A/N: The first Gotham described is the one from Convergence. Some stuff is kind of what I imagined to have happened after Convergence Flashpoint; what I imagined to have happened after all the cities flew away after they had that battle between Earths.
Where is my wheelchair?
That was the first thing that appeared in Barbara’s mind when she found herself seated on the stony ground of Gotham...but not the one she was familiar with.
She groaned and rubbed her head, only to feel a sharp pain and something warm and sticky. She looked at her palm. Red was the last thing she saw before passing out.
She was at the Clocktower--her humble abode--just a few minutes earlier. Snuggled up to Dick’s warm body as they watched a movie, while rain violently smashed down to the grimy Gotham streets. He lovingly stroked her fiery locks while she hummed in content.
Just because this crime-ridden city was the only place left in the world they still managed to make the best of it. Its dark aura allured the pair. Everything was a mystery beckoning to be explored. And of course, the detective's instinct engraved in them at a juvenile age added on to their attraction to the city. The city was as much of a part of them as each other was--like a second spouse.
But for now, Barbara devoted herself to the one next to her. And Dick did the same, with his legs tangled with hers. Her lower limbs may have lost the ability to feel, but that ability seemed to come back whenever around him. She could sense the prominent amount of affection put into that gesture.
Barbara was no longer paying attention to the story on the screen, but the story in his eyes. His eyes unknowingly narrated the tales of his days in scaley green undies to his days of wearing an itching cowl. And the corners of her lips lifted slightly remembering that some of those tales included a certain inferno haired bat.
His palm soon moved from her hair to her arm, rubbing circles with his thumb. She rested her head under his, snaking her arm to his shoulder, returning the gesture there.
Dick was about to say something--probably a sickeningly sweet flirtation--but was cut off by a resounding boom outside.
Dick was instantly on his feet, looking for his nighttime suit.
“I’ll come along,” offered Barbara. Well, it sounded like an offer, but knowing her it really was an affirmation. However, Dick seemed to forget that.
“Babs--” He tried to argue while changing.
She simply ignored his protests and settled onto her wheelchair.
“Come on ex-Boy Wonder,” she announced. “No time to argue.”
The raven-haired man sighed in defeat, knowing that she was coming regardless, and slipped on the final part of his suit: his mask.
He hopped out the window, diving headfirst into the rain, while she went out the conventional way.
Little did she know that it would be the last time she saw her home for a while.
Barbara groaned--for the second time that day--and lightly rested her hand on her head. She felt the smooth bandages and gently traced her fingers upon them. The woman finally opened her eyes to see herself in a familiar environment. But there was something different about it.
The Clocktower--where Barbara presumed she was--didn’t seem so much like a home. There were no comfy couches where she and Dick would usually relax. Or any photo frames of their childhood. There were just...computers. Which yes were at her Clocktower too, but the furniture is what usually took up most of the space. The only thing that gave it away as being the Clocktower was the large Roman numeral clock of a window, bringing in harsh sunlight.
"She's up!" Barbara heard a familiar voice exclaim. A voice that she always hears when it screams at the scum of Gotham.
Dinah?
She didn’t know what to think. It sounded like Dinah, but it didn’t feel right. None of this felt right.
She tried her best to shift around (it was hard due to the paralysis) when she heard the footsteps. Barbara reached into her pocket for a Batarang, preparing to bring it out and fling.
Once the footsteps came closer the Batarang flew from her hand. It whizzed across the room and managed to flick the cheek of the woman of which the footsteps belonged to. The woman gasped just as the Batarang struck the wall with a vibration.
"That didn't really hurt you did it, Dinah?" Another familiar voice announced.
Helena?
Now that Barbara finally got a good look, the woman was, in fact, Dinah. And the second woman now emerging was Helena. But there was something different about them, and it wasn’t what they were wearing.
They were younger.
Barbara’s eyes widened at this realization. Now she was certain of what was going on.
She was on another Earth.
After an awkward exchange of greetings, Barbara recited her side of the story. And Dinah was currently telling her what was going on with them.
“So while chasing after this gang we were after, we decided to split up,” Dinah reminisced. “I had just finished up tying up my guys and got the message form Babs--our Barbara--that she was done--”
“That’s when we heard the shriek,” Helena interrupted.
