"Is it possible it's someone else?" Jason asked, his arms crossed over his chest as he looked up at the two profiles I'd constructed and pulled up onto the screen: Jervis Tetch, aka The Mad Hatter, and Jonathan Crane, aka Scarecrow.

"Of course," I answered. "But these are definitely the two prime candidates for the job. They're master chemists, with a particular penchant for lunacy."

"But they're definitely different brands of coocoo," Dick said with his hands on his hips as we compared the two. "Tetch is fanatical about Carroll's world in Alice in Wonderland. Bruce had me read those books so many times, I've got them half-memorized. If he's the one behind this drug, it's gotta be for a purpose."

"But he's still in Arkham, right? No way is he producing a drug like this from his cell in maximum security, right?" Jason asked.

"Isn't that what we were saying about Joker, right up until he broke out of his cell?" Dick reminded him. My gaze fell at that, as if he had specifically called out my failure. But he hadn't; I was trying to remind myself that it was none of our faults that Joker got away- just an unfortunate situation.

"But you've got a point, Jason," I said. "I had a message sent from Batman to my dad this morning saying that Tetch may be a threat. He went to the asylum himself and made sure; Tetch is still in his cell. Besides, I don't think it fits his M.O. Like you said, Dick, his fixation on Carroll's writings lends itself towards targeting certain victims. The people that overdosed on this in Bludhaven… were there any patterns or common traits? Like… all of them being young, blonde women, for instance?" I asked as I pictured the young protagonist of the book.

"Nah," Dick answered. "Other than them all being druggies."

"So then, that leaves Scarecrow," Jason said, gesturing to the other image.

"Which, in my opinion, is far more likely. He poisoned a guard and escaped Arkham months ago. The timing fits, and it fits his M.O. of targeting the greatest volume population he can reach," I shrugged.

"The greatest volume?" Dick questioned. "I mean, if he wanted to hit everyone in Gotham, why not hit the water supply? Local breweries? Hell, even weed dealers get more attention than cocaine dealers."

"But it's obviously not ready yet," Jason replied. "Maybe he was testing his new recipe out on some unwitting druggies to see what happened before taking it to a larger population?" We all quieted at that thought.

"Jason, that makes a lot of sense," I answered in praise. "That's exactly what he was doing. He sold a stash to Black Mask, who then distributed it for him…"

"Distributed it in Bludhaven, where he's moving his drug operations to. That's why the overdoses are happening there and not in Gotham," Dick stepped closer to me, things starting to make more sense for him as well.

"And he provided enough of it that it was sent to several buyers and he gets a random test sample of his latest product," I nodded.

"But how would he know if it did what he wanted?" Jason asked. "And… did he want it to kill them, or… something else?" Dick and I looked back up at the screens a moment as we thought. In the corner of one of the monitors, we watched a muted newsfeed out of Bludhaven, talking about the rash of overdoses.

"He knew it'd make news," I nodded, piecing it together as I spoke. "He sold so much to Black Mask that he knew it'd affect a lot of people, and that it would be dangerous enough that it'd make headlines."

"So you think he meant it to kill the users?" Jason clarified.

"Either kill them or do something just as bad," Dick nodded back at him. "Either way… headlines."

"So that means he'll be watching this right now and probably adjusting his recipe, right? That's bad," Jason thought.

"Yeah," I confirmed, stepping forward to the monitors and minimizing Tetch's file while expanding Scarecrow's. "But it also gives us more time to track him down."

"Master Todd," Alfred's voice resonated through the Batcave from the entrance tunnel. "Master Wayne will be arriving home in the next ten minutes. I recommend you head upstairs and return to your homework."

"I do all the work and you get to take all the credit," Jason jokingly shrugged as he jogged away from the Batcomputer towards Alfred's voice. I smiled after him, clicking out of useless windows and cleaning up the screen for Bruce's arrival.

"He's not as excited as he was when we were out on the streets every night," Dick said as he let out a weary breath, "but he seems happy."

"He's smart," I said. Dick was quiet for a long moment.

"Had you already figured it out? Before he did?" Dick asked me suspiciously. I turned towards him, not meeting his eyes, but smiling as I tucked my chin against my shoulder.

