In the Shadow of The Bat
Night thoughts.
Leslie Thompkins sat in her office, the older woman looking out the window. It was officially her day off, but she had come in to the Martha Wayne Memorial Clinic to catch up on her paper work. That, and to update her files.
"I have occasionally wondered why Bruce doesn't take a more efficient route to trying to clean up Gotham," Leslie dictated into her Lex-tel phone, "but in truth, I do understand why he doesn't. Simply put, Bruce isn't quite sane."
"When Batman goes out at night, it's Bruce-as-a-child who's wearing that costume. And every mugger he hits, every Joker he puts into the hospital, are simply surrogates for the man Bruce couldn't stop, who murdered his parents."
Leslie sighed, "Oh, how I wish Alfred and I had been more successful in getting Bruce into therapy. But despite hiring the best therapists, Bruce refused to engage with them, and ultimately we had to give up."
The 'Batman File' was something Leslie maintained on and off, for various reasons. If Bruce was ever arrested, she might need it for his defence. If something happened to him, she wanted a record that was honest... or at least as honest as one could be.
"Not that I am one to talk, since I probably COULD have pushed more. Or at least simply refused to help out. But... I still feel trying to keep an eye on the situation is the best choice," Leslie admitted tiredly.
Deciding she was getting too tired to record she shut off that function, them carefully put the phone away. She would upload the data into a secure archive later. Getting up she put on her coat, then headed off into the night...
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"You were looking for me?" the voice came out of the darkness.
Dana Fox whirled around, yelping in alarm as she reached for her pistol. She got a good look at the figure confronting her and let go of the gun, deciding drawing on the Question was a bad idea.
"Don't DO that!" Dana hissed.
Question looked more amused than anything else, the strange mists that accompanied the hero swirling around her. "Didn't mean to startle you," she lied.
Dana looked deeply sceptical, "So you snuck up on me to be friendly?" she asked.
"This is Gotham," Question pointed out, "this is how we roll."
"Ugh," Dana rolled her eyes.
"You wanted to see me?" Question asked politely.
Dana tried not to sigh again. She pretty much knew Question was Renee, whom she had talked to earlier, but she had to play out the farce anyway. "Yes, I did," she admitted, "but this parking garage isn't the most private place."
Question looked at Dana's sports car, "Care to ride?"
Dana shrugged, "What the hell, get in."
The car started up with a throaty growl, then they smoothly headed out of the parking garage. "Nice," Question noted.
"I had two attempted muggings relying on taxis," Dana shrugged, "figured I'd better have my own vehicle here for safety's sake."
The Question chuckled softly, "What can I say... it's Gotham."
Dana smiled slightly, "So, I assume you got the message I left with Rene?"
The Question hesitated, then reached for her belt buckle. "What the hell," she sighed, spraying a gas over herself. Her clothes changed colour, then she calmly peeled off the faceless mask. "That's better," Renee said.
"Why...?" Dana asked, surprised.
"Kate says you're trustworthy," Renee shrugged, "and honestly, I haven't gone to THAT much trouble to keep my identity secret."
"Thank you, I think," Dana smiled faintly. "So, I'm asking... would you be willing to come to Hub City?" she asked.
"Honestly, I have a life here. And responsibilities," Renee said seriously.
"So, no," Dana sighed.
"Not quite that," Renee said, "I DO owe something to Vic, and he wanted to help Hub. So I'm willing to at least help out."
"Oh thank god," Dana muttered.
"But I'm not doing this alone, so don't hang up your Paladin outfit," Renee added.
THAT nearly made Dana swerve, but she recovered nicely. "How did you know...?" she asked.
"I've seen both of you move," Renee shrugged, "and I AM a martial artist. It's not hard to see."
"Damn," Dana sighed. "Guess that explains how Batman knew..."
"Or he just knew," Renee shrugged, "he's the type to make sure he knows this sort of thing."
Dana grunted agreement.
Renee relaxed as they drove through town, the wind whistling by. "You want to try to clean up Hub City, but it's gonna be a uphill fight for just two of us," she noted.
"Tell me something I don't know," Dana snorted.
Renee just ignored that as she continued, "There are empty office buildings and that sort of thing in Hub, right?"
"Yeah?" Dana asked, wondering where she was going.
"Renovate one, offer it up to one of the b-list superteams," Renee suggested. "A lot of 'em are looking for a base, and it'd help knock local crime down."
"We'd end up with more super crime though," Dana noted.
"There are trade offs, but..." Renee shrugged.
"It's something to think about," Dana conceded. "Who'd you suggest?" she wondered.
Renee smirked, "Well, the Outsiders are looking for a base..."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Batwoman swung out between two buildings, swinging on the special semi-elastic line, then landing gracefully on a rooftop. While her long cape and costume looked cumbersome, they were designed with light weight materials, allowing her to move easily.
"Batwoman," the blue and black clad figure noted as he watched a nearby building.
"Nightwing," Batwoman smirked. "Keeping a eye on our assassin and her girlfriend?" she teased, even though that was what she had come there to do, too.
"Nyssa and Cass, yeah," Nightwing acknowledged. He got up and stretched, a soft popping noise indicating he'd been there awhile.
Batwoman found herself admiring that ass. She wasn't interested in men, but even she could acknowledge it was a thing of beauty.
"What?" Nightwing asked after a moment.
"Nothing," Batwoman said, hiding a smile. "Still all quiet here?" she asked.
"Other than the sniper a few days ago," Nightwing said, "Robin thinks it was just a freelancer, not a actual League member."
"Robin would know, having trained under Shiva," Batwoman noted. "Not to mention the League being on the run," she added.
"I'm not sure they're in that bad shape," Nightwing admitted.
"Oh?" Batwoman asked curiously.
"Yes, we've taken out the lower level agents, but they've always been kind of expendable anyway," Nightwing pointed out. "The elite members are still out there, and they are the ones you really need to worry about."
"Fair point," Batwoman conceded. "Do you think they are up to something?"
"Wouldn't surprise me," Nightwing sighed, "and I think it's gonna be big and nasty. Talia, according to what we know, is very, very pissed."
"So we're going to be hit, but we don't know where or how," Batwoman mused. "Whee, fun."
Nightwing laughed softly. "We knew the job was crazy when we took it," he offered.
"You got that right," Batwoman agreed. She moved to the edge of the rooftop, "I'm going to continue patrolling, radio me if anything comes up."
"Will do," Nightwing waved as she swung out into the night.
To be continued...
Notes: Yes, I'm generally of the opinion Batman's not exactly sane.
The bit with Leslie was originally gonna be a conversation between her and another character, but I couldn't come up with someone she'd feel comfortable saying that too. So instead, it's her dictating to her journal.