Alas, Poor Mooks (Batgirl)

[Duela Dent]

Duela had to imagine that feeling like this was all too typical for a vigilante, especially ones that predominantly operated at night; Just that feeling of not being tired, of just feeling as active as they were during the day. Capable of taking anything that the Gotham night could throw at them and then some. Duela had, of course, worked Gotham before, although it was arguable that back when she was younger, she'd been more of a hindrance than anyone who could be considered really useful, given she'd essentially ran around causing trouble for Batman and the Teen Titans - especially the Teen Titans - when they were being led by the first Robin. If she remembered rightly, she'd even been on the receiving end of one of Batman's 'upside-down' lectures, which was not something she wanted a repeat performance of. Not at all. It was bad enough having the Dark Knight bellowing at you without feeling disoriented and being dangled at a great height at the same time.

She shuddered at the memory of it. Fortunately, she was very much on the side of good and awesomeness, now, and had a partner in crime who, Duela felt, could very much fit the definition of those two words; That miiiiight have just been Duela's aspiration to see images of Stephanie Brown in the dictionary, but still, she hadn't really developed a connection with someone that quickly in forever, to say nothing of the really rather troublesome torch she was currently carrying for the blonde; It had been a pretty awesome day, though - a first amazing meeting, the glorious GLORIOUS waffles, stopping by Steph's and meeting her mom, ever so briefly, and getting dropped off to get used to the safehouse Steph had offered her. It was surprisingly convenient in terms of where it was placed in Gotham, had decent enough facilities, and was at least as comfy for living in as her room back at Titans Tower. She'd only lamented not being able to see Steph's Batcave or the blonde's equivalent thereof, but given the space of time they'd known each other, she didn't blame her new friend for letting her down gently - and Steph had done it as gently as possible.

It hadn't stopped her new friend from enthusing about the wonderful toys afforded members of the Bat-Family, however, including Steph's customisable Batarangs. Or the 'Electro-Magna-Gooperangs', as Steph had jovially dubbed them, and then promptly challenged Duela to say five times fast.

Cool as they were, Batarangs weren't quite Duela's style, though. She wasn't what you'd call brilliant at aiming - she'd tried to use one of the things Robin carried before and that had.. Well, she wasn't going to even think about it just in case Steph had some kind of telepathy and could mock her about it when she arrived. Still, they weren't Duela's style. Playing to her nature, she liked blowing things up, hence her marbles. One was strong enough to knock a man off his feet, several together would probably generate an explosion strong enough to level an entire building.

Thinking about it, it might have been that which caused Batman to hang her off a building that one time. Hm.

Still, you couldn't deny that those fit Duela's mindset just really quite well, she mused, as she pirouetted across the rooftop she was standing on idly, dancing with her cane-gun-thing and humming a rather tuneless melody to herself; Yessir, the marbles were absolutely her. They were hit and miss, so very much so, with the capacity to either explode or not explode, and that.. Well, it reflected just how hit or miss Duela could be. She hadn't really had to deal with it that much whilst around Steph, but she did have a really bad knack for just... Daydreaming. And it was weird because Duela didn't really have anything of importance to think about - she just glazed over and looked generally absent. She supposed she was. Duela didn't know where she 'went' during those periods, but she supposed it was easier than thinking about the things that hurt, really; Her mother, her father. The Joker. A house.. So old, but a house that had special meaning, somehow. But it hurt like a burn on the skin to think about those things, so..

Well, ask yourself if you'd keep thinking about things that hurt, or if you'd just press forward.

And Duela at least had things to press forward for; As much as she was scared about some things, she at least wanted to be around Steph more, to see where things went. Even if they were just friends, Duela figured she'd like that. It was this sort of thing that had dominated her mind since Steph had dropped her off with instructions on where to meet her, something Duela had ruminated upon as she'd gotten dressed - in amongst, of course, thoughts that she wasn't nearly good enough for the blonde - such wangst, right? - and the random intrusive moments where her brain screamed that if she was going to make waffles with the blonde a daily habit, then she was at least going to have to consider a roomier outfit or actually working out properly; She could probably manage the latter here, given she didn't have a blonde who she kind-of liked but was otherwise rather terrified of lurking somewhere. Not that Cassie Sandsmark was a bad person, but.. Yeah. Duela tended to be scared of people who made Xena look like a wimp.

Adjusting her trademark hat one final time after stumbling slightly, making sure her goggles hadn't dislodged themselves and were threatening to fall off, Duela looked over the city thoughtfully; Gotham was so, so contrary for her. On the one hand? She hated it here, for obvious reasons she wasn't going to get into. On the other.. Um. Wait a minute. Duela looked around warily as she heard something rustle on the rooftop behind her - it was covered with pipes spilling out steam and gas from people's heating systems, and air ducts - the kind that you could just about fit a person inside - which, Duela believed, enabled people to get their A/C on in the summer time. Whirling around again, Duela scowled as she heard a 'clang' from somewhere. Then more rustling. Then some rather creepy, albeit sweet giggling. Duela's lip quivered, a little freaked out.

"B-Batgirl? Is that you? That's not funny, you know!"

TAG: Batgirl

[Batgirl]

Following their experience of the waffles, because Steph didn’t just eat waffles, she experienced them, she’d dropped Duela off at the safehouse (after stopping by her house). Her mom had actually been home, which led to them meeting, which she hadn’t planned on. Luckily, D wasn’t too out there, so it hadn’t been a disaster on any level. She’d left them talking while she grabbed the stuff she needed for a night away, then she’d left her new friend at the safehouse along with her things before heading out to Firewall to get her game face on. It had occurred to her to take Duela there, but then she’d realised that she was being a bit hasty there. A lot of things she’d done were ok, because the email told her that she could trust this girl and she knew it too. On the other hand, taking her to an actual secret base and letting her know where it was – that was just stupid and risking people’s secrets, other people who she didn’t have a right to put in the firing line.

So no go on that idea. Still, maybe that would change soon.

Though, as she went through the motions of getting ready, dressing in her Batgirl suit and stashing Batarangs here there and everywhere, she briefly worried about the girl she’d left to find her own way. But she was just being silly.

Duela’d be fine. Absolutely fine and Steph’s surety was totes confirmed when she settled into her not-a-spy-hole on the building opposite and trained her binoculars on the roof across the way. Annnnnnd there she was. All tall, pale and… Steph paused. Lowered her binoculars. And then looked again. She needed a new sentence. Mostly because the last one had kinda run aground when it hit ‘corset’. Feeling like a total perv, the blonde kept watching, doing her best to drink it all in while she had the chance because, hey, best chances and not needing seconds. Except of waffles… Oh hey, needing to keep on track. Plus Duela’d totally had the chance to stare blindly at Steph’s legs, so it was all totally fine for Steph to do the same, obviously.

