Under The Sea [Lorena/Open]

[Batgirl]

Sometimes, it was darn hard to keep on being the cheeriest Bat in Gotham, reflected Ms Stephanie Brown from her perch of the moment.

It wasn’t like the rest of the team were a particularly cheery bunch, of course. There was the Lord of Darkness, Mister I-am-darkness-I-am-the-(K)Night-I-am-Batman himself. And she was pretty sure that Mister Freeze made better jokes than him. There was Tim who was… Tim. And she supposed he had an excuse or two there (which, if she was totally and absolutely honest in all ways, she might just possibly have had a tiny part in causing). There was Jason – enough said. There was Cass, who was her best-if-absent friend but… Yeah. And there was the Prince of Darkness, who was a stabber who called her Fatgirl, accused her of stuffing her costume-slash-bra (at what, ten?) and who was… Damian. Omen Wannabe in Chief. Plus Oracle. There was Nightwing, who had his moments, but generally Steph felt she was the one sunbeam in a crowd of stormclouds and she didn’t just mean because she was the only blonde.

That, therefore, wasn’t a good start. There was also the occasional nagging feeling that she was being left out of the loop again, the fact that she was still basically lying to her Mom, the whole deal with her dirt-bag dad, that homework still looming over her like the previously-mentioned stormclouds… Oh, right. And the fact that she lived in a city filled with thugs, thieves, two-timing scumbags and, just to put the cherry on top of the whole mess, apparently slavers too. Which, really, was almost enough to depress her. It would, if it weren’t for the fact that, tonight, she was shutting the whole ring down – courtesy of Batgirl, her lovely assistant Proxy and the supporting cast of the GCPD. Because every production needed extras to do the humble things like… actually arrest the crooks in question. Some nights, Steph didn’t think she could carry enough zipties for that sort of thing.

So, for the benefit of those following from home (or Firewall), here’s how it had all gone down. Steph was big enough to admit it was Proxy who’d spotted the connection first. Wendy had told her that there were a bunch of people going through town sans that all important thing that was an actual identity. People just being shipped around. Like cattle. Steph, who was a big girl now, had promptly told her they were dealing with it and that Oracle and co had bigger things to cope with. It hadn’t helped her view that, during the patrol that night, she’d also seen signs of it – a boy, fleeing men who were chasing him with guns. She’d swooped in, dealt with the men, but by the time she turned around the boy had run. Given how much she felt for all kids dragged into things that weren’t their fault or place, Steph had taken it badly.

And that was another reason not to tell O, she thought absently, peering down at the docks. She was taking care of this solo, and she could definitely do without being ordered off the case by Bruce and Damian. It wasn’t a biggie anyway, being the sort of low-key op that survived because it was low key. There were guards about, true, but there were always guards and these had even been kind enough to leave their SMGs at home. They probably packed pistols under their jackets. Steph grinned to herself. It was cute, really.

So, her detective work had basically turned up that they shipped in small groups. Therefore, rather than head right in and just go straight to the punching, she had an actual plan. Pause for gasps of shock and-slash-or horror, because yes, the Mistress of Making-It-All-Up-As-I-Go-Along had a plan. Somewhere, Tim may have just done that déjà vu thing. It was a good plan too, especially for only taking five minutes to come up with. Steph knew how the people were getting their goods into town, knew where they were sort-of going but she wanted to do a bit more than just interrupt one shipment.

Stick to the plan, she told herself, stick to the plan. Stick to the inside voice too. But mostly stick to the…

”Plan.” Steph (luckily) muttered quietly to herself.

