#chatzy2

Anders: Anders wrapped his arm around Mason’s shoulders as they crossed Beacon Street and entered the greenery of Boston Common peaking out from around Boston’s towers of concrete and steel. People spilled out of the park from every which direction, carrying their dinners, laughing, chatting, chasing their kids and pets around and enjoying everything a summer night in Beantown had to offer, only on this particular night, the usual green oasis was now filled with speakers, electronic equipment, pop-up restaurants and a giant screen towering over the crowds as they waited in line for foods from every corner of the world. Every August, Boston held the annual Boston Common Film Festival in the park that was situated right in the center of town. Well aware of Mason’s love for classic film and his own love of eating fried foods and drinking alcohol outdoors, Anders couldn’t wait to invite Mase for a night out on the town together. Movies, beer, burgers, sex? What could be better? “Thanks for being my date, Mase,” Ders grinned, leaning in and giving her a kiss. “Fuck, you look sexy,” he added, murmuring as he brought his lips to her ear and softly bit it, his devilish grin visible and unwavering. Glancing around the park, Anders took note of the many options for food, weighing the pros and cons of each as his stomach growled loudly. “I’m starving babe, come on, let’s get something to eat.” Mase: Mason was more than happy to spend time at the film festival with Anders, and she had missed the festival the previous ear, so she was ecstatic to be back and surrounded by the familiar set up. "Thanks for inviting me." She murmured, returning his kiss with a grin on her lips. Her outfit wasn't anything spectacular - just a pair of light wash jeans and a flowy white tank top paired with her signature beat up Chucks. It was nice to hear that no matter what she was wearing, Anders was still able to find her incredibly attractive. And it gave her a big head sometimes. A shiver ran down her spine when he nipped at her ear, patting his chest casually. "There's families around, I wouldn't forgive myself if I fucked you with them all around." Mase whispered, laughing a little as she looked around as well. "Yeah, let's look around. I would kill for one of those huge grilled cheese sandwiches."

Steph sat silent and still in her hospital bed. Her stillness could have been taken for a calm reverie, if it wasn't for the way her hands clutched at each other or the purple bruises under her eyes that spoke to how long she had gone without sleeping. Once Hatter's drugs and hypnosis had worn off she felt awake for the first time in weeks. She didn't want to lose that feeling, she didn't want to go back to sleep. Her hair was limp and greasy, bruises ringed her arms from all the places she had been chained and grabbed at. Scratches from various standoffs throughout her kidnapping decorated her face and there was a deep cut down her bottom lip. He'd said if she wouldn't drink the tea, then she could wear it on her face. Steph didn't move, reliving the memory, but her heart rate spiked and she clenched a fist tight enough to whiten her knuckles. It didn't matter what happened to her, though, because at least she was alive. She thought of all the girls at the table, the first night. The girl in the cage next door. She was the lucky one.

Babs had come as soon as Steph had time to breathe and come out of the hypnotic state. She'd hoped for her to get some sleep first, but that had never seemed likely. It had taken some convincing of the nurse to let her in to visit; hospital staff were harder than most to persuade and manipulate, but it also made them less likely to be corrupt, which Barbara couldn't really complain about in good conscience. Steph was in good hands, she knew that, just as she knew that with a rotating guard set up she was safe too. That didn't mean the trauma hadn't been inflicted, and the road to recovery was far from an easy one, but she'd take small victories where she could get them. Rolling up to Steph's door Barbara knocked as gently as possible while still being heard, not wanting to startle Steph any more than necessary. After giving her a moment to respond, Barbara pushed open the door and rolled in. "Hello Stephanie," she greeted quietly as she put down her bag (heavy with things to give Steph) and shrugged off her jacket. No sudden movements. The medical files had given her a full overview of exactly how bad Steph was, but seeing it in person was always worse. The colour was completely gone from her cheeks, and the tension in Steph's whole body was painfully familiar. Everything that could be said in these situations always sounded hollow, so for now all she did was come over to Steph's side and rest her hand on the bed, offering it to Steph if she wanted it.

The knock startled her, but Steph didn't jump, just shrank further in on herself and digging her nails into her palm hard enough to leave red half-moons. "Come in," She called, hating the rasp in her voice from disuse and the waver she couldn't force out of it. Barbara wheeled inside, slowly and deliberately, and she felt a little sense of calm wash over her frazzled nerves. It really was okay. If Babs was here, it would be okay. Barbara was an anchor of surety and safety, the Oracle in the Clocktower that knew everything. Nothing could hurt them if she was with Barbara. "Hi." She responded after a long beat, having to remind herself to participate in the social conversation. After so long listening to Hatter rant, she had grown used to ignoring him and not responding. "Second kidnapping....not as bad as the first one." Steph tried to give a wry smile - see, see, she was still in there! But it was more of a grimace.

Barbara studied Steph as she spoke, trying not to look at her as if she was too fragile. Her injuries in comparison to last time were light, but Tetch had never been into physical violence in the same way others had - the damage he'd inflicted would be psychological. Like the dark shadows of guilt that crossed Charlie's face every time the case came up on the news or in conversation. "At least that's something. Try not to aim for a hat trick," she replied with a dry edge. There had to be a time for questions, for understanding if they wanted to prevent what had happened with Tetch happening again. But also to understand what Steph was going through right now, and how they could help her best. Barbara reached for her bag. "I have something for you. Several things, actually, but I thought I'd start with the chocolate," Barbara explained as she rummaged around her bag for a second, retrieving the two kinder eggs Damian had given her for Steph. "Like many things I give you, these aren't strictly speaking legal, so keep it on the down low. I've been sworn to secrecy as to who they're from, which I think tells you all you need to know. Don't try and eat the yellow plastic egg inside." Barbara handed her the two wrapped eggs with a smile that was almost as unconvincing as Steph's.

Steph let the silence hang in between Barbara's words. She didn't really have much to say, and it was okay to just listen to her talk. The foil covered egg shapes fit snugly into her hands, and she regarded them with a detached sort of curiosity. Were these those chocolate eggs with the toys inside? "I thought they stopped making these." She said, still staring down at them. The idea of opening one up and eating it set her stomach rolling and she placed them very carefully on the bed beside her. She couldn't believe she could just sit here and eat chocolate - girls were dead! Because of her! Babs should have been interrogating her, or she should be at HQ working to find the families of every dead girl. So she could personally give her respects. "The other girls?" Barbara would know exactly what she was referring to, and it was good because she didn't have the strength to spell out what she was asking.

Babs shook her head. "They still exist all over the world, but smuggling them into the country comes with a two thousand dollar fine. We investigated a lot of... loose ends, to find all of you." Barbara watched her set them aside with sad eyes, even though she understood. When Steph's question came, Barbara's small was more genuine, if just as small. "I have good news on that front. The girls you were originally with were saved by Green Arrow, Nightwing, and Black Canary. They called you a hero. We've found almost everyone taken since then alive. All of the hypnotized people have been safely returned home."

Steph let the phrase 'loose ends' mull around in her head for a while. She wondered how many people in Oracle's network had been stuck looking for her. Her eyes closed and her body drooped with palpable relief. She couldn't believe it, that they had saved all those girls at the table. They must have missed her by barely a few minutes, then, she realized with a bitter twinge. "I thought they were all dead. He -" She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, shaking her head. "But they're okay." She began to nod, to assure herself. "Good."

"I know, I know," Barbara replied, glad to see Steph palpably relax. Reminded herself that Steph had survived worse. The reminder didn't make seeing her like this even a little easier. And having been through worse didn't guarantee a recovery. In fact, statistically, what didn't ki- Barbara shook her thought to clear her head from those thoughts. Steph dying had been something Barbara only intended to ever experience once. "They're okay. Shaken, a bit dehydrated, but otherwise okay. And you will be too." Barbara took a deep breath. Soon, she'd get her own one on one time with the Hatter, and while tearing someone apart verbally wasn't quite as emotionally satisfying as punching them in the face, it'd be much more fruitful in getting answers. And, well, she could be mean as hell when she wanted to be. "Look, I understand if there are things you don't want to talk about, but is there anything you're comfortable telling me about the last few weeks? If not, that's fine, we can talk about something else."

Now that she knew the other girls were okay, she didn't have the sense of urgency that had been keeping her awake all this time. There was plenty Steph could tell her about what happened. Plenty she probably would never tell anyone. They could get the important facts, and make their own assumptions from her medley of injuries. Her head shook, even as she knew she would have to write it all in a report when she was able to anyway. Thinking back on it all brought her up against a wall and she shivered, she didn't want to go there. There was quiet for a long time - Barbara was the only person she knew that would let her sit so long in silence, to gather what she wanted to say. Finally, she voiced something that had been haunting her through her time alone at the hospital. "If it had been much longer...I would have been Alice. I was starting to - to be her." She shrugged, uncomfortable. This was so hard, to admit to an almost full lapse in identity, just to please a killer? "It was easier."

