Phoenix Fire, Tags: Batgirl and Flamebird

[Barbara Gordon]

IF YOU KNEW MY STORY,

usually when things has gone this far people tend to disappear no one will surprise me unless you do i can tell there's something goin' on, hours seems to disappear. everyone is leaving but i'm still here.

It had been almost a month since she had seen any of them, and a really long month at that. She had thought about making it longer than that, but she had told her self it had been long enough. It was just after that night at the benefit, she hadn’t really been in the mood to talk to any of them. She was not good at that, and really she dreaded the questions she was going to be asked. For the first time since taking on the mask of Batgirl, she found that she had wanted to do was avoid that family. And it was probably the wrong response to what had happened at the benefit with the Joker, but it was the one she had had. And that was not to say that she had withdrawn from life, just one part of her life. She had still made it to her job everyday, and she managed to face her “father,” afterwards, fend off the reporters and survive the police follow-up. It hadn’t exactly been easy. And after everything, she had taken some time to simply lay low. She knew that technically superheroes did not get vacations, but no one had ever said that she listened to the rules either. And really she had made sure that Batgirl was seen, she had gone out and taken care of a few petty crimes, but she had not had the stomach or the energy for anything more than that.

Tonight though she had finally forced herself out of the apartment and to the bat cave. She had let herself in through a back door, and to her relief no one had come running down the entryway to greet her so she was assuming that no one was home. And that was fine with her. She was not sure that she was really sure that she was ready for this, but she knew that it was time to stop avoiding them. She had no idea what they all thought had happened. They probably thought that she had run away, and in a way she had, but she had always had the intention of coming back. Of course she had not quite known when. Originally she thought just a week or even a couple days of laying lower would be enough. But then the calm night of not worrying about running across the rooftops and following clues had been nice. Then there was the fact that she had wanted to avoid seeing the Joker, because even if it wasn’t Batgirl that had been stuck in a bathroom with the psychopath, she had. The idea of not seeing the Joker was just what she was ordering for herself, and the only sure way to not run into the Joker as Batgirl was to avoid confrontations as Batgirl. And it had worked. There had been articles in the paper and stories on the news about the villain, but it was not direct contact, and that was what she needed. But time had passed, a significant amount of time. And now she wondered what she needed.

The place was still as she cautiously enter the main of the Batcave. Some monitors were on, a few displaying stills of something of interest, and others showing videos on repeat. Something must have come up suddenly that the last person had not had enough time to turn all of them off. Still it was ok, the soft humming of computers was nice enough. It kept true silence at bay while still keeping everything quiet. Not like the rest of the world. Barbara wasn’t sure when everyone would be back, but she was content to simply sit here in the silence. Maybe she would catch a glimpse of one of the Batfamily kicking the ass of some thug. She also did not intend to stay long. She had come really to remind herself what was still here. Pausing, she stepped back and took a seat on of the tables that were down there, using the seat instead as a footrest, and watched the monitors. She wasn’t sure what she was watching for, but she figured that it would figure that out for her. Maybe.

HEY Bette/Flamebird, THIS POST IS 704 WORDS LONG. I'D LIKE TO SAY ANY NOTES HERE AND S/HE'S WEARING LINK TO OUTFIT HERE.. TEMPLATE CREDIT TO FANTOME AT CAUTION. <3

[Bette Kane]