"Only a little earlier," I said. Dick smiled as he shook his head at me. "But I spent the afternoon putting the profiles together. I've been thinking about it a bit longer."

"Yeah, sure," Dick waved me off as I stepped back from the computer. "You two going out tonight?"

"I don't think we're planning on it," I shook my head. "We're waiting for the right moment to interrogate Penguin, and we don't have enough on Scarecrow to act yet."

"What about Joker?" Dick asked. I shook my head disappointedly.

"Trail's cold; we've got eyes open, but we've got no indication of where he's gone. Any Riddler sightings? That could give us a lead," I suggested.

"Nothing great yet. I'm working on it," he nodded. "Actually, I'm paying a visit to Oblivion Bar around lunch tomorrow. I might be able to catch a transaction in the act. If you want, I could bring you along? Use a lunch date as our cover story?"

I could feel my cheeks grow a shade red at the idea. "Oh," I stalled in my answer. "Do you need me? I can be there if you need me to be…"

"No, it's not a big deal."

"I just had plans already…"

"Plans?"

"Yeah, plans."

"What kind of plans?" he asked. I hesitated a moment, uncomfortable.

"Lunch plans," I answered. Tomorrow was my lunch date with Daniel. Whereas yesterday I had been hoping for a chance to flaunt the date and brag that I was moving on, just like he had with Amy, I didn't want to make our conversation about our personal lives today. We'd been getting along so well, working together so efficiently and productively. I didn't want to screw that up.

"Okay," he shook his head slowly, dismissing the topic though it clearly intrigued him. "Then I'll just text you what I find out."

"Yeah, please," I confirmed. "If what you were investigating about the dirty bombs is real, and if Suicide Squad has anything to do with it too, we need to take them all down fast."

"That'll be quite the epic showdown," Dick nodded up at the screen. "Riddler, Joker… then tack on Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and whatever other psychos Amanda Wahler has drummed up. We'll have our hands full."

"We can't take them on head on," Bruce commanded in a tone that resembled his caped alter ego. "We need to take them down before they strike."

"Ideally, if we start with Riddler, the whole plan may fall apart," I suggested back to him as he put his thin brief case down on the worktable. "He's the connection between Riddler and Joker."

"And he's the one with the power over the dirty bombs," Dick reminded us.

"Any leads on him?" Bruce asked Dick.

"I was just telling Barb, I'm casing a lead tomorrow," he answered. Bruce looked suspiciously to me.

"You're joining him?" Bruce asked.

"I wasn't planning on it," I answered, "but I can…"

"No, that works. I'd prefer having you on the electronic trail- we need to find out what the Suicide Squad is doing and where they are heading," Bruce directed, then his eyes darted up to the minimized window on Scarecrow. "Now tell me about Sample X."

We reviewed with Bruce everything we'd learned about Scarecrow and Tetch, and how we had come to the likely conclusion that it was Crane behind the rash of cocaine overdoses in Bludhaven. "We're not sure what he's hoping to accomplish with this latest recipe, but it makes sense that it's him," I explained.

"He's always working towards the same goal: to control the masses using fear," Bruce reflected. "His megalomania relies entirely on subverting others through manipulation and oppression. This new recipe of fear toxin is just another strategy to reach same goal." He turned to me abruptly. "Do we have any idea where he is?"

"So far, all we've got for sure is that he's in Gotham," I shrugged.

"But he's trafficking his drugs through Black Mask's men, who are then reselling them in Bludhaven," Dick said.

"So, you two will need to keep working closely on this one," Bruce said as he stared up at the screen. My eyes darted briefly to Dick, who had also cast a wary glance at me. We both looked away abruptly, and I hoped the discomfort of the moment wasn't too obvious to Bruce. "Barbara, dig into all the dealers we know Black Mask has had dealings with and see if any of them have crossed paths with Scarecrow before. Black Mask wouldn't directly be in business with Scarecrow, he's too much of a wild card. He must be using a middleman to broker the deals with Black Mask. Dick, the same on your end; see if all the recently overdosed users were all buying from the same dealer or dealers. They'll be some of Black Mask's crew, in all likelihood. I wonder if Black Mask has realized which supply is killing his costumers."