Babs waited silently, just watching. There were times when some people needed to be prodded for answers, people who responded well to questioning. But right now Steph needed silence. When Steph finally broke it, Babs bit her teeth together, and the pain and fear that had been building up over the past few weeks with regard to Steph and what Tetch could have done washed over her, silencing her for a few long seconds. "You did it to survive. There's no shame in that," she replied after a pause, reaching over to pat her arm. "We would have brought you back, no matter what. He was never getting away with you. I'm sorry it took so long." It wasn't said with guilt - Barbara had done literally everything in her power to find Steph, she knew that - but it was said with empathy.

Steph screwed her face up as she looked away from Barbara's crippling sympathy. That tone was going to break her and she was going to start crying and she didn't know if she would ever stop. "I knew you'd find me," She said instead. "That's why I kept fighting. But he kept taking...everything." Her cowl, her weapons, her comms, eventually her suit and the Bat symbol along with it. Her name. Her power. Now, he even had her sleep, and he was long gone. Steph didn't move away from the touch like her instincts wanted her to, but she couldn't stop from tensing before forcing herself to relax. "Anyway, it doesn't matter now." She said abruptly, "It's over, I'm fine, and we can all start moving on."

Babs felt Steph tense up under her touch, and after a moment took her hand away, laying it back on the bed. Steph who usually had no problem with physical signs of affection, who was usually the one to initiate them, now rejecting it. Barbara looked down at her lap for a split second, recollecting herself, then sat up straighter, looking back up at Steph. "Moving on doesn't mean ignoring what happened to you. You don't have to be fine right away. Acting otherwise is doing yourself a disservice."

Steph forced her fists to unclench, stretching her hands out above her knees. Barbara was, infuriatingly, right as always. But that didn't mean she had to like it. "Maybe I'm not fine, but I don't have to be not-fine here." She said, a pleading edge creeping into her voice. "I just want to go home, please." Ever since dying in a hospital, she could never really get over the yucky feeling being in one gave her. Not to mention, it felt like just another way in which she had no control over herself or what happened. At the mercy of the doctors and Barbara and her mother. It made her skin crawl.

Barbara nodded, understanding. Her own ghosts always hung around hospitals, from her dad's heart attack to her own months in care, so she couldn't really fault Steph for that. "I've spoken to the doctors," she started, running a finger through her hair, realising it could use a proper wash soon. She didn't look as bad as Tim had, but the last weeks had had their toll. "They're waiting for the results of the last few tests. You're showing symptoms of malnourishment, and they want to make sure tins nothing worse. I know it's hard, but try and stay here for a few more hours." Barbara reached into a bag, pulling out Steph's phone and a reasonably sized tablet. "I figured you'd want these. There are Netflix and games on the tablet. I know it's not ideal, but if there's anything to find, it'd be better to find it now than after you've gone home."

Steph "Of course I'm malnourished," Steph responded, gesturing to her unnaturally thin appearance. "I've been living on tea and scones for -" She stopped abruptly, blinking as she realized she had no idea what the date was. Time had lost all meaning in that hell, she could have been gone for months and wouldn't notice. "How long? What's today?" Panic was creeping back up on her, and she reached for the phone to get the date off it, but her hand shook so bad it dropped onto the blankets in her lap. "How long??" She asked again, voice rising with anxiety and desperation.

Babs gave Steph a look as she started to replying, knowing that Steph knew full well what she'd meant. It quickly evaporated and turned into a deep frown when Steph stopped. "February tenth," Barbara replied, picking up the phone for Steph and pressing the home button to show her. "It's been sixteen days, Stephanie."

Steph felt a hollow ache all the way down to her gut as the date really sunk in. Her eyes locked to the phone screen, trying to comprehend that amount of time passing. She knew it had been days...maybe even one week. But /two/?? Plus two days on top of that?? She had no semblance of that time, no idea of where she was or what she was doing for all that time. "I thought...a few days, maybe. A week," Tetch had kept her under a mix of his hypnosis and drugs, forcing her into unconsciousness more often than not. But sixteen days worth? "How's my mom?" Was her next question, rasped out in a seemingly disconnected way. But if she'd been missing for over two weeks...her mom had to be beside herself.

Babs kept the worst of sadness off her face this time, as much shielding Steph as not wanting to show the pain that had come from these past weeks. 380 hours of searching for Stephanie, every single one weakening the probability of ever finding her, never mind finding her alive. "Your mom has been extremely worried, same as your roommate. I've been keeping them updated on the investigation as much as possible, and told her as soon as we found you. Her shift ends in half an hour, she'll be here then, if that's okay with you."

"She's gonna kill me." Steph said with resigned despair. Of course she would be happy to see her alive and okay, but she had a feeling putting her mom through another possibly-dead-daughter experience wasn't going to go over well. Not to mention the whole taking back up superhero-ing thing. She put her head in her hands, drooped over her propped up knees. "You should tell Alysia I'm not dead either, she'll need to call off whatever activist group she put together when I went missing." A ghost of a smile crossed her face as she thought about her roommate. It faded when she realized she wouldn't be able to see anybody on her own terms for as long she was stuck in this bed. "And you can tell Tim to quit hovering around my door - if he wants to see me, just see me." She was going for light hearted annoyance, but it just came out mostly bitter. Obviously, he was posted there for protection, and the idea of needing round-the-clock watching didn't sit well with her.

Babs didn't have much to say to that, knowing full well how angry her own dad would have if it was Babs. But, more importantly, how relieved he would be. "I'll pass it on, don't worry about her. But your mom won't be all bad, I'm sure," she replied. Her eyebrows raised at Steph's next complaint. "I'll try," she said, "But he's been too worried about you to follow my orders very well. It also means you need to not sneak out before he can do so, understood?" Steph was sounding more herself the longer the conversation went on, so the question was ended with a small teasing smile.

Steph glanced up as Barbara mentioned not leaving the hospital. It had been vaguely on her mind, she could easily leave against doctor's orders, but all the people that could help her would be so against the idea that she wouldn't ever get anywhere. "Sure, fine," She nodded, the thought of having to stay here much longer making her lose the teeny scrap of goodwill she had built up. With a sigh, she shook her head. She didn't have to take out her ill will on Babs - who was doing literally everything she could to make her feel better. "You're not gonna make me see a shrink, are you?" She asked, arms folded defiantly. That was not high on her list of fun things to do.

Barbara: Barbara raised an eyebrow at Steph's quick agreement, but chose to accept it at face value. All she could do was ask, right? Well, all she could do that didn't involve locking Steph in, which wasn't even on the table as an option. She sighed softly at Steph's next question, rubbing her temples. If anything, Babs wanted to see her own therapist soon. "I'm not going to make you do anything. If that's a route you ever choose to go down, I can give you recommendations. If not, then I won't."

Steph nodded slowly a few times. It was clear Barbara wanted her to see somebody, but she couldn't quite stomach reliving and rediscovering these traumatic memories with a perfect stranger. She chewed at her cut lip and immediately regretted it, wincing and relaxing her mouth. "I know I'm being difficult.." She started, the need to make sure Babs knew she wasn't being obtuse on purpose. "It's just...I never really thought I would have to do this again." Her voice cracked, finally, at the end of her sentence. There was a weary weight to her words, the unpacked traumas and memories of her first kidnapping lingering behind the way she clenched her fists.

Babs looked up at Steph, looking her over carefully, then gave a small forgiving shrug, "I think you're entitled to being a bit difficult, and on the scale of being difficult you're still not in Bruce's league, so it's okay." Steph's voice cracked, and suddenly there was a lump in Barbara's throat, that she couldn't swallow away and one that refused to be ignored. Once again, Barbara was reminded how close Steph as to the age Barbara had been when the Joker had invaded her home. Too young, really, to carry around the monsters they had, especially when Steph had already been through so much with Black Mask. "I know," again she fought the urge to reach out and offer more physical support, her hand still resting on the bed. "But I promise we're all here for you, and you don't need to hide from us. The Hatter is never touching you, or anyone else, ever again." There was an edge to that last sentence that Barbara would possibly regret at some later point, but for now it was a promise Barbara knew she would keep.

Mad Hatter The night was wispy and cold, but the atmosphere inside the run-down warehouse was heated and thick. Angry. His plans were failing. The ship would be here any moment and he could get himself and Alice out of here, but his whole plan had been ruined. He couldn't stand that. Five guards stood inside with him, all armed and ready should someone try and stop them, but Jervis's eyes were still filled with anger and anxiety. He fiddled with the pinwheel in his hat, glancing occasionally at the two slumbering women he had chained inside cages maybe big enough for a medium sized dog. They had both behaved rather badly as of late. There were three more guards outside, plus a patrol of four that continuously circled the circumference of the warehouse grounds, ready to radio in if they spotted anything unusual. The masks would surely be upon him if he didn't get out of there soon. And he wanted to, he did! But leaving such a mess behind, his entire, thoroughly thought out, almost perfectly executed plan was ruined. It killed the mood. He would be known as the man who almost got away with it. Having Alice wasn't enough anymore-- he needed all of Gotham to know that he'd done it flawlessly and that was no longer an option. He whirled on one of the officers. "Go check what's taking my boat so long!" he snapped and the guy saluted and rushed out.

