BAE - Epilogue Part 4

“I was starting to think you were avoiding me,” Ivy says as Barbara wheels herself out of the elevator.

“Nope. I’m supposed to take it slow. I haven’t even had any surgeries yet, but I guess when you get injured, you’re supposed to like…” Barbara makes quotes with her fingers. “Recover.”

“You looked pretty recovered on TV last night. I’m sorry about this.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Thank you. Can I ask about the casual look?”

Once again, Barbara’s dressed down and wearing her glasses.

“Maybe it’s politically motivated,” she says with a sly smile.

“Oh, god. Can I get you anything?”

“What kind of moron would take something that Poison Ivy gave her and put it in her body? Yes, please. What do you have?”

“Uh, your chair doesn’t have handles.”

“I got it. Make with the drinks.”

“Lucius lets me have tequila now. I convinced him that there isn’t enough plant content left in distilled spirits for me to take over the building with,” Ivy explains, walking alongside Barbara’s chair.

“Is that true?”

“I’m not sure,” Ivy admits as she opens the refrigerator. “I haven’t tried yet.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Really? We aren’t going to talk about you at all? Didn’t you almost get killed?”

“It’s fine. Thanks for the flowers, by the way. They say the best way to deal with PTSD is to drink a lot, ignore it, and just kind of keep going,” Barbara says with a straight face.

“Sounds like you’re talking to real pros. You know, I do know a psychiatrist,” Ivy says, handing Barbara some tequila mixed with a mango spritzer. It’s actually very good, although it’s a little early in the day for drinking. Ivy must be really enjoying her new privileges. Barbara can think of worse things than having an entire floor of Wayne Tower to herself, rewarding work, and an army of shareholders all but begging to suck her toes. Ivy’s situation isn’t perfect, but it could be worse.

Ivy pulls a stool over and sits with Barbara.

“Jokes aside, you seem to be coping well,” she says.

“You’re sweet. How are you getting along with Lucius?”

“I can tolerate him.”

“Glad to hear it. Listen, since I won’t be doing any more bikini specials for Summer Gleeson. I went ahead and dropped some Seed,” Barbara says casually.

Ivy’s smile broadens behind her drink. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. I’d almost just gotten killed and I don’t want to lie to myself. I had fun with that thing, and I can always get rid of it later.” Barbara shrugs. “Seems like it came in pretty well,” she adds modestly.

“I see. Aren’t you supposed to be taking it easy?”

“Look, I just want a quick medical checkup from the foremost Seed expert on the eastern seaboard,” Barbara says playfully. “Is your office open, Doctor?”

BAE

“Good morning, Master Dick.”

“Morning, Alfred.”

It’s mid-afternoon, and Dick has just gotten out of bed after a busy night of patrolling. He takes the tray of pastries and coffee out of Alfred’s hands and heads for the cave. Alfred follows.

“May I say, Master Dick, how lovely it is to have you home.”

“It’s good to be here, Alfred. Thanks for putting up with me.”

“My pleasure. Do you know how long you plan to be in town?”

“We’re playing that by ear,” Dick replies as they step off the lift. The cave’s chilly, and steam rises from the coffee pot. “Can you walk me through Bruce’s disappearance one last time?”

“Certainly. Although, I will remind you that he left explicit instructions for this very situation.”

“He didn’t want us chasing him. I know. It’s why Tim backed off, isn’t it?”

“Master Dick, what Master Bruce always appreciated most about Master Tim was that Master Tim could be relied upon to follow instructions.” Alfred joins Dick at the Computer. “To a fault.”

“I’m not saying that I’m going to ignore his instructions. I’m just asking a question.”

“Quite. He was equipped for his usual patrol that night. He hadn’t chosen or left any notes on that day, which was typical. He always did his journaling after he returned. He took the car and sent it back on autopilot.”

“No tracker on his suit?” Dick asked.

“Not since the time that…”

“That Two-Face cracked the signal. We have better encryption now.”

“Master Bruce preferred not to take the risk.”

“Let’s hope it didn’t get him killed. So he was here in the city,” Dick says, leaning against the console and sipping his coffee.

“So it would seem. Superman applied his hearing to the challenge and heard nothing of Bruce. That suggested that he had somehow gone off-world, although JLA tracking showed no such traffic in Gotham that night. Mr. Bobo came to the manor asking questions, and I made him aware of Master Bruce’s wishes. Ms. Zatanna came on another occasion. Mr. Dibny as well. Ms. Zatanna seemed particularly alarmed that she couldn’t find him using magic, although she also seemed to find that encouraging.”

“If he was dead, she’d easily have been able to find his bones,” Dick says.

“Just so.”

“Is that Stephanie’s new suit?” Dick’s looking at the purple costume hanging nearby.

“Her old one. Improved,” Alfred adds.

