i know everybody.

barbara gordon. twenty-eight. typically sporting a bat, wrangling birds or staring at a monitor.

[batgirlsback]

BARBARA GORDON IS...

someone with a cute mask who likes the color purple

[batgirlsback]

 not-aboywonder:

“Wait, hang on. That one wasn’t supposed to be a dig at you. I’m not sure how I did that, but I’m sorry.” Not being quite sure exactly how he’d put his foot in his mouth this time didn’t stop Dick from apologizing automatically. He wasn’t about to let his automatic ribbing of his mentor cause whatever he had going with Babs now to get broken again. All he’d really meant was that it was incredible to see how differently they’d all turned out, even with the same teacher. Bruce was such a strong person, and they’d all picked up bits and pieces of who he was, of the mission, of the focus and determination. But they were all so different too, all of their strengths and weaknesses making them completely different from Bruce even though they were all alike too. It was incredible, in the best possible way. “That sounds perfect,” he exclaimed. “Then I can just ignore my email forever, and we’ll be all set. It’s the ideal system, Babs, you’re definitely a genius.” Of course, that probably wasn’t quite what she’d been going for, but it worked for him. Especially since he didn’t want her to apologize in the first place. She’d never done anything to him to warrant one, not really. Anything that had happened, they’d both done to each other.

The thing was, while he’d gotten used to going out at night with Oracle in his ear, whenever he needed her, he’d missed having Batgirl out there somewhere with him. It just hadn’t been the same. Even though Babs was still an incredible hero, on the rooftops or behind a screen, it couldn’t ever be quite the same not to have her right there. As long as she was ready for this. It wasn’t like what they did was easy, and physical therapy wasn’t exactly the same thing as training. He would probably worry for a while, even as excited as he was. But if he was going to worry, it was going to have to be the productive, helpful kind of worry, because the last thing he needed was to offend her again by mother-henning. He’d learned from that particular mistake. Instead, he just offered “If you want to spar some time, you should drop by. I’ve made some upgrades recently, I’d love your input.” And considering how much he respected her technical skills, that wasn’t even a convenient excuse. “Of course I do. It’s not the same out there without you,” he said, smiling warmly. “We’ll just have to show them how to really do the job. It’s going to be great!” That was another moment where everyone’s different styles would be completely on display. He was looking forward to it.

"If I’m really determined, I can find a way to be offended by anything.” She said it like a joke, though it was essentially true. Barbara had a bad habit of getting into moods and losing her sense of humor. Her mood recently had been better than was perhaps the norm, but her anxiety over certain life altering matters had a way of making her irritable in a different way. When it came to Bruce, often times there was nobody she admired more, nobody she owed more to for most of what she had in her life. But she had her qualms, too, just like the rest of them. And whatever tendencies of his that she had adopted as her own, she preferred not to think about it. She made a face, though she always liked hearing she was a genius. If she wanted, Babs knew how to make herself impossible to ignore through a computer screen, but she had no intention of setting up automatic apology emails. “Never mind, then. I would hate for you to miss out on something important. Like an apology from somebody who doesn’t actually say it enough.” Such things were probably better said in person, which was by far more difficult, which was why many people never actually said the words I’m sorry when they should have. Herself included.

While Barbara couldn’t say with 100% certainty that she was definitely ready to hit the streets again, that would always be true, always had been true. She really had no business becoming Batgirl in the first place. Her martial arts training had been vast by normal standards, but barely anything compared to somebody like Dinah. When it came down to it, she had been a wannabe cop who inadvertently turned to vigilantism because her father didn’t want her to get hurt. It was ironic on far too many levels and now she had all the years of experience she didn’t have back then. Things could only be better -- easier, if that were at all possible. The only unfamiliar aspect was the New York of it all. “I appreciate the opportunity to kick your ass and inspect your tech. You’re on,” she said with a grin. For all her feigned confidence, she was nervous about sparring with him again. Not that she’d forgotten how to do it, although kind of, more that they were by far not in the same place they’d been back when they were the only bats other than Bruce. “You ever think about how young we were when we got into all this and now we’re, like, the elders of the group?” Aging as a costumed hero had to be easier when there weren’t progressively younger people joining your team. That said, Babs couldn’t imagine their family without each and every one of them.

