[A/N: Enjoy and remember to review!
Chapter 1
Barbara awoke by her digital alarm clock and pressed the top button in order to turn it off. She waited in bed in order to collect herself in the process of waking up and starting the day. She rose up with a yawn along with taking the moment to scratch her messy hair before looking at the surroundings of her apartment home.
"Man, I hate the mornings." Barbara blew a few strands of hair off her face. "Especially when sleeping in late after doing another long night of night patrol."
Barbara remembered the details from last night. The night that she did her full part time non paid job as one of Gotham's vigilante. Batgirl. Don't get Barbara wrong here. Barbara loves doing what she is doing for the people of Gotham behind a mask. She believed the same values as her trusted friend/mentor Bruce Wayne. She joined his cause and felt like she is indeed making a difference in Gotham. Being honest with herself, being Batgirl is the only job that will help her fight crime and such compared to working daily at GCPD. Not as a cop but being GCPD's IT Support woman.
Barbara sighed when getting out of her bed before making it up. Then she heads to the bathroom for a shower to help keep her up and not try to fall asleep. Once done showering along with tying her red hair in a ponytail, Barbara then went to grab her work bag, keys, and of course her glasses.
"I'll just eat some donuts and drink fresh coffee at GCPD. No need for me to wait at Mcdonald's drive-thru for my usual order. Damn, I hate those slow ass morning service." said Barbara, getting in her forest green KIA.
Upon driving her way to work she then started to remind herself to get some butter and eggs to bake her cookies. A month ago she was informed by her apartment neighbors that someone is moving into the vacant apartment on their floor that has been vacant since she moved in. Barbara just loves meeting new people. It was an opportunity for Barbara to hear new stories from new people and learn what led up to them moving to Gotham City. And so baking cookies and giving away one of her alcohol free bottle sparkling is her own way of welcoming someone to the apartment.
"Another day, another dollar. And another day at the office in GCPD." Barbara told herself this when arriving at her destination.
As usual she drove into the parking garage of the building and parked in her usual parking space. Getting out of her car while locking it back, Barbara entered inside the building while being greeted by a few cops. Ignoring two inmates in their cell who were whistling and hooting at her.
"In your damn dreams, perverts." Barbara responded while not giving them eye contact.
After clocking herself in and getting her donuts and coffee, Barbara headed for her department to start work. Upon being on her computer while typing away a few things that needed rebooting, she overheard two cops discussing something that sounded interesting. Of course, Barbara is not the type of person to be a snoop, besides doing something like that as Batgirl, she listens in while having her eye on her computer screen.
"Man, I can not believe that they are transferring him here. We met our police capacity quota last year. You and I both know that Commissioner Gordon is not going to let him join our department." said an asian male cop, before sipping on his coffee.
A German female cop took a bite of her bagel and spoke. "That is true. The man has a bad record on him. He has a lot of balls to be killing the suspects or arrested sums and does not feel sorry about it, nor feel terrible about being fussed at by his higher ups."
"Pfft, they can not do so. The victims keep backing him up, much less praise him for doing the deed. I heard by another cop from Cleveland that one of the suspects literally said, 'Fuck waiting for a court date. Kill that fucker.'" said asian male cop.
"No shit?. Damn, he has some fucking reputation. A cop that never follows proper guidelines or does not go by the book?. Shit, talk about being a standout." said the female German cop.
Barbara continued typing her keys. "Yeah, my Dad will reject his application without any hesitation."
Barbara went on to continue focusing her work fully and just ignored the cops conversation. To her surprise the conversation ended as if something or someone made them stop in their tracks.
"Barbara?."
Barbara looked up to her right and saw her father in his bulletproof vest while having his coat on. "Morning, Dad. Sleep well?."
"The best that I could, Barb." Gordon pulled a seat and sat down while still facing his only daughter. "Honey, we need to talk."
"Is it about the paperwork files of every crook's information status being sluggish or not pulling up?. If so then you and the others need to wait patiently. Me and my IT support team are going as fast as we can. We only have two hands here." said Barbara, before taking a pause from her typing to look at her father.
