Chapter 1: Plans are for Nerds.Chapter TextDamian crawled through the ventilation system, trying to recall the map of the building Oracle had sent him. The electronics in his suit had been damaged in an earlier scuffle so he could no longer access the file, it shouldn't have happened- Damian was better than that- but there was no use dwelling on it now. He had a job to do.
He felt like he'd been in these stupid vents for ages, surely he was almost there, just a little further. After taking a couple more turns Damian came across the room he was looking for, and it was unguarded. "Tt, buffoons." He said to himself, smirking a bit, before kicking the vent open and hopping down into the room.
The place was chock full of overly-extravagant weapons. Gordon and Drake had been tracking the movement of these guns for a few weeks now, they were highly dangerous and unstable. They had been waiting for an opportunity to intercept the shipment, Damian felt they had been waiting for far too long. If these weapons were truly as dangerous as Damian had been led to believe, then Drake should have acted quickly and decisively.
Damian had voiced his opinion to Richard and Stephanie. "Tim's the one who's been investigating this for weeks, we have to trust his judgment here" Richard had said, Damian felt he had far too much faith in Drake's judgment. Stephanie had just rolled her eyes and called him boring- which was a tad immature, but Damian no longer expected maturity from her… and he was inclined to agree in this instance.
Damian searched the room, double checking to make sure it was clear of enemies. When he was satisfied he reached for his comm to alert Oracle that he had located the weapons, but the moment he touched his device it sparked. Right, the electronics were broken, how could he have forgotten that? What was he supposed to do now, go back through the vents empty handed? That was far too close to admitting defeat, Damian Al-Ghul Wayne would not be defeated because of some goons that got lucky in breaking his suit. These weapons were unstable, he would not allow them to remain in the possession of his foes for any longer, Drake had already wasted enough time.
Wait, the weapons were unstable- now that's an idea. Damian grabbed one of the larger, more explosive looking guns and got to work carefully disassembling it, once taken apart he examined the parts- yeah, this would work. He reconfigured the parts, adding in one of his timer-smoke grenades before placing the gun back into the pile and running.
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Tim paced across the rooftop he and Cass had been waiting on for over an hour now, roughly twenty minutes too long. He'd thought his plan was solid, but now he wasn't so sure. He just kept playing the whole thing over in his head, trying to figure out what had gone wrong.
1. Batgirl busts into the building, fast and loud, to draw as much attention as possible
2. Oracle deactivates the security sensors in the vents while the guards are distracted.
3. Robin sneaks through the vents and locates where the weapons are stored.
4. Once the weapons are located, Red Robin and Black Bat come in through the roof and start moving the weapons out and into the batplane
5. Robin rendezvous with Batgirl and they exit through the front entrance where Batman is waiting with the batmobile.
They hadn't made it to step four, Damian had gone dark. They lost comms forty minutes ago, and just five later they lost his location. Babs could still see his vitals, so they knew he was physically okay, but Steph went rogue as soon as they lost contact. She was supposed to just be a distraction, she was supposed to stay near the entrance so she could escape or get back up from Dick, but now she was trying to fight her way through the whole damn building.
Tim stopped his pacing when he felt Cass' hand on his shoulder, "We know they're both okay. Just need to wait a little longer." Tim had gotten pretty good at keeping an illusion of composure no matter the circumstances, but Cass could still see right through him. It used to freak him out, when they were kids, but now he tended to be thankful there was someone that understood the things he'd never say.
Tim shook his head, "For now. This is my fault. It should have been us in the building. I'd have gotten to the guns by now, and you could easily hold off everyone in that building. I messed this up, now Robin and Batgirl are in trouble." He'd need a new plan, they could still go in through the roof and search for Damian… Steph's comms were still working, but she wasn't listening to him or Babs. If they found Damian then she'd retreat, but she might not be able to get back out. He'd have to send Dick in to rescue her.
"You're assuming" Cass said as she physically turned him to look at where she had Batgirl and Robin's vitals pulled up, "She is holding her own, and we don't know that he hasn't found the weapons, I'm worried too- but I trust you and your plan, we wait a little longer." Tim sighed, he still didn't like this. But Cass was right, he'd been planning this for a while, they couldn't just give up on getting those weapons because of a busted comm and Steph… being herself.
Suddenly, a flash of red swung up into Tim's vision, he let out a breath of relief as Damian landed on the building- beelining towards them. "I found the weapons- tell Batgirl to retreat." Damian hurried out.
"Hold on, we need to actually get the weapons first." Tim reached for his grapple ready to scale towards the roof of the other building, but Damian cut him off.
"Tt, that will not be necessary, I handled it- Batgirl needs to retreat now." Damian grabbed Tim's arm to use his communicator, "Batgirl, it is Robin, mission successful- get out of the building fast". Tim yanked his arm back, before he could ask Damian what he had done- Stephs voice came through.
"Oh thank god, alrighty, headed out. I'm on like… the fourth floor right now, gimme a few minutes." Tim could see the panic that appeared on Damians face, this couldn't be good.
Cass saw it too "Robin. What did you do?" She grabbed the hood of Damians cape so he'd have to look at her.
"I- I didn't mean to… she was supposed to stay by the entrance." Damian looked scared, Damian never looked scared. He grabbed Tim's arm again. "STEPHANIE TAKE COVER NOW!"
The comm crackled, signaling that Steph was about to speak- and then the building exploded.
Chapter 2: This building can crush me, but it will never crush my sparkle!Summary:A building fell on Steph, which especially sucks because she has an 8am tomorrow that she really should stop skipping.
Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextA New York nine's an everywhere else six
Timewise, the opposite goes for chicks
Dick hummed along the music, tapping absentmindedly on the steering wheel of the Batmobile. He sighed and checked the clock again, was this supposed to take so long? He had a bad feeling, something was wrong. Babs had told him they'd lost contact with Damian, but his vitals were fine. Damian was a clever kid, as long as he wasn't hurt Dick would try and manage his nerves. Still, Dick's gut was telling him something was very off, he wanted to go find Tim and Cass, or head in after Steph- but supposedly Batgirl and Robin were going to burst out of that door any minute now in need of a quick getaway.
Dick wasn't sure if he should be offended at being the getaway driver… he's The Batman for fucks sake, Bruce would never have been the getaway driver. But Dick wasn't Bruce, and for that he thanked god every day. This whole operation was a product of Tim's efforts- he'd put a lot of time and effort into this plan and if Tim thought it was for the best if Batman drove the car, then this Batman was content to drive the car.
Dick groaned and leaned forward to rest his head against the steering wheel, "I am supporting Tim, I am being a good brother, I am ready to drive this car… ugh, where the hell are they!?"
Just as Dick lifted his head there was a blinding flash, followed by a boom. The ground under him shook violently as the car was flipped over by a shock wave. It was only because of the Batmobile's armor that Dick wasn't burned or hit by any debris. Actually, he was perfectly okay- other than the ringing ears and the fact that he was upside down.
Dick undid his seatbelt and crawled across the center console to try and kick out the car window, it took a few tries and a batarang (the explosion probably also helped) before the glass broke. He crawled through the window and got to his feet, looking up at what used to be a building. The top few floors were completely gone, and all the rest were engulfed in varying amounts of fire. A large chunk of flaming building fell towards him, Dick dove as far as he could, grunting as he made impact with the ground- when he looked back where he had been, he saw the batmobile crushed. So much for the getaway then.