[batgirlsback]

 canaryofprcy:

There was a time when Dinah would have felt confident in saying that she knew Barbara Gordon better than she knew anyone on the face of the earth–but the Joker and everything that followed created a distance. Dinah can’t pretend to know everything that Babs has been through in her healing–it’s something that she’s had to do mostly on her own, and Dinah’s tried to give her the space to put the pieces back together, been something solid to lean against during all of it. Now that Babs has been seeking out her training, tentatively getting back into the business of being Batgirl again, it feels like some of that distance is disappearing–she may not know all of the new ways that her best friend stitched herself back together, but she’s sure as hell excited at the prospect of learning. “I told her about keeping a knife in her boot, if she gets laid because some dumbass with money thinks she’s sexy and dangerous I’m going to riot.” She huffs out a laugh and rolls her eyes–the truth of course is that being a mob princess means that Helena probably learned to arm herself to the teeth as soon as she was old enough to understand what it meant. 

She would never allow her face to melt the way it does at that moment around anyone else, but Babs has seen her a hell of a lot worse than soft. There’s something about having Batgirl at her back that Dinah can’t really explain–that’s how they started, when the Birds of Prey were just an idea that they had, and she has yet to find anyone that can anticipate her like Babs can, someone that she trusts to follow her into the worst situations and bring her back out of it at the end. “Barbara my dear, we aren’t like other girls.” She smirks and shrugs her shoulders, folds her arms across her chest. “You won’t rest until you know that everyone is in safe for the night, and I’m not about to roll my eyes all the way through some romantic comedy and talk about boys and girls.” Her expression turns slightly more gentle, and she nudges Babs with a socked foot. “Unless that’s what you have your heart set on, I’d only do it for you.” 

One of the worst things about the night that changed her life forever was the negative impact it had on those around her. She supposed it was her own fault for building the supportive network she had. Between the power Jim and Bruce individually wielded in Gotham, both of them were looking for a way to make things right, and eventually it was her father who won, if it could be called that. Her attitude before becoming Oracle had been poisonous to the people who weren’t used to seeing her so defeated. But after she adjusted, after she built an even better life as a different hero, she had the feeling that Bruce wasn’t as interested in getting her back on her feet as her father was. Despite that fact that Batgirl had nothing to do with the Joker’s attack, she knew that Bruce, like the rest of the bats, secretly or not believed she was safer not fighting at street level anymore. This was untrue, of course. As long as she was involved in heroics, she was in danger.

Without Dinah, the Birds would never be where they were today. For so long, Black Canary was her only agent and even when Helena hesitantly came aboard, Babs still gave most of the heavy lifting to Dinah. Although she was technically the leader, namely because Dinah wasn’t the kind to actively seek out missions or do all the necessary recon, the team belonged to both of them. It took longer than it should have for Barbara to fully trust her best friend, even with her real name. Now she would easily trust her with her life once they finally had the opportunity to fight side by side. “No, we aren’t,” she admitted. “But for one night, we could pretend.” In truth, Barbara didn’t like relaxing. It was a personal problem. It was also possible she was more anxious about being Batgirl again than she cared to admit. What if she'd forgotten how to be her? “I think I liked your idea better. Rom coms will still be there in the event that we both become gravely ill at the same time. Flu season is right around the corner.”

[batgirlsback]

 not-aboywonder·:

[ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] you would absolutely. lucky for me i wouldn’t ever. [ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] it really is. an epic tale. a masterwork of strange life choices. i’m having fun, which is all that matters. [ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] right?? it’s a travesty is what it is. someone needs to do something about this. [ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] i feel like now you’re just insulting me, and i have to say that i would never. much. but you’re the one that said i was worse than him.

( ✉ → boy wonder ): I’m sorry you feel threatened so easily, that must make things tough in your line of work. ( ✉ → boy wonder ): If that’s what you have to tell yourself while looking through Google Images for a full body photo of Batman then all right. ( ✉ → boy wonder ): Unfortunately, even with my connections, I’m not sure there’s anything I can do personally. What a shame. ( ✉ → boy wonder ): So sensitive today! I find it odd how defensive you’ve gotten considering how much I like nerds.

[batgirlsback]

 not-aboywonder‌:

[ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] you’re threatening me. i feel threatened. i might cry, babs. [ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] it’s a very long story. but there are very good, very compelling reasons. [ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] okay yeah but i felt like a certain amount of outrage was called for. that’s a weird oversight, they should fix that. [ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] well yeah, tim’s a good seed, mostly. but there’s like and then there’s using his nerdiness to insult me.

( ✉ → boy wonder ): I would never!! 😊 But just keep that in mind. ( ✉ → boy wonder ): Somehow I doubt it’s that long. What you choose to do in your free time is your business. ( ✉ → boy wonder ): It’s a shame they aren’t paying more attention to meme related wrongdoings. ( ✉ → boy wonder ): At least Tim’s eyes don’t glaze over when I talk about what’s on my monitors. And I never intended to use him as an insult, you willed the comparison on yourself.