Gordon chuckled a little. "No, Barbara, that is not why I want to talk to you about."
Barbara crossed her arms. Having a feeling that this must be serious and personal. "What do you want to talk about, Dad?."
Gordan, who sighed in great stress, spoke without any hesitation. "Barbara, it is about the cop that is being transferred here from Chicago."
"I heard a little bit about this cop's reputation from two cops not too long ago. He sounds like an issue." said Barbara.
Gordan adjusted his glasses. "He is indeed going to be an issue. But you and I can not condemn him for doing these such actions. Especially, when you and I both know the source of his drive in doing what he is doing."
That confused Barbara. She raised a brow before daring to scratch her head. She does not recall dealing with a cop that has a troubling pass. Heck, Barbara does not even know the guy. Or so she thought.
"Dad, who is this cop that got you all stressed out?." Barbara grabbed her coffee to go drink.
"Oh, boy." Gordon sighed. "Barbara, he is coming home. It's CJ."
Hearing the last part had made Barbara immediately choke a bit on her coffee. Coughing while fighting the warmed liquid from the wrong pipe of her throat out. Barbara did not imagine it was going to be too personal. She never imagined she would see her one and only childhood best friend again. Gordon nodded in response to her daughter's reaction to this news.
"Yes, I was shocked about this too as well, Barbara. I had to reread the transfer sheet that I received by mail from Chicago's police chief to be sure that I had not misread it. But it is true, honey. CJ is returning home after all these years." said Gordon, taking a moment to smoke.
Barbara took the moment to process what was informed to her. The thought of seeing CJ again sparked something within her. Something that she never felt before. She briefly ignored it when going back to her computer and searched for a police profile record of her best friend. Did not take long to pull it up as she started reading aloud.
"CJ Carlton Johnson." Barbara reads. "Multiple minus infractions of killing suspects instead of arresting and reading their rights. One incident is when he rolled down the back window of his and his cop partner's police car, then went up to the arrested woman beater/rapist and shot him dead in the head multiple times while he was in handcuffs. Recent infraction is him murdering a convicted pedophile, who has kidnapped and held underage children in the basement, killing him when he is both back handcuffed and was on his knees. The fuck."
"I said the same thing. He arrests them so he can have an easy clean gunned down target. I should have sent that boy to therapy the day after his parent's funeral. I know they are rolling in their graves if they see their son dishonoring the police badge and what symbol it represents." began Gordon.
Barbara rubbed the back of her head. "When will he be arriving?."
"Not long. He is arriving in Gotham by train. He will be getting here soon. I just need to prepare for his outburst when I tell him that I'm rejecting his application of being a cop of Gotham." said Gordan, getting up from his chair. "On the bright side you get to reunite with your actual friend, Barbara. Your friendship was a melody."
"Our friendship was like a melody." Barbara had a sad look on her face. "Then it went from bittersweet to down right bitter. Our last encounter with each other ended in a major fallout. Me and CJ dented our friendship that day."
"Hmmm, I see. Try not to dented any further." said Gordon, before leaving. "It is never too late to savage what is left of it to heal and grow it."
Barbara grabbed her last donut to eat while staring at CJ's current picture. He is handsome with a short wave haircut. To Barbara he looked real cute with that look. She blushed at the thought of him looking cute. It made her have a good undescribed feeling sensation running all down through her body, but mostly it is from her chest. Barbara never had this kind of feeling for a man and she once dated her crime fighting partners. Dick Grayson. Tim Drake. Both relationships went down the shitter. There was no true spark for Barbara when dealing with those two. Heck, she did not feel any loving romance for either one of them and till this day she is still a virgin.
Yeah, no, joke, Barbara Gordon dated but never had any relations. Regardless of how much that Dick and Tim had tried to coax her into getting in bed with them. Barbara shook her head in remembering the details of her so-called love life. She was seconds away from exiting CJ's police profile and resuming back to her work, until catching eyes with the eyes of his picture. It caught Barbara as she never thought would see what lay behind her childhood friend's eyes. So much that it made her remember back on the time when CJ showed his motivation and inspiration after the events of burying his parents.
