Chapter Nine: Girl Talk and Hunting

(AN: Batman is not mine)

Blue-Jay sat silently on the consol near Batgirl for a while, before Batgirl decided that, since Blue-Jay wasn't likely to start a conversation, she might as well try.

"So, where did you learn how to fight so well?" Blue-Jay looked at her, one eyebrow raised. "Okay then, let's try another topic, shall we?" Batgirl said, realizing that her question wasn't one Blue-Jay was going to answer. "How did you get in here?" "I snuck in." Batgirl rolled her eyes but didn't push it.

Finally, Batgirl asked the question that had been bugging her for a while now. "Why are you always arguing with Batman every time you two meet?" Blue-Jay frowned at her, but it wasn't because she didn't like the question, it was because she was thinking of what to say.

After a few moments, Blue-Jay finally spoke. "I guess you could say that I don't like being bossed around or treated like a kid sometimes. Batman knows I'm a competent fighter, but he continually tries to keep tabs on me. I mean" she jumped down from the consol "if I was his sidekick, then I would understand him wanting to keep track of me, but I'm not his sidekick, despite what the rest of Gotham might think."

Batgirl gave the girl a small smile "I know where you're coming from, he knew my identity long before I knew his, my guess is that he doesn't like the feeling of not being in control. This is, after all, his city." "Yes, it is his city, and mine and yours and Nightwing's and Robins. He doesn't own it!" "Try telling him that." "Like I would bother." The two girls shared a small smile, and Batgirl couldn't help but begin to like the younger girl.

Batman and Robin both kept a sharp look out as they drove around Gotham, but they found nothing, and Batgirl couldn't find anything that was of any help either. Bane's trail had gone completely cold.

"What do we do now?" Robin asked, after several hours of searching had turned up nothing. Batman was quiet for a few moments, before saying "As much as she will dislike the idea, Blue-Jay will have to stay around us, she can't go out on her own anymore. It's too risky, Bane knows she normally works alone or just with you, and if he were to catch her that would be the end."

Robin stared at him for a few moments before saying "Blue-Jay is not going to take that well, or without a fight." Batman nodded shortly, having the feeling that the boy was more right than they were expecting.

"NO!" Blue-Jay snarled at Batman. He and Robin had returned to the cave near dawn, having not found the slightest trace of Bane. She was not very happy about that, but when Batman had basically told her that she either went out with him and Robin or she didn't go out at all, she had not been pleased.

Robin and Batgirl watched the two from the sidelines as they both glared at each other, almost as if each were trying to stare the other out of existence or burn them to a crisp somehow.

Batman glowered at her "You don't have a choice! He'll kill you if he catches you alone!" "I won't let him catch me!" "He might not do it himself!" Batman roared "He knows you would spot him a mile away! He'll likely send someone else to catch you for him!" "Like that would help him get his reputation back!"

It was like watching a tennis match, the two players shooting back and forth at each other, and the spectators looking from one to the other and back again as the figurative 'ball' was slammed from one half of the court to the other.

"I will not be dragged around on a leash!" the girl hissed at the man, the venom in her voice rather startling, but Batman didn't flinch "I'm not trying to put a choke collar around your neck, for god's sake! Once we catch Bane, then you can go out on your own again, but until then you will be working with us, understand!" Blue-Jay opened her mouth to shoot something back, when Robin, who now had a crick in his neck from turning it so much, broke in. "Blue-Jay, please." She turned to look at him, "I know you don't like the idea of not having as much freedom as you are use to, but it won't be forever, just until we catch Bane. It might be a while, but limited freedom is better than being killed."

Robin looked at Blue-Jay and cocked his head, taking advantage of the soft spot he knew she had for him. It worked. Blue-Jay sighed and said "Fine, but only until we catch Bane."

Batgirl looked at the younger girl, amazed. She gone from pleasant, while she and Batgirl had been talking, to hostile and venomous while arguing with Batman, and then to calmer and more passive when Robin had made his request. It was like she could turn her temper on and off whenever she wanted to.

RJ flopped down on her bed and stared at the ceiling, exhausted but unable to sleep. This was not how she had wanted it to go. She had wanted Batman and Robin to go out, catch Bane right away and then have everything go back to 'normal'.

But it seemed that Bane had calculated his plan more than the average criminal would, but that made sense, as he wasn't quite average.

RJ suddenly remembered one night, about three months ago now, when she and Robin were patrolling the outskirts of the east side of Gotham.

Flashback

"Hey, BJ?" Robin asked, he was the only one who was allowed to call her BJ, he had picked it out not long after they had started patrolling together. She looked at her friend "Yes?" "Can I ask you something?" "You just did, but sure." he smiled slightly before speaking again. "How is it you were able to beat Bane? I know you are a great fighter, but still, it's hard for Batman to fight him!" She paused for a moment, thinking about her answer, before speaking again. "Luck, Robin, luck, that was all that allowed me to defeat Bane. He underestimated me once and it cost him everything, he will not do so again."

End Flashback

It was true, it had been sheer luck that Bane had underestimated her, if he had not, he would have killed her with ease. RJ sighed, and closed her eyes.

She began to breathe deeply, clearing her mind of all thought before allowing herself to drift off to sleep. She had been meditating before bed almost every night since that night in the old asylum, it was the only thing that could help keep the nightmares away.

The memory of that night had been eating at her for a long time, and RJ knew that Blue-Jay would have to go back to that hell hole and face that nightmare once and for all. She somehow knew that, if she didn't, she would eventually go mad.

She wondered how Batman put up with it, with everything he saw and went through. He couldn't just box it all away inside, that would drive him insane overnight. But fighting on the streets would get rid of most of it, she supposed, just not all of it. What did he do with the rest? Maybe she would ask him one night, as they would be working together.

RJ smirked at that last thought. 'Ask him? Yah, right!' that was her last thought before everything left her mind, and she fell asleep.

(Review please)

(AN: Sorry it took me a little while to update, but I had finals. Finals are EVIL! But now there over, thank the lord, and I will be able to write, hopefully, without interruption. Thank you for being patient with me.)