"BATMAN!" Dick turned to see Red Robin, Black Bat, and Robin all running towards him. "Are you alright?" Tim asked frantically.
"Yeah, I'm fine- hey Red, I don't remember this part of the plan!?" He was still processing what had just happened, "WHAT THE HELL!?"
Now that he was closer, it was apparent that Tim was pissed. "It wasn't- Robin decided to make his own plan." He was breathing heavily, desperately trying to keep his composure. Dick turned towards Cass, surprised to see a similar expression on her face before she turned away and ran straight into the building without a word.
"What is going- where is Batgirl?" Dick asked, if she hadn't been with Robin… she was inside. Dick tapped his comm, "Batgirl? Batgirl, come in!" no response. "Red, go help Black Bat search the building- send her to Batgirl's last location while you start on floor one. Robin, go get the batplane"
"No. I have to help search for-"
"Go Get. The. Plane." Dick had his jaw clenched, he tried not to lose his cool at Damian, reminding himself he didn't have all the information. What he did know was that Steph was in that building, and Damian was in no state to be much help to her now. If he'd thought Tim and Cass looked rough, Damian was a wreck- he was visibly shaking like a terrified child. Which, in this moment, is exactly what he was.
Surprisingly, Damian didn't try and fight Dick anymore, unsteadily heading off towards where the plane was parked. "O, you getting anything."
Barbara's voice came through, even through the robotic Oracle filter, Dick could tell she was shaken. "Nothing, the blast knocked out all the cameras, as well as Batgirl's comms, tracker, and… and her vitals. I know she was last on the fourth floor, near the eastern stairwell. I doubt she's gotten far since then."
"We'll find her, O, send an alert to the cave- have B or Agent A prep the med-bay."
---
"STEPHANE TAKE COVER NOW!" came Damian's voice through her comm. THe first thought Stephanie had was something along the lines of: "Why am I the only one who gets in trouble for not using code names?" Her next thought went "Wait, cover from what?" Sure, she hadn't completely been paying attention when Tim went over the plan, but she was pretty sure there shouldn't be anything to take cover from. Most of the baddies had migrated to the first floor when she'd made her grand entrance, just like Tim had said, so she'd already dealt with all of them. So, what exactly was she taking cover from? She tapped her comm to ask for clarification, but then the ceiling caved in.
"Ow, fuck, stupid building." Steph swore to herself, although she couldn't hear much of anything at the moment… clearly, that was what she was meant to be taking cover from. Damn, it was really hot suddenly- probably from the explosion. Yeah, good detectiving Steph, you're a real Bat now! As the shock wore off a but, Steph was able to properly analyze her surrounding to try and deduce what the fuck just happened. Unfortunately there was very little to analyze as her "surroundings" consisted entirely of debris, collapsed infrastructure, and fire. Conclusion: The building blew up with her in it. Wow, she's on a roll, Bruce would be so proud.
"Alright, inner-monologue-Steph is not being helpful right now, so it's down to lil' miss-talks-a-lot to sort this out. So the building exploded, been over that, moving on! Am I dying?" She wiggled her toes in her boots. "Not at the moment! Which means we are in uncharted territory- usually I'm dying right about now. That was dark, don't say that around people. People! Are there any people here?" Damian had been using Tim's comm, which means he'd gotten out, so that was good. The guards were all three floors down, so if she was okay up here, then they were probably fine. "We're just gonna go with a "no" on that one. Ow!" She felt a sharp pain in her leg, which she now realized was pinned under some of what used to be the ceiling.
"Oh, that's not great." She tried to pull her leg out, nope, pinned. Next she tried to lift the debris off of her leg, "Ghrrrhgghhhahh… nope, not happening. Well, I'm outta ideas." She tried her comm, and, nope- crushed, kinda like her spirit… and her leg. "HELLO?! IS ANYONE THERE? I'M TRAPPED UNDER A BUILDING, or on the fourth floor… I'M TRAPPED IN BETWEEN WHAT WAS TWO HALVES OF A BUILDING! IT'S THE ONE THAT'S ON FIRE." If anyone could hear her, they would probably scold her for not taking the situation seriously enough- but as she heard none of the telltale sounds of disapproval, she can safely assume nobody did.
Some would argue that she was actually super lucky that the explosion for some reason only dropped flaming debris on her leg, "Maybe my luck is finally turning around! Only took nineteen damned years" she muttered, rummaging through her utility belt for anything useful. She reached into a pouch that she never used (it was at an inconvenient angle) and was surprised to pull out a little disk with a button in the middle.
OH! She knows what this is, Kara had given it to her ages ago. If she pressed the button the disk would emit a high pitched frequency that only Super-folk could hear. Kara had given it to her and made her promise she'd use it if she was ever in over her head… oh, she definitely probably should have used this a few times in the time she's had it… aw well, what Supergirl doesn't know can't hurt her.
The two of them combined could definitely lift this building off her leg, and Kara could fly so Steph wouldn't need to take the stairs. Also Steph is pretty sure she's starting to get delirious from heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation, though honestly she's probably been delirious for a while now, it's harder to notice when there isn't a coherent person nearby for comparison. She huffed, did this count as an emergency? It's already been established that Steph is in fact, not currently dying. Although if she passes out and no one finds her… then, yeah, she might die.
Well, she hopes Kara isn't busy- if Steph didn't press the button and ended up dying Kara would be soooo mad at her. So, she pushes the button and… well this feels anti-climactic. She hopes the button is fire resistant… maybe she should press it again, just in case it didn't work the first time. No, that'd be obnoxious.
The building shook… again, causing the rubble to shift on her leg- "Ow."
"Steph?! Stephanie!" called a voice from somewhere above her. Yay! Rescue time!
"...who's askin'?" Her voice sounded weaker than it did earlier, but Kara heard her- a piece of rubble above her was moved aside to reveal Kara looking down at her- she looked relieved when she saw Steph, floating down to kneel by her.
"Thank Rao, are you okay?" Kara grabbed the little disc, she was probably turning it off. Steph would bet whatever noise it makes is super annoying.
"Yeah, I'm just great! And how are you?" Most people would have dropped the wise-cracking hero schtick a while ago, but dammit Stephanie Brown was not most people!
Kara huffed a laugh, rolling her eyes, she then seemed to notice the predicament going on with Steph's leg. "Shit, Stephie, your leg!"
"Which one?" Steph was getting a bit sick of herself at this point… overexposure probably. "sorry" she muttered after seeing how not amused Kara was.
Kara carefully lifted the debris up enough for Steph to scooch her leg out of the way, before setting it back down and gathering Steph into her arms bridal style.
Shit, her leg hurt, to keep herself from exclaiming in pain, Steph bit down on her tongue until she tasted blood. "Stop that" Kara scolded, oops, she noticed. Steph spit the blood out, leaning into Kara as she carried her out of the building.
Steph passed out before they hit the ground.
Notes:So, here's the deal, I am one of like 5 die hard StephKara shippers. Does this mean they will end up together... I do not know, maybe. But- does this mean that Kara is going to appear periodically with a blatant crush she thinks she's hiding? Yes, yes it does.
I also enjoy StephCass and TimSteph, but this is New Earth DC continuity (mostly) and in my mind for either of those to happen there would need to be a lot of closure and growth for everyone involved... and I like writing Steph as messy exes with Tim and Cass, even though her and Cass 'allegedly' never dated.
