A/N: This is more of a brief interlude and I did not go back and edit so this was a straight through writing exercise to kinda help me find out what I wanted to do and get me back into writing this fic. Not as long as the other chapters (not that those have been long either lol). Focus is back to Bruce for this chapter and it kinda decided to write itself for me, so I apologize for the errors and if it was strange. On the plus side I've kinda got an idea of where I'm going now story wise. There are things I want to include and so my canon divergence shall now be taking a sharp right onto Self-Indulgent Avenue. Come with me, or don't. I'll be just as surprised as you when I update. I keep wanting to write fluff and cracky humor fics. Lol

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As soon as Dick had left the cave, Bruce had flopped down in the chair at the batcomputer. There was no need to bother putting the cowl back up. He wasn't going back out.

He turned to face the screens. Various windows were open on the desktop. Case files from a double double homicide, possibly Two Face who turned up missing at Arkham last week. Maps detailing recent fires on the lower east side, possibly Firefly, but more likely a group of delinquents looking for an adrenaline high. An article about a missing panther sculpture from a local antique store…

He hovered the mouse over the little red "x" for that window. Reread the contents of the article. Nothing else had been stolen. Not even the pricier antiques. It was her M.O. And the first time in three weeks that he'd seen any sign she was still in Gotham.

He closed the article and leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes, letting his head fall back against the headrest.

Bruce opened his eyes and stared up at the dark stalactite above. "Dammit…"

He pressed the palms of his gloved hands to his eyes and leaned forward again to rest his elbows on the console.

"Dammit."

After a few minutes of sitting in silence, he sat back up and blew out a fierce breath. He needed a distraction.

He refocused and quickly started typing, looking for more information regarding the double homicides. But when he pressed enter the screen read: ACCESS DENIED.

Frowning, he tried to open a different file.

ACCESS DENIED.

Every file he tried, he got the same dialogue box. But that was impossible. This was his internal system. There was no reason for him to be denied access from his own files and none of the current cases were off-limits for Damian or Tim….

"DAMMIT!" Bruce slammed a fist down on the desktop.

Barbara.

She did this. She's the only one who could and the only one who would.

He stood up and kicked the chair across the room before slamming a button down on the left console. "Barbara, give me access to my files. Now."

A video feed opened on the right screen, showing Batgirl sitting in the back of the truck she had designed for Nightwing recently. She had her arms crossed but seemed comfortable enough in the chair and her mask was off. "Bruce."

Bruce narrowed his eyes. "My files, Barbara. Fix them."

Barbara made a face and worked her jaw a moment before speaking. "I can't."

"What. Did you just say?" Bruce ground out, feeling his blood pressure rise.

Barbara shrugged and flicked an invisible crumb off the console in front of her as she avoided eye contact. "You heard me."

"I swear to... " Bruce tore of into a growl and slammed a fist on the console again. "Barbara! What did you do to my files!"

Barbara's eyes flicked menacingly back up to the camera. "I locked them. I thought that was obvious, oh great detective-san."

"Unlock them."

"I told you. I can't," she said clearly.

"Dammit, Barbara! You know how important those files are! What the hell were you thinking?!"

Barbara scoffed and leaned forward. "What the hell was I thinking?" She pulled her cowl on. "Better question, Batman, what the hell were you thinking?" She typed a few things on her end and a window popped up in the middle of the bat computer. "I didn't destroy your files, asshole. YOU have to unlock them. Just press play on that window I opened, watch it in its entirety, and you'll get access back." She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I thought Dick told you to watch the footage?"

"I don't need to watch the footage," Bruce said, nostrils flaring.

"Oh? I don't know, Bruce. I was pretty sure I heard Dick say 'need' when he confronted you earlier." Barbara cracked some of her knuckles on her left hand in clenching her fist. "And you do need to watch it."

"I'm not watching it."

"Not with that attitude." Barbara typed something again. "Here, I'll help you. I'll push play. But you should probably go grab your chair. The content can be a little heavy."

Bruce didn't move for a few moments and he just stood there grinding his teeth together, thinking of a way to bypass Barbara's code. Given her expertise in the area, he probably wasn't going to have much luck coming up with a counter algorithm. Especially if he didn't have access to any of his systems aside from the video and his currently pulled up windows.

Finally he made eye contact with her and ground out, "No." Then he pressed a button and shut the communication down.

The remaining windows on his screen blipped out and only the center screen with the cowl feed was left standing as he walked away. He pulled the cowl back on and strode over to the Batmobile. He didn't need the files. He needed to go out.

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A/N: So I want to be clear that Bruce has not cooled down quite yet from ANYTHING. He's stuck in his own selfish problems regarding Catwoman. I plan on bringing Tim back eventually for Bruce's story. And Bruce WILL watch that damn footage. He's a stubborn ass though and he's sure he can go back to his detective roots and start over. He don't need no bat computer to function. He will eventually need sleep though...Like, his coping mechanisms are shit.

On a sidenote, I honestly believe that Barbara is one of the only people who absolutely will not put up with Bruce's constant bull shit. She's been through too much too care what he says or thinks. She's always kinda done what she wanted regardless.