The New Hero in Town

[Barbara Gordon]

((Babs and Stephanie closed thread. Takes place January 8th))

She pumped the wheels of her chair, rolling through the door that a kind citizen had paused a moment to hold open for her, before letting it skid to a stop as it closed behind her. She thanked him, and ordered from the counter, before setting herself at a lone table by the window.

She was supposed to be meeting someone here soon. A young girl, fresh out of highschool and into the crime fighting business already. And it was messy business. Just look at the state of Babs now. She’d give anything to be able to use them. Well. She’d give most things to use them again.

Stephanie Brown. She had no idea how she looked or what she was like at all, but they were to discuss things. Secret things. In this lovely little café. It was a favorite of Babs, they sold a cranberry muffin there, and though she probably shouldn’t even be having one, she always took a little step out of line and bought a second.

They were good… She adjusted her glasses with one hand, and with the other, lifting a muffin to her mouth to take a bite.

[Stephanie Brown "Batgirl"]

Stephanie examined the phone in her hand, frowning doubtfully. She raised her eyes to the outside of the café, clean cut enough but not exactly the pantheon of world altering meetings. She’d expected some dark backlighting, shady characters skulking about, maybe a huge blinking “Fate is This Way” sign or something. This just seemed so… mundane. Was this the sort of place she’d end up lurking in, whenever she stopped being Batgirl in the not-so-foreseeable future? She made a mental note to try and at least shack up in an Italian restaurant with some beefcake bodyguards.

She hoisted the strap of her bag higher on her shoulder, stuffing her cell in her jacket pocket. The bag was getting a lot heavier – Cassandra’s costume, the utility belt, English 126 textbook. Important heavy crap.

She needed to focus. This was it. Show time, smile on, go meet the big before her. As Stephanie pushed open the door, the last thing that occurred to her was that she should have checked her teeth for food after wolfing down that wrap on the bus here.

[Barbara Gordon]

Barbara was always painfully aware of her surroundings. The people staring, sympathetic, wandering eyes of children. But if it bothered her, she did a hell of a job acting like she didn't even notice. Instead, she was staring over the brim of her glasses at the one who had just pushed through the door. A waiter had kindly brought her hot cup, frothy on the top to the table.

"Thank you." she said with a nod, as the waiter slipped away to return behind the counter. Barbara returned a glance to the young blond girl, before clearing her throat loudly after taking a sip from her cup. If her attention was successfully obtained, the red head would simply raise her eyebrow. Not unfriendly, but she wouldn't go as far as to call it a complete smile.

[Stephanie Brown "Batgirl"]

Stephanie was contemplating taking a dart into the bathroom when there was a loud "Huh hmm!" of throat clearing. She followed the noise to the girl sitting alone at a table, staring back at her. She blinked, mind trapping the sludge of "Oh, wheelchair."

Well, wouldn't that make a lovely first impression! Mentally slapping herself Stephanie tugged on the bag again and went over, smiling. "The eagle has landed." She'd stand, waiting expectantly as the girl raised a brow at her. She was meeting freaking BATGIRL - well, she was Batgirl technically, but the OLD Batgirl. Heck yeah she was going to milk the moment for all it was worth.

[Barbara Gordon]

For a moment, Barbara maintained a fairly straight face, but her brow eased and a slow grin took to her lips when the girl began talking in code. She let loose a small chuckled, adjusting her glasses idly as she regarded the younger girl. She wasn't much younger than herself.

"And the Bat has taken flight..." she replied, ever so slightly shaking her head. There was honestly no need for the code here, though some precautions and self awareness was implied. But Babs would indulge in the moment, for the new girl.

"So I take it you're Stephanie." she remarked with a friendly nod. "I'm Barbara Gordon." and she extended a hand, but otherwise didn't bother to move within her wheelchair. She was sure Stephanie already knew who she was, no introductions needed. But nothing was wrong with starting this off with casual talk. It didn't all need to be cloak and dagger.

[Stephanie Brown "Batgirl"]

Stephanie beamed. That was all the gratification she needed. She leaned across the table to shake her hand. "Hey." Then with that she plunked down gratefully in the seat, exhaling loudly as she dropped the bag beside her. She took a quick survey of the place - it wasn't so bad once you got inside.

"So," She shrugged out of baggy jacket, tossing it onto the chair next to her. She wasn't exactly sure where to start. 'My name's Stephanie, and I'm a Batgirl?' Honestly she had no idea what was going to come out of all this - past experience said the members of the Bat Family tended to like and dissuade people from fighting crime. If that's what Barbara was here for, Stephanie was going to be seriously let down. It wasn't easy, finding a code speaking buddy. And she could seriously use some help with the whole Batgirl thing. Lately the hero side of Gotham had been taking an ass-kicking while the bad guys were racking up points.

