Chapter 81

Batgirl, aka ??????? ?????? PoV

Every step I took was fraught with pain. Even getting out of bed was difficult, needing to have a few minutes to even work up the nerve to try. My legs ached, my arms burned, and just about every part of my body was bruised.

…Or at least it felt that way.

When I finally pulled myself up to the vanity all I could do was grimace at what I saw. Busted lip. Big ugly bruise on the right side of my ribs. Bruise on the cheek.

And that’s just what was glaringly obvious. The rib bruise was easily coverable, the cheek one would need some makeup to make it less obvious, but the lip? That wasn’t exactly very hide able. That would just need time to recover.

Which I at least had, since dad left on his fishing trip a few days ago. That meant I had the house for a few extra days. It may not be enough, but it was still better than nothing.

…Hah…better than nothing huh?

The same could be said about last night. Not exactly my best showing, and that was putting it lightly.

It wasn’t the Pharmacy, thankfully. The Shiva pills they had been selling had been off the market for a while. Not to say that they weren’t still in circulation, but it was much harder to actually come across them now, which was a positive.

Unfortunately for me, I had traded one super drug peddling gang for another.

Shipments of Venom were starting to once again spring up in Gotham. This time with a vengeance as they easily slid into the gap left behind by the Pharmacy. The difference between the two groups was like night and day.

Bane’s goons didn’t care for any sort of subtlety. When they took over a block it wasn’t by money exchanging hands. When they set up shop there wasn’t any signs to look for, just a pair of shoes on a telephone line. When they ran into complications, they didn’t even think twice about it.

They were strong, but they also kind of had to be, otherwise they wouldn’t even be any sort of challenge. Facing them down wasn’t a matter of any sort of research, investigation, and some legwork. It was just a matter of just muscling them out.

It was a bit…boring, honestly. I mean obviously helping bust down a criminal organization wasn’t boring boring. It was something to take pride in. But it just wasn’t…intellectually stimulating.

With the Pharmacy it had been like putting together a ridiculously hard puzzle. With these guys it was just a matter of taking a hammer and smashing the nail.

Which was of course the area I was lacking the most in.

Even still, I was more than enough to beat a bunch of jumped-up drug dealers. Or at least I had been until they started to sample their own supply.

Venom and Shiva had pretty similar effects, but that was only on paper. In reality they couldn’t be more different than night and day.

Shiva was a pill that increased someone’s strength and speed for a limited amount of time before wearing off. Seemingly with little to no drawbacks. For now, at least.

Venom was a liquid that had to be injected. In doing so, it’d pretty much increase a person’s muscle mass. Making them much bigger and stronger as a result. A good bit stronger than the boost Shiva would give.

However, there was a catch with Venom. You had to already be physically fit in order to use it effectively. That is, existing muscle mass was needed to actually expand. Otherwise, it could seriously hurt and even permanently mess up someone. It also wasn’t completely uncommon for Venom to be too much for the user’s heart to handle.  

Compared to Shiva, it was pretty obvious which was more accessible and safer. Of course, that didn’t exactly stop people from trying out Venom. Especially now that their heavy hitters couldn’t self-medicate themselves with Shiva anymore. They had to start taking something else to increase performance.

It was only because they turned themselves into giant meat slabs that gave them a fighting chance against me. And honestly, that chance was shockingly pretty high.

There was no nice way to put it. They had absolutely destroyed me. I only won by the skin of my teeth.

It hadn’t even been a win I could take pride in either. Half of the guys who had juiced up needed to be brought to the hospital as quickly as possible. Some of them…some of them probably wouldn’t make it.

I-I knew it wasn’t my fault. It was the drug. Nothing I did could change that. But even so…

I couldn’t help but think that I was responsible. They wouldn’t have taken that drug if I hadn’t shown up. No, even worse, they wouldn’t have been able to establish themselves so easily if I hadn’t taken care of the Pharmacy.

The gangs in Gotham was like the hydra of Lerna. Cut off one of it’s heads, and two more grow back. To truly make a difference not only did I have to cut off the head, but I had to get strong enough be easily capable of cutting of two more when they appeared.

Next I’d probably need to cut off four which was…

I didn’t know how I’d do it, but I’d find a way. So what if my training was taking a backseat? So, what if I wasn’t the strongest in the Batcave? That didn’t mean anything. Things like that can change in the blink of an eye.

What really mattered was the mind. That was something that couldn’t be as easily trained or improved.

Yeah, that’s right. I’d figure something out. I always did.

…And while I though it over, I can start to chow down on those Toaster Strudels in the freezer. That sort of pick me up was just what the doctor ordered.

Leaving my room was a chore in of itself, but the promise of a sweet reward was more than enough motivation. Leading me forward and into the kitchen. After fishing out the strudels and putting them into the toaster, I decided to make a glass of orange juice to wash it down with.

Chocolate milk would have been better, but dad has always been against the stuff. Saying that it wasn’t all that healthy or even that good.

I was pretty sure the real reason was because he’s lactose intolerant.

Just as I was getting prepared to take the strudels out of the toaster, my hand froze as a yawn came from the doorway.

