Summary: Takes place around October of 2014
Disclaimer: I don't own DC
Barbara was beyond pissed. The past few weeks, her and Luke had been getting into far more arguments with one another, and to top it all off, Joker was out, AGAIN, and to top it all off, he had kidnapped her father. And this wasn't the typical "dad's stuck inside GCPD until Batman and Robin save him", no. Joker had specifically targeted Gordon, Bullock, and a handful of others, and was live-streaming a video of them, all tied up in chains with torture devices surrounding them.
"Son of a bitch", Barbara muttered under her breath. She was more than tense at the time. Her father had been missing for nearly 3 days now, despite the Dynamic Duo's best efforts. He hadn't undergone any torture yet, apart from a beating or two at the hands of the Clown Prince of Crime, but Joker had given the city 5 days to pay a ransom to him before he started offing them one at a time, and considering how much Gordon had done to bring him down over the years with Batman, he was likely the first on the kill list. Him or Bullock. Can't tell which one pisses this bastard off more.
Batman and Robin had, of course, been hot on his trail. But Joker was more slippery than normal; their normal way of tracking him was rendered ineffective by dozens of decoy signals he had placed all over the city, and he must have gotten tech from Luthor since the cybersecurity was too much for even Robin to crack in time. Plus, Lucious was out of town for the week, so they couldn't ask him for help. On top of that, Joker could have been hiding in one of several dark spots around the city, locations where a signal could be sent out but not in, meaning nobody could trace the signal back to him. Luckily, there weren't many dark spots in Gotham, so that made it easier on the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder. Dick had been grinding away at the decoy signals; he'd eliminated a solid chunk of them in between Batman and himself checking out dark spots. They were closing in on Joker's location, only 7 signals left to go, but Dick was worried it may be too late. No. Can't think like that. Babs would kill me if she knew I was slacking off on this. I gotta get him back, for her.
Dick and Bruce split up to chase the last 3 dark spots while Dick's descrambler algorithm worked on the decoy signals. Batman had gone off to a LexCorp testing site while Robin burst into a warehouse that looked familiar. This was where he had recklessly gone after Two-Face alone and almost got killed. It was a rather fond memory for him because he got Zatanna to nurse him back to health afterwards, even slept with her (not in that way, Dick and Zee hadn't gotten frisky with one another till his 16th birthday, when they first did it together), but it was not one of his brightest crime-fighting moments. Both Bat and Bird deduced that their target was in neither of these locations, so they converged on the last possible dark spot. Dick checked his algorithm, having only 5 decoy signals left to go, and he hurried off to meet Batman at Gotham Heights, a tourist attraction that was coincidentally a dark spot. Designed by GothCorp, so it makes sense why it would be, shady-ass company and all.
The Dynamic Duo reunited at the plaza, but couldn't find Joker anywhere. Dick checked his descrambler, only 3 spots left, and he and Batman decided they couldn't wait. They split up to cover more ground, just hoping that one of these 3 spots would be where the Joker was hiding. Robin arrived at the docks just as his scrambler deduced that the signal there was a decoy, and he groaned before hurrying off to the last location.
"Batman, the one at the docks is a decoy! Is the warehouse at 5th and Adams the real deal?"
"Affirmative, I just got here and it looks like Joker has the whole place wired. Hurry. I can't get them all out myself in time." Dick moved at top speed to make it to Bruce's location. He arrived just in time to see Bruce combat the Joker's goons whilst the clown laughed, gun in hand. Dick instinctively leapt for Joker, seeing him eyeing the prisoners, and he made contact with a flip kick. Joker was quick to get up, and he wrestled with Dick for a while before Harley grabbed him and shoved him back. Joker laughed before shooting one of the officers.
"No!" Dick got up and wrestled with Harley, knocking her out swiftly before lunging for Joker. Batman did the same, and they simultaneously tackled him the moment he let off another shot, this one hitting Gordon in the upper shoulder. Batman growled before knocking him out with a firm hit to the head while Dick ran to check on him. "He's bleeding pretty bad. I can't patch him up here." Bruce nodded before calling paramedics while Dick freed the others. Bullock immediately went to his partner's side, for once not taking a verbal jab at the Dynamic Duo, too worried for the Commissioner's life.
