Needless to say, Barbara and Tim were in shock the entire evening, and even the following morning. They had frustratingly been outsmarted by Ying and Yang the previous night, and when they had come back for Harley, Ivy, and Sophie, they were even more frustrated that they had escaped, too.

Later in the Batcave, they both breathlessly tried to explain what they had seen to Bruce, who put his hand to his chin as he listened intently.

"So, our Double Trouble are the Ying Yang Twins, hm?" Bruce said with a tiny scoff. "And even more interesting, is that Sophie is alive. I must say it's a...relief to know she didn't actually perish, but now that she's back with both Harley and Ivy, I'd say we've got our hands full. I can imagine those three on the loose as a team can't be good news for anyone."

"You know, come to think of it, after hearing Harley and Sophie have split from the Joker...we haven't even seen him lately," Barbara commented. "Do you think he might be taking it easy now that he has his new gang?"

"That's a possibility," Bruce said. "From what you've told me about your fight with his new girls, they are indeed capable of running things without him." Bruce picked up the newest Gotham Times as he spoke. "And the papers just love them."

Some lucky photographer had finally snapped a picture of Ying and Yang, thus confirming the town's "mystery girls." Under their picture was the caption: "Newest Queens of Gotham City crime, Double Trouble, aka, the Ying Yang Twins, are unstoppable as they continue to wreak havoc around Gotham."

At the same time across the city, Harley angrily drew horns and mustaches on the picture of the twins in the newspaper. "Brains, brawn, beauty, huh?" She said, her teeth gritted as she pressed her pencil down harder with every word. "More like boring, brainless, bi-"

"Be careful," Ivy interrupted in a sing-song voice as Sophie entered the room just then. Ivy wanted to keep the swearing in front of Sophie to a minimum.

Sophie sat down at the kitchen table and poured herself a bowl of cereal, oblivious to the earlier conversation. "Ya know, you guys, I was thinking. I mean, going to school takes up so much of my free time now, and that's really awful."

Ivy sat down next to her, a small smile on her face. "It's a necessary awful, darling."

"I know I know," Sophie said, waving her hand. "Just hear me out on this." She gripped her spoon tightly in one hand. "I couldn't sleep last night 'cause I was thinking about those Twins. Not only do we have to battle against Batman, Batgirl, and Robin, but now we have to match wits with those girls, too! You guys definitely need me. I don't have time for school!"

Ivy put her hand on Sophie's shoulder. "Of course we need you and we always will need you, honey. But, you're going to school even if I have to take you myself every day."

Sophie narrowed her eyes and giggled. "Yeah, right. You wouldn't last one minute around all those other loud, noisy, rowdy kids," she teased, giggling so much she dropped the spoon onto the table.

Ivy grinned and carelessly tossed three glowing seeds into the harmless table plant in front of Sophie. Suddenly, the plant grew long vines, and the vines crawled to Sophie and began poking her until she burst into louder giggles and fell helplessly to the floor. The vines continued to tickle her mercilessly as she pleaded for them to stop through her squeals and shrieks.

"Especially if they're as cheeky as you are!" Ivy said, laughing also. "But I don't think that's possible!"

Harley balled her fists up in order to try to stop the tears she felt coming. Playfully poking and tickling Sophie like that had always been her thing, not Ivy's. Sophie was always giggling, making jokes and teasing everyone, so she knew it was tempting not to give her a little poke or even a few good ones all the time, but Harley felt it was her sweet thing to do to Sophie, not anyone...or anything else's. She angrily jerked the plant away, rescuing Sophie from her torture on the floor.

"Anyway," Harley said loudly, slamming the plant back onto the table as the vines recoiled back into the pot. "Boy, what I wouldn't give to see those twins get thrown into Arkham for good. Mister J is mine, not theirs."

Harley was really ticked that the Joker replaced them with two other women. Why did they have to be women? She would have been relatively..."fine" if he had found men, but the fact they were women just made it worse and made her jealously soar.

Ivy kicked Harley under the table and cleared her throat as Sophie slowly climbed back up to the table, her cheeks pink from laughing so much.

"But you're okay with the fact that he found other women, aren't you, Harl?" Ivy shifted her eyes towards Sophie as she spoke. "After all, who says we even need a man to be happy?"

Harley bit her lip and evaded the question. She didn't want to answer it. "I think those jokster twins are no match for the three of us. We're a good team, too. We've got brains," she glanced at Ivy. "Brawn," she pointed to herself. "And," she glanced at Sophie, who smiled at her, her dimples shining. "...bubbles." Harley sighed heavily after a moment. "I just can't believe this. I wish he would see how great me and Sophie are! Then he'd really regret what he did."

Sophie smiled a little. "I know he loved us, Harley. Especially you," she said, her eyes filled with hope as she glanced at Harley. "Harley, do you think, maybe...we can go back to Mister Joker...and maybe just...ask him if he could-"

"No way," Ivy interrupted sternly, making both Harley and Sophie jump. "Crawling back to that clown face is completely out of the question, my darling little wildflower. He doesn't respect either of you, sweetie. Isn't it obvious? He doesn't care about you. He only cares about having bodies for his gang. That's it. It was never about love."