Green Arrow had been through hell and back that week, and to be perfectly honest he was far from happy about it, was he out for payback? Maybe a tiny bit. He wanted to kick some ass over what had happened to Mia. And really the truth was that he just wanted Jervis back in his padded cell in Arkham Asylum, he wanted to be able to cross Gotham without being attacked by mindless civilians who had done nothing more than pick up their telephone that day. So here he was creeping along, towards a warehouse that he knew was full of the Hatter and his goons, and was probably more dangerous than anything he had gone up against. But then again he was working with two of the best heroes that Gotham city had to offer. Smiling at the pair he nodded and shrugged. "Well here goes nothing." he said quietly to Black Canary and Red Robin. "I can see three guards at least." he said with a sigh. "We take them down simultaneously and then we move onto breaching the warehouse, stick together and don't get caught out." he said with a nod. "This should be a piece of cake really." he said with a shrug. "But you never know what could go wrong. Lets go." and without a second glance at Dinah or Red Robin he was off, creeping away from the pair of them.

Red Robin had been awake for what seemed like days. A nap here, a nap there, stubble, enough food to keep his strength up, and no classes. He had turned into a living obsession. Stephanie was missing, and he wouldn't rest until she was found. Oracle's message sent him on a new path. They were drawing to a close, boxing him in. They had pinned down his location and all that was left to do was take down the man himself. Tim knew better than to think that this would be easy. Logic told him his reaction times would be slower, that he was likely to be careless if he teetered on the brink of exhaustion and desperation, but no matter what rest he had tried to steal, he had been unable to claim it. For better or worse, this was him. He followed her instructions, eyes narrowing as he moved in. They had one chance at this. If the Hatter got Stephanie on a boat, who knew where they would take her? "Fools rush in," he nodded to Green Arrow, analyzing the situation with a keenness Batman would have been proud of. "We synchronize. Three of us. It should be fast." Fools indeed, he confirmed, because Green Arrow was already on the move. Tim followed his lead, moving in slowly as Arrow did. He was at least smart enough not to go full Leroy Jenkins on them.

Black Canary was equally as tired. Though not as disheveled as Tim, she had certainly looked better- as evidenced by the dark circles beneath her usually vibrant blue eyes. Oliver was focused, and she was glad for that. They all were. They would move as one, a well oiled machine. Tim's reference was not lost on her about fools rushing in and it added to the weight of her heart. Fists clenched, Dinah silently swore she would get Steph out of this even if it killed her in the process. Without a blink she followed Oliver, right on his heels- keeping a keen eye for any sudden movements. "I'll go left." Picking her side as to avoid any confusion.

Green Arrow crept along silently, probably nearly equally as tired as the rest of the group he knew that this wasn't the time for making mistakes. Nodding to Dinah "I'll take the right then." he went right and saw his mark, drawing a tranq arrow from his quiver he pulled it back and fired, watching the arrow arch across the open air he knew that it hit his mark before it actually did, the hypnotized watchmen collapsed as he was injected with the sedative and fell to the floor with a light thunk . Vaulting up Arrow grabbed the railing and pulled himself up onto the ledge that the watchmen had previously occupied, binding him quickly he reached up and touched the comm piece in his ear. "My guard is down, I'm going in through the window on the east side of the building, rendevous on the inside when you're ready." he said dropping silently to the floor and sneaking back into the shadows of the building where he could observe what was going on without being seen himself.

Red Robin drew his bo staff, his movement sure and silent. "Right down the middle it is." The mood wasn't right for anything but basic combat instructions. His voice lacked its usual humor. That tone was replaced by intense focus. The only thing that mattered was saving Stephanie and stopping the Hatter. Tim moved in and dropped from the rafters. His flight was silent until his body collided with that of the hulking man beneath him. Tim grunted, jamming his fist into the man's throat and sending him stumbling, rapping his knuckles with the staff and sending the gun in the man's hand skidding across the ground. With another sure swing, he knocked the man unconscious before moving on to the next. Pawn, pawn, pawn. He needed to get to the King.

Black Canary was blind with rage. Every time her fist connected to some brute's face, it was sweet painful justice. The muscles in her face practically threatened to smile...but it didn't happen. Everyrhing was too fragile, time too sensitive. "Ha! Huh! Hm!" She grunted as she threw a punch, a jab, a hook. A roundhouse kick to a jaw. Dinah was taking no prisoners, just dropping bodies left and right.

Mad Hatter Before the office he'd sent off even came back, there was the sound of a THUD! and Jervis swerved on his feet. It was coming from the other room, where his guards were posted. He scuttled over and peered out-- his guards were dropping like leaves! No, no, no! They'd found him already! No! He would /not/ let them take his Alice. Gritting his teeth, he whirled to the two guards who were left in the room with him. "Take the decoy out there," he snarled. "Distract them enough for me to get away! And go after that Canary!" he shouted, stomping his foot. "I want her hung to dry like the rest of my fake Alices," he growled, sending the instruction out as a command to all of the hypnotized guards withing range. Suddenly, they were all turning on Black Canary, heading her direction, as Jervis went over to hastily undo the cage that held his Alice. He would sneak her out the back, hide until the ship got there. The office finally came back in. "Arrival in less than ten, sir," he reported, and Jervis nodded. He grabbed the man by the jacket, shaking him. "You're my security detail. Shoot anyone that comes within twenty feet of me, understood?" The man nodded and loaded his sidearm. "Yes, sir."

Green Arrow couldn't have heard that right. "I want her hung to dry like the rest of my fake Alices,". No there was no way that that was right, no one went after Dinah Lance on his watch. Especially after what had happened to Mia. This was certainly not the time to be messing with the Green Arrow. Leaping out of the shadows he drew and arrow and fired it in Tetch's direction, one of his damned guards had to get in the way as they rushed towards Dinah, and he heard a cry of pain coming from the guard as an arrow protruded from his shoulder. Shouting to Red Robin he sprinted towards Dinah. "Get the Hatter!" he cried, already knocking another arrow and firing it her way, watching the arrow slam into the knee of the hypnotized goon. "I'll cover Black Canary, but you make sure he doesn't get away!" pulling another arrow he fired it in the direction of the hypnotized thugs circling in on Dinah. "We'll be right behind you now get going and save Batgirl!" he exclaimed vehemently, determined that he wouldn't let anything happen to Dinah.

Black Canary probably shouldn't have been so reckless. She knew better. She had trained too hard and too long to make such a rookie mistake, but alas- Dinah's mind was too clouded with hate to think clearly. Using too much strength at once to ever keep up at such a pace was causing her to weaken, and when the remainder of Hatter's lackeys descended upon her she was too quick to challenge them. "You like picking on blonde girl's, huh?" The confidence in her voice promising more fight than she had in her. She was more bark than bite at this point but she wasn't listening to her body. She wasn't listening to anything but the broken record playing in her mind "take them all down." With little more than a shrug she threw herself into the cluster, throwing punches and kicks Ike a mad woman.

Mad Hatter The men all descended on the Canary, despite her best efforts to fight them off. One of the larger men swung his gun and caught her upside the head, knocking her down. He reached out and grabbed her ankle, even as an arrow thudded into his leg, and fought through the pain, lifting her up and slamming her into the wall. His hands went to her throat, ready to squeeze her of all the air left in her lungs. The other men, weak and hobbling, watched as this happened, unaware and uncaring of the second presence behind them, and the third presence sneaking away through the warehouse toward their master.

Green Arrow didn't stop, he didn't think, he didn't wait for back up, he just acted on impulse, leaping through the air he landed on a crate and fired an arrow, it caught the hypnotized man in the shoulder, causing him to let go of Dinah, she slid down the wall and slumped to the floor and Oliver was immediately racing to her side, she must have been out cold after that hit and Oliver wasn't going to let anything happen to her, firing a volley of arrows as he moved he quickly incapacitated the remaining guards apart from one, who looked almost comical with an arrow protruding from his shoulder, though he couldn't feel it due to the hypnosis, aiming for his face Arrow slammed the butt of his bow into it and quickly slung his bow over his shoulder before turning to Dinah's energy-less form. Checking her vitals he sighed in relief to see that she was fine. Lifting her up he easily managed to stow her behind some crates and he dragged a tarp over her to stop anything from seeing her defenseless like that. "I'm sorry Pretty Birdy," he muttered more to himself than to her. "We'll catch him I promise." he said before racing off after Red Robin, just in case he needed any back up.

Steph stirred, shouting and commotion drawing her out of the black sleep she had been mired down in for who knew how long. Being awake lately was less than preferable, since she had been shoved into a small cage for acting out the /last/ time she was awake. Everything blurred together but she knew she broke a tea cup. Voices carried and she struggled to fight to alertness, but there was definitely /something/ wrong. Tetch looked spooked and she stayed quiet to keep his attention off her. Footsteps were getting closer to where they were and she wondered if this could actually be the cavalry, come in to save her. The girl in the cage next to her, her 'double', was still out and Steph hoped she stayed that way. This could get dicey, fast. There was nothing she could do from here, trapped in a cage and out of her costume and into a horribly uncomfortable blue dress with no weapons to speak of. She strained her eyes and ears to get a better beat on the situation, but all she could do was wait.

