conflict and compromise / barbara gordon

the first encounter

Barbara still remembers where she was when the first threat came in. She remembers the harsh light of the boom tube, cold and darker than usual as she walked into Mount Justice. The worried stare of her team as she walked into the meeting room to report to Batman, only to be told to return to the Batcave immediately. 

Stepping out of the blinding light into the Batcave, she first saw the entire Batfamily in uniform, huddled around the Batcomputer with scowls adorning all their faces.

"What's going on?" she questioned, a frown coming through her mask as she started to read the reports on the screens. 

"Threats came in, claims to have blackmail on us, the only request was to meet them on a certain rooftop," Batman said as he exited the boom tube, "and that any trick would lead to them releasing information publicly."

"We tried the usual avenues, had Harper go as a civilian, tried to section off the rooftops around the area," Tim added.

"And?" Barbara's fears were increasing, these threats usually weren't much, but if they were taking it so seriously...

"Surrounding buildings are apartment blocks, we can't risk civilians, they also detected us somehow, and sent us a message. Getting close also turns off comms." Tim looked exhausted, every time Barbara went on a mission he and Alfred were left to manage all the communications of Gotham vigilantes, not an easy task.

"And Harper?"

"Seems like they thought of the area surveillance as the only warning, they released footage when they saw Harper get close," Tim looked like he was about to collapse from either exhaustion or stress, "Th-they released footage of Leslie treating us at the hospital a-and proof of her giving private medical records to us." 

At this Barbara paled, this put Leslie right where she had never wanted to be, in the spotlight for the public as well as losing her licence to treat those in need. 

"And I'm assuming you want me to reason with this person?"

"They're that fox person you saw last week at the gala," Harper said as she stepped out of the escalator, "seemed pretty happy to see me, smug ass, I would have socked her in the robot face if you had told me that she would release dirt on Leslie of all people." 

"So you want me to do what with this?"

"Let them think they have an upper hand," Batman was taking control now, "because they escaped last time they may have a false sense of confidence, use that to try and get any information that they might have on us." 

Barbara sighed, "noted."

It was going to be a long night. 

♡♡♡

Batgirl was just swinging into the district when her comms turned off, from what she could tell, it seemed like whatever interference had been set up, it targeted only Batfamily technology. Jumping from roof to roof she spotted the tell-tale gleam of silver, something that'd go unnoticed by a civilian, but unmissable to her, who had spent many nights on the Gotham rooftops. 

Even from this distance she still couldn't tell if the woman was an android or a human, leaning still against the wall adjacent to the roof terrace door. She... it? didn't react when her boots made hard contact with the roof, just coldly staring at the silhouette of Burnside bridge in the distance. They looked the same as before, but on closer inspection Barbara could see that the outfit consisted of hard, almost armour not unlike their Bat uniforms, with dark grey trousers, light purple sneakers and a crop puffed jacket replacing the vest of last week. 

"What do you want?" Barbara's voice was cold and harsh, a stark contrast against the cool spring wind. 

At this the figure turned, a slow deliberate turn and tilted her head to one side, ears flopping slightly in response as they considered her.

"Well hello there," a low, filtered robot voice came out of the helmet, not a comfortable sound but not altogether unpleasant, "are you the negotiator?" Barbara could see now that the figure seemed to be turning an SD card in her palm.  

"I'm here to hear out your offers, last time you escaped it was luck, not this time," Barbara kept an authoritative tone, "Why don't you just give this up whilst damage is as is? You've caused a lot of pain tonight, continue and it might be unrepairable." 

The woman strolled closer to her now, Barbara was sure it was a person now, she seemed too real to be anything else. They tucked their hands in their jacket pockets, making a show of shivering in the cold. 

"Do you know what else is going to be unrepairable?" Barbara almost shivered with the way she seemed to change her tone randomly during a sentence, it was unnerving, "Your relationship with your father, Commissioner Gordon, if you keep threatening me like that," 

Oh.