Pamela and Barbara left the apartment behind, descending together as the elevator hummed softly. On the ground floor, the officer at the desk offered them a polite nod. Pamela returned a small smile, aware her presence was already cleared by Commissioner Gordon. Outside, Barbara's beat-up car sat awkwardly against the curb, its back wheel half-sunken into a pothole.
Pamela eyed it with faint disbelief. "So where are we getting a car?"
"Cars R Us," Barbara said, already tugging open the driver's door.
Pamela raised a brow, her lips parting in disbelief. "You're serious right now? We're buying a car in cash from a place called Cars R Us?"
Barbara slid into the driver's seat without hesitation. "Don't look down on the name. They deal discreetly in high-end vehicles that don't attract attention. Everything's low-profile. What matters is under the hood."
Pamela exhaled and climbed into the passenger side, shutting the door behind her. "Okay, that makes sense. But if they deal in such illicit vehicles, won't that attract Batman?"
Barbara turned the key, the car coughing and rattling as it came to life. "No. Everything they put under the hood is technically legal. Batman doesn't pay much attention to them. He's after the people who use those vehicles for illicit purposes, not the dealership itself. If we buy a car there, I can bring it into the police machine shop and retrofit it. I'll keep the under-the-hood tech intact but soup it up with cop suspension, high-grade tires, plated doors. I'll even use my nanites to reinforce the chassis, make it bulletproof."
Pamela turned, her green eyes fixed on Barbara. "You've really been thinking this through, haven't you?"
Barbara's fingers tightened on the wheel, her expression calm. "Of course. The second you said you wanted to start a criminal empire, I already began planning our next six months together."
Pamela leaned in, kissing Barbara on the cheek while she drove. "You already knew we were going to end up together the second we met down in that underground lair, didn't you?"
Barbara faltered, her face heating. "What? Of course not. I never—maybe."
Pamela's lips curved faintly. "You're such a sweetheart."
The stoplight ahead shifted to red, and Barbara eased the car to a halt. Her phone buzzed on the console, screen lighting up with a message. She picked it up quickly, reading aloud: "Looks like Harley Quinn responded. She said she'll meet us after we're done at Cars R Us getting our new ride and fixing it up."
Pamela's eyes glinted. "Are we going out for coffee?"
"Yeah," Barbara said easily. "Harley loves coffee. And she's not hanging out with the Joker right now. He's stuck in Arkham Asylum."
Pamela crossed her legs, gazing out the window as buildings rolled by. "That makes perfect sense. But he'll probably escape in a few weeks anyway."
"Knowing his schedule," Barbara muttered, "probably."
The light shifted green. The car rattled forward again, its exhaust sputtering as it carried them down Gotham's cracked streets toward the discreet corner lot where Cars R Us waited in plain sight. Their path was set, their next ally already arranged.
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