With every man he passed, all Red Robin could think was that they were another body between him and Stephanie. He had studied physiology and combat techniques at length. He was Bruce's student, just like Jason had said, but Jason wasn't going to help them. Stephanie thought the best of him, and Jason proved her wrong. Tim would have to do it himself. His spacial awareness told him Black Canary had gone down. He looked over at her, eager eyes wide with worry, but Green Arrow's body language told him she was alive. If she hadn't been, hell would've had no fury like an archer scorned. "Keep moving," he instructed, an authority in his voice that might have come from Batman himself. "We'll come back for her, but we can't let up now."

Mad Hatter grit his teeth and stormed over to Alice's cage. He paused. "If you so much as speak a word, I'll kill her," he warned, pointing at the other unconscious girl in the cage next to Steph's. "Understand?" Once she nodded, he smiled and opened her cage, yanking her out by her upper arm. "We're going on a little trip," he told her, his voice low and angry as he dragged her over towards the garage door. "Once we're out of here, we can finally start over." The ruckus from outside the room made his skin writhe. How had they found him? The guard behind him followed in close pursuit with the other girl, but Jervis still felt anger in his bones. He wanted to kill whoever messed up his plans. The pinwheel in his hat began to spin. "Don't worry Alice, I'll take care of everything."

Steph shrunk back as Tetch stomped up to her cage, violently. She had been all ready to kick up a fuss, shout and fight back and get everyone's attention on her and Hatter, but when he threatened the girl that had become her companion through the mad fever wonderland she stilled. There was a long beat between them, but finally she nodded. He smiled, her right answer pleasing him and keeping everybody alive for a little bit longer. Abruptly, he viciously grabbed her out of the cage, adding a ring of bruises around her arm to add to the others. She stumbled as he pulled her along, mumbling things she couldn't hear through the murky haze that fuzzied her attention.

Green Arrow gazed back at Dinah for one second before sighing, pulling a handful of arrows from his quiver and racing after Red Robin, there wasn't much left in terms of guards, but any that were left seemed far too preoccupied to offer much resistance, taking them down quickly he made his way up to Red Robin, gaining with each second, once they were level he looked over to Tetch's location and shrugged. "What is the plan?" he asked, Red could take the lead on this one, he didn't trust himself to make an unbiased decision, not when he was still reeling from Dinah going down, that wasn't something that he had expected in the slightest.

Red Robin looked at Green Arrow and then averted his eyes. Black Canary was down, but they couldn't stop. There was another blonde in need of saving. "You go after Tetch. I'm going for Stephanie." He moved forward without waiting for Arrow's response. The man had a bow and as many trick arrows as would fit in his quiver. He could distract Tetch, disable him while Tim moved in. The henchmen were gone. Only one person stood between them and Tetch. Tim loosed a smoke bomb as they got closer, ducking away from the Hatter as he continued. "Stephanie?!" he called, listening for her voice, moving towards it.

Green Arrow weaved in after Red Robin, pulling a flashbang arrow to the string of his quiver he peered through the smoke looking for Tetch, a silhouette, a scrap of green cloth from his hat, anything to distinguish him from the thick wall of grey smoke that blocked his sight, he saw it, after a full five seconds of searching, he didn't have to be told twice, firing the arrow in Tetch's direction he immediately pulled a second, more standard arrow from his quiver and fired once more, lower this time, with hopes that he would hit him but no guarantee in this smoke, he might not even be shooting at anything. "Where are you, you bastard?" he whispered underneath his breath.

Steph forced her lead muscles to react once the thick cloud of smoke enveloped her and Hatter, giving her the opportunity she had been waiting for since she got here. His grab on her arm hadn't loosened up, but he was angry and disoriented so she willed everything in her to move and she wrenched her arm away as hard as she possibly could. She stumbled back with the motion, her weary muscles wavered under her and she dropped to the floor. Tim's voice! Got her attention, and she was forcing herself in that direction. "T-tim!" There was another bang just behind her and bright, bright light and she shouted along with Tetch. "Tim??" Her eyes screwed shut, she strained her ears to hear Tim.

Mad Hatter stumbled back as some filled his sight and lungs. his group on Alice was suddenly gone and he screeched, lashing out. But he grabbed nothing, and in the next moment there was an arrow in his hat. "You bastard!" he shouted, whipping his cane out and swinging. It connected with something, or someone. "Get back here with my Alice!"

Green Arrow was apparently a lot closer to the Hatter than he had originally thought, as he felt the sting of his cane as it lashed out and whipped across his face leaving a red welt which would certainly bruise. He could hear the cries by Batgirl and Red Robin, the names Tim and Steph were bandied about a lot. But he had more pressing concerns. "Oh you're going to regret that." he murmured, pulling a boxing glove arrow to the string of his bow and aiming it in the direction of the Hatter. The smoke was still as thick as it had ever been, but he hoped that point blank he'd be able to hit his target, and so with that thought in mind he fired, hearing the pneumatic hiss as the boxing glove expanded out from its casing.

Mad Hatter reeled back when something thick and hard slammed into his face. He stumbled, barely catching himself, but felt the familiar whoosh of air as his hat flew from his head. "No, NO!" he shouted, lashing out with his can again, and grappling blindly in the smoke for his hat. He needed his hat! He was nothing without his hat! He'd be small and feeble and powerless without his hat! He fell to his knees, feeling around for it. His hand wrapped into fabric, but it wasn't his hat. It was the blue of Alice's dress. He yanked. "None of this was supposed to happen!" he shouted, raising his cane up again, ready to strike Alice across the head. If he couldn't have her, no one could.

Steph could hear Tetch shouting futilely and while he thrashed around something green fell through the smoke, just beside her. His hat!! Her eyes widened and she realized she could stop this right now if she could just get the damn thing. With one hand closed around the brim, she was yanked backwards and the unexpected force made her fall onto her back and nearly drop the hat. Terrified, all she could see was the Mad Hatter standing over her with his cane raised, ready to kill her she was sure. Her scared expression turned hard and defiant as she put his own hat on her head, and gave the pinwheel one deliberate flick to get it spinning. "Go to hell." She spat through her teeth, watching his eyes unfocus as his own hypnosis took effect.

Green Arrow noticed that suddenly, in an almost cinematic manner the smoke cleared and Oliver could see Tetch staring down at a girl dressed in a dirty blue dress smeared with grime. She had his hat on, this girl was a genius, and with the hat she had managed to hypnotize him and for that moment he was stuck their. Pulling back another boxing glove arrow he fired it and watched it sail across and smash into the side of the Hatter's temple, slamming him against the wall in the process, not to take any risks when it came to such a dangerous man Oliver fired a net arrow that expanded and encompased the whole of Tetch's body, pinning him down in place.

Mad Hatter As the smoke cleared and his eyes unphased, the entire illusion around him unfolded, and as he looked down at the girl before him, all he could think, was, "You're not my Alice...." And then it was lights out. The men who had previously been hypnotized all suddenly froze, then collapsed, rubbing their heads, groaning their confusion. The officer holding the other girl quickly let go and backed up, spewing apologies. The mad man was subdued but the damage he'd left behind was still to be cleaned up.

Oracle weighed up her options as Nightwing made his way through Gotham Proper, steering him around each security camera. The front and back cameras on the Nightwing suit made it possible to do her job in a situation where Big Brother was a pain in her neck. In any other situation, she would have sent him in with back up. If the odds that Tetch was in the building were any higher than the twenty two percent she'd calculated, then damn Big Brother, she would have sent in back up, even if the risk of being ambushed by several other villains would have increased drastically. "Take a right here, and cling as close to the edge of the rooftop as you can. Then you can drop down at the end of the block, and it's the building with the neon sign that's only half lit up."

Nightwing crept along the streets following all of Oracle's instructions to a 'T'. He didn't mind not having back up-- he wanted more people finding Steph, anyway. And people still needed to be out on the streets protecting the other women from getting kidnapped still. He could easily pull this off, as long as Oracle's calculations were correct and Tetch wasn't hiding in this building. As he dropped down at the end of this block, he kept to the shadows, scouting the building Oracle pointed out to him. "Roger. There seem to be two guards out front, anyway in without having to take them out?" he asked quietly into his comm, pulling out his binoculars to see if he could spot any more entrances, or any more guards. None so far.

Oracle looked over at the screen with the building's blue prints displayed, pulling the screen closer into her field of view as she pushed away the screen showing the unconscious Charlie's vitals from Leslie's clinic. "Depends. Would you rather risk being seen by our Orwell fan or take them out... or go through the sewers?" She asked, a slight teasing tone in her voice. After so long in such high stress with no success, the certainty that Tetch was within her grasp was almost a relief, but that didn't mean she could let her focus slip now. Steph was still in danger, as were other girls. They needed to shut him down fast. "Actually, scratch the sewer access, there's a crime scene inside the sewer for an unrelated case, getting past will be a pain."

