Gwen sighed as she shifted through a mound of old newspapers.

For the past few weeks she had been pulled in several directions. Dealing with her father’s funeral, replacing the interior of her apartment, attempting to keep up with her engineering courses, and trying to get her finances in order so she still had all her utilities meant Gwen had very little free time to experiment her powers.

That wasn’t to say she hadn’t used them at all. She was rapidly mastering the limited abilities of her version of the Venom symbiote and her spider powers, and swinging through the city at night was one of the most exhilarating things she had ever done, but she simply couldn’t find the limits of those powers with the small amount of time available to her. But now that some of her personal time was freed up, she had a self-imposed mission. Figuring out which universe she was in.

The Justice League was a thing. Something that Gwen was happy for because that meant global threats usually were taken care of fairly quickly, but it was also not just the original seven or the dozens of the JLA series. Gwen supposed the League could’ve been in a transitory phase, but none of the events she could find really lined up with that universe.

On the other hand the Teen Titans and the Young Justice teams didn’t seem to be a thing. At least there was no mention of a sub-league of sidekicks, though Gwen had come across several of them. Interestingly there were quite a few more than she was expecting. The Bat-family had Nightwing and Robin along with Batgirl, no sign of Damian then. Supergirl was also around, which pruned off several potential universes and at the same time didn’t narrow them down at all. Kid Flash and Speedy had recently teamed up, and several others had also made headlines.

Gwen was starting to think this was a universe she didn’t have out of context knowledge of. Something that relieved and concerned her. She wasn’t going to be stuck trying to follow whatever future knowledge she might have been given, but she also wouldn’t know about any major threats ahead of time.

“So what was the point of the ROB giving me those memories?” Gwen laid her head in her arms and slouched over the table. “I don’t see a reason.” ’except for the identities of dozens of heroes and villains, their powers, weaknesses, secret plans...okay I think I answered my own question’

A chair on the other side of the table was pulled out and someone sat down, leaning over the table to get closer to her.

“Gwen? You doing okay?” Gwen looked up from her position to see a redheaded girl around her age looking at her with concern.

“Barbara,” Gwen greeted. “Still doing fine. Just like the last fifty times you asked.”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Gwen had been visited several times recently by police officers stopping by to check on her and offer condolences. The GCPD might be a corrupt mess in general, but the good officers like Commissioner Gordon and her father had started pushing back that rot.

Among the visitors was the Commissioner’s own daughter Barbara Gordon. And while the two girls had quite a bit in common- both were very intelligent girls at the tops of their classes, athletic to some degree, and had a single parent almost married to their job -Barbara and Gwen were at best friendly acquaintances through their dad’s work, since Gwen had been fairly reclusive socially due to her need to keep her grades at the top of the class.

The still fairly recent turn of events had led to the redhead checking in on the newly orphaned blonde as much as possible. She sought her out whenever classes let out for lunch, often visiting when other members of the GCPD stopped by her apartment, and otherwise just tried to be there for Gwen.

It was nice of her, and normally Gwen would be more appreciative, but with the new knowledge that Barbara was actually Batgirl Gwen was a little paranoid her powers would be sniffed out somehow. It was an irrational fear, but Gwen had no intentions of being kicked out of the city just because Batman had decided he would have final say on what heroes could operate there. Especially not until she figured out exactly what her dad had been killed for.

“Right, sorry. I’m not trying to be a pest but I, well yeah.” Barbara trailed off awkwardly.

“It’s fine, I get it.” Gwen waved her off. She and Barbara might not really be friends but she still appreciated the effort being put into checking on her, even if it was inconvenient personally.

“So what are you working on?” Barbara’s natural curiosity making itself known after the conversation lulled.

“Sociology final. We need to write an essay on the impact of the rising number of heroes and villains.” Gwen half-lied. She had mostly been researching for her own purpose but she really did have an essay to write.

“Starting early? Finals aren’t starting for another month.”

Gwen smiled but there was a bitter slant to it. “Well I figured if it’s going to be my last semester I might as well go out on a high note.”

Barbara was shocked, the two of them had been unofficial rivals for the top spot in several computer courses they shared. To hear that Gwen was leaving…

“Your last semester? Why? I know things have to be rough right now but to drop out as a sophomore…”

Gwen shrugged. “I can’t afford it. Yeah, I’m getting help from several programs and I have what dad left me…” she trailed off for a bit before shaking herself and continuing. “But that won’t last forever. Especially with the way Gotham is.” She shrugged again, “so it's the end of the line for me.”

Of course Gwen had plans to support herself, but she recognised if she wanted to do anything more as a hero than be a weekend crimefighter she would need to drop college. A financial crisis was as good a reason as any to drop out and she had only really been in the program for the degree and to make her father proud. If she really wanted to she could learn anything else on her own and start her own company.

“And you’re just okay with that?!” Barbara practically yelled, leaping to her feet and slamming the table. She quickly sat down again under the irritated stares coming from the other people in the library but she remained focused on Gwen.

Not really if Gwen was being honest with herself. But it was the decision she made.

She tried to play it off to the increasingly frustrated redhead as not that big a deal but Barbara refused to calm down. She practically vowed to find a way for Gwen to stay in school to the point Gwen half expected her to offer to pay in her staid. But while the Gordons might’ve been a little more well off than her own family, it wasn’t to the point they could afford two tuitions at the same time.

The two girls went back and forth over the issue. Gwen trying to get Barbara to leave it alone, while Barbara fervently tried to figure out how to help a peer after her father gave his life trying to make the city better, privately determining to bring the situation up with Bruce when she saw him.

Eventually both young women were politely but firmly told to leave by one of the librarians and they were forced to go separate ways. One, furious at what was happening to someone so similar to herself and determined to find a way to help, the other, upset at what she was sacrificing but also secretly elated.

Tonight she was going to be a superhero.