[batgirlsback]

 bctwiing:

@batgirlsback

“Okay, so based on the information you gave me, I think I came up with something that might help. Emphasis on might, I don’t know the first thing about genetic mutations versus regular superpowers.” He gestures for Babs to follow him into his apartment, towards the makeshift lab he has set up in his bedroom. They’ve been working pretty much non stop on finding a way to reverse this whole body swapping thing, but they have yet to come up with anything viable, which means that the focus has to shift more to what to do in the immediate future. Apparently the body that Babs is in is pretty much a constant conduit for cosmic energy and constantly converting it into plasma, and it’s very tied up in her (his?) emotional state–which means that they either need a way to modulate the blasts when they happen, or Babs is going to need to be calm–and they need her full brain power working on this. 

“It’s just a temporary set up, I haven’t had time to look for a more practical space yet.” He says by way of explanation, reaches for a circular plate on his desk. “This should focus the energy, and I’ve programmed it to send readings to both your set up and mine. There’s virtually no data on any of this stuff, so at least we’ll have something to work with.” He shrugs his shoulders, before helping her slide the harness over her arms so the plate is in the center of her chest. “If it works you can give it to him when all of this is over, maybe it’ll help or something.” 

“I appreciate the effort,” she says genuinely. The way he talks about it, it doesn’t seem like Alex has had the easiest time controlling his own mutation and Barbara knows that she’s at a much greater disadvantage. Even though she’s a quick learner and usually goes after goals with a stubborn determination, she knows that mastering this body’s abilities is never going to happen. Babs is only hoping not to cause any major destruction or seriously harm anyone. So far, this has been going more or less well, or at least not disastrously. Barbara can’t worry too much about it, is the tricky thing. She would like to consider herself to be a calm person, but realistically, she is the type of person who bottles up her anger and annoyance, which probably won’t do anything to keep this body from openly expressing her secret feelings. Mostly, she’s trying to avoid anything that makes her feel strongly, whether it’s in a negative way or not.

“Please, I’m the last person to judge someone working out of their home.” Although Babs had been quick to find a place that would function well as a place to live and a place to call the Birds of Prey HQ, all of her computers are taking up what was intended to be the master bedroom. Naturally, the smaller bedroom is still plenty big enough for her. “I’m impressed. You work fast. I bet Alex would like to know what we learn, even if he doesn’t use the piece himself.” Babs assumes that Charles Xavier has his own endless supply of research, but it may not have occurred to anybody to test these particulars. 

[batgirlsback]

 canaryofprcy:

@batgirlsback

Dinah doesn’t even know where to begin with this whole body switching thing–it’s practically doubled the chaos on the street with people trying to get a handle on brand new powers, including the people most capable of coming up with viable solutions to it. At the moment that includes Babs, who isn’t so much Babs currently as she is a tall and lanky young man who apparently possesses the ability to shoot some sort of energy out of his literal chest. She seems surprisingly calm about that particular fact, which Dinah suspects is actually key to not triggering that particular ability. “C’mon Babs,” She says as she watches her friend tuck a lock of dark brown hair behind her ear for what must be the one hundredth time in the last ten minutes that she’s been focused on her computer screens. “I wanna see what he can do, and I know that your brain wants to know too. You could help him or something, study his powers!” 

It’s a fight she’s probably not going to win–Babs is far too logical to try something that could be so potentially dangerous, especially when there’s work to be done. People trained under Batman tend to be quick to fire off that they don’t need superpowers, but Dinah knows well enough that that doesn’t mean that they haven’t wanted them–or at least to know what they were like. “It could be worse, at least he’s kinda handsome in that quiet and brooding sort of way.” She feels her face soften, her voice become a hitch more quiet. “He reminds me of the way Roy used to look kind of, after he started living with Ollie for a while.” Life had since hollowed him out in a vicious way, stripped away the boy and replaced it with something else, but she pushes that thought away, schools her features back into something lighter. “What if we got his permission to try it out? You said he seemed like a cool guy.” 

