BAE Chapter 74

Stephanie recalls when she was still starting out, still wearing the Spoiler costume. She remembers when Dinah had to step in to throw Cluemaster and Riddler out of her house*. A lot has happened since then. That’s all behind her. She’s not the same person anymore, in all kinds of ways. Maybe things will be different this time, maybe not. In either case, Stephanie will be doing her own thing. That feels right.

“Let’s do it,” she tells Alfred. “Can you arrange for an opening in the campaign for Sara Smith?”

“Easily,” he replies. The Wayne resources are considerable, and Alfred has plenty of practice at pulling these types of strings.

“And clean up the timeline in case Riley starts asking questions. Even if I don’t start until tomorrow, let’s make it look like I’ve been in the hiring process for a while.”

“Very good.”

BAE

Food, rest, a workout, and shopping for clothes. One upside to being a bat person is that it doesn’t leave a lot of room for anything extra. Dating? A career? None of that is going to happen. Bruce tried to make it work time and time again. He never learned.

Stephanie meets Kate in the lobby of Wayne Tower.

Stephanie is in disguise now, with big sunglasses and cute, but somewhat frumpy, comfortable clothes under a wooly hat. Sara Smith will present a little differently.

Kate has clearly just gotten her hair done. She’s gone brunette with a little blue highlight and aggressively gay cut that gives off soccer player vibes. It’s very her, and keeping it short makes it easier with that crazy wig at night.

“I’ll explain later,” Stephanie says to a bemused Kate, who only shrugs.

“Everything works for you,” she replies.

“And you flirt with everyone.”

“Peace and love, man.”

They get into the elevator and ride up to Pharmaceutical Sciences, where Lucius Fox meets them. This floor has a robust infirmary, and that’s where Barbara is.

Stephanie has to stop as she enters Barbara’s room, and Kate’s reflexes are good enough to keep her from bumping into her.

Barbara sits in a wheelchair in slacks and a sweater. It’s the first time that Stephanie has ever seen Barbara wearing glasses instead of contacts.

“Oh,” Stephanie says, startled.

“Relax,” Barbara replies with a wave of her hand as they enter the room and Lucius closes the door behind them. “It’s all right. Have you all been formally introduced? Mr. Fox knows everything that matters,” she adds quickly.

“Oh. Oh!” Stephanie turns around to face him, looking at him a little differently.

“It’s my pleasure,” Lucius says, offering his hand.

“I’m Stephanie.”

“I’m Kate.”

They keep it quick, and Kate is asking before Stephanie can.

“Why are we in a wheelchair?”

“I just took a **** that should counteract some of the fatigue.” Barbara looks at her watch. “Mr. Fox didn’t want me to faint. I haven’t fainted.” She gives him a slightly unfriendly look. “I’m not the fainting type.”

“I’ve heard that one before,” Lucius replies, leaning on the desk. “Do you need me present for this meeting, Ms. Gordon?”

“You’re welcome. But I’m not asking you to stay.”

“Well, I tried covering my ears with Bruce for years.” Lucius sighed. “Didn’t help much. Don’t mind me.”

Barbara nods and faces Kate and Stephanie.

“I read your notes,” she says bluntly. Like she even has to say that; Stephanie and Kate are both assuming that Barbara will be hawkishly micromanaging. “And I saw what Alfred did there,” she adds to Stephanie.

“He’s earned it,” Stephanie replies.

“I don’t disagree. Next time talk to me first.” Barbara sighs. “But it’s what I would’ve done. I’m not sure what we’re going to do, if anything, but we want to be in position if we have to. Having you in Hill’s campaign will cover a lot of bases. Mr. Fox doesn’t trust me to wear my evening clothes because he doesn’t trust Ivy.”

“This is a new Dr. Pamela Isley that we’re dealing with now,” Lucius cuts in. “We’ve never seen her with her hormones under control before. She was intelligent and cunning before. She’s more stable now, but Bruce would only say that makes her more dangerous. We’ve seen her plan several moves ahead before. She may be doing that now. She may know that you’re Batgirl. You shouldn’t put yourself out there until we’re absolutely sure. I can get behind giving her a shot, but trusting her too much would be a mistake. Bruce never listened to sense. I’m hoping you’ll be different.”

