Revelations
I got up early and went into the city for breakfast. Jinx was holding a table at a diner, and Ari, Mark, Nix, and Justine came pounding in just after I'd ordered some orange juice. Nobody was messing around and we all got our orders in when the waitress came back and then it was time for a serious sharing of information.
"How is she doing?" Justine wanted to know immediately.
"Those bastards at her work fired her for missing her shift yesterday," I said grimly. "But Dad is going to take her to work when she's had some time to acclimate and she'll get a job there. If she wants."
"Wow," said Ari. "That's unbelievable. Didn't they even ask why she missed her shift?"
"No, they were just upset because she didn't show up and they were short handed. But she's got a lawyer to help her figure out her next moves, and she's got a home as long as she wants, so she's going to be ok."
Nix patted my hand. "My folks were furious. Dad said he would help if she got desperate, but it's better if her help is all legal." We all nodded. "I don't think any of us really have house space beyond a couch, so it's a relief that she's staying with you."
"It's pretty isolated out there, and she's used to being in the city," I said, biting my lip.
"We can come out to visit," Jinx said. "And school's starting up again next week, so we're not going to let it be a problem. We'll figure things out."
"I think we should get her to take the DNA test," Mark said. "Family's family."
"I can get it checked for a paternity match through a back door," I said quietly. There was a sequencer down in the bat cave that could produce the gels in about an hour and the bat computer could do check the database in its sleep without leaving a trace. "If there's a match, we could investigate the guy to see if he's a good guy, somebody who would be a real father, then she could submit her DNA officially, get the match, go from there. If not, the guy can continue on in ignorance. She'll still be safe, but she'll also know, one way or another."
Justine nodded firmly. "It's important to find out if he's scum or not. If he's nice then she should have the opportunity to have a dad. I'll take care of it. Can I go out a little later?" she asked me.
"Well, yeah, of course," I said. "Just call first so that she's not napping or talking to the lawyer or the cops or anything." We talked more about the situation, deciding as a group that the best way to address it would be to treat her normally but be available to talk about it if she wanted. Then we checked on each other, talking about our upset and reactions so that we wouldn't upset Imogen with them, she had enough to deal with.
"And cheers to Justine and Anna," Nix said. "For not only snapping into action when there was a crisis, but thinking quickly and getting the right help."
"Hear, hear," Mark said, and they toasted us. My cheeks warmed at the recognition.
After breakfast, I think we all felt better, and I went to work with a lighter heart. My friends had reassured me that Imogen was going to be ok, and it had felt nice to be recognized for my part in the rescue. I went to work, having fun helping the patrons, talking to the ones I knew, and after work, I selected some black merino wool for the slacks I was going to make with Uncle Steve. I summoned my pod after saying goodbye to my coworkers, going out when I saw it approaching. There's no parking on our side of the street, but pods frequently paused, dropping off and picking up passengers, so it wasn't any trouble for the pod to park itself for several seconds when I came and went.
At Uncle Steve's, he had me attend a fitting for Grandma Selina so I could see how it was determined what alterations were needed. That was his stated reason, but I think I was also a distraction because Grandma S is even pickier about fit than Uncle Steve, and I didn't know that was possible. She's given up the dark side since Tabby was born, and she has turned her talents to insurance investigation, tracking down stolen luxury goods and information, retrieving it when possible. A lot of countries have laws where an insurance investigator can... liberate stolen goods from the thief and take it to the cops, who will match the item with the insurance paperwork, sign off on it, and send them on their way before arresting the thieves. No muss, no fuss, and it holds up in court. Delays where the investigator gives the information to the police so they can get a warrant have historically led to the thieves being tipped off and vanishing, or at least getting rid of the stolen goods. If the goods have been sold to a good-faith purchaser, however, the cops take the information, confiscate the property themselves, and return it to the investigator. There's an insurance database of stolen items that is globally searchable, so there's no way a purchaser can really be in good faith, all they have to do is check, but there's also a matter of what can be proven, legally, so it's usually easier on the buyer to lose out on the purchase price rather than go to jail as a receiver of stolen goods. But she'd been out of the country for a few months and had missed the whole drama about my leg. She was also interested in my friend, as was Uncle Steve. I showed them a picture of my friends, taken right after finals.