Obviously.

Darn, she was a perv. But wow.

Really, Steph could have stood there all night long and just watched Duela pirouette about the rooftop. She really could. It was that cute, the way that the green-haired girl was spinning and twirling her cane like a band-master or whatever, though the cuteness was… Well, the outfit was… It left Steph that rarest of things – temporarily speechless. Her mouth was also a little dry. A swallow relieved that, but really – corset and stockings? On Duela? Basically, anyone less confident in their dynamite status than Steph might have felt positively frumpy in comparison. Steph was just alternating between either swallowing or just drooling. That said, as a certain wise rabbit (or possibly a hare) had once said, if she didn’t get her butt in gear, she was going to be late, late for a very important date.

Not, of course, that this was a date even if Steph was strongly starting to Jedi-sense a part of her mind wouldn’t mind changing that. It’d be just like back in the old days, with her and Tim taking it to the bad guys. Only without the brooding and the real life that had got in the way of their One True Wuvness. Which hadn’t been but she was wasting time again. If acting like a creepy stalker girl and perving on Duela was wasting time, which she totes wasn’t convinced about. Steph lifted her binoculars to her eyes and looked again, resisting the urge to complete the cliché by licking her lips. But it was tempting.

A corset. In Gotham. Wow was Duela braver than she was. Her admiration for the Titan girl had just hit sub-orbital levels, because there was no way Steph would ever have fought crime in that outfit. Nuh-uh, no chance, no way.

Anyways, she was dither-dathering again. Binoculars in pouch. Infiltration-mode Steph – go!

Leaving Duela to her dancing, the blonde slunk her way around until she was crouched in the mess of pipes and vents that pumped out enough steam and smoke to cover an army of Batgirls. Or maybe not, but it hid her well enough while the noise covered any she might have made. Not that she needed the help. Silence was something she was good at, but really, with all the noise around her, she’d have to try pretty hard to be heard. Basically, it was just like the jungle gym Bat-style, as she threaded her way through the pipes, ducking and stretching as necessary and lithely scrambling monkey-like up another one until she was looking down on Duela from where she balanced seemingly precariously, one hand wrapped around a pipe to hold her in place.

Hence the giggle as the other girl twisted and turned, looking for her while Steph did her own little dance among the vents and pipes over her head. Who was Duela kidding? This was hilarious!

She giggled again, edging along another duct until she was almost directly above and a little behind her ‘target’. Then the blonde almost sat on it, clamping the pipe in the crook of her knees and swinging around to hang upside down right behind Duela. Her arms were folded casually across her chest, her lips curved in a wicked little grin. Then she just waited until the other girl turned around.

”This is where you scream,” Steph sing-songed faux-mockingly, winking at Duela.

TAG: Duela

[Duela Dent]

Duela's outfit had, for the longest period now, stood in distinct contrast to her personality in general; But out on the street, clobbering some idiotic mook over the head with your.. Duela winced slightly, not wanting to go there, but clobbering mooks over the head, knocking them out with rubber bullets, sending them flying with weak explosives? Wearing a costume like this, to her, went hand in hand with that kind of thing. Showmanship, Duela supposed. All of it was a wonderful little facade that she could put up at will and just have fun with; She imagined it as being akin to whoever Batman was being Batman, only he did it for much more serious reasons than Duela did. Not, of course, that Duela simply did this for fun - she was genuinely interested in helping people and saving them from the scumbags that prowled Gotham, but.. In it's own way? This was entirely healthy for her, or at least, so she thought. It kept her mind off of things, for one - you didn't exactly have much time to turn into a giant crybaby woobie over your face-scars or your other assorted issues when you were dodging punches and driving the handle of your cane into someone's gut to wind them.

That said, she supposed that what she was wearing was a little bit.. Well, risque. To say the least. But as she'd paraphrased to her newest friend earlier, if you had it, flaunt it. And again, this was just a way in which Duela could be more confident, more open, than she was in civvies. Then she just felt confoundingly average. Both were good, really. Both provided different things for her - although, she mused, it was weird to have someone in both aspects of her life, really. Not, of course, that she was complaining in the slightest about having Steph around, and Duela was quietly thrilled and excited about the idea of exactly what the other girl might look like in her Batgirl gear. As much as the negative part of Duela's mind repeatedly told her that she wasn't good enough for Steph, she had finally conceded defeat over the matter that she liked the blonde. Not just in a physical, eye-candy sense, either, but on a connective level; she wasn't sure if she provided anything of emotional worth to the blonde - as friendly as they had been earlier - but Steph had easily been the most kindly and sympathetic person she'd come across. And that meant a lot, really. But Duela didn't ever think she'd speak up about it - at least.. Not without some prompting; Again, she didn't even think she offered anything of worth for the blonde to want, and Steph was.. Well, she was way out of her league.

Duela refrained from slapping herself there. Not only was it putting words in Steph's mouth, she wasn't even here. That was.. That was like.. Duela's lips twisted irritably with thought; Putting thoughts in her head? Duela pouted, thinking that would only work if she was like that weird freak Psimon. It was, of course, around this time that she started hearing the noises, just as she began to ruminate on why she disliked Gotham; The city, she admitted, certainly brought more out of her than San Francisco did, which was a nice enough place, but it didn't mean as much to her as Gotham did - even with the parts of herself that Duela snuffed out and suppressed and actively fought against remembering. But - more importantly - what the Hell was that sound? Those sounds, even, as she listened to the growing clangs and rustles; Part of Duela suspected it was that obnoxious-as-Hell Robin she'd met in Titans Tower. The giggle suggested otherwise. Increasingly unnerved, Duela called out, to no response. Hugging herself, Duela then decided to turn away and simply ignore it - that was sensible, of course it was - until it went away.

Yep. Yep! That was sensible. Only..

Only Duela couldn't help but look over her shoulder; It was like something out of a slasher movie - which just so happened to be a genre Duela hated watching - but.. You know, just.. That feeling like you absolutely shouldn't look, but you couldn't help it. Naturally, even though she hadn't been expecting anything truly awful, she still jumped out of her skin - no, really, she did actually, visibly, jump back as she came face to face with Batgirl. A scowl formed as the blonde jokingly sung at her; "That's seriously not funny. You almost gave me a darned heart attack, using all that stuff like your own personal jungle-gym," she retorted, although she wasn't really angry in the slightest, more disappointed that she'd fallen for something like Steph pulling a really bad prank on her. "I bet Batman's given you one of those too, huh? Although he probably makes you call it a Bat-Jungle Gym," she mused, her tone lightening more than a touch as she obviously considered the idea.

