The Wayne Enterprises field trip had been spoiled right from the get-go. Stephanie hadn't been able to focus on much of anything, including the famed R&D department.

She was just stuck on that scene of Bruce Wayne and Batgirl.

The same had happened to Harper. Hell, the girl had been in a daze the rest of the trip, causing no trouble at all. She had almost boarded the school bus, she was so out of it, but Mrs. Braun caught her and made it quite clear that the blue-haired girl was not welcomed any longer.

Forced to have to return to school, Stephanie didn't have to wait much longer before heading back to town, heading right for Harper and Cullin's apartment. When she entered, she had found the siblings hunched in front of their computer.

"It's about time you showed up," Harper announced when she turned her head around to look at her. Cullin just gave her a smile and waved before returning back to the screen. "You've got to see this."

Stephanie didn't bother with the rude greeting, instead tossing her backpack to the floor and hurrying over to the siblings. Standing on the opposite side of Cullin, she stared at the monitor and saw some sort of record. The font was small, which explained why Cullin seemed to be squinting at it.

"So what is this?" the blonde girl asked after a moment.

"Well, this is some sort of adoption form," Cullin told her. "And it's has Bruce Wayne's name all over it."

Indeed it did. Though she tried to read it, the font was just too damn small. So she just tried to pick out familiar words and found Bruce Wayne. Further scanning revealed another name.

Cassandra Cain.

So that was Batgirl's real name. Well, scratch that, it looked like she took the Wayne name, so she guessed that made her Cassandra Wayne. At least that meant Mr. Fox wasn't lying about their relationship. Those grooming questions were relievingly shoved aside.

For now.

"So is this it?" she questioned then.

"Aside from finding a lot of corroborating evidence?" Harper replied rhetorically. "Show the girl, Bro."

Cullin minimized the PDF file of the adoption recorder. There were a crap ton of small windows and tabs on search engines, telling Stephanie these had been at this for quite a while. Cullin made one of the windows bigger, revealing a picture. In the picture was a high-scale restaurant, the patio section to be exact. The focus of the picture was on one table in particular, where there were four people seated.

"Gotta love the paparazzi," Cullin remarked. "Even after all these years, they can't resist Wayne." He pointed at one of the people in the picture. "That's Wayne right there." He moved his finger to another person, who looked like they were slumped in their chair next to him. "That looks like your girl."

"I'm certain it's her," Harper interjected.

Staring at the picture, Stephanie could make out a head of dark-hair and a thin frame, but that was about it. There wasn't a direct shot of her face, so it made this circumstantial at best. "What about the other two?"

Cullin shrugged his shoulders. "Hard to tell. I can say one is a woman and she knows how to dress herself. I can't see who the other person is behind her."

Well, that sucked. Still, that adoption form was something substantial. They had definitive proof that Batgirl was Cassandra Wayne. She had seen the girl without her mask on a couple of occasions, including the day before.

It was what that inferred that made things…incredible.

The gear Batgirl had was expensive, from the armor to the toys she got to use—not that she needed weapons since she was an incredible fighter. She even preferred to fight with her fists versus using a batarang or taser. However, that all costs money.

You know what else costs money? Her very own BatCave. It was a scene right out of some movie, where a rich daddy gave their spoiled daughter their own mansion and car. In this example, however, the rich daddy was Batman and the not-so-spoiled daughter was Batgirl.

And Stephanie could have sworn she had heard that Batgirl called Batman her father once…

Oh…oh…OHHHHHHHH…this was just…oh God. Oh my God! Oh my God, oh my God, ohmyGodohmyGodohmyGod!

Batman was rich and not just any kind of rich. He was billions of dollars rich. He was wealthy. He was…

He was freaking Bruce freaking Wayne.

It fit too damn well, at least in her head it did. Batman's cars and gear and armor costs money, just like Batgirl. In fact, all the gear upgrades the vigilante community had gotten over the years had come from Batman. If they were to look, Stephanie was willing to bet that whenever Batman was missing from Gotham, like after the Great Gotham Fire, Bruce Wayne would have conveniently not been in town either. That definitely bore researching, you know, for further confirmation.

