Work Text:
As her cape billowed in the Gotham wind, Stephanie saw the appeal in the constant teamups that Bruce and Clark had. She felt like the coolest bitch around while watching Supergirl float down to her level.
“Mae, long time no see! I hope you don’t mind that I brought one of my girlfriends with us for this,” Steph cheerfully called out to the red and blue and yellow silhouette above her.
Quizzically raising her eyebrow, Mae asked, “The other Batgirl that Kon was all too happy to tell me about?” At this, Steph shook her head, “The one who took Roy’s old mantle?” Another head shake.
“You’re not going to like this–” Steph started to say before getting cut off by a white-haired girl stepping out of the shadows.
“It’s been a while Mae, have we seen each other since the Zi Charam and the Cyborg incident?”
“Rose!? Should you be out here? How old are you now?” Mae started sputtering out questions upon seeing the girl who used to be under the care of her Titans.
“Yes I should, Stephanie invited me along on this mission for purely professional reasons,” she emphasized this by kissing the cheek of Steph’s Spoiler mask before continuing, “and I’m 19 now which seems to be well past the age where you can start patrolling. And while we’re out here, it's Ravager.” Rose finished, rolling her eye and pulling on her mask before turning back to Steph, “You should’ve told me who we’d be with. At least then I could’ve prepared.”
“I figured you’d be able to know with your future sight? But it seems that that’s not how it works. And before you say anything Mae, I did tell you that she’d be here. In a way. So it’s kind of on you. But really we should get patrolling, you know Gotham,” Steph sheepishly replied, doing her best to change the subject.
“Are you going to explain why you felt the need to have Rose and myself with you on this mission?” Mae then cocked a smirk before continuing, “I thought your dad didn’t want meta–”
“Don’t you dare call Bruce my father!” Stephanie snapped at Mae, “All that he ever did was use me, first as Spoiler to take down Cluemaster, and then later he made me Robin just to get to Tim. The only time that I ever had something of my own was when I stepped into someone else’s suit.”
Rose bit her lip at seeing her girlfriend get this riled up, a side of her which the one-eyed girl had never gotten the opportunity to see before. Casting her eye over to the super as spikes began to appear, who began closing the distance between her and the bat, “You think you are replaceable? I have seen clones of myself being grown to act as weapons. You say Bruce manipulated you?-"As she continued yelling, Mae’s sleeves started to disappear, “You know nothing compared to what Lex put me through, I trusted him!” Looking around her; first at Rose, the girl she watched grow up and tried to keep safe but forced into this lifestyle by her father, and at Steph, who never had the trust of anyone she looked up to, “I trusted him,” she repeated as her costume returned to normal.
“Steph,” Rose tentatively said, “first, you were not ‘nothing’ as Spoiler, you made that identity to be the best you could, to stop seeing him. Second, deep breath, she didn’t know and didn’t mean to set you off,” turning her head from her girlfriend to her former guardian she continued, “Mae, you’re right that Steph hasn’t been cloned, but she still suffered. Her dad was ready to kill her multiple times, she practically died because of Bruce’s distrust.” Looking over to make sure that both of the blondes had calmed down before finishing, “We’ve all gone through hell but that’s in the past. Let’s focus on the mission, take it away Steph.”
“Yes, right. The mission. That I called you both here for. There was a breakout from Arkham, and some of Gotham’s worst are teaming up,” Steph steeled herself before continuing, “My dad is one of them, and he’s working with Killer Moth and Condiment King,” seeing the other girls barely stifle their laughter, Steph clarified, “Like I said, the WORST in Gotham, not the baddest. I figure we can divide and conquer and still hit karaoke later tonight?”
Rose was the first to start laughing, and after seeing her usually stoic partner break out like this, Steph followed quickly. A second or two later, Mae finally joined as well, just three girls laughing on a rooftop, able to forget about their pasts and just enjoy the company they have.