Yes, Duela was the kind that actually believed Batman had everything in a 'Bat' styling, presumably in preparation for the day when he spearheaded a massive corporate endeavour to make a cheap buck off of his own name.

Her annoyance - incredibly brief, honestly, because Duela could never stay mad at the other girl - now over, Duela proceeded to admire the upside-down girl opposite her, a slightly wistful look forming on her face as she did so; Her eyes first met the fall of blonde hair hanging from her cowl, passed over the point of the (Bat) ears, proceeded past that smile, and Duela proceeded to take it all in; The Batgirl costume suited her new bestest bud to a tee, easily - it made Duela feel positively naked by comparison, frankly, but her eyes were drawn to little things, like the emphasis put on Steph's chest by her arms, the immaculate form of her thigh emphasised by the miniature bandolier Batgirl wore. The colour was smashing, too - Duela easily recognising that distinct strain of eggplant that her new friend adored so much. So.. Yeah - despite being scared out of her skin by the blonde, her appreciation of the Batgirl costume - and Duela's general envy of Steph's form overall - merely added to her appreciation of the blonde.

Duela was, of course, one of those rare people for whom envy wasn't a particularly bad thing, and instead it actively contributed to how much she liked someone.

"So.." Duela trailed off, attempting to put the embarrassment of being scared behind her, "Given I don't need to particularly tell you how amazing you look in that Batsuit, and given I'm absolutely, positively convinced that you just told me to meet you here just so you could scare me, you can make up for it by telling me how I look, before we go and beat some baddies," she remarked with a grin, beginning to pirouette to herself again, although her gaze was notably rooted on the blonde each time she turned to face her...

TAG: Batgirl

[Batgirl]

She didn’t have to wait long, which was just as well because all the blood in her body was going to pool in her head and feet which would then explode. And add a lot more to the horror movie vibe, but Steph wasn’t committed to that to the point of wanting her head to go ‘chitty, chitty, bang bang’ on her. But it wasn’t long at all before Duela turned around, saw her and then jumped back like she’d seen Samara instead of Steph. Well, if she hadn’t been upside down, she could have had all her hair in front of one eye, she supposed. It’d make it a little difficult to see though.

The net result though was Steph laughing in a very hyena-esque fashion, swinging back and forth a little, as Duela scolded her. Which just made the blonde laugh harder.

”Sorry for making you jump,” She said honestly once the giggles were under control. ”But I regret nothing! Muwhahahaha! Seriously, it was worth it just to see the look on your face…” The giggles were back. Probably thanks to the evil laugh.

Yep, she was blaming the evil laugh, thank you. Though the comment about the Bat-jungle-gym (which was half true, because she had an awesome one she could use) certainly didn’t hurt.

Deciding that she’d had enough of being upside down and that the blood rushing to her head wasn’t just the fault of the corset more or less right in front of her eyes, Steph let herself drop. Once, that would have resulted in her falling on her head and grumbling for the rest of the night about how that would never happen to Cass. Now, she twisted somehow in mid-air, flexing the strong muscles of her core so that she landed with one foot flat on the roof, the leg coiled under her. The other was stretched out to the side, that booted foot’s edge resting on the concrete, while one hand was palm down to brace her further. Her free hand had brushed her cape back, out of her way so that she didn’t accidentally tie herself up in knots.

She’d done that before too. Luckily nobody had seen it, so her secret was super-safe.

Now, though, the blonde rose easily to her feet, grinning, eyes bright. A flick of her head tossed her hair back into place and Steph cockily rested her hand on the curve of her angled hip. The other just dangled loosely by her thigh, admittedly the one without the belt on it, but then it was still near to her boomstick if she needed a weapon in a hurry.

And she managed all that in the slightly awkward silence following Duela’s trailed ‘so’, which just went to show how Awesome she was these days in her own right.

… Um. And modest too. Very modest. Gah, it was just as well she wasn’t Pinocchio, her nose would be stabbing D in the eye right about now…

Her eyebrows were hidden by the cowl, but they still went up her forehead in search of… um, more forehead, bad metaphor there Steph, as Duela said that she didn’t have to tell her how - and she was quoting here – ‘amazing’ she looked in the suit. Well. Well, well. That worked on two levels, really. She was going to have to come back to that one, she really was. And that was slander and calumny, it was, it was, it was. She had not done anything of the sort.

It was just an added bonus. Steph’s lip twitched as she womanfully supressed another bout of giggles. Not the time. Definitely not the time.

”Well, it wasn’t just to scare you,” Batgirl offered by way of consolation. ”More like an added bonus, y’know? You’re adorable when you’re terrified. In a sort of making me want to cuddle and protect you from the big bad world way.” Argh, and there went her mouth again, talking without waiting for her brain to weigh in. Not that she didn’t mean it, but… Yeah. Kinda embarrassing. ”But you totally do need to tell me how amazing I look in this Batsuit! It’s not like anyone else does and my admittedly awesome commentary is… well, maybe biased? At least you can’t see the stretch marks…” Oh, for Batman’s sake…

Resolving to pound her head against a wall sometime and see if that helped, Steph continued gamely. ”But you? You rock the corset look! And I don’t even want to talk about the goggles or the stockings. And the frills. I mean, I saw you dance just now? Yes, I’m a girl-stalker now. And I think I could have just watched all night. Also next time there’s a costume party on campus I am getting you to make my costume – and come with me – because it’s just perfect.” She wasn’t even talking about the little twirl she’d just been treated to.

So very kawaii.

Having said most of that without stopping for the minor issue of breathing, the blonde girl promptly took a deep gulp of oxygen (mixed with carbon dioxide, nitrogen and a bunch of other gasses she couldn’t remember). And shut up, because she was slightly embarrassed at how badly she’d just fangirled.

TAG: Duela

[Duela Dent]

Duela was sooooo not going to forgive Steph for this one in a hurry. Actually, no, that was a blatant lie; Five minutes from now when Steph did her next amazing thing that made her even more adorable to the green-haired girl, the whole 'I'm hiding upside down, scarin' your Duelas' thing was going to be long forgotten. Duela was.. 'Slightly pathetic' was being mean to herself, so she wasn't going to say that, but she was rather quick to forgive the people she actively liked, and Steph? She liked more than most, to say the absolute least. Even if the blonde was currently verging on hyperventilating, she was laughing that much. A half-hearted scowl appeared as Steph apologised and then proceeded to declare she regretted nothing and it was totally worth it. "Can you actually be sorry if you don't regret what you've done?" Duela queried carefully, not thinking it was a stupid question, and not really asking Steph - more thinking out loud.

