A/N: Thanks to my beta, bluejaybirdie! More is coming soon, I'm almost done with chapter six!

Chapter 3: Gotham in the Groove

"I would sometimes sneak to this side of Gotham when I was ten. If you think about it, I was developing my superhero skills even then. It was the nice side, y'know? I hardly ever got to hang there," Steph sighed nostalgically, swinging her legs off the side of the rooftop and letting the hard soles of her boots bump against the window ledge below as she sat. The bright and shiny expanse of the Gotham of years past rolled out below her. "But people could always tell I didn't belong somehow. It's weird to think I'm out there somewhere, either at school or stuck at home taking care of Mom. What do you think you're doing right now?"

Cass crouched down beside Steph, her forehead creased in thought. "Dunno. Eating rats or beating up a, uh, rapp…raperis…"

"Rapist," Steph cut in dejectedly. "Right. Well, enough with the happy memories. What's important is what Babs is doing right now, which is sleeping in her bedroom, probably because she was up late kicking ass." She flicked her thumb towards the apartment next to the building they were perched on in. Cass had performed some quick recon and confirmed the sleeping redhead was inside. "We know Time Lapse will come for her. We just have to stick close to her and we'll find him, and you can beat him up until he begs for sweet release. Then we'll figure out a way to fix this mess. Maybe our villain will know where Rip Hunter is hangin'. Or Booster Gold. Or some magic-y person who can fix all this."

Cass slid from a crouch to a seated position, staring curiously at Steph. "You're…confident."

"I am?" Steph raised her eyebrows.

Cass nodded and she smiled faintly. "In charge. You're…happy."

"Happy?" Steph snorted. "Cass, we're stranded in time with the threat of Armageddon looming. I'm not happy."

"You are," Cass said with utter certainty. "You're…the way you…" Cass moved her hands in a graceful sort of way. "It's more you…than ever. Comfortable."

Steph hesitated. "I guess…back home…I do feel more…accepted. A little."

Cass nodded. "Yeah. That's, uh…I'm glad."

Steph managed a shaky smile. "Thanks." She looked at her boots and spoke to them, not wanting Cass to see her eyes. "Cass, don't you…aren't you worried about what happens to you in the future? At all?"

She glanced up and saw Cass shrug. "I never…worry about that. I guess that's…weird?"

"Not so much weird as…" Steph paused for a moment, "sad, Cass. I worry about you, even if you don't. I mean, even right now. You're being pretty…emotionally expressive. It's out of the ordinary."

Cass looked up at Steph, and Steph was taken aback to see deep sadness in eyes that were usually inscrutable. "You…were the only…person I was ever...the way we're… talking now, like this …I had some people…who started to be friends…but now they're…" She looked down, her eyes shiny and wet. Her next words struggled to come out. "I…missed…you."

Hesitantly, Stephanie reached out to lay her hand gently on Cassandra's shoulder, then slipped a comforting arm around it. "I missed you too."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the streets, Stephanie feeling like her throat was permanently blocked up. She was finally beginning to regain her composure when Cass suddenly started. Steph almost leapt off the building in panic.

"What is it? Time Lapse?"

"No…" Cass said, squinting down at the street. "It's…Tim."

"Tim? Here? I don't see…oh my God."

Stephanie's eyes fastened on the short and scrawny black haired boy. He was reading a very thick and official-looking book while he walked a. It wasn't helping his coordination any, as and he weaved randomly on the sidewalk, occasionally tripping up a little. A man a few feet ahead of him who Steph instantly recognized as a younger Jack Drake turned around and yelled at him to hurry up. A woman with soft blonde hair put her hand on her hip and punched hit Jack in the shoulder gently, chiding him for being impatient.

"Oh God, I think that's his mom. She's really pretty," Steph whispered. "I think she has his eyes. He told me she would walk too fast and…"

She fell silent, watching Tim again. He had closed the book now, and was running to catch up with his parents, bounding over sidewalk cracks and laughing at something his mom had said.

"He's so…" Steph trailed off.

Cass looked at her suspiciously. "You're not…no, you're not," the Asian girl said with immediate relief.

Steph flushed. "Of course I'm not! God, I can't believe you think I would perv on my pre-teen boyfriend…It's just…" she sighed a little wistfully. "It's… he seems so completely happy…and innocent."

Cass looked down at him and nodded. "He is."

"To see what he was like…before…it makes you want to…"

"Change things," Cass finished for her. Steph glanced at her guiltily.

"You want to, uh, follow him…for a little longer." Cass pointed out as her friend sadly watched the boy below passing under them. "S'okay. I can…uh, watch Babs."

"I shouldn't…it's weird, right? But it is really interesting to see everyone when they were younger, so maybe just down the street…"

"Go ahead," Cass urged.

