It was night in Bludhaven. The citizens, for the most part, had gone home to sleep, while a few ambitious types always stayed up superhero spotting. The café was pretty much empty. Mabel sat on a stool, looking quite displeased that the café was still open. Kat was chucking darts at a poster of a certain archer. Smitty was sitting in a far booth working on Potatoes. And in her usual spot, under a hanging lamp in the Reader's Corner booth, was Chicago.

She was desperately trying to finish the feedback she was always claiming to be behind on. She only stopped when Smitty stopped writing for more than three seconds. At which point, Chicago ordered her, from across the café, to "Write!"

Kat looked at the two patrons left in the café. Then she looked at her watch. Running a bit behind schedule. She flung her last dart and nailed Roy right between the eyes. Grinning, she crossed the floor and whispered in Smitty’s ear. Then she slid into the seat opposite of Chicago.

"It's getting late. I'm beginning to think you live here with all the feedback you've been giving recently." Kat smiled at her companion.

"I'm almost done,” Chicago replied looking up from the story she was reading. “I don't write so I figured I'll show support in the best way I know how."

"It's past midnight."

"I just have one more story to go." Chicago looked back down to the story, leaving the list mommy slightly frustrated. Kat signaled Smitty for help, pointing at her watch, quite conspicuously this time.

Smitty, always quick to the rescue, rushed over to the booth. "Why don't you call it quits for the night,” she suggested. “Not many people check their email this late anyway. Besides,” she smiled winningly at her friend. “I could use some potato help."

"You're not behind at all," Kat added. "Get some sleep. You can come back bright and early to finish."

"Come on Chicago," Smitty encouraged. "I need your input on this next scene." Chicago looked at the story in front of her and then at Smitty. Smitty waved a few pages of Potatoes in her hands at Chicago. That decided that. She grabbed her jacket and let Smitty lead her outside. Mabel was the next one out the door letting Kat close up. After all, Kat was the one that insisted on the late hours. Mabel huffed as she left, muttering something about overtime. Kat made a pretense of closing down the café and securing it. After all Bludhaven isn’t exactly the safest town in the nation. Kat flipped off the lights and whispered a faint, "Good luck," before the door closed.

Two still figures waited in darkness of the kitchen. They listened to make sure no one would return. In the darkness, an indiglo watch lit up.

"It's been twenty minutes. I think the coast is clear."

"All right. Let's get started."

Noel climbed out of her hiding place in the kitchen cupboard and Reccea pulled herself out from under a small cutting table. They sneaked past the kitchen doors and made their way to the main area of the café. The pair crept as silently as they could. Their stealth skills were severely lacking.

"I feel like James Bond. Only female." Reccea slipped past the first table.

"Totally," Noel agreed, as she starts to hum a familiar theme song. Reccea joined in, bouncing her head in time with the beat. The Mission: Impossible theme song rang through the café.

"This is going to be too easy," Noel informed her partner. She glanced over at Reccea and missed seeing the chair right in front of her. Reccea stopped short, hearing the resulting crash. With the lights turned off, she couldn’t see what had happened. “Noel, are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Noel groaned as she pulled herself up from the floor.

“What happened?”

“I tripped over a chair.” Noel winced from pain as she dusted off her jeans.

“Good job.” Reccea smirked and Noel frowned at the comment. “C’mon,” Reccea waved a hand, “let’s get the lights on before we really do something stupid.” Reccea walked forward to find the light switch and slammed face first into the wall. A string of curses followed.

“I gather that wasn’t the light switch?” Noel asked dryly.

"Why did Kat turn off the lights anyway?" Reccea asks as she put a hand gently to her forehead. She just knew there was going to be a massive bruise there within minutes.

"She had to make it look like the café was closed, or else Chicago would never leave."

"She’s a hard worker, isn’t she?” Reccea sighed at her friend’s dedication. “Okay, let’s try and find that damn switch.”

After minutes more of bumps, bruises, and the random curse Reccea finally announced, "I think I found it."

"What are you waiting for? Turn them on."

