I know you was probably expecting to see a battle between Batman and Mr. Freeze after how that last chapter ended but we are going back to Gotham for a few chapters. Don't worry, we will get back to Batman and Freeze in a later chapter. I'm basically trying to set up a series of action packed chapters right now.
It was eight o'clock when Jim Gordon and Elsa arrived at Barbara's apartment. Barbara just finished cleaning the apartment and finished preparing dinner about fifteen minutes before the two of them arrived. Not wanting Barbara to be responsible for doing everything, Jim stopped by the store and picked up a bottle of wine for them to enjoy with dinner. Dick Grayson, Barbara's boyfriend and fellow crime fighter Nightwing was already there when the two of them arrived.
Barbara walked up to her father and gave him a big hug "Glad your here."
"Thanks for offering to do this."
"Anything to make the queen feel more comfortable here in America." Barbara then turned to greet the queen. "Your majesty I hope your visit here will be as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. I have prepared a lovely dinner that I hope will be pleasing to you."
"No need for the title here Miss Gordon. You can just call me Elsa. And I appreciate the hospitality. Nice apartment you have here."
"Thanks but I'm sure it's not as fancy as your castle."
"No it's fine." Elsa said "I'll admit there are days I would prefer something a lot smaller. Where I can have some alone time without somebody barging in every fifteen minutes needing something. There are days where I would just love to sit back and relax and have some peace and quite."
"Well I ensure you Elsa your visit will be relaxing as possible." Barbara turned to the kitchen where Dick was tossing a salad for the four of them. "Dick will you please set the table for our guests please."
"Sure thing Babs."
"That's my boyfriend Dick," Barbara told Elsa "We met in College."
"Oh that's sweet. My Sister Anna just recently got married to this man who she met in the mountains. It's a long story on how they met but I ran off one time when everybody discovered my powers. I couldn't control them yet and I thought running away would prevent me from hurting anybody. My sister came looking for me and along the way she met this mountain man named Kristoff. They've been together ever since."
"Sounds like you have a good sister." Babs said "You have a man in your life Elsa?"
"Me? No, I've been a little to occupied right now with my kingdom. I'm not against looking for somebody but no one has came up yet."
"Well I'm sure in time you'll find a man who would be lucky to have you."
"Table is set" Dick said
"Great" Barbara said "Come Elsa, I hope you like pot roast."
"Are you kidding? I love pot roast, my kitchen staff fixes it for me and my sister all the time."
"Well I hope it's just as good as what your kitchen staff fixes."
Barbara set Elsa and her father down at the table then fixed them a plate with roast, carrots and potatoes and a garden salad.
"Okay I am officially offering you a job at my kitchen." Elsa said "This is the best damn roast I have had."
"Really?" Barbara said "Well I can't take all the credit It's my mother's recipe."
"Her mother taught her everything she knows about cooking." Jim said "Her cooking was one of the things that drew me to her. Well that and her looks. That woman looked like a angel had fallen from heaven. Hey eyes could make your heart melt."
"She sounds wonderful" Elsa said. "So where is she?"
"Eh, that's a long story and not that important." Jim said not really wanting to get in to the fact that his wife left him. "The important thing is that Barbara is the cook she is today because of her."
"So Barbara, do you have any sibling? A brother or sister perhaps, or is it just you?"
"Well..." Barbara started, she really didn't know how to explain the fact that her brother was a murderer. "I do have a brother but, we're not really close, like at all."
"Really, sorry to hear that."
"No it's okay it's just. He's done some bad things and really needs help."
"He's currently on the run from the law." Dick said in a moment of not thinking
"Dick!" Barbara scolded not wanting Elsa to know her brother was a fugitive.
"Oh sorry," Elsa apologized. "I didn't mean to bring up any painful memories."
"You didn't know Elsa." Jim said "Don't apologize."
"So Dick how about you, do you have any family?" Elsa asked.
"Well I was actually raised by Bruce Wayne." The mentioning of that name caused Elsa to hiss and Jim to give a worried look.
"What?" Dick asked confused.
"Elsa and Wayne aren't exactly on good terms." Jim said
"How come?"
"Business related," Jim replied.
"Oh," Dick said "Well I ensure you Elsa whatever Wayne did to get you mad I'm pretty sure it wasn't intentional. Bruce may have his faults, and trust me there are a lot of them, but he still has a good heart. He took me in after my parents got killed. He saved me from ending up in a orphanage or on the streets. Wayne may not be perfect, but he's a nice person when you get to know him."
Feeling the tension rising Barbara decided to try to change the subject. "So anyway Elsa how are things going in Arendelle?"
Elsa let out a depressing sigh that none of them were expecting, they thought Elsa would be excited to talk about her home, but the saddened look on her face and the tone of her voice read otherwise. "Not good I'm afraid."