Down below, the four guards waited patiently as the latest shipment arrived. They’d done a half way good job of checking, but Steph hadn’t had much trouble sneaking in. They were, after all, mostly looking for a Bat*man* as opposed to a Bat*girl*, and clearly had no idea anyway how small a shadow Bruce could fit himself in. What really surprised Steph was how he fitted his ego in there too…

Right. Focus. Four guards, two guys with briefcases and cash, one cargo container with the goods in and a van (two more guards) pulling up to it. How’d this go again? Money, then goods. So, all Steph had to do was beat up the crew, let one escape and tag him with a tracker. Then track him down, shake him and his cronies until they spilled their stories but not their guts and so on and so forth. Key point, therefore, was to tag one and make sure not to hit him too hard. Otherwise it was game over, start again. At least this way, there wasn’t any chance of the innocent people getting hurt and, at the end of the day, Steph and Proxy had found these thugs once – they could do it again. What was really important was saving the people in that container.

And here we go!

Batgirl took a deep breath, preparing to fire her grappling gun and head down to kick off Operation: Track and Punch (note to self, need a catchier name), but then something seemed to cause a commotion and the eggplant-clad heroine paused, wondering what was going on?

TAG: Aquagirl/Open

[lorena]

Hands reached out to cover the mouth and nose of a young man as well as dig into his blonde locks and with a not so gently pull, he went over the side of the dock with an almost inaudible splash. Eyes wide the man gave a strangled scream as his body was pulled backward. He took a last breath of air before he was pulled under and the cold waters of Gotham's harbor engulfed him. As his body was moved and his back shoved roughly against the concrete slab at his back, he looked up for a moment to see he was too far below the water to reach the surface before he ran out of air. He was not afraid, but he had hope.

His hope was washed to nothing as a femine hand curled around his throat, not squeezing but it was still there. As his eyes adjusted to the water, he saw a girl, a very gorgeous young woman, who looked furious, as her body pressed against his. As her hand still covered his mouth and nose bubbles were sliding up between her fingers. He afraid, even more so when she spoke and she had no breathing device.

"Where are they?! Where are my people? I should let the ocean have you!"

The words were hissed from her lips as she'd put her face close to his. As he opened his mouth as though he'd speak, his lungs filled with water. Lorena gave a shake of her head in irritation, her brown hair dancing with the movement as she moved her hand, grabbing his water filled shirt. She kicked with her feet, two very powerful strokes and she was almost to the surface, she slowed and carefully pulled him up as his head broke water level. She knew she could pop his ear drums and worse, the human body was such a fragile thing. As he sucked in air, his feet weakly held him up as he kicked them. Her fingers around his shirt and her hand on his upper arm, held him up, he was weak, faint from his encounter with her. 

Was it bad if she got a little pleasure from scaring him so badly? She'd resurfaced well out of sight from the docks and his firearm was lost in the depths of the river. Her brown eyes gazed into his own impatiently waiting for an answer, the longer she had to wait the more her face morphed into a dangerous glare.

Finally his mouth opened and he chocked out an answer she already knew, but she left him continue, he would tell her everything, she wasn't worried about that.

"They h-hired us...to...to capture them...and bring them here for transport...the pay was good and...they picked those of us...that couldn't afford to...to say no,"

The blond shivered with cold and Lorena took pity on him, this man ultimately was not to blame, no it was the man who had hired them, praying on their needs. 

"When we get to shore, leave. I will get my people back, but you go home to your family."

Lorena closed her eyes and sent a pray out, to anyone willing to listen. As she kicked rested on her back in the water, she looked up him, the man was in his earlier thirties. She gave him a small and hopefully reassuring smile, before her body arched under the water and the hand grabbing his shirt moved to press against his chest as she held him above the water a bit, and she speed to the dock. As she helped him stand, she was quick to get him to leave. 

As she stood in the shadows, she felt her body immediate grow a little heavier, a side affect of being out of the water. She moved quickly, her blue and purple bodysuit making her stand out, but not enough that the shadows didn't hid her. 

She knew eight of her people were taken,  and one of them was just a thirteen year old boy. She pressed her lips together in a thin line. As she moved through the darkness, her movements quick. She didn't bother hiding her presence, no she made herself known.