"Harper," the blonde girl said, her voice a touch high, almost a squeak. "Can I talk to you…privately?"

"Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of Cullin," the blue-haired girl replied, not the least bit aware of what realization was dominating Stephanie's thoughts.

"No, it has to do with…private things," she stressed. All this got was an odd look from the Row siblings, so Stephanie sighed internally and decided to make use of a tried-and-true excuse. "It's that time of the month."

"Ohhhhhhh!" Harper finally realized. "There's some tampons in the bathroom. Use as many as you want."

"I need you to show me where. There's no way I'm going to dig around in your bathroom, knowing God knows what is in there."

"Heh, she's got a point," Cullin chuckled. "You really need to do some cleaning, Sis."

Harper shot him a glare. "Fine, follow me."

Gratefully, Stephanie followed her partner-in-crime into the bathroom. With a flick of a switch, the lights revealed what was best described as a disaster zone. Sure, there was a toilet and a bathtub and a sink, but everything else was haphazardly-tossed trash, bottles, and clothes. They piled onto themselves, destroying any possible way to determine where one pile began and the other ended.

"Okay, maybe you two are onto something," Harper admitted.

Almost reluctantly, Stephanie shut the door. "Harper, this can only stay between us," she said.

The blue-haired girl turned around and raised an eyebrow. "What now? Is it flooding out?"

Stephanie's face went red. "No, it's not that time of month," she hissed. "I had to get you away from Cullin cause he doesn't need to hear this and you couldn't take a hint!"

"Tell me what?"

Okay, now she needed to lead her friend through this, much like she had to herself. God, she hoped this worked. "So we know who Batgirl is, right?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty certain we do."

"And you know how Batgirl has called Batman her dad before, right?"

Harper stared at her, a thoughtful look on her face. "I think I remember hearing that somewhere. Couldn't tell you when."

"So if Batman is Batgirl's dad and Batgirl is Cassandra Wayne, the daughter of Bruce Wayne…"

Harper's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Oh shit. Oh fuck. Oh…oh…" The girl staggered backwards, her hands shooting down to grab onto the bathroom counter to steady herself. "Batman is—"

"SHHHHHHHHHH!" Stephanie hissed. "Don't yell it. Cullin can't know, not without pissing off two very scary bat-people."

Harper immediately shot one of her hands up to her mouth, clamping it down on top of it. She began saying…something, it was hard to tell what with her hand muffling her words. It took her several moments to calm down. "This is big. This is heavy," she stammered out. "Oh geez, oh fuck."

"Yeah, you're telling me."

"What…what do we do?" Harper then asked. "Do we…do we tell them? That we know who they are? Do we keep it a secret?"

Stephanie…didn't know that answer. "I'm not really sure," she said hesitantly. "I don't think it would be a good idea to…hint at Batgirl…or Cassandra…or whatever her name is. She might shut the Batclan down again and tell Batman. And then he'll make certain we stay shut down."

"So telling them is out of the question. Then I guess we keep it a secret."

"I guess we do."

"Can you keep a secret?"

"I think I can. I mean, I'm a teenage girl playing vigilante, so I have to."

"And I'm a teenage girl playing vigilante too, so I have to as well." Harper nodded her head, standing up straighter. "I think we can keep this a secret."

"Even from Cullin," Stephanie emphasized.

That gave Harper pause. "Even from Cullin," the blonde girl stressed.

Eventually, she nodded. "Even from Cullin."

So naturally, that was when the door rattled as a fist banged on it.

"Hey, did you two fall in one of the piles?" Cullin called out. "Do I need to call the fire department again to get you out?"

"We're fine!" Harper shouted. "Just having a hard time finding the tampons. Stephanie's gushing in here."

Stephanie shot the blue-haired girl an incredulous look, her mouth silently repeating, "Gushing?!"

"Ewwww." A moment of silence. "Do…do you need me to go buy you some, Steph?"

Oh, she was really regretting using the period excuse. Giving Harper a murderous look, she answered, "Yeah, if it's okay. I promise I'll pay you back."

The things she did to sacrifice her dignity.


There was a sharp knock on the door.

