Work Text:
Babs sighed as she subtly scrambled Tim and Jason's trackers... again. Focusing on the road, she can't say she's surprised by the reveal of Tim and Jason as a Guild and Sentinel nor the reactions of the Bats. Ivy and Harley must have known about Tim, which really didn't help matters for the Bat. She didn't mind, the two had turned over a new…. had changed paths and it settled something in her to know that Tim had someone in his corner. After Getting Bruce back from the time stream Tim had been different, and a crevasse had opened between him and the other bats.
Babs had made sure to record the dressing down they had given Bruce, after Tim and Jason had taken off, which had left a very confused Nightwing to deal with the broken Joker. She was purposely not thinking about that. That was for later, with wine... and girls' night... And her therapist. It had been a terrifying display of raw power from Tim, and she’d reached out to some of her GS friends for material about the community and what she needed to know, telling them a friend of hers had come online.
They had sent some things her way and had told her that the biggest thing was avoiding a zone. Too late, she'd thought to herself remembering Tim’s screams turning to whimpers and Jason's request for her to just talk.
She had started a program to gather more info using the provided material as a base, before getting in her car and heading to the manor. She might not have known the two were GS and she might not have known much about them but right now she had to make sure the two had space. The last thing they needed was Batman crashing in... or worse Bruce. Or a guilt riddled Dick. Or betrayed Steph. Seriously this family was nosey as hell, and hates sharing secrets but then takes any secrets as personal attacks.
A notification signaled her program was done as she let the mechanical voice read out the spark's notes. It was bad. No wonder Tim kept it hidden. Near as she could tell the only thing being a Guide wouldn't get you was deported. Figures. All the Guides in Gotham went underground. Hard to blame Tim for not trusting them. That hurt. She knew she deserved it, but it was still a bitter pill to swallow. She looked into it and had already ordered dampers for the clock tower. One of the articles she had read said it made it easier for guilds and sentinels to relax.
Notably the best on the market were made by Drake industries four for twenty bucks, others of the same quality, like the ones sold by WE were easily 100 bucks. She could feel her fingers itching to look into how Tim got them to be so cheap, especially since she thought DI had been dissolved years ago. But right now, she needed to focus on damage control. First would be Dick, then maybe Steph but probably Bruce…shit. She was not paid enough for this.
***
As Barbara rolled past the kitchen, she noticed Alfred loading the freezer with meals presumably to pass along to Tim and Jason. Alfred knew something, possibly more than any of them. She wouldn't be surprised if he had information about GS that she didn't.
The ride down to the cave was nerve wracking mentally preparing her points and bracing for what she would see.
“Babs!!!!!”
The doors opened and it was both what she'd expected and what she hadn’t.
Dick was turned towards her from where he was standing next to Bruce by the computer which was displaying an error message as it failed to find any trackers. What surprised her was the cave's other two occupants.
Duke was nodding off where he was sitting watching Damian.
She had expected Damian to be outraged by the deception and demand that Dick or Bruce do something about it. Instead, the boy was training with a ferocity that she hadn't seen in years. He was using more of a blend of Bat training and LOA techniques then she had ever seen from him. Sure, both Tim and Jason mixed the two in differing amounts, but Damian had always seemed to do one of the other. She smiled faintly. It was good to see him coming into his own.
“Bruce, Dick you won't find them.”
“But Babs…!” Dick started to protest but she cut him off.
“The two are fine. I need you to see something.” She turned and rolled to the meeting table.
“Please, sit down.” she stated. Duke and Damian came over too, which hadn't been her intention, but oh well. Dick vaulted over like the showoff he is. Bruce stubbornly stayed by the computer. She stared at him. He glared back; she raised an eyebrow. He narrowed his eyes further like she was one of his kids he could intimidate. Normally no one would win between the two. But Barbara had an advantage, she hadn't had the shit beat out of her by a piece of shit tonight. She sharpened her stare into a glare. Eventually Bruce looked away and his shoulders hunched as he walked to the table, glaring again when he realized she had placed herself at the head of the table. Once everyone was seated, she used her tablet to project her research onto the computer.
Her program had flagged the documents of most impact and pre highlighted the important parts. Not perfect since one page was a block of yellow but pretty good. Ironically, it was a program she had been working with Tim on.
“What are we looking at Oracle?” Oh, so he wanted to play that game.
“We are looking at anti-Guild legislation.” Duke picked up one of the smaller hand-helds that the younger vigilantes preferred. Except Tim, who had his wrist computer.