Aquagirl slammed her fist into a man's face, her body twisting in a round house kick to the ribs. The man crumpled to the ground in her wake. She frowned pulling on the door that would take her where she was sure those under her protection were, and it wouldn't open, instead it gave her a shock of electricity. 

"Recognized Atlantan DNA, increase to level three."  

Lorena couldn't help the scream that passed her lips, at the sudden shock that passed through her fingers and up her arm, and hitting her heart before ejecting itself through her bare feet. As the shock subsisted and stopped, she could remove her fingers that had clamped on at the shock's first sequence. 

Her knees hit the ground and she curled her hand to her chest for a moment, catching her breath, and gathering her wits about her. She stood flexing her singed fingers, before she hauled the only person still conscious off his feet.

"Open the door, NOW!" she demanded her fist pulled back ready to swing and her dark eyes luminous in the moonlight, her hair blowing out behind her, wet, but giving her a very surreal appearance.

[Batgirl]

It was fair to say that Batgirl was left rather shocked by the sudden turn of events. She watched, speechless for once, as a girl emerged from the water, scared off a guard, took out another and then tried to open the cargo container without checking for any others. And then got zapped for her pains. Then she promptly demanded that another one of the bad guys open it for her, which was probably better strategy.

Well, that wasn’t any good. That wasn’t any good at all. Her plan had just gone kablamo when the Little Mermaid down there had jumped in. Yes, she knew the name sucked, but it was also all she had to go on and right now Steph wasn’t too bothered about getting the name right, not when the girl had just ruined a good plan by stomping right through it. Ok, that sounded a little familiar now she came to think about it, but her past days of spoiling other people’s – other heroes’ – plans were behind her and, really, it was just impolite to wander into somebody else’s stake out without so much as a by-your-leave. If it weren’t for the whole devil-may-care, Polyanna, hopeful attitude thing (plus a deep breath or two), Steph might actually have done something she’d regret. Like take out the Mermaid girl to let the thug run.

Or just hit ‘em both with a gooperang and sort them out later.

Which basically left her in a position of having two options. She couldn’t start a fight with the Mermaid because she was probably a good guy who’d just not realised that Batgirl was there. That meant her plan was up in smoke. Either she could leave the Mermaid to sort this out and tail the guy she’d let go or Steph could… Oh, who was she kidding? For one, she’d come this far and just giving up now wasn’t in her character. For another, this girl down there apparently couldn’t open the cargo container and it would be Steph’s pleasure to do it for her. For three, she was the local Bat here and she was pretty sure that it was up to her to welcome the Little Mermaid to Gotham in the traditional Bat-Family fashion.

Oh and fourth, the two guards said Mermaid had missed were creeping up on her while she messed with the one in her grip. The van had already vanished, probably with the other briefcase guy. Typical thug behaviour…

And here we go. Times two.

Firing her grappling gun across the way, Steph launched herself from the container, revelling in the rush of air as she seemed to fly across, right past the Mermaid and her prisoner, until she collided with the two guards, all three tumbling to the ground to struggle. There was a moment’s pause, then the sound of two heads cracking off pavement before the cloaked form of Batgirl unfolded herself from the two limp bodies.

“Don’t mind me,” Steph said with a bright grin, “I’m just dropping in.”

She flicked a gooperang down on top of each of the thugs, paused until they were all gooped up and kicked the guns into the water. No use in leaving temptation too close at hand, after all. Then she collapsed her boomstick and grinned at the newcomer. “I’m Batgirl. Need a hand with anything here? ‘Cause I had it all under control.” Steph, being Steph, didn’t actuallysay ‘until you showed up’, but some people might just read that into it. “Also, I’m pretty sure he needs to breathe sometime. Y’know, if you want answers.”

Hidden by the way she was standing and the fall of her cape, her free hand palmed a batarang from her pouch, just in case. If the girl didn’t drop him or at least let the guy breathe, Steph was going to have to make her. She couldn’t let this girl kill him, much as she didn’t really want to start a fight.