"She's lucky to have you as a friend, doll," he said, staring at the hem of the gown. It passed muster and he and the fitter took it out and to bring in another garment. Grandma S took a gizmo hastily out of her handbag and it flashed green.
"Flores... I knew a Catalina Flores, back in the day," she said quickly. "Vigilante, killed a man and went bad. Last time I saw her was a couple of years before she died, she'd just found out she was pregnant. Her child would be about your age. I'd heard that the child was put into foster care. One of those girls resembles her. Any relation?" I nodded. She nodded too.
"Don't suppose she told you who the father was?" I asked, figuring it was worth a shot.
"I don't know, she declined to name him." She studied me a moment. "You might try asking Dick. Catalina started out as an FBI agent, but the job didn't have the ... scope she was looking for, so she turned vigilante. Dear Dick was so much like Bruce, that whole refusal to kill ethos, and Catalina was a little more flexible on that front. They were working in Bludhaven before the feds annexed it and cleaned it out because of the truly remarkable level of corruption. I know from Bruce that Dick was seriously wounded in a battle against a villain named Blockbuster during that time and that Blockbuster had known who Dick was. Catalina killed him, I know that too." She shook her head. "And that's all I know. Dick might know more about her associates, but it's a sensitive matter for him." She broke off as the door opened and the last dress was brought in. "Ah, this is the one I'm most eager to wear, Steve. Such wonderful work."
After the fitting, Grandma S kissed my cheek and sailed off to the next appointment in her adventurous life, and I cut out my slacks before heading home. I found Justine and Nix in the games room with Imogen, shooting pool. They finished up their game as Imogen told me that she had a new job in Wayne Construction. She'd be starting on construction sites, learning about how things were actually built, then cycling through specialties like plumbing, masonry, carpentry, and electric, before doing some work in zoning, permitting, the business side. Then she could decide what she liked best and focus on that. "Then, depending on what I choose, I could go to college to study construction management, or sign on as an apprentice in one of the building trades," she said, excited. They finished their game and we split up into teams for the next game. Alan came in with a tray of snacks and got me a glass of ice water. We were talking and having a good time, rotating partners each game (because I'm a pool shark) when Mom came home. I introduced her to Nix and Justine, since she hadn't been home when Dad and I brought Imogen in. She invited them to stay for dinner, but they needed to get home. Their visit had done Imogen a world of good, that plus the new job had given her a real boost. A rep from CPS had seen her at Wayne, with Dad present in loco parentis, and had informed her that her foster father had been arrested for child abuse. Her foster brother, the natural son of the foster parents, was fine, just disgusted by his dad.
After dessert and coffee, we went up to my room. "Justine said that you could get DNA run without official notice," she said as we settled in by the fire, and I nodded. She drew a deep breath. "Then I'd like you to. If we could check him out before hand..." I nodded, deciding not to talk about what Grandma S had said just yet. Uncle Richard might be reluctant to talk about that time in his life, and there might not be a need to. Obviously, if Imogen's dad was scum, she wouldn't be submitting her DNA officially anyway, and by law, a child didn't have to agree to have its DNA submitted. Before she went to her room, she pulled out a hair, which was an easy source of DNA, putting it into a new plastic bag for minimal contamination. The sequencer could sort out any of my DNA if I made a mistake in handling, but it's always best to minimize the risk. I waited til late and went down to the bat cave. I wasn't trying to get privileged information on the bat computer, so it was happy to let me play video games while I waited for the DNA to be sequenced, then run against profiles in the database, both Batman's private one and the paternity database. As I suspected, it was no trouble for the bat computer to hack it untraceably.
"What have you got going on there, Lys?" Grandpa Bruce asked, leaning around the high back of the chair just as the computer chimed. I jumped, horribly surprised by his soundless approach.
"You're back early, Grandpa," I said, pressing my hand to my adrenalinized heartbeat.
"Slow night. The criminals are getting soft, staying inside during this cold snap. Still, makes it easier for me."