[Barbara Gordon]

"So you wanna be a hero." Barbara took on a mock teacher professional voice, as she peeled the cup off one of her muffins, the other sat on the plate still. She glanced up at Stephanie, evaluating her, and picking up on some uncertainties. Yet, determined. She picked up on some determination too.

"Muffin?" Babs asked, gesturing at the other cranberry pastry on the plate. She had been planning on scarfing them both down, but lets face it. She shouldn't have even broke for the one. Perhaps Barbara was being too casual about this, as she sat in silence to munch through the base of the cranberry muffin, but she knew all too well what Stephanie would be going through right now, and how many people were against it. It had taken so long for Bruce to finally admit those words to her.

You were always meant to be Batgirl, Barbara.

She had to give a dry smirk despite herself. It would seem she wasn't always meant to be Batgirl... Sitting here now gave her that impression anyways.

"Anyone tried to detour you yet?" she finally asked in an off-tone, as she inspected the bite mark she had just left behind. Of course she was talking about the role of Batgirl.

[Stephanie Brown "Batgirl"]

Stephanie was prepped to throw up every guard she had as the condescending tone came into play, and her smile faltered for a while as she watched the other girl begin eating. She didn't want her stinking pity muffin. Well, she kinda did, so she mumbled a thanks and plucked it up, yanking the top of the muffin off with probably more force than necessary and cramming it into her mouth. She'd caught a classic case of the I'm-a-college-student-I-take-free-food. Even living with her mom, money wasn't exactly abundant.

She tried not to think about that as Barbara spoke again. She laughed, tense and brittle. "Detour, nah, more knock me over the head and drag me off the path type of thing." She shrugged, and a bit of the sincerity in her smile came back. "Bad ass, the family is. Supportive, not so much." She gave another shrug - it hadn't exactly been unexpected - and dug into the muffin. She couldn't tell if it was because she was so hungry, but the muffin was flipping amazing.

[Barbara Gordon]

That sounded just about right. Batgirl was something completely new and exciting. It was many things, but easy was not one of them. No one ever seemed to want a Batgirl around, but did you hear anyone complaining when she managed to save the day? Not bloody likely. They'd need a Batgirl whether they wanted to accept it or not, and they needed a headstrong girl to do it. No one else could do that if they weren't.

"Good on ya..." Barbara grinned. She fully supported Stephanie. Heck. If she knew the dangers, then what on earth was the point of telling her about them time and time again?

"Alright. So I've seen you in the papers, some glorious, some... not so glorious..." she admitted with a shrug, as she reached down and slipped a laptop from a side pocket on her wheelchair. It was convenient like that.

"But I've also seen you're using an old suit. How d'ya like that.." she mumbled the last bit as she placed her computer on the table and flipped it open, tapping the pad and typing a few phrases. "You're gonna need your own." she added off-handed, without taking her eyes from the screen.

[Stephanie Brown "Batgirl"]

Stephanie might have let her mouth drop open a bit, and she was definitely squinting as Barbara set into planning like she was her PR agent or something. Public representative. Yeah, she could probably use one. Not bad publicity like summoning a gang-war. And a new suit?

She swallowed the mouthful of muffin, placing aside the stub and grinning. No lecture, no 'You have no idea what your getting yourself into, your just a child, Stephanie stop sticking your tongue out that's immature'. Oh heck yeah - best code speaking buddy ever.

"Yeah, Cassandra's." She sat forward eagerly. "My own? Can I have some plating stuff like Batman's suit? Because that stuff comes in handy when people are trying to beat the snot out of you. And Cassandra's is kind of awkwardly proportionate. You know..." She put her hands out in front of her boobs and gestured outward suggestively. "Can there be purple to? What is it going to be out of? Hey!"

She splayed her hands out on the table, grinning. "We need a name for you now! I mean, I'm..." she looked around, realizing she was starting to get a little loud. Lucky there weren't many people here, and none of them were interested in her. She lowered for voice, leaning forward. "I'm Batgirl, so if your helping me we need to think up a name for you. Like..." she sat back, and as she spoke she moved her hands outward in front of her face as if there should be fireworks. "The Sparrow."

[Barbara Gordon]

Barbara paused a moment to stare incredulously at Stephanie as she babbled on, her smile fading to something of a cross between confusion and bewilderment. And then she said it. The Sparrow, and Barbara burst into a fit of laughter. She even removed her glasses to give her eye a soft wipe before returning them to her face.