Reccea flipped the switch. The giant “Bludhaven Café” sign out front lit up for the whole city to see. Reccea paused for a second as no light came on inside the café. She looked at Noel who looked back at her. They both slowly glanced out the window, horror dawning on their faces.

"Turn it off! Quick! Before someone sees!" Noel cried, waving her hands at Reccea.

Reccea, slightly panicked, slammed both her hands on the switch. The sign flipped off, then on again, then off. Silence reigned in the darkness.

"So much for being discreet," Noel finally whispered.

“Oh shut up,” Reccea grumped.

Reccea walked along the wall, her fingers feeling the way until she found another set of switches. “There’s only one sign outside, right?” She asked, just in case.

“There better be,” Noel replied. “We only have enough letters for one sign.”

Reccea flipped the switch and soft lights illuminated the inside of the café. Noel and Reccea blinked at the light and turned to face each other. Reccea was dressed in dark blue jeans and a black baby doll shirt with bold red letters spelling “Arsenal or Nothing!” across the chest. “Obsessed much?” Noel smiled broadly.

Reccea looked her companion up and down. Noel wore black slacks and a black T-shirt with the chibi images of Nightwing and Batgirl kissing with the caption "Babs + Dick 4 ever" across the top. “Cute shirt,” Reccea complimented.

Reccea scanned the café. Muttering under her breath she walked over and pulled the darts out of Roy's poster. "My poor baby," she pet Roy’s face, pouting.

"You can yell at Kat later, right now we've got work to do."

The duo disappeared back into the kitchen and emerged with a brand new sign for the café. They set it down momentarily admiring the electric sign.

"This looks so good. This is going to be great." Noel grinned widely.

"Isn't it?"

"Wait. I just thought of something. How are we going to get on the roof?"

Reccea raced back into the kitchen and pulled a duffel bag out of the meat locker. She brought it out and dumped it on the floor. She unzipped the bad and started pulling out their supplies. “It’s in here somewhere,” she said by way of explanation. Window paint was piled next to screwdrivers. A wrench was tossed down next to a hammer. Windex was piled against old washing rags. Several objects that Noel couldn’t quite identify were thrown aside. And then an “Ah-ha!” from Reccea. She pulled out a bunch of rope that had a hook at the end of it. She waved the hook at her companion. “This is how we get up there.”

Noel stared at the grappling hook. Then she stared at her friend. “We’re going to climb?” The disbelief and slight horror in her voice mirrored the same emotions plain on her face.

“Hell yeah,” Reccea replied. “Everybody’s always doing it in the comics and fanfics.”

“But we’re not superheroes.” Noel countered.

Reccea rolled her eyes. “Noel, stop worrying. We’ll do just fine.”

“Yeah,” Noel agreed miserably. “Just like we did with the lights.”

“Oh stop it!” Reccea ordered, pulling a small makeup tin out of the duffel bag. She tossed the tin over to Noel and began pulling her hair back into a ponytail.

Noel pried open the canister and frowned. “Shoe polish?”

“Grease makeup for the face.” Reccea finished with her hair and then pulled the ski cap on over it. “Y’know, to smudge under our eyes to look all mission impossible-y.”

"I thought we were James Bond," Noel pouted.

Noel tentatively dug her fingers into the canister; she rubbed the thick black substance between her fingers. “Where’d you get it?” She brought it up to her eyes to study carefully.

Reccea walked over and smeared a stripe of the paste-like make-up under her right eye. “I act in the theatre a lot. We use it all the time. It’s harmless Noel.”

Noel waited as Reccea applied the makeup under her other eye. “You look like you’re in football.” She noted helpfully.

Reccea looked at Noel with her eyes narrowed. Noel said nothing and made no move to apply the makeup to her own face. Reccea reached out put two huge smudges on Noel’s cheeks. “Hey!” Noel protested.

Reccea grabbed the grappling hook and headed towards the door. “C’mon let’s do this.” The two girls walked outside of the café and looked at the sign sitting on the roof.

“I don’t know,” Noel bit her lip and looked at the grappling hook again. “Are you sure this is a good idea? It looks dangerous.”

