Barbara sat at a table watching Pamela in a state of boredom.
"So, why is painting a wall community service?" Barbara asked and Pamela shrugged her shoulders in an unhelpful manner.
"Something to do with cleaning up Gotham graffiti, though if you ask me the graffiti is an improvement" Pamela replied splashing some white paint on the edges of the now clean wall.
"Well, you've got ten minutes and then your free to go, what shall we do?" Barbara asked her new friend who turned and flashed her a mischievous grin.
"There's a sewage station down by the docks we could check out, word is that they are pumping all their crap out into the water" Pamela suggested and Barbara nodded in excitement.
"When we get there we can get the party started" Pamela laughed and Barbara laughed with her but paused.
"Oh yeah! That reminds me! Bruce Wayne invited me to this big swanky charity ball on Friday and I need an excuse to get out of it" Barbara told her and Pamela turned with an eyebrow raised.
"Why would you want to get out of that? You'll be all over the papers by Monday!" Pamela exclaimed to her friend who stuck her tongue out in disgust.
"Yeah, but I'll have to wear a dress, blegh" Barbara replied and her friend laughed at her disgusted expression.
"Good point, well, I've been scoping out this factory in the industrial area that we could visit on Friday" Pamela replied to her friend with a smirk that screamed evil, and Barbara returned it gleefully.
"Sure, which factory and why?" Barbara replied as Pamela dropped the paint brush in the paint making it splatter her clothes lightly but she didn't care.
"It's a factory that makes plant fertiliser, but it's toxic the plants grow ten times faster and ten times bigger, but they release poison spores into the air" Pamela explained and Barbara frowned.
"Wait, and nobody has reported this?" She asked and Pamela shrugged her shoulders.
"Sure they have, but they all get paid off don't they?" Pamela replied and Barbara sighed but nodded, it seemed that money was the only thing that kept you alive in this town, unless you were in the Batman's good books.
"Hey, what do you think would happen if the Batman tried to stop us?" Barbara asked her friend who only laughed at her question as if it was ridiculous.
"The Batman wouldn't worry about two kids like us, he'd be more worried about the Joker and other nutcases like that, if anything he should be thankful were helping to clean up Gotham as much as he is" Pamela told her friend and Barbara nodded in enthusiastic agreement. They were doing Batman a favour, if this plant factory was poisoning people just for money then they deserved to be shut down didn't they?
"So I go out in the morning on Friday with you, and I just happen to forget about the party yes?" Barbara asked Pamela who nodded as they walked along the streets to Pamela's small flat where she and her alcoholic father lived.
It was a dingy little flat but Pamela was at the police station half the time so she didn't care, her room was the only clean room in the flat as she liked to live in at least a little luxury.
"Masks, and bats?" Pamela asked her friend who nodded but Pamela paused and handed Barbara something and Barbara frowned at it.
"A Swiss army knife?" Barbara asked and Pamela nodded before she rolled up her trouser leg, another identical knife was strapped around her ankle, and Barbara presumed it was for emergencies.
"Yeah, keep it with you all the time and it will come in handy, trust me once they see you have a dangerous weapon they tend to back off" Pamela explained as Barbara strapped her knew accessory to her ankle without much trouble before Pamela handed her a balaclava and a bat.
"Don't put it on yet, wait till we get to the docks" Pamela ordered her and Barbara raised her eyebrow and gave her friend an expression that clearly said 'no duh'
"So, how long does it take to get to the docks from here?" Barbara asked peering out the window, it was two pm and getting dark, which was to be expected in Gotham in the middle of November.
"About half and hour if we speed walk, which I highly suggest" Barbara replied as they walked down the stairs at a quick steady pace and stepped out into the street where it was drizzling with rain.
They walked as quickly as they could without looking like criminals as they travelled through the slums of Gotham, but thankfully nobody bothered them which was a rare thing. Gotham wasn't best known for it's hospitality, unless you knew where to look for it of course. They arrived at the docks in twenty eight minutes and thirty three seconds, and they pulled the balaclavas on and held up their bats as they crept along the docks until they smelt the factory.
"Oh that is gross" Barbara gagged and Pamela retched slightly but they both continued breathing through their mouths as much as they could in an attempt to block out the stench.
"Here's the entrance, you ready?" Pamela asked taking on the role of leader as she always did.
"Let's do this" Barbara replied with a grin as they both stealthily charged into the factory.
Getting into the factory had been surprisingly easy, they only had to hit two guys over the head with their bats which was unusual. They managed to get all the way to the main facility before they were even noticed. The two guards they had hit came running out from round a corner and started yelling at them.
"Damn, we didn't hit them hard enough" Barbara grumbled holding up her bat and getting into a decent stance, but Pamela dragged her down a corridor and they stared laughing as they ran, because they'd already achieved their goal.
They charged out the door and kept running but by now the stench was overwhelming and they had to hold their breath as they ran which didn't help them.
They got back to Pamela's at ten pm, they had clocked up the main sewage pump that kept the sewage flowing into the water and now it was probably overflowing into the factory, hence the foul stench.
"I need to get home, but do you mind if I use your shower first?" Barbara asked her friend smelling her clothes and pulling away in disgust.
"Sure, I'll find you some clean clothes as well, don't want to be suspects do we?" Pamela replied already riffling through her draws as Barbara walked into the bathroom. They had been friends a grand total of three days, and already they were so close they might as well have been sisters. Barbara loved Pamela because she was everything Barbara wanted to be, she was free to do whatever the hell she wanted with no-one to answer to. Barbara would never be the perfect child her father always wanted, she was rash, angry and impatient. Her father was calm, collected and could wait ten years for a phone call reply and think nothing of it.
She hated that sometimes, she hated not being perfect. She felt betrayed by him, yeah she had anger problems when she was younger, but why did he have to send her away? A little part of her still believed that he didn't love her, but she tended to ignore it. Ignoring it didn't always work though.
Heeeey, Tulip here guys!
I hope you all enjoy this chapter because I had to write it like five times before I was happy with it, and I think you can probably all work out where this is going right now, but that's okay. Also, I'd like to thank Gothic Fairy Girl for reviewing, thaaanks! Have a cyber cookie! And thank you to those who favourited my story.
Hope you enjoy!
Tulip out.
