Subject: [OTL]: [Robin] In The Blood [5:11] Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 07:06:51 -0700 (PDT) From: D Benway In The Blood [5:11] Tuesday, May 29 drawn from the vein by Benway This story borrows some Bat-characters from DC for not-for-profit use. This story is not recommended for sensitive or innocent readers. __________________________________________________________________ Now, I have two places not to go home to. Dana called and said that Dad had been by to pick up some of his things when she was out, and she didn't know where he was staying. Cassie called but I'd left an excuse. By now, I'm sure Bruce knows, but he hasn't called or left a message. I'm in the cave, where I've come to do some research. I'm officially here to make a false ID to rent a post office box with, but I also have the phone number from the donor list memorized. Batgirl is there, getting ready for patrol. She looks up at me, but she doesn't take her mask off, she just stares at me with those big, empty eyeports. I hate her mask, it's hard to look at, all hacked up like the inside of her head. At least she doesn't speak. Kon says she sounds like a parrot imitating a human. I'm sure she killed Shiva Woosan, six months ago. We heard a rumor of a contract, on Bruce and I. We were ready as we could be, and waiting. We even called in some help. She slaughtered Connor before he could reach us. We were waiting in the cave with our backs to the wall when the call cames in over the scanner. I hacked into the autopsy files the next day. It was Shiva, and she was dead. She looked like she'd been hit by a truck. Her spine had been broken in four places, and much of the rest of the damage had been done after, some of it after she'd died. Bruce had gone looking for Cassandra immediately, and we found her with Babs, playing Scrabble. Babs swore they'd been in all night. Bruce went after Babs for an hour, and didn't ask Batgirl anything. She stared at us the whole time, and didn't say a thing. Bruce didn't talk to either of them for a month, but he didn't stop Cassandra from going on patrol, either. Then again, no-one else has gotten into that kind of losing fight with a truck since then. She stops staring at me only when Bruce comes into the room. The Tornado called, he says. What happened last weekend? Things got out of hand, I say. Cissie was there, and she got upset about her mother again. I can see Bruce's lips tighten. It's one of the few ways he shows emotion. Bad business, he says. You had another fight with your father, after you broke the rules. Yes, I say. He's staying at the Country Club, he says. Oh, I say. I should tell Dana. I already have, he says. You've been careless. Their marriage isn't my responsibility, I say. Getting caught, he says. We agreed that you wouldn't get caught again. Why did you do it? I was out with Steph, I say. It was so obvious a lie. I've never lied so carelessly to him before. That would explain it, he says. I almost let my surprise show. He should have seen through me in a moment. She was supposed to be on patrol with him. She wasn't. I wonder where she was. Probably out on a date. You should be more careful about family, he says. If they're not your responsibility, whose responsibility are they? Yours, I want to say. I almost say it, but I can see Batgirl standing there behind him holding both hands over her mouth. He notices me looking and turns around, but she's too fast for him. She inclines her head in the direction of his car. Get it cleaned up, he says. Once he's gone, I finish the ID, then go to the library. Bruce has reverse telephone directories for Waynecorp going back to the 30s. I find the number. It's for Evan Hamilton, M.D., a member of the Wayne Pharmaceuticals research staff. The listings for him begin two years before my birth and end seven years after. When I get home, I search on Evan Hamilton and turn up nothing current, except the Evan Hamilton Memorial Ward at the Wayne Medical Centre. I hack in to the newspapers and find his obituary. He was murdered by the Joker when I was seven, on Christmas Eve. Ha fucking ha. [next: Wednesday, May 30]