“The grappling hook is fine. And I really don’t think the roof is going to fall apart on us, Noel.” Reccea assured her. Reccea swung the grappling hook a few times for good measure and then threw it straight up into the air. It came sailing back down and missed Reccea’s nose by a mere inch. Reccea swallowed and her eyes got all wide. “I think you should throw it though.”

Noel shook her head in exasperation and grabbed the hook. She swung it around to get momentum and chucked it at the roof. It sailed through the air, the rope trailing it like a tail. And it landed on the “Bludhaven Café” sign. Noel glared at the offending sign while Reccea grabbed the dangling rope and tried to tug it off of the sign so that they could try again. The hook clinked down the sign and locked onto the bar connecting the dot thingies over the "u". Reccea tugged again to no avail. Noel marched over to her and took the rope from Reccea’s hands.

She backed up a little and glared meaningfully at the sign. She pulled on the rope and nothing happened. She tugged on it and nothing changed. She threw all of her weight (102 lbs) into it and jerked on the rope. Nothing happened. Except. Well there was this slight creaking noise. Followed by a louder groan of metal.

Reccea looked up at the sign still hooked to the rope. She looked at Noel who was holding forcefully onto the rope. There were two more creaks, one right after the other. Another groan of metal only this one turned into a slight shriek. Noel stood stock still, holding onto the rope. Reccea grabbed the rope out of Noel’s hand and let it swing in the wind. She pulled Noel to the other side of the street quickly.

The metal groaned again and this time the sign began to visibly tilt. Reccea and Noel watched in horrified silence. The sign wobbled on its hinges, creaking and grinding. It rolled forward and was brought to a halt by the last hinge still unharmed by rust. The two still forms waited, hope beginning to seep into their veins. Maybe... just maybe...

The hinge snapped and the sign came tumbling off the roof. It slammed “B” first into the street below. The crash echoed through the street. The ‘haven’ fell off the ‘blud’ and slammed into the ground. The ‘café’ broke off and landed flat. The noise reverberated for nearly a minute. With each ensuing sound the girls cringed more and more.

“We’re toast,” Noel finally whimpered.

“We killed the sign.” Reccea gaped at the deformed pieces of metal and light on the pavement.

“You woke up the whole damn town!” Kat cried, as she came running up the street. Reccea and Noel whirled around to face Kat. Kat glared at them. Noel did the smart thing and pushed Reccea in front of her. Reccea was the body shield. Reccea scrambled to the side and then jumped behind Noel. They started shoving each other and then there was some hair pulling and a few unpleasant epitaphs.

Kat stared at them, her hands resting firmly on her hips. “What were you two doing?” She exclaimed, ignoring their wrestling match.

“Obliterating the sign?” A voice asked from behind Kat.

Reccea stopped her punching, pulling, and undignified screaming. A small, goofy smile crossed her face. Noel sighed in exasperation and let go of Reccea’s ponytails. There was no point in fighting now. Reccea was long gone. “Hi Roy.” She said in a soft fangirl voice. If Reccea were a Japanese cartoon character, the background would have gone pink with exclamation points and swirly squiggles, her eyes would have been huge with stars popping out of them, and her mouth would have dropped completely open...all things considered, it was a pretty accurate description of her present expression.

“Hello Roy.” Kat nearly growled. She had to deal with the two sign destroying klutzes, she shouldn’t have to deal with *him* too.

“Hi.” Roy circled the twisted sign. "Why are there dots underneath the "N"?"

Kat shook her head and grunted in aggravation. 'And he calls himself a superhero,' she thought miserably. Choosing to ignore Kat’s scorn, Roy asked. “So what the hell happened?”

“Noel did it!” Reccea was quick to volunteer.

“Oh please, whose bright idea was the grappling hook," Noel retorted

“Oh and who hooked it to the sign and pulled too hard?” Reccea snapped back. “It certainly wasn’t me!”

“Well fine!” Noel practically growled. She glared at her partner.

“Girls!” Kat interrupted the dispute. “I don’t care whose fault it was. I don’t even care how it happened! Though later on you will be sitting in the ‘Bad Citizen’ booth and telling me all about it. But right now we have to put the new sign up and get this one...to the dumpster I suppose.”