Chapter 3: Yeah, he almost killed me, but he's so little!Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextBeep… beep… beep… Steph listened to the faint beeping, she'd heard it before, no, she wouldn't go- she wouldn't. The air wasn't stale, not like a hospital, not like Gotham- Stephanie hated the fresh air, the air she'd only ever breathed during the year she'd been away. Feeling started to return to her body, she knew she was in a hospital bed by the feel of the sheets, she had an IV stuck in her arm and a heavy respirator strapped to her face, pushing the too fresh air into her lungs.
Steph refused to open her eyes, she wouldn't, she didn't want to see the interior of the tent, she didn't want to listen to Dr. Thompkins- who was waiting for her to open her eyes, to show any sign of consciousness. If she never opened her eyes she wouldn't have to hear what'd happened to her, to Gotham, she knew, she could never forget. If she could just fall back asleep, maybe she'd wake up at home, maybe she wouldn't wake up at all- as long as she didn't wake up here.
"What were you thinking!? Your orders were clear."She could hear the voice in the distance, maybe just outside. Orders, what a load of shit, she wasn't a soldier, she wasn't fighting anyones war but her own, she wouldn't listen to anyone's orders.
The voice spoke again, "You are lucky this wasn't even worse, Batgirl could have been killed because of your mistake" Okay, yeah, got her there- wait Batgir? Had Cass gotten hurt, oh no, no no no… Steph opened her eyes, which were immediately assaulted by bright fluorescent lights. Steph blinked before sitting up and taking note of surroundings, so- new theory… Stephanie was actually in the medical wing of the Batcave, and not in Africa circa 2018… which makes sense now that she really thinks about it.
There was no one else in the room, but she could hear arguing in the Batcave- uh oh, what'd she do now? Oh well, evidently the only one who'd gotten hurt was her. She pulled the IV out of her arm and swung her legs over the side of the bed she was in… "OW! Whatthefuck… oh, right, got crushed by a building." Her right leg was in a full cast, keeping her from seeing the damage, but damn could she feel it. She was also covered in bandages, she probably got a bit toasty in that fire.
She was able to get up using the bed frame to help support her weight. Balancing on one leg, Steph hopped her way over to grab some nearby crutches, she liked crutches, they were good for whacking people. Now she was mobile, boom, take that leg! Although, now that she thought about it- Steph wasn't sure she wanted to leave this room and face whoever was in the next room, maybe she could crawl through the vents and hobble her own way home?
"No, Steph… crawling through vents with a busted leg is a bad idea." She sighed and continued her way to the door. She'd probably gotten hurt because she'd ignored Tim and left her position… but if he really wanted her to stay on the first floor, he should have mentioned that the building was gonna explode! Although… that probably wasn't part of the plan, so actually, this wasn't even her fault. Score! She'd dance if she had two legs.
She pushed against the door with her shoulder, only for it to barely budge. "Ugh, stupidreinforcedbatdoor." She grumbled- the voices in the Batcave stopped, but she heard no one move to open the damn door. "Yeah! Don't worry, I'll just get it myself! Assholes." She leaned away from the door before slamming her shoulder into it, sending it flying open- and her falling to the ground, oh wow, she did not think that one through.
Thankfully her reflexes were good enough that her fall was far more damaging to her pride than anything else. She muttered some curse words before ultimately deciding that she simply did not have it in her right now and flopping onto her back, starfishing on the ground. In the room was Dick, Bruce, Cass, Tim, and Damian- all in full gear (sans cowls and masks) except Bruce, who was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. All of them were staring at her on the ground, they were clearly waiting for her to say something, she very intentionally did not speak- accepting her fate, she was one with the floor now.
Dick was the first to move, helping her back onto her feet "You okay?" He asked sincerely, grabbing her crutches for her- only backing away when he was sure she wouldn't fall back over.
"Oh yeah, sunshine and rainbows," stop being a jerk Stephanie, Dick's a good guy, "Thanks." She gave him a small smile. She liked Dick, his family could be jerks, but he meant well.
The air in the room was tense, she wasn't sure why though- based on the fact that the arguing had stopped upon her arrival, no one was upset with her- which was kinda nice, but she had already mentally prepared herself for a fight. Why was no one saying anything, she hated this- the stares and the silence. What did they want from her? Steph looked towards Damian, hoping for some assistance, or a snarky comment or unconstructive criticism, maybe a petty dig she could laugh at. Anything. But instead she was surprised to see he was sitting on a bench, hugging his knees to his chest and refusing to look at her.
Suddenly, Steph didn't care about the awkward silence or stares, she hobbled her way towards Damian, sitting next to him. He tensed, looking at her carefully. He seemed so… young, scared. Steph met eyes with each person in the room, looking for an explanation. Tim looked frustrated, Dick looked guilty. Cass was analyzing Steph, which was annoying and unhelpful. And Bruce… Bruce had the same look in his eye that he's had every single time she fucked up, every time he told her to quit, the look he'd had the night he fired her as Robin. He didn't… He couldn't- Damian was Dick's Robin, not his, he couldn't fire him- could he?
Steph rested her hand on Damian's shoulder, squeezing lightly- hoping it was semi-reassuring. He finally broke the silence, "Stephanie, I suppose I owe you an… an apology." Aw, hell, what'd they say to him?
"You suppose?! You could have killed her, Damian! You owe her more than a half-assed apology." Tim exploded. Whatever had happened clearly upset him, but honestly Steph didn't care, she was the one with the squashed leg!
She ignored him in favor of looking back at Damian, grabbing each of his shoulders before speaking, "Iaccept your apology." She still honestly had no clue what had happened, but she wasn't gonna sit there and let this eleven year old kid look so dejected.
Cass gave her a look that made her feel a little stupid, Tim gawked, but Dick smiled slightly- so Steph decided that she had picked the right side of whatever was happening. Then Bruce spoke, "Damian abandoned the plan, instead of contacting Tim and Cassandra, he chose to destroy the weapons himself on his own. The resulting explosion caused the building to collapse in on itself." Oh… well, now she's caught up.
"If you hadn't called Supergirl- you would have died in there, I- we couldn't get to you through all of the debris." Cass said tensely, her hands were clenched into fists. Steph could tell she was doing some serious mental gymnastics to blame herself for this, all of them were, it's what they were good at- whatever, she'd barely spoken to Cass since she'd dropped the Batgirl suit at her feet over a year ago and fucked off to Hong Kong (Steph had figured out where she'd gone on her own, because of course no one told her) without ever sending a much as a postcard. She'd only recently popped up in Gotham again, and it turns out when Steph doesn't spend her nights following Cass around like a lost puppy, they don't cross paths very often.
"Good thing I called Supergirl then." Steph nudged Damian with her elbow, "C'mon, you gotta escort me home- in case I fall on my ass again." Damian's eyes widened with shock, but he nodded, jumping to his feet. Steph could have gotten up on her own, but she let Damian help her.
Cass stepped forward, "No, you should stay here for a few days, to recover around people." Her? Stay in the manor for a few days? Absolutely not. She wanted out ASAP, she currently lived alone in a tiny apartment on the East End- Barbara had helped get it for her and set it up with all the bat stuff and quick access to Firewall, but Steph still had to scrape together every penny she could find to get the place.
"Pass, I'm going home" she doesn't mention how not that long ago half the people in this room would have loved to hear her say that. "Go change" she says to Damian, who scurries off towards the elevator, obviously eager to leave.
