Who: Barbara Walker and Kyle Thomas When: Friday night, July 23 2010 Where: Gotham City, on the roof of GCPD’s head quarters What: Barbara and Gordon seek out the Batman Rating: None!
It had been one weird fuckin’ week for Barbara Ann Walker (Yes, her name was Barbara Ann, her parents were assholes). Her Monday had started off like any other normal day. She’d gotten up, got dressed, strapped her gun to her hip, grabbed a coffee and went to work. Barbara was a detective in the New York City Police Department, and even on a normal day it was never very boring. Living and working in public service in New York City, you were always dealing with a different host of the craziest sorts of people. Barbara had seen it all. Though nothing she’d seen could quite prepare her for the sudden intrusion of another voice in her head on this particular Monday morning, a voice that was decidedly not hers. It belonged to Commissioner James Gordon, and life had been just a little bit weirder ever since.
She’d spent almost a full week with Gordon, and on top of her own police work they’d been spending her late night’s firmly stationed at her desk checking up on Gotham. When the suit from the Agency had shown up on her door step Monday night and spent about an hour explaining all this reincarnation business, the second they mentioned ‘appearing fictional worlds’ and ‘Gotham’, he had Barbara and Gordon’s full attention. Barbara had been a woman with a badge for going on six years now, she cared about her city and Gordon cared about his. She wasn’t above appeasing him, so they’d spent the week trying to weed out just what was going on over there. Snippets of criminal activity, talk of a Scarecrow, two reincarnated Robins killed? Yeah, it was enough to make them act, and they went straight to Gordon’s knee jerk solution. They were going to call on the Batman.
Barbara wasn’t sure if there even was a Batman reincarnate out there, but if there were Robins, it was a pretty good guess that he might be around too. Only one way to find out, right? So that night after dropping her partner back off at the station, she’d set out for Gotham. It took her a little more then an hour and thirty minutes by car, good thing she had coffee and a cassette tap to keep her company. When Gordon started recognizing streets, she knew she was here, and they headed straight for the Gotham City Police Department. It was a bit odd, when she parked and walked inside, there wasn’t so much as a single utterance of a stranger inside the police station. In fact, people acted like they knew her, and even called her by name.
“Evening, Commissioner!” “... Heeeeyyy... you. Uh, how’s the wife and kids?”
Odd. Barbara was pretty good with odd by now though (or so she thought), so she acted like she knew them right back and as quick as she could she made her way to the back exit and up the flight of stairs to the roof top. This was a piece of cake. She got up to the roof in record time and was immediately met by the sight of Gordon’s old fried. The Bat Signal. With a flip of a switch it was on and pointed at the sky, and with her cup of coffee in hand (lord knows what number that made it today), she took a lean against the railing and waited.
With Ainsley around and a baby on the way, Kyle hadn’t been patrolling Gotham like Bruce would have preferred. Most of his time had been spent on his public life, his ‘daytime’ life. You didn’t just tell the Batman no, though, or ignore what he thought was his duty. So, they’d reached a compromise: cameras set up to catch the nighttime sky. Kyle reasoned that any really bad trouble would cause the signal to be lit, and he was only a short drive from Gotham. He could respond to trouble as-needed without making the crime-fighting a full time job.
This was the first time the light had gone on.
Like a smart, good little soldier, he’d radioed the JL member on-duty to warn that he was heading into Gotham. Then, he’d put on a ‘costume’ - flat black tee, kevlar vest, black jacket and a black mask in a bag - and then headed out. It wasn’t his most timely arrival, but he did make it to the rooftop within about thirty-five minutes. The GCPD were used to waiting. Sometimes Batman was busy. Some nights he didn’t come out at all. And some nights? He was a guy with a day job and a pregnant lady at home. Some nights he had a commute.
He did not appear out of the darkness like Batman. No, Kyle Thomas appeared with a thump of feet and a lot of effort. However, the way he stood? Totally Bruce. Bruce, not Batman - confused Kyle was confused and not nearly as imposing as his other half. This was not one of the residents that had come with the city - or if she were, she wasn’t anyone Batman recognized. She wasn’t in a GCPD uniform. Huh. He ought to be a little more concerned - she could be Harley Quinn or Poison Ivy or Mr. Freeze or who knows which villain - but he’d worn the vest and the mask. That was his concession to wisdom. He was going to be polite and Bruce could just deal. “Hi.”