TAG: BABS • WORDS: 550 • WEARING: FLAMEBIRD

Everything seemed to stop once the Joker put his fangs in the party. They were vulnerable and Bette hated it. Another thing to depress her and make her question the mask she put on. Really, she has to stop doing that but there was no rest for the wicked and there surely was no rest for her. Death was everywhere she looked these days. Blood soaked the city streets covered in the laughter of deadly villains. This was the time of dieing in this world. It was a sad fact that only she could buffer with the help of heroes no matter how odd the group seemed. Red lips pressed firmly together as she readied herself for the night. Batwoman was on speaker and the pair were talking carefully. No major attacks yet just a few thugs walking around and attempting to steal purses. Boring night. Oh well, it could be worse. The Joker and his girlfriend had been quiet for the most part. That was something Bette could enjoy but it meant that something was in the works. Stepping out of the locker room and lifting her shades as she stepped towards the computer a smirk curled at her lips. "We thought you gave up," she greeted Babs. "You can't let them eat you alive." It was the truth. Bette knew she could not allow Joker to win. She would not allow him to win on any scale. She would fight back not matter how much she questioned if the mask was right for her. Someone had to do something. Her eyes rested on the green-eyed girl and smile pulled at her lips trying to show heart and warmth. Bette understood what was going on. The fear and sensation of the Joker hunting you down without the power of the mask in reach. A bitter taste left a hole in Bette's heart. "So, did you miss us," she asked. It was good she was back. The girl had no idea about how much they needed her. Bette moved carefully and took the seat beside her. Eyes trained to the computer and looked over the information Batgirl was going over. Being a hero was hard to begin with. Wearing the crowl made it harder and Babs perhaps was not as ready as she thought she was. They all made the same mistake to take the step before they ready but in reality, they were pushed, as the city police force grew horribly ill in promises of greed. That was sad thing, that they could on rely on a few policemen to be on the straight and narrow but even then does the Joker play the demon in the desert; temptation was everywhere. And like candy everyone wanted a bite when they found themselves back up against the wall. With the battle for the city, raging on she wondered how many other people would go crazy. If there, was some sort of chemical in the water causing such an increase? Bette felt that Gotham had some sort of an odd increase in mental illness. Maybe the water should be tested. Ra's Al Ghul could be behind it. "Maybe we should test the water. I wonder if it's something mothers are drinking or eating at the moment. I been double checking other cities. There is not nearly as many crazy be in them as is here." BY KENA OF ATF AND CAUTION.

NOTES: image made by Pray of ATF

[Barbara Gordon]

IF YOU KNEW MY STORY,

usually when things has gone this far people tend to disappear no one will surprise me unless you do i can tell there's something goin' on, hours seems to disappear. everyone is leaving but i'm still here.

Barbara wasn’t entirely sure who she had expected to come through the door. She had in some aspects hoped that she was alone here in the depths of Wayne Manor, but another part of her had acknowledged that it was unlikely that it would be absent of people. Still she had hoped, because few places could be as quiet as that. Although if she had to run into someone here in the basement of the manor she did not expect it to be Bette. And it made things interesting. Because Barbara didn’t always know how to act around the former Bat-girl. They had never really been the same hero, but still, Bette had been here fighting crime before Barbara had. She found herself questioning and comparing herself to the blond sometimes. And in some ways she envied the other female crime-fighter. She had managed to find her own place and role within the Bat Family. But Babs? That was another story, things were different with her. And they all knew it. And the Joker hadn’t helped that either.

Barbara glanced up as the other girl entered the room, but quickly resumed staring unseeing at the computer screens facing her. Even when the other spoke, she looked down. Apparently she was not actually ready to face Bette, and probably not the rest of the gang for that matter. But then again they all had to start somewhere. Her career as Batgirl had started on the way to a costume party. But the thing was that one never knew where the stories ended. Most of them had been in this business of masked crime fighting for a number of years. Barbara really had no idea where this was going for her, she did not know who long she was going to be doing this, but as she thought about it, she really had no intention of making this the end. The idea of giving up though had entered her mind on a number of occasions, especially since the night with the Joker. She had caused the death of over twenty people, but in that one night. She was surprised actually that she hadn’t been asked to quit. She had messed up enough that it would have made sense. Yet, here Bette was, saying that they had all wondered where she had gone. Maybe she had done something right.

A smile crept onto Barbara’s mouth as Bette came to sit next to her. Actually she had missed them all. It was just that she had been more afraid to face the reality of what had happened. Quietly she took a deep breathe, and finally she spoke. “Yes I did miss you guys.” She paused, feeling that she needed to add something to that statement. It wasn’t that she had to explain herself to Bette or to any of them, but she did want them to understand. They another family of hers, if they couldn’t understand her, then who could? “I guess I was just afraid of what I would find.” She purposely avoided the other woman’s gaze, instead gazing absently into space. It wasn’t that she hadn’t thought of that night. She had. She had lived it over many times in her mind. And every time she did she tried to think of a way where she would not have been the cause of death for so many people. That was what had chased her away, not the Joker. She could deal with him, or at least she thought so. The threat of the deaths of others had been more of a deterrent for Barbara than threats to her own person. Because as a vigilante fighting crime, she was supposed to save innocent people, not get them killed. But that night, she chased people into death’s jaws.

