Escape Velocity // The Flash

Chapter Fifteen: Silent Knight

"Please." The Flash begged, forcing his best puppy dog look towards a girl draped all in black. "You're just as smart as he is... you could find them, couldn't you?"

"I could." The young woman replied, adjusting her fiery red hair over her shoulder and turning to face both him and Mineko. "If I had access to his hardware. All this stuff is a toaster compared to Bruce's baby."

"So what you're saying is that I have to go to him."

Batgirl turned back to the table laden with gadgets that she was tending to before Barry and Mineko arrived. "Well. Yeah. Aren't you guys friends or something?"

"Colleagues." Barry said with a smirk.

Barbara Gordon kept tinkering with her gear, leaving Barry on the edge of his seat. "I'm smart, but not smart enough to make a billion dollar supercomputer with student loans to deal with."

Barry was about to ask if she got his little pun before she quickly added "Yeah colleagues because you're in the Justice League together, I got it."

"Oh. Good. You are smart."

With a smile, she dropped the tool she was holding and sighed as she turned to face Barry. "Come on, you guys have been through a lot together. Didn't you fight a giant purple starfish or something?"

"Giant purple alien starfish. And that was mainly me, Arthur, Diana, J'onn and Hal. Clark showed up at the end to finish it and Bruce pretended to be important."

Suddenly, Barbara only just noticed Mineko skulking around in the back. "Oh. Who's your friend? She is with you, right...?"

"This is Mineko."

"Oh. Hi." Barbara greeted awkwardly. "Nice sweater."

"She's a magical samurai I met in feudal Japan when I accidentally time-travelled there chasing a guy from the future who has my powers and calls himself the Reverse-Flash."

Batgirl scrunched up her face then shook her head. "Man...how do you deal with all of that crazy stuff? I can barely handle a middle-aged British man with a machine gun umbrella." She began to walk away until she froze in her tracks and looked back at Barry with a confused stare. "If he's reverse you, is he slow, a healthy eater and not excessively arrogant?"

Barry was almost offended until Barbara flashed a smile. "Yeah, ha ha. Real funny. You're almost as funny as Grayson."

"That's offensive. Anyway stop procrastinating and go see Bruce already. I'm sure it'll be fine when you get there."

"That's what you always say..."

Batgirl's eyes fell onto Mineko once more and she suddenly furrowed her brow. She motioned at Mineko's casual clothes, clearly taking issue with how Barry had outfitted her for combat.

"What...?" Barry asked, clueless.

"Are you seriously taking her crime-fighting in that?"

"Well...yeah?"

"Is she a meta human?"

"Well...no...but she has a sword."