22 - Video

[bodilesswarrior]

[The woman staring into the camera is not the Barbara Gordon the Barge has come to know. Not this Barge, at any rate.

Her red hair, cropped short, is streaked with grey. She used to say she had one for every Robin, but there's far too many for that now. She's wearing a black trench, battered and worn, hemmed to fit her.

Her chair, too, is different; it's still imbued with the same technology, but it looks more like an armoured vehicle than a wheelchair.

She's smirking, slightly, as her hands clasp in front of her. She's grown so used to the Barge's tricks, she's almost fond of them.]

Well. Clearly something is going on. [Her voice is a bit lower, a bit hoarser, but wryly familiar.] I'm Commissioner Gordon, if you didn't know. I've been on and off the Barge for about thirty years. Looks like I came back just in time to be confused.

God knows which of us are affected. [Her smirk deepens.] Or the Admiral, but I have my doubts on that one.

Comments

[bodilesswarrior]

[Her eyebrows arch.] Was that a threat or just good advice?

I don't do stupid things, Charles.

[wedonot]

Who did it?

[bodilesswarrior]

Who did what, exactly?

[wedonot]

Who killed me?

[bodilesswarrior]

...Ah.

In my defence, it was thirty years ago. [And while her memory is meant to be perfect, but floods are floods.]

It was Ben. Erik killed him. Gave a good speech, too.

[wedonot]

[The blind rage and frustration ripples through him again, but he does his best this time to keep it from touching the minds of anyone else, although there's a part of him that really, really wants to. His voice is rough and angry.] I'll kill him.

[bodilesswarrior]

[She feels it, from a distance, but her expression only hardens.] You will not.

Our Ben is not yours. Your death has already been avenged. Knowing Erik, he probably found a way to reverse it.

[wedonot]

[Her response makes it worse, and there's a part of him that knows it's not rational. This woman doesn't know him, had only known him briefly through the eyes of her other self, but that doesn't stop his voice from shaking with rage.] I've been trapped on this damn ship long enough to be able to tell the difference. But when I go back, if I remember, I'm going to kill him. [Erik doesn't need to be put through more suffering because he made a mistake.]

[bodilesswarrior]

All right. [It would be hypocritical, to say anything else - even if she considered his Barge her jurisdiction.]

Just be careful. Considering he killed you once already.

[wedonot]

The only way that's possible is if I was distracted. I won't be this time.

[bodilesswarrior]

Good. [And she means it. This man - she's not the Charles she trained, not the man she shared old memories and new laughter with. He's not the man she taught with and fought beside. (She still has her uniform, just in case.)

But he's still Charles, and she wants, a bit desperately, for him to be all right. For him and Erik to somehow succeed.]

[wedonot]

We'll be fine. [He hopes. He really desperately hopes.]