"Steph, at least let me drive you, I…"
"Shut it, Tim, I'll hop my way to the subway just fine." She glared at all of them, "Now, here's what's going to happen when Damian comes back. None of you are going to make that boy feel any worse than he already does." She looks at Bruce, "Your his Father, and yeah, he fucked up, so if your gonna ground him or whatever that's fine- BUT that kid cares what all of you think about him so much- and he will never admit it. None of you are going to hold any sort of grudge against him on my behalf, because as we all just saw, I accepted his apology. Capiche?"
Tim shook his head, "Steph, you've got to be kidding. This was more than just a mistake, you can't just say it's all okay and go get ice cream after he leveled a building and almost got you killed!"
"What do you want me to do? You want me to be mad at him, tell him how badly he fucked up? You want me to go tell an eleven year old boy that he's too reckless, that he's just not good enough?! I know he's already beating himself up over it because he's got a good heart, regardless of what he's done or what anyone else thinks. So, yeah, I'm gonna say it's okay, and maybe I will take him for ice cream or whatever! Because someone should." Steph wasn't stupid, she knew she'd said far too much. The way their faces changed, she could tell they knew damn well she wasn't just talking about Damian anymore.
Maybe if she stuck around a little longer one of them would admit it, would say it outloud, maybe she'd get an apology (unlikely,) but she wouldn't give any of them the chance- she didn't want to talk about the past, she didn't want to think about it, and she damn sure didn't want anyone's apology. She was scared she'd forgive them, scared she'd fall right back into her old habits, the part of her that wanted their approval.
Steph had changed, she was Batgirl because she wanted to help people, to keep any more kids from ending up like her, and… because she owed it to the city- she could never make things right, so she'd give everything she had trying to make up for her mistakes, knowing damn well she never could. Mistakes she'd made because of her tunnel visioned desire to prove herself, because she was young, and because she was alone.
Damian would never believe her if she told him, but they weren't so different. She promised herself that no matter what, she'd be on his side- no matter what, because she knew first hand how being told you aren't enough only makes things worse. Damian was not going to end up like her.
Steph waited at the bottom of the main staircase for Damian, after a minute he came scurrying down the stairs in his civilian clothes. "I would understand if you preferred I not accompany you." He said, his eyes burning a hole in her cast.
"Naw, don't worry about it- I already said I forgive you. Y'know everyone fucks up Damian, you just have to learn to live with it- you're not your worst moments." She really hoped he'd believe her. "And I'll get bored sitting alone in my apartment with a broken leg… honestly the least you could do is steal my food and watch that new penguins documentary with me."
"Tt, I suppose you'll need someone to protect you from any potential threats while you are immobilized" He said, sounding almost as snooty as normal.
"Hold the fuck on, Brat Wonder, that is so not what I said!" She whined as he opened the door for her. They went back and forth as they started towards the nearest bus station, which was a bit of a walk but she'd live.
Winning an argument with an eleven year old proved to be a great distraction from the pain in her leg.
Notes:This chapter's purpose was mostly to establish what Steph's relationship with each of the bat family members is, (complicated and not great).
So, I've decided what this fic is going to be is basically a continuous story with multiple plots within it, so there is no beginning, middle, and end. It'll just keep going until I stop writing (I promise to come up with a satisfying end point when that happens) so it's like a tv show that keeps not getting cancelled and runs way past the initial plan.
I will bounce between characters (like the first 2 chapters) some, but I will mostly be staying focused on Steph because she's my favorite and I have many thoughts about her, plus I feel the need to kinda "fix" her canon story by reinterpreting events and her motivations.
Also I made a spotify playlist for this fic, so let me know if you want the link and i might put it in the next chapters notes.
Chapter 4: guilt trips and chick flicksChapter TextBarbara hummed, absently watching live feeds from around the city- there wasn't much going on at the moment. Maybe she should go check on Steph, make sure she wasn't attempting any stunts (a few months ago Steph had fractured her collarbone and subsequently decided to pass the time trying to break her own push up record with just one arm.)
Babs grabbed a tote bag, deciding she'd stop by the store and get Steph some stuff to keep her entertained with more low-key activities. As went to open the door, she was surprised to see one Dick Grayson on the other side, hand raised like he was about to knock. "Hey, uh, sorry were you busy?" he said.
"I was just going to visit Stephanie, do you need something?" She backed her chair up, heading back towards her computer- assuming that he did in fact need something.
"No, actually I'll go with you. Damian's over there right now- I was meaning to stop by but I didn't want Tim to feel like I was picking sides… so I came here instead." He rubbed the back of his head as he spoke. He was in a tough position, Dick felt responsible for his siblings- it was difficult to balance being Batman and a good brother to a bunch of siblings that were constantly fighting.
It was good to hear Steph and Damian were still getting along. If someone had dropped a building on her, Barbara would probably be upset for at least a few days. "Great, you can drive. I'm headed to the store to grab her some stuff so she doesn't go stir crazy."
They drove in silence until Dick spoke, "Stephanie's a good kid." He clearly had more to say, Babs knew him well enough to know there was something weighing on him. "In the cave, when she woke up- she jumped to defend Damian before she even knew what had happened."
Barbara laughed, "Ha, that sounds like her. Steph has a knack for picking fights. What'd she do after she got filled in?" She asked, even though she was pretty sure she already knew.
"Oh, she doubled down, chewed out everyone in the room before bailing, even Bruce-" Dick smiled "-reminded me of another Batgirl I used to know." He nudged her unsubtly.
"That's my girl." Babs couldn't help her smile, she really was proud of Stephanie. She'd been in a rough place for a while before becoming Batgirl- but now it seemed like everyone except Steph was lost in one way or another. She'd found a place for herself and dug her feet in deep. "If Steph's looking out for your kid, then what's bothering you so much?"
"He's not my kid… and it's just, something Steph said." He looked guilty, "I should've been there."
"Been where? Surely you don't think you could have stopped the building from collapsing." She raised an eyebrow at him.
Dick sighed, "No that's not… I mean before, when she was Spoiler… especially when she was Robin. I wasn't there, I could have helped her." Oh, she didn't expect that, there's no way Dick could possibly be blaming himself for her death?
"Dick, you barely knew her. You are the last person who holds any blame for what happened to her." If anyone could have helped her it was Barbara, but she'd been too distracted, sure she wasn't awful to Stephanie- but she'd dismissed her for years, ignored her when she needed someone. If Barbara had just tried to connect with the girl, even a little bit, maybe she could've become the hero she is today- without all the suffering. The two of them had talked things out a while ago now, but Babs could never keep the "what-if's" out of the back of her mind.
"I should've known her! I'd met her a couple times, Tim talked about her plenty, I had every opportunity to… to reach out. I should've come back to Gotham the moment I found out she was Robin, but I didn't- not even after she got fired. I started all of this, it's my responsibility to look out for the kids that come after me. I realized that I'd failed- again."
"If you really want you can take the blame for the whole 'sidekick' thing, maybe I never would have put on a suit, maybe Jason and Tim would have just been kids, maybe Cass and Damian would be assassins instead- but nothing you did had any impact on Stephanie becoming Spoiler. There were countless people in her life that had every chance to help that girl, and every single one of them failed her again and again- you were not one of those people Dick. There's no amount of hoops you can jump through to try and blame yourself for anything that happened to her." She saw the tension in Dick's shoulders ease slightly, he didn't respond instead just nodding. They made the rest of the drive in silence.