"On it," Dick said with a small salute to Bruce as he turned away, then approached the monitors to gather his things as I did the same. I turned and looked at the side of his face. He stared directly at his things, even though I knew he could feel me looking at him. I turned back to my things. The discomfort that had originated a few nights ago when his arms were wrapped around me hadn't been dispelled yet. Maybe we just needed more time, time to keep working together professionally without the teasing and flirting. Or maybe that night had changed things in a way that we couldn't fix. I tried to blink away the memories that insisted on surfacing in my mind: the feel of his fingers cradling the back of my head, his hand tangled in my hair, the way he'd tilted my face up to his, the way he patiently asked what I wanted when it was so evident that all I wanted was…

"Have fun with your lunch plans," Dick said abruptly, snapping me out of the memory as he stuffed his things in his bag and left. I opened my mouth to respond, but words didn't come; I was still stuck in the fog of that memory. I closed my mouth again and let out a breath through my nose. Breathe, Barb.

I returned home to find dad completely asleep on the couch, a room temperature TV dinner on the coffee table in front of him forgotten. I smiled, put the TV dinner back in the fridge to be eaten another day, and put a blanket over him. I went to bed myself and looked through my text messages before falling asleep.

Dad, 3h ago
Need dinner? Don't work all night

Jason, 2h ago
You left without saying goodbye. Rude.

Jason, 2h ago
School has early release tomorrow. Can I help at WayneTech?

Bruce, 1h ago
Forgot to say- exterior clocktower renovations have begun. Shouldn't take them long, then construction will begin on interior. Tomorrow afternoon, work with Alfred to finish designing interior.

That final text from Bruce made me lower my phone and stare up at the ceiling of my bedroom, the same bedroom I'd had since I was a little girl. This apartment was all I'd known for so long; it was so strange to think that I'd be leaving it. I supposed it was time to start telling dad I was thinking of moving. I wondered how he would take it; it's not like I was afraid he'd freak out. I was grown, had gone through college, had my own career now (though it was an unorthodox one, to be sure); it was long overdue that I move out of my dad's place. Still, I thought of nights like tonight, when he'd clearly waited on the couch for me to come home, exhausted from work and coming home only to make sure I was safe. If I wasn't here, would he work himself into the ground? How could I take care of him?

I let out a weary sigh, knowing it wasn't my job to babysit my dad (nor his job to babysit me). We had to trust each other; and I reminded myself that I was only moving to Chinatown, not China. We could still have dinner several nights a week, I could still drop bagels off at GCPD for him in the morning (hell, it would be even easier to do that if I lived at the clocktower). It was just a big change.

I tossed and turned a lot that night, unable to sleep soundly. In the morning, I found that dad had relocated to his bed at some point in the night and, though I heard his alarm go off through the old walls, he seemed groggy and reluctant to rise. I made him an especially nice breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast, eating only eggs and bacon myself, and left it on the counter beside the coffee pot for when he finally emerged from his room.

I took extra care in getting dressed that morning, preparing for my lunch date with Daniel. I struggled enough when it came to dressing well for work, but I had to find something that was both work and date appropriate. This was not my strong suit. I settled on a sleek and simple blue dress with dark green heels. I played with the idea of wearing a blue blazer as well, putting it on and taking it off over and over again, and finally got frustrated with the fashion game and cast it aside on the bed. I let my hair stay down and did my makeup a bit more carefully than usual.

When I emerged from my room again, dad was standing over the counter and forking large floppy eggs into his mouth beside a cup of coffee. When he saw me, he froze with his cheeks full of food. "Morning," he said through tight lips as he swallowed. "Wow, you look good."

"Thanks," I said, smoothing my skirt and grabbing a to-go cup out of the cabinet.

"You have a big meeting today?" he asked.

"What?" I smiled at him.

"You just… you're dressed like you're meeting Bruce Wayne today or something," dad said, wiping his mouth. "Do you have a big meeting with the higher-ups?" I shook my head as I poured my coffee.

"No, but uh…" I started, putting down the coffee and squinting at dad, "I kind of have a date?"

"A date?" he repeated.

"A lunch date," I clarified.

"You have a lunch date," he repeated again.

"Yeah," I answered, heading for the fridge and grabbing the creamer out of the door.

