"Thank you but," In times like these, he really wished he'd thought to put in points in Fast Talk. As not only did his mind momentarily blank out on what to say, he really thought his excuse sounded flimsy even to his own ears. "I do have prior obligations to attend."
'Why did I become so posh?'
Being cornered by someone he's been actively avoiding was already through his mind for a spin but for them to also be one of the most attractive he's ever come across in real life during both lives, yeah it was no wonder his already abysmal ability to lie was failing him so readily. And with how that singular red eyebrow quirked up above those green-rimmed glasses, his attempt was as easy to see through as freshly cleaned glass.
"A few minutes wouldn't be too much, would it?" A small grin stretched across her lips, a well practiced maneuver that should work on anyone of any age. A pretty smile that could melt even the coldest of hearts. It was a weapon that could get whatever she wanted, probably the perks of having a high APP. "Otherwise, I'll think you're avoiding me."
To further hammer the nail home, her cheeks puffed out in that iconic pout that had completely overturned generations of people back in his old life. It had even awakened a few things in people, a deadly weapon that could turn anyone into mere putty in her hands. At he very least, it should make a hormonal teenager second-guess himself.
A role Albert would be forced to play out
"Well…" He was man enough to admit that it wasn't going to be all an act, there was a legitimate attraction he felt for the red head. Besides, acting wasn't really in his tool set. So instead of leaning all too heavily on the inexperience of youth, playing it cool should be enough to fool her. There were plenty of people that acted nonchalantly in the face of those they were attracted too. "I guess I can spare a few moments."
Drawing upon memories of a past life, his shoulders relaxed, posture slumped and eyes unfocused slightly to give off the appearance of apparent disinterest but also give him the ability to take any 'unnoticeable' glances during this upcoming conversation.
He called it his 'Cool' guy form, only in his mind of course. A series of body posture and speech pattern gathered from both movies and real life observations, who all found themselves in happy relationships or fun one-time flings. But there was a distinct problem with it, something he only found out about later on in that lonely life.
Most people didn't know he was only acting and those that did, didn't find it endearing in the slightest. It was one thing for a traditionally attractive person with a mysterious background to act indifferent of the world and still have it clawing to unraveled their secrets but it was something else entirely when one didn't possess the looks to make it worth while.
And if anything, Albert probably looked worse now than he did back in his old life.
"Thanks, I won't keep you for long." From the way her smile grew, it seemed like she took the bait..or maybe that's what she wanted him to believe. The dress-down hadn't even begun and he already wanted to curl up into a ball and sleep the day away. "Let's take a seat at my table, order whatever you want..but keep it manageable. I'm not made out of money."
'But you're apprenticing under one of this universe's richest man.' He snorted internally, there were some benefits of knowing the inner workings of the red head. If he was just some poor schmuck, then he would've felt some spike of sympathy from accepting her offer and spending a pretty girl's funds...but if he really wanted to continue up this facade, it would be better to at-least throw-up a token effort.
"I mean," The teen allowed his 'cool' face slip and reluctance eked itself to the surface. "You don't have to, I can pay for my own stuff. In fact...I can also cover your tab as well, if you want.. it doesn't matter to me."
And just like that, his face blanked out into artificial nonchalance. Voice deepening and droning on in a way that made him seem like he really didn't care either way, and that things could fall wherever.
Taking a seat across from the red head, he slumped back. Taking great effort to look anywhere but those inquisitive green eyes that tried their best to strip him layer by layer, but not without taking a few 'hidden' glances. And from how her smile grew a little bit more strained, it seemed this little act worked just as well as it did in his old life.
"Thank you," She nodded as the elderly gentlemen placed down a pair of steaming hot mugs of dark brown brew between them. And without hesitation, the women took a loud sip. "You've outdid yourself again, Mr. Jeremiah."
"At least someone can appreciate the finer things in life," Jeremiah then turned his gaze to the slumped over teenager taking up way too much space to be reasonable. A slightly chastising look crossing over his features. "Hopefully you can rub off some manners on this young man here."