---
Damian sat on Stephanie's couch with his legs crossed, eyes glued to the tv that was playing some girl movie that Stephanie liked. They had initially been watching nature documentaries, which Damian far preferred, but after the last one had ended Stephanie insisted on "Legally Blonde" claiming the main character was her hero. Damian did not see the appeal, but he supposed after his earlier… miscalculation… he could suffer through the overly pink "chick-flick."
"I do not understand, why is she going through so much trouble when she previously had no desire to study law" Damian questioned.
"Well, at first she was doing it so she could stay with her boyfriend, but he turned out to be a jerk who never believed in her- so now she's doing it to prove that she can." Stephanie replied, she was laying upside down at the other end of the couch- which seemed like it would be uncomfortable with one leg in a cast, but Damian had previously observed that she was possibly incapable of sitting in any seat as intended. That was a trait she shared with Richard actually.
Damian smirked, "Is that now how you started as The Spoiler? At what point did you realize Drake was a loser?"
"No, that was totally different! And I always knew Tim was a loser, but he was a sweet loser back then, that was why I liked him. I told you I hit him in the face with a brick when we first met, right?" Steph tossed a piece of popcorn in the air, grinning when she successfully caught it in her mouth.
"I think you need to reassess your choice in romantic partners- if you are Elle Woods, then Drake and Cain are Warner." As soon as the words left his mouth Stephanie choked on her popcorn, sitting up to glare at him.
"Okay, that's so not true. And I never dated Cass!"
"Uh-huh"
"I didn't! We were friends!"
"I never said you and Cain were romantically involved." Damian crossed his arms defiantly.
"Yes, you did! You just compared her to Warner, which is wrong for several reasons- but mainly because we never dated!" She was gesturing wildly with her hands, which completely destroyed any credibility her argument had.
"Lie to yourself all you want, Brown, just know that you cannot deceive me as easily as you can yourself." He was unable to stifle his laugh at the way her eyes went wide, her expression was almost cartoonish.
"Brat!" She yelled, flopping back down to watch the movie, albeit less enthusiastically than before.
Almost as soon as the movie ended there was a knock on the door- "I'll get it!" Stephanie tried to roll backwards onto her feet, before remembering her leg was broken halfway, ending up rolling sideways sadly on the couch.
"Tt, everytime I think you cannot embarrass yourself any more, you reach a new low." Damian wasn't sure why he said that, it was his own fault that she was injured in the first place.
"You shoulda seen me when I was your age," Stephanie remarked, rolling her eyes, "don't just sit there, get the damn door!"
He hopped up, privately praying that whoever was at the door was here for Stephanie and not him, he was not ready to face his family yet.
Damian opened the door part of the way, relieved to see Gordon and Richard on the other side, he did not mind either of their company. He opened the door the rest of the way, "What do you want?" He deadpanned.
"WHO IS IT?!" Stephanie shouted from where she had now climbed halfway over the back of the couch, trying to see the door.
"It's me!" Richard shouted, stepping into the apartment, "And Babs! We brought you stuff!" He strode over to the dining room table, plopping a full tote bag down on it.
Stephanie lit up at the sight of them, "Oooh, what stuff?!" She pulled herself over the back of the couch, balancing on one leg as she hopped towards the table.
"Stephanie, sit down." Gordon scolded "You're gonna make your leg worse."
Stephanie laughed sheepishly, using Richard as leverage to hop onto the table. "Okay, I'm sat. Now! What's in here?" She excitedly grabbed at the bag, pulling out various puzzles, crafts, and lego sets. "Oh, wow. How much did all this cost?" Steph flipped over the bird lego set she was holding to search for the price tag.
Gordon laughed, "Don't worry about it, money bags over here paid for everything." She gestured towards Richard.
Damian never gave a second thought, it was simply a piece of paper- and he had plenty of it. But Stephanie was always strange about money, she knew finances were no issue for him but whenever he offered to pay for something or just give her money- she'd refuse, usually blaming it on "not wanting to give Bruce the satisfaction."
Stephanie blinked a few times, before deciding to accept the gifts, "Thank you guys, really." She grinned, "Damian and I were about to watch Mean Girls, if you're interested!"
"We were about to do what?" Damian had absolutely not agreed to this, how many more girl movies must he sit through before his debt was paid?
Richard lit up, "Uh, yeah! I love Mean Girls!" He ruffled Damian's hair, ugh, why did he spend so much time with these people, "C'mon Dames, you'll love Janis."
Chapter 5: stop caring about my physical health, it's inconvenientNotes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text"Stupid, dumb, fucking, doors." Steph muttered, she was trying to open the idiot door to the study room. She knew damn well that Jordanna and Francisco were in there, what was with people not opening doors when someone was struggling?
"Y'know what?" Steph threw her crutches to the ground, they were just getting in her way. Now that her arms were free, she was able to pull the door open and hop into the room. She pointedly ignored her 'study-buddies' as she hopped to the table and plopped down in a chair.
"There she is, late as usual." Jordanna said as if she was fucking blind.
"Jordanna, her leg is broken!" Francisco cut in, trying to defend her.
"That or I'm making a fashion statement. Soon everyones gonna be wearing big, itchy casts- just you wait." Steph slung her bag onto the table as she spoke, the impact caused a few papers to fall on the ground. Oops.
Jordanna sighed, picking up the papers "How'd you break it anyway?" Awww, she really cared, gee it was so great having friends!
"I tripped. Now, I need at least a B- on this next exam so we need to figure out what the hell determinism is."
Two cups of coffee and an unknown number of hours later- Steph came to the conclusion that philosophy was dumb. Gotham didn't have any philosophers, and if they did she'd bet they'd become a supervillain wayyy sooner than every other educated citizen… Maybe college was a bad idea?
Steph hobbled her way towards the subway, she knew she shouldn't be putting any weight on her leg… but damn maneuvering around with those crutches was so much more inconvenient than just bearing the pain. "Hey! I think you dropped these." Steph turned around to see Kara standing with her crutches.
"Shoot, well finders keepers." She was happy to see Kara of course, but those damn crutches were haunting her now.
Kara looked unimpressed, "Steph, you can't just walk around with a broken leg." She tried to hand Steph the crutches, no way, nuh-uh, Steph was not falling through anymore doors.
"Uh, I totally can! Howd'yathink I got here?!" Steph spread her arms, gesturing to 'here.' To further prove her point, Steph turned to resume her journey home- only to find herself being picked up bridal style. "Whoop, oh, hello." She could tell it was taking a considerable amount of effort for Kara not to laugh at her.
"Steph, walking on a broken leg makes it worse."
"How would you know? Your legs don't even break, supergirl." She was well aware she was fighting a losing battle here, but Stephanie Brown was not a quitter dammit!
"You know that I wasn't born with super powers right? I'm not putting you down unless you promise to use the crutches." Kara smiled to herself, as if she'd won the argument or something- yeah, right.
"Hmmm… and why would I want that? I'm perfectly happy where I am, thank you very much!" She leaned into Kara, smiling up at her.
"Uh… I- well… I can drop you." Kara's cheeks turned pink and she looked away from the girl in her arms. It was a dirty trick, but Steph didn't make it nineteen years in Gotham by fighting fair.
"Couldya maybe head over that way while you decide?" Steph pointed towards the subway entrance, "My train leaves in ten minutes."
Kara sighed, "I'll just fly you home, it's faster anyways."
---
"Why are you tearing up my kitchen?" Steph asked from where she was sitting on the couch.
Kara paused her rummaging to answer, "I'm looking for a marker!" She closed the cupboard, using her x-ray vision to scan the rest of the kitchen. "Ah-hah, got one! Why do you have a marker in your freezer?" She floated into the living room, landing on the couch next to Steph.
