Chapter Sixteen: A trick of the light

(Batman is not mine!)

She had been so deep in thought that she jumped slightly when the cockpit glass slid back to reveal Batman. "Finished?" he nodded as he jumped into the pilots chair in front of her.

For the first few moments in the air neither spoke, then Blue-Jay said "Sorry about that." Her voice was quiet but she was sure that he had heard her. Neither of the spoke for the remainder of the flight.

Blue-Jay didn't say anything as she got out of the jet and headed for where Robin was standing, in front of the Bat computer. He turned to look at her as she reached him and frowned "Are you alright?" he asked, sounding worried.

She nodded and said, softly "I'll be fine." Robin looked skeptical but didn't push her for more, merely wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her a little closer to him.

Batman frowned slightly. He could tell that this gesture was more one meant to comfort than one with romantic implications, but he still felt that Robin was not putting himself in a good position regarding the two teen girls in his life. He could tell that the boy cared deeply for them both but, in the end; he would only be able to have one of them. It was not going to be an easy choice, especially when both Blue-Jay and RJ cared for Tim so much in return. As much as the boy wanted it to happen, the two girls could not simply turn into one girl by a trick of the light.

Or could they?

This thought caused Batman to think of something that he hadn't before. If he disregarded the time at the concert where he had seen the two girls in the same place at the same time, there was absolutely nothing that said that Blue-Jay and RJ were not the same girl. That would explain how she could afford to be Blue-Jay, and if Robin knew about this it would also account for his lack of caution concerning the two separate romances developing in his life.

Batman walked over to the computer and said to the two "It's late, you two need your rest." They looked at him oddly. "You need more sleep than I do, and Blue-Jay," he turned to look directly at the girl who had opened her mouth to argue "You've been patrolling with us every night, don't think that I haven't noticed just how little sleep you have been getting. Go home."

The girl was obviously still intent on arguing, but unfortunately for her she was unable to suppress the yawn that came from her mouth instead of words. Knowing that she had lost the dispute she didn't bother to start it, instead nodding, giving Robin a small hug and walking off into the darkness of the back of the cave.

Only moments later Robin lost his own battle with tiredness and went upstairs yawning as well.

The moment he was sure that both bird wonders were out of sight and hearing distance, Batman sat down at the computer and brought up the file of everything he had on and from Blue-Jay. Nightwing sat in a side chair, glowering at the picture of the girl that was now up on the screen beside the incomplete profile.

From the time she had first appeared to the present, the only real information that they had managed to acquire on Blue-Jay was her skin and hair color, an approximate level of training, height, weight and estimated age, Batman had put her age at sixteen, the same age as Robin and RJ.

There were several other slots for other information such as place of birth, real name and motive, all of which were blank, but there was also a space that was labeled Possible Identities. That space was currently blank, but as Nightwing watched, Batman typed in the only name that had ever occupied that particular space: Robyn Jayvanya Falcon.

Nightwing pulled his feet off of the console that they had been resting on and sat up straight. "But how could that be possible? We all saw them together at the concert!"

"We saw Blue-Jay and someone who looked like RJ together at the concert." Batman said. "But imagine that none of us had seen RJ after she got separated from you in the rush to get out." He hit a button on the keyboard and a photo of RJ came up, the girls were the same size, body type, approximate age and weight and both had an unusual love for birds. "Nothing we know says that they are not the same girl."

Suddenly Nightwing leaned forwards and over the keyboard, brushing Batman's hands aside as he typed in a command. He brought up the video feed from one of the undamaged security cameras from the theater the night of Cassidy's' concert and ran it forwards until it got to the point where RJ came back through the doors, it was then that he paused it, freezing the girl in the frame. He looked at it closely for a few moments before turning to his elder and saying "Does this picture look a little off color to you?" Batman looked and saw that Nightwing was right; RJ's hair was less blond and more white than it should have been, even on film.