Barbara was not happy to hear about her dad being hospitalized. He and the other officer who was shot would live, but he was stuck in medically induced sleep for almost a week. She came to school the next day, furious. Robin felt guilty for it, his recklessness had almost gotten her dad killed. He tried talking to her as Dick Grayson, but she completely rubbed him off. She was even being cold with Luke, not at all in character for her. Heck, she was so angry she almost cussed directly at a teacher in class! Towards the end of the day, Luke took her to the side to talk, at Dick's request, but the end result was not pretty. Dick couldn't overhear their argument, but from the looks on both their faces as Barbara stormed off, he could tell that she had ended things with them. Dick did his best to comfort a rather annoyed Luke. He knew this was coming, they weren't exactly the same sign of a perfect couple like himself and Zatanna, but that didn't make it any less hard for them both. Luke eventually went home to cry himself to sleep, and Dick couldn't really follow. He was worried about Barbara. However, before he could go after her, the team was called in for a mission, so he went off to meet up with Zee and the others.
Things only went from bad to worse for Dick once he got back from the mission. Gordon had been abducted by Penguin from the hospital, and Barbara had completely shut him out, too pissed off to speak to anyone, even her best friend. Dick and Bruce suited up to find the Commissioner, who was still out from his wounds.
Barbara watched on TV as her father had been taken, there wasn't much she could do. She was beyond angry right now. Criminals often targeted her or her father, but this was taking it to a new level. Her dad had rarely been hurt on the job, Batman was usually to thank for that, but seeing him in a coma, abducted by criminals, it was just too much for her. Can't just sit on my ass all day. I need to do something. Well, here's a thought...Babs ran up to her room and dug out an old jacket she used to have: a purple hoodie with a big yellow bat symbol on it. Her dad got it for her a year or so ago, she hoped it still fit. The hoodie even had bat ears extending out of the hood! She pulled out a pair of purple tights that surprisingly matched rather well with the color of the hoodie, and one of her father's old police-issue belts. She ditched the gun but kept the other gadgetry: radio. taser, handcuffs, hell, even some weak shock grenades, all courtesy of Lucious Fox (Gotham wasn't exactly the safest place for cops, they needed the heavy artillery), and she even snagged the vintage batarang her father had in his study, a gift from the Dark Knight himself. All that was left was the mask, and she had that covered. A pair of rather stylish glasses Zatanna had gotten her for her birthday would do nicely. Once Babs was fully equipped, she checked her police radio to try and get a lock on Batman and Robin, and sure enough, she did.
The Dynamic Duo had tracked down the Penguin and Gordon, but they were held at bay by the onslaught of goons. Penguin himself was laughing whilst watching them struggle with an unconscious Gordon tied up to his side. Dick was holding his own well, but he was caught off guard when a strange, purple-clad girl burst through the windows and landed on her feet next to Penguin, staggering a bit from the landing before lunging at the confused man. Okay, who is SHE?!
W-wow. Did I j-just do that?! What the hell am I thinking?! And damn, this jacket's REALLY tight! Barbara was a trained black belt and an expert gymnast, basically a less badass version of Dick in the field, so she was more than able to hold her own as she struggled with the Penguin. Unfortunately, Babs was in way over her head, and she was knocked down rather quickly by the man, who aimed his umbrella-rifle directly at her head. Crap, whoever she is, she's about to be bird-food! Let's see what I can do...Dick flung a birdarang at Penguin's umbrella, knocking it out of his hand and allowing for Barbara to kip up and flip over his head, landing on her feet before sweeping his legs out from under. She went to free Gordon and was about to escape with him when she looked back to see a thug sneaking up on Dick. Don't do it, babs, you've already got Dad, just get out of...ah, screw it. Barbara flung her batarang at the thug, knocking him out cold. Dick looked back to her, surprised at the move, but she simply carried her father out with no remark.
After the fight had ended and Bullock had arrived to secure the criminals as well as Gordon, Bruce picked up the batarang Babs had flung. Hmph, my old design. How did she get ahold of this? Not to mention the combat technique, for a young civilian girl, she's certainly well-trained...I'll need to keep an eye on her...