“How were you going to get a new sign to the roof?” Roy asked, tapping one of the pieces of the sign with his foot. Kat looked at him sharply and he stopped touching the sign.

“It’s a very complicated thing.” Reccea smiled warmly at the archer. “It involves levers and pulleys. That sort of thing.” Noel’s eyes grew wide. They had *never* discussed levers or pulleys thank you very much. Noel's eyes narrowed as she scowled at Reccea.

“Well,” Roy walked around the front of the building, peeking into the small alleyways that surrounded it. “Why don’t we just carry it up the fire escape?”

There was silence for a moment and then Noel, nostrils flaring eyes wide with anger looked at Reccea. “There was a fire escape! A FIRE ESCAPE! With stairs. To climb up! We could have used the freaking fire escape?!?!?”

Reccea walked slowly across the street. She walked down one of the small alleyways. A few seconds later she walked back out. “Huh. There’s a fire escape. Even looks sturdy. Who’d have guessed?” She shrugged her shoulders and silently hoped for a painless death.

Noel moved so quickly that Reccea didn’t even see her coming. There was a flash of black and then the sound of a body slamming into pavement. Fists flew and cries of “ow! Noel! Stop it! That hurts! Let go of my freakin’ hair!”

And then there were cries in return. “It’s even sturdy! I’m going to kill you! I’m going to rip out your hair and make it into a leash! I’m going to pull out your eyes and turn them into pincushions! I’m going to- OW! That’s my hair! Let go of my hair. Please let go of my hair. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t mean what I said about your eyeballs. Ow damnit. OW!”

Roy pulled the two squabbling girls apart. He looked from one to the other. Noel snarled and hissed at her opponent. Reccea smiled lovingly at her captor. Kat shook her head in exasperation, while Roy grinned back at the young brunette. Noel was deposited safely in Kat’s arms and Roy focused his attention on the smiling girl.

Kat set Noel down and placed her hands firmly on Noel’s shoulders to keep the younger woman from killing Reccea. “Okay, Noel. Down girl. We need to get this done tonight.”

Noel nodded in compliance, "Meep. You're right."

Kat looked sourly at Roy. “Well you look strong enough.”

“For?” Roy looked up from his flirting.

“Well, we’re going to have to get the new sign up there, somehow,” Kat replied.

A scant while later, Roy was grunting in exertion. Reccea was letting out a low groan. Noel was gasping for air a few short times. Kat was asking, in a strained voice “Is this the last time?”

“It better be the last time.” Roy grumbled as he pushed his and Reccea’s side of the sign up the fire escape. “I’m not bring any more up.”

“Oh yeah.” Kat snapped back. “I m having a grand old time Harper.”

“Look lady,” Roy began angrily.

“Roy, Kat,” Reccea interjected soothingly. “Let’s not fight. This is Noel’s and my fault. No need for you two to get angry at each other.”

The two hushed up and the ‘café’ part of the new sign was laid gently down on the roof. Roy looked at the three pieces. “So how are we supposed to put this puppy together?”

“Uh...” Reccea bit her lip and stared at the pieces of the sign.

Noel tilted her head and looked at the sign. Then she looked at the old fasteners. “Super glue maybe?”

Kat sighed and shook her head. “Remind me to never let Poetry Queen and her Limerick sidekick do anything alone again.

At the word ‘limerick’ Roy turned and studied Noel. “So, *you’re* Limerick Lass, huh? You’re the one who’s been writing about my… arsenal.” He glared at Noel.

"Ulp!" Noel jumped behind Reccea again. She stayed still for several seconds and than poked her head out from behind Reccea’s body. “Um...well, I uh, overheard Cheshire bragging and...” she trailed off as he turned away.

Arsenal ran his fingers through his hair and then ignored Noel completely. He turned to Kat and said “So how did the last sign get put up?”

“By crane,” Kat answered.

Roy, Reccea, and Noel looked at Kat. “Why in hell did you let us do this?!?!?” Reccea shrieked, just as Noel was starting to protest.

Kat looked at them. “Well you asked to!”

Reccea and Noel looked at each other. "Well, she's got a point, Recce."

