He was starting to think this was a bad idea. Actually…he'd started thinking that hours ago…now he was fairly certain of it. He'd managed to make his way to Turkey… Istanbul, to be precise...and not Constantinople, he grimaced as his sense of humor decided now was a good time to kick in… where he'd hoped to find another lead on Scarab's whereabouts. Ever since that first lead, found hidden deep within one of Batman's secret files, led him here, luck seemed to have abandoned him. For a moment he wondered if tricking Cass had been a good idea…but he couldn't forget the stabbing pain her apparent distrust had caused. For all her talk about helping him get to work on solving his father's murder…and saving his own life in the bargain…she was keeping a closer eye on him than Batman! So he'd led her back to his old neighborhood. He'd set up a holographic net when he'd first moved there…it was meant to help him sneak back home, or out of the apartment, without getting caught. But it worked to throw her off the scent just as well.

"Damnit." He muttered to himself. He wished Cass had trusted him more…he sure could have used her help…he didn't speak Turkish and he could use her interpretation of body language in his search. Then again, they apparently even had a different body language…so far he thought he'd managed to offend or portray the wrong idea to at least seven individuals… so maybe she wouldn't have been so much help after all. Yeah, right. She hadn't been read to read English or American body language, but all kinds.

"You! Boy!" He glanced over to where a man seemed to be beckoning him to…well, it could be to go away, or possibly… "Come here!" Well, that answered that. He raised his eyebrow questioningly. The man kind of flapped his hand at him again, which Tim decided must mean "come". He moved towards the man, keeping a close eye out for any suspicious characters lurking about.

"Yes?" The man studied him for a minute, then looked down at a sheet of paper he'd held clutched in his other hand.

"Yes. It is you. Come with me." Tim frowned. Did this guy really think he was that stupid? The man took a few steps down a side alley, then turned back impatiently. Apparently he did.

"Um. I think I'll pass." He started to turn, but the man's voice stopped him.

"But…you are the one!" Oh great. Was this some kind of joke? This guy was starting to sound like some kind of fanatical… "She said I must bring you to her!" Oh she did, did she? He hesitated. It would really too much to hope that this was the lead he'd been looking for. On the other hand, what "she" would be around here looking for him. On the other hand…he grinned to himself. How many hands did he think he had, anyway?

"She? Who are you talking about?" The man didn't answer, apparently taking his question as an affirmation that he'd follow, as he scurried into the shadows. Tim shrugged. Well…he could take care of himself. It was most likely a trap, but it was the best lead he'd had in over a day. With one last glance around, he followed the strange man into the darkness.


"You want to talk about it?" Coming from Batman, that question was eerie enough in and of itself. Coming from Batman in a gentle, almost friendly, tone of voice made it just plain wrong.

"No."

"It…might help." Well…at least he sounded as uncomfortable with the idea as she was. Batman heaved a sigh…a very exasperated sigh, and totally unlike him. She shivered and tried to compress herself to fit in the farthest corner of her seat away from him.

"Whatever it is you're thinking, it's not true." She glared silently at him. "I told you it was pointless." She blinked at that. Was he talking to her? Was he…wait, he was listening to…Batgirl slumped down in her seat. Oh. He was talking to Babs. Who had most likely been bugging him the entire time they'd been in the Batplane to talk to her…find out what else was going on. Stupid Babs. Cass sighed and took the insult back. Babs was just worried about her…and Tim, of course, and she tended to get a little too…involved…when she was worried.

"I'm fine." She muttered, earning her a glance from Batman. She kicked idly at the panel in front of her. Sure she was fine. Just dandy. After all, who wouldn't be fine after being tricked by one's best friend, interrogated by Batman, and left with the knowledge that should Tim die it would be all her fault? Well, no. Not all her fault. She wasn't that far gone…not anymore, at least. She knew Tim was supposedly responsible for his own actions…and, of course, there was always the mysterious person behind the attacks.

"I said I'll handle it." If possible, Cass slumped even further down in her seat. Now she was something to be handled? She was beginning to see why Tim had wanted to do this on his own…and it quite possibly hadn't been any sort of distrust of her on his part. Maybe he figured everyone would try to get involved, go crazy, and decide that he was a thing to be "handled" too.