"I do?" Steph tilted her head and furrowed her brow, it was her thinking face. Kara liked how animated Steph could be, it was a nice change from every other Bat she'd met.
Kara uncapped the marker, it was purple and glittery. "Mhm, I'm sure you had a good reason. How come no one has signed your cast yet?"
"I end up in a lotta casts, I kinda stopped thinking about it around ten." Steph shrugged, watching as Kara wrote her name in bubble letters.
"Ten casts?" She put the cap back on the marker, satisfied with her signature.
Steph laughed, "No, I don't keep count. Ten years old, but that was really just a guess."
Kara had noticed, sometimes Steph would say something concerning the way other people would comment on the weather. But if Kara ever pointed it out or asked any questions, Steph would just laugh it off or change the subject. It was frustrating, they were supposed to be BFF, but Kara felt she barely knew anything about Steph- at least anything about her before they met. She'd let it go this time, Steph could have just been a rambunctious kid- after all she'd ended up a rambunctious teen/young adult.
"You should get more people to sign it, we didn't have casts to sign on Krypton. I think it's cute."
"Right, I'll just call up all of my many other friends and do that. What did you use instead of casts?" Steph asked, she was genuinely curious which Kara greatly appreciated.
Whenever she mentioned Krypton, most people would try and comfort her, but she didn't want their pity. Not Steph though, she always had questions- that might be a Bat thing, Tim was really the only other person who prompted her to talk about her life before she came to Earth.
"We didn't, we had technology that could mend broken bones in a few minutes at most. Earth's really primitive in comparison, it took me forever to figure out how to use a fax machine." Kara sighed, adjusting to Earth technology had been difficult, everything was so limited yet somehow confusing.
"Why are you using a fax machine? I don't know how to use a fax machine." Steph leaned forward, trying to stand up before Kara pulled her back down.
"Where are you going?" Maybe Kara should just move in until Steph's leg heals someone needed to keep her from reinjuring herself.
"I was gonna put the marker back in the freezer, if I don't do it now I'll forget."
"Do you want the marker in the freezer?" Kara knew Steph was crazy smart… but sometimes she just did not understand what she was thinking.
"That's where it goes!" Steph said as if it were obvious.
"Why?"
"I don't know! What if there was an important reason for it being there? Maybe the only thing keeping space and time from collapsing is me keeping that marker in the fridge. Y'know technically the galaxy should be collapsing in on itself, but there's some mysterious force acting against gravity- maybe it's the marker, stranger things have happened, I found a rainbow batsuit in the cave AND IT WASN'T DICK'S!"
Kara was convinced that if she didn't have super speed, she would never be able to follow anything Steph said. "I know why, it's not the marker- there's this stuff called-"
"Woah, woah, spoilers! Earth has not gotten that far yet." Steph covered her ears and fell back onto the couch.
"I- okay, fine." Kara could barely speak between her giggles, "I'll put the marker back, for the sake of the galaxy." She went back to the kitchen, opening the freezer.
"Thank you, Supergirl saves the day again. D'ya wanna watch a movie?" Steph shouted as if Kara didn't have super hearing.
When Kara returned to the couch, she sat a little closer to Steph than she had before. "Sure, what movie?"
"Have you ever seen Frankenstien? The book's better, but I have the movie on DVD."
"I have not, does Frankenstein come out of the tv too?" Kara asked, remembering the whole Dracula debacle from one of the first times they hung out.
Steph laughed, "No, don't worry, that only happens in 3D movies. Besides, I'm Batgirl, I'll protect you from any Frankensteins that might crawl out of my TV." She said with a wink.
Kara rolled her eyes, "My hero."
Notes:this is pure stephkara propoganda btw, but like- you see the vision yeah?
I have a few ideas for future actual plot lines that I'm gonna get into soon, the first few chapters are really just supposed to establish the dynamics and state of the universe. But as a lil sneak peek, I'll let you know I have an idea for a plot line that brings Jason in, one that introduces Duke (he didn't exist in New Earth, but he can!), and one that involves Steph getting her own team (this one might be a ways off.)
I also might dabble in some flashback chapters, just to really show some of the changes I've made in my head.
Also! I see the comments, thank you guys so much! I love hearing what people think about what I think, so keep doing that.
Chapter 6: what do you do if your ex-boyfriend and ex-not-girlfriend are siblings and also your coworkers?Notes:HELLO! Sorry this took a while, I had exams, then I had work, then I sent my laptop away to fix the screen. Here's a new chapter, I think this is gonna be the last one before Steph gets her leg unbroken, so we can start on the fun stuff.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter TextBzzt… bzzt… bzzzzzttt, "Okay, okay! I hear it, come on up." Tim's voice came through the speaker. Cass debated pressing the button again, just for fun, but decided against it. The door to the abandoned theater that her brother lived in unlocked with a click.
Tim's apartment was a mess, every surface was covered with papers and empty energy drink cans. Cass grabbed one of the cans, throwing it into the trash can, "You should drink more water."
Tim didn't look up from where he was currently staring at something on his laptop. "Actually, these are 98.62% water"
"Doesn't count." She grabbed two bottles of water out of the fridge, throwing one at Tim's head. He managed to catch the bottle without looking up. "People shouldn't drink anything that color."
"I am not accepting criticism from you, I've seen you put chocolate on pizza." Tim shuddered at the memory.
"Chocolate is good, pizza is good. This!" She waved another can at him pointedly. "Not good." Tim chuckled, deciding he was better off not picking this battle. Cass looked at his laptop screen, surprised to see that Tim was rewatching Steph's cowl footage from the botched mission.
"What are you looking for? It's been over two weeks." She knew he wasn't actually looking for anything, if there was anything to find- Tim would have found it by now. His shoulders slumped slightly, guilty, he felt guilty about Steph getting hurt.
"We didn't need them there, you and I could have done it alone." Tim sighed, resting his head in one hand.
"We could have, but it was easier with more people. You made the right decision, what happened wasn't your fault." Cass sat next to Tim on his couch as she spoke, resting her hand on his shoulder.
"No, it wasn't. But I still could have kept it from happening. I gave Damian the most important job, even though I know exactly how he feels about me, I should have known he'd try and undermine me." His eyes were glued to the screen, which was currently showing Batgirl throwing Batarangs whilst hanging upside down from a support beam. It was unnecessary, but Steph had never been the most efficient fighter, she got bored too easily.
"So you were supposed to know he'd destroy the weapons? And that Steph would be so far out of place?" Cass pointed out.
"Well, it's not exactly out of character for either of them, is it?" Tim shook his head and shut his laptop. "Have you seen her since she's been recovering?"
"No." Cass hadn't seen much of Steph in a long time now. Things had changed a lot while she was in Hong Kong, Steph had changed. Cass had been gone for about a year, only having returned to Gotham two months ago, she'd really missed Steph while she was gone. Steph was her best friend, her first friend. Stephanie had been the first person to truly see Cass as an equal, not a victim, not a weapon, just a friend…maybe not just a friend, but that was complicated- and maybe it didn't matter anymore because Steph was mad at her.
Steph had been mad at her before, but this wasn't like when Cass would knock Steph out before a fight, or when they'd argue over what was considered cheating in rooftop tag (Steph had only ever won when she cheated or when Cass let her win.) All those times Steph would get over it quickly, usually showing her a new "fighting move" was enough to make her forget whatever had upset her.