Nightwing rolled his eyes, but smiled ever so slightly at her crack. He nodded. "Taking them out it is," he said, before reaching down for some wing-dings. He'd like to take them out without them actually seeing him, and without a ruckus, and he knew just how to do that. He crept a bit closer, heading around the side so that he could keep to the shadows, he aimed one wing ding for the guard farthest from him, arcing it in a way that it smacked him straight up the head, knocking him out. He toppled over and the guard closest to him turned, inadvertently turning his back to Nightwing, who swooped in quickly and with a quick smack to the back of the head with his escrima, the second guard was out. "Aaaaand back. That might be record time, you know." He dragged the two guards over to the side and sat them up behind a dumpster so no one would spot them. "Heading in now. Directions, Oracle GPS?" he quipped with a smile.

Oracle watched Dick's movements silently, steepling her fingers as her eyes scanned nearby cameras. "Mm, not quite, your record for dealing with two guards while sneaking up on them is point one eight seconds faster," she replied factually, "go straight upstairs. STAR labs' files makes it clear the device needs height to function across Gotham. And yes, they specified Gotham." Flicked one screen to the building she knew Tetch was holed up in, to check any movements. She occasionally saw shadows through the boarded up windows, guaranteeing his presence. "There'll be other guards. I don't know exactly where it is, but there's higher energy consumption from the rooms on the left on the third floor. It might be a deliberate trick though, so stay on guard."

"Ooh, so close!" Nightwing  snapped, heading up the stairs. There wasn't anyone moving in the stairwell, but he could hear far off voices as he rounded the staircase and made it to the third level. He peered through the window, scouting out how many there were. "I've got activity on the third floor, three guards. What's the floor's schematics look like? Not sure I can make it past them without taking them out, too." He put one hand on the escrima on his side, waiting for Oracle to give him the low-down.

Oracle nodded. "It's the top floor, there are four rooms, two to the left, one straight ahead, one to the right. The two to the left are smaller than the others, and every room is connected to the adjacent ones with one door. There's a - oh!" Babs checked the 3D model of the building. Bingo. "Go into the room opposite the staircase on the second floor, there's a window. It's been boarded up for eight years, but the window's broken so the wood will be mouldy and breakable. The window to one of the rooms on the third floor is right above it. The ledge is four inches, it's doable. The window isn't boarded up and it's single glazing, so you can break through. That should get you past the guards in the hall. Any guards in there will be on you right away."

Nightwing listened to her instructions carefully, before backtracking and heading to the second floor. Completely empty. These guys either didn't know what they were doing, or didn't have a good enough reason to be spread out through the building. Lucky for him, it also meant the chances that Tetch was here went way down again. He'd surely have a huge security detail, especially if "Alice" was with him. Dick shuddered before using his feet to smash the creaky, molded plank from the window and leaned out, looking up. "Oh yeah, totally doable," he commented. "You never lead me wrong, O." He grabbed the upper ledge with this fingertips, and pulled himself up enough to put his foot on the ledge, before reaching up and grabbing the bottom ledge of the third floor window. "I'm really glad I had that last growth spurt, otherwise this would have been very undoable," he quipped, looking down. "Only a two story fall, though. Few broken ribs, maybe a concussion...not so bad." He pulled himself up to the third level window and peered in. "Bingo! There's definitely something in there. I can't tell exactly what, but there's lots of light and wires and three guards plus two who look like they're the ones who built and operate the machine. Smoke bombs...check! Run the clock, O, I'm going for a record this time."

Oracle raised her eyebrows. "The growth spurt that happened almost seven years ago, you mean? I think you could have jumped it even before then," she informed him, watching him climb. "Depends on your angle. You have a whole lot of head an neck that isn't protected by shock resistant suit. But you haven't fallen off the side of a building in several years, my trust is well placed." Using his chest cam, she peered in too, zooming in to get a better view. "That's what we're after. Good luck, Hunk Wonder."

Nightwing gave a wry grin, before using the glass blade in his cuff to cut a small circle into the window. "Aaaaaaand," he said in a low voice, reaching down to grab the can of smoke. "Go!" he chucked it into the hole, waited for the muffled "BOOM!" and then swung himself up, smashing his feet through the window, heat goggles already activated. One wing ding to the right and the gun in that guard's hands was gone. Two more to the left, and the guard over there was pinned to the wall by his over fluffed jacket. Pulling his sticks out, the third guards gun was flipped from his hands, and he was tripped to the floor. A quick smack to the head and he was out like a light. Nightwing's head snapped up, prepared to take down the two engineers, but they'd both split already. "Huh," he said, standing up straight and putting his sticks back. "Well that was easier than expected." He turned to look at the machine, still whirring and beeping. Noises in the hallway alerted him that guards more guards were coming. "Time to fry," he said, pulling out an electrically charged EMP wing ding and flinging it into the machine. "Bye-bye hypno-goons," he said and the next second the tiny metal weapon erupted with electricity, frying the entire machine. "I expect you already have an extraction plan for this crazy machine? I'd blow it but there's people here," he said, as he gathered up all the blue prints and research notes on building this contraption. "I mean, I can still blow it if you want. I've got all the schematics. Apparently no one here uses computers, but they can build a satellite that produces a hypnotic signal."

Oracle followed the action through Nightwing's cameras, pulling stills so she could run facial recognition on each hypnotized party. FR was notoriously unreliable, but she made it work, identifying everyone in the room. Thankfully, everyone had insurance, (thank you, Obama) and a handy tip to the police would ensure that no charges would be filed against them. They knew what Tetch was like, and at the end of the day these people had been the victims as much as the women kidnapped. As soon as she saw the EMP burn, Barbara fired off a quick message to Leslie that Charlie could wake up and to her extraction team to deal with the tech. Big Brother would know what had happened soon enough, as would Tetch, but Tetch had nowhere to run annd Big Brother had nothing to gain. "Extraction's underway, as are medics. They're smart - if they'd used computers I would have destroyed it from here. Take the schematics and go. You did good today." Soon, they'd have Steph back, and Tetch would be where he belonged. But Babs would be lying if she said she wasn't relieved that Charlie would be back soon.

Steph clutched her papers from the registrar's office as she entered the office building where Detective Spitzer worked. This was so exciting!! She would be working under a real Detective - like friggin' Sherlock Holmes or Veronica Mars. Not that Batman wasn't a /real/ detective, but he wasn't exactly her biggest fan and she would be getting /paid/ at this job. And it was, like, legal which was a nice bonus. She had a real major now, a real life plan...her mom was over the moon about it. She entered the office, knocking lightly on the door as she stepped inside. "Ms. Spitzer? It's me, Steph, hi!"

Marley had just been working on a case brought to her by the local pet shop, whose owner thought someone was abducting his animals. So far, it looked like he might be right, and she sighed in contempt-- how boring. Stephanie knocked lightly on her door and came in, smile brighter than any Marley had ever seen before. She gave a short smile back. "Hello, Stephanie, glad you could make it." The girl was fumbling with her papers as she gazed in awe around Marley's office. "Have a seat, I can take those papers from you," she instructed, giving a nod towards the chair. "Everything worked out at school, then?"

"Oh, right, here!" Steph handed over her forms as she sat down, shrugging her coat off as she settled in excitedly. "Yeah, everything went fine. I think they were surprised I actually had a major to declare, they've been after me for two semesters about picking something." She grinned, pushing her hair behind her ears and looking around the office. It was very professional looking, a little intimidatingly so even. And Marley herself kind of came off as intimidating, but she wasn't put off - even the coldest of people came around to her eventually, she was infectiously happy. "I just have to thank you again for this opportunity, this is huge for me...my mom wants to throw you a parade or something, seriously."

Marley took the papers and set them aside for later filing. Adding another employee to her practice would require some effort on the paper work side, but it would benefit her in the long run. Besides, putting in a little effort for the daughter of a man she'd help put away was the least she could do. "It'll be mutually beneficial for the both of us," she said curtly. "Glad they were able to set you up so quickly." Stephanie had that excited, wide-eyed look in her eyes that Marley had once remembered seeing on her own face. She gave a small smile. "As much as I do love a good parade, there's no need for that. Now, first let's discuss availability," she went on, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen. "What's your school schedule like? And...you said you worked part time at the youth center? Were you planning on staying there?" Having someone around to file paper work and do the less exciting aspects of office work was all well and good, but Marley found herself eager to teach Stephanie her trade. Perhaps the girl even had a keen eye for kinesiology as well. She'd never met another person interested in the field, not even in school, besides teachers. Profiling, yes, but not kinesiology.

Steph nodded with an amused expression - Marley was really not great at the bantering, it seemed. They could work on that, no problem. "All my classes are in the morning, it's just easier that way - so I'm usually free by one on weekdays. And I was hoping to keep my youth center job..." Steph fiddled her fingers together. "My high school English teacher got that job for me and it's important. But, Ms. Bertinelli is super cool, my hours there are super flexible so I can be here when you need me, no problem." She waved her hands as if to brush that problem away. Ms. B was really cool, she would totally understand. "Is that okay?"

