BAE Chapter 36

This is good weather for Gotham: cool and bright. The late afternoon sunlight makes the office of Lucius Fox look inviting, but dignified. Much like Lucius himself. Rather than behind his desk, Lucius sits in an armchair near Barbara. They each hold a cup of coffee as they admire the view.

Barbara is starting to get used to her business clothes, and they suit her. She also feels better. She’s almost back to normal, and has not taken the Recovery Steroid today. Her mind is clear.

“It’s certainly bold,” Lucius remarks.

“You don’t approve,” Barbara replies.

“Oh, it’s not that. It’s not that at all.” He shakes his head, his eyes distant. “It’s just a lot to think about.”

“I’m changing my plan. I want to do it completely publicly. Batgirl will have nothing to do with it.”

Lucius nods. “That’ll be key. At least if you want my support.”

“You know that I do.”

They sit in silence. After a moment, he catches her eye. “Are you waiting for my blessing?”

“Yes.”

“You know that you don’t need it. If you take this to the board, they’ll eat it up,” he predicts.

“They won’t be deterred by the risk?”

“Ms. Gordon, these people are in and out of Arkham so regularly that the place might as well have a revolving door,” Lucius tells her frankly. “That outcome won’t surprise anyone. But the profit and the public relations coup that we stand to gain would be remarkable. It’s funny. This was supposed to be your cover, but with ideas like this, we really could mistake you for angling for my job.”

“I don’t want your job,” Barbara assures him.

“We’ll see. You have my blessing. This will be a busy day, Ms. Gordon. Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“I need you to be sure.” Lucius puts his coffee aside and leans forward, clasping his hands. He makes very direct eye contact with her. “Because this will all depend on your ability to keep her in check.”

Barbara nods. “I know.”

“Good.” He straightens up and smooths his tie, crossing his legs. “We’ll tell the board. We’ll lie and say that Daggett’s thinking about making the same move. That’ll get us unanimous approval here and now. We’ll have to call an emergency meeting.”

“What about Aki Aramaki?”

“She’ll vote with the others on something like this. She might even approve. It can be a little difficult to tell with her sometimes. And then as soon as we have a majority, you’ve got to get to Arkham. And the red hot second you’re finished there, we’ll need a statement for the media and it’ll be best if it comes from you,” he said.

“Not you?” Barbara is startled.

“This is your baby, Barbara.”

“You want me to get so involved with Wayne Enterprises that I don’t have time for the costume,” she accuses him.

“I don’t want to see you end up like Mr. Wayne.”

“We don’t know that he’s dead.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“I’m not like him,” she says defensively.

“I can see that. He would never have tried something like this,” Lucius says with a little shake of his head.

“Too cautious?”

“Too scared.” Lucius stands up. “Let’s go.”

BAE

It helps Barbara to have Lucius’s support. She was confident that greed would be enough to get the board on her side, but there’s no plan without Lucius. The board has questions about not only keeping Ivy under control, but how to convince her to play ball in the first place. There’s also the matter of support from GCPD and the courts, but Barbara has a not-so-secret weapon in that department: her name. Will Dad be on board with this? Absolutely not. But he also doesn’t have a better idea for how to protect the citizens of Gotham from the Seed formula. Barbara already watched him break out in a cold sweat when she asked him what would happen if the Joker laced the drinking water with it.

The police and the courts will support Wayne Enterprises in this.

So at least Barbara can be confident about something as Alfred drives her up the winding road toward the gloomy, gray monolith at the top of the hill. Maybe if Arkham didn’t look so gloomy, people wouldn’t break out so much. They pass under the wrought-iron gate.

This proposition is not controversial. On the spectrum of prominent criminals in Gotham, Ivy is by far the least maligned. She’s almost popular, and many eco groups have adopted her as a symbol. Arkham is happy to do a favor for the company that pays to keep the lights on, and even happier at the notion of getting rid of Ivy when it just seems like an inevitability that she will break out. Or worse, Harley will break in to break her out.

Even so, the Arkham personnel are cautious with Ivy.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. Can you say that again?” one burly guard asks as they stand outside Ivy’s cell. It has a glass front. Ivy stands inside in her plain, white, Arkham uniform. She doesn’t know what’s happening yet. She looks curiously at the petite redhead dressed for business who is bossing the Arkham staff around.

“I want to go in there,” Barbara says, pointing at the cell. “Open the door.”

They eventually give in. Barbara steps inside and they lock the door behind her. The guards go to the far side of the hallway to give a semblance of privacy, and their supervisor clears out.

The lights flicker. The room is cramped and Spartan. The only color is Ivy’s bright, coppery hair and blue eyes. She folds her arms and looks at Barbara expectantly. Barbara sighs, taking in the small space.

“I thought there’d be chairs,” she says with a scowl, then offers her hand. “I’m Barbara.”

“You know who I am,” Ivy replies neutrally. She’s curious and annoyed.

“The Batman asked you for help with the Seed formula. You told him you’d help in exchange for getting out of here,” Barbara says.

“I wasn’t being serious.”

“Can you be serious now that someone has your formula on the street?”

That gives Ivy pause; Barbara sees it in her eyes.

Barbara and Ivy have crossed paths twice before. Once, they hardly had any contact because Bruce did the heavy lifting. The other time, Ivy used her perverted vices to tie Barbara up and grope her at length before she figured out how to escape. She shut down Ivy’s lab, but Ivy got away that time.

On both occasions, Barbara saw only Ivy the villain. Things have to be different now.