Barbara gazed into the boiling pot of water, staring at the noodles that had yet to absorb enough water to make them tasty pasta versus stiff sticks. She had severely overestimated how much time she had.

How was she supposed to know that it took forever for water to boil?

Figuring she couldn't burn the kitchen down in two minutes, she grabbed onto the wheels of her wheelchair and backed away from the stove. "Coming!" she shouted towards the door as she spun herself around. She quickly wheeled herself towards the door, just as another knock was made.

"I said I'm coming, alright?!" she bellowed louder. Some people were just too damn impatient. Worst still, the person she was certain that was at her door should have had the patience of a saint considering the job he had done for years.

Reaching the door, she undid the locks and then opened it. Standing on the other side was her father, the recently-retired police commissioner of the GCPD. Well, perhaps recent was subjective. It felt like yesterday he had turned in his badge and gun and received a golden retirement watch in turn. That had been nearly a year ago at this point.

Funny how time flew after not one, but two separate alien invasions. Or was it three? It was hard to tell with all of the double-crossing.

"Hey, Dad," she greeted warmly, rolling herself backwards so that the white-haired man could enter. Now that he wasn't on the job, her father had gotten lazy when it came to his attire. They were wrinkled in places, giving him a disheveled look. In fact, if he wore a blue coat and hat, he could have given Harvey Bullock a run for his money. "Still not ironing your clothes, I see."

"The dryer works just fine," Dad shrugged as he stepped inside. His eyes darted away from her, seemingly searching the apartment. Barbara didn't take offense to it as it was decades of police training firmly ingrained in his head. He was checking the corners with a glance, instinctively searching for threats and potential exits. It was how he was and she wouldn't change him. "Besides, you're one to talk, Ms. Neat Freak."

Yeeeeah, about that. Barbara sheepishly glanced to a laundry hamper by her door, piled with clothes. The living room was not as immaculate as she preferred it to be. Her coffee table still had cups on it from not only this morning, but the previous couple of days. The trash can lid was beginning to lift up after the can itself was stuffed with garbage. Once upon a time, she had kept a tidy bedroom and even did much of the cleaning at their house. She even kept that up upon moving here and performing her duties as Oracle.

Nowadays, she was splitting her time between being Oracle and her day job in the GCPD's forensics department. That drastically cut into her cleaning time.

Suddenly, Dad was bending down in front of her. Instinctively, she reached up and gave him a hug. "How ya been, Barb?" he asked her, his tone warm in her ear.

"Keeping busy now that you aren't around to help carry the load," she responded just as affectionately. "Retirement is turning you into Bullock."

"More like Bullock's a step ahead of everyone. Should have followed his example a long time ago." They pulled away from each other. "So what's for dinner?"

"If the water ever boils, I was thinking spaghetti," Barbara answered, moving her chair to begin returning to the kitchen. There was steam rising from the pot, which she took to be a good sign. There wasn't anything on fire, so that was a win.

"I don't see any meat browning," Dad observed. "I think you mean pasta."

"No, the meat is in the fridge. I just haven't started it yet."

"You do realize the noodles cook the fastest, right? You should have started with the meat."

Barbara gave her father a look. "If you want to take over, be my guest. I need a good meal."

"I should say. That collection of take-out containers agrees with you."

"Just emulating my hero."

Dad just shook his head deprecatingly. "That's one thing you shouldn't pick up from me. Take time to cook for yourself; it's better on your budget and your health."

This time the redhead raised an eyebrow. "Says the man that smoked for years?"

"Says the man that quit smoking and did all of this before you were even born," he countered. Taking off his coat, he tossed it over the back of a chair before rolling his sleeves up. "Let me help out then. That way we can have a half-way decent meal."

"I was hoping you'd say that."

Dad just went right up to the stove, peering into the pot before he picked up a large cooking spoon, shoving it into the boiling water and stirring the noodles. Once he was satisfied, he turned to her fridge and got out the package of ground beef. "So, any good cases you're working on?" he asked.

This was small talk for them. When she had been little, his cop stories had made for entertainment at dinner time, an exciting bedtime story if she was lucky. Now she could contribute.