Grimly, Babs listened to Bette mutter about something being in the water. And it was a nice idea, thinking that the reason that the reason the crime rate with the super villains here was that the water was spiked. But really, she knew better. “It’s not the water, it’s us.” And it really was. No place could exist completely in the light or in the dark. The Joker loved creating chaos and doing it right under Batman’s nose. Though he might have started doing that without the Batman here, it was because of the Bat family that he stayed and had as much fun as he did. Others came from other cities to try and prove themselves against the superheroes. They came to balance the strong force of good that she and Bette and Bruce and everyone else provided.

“Can I ask you something?” She spoke suddenly. She was looking at her hands, but again without really seeing them. The fact that she suddenly had to ask Bette about this was a surprise to her. But it was something that had been eating at he this past month, since that night at the benefit. “Was I right to fight the Joker like I did?” She asked, not waiting for the answer to the first question. She just had to know if the decision had been a good one. Because if she had not fought the Joker then no one would have died like that, she had been the one who caused the Joker to kill those people. If she had just done as the Joker had asked, than maybe no one would have died. She was not sure what state she might have been in at the end of the night, but no matter what way she looked at it she would not have come out of there unscathed, not unless the Joker had not showed up at all. But he did, and she had fought back, and she had to know if she had been ok in deciding to gamble,

HEY Bette/Flamebird, THIS POST IS 975 WORDS LONG. I'D LIKE TO SAY Sorry you had to wait this long, and it wasn't even that good of a post either. AND S/HE'S WEARING LINK TO OUTFIT HERE.. TEMPLATE CREDIT TO FANTOME AT CAUTION. <3

[Bette Kane]

TAG: BABS • WORDS: 550 • WEARING: FLAMEBIRD

"Bruce isn't going to go bald over it, hon. There is nothing to be found. You had to do what you had to do. There is no questions. In reality, we are all used to fighting back and not be afraid to too. It be foolish if you stood and let it happen. Joker would have a new skin coat and laughing about the commissioner's daughter having no backbone. You did yourself in favor in the end. He would have murdered you in a heartbeat if you just stood there. I doubt he would assume you are the current Bat-Girl." Part of her figured that was what Babs was really afraid of. There were other people in this city that have stood up to him. Some older and so younger. "Yes, but look at this Babs," she stated and typed cites that were known fro vigilante activity. "Superman and Green Arrow have normal insanity rates. Lunacy maybe an issue there but yet killer's there are more normal minds compared with Gotham. Metropolis and Star City actually have near normal rates for mentally ill patients. Now we look at Gotham. See the difference? There is a huge spike and Arkham as we know it is more tradition in it's appearance as insane asylum. Black Mask, maybe have been doing something to get people in," she stated. Dr. Jeremiah Arkham. A high end crime lord that makes everyone shutter and creator of Arkham. "I doubt we are responsible for the 100% mark. Plus, Batman has never truly "created" the insane. Everyone has an event that caused it. Poison Ivy was poisoned into her mental state; truth actually makes you feel bad for the poor girl." Betty said her piece and figured she may want to look into it. Betty looked at the Bab's face and why she seemed to bow like a child as if she were in trouble for eating a cookie before dinner. "Yes, you were right. if you didn't he would of killed everyone. No one could get their to costumes and being Gordon Niece it was probably the best thing for you to do," she told her. "He knows he can't sting the girl. That you wont back down from the fight and that's the important thing." BY KENA OF ATF AND CAUTION.

NOTES: image made by Pray of ATF

[Barbara Gordon]

IF YOU KNEW MY STORY,

usually when things has gone this far people tend to disappear no one will surprise me unless you do i can tell there's something goin' on, hours seems to disappear. everyone is leaving but i'm still here.