Reccea and Roy were sent down for tools. Noel and Kat stayed on the roof, waiting impatiently. The archer and his admirer brought the tool bag up. Reccea was even kind enough to let Roy go up the fire escape first. For, purely, visual, we mean, politeness reasons.

Soon, the four of them got to work nailing things down, screwing things in, plugging things in. It took over an hour but finally the three-piece sign was up and the four cohorts were sitting inside the café.

Kat was sipping a soda, lounging in the Reader’s corner booth and fanning herself. Noel was lying on top of the counter, right under a fan going at high speed. Reccea, her shirt tied up at the waist now, was sitting on top of table, close to Roy.

And Roy was standing near the wall, staring at his dart filled poster. “Okay I know you don't like me (not that I *ever* did anything to you) but okay, did you have to maim my face... and other regions. That's sooooo not necessary."

Noel lifted her head slightly and looked at Roy. “Don’t worry about Kat.” She waved her arm. “Reccea’d be more than willing to cheer you up. All night if that's what it takes.”

Reccea’s eyes went wide and her face flushed instantly. She looked at Roy, who was now staring at her either in interest or amusement, she couldn’t tell which. “Okay,” she smiled nervously. “I’m going to go die of embarrassment now.” She scurried off into the kitchen.

“That was not nice Noel.” Kat pointed out.

“She made me kill the sign.” Noel pouted.

“Did not,” Reccea said poking her head out of the kitchen.

“Did too.”

“Girls,” Kat growled. Roy snickered in amusement. Kat whirled around to him “Why don’t you make yourself useful?”

“Hey, what are you talking about? Who just carried that sign up the roof? Me. Roy Harper. Now you’re telling me to make myself useful. Of all the ungrateful sentiments, you’d think I was just a secondary character or something.”

“Well, as a matter of fact--” Noel started but was quickly silenced by Reccea who had dashed out the kitchen, her hand now over Noel’s mouth preventing her from saying any more.

“Look,” Kat started, “could you please bring the old sign to the dumpster?”

“What’s in it for me?”

“How about Reccea?” Noel offered. Reccea thawped her on the head. “Ow.”

Pointedly ignoring the two girls, Roy turned his attention to Kat, “How about a ‘thank you’.”

The initial shock at the preposterous statement quickly left Kat’s face. She set her expression firmly and prepared to stand her ground.

“You’re dreaming,” Kat told the archer.

“Kat, c’mon be a sport,” Noel piped up from her seat at the counter.

“It’s not going to kill you to say it,” Reccea added.

Kat turned to the two girls. “I won’t do it.”

“Kat...” Noel started.

“Please,” Reccea added. “It’ll kill the effect if we have the broken Bludhaven sign sitting there in the morning.”

“Come on Kat, I know you can do it.”

Kat sighed out of frustration. She turned to the archer. Roy was grinning triumphantly. “Tha... th—th—I can’t do it! I just can’t do it!”

“What a drama queen,” Roy remarked. “You’re lucky I’m a nice guy. I’ll do it out of my good graces.”

“He has good graces?” Noel whispered to Reccea.

“And I’ll help you out!” Reccea volunteered eagerly jumping to her feet.

“No you won’t,” Kat said with finality. “You two, have more work to do. The paint on the window, remember?” The girls’ faces fell. “Paint,” Kat ordered. She gave Harper a shove towards the door. “And I expect this place clean in the morning.” Harper, being the skillful hero he was, managed to open the door before Kat shoved him into it.

“I’m walking already. Sheesh. Remind me to tell Robbie, that next time he drags his butt out of his town,” Roy muttered. The café door closed with a bang leaving the girls alone in the café again. It opened a second later, and Roy popped his head in. “Recce, is Thursday night good for you? Lian’s babysitter is available, we’ll hit the town?”

Reccea stood their speechless and wide eyed. She opened her mouth but an inarticulate squeak was all that emerged. “She’d be delighted,” Noel supplied for her. Roy winked and left. Reccea was gawking at the now closed door.

“Recce? Yoo hoo?” Noel waved a hand in front of her face. “Reccea? Reccea? Snap out of it! Reccea? Come on now, this isn’t funny? Is this supposed to be a joke?”