"Got a batch of evidence from a kidnapping," she told him. "We're still running tests. No fingerprints so far, or out-of-place fibers. So far the perp has been clean."

"Who was kidnapped?" Dad asked as he ripped off the plastic from the meat.

"Name's Daniel Jones. Don't know who he is or what he does."

A frown appeared on Dad's face. "I think I know someone with that name. It's been awhile, but I could swear he was on the parole board. I could be mistaken though."

"I guess that's something I can look into," Barbara said. "We're still just processing things in the lab, but maybe knowing something about him can give us something to look into."

"Not a bad idea, but remember, you have detectives looking into this. You don't want to step on any of their toes."

"I wouldn't step on them, Dad. Roll over them, more like."

The white-haired man looked over his shoulder at her, giving her a knowing look. "You know exactly what I mean. You know there's still some prejudices in the department and there are a lot of officers that don't respect Forensics."

"And that's why I have the ultimate trump card," Barbara returned. "I'm the former commissioner's daughter. That's scored me quite a few donuts from the bullpen so far."

"And it has nothing to do with you being cute as a button, does it?"

"Well, that might help too."

"Just remember to keep your mace on. Any of them get handsy with you, burn their eyes out."

Yeah, even in retirement, Dad was still protective of her, even to his fellow cop. It was sweet, she felt. "Oh please, Daddy, that's what I have you for. If you show up, no one would bat an eye if you punched one out for touching me."

"Sounds like you're inviting me to your work," he observed. "Last I checked, it was the fathers that brought their daughters to 'Bring your daughter to work' Day, not the other way around."

"You haven't been gone that long. I'm certain there are still plenty of people around that would think you were escorting me around."


It had been awhile since Bruce attended a party of any kind. Though his interest in such things, like charity galas and the like, were already low to begin with, it said something when the fourth person he spoke to exclaimed that they hadn't seen him in forever.

He was alone at the moment. Though he was supposed to pick up Vesper as his date, he had received a text message from her earlier saying that she would meet him at the gala. So here he was, waiting on her arrival, most likely a late entrance since that was popular with the in-crowd again. Bruce had yet to see half of the guest list here, so there was going to be an endless line of socialites sauntering in. Vesper didn't strike him as that kind of person, but then he barely knew her.

Spotting a server walking by with a silver serving tray covered with champagne glasses, Bruce snatched one for himself and took a generous gulp. He wasn't one for liquid courage, but he found maintaining his image was tiresome. He was stretching muscles he hadn't used in awhile—acting muscles to be exact.

Perhaps he needed to use his more practiced evasion skills. Slipping through the crowd, he wandered past small groups, keeping up a pace that would make most people do double-checks instead of flat-out spotting him as he walked by. If they had to second guess if they saw him, they would be less likely to want to talk to him.

At least, that was the plan. As he found himself drawing closer to the table of finger foods, he spotted a mix-mashed couple that was a Devil's joining if he ever saw one.

What the hell is Talia doing with Luthor?

Bruce nearly did his own double-check when he first spotted them. Standing in a spot that seemed to give them a vantage point over the gala, the two were talking to each other. Luthor was dressed like most of the men here in a sharp tux. As for Talia, she was exotic as ever, breath-taking as her dress hugged her body. She had done something to her hair, though it remained covering one of her eyes. It came across as flirty and teasing rather than her usual mysteriousness.

As much as he wanted to simply observe them, no way would Talia let him do so. She always seemed to know when he was nearby, so stealth was useless. It was simply best to join them.

Not that he was expecting to get any straight-forward answers out of either of them.

Finishing off his glass, he placed it down on the snack table before snatching up another glass. Squaring up his shoulders, he sauntered over towards them. The two were facing in the same direction, though angled to better speak to one another. Bruce came at them with Luthor's head turned from him, though Talia could spot him.

Her face lit up the moment she did. She was saying something to Luthor, but cut herself off to greet him. "Mr. Wayne," she said warmly. "I was hoping to see you here."

Luthor turned his head, a bemused look on his face. Though Bruce didn't outwardly show it, he could feel in his gut a shift. Once upon a time, Luthor would humor the bumblings of a drunk Bruce Wayne. It was an occupational hazard between two men running their respective companies.