Better jumped to justify Barbara’s actions, jumped to try and console her. She did so without any hesitation, almost too quickly. And she made valid points, in some ways. And for a minute, Barbara felt just a little better. Hearing that at least one other person in this world thought that she had done the right thing made it a little easy to bear; just a little. It was indeed true, they were all conditioned to fight, probably more so then a good portion of the population. That was why they had found themselves in this operation wearing masks and jumping off of rooftops, along with bashing the heads of notorious, and maybe some not-so-notorious, criminals together. And even if they had not been the most fight-inclined group when entering, they all were now. It was part of job. Not fighting was a sure way of getting killed, while fighting increased the chances or survival. This wasn’t exactly the safest after-dark job there was, and it didn’t come with an insurance policy either. They were all fending for themselves, and that meant fighting, and fighting back. And while her first inclination was to run when she had found herself stuck in that bathroom, the first thing that she had done was fight, as well as everything after that. She had spent long agonizing moments puzzling out how to fight the Joker, and had resisted him at every turn.

The feeling lasted for only a moment though, because it was not about the mask, not entirely. It was about her as Barbara Gordon, not Batgirl. It was sometimes a very important distinction to make. Because that night, as Barbara, without the safety of the mask, she had managed to get over twenty people killed. Just her alone that night. And she had almost managed to get her adoptive father and Dick Greyson killed. She had a feeling that Bette would never have forgiven her for that one. It was the blood that she had on her hands that concerned her, not who people thought Batgirl was. Though no one seemed to blame her for what she had done that night, she had heard whispers from the shadows, for now she was on everyone’s radar, they all saw her, and all watched her, or at least they had for awhile. Now that time had passed, some of the pressure had gone. It made it easier to breathe. Still, she still had nightmares about the bodies piled by the doors after she had tried to get everyone out. And that was why she was finding it hard to put the mask on again. Because Batgirl was not supposed to get people killed, she was supposed to save them. Even if they were not someone they wanted to save, it was her job as a hero and a vigilante. Yet it was exactly what she had done that night.

Bette was trying to drag the topic of the conversation away from the disaster that was the benefit, and really that was ok with Barbara. She hated the way that she had been dwelling on something that had happened in the past, although it was not like the rest of the people had let her try, the whispers and the muttering she had always heard. She had pretended not to notice, but she would have had to be pretty clueless and absent in the head not to notice. She had to appreciate Bette though, not focusing in on what Babs was not sure she wanted to talk about, as well as remind her what it was that she was supposed to be doing. She knew that being Batgirl was a full time job because there were so many crazies and so many super villains in this world, and even more specifically here in Gotham. “Don’t forget…” She started quietly. She was looking at what that screen said, with the elevated number of criminals in this city. “…about us. We all probably belong in an insane asylum NOT run by a crazy bastard himself.” She muttered finally. And it was true. In order to take this job you really had to be crazy in the first place. After all who in their right mind was going to go running across rooftops in the dead of night?

And once again the conversation returned to the night she had been used by the Joker. Bette said that it was important that she had fought back. And maybe it was. It was a valid point that now the Joker new that she would not just stand there. And she found herself wondering what Bette would have done in her place. The other crime fighter had also at one point in time been a female version of Batman, so they shared a connection there. But if she had been targeted by the Joker, would she have gotten that many people killed? She would have fought, the way she told Barbara that fighting had been the right thing to do, it seemed that she would have. Perhaps she would have handled the situation better. Because sure, now everyone knew that she was not one that would go down without a fight, but they also knew that she had gotten people killed, and she wondered what would be worse. To be as it was now, where she had fought and caused lives to be taken, or for her to not have fought as hard, and taken a safer route. She was not saying she would not have fought at all, but maybe not as much. At the same time though, coming out of that bathroom and getting everyone’s attention with the gun shot had been the hardest thing she had done, and she wasn’t sure that she could go through with it again. She had just felt so powerless, and that was the worst part of it.

HEY Bette/Flamebird, THIS POST IS 985 WORDS LONG. I'D LIKE TO SAY Nothing to add currently. AND S/HE'S WEARING LINK TO OUTFIT HERE.. TEMPLATE CREDIT TO FANTOME AT CAUTION. <3