Sophie's face fell, drastically. "A-are you sure, Aunt Ivy?"

"I'm positive, honey," Ivy said, her voice still strong. "I mean, even Batman treats Batgirl with respect. Haven't you seen that? They work as equals, not as a master and a servant like what you two had with that clown."

Sophie's face brightened a little. "Oh, you're right! Batgirl can do whatever she wants, and Batman always listens to her when she says something! Is...that how it's really supposed to be?"

Harley had been silent as she listened to what Ivy had said, and she began to think as well. "I think you're on to something, Red," she said, slowly. "Mister J never really...believed in our abilities. He never really respected us."

Ivy's green eyes shined, as she felt she was finally getting through to her confused friend. "Exactly Harl. And we as women deserve to be respected by our men, and by men in general. We're equal to them, and they have to respect us!"

Harley grinned, finally. "And if Mister J doesn't see our value, then that's his loss, right, sweetie?" she said, looking at Sophie, who was by that time in the widest grin ever.

"Yeah! If he doesn't need us, then we don't need him!" Sophie said happily. She began to feel differently, now that she could see Harley also believed what Ivy had been telling them. She herself felt a little bit of power inside, and she liked it.

"That's right. You don't need him," Ivy said. "The loss is his! You've each got your own special talents and skills that are just what the doctor ordered. You can soar without being tied down by that stupid clown."

Both Harley and Sophie were at a loss for words, but this time, because they were happy. Ivy was absolutely right, and they believed every word she said. Instead of pining over someone who didn't give a rat's bum about them, they could focus on themselves.

All that morning Sophie had felt empowered. Being around Ivy had given her a little more self-confidence, and even if being at school still didn't really interest her, she did find herself enjoying a few classes here and there because her mood was so good. She hadn't made any friends yet, but it didn't bother her one bit. She often wondered how funny it would be to have any friends her own age. While the others ran off after school to their flute lessons or to chess club, she would be running home to rob a jewelry store or to blow up a museum.

Unfortunately, Sophie had already made it habit of running late to her classes, so she was always dashing in and around corners trying to make it on time. At one moment, the bell had rung and she was still fidgeting with her locker door. She manged to get the door open after fighting with it forever, grabbed her book, slammed the door, and made mad dash for her classroom. As she rounded the corner, she crashed into another person who had obviously been running late, too.

"Oh, I'm sorry," they both said at once from their positions on the floor.

They both sat up slowly, and gasped when they looked at each other. Sophie was staring directly at Tim, and she remembered him from their last encounter out of costume many months ago, where they had crashed into each other in Gotham Central Park.

"Hey, it's you!" Sophie cried with a giggle. "Funny how we keep running into each other." She burst into loud giggles at her joke. He was silent, unable to speak. "So," Sophie added. "Do you remember me?"

Tim scrambled to his feet and gave Sophie a hand up. He couldn't believe his eyes, but his heart soared and his throat felt dry. He gulped. "Y-yeah, I do. You're... you're Sophie, right?"

Sophie grinned widely. "Yeah! I just started school here yesterday. I'm so happy to see a familiar face around here. Everybody looks the same to me!"

Tim could barely speak as she stared at her. He really couldn't believe his good luck that she was there. "I-I'm really glad to see you. Do you...d-do you need any help?"

Before they could speak another word, they heard a voice behind them clear their throat. "Excuse, me, but aren't you two late for your classes?"

Tim and Sophie looked up and saw Mrs. Nikros standing with her arms over her chest. "Mister Drake, I thought I discussed with Mister Wayne about your behavior lately. He promised me you'd improve."

"Mister Wayne?" gasped Sophie, her mouth dropping open, awe-struck.

"And you, Miss Quinn," Mrs. Nikros added with a tiny huff. "You and your...mother made quite an impression on me last week, and it wasn't a very good one. Let's not make it habit of being late to our classes, hm?"

Sophie frowned a little and felt her fists slowly clench in anger. How dare she insult Harley like that! Remembering what Ivy had told her, Sophie unwillingly let her fists unclench. Boy was that woman lucky.

"I-I'm very sorry, Mrs. Nikros. I can assure you, I am going to improve, a hundred and one percent," said Tim, luckily speaking before Sophie could. "You can count on that."

Mrs. Nikros smiled. "Good, good. Now, run along, the both of you."

Sophie and Tim picked up their books and stated walking down the hallway, stifling back laughter as best they could. When they had rounded the corner and were out of sight, they stopped walking.

"Is she always so...naggy?" Sophie asked.

Tim laughed a little. "Well, she seems to hate me, so I'm sure I'm the wrong person to be asking."

Sophie grinned. "She seems to hate me, too! So at least we're in this together, huh?"

Sophie couldn't help but giggle at her joke, which made Tim's heart race, again. He loved the way she laughed!