Remembering the time when the two ran through the alleyway when being chased by a poor homeless cocaine addict with a baseball bat. Trying to rob them for cash. The two missed the middle school bus that day and decided to walk home together. It did not end well for the homeless man nor did it end well with Barbara and CJ's friendship.
*Barbara's Flashback*
"Come on, this way!." CJ spoke while guiding and grabbing Barbara by her wrist.
"We should have stayed at school and waited for my Dad to pick us up." Barbara spoke while breathing so hard.
"Come back here, you sons of bitches!." yelled the high homeless man in slur.
Barbara looked at her surroundings to help aid in their situation and found it through an alleyway. "Over here. I think it leads to the other side of the street."
Barbara took control of the guided runny and pulled CJ in the alleyway. They ran forward without looking straight until they saw a brick wall in their way.
CJ looked at Barbara and spoke with sarcasm. "What now, 'Ms. Gotham's Escape Route Expert'?."
"Oh, shut up, CJ!." Barbara responded back in anger.
"I got your asses now." The homeless man caught up to them and had his bat in hand.
The strung out homeless man tapped his bat with his right palm when slowly approaching the two. "Ya will give me money either the easy way or the painful way."
CJ quickly put Barbara behind him in order to protect her while not showing any fear towards the drug addicted bum. In the heat of the moment, Barbara finally remembered that her father had given her not only a bottle of police pepper spray, but also a safety taser. Being quick with her hands, she reached into her bookbag and pulled right on it.
"I am not going to let you hurt my best friend, bum." CJ spoke with confidence while being mentally ready for the impact of the bat.
"Don't try to play the hero, boy. Heroes get killed in Gotham." said the homeless man, before burping out an unpleasant smell.
With perfect timing of seeing the homeless man swing his bat back before going forward with it, Barbara pushed CJ out of the way before jumping back from being hit by the bat in which it made contact with the wall. Barbara then opened the cap and sprayed pepper spray in the man's eyes.
"My fucking eyes!." The drugged homeless man dropped his bat and had his hands on his burning eyes.
"Eat this, hobo!." Barbara got close and tased the man in the chest.
The homeless man yelped in pain before falling down into the ground. CJ exhaled the breath that he did not know he was holding in, as Barbara is currently trying to catch her breath from all of that excitement.
"A…A…Are you alright, CJ?." Barbara looked at her best friend.
CJ slowly nodded while trying to collect himself. "Y…Yeah, I believe so. Should have used that when this bum ass started chasing us."
"I forgot that I had my pepper spray and taser." Barbara went over to grab her bookbag. She looked inside. "Not to mention forgetting that my Dad had given me a cell phone incase of an emergency. I will call him up so can pick us up before things get too worse to deal with."
At that moment when Barbara put her pepper spray and taser back inside while getting her flip phone out, CJ had that determinant facial expression on his face. Seeing that the homeless man was still crying over his painful watery burning sights, CJ walked over to where the baseball bat had rolled over and picked up. Having a good strong grip around the bat's handle.
"Might want to turn away if you have sensitive eyes and stomach" said CJ.
Barbara had hands on her flip phone and was about to speedial her father until hearing what CJ said. "Why?. What do you…"
Barbara glanced up from her phone to see CJ raised the bat up and swung down on the homeless man.
*WACK!* *WACK!* *WACK!* *WACK!*
"Ahhhhh!. Ahhhhh!. Ahhhhh!. Ahhhhh!." The homeless man hollard in great pain and agony.
"CJ!. What are you doing!?." Barbara had the look of utter shock and disbelief in what she was seeing from her best friend.
"Giving…(Wack!)...Gotham…(Wack!)...one…(Wack!)...less…(Wack!)...issue…(Wack!)...to…(Wack!.)...deal…(Wack!)...with!." responded CJ, while banging the bat down on the homeless man.