Oh no.

“What’s for breakfast, sunshine?”

He asked before heading over to me. This was bad. I thought he was still fishing with ‘the boys’? Why was he already back home!? I had to think of something, quick!

“Pumpkin? Is something wrong?”

Damn it, of course his detective instincts would kick in during a moment like this! Just my luck.

“Yeah dad, sorry. Was just a bit tired.”

“Well, that’s no good. You have to make sure you get at least eight hours of sleep.”

I couldn’t help but snort.

“That’s rich coming from you.”

He chuckled a bit in response. Continuing to walk up behind me while doing so.

“Well, you got me there. I got to start getting a move on, but before I go…”

There wasn’t much I could do to really stop him. Not without sparking further suspicion. So instead, I tried to keep my head low and body away when he tried to kiss my forehead.

Which…didn’t exactly work if his sudden gasp of air was any indicator.

“…P-pumpkin? What happened?”

His hands gently pressed against your face as he forced you to look up. Right into his worried eyes. Oh…I hated lying to him so much. To someone who loved and supported me.

But…

It had to be done.

“You remember McKenzie, right?”

He immediately nodded. His features growing less vulnerable and more hardened as he listened.

“I do…I thought you were friends?”

“We are, it’s just…well last night we had been partying a bit and maybe had a bit to drink…”

Dad closed his eyes and sighed. Instead of saying anything for just a few moments he held my head. His thumbs tracing circles on my cheeks.

When he opened his eyes, he seemed to be giving me a rather serious look. One that immediately had my attention.  

“…Are you sure it wasn’t a boy?”

I blinked. Obviously, I hadn’t done that good of a job lying. I thought just mentioning the alcohol would have shifted his focus elsewhere, but that didn’t work. Which lead him into thinking it was…boy trouble?

Huh.

“It’s not a boy dad.”

I tried to wrap my arms around him in order to better reassure him, but he simply grabbed my arms to stop me. Instead forcing me to continue to hold his gaze.

“Are you sure? I just…you’d tell me if it was, wouldn’t you? Pumpkin?”

I couldn’t help but smile a bit.

“Yeah, dad. I would.”

He continuing to try to look in my eyes for several seconds. Before finally looking away and releasing his hold on my arms. Sniffing the air before nodding his head.

“Good…good…besides, you’re too young to be even thinking about dating boys.”

I smirked at that before playfully swatting his arm.

“I’m pretty sure you’d still say that even if I was in my thirties.”

“Damn straight, and don’t you ever forget it.”

Dad ruffled my hair for a bit before finally turning around. Grabbing at his nearby jacket before heading towards the door. An act that he was much slower than usual in doing.

“…We’ll talk more about this when I get home, okay?”

“Alright dad.”

After that, he left the house. Leaving me and now cold Toaster Strudels alone. Ah jeez, good work Barb. Now I was going to have to come up with something, and it had to be good. No, not just good, it was going to have to be air tight.

Anything less and dad will be able to sniff out that somethings wrong. Probably investigate to see where this mysterious ‘boy’ was. And when he didn’t find one…

He’d look for another reason on why I’d lie. Which was going to be much harder to explain.

It’d be pretty hard, but I was confident I could come up with something to fool my dad. But that was only something that could be done once.

I could only get him to believe that the injury was just a fluke if it never happened again. A one-time thing he could write off. Maybe not completely believe me, but he’d have enough faith that I could solve the situation on my own.

But if I came back with another bruise a week or even a month later?

That’s all it would take to get his suspicion. And once I had that, then I had officially lost. That would probably be the end of my superhero career unless I wanted to lead him back to the Batcave.

And that couldn’t happen.

I couldn’t stop now. Not when I was finally able to help him. Even if only a little, I was decreasing the burden the city put on my dad.

And I’ll be damned if anyone even tries to stop me.

But…but that meant I couldn’t get hurt. How could I possibly do that without just…sticking to the chair? Helping either Batman or Dick through comms?

…I didn’t want to just do that. I was my own woman for gods sake. What’s next, was I going to go to the kitchen and make them a meal for when they return? Greet them at the door?

No. Besides, I’m pretty sure Alfred would very much mind if I tried to muscle in on his job.

But what else was there for me to do if I couldn’t fight?

…I had a bit of the Shiva pills. To examine and match for later cases.

No no, I couldn’t possibly be considering using them. That was just crazy. Even if no one who used them seemed to suffer any ill side effects. Or even if the Batcomputer didn’t find anything especially wrong with them.

I mean fifteen percent of the pills couldn’t even be identified. It was obviously unsafe for consumption. Honestly, I felt stupid for even considering it!

…But it wouldn’t hurt to double check, would it? Just for emergencies, or something.

Dick once gave me the number of that superhero on the west coast. The one who developed the cure for almost every variation of being deaf. He was a smart guy, practically the closest thing to a superhero scientist. If anyone could find something that the Batcomputer couldn’t, it’d probably be him.

Maybe I could have him look over it? And if he gives it the green light…

Well, I still wouldn’t take it or anything, but it’d be nice to know.

Just in case.