BAE Chapter 84

“I…” Barbara locks up. She’s naked and holding borrowed underwear in a confined space with, of all people, Poison Ivy. It’s not like her to get overwhelmed. “I would like to finish this conversation sometime,” she says lamely.

Ivy smiles, trying not to laugh, although there’s melancholy there. Probably a lot to unpack.

Barbara grinds her teeth. Complicated. Frustrating. More and more, it’s getting easier to see why Bruce was the way that he was.

BAE

Bats squeak in the dark. Water drips. The air is cold and the mug in Barbara’s hand is hot.

Alfred stands at her side. Together, they gaze at the black void of the main ramp.

“I’m pleased that Mr. Fox is satisfied with your physical state,” Alfred remarks.

“Yeah.”

“You’re angry.”

“Maybe a little.”

“They’ve done nothing wrong,” Alfred notes mildly.

“She went toe to toe with Zsasz on her first night out in years. And now we’ve got half a dozen dead mobsters.”

“Ms. Stephanie defeated him handily and they prevent what appears to have been a consequential deal of some sort. Some would call that a very good night indeed.”

Barbara sucks in her breath, and thankfully light blooms in the tunnel. The roar of an unnecessarily massive and savage engine fills the cave.

The Car zooms along the winding ledge, coming to a halt on its rotating maintenance pad. The cockpit opens and Stephanie and Kate climb out. Stephanie’s hood is down and both women have their masks off.

They see the look on Barbara’s face.

“She did it,” Stephanie says, pointing at Kate.

“No! Mom, don’t listen to her. It was her,” Kate retorts.

“No snitching!”

“Look,” Kate says, climbing the steps toward Alfred and Barbara. “I don’t know why you’re mad.”

“I told you to be careful! Conservative,” Barbara bites out, gripping her mug tightly. “I told you not to get carried away.”

“I didn’t,” Stephanie replies as she uses her teeth to help tug her gloves off.

Barbara turns and points at the Bat Computer, which has a newsfeed frozen on the largest monitor displaying Stephanie in the middle of a downtown street, grappling with Victor Zsasz.

“What do you call that?” she demands.

Stephanie removes her glove from her mouth.

“Damn good television,” she says. “What? I told you what happened when you asked.”

“You didn’t tell me that it happened in front of half of Gotham.”

“We’re a symbol, Babs. Remember?”

“I have to be able to trust you,” Barbara snarls.

“Trust me to what? Do my job? I did. And when we got into a bad situation, we got out,” Stephanie adds, waving to include Kate. “What are you going to do? Fire me? I’ve been fired before, and I still have a Spoiler costume. This is where I’m supposed to be. I have to do this. I’m not going to be afraid, Babs.”

They glare at each other.

“What do you have to do?” Barbara asks tightly.

“Prove that I’m not the screwup that…” Stephanie grimaces. “That Bruce must think that I am. That everyone thinks I am. I couldn’t do it as Spoiler. I couldn’t do it as Robin. When people think of Batgirl they think of you and Cass. I couldn’t make it work with Tim. I couldn’t make it work with Dean.” She spreads her arms. “This is what I have. I will make this work or die trying.”

“That’s not what I want to hear,” Barbara says.

“I don’t care what you want to hear! I’m sorry, Babs! Are my motivations somehow more problematic to you than, I don’t know, not being able to move past the **** of my parents? I owe something to this city, and you aren’t going to stop me.”

Kate sucks her breath in through her teeth and reaches hesitantly for Stephanie’s shoulder.

Barbara stares.

“I could break your legs,” she says finally.

Stephanie narrows her eyes and raises her fists. “Try it,” she says. “What? Scared?”

Barbara sighs. “She’s favoring her right side and trying not to cry,” she says to Alfred. “I don’t know if it’s because of what she said or if Zsasz got her more than she’s letting on. Check her out. And don’t give her those horny steroids.”

“Right away, Ms. Gordon.”

“I thought you looked really cool and badass,” Kate says to Stephanie.

“You’re just saying that because you want to sleep with me.”

“Correction. I’m just saying that because I’m a nice person.” Kate gives Stephanie a light slap on the rump and follows Barbara up the stairs. “Babs, we have to talk about this gunfight.”

“That’s what we’re doing. I haven’t looked at your cowl footage yet. Tell me what you remember.”

Alfred leads Stephanie to the medical closet while Barbara and Kate lean on the back of Bruce’s big throne by the Computer. Several news stations are playing muted, and there’s plenty of crime scene footage.

“People on the street were talking. The buy was well-known. Whoever got the supply from that deal that you busted must’ve made a sweetheart deal with the usual suspects; that was why there were so many different people there,” Kate says, pointing at the monitor. “Elite Pride was set up in advance. They were everywhere and they came in hot. They didn’t think twice. It was bad.”

“Who were they after?” Barbara asks.

“Hard to be sure. They must not have walked away with the goods when you ran into them, because I can’t figure out why they’d mess up their own thing.”

“Right. Maybe they’re for hire.”

“Or maybe they’re like you. Maybe they have a problem with Seed, and they wanted to hit the supplier, destroy the supply, and kill all those low-level distributors to send a message,” Kate suggests with a shrug. “We don’t know much about them.”

“I guess that’s possible,” Barbara says with a frown.

“I don’t buy it either.”

“I’m guessing that whoever’s Seed supply you torched is upset. And I’m also guessing that person has answers. If they made a distribution deal with Falcone, Maroni, and the others, then it has to be someone with plenty of local history. The Roman doesn’t deal with people that he doesn’t know.” Barbara folds her arms, and the monitors are reflected in her glasses. “It’s not flashy enough to be Joker. And it doesn’t feel like Sionis. It’s a little mysterious, only I don’t think it’s Nygma. He’s out, but he wasn’t when the shipment was hit.”

“Penguin, maybe.”

Barbara nods. “Or Two-Face. Unless we’re missing something.”

“Where’s the world’s greatest detective when you need him?” Kate mutters.

“Right?”

“Are you really mad at Stephanie?”

“Maybe a little. I’m mostly scared. This is how Bruce must’ve felt. All the time.”

“I offer myself as tribute to comfort you.”

“No penis,” Barbara absently reminds her, intent on the news feeds.

“We’ve been over this. I’m gay, Barbara. Gay. Gay, gay, gay. For you.”

“Since when am I so popular?”

“You’ve always been popular,” Stephanie shouts from across the cave. “You remember that time that Cass stole your suit and everyone told her how hot she looked in it?”

Barbara frowns. “That did happen, didn’t it? And she brought it back all torn up.”

“So that’s a yes? You want Mommy Kate to comfort you?”

“Let’s stay on task.”

Kate sighs. “All right. Who do you like for this?”

The people behind Elite Pride and all the action centering on Seed must have some serious clout; this is not the work of newcomers. But these incidents, especially the ambush tonight, are just too strange to be the work of the Roman or other more conventional outfits. Sionis? No. There's a heavy hitter behind this with resources and personnel, and it's someone who doesn't think like everyone else. It's not the Joker; this doesn't feel like him.

Penguin? Or Two-Face?