Barbara smiles patiently and gestures toward him.

“You heard it from him,” she says to Stephanie and Kate. “I’m playing ball. For now. That leaves the two of you. Helena hasn’t been active in months and Jason’s not even on the planet. There is literally no one else with any credibility in Gotham right now. Black Canary will come if I call her and so will Nightwing, but I don’t want to make those calls if I don’t have to. I don’t like letting you two go out unsupervised, but that’s not about you. That’s about me. Thoughts?”

Kate snorts. “What could go wrong?”

“We can handle it,” Stephanie agrees.

“Then rest up. We have two jobs to do tonight. We need to stay out there with a visible patrol and someone has to hit Janus Cosmetics.”

“I thought they went down years ago. When Bruce put Sionis away.”

“Daggett’s behind it. He and Sionis had an arrangement. Now the company exists to launder money and give Daggett a way to have trucks moving around. Anyway, they’ve got the top three floors of the Moench Building. I made a play the other day that gave Daggett a black eye and made it harder for him to cut corners on disposing of waste. Ivy thinks that he’ll use Janus to put trucks on the street to get around that. On top of that, something is sucking up a lot of juice in those Janus offices. Ivy thinks it’s a major crypto setup; Daggett has openly invested in crypto and I believe that he’s under a number of recent rug pulls.”

“On the spectrum of crime, taking gullible people’s money that way doesn’t really offend me the most,” Kate admits.

“It’s not about the money. For Ivy, it’s about energy consumption. For me, it’s about sending a message. Someone’s got to get in there and find out what that’s all about. And unless it’s something charitable, I want it destroyed. Daggett is one of the conduits between the mob and legitimacy that strengthens their entire institution. He’s been very comfortable since Bruce went away, and I don’t like that. We need to do this to keep Ivy happy and it helps us with our messaging.”

“Which is?” Stephanie prompts.

“Which is there are still pointy-eared freaks running around that will mess up your day if you do stuff you aren’t supposed to do,” Barbara replies, straightening her glasses.

“That is not how Bruce would’ve put it.”

“Do I look like Bruce to you?”

“Well,” Kate says with a deep breath. She lays her hand on her chest. “This is not a job for a Batgirl. This is a job for a Batwoman.”

“Shut up,” Stephanie says immediately, jabbing Kate with her elbow.

“Yeah, shut up,” Barbara agrees, throwing the nearest object, which is a small box of K-Cups. Kate catches the box and parries Stephanie.

“Just saying,” she says with a shrug, hopping away as Stephanie aims a lazy kick at her shins. Kate tosses the coffee back, and Barbara tosses it to Lucius, who sets it aside while wearing a patient expression.

“And someone,” Barbara says firmly. “Needs to go out on patrol. We’ve barely done any, and half our routes haven’t been touched since Bruce went dark. Alfred’s already triaged that.”

“Not K-Route,” Stephanie says.

“Not it,” Kate cuts in quickly.

“Not it! Super not it!”

“Shut up! You’ll do K-Route if Alfred tells you to,” Barbara scolds them.

“He’s not my real mom,” Kate protests.

“I like B-Route,” Stephanie says. “It’s got that gelato place and since we aren’t psychopaths like Cass, we can actually like stop and eat it.”

“Bruce explicitly told us not to eat gelato on patrol,” Barbara says.

“That’s was froyo! And that was you. He never said that to me.”

“Yeah, and you’re not Bruce. Remember?” Stephanie folds her arms.

Barbara hesitates. “No eating. We need people to take us seriously.”

Seconds pass. Barbara weathers the disapproving gazes of Stephanie and Kate. She looks at Lucius, who remains neutral.

“Fascist,” Kate says under her breath.

“OK, Oliver,” Barbara snaps. “Now who’s got Janus and who’s on patrol?”

Looks like it’s going to be a big night.

Should Stephanie raid Janus Cosmetics?

Or patrol solo?

*[ Way back in a slightly multiversal BoP #40! -Sam ]