“No ears. No bat. And this is all we’ve got now?” Dick puts his cup down and places his hands on the Computer, shaking his head.

“Not necessarily,” Alfred says, looking past him at the display cases. “The Batman could return at any time. Were he suitably inclined.”

“It wouldn’t be a return. It would be a new Batman.” Dick shakes his head. “Doesn’t feel right.”

BAE

The wheelchair is supposed to be top-of-the-line, but it still squeaks.

And Ivy’s supposed to be gentle, but she seems to have forgotten that, not that Barbara’s complaining. She hugs Ivy’s nude body, her face pressed against Ivy’s warm back. Ivy’s hips are so purposeful as she rocks and bounces on Barbara’s cock. Ivy’s hands grip the arms of the chair while Barbara grabs for Ivy’s bouncing breasts.

Sweat and red hair have made Barbara’s glasses useless, and they’re askew on her flushed face as she savors Ivy’s tight, hot depths.

Ivy gets carried away and it slips out. She almost falls off the chair, which bumps against Ivy’s bed.

“Oh gosh,” Barbara pants.

Laughing breathlessly, Ivy grabs Barbara’s slick erection, positions her rear, and sinks back onto it. Barbara squeezes her breasts and Ivy arches her back, rolling her hips more feverishly. The chair squeals in protest and Barbara’s almost tearful grunt of pleasure is only partly muffled by Ivy’s back.

Ivy finally slumps in Barbara’s lap, her hair everywhere.

Barbara’s head swims in ecstasy. She doesn’t care. It’s a little hard to breathe, but all she can feel is her cock ineffectually twitching and throbbing, trying to shoot even more inside Ivy.

They stay like that for a minute.

“Mmm. Naptime,” Barbara mumbles, and Ivy twitches. “Wait, are you ticklish?”

Ivy hops up, too cool to look embarrassed, but unwilling to engage with that question. Barbara dazedly stares at the naked woman in front of her. She’s still fully dressed, with just her cock out.

“Seems to be working,” Ivy says, trying to collect herself a little. She reaches between her legs, finding the situation gooey and copious. “Working well,” she amends. “How did it feel?”

“I could feel it,” Barbara says, a little muzzily. She flashes a thumbs up.

“Good. If you took Seed after your injury, it should’ve formed new nerve connections. Next you’re going to ask me about medical applications of regenerative…”

“No,” Barbara cuts her off. “No. Next, I’m going to ask if we can do this again sometime.”

Ivy folds her arms and bites her lip. Barbara's load drips to the floor and rolls down Ivy’s wet thighs. Ivy rolls her eyes.

“Yes.”

“OK. And then at some later time, yeah. Yeah, we’ll talk about the medical stuff.”

“OK, let’s get you cleaned up, Ms. Gordon.”

“You’re the one who’s all sweaty.”

BAE

“I know this is rude,” Barbara admits as she rolls into Lucius’ office. She’s only a little rumpled and the smell of sex probably isn’t too strong, but still.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean. You could’ve come to see me first,” Lucius says, getting to his feet and carrying his coffee to her.

“Sorry.”

“How do you feel?”

“Pretty good,” Barbara says.

Lucius frowns. “Dear god, are you on painkillers?”

“Um, yes. And Ivy fixed me a drink.”

“Jesus. Drink this.” Lucius pushes his coffee into her hands.

“Thanks,” she replies, taking a big gulp. “I think I am a little dehydrated.”

Lucius makes sure the door is closed and locked.

“I need you to be serious for a minute, Ms. Gordon.”

“I’m sorry, Lucius. Honest. It’s ****.”

“Right.” Lucius takes a deep breath and kneels in front of the chair. “You understand what we’re here to talk about, right?”

Barbara grimaces. She’s feeling good. Really good. But reality… still exists.

“Viti Saxena isn’t very popular. Neither is Mayor Hill. Both of them have just been dealt a blow. They’ll both respond by coming out tough on crime. There was a narrow path before. Now that path isn’t nearly so narrow,” Lucius says.

“Exploiting a tragedy.”

“Isn’t that what you were doing on Gotham Insider?”

“I’m not going out like this for points,” Barbara says, looking down at her legs. “I’m doing it because it’s… you wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

“Going out there like I do—like I used to do, it’s scary. So, you grab the rope and you jump. But I can’t do that anymore. I have to be here in the trenches.”

“You sound like every soldier with PTSD who will do anything to stay out of therapy. I think you need to process what’s happened to you.”

“There’ll be plenty of time for that later. I have responsibilities, Lucius.”

“Well, as far as the Board is concerned, you haven’t missed yet. You are one closed-door meeting away from having the full support of this company. Barbara, this is your chance. You wanted to be a cop. Then you wanted to be the Batman. It was all to help people. Or to fight the bad people. Either way… you can do so much more good out of that costume.”