That was all the encouragement Steph needed. She bounded across the rooftops after the Drakes. Little Tim was diligently reading his book again, Steph could see his little head bobbing in time with the words. She wondered what kind of book he was reading. It was probably some sort of gaming manual. Tim was such a geek…

Suddenly, a yellow suited man seemed to materialize out of nowhere. He approached the Drakes menacingly. They halted in shock at the sight of him, Tim dropping his book in goggle-eyed amazement. Time Lapse looked up deliberately, locking eyes with Stephanie on her perch at the rooftop. He raised a gun, pointed it at the Drakes, and winked at her.

Stephanie took out her batarang and threw it in one fluid motion. Even she was surprised by how quickly she did this. It was an instinctual reaction, like screaming or running. She threw the weapon so hard that it actually stuck in the villain's wrist. As always, he didn't seem hurt at all, but the force of the hit jarred his hand enough that he dropped the gun. He easily dodged the batarang headed for his skull a split second later with a backwards skip. With another roguish wink directed at his nemesis, he vanished into thin air. Somehow, his voice carried on the wind, over to her, only to her, a soft whisper that said "I'm going to kill you all. Then I'm going to kill Batman in his little Bat-crib so no traces of any of you will ever come to be."

Even in shock, Tim didn't miss the direction the flying projectile had come from. He whipped his head around, catching sight of Steph as she shrank into the shadows to swing away. "It was Batgirl! Batgirl saved us!" Tim waved spastically in her direction. "Thanks, Batgirl!"

Steph flashed him a thumbs up, though she doubted he could see it from so far away. Hopefully he also couldn't see that she wasn't a redhead. She left the Drake family behind, dashing back to Cass.

She met her halfway. The other girl had clearly heard the commotion.

"Time Lapse showed up," Steph explained breathlessly. "He wants us to know he's here, he wanted me to see him. It's no coincidence the Drakes were—" Steph trailed off, trying to get her head together. "He was mocking me. He wants to kill us, and then Bruce when he's a baby."

"Should we go after him?"

"I didn't see where he went. Besides, that's probably what he wants."

Cass nodded. "Stay with Babs."

"Yeah, no way he's not coming after her," Steph agreed. "We just need to resume our post."

Their post-resuming lasted all day. It appeared to be Babs' day off, and she spent most of it sleeping and playing around on her computer. Steph wondered who she had fought last night that made her so tired. She amused herself by conjecturing everything from a mind-controlled Wonder Woman to Darkseid. Finally, that time of night struck and Babs jumped out her window in all her yellow and black glory.

"We shouldn't let her know we're here," Steph whispered. "It could be, like, a complete paradox if she met us. We just need to watch her back."

Cass gave a sharp nod, pulling on her mask.

It was very weird to see Babs moving through Gotham like this. She was small and agile, bounding from building to building like she owned the city. There was a skip in her step and a constant, slight smile on her face. Her hair danced like flames around her face, and she occasionally seemed to dance with it, doing a twirl or two for fun as she leapt. But Steph could see definite shades of the Babs she knew as well, in the steely eyes that surveyed the city, the senses that were always on high alert, the teeth gritted in concentration and thought. In fact, Babs was so on the ball, Steph was worried she would spot she was being followed. There was no chance of Cass ever being noticed, but wasn't quite so confident she could outsneak the original Batgirl. Fortunately, doing what Cassandra did seemed to shield her.

Babs appeared to have a destination, rather than being on just an aimless search for crime. Soon she was surveying a building Steph recognized as the recently abandoned dentist facility that would be torn down and replaced with Tim's favorite burger joint in a couple of years.

Babs pulled out a small computer-like device—it looked ridiculously advanced for the technology of the time, and Steph was willing bet Babs had made it herself. She punched something in and then, with a satisfied smirk, stored the thing back in her utility belt and strolled casually towards the dusty blue door of the empty building.

An army of thugs seemed to appear out of thin air, sliding from every nook and cranny the street had to offer. Babs didn't seem startled, as she cracked her knuckles like she'd been expecting them and set to work.

It was interesting to watch her fight. She wasn't as good as Cass, of course, and she wasn't as good with her upper body as she would be in later years, but she fought creatively and with her brain more than anything. She was fond of doing things like making the thugs run into each other, using their force and weight against them in every way possible, and using her grapple line as a trap, tripwire, garrote and pulley all in one.

But there were so many of them…Steph could tell it was more than Babs had expected. The senior Batgirl seemed to be in dire need of a breather as she fought relentlessly, looking around for a break in the action. Beside her, Steph felt Cass move forward slightly, desperate to help.

"We shouldn't let her see us," Steph whispered. "You and I know each other, so us meeting is one thing—but she doesn't know us yet. Meeting us could really screw things up for her. We can only help if there's an emergency."

