Disclaimer: Don't own Batman... nuh uh. Own the story and the idea of it all...
Chapter 4
Pride
She closed her eyes. Like Batman, she hated guns. For different reasons, of course. He loathed them because they killed his parents. She loathed them because they were cowardly and incredibly dishonorable and cowardly.
TWINK.She heard a cry from Two Face before squinting open one eye. Two Face gripped his wrist as though it were contorted out of shape. In pure instinct, she dived behind the split table on the ground, and caught her breath.
Several tinks came from the ground around her as several gas bombs dropped from the Dick's ceiling hole. She pulled her gas mask from her utility belt and strapped it over her face, looking up over the crushed remains of the table, but ducked as several bullets flew blindly past her.
"Get them you fools! Get them!" coughed Two Face as she heard him run for the door. They needed to bring him in, but the gap between the table and the door was too uncovered and strife with bad guys to chase him. She heard Robin drop to the ground next to her, his gas mask in place as well.
"Ready?" He asked as he pulled several batarangs out of his belt, one between each knuckle.
"Yeah," she gasped for breath, adrenaline beginning to flow through her blood.
He jumped to his feet and blindly threw one batarang from each knuckle. Three hit, leaving the fourth to go trigger-happy in the now cloudy room. Babs ran to the man with the gun and kicked him, but not before she heard the gun fire and a searing pain shoot up her arm. She swept her feet around and pushed his now falling body into the wall behind him with her fists.
She ran through the smoke until she reached Dick, who fought the three remaining goons with what appeared to be two legs he broke off the table, one in each hand. They quickly dispatched the confused guards with their combined skill.
Dick signaled for her to follow him in chasing Two Face. She ran after him, but grabbed her now freely bleeding arm. She paused slightly to examine the wound. The bullet cleanly passed through her arm, and luckily did not lodge deep.
Dick stopped as he looked back. "You ok?"
"Yeah," she waved him off. "I'll be fine, just go after Two Face."
"No," he stated. "That looks serious. We'll get you back to the cave."
"No!" she shouted, pulling off her mask in the now cleared room. "We need to take him out."
"We have a tracer on him, remember?" he retorted. "That's pretty serious, and you're losing blood. We need to get to the cave so Alfred can patch you up."
She nodded weakly and ran to the bike after him, slipping on her helmet as he sat in front.
"Hang on." He rocketed out of the alley and back to the cave at breakneck speed. She barely kept enough consciousness to understand where they were, but realized in her dazed stupor exactly why he beat her to the bank. He weaved in and out of traffic at high speed. She smiled as she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and nuzzled his shoulder.
It was only a silly game after all. There was no real reason why she took such pride in making a big deal out of it to Pixie Boots. If only he didn't make such a big, unspoken deal about it.
She passed out onto his shoulder.
Next thing she knew, she looked up into the lights of the cave. "Two Face!" she gasped and she shot upright.
"It's fine young lady," Alfred informed her. She faced his back and saw him wiping the end of a needle he had undoubtedly used to wake her. "Master Dick informed Master Bruce that you would probably want to go on mission again to take him down."
"How long was I out?" she breathed, before falling back on the makeshift bed.
"Master Dick pulled in about two hours ago. You'll be fine, but your arm will take a few days to heal. I told Master Bruce, and he wholeheartedly agreed with me, that you take a break from your nightlife for several days until your wound heals."
"But I need to catch Two Face!" she moaned as she tried to stand up.
"All in good time, my dear lady," he sighed. "Dick is keeping an eye on him for you. He seemed very concerned."
She smiled. So Pixie Boots did care.
"In the mean time, I recommend you stay here," Alfred said as he picked up his med kit from the table next to the bed and carried it to another part of the cave.
"If you insist," she yawned as she dozed back to sleep.
When she woke up, lights still flooded the cave. She sat up slowly and gingerly pressed her arm, wincing slightly. It didn't hurt as much as she had thought it would or as much as when it had bled freely, but it hurt nonetheless. She stretched out, reaffirmed in her hatred of guns and hopped off the table.
She slipped on her "GCPD" t-shirt Alfred placed next to her. She loved Alfred. From what she figured, Alfred had been there when Batman's parents were shot. Since then, he always stood at Batman's side. Good man Alfred. Maybe there was food in the fridge he had left her. She trudged up the staircase to the manor. Bleeding could really drain a girl.
As she headed towards the kitchen, the smell of warm burger flooded her nostrils. She smiled as she saw on the counter a perfect burger, exactly as she always ordered it, fries, and a soda all placed over a small piece of paper, that read:
Hope you feel better
R
She giggled slightly as she ran over to grab a plate. She placed the food on the plate and moved swiftly to the big screen TV in the next room. Unfortunately, Dick, who had curled up on the couch in what appeared to be a very comfortable position, already occupied it. As she entered, he stood up.