However, Luthor had only revealed not that long ago that he knew this as a facade. He knew of the mind behind the baffled billionaire, the one that played an intricate game of cat-and-mouse on a global scale. They had just played one such game that had left Luthor on the losing side. For all intents and purposes, this was either the beginning of a new game, or an intermission.

"Then I'm glad I showed up, Talia," Bruce returned her greeting, coming to a stop next to Luthor, but fully facing the dark-haired woman. "Lex, I'm surprised to see you here."

"I was in-town for a little business and received an invite," the Metropolis billionaire responded. "I've heard of these Gotham swarays and wanted to see if they lived up to their reputation."

"I don't see Roni anywhere, but she's usually the life of the party," he replied. "Things will kick up once she makes her entrance."

"And how will I know when she makes it?"

"Oh, trust me, you'll know. She's going for a late one, which is all the rage now."

A smirk appeared on Luthor's face before he took a sip from his own champagne glass. "Now this is a side of you I can't help but find strange. It's almost like you're a normal person."

Bruce shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say, I'm not a normal person, Lex."

Talia narrowed her visible eye at them. She was clearly picking up on the current between the two men. It was only for a moment before she relaxed her face. "I wasn't aware you two knew each other so well."

"An occupational hazard, I assure you," Luthor said. "We've only just become reacquainted recently, isn't that right, Bruce?"

Bruce took his own sip. "That's right. One could say this was all a big coincidence."

"A shame I cannot say the same. Mr. Luthor and I were having a lovely discussion this morning."

The dark-haired man resisted the urge to frown. Talia was speaking with Luthor? About what?

"Not that we can get into those details," Luthor interjected. "Business is business after all."

Ah, a meeting between their respective companies. It was more likely they were only making proposals for joint ventures, which was the only positive option. The Daughter of the Demon speaking to Luthor about anything else could be catastrophic. It was something he needed to look into more.

Laughter rang out from a nearby group, one voice carrying louder than others. Sparing a glance, Bruce caught sight of the one man that couldn't fit into a scene to save his life. Max Shreck seemed to be holding his own court, sticking out like a sore thumb.

"I don't suppose you have any business with Max Shreck on-going," Bruce suggested as their topic of conversation.

"I am never one to say no to a new venture," Luthor responded. "Though publicly, I can only say the obvious with the Computron deal."

Which was the only reason why Luthor had a foothold in Gotham after being kept out for years. It was still a sticking point in Gotham's business community. Shreck was quickly finding out just how isolated he was, which would only hurt his attempts for his power grid solution.

Now that was something he hadn't heard of in awhile. Because of the Computron sale, Bruce had been given the excuse he needed to separate from the negotiating table with Shreck, which ended his attempts to get him as an investor for his power plant proposal. A lot of business leaders had banned together to blackball it.

Though Shreck had proven he was not one to look only to those around him, as evidenced by Computron.

"Not to get you to speak out of turn," Bruce said as he put his attention on Luthor, "but has Max been…making proposals to you?"

"Naturally, just as anyone else would," Luthor answered noncommittally.

"Anything about a power plant, you know, since Gotham can never have too much power."

That actually gave Luthor pause. In fact, Talia was giving the dark-haired man an odd look. "Don't tell me, he's been shopping this around for awhile."

Bruce nodded. "He first brought it up to me when we were in talks for Computron. He was really pushing it up until he sold it to you."

"He brought it up to me as well," Talia added.

Anyone could see the gears were turning in Luthor's head. "I don't suppose you would know anything about Gotham's current power situation, would you?"

"I had to look into it myself to make certain if a new plant was necessary," Bruce told him. "The last couple of years, Gotham's had a power surplus. Adding another plant now would be redundant."

"That isn't to say the situation could change," the bald business mogul pointed out. "Grids age if not innovated."

That was a reasonable point. However, "If I'm not mistaken, the surplus was in part due to upgrades throughout the system. Gotham Electric even invested in a new gas plant, along with solar."

A frown appeared on Luthor's face. "It seems I need to do my own investigation into this matter. Thank you for bringing this to my attention."

"Advice is free," Bruce shrugged. "And I myself am not one to turn a blind eye to it."