"Why not?" Barbara asked
"We are in the middle of a big economical crisis. People are losing there jobs, and no matter what I try to do nothing is getting any better. I've tried to make business deals with some of the top businesses here in America but little has come from it so far. People like Bruce Wayne. He promised to build some firms in Arendelle then I haven't heard from him since. Families are living in the streets, crime is going up, people are resulting to stealing just to be able to feed their families. I've been trying everything but..." Elsa started to choke up and tears started to fall from her face "But nothing is seeming to work."
Feeling the need to be alone Elsa scooted her chair from the table and got up. "Excuse me for a little bit." Elsa then walked to the living room and sat on the couch, burying her head in her hands as she started sobbing.
Barbara, Dick, and Jim just looked at each other for a few seconds not knowing what to think. Finally Jim got up and headed to where Elsa was. "I'll go talk to her." Jim sat himself down on the couch next to Elsa and put a comforting arm around her as he talked to her in a calm and soothing voice.
"Hey there, it's okay."
"No, no it's not okay," Elsa said "I've tried everything I know to do and nothing is getting better. And my subjects, they are getting reckless, they are demanding jobs right now, jobs that ain't there. That's why I'm so angry at Wayne, because I need him. I need him to bring jobs and he is nowhere to be found. I don't know what else to do Jim? Do you know what that is like, to do everything in your power to fix a bad situation only to see that your best isn't good enough?"
"Of course Elsa, I'm a cop, been one for over twenty years now. There's been many of times as both a cop and a father that I've been put in a bad situation and tried to resolve it only to feel like whatever I was doing wasn't working."
"Really?"
"During my early years as a cop. Back when I was just a Sergeant and not a Commissioner, there was a serial killer loose in Gotham. He was abducting teenage girls as they walked home from school. He would rape them then slit their throats and leave their bodies in a dumpster. This went on for about eight months. Every parent I talked to would criticize me and the rest of the GCPD, and accuse us of not doing enough to protect their children. They were wanting the man who was doing this caught right then and was wondering what was taking us so long. We were doing everything in our power to catch the guy but he left very little clues and seemed to be one step ahead of us. Barbara was about eleven at the time and even though she wasn't a teenager yet as a parent I couldn't help but fear about what would happen if we don't catch this guy, what if two years down the road this maniac is still out there and Barbara was his next victim. Each time we found another victim I would come on and cry not knowing when or how we were going to catch this guy. This man had killed fourteen girls Elsa, So we were really getting desperate to find him."
"So how did you?"
"Well after his last victim he got a little careless, and left one clue that helped us find him. When he dumped the body in the dumpster he accidentally got some blood on his fingers and left a bloody fingerprint on the side of the dumpster. That fingerprint helped us finally track down who the killer was. We ran the fingerprint scanner and got a name and within half a day we was able to track the guy down and bring him into custody."
"Really?"
"The point is Elsa, is that things may not look good now, you may think things will never get better, but overtime things will look up. Take it from a cop who has seen the worst this city has to offer. Things will approve in time."
Not able to hold back her emotions Elsa grabbed Jim and gave him a hug, "Thank you Jim."
"Anytime," Jim replied "I believe in you Elsa, I know you will fix things in your kingdom."
Jim's phone started ringing and when he picked it up his eyes went wide. "On my way." Jim hung up the phone and turned to Barbara. "Thanks for dinner Barbara, it was delicious but I got to go. We got a lead on the serial killer, and we think we know were he is hiding." Jim then turned to Elsa "Stay here Elsa and lock the doors. I'll be back as soon as I can."
Jim then ran out the door and the second he left Barbara got a call from her earpiece from Alfred.
"Miss Gordon, Scarecrow has been spotted again,"
"Um Babs you might want to take a look outside" Dick said, Barbara glanced out her kitchen window and saw a green question mark shining in the air.
"Dollmaker, Scarecrow, and the Riddler, all in one night." Barbara said
"What are we going to do?" Dick asked
"You follow my dad and make sure he is safe, I'll take care of Riddler and then we will meet to take care of Scarecrow."
"But what about..." Dick pointed to Elsa who was sitting in the middle of the living room.
"Elsa, me and Dick has to go out for a little bit, feel free to watch something on TV if you want. I got Netflix and plenty of DVD's so help yourself, I also have plenty of novels if you want to read something. Lock the doors when we leave and don't let anybody in unless it is us."
"Where are you going? your father said there is a serial killer out there."
"Um, I forgot something important at Dick's apartment," Barbara said trying to come up with a excuse without giving away that she is Batgirl. "I won't be gone long."
As the two left Elsa gave a very confused look, what the heck is going on here?
As Dick and Barbara left the apartment they quickly changed into their crime fighting suits and left in opposite directions, Batgirl to where the Green Question mark was, and Nightwing to Dollmaker's hideout. It was time to stop these criminals once and for all.