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Batgirl Begins (dbspock/WendyTheRed)

She huffed quietly when she heard the two men speaking. "I'm not used to being half naked in front of men. That's all. Sara is fearless. I'm just not there yet." She took a few long, deep breaths, totally unaware of how doing so would show off her breasts even more. She was attempting to get herself back under control. The men didn't know it, but they'd actually done probably the best thing they could have done to get her to stop blushing. They'd poked the competitive side of her. She paused briefly in her movements then resumed, focusing intently on her kata now and centering herself, the blush fading away as she turned inward. She didn't know it but she'd achieved a state of inner calm that Daniel Larusso would be proud of, even if he might not approve of why it happened.

She heard Rick and nodded, closing her eyes. "Alright." Her gymnastics training would come in useful now. She started with essentially warm up stretches like she had done before track meets at her old school. And then she went into more complicated stretches, holding a leg up nearly parallel with her body then repeating with the other leg. She followed that up with one of the other stretching exercises she'd been taught as a gymnast. She didn't know it but a yoga practitioner would call it the upward bow pose. She laid on her back on the floor then planted her feet and palms on the floor and gradually lifted her hips up until she was arched up. She held it for a few breaths then laid back down and rolled to her feet, moving on to simple stretches such as leaning down to touch her toes, twisting and gripping her elbow to turn at the waist as much as possible and similar movements.
 
Bab's assessment of the situation had been just what Rick had been trying to say, he'd just been trying to be more delicate about it. Any comment he had about the matter was driven from his mind as Bab's chest expanded and she put on her inadvertent show. Try as he might not to stare, there weren't a lot of other places to look, especially as her image also filled the TV screen on the wall. Jack also noticed the effect her kata was having on her as he watched the readings go back to normal. "There...that's better..." He said softly, pleased his equipment seemed to be working right after all.

At least until she went into her stretching routine. At first, the readings looked normal, but as soon as Bab's lifted her leg up, an alarm went off on the console, and Jack quickly wheeled over to try and track down the source. Rick glanced over at Bab's for a moment and got a far better view between her legs than he'd counted on. But her position did explain the alarm. "I think we need to adjust the parameters. The human body is more flexible than we gave it credit for." Rick observed as he silenced the alarm. Or at least, Bab's body seemed incredibly flexible. There's no way Rick could have pulled that off.

Oh, boy. Rick thought again as she arched her back. He doubted she had any idea what it was doing to her breasts, but it was hard for the men to miss. Just as it was hard for them to miss her panties had slid down a bit, and she was showing a bit more butt crack than when she had started.
 
She heard the alarms but did her best not to let it distract her from her stretching exercises. He was correct she had no idea what the position was doing to her breasts but only because she was so focused.

In spite of her renewed focus it did eventually sink in how they were looking at her and the blushes resumed though not as bad as before and she furiously worked on regaining her focus. Ironically all the stretches felt great in spite of the situation and she glanced over at the thardened.

"Should I keep going?" Unknown to her, when she turned they'd have a good side view of one of her breasts and in spite of her exercises the cool air was making her pink nipples harden.
 
Oh boy. That was one of Rick's favorite phrases, at least when it came to teenage girls doing topless stretches in front of him it seemed. As she turned, Rick got a great look at her breast, right down to the hardened nipple. Jack, for his part, was trying to stay focused on the read out, but the read out was so sensitive it too picked up on her hardening nipple and highlighted the discrepancy. "What's..." Jack began as he looked up and focused on Bab's, and his eyes widened as he spotted her breast and realized what the problem was. "Oh." Jack said softly as he focused on the read outs again, not even hearing her question.

"No, I think we're good." Rick told her. As valuable as the information they were getting was, he could feel a bit of an erection coming on, so he decided to end the procedure, and Jack did not protest. Rick stepped a bit away from the console, trying to stay as far from Babs as possible in the cramped room. He walked over to the desk, intending to hand her her clothes, but his hand froze when he realized he'd have to touch her bra first.
 
She saw Jack look at her and his eyes widening as he stared very briefly at her chest. She glanced down, for the first time finding out that her nipples had reacted to the cool air.

She nodded in relief when Rick said they were done and moved away from the X. She placed her forearm across her breasts since now that she wasn't focused on moving around she was starting to get self conscious again.