"Words to live by."

Though there was a situation here, so far it seemed Luthor was willing to play ball. Though he didn't know Talia as anything more than a fellow businesswoman, he hadn't gone out of his way to make overt jabs at his night job. If he was willing to keep business and personal matters separate, then they could co-exist for the moment.

That said, he would love for Luthor to be back where he belonged in Metropolis.

However, there was also the matter of Shreck. It was something that kept getting shoved to the backburner, but now Bruce felt that now would be a good time to look more into Shreck's power plant. He was here at the party and seemed to be staying for the foreseeable future.

Now was a good time to do some investigating.

"If you'd excuse me, I need to go mingle," Bruce said then, finishing off his glass. "I've had too many people say they haven't seen me in awhile, so I need to make the rounds."

"I'm certain we'll see each other again," Luthor assured him. "Enjoy the party."

"Same." Bruce made to move by Talia, who placed a hand on his arm. As he turned his attention to her, he only saw a smile on her face, one that he returned before leaving.

At least, that was his intent. As he began working his way through the crowd, something-–or rather, someone—caught his eye. It was a flash of blonde, but it was enough to make him glance towards it.

Well, well, haven't seen you in awhile.

It was a woman, naturally, that caught his eye. This one, however, had left an impression on him, even if it was from a party so long ago. The fact that she hadn't thrown herself at him had something to do with that perhaps.

What was it she had told him back then? Oh, yes…

Changing directions, he walked right up to her, approaching her from behind. This afforded him a view of her back, one that was bare before the black dress appeared, wrapping around her hips and bottom. She seemed to have her attention on a man that towered over her. One could almost describe him as a monster of a man. Faintly, Bruce wondered how he found a suit that fitted him.

Of course, as he approached the woman from behind, the man caught sight of the billionaire over her blonde head. He looked as if he were about to say something, but stopped, frowning at him.

"What, cat got your tongue?" the woman asked. "Are you—"

"We have company."

The man cut the woman off, raising a hand up to point behind her. Turning around, Selina Kyle's green eyes soon found Bruce as he stood there, a hand shoved into his pocket as he gave her a cheeky smile. "We meet again, Ms. Kyle."

She stared at him. "Have we met?"

Well, clearly she didn't recall him. "Bruce Wayne," he reintroduced himself. "We met some time ago at the Vreeland party."

It only took a moment for her to remember. "Oh, that's right. That's been a long time without keeping in touch."

"You never gave me your number as I recall."

"Perhaps that was a hint."

Hmm, was she blowing him off? Bruce got the feeling that she was. "I was only stopping to say hi. I don't suppose you feel like being chased tonight either."

That had been their parting words, if he recalled right. For a moment, Selina frowned before he realized what he meant. "No, I can't say tonight is a good night either. I have some…business…that needs to be done."

"Business before pleasure, I get it." He then nodded his head in the direction of Max Shreck. "Just to give you fair warning, keep away from Max Shreck. He's on the lookout for investors and he's been known to talk people into things they don't quite understand."

There was a slight stiffening of her body. Had he not been looking, he would have missed it. "Is that right," she said, a slight edge in her tone.

"Let's put it this way: Shreck could sell you on beachfront property in a desert and you wouldn't realize it until you were half a million in the hole." That may or may not have actually happened, but it was a warning he had heard in regard to Shreck before. "Take that for what it's worth."

"Perhaps Mr. Wayne has other insights," the giant man mentioned to Selina, causing her to give him an annoyed look. "If you'll excuse me for a moment, I'll fetch us some drinks."

"Make it three while you're at it," Bruce told him cheerily.

The man merely nodded before he took off, leaving an annoyed blonde with the billionaire. "Damn it, Chris," she muttered.

"I take it you two were having a disagreement," Bruce remarked.

"Nothing that isn't out of the ordinary considering he's my lawyer." That man's a lawyer? Selina sighed. "I suppose you have more pearls of wisdom to share."

He shrugged. "Depends on if you're up for chasing me. I've been known to give a few people a run for their money."

Selina gave him a look. "I don't chase people; people chase me." She gestured a hand towards him. "Exhibit A."