She wasn't expecting much of a response out of her giggling Bat-Princess. Duela flushed red involuntarily at how cute a term that was, looking away momentarily as if she'd thought she'd dropped something. She looked back up just in time to see Batgirl pull off a pretty impressive dismount from the pipe she'd been hanging from; Just as Duela had predicted, any annoyance or frustration she'd had toward the blonde following her being scared was suddenly washed away as Duela clapped loudly after tucking her cane under one hand. Yes, she did occasionally have something of a short attention span, if she was being entirely honest, but she didn't think it particularly important or a big deal at all, and it was more important that she put across just how awesome Steph's move had been rather than maintain the rather poor act of being annoyed at her. "So." Duela stated again suddenly, staring for a long moment as Steph rose back to her feet and struck a cool pose, inadvertently creating another awkward silence. "So.. Um. Is there anything you can't do? I bet you're like, some kind of gymnast superstar at college, aren't you?" Duela mused.

There was a pinch of jealously in her voice, for sure, but otherwise, she was just absolutely admiring of the current Batgirl. Still, Duela's face split with a grin as Steph admitted that she had partially done it just to scare her; "I know you mean well with that, but it's not much consolation, seriously. 'I kinda-sorta did it to scare you is only, like a few steps away from 'yeah, I did it to scare you, full-stop', y'know?" Duela told her, although from her tone, it was blatantly clear that she wasn't mad at the Bat-Princess... Ooh, she had to clear that one out of her head before she slipped up and called Steph that to her face; Bad enough she had to remember the 'codename rule' out in the field without some stupid slip-up having the potential to pop up suddenly. Still, as Steph explained more, Duela's face suddenly resembled the equivalent of a glazed cherry once more. "Um." she mumbled, "Um, um.." She frowned for a moment, taking a second to breathe; "Can't you just.. Um. You know, cuddle me and protect me without scaring me? Like you did earlier?" she asked, supposing there could be something of a double meaning to that, but... Nevermind.

"Oh come on, look at you. You must have, like, a confidence supply the size of a house to even think about wearing something like that. But seriously, you look.. You look great," Duela enthused, "The colour's just so you, it's.. It's lighter - friendlier, even - than what I'd expect, y'know? Especially from someone associated with Batman - he's all, like, black and grey, right? But you look amazing. And I refuse to believe you have stretch marks. You barely weigh a thing and you obviously work out, so unless you care to show some evidence, I hereby brand thee Miss Pants on Fire," Duela insisted, looked slightly embarrassed as she realised that she had, in a way, basically just challenged Steph to show her her body, but.. No, that wasn't such a bad thing. Definitely not.

Def. In. It. Ley. Not.

For once, Duela managed to look not-so-embarrassed and actually thoroughly pleased when Steph complimented her look; It was always one of those things she was uncertain about, really - not sure if it was too much, but she liked the detail of it all, and... Again, she had more confidence out on patrol than she did otherwise, as silly as that sounded. "Weeeeeeeell, if you are a girl-stalker, I'm glad you're girl-stalking me," Duela chimed, only blushing slightly and not completely ridiculously, as Steph suggested she could've watched her all night. "Ooohhh, that would be so awesome. I'm holding you to that one, otherwise I'm going to make you legally change your name to Miss Pants on Fire. Trust me - I know how that stuff works," she promised, pirouetting one last time toward Steph and drawing her into a loose hug. She was just way too cool, and Duela figured she was only properly operating right now because her brain was suppressing the crushing idea that she'd never really have a chance with the amazing, awesome blonde.

"So. Now that you've boosted my spirits back to an acceptable operating level, shall we go bash some baddies, Bat-Princess?"

Too late, she'd realised what she'd said. Sighing, Duela facepalmed, and hard...

Tag: Batgirl

[Batgirl]

Could one be apologetic without also being regretful? Oh, now wasn’t that an interesting question. Steph genuinely didn’t know, though she felt sure that she was managing it right there and then. Either way, she wasn’t answering because she thought it was one of those tricky things they called rhetorical questions. Though why the language needed a word for a question that wasn’t really a question was beyond her. Those craaaaazy English people.

Her neat little dismount got her a round of applause and Steph bowed with a twirl of the hand not gracing her hip, holding for a moment before straightening up. She had to admit that it was nice to show off for someone who appreciated the moves rather than just how far she’d come with them. A new face, basically, rather than one of the gang. And she definitely liked Duela’s face, feeling that increasingly familiar pleasant warmth stirring in the pit of her tummy as her eyes lingered on it once again.

‘Some sort of gymnastic superstar at college’?

Steph paused, eyeing Duela juuust long enough to check that the girl was serious, before she collapsed laughing. Well, slumped was more accurate, one hand going to her knee, the other arm wrapping around her ribs as she shook with her mirth. Literally, her shoulders were shaking, moving up and down as she tried to keep the howls of merriment from getting too loud. Oh, she shouldn’t laugh but… gymnastic superstar? Her? That was just… Ok, ok, Duela didn’t know her that well, but… Still.

”I think… You’ve got the wrong… girl… Oh God…” Steph wiped tears (carefully) from her eyes, blinking as she worked herself back under control again. ”As far as college goes, I’m the blonde klutz and-slash-or ditz who falls asleep in class and whose greatest achievement is being Table Tennis Champ.” She paused. ”Or having Jordana as my ‘archnemesis’ which is just…” Steph trailed off, coughing with embarrassment. Too long, didn’t read? Tons of stuff she couldn’t do.

Seriously, she was a total screwup. Duela really shouldn’t be jealous.

”Oh, I know,” Steph agreed, ”But intentions matter. Why we do stuff matters, not just what we do. It’s not like I’m Scarecrow-Girl or something, out to get off on your fear. I was just having a little fun – besides… It’s Gotham. You need to be on your toes. So, it was totes for your own good.” Well, there was that, even if she’d only thought of it after she’d done it. It was true though. Toes, she needed to be on them. Dance, Duela, dance! Mwahahaha!

… Oh, thank God she hadn’t blurted that out.

Just… Thank God.

It hadn’t saved her from blurting out the cuddle and protect bit, but Duela seemed to find that… um… blush-worthy rather than objectionable. Which was good. Steph was finding that she liked Duela when she blushed. It was sweet. And adorable and cute and lots of other things. Hand on heart, she wasn’t really trying to make the poor girl flush like that, but she just seemed to have a gift for it. Mind you, her own face went a bit pink as D spoke up again, warming as the green haired girl… In fact, she was forced to swallow quickly as her mouth went dry.

Protect her. Protect her. She just… Just…

Nobody had asked her, even in that roundabout way, to protect them.

Steph was rapidly finding that she wasn’t just falling for Duela Dent. She’d fallen for her. And, if it’d been a literal fall, they’d be scraping her off the pavement, she’d done it that hard.

