In The Web Of Gotham

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Peter had barely finished recording his portion of the audio to make it seem like Peter Parker interviewed the lawyer instead of Spider-Man interrogating the lawyer. He saved it all and took the card out, hiding it in a hidden drawer in his room. Then the doorbell rang, making Peter put his backup set of glasses on to preserve the lie.

"I got it Selina. You get your sleep," Peter half-yelled to his sister as he went to the door and opened it. On the other side of the door was commissioner Gordon, helping push a girl in a wheelchair. The girl had red hair, green eyes and wore a white t-shirt with brown pants.

"Oh. Good morning commissioner. I wasn't expecting you to visit. Uh...and this is...?" Peter asked politely.

"This is my daughter, Barbara. The one I told you about," Commissioner Gordon said as Barbara politely held her hand out.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Gordon," Peter greeted as he shook Barbara's hand.

"Please. Just call me Barbara," Barbara said with a smile.

"I've been telling Barbara about you and your diligence. She just wanted to put a face to the crime computer," Commissioner Gordon joked. Peter chuckled at the jab at himself.

"I have that interview from the lawyer, commissioner," Peter said as he put the sd card in a small bag and handed it to Gordon.

"Came through as always. I'll add this to the file, and relay it to Batman," Gordon said.

"Dad can I stay with Peter for a bit? I want to know how he thinks," Barbara asked her father.

"Sure dear. Stay as long as you'd like. Make sure to call me when you're ready to head home," Gordon said as she wheeled herself further into the apartment. Gordon gave Peter a look that told him to be careful with Barbara before leaving.

"So. Peter Parker, my dad told me quite a bit about you. You're relatively young, you're smart. When he asked you why you joined the force, you said it was a personal reason...do you mind if we start there?" Barbara asked. Peter folded in on himself a bit, as it's a relatively painful memory to try and recall to him.

"So...when I was young...my family was celebrating my birthday. Then I just...got this horrible headache. Like...throbbing on the right side of my head and I just had this...instinctual feeling from the headache that something  severely wrong was about to happen and I needed to hide," Peter started, rubbing up his right arm. He knew his face was going through about 15 micro expressions that indicated his sadness as he recalled the memory.

"Oh? What happened?" Barbara asked further, gently trying to pry the details out of him.

"I....I don't fully know. I hid behind a gazebo and ducked and covered. I just heard a lot of bangs in rapid succession and then a car screeching off. I didn't come out until the police came and saw me," Peter added.

"Sounds like your family got shot up," Barbara said.

"That's what I found out what happened. All they knew, based on the other witness testimonies was a car drove by slowly and then pulled out machine guns and opened fire," Peter said, going to a drawer and pulling out a case file with a big red stamp that said COLD CASE. He opened the file and showed the contents to Barbara. Testimony transcripts, crime scene photos, autopsy reports and all that.

"The most they could assume is that...it was a mob called hit on the Parker family. Probably the Marone crime family, but they could never get anything concrete enough. The case ended up going cold...and I've been trying to figure out...something. Anything that could get the GCPD to reopen the case, to consider something they missed that can convict someone. Nothing yet, even 15 years later the case has no lead that hasn't been followed to a dead end," Peter said, anger smashing into his voice as he immediately grabbed a mug and threw it against a wall. The mug shattered into a menagerie of ceramic shards, startling Barbara immediately as she was scanning over the information. Peter was just shaking...as he let out a shaky breath and sat back down. Readjusting his glasses as he made eye contact with Barbara.

"S...sorry....I'll...I'll clean that up later," Peter said, resuming his shaky anxious tone. His hands fidgeting as he felt the anger try to leave, but cling to him at the same time. Like a venomous part of him that refuses to ever let go, something that drove him to this point. To put on the suit, to join the GCPD, to come to blows with Batman.

"It's okay. I can imagine that would hurt...not having thar satisfaction of even knowing who did it," Barbara mused, unconsciously moving her hand over the scar where the bullet hit through her to her spine.

"It...it hurts....physically. It hurts mentally....it hurts emotionally. Knowing that this...these people are out there. Being paid to hurt people....to kill people and they just get away with it," Peter growled, his glasses falling off his face due to his nerves hitting a near breaking point. His angry flashes of memory were stopped when Barbara gently held his hand, recognizing his rage and trying to calm him.

"That's why Batman's here. To take care of Gotham in ways the police can't," Barbara said. Reminiscing about what Batman had told her when she initially committed herself to being Batgirl.

"I know....I've known for awhile. I appreciate Batman for what he does....and how he does it. The methodical planning. The execution...the technique. It's something to marvel at, watching the World's Greatest Detective in action," Peter said, putting his glasses back on shakily.

"So what do you think about this new guy? Spider-Man, I think the case calls him," Barbara asked him.

"He's...he's an oddity. Strategically, he's similar to Batman. Yet we can't get enough of a bead on him to catch him and bring him in for questioning," Peter said. He knew why the GCPD couldn't get a bead on Spiderman, because Spider-Man knew everything about the plans to capture himself. So he could work around them.

"My dad told me about those roadblocks. He said they didn't work as intended," Barbara said.

"That was during the time where we assumed he travelled via some sort of vehicle, like Batman and his car or Nightwing's bike. So we had the surrounding streets where the 911 call got placed blocked off. Then we learned he travelled by rooftop acrobatics and threw those sort of capture methods out the window," Peter recalles.

"Then you switched to having Batman help chase him?" Barbara inquired.

"Yeah. We gave him the method of how Spider-Man maneuvers, what his Modus Operandi is when it came to reporting a crime and we let him handle the physical aspect of chasing Spider-Man while we handled the logistical and psychological aspects of chasing Spider-Man," Peter explained.

"Ugh. Where are my manners. You've been here all this time and I haven't asked if you wanted anything. Snacks? Coffee?" Peter asked shyly.

"Coffee please," Barbara said. Peter nodded and went to the kitchen to brew the coffee. Meanwhile, Barbara quietly rolled herself over to the nearby wardrobe and started looking for anything to confirm the suspicion Batman has. She didn't need to look for very long, as she pushed past some civilian clothes and saw the red and blue costume of Spider-Man tucked into the corner. She took a small bat shaped device, putting it to the inner collar of the suit and pushing the small red button to activate it. It beeped briefly before being quiet, as Barbara put everything back into place and rolled back to where she was before as Peter came back with coffee.

"Still trying to figure out how that thing works. I made these French pressed, because I can't figure out how my sister's coffee machine works to save my life," Peter said as he gave the cup to Barbara. They continued to talk for a few more hours, before Barbara left and waited for her father to come get her by the elevator. She called Batman to inform him about what she did.

"Bruce, I put the bug on Peter's suit. You can track him back if Spider-Man gets away again," Barbara informed.

"Good job Barbara. Did you learn anything new?" Batman asked.

"He joined the GCPD because his family's deaths went cold for so long. He's made no progress after all this time," Barbara informed.

"I see. Once Gordon picks you up and takes you home, head to the Belfry to keep tabs on him," Batman said.

"Got it," Barbara said as she waited for Commissioner Gordon to pick her up.