Barbara Gordon meets her future self! But no one else realizes who it is except Robin. And the future Young Justice knows.
Batgirl gasped, and stared at the woman. It was her. No doubt about it.
Commissioner Gordon was frozen into place as well. Seconds ticked by, and she finally cleared her throat and whispered, "Never mind. I know what's going on. You need to get out of here." She eyed the future Robin murderously, who just glared back. "Get out of here before my men come up here."
"Not so fast," Superboy walked forward. Commissioner Gordon relaxed a little, seeing an old friend. "B-Commissioner, we need to get out of the building without any of the police seeing us. Is there a back entrance?"
"No. There's a hovercar. I'll call it down for you. Robin knows how to fly it, doesn't she?" Commissioner Gordon's eyes flicked down to Batgirl's legs, and her eyes welled up a little before she blinked it back. She eyed the man on the floor.
"Why was Mad Stan attacking a hospital?" She directed to Robin.
Robin shrugged, her ponytail swishing, "That's your department."
"You didn't have to maim him," Commissioner said roughly, not looking at Batgirl, who was still shocked.
"We are in a hospital," Robin answered shortly, no emotion breaking through her voice. "I'm sure one of the doctors can help him."
With that, Robin snapped her fingers and waited. A few moments later, a board came floating through the flames above them to her. The fire was almost gone, and there was no more smoke.
Robin stood on the board and told Superboy, "I'll be right back with the hovercar."
She flew out of sight, and Commissioner Gordon was faced staring at Batgirl. She cleared her throat again, and turned to Superboy, whispering.
"Take them to the cave."
Superboy shook his head, "Talia al Ghul took the cave. It's not safe to go back."
Commissioner Gordon shook her head, "Not that cave. The Cave. I don't care what she says, it's what you're supposed to do."
Superboy nodded, "Will you tell me anything else?"
She shook her head, "No. I can't. Just...go to the cave, okay Kon?"
Superboy looked down at Barbara Gordon, his old friend, one of the few he still had, and said, "All right. Good night Barbara."
She stopped him, "Tell-tell her I'm sorry, okay? Tell Robin. I-I want to talk to her. Okay?"
He nodded.
He came back to the group, who were looking at a gash on Wonder Girl's arm. "That's going to hurt a lot," he commented. The hovercar came through the hole in the roof, and the door opened. "Still a hot head, huh Cass?" he joked, fluffing her hair.
She mumbled, "I'm sorry for not listening."
He didn't say it was okay, because it wasn't. But he walked in front of her to sit next to Robin in the hovercar.
Batgirl didn't say anything while they pulled away, just sticking her nose to the glass, watching the woman watch her. Then, her older self called up the officers, and they started to swarm the wreckage of the room.
...
"The Cave?!" Robin nearly shouted, but Superboy shushed her. "No way. I'm not letting them into the Batcave. Not even if you paid me three million credits. There is no way!"
He whispered, aware that the others in the back of the huge commendeered police hovercraft wouldn't hear. "Barbara said that we need to. Robin, it's the only way. She's been through this. We need to listen to her."
"And get me in so much trouble that I won't leave the house for months? No way," Robin repeated.
"Mr. Wayne is away on business. He'd never know!"
"But Terry is not," Robin reminded Superboy, "and he will get me in trouble, Kon."
"Not if I'm involved," Superboy reasoned. "He wouldn't do that if I said we needed to. You don't need to give up your identity or anything. Just let us stay there. Don't forget, the cave has Recharge 2.0. We'll have our powers back there and Raven can locate Talia. Or the Time Thief."
Robin was quiet for a long time. Then she relented, "Fine. But you need to make them listen to me."
"No problem." Superboy was silent, then said, "Barbara said..."
"Stop." Robin's hands clenched the wheel. "Don't tell me."
"...that she's sorry and wants to talk," he finished. He looked at her, then continued softly, "I think you should call her."
Robin didn't speak. He'd hit a sore note, with her relationship with Barbara. She shook her head. "Stay out of it, Kon." Her voice was sharp, but then it took on a begging quality. "Please. Just because we-" she cut herself off, "You can't butt in now, Kon."
"You're my friend, Robin," he whispered even lower, and leaned forward, so she could feel him staring at her although she didn't look, "and I'll respect your wishes. But she's my friend too. And I respect her too."
Robin fought the urge to kick him, and instead focused on the chatter in the back before she told them that they would be abandoning the vehicle and walking through a secret passage to a safe house.
She felt Superboy's eyes on her back, and she glared at him. But he smiled tightly, and Robin felt her gaze drop, even though he couldn't see it from behind her sunglasses. And her eyes were welled with tears.