Long Time No See [Tag Barbara]

[bruce]

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When Bruce has learned from Tim that Barbara was still working as an information broker, part time, he knew that he had to see her. It was also from his, now grown, adopted son that the Dark Knight learned that Barbara also wasn’t operating out of the Watchtower anymore, something that actually surprised him a little, but out of a new base located at Kord Tower.

Getting into the Tower was a challenge, a bigger challenge than he expected, but it wasn’t challenging enough to keep him out. He was glad though that Barbara was still keeping her security up to snuff, it told him that she hadn’t gone soft or complacent over the years.

As he silently walked around her new facility, he had to admit that he was impressed with all of Barbara’s new tech. He knew that if there was anyone who was going to help him track down Luthor, it was going to be Barbara. She was always one of his most important allies and her ability to hack nearly every system in existence was invaluable to him in his crusade.

I like what you’ve done with the place, he said from the darkness behind her.

Stepping forward into the light of her computer screens so that she could see him better, the Dark Knight looked at her with his usual stoic expression as his dark cape draped over his body.

[Barbara Gordon]

She was retired. She was Retired. SHE was RETIRED. Maybe if Barbara just kept repeating that phrase to herself one day it would actually be true. But as she woke up on one of the many couches facing the windows of Kord Tower, overlooking the city of Gotham from the wharf for the third time in as many days, Barbara had to rethink exactly what retirement meant to the Gordons. Perhaps she was more like her father than she had thought.

The whole tower was quiet, not that she really expected any noise, she moved around far too much to have visitors often and she had forced her staff to go on vacation. Creote and Savant deserved a little r and r even if it was a ‘reconnaissance mission’ to a luxury resort in the Caribbean that didn’t have anything really to watch other than surf and sand… possibly the occasional wildlife. So her whole routine was uneventful, even as she settled herself in front of the monitors to go over the latest intel she was getting through her various networks.

But as she was finishing yet another report for quick viewing so she didn’t have to break everything down via comm again, things got quiet. The kind of quiet she was suspicious of… she was sliding her hand towards a hidden batarang when a gravelly voice nearly stopped her cold. She didn’t know why she was so surprised; this was bound to happen sometime. The real question was if he was the real Bruce Wayne, or something else of the sort.

“It has a better view of the water.” Barbara said, guarded as she flipped her wheelchair around to face him, holding her hands at the ready near her hidden escrima sticks. She looked stoically and defiantly back at him, even from her shortened height. Whatever the game was she was going to get to the bottom of it, fast.

[bruce]

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The Caped Crusader was glad to see that Barbara was cautious, though he definitely got the impression that she wasn’t as retired as she liked to tell herself, and everyone else, that she was. Though he was a little disappointed that she didn’t recognize him, he was glad that she was taking the cautious approach, especially given the way that the future had turned out.

I’m sure it does, he said calmly as he reached up from behind his cape to slid his cowl from his face.

Sliding his hand back to his side, Bruce hoped that by revealing himself it would put Barbara’s fear and caution at ease. The last thing he wanted was for some kind of fight to break out. Stepping forward, Bruce took a spot beside her, and let his eyes look over her hardware.

So this is how you are spending your retirement…working, he commented as he turned his eyes down to look at her with a slight grin on his face.

[Barbara Gordon]

It was only after a year without Bruce around that she finally gained a sense of paranoia that had made Bruce so much better at hiding than the rest of the heroes of the world seemed to be able to. It wasn’t that she didn’t recognize him, it was more that appearances could be faked, changed so that a person would relax until it was too late. But even Barbara had to admit that he was too much like Bruce to be a fake.

She snorted lightly while the edges of her lips turned up in a wry smile. It would be like Bruce to use the window instead of the four secure and hidden underground entrances and the interior private elevators though he was still programmed to have access. She reached out and touched his gauntleted forearm, just to make sure he was real and not a hallucination from any of the various things that her body had been through in her life.

“You know us Gordons, retirement isn’t in our vocabulary.” She quipped, shrugged and rolled her eyes at him, knowing full well that death or a coma would be the only things that would take Bruce out of the game. ”Besides, between the bats, the birds and the justice league, I can’t sleep unless I know that everyone is secure.” she added wistfully, turning back to her monitors. ”I’m guessing time travel, and the that rest of the league is around here somewhere.”

[bruce]

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He nodded in response to her statement. Yes. We chased after Lex and ended up here in this timeline. I would have been by sooner, but I’ve been out on the streets trying to gain Intel. I ran into Tim the other night and told me you were still up and running over here.

He was glad that the caution had dissipated and that Barbara had let her guard down to deal with him. Having Barbara at his finger tips again was invaluable and the fact that her retirement didn’t quite pan out how she had probably expected worked in his favor in this case.

