"He did WHAT?!"

The astonished anger in Dinah's voice mirrored Barbara's own 
quieter outrage. "Her own cave. Isn't that nice? Complete with Bat-
gym and Bat-sewer-access and accompanying complimentary Bat-
neurosis."

Dinah snorted. "As if she hasn't got enough problems. Now he's 
turning her into his own little Mini-Me. That's just all kinds of 
wrong, Babs."

"*Tell* me about it." Barbara's lips curled in a silent frustrated 
snarl. "He didn't even ask me. Just took her there for her 'own 
protection.' And mine, supposedly."

"Well, he could have a point there--"

"She didn't *think* about it, Dinah. Just broke into a government 
building, totally unmasked."  
 
"You *can* do the superhero thing without a mask," Dinah said 
dryly, "but I guess that doesn't go too well with the 
CreepyNightThing image. Or with sneaking into places with 
security cameras...."

"It wasn't even a 'secret identity' thing." Barbara chewed on her lip. 
"Cassandra doesn't make that kind of distinction. She doesn't 
expect to be anything but Batgirl 24/7, so what's the point of any 
other ID?"

"Even Batman takes off the cowl *sometimes.* Can you 'fix' this?"

"Some of it. But they've got hardcopy and isolated servers; I don't 
think I can wipe all the records."

"Well, I could--"

"*No.* You've got the unmasked thing to worry about, too. Even if 
you wore a disguise, I don't want you involved in this. It's 
government stuff; last thing the JSA needs is one of its members 
caught up in federal B&E and theft charges."

"Dammit. Sometimes being a good guy really sucks." She 
practically could hear Dinah thinking over the phone line. "Look, 
he's worried that Cassandra's ID could lead back to you and 
Oracle, right? "

"Uh-huh..."

Dinah blew out a breath. "She wants to use the cave for training, 
fine. But if she needs a place to *live,* tell her to come and stay 
with me."

Barbara started. "Dinah, you don't have to--"

"No, look, it's good. Someone traces her to me--fine. They already 
KNOW me."

"What if they decide to come after *her*?"

She could almost see Dinah's fierce grin. "Let 'em. "

"What if they show up with subpoenas? You don't want to get 
caught in that, they could drag you in as an accessory."

"Deal with that when it happens."
 
"Dinah, seriously. You don't want this kind of grief."

She heard Dinah sigh. "I like my privacy, okay? But this girl needs 
help. She *doesn't* need to be locked up in a cave all day, no 
matter what His Mighty Batness thinks."

"He's not going to think much of *this.*"

"Fine! Let him come and tell me that in person. And then he can 
tell me why he's so determined to turn this kid into another 
Batman. I know she's got all kinds of trauma, but Jesus, Babs, he's 
not even giving her a *chance!*"

Barbara knew why, even if she'd never dared say it before this. "He 
thinks they're kindred spirits."

That stopped Dinah for a second. "Maybe. Maybe they are. Maybe 
the kind of trauma they both suffered won't allow for anything 
else. But *I* think Cass deserves the opportunity to find out what 
else she might be. I'm not trying to 'steal' her, I just...I don't think 
it's a good idea. This cave thing. "



"CreepyNightThing" [TM] Smitty.