"With… someone from work?" he asked cautiously. I nodded.

"Yup," I answered, pouring the creamer into my mug.

"You work with this guy?"

"Well, not directly," I shrugged as I screwed the top back on the creamer. "He works in cybersecurity, I work in product development… we just ran into each other in the lobby." I made myself shut up before I explained how we'd literally run into each other; I didn't want dad comparing me to a Nora Ephron movie.

"And… this doesn't happen to be the same guy you went on a date with a couple months ago, right?" he asked. I remembered back to telling my dad I had been on a date the night I'd gone out to Good Goods with Dick, and I smiled tightly to myself.

"No, dad," I answered, screwing the top onto my travel mug, "different guy."

"Just checking," dad replied a bit defensively. "And… safe space and all that… you haven't just been lying and going out with Colleen this whole time, right?" I smiled up at him with tight lips, trying to contain a laugh.

"You think… I've been dating Colleen this whole time?" I clarified.

"Safe space, not judging, just asking," dad raised his coffee to his lips and raised his other hand in front of his chest defensively. I shook my head, letting out a slightly breathy laugh.

"No, dad. It's a guy. A different guy," I confirmed.

"Like I said, no judgement. Colleen's a very pretty young lady, sexual identity is a spectrum and all that…"

"Dad, oh my…" I worked hard to contain a laugh. Yeah. I need to move out. "I'm going to work now, bye," I called over my shoulder as I walked out of the apartment.

"Thank you for breakfast, I love you," dad called after me.

"I love you too, weirdo," I called back as I closed the door behind me. When I reached the train, I grabbed my phone out of my purse and instinctively opened a message to Dick.

You'll never believe what my dad sa

I stopped typing mid-sentence, remembering how tense we'd felt the night before. We were friends, just friends, but maybe we weren't ready to be this kind of friend yet. I deleted the words and cancelled the message, replacing my phone in my bag and sipping my coffee on my way to work. I felt like people were staring at me on the train. I didn't like it. Even when I walked through the lobby of WayneTech, I felt eyes stopping on me for short moments longer than they usually did. I blamed it on the shoes; I felt more comfortable thinking I had made a poor fashion choice than thinking people were checking me out.

I put on my glasses and dug into the data on Black Mask's suppliers once I got to my desk, and as the morning passed I felt myself growing more and more distracted.

At 9am, I found myself rereading sentences, losing my place as I sifted through files.

At 10am, I found myself tuning out as I was reading, getting through entire paragraphs of data only to realize I had retained none of what I'd just read.

By 11am, I found myself staring almost blankly at the screen, not even attempting to read, as anxious thoughts zipped around my brain. The worst part was, I wasn't even sure why I was so anxious. I'd been on dates, I'd hooked up with guys, I had no reason to be anxious about the date part. Yet here I sat, feeling so uneasy and nervous and fidgety. I couldn't shake this feeling that I just wanted to get it over with.

So, at 11:45, I decided to pack it in and head to the lobby early. I smoothed my skirts and checked my makeup one last time, deeming that I looked as good as I ever would. When I arrived in the lobby, I started to walk towards the small coffee cart and café tables to wait for Daniel- but he was already sitting at one of the tables, wearing a dark blue suit and thin purple tie. When he saw me, he sprang to his feet.

"Barbara, hi," he said, smoothing his tie nervously and buttoning his coat. "Wow, you look… like, wow," he said, gesturing an explosion around his head.

"I was just thinking the same about you," I smiled and gestured towards him. "Very nice suit."

"Oh thanks," he said, nervously looking down at himself. "We almost match, you know? Blue dress, blue suit…"

"Right," I smiled, holding my purse with both hands in front of me. We stood awkwardly in the lobby a moment, and I felt self-conscious of others in the lobby watching us.

"Um, well- shall we?" he suggested, gesturing towards the front doors of Wayne Tech. I nodded, and we walked together out of the building and down the sidewalk, the hot summer sun on us. "I thought we could go down to The Ocelot, if you're up for it?" I raised my eyebrows; The Ocelot was a very nice restaurant, one that I would never visit for a lunch and maybe only consider for a very special occasion. It was expensive and posh.

