A/N: uploading two chapters today because I'm a stickler for superstitions and don't want a week of bad luck from chapter 13.

XXX

I was so surprised when Barbra grabbed my arm and dragged me down the street that I just let her. Stumbling after her, I tried to shake out my sweater, the smell of the coffee making me feel a bit sick. I hated coffee, everything about it, particularly its smell. I partly blamed Alfred for this, thanks to him I'd gained a taste for Earl Grey tea.

A bell rang as Barbra and I entered the small coffee shop. A few tables scattered the brightly lit area, the smell of coffee and pastries made me wrinkle my nose. No one else was there save for the barista who smiled at as when we entered.

"You're back quickly," he said from behind the counter. His messy black hair flopped into his face. "Come back for more already?"

"As if Tony," Barbra snorted. "I'm back because I accidentally spilt Harvey's coffee all over this nice girl."

"How unfortunate," Tony said sympathetically. He turned his attention to me, "Bathrooms are down the hall on your right."

I trudged down to the bathroom before opening the door and letting myself in. I suppose I was fortunate that it was slow, being around too many people would raise the risk of someone recognizing me. I was surprised that Barbra didn't considering she was Commissioner Gordon's daughter, but she seemed scatterbrained enough not to.

Wiping my sweater with a handful of paper towels, I managed to soak up most of the coffee so it was damp instead of soaking. Alas there was nothing I could do about the coffee smell. I was just glad that it hadn't gotten on my jacket.

Walking out of the bathroom, I made my way back to the main room but paused when I heard Barbra and Tony talking about me.

"-just so sad," Barbra was saying. "I mean that poor girl. It was simply barbaric for the Rouges to kidnap her when they did. I mean she was at school for goodness sake!"

"They're Rouges," Tony said with a shrug. "What do you expect? Do you have any leads? You are heading the investigation right?"

"Yeah," Barbra said playing with her hair. "I'm heading the investigation but they're not a lot to go off of. We don't know why they kidnapped her."

"What's Bruce doing about it? I mean, she is his daughter, adopted or no."

"What can he do?" Barbra said with a shrug. "He's currently trying to keep the press away from the case, which has helped us a lot, but besides that, he's not doing much. I think he's just waiting to make a move, or until the Rouges demand a ransom."

I purposely ran into a table as I entered their line of sight.

"Oh!" Barbra said as she and Tony turned to look at me. "Are you ok?"

I nodded and rubbed my hip. Damn I didn't mean to hit the that hard.

"So what can I get you?" Tony asked after a pause.

"Harvey's usual order to go, I guess." Barbra said sounding uninterested. "And maybe something for my companion and I."

"Of course," Tony said, "is that for here or to go?"

"For here," Barbra said, "Harvey can wait ten more minutes or so."

"What would you like to order then?"

"Hmmm... Dark chocolate mocha for me and... What would you like?" Barbra asked, turning to me.

Do you have any tea? I signed towards Tony.

"Ahhh," he gave me a sheepish look. "I don't read sign language sorry."

"Hand her a menu then," Barbra said rolling her eyes.

I took the menu that Tony handed me and scanned it. Only three tea options, a herbal tea, chai tea, and a black tea with a fruity edge. Placing the menu on the counter, I tapped the black tea.

"That one?" he asked. "All righty then. I'll have those two out for you in a jiff."

"Don't forget Harvey's coffee to go," Barbra reminded him.

"Of course, I'll get that too."

I followed Barbra to a take by one of the windows and sat down across from her. She slid into her seat before turning her attention to me, "Now that we got that all out of the way, I believe that I never caught your name."

I expected her to ask me what my name was, but I didn't plan on telling her what it was. I searched my mind for a name I could use as a cover up. I remembered this game that had been a huge hit at school. Doki Doki something or other. I didn't remember the logistics of it, I only remembered some of the characters names.

My name's M-O-N-I-K-A. I spelled out the name because of the weird spelling. I then realized that she couldn't read sign language and silently cursed myself.

"Here," Barbra said, putting her notebook down on the table in front of me with a pen. "Try that."

My name's Monika, I wrote.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Monika," Barbra said with a smile. "I'm really sorry about earlier."

It's really no big deal. I wrote quickly.

"Still," Barbra said, waving a hand. "I feel bad about it. What's someone like you doing out in Gotham by yourself anyways? It's dangerous to be out by yourself."

Only if it's getting dark, I wrote.

"People have been robbed or even kidnapped in the middle of the day." Barbra's face darkened.

That's true, but I can handle myself.

"I'm sure you can," Barbra said, "I can tell your a very capable young woman."

So you're heading the investigation on that girls kidnapping? I had to be very careful on how I approached the subject, but I was also very curious about what had been going on.

"How'd you know that?" Barbra asked, suddenly very guarded.

Like I said, I can read lips.

"Oh," Barbra relaxed. "Sorry, it's just that Bruce doesn't want anything getting out about the kidnapping because of the press. I apologize if I just seemed a bit rude."

It's ok.

"So yeah I'm heading the investigation." Barbra continued. "We don't have much of a lead however. All we know is who did it."

