Detective Barbara Gordon

"Hold still or I'll shoot!" Barbara Gordon, a detective for the NYPD shouted while pointing her gun.

"If you shoot, I'll slash her neck!!!" A man holding a knife to a woman's throat shouted back at her.

Barbara was sweating and shaking from just pointing a gun at another man.

The man holding a knife noticed it and smiled. He slowly backed away.

"I said don't move or I'll shoot!"

"You won't shoot..." The man boldly replied as he continued to back away to turn a corner. He didn't even bother keeping his eyes on Barbara.

"Tsk!" Barbara struggled as her body tremor intensified to a degree she couldn't control anymore.

As the man holding a woman captive in his arms began to disappear into the corner, she collapsed and started to catch her breath.

"Haaah. Haaah. Haaah." She took off her blazer and threw it on the ground before clutching her chest.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Aaaaah!"

Shots echoed through the hall and a woman's scream followed right after. Blood began to flow on the floor from the corner where the man disappeared to.

Another police officer came out of the corner and confirmed the kill. He turned on his radio and reported to their superior officer as he took glances at Barbara that was sitting on the ground in a terrible posture.

Barbara couldn't look him in the eye in shame.

After reporting, he immediately ran towards Barbara and held his hand towards her.

Barbara hesitantly grabbed his hand and pulled herself up.

"Damn it, Barbs. Again?"

"I'm sorry..."

"I know how you feel, but it's been a year since that time."

"You don't have to remind me."

"Are you even going to your therapy sessions?"

"Yes."

The police officer sighed. "I hate to see you like this, Barbs. You were number one in our class in everything."

"..."

Barbara couldn't say anything.

A year ago, she experienced killing a person for the first time and she couldn't forget it.

----

"It's a good thing you were there, Manning." The police captain said.

"Thank you, Captain." Detective Tanner Manning replied.

"As for you, Gordon. Good job. Keep up the good work."

"Thanks..." Barbara said with her head down.

"You're a fine Detective. Lift your chin up. You'll make sergeant in no time."

"Yes, sir!"

The Captain walked up to Barbara Gordon. "Don't let that get you down. It's not a requirement to become a great police officer...but I hope you fix it soon or someone might get killed because of it."

"I will." Barbara said sternly.

Barbara and Tanner walked out of the captain's office.

"Barbs, are you going home?"

"Yeah."

"You want to have a drink first?"

Barbara faintly smiled and said yes.

At the bar, most of the patrons coming there were cops.

"I figured you'd need something to drink after that." Tanner said

"Yeah. It helps. Thanks." Barbara replied. "How did you get over it, Tanner?"

"Me? Well...I think I just don't think of it. I focus on who I helped and whose lives I saved."

"..." Barbara looked at the glass in front of her that contained beer. "Wasn't that guy a veteran that was struggling to keep a job?"

She was referring to the guy that held a woman hostage earlier.

"Yeah?"

"Isn't it our job to help him too?"

"Barbara. If he kept losing his job, he must not be very good at it."

"You didn't check his profile in detail, didn't you?" Barbara furrowed her brows. "He kept losing jobs because of his random episodes caused by his ptsd..."

Tanner looked at Barbara Gordon with awe and surprise that she was thinking about that.

"How could I take the life of somebody like that?"

Tanner Manning closed his eyes in guilt and took gulps from his glass of beer.

"I'm sorry, Tanner...I wasn't trying to guilt trip you." Barbara turned her face away from Tanner and looked down.

"No, it's okay...I'm just in awe of you, Barbs. You probably didn't join the force just for the benefits. You joined because you really care about what's going on around you."

"I..." Barbara blushed. "...two important men in my life taught me that."

"They must be proud of you then." Tanner finished his beer and went to the restroom.

Barbara watched his back as he walked away and finished her beer for courage.

She was very flattered that someone would compliment her by comparing her to her father and Bruce Wayne. The two most important men in her life.

There and then, she decided to show her appreciation. She stood up and walked in the men's restroom where Tanner went in.

"Barbara?" Tanner said as he struggled pulling his zipper up.

Barbara walked up to where he was and pulled him into a kiss before pushing him into a cubicle.

She followed him inside and locked the door behind her.

"Wai-mmmm!!!" Tanner's words were blocked by Barbara's kiss.

He struggled until he successfully pushed her off.

"I said wait!" Tanner tried to catch his breath.

"What? Isn't this what you want?" Barbara also gasped for breath.