TAG: Aquagirl/Open

[lorena]

Lorena cast the woman a glance, as her fingers tightening. She wasn’t about to just let him go, but there was one thing she was very mistaken on, she wasn’t constricting his airways, no she was merely allowing him a few moments to consider what could happen if he choose not open that door for her. Her jaw clenched and her angry expression was once more drawn from the man to this girl, in a bat costume, either Halloween had come early and this girl was out to be a batman wannabe or perhaps she really was one of the famous Dark Knight’s little strays, he was so fond of picking up. Her eyes hardened and she unceremoniously dropped the man on his rear. This girl was in the way, in her way of getting through that door.

“You had it under control?”

The words slipped from her mouth with all the contempt in the world, she in way had any faith that is girl, had it under control. All her time playing around could be minutes her people didn’t have, they weren’t Land dwellers anymore, no they needed to be in water or they would die. These people may think they know what it’s like, that they understand them. Aquaman spoke so highly of these people, but she for one was skeptic.

“Were you tailing these men? Were you and Batman aware of the Atlantan’s they’ve been kidnapping, that one of them is only thirteen?”

Aquagirl had her hands balled up into fists at her side and her body stance rigid. She was angry and she wanted her people home safely, they were under her protection, hers. Not Aqualad, not Aquaman, he was with the Justice League and Mera, she had been taken with no leads as to where she was or if she was still alive. This had happened on her watch, somehow she’d failed to be everywhere at once and prevent this from happening in first place.

She turned her foot striking out at a wooden crate that was next to her, the crate cracked and split but held together as it sailed through the air; in an impressive arch and landed several feet away where it and its continents spilled onto the ground. She took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to dispel some of her anger, it wasn’t this Batgirl’s fault, no it was the head man who was in charge of this, who was using these men and selling her people to who knows where. The unknown was what upset her most; the fact that she didn’t know where anyone was and she didn’t know if they were OK, if they were alive. She had to save them; they had to know she was coming for them.

Lorena looked at her and then down at the man who wisely hadn’t moved a muscle. She sighed and ran a hand through her wet hair, she turned completely to face Batgirl and reconsidered the option of what usefulness the girl may have, they still needed the ring leader, but first she had to get her people out of here, safely to the water, and there, she’d what? She hadn’t exactly brought backup, she’d merely put Sub Diego on a strict lock-down until she got back. She frowned as she thought her finger tapped against her leg.

She was saved from having to perhaps apologize by the man who spoke up, his eyes wide with something akin to fear and disbelief. ”Wait! W-we were just told they were meta-humans…a sort of sub human species…I didn’t sign up to tangle with the Atlantans’.” His voice a little on the high side, as his fear helped, any other time Lorena might have found a little humor in the way his voice cracked.

He if anything had her undivided attention, at her look though he continued on to what she really wanted to know about getting into that door and about the man who was pulling all the strings. “The man who hired us, he’s Egyptian, likes high end services or something, he was never very specific and we didn’t ask. We all just needed the money. The Atlantans…are in the shed, and the rest, the new ones are in that cargo truck over there. The door won’t open…you need the special key card and only the boss has that, he was already supposed to be here, but maybe he got held up?” The man shrugged his shoulders clearly not very smart; he couldn’t see that no it was far from the man was held up.

Lorena frowned, no it wasn’t that the man was held up; no he had been tipped off. He’d known she was coming or that perhaps Batman and his cronies were on to him and had promptly gone to wash his hands of the deal. He may want the idea of super strength guards or play toys or servants, but it was too much of a risk now and he would stay away tucked in his house till it all blew over. The Atlantans would die, but to him it was a wash, he could easily get more, there was no one to protect them, just some lone girl, Aquaman was off in his Tower, of no help to them.

“It would seem, I’ll need your help after all Batgirl.”