"It could just be the lighting." He said, but then he got another idea. In their photos, Blue-Jay and RJ had the exact same hair color, which ment that Blue-Jays hair would be the same colorless shade as RJs' under the same lighting conditions. He went forwards to where Blue-Jay was standing directly beside RJ and was in the motion of pushing her back outside. The color was different. Blue-Jays hair was still blond while RJ's was not, even under the same light, that meant that either RJ had stopped to bleach her hair while she was running from the theater, or something else was going on.

"Wait a second." Nightwing reached forwards and went back on the tape to where they were entering the theater. They watched it in regular time for a few moments, and they both saw RJ stumble slightly as she crossed the threshold and put her hand up against the doorframe, despite the fact the Tim had already taken her arm to help steady her. Batman went back and played it again, in slow motion.

As they watched, both he and Nightwing could see that she had deliberately put her hand on the doorframe when she had no reason to. Again, Batman went forwards to the point where RJ had appeared by the door. They watched in slow motion as Blue-Jay pushed the other girl back out, then, as she came back in, they both saw that her hand went back to the exact spot that RJ had put her hand up against the first time that she had come in. It looked as if she was removing something from the frame, but they couldn't see what.

The two men looked at each other for a moment, before Batman went back to a point with both girls in the frame. He zoomed in until the two took up most of the frame. They both stared at it for a second, before Nightwing asked "The cameras from the theater were all replaced about three moths ago, right?" Batman nodded "So they would have picked up the heat signature of all the people as well as the visual, right?" Realizing what Nightwing had in mind, Batman switched on the cameras infrared filter.

After a moment the screen turned red and Blue-Jay was replaced by a human-shaped image of white light, showing the heat that her body was giving off. RJ, on the other hand, had vanished completely. That meant that she had had no heat signature, and as all living humans must have a heat signature that could only mean one thing: she had been a hologram.

The two men looked from the screen to each other and then back to the screen. Neither said a word.

Finally, Nightwing spoke "So, RJ Falcon and Blue-Jay are the same girl after all."

Batman nodded, saying "Without a doubt, and I'm positive that Robin has known for a while, possibly from the beginning."

Comprehension came onto Nightwings face "So that's why he wasn't anxious about seeing both Blue-Jay and RJ, he knew that they were the same girl from the start!" Batman nodded again "And that's why Blue-Jay never got on Robins case about RJ," the Aerial Avenger continued "She wasn't confident that he would choose her over RJshe knew that he knew both of her identities'!"

"Robin must know everything." Batman said as he typed the newly discovered information into Blue-Jays' profile, "The location of her hide-out, where the tunnel from the cave is, where she gets all of her equipment, everything."

Once again they were silent, then Nightwing asked "So, do we confront her with the evidence? She can't deny it."

Batman thought for a moment, then said "No, we'll wait until Bane is back behind bars. And besides, there is something else that I have to look into."

Not long after that Nightwing left. After he had departed, Batman pulled up the video file of the night in the asylum that Blue-Jay had given them. He played it several times, watching expressionlessly as the people beneath the glass tore each other apart like things not human. He watched it all the way through three times before he stopped it. He now knew why Blue-Jay had reacted so badly to the dying insect.

The creature may not have been human or even humanoid, but at the end of the tape he had clearly seen that several of the bodies had been twitching in their last death throws, just as the insect had been doing.

Batman was positive that the girl had, for the most part, suppressed the memories of the asylum, but at the sight of the insect's convulsions some of those memories could have re-surfaced, causing her negative reaction. That, along with the fact that she had been captured and nearly killed not long after would not have helped her mental reaction. In fact, Batman was almost positive that she had PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Or was at least in the early stages of it.

Over the last few weeks, Batman had noticed that Blue-Jay seemed to be more tired than normal, even for a vigilantly, also, when she had been alone with him, she had a tendency to remain silent for the entire patrol, only speaking when she had to or when he said or did something that would incite an argument from her. Insomnia and depression were both symptoms of PTSD but it wasn't enough for him to be absolutely sure. He needed to find out if she was having any other symptoms and to find that out he would have to go straight to her.

Without saying anything to anyone, Batman exited Blue-Jays file, stood from his chair and walked over to the Batmobile. A moment later he was zooming out of the cave.

(AN: Please Review!)