"Batgirl, you are going to have to tell me what's going on before we land." She flinched at the steely tone in his voice. At least he was back to being Batman instead of trying to be friendly or something.

"I did." She was slammed roughly against her restraints as he brought the craft to a sudden halt, allowing it to simply hover over the dark expanse of ocean beneath them.

"I don't have time for games."

"I wasn't…" he cut her off with a sharp gesture.

"You haven't told me everything. And that's fine…I don't kneed to know, unless it compromises the mission. This investigation…this case, has the potential to become deadly…even more so than it has already proven to be. I can't go into this blind. You have to tell me what I need to know." She shuddered at his intensity…it was feeling a bit too close in the cockpit.

"I wasn't hiding anything." She hesitated. Well, not really.

"I didn't say you were…" in other words, she'd given herself away by jumping to that conclusion. "…simply that you need to make sure you've told me everything that is relevant to this investigation." She heard plainly what he left unspoken…she had to talk if she wanted to be able to reach Tim in time. She fidgeted, trying to figure out some other way…but this was Batman she was talking to. In the end, she supposed she didn't stand a chance.

"I…I told most of it." He nodded curtly. And she had, too. She had told nearly everything she'd known…Batman had been the one to figure out where to find Scarab. But she supposed there were some things she might have…forgotten. "But…you can't let him see you." He raised an eyebrow at her imperious command. Well, he did. Just because no one else would have known because of his cowl didn't mean she didn't.

"I…see."

"Well, he thinks you'll try to stop him from…"

"I wasn't planning on it." She could tell he wasn't pleased with the direction the conversation was taking. She knew he thought he hadn't been planning on it, but she'd also observed a subconscious belief that Tim would fail. And while it was quite likely that he wasn't even aware of this belief, indeed, she knew that subconsciously he never really quite believed anyone would succeed…it was why he was such a control freak…she also knew it existed and that Tim was smart enough to recognize it…though dumb enough to consider it a threat.

"Well, he still thinks you were. So if he sees you he'll think that's why you're there. To stop him. And…" she hesitated. This wasn't really important to the task of finding Tim…but it may be of assistance once they met up with him. "You realize he blames himself?" The look he gave her probably proclaimed her an idiot for doubting that fact, but she ignored it. At least in this instance she knew he wasn't implying that she was stupid. "If you take over, he's going to think he failed and…"

"You're not telling me anything I don't already know." She shrugged helplessly.

"Well I told you I already told you everything!" She glared at him as he simply eyed her consideringly.

"If he thinks I'm there to stop him, and he already tricked you so he could work alone, what makes you think he'll accept your appearing in Turkey without any explanation." She opened her mouth to answer but nothing came out. She hadn't thought that far ahead! All she'd known was a deep-seated surety way down in her stomach that Tim was in grave danger. She hadn't thought about the fact that he might try to lose her again.

"Um…" Batman had a bit of a look of smug superiority and she had to restrain herself from an outburst that would surely cause her to get left behind. She knew he was "the world's greatest detective" but he didn't have to rub it in that he'd found the hole in her plan.

"If you can get Tim to trust you again, I'll leave you to handle the situation as you see fit…" she gaped at him. For Batman, this…this…trust was so rare that for a moment she wondered if she'd fallen into a parallel universe or something. "…But…" Oh. Never mind. "You have to promise me you'll alert me if anything…anything comes up. I know Tim's a good detective himself, and I understand his need to finish this case on his own…and, you did well enough against Joker" the admission was grudging, but it warmed her nonetheless, "but I want to be kept informed of every development." She gave a slight nod. In truth, what else could she do but agree? He hesitated, unsure of whether he trusted her agreement or not, then flipped on the engines again, sending them hurtling towards their destination.

"Just remember this, Cassandra," she flinched at the use of her name while in costume…he must really want to catch her attention…after all, he was the one who insisted on absolute immersion into the role one was playing… "I'm holding you responsible. Anything goes wrong…it's on your head."


