"How is she?" Bruce nervously asked the hospital nurse as she walked towards him. "Will she be alright?"

The nurse looked at him seriously and kindly all at once. "Her ribs are badly cracked, and the area around her right eye is still a little infected," she announced, "but she'll recover just fine. She's going to make it."

Bruce breathed a sigh of relief before another question popped up. "Will she be able to see out of her eye after it heals, then?"

"Luckily, yes," the nurse replied, "although there will be a nasty scar left over. I don't know how well she'll take that news: you know how teenage girls are about their looks," she added with a small smirk.

The old billionaire also smirked. "I doubt that will be an issue with her. When will she be able to leave?" he inquired further.

"Because of her rapid recovery thus far, as a matter of fact, she can leave in a couple of hours," the nurse answered with a reassuring grin. "Would you like to see her now?"

"It depends on if she wants to be seen," Bruce said modestly.

"Actually, she wanted me to see if you'd be kind enough to see her," the nurse kindly countered.

Wayne was genuinely touched by the mention of the injured girl wanting to see him, but he still kept his concerned demeanor about him. He followed the nurse out of the waiting room and allowed her to lead him to the room Coba was staying in. Even though Coba was in a hospital bed with some bandages over her eye, Bruce noticed that she was looking a lot better than she had two hours earlier when Terry brought her pale, unconscious form back to Wayne Manor. Brooklyn smiled at her legal guardian warmly.

"I'll let the two of you talk for a few minutes," said the nurse as she left the room, leaving the door cracked open as she did so.

"How are you feeling?" Bruce asked the teenager.

Coba shrugged at first, immediately feeling the pain in her ribs and wincing. "I was about to say okay, but I guess my ribs still really hurt," she replied through gritted teeth.

Bruce nodded sagely. "I know how that is," he said sympathetically. "I've had some of my ribs cracked while I was still... working," he caught himself, remembering that the door was still barely open.

His young friend chuckled very lightly at the way he said "working." "I'd imagine," she stated. "Having cracked ribs sure seems like an occupational hazard in that business."

"Now that you mention it, it really is," Wayne confessed with a small smile. His features became serious after a moment. "Do you still think that your brother doesn't like you very much?"

Brooklyn thought for a moment, then grinned a little. "I just started noticing the contrary when we were at Wayne-Powers," she explained. "Why I didn't notice before, I don't know." Her grin faded at a sudden realization. "I guess I didn't notice because I didn't think of myself as anything more than a 'useless piece of junk,' like I mentioned the other night. I must've let that image I had of myself blur my vision of what I really am, and what others see me to be."

"What do you think of yourself now?" Bruce asked curiously.

"A girl who just risked her life to help save the world is what I think."

Coba and Bruce looked towards the doorway with in surprise to see Barbara Gordon seating herself in a nearby chair. "Wayne told me everything about that excursion of yours a couple hours ago," the commissioner informed Coba in a harsh tone. "I'm ashamed of you for acting so impulsively..." She softened her tone considerably before continuing. "But at the same time I'm proud of you for doing what you thought to be right, which it was. Even if it was at least a little bit against the law."

"I completely agree with you, Commissioner Gordon," Bruce sided with her , a little smile forming on his face again. He looked at Coba expectantly. "Well, what's your opinion?"

Without stopping to think it over, Coba responded, "A warrior girl trying hard to help and keep her older brother out of trouble."

Bruce smiled bigger. "Not bad at all," he said in admiration. "That's exactly what was going through my mind about you the other night."

Brooklyn grinned at Bruce. A question immediately came to her mind that then came out of her mouth: "What ever happened to Powers, do any of you know?"

Gordon rose her hand halfway up. "Last I heard, he was arrested and due to be in radiation within the hour," she replied sagely. "Even if he does survive the effects of the gas, he won't be in business anymore: we'll be keeping him in prison for the rest of his life if we can. Criminal defense lawyers can nasty creatures to bargain with until their clients are proven guilty, whether they really are or not."

"Well, at least he won't be making more gas any time soon." Coba looked at Bruce curiously. "Where's Terry? Does he know about this?"

"He had to go home," Wayne explained. "His mother would have gotten overly worried if he didn't get back home until past ten o'clock." He grinned darkly. "And yes, he knows about Powers: he's the one who exposed him to his own gas."

"What time is it now?"

"Ten-thirty." Bruce noticed Coba's down-hearted expression. "Don't worry: we'll both be paying him a visit tomorrow at his mother's house."

Coba looked at Bruce quizzically. "Are you crazy? You know Ms. McGinnis won't let me into her home, especially with an eye all patched up!"

Wayne simply grinned. "She'll let you in if I'm with you."

There were no more words spoken to convince Coba, nor were any more words needed. She knew that her wealthy guardian was right: if there was anyone who could persuade Mary McGinnis to let the girl pay a visit, it was billionaire Bruce Wayne.

Barbara looked sternly at Bruce. "I told you to make sure that she didn't take matters into her own hands," she chided. "Keep a better eye on her in the future. I'd hate to find out that she had been killed in action."

"I'd hate to hear it, too," Bruce confessed, "but that's all up to her. I can't talk her out of it: she's witnessed the same pain that I have and then some, and you know very well that no one could talk me out of being Batman. If she doesn't want to continue, then that's the end of it. If she does, then I'll make sure that she gets the training she needs."

"I'm serious, Bruce!" Gordon snapped.

"So am I," Wayne countered. "If she wants to keep going, I'll let her."

"I'll keep doing it," Coba stated. "Even though I was scared half to death most of the time, I had never felt so alive and helpful my entire life." She grinned benignly. "Besides, my leg didn't hurt at all when I wore the suit. Getting around won't be that much of an issue anymore."

"Well, don't wear that suit all of the time," Bruce advised. "You never know if someone will see you wearing it."

"I won't always wear it, but I might make something kind of like it to wear at least on my leg." She yawned suddenly. "Would that be okay?"

"Whatever works out for you," Bruce approved. He turned to look at Barbara. "We'd better leave so Coba can rest a little more," he said to his old friend.

Gordon nodded. "I agree." She turned her attention to the young girl. "Get better, you hear?"

Coba grinned at the commissioner. "I hear ya."

Bruce and Barbara stood up from their seats and left the room. Coba closed her only open eye and relaxed her muscles. There you go, my child, she heard a voice identical to her mother's in her mind as sleep overcame her senses. Your brother and this city need you. You survived cancer and tonight for that reason. Keep fighting the good fight.

Brooklyn then recalled the words both of her parents had each told her at one point: "No matter what happens, I will always be with you." She smiled fondly at the memory. "I know you will be, Mom and Dad," she murmured. "And no matter what happens, I'll remember both of you and honor your memory to the best of my ability."

We know you will do so, my child.

Author's Notes:

Is Bruce Wayne right about Mary letting Coba in if he's with her? Find out next in the epilogue- -yes, the epilogue is next and is the final chapter of the story, and I'm sorry!