"I think I'm going to pass on that one." she admitted, "Lets just say a bird name for someone who can't fly is a little... Unorthodox." she decided on the word carefully, but despite its' somewhat grim meaning she presented it would a smile.

"Oracle." she nodded, "At your service.. I do most of my work from my own bedroom, and I can't say I have much to complain about there." she typed a few things into the computer.

"Some more protection and... alterations of design can definition be in order... and I'm sure a bit of purple to stray from the family 'norm' won't kill 'em. In any case it might irk 'em a little... That's always fun." she admitted with a grin. Barbara was like a child who had way too much intelligence at her disposal.

[Stephanie Brown "Batgirl"]

Stephanie flushed a little. Wheelchair. Right. Broken winged bird jokes would be the bane of her sidekick's existence. She smirked slightly - Oracle, sidekick of the Batgirl. She' have to be careful never to refer to Barbara out loud as sidekick, she was pretty sure the former Batgirl could hand her her left arm if aggravated.

"Okeeey." She drew the word out as if Babs were a spoilsport. But her smirk returned to a grin at the idea of irking the Bat Boys. "So, where are we going to get the materials for this? I'm cool for breaking into the Batcave if need be - bet he has a crap load of armor stuff he won't let me have."

Her brows knit slightly. "Provided Alfred isn't in." She looked to Babs. "If we're breaking into the Batcave, you have to distract Alfred. That man sees all."

She pulled the shell off the muffin and began breaking it apart as she watched the computer thoughtfully. "You can sort of be the Alfred to my Batman, you know? Like while I'm out patrolling you can be getting me all the info I need, engaging in witty banter, hacking up all the stuff that needs... hacking."

[Barbara Gordon]

"I suppose you're right." Babs shrugged, as Stephanie referred to her as the 'Alfred to her Batman.' It stung a little, but it was the truth, and she didn't let it show. But she used to get information fed to her. She brushed the thought aside. She had to get used to this... She was used to this, but every once in a while something came back...

Barbara grinned, tilting her glasses down slightly to provide better eye contact as Stephanie brought up breaking into the Wayne Manor.

"You catch on fast kid. But you're right, we'll need the materials, and they'll definitely be there..." she paused a moment, removing her glasses and polishing them with the hem at the bottom of her shirt.

"Keeping Alfred busy will be no problem for me, but 'The Cave' is littered with traps, codes, and tricky obstacles before you can finally get in... If you're up for it.." she smirked with a knowing look in her eye, as her voice took a change towards challenging.

[Stephanie Brown "Batgirl"]

She scoffed, waving a hand. "Traps, codes, and obstacles? That's a typical Friday night." Not strictly true, but hey, what was the point of sounding like a wimp? No problem to distract Alfred? Sounded just as treacherous as daring the Batcave to her - so who was she to complain about her role in the burglary?

"So, how soon? We should probably do it early morning, when the boss is getting to sleep, so we don't run a risk of him bursting in to get some vital tool to thwart a big scheme. And less likely to bump into Damien." She found herself snickering at the idea - oh the things Damien would call her for breaking and entering into his father's bastion of crimefighting. The kid had a way with creative insults.

Somehow the actual danger of the plan didn't register with her - the thrill of pulling one over on the men and boys who insisted she wasn't fit for her job was just too good to pass up. She could see it now, them meeting somewhere on the Gotham rooftops to plot out an attack, she comes swaggering up bedecked in the very materials absconded from their beloved mancave. She could hear Damien's threats now.

[Barbara Gordon]

"Any one of them could be passing through the cave.." she admitted reluctantly. "It'll have to be more than distracting Alfred. It'll have to ensure that they're all busy elsewhere, whether they're saving a kitten from a tree or throwing some gangly thug into a cell." she shifted her glasses, and they flashed against the light, "I can make sure of that. Being Oracle doesn't come without it's perks." She checked her phone, scrolling downwards and without her eyes leaving the screen she spoke again.

"Tomorrow morning work for you?" she asked, as she rummaged through a side pocket on her wheelchair, and placing a small slim ear-piece down on the table before Stephanie. "No point in waiting too long." she shrugged. Babs was a 'get 'er done' kind of girl.

"This is so I can communicate with you for any reasons. You can talk back. I'll have mine hidden, if I'm going to be keeping Alfred occupied, so I'll contact you when I can. You know about the heat detected lazers right? Just before the door that starts to close if you trip the pressure detection in the hall before?"

Breaking into the Bat Cave was no simple task... But Babs didn't trust Bruce to fall through with making Stephanie a new suit. Not without a fight anyways. So they'd take this into their own hands.