"My head." Batgirl realized that talking to herself was probably not the best way to go about her task of hunting down Tim without being caught. If nothing else, it had the potential to give away her position…not to mention that she'd heard that people who talked to themselves weren't exactly considered to be in the best mental state. But she couldn't shake the chill that had taken up residence deep within her at Batman's proclamation. Logically, of course he couldn't actually work on the case with Tim, since, as she'd mentioned, Tim wasn't exactly in the most trusting frame of mind at the moment. So it was really the logical choice to have Batgirl find Tim and report back on their progress. The fact that said reporting could end up giving Tim even more reason to mistrust her hadn't seemed to cross his mind…or perhaps he just hadn't cared.

Either way, he had, in effect, given whatever part of her was in charge of self-guilt free range to bring up all those bad feelings again. Anything went wrong it was on her head? In truth, it hadn't quite sounded right at the time. She hadn't ever known Batman to be overly dramatic…not in his speeches to his partners, anyway. Oh, he was controlling, overbearing, and often distrustful of even those closest to him. But one thing he'd never done was shove the blame onto someone else's shoulders. He was much more likely to believe himself responsible for whatever disaster befell them.

So why had he done differently today? The little voice that already blamed her for Tim's dad's death whispered that he had done so because it was, in truth, her fault. But she didn't believe that…not anymore. True, Cain had claimed he had done what he did because of her, but it was obvious that that wasn't the case. After all, Tim had been the target of someone for quite a long time. So why else would Batman blame…

"Ooph!" She had allowed herself to become distracted. She recognized this as her first mistake as she collided with a rather solid-feeling body. Her second mistake was quickly revealed to her as she stepped back to get a better view of the person she'd run into, already tensing in case they were hostile. The mistake in such a movement was that it also allowed the other person to get a good look at her.

"Batgirl?" Her heart sank. This wasn't exactly the way she'd thought to meet up with Tim. She had hoped to have some more time to figure out a plan to make him trust her again.

"Umm…..hi?" Tim tensed up, and she waited for the explosion…but to her surprise nothing happened. She cocked her head to the side. Tim seemed to be torn between something…and she had a feeling it had to do with her…whether or not he was going to ever talk to her again. This might be her one and only chance! "Listen, I have to tell you…" he held up his hand, silencing her, then glanced around.

"Did you see a man come this way? He was about five-eleven, with a dark mustache and…"

"Um…no." He seemed exasperated at her answer…rather than at her…which just didn't make any sense. "I wanted to tell you that I…"

"Never mind." He turned away…more from preoccupation than from irritation at her. She crossed her arms impatiently.

"No. I have to talk to you!" He glanced at her over his shoulder, then shrugged, apparently unconcerned…but she noticed his face had tensed as she spoke.

"I don't have time for this right now. Maybe later." She bit her lip. Maybe a different approach?

"Can…can I help?" He was surprised. She didn't know why…but something had obviously made him lose faith in her. He'd run from her in Gotham and now her offer of assistance was met with confusion.

"Why?" She sighed.

"What do you mean, why? We were s'posed to be working together all along! Why'd you…" she broke off, not wanting to betray her pain at his mistrust of her.

"Why'd I what?" She shrugged. "You mean, why'd I send you off on a wild goose chase back in Gotham?" She was glad her cowl covered the red flush she felt staining her cheeks. His voice had been so…so unlike him. Sneering. Bitter. And more than a little smug at having outwitted her. "Maybe the question that should be asked is why I had to lose you in the first place?" He advanced towards her, his barely contained rage making her back away warily. "You said you trusted me! You lied! You lied to me!" She winced as his voice raised to a shout.

"I didn't…"

"Right. Sure. Whatever." He made a dismissive motion with his hand. "See ya." He strode away and she realized she had to act quickly. He probably had no idea what hit him, but within seconds he was pinned down, Batgirl straddling his back, holding his arms down so he couldn't fight back.

"I did not lie. I didn't. I wouldn't…I couldn't! You left me out! I was just trying to help!" She couldn't tell if her words were getting through, but he'd ceased his struggles. She repeated, quieter, "I just wanted to help."