Ironically, she was helped slightly by when she saw Rick hesitate. It wasn't hard to guess why and she quickly moved over, snatching up her bra. She slid it on and clasped it then quickly grabbed the robe and was about to slide it on when her eyes fell on he blouse. She shrugged and laid the robe aside long enough to put the blouse on and carefully button it up. That done she put the robe on and cinched the belt.

"So, I'll arrange overtime for the next couple of days. Is there anything else about the armor we need to go over?" She looked between the two men as she cinched the belt on the robe. "And Rick if they find my skirt where will they take it?"
 
Rick saw her move towards him, remembering her modesty it seemed as she covered her breasts, and he quickly moved aside, allowing her access to her clothing. He grinned briefly when she put on not only her blouse, but the robe as well, covering herself by every means available. Hopefully he made his face impassive again by the time she turned to him.

He shook his head when asked about the armor. "I think we have enough to get started on it, at least. If anything comes up during the manufacturing process, I'll get with you, but that shouldn't happen until normal business hours. As for your skirt...lost and found is typically in the break room, but they might put in my office instead. I'll check with maintenance...they are tracing the robots path and cataloging the damage, so they will probably find it first." He took out his phone and tapped out a brief message, then looked up and opened the door for her.

"In the meantime...let's go to the armory, and you can pick up the equipment you requested that doesn't need to be customized."
 
She nodded, surprised that he so easily accepted her role in all of this. Then again, she had come with a letter from Bruce Wayne, so why wouldn't he? She nodded to him when he explained the plan about the armor. "Even if it comes up during the overtime, feel free to reach out. I can give you my cell number if you'd like. We're on a bit of a time crunch so I want to be available if needed." She nodded at his plan about her skirt. "That would be great, and much appreciated. It's new too and hopefully not damaged." She sighed and just shook her head as she exited through the door he opened with a quick wave to Mary Ann.

She smiled at his suggestion about the armory. "That'd be great. Will you be able to have a belt and holsters on the armor for carrying those batons? And is there any other equipment you can think of that might be useful to have that isn't covered in the request?"
 
"I'll do that, but if there's a serious glitch in the automation process, I'm not sure there'd be much you could do." Rick admitted. That was pretty much the only reason he wanted to work a bit of overtime tonight, to keep an eye on the so far seldom used process. If something went wrong, he wasn't sure what he could do, much less her. "But give me your cell anyway, just in case." In any event, having the cell number of Mr. Wayne's personal assistant might come in handy for other reasons.

He walked down the hall with her and nodded as she asked about the holsters. "Did you want a belt and movable holsters? Or would you rather have the holsters permanently attached to the armor? If so, we should probably discuss their location, which doesn't have to be on the hips. The backs and thighs are popular options as well." Rick stopped walking as she asked the next loaded question, and a frown came to his face. That was an incredibly broad question, and there was no way he could answer it. Was she setting him up so she could blame him when something went wrong? That was his first instinct, and if she'd had more experience in the corporate world he probably would have stuck with that assumption. But she was young, and this was her first day, and he sensed no guile from her, so he gave her the benefit of the doubt...for the moment.

"There's no way I can answer that question." He admitted with a shake of his head. "There are so many unknowns when you go out in the field, that there is no way to predict what might be needed. I could make some educated guesses, but I haven't seen a threat assessment to know who might be after this shipment, so I don't know how to counter them. I also don't know your capabilities. Do you have a concealed carry permit? Much experience with swords? How far are you willing to go to keep control of the shipment? Would you destroy it before letting it fall into enemy hands? Would your father approve of letting us use the GCPD crypto scheme for comms? How much gear do you want to carry? Are you concerned more with stealth, armor or mobility? " Rick shrugged helplessly. "I can give you a utility belt equipped with what I think might be useful, but there's no way I can tell you what equipment might be useful for something like this."
 
She rattled off her cell number to him when he responded. "Well, this armor is important. Might keep me alive, you know? So I just want to make myself available if you need me." She hoped he wouldn't need her tonight as she'd be training first with Miyagi-Do then with John. Thinking about John made her think about his earlier moodiness that she still didn't understand. She mentally replayed their interactions, trying to figure out what she might have done to upset him but nothing came to mind yet.

She considered his question. The idea of the holsters on her back appealed but that could have problems, especially if, as she hoped, she someday had a cape of her own. "I think a belt and movable holsters would be best. Who knows, over time we might work together on different ideas." She stopped when he did and wondered about the frown. She could see some kind of internal struggle on his face and it felt like he was trying to decide if he trusted her.