... Well. Not what they’d expected, but Barbara had to admit that was better then Batman’s go-to opening line, which was usually silence. And then there was the awkward and clumsy clamor over the side of the railing. She had to wonder for a moment if she hadn’t called out the Batman reincarnate, and rather just some nutter who liked playing dress up. Anything was possible, it sure as hell had happened in Batman’s own time. Still. She’d give this guy a chance before she chuckled in his face.
“Hey yourself.” Barbara pushed herself from her leaning position against the railing and gulped down the rest of her coffee before setting the empty cup down on the ledge and turning fully to face him. Well. He was in a disguise that slightly resembled something that Batman might wear on laundry day. Better then nothing, at least this guy was somewhat prepared. She gave him the professional once over and crossed her arms over her chest, elbows out in a somewhat offensive fashion. “I’m Detective Walker, NYPD. Are you him?”
“NYPD. A little far from your jurisdiction, aren’t you?” Kyle asked. He’d considered aping the bat-growl, but it made him feel like a little boy playing dress-up, so instead he compromised and spent his time trying to make his own natural voice deeper. At the back of his head, Bruce advised him not to get too comfortable or to say too much - if the aimless son of a casino magnate could wind up Batman, a Detective could pick up a villain. After Sarah and Jay? Kyle listened.
“I’m someone with a stake in Gotham’s future,” he replied. It was the sort of evasive answer at which Batman excelled, so that was probably response enough. Still. He wasn’t going to give it all away, not up front. “Why are you looking for Batman, Detective?”
“A bit, yes. Though technically, I’m thinking it sort of is in my jurisdiction now. Happy fucking birthday to me?” Barbara shifted in her stance a little, her previously all but rigid posture loosening up a little as he (somewhat) answered her question. Damn well sounded like the Batman, and Gordon was already on high alert in her head. He was convinced, but she wasn’t. He still looked like he could be some yahoo off the streets getting his kicks by dressing up like a freak, but hey, to each his own. If this was the actual Batman, Barbara was going to very gently suggest a change in wardrobe at a later date.
“Why? I guess I’ve got more to answer for then you do, so I’ll bite. I’ve got Jim Gordon chattering away in my head, and he’s the one who convinced me that we should come here. We’ve been reading up on the situation in Gotham all week, and it looks like you could use our help.” She dropped her arms and reached inside her jacket (slowly, so as not to freak out the potential paranoid bat) to flash not hers, but Gordon’s badge at him. “Feel free to take a look if you don’t believe me, wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t. There’s a lota freaks out there, but trust me, I’m one of the good guys. You can call me Barbara.”
Silence. Also very ‘Batman’ of him, but when Kyle opened his mouth to speak, he did a lot to dispell the illusion. “Commissioner Gordon is sharing space with a woman named Barbara. Does that ever get weird?” Yes. Apparently in this life, Batman wasn’t above chit-chat. Kyle blinked a few times before his own mental passenger could snap him back to the business at hand. He stepped forward to check the badge when it came into view - she was wise to go slow, because he was still on uber-jumpy high alert.
It was Gordon’s badge. She could have stolen it from someone, sure, but that seemed less than likely and a lot more effort than just shooting him in the head. He’d pass her name along to Josh and Jen for a background check later, but for now? He was taking her at her word.
“It is really great to meet you, Barbara.” Kyle said, exhaling in relief. “Yes, I’m one of the Batman reincarnates, and yes, things have been mad around here. A pair of villain reincarnates have moved in, and --” And he wasn’t going to be talking about Sarah and Jay. It was still to raw, too fresh, and it was JL business. Background check first. “-- are you sure you want to jump into this?” As a police officer, she was probably better prepared than most of the JL put together, but it was dangerous. Bruce did not want to endanger his old ally any more than Kyle wanted to drag in some poor woman.
“Not as often as you’d think, but then again, we really haven’t been with each other for very long. Just don’t start calling me ‘Babs’ and we’ll be fine.” Barbara answered his question with a wry smile playing on her lips, letting him take a good long look at the badge before re-pocketing it and crossing her arms back over her chest. She seemed to take his next question into some serious consideration before answering, though she’d already thought it over many times before she’d arrived at the Gotham City Police Department’s roof top that night.