TAG:Batgirl/Open

[Batgirl]

This really wasn’t the best introduction in the history of superheroics, was it? There was just something in the way that was said that was just guaranteed to put Steph’s teeth on edge, the contempt in the tone maybe. The batarang was silently slid back into its holster, Steph resting that hand on her hip instead in a way that helpfully put it by the rest of her little arsenal while she draped her staff loosely over her shoulders. She wasn’t going to like this girl, she could just tell.

“Batman’s got nothing to do with this,” Steph said, a little archly. She had been perfectly capable of dealing with this solo without him dropping in and, if she hadn’t needed his help, she definitely didn’t need this girl presuming that she was just Batman’s flunky. “I’m running this one solo, Ariel, and yes, I knew that. Did you know that you just messed up any chance of following these twerps back to their boss and shutting this whole thing down for good, hmm?” This was why nobody had liked her back when she was the Spoiler, wasn’t it? Just jumping in and not bothering to see what was going on. Ok, not much had changed in that way maybe. But… Yeah. Her plan was blown to bits. And this girl’s anger really wasn’t getting them anywhere. She ought to go…

She ought to go, while this meta girl who could kick wooden crates around like that wasn’t trying to hit her. If she could move fast, maybe she could still find one of the ones running for it and follow them instead.

But, before either of them could say or do anything stupider, the man who’d been dropped decided he’d had enough and wanted to speak up. For once, Steph had to agree with the first part. She hadn’t signed up to tangle with the Atlanteans or whatever, but that didn’t mean that a brief moment of sympathy meant anything else. The rest of what he had to say was pretty useful information actually. It gave her enough info that she bet she could find this guy now. Egyptian, rich… There couldn’t be that many of those in Gotham. On the other hand, she had to give him this tight little feral grin at the suggestion that they couldn’t get in. Just watch her, Friend, just watch her.

There was a pause. Then the Little Mermaid spoke up again.

Oh, so now she wanted her help? Just as well she’d got the nice Bat, huh? She could think of at least two who’d have told the Mermaid to get lost and not been anywhere near as polite while doing it. Batgirl, however, just got to work.

“First, let’s get the people out of there,” Steph said, rummaging in one of her belt pouches for a moment as she approached the container. ‘Need a special key card’, huh? She really didn’t think so and she had her own special key card right… Here. The blonde pulled out a device shaped like a thin black box, easily small enough to fit in the palm of her hand. A single switch marked the top and she flicked it across with a finger, before attaching it magnetically to the key card reader itself. A red light glowed. Tapping her comm, Steph tried not to grin too much. “Hey, Proxy? Mind opening a door for us?”

Ten seconds later, there was a beep, followed by a green light on her little black box. The door cooperatively swung open, helped along by Steph as she reclaimed her little box of tricks. “Ta-da!” She declared with a theatrical little bow, straightening cockily. “Thank you, ladies and gentlemen! This has been courtesy of Proxy Productions. Also, this is why I stick with the Big Bad Bat. You get all the coolest toys. Ok, so if you want to rescue them, I’ll deal with Mister Unbeliever over there and we can vamoose before the GCPD gets here. The Commish is pretty cool, but we should get moving.”

Pulling out a ziptie, Steph began to advance on the one remaining thug conscious and untied. Then she paused and thought. “Or not. We’d better wait. The cops will need statements and I’m guessing your Mer-Friends won’t want to hang around any longer than necessary. Sometimes proof is a real pain.” Batgirl sighed and went over to tie the thug up anyway, kneeling on his back as she yanked his arms up and secured them together before working on his feet. “So, what’s your ‘name’? Unless you want me to call you ‘Little Mermaid’ all night.”

She might as well make nice while they rescued the captives and waited for the cops to show up.

TAG: Aquagirl/Open

[lorena]

“Aquagirl, I work with Aquaman...”

