bodilesswarrior | 27

[Iris is dying.

It takes everything inside Barbara, every ounce of training and experience, to be still. She knows she'll be too late. If she goes bursting in without knowing the situation, chances are high she'll just die next.

She knows better than that. It's not what Iris would want.

So she stays in her tower. She maps the way to Jack's cabin in her head, and she gathers her weapons, and she waits.

She's just about to make her own call - to the people she trusts most - when she gets Iris' message. When her heart sinks and bile fills her mouth.

She will not feel guilty or foolish or afraid; there's no time.]

[Voice]

[Barbara's voice is low and grim, betraying none of the rage or grief she feels.]

Jack killed Iris. I don't know why, not yet. She's in his cabin; he might still be there, he might have left.

There's something wrong with Mason - drugs, she said. Not sure how it's connected.

[A slow, deep breath.]

The laughter. The warped mirrors. They might be connected, too. They might not.

Either way, you need to stay on your guard. Look out for each other. Iris might not be the first victim, and she probably won't be the last. That's how the Barge is.

[Private to Cain]

You got one too, right?

[Private to everyone Iris is close to]

[She switches to video for this. She figures she owes them that. Everyone else that Iris loves.

There are no tears streaking down her face. Instead, her lips are curled in a fierce snarl, and her eyes are blazing. Still, her voice is steady.]

No one go out half-cocked. We don't know what we're dealing with, not yet, and the last thing she'd want is you getting yourselves killed.

[Private to Motorcycle Boy]

[Back to voice! Hoarse but calm.]

Harvey may be missing. Have you talked to him lately?

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[ Jack is most certainly not in his cabin, late the night of July 23rd. Jack isn't in charge, anyway. ]

[ Joker, on the other hand, is ushering Mason away - having loaded him down with the ex-Derek goo, and shuffled off to vanish into the night. By the time anybody does anything, really, he'll be long gone and secured himself somewhere to make his own, big shiny reveal.... much later. ]

[ But he did leave Iris outside Bab's door, smiling beatifically at nothing at all. ]

Where's Mason?

Don't be ridiculous. I'm fully cocked.

[ Her voice is grimly serious, and yes, she does mean that literally. You can probably even hear the 'click'. ]

[ Funny, Harvey -- who is quick to anger -- does not answer at all. ]

[Her sensors don't work on the Barge. There's no proximity alert, no cameras to tell her what's happening, to prepare her for what she sees. When she opens the door, it's simply to check the perimeter, gun at the ready.

She chokes down the gasp, but her eyes blur as she wheels outside. Barbara won't let herself touch her, not yet - not until she checks for watching eyes, for obvious traps.

There's nothing. Just Iris, smiling up at her, pale and bloody and broken.

She swallows the sobs, too.

It's difficult, to pull Iris up onto her lap, but she manages. She wheels them both inside, and she stops to breathe. Her heart is pounding in her ears and her tears are hot on her face and she wonders if this is how Iris felt, when Victor brought her head.

A deep breath and she moves again, settling Iris on her couch. Barbara will be there, when she wakes up.]

...Harvey isn't here.

[She's in his room, with his dogs cuddled on either side of her.]

He's usually more predictable than me. He should be here.

[She wasn't worried, before. It's a small ship, he's a big boy, she's not his keeper. In fact she's always thought there was something a little unhealthy and disturbing about his routine, although that says just as much about Mira's penchant for mutability as it does his obsessive mindset. But - now.]

No idea. When was the last time you saw him?

[Her lips quirk, just a little bit. That's a Robin for you, isn't it?

She lifts her hand, and the light glints off the steel of her Glock.]

In due time, Stephanie.

[She is locking you in a safety closet. Mira can visit.]

[Barbara looks different, now. There are tears on her cheeks, and blood on her shirt. Her voice is hoarse.]

Dammit.

When was the last time you saw him?

[ Well, once you find him. Eventually. Maybe after the inmate shower has flooded and his body's floated out for robopirahna to nibble. ]

Yesterday, maybe? I haven't really been keeping track of him.

[Which he feels absurdly guilty for, even if he's been justifiably distracted, lately. Helena's his inmate, and she'd killed someone, Mason's some guy he met his first week here. But for whatever reason, he feels responsible for him anyway, the same way he'd feel responsible for other guys in his squad, or the bigger company.]

[ She has a carnation. It's purple, for caprice. ]

[ The laughing that echoes in the dark empty spaces of the barge... are that much more triumphant now. ]

I'm going to find out what we're dealing with so it can be time.

It's not your fault. [It's what she keeps saying to herself; might as well share the message.] Whatever it is. Mason gets himself into trouble.

That I can work with. [A slight grimace, though, as she sets the gun down.] I wish I had surveillance on the Barge.

Don't we all.

[ That's one thing she really hates about this place. The format is so different from home. ]

Nothing for it but to do a full sweep. I'll let you know what I find.

Yeah.

Be careful, Stephanie. All right?

Who, me? I'm always careful.

[ LIES. LIES AND SLANDER. ]

Do you need a hand with anything?

[Even if you don't, he'll find something useful to do.]

Yeah, well, I'm gonna get him out of it.

[He's just a stupid kid.]

I'll let you know what I find.

I mean it. [Her voice deepens with the sort of desperate fierceness she uses with Dinah.]

This might be the Joker we're dealing with, now.

[There's no room to be grateful, right now. Later.]

Stephanie's doing reconnaissance, she could use quality backup.

Last I checked he wasn't bulletproof. I haven't forgotten my training, O. I'll be fine. I promise.

Glad to hear it. [And she sounds it, if only a little. She likes Mason; he doesn't deserve to get caught up in bloody murder.]

Thanks. I'll be going back through the network, I'll let you know if I see anything useful.

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27 - Voice

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I DIDN'T ORDER ANYTHING

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SHUT UP AND TAKE YOUR GIRLFRIEND

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