"I don't know if she wants to see me." Cass wasn't used to not knowing how people felt, she used to like how easy it was to read Steph- she wore her heart on her sleeve… and her face… and she'd usually say how she felt out loud. Cass liked how honest Steph was about her feelings, even if she didn't always understand why she was feeling them (it helped that Steph would always try and explain when Cass was confused.) But now, Steph was lying constantly, in a lot of ways she acted the same as before- but the reasons had changed.
Steph had always talked a lot, it used to be that she really just had a lot to say. In the little Cass had seen of Steph since she'd returned, it was safe to say that Steph had yet to run out of words. Now it seemed like she was talking as a way to distract (which was clever when she used it on an enemy, but annoying when she would do it to Cass.) What Cass found strange was that sometimes it seemed like Steph was only trying to distract herself by talking, sometimes she didn't even know she was doing it.
It also seemed that Steph developed the same habit most Bats had of compartmentalizing everything and bottling up her feelings- with a slight twist in that instead of being stoic and broody, Steph was bubbly and cheerful on the surface.
It all made Steph surprisingly difficult to read, and Cass had come to the realization that she just didn't understand her anymore.
Tim sighed, grabbing his keys as he stood up. "Sounds like we're in the same boat then. Imagine ourselves, a few years ago, hearing that now we're too scared to visit Steph."
"It wouldn't be the weirdest thing to hear. Bruce has always been scared of her." Cass responded, scared wasn't really the right word… but it was close enough.
"Come on." Tim spoke as he started towards the door, "We should probably visit… maybe it'll be easier if we go together."
Cass hummed contemplatively, "Or it'll be worse."
---
Steph was almost done with the puzzle when there was a knock at her door, she'd been trying to pace herself with the puzzles so she wouldn't run out of stuff to do (she'd already done them all twice and made one into a shitty purse with the help of a hot glue gun.)
"HOLDONI'MONMYWAY!" She pushed herself out of her chair, sparing a glance at the crutches that supergirl ever so heroically kept returning to her, before hobbling to open the door. She hadn't realized that pizza delivery could be so fast, maybe Gotham traffic was improving, what a time to be alive.
She opened the door and… oh shit. "You are not my pizza." She said dumbly to her ex-boyfriend and his sister, who was also her former best friend, whom she may be avoiding a little bit. She'd kick herself if her leg wasn't broken- maybe she'd even run away, that sounded like a fantastic idea right about now.
"No we are not. But we did bring chocolate?" Tim gestures to a box of chocolates Cass was holding out, which… was sweet of them.
"Oh! Uh, thanks. Did you need something?" Steph doesn't invite them in, but she does move out of the doorway to show that they can come in… if they want. They do, she kinda wished they hadn't, now she had to share her pizza.
Tim and Cass shared a look, ugh! Steph swore they had twin telepathy… even though they were three years apart… and not biological siblings. But whatever, it was annoying regardless.
Cass spoke this time, "No, we just wanted to see how you were doing."
"I'm great." Steph deadpanned, "There's pizza coming so if you want you can have some. I ordered two of 'em." She paused, before turning to take the box of chocolates from Cass, "You can't put chocolate on it though. I'll kick you out."
That made both of them smile a little, Steph kind of hated how it made her feel a little fuzzy inside.
"You're both babies." Cass complained as she walked further into the apartment, eyes darting around, "You live alone?"
"Yeah, it's kind of new." Steph had forgotten that Cass hadn't been to her apartment before, it was small and on what most people considered to be the "wrong" side of town, but that was actually pretty convenient for Steph considering there was plenty of crime to stop.
"Your mom?" questioned Cass
"She still lives at the house. I visit… we have breakfast on Tuesdays." It was nice, having a relationship with her mom. It made her wish she'd had that before, when she'd actually needed it. But it was still nice.
Cass didn't say anything in response, she was just looking at her, Steph wished she would stop doing that. Tim had ended up looking at the lego sets Steph had put together, she was trying to combine them all into one big lego world- despite the varying themes. Neither of them were saying anything… Why were they here? She wished they would say something. Or leave.
"It's more like brunch. She sleeps in now, she's always slept in but now it's not because she's- she just works nights now, just in case, and she's sober now- which you both know, you both knew that before I did I guess." Shut up Steph, shut up. "I got Damian to watch Mean Girls, I think he liked it. I made you watch Mean Girls right?"
Cass nodded. Tim looked surprised, "You got Damian to watch Mean Girls? And he liked it?"
"Yeah, it wasn't actually that hard, I think he felt bad about the whole building thing. He didn't say he liked it but he complained less than he did about Legally Blonde! We watched that before, he said that I was like… actually nevermind that doesn't matter, he liked Mean Girls better." She was rambling. A knock at the door cut her off, pizza saves the day again."
"I got it." Tim said, pulling out his fancy wallet as he walked to the door.
"No, I can pay for it. I ordered it in the first place so…" Steph protested, but Tim just waved her off, rude.
Steph took one pizza to herself, but she (very nobley) let Tim and Cass split the second one.
They ate their pizza and talked. It was almost like it was before, back when Steph was 15 and had only ever been Spoiler. When Tim and Cass were kind and full of hope, everything a hero was supposed to be, everything Steph wasn't. Almost, they were both so serious now… they seemed… sadder. Steph supposes that makes sense, a lot had happened in the last few years for them to be sad about, but god, did Steph hate the way they looked at her now.
Tim was telling a story about how he'd ended up in some Russian guy's computer… or something, Steph wasn't really following. Cass was listening intently, either she was understanding something that Steph wasn't or she was just really good at pretending, Steph would bet on the latter.
"-So, wait, the baby was Tam? Isn't she your assistant-slash-fiance?" Steph questioned.
"You got married?" Cass asked.
"No, no, I didn't." Tim rushed to explain, waving his hands frantically.
Steph grinned, elbowing Cass, "No, he's engaged to be married!"
"I'm not engaged! Not engaged. Tam just said that- and we pretended, or well it was kind of pretend? It was real but as a cover but… she called that off." His ears were burning with embarrassment. It was cute, he was still cute when he wasn't being an asshole.
Cass laughed, shit she had a pretty laugh… Wait, no, Steph was better than this, she was a grown up woman who did not run back to her ex or his hot sister just because they showed up to her apartment one time!
Steph was working on her impulse control, which meant no flirting with either of them, not even a little bit! Plus it would upset Kara- who was turning out to be a whole other problem, damn Steph was a mess. This was why she just needed to be single, probably until she died via a heroic sacrifice grand enough to make the voice in her head shut up… or more likely she'd finally lose her never ending war with gravity and become one with the pavement.
Steph was broken out of her thoughts by Tim's phone ringing, he walked away a bit to answer it. Cass nudged Steph with her foot, shooting her a questioning-concerned look. She must have noticed something in Steph's body language or whatever… which, yeah, that made sense considering her strange train of thoughts. Thoughts that she absolutely would not be sharing.
"I think I ate too much pizza." Steph lied, she knew Cass knew she was lying, but she didn't care.
Tim hung up the phone and walked back towards the table, "That was Lucius, I gotta go deal with some old business people or something. I can drive you home, Cass."
Cass nodded, following Tim out of the apartment after they all exchanged goodbyes.
Steph stared at the closed door a while after they left. "Huh." She realized she didn't know where Cass was living. Maybe she'd ask her sometime.
Notes:Hope you enjoyed! TLDR: Steph has issues, but it's okay because she can just ignore those.