"Wow, um… that's so nice. Are you sure?" I asked, clutching my bag tightly in front of me.

"Of course. My treat, really," he answered. Suddenly, I was regretting not cyberstalking him before the date. I wish I knew more about him.

"Thank you," I politely said. "So… how has your morning been?" I asked.

"Oh, great. I mean, not great. There was an attempt made on our firewalls last night that caused a mess of work this morning, but… that's the job, right?" he said.

"There was a security breach last night?" I asked.

"No," he clarified, "but there was an attempt. You know, a lot of my job is just tabletop exercises and strategy sessions for how to prepare for a cybersecurity breach, but when something does actually test the integrity of our firewalls…" and he continued to try to mansplain to me what it meant to be an industry professional in cybersecurity. I didn't need to hear it; I was Batman's cybersecurity professional as well as his chief data officer and his bad ass sidekick. I literally ran tabletop exercises in my sleep. I was far more curious who was interested in breaching WayneTech firewalls and why.

"Any idea what information they were trying to gather?" I asked when he finally paused to take a breath.

"Uh… not sure, really. Probably product development information; that's what we most typically get outside interest in. There are about a million military contractors that would love to get their hands on some of the designs we have here and weaponize them. We've got a lot of cool gizmos in your division," he said. But instead of asking me about my work, he proceeded to talk about how his department worked and defended the product development division. It was not the best start to a date.

When we got to The Ocelot, the maître de sat us at a table in the wide-open stretch of the restaurant. The menu was pre-set for lunch: a garden salad topped with clementine wedges and toasted almonds, followed by broiled salmon with a honey glaze, and fresh fruit for dessert.

Once our napkins were in our laps and the water glasses filled, the waiter left the table and the two of us alone. "So, Barbara," Daniel started, "tell me about yourself. Where did you work before WayneTech, what do you do in your free time, where did you go to college?"

"Oh gosh," I answered, smoothing my napkin in my lap, "kind of feels like I'm a job interview." I laughed and he smiled back at me.

"Sorry- am I coming on a bit strong?" he asked. "Sorry. Please," he gestured for me to speak.

"Sure, um… well, I don't know if I'm all that interesting," I shrugged. "Before WayneTech, I worked at the Public Library… not an important job or anything, just at the front desk. In my spare time, I work out a lot. I like to read. I stay up on current events," I said, trying to think of other things that I did. Other than working as a vigilante, I didn't have many hobbies these days.

"Oh, great, what do you like to read?" he asked. I racked my brain, thinking that I couldn't answer 'Scarecrow's criminal history.'

"Um… I'm revisiting Alice in Wonderland," I offered. He nodded with an interested grin.

"Huh. Isn't that a kids book?" he asked with a smile.

"Not the way I read it," I shrugged and grabbed my water, taking a sip.

"If you like fantasy, I just read this great series. It's by Anne McCaffrey, really interesting books about this world called Pern…" and he launched into a monologue about these books. I smiled and nodded while he talked with such energy and excitement, but it's like I couldn't hear any of the words he was saying.

Why wasn't I more interested in this? He was cute- like, GQ cute in his suit that had clearly been tailored to him- and he was talking about cybersecurity, book recommendations, things I was interested in and cared about a lot- but I couldn't tune in to anything he was saying. What was wrong with me? Why was I sabotaging this?

"That sounds really good, I'll have to pick up a copy," I said when Daniel had stopped talking. He smiled at me, but his lips pressed together after a moment.

"Are you alright?" he asked. I raised my eyebrows and smiled. "You just… seem distracted, maybe?"

"No, I'm fine, I…" I tried to wave off his concern. "Sorry. I'm fine, I'm just… I haven't done this in a while," I tried to laugh off. "Guess I'm a bit rusty."

"Me too," he smiled back at me. "Did you just get out of a relationship?" he asked. I raised my eyebrows, trying to skip over the fact that it was such a personal question.

"Yeah," I lied. "I've been off the market for a while."

"Same," he said, his hands fidgeting on the table. "Four years."

"Wow," I nodded, "that's a long relationship."

"Yeah," he said. "But the last two years of it, we were just kidding ourselves. Kind of just going through the motions, you know?" I nodded; 'going through the motions' was a pretty good way to describe what I was doing on this date right now.