"No, Barbs." Tanner chuckled.

"You don't...like me? Then why were you sticking to me ever since the academy. You invited me to drink, you don't have a girlfriend...why?"

Tanner just looked at her meaningfully to let her think about it for a moment.

Barbara soon widened her eyes. "No..."

"Yes, Barbs." Tanner chuckled.

"How come you never told me before?"

"To be honest, I thought you already knew." Tanner chuckled.

"I never would have guessed. There weren't any clues...no, wait. That's why you were always dressed neatly. I just thought you were trying to impress because you had a crush on me." She took notice of it because Bruce Wayne dressed neatly when he was in his Billionaire CEO persona.

"Hahahahaha" Tanner laughed as he wiped his teary eyes.

"Am I the only one that doesn't know?"

"Probably, yeah. You don't seem to have a lot of friends in the station except me. To think that the best detective would be so wrong about something."

"I got the clues, my readings were just a little bit off." Barbara said.

They continued drinking and their range of conversation grew because of the sudden revelation about Tanner's sexuality.

"Bye~! I had fun tonight!" Barbara shouted as she opened the door of a taxi cab and got in.

"See you on monday!" Tanner waved goodbye before walking in the opposite direction.

When Barbara got off the taxi cab, she immediately ran up the building where she was living in. Once she entered the door of her apartment, she covered her face with her hands.

"MMMMMM!!!" She shouted but the sound was muffled with her hands so that she won't disturb the neighbours. Barbara had kept all her embarassment in until she managed to get back home.

She walked up to her bed and threw her jacket on the chair next to it before jumping on the bed.

Barbara laid there for a while and slowly turned her body to the side and got a pillow to scream into again.

"MMMMMMMM!!!"

Her face was all red as she wallowed in her embarassment until she fell asleep.

-Monday-

"Where's Tanner?" Barbara asked.

"You didn't know? Apparently, he got hospitalized after he got in a fight."

"What?!"

"Yeah. He checked himself in a hospital."

"What happened?"

"He said he was drunk and he didn't remember what the fight was about."

"Who did he fight?"

"He said it was his fault anyway and doesn't plan to sue."

"Pffft." Barbara chuckled. "The guy must have not known he was a cop."

"Yeah.... Hey, ummm..." Her colleague detective pointed at the Captain's office. "Captain's looking for you."

"...." Barbara furrowed her eyes as she went deep in thought.

She got hastily walked toward's the captain's office.

"Good morning, Captain."

"Good morning, Gordon. You better knock next time, okay?"

"I'm sorry, sir...umm-" Before she got to say anything, the Captain waved a paper in the air.

"Here." He said without looking.

Barbara slowly took it and looked at the piece of paper and widened her eyes. "This-!"

"A murder scene."

"Y-yes, sir."

"Can you handle this without Manning?."

"Yes, sir!"

"Good."

Barbara walked out of the captain's office and went straight to her desk to work.

"Prospect Park....Female....no signs of struggle..." Barbara muttered as she read the case file.

The victim had stab wounds on her stomach and back. She was found lying on her belly indicating that she tried to get away after she got stabbed from the front. Then, the killer finished her off with multiple stabs to her back. All her belongings were left with her and there were no signs of the victim being raped. No murder weapon found.

There were no suspects or witnesses near the crime scene when the body was discovered by security.

"Hmmmm..."

Barbara tapped her table with her fingers as she thought to herself. Then, she began to type to her keyboard.

Tap tap tap tap tap...

"...and send"

She twirled around on her chair and stopped when she caught Tanner Manning's empty desk.

Bing!

Her computer notified her and she began to print out what was sent back to her as a reply.

It was all the recent files regarding Prospect park.

Sadly, there were only a few thefts. The murder case was isolated.

After hours of searching, nothing to take note of has come up.

Barbara slumped on her desk.

"You're not gonna take a break, Gordon?" Their sergeant that was passing by asked her.

"Oh, Sarge." Barbara fixed her posture. "I didn't even notice it was lunch time."

"Don't forget to take a break, okay?" The sergeant said as he continued walking to his desk while holding his food.

Barbara went outside and crossed the street where an establishment was serving bagels. She ordered a simple bagel sandwich and coffee.

She immediately went back to her desk and ate.

After eating, without sparing any more time, she began to work again. This time, she expanded her search around the areas near prospect park.

Almost two hours has passed, and Barbara began to smile. She found a string of unsolved murders that might have something to do with the murder case she was handling.