Chapter 4 Good old Errands.
An hour later and Barbara was walking down the hallway to the room she first walked in. She saw Kid Flash pacing in front of the cave entrance.
"Kiddy, what's going on?" Kid Flash turned to Barbara. Annoyance appeared on his face.
"Flash was supposed to take me out for patrol, but he hasn't shown up yet!" Barbara smiled sadly at him. I'm happy that I never had to wait for Bat- Barbara stopped herself. Enough.
"Patience, Kid. I told you I would come, and so here I am." Barbara saw the Flash blur behind Wally. Wally spun around ad gave him the riot act on being late. Barbara stopped listening. Her mind was a blank. She didn't even notice Kid Flash talking to her.
"Sorry, Kiddy, what?" Kid Flash moved to right in front of her.
"Flash, I'll meet you outside, 'kay? I'll be just a moment." The Flash looked between the two a couple times, but then shrugged and blurred from sight. Kid Flash put his hands on her shoulders. "What's wrong, Batsy?" She shook him off.
"I'm fine, KF." She snapped. Wally didn't look hurt, but more worried instead. This just got her angrier. I can take care of myself.
Wally looked her over; her fiery hair a mess, her large green eyes swollen and red. "If you're so fine, then what do you need?"
"If you weren't busy I was going to ask you to go 'shopping' with me. I need stuff for my room, but since you're about to go where ever with the Flash I'll go by myself." She turned towards the entrance to the cave.
"Wait!" Barbara spun around, about to lose her temper when she saw that he wasn't there. She scanned the room, and shrugged. She turned back to the entrance. She didn't even get to take a step when she heard Wally again.
"I told you to wait! God! You're acting like Artemis!" She studied his face; there was a light flush that covered his cheeks, different from his usual rosiness.
"Now what, Wall?" Barbara sighed. She saw that Superboy walked into the room and stood behind Wally. Superboy glanced in Barbara's direction, but his face remained neutral.
"Since I can't come along, and I don't trust you alone, I'm sending Superboy in my place." Wally spoke with indifference, as if it was a normal thing. But both Barbara and Superboy were shocked.
"No!" Barbara was appalled. I don't even know him!
"Yes! No if, and, buts, or ors!" Kid Flash went face to face with Barbara. It was like they were in their own world.
"Uh, don't I get a say in this?" Barbara and Wally turned to Superboy. Superboy had one hand in his hair and another in his pocket.
"No! Neither of the two of you get a say, what I say goes!" Wally shouted. Barbara turned to Wally and tackled him to the ground. She was on top of him, and she twisted her hands to his sides. She tickled him furiously; he laughed and laughed till there were tears in his eyes. She looked downed at him.
"Now what was it you said?" She jumped back off of him and stumbled a little. Superboy grabbed her arm to steady her. She looked up and nodded to him, as if saying thanks. Kid Flash jumped back up. He had a puppy-dog look in his eyes.
"Come on, Batty! Will you please go with him, for my sanity?" Kid Flash was persistent. Barbara finally gave in.
"Fine, I have no problem with it but don't forget that Super-dude has to agree too." She shrugged. She could never stand up against Wally's puppy eyes.
Superboy sighed loudly. "Alright, I'll go. But don't call me Super-dude. That isn't my name." Wally rejoiced and Barbara had to laugh. Her body rocked with it and it was a happy moment, till the movement behind her made her laughter get caught in her throat. Batman was walking out from the hallway behind her with Dick. She turned so that her back was the only thing facing them. Wally waved to the two behind her and the two in front of him.
"See ya! I'll be back for dinner!" and with that Wally disappeared. Barbara turned to Superboy.
"And we should get going anyway." Barbara sighed and took Superboy's hand. He was startled, but couldn't do much since she was pulling him away. Superboy took one last look behind him and caught sight of Robin looking at him. Even through the thick black coated sunglasses, Superboy could feel the intensity from Robin's eyes. But before Superboy could do anything, he was swallowed into the mouth of the cave.
It had taken five minutes to get off of Mount Justice, but Barbara luckily parked close by. She had convinced Superboy to sit behind her (much to his dismay) on her motorcycle. Then speeding through Happy Harbor, they reached Super Target in three minutes.
They walked throughout the store, Superboy pushing the cart and Barbara reading the list in her hand. She paused her list-reading for a moment, and looked at Superboy. Her curiosity was at a high.
"Okay, Super-dude, I have a question."
"That's not my name." His voice flat, as always.
"Then what is?" He looked at her, and then sighed.
"My name is Superboy, or Konner Kent. Whichever, but not Super-dude." The two stopped in front of the bed sheets, Barbara pulled a black queen fitted sheet, sheet and comforter. She threw them in the cart.
"You know, I read your file." She kept walking towards the pillow cases.
"What?"
He stopped, shock on his face. It quickly evolved into anger.
"I had to make sure you weren't a threat." He grabbed her hand and swung her towards him. His eyes were now filled with anger. Barbara saw this coming.
"A threat? Why? Because I was born in a tank? Because I have no memories or past? Because I am uncontrollable? Because I'm just a copy?"
"That's only what you think."
"Huh?" He took a step back, totally confused.
"Super-dude- err, Konner- I have been trained to read people. Whether that be Humans, Martians, Atlanteans, Kryptonians, and everything in between. Do you know what I've read from you so far?"