Lorena pinched the bridge of her nose and to remind herself to try and play nice. She needed the help, her people needed her to do whatever needed to be done to get them out of there, including being more civil with the heroine Batgirl, perhaps she was right in the way she’d handled it. Although she didn’t anticipate this would have been a top priority for the heroes of Gotham, perhaps she should have asked, but time had not been on her side. Her eyes closed for a moment as she silently prayed that that little black device she’d just pulled could open the door.

Her brown eyes opened and she turned to look at her, going to elaborate on what it was she did, why this was so important, why these people had to get back in the water as fast as possible. “We can’t breathe oxygen; we have to be completely submerged in water to survive.” She said her fingers rubbing at her upper arms. She could survive out here because she’d gotten used to it, she could be out of the water for an hour, before she’d need some sort of water, to help her keep breathing. For her she was lucky, others couldn’t survive more than five minutes and some couldn’t survive at all. Their body would shut down, and their heart would slow down.“The younger ones, can’t….they can’t survive out here, on land.”

It was scary sometimes in the hour neared its end and she could feel her lung constrict and she’d take a breath and nothing would catch, she’d feel herself start to suffocate. The titans were aware of what to do, and they’d only had to do it once so far. It wasn’t something she liked to repeat, showing weakness was not something she wanted to do, but in certain situations there wasn’t much that could be done, it was better that they knew how to handle it and what to do, she did not want to die, she had too much she needed to do.

At the small sound that came from it, she turned her expression displaying her surprise, it had actually worked. She shouldn’t be surprised, but she was. She wasn’t all that familiar with the new technologies that it seemed Batman and his flock of bats’ seemed to have. She moved forward as the door opened and instead of moving inside like her wanted too, she paused, turning to face Batgirl.

Her footsteps sounded down the metal stairs, as she took in those that had ropes wrapped around their hands and feet, keeping them from going anywhere. They hadn’t been able to put up much of a fight; not once their bodies left the safety of the water. Her eyes scanned the darkened rooms, the light switch having been missed on her quick decent.“Lorena! You came! We knew you’d come for us!” came the cry of a young boy, his name was Nick, he was in a tank, and it was filled with water, but it was only waist high, he and so many others had to lie flat on their stomachs to not suffocate. She frowned, a sadness sweeping through her, if she hadn't been found them, they could have died and no one would have cared.

Lorena was soon over the tank wall, her eyes hard, as she took in the conditions they were in, but she was thankfully they were alive...but would they survive the time it would take her to get them from the tank to the water? She could only hope. As her fingers wrapped around the rope and gave a sharp pull watching as the binding tare under her strength. Small arms soon wrapped tightly around her neck.

"Nick, no!" she told him, moving quickly to push him back under the water. Aquaman's words filled her ears; they would never be able to leave the water. Ever. She looked around the room full of dismay, what would she do? How would she get them safely to the docks? She'd been told Jeremy a boy who'd survived the quake had made it to land and had died, within minutes of being out on land. "Sorry Lorena" came the sheepish words.

"Lorena...you'll get us out of here won't you?" a fellow guard asked her, his name was Calic. She would somehow she'd get them out of here, and then...then what, she couldn't send them home with no escort, but she couldn't allow the man who did this to get away, no that wouldn't happen. "Of course, I'll get you all home." she promised, her eyes catching sight of a hose in the room.

Her steps took her over to the corner of the room, where she gave a sharp tug and pulled the hose over the tank, she was already twisting the knob before she'd even moved it, the water spilling from the nozzle. She put it in the tank; it was a good class container like a fish bowl only square and bigger. She was putting more water in it, to allow them an easier time, while she considered her options. She frowned, but her facial features were determined.

It took time and the right plan, but she'd found an effective method of getting the people of Sub Diego from the tank to the docks. She wasn't sure what she was going to do with them. Perhaps the EMT's of Gotham could look them over. They could stay here, it was better than them making the trek home without her, she couldn't have them doing that. She ran her fingers through her hair and turned moving towards Batgirl, as she neared she spoke up.