And who was that?

"Scarecrow, Riddler, Catwoman, Two-Face and Harley Quinn."

I put on my best horrified look and Barbra nodded gravely.

"We don't know why they all came together to kidnap Ridley Wayne, and we fear the worst because there were five of them. Any of them could've done it by themselves. Da- er Commissioner Gordon thinks that something bad is going to happen because of it."

Something bad?

"The last time a bunch of villains got together to pull of a crime it was a huge event that endangered all of Gotham." Barbra said. "Do you remember it?"

No, why?

"It was about 11 or 12 years ago." Barbra straightened her sleeves."How old are you?"

18.

"Yeah you would've been 6 then," Barbra mused. "Too young to remember much I guess."

We were interrupted by Tony bringing over our drinks, "Here you go ladies."

He set our drinks in front of us and left a third, which I assumed was for this Harvey person, off to the side.

"Thank you, Tony," Barbra said.

"No problem." Tony said with a smile. He smiled a lot I realized.

"Now where was I?" Barbra asked ask Toy walked away. She sipped her coffee, "Oh yes! I was talking about that crime that happened 12 years ago. Well actually, nobody's quite sure what it was. You could ask five different people and they'd give you five different answers. It was easier for the police to just label it as a huge crime."

I nodded absentmindedly as I took a sip of my tea. It was good, with a hint of a fruity edge to it. Not something I'd thought I'd like.

What was it then if not a huge crime? I wrote, setting down my mug and picking up the pen.

"Dad thought it was some sort of gang war or something of that sort on a large scale."

I ignored the fact that Barbra had stop calling him 'Commissioner Gordon'. It didn't bother me at all.

A gang war?

"Kind of. It's a bit complicated. You see the G.C.P.D. had a sense that there was an unrest within the Rouges, someone back stabbed someone else and whatnot. So it wasn't exactly a gang war, more like a civil war within the Rouges."

She took a swig of her coffee before setting it down and clearing her throat.

"Of course if you ask other people they'll say that it was a war, but not of the usual sort. I heard that Zsasz kidnapped someone who meant something to one of the Rouges, I don't recall which one, or it was just never found out."

I stilled and set my mug down slowly when she mentioned Zsasz. This couldn't be... no this wasn't just a coincidence. That I knew for certain.

"If you go with that theory," Barbra said, completely oblivious to me, she was really getting into her story. "Then the kidnapping of the girl had to deal with a blood feud or something between two Rouges. Penguin and Riddler if I remember correctly. I don't know why they'd have any sort of feud, but anything goes I guess."

Yeah. Anything goes, I thought keeping my face blank.

"The whole thing ended up really being a civil war I guess." Barbra said thoughtfully. "A bunch of Rouges took one side or the other; those supporting Penguin and those supporting Riddler. Of course Zsasz was under Penguins employment at the time but after everything happened he kind of disappeared."

What happened to the girl then? I wrote, hand shaking slightly. This. Could. Not. Be. Happening.

"Nobody really knows." Barbra said sadly. "Of course it's worth noting that Bruce Wayne adopted a little six year old girl not long after."

So you think that the little girl was-

"Ridley?" Barbra asked before I could finish writing.

I nodded, not trusting myself to do anything else.

"I do, and so does Dad. That's why it's important that we find her as soon as possible. If Riddler hands her over to Penguin and Zsasz, because mark my words he's out there somewhere, things will get really bad really quickly."

I took another sip of my tea attempting to steady myself.

"Are you ok Monika?" Barbra furrowed her brow in concern. "You're a bit pale."

Fine. I'm fine, honestly.

"I think I'm upsetting you," Barbra said studying me carefully. "Of course this talk could upset anyone. I'll stop though. But... You said that you were 18, right?"

I drained my mug and nodded.

"Did you go to school with Ridley? I remember going through the list of kids in Ridleys class and I don't remember ever coming across someone named Monkia."

My family moved from Star City two days ago I wrote down, focusing my mind on the task at hand. My sister, I paused. Why they heck did I just make things more complicated for myself?

"Your sister?" Barbra prompted. I didn't like the way she was staring at me.

She got a job here in the city and my parents insisted that we all move here with her.

"That's odd," Barbra remarked. "Why'd they do that?"

My sister, Yuri, has mental health issues. Mom and dad were worried that she'd spiral down the hole if she was left in Gotham for too long by herself.

"That makes sense." Barbra nodded in understanding. "But Yuri's an unusual name."

My dad lived for 15 years in Japan before he met my mom, I wrote, he loved to travel. Once he met mom, he stopped. He always said it was because he couldn't afford to be care free anymore.

Barbra nodded and set her cup aside. This was feeling a lot more like an interrogation than a regular conversation. Being a detective, I was sure that Barbra could sense my nervousness.

Barbra opened her mouth to say something just as a car alarm went off. I flinched on instinct and then cursed my stupidity. I then lept to my feet, following along with what I'd done.

I just remembered that I gotta go, I scribbled quickly on the piece of paper before running out the door.