Now, that was the coffee shop owner he knew. A barbed tongue and overly caring heart. And normally, Albert would've saw no reason not to spend a good fifteen to twenty minutes exchanging barbs.
'I'll get him back later.'
For now, he had a role to play...but there would be hell to pay.
"Taste alright." Okay, he couldn't help himself. Just a small barb to get under his skin. "Did you use that instant hot chocolate packs?"
Pure blasphemy, they both knew. The old man despised that instant stuff they sold for a dollar down the way, said he would rather keel over and croak than ever even allow those 'accursed packs to ever enter his store. Normally, a lecture of epic proportions would've been in due for such an insult...but judging from how soft the man's voice, he wasn't the only one putting up a facade.
So after tossing one last promising gaze his way and a grandfatherly smile in the girl's, the store owner left the two of them to their own devices.
"So," Barbara cleared her throat after a few moments of tensed silence, it looks like she was making the first move. "How are you..after that night? My dad told me of what exactly happened and it sometimes keeps him up at night, I imagine you must be feeling terrible."
"I'm fine." He lied easily, already knowing there was no way to hide that lie from her. "It wasn't that bad, something like that wouldn't phase me."
It was boastful and disrespectful to the dead, something a stupid teenager would say to impress a pretty girl. Maybe she could see right through his lie but it would be fine either way.
"Sure… Well, I'm just checking in on you. You did sound pretty frantic and by the way, where did you go? My dad says when they arrived, everything was dealt with but you were nowhere to be found."
"A nearby bunker, had to fight some dangerous people over it." There was no way, she and the rest of the Bat Family didn't know exactly where he was during that time. Retroactively at the very least. "That's how I busted up my shoulder."
"Really?" Her brows furrowed. "I didn't know you were much of a fighter, they must've been real dangerous...do you remember their faces or names?"
"Nah," He drawled, shrugging both shoulders slightly. "It was too dark, besides they already got faced some punishment. No point in taking it further."
"You know, you should leave the 'punishment' to the actual police."
"Like they'll be able to do anything." Albert didn't hide his sneer. She had a lot of nerve playing that card especially given what she spent her nights doing, did she think that just because her father is a detective that it somehow gave her the same authority given to the police? The exact definition of hypocrisy. "Didn't Batman show the world that? That even with state funding and military equipment, they were only capable of gunning down civilians? I say w-"
"Let's not talk about that." Barbara's tone was tight with barely constrained annoyance as she held up a hand to forestall whatever was coming up next. "Instead, could you roll back a bit? The vigilante?"
"Batman? You know I met him once." To better fall into a role, some scant amounts of truth was required. And it was better if the other person also new that same truth as well.
"Really? What was he like and what did you think about him?"
She even that thing of focusing all her attention as though he was the most important person in the world, a true killer for even the most practiced. This was the time that he should brag, go into excruciating details on his encounter and embellish a few things to make it seem more important than it was. Wriggling bait for the unwitting fish to take a bite and seal it's fate.
And with a clear mind, he fell head first into the trap.
"He wasn't the impressive." The teen shrugged and leaned back a bit, taking back that bubble of space back to himself. "There are plenty of rumors and urban legends surround Gotham about Batman, but from them I kinda expected him to be ten feet tall and weighing well over five hundred pounds of pure muscle. Like an actually gargoyle, instead he was a lot smaller than I expected. Sure he was a tall for a normal guy but I'm pretty sure he was wearing platform shoes just to make himself appear taller. Don't even get me started on that padding, there's no way someone can be that muscular without some heavy steroid usage. And you know what they about guy who over indulge in steroids…"
"Wow, uh-I-I don't know what to say." She said stiffly, the muscles in her neck bulging just a tad bit. It must be quite frustrating to hear someone talk about a mentor without being able to defend them but a fine tool he would use to twist the knife in deep. "I more mean, what did you think of him? Not his physical appearance but the consequences of his existence?"