Dick approached Barbara, who was overlooking the crime scene from a nearby rooftop. He was less than stellar at being saved by an amateur, especially one who had apparently stolen his mentor's equipment. "Hey." Babs jumped, not expecting the sudden greeting, and she tensed up, scowling at his smirk.
"You don't have to sneak up on people like that, you know? Where's your boss." Excuse me?
"My boss?"
"Yeah. No offense, but you're just the sidekick. I wanna talk to Batman." That remark really pissed Dick off.
"Guess I'm just curious as to who the hell you are." Barbara raised an eyebrow.
"Excuse me?"
"No offense, lady, but it's not exactly safe for you to be doing this kinda thing. Especially by yourself. This line of work is pretty damn dangerous, leave it to the professionals."
"Oh, you mean the professional I saved earlier?" This ticked Dick off, a lot.
"You mean after I saved you?" Barbara scoffed.
"Y'know, you're practically my age. Why do you get to be a professional but I don't?"
"I have training, and years of experience. You have a half-assed costume with a stolen batarang. Just go home, girl. I don't wanna see you out here again, it's too dangerous. Focus on school, or whatever it is you're into." Barbara scoffed.
"You know, you're kinda a dick." Robin couldn't help but smirk at that remark.
"You have no idea." Robin's comm went off, and as he radioed in to Batman, Barbara snuck off to the edge of the rooftop. Dick hung up and turned to see Babs smirk at him.
"By the way, you can call me Batgirl. You'll be seeing a lot of me, bird-brain. See ya around." Dick ran over to watch her flip to the next building before breaking off into a sprint. He sighed before turning back to radio to Bruce.
"On my way, Bats."
Barbara rushed home and changed out of her "costume". She collapsed on the bed, feeling a rush of different thoughts come to her. That Robin guy's a real ass. Whatever. He's irrelevant. This is my story, not his. Gotta say, it went pretty well, for a first run-through. Tweak some things here and there and I might have a legit plan in motion here. Barbara had come to love the sense of adrenaline she got back in that warehouse. Fighting creeps, saving the innocent, working with Batman...and Robin. She decided she wanted more. She wanted to try this, try helping others. It was clear the GCPD were inadequate when it came to super-criminals, but if this last night were any indication to her, she realized she could actually have a legitimate solution to her growing anger and the city's crime. If bird-brain can do it, why can't I? Look out Gotham, here comes Batgirl.
Back at the cave, Dick was annoyed as hell. Who does that girl think she is?! "You're just the sidekick", shoulda sidekicked her face at that one. Where'd she even get the batarang? How'd she even know to come there? Dick turned to Bruce, who was working on the computer. "You get anything?"
"No. Whoever this was, she was smart. Cleaned her fingerprints off the batarang she stole. I have nowhere to even begin tracking her down." Dammit.
"So does that mean we're just supposed to let this go?"
"She'll be back. I can guarantee it. We just need to wait for when she does come back. This girl could be a problem, Dick. She's untrained, headstrong, but surprisingly skilled and intelligent. I am going to need to keep an eye on her for a while." Dick nodded.
"Not her biggest fan."
"Neither am I, but she could prove useful, with the right training, that is. I'll alert you the moment I get anything, for now, let's just get some rest. I have a feeling we'll see a lot more of this 'Batgirl' in the future."
I know I ask this quite a bit, but I'd appreciate it if you all could review a little bit more often. Reviews really mean everything to me, so it would seriously help if more of you left even just one or two. I know recent chapters have been less than stellar, and I apologize for that. It's been hard balancing this with schoolwork, but rest assured I am doing my best and I think, going forward now that I've gotten a hang of my different classes, I should be able to keep up higher quality work, at least by my standards. Again, reviews really do help, so if you guys could leave just one or two reviews with your thoughts or feedback, it would seriously go a long way for me. Also, someone asked for a chapter on Zee's first show. I was already planning on doing that like 2 chapters from now, so that was a funny coincidence. Someone also asked for a smut chapter, and I don't know how I feel about that. I'm always open to suggestions, but that type of chapter would be a drastic change for the book and for what I typically write. I try to only imply intimate situations and not outright state them in detail, but I won't eliminate the idea completely. If more of you want to see a smut chapter, I'll try to make one, so comment your thoughts on it. Feel free to leave comments or suggestions for chapters you wanna see. Next chapter up soon.