TITLE: In Your Eyes
AUTHOR: Gaeriel Mallory
RATING: PG
CATEGORY: BTVS/Batman: the Animated Series Crossover
DISTRIBUTION: The Haven, TTH, Anyone else, just ask.
DISCLAIMER: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all related characters are the property of Josh Whedon and Mutunt Enemy, Inc. Batman and related characters are the property of Warner Brothers and DC Comics.
NOTE: I don't know how the reception for this story will turn out, mainly because BTAS has been off the air for several years. This was written before the series finale of Buffy aired so there will be some inaccuracies in later chapters. However, in the chapters that are unwritten, I shall try to stick as close to the finale as possible.
The title "In Your Eyes" is a tribute to the 2nd season Buffy episode "I Only Have Eyes For You."
Chapter Five
"So is the blindfold really necessary?" Willow fidgeted in the seat of the car and resisted the urge to adjust the piece of cloth over her eyes.
"Batman's a little paranoid. It's standard procedure for anyone visiting the cave who is not in the family."
Willow was a little apprehensive about meeting the rest of "the family." Both Alfred and Barbara had been nice and welcoming but she somehow did not think Batman or Nightwing would be. She snorted to herself as she had a mental picture of Batman and the rest of the vigilantes controlling the city as a mafia family would have. But like the mafia, they were obsessively protective of their secrets. As soon as Barbara had reached the outskirts of the city, she had Willow put on a blindfold so that the location of where they were going was secret.
The witch sat back in her seat and tried to relax. "Um, so, what should I say when I meet them? I mean, 'Hiya, Batman' isn't exactly right, is it?"
Barbara laughed. "You'll be fine. He's a bit intimidating at first—all right, a lot intimidating, but you get used to him. Just try not to run away if he growls at you."
"Growling I can handle. I've had worse things growl at me than some guy in a bat costume."
"I bet you have."
Willow felt the car turn left and after a few moments, stop. "Are we there?"
"We're there. You can take the blindfold off."
Willow pulled the piece of cloth off of her and felt her mouth drop open. "Wow."
Barbara grinned as she got out of the car. "Welcome to the Batcave, my home away from home. Come on."
Willow followed Barbara to the imposing computer set on the other end of the cave. She felt her fingers itch at the sight of the giant Cray. As she walked closer however, another object caught her attention. "Is that a dinosaur?" she asked disbelievingly.
Barbara nodded. "Mechanical. It's one of Batman's trophies. He collects them for some reason." She grinned. "The boys won't be down for a bit. Want a tour?"
Willow listened in amazement as Barbara recounted each of the cases that was memorialized by each particular object. The witch stopped at one particular trophy and looked up. "That's one huge penny," she commented. "Must have been one interesting case."
"It was against Two-Face. He had captured Batman and had tied him to the penny and was going to flip the thing. It was a lose-lose situation—be smushed flat or get jarred to death on the landing."
"Why do they do that?" Willow asked. "I mean, all these gimmicky things? Wouldn't it make more sense to just kill him straight out instead of going through all this and giving Batman a chance to escape."
Barbara shrugged. "They're all a little insane. But I'm not complaining. If they had just pulled a gun instead, I wouldn't be here today."
Willow sighed. "I think I miss Sunnydale. There, the big bads are pretty straight forward in what they do. Kill, destroy world, raise some icky demon-none of this playing around with you." She frowned. "Well, except for Angelus, but he was just sick."
Barbara froze. "Angelus? Isn't he the one haunting Nightwing?" She turned to look at Willow with wide eyes.
The witch immediately regretted opening her mouth. "Uh, yeah. But I wouldn't worry about Nightwing suddenly going on a killing spree or anything. Nothing like that happened before when the ghosts took over those people."
"Except those people ended up dead." Barbara's voice was grim.
"Well, there is that. But I promise I won't let that happen this time." Willow smiled reassuringly but the other woman did not look convinced.
The sound of an engine approaching cut off any further conversation. The two woman approached the motorcycle that had just entered the cave. The rider was dressed in black Kevlar with a stylized 'V' across his chest. He pulled the black helmet off of his head, revealing a handsome face partially hidden by a mask across the eyes. "You're the witch?"
Willow bristled at his tone. "I'm sorry but I left my pointy hat and broomstick in my other cauldron."
"I don't care if you have a talking cat and dance naked under the moon." He got off of the motorcycle and stood up. "Can you help us or not?"
"I don't know but I'll do my best," Willow told him honestly. "I want to lay Buffy and Angel to rest just as much as you do."
"I don't care about them. I just want him gone." Nightwing pointed to a glass case. It took Willow a moment to realize he was talking about his reflection.
"Can you see him?" she asked softly.
He laughed a bit bitterly. "Oh, I can see him all right. Tall guy, broad shoulders? Brown hair and brooding eyes."
"That's Angel," Willow said sadly. "Mr. Broody." She felt tears sting her eyes and she savagely wiped them away.
"Willow?" She felt a hand rest on her shoulder and looked over to see Barbara's concerned face. "You all right?"
The witch nodded. "Yeah. It's just a lot harder than I thought it would be, coming here. I mean, it's been five years. You'd think I'd have dealt with it already. I thought I had."
"It must have been a shock, hearing about Buffy after all this time."
Willow shrugged. "Just give me a sec and I'll be fine." She moved away from the other two, staring at the giant mechanical dinosaur. She flashed back to the two weeks after Buffy had left to hunt down Angel. The Slayer had tried to check in with them regularly but sometimes she had missed a day or two. When that happened, the nervousness and fear in the Summers' house was thick enough to taste. Eventually, however, the phone would ring and there would be a race to answer it.
"Hey, guys!" Buffy's cheery voice called out. "Had to do a little clean up after Angel but I'm back on the road again. There was this nest of really icky green demons that..."
But one day, the phone rang after four days of no word from Buffy. Giles had answered and Willow had supported him as he grew pale and almost fell over. She grabbed the phone from him.
"Hello? Who's this? Buffy?"
"I'm calling from Gotham City Police Department. We're trying to identify a body. We think it may be a Buffy Summers."
Willow had no memory of the rest of the call. She must have answered something because the phone was hung up when she came back to herself, sobbing on the floor with Giles.
Nightwing felt like a heel. This woman had flown all the way from California to help them and he had treated her like—he had treated her like he normally treated Babs. He sighed inwardly as he looked at the red-haired woman who he had once believed to be the love of his life. He had been ready to defy Bruce and the world in order to have her but in the end had done both in an attempt to get away from Barbara and her betrayal.
His life had been full of "ifs" and "might have beens." Somewhere along the way, those "might have beens" formed the path that would have led to his happiness rather than the embittered lonely existence he had now.
If only...
If only had had told Barbara the truth about being Robin? If only she had told him about being Batgirl? If only Bruce had told them both that he knew...
If only he had not run away.
The man behind the mask closed his eyes and remembered a happier time. He then pushed the memories away and turned towards the two women. "Come on," he said gruffly as he led the way to the Cray. "Let's get this over with."