She swallowed again. Dryly.

”I, ah…” The blonde girl paused, for once without a smart aleck comment or snarky remark to hand, even licking her lips. ”I think I, uh, could manage that. Um. I mean protecting. And maybe cuddling too. Not that I think you need it! Protecting I mean…” It was her turn to flounder.

Oh. She did not just… She did. Steph arched an unimpressed eyebrow at Duela, lips pressed together and eyes narrowed. Deadpan. That was the word. Very deadpan. Well, technically she wasn’t unhappy with the bit about weighing nothing. Not one bit, and she’d even thanked a thug (before hitting him in the face) when one had said that to her. But it was absolutely drowned out by the travesty of calling her a liar. Or suggesting that her pants were on fire. ”Fine.” Steph said, arms folded under her bust, still with that oh-so-deadpan face. ”But if you think I’m stripping for you on some cold Gotham rooftop, you seriously have another thing coming. You can see the legacy of me being a stupid sixteen year old back indoors later.”

Yay, someone else who would be able to prove she didn’t have bats on her underwear. Not that it was that interesting.

Challenge accepted. As per usual, that was.

Also, given what Duela was wearing, Steph wasn’t the only one with a hefty dose of confidence. The other girl frankly deserved a stalker, if only so that Steph could beat off other stalkers. With a large bat, both for pun value and, yes, because she was immature that way. Though how had… Oh right. Duela didn’t know she’d been Robin. Fair enough, that’s why that pun hadn’t sailed.

”No chance of that happening, promise,” Steph assured her new friend with a grin as they hugged briefly. ”Trust me on this. I want to see what you design. And do you think I’d be able to resist this face?” Gently but both insistently and impetuously, she ran a gloved hand down the curve of Duela’s cheek, grinning at her.

And then she briefly boggled at Duela’s title, though most definitely not in a bad way. Bat-Princess? She loved it, nearly as much as she liked her self-appointed one involving crazy plans. Though, if there was a Bat-Princess, Steph knew it was Cass. It just had to be. Still, it touched her deeply, and she wasn’t going to complain.

Instead, she smiled and went to peel the hand away from Duela’s face as best she could, crouching down to peer up into the other girl’s eyes. ”I love it. I just… love it. So, we definitely shall, my dear and delightful Duela.” Carefully she retreated a step or two before dropping into a low curtsy again, extending one arm forward to offer her hand to Duela, proffering it for the Titan to take. There was as sultry an edge to her gaze as she dared when she looked up again, throwing the same into her voice.

”Would my lady allow her humble princess the honour of this dance?”

TAG: Duela

[Duela Dent]

Again, it was mostly rhetorical, so she didn't really expect an answer from Steph, although Duela mused that the other girl was doing both, so she supposed that it was entirely possible to be sorry without feeling regret over the thing she was apologising for. If it weren't Duela, though, whom Steph had just managed to scare out of her skin, she might agree, but at the moment she was still simmering off. Again, it wouldn't last - as evidenced by the fact that she pretty much broke into an enraptured round of applause as Steph pulled off what looked like an effortless dismount, and earned Duela another bow from the blonde, which - if anything - had Duela clapping harder with a broad smile on her face. It really seemed the case that Steph was happy to receive a little applause, though - and Duela was, naturally, happy to oblige.

The green-haired girl might have noted how the blonde's gaze was lingering on her if she hadn't asked what was - apparently - a very stupid question, to which she received nothing but a seemingly endless peal of laughter - one that had Duela looking at her feet shyly, embarrassed. Naturally, she thought it was directed at her, rather than the nature of her rather silly question in relation to what Steph was actually like at college. Eventually, however, Batgirl proved her wrong by explaining what was so funny, and far from perceiving the other girl as a screw-up, Duela felt that she sounded like.. Well, pretty much any other student. She knew that Batman was like, master of a billion disciplines, be they in martial arts or whatever, but.. Well, no-one was like Batman, really. Who would want to? "Nothing wrong with table tennis. Plus, it's not like you're some average joe student who just falls asleep in class because they're lazy or they went to bed late because they were playing Tomb Raider too late or whatever. You're doing.. You know. Valuable stuff. And at least you're trying. So chin-up, huh? I bet you're not a klutz or a ditz," Duela insisted, eyes narrowing pleasantly as she spoke.

Yes, she had forgotten entirely that she was slightly annoyed at Steph for scaring her, and whilst she hardly felt the other girl needed a pep talk, she'd been good to Duela so far, so... Well, she was returning the favour. The annoyance returned - just a pinch - when Steph continued to insist that what she'd done was for Duela's own good, in terms of keeping her on her toes and the like, which.. Nah, Duela didn't buy that. Not. One. Bit. "Because the average supervillain in Gotham is just gonna waste time hiding on a rooftop only to hang upside down and scare me, right," Duela remarked cynically, although she was hardly annoyed at the other girl still, more.. Slightly amused. She already knew what supervillains in Gotham did if they got the drop on you, and it wasn't nearly as (begrudgingly) funny as what Steph had done just now.

It seemed that Duela's response to Steph's wanting to protect her was a bit of a loaded question, somehow, and though Duela wasn't really one to capitalise on embarrassment - unless it was someone she didn't particularly like - the silence between the two of them as her friend fumbled for a response was particularly interesting; Duela didn't entirely know what to make of it, but for once, she had rendered the blonde at a loss for words. It was really quite cute; For a split-second, Duela hoped - prayed, even - that the blonde might feel the same way about her that Duela did Steph, before her cynicism crushed any chances of that - and was then promptly shoved aside as Steph told her that she could, essentially, protect and cuddle as necessary. "I might," Duela murmured, on the subject of whether or not she needed protecting.

But what she really needed protecting from was falling even harder for this girl than she already had. This was.. Ugh. It was going to sting in the end and Duela knew it. Her sullen train of thought was derailed yet again, however, after she talked up the merits of Steph's look, only to receive an almost Batman-esque look when she called Steph's bluff on the subject of whether or not she had stretch-marks; "Ouch, ease up. Here I am trying to be reassuring that you don't have stretch-marks and putting across that you're just exaggerating and you're looking at me like I replaced your Easter stash with eggs from that Egghead guy," Duela protested feebly, not really knowing why Steph looked so.. Annoyed at that one. Maybe she took objection to the notion of her pants being on fire?

Could you even wear pants under that Batsuit? Seeking to avoid red cheeks and a nosebleed at the potential of that train of thought furthering, Duela cast it off into the nether. "Wait, what were you doing when you were sixteen?" she asked, her curious gaze falling on Steph, bemused. Generally, though, Duela was more bemused - and slightly dazed, in a good way - by the idea of having a girl stalker all her own. It.. It maybe gave her a little more confidence in terms of eventually asking Steph how she felt, but overall, it just did wonders for her self-esteem. She'd thought that she was a mess after what the Joker had done to her, but.. Well, clearly, people were still willing to be friendly, to be friends with her.

