BAE Chapter 51

“I would enjoy helping you with that,” Barbara says, getting herself under control. This isn’t flirting, it’s fencing. She has to stay focused. “But I think your wife is the best person to help you with that specific thing.”

Aki doesn’t react visibly. “I see,” she murmurs.

BAE

Twenty minutes later, Barbara is climbing into the Rolls.

“Did it go well?” Alfred asks as he pulls away from the curb.

“No,” Barbara replies, self-consciously noticing how much she’s sweating. She has faced costumed villains that intimidated her less than Aki does.

“Your plans?”

“Take me to Arkham,” Barbara tells him.

“Is Dr. Isley expecting you?”

“No. But I just made a powerful enemy at the company.”

“I take it Ms. Aramaki’s not as philanthropic as her tax returns would have us think,” Alfred remarks.

“She makes Selina look like a kitten. I need allies. Lucius won’t cut it.”

“You’re not speaking as the Batgirl, are you?”

“Batgirl is just a symbol. Wayne Enterprises actually has the resources to make a difference.”

“You aren’t seriously trying to take control of the company,” Alfred says, looking worriedly at the mirror.

“Not tonight,” Barbara says, opening the armrest to get a bug detector.

BAE

Thunder rumbles ominously and black birds perch on the spiked fence that encircles Arkham. The Rolls purrs up the winding drive. Alfred has called ahead, and orderlies in white are holding the doors open for Barbara, watching the sky for the inevitable storm.

As Barbara gets ready to climb out, she sees Alfred turn down the volume of the police scanner connected to his earpiece.

“Busy night?” she asks.

“Indeed,” he replies.

Barbara takes a deep breath. Alfred won’t come out and say it, but someone should be on the streets. But it won’t Kate. Not by herself.

Alfred touches his ear.

“Ms. Kane wants to go out,” he says.

Barbara’s eye twitches. “Tell her to wait.”

“Or you’ll what?”

Barbara’s jaw drops. “Excuse me?”

“I was merely passing the message along, Ms. Gordon. Or you’ll what,” Alfred repeats. “It’s what Ms. Kane is asking me to ask you.”

“Or I’ll put her in a body cast,” Barbara adds, getting to her feet and slamming the car door shut.

Alfred rolls his window down as Barbara stalks toward the doors.

He clears his throat.

Clenching her fists, Barbara stops and looks back waspishly. “What?”

“She says, and I quote: ‘Very healthy,’”

“Handle her, Alfred. I will talk to her when I’m finished here.”

“As you wish.”

“Ugh,” Barbara groans as she storms into Arkham. She’s allowed to meet with Ivy in the visitation room after hours. Ivy arrives with her fair skin and red hair damp; her Arkham uniform looks crisp. She must have been getting ready for bed when they told her that she had a visitor.

She pauses at the sight of Barbara sitting at one of the many tables, alone in the large room. This space has big windows, albeit behind thick bars, which provide no light at this hour. The dim bulbs overhead flicker.

Looking curious, Ivy makes her way to the table and sits across from Barbara.

“Barbara Gordon,” she says, resting her chin elegantly on her knuckles. “You need something.”

“Of course I do.” Barbara hands Ivy her phone with information pulled up detailing the moves that Wayne Enterprises is taking against Roland Daggett. “Read those emails.”

Taken aback, Ivy accepts the phone.

“We aren’t supposed to have phones,” she says.

“Use it to read, not to start trouble.” Barbara takes out the bug detector and switches it on. Ivy watches her for a moment, then peers curiously at the screen.

Barbara finds six bugs, not including Bruce’s. All are easy to get at and destroy but one; it’s behind a metal plate that’s bolted to the wall. Barbara has **** but to move Ivy to the farthest end of the room and lower her voice.

“You really did it.” Ivy manages not to look impressed as she hands the phone back.

“I told you I would.”

“So what happened? Why do you need me to scratch your back now?”

Barbara leans close. “Because my plan to bring you in is about to have some internal resistance. I just pissed off a member of the board who doesn’t play nice. It’s too late for her to stop us, but we have to stick the landing.”

“We, huh?”

“You could screw me to spite me, a person that you don’t know or care about. Or you can work with me and potentially benefit a lot.” Barbara waves a hand. “I’m not here to do trust issues. Yes, we. You and me.”

Ivy looks amused. “What do you need?”

“We’re going to need to cut corners on getting the vaccine to market. Just to be safe.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know how quickly you can create it. You’ve already formulated it, I’m sure. The delays are going to come from the steps that we have to take to make sure that it’s safe and effective. That will take months. And if someone’s trying to trip us up, that won’t make it very difficult for us. I can think of a lot of ways for them to interfere.”

“Why would they want to?” Ivy asks with a smile.

“I just need to make sure that nothing sinks this.”

“How?”

“I can’t match these people for resources. Ironically,” Barbara adds with an eye roll, thinking of the Batcave. “The only weapon I have is PR. Before anyone can even start trouble, we need to show that your vaccine works. A real example for everyone to see.”

Ivy leans back, folding her arms and crossing her legs. “I might be the one locked up in Arkham, but you’re insane. You think anyone’s going to agree to take an untested vaccine created by me? I’ve seen the news. I’m not popular.” It doesn’t look as though that bothers her.

“I’ll take it, obviously.”

Ivy cocks her head. “I thought you liked it.”

Barbara grimaces. “I like winning more. Besides. Can’t you just give me another one later?”

Ivy stares at her for a long moment. Her smile grows slightly.

“All right. Lex Luthor has a penthouse in Gotham. There’s a vault. In that vault, there’s a green, canvas bag with some of my things in it.”

“Dangerous things?”

“Very,” Ivy says without missing a beat. “But if I have that, I can have your vaccine ready within a few hours once you get me to a lab.”

“How did Luthor get your stuff?”

“You think you’re the first pharmaceutical company to come to me for help? Or to offer me resources?” Ivy asks.

“I’m the first one to do it publicly,” Barbara tells her. “And for the right reasons. I’ll see what I can do. Have a good night.”

“You too,” Ivy says as Barbara stands up.

BAE

“I hope this meeting went better,” Alfred says as Barbara climbs back into the car. The leather squeaks softly as she sinks into the seat with a groan.

“Maybe. Is Lex Luthor in town?”

“He is not.”

“On a scale of one to ten, how hard’s it going to be to get into the vault of his Gotham penthouse?”

Alfred hesitates, then starts the car and pulls away.

“That could be challenging,” he says finally.

That’s an understatement.

“I have to get in there.”

“Even Master Bruce would not undertake that without considerable preparation.”

“I know. I’ll need help.”

“I would wager this is beyond Ms. Kane’s abilities.”

“Agreed.” Barbara leans back with a frown. Only two people come to mind who might be able to pull this off on short notice. Gotham is home to several excellent thieves. And while Luthor is likely to have a lot of high-tech security, magic doesn’t care about that.

Should Barbara reach out to Catwoman? Or Zatanna?