Marley raised her brows. She worked for Helena Bertinelli? This was already a bigger catch than Marley had expected. She nodded. "That's fine, we can work around it," She responded. "Honestly, there's not always work to do here, it depends on how many case loads I'm working. We can start with three days a week for now, until I feel fit to have you accompany me on cases," she explained. "It'll mostly be paper work, filing, finances for now, which can be done in the afternoon, when you're off school." She scribbled some notes. "Which days would be best?"

"I get to go with you on cases?" Steph lit up, sitting forward in her chair eagerly. It wasn't like she didn't sort of go out on cases already but it would just be different to go with Marley. She felt like she was seventeen years old and wearing the Robin costume for the first time again for how excited she was. "Um, well weekends are definitely the busiest for me because of -" She couldn't exactly say higher crime rates, could she? "-that's when I get all my homework done and go out with friends sometimes, ya know. So, Mondays through Wednesday's would be good?" Smooth recovery, Steph.

"Of course. That's part of being an intern, learning the trade." Marley noticed the pause. Stephanie was terrible at lying, but perhaps Marley could help fix that. "Friends are important." Hypocrite. Marley cleared her throat and readjusted in her seat. "As is homework. Monday through Wednesday is fine. I won't worry about set hours, but as far as pay goes, how does 20 an hour sound?" With a small nod, she waited for the inevitable jaw drop, but honestly, Marley made more than enough money for herself. That, and it was heavy assurance to keep Stephanie around.

Steph 's eyes widened and she dropped her hands to her lap as she heard Marley's offer of hourly pay. "That's, like, double what I make at the center...and, like, triple minimum wage." She was blinking a lot, wrapping her mind around that. "I didn't know detective work was so lucrative? What do you solve cases for celebrities, or something?" Steph cracked a smile at her own joke, but Marley wasn't so amused and it faded quickly. "Uh, but no seriously, that's so much, are you sure?"

Marley shrugged non-chalantly. "Besides my outside income, I also have a contract with the GCPD for a monthly income, and in return, I work any case they give me," she explained. "Besides, it's just me here, so it's needless to say I've got some extra income lying around." Marley gave a pleasant smile. "But don't worry, I'll make sure you're earning the money."

"That's so cool." Steph shook her head, she couldn't even imagine having that much money. Maybe this detective thing was gonna pay off in more ways than she thought. "I will definitely work hard for it, you're not gonna regret bringing me on, I promise." She stood up, grabbing her jacket. "I'm really gonna do my best here."

Marley nodded one more time-- Stephanie was young and bright and optimistic-- a terrible liar-- but she had a future in this, and Marley wanted to make sure of that. She knew first hand how a parent could influence a career choice. "I'm confident I won't. I'm glad we talked." She shook Stephanie's hand, watching her closely, letting her get almost out of the room before speaking up. "Oh, and Stephanie-- I meant to ask you. Seeing as your father was Cluemaster, you wouldn't happen to know anything about his little side kick, Spoiler, would you? It's just something I've always been curious of, since closing that case."

Steph paused with her hand on the door, just glad her back was turned at the moment Marley mentioned Spoiler. It was important to tread carefully, but she couldn't quell her kneejerk reaction. "Well, I don't think she was his side kick, at least." She said, turning around. "I mean, it's in the name, right? The Spoiler. Wasn't her whole shtick to SPOIL his plans?"

Marley made a little 'hmmm' noise as Stephanie expanded. As she thought, the girl did know something about Spoiler. Now, it was to determine whether or not Stephanie had been the Spoiler, which would be decided with her next question. Marley had had many theories about the Spoiler while investigating into the Cluemaster, and learning of the fact that he had a child (and it irked her she'd never really thought of that scenario before) fit perfectly with her speculations about it. "I've always wondered how it was that she always seemed to know exactly how to foil his plans," she said, looking at Stephanie from the other side of the room. Not only was this for her own interests, it would hopefully show Stephanie what Marley was capable of. "I wonder if she was someone close to him. A friend, or family member, perhaps?"

Steph was doing her best nonchalant look and stance, but it seemed like the heat in the room had turned up ten degrees. "Yeah, that is weird how she knew that?" She nodded with a confused expression but she knew her voice was too high and this was not going very well. It really didn't help that she coughed in surprise as Marley mentioned a family member. Clearing her throat, she shrugged, already reaching behind her for the door knob. "Who really knows with those kooky vigilantes, am I right? Besides, she hasn't been seen in over a year, right? So it's really irrelevant now." She turned the knob, starting to back out of the door. "Okay, well, it was so great to meet you, Ms. Spitzer. I'll be here as soon as class gets out Monday, like we talked about, okay bye!" Practically fleeing from the room, the door slammed behind her and she was already reaching for her phone to get in touch with Babs. Ooh, she was gonna be in so much trouble.

Nightwing had already been at his lookout post for about half an hour before Batgirl even arrived. This was an important mission-- the truck was carrying new supplies for the Blackgate prison to repair the outside and inside walls, and to give supplies to the security people who had stayed behind to watch the prisoners endlessly. These supplies would help tip the scales into being able to resend caught prisoners back to Blackgate. If they failed this, it meant they'd have to wait longer to repair the damages, and that meant longer for known criminals roaming the streets, free. He put his binoculars back into his utility belt and stood up to greet Batgirl. "Hey Eggplant," he said with a smile, looking her up and down. "Niiiiice suit! I'm guessing O made it special for you?" Turning back towards the bridge, he looked down it, double checking the truck wasn't early for some reason. These supplies would reach their destination even if Nightwing had to carry them there himself.

Batgirl arrived to the determined recon spot a little later than expected, a little out of breath from hurrying to arrive before the truck they were monitoring was actually scheduled to leave. "Hey!" She greeted him back as she clipped her grapple back onto her belt, smiling a little self-consciously as he appraised her costume. "Sorry, I'm late, I had a hard time slipping Mom. Luckily, it's New Years and I can pretend to be at a party." So lame. She had to pretend to go to parties. Steph did a little half twirl, letting the purple underside of her cape peek out. "Yes, it's the Stephanie Special." She grinned, already having more fun that she had anticipated on this simple bodyguard job. Hunkering down next to him, she pulled out her own binoculars to check on the bridge. "Quiet so far? We're not expecting trouble, right?"

Nightwing nodded, admiring her new outfit. "It definitely is you," he agreed with a smile. "And no sweat, I kinda figured. That's why I had us get here early." He held up his left arm and tapped into the gauntlet, calculating the time of arrival. "It should be here in about ten minutes. We'll know ahead of time, anyway. I told the blockade guards to ping me when they've cleared it to go over the bridge," he explained, looking back over at Steph. "Well, we're never really expecting trouble, though, are we. But we're here for a reason, so stay sharp. Once we make it into the actual evacuated area is when we'll need to be most vigilant." He heard a ping on his gauntlet. "Did you bring the sticks?" he asked.

Batgirl swung her sights from the beginning of the bridge to the end, looking at the expanse of road they would have to cover. With no trouble it would be no problem, but if there was trouble...well, it was not a small route. "Sharp as a tack, vigilant as a vigilante." She quirked her eyebrows and slipped her binoculars into her belt as Nightwing pinged, loud and clear through the quiet night. Standing, she slipped the two purple sticks off her belt, in the place where she usually kept her bo staff. "Heck yeah!" She twirled them once for good measure, feeling their perfectly balanced weight in her hands. "You owe me a lesson, after all."

Nightwing gave his signature smirk. "Good," he said, pulling out his own two. "I got a new pair myself, as well. Curtsy of O, of course. I'm excited to test 'em out," he said, twirling them in rhythm was Steph's own twirl. "You must really want that lesson-- I think that's the third time you've reminded me since you got them." He winked, and noticed the truck coming down the bridge. His whole body tensed, like it always did when he prepared for a fight. He glanced sideways at Steph. "We're heading through City Hall district, and around the East side of Grant Park. That part's mostly cleared, and there shouldn't be any trouble through there. The Financial district might prove more tricky-- there's been sightings of several gangs running rampant through the streets, but we'll also have a small team of swat in the truck as well. All we have to do is get it over the bridge and into Blackgate, and by this time tomorrow we'll be shipping prisoners back to where they belong," he explained to her, heading out to greet the truck.

"It doesn't hurt to have more than one weapon in my metaphorical and literal toolbelt, that's all." Batgirl got serious as he did, cutting the banter to listen to the truck's route. He was right, it wouldn't be hard once they got to City Hall district, but after that it was all tall grass wild pokemon encounter area. "Oh, is that all?" She smirked, following him down to meet the truck at the mouth of the bridge. He talked to the driver and the security actually with the truck while she watched his six. If they were gonna get ambushed, this would be the best spot to do it in, before they actually got out into any real traffic.