Oh, wait, back to.. Wait. Was St.. Was she stroking her face? Duela flushed red again, and if she were some manner of anime character, she would have doused both herself and Steph in comedy nosebleed blood, by now. "Uhhhhhhhhhhh," Duela drawled, "No, no, of course not. Of course you couldn't resist this face, I'm.. Ohh. Oh! I could totally make you into a Steampunk Batgirl!!" she exclaimed excitedly, clasping Steph's hands and almost jumping up and down with glee at the idea. And then Duela totally spoiled things - there was some kind of vague Steph-related pun that had the 'idiot' part of Duela's mind giggling to itself inanely - with her Bat-Princess remark. Or so she thought. Covering her face with her embarrassment, Duela looked surprised as Steph once again saved the day and assured her that it was awesome.

She had to will herself not to hug the other girl yet again, because at this rate, she really wasn't going to let go in a hurry, but.. Duela just beamed, her smile taking on a distinctly positive curve as Steph offered her a hand and the honour of a 'dance'. "The Lady would," Duela confirmed, accepting the proffered hand as she heard the distinct sound of a scuffle below; a large-enough gang of thugs had started harassing a group of teens attempting to pass through the area. "Ah, just the crowd we can work with, my dear Princess," she chimed, planting a single kiss on Steph's hand before she took one step off the rooftop, and...

Dropped. No, seriously, that was it. No real technique - Duela just dropped about several stories and then planted one heel square in one thug's shoulder-blade, sending him sprawling and likely with something broken. Duela rose to a standing position, leaning on her cane as she offered the others a 'come get some' gesture with her free hand, a carefree grin on her face.

This was going to be fun.

[Batgirl]

Being a bit busy (what with the laughing) to notice the way Duela was eyeing her feet or her reaction generally, it wasn’t until the green haired girl tried to cheer Steph up – apparently feeling she needed it – that the blonde glanced back her way. And blinked, trying to make sense of that for a moment, because she’d thought she’d been clear. ”You’ve um kinda got the wrong end of the cane there, girlfriend. It’s totally for their benefit, because then there’s no way they’d ever think I was Batgirl. Pretending to be a total klutz and ditz who turns up late and sleeps through class is… Ok, so the sleeping is genuine. And yes, I have some truly ‘blonde’ moments and no doubt all the others have all sorts of horror stories about me to tell. But, mostly, it’s just my way of keeping the secret identity… Yeah, secret. Basically. I appreciate the idea though. But trust me – self-esteem issues aren’t me.”

She just chuckled at the sarcastic rejoinder D threw her way, grinning and shrugging it off lightly as ever. The protection issue though, that was a bit more of a touchy topic. A very much more touchy topic as their reactions both showed. For a moment, in fact, they just stared at each other in silence. Steph certainly didn’t know what else to say. In fact, she only barely caught the words the other girl muttered. And Steph’s cheeks went pale. She might. But she didn’t say anything. She couldn’t say anything. Her vocabulary? Currently AWOL, gone, vamoosed and auf wiedersehen-ing.

The blonde took in a deep breath through her nose and let it out through her mouth again, eyeing Duela as she complained a little less than enthusiastically. Well, it wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate the thought, Steph added mentally. But… Well. Well, well, well. ”Two things. One, I’m pretty good at being honest, so when I say stuff like that, I’m not looking for you to reassure me. Two, you did just imply I ought to strip up here.” Steph winced at the thought. ”Strip. Up here. You have no idea how hard it is to get in and out of this thing. Also, you basically said I was lying. And trust me when I say you really don’t know what you’re talking about here. I’ll show you, just later.” She gave Duela an imploring look, one she hoped the green-haired girl would respect. ”Please? Just trust me?”

Taking a deep breath, she managed a wry smile at the follow-up question. ”Close, but no cigar. Less ‘what’ and uh… Well, let me put it this way. Not ‘what’ was I doing. ‘Who’ was I doing is more the point.”

Yes, Steph was stroking Duela’s face and the sudden plum-tomato shade of it just made her repeat the gesture, cocking her head to the side as she did so with an (unknowingly) adorable little grin on her face too. It was maybe even a bit dorky. But she kept it up until Duela stopped her by grabbing her hands and bouncing around like a weasel on crack. Steph laughed, bouncing with her and then tugging the other girl into a hug and spinning her around once in a way that took Duela’s feet off the ground. It wasn’t until the suggestion that she paused, not grinning quite so much. ”I hate to be all buzz-killey and it genuinely hurts to rain on your parade, but I’m going to have to call ixnay on the whole ‘Steampunk Batgirl’ idea. Can’t do that, can’t associate the two. Basically, Bat-related stuff equals a big no-no. Sorry, uh… Yeah. Sorry.” She looked genuinely apologetic too.

The acceptance of her hand though was met with a brilliant smile as Steph daintily rose to her feet. It was also met with her going a pale pink at the kiss pressed to it but, before she could do anything much about it, the Titan had… jumped off the roof.

Steph, rather unusually for her, leant over the edge of the roof and just watched with a single raised eyebrow as Duela fell. There wasn’t any other way of describing it, she just stepped off the side and went down. Express elevator, destination street-level. Which she was kinda expecting to end with a scream because nobody without super-powers just dropped several stories like that and didn’t scream. There was a scream. It was a bit deep but then that was likely because it wasn’t D, it was the thug she’d just used as a landing point. That did sound like it had hurt too, though her new friend just stood right back up and – Steph pouted. She’d been wanting to do that and now it would just look like she was copycatting. So not fair. It was her city, darn-it-all-to-the-land-of-Ten-Thousand-Waffles.

Well, now she was just going to have to show Duela up how the pros did it, wasn’t she? Matter of principle, plus of retaining her badge of awesomeness.

Basically, Steph was feeling competitive and she wasn’t going to be satisfied with just using some thug as a stepping stone, oh no. No, no, no, she had something far more awesome in mind, even if it was maybe something she’d seen in a movie. Well. Maybe.

… Ok, yes, but it was still cool.

Not giving herself any time to keep thinking it over then, particularly not waiting for the thugs to react and make the whole mess even messier than it already was for when she pulled her grand entrance, Steph followed Duela’s example and jumped over. And she fell too. Hey, gravity, her greatest nemesis rearing its ugly head again. Woo-hoo. However, unlike Duela, Steph used her cape and experienced technique to break her fall, giving her time to steer her path and slow her descent. Otherwise, she’d just have got another thug in the collarbone. Efficient, maybe, but not showy enough. Not for Steph, Gotham’s blonde bombshell Jr.