It’s what they both wanted, her and Gordon. Gordon wanted to continue his work in cleaning up his city and well, Barbara couldn’t resist the opportunity. Besides, who else but her could help? She alone had jurisdiction here because of Gordon, no one else in the NYPD did, and from everything she’d been able to gather over the last week it was painfully clear that extra hands were needed. Barbara and Gordon were just all too eager to get in there and lend a pair.
“I’m sure. This isn’t my first rodeo, and honestly, from the looks of things you guys really do seem to need the extra help. Gordon’s more then qualified, and I’ve got close to seven years as a police officer under my belt. Plus, he’s making me. Need an ally in the New York City Police Department? You got one. I could use the extra project and there’s nothing I love more then putting away dirty criminals.”
Did she just say -- “Did you just say ‘dirty criminals?’” Kyle asked, attempting (and mostly failing) to keep the amusement out of his voice. It was pleasant, actually, having a little humor amidst all the gloom following the honeymoon murders. “Detective, I am sold. It’s not just me, though - I need to talk to some associates. Gotham’s out of hand, we’re trying but we’re relying heavily upon our reincarnates and each other. I need to get the okay of my colleagues before I give you details. Are you on the journal system? If not, someone named Bruce will contact you through the New York Police Department.”
Maybe he was jumping into things, but there was a lot to be said for the badge. A lot. To be frank, they needed someone who knew the inside of police work. Gemma was great and knew the law, but it wasn’t quite the same. Gordon knew Gotham. Gordon knew Gotham as well as the Bats did; it was their city.
“I just call ‘em like I see ‘em,” Barbara went on, a growing smirk on her face. This was turning out to be pretty fun, how weird. Maybe she really wouldn’t mind being two people at once, especially if she got to hang out with some goofy ass super heroes in ski masks and kevlar. Could be a worse side job? And, ah. Of course there were others. Barbara and Gordon had expected this, after all it was Batman’s M.O. to attract others into his fold. Plus some of the reports she’d gotten her hands on had indicated that whoever was trying to deal with Gotham was a lot more then just one person. And some of the things that were going on were a lot more then a little nasty. Gotham never did change. They definitely needed the help of their old commissioner.
“Of course, I understand. You can never be too careful, ‘specially in a town like this and Batman knows that better then anybody. I haven’t taken a whack at the journals just yet but it’s only been a week. I’m sure you’ll see me on there. It might be easiest to contact each other that way? You won’t have to wade through the bullshit that is the front desk of the NYPD. “
“A week?” Wow. “And you came out here to signal me? That is--” Ballsy. But Kyle couldn’t say that, not with a baby girl on the way. Language, Thomas, language. “Gutsy, I guess. And smart, because putting up a ‘heeeey Batman’ post on the journals is like blowing the psycho equivalent of a dog whistle.” A psycho-whistle? Hmm. “I’ll be in touch, Barbara. In the meanwhile, if you need to reach me, I think you can private-filter to Darkwing. If not, I’ll get--” Josh or Colin, but he couldn’t name them, so instead he substituted “--someone to add it. Leave a message and the Terror that Flaps will get back to you.”
...this was probably not convincing her that he was at all competent, was it? “We, ah.” Kyle began to explain. “Decided to change up the codenames. It gets confusing when there are multiple Robins or Batmen.”
“That’s me! Chalk full of guts. What can I say, I’m too thorough for my own good. Could be that I was just impatient too.” When she actually thought about it, it did make Barbara look a little crazy. But fortunately that seemed to go over well with this crowd? Or at least the dude in the kevlar anyway. Probably Batman, but he hadn’t exactly confirmed. Tricky bastard. “And I thought as much. From the reports I’ve managed to get my hands on, it already looks like I’d be attracting quite a few of them. Psychos, that is.”
Her face cracked into a huge grin at that ‘terror that flaps’ bit. Oh if this was the actual Batman, he was a lot of fun. Way more fun then what Gordon remembered of the first Bruce Wayne. Too serious, no room for bathroom language or wise cracks. She liked this guy. “Smart. I’ll say one thing for you guys, whoever you guys are, you’re not exactly unprepared. We’re impressed.” After another pause and a brief nod, she straightened up and started to move towards the exit that led to the stairwell. “Looking forward to hearing from you, guy that dresses in kevlar and answers to the Bat Signal. Be seeing you.”