It’s not even embarrassing to admit that Barbara has always wondered what it’s like to have superpowers, in the past even wanted them with a childish longing. But she was thinking more along the lines of Wonder Woman, all the best and most useful powers all combined into one. Mutants were another matter, because their powers were so varied and some had abilities unique to them alone, which seemed to be the case with Alex. He had mentioned his brother having a similar power, but to Babs their skill sets didn’t sound much alike. The only thing Barbara knew to do in times like this was to research until she stumbled upon answers. She had reached out to a number of people, Wonder Woman included, who have also fallen prey to this body swapping epidemic. Dick and Wally are likewise afflicted, and she wonders how it is that Dinah has avoided a similar fate. “Want me to text him and ask for some videos of him using his abilities?” She asks dryly, skill typing away. “I’ve already accidentally used his powers once, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that I do not have a handle on what he can do. Do you want me to blow up the entire building?”

“He’s nice. But that hardly makes the situation better.” Actually, it does, because things could be much worse. She could have swapped with someone awful, someone who might have tampered with her equipment or done terrible things to her body. Instead, she’s the liability, and she and Alex are both only pretending to trust her not to cause some serious damage. “Don’t tell me you think he’s cute, Dinah, that only makes this more awkward.” Barbara has never been the type to put too much emphasis on her appearances so the fact that Alex is nice enough looking really doesn’t change anything. She hesitates between keystrokes, unsure of what the most comforting response to that admission would be. “He has something of an Ollie of his own.” Of course, Barbara does’t know the relationship between Alex and his brother well enough to know this, but it seems true. “There’s cool and then there’s negligent. And I got the feeling that he thinks I’m more likely than not going to burn New York to the ground.”

[batgirlsback]

 canaryofprcy:

Dinah works hard to project the idea that she’s always ready for the fight–that she’s always holding herself tense and at the ready. It’s effective for intimidating enemies and people that she doesn’t want to bother making small talk with, and if there’s anyone who knows that it’s a front more often than not it’s Babs. Sometimes even the all dangerous Black Canary needs a night sprawled out with a cold beer and her best friend instead of the scum of the earth–even if said best friend is currently more focused on what’s happening on her computer screen, than on Dinah’s riveting stories about soccer moms running into poles for the sole purpose of checking out her new mechanic, and how she broke some wannabe gangster’s nose in three places two days ago. It’s a time honored song and dance, and truth be told she’d do anything if it made Barbara happy–even if it means Dinah doesn’t exactly have her full attention. 

“Helena’s on a date with a state senator or something, does that count as a near death experience?” She smirks and raises an eyebrow, takes a pull from her beer. “Y’know what, it actually might. Does she still carry her crossbow in her purse?” She puts her feet on Barbara’s chair with a grin, starts twisting it back and forth idly–a way to not betray just how happy she is to even be sitting here right now, to even have the option of hitting the streets with Batgirl by her side. She’s been fighting by her best friend’s side for so long–not being able to fight this particular fight with her has been pretty much the hardest thing Dinah has ever had to do–she’s just–incredibly grateful that she’s getting the chance to help here and now. 

“Aw, it’s been so long since you took me out dancing just the two of us, you know I’d like nothing more.” She leans back in the chair, smirks again. “You should tell me more about this teacher though, they sound really sexy and smart and powerful.” 

Barbara hasn’t been fair to the people she cares about for a long time. Even before she became Batgirl, before she had any of her closest friends in her life, she had a way of alienating herself. At the time, she hadn’t thought it was by choice. Being the genius daughter of the commissioner who skipped too many grades hadn’t made her very popular. There was a time when she couldn’t imagine having the family she’d built for herself in the last decade. But after becoming Oracle, she closed herself off in an entirely different way, focusing too much of her attention on preventing accidents and keeping bad guys off the streets. If it wasn’t the Joker’s constant breakout attempts, then it was trouble brewing on the other side of the globe, and in both cases Barbara had decided it was her team’s job to save the day. Even when she told herself she was off-duty, her mind was always with her computers, with her agents in the field, with every person she loved who had gone out in costume that night. Knowing too much made it exceptionally hard to turn off her brain.

“Depends on the senator.” They had taken down their fair share of government officials and Babs was more inclined to distrust a senator than believe in whatever platform they ran on. “I would bet good money that Helena doesn’t go anywhere unarmed.” The same can be said for Dinah, if only because she has her Canary Cry. Of the three of them, Dinah is definitely the least reliant on weapons. While Barbara had first learned to fight without them, being a Bat meant leaning a little too heavily on gadgets from time to time. Returning to the Batgirl name is a risk, but being Oracle already puts her life at risk. She thinks herself safer on the streets than behind her monitors. Still, she knows that most of her fellow Bats will disagree and Dinah is easily the person she had been least afraid of confiding in, which was why she had also been the first person Babs told of her plans.