So, instead, she swooped down to clamp her legs around the neck of one of the thugs, sitting on his shoulders as if taking a pony-ride from a good friend. Of course, the powerful embrace her quads were exerting on his neck kinda ruined the cutesy image what with the way Steph was now choking him. Keeping up the intense pressure of her lock as best she could, Batgirl swung her body around her victim, spinning a full one-eighty, keeping herself anchored on his head as she squeezed harder. Instinctively, he clutched at her butt, and Steph let him, leaning back now with her hands interlaced casually behind her head. He was a big strong man, easily able to support her weight and right about now he might think of the easy way out of this. She couldn’t have that. So, she pulled herself upright and then threw her body down, twisting with it, jack-knifing her legs and spinning him down to the floor with a snap of her hips.

Steph had let go well in advance, meaning that she’d landed perfectly on her feet with graceful aplomb as his head smacked off the concrete with a final thud – it had taken all of maybe ten seconds. The blonde didn’t even look his way, her eyes fixed on Duela as her lips quirked upwards. Her smile wasn’t one she’d trained on the other girl before, no. This smirk was all teeth, all small and smirky and sassy and supreme self-confident. It’s also a bit hungry, and as downright predatory as Steph ever got and it was all for Duela before she switched her gaze to the rest of the thugs, letting her smirk widen.

Yes, Stephanie Brown had just pulled a Black Widow ‘thigh-master hold’ and it. Was. Awesome!

”Scarlett Johansson can eat her heart out,” She promptly told the assembled company with a vicious little fist pump, ”’Cause this Batgirl’s totally got the killer thighs! C’mon boys, who’s first in line?”

TAG: Duela

[Duela Dent]

"Oh," Duela mused, not entirely getting it when Steph told her that she had the wrong end of the stick with regards to Steph needing to be cheered up over how she was at College or whatever, a single word that was backed up by another "Oh!" when she realised exactly why she was something of a blockhead; She really hadn't got the idea that it was just an act, but then.. Well, Duela had never really been to school; She had at first - Dadd.. He insisted on something of a top-notch education for his princess, but once he'd been.. Duela's brow creased, not wanting to think about that, but.. She supposed it made sense. She just.. She didn't think it was entirely fair, somehow. "Gotcha. It makes sense, I just.. I never really assumed someone associated with Batman would have a cover ID like that, but then I've never had a cover ID myself, so what would I know?" she remarked, still looking a little bit lost before she finally stated "Well, whatever works, and if you need forty winks, you gotta take 'em, right?" She did feel a little dumb for trying to pep up Steph's self-esteem when the other girl blatantly didn't need it, but..

Well, truthfully Duela knew it was her overcompensating for all the times she'd felt like garbage and she hadn't had anyone around. But Steph didn't need to hear what a miserable head-case she could be, sometimes.

For all Duela's feeling silly sometimes, though, at least they were both rendered silent and slightly uncomfortable - or at least rather awkward by the notion of whether or not Duela would need protecting. She hadn't meant it to come across like something suggestive, but regardless, the two of them were clearly at a loss for words. Duela was going to have to do something about her steadily growing attraction to Steph, frankly, even if that involved confessing about how she felt and having that snuffed out because the blonde blatantly wasn't interested; She did... Maybe.. Feel like she was having her brain deliberately stamp on any hope she had of her being with Steph, but then it just seemed so.. So unlikely, really. But then why were both of them at a loss for words? If Steph didn't feel something, surely she'd be oblivious and just moving swiftly on? Or perhaps.. No. Enough with the darned self-pity. Frowning at herself and how stupid she was being, Duela resolved to do something once they were wrapped up for the night. Fortunately, when it came to the subject of Duela's mouth running off and calling Steph a liar liar pants on fire, the blonde actually called her out on it; Duela did admittedly look ashamed for being called out on trying to reassure her - she thought she was just being nice - but she proceeded to look more embarrassed as Steph stated that Duela had basically just asked her to strip, up here in the cold Gotham air, as well as calling her a liar.

"I'm sorry," she replied genuinely, taking one of Steph's hands in both of hers, "I didn't.. I don't.. Ugh. Nevermind. I'm sorry. I'm such an idiot sometimes, I really didn't mean to offend you. Of course I trust you, though," she told her, releasing her hold on Steph's hand and turning away before she managed to turn it into yet another thing about her, because.. Well, Duela told herself, she was such a sad-sap like that, wasn't she? Again, having to go around reassuring everyone and pepping everyone up, just because she was sad and miserable and lonely inside. Clenching her fists, Duela shook slightly with frustration at herself, before grinning over her shoulder slightly at Steph's next response. "Okay, ah.. Well, I'm happy leaving that one at that, but.. I think I get the point, what you were saying before," she told her friend, putting two and two together at last.

She really hadn't known what she was talking about, had she?

Honestly, Duela was prrrrrrrrrobably about one more stroke of her face away from getting a nose bleed - especially when Steph adopted that adorable look on her face that was capped off with the sweetest of grins, when the blonde made the fortunate suggestion of Duela helping her put together a costume for Halloween, onnnly to promptly be brought back to near-nosebleed status when Steph pulled her into a hug and spun her round. As nausea-inducing as this would eventually be? Duela could happily let Steph do it forever. And ever. And ever and ever. Basically, for a very long time - either until Steph started getting dizzy or her arms started getting tired. It was that good, even if Duela knew her hopes were just going to be crushed very, very soon.

In more ways that one, apparently; Duela looked slightly downtrodden and puppy-ish as Steph gently let her down when it came to the 'Steampunk Batgirl' idea, but she entirely understood why. It was a little too close for comfort, that absolutely made sense; "It's cool. I'll just have to make you Wonder Woman. Or Supergirl. Something that isn't quite so on the nose, I guess." she remarked brightly after a few moments of thought, pinching Steph's cheek and smiling endearingly at how apologetic she looked. "I can see what you mean, though - I just keep on forgetting this secret ID stuff because.. Well, again - Never really had one, y'know?" she mused. Hm. "Hey, speaking of secret ID stuff, do you think we could visit this one place, one day? My Dad's old place?" she asked of Steph hopefully, not sure where that one had come from, given she usually disliked thinking about her family, but.. The idea that maybe she could have her new bestest bud as company somehow made it sting less in her head.