Nightwing got the debriefing from the truck driver and spoke with the three guys in the truck with guns. They were the last defense, and honestly, Nightwing was hoping none of them would ever have to fire tonight. That's what him and Batgirl were here for. He nodded to Batgirl. "Alright, we're going to go scout ahead. I'm going to go first, make sure the road is clear. Stay back with the truck for a moment, I'll be back in a sec," he said, turning his comm on. "Radio me if anything happens." Then he was off, heading down the street. He pulled his scope back out, examining the route. It was empty just as the driver had instructed him it would be, and when he was satisfied with the route being clear until the next checkpoint, he headed back, landing next to Batgirl only ten minutes later. "We're clear," he said to both Batgirl and the driver. The driver nodded. "Alright, here's our set-up BeeGee-- I'll stay ahead of the truck, you stay behind. Try and stay hidden, but keep within eyesight of me and the truck at all times. Like usual, if anything happens, comm me." He let out a breath. "Got all that?"

Batgirl watched Nightwing take off to scout the bridge. He was being extra cautious, she thought - or maybe she was just never cautious enough so it seemed like a lot to her? She had no reason to radio him in the less than ten minutes he was gone, and had a nice chat with the truck driver about how his Christmas was while they waited. She waggled a wave goodbye at the driver as Nightwing landed, heading over to get the briefing. "You got point, I got rear, be stealthy but not too stealthy, keep the comms open." She repeated diligently, landing a doofy salute as she finished. "Let's go, I might want to actually go to a party later, believe it or not." Batgirl laughed, and the procession started to move just as Dick had said - him leading the way, the truck following and her coming in last. She grappled up to the top of the bridge, making her way along through the steel beams, making sure she could see the truck at all times.

Nightwing gave a grin and saluted back to her. "Dork," he said before they both took their respective posts around the truck. And just like he'd predicted, the trip was mostly uneventful. Nightwing always stopped the truck when he reached his designated checkpoints, and scouted ahead, making sure the path was clear. It always was. Even through the Financial District. And it just...was quiet. A little too quiet. Nightwing lifted his comm up. "Stopping the truck. I wanna check something out real quick. Stay with the van, BG. Keep your distance, though," he said into the radio. Skirting along the rooftops, Nightwing pulled out his scope again. The bridge was unattended, as it was supposed to be. Empty. Dark. Abandoned? Why hadn't they seen a single person yet? This wasn't right, something wasn't right. He turned back towards the truck, ready to radio over to them to turn around, but he didn't get a chance to-- in the next second, there was a loud BOOM! and Nightwing was thrown back. His ears started ringing. He rolled to his side, coughing, as debris fell around him. "Batgirl...." he muttered, unable to hear his own voice. He jabbed his comm with his free hand. "Batgirl! Report!" he shouted into it.

Batgirl clicked her comm to signal she read him, pulling herself up into a comfortable crouch in the beams of the bridge to keep an eye on the van, about ten yards ahead of her. It was all quiet, and she knew why Dick had made them stop. It was way too quiet. The kind of eerie off-ness in the air that made a seasoned vigilante's mind at unease. Just as she was getting ready to radio him to see what was up, there was a huge cacophony of noise - a rush of heat - the bridge trembled, she lost her footing. Ears ringing and disoriented she barely managed to shoot out a blind line to save her fall - luckily there were a million anchor holds straight above, or she would have been serious pancake material down there. The van was burning and she blinked a few times to focus her vision - the guys inside! "I'm fine! Get the driver and the team out, that fire is gonna get to the fuel tank any second!" She was already swinging down to the mess that was the supply van, her cape up to protect her face. This thing was gonna blow Part Two any second.

Nightwing was already on his feet by the time Batgirl responded, and the pounding in his chest dulled a bit. Steph was alright. Leaping down, he made a bee-line for the truck, putting on his gas mask to keep from inhaling smoke. Good thing his suit was mostly fire proof, even without the cape. He dove straight into the front seat, ripping the door open and yanking the unconscious driver out of the truck. He was bleeding and had severe burn wounds, but he would be okay. Or so Nightwing hoped. The hairs on the back of his neck seemed to stand on end. People were watching them. He froze, keeping his eyes peeled. There, on the rooftop-- they were aiming for Batgirl, who was pulling a second unconscious man from the back of the van. Wait...where they aiming for her or something else? Shit! There must be a second bomb! "Batgirl, get out of there!" he shouted, already drawing two wing dings, and sending them careening into the man on the roof. One to the face, one to the leg, and he toppled. He was halfway to the van when the back exploded out, throwing him backwards once again. His side hit the pavement hard, leaving a good scrape and bruise to be nursed later. He rolled quickly, pushing up onto his feet, only to have to narrowly dodge a man swinging what looked like a broken piece of rebar. This was a planned attack. The bombs had been on timers. But why blow here? Why not wait till the main bridge? Realization struck him as he dodge the swinging rebar, caught it in one hand, twisted, and disarmed the attacking man, giving a quick hit to the back of his head to knock him out-- he'd stopped the van preemptively, ruining their plan. An escaped convict, and there were more coming. This whole thing was rotten. Nightwing grit his teeth, furious. How could he have let this happen?

Batgirl heard Nightwing shouting from the front of the van, and watched the trajectory of his wingdings to see what had him so spooked again. The sight of the man taken down on the roof had her stomach dropping in worry and lurching to pull the unconscious guard as far away as possible before another explosion could do it for her. She'd lugged the guard a few yards before the second bomb went off, the force of it so close knocking her back another few feet. With a groan, she pushed herself back up, checking the pulse of the guard to make sure he was okay before rushing over to where Nightwing was fending off a jumpsuit jerk with a crowbar. Three more were headed their way, and she threw out two batarangs to stop them in their tracks. "Should we call backup?" She shouted over her shoulder to Dick, "The supplies are done for."

Nightwing was getting angry. As three more approached, and Batgirl took her spot behind him, he pulled out his new escrima and pressed the tazer, charging them up. "No," he said, his eyes focusing in on the three incoming. "But call an ambulance for the three survivors, and a firetruck." He swung one stick forward, connecting it with he chest of the closest attacker, dropping him in one hit like a sack of lead. The other was trumped by Batgirl's batarang, and Nightwing turned back to her during the lull. "There'll be more on the way. This was a planned hit," he said, a sort of urgency to his voice. "We need to get them out of here before that happens." He was angry now, and they probably should have called back-up, but he wanted these bastards for himself right now. He saw them coming from the horizon, on foot, with any weapon they could find. Someone had orchestrated this, and one of them knew who. "Watch the survivors," he said to Batgirl, taking off towards the oncoming crowd of about six men. The first two got electrically charged sticks to their chests, just as the last guy had gotten, and the next one got a foot to his face. Broken nose for sure. Two slipped by him, charging for Batgirl, but Nightwing was concentrated on the last, knowing she could take care of herself. This would be the one he'd interrogate.

Batgirl switched her comm to the emergency line, dropping a request for an ambulance and firetruck while they had a brief reprieve. "Planned by who?" She asked, incredulous, shaking her head as he rushed towards the oncoming muscle, leaving her to watch over the survivors. Two got past Nightwing, and she pulled out her own sticks, getting low to smack one in the knees and send him toppling to the ground and tripping up his friend. She followed up with an elbow to the small of his back, knocking his lights out for a good while. When they seemed to be in the clear, she whipped her head up, looking to see if Dick was in the clear. "You good?"

Nightwing swung again at the remaining attacker, who seemed to have more skill than his fellows. He ducked, but Nightwing was faster, and a well placed sweep of his feet had the other guy toppling. He rolled quickly as the butt of Nightwing's escrima came down where he'd been seconds before. The guy swung his own weapon, catching Nightwing's hand and sending one of the sticks flying away. Nightwing leapt up as the guy swung again, and his feet landed hard against the guy's chest as he tried to get up and move away. Then a punch to the face, and one last swipe to the knee cap, disabling the guy. He crashed to the ground and Nightwing picked him up by his shirt, glaring into his face. "Who organized this? Who was behind this?" But the guy just smiled at him with a lopsided grin, blood pouring down his face. "Talk," Nightwing growled, holding up his escrima, "Unless you wanna end up a blubbering mess like your friends here."

The guy's smile faded a bit. "I thought you Bats didn't kill people," he snarled.

It was Nightwing's turn to smile. "There are worse things than death."

The inmate swallowed. "W-we don't know. We just were told by someone on the street to be here at this time if we wanted a good show. They-- they hacked our phones, sent us text messages. I swear, that's all I know! " Nightwing dropped him, then, whapping him once on the head to knock him out. He went over and gathered up his dropped stick, turning to find Batgirl coming his way. His anger dissipated at the sight of the burning truck and the far off ambulance screeching towards them. He sighed.

"Aside from the mission failure, yeah. And as for who planned this, I probably have some idea. But for now, it's a theory." He looked at her with as much of a smile as he could muster. "And you?"

Batgirl raised her eyebrows, a little surprised at Dick's interrogation technique. Maybe he picked up more than a few things from Batman than she realized. And even though he talked, they were pretty much exactly where they started. Which was nowhere. Throwing some zipties around the downed guys' wrists, she did a scan around their immediate area to make sure they weren't about to have any more company. "I don't like to say failure, I like to say hiccup." She told him, trying to lighten up their situation a little. "I'm not hurt or dead, and that's a successful mission for me." With a shrug, she clipped her escrima's back to her belt. "What do you wanna do now? Scram, or greet the ambulance?"