Bruce smirked at her. "If I was chasing you, I would have caught you a long time ago."

"Considering we're only just meeting again, I beg to differ."

"You're assuming I was trying."

This time she shrugged her shoulders. "It doesn't matter if you are or aren't."

Bruce then gestured out towards a dance floor, one that currently had several couples already twirling around. "How about I show you on the dance floor, assuming you're up for it."

Selina glanced out to the floor. "I suppose I can spare some time—just one dance though."

Bruce reached a hand out, placing it behind her back, just above the hem of her dress. "Just one…for now."


What had seemed like a good idea didn't feel like one at this moment.

Emerging in her Batgirl armor, her cowl clutched in one hand, Cassandra headed to where Harper and Stephanie were. The two of them were putting the finishing touches on their gis, making certain their belts were tied on tightly. Neither one of them had so much as glanced at her.

They did talk about her, however.

"What torture do you think she's going to do today?" Harper was asking as Cassandra came to a stop a short distance away. "Assuming you haven't told her about the field trip, of course."

"Yeah, I have her on speed dial, so I gave her a head's up," Stephanie returned, a touch more snarky than Cassandra had ever heard her. "I texted her all about it."

Harper snorted. "You're lucky I know that neither one of us has her number. Chances are that she has ours."

Well, she wasn't wrong…

"Can you imagine getting a phone call and it's her?" Stephanie suggested.

That gave Harper pause. "What do you think she'd say?" she asked with curiosity.

Cassandra wanted to know what they thought the answer would be.

"Maybe to reschedule our training? It's been awhile since the last crisis so we're kinda due. Or maybe she'd want us to bring her something."

"Bring her what exactly?"

"McDonald's?"

Harper snorted. "Yeah, she'd totally want fast food."

"I could go for a snack actually," Cassandra said.

There were two shrieks, followed by two heads snapping around to stare at her. "When did you get there?!" Harper exclaimed. "How long have you been listening?"

The dark-haired girl had heard that question before, though it had never been directed at her. However, she couldn't help the bubble of amusement that welled up within her as she decided to go with the answer she usually heard.

"Long enough."

The blue-haired girl's face soured. "Of course you'd say that."

Cassandra stepped towards them, closing the remaining distance between them. "As for tonight's torture—" at this she saw both girl's wince— "I think it's time we do a field test. It has been brought to my attention that our training has lacked…perspective. It's time we see how far you've come along. Depending on how well you do, we will either intensify our training, or we will add into our schedule patrol time."

"You…you mean that?" Harper nearly whispered. "You're letting us out of this dingy hideout?"

The dark-haired girl raised an eyebrow. "Dingy?"

"I think she means totally awesome," Stephanie quickly supplied, giving a weak smile as if that would help their cause.

"...you have ten minutes to get ready. If you are not, then I will lock you in this 'dingy' place and you will do wall squats for as long as I am gone."

There was a flurry of activity as Harper and Stephanie rushed past her, heading for where their gear was stored. Cassandra just spared a glance in the direction they ran. Chances were the two would come stumbling back, shoving on boots and carrying their utility belts over their shoulders as they rushed to avoid their punishment.

Hmm, maybe that was what they were talking about when they referred to torture…


Perhaps it had taken longer than expected to leave the party, especially after running into Selina Kyle again, but eventually Bruce Wayne had left.

Over their dance, Selina had seemed to grow more comfortable with him, even partaking in some casual flirting. One dance had become three before she had realized it. Her admission that he may have been onto something about "not trying before" may have been more than just smoke.

Those dances were the furthest from his mind at the moment though. The moment he was in his Batman armor, he was all business. At this moment, that business was sneaking into Shreck Inc., particularly Max Shreck's office.

He had been here a time or two before. This time he was searching for more information on Shreck's power plant proposal, and he was on a tight schedule. He didn't have as much time as he should have had if he left the party when he intended. Shreck could be leaving the gala at any time now.

Opening a file cabinet, the vigilante held a flashlight above the folders contained within the drawer. He began rifling through the folders, looking for anything that stuck out. So far, he was seeing business proposals, some that had been completed and others that were active. Finding nothing that related to the power plant, he shoved the drawer back in and opened the next one.