"Well, my friend Imogen is staying with us--"
Grandpa nodded. "Daniel told us about that. Disgraceful. You're a good friend, Lys." He poked around a little, noting the protocol that I'd use, making sure I'd done it correctly. But seriously, the process was automated and there was little for me to do once I sliced the bulb off the hair and dropped it into a new vial for the sequencer.
"She knows who her mom was, but not her dad. Her mom died when she was really little and she never wanted to know who her dad was because maybe he'd be a lowlife. We've kind of lost our faith in the foster care system." Grandpa nodded again. "I didn't say exactly how I could do it without going through official channels, but..."
"You're a Wayne, you have resources. So you talked her into checking unofficially. Not going to do it officially if he's not an upstanding citizen?" I nodded. "Well, let's see the result." He nodded to the console, and I clicked on the icon. My jaw dropped as Uncle Richard's face appeared in 3D.
"Holy crap." I looked over at Grandpa, whose jaw was hanging loose too.
"What do you know about this, Lys?" he asked. "Who was her mother?"
"Catalina Flores," I said. "I ran into Grandma Selina at Uncle Steve's today, she was getting fitted, and she told me that she'd known Imogen's mom back in the day and that Uncle Dick knew her too. I wasn't sure if I wanted to ask him anything, she said it was a bad time in his life." I stared at the image and back to Grandpa. "What do you think I ought to do?"
"I'm calling him in," he said immediately. "He won't know about this, he'd never duck his responsibility to his child, but I don't know how this happened." Then he flushed, and under other circumstances, I'd have been amused. He had kids of his own, Damian and Tabby, he knew how that all worked. Come to think of it, he was our family's expert in unplanned pregnancies.
About twenty minutes later, Uncle Richard came in, looking puzzled. He kissed my cheek and nodded to Grandpa. "So what's going on, Bruce?" he asked, leaning against the console and looking at us. Grandpa nodded to me. Darn it. This was going to be awkward.
"You know my friend, Imogen?" Uncle Richard nodded. Duh, he met her at the library. Well, I was rattled.
"Sure. How's she doing, honey?"
"Better," I said. "Dad's got her a lawyer to help navigate the mess and a job at Wayne. She got fired for missing her shift that day at her old one. But here's the thing. She never had her DNA run to see who her father was." Uncle Richard nodded again, that had been discussed during her interview with him at the library. "So I figured out how we could find out, unofficially, because she didn't want to alert a dad who wasn't on the up and up."
"That's kind of a weird thing for a kid to think about. Why, who's her mom?"
"Um, Catalina Flores." He recognized the name, and I watched uneasily as recognition was followed by other emotions quickly passing across his face.
"And?" I pressed the key again and he jumped back when he saw his own face.
"That's not possible," he said.
"I checked Lys's work. The DNA sample was good, Dick," Grandpa said gently. "This is a big shock, but think back to that time, you were in Bludhaven around that time. You and Barbara were broken up for awhile."
Uncle Richard scrubbed his hands against his face. "Catalina broke us up, she was interested in me, but I felt her methods were too extreme and I kept my distance. Until Blockbuster." He was silent a moment and we respected that. "Blockbuster knew who I was, not just the alias I was using in Bludhaven. He knew everybody who was important to me. He was going after them, hired Catalina to kill Babs, but she broke us up instead. trying to make it serve two ends." There was a longer silence and I felt bad that he had to revisit that time. "Blockbuster tortured me, acting against people who were important to me. It came down to a battle, brutal, and I was badly hurt." He rubbed his fingers over his eyes and the moisture that had formed. "Catalina killed him. And I let her." He let out a shaky breath and Grandpa gripped his shoulder.
"He was a mess after that," he said softly to me. "Catatonic for a bit. That's probably when she got his DNA."
"We parted on bad terms," Uncle Richard mumbled. "I turned myself in for the murder of Blockbuster and she was arrested. I had to, I was complicit. She went to prison briefly, I didn't. I left Bludhaven and came home. I didn't know," he said, and I believed him.
"If you want, I can tell her that there was no match," I said after a bit, feeling conflicted. He shook his head.
"No. She's my daughter, and I have to step up." He leaned back in the chair. "I'll go home, explain to Babs. She knows about what happened then. I'll tell the kids, then come over tomorrow morning." He checked the clock and sighed. "Later this morning, then." And so it was arranged.