"Need help with that?" he offered.
"No thanks," she smiled. "I got it."
She placed the plate down on the coffee table in front of the couch and sat. "Watcha watching?" she asked as she picked up her burger and took a big, juicy bite out of it.
"News," his voice trailed off.
"News?" She asked through a mouthful of delicious burger. "I thought you'd be a sports kinda guy."
He shrugged. "Nothing good on."
She ate in silence as they watched the screen flash images of the president shaking hands with some foreign minister. Honestly, she couldn't care less, her focus entirely on the burger.
"Feeling better?" he asked, breaking the relative silence in the room.
"Much!" she beamed swallowing the last bite. "And thanks for the burger. It was really thoughtful of you."
"I hoped you'd like it," he blushed slightly. "I guessed what you like. Any luck?"
She blushed slightly as well. "It's perfect. Thank you," her mind quickly diverted back to her "Batgirl" state. "Any word on Two Face?"
"Yeah, actually," Dick informed her. "You'll never guess where he went after he left."
"Where?"
"Arkham."
She gagged on the fries in her mouth. "You're kidding!"
"Nope," he smiled back weakly. "I didn't go in to question him, but he walked in through the front doors with his bag of coins."
That was strange. Why would Two Face go back to Arkham? That, intuitively, made no sense. He had no reason to go back there. He always acted independently and distinctly, careful never to work for anyone else, much less anyone in Gotham.
For the next several days, after she got back home, and Alfred had sown up her suit and washed out the blood, good as new she couldn't get the thought of Two Face heading back to Arkham out of her head.
When her arm healed, she put on her costume and drove to Arkham. At the gates, the guards let her in and she headed inside, passing other major villains, including The Mad Hatter, who feigned sleep, The Scarecrow, with a Voodoo doll, Mr. Freeze, who looked away from the glass and to the wall, Harley Quinn who was twirling the gum on her fingers, Poison Ivy, who was pruning a particularly vicious looking plant, and The Riddler, who had just thrown down a book of crosswords. At the Joker, she moved quicker than normal, extra cautious to not look at him as she walked by. No matter how good she thought she was, she hoped to never come face to face with him.
After the many cells, she stopped in front of Two Face's cell and looked in at the occupant, who was leaning against the wall of his cell and looked tired, with visible bags under his eyes.
"Hello, Harvey," she said.
He lifted his head off the wall and looked at her, arms tight in his straightjacket.
"Why'd you walk in here with a bag full of coins a week ago?"
He looked back at her with the crazy look in his eyes again. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Come on Harvey," she said, not wanting to deal with stupid mind games. "You know darn well that you came in here with a bag full of coins a week ago. I have proof."
"Lady," he informed her. "I was in here a week ago. I fell asleep and woke up in here. Sure, I slept for a good, solid night, but isn't that normal? Isn't that what you want me to do so that I can get out of here?"
"Don't lie to me Harvey."
"Why would I lie to you, little girl?" he said as he moved up to the glass separating them, his sneer exacerbating by the disfigured left side of his face.
"To protect someone," she replied coolly. "Who is it Harvey?"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" he growled and went to his bed and flopped down.
"Let me see your tapes from a week ago!" Babs demanded as she stormed into Director Chase's office sixty seconds later.
"Excuse me?" Chase took off his glasses and arched his fingers, as Babs was sure he did with all of his patience.
"Your camera's security tapes," she reaffirmed. "From one week ago. I'd like to see them. Now."
"Of course," he smiled. "Anything for a friend of Batman."
They went down to the security station two floors down. Chase told the officer to put in the tapes from the week before. They pulled up the tape, but found nothing on it. Harvey actually laid in his cell the whole night, just like he had said. All the inmates had stayed where they were. Even when dawn broke nothing was out of place.
"Please ma'am," whined the officer in charge of the station. "We've been through this four times. Can't you give it a rest."
Babs took in a deep cleansing breath. Something wasn't right, but this guard did have a point. These tapes were fine. Nothing happened with Two Face on the night of the bank robbery. Perhaps that was why he wasn't flipping the coin. Some imposter pretending and dressed up as Two Face showed up in his place. But then why did Dick trace Two Face back to Arkham?
Questions raced through her mind all the way back to the Batcave. She pulled in to see Batman and Dick waiting for her.
"What did you find out?" Batman asked her.
"Nothing. Two Face never left his cell on the night he shot me."
"You did what you could," Batman nodded. "And I know you've been working hard, so Dick came up with a good idea. I seriously recommend-"
"What are your weekend plans?" Dick interrupted, obviously excited.
"Nothing, I think. I have work until five on Fridays," Babs replied, slightly confused.
"Good," Dick beamed. "Because I have a bunch of friends we could hang out with if you want one of these weekends."
Friends? Did this mean what she thought it meant? "What kind of friends?" She inquired.
"The Teen Titans! You heard of them?"