"He looks like the sort of guy I wouldn't want to meet down a dark alley, but this city needs something like that. Like a knife hanging above our heads. And I say if he's doing a good job, then maybe the police aren't required. I bet he costs less than the combined expenses of GCPD, they should just give him the budget and watch him work his magic. At least I won't have to worry about getting gunned down like a dog by some guy strung out on the power and authority some badge gives him, only normal thu-"
"Look at the time," Barbara quickly looked up at the overhead clock, her hands moving in a blur as she snatched up her supplies and swung the bag over her shoulder. "I have an interview to get to, I completely forgot! It was nice talking to you Albert, I'll call you later! See you, Mr. Jeremiah!"
Before he could even wave a farewell, the red head was gone in a near blur. Only a ringing bell the results of her rapid escape. For a few seconds, all the teen could do was eye in the door with bated breathes and only a handful of seconds pass did he let it all out. Releasing the pent up air out of his lungs and tossing away that facade responsible for his loneliness in his past life like a wet towel.
"Wow." Jeremiah sighed, shaking his head as he looked at the once occupied chair. "If that's how you interact with women, you better get use to being alone."
Wise advice, more so than he could ever realize.
***
There were very few things that could rankle on her nerves, she'd been made fun of for being a 'soul-est' ginger, called an Irish princess for her green eyes and targeted for the fact her mother was no longer in the land of the living. All that was fine, most of it was just children being cruel or people having nothing else better to do than nitpick at her.
But when it came to her father, she had very little tolerance for the ignorant. Who were they to judge? They weren't there during his countless sleepless nights, not there when he would go days without eating just to track down some lowlife nor were they there when he left in the middle of the night to help someone out of a bind. GCPD was an awful and corrupt structure that needed heavy reforms to even resemble the ideal she knew it could be, but that didn't mean she wanted it to be dismantled.
She, Bruce and Dick would not replace the police. And it would be foolish to even believe that was ever an option.
That's why, having to sit there and listen to some ignorant teen spout on about things he simply didn't understand wasn't possible. Barbara needed to leave before she'd been forced into a screaming match. And as though the crowd could sense the nearly palpable annoyance leaking off her in waves, a small path was made for her in the middle of the morning rush. Each only taking a single glance at the red hair before stepping aside with a degree of wariness.
As she fumed, her phone began to vibrate and with a huff, the women snatched it up and looked down at the caller ID. Unknown, of course.
"Hello." It was clear exactly who it was, as she'd long since scrubbed her phone number from a large portion of scam call centers.
"You were read like a book." A deep voice got right into it, not taking any time to soften the blow those words would inflict.
"I know."
She didn't know when it had happen but she'd lost complete control over that conversation, he just kept throwing her for a loop. Whether it was that false non-nonchalant attitude she remembered her male classmates pulling whenever they tried getting a girl's attention, or the boasting that even he didn't believe. But if there was anything that she could extract from him, it was that the Neighborhood Massacre held a significant part of his attention. Probably more so than her father and Dick.
And they all refused to get help or talk to anyone about it seriously.
"High observational skills and a deep understanding of the human mind. Prone to provocations to get his way, and known to hide his true intentions behind multiple layers of half-truths." Bruce wasn't one to coddle anyone, he probably knew she was a big girl and could handle herself. She would just need some time to herself. "It'll be added to his file."
"That guy was tool!" Another voice spoke over the line, this one younger and familiar enough to cause a small smile to tug at the corner of her lips. "He's barely my height and nowhere near my weight, where does he get off calling anyone 'small'? Guy's literally a walking skeleton, he has no room to talk."
That grin struggled to remain as a full smile threatened to bloom to the surface. She knew Dick had a crush on her and tried not to entertain it, given their shared profession but that didn't mean it wasn't appreciated when he was in her corner. Especially when she said exactly what was on her mind.
"Yeah,"A light heart scoff escaped her lips and some of that annoyance flowed off into the atmosphere. "I don't know why he said something like that, sure I can boasting but still!"