"S-so, where are you headed, now?" asked Tim, taking a deep breath to calm his beating heart. "I'm on my way to Math. I hate math."

Sophie scoffed. "So do I. More than you know. I've got Spanish."

Tim raised his eyebrows. "Why are you taking Spanish?"

Sophie grinned. "Why not?"

Tim nervously shifted his weight from one foot to the other, clearing his throat a few times. "So, um...when's your lunch period?"

"Right after Spanish, thank goodness. Learning a foreign language is hard work!" said Sophie, giggling again.

Tim's face brightened into a grin. "Hey, I've got lunch after this class, too!" He shouted loudly. He blushed a little. "D-do you wanna...do you wanna eat lunch together?"

Sophie smiled. "Yeah! Yesterday I ate by myself, like a loser. At least today we can losers together!"

"Great! So, it's a date!" Tim said enthusiastically. He blushed again. "I -I mean, not a date, but... oh, you know what I mean!"

Sophie grinned. "Yeah I know. So...we can meet here after class, okay?"

Tim smiled weakly. "Okay."

For the first time in months, Tim was finally able to concentrate in his math lesson. He finished his work in record time, giving him about twenty glorious extra minutes to daydream about Sophie. He couldn't believe his good luck, that they would be able to meet almost every day without having to try to beat the crap out of each other. They could just talk together as normal teenagers, even if he knew they were anything but normal. He was on cloud nine.

And talk they did. Sophie couldn't believe Tim lived with Bruce Wayne - the richest man Sophie had ever heard of. She was sure they probably ate off diamond incrusted dinnerware and had floors made of gold. She had fired questions at him about his life, like a nighttime news reporter. Tim was cautious even if he was in a daze. He didn't want to give too much of his "information" to his enemy...even if she wasn't aware that he was Robin. He casually told her that Bruce had adopted him when his father split, thus the reason he lived in Wayne Manor.

Sophie smiled a little upon hearing it. "Oh. I was...I was adopted too. I guess my mom and your dad won't be getting the Parents of the Year award anytime soon, huh?"

Tim laughed. "Yeah, I guess not. But, you know, I'm better off without him."

Sophie grinned. "I"m better off without her, too. I think we're fine on our own. You know what? We can form our own team," she giggled. "We can be just like...just like...just like, oh, I dunno...Batman and Robin!"

Tim started to blush a little. "Yeah, maybe. I...kinda like those two, don't you?"

Sophie wrinkled her nose a little. "Eh, Batman not so much, but..uh..." she felt her cheeks slowly turning pink "Oh, it's... kinda stupid, but...you know what? I've...seen Robin a few times before when I was..." she bit her lip. "Out, and he's really..."

"What?" Tim sat up straighter in his chair. He almost fell off it. "Robin's really what?"

Sophie felt herself blush harder, and she couldn't believe what she was about to admit. "He's really... cute. For a silly kid in a mask, I mean."

Tim felt his cheeks flush almost to the shade Sophie had in hers, especially after hearing how Sophie really felt about him. Rather, how she felt about his alter ego.

"Y-yeah...I've seen him around, too," Tim said, after taking a sip of water. "He is really strong, and brave, and...heroic, isn't he?"

Sophie giggled loudly. "Do you have a crush on Robin too, Timmy?"

Tim grinned and laughed, too. "No way! But...I do...kinda...like..." Tim bit his lip, too, and couldn't believe what he was about to admit.

Suddenly, the lunch bell rang, and the students began to scatter to their classes. Tim sighed heavily, almost banging his fists on the table. He wished the lunch period was longer so he could spend all day talking to Sophie just as Sophie. When they were "masked" as he liked to call it, they couldn't, nor did they want to. Tim knew Sophie was just as dangerous as her "friends," but still. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something about her that he felt was good. There had to be something inside of her that was good. He was still baffled on how Sophie had escaped the terrible blast which killed her "parents." He thanked his (and her) lucky stars that fate had been on her side that day. The whole thing confused him, and he'd wanted to ask Sophie about it, but of course, he couldn't very well say, "Oh, by the way, I just happen to know you are really a masked criminal who spends her nights robbing, stealing, and terrorizing Gotham City even if you're supposed to be dead. How did you manage to be the only survivor, anyway?" He imagined that wouldn't go over very well at all.

Tim was still deep in thought as Sophie stood up. "Well, I'm off to English, now."

Tim scrambled to his feet, too, his face falling.

"Then I have gym 6th period," Sophie said, grinning. "Finally a class I enjoy."

Tim's face brightened like a light bulb. "Hey, I have gym 6th period, too!"

Sophie grinned happily. "That's really great! So, I guess going to school...I mean, going to this school is gonna be better than I thought." She put her hand on his arm, gently. "I'm so glad you're here, Timmy."

Tim blushed yet again. "M-me too." He stammered, as Sophie cleared her lunch tray away.

Tim stumbled behind her, his eyes glazed over. He had a feeling that going to this school was going to be better than he thought, too.