“A day off is never going to sound good enough to us, is it?” This is factually incorrect, as Dinah often asks for a breaks, and Barbara tries her best to send her friend on exciting vacations. It just so happens that trouble also follows her on these vacations. And it was different when Dinah had been her only field agent. Now, the work isn’t quite as heavy, especially if Barbara would now be able to get in on the fighting. “It’s almost as if the two of you have met,” she smirks before taking a sip from the mug of lukewarm coffee by her keyboard. “I owe her a lot. I’m not sure I’d be ready for Batgirl again without her.”

[batgirlsback]

 not-aboywonder:

Dick rolled his eyes. “Well, you definitely didn’t learn that from Bruce,” he pointed out. So much of who they were, who all of them were, was tied up in who Batman had taught them to be. It was actually kind of a fun game, trying to pick out all of the things about each of their little extended family that had been foisted on them, and which were their own little innate Batman traits. They all had them. Otherwise, they’d never have started working with him in the first place. “I’m just saying, if we all start apologizing for busy, we’re never going to have another conversation. We’ll be too busy apologizing for the rest of eternity.” His smile got more genuine the longer it was on his face, until he was honestly grinning. Talking with Babs was just like that, and he had a brief moment of wondering why exactly they weren’t dating again? Before he remembered that it was because he’d been a jerk.

He wasn’t sure whether he could say that the breakup had been a good thing for him. One thing was for sure, though - he’d grown up since then. Maybe because of it, maybe not. Plenty of other things had happened in his life since then, and saying that a single moment had defined who he was now sounded like a Batman sort of thing, one that he hadn’t picked up. Life was just way too complicated for that to ever be true. Well, at least most of the time. His life was definitely not that simple, at least; that was a statement he could stand by.

Now there was a statement that definitely made him feel something. He made himself stop and think before talking, for once, so he wouldn’t say something he’d regret. Like, for example, are you sure that’s a good thing? As much as he really, really wanted to make sure that she was thinking about herself, and her health, before she even considered putting on the suit again, he didn’t want to smother her. She was a grown-up. She got to make her own choices about this one. So instead of speaking from his gut, he spoke from his heart. “Glad to hear it. It’d be good to see you back out there,” he told her earnestly, not really bothered by the fact that she wasn’t looking at him. This was a big deal. If she needed to have a little space while talking about it, he could understand. Not everybody wore their thoughts on their sleeve like he did. “Just isn’t the same without you suiting up next to everyone else.”

Babs narrowed her eyes and clutched her water glass with both hands. “I resent the implication.” When Barbara had fashioned her first Batgirl costume, she was still so young, but already a college graduate. She had thought of herself as a fully developed adult, even if she was a little aimless when it came to her future. It was incredible how wrong she had been, how much of Bruce really had rubbed off on her. Being his first two protégés, it wasn’t surprising that they both fell into the pitfalls of Batman attitudes perhaps more often than the others. She also thought a lot of their similarities had to do with experience, with doing what they did for so many years. “You make a fair point. I could set up automatic emails instead? Once a week you can depend on me apologizing in your inbox.” Her dedication to her work was reliable enough to ensure she would be apologizing for many years to come. Being with him always reminded her of why she should make more time for the people she cared about, to see them regularly out of costume. It was just too easy for her to push this awareness aside once she started working on a new mission.

When she had the implant surgery, she could both blame and thank her father. He had been so intent on finding something that would make her resemble the girl she used to be, though she knew there was no going back to the person she had been before. Her father had always believed that he had put her in danger, but Barbara did an amazing job of doing that herself. If it hadn’t been that bullet that night, it easily could have been a different one another night. In a way, she had agreed because she knew what it meant to her dad, but she regularly had dreams about being Batgirl again, of that feeling of flying through the air between rooftops. She had come to terms with never capturing that moment again, but once the possibility had been planted in her mind, she couldn’t stop thinking about it. Although none of them had broached the subject, she knew her team mates on all sides had to wonder what her recovery meant for the way she chose to fight crime. Babs still wasn’t sure if returning to her old costume was the right choice, but it was the choice she was making. His response made her peek up at him, her face still angled towards her glass. “You really think so?” Whether he did or not was secondary to the fact that he was at least willing to pretend. And as much as she didn’t want to risk upsetting herself by prying, she couldn’t help but poke. “It’s strange to think of how well I know everyone, yet I’ve never had the chance to fight alongside most of them.” If she was being honest, she was a little nervous about how she would fit in. Her presence could easily throw the others off-balance. She wondered if even Dick had forgotten what it was like to kick butt side by side.