It’s good to see you again, he said as he pulled his cowl back over his face. I need your help though. In order to return to our time we need to track down Lex. He’s the only one who can get us back and unless we find him, we’ll all be stuck here. If we can get back, we can make sure that this timeline doesn’t come to pass.

[Barbara Gordon]

“I built this place after I realized that the Clock tower was almost too public, and moved most of my system here after the Calculator tried to kill me again, shortly after you and the others disappeared actually. But after Huntress, Lady Blackhawk and Black Canary retired or left the Birds, handed over the Clock tower to another.” Barbara explained, snapping up some more displays in preparation for what he needed her to do. “The list that knew about this place started at twelve and has only grown a little since, but I do move around a lot. Last week I was in Metropolis.”

And then he was back to business, sliding from Bruce to Batman in a matter of seconds. “I imagine it’s been a shorter time for you than me.” She said, positioning herself in front of the computer arrays and switching everything over to voice activation and movement controls. “Then let’s track him down and get you all home.” But then she stopped, her long fingers hovering over a virtual keyboard. “Bruce, take off that mask, I need to know something…”

[bruce]

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Bruce had been extremely thankful that Barbara had survived the attack against Calculator. It had almost sent a small twinge of guilt through his body. It was because of him allowing her to fight along side him, because of him training her, that all of the bad things in her life had happened to her. Losing her step mother, getting shot and paralyzed, the whole ordeal with Brainiac. It was all because he had brought her into his world.

Take it from me, keep this place as secret as you can. The less who know the better, he commented after pushing away the thoughts of guilt. And you‘re right. It‘s only been several weeks for me since I saw you last. It was when I had stopped by to ask you if you had heard anything about the recent sightings of Jonathan Crane in New York,

[/size][/color] he added.

Just when he thought that the two were going to get down to business, Barbara had surprised him by asking him to remove the cowl. It was an odd request and he wasn’t quite sure about the reasoning behind it, but he trusted her. So again, Bruce reached up with a hand, and slid the cowl from his face.

What is it? He asked using his brass, stony voice.[/blockquote][/font]

[Barbara Gordon]

She had never, ever regretted becoming Batgirl, and really, if Bruce hadn’t taken her in, trained her and kept a watch over her she could have very well been dead before ever becoming a target for the Joker. Anyway, after she first put on that mask, after the first time she felt that adrenaline rush while taking out those who preyed on the weak, she could never go back to being plain old Babs. Even through it all, she had pulled through because he had been there, behind the scenes. Besides, the Calculator was a bully and nothing she couldn’t handle.

“Hmmm, Crane. He terrorized New York for weeks after you disappeared. The Titans finally managed to drag him back to Arkham for a short while.” The chaos that had ensued after the seven left was something that none of them would ever forget. They were outnumbered, overrun and outmatched. The birds and bats had barely held onto Gotham for all their hard work, and having to loan out people all the time to help other groups out. Babs hadn’t slept for the majority of a year or two while she had organized what was left of the Justice League and other superhero groups to try to keep the villains of the world from destroying everything the hero community had ever built.

“Knock it off, The Voice doesn’t scare me.” Barbara said, frowning and biting her lip. She wasn’t exactly sure how she was going to ask if Bruce had met his daughter yet. Likely if he had been searching for clues in Gotham, he had met Batwoman. And Elena still had issues with her father’s side of the family. “I suppose if you ran into Tim, you’ve also run into others that have been running around Gotham… Like Batwoman. And not the Kate Kane version.”

[bruce]

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Bruce had allowed a very slight grin to cross his lips when Barbara had told him to knock it off with the voice. It was something that Bruce was doing to be intimidating towards Barbara, but it was just a force of habit for Bruce. He had spent most of his life wearing the cape and cowl and using the gravely and brass voice, it was really second nature to him. Shortly before Damian came into his life Bruce had to be taught how to be Bruce Wayne again. Being Batman was so much of his life, well it was his life, that the stony voice he adopted years ago was more his real voice to him than being part of the Batman.

Yes Barbara, I’ve met Elena, he said dryly. And Tim already informed me that she is in fact my daughter. Tim also told me that you took her under your wing after you found out who she was and told her about the rest of us, he added. I know things are rough in this timeline, but she isn’t cut out for this Barbara. And it’s more than just her obvious acrophobia.

[Barbara Gordon]

She knew it was habit, which was why she told him to knock it off. Sometimes when things were second nature it was hard to tell when it was happening second nature. She was worried that this experience would set him back again, to undo what Damien had managed to fix through some amazing and strange way, but she also hoped that this might help fix some things that might still go wrong when he was returned to his own time. Like a little girl who grew up without a father, other heroes who died up holding what he believed in. While just returning him would fix a good but of it, but the whole batfamily knew that he could be stubborn when it came to his personal life. Giving him a good push would probably help.