"Mmphmmmuummmph!"

"What?" He struggled again and she eased up enough for him to raise his head.

"I said… 'let me up'!" She hesitated, then complied. He sat up, rubbing his neck, and shot her a look she couldn't interpret. She eyed him warily, only to realize he was doing the same to her. Embarrassed, she looked away.

"I don't believe you." It was worse than any punch she'd ever received. Worse, even, than the bullets Cain had ruthlessly shot into her when she was a child. There was no argument she could make that would make her believe her again if he'd made up his mind.

"Oh…uh…ok." She started to rise, but his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

"I've seen you. I know…I know what you're capable of." If possible, she felt worse. Like her insides were being frozen. She yanked her hand back, standing and backing away from him. He stood as well. She felt as if the world was dropping away from her…that nothing existed anymore except the two of them and the horrible accusations he was hurling at her. A loud rushing noise in her head drowned out his next few words, but she caught the tail end, "…honestly think I'm going to fall for that?" Something within her snapped and she lunged, grabbing the front of his shirt and slamming him back against the wall.

"Yes! Yes I expect you to 'fall for it'…to believe me! We're supposed to be friends! Friends don't lie to each other! Friends don't turn their backs on one another! And friends certainly don't throw past mistakes back into friend's faces!" She dropped him, and he slid to the ground, a dazed look on his face. She had nearly reached the end of the alley when she heard a small voice.

"I…I'm sorry." She stopped in her tracks, chest heaving with chocking breaths, trying not to let the tears fall. She refused to turn around. "Cass, I'm…I'm really sorry. I didn't…I…" She closed her eyes against his plea, not wanting to give in. Not wanting to find out it was some kind of trick. "Please? I…I need your help." She snorted in disbelief, then made the mistake of glancing back at him. He had made no attempt to rise. His face was pale, and there was a defeated slump to his shoulders. A lock of his dark hair fell across his face, shadowing it so she couldn't quite make out his expression. But then, she didn't need to.

"Why? Why didn't you trust me?" Her voice was a mere whisper, the question having slipped out without conscious thought, but… she had to know. His body shook a little.

"I…I did…but you were following me and I…" he looked up, his eyes haunted. "I think there's something wrong with me." He sounded so lost, that she found herself next to him on the ground, arms around his shoulders, before she knew it.

"It's ok…"
"No. It's not." He shivered. "I…I haven't been myself lately… I yell at people, push them away…don't trust anyone…but especially the ones closest to me. I keep thinking they're all out to get me. No, not like that," she had stiffened at his words, "but like…that they don't trust me to do the right thing." She couldn't answer…she herself had had similar suspicions about Batman's belief in Tim. "And…I don't know. I feel like… like..." He sighed, at a loss for words.

"Like if you keep them away from you they can't get hurt?" He met her eyes for the first time in surprise and nodded. She looked away. She could remember feeling that same way…though in her case not only would they "get hurt"…she had feared that she would be the one to do it…to kill those close to her. It had taken a long time to get past that.

"But…I shouldn't have said those things tonight." She started to answer, but he continued over her protest. "I didn't mean them. I just wanted you to go away. And…part of me did think you had stopped trusting me…after all, you were sneaking around following me. And then when you said you 'couldn't' lie…well, I knew that wasn't true and I guess I just…" She was staring at him strangely. "What?"

"I…" She swallowed, then cleared her throat nervously. "I wasn't saying I couldn't lie. Not in general. Just…not to you." He stared at her for a second, all sorts of things falling into place in his head. He reached out a hand to cup her cheek.

"Cass…I…" a commotion at the end of the alley cut him off. "What the…" but before either of them had a chance to move, dark figures swarmed around them. Batgirl managed to get in a few good hits, but Tim's head was still spinning from being knocked against the wall, and he didn't even make it to his feet before the figures overpowered him. Batgirl, distracted by his predicament, received a nasty whack on the head with a wicked looking club. The bludgeon-wielding figure turned to Tim next. Tim managed to glimpse a heavy ring on one of the attacker's fingers before a sharp, piercing pain sent him into blackness.


To be continued…