Thank you for all the comments and kudos, they are much appreciated.
Next chapter will introduce Jason, so stay tuned ig.
Chapter 7: what do you mean i'm too much like him? he's an asshole!Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text"It was a dark and sinister night, the perfect kind of night for crime. The man crouched awkwardly by the smelly dumpster as he waited to make the handoff."
"What the fuck!?"
"He jumped, shocked that his brilliant plan had been uncovered. This would be the last time [email protected] ever plans a weapons deal over email."
"SHOW YOURSELF, YOU COWARD!"
"The man yelled, attempting to hide how close he was to shitting himself. His eyes darted to the fire escape, searching for the source of his torment." He looked, Steph smiled.
"Only to find no one was there." Steph dropped into the alley, ducking into a somersault almost silently. Damian had taught her to throw her voice, and it was easily her new favorite thing.
Steph managed to get right behind 'the yahoo crook' without him noticing a thing, she almost felt bad for him. "Boo." She whispered, he whipped around- throwing a punch erratically. Steph caught his fist in her hand, he was already off balance so she was able to spin him around by his arm- locking him in a position she knew had to hurt.
"LET GO OF ME YOU BITCH!" She didn't feel bad for him anymore.
"Really? Y'know this is why people hate Guardians fans so much, you're giving us all a bad name." She tapped the back of his knee with her foot, sending him tumbling to the ground and planting her knee on his back. He flopped around like a dying fish trying to throw her off of him, but he wasn't exactly the strongest guy Steph had pinned.
"Dude, stop embarrassing yourself." Steph zip-tied his hands and feet together and stood up, he wasn't calm or coordinated enough to get off the ground. She pulled his head up to look at her as she crouched in front of him. "Alright, where'd ya put the goods?"
"I'm not telling you shit!" He was so aggressive, talk about all bark.
She sighed, looking around the alley before meeting his eyes again. "You hid them in the dumpster, right?"
His eyes went comically wide. "No…" His voice was shaky. Satisfied, Steph clocked him in the side of the head, knocking him unconscious. She skipped over to the dumpster, only having to move one bag before she found the weapons. He'd put them in a trash bag, but you could clearly see the outline of a rifle. Steph was starting to suspect that this guy had never sold illegal firearms before. Everyone had to start somewhere, maybe he'd learn something from this.
Steph put the bag next to the unconscious guy, before grabbing two bat-sticky-notes and a bat-pen out of her belt. She labeled them accordingly, "Guns" and "Asshole with Guns" before signing them with a bat symbol and a heart. "Alright buddy, your ride'll be here soon- so don't go anywhere."
Steph grappled up to the roof, perching at the edge as she waited to make sure the police would find her present. She'd learned that the whole vigilante thing was a lot easier when the GCPD liked you. Spoiler had not exactly been their favorite person, being Batgirl now gave her another chance to build some bridges- or well, at least try and not burn the bridges that were already there when she got the suit. Ultimately Steph had decided the best plan was to just avoid talking to cops, she had trouble biting her tongue- and most cops in Gotham could not take a joke.
---
Jason had been in the same room as the latest Batgirl maybe a handful of times, he knew about her of course- when she'd first shown up he'd done some research -but they had barely ever spoken directly to each other, in fact, Batgirl seemed to very intentionally avoid him. Which made sense, she knew about him too.
Currently, Batgirl was sitting on the edge of a building, she had yet to notice him watching her. Most Bats crouched like gargoyles, unmoving. Not Barbie-Girl, she'd broken her bat slump after maybe forty-five seconds in favor of sitting and laying in ways that increasingly hung more of her off the edge of the building.
"If you move any further you'll break your other leg, Blondie."
"How long have you been here?" She seemed surprisingly unconcerned that she was apparently being stalked by a known killer, maybe the Bats hadn't told her as much as he thought. Or maybe she was just dumber than he thought.
Jason walked over to where she was sitting, casually spinning one of his pistols in his hands. Still no reaction, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a bit disappointed. "A while. Your leg seems better."
"I get it, you know I broke my leg." She glanced at him, rolling her eyes before returning her attention to the alley. "Do you practice your intimidating stance or is this improv?"
"No comment. I'd prefer if you tried a little harder to not get sidelined again, Black Bat was covering the East End for you- she's been a real pain in the ass." One thing Jason liked about Batgirl was that she rarely fucked with his business, he'd assumed she was scared- but talking to her now, she seemed remarkably unspooked.
"Aw, I didn't realize you cared so much." She said, sickly sweet. She was so full of shit, he knew what happened to her, she was like him deep down, he was sure of it. This girl had been murdered in cold blood, she was another casualty of the Bat- only to come back and put the symbol on with a smile. Jason couldn't figure out why and it was pissing him off, she was either a damn good manipulator, or she was dumb as a rock.
"I care about my business, and ever since you've come around- the other Bats have mostly stayed clear of the East End, which works for me. Care to share how you ended up assigned the scummiest part of this city?" From what Jason had pieced together Batgirl's usual patrol route covered the whole East End and went up through the Bowery and the Narrows, but she almost always went around where Jason was posted up in Crime Alley. Batman and Robin covered Central Gotham and the Diamond District, which if you asked Jason, was where the real scumbags hung out.
"I'm not assigned anything, this is just where I choose to be." She shrugged.
"And why would a peppy gal like you choose here?" He snarked back.
Batgirl wrinkled her nose, maybe he was finally getting under her skin? "Don't call me peppy, I'm not a cheerleader."
"Coulda fooled me, why don't the others come round here much? They scared of your sunny disposition?"
"Hmm… maybe you're onto something Hood. Guess the detective skills didn't die with you." She mused. That… was bold, the only other Bat to ever joke about his death was Damian, and that kid was a little shit.
"You'd know." He retorted, that made her tense. What, she could dish it but she couldn't take it?
"You google me, Chrome-Dome? I'm flattered, really." As she spoke the police finally pulled up to the alley, Batgirl stood and started towards the other side of the roof. "Well this was lovely, but I've got class in… four hours, shit."
Jason followed when she jumped to the next roof. He was bored, she was interesting, sue him. Batgirl looked unimpressed, "This isn't a sleepover Zom-Boy Wonder."
"Maybe I'm just headed the same way." Jason kept walking with her, he decided he liked talking to her more than the other bats, she actually had a sense of humor. Not that she seemed to find him all that funny.
"Red Robin and Bats Senior never mentioned how annoying you are."
"What did they say then?" Jason asked. She paused, furrowing her brow for just a second before shaking her head and grappling across to another building. "Ooh, that bad huh?" He laughed.
Batgirl laughed too, but it sounded surprisingly bitter. "Eh, no. It doesn't matter anymore."
"How so?" They slid down an angled roof before jumping onto an old fire escape, it shook violently when they landed.
Batgirl climbed up the fire escape and looked down at him and waved. Why was she… oh hell, the fire escape collapsed, sending him falling into a dumpster below. "Urgh, what the fuck!" He could hear Batgirl's laughter growing quieter as she moved further and further away.
Jason pulled himself out of the dumpster, looking back up at the roof dumbstruck. He changed his mind, Batgirl sucked.
Notes:i firmly believe that all the bats are complete assholes- Bruce, Dick, Barbara, Jason, Tim, Cass, Steph, Damian, they are all the worst and i love them for it.
hope you enjoyed, i think the next chapter is gonna be a flashback- so stay tuned for that.
kudos and comments are much appreciated