For a moment, he thought he found something here. There were several folders marked for land purchases. Peering through them, he saw several records for land Shreck had purchased over the years, though they were all for business ventures that had since been resolved. There wasn't any for a power plant the size that Shreck was proposing.

It soon became apparent the file cabinet would not be revealing anything he didn't already know, nor was relevant to the case he was working, so he closed the drawer and moved to Shreck's desk. Pulling out a flash drive, he shoved it into a USB port, turning the computer on a moment later.

He waited the minute it took for the computer to boot up, the flash drive immediately going into action as it began to hack through the security features. A couple of windows appeared, log-in menus that automatically were filled with usernames and passwords. Soon, the computer desktop appeared on the screen.

The first thing Batman did was do a search on the power plant. The last time he had been here, there had been a startling lack of anything to do with the proposal. It was why he checked the file cabinet first. Waiting as the computer processed his command, when it did he wasn't too surprised to find there was still no mention of it. He could always check the man's email again, but even now, he recalled Shreck always talking in person about it, never sending any communication.

It seemed the paper trail for this, digital and physical, were damn near non-existent.

That didn't make sense. For something Shreck was pushing on anyone that would listen, it seemed odd he wouldn't have a record of it. A computer file, a blueprint, something to indicate it was more than just some talking point.

Perhaps he was looking in the wrong place. Glancing around the office, he eyed anything that was out of place. He had to shake that instinct off as such a thing would be a dead giveaway to anyone that knew Shreck. Shreck wasn't a dumb man; in fact, he was a business mogul.

So the World's Greatest Detective needed to think more like Bruce Wayne.

Seeing a large painting on the wall, Batman walked right up to it. He checked the frame on either side, spotting faint markings of what would be hinges. Grabbing onto the frame, he pulled one side from the wall, swinging it open to reveal a wall safe behind it. With one glance, he knew the safe model.

There was no keyboard or combination lock. Instead, there was a fingerprint reader and a microphone for voice authentication. This was where he was going to need to be…inventive.

Returning to the computer, Batman accessed Youtube and did a search for Max Shreck. A number of videos appeared, but most were news reports from various media. Adding to the search, he focused it on speeches and found the one he wanted. Accessing the video, he had a tape recorder in hand and waited for Max to introduce himself.

"Greetings…everyone. I'm Max Shreck—"

In an instant, he had the recording he wanted. Next, he pulled out a powder container and a small sheet of film. Using the powder with a brush, he did a check for prints, focusing on the keyboard and mouse. There were partials on the keyboard, primarily on the space bar. He couldn't use those. The mouse, on the other hand, gave him a solid print for his thumb. Taking off the cover of the film, he pressed it on the print, pulling a copy of it off.

He was back to the safe then. Lining the print to the reader, he pressed it down and then used the recording he had made of Shreck's voice. "Max Shreck," echoed through the room.

And like that, the safe opened. Opening the door wider, Batman began rifling through its contents. There was a passport and some money, nothing too out of the ordinary there. There were a few files, ones he made a point in skimming through.

There. The fabled power plant proposal, he had finally found it. Moving the file to Shreck's desk, he laid it down and took his time leafing through each page. He wasn't reading it so much as he was making a recording of it with the lenses in his mask. He could review it later so long as he got a good look at each page.

This took several minutes, but eventually he finished. As he was about to close the folder, he discovered a folded piece of paper at the back. Pulling it out, he recognized the type as one an architect would use. Unfolding it, he was soon staring at a large blueprint of the plant Shreck wanted to build.

Again, he made certain to view the entire blueprint before he folded it back up, placing it back into the folder. Returning the file back to the safe, Batman then proceeded to clean up, removing any signs that he had been here. Shreck didn't need to suspect that anyone was looking into him. He had already proven that he wasn't one to let social protocols dictate his actions.

To Gotham's business community, he had broken bread with an outsider. According to Catwoman, he had killed a girl. If he thought someone was snooping around his office, he would want to know who and why.

Though, if Shreck thought he could use his influence to stop him, then he had another thing coming.


To Guest: There's an irony in that lol.