"He could tell you looked up to The Batman." If anything that made her want to roll her eyes, who else would address themselves in the third person like that? "Artificially exaggerating the appearance was the best choice to corral foreign criminals."
Of course that ridiculous description was his fault, yet another thing he kept from his apparent 'partner' in this.
Just as she was going to respond, another call sprang to life on her screen. Looking down, the simple three letter caller id was all she needed.
"Take it." Bruce prodded from over the line, "You will be debriefed later...Good luck."
"See yo-"
But before Dick's farewell could be completed, the line went dead and in a slightly better mood, she answered the call. That conversation was exactly what she needed, her dad could sniff out a bad mood with the same doggedness of a blood hound. And with how protective he was, it would take mere moments for one of his police friends to come by to pick her up.
"Hey Dad!" She chirped, maybe overdoing it a bit. "What's going on?"
"Hey Babs...is everything okay? You sound a bit off."
Damn those instincts, sometimes they were a real bother. Growing up, it made things impossible to sneak anything by the man and frankly it was a complete miracle that he hadn't figured out what she was doing her off time.
"Everything's fine, is something wrong? Are you staying late tonight as well?"
It was a common occurrence for him to stay well past night fall, and most of the time it was no real problem. Giving her plenty of time to kick bad guy's butts and be home before he was ever the wiser.
"Okay, no nothing's wrong…" Her father trailed off, struggling with his words. It had to be serious, he wasn't known for holding his tongue for anyone. The multiple bumbled interviews was proof of that. The news must be something huge. "You're just speaking to GCPD's new commissioner."
She nearly completely missed her next footstep, her walk turning into a near stumbling gait. Mind coming to a screeching halt, she suddenly understood the meaning behind his final words.
That bastard knew and didn't see fit to tell her?! This was her own father and he couldn't even be bothered to let her in on this little-big secret?
"It's nothing official yet," Jim continued, taking her silence as shock. "The Mayor took me aside this morning and told me that they would be instating me as the commissioner...said they'll do an official announcement and appointment on Monday. Babs, they want to make this into a spectacle."
It was true, with the disastrous events of Blackgate, the city needed something to shake things up..or more likely, a new scapegoat to point the blame at. They probably expected him to be nothing but a puppet to take the blows for when they mess up, but if that's the case then they chose the absolute worse candidate. Her father was excellent at his job and well respected by the majority of Gotham, but more importantly, he wasn't afraid of the higher up in the slightest. He was outspoken, blunt and had very little patience for most things.
They probably saw this as a chance to throw a figure like her dad under the buss, but she saw it differently. This was it, a dream of hers slowly solidifying in place. With her father in charge, things would change. For the better. From cracking down on internal corruption to being able to clean up the streets, the three of them would no longer be stretched so thin...and maybe Bruce would even involve Jim in on their activities. Just imagining the legal power of her father in one hand and the brutal justice of her mentor in the other, was almost enough to split her face in twain.
"Congratulations are in order!" If before Barbara's mood was sour and near it's boiling point, now it was like she had wings. Flittering from one foot to another, her mind spinning on exactly what to do for this momentous occasion. "I'll swing by that burger joint we love and pick up something, be home by six. No exceptions! Love you, you'll do great!"
For the first time since the Neighborhood Massacre, the city that was frozen in place. Waiting on baited breathes, like gears stuck together by filth and grim. Slowly began to move. Machinations and plans falling to the way side as a new player stepped onto the big stage. The slumbering machine, waking. Energy filling every crevice the city might have, change was coming to Gotham. And with how rampant the information was being spread among the upper echelons of society, there wasn't a thing anyone could do to stop it.
(A/N: Thank you all for reading! When I was first writing this chapter, I honestly didn't think I was going to finish it! Work got pretty crazy and I got lazy, but here it is! I wasn't sure how I wanted to write a dishonest conversation and with both Albert and Barbara being smarter than me, it was a bit difficult trying to write them interacting with one another. Especially with him knowing everything he said she would be able to see right through any lie he might come up with. But I kinda like how it went. Anyway, thank you all for your support and I'll see you all next week!)