[batgirlsback]

 ircnicarus:

The defining moments of Tony’s career as a superhero (which was still fantastic to even think, nevermind say out loud) were never the whackjobs that arose on a daily basis, they were personal battles. Obadiah, Vanko, Killian, even Ultron, they all circled back to Tony in one way or another, the mistakes that he had made, or his father had made before him. Tiberius was just another example of something that Tony, for all intents and purposes, had brought on himself. He wasn’t keen to drag the team, or Pepper though she was invested in it already given it was her company under fire, into the situation, yet trusting people outside of the Avengers was difficult at the best of times. He was taking a gamble with Barbara, but her reputation preceded her, and her family had a good name back in Gotham. Considering how hard that was to achieve in that town, Tony had to assume it was a decent sign as to her trustworthiness.

“I think it has its limitations,” Tony replied, looking over at Dum-E who was currently pouring coffee all over its own wheels. “Intelligence is one thing, but that doesn’t necessarily make something human, or close to it. I mean, humans mess up, for one. It’s the way we get back up again that makes us people.” Of course, that argument was somewhat null and void as he watched his bot make mistake after mistake, and then attempt to atone for that by pressing his claw towards Tony in a display of friendship. Dum-E had always been more than a bot, though Tony wasn’t keen to explore further, given Ultron. “Moron is a step up from what he deserves. He won me a robotics competition when I was fifteen, but he is utterly useless.” Tony watched Barbara carefully, noting something a little off in her response. Hey, she was in Avengers Tower, that had to make anyone act differently! “I went to MIT. I know the experience you can get as a ‘novice.’ I hacked the Pentagon once on a dare. You wouldn’t try to hack me on a dare after this, would you?” It was said as a joke, but it was a fair question, considering … well, considering everything.

The number of people who had made it their personal mission to find and eliminate Oracle was oddly flattering. Nobody had shown that dedication in their hatred of Batgirl and while she didn’t owe the Joker anything, she knew that she hadn’t really come into her own until she had been forced to become the kind of hero that few could replicate. There were plenty of strong women who could kick ass, and Babs had never even been the best at that. But with her hacking skills, she offered an invaluable service to everyone from her own Birds to the JLA. And best of all, she had managed not to get herself killed, thanks in large part to the people she kept close to her. There had been plenty of close calls and sitting behind her monitors had always been far more dangerous than wearing a bat ever had been. She would have to see if New York was any different from Gotham in that regard. It had to be better; villains here didn’t have quite the same Batman vendetta.

Mistakes plagued Babs daily, hourly even, and while she was sometimes compared to her equipment in how clinical she could be with instructions and reactions, she knew that these doubts were one of her distinctly human qualities. “You can’t always come back from mistakes as a human. For a robot, you can reboot, you can rewire, you can scrub the programming, but the human mind is like ten mainframes layered over one another. I think that’s the main difference. Humans can always act against their programming.” The nature vs. nurture argument was fascinating, but ultimately, freewill had the power to betray both. “How many upgrades has he been through?” She asked with genuine curiosity, careful not to remark how old he (and, thereby, Tony) must be. Barbara had permanent access to the Pentagon’s files but she didn’t think that was pertinent to admit. “I’m not much for dares. There are other ways to prove your skills and bravery without bending to peer pressure. And yes I do realize this makes me sound like a mom.”

[batgirlsback]

 xhcvok:

@batgirlsback

Alex wakes up to the sound of an alarm going off–not an all together uncommon occurrence, he has classes to teach and a standing breakfast date with Scott, and he likes to burn off some energy with an early morning run. He doesn’t think twice about it, until he reaches for his phone and his hand hits the empty air, and he realizes that the alarm going off isn’t the sound he remembers it being. He can feel the panic start to flood through him as he takes in his surroundings, but it’s not accompanied by the warm flood of energy just underneath the surface of his skin, in the pit of his chest. It’s just panic, pure and unaccompanied by the threat of the sudden expulsion of energy. It carries him out of the bed and into the bathroom to confirm his suspicions–that he’s not currently inside of his own body. 

The panic seemingly floods him in double time when the actual meaning of that statement really settles in his brain–that there’s someone in the mansion right now with his body, and more importantly his potentially destructive mutation–and no idea how to control it. Luckily whoever this is doesn’t seem to be too fussy–and he manages to find jeans and a hoodie that won’t look too much like an idiot put them together in a short amount of time. He has no idea if they’ll even let him into the mansion as a complete stranger, and he can’t bring himself to consider the possibility that his body might do serious damage to it and the people inside–potentially to his own brother. He just needs to get there–that’s what he has to focus on. 