Cass nodded reluctantly and turned her attention back to the fight. Amazingly, Babs seemed to have taken her little computer thing out. She pressed a few buttons and set it back in, quick as the Flash, all while still dodging a couple of the few remaining thugs. But the distraction cost Babs—a henchman leveled a gun at her from behind as she busied herself with his fellows once more.

But before he could even begin to squeeze the trigger, the gun was knocked out of his hand by a lightning fast batarang from Cass.

"Ca—!" Steph began, but before she could even finish her exclamation, the other girl had jumped into the fray below, determined to help Babs.

"Couldn't expect anything less," Steph muttered with a smile, and she dove in after her friend.

With the two of them involved, the fight was done in a matter of seconds.

"Who," Babs panted from the middle of the pile of unconscious bodies, "are you?"

"Er…" Steph tried desperately to figure out what to say, dusting her costume off.

Babs put her hands on her hips, scanning over Cass's unusual ensemble with her eyebrow raised, and then settling on Steph. From the way her lip quirked, Steph could tell her future mentor recognized her own influence in the getup. "Or do I even want to know? Are you more copycats of Batman or something? Geez, we really will need a bigger place…"

"No! I mean…we're…really part of YOUR legacy…" Steph struggled.

"My—?" Babs flushed slightly. "You're copycatting me? Wow…I mean, I'm flattered, but…" she said as she ran her hands through her red hair with a grin.

"Not copycatting…" Steph looked desperately at Cass, who shrugged as if to say might as well tell her. That was Cass. She wasn't taking this time travel thing seriously at all. Hell, she probably thought the Butterfly Effect was one of Gotham's lamer villains.

Oh well. No choice now. And as Cass herself had said, since when had Steph ever cared about rules?

"Okay, this is going to sound…weird. But we're your…we're the second and third Batgirl, respectively…from the future. You, uh, trained us. In the future."

Babs let out a truly impressive snort. "You expect me to believe I train people in the future? I couldn't train a rat."

"Well, I've heard that's pretty difficult," Steph said sympathetically. Cass shot her a warning look. "But also not the point! The point is, we know it's weird, but believe us. We are from the future, chasing a dangerous time traveling villain who totally hates all Batgirls, but especially you. We need your know-how."

Babs looked very unconvinced. "Did Robin put you up to this? Because I swear to God, I told him after that bird incident I'm going to come down on him like—"

"We don't need to hear about you coming down on Dick—I mean…Oh God—" Steph stammered as Babs blanched. "I didn't mean it like that. I know it sounds like I did—"

"You know Robin's name?" Babs bleated.

"Oh, that. I mean, yes we do!" Steph looked excitedly at Cass, who was in full bored and impatient mode now. "This is it! Yes, we do know everything, because we are from the future. For instance, Batman is Bruce Wayne and you are Barbara Gordon. You are a total geek for computers and you have a crush on Dick Grayson, and possibly a bigger crush on Black Canary And, uh…"

"One…of your… first missions as Batgirl," Cass interrupted steadily. "You stopped a bomb….only…no idea what you were doing…so you just guessed…which wire." Cass locked eyes with the shocked redhead. "You told me that. Training."

Babs made a little choking sound. "Uck…mind readers?"

"Gotham's Razor, Babs. The simplest explanation is the most likely, you're always saying that. And the simplest explanation is that we're telling the truth," Steph said impatiently.

Babs stared at her. "Occam's."

"What?"

"Occam's Razor, is what you meant."

"Oh. I guess you can call it that too."

"This is just…" Babs stumbled slightly, pale and swaying, Cass instinctively was by her side to catch her. "I…I believe you, but…time travel…I…that's the kind of stuff the JLA deals with, not me."

"You're JLA material, Babs," Steph said brightly. "Today and in years to come."

"Me, leaving a legacy, me training recruits? I mean look at you," Babs focused on Cass, who was still there ready to hold her steady, a dark shadow with glinting eyes. "You're scary."

Cass considered this. "Thanks."

"No offense, I mean, I just can't see myself…and you…" Babs was looking at Steph now. "You're…"

"A total ditz compared to you, I know," Steph mumbled, wilting.

"No! You're just...bubbly," Babs said quickly. "I mean, the idea of future Batgirls…someone wanting to emulate what I'm doing…I mean, this isn't something I ever planned on doing forever. Just…until Dad wised up about the cop thing, or the FBI…"

"Well, you won't be doing it forever, hence us," Steph said, casually skipping over bits of unnecessary truth. "But unless you help us catch this time warp villain and get back where we belong, we'll be around confusing you until you retire."

"Okay, I'll help. Always be up for new experiences, my Dad would say, and this is definitely new," Babs gave an assured nod. She edged away from Cass slightly as she did so. Though only someone close to Cass would be able to spot it, Steph could see from a slight slouch that her friend's feelings were hurt by the small movement, and she frowned. It was true that Cass took getting used to, but she would have expected a younger Babs to be a little more accepting than your average Tim Drake.

