto the holographic display. "So, here's the main route, secondary routes, and the meeting points. Both companies hired private security contractors to help cover these locations, but Star City isn't so keen on having a small army of armed men wandering around, so don't expect them to do much unless they're shot at too."
Deke sat and stared at the screen, focusing intently on it, and trying to burn the image into his mind. He'd only been to Star City once, and it was during the Reach invasion, so his understanding of the city was hardly expert. "You plotted this route, didn't you?" he asked, noticing the very specific and bold color choices and clearly labeled annotations in extremely plain language.
"I did." Barbara admitted. "But I had some help from Roy to make sure everything was clean. What gave me away?"
"Your presentation style. I could spot it from a mile away." Deke said, still absently brushing her thigh with his fingertips. She finally shooed his hand away gently, before affection turned into something more carnal, but she wrapped her fingers into his when he withdrew his hand from her skirt.
"I picked that up from Tim, so don't be too sure." She replied, switching the view from a top-down satellite image to a 3D first person perspective. She then set the program to run at driving time, to give a more accurate idea of what it'd be like. "I'm assuming you're getting this?"
"Yeah, but really, you're better behind the wheel." Deke said to her, though he still focused intently.
"That's sweet of you to say, and thank you for it, but we still both need to know the routes, especially if you have to get airborne." Barbara said sweetly, coloring nicely at his compliment of her skills. "Oh, there's food on the flight, but we have to get it ourselves. Given the nature of the mission, Bruce didn't want to have a flight attendant with us."
"I should imagine not. What's on the menu?" Deke asked, his stomach already grumbling. He'd eaten a very fast breakfast consisting of two protein bars and a double sized protein shake, and while it was nutritionally solid, it wasn't the most substantial meal.
Barbara cocked her head while her eyes tilted up and to the left. "Crown roast with a wild mushroom and chestnut dressing, long grain wild rice, and grilled mixed vegetables." She said after a minute of thought.
"He's spoiling us." Deke said, wishing he had a console controller to treat the simulation like a game. It'd definitely help him memorize the route better.
While they traveled, they chattered more, and both of them caught a two hour nap to help pass the time and keep them fresh. When they'd woken up, they ate quickly, and decided it was time to get changed into their professional clothing.
Barbara went first, after letting the pilot know they'd absolutely need their privacy. She slipped out of her long gauzy skirt and three quarter sleeve Gotham University tee shirt, tossing them into her boy's lap with a wink. He smirked and cocked an appreciative eyebrow at her, and relaxed to enjoy the show she was offering.
She was a work of art, so far as he was concerned. Taut muscles rippling as she moved beneath smooth pale skin. Her pitch black lace pattern tattoo rested on her hip, a perfectly delicate and feminine dichotomy to the warrior woman who wore it. Her breasts, just on this side of big, were supported with a European made bra (apparently it was closer to her proper size) in sheer fabric with more black lace patterning, while her round, firm bottom was garbed in matching bikini cut panties.
She reached behind her back and unhooked her bra, giving her boy that mesmerizing look that she knew worked on him so well. She waited an extra beat before letting her breasts free, her gravity defying peaks ornamented with black rings. She gave them a lift and a squeeze with a sassy look on her face before sliding her panties down her legs, leaving her bare naked in front of him.
"Okay, I said we're waiting until the return trip this evening and I meant it, but given how your jeans are fitting, are you going to be able to handle the wait?" She asked, noticing the very visible effect she'd had on him. Her intelligence and physical fitness were important to her, but seeing how easily she'd brought her man to attention was certainly a nice boost to her ego.
"No. Not really." Deke said sourly, not particularly keen on sitting on his hands. The woman was one hundred percent pure desirable in every sense of the word, physically, emotionally, and mentally. He wanted every part of her, badly. "But I'll figure it out."
"I promise Cowboy, on the return trip." She said, and opened her garment bag. At first glance, her wardrobe for the day looked horribly put together, especially when she began pulling everything on. First came the most plain black g-string ever made, which she slipped on with her back to him, giving her bottom a quick shake. Then came her compression shorts, and finally, a matching sports bra. These items were her first line of wear under the uniform, but the rest was completely different.