“That wasn’t what I was going to say.” She informed him annoyance creeping into her voice. “And for your information, she’s a damn good detective and the last trainee Daddy ever took on. And she was willing to step up into a mask when most of us were getting killed or retiring.” She took a breath, trying to get past her annoyance that he would sign off on Elena so fast. “What I was going to say was that when you get back you need to fix whatever is between you and Vicki. Don’t let Elena grow up without a father, and don’t miss her childhood. Because you disappeared and we couldn’t say what exactly happened to you, she grew up to hate everything you had more than a passing association with. I’m the closest she’ll get to the rest of your associates.”

[bruce]

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Though Bruce held Barbara and Jim in high regard for not only their friendship and sacrifices, but for their fight of the good fight. Their work to help the innocent and downtrodden. Their never ending battle to reclaim Gotham from the scum who had taken his parents, and countless other parents too. And though he valued their opinions and their point of views, it didn’t always mean he had to agree with it. In fact he usually disagreed more than he agreed.

I don’t doubt that she is, but we both know it takes more than being a good detective to do this job, he retorted. And just because she was willing to step up doesn’t mean she should have. It also doesn’t mean that you had to train her. A person’s willingness to put on a mask and fight criminals doesn’t make them qualified to do this, he added coldly.

He had learned that lesson first hand when Jason had died at the hands of the Joker. Jason was so willing to fight beside him as Robin that Bruce let him, though looking back he knew he shouldn’t have. Sure he wanted to get Jason off the streets, to stop him from turning into what he hunted at night, but it got him killed. And what was worse is that Jason still ended up turning into what Bruce feared he would have become all those years ago anyway. He just wished that Barbara would have learned from his mistake…his failure.

And even when I do get back to my time, it’s not going to matter anyway Barbara. Vicki made it perfectly clear that she wants me having no part of Elena’s life because she didn’t want Elena becoming what I became. Not that it mattered anyway, because even without me there she still did, he responded.

[Barbara Gordon]

“Which is why I brought her in.” she snapped back, her temper sparking. She wished he wasn’t so stubborn; it wasn’t like Barbara woke up one day and decided to recruit Elena to fight crime on their level. As far as Babs could tell, Elena had an okay job with the Gotham PD, as corrupt as they were. Mostly she trained Elena because she was worried the girl would go off and get herself killed or worse, and then Barbara would have to explain it to Vicki, her father and Bruce. Telling them why she didn’t train Elena at the time was one of those things that she never wanted to do. “Oh Bruce,” she sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “I only planned on training her until she decided she would rather be a police officer than a vigilante, to keep her from seriously injuring herself or worse, but… With the deaths, disappearances and retirements, and her unwillingness to give it up when Tim and I asked, I let her stay on. She has far too much of her father in her.”

She had made her own share of mistakes, some that she had nearly died for, others that those closest to her paid or nearly paid for with their lives. One of those had taken her ability to walk away from her. Another had taken the best thing in her life from her, and turned things awkward and strange again. She glanced over at one of the screens, one that had two active feeds that never moved. One was her daughter, the other Elena. While she held Antigone’s Batgirl antics on a tight leash, the only reason she kept Elena up was to make sure she could get the girl help in time if things went south. She still had more than enough favors to call in than people realized. But at his next statement she really did roll her eyes in annoyance. “Oh for Heaven’s sake… Since when has being told ‘no’ ever stopped you? I think Vicki would rather have you training your daughter than the rest of us. Will you please, for once, try to have a life outside Batman.” For once she hoped that he would learn from her mistakes as well, since not a day passed that she didn’t wish she had gotten her nose away from the computer screen and spent more time with her own daughter. Maybe she could have kept Andi from becoming Batgirl at all.

[bruce]

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He could tell that he was starting to get on Barbara’s nerves. Ever since she had taken up the role of Oracle years ago, Barbara had been open with voicing her opinions and concerns than she had when she had been Batgirl. But Barbara earned the right to be open like she was with him. Even though he didn’t always see eye to eye with her, usually they never did, he always respected her opinion. But he really did believe that she was in the wrong when it came to Elena.

I was never told ‘no.’ You should know that Barbara, he retorted. And no, Vicki wouldn’t. She made it very clear that I was to have no part of Elena’s life. That she didn’t want Elena to follow in my footsteps and neither do I quite frankly. We have lost and sacrificed more than a human being should in this life Barbara. And I don’t want my daughter to live this lifestyle. It is dark, lonely, and full of horror. Elena deserves something better and I would have thought that you would have understood that. Because we both know, he paused for a moment to pull his cowl back over his face. There is no life outside of Batman.