“Those are the laws pertaining to guides.” Bruce pointed out growling.
"Sure but read them from the perspective of a guide.” she watched as they did.
“Oh fuck” Duke, unsurprisingly got it first. That's why he was her favorite of the boys. Only edging out Tim because Duke actually had some self preservation.
“Laungage Master Duke,” Alfred's hands were still damp as he dried them on the towel in his hands.
“Sorry Alfred but….shit, I thought the meta stuff was bad.” Duke didn't look chastised as he normally would, he looked….like someone who just put a puzzle together and
“What do you mean?” Dick asked, confused in a way Babs used to think was cute. Now it was irritating.
“Well as a meta you could be arrested for using your ability in any way even if you're helping. This says you can be kicked out for just being a guide. And a compulsory draft? That's fucked.” Alfred looked too shocked to scold him, grabbing a hand-held for himself.
”Timothey was right to hide if this is how your country treats عَقْلمُبارك.”Damian shocked her a little. He looked murderous but equally protective, an unexpected ali.
“He was also protecting a community in Gotham. That girl who was killed that he and Jason looked into, an unregistered guide, same with the missing people RR had been looking into.” Barbara shared. It wasn't until she saw the after report from the police, before Tim hacked it away, that she realized why she hadn't been able to find a trend. Tim must have known.
“Yeah, it's like me and Metas. They come to me instead of the rest of you cause I'm one of them. Same with RR probably, it would make sense.” Duke started sitting back in his chair.
“Why do they only come to you?” Dick asked.
Duke looked sheepish, “Cause they're worried about Batman's ‘no Metas in Gotham thing.”
“Hn, I'm not against Metas in Gotham.” Bruce grumbled.
“You literally say no Metas in Gotham. And I hate…no I don't, you have turned in unregistered GS before Batman, Until Tim took over, WE employed 10 GS that's less then 10%,” Barbara pulled up the statistics. They were in an anonymous post but had been fact checked,
“Not to mention the fact that I could easily name them all because of the registry.”
“Thats the law, Guides and Sentinels must be registered.” Bruce frowned.
“Yeah, and ya know who's also required to be registered? Predators.” Duke’s accent slipping a little as his Gotham kid came out.
“Yes but that is publicly available.” Bruce argued.
“Buce they don't even do a background check on people asking for access to it. Literally anyone could.” Barbara pointed out, feeling a headache growing. She was doing this for Tim and Jason.
“It's for their protection.” Dick pointed out, like a school kid fed propaganda.
“Protection from what?” Babs asked, hoping he would get her meaning.
“Zones?” at least he sounded less sure.
“Right because when I'm at my most vulnerable, I want to be in some fucked up government facility. "Duke grumbled
“Bruce. Tim came online long before he worked with us. Even he couldn't have hidden that. It means if he’d been registered, he could have been drafted at 15.” She tried a different angle.
“...” Babs knew better than to let the silence give her hope that he understood.
“...we will need to get Tim and Jason registered.” Bruce's statement was met with pandemonium.
“No.” Damian jumped up, Katana in hand.
“Hell no.” Duke protested his chair falling over from the force of his rise.
“Ufghg.” Dick sounded choked.
“No, you will do no such thing.” Babs felt the urge to strangle the man, “If you do, I will never forgive you and they won't either. If you force them to do this don't be surprised if they disappear and you never see them again. And before you start to get on your high horse this is Tim and Jason. If anyone can it's them."
Silence fallowed her statement. Duke glaring, Damian looked murderous, Bruce had a stubborn set to his jaw, and Dick looked close to tears. Alfred had dissapeard.
"I am going to let the girls know before I say something I regret, but this isn't over.” She started rolling towards the elevator, not looking forward to the drive back.
“Oh and you won't find them. I scrambled their signals. They deserve some quiet.” she said as the doors closed. When she did, she sighed, rubbing her temples.
As she passed through the main entrance she was stopped by Alfred's appearance.
“Miss Gordon.” It both was and wasn't a question. She could ignore it if she wanted.
“Yes Alfred?" she sighed
“Are they well?” he asked after a pause. Barbara thought carefully before answering.
“As they can be.” choosing her words carefully.
“Good,” Alfred nodded, the cracks in his mask filling. “Would you like me to prepare a room? It’s quite late.” it was almost 6, Barbara nodded and followed him further into the house. She needed sleep to prepare for the next round.