Thinking quickly Noel grabbed the hole filled poster off the wall and waved it in front of Reccea’s face.

“YES!” Reccea finally exclaimed. Noel smacked her.

“He’s gone. Don’t worry you got the date,” she supplied at Reccea’s horrified look. Reccea was looking forlornly at the poster.

“Come on, you can zone out Thursday night, we got work to do.”

Noel walked over to the window as Reccea started scouting for her bag. Tapping the window with a fingernail, Noel commented, “This stuff is really on here. How are we going to get it off?”

Reccea did respond rummaging through her bag. Noel was beginning to suspect that she had liberated it from Mary Poppins. Some loose leaf pages were now strewn about on the floor. A stack of comic books, another grappling hook (heaven forbid), a potato, the entire comic code; all joined the paper on the floor, until finally Reccea produced a small paint scrapper.

“Won’t you like break the glass with that. We already broke the sign.”

“No, you broke the sign,” Reccea clarified. She walked over the window and with all the flare of an artist carefully chipped away the “B” in Bludhaven. “See?”

Noel watched for a few moments longer before she wandered off. Reccea, so intent on chipping away the “L” didn’t notice her companion’s departure. Noel wandered into the kitchen and quickly began going through the compartments. She leafed through the coffee filters, coffee cups, soder cola, zesti cola, she carefully stayed away from the fluff hiding in a cabinet. After rummaging through the sink she finally emerged triumphant with…

“Cleaning solvent?” Reccea questioned.

“Yeah, it should just take the paint right off.” Noel grabbed a napkin and poured a little liquid on it. She then rubbed it over the “U”. The paint came off, but the napkin was wasted after just one pass. The girls looked through Reccea’s miracle bag for rags to no avail. They were left to scavenge around the café.

“No,” Reccea said as Noel picked up the Bludhaven tablecloths. Reccea pointed to a stack of towels embroidered with the Nightwing symbol. Noel shook her head.

“Josh’s favorite. Had them custom made.”

The hunt seemed hopeless. Until they spied Mabel’s nice white apron hanging from a corner in the kitchen.

“It’s for the greater good,” Noel said mischievously.

Having solved the rag problem, the girls cleaned the window quickly and surprisingly effectively. They set about the task of painting and after thirty minutes of hard work they took a break being halfway done. That’s when the realized that they needed to paint backwards so the sign could be read from the *outside*. After another hour, they were finally, blissfully done.

The clean up consisted of everything getting stuffed underneath a table in the far corner and the two girls collapsed exhausted in a far booth. They quickly fell into a well-deserved sleep.

The following morning, Chi-town, we mean Chicago, was jogging down the street, trying to get to the café in time for the exact opening. After she had left all those authors in other time zones had decided to post fic, now she was even more behind than before.

She heard a motorcycle coming and quickly stepped from the street to the sidewalk.

“Need a lift Holly?” Josh asked as he pulled up riding his Harley.

“I don’t think so Mr. Mayor. I’ve heard stories about you and Harley.”

“Greatly exaggerated I’m sure. Come on, hop on, you’ll get to the café faster.”

Chicago continued to look skeptically but her feedback duties called. The things she had to do, tsk. As they approached the café, Chicago noticed a series of broken light blubs that were littering the sidewalk. The ‘haven couldn’t keep it’s streets clean. When Josh pulled to a stop, Chicago quickly hopped off. She ran up to the door only to find it locked. She let out a groan of annoyance.

She walked back out on the street and began pacing. She jumped as a light blub hit the sidewalk smashing into pieces. Chicago looked up to see where it had come from. And that’s when she saw the sign.

Instead of reading “Bludhaven Café” the sign now said in a blue font “Windy City Café”. She looked at the window in disbelief but was greeted with the same unfamiliar words. Kat strolled up to unlock the café door.

“What’s going on here?” Chicago asked perplexed.

Kat ignored her and opened the café door allowing Chicago to pass. Suddenly the ‘havenoids streamed out of the kitchen. “Surprise!”

“This is our gift to you Chicago,” Kat said.

Everyone commenced in celebration except for two lone paint splattered grease covered poets sleeping soundly in the far corner.

fin

~story index~