All characters appearing in the following narrative are fictional. Any resemblance to any real persons - either living or deceased - is entirely coincidental on the part of the Author. Unless otherwise noted all persons appearing in the narrative are written as being of the majority age of eighteen years owing to depictions of graphic sexual activity contained throughout the body of this work.
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Batgirl - aka Stephanie Brown - looked on with a certain satisfaction as The Riddler was hauled off toward the waiting police cruiser in hand cuffs. Of course he went the entire way cursing her as 'an inferior intellect' and swearing revenge. Why the hell did all the villains in this town have to swear revenge? What, they were going to sit in Blackgate, or Arkham Asylum, and crochet tea cozies while quietly reforming? If not for all of their revenge plots and need for public attention then she and the other vigilantes in this town would have been out of business years ago. Stifling a yawn she stretched and slowly worked her way up to the nearest rooftop. It just so happened to be the same one where she and Tim - the Red Robin - had shared a couple hours of very pleasant company a few weeks prior when she had still been on the hunt for Edward Nigma. The bruises on her lower back and buttocks had faded nicely but not before Batman had noticed and called her out on it. Since coming clean she and Tim had not been seeing a lot of one another. 'The Boss' was keeping them patrolling in separate parts of Gotham and seldom paired them up. Their physical intimacy was a 'threat' to his oh so precious 'mission'. The communicator in her utility belt beeped as she sat down on the edge of the building and fishing it out she saw that it was Alfred calling from the Cave.
"Yes Alfred?" She asked into the tiny mouthpiece.
"Congratulations on capturing the Riddler, Ms. Brown. You actually made the eleven o'clock news tonight." His dry English accent did not lend itself to sarcasm so she could only assume that the praise was genuine
"You did not call me while on patrol just to let me know that I made the evening news. What's up," Stephanie asked.
"The new batch of expanding foam is ready for field testing and Master Bruce asked that I bring you in to have it added to your belt. Can you make it to the Cave tonight or would you care to postpone until tomorrow?"
Stephanie pondered for a moment and then decided that there was the very slim chance of running into Tim if she went to the Cave for whatever new thing it was that was being added to her arsenal. Surely the Batman would not mind if the two of them met up and 'accidentally' made a few pleasant memories in, oh, the trophy room? Her motorcycle was only parked a few alleys over so she responded that she was coming in and then keyed off the communicator and slipped it back into her utility belt. . .
Alfred Pennyworth polished one of the examination tables in the medical suite of the Bat Cave while awaiting the arrival of Batgirl. He had similar dispersals of material for the other crime fighters in Gotham - at least those that were on speaking terms with the Batman - and was trying to bring them in one at a time. Master Bruce hated it when the Cave was filled with costumed vigilantes because that meant that nobody was out on the streets guarding Gotham City against crime and violence. Master Tim had already tried to weasel his way into coming in at the same time as Miss Brown but Alfred had heard the heated argument between Batman and his two junior partners over some physical indiscretions and had been made to promise that he would not do anything that would bring the two of them together if it were not of the utmost import. His thoughts, to say nothing of his cleaning, was interrupted by the sound of a high powered motorcycle engine as it entered the Cave.
Batgirl was always amazed by 'The Cave'. It had to be the single coolest 'lair' of any super hero that she knew of. Some of the more junior members of the Justice League liked to talk about The Watchtower and then there was always talk about Superman's Fortress of Solitude, but she would happily take the Bat Cave over either of those. Here were all the gadgets and weapons she was ever going to need as well as state of the art training simulations and the bottomless credit card stream that Bruce Wayne afforded to his partners in the war against crime just in case they needed anything in the field and did not have time to call in a drop by the Batwing or to come back here themselves. There was also Alfred. The guy was an absolute saint - you had to be to work for 'The Boss' as long as he had - to say nothing of the great food he served, hot beverages, sage advice, and he was one hell of a field medic whenever she came in beaten or bruised from a patrol. Then there was the English accent. . . It was clichΓ©, she knew, but something inside of her melted whenever Alfred was speaking in those clipped tones. It was a bit of a turn on if she was really being honest with herself. Thumbing the biometric release on her armor she took off her cape and cowl now that she was safely out of view of the public and climbed down off of her motorcycle.