“My actions weren’t the best earlier, and I’m sorry for that. Perhaps we can start over. My names Aquagirl and I want to help you take down the man who did this to them.” she said making a gesture with her hand towards those that were the water that surrounded the docks. “And Batgirl…thank you,” she said her tone much more friendly as it would seem she’d gotten over her anger, she held out her hand feeling as though perhaps they could start over, this girl wasn’t that bad, and she owed her more then she could repay.

TAG: Batgirl/Open

[Batgirl]

Oh. Oh. She was Aquagirl. Yeah, Steph was willing to admit that she probably ought to have known that. Having noted the Little Mermaid thing, she really, really should have thought about her being something to do with Aquaman and, hey, she was a girl. So, Aquagirl. Yay, logic. Too bad Steph hadn’t ever been that prone to worrying about things like that when she could just ask. Oh well, her new sister in arms didn’t seem too worried about the minor slip (the nose pinching thing wasn’t a big deal, obviously), so she’d just let it slide. And maybe apologise later if necessary. Yeah, that was the thing to do. She wouldn’t like it at all if someone had not known who she was. These days anyway. Back when she was Spoiler, it felt like nobody knew who she was. Except for the people who knew way too much about her – she’d used to really resent having the B-Man and Tim jerking on her chain when they wanted something, reminding her that they knew everything about her and she didn’t know a thing about them.

On the other hand, any itsy-bitsy worries about what she should be calling Aquagirl and where she came from promptly went the way of the Dodo as an explanation was finally flung her way by the undersea girl about why she was quite so rushed and quite so to the point about it all. Steph’s grin, such as it was, died an early death and Batgirl quickly tapped her communicator a second time. ”Um, better make that yesterday.” Not knowing what to say otherwise, she left it at that, tapping her fingers worriedly as the machine did its thing. It shouldn’t take long, she reassured herself, but the idea of the kids inside that container… dying of what was basically their version of drowning… It sent a cold spike of fear up Steph’s spine. But it didn’t take long, then the door clicked open and she let out a breath she hadn’t realised that she was holding.

The look on the man’s face after he’d been proven wrong was epic, incidentally. Not that she’d been watching for it or anything, nooo.

As she’d said, Steph waited outside once the door opened, grabbing her nifty toy back before zip-tying all the thugs carefully and quickly with their hands behind their backs and their ankles secured together. Then she searched them, collected any weapons they’d had in a big pile in the centre of the open area and hopped up on the edge of a small container to keep an eye on things while Aquagirl dealt with the stuff inside. Her heels drummed against the metal. But she knew she had to stick around and Proxy would let her know if something else came up.

It didn’t take too long though before Aquagirl popped her head back outside again, before the cops arrived at least even if Steph could hear the sirens coming her way. The other heroine still didn’t look happy, but at a guess she didn’t have the crushing worry of whether her people were dying while she waited on the door opening. Batgirl perked up as the other girl came over, apologising before Steph shrugged and slid from her perch to the ground.

”It’s no biggie,” She said, with a quirky grin as the cops finally arrived – or nearly, she could see the lights now. ”And you’re definitely welcome to tag along for the ride, partner. Also, scratch what I just said – let’s go get him. Now. Before he pulls a vanishing act on us.”

The thanks earned Aquagirl a firm nod as Batgirl wrapped her black-armoured fingers around the meta’s and shook. ”Ready when you are.”

TAG: Aquagirl

[lorena]

Lorena gave her a nod of her head and slowly took back her hand once the shaking was done. She placed her fingers against the side of her neck checking to make sure her was still good to continue. By her calculations she had at least forty-two minutes before things got a little tight but it’d be alright. That was more then enough time, what could go wrong?