She listened and nodded along as he ticked off points. She replied to them as accurately as she could. "I know. I don't expect you to have specific answers. I just thought maybe you could think of things I didn't. Or Hell, maybe you had a piece of gear you wouldn't mind seeing field tested." She nodded and took a breath then looked up and down the hallway to insure they were alone for the moment. "The government people don't think costumed criminals will be interested in the cargo. I think those people are unpredictable enough we can't rule it out. They believe any attempts to take the cargo will be from hired mercs. Which worries me since mercs could conceivably have some heavy firepower."

"I've had martial arts training but I'm not even close to Sara's experience level yet. I've also had track and field and gymnastics training. I know how to shoot but don't have a concealed carry permit. Even if I did, when I'm in this armor, I don't want it to be connected to Barbara Gordon." She arched an eyebrow, wondering how he'd react to that. "I don't have formal training with swords, well, not a lot. I've done a bit of sparring with wooden practice swords in one of my past dojos. But a real knowledgeable user would take about ten seconds to beat me. However, I can get training with swords if you think it could be useful in the future."

She considered his other questions. "I don't know what my father would allow, I somehow doubt he'd be comfortable at the idea of Wayne Enterprises being able to listen in on the GCPD. That reminds me though, I will need communications gear in the helmet, and please let me know what frequency it will use and any encryption keys needed to communicate with it. I'll get them to the people that need it. If you have some already made that just needs to be adapted that'd work fine."

"The utility belt would be wonderful and greatly appreciated. As for your questions about the cargo, well, the problem there is, they haven't told me exactly what it is. Only that if it is taken it's bad but not 'Gotham will be destroyed' bad or anything. So it might be a judgement call in the moment sadly." She thought on his last question. "Well, as far as the balance of the armor goes..." She looks up and down the hallway again. "Have you made similar armor before? I mean, you made that armor for Sara right? Perhaps go with the balance between stealth, armor and mobility you used for her?"
 
Rick took out his phone and entered her in his contacts when she gave him his phone number, even as he listened to her response. "Well, I'm sure your father would agree keeping you alive is important." He said with a small smile, so let's see what we can do to accomplish that. If you don't want the belt and holsters integrated into the suit, we can pick those up from the armory."

He gave a small sigh of relief when she indicated costumed criminals weren't the primary concern. "That's good...I doubt the suit would stand up against Corrosive Man, and if we stacked Bertha with all the equipment needed to counter the others, there'd be no room for the package. But conventional firepower...I think we can give you an edge when it comes to that." He listened thoughtfully as she listed off her experience. "So mobility sounds like your forte." He mused silently. "I'll make the armor a bit more lightweight so it won't slow you down. Probably best if we let Dad and the government agent wield the firearms if it comes to that. We can go over some alternatives in the armory and see what you like, since all of them might be a bit cumbersome." Rick was too concerned with the logistics of the armor to care about the fact she wanted to hide her identity. It wasn't a factor in his decision making process, so he ignored it.

She seemed to miss the intent of the question about swords, so he spelled it out a bit more. "So you've never stabbed a man." He stated bluntly, then shrugged. "Before you spend time training to wield a sword, you need to ask yourself if your really capable of using it. It's not like in the movies where everyone just waves a sword around and no one gets hurt. You'll seriously injure or kill someone. Make sure your prepared for that before you bring it into the fight."

"I was planning to integrate comms into the helmet. Cellular and bluetooth connections, of course, along with radio. But if you aren't going to be talking to the GCPD, who did you want to talk to? If it's just a backup comm system for those in the vehicle in case you get separated, I can give you an encrypted channel, and provide the others with radios." He nodded thoughtfully as she talked about the cargo. "If it's what I think it is, destroying its probably not the best choice. But you might want to ask the agency if they'd like that option. If so, I can include a self destruct charge in the case."

Rick nodded when she asked if they'd made the armor before. "You'll be the fifth person we've made this for, but our first field test. Sara rejected the armor after she tried it out, but maybe you'll like the balance I came up with better." Rick shrugged and began to walk again. "That's the problem with working with protypes. There isn't a whole lot to base a decision on."
 
She nodded thoughtfully as he commented about his thoughts on the armor and what might happen. "Options are always good. I didn't think I'd be wielding a gun to be honest, so no worried there." She listened to his clarification on the sword question and realized she'd taken it a bit too literal but also that he had missed a point of her own which would have answered it. "There's a reason I asked for batons or tonfa sticks with shock ends. I want to disable attackers, not kill them. I'm not looking to be an action movie hero who guns down thirty people and barely blinks an eye."