"Yeah, I get it," I answered.

"We just realized that we both deserved to be happy… and we weren't happy together, so…" he trailed off. I couldn't help but meditate on the thought, that we both deserved to be happy. I deserved to be happy. I made myself relax a little. I deserved to be happy and enjoy this. "I'm really glad you agreed to come out with me today," he said, leaning forward over the table to me. I smiled and tucked some of my hair behind my ear.

"Me too," I smiled.

"Do you want to talk about the relationship you were in?" Daniel asked. I tightened my lips and shook my head as the waiter put down our salad plates in front of us.

"No," I answered, "I think I'd rather talk about what other books you're reading. Do you enjoy classical fantasy, or do you prefer contemporary?" We both smiled and seemed to relax as the meal continued. As I relaxed, I was able to tune into the conversation better and add substantive comments; as he relaxed, he talked less and asked more questions. And it was a nice date. He generously paid the bill and we walked back to WayneTech around 1:30. He offered me his arm and I held on to his elbow as we strolled down the sidewalk. I wondered if he would try to kiss me in the lobby of WayneTech… that would be horribly uncomfortable.

We walked in through the front doors as I said, "thank you again for lunch, it was great."

"No problem. It was made far better by your company," he smiled at me. I turned aside with my smile as we walked into the building, my heels clacking against the tile of the lobby. "I'd love to take you out again, maybe sometime when I can drop you off at your front door rather than your office?" I laughed a little and smiled as I looked around the lobby.

"Um, yeah, that would be…" as my eyes scanned around the lobby, they landed on Jason, who was seated at one of the café tables and staring at me with dubious eyes. "Jason?" I asked, letting go of Daniel's arm and walking up to him.

"Hey," he answered me casually, though his eyes bounced from me to Daniel and back to me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Early release day, remember?" he asked. I remembered the text he'd sent me last night, and I closed my eyes as I kicked myself for my forgetfulness. "But I'm glad I didn't interrupt your lunch plans."

"This is your intern, right?" Daniel asked behind me, pointing casually to Jason. "Hi. Daniel Hale, cybersecurity."

"Hi Dan," Jason said, and I shot him a tired glare.

"Yeah, if you're ever interested in cross-training let me know. Cybersecurity is a hot field these days," Daniel offered in a kind but dad-ish tone.

"Evidently," Jason smiled back at him sardonically.

"We should head down to my office," I said quickly, cutting Jason off before he could say anything else. "Thanks Daniel, this was great. And yes, I'd love to do it again sometime."

"Oh… great," he smiled, first reaching towards me as if to hug or kiss me before recoiling upon remembering how inappropriate that would be in our office lobby in front of my intern. "Yeah, I can just… I'll call you."

"Yes, please," I said as I pushed Jason towards the elevators. "Thanks Daniel. I'll talk to you soon," I called back to him. I heard him mumble a 'bye' behind me, but I kept my eyes forward with Jason as we hurried to the elevator that descended to my office. We got on quietly and the doors closed, leaving the two of us together in the enclosed space as we went down.

"So…" Jason started, but I shook my head.

"It's not a big deal," I cut him off.

"… how was lunch?" he asked slyly. I looked over and saw he was trying to suppress a teasing smile. I couldn't help my smile from coming out a little too. I laughed lightly and shook my head at him.

"It was just lunch," I answered.

"Yeah, but… you're gonna do it again sometime," he said, and I raised my eyebrows at him.

"And it's not a big deal," I emphasized.

"Riiiight," he nodded sarcastically.

I put Jason to work in my office on another computer, pulling up information on the many dealers that may have connections to Scarecrow. Jason stopped teasing me once he had real work in front of him. "Who would want to work with this psycho?" Jason asked as I continued fleshing out Scarecrow's profile. "He's a basket case."

"But a persuasive basket case," I acknowledged. "He's very smart- he's even got some of the doctors at Arkham convinced that he's not crazy."

"If he's not crazy, what the hell do they think he is?" Jason asked. I shook my head as I looked up at the picture of Jonathan Crane, unmasked. His smile was charming, his hair styled to look coiffed and academic. He appeared so innocent, so calm. But we knew that the mask he wore was his true face.

"Evil."