Not for the first time he curses the distance between the mansion and the heart of the city–a veritable wall separating it from the outside world–but he breathes a sigh of relief when he finally lays eyes on it and sees that it isn’t a smoldering pile of ashes. He manages to sneak past Scott and several students, finds himself (and what a weird thought that is) sitting tensely in front of a pile of papers at the dining room table. “Alex,” He clears his throat and sets his mouth in a straight line. “How are you–feeling?” 

It’s rare that Barbara Gordon finds herself genuinely surprised, but waking up in the wrong bed is...unexpected. Even right out of a deep sleep, her reflexes are quick and she hops out of the bed, immediately aware of how much taller she is now. She examines her hands, paler and bigger and just all around not hers. When she finally finds a mirror, her suspicions are confirmed and she’s not sure whether this is the part of the horror movie where she’s supposed to scream or if this is more of a happy, carefree Freaky Friday scenario. That said, this is a stranger’s body, so she’s not immediately sure what lesson she should be learning. Babs walks over to the window and sees beautiful grounds, with people milling around, most of them teenagers. There’s a distinctly collegiate feel but she’s certainly not in a standard dormitory.

Soon enough, she makes the decision to venture out of the room, because no matter who she is right now, probably he actually belongs here. As long as she doesn’t lose it too much, she won’t draw any unwanted attention. After some wandering, she realizes she’s in the X-Mansion, and it’s almost fascinating enough to distract her from the fact that something has gone terribly wrong. She is trapped in a mutant’s body and she doesn’t even know what it is he can do. People are friendly enough to her but she’s almost positive that fellow X-Men don’t cower in fear when they see one of their own, no matter their powers.

Pretty soon Babs, because it’s almost like a sixth sense by this point, manages to find a computer and printer and immediately skims the internet for any word about her current predicament. It’s frustrating not having access to her usual channels and she wouldn’t risk hacking into the CIA or FBI’s systems on a relatively unsecured network, but she’ll make due with what she has. Once she’s satisfied, she grabs the stack and settles in at the long table, other people scattered around eating and talking. Babs is intently flipping through the papers when she hears an eerily familiar voice and looks up to see...herself. “Barbara,” she says brightly, because apparently normal is both of their aims. “I’ve felt better. But I’ve also felt worse. And you?”

[batgirlsback]

 ircnicarus:

@batgirlsback

It was a weird situation, no one was going to deny that. The majority of New York had woken up to find themselves in another body, and quite often that went with realising they were in another apartment, another borough, or another barber shop at the same time. That was disorientating, and most would assume it was a valid excuse for not going into work that day - or that month. Tony was not part of that group. Although he was probably the worst person in the world to have the Hulk lingering in the background, he was also one of the few who could provide insight on what had happened and how to fix it, and he needed to focus on that.

That being said, he was losing his mind. He needed someone else around so that he didn’t start freaking out, because he could feel it happening already. Barbara Gordon was someone Tony trusted, and that meant she was one of the first he called.

“Barbara!” Tony said, pushing himself up from his desk when he heard the door to his workshop opening. “I can’t tell you how glad I am to see - not Barbara.” Tony stopped in place, holding a hand up in between them. “Okay so. This whole open house thing going on right now? It isn’t going on. This is a high security facility, and if you don’t leave in like, ten seconds, I’m not afraid to use this.” Tony held up his arm, waiting for the gauntlet to come to him. When it didn’t, he turned with a frown to look at his hand - which of course, wasn’t his hand. “I, um. That was a warning. Next time, you’ll be so done for!”

It was convenient, beyond convenient, that the man walking around in her body was as proactive as she was. Granted, she had not immediately taken it upon herself to locate her body, but that had been for the best. If she had left the mansion, her own body never would have walked through those intimidating front doors and spotted her. Babs and Alex had swapped phones back, which wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things, but it was something. With her own phone in hand, she made the trek back to the city and noticed as she left the train station that she had a missed call from Tony.

She was in good company with this unfortunate body swapping situation, then. It would be tricky convincing him that she was in fact Barbara Gordon, but hopefully not too difficult. After all, he was experiencing the exact same thing. And if he got on her nerves, it seemed she had a tendency to make things explodes. “Yes Barbara,” she insisted, nearly grimacing at the way that sounded in Alex’s voice. “I mean, sure, this isn’t my body, but my brain seems to be functioning as if nothing is wrong. And you want me for my brain, don’t you?” Babs raised her eyebrows as the man who was not Tony attempted a very Tony-like movement. At least she wasn’t the only one making mistakes like that. “We don’t know each other well enough for me to prove it to you, but you should trust me. I suppose I could divulge a deeply personal secret, thereby proving I must be Barbara Gordon, but I’d prefer the you-just-believe-me route. And I’ll just blindly trust that you’re in fact Tony Stark. Deal?”