"Well, first, we might need to communicate with the GCPD. And each other in the vehicle though, again, in that case I need my voice changer to work over comms so Captain Gordon doesn't realize who the driver is." She bit her lip, thinking for a long moment about how to respond. She decided it was best to be as honest as she could with Rick. "I had in mind sharing the frequencies with someone I believe will be unofficially watching over the delivery. I'll give you a hint: When you write a program capable of piercing the Batmobile's ability to go unseen on traffic cams, you better be damned sure it cant be traced back to you. I was. No one in government or the police knocked on the door. But it didn't go totally unnoticed. And the one who noticed? They came in through a window."

She shrugged. "Ironically, no one has told me what it is. But I suspect the people who know aren't aware I'm the actual driver. They think I'm helping put the team together but not actually involved in the delivery." She paused, looking thoughtful. "No. I take that back. At least two people who know what it is have also figured out that I'm the driver but haven't shared it with me and I haven't asked. Still, you have a good point."

She nodded and walked with him. "Five sets of armor. Two female sets. Who were the others for?" She was dying to know if her suspicions about Batman getting his armor here were correct or not.
 
Rick nodded thoughtfully when she stated her intention was to disable and not kill her attackers. "You might want to talk to your dad about this." Rick didn't want to butt in where he didn't belong, he doubted Babs was looking for a mentor, but given the level of secrecy she was talking about, he doubted she'd want to speak to her father about his opinion on deadly force. "But you may not always have the option of disabling someone. But I'll make sure the armor is insulated...can't have someone trying to use your own weapons against you."

"Communicating with GCPD may be a problem if we don't have an agreement in place with them. One specific for this operation, at least." Rick claimed. "Of course, 911 is always an option. Your voice changer will work over the comm system...though if someone records it, theoretically they could decode the scrambler and figure out who was using it." Rick stopped walking again as she mentioned her late night visitor. It wasn't hard to guess who she was talking about. "You met the Batman already?" Rick asked with a shake of his head. "If you can ger him a spare radio, I'll make sure you have an extra, though truth be told, from what I've heard of the guy, he'll probably listen in whether we want him to or not. If he's interested."

Rick raised an eyebrow when she asked about the armor. "Your a curious thing, aren't you?' He observed as he began to walk again. He then shrugged. "No reason not to tell you, I guess. I'd wager your clearance is high enough you could look it up if you wanted. Anyway, Jack made the first set. He's in charge of the project, and he needed a guinea pig, so he figured he was as good a choice as any. And Mr. Wayne pushed the project as a safety net for high value targets, so he wanted a couple suits he could show off to his friends when its ready to go to market. Jack wanted another model to try some experiments on, so he asked me to model one of them. And you already know who the female suits were for."
 
She shook her head when he mentioned talking to her dad. "I can talk to him about some of it. But I also don't want him to worry about me." She nodded at his reply. "I know. I've thought about that. I know what my intentions are and I know that a day may come where I have no choice. But hopefully, it doesn't happen anytime soon."

She smiled at Rick's comments about the GCPD. "Well, for this operation, we'll have a GCPD Captain riding shotgun. Worst case, I can ask him to pass information on if needed. I'm cautious about the GCPD though beyond my dad. They don't have a good reputation. In fact, at the meeting to plan the delivery I discouraged their involvement as much as possible. I don't think my dad was pleased about it." She looked at Rick and nodded. "I did. You haven't had a fright until you wake up in the night to Batman asking you who you are and why you hacked his Batmobile systems." She shook her head at the memory. She smiled. "I'm not pretending I can just walk up and give him a spare radio but tell you what, give me one on the same frequency and if I can find a way to get his attention in a way that doesn't involve him getting angry with me I'll give it to him."

"So you have one, this Jack has one, Mister Wayne has two, you made one for Sara and soon I'll have one." She was practically giddy when he confirmed that Bruce Wayne had two. "Did Mister Wayne request any customizations for his? Also, are these paintable? If, say, I needed to put camouflage on it or something?" She considered what else to ask. "Oh, and did Mister Wayne have a utility belt on his? Or any gadgets he thought would be a fun toy to show off at parties?"
 