“Yeah,” Dinah said annoyed but continued nonetheless. “We heard her yell. So we immediately headed her way, only to find you bleeding on the ground."
Barbara breathed out. Never in her whole life had she thought that she would be involved in this dimension traveling drama (that was the Flash’s job after all). The closest she had ever been to it was when that crazy dude had entrapped cities from different Piles of earth and pit them against each other.
But now this had happened.
“So you think that you dimension traveled?” Helena skeptically asked. Though she really shouldn’t be skeptical with a crazy world like this.
“Yes.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t time travel?” Helena inquired once again. “I mean you are older than our Barbara.”
“From what you’ve told me,” Barbara began, “this world is a bit too different to be my past. And I think that I would remember regaining the use of my legs.”
At that last comment, Dinah had a sympathetic look in her eyes. And Barbara felt guilty for bringing it up, she didn’t want them to feel uncomfortable.
“Speaking of which,” Barbara said suddenly switching her tone. “Do you happen to have a wheelchair?”
They did not have a wheelchair.
Though, the two remaining members of this Earth’s Birds of Prey did have an agreement to take her to Batman. So maybe he would have one.
Dinah had managed to get a hold of Batman and told him to meet them on a building near the GCPD. They had a “surprise” for him to see.
Helena decided to stay behind an continue working on the case she and Dinah had dropped after finding the redhead. So Barbara was currently sitting behind Dinah, who was speeding through Gotham on her sleek motorbike.
“How are you feeling back there?” Dinah practically yelled over the roaring engine.
“Definitely not the first time I’ve been on a bike.”
Dinah chuckled. “Good to know that your Earth’s Barbara Gordon isn’t boring.”
Barbara smiled. She felt at comfort with this Dinah Lance, and that would probably be the same with any Dinah Lance.
The tall buildings of this Gotham are also something that gave her comfort. It felt so much like her home, and she soon began to think how the Bats were holding up without her. If they were managing to survive without her.
She sighed, hoping that they haven't damaged anything during her departure. However, knowing her comrades, that was not humanly possible. They’ve probably crashed through (and shattered) her home’s windows for a “dramatic” effect by now. Like they always do.
The blond finally skidded to a stop at their destination. She hopped off the bike and picked Barbara up from under her thighs.
“Do you think he will have a wheelchair?” Barbara inquired. “I’m not exactly too keen on being carried around my whole time here.”
“Why don’t you ask him yourself,” Dinah stated while she looked up at the top of the building. Barbara followed her gaze to find the Dark Knight perched upon a gargoyle, threateningly shrouded in his cape.
“If he’s anything like the one I know,” Barbara said rolling her eyes at his theatrics, “he’ll probably have one.”
Dinah steadily made her way to the top to find the Batman finally off the gargoyle. He stared at the two women taking in every detail. And Barbara stared back at him. He seemed so familiar, it made Barbara begin to think about her Bruce again. A tear threatened to fall when she realized she was already missing her home dearly.
“So,” Dinah said breaking the silence. “She is from another dimension. And our Batgirl disappeared around the time she appeared.”
He seemed to take this fairly calm. But Barbara knew him—even if foreign—she knew that there was a storm raging within him.
He sighed. “I’ll call the League.”
He was staring at her.
Barbara pretended to notice the intense gaze of Wally West, who stands behind her. But she did feel it.
Even around all the different glances given to her by the members of the Justice League, his stood out. It wasn’t like the stare of shock Dick Grayson had when he saw her, nearly tripping over himself when he did. At first, he thought that she was another person from the future here to cause havoc in his family, again.
Tim Drake had the same reaction...except, he did manage to trip over himself. He half expected her to get up and kill someone at first glance. But then realized that she couldn’t get up since she was in a wheelchair...crippled.
Oh, and yes, Bruce did have a wheelchair.
Wally West’s gaze was one of...attraction.
But not to her.
And the longer Barbara sat in the foreign Batcave with the foreign heroes, Wally West seemed...familiar.
But not the familiar she felt in this Gotham, or with these heroes. Not the foreign but familiar kind of familiar. A closer-type of familiar.
He was not infatuated with her, but something about her. Maybe something that surrounded her. He looked at her like she held something of his. He looked at her like her presence is supposed to make him remember something. He felt like was supposed to know her. Not just know her because he knew that there was another Barbara that belonged to this Earth, actually know her.