Next came a form fitting vest, seemingly tailor made to sit perfectly against her body, with a flush series of containers which seemed to mimic her utility belt. While not the armoring in her regular costume, it was made to handle small arms and leave the wearer safe, albeit sore. Then, she fished out a pair of stockings, and propped her leg up on the couch to roll them on. "The armor really kills the mood, huh?" she asked, giving her boy a wry smirk.
"Not as much as you might think." Deke replied, readjusting the way his pants sat on his lap, for very obvious reasons. The fit had become suddenly and dramatically more snug. "You're still the hottest woman I've ever met though."
Again she blushed at his words. No matter what, she'd probably always be the beanpole nerd she'd grown up being. "You've been to Themyscira, I know you're lying."
"Nope. It'd be a dick move to call the Amazons ugly, but you really are the most beautiful woman I've ever met. It's plain truth babe. There isn't a single part of you that I don't like. You know I can see how you think. That's just as hot as what's on the outside, but I know what you feel too. I see every part of a person when I meet them, and nobody out there is more perfect than you." Deke said, seeing her getting shy with him. She'd worked her ass off building him up, and while she didn't need reaffirmation nearly as often, that didn't meant she didn't need it at all.
Going from pink to red, she batted her eyes and got back to pulling her stockings on. "I'm glad I said yes." She said quietly, giving him a soft look and a wink, feeling appropriately schoolgirlish at the moment.
"Not as glad as I am for asking." Deke replied, and brushed her leg with his fingertips, just enjoying the tactile sensation. She showed him the tip of her tongue and began pulling on the rest of her outfit. A white button down that seemed cut to fit just right, a black skirt that ended just above the knee, and a black jacket to match. She left the top button on her shirt undone, but kept it classy with a rich purple neckerchief.
"Damn girl." Deke muttered as she sat down to apply her makeup. She smiled at him again, the kind of look that would get him to do anything she wanted, and started the process of putting her 'game face' on. "My turn." He said with a determined amount of devilishness.
He rose and undressed, peeling his tee shirt off over his head, remembering to take his time. The smooth but gradual motion caused his musculature to ripple and pop. He hadn't earned most of what he had, it being a by-product of his powers, but he wore it all the same.
Barbara paused her eyeliner to take stock of her boy. His shoulders were probably her favorite part of his body. They were broad and strong, and just perfect for biting. The way they led into his pecs and trailed into his abs were certainly appealing too though; just begging for her fingernails to trace and graze. She couldn't ignore his arms though, and while they were nice to look at, more importantly, they were incredible to hold her with.
The curve of his musculature over his hips was another spot she enjoyed eyeballing, so when he undid his belt, unfastened his jeans, and let them slip, her eyes focused in, loving how the waistband of his boxer briefs drew down just enough to give her a good look at the V shape that led to his equipment. He was swinging the right tool for the job, and it was certainly just right for her, as though their bodies were precision crafted to fit one another perfectly. Still not quite old enough to really have her mind on children, she nevertheless couldn't ignore that one day, that would help give her the family she wanted to have. Until then though, it was giving her the pleasure she enjoyed.
"I feel like a piece of meat." He said with a wink, noticing her eyes drawing to his package. "It's kinda nice." She showed him the tip of her tongue again and drew her eyes lower to his legs, just as lean and muscled as the rest of him, and connected to a butt that he had no idea he had.
Those legs got slipped into a pair of black linen slacks, though he left them unfastened, instead pulling a charcoal gray button down on, his hands working to secure it in a measured pace. Once finished, he tucked his shirt in, did his pants up, and secured it with a dress belt before tossing his black suit jacket on. "How do I look?" he asked, giving her a turn.
"Like I need fresh underwear." Barbara said saucily. "In earnest though, you look amazing. You always do when you wear a suit." She punctuated the statement by standing up from the sofa and putting her hand against his intentionally scruffy cheek, before placing a long, slow kiss on him. When she pulled away, she looked at him, her deep oceanic blue eyes locking with his bottle greens.
"I love you Barbara Gordon." He said after a breath.
"I love you too Deacon O'Connelly." She replied.