Oh, and there came those damned butterflies making her stomach all a-quiver again as she accepted Steph's hand and received a positively dreamy smile in response, one that was entirely on Duela's mind as she kissed the aforementioned hand and promptly proceeded to step off the rooftop, one hand coming to meet the brim of her hat as she smiled cheerily; It was worth it to maintain the image of that smile, it really was. And it was all she needed - well, that and a little teeny-tiny bit of aiming skills - as she slammed into one thug's back. He took most of the impact and Duela - not being a doctor and/or Batman - had no idea what she'd just broken or damaged, and she really didn't care, slamming the tip of her cane into the back of his head to shut him up after she rose to standing.

Okay, so that was cooler than she usually managed.

Steph proceeded to join her in.. Well, the number of descriptive words that Duela could process were escaping her slightly as she watched Steph.. Did she just land on that guy's shoulders from the same height that Duela had just dropped from? And now she was essentially throttling the guy, hanging on like she was the best at the rodeo.. Um. Wow. Duela's mind veered wildly between massively impressed and somehow slightly jealous, even though she'd been mocked massively earlier on for her.. Ah, thoughts, on Steph's thighs. And then the blonde just.. How did that even work? As Steph flipped her body, Duela's head leaned to one side, attempting to follow with some confusion. That was just.. How? But it was still really impressive, especially considered that Steph landed on her damn feet afterward. Duela broke into yet another round of applause, partially wishing she had a boombox with an applause track with her, because.. Damn.

And Duela couldn't help but turn bright red at the positively devilish look she was given shortly after Steph had taken the guy down, only to be grabbed from behind by one of the thugs shortly after the blonde had asked who was next; "Do.. You mind?" Duela grunted, driving a heel down into the soft leather of his boot, spearing his foot and releasing her from his grip, only for her to whirl and advance on him; "I'm trying--" she drove the handle of her cane into his gut, "-- To fangirl --" another blow, this one to his chin with an uppercut as he folded with the hit to the body, "-- Over --" and there was a kick to his chest now, ""-- The pretty lady!" And she promptly hurled one of her marbles into the spot her kick had just struck, sending him sprawling.

"Gosh, some people," she muttered with a positively disgusted look to Batgirl, "So rude," she remarked, smacking the next thug in the nose with her cane...

[Batgirl]

Again with the blinking.

This was a blink of shock, Steph’s eyelids snapping shut and then back open again in her best impression of a ye-olde-schoole camera as she did her best to process what Duela had just said. It had sounded like she’d said that she’d thought that Bat-peeps didn’t do the secret-ID shtick. That she’d thought that they didn’t have cover IDs. Which… Ok, Steph was going to have to kick down the urge to go all James Woods and fish a lump of brimstone out of her ear ‘cause Bats were all about the secret identities. And the secrets. Oh, were they all about the secrets. And to be honest she knew that was what Duela had said. She just…

Well.

She’d thought that she was the blonde in this conversation.

Stuffing that down along with the urge to quote Disney movies, Steph decided to plump for the ‘supportive smile’ option instead. ”You know plenty,” She told the other girl with a grin. ”This is just part of my wacky life. Trust me, sometimes I feel I’m living in a sitcom.” There was a beat. ”Ok, a sitcom with the Mat Hatter writing. But it gets that weird and cliché. Not that I mind clichés, just not too many at once. And, y’know, I like to avoid the ones that end with things hitting me. Or people. People who know how to hit, that is, because my abs could totally take Jordana punching them.” Way to switch tracks mid-debate, Steph!

Given the way that Duela went quiet and the clear embarrassment in the Titan’s expression, she took the executive decision to keep her big mouth shut and just give her hands a quick reassuring squeeze. There’d be enough time later to confess her youthful misdeeds, oh yes…

Gah! Just when she thought she had plumbed the depths of Duela’s cuteness, the green haired girl dug out her own puppy dog look. Fortunately, Steph was so totally immune, but it was a close run thing, it really was. It was even on her mind to just let Duela go with one of the ideas she was throwing around. It still wasn’t quite what she’d had in mind though, and Steph promptly said as much. ”I want something you designed,” she reiterated. ”Something cool and you like this.” The blonde poked Duela right in the breastbone, just below the hollow of her throat, before waving her hand in a more general fashion. ”I want something that’s different.”

Her lips quirked up into a devious little smirk. ”Course, if copying the ol’ red-white-blue is the best you’ve got…”

Because when flattery failed, twisting the girl round her little finger was clearly the way to go. Clearly. Maybe she ought to just dress up as Poison Ivy…

She’d forgotten something, hadn’t she? Something Duela had said – no, asked. Which was unusually blonde of her. Oh. Oh! ”And sure. Sorry, sorry. Totally spazzed on you there. We can totally visit your Dad’s old place. So long as you’re sure you want me there, that is. And I don’t get called upon by one of the others for something important.” Shut up brain. It had totally been known to happen. Totally. Alright, admittedly usually only when they didn’t have a choice but still. It happened.

Down among the thuggish men, Steph would have happily bowed with a flourish as Duela applauded her move, but she was too busy reminding the bad guys why even the female Bats didn’t… Ok, who was she kidding? Why especially the female Bats didn’t take any prisoners. ‘Tis true, there was always one ‘oh hey it’s just a girl’. There was always one. And, in this case, it was the one who was distracting Steph from keeping an eye on Duela. Batgirl would like to have claimed it was for protection, but it was mostly because she… Yeah. You know. Pervy stalker girl, remember?

More importantly, the tactical side of Steph’s brain was also fully aware that neither of them had fought together or even trained together and she was damned if she was going to trip over Duela or let Duela trip over her. So, keeping an eye was a good, sound tactical move. In fact, even while occupied taking care of herself, Steph was making sure that they weren’t too close to each other – there were, after all, plenty of thugs to go around.

In her case, the ‘first in line’ had been met with a gooperang to the chest. Because, while one arm had been fist-pumping, Steph had sneakily been readying the aforementioned batarang variant. And, when the twit in question charged, she’d done her best matador impression – Toro, Toro! – and sidestepped him, slapping the armed weapon onto his chest in passing with a flourish. The gooperang promptly ‘gooped’, the thug cursed and Steph smirked wider. Because they never learnt. It gave her a chance to check on her stalwart cohort, and she flicked her gaze over to Duela just in time to see her thwack a thug with her cane while complaining about their manners.

She had a point.

Steph, who had just gone into a backbend, catching herself with her hands as the next thug’s punch whistled right above her abs, grinned. She did like a tag team partner who could fight and trashtalk. It just added so much to an evening. Rolling further onto her hands so that she could catch the baddie on the jaw with first one booted foot then the other before following up with a rising handspring that hit him with both feet simultaneously did mean she had to wait a moment before answering. But it also meant that she could reply in her best crouching-on-top-of-defeated-enemy tones. So she did.

”What say we knock some manners into their thick skulls then?” Steph inquired sweetly, cracking her knuckles as she did so.

TAG: Duela