Rick smirked a bit when she mentioned not worrying her dad. "He's your father. I'm pretty sure worrying about you comes with the job description, especially in this town." he didn't push her on the subject, though, and his smile faded as they moved onto more serious topics. "Good intentions are all well and good, but they won't buy you a cup of coffee in this town." he warned her. He too, hoped it not only wouldn't happen anytime soon, but that she wouldn't be faced with that choice at all, but he was not optimistic. This town leached the optimism right out of you.

He nodded when she mentioned the GCPD would be riding shotgun. "Well, I'm sure he'll have his own link to the GCPD if needed." He replied, not commenting on how trustworthy the GCPD might be. That was a debate for another time. He shook his head with a light chuckle at the image her words portrayed about her meeting with Batman. "Yeah...I can imagine." he agreed as he did indeed picture the scene, except in his imagination Bab's was clothed, unlike the reality. "I'll have a couple extras you can hand out to however needs them." He said, not sure how it would look on the requestion form if he listed 'Batman' as one of the recipients.

He chuckled again as she said Bruce had two suits. "Mr. Wayne has about six sitting in storage. He wanted a few variations for different target audiences." Rick told her, still not sure why Babs was so curious about the program, but there was no harm in discussing it. It wasn't classified or anything. He shrugged at her next question. "No ones ever painted one before, but there's no reason it shouldn't that I'm aware of. As far as camouflage goes, we could include the LED package so you could program various patterns depending on the environment. And no, so far its just the suits. We might add gadgets on when its ready to show off, but we aren't there yet."

By now, they had reached the armory, though a more accurate description might be the vault, as the door resembled a bank vault. Rick scanned his badge, punched in his code (shielding the numbers from Bab's view as a reflex) before he put his face in front of the scanner. Only after he'd verified his identity did the door finally swing open. The armory didn't look that impressive...just a metal room with a table in the middle of the floor, until Rick walked up to a wall panel and laid his hand over a section of the wall. it lit up as it scanned his handprint, then a section of the wall slid out, revealing an array of batons, staffs, canes, Nun chucks, and of course Tonfas on both sides. The material ranged from plastics and resins to more traditional hardwood, and some of them did indeed appear to have a power supply and electrodes attached to them. Rick took Babs arm and gently guided her out of the way of the display as it slid to a halt just a foot from the far wall. "Is this what you were looking for?"
 
She nodded. "Of course he worries about me. Especially in Gotham. But this...well...it's a worry he doesn't need." She had little doubt that her dad was smart and eventually he'd figure out her secret. She suspected when he did they'd enter into some kind of unspoken agreement where he simply never asked her about it and she never talked about it. Then again, he might confront her, especially if she ended up with a Bat logo on her armor which she fully intended to make happen. "I'm not totally naive Rick. I know that I may have to cross that line if I keep getting involved in situations with mercenaries attacking or God help me, some of the costumed villains in this town. I am just not going to choose that as my first option, you know?"

She nodded once more when he said he'd have a couple of extras. "Thank you Rick. That reminds me, will you guys here at R&D want to be involved in communications? Or will you just be waiting for the delivery. And let's keep the potential involvement of you know who quiet. The government types seemed nervous when I mentioned I wouldn't be surprised if we get unofficial cover from him."

She actually stutter-stepped when he mentioned the LEDs. "Wait...so...I could program the suit to be any color or pattern I wanted with these LEDs? Yes. Please. And I'll need a full user guide on how to use them." She watched as the vault door slid open and grinned slightly as he hid the passcode from her. Her eyes widened when they stepped in and he opened up the shelves. She felt like she was in a sci-fi movie or maybe a John Wick movie as she looked over everything that was available. She barely noticed as he gently guided her out of the way and didn't object. She moved to the tonfas once the shelves were in place and lifted a few, testing their balance and weight. "This is amazing Rick. I figure I need something strong but also light so I don't wear myself out using it." She grinned at him as she stood, holding a pair of Tonfas that had the electrodes built in and seemed to have the correct weight and strength.

She looked at Rick, wondering how much she could trust him and what he'd do if she became...what? Batwoman? Batgirl? She'd think of a name when the time came. Surely he'd recognize the suit and the tonfas if she should get caught on camera or something. She looked at him. "So, gadgets. I'm not talking necessarily about built-in stuff. Stuff that could go on that utility belt you mentioned. For example, please tell me you have some kind of grapple gun that could assist in climbing buildings? Just in case I have to chase these mercenaries up to the roof of a building or something. Smoke pellets I can use to distract maybe? That kind of thing."
 
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