He didn't say anything. He just looked at her.
"Confusion. You feel like you don't belong. Your desire to be accepted. You want that dumbass Superman to take you on. To accept you. Your anger that he won't give you the time of day. And I know you like M'gann. Like as in-" Barbara grabbed a bright yellow body pillow case. She kept walking till she got to the end of the aisle, then turned back to him. The blush on his cheeks told her he knew what kind of like. "You coming or what?"
"Ye-yeah. How did you learn to read people like that?" Konner followed up behind her. The cart rattled when the turned to the next aisle.
"Oh, look! The body pillows are on sale for $5.99! Awesome deal!" Barbara smiled and picked out a pillow.
"Batgirl-" Konner sighed.
"Dude! You have to call me by my name here! Who knows what lurks around the corner! Like my dad!" She spun around and he jerked back in surprise.
"Sorry! Sorry! But I don't know your name!" She sighed and threw the pillow she had in her hands into the cart.
"It's… Barbara. Barbara Gordon." She looked back at her list.
"O-okay. Barbara, answer the question."
"Batman taught me. I learned a lot from him and my father." My biological father anyway.
"Really?" Konner sounded surprised. "I thought you just said that your father didn't know about your, uh, other life." They walked for a bit in silence. They reached the girls' clothes section of the store. Barbara walked into the undergarments area and turned around.
"Look, you want to know everything about me? You have to follow me into there." She pointed at the bras'. He blushed again. All's fair in love in war. Well, at least war is in this situation. And she watched as he pushed forward. "Kryptonians. Stubborn bastards."
"Okay. Now answer. The freaking. Question. No need to be dramatic here." His voice made her sigh, and she kneeled down to look at bras hanging on the bottom of the rack.
"Not really trying to be. You know how Robin has to wear those glasses?" She grabbed a black and a white 34DD.
"Yeah, he said it was because Batman doesn't want us to know his real identity. Whatever that means." He shrugged, and tried to find a place where he could look without seeming like a pervert.
"It's a big deal! He's lucky, he lives with Batman. I don't, so I have more to worry about." She got up and tossed the two into the cart. She saw a red with black lace underwear and bra, checked to see the size then threw them into the cart too.
"My real name is Barbara Gordon. I live in, well used to live, in Gotham City. Where my father, James Gordon, is the Police Commissioner. My mom ran out on us when I was still a kid, and my younger brother became a… err, a serial killer. So my dad was really stubborn about me taking self-defense classes and stuff. If anyone knew that I was related to him, they might try and go after him. Which would make his jobs 100% more dangerous than it already is, even if he is the police Commissioner in the city with the worst crime rate." She grabbed seven pieces of underwear, threw those into the cart too. She walked from the undergarments section to the sleepwear section, watching Konner out of the corner of her eye. He was trying to take it all in.
"So if your dad doesn't know about your… extracurricular activities, where does he think you are now?" he followed her into the section and watched her look at the clothes. She looked confused, not knowing what to choose.
"He thinks I'm on a program to study abroad. Which, I guess I am since I'll be going to M'gann's and yours school. And why are there so many designs? Why can't they be the same?!" She shook her head crossly.
"Choose black with yellow polka-dot set." She reached for the t-shirt with pants. His voice made her stop. "Don't choose those. It gets warm at the mountain." She sighed, and grabbed the thin-strapped tank top and way too short shorts for her comfort. Then she grabbed the solid red version of it.
"There, happy?" She stretched and kept walking. Konner looked back at the cart.
"You know you don't have enough nightclothes, right? Two sets are really not enough." He glanced back at the racks.
"And this is why I hate shopping! You choose the rest." She walked back to the cart.
"So you're going to Happy Harbor high too, huh? Are you going to become a Bumble-Bee, too?" He smiled and pulled more nightclothes out. A gown if she really didn't want to wear shorts, the outfit she was going to pick if she was going to be stubborn, and two more sets of the tank and shorts combo.
She gave a fake look of shock. "Was that an attempt at humor? Someone pinch me, because I must be dreaming!"
"Shut up! I can be humorous!" They walked out of section and walked to the jeans section. She laughed, and forgot about everything for a minute.
The two chatted lightly for the rest of the trip. She got her items and the two walked back to her motorcycle. They stuffed the bags in every pocket there was on the bike. And since it was custom built by Barbara herself, there were a lot of pockets.
"Dude, I know we didn't get off on the right foot-" She started when she tossed him a helmet.
"You did swing yours at me, with a knife." He smirked.
"-considering that you were a total jackass to me. But we're all good, right?" She slid her flaming hair back and put her helmet over it.
"Yeah, Barb. We're all good." He jumped on behind her and smiled.
Then Barbara turned the keys and it roared to life. They rolled out into the street, and started the ride back to Mount Justice. And they were both in a better mood than they started. Considering I don't' feel the urge to kick where-the-sun-don't-shine. She smiled in optimism.
Author's note:
WOW that was a long chapter. I orriginally had it as 2 chapters but didn't like the way it layed out. PLEASE REVIEW! I can't get better if I don't know what I did wrong! i don't know when I an update again, because school starts this week. And mah birthday is this week too! XD i should stop talking now.
YOU ARE ALL AMAZING. NO MATTER WHAT PEOPLE SAY.
Sincerely,
The Freak