She watched the police cars pull up and the flashing lights and tried not to wince at the colors blurred across her vision. As she turned her body slightly, looking out over the docks at her people who were over the docks, safely submerged in the water and waiting for her orders. She was more or less in charge unofficially, with Arthur busy with other things going on, like his commitments to the Justice League. Sometimes she was impressed to find that she’d become his side-kick. Sometimes she questioned why her and then when she looked into the eyes of those fell survivors saw their devotion, their pride in not just Aquaman, but her, that she’d protect them, it reminded her why she did this.

As she rubbed her hand down her the back of her neck over the side of her neck where her gills were hidden under the skin, she knew that she’d continue, she’d do her duty and protect her people and others from the likes of the villains who preyed on the weak. As she watched a few of the cops approach them with a bit of awe and suspiciousness mixed in, she couldn’t say she could blame them.

"I'll be right back."

Aquagirl stepped forward moving to talk to one of the officers who’d first arrived. He seemed surprised she was coming close enough to have a conversation with him. He was younger, new if she had to take a guess, they were the ones you usually wanted to talk too, you could get them to do things other more experienced officers may not be willing to do. She gave him a small smile and explained to him what had happened and what she wanted him and his partner to do. Once they agreed to help watch over the Atlantians she had them safe while she could leave.

Her steps brought her back over to Steph and she gave her the go ahead. “Let’s move.” She said her brown eyes determined, she would get this man, he would not like the consequences for his actions against her people, against Aquaman’s charges, no he would pay.

[Batgirl]

Well, she’d been told the other girl would be right back. So Steph took it that she’d actually be right back. Why wouldn’t she? They actually made an agreement and Batgirl wasn’t anywhere near as suspicious about things like that as the rest of them. That meant that, instead of oh, she didn’t know, following along to listen in or just generally lurking around to keep an eye on this Aquagirl, she just nodded. And then she leant back against the nearest crate, folded her arms so she could tap her fingers thoughtfully on each opposite bicep and waited. Thoughtfully, just in case that hadn’t sunk in. Because, while Aquagirl was saying… whatever to the GCPD guys on the scene (none of which was Detective St. Hot, which was seriously too bad and-slash-or just as well), Steph was taking the opportunity to properly size up the other girl.

For starters, she was a bit taller than Steph. Like a couple of inches, so hardly Wonder Woman tall, but just taller. Brown hair and eyes, looked latina to Steph and (why hello cliché) that attitude could definitely be latina. Accent was American. And she was clearly a meta, not just because she could do all sorts of things that Steph would need a whole Batcave full of tricks to pull off but because she was happy walking around fighting crime with her stomach on show. The only Bat who did that was Huntress and, hey, good luck to them. Steph liked her Kevlar, thank you.

Particularly for when the bad guys started shooting, but also because it really cut down on scrapes, bruises and so on.

Aquagirl, huh? Well, that made sense. Lots of blue in the costume. That was about all Steph felt confident thinking on the subject, though yes, she was still totally going to put ‘Little Mermaid’ in her report. But the water powers made sense now. And it was pretty clear that she had a mad-on for whoever had done this. Steph definitely wasn’t going to blame her. She wanted to get her hands on whoever had done this too. But something told her that this might involve playing nursemaid to an angry meta who wanted to go too far.

And that was a whole load of no fun for Batgirl. She wasn’t used to playing the wise mentor, so this could be… Weird. At least it was keeping her monologue internal. The last thing she needed to do was to look all cray-cray in front of Little Mermaid.

So, while her new partner chatted, Steph had a quiet word with her own little flea-in-her-ear, just double checking some stuff. It seemed like this Aquagirl was on the level, which was good.

She’d finished by the time Aquagirl came back to join her, still looking just as determined. Steph straightened again, nodding. ”Sure,” She agreed. ”Though there is one kinda small technical detail. Very minor. Not important. But – well – how are you with rooftop hopping? ‘Cause I don’t exactly have a two-person way of getting about otherwise. And walking takes forever…”

TAG: Aquagirl