Nightwing sighed. He had been specifically contacted by the people who put this together to have him escort the truck. He should have thought to check for bombs. Stupid. Still, Batgirl had a point-- he was alive, and they had saved not only the bridge, but several of the men inside an exploding truck. There was something to be said for that. He patted her on the shoulder. "Hiccup it is. I'll put that in the official report," he said. He looked at all the zip-tied criminals. "Well, first we should deliver these guys to the closest precinct for lock-up, unless we wanna be babysitters all night. But they're not going anywhere like this," he contended, looking towards the flashing red and blue lights. "Might as well stick around and give them the 4-1-1 while we wait. If you wanna scram, you can. But thanks for the back-up Beegee," he smiled at that. "You're not to bad with those things. You almost don't need a lesson," he quipped, adding, "Almost." after her eyes lit up a bit.

Steph waited in the main floor of the Clocktower, hands wrapping tightly around the strap of her messenger bag over and over as if she was wringing it out. Barbara had said her own suit was ready, to come by and pick it up. The idea was exciting and she was certainly excited, but an equal amount of her was terrified. Running around in Cass' costume was one thing - it was like being a substitute hero, filling in the suit because it was necessary, not because she was actually Batgirl. Getting a costume tailor-made just for her meant this was /real/. It meant that she /was/ Batgirl. The girl that had been fired as Robin by Batman himself, the girl in a homemade Spoiler costume constantly getting underfoot and making things worse. That girl was standing in the sanctuary of the original Batgirl herself, about to receive the highest honor she could personally think of. It kind of made her want to throw up. As Babs appeared in the elevator entryway, Steph's eyes locked to the box in her lap and returned a wobbly smile. "Ready as I'll ever be," She responded with crooked grin. Excited, but scared.

Barbara 's amusement grew as she took in Steph's excitement. Emotional tells was definitely something they were going to have to work on. But for now, Barbara just let herself enjoy it. Her reservations lingered in the back of her mind, like they did with Misfit, and to a lesser extent, Proxy. But they'd made it this far - to designing and creating one of the most technologically advanced suits the Bats had seen so far. Definitely on par with Batman's, if not the same. Barbara paused for a moment for dramatic effect, then handed Stephanie the box. "Have a look at it, and then I'll show you somewhere you can try it on."

Steph took the box, placing it on a nearby table and hesitating for an emotion filled moment before taking the top off. The first thing that jumped out at her was the bright yellow bat, proudly displayed across the chest. That was /her/ bat now, her legacy to carry. She lifted it up out of the box and the next thing that caught her eye was all the purple. She laughed out loud in delight. "It /is/ purple!" It was sleek and functional looking, but fun too. Happy. Like Batgirl. Like her, now. Under the costume itself was all the attachments, more compartments than you could shake a batarang at, which made her grin. Her hand ran down the ribbed purple side, overwhelmed. "Barbara, this is /amazing/. Thank you. Seriously, thank you so much."

Barbara: "Only the sides," Barbara corrected lightly. It was impossible to completely forget her woes, but looking at Steph taking in the costume made them fall to the side, ignored at she admired her own handiwork. How far the legacy had come, she marvelled, from a girl in an oversized bat suit protecting her brother in the police station to this. She reached for one of the gauntlets still in the box, feeling around the wrist until she found the small catch that opened the costume's mini computer. While Steph was still admiring the costume, Barbara tapped a button, and the purples and yellow of the suit darkened and blackened, until the costume was nearly featureless. "In case you do need to be completely stealthy some time," Barbara explained, turning off the stealth mode again. "You're welcome. It's up to you to do it justice, though. Luckily, I have something else that may help." Gesturing for Steph to follow her back into the elevator, Barbara gave her a sly grin. The costume wasn't the only surprise for today. "You're no longer a side kick, so you'll need your own base of operations. Come on, don't you want to try it on?"

Steph "Woah!!" Steph held the costume out in renewed amazement as the whole thing turned into a silky shadow that would be easy to slip into anonymity with. "That is so badass." She breathed, turning quickly as Barbara implied there were even more goodies to go with this. They got in the elevator with Steph itching to try the thing on and really get a look at herself. As they landed in what she could only describe as Batgirl HQ, her jaw dropped. "Best. Christmas. Ever."

Barbara chuckled at Steph's surprise, her eyes lighting up. "I know, right?" Instead of looking into the Batgirl Base as the elevator doors opened for them again, Barbara watched Stephanie's amazement increase exponentially, unable to resist smiling herself as Steph wandered in. To the left was a huge screen, bordered by several smaller ones, enough desk space for both her and Proxy to work side by side if they wanted to be closer to Batgirl's operations. To the right was a small target range, similar to the one upstairs in Barbara's own gym, to practice with firearms and batarangs. The walls had many weapons decorating them, from bo sticks to batarangs to tasers. It was pretty spacey, with enough room for Batgirl to fill it with things of her choosing as she progressed. "This used to be storage and my garage. So you have a tunnel over there," Barbara pointed at the far wall, "that emerges from a fake wall a mile away. You can change over there." The idea had been to give Batgirl her own space to thrive in, something that was specifically for her, instead of just Barbara's living room. It was as light as the rest of the Clocktower, even without windows - completely different to the dark shadows of the Batcave. "Well, what do you think?"

Steph looked in every direction, trying to take in every cool thing at once. It was, like, the superhero headquarters you dream about - every cool gadget and weapon, a huge computer bank with enough screens to fill a wall, places to practice...it had /everything/. It was equipped enough to be the Batcave, but had none of the doom and gloom associated with it. Instead, all the brightness she associated with the Clocktower and the idea of Batgirl. "I think this is the coolest place I have ever seen." She responded with big eyes and a sparkly grin. "I'm gonna try the suit on, okay?!" Steph bounded over to where Barbara had said she could change, shucking off her winter coat as she went. This was so cool!! The costume fit like a glove, predictably, but it still felt amazing. It felt like she belonged in it. All the compartments snapped neatly into place and all the zippers whizzed together with a satisfying sound. When she finally slid the cowl over her hair, wiggling it into place, she really felt /right/. She felt like Batgirl. Stepping out, slightly bashful, but mostly bursting with pride, she twirled a little to let the cape swing out. "How do I look??"

Barbara: Barbara turned on the screens as she heard the sounds of Stephanie getting changed. They linked up to her mainframe for the moment, but she'd soon have it set up so that they could isolate the two systems if need be, in case Barbara was ever compromised. As Steph suited up, Barbara started linking it up to the computer, watching each display light up as new information was recorded from Steph's body. When Stephanie raced back in, Barbara gave her a long hard look over. It fit perfectly, as she'd suspected. No longer squeezing into Cassandra's old suit, or trying to fill a legacy she wasn't quite suited for, Stephanie actually... Looked the part. She wasn't Barbara's batgirl, nor Cassie's, and the suit reflected that. "You look like Batgirl," Barbara replied honestly. "Check out your gauntlet, there's a small computer under the shock plate."

Steph stopped her excited fidgeting at Barbara's simple statement to take a moment of quiet reverence. "You really think so?" This whole thing had felt kind of a like fever dream so far - she had been wearing something that didn't belong to her and somebody was gonna take it back or she was gonna wake up. But neither of those were happening. The Batgirl was telling her she looked like Batgirl. This day just got better and better. The soft moment passed as Steph held up her gauntlet to fiddle with, a small computer screen popping at the right prompting. "Holy crap! Can I get on Instagram with this??"

Barbara nodded at Steph's question. Whether she actually was Batgirl remained to be seen - but no one became an expert vigilante over night. Barbara had trained at martial arts for over half her life when she'd donned her suit, and that was nothing compared to Cassandra, so they did have a head start. Both of them, in different ways, had been much more mature than people their age usually were. Steph had matured since her start as Spoiler, and hopefully under Barbara's training would become as worthy of the title as the previous two. Her pondering was interupted by Steph's question. Barbara gave her a look. "You'll just have to imagine the sepia filter."

Steph "Ok scratch Instagram," Steph stuck out her tongue, but continued flicking through the interface. There was a mini database all here, a GPS coordinated map of the city, connections to anyone she coul possibly want to comm. All in all..."Babs, this is a seriously sweet set up. I dunno how likely I am to not break any of this fancy tech, but I will do my best." She slipped in a joke to take the edge off how truly overwhelming all of this was. She /would/ do her best, and hope that it would be enough.

Barbara rolled her eyes at Steph's tongue, hiding her amusement. There was something to be said about people who had been through hell and could still be fun. Dinah, Charlie, Zinda, and now Steph. "I'm sure you will. Would it be too much to ask if we spent a few hours getting an idea of what your stable readings would be?" Oracle was certain she knew the answer, but it was worth asking regardless.

TAGGED: Joshua Jones and Emily Simons

LOCAL: Apartamento que os dois dividem em NY

DATA: 30/10/14