The drugged homeless yelled out in pain while being able to utter out for the beating to stop or call out for mercy. CJ ignored it as he continued beating down on the man with such force he could give. Blood and spit was spitting out from the homeless man as CJ had broken his ribs and guaranteed had smashed his organs as well.
"CJ stop, you are going to seriously kill him!." spoke Barbara, who is still frozen stiff and trying to save this man.
However, she is not prepared for what came out of CJ's own mouth. It put chills down her spine.
CJ took a quick pause from his swinging and looked at Barbara and spoke plain and simple, while showing no remorse. "That is the whole plan, BG."
CJ resumed swinging and broke both of the man's knees. The man hollard out with tears running hard. CJ had enough with his screaming and just ended it. He swung the bat down right on the man's face with such great force. The impact from the baseball bat had caved the homeless man's face in. Barbara closed her eyes while covering her ears in hopes of blocking out the squeeshie noises from the now corpse's brain. CJ stopped once he literally smashed the homeless man's brains in and took the moment to breathe.
Barbara can not believe what she just witnessed in front of her. Her best friend just killed someone without any hesitations or second thoughts in doing the deed. She never imagined that CJ is incapable of doing what he just did. She knew that moment when she saw the snap in his eyes that he had become a new person. A new person in a very wrong way.
"Y…Y…You killed him." it was all that Barbara could get out of her mouth.
"I had to. He was going to hurt us." CJ looked at Barbara calmly. "I gave a service of justice for not only ourselves but also to the people of Gotham City."
"It was wrong for you to do that, CJ." Barbara spoke while managing to move her feet. "You got blood on your hands."
CJ shoots back. "And as my best friend you will help me remove the blood from my hands and will keep your mouth shut. Like my father always says before he died, a good citizen always stands by what is right and just. Now, hand me a handkerchief and a plastic bag. Might want to have some gloves on. Do not want our fingerprints leading back to us now do we?."
Barbara was in a pickle. She is in on it now. She can not betray CJ. He is her best friend. Her only friend to be honest. And luckily for the both of them, her father did pack her a box of latex gloves and something to wipe her hands with for some odd reason. After putting the gloves on and giving CJ the towel to wipe his hands and the handle of the bat. Then he handed it to Barbara who disposed of the items to a nearby bonfire bin that still had fire inside. Once the deed was done, Barbara's father came to pick them up from a far away location from the alleyway where the dead homeless man is still currently laid with a few buzzards pecking on his deceased flesh.
CJ denied everything on what had happened to the man when the police reports surfaced to Gordon. While Barbara played along and told her father she did not know anything about a dead homeless person whose face was caved in from a wooden baseball bat.
*End of Flashback*
"Ah, shit." Barbara rubbed her eyes. "It is worse when remembering the details."
She quickly exited out of CJ's file and resumed her work for the day. Trying her hardest to forget that moment of her sixth year of middle school in the first semester. Meanwhile at Gotham City's grand central train station exiting out from the train cart with his two tied luggages on wheels, CJ, who is wearing a black jean sleeveless jacket with a black t-shirt with the image of WWE's Bray Wyatt's 'The Fiend' that had the slogan, 'Let Me In'. Along with a matching pair of jean pants and wearing a pair of Air Jordan 11 Retro Space Jam shoes.
CJ looked at his surroundings before walking down to reach the exit of the building to where his car should be sitting there for him, since his car had arrived before he did. Upon finding his parked Dodge Mustang with light blue stripes on it, he put his luggage in the trunk and went into his driver side and drove out of the parking lot. Heading straight for Gotham City's Police Department. To see Commissioner Gordon and possibly to see his old childhood best friend who he hasn't seen, spoken or written to in years.
"Home Sweet Home." said CJ, before turning on his Bluetooth radio in which his phone resumed playing his favorite song as he raised the volume up. The song he is listening to is called, 'A Lot' by 21 Savage. "Damn, it is good to be back to where I was born and raised."