[batgirlsback]

 not-aboywonder‌:

[ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] i appreciate your trust and confidence [ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] listen. sometimes you have to photoshop a picture of batman wearing bunny slippers. that’s just how life is, babs, i don’t make the rules. [ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] you wouldn’t!! that’s cruel and unusual punishment. deeply offensive and probably a war crime. [ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] rude

( ✉ → boy wonder ): You better, because it’s much easier to lose than it is to gain. ( ✉ → boy wonder ): But why would you have to Photoshop something that already exists?  ( ✉ → boy wonder ): I think we both know I would. Mhm yes well I checked and weirdly enough, it’s not. ( ✉ → boy wonder ): I happen to like Tim quite a bit!

[batgirlsback]

 not-aboywonder‌:

[ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] innocent kittens as far as the eye can see. go ahead. [ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] also one picture of bunny slippers which is for totally normal, not-photoshop-related reasons. [ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] you know what? it was worth it. [ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] honestly i feel like in a family that includes timbo, i can’t possibly be called a nerd.

( ✉ → boy wonder ): For some reason I’ve decided to take your word for it. ( ✉ → boy wonder ): See why would I go digging through your computer when you’re just going to tell me the weird things you do without me going through all that effort ( ✉ → boy wonder ): You say that now, but wait until I start a group chat without you where I share all of my best animal memes. ( ✉ → boy wonder ): You’re giving him a run for his money.

[batgirlsback]

@infamousclownlady

She was trying to view this whole thing as an extremely immersive scientific experience. If ever she wondered what it was like when mutants’ powers emerged, she felt she had a pretty good idea now. Granted, the body she was attempting to gain control over wasn’t her own, which did complicate matters. She had to wonder why she’d been placed in this body, with powers that weren’t nearly as straight forward as flight or super strength. Babs would have taken super speed over this, because at least she understood the basics. While she knew plenty of speedsters, she wasn’t sure anyone else had the same powers as Alex Summers, which made researching his skills all the more difficult. He’d done his best to give her some pointers, but understandably there wasn’t much he could do to make her any good at applying them correctly.

Although the X-Mansion was one of the safer places for her to be, it felt...wrong. Like she was taking over some poor kid’s life. Babs had a fear of accidentally destroying her equipment, or taking out her condo, but it felt like the right thing to do. Maybe she could go home and call a friend over that could more or less handle her powers, so she had a better chance of not flattening her entire building. Barbara was in a bit of a hurry, figuring the faster she got home, the less chance she had of hurting anyone. Just one more block she thought to herself. She was staring ahead, eyes full of determination, when suddenly someone heading in the other direction caught her attention. “H--Harleen?” It wasn’t entirely fair to blame Harley Quinn for things the Joker had done, but it wasn’t as if Barbara could control her emotions as easily as she pretended to. Harley’s face inevitably reminded Babs of the giant uphill battle she was still climbing, and before she knew it, waves of plasma were rolling off her body. Alex’s body. Shit.

Harleen was far enough away that she didn’t take the brunt entirely, but Babs had managed to bend a street light and shatter the windows of almost every store on the street, showering them both with glass. “Crap,” Babs muttered before running forward to look at Harley. “That was an accident. Um, I mean, mostly, I think. Are you okay?”

[batgirlsback]

 not-aboywonder‌:

[ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] image attached [ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] you should really know better. you set em up like that, i’m gonna knock em down. it’s just who i am as a person. [ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] and here i thought i was the ridickulous one

( ✉ → boy wonder ): I have half a mind to go looking through your Google Images search history right now. ( ✉ → boy wonder ): I hope you’re happy because you won’t be receiving any more cute animal memes from me for a while. ( ✉ → boy wonder ): Do take this the wrong way: I’m me and I’m calling you a nerd.

[batgirlsback]

 not-aboywonder‌:

[ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] apology accepted [ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] i feel like i should remind you that you started this [ ✉ → og batgirl 💖 ] you’re being pretty nice for someone who claims to hate me

( ✉ → boy wonder ): 😓 ( ✉ → boy wonder ): I didn’t know you would use a picture of a cute cat to bait me into complementing your ass. Which in retrospect was foolish of me. ( ✉ → boy wonder ): I said I hate the *fact* that you made me type something terrible. I’d never claim to hate you, that’s just ridiculous.