"Well, that's great," Steph replied, trying to cut through the awkwardness. "Awesome. Now we've got our brains, brawn and, uh, me. Time Lapse won't know what hit him, assuming he's not watching us right now. So once we cart these purple fellas off to jail, we'll get going on getting back."

"Purp—Oh God!" Babs cried, nearly shattering the computer she was holding as her eyes jerked down to the screen once more. "My trap! I only have—I need to be in position—I'll be right back…if I yell…" she trailed off, dashing into the abandoned dentist building.

"Ohhhkay. Glad to know Young Babs is as much a weirdo as Old Babs," Steph shrugged.

"I scare her," Cass stated.

"Babs isn't scared of anything," Steph tried to assure her friend. "She just needs to get used to us."

Cass shrugged disbelievingly and Steph bit her lip. They didn't have long to be awkward, though, as a massive crash sounded from where Babs had gone, making both girls jump.

"We should—" Steph began to say, but Cass was already running toward the building. Steph pumped her legs into overdrive to follow, but before Cass had even reached the entrance to the building, Babs popped out.

"What the hell were you—?" Steph began to demand, but she stopped dead when she saw who Babs was dragging along behind her.

An unconscious Joker.

"What the hell," Steph repeated as Babs laid the man down and very cautiously began to truss him up. Cass looked equally flummoxed, keeping an eye on the villain as if to make sure he didn't suddenly explode or something.

"Brilliant, right? This is the best thing I've ever done," Babs said happily.

"How—"

Babs waved her tiny computer as Cass leaned down to help her search and restrain him. "That's what this was for. This was pure luck, I tell you. Last night, I happened to see some of his goons casing out the place as a new hide out. I recognized them from Batman's files. So I decided to set a trap. This place still has a working security system, and it was child's play to hack into it. I turned this place against him so I could take him out without a laying a finger on him…set up a signal jammer too, so he wouldn't be able to be contacted. I knew there would be thugs on watch and I planned to take them out at the set time—just had no idea there would be this many," she gestured at the large group they'd dispatched. "I don't know what's with that. But it worked out anyway, and the Joker is back in Arkham before he can hurt anybody."

Steph marveled. This was a pre-Oracle Oracle—she hadn't gotten the idea to expand her scope beyond Gotham yet, beyond one person at a time—that was sadly something that wouldn't occur to her until tragedy forced her to focus—but she was still incredibly pragmatic, forward thinking, and able to take out the world's most dangerous villains with nothing but a her brain and a computer. Babs has always been able to do this.

The Joker was stirring slightly though. Steph felt a little scared, she had only been in the room with the man once before and he'd been almost dead at the time. But Cass was here, and Babs was here, and he was restrained in every way possible. She tried to resist tensing up.

"Don't worry," Cass muttered automatically in her direction. Steph flushed. She hated how Cass could read her sometimes.

Babs nodded. "He shouldn't even be able to move or even think too clearly. I've got more drugs ready too." She patted her utility belt as Cass hoisted him up. "I just need to question him quickly, make sure there's no master plan in motion we don't know about and then it's back to the cardboard prison for him."

It was very weird to see Babs interacting with and talking about the Joker so casually. He wasn't personal to her at all. But he felt personal to Steph. She itched to kick him in the teeth for the pain he would cause in the future. She could tell Cass was having difficulty too from the way her hands clenched around the jesters thin shoulders.

The white faced clown opened his shocking green eyes blearily. He didn't seem surprised about the two other women being there, which automatically put Steph on edge.

"Lapsy was right…the future ain't that impressive," he mumbled, looking at the tense Steph in mild amusement.

She felt like an ice cold hand had closed around her throat. Even Cass was visibly surprised, loosening her grip on the Clown Prince a little, black eyes wide.

"You've…met up with Time Lapse?"

The Joker let out a chilling cackle, one a heavily drugged person should not have been able to manage, head thrown back, white teeth flashing.

Steph saw Babs wince suddenly, putting her hand to her stomach, stumbling and unsure on her legs for a split second. Cass's eyes glazed over briefly, glassy, distant and malevolent, her fingers fluttering up to her neck as if she had received a painful injection there. Steph, for one instant, heard screams and gunshots around her, and in the next felt the hot sun of the African desert. Looking up, she saw bits of future buildings flashing through the ones around her- the bright red Burger Stop sign blaring briefly on top of the crumbly old dentist's office, the pristine street sprouting a pothole that shouldn't have arrived yet. It all lasted for only a minute, then everything was back the way it was—except for the Joker's unceasing laughter and the chill Steph now had down her spine.

"Shit," she said, her mouth dry. "Time's breaking down."